Note from the Author!
Alright! Chapter 3 is a go! A lot of stuff happens in this chapter, and it jumps around a bit. It should still be pretty easy to follow though. I've gotten a lot of great criticism and suggestions from you guys, so thanks! I also have a few surprises coming up, though they are still in the early stages of development. Enjoy the new chapter and watch out for random innuendos!
-{Chapter Three: You did the Thing!?}-
Otonashi stood in a hospital room. It was brightly lit. It smelled faintly of medicine and antiseptic The room had an uncanny resemblance to the room Otonashi's Sister, Hatsune, had before her death. On the bed lay the young girl from his previous dream. The woman stood over her next to a man in a lab coat, presumably the doctor. The two seemed to be talking about something, but Otonashi couldn't hear anything again. Otonashi focused on the young girl on the bed. She had black hair which contrasted against her pale skin. Her chest rose and fell slightly with her breathing. She seems… familiar… Otonashi thought.
As the Girl began to open her eyes, the voices became more and more comprehensible.
"… but what exactly is the problem? She seems healthy." Asked the woman.
"It may not seem like it but she seems to have complications within her body. Particularly her heart." The doctor said in a gruff voice.
"H-her heart?" The woman asked, her voice quivering, "What's the problem?"
"Well to be honest, we don't entirely know. On first inspection, she seems to have Ventricular tachycardia, or VT. The disease causes her heart to beat extremely fast, causing chest pains and Heart attacks. However, this seems to be… different. Her heartbeats are normal now, and the speed can increase randomly." The Doctor replied, his face grim. "Also the nerves have been severely damaged in the area surrounding her heart, which could cause her heart to stop beating altogether."
"…Is there anything we can do to save her… to save my little angel…"
"Well, we could try to operate on the area and fix the nerves, but the heart would most likely reject this change and kill her."
The woman began to sob into her arm. "S-so she's a goner?" The woman said in between sobs.
"Well… We could try a transplant. If a donor were to be available, we could try to reattach the nerves to the new heart."
"S-she would live?"
"Yes. However there is a high degree of risk in this. It is possible that this won't completely solve her problems."
"What do you mean by that?"
"If the surgery were to be successful, then the issues at hand would not completely disappear. It is likely that her nerves may stop working entirely at any point in time. It would only give her a few more years to live."
As the woman began to sob, The voices began to slowly stifle and the world was silent again.
Otonashi heard the girl's voice again, this time though it was hollow and emotionless.
My soul… Your beats… My soul… Your beats…
The voice began to fade away slowly and Otonashi's vision became blurred. Soon there was nothing but darkness and silence.
_/\ _
\/
Otonashi woke up with tears running down his face.
He was on the bed of his dorm room. He had little recollection of getting there last night but vaguely remembered someone carrying him there.
Another dream… Otonashi thought, I can't place my finger on it but… That girl seems familiar… Why am I seeing these dreams?
"Hey, Otonashi! You awake yet?" said a voice from the doorway.
Otonashi picked his head up and saw Yurippe standing there, dressed up in her school uniform.
"Hey Yurippe, What's up?"
"Well, you should probably wake up it's already 12."
"Damn, I overslept again?"
"Yep, just because you're dead doesn't mean that you can sleep like you are. There's work to be done!"
"Work? What kind of work?"
"Well we have to rebuild some of our old equipment. We also have to reclaim certain parts of the building for our meeting places. Not to mention there's a PARTY we have to plan for!"
Otonashi sighed. "Jeez, there's a lot to do."
"Yea, well things like this tend to happen when you COMPLETELY RESET THE WORLD!"
Otonashi laughed. Yurippe tried to look angry at him but it just made him laugh even harder. Yurippe couldn't stop herself from giggling herself. Soon she and Otonashi were both on the floor laughing.
Soon their laughter quieted down. "Alright," Otonashi said clapping his hands together, "Let's get to work!"
Kanade sat in front of her computer screen. Her hands typed idly as her mind wandered.
I don't know if I can even face him. I'm sure he hates me now. Why did I do that? I'm so stupid…
"Hey Kanade."
"Wha?!" Kanade jumped up in surprise turning to face the entity that had entered her room. "Y- Yuzuru?! When did you get in here?!"
"The door was open. Yurippe wanted me to come get you. We're about to begin work on the stage and stuff for the dance," Otonashi said.
"Oh."
"Hey where did you get your old shirt? It's the same one that you were wearing in the old world."
"Oh, this? It's the student council president's shirt. I got it a long time ago from the previous student council president. It was in my closet when I woke up. It must have been here when the world reset."
"Ah." Otonashi said. "Wait a second, you got it from the last Student Council President?"
"Yea, I wasn't the first person here," Kanade said blankly, "There have been many people before us here."
"Oh." Otonashi said with a sigh, "What's the matter Kanade? You were so happy yesterday, now you're closed off again. What happened?"
Kanade was silent. Why is it so hard to just ask him about it? Just say it already! "O-Otonashi…" she began.
Suddenly the computer made a loud *DING* noise, interrupting Kanade. Otonashi looked over at the screen. "It says… You got an Email?"
"An email? Who would be emailing me?" Kanade looked over at the screen herself. There was a bright Yellow popup that read "You got an email from REDACT!"
"Huh? Why is the name removed?" Kanade asked quizzically.
"Open the email, see if it gives us any clues."
Kanade hit Read on the popup. The screen filled with words.
Coder, you thought you would change this world for the better.
Reality has been shattered.
Eden cannot be created.
All you wanted was love.
Though, all you will get is Hell.
Otherworldly creatures we may be now.
Really, we are still just humans.
Signed,
Acrostic
"…what?" Otonashi said in confusion, "What the hell does that mean?"
"I don't know… but the word at the bottom sounds familiar… I but I can't remember what it means."
"I think it's a good idea to get Yurippe up here."
"Sounds good."
In a flash, Otonashi had explained the situation to Yurippe and brought her back to the dorm room.
"Hey, Kanade. Any luck on deciphering the message?"
"Maybe. I think I know who wrote it at least."
"Really?" Yurippe said in Ernest, "Who?"
"Well the writer signed the poem as Acrostic." Kanade explained, "Acrostic is a type of poem in which the first letter of each sentence makes a word. In this case the word is-"
"Creator." Otonashi said crestfallen. "Creator wrote the message… That must mean…The Programmer…"
The room went silent for a few moments.
"Damn it! I thought we would have more time before he would make an appearance!" Yurippe said in frustration. Any other clues as to what the poem could mean Kanade?"
"Nothing really. Although the line 'Really, we are still just humans' is strange to say the least."
"Hmmmm…" Otonashi thought, "I don't think we should tell anyone else about this. No need to get everyone worried that we have a rouge programmer on our backs."
"I guess that's a good idea. It's not like we can do anything about him now anyway. But be on the lookout for anyone who looks suspicious. He's probably still hiding among the NPC's."
Kanade and Otonashi nodded their heads in unison.
"Alright. Now let's get back to work. We have a party to prepare for!"
The next few days were hectic as preparation for the party was underway. Kanade helped to create some of the old band equipment that was lost. Otonashi was tasked with helping some of the SSS members to reclaim their old HQ and other various stations removed by the reset. It left very little time for the two of them to talk. Eventually everything was ready and it was time to party!
A few hours before the party, Otonashi was relaxing in his room when there was a knock at the door. "Hey, Otonashi? You in there?"
"Yea Hinata, come on in."
Hinata opened the door holding a large brown bag in one hand. "Hey man, how've you been?"
"Fine. Where have you been the past couple of days? I've been breaking my back and I haven't seen you anywhere!"
"Heh, sorry." Hinata apologized," It's just that Yui and I got to uhh, spend a lot of time together, if you catch my meaning."
"What."
The gears running in Otonashi's head grinded to a halt. He just stared at Hinata's grinning face.
"W-Wait a second… You… and Yui… did… did the… the thing?"
Hinata busted out laughing. "Yea," Hinata said between gasps of breath,"We did the thing!"
Otonashi just stared at Hinata in disbelief. "Well, I'd better go get ready for the party. Oh! I almost forgot to give this to you," Hinata said handing Otonashi with the brown bag, "A gift from Matsushita the 5th, The guy who can do martial arts, wield a Rocket Launcher and Sew apparently. Wear it tonight for your girlfriend." With that Hinata, ran off.
Otonashi was still so shocked by him that it didn't even register that he had called Kanade his Girlfriend.
He really didn't know what to make of the comment so he tried to put it aside in his mind, but it wouldn't go away. Could Kanade be my girlfriend? Otonashi thought. Maybe I'll ask her tonight…
Kanade sat on her bed. There was a dress next to her. "Come on Kanade! You HAVE to wear the dress to the dance! Matsushita made it special for you and it's Beautiful. I never knew he was so good at needlework…" Yurippe trailed off.
"I'm not going to the dance." Kanade said her voice emotionless.
"Huh?! Why not?"
"I just don't want to go…"
"Is it… or is it because of Otonashi?"
"Huh?! W-Why would you think that?"
"Well, I just happened to see what happened the other night, when you kissed Otonashi on the cheek!"
"Y-You saw that?!"
"Yep!" Yurippe said with a smile, "It's VERY obvious you like him."
"Ok, fine you found me out." Kanade said disgruntled, "So what? I'm still not going to the dance."
Yurippe sighed. "Listen to me Kanade. Don't you remember? The first person to help you was Otonashi! There was something he saw in you, something the rest of us couldn't. He knew you were different than what we thought you were and he gave you his trust. If that doesn't mean that he saw something he liked, then I don't know what will."
Kanade was silent, so Yurippe continued looking up at the celling.
"After you left, Otonashi just stood there dumbfounded. He kept repeating "Kanade just kissed me, Kanade just kissed me," Over and over and over. He didn't even seem to notice when I got TK to carry him to his room. He just kept repeating the same lines over and over. Please Kanade, just go and talk to him, you'll regret it if you don't."
Yurippe looked over at Kanade. She had tears streaming down her face.
"Thank you Yurippe…" Kanade said with a hint of a smile on her face. "I'll go."
"Great! Get your dress on cause it's time to Par-tay!"
~End of Chapter 3~