Several days later, the storm broke. The dark clouds had been hovering over Tomoeda for almost a week now, forbiding, ominous, and menacing. They disturbed him, not because they were forbidding as stormclouds went, but because they weren't. Light shone through clean and pure, even in the absence of the sun. Light continued reaching the earth even as the first drops of rain fell from the sky. So he watched dispassionately as all of the sky turned into rain, heavy drops of moisture that hurled down to shatter themselves on the old windowsill.The house was old and dark, but the room he occupied now appeared exactly as they had left it last, with the old furniture covered by yellowed cloth and the faint smell of sakura in the air. Almost tenderly he nudged the old gameset, which had filled days of his time here. The house would be demolished in a few weeks' time. It held no secrets, only memories of old times, sometimes sad, more often happy. Memories he had thought long buried returned to him, faded pink and tinged with quiet mourning. He missed his times here, but those times were long gone, like the people he had shared them with. People made up the time, and like time, people never stayed the same. Sometimes, he wondered if he had changed. Through the years, as one companion after another left, the image he presented to the world had become quieter, more solemn. But it wasn't a change. He didn't feel any different inside. Just.. empty. In the years following his creation, he'd been much the same. Sometimes, he wondered what it would be like to forget. To lose all dreams, duty, desire He had forgotten once, a long time ago, but the memories had returned, and they had not left him since. He didn't think that he would be made to forget a second time. After all, it didn't matter. Thoughts stayed, but people left and never returned. Still- one never knew. For one, no one had ever expected that he would do the normal thing- to die gracefully with the passing of age