Okay so, I've made my decision to forsake the epilogue so sorry to anyone who was hoping for one but it's fine without. I've finished this story now and I'll just be uploading like, every day or something till it's done.

I've handed in all my assignments save for Chemistry so I'm going to have more time for studying for tests, writing my own story and doing these. Basically, I'm going to have more time so that's great. I'll probably be going to finally do my Kingdom Hearts requests. I'll get those out of the way, upload them and then worry about what story to do next after that. So, if you're a reader of my requests for KH then I guess you have something to look forward to in the next century when I finally start uploading them.

Anyway, I don't own Angel Beats.

Hope you all enjoy this chapter too.

Chapter Ten: Reddened Memory

"Ah Otonashi, come here."

The red head turned to his mother, an eyebrow raised in question as he walked over. "Is something the matter?"

"No, no, nothing's wrong. We're going to the Coast at the start of the holiday though, so you'll need to pack your bag for it, that's all."

Otonashi perked up at that, "we're going on a holiday? How long?"

His mother tapped a finger on her chin thoughtfully, sweeping red hair behind her with a habitual flick of her head. "Well, we'll be catching the train on Sunday in the first week, then we'll be coming back at the end of the holidays on a Thursday, so that would be…"

He froze, "what was that?"

"Well, it should be around eleven days."

"No, not that. Did you say we'd be going by train?"

His mother frowned, "well of course we are. How else are we supposed to get there?"

Otonashi attempted a small smile, shaking his head and trying to ignore the discomforted feeling swelling in his chest, as though something terrible would happen if he went on that train, "it's nothing, I wasn't thinking I guess."

His mother gave him a bewildered look but didn't say anything else for which Otonashi was grateful.

Because if she had asked him about it, he wouldn't have been able to explain.

Nothing else was said on the matter of the trip to the coast. But the issue prayed on Otonashi's mind and he found himself dreading it with every day that it came closer, the same way Hinata dreaded going to the dentist for some inexplicable reason.

For the first time, Otonashi wished that the holidays would never come. He would be perfectly content to continue attending school, he'd even willingly take on several more assignments if it gave him an excuse to not go on the vacation with his family.

Unfortunately, no such blessing arose, and the clock continued to count down.

"Hey Otonashi, are you okay? You've been acting kind of…" Hinata trailed off as he tried to find the proper word to explain, "well, you know, weird."

Naoi spoke up from where he was sitting on the bench eating his lunch, "though it pains me to say it – more than anything else ever has before, I agree with the monkey, Oto. You have seemed a little… off lately, are you alright?"

Before Otonashi could reply, Naoi jumped up, determination flashing in his eyes, "if there is something troubling you, please do not hesitate to tell me! I will do anything within my power to help you," he cried.

Hinata stood up, "hey, that's my line!"

The two glared at each other, their typical rivalry momentarily causing them to forget their initial concern.

But when their argument wasn't broken up by their red headed friend, they begin to worry even more, turning back to the boy who was simply eating his lunch quietly, in an alarmingly subdued manner.

Hinata sat down next to him, "listen Oto, you really can tell us if something's wrong you know."

The boy looked up from his lunch, glancing between his two close friends for a few moments before smiling slightly, "I appreciate the gesture, it's nothing serious though, so don't worry about it."

A ticket flying away from his reach.

"It's nothing though, I've just been thinking about a lot of stuff I suppose."

An intense pain in his side. No time to worry about it.

"Oto, even if you don't think it's anything to worry about, we would like to know, if you're fine with telling us," Naoi insisted to which Hinata nodded emphatically.

Ever since his mother had brought up the train ride, Otonashi had been having weird flashes, odd memories – or rather, whispers of memories, nothing tangible enough for him to understand, but still enough for him to feel frightened and confused. But looking at the concern on the faces of his two friends, Otonashi felt comforted, and for the first time since the talk with his mother, the clutter in his mind died down a little.

He gave them a genuine smile, "thank you, I feel a little better as it is now."

He wasn't sure why he had such an odd phobia to trains, but he figured he wouldn't get over it by just leaving it be.

And with that decision, Otonashi began thinking about all the things he would do at the coast.

So this is sort of short.

And yes, they have vague memories of things. No, they're not going to remember, it's not that kind of fic, reincarnation isn't normally something that you remember I don't think.

Also, it might be out of nowhere but I can Naoi and Hatsune being a good ship. It's not going to happen in this story, but you know. It's a thought.