"Alright role call, listen up." Yuri stood on a wooden box in her room, placed in front of two young boys sitting on the carpet. "Otonashi!"

"There's only two of us here," The small red headed boy answered, clearly annoyed. Yuri glared at him from behind her attendance sheet, which in fact, only had two names on it.

"Would you just play along?" Yuri looked sternly at him, but her voice almost sounded whiny.

"Fine," Otonashi sighed, "I'm here." He raised his hand.

"Thank you." Yuri smirked and went back to look at the paper in her hands. "Hinata?"

"Here!" Hinata eagerly shot his hand in the air. Otonashi thought he was having too much fun with this.

"Okay! Welcome to the 'I'm-Pretty-Sure-We're-Actually-Not-Dead-This-Time-Battlefront.' Let us all begin."

Otonashi raised his hand before speaking, "I'm sorry, but what is with this name?"

"No questions." Yuri snapped, pointing her finger at him, "But, if you have a name you'd like to replace it with, I'm happy with suggestions."

"No, I'm good." Defeated, Otonashi let his hand go limp back to his side.

"For our first operation, we will finish our homework so we can graduate. Operation start!" With that, Yuri jumped off her "podium" and sat on the ground with the other two. She hated math normally, but she seemed to be in a good mood today.

They're in their last year of grade school and Yuri has turned graduating into a much bigger deal. At least, that's how Otonashi saw it. Hinata seemed exited by Yuri's enthusiasm and had grown quite attached to her.

"Yuri, how are you so good at times tables?" Hinata groaned, biting the end of his pencil.

"I don't know," Yuri shrugged, "Why are you so bad at them?" Otonashi tried and failed to hide a laugh, snickering under his breath.

"Who's side are you on?" Hinata shook Otonashi's shoulders.

"I'm just a simple bystander." He laughed, pushing his friend off of him.

Yuri smiled and continued to work as the pair wrestled on the floor. This was what she had missed for so long. Her friends were what gave her purpose in this life, and they were what was pushing her to find more of them.

Yuri stood up shaking her head, "I'll be right back guys. I'm gonna go get some snacks for us." She turned on her heel and headed downstairs to her kitchen. She remembered buying little crackers at the convenience store specifically for this occasion.

She opened the cabinet, but she couldn't see them anywhere. Shemoved boxes and cans around but they still weren't there. Frustrated, she slammed the cabinet door shut. She was about to give up and head back upstairs, but on her way there she saw them sitting on the counter where she had forgotten to put them away. Yuri made an exaggerated sigh and grabbed the box, cursing herself. She ran back upstairs, skipping every other step to prove her worth.

Yuri opened her bedroom door, "Hey guys, sorry I took so long. I misplaced the-" Yuri stopped when she noticed they weren't there. All their stuff was still on the floor, but the two boys were nowhere to be found.

"Guys?" Panic filled filled her chest as she frantically looked around. "Where did you go?"

It's happened again. Her friends are gone, obliterated, she'd never see them again. She had just found them and they had left her like they did before. Tears began filling her eyes as she had flashbacks. When all her friends had left her before, forgetting her while she was left with the memory of the people she'd never see again.

Yuri screamed at the top of her lungs as a boy with blue hair sprung out at her, scaring her half to death. Hinata was quickly on the floor with laughter, and Otonashi joined him as he climbed out of their hiding place under the bed.

Otonashi was quick to notice Yuri's terrified face. "Whoa whoa, Yuri are you okay?" Otonashi jammed his elbow into Hinata's side to get him to stop laughing. Yuri tried with all her might to put a reassuring smile on her face, but the nonstop tears falling down her face were not helping.

"I'm sorry, Yuri. I didn't mean to scare you that bad." Hinata avoided eye contact, which Yuri knew meant he really did feel bad.

"It was his idea." Otonashi accusingly pointed his finger at Hinata, who instantly looked even more guilty.

"Seriously! Be on my side, just once."

Yuri laughed, feeling much better. She walked up and pulled the two into a tight hug. "Promise me you will never leave me." She said a little over a whisper.

"This sure is out of character for you. Sure you're okay?" Hinata laughed but tightened the hug, hoping to answer her question without words.

"We will never leave you. You guys are my closest friends and I could never going a day without you." Otonashi pulled away from her and smiled. Yuri had to try with all her might not to begin crying again. She was stronger than this. What was wrong with her?

She turned away before the tears could fall again. "Okay, I'm over this emotional crap. Let's just finish homework already."

"I'm down with that." Hinata plopped back on the floor, and Otonashi soon joined him.

"Hey what's 5x4?" Hinata asked.

"68." Yuri answered and smirked.

"Okay. Wait no it's not!"

"Yeah just testing you."


"Okay, that concludes the end of our exams. Please pass your papers forward."

The teacher collected their tests way too slow in Yuri's opinion, and she was getting restless. She'd been sitting at that desk for over an hour while everyone finished, but she had been done twenty minutes in.

Grade school only got two tests, language arts and math. After today they would finally be done and vacation would be right around the corner, which means more time to look for her friends.

Finally the bell rang and Yuri raced to the front gate to wait for the others. She leaned against a pole and took her phone out of her backpack. She had gotten eight texts from her mom since school let out, which was three minutes ago. Her mother was as overprotective as ever, and was making sure she was eating, getting plenty of water, and not pushing herself too far. Yuri rolled her eyes and texted back that she was fine.

Yuri looked around and realized the surrounding area was empty. Most kids had left already, but Otonashi and Hinata weren't there yet. Yuri had terrible patience, and was beginning to fidget with agitation. She looked around from where she was standing, just to make sure they weren't hiding from her again, and decided to go look for them.

She first checked their classroom, thinking maybe thy had cleaning duty and forgot to tell her. When they weren't there she checked he surrounding classrooms, but to no avail. Just as she was ready to head further upstairs she passed and window and saw the two out on a field in the back, just outside school grounds.

When she made it outside she could here the ring of a ball hitting a metal bat. The two must be practicing, since Hinata had his final game coming up. She walked up and leaned against a tree to watch. This wasn't really the proper field for baseball. Yuri didn't like this place for practice. It was small, grassy, and had too many trees around. She especially hated it because it was directly in front of a small neighborhood, and they always hit towards the houses, which Yuri found quite idiotic.

"I thought I told you guys to practice somewhere else. You're going to hit a window."

"Yuri!" Hinata turned around to say hello, just as Otonashi had just pitched to him, missing Hinata's face by just an inch.

"Oops, sorry." Otonashi apologized as he ran up to the others. "I could have hit you, don't turn away."

Yuri interrupted before they got off topic. "You guys didn't tell me you were coming here on purpose didn't you. I told you not to, it's a safety hazard."

"Okay, mom," Hinata joked, "Just let me make one more hit. Please? The game is so close, and I don't know when the next time I can practice will be."

Yuri looked away from from Hinata's puppy dog eyes but agreed. "Okay,one more hit. But be careful!"

"Sure thing, Yuri." The boys turned and ran back to their positions. Otonashi held the baseball firmly in his hand, looking Hinata dead in the eye. He pulled his arm back, and threw the ball with all his might, as hard as he could in Hinata's direction. Hinata swung and heard the satisfying crack and felt his arms jolt at the impact. Hinata watched proudly as the ball soured higher and higher, too high. Hinata frowned as the ball went the farthest it had ever gone, and right into a window.

Yuri held her face in her hands while Otonashi just put his glove down and began walking the other direction, clearly embarrassed. Yuri looked up and gave Hinata a look of death as he scratched the back of his head, letting out nervous laughter.

"You're on your own." Yuri said, turning around. Otonashi had already escaped out of sight, and Yuri didn't feel like dealing with it either.

"Wait wait, don't leave me here! At least go with me?" Hinata grabbed Yuri's arm.

"You made a mistake, Hinata. Own up to it. Maybe listen to me next time." Yuri yanked her arm away and left before he could protest.

Hinata walked up to the small house, now with a broken window at the top. He paused with his hand near the doorbell. Taking a deep breath he pressed it, listening to the little ringing sound that emitted from indoors. A small girl about his age opened the door with his baseball in her hands. With her free hand she pointed at him, and she looked angry.

"You!" She yelled sharply, "You're the one who broke my window."

"Uh, yeah, about that-"

"It's about time! Hinata, where have you been?"

"...Yui?"


A/N: Boom! Cliffhanger. I honestly wasn't planning for it to be, but this chapter was getting a bit long, and I want to space things out. So until the next chapter I guess. Thank you all so much for all the reviews. Please leave more, and even better leave some criticism. Tell me what I did wrong so I can improve. Love you all!