Took long enough, huh? Chapter Five, go! Enjoy~

Bang!

With the metallic sound of gun fire echoing through the street, everything soon went quiet, and the smoke that rose up out from the barrel of my Glock moved straight into the sky due to the absence of wind.

For only a fraction of a second, I could see the final mass of darkness that had stood in my way, seemingly frozen, until it silently exploded into nothingness.

"Phew…" Sweat was pouring down my face as I finally left my defensive pose and slid my gun back into the holster hanging from my waist. "That was tiring."

Matsushita the Fifth quietly put his hand on my shoulder as he swung his assault rifle by the strap in order to rest it on his back. Again, without a word, he nodded his chin towards the direction we were going and walked off to let me follow.

I didn't have much of an idea as to where we were going, but his words still echoed in my head.

"We're going to find the Gates of Heaven."

As we continued down the street, headed towards the North Sector's mysterious plaza, I swallowed the air in anxiety.

'No matter how you interpret that… it's ominous as hell.'

Chapter Five: Gates of Heaven

Shadow City - Northern Sector, 1:12 pm

We stood at what seemed to be as far north as the city stretched; off all of the main streets, far past all of the residential areas, into and out of a multi acre park, we finally arrived on the veritable outskirts of the limits.

"…Are we even in the city anymore?"

"Dunno." Even after we reached the gigantic riverbank we now walked alongside, Matsushita hadn't stopped or even told me where we were headed. "All I know is that what's on the other side of the river is not what should be there."

I took his words into consideration.

Normally, the other side of a river on the outskirts of a city would be another city. The two cities would be connected by a bridge so that cars could cross over from one city to the other.

I looked out over the expansive river, and it was all I could see; about half way across the water's still surface, there was a wall of mist. It was so thick that I was sure you couldn't see a centimeter in front of your face if you were in it.

"So are we going to be crossing a bridge?"

"Mm." Matsushita nodded and raised his right arm to point off into the distance. "You can see it from here."

"Hmm?" I looked directly towards where he was pointing, but I couldn't see anything. But that's because of what I was looking for. "I don't see a bridge…"

"No… You're looking for a white suspension bridge, right?" I silently nodded as he turned his head to look at me. "What we're looking for is a bit different."

I moved my eyes to look towards where he nodded again, and found my gaze naturally settling on something kind of disturbing.

"It's…"

Concrete.

What it seemed was little more than a structure that belonged over a river in a small park; not something cars could drive over. But the biggest thing that threw me off was...

"It goes straight into this mist…" Matsushita nodded again with a slight grunt. "And I can take a guess as to what's on the other side."

"Pretty much. Don't worry, though; the mist clears up a good bit when you're actually on the bridge."

"…" He began to walk ahead of me some as I pondered on something. "Still ominous as hell." Almost reluctantly, I followed behind him.

My pistol was still resting in its holster, and Matsushita hadn't made any moves to grab the machine gun resting on his back, so I could only assume that this was a generally safe area.

"Explain to me again, that feeling when they show up." Without looking back at me, and without stopping, he began to explain to me once again.

"Like I said, I don't really know the logistics of it myself. All I know is that when they're around, my body reacts."

It's like a pounding migraine that comes out of nowhere. My vision gets hazy, my mind goes blank, and it feels like a vice is tightening around my head, inch by inch no matter how much my skull gets in the way. My temples feel like they could burst any second, and the urge to cough blood leaps into my throat…

And then it's gone.

As quickly and without warning as it comes, it leaves. The whole process takes an entire half a second, so it's not having any adverse effects, but that much pain in that short a moment is almost unbearable.

"Hmm…" As he explains it to me for about the tenth time, all I can do is wonder about it. Not only is this apparent ability to sense the Shadow's presence something that didn't happen in the School World, but it also seems like I'm the only one who can't feel it.

"And you're sure you haven't felt it?"

"I think I'd remember something like that…"

"Probably." There was no 'probably' about it; there was no way I'd experienced something like that before.

If it was just Matsushita the Fifth or Yuri, I could write it off as those two being just insanely tuned in to their surroundings. Matsushita is a warrior with amazing senses, and Yuri is… well, she's Yuri.

…Not really sure how else to put that.

It only took a few more minutes to reach the fog and death-flag covered bridge. Even before we stood in front of it, I had thought it was ominous, but…

"This is just beyond terrifying."

"No time to turn around now, Otonashi. We're almost there." He had already begun to walk down the bridge before he finished speaking, and I had no choice other than follow.

"The way you put emphasis on that really isn't helping." And so, we walked, once again, in silence. Every step brought both of us closer to the cloud of mist that started about a little less than a fourth way down. Within a minute or two, we had already made it into it.

Each step now made the path ahead less and less visible as we moved deeper into the veritable barrier that stood floating over the bridge. It wasn't long before a disgustingly familiar sensation spread through my body.

"…" I stopped. Yet I kept moving.

Even knowing that I wasn't going anywhere, my legs kept walking, moving my body forward through the mist against my will. And then the second part set in.

I was following Matsushita the Fifth, and we had been walking at the same general pace the whole time; that hadn't changed. Yet, every step I took towards his direction, he seemed to get three steps away.

"It's happening again…" I spoke, yet no sound came.

A void where nothing happens.

This was the only way to possibly describe this feeling; like you were trapped in a place where nothing will ever progress, even as everything moves forward.

My mind started to go blank, and before I knew it, I had no idea how much time had passed. A few minutes or hours, a couple days? Even something as ridiculous as several hundred years didn't seem too far off. The sharp, mind-numbing pain in my temples dulled my sense of reality.

And then…

"Watch it." His still rather large hand gripped my shoulder. His voice and touched snapped me back into reality almost instantly, and I could only look down to see chips on concrete fall through the hole and down into the watery abyss below. "Try not to keep your focus on any one thing; let your eyes wander."

He let go and continued walking.

"I'm telling you, I can't see anything in this fog."

"Well, don't worry. It won't keep up for much longer."

"…" Without another word, I began to follow him again. 'I really don't want to feel that experience again. The one time was two times too many.'

Shadow City - Beyond North Sector, 1:23 pm

"…What the crap is it?"

Just as Matsushita had said, we soon exited the fog. But what I stood faced with afterwards was a lot more… everything.

"Just what I said it is."

"Groovy, man."

More ominous, mysterious, and a lot more death flag raising. That's what this thing was.

"This. This is the Gates of Heaven?" It took a more literal meaning than I had expected. "IT'S A LITERAL GATE!" I said this as if I wasn't impressed, but it really was something.

After all, it's not every day one comes across a gate made of pure silver that's at least 20 meters long and at least twice that tall. On either side was nothing but air - as if there was nothing to support it. But that didn't make me think it would open very easily.

'Even so! Damn you to hell, Matsushita the Fifth!'

"But here's the strange thing." He took a step towards the gate.

"You're telling me the strange thing isn't the fact that the massive, about twice the size of your average hotel, silver gate is literally floating there, attached to nothing but fog?"

"Well… that is pretty off putting, but, no. This thing is… pure." His choice of words threw me off a little.

"Pure…? What do you mean… pure?" He took another step towards it and grabbed the bars.

Now, when I say 'bars', I don't mean your typical iron gate bars. The design inside of it was like thousands of small silver tubes curving around like vines to make up an incredibly intricate design.

Something like that would probably cost you one hundred thousand yen at a normal size…

Matsushita took the bar and gripped it as hard as he could, and then began to force it; shaking it back and forth with all of his overwhelming strength. But even then, it did little more than rattle as if it were a tightly locked - and attached to a wall - gate.

"I'm not really sure how to explain it… guess you could say it's like the opposite of the Shadows."

"The opposite?" He nodded.

"Whereas the Shadows initial presence gives me a massive migraine, and physically hurts the body… like… gah!" As if to quell an incoming headache due to over thinking, Matsushita the Fifth pushed the palm of his hand against his temple.

"Well… don't hurt yourself, now." As I raised my hands in front of my chest to try to say it was fine, I felt a slight tug on the cuff of my sleeve. "…?" Looking behind me, I saw what was gripping my jacket. Faced with the gate, I had almost forgotten she had been standing there from the moment I arrived. "What's up Kanade?"

"…" She didn't say anything, choosing instead to stare silently into my eyes. I couldn't really react to it, or even fathom how to. All I could do for the next moment was watch her soft, amber eyes stare back into mine. "…"

In the end, she only shook her head. With no other way to react, I only smiled and put my hand on top of her head.

"So, what are we supposed to do about this thing?" I directed my question towards Matsushita the Fifth, but I was honestly hoping for anyone to answer me. But everyone was silent.

"…Well." After a few minutes, he spoke up. "The best thing to do would be to leave it alone… at least until we can figure out what it physically is."

"Mm." The small voice from behind me gave me a start. "It would be best to leave this structure alone. We don't know what purpose it may serve within this world; trying to tamper with it would be ill-advised." I'm pretty sure that was the most Kanade had spoken since she got to this twisted place. "In addition, I agree that it is indeed of a 'heavenly' sort."

"Heavenly?"

"Mm." She nodded firmly before, reluctantly, relinquishing my sleeve from her light grasp, and walked towards the gate. "This gate is not of this world, nor is its structure man-made. The only conclusion is that it is either born of Heaven… or born of Hell."

"Man…" It was giving me a headache. With my palm pressed against my temple, I staggered a little before falling on my ass. "I know this world lacks any kind of common sense, but… Heaven and Hell?"

It went silent again. Everyone was left thinking what the damn thing might be, or what significance it held.

"Oh, wild heaven!"

…Everyone except the moron. Damn, his footwork noise is starting to irritate me…

"Taking into consideration that our present situation lacks any kind of logic." Matsushita broke the near silence and took a piece of chalk from his breast pocket.

He knelt down and began scribbling something onto the cracked concrete at his feet. After a minute or two, he gestured us over.

"This is how it would work, roughly, based on what we know. Just to be clear, this is probably nowhere near the fact." I nodded as I got up only to take a few steps and sit back down again.

"Please explain."

"Mm." Kanade agreed with a nod and crouched next to me. We both took a look at what he had drawn; a few shapes and some words, along with some arrows.

A circle labeled, 'Earth - Real Life'.

A triangle labeled, 'School World - Afterlife'.

A square labeled, 'Shadow World - Afterlife'.

Two diamonds with 'Heaven' and 'Hell' written in them.

'Earth' was at the top, with curved arrows pointing to both the 'School' and the 'Shadow' which were lined next to each other below it. Beneath them, 'Heaven' and 'Hell' were also lined up.

"So here we go."

Starting with what we know for sure, the Afterlife is where those who died with regrets go in order to move past them and be reborn.

He drew little stick figures next to the arrow leading from Earth to School.

We, the SSS Battlefront were moved to the so-called 'School' because of our age at death. But others…

Now he made them on the other arrow.

Those too old to be attending school were moved here. A separate 'program' or 'file' of the Afterlife designed in the same way and with the same purpose as the School, but aimed at a different demographic.

But something went wrong. Namely…

An oval off to the side, in between Earth and Shadow. Within it, he wrote 'God - Programmer'. Seeing that alone sent a chill down my spine.

The one who made the Afterlife, the one we presume to be the physical manifestation of "God", and the Shadow Virus that infects his program. When the Shadows showed up, they began forcing us to be reincarnated, and broke the system.

And for reasons unknown…

He wrote 'SSS' next to the School bound stick figures and circled them. He then made an arrow from that circle to the square representing the current world.

We were taken here. Once again, taking into consideration that our current situation lacks any amount of physical logic, all we can incur is that it's to 'cure' this world. In other words… To eliminate the virus.

A few squiggles inside the square and some dashes coming from the ones on his left - something I could only assume were us shooting the Shadows.

But even that is going past what we know for sure. In fact, about seventy-five percent of that might as well have been pure speculation. Regardless, though, it brings us to this damn thing…

I was suddenly reminded of the looming presence only a few feet behind him as he started scribbling again. When I looked again, he had made a bolded dot in between Heaven and Hell; an up pointing arrow that spread in to directions linked it to both of the Afterlife sections.

Assuming that this place is neither Heaven nor Hell - and let's be honest, that's a damn safe assumption - both where we are now and the School world, would be something like Purgatory or Limbo.

…That's damn terrifying.

While I thought that, he made a small 'x' on the top edge of Shadow. Tapping that X with the chalk, he continued.

And if that's the case, my way of tempting Otonashi into coming here might even be true.

So you admit that it was a ruse… Jackass.

This might very well be…

He looked over his shoulder. It seemed like he was pausing to add dramatic effect, but it almost felt like he didn't want to admit it himself.

"The Gates of Heaven." As the words left Kanade's lips, Matsushita looked like he just heard the voice of a savior, but all I heard was the voice of the harbinger of misfortune. "It is quite possible that, upon stepping past this gate, one would be reincarnated."

"…" My eyes slowly fell from the gate to the chalk markings. 'If this is all true, then...' Something hit me. I don't know what it was, but something was off. 'If you think about it as much as you need to, it makes sense. Everything here is right, but… what's missing?' My eyes shot around from shape to shape, trying to figure out what my brain was trying to tell me.

"Otonashi." My train of thought broke. With a confused grunt, I looked up to see Matsushita crack his knuckles and smile. "Stand back a little." Without even waiting for me to move, he twisted his body into a downward arc and swung his fist into the concrete, making it shatter.

"Whoa!" I managed to dive out of the way of the impact zone and the more dangerous debris. "What are you…!?"

"Everything we talked about here never happened. We don't want to underestimate the enemy, and we don't want them to know that we may know things." Without another word, he started for the bridge.

It was sudden, but he was right. We didn't know anything about the Shadows, so whether they could comprehend abstract thought or not was an unknown factor in our fight against them. But what is this uneasy feeling…?

T.K. followed quickly after Matsushita and I held my hand out for Kanade to grab onto so we could follow suit. As she wrapped her fingers around mine, I began to walk back into the mist.

And that was about the time it happened.

"SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

An ear-piercing scream blasted through the air, and was soon followed by a gust of wind that was probably on par with a tornado at top speeds. Without enough time to think, I dropped to my knees and covered my ears.

"AAAHHHH! WHAT THE HELL!?" It was loud enough to deafen a person, and probably make a deaf person hear again. Even so, my shouting was able to reach the others' ears.

"I DON'T KNOW!" I heard Matsushita's voice, and looked to see that both he and T.K. were on their knees as well.

"KANADE!" Fighting the gust of wind that was steadily blowing the thick fog away, I turned to wrap my body around hers to shield her small frame from any incoming debris. She was doubled over like the other two, but she was shaking as well. 'Damn… what the hell is-'

It ended.

'…Huh?'

Just as randomly and out of the blue as it came, it abruptly stopped; like a video playing it had been paused halfway through. Everything went quiet for a minute, but I didn't let go of Kanade until he spoke.

"Guys… we have a serious problem…!" I turned around slowly to face back towards the city. The sheer air force produced by the scream had blown every last trace of fog away from us, and the end of the bridge was visible.

And I saw it.

Past T.K. who stood as dumbfounded as me, past Matsushita who was already getting ready to pull the trigger on his assault rifle, and way past the park we had passed through to get there…

Stood something I could only describe as a monster, plain and simple. At least as tall and as wide as the gate was - maybe even larger than that - with an incredible length to boot, it stood on four legs. Pitch black skin, massive red eyes, and millions of razor sharp teeth in its gigantic mouth.

A true monster.

IT APPEARS! The cliffhanger of, what?, the past 3 Chapters is finally revealed! But what on God's green Earth could this monstrosity be!? Why isn't T.K. getting any lines!? WHY AM I ASKING YOU!?

Well, that aside, though: Back to lethargy. (b'-')b

Until Next Time~