Angels and Reapers

When the Living turn into the Dead, where must they go? Wandering the Earth forever until their soul is at peace, men and women alike travel hand-in-hand. To leave existence is to be content in not existing. To start anew is to throw away the old things from the past. If you were to meet the angels or reapers, which will you choose?

Chapter 1

It was an average day in Shibuya. Adults chat with their co-workers outside cafés or restaurants, teenagers flirt with each other while having their own fun, and as always, spirits ran free. About a month ago, a new school was built in Shibuya. It was your average high school, but something about it wasn't right. 'Why would they build a school in the busy downtown of Shibuya,' people would wonder. But nonetheless, students attended the school. And when classes ended, they would be able to go back to their favorite hang-out spots, so they didn't complain. However, there was a big disturbance in their lives, and although they weren't aware of it, they felt its existence.

A lone girl ran through the second floor hallway, clearly late for her first class. She breathed in short rasps while making sure her bag doesn't fall off. Her long, orange, split-ended hair floated in the air, and her dark brown eyes dart back and forth, looking for her classroom. There, coming up on the right! Grabbing the doorknob, the girl jerked the door open. However, everyone in the room didn't react to her arrival. The teacher continued the lesson without a single amount of acknowledgment. The girl looked down, ashamed, and then slowly gathered her courage.

"Excuse me…" she said in a shy voice. The teacher did not show any signs of hearing her. "Excuse me!" The teacher turned towards the door, catching the sound in a few moments.

"Oh. So you were here, Soreni Hironuri," the teacher said plainly. "Well, just take a seat and catch up with the rest of the class. Just because you're in the student council doesn't mean you can slack off."

"Ok…" She walked down the classroom and took the third seat of the first row.

"Alright, now…" The lesson resumed, giving the students a proper knowledge of their Japanese history. All of the students were required to wear uniform, but the student council students wear a special uniform to distinguish them. So, it would seem likely that the student council students would stand out much more than the average student. "Does anyone know the answer to this question?" the teacher asked at one time.

Soreni raised her hand up in the air. She was the only one to do so.

"No one?"

She raised her hand higher, trying to get his attention.

"Suit yourselves. The answer is…" The teacher gave the answer to the students, ignoring Soreni's raised hand.

When the class ended, she looked gloomily outside the window in the hallway.

"Hey, Soreni," someone called.

She turned around and saw an orange-haired boy come towards her. He had a kind smile and Soreni felt comfortable with him around. "Yuzuru…Otonashi, right?" she asked him.

"Hey, you got my name right!" Otonashi said cheerfully. He leaned on the windowsill and looked out at the track field.

Soreni joined him, and a few seconds passed by.

"Soreni, why are you trying so hard to fit into the class?" he asked.

"Because it seems fun," was her simple answer.

"You should know by now. If you don't speak, then people won't notice you, and that saying is very true for us."

"I know. It's just that I've never really experienced this before."

Otonashi smiled at her. "I understand." He pushed himself off the sill and put his hands behind his head. "Well, better get to our next class."

"Yep," Soreni agreed without breaking her sight from the field.

The next class was Science, and the teacher required that everyone gather a partner for the next assignment. Soreni squirmed in her seat while teenagers passed by her as if she wasn't even there. At the far right corner, a girl sat lonely in her seat. Soreni seized the chance and walked to her.

"Do you want to be my partner?" she asked the girl.

She looked at Soreni with blank eyes, but eventually, she agreed. They sat at the same desk and awaited instructions.

"Alright," the teacher shouted. "Does everyone have a partner?"

"I don't, teacher," the girl sitting next to Soreni said.

"Oh. It appears you don't." The teacher rubbed her chin. "Just pair up with another group, ok?" The girl nodded slowly, and left the desk.

Soreni put her head on the desk and watched the class with sad eyes. A boy wearing a black uniform and hat walked over to her desk and sat down.

"It's hopeless to try, NPC," he said to Soreni.

"Was that how I used to be? Ignoring people like you?" she asked the boy.

"Yep. When you regained consciousness, you became one of us."

"You're…Ayato Naoi, I think."

"Idiot!" he scolded. "To you, I am God!"

"Can you explain it to me how I, a NPC, became like you guys again?" She looked at him with puppy dog eyes. Naoi let his guard down, and he paid the price.

"Al-alright… You may be better at hypnosis than I am…" Ayato agreed, mumbling the last part.

"What was that?" Soreni asked.

"Nothing!" Naoi coughed, and began. "This school was a place for the deceased, but it was also filled with what we call NPCs." Naoi felt Soreni's puppy dog eyes slowly losing their effect. He decided to stop there and leave her hanging.

But she realized that the eyes weren't working anymore, and she quickly pointed to Otonashi at the other side of the class. Her look told him 'If you don't, I'll tell him'.

Naoi reluctantly gave in and continued. "Then one day, an NPC that showed more consciousness than the average NPC came up. We decided to treat that NPC as one of our own, and then this happened!"

"Did I surprise you guys?" Soreni asked him.

"Hell yeah! NPCs are supposed to be non-playable! As in not human! Did you expect us to accept you like that!" Naoi crossed his arms and closed his eyes, obviously mad. "I wanted to leave you, but Otonashi thought we should help you, since you weren't a NPC anymore." He opened one eye slightly, trying to make her feel guilty. "But your problem is that other than your name, you don't remember anything!"

"It's not my fault," Soreni said, defending herself. "I've just recently regained consciousness!"

"And to make things worse, right after your appearance, the six of us moved here!" Naoi stood up, but of course, no one took notice. "Then we were somehow transported to Shibuya, and all the students attending here are real! It's already been two days since that's happened! Do you think that we should put up with this! Don't mess with me!"

Suddenly, someone knocked Naoi's head from behind.

"Ah!" he cried.

Another boy, much taller than Naoi, stood with his fist held up. His distinguishable features were his blue hair and easy-going nature.

"Hideki Hinata…" Soreni said, remembering his name.

"Don't worry, Soreni. It's not your fault that we're in Shibuya," Hinata said kindly. "We'll just learn how to deal with it somehow until you can rest in peace."

Soreni held a small smile for him.

"And I'm not the only one. You have Otonashi and Tachibana too." Hinata pointed towards his best friend, Otonashi.

He noticed the small movement and waved at them.

Sitting in front of him was the quiet, white-haired student council president. Soreni saw the president look over and smile at her.

"Thanks, Tachibana," Soreni said, smiling back.

"Alright!" the teacher announced. "Class dismissed!"

Kanade was suddenly next to her, and grabbed her hand. "Let's go, Soreni," she said in her quiet voice.

Soreni started laughing and pulled Kanade out of the class.

Around the same time Soreni got to her first class, a boy at the same age was running through the Scramble Crossing. The Scramble Crossing was always full of people walking to their destination, but the boy did not bump into any of them. He was a little smaller than average, but he made up for that with his image. He wore a black, gothic bandage coat, which covered most of his body. A brand was on the right shoulder of the coat, "Lapin Angelique". His hair was a light gray, and partially covered his blue eyes on the left side.

Behind him, red, floating seals in the shape of frogs followed. The young man wasn't sure why the seals were following him, or why he could still see Shibuya. He just knew that he had died, and now he's running to save what is left of his soul.

He was coming up to the statue of Hachiko, but he was cut short as a massive seal the shape of a wolf's head appeared before him. "Tch," the boy grunted. "Get outta my way!"

Suddenly, a wolf began popping out of the seal, with yellow limbs and nasty teeth.

"Damnit!" The boy grabbed the seal and tried to stop the wolf from coming out. The seal started to shake violently, but the boy kept his grip on it. Light started pouring out, and then the seal just vanished. The boy opened his hand, but all that was left was smoke. "That's more like it!"

Suddenly, the sound of laughter broke the air.

"Ha ha! Can you believe it, Kariya!" yelled a female voice.

"Looks like we got lucky, Uzuki," remarked a male voice.

The boy turned around and saw two people leaning on Hachiko, staring at him.

One was a skinny guy with a lollipop in his mouth and frizzy orange hair.

The other was a skimpy, pink-haired girl with long white boots.

Both of them had black wings on their backs, and they both approached him while floating on those wings. "Hey kid," Kariya said. "You just smashed that Noise with just your fist!"

"I did what?" the boy asked him.

"You can exterminate noise!" Uzuki shouted at him. "And~, that means you can create noise too."

"What the hell is Noise?"

"Look kid," Kariya explained. "Here's the deal. You are dead, and you're playing a game to get another chance at life right now." He took his lollipop out and used it to point at himself. "We make sure that it's not easy to come back to life. We create Noise…" Kariya opened his left hand, and the frog-shaped seal appeared again. "…and exterminate players." The boy slowly nodded.

"So what does this have to do with me?" he asked. Uzuki landed on her feet and patted his head.

"You've got the potential. Do you want to join us~?" she asked.

"Become a Reaper like us. Trust me, it's a lot better than being a Player," Kariya said, extending his hand out. The boy looked at them closely.

'They seem to be telling the truth,' he thought. 'And they can see me, even though I'm dead. I guess I should just…trust them. For now, anyway.' The boy took Kariya's hand and shook it. "Alright," the boy said. "I'll join you guys then." Uzuki giggled to herself.

"Ha ha! Welcome to the Reapers!"

Kariya gave the introductions to him.

"My name's Koki Kariya, but everyone calls me Kariya. Don't expect me to save your ass on the field, alright?" He pointed his lollipop to the giggling girl. "This is Uzuki Yashiro. She may seem ditzy, but she's a burning ball of fire inside!"

"Hey!" Uzuki shouted at Kariya. "I am not ditzy!"

"See what I mean?"

The boy laughed at the two of them.

"Oh, by the way. What's your name, kid?" she asked him. "Unless you want me to call you Kid all the time."

"I'm Shiro Yasagite," the boy said.

"Shiro, eh?" Kariya asked. "Well, c'mon Shiro." Kariya began floating up into the air, and he offered his hand.

Shiro took it and felt a power flow into him.

"We've got orders from Kitaniji. That's our boss, pretty much. He'll make you an official Reaper, but until then, just hang with us and watch what we're going to do." Kariya flew into the sky, with Uzuki close behind.

"Ah!" Shiro yelled, feeling his arm being forcefully yanked into the air.

"Shut up! I don't wanna hear your yelling!" Uzuki scolded.

"Oh yeah," Kariya said, suddenly remembering. "Reach into my jacket pocket. You'll have to use pins until we get you into Reaper status."

"Pins?" Shiro asked. He followed Kariya's order and found four pins to use. One had a blue arrow reaching upward. Its name, Frozen Cool, was on the back. The second pin, First Gear, just looked like its name; a gear. The third pin had a big M on the front. The name of it was Masamune. The last pin was the weirdest out of all of the pins. It looked like a regular "Have a Nice Day" Happy-face pin! The name perfectly fit too: Peace Full. Shiro reluctantly put the pins on his jacket. 'What good would pins do?'

It was lunch time at the high school now. Soreni sat awkwardly at the table while watching Otonashi, Hinata, Naoi, and Kanade eating Mapo Tofu. Every once in a while, one of the boys would struggle to swallow a bite, but they all enjoyed eating it. She looked at her own Mapo Tofu, which they chose for her. She probed the dish with her spoon, and a cube of tofu was split in two.

"What's wrong, Soreni?" Otonashi said through a mouthful of food. "If you don't eat it fast, it'll get cold."

"Yeah," Hinata agreed.

"Only an idiot would not try this," Naoi stated.

"Hehe…" Soreni laughed. She picked up a spoonful of Mapo Tofu. She lifted it close to her face and stared at it. 'It looks like a mouthful of hell…' she thought.

Suddenly, a gun shot fired, echoing into the air. All of them froze at once. The regular students didn't take notice of the disturbance.

"Let's go," Otonashi ordered, finishing up his Mapo Tofu. The others did the same, then got up and left the table.

Kanade stopped walking and spotted Soreni's full plate. She quickly snatched the spoon and chugged the whole thing.

Soreni watched in amazement. When Kanade finished, she wiped her mouth with a napkin and dropped the spoon.

"We have to save Yuri," she said.

"Yuri Nakamura?" Soreni asked. Kanade nodded, and took her hand.

"It's time to see these so called Reapers."