Chapter 2: My First Kiss and My Baseball Friend

I returned to my seat, dragging Kanade along with me. My mind still ached with all the memories that reappeared not only from my time in the afterlife, but also from my previous life. So my little sister and my final moments in the tunnel were fresh in my mind.

Although my sister's death while I carried her around town caused my whole body to ache, Kanade comforted me with the new smile on her face and her small hand over mines; letting me know that she'll always be there for me.

"Alright now that you're back with us Otonashi, it's time we go and retrieve the rest of Battlefront," Yuri clapped her hands loudly together once, causing us to look over at the leader.

A question suddenly burned in my mind, "How did you find me anyway? For all you two know, I could've been in reborn as a dog or something in Austria."

"None of Battlefront members were reborn an animal or any other living thing," replied Yuri. "We were lucky enough to be humans again."

"Okay but you still haven't answered how you were able to find me among seven billion people," I retorted. "And it seemed like you set the whole thing up! You guys knew exactly where to wait and Kanade hummed the tune right when I walked by."

"We were actually afraid that you wouldn't have recognized it," our leader answered. "But I managed to insert a small tracking chip into your body back in the afterlife."

"A small tracking chip, huh," that would explain how they were able to find me in this life. Where did she say the chip was…?

"HOW THE HELL DID THE CHIP GET IN MY BODY?!" my sudden outburst caused my lover to jolt a bit in surprise. But hey, if something is in your body without knowing, you have the right to freak the heck out.

Yuri only simply cleaned her ear with her finger, "Remember when Kanade killed you for the first time? Well, while you were out, I had someone insert the chip into your upper right bicep. That way, I knew exactly where you were the whole time, except for when you two were in prison together. At that time, I didn't have time to look."

"Wait, am I the only one with this chip?" I raised an eyebrow, trying to show her that it is not okay to put anything in my body, especially when I'm "dead".

"Nope, I made sure the whole squad did," she smiled, proud of herself, "And now, it's passed onto this world, making it super easy to find you people with Kanade's tracking software."

I looked at Kanade. She returned my look without much emotion. But in the shadow of her eyes, I saw the single sparkle of laughter blaze. I sighed as I sat down next to her. I then glared at Yurippe, "Alright, so what are you girls planning to do now?"

"Track down Yui and Hinata, of course," she smirked before standing up and disappearing around the hallway behind the coaches; leaving Kanade and me alone.

We sat there, in silence, just simply enjoying each other's presence.

Holds on a sec, now that Kanade and I have found each other again, are we still just friends? Friends who have romantic feelings for one another and had been confessed. I have had many of girls confess their love to me over the years. I never knew why but I always gave them all the same rejection.

My heart is already with somebody else's.

I know now, that I can only love Kanade and nobody else. Even if she has her own strong heart now; my heart's presence will always be a shadow inside her chest and soul.

My heart will always be shared with her.

"Yuzuru? Is there something on my face?" her voice made me realize that I was staring at her the whole time.

"Huh? Oh nothing's on your face," I shook my head back and forth once, showing her that she shouldn't be concerned.

"Then why were you just staring at my face?"

I immediately blushed. I started scratching the back of my head as my brain tried to score up a good excuse.

Why am I using an excuse? I love her; shouldn't I just tell her everything and don't lie?

"Well I was just admiring how perfect your face is," I finished, looking away. "And kinda making sure I'm not gonna wake up any minute now and realize it's just another dream and that you've disappeared forever."

She didn't respond, causing me to glance at her sideways. To my surprise, there was a light line of pink on her small pale face. She looked down at the coffee table before returning her eyes at me.

"Did I say too much?" I asked.

Her next actions caught me completely off guard.

She didn't say anything but she suddenly leaned up closer to my face, her eyes half closed. As gentle as an angel, her lips met mines for a brief moment. Of course, I'm still in shock but nonetheless, I closed my eyes and returned it.

Kanade is my first kiss, ever! In my first life and this life. Yes, yes, I'm a sad soul that has never kissed a girl but it was worth saving my virgin lips for an angel's perfect kiss.

Kanade pulled back too soon but her mouth lingered in the air, her eyes slowly opening.

"Did that prove to you that this is not a dream, Yuzuru?" she whispered.

I lifted my hand and ran my fingers through her silver hair, "Yes, Kanade." My hand finished combing her silky hair and rested on her cheek, "Yes, my little angel."

We leaned in again, ready for our second kiss.

"ARE YOU GUYS DONE YET?!" Yuri's annoyed voice made us bounce apart, each hitting our backs against the armrest.

I turned around and looked up at her. In one arm, she held a laptop; the other was resting on her hip.

"You made a good choice of not kissing her again, Otonashi," she said, twitches of anger clearly visible.

She returned to her chair, leaving my angel and me blushing like volcanos as she started the laptop.

"Alright, now that you two are together, it's time we see who's nearby," she tapped away and then I heard some beeping from the speakers.

"Ah-ha! I've found two."

I walked behind her and glanced over her shoulder, surprised to see two red dots on a green coordinate background side-by-side. 'Hinata' and 'Yui' was written where the dots were.

"Interesting," Yuri examined. "They're together. In this life as well."

"It seems like Hinata kept his promise to Yui," Kanade finally spoke, her previous embarrassment gone.

"Promise?"

"He promised he'd marry Yui no matter what state she's in back then when Kanade and I was helping her pass on."

"I see," the leader than fell quiet.

"You have no plan, do you?" I narrowed my eyes, annoyed.

She waved me off with her hand, "We're just gonna have to wing it."

"How would we wing something like this?!"

"Stop shouting Otonashi and listen," she said. "Hinata has a baseball game today against a pretty strong team. To regain his memories, all he needs to do is either hit a homeroom or catch a perfect ball for an out. That's it, simple."

"If that's it, then why do we need to go? Plus, he's probably caught many balls and hit many homeruns before; shouldn't he have regained his memories by now?"

"No, you need to talk to him beforehand," responded Yuri as she shut her laptop.

"Are we getting ready to go?" asked Kanade, standing up.

"Yes," the leader smiled. "We're gonna go catch us a baseball star and his lover."