Erika and Iori soon caught up to Akira, only to find him staring into the distance. There, just as they had seen many times before, a brown-haired little girl sat on the swing, crying.
"Is this one we've met before? Some of them had brown hair too," Erika asked in amazement. She still couldn't understand why they kept stumbling into scenes like this.
"No, she's different. We've never seen this girl here before. Her voice is different, and the shade of her hair doesn't match," Akira said confidently.
"How do you even remember their voices and hair colors? You only met each of them once, right?" Erika said with a grumpy expression.
"I have a good memory. I can remember a lot of things, it's like a photographic memory," Akira said casually about one of the abilities he had since his previous life.
"So, what are we going to do now?" Iori asked, looking at the crying girl.
"We should wait for the main character to show up to stop her tears. This time, I will watch this event," Akira said with conviction.
"That's stupid!" Erika said, crossing her arms. "Being a bystander is bad! You have to help someone when they're in trouble, so go help her!"
Akira lifted a paw. "Still a puppy, remember? Can't turn back till I reach home, so it's beyond me now," he said, shaking his head.
Iori, who had been watching the exchange, finally spoke up. "Then maybe you should be the one to do it this time, Erika."
"…What? Me?" Erika looked shocked.
"Well, yeah. Akira does it all the time, so now it's finally your turn," Iori said as if he were passing down the torch.
Erika hesitated, then sighed. "Fine."
And with that, she marched over.
Erika plopped onto the empty swing next to the girl and kicked her legs lazily.
The girl sniffled, rubbing her eyes.
"…Crying alone sucks, huh?" Erika muttered.
The girl peeked at her, blinking through her tears. "…Huh?"
Erika shrugged. "I mean, if you're gonna cry, you should at least have someone to complain to."
The girl hesitated, then sniffled again. "…M-My best friend moved away today… he p-promised we'd play forever, but now… he's g-gone…" Her voice wobbled, and her tears started falling again.
Erika's hands tightened on the swing chains. That kind of loneliness… she understood. She and Akira had never really had friends their age.
She did meet many children their age, like the Tenjou siblings once, but there was always a bit of distance.
In the end… Akira was her only real friend, and if one day he disappeared, she didn't know what she would do, so she understood, she really did. That's why she didn't know how to comfort her. Suddenly, Erika turned to Akira, an idea forming in her head.
Akira and Iori watched from behind a tree as Erika talked to the girl. Suddenly, Erika turned to look at them and gestured for them to come over.
"I think she is calling for us," Akira said to Iori, watching Erika's gestures.
"No, she is calling for you, not us. Go, she might need help," Iori corrected Akira, telling him to save his friend.
"Fine," Akira said with a sigh as he marched over to them.
Erika picked up Akira as soon as he arrived and held him up like a sacred offering. "Here, you can borrow him for a while," she declared. "His fur is really soft."
Both Akira and the girl blinked in confusion. "H-Huh?"
"Erika, you can't do this to me," Akira screamed directly in Erika's head, his discomfort rising as he realized her idea. But the girl stopped crying and hesitantly picked Akira up from Erika. As soon as she picked him up, she started to smile.
"He is so cute. He is soft. What is his name?" the girl asked Erika with a smile.
"His name is… His name is… hmm," Erika started to mumble. She couldn't tell her his real name, so she had to come up with something.
"It's Ghost. Tell her it's Ghost," Akira telepathically told Erika the name of a cool white dire wolf he knew, fearing what she might come up with.
"…His name's Ghost, and I am Erika. What's your name?" Erika introduced themselves and asked about the girl's name.
"Whoa! That's so cool!" The girl's eyes widened. "Oh, my name is Yuki Haruna. Nice to meet you," she said with a smile, but neither Erika nor the girl noticed Akira's shocked face when he heard her name.
"Another heroine from Fortune Arterial… I finally met her." Akira thought as he remembered that name, and the wheel of fate had begun to turn again.