I manage to get through the rest of the classroom cleaning in a daze. I make noncommittal, grunting noises as Aiwa talks, but my mind is a million miles away, lost in the swirling fog of a forgotten past. Her story is not just a story; it is a key, unlocking a door in my mind that has been sealed for over a decade.
That night, I am in the living room. Rina, in a fit of nostalgia brought on by my own renewed interest, has put the 'Starlight Paladin' Blu-ray on. The familiar, bombastic opening theme is playing, a song I have not heard in years.
On the screen, a young Princess Astra is cornered by a group of shadowy monsters. She is terrified. Then, the hero of the show, a dashing knight, leaps in front of her, his sword drawn. "Fear not, princess!" he declares. "For I am here!"
And just like that, the key turns. The door in my mind blows open.
The memory does not trickle back. It floods in, a tidal wave of sensory information so vivid it feels like I am living it all over again.
I am seven years old. The sun is warm on my face. The park next to my kindergarten smells like cut grass and dirt. I have my prized possession in my hand: a plastic, fifty-centimeter 'Sword of Astra' that my dad bought me. I am the hero.
There is a sound of crying. It is coming from near the old slide. I run over, my plastic sword held at the ready. A little girl is backed up against the slide, her face streaked with tears. A pack of three, medium-sized, mangy-looking stray dogs are barking at her, their bodies low to the ground. She has long, purple hair- it is a cheap, shiny wig from a party store, part of a princess costume she wears every day.
She is terrified. My seven-year-old heart, fueled by a hundred episodes of 'Starlight Paladin,' knows what it must do. I am the hero. She is the princess. This is my moment.
I leap in front of her, my plastic sword held high. "IN THE NAME OF THE STARLIGHT KINGDOM," I yell, my voice a high-pitched, childish squeak, "I COMMAND YOU TO RETREAT, YOU BEASTS OF DARKNESS!"
The dogs, utterly confused by this small, loud human, just blink at me before getting bored and trotting away.
The girl looks at me with wide, tear-filled, adoring eyes. She thinks I have performed a miracle.
The memory shifts. It is weeks later. We are inseparable. She is my Princess Aiwara, and I am her Knight Rui. We play in the park every day.
The memory shifts again. It is our last day. She is crying again. "I promise, Rui-kun! When I am a grown-up, I will come back and be your bride!"
My seven-year-old brain short-circuits. Girls are gross. Marriage is a thing boring adults do. I do not know what to say. I just stand there, red-faced and panicking.
Later, I am at the gachapon machine outside the convenience store. I get a 'Starlight Paladin' hero's crest pendant. It is cheap plastic, but to me, it is treasure. I see her and her mom walking towards a taxi, her suitcases on the curb. I have to do something.
I run up to her. I press the pendant into her small, soft hand. "This is a hero's crest," I say, parroting a line from the show. "So you will not forget me. It is a promise that a hero will always find his princess."
She looks at the pendant, then at me, her eyes full of a devastating, childish sincerity. Then she gets in the car, and is gone.
I snap back to the present. The 'Starlight Paladin' ending theme is playing on the TV. My hands are shaking. My mind is a wasteland of detonated bombshells.
Aiwa Matsuki. The shy transfer student. LUNA. The cosplay goddess. And Aiwara. The little girl with the purple wig who promised to marry me. They are all the same person.
"NO! NO WAY! NONONONONO!" The denial bursts out of me as a strangled whisper.
"Onii-chan?" Rina asks from the other end of the sofa, looking at me with concern. "Are you okay? You look like you just saw a ghost."
"I am fine! Everything is fine! Perfectly normal!" I squeak, my voice an octave too high.
My life is a romantic comedy that is already stretched to its breaking point. Rina, with her possessive, forbidden love. Haruka, with her new, confusing crush. I am juggling a sister-idol and a rival-turned-ally. I cannot add a third route. I cannot handle a 'Childhood Friend with a Marriage Promise Who is Also a Secret International Cosplay Star' storyline. The system will crash. My brain will melt.
I have to keep this a secret. No one can know. I have to pretend I do not remember. It is the only way to survive. I have to bury this memory again, lock it back behind the door.
But I know it is too late. The door is open. And the little girl with the purple wig is sitting next to me in class.