Author's Note: A new tadpole has arrived. I saw a picture in my Facebook saves and had to write about it. So now, I just need to introduce two more tadpoles from the first generation. There are still a few more from the second and third generations. I finally got to use a couple of ideas that I had been sitting on. Once again, I used Facebook saves to help me write. I have the rest of this month plotted out in my head. For now, enjoy this week's halo.

Halo Twenty-Four: Yoji:

Yoji

He's not going to live long. Three months, five weeks, ten days, thirteen hours, thirty minutes, and fifty seconds left.

A man walked past me on the street. I think I have seen him before. He's that detective working on the Dante case. I thought about stopping him and telling him that he was going to die soon. Nah. Something tells me he wasn't going to believe me.

Besides, I have something more important to take care of first. I pulled out my phone and looked at the email I saved on it. I needed to get to Kishitani's apartment. How I got here was a nightmare in itself.

It was last year when my powers first manifested. I work in the local library. It was a slow day. I remember that I had just finished reshelving non-fiction books about ocean life when a sharp pain struck my head. It felt like needles were being pushed into my eyes. I sank to my knees gasping for air.

What… What is this?

I started to think back to when I was in Chou Mori. No! Why would I be thinking about that again? I think someone asked if I was okay, but their voice sounded so far away. The pain went as fast as it came. When my vision cleared, Konishi-san was sitting in front of me with a panicked look on her face.

"Are you alright? What happened to you?" she asked. Her words took a moment to sink in. I backed away when I got my head together. Above her head were the numbers 37 11 9 28 12 57. The last few numbers kept changing quickly. I blinked several times.

"What's wrong?" Konishi-san asked. I could barely speak. I pointed above her head.

"N-N-N-Numbers!" I blurted out.

"Huh?" she asked. I was about to speak when my phone buzzed. We looked at each other for a beat. My phone buzzed again. I hesitated before I reached into my pocket.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Yo-san! So good to hear from you again." That voice made my stomach turn. No… No!

"Ki-Ki-Kitano-sensei?" I asked.

"That's right. So good of you to remember me after so long," he said. I trembled as it felt like the shelves were closing around me. Konishi-san was trying to get my attention but I was too focused on the call.

"What did you do to me?" I asked.

"Nothing. What do you see?" Kitano asked. I bit down on my lower lip as I looked up at my coworker again. The fifty-seven was now a fifty-four.

"What do you see?" he asked again.

"Numbers," was all that I could say.

"Good, good. Congratulations on your awakening!"

"Awakening? What are you talking about?"

"We will be in touch soon."

He hung up before I could ask any more questions. I stared at my phone. It was then I realized that Konishi-san was still trying to get my attention.

"Ishida-san?" she asked.

"I don't feel so good," was the last thing I said before I got up and walked out of the non-fiction section.

Since then, I have had to deal with seeing how long people are going to die. I thought that I was going to have to suffer through all of this alone.

This email from Miwa Yukio just might have changed everything.

Anri received a package addressed to her this morning. The box looked like something a stuffed animal would come in. There was no return address on the label. Anri turned over the box as she looked at it from side to side. She didn't hear anything inside. The pregnant girl took the package inside.

The box sat on her bed. Anri used the tip of Saika to cut away the tape. She looked confused as she looked inside. What was a stuffed owl doing sitting in the box? Nothing stood out about it. Just a fluffy white and light brown stuffed owl. It didn't look like a toy for the baby. Anri narrowed her eyes. What was this? The black button eyes unnerved her. What was she supposed to do with this?

Anri set the stuffed owl on her bed. Maybe she could donate the owl to a locate charity. She booted up her computer and logged in. Anri started typing into Google when she heard the sound of a woman groaning. The girl turned around with a gasp.

A tall pale woman stood next to the bed. Her black silky hair came down to her waist. She stood naked with her feminine figure. She stretched her neck from side to side. Anri calmed down as she stared at her. Something about this woman seemed so familiar.

The pale woman slowly opened her eyes. Anri had never seen such a beautiful crimson before in her life.

"Good morning, mistress," the woman said. Anri sat on the floor, blinking.

"Who are you?" she asked. This pale stranger locked eyes with the girl and bowed.

"I was sent from Purgatory to be your bodyguard," she said. The young mother-to-be stared at her. She's heard her say this before.

"Okay…" she said. It took her a moment to connect that this lady was the stuffed owl that was in the box just moments before. It all made sense once in perspective. It was probably one of Mikado's girls who put this together. The pale woman gave her a little smile.

"Can I have some clothes please?" she asked.

"Oh… yeah, yeah. Sure," Anri said. "Hold on." She turned and hurried out of the room.

The girl knocked on Mika's door.

"Coming!" her friend shouted. Anri paced in place until the door opened. Mika peeked through the crack.

"Yes?" she asked. Her friend pressed her lips together for a moment.

"I'm going to need you to come back to my apartment to pick up something really quick," she said. Mika didn't have to ask.

"Oh! You got your present!" she said.

"Yeah…" Anri said in a sheepish tone.

"Give me a second," Mika said. She disappeared back into her room. The girl came back with her coat on.

"We'll probably need to get you some maternity clothes soon too," Mika said. She put her arm around Anri's shoulders and smiled. The mother-to-be chuckled nervously. The girls walked down the hall.

Yoji

A shiver ran down my spine as I knocked on the door. This had to be the right place. I backed up as the door opened. A man with short messy black hair looked up and down. He pushed some strands out of his eyes.

"Ishida Yoji?" he asked.

"That's me," I said. "And you are…" I tried to remember which one of our siblings he was.

"Yukio," he said. A lightbulb lit up in my head.

"Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah," I said. Yukio moved aside. I walked inside and closed the door behind me. Another shock ran down my spine.

"How many of us are here?" I asked. Yukio did a quick count on my hands.

"I think… about… nine or ten," he said. "I don't stay here all the time myself." I followed him to the living room. A man about Yukio's age sat on the couch waiting for us. Right away, I noticed something off about him. Why couldn't I see the numbers above his head?

The young man in his white coat stood up.

"You must be Ishida Yoji," he said. Right away, I recognized him.

"Kishitani-sensei, I take it?" I asked.

"That's right," the doctor said. He bowed. I did likewise.

"So… what happens now? Do I sign paperwork or something?" I asked.

"Nah," Yukio said. "You'll stay here with us. Do you need to get your things?" Okay, I hadn't expected this. I should have, but I didn't.

"Do you need help?" Yukio asked.

"A little," I said.

"We can do that," he said. There was a pause.

"Are we going to get them now?" I asked.

"Yeah," he said. Okay then… Everything was going rather smoothly. Almost too smoothly. It's like I was expecting something to go wrong. Don't think like that. It took you months to get to this point. You're going to be fine.

You're going to be fine.

Eri sat on Shuichi's bed staring at him. How did it come to this? She stared at the tadpole with frozen eyes.

"Why are you here?" Shuichi asked.

"We need to talk," Eri said. The tadpole rolled his eyes. This again. Might as well get this over with.

"What is there to talk about?" Shuichi asked. "We are over. Why can't you see that?" She still had a cold look in her eyes.

"Then why did we sleep together that night at the party?" she asked.

"That was a mistake," Shuichi said. He clicked his tongue. What was she not getting about this? Eri flipped back her hair.

"You say that," she said.

"And I mean it!" Shuichi shouted. She just looked up at him. The tadpole shook his head. No, he was not falling for this again.

"How did you even get here?" he asked.

"I asked around," Eri said. "A couple of the girls in our class told me you were staying at this apartment. A woman in a black leather bike suit was nice enough to let me in." Shuichi had an uncomfortable look on his face. He was going to have a talk with Celty later.

"You're not going to leave, are you?" the tadpole asked. Eri folded her arms across her chest.

"Nope," she said. Why was he not surprised? So what was he going to do now? Shuichi threw his hands up into the air.

"What the hell do you want from me?!" he asked. His ex leaned forward.

"An apology for starters," she said. She narrowed her eyes at him.

"And then?" Shuichi asked.

"Let's start with the apology first, okay?" she asked. The tadpole rolled his eyes. He didn't know what to do with her for now.

Shuichi was going to have a long talk with Celty later.

Yoji

Yukio showed me to my room.

"Here you go," he said. I whistled as I looked around. My bed was surrounded by bookshelves. All my books filled the shelves. Ivy covered the wall behind my bed. Speaking of which, my bed was made up. An old paper lantern hung overhead.

"How did you get all of this in here?" I asked. Yukio rubbed his thumb on the side of his nose.

"Magic," he said. I frowned at him.

"Right…" I said.

"You good? Or do you need anything else?" Yukio asked. I shook my head.

"Cool," he said.

"Can I have some time to myself?" I asked with one hand up.

"Of course," Yukio said. "Excuse me." He bowed and walked off. I walked into the small room and lay down on the bed. Wow, this is really comfortable. I stared up at the ceiling. So I was going to be staying here for a while, huh? I mean, I could still go back to my apartment if I needed to. I just couldn't go alone.

I let my mind wander off for a while. I started thinking about a strange dream that I had a couple of nights ago. I was in the middle of this abandoned town covered in fog. It felt like I had been here before. There was no way to tell how much time had passed in this place. I wasn't sure of what I was feeling. I turned around when I heard footsteps in the fog. I couldn't see anyone.

"Hello?"

I don't know why I bothered. I've read about this type of scenario before. But was I really all alone here? I started walking to find out.

The cold cut me through my jacket. I huddled closer as I forced myself to keep walking. What was I going to do out here? I couldn't even tell where I was. I looked up to see those familiar golden arches in the distance. I didn't know whether to laugh or shake my head. I started walking faster. Why was I walking up to what could be an abandoned McDonalds in the distance? It just felt like the logical thing to do. The closer I got, the faster I started to jog. I was running in the fog.

Soon, the building came up in sight.

The McDonalds in question looked like it had seen better days. What was I expecting in a world like this? The windows had been smashed out. Dead vines covered the building. An old worn-down car was the only thing in the parking lot. Even the sign stood defiant.

Konishi-san didn't get it.

"A McDonalds in the apocalypse, huh?" she asked. She tried not to laugh. I frowned.

"What?" I asked.

"Capitalism will still be going on after the world ends!" she said, pumping her fist in the air. I rolled my eyes. I should've known I was going to end up leading her down that road.

Right now, I frowned. Why did I have such a dream? Why was I thinking about it now? A knock came on my door. I didn't feel that shock down my spine this time.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"Dinner will be ready soon," a woman's voice said. I nodded in response.

"Thanks," I said. I stared at all of the books on the bookshelves. Maybe I could read something after getting something to eat.

The light bulb lit up in Mikado's head.

"Ah!" he shouted.

"What?" Michiko asked. The tadpole rubbed his forehead.

"Why didn't I think of this before?" he asked. "I found a way to track her down." Mikado began typing away. Michiko got up and walked over to his computer.

"How?" she asked. Mikado pressed enter on the keyboard.

"I forgot about him," he said. "If I track him down, we could get him to find her." Michiko had a confused look on her face.

"What are you talking about? Who is he?" she asked. The tadpole turned to face her.

"Yasuke," he said.