FOREWORD
This is my first go at writing fanfiction. The Angel Beats! anime has the honor of first inspiring me to do so... partly out of love for the series, but also out of what I didn't like about one episode.
I try to steer clear of stories that involve young children dying in any form. I'll go so far as to check movie spoiler websites to see if that happens, I don't care if it spoils the ending for me. I'm that dead set against it. It's why I decided not to see Alien 3 after I enjoyed its predecessor, Aliens. It's why I never got into the Game Of Thrones series. It's why I'll never see Titanic again after being goaded into it by my now ex-wife. Reading about the deaths of children in the news and social media is depressing enough, I don't want that in my entertainment as well.
So it goes without saying that the scene involving Yuri, her siblings and the tragic home invasion that ended their lives was the hardest part of the entire Angel Beats! series for me to get through. This is how I'm dealing with it. I couldn't find any official names so I named them Kari, Hana and Sota. I put their ages at 11, 10 and 5 respectively so they may be a little older than how they were depicted.
It was always a goal of mine to write a short story or create a webcomic about the afterlife, specifically what was in store for those souls whose young lives ended way too soon before they could achieve everything they wanted to accomplish. I've already posted a blog a couple decades back imagining what Heaven would be like, and how it would accommodate those unfortunate beings. This comes from a progressive Christian perspective, but this work does include beliefs generally present in common Japanese religions, not to mention still conforms to the Angel Beats! afterlife setup, albeit a more lenient "junior version" of it.
This is indeed a work in progress. For the sake of others who felt bad for the siblings and want some kind of literary consolation, I decided to post the first few chapters that set up their new environment. They may have ended up in a more perfect world, but they will face some challenges and surprises. I hope you enjoy.
P.S. Before you correct me on the song title... Google "Dexter Holland".
CHAPTER 1
A loud bang.
A millisecond of immense pain in the head.
Then, suddenly, a feeling of weakness and dizziness.
Kari found herself lying on her back, staring at an ornate domed ceiling. The floor felt like soft, thick carpet. Where am I?, she thought. This is not my home. We don't have carpeting in our house.
She could hear dull chatter all around her, with an occasional groan of confusion or scream of shock. What's going on in this room? Wait, wasn't I shot?
She felt the back of her head. No hole. No blood. No shattered skull bones.
Am I dead? Is this...
Propping her upper body up with her elbows, Kari surveyed the gigantic room. It was like a big-city train station without the trains. Then, looking at the people around her, it seemed more like an infirmary without the beds. It was mostly children, some adults, sprawled all over the floor. There was also a good number of adults in matching bright orange uniforms walking around and talking to those on the floor. She could also make out three floors of several small rooms completely surrounding the open area, and a wide corridor leading to some kind of park outside. Every few seconds, a person or two would materialize out of nowhere. They were dressed in a wide assortment of styles: casual clothing, formal dress, school uniforms, hospital gowns. A few would even show up naked, which would send some of the uniformed people running towards them with robes to cover them with.
How did I get here?, Kari continued to wonder. Are my parents here? Did someone get those bad guys who broke into our house and terrorized us? Where is...
"KARI-CHAAAAN!"
Kari stood up and turned in the direction of her name being called out. Several meters away, she could make out Hana on her hands and knees, visibly shaken. Trying not to step on anyone else, she dashed to her sister's side. Tears and a gripping embrace greeted her.
"What's going on? Are you alright? Where are we? I can't find Yuri or Sota..." Hana struggled to get the words out between hysterical gasps.
"I don't know, but I'm glad I found you!", Kari feverishly replied. "Stay with me and let's look for them."
As they started moving and looking around, they were approached by an orange-clad young man. "Hello, can I be of assistance?", he asked.
"My name is Kari Nakamura, this is my sister Hana. I don't know how we got here, but we were with another sister and brother of ours and we can't find them."
"Our sister's name is Yuri and our brother's is Sota, he's five years old so he'll be shorter than us," Hana chimed in.
"I see. What do you last remember before coming here?"
"We were at our house, all gathered in the living room, some people broke in, and..." The horrible incident was now fresh in Hana's mind, and it started to affect her speech. "They t-told Yuri to look for something and if sh-she couldn't find it they would kill us! She ran all over the house... th-then... Kari got sh- sh-..."
Hana broke down in hysterical cries, wrapping herself around her sister.
The man remained calm, laying his hands on both their heads. "It's okay now. There will be no more suffering here."
Hana struggled to continue. "I could hear Y-Yuri screaming and crying some more as she looked for anyth-thing to give to them... and then..."
Her words were interrupted by a hit from the lower back and two small arms wrapping around her hips.
"ONEE-CHAAAAN!"
Hana turned to see her little brother, out of breath and devastated, latching on to both her and Kari.
"I want Mommy! I want Yuri-saaaan!" Sota yelled out as Kari hugged him.
Suddenly the man in orange looked up. "I'm going to need some help here! Multiple casualties, appears to be the same family!"
Seconds later he was joined by a young, tall woman with red hair, wearing the same bright orange uniform and holding an electronic tablet.
"Please follow me. There's a lot we need to talk about, so let's use a consultation room. We also need to get you registered and in the system."
"But what if Yuri comes here and can't find us?" Kari asked.
"We will have one of our associates keep a look out for your sister," replied the man. "What does she look like?"
"She's much taller than any of us, her face kinda looks like mine, she has red hair..."
"Much taller?" asked the woman. "How old would she be?"
"Fifteen."
The uniformed man and woman exchanged concerned looks at each other.
"Let's pick this up in the consultation. Follow us, please."
CHAPTER 2
"My name is Maggie, and my associate here is Carlos. We will be handling the registration process. Do you all have the same surname?"
"Yes, it's Nakamura," Kari replied. "I am Kari, the other girl is Hana, and the boy is Sota."
"Very well. Please write those names down in these spaces, as well as your dates of birth."
The comforting atmosphere of the consultation room did little to alleviate the tension between the two workers seated behind a large white desk and the three apprehensive children squirming on the soft beige couch, huddled around the electronic tablet.
"Now pass that around and place your hand in the square next to your name, so your handprint will be on file with us. This will be used to identify you throughout this world."
Kari added hers, then guided Sota's hand to the square next to his name. She then handed the tablet to Hana, who pressed her hand to the screen and then handed the device back to Maggie.
"Very good, you are all now in our system!" Maggie set the tablet aside and smiled gently at the three children as Carlos continued to work at the computer terminal. "Now... I know this is going to be hard for the three of you to understand, but please listen. You are all here because... something happened that ended your lives in the world you were in. I'm terribly sorry that this happened to you.
"This is what we call a 'between-life world', or 'BLW'. There are different kinds of these worlds for different people. You ended up in this BLW because of how young you were at the end of your life, and the architects of this world designed it so that you can do almost anything that you were unable to do in your life, so that your self-fulfillment may be complete and you have no regrets before you pass on to whatever's next. This is not meant to be a world that you can live in for eternity, but you are able to stay here for a maximum of one hundred years from the date of entry.
"This BLW was specifically designed for young children. If your sister Yuri died as well, she would end up in a different BLW that was meant for her and other kids her age. There are a few exceptions, but generally those older than thirteen years of age are not targeted for this world."
"So we won't see Mom or Dad or Yuri-san ever again?" Sota, on the verge of tears, could barely get the words out.
Maggie rose from the desk and swiftly walked over to the couch to comfort Sota and the others. "I know it's hard to take... I know you loved your parents and your sister very much... and who knows, maybe once you leave this world you'll be able to see them again. Nobody knows exactly what's beyond our existence, but this world was put here to give troubled souls another chance to finish whatever goals they had in their natural lives before moving on."
"The good news is... you are unable to die here. You will regain your consciousness and your health in a matter of seconds," Carlos chimed in. "The bad news? Well, you are still able to feel pain in your bodies. While this world is free of disease, and your bodies are restored to perfection, you'll still get a stomachache if you eat or drink too much. That's why we still warn you against doing anything too risky. While you won't die because of anything you do, it'll still hurt for a bit."
"And while you are free to do anything here, we still have rules against harming other people," said Maggie. "Everything in this world is under watchful eyes. Bullying or other forms of unwanted violence are quickly dealt with. We have people you can talk to if you ever feel like lashing out at somebody.
"Everything you ever wanted is free, but if you feel better about actually paying for something, we can still give you money and nobody will tell you how much something is. And you can sleep anywhere you want... in a house, in a hotel, on the street, in a park, at school, on a mountain, anywhere. Nobody will stop you... unless you're at school in the middle of class, you might get scolded for that."
"And about the schools here," Carlos interjected, "you're welcome to go, but you don't have to, you won't get in trouble for not going. The schools are here for those kids who wanted to meet some sort of school goal, such as graduate, get their intended degree, win a game, make the perfect science fair project, and so on. You still have to follow the school's rules, though, if you decide to go there. But the good thing is, the rules will be different from school to school. We even have a school where anything goes, nothing is too weird and aside from the bullying thing, there's no strict rules."
That lifted Hana's spirits a little. From the time she started primary school, she was disheartened by all the rules she had to get used to, the constant nagging about keeping her uniform neat and tucked in, getting chastised for not paying attention or not staying still. But she still had a love for learning and didn't want to ditch school altogether. The thought of an extremely laid-back school life brought a faint smile to her face.
"Is this something you're interested in?" Carlos asked as he noticed that smile.
"I... would like to go outside and see this world," Hana replied. "Do you want to go for a walk?" she asked her other two siblings, who nodded, their faces still tear-streaked.
Maggie stood up. "Yes, let's get some fresh air. Time to see what awaits you."
The five of them made the journey down the corridor into a courtyard of colorful walkways and all kinds of exotic plants. A wide fountain occupied the center of the courtyard, adorned by a tall sculpture of several angels holding urns that either poured out or sprayed water. Straight ahead was a crystal-clear lake buffeted by a white sand beach full of activity. To the left was the entrance to a massive amusement park. Between the amusement park and the lake was a tall, ornate luxury hotel with what appeared to be a thousand rooms. And on the right was an expansive transportation hub, with several rail terminals, bus stops, bike racks and a parking garage for cars.
A glistening city skyline in front of a snow-capped mountain range could be seen in the distance beyond the hub. The rich blue sky was dotted with a sun and some small clouds. A small storm system could be seen in the distance past the lake.
Children were everywhere. Running, playing, on bikes, on roller skates, sleeping on benches, sleeping in the grass, wading and swimming in the fountain, or just sitting and admiring the scenery.
Kari was surprised to see so many adults interspersed among the throngs of children. She turned to Carlos and asked him, "Didn't you say not many adults made it to this world?"
"That is correct," Carlos replied. "But keep in mind, not every adult you see here is a genuine human being with a soul."
A confused look took over Kari's face. "What...?"
"I'm afraid I can't answer any more questions. We must go back and assist other new arrivals like yourselves. The tour guides in the courtyard will be able to help you with any other questions you have. Please feel free to call on them."
"Enjoy your stay!" Maggie shouted as the two of them walked back into the Welcome Center building.
Kari waved nervously to them, and turned to face her siblings.
"Well... what do we do now?"
"I want to see what's at the amusement park!" exclaimed Hana. "Do you want to go there, little brother?"
Sota nodded, and his face managed a small grin.
I still want to know about the adults without souls, but I guess some fun is what we could use right now, thought Kari. Just to take our minds off of trying to comprehend our situation. "I'm cool with that. Let's go!"
CHAPTER 3
"Was that roller coaster awesome or what?!"
"I'm usually sick from those rides but I handled that pretty well! I guess that's what they meant by 'perfect bodies' or whatever. What did you think, Sota-kun?"
The little boy was still in a nervous daze, but with a wide grin on his face. Patches of powdered sugar whitened his mouth as he devoured a handful of funnel cake.
"I'm pretty sure he liked it," Hana giggled. "What should we do now? The river rapids?"
"I'd like to see if there's any rooms available at that hotel before it gets too late."
"Oh yeah. I'd rather sleep in a big fluffy bed than on the grass."
"Kari-san? You want any funnel cake?" Sota asked as he swallowed down another piece.
"Hmmm... maybe a little bit..."
"If we're dead and our bodies are perfect, you don't have to worry about the bee dees, right?"
That gave Kari pause. Ever since she was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes, she always had to meticulously watch her diet, and not overdo it on sugary treats. Does this mean I can gorge on funnel cake or ice cream and it won't give me problems? she thought.
"I think you're right, Sota-kun." She ripped away half of the remaining fried delicacy and shoved it in her mouth.
"Hey! That's too much!" Sota fumed.
"It's okay, bro. We can get another one!" Hana replied as she made her way to the booth that supplied the funnel cakes. Two boys were in front of her but she didn't mind waiting.
Kari licked her fingers. No bellyache, no pains, I'm eating a ton of sugar and fried bread and I'm perfectly fine, she thought. I could get used to this. She turned her attention to the snack booth where Hana stood in line.
One of the boys turned to leave, funnel cake in hand, and stopped in front of Hana with a look of awe on his face.
"Hana-chan?"
The look of awe shortly took over Hana's face as well. She knew that face from somewhere, but she couldn't pinpoint it. Slowly the realization set in.
"U-Uchiro, is that you?"
His face lit up. That was all she needed. It was him. The boy she played with since they were toddlers. The boy that wasn't afraid to play with her Bratz dolls, and in turn let her play Transformers with him. The boy that she hadn't seen in two years, after she got the terrible news that he drowned in a lake while on vacation with his family.
Uchiro plopped the funnel cake down and gave her a big sugar-dusted hug. Hana gripped him tightly, tears welling in her eyes but joyful tears this time. Kari and Sota were closing in on them.
"I MISSED YOU SO MUCH!" Hana cried out.
"Uchi-kun! It is you!" exclaimed Kari, as she added herself to the hugging.
"Is that Uchi-kun?" asked Sota. He grabbed a fistful of funnel cake from Uchiro's plate.
"Hey, that's not mine!" yelled Hana.
Uchiro laughed it off. "It's okay, that's my third funnel cake today. Sota-kun can have it. I haven't seen him in forever. Not any of you. What... happened..."
"Can we... not talk about that today? It's our first day here," Kari nervously interjected.
"Ohhh... I'm sorry. I really am," Uchiro replied sheepishly.
"Don't worry about it, Uchi-kun." Hana gave a reassuring smile and patted Uchiro's head.
"I'm so used to just enjoying this world, I forget that when I got here, it took about three days for me to adjust", Uchiro continued. "I hope you all feel better in time and can have fun with us."
Kari took Sota's hand, sticky from the funnel cakes. "I think we need to go ahead and get that hotel room. I hope we meet again soon, it was great to see you!" She paused. "Does... this world have cell phones?"
"Yes, I think you can get them at the hotel," Uchiro replied. "Let me follow you there and then we can exchange our line info."
Kari's eyes widened as they stepped foot into the massive hotel lobby. White marble and potted plants were everywhere. She could make out a fancy restaurant in the background. A handful of stores were also in the distance. Across from the hotel desk, on a small stage, a young blonde-haired girl in a silky dress was playing a violin while a tuxedo-clad dark-skinned boy performed masterfully at a piano, lending generously to the exquisite ambience.
The four of them approached the hotel desk.
"Hello, can I help you with anything?" asked the woman behind the counter, her bright orange neckerchief accentuating her otherwise conservative business suit.
"Do you have any rooms available right now?" Kari asked.
The woman checked the monitor. "Let me see... we do have a few available. Will this be for all four of you?"
"Um... just three of us," Kari replied as Uchiro separated himself from the group and walked over to the performing duo.
"Very well... please place your hand on this box and we'll get you checked in. Is this your first visit?"
"Yes. In fact, we're new to this world," said Kari as she rested her hand on the box.
"I see... well, I hope you take advantage of everything this world has to offer! I like to call it 'Royal World', where 'Royal' means 'Rest Of Your Assumed Life'. Everything you didn't get to do in your lifetime, you should be able to do here. Anyway, the guides from the Welcome Center already talked to you about how things work and how money is optional, yes?"
"Yes, they did."
"So would you like some cash to spend, or a credit card to swipe?"
"A credit card sounds good... you want a card too, Hana? Sota?"
The other siblings nodded.
"Very well. Let me get your room key as well. You will be in room 857."
A minute later, four cards were handed to Kari. Three of them had random numbers and a "VIDA" logo imprinted on them. One simply had "857" on it.
"We do have several stores on the far end of the concourse if you need anything. Elevators are by the restaurant entrance. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask any staff member. Enjoy your stay!"
Uchiro rejoined the three as they left the hotel desk. "All set with your room? Good, the phone store should be next. While we can't call the living world, at least we can keep in touch with each other."
Several minutes later, they all had their cell phones. The group then made their way to the clothing store for a few days' worth of things to wear. A short elevator trip later, they finally made it to their suite.
Kari collapsed on one of the huge, fluffy king beds. Sota crawled up beside her.
"I miss Mommy. I miss Yuri-san." Sota was trying his hardest to hold back the tears. Kari hugged him and stroked his hair.
"We all do, Sota-kun. But there's nothing we can do. I have to take the lead in this family now. Let's just treat this like an extra-long vacation from home and try to deal with it that way."
Hana stood by the window, admiring the night sky. Uchiro joined her.
"I'm heading back to my place. You all gonna be okay?"
Hana looked at him and nodded. "I think we'll get used to it. Thanks for the help."
"Anytime. When you're settled in I'll have to take you to some of my favorite spots, like the Extreme Park, the Silver Coast, and the Eternal Christmas village. Stay in touch, alright?"
Uchiro said his goodbyes and left the room.
Hana walked back to the two beds and a beaming Kari.
"I always thought Uchiro had a thing for you."
"Oh my God, seriously?" Hana blushed. "You're such an idiot."
"You know our parents are saying stuff like that right now. They're probably going 'Well, our angel is together with Uchi-kun again' or something like that."
"Ugh... and we can't stop them at all. I'm so embarrassed."
"Come on, let's get some sleep. Sota's out cold. He'll probably wake up screaming because he's not at home and everyone's missing. And we gotta be ready for that."
"You're right about that. Good night, big sis."
"Good night, Hana." Kari curled up next to her brother and drifted off to sleep.
Hana laid flat on her huge bed and stared up at the ceiling. This is gonna be the new normal, I guess. No more Mom and Dad. Probably no more Yuri. It's just me, Kari and Sota... but at least I know Uchiro's here too.
She could feel slumber closing in, but the thoughts kept popping up.
How long will we stay here in this world? Is there any way to visit other worlds? Is there any kind of window to the living world? Are we stuck as kids? Do we get to grow up?
Hana's eyes slowly closed. In her mind she could see Uchiro in a flashback to her younger days, both of them laughing and playing with water guns in the park.
Do we get to fall in love here?