THE OTHER DIMENSION

RATED M

XNOBODY13

Friday, February 13th

Ryoo High

Gym

Science fair

Have you ever wondered what you would do if you were in an isolated place with a group of people, stuck in a survival situation where no help was coming? It is a bizarre question, says I, but sometimes, you just got to answer the most difficult questions. What would you do? Would you help everyone else? Would you be a leader? Maybe you'll be the traitor, or the hated one, or the outsider. You'll never know, unless you were actually there to experience what those kids saw, those growing teens, which all had a whole life ahead of them.

Like I said, it is strange to be asked this type of question, yet it was an actual assessment that the students at Ryoo high school had to answer. Many just half-assed their answer, while others just pondered in their seats. Only about three actually took the question into consideration, but that's all behind us now. Now, this science fair was going on. No one knew why there was one; the school never had one before. It was just an exhibit of all scientific goodness from around the world. It wasn't at all like a cultural festival, so no one really cared for the festival. Sad to say, they should've.

Kagami

Kagami walked out of the classroom rather quickly. She didn't want to admit it, but the assessment kind of freaked her out. It was a pretty deep question, and requiring a simple minded high school student to answer it was quite a strange doing. She sighed. She already knew that no one cared for the question as much as her, and she was just a fool to be in ail by a stupid school question. She would've liked to have stayed in her thoughts for just a bit longer, but her brown-haired friend caught her by surprise.

"oi, Hiiragi!" Misao cried at the top of her lungs, catching everyone by surprise. Kagami grunted at the sight of her. Misao could get annoying at times.

"Quiet down, Misao! Don't cause a scene!" Kagami yelled. Now she drew everyone by surprise, and they all simply walked on towards the fair. Misao looked disappointed.

"C'mon, Hiiragi, don't be such a monster! We get out of classes today. Sure the whole thing seems pointless and, well stupid, but it saves us from doing work!" Misao said cheerfully, patting Kagami's back. However, Kagami shoved Misao away, something she never did before. Misao was stricken with sadness at first, but slowly realized why Kagami was deep in thought, and smiled menacingly.

"Ah, did Hiiragi get scared over that question? Don't worry about it! I was a little creeped out myself, but you just got to realize that it was a question possibly made by some retard who just wants to give us high school girls a scare," Misao said. Kagami, however, dismissed what Misao said. She didn't care if it was that. For some reason, the question just bothered her. Misao sighed in defeat.

"Boy, Hiiragi, you sure are boring. Do you know where Ayano ran off to?" Misao asked. However, Kagami was well on her way down the stairs to the gym, so she didn't hear a single word Misao just said.

Konata

It was true. Konata skipped the writing assessment all together. She just couldn't stand sitting in her desk for more than an hour, writing an answer that probably wouldn't be seen ever again. However, she didn't hear of the Science fair being held, so once she snuck out, she was caught by a man wanting to tell her of his theory. Konata wanted to get away, but he grabbed her and pulled her in. He then proceeded to tell her all about black holes and manipulation, and included thousands of big words Konata didn't understand. She now regretted leaving the class, as she spent the next hour learning about how black holes manipulate time. It was actually a plan thought out by her teacher, Nanako Kuroi, who knew that someone was going to sneak out. It was funny, since Konata had to take the assessment sometime or another.

Once everyone flooded the room for the fair, Konata was allowed to be freed from her imprisonment. She was glad to see Tsukasa walking in, and she quickly ran up to her.

"Oh, Tsukasa, it was horrible! A man made me listen to his theory or somethin' about black holes! Why did our school allow him in?" Konata said to Tsukasa, kneeling on the ground, clinging to her shirt. Tsukasa didn't know that Konata skipped the assessment, so she smiled embarrassingly.

"Kona-chan, he was just a visitor. You know, for the science fair today?" Tsukasa said. She didn't receive an answer. All she got was Konata getting up off the ground, pale-faced and defeated, and heading towards a chair. She sat down, and looked at the floor, giving Tsukasa the creeps. Konata wasn't going to listen to anymore theories that day.

Miyuki

Miyuki found that the topics being discussed at the fair were actually quite interesting. Sure, she would've preferred not to have to listen to long, painful descriptions, but at least the topic was clear and interesting. She saw many of her friends there and even had Tsukasa join in with her party. Miyuki caught sight of a boy, around her age, with a strange arch, standing in the middle of the room.

"My friend, I have made an invention like no one has ever seen before!" he yelled. Miyuki could identify him. He was Kyon, a student constantly picked on in school over his nerdiness and psychotic attitude. His voice echoed throughout the busy room, almost silencing other speakers.

"Why does he have to be so loud?" Tsukasa asked, clinging to Miyuki's arm. She was getting a headache from the rapid conversations going on. Miyuki didn't know how to answer her, and simply smiled. As she smiled, her pink hair swayed from a sudden gust of wind, which belonged to a well-built boy. Tall for his age, he towered over Kyon, looking menacingly down at his face.

"Well, nerd, your "invention" better be good. Otherwise, I'll have a pretty good reason to rip your vocal cords out!" the boy yelled. Kyon grimaced, but held his hands up, commissioning the boy to walk back into the crowd.

It was one of the first times that Miyuki saw the boy. She didn't know who he was. Probably Nagaru or something like that. Miyuki and Tsukasa loathed the boy to a major degree, but every other girl either loved him, or at least thought he was cool. She almost laughed at him being thrown out of the presentation. Kyon adjusted his blazer and continued.

"Now then, allow me to continue. This machine will bring you to your fantasy world. How cool does that sound?" Kyon said, smiling geekishly, holding two thumbs up, awaiting for applause. However, all the people simply laughed out loud, some falling over. Kyon was confused.

"Stop it! I'm not kidding, my project really does work!" Kyon said, throwing his fists down in frustration. No one cared for what he said. However, Miyuki raised her hand. Kyon saw the lone hand and said:

"Yes, do you have a question?"

Everyone stopped abruptly as Miyuki walked to the front of the crowd, Tsukasa trailing her. Most of the boys gawked at her appearance, but Miyuki ignored them.

"Um, you said that your invention can bring a person to their fantasy world, right? I need to know, does it have to read your mind?" Miyuki asked. It did perplex her greatly. Everyone still remained quiet. Whenever Miyuki spoke, everyone listened. It was either her looks or her intelligence that got everyone's attention, but whatever it was, everyone listened.

Kyon pretended to adjust a fake collar and answered "good question, my fair lady. Yes, it reads your mind to bring you to your fantasy world. However, you all must remember this: whatever you are thinking at the moment the machine reads your mind, you will be teleported to that thought," He said, touching the edge of the machine.

Miyuki wasn't taking any of it too seriously. There was no possible way a machine could read your mind, let alone being teleported to said thought. But she still wanted to listen to it. Maybe it would get interesting if a trial was performed.

Yutaka

Yutaka, regardless of her condition, went to school that day. It was the school's first science fair, and since she excelled at science, she thought that her teacher wanted her to be here. She was currently fighting a cold, so it didn't fully affect her, but she still wanted to stay home.

She did take the assessment, and indeed, she was frightened by it. No, it wasn't the question itself, but instead it was the fact that she didn't know how to answer it. She was only able to write a paragraph before the bell, so she probably failed it. Either way, she didn't care.

While walking to the fair, she came across Hiyori, one of her friends. Hiyori didn't mind the assessment at all, so she was quite happy to see Yutaka.

"Osu, Hiyori-san, has anything interesting happened yet?" Yutaka asked, giving a cheerful smile. Hiyori's smile turned quickly into a frown, and she slumped down in a chair, just two down from Konata's.

"I wished something did happen. The guys keep talking in a language I don't understand, and there's nothing to do but listen," Hiyori said, tilting her head sideway to show her drowsiness. Yutaka smiled sheepishly and sat down next to her, attracting her cousin's attention. Konata jumped from her seat and landed right next to Yutaka.

"Yutaka, get me out of here! I'll do anything, even your homework!" Please, just make the torment stop!" Konata said, putting her hands into praying position right next to her. Yutaka chuckled at her sister's despair.

"Onee-chan, it can't be that bad. Some of these exhibits seem interesting," Yutaka said. However, both Hiyori and Konata slumped in their seats. Yutaka was about to get up, when a strange beam of light filled the room.

Ayano

Unlike the other girls, Ayano was in the bathroom, crying to herself. The question really did affect her, and made her not want to show up to the fair. It probably wasn't entertaining anyways.

She didn't know what was going on, but the question smacked her directly in the heart. As she read the paragraph, she imagined everyone she knew on a deserted island, with no food or anyway to contact help. They attacked each other, killed each other, until it was just her, standing around her fallen friends, with nothing to do. And due to this thought, she couldn't write anything down. All she did was sulk in her seat, and after the time was up she ran directly into the bathroom, ignoring Misao's promise to meet at the fair.

As her tears fell, she heard the door open. Ayano quickly drew the tears back into her eyes and pretended to wash her hands. It would've been embarrassing for anyone to see her cry, even worse if it was Misao. However, the person walked to the sink and washed her hands. There appeared to be dirt covering her hands. Ayano slowly looked up at the others face. It was Minami, just looking down at the falling water, her green hair still cut short. Ayano never really talked to Minami, since they never really were the closest of friends.

"Um, how are you enjoying the festival?" Ayano asked, starting up a conversation. She didn't realize that her voice still sounded like she was crying. Minami didn't look up.

"It's alright," Minami replied. Her hands were almost clean.

"Um…I'm Ayano. I'm friends with Kagami-san and Misao-san, if you know them," Ayano said, trying to smile. Minami still didn't look up.

"Okay," Minami replied. She turned off the faucet, went to grab a paper towel, and walked out. Ayano sighed in relief. She knew she had to go to the festival soon. She just needed more time.

Then, it got really bright.

Patricia

Like Miyuki and Tsukasa, Patricia was also listening to Kyon. She didn't care at all for what he was saying, so she aimlessly around the gym. Being so bored, she never noticed that the gym was very tall in size and stature. As she looked at dust gathering around her feet, she heard the question:

"Anyone want to volunteer?"

Patricia didn't hear any part of the conversation, but she loved to volunteer. She always felt that every moment was a moment to shine. She quickly ran through the crowd, pushing away blazers and sailor suits as she ran to Kyon.

"I want to!" Patricia yelled, waving her hand in the air rather quickly. Kyon was taken by surprise.

"Alright, my lovely volunteer, please come up and stand inside the arch!" Kyon said proudly. While others pondered whether this was staged or not, Patricia ran up to the Arch and stood inside. She smiled cheerfully at the crowd. Patricia's smile was contagious, and it made everyone she was looking at smile.

Kyon clapped his hands and chuckled. He pulled out a remote that looked like it controlled a toy car and pointed it at the arch. "Now everyone, once I press this switch, Patricia will fall asleep and she will be teleported to her fantasy world. We can observe her through this monitor," Kyon said, pointing towards a rather large computer monitor. Already, a bigger crowd was attracted to Kyon's machine, all wondering if the machine would work.

Once everyone stopped crowding around, Kyon began the countdown.

"5…4…3…2…,"

He was suddenly interrupted by a crumbled-up piece of paper lunged at him. Kyon quickly turned to see who it was. It was Nagaru, the boy who yelled at him earlier. He had a whole load of crumbled-up paper.

"You damn idiot! You stay away from Patricia. That thing is going to kill her!" Nagaru yelled, throwing another piece of paper. This one hit Kyon directly in the face. Patricia was getting aggravated. She felt that the project was fun, and she wanted to see her fantasy world, but damned Nagaru wouldn't allow her.

It was true, Nagaru loved her. He wanted her so badly. But Patricia hated him; she wasn't interested in the tough guy. Yet Nagaru never stopped; he always sent terribly-written love letters to him, and also hurt others just to impress her. Patricia hoped that he would understand that she wasn't into him, but Nagaru was very persistent.

"Listen Nagaru, she will be fine-" Kyon was interrupted by Nagaru pulling him up by the collar. Kyon's blazer was pretty tight on him, so the fabric began to rip. Nagaru punched Kyon square in the face, blooding his face. Patricia stepped out of the arch.

"Please you two, don't fight. Nagaru, I'll be alright!" Patricia said, trying to hold them apart from each other. She was actually succeeding at pulling them apart.

Then she pushed them.

Misao

The whole fair was pointless, at least according to Misao. Nothing at all was interesting, nor was anything eye-popping or even worthwhile. Who gives a damn about science anyways? Misao surely didn't. She didn't even know what the word "science" meant.

She could've sworn that she wanted Ayano to meet her by the chemistry exhibit. If anything, Misao could at least have a friend to witness the shallow horror. She wanted Kagami to hang out, but Kagami was too moody, and quite possibly was hanging out with Konata.

(Damn you chibikko)

However, Ayano still hadn't shown up, and Misao was beginning to lose hope. Sighing, she decided to walk around, after standing in place for more than 30 minutes. She wasn't the typical non-eccentric girl in high school, no, she was to hyper, to crazy.

The things that sealed her fate…

In actuality, Misao was indeed creeped out by the odd question for the assessment. Adter reading it, shivers went spiraling down her spine, and all her energy was thrown out the window. Still, she answered it like she didn't care. She only wrote 3 sentences, and that was her answer. However, the last sentence that she wrote, well, she felt like it wasn't her writing anymore. The first two sentences felt right, but the last one…

"I would also flee; everyone could die for all I care…"

Misao never finished a sentence with ellipsis before, and after writing it, her hand cramped up. The whole sentence seemed to be alive, and was beckoning her. It taunted her, it wanted her, and it spooked her. Yet, once the bell rang, she simply ignored it. Still, the sentence appeared to have been following her, for its presence still remained.

As she looked at an estranged statue, yells came echoing off the walls. Misao looked around herself as people began to rush to another booth. Misao thought to herself for a second, and then decided to follow the rest; If it was something remotely interesting, than she had to see it, even if it was disgusting.

The first thing she saw was Konata sitting down in a seat, looking at the floor, looking bored. Kagami was no where in sight. Misao did feel remorseful at first for the blue-haired girl, but the feeling passed, and she couldn't help but laugh at the sight. Seeing her fellow chibikko defeated was a sight for sore eyes.

Then she heard the arguing at the podium. Breaking through the crowd, she noticed that two kids, Kyon and Nagaru, were starting to fight, with an American (Patricia, right?) trying to intervene. At first, Misao didn't care for it, and then an idea sprung into her mind.

She knew that her assessment answer was terrible, and her sensei might mark her down as a failure. No, Misao wouldn't allow that. She looked around and saw her sensei running through the crowd. She began to think. Could it be possible to impress her sensei by breaking up a fight so that he will raise her grade?

It was stupid enough to work.

Before anyone could do anything, Misao dashed through the crowd. Many tried to shrug her away, but she pushed them and picked up her pace. She was an excellent track-runner, so dodging obstacles wasn't the hardest thing to do. Once she made it to the clearing, she looked back. Her sensei was far behind. Perfect, Misao thought. With that, she dashed to the podium at top speed.

"HEY, STOP FIGHTING IN THE NAME OF KUSAKABE!" Misao yelled at the top of her lungs. Kyon, Nagaru, and Patricia stopped what they were doing and looked dumbfounded at the short-haired girl. It at first looked like she was just running towards them. But then, Kyon made a horrible realization. Misao appeared to have tripped after her yell. The machine did have a fault; if anything hit it at the right speed and velocity, then the machine would spiral out of control. What it'll do was a mystery to Kyon.

"Hey, hey! Stop!" Kyon tried to yell, but Misao still fell full throttle. As she bumped into Kyon, A whole nightmare scenario played in his mind. What would happen? Would every body's minds get combined? Would they all vaporize into dust? Would all of their genes be rewritten as time reverts itself? He didn't know. Sad to say, he would soon find out.

As he fell back, he bumped into Patricia, who bumped into Nagaru. Since Nagaru was a big guy, once he fell on the machine, he clearly made a dent. The machine was well built, but had very weak metal as its skin. Once Nagaru hit the machine, a strange humming sound filled the room…

…and all hell broke loose

General

Everyone began to move away from the machine as the humming sound grew louder. Kyon recovered from his fall, and quickly ran to the machine. He pulled out the controller and fiddled with it, pressing every button, every combination. He trained in stopping disasters, but this one was reverting. The humming grew louder, and Kyon was growing a headache. Murmurs were heard from the crowd as they moved even farther back.

What the hell is going on? Kyon thought to himself as he stepped into the machine. What he saw shocked him. Inside the archway, right at the top, strange molecule-like objects began to form. They faded in and out of focus, with many being chemically combined with the air. Kyon thought it was a marvelous sight, but then the answer came to him.

What it this, a quantum leap? But atoms can't be seen! What the hell… oh no…

He knew what was happening. He looked back at the crowd, who were equally as frightened as he was. Nagaru and Patricia ran back to the crowd, with Nagaru giving him a menacing glare. Kyon decided to calm the crowd down.

"Don't worry every body…" was all Kyon could say before the humming drowned him out. What happened next was a strange event never experienced in the science world, or in normal life. Many might describe the power as being the same as a black hole. But no, you didn't see what they saw.

A blinding light soon broke through the gym, extending its death light throughout the crowd. The humming grew louder. Every one fell to the ground, holding their ears as the noise rushed by them. Their eyes were literally bleeding as the light stabbed their corneas. Many tried to fight the awesome power of the strange occurrence, but all they could do was flop around the ground, holding their bleeding ears and eyes as the ordeal happened right in front of them.

Then, a massive gravitational outburst occurred. Many of the people on the ground flopping around were forcibly flung off the ground, and into the wall or ceiling. The whole building changed its shape and direction, rapidly changing from being on the ground lateral to being vertical, sending everyone with its change of direction. Anything that was metal was completely twisted, including doors, bars, necklaces still wrapped around people's necks, choking the life out of them. The walls vibrated, and the windows began to hum a breaking tune. As soon as everyone thought that the worse was about to come, everything turned white from the brightness, and everyone still alive was now unconscious.

And the last thing Nanako Kuroi wanted to do was almost completed.