Note from the Author!

Time for some more ReWritten, Chapter 8 style! The creator is brought back into the plot again with this chapter, and dang does it get crazy! Sorry the chapter is late. I had planned on releasing it yesterday, but I ended up having to go to the hospital and get my appendix taken out. Wasn't fun. Sorry for the lateness this may have caused and might cause in the future.

Chapter Eight: Forest of the Past

The girl sat near the fire, she wasn't shivering anymore. Where did that guy- I mean Akio Suke go? She thought.

The past were definitely strange. She had woken up in front of some school. Almost immediately after, she met Akio. While she had no memory of him whatsoever, he seemed to know her. She had no idea who or where she was. She had hoped that he would give her some recollection of her past but whenever she asked; he always responded with, "I'm sure you'll remember eventually" And shrugged her off. The only reason why he had stuck with his so far was because she really had nowhere else to go.

As she sat near the fire thinking, she could hear footsteps echoing off the cavern walls. She took her knife out, preparing for the worst. Suke had told her about monsters that roamed the area. They looked human, but were evil creatures and they could only be killed for a short time. At first she didn't believe him till a few nights ago, when he returned to the camp, covered in blood and bruises.

As the footsteps got closer, she could see a figure approaching. "W-who's there?" she said, her voice trembling.

"It's Akio," Responded the figure.

The girl relaxed. She knew that she wouldn't be able to handle herself in a fight. She could barely hold the knife correctly.

As Akio got closer, it was obvious there was something troubling him. His usual calm demeanor was replaced with grimace.

"Akio? What's wrong?"

"We need to move. Now." He said sternly.

"Huh? What's going on?" she asked getting up.

"The monsters are looking for us. I've managed to take out the guards at the entrance of the cave, but we need to leave before they reawaken."

The girl was trembling, "W-where are we going to go?"

"There's an old base I used to use, out in the forest. The monsters don't know about it, so we should be safe there."

"O-Ok…"

"Don't worry," Akio said, giving the girl a small grin, "You'll be fine."

She wondered how much truth his words held.

Otonashi's eyes fluttered open. It was morning. Light filtered in through the window. Despite him just waking up, he was for some reason extremely tired. What… What happened last night…? He thought to himself. When he glanced to his side he saw something he was not expecting to see.

Next to him lay Kanade curled up to him with her head on his chest. She breathed in steadily, her heart beating slowly.

What had happened rushed back to Otonashi. The date, the Mapo Tofu, Kanade asking him to stay with her, what happened after... All of it.

Otonashi watched as her eyes slowly opened. Kanade smiled at Otonashi.

She looked more beautiful now than she ever had before.

"Hey Kanade."

"Hey."

The two just stared at each other. No words, just silence filled with emotion.

There was a knock at the door. "Kanade?" A muffled voice said "Are you there? I'm coming in."

As Otonashi realized what was about to happen, he also happened to notice that neither of them were wearing clothes. "Kanade! Grab the blanket!"

As quick as humanly possible Kanade grabbed the covers and pulled it on top of the two of them. She managed to cover themselves just as Yurippe walked inside.

"Kanade, we're having a meeting. We need you down-" Yurippe froze as she noticed the picture that was displayed before her.

"Umm… Hi Yurippe." Otonashi said.

As her gears began to turn again, Yurippe's face turned red as a tomato. She quickly put her hand over her eyes.

"Just-Just get down to the HQ as soon as possible!"

"Roger."

"I never saw you." Yurippe then ran out of the room, her hand still covering her face.

"Well," Kanade sighed, "That's one way to start the morning."

"The Creator is somewhere on school campus."

The SSS members were inside the HQ. All the Main members were there, including Chaa and the Members of Gildemo.

"What! He left the cave?" Fukimaki exclaimed.

"That's right. This morning, the two guards we positioned at the cave entrance were killed." Yurippe said, "They had knife wounds on their bodies. It's likely he killed them so he could escape the cave."

"And now we have no idea where he is." Matsushita replied.

"Pretty Much." Yurippe said, shrugging.

"Well, that's not good." Hinata joked, which earned him a bop on the head from Yui.

"I propose a mission." Yurippe pressed a button on the desk. The Hologram popped up, showing a map of the campus. "Operation Vanguard. We'll split up into groups of two. Each group will be responsible for scouting a specific area. If you find anything, call us on your radio. Simple as that."

"So, what are the groups?" Ooyama asked.

"I was getting to that." Yurippe grumbled. "The groups are as follows: Yui and Hinata are to patrol the Track and Field area. Ooyama and Matsushita, you guys are guarding the area over by the baseball field and the tennis courts. Iwasawa and Chaa, you guys have the Dorm area. Otonashi and Kanade…" Yurippe hesitated, purposely looking in a different direction than the two of them. "Take the area over by the entrance, near the forest." She rattled off a few more groups and areas.

"Remember, if you find ANYTHING, call me on the radio. Operation: Start!"

"You notice she didn't look at either of us when she assigned us?"

"Yea," Kanade replied, "Do you think she probably put us out on the far reaches of the campus so she didn't have to look at us?"

"Probably, seems like something she'd do."

"Yea," Kanade laughed, "It does sound like Yurippe!"

"Still," Otonashi said, "I don't regret doing it. Not one bit."

"Me either!" Kanade said smiling, "It was nice to meet the morning with you."

"Yea it was. Till we got interrupted anyway."

The two continued to talk as they walked along their route. Unbeknownst to either of them, Shiina watched them from atop one of the buildings. She remembered the orders Yurippe had given her the day before.

It's likely that The Creator is going to target Kanade specifically. If what you remembered is true, the programmer will try to kill them. Make sure you can see them at all times, and keep your hand on your sword. You may need it.

As Shiina brought herself back to the present, she continued to watch the two, making sure that there was no one near them.

Kanade… Please be careful...

As the two continued to patrol, they walked on the dirt path next to the forest.

Otonashi peered into the dark woods. "Hey Kanade, has anyone ever gone in the forest?"

"No, I don't think so…" she bit her lip, "Wait, maybe? I don't know."

"Huh? Are you okay Kanade?" Otonashi asked, furrowing his brow in concern.

"I-I thought that I remembered something but…" her voice trailed off.

"Don't worry. I'm sure that-" Otonashi had suddenly stopped talking, staring at the woods.

"Yuzuru? Did you see something?"

"Hold on a second." Otonashi walked over to one of the trees at the edge of the wood.

"Look at this." In the faded wood, the Initials 'SC' were engraved.

"This looks new." Kanade said, "It could have been made by the creator."

"There's another on that tree." Otonashi pointed at another engraving on a tree slightly further in the forest.

"C'mon! Let's see where they go." he said, racing off into the woods.

"Wait, Otonashi! Shouldn't we call…" her voice trailed off, she had no choice but to follow him into the forest.

The two continued to race through the trees. They weaved around many of them but Otonashi was hit by a branch in the face more than once. Eventually the trees became so dense that it was difficult to move through them.

"Are you sure this is a good Idea Yuzuru? Shouldn't we report to Yurippe?"

"I want to see where this path leads. If we find something, then we'll report back."

"Okay, so where do you think that…" her voice trailed off.

The two had reached a clearing, which was quite abnormal in the dense woods. But it wasn't the clearing that go the attention of the two. It was the log cabin. It was a simple dwelling. It was relatively small and only had one window and a door, but was astounding was that the Cabin was old.

It had to have been part of the Original World.

"Time to report in?" Kanade asked.

"Time to report."

Kanade pulled the radio from her pocket. "Hello, Yurippe come in. This is Kanade and Otonashi reporting in. Hello?" The radio responded only with static.

"Damn, we must be too far out to connect to the frequency."

"Maybe we should head back?"

"Yea, that probably sounds like a-" Otonashi stopped talking midsentence "Get down!"

The two crouched behind the bushes. "What did you see Otonashi? Did you see the creator?"

"I'm not sure, I saw someone through the window, although I didn't get a good look."

"Let's move a bit, see if we can get a better view."

The two army-crawled through the bushes. They crawled around the area till they had a good view of the window "There! I see someone!" Kanade pointed.

Otonashi looked inside the window and frowned. "Wait a minute… That's not the creator… That's-!"

Otonashi suddenly got up and sprinted to the house.

"Yuzuru! What are you doing?!" Kanade yelled, trying to unsuccessfully grab him.

Ignoring her, Otonashi grabbed the handle of the door and thrust it open.

"Hatsune!"

The startled girl looked at the figure in the doorway that had just called her name. She was momentarily blinded by the light. "M-Monster!" She screamed, pulling out her knife, "G-go away!"

"Hatsune! It's me! It's Otonashi."

"I-I don't know who you are! Leave!" Hatsune yelled, her eyes closed due to fright.

"Hatsune." Otonashi grabbed her wrists. Her eyes were still closed tight. "Look at me."

"N-no."

"Hatsune, look at me. Please."

Slowly she opened her eyes and looked at Otonashi. At that moment her memories flooded her brain, like a dam collapsing. They all rushed back to her so quickly she almost fell to the floor if Otonashi hadn't caught her. "It's alright… You're safe now." He repeated over and over, petting her hair.

"Y-Yuzuru… Is it really you?"

"Yes," he smiled, "It is.

"I remember… remember everything."

"Well isn't that good!"

Otonashi and Hatsune swiveled their heads to the voice looming from the doorway.

"Thank you for helping me Yuzuru." Said the creator holding Kanade in a vice grip and a gun to her head. "To thank you I'll kill you and Kanade quickly. Don't worry! I'll only do it a few million times!"

~End of Chapter 8~