Chapter 14
Otonashi Yuzuru

The bell signaling the end of the school day rings and I snap back to reality. I had been dozing off from the monotonous drone of the teacher's voice. The day has actually been uneventful so far despite Yuri's predictions of something happening and caution to stay alert. What did she expect to happen anyway? Sure, I still feel the heavy atmosphere, but it doesn't seem to weigh as much on me as it did at first. But when I look around at the students, most of them seem to look extremely fatigued. From the look on some of their faces, I doubt that they learned anything from the last two periods.

I turn my attention towards the window, looking up at the sky. That's when I notice something strange. To make sure I'm not hallucinating, I press my face against the window and look more closely. Sure enough, I see a small flicker in the clouds. It looks a little like static on a television screen, but the distortion obviously consists of squares, like pixels on a low quality video. This definitely qualifies as strange. I'm sure no natural phenomenon would distort the sky into pixel-like fragments. It's still small enough to go unnoticed if you're not paying attention, which is probably why the students leaving the school are still acting normally.

I'm sure this qualifies as something unusual enough for Yuri to take notice. I wonder if she has noticed the same thing. Anyway, I'd better go check on her to see if she's had any luck with Takeyama at the very least. I'd like to get everyone together as soon as possible, as I'm sure what Kanade, as well as everyone involved has to say is quite important in getting to the bottom of recent events.

I make my way to Yuri's class. Before I get there, I can already hear her voice, speaking in urgent tones to somebody I guess must be Hinata because I hear a third person who must be Yui, judging from her tone and… Yui being herself.

I turn the last corner and see the trio standing opposite each other, Yui at Hinata's side. I wouldn't want to be involved in an argument, if that's what it was, but I need to talk to them as well. I decide to feign ignorance and walk up to them casually.

"Hi. What are you all talking about?"

"Ah, Otonashi-kun. We were discussing the possible number of people we could get together here. Not everyone who was with us before seems to be in the same school, and it would be near impossible to trace them if they end up being in another school or town."

"Even if we can get everyone we know in this school together, it doesn't mean that they are all battle ready, which I think we have to be based on the people who attacked you and Kanade," Hinata adds.

"What do you mean?" I ask, a little confused.

"Girls Dead Monster are all present, but as we all know they never specially trained for fighting. We were a diversionary group, and I don't think diversions are much use in our current situation," Yui comments.

"That's one of the problems," Yuri says. "Another one is actually equipping those who are capable of fighting. Our main weapons in the afterlife were firearms, and I don't think we can build weapons out of dirt and memories anymore. Even if we could, we may endanger other people depending on where we have to use them."

I think I understand what they are getting at. "So, we may have to switch to another method of attack?"

"The only other likely way is for all of us to go melee, but that would present another problem as well. Not everyone is suited for melee combat, and we don't know exactly what we are going against or what they are capable of. I think only Kanade-chan and myself are able to fight at close range as we are now."

"But Kanade's physical abilities were enhanced by Angel Player right? We don't know if…" I trail off. I did hear from Kanade that Angel Player materialized, giving her the same active abilities she had in the afterlife. I didn't hear about the passive ones, especially the physical enhancement, but I could assume that they are active too. If they are, then all is good, but if not, probably Yuri is the only one who can fight at close quarters naturally.

"You're right," Yuri says thoughtfully. She probably thought I was going to say that Angel Player doesn't exist here. No one else knows about it yet. "If she doesn't have Angel Player's enhancement, we don't know what she is capable of."

"Yuri. Kanade has something important to tell everyone who's a part of this. We should wait until our general meeting before making any decisions or conclusions."

"Really? I suppose it's best to let everyone know at the same time, though I'd really like to know the details now."

"Actually, there's something else I need to tell you. Have you seen the sky recently? Something strange is happening to it."

"What?"

Yuri immediately rushes to the nearest window and looks up at the sky. After staring at it for a moment, she lets out a loud exclamation.

"This is bad. That looks exactly like the interference that shows when the shadows we fought before formed or dispersed. It does look like the afterlife we were in has something or other to do with this. There can't be such a huge coincidence. I'll try to set the meeting as soon as possible. For now, let's have everyone we know be present, including Girls Dead Monster. We'll resolve any issues we have there."