Hi! This is my first Angel Beats fanfic, so I'm a bit nervous... Also, I've got a fairly coherent plan for where it's going to go, and it'll be increasingly AU as it goes on, so if you don't like that kind of thing this isn't the fic for you.

What else, what else... Oh! That's right! I almost forgot to mention that I'm giving Oyama a first name. This is a fanfic featuring him as a main character, and while I'll try and stick to his development from the anime and light novel, there are quite a few details about him I'll be adding. Being a "Jack of All Trades, Master of None" type really, really sucks for a teenager, and that's a side I'll probably be putting a good bit of focus on.

Anyway, enough of my rambling. On with the story!

Yuki Oyama was not happy. Of course, it bears mentioning that lately he'd never really been in the best of spirits, especially during Battlefront meetings since Yuri still terrified him and Hinata was mostly ignoring him, but that day he was in an even worse mood than usual. He was really not at all in any mood to begin yet another mission, though he probably looked like he was neutral (Yuki was, after all, the champion of seeming completely normal no matter the activity). As he stepped into the meeting room, it occurred to him that it was doubtful anyone would notice. That made him kind of sad, but he didn't linger on those particular sentiments for too long - he had other things to feel negative about.

This was the day that he would have turned fifteen, and none of his new Afterlife friends knew his given name. Although it was his three hundred and sixty-fourth day of being in the Afterlife, and his two hundred and nineteenth day of being roommates with Hideki Hinata, he hadn't given out very much (or really any) personal information. Nobody had asked about it, after all, and he didn't want to bother them. Perhaps more to the point, he didn't want to share something and be ignored or rejected. At the time, he still didn't really have much idea of how his friends thought of him, and he didn't want to seem self-centred.

"Oyama? Oyama?" Yuki blinked. It seemed he had missed part of the briefing while lost in thought, if the changed slide and Otonashi shaking him were any indication.

"A-Ah, I'm sorry... What were you saying?" Yuki rubbed his neck sheepishly, forcing a blithe smile.

Yuri sighed. "I was just announcing the members who will be taking part in the next operation. You're one of them, Oyama."

"Yup," added Hideki with a nod. "Lucky you. We're gonna get ourselves into the student council room somehow, and find out what's with those boxes the Vice Prez keeps putting in there. It's more hare-brained than Yurippe's usual plans, amazingly enough."

"Why thank you," chirped Yuri, before realizing exactly what he had said. "Hare-brained?!" She kicked Hideki in a way that made Yuki and every other guy in the room cringe with sympathy.

"Sheesh, how violent..." Hideki squeaked, dragging himself back onto the couch. Yuri glowered at him.

"Well maybe next time you'll think twice before insulting your leader," sniffed Yuri before switching back to enthusiastic mode. "Now then, are we all clear on the plan? Good. Operation, start!" Yuki had been about to say that no, he wasn't clear about the plan at all, but Yuri announced the start faster, and everyone else seemed to understand just fine. He made a mental note to ask Hideki later for the details, and left the room with a small sigh.

"Hey, Oyama." Yuki whirled around, almost jumping in surprise at the voice from behind him before relaxing when he realized it was only Otonashi. The brunet took a quiet but deep breath, reminding himself that he was in the Afterlife and not actually back at school.

"H-Hi, Otonashi." Yuki put on a casually cheerful expression, scrunching his eyes up a bit to hide the fact that the unnecessarily wide grin wasn't reaching them. "You snuck up on me there."

"Sorry about that," laughed Otonashi. The other boy ran a hand through his sunset-orange hair. "Whew, it's a pretty hot day out, isn't it?" The subject change confused Yuki, but he nodded nonetheless.

"Nice and sunny out, though. Angel's 'rampage' is over, and our new operation actually sounds kind of fun." Otonashi's amicable tone suddenly switched to a much more serious one, and he placed a hand on Yuki's shoulder. "So, Oyama... Is there something wrong?"

"Huh? I'm not sure what you mean," replied Yuki, stepping back a little. He tried to give a breezy laugh, but it came out tense and nervous. His acting skills were, like most other things, not that great, and he was surprised that he had managed to keep up the facade of normalcy this long.

"You seemed really out of it during the meeting, that's all. I've only known you for a little while, but it's not especially like you to space out." Otonashi looked genuinely concerned, and for a moment, Yuki had the strangest urge to hug his friend and start crying out all his anxieties. He shook it away, though, and stood there in tense silence.

"I'm fine, just a bit tired," he said finally, rubbing his eyes for emphasis. Otonashi didn't quite seem to buy it, but he shrugged and walked away, wishing Yuki luck with his part of the mission.

"Right, I'd better ask Hinata about that," Yuki reminded himself, walking off to find his roommate.

Hideki, as it turned out, was on the baseball field swinging a bat around. Yuki ran out to meet him, waving cheerily.

"Hinata!" He called, causing the older teen to turn around.

"Hey there, man. What're you up to?" Hideki grinned goofily, slinging the bat over his shoulders.

"I wanted to ask you about the operation..." Yuki mumbled, somewhat embarrassed over having completely blanked out on the briefing. "S-Sorry for drifting off like that, by the way."

Hideki gave him a firm pat on the back. "No worries, man. Happens to the best of us." He sighed. "Like I said, we're going to be checking out a bunch of weird boxes the Vice Prez has been stashing away in the council's meeting room. The others are going to cause a bunch of distractions all around the school, but our part is to find a way into the room while nobody's there. That clear things up?"

Yuki nodded, a bit hesitantly. "When do we go?"

"This afternoon. Noda's gonna yank the fire alarm, so we'll know when it's time," explained Hideki. "Okay?"

"Mhm," replied Yuki. "But... Can I ask you another question?"

Hideki smiled. "You just did. In all seriousness though, go ahead and shoot."

"Why was I picked for such an important part of the mission? I mean, you're a fast runner, but I'm just... Me." Yuki looked at the ground awkwardly.

"Oyama..." Suddenly, Hideki reached under Yuki's chin, gently tilting the smaller boy's head upwards until they were eye to eye. "Yuri may have said it's because you look inconspicuous and couldn't possibly cause a big enough ruckus to act as a distraction, but I don't think that's it. Just between the two of us, I'm really gonna be counting on your help, okay? After all, you are our team cleric."

Yuki gave a watery but genuine laugh as he remembered their old joke that had fallen out of use in the past few months. "Y-Yeah, that's right... I can heal you if we get into trouble."

"That's the spirit!" Hideki stepped away, casually taking a few swings with his bat. After a couple minutes, he turned back to Yuki. "Hey, look, man... You mind telling me what's wrong?"

"Nothing! Nothing's wrong!" Yuki panicked a bit. "Meet you at the student council room for the mission, okay? Bye!" He ran away, then kept running until he could feel his nerves easing.

Yuki leaned against the wall. "I can't tell anyone. I just can't... Not yet. Everybody's so busy, I don't want to distract them with my stupid issues... Plus, they'd probably laugh. Isn't it silly of me to be upset over a birthday and a bunch of bad dreams?"

Next Chapter:

No, Yuki, it really isn't.