After drinking the medicine, Muichiro lay in bed in silence for a long time.
Haruto stepped out for a while to let everyone who was worried about him know that he was all right.
After all, he had effectively been unconscious for a week, and everyone had been anxious.
When Haruto returned to the room, Muichiro had already sat up and turned to look at him.
"Mr. Haruto," he said blankly. "I remembered some things, but not everything. Could I..."
"No." Haruto did not even need to think to know what he was going to say.
He simply wanted another dose of the potion, to revisit those searing memories and lose himself in them again, just as he had before...
Haruto shook his head firmly. "That potion harms the body. Forcing someone out of their memories with the awakening potion does even more damage."
Indeed, even after taking the medicine, Muichiro still had a splitting headache.
He stared silently at the ceiling lamp, then said slowly after a long while, "I understand... Thank you, Mr. Haruto."
He had already remembered many things, but his mind was still completely blank when it came to the most crucial event.
He remembered only that his life had changed utterly after that summer.
And the person who looked so much like him, so cold and sharp-tongued... his older brother, Yuichiro Tokito, was no longer by his side.
The barrier around his memories was crumbling bit by bit. Muichiro looked forward to the day, not far off, when his life would become whole again.
The days passed peacefully, and before long, November arrived, bringing a sharp drop in temperature.
The three boys' injuries had mostly healed three months earlier, and they had spent those three months undergoing physical rehabilitation at the Butterfly Mansion.
Haruto