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[School papers in hand and Hinoti-Ri ID on his bedside table for personal reference, Otonashi clicks the feed open on his watch. Dark circles lining his eyes, ruffled hair and a more unkempt shirt tell the story of a boy who either stayed up all night or who consistently hasn't been sleeping as well as he should.

He glances back to the ID card, over the name listed on it. Without that piece of information, he wouldn't even be able to fill in the first name section.]

So, ahh... this school thing... What if you don't know where to start? [There he goes, ruffling his own hair again.] Ugh, that sounds weird.

Wh-what I mean is... if you don't remember where you left off in school, what can you do? Oi, I don't even remember my birthday... [Paperwork: everyone's nemesis, but doubly so for an amnesiac.]

-- action option;

[3:00 A.M is an unreasonable hour to be wandering around outside of his apartment, but he's craving a drink—not tap water or coffee—and since sleeping is not happening, he might as well. Feel free to bump into him or yell at him to go to bed, but good luck with the latter.]

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... Yes. All I can remember... about myself is my family name.

[He still remembers the afterlife clearly. Does that win him any points? A gold star for trying, maybe?]

And I'm guessing you don't remember how you came to be an amnesiac, either?

Remember..? Not exactly... But I'm pretty sure I know.

W-why? Do you deal with amnesiacs often..?

Nope! Why would I have anything to do with amnesiacs? [You're expecting too much out of a random teen there, Otonashi.]

What's your theory?

Ahh... I don't know, it just seemed like you've seen it before... [He hesitates. How well will this conversation go over?]

I—we think it... might have been something like a severe head injury. M-maybe some other trauma. Hinata and Yuri both said that it's common for people who die from a head wound to end up like this.

Oh, you're one of the dead people here?

[...He's probably been here too long, letting a sentence like that sound normal in his own ears compared to some of the other stuff he's seen.]

Head trauma, huh? I guess it would be too much to ask if dying fixed any brain damage you got when you were alive. [Although he does look pretty healthy outside of that fact, and maybe some lack of sleep.]

Y... yeah. [Is it that easy to talk about the deceased? That is both reassuring and distressing, Hizumi.]

Ahah... uhh. It doesn't seem to always work that way... I knew a girl who suffered a cerebral stroke and seemed fine. She even remembered it.

Oh? So you're just the lucky one with amnesia.

[Hmm~]

Maybe it's a different kind of trauma that's holding you back?

Ahh... 'Lucky.' [A mixed blessing, maybe.]

Everyone talked about memory loss being caused by hitting your head, as if that's the most common. And everyone I knew had suffered... I don't really understand what would be different about me. [Oh. Sounds like someone was monologuing aloud.]

A-ahh, sorry. Usually people don't know anything about it, so... [... And the fact that Hizumi seems to be able to talk so freely is concerning, given what Otonashi already knows about this boy.]

You're assuming everyone reacts to suffering the same way, though.

[He taps the side of his head.]

Some people might be fine with remembering, but... Are you sure that deep down, you really want to remember what you went through, too?

[For his part, he seems to be treating this as a completely ordinary conversation, as if that one time during the Dark Hour had never even occurred.]

[Fair enough. All Otonashi can do is nod to acknowledge that he heard what was said.]

... No. I'm not sure. [I want to believe that I'll accept what happened and who I was, but I'm afraid—] It might change me, or... the way I see the people around me. I don't know if I'm... better off this way or not. [Classic case of the devil you know versus the devil you don't.]

Ah, does... that make any sense?

[Which is why we definitely need a devil here to prompt these thoughts, yes!]

Sure, sure. Your personality, your sense of self-- it's what makes you, well. You. The idea of it being easily malleable, of it being changed completely...

It's scary. There are a lot of people who would do all kinds of things to try to retain what they believe to be themselves.

Mm. [There's a long pause on his end. Hizumi summed up what he was thinking rather concisely.]

I don't want to become somebody else, or... to be unable to help the people around me. But if other people have to accept their suffering... Then I shouldn't be different. I shouldn't not try just because it's scary. Ahh, well, sort of..! I'm not exactly choosing to forget right now...

[His tone up until now hasn't exactly been heavy, but there's a sudden extra spark of brightness.]

And that's why you probably shouldn't worry about it too much. Whether or not you regain your memories... Whatever happens is probably inevitable, so there's no real point in thinking too much about it!

[Optimism at its... finest...?]

...

Ahehaha... ah. I... suppose so..? [You are remarkably cavalier about this, Hizumi!]

[Well, sometimes you hit a certain age and your personality suddenly shifts and then you become a murderous destroyer of humanity and there's just not a whole lot you can do about it!!]

Look, what I'm saying is, instead of wasting time worrying about it you should just try to enjoy life as you are now. It might change in the future, or it might not, but either way fretting about it isn't going to get you anywhere.

[These things just can't be helped sometimes!]

I'll, uhh... I'll keep that in mind. That's not exactly the way I would have said it, but you're right. And that's what really counts...

Well, it's the truth, right?

[You can put it in fancier words if you really want to.]

So, you're going to school then?

Ahh... y-yeah! [On both counts. At least he's agreeable?]

I'm probably going to look into it when it's not so late... What about you? What do you think of this free school idea?

There's no real reason for me to go, so I'm gonna give it a pass.

[A nonchalant wave of the hand here.]

Good luck with getting your stuff sorted out, though.

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