*
It was already deep into the evening of the same day, once again they hung out at Lastia's place. It might have been the comforting silence, the lack of any presence, or simply the presence of one another that drew them to this place. As everyone was informed, Lastia's parents worked and lived at a distant commercial zone, sending money back every so often.
Perhaps taking advantage of that, Sariel felt a little guilty. Speaking of which...
"How is the situation with your families? I'm guessing they're currently at home, for you guys to want to hang around here." (Lastia)
Curious, she gave in and asked directly. She hadn't seen her own parents before, obviously this wouldn't be the case for the other two, but she had to make sure.
"Uhh... They're doing well, to say the least. But I haven't told them anything about my activities. " (Arin)
After a pause, Arin was the first to speak. She looked to the side before she seemed to have gathered her thoughts to give a satisfactory answer.
"Same. When an 'Event' happens, time is frozen anyway. It isn't hard to hide unless we're up to something when an 'Event' isn't occurring." (Sariel)
Sariel waited for Arin to finish before explaining her own circumstances. There wasn't anything that particularly stood out, so it was difficult to put it into words for someone who hadn't experienced what was 'normal'.
"Well, no matter how you look at it, my situation is plain normal." (Arin)
She said it out loud!? Sariel's spine jumped for a moment out of shock, she glared at Arin immediately as if to say 'Are you implying someone here isn't normal?'.
Arin chuckled nervously as she scratched the back of her head.
"It's alright, Sariel. The curse takes away my memories, but it doesn't take my vocabulary, comprehension, and most importantly my common sense.
More or less, when combined with my photographic memory's ability to instantly grasp information, I'm somewhat able to deduce stuff like societal norms.
The previous 'Me's needed to have something to get by without showing up on the news headlines. " (Lastia)
Looking at it another way... Lastia's memories weren't being taken by reversing her aging and making it so she never experienced what she has supposedly gone through. Her memories were selectively being consumed, leaving intact other memories such as the way to enunciate, read and write. It's like... Whoever casted the curse, didn't want people to discover its existence.
However all of that effort would come crashing down if the person in question were to panic and make a fuss... She'd have to conclude that the person who casted the curse banked on the fact that she was unwilling to disclose the existence of her curse, in that case... Were they someone that's closer than she thought? Somewhere closeby, quietly observing...
The mini culture zones were completely fruitless from the start, why would her curse be associated with mystics from a bygone era? What were the chances that Lastia of all people ran into such a magical circumstance? Encountering ancient mystics... Was highly unlikely. It wasn't impossible, but it was unrealistic. The best approach was to investigate both of these leads, excluding neither exotic relics nor a more contemporary history of Lastia's past.
... Sariel and Arin represent far bigger leads than those culture zones ever did. How did the other Lastias never realise...? Did they have no desire to uncover the truth? Or was the same wall too daunting? In Lastia's mind, there was always a wall. One infinitely tall and wide, impossible to traverse. It represented 'the next day'. They could never overcome their time limit of a single day.
Conversely, everyone could try and contribute a tiny bit, and nothing prevents them from inheriting the success and investigation of previous Lastias. Since it's a new person everytime, they wouldn't get burnt out or fatigued. Discretely, she locked her bedroom and wrote a quick entry into her diary. 'I have more than 50% odds to believe that the answer lies with one of them.'
Returning outside, the movie watching resumed as they finished preparations.
"This reminds me... Do you guys remember when we first met?
I've only seen the happenings through some words on an entry. I don't remember the sensations of that day." (Lastia)
Just in time, the protagonist of the movie met up with the others, they were watching a horror genre so most of them are expected to die... It might have been a little awkward to bring it up here...
" We've been in the same class since January of this year, but we really only started talking on that day.
When you became a magical girl by instinct, after getting attacked by a Trace 'Event'." (Sariel)
It couldn't be her then. The curse started the year before. Then, could it have been Arin instead? On the basis that the curse requires a conscious observer to closely monitor the social impacts and contain it... The most likely answer would be that it was caused by Arin who was a 'childhood friend'. Wait... The diary had established that Arin has been around for a while, far beyond just last year, but... She's never been questioned about their first meeting?
Arin looks to the movie screen, deep in thought as the bright colours seep into the background of her mind. The noise gradually became deafening before snapping back to reality with a hard disorienting impact. She shakes her head before giving Lastia a smile.
"It's been a while, so it was hard to remember, but I think it was since kindergarten.
I was anxious for my first day, you approached me and reassured me." (Arin)
For a moment, Lastia forgot to breath. She regained her composure and silently took a deep breath. They weren't transformed at the moment, so they shouldn't be able to hear her irregular heartbeat. For now, she climbed closer to Arin and gave her a hug. It was extra time to gather her thoughts.
"I'm sorry, I don't remember. I can't." (Lastia)
"I know, Tia. I know." (Arin)