Chapter 1

That Summer Heat Five Years Ago

In his quiet home, Mitsuru Kano sat in front of his computer. High noon was shining into his window. He then stood up with a thousand unrelated tabs of school research, useless Wiki pages, and music on his screen. On the other side of his room was his keyboard. Mitsuru felt like playing it.

What did his mom make for him today? Mitsuru had already forgotten by the time she and Dad left for the city.

Getting to the hard part of the song, Mitsuru tripped on a note. He played it again but hit the same wrong note. Before he repeated it for the third time, Mitsuru kept his fingers frozen on the keys, deliberately trying to sense the tension leaving the digits. He began playing, at first, at half the speed. He played it with no errors. Mitsuru then did it once more, slightly faster. Then faster, but his finger slipped, so he replayed it slower. Mitsuru continued at that speed until he finished the whole song. Mitsuru stood up and then walked to the kitchen.

He prepared the chicken, which had already been marinated since this morning, and pulled the pan from the drawer. Mitsuru bobbed his heel up and down to a song in his mind.

CRASH!

Mitsuru turned around at the sound of something outside of his home. It sounded like something heavy had landed outside. He went to investigate.

Opening the door, Mitsuru saw embers, carried by the wind, drift across the sky. To his right was a little crater of molten earth. Mitsuru stared at it for many seconds, speechless and motionless. Far in the distance, in the center of the Southern Suburbs, there was a bright red, fiery glow. It was like a pit of hell had opened up, and from it came flames that drifted like fireflies. Another eruption occurred as meteors flew through the sky, reaching close to him in the northernmost part of the suburbs, a distance of miles.

Mitsuru quickly retreated into his home. Running past the big window in his living room, he was even more aghast when the trees surrounding his neighborhood began to catch fire and spread rapidly.

He needed to call emergency services immediately. Running down the hall into his room, he snatched his phone.

It had a battery of three percent, and Mitsuru furiously cursed himself. Mitsuru's heart raced as he fumbled to dial the number. Before the operator could finish her sentence, Mitsuru yelled into the phone. Fire. There was a fire. If he didn't leave soon, the trees would spread the flames and engulf his home. He spat out his location and his escape plan before quickly hanging up and dialing his mother. He screamed the same thing.

Two percent. Mitsuru needed to call his friends. He stomped the ground in rage when his finger hit the wrong digit as he quickly gathered his essentials. They would be near the bus stop. His phone had died.

By the time Mitsuru was outside, the leaves, so dense that they covered the sky, rained down with fire. He had to get through this and all of the suburbs. Jumping onto his bike, he pedaled with no time to waste.

Where did this fire come from? Mitsuru had come close to dying on multiple occasions. The twisting maze of the suburbs would lead him straight into a burning house or over the edge of a railing, but he was close.

"Someone! Mom?! Dad!? Help! Please!" Mitsuru heard a girl crying in the distance, deep in the fire but close. Without his phone, he couldn't call anyone to save her. No, he couldn't stand idly by. He was right here, yet he was thinking of letting this girl die. Mitsuru had to help.

"If you can hear me, yell as loud as you can, okay!? Where are you right now?!" Mitsuru yelled with his hands cupped around his mouth

"Behind the house! I'm left—I can see you!" Turning to his left, Mitsuru saw the girl trapped in a house. She looked barely in her double digits, crying with her stuffed toy. The front of the house was torn off by bright red debris, and a burning plank blocked her way.

He needed some way to break it, but the last thing he could do was kick at it. As he thought, he swung his heavy satchel around.

"My satchel." Mitsuru grabbed it by the strap. He brought it over his head and then down with a crash. The wooden beam split into two. "Quickly!" Mitsuru cleared a big opening, extending his hand out. Without hesitation, the girl listened. "Where are your parents?!" Mitsuru frantically questioned. If they weren't here, then he couldn't just leave her.

"My mom went to a neighbor's house for a bit. My dad's at work." The girl whimpered, pointing further into the fire. She pointed to a particular house with a red car, but Mitsuru had run by that house, and the bus stop, only a little bit away, was in the opposite direction.

"No, we can't go back." Mitsuru stared at the wall of fire that rose high into the sky. He would surely die.

"But Mom, we have to–" Mitsuru felt his being wither with each word he uttered.

"We have to keep going." The girl only froze in horror, ready to ball out. This wasn't right. This girl was too young to lose a parent. He was thinking about it wrong. If he was fast enough...

"Can you run?" Mitsuru stared into the teary eyes of the girl and stammered. She was too terrified to speak, and the adrenaline in his blood flared. "I said, 'can you run' damn it!" Mitsuru screamed.

"Yes!"

"Then run. Turn the first left and keep going. My friends are at the bus stop. They'll take care of you, alright? Go. Now!" Mitsuru hugged her tight, gave her a pat on the back, then pushed her away and sprinted into the fire in search of her mother.

This was a stupid idea. No adult would promote this naive heroism. Mitsuru had his eyes set on the house. There were peculiar noises beyond the flame: metal clashing with metal and concrete being shattered. The girl had pointed towards a red-roofed home.

"Is anybody here!?" Mitsuru got a reply around the back.

"Help! My leg...my leg is pinned!" A woman cried from behind the house. Mitsuru rushed to the back. The woman, the girl's mother, was stuck under the concrete wall of the house. There was no chance that Mitsuru could lift it by himself.

"Miss, are your legs crushed?"

"No, I'll be able to walk, but I can't get out without hurting it badly."

"Can you push against it? Use your hips?" Mitsuru tried to lift it with her, but it barely budged. It was propped up at an angle, but there was a gap. Mitsuru searched through the rubble, and he found just the proper tool. Mitsuru ran up to the woman with a sturdy wooden support beam, untouched by the fire. In his mind, he remembered a lesson from elementary physics.

"The lever works by reducing the force in exchange for distance traveled. So the longer the arm, the less work you have to apply to move the same load." Mitsuru jammed the beam into the gap. He put his foot on the arm and stomped down so hard that it hurt his foot. It was just enough for the mother to crawl out.

"Your daughter was trapped in her house, but she made it out, and my friends are with her. She said this was a neighbor's house. Where are they?" The woman looked despairing.

"She was crushed. There's no way to rescue her. My daughter, you said you saved her? She's alright?! Where is she?!"

Mitsuru's lungs seemed to tear apart as he sputtered, "I told her to run to the bus stop…by the park. She should be with my friends—" The woman embraced Mitsuru tightly and began weeping into her arms.

"Thank you so much." He returned the gesture, but somewhere in his mind, he doubted what he assured.

The girl was not even a minute from the stop. She could have likely died right after he let her out of his sight. He screamed inside his head. There was no time for such thoughts. His legs felt fatigued from all the running. His throat was dry and wheezy.

"You don't have to worry about me. Please, just go." The woman insisted that she help him. The house had toppled over. Mitsuru felt weak; his throat was a desert, and his vision pulsed along his heartbeat. Above his head, many burning beams fell from the sky. They were like spears. It was so out of place—so surreal—and it was coming at them. Without saying a word, he pushed the woman away and felt the sharpest pain of his life, but only for a mere moment.

His eyes felt exhausted beyond belief, and his body felt stuck to the earth. But a sudden realization hit him. Mitsuru jolted up, still feeling like he'd fall back down at any moment, twitching to keep himself awake.

"Where…?" Mitsuru looked around him. Everywhere was pitch-black. So his eyes were closed. He looked down and saw himself—his shirt, pants, and satchel. His eyes weren't closed. "What?" He was too tired to assess his situation until—

"BOO!" Mitsuru figuratively wet himself. He jumped off the ground with a racing heart and eyes that had been ripped open.

"What is wrong with you?!" He tensed up hard after that spook, and his tiredness subsided. Then, his mind began to function again, and he realized where he was. He remembered the events leading up to this point, right down to the last second.

Before he could say anything, his heart began beating faster, and his eyes widened at the vast landscape of utter nothing around him. He pulled up his jacket sleeve and bit himself hard on the arm. Unless he was dreaming of pain, this wasn't a dream. Dead people don't dream. This is hell—fuck! Oh God!

"Calm down. Calm down. You're not dreaming, but this isn't as bad as it seems." A voice spoke out to him. Mitsuru jerked at the voice again.

"Who?! Where?!" Mitsuru spun around to see no one. His chest hurt, and he was getting lightheaded.

"You can only hear my voice, not see me. Please take a deep breath and relax, and I'll tell you all you need to know." The voice tried consoling the boy like a caretaker would a child.

"Yes, calm down." Mitsuru complied but found breathing techniques to be in vain. It was as if he had lost all sense of reality. The boy wasn't in reality for all he knew.

"First things first...you are dead right now." The voice reiterated.

Mitsuru knew he was dead. "Alright–That's cool. I know–Just tell me where I am. Please!" he snapped. He was losing his mind.

"...You are in my realm of no name. Neither Heaven nor Hell, Paradise nor the Underworld, and not ready for rebirth, but here with me." Mitsuru tried wrapping his brain around this information. Thoughts darted around his head like a storm of bullets.

"...who are you?" Mitsuru asked with his mouth anxiously open. There was no place as empty that he'd heard of, except for no place at all. There was neither heavenly sunlight nor clouds. There is neither brimstone nor fire. What other afterlives were there? Was this the afterlife or a messed-up final vision?

"...I am a voice in this lonely world."

Mitsuru stared blankly with his breath held. He looked at the open darkness. "Why am I in this void? Why is there no one around? Do all dead people go here? I don't see any–"

"The truth is. I don't quite know why you are here. I've never had anyone here…well, not like you. I don't know if there's a particular reason," The voice answered worriedly, "but I'm sure this is not your final destination."

With each passing minute, he felt more on edge. "My final destination…in the afterlife? This isn't it?"

"I don't know, either. There has to be a reason to be conscious here, no doubt. This is not a place one just stumbles upon. Whatever the reason is, we'll be sure to find it. Being stuck in this place…I would not want that to happen to anyone." The voice's sincerity was apparent as if making this search a duty and promise.

Mitsuru had not expected that kind of empathy, but this uncertain factor was still terrifying.

That's optimistic, Mitsuru thought. I really hope, with everything I've ever had, that he's right. Mitsuru's thoughts began to trail off. But the more Mitsuru thought about his current circumstances, the more he felt a pain in his chest. He rubbed down his body. It seemed completely fine and unharmed. Another question arose. What happened after he died?

Mitsuru began to walk around. The ground below him was pillowy. What am I going to do now? Mitsuru began to ruminate. "Do you know what happened to my mom and dad? My friends too? What about that kid? Did she make it out? Her mom?"

"Would you be glad to know that they are safe?"

"They are?! Oh, thank God. I did it. Everything's alright." Mitsuru was elated, and he lay silently. Did I leave them behind? In saving two lives, he gave up his own. No matter how much he said to himself that it was the right thing to do, knowing what he left behind hurt too much.

The voice then showed that he could read Mitsuru's mind. "Think carefully. All you know and love believe that you have died. What would happen if you returned? It's been two years. They've all moved on. My apologies, but if you are contemplating finding them…please don't."

Let it go? Let it all go away?

"Two years? So I can go back? You know what's going on in the real world. Is there some way that you're seeing across dimensions? Can you travel across dimensions, too?" Mitsuru feverishly asked. He couldn't imagine an existence so alone.

"…yes. I can connect here to the real world. But please, do not seek them. It would be too troubling. For both you and them." Mitsuru wasn't thinking clearly. He wanted to see them again. But...

"I have to meet my friends and family. It's been two years. There's so much we missed. My friends are seniors now. I have to ask about that…" Mitsuru looked down at himself, his fifteen-year-old self. The voice was right; he hadn't changed a bit. What would happen if they saw him like this? Mitsuru couldn't go back, not as a person of the past.

I just want to sit.

He wanted to smash something to pieces. Nothing was stopping him. The formless voice sounded like it wouldn't hinder him, not all the way. If he asked how he could just go and return to life. Why did it seem easy? Why was this hellish scenario possible? A cushioned chair had magically appeared. Mitsuru felt himself pushed gently downward.

"Here, sit down. In this world, time flows slowly, I find. You have all the time here you need to get comfortable. How could anyone live so alone? I'm sorry." The voice talked as if he had lived for thousands of years in the very solitude he wondered about.

"You can't tell me to do that. No, that's not fair!" Mitsuru quickly stood up, grabbed the chair, and hurled it far away with teary eyes. He then went and picked it up, putting it back. "How do you do it? How do you live so alone?" Mitsuru asked.

"I am no human. It is my nature to be lonely. Sometimes, nothing happens so long that I fall asleep, yet I can never tell if I am asleep or not. Everything looks the same, with or without sight. I simply accept my conditions because that is all I know." This emptiness was Mitsuru's worst fear. Now it was his reality.

"Just accept it...huh." Echoes of Mitsuru years passed by in his head. Was this a test after death? He looked down at his feet. Everyone would die one day. After that…

He covered his eyes and looked high above. The cruel situation kept infuriating Mitsuru, he thought. But really, he felt tired. Numb.

"About my apparent loss of sight, at this point, you could pull down your pants and defecate and urinate all over the ground. I'd never notice even if you did so in front of me."

Mitsuru's eyes shot wide open, and he burst into an uncontrollable laugh. It brought him down into the chair. He couldn't have been more caught off guard.

"I get the best comedian for free. Screw everything I said. It was all worth it." Behind his chuckles, tears welled up in his eyes.

"Of course! Unlike my fellow hikikomori, I practice my social skills to lie to myself that I still have a chance at interaction. My efforts have been rewarded." The voice clearly knew Mitsuru's humor. As little as it was, he found it just a little easier to see a brighter side.

Mitsuru's breathing slowed. He wasn't sure yet if he could fully let go. If he went back one more time to wrap things up.

"There's still something I want to do. It's just giving a final goodbye. I know you can read my mind. I promise I won't do anything stupid. May I please do that?"

"…very well. I'll be watching over you in silence." Mitsuru made a perplexed face at that statement. Then out of nowhere, he felt everything in the nothingness around him disintegrate. All his senses dulled to nothing, and he became weightless, adrift.

"I believe something will happen so that we may spend our days content."

(-)

Sensation. The waves of sound, smell, and sight crashed against his brain. He jerked awake once again. The woods around him were overcast, and rain heavily beat the ground. His gray hoodie was splotched with mud and grass, and by his hand was his satchel.

I think I know where this is, but…it's been pretty long since then. Mitsuru stumbled through the forest, bracing himself against the trees. These woods, he recalled, were close to his neighborhood. The forest ahead began to thin out, and Mitsuru heard the sound of a passing car.

He was in the middle of a woody road, one that he remembered. Mitsuru turned left towards his neighborhood. The rain began making him cold, and he was still far from the school. Gray clouds loomed over him, peeking from the leaves. Mitsuru saw how some trees were reduced to stumps while others left only a vacant spot. What time was it? What day was it? Mitsuru saw the first house.

They really haven't changed, Mitsuru thought nostalgically. They were all little single-story homes, reminding him of everyday suburban life. It was serene.

In the first house, the driveway was empty. A lone woman he could not recognize was doing her daily chores through the window. She reminded him of his grandmother and the occasional peace in his life. Weekday? Mitsuru quickly left. Before he headed for the school, Mitsuru had another place to visit.

In between the southern and northern parts of the suburbs was a church. It was one of the reasons his family moved here. Even if he had Japanese ancestry through his mother, his parents had lived in America for most of their lives. They had taken what remained of their faith back to Japan. Whether or not these beliefs were real at this point stirred his mind. For now, he stepped forward. There was a small plot of land for deceased members of this building, one being his grandmother.

Walking up to the grave, Mitsuru read the name on the grave.

"Maru Kano." He tried to recite a prayer even if he forgot most of the words. Upon glancing right, Mitsuru's attention was caught. It was his grave. He didn't think that he would find it here. Mitsuru went to take his phone out for a photo, but when he tried to turn it on, he remembered that the phone had run out of battery long ago. Mitsuru shrugged. Maybe some other day. As he left, he turned back and looked at the crucifix that loomed over him at the top of the building. What do You have in store for me this time?

As the sky began to clear, he passed the southern suburbs. They were the polar opposite of the northern suburbs with bigger houses and no woods. Mitsuru reached the gates of the school he had graduated from long ago, Keisei Junior High School. Mitsuru would have started his senior year.

Huh, they replaced the windows. Mitsuru glided his fingers over the cold steel gate. He could faintly see the current classes going through their lectures. Even after many disasters, the city and the world kept moving forward. Content with what he saw, Mitsuru lowered his head. Exhaling, he pulled away from the steel bars and then turned away.

(-)

Shido Itsuka rested his head against his hand, slowly being lulled to sleep by the recital of passages from dull books. The start of the school year was the worst. Looking out the window, he saw bright sunlight reflecting off the puddles and a lone person walking away with a straight back.

Author's Note:

For those who recognize this account, this is the rewrite of my first story, A Spirit Unlike Any Other.

For those who haven't heard of me, that story is still up for you to read, and it is a prequel to my other story, The Shadow of War. As a warning though, it's very old and of poor quality. It will be removed once this rewrite is finished.

Like the original, this is an AU fanfic that will loosely follow the story arcs of season 2 of Date a Live with twists that come with having a new character. There might also be spoiler material for Date a Live outside of season 2 and the anime, so be warned. Though I don't plan to overshadow the plot of Shido and sealing the Spirit, Mitsuru's story should have equal time in the spotlight that will bring the two together. That is my goal with the rewrite right now.