I don't own Angel Beats or any related parties in anyway.

Forgive me for any grammar or spelling mistakes, it's hard to catch them all.

I think you know the side note by now. Also, I'm switching to completely third person. Using first person for only Kouhei just felt slightly strange. Of course I'll be using first person for any type of dialogue or thought.

If you're wondering why this chapter took so long, this is why: first off, it's the longest chapter yet, and second is that my file deleted itself halfway through writing it. I cried. Not really though. I gave a message as a chapter, but I deleted that chapter. Enjoy

Another Proposal, Another Message, Another Operation

With the proposal done with, Otonashi was alone in the room with a dead Sakune after the proposal. "Ahh, I might as well enjoy a cup of tea." He poured himself a cup and sat opposite of Sakune. While sipping his tea, Otonashi inspected Sakune curiously. Since there really wasn't anything to see, Otonashi got up and walked to the window.

"Hey Prez, why did you have to shoot me?"

Realizing that Sakune revived, Otonashi explained, "I always kill you after you say something perverted like asking Kouhei to go to the girl's locker room."

Sakune sarcastically retorted, "But you usually stab me!"

"You were out of reach. And do you enjoy being stabbed more than being shot?"

"It doesn't really make much of a difference. It's not particularly fun being killed, you know? I personally enjoy my living relationship with people."

"Which consists of you asking guys to be perverted or making perverted acts on girls," added Otonashi.

"Living the good life," joked Sakune, "just a question, why'd you bring the Kouhei kid in here anyways? You don't usually bring anybody outside of the student council or problem students. I mean, everyone in the SSS is a problem student in his or her own way, but you know what I mean."

"Kouhei? Oh, I made him a proposal."

Sakune slightly smirked and cocked his eyebrow because he knew that Otonashi's relationship with SSS members wasn't amazing. "So Prez, what was this proposal about?"

"He agreed to join the student council as a double agent type of person."

Suddenly, Sakune stopped smiling. In a more serious tone than Otonashi had ever heard him speak, Sakune asked, "Why did you do that?"

Otonashi simply smiled, stating, "I'm trying to help us all. Don't worry about it."

"Are you trying to recreate the past?"

"History does tend to repeat itself, Sakune."

"That may be true, but that doesn't mean we should try to mimic history."

"I think we'll all be happy in the end. Don't worry, Sakune! Return to your usual, childish self!"

"Does the end justify the means?"

"All's well that ends well."

"Screw it! I'm going out for a bit!"

Sakune stormed out of the student council room. Otonashi was still smiling, believing that Sakune was playing a harder joke than usual. After Sakune didn't come back for a few minutes, Otonashi realized that Sakune was serious. "Ahh, if only Sakune would trust me more."

"Hey Nanami! Have you seen Kouhei anywhere?! Swim practice is about to start!" Ryouta walked over to where Nanami was sitting. She was blankly staring outside; the window was starting to frost over.

"Ryouta. Winter is coming."

"Yup! This must be an early frost! It's like an omen. It's telling me, 'Ryouta, swim season is coming. Be prepared!' Anyways, have you seen Kouhei?"

"He was heading somewhere with Angel."

"Angel?! Shoot. That's not good. What weapons do I have on me?" He started pressing around his body to salvage up a few weapons.

"Kouhei appeared to be going on his own will. There was no apparent struggling."

Ryouta was holding two throwing knives, a flash grenade, and a high powered, but empty, watergun. "Man, Nanami, being a diversion unit isn't fun. Weapons are a pain, so I'm useless in a 1v1 fight. I might be able to stun Angel and retrieve Kouhei though."

Nanami paused for a second, "It's a possibility."

Ryouta's head cocked. He was becoming slightly wary that something was off. "You know what? I think Angel can hypnotize people. That's why Kouhei wasn't struggling. He was hypnotized. I'm gonna go give Angel a good smack!"

Nanami looked at Ryouta for the first time during the conversation. "Maybe. Good luck."

By then, Ryouta realized something was completely off. "Nanami, what's wrong?"

"What do you mean?"

"Everyone in the SSS knows that you hate Angel the most. I'd normally imagine you cheering me on to kill Angel, but you're barely showing any enthusiasm! Or helpful words, since you don't usually show enthusiasm at all." Looking at Nanami, Ryouta tilted his head to his side to emphasize his point, but he saw something very off. A tear rolled down Nanami's cheek. "Hey, Nanami. You're crying. That's completely out of character. Are you sure you're ok?"

"Of course I'm fine."

"No you're not."

Nanami paused a moment at Ryouta's assertive answer. "You really know me well, don't you, Ryouta?"

"Who knows? Maybe I'm assuming that you don't show emotions at all. I feel like you need someone to talk to right now though; what's wrong?"

Nanami started to break down, "Ryouta, what if I was wrong? What if it isn't all God's fault? What if it really was me?!" she was uncharacteristically screaming, but Ryouta didn't look surprised, "What if I made my own mistakes?! What if-"

"It doesn't matter," Ryouta interrupted, "if we find God, we'll give him a good beating; if not, we'll help each other. This battlefront isn't only a battlefront; we're friends."

Nanami tearfully whispered, "What happens when we move on anyways? Is it some big event that everyone knows or do we quietly disappear from this world? Isn't that a sad idea? I don't want to die alone. How do we get over our regret anyways?"

"I don't know what happens after we move on nor even how we move on. I can promise that you won't die alone though. I don't think anyone in the SSS will, but I'll put it onto myself that at least I'm there when you move on," Ryouta hypothesized. "As for your last question, I believe that we have to recreate the situation and complete it successfully or correctly."

Ryouta had already sat down next to Nanami. There were still tears rolling down her cheeks, but she was making a genuine smile. Ryouta dabbed off her tears with his sleeve and then put his arm around her. Nanami leaned against Ryouta, and the two stayed like that for a minute. They looked outside. The window had more frost and was hard to see out of. Nanami asked, "Ryouta, I have a question, but it's slightly personal. Do you mind?"

"That's not like you; you usually don't care much for sentimentalities. As I said before, we're friends. Ask away."

"Does your regret have to do with swimming?"

"What makes you think that?"

"Ever since you got here, you've been completely obsessed with swimming. You're doing anything and everything to get better. I heard that when Kouhei came, he was just as good as you, but now you can beat him consistently."

Ryouta looked up at the ceiling, then back to the window. The frost was getting stronger, but he ignored it and said, "You're right about Kouhei, but swimming wasn't exactly my regret. It was more of a determining factor," closing his eyes, Ryouta continued:

My death and regret weren't directly related; it was more of a cause and effect. I was being bullied by some kids, but being a high-level swimmer, I was strong. They didn't manage to kill me or anything, but by the time they ran away, I was completely winded. I just fell down and fell asleep. I felt something cold touch my cheek, and since it was winter, my guess is that it started to snow. It probably snowed over me and I died after I fell asleep. That doesn't really have much to do with my regret though.

To fully explain, I should start with my roots. My parents knew how to raise a child well. They didn't particularly know how to raise me though; I was a strange kid. My father was a lawyer and my mother was a doctor, so there were pretty high bars set for me. As you could guess, I was a really good swimmer. If I really wanted too, I could have gone pro. My parents decided to follow that philosophy of "if your child is good at something, let them go down that path." I lived a relatively normal life, but most of my free time was taken up with swimming or conditioning. I didn't mind that though. I really did love to swim.

I was a strong guy, but when everyone pushes you somewhere, you have to go there, right? My parents didn't say much, but my classmates, teammates, coaches, teachers, and virtually everyone I knew urged me to go for professional swimming. I didn't know about it; it's hard to make a living out of sports. It went on for a long time with me humbly stating that I wasn't able. After a while though, my parents let through. They knew that I loved to swim, so they decided to ask me about going professional. "Ryouta, you're a very good swimmer. I believe that professional swimming may be an option for you! Why don't you think about it?"

"Dad, it's good and all, but do you really think I should? Do you think it's worth the effort?"

"I think you should! I already talked to Mom, and she agreed!"

I decided that since I loved the people I was with, I should probably work with them. I decided to become a professional swimmer. I never did talk about what I really wanted to do though. You know, I just wanted to become a teacher. I would go to a small school for my job and get close to my students. I'd teach chemistry and physics. After school, I would coach swimming, of course. I wanted everyone to be happy though, so I never talked about that dream of mine; I just swam.

My parents moved me to some sports school. I would swim every day, but there were afterschool classes. It was backwards from the average school. The people I met there were cool. Most were kind and happy, but they were all motivated and extremely good athletes. Despite having so many amazing athletes, I never found anyone who was a better swimmer than me. It didn't take long for my swimming coach to realize my talent. He trained me hard, but I swam every lap as best as I could. About two years after I entered the school, my father and I had one of the most important, but very simple, conversations of my life.

"Ryouta, how was school today?"

"It was the same as always. The intensity is going down because I'm tapering."

"I shouldn't have to tell you why you're tapering though."

"Nope; the race that tells whether or not I become a professional is in two days."

"Yep. It'll be hard to win, but the first three people go on. Good luck."

I think that was the last, normal conversation I had while living.

The meet came, and I was ready. The conditions were quite favorable for me. We were swimming at a fifty meter, outdoor pool. It was my favorite event, the one hundred meter freestyle. It was late spring, so there was a warm breeze that ran over my skin. I was full of energy from my taper, so I wanted to jump around, but I had to save one hundred percent of my energy for the race. I walked up to the block to start my normal swimming ritual. I looked upwards towards the sky. Up in the beautiful heavens, there were white clouds and birds freely flying forward, and I knew I would soon follow them. The crowd was loud, but when the announcer started talking, everything fell silent.

"Swimmers, step up."

I stepped up onto my block.

"Take your marks."

I bent down and grabbed the block. I was completely ready to explode off the block and win.

"Go."

I was off the block in a moment.

It was a normal sprint: two laps of my fastest swimming and a flip turn. I surfaced and stroked as fast as I could. It was fuzzy, but I remembered how I finished. My father was correct; I didn't win. I got second place by about a third of a second. I didn't mind though; my only goal was to place in the top three. I did my normal routine of flicking my hair and letting my goggles sink into the water. I looked into the crowd to find my parents, but I realized something was very off. No one was cheering. Normally, the crowd would erupt when the race ended, especially one as close at this, but I thought I could hear every droplet fall into the water. Each breath that came out of my mouth was distinct and crisp. Something was wrong. As always, everyone got out of the water. The official walked up to me, so I realized that the reason everyone was quiet had something to do with me.

"Mr. Yamamoto Ryouta?"

"Yes, sir."

"First off, congratulations on such a good race."

"Thank you, sir. I'm assuming something bad happened to me."

"Yes. You placed second, but you were disqualified."

"Disqualified? I see. May I ask what I did?"

"Of course, Mr. Yamamoto. Off the start, you broke the water at approximately twenty meters. The rules say that the head must be out of the water by meter number fifteen."

"I understand, sir. Thank you."

The official left, and I stood there for a few seconds. I was thinking about what most people would do in this situation. I thought that most people would cry or something dramatic, but I felt strangely calm. I couldn't become a professional swimmer, at least not this year. Maybe I could become that science teacher, or I could try again in two years. Of course I would be dead then, but I didn't know that at the time. I turned around and shook hands with every swimmer and official. I dried off and headed home.

When I got home, I immediately flopped onto the couch. I just felt like being lazy for an hour or so. I decided that I would pursue that job as a teacher. I got up and found my dad. I raised my hand to get his attention, but when I opened my mouth, my father turned around as if to avoid me. I thought to myself, "I guess you shouldn't try to talk to a guy who just lost a professional race via disqualification." I told myself that I would talk to my parents in a week or two. In the meantime, my next step was returning to a normal school. My parents did it by themselves, and I got myself ready for the first day back. I walked in, introduced myself, and sat down. Nothing special was happening during class, but afterwards, things started to get strange. I was quite famous for the swimming incident, yet no one came to ask me about it. For the next few days, I observed that most people saw me as one of two things: a stuck up athlete or an unreachable idol. I wasn't either. I was an athlete, for I was still swimming, but I wasn't stuck up. I loved to talk to people, and everyone was my equal. I also wasn't an unreachable idol; I was just a normal human with a talent for swimming. Most people didn't realize that. About two weeks after my first day, I told myself that I would talk to my parents about becoming a teacher. Before I reached home though, a group of guys came up to me and sarcastically shouted, "Hey! Look! It's the amazing swimmer!"

It was too obvious that they were mocking me, but I didn't do anything about it. "Thanks. I'm not good enough apparently though," I tried joking.

"Hey, he's trying to seem modest. That's ridiculous. He's trying to be our friend! Let's show him what us men are really like!" The guy cracked his knuckles and slowly started to walk towards me. I didn't move, but when he threw a punch, I caught it and threw him over me. "Hey, I'm a pretty strong guy. Don't underestimate me."

At that, the whole group charged at me. It was hard. There were four of them, so I was bound to lose. I gave them some heavy damage, but I was completely out. I heard someone say, "Hey, I think we've messed him up pretty bad. Let's go before someone catches us."

With that, they left. The snow started falling as I drifted to sleep. I woke up here in the student lounge.

Nanami was still leaning on Ryouta. Ryouta opened his eyes and looked at Nanami. She was still gazing outside at the completely frosted window, but he could tell that she listened.

"Hey Ryouta, so what's your actual regret?"

"I'm not entirely sure."

"You should probably figure that out."

"Haha! Yeah, you're right, Nanami. That would be a good idea."

"What do you think it is?"

"I said I wasn't sure. Was the problem that I lost the race? Was the problem that I couldn't talk to my parents about becoming a teacher? Was it the fact that I couldn't fit in with my new school? Maybe the problem was that I took up swimming in the first place. Where was the first mistake? I don't really know?"

"So how would you go about getting over your regret?"

"I thought that I could recreate the race again. No one in the afterlife could even think of challenging me until Kouhei appeared. Now that Kouhei's here, I wanna race him."

"Are you trying to move on?"

"I think it would feel good. I want to know that feeling. If I move on, then so be it."

The two sat alone while gazing at the window for a few more, silent minutes. Out of nowhere, Nanami stated, "I'm tired. I'm gonna go to my room."

Ryouta smiled and responded, "Now there's our normal Nanami. It feels weird when you're all sentimental."

Kouhei walked out of the SSS room because there wasn't much to do in there. Before long, he ran into Ryouta.

"Hey! Kouhei! I've been looking for you to go swimming. Where were you?"

"Sorry man. I had a fever, so I decided that it would be better to take a break since we're tapering. Why aren't you at practice?"

"I had a chat with Nanami. Oh, random question. Did you do anything with Angel? I heard that you were being dragged somewhere with him."

"Otonashi? We just talked a little bit. Nothing too much. What did you think?"

"I thought he might have brainwashed your or something like that."

"That's a little ridiculous, but you are Ryouta. What were you talking to Nanami about?"

"Moving on, friends, regrets. A lot of afterlife related stuff."

"I can't imagine Nanami wanting to talk about sentimental stuff like that. She's also so emotionless. I'll assume you were talking about your regret then?"

"Yeah. I wonder what Nanami has been doing or thinking about lately. She was acting a little funny."

"Who knows? She rarely shares her thoughts unless someone asks."

"She's not a bad girl by any means though. I like her. So Kouhei, what are you going to do now?"

"I'll go to the cafeteria; I'm a little hungry. You wanna come?"

"Naa, I'm on a diet because of swimming. Later then."

Ayaka, Riku, and Daiki were sitting in the SSS room. The laptop was placed in the center of the table, and it was positioned so all three could see the screen.

Daiki asked, "What could rewrite this world?"

Riku answered, "We have no proof anything was rewritten."

Ayaka added, "Yeah Daiki! It's only a popup! That's common on the internet!"

"Ayaka, you're right, but I think Daiki's getting at something else. There's never been a popup in this world before. If one came, I wouldn't be too surprised, but the popup's message is a bit disturbing."

They three fell silent for a moment and looked back at the screen. Daiki then inquired, "What could it mean?"

Ayaka tried to scholarly explain, "Well, you see, we do not fear what we know, for we know how to beat our knowledge. What gets us is when we're attacked by something we're not familiar with!"

"I think Daiki figured that much out; he's probably asking what it means when we get a popup like this."

"Daiki! That's too hard to understand! Ask your questions in a straightforward manner!"

Daiki sighed before prompting, "Could this be the work of Angel?"

Riku hushed Ayaka who tried to shout by stating, "Angel attacks when we attack. We haven't done anything recently. This also doesn't hurt us; it's more of a warning."

Ayaka curiously asked, "What could it be warning us about though?"

Daiki explained, "I cannot conceive a plausible, figurative meaning. I can only think of taking it literally."

Ayaka was still a bit stubborn, so she pouted, "Hey! How do you know this thing is even serious? It could just be a joke."

Riku replied, "I wondered that too, but this popup refuses to close. The computer's pretty much useless right now. I can't hack around it either; the person who programmed it must be a computer genius. And which computer genius will do a prank like this for fun?"

The three fell silent wondering what the message on the computer meant. It simply had a completely black screen with three words on it.

Fear The Unknown

The cafeteria suddenly became silent. There were a bunch of kids eating even though the rules clearly stated not to, and the student council secretary was standing in the door. Kouhei was sitting at a table with a recently bought platter of mapo dofu, five servings of rice, and five cups of water.

Sakune looked around and noticed Kouhei. Sakune whispered to himself, "Perfect timing." Weaving through the seats, Sakune walked next to Kouhei and started a small chat.

"Sup Kouhei. What are you eating?"

"That aside; aren't you supposed to reprimand everyone here?"

"Screw it. It's not like anyone or anything's being hurt if you guys eat here. The school gets more money if more food is bought; therefore the student council gets more funding. Along with that, the students get food. Win-win situation, if I don't say so myself."

"That's a surprisingly good argument. It's mapo dofu. Want a bite?"

"I bet I can keep a straighter face than you after eating it. Wanna bet?"

"What wages?"

"If I win, you have to listen to a proposition. If you win, I'll be your personal slave for a week."

"How much mapo dofu do you usually eat?"

"After the first experience, none."

Kouhei confidently thought that he would win, since he had been eating mapo dofu a few times a week out of boredom. Accepting the bet, Kouhei divided the plate in half. Sakune counted down from five, and the two started to eat. Since Sakune never said anything about rice and water, Kouhei drowned the spiciness in water and rice, but the extreme flavor prevailed. With a huge work of willpower, Kouhei managed to only bite his lips and shut his eyes. Completely confident that he won, Kouhei opened his eyes to admire the suffering Sakune was going through. Sakune's face was completely expressionless.

"So Kouhei, I think I won."

"How can you possibly resist the flavor?!"

"It's what happens when you can't taste anything due to dead taste buds."

"That's foul play."

"All's fair in love and war, bro. So you have to listen to my proposition, but first, I want to ask you a few questions."

"I did lose, so do what you must."

"Out of curiosity, why did Prez invite you to the student council room?"

"He made me a proposition, just as you are now."

"May I ask what it was?"

"Otonashi asked me to be kinda like a double agent. Although I'm helping the SSS in whatever they want to do, I'm secretly helping Otonashi too. He hasn't had me do anything yet though."

"I see. Tell me then, which is more important to you: the SSS that took you in and showed you the ropes of this world, or the angel that desires to wipe away your existence?"

"When you put it like that, the SSS, but that's not a completely true statement. I don't particularly agree with either side, but I think Otonashi is more correct, to say the least."

"I see. I think I could figure out why you believe that if you answer this question. What is your regret?"

Kouhei was taken aback by the sudden question. That was normally something that only the most trusted of friends could ask, but here was a lighthearted Sakune asking such a serious question. Kouhei thought to himself, I don't know. When I think about my life, I can't think of anything that I regret. What do I tell Sakune though?

Before Kouhei could think of a good lie, Sakune stated, "Ahh, having a problem? If it's too hard to talk about your regret, then don't do it. It's alright. I don't want to make you too uncomfortable."

"I'll take that offer then. On another note, what's your proposition? Is it to take a peek at changing girls?"

"Ahh come on mate, you can't take me too seriously with those types of things."

"When can I take you seriously then?"

"You can tell. For example, this: my proposition is that you became like a triple agent. As you double agent for Otonashi, you'll be a third agent under me."

"Sakune, you're the student council secretary. I'd only imagine that you became that because you agreed with Otonashi's ideals. Am I wrong?"

"I agree with his ideals, but how he chooses to execute them disturbs me."

"Why should I trust you, may I ask?"

"Why did you trust Otonashi? I think he tricked you."

"How so?"

"Did you walk in there and immediately hear the proposition, or did you chat a bit first?"

"We chatted first."

"About what, Kouhei?"

"About Otonashi's past, the former SSS, and that type of stuff. Why?"

"Has he ever talked about his past before?"

"Of course he has."

"Has he really? Or has he avoided the topic while you try to pick up hints?"

Kouhei paused at Sakune's questioning. It was similar to Daiki in that it was very effective, but the wording was much less overwhelming. Sakune seemed to talk to Kouhei as an equal, while Daiki was slightly talking down to Kouhei. "I guess you're right, Sakune. I have to piece everything that Otonashi drops together. He never really directly talked to me before."

"Since he tells you about his past, he is appearing to place his trust in you. Once you have trust placed in you, you naturally reciprocate it, and thus, you unconsciously began to trust Prez.

"Alright, and what does that mean?"

"This leads to that, and I feel that you should accept my proposition. Of course you have your own choice."

"You're doing the same thing as Otonashi though. You're just overloading me with information to gain my trust, am I right?"

"You're completely right. You have no good reason to trust me besides the fact that you shouldn't trust Otonashi. But let's be honest now, we both know that the best plan for both of us is for you to accept."

"I guess you're right, but I'll have to think about it" Kouhei smiled and left Sakune after that. Realizing that the proposition was just pending, Sakune felt a bit relieved, but then his stomach started to hurt.

"Oh man. I can't taste mapo tofu, but it still gives the worst stomach ache."

Jordan was walking down the hallway quickly. He heard information from Riku regarding the computer, but Jordan wanted to see it for himself. "There's no way that the computer could get hacked into. It shouldn't be possible," he muttered to himself. He was slowly turning to a jog, but he accidentally ran into a kid.

Donning his cold expression, Jordan glared at the NPC, but to Jordan's surprise, the NPC's glare was even colder. At first, Jordan staggered, but he soon recollected himself and resumed his cold stare. Jordan saw that he was carrying a laptop after school-hours which was highly irregular for a NPC. The two stared for a few more seconds then turned around and went their separate ways. Jordan thought to himself, Probably a human, but I have something more important to look at right now. I can find and recruit him later.

Jordan continued to jog to the SSS room. He said the password, opened the door, and ran to the laptop. After being opened, the laptop was purely black with the same message.

Fear The Unknown

"Looks like Riku was being honest. To be programmed so well that Riku can't hack into it, this must be done by someone very good with computers. No one I can think of in the SSS is that good nor is Angel. There's the rest of the student council, but they have no reason to act like this." Jordan heard the door open behind him, so he turned to see who came in.

"Jordan! What are you doing here? Want to play?"

"Ahh, Ayaka. I'm just observing; ignore me."

"Cold as ever! Why can't you be fun like Kouhei or Ryouta?"

"I'm not them. You're good with plans, right?"

"I'm supposed to be! Do you want to play a game of Shogi or something?"

"No. Being a leader, I suppose you know about the laptop's problem. Have you gained any information about it?"

"I can't think of anyone who can and would want to do this, and Riku is still trying to track the program's origin."

"So can you make any plans to counter it? Or are we defenseless?"

"Nothing as of now."

"That's disturbing."

"I'm a little worried too, Jordan. Then again, it's not like we can die in this world, so there's not too much to be worried about. The message tells us to fear the unknown, so Mariko told me that maybe this unknown thing won't do anything if we fear it. It's a strange idea, but it makes a little sense."

"That's a serious monologue for a brat like you."

"That's quite offensive Jordan. It's a leader caring for her subordinates."

Otonashi was sipping key coffee at the rooftop. Looking down, he saw Riku shooting a basketball. First a three pointer, then a layup, then a slam dunk. He looked at a different area to find Mariko shooting arrows at a target. "I didn't know Mariko did archery. I wonder how good she is. I bet she's better than Yurippe. She does look just like Hatsune from this far away though. It's almost strange." Looking to the fields, Otonashi saw Sakune throwing a Frisbee with a few NPC girls. "He isn't actually trying to be a player with NPC's; is he? Is that even possible? Dammit Sakune. I swear that he's gonna be completely useless. Maybe I should just kick him out of the student council."

"Do you gain from observing our everyday lives?"

"I'm not so much as observing you as observing the scenery." Daiki walked up to Otonashi and put a gun up to his head. Unfazed, Otonashi continued, "I believe you've figured out that I'm not a threat unless you do something to me first. And ever since Kouhei came, you guys stopped doing operations. Sakune told me about Monster Stream, but that's not much of an operation at all. It technically abides to school rules."

Daiki slowly lowered the gun, but he suddenly shot in between Otonashi's legs. Daiki stepped to the left and started to lean on the railing. He opened a can of soda and took a sip.

"Soda, Daiki? I thought someone as mature as you would drink tea. Soda is a child's drink!"

"Why are children less mature than adults?"

"Children are younger, therefore less mature; right?"

"So maturity comes with age?"

"Eh, Yui was just as old as me, but the maturity level was interesting."

"Whom do you speak of when you say 'Yui'"

"Someone who graduated before you guys came. The second graduate I saw, I believe."

"I see. Yui was as old as you, but less mature. Does maturity come from age?"

"I guess not. What are you getting at? There's usually some bigger meaning to your questions."

"Do we move on by maturing?"

"That's surprisingly straightforward. Why would I know?"

"Are you not Angel?"

"I already told you that I'm a normal human with one abnormal ability." To prove himself, Otonashi materialized hand sonic version one and sliced through the air a few times.

"Can you not do more?"

"Nope."

"You're lying."

"That's the first non-question. Good job. I'm guessing that you saw one of Yurippe's reports on the laptop recently. She talked about Angel's hand sonic, overdrive, and many harmonics. I can only use hand sonic. At the time those reports were written, Angel referred to someone else."

"I have no reason to believe that you can use this skill 'harmonics', but do you recall me injuring you recently?"

"You shot in between my legs, but you didn't actually hit me. Why?"

"Have you checked?"

Looking down, Otonashi saw a little hole and blood coming out of his shoe. "Oh, what happened there?"

"Overdrive reduces pain. The foot also doesn't have a strong sense of touch in the first place. I barely nipped you, but you should have felt it had you not had overdrive."

"You, Ayaka, Mariko, and now Kouhei. There's a good amount of thinkers in your group."

Finishing his soda, Daiki ignored Otonashi's response and walked back downstairs. In his mind, he was thinking, He thought I looked at the laptop files recently. That means he is unaware of the message on the laptop. If not Angel, then who?

Kouhei was lying on his bed. He looked outside to see the sun starting to set. "It's the start of winter, so maybe it's around four. I'm tired though. I guess I'll take a nap or something."

As Kouhei closed his eyes, the door opened. In came his NPC roommate. "Ah! Good afternoon Kouhei!"

"Oh. Hey there. What might you be doing now?"

"I'm going to start studying."

Boring as usual. "I see. I'm going to take a nap, so do you mind doing it somewhere else?"

"Of course, Kouhei!"

They're also very obedient.

"But if you don't mind, could you help me in math later? You're good at it, right?"

Although they're blank slates, they aren't machines. They can do stuff like this, out of the ordinary. "If I'm feeling it, I'll come over. Where will you be?"

"I'll be in the student lounge."

"Alright, see ya."

"Goodbye, Kouhei."

The NPC walked out of the room and Kouhei was left on his bed alone again. He closed his eyes, but for some reason, Kouhei couldn't fall asleep. After tossing and turning a little bit, Kouhei walked out the door and towards the student lounge. There weren't many people in the hallways, so Kouhei meandered around until he was at the lounge's door. Opening the door, Kouhei scanned the room for his roommate, but no one seemed to be there. From behind a desk, a voice said, "Oh, Kouhei, is that you?"

"There you are. You said you wanted help with math homework?"

"Yeah, calculus is hard."

After Kouhei helped his roommate, they fell into a chat. Feeling especially bored, Kouhei asked, "How would you feel if your best friends disappeared one day without a trace?"

"I'd be sad, but it hasn't happened to me yet. It's a little cruel, but I really don't mind if people disappear; I just wish that the fun people would stay."

The fun people? NPC's are all blank slates, so they're boring, so does "fun people" refer to normal humans? Do NPC's notice that humans disappear? "What do you mean that you wish fun people would stay?"

"There's usually a group of fun people that I enjoy watching, but they always seem to disappear after a year or two. There are some exceptions; the current student council president is a pretty fun guy, and he's been here for a while. Before him, there was this girl named Tachibana Kanade. She was the president before Otonashi. She stayed for a really, really long time. It's strange though. I remember talking to Kanade, and she said that she's only here to wait for a special someone. Now there are rumors floating around that Otonashi is waiting for a special someone. Do only people with special someone's stay? But why did Kanade leave? Did she meet her special someone?"

That's an unusual thing for an NPC to say. This guy isn't a human, is he?

"Hey, I have a really weird question for you. Have you ever died?"

"Died?! That's crazy! Of course I haven't!"

So he isn't a human. NPC's are supposed to act like everything is normal, right. Then again, they may be acting normal, but maybe they actually can perceive our strangeness, or in this case, the fun. "Sorry, I don't know why I asked that."

"It's alright Kouhei. I'm gonna go eat dinner. You want to come?"

"Naa, I just ate. I'm meeting up with some friends later."

"But what did I mean by 'some friends'?" Kouhei asked himself as he wandered around the school looking for a normal human. He was thinking about going to the SSS room, but he guessed that Ayaka would be there. Sadly for her, Kouhei didn't feel like putting up with her at the moment. "This school isn't too large; I'll meet someone if I wander around enough." Surely enough, Kouhei rounded a corner and bumped into someone. He looked up to see Riku and down to see that who was hit.

"Ahh! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Oh, K-Kouhei. How are you?"

Looking down, Kouhei saw Mariko pick herself off the floor while rapidly apologizing. She seems to be shy and proper. Thus, we have a shy and proper, Mariko, a super lively, cute loli, Ayaka, and an emotionless beauty, Nanami. I could definitely see this becoming a stereotypical harem anime. "No, it's my fault Mariko. Are you alright?"

She immediately responded, "Of course! Do you have any business with me or Riku?"

Riku decided to jump in. "You know; Kouhei just happened to run into you. It's not like he was looking for either of us. Are you doing anything though, Kouhei?"

"I was actually just really bored and looking for something to do. Do either of you mind if I tag along for a bit?"

Mariko managed to stutter out, "Th-that's completely fine, K-Kouhei!"

Riku smoothly added, "Fine by me. We're just heading to the SSS room."

"For what?"

"Some operation was called, but it was for Mariko and any volunteers. Wanna help?"

"I've got nothing better to do."

"Ok everyone!"Ayaka unnecessarily shouted, "It's time for operation Death of The Devil!"

A few things ran through Kouhei's mind. First he though, death of the devil? Afterwards, he started to imagine some ridiculous things: the SSS finding a pit to hell itself. They jump in and fight through the underworld's guardians in order to kill Satan. Then after killing Satan, the SSS comes back up to find God waiting to congratulate them. Since the SSS's goal was to find God, they would succeed. We would then hurt, maim, injure, or kill God. Ayaka, I'm sorry, but this is crazy.

"What might one do for this operation?" Daiki calmly asked before sighing.

Riku added, "Why is Mariko the only necessary one for this while everyone else is optional? Were you planning on only sending Mariko to hell or something?!"

"Huh? What are you talking about?" responded Ayaka, "we're just helping Mariko get over her shyness."

"And how does that possibly have anything to do with the name Death of The Devil?" Kouhei asked.

"The SSS always names their operations awesomely! I thought I'd give it a try too! What do you think Kouhei?!" Ayaka excitedly answered.

Kouhei rebutted, "But the 'awesome names' at least related to the operation. Operation Monster Stream was at a stream, for example. How does helping Mariko's shyness have anything to do with killing Satan?"

"Oh, I just thought it sounded cool." Ayaka sheepishly explained.

"Dammit Ayaka. How about this?" started Kouhei, "The Devil is Mariko's shyness, and we're getting rid of it, which is kinda like killing it, and thus we get the death of the devil."

"You're so smart Kouhei! You understood me all along!" Ayaka jubilantly praised.

"You're just using me to cover for your stupidity," Kouhei muttered to himself.

"Alright, we got that cleared up. How will this operation work though?" Riku asked.

"Everyone in this room will be part of it. That makes up, let's see." Ayaka started to count and name the people in the room, "Me, Mariko, Kouhei, Riku, Daiki, and Jordan. That's five people plus Mariko."

Kouhei looked into the corner of the room, and to his surprise, Jordan was coolly sitting in the corner of the room. His's presence was so small that Kouhei didn't notice anyone in the corner. He's such a cold guy. Why did he want to help Mariko? Or did he come without knowing what the operation was about?

Ayaka continued, "Ok! This is how it'll go. The operation will last for one hundred twenty hours. That's five days. During that time, we'll all make embarrassing moves on Mariko randomly. After a while, she'll get used to the awkwardness and her shyness will go away!"

"Is that truly supposed to work?" Daiki immediately asked in a surprisingly sarcastic tone.

"I tried hard to think of that plan!"

Riku smirked before stating, "You're supposed to be a really good strategist and planner. Your battle tactics and logic are actually quite good. I never would have guessed how bad this plan would be."

"That's mean, Riku!" cried Ayaka.

"Hey, hey, hey," Kouhei interrupted, "how about this? Instead of making embarrassing moves on Mariko, we'll all spend one day with her. We'll just accompany her all day. Each person will try to help Mariko throughout the day."

Riku said, "I'll second that."

Daiki asked, "As improbable as it may be, does anyone have a better idea?"

Ayaka pouted, "Fine, Kouhei! You win. You're plans better. I liked mine though."

"Awesome!" Kouhei shouted, "The order. How about Ayaka, Riku, Daiki, and then me?"

"Forgetting someone?" sneered Jordan from the corner.

"Ah, shoot! Sorry dude! You'll be day five!" corrected Kouhei. He then thought to himself, No offense, but you're such a cold person. Can you make anyone feel better or less shy? Whatever.

"Alrighty!" Ayaka started, "one hundred twenty hours. Five days." She clicked what looked like a laser pointer and a huge sign popped onto the projector.

Operation Start

And that's chapter five. So sorry for the long wait, as I said before, my computer decided to delete all my files. I had to rewrite everything before the scene before Jordan's first scene. After that was written on the fly. It didn't turn out nearly as good as the original version, but it's good enough. As always, reviews, favorites, follows, PM's, and suggestions are always wanted and appreciated.

The next 2-5 chapters will be Ayaka, Riku, Daiki, Kouhei, and Jordan's days with Mariko. I just haven't chosen how many days will be in each chapter.

So I have finally come to acknowledge how hard it is to write a good story. Good job actually talented Fanfiction writers; I applaud you.

So to any other readers, thank you for reading, and until next time.