I stared at the limp piece of paper in my hand.

It was all he had left me.

Shed some skin for the fear within...

Tears fell from my eyes, dripping onto the note, staining it.

Is starting to hurt me with everything...

I clenched my hands, and tried to stop the tears.

Freed from the memory...

"Where are you?" I whispered.

Escape from my history, history...

"Come back to me."

And I just hope that you can forgive us...

"Please..."

But everything must go.

Ever since Wakiya had disappeared, it was like I had disappeared, too. I was still here physically, but i was invisible in every other way. I was a shell of my former self, barely speaking to anyone.

Every day I would read the note Wakiya had left me. Its words would haunt my dreams, swimming around my mind. I would carry the note around in my pocket, and take it out to read it at any given time.

And if you need an explanation

Then everything must go.

Those words remained with me wherever I went. I thought about them constantly, trying to convey a meaning from them. I felt as though they should make sense to me, but I couldn't process them.

I didn't tell anyone about the note. It felt too personal to tell even the beyclub. They didn't even seem to notice that Wakiya was missing. They just carried on as normal, battling, training, laughing together, never once mentioning their old friend.

I asked Valt about him one day. "So, do you remember Wakiya?"

Valt simply stared blankly at me.

"You know, long blonde hair, blue eyes..." I blushed as I imagined him.

Recognition flickered on Valt's face. "Oh. him." He smiled.

"So you remember him?"

"Yeah." Valt looked wistful. "We haven't seen him in a while, though. You stopped coming here about six months ago."

I nodded. Wakiya had told me about how he didn't feel as though the beyclub cared about him. But they obviously did, judging from the way Valt talked about him.

"Valt, I've got to tell you something..."

"What is it, Shiroko?"

I took a deep breath, as if I was about to jump into a deep pool of water. "Wakiya... he disappeared. Not long ago."

Valt's face fell. "Disappeared?" He repeated.

"Yeah."

"Did he leave a... a note... or something?"

I really wanted tot ell him about the note. He looked so hopeful when he asked me about it. But I couldn't. "No. Nothing," I replied, feeling a stab of guilt as I said it.

"Oh. Ok." Valt bent his head in grief.

I wanted to go to him, put my arm around him, comfort him. But something inside of me stopped me from doing so, so instead I silently walked away.

On my way home, I stopped at the river, and stared out into it. The last place Wakiya had been seen, early in the morning a few weeks ago. On the 9th of September, his birthday. It was like he had planned it...

Oh, who was I kidding? Of course he planned it. I couldn't keep denying it. I knew exactly where he was. He was at the bottom of this river somewhere, probably halfway out to sea by now.

I look to the future it makes me cry

Looking down into the water, I imagined I could feel Wakiya's arms wrapped around me. I closed my eyes, imagining that I could hear his voice, whispering in my ear.

But it seems too real to tell you why...

I opened my eyes abruptly. It had felt that, for a second, Wakiya really had been here. I glanced around, feeling my heart fill with hope, but there was no one around. How could he be here, anyway? He was gone.

I felt the note in my pocket. It crackled under my touch. I took it out and unfolded it, tracing the sharp handwriting with my finger.

Freed from the century...

I wondered how he must've felt as he wrote this. Sad, angry? Did he maybe feel regret?

With nothing but memory, memory...

Memory. That was all I had left of him now.

And so it begins!!! I hope you like my taste in music, by the way, because otherwise I might kill you lol!!! Or at least force you to listen to this song for about 10 hours...

Anyway, I wrote this all entirely on my laptop, so it's all super messy right now. I'll have to fix it all up a bit on my phone later. Anyway again... I hope you all liked this chapter. It took a lot of time to write, as I was on my laptop, and also because I kept having to check the lyrics were right!!!!

But I think it turned out alright in the end... Let me know what you think of it all, both the song and the story itself!!!

Stay tuned for Chapter 2!!!!