'Hooooooooow? I was so nice when I asked too!'

We were back in my kitchen. Gwen was at the table with her head in her hands and Ryo and I were making stir-fry. Gwen had offered to help of course, but Ryo and I had decided that it would be safer for our stomachs if she didn't. And so, Gwen had nothing to do but lament.

Ryo snorted as he chopped the vegetables. 'With the way you asked her, I would have been surprised if she didn't.'

'What do you mean?'

There was no tactful way to explain.

As planned, we – and by "we", I mean Gwen – had invited Ai to come to my place the next day. She was so intent on making it happen, I swear, you could feel her determination radiating in the air.

Ryo's sentiment was one I could agree with. If someone asked me something with that kind of intensity, I'd be slowly backing away.

He sighed and shook his head. 'Forget it. You wouldn't understand even if we spelled it out for you.' He frowned. 'Why are you here anyway? Slumber party was called off so there's no reason for you to hang around.'

Gwen smiled, bemused. 'Obviously, I'm here to come up with Plan B.'

'Plan B?'

'Yup, Plan B.'

'Sounds fishy. What's tomorrow's excuse?'

'I wasn't aware that I needed one.'

'Well, you do.'

I glanced at him. 'She does?'

'She does.'

Gwen raised her brows. 'Ryo, do you live here?'

'No.'

'Are you Evelyn's boyfriend?'

'No.'

'Her husband?'

Ryo's ears turned red. 'Of course not!' he sputtered.

'Then it's none of your business whether I come here or not.'

He didn't have an answer to that. Face as flushed as my skin in the sun, he went back to preparing dinner. I would have come to his defence, but I was too busy trying not to laugh. The grin quickly disappeared as Gwen looked at me and crossed her arms.

'So,' she said, 'what should we do now?'

'About what?' I asked.

'About Ai, of course. We have to find a way to change her mind.'

'We do?' asked Ryo.

'We do,' said Gwen. 'I heard what you said about that Andrew guy, you know. Made me curious enough to look into him myself.'

Ryo and I exchanged looks - his annoyed, mine confused. How had Gwen ended up taking point in this case?

I turned the confusion back onto Gwen. 'What do you mean you looked into him?'

She spread her hands in a half-hearted shrug. 'Oh you know, I just did a little Q and A to get a better picture. He's a real nasty piece of work. Not to mention...' Her green eyes locked with mine. 'I think you're right. She'll be better off if she stays away from him.'

A prickling sensation crept up my spine. I blinked and looked away.

Gwen smiled. 'Anyway, we just have to find a way to make her want to hang out with us. Shouldn't be too hard. We're all nice people.'

I checked the temperature of my fry pan. 'That's easier said than done.'

Ryo sighed. 'Why not just tell her if you think it's that bad? That's what I'd do.'

There was a full minute of silence as we stared at him, incredulous.

I smacked him with my spatula.

'Ow! Are you stupid? I'm holding a knife!'

'Gee. Just tell her. How ingenious!'

'What? That's what I'd do!'

'Because I totally didn't think of that before.'

He elbowed me, annoyed. 'Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit, Rin-chan.'

'It's insults, Ryo. Insults are the lowest form of wit.'

'Your sarcasm is insulting.'

I shook my head. He was so clever, yet so dense. 'Come on, Ryo. You talked to her about Andrew. You really think she'd listen to us if we told her to stay away from him? We'd just lose credibility.' Just like I have with almost everyone else I've ever tried to forewarn about death.

'Don't worry, Evelyn,' said Gwen, reaching across the bench to snack on a snowpea. 'We'll think of something.'

We didn't.

* * *

Wednesday rolled by without a single idea cropping up. It was getting to the point where kidnapping Ai off the street before her date was starting to seem like a viable option.

Rolling his eyes at my silent fretting, Ryo went and took it upon himself to tell Ai about Andrew's bad rep. She got upset and left mid-way. Ryo was out after that – ditched the rest of his classes and didn't even show up at my house in the afternoon. Angry with himself, I think – or embarrassed.

Gwen didn't invite herself over either. Nor did she randomly appear at the pavilion during lunch.

Me? I spent the afternoon trying – and failing – to one-handedly make jewellery while planning the best way to intercept Ai before or during her date. It's a hobby I picked up after Dad started disappearing on his trips and coming back home with bags full of "treasure". Selling handmade trinkets online is how I supplement the allowance that he sends me every month. It's a mostly useless skill, granted, but twisting wires into various shapes while listening to Dad's collection of vinyls does wonders for the concentration.

But even while focused it was fruitless.

After three frustrating hours of trying to get threads of copper wire to look like a miniature birdcage, I came to the conclusion that I always came to: I'd just have to stick as close to Ai as possible and pull her out of trouble at the right moment. Past experience told me that I wouldn't get away with it unscathed, but if I kept good tabs on where we were and had emergency services pre-dialled on my phone, we'd probably have a good chance of making it out alive.

Probably being the key word.

But a probable chance was better than no chance at all – I'd almost convinced myself of that when Thursday morning arrived.

As I whacked my alarm clock into submission at 7:15AM, Ai's countdown was clear in my head. Today was the day. I had just under seventeen hours left.

That probable chance was looking slimmer by the second.

Ryo showed up at the pavilion at lunch looking more than a little sullen. He had a couple of new scrapes and bruises that I didn't remember seeing the day before. I would have grilled him about them, but I knew he'd take it as an indirect "I told you so". With everything else that was going on, I didn't need another fight with him to add to the stress.

Gwen and Ai, on the other hand, were nowhere to be seen. Gwen and I hadn't had classes together for two years so I gave up on trying to talk to her when I couldn't find her at lunch, and the only time I saw Ai was in sixth period math.

Nine hours, two minutes and fifteen seconds.

The final bell rang.

The end-of-class flurry seemed to go by in slow motion. I could have told her. If I really wanted to, I could have warned her about it then and there. There was every possibility that I would lose sight of her between now and midnight and that this moment was the last chance I'd ever have to save her.

But my selfishness got the better of me. It was too easy to rationalise: it would be better if she didn't know. It was always better when people didn't know.

I made it out the door before she did. Her locker was in another a building; mine was just one floor down. If I sprinted, I could make it to the gates before she left and tail her to wherever she was meeting Andrew.

Trust Ryo to screw that plan over.

I got to my locker and found him standing there with my backpack slung over his shoulder. Funny. I don't recall ever giving him my locker combination.

He quirked an eyebrow at me. 'Why so sweaty?'

Today of all days...

'Can I have my bag please?'

I went to take it from him, but he sidestepped me.

'I'll carry it for you.'

'No thanks. Give it here.'

'I believe the correct response is: thanks for helping my crippled butt.'

'For God's sake, Ryo... I don't – ' I leapt at him and he side-stepped again. ' – have time – ' Another miss. ' – for this!' I slammed my right shoulder into his chest and he staggered back into the lockers with a bang.

I grabbed my bag and sprinted down the hallway.

There was no time for explanations or apologies. I had a life to save.

* * *

I'm no stranger to stalking people – uh, I mean helping people the way I do often requires me to shadow them for some time. If I don't, then that means I have to find some other way to gather information about them without making them think that I'm some kind of crazy, weirdo stalker. It's not so much that I mind the label, but when they get suspicious and start to think that you are a crazy, weirdo stalker, it makes it that much harder to save their lives.

It was way easier when I was younger. You could ask a question point-blank and most adults wouldn't even bat an eyelash – they'd just think you were some annoying, nosy kid.

Once, when I was ten, I managed to get some soon-to-be-squished receptionist's entire weekly routine by asking her about the yoga mat she had behind her desk. All I had to do was coincidentally run into her in the street on her expiration date and fob some story about being locked out of home to make sure she wasn't in the line of fire when the equipment fated to turn her into a pancake fell to the floor.

Accidents are easier to prevent than murders.

I made it to the train with minutes to spare. It took a few scans of the platform to find Ai and make sure I was on the same carriage. I kept my gaze level, staring vaguely at a point on the wall while watching her from the corner of my eye. She got off at the next station. I followed her. She didn't notice me, not even when I was standing right behind her at the barricades. Not that I was surprised; most people don't look twice to see if there's anyone following them unless it's dark or the street is noticeably empty.

Andrew met her looking just as he did in my premonition with the addition of a pair of sunglasses. Personally, I've never understood why people wear those things on cloudy days. It makes zero sense to me.

I followed them as they wandered off, completely oblivious to my presence. What followed was the longest date I'd ever endured. And no, I don't go on dates - I've never been asked on one; I just stake them out. Guys generally don't ask out girls whose first instinct is to tell them that they're going to be hit by a truck and die. Not that I'd actually say that, but you know what I mean.

That said, if all dates were like this one, I'm not sure I'd want to be asked out in the first place.

Andrew and Ai spent a good hour or so window shopping in the arcade - just looking, no buying. Afterwards, they saw a truly hideous, sappy romance movie that had me cringing with second-hand embarrassment the whole time. When it ended, I found myself sitting several booths down from them at some awful pink, frilly café, pointlessly sucking on the straw in my fourth empty smoothie glass.

Four hours and six minutes.

I wanted to bang my head against the table. I was bored silly, had wasted more than thirty dollars on my stakeout mission, and after all those drinks, I desperately needed to pee. I was weighing up the risks of running to the toilet when a shadow fell across my table.

'All those smoothies are going to make you fat.'

Only one person would speak to me like that.

I sighed. 'What are you doing here, Ryo?'

'Funny, I was just about to ask you the same thing.' He slid into the seat opposite mine and folded his arms across his chest. Talk about passive-aggressive. Ryo knew exactly why I was here. He just didn't want to say it out loud.

Fair enough, I didn't want to say either.

There was a long, awkward pause.

I scratched idly at my cast. 'How's your head?'

'My head?'

'That thing attached to your neck.'

He gave me a quizzical look. 'Uh... it's fine?'

'Did you follow me?'

Ryo scoffed. 'You're following them.' He jerked his head at Andrew and Ai then treated me to a grimace. 'You want to explain what you're doing?'

'Nope.'

'Rin—'

'Ryo, if I have to remind you to call me Evelyn one more time, I swear – '

'Fine, Evelyn then, whatever. Just cut to the chase.'

'I told you, no.'

'Why not?'

'You know why not. Anyway I need to pee. Watch them for me.'

He blinked. 'Huh?'

I was already out of my seat. 'Watch them,' I repeated and ran to the restroom. It was risky, but what can I say? When you've got to go, you've got to go.

* * *

Ryo was standing by the door to the ladies' room when I opened it.

'Good,' he said. 'I was just about to get you. They're about to leave.'

For a moment I wondered if that meant he'd been planning on just barging into the women's restroom if I didn't come out, but the thought was fleeting. I looked across the room and sure enough, Andrew and Ai were heading for the door. I was going to lose them in the street if I didn't hurry.

The panic must have shown on my face because Ryo clapped me on the back and jerked his head towards the door. 'Don't worry, I've got you. Let's go.'

'Huh? But I still have to pay for my drinks and – ah, where's my bag?'

It was then that I noticed that Ryo had my backpack. He raised an eyebrow and tugged on my sling. 'I told you, I've got it. Let's go.'

I really don't understand how his brain works. Angry and obtuse one second and then willingly helping me out the next. So perplexing...

Well, I wasn't going to complain.

The slight frown on his face and too-tight grip he had on my good wrist told me that Ryo still had misgivings about what I – or we, now, rather – were doing. But whatever they were, he kept them to himself. He was actually pretty good at this whole... monitoring thing. I mean, sure, I hadn't noticed him following me, but I mostly attributed that to being so focused on Ai that I'd developed tunnel vision.

Regardless, he had skill. It was like he instinctively knew when to move and when to stop, constantly positioning himself so that he'd have his back to our targets while simultaneously shielding me from their view.

'You'd make a good spy,' I commented as he pulled me to a stop by a high fence at an intersection. We'd left the shopping district and ventured into the suburbs. It was long past dark and the street lamps were lit. Our marks had just rounded the corner.

Three hours and forty-five minutes.

'A spy?' Ryo leaned out to check where they were going.

'Yeah. You're freakishly good at tailing people.'

'I've had a lot of practice.'

'That's a weird thing to have a lot of practice in.'

'That's funny coming from you.'

'What's that supposed to mean?'

He cleared his throat. 'Nothing.' He grabbed my wrist again and gave it a tug. 'Let's keep moving. Walk normally and keep talking so that we don't look out of place.'

'Like I said, you're way too good at this, Double-O-Shiro.'

'That pun is terrible.'

'On the contrary, I think it fits rather well.'

Ryo just shook his head and the conversation petered out.

So much for "keep talking".

Our footsteps were loud – almost painfully so. Silence wasn't an uncommon thing with me and Ryo. There were days when he'd come over with a comic book, flop on my couch and barely say a word to me as I went around the house doing whatever I had to do. I had no problem with that; it was familiar, comfortable and if he needed something or wanted my attention, he just threw a cushion at me and blurted it out. This on the other hand...

The grip on my wrist tightened for a second, enough to make me look up. Ryo was frowning, fidgety. I could tell he was thinking. His eyes darted towards me, and he realised I was watching him. Wiping all signs of concern from his face, he flashed me a grin before looking away again.

This didn't feel right.

As if he could hear my thoughts, Ryo let out a sigh.

I flinched.

He glanced back at me. 'You okay?'

'Huh? Uh, yeah. I just – you startled me.'

'Your arm bothering you?'

'No, it's fine. The cast's a bit annoying but nothing I can do about that.'

'Yeah, gotcha.' He opened his mouth to continue, then seemed to think the better of it and shut it again.

It was going to be alright...

Ryo scratched his head. 'Looks like it's going to rain.'

'Yep.' It was bucketing down in my vision.

'I didn't bring an umbrella.'

'Neither.'

Silence.

I bit my lower lip.

It was going to be okay...

A sudden shiver went down my spine.

'You can save them.'

I flinched as the words echoed in my ears, as soft as the whistle of a breeze, as clear as a shout. They came from behind me.

I looked over my shoulder.

No one was there.

The air was so cold, my breath was freezing in the wind.

Three hours, thirty-one minutes.

'Evelyn?' Ryo waved his hand in front of my face. I hadn't even noticed that we'd stopped walking. 'Are you okay?'

I looked up at him. 'What?' The word came out testier than I'd intended.

He opened his mouth and... hesitated.

The threads of patience I'd been clinging to snapped.

Who was I kidding? It wasn't fine. It wasn't going to be okay. It was like this whenever I saved someone – whenever I tried to save someone. We avoided the topic. Pretended it wasn't happening. We just didn't have the guts to confront each other about it until everything was over and I got hurt. Even then, the same thing would happen: Ryo would lecture me, I'd pretend to listen, and then we'd act like nothing had happened until it happened all over again.

But this was different. I didn't know how, but somehow this was different.

Screw it.

I scowled up at him. 'Have you got lice?'

Ryo blinked and pulled his hand away from his head. 'No.'

'Then stop scratching your head. If you've got something to say then say it.' I pushed him aside and continued walking, chewing on my lower lip. I knew what was coming. Just thinking about it made me want to run away and hide.

'Rin-chan.'

His tone made me flinch. It was soft – calm. Unfamiliar.

A raindrop landed on my skin, making me shiver. The downpour had started. A hundred metres in front of me, Ai and Andrew hastened their pace, turning a corner and vanishing from sight.

Three hours and twenty-nine minutes.

'What is it, Ryo?' My voice wavered. Even I could hear the plea in it: 'Don't say it.'

'Why are we doing this?'

I whirled around to face him. For the love of--

I wanted to burst into laughter and cry at the same time. I'd given him a golden opportunity to ask me the question we both dreaded, and he was still dancing around it.

'You know why.'

'No, I don't.' He closed the gap between us. His hands hovered in the air as if he were unsure whether or not he was supposed to comfort me. They dropped back down to his sides. 'Tell me.'

'No.'

'Why not?'

'You know why not.'

'No, I don't. Tell me.'

This was an exact repeat of the cafe. Almost word for word.

I glared at him. 'Don't do that.'

'Do what?'

I wanted to hit him. 'You – ' I took a breath to calm myself. 'You know exactly what you're doing. For God's sake, just man up and say it!'

His jaw clenched as he looked away.

'Say it, Ryo.'

He met my gaze and held it steady.

'Is it because of a vision?"

My chest panged.

I gripped my skirt to stop my good hand from trembling. There was a lump in my throat. I couldn't look at him - couldn't meet his eye.

'Don't say it like that.'

'Say it like what?'

I gritted my teeth. 'Stop it, Ryo.'

'I just asked if it was because of a vision.'

Another pang. 'Stop it.'

'I'm not doing anything. All I said was – '

'I said stop!'

'Stop what?' He grabbed me by the shoulders. 'Stop what, Evelyn?'

'Stop saying "vision" like it's bullshit!' He staggered as I shoved him. My eyes were burning. Any minute now and I was going to cry.

Like hell that was going to happen.

I clenched my teeth and blinked the tears away.

Ryo hesitated. 'Rin-chan...'

Shut up.

He took a step forward. 'Evelyn, I didn't mean--'

Shut up.

'Look, let's just go home. We can grab some ice cream, put on a movie and forget about all this.'

Forget about all this. He wanted me to forget about this? Forget about Andrew. Forget about Ai.

Three hours and twenty minutes.

As if I haven't spent the last seventeen years trying to forget about events like this...

The rain was gaining momentum, beating out a steady drumbeat as the drops hit the ground. The grey of the pavement grew darker.

That's right, it was raining during the Incident too. I'd done the same thing then – stood there in the rain trying to explain the situation to someone who didn't believe me.

At this rate Ai was going to end up just as dead as she did.

The anger vanished. The tears disappeared. Ryo wasn't the one in danger. What he thought didn't matter.

I looked him in the eye.

'12:07AM, Andrew stabs Ai in an alleyway. You can choose to believe me or not; there's nothing I can do if you don't. But what I can do is stop Ai from getting murdered. So you can go home, watch a movie and forget all about this, but I am not going anywhere.'

He looked at me, dumbfounded. 'You seriously believe it.'

'I do. The question is, do you?'

He ran his fingers through his hair, avoiding my eye. He sighed. 'Come on, do you have any idea what you sound like when you say things like that? This is why everyone calls you a freak behind your back, you know. I mean, it's just... well, it's insane.'

My chest twinged twice.

A freak, huh? Insane, is it?

It took everything I had to keep my voice steady. 'Like I said, if you don't believe me then go home.'

'It's not that I don't... I just – It...' He took a deep breath. 'It's just – '

'Go home, Ryo.'

I forced my feet to move.

'Rin-chan...'

Ignore it.

'Rin-chan, I know you can hear me.'

Ignore it. Ignore it. Ignore it.

'Oh, for cripes' sake, Evelyn, you can't just – '

A shrill sound cut him off. The noise made my blood curdle. What was that?

I looked back at Ryo – still standing where I'd left him.

He cocked his head. 'What?'

How could he be so nonchalant? That was a scream. A horrible, dying scream.

There was a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. Andrew couldn't have –

No. Impossible. I had over three hours left.

Yet, why did I have such a feeling of dread?

I broke into a sprint.

'What are you – ? Evelyn! God dammit... Rin, wait!'

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