I've reuploaded all the previous chapters, partly because I wanted to get some chapter titles up, and partly because some details had to be added to make the story flow better. Slight changes have been made to the prologue and chapter 1.

Here's the start of the main plot. Enjoy :D

Chapter 3 – Dual missions (Part 1)

'Infiltration successful,' I whispered into the little black thing held in my hand.

'Perfect. Proceed as planned.' Yuri's muffled voice came from the other end of the walkie-talkie.

I surveyed my surroundings and broke out in a sweat. Easy for you to say, I thought. I'm risking my life here while you're safe at school, half a mile away.

I reached for my back pocket to make sure the pistol Yuri had given me was there, but I knew it was no use. Ten pistols couldn't save me if I got in trouble here.

Noda's quiet breathing behind me was no help at all. Instead, my anxiety only intensified as Noda kept breathing air on my neck.

I checked my watch and turned its lighting display on. 1:15. I hesitated. With sufficient visual assistance, infiltrating the building had been the easy part. But it was going to be a lot harder maneuvering our way in total darkness.

'Hey, Yuri… Are you sure you don't want to wait until tomorrow?' I whispered into the walkie-talkie.

'Huh? What are you talking about? We've been planning this for the entire evening. Don't tell me you're getting cold feet now!' Yuri was suddenly shouting, and I frantically covered my hand on the walkie-talkie, sweat dripping down my forehead.

'Hey, keep your voice down, will you?' I whispered and looked around me again. 'Anyway…'

'Shh, wait…' Yuri said on the other end. 'I think I found something.'

What? 'Is it the Angel Player?' I asked a little anxiously.

'Wait… Oh, it's just a stupid role-play file.' I covered the walkie-talkie just in time before Yuri started shouting again, 'Now what is it you want?'

'Damn it, Yuri, are you trying to get us killed?' I whispered. 'Anyway, what I was trying to say was, even if we do manage to go unnoticed and reach our destination in one piece, you don't expect us to just barge in there and drag her out of here, do you?'

'Yep.'

'But… that's down-right kidnapping!'

'Just do it. I'll explain everything to her later.'

I broke into a sweat again as I peered into the interior of the Girls' Dorm. I had a feeling either ending was going to get us into a lot of trouble. Either we got caught and got beaten up by an infuriating group of girl students, or we got arrested for kidnapping. I put a hand on my forehead. What had I done to deserve this…

Eight hours earlier…

We followed Noda all the way to the top floor of the old school building where most of the club rooms were located. We eventually stopped in front of the room labeled 'SSS'.

I knew perfectly what it meant. Shinda Sekai Sensen. It also meant that Yuri must be waiting for us in there. Noda turned the doorknob, and then…

'Hiyaa!' The shout was quickly followed by a kick right in Noda's stomach. That voice was way too familiar. Yep, no mistaking it. It must be Yuri.

Noda didn't even have time to grunt as he flew backwards right into a wall. I was still wondering what had happened when Yuri said, 'Oh, it's you, Noda.'

Noda held his stomach and pulled himself up. 'Hey, what the hell was that for?'

Yuri crossed her arms in front of her chest and said, 'It's your fault you didn't say the password. Anyone who forgets the password is regarded as the enemy.'

At that moment, I was suddenly reminded of the principal's office and the giant hammer trap again. 'Uh, I remember,' I said and raised my index finger. '"There is no God, Buddha or Angel", isn't it?'

Yuri turned her gaze at me. 'Bingo. Welcome back, Otonashi, and you too, Kanade.'

'So… what is this all about?' I asked as I scanned the room. The only members here now were Noda, Yuri, Kanade and myself. The familiar blue banner with the SSS emblem on it was hanging from the ceiling and attached to the wall at the other end. A notebook computer sat on top of a wooden table, and Yuri was sitting in her usual armchair behind it.

That much was the same, but it was still much different from our original 'hideout'. The room was a bit smaller than I could remember. Figured. Unlike the principal's office, this was just an ordinary club room. No fancy curtains. No high-class paintings or pieces of calligraphy. No sofas. No giant monitors…

I was wrong. Yuri tapped a button on the computer and the 'wall' behind her lit up with the 'Briefing Manager' page. I'd always thought that was kind of cool. It always gave me the feeling I was an important member of some special task force or something. Though that was probably really the case.

'What exactly are we doing here?' I attempted my second question.

'What do you think? We're going on our first mission!' Yuri shouted and she had the look on her face that said 'Geez, isn't that obvious?'

'What mission? What are you talking about?' I demanded.

'Noda, you haven't told them anything yet?' Yuri asked.

Noda swung his axe over his shoulder. 'Nope.'

'He said he didn't feel like telling us,' I said. 'Is there something we should know?'

'Argh! Damn it, Noda. I can't depend on you to handle anything, can I?' Yuri shouted before sighing. 'All right. I'll tell you. The school is in great danger right now, and we may be the only ones who can fix the problem. We believe the school is being targeted by a certain enemy.'

I lifted an eyebrow. 'An enemy?'

'Yes, an enemy,' Yuri repeated.

'Don't tell me it's another Angel or God or whatever God-like… The last time we fought an 'Angel', Kanade ended up being the one who suffered the most.'

'It may not be an Angel. Actually, the problem is, we don't even know who we're fighting against this time.'

You're kidding me…

'In any case, Kanade will be joining us too,' Yuri went on. 'Naturally, she's our teammate now.'

I put a hand on my forehead. 'Look, I know we all had fun and all in the Afterworld, but this all seems a little far-fetched. I mean, why would anyone want to target a school for no reason?'

Yuri entwined her hands and rested her chin on top of them. 'Do you know what season this is?'

That question came out of the blue. 'It's spring…' I said hesitantly.

'Do you notice how many students at this school have been calling in sick just this month?'

I was reminded of the empty seats. 'Well, yeah… but what does that have to do with…'

'Do you notice how drastically the characters of our sick classmates have changed just over a short period of sick leave?'

'What are you getting at?' I asked.

Yuri sighed. 'You're not so smart, are you? Okay, here's the basic rundown. An unusually large body of students have been calling in sick in spring, and they have mysteriously become well-behaved after just a few short days.' Yuri paused. 'Do you remember what happened to Takamatsu?'

I gave no reply.

'It was all a little puzzling at first, but I think we've finally found the answer.' Yuri shut her eyes and said, 'They've become NPC's, and that only means shadows have reappeared.'

What?... Wait, what?

I lost my voice for a second. 'Are you serious, Yuri?'

Yuri gave me a sharp look. 'I'm dead serious. And it's not only your class, every one of them, including Kanade and Noda's and my own are experiencing the same situation.'

'Hey, wait a minute!' I shouted. 'Shadows don't just manifest themselves in a physical form in the real world. It just doesn't happen. It can never happen. Just because someone calls in sick and then doesn't have the strength to break some school rules doesn't mean they've just become an NPC. Where's the logic in that?'

'I was skeptical about it at first too,' Yuri said calmly. 'I had that hunch but I never thought it would be true, until Noda verified it for me.' She gestured at Noda. Noda eyed us once before slowly lifting his shirt.

'Hey what are you…' My demand stopped as I saw something. The big, black cross-shaped mark on Noda's muscle-bound stomach. 'What is this…?'

'It was about 3 days ago,' Noda started to explain, which was unlike him. 'School had already ended 3 hours before, but I still had business to do, so I was staying around. I went to the balcony to practice swinging my axe. I saw something never meant to be seen.

'It was a big shadow, the same one that attacked us during our time in the Afterworld. I didn't know what it was at first, since I still didn't have my past memories with me 3 days ago. Or should I say, the shadow was the reason my memories came back to me.'

You're being awfully vague, I thought.

'This is my theory,' Yuri explained. 'Memories of a past life are hidden in the deepest part of a person's mind, and certain conditions have to be met before you can jog the memories. Needless to say, Kanade remembered everything because of her undying love for you…'

I blushed. Geez, you didn't need to say that out loud.

'As for you, Otonashi, your memories came back while you were running for the playground, weren't they? That familiar scene caused you to remember. That was the condition.'

Now I felt really bad. I had been on Kanade's mind the entire time, while I had had to see Kanade to remember her. I glanced at her still figure beside me, but she didn't betray any emotion. That hurt me even more. But something else was bugging me. How the hell does she know all of that?

'I'm the leader,' she said in that matter-of-fact tone again. 'It's my job to look after my teammates.'

'So, how did you remember, Yuri?' I asked.

She crossed her legs. 'That has nothing to do with the mission. Carry on, Noda.'

'As I was saying,' Noda continued. 'My memories came back when the shadow attacked me. That familiar sensation… I could never forget it.' He did a swipe with his axe. 'The shadow disappeared after I swung my axe at it full-force a few times, but it still left this mark on me.' He touched his muscle-bound belly.

'He was lucky he had a weapon with him. Other students weren't that lucky,' Yuri said. 'Anyway, that's why he came to me. That's also why we're using this abandoned clubroom as a temporary base and hideout.'

I was speechless. Noda had come face-to-face with an attacking shadow… Something I would never have imagined happening in the real world… You go through middle school, high school and college in the real world. You don't fight menacing shadows with an axe or a gun.

But as much as I didn't want to believe it, I couldn't shake the feeling it was all true. Yuri wouldn't waste her time cooking up something as meaningless as an elaborate hoax. Besides, Noda's injury looked genuine.

'Someone has obviously been using the Angel Player software in the real world to alter the world as he pleases. Shadows are already bad enough, but who knows what will be in store for us if we don't take action now.' Yuri took a deep breath. 'That's why tonight we're going on our first operation! This is a dual operation. Operation: Girl Scouts and Operation: Retrieval will commence at the same time tonight.'

The giant monitor behind Yuri flashed and showed the layout of our school's main building. 'Operation: Girl Scouts will take place in the school. Kanade and I will be in charge of finding the culprit. We'll be scouting and searching the school for potential evidence. Even if we can't find the culprit, a copy of the Angel Player software will be enough to ascertain our suspicions.'

'Hey, wait,' I demanded. 'Putting aside the question of whether someone can really use a piece of computer software to alter the current world and assuming you're right, how do you know the culprit is in the school?'

'I don't,' Yuri said. 'But since abnormalities take place here, the school is our only lead right now.'

Well, I guess that makes sense… 'Then I assume Noda and I will be a part of the "Retrieval Team"? What do we do?'

'Gather our teammates. Do whatever you need to track them down. Sneak into the teachers' lounge and take a look at the class roster. Noda came to me a few days ago and you two were hard to miss after yesterday's incident. But I haven't had time to check out all the students here yet. Maybe some of our teammates are here. Your job is to find them out and drag them here.'

'Are you serious?'

'Of course!' Yuri said and slammed her hand on the wooden table. 'This school is in a crisis, and four members aren't going to be enough. We need our entire team back. It'll help if you can think of something that can jog their memories, but I guess that can wait until after you've dragged them here.'

Yuri put both hands on the table and her expression became even more serious. 'We're restarting the Afterlife Battlefront.'

Thanks so much for reading this. R&R