---
In the bustling city of Tokyo, alive with the breath of people and the clamor of trains, lived a twenty-eight-year-old man named Haruto Saiki, a software engineer at one of Japan's largest tech companies. Among his colleagues, Haruto was known as "the golden mind," able to solve the most intricate programming errors as if unraveling a delicate silk thread. He climbed the ranks quickly, money flowed into his account like water on parched land, and it seemed as though the world had opened its arms to him, offering a brilliant, endless future. Yet, something hidden was growing in the shadows, something no one noticed… not even Haruto himself.
He began to forget. Simple words, small appointments, tasks he once completed in minutes now left him standing, staring, trying to remember where to begin. One night, he even forgot the password to his computer… the one he had been using for five years. The next day, his manager, Yoshida—a man in his mid-forties with sharp features but a kind heart—called him over, handing him a file.
"Haruto… your recent mistakes aren't like you. You need to see a doctor. Please, don't ignore this," he said.
Deep inside, Haruto knew something was wrong. He visited a neurologist at Sanjin Hospital. Dr. Masaru Tsukimura studied the test results, then set his glasses aside, sighed deeply, and finally spoke in a calm voice that cut like a silent blade:
"Haruto… you have a condition called Progressive Supranuclear Palsy—it's rare, and it begins with gradual memory loss."
Haruto stared at the doctor as if the words were too heavy to comprehend.
"Will… will I lose everything?" he asked.
The doctor replied, trying to hide his sorrow:
"No one knows the speed… but yes, your memory will deteriorate."
He left the hospital feeling Tokyo spin around him, buildings retreating and advancing as if the world itself had become unstable. In that moment, he recalled faces from his past… school friends. The last threads of his memory before the disease began to devour them. He decided to see them… before he forgot them completely.
He traveled to Osaka, where he found his old friend Kazuki, now a surgical doctor. When Kazuki saw him, his eyes widened in pure astonishment:
"Haruto?! What a pleasant wind has brought you here?"
They sat on a balcony overlooking the city, the silence between them filled with countless unspoken questions. Kazuki noticed something in his friend's eyes and sighed:
"There's a heavy cloud over you… what's happening?"
When Haruto told him everything, a long silence followed before Kazuki spoke in a broken tone:
"You were always the strongest among us… and here I am, a doctor who knows all illnesses, powerless against your pain."
Kazuki studied his face and continued:
"Do you remember the day your father fell ill? That day you cried like a child, then told me:
'No one starts strong… we become strong when there's no other choice.'
That phrase… has never left me. Now it's your turn to hold on to it."
Haruto left Osaka with a heart heavier—not just with sorrow… but with something like gratitude.
Next, he traveled to Kyoto, where their second friend, Kenji, worked as a construction engineer. Kenji, wearing a yellow helmet, saw him and shouted across the site:
"Harutooooo! Have you come to show off your genius as usual?!"
Haruto laughed despite his anxiety and sat on a wooden bench near the site.
Kenji listened to the story until the end and then said, gazing at the towering buildings around them:
"You know, Haruto… we think we're just building buildings, but in reality, we're building memories for people we'll never know, where they live long after we're gone. Your memories are the real structures… the disease may take them, but their impact will remain in us."
He added with a light smile:
"And even if you forget us… we won't forget you, Haruto the genius."
Haruto continued his journey to Hiroshima to see their third friend, Shinsuke, a humble sanitation worker. The moment Shinsuke saw him, he threw down his cleaning cart and ran toward him, shouting:
"Impossible! Haruto?! Have you finally returned, ghost?!"
They laughed and sat beside the river.
Shinsuke spoke sincerely:
"You know? People pass by me every day without seeing me… but you were the only one who smiled at me in school. You made me feel like a human with value. Even if you forget everything… I hope you don't forget that feeling. To be the reason someone lifts their head."
The words entered Haruto's heart like a warm, unforgettable light.
He then traveled to Sendai in search of their fourth friend, Haruhiko. He was greeted by Haruhiko's brother, who said softly:
"If you had come a year earlier… you would have found him."
Haruto froze.
"What do you mean?"
"He died in a work accident. He left behind a wife and a small child."
He met his wife, Hana, a calm woman holding their child. She looked at Haruto with sorrow in her eyes:
"He always remembered you… he said you were the smartest person he knew. He loved you sincerely."
Haruto couldn't speak. He placed a large envelope of money on the table.
Hana looked at him worriedly:
"This is too much… why?"
"Just a small part… of a friend's debt."
She held his hand and said:
"Thank you for not forgetting him… even if the world forgets people like us."
Haruto returned to Nagoya, his hometown. There, he stood before Riko… his first love. He saw her holding her child in one hand, grasping her husband's hand with the other. She was laughing… a laugh he hadn't heard in years. He remained standing at a distance, not approaching, not speaking, not wanting to disturb her peaceful world. He whispered to himself:
"This world has taken much from me… but it has given you happiness. That is enough."
He turned and walked away before she could notice.
Haruto returned to Tokyo, carrying memories… and the fear of losing them. One night, he stood in front of the mirror, trying to recall his own name… but he couldn't. He sat on the floor, holding his head, yet felt something strange.
He did not recognize the faces, but he felt warmth; the warmth of laughter, places, travels, friends, love. Memories without names… but alive. Inside him was a small, unknown light, comforting him without revealing its source. A light from the past that he had fought to see before it vanished into the shadows.
Thus ended his first journey… and another story awaited him somewhere, a story for a second chapter that destiny would only write when the time came