"So..." Yuzuru began. "Let's start with something basic, why'd you need a new season for your series anyway?"
"I don't know. Plot holes, I guess." Kouichi answered. "There's still a lot of things left unexplained, like how the calamity happened every year even if the Extra one has returned to death?"
"Or how the freakin' school is still open for business despite having its own students, teachers, literally everyone connected to Class 3 die every year!" Izumi added.
"Uh huh," Yuri spoke. "That's like the fifth time you mentioned it, Izumi. If it were me, I would've closed the school down immediately after the first two years."
"But if we do that, we wouldn't have a great horror story for everyone to see, don't you agree?" Mei suggested, which earned another death glare from Izumi.
"Not the point! Beside, you're the main heroine! Of course you have to like it! There's no way your character will ever die in the story, no matter who write it!"
"B-but, just because I'm the main character and liked the story doesn't mean I'm responsible for everything that happened!" Mei argued.
"How's your green eye working again, huh?" Izumi glared at her. "You told Kouichi you could see who's the Dead one, and yet you kept it silent from everyone until somebody starts dying. If you had told any of us before the year began, nobody would've die at all!"
"...I have to admit she does have a point, Mei." Kouichi carefully said. "You could literally end the whole story before it could even begin."
Mei made an expression like she was just hit by a lightning, before turning her face to Izumi, now consumed with anger.
"Fine! Let's face it, it's not only me who has a flaw in the story!" Mei angrily spoke. "What about you!? When has your whole 'making-one-of-your-friends-the-outcast-of-the-class' thing ever helped making the situation better? None! You made the whole class to ignore me, hating me for no reason, and made me a subject of abuse of your 'countermeasure team' members!"
"Last I checked, you volunteered yourself!" Izumi raised her voice again. "You brought this upon yourself, you one-eyed doll! And you couldn't perform your duty correctly, I have the right to be angry at you!"
"No, Izumi. I have to agree with Mei on this one." Kouichi spoke. "You're not just angry at her because she couldn't do her job as the Extra one, you're just hating her on a daily basis."
"Whose side are you on again!?" Izumi gave Kouichi another death glare. "And just what made you think I hate her that much?"
"Well, like, every time you see her face, you give her a death glare?" Kouichi chukled
"I mean, it's true, right? And no to mention that's it's the only reason why you died in the last episode! You let your hatred of Mei got the better of you instead of working together to survive, and worst of all, the whole thing was so pointless! You got Takako, Aya, Tomohiko and like one-thirds of the class got themselves killed because they hated Mei. Everybody got the message! And yet you have to go whine about how this is all her fault, and got yourself killed off anyway!"
"GODDAMN IT, KOUICHI! How the heck am I supposed to change how I'm like!? It's not like I hate Mei because I wanted to hate her! The writers wrote my story like this, how am I supposed to change it!? Izumi yelled.
The Angel Beats! cast could only look at the bickering group in confusion.
"Alright, alright, we get it! STOP YELLING ALREADY!" Yuri shouted, surprisingly managed to shut the three arguers up.
"Your story is not perfect, we get it, you don't have to kill yourselves trying to change it. It's not like our story is any better."
Both Yuzuru and Kanade stared at her.
"What?" Yuri raised her eyebrow.
"Not any better, you say?" Kanade asked. "I thought everyone agreed we had a perfect ending. Season two not needed, or is it?"
"Well, from your point of view, that is." Yuri said. "I mean, everyone who has more than ten minutes of screentime have a perfect ending. You, me, Otonashi, that dumbass Hinata and his annoying girlfriend who replaced a much more cooler lead singer who's my best friend. Even that smug bastard Naoi has a happy ending! But what about everyone else? The rest of the SSS? One episode, they're kicking all kinds of asses, then bamp! Disappeared. Just like that."
"Well, we did mention that they all have a great ending of their own, didn't we?" Yuzuru asked.
"Like I said, from your point of views." Yuri continued. "But from the viewers, they felt like they've been ripped off. Literally everyone wants to know Shiina and TK's backstories. Do they get it? No. What about the rest of the GirlDeMo band besides its lead singers? No. It's like we're designated protagonists. Everyone else is expendable."
"Just like our show...Just about everyone not named Kouichi and Mei have the life expectancy of less than two episodes." Izumi added.
"Hey, every show needs a main character! Someone we could focus on." Yuzuru said. "And it's not like I'm doing that much in the show. I'm only there so I could tie everyone's stories together, including mine's and Kanade's. Everyone else did their own part to resolve their own issues. Iwasawa-san passed on by her own will during her last concert, and it wasn't me that helped Yui to do the same, it was Hinata. And guess who won the final battle against the Programmer on her own? You!"
"You're still just talking about the main characters, Otonashi..." Yuri made a point, which made Yuzuru facepalmed himself.
"Right, so nothing's perfect, let's wrap this up already!" Kanade, who've been silent during the entire conversation, finally spoke up. "Aren't we here to plan about a crossover between our two series?"
Everybody went silent.
"Um...are you upset about something, Kanade-san?" Mei asked.
"...Uh, nothing..."
"She's probably daydreaming about some Yuri loving, as always." Yuzuru joked, earning him a smack from Yuri's elbow and making Kanade turned bright red.
"Hahahaha! Some Yuri loving? Gotta write that one up!" Kouichi laughed, while simultaneously dodging books Mei has been throwing at him.
"Doesn't help the fact that there's fanpics of you two all over the internet, girls." Izumi giggled.
"Y-you're the one to talk!" Yuri's face has gone total red. "Haven't your 'Mei x Izumi x Takako love affair' becoming the main focus in, like, every Another fanarts ever?"
"The hell!? I don't have anything to do with Takako at all! She's just my best friend, damn it!" This time, it's Izumi's turn to blush.
"So what about Mei?" Kouichi asked, trying to keep himself not to laugh while using one hand to hold Mei back, who's constantly trying to smack him in the head.
"She's...um..." Izumi struggled. "O-of course I didn't like her! Don't you see how I reacted with her in the series?"
"But we're not talking about the series, are we?" Kouichi continued. "Come on! It's just a simple question! Just tell her how she means to you off-screen."
"How did we get from talking about a crossover to this..." Yuri facepalmed.
With almost every pair of eyes in the room focused on Izumi, she finally gave up.
"Fine, if it can get you guys to shut up..." She sighed. "...I like her..."
Silence.
Yuzuru and Kouichi's faces look like they've just stared at Medusa, while Yuri and Kanade just shook their heads, feeling unbelievably at what they just heard. Even Mei herself let her jaw dropped in shock.
"...You happy now?" Izumi spoke out weakly. "I've just...man, how should I put this...ever since when I saw Yuri and Kanade's relationships in you guys' show, I just thought to myself 'I wanna have a best friend like that, too', and that's when I got dragged into this Another project, and saw her."
She glanced at Mei again, this time, her face saddened instead of becoming angry like she used to.
"...She's the one. I swear, the reason I'm mad at the ending is not because I died at the end, but because I couldn't be friends with her after all we've been through..."
"Oh. My. God." Kouichi exclaimed in disbelief. "This...er...I don't know what to say..."
"This is surely the biggest news of the day..." Yuri said, while calmly placing her hand on Izumi's shoulder. "Welcome to the club, Izumi-chan."
"...I...Izumi..." Mei stared wide at her so-called enemy, too shocked by her sudden confession to speak anything else.
"Er...should we get back to the crossover discussion?" Kanade helpfully suggested, to the ignorance of everyone present.
"...sigh..."
Editor's note: Yeah, well, sorry for a long break, guys. AND sorry for another short chapter. I've been writing this during midnight, so I'm pretty sleepy. There could be some mistakes which I will definitely thank those who point them out.
Ahem...the whole 'Izumi x Mei' thing, it just came up in my mind just not too long ago, hence a couple of my previous Another fics heavily mentioned it. Author appeal, if you may. How did I get into this sort of thing, I do not know, but well...if you don't like it, I won't blame you.
Another chapter will be up not long after this, but now I need to focus on the test. So stay tuned! ^_^