A very short oneshot I thought of the moment I finished watching the series.
He walked down the corridor chatting with friends when he caught sight of someone. A girl, lowerclassman from the looks of her, with pink hair talking animatedly with a group of girls.
"Hey, Otonashi says 'hi'," he told her as they passed. The pink haired girl frowned while her friend giggled, though whether it was because of what he had said or because they were teenage girls he had no idea.
"What?" Hideki frowned also, where did that come from? Who the hell was Otonashi? The name felt familiar, just like the girl in front of him, but he didn't know either. He felt his cheeks burn and he was thankful his friends hadn't been there to witness his embarrassment.
"Um, I have no idea why I said that."
"That's because you're a moron," she declared. Hideki glared, feeling a sudden urge to pull a wrestling move on her and he had no idea why.
"Whatever," he said instead and turned away.
"Wait," the girl said grabbing his sleeve. He paused, glancing back at her. "Have we met before?"
"No, I don't think we have. You just transferred right?" The girl nodded. Hideki noticed her friends had slipped away leaving just the two of them in the hall. Normally he wouldn't be so forward, but he felt so at ease with her. "What's your name?"
"Yui," she answered with a smile. "Meroko Yui."
"I'm Hideki Irabu."
Hideki found himself noticing the pink haired girl around school more and more. They would also constantly bump into each other, both figuratively and literally. On the stairs, in line at lunch and even a few times just around town.
They began to seek each other out from there always striking up a conversation, though they usually developed into petty arguments. Both left with their feelings intact and whatever was said during the fight promptly forgotten. Meroko cheered him on at every baseball game while he would go through whatever phase she was in at the time. Watching her preform with her small band at the talent show was a silent promise he made, along with teaching her to play baseball, waking up at five in the morning for the few months she decided she wanted to run, loosing endless chess games and so on.
"It's like you've known each other for ages," his friends told him. Over the months Hideki seemed to have become more and more attached to the girl. He would have already asked her out officially if he didn't know his friends all had bets placed for when he would. Instead he just smiled and shrugged, telling them the same thing he always did when they brought up how strange the relationship was.
"Yeah, it's weird, but I feel like I've known Meroko since before I can remember."
"Do you believe in soul mates?" Meroko asked. They had been officially dating for nearly three years and were both in college. She had settled down a lot, choosing to become a physio therapist, though she still would often flit between projects. Their apartment had many half started craft projects that she swore she would one day finish.
"Soul mates?"
"You know, people who were destined to meet and be together. Don't you sometimes feel like this was supposed to be?" Hideki thought about their meeting, how he had felt like he'd known her forever and how certain words or actions would trigger deja vu for no reason. There was so much about their interactions that just seemed right and had always felt that way. He would have dreams sometimes, of the two of them together with good friends he didn't know and wearing a school uniform that wasn't theirs.
"You know, before I met you I didn't," he said, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. "But I do now. What about you?" She frowned looking thoughtful and so serious. He knew she was mentally going over their interactions as well.
"I think we met in a past life and now we were lucky to have found each other again." Hideki smiled, he didn't believe in reincarnation.
Then again... Maybe she was right.
I chose to have their new names be similar, but not the same as their previous lives. Yui became 'Meroko Yui' because the moment I first saw her I couldn't help but think of Meroko from Full Moon, who happens to also be a pink haired dead girl. As for Hideki, in angel Beats his family name is obviously Hinata, Hideki itself is a common name so I chose a new last name. The name Hideki Irabu is actually the name of a famous Japanese baseball payer.
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