Chapter Two: Surely It's A Dream

When Eiko opened her eyes, she saw that she was no longer in that strange place beneath the school, and instead was in an even stranger place. It's like a dream, she thought to herself as she sat up, so I must be dreaming, right? With that logic, she decided to get up and search her surroundings. This place she had entered was unlike anything she had ever seen. It was as if time was nonexistent here, for nothing moved yet everything floated above the ground that just wasn't there. How am I supposed to cross this gap, she wondered while standing on the edge of the platform she had awoken on. Just as she was about to try the only option she could think of (jumping and praying that there was no gravity in the open spaces), someone spoke up from behind her.

"It's been a while since anyone was brought here," a feminine voice stated with a hint of sorrow.

Unlike the voice the two best friends had heard in the lab, this voice sounded caring and sweet with the feeling of loneliness and sadness mixed in. Eiko whirled around to face this person, now revealed to be a teenage girl clad in a black school uniform and a fluttering red scarf.

"Wh-Who are you?" Eiko stammered.

The other girl only shook her head slightly. "That's not important right now. You're worried about your friend, correct?"

"What? Is Jitsumi here too?" Eiko asked quickly.

"Hmm..." the unnamed girl began thoughtfully. "Ah, gomen*, but I'm afraid I can't tell you that... Though, I really do wish I could help you."

"Can you at least tell me where I am?" Eiko questioned.

"You're in a place that I'll never be able to leave... the Heat Haze," the scarf-girl answered quietly.

"Heat Haze?" Eiko echoed confusedly.

The mystery girl nodded once again, but said nothing. Eiko looked around herself for the second time to try to understand the meaning behind this name, since this place was neither hot nor hazy; yet when she veered her gaze back to where the other girl should've been, she was replaced by another female, this one much shorter and had extremely long, wavy black hair.

"So, you wish to understand the emotions of others?" the new girl inquired quite plainly.

Eiko was a bit taken aback by this. "How...? I-I mean, yeah, I, uh... I guess so."

This even more mysterious person nodded simply like the last girl, and before Eiko could say anything more, her vision was swallowed up by black once again.


*Gomen means "sorry" in Japanese (just in case someone doesn't know)


A/N: The way this fanfic works is basically each chapter switches it main focus from Eiko, to Jitsumi, and back. This one is clearly focusing on Eiko, so the next one will show what happened to Jitsumi. Anyway, they won't meet the members of the Dan until later after their abilities are revealed (yes, they have abilities), so please be patient. Like always, I hope you enjoyed and thanks so much for reading!

Have a wonderful day/night/whatever~