Everything Ends

by J-Bob the Brave

Dan enters the small town of Hinamizawa, to find it's not as small and simple as he first thought. Long suppressed emotions and memories return to haunt him as the story unfolds. Recently revised! Note added...

1. Chapter 1

Everything ends…differently

(When the Cicadas Cry Fan-Fiction)

Disclaimer: The only person I own in this story is Dan. Everything else belongs to the original writers of this anime, 07th Expansion. With that said, please enjoy the story.

Chapter 1

The small town of Hinamizawa was the kind of town that was easy to forget about. The day-to-day routine was very mundane, and easy to get yourself caught up in. It was that same fact, however, that made living in the town so enjoyable. Most everybody knew everyone else, making for a close-knit feeling – like a family. Any problem that would come up would be quickly resolved. Nothing really happens, so nothing really changes. That was, until…

"Dan! Hurry up – we're gonna be late!" Keiichi shouted.

"Keep your shirt on! I'm almost ready, frudge-own!" Dan hollered back. "Like the teacher's gonna care if were like five minutes late!"

"Actually, she probably will…" Keiichi said, scratching his head in frustration. "Some days I wonder why I agreed to having you live here."

"You're stuck with me now, so deal with it," Dan said, as he darted down the stairs. He ran by Keiichi as if he wasn't even there, snagged his bento, and flew out the door. "Now who's late?"

"Don't be such a smart-ass…" Keiichi said, as he grabbed his lunch and walked out the door. It had only been a few weeks since Dan had come into town. He could really be a pain in the ass whenever he wanted to. Most of the time, he was easy to get along with, so Keiichi was able to overlook his annoying qualities. Keiichi had just moved into town a few weeks before Dan came along, so they were both getting used to the place. The fact that they were outsiders didn't really help the transition, since the townsfolk didn't really like change. Despite that, the two had been able to make a few friends, who they generally walked to school with. Rena Ryugu, who was already friends with Keiichi from about a year ago, had moved back to the town around the same time Keiichi came back. Having at least one familiar face made the transition a little bit easier. The other girls, however, were a bit strange, in their own way. At times, they could be an even bigger pain than Dan, as far as Keiichi was concerned. Having Dan around was nice, because he could dish out crap just as fast as they could, and not think anything of it.

"Keiichi-kun!" Rena called out. "Hurry up!" Both of them quickly caught up to Rena, and stopped for a moment to catch their breath. "You've really got to work on getting here earlier, you know?"

"Well, if I didn't have to wait for Dan every morning, I'd be here earlier…"

"Oh, come on – I'm not that bad," Dan laughed.

"Yeah, you are…" Keiichi said, rolling his eyes.

"You two," Rena said, grabbing them both by the ear. "You can 'discuss' this later, we've gotta get to class."

"Hey, you're not my mom, lemme go!" Dan whined.

"If you didn't act like you were two, maybe I wouldn't have to."

"Yeah, yeah…whatever," he mumbled to himself. "So, where's everyone else?"

"They went on ahead, but we should be able to catch up if we hurry," Rena said.

"Great!" Keiichi said.

Five minutes later, they arrived at the school.

"Geez, where have you been?" Mion said.

"Oh, we decided to fool around a bit, while you weren't around, if you know what I mean," Dan said, shifting his eyebrows, and giving a big cheesy grin. Rena lit up like a Christmas tree, and Keiichi just rolled his eyes.

"Wh-whwh—what?" Rena stuttered.

"Ha ha…OMPH!" Dan groaned and fell to the ground, as he was quickly reminded of his gender with a swift kick to the groin.

"Thank you," Keiichi said, letting out a sigh of relief.

"What?" Dan muttered, "Who said you were on their side?"

"I'm not on your side, that's for sure. You really should think before you just open your mouth," Keiichi replied.

"Settle down, class," Ms. Aoki said. Slowly the class came to attention, and everyone took their seats.

"So, where were you this morning?" Mion asked.

"Dan didn't want to get out of bed this morning; he was up 'til around three a.m. doing something." He turned to face Dan, and asked, "What were you doing, anyways?"

"I was listening to my walkman, and thinking about things."

"There's probably a better time to contemplate things in your life than three a.m., you know?"

"You're probably right. There are those times, though, when you cannot get something out of your mind until you've figured it out; you know? Last night was one of those nights." Dan groaned as he reached into his backpack, and pulled out a 'Big Rig.' Immediately, he started chugging it.

"Those are gonna kill you one day," Keiichi said.

"Yeah, and you can dance on my grave when it does."

"That's not funny."

"Then be…OW!" Dan was cut off mid-sentence, as an eraser pegged him in the back of the head. The whole class laughed, and Dan sat back in his seat, facing forward, and his head down in shame.

"Now that I have everyone's attention, let's continue," Ms. Aoki said, resuming her lecture.

"We'll finish this conversation when we have some free time," Mion said. Keiichi nodded, and faced forward as well.

***

Dan took his bento out of his pack, and started devouring his food, as if he hadn't eaten for the past week. Before anyone else had pulled out his or her own lunch, he had finished his, and started pounding down his energy drink again.

"Damn Dan, a little hungry?" Keiichi asked.

"A little bit," he said, chuckling to himself. He started eyeing Keiichi's lunch, and slowly began reaching for it.

"Don't even think about it, or I'll kick your ass."

"Hmph," Dan grunted, "Fine."

"So, what was holding you up this morning?" Mion asked.

"Well, Dan wouldn't get up, so I went and had some breakfast. By the time I finished, he had just got into the bathroom, and was taking a shower to wake himself up."

"It kinda worked," Dan said, still in a bit of a daze.

"Yeah, well there was only cold water left by the time you got out, I hope you know," Keiichi moaned. "You should have taken the cold shower, it would have worked better."

"But I like warm water more," Dan said, laughing. "Thanks for the squid, by the way,"

"Why you little…!" Keiichi growled, grabbing Dan by the throat, and shook him around a bit. "I was saving that for later!"

"You snooze, you lose!"

"Give it back!"

"I don't think you really DO want it back…"

"Would you two shut up?" Mion asked, popping their heads together. The two got back to their senses, and settled down.

"So, what's on the agenda for the after school meeting today?" Rena asked.

"We had a card game planned and a little surprise round of the 'punishment' game as well," Mion said, grinning sinisterly.

"Oh, I can't wait," Dan said, rolling his eyes.

"It's your own fault. If you weren't late this morning, we'd have decided to go easy on you." Everyone shot daggers at Dan, and he shrunk into his seat.

"What the hell? You only have to worry about it if you lose, you know?" Dan said. That seemed to settle the others down somewhat.

"Was there anything else we wanted to do today?"

"Well, I had a thought, but not for today," Dan said.

"What's that?" Mion asked.

"Why don't we have a picnic tomorrow, it being the weekend and all?"

"That sounds like a good idea," Rena said, "I'll make some sandwiches, and a few other snacks. Do you want to bring some drinks?" she asked Dan.

"Sure, I think I can swing that." Dan reached into his pack, pulled out a second bento, and handed it to Keiichi. "You can have this one since I stole most of yours."

"Thanks," he said, as he started devouring it.

"No problem." He looked over at Satoko and Rika, who hadn't said anything the entire time. "Are you two doing alright?"

"We're fine, we were just having fun watching you bicker with everyone," Rika said.

"Right…" Dan said, feeling an odd sensation fill the room. "You can't wait for the game, can you?" The two girls grinned, and laughed eerily. "I'm beginning to wonder if God forgot the 'everything nice' part when he made you two…" The two girls' expressions changed from evil content to clear anger. Dan got terribly nervous, stood up, and started for the door. "I'll be right back, gotta go to the restroom…" He barely shut the door as he heard a chair hit it from the other side. "You're only proving my point, you know?"

"You'll get yours soon enough," Satoko said.

"We'll see about that," Dan said, poking his head back inside the classroom. "I'm feeling kinda lucky today, you know?"

"Just wait, and we'll see who's 'lucky', and who isn't," Satoko said, hurling another random object at Dan's head, which he quickly dodged.

"Kids," Rika said.

***

"I don't believe it," Satoko said. "How could you have won five times in a row?" Dan just grinned, and cracked his knuckles.

"You think you're the only one who has a 'system' in this card game – I might act dumb, but I'm smart enough to figure out when you've been winning non-stop, what's going on."

"How'd you do it then?" Mion asked.

"I'm surprised you didn't notice, but these are MY cards – I switched your cards out before we started." The girls all glared at him, like a lion ready to go in for the kill. "Hey! Don't dish it out if you can't take it back! That's what I say…" Before he could continue, the girls latched onto him, and gave him a good beating.

"That takes care of Dan, now it's just us," Mion said, taking her pack of cards from Dan's bag.

"Poor sports," Dan groaned.

"Serves you right, switching them out without telling anyone."

"Right…" Dan said, "Taking away your ability to cheat isn't fair, but I'M not allowed to establish an equal playing field for everyone?"

"Did you say something?" Mion asked.

"Nope, not a word…"

"That's what I thought."

They put in a few more rounds, and the girls beat the tar out of the guys in the end. Mion looked both of the guys in the eyes, and laughed.

"Looks like the tables have turned!" she said. The girls began laughing in a creepy kind of way, and started closing in on Keiichi and Dan.

"Looks like I owe you twice for today," Keiichi said, glaring at Dan.

"Oh, get stuffed," Dan said. The girls looked bent on getting in touch with their sinister side, and Dan knew how crazy they could get. He didn't want to find out just how evil they could be, so he started thinking as quickly as possible. In an instant, he got an idea, lame, but anything was worth a try. He looked above the girls' heads, put on a deathly-terrified face, and shouted, "OMG! What the HELL is that?" The girls turned their heads, just long enough for Dan to pick Keiichi up, and make his getaway. They got about a quarter of a mile before Dan dropped to the ground, panting as if he was going to die. Keiichi got up, and looked back, not seeing anyone following them. He looked at Dan, who was laughing between gasping for air. "I can't…believe they…actually fell for that."

"You know they're gonna give it to us even worse next time, right?" Keiichi said.

"Oh, stop already." Dan said. "I try to do…a favor for you…and all you do…is bitch about it."

"I'm just saying…"

"I know…just stop. I'll take the heat…when they see us again. I just really didn't want to deal with any more crap today…I'm not in the mood, ya' know?"

"…I guess I understand…" Keiichi said. Dan smiled, and closed his eyes to take a nap. Keiichi looked down at him, and shook his head. "How can you sleep drinking that massive caffeine bomb?"

"Very easy, like this…zzzzzz…"

"You're such a smart ass." Keiichi looked back at the school, and didn't see anyone. "I might as well take a break myself." He reached for his backpack, but it wasn't there. He looked over at Dan, and saw that he didn't have his backpack either. He groaned, and tapped Dan on the shoulder. "Hey Dan,"

"…What is it? Did you forget something?"

"Yeah, I forgot…?" Keiichi froze, and slowly turned around. The all too familiar faces of the girls met his terrified eyes.

"What's going on?" Dan muttered.

"I think we shouldn't have stopped…"

"Huh? Why's…" Dan cracked his eyes open, and saw the girls leering over him. "Ah, shit – why now?" The girls didn't divert their attention from Dan. They weren't going to take the chance of letting him get away again. "I couldn't take a rain check on this, could I?"

"Not a chance," Mion said, reaching behind her back, and pulling out a sharpie marker.

"Well, how about a favor then?"

"What's that?"

"Leave Keiichi alone, this is my bad…" Mion stopped for a moment, looking rather confused.

"Why?"

"Well, everything was my fault today, what's a little bit more?" The other girls looked at Keiichi, who hadn't changed his facial expression since they seemingly appeared out of nowhere, then shifted back to Dan. They all collectively laughed, and held him down. He was now fully awake, and fear completely took him over. Rika pulled out a paper bag, and handed it to Mion, who looked inside, and laughed sinisterly. "What are you going to do?"

"You'll see, oh, you'll see…" Mion said. She dumped the contents of the bag, and let Dan get a good look at its contents. Dan went from a ten on the scared scale to about a sixteen, and screamed like a little girl.

"No! You wouldn't…! You couldn't…!" Mion tossed a camera to Keiichi, and winked at him. Keiichi grimaced, but didn't object. Mion looked back at Dan, who was struggling to get away, and just laughed.

"You asked for this, literally…"

"Oh, shit!"

After about 20 minutes of excruciating humiliation, and a full roll of film, Dan and the rest of the group were on their way home for the day. Dan was about twenty feet ahead of everyone else, and wasn't willing to talk to anyone. An aura around him had something to do with why everyone was so far away from him.

"Do you think we went too far?" Rika asked.

"Well, it's a slight possibility…" Mion started.

"Slight?" Dan asked, as he stopped dead in his tracks. The rest of the group stopped as well, and took a few steps back. "I'd hate to see what EXTREME would be like…" he said, turning around. Upon seeing Dan in his humbled state, they didn't know whether to feel bad, or bust out laughing. They chose the latter option, and let him have it. Dan looked like a reject from the Rocky Horror Picture Show. His mascara had run down his face from crying, which made his appearance even more comical, and sad. He had a hard time looking them in the face, and it didn't help that they had dropped to the floor, and were laughing hysterically now. "Go ahead and laugh, see if I care…You just wait until next time, I shall have my revenge…"

"Oh, whatever – like you could ever win!" Mion said, almost to the point of tears.

"Just keep telling yourself that, we'll see who'll be laughing last!" Dan said, glaring over Mion. She backed up a bit, with a slightly nervous look on her face. Dan chuckled evilly, and gave her a slightly demented look. "I wonder what I should do to you, hmm…? Maybe I should have you dress up like a cat girl, or a nurse? You'd look good as either…"

"As if!" Mion retorted, "You'd have to win first, and that'll never happen."

"Why would that be?"

"Because you suck at playing cards…"

"We're not always going to play cards, you know! I can totally school you at 'Clue'."

"Whatever…" Mion said, totally blowing him off.

"I'm sure you'll be thinking 'whatever', when you lose!" Dan said. He looked at her for a moment longer, and let out a sigh. "Ah, hell…I don't care. It's not that big a deal anyways…"

"Huh?" Mion said, turning around. "You're not mad anymore?"

"Nah – there's no point in stewing over it too long. Besides, it's not permanent – I can change & wash this ganky looking makeup off." The other girls had taken notice to Dan's change in temperament, and turned to face him. "You know, in all honesty, I would have never expected you'd try something like that – I've got a new level of respect for you now."

"Are you serious?" Mion asked, thoroughly confused.

"Serious as a heart attack," Dan said, giving her a warm smile. "I may not always come across as one of the smartest people you've met, but I do believe in admitting when I'm wrong. That, and I know a good joke when I see one." Mion blushed, and stammered for a moment. Dan smiled again, and put his hand on her shoulder, which made her jump slightly. "It's nice to have you as a friend – don't ever change, okay?"

"R-r-rrr-r-ight…" she finally sputtered out. "You, too…"

"Groovy," Dan said. "Now, if you'll excuse me – I've got some sleep to catch up on, not to mention this outfit is killing me!" Everyone laughed, and took a moment to enjoy themselves. After a few good minutes of laughing about it, everyone settled back down, and decided it was time to go home for the day. Everyone, except for Keiichi, Dan, & Rena went on their way. Dan sat down for a moment, and leaned against a tree.

"You know, Dan – I thought you'd be pretty pissed about that for a long time," Keiichi said.

"Like I said, there's no point in staying bent for something like this. Besides, I've dealt with a LOT worse before I came here – so this is no biggy, anyway…"

"Worse? Like what?" Rena asked.

"I'd rather not talk about it," Dan said, as he started to shudder at the thought about his past.

"Oh," she said, looking a bit disappointed. "Sorry to bring up a sore spot."

"No worries," Dan replied, "you didn't know. I'll tell you this much, though – there are some things that are better left in the past." Rena was wide eyed, and stared at him in disbelief.

"You're serious?" Dan gave her a look that just screamed, 'OH YEAH…'. She sat down next to him, and put her hand on his leg. Dan was too tired to notice, and started to drift into la la land. "I'm sorry. That must have been rough…"

"What's done is done." Rena looked at him for a moment, and smiled.

"You're really cute when you're sleepy – can I take you home?" Dan's eyes shot wide open, and saw Rena's lips about two inches away from his own. His face lit up like a Christmas tree, and he became frozen solid.

"What are you guys talking…?" Keiichi said, as he turned to see Rena kiss Dan, which left him at a complete loss for words. Dan's mind had completely left him, which was becoming completely obvious.

"U—u-uuu-uu-uu-h…" Rena got up, and took a few steps away, and turned back to face him.

"I take it that was the first time you've ever been kissed by a girl?" Dan remained silent as he started to drift out of consciousness completely. Within seconds, Dan was out like a light, and it didn't look like he was going to be waking up any time soon. Keiichi was just as confused as Dan was, and was trying to figure out what had just happened. Rena ran up to him, grabbed his hand, and started to drag him away.

"What was…"? Keiichi started.

"Would you come with me for a minute?" Rena asked, already leading him by the arm.

"I suppose so…what about Dan?"

"He'll be alright by himself for a while," she said, looking back at him. "There's something I'd like you to help me with."

"Uh, sure; where are we headed?"

"You'll see," Rena said.

After having walked alone for about five minutes, Keiichi started to notice where they were going.

"The city dump?" Keiichi asked, slightly confused.

"Yeah," Rena replied, starting to hop through the ruble, leaving Keiichi behind. "There's something I needed some help getting to."

"Hey, wait up!" Keiichi said, following Rena, but lacking the grace that Rena had. While Keiichi was doing his best to keep his balance, Rena was like a cat, always landing on her feet with no real difficulty.

"Don't worry; it's not too far…Ah! There it is!" Keiichi caught up, and started looking around.

"Where?"

"Down there," Rena replied.

"Huh?" A few feet down, there was a statue of Colonel Sanders, still in good condition. "That?"

"Yeah, I was looking around here the other day, and happened to notice him. He'd make a nice addition to my collection."

"I see. I forgot that you like to collect things…" Keiichi said, trying to reach for it. After a few tries, he realized it was too far down to get at. "Looks like I'll need something to clear this debris away before I can get a good handle on him."

"I'll be right back!"

"Huh? Wait up…?" Keiichi turned around, and noticed that Rena was nowhere to be seen. "Where'd she go? She was there just a moment ago…" He stepped back, and found a place to rest for a moment. The sky was a beautiful blend of reds and oranges, strewn with clouds, which looked like stretched cotton. He hadn't really taken the time since he arrived in town to just sit back, and enjoy the scenery. Now that he had, it was almost hypnotic, and everything just felt right for once. Things were certainly different now than they had been a few years ago. Before, it had really just been him and his family, just getting by, while his parents where finishing college. Rena had always just been an afterthought in the back of his mind, but still a good friend. Now that Dan and the other girls had become a part of his life, things had been set on overdrive, not even giving him a chance to sit back and 'smell the roses', so to say.

"This place is nicer than I thought, no wonder Rena enjoys coming down here…I wonder what's keeping her?"

"Uh, hello?" Keiichi leapt up, and spun around to see where the new voice had come from.

"ARGH! What are you doing?" Keiichi shouted.

"Whoa, take it easy – I didn't mean to startle you," the man said.

"Huh? Oh, that's fine…. I was expecting someone else, that's all."

"That's fine, I did come in unannounced. Although, I didn't think anyone would be down here at this time of day."

"I see," Keiichi said. "Say, what are you up to?"

"Oh, this?" the man asked, holding up his camera. "I was just going through town, taking pictures of the landscape. You see, I'm a freelance photographer, and this place has always interested me, especially around this time of year."

"This time of year?"

"You don't know about the annual Watanagashi festival?"

"No, I haven't. I just moved here a few months ago." Keiichi replied.

"Oh, I see. Well, it's a festival that's supposed to honor Oyashiro-sama – a god that most of the people in the town believe in. I'm not sure how great of a ceremony it actually is, though…"

"What do you mean?"

"Every year since the dam incident, there's been a death and a disappearance during the festival. It's generally the next day that the people are discovered missing." Keiichi's eyes widened, and his breath got shallow.

"Are you serious?"

"I wish I wasn't – but it's true." Keiichi felt light headed, and plopped down on the ground. His face was covered with terror, and the man took note of it. "I'm sorry to bust your bubble, but this place isn't all that it seems. There are more secrets around here than I feel comfortable with. I usually come here to take pictures, since the pay is good." Keiichi shook his head slowly, and kept his eyes focused on the ground.

"What the…" he mumbled, feeling sick to his stomach. He quickly shook it, and thought about what the man had mentioned a bit earlier. "What's this dam incident you're talking about?"

"When the town was established, they government was considering putting a dam in. The townspeople were strongly opposed to the idea, and fought against it. It started out as just protests, but eventually things got violent. The government finally gave it up once the director of the program was murdered…"

"Murdered?"

"Yes – it was rather gruesome, too. The director's body was chopped up into various sections, and the police still haven't found the other arm. Some people think it's buried somewhere in this junkyard." Keiichi's mind was racing, and he wished that he could reverse time, and forget that he had ever heard about it. Sadly, he knew that that wasn't a possibility. Keiichi's facial expression had deteriorated, and the man could tell that he had probably crossed the line. He reached down, and put his hand on Keiichi's shoulder. "Are you going to be okay? I didn't mean to rattle your cage so hard – do you need me to take you home?"

"Huh? Oh – no, I'll be able to make it back just fine…Oh crap! I forgot about Dan!"

"Dan?" the man asked.

"He's a friend of mine – he moved here about the same time I did. We left him in the forest a quarter mile back."

"You left him? Why?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure why. My other friend was in such a hurry to…anyways, I think I've got to go."

"I think I'll be heading out as well – I got what I came for, so I'll head back to my place. I'll see you around."

"Uh, yeah… Sure. Take care of yourself." The man thanked him, and took off. Keiichi was still quite jarred by what he had dumped in his lap, but finding his friend took priority now. "I hope he's alright…"

"He's fine," Rena said, in a slightly cold tone of voice. This time, Keiichi fell down, and smacked his head on the ground.

"Geez, what's with people today?" Keiichi mumbled, staggering back to his feet. "I can't handle all this excitement."

"Are you okay?" Rena called down to him.

"Yeah, I'm fine. What kept you…?" Keiichi stopped, and looked up at his friend, holding a billhook. His eyes locked on the large knife, and felt a bit unsettled by the fact she was just carrying it around. He broke his concentration, and tried acting as if it didn't bother him. She gracefully hopped down to where he was.

"I went looking for a saw, but this is all I was able to find. Will this help?"

"I think that might work, but I really think I should go and look for…"

"You're looking for who?" Rena asked, her eyes narrowing, similar to a cat.

"Huh? What's everyone so exited…?" Dan was cut short as the billhook flashed across his face. His eyes shot out like a cheesy cartoon character, his face instantly covered with beads of sweat.

"Oh my…! Are you alright?" Rena asked, returning to normal. Dan slowly regained his composure, and settled down.

"Why is everyone so jumpy today?" he mumbled.

"What?" Rena asked.

"…Nothing. I'm still pretty tired. I always forget about the giant crash those drinks give me. I ought to sleep like a rock tonight, though – that's for sure!" he said, laughing.

"I see," she said, her eyes narrowing again, as she shifted her attention back to Keiichi.

"So, who was…?" Rena stopped, as she noticed Dan walk right between them, not paying any attention to either of their reactions. He looked down, saw the statue, and then looked off into space. He took a minute to process any of the possible reasons Rena was toting a large blade, and dismissed them quickly. He looked back at the two, who were equally annoyed, and confused.

"Were you trying to get this out?" he asked, totally oblivious to their facial expressions.

"Uh, yeah… Why?" Keiichi asked.

"You could have woken me up, & I'da helped you to begin with…" he said, turning around, and placing his hands on the wooden beams blocking his path.

"What are you doing?" Keiichi asked.

"Helping," he replied, and then let out a grunt as he exerted his energy at full tilt.

"You can't be serious…" Keiichi said, and stopped as he watched Dan, almost effortlessly lift a large chunk of debris and toss it to the side. Rena was equally dumbfounded, but both continued to watch in amazement. In about twenty seconds, he had cleared the debris, lifted the statue out, and was balancing it over his shoulder.

"Where do you want it?" he asked. Both of his friends' facial expressions had gone completely blank. "Are you two okay?"

"…Yeah, yeah – we're fine."

"Right…" Dan said. "So, like I said, where do you want it? I can take it home for you, if you'd like."

"Th-th—that'd be great, if it's no trouble for you…" Rena said, still quite shocked.

"Not at all! I'll see you there, then." With that, he walked by them, and went on his way. Keiichi and Rena slowly watched as Dan walked off, and disappeared from sight. The two looked back, and pointed at each other.

"Did you…?"

"No, did you?"

"No…"

"Same here,"

"Right…"

"Okay." The two quickly tried to forget what they had just seen. "So, you were asking about something earlier?" Keiichi asked.

"Who were you talking to earlier, Kei-kun?"

"Who was I…? You know, he actually never mentioned his name, but I think he was off his rocker, personally."

"Really?" Rena said, "Why do you think that?"

"I'm not that sure, but it's not that important. I think he just wanted to see if he could scare me, or something. He said that some director guy was murdered here, or something like…"

"It's a lie," Rena said, almost to the point of shouting.

"I'm sorry?" Keiichi asked, looking at his friend.

"I said it's a lie," she said, looking him square in the eyes.

"Okay," Keiichi said, backing up a bit. "You don't need to get so worked up about it, you know." Rena kept her sights locked on him for a while longer, and eventually backed down.

"I know; I'm sorry. I was just a bit scared, that's all."

"(Scared? You looked more SCARY than scared…,)" Keiichi thought to himself. "Well, I'm sorry to have scared you, that wasn't my intention."

"I know, you're a good boy – you always have been," Rena said, giving him an empty smile.

"Uh, thanks." Rena kept her eyes focused on him, making him feel rather uncomfortable. "Geez, it certainly got dark really quick, didn't it?" he said, trying to change the subject. "I think we ought to head home. See you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I'll be there. Don't forget about the picnic, okay?"

"I'll be there. …Oh! If Dan's still at your house, would you send him home? He did say he'd wait for you there."

"Sure, I'll do that…" she said, giving him a sly grin. Keiichi didn't know exactly how to respond, so he just gave a simple nod. There was just too much going through his head right now. It didn't make any sense that a random individual would walk up to him and tell him a complete lie, and then just leave.

"The way Rena was acting was really weird, where'd that 'good boy' crap come from? I don't remember her ever acting like that before. It's like she's a different person. It's pretty creepy..." he said to himself. He started on his way home, but noticed something on the ground, covered by some of the rubble that Dan had 'tossed' out of his way. "What's this?" he asked, picking it up. His eyes widened as he read the headline - "Government Dam Director Murdered." He fell to his knees, and felt sick to his stomach. It didn't get any better as he continued to scan through the article. "It says that they never found the culprit...? There's no way that...is there? No, that's just ridiculous. But, why would she say it didn't happen? This doesn't make any sense...I think a good night's rest to clear my head."

***

"zzzz...zzZZZZzzz..."

"What's that noise?" Mr. Ryugu said, looking out the window. He saw Dan lying outside, by himself, up against a statue. "Who is that...and what's that he's next to?" He walked over to the entryway, slipped his outdoor shoes on, and went outside. "Hey, are you okay?" he asked, trying to wake Dan up. No matter what he did, nothing would work. "What's with this kid? He's acting like he's dead, but that's not possible – nobody SNORES when they're dead..." He looked at the colonel statue that Dan had totted home, and then looked back at Dan. "Did he...? How?"

"Dad, what are you doing?" Rena asked, walking up to him.

"Oh, Rena," he replied, "I was wondering when you'd get home." He gave his daughter a hug. They both looked over at Dan, still sawing logs. "I was hoping you could tell me about..."

"Huh?" Rena said, slightly confused. "Oh, you mean Dan? He brought that home for me."

"By himself?"

"Yeah..." Rena said, still quite confused about it herself.

"Oh my..." he said, getting equally nervous. "He certainly is strong for his age...or at all, for that matter!"

"I agree," Rena said.

"Well, I'm glad your back – I can't wake him up, and I have no idea how long he's been out here for."

"Maybe we should have him stay here for the night," Rena said, "as long as you're okay with it."

"I suppose it would be fine, I'm not sure how much longer he'll be out like this, but I'd feel better knowing he's safe."

"Thanks dad!" she said, giving him another big hug.

"It's no problem," he said. "Now, help me get him inside." She nodded, and they both grabbed his limbs, and totted him inside. They brought him into the living room, and set him down on the couch.

"I had no idea he snored so loud!" Rena said, looking closely at him.

"I'm not sure how you WOULD know," her dad replied.

"That's true. I'll go grab a blanket, and make sure he's comfortable. You can probably go to bed now, now that I'm back."

"Sure," he said. "It is pretty late, and I did have a long day at the office. Don't stay up too late yourself, okay?"

"Don't worry about me dad, I'll be fine. Although, having a pair of earplugs would be nice." Both of them laughed heartily for a good minute. Her dad nodded to her, and then went to upstairs to his room. She waited a few minutes, and then sat down on the other couch, staring at Dan. "I wonder if he heard anything that I was discussing with Keiichi?" She pulled her billhook out of her bag, and started sharpening it.

Dan's snoring had quieted down to a dull roar, but it was still clear he was sleeping. Rena continued for a good ten minutes, keeping an eye on Dan the entire time. She got up, and slowly walked over to Dan. She contemplated what she was going to do with him, and whether it was necessary. She grabbed a good handful of his hair, lifted him up, and looked at him again. He was still completely gone, not showing any sign of life, other than deep breathing. Rena raised her blade, and got ready to come down on his throat. Before she could, something in her mind screamed at her to stop what she was doing. She tried to fight against it for a moment, but reason began creeping in. She dropped he knife, and slowly lowered Dan back down.

"What am I doing?" she asked herself. She stared at him sleeping peacefully, and again contemplated her actions. Eventually, she got the impression that she didn't have to worry about him. A smile spread across her face, and she sat down next to him. She began running her fingers through his hair, looking more like a mother now. "I can trust you, can't I?" She leaned down, and gave him another kiss, which stopped his snoring entirely. She waited a moment for another response, but none came. "I'll take that as a yes..." She lied down next to him, got under the covers next to him, and went to sleep.

***

Dan found himself lying in the middle of the floor, staring at the ceiling. There was a breeze blowing through the open door, and he could see that the weather outside was not going to be getting better any time soon. For some reason he couldn't feel his limbs – it was as if they had been severed from his body.

"Ugh…where am I?" he asked, looking around. "For that matter, where is everyone else? I told Rena that I'd be here waiting at her house; I don't remember going INSIDE." He tried to get up, but his limbs remained unresponsive. As he lay motionless, he could see the lightning outside dancing across the sky, as if it was laughing at him. Suddenly, he noticed a dark figure in the doorway, holding something that was dripping, and shining faintly. Instantly panic took over as he began to flail around helplessly. The dark figure laughed, and began approaching slowly, fully aware of Dan's situation, and mocking him along the way.

"What's the matter, Dan?" the voice asked; not nearly clear enough for Dan to determine who it was. "Don't you like me anymore?"

"Like you? Who ARE you?" he asked, trying to remain calm while looking around for an escape, but finding none that were currently accessible.

"That's cold, Dan – how could you forget me?"

"Pretty easily – I don't usually make acquaintances with people totting weapons around, who seem to spontaneously appear out of nowhere! At least, I can't recall any instance where that was the case!"

"You're so funny!" the figure said, continuing to advance toward Dan. "That's why I've always liked you, you know? Why did you have to get involved?"

"Involved? What are you talking about? I don't know what you're…?" He cut himself short as he felt the wall around him, unknowingly having backed himself into a corner. Instantly, there was a flash of light, followed by a loud slamming sound, inches away from his head. The figure was now standing above him, so that Dan could make out a faint smile, which was slowly fading the more he stared. He began to feel drops of water hitting his face, in a short, broken pattern. Dan was shocked as he watched his assailant, within seconds, start crying uncontrollably, releasing their hold on the large knife, and holding onto him for dear life.

"I don't want to kill you, Dan! I don't! I don't!"

"Rena?" Dan asked, utterly stunned at what was going on. "What are you talking about? Why would you have to?"

"It's the curse of Oyashiro-sama! It's making me do these things, and I don't want to! Please help me!" she pleaded.

"Curse?" Dan thought, "What is she talking about?" He slowly reached up, and returned a hug to her, trying to console her. "I'll do whatever I can to help – tell me what I need to do!"

"…You don't believe me - that there's a curse, do you?" Rena said in a cold tone.

"Huh? I'll take your word for it – it's just that…"

"YOU DON'T! I KNEW IT!" she shouted, ripping away from Dan, and glaring at him with hate blazing in her eyes.

"Whoa! Hold up a minute! Let me finish what I was going to say!" Dan said, saddened and completely confused by the sudden actions of his friend. "I was just going to say that that came out of nowhere, and it caught me off-guard - that's all!"

"You LIAR!" She screamed, grabbing her knife, and getting ready to come down on Dan again. He didn't move, mostly because he was paralyzed by fear, but the other part wanting to prove something to Rena. She stopped again, staring into his tear-stained face. He reached out to her, and held her face in his hands, reaching for every ounce of sincerity he had, to convey it to her.

"Rena, please believe me! I have no reason to doubt you - I completely believe you."

"Do you mean it?"

"I swear on my life!" Rena laughed a bit, and again closed in on his face, looking him squarely in the eyes.

"You really are a great guy, you know?" she asked. Dan closed his eyes, and hung his head down in shame.

"I wish I was, but I'm not. I'm constantly letting people down, and not meeting up with their expectations. That's why I came here to this place, so I could start over with my life. I haven't even been here a month and I've let YOU down - why can't I do anything right?" Rena looked at him, and smiled.

"That's why I like you Dan – you're completely honest about everything. That may be the one thing that saves you in the end…"

"The end…?" Dan asked, looking back up to his friend.

"Yes, the end – when this reality will end, and you will have to face another. Unless you can realize what is real, and what is not, this world will take you and tear away everything you've ever known and loved. Don't forget that…"

"Alright – although I don't quite know what you mean, I'll do my best!"

"Good, that's what I like to hear. Now wake up."

"Wha…?" Dan said watching his friend back up. "Are you…what the hell?! ARGH!" Dan shouted as he felt everything begin to spin uncontrollably, and began falling down.

"I DON'T UNDERSTAND! What's going…on?" Dan found himself on the ground, having landed face first off the couch. "Uhh…I still don't know where I am, and now I'm completely confused about everything!" Everything was completely blurry, and the room really hadn't quit spinning for him. "Damn, this is totally stupid – I think I need to lay off the energy drinks for a while...they're finally starting to get to me."

"Are you alright?" Mr. Ryugu asked.

"Yeah, I just had a weird…dream?" Dan could see the faint outline of a man, coming closer to him. He looked a bit different from Mr. Maebara, from what he could tell – that, and his voice was completely different. "Forgive my bluntness, but, who are you? Please tell me you're Mr. Maebara, and you just have a cold."

"I'm afraid I'm not Mr. Maebara – I'm Mr. Ryugu. Rena & I brought you in here last night after you had brought that statue home – you were out like a light!"

"I was? Rena? I'm lost…" Dan said, holding his head.

"Well, I don't know if I can really blame you – I'm not sure how I would be after carrying that large statue for nearly a mile!"

"It's a mile? I was wondering about that…" Dan said. Mr. Ryugu stared at him in disbelief. "Anyways, what time is it?"

"About ten to eight, that's why I…"

"WHAT?" Dan shouted, leaping to his feet. "I'm going to be late, and no one is going to dress me up in that ridiculous get up again because of it!"

"Huh? What are you…?"

"No time to explain! Must run; talk later! Where's Rena?"

"I'm right here…" Dan and Mr. Ryugu froze, and both of their faces fell to the floor.

"There's no way…" Mr. Ryugu said.

"It couldn't be…" Dan followed.

"What?" Rena said, getting up off the couch.

"I can't feel myself…" Dan said, slowly turning to a pile of goo, and sinking to the floor. Mr. Ryugu ran over to his daughter, and examined her closely.

"He didn't do anything, did he?"

"Do what, Dad?" Rena asked, looking terribly confused.

"You know – anything…bad?"

"Bad? …OH! No!" Rena blurted, leaping up of the couch as red as a cherry tomato. "Nothing happened at all! I just got sleepy, and fell asleep. I thought I'd keep an eye on him, though, in case he woke up or something."

"Don't you think you could have kept an eye on him somewhere else?"

"I agree…" Dan said, still lying on the ground, white as a sheet.

"I didn't think it would matter that much, since he was out cold. Besides, I trust him – I knew he wouldn't do anything to hurt me." Mr. Ryugu looked at his daughter, and wondered where that kind of logic came from – he certainly hadn't remembered ever teaching anything like that to her. He looked at Dan, and after studying the expression on his face for a bit, he felt rather confident that he didn't do anything.

"…What am I going to do with this daughter of mine?" he asked himself. He shook his head, and put on a weak smile. "I suppose I can let this slide…"

"Are you mad, Dad?"

"No, no. It's alright – I trust you."

"You're the greatest!" Rena said, leaping up, and giving him a big hug. He let her go, and walked over to Dan.

"Uh…thanks for being responsible, I guess…"

"No problem," Dan squeaked. Suddenly, he remembered what time it was, and shot up. "Oh SHIT! I'm going to be even later now! AUGH! I've got to bail!" He made for the door, and slammed right into it, effectively knocking himself out in an instant. Rena and her father walked over to Dan, and looked at him.

"Didn't he know it was Saturday?" Mr. Ryugu asked.

"Guess not…" Rena said, shaking her head, and laughed weakly. "But, that's Dan for you, though…" Her dad grimaced, and shook his head.

"Hmm…I guess he isn't smart enough to do something like that…" he thought.

***

The day was nice and sunny, a perfect day for a picnic. Dan was walking arm and arm with Rena, feeling like a fish out of water all the while. He didn't really mind having Rena as friend, but he was curious where the sudden attraction came from. That was weighing heavy on his mind, but not nearly as much as how it was going to affect his other friends. Rena was completely content, not even aware of how stressed Dan was about the whole thing. The two had made the bulk of the food, figuring that the others would likely forget to bring food. Dan thought it was a bit excessive, though he couldn't deny he enjoyed having a relaxing morning, aside from his 'rude' awakening that started it off. As they were preparing the meal, he remembered the times he would go out as a boy scout. He was always be surprised by how much food a small group of 12-14 year olds could put away.

"Are you okay?" Rena asked, as she looked at Dan, and saw he didn't quite look like himself.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, more or less…" Dan said, scratching his head. "I'm still hurting a bit from running into the door this morning. …That, and I just had a lot on my mind."

"Really? Anything I can do to help?" Rena asked.

"No, no…I'll be just fine, it's nothing to get worked up over."

"Oh, come on! Let me take a look!" she insisted, getting a lot closer.

"I said it'll be fine – I'm a little bit tougher than I look, and act sometimes…Really."

"Don't be such a baby, and just let me look!" Rena said.

"Alright, alright already – no need to get upset over it," Dan said. He got down on one knee, and looked up at her. She looked at his forehead, and made sure everything was all right. She nodded, and put her hand out to help him back up. Dan smiled, and took her hand.

"Why thank you, young lady, much obliged!" They looked at each other for a moment, and laughed for a bit. Dan took a moment to get a good look at Rena while he had a good angle. Rena took notice, and blushed a bit.

"What are you looking at?" she asked.

"I've never really stopped and taken a good look at you before, and I was thinking to myself that you had a very pretty smile." Rena blushed, and looked away, completely embarrassed.

"Oh Dan…"

"What do we have here?" Mion asked, looking slightly flustered and devious at the same time. "Aren't you two a bit young to be proposing to each other?" Dan froze and lost all the color in his face, slowly fell down to the side, and twitched for a few moments. Rena was equally as shocked, and began waving her arms rapidly in protest.

"N-n-nn-nn-nn-nn…NO! You have it all wrong! It's nothing like that at all!" Rena stammered.

"Then what were you doing?" Mion asked the others.

"Yeah, you never sent Dan home last night, either," Keiichi said, "What's up with that?"

"Well, that was…"

"Oh, a SLUMBER PARTY is it?" Mion said, "And Dan was the only one invited? Now I've got to know." Rena was now completely gone, redder than a tomato, and completely unable to respond intelligently. The other girls were completely dumbfounded as well, staring at the odd couple.

"Slumber party? I didn't think you had those with boys," Satoko said, quite confused.

"They don't…" Rika said, turning equally as red as Rena.

"You didn't do 'that'…did you?" Keiichi asked. Rena and Dan both snapped back into reality, and glared at their friends.

"HELL NO!" Both roared in unison.

"Whoa! There's no need to be so upset," Mion said. "If you didn't do anything, then there's nothing to worry about, right?"

"That's right!" Rena said.

"You just didn't give a chance to explain anything," Dan said.

"Alright then, go ahead and explain what happened," Mion said.

"Well," Dan began, "I brought this statue home for Rena, and I waited there for a while for her to show up. While I was waiting for her to get back, I was hit by another energy crash, which completely knocked out. By the time she got home, at least I assume that's when it happened; I woke up on the couch. That's all I know."

"What about your side of the story Rena?" Keiichi asked.

"I was just getting ready to explain that," Rena said. "By the time I got home, Dan was completely out like he said. My dad and I brought him inside, and let him rest on the couch for the night. Nothing else happened, other than the both of us making the meal before we came here."

"That's really boring," Mion said, rather disappointed.

"What did you expect?" Dan asked, "You wanted us to do something?"

"No, but…" Mion said.

"But what?" Dan said, cutting her off.

"Oh, never mind…" Mion replied. Dan scratched his head, and rolled his eyes.

"I'll never understand girls," he thought to himself. He walked over to Mion, and put his hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry to get a bit bent out of shape. Will you forgive me?" Mion looked at him like he was crazy for a moment, and laughed at him.

"You don't need to get so serious all the time, you know? I was just razing you to see what kind of a reaction I could get out of you; don't worry about it!" Everyone else nodded, then began to laugh as well.

"Now that's what I'm talkin' about!"

"Let's eat – I'm tired of just standing around talking about Dan being Rena's boyfriend…?" Keiichi said, and then stopped. Everyone gave him the evil eye for a moment, and then just acted as if Keiichi hadn't even spoken.

Rika and Satoko quickly laid the blanket down, and claimed their spot. Everyone else followed suit, and waited for Rena to spread out the feast. The more she pulled out, the wider everyone's eyes got.

"Oh wow," everyone said collectively.

"Rena certainly knows how to make a good meal – look at all this!" Rena blushed, and grinned widely.

"Oh, it's not that much – besides, Dan helped me a bit, too."

"I knew you two made a good couple," Mion said. Rena and Dan both lit up, and shook their heads.

"I thought we were passed that," Dan said, scratching his head.

"I never said that," Mion said, getting much closer to Dan, as he was slowly backing up, "I just said we'd stop teasing you about last night…for now." Dan's face fell, but he got over it quick enough when he noticed Mion get right up in his face. "I hadn't noticed how cute you were until now. I can see why Rena would like you…"

"What?" Rena shouted, pushing Dan aside, and getting up in Mion's face. "So what if I do like him? What do you think you're doing?"

"I never heard you say that you two were an item, so I thought I'd take my chance with him, if you were going to hesitate."

"Well, that is, I, err…" Rena stammered.

"Well nothing! If you don't have anything to say, then step aside…? Where'd he go?" Dan was nowhere to be seen. Mion looked at the rest of the group, and asked, "Did you see where he went?" Everyone shook their heads, and looked at each other to make sure. Dan was hiding up a tree, as still as a statue, looking down at the group below.

"What's up with that?" Dan thought to himself. "I'm starting to get a bit creeped out by all of this. I don't remember doing anything to make them so interested in me…what's the deal?" Dan heard a small cracking noise, and looked back at the tree. "Oh, that's just hilarious…" Dan said. Ten seconds later, he was on the ground, seeing stars. Keiichi and the girls ran over to the sound, and found him lying there on the ground, moaning.

"How'd he get so far away so quickly?" Keiichi asked.

"What I want to know is why and HOW he got up there?" Rena said.

"I don't know, but I don't care…" Mion said. "Let's just drag him back, and wait until he comes to – no telling what might happen if we leave him here…"

"Very true, very true," Keiichi and Rena said, nodding their heads in unison.

"Boys…" Rika said.

***

Dan woke up in his room looking at the ceiling, and an ice bag on his forehead. Keiichi was sitting in the other end of the room at his desk, looking at a newspaper clipping.

"What are you doing over there?" Dan asked.

"Ah, you're finally awake," Keiichi replied, glancing at Dan, then back at the article. "I was wondering when you were going to wake up."

"What happened exactly? All I remember is falling out of the tree, and going out cold."

"There's not anything else TO remember," Keiichi said. "We just finished our picnic, and I took you home." Dan seemed to accept that as an answer, and sat up. He noticed Keiichi try to cover something up, as he got closer.

"What's that you're looking at, eh?"

"Eh? Are you Canadian?"

"No, but I like 'em… Hey, don't change the subject. You should be used to my odd remarks by now!"

"I don't know if that's possible," Keiichi said, beginning to laugh.

"Ah, can it! Just answer my question."

"It's not much, really – just an old murder case, that's all."

"I see, and you call me the odd one," Dan said, rolling his eyes. "What's the reason for reading that? Sudden interest in dead people?"

"NO!" Keiichi shouted, "I'm just a bit concerned about it, because of what Rena said the other day."

"Rena? What'd she say?"

"She said that it never happened, but the proof's right here."

"Hmm, I wonder why she would say something like that?"

"I'm not sure."

"Well, if it's not that important, forget about it, Kei. It's not worth losing sleep over, you know?" Dan said, trying to reason with Keiichi. "People always have a reason for doing something, maybe she just wants to forget about it. The past has a way of biting people in the ass, if you get too involved. Knowing about history is important, but something like this isn't worth it."

"You think so?"

"I'm pretty sure. I may look like I don't know any better, but I've dealt with my fair share of crap back in the day – it's part of the reason I moved away from the States. Trust me on this one, Kei, let sleeping dogs lie."

"I guess you're right. I just wish I knew the reason why, that's all." Keiichi folded the article up, and put it away. "So, it looks like you're doing alright now. Do you want to do something?"

"Possibly, what time is it?"

"It's about seven."

"Really? Well, do you want to get something to eat? I wasn't able to eat anything at the picnic since I, well, you know…"

"Yeah, I do. Do you have any idea why those two…"

"Not a clue, man – not a clue! I was hoping you could tell me – you've known both of them longer than I have."

"That's true, but I've got nothing for you either."

"Damn, that sucks. Oh well, no use worrying about it for now. All I know is that I'm hungry, and I don't want to think about girls for the next twelve plus hours."

"Amen to that brother," Keiichi said. Dan gave him a cock-eyed look, and slowly nodded. They looked at each other, and started laughing.

"Ha ha, I'm starting to rub off on you!"

"I don't know how you couldn't," Keiichi said. "It's my treat; just tell me where you want to go."

"Sweet! I'm driving!"

"You're the only one who can, dumb ass."

"Yeah, yeah, I know."

***

"Hurry up Dan; we're going to be late again!" Keiichi shouted from downstairs.

"This feels a lot like Déjà vu," Dan said, rushing to the door.

"You're telling me, I thought you'd have learned by now."

"I swore I went to bed on time last night, I'm sure of it."

"That's not important right now, we've got to hurry, or we'll miss them, and you know what that means, right?"

"I won't be the only one getting the punishment, you know?" Dan said, leering at Keiichi.

"Quit that, you're freaking me out!" Keiichi said, pushing Dan away. The two raced like lightning, almost tearing the fence down as they ran through it. Not too far ahead, they noticed Rena and the others waiting for them.

"Sweet, they decided to wait for us today, that's nice!"

"Dan-kun!" Rena and Mion said in unison. Dan shuddered, and screeched to a halt.

"Good morning," Dan said, forcing a smile. "Ready to head to class?"

"Yep!" Rena piped cheerfully. "I was wondering if you wanted to try something I made today…"

"What is it?"

"It's a surprise!" she said.

"No, Dan can't have what you made; he's got to try what I made him!" Mion said. The two glared at each other, and it looked like actual sparks were flying.

"Is it possible to talk about this later?" Dan asked, "Lunch is a few hours away, and the teacher will be mad at all of us if we're late."

"For once, I actually agree with what Dan is saying," Rika said.

"Thank you…I think."

"Fine, we'll settle this later," the two girls said in unison, both going for Dan, scooping him off his feet, and rushing to the school. They vanished from sight in a few seconds, leaving the other three in the dust.

"Do you understand any of this?" Keiichi asked.

"Not a thing," Rika replied.

"Don't look at me, I'm just as lost as the rest of you," Satoko said.

The other three ran to school, and got there just in time for class to start. Dan was sitting between Mion and Rena, and looked like a mouse watching the trap come down on him. Ms. Aoki was doing her best to ignore the quibbling from the two older girls.

"I'm just glad that Dan isn't the one instigating everything this time," she thought to herself.

"Why doesn't she do anything to stop these two?" Dan moaned under his breath. "Hell, is everyone totally oblivious to everything? …This sucks! Waiting for today to come to an end is going to be a joke, I can just tell." Keiichi just watched his friend, and had a pretty good idea what he was thinking.

"Poor Dan," he thought, "those girls are gonna eat him alive!" The girls continued their tug of war silently during class, waiting for lunchtime to come. Dan looked up at the clock, and it looked as if time was beginning to move backwards on him. He rubbed his eyes, looked more intently at the clock, and saw it still spinning backwards, even faster than before.

"Uh, teacher? I think there's something wrong with the clock." The teacher looked, and didn't see anything out of the ordinary.

"I don't know what you're talking about Dan, it looks fine to me. Now, please let me continue with today's lesson, for those who are actually listening." She gave Dan a menacing glare as if to tell him the next 'stunt' he pulled would be his last.

"I hate my life…" Dan groaned.

Eventually, lunchtime came, and for once in his life, Dan was not so eager for it to have come. The group had separated into those with Dan, and the rest with Keiichi. Rena and Mion had cornered Dan, and were trying to share their lunches with him.

"You've GOT to try this Dan, I made it just for you!" Rena said, offering him some of her Takiyoki.

"Oh no, you can't have that, this is much better!" Mion countered, trying to push Rena away. They bantered at each other for a good while, while Dan simply sat back, trying not to make any sudden moves, not quite sure what either would do if he suddenly disappeared again.

"Those guys," Satoko said, "What's with them? They're acting like children!"

"I agree," Rika said, involved in her own meal, and trying to ignore Dan and the others. "Hopefully, it's just a phase. I must admit, though, I've never seen these two go at it quite so much before."

"I see…" Keiichi said.

"Hee, hee, hee…" Dan laughed, trying to keep somewhat of a straight face. "I have a suggestion."

"What's that?" Rena asked.

"I could just try both – I know you two are excellent cooks…"

"NO! That simply won't do!" Rena said. "I thought you liked me!"

"I thought that you liked me, too!" Mion said, putting a puppy-dog face on.

"I do! I do – that's why I was trying to compromise here…"

"You have to decide between the two of us, right now!" Rena said. Dan's face was swept with horror, not wanting to face this decision now.

"Why? This was all so sudden to begin with; you can't expect me to decide just like THAT! That's not fair at all!"

"Who said anything about this being fair?" Mion asked.

"I feel impending doom closing in on me…" Dan thought, his face going completely white.

"Hurry up, or I'll…" Mion stopped, hearing a knock at the door. She stopped her assault, and got up to get the door. Dan offered up a silent prayer of thanks for the temporary reprieve. Mion opened the door, and took a few steps back, letting the man enter the room.

"Why, hello there young lady," he said.

"Hello to you to, officer," Mion said, with a slight edge in her tone.

"Is there a Keiichi Maebara here?" Keiichi stood up, and walked over to the officer.

"Yes, that's me."

"Good to meet you," the officer said. "I was wondering if you could come outside and have a chat with me for a while. Is that alright?" the officer asked.

"I suppose so, what's this in regards to?"

"We'll talk about that outside, if you don't mind." Keiichi nodded reluctantly, but figured he should just agree for now. He knew he hadn't done anything wrong, so that wasn't anything to worry about. The officer led Keiichi out into his car, and started it up, just to get the air conditioning going. He pulled out a cigarette, lit it up, and took a few slow drags on it. A good minute had passed before either of them had said a word. Keiichi decided to be the first to break the ice.

"Alright, so what's this all about?" The officer pulled out a picture, and handed it to Keiichi. Upon looking at it, Keiichi recognized the face immediately.

"I've seen this guy before…who is he?"

"His name was Tomitake Jiro – a photographer from out of town. He usually came by once a year to take pictures of the scenery."

"What do you mean was?" Keiichi asked nervously.

"I was hoping you could help me with that, actually. When was the last time you saw him?"

"Well, it was at the city dump. I was there with a friend looking for something, and he just popped up out of nowhere, as far as I could tell. That was the first and last time I've seen him."

"I see," the officer said, looking slightly disappointed. He took the photograph from Keiichi, and produced a new one, which was not as pleasant to look at.

"Is this…him?" Keiichi asked, quickly returning the photograph.

"I'm afraid so. We found him like that yesterday. One of our officers was looking around after getting an anonymous tip that he had gone missing. We thought the tip was a bit odd, since he never really let anyone know he was here when he came through. It's just the people he happens to pass by that ever really know he's around."

"So how did you know that I had met him before?" Keiichi asked.

"I was doing a routine run through the town, and I happened to see you two talking when I drove by. I figured that you were still in school, judging by your looks."

"Right…" Keiichi thought. "So how'd this happen anyways?"

"It appears that he committed suicide by gouging out his own throat with his bare hands. Suicide is disturbing enough by itself, but this is a new one for me. People usually take the quick way out; scratching away at your own throat seems like the last thing someone would try. Although we haven't yet confirmed it, we suspect there might have been some type of drug involvement."

"And you thought I'd know more about how he died?" Keiichi blurted. "I had only just met the guy." The officer laughed a bit, and gave Keiichi a somewhat serious look.

"Don't worry; you're not one of my main suspects. I had actually come by to tell you to be careful from here on out."

"Why would that be?" Keiichi asked, getting quite nervous.

"I'm not completely sure, but I have good reason to suspect that some of your friends are behind this."

"My…friends?"

"Yes," the officer assured him, coldly. "I remember the fact that you had mentioned you were with a friend at the city dump when you met Tomitake. When I drove by, she wasn't there – do you know where she was?"

"Not exactly, she said she was going to go get something to cut some of the debris away from a statue we were trying to dig up. Other than that, I don't EXACTLY where she was. But what does that have to do with this?"

"I just had a suspicion, that's all. Let's just say that all of your friends have had a less than perfect record."

"What?"

"There are things in your friends past that you should be aware of, but I'll have to talk to you later about it. I have some other matters I need to attend to right now. Just remember to be careful, all right? Oh, one more thing – no matter what, don't talk about this conversation with anyone, especially the girls."

"What about my friend Dan?"

"Dan? How do you know him?"

"He's my roommate that moved here from the states a while back. Why?" The officer didn't respond for a moment, but then shook his head.

"I'm sorry; I must have been thinking of another Dan that I used to know. There's nothing to worry about." Keiichi gave the officer a strange look, but decided to let it go.

"Well, is it alright to talk to him about it, or should I keep it secret from him, too?"

"If you want to, it should be alright, but I personally wouldn't. If he's not involved in this, there's no need to GET him involved."

"I see," Keiichi said. "Thanks for the advice; I'll definitely keep it in mind." He opened the door, and headed back to the classroom.

"I'll be in touch if you need to talk at all, alright?" the officer called. "Oh, I nearly forgot to tell you my name – it's Kuraudo Oishi." Keiichi nodded, and went back inside.

"I can't believe that guy is dead," Keiichi thought to himself. "And more importantly, I wonder what he meant when he said that the girls all had some sort of record? That's a tough pill to swallow!" He rounded the corner, and opened the classroom door. What he saw was nothing short of ridiculous. Dan was clinging to the ceiling, dressed up in a maid outfit, while the rest of the girls were trying to get him down.

"Oh! He's so cute! I want to take him home with me!" Rena said.

"No way! He's mine, back off!" Mion shouted, pushing the other girls out of the way.

"He doesn't need to stay with Keiichi anymore, he can come home with us," Satoko said.

"That's right – he'd actually be able to help us, you just want him for yourselves!" Rika said.

"Do I have a say in this?" Dan asked.

"NO!" all the girls shouted in unison. Dan wanted to cry, when he noticed Keiichi standing in the doorway, staring blankly at the situation he was in. Dan hopped down, and bolted behind Keiichi.

"Oh, you don't know how glad I am to see you! (These girls are getting way too crazy for my health!)"

"You're health?" Keiichi asked, looking back at his friend. He took a good look at him, and saw how ridiculous he looked. "What are you doing in that?"

"They dressed me up like this – I had nothing to do with it!"

"I believe you, OH how I believe you," Keiichi said, remembering the other day when they had completely humiliated him, and had him take pictures of the event. By then, the girls had noticed Keiichi, and had calmed down a bit.

"Hello Keiichi," Mion said, in a cold tone, "What did the officer want?" Keiichi locked, and tried to force his mind to come up with something to tell the girls, remembering what Oishi had told him.

"Oh, it was nothing…really; he just wanted to ask me about something, that's all."

"Really? Is that so?" Mion asked. "You sure look nervous, Keiichi, like you're trying to hide something from us…" Keiichi began to panic, but he was able to keep a straight face, for the most part. The other girls had begun to close in on him as well, all giving him a strange look.

"You were gone for such a long time," Rena said, her eyes narrowing like before, "Are you sure it was nothing?"

"Yeah, I'm sure it was nothing. Why do you care, anyways?" Keiichi said. "If I told you it's nothing, then it's nothing!" They certainly didn't look very convinced, but they began to back away from him.

"You're lying!" Rena shouted, her face twisted with anger. Keiichi jolted back, horrified to see his friend getting so upset over something so trivial. Oishi's words came back to his memory as he continued to watch his friends' behavior. "You think we can't tell when you're lying?"

"No, it's not…what's gotten into you all?" Keiichi asked, shrinking back into a corner. Mion slammed her hand against the wall, to either side of Keiichi's head, and looked him dead in the eyes.

"We're friends, aren't we? Why would you lie to us?" she asked, getting closer and closer to his face. "I would hate for something to happen between us, because you weren't willing to tell the truth…" Keiichi couldn't believe what was going on, and why no one was around to do anything about it. He looked away, and saw Satoko and Rika standing behind the two older girls, grinning evilly. His mind was going numb, and he couldn't focus clearly anymore, getting closer and closer to snapping by the second. At the point where Keiichi thought he was going off the deep end, the door flew open, revealing an angry teacher, and a woozy Dan.

"What is the meaning of this?" Ms. Aoki roared, holding Dan up by his collar. The girls all snapped back into reality, and all looked at the teacher, and then Dan.

"I don't want to ride the pony mommy," Dan mumbled. Everyone in the room stared at Dan, at a complete loss for words.

"I'm not leaving until this is fully explained…" Ms. Aoki said, "But you can forget about what he's babbling about." Everyone let out a sigh of relief, and got their composure back, for the most part.

"It started like this…"

***

Keiichi and Dan walked home alone that day, both wanting nothing to do with the girls for the rest of the day.

"I'm scared of those girls," Dan said, still a bit out of it. "I can't be left alone with them anymore, ANY of them!"

"I think I might know how you feel Dan," Keiichi said, thinking about what had happened while Dan had 'disappeared.' "By the way, where did you go? I didn't even notice that you had left."

"Well, I decided to take whatever chance I could to get away from them, and I took off down the hall as soon as they took their attention away from me. Then I ran into the teacher, who wasn't exactly on my side to begin with. So, being in a MAID outfit didn't help improve the situation whatsoever. She didn't know who I was; so she knocked me clean out. I don't really remember much after that…" Dan said, rubbing his face. "What happened with you?"

"I'd rather not talk about it, if that's okay with you," Keiichi said. Dan looked at him inquisitively, and could tell something was really bothering him. He knew it wouldn't be a good idea to push on with it, so he figured he'd leave it alone.

"Otay, I'll leave you alone about that then."

"Thanks Dan, I'm glad I can trust you." Dan smacked Keiichi in his back lightly, and then gave him a light headlock.

"Oh, come on! Why would you think you that? Doosh-nozzle!"

"Doosh-nozzle? Where'd you pull that from?"

"A comedian I listen to every now and then, we can listen to him if you want to take your mind off of whatever's got you in a tizzy." Keiichi laughed, and smacked Dan back.

"Like I said – I'm glad to know you!"

"No problem, man. Remember I'm here for you, too. If things get too crazy, just let me know, and I'll do what I can for you." The two laughed heartily, and continued for a good portion of the way home.

In about ten minutes, they arrived back at home, and rushed up to their room. Dan plopped on his futon, and decided to take a nap. Keiichi started on some homework, shaking his head after glancing over at Dan. "He's a tough cookie to figure out, you know? One minute he's completely serious, and the next, he makes a baby seem more mature than he is!"

"I'm still awake, you know…" Dan said, eyeing Keiichi. "Don't worry; I'll get my homework done, later. I just need a rest for a while."

"Okay, just quit looking at me like that, it's creepy!" Dan laughed, and knocked right out. Keiichi stared at him, waited a moment to make sure that he was asleep. When he felt assured that he was, he went back to doing his homework. "Like I said, he's a tough one to figure out."

He knocked it out within about an hour, and then relaxed a bit. Dan was still completely gone, sawing logs. "Geez! I think he upgraded from a hand saw to a chainsaw…Hopefully he'll run out of gas soon, that's all I can say." He walked out of the room, and headed downstairs. "Might as well make something to eat, maybe he'll quit after I'm done."

As he headed downstairs, he looked out a window, and noticed it was starting to get dark rather quickly. He looked at the clock on the wall on his way to the kitchen, and saw it was nearly eight o'clock. He was rather surprised to see that that much of the day had actually gone by. Not thinking much of it, he opened the fridge, and pulled out a few things to put a sandwich together. It was rather boring in the house, no noise, or anything to break up the monotony. He had had enough for the day, though, watching the girls behave so strangely towards Dan, and so hostile towards him. It was strange, though; the girls switched back to normal so quickly after the teacher came back. They stayed that way for the rest of the day, acting as if nothing had really happened. What the officer had told him was really bothering him as well. Up until then, everything seemed to be going well. It seemed like somebody just wanted to mess with him upstairs, and wasn't letting him in on the joke. He knew that God wasn't like that, though. He was starting to think of any other explanation, but he wasn't coming up with anything.

"This is retarded," he groaned to himself, "why would they care so much about a policeman coming to see me? It just makes them look guilty when they get all bent like that." He put everything back, took his sandwich upstairs, still muttering to himself about the day.

He got to his room and stopped; he heard something really noisy, but he couldn't make out what it was. He opened the door, and was nearly blown away by a sudden blast of noise.

"What the hell is all this noise?" Keiichi shouted, hanging on to the doorframe with one hand, and his sandwich in the other.

"WHAT?" Dan shouted back, looking up from his homework.

"I SAID, WHAT THE HELL IS ALL THIS NOISE?" Dan reached up, and turned the volume down. As soon as Keiichi's ears stopped ringing, he glared at Dan.

"I still couldn't hear you, what were you…!" Dan was cut short as Keiichi punched him in the face. Dan got up, and glared at Keiichi, putting him in his place. "What was that for?"

"For being a dumb ass, that's what," Keiichi said, his voice faltering slightly. "I don't like to have to fight my way through a dense layer of sound to get into my room!"

"You could have just asked me to turn it down," Dan said flatly. Keiichi rolled his eyes, and told Dan to forget it, because he knew that was an argument that wouldn't go anywhere for either of them. Dan sat back down, and started on his homework again. "I didn't know where you went, so I thought you wouldn't be around to mind, you know? Plus, since your parents are out for the week - I knew they wouldn't complain about it." Keiichi let out a sigh, took a bite from his sandwich, and plopped down on his bed.

"…That's fine Dan," he said. "Sorry for getting all upset about it. I thought you'd still be out, so I wasn't expecting any sort of surprise once I got back."

"No worries," Dan said, ripping through his assignments. "Stuff happens, and then you move on."

"Man, I wish I could get over things as quick as you can," Keiichi said.

"Why don't ya?" Dan asked. "It's not all that hard. If something bugs you, just blow it off. Most of the time, people do things just to see how you'll react in any given situation. When you let them know it doesn't bother you, they generally give it up pretty quick."

"I wish it was all that simple…" Keiichi finished his sandwich, and sprawled across his bed, ready to go out for the night.

"Most things are, but there're some things that you have to face head on, and you can't back down. Take me for example…" Keiichi chuckled a bit, but forced himself to quit. "Although I don't always act like I can or do, when something's wrong, I'm going to stand by my decisions. I don't leave any room for people to misunderstand where I'm coming from; when it's worth worrying about, that is."

"Really? Then would you do me a favor?"

"Sure, what is it?"

Keiichi briefly explained what happened when he came back from talking with Oishi, and how they had totally bugged out on him. Dan listened intently, and thought about it for a moment.

"That sounds unusual… Okay, I'll do what I can to set things straight."

"You serious? Thanks a TON Dan – I'll owe you one for this."

"Don't worry about it. It shouldn't be too difficult since they all seem to be so gaga over me anyways…although I wish I knew what started it all." He rolled his eyes, and scratched his head again. "I guess if that's all, then I'll turn in for the night."

"Sounds good," Keiichi replied. "Good night."

***

The morning sun shone through the window, and nailed Keiichi right in the face. He staggered a bit, and rolled out of bed. There was an unusual feeling filling the room, and he wasn't too sure what to think of it.

"Hey Dan, it's time…?" Dan wasn't in the room, and his bed was already made. Keiichi wondered what was going on, as this was very unusual behavior for Dan, as far as he knew. He picked up his alarm clock, and saw that it was dead. Upon tracing the cord back to the wall, he saw that it was unplugged. "What's going on here? Is this some sort of joke?" He walked downstairs, and found a place set on the table for him, with a rather large breakfast, still piping hot.

"Dan? Did you do this? Where are you?" He sat down at the table, and found a note near the orange juice. He opened it up, and began to read it.

"Morning, sleepy head! I made you some breakfast to get you going this morning; you're going to need a bunch of energy for today. Enjoy it, and I'll see you later!"

"'Sleepy head?' Where does he get off calling me that?" Keiichi thought. "Oh well, I guess I'll put this away quickly, and head off to school."

Fifteen minutes later, Keiichi was absolutely stuffed, not wanting to move for a while. After he felt settled inside, he got up to get ready for school. He looked at the clock on the way back upstairs, and saw that he had about two minutes to get to school.

"What the hell? I completely forgot about the time! I've got to…uh?" Something began to stir on his insides, and he had a sinking feeling he had to get to the bathroom right away. He went as fast as he could, flung the door open, and assumed the position. Boiling with anger, and everything he had just ingested, he started shouting in frustration. "Damn you, Dan! I just know you're behind this! When you get home, I'm totally going to kick your ass!"

Ten to fifteen minutes later, Keiichi had no more energy to be pissed off; he just sat there muttering about how absolutely miserable he felt. He looked down at the floor, and saw another note on the ground, tucked under the mat. Using whatever strength he had left, he resisted the urge to rip it apart, and began reading the other letter.

"Hey,

Sorry about that. I'm not too clear on all the details about this whole situation, but I just thought it would be better if you stayed home today. That, and the fact that you said they flipped about you 'lying' about what you talked about, I figured I'd give you a valid excuse for staying home today. Sorry if this seems a bit unorthodox, but that's the way I am…

You'll be fine by tomorrow (that stuff typically only lasts for a few hours anyways or however long you need to be COMPLETELY cleaned out…).

Later,

Dan"

Keiichi didn't know what to think exactly - whether to pulverize him, or to thank him for a day off.

"You…you…you dolt. I'm definitely going to have a long talk with you after school, that's for damn sure."

***

"Where's Keiichi today?" Rena asked, making sure the teacher wasn't watching.

"He had something that didn't agree with him this morning. I wouldn't count on him showing up for the rest of the day." Rena gave him an odd look, but Dan gave her one back that told her he wasn't screwing around. She seemed to accept the answer, and started paying attention to the lecture again.

"Are you sticking around after school today?" Mion asked.

"Of course! I wouldn't miss our gaming session for anything… (As long as it stays somewhat normal). I wasn't too terribly thrilled about the whole maid outfit the other day, and neither was the teacher." Mion looked puzzled.

"What does the teacher have to do with this?"

"Well, for one thing, she was the one who drug me in here. The reason she drug me in here, is because SHE'S the one who knocked me out cold…"

"Oh, poor Dan," Mion said mockingly, "Dan got knocked out by a girl, how sad." Dan gave her an ornery look.

"You go ahead and cross her, and see who comes out on top when she sucker punches you in the face!"

"Would that really be a sucker punch?"

"If I'm not expecting it – that's what I call a sucker punch."

"I see…"

The class seemed to drone on forever, and Dan was forcing himself to stay awake. The teachers' words began to lose their meaning, and things were beginning to get blurry. For a moment, he could have sworn the teacher switched into saying, 'Blah, blah, blah…". He really didn't like getting up that early, and his face showed it. He longed to have an energy drink, a cup of coffee, something to get him going again.

"I think I'd need a couple pots of coffee to shake this crap…" He looked at the clock again, and this time it grew a face and started laughing at him. Instinctively, he jumped back, taking another look at it. Ms. Aoki slammed her book down, and glared right at Dan.

"Are my lessons really all that boring to you, Dan?" Dan snapped back to attention, and stood up.

"No, they're not."

"Then what is your problem?"

"I swear to Pete that clock started laughing at me…and it still is!" he said throwing his pencil at it. The whole class stared blankly at him, and everyone that was close to him backed up about a foot.

"…Okay…do you need some coffee?" Ms. Aoki asked.

"That sounds really good right now…" Dan said. She signaled for him to hurry up. "Thanks," he replied, heading to the door.

"One more thing Dan," Ms. Aoki said. Dan paused, and looked back at the teacher. "If you even THINK about sleeping after this, I can think of a lot worse things to do to you, than simply putting you in a maid outfit." The entire class erupted with laughter, and Dan almost died of humiliation on the spot.

"I hate you…" Dan groaned under his breath.

Meanwhile, back at the house, Keiichi was just barely emerging from the bathroom, still feeling the effects of the laxatives.

"Damn Dan, how much of that shit did you put in my food? I'm seriously going to pay you back for that, there's no doubt about that!" He walked down the hall, and into his bedroom. The bed looked particularly inviting at the moment, so he decided to take a rest to get over the residual effects of his 'medicine.' The instant he lied down, the phone began to ring. He grimaced, and got up to answer it. Grumbling obscenities while he made his way slowly to the phone, he picked it up and mumbled a greeting.

"Is this the Maebara residence?" the voice said.

"Yes it is. May I ask who's calling?"

"This is officer Kuraudo, I believe we spoke yesterday. This is Keiichi, correct?"

"Yeah it is. Is something wrong?"

"Nothing too serious, I just wanted to come by and talk to you about the other day. I can swing by in about ten minutes and pick you up. Do you have some time?"

"I do, actually. I stayed home from school today due to some 'unseen' circumstances. I guess it all works out, though."

"Are you sure you're up to going out then?"

"Yeah, I'm fine now. My 'friend' decided it would be a good idea for me to stay home today, and he took matters into his own hands." There was a long pause on the phone, which made Keiichi wonder if Oishi was still there.

"…I see. Well, I guess I'll see you in a few minutes, alright?"

"Sounds good." Keiichi hung up, and went to the bathroom to make himself presentable. Things were getting weird, and Keiichi didn't like the way things seemed to be going. He thought about Dan again, wondering if the girls would start flipping out on him, in the same way they had with him. Keiichi hadn't told Dan about the murder case, and Dan was rather dense about things like that, as far as Keiichi knew.

Thinking things through a bit longer, he decided that things should be all right. Dan may not have always come across as bright, but he excelled greatly in physical activities. He figured if things got too crazy, Dan could get away quick enough to find some help.

After finishing in the bathroom, Keiichi went downstairs, and waited for Oishi to show up. He didn't have to wait long for Oishi showed up. As soon as he heard the horn, he got up and headed outside. Oishi greeted him with a wave and a smile, and waited for Keiichi to get in the car. After getting all situated, they drove off, heading to the Angel Mori café. The time passed quickly, neither really saying much, other than the usual small talk. Before they knew it, they were there, and were already being asked what they'd like to drink. Both ordered something light from the menu, returned their menus to their server, and waited for their meal to come.

"So," Keiichi started, " you said you had something you needed to talk to me about?" Oishi took a few sips of coffee, getting it suited to his tastes, and nodded.

"Yes, it's something quite serious, so we need to keep this quiet, understand?" Keiichi nodded, and started listening intently. "I'm not too sure how much Tomitake told you when he spoke to you, but are you aware of the murder case from a few years ago, involving the dam incident?"

"I know a bit about it."

"Good, that will save a bit of time then. The person responsible for the murder was never found. Most of the people attribute it to a curse, caused by Oyashiro-sama."

"Who's that?"

"He was a monk from ancient times that was quite respected, as far as I know. Although many respected him, others also feared him. According to local legend, he ruled with a serious iron fist, horribly torturing any who dared defile the laws of the religion that he had established. Because of that, the town became quite a bit like it still is today. Outsiders generally aren't given too warm of a welcome, and the locals don't really put up with anyone that 'gets out of line.'"

"I guess that I can see a bit of that behavior now, I just hadn't paid much attention to it before. But how does this tie into the murder cases?"

"When the government sent their crew in to start working on the dam here, there was a lot of opposition. Putting it in would have been quite detrimental to this community, but the government didn't seem to care. It started with protests and picketing, but things started getting violent. Your friend Mion was a chief voice in many of the demonstrations they put on."

"What?" Keiichi shouted. The café grew silent for a moment, and everyone stared over at Keiichi and Oishi's table for a few moments.

"I told you to keep it down, remember?" Oishi said, doing his best to ignore the glares he was getting.

"Sorry," Keiichi apologized weakly, and waited for Oishi to start again.

"It's okay. Now, as I was saying, after a few weeks of this, the director disappeared for a while. They couldn't find his for a few days, but when they did, you know what state he was in, right?" Keiichi nodded nervously. "After some time had passed, and the actual murderer hadn't been found, people began saying it was the curse of Oyashiro-sama, and started making fun of the fact that the director had ignored their threats and warnings to leave.

"This recent death of Tomitake is just as mysterious as the dam director's death. The method was quite a bit different in this situation. If you remember, the cause of death was the victim bleeding to death, after having dug his throat out with his fingernails. The fact that he was partially buried, it's obvious that there is something else behind this – more specifically, someone. I don't care how good a 'curse' is; I doubt it would leave a man partially buried. I might find it more believable if he had completely disappeared, and had been missing for a while before being found, not the day after he goes missing."

"I see your point," Keiichi said. "Forgive me, but I'm failing to see how my friends tie into this exactly. Although, they did start acting really weird after I started talking to you."

"Weird? How do you mean?"

"Well, after Tomitake came and talked to me, she seemed like she was slightly irritated that I had talked to him at all. It really started to bother me when I came back from talking with you; they all began ganging up on me in class while no one else was around. They didn't seem like themselves, you know?"

"Really? That certainly does sound odd. Though, after doing a bit of checking on them myself, that seems to fit a bit better with what I dug up."

"How so?"

"I told you how your friend Mion had been quite active in a lot of the demonstrations that had gone on while the dam issue was being pushed; she never really stopped with that attitude. A year ago, she had physically abused another man, to the point where he had to be hospitalized." Keiichi felt his heart sink to his gut, and he started getting physically ill at the thought. Oishi didn't seem to notice, and continued. "Also, your friend Rena, before moving back here, she went on a rampage in her old school, breaking all the windows with a baseball bat."

"I can't believe this…" Keiichi groaned.

The waitress came back, and brought their meals to them.

"Here you go, sirs. Will that be all?"

"Yes, thank you." The waitress gave a little bow, and walked off. Keiichi was still completely lost in his thoughts, trying to put things together. It felt as if someone had just taken a jigsaw puzzle he was working on, took a chunk of the pieces, and replaced them with pieces from twenty other puzzles, still expecting him to be able to work with it.

"Are you alright?"

"Oh, yeah – sure I'm okay. I just found out two of my best friends have a dark violent side, and my other friend is at SCHOOL with them!" Keiichi said, with a strong edge, but keeping his voice low enough, so as not to disturb everyone else. "What about Satoko and Rika? They can't be involved with this…can they?"

"Unfortunately, they are. Though their offenses weren't quite as severe, they've both had issues in the past."

Keiichi wanted to cry, and make all of what he had just heard go away. Despite how he felt, he knew that simply wishing things away never made anything better. If anything, it made it worse.

"I wouldn't worry too much about Dan; I think he can take care of himself. If it'll make you feel better, I'll drop by the school, and check on him after dropping you off." Keiichi weakly nodded, but his demeanor remained melancholy. Oishi could tell that Keiichi was having a tough time with this information dump he just received. He reached in his pocket, and pulled out a small card, which he handed to Keiichi. "Here, take this. That's my direct line; if you need anything, or find anything out about what's going on, give me a call, and I'll get right on it. Even if you just need someone to talk to, I'll be here for you."

"Thanks, I appreciate that," Keiichi said, forcing a smile.

"No problem. I want to put an end to all of this garbage even more than you do. I've had a long record of accomplishment for finishing all the cases I've started, and I'm not about to let this one be the one that gets away. I've been working at this for too long to just throw the towel in." They both smiled, and hoped for the best. "Well, let's eat, and I'll take you home."

Ten pots of coffee later, and a dozen donuts, Dan came back to class completely wired. He tried to keep it hidden as best he could, but he would have been better trying to pass himself off for Madonna. The teacher watched him 'walk' back to his desk, and sit down.

"Are you alright, Dan?"

"Oh yeah, I'm GREAT!" he said, and twitched slightly. The teacher eyed him carefully, and decided to just let it go.

"At least he's awake…" she thought. She resumed her lesson from where she had left off. Dan was following everything she said exactly, and actively participated in class. It caught her off guard at first, but really started to enjoy having Dan actually show some interest in her class. Even the students were having a good time, more than they had in any of their past classes.

A few hours later, they had blown straight through lunchtime, and finished with the material they had to go over that day.

"Well! Would you look at the time? I guess we're done for the day – class dismissed. I'll see you all tomorrow!" Everyone cheered loudly, and packed their things up quickly. Within seconds, the classroom was empty, except for the usual group, and the teacher. Dan got up from his chair and walked up to the teacher.

"Can I talk to you for a moment?" he asked.

"Huh? Sure, I suppose. What is it?"

"I'd rather talk about it in the hall, if that's alright."

"That'll be fine," she said, a bit confused at how formal Dan was acting.

"Where are you going Dan?" Mion asked.

"I'll be right back; I just need to talk about something with the teacher. Don't start without me, hear?"

"Alright, just don't take too long."

"No worries, it'll only be a moment." Dan stepped out into the hall, while the girls watched him closely.

"What was with Dan today?" Mion asked.

"I don't know, but I actually thought it was really cute! I like him even more now!" Rena said.

"I wonder how much coffee he had?" Rika said.

"Yeah, I haven't seen him that full of energy since he got here, at least at school…" Mion said.

"Oh, by the way Rena," Satoko said, "you can't have him. He's coming to live with us."

"No way!" Rena shouted, "I wanted him first, so you can't have him!" She blushed a bit, and grinned widely. "Besides, he's practically a part of my family now. He DID stay the night at my house the other day."

"I thought you said nothing had happened!" Mion said, giving her a headlock.

"Hey cut it out!" Rena complained.

"Yeah, tell us what happened!" Rika and Satoko chimed in, eyeing Rena mischievously. Dan walked in, and was thoroughly confused at what was going on.

"Did I come back at a bad time? I can come back later when you're done, if you need me to…" The girls stopped their horse playing, and looked back up at Dan.

"Huh? What are you…?" Mion stopped suddenly, and noticed that she had begun to disrobe Rena somehow when she put her in the headlock. The fact that Rena had flailed around trying to get away from Mion caused most of the problem. Both the girls became beet red, and quit what they were doing right away. Dan had diverted his attention elsewhere, giving them a bit of privacy to fix themselves up.

"Y'all better now?" he asked.

"Now we are. What were you talking about outside?" Mion said.

"Oh, nothing major – I just wanted to apologize to the teacher for being such a numbskull in class this past couple of weeks." They looked a little confused about what he was talking about. "You know, while I had been sleeping, and knocking myself around to stay awake?" Everyone let out a collective 'oh…', and nodded in agreement.

"Speaking of that," he continued, "I was actually hoping to talk you about that, and something else that has apparently been contributing to that."

"Hm? What are you talking about?"

"Well, it's complicated since I don't know all the details, but just hear me out, okay?" The girls nodded in agreement, and started to look a bit concerned. "You see, it's like this: I've not been able to sleep for the past few days, because Keiichi talks in his sleep, and he gets pretty loud. Most of the time, I've been able to ignore it, but it's starting to get a tad bit out of control, ya'know? He's not saying anything anymore, but he's screaming out randomly, and he wakes me up every five to ten minutes during the night. The worst part is, HE stays asleep, and doesn't even realize that he's been doing it!"

"What does that have to do with us?" Rena asked, getting a bit nervous, her eyes narrowing.

"Like I said, I don't know exactly what's been going on, but apparently after the day at the dump, and especially yesterday, he told me that you getting on his case when that cop came." Everyone's eyes went narrow, and they focused in him, menacingly. Dan didn't seem to notice, and went on. "I don't know if you have something against police in general, or if it's just that particular officer, but I don't really care about that. I'm just saying if you've got something you'd like to discuss with someone, do it in a more tactful way, ya'know?"

"What's it to you?" Mion asked sharply.

"Huh?" Dan asked, caught off guard by the sudden comment.

"I said what's it to you? Why do you care?"

"Because he's my friend, that's why!" Dan said, getting a bit irritated. "I'd do the same thing for you if you ever asked or needed me to." Mion didn't look very convinced, or seem to care much about what he had just said.

"Is that all you have to say?" she asked.

"No, I've still got something to say. Like I said, I don't care why you dislike police so much, or what you do in your free time about it. I'm just saying you shouldn't let something so stupid be the reason start hating someone. I mean, I've never known you to get so upset over something so trivial before, it's just not like you." Mion looked a bit shocked, and started to back down a bit. "Do you know what I'm saying? We're all friends here, right? I'd like to keep it that way. So, let's just forget about this, and move on, eh?"

"Eh?" Rena said, "When did you go Canadian on us?"

"There's nothing wrong with Canadians! One of my best friends back in the states was Canadian…I guess he rubbed off on me a bit, ya' know?"

"That's all?" Mion asked, ignoring Rena's comment.

"Yeah, that's it. Sorry if I hit a sore spot or two, but I'm pretty sure you'd understand if you took a second to put yourself in his shoes, ya' know?"

"You really don't know anything else?" Mion asked.

"About what? All I know is that I couldn't sleep, and he asked me to talk to you about bugging on him yesterday. What else is there?"

"Well, that's…"

"If it's not that important, there's no need bringing it up, is there?" Everyone fell down on their backs, completely dumbfounded at how dense he really was. He looked at them for a moment, and scratched his head. "Did I say something strange? What's up with you today? You're acting weirder than usual."

"That settles it," Rena said, getting up off the floor, "he's coming home with me to stay!"

"WHAT?" Dan said, leaping back before she could latch on to her. "Where'd that come from…?" Dan looked behind himself, and saw that Satoko and Rika had both grabbed his legs, and wouldn't let go.

"You can't! He's going with us!"

"Wha…? Hold on a moment here! ARGH!" Dan stumbled backwards, and tripped over a chair, hitting his head on the ground. The girls looked at the other, rushed over to him, each securing a limb, and commenced a tug of war. They bantered back and forth about who he should go with, and the reasons why. The more Dan listened to them, the more ridiculous all of them sounded. Dan, not really aware, or able to do much about what was going on, shouted loudly for them to let him go. Startled, they dropped him to the floor, which knocked him silly for a moment. After getting his bearings straight, he stood up, and looked at the girls like they were crazy.

"What's up with y'all today? I mean, I appreciate the attention, but not like this!"

Dan breathed out a heavy sigh, and stared hopelessly into the girls' faces, which looked like he had just reached into their chests, and crushed their hearts. A look of defeat spread across his face, and he could feel his insides tying themselves into knots.

"I'm sorry," he said weakly. "I'm just not good with things like this – I've never really been in a situation like this before."

"Are you really sorry?" Satoko asked.

"Yes, I am. Will you forgive me?" Everyone got a devious look on their faces, which made Dan feel incredibly uncomfortable. "What are you up to?"

"I think we should settle this with a few games," Mion said, "beginning with the king game."

"The king game? What's that about?" Dan asked.

"We pull straws, and whoever draws the king straw, is the king. Everyone else has to obey the command the king issues. Get it?"

"Sounds simple enough…" Dan said. "I hope this stays reasonable; with my luck, that's a situation that seems far-fetched," he thought to himself.

An hour and several embarrassing situations later, everyone was lying on the floor, having laughed so much their sides were sore.

"I think that's enough for the day," Mion said, "I can't take anymore!"

"I agree completely," Dan added. "Too bad Keiichi had to miss this today; I feel bad for the kid."

"Kid?" Rika asked, looking over at Dan. "Aren't you a 'kid' too?"

"I am a few years older than him. Didn't you know that?"

"No, I didn't."

"Oh, well, I'm eighteen."

"Really?" Satoko said. "That's interesting…you're older than he is, but you act a lot less mature than he does."

"Oi vey," Dan said, scratching his head. They all got up, and started packing their things up to go home.

"That reminds me," Rena said, "Mion and I were planning on taking Keiichi a meal, since he probably hasn't had anything decent all day. Will you walk Rika and Satoko home?"

"Sure, I could do that. See you tomorrow?" Dan asked.

"Definitely," Rena said, giving him a devious look. Mion looked at Rena, and got a devious look of her own. She walked over to Dan, and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Dan?"

"What is it…?" Mion kissed Dan full on, which shocked Dan half to death. "Wh-whwhw-whwhhw-whh…?"

"I'll be here tomorrow, too." With that, Mion and Rena went on their way. Dan stood their red in the face, unable to move at all.

"My, my," Rika said, lightly elbowing Dan, "You certainly are getting along with those two rather well, aren't you?"

"I…guess. Just wish I knew what I did…"

After waiting a few minutes for Dan to recover from shock, they left for home. The girls' home was a good distance from the school, which took Dan a bit by surprise.

"I didn't realize you lived so far away from the school. Do you always walk to and from school alone?"

"Rena and Mion have offered to come out and walk with us before, but we usually turn them down. We really don't mind it, though."

"I see…" Dan said. "If I knew, I would have offered to pick you up, you know? Why didn't you ever say anything?"

"We've always managed just fine by ourselves," Rika said. "That is, until recently."

"Huh? Is something wrong?" Dan asked.

"You really don't know?" Rika asked. Dan shook his head, and looked puzzled. "There's been a murderer on the loose for the past few years. Just last week, there was a recent killing, and we've been a scared about the killer coming around here."

"WHAT?" Dan said, completely blown away. "What…when…why didn't you say anything about that earlier?"

"We were scared, and didn't know who we could talk to about it. We do live alone up here."

"You could have told me!" Dan said, looking at the two as if they had just spit in his face. "I may not know exactly what to do about this, but at least let me try and help you out. I thought we were friends, aren't we?"

"We didn't want to worry you," Rika said, weakly.

"Not telling me worries me even more. It makes me feel like you couldn't trust me, or something. Listen, if you ever need anything just tell me, I'll drop what I'm doing and rush to help you out. The last thing I want for either of you is seeing you get hurt!" Rika gave him a strange look, and stared at him for a moment.

"Do you think you can do that? Can you take care of us?"

"I'll do my best," he replied, undaunted. He looked up, and saw some dust billowing a good distance away from them. It was growing at an alarming rate. "What in the…SHIT!" Dan grabbed the girls, pulled them in close to his body, and jumped out of the way, just as a large white van plowed through the road where they were walking. Both of them shouted loudly, completely rattled about their narrowly missed appointment with their maker.

"The hell? What was that about?" Dan said, looking back toward the van. "Are you two alright?"

"We're fine, thanks to you!" Satoko said.

"That's just screwed up!" Dan growled. "What would drive a…" Dan stopped, seeing that the van had come to a halt, and was now turning around. "Oh, you've got to be shitting me! You two, you hide over there, I'll take care of this."

"Dan! You can't!" Rika shouted, "You could be killed!"

"Don't worry about me!" Dan said, his eyes flashing red, which startled Rika. "I'll take care of these assholes – just hide!" Reluctantly, Rika and Satoko quickly got out of sight. Dan looked at the van, beginning its charge back towards him. He smiled devilishly, whipped out a knife from nowhere; with a single slash, he took a tree down, which fell across the road. He dashed out of the way, and disappeared. The driver of the van could not do anything to slow down in time, so he ended up hitting the fallen tree, and flipping the van, which rolled a few times, and stopped. The van lay motionless for a moment, but shortly after, the door flew open, and a couple of angry men stumbled out. Dan stared as they slowly rose to their feet.

The men looked like they were with some sort of military faction. They were large, burly men, and to say they were angry would be an understatement.

"You're dead meat, buddy! No one fucks with us and gets away with it!" The man pulled out a knife of his own, and barreled at Dan. Dan smirked, dodged easily, and spun around with a roundhouse kick, which landed in the face of the next man, who was right behind the first. He went crashing to the floor, reeling in pain. The first man got back up to his feet, and took another lunge at Dan; Dan laughed openly as he dodged every slash, as if he were dancing. This only proved to irritate the man, with every stroke he took.

"I really don't know what you're so angry about, or what this is all about. Frankly, I don't give a shit, but I suggest you get out of my sight before you regret it," Dan said coldly. It was as if he were a completely different person; Rika and Satoko watched, completely dumbfounded at how Dan was acting.

"I'll be sorry?" the man asked, totally irritated with Dan. "I'd like to see that happened!" The man made a lunge at Dan, completely missing him. This gave Dan a chance to grab his assailant by the wrist, fling the knife out of his hand, and flip him onto his back. Dan ripped his shirt off, turned him over, and hog-tied the man. Just as he finished with the first man, he spun around, landed his fist into the gut of the other man, who he heard charging up behind him. The man let out a groan, and collapsed. Dan made short work of him as well, dragged them over to their van, ripped the bumper off, and secured them to the van by bending the bumper, and slamming it into the car.

"Now, what the hell are you two up to?" Dan asked, glaring menacingly into their eyes. They both refused to say anything, and looked away from Dan. He continued to stare them down for a while longer, and then figured he wasn't going to get anything out of them. He turned away from them, and walked over to where the girls were hiding.

"Are you two okay?" Dan asked, reverting to his old self, as if nothing had just happened.

"Yeah, we're just fine…" Rika said, still shocked at what Dan had just done. "Where did that come from?"

"That?" Dan asked, looking back at the two men. "Oh, that…It's a long story," Dan said, scratching his head. "I'll explain that later. I think right now we better get out of here, before anyone else happens to show up." Satoko and Rika agreed, and they all quickly hurried back.

***

Back at Keiichi's house, Keiichi was starting to get worried that Dan hadn't come back home yet. Oishi hadn't called him back to let him know if he had dropped by the school or not.

"What's up with that officer? He should have called by now. Now it's getting dark, and…" He cut himself short, as he heard the doorbell ring. "I wonder who that is? Maybe it's Oishi!" He rushed down the stairs, opened the door, and was a bit shocked to see Rena and Mion standing there, instead of Oishi.

"Hello Keiichi," Mion said warmly. "How are you feeling?"

"Huh? Oh, I'm much better now, thanks. What are you two doing here?"

"We just wanted to bring by some dinner for you, since we heard your parents were out of town for the week." They handed the meal to Keiichi, and he looked down at it for a moment.

"Why, thanks…" Keiichi froze, and a feeling of panic swept over him. "I hadn't told them that," he thought. "Did Dan tell them?"

"By the way Keiichi, what did you have for lunch today?" Rena asked. Keiichi's feeling of panic apparently swept across his face; the girls took immediate notice of it, and smiled sinisterly.

"I just had a sandwich here at the house, why do you ask?" Mion chuckled devilishly, and shook her head in disgust.

"You're a terrible liar, Keiichi."

"You went to go see that officer at the café in town didn't you?" Rena added. Keiichi dropped his food, and looked as if he had just been stabbed through the heart. "Bringing up the past won't be very good for your health, Keiichi-kun…I'd hate to see something BAD happen to you."

Mion picked up the bento box, and handed it to Keiichi, with a bit of extra force. He took it again, like a lifeless marionette. "Don't forget to eat it all, we want you to get back up to full health quickly." He stared blankly at them, not knowing what had come over his 'friends.' It was scaring him to death, and the girls didn't seem to really care at all. "I made one of those special for you, see if you can figure out which one it is. Oh, one more thing – I don't want you to miss anymore school, got it?"

"See you tomorrow!" Rena said, with a slight laugh. With that, they left Keiichi, completely frightened, almost as if he had his soul searched, and pissed on. He stumbled back into the house, and into the kitchen.

"How'd they know I went to town today?" he thought to himself. Dan couldn't have told them, and no one else could have possibly known. Keiichi was beginning to dread ever having met Tomitake, since things were getting weirder and weirder ever since he had.

"What's this about?" Keiichi asked himself, looking at the little meat rolls. Each had a letter on them, from 'A' to 'E'. He thought about it for a while, trying to figure out what it could possibly mean. Figuring that it didn't really matter, he just picked up a meat roll, and bit into it. Instantly, he jumped with pain, feeling something sharp in his mouth. He spit it out, and found a needle in the midst of the bite he had taken. Filled with feelings of fear and rage, he threw the remainder of the meal across the room, screaming like a maniac.

"What the hell is going on?" he shouted. "Why would they do something like that? I don't understand what they're up to anymore, and it's freaking me out!" After taking out his frustration on the remainder of his 'meal', he knew he had to do something about this, and he wasn't going to stop until he got to the bottom of it. He ran up to his room, and got ready for bed. "If I'm going to figure this out, I need a good night's rest to clear my head as much as possible," he thought to himself.

***

Dan was lying on the couch in Satoko's house, still trying to catch his breath. After leaving the two men in the van to their own devices, Dan figured it would be best to bolt home so they couldn't possibly be followed. Unfortunately, for him, he didn't realize it was a full mile run. Carrying the two girls didn't do much for him, either. The two girls were in the kitchen preparing dinner, talking about the strange events of the day.

"Can you believe how Dan saved us today?" Satoko asked, putting a salad together.

"Hardly," Rika replied. "I would have never pegged him for that kind of person. He certainly doesn't look the type, does he?"

"Not at all; I'm glad he was with us today, though. That van probably would have killed us if he weren't there," Satoko said.

"I know!" Rika said as she finished preparing the fish. "I just hope that he's okay. I didn't know people could run that fast, and for that long"

"We can talk more about this over dinner, though. I'd like to hear what he has to say about all of this."

"Fine by me," Rika replied.

In a few minutes, they finished their preparations, and set the table.

"Dan," Satoko called, "dinner's ready!" Dan got up slowly, and walked into the kitchen. He sat down at his spot ('you're right here, okay?'), and his eyes got wide.

"Whoa, you two! This looks really good!"

"It isn't much, really. We're just glad you're with us tonight," Satoko said, getting a bit flushed.

"No problem."

"Help yourself, Dan, "Rika said, "I hope you like it."

"Are you kidding? If this tastes half as good as it looks, then it's all good with me!" He served up a bit for himself, and started dishing some up for Rika and Satoko. "I'm glad that you're alright, though – that takes a load off my mind. Speaking of that – have you ever seen that white van before?"

"Today was the first time I saw it," Satoko said.

"I hadn't really noticed it before myself," Rika said. "That doesn't mean that it wasn't around, though."

"That's what I'm a bit worried about," Dan said. "If it's been around, I wonder how long they've been around watching you, or any of us, for that matter."

"Did you see a license plate number on the van?" Rika asked.

"Doh – didn't think to look at that…" Dan said, scratching his head. "I just hope this doesn't get crazy on us." Everyone nodded their head, and took a bit of time to work on their meal.

"Oh," Rika said, "Before I forget, there's something I wanted to ask you about." Dan looked up at Rika and stopped eating. "Where did you learn to fight like that? I've never seen anything like that before." Dan smiled, and put his utensils down.

"To tell you the truth, part of my abilities I picked up along the course of my life. It took years of lessons, and…other training."

"What kind of lessons?" Rika asked, focusing in on Dan. Satoko stopped eating, and gave her full attention to Dan.

"Well, I don't want you going around telling everyone if I tell you, okay?" The girls gave a nod of agreement, and Dan took a deep breath. "You see, all started when I dropped out of school when I was fourteen. From there, I started getting involved with the wrong crowd. They didn't seem like a bad lot when I was first getting to know them; I actually really enjoyed hanging around with them. They seemed normal enough to me, so I really didn't think much of it at the time.

"It wasn't until about a month later that I started to notice little things that seemed a bit out of the norm. They tried to keep me from noticing, trying to reason away dropping by late, or leaving early. I tried to give them the benefit of the doubt for a while, but it didn't take a rocket scientist to see that something wasn't right.

"My suspicions were confirmed one night, when I went to go meet them at our usual meeting place. By the time I got there, one of my friends was dead on the pavement, and the murder weapon lying on the ground next to him. Being the dumb kid I was, I picked up the gun, and looked at it. Minutes later, the police showed up, they saw me with a gun, and didn't bother to ask any questions. I went straight to the prison, and I stayed there for two years.

"The damn police in my area didn't know what they were doing; they just figured that they found the kid responsible, and that their job was done. It wasn't until the end of those two years, a similar murder occurred, and they found my 'friend' – the one that actually killed the guy I was framed for.

"When they determined that I was innocent, they let me go, and cleared my record completely, but they couldn't ever fix the time that I had to spend in there for me. I decided that I'd get back on track with my life, and started taking self-defense lessons from a few places I heard about in Gainesville. I flew through everything they had to teach me, and figured the next thing to do was start a completely new life. I figured I'd get as far away from everything I used to know as I could, and I ended up here."

The girls stared at him, their eyes watering with tears as he finished his story.

"That's horrible," Satoko cried.

"What about your family? Why didn't they help you?" Rika asked

"They were angry with me having dropped out of school, and when they heard that I got shipped off to Juvenile hall, they didn't want to have anything to do with me anymore. Even after I was cleared, they had forgotten about me, and personally, I didn't even want to try.

"That's why now that I have good friends, I want to stick with y'all, and do whatever I can. I don't want to have a repeat of my past life happening here – I won't stand for it."

"Really, you'll do anything?" Satoko asked, wiping her tears away.

"Anything."

"Then, will you stay here?" she asked, looking at him desperately.

"You…want me to stay here?" he asked, quite surprised.

"Yes, we do. At least until after this murder is caught," Rika said. Dan thought for a moment, looking as if he were debating a life and death crisis in his head. "Is that alright?"

"…I can do that."

"You will? Thank you so much!" Both of the girls jumped out of their chairs, and gave Dan a big hug.

"Alright, alright already! Settle on down, otay?" He smiled at both of the girls, and thought, "I wonder how the others are going to react to this? They should understand if I just explain it to them, right?" The girls let go of him, and sat back down in their own seats.

"Well, as soon as you're finished eating, we can show you to your room," Rika said.

"You already have a room for me? Wow, that's more than I expected…"

"It's no problem really. It was just a guest room anyways, so it wasn't that much of a stretch."

"Groovy!" Rika and Satoko looked at Dan, and then just bust up laughing. "I think I could really get used to this – I never had little sisters before, so this is as close as it's gonna get," Dan thought to himself.

***

Dan got out of bed, and started getting ready for the day. It was still quite early, but since this had been the first good night's rest he had in a long time, it didn't really matter too much. Satoko's house was quite large, which struck Dan as odd – why did two girls need such a large home? For that matter, where were her parents? He hadn't given much thought to it before, since the topic had never come up in regular conversation. It could have been that it was a sore spot for her, and she didn't want to talk about it. Whatever it was, it was making him rather curious.

"I guess I can ask about it later, it's not that important. Oh well, time for some breakfast."

He wandered down the stairs to see that both of the girls were already up before him, and had been working in the kitchen for some time now.

"Good morning, sleepy head. Did you sleep well?" Rika asked, as she finished packing up three bentos.

"Yeah, a lot better than I usually do; thanks." Both girls smiled, and continued with what they were working on. "What time is it anyway?"

"It's just six-thirty. We've got to head out in a half hour to get to school on time." Satoko said.

"Alright."

"Go ahead and sit down, we've got plenty of time for breakfast," Satoko said, as she finished setting the table.

"Dang, this looks great!" Dan exclaimed, and sat down at the table. "I've got to get up earlier next time, so I can help you two out. I didn't realize you two worked so hard all the time."

"We don't mind it," Rika said, taking her place at the table, "we've been doing this for the past year; we're used to it now."

"…I still want to pull my own weight, ya know? What can I do to help out?"

"We can talk about that after school today, if you really want to so bad. Let's just have breakfast, and head out," Rika said, still smiling.

"…Alright. Bon appetite."

After finishing breakfast, everyone got their belongings together, and headed off. When they had been walking for about thirty minutes, they arrived at the waiting spot. Rena and Mion saw them, and waved.

"…Hey, how are ya?" Dan asked.

"Just fine," Rena replied, "where's Keiichi?"

"I assume that he's still at home…I thought he'd-"

"What? Why don't you know?" Mion asked, giving Dan an evil eye.

"I wasn't there last night."

"Where…" Mion stopped a moment, while the gears began turning her head. It didn't take long to figure out, though. "Oh, I see." Rena and Mion both glared evilly at Dan; they cracked their knuckles, and closed in on him. "I didn't know you were in to that kind of thing…"

"What kind of thing?" Dan said, completely oblivious to what the girls were angry.

"He most certainly isn't in to THAT kind of thing!" Satoko said, shooting back a look just as menacing.

"What are you all talking…WHAT? You don't mean, THAT…What they hell are you thinking?" Dan shouted. "That's just retarded…"

"Then what were you doing over there?" Rena asked, still a bit steamed.

"I decided that I was going to move in, since there's a murderer running around." Rena and Mion's eyes narrowed, and it was obvious that they didn't look too happy. "You didn't know? Well have a set down, and I'll run through what I know with you." Reluctantly, they sat down, and Dan ran through what had happened while walking the girls back home, and how he had no idea who the actual murderer was.

"What happened with those men?" Rena asked.

"I called the police, and I haven't heard anything since."

"That's our Dan," Mion said, returning to normal.

"I guess…" Dan said, scratching his head. He looked past the two girls, and saw Keiichi coming around the corner. "Hey, there you are! We're gonna be late!"

"Here I am? Where'd you go last night?" Keiichi asked. Dan ran over to him, and gave him a high five.

"Dude, what's up…?" Keiichi forced a grin, while trying to keep his other arm behind his back. Dan kept trying to look, while Keiichi kept turning away from him. "Keiichi, why do you have a baseball bat? I didn't know you played baseball."

"Oh, this?" Keiichi asked, as if it had just magically appeared in his hand. "I was…gonna start. I just needed to work on my swinging,"

"That sounded about as convincing as a shady salesman," Dan said.

"I am, really!" Keiichi said.

"Dude, relax! I was just giving you a hard time." Keiichi laughed weakly, and nodded. "I can help you after school if you'd like."

"O…okay," Keiichi said.

"I've got a lot to talk about with Keiichi today…" Dan thought to himself.

***

"I think the teacher likes the fact that I'm sleeping better…" Dan said, after the rest of the class had left.

"I think you're right…" Mion said, still rather shocked that Dan had stayed awake and alert the entire time. "What are you doing differently?"

"I'll talk about it with you later…" Dan said, eyeing Keiichi, who was still off in his own little world. It was painfully obvious that something was on his mind, and it was bugging the hell out of him.

"I understand," Mion said, looking a bit disappointed.

"I've had enough of school for the day! It's time for some games!" Rena shouted. Satoko and Rika cheered as well, as they began rummaging through the game closet.

"…I think I'm going to skip out today, I've got to work on my swing for a bit," Keiichi said, weakly. Dan got up from his seat, and headed over to the door.

"I'll head out with him for a few minutes, and then I'll be right back." The girls looked a bit concerned, but didn't do anything unusual. Dan grabbed Keiichi by the arm, and hurried him outside.

"Hey Dan! What's the matter?" Keiichi asked.

"I'm going to be painfully blunt – why are you so uppity today? Something's on your mind, and it's obvious you didn't want to discuss it with the rest of us. What's wrong?" Keiichi breathed out a heavy sight, and ran through the events of the previous night. The more Dan heard, the more shocked he looked.

"I don't know what's going on myself, but I want to be sure that I can defend myself if I need to."

"Dude, not to bust your bubble, but a baseball bat is a bit extreme. It begs the question, why the sudden urge to 'pick up' baseball? Sounds a bit fishy to me…"

"Why's that?"

"Unless you've spoken with a coach, I doubt you could get on a team. Baseball season's been going for a few weeks now; tryouts are pretty much out of the question as well."

"Well, what do you suggest that I do then?" Keiichi asked.

"I'll handle it." Dan reached in his pocket, and pulled out a pager. "Take this."

"A pager? How's this gonna help?"

"Just press that button – it will send a message to me instantly, & I'll be there within a minute if anything comes up, okay?" Keiichi looked a bit puzzled.

"How's this going to help in a real emergency? It only takes one second to kill someone with a gun…"

"Look, d'ya want my help, or not?"

"…If you say so, I'll trust you." Dan nodded, and grinned. "Now, about yesterday - where were you last night?" Dan quickly ran through what he had gone through with the girls the other day, and his reasoning for his decision.

"Geez, sounds like you've got enough problems yourself…. Is that the only time you've seen those guys?"

"Yeah it is. If they've been around before, I haven't noticed them until then," Dan said. "I wonder why the girls got all bent on you about talking to that Oishi guy? It seems a bit nutty to me."

"You're telling me…I'm the one who's had to deal with it."

"Well, like I said, if you need a hand with something, I'll do what I can to take care of it. I'm sorry that it seems to be getting worse, though. I'll give it one more go, and if that doesn't work, I'll talk to the principal or the police – or both."

"Okay, thanks Dan," Keiichi said, putting on a weak, but sincere smile.

"Now give me that bat, before I beat you with it."

"That's not funny."

Keiichi walked home alone that afternoon, feeling a bit better since he had a talk with Dan. The gaming session, which he had skipped for the past few days, was awkward and uncomfortable. It felt like everyone was against him except Dan, who tried reasoning with the girls every chance he got. It was nice that he had a friend in him, but now that Dan had decided to move in with Rika and Satoko, he was alone again. He wondered what other crazy things he was going to have to deal with, at least until his parents got back.

"I wish this whole thing would just blow over, and leave me alone," he thought to himself. "That, and if things went back to the way they were before, I'd…" He cut himself short, having thought he had heard a sound of some sort behind him. He whipped around quickly, to see no one there. "Sheesh, I must be losing my…"

"What?" replied a familiar voice, with an ice-cold tone. "What did you forget?" Keiichi spun around again, to see Rena standing a few feet away from him, holding the large billhook in her hand.

"Nothing…nothing at all – I was just talking to myself," Keiichi said, backing up as Rena continued to advance.

"About what? Are you afraid of something?" Rena said, cocking her head to the side, and her eyes narrowing in on Keiichi.

"Someth…no! Not at all…I was just thinking about Dan having moved…"

"LIAR!" Rena shouted, startling the crap out of Keiichi, causing him to fall to the ground. He scrambled back, and backed up against a tree. Rena continued to advance, her kind face replaced with one of hatred. A disturbing smile spread across her face as she raised her billhook, ready to bring it down on Keiichi.

"What the hell are you doing?" Keiichi shouted.

"Finishing this, once and for all!" Rena said, and began laughing hysterically. Keiichi's mind raced, and he did the only thing he could think of – he kicked Rena in the leg, making her to lose her balance, and fall to the ground. Keiichi got up and ran for all he was worth, not bothering to look back and see if he she was following him. He kept going until he thought he had lost Rena. He looked back, and couldn't see her anywhere. He leaned up against a tree, and struggled to get his breath back.

"What the hell? Why is this happening to me?" he moaned. He stood there for a few minutes huffing and puffing. A good twenty minutes passed before he felt ready to go again. Once he determined that everything was clear, he set off at a walking pace. Having had a direct attempt on his life, at the hand of one of his 'best friends,' his mind was totally frazzled. It was all he could do to lock his mind on getting home, and locking himself into his room. These past few events that happened over the past week were really starting to eat him up inside. It was as if someone was toying with his life behind the scenes, just for the hell of it. Whatever it was, he was going to put an end to it.

"Ah, that's it! I can call up Oishi and tell him about this – why didn't I think of that sooner?" He started to pick up the pace a bit, given a new sense of drive to go off. He didn't get very far before he noticed a sort of humming coming from behind him, growing louder and louder. He turned to a white van – similar to the one Dan had dealt with the other day. "What the…it's heading right for me!" He leapt out of the way, just in time to avoid being flattened like a pancake. The van screeched to a halt, and spun around to make another round. "What's going on here?" he shouted. He looked around frantically for a place to hide, or run away to, but nothing was close enough. He reached into his pocket, and grabbed the pager. "I sure hope this works," he said, and pressed the button. It lit up for a moment, and went blank. He tried it again, but it didn't light up again. He started to panic, not knowing was wrong with it, and he didn't have a lot of time before the van would be back. "Damn piece of garbage!" he shouted, and threw it off into the distance. He turned to run again, just in time to see a large cloud of dust coming toward him. Before he even had a chance to react, someone picked him up, and he disappeared deep in the forest.

"Geez dude, you've got to be a bit more patient than that!" Dan said, placing the pager back into Keiichi's hand. "Those girls do live a good distance away from your house, ya know?"

"I'm sorry," Keiichi said, "I've just had two attempts on my life in the past half hour, and I'm not ready for anymore surprises."

"What? What happened?" Dan said, putting Keiichi back down. Keiichi quickly explained, and Dan listened intently. "Damn, that's just messed up big-time! I had no idea that Rena would do such a thing."

"What about these other guys?" Keiichi asked.

"I think these are some of the same guys I ran into the other day…you just get out of here, & I'll take care of those jokers. Just head straight until you get out of the forest, and you should be able to find your way home from there."

"Well, wait a moment – are you going to be okay?"

"I'll be fine – don't worry about me. You've got nothing to worry about – just get!" Keiichi nodded and bolted out of the forest as quickly as he could. Dan watched until he had completely vanished from sight, and let out a sigh of relief. He cracked his knuckles, and his neck to loosen up a bit. "Well, with Keiichi gone, I don't have to worry about holding back, now do I?" He jumped up into a tree, and waited a moment for the men to come by.

"Did you see where that guy went?" one of them said.

"No – it's like he just… UMPH !"

"Just like what?" The man turned to see where his friend was, just to see nothing but where they had come from. "Ed? Where'd you go?" There was a ruffling sound from up in the trees, followed by a loud cracking sound. Frightened, the man readied his rifle, and pointed in the direction of the sounds he just heard. "Freeze or I'll shoot!" For a moment, there was no noise. Worried, the man approached slowly, gun still at the ready. "Show yourself!" Suddenly, there was a thud behind the man; instinctively, he spun around, and unloaded a few rounds. Whatever he had shot twitched for a moment, and then lay motionless. He approached it, and poked it with his rifle. Upon taking a closer look, he gasped in surprise. "What? Ed?" He backed away slowly, as a sick feeling came over him. "What in the world?"

"You shouldn't be here…"

"Freeze!" The man spun around, to see no one yet again. "Where the hell…"

"What do you want? Who are you working for?"

"None of your damn business!" he shouted, shooting randomly.

"I really don't like your attitude, mister…"

"Well that's just too damn bad, buddy!" the man shouted.

"You can say that again!" He turned around, to see Dan with a wicked look on his face. The man instinctively shot a few more rounds, but missed as Dan instantly vanished from sight once again.

"Where'd you go?"

"Right here," Dan said. Several more rounds fired; the man was fuming, and was beginning to lose his focus.

"Quit moving around!"

"What's wrong? I thought you were a trained professional; can't you take out a single target?"

"Shut up!" the man erupted. "Stand still so I can shoot you!"

"Alright – go ahead and shoot me – I'm right behind you." The man turned around, and shoved the gun right into Dan's chest.

"See ya… Click , Click , Click …?"

"What's the matter? Out of bullets?" The man threw his gun down, and pulled out a knife.

"I've had enough of you!" the man said, slashing angrily at Dan.

"Oh? That's unfortunate…I'm just getting started." Dan dodged each stroke from the man, who was getting angrier and angrier by the second.

"Quit fucking with me!" he shouted.

"You should have thought about the consequences for your actions earlier. I don't take too kindly to people like you." Dan slid about ten feet back, and began stretching, as if he were getting ready to work out. "You must be new to this whole henchman thing, or something…when are you going to get serious?"

"That's it! You're dead meat!" The man roared, lunging at Dan. Dan smiled, simply sidestepped as the man narrowly missed. Dan grabbed the man's arm, sharply slammed his fist into his gut, spun the man around, and landed a kick into the man's back. The man lay on the ground, sprawling in pain, barely able to breathe. Dan stripped the man, and tied him up with his pants. He tossed the man near his dead partner, and threw his knife inches away from his crotch, up to the hilt in the ground.

"Now," Dan said, walking toward the man slowly, "I'm only going to ask you once – what do you want?" The man laughed, and looked at Dan.

"It wouldn't matter even if I told you…you'll never be able to stop us all."

"Why are you people always so cocky? I'll never understand…" Dan pulled out his cell phone, and called the police. "I hope Keiichi got home alright," he thought to himself. As the call was connecting, Dan heard something in the distance, getting slowly closer. He shook his head, and let out a sigh. "It's going to be one of those days, isn't it?" Dan vanished from sight, and took cover. In seconds, a large group of soldiers appeared, which came charging into the opening of the forest where Dan and the other men had fought moments ago.

"Freeze!" the soldier shouted. "Huh? Where'd he go?"

"Déjà vu, eh?" Dan thought to himself. "It looks like there's about ten of them; this shouldn't take too long…" Dan leapt down from where he was hiding, and began to brawl with them.

"Hey! Here he – ARGH!" the man was cut short as Dan landed a kick straight into his chin, sending him flying headlong into a tree.

"Stop him!" The men opened fire on Dan, who dodged effortlessly. He weaved in and out of sight for a moment, and then appeared directly behind another guy. He jumped up, grabbed a tree branch, wrapped his legs around the man's neck, and quickly twisted, snapping it like a twig. The man dropped to the ground, and Dan vanished again.

"Come on men, he's only a kid – this shouldn't be…GRK!"

"SIR!" The other men gazed in horror, as they watched the commander's head slide right off, and roll to the ground. "What the…AH!" Another soldier flew headlong into a tree, propelled by a knife, which lodged itself into the tree, right through his back.

"That's it! I'm out of here!" The other men began to run, but began dropping like flies as single shots were fired from varying locations in the forest, until all the men were dead. The remaining officer sat there in horror, was completely awe struck; trying to figure out how a single boy had done all that damage left his mind completely fried.

"What the hell is he?" he said, as he watched Dan stroll off casually.

"The next time I see you, you'll end up like them; understand?" With that, Dan vanished from sight.

***

Keiichi sat panting in his room, trying to catch his breath. His mind was racing, wondering if his friend was all right; having heard multiple gunshots, and screaming while making his escape made him feel terribly uncomfortable. He felt fortunate to have gotten away unharmed, but now he was worried about Dan. Everything happened so quickly that he didn't have any time to think about what was happening. The weather was beginning to act like everything else in his life up to this point – unpredictable and chaotic. It looked like a storm was coming in, and it wasn't going to be a quick one.

"I don't know how I'm even going to face going to school in the morning," he thought to himself. "There's no way I can trust Rena anymore, and I don't even know about what the other girls are capable of! This whole situation is just going straight to hell…" The phone began to ring, which caught Keiichi off guard. He scrambled across the room to answer it. "H-h-hh-hello?"

"Keiichi, this is officer Kuraudo – are you alright?"

"Well, I am now! If it wasn't for Dan, I'm not sure if I would be…"

"What? Were you with Dan?"

"…yeah, I was for the last little bit. That's because I called him – how'd you know?" Keiichi asked.

"He called the department, but didn't answer when we picked up. We finished tracing his phone call just a moment ago. That's when I decided to call you, to see if everything was okay."

"What? Do you know if he's okay?"

"Huh? Isn't he there with you?" Oishi asked.

"He decided that he was going to move out, and live with Satoko and Rika."

"When did he decide to do that?

"Yesterday," Keiichi said. "I guess they had a run in with the same group of people I did a while ago."

"What do you mean?" Keiichi explained the situation to Oishi, how Rena had made the attempt on his life. He also explained how he had happened to run into the strange group of men.

"You are one unlucky kid," Oishi said. "I'm sorry for getting you involved in this mess. We should all be able to rest a lot easier once this is all over. I'll make sure of that."

"Thanks," Keiichi said, wiping his forehead off. "OH! The other day, Rena and Mion came by; they were acting incredibly strange, bordering on hostile."

"How do you mean?"

"They asked me how my day had been. I figured it wouldn't be good to tell them that I had met with you, so I told them I stayed home. Somehow, they knew that I had met with you, even though they were at school all day.

"They brought a meal over for me, and left. After I took a bite of one of them, I found a needle inside it!"

"What? Are you certain?"

"I swear on my life!"

"Do you still have that? We can use that as evidence!"

"I think so, I'll be right back!" Keiichi bolted downstairs, and scrambled through the kitchen. To his dismay, however, the kitchen was immaculately clean, with no sign of the needle. His face suddenly went completely white, and it felt like someone had dropped a bomb in his gut. Returning upstairs at about half the speed he had come down, he picked up the phone, and groaned out that it was gone.

"Damn, what happened to it?"

"That's what I'm worried about – I don't know. My parents are still gone until this weekend, and I was gone with you for most of the day. I know that I didn't throw it out; someone else must have…"

"Really? Are you sure? Dan might have stopped by; did you ask him?"

"No, I didn't think to ask him. I'm not sure who else could have gotten in and done it, there weren't any signs of a break in, either."

"Well, if anything happens, be sure to let me know, I'll be over to help as quickly as possible."

"I'll be sure to remember that if anything…" The doorbell rang suddenly. Keiichi looked outside his window to see who was there. He couldn't see clearly who it was from his room. "Is that Dan?"

"Keiichi? Everything okay?"

"I think so; it looks like someone's at the door. I'll call you right back if something happens."

"Alright." Keiichi hung up, and hurried down to answer the door. He left the chain engaged, and slowly opened the door. It flung open to the chains limit, which startled him, making him leap back a few steps, and cautiously looked outside.

"Keiichi? Can I come in?"

"Rena? What are you doing here?" Keiichi said while resisting the urge to slam the door closed again.

"I came by to apologize for earlier today, and I made you something for dinner." Keiichi stood his ground, struggling to figure out what was really going on. Deep down he wanted to believe that his friend was out there, and that she really cared about him enough to bring him a meal. However, due to recent events, he wasn't completely sure what to expect from anyone, especially Rena. "Can I come in…or is something wrong?" The all too familiar look that had been striking fear into Keiichi's heart spread across Rena's face once again.

"I actually just ate thanks."

"You could save it for later on tonight, you know, when you decide to call officer Kuraudo again." Keiichi panicked, and froze instantly.

"How could she know that I was just talking to him?" he screamed in his mind. "I really think that I'll pass on that, if you don't mind…"

"Open the door, Keiichi…" Rena said, staring him down through the crack. When he didn't move, she reached inside, and started feeling around to unlock the door. Keiichi grabbed the doorknob, and slammed the door shut, smashing Rena's fingers in the process.

"GO AWAY!" Keiichi shouted, pulling for all he was worth.

"Keiichi! You're hurting me! Please stop!" Rena begged. It seemed that the sudden infliction of pain caused Rena to come back to her cheery old self, but her actions definitely didn't show it. They both struggled for a good thirty seconds, until Rena was finally able to pull her hands out of the door, which slammed the instant she was free. Keiichi relocked everything he could, and ran back upstairs, where he felt it was safe. He instantly picked up the phone, and re-dialed Oishi's number.

"…"

"…"

"…hello?"

"Officer! Rena just came by, and something was really wrong with her!"

"What? What happened? Do you need someone sent over?"

"I don't think so; I just wanted to call and let you know what happened…" Keiichi paused for a moment, and looked out the window. It was now raining outside, and Rena was standing right where Keiichi could see her. She was staring right at him, and saying something, repeatedly. "It looks like she's saying something."

"What is she saying? Can you tell?" It took him a while, but eventually it clicked.

"…I'm sorry." Keiichi backed up out of sight, and finished his conversation with Oishi. He crept into bed, and tried to get to sleep.

Meanwhile, Rena was still standing outside, staring up at Keiichi's window. From nowhere, Dan started strolling down the road, holding an umbrella. It took a while for Rena to notice that he had come along.

"Where the hell did this rain come from? It was…Rena? Is that you?"

"…Huh?" Rena said, snapping back to normal. "What are you doing here, Dan?"

"What am I doing here? A better question is, what are YOU doing here outside in the rain; you're soaked! What's going on?"

"I came by to bring Keiichi something for dinner, and the next thing I knew, he slammed the door! I don't know if he realized my hands were in the door when he slammed it; I was barely able to get them out without causing any major damage."

"What? That's crazy!" Dan said, while looking at Rena's hands. "I didn't think he'd do something like that…" Dan thought. "Come to think of it, what was she doing with her hands in the door in the first place?"

"I don't know, but he really scared me," Rena said. "I was just trying to do something nice for him, since it looked like he's been really high strung lately."

"That's true; but that's no excuse for how he acted toward you." He frowned, and looked up at Keiichi's window. "It seems that a lot of strange things are happening lately." Rena looked a bit puzzled, so Dan explained what they had been through on the way home, how the soldiers appeared out of nowhere, and how they had nearly killed Keiichi. Rena looked completely horrified, unable to respond at all. Dan realized that it seemed a bit too much to dump on someone all at one time. "Are you alright?"

"…Are you serious? That's absolutely crazy!"

"You're telling me! I can hardly believe this stuff is happening, too! Plus, this is the second time it happened…you remember I explained that the other day, right?" Rena nodded weakly; it looked like the rain and the cold were starting to get to her. "Geez, I'm a total moron! Let's get you back home, and out of this crappy weather."

They started walking back to Rena's house. They hadn't gotten that far when Rena began to falter with each step she took; moments later, she fell to the ground. Dan stopped, and caught her.

"Rena? What's the matter?"

"I'm just a little tired, that's all…" Dan shook his head, and checked her temperature.

"Geez! You're burning up! I've got to get you back home quick!" Rena didn't respond; her eyes closed, and her breathing became shallower. "Hey, are you okay?" He shook his head, and mentally kicked himself in the pants. "That was a stupid question, now wasn't it?" Dan picked her up, and ran off for her house.

By the time that they got to Rena's house, it was pitch black. Her dad's car was gone, and there was no sign of life in the house. Rena was still out cold, and getting worse by the minute.

"What the hell were you doing standing out in the rain without anything to keep you dry?" Dan groaned to himself. "I just keep getting more and more confused with this bunch of kids…" Dan carried her up to her room, and laid her on her bed, then wandered over to the bathroom to look for a towel, and a first aid kit. He fumbled around for a few minutes, since he wasn't too familiar with her home. Eventually, he found everything he thought he needed, and went back to her room. She was still out, and breathing deeply. Dan began drying her off, and looked at her hands; several layers of skin had been ripped away, but the bleeding had slowed considerably.

"This looks wonderful…" Dan said. He began to attend to her injuries, though he couldn't help but stare at her face the entire time. Something was seriously wrong with this whole situation, and it just wasn't clicking for him. "This whole thing is strange; first they hate me, now they hate Keiichi! I can't say I noticed him doing anything to warrant this drastic of a change in attitude."

It didn't take too long to finish up with her hands. Dan checked her temperature again; she was still rather hot. Her clothes were still completely soaked. Suddenly Dan felt as if a jolt of electricity shot through him. "Oh, this is just great…just what I wanted to deal with today." He shook his head, and groaned for a few minutes before coming to terms with what he had to do. "I've gotta get her out of those wet clothes, or she'll just get worse…" He walked over to Rena's dresser, and got some fresh clothes out. He looked at the clothes, and then he looked over at Rena. "I sure hope you're completely out…"

"…Where am I?" Rena asked, getting up from bed. "When did I get home?" She got up cautiously, and started looking around the room. Nothing looked suspicious, but the element of doubt was still there. As she continued to search the house, she noticed there was a pleasant smell coming from downstairs. She walked down, and found a simple meal spread on the table. She looked around to see who had prepared it. There was a dull roar coming from the living room. "What the…?" She rounded the corner, and saw Dan lying on the couch, fast asleep.

"Dan?" Rena asked, "Why is he…" She stopped as the previous day's events came back to her. She flushed red, and looked at her hands. "He…he completely took care of…" She sat down on the couch, and started running her hands through his hair. "What am I going to do with you, Dan?" She paused, and put her hand on his forehead. "You're burning up!"

"Huh?" Dan groaned, waking up.

"You're sick! When did…?"

"…It's nothing. I just needed to lie down for a few minutes; don't worry about me." Dan got up off the couch, and began staggering toward the front door.

"I don't think you should be moving around so much right now!" Rena said, trying to get him sit back down.

"Yo, don't worry about it, I'll be fine." He gave a weak smile, as he leaned against the wall. "Now, go ahead and eat your breakfast."

"Are you sure you're alright?" Rena asked, still looking rather worried.

"No worries, this is nothing, honestly. I'll be over this in a little bit. I don't get sick often."

"What about when you do actually get sick?"

"I wouldn't be able to stand. Now, quit fussing about me, I'll be fine, you can count on that." Rena gave him a strange look, but did as he asked. Dan stood still the entire time, looking as if he had all the life sucked out of him. Rena watched him carefully, making sure that he was all right. Nothing changed the entire time she was eating, and after finishing, she walked up to the door, and he snapped right to attention, opened the door, and headed on their way to school. They got to the usual meeting spot where the others were already waiting. Everyone gasped from shock, one for Rena and Dan walking to school together once again; the fact that Dan looked like he was one of the walking dead didn't help the situation.

"Geez, it's like you two are already married! You two have a 'rough' night?" Mion asked. Dan's facial expression didn't change, but Rena started chasing Mion around, screaming obscenities, and making a scene.

"Are you alright?" Rika asked, "We were really worried when you didn't come home last night."

"It's a long story, and I don't feel like getting into it right now. I do apologize for making you worry, though. It was something that couldn't be helped."

"I see," she said, looking a little bit relieved.

"Where's Keiichi?" Dan asked. The girls all froze, and stopped what they were doing.

"Why do you want to know about him?" Rena asked, giving him an ice-cold look. Dan took notice this time, but stood his ground.

"Why not? He is my friend, and from what I could tell the other day, he was having a REALLY bad day."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Well, he did have multiple attempts on his life in just one day might have something to do with it. (I would know…)" Dan said, looking away shamefully.

"You don't need to worry about him; you have all of us to look out for you now." Dan felt his heart drop to into his stomach.

"…What? What are you…?"

"Don't worry about it, Dan. After today he won't even be an afterthought." Dan lost all the strength he had, and fell to his knees, barely staying upright.

"Are you alright?" Mion asked.

"How could I be? Do you even hear yourself?" Dan asked, struggling to get back up to his feet. "It makes me wonder if all of YOU are alright."

"What are you saying, Dan?" Mion asked, giving him a strange look.

"I'm saying that comment, and the way you're all acting is wigging me out a bit - that's what I'm saying. You understand, right?"

"We understand perfectly what you're saying. Now it's your turn to understand something – we've picked you over Keiichi because he couldn't keep his nose out of other people's business. After tonight, that's not going to matter anymore." Dan froze, and went white as a sheet. It was exactly what Keiichi had been warning him about all this time, and he was just too stubborn to admit that he was right. "What are you going to do, Dan? Are you going to choose us, or Keiichi? The choice is up to you, but you're going to have to stick with it; there'll be no turning back."

"Why does it have to come down to this?" Dan cried. "What did he ever do to hurt any of you? Can you at least tell me that?" No one said anything, completely ignoring him. It was hard for Dan to imagine that these sweet girls had such a dark side, and actually wanted to kill Keiichi. He knew that he couldn't let this happen, but he had no idea how he was going to stop it.

"Is everything alright here?" a voice asked, which caught everyone's attention instantly. It was Oishi, wearing a casual smile. The girls froze, and put on a neutral face, while Dan was still struggling for energy.

"Well," the girls started.

"...It's nothing," Dan said, "I'm just feeling a bit under the weather, and I fell down."

"Are you sure everything is okay?" Oishi asked, not looking completely convinced.

"Yeah, I'll be just fine. I stayed outside in the rain too long yesterday helping a friend, and I guess I got sick instead. Obviously, it's really starting to get to me."

"Do you need to go to the doctor? You can hop in and I'll take you over to Dr. Irie's clinic."

"No, I think I'll be alright. I'll just be sure to get plenty of rest tonight."

"Okay, if you're completely sure…" Oishi said, just to make sure.

"No worries – it'll be okay. I do appreciate your offer, though. See you around, okay?" Oishi nodded, and drove off slowly. Everyone stood still until he had vanished from sight. Dan started to head toward the school, and the girls stood there in amazement for a few moments before snapping back into reality.

"Dan! Wait up a minute," Mion called. He stopped and looked back at them with tear-stained eyes, but he had a smile on his face. "What's wrong?" Dan paused for a moment, and walked back to them.

"I care about ALL of my friends, no matter what they've done, or what anyone else THINKS that they've done – I don't really care. You been like my family since I've come over here, and I don't want anything to happen to any of you." They didn't say anything, staring shamefully at the ground. Dan put his hand on Rena & Mion's shoulders. "Y'all've got nothing to worry about, especially if you haven't done anything wrong. Even if you did, like I said – it's none of my business, and I don't intend to make it my business. I just want you to leave Keiichi alone, and I'll never ask you for anything ever again." The girls gave him a suspicious look. Dan frowned, went down on his knees, and started begging. "I'll do anything you want, if you just do this one thing for me. Please?"

"Do you mean that? You'll do anything?" Mion asked.

"Of course – have you ever known me to go back on my word?" Dan asked.

"That's true, I can't remember a time you've lied to me, or any of us, for that matter." The girls huddled together, and discussed the matter for a few minutes. Dan sat there and waited while they discussed his friend's fate, wondering exactly what they were saying. Eventually, it looked like they had reached a conclusion, and they turned to face Dan.

"Well, I suppose we can let it go, if he's willing to drop it all as well," Mion said.

"I agree…" Rena said. Rika and Satoko smiled, and nodded in agreement as well.

"You will?" Dan said, completely shocked. He picked everyone up, and gave them a big hug, spun around, which caught them all off guard. "Thank you so much!" Suddenly, he was reminded of just how ill he was when all his energy left him, and he fell down. Everyone landed with a thud, and got up slowly.

"What was that all about?" Satoko asked. "Get up, clumsy!" Dan didn't move, and his breath was terribly shallow. "What's the matter with you, Dan? Are you okay?" Rena quickly got down, and felt his forehead. "Oh no! I knew he should have stayed home today! We've got to get him some help quick!" Everyone grabbed one of his limbs, and began carrying him to the clinic.

When they got there, they all but dropped him on the couch in the receptionists' office.

"Good heavens! What happened to him?" the nurse asked.

"He suddenly collapsed on the way to school. I think it might have something to do with the fact that he stayed out in the rain last night a bit too long," Rena said.

"How long has he been like this, then?"

"He was pretty sluggish this morning. My guess is that he's been getting worse ever since, but he said that he was okay." The nurse shook her head, and began gathering equipment to do tests. "You all better get to school; I'll let you know how he is later." The girls agreed, and left for class.

***

They walked in, they saw that Keiichi was sitting in the back corner of the room, looking as if he had completely zoned out. His face was completely pale, and the girls hardly recognized him. Mion walked over to him and put her hand on his shoulder. He jolted, nearly falling out of his chair, and then backed up against the wall.

"What do you want?" he shouted. Mion recoiled, and gave him a worried look.

"I just wanted to see how you were doing, that's all."

"Really? Is that so?" he said, getting up from his chair. "I don't believe you, and quite frankly, I've had enough of all of you!"

"What are you talking about?" Mion asked.

"Don't play innocent with me, I know about you and your past, and looking at how things are now, it all makes sense." Mion took a few steps back, looking seriously offended.

"What are you saying Keiichi? What's the matter with you?

"You remember the time when you…" He was cut short as Rena slapped him in the face. He was shocked, but not all that surprised.

"You JERK! We came to here to apologize because Dan asked us to, and this is how you act?"

"Dan asked you to?" Keiichi asked.

"Yes, because he thinks of you as one of his friends."

"Where is he now?" Keiichi asked.

"He's at the clinic because he got sick taking care of me all last night. Thanks to him, I'm okay, but he isn't." Keiichi couldn't think of anything to say to that. The constant changing of moods from this sweet and innocent group of girls, to that of a twisted type of serial killer, kept him so far gone from reality that he could find a handle to grab.

"…How bad is he?"

"I don't know, but we ought to know by the end of school today. I just thought you should know that."

The girls sat down, and completely ignored him for the entire day, communicating only when necessary. The whole class felt completely down in spirits from the bad moods radiating from the group. For Keiichi, it seemed like the longest day of his life. It was like a bad mix between the feelings that come from anticipation on Christmas morning, and that of a prisoner having his name announced to be the next in line for the electric chair. Rena and Mion were thinking along the same line, but more particularly, about what they were going to do with Keiichi. They both knew what Dan had asked of them, but they knew that things would be so much better without having Keiichi around to screw up their lives. One less thorn in their side would be a welcome treat indeed, but getting him out of the way without Dan knowing would be impossible. They knew that he had some idea of what they were planning, and that any mishap that came on Keiichi would send up red flags instantly. They would have to make it appear to have been some sort of accident, extremely convincing at that.

"How should we do this?" Rena whispered. "Tonight might be the only time to do it, seeing as we wouldn't have to worry about Dan finding out right away. He might not be out of the clinic for a day or two. That's plenty of time for us to come up with something."

"I agree," Mion said. "We should talk about this later, though. I've already got something in mind, so I'll fill you in on it later." They both nodded, and went on with their studies.

***

Keiichi walked home alone that day, like it had been for the past couple of days. The nurse didn't have any good news to share on Dan's condition.

"…He isn't doing so great, kids. From what I can tell, pneumonia has already set in. It also looks like he's been under a high level of stress, probably due to the fact that he hasn't had a good night's rest for the past week."

"Is he going to be okay?" Keiichi asked.

"If he gets some rest, and remembers to take this medication twice a day, he should pull out of it in about a week."

Keiichi continued down the dusty road, a bit quicker than that of a snail pace, not knowing what to expect when he got home. The girls hadn't spoken to him at all, his parents were gone for a few more days, and he'd be alone again. Things didn't look promising, and it seemed as if it would be a week before he had a real friend again.

"Damn it, this is bad," he groaned to himself. "I'd better lay low for a bit, and try to be a bit kinder to the girls. Maybe they'd stop coming down on me so hard if I take the initiative. I just a night to regroup, that's all."

When he arrived at home, he locked everything down instinctively, and wandered up to his room. He dumped his books on his bed, and started reading. As he was reading, he felt an icy cold feeling run down his spine, which startled him half to death. He spun around, just to see nothing but his own room.

"I have a really bad feeling about today for some reason…"

Meanwhile, back at Rika and Satoko's house, Dan was trying to sleep in the front room on the couch, while the other two girls were making dinner. He was in and out of reality, and felt like crap. Rika walked in, and checked up on his condition.

"Do you feel up to having anything?"

"Not really, but I probably should anyway…" She smiled, walked back into the kitchen, and got a bowl of soup for him. He sat up, and gave a weak smile of his own.

"I'm really sorry for all of this. I didn't mean to get sick, and have to have two to take care of me like this."

"Don't be silly, we don't mind at all," Rika said, sitting down next to him. "You just need to hurry up and get better. We just don't want to lose you," Rika said, staring off into the distance.

"What are you talking about? This is nothing! I'll be just … COUGH !"

"I'm so convinced…" Rika said, rolling her eyes. "Just don't push yourself too hard for the next little bit, the nurse said that it'll be bad for your health." Dan simply nodded, and decided to just admit defeat. They sat there for a while, not saying anything to each other.

RING RING RING

"I'll get that. Wait right here – I'll be right back," Rika said, snapping back into reality. Dan nodded, and started eating his soup.

"Hello?"

"Rika, is Dan there?" asked a familiar voice.

"Yes, he is, just…"

"You don't need to get him; I just wanted to make sure he was there."

"Who is this?" Rika asked, getting a bit irritated.

"It's Mion. Like I said, I was just calling to see if he was there, and if he was all right. I think Rena and I will drop by in an hour to see how he's doing. Sound good?"

"Yeah, that's great! I'll see you in an hour." Rika walked back over to the couch and sat down next to Dan.

"Who was that?"

"It was Mion. She was calling to let us know she plans to drop by in about an hour to see how you're doing."

"Really? That's nice of her – is Rena dropping by, too?"

"Yes." Dan smiled, and continued with his meal. He waited until Rika had left the room, and made sure that both girls could no longer see him. He frowned, and stared out the window.

"What are they up to?" he thought to himself. "They don't live that far away… it shouldn't take them an hour to get here. Something sounds weird about this…" Dan felt a chill run down his spine, and knew that something wasn't right. "They never did agree to call off 'taking care' of Keiichi, did they? I've gotta bust out of here, and check on him!" He got up, and snuck out of the house quietly, then broke into a dead run.

"…So Dan, how was…?" Rika gasped, and dropped what she was doing.

"What's the matter Rika?" Satoko asked.

"Dan's not here! He was just a moment ago, and now he's not!"

"What?"

Meanwhile, back at Keiichi's house, he was lying in his bedroom thinking about the day; he was wondering if his life would ever return to normal. Right now, he wasn't looking forward to any type of visitors – he just wanted to be left alone.

"I don't know what those girls problem is lately, but I could really do without their crap for the rest of my life. No one goes through these kinds of things normally…I wonder why I'm so special now?"

He turned and looked at the phone, which remained lifeless.

"I wonder if Oishi was able to figure anything else out? I sure hope he does. I'm getting tired of living like this." Keiichi paused his ranting for a moment, and listened in closely. It sounded like a door had opened, and shut quietly, but he wasn't sure. He got up to check what the noise was, got to the door, and was completely shocked. There, in his doorway stood Rena and Mion, smiling like a pair of Cheshire cats. He almost fell flat on his back as the two girls walked in, continuing to smile, and stare right into his soul.

"W-w-w-what are you doing here?"

"Now, is that any way to talk to your friends?" Mion asked, trying to keep her hands behind her back.

"We just wanted to make sure you were doing alright," Rena added.

"Then why didn't you let me know you were coming? For that matter, how did you get in? I locked all the doors and…"

"Do you really think that would stop us from getting in Kei-kun? Really now, don't be so stupid." Keiichi looked scared out of his mind, while he continued to back up, trying to get away from his 'friends.' He fell backwards, and landed with a thud. He tried to get back up, but Rena lunged at him, and held him securely down to the ground. Mion pulled out a syringe, popped the cap off, and gave it a test squeeze.

"What the hell is that?" he shouted.

"Isn't it obvious, Kei-kun? You remember the meal we made for you the other day? That was a subtle hint; now you get the real thing. Now stop being such a baby and take this like a man – it'll all be over soon." Keiichi was way past the point of panicking; it was time to start kicking into survival mode. Right now, he had very few options, and he wasn't keen on choosing to die. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted the baseball bat, and without a second thought, he picked it up, and swung for all he was worth.

What happened next happened to quickly for anyone to really notice exactly what happened. In an instant, only visible as a blur of light, the syringe and baseball bat were snatched effortlessly out their respective owners hands. As if everyone wasn't bewildered enough, they now saw Dan panting on the other side of the room; he was barely supporting his own weight on the baseball bat, and white as a sheet. It wasn't a pretty sight to see, but the would-be murderers were still stuck in a daze, forgetting temporarily what they were doing.

"…Dan? What are you doing here?"

"What am I doing? I should be asking you that. What the hell is going on?" The two girls looked at each other shamefully, while Keiichi was still completely dazed. "I don't understand why…" Dan quit speaking for a moment, and began coughing out of control.

"Are you alright?"

"…yeah COUGH, I'm fine. I'm just a bit winded, that's all." He turned and looked at Keiichi, and asked, "Are you alright?"

"I've been better, I'd have to say!"

"That's nice to know…" Dan said. "Can't say I blame him," he thought to himself.

"What's going on? I thought you were sick?" Mion asked.

"I AM sick, in more ways than one. I've gotta say, this is ridiculous! I can't even lie down and try to get better without having to worry about some SHIT like this happening! The whole reason I leave… COUGH COUGH COUGH …is to get away from things like this. Now here it is, happening all over again! Why do people think can solve problems with murder? It makes no sense to me, whatsoever."

"Dan, I…"

"No! You two need to stop and take a chill pill! I've ignored this as long as I can, but I can't anymore. This stops now, do you understand? I can't take anymore of this, and I know Keiichi's nerves are shot to pieces, to say the least! I thought all of us were friends, aren't we? I mean…" Dan stopped, and dropped to the floor, holding his chest tightly.

"What's wrong?"

"It's nothing to worry about, just…wait a minute – shh."

"What's…?"

"SHH!" Dan said, putting his finger to his lips. There was total silence for about ten seconds, then Dan's eyes widened.

"What's the matter? Will you just tell me what's going on?" Keiichi asked.

"Will you just SHUT UP? Everyone needs to get down slowly, I'll kill the lights, and most importantly, everyone needs to BE QUIET!"

"Why?" Rena asked.

"Just get down! We don't have much time before they notice that we've noticed them."

"Who noticed…?"

"Damn it! I told you to be quiet! We'll all be dead if you don't!" The three of them were slightly irritated, but they did as they were told. They waited a moment, and continued to listen, not hearing a sound. Dan got up slowly, moved to the door, and opened it slowly. "Everyone, get down to the kitchen, stay there for about two minutes, and head over at Rika and Satoko's place, alright?"

"But what about you?" Mion asked.

"I'll meet you there."

"You can't! You're barely able to stand right now – how are you going to make it all the way over there?"

"I made it here, didn't I? I'll be fine – you just make sure to call Oishi when you get there, and he'll take care of the rest. That ought to clear any suspicion he has of either of you two."

"But didn't you just…?"

"I told you that I don't really care about anyone's past – just as long as they move on away from it. You'll always be my friends, okay? Now stop worrying, and get going!" Mion smiled, and shook her head.

"You really are a strange guy, Dan. I hope that doesn't come back to hurt you in the end."

"I can deal with it, that's just part of life – we make mistakes, and move on. I've made it out of everything I've gotten into so far." Both of the girls gave Dan a big hug, and a peck the cheek.

"Don't die, okay?" Mion said.

"Hey, this isn't a good-bye, you know? I'll be just fine." Everyone nodded, in agreement, and took their positions. Dan smiled, and turned away. "I've got no idea how I'm going to get myself out of this one." Dan knew that he wasn't going to have an easy time saving everyone.

The situation was bleak – Dan barely had any strength left, using most of it from darting from Rika's to Keiichi's place so quickly, all on virtually an 'empty' tank. Dan checked his pockets for weapons, and frowned. All he had was two knives, one 9mm, and two spare clips.

"Damn, this is ridiculous. Well, if life were easy, it wouldn't be hard…" he laughed to himself, and went through another coughing fit. He looked at the door as if it were the grim reaper, waiting for him to walk with him to the other side. Dan took a deep breath, took both his knives out, and kicked the door wide open.

"Fire!" someone shouted. In seconds, the front entryway to the house was instantly shot to pieces; Dan was nowhere to be seen. A few men walked forward to examine the area.

"What the hell? Where is that little shit?" They shone their flashlights in the house, and saw no movement. As they continued to advance into the house, a pair of crimson red eyes appeared behind the men, followed by a quick flash of light. Two of the men dropped instantly, and the other turned around, who received a gun to his chin, and a single shot.

"Hey! Did you find…URK!" Another man fell to the ground, a large knife in his chest.

"Damn it! Don't let him get away!" Everyone shot as they caught a small glimpse here and there of Dan. Every few bursts of gunfire were followed by a single shot, which dropped one man. It kept up for a while, until reality caught up with Dan, and he stopped hard. He dropped to the ground, clutching his chest, coughing out of control, and coughing out blood.

"There he is! Take him out, now!" Dan rolled out of the way, but not before he received a few shots to his left arm. He cried out, and tried to get away into the forest. The whole squad followed him, leaving the house unguarded.

A few minutes later, there was total silence.

"…Is it safe to leave now?" Keiichi asked.

"I think so," Mion said, getting out from under the kitchen table. Everyone got out of their hiding places, and walked towards the open door. They walked slower as they got closer to the door, and saw the three dead men lying on the floor in a pool of blood.

"Oh my…what the hell happened?" Keiichi asked.

"It looks like Dan didn't have any problems taking these losers out," Mion said, stepping over the mess.

"How could a…Dan did…huh?" Keiichi blabbered.

"It was them or us, it I guess; Dan made sure it wasn't us. Now we've got to hold up our part of the deal, and get out of here," Mion said. They all started on their way, but stopped when they heard more gunshots. They turned to hear where they were coming from, and to get an idea of how far away they were from the action. There was silence for a moment, followed by a scream.

"Keiichi, you go on ahead, we'll make sure everything is okay," Mion said.

"What are you going to do? Dan told us to get out of here!" he insisted.

"Well, the plan's changed. You make sure YOU stay safe – it's what Dan wanted, and there's no need for you to get your hands dirty…" Mion said, looking away shamefully.

"Mion?" Keiichi asked, looking genuinely concerned. Mion smiled, and gave Keiichi a hug.

"That's the first time you've actually looked concerned for me – thank you." They let go of each other, Keiichi still a bit shocked, and they headed off in their separate directions. "We'll be fine – tell Rika and Satoko we'll be over shortly." Keiichi nodded, and went on his way.

Back in the forest, Dan was rolling around in pain as the head officer was kicking him in the gut. After he finished kicking Dan, then picked him up by his shirt collar.

"You little shit! I can't believe one kid took out my entire squadron! I'll make you pay for what you've done!" Dan croaked out a laugh.

"What I've done? If you hadn't decided to come after any of us in the first place, I wouldn't even care! I don't understand your kind at…UMPH!"

"Shut up!" the man roared. He threw him back down, and stomped on Dan's bad arm. Dan screamed out again, and the man laughed hysterically. "You all became involved the moment you all started to get too nosey!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't play stupid with me! It won't work!" Dan rolled his eyes, and turned the other way.

"If you don't want to believe me, you can just piss off – I don't care."

"What? Why you little…!" The man resumed beating Dan senseless, which didn't take too long since Dan was seconds away from passing out anyway. In a few minutes, Dan stopped moving or making any sounds at all. "Huh? You're done already? I'm not through with you yet – wake up, you piece of shit!" Dan still didn't respond, and his breathing was getting shallower by the minute. The man shrugged his shoulders, and frowned. "He really is done – what a disappointment this is turning out to be. A minute ago, he's all like some sort of superman, and now he's out cold. Guess I'll be doing him a favor by putting him out of his misery." He cocked his gun, and put it right to Dan's head. "This is goodbye, hehehe…"

Right before he pulled the trigger, he heard something off in the distance.

"Who's there?" he shouted, turning away from Dan. There was nothing there. He started to search the area, making sure the only person around him was Dan. There was a rustle in the bushes a ways off, which he immediately noticed, and walked over to them. He glared into the bushes, and saw something dark and fuzzy. "What the hell?" In about two seconds, he knew that he should have just left the noise alone, since he was covered with the most revolting scent he'd ever experienced in his life. Flailing around blindly, he tripped, and fell down flat on his back.

"You know, you shouldn't wander around all alone in the forest. You never know who you might run into…"

"What the…" the man shouted, scrambling back up to his feet. He saw Mion, giving him a devilish grin standing a few feet away from him.

"Don't worry, it'll all be over soon – you can count on it."

"What the hell are you talking…URK!" The man got the business end of Rena's billhook straight through his head. He fell over, and twitched for a moment before finally leaving this world. Satisfied that the man was dead, both Mion and Rena ran over to Dan, who was unconscious.

"Dan! Wake up!" both girls shouted.

"Is there a problem here?" an all too familiar voice called. Both girls froze, and turned to see a smiling Oishi. There were about twenty other officers with him, looking over the situation. There were dead people everywhere, and the only people left holding the bag were Mion, Rena, and Dan.

"Well, I, uh…We can explain – I think…" Rena stammered, very worried about what was going to happen.

"Don't worry about it; I have a good idea of what happened myself." Both girls prepared themselves for what they knew was coming. What they saw happen completely threw them off, however. The officers began cleaning up the area, and acted as if the two of them weren't even there. Oishi looked down at Dan, and frowned. He pulled out his cell phone, and called an ambulance. "It looks like he pushed himself too hard again."

"Huh?" Rena asked. "What do you mean?"

"It's a long story, but I think we've got a bit of time to talk about it while we get him to the hospital." The girls nodded their heads in agreement, glad that they hadn't been fingered for the mess that Dan made.

In a few minutes, the ambulance arrived, and they got Dan loaded in. The two girls got a ride in Oishi's car.

"So, what's the story on Dan?" Mion asked.

"Hmm…" Oishi said, thinking back a bit. "I don't know how much he's told you about his own life, but I know he doesn't mind people knowing about him."

"Did he do something…?"

"Yes and no," Oishi said. He got a strange look from both the girls. "It's slightly complicated, but you've got plenty of time.

"Dan was still in prison at the time, and was only about fifteen then. I came through the area where he was, as I was going to pay a visit to one of the other inmates there. On my way out, there was a power surge, and all of the inmates escaped from their cells. Many of the inmates that were in there were in there because of me, and were obviously angry with me. They backed me into a corner, intent on taking me out. There were too many of them for me to do anything about it, so I thought that I was a goner.

"From out of nowhere, Dan shows up, and takes them all on. It was shocking to see – not only did he stick up for me, when I was the one who put him in there, but he made quick work of them. I'm still not sure how or why he did that, but that wasn't the only time he's saved me."

"But why was he in prison in the first place? That, and the fact that you're Japanese – why were you in America?" Mion asked, really confused.

"The first part is the complicated part. To answer your questions, I'll explain why I was in America.

"I was on a long term business trip, mostly to learn new policies and procedures to implement when I came back. I wasn't planning to stay very long, but things changed, and I stayed over there.

"When I found Dan the night that I arrested him, I felt something was wrong about the whole situation. He certainly didn't look like the type that would do something like kill another person, but a lot of people are like that. We arrested him without a single thought that someone else was involved.

"It wasn't until the next year, when we found a murder in the same area, in the exact same style as the one Dan was accused of. We brought him in, and found out he was the perpetrator in both cases. Apparently, the person that was in the crime lab was working with the other guy, he only reported finding Dan's prints on the murder weapon.

"There wasn't anything we could do for Dan to make it up to him, other than clearing his record, and letting him go. By then, Dan had been disowned by his family, had nowhere to go, and was obviously angry about many things. He went off on his own for a while, and I didn't see him for about two to three months.

"On my way back to Japan, there was an incident at the airport. There was a hostage situation, and it wasn't looking good. It was some foreign official being held, and he had made some demands. I brought him what he had asked for, then he turned around and kept me hostage, demanding more. About five minutes later, a man walked up, and began conversing with the man. He handed him a briefcase, and as the man looked at it, he took the man down, literally THREW him across the room, and took out his accomplices. He tied them up, and let the police take care of the rest.

"Needless to say, I was completely shocked that he found me, and that he was on his way over to Japan at the exact same time I was. It was like he was following me, but not in a bad way."

The girls sat there wondering what to say for quite some time. After about five minutes of silence, they arrived at the hospital and the ER staff came out, and brought Dan right in for treatment. The two girls ran in, and followed after Dan as far as they were allowed to, then they were told they had to wait outside. They walked back to where they had to wait, and saw Oishi standing there, waiting for them.

"Do you think he'll be okay?" Rena asked

"He should be, but I'm not completely sure. We'll just have to wait and see." The girls nodded, took a seat, and waited.

Dan came to the next day, terribly sore, but he was conscious nonetheless. His vision took a minute to adjust, but when he was able to focus, he saw all of his classmates in the room with him.

"Huh?" he croaked.

"Are you alright?" the teacher asked. The rest of the students looked on, waiting for a reply. Dan smiled weakly, and answered,

"I've been better, but I've also been worse! Guess I can't complain, since I'm still here!" Everyone laughed, and started chatting with him. Rena, Mion, Rika, Satoko, and Keiichi were there as well. They were patiently waiting in the hall, until the others had all gone.

In about twenty minutes, they had their chance, and all went in to see him.

"Dan!" came the collective shout. Dan nearly fell out of his bed from the shock, but managed to stay put somehow.

"We were so worried about you when you didn't come home last night!" Satoko said, almost crying. "When Keiichi got to the house, and told us what was going on, we didn't want to believe it." Rika walked up to him, and punched him in the arm.

"Whoa! What was that for?" Dan asked.

"That's for sneaking out, and not letting us know where you were going." Dan felt quite sheepish, but he knew that that was the only way he could have stopped what was going to happen the previous night.

"I…uh…oh…" He started stumbling. She shocked him again when she gave him a big hug.

"That's for being such a good friend to all of us." Dan smiled warmly, and looked at the rest of his friends.

"I don't know where you get all that energy to keep going, but I'm glad that you can and did for us," Mion said, as she gave him a hug as well. "I'm glad we have you as a friend. I don't know what we'd do without you."

"I'm glad that I could help," Dan said, lying back down. "I must say that things got a bit crazy, but hey – what are friends for?" Keiichi walked up to Dan, and put his hand out. Dan stared at it for a moment, and then looked back at Keiichi. Dan grabbed his hand, and pulled him down for a hug, which startled Keiichi. "Glad to see you're okay, dude."

"Thanks to you; I owe you one, at least!"

"No worries, dude. I do what I can, so don't sweat it," Dan said.

"We better let you rest up a bit, you look like you could use a bit more," Rena said. Dan laughed.

"I suppose you're right." They all said their goodbyes, and left Dan to himself. Dan waited until they had all gone, then a frown spread across his face. "Unfortunately, I feel like this is far from over." Dan looked outside his window, and stared off into the distance. The sun was setting, making a beautiful sunset off in the distance. "It's always darkest, before the dawn, I suppose." In a few minutes, Dan drifted off to sleep.

End of Chapter 1

Author's Note

I originally started this before I finished watching the whole series, and I thought it was the trippiest anime I had ever seen. I hated seeing all the "game-over" endings, so I thought I'd add my own character, and have him bail them out. I'll admit that when I started this, my creativity level was too damn low, so the vast majority was a rehash of the first chapter of the show. For that, I apologize.

I have revised this severely since I originally posted this story last year, having read through it, and finding many glaring errors. I also have my own brand of humor, which apparently people didn't quite pick up on, so hence the girls ogling over Dan like a bunch of drunken sailors.

I've been working on the next chapter for quite a while, trying to make it flow better.

I'd like some feedback, honest and specific, so I can make the next chapter live up to people's expectations.

J-Bob