I held it out to him.

"What's that supposed to-" He gave a low hoot upon seeing what it was. "Is that a. . .feather?"

I nodded silently, looking every which way along the floor for anymore. But no, it seemed that this feather was the only one here. But at the moment, this feather was more than enough.

I looked at it more closely after putting away my gun. Many thoughts passed through my mind just then.

Now let's look at things logically. So I'm supposed to investigate one of these so-called school legends about a girl . . . with wings appearing on the rooftop. Now wings connotate a lot of things. It would not be right to assume directly that it was an angel. Perhaps it was a devil with its own version of wings. Perhaps the latter indicated a "devil" against the Angel here (I shivered at the thought of her). But with this feather. . .

Hinata seemed to have followed my thread of thought as he wondered out loud: "A feather huh. . . .you know at first I was suspicious but now that I think about it, I've never seen any type of bird around here in the afterlife. Not a one." He turned to me, waggling his eyebrows. "Do you think it came from a wing? Possibly from a. . . winged person?"

I chopped him lightly on the head. "You have time to joke about things like that? I've just now turned up something related to my investigation here," I told him irritantly.

"Wha- whoa, you're really getting into this investigation here huh, Otonashi?" Hinata grinned. "So where next inspector?" he joked in a gruff voice.

"You know usually it's a female sidekick who accompanies the intrepid investigator," I joined his jabbing.

"Oh good point, good point," he agreed good-naturedly. "You think you'll mind if I get Yui to play the part? She can be the dumb do-it-all sidekick." He sounded a bit exasperated after mentioning her.

"Doesn't she have her mission in the GirDeMo? I'm not sure I can impose. . . "

"Or I could get Shiina! Bodyguard and all that, plus she's great for shooting one-liner quips at the right time?" We both had a good laugh at that.

But just then, something happened.

There was the sound of bounding footsteps from the open roof door.

It was pounding on the stairwell.

I wouldn't have been scared, if it weren't for the fact that-

"If I find that bastard again, I'm gonna toss him out the roof!"

It was the faint, far-off but steadily approaching voice of the disciplinary npc. Oh crap.

"Hinata, we gotta go!"

"Go?" He was surprised by my sudden shft in demeanor.

"It's. . . you hear that?" I pointed towards the door.

"You mean that girl's voice? Come to think of it, her voice sounds familiar. . . "

"Yeah, and we have to not be seen!" I urged him, tugging at his shirt again.

"Huh, why? It's just an NPC, man. They can't do anything, well Angel might do something. Wait, is it that girl? I think it is." He listened intently. "Yep, I gotta thank that one for getting Yui to shut up before. You know, for an npc she sure is active about her role. It's really impressive."

"That. Is. Why. We have to hide somewhere. She's VERY particular about her job, to the point where she's already threatened me." I pulled on his shirt.

"Relax man. How will she be able to toss you over the roof? You're a guy for pete's sake. Besides, where the heck are we supposed to hide here, huh?" He gestured around the rooftop. True, there was no obvious hiding place in sight. Which definitely left. . .

The footsteps were fast approaching. I'd guess she was at most two floors below. Just a few more flights and she'd be on me like a frenzied shark scenting blood in the water.

I'm still hoping she hasn't realized I'd stolen some of her case files.

"I know you stole something from my case files-!" the roar sounded like something from the abyss.

Stupid thoughts thinking too soon! Or was that just my imagination? I grabbed at Hinata's hand and quickly dragged him over to the railing. "C'mon Otonashi, it's not like an NPC can hurt us. Worst comes to worst we get dragged to 'detention' or something-"

"We can't risk that!" I said, looking over the railing at the sight of the grounds far below. Would we make a splendid impact down there, I wondered. "What if it's another way to move on- it is like following the rules."

"So what do you suggest we do?" Hinata was weakly struggling in my grasp. Suddenly, he looked over the edge of the rooftop too. "Wait, are you seriously thinking what I think you're thinking right now?"

I looked at him seriously. "It's the only way," I declared. I clutched the feather, and by extension, his hand, tighter. A perplexed feeling came over him. "And it's not like you haven't felt this kind of death right?"

"No no, that's not the issue I'm having here!" Hinata protested. "Y'know, if you're that anxious to die again, I could just stay here and delay-"

I looked back to the door. Any second now. I looked back at him. "I'm going." Mentally preparing myself, I jumped.

"Whyareyoustillholdingmyhand-" he shouted as I dragged him with me in my emergency descent, "-Otonashi, you idiooooooooooot!~"

I'm really sorry, Hinata. At least we die together. I closed my eyes, preparing for the moment of impact, pain and darkness.