Satoru's PoV

Kakeru turned around and looked at Mi, his eyes more fiery and angered than I've ever seen him. Mi avoided eye contact, so did Eimko.

I scanned the empty room. The window was open, meaning someone must've jumped out. But then, where did these cherry blossom pedals come from?

"What's going on?" Kakeru's harsh voice even startled me for a second. I walk over to the window. This is definitely too high for a normal human to jump out of.

Just then, Shiki came out of his room. For once he didn't look all that sleepy.

He stood behind the two, they were trapped. They had no choice but to speak.

"...We teamed up with someone to help Sachiko escape." Eimko mumbles. Mi stayed silent.

"Why're you interfering our work?" I ask angrily, "you know you'll get punishment as well when the heavens find out you helped."

"She's worth it." Mi says, looking directly at me, "she's the only real friend I've ever had. And if she makes it past midnight, her name will be automatically removed from the FD list."

"I barely have any connections with the heavens anyway." Eimko says, her expression saying I've-got-nothing-to-lose-so-come-at-me.

"Well we're going to find her." Kakeru growls. Then pushes past them. He's going to contact everyone else to look for her.

"Satoru?" I looked to her when Mi called my name, "you're not nearly as mad as you should be. I mean, it would be bad for your image and your work when this gets find out."

"Huh, strange." I huffed. I don't feel any anxiety at all. If anything, it was almost like a sense of relief.

Sachiko's PoV

I felt like my head was getting hit by a hammer as I opened my eyes.

Where the heck am I..? I turned my head left and right. My vision showing me a cabin.

Well...the demons must've set out to look for me now.

Slowly, I sat up from the wooden bed I was lying on. It was a small but comfy cabin. I smell wood and...ocean water. I can even hear some seagulls.

The floor creaked as I stood up. My vision started to go black and starry. I quickly sat down, and stood up again when it calmed down.

A warm breeze and bright sunset welcomed me as I opened the cabin door. The wind flowed through my hair like a comb as I put up one hand above my eyes to shield them from the orange sunlight.

There, I saw a figure standing in front of the waves that were splashing onto the shore.

"Shiina?" I called out. She responded by turning around right away.

"Good evening." She nodded to me. I look around. Hey...I think this is exactly the beach Meguru took me to before!

"If you can just stay here and not be found till midnight, you will be fine." Shiina says, a genuine smile on her face.

"How'd you know that?"

"Hayashi-san told me." She says calmly. Okay...by the looks of it, Shiina probably doesn't know that Mi is a grim reaper slash vampire.

"But Shiina...I don't want to run from my fate. I'm accepting it." I try to reason.

She stared at me for five whole seconds before saying, "whatever spell this might be, all will be broken by midnight."

She's not listening.

Well then, I'll just wait and see what happens. I sat down cross-legged onto the soft sand. Not caring if it got all over my jeans.

Beside me, Shiina sat down old Japanese-style.

Speaking of which, this was also the place where I saw that mysterious person by the highway tracks. When we made eye contact but none of the other demons seemed to notice him at all.

I let out a small chuckle when I finally realize that I should've never expected to live like any normal person in any normal life.

From the moment my memory started, I was already leading an abnormal life.

Now even more so.

Abnormal people just shouldn't try so hard to have a normal life. It's not about not trying. Who knows how many people doesn't want to be normal?

I check my wrist watch. It was 9pm. The sun was only peeking above the horizon. The other side of the sky was already settled into a midnight-blue black color.

So...I just need to hide from the demons for three more hours?

Kakeru's PoV

No one was alarmed when I sent the message. Or rather, we were roaming through the city in a carefree manner. The only one who's on edge is me. Not even Satoru seemed to be in his work mode.

"Is there any way to locate her faster?" I ask. Shiki slowly shook his head—he's lying.

"Shiki." I warned. He finally looked me in the eye.

"Beach." He muttered. I immediately changed directions towards the beach side.

Meguru's eyebrows knitted together in concern. I wasn't sure for what.

Haruhito was abnormally quiet the entire way. Not only was he not his optimistic self, but he was utterly, nerve-wreckingly silent.

"What time is it?" Kakeru asked in a rush. They were going full-speed at the beach, which was way faster than normal car or train.

"9:30pm." Satoru answered.

"We should be able to make it on time." Meguru mumbles. His emphasize on 'should' was pretty strong. It was like he was foreshadowing something.

~~

At 10:20pm, we landed on the beach shore.

Sachiko's PoV

I blinked open my eyes. I fell asleep sometime when I lied down.

It was ten o'clock.

'I wonder if I can go back if I fall off a cliff again....'

I look up to the thought source. Shiina was standing just slightly in the water washing at her feet.

'If falling off that cliff got me into all this mess, maybe...'

I stood up and walked towards her.

"What're you talking about?" I sunk my toes into the soft sand as I stood beside her. The cool waves washed up to my ankles.

"Remember how I talked to you about me travelling time?" she says with a small scoff, like she couldn't even believe it herself. "I was chasing the enemy, when they ambushed me, I fell off the horse and rolled down a cliff. When I was conscious, I was in the bushes beside the house where I first met you, Sakura-san."

I nod slightly.

"I wonder, if I fall off a cliff again..." she traced circles in the sand in thought.

"I don't know if you'll go back to your time, but I know for sure you'd die if you don't." my voice was weirdly in a joking matter. "It's already been a few days, they probably already thought you're dead."

Just then, I realize I was being rude.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to say all that."

Shiina didn't get a chance to say anything, there was a swooshing sound cutting through the quiet atmosphere.

A certain red-haired girl landed in front of me.

"Mi?"

"You gotta run. The demons are coming this way, and will be here any minute now." Mi says. When she looked up. I see her fangs are out and her eyes were black and pink.

"Hayashi-san? How'd you get here so fast?" Shiina asked, fully alarmed now. Eimko was nowhere to be seen though.

Mi showed a playful smirk, "vampire flight will always be faster than a demon's flight or angel's wings."

Meguru's PoV

It's kind of nice to the thought that Sachiko chose to come here at her last moments.

We landed at the beach, but there weren't anybody around.

"The footprints show that there were people here. And it was three at most." Satoru said after examining the sand.

"This way." Shiki mumbled to where footsteps seem to trace down the shore.

"...How many times do I have to tell you, Shiina?" Very soon we started hearing a voice. Her voice.

"I'm not under some sort of spell whatsoever. I'm seriously not avoiding my fate." She says, seemingly to another person.

When she came into view, she was walking with a woman with blue green hair and a traditional kimono on.

"But...who would want their fates to be in the hand of a demon?" the woman says back. She was just a human, how'd she know about us?

"It's not something one decides or chooses." Kakeru said as he landed in front of them. The rest of us surrounding them.

At this sight, the woman beside her instantly slid out her sword and stood in a fighting position. She didn't look like an amateur. The way her hair is done, her gestures, it was like an olden Japanese film.

Her kimono's design was from a certain time period. Maybe she's a big fan of Japanese literature history?

"Shiina, please stop." Sachiko says calmly.

Shiki took two steps forward, with one look, the woman named Shiina dashed past Kakeru and started attacking a huge boulder.

"You've already lived past your time, Sakura." Kakeru says a little harsher than needed, "It's time now."

Sachiko's PoV

I held up my arm without a word, signaling him I was ready.

Standing in front of me, Kakeru wrapped his hand around my wrist. My heard started pounding in nervousness. I took one last scan around my surroundings.

Goodbye, Earth. I guess.

It was merely 10:40pm. It was still long until midnight for me to survive now.

My only regret is that I didn't get to say goodbye to anybody.

I relax my shoulders and close my eyes. Feeling the breeze on my face for the last time.

...

I opened my eyes again when nothing happened for 10 seconds. Kakeru did too after a few more seconds.

"What the...." He whispered under his breath, he adjusted his grip on my wrist. But I was still fully conscious after another five seconds.

"Is there a problem?" Haruhito spoke up slowly.

"Your...." Kakeru slowly released his grip. Shock and surprise replacing his stern expression. He stared right at me.

"You...you don't have a soul...."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pretty predictable, but yeah.

September 18, 2015