Preparations for the Future

This time things felt even stranger than before. Connie said it wasn't a memory...so what else could it be?

"Where am I now, Connie?"

"I ain't Connie."

My eyes shot open at the sound of an unfamiliar voice. I twisted my head to the side and found that a teenage boy was standing right beside me. He was wearing a gray hoodie that covered the roof of his head, but just as he turned to me, I managed to see a couple locks of silver hair peaking out from beneath the hoodie. The boy smiled at me, then began laughing with delight. "Ya know Connie?" He said. "That must be pretty cool. She's pretty famous, that is, if ya know where she's from."

"Who are you?"

"You can call me Seraph."

Seraph? Well that's an interesting name... "Could you tell me where I am, Seraph?" I asked him.

"That's kinda hard to say. I mean, look around. What do you see?"

"Darkness."

"Well then, I guess we're in the middle of darkness. Are you afraid of the dark?"

Without waiting for a response, Seraph kicked at the ground with his foot, and a spark suddenly shot up from where he had kicked. There was visible dust there now...golden dust. He then gazed into my eyes, a look of pure excitement blazing in his own. "Pretty cool, huh?" He laughed as he kicked the ground once more, only to create a similar display as before. "What's your name, carrot-top?"

Carrot-top? Somehow that nickname sounded familiar. "Hiro."

"It's a pleasure to meet ya, Hiro," Seraph said happily. "I hate to tell ya this, but Connie doesn't know about our meeting, so you'll have to promise me you won't tell her about it, okay? This'll be our little secret."

"What do you mean, she doesn't know? And just who exactly are you, Seraph?"

"I can't really tell ya that," he said. "But I do want to ask you something, Hiro. If ya don't mind. You're good friends with Hanako, am I right? That tall, red-headed boy with the dark eyes?"

I flinched, having been caught of guard by his accurate assumption. "Uh, y-yeah. How did you know that?" I asked, narrowing my eyes curiously at him.

Seraph's eyelids drooped and his gaze fell to the ground, his mind seemingly wandering to other places. "I...I used to know him, too," he whispered. "A long time ago, though. It's not like I've been able to speak to him at all. I've been very afraid, you see. In this form, I ain't as strong as I once was. I'd be useless to him. Not only that, but I don't think he'd even be able to recognize me."

"What on earth are you talking about?" Honest, I tried not to sound rude or demanding, but I was seriously growing more and more confused with every word he spoke. "How do you know Hanako?"

"Ain't like it matters anymore," he said, forcing a laugh as he turned his back to me. "My life was never meant to be a good one. I failed once...I failed twice...third time's the charm? Nah. I don't believe in that. But you, Hiro. You've got a chance. And I wanna do my best to help you. Is that alright?"

"You want to help me?" I asked, sounding genuinely surprised. "Why? What's in it for you?"

"Aw, you don't trust me, do ya?" He twisted his neck around and glanced at me over his shoulder. "I'm just a tad bit offended, but I'll let it slide. What's in it for me, you say? Well, nothing much. I suppose I just wanna see him again, even if it's not for long. I want to apologize to Hanako. He deserves more than that, but there ain't much more I can give him. Well, if it comes down to giving my life away, I'll do that with no hesitation. But that ain't what I was trying to say..."

"Just what were you to Hanako?"

Silence fell over the two of us for what seemed like a long while, and it was a sad kind of silence. Seraph slowly turned himself around once more and allowed his head to fall so that his chin was nearly resting on his chest. "I wouldn't dare call myself his friend," he said. "Despite what he said back then, I still don't believe I am worthy of that title. Hanako is too great a man to have such a despicable person such as myself following him around. So...I guess you could say...we're acquaintances? Although I'm sure now I seem like a stranger to him. I wonder if he even remembers me..."

"Please stop talking."

Seraph lifted his head and shot me a questioning look. I tried my best not to look offended, but I couldn't help it. I was very offended. "In my past life...and in this one...I've spent the majority of my years by Hanako's side," I said, almost with pride. "I've known him since we were five years old. I don't remember you ever coming into his life. So how is it that you seem to know him so well? How come you sound like you carry a load of regret on your shoulders? Why is it that, claiming that you even know his name or have seen his face, I've never seen you before in my life?"

"I'm sorry."

"About what?"

"I can't tell you," he said in a low voice. "I fear that it may stir up some bad memories. I don't want you to hate me, Hiro. I want to start a new." He held out his hand to me and smiled softly. "What do you say? Shake my hand, and I promise to help you find Hanako. I'll make a good asset. You can trust me."

I was hesitant, but I eventually accepted the gesture and shook Seraph's hand. "Alright," I sighed. "I guess I'll trust you." For now.

"Great. I'm glad. Now would you follow me? I have something I want to show you."

Before I realized what I was doing, I found myself walking behind Seraph along a dirt path, dimly lit by the golden dust his feet had brought up from the ground. For some reason I couldn't tear my eyes away from the golden dust. It seemed so mystical...and mysterious. I took careful steps as I admired the beauty of the illuminated pathway, and before I knew it, I was completely lost in thought.

"We're here."

"Huh?" My head shot up and I stared at Seraph, who was now standing beside a tall, rusty gate. I took a few steps forward and peered through the cracks between the steel bars. On the other side of the gate was what appeared to be a graveyard of some sort, but I couldn't say for sure. There was this dark, eerie atmosphere that hung over the land and reeked of cigarettes and must. I turned to Seraph and tried not to show fear on my face, but I couldn't help but shiver. "W-what is this place..."

"What does it look like to you?"

"A graveyard...?"

"Well, you're not wrong, I guess. It's a place where spirits reside. These people ain't dead in real life. Their spirits have been transported here by a supernatural cause." Seraph's arm extended and forcefully gripped one of the steel bars, then squeezed it until it began to crumble within his grasp. "Here, let me call one of 'em for you." He brought his hands up to his face and cupped them over his mouth, then shouted, "YUI!!!"

"Yui? What?" I felt my heart skip a beat. "N-no, that can't be right..." It must be a different Yui, I told myself. But as a familiar blue haired teenager approached the steel gates, I was struck with a painful realization. "That is Yui...oh my gosh..."

"You called-? H-hey!" Suddenly Yui's face was pressed between the bars, and she stared at me with fretful eyes. "W-what're you doing here, Hiro?!" She yelled. "Don't tell me she got you, too!"

"Who got me?" I asked. "I...I don't know what you're talking about. Anyway, Yui, what are you doing in a place like this? What happened to you?"

"The coffee shop," she hissed. "She got Kyo's mother, too. Hiro, you've got to do something. As long as our bodies are still unharmed, our spirits can return to them. So please...you've got to help us!"

I glanced at Seraph to see how he was reacting to this conversation, and he seemed nearly as confused as I was. "You guys know each other?"

"Yeah," I answered. "Not very well, but we're acquainted.

"I see...well, how wonderfully convenient," Seraph laughed, turning to face Yui. "So tell me Yui, who exactly sent your spirit to this place?"

"I don't know her name," said Yui. "But I do remember that she had long, red hair and crimson colored eyes. I'm pretty sure I heard her mention Niall's name a couple of times, too. I hope he's not after him..."

"Reiha!!"

Seraph's increase in volume caused me to jump, and I fixed my eyes crossly at him. "Who's Reiha?"

"Bad news," he said in a dark voice, looking into my eyes with a mysterious aura of his own. "I can't let you go back to that coffee shop. With that demon hanging around, there's only a slim chance you'd walk out of there alive. And I hate to tell ya this, Yui, but there ain't a doubt about it. She's definitely after Niall. But again, I'm sorry. If I were able to go there myself in person, than maybe I could do something about it. But I can't. That being made clear, you must stay away from that place. Understand?"

"I'm afraid I don't."

"Hiro, please listen to me-"

"Yui and Kiyoko are in danger," I snapped. "How can you expect me to just do nothing?"

"She's a coldhearted demon, not just some stubborn human!" Seraph warned harshly. "I'm trying to help you, Hiro, not steer you away from a chance of saving those people."

"Am I supposed to believe that?" I asked. "I still don't know who you are, Seraph. For all I know, you could be on that demon's side."

"I ain't," he replied quickly. "I'm just being very cautious. I'm concerned for ya, Hiro. I don't want ya to lose your chance of seeing your best friend again. And, excuse me if this sounds selfish, I think that you may be the only person who can bring me to him."

"Bring you to him?" I raised my pitch in question. "Why don't you just go see him yourself?"

Seraph's expression seemed to become filled with immense sadness as I asked this of him, and soon he began shaking his head in what I thought to be self-pity. "I don't have a physical form in the real world," he said quietly. "I exist as a virus. I roam in a limited part of the computer world, so freedom ain't really somethin' I've been well acquainted with. I don't remember how I got here, or how to get out..."

For some strange reason, I felt sorry for him. I didn't know whether or not to believe him at first, but I highly doubted that anyone could fake such an expression. He looked lonely.

The way he looks right now...kinda reminds me of Niall...

"I'll tell ya what, Hiro," Seraph said, breaking my train of thought, "if you abide by my requests, then I will assist you in rescuing Yui and Kiyoko."

"Wait, seriously?" I tried not to sound so surprised, but he truly had caught me off guard. I stared at him for a moment, raising my eyebrows and slightly dropping my jaw to express the shocked feeling I was having. "But...how?" I asked him. "You just said you don't have a physical form, right? What could you do?"

"I told you that I'm a virus," he said sternly. "But not just any virus. If I were somehow able to enter into the computer system of that cafe, then there's no stopping me. I could control all electrical sources in the area and possibly scare Reiha away." The more I looked at Seraph's face, the easier it was to tell he was completely uncomfortable with the idea of even setting foot near Reiha. However, the look in his eye let me know that he was ready to go through with it for the sake of my trust.

"Okay..." I said, nodding slowly. "But there's one problem. How do I find you?"

"You have a phone, don't you?"

I nodded again.

"Good. As soon as you get the chance, go onto a website called 'uirusu.com.' You'll find me there."

Strangely enough, the sound of Seraph's voice was gradually growing hypnotizing. I found myself wavering, and my eyelids began to feel heavy. I felt as though I were about to pass out. So, using my remaining strength, I managed to force out the words, "But what do I do then?"

"Don't worry about it," he said calmly, smiling peacefully as I, unable to hold my weight any longer, crashed to the ground.

"I'll handle everything..."

+++

"S-Seraph..."

I awoke to a start in what I immediately identified to be my room. But how did I end up in my room, I wondered. I took a brief look around and furrowed my brow, confused as to why the hoodie-wearing stranger was nowhere to be seen. Then it hit me. "That's right," I said aloud. "It was a dream. Seraph told me to do something...now what was it again?"

It took me several minutes to jog my memory, but I eventually recalled him telling me to search for him on a specific website. He was a virus, after all. Or at least...that's what he told me.

I searched for my phone and, quickly as I could, typed in the website name that Seraph had given me. "Uirusu.com."

A split second after I had tapped the button that would lead me to the website, something peculiar happened to my phone. The screen flashed a blinding white, then died down to dim shade of red. I darted my eyes across the screen and began scrolling up and down, then left and right, desperately searching for an answer to what the heck was going on.

"Hiro? Can you hear me, Hiro?"

I heard a voice, but it was a strange one, muffled by what sounded like defected radio waves. I blinked several times and stared intently at my phone's screen. It was just a moment later that the blurred image of a boy began to appear right in front of my eyes, eventually clearing up enough so that I was able to identify who it was.

"Seraph?"

The hoodie-wearing boy waved at me through the small glass screen. "Hey," he said with a smile. "Glad you know how to listen to instructions, Hiro."

"...did you break my phone?"

"No, your phone is fine," he assured me, laughing as he nervously scratched his head. "I think. A-anyway, now that you've found me, I've got another direction for ya. First, press your finger down on the screen and hold it there."

I did as he asked. Seraph reached up his little arms and "grabbed on" to my finger, then began rocking back and forth using his legs. "Ha, this is fun..."

"Uh, Seraph..."

"Hmm?" He looked up at me with innocent eyes and raised an eyebrow. "Oh, right. I forgot to tell ya the next step. Uh...press the home button on your phone, but don't let go of the screen. If you let go, I'll be left behind in this website."

This is all so weird... "Okay, whatever you say." I pressed my home button once and watched with astonishment as Seraph was carried over to my home screen. I yanked my hand back in shock, narrowing my eyes at him somewhat angrily. "What the heck is going on?"

Without even bothering to give a response, Seraph began happily skipping along the borders of my screen, jumping and swinging off app icons as he hummed a tune. "This is much more fun than being stuck where I used to be!" He exclaimed, throwing his arms in the air to latch on to my calculator app. "Thanks a bunch, carrot-top."

My eye twitched in irritation. "Yeah," I muttered. "Anytime. Now could you please give me an explanation?"

"An explanation?" Seraph stopped and stared at me just as he had swung his legs over the side of yet another app icon. "What else is there to explain? From now on, I'm your personal computer buddy. I'll be here for you, on your phone, whenever you may need me. I'll come in good handy, I promise ya that."

"You mean...when we're saving Yui and Kiyoko, right?"

Seraph's shoulders drooped upon my mention of the topic. "Yeah," he sighed. "That's exactly what I meant."

"If you dare back down on your promise, I'll trash this phone and make sure we never see each other again."

"Okay, Hiro, chill!!" Seraph shouted, waving his arms wildly in front of him. "T-that's a bit harsh, don't ya think? Do you even know what would happen to me?" He paused, as if waiting for an answer, but I gave him nothing but a stern glare. "Eh...I'm guessing you don't care. A-anyway, I do plan on helping them, Hiro, so relax. With that threat of yours in mind, I'd be a fool not to keep my promise..."

+++

I left my house immediately after that and ran as fast as I could to the cafe, fearing that if I wasted any time, Yui and Kiyoko would be done for.

"Wait, Hiro...something's wrong."

Seraph's panicked voice caused me to freeze on the spot with my hand on the doorknob of the cafe, hesitating now to open it. I reached into my pocket and took out my phone, instantly shooting Seraph a demanding look.

"Hiro...be prepared when you walk in there...I'm...I'm gonna hide in your social media app..."

"Which one?"

"InstaSnap or something...hmm, but your contact list is empty. Wow, Hiro, you must be a total loser in your social life." If I wasn't mistaken, I heard Seraph chuckle under his breath. Despite how much I wanted to snap at him for offending me, I kept my frustration within me and instead focused on the more important matter at hand.

"Reiha..."

I slowly opened the door and took a step into the cafe, mentally preparing myself for what I was about to see. When my eyes finally adjusted to the dimness of the room, they nearly popped out of their sockets due to fear. Right before me, lying on the ground unconscious and surrounded by blood and broken glass, were Yuta, Ushio, Kyo, Yui, and Kiyoko. I immediately fell down beside them and double-checked to make sure they were all alive. To my relief, none of them were dead, but just the thought of my friends having been put in danger made my heartbeat quicken.

I decided then to check if Seraph had any answers regarding the situation, but just before I was able to do so, a sudden realization struck me like a bullet to the chest.

"Where's Niall...?"

"Hiro? Are you alright? What's wrong?"

I took out my phone and held it up to the crime scene for Seraph to see, and he soon responded in a way that made me even more worried. "Oh, we're all done for now..."

"What's happened to Niall?" I demanded of Seraph, flipping my phone back around so that I could look at him. "Tell me what's happened to him. Please tell me he's not in any danger."

"You're gonna be in a heck of a lot more danger than he'll be, I'll tell ya that much..." His tone was quiet and obviously filled with immense fear of the future. "Reiha's got him now. We're all screwed. There's not really much else I can say about it. Not even I can do anything to stop her now. In this form...GAH, I'M FREAKIN' USELESS!!"

It sounded like fingernails tapping against a glass, but Seraph was really putting some power into his fists as he pounded against the phone screen. I tried my best to calm him down, but my efforts were to no avail.

"Nonetheless..." He said breathlessly, now staring me dead in the eye. "We've got to hunt her down. Maybe...just maybe...we can get Niall back before anything drastic happens. But hey, this is just me thinking positive here. That is, if you could call it positive. Even if we were able to retrieve Niall, I can't promise that there won't be bloodshed. Reiha is one scary demon, I ain't gonna lie. She's insane. She's chased Niall down before...and she killed both him and herself. But this time, I know her plans are much more elaborate."

"What...what does she plan to do?"

"Unleash Niall's demonic abilities. And I don't just mean that magic trick he can do with his eyes, I'm talking about something far more terrifying..."

With each word that came out of Seraph's mouth, I gradually found myself being put further on edge. I had almost begun to think he was doing it on purpose...trying to frighten me. So for that purpose alone I held strong. I tried to think of a positive outcome. It was difficult, but it was possible. "I don't care about that," I told him. "As long as we can find Niall, we'll figure out a way to save him. I'm sure of it."

Seraph took one look at my expression and snorted. "Ya got guts, carrot-top," he smirked. "I like that. But just having confidence ain't gonna get ya anywhere. You need actions to back up those words of yours. Are you ready to go through with this? Despite the fact that you're putting your life on the line?"

"I was raised by a mother who believed in always putting the lives of others before her own. So that's exactly what I'm going to do."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, Mommy's boy..."