Angel Beats! A Step Closer

Act III Chapter 10: Him

Three days was the amount of time before he would have to participate in Operation Tornado for the first time...again. For Otonashi, it felt like history was repeating itself. Rejoining the battlefront, talking with Yuri on their supposed base's rooftop, getting their gear from The Guild, and now the operation to raise Girls Dead Monster's popularity. In this repetition of history, one would think that they would experience the same feelings that they have had before. However, what came stacked on top of that was the reality that he initially denied. The truth he wanted to forget. That same reality is the one he slowly found himself accepting at the cost of remaining numb. With no tears left to shed and no intimate feelings remaining, there was no reason for him to be emotional.

After the meeting, he found himself on the roof, leaning forward against the railing. The uncomfortable feeling of wanting to throw up was now pushing up against his stomach. As his body told him something was wrong, his mouth opened, but nothing refused to exit his organic pipe. He hacked and coughed; a few non-emotional tears trickled out his eyes. The doctor's body's gag reflex was repeatedly triggered, and all he could have done was suffer through the pain of expectancy. Something needed to come out. But why is it that he wanted to wail?

In what seemed like forever, Otonashi slowly let himself fall to the ground with his hands sliding down the railing. His sense of time lied to him, for he was too invested in himself. What felt like an eternity was actually two minutes.

"...Ugh." Otonashi hoarsely groaned, his unintelligible words heard only by silence. He gulped, hoping the last of his episode was swallowed up and never return. With his mind now able to think, his consciousness told him to regain control of himself clearly. He clutched his chest and took deep breaths, focused only on the task his body told him to desperately complete.

A phone ringtone sounds through his breathing alongside a vibration that pulsed through his thigh. At the current time, no one would have the right reasons to contact him this moment. Receiving calls was uncommon for a guy like Otonashi, and they tended to be purely for his job at the medical center.

He just didn't want to pick up. The false sense of aching told his mind to let it go to voicemail, but his consideration of the circumstances said that the call has some importance. It was too late for Otonashi, as it seemed the person at the end of the line disappeared, the phone no longer ringing as it was. His head pressed against two bars of the fence, he released himself from the comfort of the fence that hugged his head and flipped himself over to lean against it. The lower portion of the fence bars pushed on his back, the heat from his clothing wanting to equalize across surfaces, and his back quivered.

Yuri had changed the times of the daily meetings to where they were to the late evenings instead of morning, which was a rather rapid decision to make, and he was hoping to get used to the schedule they endured. She provided no real reasoning, which was atypical of her personality, according to various members of the battlefront. It was a rather cliche moment, comparable to some type of media scene that a character, who is well known for consistency, does something completely different. Except for a few special ones, the battlefront members showed their surprise, and he could only shake his head. Hinata was right: they all were pretty much the same. While many maintained their looks, many of them retained a significant portion of their personalities from the afterlife. Of course, there were some differences.

With only a few of the members questioning the sudden change, Yuri only looked to Otonashi and gave a blank stare. An omitted fact that was transmitted through their brief eye contact was that most of them were still idiots. She could only reply to them that they've done this for every single Operation Tornado hosted, and a collective, "Oh..." was heard. What was supposed to be atypical for her personality was a simple and expected schedule change. It was laughable. To Otonashi, it was one of those uncommon moments that can be placed in a scrapbook. It was a moment to look back on and mildly show appreciation for.