ANGEL BEATS – REVERSES

This is set in the time after the SSS had left the afterlife, and now had been reincarnated into the new world with a whole new perspective on the world. No more hate lingered in their minds. They were finally at peace, but the beautiful memories which the whole gang had made together during their time together had vanished the moment they entered the light of their new lives… All of them had new identities and would pass eachother by thinking nothing of eachother… nothing but strangers in the billions of people in the world, even though they looked the same as before. But something was going to happen, which would shake up their new lives, and reunite them with not only eachother, but also their past.

Yuri, the former leader of the SSS, was now known as Misaki, and lived in the middle of Tokyo. She had been born into a very prestigious family with two older brothers and was the number one student in one of Tokyo's most well-renowned schools Meridian high. Throughout the 17 years of her life so far, she had enjoyed and treasured every day she had spent with all the friends and family she loved, and wished for nothing more than for it to last forever, however often at night… she gazed up at the ceiling of her bedroom, and questioned reality, as to where it all came from. But, as these intense thoughts crossed her mind, tiredness fell heavily upon her green eyes, and she fell asleep, not even recalling her thoughts the next morning. And so, her life continues the next morning…

****RING!*** Misaki with half-opened eyes slams the alarm into snooze mode and crawled up into a ball in her duvet. She had been revising long hours since finals were coming up soon, and she needed to get good grades to get into a good university. As she peeked out of her duvet, she repulsed as a ray of scorching sun shone on her fatigued face. She rolled out of her duvet and lay on her bed and wondered when life had suddenly got so hard. Why couldn't life go back to the days when she could go out with her friends and have fun, where now she was stuck inside and depressed. Suddenly Misaki's mother calls out to her, ' Misaki, hurry up and get changed! Shiori is already here waiting for you to go to school!'

Misaki returned, 'I'm coming.' As Misaki was slipping her skirt on, she wondered why Shiori was so early today. Shiori was Misaki's best friend from primary school. They had been together since the start of their education, and Misaki loved her as if she was the Sister she had always wanted. Eager to see her friend, she quickly brushed her teeth, and went down to eat breakfast, and then headed out to school.

Misaki asked Shiori, ' Why did you come so early today? Aren't you tired?'

Shiori replied, ' Trust me… you do not know how tired I am. I was up all night to worried to even fall asleep thinking about how I'm going to confess to Okazaki today. But I've figured it all out now, I'm going to go in with the forward approach, since I read up in a magazine that boys love it, so I'm going to go straight in with the kiss.' Misaki half listening and sleep walking said, 'Yeah… remember to show some cleavage too.' Shiori shocked by the random comment burst out laughing and put her arm around Misaki's neck and said with a wide grin, ' You sure seem to know a lot about this stuff Misaki! And yet I've never heard a single rumour about you crushing on anybody.'

This snapped Misaki out of her sleep, and blushed brightly, and replied, ' It's because none of the boys in our school appeal to me, nothing else.'

' Oh! Is that a hint meaning you like older guys?' Shiori replied curiously.

Misaki went red with embarrassment, and slapped Shiori's arm, as they both burst into laughter. After this, Shiori began to ramble on about her plan to secure Okazaki again, and Misaki went back to half-listening, when all of a sudden a boy with brown hair emerged from behind the two girls from an alley way, and put his arms around the both of them, and put his head in the middle of theirs. The girls yelped and turned around to see it was no one other than their friend Ren.

'Ren! You nearly gave me a heart attack!' Misaki said in relief.

'Ren you pervert! Stop doing this as an excuse to look at my breasts. If you want to get with me, your going to want to try harder,' Shiori said red with embarrassment, but slight delight.

' Shiori please… If I'd wanted to get with you, I'd have gotten with you that time you got drunk at the party and told me you wanted to go to the bathroom with me,' Ren replied. ' Also, if I wanted you that bad,' pointing at her tits, ' I would've had a bigger grab on those jugs!' he said as he winked and smirked at both girls.

In unison both girls shouted, 'Pervert!' And they all burst into laughter and began to walk to school. On the way, they joked about Shiori, discussed plans on Okazaki, and discussed the final exams coming up. When the first period was about to start and the bell rang, the three friends walked to their Japanese Language class.

' Okay class! Today we will be studying an article that may be like the one that will end up in your final exam. It is on a train crash that occurred 17 years ago, where about 10 people stuck underground for a period of 2 weeks, with a low food supply, where many of the ten died. Please pass the handouts to eachother class, and begin reading the extract, and we will discuss it in 15 minutes. GO!' the teacher said.

As the papers were handed around Misaki wondered how the train crash had occurred and how even a few people managed to survive. So, when her paper arrived, she immersed herself within the article, and came across a witness statement interview from a man named Igarashi. She was intrigued as to what a survivor of this tragedy had to say, and the statement said,

' It was a tough bunch of days for us down there, where there were a lot of casualties and all 10 survivors were in disarray. Apart from one, who managed to bring me back out of my lapse of panic while we were underground. He helped everyone, and I admired him for that, since he took the role of our leader, and put our needs instead of his. I think he was training to become a doctor or something like that, so he helped to treat our wounds, as you can see from the mark on my head that he treated. He truly was amazing and helped to keep us all in order for the first couple of days by rationing the food. However, after a couple of days I recall a man going insane and running off with all the rations, and when he was tackled by to of the others who were infuriated, the rations were spilled and wasted. Even in a moment like this when the others were going insane, he put our needs ahead of his own, by not eating. I truly do not know how patient he must have been, but he truly was a great man on earth, where even on his death bed, he signed his organs away for donorship. ( Igarashi appears to pause, appearing to hold back tears) If- if only you had come sooner… why did it take so long for you to get us, so many of us died back there… if only you had come back sooner, he still would have been alive. But even now I bet Otonashi Yuzuru is still helping people up in heaven. It was Otonashi Yuzuru who saved my life… I owe my life to Otonashi forever.

When Misaki had read this last sentence, a shockwave flowed through her body, and Goosebumps appeared upon her skin. 'Otonashi Yuzuru?' she murmured to herself, ' Why does this name sound so familiar.' Shiori tapped her and pointed to a photo at the bottom of the sheet.

'Otonashi Yuzuru is quite a nice-looking guy. I think even you've even got the hots for him.' Shiori said smirking at Misaki.

Oddly Misaki hadn't even flushed from the comment but was deeply concentrated on the photo itself. 'Why does this guy look so familiar?' she thought, but as she though even harder about who he was, her head began to ache, and she passed the thought away.

' He's not bad to be fair, if he was 17 years younger, I'd definitely go after him.' Misaki said thoughtlessly. 5 seconds later she had turned red and covered her mouth as she slowly turned to face Shiori who was grinning at her cunningly. Misaki went through the rest of the day not even thinking about the article she had read which had sent her into confusion and walked home with Shiori.

' You really got hot when looking at that picture in Japanese Language today, never seen that before.' Shiori said.

' I was just surprised, that's all really. I just felt like I knew him from somewhere,' Misaki replied remembering the feeling.

' Hey. Maybe Otonashi has reincarnated and is the same age as us as well. It's like a match made in heaven, the beauty Misaki and the dead man Otonashi!' Shiori said laughing, yet Misaki looked oddly intrigued.

' Reincarnation? How's that possible?' Misaki said.

' Legend has it, when you die you will spend a few days in Purgatory, and you will be given the option of going to the afterlife or being reborn. Many people say that they have flashbacks in their dreams about their past lives, however they are too hazy to describe.' Shiori replies.

They had reached Misaki's house and said goodbye. Misaki went upstairs to her room and began to study and came across the article from this morning. She stared at Otonashi picture for a while, and then looked out of the window at the golden sky as the sun began to set.

'Reincarnation,' she thought. ' I wonder what if I have had any previous lives?' Misaki gazed out of her window resting her pencil on her desk, wondering about the infinite possibilities of her existence, and why this Otonashi seemed so familiar. But she cast her doubts aside and began to study once again.

To be continued…