“Station 16 is now departing.”

Yami boarded a long, blue bus. Handing the driver a voucher, Yami walked to an empty seat and sat in it. Once the bus began to move, and there was still no one sitting next to him, Yami laid back. Closing his eyes, Yami began to drift into sleep.

Yami’s hand rubbed Alexis’ back as she threw up into a trashcan. As she stopped puking, she walked over to a sink and washed out her mouth. As she wiped her lips, she looked Yami in the eyes.

“How am I? How are you? I’m not the person who owns these memories, and even I’m traumatised by them.”

“Station 16 is now unboarding.”

Yami’s eyes fluttered open as he regained consciousness. Picking himself off of the seat, Yami stepped off of the bus and took a deep breath.

“Yeah, this is Yume.”

Walking from the bus depot, Yami looked at a map on his phone.

“It looks like my house doesn’t exist, as one should figure, but Alexis’ house and the school still exists. I guess it’d be easier to meet Alexis at school than at her house, so I’ll head there.”

Yami turned off his phone and continued walking. Finally arriving at the school, Yami noticed almost no changes to the building. It looked exactly as it had before the shooting. Not allowing himself to reminisce about his student life, Yami walked to the back of the building where he jiggled the handle of a door, letting himself in.

“This building really is the same.”

Yami walked through the halls and found himself passing the locker room.

“I could use a piss, I guess.”

Opening the door and walking to the urinal, Yami began to relieve himself. Not long after, a loud group of boys walked into the locker room.

“Guys, I’m being serious. I can’t take it anymore! We really did this, or we’re going to!”

“No, there’s no way! Besides, from what I remember, we did it because of that one guy, Sei!”

Yami zipped up his pants and crept over to the sink, being careful to not make a sound.

“Listen, all I know is that we did this, and we’re probably bound to do it again! I don’t want to die like that! I was a mess!”

Yami let out a sigh and turned on the sink to wash his hands.

“Hey! Who’s there?!”

“Sei.”

The group gasped. The group emerged from around the corner. It was the group of boys that conducted the attack.

“Fuck… It really is him…”

“See? I told you! We’re going to do it again!”

As Yami finished washing his hands, he split the group to get to the hand dryer.

“What if we kill him now? We didn’t before, but we can now!”

Yami patted his hands on his pants and turned to face the group.

“If you wanna try, now’s your chance, because after this, I plan on leaving. But don’t expect me to hold back. Oh, and by the way, Sei was far weaker than I am.”

One of the boys stepped forward. It was the leader.

“Sei, I don’t want to fight you. I want to understand how we can stop this.”

Yami rubbed the back of his neck.

“That’s a tough one. But before I can try to help you, I need to understand how you know about your future.”

“A couple nights ago, these thoughts just started pouring into my head. At first I thought I was dreaming, but then I realized that these were memories, not dreams. The same goes for all of these guys.”

“I see. Well, here’s how I see it: You guys are completely different from the ones that you think you’ll become. I’m sure it’s a detail that was skipp over in your memories, but you guys were failures as students AND as people. You bullied myself and my best friend to the point we were scared to come to school. I beat your asses, and, from what I gather, drove you guys to commit mass murder. You guys were truly worthless individuals, but you aren’t right now. Don’t let these thoughts haunt you.”

The leader held out his hand.

“Thank you, Sei.”

Yami grinned and locked his hand into a firm handshake.

“No problem.”

As they released hands, Yami continued to talk to the group.

“Now that I’ve helped explain some things, I need your help, too.”

“Yeah, what is it?”

“Do you know where Alex-, er, Shukumei Shin is?”

The group of boys scratched their heads at the question.

“Sorry man. The name rings a bell, but I have no idea who that is.”

“No problem. Take care.”

Yami walked out of the locker room and put his hands in his pockets.

“I guess this’ll be harder than I thought. Even the bullies are different.”

Yami looked at a clock, realizing that it was time for lunch. Excitedly, Yami walked into the library, but recognized no one.

“That’s right. We didn’t start coming here until we started to research what happened.”

Yami walked into the hallway and out of the school. As he began down the sidewalk, a faculty member stepped out of the door and began to yell at him.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“What do you think you’re doing?! Get back in here right now!”

Yami waved his hand, but didn’t stop walking.

“I don’t go here. By the way, you need to fix your south entrance.”

“I’m calling the police if you don’t stop!”

“I’m already wanted. One more call won’t do anything.”

As Yami disappeared into a nearby woods, he pulled up a map on his phone again.

“I guess I’ll start heading over there now.”

----------------------------------------

Knock knock knock

Yami stood on the front porch of the old house.

“This is her house, but it looks like it wasn’t kept up as well.”

Locks made loud noises as they were undone. After the final click of a lock, the door opened to reveal a 50 year old woman.

“What do you want?”

“Mrs. Shin? I’m Yami Shinpai, a friend of your daughter’s. I was hoping I could see her?”

“Aren’t you a little old? Besides, she’s at her father’s for the week.”

“Ah, I see. Well, let Alexis know I stopped by. I’ll leave no-”

The woman grabbed Yami’s arm and stared into his eyes.

“What did you just say? How do you know her?”

“I-I’m her friend.”

The woman loosened her grip.

“Please, come in.”

Yami walked into the house and was prompted to sit on their couch, which he politely accepted.

“How long has it been since you spoke with Alexis?”

“Far too long.”

“I see. What is she like?”

“She’s really nice, always worries about others, and I owe her a lot.”

“Sammy was it?”

“Yami.”

“Right, Yami. I have some bad news about Alexis. I’m afraid we lost her before she turned 8 years old.”

Yami couldn’t respond. He sat and listened.

“We lost her to a form of brain disease. There’s still no cure, from what we understand, but I miss her everyday.”

Yami stood up from the couch.

“Thank you for telling me.”

Yami walked over to the door. As he put his hand on the handle, the woman’s voice stopped him.

“Why did you come today?”

Yami clenched his left fist.

“Ma’am, it may not be my place to say this, but Alexis was the sweetest woman I ever knew. I know it doesn’t make any sense, but had she lived, she would’ve grown up to be the most beautiful woman you can imagine, with a heart that was far greater than her looks. You should be proud.”

“For some reason, I can tell you aren’t lying. Thank you, Yami.”

Yami’s response was opening the door and leaving.

----------------------------------------

Yami waddled onto the bus and sat himself into a seat. Feeling the bus begin to move along, Yami attempted to stretch out, but felt another person sitting next to him. Opening his eyes, Yami saw that it was the leader of the group of boys.

“What are you doing on this bus?”

“I’m not sure. I’m going anywhere. I need time to think.”

Yami shut his eyes and leaned against the window, falling asleep once again.

“How are your grades looking, Yami?”

“Well, I’ve accepted a while ago that I will be stuck here forever, so I began to actually attempt to learn in my classes. Since freshman year, I’ve had a 5.0 GPA. When I’m not spending time on this, I’m spending it on school. My intentions are to carry these memories back to my world so I can be successful. I mean, this is a whole life we’re talking about. You normally only get one, but I’ve gotten three. May as well put them to good use. What about you?”

Alexis chuckled.

“I’m at a 4.0.”

Yami raised his left hand in the air, but continued to write in his right.

“Nice job! Keep up the good work!”

“Yeah!”

As their hands clapped together, five gunshots were heard from outside.

Yami’s eyes quickly opened as screams filled the air. The bus began to slide sideways, then hit a wall. Yami looked out of the window to see that the bus was on a bridge.

“What’s going on?!”

The leader was covering his head.

“I don’t know! There was a pop and the bus started to slide on the ice! We just hit the side of the bridge!”

Yami felt the bus slowly start to fall backwards.

“Listen to me. We’re about to go under. The water’s gonna be cold as hell, so take a deep breath before we hit it, then try to calm yourself. It’ll be hard to breathe.”

“This can’t be happening…”

The bus continued to slide off of the bridge until the weight forced itself to completely fall 15 feet into the icy water below. The crash caused all of the passengers to scream, but the freezing water quickly made them become quiet as it forced them underwater. Yami shook the leader and nodded to him. Yami swam to the front of the bus and punched the windshield, shattering it, but causing his fist to bleed profusely. Shaking the leader again, Yami pushed him towards the front of the bus, along with other passengers, who swam to the surface. Yami took a deep breath of air and looked down at the bus.

“I’m going back down to get some more.”

“Wait, I’ll go too.”

Yami saw determination in his eyes.

“Okay. Let’s go.”

The two swam back down to the bus, which was sitting on the floor of the river now. Reaching it, Yami saw people who were unconscious from the crash, and children who couldn’t swim. Yami pointed to the kids as he grabbed a few adults. As Yami swam back up, he waited for the leader. Fearing he wasn’t okay, Yami prepared for another dive as he popped up with a group of kids.

“There’s still one more person trapped underneath a seat. I’ll go get him.”

Yami grabbed his shoulder.

“It’s almost been a minute now. He’s too far gone.”

The leader threw Yami’s hand off of him.

“I killed how many innocent children? Saving one person is the least I can do.”

Before Yami could say anything else, he dove underwater once again. Hearing a loud tearing noise, Yami looked up at the bridge to see the cables snapping.

“Everyone! Swim to the shore, and be careful of the bridge!”

Yami led the charge, making sure to break any large ice chunks that may be in the group’s way. Just as Yami reached the shore, the bridge made one final creak and it collapsed into the river. Most of it landed on the bus.

Yami jumped back into the water and dove to swim to the bus. Dirt from the bottom of the river was stirred up from the collapse, making it hard to see in front of him, but Yami finally saw the bus. It was completely flattened underneath the debris.

“I told you to not go back.”

Yami shook his head and swam back to the surface. The passengers were violently shaking from how cold they were. Yami guided them up to the side of the road and walked back into the woods. Forming spheres in his left hand, Yami broke apart trees into small logs. Bringing them back to the group, which now had a few blankets from passing drivers, Yami laid the logs into a couple campfires, then ignited them with small flames he shot from his finger tip.

Within a half hour, a flurry of police and ambulances appeared. The police held up shotguns and pistols at Yami.

“You have a warrant out for your arrest! Freeze and we won’t shoot!”

Yami sighed.

“Guess it’s time for me to leave.”

“I’ll be leaving now. There are two bodies still in the bus. Everyone else is here. Bye.”

Yami propelled himself off of his toes into the forest. Sprinting through the woods, Yami looked at a map on his phone. Finding the nearest building, which was four miles away, Yami walked to a back door and slid his hand down it, finding himself in Rikai’s hallway. Rikai poked her head up from over the couch.

“Hey! How’d it go?”

Yami took a knee and began to catch his breath. Rikai ran up to him.

“Hey, you alrigh-”

As Rikai put her hand on his shoulder, she quickly threw it off.

“Yami, you’re freezing cold and sopping wet! Go get in the shower and warm up!”

Rikai put Yami’s arm over her shoulder and guided him up the staircase to the bathroom.

“Once you’re done getting in the shower, let me know and I’ll grab your clothes.”

Yami nodded and began to strip in front of her.

“Hey! I’m still in here!”

Rikai walked out of the bathroom and shut the door behind her. Hearing the water turn on for a moment, then hearing Yami’s call, she walked back in. His clothes sat in a damp pile on the floor. As Rikai picked them up, she saw Yami’s silhouette standing still underneath the water.

“Yami, everything alright?”

Yami kept staring at the ground.

“Alexis died when she was 7. She doesn’t exist in this world.”

Rikai dropped the clothes onto the ground and opened the curtains, embracing Yami, who was still freezing cold.

----------------------------------------

Yami stepped out of the shower with a towel wrapped around his waist. Getting food from the kitchen, Yami began to satiate his hunger. Rikai sat a pile of clean, dry clothes next to him. Her hair was still wet.

“There you go!”

“Thanks.”

Rikai laid on the couch as she heard Yami wash the bowl he was eating out of.

“Hey Yami, can I go to the meadow?”

Yami walked out of the kitchen with his sweatpants on and his shirt still over his head.

“What for?”

“I wanna see it. It sounds beautiful.”

Yami rubbed the back of his neck.

“I don’t see why not. I was planning on training today, anyways. Let’s go.”

Rikai stood behind Yami in the hallway as he opened the door into the meadow. Stepping into through the door, the warm summer breeze hit Rikai. As she looked into the sky, the gentleness of the blue sky, light grey clouds, and warm sun soothed her.

“It’s really beautiful here. I could live here!”

Yami shrugged.

“All I’ve ever done here is train, but I guess I can see what you’re saying.”

Yami cracked his knuckles.

“Well, I guess I’m gonna go for a jog. I’ll be back in a few.”

“How far are you going? I’ll join you!”

“I was planning on going to check something out, so maybe 10 miles?”

Rikai nerviously chuckled.

“Yeah, nevermind. I’ll be here.”

“Right. Be right back.”

As Yami jogged through the woods, he finally approached what he had wanted to find. A mossy cave entrance greeted him. Slowly creeping down it, he did not hear Akahishi’s voice. Finally reaching the bottom, Yami turned on his flashlight and found the entrance to the blue room. He didn’t have to crawl, he simply walked through as if it were a doorway. Passing through, he reached the pedestal room. Walking up the spiral staircase, Yami found himself standing in front of the box. Opening it revealed a note written in a foreign language.

“What’s this?”

Yami flipped the note over to see a picture of a hand on the bottom of the box. Yami turned the box over to see a strange symbol on the box. Placing his left hand on it, Yami sent life essence into it, causing the symbol on the box to glow, which cause more symbols on the box to appear, all glowing a bright blue. Yami set the box back onto the pedestal, and a hole in the wall of the chamber suddenly began to form. From it emerged a man who appeared to be in his early twenties. He wore short, spiky hair and tattered robes. He looked up to Yami and waved.

“Hey, Jinsei no Hogo!”