Author's Notes: This is a small change to how the anime ends. It picks up close to the very end, and has a slightly happier out-come.

Another Way

Lightening flashed. Koichi Sakakibara acted on instinct. Death was around them. By inviting it in 26 years ago, the 9th grade's class C was doomed to suffer fatal calamities. Someone in their class wasn't alive. They didn't realize it, and they held no animosity, but their very presence was killing off people associated with their classmates. 15 years ago the deaths had been stopped by the accidental killing of the extra student - returning the dead to death. This knowledge had gotten out during their class trip, and now students were killing each other. They had even attacked his aunt Reiko when she'd tried to prevent her students from committing murder. The extra student had to die, but Koichi knew that it wasn't either of the two girls he was with. Mei Misaki had been the non-existent one of the year, and was blamed for the calamities starting. It wasn't her fault, Koichi had been the one to break the taboo since he hadn't known of it. It was possible that the calamity had started even before he'd done so, when Mei's sister had died in April. Mei could see the color of death. She knew who the extra person was, but the world had descended into chaos before she could tell him. Izumi Akazawa was in charge of countermeasures. The strong-willed girl had tried to prevent the deaths from occurring. The insanity that had seemed to infect their classmates had gotten to Akazawa, and she seemed determined to kill Mei. She was certain that Koichi wasn't dead since she remembered the feeling of holding his hand. Koichi knew that she couldn't be dead for the same reason. Another equally good reason was the simple fact that Mei wasn't trying to kill her.

Akazawa wasn't listening though. She was armed with a sharp piece of metal, and Koichi had just barely kept her from impaling Mei.

Lightening flashed, and Koichi acted. He had to keep both of them alive! Death was so close, any of them could die at any second. A burning building wasn't the safest place normally, and the trio was in danger. Now wasn't the time to fight! The flash from outside was the only warning. Koichi dived forward, trying to shield her - to protect his classmate. The choice he made didn't make sense. Mei was in more danger, since Akazawa was trying to kill her, but Koichi remembered Takako's death. The un-hinged girl had died in a freak accident while assaulting Mei. She was being driven to insanity because of how close to death she was. Mei was safe, it was Akazawa that was closest to death! So Koichi dove to protect her.

The blast from the lightening-triggered explosion left him burnt, deafened, and light-headed. There was a sharp pain in the middle left side of his back. A large piece of glass, one that had been fated to impale Akazawa in the stomach had struck him in his lung instead. He couldn't register the pain from other similar injuries, his adrenaline was so high that they were ignored. He looked at his friend, Akazawa had a shard of glass in her right forearm, but otherwise seemed uninjured.

"Good..."

"Koichi-kun!"

"Akazawa, you're safe... please... don't... kill..."

"Koichi-kun don't talk! I'll save you! If I send the dead back to death then you'll be ok!" Akazawa started to move. He eyes glaring at the cause of all of this.

"Akazawa... why are you trying to kill Mei? Why do you think she's the extra?"

"Takako went to school with her. She was different then. She said that she lost her eye when she was 4 years old, but she didn't have the patch when Takako and her went to school! Don't you see? She's the extra! She didn't come back all the way, that's why she doesn't have an eye!"

"No! Akazawa listen to me... Mei... had a twin sister. She died in April. I met Mei in the hospital then. It was before I transferred, the calamity had started already!"

"What? NO! That's not true! She's the one! If I kill her I can save everyone! I CAN SAVE YOU!"

Koichi gripped Akazawa by the arms with a strength he didn't know he possessed. "Akazawa! Listen to me! You're not acting normal! You're close to death! Please, please calm down! I don't want you to die! Please..."

Akazawa looked away from Mei and into Koichi's eyes. They shimmered with tears, that she didn't think were from the physical pain. He was crying...for her? The rage she was feeling seemed to flow away. What was she thinking? They had to get Koichi-kun out of this inferno! They had to bind his wounds! If he was right, killing Mei wouldn't help. The thought of murdering her classmate suddenly seemed repellant to her.

"Koichi-kun..." His grip slackened. Koichi's eyes were starting to glaze over. She couldn't waste anymore time! Akazawa looked down at her weapon. Koichi was right. She gently moved him off of her, being careful not to jostle the large shard of glass in his back. She then picked up the metal rod and stood up. Mei looked at her with her one visible eye warily. Akazawa reared back her arm, and threw the rod into the fire. Koichi was right. There had been enough killing. There was no need for a weapon anymore. "Help me carry him. We have to get out of here!"

Her doll-like classmate gave a short nod. The two of them carried their unconscious friend through the opening the ruined window had left. Outside, Akazawa ripped off Koichi's shirt, and started dressing his wounds with the scraps. She knew a good deal of emergency first aid since she'd studied it was part of her self-assigned duties as the head of countermeasures. While she was busy with that, Mei slipped off her eye-patch and turned her head scanning the area. Akazawa caught a glimpse of the other girl's eye. It shown a brilliant green. Mei put he eye-patch back on and slowly started walking off towards the backyard. Akazawa wanted to go after her, but she couldn't leave Koichi.

"A..ka..zawa?" Koichi's eyes had refocused. His body was starting to adapt to the lack of oxygen his blood-loss was causing. His breathing was still too quick and too labored. From the blood-stain on the large glass shard, Akazawa could tell that Koichi's lung hand been punctured. He needed to get to a hospital immediately!

"Koichi! Don't worry, everything will be ok!"

"Where's Mei?"

"She's alive. She went off back there."

"We have to find her. She's about to make a huge mistake..."

"What's going on?"

"She knows who the extra person is, but we can't let her kill them."

"What?! Why not? If she can return the dead to death and save us, we should help her!"

"Akazawa... please..." She looked into Koichi's eyes again. There was a pleading there mixed with a steely resolve. Akazawa didn't know what he was thinking, but she could only nod and help him to his feet. The two of them made it to the backyard, where they found Mei with a pickaxe. She was standing above some fallen logs. There was a soft cry and Akazawa could make out some hands. Someone was trapped under there, and Mei was going to kill them when they emerged!

"You shouldn't have come. This is just going to make it more difficult for you." Mei's voice was flat and emotionless. The one-eyed girl's gaze didn't waver from her target.

"Mei... Give me the pickaxe. I'll do what must be done." Koichi moved forward, away from Akazawa's support. It took obvious effort, but he moved on his own. Mei looked at him for a long second, then wordlessly held out the weapon.

Koichi moved towards the extra person, and swung the pickaxe up from the ground. With a loud thunk, it embedded itself in the foremost log. Koichi then shifted his weight backwards, using the pickaxe as a lever to raise the piece of wood. It didn't go up much, but it was apparently enough for the trapped person to escape.

"Reiko!" Koichi gave a startled cry. He then turned to look at Mei. "My aunt? She's the extra person."

Mei returned his gaze. "I told you you shouldn't have come. The reason why there was a leftover desk this year is because they didn't put the extra desk in the right place... the faculty room. Don't you think it's odd that we have a teacher's assistant when none of the other classes do?"

"Koi..chi..." Reiko moaned from under the log. All he had to do was let go of the pick-axe and she'd be pinned again...

"No! It doesn't matter! I already decided that no matter who the extra person was...we wouldn't kill them!"

"Koichi!" Both Mei and Akazawa said his name at the same time. Their distress was obvious.

"Listen to me. Please!... Killing the extra person may stop the calamity, but that doesn't mean it's right. There has to be another way! The calamity didn't start the first year when they invited their dead classmate to stay, it started the next year when a dead student came too far into our world and took physical form! Reiko.." Koichi turned to look at his aunt who had managed to emerge from the logs.

"Koichi...what are you talking about?" Koichi bent down and hugged his family member.

"Reiko...you're dead. You're the extra person."

"What?"

"Think back. What can you remember what happened before the school year started. What did you do? What about last year?"

"I...I... lived at home."

"Without a room for yourself? I can't remember it very well, but I think I was in town one and a half years ago. Do you remember that?"

"Y-Yes... I-I...was a teacher then."

"But not last year?"

"No.. I wanted time off after... Oh God! It's true! I...I...remember!" Tears were running down Reiko's cheeks. Koichi felt her in his arms trembling, then she wasn't there anymore. He opened his eyes, but Reiko's form was still in front of him. Koichi tentatively reached his arm out, but it felt no resistance as it passed through her.

"She disappeared!" Akazawa exclaimed. Does that mean she's gone? That the calamity is over?

"I can still see her." Mei had removed her eye-patch. "The color of death is strong in front of Koichi."

"Reiko is still here." Koichi couldn't hold back his tears any longer. "The dead has returned to death, but her spirit is still here." Reiko smiled at him, and then slowly faded away.

The trio made their way to the driveway. Chibiki-sensei was there with the surviving students. He rushed forward to meet them. "Are all of you alright?"

"Yes. The calamity is now over. We need to let everyone know and save anyone still in the building. Koichi needs to get to a hospital immediately. You can drive him and anyone else hurt. I'll try to find any other survivors." Akazawa had reclaimed her usual demeanor. She was relatively un-injured and forced Koichi and Mei to get in the car and be driven by Chibiki-sensei, while she tried to find survivors in the still burning building and it's surroundings.

Class had been called off for a week after the disaster in the mountains. If no one died over the next month, then the students and families that had fled the town might return, but that'd be too late in the year for them to really rejoin the class. No one really expected the families that made it safely out of the city to return though. Chibiki-sensei had taken over the duty of teaching the few students that remained in the class. Now that the countermeasures were no-longer necessary, Akazawa seemed to have relaxed her attitude. The entire class was still in shock over the events, but putting what they'd seen into words was proving difficult. They were devastated after having so many of their friends killed in front of them, but the knowledge that the calamity was over lifted their spirits. Without the shade of death hanging over them, students were starting to show a bit more life.

Koichi Sakakibara had spent that time in a familiar setting - the hospital. The shard of glass had punctured his left lung. It was the same injury that had placed him in the hospital before. The hospital felt empty without Mizuno-san around. The energetic nurse had spent the most time with him during his previous stay. Thinking about her made Koichi even more depressed. He knew that his breaking of the taboo wasn't his fault, and it wasn't what caused the calamity to begin again, but Mizuno's death still weighed on him.

"Hey Koichi-kun." Koichi awoke and sat up in his bed upon hearing the voice in his ear. His eyes grew wide. His aunt was standing next to him with her hair up in 'teaching mode'. "Oh good! You can hear me!" Panic gripped Koichi's heart. Had Reiko come back? Was the calamity not really over? "Don't look so scared Koichi-kun! See, I'm not back in the 'flesh'." Reiko stepped backwards through an empty chair behind her. She then crossed her arms and pouted. "In fact you're the only one who can see or hear me. Not that I'm complaining. I don't know how long I'll get to stay here, but I still want to see my cute little nephew doing well! And hey, I might be able to stop the calamity from happening next year if I stay around that long. I mean, I should be able to tell who's dead and talk them out of it, right?" She waved her finger in front of his face and winked.

Koichi could feel his eyes tearing up. In a soft voice he said: "Welcome home Reiko."

"Hee hee, 'I'm back' Koichi-kun!"