A/N: Hey AB section, here's a Friday update because Sept 27 is NaYuri's HC-verse anniversary and I'm sappy like that. Thanks to ZainR, Shiranai Atsune, and Hayashinkage17 for the reviews!

Zain: Now I wonder! Imagine Noda holding his halberd like Emma held the book and then everything flashing back to him! But no, don't give Noda a weapon in this world, people can actually die here XD (Same, but I'm very glad my mom doesn't have a Kimito!) That's Noda for ya - I've always imagined if a rivalry sparked between him and Naoi, he'd try to learn the latter's sore spots. Bit of an instigator, that one! Also, yay that you got to play Quiplash! (I hope this chapter can cheer you up too)

Kage: Thanks for the encouragement! Work and school really slow the writing process, don't they, but it makes it that much more special when we find the time! And man, during the Battlefront's Noda roast, I couldn't resist mentioning the scalping incident. XD One of the finer manga scenes (not to spoil anyone but you haven't lived till you've seen his swinging halberd accidentally slice the top of his head). About the TPS thing, no worries, I myself haven't written it in almost a year. Quite a bit of the TPS-related stuff you might read in HC hasn't happened yet in TPS, if that's what you're wondering about. And to Nishida, I hope to bring in GirlDeMo ASAP! Yui is getting antsy herself!

Enjoy!


[Chapter 42]: Old Habits


Dinner passed mostly uneventfully. Ayato was surprised to find that Noda had some semblance of table manners and wondered where he'd learned them. Perks of dating a kindergarten teacher, he guessed.

Botan and Mitsuo were too pleased by their freedom from timeout and subsequent reunion to beg for scraps. And then, once they'd tuckered themselves out, they curled up on the couch together with Mitsuo using Botan as a pillow. Ayato noticed this only because Kanade and Shiina kept arching their necks to sneak glances into the TV room and coo in adoration.

Otonashi had been right last week about this group growing strong. With Noda added to the mix, they had eleven people squeezed around a table and kitchen that had once been reserved for a cozy two. Yuri, who was sitting adjacent to Ayato at the end of the table, presumably to have a chat with Ooyama and Fujimaki on her other side, was close enough to kick his shin twice when he called her an NPC again.

"Why do you keep doing that?" Noda asked bluntly, narrowing his eyes at Ayato. "Calling her an NPC?"

Ayato squinted back at him mistrustfully. "It's an inside joke. What's it to you?"

"Well it's not very funny," Noda drawled. "She seems more like the main character to me."

Yuri beamed down the table at him. "Thank you, Noda," she said, and then looked to Ayato with a smug lift of her eyebrows.

Scoffing, Ayato returned his attention to his meal. "Just because you don't understand it doesn't mean it isn't funny," he muttered loftily into his drink.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Noda demanded.

Ayato just snorted and waved his free hand, uninterested in humoring him any further. Thanks to some interference from Hinata and Otonashi, the rest of dinner went on without much fuss.

Afterwards, they reconvened in the TV room with the news playing needlessly in the background at a low volume, just because Yui needed white noise to fill any silences. Not that there were any – at no point in time did the Battlefront ever really shut up. But Ayato wasn't complaining too much.

Eventually, while Noda had wandered off to who-cares-where, Fujimaki perked up and reminded them they had yet to do the bet.

"Wait, shouldn't we let Noda in on this?" Matsushita asked.

Hinata shrugged it off, leaning back against the bottom of the couch. "Bah, he doesn't care. He doesn't even remember anybody."

"Aren't we supposed to root for Iwasawa?" Ooyama chimed in, tilting his head and looking curiously to Fujimaki, who was lounging on the couch in his usual somebody-paint-me pose. "Why are we still betting again, if Yui's doing the charm...?"

Fujimaki grinned at him. "Because it's Yui."

Yui's grateful smile (awarded to the loyal Ooyama) faded instantly and she gave an offended squawk. Ignoring her, Hinata added, "It's more fun this way!"

"But each week our group is getting bigger and the amount of people to bet on is getting smaller," Ayato pointed out, eyeing Hinata from beneath his cap's visor. "Exactly how far are we going to take this?"

"To the point where it's down to two people and we're all at each other's throats yelling 'Team Yusa' or 'Team Takeyama!'" Hinata said, punching the air for emphasis.

Ayato rolled his eyes. "Well, I guess put me down for Team Yusa again."

Yui gave a betrayed sniff. "Go ahead, throw your money away!"

"Well, hey – if we're wrong, more money for you, right?" Otonashi prodded.

"And then I can use it to buy nicer friends," Yui muttered.

Hinata grinned and draped a supportive arm around her shoulder. "Fine, I'll compromise and bet on Hisako. She could probably lead us to Iwasawa, right? I bet she's already found her by now."

Yui brightened at first, then looked horribly depressed again and curled a lip at him balefully.

Hinata blinked innocently back at her, scratching at his hair. "What? What'd I say?"

"How shallow-minded…"

Glancing instinctively towards Shiina's designated corner, Ayato backtracked when he caught sight of Yuri staring at him, her mouth twisted in a pensive frown. His eyebrows rose a notch with silent question, and her composure wavered briefly at being noticed but then came back steadfast.

"What is it with you and Yusa?" she asked, sounding annoyed for some reason. "You bet on her last time too."

He threw her a strange look – hadn't they already been over this? And what a hypocrite! "So what?"

His incredulous chortle only served to deepen her frown as she stared even harder at him. "I mean I can't imagine you and her having some sort of special bond or anything, so why her?"

"I told you before, it's only a suggestion," Ayato said, his tone laced with barely-veiled impatience. What was the deal with this third degree? "Is it so important to you that we change our answers every week? You got Noda on your second guess."

Yuri looked vaguely upset at him, as if she had any cause to be. She sighed and crossed her arms, pointedly averting her gaze.

"Fine, whatever," she huffed. "My money's on Chaa this time."

Ayato snickered slightly under his breath. Yes, because Yui was far more destined to bump into this guildsman he'd barely heard about than someone who once worked closely with the band.

Yuri glanced back over at him sharply. "What?!"

"Nothing!" Ayato intoned, flashing her an easy smile.

"You're so sure you're right," she muttered, her glower skeptical and watchful. "Why, because God is clairvoyant?"

"I prefer the term omniscient, but-"

"Actually I think we all know who the real clairvoyant person is here," Fujimaki interrupted, and looked to Kanade with keen interest. The rest of the present members followed suit.

Kanade half-choked on a mouthful of bottled water, confused and somewhat overwhelmed by the sea of eyes on her.

"Clairvoyant...?" she echoed, blinking owlishly. "Me?"

"He's just teasing, Kanade," Otonashi reassured her, touching her arm.

"I dunno, she has gotten a few things right since we started this," Hinata pointed out, eyes crinkling in amusement. "Who knows, maybe Angel Player's magic stayed in her system even after reincarnation and left her with special powers."

"Even so, I don't think she'd be clairvoyant..."

"We'll just see about that, Otonashi," Hinata said mysteriously, and nodded to the former Angel. "Go on, Kanade, what do you think? What's in store for us next weekend?"

Kanade looked scared, possibly at her newfound supernatural abilities. "I don't think I want to say."

"Oh, c'mon!" Hinata jeered, laughing and reaching past Otonashi to playfully poke her arm. "Who dies?"

Kanade looked even more appalled. She squeezed Otonashi's hand and gulped down more water as if trying to flush out her powers.

"Maybe she just doesn't want to ruin the game for everyone," Matsushita the Fifth said nicely. "If she makes a guess, everyone else will base their answers off of it and we might all bet the same."

"That's fair," Fujimaki reasoned. "Well, I'm betting on Hisako too." He gave an exaggeratedly dreamy sigh and rested his chin in his hand for added effect. "We've been apart for too long..."

Ooyama looked at him a bit oddly, then shook his head and straightened his shoulders. "Well, I'll bet on Iwasawa this time," he said, with a determined nod to Yui.

"Kiss-ass," Fujimaki sneezed.

"Dog allergies?" Ooyama quipped, unimpressed. Fujimaki fought back a proud grin, sort of goofy like Kyou's when Noda dropped pizza cheese.

Ayato regarded this with some curiosity. He knew someone back in Akuma who used to look at his best friend like that. Why did everything keep reminding him of Akuma this week? Those damn nightmares…

Shiina bet on Irie again, prompting a mildly dismayed "hey!" from Yui, but Shiina only side-eyed her into silence. Maybe it was Ayato's imagination but for someone usually on Yui's side the ninja seemed less than upbeat about the topic of Iwasawa. Strange, as two of the earliest members of Battlefront he seemed to recall them getting along. He didn't think there was any bad blood between them.

Matsushita the Fifth hemmed and hawed over his choices before settling on TK again. "Sorry, Yui."

"You'll regret it," Yui singsonged under her breath. She looked expectantly to Otonashi next, who gave her a small smile.

"You know what? I'll bet on Iwasawa too," he said with a chuckle, rubbing the back of his neck. "I just have a good feeling about it."

Yui cheered and leapt on him in a tackling hug. "You're my favorite!"

Hinata (and Ooyama, who hadn't been given similar treatment) made offended noises at her, but Kanade just giggled when her husband got knocked to the ground with a strangled yelp. Nonplussed by her own attack, Yui sat up and gave Kanade her sparkly hopeful constellation eyes while Otonashi brushed himself off. Kanade stared back at her uncertainly.

"I would like to sit this one out," she said.

"C'mon, Kanade, we were just kidding about the whole clairvoyance thing," Hinata said. "Don't miss out because of us-"

"What clairvoyance thing?" Noda asked, strutting back into the TV room from the hall adjacent to the kitchen like he hadn't been gone for an alarming five minutes.

"Where were you?" Ayato demanded.

"In your room," Noda said coolly. "You have a lot of stuff in there." While Ayato grew mildly concerned, Noda turned his own perturbed gaze back to Hinata and then Kanade. "Who's clairvoyant?"

"Nobody," Otonashi cut in. "We're just placing bets on which remaining Battlefront member we'll run into next week."

"You want in?" Matsushita asked.

Noda scrunched his forehead in the same oh-god-these-people face he'd been making all day, then snorted at them. "So there are more of you?" He looked considering. "Who's left?"

Yuri thought about it and started counting off on her fingers. "There's Chaa, Iwasawa, Hisako, Sekine, Irie, Yusa, Takamatsu, TK, and Takeyama."

"Are any of those names supposed to mean something to me?"

"You always thought Takeyama was a bit of a nerd," Matsushita offered brightly.

Hinata gave a sudden jolt and smacked the carpet as if struck by one of his rare moments of brilliance. "Yui, hand me my phone," he said, a broad grin creeping across his face as he held out his palm in a gimme motion. "I wanna try something."

Yui knowingly felt around under the couch, pausing briefly to frown at Ayato when she spotted Once Upon A Time, and procured Hinata's cellphone for him. Satisfied, he stood and caught up with Noda as he was heading towards the kitchen, then pressed and held the home button.

"Hey Hachi," Hinata said into the speaker, "recite pi."

"Here are the first one hundred digits of pi," a robotic voice answered. "3.14159263589793—"

Noda stopped in his tracks and made a fearful choking sound, cold sweat beading on his brow as he turned to face Hinata with a haunted look in his widened eyes. "Wh-wha—"

"—238462643383279—"

"Stop!" Noda clutched his head in agony and withered to the floor. "STOP, TURN IT OFF TURNITOFFTURNITOFF!"

"What hurts your brain worse, do you think?" Hinata asked him cheerfully over the phone's continued rhythmic chanting, leaning to hold the phone closer to Noda's ear. "The déjà vu or the math?"

Ayato laughed gleefully as Hinata hovered over the trembling and twitching math casualty. The two were obscuring the TV screen but in his honorable opinion there was no higher quality form of entertainment than OH GOD STOP IT TURN IT OFF YOU PEOPLE ARE TWISTED I CAN'T TAKE IT!

Yuri sighed, resting her chin in her hand and leaning on the coffee table as she watched Mitsuo circle Noda barking worriedly while a spirited Botan gave chase. Ooyama's head was spinning just from the sight of it.

"In any lifetime we just find brand new ways to be morons," she grumbled into her palm.


It was around ten when the Fujibayashi twins finally returned from their sisterly outing. After Otonashi let them both in, Kyou strode into the TV room expertly dodging the excited dog at her feet and swinging her purse on her arm.

"Hi sweetie!" she cooed. "Did you have a good time with your new friends?"

Looking up from the video game he'd joined Fujimaki and Ooyama in playing, Noda turned bright red with indignation. "Don't treat me like one of your kindergartners!"

Kyou smiled innocently. "I was talking to Botan."

He dropped his controller with a grunt and stood up, watching as a squealing Botan left Mitsuo's side and hopped into Kyou's arms. She crossed the room to him and kissed his cheek, and his features softened. Then, out of the corner of her mouth: "But seriously, what do you think of them?"

Noda cast a brief side glance at the game station, and at those of the Battlefront members who were leaning in to eavesdrop. "They're alright," he said vaguely.

Hinata and Yui exchanged smug grins.

The Fujibayashis left with Noda and Botan shortly after. According to Kyou, it was good that they'd gotten some time together tonight, since she and Noda were sticking around tomorrow only until after breakfast, and then she needed to get back and work on her class planner for next week.

The rest of the Battlefront continued to relax and watch Fujimaki and Ooyama play their video games (Yui, Hinata, Naoi, Yuri, and Otonashi had all taken a turn and joined them at one point), but, save for enthusiastic roars and amusing commentary, the night died down after that. Close to midnight, they were discussing amongst themselves when the group should disband for the weekend as well. The operation was a success, but did the party end when the target had to go home? It had for Matsushita. But it wasn't like Noda would feel bad that they were leaving him out or anything.

"Yeah, we're probably gonna pack it up and head back as soon as we finish this stage," Fujimaki decided, barely paying attention except for a nod to Ooyama and then over his shoulder. "Matsushita, you good with that?"

"Bag's all ready to go," Matsushita confirmed, giving him a thumbs up.

Next to him on the couch, Otonashi tore his eyes away from the screen and playfully tried out a wounded look. "What, you're not rooming with us again tonight?"

"I thought another member of Battlefront might be spending the night, so I asked Fujimaki and Ooyama if I could sleep over on their couch to make this place a little less crowded," Matsushita said with a light-hearted shrug. "Figured it would make sense anyway, since they're my ride to the train station."

Yuri, emerging from the kitchen with Yui and two sodas, looked mildly distressed. "Wait, you're sleeping on their couch?"

"Something wrong with that?" Fujimaki asked, glancing toward the kitchen doorframe at her. There was a guttural roar from a zombie as the distraction cost his player quite a chunk of health points.

Yuri faltered, frowning as she handed Yui one of the sodas. "No," she said briskly. "I was just going ask if I could spend the night there myself."

"We have a spare mattress too," Ooyama offered, giving her one of his famous sunny smiles. "It's not a problem, Yurippe! I'd be happy to have you stay over."

"Though a spot did just open up in our room," said Otonashi. Beside him, Kanade perked up and looked to Yuri with a hopeful nod.

So it'd come down to this. Ayato watched as Yuri's eyes drifted from Kanade, to Ooyama, to him, and then down at her drink like pomegranate soda was suddenly the most interesting flavor in the world. She popped the tab with her nail, muttered "I'll think about it" for the second time that day, and took an uncaring swig.

Think about what? The overwhelmingly impossible decision of whether she should sleep over at her old house and room with her girl best friend, or spend the night in a glorified apartment inhabited by three bumbling boys? Was this really a question?

God help him. Or her. He huffed the bangs out of his eyes and leaned on the armrest, chin in hand as Ooyama obliterated more zombies.

After another ten minutes, Kanade was almost out cold so Otonashi escorted her upstairs. Fujimaki turned off the game system and packed it up despite Otonashi's assurances that his wife could sleep through an earthquake, and he and Ooyama pulled their stuff together to get ready to leave while an already packed Matsushita chatted blithely to Shiina about some game on his phone dedicated to caring for pets. Not to be left out, Hinata stole Shiina's phone and he and Yui promptly started downloading it for her.

"So, Yurippe," Fujimaki drawled while slinging his bag over his shoulder, which for some reason Ayato found incredibly annoying, "are you coming with us or what?"

Yuri, leaning against the wall beside the kitchen doorway, eyed him consideringly before turning her attention back to the hall closet.

"Maybe," she replied, arms crossed tighter under her chest. "Haven't decided yet. My car's here anyway, so you don't have to wait to give me a ride."

"Alright, but don't decide too late. We want to get to bed at a reasonable ti—" Fujimaki started laughing in mid-sentence, and even Ooyama broke into a smile while rolling his eyes. "I'm sorry, I couldn't say it with a straight face."

Yuri looked vaguely concerned, pushing herself slightly off the wall. "Are you keeping Ooyama up late at night?" she demanded. "Maybe I shouldn't have put you two together last week. You're a bad influence."

Fujimaki just laughed even harder, arching his eyebrows in surprise. "Sorry, Mom, I'll make sure he sticks to his curfew from now on."

At first Yuri looked wildly offended, even taken aback by the nickname, but she bit down hard on her lip until her expression had finally cooled. "I'll just make sure to text you before I head over."

"Cool," said Fujimaki, gesturing to Matsushita the Fifth while Ooyama put a leash on Mitsuo's collar. "Just let us know."

If, Ayato thought, barely registering their boisterous goodbyes and the slam of his front door as his attention was solely focused on Yuri. She was much too interested in the hall closet for his liking – where Hinata had presumptuously moved her overnight bag from beside the door earlier this afternoon. There should be an 'if' in there somewhere

Hinata gave a great lion-like yawn and stretched his arms out obnoxiously, bumping Ayato's head in the process and breaking him out of his thoughts. Ayato frowned wearily at him while rubbing his head, wondering if it was purposeful.

"Well, I'm beat," Hinata said grandly, clearing his throat more than necessary and giving Yui a nudge. "Think we should call it a night too. C'mon, Yui."

"NANA is gonna be on in five minutes!" Yui started to protest, but then Hinata did this odd neck movement and her face cleared as she went all saucer-eyed. Letting herself be pulled up from the couch, she amended, "But Naoi probably won't want to watch it. We can always find it online!"

Shiina frowned thoughtfully, watching Yui lean and scoop up her laptop. "But the television screen is so much bigger—" she began, and made a startled sound as Hinata took her away by the arm.

Ayato squinted after the trio until they disappeared upstairs – those three were getting weirder by the minute. When he glanced back to Yuri, the hall closet was open and she was slipping into the kitchen with her bag in hand.

Apparently the decision hadn't been as hard as she made it out to be. He cursed under his breath and followed her into the room.

"I thought you said you'd think about it," he said as he came striding through the doorway.

Yuri, reaching for her purse that was on the counter, halted her hand in mid-air. Her grip loosened slightly on the handle of her bag. "I did."

"You were still thinking about it five minutes ago, seems like a bit of a hasty decision."

"On the contrary, I've had all day," Yuri countered, fishing studiously through her purse for her keys. "You know, if you and Hinata keep teaming up against Noda like you did today he's not going to want to hang out with us, let alone see a concert."

Ayato wrinkled his nose in baffled displeasure. Teaming up? With Hinata? Gross. That high-five from earlier meant nothing to him, by the way. It was just like him still touching her side of the bed at night – an old impulse, from a different time, a different person.

For that matter, they did not team up against Noda!

"I participated in nothing that Noda didn't start himself," he replied defensively. The bastard had talked about his parents! And practically called him a momma's boy! "And Hinata has been nothing but welcoming and sociable to him all day. That pi thing was probably supposed to be a… a familiar Battlefront bonding moment."

Yuri snorted heavily into her purse. She found her keys and jingled them a bit, twirling the keyring on her finger.

Ayato stared for a second. That was an old habit of hers. Something she did when she wasn't sure if she wanted to go grocery shopping or not.

"You're just trying to come up with excuses now," he said. "Excuses for why you shouldn't stay here tonight."

The jingling stopped, Yuri abruptly caught the keys and clutched them tightly in her fist. She let her arm fall at her side.

"To tell you the truth, it's because you still piss me off," she mumbled to the floor. Ayato snorted despite himself; the feeling was very much mutual. "Why do you care so much, anyway?"

The question made him frown. He turned away and got a canned green tea from the fridge. "I already told you. The graduation group is here, and I don't want to be the reason they don't see their leader in the morning."

"I see…"

There was a silence, filled only by the click and hiss of his opened drink. One hand dropped the keys on the counter, the other let her bag fall to the floor.

"I might stay," she said, turning to him as he regarded her with immediate interest and shut the fridge with his side. "On one condition."

He flicked an eyebrow at her, intrigued. "Name it."

Closing her eyes, she drew a short breath. Sort of growly and begrudging, but subdued. When she opened them again they were trained sharply on his and glinting with that same determination he'd seen at the front door earlier today.

"I want you to stop calling me an NPC," she said.

Ayato blinked twice, lowering the tea from his lips as he drank in her severity instead.

"Why?" he said, a bit dumbly. When she looked unimpressed with him, he recovered with a soft chuckle and hastened to clarify. "It's only a nickname at this point. A joke. Like the clairvoyance thing with Kanade." Earlier tonight, Yuri and Otonashi had managed to mitigate Kanade's uncertainty and even try to get a guess out of her (all the same, she couldn't pick between Yusa, Chaa, and GlDeMo). "Why does it bother you so much?"

She glared at him a moment longer, balling her hands into fists, before gnawing at her lower lip and turning her scowl to the floor. "Because you're absolutely right."

"What…?" Much like any other person, Ayato thoroughly enjoyed being told he was right. Particularly by a wife, and especially an ex. But in this case her answer had just confused him. He chuckled again, more unsurely. "What are you talking about?"

Yuri leaned back against the counter, looking aggrieved and a little pensive, a little far away. She crossed her arms with a sigh.

"Do you remember, like a month ago," she began, rather listlessly, "when we were all at the bookstore, and I was talking to you about the Angel Player software I found in the Guild's computer room? And the human programmer who created it?"

"The one behind the shadow program, yes," he said instantly, taking a sip of his drink. He was all too familiar with his work.

"But I never mentioned his backstory."

Ayato swallowed his tea hard and tried to muffle a choked cough. "Backstory…?" he rasped, interested.

Luckily Yuri was buried just deep enough within her thoughts not to notice.

"Well, long ago, he was a student at the Afterlife school just like us," she recounted, cutting her eyes to the side as she spoke. "Before us, before Battlefront… hell, probably even before Shiina."

Ayato smirked to himself. With Shiina and her old soul, that really was saying something.

"And he–" Yuri paused again, frowning as she tried to pull her thoughts together, "—well, the AI down there, he was created by him, he told me a little bit about the guy. He fell in love with a girl who was eventually able to disappear from that world, leaving him behind. And he didn't move on, didn't go after her. Maybe he couldn't, maybe he just wouldn't. But he waited for her, for so long, hoping she would come back to him."

Her story reached a reflective lull, and although Ayato had been intrigued (and mildly alarmed) by its similarity to Otonashi's tale of losing Kanade, it was here that the spell broke and had him choking a little on his tea.

"He was waiting for the girl he loved to have a miserable life and die young?" he said, snickering slightly. Otonashi would never have wanted that for Kanade.

Yuri gave a weak scoff of laughter, still distracted by her own thoughts.

"But the chances of her returning to him were barely over zero," she continued, "so he just kept waiting and waiting, for… who knows how long. A hundred years, maybe a thousand. The AI said he eventually lost his mind. After that, I guess he couldn't take it anymore. That's why he made the shadow program."

"I'm not following," Ayato said, though he did feel a chill up his spine.

"It was designed so that it could detect love in the world," Yuri informed him, and gave a small shrug. "My theory is that he didn't want anyone else to experience what happened to him, that love didn't belong there and would only cause trouble. He made it so that if the software detected a certain amount of it, the world would start resetting itself by creating shadows that devour humans' souls." She lowered her voice to a half-whisper. "He was the first."

"The first…?" His forehead creased as a memory came back to him, another detail from their conversation in the bookstore, and then it smoothed over in understanding."He turned himself into an NPC."

Yuri nodded, leaning more heavily against the counter and hugging herself slightly.

"And I never understood how he could do that to himself," she said, her voice weary and fading. "Rid himself of his humanity, of his feelings and memories? Reduced to just a shell of what he once was? How could anyone love a person so much that it makes them want to forget? Love them enough to lose themselves?"

She glanced up at him finally, but he didn't have time to read the look in her eyes before she lowered them again.

"It just doesn't make any sense to me," she murmured, brushing a lock of hair behind her ear. "I've… I've never loved anyone that much before."

Ayato's breath caught as the real meaning of her words smacked him harder than a pendulum trap. The tea almost fell from his hand. He turned away so she couldn't see his thunderstruck expression and took his time putting his half-finished can back in the fridge until the air could return to his lungs.

Truth be told, as angry as he was with her, it'd been easy to forget about her feelings. The ones that caused all of this. Knowing that she had been in love with him once... it still knocked the wind out of him. And at the same time it was just that much more infuriating.

But then, he'd had no idea these were the kind of thoughts that were running through her head.

"It's not exactly the same, though," he managed, turning back to her at last, and she eyed him skeptically.

"Isn't it?" she asked. "He was heartbroken, so he turned himself into an NPC—"

"—and removed his humanity," Ayato stressed. "You emptied your heart, but at least you're still human. What he did was far more drastic."

She stared at him for a moment, then resolutely studied the floor again, as if she didn't quite believe him. Feeling a little restless at her silence, he paced from the fridge over to the sink and gazed out the window at the black sky, rubbing absently at his wrist.

"I don't understand how he could do it either." His eyes searched through the darkness and fell on each still-lit house in the distance. For all he knew, the girl could be living in any one of them, if her reincarnated soul was out there still. The programmer need only move on and come find her. "What was the point of it, becoming an NPC? I imagine it was his way of sticking around to wait for her without the pain," he paused, turning to lean against the sink facing her, "but if she ever did come back to him, it would be difficult for them to rekindle their love with him in that state of mind."

"He designed it so that you could return to normal if your feelings were strong enough," Yuri considered. "But would he even be able to recognize her? She might have to help him herself, but can a regular human actually do that? Bring an NPC back to their true self?"

"We did it for you," Ayato reminded her.

Yuri blinked, startled, and gave him one of her appraising looks as she seemingly accepted the fact that he knew this from experience. "That's right," she said, thinking back. "But I was already fighting, and I wasn't stuck there for very long. After all this time, I wonder if it's even possible for someone like that, someone so far gone."

"Maybe true love's kiss would awaken him," Ayato suggested idly, grinning despite himself.

Yuri gave a halfhearted, albeit appreciative snort. "Maybe."

Feeling bold, he moved to further ruminate next to her by the counter in front of the pass-through, crossing his arms.

"Still, it is kind of pitiful what happened to him. Even more so than your case," he mused. Yuri stopped brooding long enough to give him a dour look, and he laughed a little before letting it die off into quieter solemnity. "Loving that girl so much he couldn't let go, couldn't leave that world, didn't know what to do with himself without her..."

Yuri closed her eyes in thought. "Almost better to have never loved at all."

Ayato scoffed – of course she'd think that. But at once, her philosophical pessimism reminded him of someone else. "Then you understand He—"

"Don't say it."

The coldness in her tone caught him off-guard. "What?"

"You were about to compare me to her again," Yuri said crisply.

He frowned a little in bemusement, before the emphasis on her set in and his mind cleared. Right. Hisakawa. With her whole principle about avoiding commitment and serious relationships in favor of her life dreams. Well, not this time.

"I meant Hejjiguchi," he informed her, and she looked surprised at him. He clarified, "You were talking about whether or not it's worse to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. Obviously Hejjiguchi would know more about something like that."

"Guess so," said Yuri. A medley of emotions flickered across her face so fast he couldn't keep up with them. Guilt, maybe, and wistfulness on top of it. "He didn't have a potion, or Angel Player, but he isolated himself all the same." She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. "Think he'll ever graduate?"

Ayato managed a wry grin, mildly appreciating the metaphor. "Someone as stubborn as him? Not without some help from an Angel or an Otonashi."

Yuri gave a small hum of acknowledgement.

"I've been thinking of him more," she admitted. "Since late December. I don't know why."

"Same here," Ayato said, turning his eyes to a painting on the wall. "Because that would've been a year since…"

"Right." She sucked in her cheeks a bit, rubbing at her temples. "I don't suppose… you've heard from him."

"Dead silence. I'm the last person he'd want to talk to."

A sigh from Yuri. "I do understand, but… I hate being blocked out like this."

Ayato harrumphed. Unable to help himself, he said, "Doesn't feel very good, does it? Being on the other side of it this time."

Yuri shot him a baleful glare, and he fought back a grin. Got in his Hisakawa jab after all! But then, as her expression turned surprisingly more contemplative and upset than he'd intended, he remembered the original point of this entire tangential conversation and cleared his throat as he turned to her.

"I'll keep up my side of the deal," he said. "I won't call you an NPC anymore." Then he looked at her expectantly. Her purse sat waiting on the counter behind them, drooping open.

She stared back at him, studying him the way she did so many weeks ago when they were going over those old photos on her sofa. Her lips pressed together in a thin, pensive, pomegranate-stained line.

"Good," she said simply, and reached around him for her purse and keys. She slung her purse over her shoulder and picked up the keys with one hand, her overnight bag with the other, then headed out into the hallway.

Ayato felt a sting of indignation in his chest that traveled to his throat as she rounded the corner. "And just where are you going?!"

"To bed!" she shot back just as sharply. "I don't want to keep Kanade and Otonashi up late!"

He blinked after her until she was gone, his shoulders relaxing slightly as he heard her swift footsteps on the stairs. Then he scoffed, covertly covering a smirk, and turned out the kitchen lights with a satisfying click.


A/N: What can I say except I am so pleased to finally share this chapter with you all!

Until next time, and I'll do my best to not keep you waiting too long.


Preview:

"Going back to Kyuuya isn't an option for me."

"Which one of you is - ?!"

"I don't need your commentary!"

"Your girlfriend misses you, buddy!"

"Yurippe's been without her memories longer than Snow White ever was."

"What happened between you two last night?"

[Chapter 43]: Just One of Those Mornings.