This Time
2013/2014

Look At The Moon

Though they attend the same middle school right from the beginning, it is only over a month into their second year there that they meet for the first time.

It is a reasonably sunny afternoon near the end of May, and she's out of breath from running to the bus, thinking she would miss it after three of her classmates delayed her to ask her if she'd mind writing up their notes for them, and she is thinking that she really, really does not want to deal with anything else when she notices a boy sitting in the seat she usually occupies, poring over a shiny coffee-table type book, raven bangs shielding his face. A boy wearing the school uniform of her school, but not one who she can reasonably recognise. She thinks that perhaps he's in the year above, or even below, but at that point, feeling sweaty and stupid and tired, she doesn't really care. Instead, she just stares at him, wondering if she should make a scene about him being there or just go to another free seat, and wondering why she is wondering that. Such is her tiredness that she is still standing there when the bus begins to move, and she has to grab out and reach a pole to stop herself from falling.

You idiot, she castigates herself, it doesn't matter. Just sit down before you kill yourself. But it is at that moment the boy chooses to look up, and suddenly, she is frozen as she takes him in. The bangs, though now no longer obscuring his whole face, still continue to cover his eyes, which oddly seems to suit him. His face is symmetrical, features clear and pleasing to look at. The mouth, though in a simple straight line, seems to have the potential to be so very, very expressive. And overall, there is the sense of recognition, of familiarity, of….what, exactly? What is this?

"Um…."

"I assume that you usually sit here?" he asks. She blinks for a moment, stumped, before collecting herself and nodding briskly.

"Yes. But it doesn't matter. This is public transport, after all. I'll sit somewhere else…"

"How many stops from here?"

She blinks again, and wonders just how it is that this boy has completely floored her with merely two questions. But she puts the issue aside, and answers simply.

"Seven."

"Well then," he nods, and then moves so that he is right next to the window, leaving the aisle seat-her favoured one- free. Somewhat cautiously, she sits down, settling her bag on her lap. Then, she just stares at him, and he regards her back.

"T-Thank you." She stutters after a moment. He simply nods, and then turns back to his book, hair obscuring his face once again. Almost instinctively, she finds herself filled with the overwhelming need to push it back, to get a better look at him. Again, there was an odd sense of knowing, as if she's seen him like this before and done the same thing for him, and the feeling compels her to start to reach out, before suddenly she snaps out of it again, remembering where she is and the fact that they are strangers. What the hell are you doing? Quickly, she settles both hands on her bag, and grips it tightly, to remind herself not to be so stupid.

"So, how far do you have to go, then?" she asks awkwardly, hoping that the inanity of small talk will erase her humiliation. He looks up, staring right at her (though of course, she can't see what his eyes are doing) and takes his time answering.

"I think about nine stops. "He considers this, as though reviewing a diagram in his head. "Yeah, nine."

"You don't know?" she couldn't hide the disbelief from her voice at how uncertain he sounded, and instantly regretted it. Dial it down, idiot!

"I don't usually take this route." He explained, not offended. "There was a traffic accident on one of the main roads my usual route takes, so those buses are disrupted. They're still running, but I figured it would be a lot quicker and less painful to just get a different bus."

"Oh. Okay." She nods, abashed. "That seems fair enough."

"And probably now explains why I am here in your seat in the first place." The sentence gets delivered calmly, but a hint of a smile tugs at the edges of his mouth, and her heart skips a few beats. Oh, get a grip. Even as she fights the blush though, something about that smile makes her happy, and warm, and she silently wishes to be able to see that smile more often.

"This is a public bus, like I said. It's hardly my seat. Just the one that I use all the time." She retorted.

"Even so. It's like a habit, right? "He asked. She could not argue against that one, so she let it go.

"What year are you in then?" she asked instead.

"Second." Came the simple reply.

"Second? Like me?" her mouth dropped open and she gawped at him. He tilted his head slightly and regarded her, almost as if he was frowning at her.

"If you are in the second year….then yeah." He replied slowly, eventually. "I'm guessing we've never been in the same class though. What's your name?"

"Hayami. I'm in 2C."

"Chiba, 2B." he put down his book-which he had been holding the whole time-and held out a hand. "Good to meet you."

Hayami stared at his hand for what felt like the longest time, and then reached to shake it. He had a strong grip, and some of the skin was callused, as if he spent a lot of time making things, but it was warm and comforting. When she let go, she noticed that he seemed taken aback for some reason, but she didn't question it. Instead, they spent the rest of the time talking about insignificant, silly things, with an ease that made it seem like they had always done this, and when the bus reached her stop and she got off, she told him 'see you tomorrow' without really thinking about it, somehow knowing that she would.

…

Hayami turns out to be right, for the next afternoon; there he is, sitting at the same seat, next to the window. This time, Chiba is listening to music instead, and he has his bag on the other seat, but the moment he notices her, he moves the bag so she can sit down. Then, once she has, he hands her one of his earphones, and she takes it without thinking about it. The music that Hayami hears is not the type she likes- loud, brash, some sort of punk music, though she can't be sure-but she finds herself not minding, because it's him offering it to her. As a result, neither of them talk much, apart from one small conversation:

"Say, what's your given name?" Chiba asked as he searched up a new song for them to listen to.

"Rinka. Why?" What a weird question.

Chiba shrugs at that, and then found a song, selected and locked the screen, tucking his phone back into his pocket.

"No reason really. We didn't divulge them yesterday, but I was curious. But it's a nice name. Makes sense that it's yours. I'm Ryuunosuke."

"Ryuunosuke." She repeats, feeling the sound of the name inside her mouth. She finds herself thinking that it suits him well, when the rest of what he had said filters through. What?!

"What do you mean, 'Makes sense that it's yours'?" she demands. Chiba stares at her, and she imagines that under that hair of his, he is blinking in surprise.

"I…I'm not actually sure. But it's true."

"That makes no sense, but alright." She shrugs. After a beat, she adds (somewhat bashfully). "Your name is nice, too."

"Thank you."

At that point, a friendship is sealed, and they rapidly fall into a routine of sorts. The route that Chiba usually takes is cleared fairly quickly, but even then, he decides to continue taking the same route as her after school each day, so that they can spend time together, and spend it together they do. Sometimes they listen to music (genres alternating once Hayami admits she doesn't like most of what he listens to), other times they talk, and the rest of the time is a combination of the two. When she finds out that it had been Chiba's birthday just a few days before they had first met, she buys a small cake for him. Once, when she was thirsty and realised she had left her water bottle in the classroom and it was too late to get it, he gave her his without any protest. And so, they become close. Soon, Hayami finds herself wondering how it was there was a time that she hadn't known Chiba. And so after a while, she started to anticipate these after-school moments with excitement.

About a month later, after school, as usual, Hayami heads to her locker, weighed down by more books her classmates have asked her to make notes on for them, to swap out her indoor slippers for the outdoor school shoes, when she notices a slip of paper sticking out. Curious, she pulls it out and unfolds it.

'I've got club today, and I'll be late, so I won't be on the bus today. I'm sorry. See you tomorrow? –Ryuunosuke Chiba. '

Underneath this is a phone number, and that is when Hayami realises two things. First, that in all this time they never exchanged numbers and second, that they hadn't spent time in school, or anywhere outside the after-school route. And I want to. I want to get to know him better. Even better. For a moment, she stares at the note, stifling a chuckle at his impossibly awful writing, that almost looks as if he'd been writing with his eyes glued shut, or something, and then oh-so-carefully, she tucks the note in her pocket while she deals with her shoes, then bundles her things up and runs for the bus.

When she claims her seat, though she could easily sit by the window, she doesn't. Instead, she lets her bag sit there, and she pulls out the note and her phone from her pocket. Carefully, she opens a new text message, taps in the number on the note, and composes her message.

'Of course I'll see you tomorrow-Rinka Hayami'. At the end, she adds her own phone number, to make things easier, and sends the message. Watching it send, she bites her lip, thinking. I want to get to know you better. To spend more time with you. I don't understand why, but I do. She truly cannot understand the whys of it. It seems a compulsion, a deep-seated, tugging need. Yet at the same time, she wondered if she needed a reason- they got on well, and she could consider him a friend. But of course, it isn't that simple, is it?

So, she steeled her shoulders and sent him another message.

'Next time that you have club, text me beforehand, or tell me the day before. I'll come and wait for you.'

Once Hayami had done that, she turned off her phone, and stared forlornly out of the window until she got to her stop, and then dragged her feet as she walked the remaining part of her journey home. As nobody was home when she got there, she just slipped off her shoes and wearily made her way to her bedroom, where she changed, and then went to her desk to tackle her homework-No, wait, there's Tanizaki-san's Maths and Kikuchi-san's English work to do too. With a heavy heart, she put aside her own books, and located the relevant books, and got to work on those.

It was only after a few hours, when her mother (who had got back at some point without her hearing it) called her down for dinner that it occurred to her to turn on her phone again. Yawning, she did just that, and waited. After a few moments, her phone vibrated and the screen flashed to tell her she had one new message. She clicked on it from the notification bar, and much to her delight, she found that it was from Chiba.

'If you really want to do that, then sure, I'll do that. '

…

"How come that it's always you who cleans up the clubroom afterwards? Don't any of the others help?"

"Ah…" Chiba looked up from where he was sweeping, and pursed his lips as he regarded her.

"I don't know. They ask me to, so I say yes. It's the nice thing to do, isn't it?"

"Yeah, but they're club members too, so at least one of them should pitch in, right? It's hardly fair that you do it all alone."

"But I'm not. You're helping me, aren't you?" he points out. She grits her teeth.

"But that's not…." You deserve better, Chiba! She doesn't understand this, this overwhelming sense of 'this isn't fair on you', her desire that he has a better time of things in this school than she is currently having. All the same, she feels it.

"Hayami, it's not such a big deal." He says, somewhat wearily. "It's not really costing me anything."

"Er, they're taking advantage of you, so yes it is." She huffs, rolling her eyes as she picks up a box that she's just packed full of papers and books and crosses the room to put it in the cupboard.

"But isn't that what's happening when those girls from your class are asking you to do their homework or write up their study notes?"

Hayami stops in her tracks and swivels around to stare at him. He stops sweeping and stares back, almost expressionless, and she tries to think of a suitable retort, something to snap back at him, but she finds herself lost for words. Because he's right. Biting her lip, she turned away rapidly and went to put the box away, before turning back and surveying the room to see what else needed to be done. I could help with the sweeping, or move the tables, or there's more stuff that needs putting away in the cupboard…..her mind listed these tasks factually as she surveyed the room, but her eyes kept going back to him, and she doesn't move. Chiba remains where he is and watches her, saying nothing, revealing nothing.

Then, slowly, Chiba puts aside the broomstick, balancing it against the nearest table, and takes one step, and then another, and another, eventually getting closer to her. But even with this slowness, it isn't long before he is right in front of her, and somehow, the intensity of his look seems to increase. Hayami's breath catches in her throat for some reason, but she doesn't avert her eyes or turn away or protest. And she finds she doesn't want to.

After a moment or so of more silence where all they do is stare at each other, he then reaches out and lightly caresses her cheek with his hand, and leaves it there for a moment. Huh? Hayami gasps in surprise, but finds the sensation somewhat….welcoming. But at the same time, she feels herself go utterly red in embarrassment, and this finally breaks the silence as Chiba chuckles at her expression.

"W-What's so funny?!" she splutters. He just shakes his head.

"We're such a mess, the two of us, aren't we?"

It takes her a moment, but she clocks what he means through her utter embarrassment, all the same.

"Yeah, we are. Still," she shrugs. "What can we do about it, huh?"

Because the way we are, we can't protest, not really.

He shrugs back, somewhat wistfully. She thinks about reaching out to push away his bangs, see what his eyes are like-if she recognises them, the way she somehow recognised him right at the beginning, though she hadn't known him before then- but decides not to. Instead, she just smiles.

"We'll just muddle through, right?" she shrugs again. "Do what we can."

"Yeah." Chiba nods, and then lets his hand fall back to his side. She blinks again, and then shakes her head rapidly, wondering why she's suddenly so fuzzy headed, just because of the warmth of his hand.

"A-Anyway, there's still a lot to do here!" Hayami strides over to the broomstick that he left behind, and takes it and starts sweeping, while Chiba gets the dustpan and brush.

They spend the rest of the time tidying the clubroom in near silence, deliberately only talking about things that are lighter, sillier, or at least less close to home, such as how Karma Akabane was quite literally close to suspension the way he was going, or the things that they've been watching on television. Between them, they manage to finish at a time that , even with the fact that it's still late, is quite reasonable, and they both grab their bags and leave the room as soon as possible, and walk down the corridor as fast as they can without running (because after all, neither of them want to get into trouble with Principal Asano).

Chiba clears his throat to say something when they finally get to the main door of the school, when another girl from their year goes past them, her light brown hair wet and he stops mid-sentence. The girl pauses and turns to them, and so they wait.

"Oh, Chiba-kun, Hayami-san, hello!" she greets, clearly surprised. "I didn't realise that you two knew each other. And why are you here so late?"

"Uhhh…" What, exactly, do I say to that?

"We were just cleaning my clubroom, Kataoka." Chiba says.

"Ah, I see. Kind of you to help, Hayami-san." Kataoka rubs at her head absently, looking harried, even as she smiles.

"What are you doing here so late yourself?" Hayami asks matter-of-factly. Kataoka laughs awkwardly.

"We had a late swimming practise, and I left my bag in my homeroom, so yeah. I'd better go and get it. Have a safe journey home."

"You too." Chiba replies as Kataoka runs off. They blink after her disappearing form for a moment, and then almost in unison, just shrug and continue their way out of the building, and amble casually towards the bus-stop. As they wait for the bus, Hayami remembers she has some snacks still in her bag, and she shares them with him.

"Say, Chiba, what were you going to say before we stopped to talk to Kataoka-san?" She remembers to ask as she munches her way through a packet of crisps. Chiba looks at her for a moment, as if she has said something weird, and then a smile tugs at his lips.

"Ah, I was just going to say that, I'm glad that I've found you."

"Me, too." She says automatically. Then she blinks and thinks about her response, and goes hot again.

"N-Not that that…you know….I…uh…don't take that the wrong way!" she stutters out eventually. Chiba laughs at that.

"Yeah, I know, don't worry."

"It's not funny, you know." She mutters into the bag of crisps she's still holding. Chiba chuckles at this, again, but before she can protest again, the bus arrives, and so she just sighs heavily and lets it go as they climb onto the bus and go to their usual seats, and they just continue talking about other different things.

It is only much, much later, when Hayami has got off at her stop and is back in her house when she realises something.

"I'm glad that I found you."

Found. Found, as opposed to 'met'. Found. It's a strange word choice, and yet, as she replays the phrase in her mind, she knows that it wasn't a mistaken one. And yet….found. I found you. What it suggests, she isn't too sure, because she can't find any logical reason. But it doesn't stop her from feeling happy that he feels that way about her, doesn't stop her from replaying it over and over in her mind.

And it certainly doesn't stop her from thinking that she's glad that she's found him, too.

…

As the year goes on, she sometimes starts to have dreams. Strange, horrifying, inexplicable dreams. Blood soaked, most of them, and wherever she is, she is facing death and struggling and struggling to get away. But from what apart from impeding death, she doesn't know, and yet nearly all of them end in the same way, when she wakes up out of breath and near hysterical, stumbling out of bed and watching it askance, as if it the bed that as the cause of her troubles. The other times, she just wakes up with tears running down her face, more than she's ever cried before, in any other circumstance. A few of the times, she's found that she had almost screamed aloud, and forcibly covers her mouth with her hands, not wanting to wake her mother.

Every time this happens, she doesn't go back to sleep for the rest of the night, usually staying near the window and looking outside, trying to get her heart to slow back down to its normal rate. Each time, she tries to get a grip on the images of her dream, but they seem to flutter and fade, slipping just out of her grasp and offering her nothing beyond the sense of devastation and terror that leaves her shaking, trembling, utterly weak and with no clear reason.

And it is a shaking that only seems to ease when she sees Chiba the next day. Because then, she's able to let go of the lingering fear for him that the dreams leave behind.

…

They go out together for New Years, to visit a shrine and then maybe later see fireworks and get something to eat. It's a date, though neither of them will admit it to be so (just like the other times), and so when Hayami sees the look on Chiba's face as he regards the kimono she's wearing, she swells with satisfaction. Though she would never say so, she spent ages making sure she looked her best-finding the best shades of blue and green that she knew suited her hair, and pinning said hair up just so-, and so it makes her feel validated. More than that, even. For some reason, the sentiment that comes to mind is 'finally', which makes no sense to her, because it's patiently obvious that he sees her better than anyone else does, but all the same, she finds herself with this feeling that his impressed reaction has been a long time overdue, and the elation keeps her afloat for the duration of the date that they won't call a date.

As it gets closer to their turn to write a wish for the new year and hang it up, she finds herself carrying another feeling too, one that she can't really name, but one that's most linked to both the sense of familiarity that she keeps getting off him, as well as the terror she feels the morning after her horrible dreams until she sees him again and knows that everything is fine. She finds herself wondering what she could possibly wish for that would protect him.

In the end, what she writes is 'I want us to have longer than a year together'. It'll be a year since they met at the end of May, she knows this, but she isn't fully sure why she has specifically said 'longer than a year'. All she knows is that if they can reach that milestone, then they'll be fine. Somehow, they will be. So she doesn't change her wording, and instead hangs it up, and waits for Chiba to finish writing his.

When he has, and they make to leave, something makes her look over her shoulder. In that moment, a breeze picks up, and spins the other sheets tied up at the shrine around and around, momentarily revealing people's wishes for the new year to her. On one of them, she recognises Chiba's utterly awful handwriting. And though almost instantly the breeze makes the paper spin back around again, she notices that what he wrote was nearly the exact same thing that she had asked for.

Please, let us have longer than a year together.

…

"Hayami, I'm sorry."

"Sorry? What for?"

"I…I'm going to end up in 3E. My grades weren't good enough to keep me on the main campus. I don't think we'll be able to see each other as often."

"You're mistaken."

"I…excuse me?"

"My grades are awful, too. "

"Oh…so you'll be in 3E too."

"What else happens to third-years with crap grades in this school?"

"Yeah, I know, I was stating the obvious. Still….I'm kind of relieved. Not that we both did badly, but that at least it won't be so awful, being there."

"Because we'll have each other, at the very least."

"Exactly."

…

They toil through the remains of their second year at Kunugigaoka and stumble apathetically into their third, in 3E, the end class, the lowest of the low. The people who become their classmates in this place are an interesting bunch-some Hayami recognises from 2C, others she cannot remember ever seeing before-but all the same, she notes the surprising mixture of people. The presence of the ridiculously breezy Rio, the artsy Sugaya and the delinquent mini-gang led by Terasaka do not surprise her, but those like Kataoka, the year group ikemen phenomenon Isogai and the science-loving Manami do surprise her. That being said, the surprise is lessened by Kataoka and Isogai becoming their class representatives, as the role seems almost as if it were made for those two. There was also a seat in the class for Karma, but it remained empty, as he was still suspended from school. Their teacher-Aguri Yukimura- is young and only in her second year of teaching, but she is kind, light-hearted and seems to genuinely believe in their capabilities and potential to succeed, which makes a nice change from the attitudes the rest of the world seem to hold about them. Hayami and Chiba still mostly keep to themselves-doing the work required of them, being civil to their classmates, but otherwise just staying together and often going off to spend time alone, all the time that they can. And though occasionally some of their classmates-usually Isogai, Kataoka, Maehara, Yada or Hinano- would coax them out to spend a lunchtime or two with them, they were not really disturbed. And of course, they were able to continue going home together. Of course, it was 3E, and they had to endure all that came with that label. But endure it they did, and it seemed like they would somehow get through it just fine with each other.

And then, two weeks into that school year, the moon exploded.

…

In the moments leading up to the moon explosion, Hayami is sitting up in bed, her heart hammering in her chest, oddly exhausted, as though she had been running for her life weighed down by elaborate traditional clothing in reality, and not just her dreams. Her awful dreams, which still haven't subsided. She puts a hand on her chest and breathes in and out, in and out, but it doesn't work (it never has, so she isn't sure why she even tries that in the first place). So eventually, she gives in, and gets up, walking towards the window.

Naturally, she finds herself gazing at the moon, thinking how pretty it is, and trying to focus on it as another somewhat futile way of calming herself. For a moment, she wonders if Chiba is awake, and if so, whether he is looking at the moon. She briefly toys with the idea of calling him, but dismisses it. After all, it's more likely that he's asleep and it would be stupid to wake him up in the middle of the night. That, and she really doesn't want to find out that he's been suffering from the same dreams she's been having. It's the same reason she's never told him about the dreams before (though from time to time, the way he tips his head when regarding her makes her think he might understand more than she thinks he does, but even so).

And then, all of a sudden, the sky seems to ripple slightly, as though it is just a body of water, before there is an almighty explosion, and the moon disappears in a flash.

W-what was that? A scream rips itself from her throat, against her will, and she shakes, really badly. The explosion seems to echo in her head, reverberating right from her centre and towards her edges. It's all she can do to not keel over from the weight of it.

"O-Oh my god….oh my….." What was that?! What was that?!

"Rinka! Rinka, are you alright? What just happened?!"

Her mother comes rushing into the room, a dressing gown over her pyjamas, but she does not seem angry, just shocked. Wordlessly, Hayami points a shaking finger at the sky, and notices that the light has subsided and the moon is….decimated. Still there, but with a huge hole blown through it, rendering it a permanent crescent. Now the explosion has finished, there is an odd hush over the world, and the remains of the moon seems stark in this silence. Her mother gasps and covers her mouth at the sight, and almost immediately rushes down the stairs.

In a daze, Hayami follows, and stands woodenly in the doorway of the living room, as her mother turns on the television and looks for a news channel. But they don't yield anything except surprise, shock and hysteria, and emergency press conferences of the government trying to reassure people that no, the apocalypse is not imminent-how did they get there so quickly, what do they know?-and outside, she can hear her neighbours reacting, some leaving their houses and calling out to others on the street, seeking explanations or reassurances, or otherwise just wanting to broadcast their feelings. And then the house phone starts to ring, and her mother goes to answer it, and instantly starts shrieking things such as 'I have no idea what happened' and 'that was like the whole moon' and 'we're terrified'. It's utter chaos, and Hayami stands there, unsure of what to do, or think, or feel.

As she remains rooted, her hands curl up, and that is when she realises she is holding something. Bringing it up so she can see the item, it is revealed to be her mobile phone. When did I pick this up? She can't remember doing that, and yet it is here, in her hand, as if it is a sign. A sign that she needs to check on him. Because even through the noise indoors, outdoors and on the television, she can still hear that deathly, deathly silence. And she knows that it spells trouble.

Then what are you doing? Do something, say something, call him! Check that he's okay! She stares at her mobile again, and thinks of the way the sky rippled for an instant as if any moment, it would shatter and fall apart, destroying their whole world with it. How she could feel the vibrations, still. How she was convinced that in that moment she would die, just like she keeps doing in her dreams.

No, no, no, no. I can't. Not yet. It hasn't been long enough.

Somehow, managing to keep her balance and somehow managing not to scream again and just keel over and give up, Hayami tears away from the living room doorway and she goes out into the landing. She doesn't bother to flip on the light as she slips her feet into some shoes and grabs a jacket from the rack. As she finds the spare keys and battles with the door, her mother notices she is leaving and calls out in angry protest, but still remains glued to the phone and the television, so Hayami ignores her and runs down the road, trying her hardest not to look at what the moon has become. As she does, she turns her phone on, and then tries many, many times to dial his number (though it's in her contacts, she's memorised it, and so she always dials it in full, and even now, she can't break the habit). When she finally manages to, she starts the call and holds the phone to her ear, still running as fast as she can-to where, she doesn't know, but she keeps on running.

Please answer, Chiba, please. It becomes a mantra that she repeats in her head, as the seconds tick away and the phone keeps ringing. After a certain number of rings, the call cuts off and tells her to try again, and she does. Over, and over again. And all the while, as the people she passes try to make sense of what has just happened, she keeps on trying to reach him and make sure that they're still okay, and the terror she feels rises and rises, blotting everything else out. All except for one oddly persistent thought, one that keeps rising in her mind, as if offering an answer to this madness:

Something like this has happened to me before. To us.

So...I have a multi-chapter story ongoing for this fandom, and I'm still working on that one-shot collection for ERASED, and yet here I am, with another side project (I am ridiculous).

It's a Chiba/Hayami fic (obviously) and it is an AU based off of the concept of the book 'Midwinterblood' by Marcus Sedgwick, which is one of my favourite stories. I highly recommend you read the book if you can get it, or at least look up a bit about the story, because that will help you understand a lot about the coming chapters and the shape of the story in general. Of course, if there is anything you are confused about, you can still ask me, but still. Though, there will be a lot of differences, not least that Midwinterblood has an underlying theme of sacrifice, and this fic's theme would more best be described as 'chances' instead. But anyway, in total, counting this chapter, there will be eight chapters, covering seven different time periods, and Chiba and Hayami will have varying names and ages in each one, though of course you should be able to recognise the original versions of them in each one. And because it will be fun to do so, some of the other characters will have AU versions of them in the other chapters too :)But anyway, like I said, do read 'Midwinterblood' if you can, and not just because it's the inspiration for this, but also as it is a great story. Seriously, give it a try.

I don't know when the next chapter of this fic will be put up, as it is another side project, but I am planning the rest of this quite carefully, so it will happen. And, well, tell me what you think of the idea, and I will see you next time!