During the summer of my senior year, a transfer student came...

I can’t remember when she arrived. But I was aware of her presence.

She was beautiful and mysterious, like a wildflower.

The strumming sound of an acoustic guitar could be heard among the cries of cicadas in the summer heat. A young girl was humming a tune to herself while writing down some notes in a small notebook she had.

It was a cycle, back and forth, she would strum the same few chords, stop to write something down, and back to strumming. She experimented with the different chords, with her voice, with the tuning of the instrument. In her own little bubble where no one could break her concentration.

Meanwhile, not too far from her, a girl stood under the comforting shade of a tree that stood just a few feet away from where the other girl sat. She watched her from afar, the transfer student whose name she didn’t know. A girl with a fierce gaze and wild beauty…

“Marigold…” she muttered. Yes, this transfer student’s radiance reminded her of a marigold. Vibrant and loud, event without saying a word.

“Hey. It’s rude to stalk people like that, y’know?”

Her voice broke Yuki away from her thoughts. She hid behind the tree as the nameless girl turned her head.

“I know you’re there! Just come out already!”

After a few seconds, she peered her head out. She tucked back her short brown hair, stepping out from behind the tree with a shy, guilty expression.

“Do you like it?”

“Eh?” Yuki blinked at the girl’s question.

“My guitar playing. Did you like it?”

Shyly, Yuki just nodded.

The girl grinned, a soft chuckle escaping her lips.

“Hey, why don’t ya come and sit? Here,” she patted an empty spot on the grassy ground, an open invitation for her to sit beside her.

Yuki stepped out into the blazing sunlight, shielding her eyes as she walked over and sat beside the girl with the guitar.

“Um… can I ask your name?” she asked as the girl went onto flipping through the pages of her notebook.

Without looking up, she responded, “Why?”

“‘Why’..? Does there have to be a reason?”

“We’ve never talked before. I figured you weren’t that interested in knowing about me.”

“That’s not exactly the case…” Yuki looked down, “I just haven’t had the chance to… The truth is, I really want to get to know you better.”

“Is that so…” she said while putting down her notebook. “I wonder why people are always so curious…”

“Huh?”

“Nothing. Nevermind,” she smiled again, a more grimace smile.

“So, what’s your name?”

“It’s Sayaka. Yamamoto Sayaka… If I were you, I wouldn’t try too hard to remember me.”

“What? Why?” Yuki raised a brow.

“Don’t mind it now,” she simply answered before she began her strumming again.

-------------------------

“Eh? Who’s Yamamoto Sayaka?”

“The new transfer student.”

“Oh, her. Why are you hanging out with her? She seems more like a loner.”

“Why not? I want to be friends with her. Plus, she’s a good singer.”

“Eh? Singer?”

“She’s always playing her guitar and singing. I’ve been watching her.”

“Yuki… are you a stalker?”

“Oi! No I’m not!”

“Yamamoto-san,” Yuki walked over to where Sayaka was sitting in the gym. Their classes were playing volleyball against each other for P.E., so it was a rare chance they got to interact.

“Kashiwagi… right?”

“You can just call me ‘Yuki’. Here,” she handed her a water bottle before sitting down.

“Why are you sitting here?”

“Why not? I’m just resting.”

“Don’t you want to sit with your friends?”

“You’re my friend, aren’t you?” Yuki tilted her head. The girl just sighed out, wiping her neck with a towel. “Aren’t we..?”

“You shouldn’t be so involved with me,” she said coldly.

“Why?”

“Because you already have friends. You don’t need to hang around me.”

Yuki pouted at the girl’s stubbornness. She decided to fight fire with fire; if Sayaka was going to give her the cold shoulder, then she’ll do the same.

She puffed an angry sigh and turned her face away from Sayaka. “How mean…” she muttered.

They just sat there, neither saying anything. Sayaka glanced over, seeing the other girl trying her hardest to give her the silent treatment.

Suddenly, she just started laughing, confusing Yuki. Wasn’t she just trying to push her away? Was she not annoyed with her?

“What’s with you?!” Sayaka said as she laughed. “You really are an odd one!”

“Huh? Odd?! What’s that supposed to mean?!”

“Hehe, you! Kashiwagi! You’re so weird, I like it!”

“H-huh?! I’m not--” Yuki’s face flushed red, a mixture of confusion, embarrassment, and anger.

“I get it now,” Sayaka smiled widely, looking up at Yuki. “You were trying to get my attention just now! Weren’t you?”

“So? That’s no reason for you to laugh at--”

“Hey, Kashiwagi,” she interrupted her, standing up from her seat. “Will you help me with something?”

“What..?”

“Songwriting.”

----------------------

Ever since then, Yuki would meet up with Sayaka in her free time to help her write a song. She got to hear her guitar strumming and lovely singing voice all day. For one and a half weeks, she was blessed with hearing her perfect singing…

….

“If only I could stop time, the summer that I spent with you is ending soon…”

“Sayaka-chan, it’s beautiful!”

“Really?! I just made it up!”

“Look! A firefly!”

“Wait up! Yuki!”

“Kashiwagi,” Sayaka poked the girl’s cheek, waking her up from her nap. Apparently she was so soothed by her singing and the summer heat, she dozed off.

“S-sorry!” she quickly apologized.

Sayaka chuckled. “Did you sleep well?”

“Well… yeah.”

“Good. Now, tell me what you think of these lyrics,” she slid the notebook to Yuki from across the table. Yuki read out the lyrics she had written down.

“Shining brightly and disappearing, fallen in love, I am a firefly…” she smiled reading them. “I like it.”

“I think a summer themed love song would be perfect for the upcoming festival.”

“I can’t wait~” Yuki couldn’t help but feel her heart flutter. “Shaved ice and fireworks… All sorts of different snacks and fishing for goldfish… I wonder if we can do it all in one night?”

“Huh? We?”

Yuki saw Sayaka furrow her brow.

“Yes, we. You and me. Aren’t we going together?”

“Oh…” Sayaka frowned. “I don’t think… I want to go.”

“Eh? Why not?!”

“There’s no one else I’m really friends with besides you… So why bother going? I’ll have no one else to talk to.”

“But you can make friends at the festival! Don’t you want that?”

“Sure I do. But--”

“But what?!” Yuki stood up from her seat. “What’s stopping you?! Why do you always do this?!”

“Yuki?”

“You always push everyone away and keep to yourself, but you want to make friends, don’t you?! So why won’t you? Are you afraid of something?! Or do you just not like me?!”

“It’s not that at all, Yuki!”

“Then what?! Just tell me the truth!”

“Because it won’t matter once I--!” Sayaka covered before she could finish.

“Once you what?”

Angrily, Sayaka got up and stormed out of the room, not saying anything. In the silence, Yuki hugged her knees and started to cry.

“Why..? Why does she always act like this?”

-----------------------

“Don’t go… please.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I won’t forget! I swear I’ll keep our promise!”

“Really… I’m sorry…”

“I absolutely won’t forget! No matter what! I won’t forget! I won’t...”

“I won’t forget… I won’t forget..!”

“Yuki, honey~” Yuki’s mom came into her daughter’s room, nudging her slightly. “Come now, wake up. Just because it’s summer break doesn’t mean you can sleep through the whole day.”

Yuki groaned, her eyes wincing at the bright sunlight.

“Ah, that’s right… Tonight’s the festival,” she then thought, bringing a lonely feeling as she remembered her fight with Sayaka. “Why was she so against it..?”

“Oh, honey, what’s the matter?” her mother then asked.

“Huh?”

“You’re crying.”

Yuki touched her face, seeing her cheek was damp with tears. Indeed, why was she crying? Was it a dream she had?

….

By the time the festival started, Yuki was able to meet up with some of her classmates and spent most of her time with them. She did her best to forget about her fight with Sayaka. Even though she wanted to have a fun time at the festival, she still felt lonely.

As her friends were chatting, she took a sparkler in her hand and lit it up. Kneeling down at the ground, she watched the sparks fly while thinking about Sayaka’s song.

She hummed it to herself, thinking back to when she first met Sayaka and…

“...Huh?” she suddenly blinked several times. “When I first met Sayaka..?”

She tried to think. She tried to remember. But no matter how hard she tried, she somehow couldn’t remember how she first met the girl.

“N-no… I have to remember… what she said to me…”

She hummed the song again, trying to jog her memory. She tried to remember how the two spent time together in…

“Eh..? What were we doing then?” she rubbed her temple, her head pounding. “We were… writing that song… That song… The lyrics..!”

The sparkler started to fade, the glowing ember falling onto the dirt. Yuki tried to think of the lyrics, but the words themselves seemed to blur and fade from her mind like dying embers of a flame.

“No, no, no! Why can’t I remember?” she held her head, fighting back the burning sensation of tears in her eyes. “Why..? Why..?!”

“Yuki?” One of her classmates called to her. “What’s the matter?”

“..Sayaka…”

“Huh?”

“I need to find Sayaka..!” she screamed as she stood up.

She saw her friend look at her with a confused expression.

“Yuki… Who’s Sayaka?”

….

“Yuki, if something ever happens and you feel lost, go to the forest where the fireflies gather. I’ll be there.”

Yuki ran as fast as she could. Holding her sandals in her hands, she ran and ran, the bottoms of her feet covered in dirt and grass.

“Who was it..? Someone said to me… I should go here.”

She remembered a distant dream from her childhood. Of a girl she played with among the green fireflies.

“That girl… she and I… we were…”

“Do you really promise you won’t forget?”

“Yes… I made a promise to her! Why did I forget her?!”

As she went in deeper, she could hear a song being sung. Yes, that song she was trying to remember. A song that was so familiar but so unfamiliar, too. A song she felt like she heard it many times but was also hearing it for the first time ever.

“This song… she always sang it!”

She finally reached it. The darkest part of the forest, where fireflies glowed in bright green and lit up the trees and grass around them. Standing there was Sayaka, holding a small flower.

“Why…?” Yuki finally said as she caught her breath. “Why can’t I remember… when we first met?”

Sayaka didn’t say anything. She looked at Yuki with a lonely gaze.

“I can’t remember the conversation we had during P.E.… I can’t remember the lyrics to the song you wrote… I can’t remember our fight..! Why am I forgetting all these things?!”

“Because summer is ending soon…”

“Sayaka!” Yuki held her shoulder, tears welling in her eyes again. “Why… Why am I forgetting you?”

Sayaka made a grimace smile.

“Don’t cry, please. It’ll only make it harder.”

“What? Make what harder?” Yuki lowered her hands. “None of my classmates remember you… No one from school recognized your name when I asked them if they knew where you were?! Why did everyone--”

“Yuki,” Sayaka held the girl’s hands. She could feel a warmth resonating from her palms that seemed to calm her panic. “I can’t stay…”

“Eh..?”

“I can’t stay in this place. I don’t belong here,” she spoke in a melancholy tone. “I never was meant to.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m not from this world.”

Yuki stood puzzled, her eyes squinted slightly trying to wrap her head around what the girl in front of her was saying.

“I don’t exist in this place. I’m from a place that mirrors this one, a reflection of this world. A parallel world, is what you may call it.”

“A parallel world.”

“It’s very similar to this world. But in that world, you were no longer with me. In that world, we used to play and have fun. But then, one day, you left that world and I couldn’t be with you anymore.”

“Left…? So I--”

“Yeah…” Sayaka frowned, lowering her head. “I missed you so much. So I wished one day that I could go to a world where you weren’t gone. And my wish came true…”

Sayaka’s grip tightened. The small flower in her and Yuki’s hands was threatened of being crushed if Sayaka didn’t let go. She turned her gaze away.

“But, in this world, you and I aren’t friends. In fact, I never existed to begin with. So my time in this world is limited to just one summer every few years. And when that summer ends…”

“Everyone forgets you,” Yuki answered, a pain welling in her heart. “That’s what happens, right?”

“If you want to know the truth,” Sayaka continued. “This isn’t the first time we met in this world. It’s actually the second time. We first met when you were a kid, and you came from Kagoshima to spend summer in Tokyo and met me.”

Yuki’s heart skipped. She remembered that summer well, of how she spent time with her parents. But she couldn’t remember meeting Sayaka.

It was a blur, even though everything else about it was clear.

“You promised me that if you ever came to Tokyo again, you would find me and we’d play again. You promised you wouldn’t forget about me, even though I said it was impossible.”

Yuki began to cry as Sayaka hugged her.

“I’m sorry… Really, I’m sorry,” she whispered, her hair. “I wish I could stay longer. I wish I could stay here with you. But I can’t exist here.”

“D-don’t go… please…”

“I have to. As much as it hurts, my time here is up. I have to go back to that place. And then, once I’m gone, no trace of me will be left. You won’t remember--”

“No!” Yuki shouted, hugging Sayaka back strongly. “I won’t forget!”

Sayaka’s eyes widened. The green fireflies’ light embracing them.

“I absolutely won’t forget! I swear I won’t! So the next time you come back, I’ll remember who you are! I’ll make sure of it!”

Tears fell down her face, a bitter laugh escaping her.

“Idiot… You said that last time.”

“I promise… I won’t forget this time. I won’t forget.”

I won’t forget.

I won’t forget.

I won’t…

….

“Yuki! There you are!” Yuki’s classmates approached her as she walked towards them. “Where’d you run off to?!”

“Sorry…” Yuki smiled slightly. “I’m not really sure why I ran off either.”

“C’mon, the fireworks are starting!”

Yuki followed her friends to the top of the temple, until she became aware she was holding something in her hand.

She unfolded her fingers and saw a small flower. A forget-me-not.

“Why do I have this..?” she thought as she placed it in her pocket.

As she was walking, she began to hum the melody of a song.

“Huh? Yuki, what are you singing?”

“Hm… I don’t know. I guess i just made it up.”

….

I don’t know why or how, or even when

But, I began to sing a song

About a “firefly” who fell in love

I believe that this song was for someone important

So I’ll keep singing, until I remember.