No One Remembers Kanata

When Koharu awoke that morning, her fingers were curled around the icy bite of cold metal.

She sat bolt upright in bed, opening her right hand in the pale morning light.

Resting in her palm on a silver chain was an antique pocket watch.

Its hands remained frozen at exactly five o'clock, motionless.

"...It wasn't a dream."

From beneath the blankets, a ball of red yarn bounced out. It was Pocke.

"Koharu, something terrible has happened-pock! Kanata... Kanata was dragged into the shadows of twilight-pock!"

"I know. But we don't have time to sit around crying. Let's get to school. We have to hold an emergency strategy meeting with Ayame and Taiga!"

Throwing on her yellow rain cape and tucking the pocket watch deep into her pocket, Koharu grabbed a fresh piece of melon bread between her teeth and bolted down the hill.

A dusting of last night's first snowfall lingered across the tiled roofs and along the roadside.

Her breath puffed white in the frosty air, and outside the fishmonger's shop in the arcade, buckets of water were skimmed with thin sheets of ice.

Arriving at Tsukimizaka Elementary, Koharu slid open the classroom door of 5-2 with a loud clatter.

The kerosene stove was humming, and classmates were gathered in cheerful clusters, chatting warmly.

Yet the moment Koharu crossed the threshold, she froze solid.

"...Wait."

The seat in the back corner by the window, where Kanata always sat.

The desk and chair that belonged there were gone without a trace.

It wasn't merely that an empty desk was missing. The remaining desks had been rearranged with meticulous spacing, as though Class 5-2 had been a twenty-nine-student classroom from the very beginning of the school year.

On the chore roster pinned to the blackboard, on the cubbies for backpacks along the wall—the name Yomi was nowhere to be found.

"Good morning, Miss Hoshikawa. The school play was a magnificent triumph, wasn't it?"

Holding the attendance ledger, their homeroom teacher, Ms. Mori, offered a warm smile.

Gasping for breath, Koharu rushed up to the teacher's podium.

"M-Ms. Mori! Where is Yomi's desk?! Is Kanata Yomi absent today?!"

Ms. Mori blinked in surprise, tilting her head with a puzzled frown.

"Yomi...? Miss Hoshikawa, whoever are you referring to? There is no student by that name in our class."

"Wh-What...?! That's impossible! Kanata Yomi, who played Kai in yesterday's play!"

"Kai? But Kai was never part of our adaptation, remember? Our script had Gerda journeying to the northland all on her own."

"No way..."

Every drop of blood drained from Koharu's face.

Spinning around, she spotted Taiga standing by the lockers with his soccer ball.

"Taiga! You remember Kanata, don't you?! We hauled the iceberg prop together yesterday!"

Taiga scratched the adhesive bandage on his nose, his brow furrowing in confusion.

"Huh? Yomi...? Who's that? I hauled all the props by myself, Koharu. We never had any transfer student in our class."

"Not you too, Taiga...?!"

"Whoa, Koharu, did you wake up from a weird nightmare or something? Are you running a fever?"

Taiga's carefree, cheerful grin felt terrifyingly cold.

Koharu ran from desk to desk, asking classmate after classmate, but the answers were identical:

"Yomi? Never heard of him." "Who's that?" "We don't have a new kid."

The background chatter of the classroom seemed to drown in a muffled roar, like listening from the bottom of the ocean.

(Why...? What happened to everyone...?)

Koharu clutched her head in sheer panic.

Inside her pocket, Pocke shivered and whispered fiercely:

"Koharu, hold it together-pock! I remember! The quiet, cheeky Kanata with the silver hair—I will never, ever forget him-pock!"

"Pocke..."

"It's Wasurena's doing-pock! She wiped every trace of Kanata's existence from this entire town-pock!"

An icy dread seeped into Koharu's veins.

(If time keeps passing... will even I forget what Kanata's face looked like?)

The more desperately she tried to picture him, the more yesterday's gentle smile seemed to blur, like watercolor dissolving in rain. Koharu's knees shook uncontrollably.

---

"Ayame...! Ayame, you have to remember him, right?!"

After school, Koharu burst into the quiet library, rushing toward Ayame Kujo seated at a corner study desk.

Her neat violet ribbon swaying, Ayame closed her book with deliberate grace.

"Please lower your voice, Koharu. Absolute silence in the library, remember?"

"Please, Ayame! Tell me about Kanata Yomi!"

Ayame looked at Koharu through her glasses and gave a quiet, firm shake of her head.

"Our classmates have been murmuring about this all day... As class president, I have the entire student directory committed to memory. A student named 'Yomi' has never existed in our class."

"No... Even you forgot him?! It can't be...!"

Tears spilled over Koharu's lashes.

"During yesterday's play, you told me, 'I won't let you bear this burden alone!' Kanata stood right beside us!"

"I uttered such a dramatic line...? I possess no recollection of that. There is no evidence."

Ayame spoke in a flat, clinical voice.

And that was when Koharu's gaze landed upon the violet leather notebook resting on the corner of the desk.

The magical volume entrusted to her by Lady Shiori of the Lost-and-Found Hall.

"Your notebook...! Look at your notebook, Ayame!"

"What...?"

"Lady Shiori told us! Whatever is written in the Unforgettable Notebook can never be erased by any magic of Wasurena!"

Ayame gasped.

Her slender fingers reached hesitatingly toward the leather cover. She flipped it open.

Turning through the pages, she arrived at December 10th—the day of the school play.

There, filling the page in her own crisp, immaculate fountain-pen script, was an extensive entry:

Case Record: Phantom Thief Midnight / Kanata Yomi.

Objective: To recover the memories of his mother and himself stolen by Wasurena.

Physical characteristics: Silver hair, slate-blue eyes. Carries a stopped pocket watch and a single red mitten (right hand).

December 10th, 5:00 PM. In the gymnasium, destroyed his mask by his own volition. Abducted by Wasurena's black fog.

Final words left behind: 'Forget about me.'

Sketched beside the text, in Ayame's own hand, was a detailed profile of Kanata's face.

Ayame's eyes flew wide. The fingers holding the notebook trembled violently.

"This... this is my handwriting. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, these are my recorded observations...!"

Ayame pressed the notebook fiercely against her chest.

"Evidence never lies. ...Kanata was here. As our indispensable teammate, he was truly by our side...!"

The radiant spark returned to Ayame's eyes.

Like morning sun burning away a sea of fog, the veil over her memories shattered.

"Koharu. Forgive me for doubting you. Kanata has truly been erased from our reality."

"Ayame...! Thank goodness... you remembered...!"

Just as Koharu threw her arms around Ayame, the library doors flew open with a resounding BANG!

"Pant, pant, pant...! I... I found you!"

Gasping for breath, Taiga came charging in.

"Inukai, no running in the—"

Ayame began to scold, but Taiga sprinted straight up to them, his nose twitching violently.

"I remembered...! I remembered everything!"

"Taiga?!"

Taiga thumped his chest with both fists.

"I was walking past the home economics room! I smelled those cookies... and right beneath that scent, I caught the faint smell of a freezing rainy day and the wool of a navy muffler!"

Taiga's miraculous, dog-like sense of smell had hooked onto the lingering threads of memory.

"It was him! The silver-haired guy who hauled the iceberg with me! I called him 'Kanata'! And his ears turned bright red!"

Tears poured down Taiga's face, dripping past his bandage.

"Dammit! How could I have forgotten him?! He's our friend!"

"Taiga...!"

"Ayame's intellect and Taiga's nose—you two are the absolute best-pock!" Pocke cheered from Koharu's cape, clapping its mitten paws.

"Now all three of us and our mascot are assembled," Ayame said, wiping a tear from her cheek with dignified resolve. "We are going to bring Kanata back. Let us uncover our next clue!"

---

Over the next few days, the Detectives scoured Tsukimizaka for leads.

And on December 14th—the eve of the Winter Festival—the three of them visited a modest, weathered one-story house on the seaside outskirts of town.

Tucked at the end of a narrow alley at the base of the hill, the wooden gatepost bore a faded brass nameplate: Yomi.

When they pressed the doorbell, the front door slid open to reveal a gentle-faced woman in a navy-blue apron.

It was Michiru Yomi—Kanata's mother.

"My... elementary school visitors? We have no children living here, but how may I help you?"

Michiru smiled warmly, looking at the three children with polite curiosity.

Even his own mother had completely forgotten her son's existence.

The cruel reality twisted like a knife in Koharu's heart.

"Um... Mrs. Yomi, could we ask you a few questions? About the Winter Festival."

Ayame bowed respectfully, and Michiru welcomed them into the cozy living room, insisting they warm themselves from the cold.

Hot roasted barley tea and steaming sweet potatoes were served.

In the corner of the room sat large baskets overflowing with thick skeins of wool.

Koharu noticed the closet door in the back was ajar.

Through the gap, she caught sight of familiar navy and gray yarn.

"Mrs. Yomi... what are those mufflers?"

When Koharu pointed, Michiru looked slightly troubled, retrieving a wrapped bundle from the closet.

Unfolding the cloth revealed five hand-knitted mufflers, neatly folded in a stack.

All were knit from navy and gray yarn—the bottom one tiny, the top one sized perfectly for a fifth-grade boy.

"Strange, isn't it? I have no children... yet every December when the Winter Festival approaches, I find myself knitting these scarves."

Michiru gently stroked the newest muffler with tender affection.

"I don't know why. I get this overwhelming feeling that someone dear to me is freezing out in the bitter wind... My chest aches with the urge to finish it quickly and wrap it around them. But no matter how hard I try, I can never remember who I'm knitting it for."

Tears shimmered in Michiru's eyes.

Even when memories were stolen, a mother's love buried deep within the soul could never be erased.

Five mufflers knitted over five years—the undeniable proof of the years Kanata had been stolen from this world.

Taiga bit his lip, squeezing his fists so hard his knuckles popped. Ayame closed her eyes in silent grief.

Koharu stood up and bowed deeply before Michiru.

"Mrs. Yomi. Would you please let us borrow one of those mufflers?"

"What...?"

"I swear to you, I will deliver it to the person who is waiting for it! So that they will never, ever have to be cold again!"

In Koharu's amber eyes burned a fierce, unshakeable light.

Michiru blinked in astonishment, then offered a radiant, trusting smile.

"Hehe... how strange. Looking at you, I truly believe it will reach them. Please, take it, little girl."

The navy muffler handed to Koharu smelled like warm sunshine on a winter afternoon.

---

Just before five o'clock, the three detectives dashed up the hill to the red-brick Lost-and-Found Hall.

Throwing open the wooden door, the steady ticking of the grandfather clock and the scent of fresh tea greeted them.

From behind the counter, Lady Shiori looked up with gentle sympathy.

"My, my, Detectives. You arrive in quite a breathless rush..."

"Lady Shiori!"

Koharu sprinted to the counter, setting down Kanata's stopped pocket watch and Michiru's hand-knit muffler.

"Kanata was taken by Wasurena! The entire town has forgotten him...! Please, tell us how we can go rescue him!"

Lady Shiori lowered her eyes, setting her teacup upon its saucer.

"...So it has come to this. That boy severed the temptation of my shadow, and paid the price."

Walking to the shelf, Lady Shiori retrieved a magnificent, antique brass key.

"Kanata was carried into 'the Land of Twilight.' It is the country at the very floor of memory, where the loneliness of unclaimed things drifts like sand, and where the sunset never ends."

"The Land of Twilight..." Taiga swallowed hard. "If we go there, we can bring him back, right?!"

"Yes. However, it is an exceptionally perilous realm. If you linger too long, you too will lose your precious memories, forgetting even your own names."

"We are going anyway!" Koharu refused to back down an inch. "I made a promise to Kanata! That I would bring him home! Someone so kind, who suffered so much for others... there is no way we can leave him behind in the dark!"

Ayame stood tall beside her.

"Naturally, I am accompanying her. A detective does not abandon her partner in harm's way. With my records and deductions, I shall illuminate our path."

Taiga flashed his sharp tooth and gave a thumbs-up.

"Count me in! I've gotta show Kanata the true, awe-inspiring speed of the whirlwind reindeer!"

"Everyone...!"

Lady Shiori smiled with boundless affection.

"What a truly magnificent team of detectives. ...To unlock the gates to the Land of Twilight, three elements are required: First, the 'stopped watch' that arrested time. Second, the 'unyielding heart' resolved to bring him home. And third—the 'bonds of friendship' that will call his name and illuminate the path back."

Right then, BONG...

From outside, the five o'clock sunset chime signaled the eve of the Winter Festival.

The sky blazed into fiery vermilion and deep, bruised purple.

"Now is the moment, Koharu!"

Koharu drew out the Star Lantern, clutching Kanata's pocket watch tightly in her left hand.

"Pocke, everyone, let's go!"

"Ready when you are-pock!"

"Star Lantern, kindle your light—!"

CLICK!

As if by a miracle, the frozen pocket watch produced a single, sharp metallic chime.

In that instant, the Star Lantern unleashed a blinding beam of sunset radiance that pierced straight through the sky!

CRACK-CRACKLE!

As though reality itself were being torn asunder, a colossal fissure of light split the sky.

Beyond the rift stretched an infinite horizon stained in eternal crimson—a world where the sun never set.

An endless desert of countless forgotten articles heaped like dunes, beneath a colossal, frozen clock tower looming against the dusk.

"That is... the Land of Twilight...!"

An icy gale howled through the breach.

Clutching Michiru's navy muffler tightly to her chest, Koharu looked at Ayame, Taiga, and Pocke.

"Let's go! Let's bring Kanata home!"

"YEAH!"

Together, the three children and their faithful spirit plunged headfirst into the rift of light.