Chapter 10
Tachibana Kanade
I start packing my things as soon as the final bell rings. I've never felt this anxious to get out of school before. I usually pay a visit to the student council room after school and handle anything that needs to be done before leaving, but today is different. I can't wait to get home and look further into Angel Player, and hopefully discover my past identity in the process.
Just to ensure I don't appear to have disappeared without a trace, I head to the student council room to see if the vice president or any of the officers are there. Luckily, the same officer who first reported Yuzuru's attack to me is present. I tell her that I won't be staying back today and ask her to handle whatever work she is capable of. There shouldn't be so much that I can't catch up when I return tomorrow.
Having settled that, I head back to the front entrance of the school building. Just as I'm putting on my outdoor shoes, I notice Yuzuru standing just beyond the entrance, talking with someone I assume is Hinata, judging by the distinctive shade of blue of his hair. I smile to myself. At least things seem to be going well on his side. Seeing that they seem to be preoccupied with the antics of a pink-haired girl who must have been with Hinata before, I quickly slip through the door in the other direction, heading towards the front gate. There's no point in distracting Yuzuru at the moment; he seems to be handling things well.
As I pass the street on which I was attacked just a day ago, my mind wanders to the mystery attacker who I assume was the same one who attacked both Yuzuru and me. Apparently he disappeared into thin air after I escaped he hasn't been heard or seen since, as far as official reports go. If there had been any other attempts on the school's students, at least the teachers or the student council should have heard about it. The mysterious way in which he moved, and his apparently empty personality, as if he was just some shell manipulated by a not-so-human entity, has aroused my suspicion that he may really not be from this world at all. The resurfacing of old memories and reunion of the old group seem to add to the likelihood that it all comes from, or leads back to, the afterworld.
I safely reach the front doors of my home, and I realize I had been unconsciously preparing myself for any kind of attack again for a while now. The subconscious release of the tension from my shoulders is nevertheless obvious. It's like my body is breathing a sigh of relief for not having to go through another surprise workout. Yet, despite feeling more relaxed physically, I can't help from having a strange sense of foreboding that this may literally be the calm before the storm. Something is telling me that after having been attacked with the attackers suffering no real harm, there is no logical reason for them to suddenly disappear and not continue pursuing their targets. Especially considering the unusual growth from the time Yuzuru was attacked to when I was attacked, if what Yuzuru reports is accurate, a full day is probably enough for that person to reach near superhuman capabilities.
No matter how anxious I was to get home, I find myself taking things a little slowly out of habit. It really is against my nature to rush, and I suddenly feel like preparing a true meal after skimming over dinner yesterday. After all, I tell myself, I'll still have the rest of the night remaining.
I prepare all the ingredients and put them over the stove in a pot for them to slowly cook. After that, I go over to switch my computer on in advance. Just out of pure habit, I first check my mail and daily schedules for anything that I may have to do, especially specific cases from the student council that I would have missed today. The student council has set up a system where any important matters can be instantly forwarded to the administrative members. This is actually very efficient in a way, but it constantly reminds me of how hard it could be to escape matters regarding the school ever since I started as the student council president.
There is one thing I do notice though. The icon that should belong to Angel Player still remains where it was before, but somehow it appears to have changed. What was a plain blue background before is now a nice shaded halo of silver and blue, and the silhouette… it really seems strange, but I think it has now distinctly become a silhouette of someone exactly like me. It's like seeing my shadow with wings. Even before I attempt to open it again, I have a feeling that this time, it wouldn't be just a dummy shortcut.
My train of thoughts is interrupted by the sound of boiling and the aroma of my curry drifting out of the kitchen. I leave my computer and hurry to the kitchen. I was so absorbed that I forgot to check on my cooking. How careless. Anyway, it doesn't seem to be burnt so it's fine. I fill a plate with rice and curry and sit down to eat. Once again it occurs to me how unusual it feels to have life literally overturned just a day ago with weird events happening all around, and today everything appears to have returned to normal with the exception of the conversations between me and Yuzuru. I'm even sitting down having dinner as always while yesterday I couldn't even think about spending time to cook anything.
I finish my dinner and hurriedly clear the dishes up. I can't deny it anymore; my curiosity has gotten the better of me and I can't wait to see what Angel Player will be like today. Somehow that change must mean something – it can't still be the same dummy shortcut as it was yesterday. I sit down at my desk and try to open Angel Player.
After a tense wait, I see a loading animation showing the same figure in the icon spreading its wings while the background glow increases in intensity. Yes! It's finally working! I feel a very unusual urge to jump up and celebrate. It's so unlike me to get so excited over something that I feel like laughing at myself. I have to calm down. I take a deep breath and look at the screen again.
There it is. Angel Player in all its glory. I mean that literally. The blue interface with white highlights just looks so elegant. And now, the figure displayed in the center of the screen is undoubtedly my own silhouette; it almost feels like looking at my own shadow when I stand in front of a light source. The most interesting part however is a list labeled as "Skills" that sits beside the silhouette. As I look through it I see familiar names everywhere. Hand Sonic. As I select it, two white blades grow out of the silhouette's hands while a submenu with Ver 1 through Ver 5 listed on it appears. Suddenly, the image of me stabbing Yuzuru with one of the blades flashes vividly before my eyes.
I select another item listed as Harmonics. The normally black silhouette splits into two, with the second one colored a bright red. At the same time, a memory of an intense inner struggle with some alternate personalities surfaces. Apparently I was lucky to have been myself after all that. I quickly look through all the skills listed there. Distortion, Delay, Overdrive. As I see the visual representations of each of these skills, more and more memories resurface until I feel like I've been reborn. The old me that lived in that afterlife… finally I see why I was seen as an angel, even a messenger of God. Now I realize that I never really discovered the origin of Angel Player. From what I can remember so far, I simply found it in one of the old unused computer labs when I was looking around shortly after becoming student council president. I figured out how to use it with some experimentation and the growing need to defend myself, especially after the SSS was formed.
Actually, now that I think about it, I notice one obvious parallel between the current me and the "Angel" me. I became the student council president, both here and in the afterlife. Somehow, it just happened so naturally both times that I barely thought about it. Apparently I seem to be destined to be student council president no matter what. I smile to myself as I think about it. I wonder what this says about me as a person.
So now I've finally rediscovered Angel Player. Why did it show up on my computer in the first place? Unless I'm very much mistaken, Angel Player's functions would only be able to manifest themselves in the afterworld. I don't really know how everything there works, but I'm quite sure whatever mechanism it utilizes wouldn't work very well in the real world. Besides, I can't really imagine what I would need it for, though defending myself from the likes of that zombie attacker seems the most likely.
Actually, there is a way to determine if Angel Player works in this world. It's so simple, especially since I was the sole user Angel Player was calibrated to. I form a picture of the twin blades I had so often used before in my mind.
"Hand Sonic."
Immediately one blade grows from behind each of my wrists, serving as natural extensions of my hands but not inhibiting their use. As I stare at the blades, shimmering with an almost otherworldly quality, I slowly realize that the matter is most likely more serious than we could have imagined. Angel Player and its capabilities have somehow materialized into the real world, together with the attacker who I'm now positive must have come from the afterlife or some other dimension as well. This definitely is not something that should be happening. I'll have to contact Yuzuru and tell him to bring as many of the old group together as possible.