A/N: There actually is a small reference to the Angel Beats 4-koma series, Bokura no Sensen Koushinkyoku, which you can find on mangafox or really any other manga reading site.

Time: before the end of episode 3

Characters: Otonashi, Hinata, Yui, Iwasawa

"Wait," Hinata said, cutting Otonashi off mid-conversation. "Do you hear that?"

They listened for a moment, taking in their surroundings. It was late afternoon and the two had been walking around the field, killing time until their next operation. The area was mostly quiet, with only a few straggling NPCs cleaning up after their club activities. Otonashi strained his ears and suddenly caught a harsh, screeching sound that resembled a wounded animal. He cringed as it tore through him, and Hinata did the same beside him. Even the handful of NPCs reacted to the sound, shivering and rubbing their ears.

"What the hell is that?" Otonashi asked.

"Listen," Hinata replied, and although he didn't want to, Otonashi uncovered his ears to the awful sound. "I think it's a guitar."

"And is that…singing?" he questioned, glancing at his friend. "But it can't be Girldemo, they're setting up in the cafeteria, right?"

Hinata nodded. "Yeah, that's definitely not Iwasawa's voice. And Hisako could play better than that with her feet." He shot Otonashi a smile. "Let's go check it out!"

"I…don't know. I don't think my ears can handle this sound."

"Come on, man! I wanna see who thinks they're good enough to compare to our Girldemo!"

Otonashi sighed. "Fine…"

"YUI?"

Hinata gaped at the tiny girl standing in front of the microphone. The classroom was empty except for her, but the electric guitar in her hands was set to such a loud volume that it sounded like an army of dying cats. She stopped her ferocious playing and singing at the sound of his voice and looked up with sunny elation.

"Oh, it's you two! Come here to praise my rockin' music? Or did you want my autograph?"

"What are you, stupid? You seriously think that garbage is music? That was so bad it made my ears bleed!" Hinata yelled, getting in Yui's face.

She growled and jabbed a finger into his chest. "How dare you insult my skills! I've been practicing for weeks and this is the criticism I get? I want to see you do better!"

"Trust me, even a preschooler could do better! Right Otonashi?"

Otonashi backed away to the corner of the classroom and raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. "Hey, I don't really want to be pulled into this."

"See? At least he's on my side!"

"He just said he's on no one's side, you pink-haired moron!"

"Who're you callin' a moron?" Yui screeched, grabbing her much taller opponent by the collar of his shirt.

"Let go of me, pipsqueak! You're going to drop that guitar!"

"Oh, please. A true musician never lets go of her instrument, no matter what!"

Hinata sniffed. "What are you talking about? You can't even play the damned thing!"

Yui swelled with anger. "I can too! Watch!" She shoved Hinata away with enough force to send him tumbling to the ground on his rear end. She straps on her guitar, grips her pick tight, and sends her arm flying in a windmill to belt out the opening chord.

Otonashi had to admit; she wasn't half bad. She wasn't an expert like Hisako and didn't have a steady rhythm like Iwasawa, but she had the spirit to make up for it. Her fingers fumbled more than once, staggering through difficult chords and riffs to create a jumbled sound that could somewhat pass as creative distortion. She smiled was full of determination and happiness, and Otonashi could tell she wasn't just playing to impress them; she wanted to live up to her idol band and their legendary music.

"That's actually pretty good," he found himself saying. Hinata made a sound of disbelief and gave him a look of betrayal.

Yui jumped up and down with joy. "I told you he was on my side!" she grinned at Hinata.

Otonashi stepped in between them before Hinata could make a heated retort. "Then why don't you just concentrate on improving your guitar playing? No offence, but your singing isn't the best around…"

"Now, now. Don't be so simple-minded," the girl scolded, swinging the guitar onto her back and picking up the microphone. She took a deep breath, tapped out a beat with her foot, and began to sing:

"Haigo ni wa shattaa no kabe
yubisaki wa tetsu no nioi
susume hajike dono michi komu desho"

Granted, she couldn't compare to Iwasawa's soothing voice, not by a long shot. But Yui had a different sort of charm to her singing; it was spunky and energetic, just like her personality. She brought life to the stoic, Iwasawa-like lyrics, turning them into a different kind of song.

"Hey, you sound great. You've got a good voice," Otonashi complimented. Yui beamed and spun in a gracious circle.

"So she's got a talent for both but it sounds horrible when combined," Hinata muttered under his breath.

"I guess her weakness is just multi-tasking," Otonashi agreed in a whisper.

They watched as Yui pranced around the room, belting out random lyrics and strumming off-key chords on the guitar. Without any spoken words, they both agreed that she would never really fit in with a rock group like Girldemo.

"Hey wait, shouldn't you be…helping the band set up?" Otonashi pointed out. Yui skid to a stop and stared at him. "Aren't you like the designated groupie?"

"Oh my gosh, you're absolutely right!" She ripped off the guitar, placed it with exaggerated care on its stand, and raced out the door, but not before giving Hinata a roundhouse kick in the back.

"What the hell!" he yelled as she slammed the door shut and raced down the hallway. "That damn midget…"

A second later, the door slid open again, and Hinata jumped to his feet, roaring with fury. He whipped out his handgun and pointed it at the door.

"If you hit me again, I'll blow your tiny head off—!"

He froze mid-sentence, face twitching, his gun pointed at Iwasawa's expressionless face. He struggled to say something, maybe an apology, but he simply fell to his knees and pitched forward onto the floor.

Iwasawa blinked. "Did I do something wrong?"

Hinata shook his head against the floor.

Otonashi stepped up. "Iwasawa? What are you doing here?"

She looked around the classroom. "We heard an awful sound coming from here. Hisako thought someone was messing with the instruments, so I came here to check."

"Oh, don't worry. It was just Yui," Hinata grumbled.

The concern cleared from her expression. "Yui, huh? At least she knows how to handle our equipment."

"'Handle' being a loose term," he sniffed.

"Come on, she's just a girl with a far-fetched dream. We were all like her once," Iwasawa said.

"I don't know…" Otonashi said, putting in his two cents. "I don't think she's that far off from her dream. She's not a bad guitarist and she's not a bad singer. It's just that when she tries to combine them, things go wrong."

"You hit the nail on the head there," she agreed.

"So you've seen her play before?"

Iwasawa nodded. "I gave a small performance with her once. She was trying to appeal to the NPCs like us, but she isn't much of an attraction. I went incognito and helped her out a bit since the crowd wasn't too supportive."

"Oh yeah!" Hinata recalled. "I tried to help her out with that too. Didn't you disguise yourself as a tree?"

She shrugged one shoulder.

"And didn't you fall over like a helpless turtle?"

"I forget the details," she said with a slight smile. "I like her though; she reminds me a bit of myself when I was starting out. Granted, I didn't have the nerve to blast my music through the school like she just did."

Otonashi thought for a minute and said, "You know, I think she'd really like it if you performed a duet with her."

Hinata stared. Iwasawa stared. Otonashi rubbed his neck and wondered if he should take those words back. Well, it's true, he thought. Yui looks up to Iwasawa, and I can't blame her. Anyone would be happy to sing a duet with her idol.

"Are you freaking insane?" Hinata exclaimed, shooting up from the floor. "Did you not hear her? Even you said before that you didn't want to come here because of that god-awful sound!"

"But he does have a point," Iwasawa said, examining her fingernails.

"You see? Even Iwasawa ag—" Hinata stopped. "What?"

"She's dedicated to the band, even after our constant rejection. I know she's not too great with the vocal-guitar combination, but I wouldn't mind singing a duet with her."

Hinata looked from Otonashi to Iwasawa with a scandalous expression, nonverbally deeming them insane.

"So you'd do it?" Otonashi asked, eyeing her smile.

"Call me crazy, but the more I think about it, the more I like it." She glanced at the guitar Yui had been playing on. "I've never really shared the mic with anyone, but the NPCs might like it. It's a new kind of flare."

"You serious about this?" Hinata groaned.

"Totally. It might be a little difficult to get the rest of the band to accept her, but if it's for one song, I won't mind."

Otonashi laughed. "You're going to make her really happy."

"I bet."

Hinata threw his hands into the air and stomped out of the room. "You're all just crazy!"

But that night, contrary to Hinata's disbelief, Otonashi thought he'd never seen such an enthusiastic audience at their concert. And he'd definitely never seen such a big smile on Yui's face.