A/N: Alright, everyone! It's time to close out last chapter's shocking cliffhanger! What do you think will happen to Fuuta now that he's been shot by Sadahiro? Your answers, and a bunch more, will be answered with this chapter! Oh, and let's not forget that this is probably another chapter you've all been waiting for! I won't give you guys any more details, but I think you'll enjoy what happens here. ;)
Oh, and one last little addendum! I urge you all to check my profile, especially if you have an account here. I don't think I should go into any specifics here, but let's just say that there's a little problem going about that's affecting users here. It's best if you learn more on my profile.
ENJOY!
CHAPTER 23: ...AGAIN!, PART 3 OF 3
Afterlife Name - Post-Afterlife Name
Yuri Nakamura - Kimiko Nishimura
Masami Iwasawa - Hasumi Itagaki
Hinata Hideki - Naotatsu Yunokawa
Ayato Naoi - Fuuta Ukiyo
Noda - Noriya Noguchi
Hisako - Masako Watanabe
Miyuki Irie - Hitomi Saito
Shiori Sekine - Saori Inoue
Yui - Yumie Matsushina
Matsushita - Mutsuto Fujikawa
Eri Shiina - C
Takeyama - Touya Hamada
Fujimaki - Fuyuhiko Ezakiya
Chaa - Chazawa
RESPONSE_PROTOCOL_ACTIVATED
RESPONSE_PROTOCOL_ACTIVATED
RESPONSE_PROTOCOL_ACTIVATED
RESPONSE_PROTOCOL_ACTIVATED
RESPONSE_PROTOCOL_ACTIVATED
Last Stop Apartments
BANG!
Otonashi felt his heart stop beating as soon as Fuuta fell over in a split-second, crimson quickly blossoming on his torso, his eyes empty. He didn't hear or see anything else in that gut-wrenching moment, just his good friend crumpling to the ground, dead before he could even reach him. For a moment, he remembered that one man who died in the tunnels with him and Igarashi.
He wasn't able to save him back then...and now, he couldn't save Naoi and Fuuta at the same time...
Then, as an uncontrollable fire started to burn in his mind, the redhead saw Sadahiro Hashimoto aim his smoking AR-15 directly at him and the others.
"I will not allow you children to meddle in my grand plans any longer," he snarled, his voice disturbingly calm for a man who had just shot a child in cold blood.
Hasumi, Masako, Hitomi, and Saori all raised their guns at the same time, but Sadahiro fired first. Everyone but Kanade ran out of the way of the gunfire, while Kanade herself tried to dash towards Sadahiro, her Hand Sonic blades activated. Sadahiro saw her coming and focused all of his fire on her, but the silver-haired girl activated her Distortion ability, which easily deflected all of the bullets coming her way. Sadahiro's eyes widened with disbelief, but the automatic gunfire didn't falter for one second.
But then, it finally stopped. As soon as she reached Sadahiro's position, Kanade deactivated Distortion and swung one of her blades. Sadahiro took a step backward, just as the AR-15 was knocked into the air, splitting cleanly in half. This gave Otonashi the opportunity to make a mad dash for Fuuta's fallen body.
Then, Kanade tried to thrust her other blade into Sadahiro's thigh, but the larger, more muscular man stepped out of the way of her attack. He then pulled out his M1911A1 pistol from his belt and fired three times at Kanade's legs, but she instinctively reactivated Distortion, deflecting all three bullets. Sadahiro's eyes widened with alarm, and he emptied out the pistol into Kanade's shield, without any success in penetrating it.
"What the...?" he asked.
With the M1911A1 empty, Kanade deactivated Distortion again and tried to stab Sadahiro's other thigh. But he pulled out one of his tactical knives and swung his own blade downward. Both blades met, and Sadahiro's strength was enough to force to force Kanade's Hand Sonic downward by a few inches, knocking her off-balance. Then, Sadahiro tried to pierce Kanade's shoulder, but the girl activated Delay, allowing her to outmaneuver the blade and temporarily blind the evil cult leader with a shower of illusory glass shards.
Taking advantage of Sadahiro's distraction, Kanade tried to stab his thigh yet again, but he recovered quickly, dropped the M1911A1, and pulled out his Uzi submachine gun. Without a second thought, Kanade reactivated Distortion, just in time to avoid yet another hail of gunfire.
Then, at the corner of her eye, Kanade saw Hasumi quickly taking aim with her own M1911A1. After steadying her grip, the pink-haired girl fired once, striking Sadahiro in the back of the leg. He grunted a little, but Kanade was surprised to not see any actual pain in his expression. She was about to charge and subdue Sadahiro, but all of a sudden, he threw his empty Uzi at Hasumi's direction, forcing her to duck.
And then, he pulled out a Norinco Type 56 assault rifle and started firing off extremely loud rounds. Hasumi covered her ears and was sent scrambling for cover. Masako, Hitomi, and Saori fired their own guns at him, but Sadahiro's ballistic armor kept absorbing the impact of their bullets, allowing him to continue firing unimpeded.
When Sadahiro ran out of ammo, Kanade charged at him yet again. But his pupils darted at her direction, and he pulled out a Steyr TMP with one hand. Once again, the silver-haired girl protected herself from the bullets with Distortion. She gritted her teeth at being unable to land a close-range hit on him; he always seemed to anticipate her next move, and he was wearing advanced ballistic armor that prevented pistol ammo from incapacitating him.
He must've been informed of their weaponry and newfound fighting capabilities, and thus knew to come prepared.
She heard Sadahiro curse under his breath when the TMP ran out of ammo. Then, as he reloaded both the Type 56 and the TMP, the businessman snarled, "I don't know what kind of technology you're using, Chouko, or how you acquired it, though I assume it originates from this crime-infested cesspool. Still, you're a coward to use these measures against me, your own father."
"And you're a coward for doing all of these terrible things to innocent people," Kanade spat back, her cold voice sending chills down the spines of Noriya, Hasumi, Masako, Hitomi, and Saori. "So consider us even."
Sadahiro's eyes widened with surprise at Kanade's harsh and unforgiving tone. Kanade couldn't help but proudly smirk a little at the prospect of presenting Chouko as a stronger individual in the presence of her oppressive father.
But then, the businessman's eyes narrowed again, and he suddenly growled, "Who the hell are you?"
...
Kanade blinked with shock. "Wh-What?"
"You're not Chouko," snarled Sadahiro. "My daughter would never act and speak like that. Never. Not even after all that I have done. She may have rebuffed my beliefs when I first revealed them to her, but she would never resist them like this."
The girl struggled to get back into character. "Y-You're pathetic, Dad, if you think-"
"I've raised Chouko for her entire life, you low-class amoeba!" Sadahiro snapped, cutting Kanade off. "I know every last detail about her, all the way down to her very mannerisms! First and foremost, she would NEVER have called me by that pathetic label of 'Dad'!"
"Oh, no..." Kanade thought, the magnitude of her mistake immediately dawning upon her.
"You...You had me fooled for a moment, girl, but your cover is slipping." Sadahiro clenched his fists so tightly that they were trembling. Your tactics are low and disgraceful. Now, answer me, impostor!" He aimed his Norinco rifle at Kanade's chest. "Who the hell are you, and where is Chouko?! And how did you manage to copy so many of her details?!"
Kanade didn't want to answer Sadahiro's demand, but she knew her cover was blown now. She mentally berated herself for not asking Chouko for some simple information on how to act around her father. Now, she was pitted in a tight corner and unable to explain her way out of this dilemma.
How could she tell this man that Chouko was indeed in front of him, but only physically, not spiritually?! This malevolent man, who was actively trying to kill her friends and Otonashi at this very moment, who had just shot Naoi's reincarnated form?! Her claims would just be met with blazing gunfire before she could even finish her first sentence.
When he only got silence as a response, Sadahiro gritted his teeth and opened fire.
"FINE!" he roared, as he watched the bullets bounce off of Kanade's Distortion and clatter to the asphalt in small piles. "I will just kill you, however I could, and find her myself! And I will tear your pathetic little friends apart, one by one, in the process, just like I did to that Fuuta boy! I will not allow you to corrupt Chouko's mind any longer!"
"AAAAAGGGGGHHHHH!"
Sadahiro was suddenly pelted by another hail of gunfire. Kanade looked to her right and saw Otonashi dashing towards them both, his Glock firing wildly. He had just dragged Fuuta's body to a safe location, where it was being tended to by Masako, Hitomi, and Saori.
With his ballistic armor catching much of Otonashi's bullets, Sadahiro raised the Steyr TMP and fired at the redhead. His opponent rolled out of the way and fired twice. The first bullet hit Sadahiro's protected leg, but the second one hit him in his unprotected shoulder, causing the businessman to cry out in furious anguish. He glared at his wound as blood already began to leak out, and then he cast a vengeful stare at Otonashi. The redhead pulled the trigger of his Glock again, but was only met with an empty click.
"Oh, shit!" Otonashi cried in alarm.
He scrambled to pull out another magazine, but Sadahiro already raised the Norinco and fired again. Fortunately, Kanade jumped in front of Otonashi in the nick of time and activated Distortion, protecting them both from the bullets. A second later, the Norinco stopped firing and smoke leaked out of the barrel.
"BLAZES!" shrieked Sadahiro in outrage.
Another second later, seven bullets were fired. Three struck Sadahiro in his ballistic vest, powerfully enough to knock the large man back a little, while the other four struck the Norinco, disabling it. Then, Noriya sped past Otonashi and Kanade and tried to slash Sadahiro with his machete. But the businessman reacted quickly and caught the blade with the useless body of the Norinco, holding it upward with both hands despite his shoulder wound.
"Heh, wow," the purple-haired delinquent remarked, as he tried to press down on the Norinco with both of his hands on the machete, despite his own shoulder wound. "And to think, I thought you were just some stuck-up rich guy with a lot of damn time on his hands."
"I remember you too," growled Sadahiro. "You were that delinquent who sullied my manor with your mere presence and lecherous acts." He withdrew his left hand from the Norinco, pulled out his .38 Smith & Wesson revolver, and aimed it at the boy's chest. "I will have no qualms over killing you next- OOF!"
Hasumi had positioned herself next to Otonashi and Kanade, reloaded her gun, and fired again at Sadahiro's protected but exposed side, knocking him back with the power of her .45-caliber bullets. Once the large man dropped the Norinco and the .38 revolver, Noriya dramatically spun around in a circle and slashed at Sadahiro in the process. Not only did he leave a considerable gash in his ballistic vest, but he also cut off Sadahiro's load-bearing vest, quickly depriving him of easy access to his extra magazines, knives, and gas canisters.
However, once the load-bearing vest landed on the rough asphalt, the air rang out with a sharp snap. Moments later, the street started to fill with smoke: one of Sadahiro's gas canisters had been activated from the impact.
Sensing an opportunity, Sadahiro ran into the billowing smoke, whilst Noriya fled from it, coughing a little.
"Kanade!" Otonashi cried.
"I got it!" replied Kanade, split-seconds before she dashed after Chouko's father.
But once she was fully immersed and saw nothing but bone-gray, Kanade felt her lungs fill with a nasty stench, and she covered her nose and mouth with her elbow, all the while coughing. She strained her eyes in an attempt to see through the smoke, but it was an unsuccessful endeavor. She could hear nothing but the continuous hiss of the gas canister.
Just as she was about to use one of her other Guard Skills, Kanade heard a small piece of asphalt break beside her, and reacted just in time, blocking Sadahiro's tactical knife with her Hand Sonic. But the businessman refused to desist, and he put more and more strength into his attempted blow. Kanade stared into his face, which was now clad with a black gas mask and ballistic helmet retrieved from one of his accomplices.
But she could see his eyes, and they were now alive with insanity.
"Tell me where Chouko is, you filthy impostor!" he snarled.
"I will not!" Kanade shouted back. "I will protect her from you, no matter WHAT!"
She aimed her other blade at Sadahiro's chest and, with a cry, thrust it forward with all of her might. He saw the attack coming and jumped away, but not quickly enough. About a third of the weapon managed to bypass the ballistic vest and embed itself into his chest for about a second before Sadahiro withdrew his flesh from it.
"ACK!" Sadahiro groaned. He clutched his wound with his left hand, and blood started trickling from between his fingers. After looking at it in shock for a couple of seconds, the mad businessman looked back up at Kanade. "You...You're going to pay dearly for that, you bi-!"
He was cut off by a bullet that struck his helmet. His head snapped to the right, allowing Kanade to charge forward. But Sadahiro quickly recovered and swung his knife, parrying Kanade's blow.
A knife fight ensued. Kanade and Sadahiro swung at each other repeatedly, only for the other to parry their blows, one after another. Their actions were nearly a blur as one tried to incapacitate the other.
From a distance, Otonashi tried to aim his Glock again in spite of the fog of smoke. But now, Kanade and Sadahiro were locked in combat, their nearly indistinguishable forms almost melding into one with their lack of distance. He wanted to help Kanade, but he didn't want to risk accidentally shooting her.
"This smoke," he thought with gritted teeth. "It's interfering with my sights. If only it were gone..."
An idea came to his mind, and he cried out loud, "KANADE! Use one of your Guard Skills! Get rid of the smoke! I almost have a clear shot!"
"Okay," Kanade replied in her thoughts. The appropriate Guard Skill immediately entered her head soon after. "Over-"
She was unable to complete the incantation, for Sadahiro swung his tactical knife down at her again, forcing her to parry with both Hand Sonic blades. She then kicked Sadahiro hard in the leg and tried fleeing. However, the pain didn't daunt her determined opponent, who pursued her with a half-limp.
"Over-"
"ARGH!"
Kanade blocked another killing blow by Sadahiro.
"You think you can wear me down, huh?" he snarled. "Kanade?"
The silver-haired girl felt her very soul squirm uncomfortably at this villain addressing her by name.
"So that's your name. Kanade." He sneered madly. "Well, let me tell you something, Kanade. I may be new to the act of killing, but I think I will take the greatest of pleasures in taking your life. I will punish you for disrespecting the name of my daughter by taking it for yourself.
"And after I am done with you, I will find out your surname, and then I shall have my associates track down your family. And once they do, I will have them torture them, slowly and painfully, until they beg to be put out of their misery. But I will give my associates special instructions to deprive your loved ones of this. I will see to it that they die slowly and in the most pathetic way possible! They will curse you as they die! I will see all of these things through to the end, FOR I AM SADAHIRO HASHIMOTO!"
He broke through Kanade's defense and stabbed her in the stomach.
Split-seconds later, she exploded into more illusory shards, while the real Kanade appeared right behind him and stabbed him in the back.
"AAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!" he roared.
"It's a good thing you mentioned that," Kanade replied calmly, "because I have no family here. Overdrive."
With astonishing ease, she lifted Sadahiro into the air with her blade, eliciting a gurgled moan of agony from him. Then, she dug one of her feet into the asphalt ground and started spinning, taking Sadahiro along with her. As Kanade spun, her body started to glow blue, and the mighty force of her spinning movements started to create a whirlwind in no time. The whirlwind immediately dispelled the smoke from Sadahiro's gas canister, blowing it away into nothingness. Even all of the trash in the neighborhood was blown away, leaving the street surprisingly clean.
Noriya, Hasumi, Masako, Hitomi, and Saori all watched the unfolding scene with utter bewilderment. Their hair fluttered wildly from the blasts of air, and they narrowed their eyes at the bright, blue light.
"Oh. My. God," Masako, Hitomi, and Saori all said at once.
As for Otonashi, who was closest to the action, he smiled with love and wonder at the silver-haired girl.
"That's Kanade for you," he thought.
Once Kanade stopped spinning, she looked at Sadahiro's limp, seemingly lightweight body. The businessman's face was frozen with an absolutely comical expression of shock and terror, and his limbs hung loosely like those of a marionette. Kanade merely shrugged and threw him off her blade, sending him tumbling a couple of feet across the asphalt. Once he stopped, he merely laid still, still overcome by the otherworldly experience.
Then, Kanade approached Otonashi, breathing out a small sigh of relief as she did so.
"In the Afterlife or in the real world," the redheaded boy said, "you still amaze me."
Kanade merely smiled up at him, just as her blades disappeared.
Just then, Masako cried out, "Hey, guys! He's still alive!"
Otonashi and Kanade didn't waste anymore time. Without checking on Sadahiro, they ran over to Masako, Hitomi, and Saori, followed by Noriya and Hasumi.
"He's alive?!" Otonashi exclaimed with relief.
"Yeah, but I think he's barely hanging on." Masako looked at Fuuta with confusion and terror. "I-If we don't get him to a hospital, we're gonna lose him!"
Fuuta suddenly coughed violently, and blood spurted out from his mouth. Specks of it traveled far enough to land on his shirt and Hitomi's skirt, causing the girl to grimace.
"Hang in there, Naoi- I mean, Fuuta!" Otonashi cried. "We'll get you help-"
"Ch-Ch..." Fuuta struggled. "Chou...Chooooouuuuu...keeeee..."
"Chou-kee?" Hasumi asked, looking at Kanade. "Isn't that-?"
Kanade blinked once.
"Fuuta?!" Chouko suddenly exclaimed. Ignoring the shock of Otonashi and the others, she knelt down beside Fuuta and placing his head on her lap. "Fuuta! Wh-What? What happened to you?!"
"Just...trying...to protect you..." Fuuta weakly took Chouko's hand and held it. "I...screwed up, though..."
The teenager coughed again, prompting Chouko to say, "No, you didn't, Fuuta." She tried her best to smile. "You...Y-You did great! You've always did great!" Her eyes started to well up with tears. "I...I never got to show you my g-gratitude, Fuuta! Never! Not even after what I learned about...F...F...Fa...Fa..."
Fuuta grinned weakly and interrupted, "Oh, get on with it, Chou-kee..."
"You've always been there for me, Fuuta! For much of my life, you were the only person my age that I could talk to! I-I know all we ever did was argue, and all I ever wanted back then was for you to...to...to shut up!"
Fuuta chuckled a little, amused to hear Chouko say such a phrase.
"But...but now you're the only one left in my life, Fuuta! Mother's dead, F-F-Father's betrayed me, Junna's dead..."
"I'm sorry, Chouko..." Fuuta interrupted, his voice getting weaker. "I guess...life's just...unfair...sometimes..."
Chouko's eyes widened with horror, as did the others'. "No, Fuuta! Please live! Please!" The tears started to drip from her golden eyes. "I want us to argue again! I want you to keep calling me by that irritating name again! I...I want things to be the way they used to! Please..."
A pale-skinned Fuuta raised his trembling hand and took a lock of Chouko's silver hair.
"Chouko..." he gurgled.
"F-Fuuta?!"
"Ch-Ch-Chouko..."
Fuuta tried to get more words out of his mouth, but Chouko could tell his willpower was giving out quickly. She saw the light quickly fading from his eyes... Chouko started to hyperventilate; her golden eyes were trembling badly.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
An unseen force suddenly pushed Otonashi, Noriya, Hasumi, Masako, Hitomi, and Saori backward, a couple of feet away from Chouko and Fuuta's body. Otonashi was the first to get back on his feet, and he looked at Chouko...who was now glowing a sickly red aura.
"Kanade?!" he called out of instinct. "Kanade! Kanade!"
But Chouko didn't respond, and at that moment, Otonashi realized who he was talking to. Mentally berating himself for making that mistake, the redhead then took a few apprehensive steps towards her.
"Chouko!" he called. "Chouko!"
But Chouko still didn't hear his voice. She was now crying loudly, and the red aura was engulfing her, growing stronger. As Otonashi grew closer and closer, he felt its force...and it felt familiar somehow...
Once he got close enough, he slowly reached a hand outward and placed it on her shoulder.
"CHOUKO!" Takahashi called.
There was another powerful pulse, which sent the redhead flying a second time. Right afterwards, the red aura quickly subsided, rising up into the air in a column and dissipating in the sky after flaring brightly for a minute...and then the neighborhood was silent and still again.
Kimiko, Naotatsu, Yumie, Mutsuto, C, Asahara, Hiroto, and Royama all looked up at the sky. Though it was now colored in a deep hue of red, orange, and yellow from the setting Sun, there was no mistaking that strange beam of red energy that had just shot itself into the sky.
"What in the world was that?!" Hiroto exclaimed.
"It looked like it came from the Last Stop neighborhood," C replied calmly.
"The Last Stop neighborhood?" Royama repeated, his eyes widening with alarm. "You mean that place with all the bums and hobos? The Last Stop?"
"Yeah." C continued staring at the sky with a comical poker-face. "Last Stop also happens to be one of my favorite places to hang out at..."
Royama blushed and started blustering, "W-W-Well, uh, a-aside from all the b-bums and hobos and, uh, stuff, L-La-Last Stop is a, uh, fascinating place! Very beautiful place, if you're a fan of abstract expressionism! Me, personally, I'm more of a Neo-Cubist kind of guy-"
"...Do you even know what abstract expressionism and Neo-Cubism are...?" deadpanned Hiroto.
"Something to do with...wine, right...?"
"Can you stop talking about art and wine, Royama?!" Kimiko suddenly snapped, causing her redheaded friend to yelp out with surprise. "God, you sound like that one guy from that one American superhero movie! Let's just go and check it out, okay?!"
"Check it out? Over at Last Stop? Kimiko, w-what's that got to do with your missing siblings?! We don't even know what that cliched beam-in-the-sky scenario was about!"
"Beams don't just shoot into the sky like that." Kimiko looked back towards the skyline of the Last Stop area, her green eyes narrowed. "It must have something to do with it." She then started walking. "Come on, guys! Let's get over there, pronto! Naotatsu-kun, alert the rest of the club! Tell them to meet us at Last Stop!"
"Got it!" the blue-haired boy replied, whipping out a walkie-talkie from his shirt pocket.
Everyone else started following Kimiko, sans Royama, who simply stared at them dumbfounded for a moment. Then, he ran after them at a slow pace.
"Beams don't just shoot into the sky like that," he repeated to himself. "Well, not unless the world is about to end! Damn American cliches!"
Noriya, Hasumi, Masako, Hitomi, and Saori all stood up, groggy and unsure of what had just happened.
"Man, my head..." Noriya moaned. "What the hell was that all about...?"
"Are you alright, Saori-chan?!" Hitomi exclaimed as she attended to her friend, who was rubbing her own head.
"Yeah... I'm fine," replied Saori. She then looked at Hasumi and Masako. "How about you, girls?"
"We're fine too," Masako responded. She then briefly rummaged through her pockets and pulled out a single fully-loaded magazine. "Damn. I'm very low on ammo, though."
"Me too," Hasumi said groggily as she removed her last magazine from her gun and checked it. "I think I've only got two bullets left."
"I think Saori-chan and I wasted all of ours," Hitomi replied glumly.
Suddenly, a window slid open in Noriya's apartment, Chazawa's head poked out of it.
"YO!" he called angrily. "YO, NOGUCHI!"
Noriya glared up at his neighbor. "WHAT?!"
"WOULD YOU MIND KEEPING THAT SHIT DOWN?! THIS MAN'S TRYING TO HAVE FUCKING BEAUTY SLEEP!"
The delinquent shot up on his feet. "WELL, I DON'T KNOW IF YOU'VE FUCKING NOTICED, MAN, BUT THERE'S A BUNCH OF PEOPLE WHO ARE TRYING TO FUCKING KILL ME!"
"Guys, is now really the goddamn time to have your goddamn friendly banter?!" Hasumi snapped with exasperation and disbelief, but Noriya and Chazawa both ignored her.
"IT HAPPENS EVERY FUCKING DAY HERE, MAN!" Chazawa nonchalantly gazed upon the street, which was littered with bodies, weapons, and blood spatters. "YOU THINK I GIVE A SHIT?!"
"WELL, I DON'T REALLY EXPECT YOU TO, GODDAMN RETARD!"
"CALL ME A RETARD AGAIN! YOU CALL ME A GODDAMN RETARD AGAIN AND I'M GONNA COME DOWN THERE AND KILL YOU MY-FUCKING-SELF!"
"BRING IT, RETARD!"
...
...
...
Chazawa suddenly burst out into rambunctious laughter. "Good one, man!" he exclaimed, pointing down at his neighbor with a friendly smile. "Good one!"
"Oh, my God..." Masako moaned with a face-palm.
"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME, MAN?!" Noriya shrieked. "I'M BEING FUCKING SERIOUS THIS TIME!"
"Man, that must've been some fight out there!" Chazawa continued, examining Sadahiro's form in particular. "What the hell did you use? Some fireworks machines?"
"No, no, we called in Bigfoot to stir up some shit." Noriya suddenly stomped on the asphalt with disbelief. "FIREWORKS MACHINES?! ARE YOU SERIOUS, MAN?!"
"Come on, I'm sure you kicked some ass, man-"
He was suddenly cut off by a hail of gunfire. Noriya, Hasumi, Masako, Hitomi, and Saori all instinctively scrambled away, just as pieces of dirt and asphalt flew into the air. As Hitomi and Saori ducked into an alleyway for cover, Masako aimed her gun at the shooter: a recovered Sadahiro Hashimoto, who was now armed with an FN SCAR-H battle rifle taken from one of his fallen comrades.
"Oh, my God!" Chazawa shrieked, his voice cracking. "Someone really is trying to kill you, man!" He instantly withdrew back into his apartment.
"Man, I thought we killed you already?!" Noriya shouted at his attacker with exasperation. A second later, he was grazed in the shoulder by a bullet.
"Nothing takes down Sadahiro Hashimoto except for Sadahiro Hashimoto!" proclaimed the businessman, his pupils now quivering madly.
"So you're saying you can knock yourself out?" Masako asked in a deadpan voice. "That sounds stupid."
She then started firing several times at Sadahiro, but he ignored his many injuries and ran as fast as he could, avoiding them. Gritting her teeth, Masako kept firing and firing...
Until her magazine suddenly ran out of ammunition.
"Oh, crap!"
Masako struggled to reload her gun with her final magazine, but Sadahiro blindly fired a couple of times in front of her feet, prompting her to drop it. Then, he steadied his aim at her-
BANG!
Sadahiro grunted, snapped his head away, and misfired; small specks of blood flew from his temple. Masako looked at Hasumi, who was sweating and looked a little disoriented. Smoke was leaking out of her M1911A1. Then, Masako quickly noticed the bleeding cut on her friend's forehead.
"Damn..." she mumbled quietly. "I think I missed..."
Sadahiro ran his index and middle fingers across his temple and looked at their tips; they were coated in blood.
"Gee, you think?" he asked sarcastically. Then, he fired his Steyr TMP, forcing Hasumi and Masako to join their friends in the alleyway.
Noriya seized his opportunity and charged towards Sadahiro, letting out a loud, bestial war-cry as he sprinted past the unconscious bodies and discarded weapons. Sadahiro saw him coming and aimed the rifle, but only heard an empty click when he pulled the trigger.
But he refused to submit. Once Noriya reached him, machete raised, Sadahiro slapped the weapon out of his hands with the rifle itself.
"Oh, what the hell, man?!" Noriya snapped, split-seconds before his opponent struck him in the head with the butt of the rifle.
Sadahiro grinned madly as he watched the purple-haired boy fall to the ground with a grunt. He then raised the butt of the weapon again and prepared to bludgeon the stunned boy with it, when four consecutive bullets ripped through his thick and muscular arms. The FN SCAR dropped to the ground with a hard clatter, and something seemed to break inside it.
He glared at his bloodied arms for a moment, without any sign of pain, then at Otonashi, whose burgundy eyes widened with a little terror.
"Arata Takahashi," he sneered. "Ohhhhh, how I've been waiting for this moment..."
Otonashi quickly pulled the trigger again, but was also met with a mere click. He looked at his gun for a moment, then at Sadahiro, who, despite his many grievous wounds, was still going strong, surprisingly enough. Perhaps it was because of his size and muscles, or perhaps his insanity was fueling him beyond any comprehensible limit.
Or probably both.
The two stood still for a long, tense minute. Then, with a grunt, Otonashi reached into his pocket for another magazine, prompting Sadahiro to run up to him, grab him tightly by the neck, and lift him up into the air by a few inches. In the process, Otonashi accidentally dropped his Glock.
"I do not know what kind of sorcery you and your friends are capable of," Sadahiro said giddily, "but nevertheless, I shall annihilate you all. I will overcome the trials God has created for me, and I will get my daughter back. And then-"
"Trials?" croaked Otonashi. "From God?" He gritted his teeth. "You're insane."
Then, he spat in Sadahiro's face. The man clenched his own teeth, wiped the flecks of spit with his free hand, and then balled up that hand into a menacing fist...
"AAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!"
Hasumi charged forward with a metal pipe and struck Sadahiro in the back with it. But it didn't have the intended effect: the pipe broke in half instead, while Sadahiro didn't exhibit anything beyond a grimace. Gasping with terror, Hasumi then tried to stab Sadahiro in the side with her half of the pipe, but he angrily threw Otonashi into her, causing both to fall to the ground.
"I've had enough of this-" Sadahiro began, right before a small rock hit him in the head, cutting him off. Roaring out in exasperation, he stared at Hitomi and Saori, who both had a number of rocks and loose pieces of asphalt in their hands.
"You sure love to hear yourself talk, don't you?" snarled Hitomi.
"Yeah, like, shut the hell up!" Saori shrieked before throwing another rock.
Sadahiro caught the rock with his hand with a smirk. A second later, Masako appeared right behind him and struck him in the head with the butt of the FN SCAR. He stumbled a little, allowing Hitomi and Saori to pelt him with more rocks and asphalt. Masako also seized her chance to strike him in the left leg with the FN SCAR.
"ARGH!" Sadahiro whipped his head around to look at Masako, who immediately began to regret her actions. Before she could react, he grabbed her by the neck and lifted her up as well. She tried kicking him, but all it got her was a punch to the gut.
"Masako!" Hitomi squealed. She and Saori rushed forward, leaped onto Sadahiro's back, and started hitting him with the rocks in their hands, but to no effect. With his free hand, Sadahiro grabbed Hitomi by the hair, ripped her off of him, and kicked her away.
"NO!" Saori cried upon watching her friend crumple to the ground in pain. Then, she narrowed her eyes into slits. "YOU... YOU ARE GONNA PAY FOR WHAT YOU DID TO MIYUKI-CHAN!"
She immediately slammed her jagged rock down on Sadahiro's left eye.
"AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!"
Sadahiro immediately threw Masako hard into a nearby streetlight, and then grabbed Saori by the face. Before he could squeeze, though, Saori managed to bite his index finger. With another cry, the former businessman threw her off of his body and onto the asphalt street, knocking the wind out of her. The blonde looked up at his face, which was now half-bloodied thanks to her.
But before Sadahiro could do anything, Otonashi and Hasumi jumped onto his body as well, and the man stumbled away from Saori. Otonashi was pulling his hair and trying to jab his thumb down Sadahiro's injured eye, while Hasumi angrily punched at Sadahiro's injured back.
"Go down, you bastard!" Otonashi shouted furiously.
With a mighty roar, Sadahiro charged towards a wall and slammed himself hard against it, using Otonashi and Hasumi as cushions. This forced both teenagers to let go of him easily, and once they did, Sadahiro punched and stomped on both of them repeatedly until they were left squirming on the ground.
He then walked up to Noriya's machete, picked it up, and walked back towards Otonashi and Hasumi. On the way, Noriya weakly grabbed Sadahiro's ankle, but the cult leader smirked mockingly at this and tore himself away from his grip with ease. Right afterwards, Sadahiro stomped down on his back twice, subjugating the boy and allowing him to resume with his plan.
Otonashi tried to stand up, but Sadahiro slammed a foot on his back, pinning him to the ground. Next, he raised Noriya's machete, prepared to make the kill-
"NO!"
Sadahiro paused in mid-movement and looked at Chouko, who was now on her feet again. At first, he was prepared to attack again, but then, he noticed the teary, submissive look in the girl's golden eyes. Recognizing that look, he smiled.
"Well, well, well..." he said. "It looks like you really were here all along, Chouko..."
Chouko remained silent, prompting her father to continue.
"So...dissociative identity disorder, huh?" Sadahiro lowered the machete and slowly walked away from Otonashi, towards Chouko, who was backing away. "That's the only logical reason why I didn't recognize you just a minute before. It is very troubling to me that you might've had this condition all along. But do not fear!"
He held his arms out, as if welcoming his daughter into a warm, loving hug, but Chouko didn't reciprocate. "Soon, the entire country will regain the pride it once lost! After we overcome this obstacle, together, we will usher in a new era of peace and prosperity! All of Japan will look back to this glorious day with the widest and brightest of smiles! Soon, all of Japan will know the great name of Hashimoto!" Sadahiro then lowered his voice to a disturbingly gentle tone. "But only if you realize the error of your ways and choose to atone them. Come with me, my daughter. Together, we will move on to a higher plane of existence..."
Chouko merely stared at the monster she once called her father with horror, her pupils trembling. A single tear dripped from her eye, down her cheek...
Then, she blinked...and Kanade narrowed her eyes with a newfound determination.
"Never," she replied. "I will protect Chouko from you, no matter what the cost!"
Sadahiro merely scoffed. "I see, so your alternate personality has taken over again. No matter." He grinned confidently. "No overconfident alternate personality or strange sorcery can stop me! I am-!"
"Get him, girl!" another voice squeaked.
"NYAAAAA!"
A certain cat suddenly leaped onto Sadahiro's face and started clawing at it violently, eliciting a howl of pain from him. Reacting quickly, he tore the feline off his face and threw it aside with an angered yell; fortunately, the cat managed to land on her feet. But before Sadahiro could advance towards Chouko, a certain beady-eyed teenager ran up to him and stabbed him in the back with a gleaming kitchen knife.
"AGH!" Sadahiro shouted. With the knife still embedded in his back, the cult leader turned around to stare at his newest attacker...and growled with disbelief. "Ezakiya?! What in blazes do you think you're doing?!"
"It's not Ezakiya," the boy replied. "It's Fujimaki!"
Chazawa then charged forward with a large block of asphalt and threw it at Sadahiro's leg with all of the strength that he could muster. A loud and sickening snap echoed in the air.
"AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH! YOU BASTARDS!"
He grabbed Fujimaki by the collar and prepared to skewer him with Noriya's machete, but Fujimaki punched him hard in his uninjured eye, temporarily blinding him and causing him to drop the machete. This was immediately followed up by the cat Yuri pouncing on the back of Sadahiro's head and clawing at his forehead, which sent blood into both of his eyes. Sadahiro punched Fujimaki in the abdomen, getting the boy to stumble away, and then tore Yuri off in the same way as before. This time, Chazawa had to run a couple of feet to catch the cat.
With Sadahiro blinded and incapacitated for sure, this gave Otonashi and Kanade their chance to act.
Kanade dashed towards Sadahiro with her Hand Sonic blades, while Otonashi reloaded his gun and provided cover fire. Both teenagers riddled the businessman with bullets, and even though his chest and legs were still protected, his arms were being shot and grazed several times. Sadahiro let out a bestial roar of outrage and agony before falling onto his other knee from the onslaught of bullet impacts to his body.
Once Kanade passed Noriya, she slashed upward, clipping off Sadahiro's belt of extra handguns. The silver-haired girl then saw Noriya retrieve his weapon and stepped aside, allowing the delinquent to stun their opponent by hitting him in the face with the butt of his machete.
"AGH!" the man cried in pain and surprise.
Noriya tried again, but the muscular man caught his arm by the wrist, all the while ignoring the injuries to his own arm. With that, Kanade made a move for Sadahiro's uninjured leg and slashed at it. This time, her blade was able to bypass the protective legging and cut into his flesh.
"AAAGGGHHH!"
He tried to punch Noriya with his free arm, but Otonashi shot him in that shoulder.
"AAAGGGHHH!"
Noriya then elbowed his other arm with so much force that he broke it.
"AAARRRGGGHHH!"
Sadahiro then headbutted Noriya's stomach, forcing him away. Seconds later, Yuri pounced on his face and clawed at it again.
"AAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!"
He shook and jerked his head around violently, knocking the cat off. Then, he wiped the blood off his uninjured eye with one of his forearms...only for Fujimaki to sucker-punch him.
"Oof!"
The stunned Sadahiro fell to the ground on his back...which unfortunately still had Fujimaki's dagger in it.
"AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!" he roared. Then, the combined pain of all his wounds finally started to catch up to him. "Agh! Agh... Ack..."
Sadahiro grimaced and slowly writhed pathetically on the ground for a few seconds. Then, he got back up on his knees and opened his uninjured eye. At first, his sight was blurry from all of the pain. Then, once it adjusted to the best of its ability...he saw Otonashi, Kanade, Noda, Iwasawa, Hisako, Miyuki, Shiori, Fujimaki, Chazawa, and Natsumi all standing in front of him. The teenagers were aiming their weapons, while Natsumi was simply showing Yuri to him.
"You picked the wrong people to mess with, loser," Noda snarled.
"You... You..." Sadahiro snarled angrily. "You kids...aren't human!"
"You're the one here who isn't human," Otonashi spat back. "You're a monster, and we're going to stop your plans."
"It's over," Iwasawa added.
Sadahiro clenched his teeth together. Something was wrong here, and he knew it. This ragtag group was more than just your average Japanese teenager.
"Who the hell are you people?!" he asked.
Kanade stepped forward, grabbed Chouko's father by the collar, and aimed her Hand Sonic blade.
"We're the Shinda Sekai Sensen," she replied. "The SSS."
Unknown location
Tamika scooted over towards Sadahiro's worktable as fast as she could, all the while trying their best to ignore the high-pitched, bloodcurdling scraping sound being made by the legs of the chair she was tied to. Naomi had her eyes trained on the doorway, while Kaisei watched Tamika fearfully.
"Come on, Tamika-neechan!" the boy cried. "You can do it!"
"Almost there..." Tamika said.
Right now, her eyes on the old TERA take-down rifle lying on the worktable. There was a bayonet attached to it, and it glinted brightly in the dim lighting of the room. The blade was conveniently sticking out precariously from the rest of the table. Once she reached it, the middle-school student started rubbing her bonds against the bayonet.
"Yes, yes!" she cried with relief. She then intensified her rubbing, and she could hear individual fibers of the rope tearing. "Come on, come on, come on..."
"Hurry up, Tamika-chan!" whispered Naomi. "They might come back any sec-"
"Don't rush me, Naomi-neechan! I'm going as fast as I can!" Tamika bit her tongue gently as she continued rubbing the rope against the bayonet. Unfortunately, her captors used a lot of rope to restrain her and her siblings, which meant that there was a lot of cutting to do.
"So, did you hear anything from the boss yet?"
All three Nishimura siblings froze at the sound of the voice outside the doorway. They saw a pair of shadows looming just a couple of feet away from the open door.
"No," a second voice replied. "No one's reported back to me for about ten minutes. They would've told us if they had the Hashimoto girl or not. Something must've happened..."
"What'll we do now? Did Hashimoto-sama did say anything about a backup plan in case his operation went south?"
"No, not really. But if anyone knows about any backup plans, it's Yamashita."
"I guess I'll call him in-"
"That won't be necessary," a third voice suddenly interrupted. The two shadows were joined by a particularly menacing third.
Naomi, Tamika, and Kaisei heard the other two men salute. "Yamashita-sama!" they both greeted.
"I assume you're also concerned about Hashimoto's well-being, given I heard you use his name on the way here?"
"O-O-Of course, s-sir," the second voice replied in a fearful stutter. "W-We were just wondering what to do if he didn't-"
"It's simple," Yamashita interrupted. "We initiate the second phase without him or his daughter."
"...And I assume this is on Hashimoto-sama's orders...?" asked the first voice.
Yamashita suddenly scoffed. "Of course not." There was a brief and awkward pause. "Listen, Hashimoto may be a genius and a visionary, but sometimes, he gets a little too arrogant for his own good. He thinks the future of Japan rests solely on his shoulders. He may be heading this revolution, but his reckless ambitions are what will bring it down if we dawdle a second too long. If he insists on letting things continue this way, then it's time we move on with the operation without him."
"...So you're the one who's calling the shots now."
Tamika could imagine Yamashita shrugging nonchalantly in response. "...Yeah, pretty much."
"What about those three kids? Hashimoto-sama took them to mentally torture their eldest sister, but they're now useless to us."
"I think they'll still be of use to us. After all, the police are still hot on our trail." The siblings then heard Yamashita snap his fingers. "Take them to the chopper. It's almost on its way."
"Yes, Yamashita-sama," replied the second voice.
Just then, two men entered the room, and Tamika's skin paled considerably when one of them eyed her close proximity to the TERA rifle's bayonet.
"Well, well, well," he said. "What do we have here?"
"I, uh, I-I was, uh, um, uh, itchy!" Tamika stuttered. "Y-Yes, that's right! I was just itchy!"
"So your plan was to scratch yourself...with a bayonet?"
...
...
...
...
...
"Yes!"
"LET US GO RIGHT NOW!"
Tamika struggled against her bonds as three men dragged her and her siblings out of the building. They were no longer tied to chairs, but they were bound by their wrists and ankles.
"Oh, shut it, girl!" snapped her captor. "You've got a big mouth on you, ya know that?!"
"Oh, that reminds me!" exclaimed the man dragging Naomi. "We should duct-tape their mouths! We don't want anyone outside the gates to hear their screaming!"
"Oh yeah, that's right!" replied the man dragging Kaisei. "I almost forgot about that!"
With that, the men duct-taped the Nishimura children's mouths shut, with some not unexpected resistance from all three of them. As they did, Tamika took a good look at the building in which she and her siblings were kept in. At first, she did not know why exactly they were kept in a school of all places. Then, her eyes widened with realization.
This was not just any high school. It was the same one located near her neighborhood, the one that opened last year.
Last Stop Apartments
"Fujimaki?" Otonashi asked, approaching the beady-eyed teenager. "How...How did you-?"
"I honestly have no idea, man..." Fujimaki replied, scratching his head sheepishly. "I remember waking up in a very dirty room, with this girl right beside me." He gestured at Natsumi, who was threateningly punching the air around Sadahiro as Noda and Iwasawa were still tying him up. "She was trying to feed me cat food for some reason."
Otonashi sweat-dropped a little. "I...I see... Anyway, how'd you get free?"
"The girl helped me out."
"...Why?"
"She saw me trying to free myself and helped untie me on a whim. She's a very nice girl, actually."
Otonashi looked at Natsumi, who was persistently ordering the cat Yuri to pee on Sadahiro's leg, without any success.
"...I doubt it..." he replied.
"Alright," Iwasawa announced while wiping some of the sweat off her forehead. "That should do it."
She stepped away from the restrained Sadahiro, who immediately started struggling against his bonds, weakly so. Noda promptly delivered one last kick to the cult leader's backside before stepping away as well. Kanade then approached the muscular man and aimed one of her blades at his uninjured eye.
"Tell me where the nuclear bombs are," she instructed with an eerily calm voice, "and you won't be losing both of your eyes today."
"And tell us where the Nishimura children are!" added Otonashi. "We know you have them!"
In response, Sadahiro sneered. "You think you can get anything out of me, you...you freaks?!" he snapped.
Kanade immediately cut Sadahiro's cheek, causing him to wince angrily. "You have taken the life of a very good friend of mine, and Chouko's too." She aimed the blade at Sadahiro's eye again, nearly blinding him with its glint. "You should be really thankful that you survived this ordeal."
"Me, thankful?" The cult leader narrowed his eyes. "You're the one who should be thankful, Chouko!"
Kanade narrowed her eyes as well. "You have no right to talk to Chouko-"
"I AM HER FATHER! I HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO TALK TO HER!" Sadahiro's eyes burned intensely with insanity. "CHOUKO, I AM YOUR PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE! YOU ARE ALIVE BECAUSE OF ME! ME! I KNOW YOU KNOW IT! AND I KNOW THAT STILL HAVE A MODICUM OF LOYALTY TO ME! NOW, SHOW YOURSELF! THE FUTURE OF JAPAN DEPENDS ON IT!"
"SHUT THE HELL UP!" Otonashi screamed. He pointed his gun threateningly at Sadahiro's cheek, but the cult leader was not daunted.
"SHOW YOURSELF, CHOUKO!"
Gritting her teeth, Kanade dug the tip of her blade into Sadahiro's chest, causing him to wince in pain and agony.
"Chouko doesn't answer to you anymore," she growled.
Through a fog of pain, Sadahiro ignored her. "Do you remember my words, Chouko? A Hashimoto must always stand by the truth in the name of business and accept the full blow of repercussions." He narrowed his eyes even more. "You are forgetting the very advice that I ingrained into your brilliant brain! By shunning me, you are disgracing the family name! Is that what you want right now, Chouko?! For your ancestors to roll in their graves in shame over your actions?!"
Kanade immediately dug her blade deeper into Sadahiro's flesh. "She doesn't need your advice anymore, or your family name. She will now lead a life without you. Her own life!"
After he got accustomed to the pain, Sadahiro sneered again. "Her own life...?" he wheezed mockingly. "You cannot lead your own life, Chouko... Without my guidance, you're weak... Just like Junna-san and that accursed Fuuta boy..."
"DON'T TALK ABOUT JUNNA-SAN AND FUUTA IN THAT MANNER!" Chouko suddenly shrieked.
Otonashi stared at the silver-haired teenager with alarm. He remembered the red aura that enveloped Chouko when she reemerged, and became wary of that happening again.
Sadahiro sneered upon recognizing Chouko again. "There you are, my dear daughter-" he began.
"I'm not your dear daughter," Chouko interrupted with a savage snarl. "For as long as I could remember, I thought you were a great man, a man of business and integrity!"
"And I am-"
"NO, YOU'RE NOT! I don't know how long you've had these...these...disturbing beliefs, but it is clear to me that they are not the same beliefs you instilled in me since I was a child!"
Sadahiro's sneer turned into a horrifyingly friendly grin. "But my dear Chouko, they are one and the same! Business and integrity are the very principles that elevated Japan to the status of grandeur it had during the Imperial era! And they're now what keep my business and many others going! This is why I pursued a focus on media and communication. I have long hoped to instill the newest generation of Japanese people with my ideals and principles, just as I had done to you! All through a television screen!"
"Clearly that method fell flat on its face, though," Noda deadpanned.
But Sadahiro didn't register the sarcasm in Noda's voice, for he frowned and replied, "Of course. The West had damaged Japan's spirit beyond repair, and then mended it into a distorted version of what it once was. I couldn't simply make the Japanese turn away from the principles that have brainwashed them into servitude. I had to do what the West once did, and that is to destroy Japan's spirit again..."
"So then you can mend it into a distorted version of what it once was," growled Otonashi.
Sadahiro merely sighed. "Why, oh why do you children not see the value of my actions...?"
"Because they are NOT business and integrity," Chouko snarled. "That's just your vanity talking!"
"And you wish to abandon me and my principles in favor of leading your own life, even though you have nothing of value beyond me and my principles."
Chouko blinked, and Otonashi could see the tears welling up in her golden eyes.
"I had something of value. Someone. But..." The tears started to drip down Chouko's cheeks, and her lower lip quivered. "You killed him. You killed his mother. You killed my mother. You took them all away from me. And now...now, you want to kill millions of people, who all have something of value-"
Sadahiro scoffed. "Only the weak will perish in this cleansing. You see, my dear, people survive only because they are strong, and therefore have something of great value. Those who die inherently have no value. Just like Junna-san and Fuuta." At the mention of the two of them, he started chuckling jeeringly, and his next words pierced Chouko's soul. "I mean, they couldn't even bear one grievous wound on their wiry frames-"
Chouko slammed the rest of the Hand Sonic blade into her father's chest, and at the same time, three powerful gunshots pierced the air at the same time. Startled by this, Chazawa, and Natsumi looked at Otonashi, Iwasawa, and Hisako, who lowered their guns with the same looks of outrage and fury, as were Noda, Hisako, Miyuki, Shiori, Fujimaki.
This time, Sadahiro didn't scream in agonizing pain. Instead, he gagged a little, struggling to breathe. Blood was flowing out of the gunshot wounds to his exposed collarbones. Then, he coughed, and blood splattered all over Chouko's dress. Her golden eyes were wide with silent anger.
"Survive that, Father," she snarled triumphantly.
Sadahiro's eyes widened, and he grabbed his daughter by the collar with one hand, while he clasped his other hand over one of his gaping gunshots. However, his grip on Chouko's collar was light, and it slackened even more by the second. Blood continued to gush from his neck, and it even started to drip from his mouth and nostrils. It was such a graphic, gory sight that Natsumi buried her face into Chazawa's leg.
And then, the cult leader managed to say in a pathetic half-sob, "N-Nooooo..."
Chouko pulled the Hand Sonic blade out from her father's chest, and the disgraced businessman fell over on his side, his normally stern and piercing eyes now empty shells of themselves. Tears flowed from his eyes and dripped onto the pool of blood quickly forming around his head, mixing with it.
There was a terrible silence for the next few minutes. No one moved a muscle or even said a word; they merely stared at Sadahiro's lifeless body. Chouko in particular watched on with a strong, ambiguous expression.
Then, Otonashi fell on his knees with despair.
"Crap..." he said. "What have we done...?"
All of a sudden, they heard several footsteps, which all abruptly stopped a few feet away from them. The group turned around and saw Kimiko, Naotatsu, Yumie, Mutsuto, C, Asahara, Hiroto, and Royama standing in the middle of the street. The teens surveyed the wreckage and unconscious bodies with shock and horror, while Kimiko merely stared at Otonashi and Kanade.
...
"Yuri...?" Otonashi asked with surprise.
Unknown location
"Well... That was certainly...interesting..."
In a certain computer room, a teenage boy tapped his chin idly.
"This unprecedented sequence of events is becoming even more...unprecedented..." He remained silent for the longest moment, and his expression did not change during that time. "Perhaps it's time for more...drastic measures..."
Behind him, one particular computer screen showed the red symbol of a heart, which was pounding more and more by the second, as if it was threatening to burst...
The boy smiled.
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A/N: And this concludes this three-part chapter! That was quite the conclusion, huh?!
Yes, that's right, I killed off Sadahiro Hashimoto for good, even though I revealed him to be the main antagonist. I was originally planning on having him escape with Yumie as a hostage, but I thought that would be a redundant and cliched outcome. Then, I realized this three-parter was building up to a climactic moment and decided to use it as the setting for a big boss battle between Sadahiro and some of the SSS. And boy, I enjoyed having Sadahiro get what he deserved.
Speaking of which, that final moment with Sadahiro will be a defining moment for the relationship Kanade and Chouko's relationship, so keep your eye on that. ;)
And yes, I also killed Fuuta. But don't worry! Naoi will still find his way into the story. Trust me on this. ;) ;) ;)
Oh, and Noda, Fujimaki, and the original Girls Dead Monster are back too. HOORAY! At long last! And yet another SSS member will be returning within the next couple of chapters. Keep your fingers crossed as to who that might be!
Also, the school that Kimiko's siblings were being kept in was actually mentioned before in Chapter 2. Takahashi passes it while delivering newspapers and muses about how it appealed to him for some mysterious reason, even though he is unable to enroll. Ironic, huh? And this isn't the last time we've seen that school! There's more than meets the eye with it...
Alright, now I'd like to thank the following people for reviewing:
-WoodenStarfish: Thanks! I'm glad you like how I have been writing the characters so far! I apologize if you became confused trying to figure who was which SSS member at any point while reading this. But do not fear! More and more familiar faces will be showing up by the end of the fic, and you won't have any problem trying to figure out who is who.
-Mashasbi:
1) I have been considering it. I've heard good things about it, which is all the more interesting given who directed it.
2) I know, right?! I've always been irked by that, and it's a pet peeve of mine. The whole point of the Afterlife in "Angel Beats!" is to pass on without regrets, and I feel like retaining their old names, personalities, and lifestyles in a new life invalidates that purpose. Unless it's an AU or you are just as clever and creative with that premise as I am with this fic.
3) It's alright. Mistakes can happen to the best of us. Plus, I at least have one extra review. XD
-Chandra426:
1) Yep, I updated this fast. I can't let the readers down any further with long waits and hiatuses!
2) Indeed, Kanade and the SSS are OP, as you've also observed in this chapter. And that was only a fraction of the team, lemme remind you!
-Eramis8: Thanks! Was there anything else you liked about that chapter? Or this chapter? My apologies, but I'd really like to have more than two sentences per review. I can't have proper feedback if I don't have specifics!
-Motivation is Dying:
1) Yeah, Takahashi is overwhelmed, but he'll come to accept it. Eventually.
2) But now, it looks like Sadahiro's madness has come to an end. The SSS just needs to stop his followers from enacting their plan before it's too late.
3) I decided to name the cat "Yuri" as a throwaway joke. No matter what place or timeline he is in, Otonashi just cannot seem to avoid Yuri. XP
4) And thus, Sadahiro posing as Igarashi was the final breaking point for anyone who would still sympathize with him, whoever that might be.
5) Yes, that happened in the last chapter. And another thing just happened in this chapter. But don't worry! Like I said, a solution will show itself pretty soon!
Well, hope you enjoyed this chapter! TheCartoonFanatic01 is out. PEACE!