Note from the Author!
Hello everyone, welcome to Chapter 2 of ReWritten! I got a LOT of great feedback from you guys, so thanks for that! The next chapter will bring back some of the other characters back into the story so I hope you like it! I am going to try and publish a new chapter every Monday, Wish Me Luck!
-{Chapter Two: A Grand Reunion}-
Otonashi stood in the center of a pale, dimly lit room. It was warm and smelled of Jasmine. The scent reminded Otonashi of his dorm at the Afterlife School. Small lights dotted on the walls created a shadowy effect that mimicked twilight. On the side of the room sat a young girl playing a grand piano. Her fingers moved deftly across the keys, creating a beautiful melody. Next to her sat an older woman, swaying back and forth to the music. Where am I? Otonashi thought as the melodic music continued, who are these people?
Otonashi was about to speak up when the music suddenly stopped. "Are?!* My angel, why have you stopped?" asked the woman.
"M-mom… I don't feel so good…" replied the young girl, gripping her chest. Why does she sound familiar? Otonashi brooded.
"Ay! I told you father to not give you that candy before dinner! Now you're sick!" The woman continued to rant on. The child kept clutching her chest, her hands over her heart. "M-mom… my c-chest…"
The girl tried to stand up.
She collapsed on the floor, her chest unmoving.
Otonashi could hear nothing after that. It was like the world had gone mute. As he watched, the woman picked up the body of the white-haired girl, screaming wordlessly. He could see the horror on her face as she shook the girl back and forth.
Then, he heard a faint whisper.
"Wake up Otonashi…" whispered a voice, "Wake up…"
* Are- the Japanese word for "Huh!?" It is usually used in times of sudden confusion
"Hey, Otonashi! Otonashi, wake up!"
Otonashi opened his eyes and was greeted by the smiling face of Hinata.
"Finally, you're up! Everyone else woke up a while ago."
"Wait, seriously?!" asked Otonashi, getting up from the ground.
"Yep! It looks like your last one to get here again!" Hinata replied with a laugh.
"Does that mean-" Otonashi began
"Yep ya big moron, It worked!" said a jubilant voice.
Otonashi turned around and was greeted by a pair of pink eyes and a smiling face.
"Yui! You're back!"
"Of course I am idiot! You're the one who made the changes. You must be a bigger moron than I thought!"
Otonashi laughed "Nice to see you haven't changed at all Yui."
"Of course I haven't! I'm still the awesome person who could German Suplex you anytime she wanted!" Yui said brashly.
"…Please don't…"
"HAHAHA! Don't worry Otonashi! I'm gunna be too busy destroying with Mr. 'I'll Marry you' over there!"
"What?!" Hinata said in confusion, "I-I never said that!"
"OH, YES YOU DID! You said it RIGHT before I was obliterated!" retorted Yui.
"…Ok so maybe I did say something like that" sighed Hinata, "So what?"
"Now I have to destroy you for thinking you'd be able to marry someone as awesome as me! Suplex Time!" Yui cackled.
"Huh?! W-wait! Don't!-" Hinata said, slowly backing away from Yui.
"You better start running!"
Hinata turned around and bolted running as fast as he could from his soon-to-be attacker. "I just love it when they run." Yui sighed.
"Heh, Have fun Yui." Otonashi said with a chuckle.
Yui grinned, "Don't worry, I will!" With that she ran after Hinata.
Those two… They're perfect together, Otonashi thought to himself, smiling. Well, I'd better go find Kanade.
Otonashi crossed the courtyard, heading toward the Dining Hall. He figured that many of the SSS Members would be congregating there to celebrate. He didn't notice the shadowy figure in the window, watching him. Staring.
As Otonashi entered the Dining Hall he was greeted with cheers from the SSS Members. Otonashi smiled and waved at some people as he entered the crowd. He said hello to some of his friends and had a few conversations here and there, danced a bit with TK too, but he couldn't find Kanade or Yurippe anywhere in the crowd. As he continued to walk through the crowd he noticed a girl with Pinkish-Red hair standing over the railing.
"Iwasawa!"
The girl turned around, and smiled. "Hi, Otonashi. How've you been?"
"Good. Almost devoured by black shadows and turned into an unfeeling NPC a couple times, but good."
Iwasawa laughed. "So I've heard. The other Gildemo members filled me in. I've got to say, I'm pretty impressed with you Otonashi. What with making Angel- Sorry, Kanade, our ally and helping the others move on, you've done a lot of good here while I was gone."
"Speaking of that…" Otonashi said tentatively, "How…How are you with all this? Y'know, what with coming back from the undead and stuff?"
"Honestly? I really haven't gotten a chance to think about it but… I'm glad you did it."
"Really? Well that's good. I thought you might be mad or something." Otonashi said, sighing with relief.
"Mad? Why would I be mad? I've been fulfilled! I feel so happy now… It's like the weight that I carried my entire life has been lifted off my shoulders." Iwasawa said with a large grin "…Thank you Otonashi…"
"Huh? What did I do?" asked Otonashi.
Iwasawa laughed, "What did you do? You're the one who brought us all back!"
"Nah, I didn't do anything. It was Kanade who wrote the code."
"Ok, but I'll bet that she would have never would have written it if you would have never suggested it."
"Huh?!" Otonashi was taken aback in surprise, "How did you know that?"
"Because I know you Otonashi. You're just the kind of person who would think to do something like that."
"Heh, yea I guess so."
For a while the two just stood there and watched the crowd of the SSS.
"Hey Otonashi... I've got an idea. Let's have a Reunion party!"
"A Reunion Party?" Otonashi asked quizzically.
"Yea! We can have it outside on the fields! We can have dancing, and contests and Gildemo can perform!" Iwasawa said excitedly, "We neeeeeeeed to celebrate after all the crap that just happened."
"Well, it's a good idea, but all our stuff was destroyed after the world reset."
"Don't worry about that! I know how to build a Guitar from top to bottom. I could even get some of the guild members to help build some of the other stuff." Iwasawa was bouncing up and down, unable to contain her excitement.
"Well… I guess a party would be good. Actually, it's a great idea! We should start of this new world with a bang and that's the best way to do it!"
"Yay! Thanks Otonashi! I'll go find Yurippe and tell her the plans, Thanks again!" Iwasawa gave Otonashi a quick hug before dashing off.
Otonashi watched her disappear into the crowd. After a while he sat down at one of the dining tables. His mind began to drift off.
"Yuzuru?"
"Hmmm?" Otonashi said his mind snapping back to reality. In front of him stood Kanade, holding two plates of Mapo Tofu. "Kanade! I was looking all over for you!"
"No you weren't," Kanade said smugly as she placed the food down on the table, "It looks like you were sleeping!"
Otonashi's Face turned red. "O-ok maybe I dozed off a liiittle bit there."
Kanade giggled and sat down across from Otonashi. "Want some Mapo Tofu?"
"Sure, thanks." Otonashi said as he took one of the plates from the tray. He took one bite of the food and immediately his Mouth began to burn. "Hot, Hot Hot!" Otonashi exclaimed. "I forgot how spicy Mapo Tofu really is," Otonashi said after his mouth had cooled down a bit, "How can you eat so much of it but it has so little effect on you?"
"I don't know, I used to eat it when I was a kid."
"Really? Why would your parents torture you like that?"
Kanade Laughed. "They weren't the ones who made me eat it, I was the one who made them! They couldn't handle the hotness as well as me though so we only had it during special occasions."
"Like when?"
"Well, we usually had it before one of my piano recitals."
"You used to play piano?"
"I still do!" Kanade responded indignantly, "I used to play all the time, before…"
Kanade's face suddenly twisted into a painful expression.
"Kanade? Are you ok?" Otonashi asked, confused by her sudden mood swing.
"…Yes, although I would prefer to not talk about… about before…"
For a few minutes Otonashi and Kanade just sat across from each other, not uttering a word.
"So, I can't believe the code actually worked." Otonashi said, changing the subject.
"What? Did you doubt my coding abilities?" Kanade remarked with a small smile.
"N-no! Nothing like that! This whole thing just seems kinda, I don't know, almost too good to be true."
"Well bringing the souls back from the dead is a little unorthodox and strange," Kanade said jokingly, "but then again so is this world."
"Well true but… it just seemed too easy to do."
Kanade was silent for a moment. Then she said "I Think I know what you mean."
"You do?"
"Yea. I mean, why would the AI be so willing to destroy himself and his creator's program so willingly…"
"It really doesn't make much sense." Otonashi said with a sigh, "It's not like we can change anything anyway, the lab was destroyed during the reset."
"Yea, I guess so." Kanade said, staring at the rising moon outside the window, "It's getting late, we should go to bed."
"Yea, I for one am Dead Tired," Otonashi joked, which earned him a smack on the head from Kanade.
As he got up from his chair, Kanade walked over to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"Goodnight, Yuzuru!" Kanade said blushing slightly.
"G-goodnight," Otonashi said, completely flustered, "I-I'll see you tomorrow."
As Kanade walked out of the lunch room, Otonashi just stood there, completely dumbfounded. He was sure he was as red as a tomato. She just kissed me Otonashi thought, Kanade just kissed me. While it was only a peck on the cheek, it was the first time Kanade had shown her emotions like that. Kanade just kissed me he thought over and over.
In Kanade's Dorm…
Kanade lay face down on the bed. Her face was flushing furiously. Stupid, she thought, why the heck did I just do that. Now He'll never want to talk to me again. Kanade liked Yuzuru. She felt different around him – happy, safe. He was the first person to make her feel like that, the first person to make her feel safe in this world. But she wanted more. She wanted to spend eternity with him. Now she may have just she may have just have ruined their relationship, and any chances of them ever being together in the future. Kanade sunk her head further into the pillow. This time around she wanted things to be different; she didn't want to be the cold unfeeling one anymore, and she may have botched that already. Why does the afterlife have to be so difficult? She thought, drifting into unconsciousness. Why does Eden have to be so confusing… Soon she was snoring soundly in her pillow.
You'll pay for this…
A solitary figure stood on the edge of the roof. He held a leaf in his hand. As he stood there He watched the lights in the dorms turn off one by one. As the of the dorm last lights turned off, He crushed the leaf in his hand and disappeared into the shadows.
You'll all pay for defying fate
End of Chapter 2