Angel Beats! After story
Ep. 1 Reunited
Yuzuru Otonashi got off the bus in the middle of the Tokyo suburbs. His home was some distance away off from his new high school. He was walking past several stores while he brushed some of his fair, brown hair out of his eyes. When passing by a bakery shop, he saw a cute girl with long, braided, silver hair. She seemed strangely familiar. He slowed down to get a better look of her to check if she was someone he knew. As he looked out through the sides of his eyes, she now seemed very familiar. As he was right by her, she started humming a song. He recognized this song, but he couldn't remember where he heard it from. It was all very familiar. The girl now checked her phone and started to leave. In an instant choice, Otonashi reached for her…
SCHEEOW, RING! Otonashi woke up to an obnoxious sound. He checked the clock. It was 5:00. He groggily got out of bed. He walked toward his sister's bedroom and looked inside. Sure enough, her sister was playing her electric guitar, no, it appeared more that she was just trying to make the most loud and obnoxious sound possible with it. His sister was a short, but vivacious girl with pink hair. She was almost the exact opposite of Otonashi. He sometimes wondered whether she was really his sibling.
"What's up moron? You look tired" she said.
"Stop being annoying Yui and go back to sleep-"
"What are you two doing here?" asked their mom. "Put down the guitar Yui, you need to get ready for school. You should also get ready Yuzuru. You know your way to your new school right? Sorry that I couldn't give you a ride hun. I'm afraid that Yui might lose her way to her first day of middle school if she walked."
"Yes Mom. Yui would probably lose her way to the local grocery store if she went alone" replied Otonashi causing Yui to look comically infuriated.
Otonashi washed his face, ate breakfast, and brushed his teeth. He was thinking about his dream? Who was the girl? How does he know her? What song was she humming? The thoughts were in his head throughout the morning. No matter how hard he thought, he couldn't answer any of these questions. He soon left his house and got on the bus. He was soon in Downtown Tokyo. He got off at the station about one mile away from his school. By now, he mostly thought that his dream was caused by a thought of his appearance to everyone. He was still immersed in his thoughts when he entered the gates. It was just like how he remembered it in the open house. The field was mostly grass and everything was huge. He thought that he was going to like his new school.
High School, Classroom 3A
He went into a classroom and sat in one of the few vacant seats remaining. The bell rang moments after he sat. The teacher quieted the class down.
"Welcome everyone to your first day..."
Otonashi looked around his desk. Most of the kids didn't seem to listen at all to the teacher. He saw one boy with brown hair like his nervously peering into a manga book. He seemed somewhat familiar. He saw another boy who wore glasses and had black hair. Otonashi felt a strange sense of recognition as the boy unbuttoned his shirt. He looked around some more and finally came eye to eye with a boy with purple hair twirling a broomstick staring at him lothingly. Otonashi quickly looked away. He thought that they probably might be people he met in elementary school. Yet, then why does he remember their current high school form, rather than what they would have looked like when they were young?
"... And now you will split into groups of your choices and tour the different clubs, teams, and departments of this school" the teacher said as Otonashi finally looked back at the teacher. Several of the students immediately formed groups with their old friends from middle school. However, nobody went up to Otonashi. He was expecting this. He was quite sad when he found out none of his few friends were going to the same high school as him. He sat down quietly in his chair, and he was soon the only one left. Otonashi was quite fine with this. He liked being alone. He then stood up to ask his teacher for permission to go alone when the door slides open.
"Is everything going all right, sensei?" A soft and quiet voice said. Otonashi turned, and his heart almost stopped. It was the girl from his dream. She looked exactly the same: fair silver hair, short in height, with stunning yellow eyes. Otonashi felt a great sense of recognition. Not from his dream, but from a memory very distant...
"Just at the right time Tenshi, can you partner up with this boy and give him a tour?"
"Kanade" Otonashi said out loud.
The teacher and the girl both seemed confused.
"My name is Tenshi Tachibana and I'm the student body president, you must be thinking of another person." (Note that Tenshi means angel.)
"Yeah, you're right. You just look like somebody I know... Sorry."
"No, wait it's okay. I think I have seen you somewhere before. Probably at the open house. We have to be going now though."
They went out of the room and started walking.
"You don't look so old. How did you become student body president so quickly Tachibana-senpai?" Asked Otonashi.
"Yes, I'm only a sophomore, but a lot of my friends supported me. I thought I could make several changes in this school."
"You must be smart and kind. By the way, my name is Otonashi. Yuzuru Otonashi."
The girl suddenly stopped. "What's wrong?" asked Otonashi.
"Nothing," said the girl. "Come on, let's enter the gym"
Otonashi opened the door and went in. The gym was a gigantic indoor basketball court that could be modified so it can be used for other sports. In this case, the volleyball teams were practicing. They walked by, and looked at the many plaques and trophies on the walls. As they were about to leave, something caught Otonashi's eye. One of the members of the girl's volleyball team was making neck-breaking saves without any effort at all. In fact, she seemed to be completely relaxed.
"How is she doing that" asked Otonashi.
"Oh that's Shiina. She is the best player in the team. In fact, without her, we wouldn't have even gotten to the playoffs." replied Tenshi.
'Shiina, wait, that name sounds familiar. I'm not sure, but I remember her from somewhere. Can't possibly forget someone who's this much of a badass.' He thought.
"It was partly her fault though that we lost the championships last year."
"Did a plush puppy doll catch her attention?" 'Wait, what did I just say?'
There was a pause.
"How do you know that?"
"I have no idea. I feel like I just blurted that out." He replied.
"She actually does have a fetish for small, cute animals." There was a long silence between the two.
"Should we tour somewhere else, we spent too much time here" said Otonashi breaking the silence.
"Yes, sorry about that. I'll show you around the rooms upstairs."
The two left the gym. As they were going out the door, Otonashi heard a faint but strong voice. It said: "This is stupid".
High School Floor 2: East wing
Tenshi lead Otonashi through the long hall. Many other students passed by them, and greeted Tenshi.
"Many of the classes over here are for electives. Our school offers many electives, one of the most in the country." She said.
"I wish that I could have enjoyed all this with my friends."
"Where are they?"
"They all went somewhere else. I don't know why."
"You must feel lonely."
"I do now. But I'm going to make new friends here. I can't just get held back in my life. We always have to move on in life."
"You're right" She said while smiling. They reached the end of the hallway, and came to a set of double doors. This time, Otonashi held the door open for Tenshi when entering. Otonashi looked around at what was a miniature dance studio.
"Wow, this school also has a dance studio?" asked Otonashi bewildered.
"Yes, the school made it some time ago, since there always was an outstanding dance crew. Their performances are always seemingly professional."
The lights dimmed at that moment, and lights were gathered at the small stage. The other visiting kids stepped back as the music started. A group of five boys stepped up and started the performance. Their dancing was perfect without any mistakes at all. It momentarily became quiet in the audience for they were shocked, but it was soon replaced by a loud cheer. Otonashi was never a fan of dancing, but he was still very impressed by all this. The lights changed. One male was stepping out of the dark. He went on to the stage. He was a tall boy who wore a red bandana across his eye.
"Dance out!"
Otonashi suddenly felt a jump in his heart 'This is strange. I feel like I've seen him before. Just where did I see him from.'
The boy was no longer human. He was a raging whirlwind that was dancing and moving fiercely. After a minute of this, he was finally done. The crowd was roaring. The lights slowly turned back on, and the students went back to their business.
"Did you like it?" Tenshi asked.
"Yeah, it was really good. Do you know who that boy who came in the last is?"
"We don't know what his real name is, but he calls himself T.K. That is what it also says on the attendance sheet."
"Wait a second." Otonashi walked over to where T.K. was. He was still dancing in the corner hanging out with some of the other dancers. "Sorry, but have I seen you before?"
The boys turned toward him.
"Are you trying to get an autograph from T.K.?"
"You need to prove yourself worthy first though."
"No thanks, I'm just asking him a question." Otonashi quickly said and turned toward T.K.
T.K. was silent as if he was shocked, staring dumbly at Otonashi. There was an awkward silence among them.
DING DONG DING DONG. The bell rang loudly. All students started to leave the studio.
"Let's go T.K." The dancers also left without replying, leaving Otonashi. T.K. was constantly looking back at him, shaking his head as he exited. Otonashi restrained himself from running after them and asking them more questions. He didn't know why, but he felt that this was important.
"Should we go now? It's lunch time" Tenshi said.
"Yeah, sorry I held you back."
"It seems like you do know T.K. He rarely stops dancing."
"I guess I met him at the open house too… Hey, we should probably also go to the cafeteria now."
Tenshi nodded, and they left the studio.
High School: Cafeteria
The cafeteria was already packed with students. The two got on the line to order food.
"Hi Tenshi-chan." A bright voice said. They both turned around and Otonashi gasped.
There was a girl a bit taller than Tenshi with long purple hair smiling. The girl noticed Otonashi with a shocked face and went up close to him.
"You like me, don't you?" she asked with a smug face.
"No! Why would you think that?" Otonashi quickly replied.
"This is a pain in the butt. So many guys like me these days." The girl said ignoring Otonashi. Otonashi breathed out and calmed himself down.
"Hi Yuri-chan." Tenshi said brightly.
"What are you doing with this newbie? Don't tell me you like him." Yuri asked in a very questioning way.
"No, I'm just giving him a tour around the school as Sensei told me to." Tenshi replied.
"You're just too nice. You should be a bit harsher."
"I'll try." Tenshi said while smiling.
"See you then!" Yuri left talking to her friends, laughing and smiling.
Meanwhile, Otonashi was still shocked.
"You probably are related to Yuri in some way. She also called me Kanade when she first met me."
"Yeah, I definitely remember her from somewhere…"
"Hey, stop holding up the line up there." Someone said from far back in the line. Otonashi was already at the ordering area. He rushed forward and ordered a sushi roll. He waited for Tenshi, who was still receiving her food. As soon as she was done, Otonashi found a table for both of them to sit in, and they both sat down. He looked at Tenshi's food. It looked spicy, no, to be more precise it was
"MAPO TOFU?!" Otonashi suddenly exclaimed. People stared at him confusedly for a moment, and then went back to their business.
"Yes, others were also surprised when I told them it was my favorite food. They couldn't believe I liked something this spicy." Tenshi said.
"Sorry about that. I don't know why I yelled that. I really need to get more sleep, -he- he." Otonashi chuckled a bit nervously.
Tenshi looked at him concerned worried a little about his mental state. She went back to eating, and Otonashi did too after calming himself down. They both finished at about the same time and relaxed for a little bit.
"Are you sure you're okay right now. You seemed a bit abnormal." Tenshi asked.
"No, I'm all right. How did you eat mapo tofu this fast though? Nobody could eat it in my middle school, so they had to bring it down from the menu."
"I don't know. I tried it first when I was really little, and I just liked it. It was really good."
"That's surprising."
"Not really. Oh yeah, I've been thinking about this. Do you actually like Yuri-chan."
Otonashi drew a bit of a smile and said "I do think that she is a bit cute, but I don't think she is much of my type."
Tenshi also smiled and said "We only have an hour for me to guide you, so let's hurry up.
"All right, you're the boss today." They walked out, and Tenshi showed him where all the main classrooms, assembly centers, and the hallways were. An hour soon passed, and another bell rang.
"Sorry, I would like to have given you a better tour, but I need to be at a student council meeting until 4:00." Tenshi said.
"Oh, it's okay. Thanks to you, I probably won't get lost tomorrow."
"Hope you like this school and find new friends."
"Thanks. See you some other time then."
Otonashi left feeling happy. He thought that this high school was going to end up being fun, even if all of his old friends were elsewhere. As he walked out the door, Tenshi started humming on her way to the Student council office. It was the exact same song Otonashi heard from the girl in his dream, but Otonashi was already too far away to hear anything.
Otonashi was just exiting the school gate, when he got a call from his mother. He picked up his phone.
"I just got out of my school Mom, I'm on my way home."
"Sorry Yuzuru, but can you go to your sister's middle school right now. Yui got into some trouble and I can't make it until later, so I need you to go there."
"Okay Mom."
He hung up, and started to head toward his former middle school. 'What did she do now? I can't believe that she actually beat her last year's record on getting in trouble in the second day of school. What is it this time?' he thought.
Middle School
He walked for about a mile when he reached Yui's middle school. He felt strongly nostalgic as he got on the campus of the school he stayed for three years in. He smiled from the memories of the fun times he spent with his friends.
"This place hasn't changed at all." he said to himself. He walked across the field and went into the administrators' office. He opened the door and saw the vice-principal, Yui, and a boy who was leaning forward to pick up something.
"Oh, is it?" said the vice-principal.
"Good afternoon sensei, sorry about the problems my sister caused. She must have been a nuisance."
"Oh, there is no need for you to apologize. It's your sister who's still not apologizing for assaulting Mr. Hinata here-"
"Assaulting? SHE WAS GOING TO KILL ME!" the boy screamed.
Otonashi looked toward the boy and fidgeted. It was another moment today where he felt like he was getting close to find something out. He definitely knew this boy. His blue hair and fierce eyes were too familiar, for this to be a coincidence...
"Now Mr. Hinata, it is very true that Yui here was attacking you, but I'm sure she didn't mean to kill you so please stay quiet."
"I was going to kill him you know." Yui said.
"Ms. Otonashi, we won't tolerate that kind of behavior from our students."
The vice-principal turned toward Otonashi. "Since you're her brother, I think you should know what your sister did." He faced Yui. "Now tell us again what you did young girl."
Yui sighed, then slowly told them what happened.
Flashback
Yui was running through the hallway peeking into empty classrooms during the lunch break. She decided to explore the school, for she left her lunch at home. She skipped lightly up the stairs and heard a small sound. She heard carefully and heard an electric guitar playing… no, an entire band was playing. She ran towards the music, came to a classroom door. She noticed that a poster was attached to the door. It read…
"Girls Dead Monster?" Yui contemplated.
She felt like something was familiar. It reminded her of a distant memory… She silently opened the door and sure enough saw a four-member girl's band resting on the floor. They stared at her.
"Um… hi. I really liked your music… I think I've heard you guys play before although I'm new to this school…" Yui said nervously.
One of the girls stood up to greet her. She had streaks of pink and purple in her hair.
"You're one of the freshmens? I'm Iwasawa. It's nice to meet you."
Yui jolted in surprise.
"What's wrong?" Iwasawa asked.
Yui blushed and said "Oh no no no, it's nothing… Uh… Iwasawa-san?"
Yui then gave her a determined look "Can I please be an assistant to this band in some way? Just tell me what to do and I will do it!"
Iwasawa seemed to be thinking over this for a while. The rest of the band members were also looking at them. Finally, Iwasawa opened her mouth as to speak…
CRASH!
The loud noise made all of them jump, and glass shards floated on the ground near one of the windows. A baseball rolled toward Yui's feet and stopped. The room was filled with silence and confusion as nobody knew what to do. All of a sudden, they heard loud footsteps approaching, and the door slid open. A boy with blue hair wearing a baseball cap was catching his breath. He saw the broken window then looked around quickly analyzing the situation. He saw the baseball by Yui's feet.
"I'm so sorry. I should not have hit the ball so hard knowing that buildings were nearby." The boy said nervously.
Iwasawa stepped up and said, "It did create some shock, but its fine. Nobody got hurt."
"I'm relieved to hear that. I'll go notify a teacher about this so we can get it cleaned up. Of course I will take full responsibility. By the way, my name is Hinata. I think that we should dispose of the ball first for safety." The boy then went over to Yui, who was strangely very silent, to pick up the ball. As he reached for it, Yui's foot shot straight up and
"ULP…" The boy slumped to the ground motionless, as Yui's foot landed straight on his groin.
"Yui!?" Iwasawa said as she ran over to the boy who was apparently in much pain. "Are you okay?" She asked. The boy groggily got back up and was silent for a moment's time. All of a sudden, his expression turned to extreme, comical anger and he yelled at Yui.
"Are you trying to freakin' kill me? What was that for kicking your senpai like that?"
"How dare you talk back to me like that?" replied Yui very condescendingly. "How dare do trash like you try to hurt us. You should just be thankful that my kick was weak."
The boy immediately responded and rushed towards Yui "Why, you little bitch. Wait until I get my hands on you…"
"WHAM" The boy was knocked back completely with his chin pointing up towards the sky and blood slowly came out of his nose. He was completely lifeless.
"I'm not done with you yet. Stand back up you freaking sissy!" Yui yelled as she ran towards the boy to hurt him more. Both Hisako and Iwasawa had to work together to restrain Yui's arms while the other members were cowering in fear. "Let go of me, I'm going to smash this bugs into pieces!" Yui raved.
"Just calm down Yui!" Iwasawa yelled.
Hinata finally managed to stand up, and he limped away doubled-up with a hand on his nose.
Flashback End
"Ehew" Otonashi sighed after he heard the story. He turned towards both the principal and Yui. "I'm truly sorry about this. My sister can turn into a huge freak sometimes. We've been considering about stopping her karate lessons too."
Hinata looked at Otonashi in a charming and admiring manner and assured, "Oh no, you don't have any fault in this. I should be the one apologizing for getting worked up."
As Hinata's eyes kept transfixed into his, Otonashi was a bit creeped out and he made an awkward smile and thought, 'Is this guy gay or what?'
He then said "Thanks… anyhow, whichever way you look at it its Yui's fault, so I think that appropriate measures must be taken from stopping her from harassing you. She can hold long grudges, so I recommend a restraining order…"
Yui gave a haughty look and with a "Hmph" she layed back on the chair.
Hinata seemed to be thinking this over very carefully, scrutinizing his face with his hand rubbing his chin. He then relaxed and replied "I'll let this go just this one time since I was at fault too for hitting the ball at the window." He still seemed a bit disgruntled.
The vice-principal seemed to be content with this and quickly said "Okay, this solves the case then. Why don't you two make up by shaking each other's hands now?"
With this suggestion, the two locked eyes and sparks flew out of the staredown that both were relentless on. However, Hinata gave in first and reached out his hand although he didn't seem very happy. Yui looked away as if she was rejecting it, but then Otonashi gave a somewhat fierce look and said "Yui." meant to chide her. Yui finally succumbed and touched Hinata's hand briefly before jerking it away rapidly. The three were then released from the office and they came out of the building to find that the sun was setting. As they walked across the field, they were able to enjoy the rare bit of open space in Tokyo as the sun shone brightly at a sharp angle, forming long shadows. The sun felt warm on them. They just reached the gate when Yui exclaimed
"Bye, bug. The next time you do something like this again, I won't forgive you." She said this with an insulting and condescending tone.
Hinata clenched his fist in anger and stated "Why are you doing this to me. What have I done to deserve this."
"Huh? Talking back are we? Do you want me to hit you harder to nail my authority into you?-"
"Stop it Yui. Just shut up and leave!" Otonashi shouted as he couldn't watch it go out of hand any further.
"And you stop belittling me. Stop acting like you're so much better than me!" Yui retorted.
Hinata who was silent during this altercation spoke up and said "I'll be leaving now."
He walked a few steps forwards then stopped and stated directly to Yui "You are literally the worst girl I've ever met. You are just an evil heartless girl that doesn't care about others. It doesn't matter how cute you act. No guy will ever come to like you. You'll die lonely and no one will want to ever marry you."
The air became silent and Otonashi was apparently shocked at what Hinata said, but he knew there was some truth to it. Yui didn't know when to stop crossing the line. She was too self-centered. Otonashi took a glimpse towards Yui and noticed tears welling up in her eyes. She was still looking downwards with occasional twitches on her lips. Right before it broke out, Otonashi knew that Hinata had unwittingly crossed a line, hitting Yui in some sort of a weak spot. Yui lunged at Hinata and struck him across the face and he crashed to the ground.
Yui burst into tears and screamed "Take that back, right now. You don't know what you're talking about! A person swore to me a long time ago that he would marry me no matter what! Don't go saying false things like that!"
Otonashi was surprised at what he heard, but something in the back of his mind was nagging at him, telling him this wasn't a lie. Hinata slowly got back up on his feet and continued walking away emotionlessly. In a barely audible voice, he said "Yeah right."
Yui didn't let this slide past over her. She ran and sunk her fist into Hinata's stomach as hard as she could, and Hinata flew several feet before landing motionlessly with blood slowly pouring away from his nose. His backpack was disengaged from his shoulder, and all the contents of it were spilled out.
"No Yui!" Yui didn't take any further course of action. She just slumped to the ground energyless with tears dripping down. Otonashi knew now that there was no hope of reconciling such adversaries. He slowly began to pick up Hinata's stuff to put it back in his backpack. As he picked up the notebook, a picture… no, more like an art sketch fluttered away and landed face down. He went over to investigate it. He turned it over.
"Huh!?" It was a sketch that Hinata apparently made, including a boy pushing a girl on a wheelchair. A switch turned on in his brain. It was Hinata and Yui.
"But how?" he asked himself. Then everything hit him. All the memories of the past world came into him as quickly as a shock of lightning. He remembered the first day he arrived at the afterworld, to the time he joined the SSS, the guild, the gigantic fish they caught, and…
"Kanade." he whispered softly. The scene of him hugging Kanade in the sunset came back to him. He remembered the painful sorrow he felt as Kanade disappeared. He dropped the notebook and ran off at full speed to find Kanade. 'I can't let her slip away from me ever again!' he thought as he ran. He needed to confront his beloved Kanade, he needed to reunite with her no matter what. There was a very anxious look on Otonashi's face as he sped up even more, running faster than time itself, as he felt that he has been running for many eternities. He saw the school gate just up ahead and went right through it and looked around. He saw nobody and tears fell down in despair, and he was about to turn away, when he saw a figure slowly walking out of a building. It was a short girl with silver hair walking in a composed manner. With a smile on his face, he ran towards her with his arms stretched out and hugged her with all his might. She was taken aback for a second as Otonashi hugged her tightly whispering " Kanade, Kanade" over and over again. She gave a small gasp as she remembered all the events and hugged him back, slowly patting his back up and down. Tears also welled up in her eyes as she smiled at the joy of also having Otonashi back.
"It's you Otonashi! Your warm touch that comforted me and soothed me… and your heart, I remember it beating inside of me!" she said softly.
Meanwhile, back in the middle school, Yui picked up her belongings and slowly walked away with her eyes still puffed and filled with tears until she noticed the notebook that Otonashi had dropped. She picked up the picture laying next to it, and instant realization overcame her as she deciphered who the two people were. She desperately looked around for Hinata who was now running down the street with a long shadow chasing him.
"No!" she yelled with a desperate face filled with tears as she chased him down. Hinata looked back and seeing that Yui was chasing him, he sped up thinking that she was going to actually kill him. They were both running to their maximum potential, but Yui slowly caught up, but alas at the last moment, she ran out of all her energy, and collapsed. She looked down in failure, but she then realized she had to get his attention no matter what.
"Hinata! I love you! Please marry me! Always be by my side!" She screamed in an outburst with all her might.
Hinata finally stopped for a second considering with confusion what Yui had just said, and like the others, he gave a sudden, sharp gasp and dropped everything he had to run towards Yui's side. He kneeled down and hugged her as they both met eyes with each other happily.
"I promised you that I will be by your side no matter what, remember. I won't leave you alone no matter what. I accept your proposal." Hinata said.
Yui suddenly broke away from the hug and kissed Hinata on the lips, and they were engaged like this with neither wishing to back away as the sun went over the horizon.
Back on Otonashi's side, the two lovers were now in a playground nearby, sitting with each other on a bench as the orange light shone clearly. Kanade's head leaned on his shoulder, and she was patting his chest continuously with her eyes closed. Otonashi was filled with happiness of being back with Kanade again. He felt as if every wish in his life came true. The sun finally went over the sky and it slowly became dark. A surge of anxiety came into Otonashi all of a sudden. What if Kanade disappeared through a tragedy again eternally splitting the two?
'No, I musn't think of that. I'll protect her no matter what,' he thought.
"What's wrong?" Kanade asked sensing his nervousness.
Hinata and Yui were finally disengaged and Yui turned to Hinata as if she had something to say to him.
Otonashi- Never
Yui- leave
Otonashi- my
Yui- side
Otonashi- ever
Yui- again.
Kanade and Hinata looked at their partners with a charming look. They both said
"I won't!"