My entire body felt as though it had been suspended, like nothing had any weight. When I tried to move my arms or legs, they wouldn't respond, and it felt like my body and mind had been separated, one looking down on the other, but I didn't know which one was looking down. I slowly opened my eyes, sound blaring around my head. It was a siren of some sort. I hazily looked around, seeing two people. Both seemed to be hunched over and shouting about something.

"Dammit! Come on, kid! Stay with us!" one of them shouted—a man, from what I could make out.

"How much longer 'til we get there?!" the other person shouted—a woman, this time.

"ETA, ten minutes!" another person shouted—someone that I couldn't see.

"OK. We're clo-… Crap! His BP dropped below thirty! Ready thirty CC's of acetaminophen and the crash cart, just in case!" the man shouted.

My vision went blurry and my hearing became muffled as I slowly drifted off into a hazy sleep. It all felt like a crazy nightmare. Again, I found myself in the room of Deus, the large figure in the center of room as imposing as ever, but he seemed to be preoccupied with something, or rather someone who seemed to consist of a mere shadowy outline.

"So, that is the prize for winning this game of yours?" the figure asked. He was definitely a man.

"Yes, and the title of 'god' for this world," Deus replied in his mellow tone.

"You keep making this more and more interesting, big guy," the figure laughed, and then, with a noise that sounded like a broken videotape, he disappeared.

Deus sighed heavily, his large hand rubbing his temple, and it seemed as though he was under a lot of distress, but didn't seem to notice me.

"Hey, kid. What's up?" the girl, Muru, spoke from behind me, catching me off guard.

"W-where did you come from?" I said, spinning around, trying to keep my voice low so as to not disturb Deus.

"I think the better question is 'where did you come from'?" Muru replied with a cat-like grin.

"What do you mean? I just appeared here," I responded in a loud whisper, confused by her question.

"Nuh-uh. No one gets in here unless the big guy lets them in," Muru answered in a huff, crossing her arms, a bit confused by my response.

"T-then, how did I g-" I was about to ask something else, but my eyes suddenly shot open, looking around desperately, a shooting pain in the back of my head.

I looked around the area I was in. It seemed to be a normal hospital room with a number of beds, some filled with other people, some not. Next to me was a simple stand with a vase of flowers and a small chair next to it, and I was dressed in a hospital gown. My head ached and my mind raced, trying to figure out what had happened. The last thing I remembered was the vehicle, which I guessed was the ambulance, but then I blacked out and woke up in Deus's room. Now, I was in the hospital.

"Gah… This makes no freaking sense…" I muttered to myself, placing a hand over my eyes.

I tried to move, but pain shot through me so quickly that I had barely anytime to stop before I let out an ear-piercing scream, which attracted a few nurses who came running over with frantic looks on their faces. They quickly got me back into the position that I was in before and upped the dose of whatever I was on. One of the nurses stayed after the others had left. She looked like a bulldog in pink scrubs, but I thought it best not to mention that.

"Looks like you're finally awake," the nurse said, her arms crossed.

"W-where am I?" I stammered, still reeling from the pain, and a bit lightheaded from the drugs.

"Shumon hospital," the nurse said gruffly, checking the medical equipment.

"I don't understand. How did I end up here?" I asked, a bit more clear-headed.

"After you jumped off a roof, the EMT's brought you here," the nurse said, picking up my chart.

I was about to say that that was wrong. I didn't jump off the roof. A psychotic middle-schooler chased me up there with a knife, and the only way I could avoid getting stabbed was to jump. Then, it hit me as to how crazy that sounded, so I just lay back in my bed with a heavy sigh.

"You've got a broken arm and leg from the stunt you pulled. You're lucky that you're even here right now," the nurse said, sighing.

I was about to close my eyes and nod off until I realised that the numbered phone was missing. Panic struck me. What did Deus say about it? Something about it being my lifeline? After the fight I had with Raion, I knew that it was safer to have it close by, but I knew that, if I freaked out, the nurse wouldn't give it to me.

"D-do you happen to know where my phone is?" I asked the nurse politely, a bit worried that something had happened to it.

"Children these days and their phones… Can't even throw them off the roof without them worrying about it…" she grumbled, walking away, hopefully to grab the phone.

I looked over myself again and noticed that I had two casts, one around my left leg and the other around my right arm. When I tried moving them, pain shot through me, which probably would have been a lot worse if I hadn't been drugged.

Great. If someone attacks me, I can frighten them off with my polka dot gown, I thought, grimacing.

The nurse soon returned and handed me my phone with an odd look, and I could tell that it wasn't for the best.

"You've got a lot of people worried. Your phone has been buzzing nonstop," she sighed, then walked away.

I tried to think about why, but soon as I opened my phone, I understood what she had meant. It was flooded with texts, telling me about future deaths, patients dying, operations going wrong, and random people dying for no reason. My eyes raced over them as more and more texts flooded in until I couldn't take it anymore and had to snap it shut and stuff it under my pillow.

"T-this can't be happening. There's so much death here," I sighed, trying to close my eyes as my phone buzzed under my pillow.

As I tried to drift back to sleep, my mind kept going back to the texts on my phone. An old woman dying of cancer, a young man walking home tonight would get shot, and so many more. How could there be so much death? Then, something hit me. and I quickly pulled my phone back out again.

"Four hours… Sixteen hours… All of the deaths were within the range of twenty four hours…" I muttered to myself as I scrolled through the texts.

No matter how far I scrolled, it never changed. All of the deaths seemed to be set to occur within the range of twenty four hours. Luckily, none of them seemed to contain my name, like yesterday, or really affect me in some way. The thing that baffled me the most was how many there were appearing around here. I thought back to the previous ones that had appeared—the one about the mail carrier, the one about Miyu, and then, finally, about me.

"Gah… I thought I had something…" I grumbled to myself, snapping my phone shut.

As I lay there, watching the nurses and various doctors mill about, I tried to close my eyes for some much needed rest, but no matter how hard I tried, every time I closed my eyes, the image of the creepy girl filled my thoughts. Her almost innocent form and strange outfit, combined with her menacing glare the deadly knife that she held in her hand. I knew that there was no way that I was getting any sleep. At least, not for a while.

"Ketaru Fudo, you have some visitors," a nurse said, rousing me from my unpleasant thoughts.

I looked behind her and saw Imaru and Talia both looking incredibly worried. Well, more so Imaru. Talia had a very stern look on her face. I slowly remembered that I was supposed to meet them at the café, but had never gotten to it, much less even called them.

"Ket, are you OK?" Imaru said, coming to stand beside me, Talia still standing firm.

"Y-yeah. Sorry for missing our lunch date," I mumbled in reply.

"You wanna tell us what the hell you were thinking?" Talia said gruffly, stepping a bit closer.

"What do you mean? I just lost of track time," I said, a bit confused.

"Sure. Trying to kill yourself is losing track of time," Talia said, raising her voice.

I looked at her, stunned. What on Earth did she mean? Kill myself? I would have never have done that. Hell, I would never even think that. But, I slowly recalled what had led me to this point. I had saved a girl's life, then got into a deadly game of cat in mouse with a middle-schooler, all the while in the game to become some sort of 'god'. I guessed that, when the EMT's had found me, they just assumed that I had thrown myself off the building, which was, in part, true, but not really of my own accord.

"Ket, no matter what happens, you know that you can always talk with us," Imaru said in his calming tone.

"T-thanks for saying that," I replied half-heartedly, not really knowing what to say.

"We should let him rest, Talia," Imaru said quietly, walking back over to the young woman.

"Fine, but don't you go jumping off any more buildings," Talia replied, then gave me a concerned look.

"Wait! Imaru, you wanted to tell us something at the café, right?" I said quickly, suddenly remembering the promise that I made.

Imaru quickly stiffened at my question, and I could tell that he really didn't want the subject to come up, but he sighed and turned around.

"We can talk about it when you feel better, OK?" Imaru said with a weak smile.

I nodded, knowing that it was probably better to leave the conversation for later, and slowly rested my head back onto the pillow. I watched my friends walk away. Their stature told the whole story. Imaru's shoulders were slumped, and his feet dragged across the floor, while Talia was still a bit angry, her hand fidgeting with her long braid.

How could I be such a freaking jerk to them? I thought, mentally kicking myself.

As I lay in the bed, the sun setting through the window, I couldn't close my eyes, because every time I did, flashbacks of the rooftop would jump straight into my mind—how the knife stung as it struck me, and the insane girl's smile as she saw me bleed. Most of all, it was the fall that haunted me most—how slowly it went, but then how quickly it ended with me crashing into the stand below. My phone buzzed again, and I dreaded what it would say, but I opened it all the same. Then, my eyes went wide and my mind blank.

"H-how…? Why here...?" I muttered to myself as I looked at the text.

'Mari Gakusha is killed by Diary Holder number 5 through lethal injection.'

My breath grew ragged as I started to hyperventilate and my mind started to panic. I had just gotten away from a Diary Holder only to end up in the clutches of another one, and to make matters worse, I had no idea who it could be.

Breathe, Ket. Try to figure things out using what information you have. Lethal injection means an overdose of medication, so it was a doctor. No. Wait. It could be a nurse, or someone bringing their own needle from home, I thought to myself.

"Crap. I don't have enough information to go on, but I can at least stay alert. It didn't say that I was the target," I muttered under my breath.

I stayed awake the rest of the night, my mind still reeling from having read the new text and the thoughts racing through my head, but as the sun rose and the staff changed, my eyes grew heavy with tiredness, and I knew that sleep wouldn't be held back for much longer, but as soon as I started to close my eyes, a loud beeping sounded throughout room, and nurses rushed to a separate room with a crash cart.

"Someone, please help!" I heard a woman scream.

A few minutes later, the beeping stopped, and I could hear the same woman sobbing while the nurses and a doctor came out of the room all with sullen expressions. I sighed, knowing what had happened, but tried to put it out of my mind until I overheard the doctor say something.

"Miss Gakusha, I am truly sorry about your mother, but she had lived a long life," he said, obviously saddened.

It shook me to my core. That was the same name that my Diary had stated, and the prophecy that it had made had come true, but worse yet, I knew it was another Diary Holder—someone with a power like mine who had killed that woman, and if I wasn't careful, I would be their next target, but soon again, my eyes grew heavy, and my body groaned from lack of sleep, so I decided to close my eyes, if only for a minute.

"You don't have a choice. You're going to die here," the shadowy figure said.

I ran down an endless hallway, my breath ragged and my eyes straining to see into the darkness as I tried to stay away from my pursuer who, no matter how far I ran, always seemed to be right behind me.

"Why are you trying to run? You know that this is how you die," the voice said, its eerie tone seeming to wrap around me.

"No. No! I can't die here! Not yet!" I screamed as dark tendrils seemed to grab me from the shadows, the figure looming over me.

Slowly, the tendrils bound my limbs and started to cover my face. All the while, the figure stood over me, their sinister grin stretching from ear to ear, showing jagged teeth. No matter how dark it, got the figure's grin stayed there, frightening me until my vision went dark and I found myself in an endless abyss of black, falling for what seemed like entity until I met the ground.

I sat upright, my heart racing and my brow drenched with sweat. I looked around and still found myself in the hospital, doctors doing their rounds with nurses assisting. As I groaned as my leg ached. That horrid dream was still fresh in my mind. I tried to collect myself by taking deep breaths. While trying to relax, I noticed a small vase of yellow flowers and a card on the table by my bed side.

"I wonder who left these…" I mumbled to myself as I reached for the card.

'Hey, Ket. I hope you like the flowers I sent, and even though you ran out of the cafe rather quickly, I will forgive it if you help me with my homework for our art class when you feel up for it. Anyways, I hope you feel better. From your friend, Edi.'

I sighed, looking back at the flowers and shaking my head. No matter the occasion, that girl always had another motive, but it was still very nice of her to send something after only really knowing me for half a day.

While I looked over the card, an older gentleman walked up to my bedside with a small smile. He wore a long white coat, which I assumed meant that he was a doctor of sorts, and a dark blue dress shirt with gray work pants. His hair was a light gray, but well-kept and smoothed back. His face was old, covered with the wrinkles of time, but his dark green eyes seemed to be full of life. He quietly pulled out a chart and took a brief glance at it before he started to speak.

"So, I see that you're in here with a broken leg and arm young man," he said in a relaxing, yet raspy voice.

"Y-yeah, that's what I hear," I groaned as I tried to situate myself in a more respectful position.

"Well, I will be looking after you while you stay here, numb-..." The man stopped mid-sentence, his smile turning into a frown.

I panicked. It was him. This old man was number five, and the killer from my text yesterday. I steeled myself, and was ready to scream for help, but his smile returned, although it was crooked and flashed jagged teeth. Slowly, he came close to me, and I could smell some faint alcohol on his breath.

"Don't worry, number three. I won't kill you right here. There are too many witnesses," he whispered.

"I d-don't know what you're talking about," I replied shakily, my heart racing.

"You know very well what I mean, but the position that you're in now means that I can take my time. I can kill you tonight while everyone is sleeping," he hissed, his eyes lighting up.

I closed my eyes, trying to make the horrible man go away, and I was about to make a dash for freedom before a nurse called out to him.

"Dr. Wato, could you please help me with something?" the young nurse called to the man.

"Of course, dear. I was just making sure that this patient was comfy," Wato said, his happy smile quickly returning.

The doctor shuffled off towards the nurse. My eyes slowly opened and I exhaled deeply, not realizing that I was holding my breath. My heart was pounding, and my body shaking. I tried to figure out what to do with this new Diary Holder.

I could try to escape… No, I'm too slow, even for him. I might be able to fight back… With what? My cast-covered arm? I could... I tried to figure something out, but my phone buzzed, making me jump slightly.

I hesitantly grabbed it, fearing the worst, but I gasped, not only in shock, but in horror. What I read shook me to my core.

"H-how could this be? I would never..." I mumbled to myself as I read the text.

'Ketaru Fudo will destroy the 5th's diary, killing him.'

Holy cow. I am truly sorry that this took me so long, and I have no real excuse except for harsh writer's block, and I will try to make it up with this and then some. For those wondering when the next chapter of Let the Despair Times Roll will be coming out, worry not, for I will be working on it day in and out.

So, we have the introduction of the 5th, and he is my OC. I know it's kinda bad of me to take up one of the very few slots, but this story was made off of the idea of him and Ket fighting it to the death. What will we find out next chapter, I wonder, and will the Obituary Diary hold true? Can Ketaru kill someone with his wounds, never mind his state of mind?

As always, please leave your thoughts and comments on this chapter in a review, or if you want to keep them private, you can P.M. me. I love hearing what everyone has to say, good or bad and this is the final casting call, send in your OC's and let this game begin.

Sorry for the wait.

Sincerely,

Rin.