Chapter 2:

"This is our new student." Said my new homeroom teacher. "Please introduce yourself."

"My name is Mike Triss. Pleased to meet all of you."

"Hi Mike." Responded the class. The teacher turned to me.

"You can take the empty seat next to Masako." He pointed to a short brunette girl with a face that seemed much younger than our grade. Her hair was brown and curled and she had heavy eyeliner but not so much that she didn't look good. I sat down and she gave me a kind of side glance and returned to doodling in her notebook. For a moment I thought of the future diary and how she might be an owner but brushed it off as just being my paranoia.

Class had begun and the teacher was droning on about exponent rules or something. When I felt something land on my hand It was a piece of lined paper. I looked around and nobody seemed particularly interested in me or the paper. I opened it and it only had one word on it. Hi. I jotted down a response. Hello. I set it on the corner of my desk and Masako grabbed it. Our paper conversation went like this.

So you're the new kid?

Yeah. I transferred from a school in America.

Cool. Which city did you live in?

Syracuse in New York. My dad got relocated for this job.

Do you like it here?

It's okay. I've only been here for about a day. My only friend is Motoki Oshima.

I know him. He's a pretty weak guy. He always looked so scrawny and I felt bad when people picked on him. I wish I could have done something.

You could have. There's always something you can do.

I guess you're right. I like you. You seem pretty nice.

Thanks but you haven't really met me.

Oh?

If you want to get to know me we should go to a movie.

Did you just ask me out?

Do you have a boyfriend?

Well, no but I just got out of a relationship.

You can say no if you want to.

Okay. I'll go to the movies with you. Which one do you want to see?

You can decide. Give me your phone number after class and I'll text you with the details. She turned and smiled at me. It wasn't wide or obvious. It was only a slight grin but it was warmer than the side glance she gave me before. Not long after that class had ended and we were breaking for lunch. I stood up and she put a piece of paper into my pocket.

"You're pretty smooth, American." She said and she was gone. I looked around and a few guys were staring at me in awe.

"No way he got her number. Not on his first day here." I heard one student say to another. I picked up my briefcase and left the classroom ready to head to the courtyard for lunch. Oshima had decided to wait for me outside of my classroom.

"How's your first day been?"

"I've got a date."

"Holy shit. With who?"

"Masako I think is her name."

"MASAKO MASUNO!?" He exclaimed. "Dude, what the hell! Every guy in the school has wanted her for the past three years! She hasn't even had a boyfriend before!"

"I guess I'm just really lucky." I said smiling. I continued walking until I found a bench where I could sit and enjoy my lunch in peace which wasn't easy with a screaming Oshi following me. I tried my best to seem as stern as I could as I turned to him. "Don't you think we have better things to worry about than who I'm dating." That shut him up. We sat down and he pulled out what I recognized as a bento box and I pulled out my pokey from my bag. I put the thin chocolate covered cookie in my mouth and began to chew.

"Has your diary updated at all?" He asked.

"I haven't checked since this morning when you were with me." I pulled out my phone and saw the same notification about a new entry. I unlocked my phone and opened the app. I was shocked with what I read. I grabbed Oshi's hand and pulled him behind me. He was refusing to move his legs and was demanding to know why I was dragging him through the school.

"What are you doing? Where are we going? What's wrong with you?" I stopped and asked him a question.

"Where is your sister?"

We began sprinting as fast as we could out of the school and down to where my diary said we needed to go. Once we got downtown we found the library and went to an alley four blocks east of it. When we turned the corner a disturbing sight met us. A man in a black cloak was standing over a mangled figure holding a knife dripping with blood. Oshi screamed and the man turned noticing people had seen his atrocious act and charged at us. I pulled Oshi to the side as the man tried to stab him. The man missed so I took the opportunity to grab the pen from my pocket and stabbed the man in the side with it. It went half way into his side and he fell to the ground. I looked at his face but didn't see any distinct features because of the black ski mask he wore. I only saw his blue eyes. Before we could grab him he ran off.

Oshi wasn't focused with the man but with the corpse. He ran over to it and held it. He looked at me with despair in his eyes.

"She's dead. We were too late." I could see tears begin to swell up in his eyes. I pulled out my phone and dialed the emergency contact.

"911 what's your emergency?"

"My friend's sister has been murdered." As I said it I could hear Oshi let out a loud sob and a scream.

"I need your name and location sir."

"Mike Triss and the alley four blocks east of the Takahashi public library. Please help."

"I'm sending police and first responders to your location. Please stay on the line."

"I can't, I'm sorry but my friend needs me." I hung up the phone and moved toward Oshima who was now covered in blood. I don't exactly know if there's a saying associated with seeing your first dead body so I'll make one now. You never forget your first dead body. This rings especially true when it's the body of a child. As I stared down at the bloody, lifeless corpse I felt a sense of hopelessness. Her eyes were still left open and her face was soaked with a mix of blood and tears. Her stomach was cut open and her organs were out for god and everyone.

"We need to kill him." Oshi said. I was shocked at his blunt statement.

"I know you're pissed but still. The cops should handle this."

"No, we need to handle this. There are only ten people in the world who are capable of targeting my family. It happened to be my sister, my family, and my life. There is no question in my mind. That man was a diary owner." I tried to deny it but his logic made perfect sense. It was odd that it was his family that was targeted and when the man charged he went for Oshi and tried to ignore me.

"How would we even go about finding him?"

"You stabbed him with a pen. Eventually he'll need medical attention. It can't be a common injury. Once there's been a report of it we'll be there. If all else fails the cops will tell us when they have a suspect. When they do we'll kill him."

"No matter what the plans we're not making a move until we're positive you're right." I could hear sirens begin to approach. "For now we tell them the truth about what just happened." A cop car pulled up and rushed over to Oshi's sister demanding he let her go and move away from the victim. We stepped back and let them do their thing. We watched as the paramedics put his sister's body on the gurney and wheeled her into the ambulance. The police moved us to the side and told us to wait while they sent for someone to question us.

"I'm going to interview you each separately if that's alright." We nodded. I began to move from the bumper of the police car we were leaning on over to the edge of the police tape they had set up. There was a crowd of people gathering around the scene to catch a glimpse of what was happening. I looked over and saw the pool of blood and the people who were taking samples and pictures of it. Before I knew it the man had come back over. "Please tell me what happened."

"What's there to tell? Oshi and I were running down the road when we found the alley that his sister was known to hang out in and we saw a man standing over his sister with a bloody knife." He took out a pen and notepad and began writing.

"Why exactly were you running down this way?"

"Oshi had a bad feeling. That's all there is to it."

"You took it on faith that he was right?"

"I believe that the bond between family is stronger than anything that can be explained. I didn't feel the need to question it."

"Never mind that. What happened after he saw you?"

"He charged us and tried to stab Oshi so I pulled him to the side. Before I knew what I was doing I had stabbed him in the side with a pen I had in my pocket. He ran away after that." He put his pen back in his pocket and closed the notepad.

"Your stories match. I've called your parents and they're on their way to pick you up." I nodded and he put his hand on my shoulder. "It's okay son. You'll get past this."

"I'm not particularly fazed by this if that's what you think."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah. I don't know what it is but I know this isn't the worst thing that will ever happen to me or the worst thing I'll ever see. I guess I've accepted that terrible things happen."

"Very pessimistic."

"I guess I am a pessimist in a lot of ways but I view myself as a realist." He nodded and walked away. I moved over to Oshi. "What do you think we should do next?" His face was harsh and stern.

"We find the bastard and kill him."

"I don't think we should." He turned towards me and his face turned a bright red.

"How can you say that!" He yelled. People turned our way and I tried to silently shut him up.

"If we're right then he'll come after us again. We wait until that happens and we strike." He calmed down and turned from me.

"Waiting isn't a strong point for me."

"Do you want revenge or don't you?"

"Fine but what do we do until then?"

"What we've been doing. Trying to figure out what this game is about and how to win." I looked over and saw the police letting my mom under the police tape. She ran over to me and hugged me tightly.

"Oh my god, I was so worried when the police called! I'm so glad you're safe!" She cried trembling with fear. I decided to talk to her in english so Oshi might not understand us.

"I'm fine mumma. You can go home. I'm going to stay here and make sure Oshi's okay."

"Do you really think I'll allow you to be alone after this?" She yelled.

"His sister was the one murdered." Her face turned somber as she turned to him.

"... Okay but be home soon." She said and she left. Oshi's phone started to buzz. His phone was an old flip one. I saw him open a text.

"My parents aren't picking me up. They have to go to the morgue to claim my sister's body." He stated.

"I'll walk you home." I helped him up and we walk toward the police tape. The cops lifted it up for us to get under. The crowd had parted except for the reporters on scene who crowded around us. They began to try and film us and were yelling their questions at us. One person was shoving his camera in Oshi's face.

"Please get that camera out of my face." He said.

"We just want a quick word about the traumatic event you've experienced." the reporter replied. I reached over and grabbed the large camera the man next to him was holding and tossed it into the street. If it worked after that it got a good shot of the car that ran it over. The man fell to his knees and began to cry.

"No comment." I said and we walked through the crowd. We were left alone after that.

I took him to his house. It wasn't as large as my home but it might only seem that way because of all of the furniture. I didn't really have time to take in the rest of the house before Oshi had me follow him to his room. It was a bright yellow room with comic books and video games stacked in piles all over the room. He had a large TV with a new game system on a shelf. On the opposite wall was his bed end to the left of that was a bookshelf that housed fedoras instead of books. Yes I said fedoras as in the hat. He moved to his bed and reached under grabbing a three ring binder and setting it onto his bed he turned to the last page with writing.

"Checking your diary?" I asked.

"I figured that after what happened today something would be added." He read the entry and seemed surprised. "The entry about being jumped is gone."

"What do you mean?"

"It was never written. There are no eraser marks or anything." I opened my diary app and noticed my entry about the event disappeared. My phone took on a life of it's own and panned down to a new entry for me. Oshi's eyes grew wide and he stared at me. "We're wrong about this dude. He didn't do it because he's a diary owner."

"How do you know that."

"My newest entry says, 'We were wrong'"

"You're right. My diary says the same thing only mine has something more."

"When he begs for his life he tells us someone hired him to do it. He doesn't give us a name or any other information. He tells us if we want to find out we need to keep him alive. He does tell us the person is a female."

"What happens next?"

"It doesn't give specifics. It only says, 'In my opinion, Oshi's reaction was pretty extreme.'"

"I killed him anyways."

"Maybe." He moved to his bed. As he did we heard the doorbell ring. He laid back on his bed and sighed.

"Please tell them to go away."

"Do you know who it is?"

"No and I don't care. I don't feel like talking." I got up and went downstairs. I took a look outside and was surprised to see Masako standing in the doorway. She had changed out of the school's uniform and changed to a pair of jeans and a yellow blouse. Seeing her made me feel warm and a bit embarrassed that I was so infatuated with a girl I had only just met. I opened the door and she smiled at me.

"Hi American." She said cheerily at me.

"Hi Masako. Listen, I'm sure you know what happened today so Oshima isn't really in the mood to talk."

"I know. I came to talk to you!" I was confused.

"Why?"

"I just need to talk to you. It's important." I stepped out of the house and sat on the stoop in front of the front door. She moved next to me. When she did I felt my pocket begin to vibrate. I pulled out my phone but before I could open it she took it from me putting it in her pocket.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"There's something I need to tell you before the diary does." I could feel my heart beat faster and sweat begin to form on my brow. "Don't worry, I won't kill you. If I wanted to I would have already. All I would need to do is break your phone and you would die but I won't."

"Why not? You'd be that much closer to winning."

"Are you trying to convince me to?" She giggled. It made me relax a little bit but not much. "The reason I'm not is because I love you."

"We just met."

"I know but my diary told me. Of course I knew you were really cute and stuff. I did have a small crush on you but then Amano told me about my diary."

"What about it?"

"It's the love diary. I told him I didn't love anybody and he told me that when I did the diary would then activate and tell me everything about the other person like what they are planning and when they're in danger. It basically becomes the diary that tells me your future!"

"So what your telling me is you love me."

"Do I really have to say it again? YES!" She yelled and giggled.

"Wow, okay. Well, that's, uh, cool, I guess." She frowned at me.

"Do you love me?" I could feel my face growing red.

"I, uh, I mean, you're really pretty and you seem nice but we've just met. It wouldn't-" She stopped my lips with hers. She put her arms on my shoulders and caressed my head. I did what felt natural and held her waist. Her lips were soft and had the taste of oranges on them. My attention was diverted from her to the door which had been opened by Oshi who now stood in the doorway. At first he looked upset but then more embarrassed than anything.

"I'll, uh, leave you two alone." He said shutting the door. I turned back to Masako.

"Wow. You really don't waist time." I said. She sat up and smiled at me.

"Time is valuable. We should never wait to do the things we know are right." That made me laugh.

"Good point but it wouldn't hurt to slow down a bit and savor the time you have." I stood. "I should be getting back to Oshi. He's been through a lot today."

"Okay but we should do this again sometime." She got up and was about to leave.

"Hey." I said catching her attention. "Not many girls have orange lip gloss."

"It's my favorite fruit. I hope you'll taste it again soon." She winked at me and skipped off. I could feel my heart pounding but I wasn't sure if it was from love or raging hormones. Either way I needed to gain some focus on the matter. I walked back inside locking the door behind me. I saw Oshi sitting on the couch watching TV so I sat next to him.

"What the hell was that?" Oshi asked.

"She wanted to talk to me about something."

"What was that?" He asked. I wasn't quite sure what to do yet so I needed to come up with a convincing lie.

"That date I told you about. I asked her to a movie so she wanted to know when it was."

"I thought we would have more pressing matters than your stupid date."

"As far as everyone's concerned we don't have anything pressing other than dealing with the grief involved with losing a loved one. We need to act like that's true." He begrudgingly accepted my explanation.

"Fine but that doesn't help to solve the problem of figuring out who exactly is coming after us."

"There's no way to find them until they come after us. For now we wait."

"I hate waiting. While we are we should find a diary owner to kill." I was shocked at his blunt statement.

"What do you mean? Why should we do that?"

"I can't rely with you through this whole game. For me to learn some independence I need to gain a diary that is able to be used independently." I could feel a lump in my throat begin to form.

"How would we even start looking? It's not like there is a distinct characteristic that all diary owners have."

"My brother is one. I found his diary on his bed a few minutes ago."

"Are you suggesting we kill your brother?"

"We could right now. All I would have to do is burn his diary. Do that and he dies."

"Show me the diary before we decide that." He handed me a leather bound book that was sitting on the table. I opened it up and saw a few entries.

"I can't understand these. They look like they're written by a five year old."

"It's full of naive Judgements. I figure it's better than nothing." I tried to think of a reason not to do this but I couldn't. It makes the most sense strategically to do this.

"You're right. You should do it." I said. "How do you want to do it?"

"The cleanest way is to burn it. After that I'm leaving this house and never returning."

"Why?"

"Why not? As long as I'm here my family is in danger. That's already been proven."

"Where will you live? I'd say with me but I live next door. They'll easily find you there."

"I have a standing invitation from Kazuma to stay with him. I'll figure the rest out later." He stood up and stretched. "Help me get packed. I'll grab the clothes, you take a plastic bag and take some food from the pantry. There's some money my parents hide in their dresser for emergencies. It should be about five hundred. Grab that too." I nodded and proceeded to complete the tasks assigned to me. After that he called me to the living room. He lit the fireplace and tossed the notebook in. A minute passed before either of us spoke.

"What now?" I asked.

"I leave and go to Kazuma."

Oshi and I were in Kazuma's living room when the news report came on. It was the typical reporter standing in front of the location. In this case, the middle school.

"Cause of death has not been identified yet but eye witness testimony says the boy named Yoritomo Oshima suddenly and unexpectedly burst into flames. There was no sign of any flammable material to start a fire as well as no body to inspect. Is this-" Oshi shut off the TV. We sat in silence for a while.

"I guess it worked." I stated. "Has your diary changed at all?"

"New entries have appeared. You were right. It's the naive diary."

"What's that?"

"Listen to this entry. 'We found the man who wanted to hurt us. He says we should let him go. I think we should. He must have learned his lesson by now.' It's complete bullshit that I would never say."

"Like you said, it's the naive diary. It's a misguided distortion of the truth. We just have to figure out what predictions are inaccurate and figure out what the real events are."

"What?"

"We need to take the information the naive diary has and figure out what will happen in the future and how we would actually react instead of how your diary says we should."

"Got it." I looked over and saw Kazuma's cousin and Oshi's childhood friend, Mami, enter the room with a drink for Oshi.

"Here you go. It's a long island ice tea. I figure you could use it after the day you've had." She said.

"Thanks Mami."

"Kazuma wanted me to tell you you're welcome here as long as you need."

"Tell him I said thanks." She nodded and left.

"I'm gonna go home. It's getting dark." I put my hand on his shoulder. "I'll come back tomorrow."

"Don't. You shouldn't come back until I tell you so nobody will follow you back here."

"How are we supposed to get all of this figured out if we can't talk."

"I'll text you if I need you over here. Until then, don't worry about me." I nodded and left. It wouldn't be far to my house. Only a twenty minute walk so I texted my mom telling her I would be home soon. As I waded through the heavy darkness it began to dawn on me how much had changed in the course of a day. Two people died, I helped a friend run away, and I learned the girl I was into will eventually have to kill me. I tried to focus on the path ahead and not get lost which wasn't easy with all of the thoughts clouding my head.

"Hey American." I heard to my left. Out of the dark emerged Masako.

"What are you doing out so late?" I asked.

"I would ask you the same thing but I already know the reason why you're out here. How's Oshima doing? I know how hard it must have been for him to kill his brother."

"You couldn't possibly be here to talk about Oshi."

"I'm here to tell you that you took a wrong turn. Your house is five minutes in the opposite direction." I looked back and smiled.

"Thanks. I guess I haven't really been here long enough to know." She approached me and grabbed my arm.

"I'll walk you home." She led me back onto a path that would get me home before the morning and we began to talk. "Sorry your first day was so crappy."

"It's fine. I think it was harder for Oshi than it was for me. To be honest, the best part of the day was when you came to see me." I could feel myself blushing and I could only hope the darkness covered that up. She giggled and continued.

"Regardless, I know how hard it is to watch someone die right in front of you. A man forced me to watch as he killed my dad and younger sister. My mom was raped but got spared her life."

"Who was he?"

"Someone who knew how successful my dad was. I never could figure out why the man took it so far that night. My best guess is he wanted to make my dad suffer or maybe it was his twisted way of getting off on the torment of others." I decided not to ask any more questions out of a fear of upsetting her. "In spite of the pain I still manage to get up, get dressed, and go to school. That's all that really matters now."

"I agree." There was a moment of silence. "Are those rumors at school true?"

"All that stuff about never having a boyfriend? No. I've had one serious relationship and that ended because he moved a ways away. We decided it was best to split up. That was about three years ago before I came to this school."

"Was it serious?"

"We were together over a year so, yeah. He was a sweet guy but I realized I needed to move on. I guess the reason I never wanted to date another guy is because I couldn't find another guy who was as great as he was." She squeezed my arm tighter. "Until now, that is."

"What is it about me that you like so much? It's not like you know me that well."

"The way you carried yourself was impressive. The way you talked to me was so cool. You weren't afraid or intimidated to talk to me and you never stopped to try and impress me. I like that." She stood to a halt and made me look at her. "I want to know about you. I want to get to know you and see if you're really the kind of guy I think you are." I pulled my phone out to check the time. It said the time was 7:00pm.

"Have you eaten tonight?"

"The most I've eaten is some pokey and leftover miso soup. Why?"

"Let's grab something to eat. I'll pay if you take us to a good spot." She smiled at me and we were off.