(c) CherushiChibi
Chihiro sat on the couch eating her pocky in the principal's office SSS Headquarters minding her own business when Naoi stood in front of her. She looked up at him with the half eating pocky in her mouth. Naoi smiled happily. "Hello Chi, can I have a piece?" He asked. She looked at him with the half eaten pocky stick in her hand, then closed one eye and looked inside her pocky box. She opened her eye and flipped it upside down and shook it gently… She looked at it shocked and shook it harder. Then she sighed. She looked up at him and lifted up her half eaten pocky stick. "This was my last piece and I already ate half of it!" She said. "Oh come on Chihiro…"Said Naoi friendly. He sat on the floor on his knees and made it to where she was cornered on the coach. Chihiro knew what was coming next. His eye's turned red. Her eyes turned hazy and she fell under hypnosis and she would do anything he wanted.
"You WILL give me the other half of your pocky stick…" He ordered. She started to give it to him. He chuckled to himself. "Victory!" He said mischievously as he opened his mouth. Just before he could eat it Otonashi hit Naoi in the head with a magazine. Naoi grabbed his head and fell to the ground "You're horrible…" Otonashi said in shame, un curling the magazine. Naoi sat up. "No Otonashi…it wasn't what you think! I was just feeding the hungry beast in side of me!" Naoi said being dramatic.
Chihiro shook out of her trance and saw Naoi sitting on the ground and Otonashi standing in front of her reading a Magazine. She looked at both of them for a second and blinked. Then she looked at the half eaten pocky stick in her hand and remembered. She blushed really hard and shook her head really fast. She jumped up. "NAOI WHAT THE HECKS WRONG WITH YOU?" She said blushing. Naoi jumped up fast. "Uh… I'm hungry?" He said innocently…
She growled and threw a pillow at his head. "Hay!" He said. Then he gulped and ran…
Chihiro chased after him. "Hay come back here!" She yelled running after him. Naoi almost ran into Hinata who just walked into the room. "Uh excuse me!" Naoi said quickly going around him and going out the door. "What?" Hinata said confused. Chihiro jumped over the coffee table and pushed Hinata out of the way. Hinata caught himself on the door frame. "Naoi I'm going to kill you! And don't worry you'll survive your dead remember!" Chihiro called out to him. Hinata walked over to Otonashi. "Well Chihiro is acting different. Isn't she more of the shy type…not the head strong type?" He said looking back at the door. "…And since when were they friends…" Hinata asked. "Eh long story… But Naoi hypnotized Chihiro…" Said Otonashi turning a page. "I'm glad I'm not the only one he hypnotizes…" Said Hinata. "Yeah, But she didn't deserve it, She was just sitting there minding her business. You make fun of him…" Said Otonashi sitting down on the coach. "What's that suppose to—" Hinata was interrupted by Yuri walking into the room. "Uh… Did I see Chihiro chasing Naoi?" She asked. "Yep." Otonashi Said. Before she could ask why, Noda came in angrily. "What's wrong with you?" Hinata asked. "Naoi and Chihiro almost pushed me out the window!" He said. "It doesn't matter you would have survived…" Yuri laughed. "That's not the point!" He said. "I'm surprised you didn't change them." Hinata said. "I would have but—" Noda was interrupted when TK came in. "Hay dudes, Did I—" Otonashi stood up quickly. "Yes! IT was Chihiro and Naoi, I'll go get them!" He said storming out agitated. "Hay I wanna come!" Hinata said following him. "I was just going to see if I left me food ticket in here…" Said TK.
Naoi looked back and thought he lost her. He turned around the hallway corner and slid down the wall. "Phew…" He said. Then someone turned the corner. Naoi jumped and put his arms over his head. "I'm sorry Chi it wasn't my fault!" He cried for mercy. "Naoi?" Otonashi said in shame. Naoi looked at Hinata and Otonashi. "Oh it's you." He said in relief. "You really are a coward…" Hinata sighed. Naoi jumped up at and pointed at Hinata. "How dare you talk to god like that!" Naoi snapped. "FOR THE LAST TIME YOUR NOT GOD!" Hinata yelled. "Oh yeah?" Naoi said mischievously. His eyes turned red. "Remember the clothes pin, and the toilet paper?" He said locking eyes with Hinata. Otonashi Covered up Naoi's eyes. "That's enough." He said. "Otonashi!" Naoi said pulling his hands off his eyes.
Hinata shook his head to wake up from the gaze and changed the subject. "Hay Naoi, What's up with you and Chihiro? I never seen you two talk and she never acts like that. Chi is usually 'That-girl-in-the-corner.'" Hinata asked. Naoi looked at him then looked at the ground.
Otonashi explained Naoi's and Chihiro's story.
"It was horrible. I remember that we were talking on the phone and she had a sudden moment of silence. I said hello into the phone and then it sounded like she dropped it. Then I heard a car swerve of the road from the phone. After that I heard a crash outside the entrance. My heart dropped and I ran to the entrance and there she was. I watched her die right before my very eyes…After her death everything went from bad to worst…" Naoi said sadly. "I buried myself in my father's training. I began to think I was Koichi more than ever. I figured since the one thing that was meaningful in my life was gone…That I was destined…no I thought I WAS my brother…I was the one who died and I never existed. It was just father…and Koichi. Then my father got sick. I didn't know who I was anymore. I couldn't do pottery and father was bedridden. Now Everything in Koichi's life was gone. Who was I? After about a year my father died…"
Naoi remembered what happened after that. The memory was a clear as yesterday.
After Naoi's father died. Naoi visited Chihiro's grave more often, with fresh flowers each time.
"Chihiro…I wish you were still here. I'm so confused, and I miss your comfort more than ever…" He said taking a seat on the ground in front of the grave. "I missed the days when we were kids, and you always gave me advice that comforted me…" He said choking up. He bowed in front of her grave. "Truth is my thought process is blurry. I feel like I don't know anything anymore. If you're with god, Can you tell him I'm mad at him or something? Can you ask him why my life is like this?" Naoi said. The sun started to set. "I miss you Chi. Why did you have to go and die? Why did I not see you that day at the festival?" He said angrily. He stared to blame himself. "I'm sorry Chihiro…" He said getting up. "…For everything." And he walked home.
He stopped by a store to get some food. He was running low. He walked up to the cashier and gave him the food. "How's your night son?" The man said friendlily. "Good." Naoi said in a lifeless tone. "You look kind of sad to me." The Cashier said. "I'm fine" Said Naoi wishing the Cashier would stop talking. "Ok well—" There was a crash on the outside of the store. Naoi and The Cashier both looked in the direction of the crash. Then two men rushed in. They were dressed in black and had guns. "Everybody get down!" They demanded. The Cashier grabbed Naoi by the shoulders and they laid flat on the floor. "Put everything valuable in this bag or…" The man pointed his gun at another man who was holding a girl who was trying to escape his grasp. She looked a lot like Chihiro. Naoi was scared. What was going to happen? He saw the scared look on her face. He got a hold of his nerve. He stood up. "Hay, Kid… Get back down!" The cashier whispered.
Naoi looked the robber dead in the eyes. "Let her go!" He said. The robber laughed. "What are you going to do? I have a gun." He said. Naoi gritted his teeth. He turned to the bag of groceries and threw it at the man. The bag had a glass jar of jelly, cabbage, and orange juice in it so it was heavy. The glass broke over the man's head and it started to bleed really badly. In next few seconds he blacked out. Next Naoi ran to the man with the girl in his hands and he tackled him. The man was angry, but the girl ran out of the store. Naoi and the man were wrestling on the ground. The next few minutes the girl came back with 2 cops and they took care of him. Naoi stood up and smiled at the girl. Then he heard a 'bang!' He felt like the inside of his chest was twisting up inside. He looked down terrified to see his white shirt turning red. Once he came to the realization he was shot from behind. He grabbed his chest and turned around gritting his teeth in pain. The man he knocked out from before woke up, And shot him in the chest. Naoi fell to the ground. And the man laughed like a crazy maniac. One of the cops quickly arrested him and the other ran over to Naoi. His vision blurred out. The man was telling him to hold on but Naoi knew he was going to die. 'So this how I'm going to die? Saving another person? Now I see why Chihiro did it…' He thought to himself. '…But what a pitiful way to die. Not knowing who you are, and hating god' and he died in pity.
Otonashi looked at Naoi sadly. Even Hinata didn't do anything. But before either of them could talk, Chihiro turned the corner and spoke. "Naoi… I didn't know. I'm sorry." She said. He walked over to her. "For what? Dying? It's not your fault." He said. "I know but—" She looked at the floor. He put his hand on top of her head and she looked up at him in shock. "Don't worry about it…" He said. She smiled. They stood there for a few seconds. "You know…You're still a shorty." He said. She giggled. Then she flicked the visor part of his hat and it fell off. She ran off. "You haven't changed a bit." She said laughing. He smiled and picked up his hat. "You haven't either!" he said chasing after her.
Hinata sighed. "There kind of…Emotional?" he said.
Otonashi laughed. "I don't know it's kind of adorable." He said. As he watched Naoi and Chihiro running down the halls, with the outside sun coming in from the windows lighting up their faces, ending it in a perfect picture.