Chapter 1 – History Repeats Itself
April 30, 11:45 pm, a certain elevated train platform
The sound of the train's whistle was muffled by a thick fog as the heavily-delayed transport finally arrived. Due to this excessive fog, the train had been delayed for about 3 hours, much to the consternation of its passengers. As soon as the doors opened, the weary travelers, impatient and irritated, stampeded out of the cramped carriages without care nor concern for anybody but themselves. Strategically placed spotlights illuminated both the doors of the train and the platform walkway, cutting through the thick fog showing the passengers the way off the train platform. Suddenly, a young girl in her delicate teenage years, who had gotten on the train literally a station before the fog, was thrust into a spotlight, having been caught up in the surge of people exiting the car. On a normal day, it would have been easy for the young girl to maintain her coordination within the unkempt exodus, but today was far from average and she was quite fatigued. Like a chaotic pachinko ball, she was bumped aside and battered harshly by her fellow escapee train-goers, desperately holding onto her schoolbag. It was then that she felt a strong hand grab her around the shoulders and press her close. If that hand belonged to any other person (or maybe a certain jerk she knew), she would have screamed, but one look at his silver hair instantly calmed her down.
The silver hair belonged to a young man, most likely in his second or third year of high school. The girl had first encountered him as she stepped on the train and pushed towards the back. She had noticed that the boy was assisting the old lady next to him with her luggage as she exited the car. Although the old lady's seat had been quickly taken, the boy's own seat was never filled, like a sort of reward for his consideration. The girl had found a secure place to stand against one of the poles lining the middle of the cars, directly in front of the young man who had seated himself with a satisfied look on his face. It was then that the day's adventures had finally caught up with the girl. She felt her knees start to buckle and her head start to droop. She knew that this wasn't the right place to nap, but her willpower to stay awake emptied at an accelerated rate. And suddenly, it did empty, and she felt her legs finally give way. But right before she hit the floor, she felt two strong hands pick her up by the armpits like a child. Her mind raged with embarrassed thoughts of turmoil, but her body was too tired to form coherent words. Like a baby, sputtered sounds of indignation towards her savior, who simply reacted with an amused smile. Still vocally struggling against his machinations, she suddenly found herself sitting in a seat. Upon realizing that he had given up his seat to her, she closed her eyes and shriveled up in shame, hoping to find some form of security in the fetal position. She felt a warm hand upon her head, gently massaging her scalp, but being delicate enough not to fuss up her hairstyle. She opened up a tiny bit to see that the young man still wore that same smile on his face. It was a smile full of kindness, but it held both nostalgia and confidence as well. He was probably someone's big brother, and she was acting like his sister. It was then she decided that, at least for the next 15 minutes, she might as well be his little sister and let herself get pampered. It was then that they learned of the fog and the train delay, and the entire train broke into a cacophony of complaints. She cowered reflexively from the noise, but relaxed when she realized that the hand hadn't left her head. She made eye contact with "her kind, big brother" and the two shared a quiet giggle. Eventually, the passengers resigned themselves to their fates and waited with the patience Japanese were know for, but as for the girl, she drifted off to sleep, lulled by the gentle pulse of "her big brother's" hand.
And it was that same hand that drew her to him, and that same hand that protected her head from the random flailing of bags and accessories swinging about in the uncontrolled din. Now fully awake, she took a moment to absorb the features of her temporary brother. She looked up at his face and noticed that he was exceptionally tall for a Japanese boy, and had a mature-looking face, at least compared to Ikuto's. But that face was contorted with worry, she noted. He stared out ahead, his hand in front of him gripping a pair of glasses tightly. She turned to see what he was looking at, but all she could see was empty fog.
He had noticed the change in her position, and met her gaze. He smiled warmly and closed his eyes, allowing her to take in more of his features with the help of the spotlight. She disregarded his earlier empty stare and payed more attention to her barrier. The first thing she looked at was his hair, that unnatural silver shaped into a bowl cut. She examined it all the way to the root of his hair, a uniform silver throughout. He must have been like her, a person whose genetics had taken a wrong turn as her thoughts turned to her own strawberry blond hair.
By this point, the traffic had died down considerably and the boy released the girl from his protection. He reached down and grabbed a bag, one he must have dropped in order to save her. Then, after a small bit of deliberation, he met her eyes and asked, with a deep but friendly voice, "Are you OK?"
The girl nodded, still embarrassed from earlier to even talk, and now even more distraught over the close proximity they had shared. All of a sudden, her phone rang. Although she dreaded the voice on the other end, she was grateful for the chance to break eye contact with the concerned boy.
"Where have you been?" The irate male voice on the other end of the line shouted. The girl pulled the phone away from her ear and hoped the ringing would end soon.
"D-d-d-dad," she began, finally finding her voice, "The train was delayed due to fog. I couldn't help it!"
"I knew I shouldn't have let you go so far with just your friends. I knew something like this was going to happen. And why couldn't your club adviser escort you home?"
"He...he had to escort someone else home. See, I can take care of myself and so I told him he could take Yaya home and I'd just..."
"You'd just what?" her dad interrupted. "Get kidnapped? Do drugs? Meet with boys?" That last line was delivered with such a shriek, the girl thought the glass on her cell would crack. "That's it! I'm coming down there to come get you!"
"Wait, wait, Dad, the station is engulfed in fog right now, and it's a route you don't normally use," she tried to reason. "If you got lost trying to get me, we'd lose even more time trying to find you again."
"No buts, honey. Wait right there, or get the conductor or some other responsible adult to take you!" her dad commanded.
Just then, she felt a tap on her shoulder. She looked around to see that the boy was still there. She realized that her dad had been talking so loud, that he probably heard every word. He held his hand out, implying he wanted the phone. Well, he was close to being an adult, and he looked plenty responsible anyways, she thought. The boy took her offered phone, turned on the speaker, and introduced himself in a calm, confident voice, "Good evening. My name is Yu Narukami."
She began regretting her decision as her dad let out an unholy shriek, as well as an unintelligible discord of gobbledygook as visions of his worst fear appeared in his head.. Holding the phone away from his ear, the boy Yu Narukami patiently waited for his tirade to finish before beginning his introduction again.
"Hello, my name is Yu Narukami. My uncle is Detective Ryotaro Doujima."
Once again, a cacophony of unintelligible sounds came over the line. However, in addition to the repeat performance of Dad's worst fear, an excited squawking eventually overpowered the man.
"Did you say Ryotaro Doujima?" the new voice confirmed. The girl recognized that name. Detective Dojima had been credited with solving the serial murder case in Inaba recently. Her mother, an editor for Housewives' Knowledge, had been following the case religiously, even after the rate of killings had died down.
"Yes, ma'am," Yu answered. After a moment's hesitation, he continued, "I've had the pleasure of making your daughter's acquaintance tonight and overheard your predicament. I'll be walking that way myself and will happily escort her home for you."
"No way, no how am I letting my little girl go with some strange boy she met on a late train!" her father yelled in the background
"I'm sorry Narukami-san," her mom apologized, "but for now I have to agree with my husband. I can't simply just let her go home with a stranger."
The girl's face fell as she heard this. Even so, she decided to make the mental preparations to not only wait all alone in a foggy train station, but to find her father when he inevitably got lost. She sank down into a nearby bench seat, a scowl masking her face.
Just then, she heard Yu make a strange clicking sound with his mouth. She looked up to see Yu make his reassuring smile once more, as if he still had a card to play.
"Ma'am, if you like, I can give you my uncle's phone number." Yu rattled off a practiced pattern of numbers. "He mentioned he would wait up for a response from me when my train arrived here, so I assume he's still awake. If you catch him, I'm sure he can vouch for my character."
"Well," her mom drawled out, her resistance weakening, "I guess I can trust the word of the detective himself...but I'd hate to impose on him so late."
Yu's eyes flashed, to the girl's surprise. "Uncle stays up nights due to his detective work, but he doesn't do so well late in the day," he began. The girl screamed in her head: Why are you making your case worse?
"I find when its late at night is the time he's most willing to talk about things, especially work. If he's drowsy, he tends to go over details not mentioned in official police reports and some-such..." he trailed off.
"Narukami-kun," her mom cut in rapidly and changing her honorific, "I'll deal with her father. Please bring my daughter home safely." There was a click, and then a monotonous dial tone before Yu turned off the girl's phone.
As the girl stood there flabbergasted as what just happened, Yu readjusted his bag on his shoulder and handed the phone back. The girl took it from his hand, but something bugged her: "How did you know where I lived? You mentioned you'd be walking that way, so..."
"Well, actually I don't know where you live, but I figure if I walk you home I'll actually be walking that way," he said with a wink.
"Then, how did you know she worked for a magazine and was interested in the case?" she followed up.
The boy froze like a deer caught in headlights, which incidentally was an appropriate simile as he was still illuminated by the spotlight. Evidently, he didn't know.
"It's not a gossip mag?" he asked her cautiously.
"Not really, but it can get gossipy," the girl allowed.
"I better let him know then," he sighed, pulling out his phone.
As he wrote the message, the girl spoke up, "Knowing her, she probably wouldn't let up even if he ignored the phone."
"I'll let him know," he acknowledged, writing a bit more before hitting the send button. Suddenly, he frowned, and then started waving his phone in the air. After a minute of spontaneous semaphore, the phone finally chirped a "message sent" sound, and he closed the phone.
"I may have to get a new phone, it's a bit wonky," he stated sheepishly.
"You're from Inaba, right?" she asked. "If you're using a local service, you may even need to switch carriers."
With a sigh, he slipped the phone into his pocket and readjusted his bag again. "I'll tell my parents; I'm sure they'll help me out. Yu Narukami." He introduced himself formally and extended a hand.
"I'm Amu Hinamori, Ani-" the girl cut herself off, covering her mouth with both hands and blushing like mad. She averted her eyes and started shuffling bashfully as the spotlights finally turned off. The fog rushed back into the space between the two, thankfully obscuring her face from Yu's gaze. She turned to make her way back home, when suddenly, she felt a warm hand on her shoulder.
"I did promise your parents to walk you home," he reminded her, bringing his face close enough so that she could see it clearly. He had put on his glasses, making him look a bit more mature and intelligent. "And, it's OK to call me 'Aniki', Amu-chan."
He lifted himself to his full height and muttered, "It's probably the only thing I haven't been called yet."
He patted Amu's shoulder as he slowly led the way down the steps of the elevated train station. Amu trailed close behind him, used to the steps but slightly frazzled by the low amount of light the fog was allowing through. Normally, the regular street lamps would be more than enough to navigate such a simple obstacle, but right now she felt like feeling the edge of each individual step. Evidently, the boy felt similarly, as his deliberate pace doubled upon reaching the last step.
Amu saw his form fade into the thick cloud and desperately thrust her hand out, searching for the kind boy but felt nothing.
"Narukami-san?" She called out, but the thick fog swallowed both her voice and her echo. She wandered forward, one hand hugging her bag to her chest and barely able to see her other hand in front of her. She noticed traffic lights in front of her and made her way to them.
"Narukami-san?" She called out again upon reaching her landmark. Again, the thick fog engulfed her words and the dispersed light hindered her version. She hugged her bag even closer to her chest.
Finally, in a tiny voice, she called out "Ani-KYAAAA!" Her feeble called turned into a surprised yelp as a hand grabbed her shoulder out of the thick fog. In seconds, she found herself looking once again into the face of the still-bespectacled Yu Narukami. But this time, instead of trying to comfort her, he instead wore an expression of intense concentration. She found herself frozen in fright as the young man scrutinized her face for the first time, almost businesslike in his analysis. She started wondering if there was something on her face, like dirt or mud, or maybe evidence of her day today...Finally, after an uncomfortably long time, he finally pulled his face away and sighed. He stared into the sky, occluded by the fog.
"Narukami-san? Narukami-san?...Aniki?" The nickname he allowed her to use was the trigger that snapped him from his reverie.
"Amu-chan? Sorry, did I hurt you?" He asked.
"No, I'm just startled," she shook her head. "Was there something on my face? Like dirt or something?" Please don't let it be a scratch or scar, she prayed.
"No, no there were no distinguishing marks like that. The hair's close, but I can't say for sure with just that...Wonder what Naoto would say..." Somehow his answer turned into his own trail of thought. Amu stayed quiet, hoping for it to continue, but Yu eventually shook his head.
"No, it's fine," he concluded. "Amu-chan, sorry about that. I was...let's say I had a feeling of deja vu."
"Deja vu?"
"Like I've seen you before, or like I've had a premonition about you, I guess," he shrugged.
"Well, you did give me your seat earlier on the train before the delay, maybe you just forgot about me and decided to save a different person earlier," she reasoned, although with her strawberry blond hair she figured it would be hard to forget her.
"Possible," he acknowledged, but the way he said it made Amu think he wasn't convinced. "Anyways, let's get you home." He extended his hand in both friendship and security, as visibility was not even a meter deep. Amu took his hand, more for friendship rather than security, and ended up leading the way to her house. She had only taken a few steps when she noticed a light out of the corner of her eye.
"Huh, they left a TV on," she muttered as she walked past the display window. She noticed the time on the TV's on-screen-display read 12:02. She also noticed that as they passed, Yu kept his eyes glued to the TV, although it was full of static.
"The time is on your cell phone," she stated the obvious. "No need to stare so hard."
"Heh," Yu weakly laughed. He had no retort, so Amu simply glared at him as they walked. Finally, with another moment of playing with his glasses, he opened up, "My best friend's dad runs a department store back in Inaba. He'd be pissed if one of the store's TVs were left on like that. He'd be all, 'Teddie! You left the TV on again! No beef bowl for you!' Then Teddie would get all sad and use the big puppy dog eyes to...Sorry, I didn't mean to blabber on like that." As he apologized, he fiddled with his glasses once more.
That was the last straw. "Hey, why do you keep playing with your glasses so much? Don't you need them to see?" Amu burst out, her curiosity getting the better of her.
"Well, it's...it's simpler to show you, I guess." Yu pulled off his glasses and handed them to Amu. She turned them over in her hands and found nothing real distinctive about them. The square frame was made of a light black plastic and the sides had little bars of yellow, green, red and blue. The lenses were thin, and as she put them on, she noticed that her vision really didn't change at all. Just to make sure the fog wasn't playing tricks on her eyes, she read the sign on a nearby cafe they happened to walk by.
"They don't really do anything, Ani- you know what, I like Yu-niisan better," Amu pouted, returning the glasses. There was no way she could keep using such a formal word for brother without sounding like a ridiculous Yakuza. "So if they don't help with your vision, why wear them?"
Yu returned his glasses to his eyes. Pushing them up so they rested comfortably on the bridge of his nose, he explained, "Back in Inaba, a friend made these glasses for our group. They're like a symbol of our friendship. Whenever I think of them, I like to put the glasses on and fiddle with it, even though we don't need it anymore.
"That's so sweet," Amu gushed. "Tell me, what were your friends like?"
As they walked, Yu told her about all of his close friends. She laughed upon hearing about Yu's first meeting his best friend while he was stuck in a trash can. She admired the girl Yu spoke about who became strong to protect everyone. She smiled for the girl who chose her own future, rather than had her family choose it. She sympathized with the boy who loved cute things. She marveled at Yu's friendship with a famous idol. She hoped she never had to meet his slightly perverted pretty boy friend who always ogled the girls. And she commended the girl who accepted her past and confronted her present.
And in what felt like no time, they had reached Amu's home in the nearby suburbs. There was no fog here, Amu realized, which was probably why her dad was so confident in coming to get her. She looked back at where she came from, and saw the urbane behind her was engulfed in a cloud of darkness so thick not even its light could escape.
Yu released Amu's hand and turned to face her. "Well, I should be heading home myself."
"Thanks again, for taking me back here," Amu courteously thanked him with a bow. With a nod of his head and a cheery wave of his removed glasses, he stashed them back into his pocket and walked back along the road towards the dark city. Amu stomached a loud gulp as she guiltily realized she had inconvenienced him by taking him further than he needed to go. Once more she bowed to his back, and then unlocked the door to her house.
"Amu!" A weeping father leapt from behind the door and swept his daughter into his arms.
Irritation contorted Amu's face as her father clung onto her. "Look, Dad, I told you I was able to handle myself," she said in a deeper tone of voice than normal. "If you don't let go, I'll never grow up to be an independent woman," she lectured. However, her father hugged her tighter and wailed, "My sparrow is becoming a star too fast!"
Luckily, her mother rescued her from the teary heap that was her father. Using a ladle as a crowbar, she literally pried him off Amu and sent him off to bed with a faux paddling.
"Amu, did you thank Narukami-kun?" she asked.
"Of course, Mom," Amu drawled, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. She started to head up to her room, but a thought came to her. "But, he did walk me back all this way. Should I get a gift for him?"
"We saved you a piece of strawberry shortcake," her mom informed her. "I also got his home address from his uncle. I'll let you decide what to do with them." And with a wave of her ladle she passed Amu up the stairs, handing off the ladle to her as an afterthought.
"Phew! I thought she'd never leave!" A voice chirped from her bag.
"Ran! I told you to stay out of sight!" Amu chastised the red fairy in cheerleader clothes and visor who had flown out of her bag to hover in Amu's face.
"We are out of sight," a second voice stated. A blue fairy clad in painter's smock and beret hovered to Amu's shoulder.
"And even then, adults can't see us, so we're fine!" A third voice concluded. A green fairy with a modest dress, apron and a headscarf drifted towards Amu's head and curled up in her hair.
The three fairies were actually called Chara and named Ran, Miki, and Suu. Born out of Amu's desire to change, the three had helped Amu with all of her extracurricular activities and some such. They had disappeared once, when Amu thought she had changed. But were quickly reborn when Amu realized she still needed them. Until she became an adult, the Chara would stay with her whenever.
Amu looked around in confusion. "Where's Dia?" she asked.
Ran did a little bashful shuffle and sighed dejectedly, "Oh, you know Dia. She's always sleeping until she wakes up."
Suu spoke up from within Amu's hair, "But don't worry Amu, she's still watching over you."
"But enough of that, what are you up to now?" Miki asked Amu.
In response, Amu entered the warm kitchen, walked over to the fridge and pulled out the cake slice her mom mentioned.
"The boy I walked home with, I want to thank him for going out of his way to not only walk me home, but persuade my parents to let me walk home."
"More like tricked your Mom with a diversion," Miki pointed out.
"Ooh, I saw that on TV," Suu added. "You throw a steak or something to the guard dog, and while he's eating you sneak through, right?"
"Yeah, he played your Mom like a fiddle!" Ran finished.
"Well, when you put it that way, it was kind of underhanded," Amu allowed, "but it did help me get my way. And he told me such great stories about his friends. This is really the least I can do."
"Well, fine, then we'll help too!" Ran declared.
"Really?"
"Of course, Amu, We're your Chara. We'll do anything you want to do," Suu reminded her.
"Plus, this is the most grown up thing you've ever done," Miki observed. "None of us did anything today, so this is all your idea."
"And Mom's, too," Amu added with a blush from her Chara's compliments. "OK, let's get to work. Amulet Clover!"
In a flash, Amu's hairpin changed to a clover, and her clothes morphed into a an outfit similar to Suu's. Borrowing Suu's talents with food, Amu decorated the plain piece of cake with cut pieces of fruit and whipped cream.
"Amulet Spade!"
In a flash, Amu's hairpin changed to a spade, and her clothes morphed into a an outfit similar to Miki's. Borrowing Miki's artistic sense, Amu made a thank you card using her Mom's art supplies.
"Amulet Heart!"
In a flash, Amu's hairpin changed to a heart, and her clothes morphed into a an outfit similar to Ran's. Borrowing Ran's energy and agility, she bounded around the kitchen cheering "Hop, Step, Jump!" Suddenly, she throw her pom-poms on the floor and disengaged the transformation. The pom-poms disappeared while her clothes returned to their original form.
"Ran, that didn't help!" She scolded her.
"But I wanted to Character Transform, too," Ran whined.
"You always Character Transform," Miki reminded her.
"It's not my fault it's easier to catch X-Eggs with my powers," Ran scoffed, only to get flicked on her forehead by Amu.
"It's not nice to act like that, Ran," Amu scolded her.
Ran's eyes welled up with tears, but Suu crawled out of her comfortable resting spot and embraced her fellow Chara.
"It's fine Ran, I know you didn't mean it that way," Suu soothed her. Following her lead, Miki floated to Ran and put an arm around her shoulder.
"Yeah, it's just for things like this, we're a bit better suited," Miki explained softly.
Witnessing this, Amu was moved to near tears. "You guys..." she sniffled in pride. She gathered them up into a group hug, to which Ran and Suu responded emphatically. However, while she didn't respond negatively, Miki stated, " The cream is falling off."
There was a bit of a scuffle as Amu tried to save her hard work from melting away in the heated room. While it didn't look as good as before, Amu deemed it at least respectable before using Miki's powers once again to make a nice container for it. After placing the cake inside, she placed it in the fridge and headed upstairs.
Once she entered her room, she immediately disrobed, removing her school uniform and tossing the pieces into the correct hampers. First came the jacket, which she carefully hung properly in her closet. Next, she loosened her tie and placed it on the dresser near her full sized mirror. Her blouse came next, getting tossed haphazardly into the white's bin, while her skirt and belt received the same attention as her jacket. Finally, she removed her cross-shaped hair-clip keeping her hair up and placed it on her nightstand. Without the support, her hair fell down straight over her head, except for the bits still held stiff with hairspray or crimped by the clip. She picked out a night gown and threw it over her head quickly. She wanted to take a bath, but the noise would probably wake up her family. Instead, she'll just take care of it in the morning when everyone was supposed to wake up anyways. After brushing her hair straight to prevent tangles, she dove under her covers to sleep while Ran, Miki, and Suu retreated into their eggshells within Amu's bag.
Soon, the room was filled with a light snore, but it didn't originate from Amu. For some reason, she just couldn't get to sleep, while her Chara napped away. She opened up her window, and was neatly assaulted by a cold wind that chilled her to the bone. With chattering teeth, she re-closed the window, only to notice a golden ball alight on the windowsill.
"Good evening, Dia," Amu greeted the Chara.
"Good evening, Amu," replied the well mannered Dia. Wearing a yellow two-piece dress and an idol headset, Dia was the manifestation of Amu's radiance. Amu never really understood what her "radiance" truly was, but it had something to do with the true "self" within her.
"You shined fairly well tonight, Amu," Dia praised her. "I haven't seen you shine so brightly than since Utau."
Amu thought back to the time Dia had been talking about. A long time ago, even before Dia had been born, she and Utau Hoshino were enemies, and somehow she had switched Dia for one of Utau's Chara. But it wasn't until Amu declared he confidence in herself, faults and all, that she both recovered Dia and Character transformed with her.
"But, all I did was relapse into the 'cool person' today," Amu observed, hiding her head underneath her covers.
Dia flew down from the windowsill, to join Amu under her blankets. Suddenly, her whole body started to glow with a faint but proud golden light. Amu's eyes weren't blinded by the magical light, in fact, Amu was drawn into it. "I am a Diamond, one that reflects anothers light. This, this is the light I saw earlier tonight when talking with your Chara while making that gift. It's your radiance, and one that did not require conflict to draw out. It's these little moments of brightness that I live for, Amu, so please show me more of your light," Dia smiled. As Amu pulled off the covers, the glowing Chara rose from the bed and returned to her fellows within their eggs and resumed her rest.
"Even within the egg, she watches me," Amu muttered to herself. "I'll try hard tomorrow as well." This was her final thought as she finally fell asleep.
Author's Note:
So I have an apology to make to anyone who read my earlier stories, I'm sorry I was a twit. I should take seriously your comments and not be so pig headed about myself. I see now that as a writer, I have to mature a whole lot more. I've tabled the other story for now, but since I hate cliffhangers I'll spoil the plot for anyone that PM's me for it. This story is an experiment in writing styles, inspired by a comment I read on a certain wiki. I want to change as a person, so I would appreciate any advice and OOC contradictions I may have missed. I didn't have the time to watch the anime, so I don't know if Amu's parents' roles expanded any, but I always saw the dad as one of those doting overprotective types while the mom was more laid back but with her own vices. As far as Yu is concerned, I'm trying to use the personality the animation gave him, but it may be skewed with the way I played him in the game, so apologies in advance. Even though Yu isn't completely how he was written in the animation, I hope you enjoy this hybrid of him.