Place to Try

by SpinLord

To forget is to let go of one's past. When Uzumaki Naruto makes up his mind, the path he chooses leads him to the Afterlife; a purgatorial realm created to appease those with regrets in their lives. Sounds nice, doesn't it? It would've, if only there isn't a group of people waging a rebellion against God. [New Chapter] series, 'Amnesia route' {Currently being rewritten}

6. Chapter 5: The Unpredictable Pitcher

A/N: Whew, made it at last. I've just passed through the most trying time a high school student could have; graduation exams! Damn, I thought I fried a brain back there.

Oh well, now's that that is gone for the while I guess I can focus on writing again. Since I'm feeling marvelous today, I feel like inviting an interesting character. But I wonder who should it be?

Otonashi: Should you really be contemplating about that?

Me: Oh, there's my man Otonashi. What's with that withering look? Did I say something wrong?

Otonashi: Nah, it's just that you shouldn't trouble yourself with asking people to read your disclaimer when you can do it yourself. Not only it'll bother them, you'd also be forced to write long conversations down, like this one.

Me: Uh, huh. Leave the writing to me, kid. By the way, perfect timing! Now that you're here, you can read my disclaimer!

Otonashi: DIDN'T I TELL YOU THAT YOU SHOULDN'T ASK OTHER PEOPLE?!

Me: Now, now, it's either that or another stab to the heart. *Guard Skill: Hand Sonic*

Otonashi: …

Disclaimer: Ugh…SpinLord doesn't own me or any other characters from Angel Beats! The characters from Naruto aren't his, too, and so are the other extra characters. To anyone who may be concerned, no animals were harmed in this fanfic—HEY, WHAT'S WITH THIS STUPID MOVIE LINE?!

(Extra Note) I'm switching separator lines again, not that it's such a big deal. AN-Story Content separators are indicated with lines, while scene changes are indicated by the old xoxoxo signs. Sorry for the inconvenience, please move along.

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Soundtrack Listing: (LiSA – My Soul, Your Beats!), (Vocaloid IA – Yobanashi Deceive)

-Chapter 5-

The Unpredictable Power Pitcher

It had been approximately two days since the guerilla concert incident.

In those two days, things had changed quite a bit. The Battlefront adapted to the change of situations rather well, considering what happened. However, due to that same incident, they hadn't done any operation as well.

Iwasawa's disappearance was too sudden, after all.

In the Battlefront's history, there hadn't been any disappearance like that. Hell, there wasn't any disappearance at all before this one. Iwasawa's case could be the first that ever occurred ever since the Battlefront was made, and their leader suspected that it wasn't the last.

Yuri was…well, anyone would say that she was being her usual self in the past two days, but honestly she was feeling bothered by what happened.

She had said once to Otonashi that she felt like an inadequate leader every time her comrades die (even though they got resurrected after that), and that hadn't change. And like it or not, Iwasawa's case of disappearance was a first for her. She would be lying if she says that she wasn't affected; sure, she and Iwasawa might not be as close as a good friend would've been, but Iwasawa was still her comrade. Not only that, but Yuri was her leader.

As all good leaders would feel, Yuri felt guilty.

She heard that Uzumaki had interfered at some point when the teachers disrupted the concert. Yusa filled her in, and Yuri couldn't say that she didn't expect it. Apparently, he was trying to help Iwasawa, and the strength he used was inhuman. Even Yusa seemed twitched her brows a little when she mentioned it; and twitching a brow was equivalent to expressing disbelief for Yusa.

What made Uzumaki stood up against the teachers and even Angel, no one knew. At that point, though, Yuri felt that she should be grateful that the one and only neutral party took their side in that one fight.

Before Yuri could go and look for that whisker-marked blond, though, she found herself in a predicament when she saw Angel talking to an NPC-student in front of her designated class. Not feeling daring enough to risk facing her head-on, Yuri hid behind a trash can.

She would berate herself later for acting like a stalker that stupidly thinks a trash can was enough to conceal her, but right now she was more interested in what Angel was saying. It wasn't everyday that Angel engaged a conversation. Hell, she rarely does.

"-. -?"

"-,-? -,-,-…"

Unfortunately, she was too far away to hear the conversation, and it wasn't as if she could she read lip movements.

Moments later, Angel left the student by herself and went somewhere else. Noticing this, Yuri stepped out from her hiding spot and let out a sigh of relief. "Sheesh...I didn't even get what she was talking about."

Eventually opting to inquire that particular detail from the NPC female student that Angel talked to (which, to note, Yuri haven't thought of doing initially), the Battlefront leader then walked up to the girl with dark hair and seemingly blind eyes and asked her, "Hey, what were the two of you talking about?"

The non-descript girl turned her head towards Yuri, wearing a face of slight surprise. "A-Ah, when did you…um, y-you mean to ask ab-about the conversation from before?"

"Uh, yeah…" Yuri blinked. The girl she was talking to looked so nervous that it reminded her of a bamboo tree shaking in a hurricane. And what's with her twiddling her fingers? It seemed as if this particular NPC was a target for bullying. "I kind of got curious when I saw Ten…no, the student council president talking to you. For all I've heard of her, she's not really the talking type."

The dark-haired girl looked confused when Yuri nearly called the student council president by her codename Tenshi (Angel) but paid it no further mind. Instead she opted to answer Yuri's initial question, "Ah, that's…she was reminding me about today's ball game tournament."

"…eh?"

xoxoxo

"Hm…meh? Come again? I didn't quite hear you the first time."

With a look of frustration and complete eagerness, Yui once again repeated her words, "I said, I want to join the Girls Dead Monster!"

The boy in front of her looked at her with skepticism in his eyes. He raised an eyebrow at the girl's words. Though he was sure that they were speaking the same language and talking in the same wavelength, he wasn't sure enough that he heard it quite right. "Then…you're going to enlist?"

"That's right!"

The boy, not getting why the frivolous pink-haired girl even bother to tell him this, just sighed and shook his head, "Well, congrats, I guess. Eh, wait, better save that after you really join them. But why are you telling me this again?"

"ARGH! That's why I keep telling you, I want you to go and talk to the seniors along with me!" Yui exclaimed, pulling on the ends of her hair frustratingly. "It's not that I can't do it by myself, but if you're there to vouch for me too, then maybe they'll consider it! After all, you at least have some effect on them, being Iwasawa-senpai's closest friend and all."

Iwasawa's closest friend? For Naruto, that part might've been a tad too gratifying. Sure, he met her here and there, probably exchanged a few good jokes while they're at it, but that was what a normal friend would do. A closest friend would be someone that Iwasawa can toast a can of Key-soft drinks with, play along with a guitar and make some good songs with, and probably prevent her from vanishing like a freaking ghost.

Naruto wasn't sure he fulfilled that last category, and he doubted that he ever could. The afterlife's system is too messed up for him to let him prevent something like that from happening. And, even though back then the band members solemnly told him that no one could do anything since it was how this world works, that didn't erase his guilt completely.

…That's right. It has been two days, give and take a few hours, since that last guerilla concert.

'Two days, huh? Time sure flies by quickly here, especially without ramen.' Naruto thought to himself.

Breathing out another sigh that made him feel like Shikamaru, Naruto continued to look inquisitively at Yui. She might not notice it, but he and the Battlefront weren't exactly buddy-buddy with each other. Another fact that she failed to realize was that their leader unconditionally hates him and their axe-carrying member still wants to kick his nuts.

But…he couldn't really object Yui's wishes.

'It's already amazing that she recovered from Masami-chan's disappearance within a few days, but now she's even determined to become a vocalist like her. I don't know what motivates her so much.'

Now, that same girl with the mysterious drive was asking him to accompany her and meet the seniors, which kind of made sense to him when he thought about it. Most of the Battlefront members' age couldn't be that far off from Naruto's own, while in comparison, Yui looked like a child—both stature and manner wise. In other words, the pink-haired spitfire looked up at both Naruto and the Battlefront members as her senpais.

"*Groan*…you know, when I heard that you wanted to be GirlDeMo's new vocalist, I thought you were joking. But seeing you this eager, I doubt you're just messing around. Are you?"

"Why would I make something this important a joke?" Yui asked bewilderedly, looking up at Naruto with wide eyes.

"I…dunno. You just look the part."

"…well, this is one of the things I don't want to joke around with!" Yui declared seriously, "I…I know that I'll never be as good as Iwasawa-senpai as a singer, but I feel that I ought to try to be a vocalist just like she was. I respect her very much, and I just…want to be like her!"

"Yui…" Hearing Yui say such heartfelt words, Naruto couldn't help but sympathize with her desire. It was then that he remembered that Yui might be Iwasawa's greatest fan, but the respect she had for her could never be something that "just a fan" would have. If anything, more than an idol, Iwasawa was some sort of hero to Yui.

"…*Sigh*, alright, alright, I'll go with you." Naruto finally said, complying with Yui's wishes. The shorter girl gave a short gasp of surprise and let a big smile stretch across her face.

"Really!?"

"Well, it beats having to watch Chouji run a lap around the field," Naruto admitted as he looked back to the wide field with the weird rectangular white markings ahead of him. NPC-Chouji was running laps, and surprisingly enough he caught up with Lee who was sprinting with the "Power of Youth".

"…yep, my belief has been destroyed," The blond ninja stated before turning to the anxious-looking vocalist-to-be. He smirked at her as he walked ahead, "Shall we go, then?"

xoxoxo

[Anti Angel-Headquarters (Principal's Office)]

"So we're finally going active again, Yurippe?" An eager-looking Noda asked to a seated Yuri, "Nice! I was wondering when we will finally make a move."

For someone who got frequented as the Battlefront's unfortunate cannon fodder, Noda was strangely anxious about finally doing an operation again. Though perhaps the only person who found it concerning was Otonashi (and that's only because he was the sanest person in the group), the red-haired teen didn't have the time nor the motivation to worry about someone who jams a halberd to him on a daily basis.

Ah, yes, he had grown to hate that devilish halberd of Noda's.

Meanwhile, Yuri maintained a straight face as she addressed to all of her subordinates. She noticed that all of the main members were present, excluding of course the remaining GirlDeMo band members, and she decided to start spilling the beans.

"I've just received information that the school's ball game tournament is going to be held today of all days."

"NANI!? They start it early this year?!" Fujimaki, not expecting this turn of events, exclaimed in shock. He even stood up from the hand-rest of the sofa he sat on just to emphasize how shocked he was.

"Eh? Ball game tournament? They have those here?" Otonashi asked, bewildered.

"Of course. This is a normal school, after all." Yuri answered him with an "isn't it obvious?" look.

"Starting the tournament before we even have the chance to prepare ourselves…" A bewildered Takamatsu summarized calmly. Sitting next to him were Ooyama, Matsushita 5th Dan, and TK who all looked rather surprised (TK's expression was anonymous, however, due to his headband) while Noda sat on the floor, halberd in hand, leaning to the same sofa the aforementioned four were sitting on.

"Truly, this is a strategic move that can disrupt the Battlefront's movements. Was Angel planning this all along?"

"Regardless of whether Angel had this planned ahead or not, the main issue is that we haven't even prepared ourselves for something like this," Yuri pointed out, reminding them all of the problem at hand, "Though this is really an unexpected turnout, we're lucky this time. At the very least, I know that they're going to play baseball in the tournament."

"Eh? Did you say baseball?" Hideki piped up, sounding bewildered. He was sitting on a single sofa, the one across where Takamatsu and the others were sitting on. Next to his was Otonashi's, who was occupied by that same person.

Yuri nodded at the blue-haired teen but didn't say anything back.

Awkwardly settling down after receiving the silent response, Hideki felt that he shouldn't have been so surprised. Like all normal schools, the ball game tournament didn't really have that much selection; ranging from a game of soccer to volleyball. Baseball was supposed to be one of the most common games, so it shouldn't be a big surprise if this happened.

Yet, somehow, he was taken aback.

Truth to be told, he never thought that he'd be playing baseball again after such a long time. After…after what happened the time when he was still alive, he thought that he wouldn't have the chance to wear a catcher's glove again.

"…"

Since Hideki seemed to be occupied with his own thoughts, Yuri left him be and turned towards the other members. They were shaken by the sudden turnout, but otherwise they didn't look to be that perturbed. Of course, she expected no less.

As always, she didn't have time to let them mull too long about this problem. As always, she prepared a series of orders for the current situation, once again reminding herself that she was their trusted leader. As a leader, she had to be at least one step ahead of them all.

However, the moment she was about to announce their next plan of action, someone knocked on the door. Though, it was more of an aggressive pounding on the door rather than a mere knock. At that instant, everyone's attention diverted towards the wooden office double doors.

"I'm telling you, they set up a password for the doors! You'll get hammered once you turn that doorknob without saying the password!"

Ah, the innuendo of those words. The voice sounded familiar too, but who…?

"Ah! So that's how it is!" Another voice said, "Then, senpai, what's the password?"

"Eh? Don't you suppose to know about that? This is your battlefront, not mine."

"I forgot!" The cheery voice answered lightly.

"*Groan*…though it pains me to say this again, but…" the first voice complained, the one that sounded familiar to the people inside. It groaned again before finally saying with what sounded like a heavy heart, "No God, no Buddha, no Angels."

The door opened accordingly.

By far, the knowledge considering Anti-Angel Headquarters' password was limited to a select number of people. Naturally, the SSS all knew about it, having invented it and all. However, lately, another person turned to have acquired that "limited edition" knowledge and had paid them a visit or two in the past few days; though it only started after Iwasawa's disappearance.

Although Yuri didn't like it, just by the fact that this uninvited guest was the "neutral party", it made him nearly untouchable by the Battlefront's rules. That means he could go wherever he likes and she couldn't say anything about it.

Uzumaki Naruto. God knows how much she disliked hearing that name, or how it rolled off her tongue.

That disliked person raised a hand in greeting, "Yo. Uzumaki Special Delivery Service, please sign here…"

"Ah, we didn't order anything," Yuri answered calmly.

"Ara, is that so? Well, then, excuse me—"

"WHAT KIND OF DELIVERY GUY BACKS OUT FROM A REBUT LIKE THAT?!" The male Battlefront members practically yelled in disbelief.

"Why do you sound like a real life delivery guy with no real life? Actually, never mind that, since when did you become a delivery guy? This is starting to feel like premium high school too much, damn it!" Otonashi exclaimed as he gave Naruto a look that said 'Don't you have anything better to do?'

"Um, actually since we're dead, that means we don't have a life, so…" Somehow Naruto got tripped by his own words, however ridiculous that sounded. He sighed before pointing something behind him, "I'm just here on this girl's request. She said she can't talk to her seniors without another senior."

Because Naruto was right in their line of sight, the Battlefront members couldn't exactly see past him. Realizing this, the whiskered blond stepped aside and revealed his unexpected cargo.

"…huh? Oi, isn't she Girls Dead Monster's underling girl?" Noda asked as he finally recognized the pink-haired girl. He distinctively remembered seeing her hanging out with the band girls, though he never did get to talk much to her.

Otonashi, too, found the face familiar. He once met her when she was spreading the posters around the school's billboard, even though the meeting itself was sort of random. He still didn't expect to meet her here though.

'That's…Yui, right?'

Behind the desk, Yuri was giving a peculiar expression; one where she was frowning not out of contempt, but confusion. Eyeing the two newcomers strangely, she then asked, "Why are you bringing along someone from the Battlefront with you? I thought you don't like us that much."

"Tough luck there, Yuri, I actually find you guys a bunch of nice company. It's your end that doesn't paint me a flowery image," Naruto rebutted with a cocky smirk, "But I'm not here to argue with you…yet. Yui here wants to join Girls Dead Monster and be their replacement lead vocalist!"

"She wants to replace Iwasawa?" Noda repeated with a rough voice.

"Not a chance," Fujimaki said, sounding as if he didn't believe it was possible from the start.

Being the hyper girl she was, the comments brushed off Yui's ear like water on a polished plate. She cheerfully began to introduce herself, "I'm Yui! Pleased to meet ya!"

Right around that time, Hideki, who was spacing out the whole time, seemed to finally notice the sudden addition of two people. He noticed with a start that Naruto was there, but like always he didn't seem hostile. That was pretty calming, he thought. Actually, since it was the loud pink-haired girl who just introduced herself that broke him off his deep thoughts, so naturally his attention was on her immediately.

"Who is that?"

"Haven't you been listening? She's a candidate for the GirlDeMo lead vocals position," Otonashi answered him.

The fact was, even if it was that kind of good news, Hideki was too preoccupied with his thoughts to notice. However, how come this bratty-looking girl that decided wearing a devil tail accessory on her behind even became a candidate? Surely there were other people that qualify?

'Wait, now that I think about it, there wasn't any other girls in the Afterlife Battlefront that can sing as well as Iwasawa…' The blue-haired boy then palmed his face silently, 'Don't tell me this girl became a candidate because there's no one else that auditioned!?'

Takamatsu took it upon himself to explain to the girl what the problem was, "Listen, Girls Dead Monster is a rock band, you know. Do you want to turn it into an idols unit or something?"

"No, I really can sing!" Yui exclaimed in defiance. She pouted slightly after being slighted like that, but then she looked up expectantly at Naruto who was standing beside her.

The blond beside her gave a confused glance, "What?"

"I thought you were going to back me up!" Yui stated almost accusingly.

"Uh…huh? Where exactly do I come in this?" Naruto wondered aloud. If he were to be honest with himself, he didn't fully understand why Yui was suddenly mad at him. Part of him believed that it was just his luck with girls, but maybe something else played a part.

"Uuu…you promised that you would talk to them! At least persuade them or something!"

Shikamaru DID say that girls are troublesome. Naruto sighed, "Do you honestly think I can persuade them? Why don't we do a headcount here, all right? Let's see, we got a purple-haired douche who likes to kick nuts for a living—"

"OI!" Noda shouted as he felt offended.

"—a girl that wants my head as her desk furniture—"

"Well, I won't say I don't want it now…" Yuri muttered with an annoyed expression.

"—and overall, a trigger-happy group of people that hates my guts," Naruto finished as he eyed the other members.

"WE ARE NOT TRIGGER-HAPPY!" All members exclaimed in unison.

"SAYS THE PEOPLE WHO POINT THEIR WEAPONS AT A SINGLE PERSON!" Naruto retorted back, pointing an accusing finger at them. He cleared his throat before speaking again, "Anyway, I think I've made my point clear enough."

As he looked back to Yui, there was one thing that he noticed. For one reason or another, Yui looked like she was going to cry, yet she gritted her teeth like a lioness ready to bite his head off. It made her look like someone torn between being angry and sad; the desperation was very clear on her face.

For some reason, the light behind her eyes kind of reminded him of himself when he was ramen-deprived.

"Oh, come on, you don't need me to ensure them anything."

"…"

"You saw how well we all get along, right? Or, more precisely, how we don't?"

"…"

'Such abnormal tension?!' Naruto thought as he laughed nervously. Wilting under Yui's heated glare, he turned away to the Battlefront members to let them handle the situation (after all, Yui's part of their group) only to see them give him passive, withering stares.

'Why are they looking at me like that? OI! Stop those stares that look like you're saying "This is your problem, do something about it"! She's your problem more than mine!'

Silently conveying this message through a teeth-gritting glare of desperation didn't seem to work at all. If anything, they all looked rather content seeing Naruto in a pinch. Yuri, for instance, was putting her interlaced hands in front of her face to hide an ever-growing smirk of victory.

Deciding that these vengeful people weren't much of assistance ("Thanks for nothing, bastards"), Naruto turned back to Yui with and her googly-eyed expression.

'How did you do it, Dad? With Mom being stubborn and demanding like this girl before me, how do you cope with it?' Naruto thought. He thought that maybe his father's apparition would appear again like the time when Kurama's seal almost opened. Like that time, maybe he would come and give him guidance. No such thing happened, so Naruto could only sigh.

"Haaaah…oh, alright, I get it already!" Said the blond as he gave up trying not to get involved.

He, at the very least, took delight in Yui's change of expression as she cheered loudly. Of course, he still had to convince the Battlefront to give her a chance, knowing that she didn't seem as convincing as how Iwasawa might've been. Still, could've been worse.

With a roll of his eyes, he started, "Look, I don't know if my word means anything, but I have faith in this little troublemaker. She's been following Girls Dead Monster around, so I reckon that she knows how a singer should perform."

A nice, factual argument was guaranteed to get their attention. Personally, though, Naruto didn't believe that it was all that great of an opinion.

"Well, it's true that she has been the underling in Girls Dead Monster for a considerable time, so she is the logical first choice…" Yuri conceded with a light tone, "But can she sing? That's the main problem here. Whether she's as good as Iwasawa comes second."

"Even though I'm not as good as Iwasawa-senpai, I'm confident with myself!"

"No, if she's not that good, then she can't fill in the empty lead vocalist spot," Takamatsu declined while shaking his head, "If the Girls Dead Monster's performance aren't as good as before, then the NPC would not be as interested. Doing the operations will be harder if that happens."

"You have a point there, but let's just say she is that good. If so, wouldn't that be a good thing?" Naruto proposed hypothetically.

"Hrm…so the deciding factor isn't whether she can sing anymore, but whether she's as good as Iwasawa?" Matsushita 5th Dan wondered aloud.

Logically, if Yui's talent doesn't match up to Iwasawa's level, then it would be pointless. But having no one to fill in the blank spot that Iwasawa left was a more troublesome matter; such was the dilemma they were facing. Of course, this wouldn't be a problem if they held an audition like the ones that those talent shows in television did.

"That reminds me, we didn't actually hold an audition for this kind of thing," Hideki piped in.

Naruto raised an eyebrow at that, "Then why don't you let her do the audition here? It shouldn't be a problem, and it will benefit you if she can pass," The ninja's blue eyes glanced towards Yui, "You can do it, can't you?"

"Don't look down on me, senpai! I may be an amateur, but I've learned a few things from Iwasawa-senpai!" Yui confidently declared. Naruto's eyes widened a fraction at this, not expecting Iwasawa to actually teach something to Yui. Though it was unheard of, it wasn't really impossible. If anything, it was precisely how Naruto pictured Iwasawa to be.

Grinning at the twin-tailed girl, Naruto then proceeded to give her a thumbs-up, "Then you got this handled alright!"

Yui's eyes lit up, "Right!"

Eventually, everything worked out. After borrowing some spare band equipments that consisted of an electric guitar, an amplifier, a microphone and a tape player, the pseudo-auditioning was ready.

While the male SSS members remained sitting in front of Yui as acting judges (except Yuri, who was too comfortable sitting on the comfy chair), Naruto stayed back a bit behind them. It wasn't that he didn't want to see Yui perform, it's just that he wasn't comfortable having to squeeze through these mountain-like tall guys. He still couldn't believe that these guys were of the same age as him.

"She looks the part, at least." The bit of comment Noda gave wasn't the most motivating, but it was a start.

Peeking through their shoulders, Naruto saw that Yui wasn't even nervous at the slightest. It seemed as though the mysterious drive from before still remained until now. She was even brave enough to turn her back on Yuri as she prepared to kick off the performance, which was a fearless move by itself.

"Well…" Naruto muttered to himself, "I don't think it's needed, but good luck Yui."

(Activate Soundtrack: LiSA – My Soul, Your Beats)

The tape player made a sound authentically similar to a drum set being hit.

Yui started off with the guitar intro, the electrical sound giving a strangely refreshing noise. The way she played it showed that it wasn't the first time she held a guitar in her hands, though it was still unknown when did she even trained herself to play like that.

And then she began to sing,

"I open my eyes once again, to a sleepy morning
I fasten the tie on my neck tightly."

Her left hand moved up and down the guitar's neck as her right strummed the strings energetically,

"When I walk through the door of the classroom, with a little bit of pride
I puff my chest out for just a little bit
A wind that blows pass through such ordinary days."

Her tone picked up, sounding more and more spirited,

"I thought that I heard it
I thought that I felt it
It started to shake, right now within my chest
I felt it would come again
I watched countless stars as they disappeared
I saw them off
Waved my hand goodbye
And said "I am glad"."

She ended the song right there, her eyes closed like she was wholeheartedly singing out the last part. She looked so into it throughout the whole song that the Battlefront members couldn't help but stare with startled expression.

At the back, Naruto himself was quietly observing with his jaws slightly agape. He wasn't expecting the performance to be that superb, though he could say he should've expected it. If Iwasawa did teach Yui the how-to of band performing, the result should've been obvious.

And now the Battlefront's questions were answered.

Can Yui sing? Yes, she can. Is she as good as Iwasawa? Hell the fuck yeah!

"YAAAAY! Everyone, thank you for coming today!" Yui was cheering up a storm out of excitement. It was obvious that she was enjoying herself so much that she started to swing the microphone standing pole around.

However, no one expected her to kick it directly upwards so that it stuck itself on the wooden ceiling. Of course, no one actually predicted that the microphone's cable would then strangle Yui's neck in response.

"Gueh!"

It came as a shock to everyone.

"What? Adding a masochistic act to the ending?! Isn't this going too overboard!?" Naruto exclaimed with horror-filled face.

"Is this part of her performance?" Takamatsu analytically wondered.

"Is this that 'death metal' stuff?" Fujimaki concluded with an enlightened look on his face, as if he understood what was happening.

"Crazy baby," TK said, shaking his head.

They all had different comments on the predicament.

"G-Gonna die," Yui struggled to mutter.

Hearing that, Otonashi finally pointed out, "No, looks like it was an accident."

When they finally freed Yui from her self-inflicted accident, the girl collapsed on the floor face-first almost lifelessly. Her pink hair looked tangled, and she looked slightly paler than normal. She really looked like she died of suffocation, but even if that was the case it shouldn't be so surprising.

In this afterlife, death was considered normal. They would automatically revive afterwards.

The abnormality here lied in how Yui could get herself in a death trap in an almost Noda-like way.

"She is one hell of a tomboy," Yuri stated as she looked down at the pink-haired musician with her hands on her hips, "She's the complete opposite of the 'cool beauty' Iwasawa was."

"You only realized that now?" Naruto asked from behind as he gave Yuri a bewildered look, "This girl wears a tail, if you haven't notice yet."

Takamatsu sighed and pushed his glasses upwards with his finger, "I don't know if she's fit to be the lead vocalist of Girls Dead Monster…"

"Should we look for someone else?" Matsushita 5th Dan suggested.

"Yeah, let's do that," Hideki conceded as he put his hands behind his head.

"Hey!" As if recently got revived, Yui raised her head and immediately cut off the idea. "I sang fine, right? As an Iwasawa fan, I can sing all of her songs!" The girl got up to her feet, though her legs were still trembling.

There was a moment of thought between the members, which had several of them thinking while holding their chins. After a while, they each gave her a response.

"Your singing had no appeal," Hideki stated.

"None," While lowering the hand cupping his chin, Takamatsu agreed.

"Not at all," Fujimaki nodded in reply.

"Hey! Don't cut off a budding flower with vague comments like that! Is that how seniors should behave?!" Yui was definitely throwing up a storm. Having gotten rejections like that didn't bid well with the young singer-to-be, and she was giving a reaction like the child she was.

"Such a noisy girl…" Hideki muttered aloud, picking his right ear in annoyance. It wasn't just a habitual act, he was checking if the girl's constant screaming had damaged his eardrums.

Noda glanced at the girl, breathing out a breath that proved that he had been thinking (though that was doubted). "Well, at least she has the motivation."

'Tell me about it,' Naruto thought in reply. If even the dense Noda could say that, it meant that Yui's determination was really that clear. 'How else could that short-minded idiot conclude something like that?'

"What should we do, then?" Ooyama questioned. It was directed to everyone, but he was specifically asking Yuri.

"She has the passion, at least." Yuri answered him, though it was also another vague comment. She was still thinking whether or not she would let Yui join the band.

"I think she's just trying to be trendy," Fujimaki, who was holding his shirasaya behind his back, said with a bored face.

"Hm…" Yuri looked up in thought, wondering what they should do next. Shrugging her shoulders, she then said, "We'll leave it to the other band members to decide."

Now that, even though she wasn't saying "yes" directly, the fact that she was leaving it to the band girls to come up with the decision was equal to her allowing Yui in as a potential candidate. Of course, that delighted Yui very much.

"Really?!" the girl exclaimed with stars in her eyes, "Yatta! I get to play with Hisako-san on guitar! I can't get enough of her murderous riffs~! I want to know what's going on in her head~!"

'You can murder someone using riffs in a guitar play?' Naruto thought with wonder, his face looking like he was taking it seriously, 'And she said she can't get enough? Are you really a masochist, oi?!'

"Cut."

"Eh?!" Yui immediately stopped her tirade, hearing Hideki's statement.

"It's 'cut', isn't it?" Takamatsu rhetorically commented as he once again pushed his glasses.

"Ueeh?! Did I say something bad?"

Yuri sighed tiredly. The audition was a great idea and all, but in the end, Yui's spot was still unclear. The empty lead vocalist spot was already an added problem on her mind. Even though it wasn't an immediate problem, it was still a troublesome one.

"We won't be able to pull of any big operations during the ball game tournament with the band in this state."

"I still can't believe that there's really a ball game tournament in this place," Otonashi admitted sourly.

"That's why I told you, this is a normal school. Even though it's in the afterlife, the terms and layout are the same as normal schools in real life."

Though it was sort of unbelievable, the school in this world called afterlife really was based off a normal school. The classrooms, the students, the teachers, even the principal, all of them were undeniably the main components of a high school. And as a 'normal' high school, it included ball game tournaments.

Unfortunately, since the majority of the Battlefront's operations required Girls Dead Monster's diversion performance, there was a chance that they could not do anything about the upcoming ball game tournament.

"Will we just be spectators then?" Hideki wondered. He actually had no problem if that was the case.

"We'll be participating, of course." Somehow, though, it seemed Yuri had no intention of letting this chance go that easily.

Otonashi looked at her questioningly, "Won't we disappear if we do that?"

"We'll be participating illegally, of course," Yuri again answered with an excited tone. She smiled lightly as she began to explain, "Here's the plan everyone. Go and gather people to make teams. It can be anyone you can get your hands on as long as they're not already employed by another team. However, to the team that performs worse than the normal students…"

A terrifying glint crossed the Battlefront leader's eyes, "…will receive a punishment game more fearsome than death."

Startled, every member of the SSS took a step back with horror-filled face, excluding Yui who was still throwing a tantrum. "Don't ignore me!" exclaimed the tantrum-throwing pinkette.

Now that Yuri had gone up and said it, the plan didn't sound so grand at all. If anything, it was nothing more than a guerilla-styled retaliation act. Adding the punishment game at the back proved that she wasn't taking failure as a result.

"Isn't she just desperate for action since we can't do anything now?" Otonashi said to himself after realizing the fact. He couldn't help but feel a little let down somehow. Hearing his complain, Hideki chuckled.

"It's part of our duties to stay in shape. This is just a test," The blue-haired teen then placed a hand on Otonashi's shoulder, prompting the amnesiac to glance at him.

"Otonashi…I need you."

"…Are you…?"

"NO! I'm talking about the team!" Hideki denied wholeheartedly.

Behind the two, Naruto could only tilt his head while wondering what got Hideki so riled up. He never knew that the way Hideki said "I need you" was similar to how a gay guy confessing to a guy, in which all of it was just a cruel misunderstanding. Of course, no one could blame Otonashi for having that kind of thought; Hideki wasn't the most convincing when it comes to masculinity.

"Let's form a team, Otonashi. It'll be bad if we lose, Yurippe is serious about this stuff."

"Do you have other members in mind?" Being pulled away from the others, the two proceeded to discuss about their team membership. From the looks of it, it seemed they were really serious about it.

'I wonder what kind of punishment game she has in store that got them all so scared…' Naruto thought to himself as he continued to watch over the Battlefront members. After a moment of observation, he shrugged, 'Well, as long as I'm not involved, I guess I don't have to care. It seems Yui already did what she could, so I better take my leave now.'

With that in mind, Naruto stepped away from the room and went through the still-opened double doors. He sighed as he began to walk, "I don't really understand what they're gonna play, but it sounds pretty exciting. It's a shame that I won't be able to play, though…"

Just when he almost reached the stairs, someone called out to him, "Hey, hold it!"

"Hm?"

Turning his head around, he saw the imposing figure of Yuri standing in front of the double doors he went out from before. Her sea-foam green eyes locked on to him almost as if he was a flying UFO.

"Ah, it's just you. What, you need something? I thought I already completed my delivery service."

"Since when did you even become a delivery guy?" Yuri asked with irritation. It wasn't what she called him out for, but she asked him anyway.

"Well, I figured that attending classes isn't paying me anything, so I thought I'd open up business and stuff."

"…" Once again, a sense of hostile annoyance was directed at Naruto, and the blond could only grin nervously. Seeing him like that, Yuri pinched the bridge of her nose and sigh, "Can you please not joke around for a moment?"

"It's no joke! I really am opening a delivery business!"

"I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR STUPID MAILING JOB!"

"M-Mailing? You call my delivery service…mailing?" Naruto repeated in shock. He really sounded hurt by Yuri's statement, "*Sniffle*…I knew we're not friends, but you can't place me on the same level as regular postmen. At least I don't go around bringing silly little envelopes…"

"Arggh! Why can't you ever be serious?" Yuri exclaimed as she pulled on her hair in frustration. Her face was tinted a little red in anger.

Seeing Yuri's frustrated face, Naruto couldn't help but laugh. "Ahahahaha… Okay, okay, sorry. I thought you all looked kind of stressed, so I decided to light up the mood a little. What was it you wanted from me anyway?"

While the two were conversing, the other members of SSS left in the principal's room peeked from the door, silently poking their heads from the edges of the doorsill.

"(Oi, why is Yurippe talking to Uzumaki?)" A curious Fujimaki asked while whispering.

"(Yeah, I thought they hated each other.)" Equally confused, Ooyama could only say what he had in mind.

"(If he tries anything funny, I'll rip him in two!)" Noda, who was gripping his halberd with strength rivaling an alligator's jaw, glared at Naruto.

"(Guys, cut it out, they'll hear us if we're too loud!)" Hideki whispered harshly.

'I wonder why I'm doing this too…' Otonashi thought with a straight face. Everyone just suddenly rushed to the door the moment Yuri went out, and he was just curious about what was going on.

Back to the two supposedly adversaries…

Finally, after gaining Naruto's attention, Yuri exhaled and stared at him right in the eye. She then opened her mouth, "There's something I want to ask you. Why did you help us that time?"

"Eh? Which time?"

"The guerilla concert."

"Ah…" For a moment, it seemed like Naruto almost choked, but he covered it up with a smirk, "Don't get me wrong, I was helping the Girls Dead Monster. I had no intention helping the Battlefront, but I don't mind if it affected you in some kind of way."

"…" Yuri fell silent. She had expected that kind of response. After all, while Naruto was a neutral party (and a strangely friendly one, at that), he still had no connection as an ally to the Battlefront in any kind of way. The only reason he saved the GirlDeMo members was because he was friends with Iwasawa, and the only reason why he kept visiting their headquarters was because he had time to kill, or so he said.

But she had concluded that, regardless of his intention, Naruto's actions had helped them in their previous operation.

"…Well, I guess that's how the relationship between you and the Battlefront should stay. But you know, even that doesn't hide the fact that you've helped us. That's why...I just wanted to thank you on behalf of the Afterlife Battlefront."

For a moment, Naruto couldn't believe his ears. His eyes widened in surprise as he never expected to be thanked by Yuri, of all people. His image of her being a ruthless tyrant of a leader might need some revisions after all.

"…your face tells me that you're thinking badly about me," Yuri stated with an annoyed expression.

"Eh? AH, nonono, not at all! I wasn't actually thinking that you were evil personified and your heart didn't have room for friendliness, not at all!" Naruto exclaimed nervously, opting to scratch the back of his head really fast. "Ah, and, uh, you're welcome, I guess."

"Hmph! Don't get too comfortable with that feeling. I'm only thanking you because you actually helped us. If you try anything funny on us, I won't hesitate to take revenge."

"Ahah…yeah, like that could happen…" Naruto muttered. If it wasn't because he lived as a ninja, he might actually piss himself. Fortunately, he did, and coupled with the fact that death here was equal to being recycled, he really had nothing to worry about.

Yuri was just turning around and starting to walk away when she suddenly said, "Ah, that's right. Do you have any plans about the ball game tournament?"

"Heh? What do you mean?" Naruto let out.

"I mean, do you intend to join a team, or are you just going to stand aside?" She said this without turning around to face him. However, as he saw no one else in the hallway, Naruto concluded that she was really talking to him.

"Why would it matter? Don't tell me you're recruiting me to play?" Not that he could if Yuri actually decided to do so, of course. Naruto had zero knowledge on whatever the hell they were playing.

Yuri smirked darkly and glanced back at him with a head-tilt, "Maa…if you're not attending, then I can commence the operation without any hindrance. But letting you join our team might be a good idea as well. How 'bout it? You're interested?"

In response, Naruto gave her the exact dark/cocky smirk she was giving him, "I thought we're not supposed to be on friendly terms?"

"We're not. I'm just intending to use you. We need the extra firepower, after all."

As it was, the two of them were exchanging dark smirks that could've made anyone tremble with fear. The Battlefront members were hidden a little bit away behind the door, so they weren't that affected, but there was only one being that actually chuckled out of mirth.

"Cheeky little brat." Inside Naruto's mind, Kurama was brimming with anxiety as a full-blown grin appeared on his face, "It was as if she WANTS to challenge you."

'Yeeaah…that actually wouldn't surprise me in the slightest, considering the person she is,' Naruto mentally said to the fox. As far as he knew the Battlefront leader, she was the type that didn't back off from an obstacle. Rather than that, she conjures up devious plan to get rid of the obstacle in any possible way. Such a complex was a troublesome one, but Naruto actually liked determined people like that.

As much as Naruto was tempted to take up Yuri's challenge and humiliating her by proving her wrong, though, he couldn't.

"Thanks for the offer, but no thanks. I…guess I need some time to think." Naruto offered her a smile, but try as he might he was too bitter to look warm.

The reason why he was bitter wasn't that hard to figure out. As it was obvious to most of the people in the Battlefront, Naruto was supposedly the one most affected by Iwasawa's disappearance. Even though he kept it covered with a stupid grin all the time, the people in SSS weren't that ignorant about common sense. Visiting their headquarters also had an ulterior motive as opposed to his reason of "killing time".

He called it spending his loan time. The SSS members called it stress relief.

Yuri called it guilt-tripping.

In fact, Yuri had figured out not too long ago that at least part of Naruto blamed her for Iwasawa's disappearance, and she accepted that wholeheartedly even though the blond himself never did speak out to her. Even she blamed herself, because she was the one who issued the order of the guerilla concert.

And as Naruto went off on his way, Yuri was left with a disconcerted feeling.

"…well, it's only a matter of time until he decides to do something about it."

Such cold words weren't consolation for the heavy heart she now bore, but rather, just a diversion.

xoxoxo

The afterlife was boring.

Or so Uzumaki Naruto had in his opinion. For one, there was no Ichiraku Ramen, which always served as his main fuel for living. Second, the classes were tedious. It didn't matter how many times he came to his designated classroom; nothing actually changed much. Same homeroom teacher, same greeting led by the same class rep, same NPC-Lee who sat next to him near the window, and overall the same lessons.

Once, Naruto ditched class to find something else to do; like, visiting the Afterlife Battlefront and risk losing his life.

That got old pretty quickly, considering how the lot of them weren't that much of a threat to him. In the end, he even got on a casual term with them, and in the past two days he had gotten a hang of paying friendly visits from time to time.

But still, nothing here seemed to catch his eye.

"For a surreal world between the living and the dead, things sure get boring pretty fast here." For once, Naruto wondered if a bit too much of Shikamaru was left in him. He chuckled, "Great. Next thing I know I'll be watching clouds."

"Why are you complaining? I thought it's better to have no conflict at all rather than facing them every day," Kurama gave an unexpected opinion from inside Naruto's mindscape, but it didn't hinder Naruto's walking pace.

'Yeah…maybe you're right. But I'm just itching for something to do, you know? I mean, can't there be somewhere I can find a rogue ninja and kick his ass or something?'

"What exactly do you take this world as?" As he asked this, Kurama couldn't help but sweat-drop.

His tone might say otherwise, but Kurama didn't mind if something like that would happen. After all, even if it does, a simple rogue ninja would no longer pose as a threat to the current Naruto, and it would actually be nice if the brat actually had a training practice. To put it simply, as long as it didn't affect him, it didn't matter.

But this anxious Naruto was starting to annoy him.

"If you're trying to find something to do so you can forget about that Iwasawa Masami then give it a rest, brat. You know as well as I do that she's too deeply ingrained in your memories to be forgotten just like that."

Kurama knew Naruto, perhaps better than anyone else since he was literally 'inside' him. This was not based by self-gratification, but since Kurama shared a place within Naruto's body and soul, it also meant he had a limited ability to overview Naruto's state of mind. By doing this, that meant the fox can also see Naruto's memories.

In the latest ones, Iwasawa popped up frequently. It proved that she affected Naruto to a certain extent. And Naruto, still feeling guilty about her disappearance, tried to forget about the whole incident. It was working quite well until Yuri brought it up again previously.

"I don't particularly care about how you feel about her, but this act of yours has to stop. Not only it's tiring, but I personally think it's pathetic."

'…You got a point there, furball,' Naruto conceded. He sighed before continuing, 'I thought that I can do something about it, but as you said, it's just a waste of energy. I knew it, but…I just can't get the guilt of my chest somehow.'

"Do you really need me to repeat how it wasn't your fault?" Kurama asked, looking disinterested, "I told you before, neither you nor I had anything to do with how that girl disappeared. It's perhaps how this world works. I haven't been able to contact Bernkastel to ask her about this stupid mechanism, but it wasn't like she was that easy to reach in the first place."

If it was that easy for Naruto to accept, this wouldn't be a problem. However, he nonetheless felt that he had a part in Iwasawa's vanishing. He was, after all, the one who requested to hear that last song of hers. He made an illogical presumption that if only he didn't ask her to sing that particular song, maybe she wouldn't disappear at all.

It was an irrational thought.

'…I guess so. Sorry, Kurama, I didn't mean to bother you or anything.' Naruto looked down as he kept walking to the school grounds, his bangs overshadowing his face. 'I just couldn't get over it. I always thought that there had to be some other way to prevent it. Somehow…someway…'

"So what if there was another way? Can you rewind the past and take that other route? No, of course you can't. Not even the strongest time ninjutsu can bring you there, and even if it could and you can prevent her from disappearing, what then? I doubt that that single action wouldn't affect the future we stand in now."

Naruto wasn't answering him, which meant he was ignoring Kurama or he had simply cut off their link. Seeing no way other than keep talking to prove if it was one or the other, Kurama continued, "Don't think that you can take on two paths without getting lashed back at. Have you forgotten what made Obito win over you? From the very start, Obito only had one objective; to annihilate the Shinobi alliance. On the other hand, you tried to take two paths, two objectives while thinking that you can accomplish them both.

"Don't tell me you haven't learned anything from that defeat, because I have."

Still, the Jinchuriki didn't answer. Facing this problem, Kurama sighed and went back to his resting position. He had no time to deal with emotional brats, nor did he exactly have the urge to console Naruto. He guessed he would need to deal with this annoyance for some time now.

Just as he was about to close his eyes and sleep, Naruto's voice woke him up again.

'…I know that,' Naruto answered. He chuckled, 'Of course I know that. I'd have to be blind not to notice that.'

"Right? So just lay it off for now, brat." Kurama shuffled deeper into his cage to find comfort. As much comfort as a dank sewer could give, of course. "For all I know, it'll be easier to blame other people for what happened. For instance, that leader girl who gave out the order—"

'I DON'T blame her.' Naruto said with a steely voice, 'I can't, and I won't. She didn't even know that it would turn out like that. I may have not known her for that long, but she doesn't look like the type to send her members to their end.'

"Keh! Still naïve as ever, huh?" Kurama rebutted. He scoffed and turned away from the cage's entrance, slipping deeper and deeper into the dark part of his prison.

"I'll be taking a nap, now. Leave me be until the next six hours." And with that, Kurama cut off their mental link.

Naruto frowned unhappily at being left just like that. "Lazy furball…" He muttered to himself.

With his mind unoccupied, Naruto had nothing left to do but to keep on walking into the school building. He stared upwards at the tall construction, wondering what the purpose of a school in the afterlife was at the first place.

They say "dead people tell no tales", but every time he attended the class and it happened to be Japanese curriculum, he was forced to tell stories about an Akechi Mitsuhide. While he didn't know who the hell that was, the story of him betraying this Oda Nobunaga guy in some temple was kind of intriguing.

'It must be some kind of myth,' Naruto thought.

Entering the building, it took Naruto only a minute to realize he was walking up the stair. Somehow, his legs were automatically taking him back to that dreary classroom of his. It was scary how Naruto didn't realize that until he was walking through the hallway.

"…Well, since I've got nothing better to do, might as well."

If he entered class at this point of time, it would be too late for him. He surmised that it'd be the last lesson period when he gets into the classroom and the teacher would scold him for that, but he didn't particularly care about that. After all, unlike the Academy back home, he had nothing to lose if he flunked here.

With that in mind, Naruto took a deep breath and entered the classroom of 3-C, expecting to get an earful from the current period's teacher.

He obviously didn't expect the class to be oddly relaxed with no teacher around.

"What? Eh?"

Technically speaking, the teacher wasn't present, there wasn't any sign of any quiz being worked on, and the students themselves were playing around, huddling in groups. Some even started running around the classroom playing tag.

Naruto stepped inside with a bewildered look. A paper airplane came from his side, prompting him to lean back in surprise before glancing at the person who threw it. The random male student came up to him with an apology and a nervous grin, which he replied in quite the same manner rather carelessly. Naruto looked around the class, still dumbfounded as to why the class seemed so lax.

With a slightly discomforted feeling, he approached a deeply meditating NPC-Lee.

"Oi, Bushy Brows…"

"Hm? Ah, Uzumaki-san! Have you decided to attend class today?" The Lee look-alike asked him.

"Somehow, you make me sound like a delinquent…"

"Aren't you one? The school doesn't really encourage their students to skip classes and break their uniform code. Not that I have a problem with it. I do, in fact, find that endearing act quite youthful."

"Eh…right." Naruto gave an awkward smile before deciding to change the topic, "By the way, Bushy Brows, where's the teacher? I thought the class isn't over until the next period?"

"Ah, about that, our homeroom teacher said that we can have the last period to ourselves. With the youthful ball game tournament coming up, I am not really that surprised." NPC-Lee explained, before suddenly shooting up to his feet and exclaiming, "WOOOOOH! I can't believe the expected ball game tournament is quickened this year! I SHALL GREET THIS NEW CHALLENGE WITH A YOUTHFUL SMILE!"

'As expected from Lee, even though he's fake, he's still high in tension,' Naruto thought with a sweat-drop forming on the back of his head.

"That's right! Uzumaki-san, are you in a team yet?"

"Eh? Team, you mean…"

"I'm referring to the ball game tournament, isn't it obvious? If someone like you would enter my team, I'd be very grateful! Other than me, there's already Kiba-kun, Neji-kun, Chouji-kun…"

Naruto twitched at that, 'All of them are the guys from Konoha?'

"…of course, Chouji-kun will play as the catcher. I can't imagine if he has to be a fielder or a batter; although he's youthful, he can't really run that fast."

'Wasn't he running next to you in lap-running earlier?!'

"Unless we can bait him with some yakiniku, I doubt he'd run fast enough. Earlier, our PE teacher used that same method and it surprisingly works!"

'I should've known better…'

"Ah, and you would never guess! Tenten-san is also playing; she's the second batter and—"

"A-Ano, sorry, Bushy Brows. I wasn't actually planning to participate in the game…" Naruto admitted, effectively stopping NPC-Lee's youthful tirade.

In contrast to his earlier excited expression, NPC-Lee looked aghast, "WHAT?! For you to skip even the youthful ball game tournament? I've lost my youthful image of you, Uzumaki-san!"

"Is that a roundabout way to say you're disappointed in me? AND WHAT IMAGE ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?! ERASE THAT IMAGE IMMEDIATELY!" Naruto couldn't even begin to word out how gay that sounded. To have a "youthful" image of him…*shudder*.

"But, why? Do you something else you have to do? I don't remember any other event other than the ball game tournament, though."

"Aah…yeah, it's kinda like something I gotta do personally," Naruto reasoned with a weak grin.

"Has it got something to do with your mailing business?"

"IT'S NOT MAILING, IT'S DELIVERY! [1]"

Naruto groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. In his past life, dealing with Lee was always stressing thanks to the thick-browed boy's eccentric personality. It was a mystery how there could be an NPC version of Lee that was exactly the same in that regard, but whoever did it Naruto swore to give them an earful.

"Sheesh, I hate it when people get it wrong… Never mind that, why is it such a big deal if I don't play one stupid game? It's not as if it's the end of the world."

"It isn't, but the ball game tournament is the pinnacle of all youthfulness! For you to not participate in it is really a waste of your youth!"

"That's why I'm telling you—"

"I won't let you suffer from wasting such an opportunity to experience youth to its fullest!" NPC-Lee was definitely high on tension today, judging by his wide eyes which were impossibly wider than before. "And thus, let me recruit you to our team!"

"Geh…!" Naruto flinched at NPC-Lee's suggestion. He knew that option was a definite no-no, because meeting up with his friends again would be bad for his heart. He could cope with NPC-Lee because of two reasons: He wasn't exactly the closest people to him (though he was just as precious), and since NPC-Lee was in the same class as him, it wasn't like he could do anything about it.

"Ah…about that…" Naruto started nervously. Meanwhile, his train of thought was rather panicky.

'Oh, carp—ah, I mean, crap! If I knew it would lead to this worst possible outcome, I wouldn't have taken this route!' The back of his head was sweating bullets, 'Is there any way out? I have to say something that will make him change his mind about recruiting me!'

"A…ahahaha, sorry Bushy-Brows, but I think I already have a team I'd like to join." Mentally giving himself a pat on the back, Naruto gave a deceivingly apologetic grin and stepped back.

"Eh? Is that so? But, I thought you said you weren't going to participate?" NPC-Lee inquired with a suspecting look.

"I will! Yeah, I changed my mind about thirteen seconds ago, ahahaha!"

If a shinobi was to see how Naruto's face was like, he would've suspected that Naruto had placed a time bomb with the explosive force of a Bijuu Dama under the seat of their Kage. However, NPC-Lee wasn't a ninja, and even though he did find Naruto's change of mind a bit strange, he shook it off as "another one of Uzumaki-san's youthful eccentricity".

"I don't really get it…but! I am glad that you decided to participate after all! Now that we stand on different teams, let's exchange youthful sweats as we fight on the field, Uzumaki-san!"

"DON'T USE WORDS WITH DISGUSTING INNUENDOS IN IT, YOU THICK-BROWED IDIOT!" With a roar, Naruto flung a punch towards NPC-Lee's unsuspecting face, intending to shut his trap before something bad happens.

But the damage was done. Several students were looking at them rather strangely, some even muttering "Hey, did you hear that? They say that they will 'exchange sweats'" and "EH? You don't mean 'that', do you?"

"ERASE THAT IMAGE BEFORE IT DAMAGES YOUR BRAINS!" Naruto screamed out angrily. Some students, frightened by the angry man-beast that was baring his teeth at them, quickly went out of the class.

He had enough of being a misunderstood gay. As if the accidental kiss (*insert retching sound*) with Sasuke in his Genin days weren't enough, the Afterlife had to be such a place where Naruto was painfully reminded to protect his sexuality.

"Tch," Naruto scowled, "Stupid non-playable-whatchamacallits…"

"Ano…Uzumaki-san?" NPC-Lee nervously tried to gain Naruto's attention, careful not to get screamed at like the earlier students.

"Hm? Ah, sorry 'bout that. Well, like I said, I already have a team in mind, so unfortunately you can't recruit me." The balance of composition between Naruto's forced sad expression and his true feelings were unusually one-sided. He was, in truth, very glad that he came up with this method.

"I see. Well then, I guess I'll just have to look for other members. Let's meet at the field as equal adversaries, and together we shall exchange youthful swe—!"

"NOT ONE WORD, BUSHY BROWS!"

xoxoxo

In the end, they came out of the classroom and parted ways in front of the classroom door. Naruto had a dissatisfied, Uchiha-patented scowl on his face while NPC-Lee seemed to trudge off with fire in his eyes, probably fired up after knowing that Naruto will be playing against him.

"Hoh…that was way too close." Naruto exhaled loudly, "Seems I'll have to do this kind of thing numerous times in the future."

Good thing he had that card up his sleeve. To think that NPC-Lee would buy it without suspicion; even Naruto had to congratulate himself for that. 'That's right, no one can match the ingeniousness of Uzumaki Naruto!'

Now that NPC-Lee believed that he would participate in the game with another team, Naruto wouldn't have to worry about getting recruited in Konoha Eleven's team. Thus, he avoided one unfortunate calamity successfully. The blond wanted to laugh aloud victoriously.

But…

"Eh? Wait a minute," In the middle of his celebration, there was one thing that Naruto vaguely realized. "I said that I'll participate with another team, but I'm not actually affiliated to any right now..."

Not that it was a problem for him, because personally he had no motivation to join in. The part where he said that he would to NPC-Lee was just so that he'd stop bothering him. However, now that NPC-Lee was expecting him to be there, there would be trouble if he didn't really come.

Who knows what NPC-Lee would do if he ever found out that Naruto lied. At the very worst, he'd come and find him, drag Naruto's ass to the playing field and then force him to join his team.

"…and here I thought I'm safe already," Naruto said to himself. He pulled on his hair with a frustrated cry, "Aw, man! Would it hurt if things work the way I planned it to? Now I will have to play for real, damn it! Not only that, the game's only a few hours away and I haven't even joined a team yet!"

Growling, Naruto walked on and headed towards the stairs. Before he reached them, however, a door opened up to his left and stopped him short. Going through the class door was a diminutive figure of a small girl a head shorter than him, her hair was silver and reached her middle back.

It was Angel.

Confused, Naruto looked up to the wooden plank that hung above the door. On it was written "3-A", which represented the class's identity.

'Come to think of it, that NPC-Lee did say that Angel is from class 3-A…' Naruto thought, remembering what the fake Lee had told him.

Angel finally noticed Naruto's presence, proven when her golden eyes traveled towards him in an almost robotic manner. As always, her face lacked any expression that should've been there, but that in itself was perhaps Angel's normal expression.

She nodded her head slightly, "Konnichiwa."

"Eh? Ah, yeah, you too." Naruto awkwardly replied.

Silence.

Even though their conversation ended as quickly as it started, Angel didn't seem to be finished yet. It was blatantly obvious that she wasn't finished, actually, judging by her unmoving form and expressionless stare boring into him.

"Ah…ano, is there something on my face?" Naruto tried asking her a menial question in hopes that she'd give a reaction. The feeling he was getting was like being stared by a lifeless doll, and it was sort of unsettling.

"…" Still, it seemed like Angel was still deep in thought. Or maybe there was really something on Naruto's face.

The silent continued for another five second until someone else went through the door. "Sorry for the wait, President." That someone was a male student that wore the same uniform as the rest of the normal students.

The uniform consisted of a black blazer that was buttoned up to the chest and a pair of black slacks. The boy's shoes were the custom brown shoes that all students wore. It seemed that he also wore the normal student's white uniform shirt underneath his black blazer, together with a string tie. What differentiate him from the normal NPC students was the black hat atop his head that was similar to a beret but wasn't exactly so.

The boy himself had dark green hair that was mostly hidden under his hat, and his eyes were an eerie shade of yellow. It was somehow different from Angel's golden eyes, and the feeling it gave from being stared with it was different as well. The boy stood slightly behind Angel as he looked at Naruto.

"…and who might you be?" He boldly asked.

The tone wasn't likeable, but Naruto didn't find it detestable either. It was as if this boy was gauging him like he would a stranger. Still, it was an arrogant way to address someone else. It reminded Naruto a bit of Sasuke and Neji.

Not wanting to create an uncomfortable atmosphere, Naruto cleared his throat and answered, "Uzumaki Naruto. I'm from class 3-C."

"You're…" The dark-clothed boy started as if trying to word out his thoughts, "Ah, right, you're the transfer student from class 3-C. Greetings." The boy slightly lowered his head, formally greeting Naruto in a trained manner.

Naruto replied it in a similar manner, though he still looked awkward doing greetings like that. He wasn't that used to formal greetings, so this was a new thing for him.

"Ah, I should probably introduce myself as well. My name is Naoi Ayato from class 3-A, and currently the student council's vice-president. I heard of you from the principal; it seemed you transferred rather suddenly."

Naruto had never met the principal. Yet somehow, the principal knew that he was a "transfer student". What troubled him was that the principal knew more about him without them ever meeting each other. But seeing that his homeroom teacher was also the same in that aspect, he suspected that it was an NPC-related thing.

Naoi glanced to Angel before shifting his attention back to Naruto, "Judging by the looks of it, it seems that you already knew the President beforehand. I'm surprised…she was never the type to associate with other people."

"Really? I thought student council presidents or whatever has to be the type everyone's popular with." Naruto said offhandedly.

"Well, that's not always the case. The President rarely had to act in order to keep the students under control, so she didn't interact with the students that much."

"Hm…that's strange. The last time I got into trouble, she was there and did more than 'interact'." Naruto said with a straight face. He looked at Angel and, mistaking her expressionless face as her being dumbfounded, he added with a sigh, "You know, that time with the guerilla concert."

Instead of Angel, it was Naoi who reacted first. "Ah, yes, I remember that incident. You created quite the ruckus that the President had to put a stop to it herself."

"Hey, hey, I was just trying to help the Girls Dead Monster out. It's not right to keep someone from doing what they wanted, much less if it's something that the other students also enjoy." Naruto rolled his eyes, feeling a little bit annoyed with how Naoi seemingly put the blame on him, judging from his words.

The grass-haired boy replied with a chuckle, "You're probably right. I don't particularly hate someone with that belief." The next thing Naoi did was to raise his head a little and narrowed his eyes at Naruto, "Still, you gave quite the beating to the teachers, didn't you, you delinquent?"

He was looking down at Naruto.

The way he looked at Naruto wasn't at the mere level of underestimating. That criticizing look; it felt like he was stating that Naruto didn't have the right to stand on the same ground he walked on, and Naoi would have no remorse in driving him to the ground. It was that kind of downward pressure.

The guy reeked of arrogance, and Naruto was having trouble not to growl in annoyance.

A tense atmosphere formed around them. The tension was real enough to be compared to a brick wall, and the silence slightly gave it a surreal feeling. The two boys glared at each other, though Naoi's narrowed eyes were glaring in a different way than Naruto's. And it didn't help that Angel just opted to stand there and look at the two with a rather confused gesture.

Finally, Naoi broke his glare and turned to Angel. The tense atmosphere softened somewhat, but the after-feeling it left still lingered.

"By the way, President, we better be on our way. The team meeting was scheduled to be immediately after school time is over."

The team Naoi was talking about was the team that was made to participate in the ball game tournament. Naruto thought that perhaps Naoi was going to play a part in the team, but he wondered about what Angel was supposed to do. A frail-looking girl like couldn't possibly play in the tournament.

Then again, this was the same girl who stood on equal ground against him, so Naruto might be prejudicing her strength. Still, even if she was going to play, she certainly didn't look the part.

Naoi started to walk away, but Angel wasn't following him. Noticing this with a slight confusion, the hat-wearing boy turned around and called her, "President?"

Perhaps it wasn't so, but Angel looked like she was ignoring her vice-president. Instead of turning around and giving him a response, she simply said, "Wait a moment."

"Is something wrong?" Naoi asked her.

Angel looked up at Naruto and stared at him, giving him the chills with those eyes of hers. She then said, "The upcoming ball game tournament's concept is baseball."

The statement came out all of the sudden that Naruto needed ten seconds to process what she said. After he did, he tilted his head curiously, "…eh?"

"The upcoming ball game tournament's concept is baseball."

"No, no, I heard you the first time. It's just that…uh, why are you bringing that up all of the sudden?" Naruto's dumbfounded expression was absolutely sincere. He really didn't know what Angel was trying to say to him. He understood that Angel was trying to explain the ball game's concept to him, but the reason for that escaped him.

"Our team is currently one member short. I was looking for another member up to this time." Angel continued.

"Eh? Ah, well, good luck with that, I guess…"

"I want you on the team."

"Geh! That's surprisingly blunt."

"Before this, we agreed to discuss whether we can add Naoi-kun in the player roll or not. I personally think you fit the role better than him."

"You're being too blunt! I know he doesn't have the best personality around, but he's still your vice-president, oi!"

"Ah, you don't have to worry, she is always like this." Naoi explained with a smile.

The way Naruto saw it the hierarchy of the school of afterlife really was too simple. Angel, being the top of the students as the student council president, was allowed to be so blunt to her second-in-command that it seemed rather harsh of her. But then, if Naoi was really troubled by it, he would've said so. Him saying otherwise was proof enough that he simply yielded to this simple chain of command.

Naruto almost forgot that Naoi could simply be an NPC; an arrogant one, but an NPC nonetheless. That might be the reason why he was so obedient to Angel. If he remembered correctly from Yuri's explanation, NPCs weren't supposed to have their own will. That made everything they do look empty and pointless.

"Never mind that," Naruto said as he turned back to Angel, "Even if you say that you need another member, why me? There's other people who fits the category, and perhaps wanting to join your team. I actually wasn't even thinking of participating in the game until five minutes ago."

"…" Angel first answered Naruto's question with silence. She exhaled slightly and continued afterwards, "So you refuse?"

"Well, I—" A sudden idea pierced through Naruto's current train of thought. His eyes widened as his mouth remained slightly open.

'Wait, this might be my chance! I need a team which can shelter me throughout the game so that I won't have to join the NPC-Konoha team. Angel's team here might give me what I need!'

"Uh, I mean…" As he tried to word out his thoughts, Naruto's eyes wondered to the side, carefully making it look like a natural action.

"?" Angel tilted her head slightly.

"…I guess I can give it a shot," Naruto finally said, "I was actually looking for a team myself."

"Is that so?" Contrary to her cold choice of words, Angel's tone suggested that she felt relieved. Naruto understood that part of why she sounded so distant was because her mostly emotionless self; it was not that different from Gaara, actually.

Naruto laughed lightheartedly, "Well, I still owe you for that cup ramen. It's only fair if I help you out in return." He said so, but he wholeheartedly believed that Angel was helping him out again rather than him helping her.

"Before we finalize that," Naoi cut in, "Let me state to you that we're not looking for half-baked players. The overall of our members' talent is top notch, and we are planning to win. All I'm trying to say is, do try to keep up."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at Naoi's choice of words. He smirked dangerously, "That's quite the roundabout way to say 'don't be a dead-weight'."

"Well, as long as I get the message across…" Naoi shrugged carelessly.

Naoi's arrogance was irritating, that was true. Meanwhile, Naruto had the tendency to crush an arrogant person's pride to smithereens and leave them crying on the floor. That was the kind of person he is, and he specifically wanted to prove himself.

"You won't know it until you try it," Naruto answered while maintaining his smirk, "And I say, count me in!"

xoxoxo

Otonashi couldn't understand the source of Hideki's confidence. For sure, that confidence was overrated, but how Hideki even had that in the first place was confusing.

When the blue-haired narcissist tried to recruit members for the team, his efforts were for naught. Hisako blew him off, saying that she already joined Takamatsu's team, though it was curious how girls were allowed to play in the game too. Then, Hideki was very sure that Matsushita 5th Dan would wait for him for the recruitment, but turns out he already joined Takeyama's team with the promise of meat udon.

Unceremoniously, when Hideki put his last faith in TK, Takamatsu got to him first.

Their latest recruit ended up being Yui. Hideki was skeptical at first, and he hated the girl's guts from the start. Miss Screaming Death Metal Vocalist, as he called her, wasn't at the top of his favorites chart. Exchanging kicks to the head proved that. Their only consolation was that Yui seemed pretty athletic, and with her being hyper it wasn't that hard to picture her playing baseball.

That was not to say that Hideki welcomed her with open hands. Otonashi had to separate them from each other a couple of times, lest they would lock each other in a hold that most Judo wrestlers would find difficult to use.

To compensate for the lack of their team's strength, they decided to try and recruit the only person that they knew they could count on.

"Shiinacchi!"

Also, Otonashi figured out that Hideki had the tendency to give silly-sounding nicknames to girls. For some reason, though, he hated it when Yui nicknamed herself "Yui-nyan".

"Where are you? Come out! Shiinacchi!"

At the moment, the three of them were at the entrance of the gymnasium storeroom, which was basically the place where the school kept all their equipments. For some reason, Hideki came here to look for the ninja-like Shiina. Otonashi didn't understand it himself, but Hideki was adamant that the girl was here, even though it wasn't exactly a place where a person would spend their time in.

Picturing Shiina in such a place was…actually it's quite possible that she'd be here.

Otonashi's foot happened to step just beside a fallen dog doll, which had a corkscrew on its back that can be spun to activate its sound and walking feature. He raised an eyebrow and thought, 'Isn't this like the one from the Guild incident?'

"Well, this is strange. Usually, she'd be holed up here doing her own thing. I wonder where she is…" Hideki glanced left and right, but there was no sign of the scarf-wearing girl.

"Maybe she's somewhere else?" Otonashi suggested.

"No, this is the only place she'd be after-school when there's no operation going on. I don't know what she does here all the time, but I know her enough that I'm certain she'd be here."

"Well, where is she then?"

The question remained. Though they didn't like it, Shiina's whereabouts were now as mysterious as the person herself.

Otonashi sighed tiredly. They wouldn't get any members just standing in the storage room like this, so giving up on Hideki's intuition they started taking a step away from the entrance. The same time they did, however, there were sudden faint murmurs of someone talking.

"O-Oi, how am I supposed to pull it out?" Someone whispered harshly.

"How shallow-minded…it's not that hard to do." Another voice replied.

Hideki heard the voices too, and he turned around in surprise. "Hey, that's Shiinacchi's voice…so she's in here after all?"

As if undisturbed by Hideki's own voice, the murmurs which were suspected to be Shiina conversing with another person continued.

"Ugh…I can't! It's buried to deep inside, and the hole's pretty tight too!"

"It's because you're not using your hips. Put some back into it and pull it out; I can't continue my work if this keeps up."

"But how?! It's too big, and the hole's too small!"

"…this is so stupid."

Otonashi did a spit-take upon hearing the conversation between the two currently invisible people, which had innuendos flying about them. 'W-What is this?! Why is the content of the conversation so ambiguously perverted that it's supposed to be R-rated?!'

Hideki seemed to be thinking the same line as his face looked mortified. He had his jaw agape and eyes widened to such an extent that it looked like dinner plates. "WHAAAT?! Someone's doing something to Shiinacchi!?"

"Eh? Eh? Doing something? I don't get it..." Yui, bless her innocent soul, didn't get what Hideki was implying, and it was fortunate that she remained as so. She really didn't understand anything that was happening, but she followed Hideki and Otonashi's suit rushing deeper into the storage room.

And inside, they found…

"Urgh, this baseball bat is too deeply buried underneath the pile of trash! Why didn't anyone put it somewhere it belongs?!"

"As I said, use your hips to pull it out. Your body weight should be enough to do it."

The moment they saw Shiina instructing a peculiar orange-clad blond the how-to of pulling a baseball bat from under a pile of indescribable stuffs, Otonashi completely fell and face-faulted on the floor. It must be because the floor was slippery.

"SO THIS IS WHAT YOU WERE DOING?!" Otonashi yelled out in annoyance, "STOP USING SENTENCES THAT MEANT SOMETHING EXTREMELY DIFFERENT FROM WHAT YOU'RE ACTUALLY DOING!"

"Hm? Ah, it's you people." Shiina kept a straight face, even after getting yelled at by Otonashi. She was initially crouching on the floor, inspecting the trapped end of the baseball bat that was still stuck underneath the unneeded pile, but now had stood up to regard the trio of misfits.

On a side note, she was also balancing a broom on her right hand's index finger.

"…what's with that broom?"

"Ah, this…I was training," Shiina answered, "I figured that, from the Guild Descent operation, my only excuse for being surpassed by you is my lack of concentration. Thus, I've been training my concentration by balancing this broom on my fingertip."

The ridiculous method wasn't anywhere near anyone's range of logic. Yui pointed that out very clearly, "She's an idiot, right?"

"She might be an idiot, but she's useful." Hideki said back to Yui, trying to point out the good point of recruiting Shiina.

It seemed as if Shiina wasn't aware of being called an idiot when she decided to continue talking, "Well, it would be more proper to say that I was training, until this person barges in and started asking me where the baseball equipments were." She sighed with a disinterested look, "Really…and he almost broke my concentration, too."

"By "he", you mean…?"

Otonashi's head turned slightly to regard the still struggling figure of the yellow-haired, whisker-marked person that was gritting his teeth as he tried to pull out a baseball bat.

"…I never thought that someone at your level would struggle to pull a stuck baseball bat."

Naruto gave Otonashi an unhappy look and said, "Hey, if I am allowed to Rasengan this trash pile away, I'd do so. But these are also important equipments, so I have to settle with the hard way."

Really though, seeing the powerful ninja straining his muscles just to pull out a single bat was quite ludicrous. For a guy that stood up against the Battlefront, such a task should've been trivial. Alas, this was the current predicament, and Otonashi had to question his logic.

"What're you doing here, anyway? I thought you guys had an operation to do." Although Naruto was busied by his work, he decided to voice his curiosity.

"We're just here to recruit Shiinacchi to our team. We're really low on members, so we had to get our hands on as many people as we can!" Hideki was the one who answered.

"That last statement sounds so wrong on so many levels…" Naruto muttered to himself, noticing the messed up innuendo in Hideki's words. "Well, good luck with that. I think you know it better, but it's better to avoid your leader's punishment game if you can. That girl is so scary it gives me chills just thinking about it…"

"Hah ha ha! Yeah, we're not intending to get caught in Yuri's punishment game either. We're going to give it our all and let the other team get punished!"

"Oi, that's your friends you're giving up…" Otonashi reminded the blue-haired idiot. He didn't get how Hideki would sacrifice his friends in order to escape Yuri's punishment game. It can't be that bad…right?

"By the way, Uzumaki, why are you here?"

"Isn't it obvious? I'm trying to pull out a baseball bat."

"No, I mean, I get that, but why?"

"That's…kind of a funny story, actually." Naruto sheepishly admitted, "You see, I end up joining a team myself. There were some problems at the beginning, but things worked out in the end. I wasn't really planning to play at all, and thus, seeing my "unwillingness to contribute to the team", the team's vice-captain said, "We can't have a weak chain link in our team, so go do something for the team. Bringing us the equipments for the game should suffice," and walked away with his nose up in the air, that bastard."

From Naruto's tone that became angrier towards the end of his speech, Otonashi could discern that the blond didn't really like this "vice-captain" person.

"Wait, if you're not intending to play, then why join a team in the first place?"

"Now that's…nah, I'm not answering that." Naruto grinned mischievously at the red-haired teen.

"Heeh…so it's just one of your time-killing acts, huh?"

"Ahahaha…well, not exactly…"

When Naruto thought back to how he was hell-bent on not teaming up with his NPC-Konoha friends, he couldn't classify what he did as a mere act out of boredom.

"Anyway, I better pull this bastard out first. I've stacked up ten bats already, but it wouldn't hurt to take one more." Naruto began pulling on the baseball bat again.

"What do you need ten baseball bats for?" Hideki asked as he saw the stack of iron bats near where Shiina was standing, "And that's not ten, you idiot! That's twenty!"

"Ah, yeah, I lost count after the eight…"

"Are you retarded? You just need nine of these in a game."

"…eh?"

"There's only a minimum of nine people in a game of baseball, so there's only nine baseball bats reserved for each team."

Hideki just stated what he thought was a common knowledge in sports, but to Naruto who had never played baseball before, this was a new knowledge. Thrusted with this information, Naruto trembled and let go of the stuck baseball bat.

"Wha…but…he…but he…!" Naruto stammered incoherently, but it all boiled down to him having a sour look on his face.

"Let me guess. That vice-captain tricked you into getting ten baseball bats?" Otonashi guessed.

"He did, that snot-nosed bastard." Naruto growled to himself. He sulkily began to pick up the bats that he had gathered and hugged them to his body to carry them. "I should've trusted my gut when it told me I shouldn't trust him even microscopically."

"No, telling someone to carry ten baseball bats on his own is already a tough thing to do alone. This isn't some high school orientation period."

"Ugh! Grr…I'll definitely kick his ass for this! That no-good cocky vice-president!"

Otonashi hadn't met the vice-president, and he found himself wondering what kind of person the vice-president was that he could annoy Naruto so much. Before he could ask him, though, Naruto already ran out of the storage room, screaming bloody murder about something akin to "Giving his ass a Thousand-Years of Death!" or something.

Meanwhile, Yui couldn't help but wonder…

"…he's an idiot, right?"

xoxoxo

There was a bare-chested person at a certain riverbank. In his hands was a 3-4 feet long halberd which had a bladed tip that looked like both a spear as well as an axe.

The person's name was Noda.

Currently, he was training using that devilish halberd of his, swinging it from numerous kinds of angles and using numerous kinds of stances. If anyone judged him from his muscles, this would look like something he did every day. Of course, the misconception that this was something called "training" would seem like the reality to anyone else.

In truth, this was how he spent his free time. Unlike the others who had other things to do like hanging out at a certain place, eating in the cafeteria, or sleeping in their dorms, Noda opted to be alone and train.

This wasn't because he hated his friends and comrades, but because it was his nature.

Earlier in his life as a living person, Noda wasn't as much as a sociable person as other people were. In fact, he could be categorized as a shut-in (the term "Hikkikomori" was more exact), trapping himself in his room while playing online RPG games and various other games. That habit of playing online games changed after he died, obviously because the Afterlife didn't have video games, but a remnant of his anti-social self still remained.

Thus, training alone by himself became a new habit.

However, for this particular day, his everyday habitual training was directed by another purpose.

'Damn it!' Noda vehemently thought after his thirtieth downward slash, 'I'm still…not strong enough!'

What, or who was he comparing himself to that he felt so inferior? Wasn't he dangerous enough with that halberd and the body strength to wield it?

'Annoying people just keep popping up! First, it was that red-haired amnesiac who underestimated Yurippe. He's weak, but he was the one who survived the Guild's traps along with Yurippe. It's so freaking annoying that he's not even that strong!'

Noda did a sideway slash a foot away from the river. The halberd didn't touch the water, but it rippled under the wind pressure from the slash.

'And then there's that yellow-haired bastard! He just showed up from nowhere and…what's with that power of his?! To think that he can fight me, and using those small knives of his…!'

Noda growled before twirling his halberd around him, spinning around and stabbed the air with a piercing strike, "OOH-HEEEEEI!"

Knowing his inferiority to those two people, he was determined to train himself like and get stronger. The purpose was admirable, but he was training himself under the belief that he'd be able to beat those two in all other kinds of aspect as well, like in the RPG games. In other words, to him, that also meant getting Y-Y-Yurippe's attention!

In other words, he's an idiot.

But love and admiration can turn even the most idiotic shut-in into a determinate man. It was truly terrifying.

"OOI! Noda!"

Hearing his name called, Noda turned his head to the side, wondering who the hell would dare interrupt his training. When he saw that it was his fellow SSS members Hideki, Otonashi, Shiina and that little GirlDeMo candidate, he broke off his stance.

Actually, what caught his attention was that Otonashi, one of the people he wanted to defeat, was here as well.

"Hmph! So you've come at last," He said as he tried to look cool. All of the sudden, he pointed the bladed tip of his halberd towards Otonashi, "It's time to settle this once and for all!"

None of them came for a fight, so Hideki butted in, "Aah, but before that we'll do a warm up! Let's show who has the better baseball skills between you and him!"

"Why?" Noda questioned.

Hideki had a confident look on his face as he said, "You won't get Yurippe's attention by just being strong, you know."

A tense silence entered their surrounding area. Besides the calming sound of the flowing river, there was only an exchange of stares between Noda and Hideki.

Being the short-minded idiot he was Noda didn't have a pinch of suspicion of the odd logic in Hideki's words. He gave another "Hmph" before finally shaking Hideki's hand in agreement, "Fine."

While Hideki was rejoicing at the success of recruiting another member, Yui was being skeptical.

"Idiot. He has no idea he's being used."

xoxoxo

The only high school in this Afterlife had an unknown unofficial name.

Afterlife High.

It was a name that circulated only between the NPC students, but because the majority of the school was made up of those NPCs it gradually became an official name. Of course, even though it was an official name, it wasn't often used. Thus, the Afterlife Battlefront had no knowledge of this.

It goes without saying that Naruto also didn't know about this, so he was puzzled when he saw the mark under the hilt of one of the baseball bats he was carrying.

"The school must have really talented ironsmiths to have their own blunt weapons crafted for them…" Naruto wondered aloud.

He was tasked by Naoi to get these bats and deliver them to their team's meeting point. It was a heavy blow to his pride, being ordered around and all, but since this was related to his part-time work as an unofficial delivery man, he had no right to object.

Not to mention Angel didn't say anything against it. On the contrary, it seemed she was intending to ask the same of him herself.

"Haaah…don't tell me they're making me do this because I do delivery services. Just because I do it for extra food coupons doesn't mean I'd do it for free. I mean, sure, this humble Uzumaki-sama would be glad to help a poor soul in distress, but I have no intention of being used by some bastard like Naoi."

NPC or not, that guy was an ass.

For one reason or another, as Naruto's mind was occupied by his grumbling thoughts, he failed to notice that he had walked into some kind of field.

First ball sports arena – Baseball field

There was a sign that read as such.

"So this…baseball thing, I think it's the kind of game they're going to play."

This amateur-sounding statement might seem to tell people that Naruto was some kind of idiot. It was how he stated the painfully obvious fact that "baseball" was a type of game. But that was if anyone saw it from a "normal person's perspective".

When you try to think about it, this was Naruto who came from a ninja village residing in the lands hidden from civilization we're talking about. With that in thought, it was obvious that Naruto had no idea what baseball was.

"….."

Being retarded in the manner of civilization sucks, especially if it was this far of a length.

Rika-chan did gave her warning before about how things here would be much more advanced, in which it would be more ahead of him in terms of development. He surmised that she didn't only mean technologically.

"I guess it wouldn't be a problem as long as I don't have to play, right? I wonder if there's a spot for reserve members…"

With that in mind, Naruto stepped into the field and began searching for his designated team. Both Naoi and Angel told him that the meeting spot would be in this very field, but fact was they weren't even there. Naruto frowned and put down all of the things he was carrying.

There was no sign of the team. Scratch that, the field was practically deserted.

"…where is everybody?" As he asked himself this, Naruto approached the nearest coach box which was a rectangular area with a roof that provided shading as well as a joint bench.

This was supposed to be their meeting spot, or so he was told.

"Don't tell me they ditched on me and lied to me about the time and place!?" Naruto concluded with a mixed feeling of disbelief and annoyance. He knew Naoi was an ass, but what's with this treatment? It was as if his only goal was to make him miserable.

Then Naruto noticed it. A note was placed on the wall of the box-shaped waiting area. He read it aloud,

"[The ball game tournament shall commence at precisely one o'clock. All students participating are expected to register to the student council's office before playing. Sincerely, the Principal]… Huh? I thought it was exactly at noon!"

Naruto grumbled to himself after realizing the error. He had no idea that the game was supposed to officially begin at one o'clock, or that the team had to register before playing. To him, this wasn't his fault. After all, this wouldn't happen if he knew the real designated time. Was he being tricked?

"Hm…nah," Naruto shook his head, "It seems the student council are the ones who's taking care of this thing. The extra work might be holding them back."

Angel was the student council president, and Naoi was her second-in-command. Their position made them not only very important people, but very busy as well. This notice about the whole 'having to register before playing' thing seemed new, like it was just placed here a while ago. Perhaps Angel didn't see this one coming.

That didn't settle Naruto's current problem, however. With him having carried these numerous baseball bats all the way from the storage room to the baseball field, it wouldn't be funny if he just leaves them there. It would be even more insulting to have him carry it along with him while looking for his other teammates.

"I wonder how long waiting here would take…?" Naruto lazily plopped down on one of the benches and put both of his hands on the back of his head. He yawned and closed his eyes after that. That he was able to yawn was a sign that he was relaxed enough to do so.

To be absolutely frank, this world of afterlife felt like it had a pretty slow-moving atmosphere. Despite how Naruto noticed that there were battles between the Battlefront and Angel here and there, it would be a lie if he didn't find this situation peaceful. At the very least, it was more peaceful than his old world.

It felt nice.

To be able to relax and feel the wind caress his face, to be able to goof around without a care in the world…it was nice. Disregarding the fact that he was dead, this might be the highest level of peace he had experienced in his whole life.

'…Pervy Sage told me that he was looking for peace in our world,' Naruto reminisced, closing his eyes in thought. 'But now that I think about it, he can't be that stupid. Something like peace can never last long in the Shinobi world; even I have to admit that.

'Compared to that, however, this place is peaceful. I wonder if this is the peace he was searching for...?'

The Toad Sage of Mt. Myoboku, Jiraiya.

Once, he was Naruto's mentor. For three years he was the one who taught everything he could to him, and then some. He was the closest person Naruto ever had as a real parent. But…his age made him look more like a grandfather or granduncle.

Jiraiya died earlier than Naruto did, at the hands of the Akatsuki's Six Path of Pain.

But he had never given up on his search of peace. Even in his death, Jiraiya might still be looking for his ideal peace, and Naruto had promised to find and bring about said peace to the Shinobi world. Of course, he failed to do so, and thus was here.

'If he was here, what would he say? Maybe he'd be overjoyed to find the peace he had been searching for, or maybe he'd be unhappy that it's not the kind of peace that can be found in our old world.'

The boy sighed, "It kinda makes sense, I guess. The only peace everyone wants comes after their death."

Naruto opened his eyes.

The sky above him was light blue and cloudy, overloaded with peace. It looked as real as any sky he had seen, but at the same time he couldn't shake the feeling that it was all just an illusion. Not just the sky, but this world as a whole.

If his worst fear was true, then could it be that this Afterlife is really just a peaceful illusion?

"…" Naruto stared up at the sky without a worry of burning his retina. A moment later, he smiled and said, "Does it really matter though?"

Whether the peace in this world is questionable or not, it wasn't for him to decide. For the moment, all he had to do was to believe that it was the real deal and protect it with all he had. After all, this could possibly be the very peace Jiraiya was talking about.

"It'd be rude to that pervert if I let this peace be a simple illusion," Naruto said to himself, almost laughing as he did, "Even if it is, though, this is one illusion worth protecting."

"Who is this 'pervert'?"

"BUGYAAH!?" Naruto nearly had his heart jump out of his chest when that sudden voice talked to him. It was no joke; he was sure that his heart skipped a beat or two, like when he's watching horror movies.

Right at the corner of his eyes sat Angel with a slightly curious look. There was a noticeable change in her clothes, but actually she just put on a purple trainer jacket and a white cap that looked more like it sat on her head rather than covering her head as a whole.

"Y-You…since when are you sitting right next to me?" Naruto questioned, still holding his erratically-beating heart.

"I suppose it's starting from 'The only peace everyone wants comes after their death'."

"FROM THEN?! Why didn't you say anything?!"

"You suddenly looked up to the sky, so I thought something interesting caught your eye and decided to look up as well."

"No, no, no, the sky is normal and innocent, thank you for your concern. Never mind that, why is it that I didn't notice you coming? It's as if you teleported here or something. Are you a ninja, oi?!"

"No…I don't think I am." Angel said while tilting her head in puzzlement.

"I never met anyone with such a thin presence like this…" While Naruto was muttering this, Angel was trying to decide whether she should ask him again about "the pervert" he was talking about. She finally decided not to.

"Seeing as you are here, I'm thinking that you didn't know about the last-minute notice made by the principal."

"Well, I found the note regarding that not too long ago, but you're right. Anyway, since you're here, that means you're already finished with the student council work?"

Angel nodded affirmatively, "It took some time, but we finished as scheduled."

"Great! Where are the other team members then?" Naruto asked. He looked around trying to find the team that he supposedly would be playing for, but no one else but Angel was in the vicinity.

"They're waiting outside the field. We're planning to go around the strategy once more since you just got recruited," Angel explained, "The game will start in thirty minutes."

'Well, at least she's eager, even if she doesn't show it much.' Naruto still couldn't get used to how the student council president's words would somehow contain more emotion than her face.

xoxoxo

The ball game tournament was held in two areas. The first one was called [First ball arena – Baseball field] which was legitimately used to play baseball on a daily basis. The second one was called [Second ball arena – Grounds] which was supposed to be an all-purpose field shared by the students to either play soccer, run laps, or simply other kinds of sports. Unsurprisingly, today it was used for baseball.

In the first ball arena, the game was proceeding quite well. Takamatsu's team which consisted of TK, Fujimaki, and three other Battlefront members could be seen winning against a model student's team.

At the same time, in the second ball arena, Takeyama's team was adding scores after scores smoothly. With the powerhouse Matsushita 5th Dan on their side, home-runs were almost a definite outcome.

Most of the other Battlefront teams already had the most capable members for the game.

Not Hideki's, of course. In fact, his team could probably be called pitiful.

First and foremost, his team wasn't even complete. He didn't have time to recruit a center fielder, so he proposed that the left and right fielder work hard to cover up that blank spot. Of course, Otonashi was skeptical about it. Not only that, but the current team was made up of only five Battlefront members. The other three were the NPC students who surprisingly were acquainted with Yui as her groupies.

Currently, the blue-haired boy was trying to convince another playing student from another team to let them join in.

"Again?" asked the NPC student with a disinterested look.

"The team that advances will be the one that beats us. Rock-paper-scissors for who goes first." Hideki said.

"…" The NPC student, who was a catcher, looked to the side while retaining his disinterested face, "The numbers of team just keeps on increasing…"

'Well, Yuri did say we're participating illegally…' Otonashi reminded himself mentally, 'Otherwise, this game will really make us disappear.'

"Come on, we're also students here!" Hideki reasoned with a pleading voice before lightly elbowing Yui who was beside him, "Hey, say something!"

It was clear that what Hideki meant was for Yui to support him. Yui got the message clearly, and of course she already had a perfect line that will definitely persuade their opposing team to play against them.

And so she said,

"GIVE US EVERYTHING YOU GOT, LOSERS!"

"What'll you do if they do give us everything?!" Hideki angrily berated the little pink-haired spitfire, who he now held in a ridiculous deviation of a standing judo hold.

"Agh! My joints are leaving their sockets! I won't be able to hit a home-run!"

"No one was expecting you to in the first place!"

After a short briefing by Hideki, who decided the batting order and the overall play strategy, the game was on. On a side note, that same briefing revealed a "staggering lack of unity" as Hideki put it.

Otonashi was batting first. He actually wasn't the best baseball player around, but he was confident about hitting the ball.

'So we're going for a cold game? That means I'll have to go out there as first batter,' Otonashi carefully analyzed.

If his analysis was correct, than he didn't need to score a home-run right off the bat. All he had to do was to keep his team from being tagged-out.

When the ball came, Otonashi swung his bat. Luckily, it worked out and the bat hit the ball quite strongly while staying low to the ground, making it hard for the outfielders to catch it. It bounced pass through the fielders quite easily.

The others cheered when they saw this, "Alright!"

But then, something rushed in towards the bouncing baseball. Leaving a cloud of smoke behind, holding a gigantic halberd before hitting the ball back with said halberd was…Noda.

"Is that all you've got?!"

Quite honestly, the idiot's act left Hideki speechless with an almost breathless "Eh?"

"What did you say?!" Riled up by Noda's competitive tone, Otonashi swung his bat again and hit the incoming ball back to Noda.

"That's more like it!" Noda rushed forward with a yell before hitting the ball again.

It went on and on like that with the two exchanging hits as if they were playing tennis. But, actually, since they were playing baseball, they looked really out of place.

"THAT'S NOT HOW YOU PLAY BASEBALL!"

The umpire decided to call it since technically speaking the ball had been striking Otonashi out for more than a couple of times as it flew back and forth, "Out!"

Yui, for once, looked skeptical, "What idiots."

Now, this could be a lesson for all the baseball players around the world. When a teammate of yours is a rowdy idiot who has a halberd twice his height and an inferiority complex, restrain him with handcuffs and steel wires until his next play turn.

Thankfully, Hideki and Shiina who were next in order performed better. Or, rather, they performed with better luck. Both of them managed to run to a base, Hideki on the second and Shiina on the first.

The fourth batter was Noda, as decided in the briefing.

Only…on the contrast with the other members, Noda walked into the batter's box while dragging his bat along the ground. The subtle screech the steel made in contact with the ground was unusual.

"Geez," Even from his tone, Noda sounded like he wasn't going to play seriously, "Enough playing around."

Noticing Noda's unnatural stance, the opposing team's catcher squatting behind him looked at the purple-haired boy with slight hesitation. It was the kind of hesitation that a parent would feel when their child asked for a driver's license.

"Are you ready?" the catcher asked.

"For what?" Noda casually asked back.

Though he was annoyed by the curt but arrogant response, the catcher cut off their conversation and called out to the pitcher, "Bring it!"

The pitcher threw the ball accordingly. It was clearly a fastball, fast enough that normally people wouldn't be able to hit it at first try. However, that was exactly what Noda did.

With his bat in a ridiculous reverse-grip, Noda swung his bat upwards and hit the ball, launching it sky-high. What came to a shock wasn't just how his swing was able to connect with the ball, but also how strong the power behind it was despite it being in a reverse-grip. In fact, the ball went out of the field and scored a home-run.

"Home run!" declared the umpire, though he was surprised by it as well.

The catcher, too, couldn't believe it, "No way…"

So that was three points for the Battlefront team led by Hideki. Thanks to this, they were now in the leading position.

And then the time came for both teams to switch roles; the NPC on attack and the Battlefront on defense. Once again, however, Otonashi felt skeptic about Hideki's choice of strategy.

"So…" Otonashi started as he stood at the middle of the playing field, "Why am I the pitcher?"

"Noda hit a home-run, so you need to hold them at 0 to stay in this!" Hideki excitedly said.

"Who are we playing against again?" Otonashi asked to himself.

To be honest, Otonashi felt anxious about playing as the pitcher. Part of it had to do with the fact that he had never pitched before, but the other half of the reason had to do with who became their catcher.

"Bring it!" Unexpectedly, it was Noda.

Throwing all his worries out the window, Otonashi gripped hard on the ball and narrowed his eyes. He never pitched before…so whatever beginner's luck he had better help him out now. With that in thought, Otonashi threw the baseball with all his might. His body was lowered to an almost-crouching position, thus the ball's trajectory followed his stance and ended up being a low curveball.

The opposing team's batter failed to hit the suddenly weaving ball, "Strike!"

Behind the batter, Noda caught the ball fairly easily. Whether he liked it or not, he had to admit that Otonashi's pitching was good.

'But!' Noda thought, 'That alone isn't enough!'

"Hm! Is that all you've got?!" Again, with a roar, Noda stood up and threw the ball he previously caught towards a bewildered Otonashi.

"Wha…? You little…!" Annoyed, Otonashi threw the ball back using the same amount of power.

Noda caught it again, immediately throwing it back afterwards, "That's more like it!"

"What?!"

The next thing everyone knew, Otonashi and Noda ended up throwing the ball back and forth continuously as if they were practicing softball. Ah, but of course with those aggressive look on their faces, anyone could tell that they were caught up in their own pace again.

"I SAID STOP PLAYING BY YOURSELVES!" yelled an aggravated Hideki.

"Even death can't cure idiocy," said Yui, looking like she couldn't comprehend the other two's level of idiocy.

Continuing on a while after that, it could be said that Hideki's team had a pretty good defense. Otonashi's pitching skill was surprisingly good. His fastballs and curveballs were hard to get hit, and at the one chance it did the fielders were pretty reliable as well. Shiina made up about half of the defense herself thanks to her inhuman agility. Even then, though, she didn't let her broom fall off from her fingertip.

"Wow, an idiot." Yui commented.

xoxoxo

In the end, they managed to keep their opponents from scoring any points, and won the game in the third inning by cold game. The NPC team was by all means surprised and a little pissed off, having beaten by an illegally participating team and all.

In the Battlefront teams' defense, though, they were that desperate to avoid getting Yuri's punishment game that they'd give their all for winning.

Most of the teams consisting of the Battlefront members had succeeded in getting themselves a spot in the semifinal. Hideki's team, now taking a breather, knew of this fact and felt somehow relieved. After all, they were now a step away from Yuri's punishment game.

However, as they were relaxing, another NPC team approached them while being led by a boy in black student uniform and a familiar student council president in a purple trainer's jacket.

'She finally shows up…Angel!' Otonashi thought, tension lightly carving itself on his face.

Angel gave them a passive stare of observation before saying, "Your team is not registered for participation in this tournament."

"It's fine, isn't it? At least we're participating, right?" Hideki casually replied. To be honest, though, he was pretty nervous himself talking to Angel like this. Even with that frail appearance, she was still the strongest enemy.

It was then that the boy clad in black student uniform with a peculiar beret stepped forward and joined the conversation,

"I'm the student council vice-president, Naoi. We've created a student council team, and will remove your teams with our own team."

Despite Naoi's condescending tone, Hideki noticed that there must be a reason behind his confidence. As he looked over to the student council team members, he realized what it was.

"So your members are all in the baseball club?" Hideki asked with a startled expression. The others also involuntarily winced at the revelation.

"Hm? Well, you could say that. There is one exception for that matter, though." Naoi replied with a shrug. He chuckled a bit before looking to the side, "Not only that, he's not even from the student council to begin with…"

From the Battlefront members' perspective, it seemed that Naoi was directing that sentence to a certain someone in the team. He was looking to the right where Angel was standing, but that couldn't be because Angel was the student council president. That alone was obvious.

If not her, then who was Naoi looking at?

"…Oi, if you got something you wanna say then out with it, 'ttebayo! And stop staring me like that, it's creepy!"

That sound was disturbingly similar.

Following to where Naoi was looking, the present Battlefront members found themselves looking at a familiar whisker-marked teen, Uzumaki Naruto.

"HE'S ON THEIR SIDE?!"

At first glance, the Naruto right now looked nothing like how he usually did. The usual black and orange jumpsuit he wore was replaced with a normal-looking white baseball uniform, similar to the ones the other student council team players were wearing. And the boy was wearing a black baseball cap that hid his spiky bright yellow hair. Take out all of his striking facial features and he could easily blend in with the crowd. It was only thanks to the whisker marks on his cheeks that the Battlefront members noticed him.

Upon receiving the shocked yells of the Battlefront members in front of him, Naruto winced and scratched the back of his head. He let out a nervous chuckle before talking, "Hey, guys. Guess we're meeting up quite a lot today, eh?"

"That part isn't important, what I want to ask is how come you're with them?!" Hideki asked aloud with a distressed face.

"Well, I told you that I ended up joining a team. These guys just happened to have an empty spot for another member, so I tagged along."

"No, no, no, I mean, why them? This team already has the full member of the baseball club, but with you it is overkill!"

'I don't think my presence mean that much,' Naruto thought pathetically, 'Fact is, even if I'm here, all I asked to be is a reserve member. It's good that they think I'm a trump card, but I don't know shit about this game they're playing.'

Hideki crossed his arms. He might've thought that by doing this he would seem calm, but his twitching eyes clearly said otherwise. "Heheh…there's no way we can with this."

By its own, the student council team was already terrifying, but now that they have Naruto things will be even harder. That was what Hideki thought. His idea might sound ridiculous, but he had seen firsthand the inhuman things the yellow-haired boy was able to do. And even if the game would forbid him from using that cloning technique of his, his own strength that can hold off Noda's halberd attacks was more than enough in this game. Adding salt to the wound were the ill-fitted extra members that made up the outfielders in Hideki's team.

This wasn't going to be easy at all.

Unfortunately, Yui decided that the time was perfect to give a little bit of incentive to heat things up between them.

"Keep your heads clean for us, losers!" (The right saying is "keep your necks clean", dammit.)

Immediately after that, Hideki locked her in place with yet another hold that judo wrestlers might see as a master-level technique. "That's two strikes for you now! Any more trash talking and you're cut! AND KEEPING YOUR HEAD CLEAN IS BASIC HYGIENE!"

"That hurts! That hurts!"

The student council team walked away as if the scene in front of them didn't require the intrusion of a student councilman. This might strike as strange, but when Naruto looked back behind his shoulders, he could say that those two were having fun.

"…in the end, she really is a masochist."

xoxoxo

It turned out to be quite the one-sided battle.

Naruto had thought that his absence from the playing field would affect the team in some way, however slightly. But upon seeing how his NPC teammates performed, they really lived up to their status as members of a baseball club, whatever that was. The opposing Battlefront teams separately led by Takamatsu and Takeyama were vanquished easily.

"Turns out I don't even have to play out there. That's good. At least I can avoid getting too much attention." Naruto felt relieved that his plan of laying low by becoming a reserve member turned out well. And reserve members were stationed in the waiting box with the overshadowing canopy, so no one from afar could recognize him.

Earlier on, he found out that the baseball team that consisted of the NPC-Konoha Eleven was defeated. He didn't know who defeated them, but he might have to thank those people. By doing what they did, the chance of having to meet them in this game was annihilated. Naruto didn't have to do anything else to avoid them then.

"You seem delighted," Angel, who was sitting next to him, stated curiously.

"Eh? Well…yeah," Naruto didn't realize that his relief was showing on his face. He stammered momentarily before continuing, "I mean…our team's winning. Shouldn't I feel happy?"

"…I'm not sure. You said that you don't want to play for the team, so doesn't that imply that you don't care whether we're winning or losing?"

"Ugh…still blunt as ever, huh? I'm not that kind of heartless person. If my comrades are winning, it's natural that I feel glad."

"Aren't your comrades those people?"

Naruto glanced at the white-haired girl as she said "those people". He somehow knew that she was talking about the Afterlife Battlefront, but it surprised him the she mentioned them without a tone of contempt. It wasn't how someone in her position—of being at the business end of their weapons—was supposed to sound like.

The blond ninja sighed, "Truth is, I'm not someone that close to them. I'm some kind of neutral party between you and them. But, yeah, I can't deny that I've been on friendly terms with them lately."

Thinking back, it wasn't exactly wrong to say that Naruto was the Battlefront's comrade, but it wasn't entirely right either. He had helped them at some point of their operation, but it was no conscious act to help them. All of his actions up until now were of his own decision, which just happened to be beneficial to the Battlefront.

"I see."

"…Hey, about our fight back at the concert, I'm sorry. I know I'm going against the rules, but I just can't leave the band like that," Naruto said out of the blue. He had been thinking about apologizing to Angel about that incident, but he hadn't found the opportunity.

"…?" Angel looked up at him almost questioningly, "If you know that it's against the rules, then why did you do it?"

"…because one of them is an important friend of mine," Naruto answered with a nostalgic look on his face, "And because the concert was something that that friend of mine wanted. Look, I…I've decided from the start that I won't pick sides. The larger part of the reason for that is because I don't want to fight against any of you. I saved you from that cannon back then because you look like you needed it, and I fought against you in that guerilla concert incident because my friend needed it. If it was the other way around, I won't hesitate to fight them for your sake."

"…I appreciate the concern."

"Meh, don't worry. Right now, I'm on your side of the game. So as your comrade, I'll be hoping that we win this!" Naruto grinned widely at the small girl. His face was almost glowing with emotions, in contrast to the expressionless girl beside him.

This time, instead of replying, Angel nodded and turned back to watch over the game. Naruto would've been offended by this on normal occasions, but he had gotten kind of used to Angel's difficulty to express herself. He surmised that she didn't have anything else to say and decided to end their conversation there. She didn't seem to be the talkative kind, after all.

'Hmm…I guess she has to observe the play really carefully. She is the manager, after all, though I don't know what exactly a manager should do.'

As he himself turned his attention towards the field, Naruto almost felt sorry for Fujimaki who could only yell out in anger and despair at their loss.

The only team left standing between them and victory was Hideki's team.

xoxoxo

"It's our turn at last."

Hideki said that while expecting Angel to react in some way. Of course, trying to get a reaction from her was no different than trying to pry open a locked nuclear shelter.

The two teams led respectively by the two stood facing each other. Tension was thick, and no words other than what Hideki had said were exchanged. Seeing the players' readiness, the umpire declared the beginning of the game.

"We now begin the final match of the tournament!"

And with that, the two teams turned around and walked towards their designated spot. Otonashi noticed that Hideki looked a little sour when he looked at him, muttering something that sounded like, "Che. Not cute at all. At least say something to us..."

'It'd be surprising if she does,' Otonashi thought. He glanced back at the retreating backs of the student council team, or more specifically the yellow-haired reserve member. When he saw that the whisker-marked boy was actually a reserve member, Otonashi didn't know whether he should feel relieved or wary. Fact was, with him in the reserves, he might not be put in the play roll. But overlooking the chance of Naruto playing later on was not wise.

Being paranoid wasn't going to do him any good, though, so Otonashi gave up on that problem and focused on the game.

"Play ball!"

The game began with Hideki's team on the offense. The strategy was the same as before; Otonashi, Hideki, and then Shiina would hit the ball and occupy the third, second and first base respectively. After that, it was all up to Noda to score a home-run. His ridiculous arm strength turned that one-time chance hit a strike that brought an absolute result.

"All right! Way to go!" Hideki cheered on as he ran.

With three members already covering the bases, the total point they scored was four. It was a good number ahead of their opponent.

Then, it was their turn to play on the defense. Sadly, this is where things got rowdy.

Otonashi's pitching, which was tricky enough to hit by the earlier NPC teams, wasn't enough to make a clean strikeout. The batters he was up against were clearly of the baseball club, because they were able to see where he was throwing rather clearly. Their batting were nothing to sneeze at, either. Also, even if they didn't hit a home-run, Hideki team's outfielders were only consisted of the incapable NPC groupies who dodged the ball while squealing rather than catching it like they were supposed to. The girl-like reaction was enough to make Noda grit his teeth, growl, and slam his glove to the ground in frustration.

As a result of their crappy defense, the student council team managed to score 3 points.

Now, the current inning, still had Hideki's team going on the defense. Otonashi was still pitching, seeing as their team didn't have a relief pitcher, but he was hesitating to throw the ball. The source of his hesitation wasn't coming from his own incapability, but his concern about what would happen if the batter actually hit the ball he was going to throw.

His pitching skills were good, but they weren't enough to absolutely restrain the student council team's offense. And if he throws it now, chances are they would be in for an unavoidable counterattack.

Hideki saw Otonashi's hesitation and frowned. He, too, found their current situation difficult. As much as he wanted to the game to go on, he had to reanalyze their strategy first.

He had to use it.

"Time out!"

By using time-outs, they can stop the time and pull away from the game for a short while. It was no different than pressing the 'pause' button in a game. The only difference is that the amount of time outs is limited. That's why Hideki intended to make the most of the time out he used.

…

Even so, was there anything they could do?

"This is bad," Hideki said as he approached the red-haired pitcher, "It's really hard to hold off these baseball club regulars. Our outfield is crap too…"

Hideki glanced at the outfielders and he saw nothing to change his mind.

…

"UOOOH!?"

On closer inspection, there was actually a large man clad in judo clothes who was slurping on a bowl of udon while standing in the outfield position. The man, or more precisely overgrown teen, was none other than Matsushita 5th Dan.

"A…a…wha…"

"Ah. I had an extra meal ticket, so I gave it to him." Otonashi casually said.

"It was you?!" Hideki let out with an overjoyed voice as he held Otonashi's shoulders in a non-offensive way. It seemed that Hideki was really glad that Otonashi had miraculously taken Matsushita into their ranks, and as a show of his gratitude the blue-haired boy began strangling the nearby Yui in a new locking hold that even judo wrestlers would find hard to do. It might be a tribute for the Judo-user Matsushita 5th Dan.

"Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow!" Yui seemed to be in pain as she yelled out.

"Alright, that's good! He doesn't forget his debts over food! Now our outfield and back are perfect!"

"Ow ow ow! Give, give! Ah, dammit, I'm gonna kill you!"

xoxoxo

Matsuhita 5th Dan was a happy teenager.

The new Battlefront recruit, Otonashi had given him an extra meal ticket that happened to be a meat udon. Of course, Matsushita didn't even think twice to accept it and had happily thanked him for it. However, as he was a man of gratitude, he told the generous redhead that he would help him with anything in exchange.

Otonashi told him that they were lacking one more outfielder.

'It's nice that all I have to do is catch the incoming ball, and while eating this meat udon no less! I wonder if this repayment is really enough…uh oh, it's coming this way. Better put down the bowl first!'

Matsushita 5th Dan caught a view of the baseball flying high into the outfield. It wasn't necessarily flying towards him. Rather, it flew towards one of those girl outfielders. After seeing their performance before, Matsushita decided that he better work harder and cover up for them as well. It wasn't that much of a problem, considering the meat udon he could now eat.

Putting down the bowl, Matsushita ran to the right following the ball. He was running quite quickly for someone who wears wooden geta sandals. As the ball began falling towards him, he stretched out his gloved hand and rolled forward to bleed off the momentum. The girl outfielder near him gave a small squeak as he rolled in front of her.

As he came up from his roll, Matsushita 5th Dan raised his gloved left hand and showed that he indeed had caught the ball.

A fly-out.

"Way to go, Matsushita 5th Dan!" cheered Hideki.

"This is starting to feel less like a baseball team and more like an acrobatics one…" Otonashi said.

When the next batter came up, he was able to hit the ball Otonashi threw as well. However, Matsushita 5th Dan didn't even find it troubling to chase it where it was supposed to land. 'I don't really get it, but it should be fine as long as I catch the ball, right?'

While carrying his udon bowl and biting on the chopsticks so they didn't fall, Matsushita caught the flying ball with his gloved left hand.

With that, the umpire declared, "Out! Three outs, change up!"

Hideki grinned widely at their success, "Alright!" Matsushita's sudden appearance worked well in their favor, and now they even got their chance of offense back. With this, they might even…no, they could beat the student council team!

Angel wasn't stupid. She noticed that the team she was managing was in danger of losing now that Hideki's team was on the offense again. With the powerhouse batters they have, it wouldn't be hard to score a home-run each and every time they bat. In order to avoid the worst, she had to put up the best possible defense on the field.

"We're changing pitchers," the girl said. Her head turned ninety-degrees to the left and looked up at Naruto, staring at him before continuing, "Yamada-kun, switch with Uzumaki-kun. He'll be your reliever."

"Eh? Reliever?" asked a confused Naruto.

"Are you sure, President?" The NPC's question was not filled with confusion like Naruto's, but with doubt. Truth is, he wasn't even tired yet, and he didn't know if handing the pitching position over to the blond transfer student over there was a good idea.

The silver-haired student council president nodded with no expression and answered, "It seems that they won't be holding back their offensive, so we need to use a strategy they didn't expect."

"I see," Naoi said with understanding, "So the reason you recruited him was for this wild card strategy. Not bad, assuming that you have thought this through from the beginning."

"Eh? EH? Hey, hold up, what's going on here? 'Wild card' strategy? What does that suppose to mean?" Naruto stood up and looked back and forth between Angel and Naoi, his face displaying a look of bewilderment.

"In short, you are going to play as a pitcher from here on out."

"WHAAAT?! So I'm going to play after all?!"

"This was the president's idea. Currently, our team is in the verge of losing thanks to the new addition in our opponent's outfielders. Now that they are batting again, we should switch from the previous strategy to a new one so that we can take them on by surprise."

"No, no, that still doesn't explain why I'm supposed to play!"

"You still can't figure that out? The new strategy requires an unexpected wild card, which is you."

Looking aghast, Naruto then turned to Angel and gave her a disbelieving look. "I thought it's been decided that I'll only be sitting in the reserve spot?" he asked with a tone that sounded accusing.

"The situation has changed," Angel replied, "Going with this strategy is the only way if we want to have a chance at winning."

"…"

Even if she said that, Naruto was adamant on not attracting attention to himself. He had no problem if anyone would call him selfish for that, but he really couldn't risk meeting with the NPC-Konoha Eleven with how things were. Just looking at their faces all together was enough to bring back nasty memories from the back of his mind. If he goes out now, he might really snap a figurative twig of misfortune and the worst would happen.

But…

Seeing Angel looking at him expectantly with those golden eyes of hers, his resolve began to waver. The silver-haired girl was expressionless like always, but those eyes of hers were conveying what her face couldn't. Deep inside her, a part of her wanted to win this game. That hidden will of hers struck a chord in Naruto's conscience. It was like having a child asking to buy a cool action figure; you can't help but sympathize with the child's wish since you had been in the same spot.

"You…really want to win, huh?"

Angel didn't answer verbally, but she gave a slight nod.

That was enough of an answer to turn Naruto's resolve around.

A sigh escaped the boy's lips, which strangely was upturned into a smile. He really didn't want to attract unneeded attention. Being the practical hero that should overturn their current situation wasn't he had been aiming to do.

Yet he rose to his feet with the steely heart set to do what he was supposed to.

"Oh well. I guess if you're that eager to win, I'll do everything I can too."

xoxoxo

"Right. We'll go out in the usual way, seeing it works every time we do it. Otonashi, hit it hard!"

Hideki looked very excited as he began laying out their strategy. Actually, there was no change in the strategy they were using, but their morale was raised so high that Otonashi couldn't help but think they would win the game. The credit goes to Matsushita 5th Dan.

Walking up to the batter's box, Otonashi noticed that there wasn't any pitcher in sight. He frowned in confusion, wondering where the other team's pitcher should be. The other fielders were already in place, leaving only the pitcher's box empty.

"Pitcher change!" The umpire behind him suddenly declared.

'What? Changing pitcher so early into the game?' Otonashi thought with curiosity, 'What are those guys doing? They must be really desperate to win this…'

(Activate Soundtrack: Vocaloid IA – Yobanashi Deceive)

Then a person walked towards the pitcher's box at the center of the field. At first, Otonashi thought nothing much of the reliever, as he didn't look all that impressive. The confident stride was something, but that was how baseball club regulars normally act. The grip on the baseball in the reliever's right hand was tight, but it was expected coming from a pitcher. However, the whisker marks on the reliever's cheeks were severely out of place.

'EH?! U-Uzumaki?!'

Otonashi hoped his eyes were lying, but they weren't. Standing in front of him in the pitcher's box was Uzumaki Naruto, who he thought would remain as a reserve member. His mind was processing, but the shock he was feeling probably slowed it down more than it should have.

'Eh? Huh? Wait, so he's going to play after all? Oi, isn't this bad?' Otonashi's thoughts ran rampant in panic.

On the other hand, Naruto was a nervous wreck. His stance was confident, but under the shades created by his baseball cap he was sweating bullets. He might've agreed to Angel's strategy, but as stated before, he knew nothing about baseball. All he knew was that people threw the ball to their awaiting teammate behind their opponent who was supposed to hit said ball in order to score.

He knew that much, but he wasn't sure if that was all there is to it. There was a chance that he missed some important detail somewhere there. He could be said to be trudging on a figurative frozen river.

'...All right, I'll just have to remember what Angel told me to do.' Tightening his grip on the ball, Naruto recalled what Angel told him before he went out to the field.

-Flashback Begin-

"Focus on your throws."

"I think that's obvious enough," Naruto responded with flatly.

"For you, it isn't." Angel continued, "We won't gain anything from half-hearted pitching. If you don't concentrate, they definitely will use that chance to score a home-run."

"That's why I'm telling you, I get it already!" Naruto exclaimed, refusing to back down. "All I have to do is throw the ball with all I got so they can't hit it, right? If that's all I gotta do, then leave it to me!"

"…Why can't you listen to what people have to say?" The flat tone said otherwise, but Angel was clearly restraining her annoyance if her eyes had anything to say about it.

For once, Naruto shut his mouth and gulped.

Releasing a sigh from her petite mouth, Angel continued, "Uncontrolled throws won't necessarily make a strike. If you don't keep it well within the range of the batter, it'll be called a 'ball' rather than a 'strike'. If you do a ball four times, they'll be awarded a free advance to the first base.

"Whatever you do, throw it to the catcher."

-Flashback End-

'In other words, I gotta throw it with all I got, but I still have to make sure the catcher over there can catch it.' Naruto surmised in his mind. He closed his eyes and chuckled mirthfully, 'Seriously…this kind of control is Sakura-chan's forte.'

Controlling the power of his throw while determining its direction at the same time; that was certainly something only the pink-haired apprentice of the Fifth Hokage could do. Naruto almost wished she was there to replace him, but things would've gotten complicated if that happened. He could only rely on himself.

'At any rate, I better try and see if I can do it.'

First, Naruto tried to mirror the stance that the pitcher before him used. It felt weird having to balance on one foot while raising the other in that stance, and frankly it made him a tad bit unbalanced. However, he saw that NPC pitcher threw the ball after planting that raised foot and used the sudden weight shift to add more force to the throw, so he did the same.

Naruto nodded to himself, 'Right! Now let's throw it!'

Tightening the grip on the ball once more, Naruto raised his right hand behind him and tensed his arm muscles. He breathed out calmly and narrowed his eyes at the target of his throw.

'Focus on the throw. Aim for that glove… If possible, visualize Naoi's smug face on that glove for extra motivation.' Naruto ran through his pre-prepared plan.

Meanwhile, Otonashi was tensing up for the throw. He was aware of how strong Naruto was, having seen him stop a cannon blast with nothing but a strange light coming out from his hand. Whether the red-haired boy realized it or not, that awareness was preventing him from thinking clearly.

Then he saw it.

As the Uzumaki raised his hand behind him, Otonashi prepared himself to see through the ball's path and hopefully hit it where it should be. However, the next thing shocked him so much he froze.

ZIIP!

THOOM!

The ball flew out of Naruto's hand. No, rather than flew, maybe it was more proper calling it being launched. The speed…and the force behind the throw were just insane. Otonashi swore that the ball disappeared for an instant as it traveled from the yellow-haired pitcher's hand to the catcher. Calling it a fastball wouldn't suffice. The 'thoom' sound came from the ball impacting with the catcher's glove. The catcher himself staggered and almost fell off.

'IS THIS EVEN BASEBALL ANYMORE?!' Otonashi screamed in his mind.

Meanwhile, Naruto, who threw the ball with all his might, looked like he just swallowed a piece of candy whole. He watched as the dust cloud created by his throw cleared away and revealed where the ball had landed. In short, he felt sorry for the one who became the receiving end of his pitching.

'…is visualizing Naoi's face as the target too much of a motivation?'

The onlookers were just as shocked as the two dueling players, and most of them couldn't keep their lower jaws from dangling down like an Alzheimer patient. Of course, the only exception was Angel who looked passive as usual. Her second-in-command, Naoi looked rather troubled by Naruto's inhuman pitch, as well as the other members of the student council team. Even so, she was the only one who seemed to be expecting this.

"…it's time for counterattack."

"W-What?! Miss President is exuding such oppressive aura…!" One of the baseball club regulars exclaimed in shock.

"Fools! The president rarely express her willingness to win, so don't disturb her when she's in this ultra-rare state!" Naoi reprimanded them almost instantaneously.

Seeing the ruckus coming from his team's benches, Naruto couldn't help but be dumbfounded. 'Am I missing something? I'm sure I am…it feels like I just missed something that occurs so rarely it should've been classified as one of the Seven Wonders.'

Meanwhile, Hideki's own team was beginning to get loud as well. Hideki was ranting to himself about how what happened just now was something normal pitchers shouldn't be able to do, and he was contemplating whether he was daydreaming or not. Noda looked anxious as if he wanted to go on a one-on-one duel against Naruto after seeing that arm strength, something about wanting to test him. Meanwhile, Yui was alternately switching between admiring how "cool" the pitch just now was and cursing aloud in desperation.

"Hey, what happened just now was a dream, right? Normal pitchers shouldn't be able to throw the ball into Mach 2, right?"

"That guy annoys me so much! I'm going out there and kick his ass!"

"That's super-cool! NO! Not that, I mean, he's going to beat us, you idiots! But it's cool!"

"This is so stupid…"

That last one was Shiina.

Back to the still startled Otonashi, the red-haired boy shook his head to clear his thoughts. He still looked nervous, but he forced himself to forget about that first throw and focus on the next one. With a grunt, he narrowed his eyes at the ball that was thrown back at Naruto.

'There's no way I can hit that ball! A ball that fast isn't even Koushien-level anymore!'

That thought turned out to be true. After Naruto threw the ball with higher than normal speed two more times Otonashi eventually got stroked-out. With a sigh of defeat, Otonashi walked back to his team's benches with an apologetic look.

"Sorry guys. I couldn't hit the ball."

"N-Nah, I wouldn't be able to myself…" Hideki said, waving off Otonashi's apology with a nervous grin. "To be honest, I don't think any of us will be able to hit that kind of throw. Damn it….they've taken back the flow just with this one strategy!"

"Well, it's Uzumaki we're talking about. If there's anyone that can turn the tables with one move, I wouldn't be surprised if it's him."

Hideki grumbled and scratched the back of his head. Otonashi was right; even alone, Uzumaki could turn the whole game around. It was frustrating how the enigmatic blond could have such an inhuman strength. Hideki was batting next, but he couldn't help feeling a little depressed upon thinking that he had to find some way to solve this current problem.

Frankly, he wasn't all that confident.

(Deactivate Soundtrack)

xoxoxo

There couldn't be a more perfect stalemate than the one between Hideki's team and the student council team.

Naruto's power pitching was overwhelming. Not one of the batter's from Hideki's team came even close to hitting it thanks to its speed. Even Shiina, who probably had the best reflex out of them all, could do it. Maybe if she didn't have that broom on her fingertip, she could focus on playing, but she was adamant on keeping the broom.

Noda came close to finding a way to stop Naruto's cannon-like pitch. Rather than swinging the bat, the purple-haired boy held the bat in front of him and did a bunt. Unfortunately, even that wasn't enough, because the ball continued its path forward and still had enough momentum to fly behind Noda. That was counted as a foul, which annoyed him greatly.

However, Hideki's team defenses were also impenetrable. Otonashi still had enough stamina to pitch well enough and stroke-out most of the batters from the student council team. On the chance the batter managed to hit the ball, Matsushita 5th Dan stood ready in the outfield to catch it.

This unending cycle continued until they finally reached the ninth inning.

The current score each team had accumulated was as the following:

Hideki's team, 4 points

Student Council team, 3 points

The amazing thing was that that was the total score that each team had gained from the first inning. None of the two teams had managed to increase their score ever since then.

Still, the favors were still on Hideki team's side. They were, after all, leading by one point. The menial number of one can't be underestimated; even the slightest advantage could determine the victor of this game. They were now in the turn for defense, and Otonashi's pitching coupled with Matsushita 5th Dan's fielding was enough to contain the student council team's offense.

However, something changed.

Somehow, two batters had managed to occupy the second and third base. Maybe the ball they hit flew over to the right or left portion of the outfield which was occupied by the girls from Yui's groupies. Matsushita 5th Dan wasn't so careless as to let a ball fly over him without catching it.

The slightest advantage could determine the victor. The same could be said to the student council team.

'We have a chance at winning this…' Hideki thought, trying to assure himself with that fact.

The current situation…there was something nostalgic about it though.

'The final match, one point difference…two outs, runners on second and third…'

There really was something nostalgic about it, he knew it. He had gone through this predicament before.

At the same time, Otonashi's breathing was heavier than normal. His stamina was reaching its limits. Pitching for so long would bring anyone to that kind of state, so that is why reserve pitchers called relievers are important. Naruto, being a reliever himself, was still at his top form when he pitched before. While Otonashi couldn't see any other way other than requesting a time out to revise their current strategy, he didn't want to waste the limited time outs.

But he called it anyway.

"Time out!"

After the umpire nodded at him, Otonashi turned and walked towards Hideki. The blue-haired had said that he once played baseball when he was still alive, so he was probably the only one Otonashi could ask an advice to.

"This is bad," Otonashi said to him, "I don't think I can hold them off. Well, we can change the pitch—"

The red-haired boy was talking while expecting a response, but none came. When Otonashi turned to look at Hideki's face, he saw that he had a faraway look on his face. It was almost like he was in a trance.

Frowning, Otonashi stepped forward, "What's wrong, Hinata?"

That question finally brought Hideki back from his thoughts. The boy with the royal-blue hair blinked slightly before answering the question.

"Nothing, it's just that this is a lot like something that happened when I was alive, a long time ago." The memory finally came back to Hideki. Though, it wasn't necessarily a joyful memory. Instead, it was enough to make Hideki look down with a sad smile.

"It was an important match." Hideki stated.

He was trembling.

"Are you…shaking?"

Otonashi's question surprised Hideki so much that he looked back at him with wide eyes. "Am I?" he asked for confirmation and looked at his gloved left hand, "That's weird."

Even then, his body continued to shake like a building experiencing an earthquake. Otonashi then surmised that something must've happened at that particular match Hideki spoke of that it affected him to this extent.

"…what happened?"

Hideki sighed, "I don't know. I don't remember clearly," The blue-haired boy who normally goofed around looked to the side and for once looked melancholic, "I was in the baseball club, and we were aiming for Koushien. It was ridiculously hot, and my mouth tasted like dirt. I remember that.

"It was the finals of the region tournament. Last inning, two outs, runners on second and third. It was a simple fly ball to second…everyone knew where it was going to land." Hideki then paused and looked up at the scorching sun. This was exactly the position he was in at that fateful game. "But…did I catch it or miss it? I don't remember that moment at all."

Otonashi had a contemplative look as he listened to the story.

"Well, if I'd caught it there's no way I'd forget, right?" Hideki said with a bitter smile, "I'm sure I missed it."

If that was the case…

If that was what really happened, then how did Hideki feel after that? Otonashi began thinking along that line. He didn't have to be a genius to figure out that that one mistake was Hideki's greatest regret before he died. It might sound ridiculous for anyone else, but that was if they saw it from their own perspective. Hideki played in that game, literally fought along his teammates, and he was the sole reason they failed to win.

The guilt must be crushing him.

And now that they were facing a similar predicament, Otonashi could only think of one problem.

"Will you…disappear?"

"Eh?"

Otonashi pieced up all of the information in his mind. This afterlife was a place where people who had some form of regret went to. Death is but a part of the cycle of life in this plane of existence, and they would be revived after dying. However, if by any chance those people succeeded in overcoming their regret, just like in Iwasawa's case, then they would disappear.

"If we win this game…will you disappear?"

Hideki's eyes once again widened. The shock of how Otonashi's question made sense was terrifying even for him. Even so, he tried to casually avoid answering it.

"Heh, n-no way. What's that all of a sudden? Like I'd disappear…"

Otonashi wasn't convinced.

Even so, he casted away that horrible thought and stepped back into the field.

He had no time to hesitate on what he should do. After hearing such a story from Hideki, he wasn't sure that winning was really what they should aim for. But…he didn't feel like losing here, and Otonashi was certain that the others felt the same as him, especially Hideki.

'…Hinata's regret should be his mistake of not being able to catch that fly ball to second. If catching that is what will make him disappear…' Otonashi grit his teeth and tightened the grip on the ball in his right hand, 'Then I'll just have to prevent the ball from getting hit!'

He had to strike the batter out. That was the only way to win without sacrificing anything.

But the wall that he had to break through was tough, even for him. Because, standing on the left batter's box while wielding the steel bat that would decide the end result of the game was Uzumaki Naruto.

"So now, all I need to do is hit that ball with all I got?" Naruto asked himself. He couldn't comprehend why Angel told him to once again play a part for the team; this time as a "batter", or so she called it. The blond wasn't motivated, but he accepted her request.

He didn't feel comfortable having Noda behind his back as a catcher. Who knows what the spiky, purple-haired idiot would do to him now that he wasn't on his line of vision. Worst case scenario, he'd kick his nuts again.

"…you ain't gonna kick my nuts, are you?" Naruto asked for reassurance.

"Shut up, bastard. I'd happily kick them, but I'd be disqualified if I do. Just be glad this is just a game."

'You said it. If this wasn't a game, I'd keep my distance on a fifty yards radius from you.' Naruto turned his attention back to the red-haired pitcher in front of him.

He had seen what Otonashi could do, and he had to admit his pitch was fast. But to a ninja's eyes, the speed of the ball Otonashi threw was still trackable. Naruto might not have the Sharingan, but his eyes were at the very least trained to see normal high-speed movements. If it weren't for that, he would've died by a thrown kunai or shuriken long ago.

'I guess I don't have anything to worry about then….' Naruto thought before he noticed the light behind Otonashi's eyes. The blond frowned, but that wasn't because he felt threatened. It was because he didn't have an idea what had happened.

'Something changed…' Naruto thought again, 'I don't know what, but during that time out, something must've happened.'

Pushing his baseless thoughts aside, Naruto narrowed his eyes and smirked. "Bring it!"

Otonashi pulled his upper body back slightly and raised his left foot in preparation. All he had to do was to suddenly shift his body weight forward and stomp his left foot to the ground, creating an explosive momentum to pitch.

"Finish it, Otonashi!" Hideki yelled from the second base.

As if on command, Otonashi stomped his left foot and put all of his body weight forward as he threw the ball with his specialty throw. The ball travelled along the ground almost as if hovering above it steadily in high speed.

At the same time, Naruto swung the bat in his hand.

And then…!

CLANG!

The tip of Naruto's bat hit the ball, repelling it back towards the high sky.

"Wha…!" Otonashi gasped. He had put his all into that throw, but it was hit so easily. And now, that ball was flying towards…

'No way…' Standing near the second base, Hideki looked up in shock. 'Fly ball to second…? It's the same as back then…'

"HINATA!" Otonashi yelled and ran towards the still-shocked boy. He knew what would happen if Hideki catches that ball, and this was basically the worst case scenario in his mind.

Meanwhile, Naruto was still standing as he looked at the scene before him. He looked dumbfounded, and his thoughts were drawing up a blank.
'Huh? I…I hit it like I'm supposed to, didn't I?' he pondered to himself, 'Then why…why does it feel like I did a mistake?'

The ball was still falling towards Hideki. However, the boy was no longer unmoving. His hands instinctually raised themselves towards the sky as if to reach out to the ball still in midair. 'If I catch this, will it all be over?' Almost like trapped in a trance, Hideki's face was still as his hands rose higher and higher. 'That'd be the best feeling…'

Otonashi ran, urging his feet to take him faster forward. He had to stop Hideki from catching that ball, even if it meant risking their winning chance. To him, having Hideki catch the ball was the worst case scenario. Losing the game had not been the worst at all.

'Don't catch it, Hinata!' The red-haired boy yelled in his mind, 'I…I…I don't want you to disappear!'

Hideki felt closer to completion than he ever had. By catching that ball, he would have no more lingering attachments to his old life and pass on.

The ball was almost close enough to touch his fingertips.

Then…

BAM!

Something hard tackled into Hideki and threw him to the ground. 'Eh?' was the only thing in Hideki's mind as he couldn't comprehend what was happening. It was then that he heard the childishly high-pitched voice of a familiar girl.

"You let your guard down! You've put me in an inverted swastika hold one too many times, you damn…!"

"OOOWW!"

Otonashi halted.

Noda gaped.

Naruto had a similar face to an internet trolling meme that screamed "You mad, bro?" as he casually jogged around the field.

"Home in!" The umpire declared as the runner from the third base came back to the home base.

It was Yui.

Out of nowhere, Yui had charged in and then proceeded to take Hideki and held him in a pro-wrestler's lock. Ah, no, pro-wrestlers would've found the hold hard to themselves, because what Yui was doing was a variation where she held Hideki's chin up as she sat on his back.

"You little…! At a time like this…" Hideki barely voiced out before turning the tables and choked Yui's neck between his arms while his other hand pressed on Yui's head aggressively, still in a sitting position, "What the hell are you doing?!"

"Sorry! Sorry! I know what I did wrong! Tap out, tap out!"

"I DON'T CAAARE!"

Meanwhile, Noda was once again pulling on his hair out of frustration as he watched the idiocy of his team members. "(ASDFGHJKLZXVCCN)!" Words alone couldn't express how pissed off he was right now.

Naruto, who was jogging near him as he reached the home base, opened his mouth wide and laughed aloud. "(LMAO)! (ROTFL)!" Words alone couldn't express how amused and entertained he was right now.

Frankly, Otonashi couldn't get the slightest bit about what was happening. At one point, Hideki was just an inch from disappearing completely from this world. That all changed as easily as flipping a hand because of something so menial. The ridiculousness of the situation was too much for the red-haired amnesiac that he had no choice but to watch on with a confused smile.

The afterlife was certainly a messed up world full of surprises.

"Game set!"

That was the last straw for Hideki, "Damn you! I'll never forgive you for this! Die, just die!"

xoxoxo

Meanwhile, inside the Anti-Angel Headquarters that was supposedly the principal's room, Yuri stood with a blank expression.

She had been observing the game from the start, and was actually glad that Hideki's team looked to be winning. However, her opinion changed when she saw the end result.

"You two…just disappear please."

-End of Chapter 5-

---

A/N: August 18th 2013.

For all the things that have happened, I think this chapter can be said as the one that spurred the most writer blocks. Because…damn it! I know I'm a slow writer, but to this extent?!

Let me tell you a little secret. The top AN was written at the start of July after I finished my graduation exams. However, the bottom AN was written in August. That meant I took a whole month just to write this chapter.

I…I have no excuses for this, readers! Please unleash your wrath upon me!

(Becomes cannon fodder for a hundred Gatling Guns) UGYAAAAAA!

Yui: Are you a masochist?

Trivia Time!

»This chapter could probably be classified as a humor-relieving filler. There wasn't any major plot advance, but I hope you were entertained :D

»Picturing Naruto with a troll face made me laugh like a madman.

Glossary

[1] I tried to make Naruto do a Katsura joke, like what Katsura usually do in the anime "Gintama". It doesn't really pack much of an impact in English, but if it was in Japanese it would be voiced like this: "Yūsō ja ne, haisō da!" or "Meiringu ja ne, deriberi da!"
Or something like that :p it's a personal joke, you don't have to understand it.

-Next Chapter-

"The test is starting."

"It DID come!"

"Wr-written test, you say…?"

"I only fall in love seriously!"

"HENGE!"

"What kind of character do you think I am?!"