Restarted Life

It's been 3 years after that day.
The day all his memories were erased.
The day their promises broke.
The day they lost each other.

"Kyaaaa~! AINE!!!!!"
Fan girls are screaming for him.
"WE LOVE YOUUUUUUU~!"
The crowd ran wild.

"Thank you, thank you."
He bowed down with a
smile after performing.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the screen...
Lily's sitting down on her sofa, hugging her
pillow while watching the live performance.

"Aine Kisaragi... is back."
She mutters in such low voice.

But then suddenly, her phone rings.
She answers the call with yet again..
another emotionless expression.

"Hello? Yes, this is Crystal. Hm?
  A new project? I see but, let me
  think about it for a while okay?
  I'm pretty busy with my work. Bye."
Lily quickly finishes the conversation
and cuts off the call before they could
even say anymore.

"Phew.." She sighs deeply.
"Now that I'm an idol too..
  My life has changed."
Lily stares up in the ceilings.
"It's difficult."

Meanwhile, at some private studio...

"Man, this sucks!"
Ranmaru complains and
throws away a piece of paper.

"There, there, Ran-ran! Don't
  be so grumpy, will ya?"
Reiji tries to calm him down and
picks up the paper for him.

"Mikaze, you need more practice."
Camus tells Ai with a serious face.

"Okay. I am trying."
Emotionlessly, Ai nods.

"Tsk..! We can continue without him!"
Ranmaru is seriously angry and is about
to charge at Ai, but Reiji stops him.

"Ran-ran! Calm down!"
Reiji holds his arms from behind.

"We can't continue without Mikaze."
Camus tells Ranmaru. "This is stressful."
Camus sighs as he touches his forehead.

"I will study the datas I've gathered so far,
  so I can make sure next time will be perfect.
  I'll be leaving now. Excuse me."
Ai said directly with no emotion at all.
He left immediately after finishing his sentence.

Some fans spotted him and gathered over him.
"Hey, hey, you're Ai Mikaze, right?! Aine's
  little brother? Wooow! You're so much cuter!
  You look younger than him. Well you're really
  younger than him anyway, teehee!"
One of the girls giggled.

Secretly, Ranmaru, Camus and Reiji watched
him from behind, trying to see Ai's reaction.

"Yes, I am Ai Mikaze. Please refrain from
  comparing me to Aine Kisaragi. We're both
  totally different." Ai talks to them with no
expression and leaves in an instant, leaving
his fangirls speechless.

"Ai-Ai..." Reiji sighs as he face-palms.

"This is hopeless!"
Ranmaru gnarls in a corner.

"What happened anyway? His sudden change.
  Lily Venus disappeared and the so-called
  Crystal Star appeared, girl named Crystal.
   I'm pretty sure that is Lily."
Camus crosses his arms as he talks.

"I told you right? Ai had an amnesia.
  Remember the first time we saw him again?"
Reiji gives a hopeless expression and
tries to explain again.

Flashback....

On that day...

Ai is lying down on his bed.
He opens his eyes.
The first thing he sees is..

..snow.

"What's that..?"
He wonders in his mind.

"Hello"
A voice greeted him.

"Huh?" He turns to look
at who it was.

"I'm your creator."
The professor smiles
as he informs Ai.

"My.. creator..?"
Ai repeats his words.

"Yes. This is, Aine Kisaragi.
  From now on, he is your brother."
The professor introduces Aine.

"Brother?"
He repeats his words again.

"Yes, I am your brother, Ai."
Aine smiles in a cool manner to him.

"Okay. I get it now."
Ai nods as he finally
'absorbed' the information.

"From now on, you'll be attending school
  and work together with these people."
The professor tells him and lets 3 other
people enter the room.

"Ai-Ai!"
Reiji is sobbing as he ran
up to Ai and hugged him.

"Why are you hugging me?"
Ai calmly asked.

"I'm Reiji! You don't remember me anymore?!"
Reiji sobs as he faces Ai and asks him.

"I don't. It's clearly the first time we met.
  I have no data or memory of you at all."
Ai directly tells him the truth.

"I see.. how sad.."
Reiji's happy expression turned
sad as he heard Ai's response.

"Ai had damaged his brain with some
  accident. His memories were lost and
  has no more possibilites of returning."
The professor explained to them.

"Is that so? What kind of accident?"
Camus narrows his eyes in suspicion
and keeps asking questions.

"He fell from the the stairs but the impact
  it caused his head was far too great enough
  to damage his brain." The professor makes
up some stories to cover for Ai's true identity.

"Hm. Alright. So, what do we do now?"
Camus half-heartedly believes his words.

"Then we just start over again! Right, Ai-Ai?"
Reiji tries to cheer up everyone.

Ai didn't respond.
So the professor decides
to ask them to leave.

"Hm.. Ai isn't stable right now.
  Maybe you should visit him again next time."
The professor says.

"Fine, let's go"
Ranmaru immediately leaves,
obviously irritated.

"Oh.. o-okay. See you again sometime,
  Ai-Ai!" Reiji waves at Ai as they exit the door.

Now, he's alone in the room with
Aine and the professor again.

"Aine, what will you do from now on?"
The professor asked.

"Continue my career."
Aine smiles and says.

"I see."
The professor quietly says.

"What about him?"
Aine asks about Ai.

"I don't know yet. For now, let us
  let him help Quartet Night, they need
  him as a member." The professor
says.

Ai is just sitting without saying anything,
staring at the wall as if he's in deep thought,
It's like he is lifeless, like he is empty.

Meanwhile, outside

"Aine Kisaragi..."
Reiji mutters.

"Your friend, right?"
Ranmaru asks him.

"Yeah.." Reiji nods.

"It's odd."
Camus comments.

"Huh, why?"
Reiji asks, worriedly.

"Ai lost himself, Lily disappeared.
  Aine came back. Ai and Aine looks
  exactly the same. What's up with that?"
Camus' suspicions goes higher.

"I agree. It's suspicious."
Ranmaru says.

"Uh I don't know what you're talking about, hehe!"
Reiji laughs nervously and tries to avoid them from
suspecting anymore. It seems he's still covering up
for Ai's true identity as well, for Lily's sake as well.

"Whatever. This is a big problem to our career."
Camus says so.

"That's true, it's annoying!"
Ranmaru agrees.

"Now, now. We'll just have to help him
  restart again! Right? Right?"
Reiji convinces them and laughs.

Back inside Ai's room, he stares at
Reiji and the others from the window.

"They are your friends."
Aine suddenly broke the silence
and spoke to Ai as he stood next
to Ai's bed.

"Friends..?"
Ai repeats the words said to
him once again.

"Yes. You'll understand what it means
  someday." Aine smiles and closes his eyes.
"(But I hope you don't mind if I find her for you.)"
He whispers in his mind.

"Snow.."
Ai suddenly mutters.

The professor is suddenly alarmed,
surprised at how Ai mentioned it.
Because everyone knows...
Snow reminds him of Lily.
However, at the end of the day,
he showed no signs of remembering her.

*End of flashback*

Meanwhile, at a concert event...
The lights are out, it's pitchblack in the crowd.
But then suddenly, the stage lights up,
the spotlight is centered to a girl..
Wearing a plain yet pretty white dress.
Crystal-like hair, crystal eyes.
The "Crystal" Star/Diva shows up.
She begins singing...

"Even though we're far apart..
  I still feel you in my heart.
  I'll remember you forever,
 our memories in December~
 I'll watch the snow fall,
 Silently as my tears begin to roll.
I'll watch the fireworks,
No matter how my heart hurts.
My world revolves around you,
Darling my love will always be true~"

The crowd are lost at awe.
Jawdropped and mesmerized by her angelic voice,
They fall silent and feel such a warm feeling inside
as they listen and watch her singing like an angel.
An angel in the snow, a crystal in the winter.
A star that warms everyone's heart even in the winter,
has appeared. Even if she shows no emotion,
when she sings, all her feelings are delivered
through it. Such a talented person, her songs
are all masterpiece that everyone loves.

At the end of her performance,
Everyone left already. She's left
alone in a park, sitting on a bench.
She's wearing a coat and a scarf
that brings so much memories.

She looks up to the sky and reaches
her hand out to a falling snowflake.
As the snowflake lands on her palms
and begins to turn into water,
Tears rolls down her cheeks.

"I will always love you."

Chapter 24 -
Restarted Life