Missing Out

"So what exactly is the plan here?" Yuriko asked Misao impatiently as they were situated in front of Arata's house. Everyone was doing their best to stay warm now that it was the latter half of Autumn.

"I was hoping we'd be able to catch him before he left, but it appears that he was prepared for that." She answered. "I'd imagine that we could get some answers for his memory loss here. From his mother, for example."

"Right, you wanted to ask his mom about his weekend, right?" Akaki figured things out. "After all, something clearly happened between the last time we saw him, and now."

"It's just too bad that it's a pretty big time frame." Akiba was worried. They had no way to pinpointing a probable cause with their knowledge levels.

"Well, I might be able to narrow it down." However, Misei was privy to things no one else in this group had. "I saw him on Sunday." She left out the important bit as to why she saw him then. "I remember he mentioned his sister returning to visit for dinner."

"I see." Misao was aware of this date that happened. After all, she's the one that suggested what Misei should've worn then. "So he had his memory then. Now we have a better window for when it happened. Whatever it was that caused it."

"If Ayumi was here, then we can just ask her." Yogi whipped out his phone to call her up.

"Um, when did you have his sister's number?" Akiba asked.

"She gave it to me back during the Fall festival." He smiled, oblivious to the problem she had. "Hello?" They didn't have to worry about her picking up.

"Yogi?" Her voice was heard through the speakerphone. "Why are you calling me right now?"

"Oh, we just had some questions to ask you." He also informed her of the other guests listening in on the phone call.

"Really…" Her voice was rather dejected from hearing that fact. "What did you want to know?"

"Oh, what happened when you were back home? You know, during dinner?"

"Dinner? How do you know about that?" She asked. "And, where's Arata, why can't you just ask him?"

"Oh, well you see. He's got amnesia." Yogi told her as if that was a normal thing for someone to learn about. Especially when it involved their brother.

"Oh, okay… Wait, what did you just say?!" That came as news for her. They clarified to her what that meant. Along with the fact that he was being checked out by a doctor at the moment.

"So we were wondering if anything happened when you were home that might've caused it." He asked, even though if she was shocked to hear him having it, would mean she wouldn't know its cause.

"Not that I'm aware of." She explained to them that dinner went by uneventfully. Just some fun conversation about their days, school, and all that. Then she left to go back to university at nine. The last thing she remembered him about to do, was to watch some anime. She didn't know the details about it that greatly. Other than how excited he was to go see it.

"That sounds rather unfortunate." Misao was hoping they'd find answers, but it just left them with even more questions. This very tight frame of time didn't give them any room to think of possibilities that would lead to this case of amnesia.

"I know, it's really too bad." Ayumi agreed. "Especially since he just went on his first date too. Now he's not gonna remember it." She believed it to be a shame, after how proud of him she was.

"Yeah, that does… What did you just say?" Yogi was about to reply, but that statement caught his attention. Arata had told her all about it during dinner.

"Arata went on a date?" Erina repeated it. That was not information she was aware of, nor wanted.

"Um, yeah?" She responded. "I mean, it was with Misei, so I thought you all knew?"

"It was with her?" Everyone turned their heads to her.

"I may have.. withheld that information from you all." She was sweating bullets from this getting to the others. For good reason, due to the fact that a couple of the girls were taking issue with this.

"Really?" Akiba had a really curious tone to the one single word she had to say. That was interesting for her to hear.

This rather awkward moment for Misei was looking bad for her. However, she was saved by the bell here, or perhaps, saved by the Arata.

"Oh come on." He let out a frustrated sigh, after he made his return from the doctor. "I really can't get away from you all now." After the news he received, they were the last people he wanted to see.

"What did the doctor say?" Erina asked. To which he attempted to ignore. "Did you hear me, what did they say?"

"Why should any of you care?" He countered. Much to his mother's chagrin as she joined up with her.

"Arata, is that any way to talk to your friends?" She scolded him.

"But they're not my friends." He said, then whispered some more for only her to hear. "I don't have any friends."

"Even if they weren't I know that you should be more respectful." He hung his head down, it felt like everyone was against him.

"I'm sorry." He responded. Then the explanation of what he learned from the doctors was told to everyone.

He was checked for potential brain damage, which was able to be conclusively concluded to not be the case. Thankfully. Unfortunately, the only other reason would have to be psychological. That was due to the other, though unlikely, explanations being clearly not the case. However, his mom was just in the dark as all of them as to what caused his memory loss. According to her, that night he was perfectly fine. Then the next morning, it was like he was a different person.

"So there's that." He finished his explanation to them. Then was about to enter his house to leave the group.

"You're just going to go inside now?" Misao asked.

"Yes, because what else is there for me to talk about?" With that, he left them outside, with only his mother to keep them company.

"I'm sorry." She said to them. "He's been so different now." Hearing the results hurt everyone's morale.

"He really is, isn't he?" Ayumi spoke through the phone, much to her mother's surprise.

"Ayumi? Is that you?"

"Yes, I heard about Arata…" Yogi just held up the phone for them to talk about the recent events. Everyone was trying to come up with the possible reason for his sudden case of memory loss. However, if even his mother had no clue as to how it happened. Things were looking pretty bad on that front.

Meanwhile, Arata had placed himself back to his own room. Looking out his window, it was clear to him that his mom was very familiar with those people. As much as he didn't like to admit, they probably, no definitely, weren't lying to him when they said they were friends with him.

Except, he couldn't think of why the Arata of the last six months was so different than the one he knew he was. What was the reason, why did he just randomly decide to change his whole philosophy?

"Looks like they're going now." He said to himself, seeing them finally leave the front of his house.

Now that they were gone, he was unsure of what to do now. Not just for now, but for the future as well. Without any memories of his second year, things were going to be hard for him going forward.

For starters, it was like he missed school of those six months, meaning he'd have a lot of material to catch up on. Not only that, he'd also have to reread all these manga and watch those anime he apparently bought during this time because he had no clue what happened in them.

Maybe that last bit wasn't really bad.

Ding! His phone signaled him. At first, he assumed it was simply one of the other students, since as he checked, Arata had many messages from them. However, this one was from someone different.

"How have you been?" It said. Reviewing their messages, it was someone that he chatted online about otaku stuff.

"Been better, but I'm okay." He replied to it. Believing that should be the end to the prodding.

"Are you sure? It sounds like something happened?" That was an odd response for him to see. It was as if they knew something was up with him.

"You wouldn't believe me, but I got amnesia." He couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity in his message. He knew he was telling the truth, but it probably sounded like a sick joke to anyone that didn't know.

"That's a shame, you don't remember me then?" What? They bought it without question?

"I guess…" He thought it over. This was shame for that person, to learn that someone they had been talking with had just forgotten about them. To think, that everything he had talked with them about, which was a lot, all gone now.

Which made him realize just how sad it must've been for Yogi and the others. If he really was their friend during these last six months, then it must've really hurt to have him be the way he was.

That did it for him then. Arata may not have had a clue on where or how to start. But he wasn't going to take this sitting down. No matter what happened, no matter how hard it was going to be. He was going to find a way to get his memories back.

Elsewhere, about to go their separate ways. Yogi and friends also had the same resolution.

"We're going to get his memories back." Yogi proclaimed, as if this was going to be a simple task.

"If doctors couldn't find out the cause, what hope do we have?" Misao was a little more pessimistic. "But I'd be remiss if we didn't even try."

"Okay then." Erina spoke in a commandeering voice. "Everyone, let's go home and try to come up with ideas. Then we'll put those ideas together and surely someone will figure something out."

The friends all cheered in agreement. Their morale was boosted for now. The only person that didn't say anything about this agreement was Yuki, Yogi's cousin.

Instead, she had a light smile. Keeping her eyes on her phone.

"Maybe we could talk about what you missed..."