A.N. (11/13/20) - New chapter after a few days break.

DNAngel (13) - Lacrosse Stick

Classes for the day finally ended, and Nagi was about to go home.

Still... something seems to be bothering him. A strange feeling of dread, like he forgot something important.

Did he forget about any events happening from the anime? Most likely, if he's trusting what his gut is telling him. And didn't Igor say something about trusting his intuition a while back?

So there's something that he's forgetting. And with his luck, it's probably something important. But what kind of event would be important enough to warrant this level of worry in Nagi?

...ugh, his memory isn't recalling anything. Just in case, Nagi's gonna stay after school and see if anything happens.

Walking around the campus, he found himself looking for any of the main characters. If anything's gonna happen, then at least someone from the main cast is going to be involved.

So let's see who that is. There's Daisuke, Hiwatari, Risa, and Riku.

Risa and Daisuke should be together, based on his talk with the girl earlier this morning. Knowing that, Nagi began to search for Hiwatari or Riku.

He quickly found Riku practicing at the school track field. Seems like she was with the rest of her club as well.

Actually, what are the clubs in this school? Nagi didn't hear anything about clubs since transferring in. Maybe he should check them out later.

But for now, let's talk to the elder Harada.

"Hey!" His yell startled the other girl, and she turned to face him. "...okay, so I called out to you, only to realize I have no idea what to talk about."

Riku gave him a weird look. "Really?"

He shifted in place awkwardly. "I mean, I just saw you and I kinda wanted revenge on you for surprising me the other day." He rubbed his head in slight embarrassment. "I wasn't really thinking this through."

She gave out a loud sigh of exasperation, and Nagi felt his face flush further. Either way, it looks like she was willing to ignore his first attempt at a greeting.

"So, what do you want Fujikawa?"

"That!" He pointed his finger at her. "I told you, my name is Kujikawa. I already had to correct your sister when she mispronounced it."

"Wait, sister?" She fixed a look on him. "When did you talk to Risa?"

"Er… this morning," he replied. "We had a talk, and I guess we're friends now?"

"Freinds, huh?" She moved closer to him and started to scrutinize him. "How'd that happen?"

"Well, we usually take the tram ride together around the same time. And we happened to sit next to each other this morning. We talked, and somehow that led to us declaring each other as friends."

Now that he's said it out loud, it seems a lot more embarrassing in hindsight.

Eager to change the conversation, Nagi pointed to the rest of the students exercising behind Riku. "So, what club is this supposed to be?"

"This? This is the lacrosse club, but we're just doing some simple exercises today."

"Lacrosse?"

Seeing his confused look, she gestured for him to follow her. Walking for a minute, she led him to a small cart with various sports equipment hanging off of it. Pulling out a stick, she showed it to him.

"See, we use this to play with a ball on the field. We pass it around and try to toss it into the other goal."

"Oh! So it's sorta like football in that regard."

She shrugged. "Yeah, but we use a crosse instead of our body, and the ball is a lot smaller." She handed the stick over to him to hold. "Here, try giving it a swing."

He did and was surprised at how nice it felt, even if it was a bit difficult for him to do so.

"Interested in trying a game?"

He quickly waved in response. "Nope, I'm not really great at sports… or any kind of physical activity in general."

"Why not? Have you tried playing a sport before?"

"It's not that," he replied. "My body gets weak really easily. You know how I was gone for a few days because I was sick, right?" He waited for her to nod. "That's quite common for me growing up. I've missed a lot of school days because of how easily I get sick. It's something to do with how I was born. I even have a doctor's note to excuse myself from any physical activities that are too tiring for me."

"Really?"

"Yeah, the most exercise I can handle is usually walking to and from school." He gave out a regretful sigh. "So I can't really join any sports clubs."

"Huh, that sounds rough."

"Riku! Nagi!" The two turned to see Risa running towards them. "Have you seen Niwa? I've been looking all over for him."

Nagi frowned at her words. "I haven't seen him since classes ended."

Riku thought for a moment. "Come to think of it, I did see Niwa walking with Hiwatari earlier."

"He left his bag, and hasn't come back yet." The clock tower began to ring in the background as Risa spoke. "I do hope nothing's happened to him."

It was getting late now that Nagi's noticed. The sun was already going down.

"I don't know why, but he got really depressed and suddenly disappeared. Will you two please help me look for him."

Nagi answered quickly. "Sure, we'll help."

Riku shrugged from next to him. "I guess I don't have a choice."

Nagi turned to Riku. "Out of the three of us, you were the last ones to have seen them. Do you have any idea where they might have gone?"

It took a minute for her before she replied. "I think they were heading towards the freezer. They were carrying a bunch of boxes earlier with a tag that said 'Storage Room' on them."

"Okay, let's check there first."

Nagi felt that feeling from before growing stronger and realized that this might not be as simple as it looked.

Daisuke and Hiwatari.

Two tamers of their respective artwork spirits from opposing families. One hosting Dark, and the other…

Nagi's eyes widened as he finally recalled what was happening, and he suddenly took off in a hurry.

I think that I finally found a schedule I can work with. From now on, the pacing is finally gonna slow down to probably 2-3 chapters a week.