Hello everybody. otaku here. nice to see you all again. its been exactaly a month from my last post on one of my works, all that time i have been editing chapter 1. if you have read the original, you will still want to at least scan through this because there has been some new plot elements added. also, you will notice that this chapter edit ends earlyer than the last. this is because i wanted to keep it the same amount of pages and, well, it just made more sense that way.
this draft is much, much better. pls enjoy and comment. 
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I was clueless back then.
I can’t believe I did half the things that I did.
But I would not want to redo it.
“Why?” you may ask?
Because if I did and she found out I’d be screwed.
She would never forgive me.
And if she isn’t able to forgive me, I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself.
Chapter 1: Her
Beep. Beep.
Even though I heard my alarm, I didn’t even think about getting up. I was not tired, though. I was in that state you get into right after sleeping; your mind floating between your dreams and reality. Every time I got there, I never wanted to leave. Not even a bit. I would be content to stay like that all day. Under my covers, all warm, within the dream I was having. I was in the perfect world, in the best school, with great friends and-
“Takato. Takato?”
-The perfect girl.
“Takato!”
“I’m awake!”
“You better be, don’t you realize that school starts in 5 minutes?”
“Five minutes!”
Somehow, we made it out the door 3 minutes later, and then made a mad dash to school. We made it right before the bell. Don’t ask me how, but we did. That is pretty impressing, too, especially for me. Three blocks, three sets of stairs, one into the school and up two floors, and my driveway in two minutes.
“Cuttin’ it pretty close again, Takato. I still think your house adds a good mile to your walk,” I heard a soon as I got into the classroom.
“Shut it, Zack,” I huffed in between breaths.
My house was pretty big. My parents left it to me before they disappeared. I have no clue where they may have gone, nor have they talked to me in any shape or form for the last three years. They had a lot of money, so a month after I started seventh grade they put a bunch of money in a bank at told them to let me have so much a month. Not that I miss them that much. Since they were always traveling or working I had to mostly fend for myself anyway.
“Without her you would be screwed.” Zack pointed behind me.
“I know,” I said went into my famous I-suck-at-life position for a few seconds jokingly. To sum it up, head hanging down, face in a frown, and arms limp.
“I’ve got to say, I’m impressed with you. Her figure is great, though she does lag in the breast department a bit…”
As soon as he said that I’m sure my face turned red. Needless to say I’m shy and that Zack is a bit on the perverted side. Problem is, I never stay in shy mode long, so others don’t notice.
“Sh-shut up,” I stuttered.
“Come on Zack, do us a favor and grow up, or at least get through puberty,” said a voice from behind me.
Zack turned to me, shrugged, and walked way towards a group of girls.
“Man, he just never quits.”
That was Toji. I guess you could say he’s my best friend, but that’s not saying much. We talk during homeroom and during lunch, and sometimes play a few games together online. I’ve known him since the third grade, but I still don’t know anything about his personal life.
“Tell me about it,” I sighed.
Then Jeno Sensei walked into the room.
“Class representative.”
“Yes sir. Stand. Bow….”
________________________________________________________________________
I think by now you are probably wondering who she is. Her name is Rena. Its not like we’re dating or anything; we’re just friends. I repeat: just friends.
It all started a few days after my parents left. I was told to go with her to put back some library books because the school librarian was out. It was obvious that we would be chosen because, bluntly said, we were the only ones that knew the difference between fiction and non-fiction. Reading really wasn’t a popular hobby if you know what I mean.
While we were walking we exchanged normal hellos, but then she asked me “How are you”. It was just a normal greeting, so I could of said “good” or “fine”, but for some reason I felt that I needed to tell somebody and that I could trust her. And I did.
I don’t know weather she listened out of pity, or that she actually cared, but she listened none-the-less. And when I was done, and since we where the only ones in the library, we talked some more.
Not long after we found that our paths crossed when we went to school, so we started walking there together. Needless to say, that gave others the wrong idea.
That was about three years ago, and Rena is still the only person that knows. It’s not like I’m hiding it, though. Its just a bit…. uncomfortable to tell people.
For example:
Policeman: “Hey kid, where’s your parents.”
Me: “ Oh, they kind of ran away on me three years ago.”
Get what I mean?
Bring.
I got up from my desk and headed towards the classroom door. On the way I passed Rena.
“I owe you one for this morning,” I said to her.
She turned to me, “It wasn’t a problem.”
“Yes it is. I’ve been sleeping in a lot lately and it’s making more work for you.”
“No, it isn’t, but you should try harder to wake up on time.”
Toji came up from behind me.
“You’re just too nice to him, Rena. You should just leave without him one day to teach him a lesson,” he said.
“If I did that he would just sleep ‘till the next day and not notice a thing,” she laughed, “Anyway, I have to go. See you tomorrow.”
Once Rena was gone, Toji turned to me.
“Zack’s right, you two do make a good couple,” he said, half smiling.
“I’m telling you, it’s not like that!”
“Whatever you say,” Toji shrugged and, then walked away.
The next day I forced myself to get up. I got into my uniform, ate, and did all the other usual things people did in the morning. I met Rena along the way at the usual spot, one block away from my house. We said our normal hellos and talked a bit while walking. When we got to class we went our separate ways. I talked to Toji, ignored Zack a bit, and then sat down for class.
After fourth period we braked for lunch. A few friends and I eat on the roof of the school, on the side overlooking the courtyard where most of the girls eat. Needless to say, Zack sits with us.
As I sat down, I started to get a headache.
“Dude, you don’t look so good,” Zack said. I must have had my hand on my head.
“I’m fine. I just need a drink from the fountain,” I replied, standing up.
I staggered down the two flights of stairs from the roof to the second floor. When I got to the water fountain and started leaning over to get a drink I heard footsteps, like someone was running. Slowly, trying not to make my head hurt more than it already did, I looked up to find a kid running extremely fast down the hall towards me. He passed me up, and then jumped down the stairs to the ground floor. I don’t know why, but I decided to follow him, even though I was sure I could never catch up. Now that I think about it, it was probably because I guessed he was running from a fire or something like that. I wasn’t going to stay to find out, too.
When I went down the stairs I saw the guy run out the door that led to the courtyard – the one where all the girls eat. When I got out the door I saw bodies everywhere. I couldn’t tell weather they were asleep, knocked out, or, worse, all dead. I stared at them, still staggering forward. I started hyperventilating; fearing that whatever happened to them may happen to me. I felt woozy, not able to take the scene before me.
I moved my line of site to the sky. Looking at anything but the bodies would do. I was surprised to find the normally nice, peaceful blue sky tinted red. Then I looked straight forward, still not able to look directly at the bodies. My heart skipped a few beats when I found that everything beyond the school’s property was tinted red, like the sky. It was as if blood covered the sky; the blood that for some reason missing from the scene on the ground.
My mind started racing through the many possible ways I could die in the next ten seconds. Between the blood-red sky and the bodies on the ground, I was freaking out. Then my mind started to scramble and darken what I was seeing. I was barely able to keep standing. Whoever said that the mind had an off switch to protect you was lying; fainting was the last thing I wanted to do. It might numb the pain in the end, though…
A painful groan brought me back into control. It wasn’t because it was the first sound since the squeak of the doors when I first came into the courtyard. It was because I knew that voice. It was probably the only voice I could recognize layered with so much pain.
I turned around and saw that there was some movement. It was Rena, somehow still awake. I ran to her.
“What happened?” I asked, still shaking.
“I don’t know,” she replied, attempting to sit, “everyone just fell!”
“I have to call an ambulance or...” I started.
Rena suddenly pointed behind me. I looked over my shoulder and saw a kid standing behind me. He was wearing a school uniform that I never saw before.
"No, you don't." He was casual, as if nothing was happening.
“What do you mean I don’t?” I yelled at him.
He stayed silent. Then he lifted his hand in my direction. Suddenly, I couldn’t move. It was as if he paralyzed me from the neck down. My mind again went through the many ways I could die. Then they were gone, along with all my other thoughts.
“You did this, didn’t you?” I surprised myself at how casual I was. Maybe I was crazy after all.
He ignored me, and then turned towards Rena, who was still awake. He made a face as if he was trying to decide what to do with her, and then lifted his hand.
“Leave her alone!” I yelled at him.
He still ignored me, still looking at Rena, who looked like she was too scared to move.
“Rena!”
I snapped. I forced myself to get up and then ran at him full speed and hit him in the stomach as hard as I could. He went pretty far – but I wasn’t concerned about that. I ran at him as he was trying to recover. When he was stable, he looked at me, and then his eyes went wide.
Then anger overtook me. My mind went blank. My eyes were still open, but I remembered nothing of what I was seeing. I only needed to protect Rena. Nothing else.
I woke up in my house, in my room on my bed. I could see through the window that it was dark out, but I had no idea how many days I had slept. Then Rena came through my bedroom door and walked in.
“Thank goodness, you’re finally awake,” she said as she walked to beside my bed.
“Yah. Could you tell me what happened?” I sat up.
“You mean you don’t remember?” She was shocked for a second, and then stared at me, wide-eyed. It couldn’t of been that surprising that I forgot what happened. Heck, it could of all been a dream for all I knew.
I shook my head, “Nope.”
“A…after,” she glanced down at the floor for a second, “after you fell, everyone woke up. By the time the police came, everyone was fine and just went back to eating lunch. The police decided that it was a prank and left.”
“ What about the two guys?”
“Two guys? I only saw one, and he disappeared in all the commotion.” I guess she didn’t see the other guy from the hall. For some reason, Rena was pausing between phrases.
I stretched. This was way too much to process after just waking up. Then my stomach started rumbling.
“Man I’m hungry,” I said.
“You should be,” Rena replied, “you’ve been asleep for more than a day.”
“Really?” I said, “I hope you at least went to school.” I was sure she did. The last time she missed school was 2 years ago when she had the flu.
She glanced away from me again, more out of shyness this time, though.
“I skipped today.”
“You did?” I was surprised at her answer
“Yes, but it’s no big deal.”
There was silence for a little while.
“Uhm…” I said, breaking the silence, “why don’t we go down to the convenience store and get something to eat?”
“Okay,” Rena replied, “are you well enough to come?”
“Yep, I’m fine.”
We both started eating as soon as we got back. Well, it was more like I started shoveling food in my mouth as soon as we got back, and Rena just shook her head and started eating too.
We made small talk for a few minutes, and ate in silence for another few. In that time I reviewed Rena’s story in my head.
So, after I fell unconscious everyone was…wait a second.
“Hey, Rena?” I somehow fit more than one word in between shovels of food.
Rena seemed caught off guard, “Yes?”
I stopped shoveling for a few seconds, “How did I fall unconscious?”
Rena also stopped eating, “You just fell.” She said it very a-matter-of-factly.
Something sounded fishy.
I decided to test the pieces of her story, “So I fell while everyone else recovered?”
“Umm… yes?” she tried. On most days I probably wouldn’t of questioned her this far, probably just accepting what she said. It’s true that Rena is good at keeping secrets, but not from me. In the end she would either blab it out by accident in the middle a normal conversation, or I would guess right. I wanted answers today.
“Are you not telling me something?” I accused.
“No.” By now she knew I was on to her. She was half joking and half buying time.
I gave her my “yeah, right” look, “Uh, huh. Whatever you say.”
She paused for a second, and then looked back at me. “Okay, I’ll tell you, but your not allowed to tell me I’m crazy.”
“Your crazy,” I smiled. Then Rena gave me a dirty look and I stopped.
Rena took a deep breath, “You grew wings and a tail and fainted after you hit that guy twice. Happy now?”
“What?” I wasn’t sure weather to start laughing or take a step back, though the latter would have been impossible since I was sitting.
“Just what I said,” Rena was a bit miffed, “you had neon green wings and a tail, hit that guy twice and knocked him out, then fell, or do you not even remember the whole day?”
“I remember up to the first time I hit him, but…” I shook my head, getting back to my questioning, “are you okay? I mean, you looked pretty bad back there and-“
Rena cut me off. “I’m fine. I told you you’d think I’m crazy.”
. Since I couldn’t argue with her, and she seemed too mad to say anything more, we ate in silence for a few minutes.
When Rena finally calmed down she spoke, “Why were you in the courtyard anyway?”
“Well, I had a headache, so I went downstairs to get a drink from the fountain. I saw a guy run past me and I followed him outside, but I didn’t see him again after that.”
We talked for a few more hours, and then Rena had to leave. After she did, I walked into my room and hit the spacebar on my computer. I then sat down and clicked the desktop shortcut to the newest Massive Multiplayer Online game I’ve downloaded. I needed to get away. To blend myself among the crowd of thousands, sometimes millions, of people. To be someone else for a while.
That night my thoughts were about my conversation with Rena. The main part I thought about was when she said that I had neon green wings and a tail. Most of me said it was a lie. That Rena was seeing things. That that whole day had been a dream.
But, there was a small part of me that said that it happened, and that it was all real. Anyway, I was sure Rena didn’t lie to me. The way she said it. She was both embarrassed and sure of what she said. I was sure I could trust her. At the very least, she hallucinated it.
If only there was another witness…
im gunna hurt a reviewer!!! one of them told me that it was "weather" instead of "whether"!!!!
