A/N: Ayo, what's going on peeps? So I wrote a chapter. Woo! Stuff happens. Woo! I know my writing style has changed a bit, and one thing you may notice is the change in tense. Writing in present-tense sucks! So I'm now writing in past-tense. I dunno why I started writing in present-tense. Probably because I was a stupid kid six - seven? - years ago. Least the perspective hasn't changed, though writing in first-person is a bit of a bitch as well. Fun, though. Anyways, still writing this story because I don't know why. Hopefully people are still reading it! And god forbid, enjoying it. Remember, please review! Even if it's just to say damn, this story makes no sense and sucks. Because I wouldn't begrudge you for saying so. In fact, I'm a bit of a masochist, so please do so. Anywho, Annilus out! 'Till next year, probably.

Man, what the hell?

My head hurt like a motherfucker.

Like, not just a hangover – did I fall on my nose or something? Shit smarts.

Okay, clearly I did fall take a fall, considering I'm lying down in the middle of the living room, on the floor, beside the couch. Why'd I have to miss the couch?

Christ, though – what happened?

I flipped over onto my back, still laying on the floor, and groaned, pressing my palm against my forehead.

I'm hungry. And thirsty. And I need an Advil. I should probably get up.

Groaning again, I pushed myself up off the floor and made my way to the bathroom. I found the Advil in the medicine cabinet and gulped it down with a healthy serving of water, my raw throat thanking me for the wet sustenance.

I splashed some cold water onto my face and rubbed my eyes before looking into the mirror. Still look like shit. I had serious bags under my eyes, and my face was permanently set in a grimace. Not so new, really.

I decided I'm more hungry than shower-y, so I headed to my kitchen and started the process of hot-water boiling and ramen-bowl readying.

While waiting for the tell-tale sign of whistling, I reflected on the night before. Or tried to.

Seriously, what the fuck happened?

I grabbed the remote to the T.V and turned it on, checking to see what the weather was going to be like. I had classes in the afternoon, which I seriously did not want to go to, with or without a bad hangover. Unfortunately, one of them was a quiz, and I tried to make it a habit to only skip lectures.

Sitting down on the couch, I contemplated the weatherman's words – another cold as shit day, yay.

I heard the whistling of the water boiler, so I got up and over to the kitchen to pour the hot water into my noodles.

Shit, why won't this Advil work? Head's still killing me.

Haruko.

That was her name. Haruko. The girl. Brown hair. Pink hair.

Two Harukos.

What the fuck?

"Yo Naota, you ugly bastard!" a voice, belonging to a certain annoying classmate, yelled out from behind me.

"Hello to you too, Mina," I replied, keeping my eyes forward. I adjusted the handles of my backpack and continued my walk forward to the school gates, pointedly ignoring the patter of feet running towards me.

"Hey now, don't just ignore me!" she yelled, again, and right next to my ear this time. I swear, this chick knows no volume control. If my head hurt before, well, it hurts more now.

I let out an audible sigh and gave her a sharp look.

"I said hi. What more do you want?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe for you not be such a depressing downer all the time?" though the words were harsh, she said them with a grin. Didn't make them any less true, though.

"Well, sorry for not grinning and yelling and acting like a primitive monkey. Also, I've got a hangover, so keep your voice level below one-hundred decibels, please," I grounded out, jaw clenched. She snorted in reply, amusement showing in her features. For a loud delinquent monkey girl, she was admittedly pretty cute: short, athletic, tomboyish; she wore her dark-brown hair in a high ponytail that reached the base of her neck, wore the minimal amount of makeup for a girl of her age, wore that annoying smirk on her curved pink lips. I shifted my eyes away from hers, feeling a little uncomfortable at the direction my thoughts were taking.

"Didn't think you were the type to go out and get drunk, Naota. Though, now that I think about it..." she made a show of putting her finger to her lips, pouting as if thinking long and hard, "you probably are the type to drink yourself to sleep alone in your room. Got a personal bottle of hooch on your bedside table, hmm?"

I shot her a glare, before curling my lips into a self-satisfied grin and smugly replied, "Actually, for your information, I was getting drunk with my landlady's cute daughter. At a bar."

"Oh ho! I'm impressed. And a little jealous. I thought we had a thing?" she teased, poking me in the ribs.

I groaned and rolled my eyes in reply, picking up my pace as we passed through the school's doors.

"Hey, slow down man, what's the rush?" she chided, falling into step next to me. I turned into the corridor to the right, heading for our first class. Though I hadn't yet eaten lunch and class wouldn't start in another twenty minutes, I really didn't want to spend more time than necessary with Mina.

"I'm going to go to class early, do some last minute studying. You're free to go get lunch or something," I said, hoping she'd get the hint.

"Hmm, alright then. Doing tests with a hangover is hell, good luck!" she replied, breaking away into the throng of students with a short wave.

I had no doubt she was right about that. I entered the classroom, pulled up a chair, and promptly laid my head into my arms on the desk, willing the world to go away and the aching to end.

I lay on my back on the couch in my living room, absently watching T.V and drinking a glass of water. My head was no longer under attack, though my eyes still felt the strain of poor sleep. I pressed the heels of my palms against my eyes, thinking back to the past few days.

First the nightmares, then the apparitions, the passing out, this girl all of a sudden showing up saying she's Haruko... Am I going insane?

Is that girl even real? Did I go out drinking with a hallucination?

I really needed to get to the bottom of this. With that in mind, I got up and headed towards one of the Harukos' homes.

I knocked on the landlady's door.

"Hello? Who is it?" asked the landlady behind her door.

"It's your tenant. Naota. I, uh, have a question," I replied shakily. There was a feeling, deep in the pit of my stomach, that some of my questions were going to be answered. And I wasn't going to like those answers.

The door opened, revealing the lady behind it.

"What is it? I'm busy."

"Um, is your daughter home?" she looked at me quizzically. "I just need to ask her a question."

"I...don't have a daughter," she replied, now looking at me like I was from another planet. I, too, returned a similar look. "At least, not anymore. She...she died six years ago."

Well, now that's fucking weird. That feeling in the pit of my stomach? Yeah, now it's grown from the pit and into my throat, constricting my breath.

"I'm sorry, dead?" I croaked out, shaking my head in disbelief. "But I, I..." I then realized what must have happened. She lied! Haruko was just a thief that took my money. She introduced herself as the landlady's daughter when I first moved in, but it wasn't actually confirmed by the lady herself. Sneaky bitch! Takes my money, drinks off my tab, then leaves me drunk on the floor.

"Sorry, I must have the wrong place. Um, just to make sure though, your daughter...her name wasn't Haruko, was it?" I asked, just to cover all bases. Still, the thought was absurd. Drink with a dead girl? The fuck is this, an anime?

"How...how do you know her name? Did you two go to school together?" she asked, a shocked look on her face. My mouth opened and closed, but no words came out. No way. This has to be a coincidence. A crazy, mind-boggling coincidence.

"Hello? Young man, explain yourself. How do you know my daughter's name? What do you want?" she all but yelled, looking increasingly frantic. Unsurprising, as I currently looked like I'd just seen a ghost. Hell, I probably had.

"Answer me!" she grabbed my shirt, and I could feel her long nails pinch my skin.

"Get...get off me!" I pushed her away, fear driving my emotions. She stumbled back and fell onto her rear.

"This isn't funny!" I yelled, fear tinging my voice. "I know she isn't dead! I just saw her yesterday. We had drinks. She introduced herself as your daughter. She took money for rent. She—she acted so young...but she said she was eighteen. She looked like she was eighteen, or around there. Sixteen maybe. Six years ago? She'd be twelve! I'd have noticed if she looked twelve. So what the fuck are you talking about, dead? I saw her, with my own god damn eyes! I touched her, I felt her, she was real!"

I felt my head burning up, like the hangover was kicking in again. The world felt hazy, my body felt heavy, like I was moving underwater. I blinked once, twice, trying to clear my narrowing vision. I used one hand to apply pressure to my forehead, and the other to stabilize myself against the wall behind me as I stumbled backwards, away from the landlady's door. My breath came in short, quick gasps as I felt panic rise through my chest.

I felt an oppressive presence next to me, and my head turned towards it, my eyes focused on it, my vision encompassed it.

It was her.

Washed-out pink hair fell over her shining golden eyes, a familiar Cheshire grin splitting her face from ear to ear.

"Haruko?"

A/N 2: What can I say, I want the word count to be higher. Whoa, Naota pushed an old lady down on her ass! What a dick. No surprise there, am I right? Really, am I right, because I haven't seen this show in like seven years. Also, Haruko makes an appearance. Again. This time though, shit's really gonna go down. Next chapter though, of course. Muhaha? Damn, really not looking forward to writing that; gonna be a difficult one. Might even have to plan it out! Oh gosh, how exciting. Too bad I didn't do any planning for the rest of the chapters, or this story would have made more sense. Lesson learned! And promptly forgotten.