Ichimatsu snapped his eyes open, quickly scrambling to his feet. For some reason, his eyes felt very warm and damp. Almost like he had been crying for an extended period of time. His eyes felt swollen and heavy as well.

"Tch..." Ichimatsu spat, wiping his eyes with his dirty purple hoodie sleeve. He couldn't stop thinking of his dream. Even though it was already fading away in his mind, Jyushimatsu's final question lingered in his mind.

"The bird who died because he wasn't strong enough...?" Ichimatsu thought, trudging out of the alleyway to go find a place to get breakfast. "It doesn't make any sense to me..."

As he walked down the busy Saturday morning streets, Ichimatsu noticed Jyushimatsu running down the other side of the street towards the beach.

Sighing, Ichimatsu quickly looked away, staring at the ground as he walked to the convenience store.

"He's everywhere, isn't he? No matter where I go, I always see that Jyushimatsu...It's almost like he knows when I'm out and he wants to look for me. I still don't understand why he pretends to care so much..." Ichimatsu thought, steeping inside the convince store as its automatic doors slid open.

"Good morning," a tired worked said at the counter, staring at their phone.

"Good morning," Ichimatsu mumbled back as he walked to the back of the store. He picked up a pack of cigarettes, a bottle of water, and a small refrigerated box of sliced pears.

He walked back to the counter, placing his items down as he fumbled through his hoodie pockets to find his money.

"Thank you very much," the worked mumbled as he bagged Ichimatsu's purchases and gave him a receipt. "Come again..."

Ichimatsu quickly grabbed his bag of items and ran down the street back to the alleyway.

Sitting down between his two favorite trash bins, he unboxed the sliced pears, eating them slowly. Something about their taste reminded Ichimatsu of something. It was like a blurry bittersweet memory. And with each bite he took, the stranger he began to feel.

But as soon as Ichimatsu finished them, he forced himself to throw them up in one of the trash bins a few minutes later.

Food was disgusting.

"I can't do this..." Ichimatsu thought, looking up at the sky, watching five crows and the little purple bird fly around. "Who am I...? What am I...? How can I be anyone if I can't remember anything...?"

Ichimatsu stretched his arms up in the air and yawned loudly.

"I may as well go for a walk..." he thought, staring at the sidewalk outside of the alleyway. "It's not like I have anything better to do..."

Ichimatsu shuffled his feet down the sidewalk for a few minutes, his head hung low. He breathed heavily as he just went where his feet led him, only staring at the ground.

And before he knew it, he felt sand seep into his shoes.

"The beach..?" he mumbled, walking out towards the cliff. It looked like a comfortable place to sit and enjoy the ocean breeze.

"One! Two! Three! Four! Five! Six! Seven! Eight! Nine! Ten! Eleven! Twelve! Thirteen! Fourteen! Fifteen! Sixteen! Seventeen! Eighteen! Nineteen! Twenty!" Jyushimatsu yelled, swinging his baseball bad around wildly.

"He's still here..." Ichimatsu thought bitterly as he climbed up onto the cliff. When he reached the top, he sat down and just watched Jyushimatsu swing his bat around for an entire hour. Time passed much faster than Ichimatsu had expected it to.

"Five thousand two hundred and eighty eight!" Jyushimatsu yelled, still as hyper as ever, jumping up and down. He hadn't noticed Ichimatsu up on the cliff at all up until now. "Hey, Ichimatsu! What are you doing here?!" he yelled, running towards the cliff, his mouth wide open with joy.

Ichimatsu didn't reply. There was no point in saying anything anyways. After all, the roar of the ocean would only make his voice inaudible.

Jyushimatsu climbed up the cliff, leaving his baseball bat in the sand below.

"What are you doing here, nii-san?" Jyushimatsu asked, sitting down next to Ichimatsu. Of course, he made sure not to sit as close to his brother as he normally would. Ichimatsu would only get angry if he acted like he cared.

"I was bored," Ichimatsu mumbled, staring at the water below. "and I had nothing better to do..."

"Really? So you came to watch me?!" Jyushimatsu said then laughed, poking Ichimatsu's arm. "You're so nice, Ichimatsu nii-san!"

"I didn't come to watch you..." Ichimatsu spat, bringing his knees up to his chest, hugging them tightly. "I just..."

"You don't have to say anything, Ichimatsu! No need to explain! After all, we are brothers! Just know that I'll always be here for you!" Jyushimatsu exclaimed happily.

At that moment, Ichimatsu thought of his dream again.

"Oh..." he mumbled, standing up, walking away from Jyushimatsu. He began to hastily climb down the cliff, wanting to go back to the alleyway as soon as he could. He had just had the strong urge to smoke one of his cigarettes.