A/N: Hey everyone, and happy ten years since the Angel Beats graduation episode! There was a time I genuinely thought I'd be finished with this fic on this very day. Well actually I was rooting for June 26, 2018... but hey, life happens! And this feels like a worthy enough reunion chapter for today. Just missing a few key characters (*finger guns*). Anyways, thanks to all new faves, follows, and reviews!
ZainR: Yeah, Iwasawa sure missed out on a lot, didn't she? XD I figure even if Hisako brought her up to speed, she'd still be a bit mind-blown by Kanade's presence. And thanks! Operation Songbird... it feels like just the right mix of AB and OUAT to me. I'm glad you liked Yui's reaction post-phone call (oh, Yui, you relatable little fangirl) and the reunion :D That was so the "I'm gonna give Yui everything she wants" chapter...
Seiram: Same here on the Hisako/Yui friendship! Ever since they were sisters in TEDOU, I've had a soft spot for them. They needed their moment too. (I actually based Ishikawa Treats on a restaurant that's an old favorite of mine, so I'm envious of Yuri right now ^^) Agreed, the only one who can't see how much he loves her is Yuri herself. And yes, actually! It only occurred to me later that some people might not get the reference, from the VN or "Last Operation," so I appreciate that you caught that.
Hope you enjoy!
[Chapter 53]: Operation Songbird
Inside the brightly lit ice cream parlor, Ayato inhaled the blended scents of cookie dough, salty fries, and old building, and let himself bask in a pleasant wave of nostalgia. It was the perfect place for a reunion, if he did say so himself. The staff graciously accommodated the party of twenty-one (cue Otonashi's sheepish sweating) with two tables of eight pushed together and an adjacent booth. Noda, the Fujibayashis, and the Okazakis took to the booth so that Ushio wouldn't be too overstimulated, but Nagisa happily claimed one of the outside edge seats so she could chat with Iwasawa here and there. (Ryou, having arrived a little later since she and Ooyama had gone to drop the pets off at her place, had gotten the one across from Nagisa, which had her seated near Yusa and Yuri.)
"I can't even say this enough, but it's really cool to see you all again," Iwasawa said after they'd given their drink orders, and she leaned slightly to send the booth group a warm grin. "Including you, Nagisa. I'm sorry we lost touch when I fell off the radar like that."
"Oh no, I totally understand!" Nagisa hastily reassured her, brimming with earnestness. "I was sure you had to be up to something very important! And to be honest I know I've been pretty busy myself, what with Ushio and all. Toddlers, you know?"
"I hardly recognized her!" Iwasawa marveled, trying to catch the little girl's eye. "Can't believe how big she's gotten…"
Nagisa beamed and patted Ushio's hair. "They grow up so fast, don't they?"
"For a moment I'd thought you'd just shrunk…"
Iwasawa and Nagisa's laughter spread across the tables to anyone who'd even spared a look at the Okazaki mother-daughter pair, who looked about as alike as the Fujibayashi twins. However, it was Kanade's delicately muffled but especially entertained giggle that earned her another one of Iwasawa's thoughtful glances. Ayato couldn't blame her. It wasn't like the curiosity of Fujimaki or any of the others; at least they'd lingered in the Afterlife long enough to find out she was human. He guessed hearing it through Hisako wasn't exactly the same...
"Well, it doesn't matter anyway," Nagisa was saying. "A lot of our friends from high school moved away from Hikarizaka over the years. Yukine to Kyuuya, Ryou lives here… and you know our friend Kotomi is all the way over in America, so we don't get to see her very often." She put up her fists in determination. "But I believe that just like true love, true friendship can withstand time and distance, and all other sorts of ups and downs!"
Many of the Battlefront members grinned and voiced their agreement, shy Irie even turning her head to share a smile with Yui as she locked arms with Sekine. Fujimaki's arm once again carelessly draped itself around Ooyama's shoulder, causing Ayato to scoot away and dust off his jacket where Fujimaki's hand had grazed the fabric. Hinata, noticing, snorted with laughter.
Ayato looked at him briefly – blue hair, teasing eyes, stupid lackadaisical grin – and turned his gaze to the other table, mentally shaking away a flashback. Three seats down (not that he was craning his neck or anything), Yuri was grinning just like anyone else, but there was something about her expression that seemed faraway. Something about her smile that seemed to fade with thought. And he wondered if she was thinking about the same thing.
It made him want to catch her eye like he used to, like they did at the café that first weekend. Throw her a slight eyebrow raise that said: Great, another idealist…
But then she gave a sideways glance and he almost instinctively turned his eyes to the front. And inwardly cursed himself because, upon an inconspicuous check through his peripheral vision, she'd just been offering Kanade a smile. Still he couldn't handle even accidental eye contact at this point. Avoiding her gaze?
Coward…
Ayato tried to ignore the voice that sneered inside his head, but the word had a haunting echo. He accepted his drink from the server and masked his internal conflict through lazy sips.
Yuri doesn't deserve anyone like that.
I'm well aware, he responded evenly, and took another sip.
Neither do your friends. Maybe you'll lose them too.
Ayato's eyes opened a touch wider. He frowned, not liking where his mind was going with this. Sitting here in Ishikawa Treats with all the fellow Afterlife graduates they'd gathered over the last few weeks, this was no place for those kind of thoughts. The circumstances weren't the same and never would be. They'd already gotten through a rough patch with the bridge incident. They were… the way Nagisa had put it… if he honestly had to admit it… true friends. And he'd just found them, how could he lose them?
A shadow fell over the table, thankfully startling him out of such negative thoughts. He only briefly clutched his chest in fear, glowered across the table at Yui and Hinata for snickering, and gave the server his order.
"So jumpy," Hinata said, smirking. "Every time someone catches you by surprise, I swear you have a mini-heart attack." He turned his head to call across the room (very uncouthly, Ayato might add), "Remember, Ryou?"
Ayato crossed his arms in annoyance but merely shrugged, grateful for the distraction. "That's the Naoi men for you," he said, leaning back against his chair. "Strong minds, weak hearts."
It was more or less something his father used to say. The Naoi men have always had weak hearts. He didn't enjoy letting the man's words fall from his own mouth, but loathe as he was to admit it, they were true. In fact, now that he thought about it, painfully so.
Hearts are weak and make stupid mistakes, Kimito told him once, so we all learned to follow our minds instead.
And what if the mind was what failed you?
Lo and behold – a Naoi has never raised a fool.
He rubbed his bare ring finger. Actually, you raised a pretty big one…
"Ayato Naoi," came Iwasawa's voice in a lilt of realization. He looked over at her, mildly curious, and she blinked before regaining her composure along with some amusement. "So they really did recruit even the vice president. I have to admit, I'm a little surprised. I always thought you were an NPC."
"You were supposed to," he said loftily.
"He faked us out about the NPC thing until we overthrew Kanade and he rose to power," Fujimaki said casually.
Matsushita the Fifth added, "It was all part of his big game plan to become God."
Iwasawa stared at them for a moment, trying to make sense of that last part, before chuckling and shaking her head. "I sure missed out on a lot, didn't I?" she said, smirking at Hisako and then across the table at Yuri. "Human Angel. Human Naoi… The girls already mentioned the clones and the shadows, but Yuri, that's nothing compared to seeing you sitting here next to Angel like two best friends in the school cafeteria." Gesturing to the girls, she laughed some more. "What universe have I been born into where that's possible?"
"Yuri and Angel, best friends forever," Sekine teased.
"Imagine the slumber parties!" Irie said, giggling. "Do you braid each other's hair?"
"Does she whip out hand sonic during pillow fights?" Hisako asked with a grin.
Wide-eyed, Kanade shook her head hard at the idea, while a simultaneously concerned Irie whispered quietly, "Oh, well I don't think she'd do that…"
"How shallow minded," Shiina muttered.
Probably in some gallant attempt to come to Kanade's rescue, Hinata cut in with a laugh. "You all think that's weird," he said, leaning forward conspiratorially. "Anyone happen to mention the fact that Naoi and Yurippe used to—"
"We're getting off track here!" Yuri burst out, loud enough to miss out on Hinata's grunt of pain as Ayato managed to sneak an accurate diagonal shin-kick. "Kanade doesn't even have any supernatural powers in this life. But that's not the case for everyone, now, is it?"
"That's right," said Otonashi, rubbing his chin. His left hand had folded protectively over Kanade's on the table, revealing his wedding ring, which the band members eyed with more interest. He'd been hovering close to his wife since the park, but it still made Irie gasp softly to see something like that up close. "It's kind of why we're all here together. Our memories of each other intact."
"For the most part," said Fujimaki, slyly looking down the table at Yuri (who cut him a warning glare over the rim of her soda glass).
"Yeah, why is Noda the only one who can't remember?" Sekine asked.
"See, that's where Operation Battlefront Reunion meets Operation Songbird," said Yuri matter-of-factly, with a dismissive hand wave.
"Originally, Kanade and Hinata and I started the operation to gather everyone else who'd gotten their memories back from October's concert, and have Naoi handle the rest," Otonashi explained. He gestured across the table with a grin. "But Yui was determined… from the very start, she wanted to go after GlDeMo. That was her game plan."
"First and foremost, Girls Dead Monster was her main priority," Hinata said. "She kept calling 'My Song' 'our own bit of real Afterlife magic.'"
"And then when Ryou's friend Yukine started supplying us with a location charm, Locus Felicis?" Yuri paused as the band members raised their eyebrows, silently urging an explanation. "For a few hours it's supposed to give good luck to the person who casts it, lead them to the right place at the right time to someone they're fated to run into. We've been meeting up every weekend to use it for the past five weeks. And Yui wanted to be the charm caster every time, just so she could find you guys."
Iwasawa looked incredibly touched. Even Hisako's eyes softened as she considered the former vocalist.
"Is that true, Yui?" Irie asked, her voice hushed with awe.
Yui fiddled shyly with her chain bracelets. "Well, it took me three tries, but…" she trailed off.
"But you found us," Hisako finished for her. "You were looking for us this whole time…"
Sekine snuck a coy sideways glance. "Are you going to cry?"
"OF COURSE NOT!"
"Anyways," Yuri continued, while Sekine cowered at Hisako's rage, "basically Yui had this whole idea that if we could track down Iwasawa sooner rather than later, we might be able to organize a concert for the operation's grand finale, as a reunion party of sorts. And any Battlefront amnesiacs we find could regain their memories from seeing this one."
"I guess you and Yui must've been on the same wavelength," said Ooyama, looking curiously at Iwasawa.
"I guess we were," Iwasawa said thoughtfully, and grazed her fingers against her glass.
"So, hold on," said Sekine, clearly still a bit confused. "Noda was the only one you found who didn't see the concert?"
"That's not it," Yusa corrected knowingly. "Matsushita, Ooyama, and Shiina missed it as well."
"Noda was just the first one we decided to save for the finale," Hinata told her.
Hisako furrowed her eyebrows. "Wait, then how—"
Her question was cut off by the server arriving with their food. Chili, soups, fries, sherbet, and sundaes littered the tables. Irie and Ooyama had talked Yui into indulging herself in a wild berry smoothie as well as a deluxe banana split, shared with Hinata and Shiina. Incredibly, Hinata also had a chili cheese dog and was eyeing Fujimaki and Ooyama's hot fudge brownie sundae as well as Matsushita's gigantic burger ("What…? Nagisa said it herself, we worked up an appetite!"). But the most distracting – and genuinely alarming – dish was sitting right in front of Nagisa herself.
"What in the world possessed you to order that?" Iwasawa asked, wide-eyed.
"Kanade recommended it," Nagisa said blithely, spooning at the mapo tofu as she stared down at it in reverence. "It does look pretty tasty!"
"Famous last words," Okazaki muttered.
"We tried to talk her out of it," said Kyou. Ryou was nervously readying Nagisa's milkshake and filling her water glass to the brim with some of her own.
"Kanade—?" Iwasawa glanced over at the former Angel, who indeed had her own serving and had already made a dent in it. By the looks of it, when she finished, her side of orange sherbet wouldn't have even started to melt.
"Well, who knows?" Otonashi said with a shrug, grinning at his wife's speed-eating. "Maybe she'll handle it just as well as Kanade does."
Ever the curious one, Nagisa beamed and scooped a hearty amount onto her spoon. She raised it to her mouth, almost oblivious to the entire booth and tables watching.
"Maybe she won't even need—"
"AAAAAHHHHHH!" Nagisa shrieked. "WATER!"
Her face steaming a remarkable cherry red, she dove for her glass and downed it in seconds, then grabbed her milkshake and started gulping that down too. The woman was still sweating when she stopped to fan herself and tuned in to the group's laughter.
"We warned you, didn't we?" Kyou singsonged. "Tell me, how does your hubris taste?"
"…So good…" Nagisa whispered. Her eyes were shining. From tears, Ayato would've guessed, until she took another bite.
Okazaki looked stricken. "Nagisa! You know, you don't need to eat that just because you ordered it," he said, and tried to reach over with a spoon. "I can help you finish the rest—"
"No!" Nagisa guarded her dish protectively. "Please don't touch it, it's all for me."
Okazaki and Noda shared a baffled glance across the table. Iwasawa looked considering.
"And so mapo tofu claims another victim," Hinata said, scooping into his ice cream. Kanade stopped the server to ask for seconds.
While they ate, the conversations briefly scattered all over the tables as people caught up and reminisced. Yui excitedly told the girls how she met Hinata, and Hinata told them how he met Otonashi and Kanade, and Otonashi teased her about how she reacted to Angel being in her house. Iwasawa was mildly surprised to learn Yui and Hinata had attended her concert; she was much more surprised to hear that Kanade had been there too. Meanwhile, Ryou and Yusa were chatting at each other amusedly about their connection to each other outside of the hair salon.
"Hey Ryou, are there any other Battlefront friends of yours we don't know about?" Otonashi asked with a wry grin.
"I'm surprised you and Otonashi didn't go to the same medical school," Hinata added.
Ryou's expression turned contemplative as she sincerely seemed to mull this over. "Who else is there again?"
"TK, Takamatsu, Takeyama, Chaa, Fishing Saitou—"
Ryou shook her head, puzzled, while Kyou muttered, "Those aren't even full names…"
"Actually, that kind of raises the one concern I do have about this operation," Iwasawa spoke up. "Is it possible they already have their memories?"
Yui made a sad wilting sound.
"Don't worry, we already discussed this," said Hinata. "Matsushita, Ooyama, and Shiina missed it, remember? Only seven of us saw it."
"Wait, what do you mean…?" Iwasawa asked.
Hinata shrugged. "Just seven. Four in person, three on live TV. And I already have my doubts about the rest. Takeyama doesn't strike me as a concert kind of guy, TK totally is but if he'd been there one of us would've noticed him—"
"That's not the part we're confused about," Hisako interrupted sharply. "Ooyama, Shiina, and Matsushita. They obviously have their Battlefront memories. Didn't they get them from the concert?"
"They didn't," Ayato said, dipping a fry into his ice cream. "They got them from me."
Startled comprehension took over Hisako's, Sekine's, and Irie's faces, but Iwasawa just looked more confused, so Yuri sighed and elaborated. "Naoi knows hypnotism," she informed her. "His abilities also allow him to bring back lost memories."
"I see." Iwasawa recovered smoothly from the news, folding her arms with a smile. "So I have competition, now, is that right?"
"Not at all." Ayato gestured across the table. "Yui didn't reveal her master plan until after Shiina and Matsushita. Ooyama's memories were a special favor given the circumstances. The rest of the Battlefront members are up to you."
"Your way is magic through live music!" Yui said brightly, her shyness dissolving into her usual fervor. "That's way more fun."
"Yeah, I was under the impression that Naoi's hypnotism was only good for messing with people's heads." Okazaki rubbed the back of his neck, frowning at the memory. Ayato smirked over at him, and he squinted back. "So let me get this straight. Your music, and your hypnotism, both have the power to bring back people's memories."
Iwasawa and Ayato nodded, making simultaneous sounds of confirmation.
"Meaning… past lives in general? Things you've repressed?" Okazaki asked. "Or is this exclusive to your Afterlife world or something…"
Ayato harrumphed in amusement, though next to him Otonashi suddenly looked pensive. "Why do you ask?"
"Yeah," said Yui playfully, leaning forward. "Have you ever felt like there's something really important you've forgotten? Do you get déjà vu too?"
Lowering her water glass, Nagisa looked over at Yui as something like odd reflection flickered in her eyes.
"Come to think of it, I do feel that way sometimes," she said, and turned to her husband. "It's kind of strange, maybe not a past life or anything like that, but I really feel like I'm forgetting something. Like there's a part of my life that I'm remembering differently. Like something got erased, and with a bad eraser so the memory is all fuzzy and full of holes."
"I think I know what you're talking about!" Kyou said, while Okazaki looked nervous. "Was it back in high school, early third year? And at some point we were celebrating something…?"
"Yes!" Nagisa said excitedly, and Okazaki looked relieved at first but then gradually disconcerted. "But it wasn't the start of drama club. I know that…"
"Founder's Festival?" Ryou suggested. "If it was around that time, I feel the same way."
"Yeah, me too…" Okazaki stared down at the table in slow realization. "That's really weird. What are we all forgetting about back then?"
"Maybe Naoi could hypnotize it out of you," Matsushita the Fifth offered, gesturing to Ayato and then to GlDeMo's row. "Or, if you prefer, you could just come to Iwasawa's concert next month and then you'll figure it out."
Okazaki frowned over at Ayato doubtfully. "I think the concert option would be best…"
"Actually, I don't know about that," said Otonashi, his eyebrows furrowing like he'd been mulling over a thought for some time. "I'm pretty sure there's a distinction between their powers."
"Oh?" Yuri glanced down the table at him, while Iwasawa leaned forward looking interested. "How so?"
"Well… in the Afterlife, I had amnesia for a while," Otonashi reminded everyone, presumably for guests who didn't know. "I heard Iwasawa play 'My Song' back then, and – well, it triggered some feelings and memories from my past life, but only for a moment. I regained most of them after Naoi hypnotized me. But I permanently regained all my memories of the Afterlife and my past when I heard Iwasawa play 'My Song' in this life." He drank some of his lemonade and paused, reflecting for a moment as he stared up at a flickering pink heart-shaped neon light on the wall. "I feel like, for some reason, Iwasawa's power – as it is now – is connected to the Afterlife and what we remember from it, including the life that brought us there."
"Isn't Naoi's hypnosis pretty much the same?" Hinata asked.
"Maybe, but it's not as specific." Otonashi reached over to grab a fry. "Since it worked in the afterlife, I figure it's more related to hidden memories in general. Iwasawa's song seems to bring back memories we held in the Afterlife, not just any memories."
Ryou nodded. "That must be true," she said. "Remember? Youhei and I did go to the concert. We heard 'My Song' live. It didn't make us remember anything."
Ayato rubbed his chin, absorbing all of this with interest. "So only people from the Afterlife can be affected – people who have that kind of connection with Iwasawa," he considered, and gestured to the similarly intrigued vocalist in question. "You sing from the heart, but my power comes from the mind. It makes sense that our abilities would differ in certain ways. For instance, I doubt I would be able to restore Afterlife memories myself if I had no knowledge of my own. Even if I did manage to relearn hypnotism without them."
Sitting up straighter, he turned his attention to Okazaki and Nagisa with a magnanimous smile.
"But," he mused, "I suppose I could restore ones like yours."
Nagisa looked fascinated, Ryou conflicted, and Okazaki and Kyou rather skeptical, one more so than the other. "I don't know about that," said Okazaki, probably still sulky from the dango incident.
Ayato lifted his eyebrows at him innocently. "Aren't you curious?" he asked. "It's a part of your life that you've lost. If it frustrates you so much, it could be that it's very important to you. And it appears I'm your only way of finding out." For good measure, he gave a meaningful head tilt and added, "Isn't it worth it to try?"
Although clearly unamused by his own words being used against him, Okazaki exchanged glances with the rest of the booth. "We'll think about it," he replied after a moment. "Give us some time to talk it over."
"Fine," Ayato said grandly, and resumed tending to his melting ice cream. "It can wait until we go back to the park." After all, hovering at the booth with his eyes glowing red might be too scary a sight for little Ushio.
"Well, speaking of getting memories back," Matsushita said, and his booming voice managed to carry to the opposite end of the other table, "hey Iwasawa, how did you get yours?"
Ooyama perked up, instantly gulping down a bite of sundae.
"Yeah!" he said brightly, looking over at Iwasawa with interest. "I mean, if our memories came from 'My Song,' then where did 'My Song' come from?"
Iwasawa gave a mellow smile. "Like Naoi said," she answered, as if it were obvious. "From the heart."
Otonashi grinned in approval, sharing a fond look with Kanade. They liked that answer.
"So you just knew all the words, or… what, did you catch yourself humming it one day and then everything came flooding back, like—" Fujimaki reeled back, pulling a startled expression, "—'whoa, hold on a minute! I used to be dead.'"
Iwasawa hummed with laughter, shaking her head at the Battlefront's questions and antics.
"It's a long story," she said, spooning absently at her soupy raspberry sherbet. "Back in high school, maybe as early as middle school, I started having dreams about it. About the Afterlife, I mean. And you guys too. I couldn't remember them very well after I woke up, but I felt them." She paused, noting the nods and looks of understanding from the others, then smiled faintly. "They were my only source of relief and happiness at the time, my only escape from my parents' fighting besides listening to music. Sometimes a melody would get stuck in my head, and I'd remember it was from my dreams, and I figured out that the memories stayed with me longer if I attached them to music. That same spring, I found an abandoned guitar and started playing.
"After that, I started opening up to people more. Maybe the friendships I had in my dreams made me more confident that I could have them for real, or maybe it was having music to express myself. Or… I guess my classmates could just see some kind of change in me." She shrugged, so lost in thought that she barely noticed Hisako's soft sidelong glance. "I mean, in many ways I was still the same old me. When I wasn't at school, I was working. When I wasn't working, I was writing songs. But somehow by the end of second year, I had some pretty great people in my life. People who would take me to a Sad Machine concert, or let me sleep at their house when the fighting got too loud, or stop to listen if they saw me playing on the streets… People who made my 'real' school just as fun as my dream one."
Ayato lowered his gaze to the table as he considered her words. So she'd had people who'd made this life worth living…
He would not let his eyes wander where they wanted to wander right now.
"Those dreams…" Iwasawa continued, the faraway look in her eyes dimming as she looked up at everyone with a wistful fondness. "Even when you guys weren't with me, you were still with me. And my dreams, my music, my classmates… they all gave me the one thing I needed most, to keep me going all this time."
Ooyama paused his spoon in mid-air, struck with curiosity. "What was that?"
Iwasawa smiled at him.
"Hope," she said. "That's where 'My Song' came from. I wrote it near the end of my senior year, kind of as a 'thank you,' and a love letter, and a 'congratulations to everyone else who made it this far right along with me.' I'd had a dream about that final performance, and it ended up waking me up in the middle of the night. Right after I vanished, so the song was still fresh in my mind. Stayed up the rest of the night composing it. Even after it faded, the lyrics came so easily. I felt them just as much in the living world as I did in my dreams." Iwasawa took a sip of her water, smirking appreciatively into her glass at the curious faces that surrounded her. "But it wasn't until I first performed it in front of everyone at graduation, that I remembered… which school it was originally meant for."
There was a lull as the Battlefront members processed all of this, looking at her in wonder.
"Wow," Otonashi said after a moment. "So it all just came back to you then?"
"Not when you were writing the lyrics, or practicing it, or—" Hinata gestured vaguely to Kanade, "—humming it to yourself or something?"
Iwasawa shook her head. "It felt different somehow, standing up there and sharing it with everyone else."
"But getting your memories back right then and there…" Yuri mused. "During the song? Talk about performing under pressure."
"Don't even get me started." Iwasawa laughed, and scooped more of her sherbet remains. "I swear the main thing that got me through it was that most of my memories involved me playing onstage anyway. Though…" she reflected, letting a small smile tug at her lips, "I think remembering everyone might've actually done some good. Helped me put more of my heart into it."
"Oh sure, you love us," Fujimaki drawled. "That's why you got your memories back, what, six years ago? And immediately came running to find us."
"Hey!" Hisako protested, leaning into Iwasawa protectively. "Is she done telling the story?"
Fujimaki put up his hands in a mix of "I'm just saying" and surrender.
"In my defense, I wasn't even sure the song had that power," said Iwasawa. "It affected me, sure, but no one came up to me later and said, 'Hey Iwasawa, your song unlocked memories of my past life.'" She paused, considered, and looked at them all. "Over the years, though, the thought did occur to me more and more. Since the song was so personal, I kept it pretty close to my heart and didn't play it again publicly for a long time. But I had this daydream... that maybe, if one day I was playing for a larger audience than just my graduating class, this time you guys would be in the crowd. And I'd play 'My Song' again, and you'd remember just like I did and come running up to me after the show." With a vaguely abashed smile, she brushed a lock of hair behind her ear. "I'll admit, I'd never felt that daydream as strongly as I did on the night of the concert."
"I'll bet," said Otonashi, grinning. "Doesn't seem so farfetched now, does it?"
Iwasawa chuckled. "Not so much anymore," she agreed, and hesitated like she was dwelling on a thought. "But after the initial thrill of the concert, I… well, it was all a little overwhelming for me. It reminded me how much I missed all of you. How much I loved performing together with GlDeMo while the Battlefront pulled off another one of their zany operations. It was a little sad to have these memories when I wasn't sure there was anyone else out there who understood them."
Yui uttered a tiny whine of guilt and sympathy; even Yuri frowned as if the thought particularly bothered her.
"So after a while, I decided to take a break from some things," Iwasawa went on. "Write new songs, do some busking and some smaller gigs, go on the down-low while I did a little self-reflection. Wherever I went, sometimes I'd look for a familiar face in the audience. But for the most part I was trying to make peace with the fact that I might never meet another Afterlife soul in this lifetime."
"And that's when I showed up," Hisako said smugly.
Iwasawa broke into a short peal of happy laughter. "That's when Hisako showed up," she agreed, her eyes bright with reminiscent joy.
"Memories intact?" Matsushita asked.
"Nope," Hisako replied, reaching for a fry. "But that's only because I hadn't gone to a concert in five years. Big concerts reminded me of a friend I lost, I never went to one without her… Then one day I decided to ease out of my comfort zone – you know, start by seeing smaller gigs." Her eyes glinted with a certain warmth as they shifted to her right. "First one I go to, there's Iwasawa playing her heart out. How's that for fate?"
Iwasawa grinned. "She came up to me after the show, wanting to tell me about her friend and what my performance meant to her. But apparently I was the one who looked like I'd seen a ghost."
"You really should've seen her face," Hisako agreed, smirking. "Though, I got chills when I first saw her too. I just didn't know the true meaning behind them. But imagine going up to a singer to compliment her music and she ends up fawning all over you."
"Oh stop, I wasn't fawning." Iwasawa glanced away with a coy grin, her cheeks faintly pink. To the others, she said, "She just means we immediately hit it off."
"And talked for hours," Hisako added. "Had this whole long heart-to-heart about bands and music and the friends we reminded each other of. Then she gave me a private performance of 'My Song' and I realized the whole time she'd been talking about me."
"That's when you knew the song worked on other people," Yuri observed, turning her attention to Iwasawa.
A nod from the singer. "As soon as she remembered, we knew we had to get the band back together," Iwasawa said, moving her hand over Hisako's. "We found Irie and Sekine a couple of weeks later."
"At the same time." Hisako pouted towards the girls in question. "Even without memories they were best friends. Already found each other years ago, the lucky little—"
"Hey, it's not our fault we went to the same school," Sekine shot back.
"Rub it in my face, why don't you!"
Otonashi smiled sympathetically at Iwasawa, who returned it while she blithely sipped at her water like this type of exchange was nothing new. If anything, they were both relieved Hisako hadn't finished that sentence with impressionable young ears nearby.
"So the three of you really hadn't seen the concert?" Yui asked, wide-eyed and enraptured by Iwasawa's story as she nursed her smoothie.
Next to her, Irie shook her head and looked sheepish. "It just didn't turn out that way…"
"She was on a date," Sekine clarified.
Irie turned red. "Hey—!"
"With her creepy boyfriend," Sekine added, more happily.
"Creepy? Tell them what you were doing that night!"
"Spying on that date." Sekine shrugged, absolutely shameless about it. "If he tried anything, I was up in a tree with my water gun ready."
"You could have been less noticeable." Irie covered her face from the memory. "It was so embarrassing…"
"He's still with you, isn't he? I think he took it pretty well."
Hisako snorted into her drink, while Iwasawa rolled her eyes with a smile. Despite the "creepy" comment from earlier, going by the big grin on her face this boyfriend had apparently received Sekine's stamp of approval since then.
"Anyway, it was the same with Yusa when we found her," Iwasawa continued. "At that point, I thought none of you had seen it. I wanted to believe the rest of the ever-fighting Battlefront existed in this world, we just hadn't run into each other yet." She glanced down the table at Yui, who was leaning forward and hanging on every word, and bestowed her with an affectionate smile. "That's why hearing how determined you were to find us… well, it means a lot."
Yui's cheeks flushed the same color as her smoothie. "I'm glad…" she said, and trailed off into quiet starry-eyed bliss.
Truth be told, even if he wouldn't say it aloud, Ayato was admittedly happy for her. Or at least mildly pleased. This must be like a dream come true for Yui – a fairytale even her storybook couldn't have prepared her for.
The GlDeMo girls went on to explain how they'd ultimately decided to start Operation Songbird. It was time for Girls Dead Monster to make their mark in this life, to celebrate their reunion with a triumphant musical debut that would blow everyone away with their combined power. They'd give the living world a show like never before – something the Battlefront would not want to miss.
Their discovery and magical recruitment of Yusa as she was passing through town soon landed them an opportunity. Stylist wasn't her only role in Mizuzaka. Using some connections she'd made, she was able to pull some strings and get them a venue. With the amphitheater performance set in stone, and Yusa helping with planning and posters, they'd been practicing like mad for months. Memories or no memories, dead or alive, if anything could rally the Battlefront it was an epic GlDeMo concert.
"Or Yui," Hisako teased, smirking around the table at everyone. "All this time we've been wondering where she was, turns out she's been out here doing our job for us."
Yui muffled a flustered squeak into her smoothie.
"There's still a few people left." Yuri studied her refilled glass of pomegranate soda with detached interest. "It's likely they won't have their memories, but the most important thing is bringing all of Battlefront back together. We'll make sure even the amnesiacs attend." She looked up at Iwasawa. "Are we agreed on combining our efforts? The concert is now an official Battlefront reunion?"
Iwasawa nodded her consent. "Understood. Operation Songbird is a-go."
The Battlefront chattered excitedly amongst themselves after that, hyped up on sugar and success as they finished their food. Yuri discussed the operation more with Yusa, Hisako, and Iwasawa, while Yui happily talked to Irie and Sekine about October's concert and raved at Otonashi, Hinata, and Kanade that they would finally be at this one together like they should've been in Shibuya. Shiina picked uncertainly at the remains of the banana split and looked rather overwhelmed at the noise (Matsushita nicely tried to cheer her up with pictures of his cousin Hinako's kitten on his phone). Fujimaki and Ooyama tried to wheedle Ayato into finishing their sundae for them and saving them from themselves. Meanwhile, the entire booth group was getting deeply invested in a debate between Ushio and Noda over whether robots or zombies were cooler.
It was satisfying, the togetherness of it all. The triumph of discovery. The promise of fruition. There was just—
A light fixture flickered from above.
Yes, exactly that, Ayato thought at the back of his mind, the illusion of peace mildly unsettled. Just a feeling that things could never be as perfect or as easy as they seemed. Too many times, he had felt the highs only to plummet to the lows. Like a branch breaking beneath his feet, or a ceramic mug shattering against a wall.
He glanced at Yuri, who was yelping with laughter and waving her soda glass as Hisako and Iwasawa told the booth group about her short-lived bassist career.
(Or hissed words after a failed hypnotism…)
Shaking his head of the thought, he chalked it up to paranoia and resumed finishing his food. Even helping himself to some of that brownie sundae Ooyama offered. Because that ingrained pessimism had never done him any favors.
As it was, when it came to lows, he was fairly sure they'd already paid their dues.
A/N: Oof, I'm not sure how soon the next chapter will be out. I don't like not being ahead 2+ chapters, and I want to be very careful with my next turning point(s). But I'm really happy to have come this far, and I appreciate everyone who's stuck it out for this long.
Operation Songbird is a-go, folks! Is this the homestretch? It's possible.
Until next time, I leave you with this work-in-progress of a preview section and another tentative title. Happy ten years of Angel Beats :')
(EDIT 7-25-20: Preview section updated!)
Preview
"I think we could use all the help we can get."
"We could've passed each other by so many times."
"Even Naoi and Yuri had each other."
"He's as stupid as ever."
"I wonder if he found her again in this life..."
"Is there something I can help you with?"
"She was a very good friend of ours."
"Are you okay?"
"You should ride with us."
[Chapter 54]: Natsukashii.
