"Akari-chan!"

"Akari!"

The said woman turned around to find her two bestfriends. "Haruka! Tomo-chan! Heya!"

The two women caught up to her and they began heading towards the office elevator together. When the three entered the empty elevator, the brown haired woman spoke, "Let's go out for dinner. It has been a while."

"Akari, we had a dinner date last week." Tomochika reminded her.

"Oh..? Yeah, right...." She blinked. I forgot about that.

"We can go tonight as well." Haruka smiled sweetly.

"Sure. Where should we go this time?" Tomochika responded.

As the three women exited the office building while discussing where they should have dinner, Akari's eyes got distracted. She thought there was someone waiting for her outside the building. What's with me? Who'd wait for me aside Tomo-chan and Haruka? Clearing her head, she followed after her friends.

After having dinner outside, Akari was on her way home. On her walk to the train station, she saw a crowd of people at her side. Curious, she asked one of the people gathered. "Excuse me, has anything happened here?"

"Yeah, there has been an accident." She felt bad hearing it.

In the train, she saw news of a fire accident breaking out. Everyday, there are news of accidents...

Somehow, it all gave her a sense of Deja vu.

When she entered her apartment, she was hit with a sense of loneliness.

Why does my apartment feel so empty? It feels so cold.... She turned on the heater. As if I'm lonely. I have my novels and Quartet Night and STARISH's posters! I'll read a new manga tonight.

After a shower, she laid on her bed with the book. Despite trying to concentrate, she couldn't divulge in the story. Sighing, she got up.

The sky is clear so maybe I'll go stargazing...

She arrived at the rooftop of her apartment building. The breeze felt nice. Slowly, she walked towards the railings. Leaning her elbows on the railing, she rested her chin in her palm and stared up at the sky.

The stars are so bright tonight...

Closing her eyes, she sighed ever so softly. These past months have been so monotone.... Almost like it's too peaceful... but hasn't it always been like this?

A sudden memory flashed in her mind. A bright glow surrounding her when she stood at the same place in the rooftop. Something fell from the sky.

Her eyes snapped open and she looked around. The roof was empty save for herself. What was I expecting? Supernatural beings to descend?

Laughing at herself lightly, she shook her head. I've read too much manga...

She looked at the city ahead. "..!" A black shadow covered the whole place and she could feel the ominous energy surrounding her.

But when she blinked, it disappeared.

"Huh?" She blinked more but the scenery from before didn't appear before her eyes. "What was that?"

She rubbed her eyes and looked for any sign of the shadow but she didn't find any. "Was it my imagination?"

"What's with me... hallucinating strange things...."

Sighing, she looked up at the night sky. She remained charmed by the dazzling stars. Mindlessly, she reached out a hand up in the air, trying to grasp something.

It has always felt like.... I feel a pull towards the heavens... Like something is beckoning me...

"Me and my imaginations...." She shook her head at her own thoughts. "But..."

She closed her eyes and prayed sincerely from her heart. "I wish for something nice to happen."

. . . . . . .

"I'm sorry, Akari. I truly am." He gently placed his left hand on top of her head. "Know that I won't forget you."

"I don't want to forget you either! Not you or anyone!" She cried out. "All of you are so important to me."

"Ugh..." Akari groggily opened her eyes, taking a moment to have her golden orbs adjust. That dream again....

She wiped her face with her hands and sure enough, her cheeks were wet. I cried in my sleep again....

She sat up with a tired huff. How many times have I seen that dream and woke up crying? Goddammit, what's the meaning behind that dream?!

Shutting her eyes, she tried to remember the dream again. As she expected, it was hazy. I was crying in that dream... someone was with me. . . . But who?

She let out another frustrated huff. Why can't I remember the important details?! What am I, a shoujo protagonist?

Thinking she had enough about the dream, she got out of bed. When she came out of her room and about to enter the bathroom, she paused.

"Hm?" She turned her head around to look at her living room. Her eyes fell on the empty couch. Was somebody there?

Then she clicked her tongue. "Who'd be here with me at this hour?"

After freshening up, Akari went behind the kitchen counter and lazily made coffee. She yawned into her hand but then she noticed something.

"I've done it again!" She glared at the two mugs of coffee: one red and another blue.

It's a mistake I make everyday! Am I that sleepy in the morning? Or am I just out of my mind!

"It's about time I put this damn red mug in the cupboard!"

By the time it was noon, she was hella bored. She always treasured weekends but nowadays, she didn't know how to spend the free time. She had a lot of manga and romance novels but she still had a lot of time in her hands.

Were weekends always this lonely?

Messily lying on her bed, she took out her phone. Oh...

She finally found something interesting to do. No matter how many times she went through it, she always enjoyed it.

It was reading the report about the joint live of STARISH and Quartet Night.

"Man, what a day it was!" She grinned to herself while scrolling through the screen. "It was lonely, though, since Tomo-chan and Haruka couldn't come."

I thoroughly explained everything about them to the person sitting next to me. I taught him how to use the penlights before but he forgot. In the end, he said he enjoyed the live. Of course, he enjoyed it! STARISH and Quartet Night are the best!! I must say, it was fun to share my excitement with someone. Gotta thank him later for coming.

She read through the passage. "I still can't remember how this person looked like. Oh well, I always sucked remembering people's faces."

But I remember sharing my thrill with him. He seemed like he had fun too. "Still, I wonder why he came to the live in the first place if he didn't really know about Quartet Night and STARISH."

Maybe he came with his girlfriend to accompany her. I didn't ask him about that. She must've been on the seat on his other side.

She put on her headphones and played the playlist containing her favourite idols' solo songs. I wish I can meet him again. Maybe at a fan meeting or something...? I think he'd be more knowledgeable about them by then... and he'd have become a true fan like me.......

Akari didn't know when she drifted off to sleep.

#### removed his hand from Akari's head as the girl was beginning to fall unconscious. She still held his cloth tightly, showing her desperation.

"####..... I... l-love..." you.

#### stopped her from saying those words that could possibly stop him by planting his lips on hers in a brief kiss. The last thing she felt before fainting was the bittersweet kiss. He placed her down on the couch.

Akari woke up with a start. Immediately, she touched her lips. Her chest heaved up and down with each pants.

What was that dream?! It all felt too real to be a dream! Who was that man? He... kissed me!? Ugh! What's happening with me!?!

"Something is definitely wrong...." She mumbled while rubbing her forehead. A headache was starting to form. This happened whenever she put force in her memory. "Let's just... go out."

. . . . . . .

Akari sighed. Tomo-chan and Haruka both are busy today... What will I do by myself?

The female walked mindlessly. She was bored out of her mind. That's why, she just went wherever her legs took her. She boarded a train and went off wherever it took.

She got down at the last station. Looking around, she found herself in the outskirts of the city. Isn't this where.... She relieved a memory of catching a robber and retrieving the bag and necklace of an old woman.

She had run after the thief and when she caught up with him, she had returned the things to their original owner. What was I doing in this place in the first place?

She saw a path going into the forest. Without thinking, she started walking there. Who knows where the path led to? The road felt awfully familiar to her. As if she had used this road many many times.

But I don't remember ever coming here.

She walked up the hill. After some time, she came across an empty property. Why is this place empty? Wasn't there a mansion? Oh but why would there be a mansion here, in the middle of the forest?.. Someone's garden villa or something along the line, I guess....

She roamed around the property. She vaguely felt as if something was wrong. This place wasn't supposed to be empty like this.

Walking, she unknowingly reached the place where the ruler of evil had been slain. She stood at where he was stabbed. She stared up ahead, wondering if there was really something she had been missing.

The rustling of the leaves felt familiar. The fresh air of nature felt familiar. This sunset felt familiar.

She looked up before staring ahead at the blank property again. She ignored the throbbing pain in her head. She was definitely going to find her answer. She never liked leaving things half completed. Putting more pressure in her head, she saw blurred and colorless images.

She parted her lips and mindlessly mumbled, "..Heavens........ angels...."

What does angels and heavens have anything to do with this?

She wondered why she spoke those two words. What's her connection with angels and heavens? I'm definitely not a fallen angel.. or a reincarnated angel. Then why.. why do I occasionally think up of angels and heavens?!

"...What am I?" She asked herself.

Clutch

A black hand emerged from the shadow below her.

"I finally got you, my vessel."

To be continued