I turned around and saw Valt. He looked really worried.

"There you are, Shu!" he said. "I was surprised to see you here and... Are you okay? You look really pale."

I was stunned by how tall Valt was now. I'm still taller than him, but he's not so tiny anymore. He also seemed to be more mature than I remembered.

"Oh... Hi Valt," I said. "I... Just freaked out over something."

Cassie looked at Valt in interest. "Are you Shu's best friend?"

"Yes," said Valt. "Wait a minute. You were that girl Shu was with in the post!"

Cassie looked embarrassed. "Yeah. But I'm a lesbian and not interested in Shu at all. So you're Valt, right?"

"Yeah," said Valt.

"My name's Cassandra Banter, but everyone calls me Cassie. Shu told me all about you."

"Really?" asked Valt. "Can Shu and I talk alone?"

"Sure," said Cassie. "But I wanted to know why Shu became Red..."

"Don't!" I yelled. "I said that I don't want to talk about it! Can you please drop the subject?"

Valt surprisingly took charge of the situation. "Listen, Cassie. Shu doesn't like talking about the subject because he has some traumatic memories from it. Just take my word that it's something that he regrets."

"Oh," said Cassie. "Sorry, I guess that I overstepped a boundary."

Cassie went inside the house and Valt took me to one side.

"Shu, why do you look so tired? Did you not get enough sleep? You told me that you will take more care of your health."

"I couldn't sleep last night," I said. "I was too worried about Kirika..."

"Wait what? What happened to Kirika?"

Oops. I shouldn't have said that. I told Valt about Kirika eating strawberry ice cream, but then Valt said, "But Shu, you know that she's allergic to strawberries. Why would you give her strawberry ice cream?"

I felt a little embarrassed. "I... I..."

"Do you have amnesia?" asked Valt. "When did we meet?"

"Back in kindergarten. I was very shy and hardly spoke to anyone. But then you saved me from some bullies and I started talking to you."

"How old were you when you started blading?"

Was this a trick question? "I was ten."

"Why are you scared of swimming?"

"Because once when I was eight, my parents left me at the beach and I almost drowned in the sea."

"I don't get it," said Valt. "You don't seem to have memory problems. Anyway, Aiger is at the Raging Bulls to catch up with Fubuki."

"How does this Aiger know Fubuki?"

Valt stared at me as if I had grown a head. "They were classmates at Beigoma Academy! How do you not remember Aiger?"

"Who's Aiger again?"

"Are you okay? I don't remember you ever having memory problems."

That's not strictly true in my timeline. I had once gotten into an accident that left me in a coma, and when I woke up, I had strange gaps in my memory which made it difficult for me to remember things.

Valt and I went to the Raging Bulls. I suddenly realized that Valt had mentioned that Fubuki was at the Raging Bulls.

"Wait, when did Fubuki become a Raging Bulls member?"

Valt stared at me as if I had grown a third head. "You were the one that invited him two years ago. Fubuki had fallen out with his friend Suoh and you told him that he could come to America so that you could help him."

I wanted to ask more questions, but I was afraid that Valt might think that I had gone insane. I wouldn't blame him though.

Suddenly, two younger boys came up to us. I immediately recognised Fubuki, although I only remember him as a kid, not a boy in his early teens.

I once met Fubuki's older brother, Akeno, when I was ten years old. He was really nice and gave me some blading tips. But then he became sick and passed away.

The boy with Aiger had maroon hair in a ponytail and turquoise eyes. He was wearing red. "Hi Shu, remember me?"

"I... Don't?"

Fubuki looked asthonished. "Shu, this is Aiger, remember?"

I was so confused. I am pretty sure I haven't met this Aiger before. Despite being sleep deprived, I started to panic all over again.

I turned around and this time, I almost bumped into a tall boy with spiky magenta hair and yellow eyes. He had a hedgehog on his shoulder.

"Shu, you're acting odd."

"Do I know you?"

The boy gave me a 'Are you serious' face. "I'm Lain, remember? You recruited me for the Raging Bulls almost a year ago."

"I did?"

"Yes. You even bought Harry from a pet shop to give me for Christmas."

"Who's Harry?"

"This is Harry!" said Lain as he pointed at the hedgehog. "You seriously don't remember him?"

I went silent. I had no idea what to say to that.

"You personally trained me, but I wasn't very patient," said Lain. "Besides, your sister annoyed me by rubbing her crayons all over my launchers. Then you told me off after I shouted at her and made her cry."

I felt like I was suffocating. I wasn't sure how long more I can go hearing details about things I don't remember. I didn't know if it was because I was exhausted or because I was overwhelmed, but I felt really dizzy.

"Shu, are you okay?" asked Valt.

I tried to answer, but no sound came out. Suddenly, everything went black.