'Our time is like a flower. Beautiful. Fragile and....... limited. We've spent a lot of time together and it just wasn't enough. Time made the flower wilt and so did our time together. It can be really cruel to us and it waits for none. Now, our memories will become nothing more than forgotten dreams. Our time, a dream from which you've awoken.

You're now gonna forget about us....... but not everything. Our past, the same and our present, a dream.

I love you, Kousei.'

I woke up quickly and the first thing that came to mind was Kaori. I felt like I heard her voice in my head and my head ached. I heard a rhythmic beeping sound and I could get up from the bed. My body felt numb and I couldn't feel anything. Tears flowed down from the side of my eyes at the thought of Kaori fading away.

I tried to get up but I couldn't. I could move the fingers of my right a bit and I felt something uncomfortable under my nose. Did I grow a moustache or something? No, that wasn't it. I looked what was under my nose by crossing my eyes and I saw something like a pipe under it. What hell is that?!

I struggled and groaned in pain as I tried to get up from the bed and somehow, sat up straight. I looked around and I couldn't see that well without my glasses but I found it on table beside the bed and I, again, struggled to reach for and wear it. Why does my body hurt so badly when I move? I wore my glasses and blinked a couple of times to adjust with my glasses.

Wait a minute.......

AM I IN A HOSPITAL?!!!!!

My eyes were wide and I looked down and noticed I was even wearing a hospital gown. I'm not sick or anything. Am I?

I removed the pipe thingy off my nose and tried to get out of the bed. My legs felt sore but I have to get out of here.

Just as I stood on my feet, I fell down quickly and I began to scream in pain. What happened to me that I ended up here?!!!

The door was opened by some man with a white shirt and pant and he quickly helped me sit up on the bed. I don't know why, but he ran out of the room and shouted, "Is Arima-kun's guardian here?!" I felt weird and the room felt depressing and nostalgic in a sad way.

"Kousei?!!!!" I heard a really familiar male voice call me. I looked over to the owner of the voice and my eyes welled up with tears. "Oh my God, Kousei!!!!"

My dad came running to me and hugged me tightly. I yelped in pain and he quickly kept his distance.

"Sorry sorry!!!" he apologised quickly.

I just gave him a nod because I didn't feel like talking. He gave me a smile as he held my hands and his eyes were filled with tears of happiness. I guess he was worried but...... why?

"I thought I lost you there, Kousei," he said with a tone of worry and happiness mixed together. I smiled back, not knowing what he was talkimg about and then, I heard a gasp behind my dad. I looked over his shoulder to see who it was and my eyes filled with tears, when I saw them.

It was her parents. Kaori's parents.

They came to me and hugged me tightly and my body felt squished and my body began to pain even more but I didn't mind. I cried on their shoulders like I did when I came to visit her home and it was as calming as before.

"We were so worried about you," her mother said, crying.

"We thought we lost you too," her father said, sadly.

Too. Kaori's parents have no one but themselves now. I can't imagine the pain they're going through. Their only child, dying.

They let go of me and wiped their tears and gave me a smile. I didn't return it, my mind was still on Kaori and her alone.

A doctor came and gestured my dad and her parents to leave. He had a smile plastered on his face and I find it weird for some reason.

"You should look both sides before crossing the road from now, Arima," he said.

"What do you mean?" I asked with a confused look.

He came and sat on the chair near the bed. "You got into a car crash on the day of your friend's funeral," he said, sounding concerned.

"What?!!" I said, confused. "You must be joking. I remember everything I went to school after that and the last thing that I remember is that I passed out at home. You might've mistaken me for someone else."

"I never forget a face, Arima. Especially, yours. I started watching you perform since you were five," he said.

"But I remember what happened after I ran from the funeral!!" I protested. "I ran back home and then, Kaori's parents gave me her letter and I remember tearing it and, and....."

The doctor leaned forward towards the side table near the bed and took an envelope and showed it to me.

"Is this the letter you mentioned?" he asked.

I took it from him with shivering hands. I looked at it and tears fell from my eyes like a waterfall.

"Yes...." I said, my voice cracking up as I hugged the letter. "Doctor?"

"Yes?"

"What actually happened to me?" I asked, tears still falling down my face.

"As I said, you ran out during your friend's funeral and got hit by a car and ended up in a coma for a year," he said, smiling.

I looked down and held the letter closer to my chest.

"Thank you," I said in a low voice, avoiding his gaze.

"Your welcome," he said, started up. "I'm gonna take my leave now." And he left me alone in the room.

I quickly opened the letter as soon as he left and began reading it. I reached halfway through the letter when the door swung open and a guy came running to me. I panicked a bit and he hugged me tightly. I tried to push him off me but he won't budge.

"GET OFF ME!!!!!" I shouted angrily in pain.

The guy let of me and looked at me with a playful smile as he held my shoulders.

"Hey there, Kousei!!!" he said, excitedly.

"Watari?" I eyed him suspiciously.

"In the flesh," he said, pointing at himself and he winked.

"Oh my God!!!" I said, happily. "You're.... You're..... muscle-y!!!!"

"I work out now, Kousei," he said, proudly. "I even defeated you height-wise also, the girls in my high-school are drooling over me."

"You didn't change one bit," I said, smiling at him.

"I missed you," he said, giving me a genuine smile. My smile faded as I looked down. "What's wrong?"

I shook my head. "Nothing," I said. "Kaori......" My grip on the letter tightened. "She left me this letter."

"I know," he said. "It was by your bed since the day you were brought here." I looked at the last lines of the letter.

'I'm glad it was you. Did I reach you?

I love you.'

Tears filled my eyes quickly and I covered my face my hands and began crying.

"I lost her again, Watari," I said, crying badly. "I lost her again." He sat beside me and hugged me tightly as I cried on his shoulder.

"We all lost her, Kousei," Watari said, calmly. "We all did. She's not gonna come back."

"She did," I said. "She came back to me. She told me what was in that letter. She told me what her lie was. She told that she...... she loved me. I know it Watari. She came back to me. I saw her again. I felt her touch. She was there."

"Kousei. You're wrong. She didn't come back," he said, breaking the hug and looking at me with sadness.

"She did!! No one could see her. Only I could. She helped me practice. She stayed with me. She stole my first kiss. She told me she loves me. We played the song I composed. She made me watch an anime for the first time. She......... she........ she.......... vanished." I held my head with my hands as tears fell down my eyes. "She's.... gone. No... she died. I ended up in a coma. I was asleep the whole time. Kaori didn't come back. Kaori didn't..... come back."

I cried for a long time in Watari's arms and I knew it. The love of my life left me feeling pain and sadness. Then, her words came to my mind.

'Our memories will become nothing more than forgotten dreams.'

No. It can't be. This isn't possible. Kaori coming back was just.........

a dream?

○●○●○●○●

I was looking out of the window of my hospital room as I was sitting on my bed with her letter on my lap, which was covered with a blanket.

It was the 2nd of April. It has been to two years so quickly, huh? The cherry trees blossomed, the petal on the floor but one thing I love about in spring left.

It used to have Kaori in it.

Now, she's no more. She's just a memory. I don't wanna forget. I don't wanna forget about her. I don't wanna forget what she has done for me. I don't wanna forget the limited time we had together.

"Kousei. You ready to get discharged," Watari asked, smiling and Tsubaki standing behind him smiling too.

I looked at them. A smile spreaded my face. I have to move on. I must move on. For Kaori.

I don't wanna forget anything about her. Her smile, her voice, her laugh, her eyes, her love, her warmth, her music, her touch, her presence..... everything.

I mostly don't want to forget......

The dream in which she came to me.

~The End~