The Lost

Shingo and Asuka had gone to join Konomi and Takamasa at the printing company. With the grievous loss of one of their friends looming over the group and their leader indisposed at Ichiro's bedside, the group considered the best course of action.

"We just don't know enough." Konomi let out a sad sigh.

"Yes, we do." Shingo responded. "We know what happened. We don't know how or why, but we're under attack."

"You can't know we're being targeted." Takamasa retorted.

"The man who killed Inori was one of the men that went missing on the train." Shingo almost shouted indignantly. "WE ARE BEING TARGETED!"

Asuka pulled on Shingo's sleeve. Whipping his head around to look at the young girl, he was taken aback by her glare.

"Sorry." Shingo said overly apologetically. "Sorry Takamasa. This is getting the best of me and I know you're not the enemy."

"It's okay Shingo." Takamasa accepted the overzealous boy for all his faults. "I'm just saying we can't be completely sure. Of course I agree we're on the defensive here, but we can't do anything rash without knowing the full picture."

"Shingo, we lost Inori." Asuka meekly said. "We almost lost Ichiro too."

"That's exactly why we need to do something." Shingo argued.

"We need a plan." Konomi added on to what Asuka was saying. "We can't afford to lose anyone else. If we're on the defensive, then we need a defensive plan."

Shingo, frustrated at everything, "Like what? What can we do if we can't find the others from the train and we don't know if they're coming or not?"

"We never go anywhere alone anymore." Asuka said. "I'll stay with Konomi in her apartment."

"You can stay in my house or I can stay in your apartment Shingo." Takamasa added. "If we're being targeted then Haruki should be fine but we'll have to figure out what to do with Yuki and Ichiro."

"It's not like we can make them do something they don't want to." Konomi continued the discussion.

"We should ask Yuki." Shingo cut it. "She's our leader for a reason."

"It's going to be hard sorting anything out with her while she's stuck at Ichiro's bedside." Takamasa lamented.

"She'll be there until Ichiro is better so that's basically out of the question." Konomi responded.

"Regardless," Takamasa interjected, "Shingo is right. We need to ask Yuki. Up until now, we've put our faith in her. It would be wrong to stop because of something outside of her control."

"Also," Asuka added, "Knowing her, she hasn't stopped planning and running scenarios in her head while she's there. She's probably been making plans in her dreams."

"On a slightly related note," Konomi interrupted the conversation. "Did anyone else see how she reacted when she found out about Inori and Ichiro?"

The group went quiet in a worrisome way. The mood of the group shifted drastically.

"I'm just saying that she was terrifying." Konomi continued. "I really wouldn't want to get on her bad side."

"It was rough news." Takamasa responded. "Let's just leave it at that."

"Seriously?" Konomi continued. "I'd never seen her like that. The kind of rage in her eyes. She started giving orders to everyone, even the police at the scene, not that she had any authority to do so."

"She was lost in anger and regressed to how she had to lead in her world." Asuka answered.

"She was commanding all of us around with crazy tasks." Konomi kept on, not reading the mood of the room. "She was telling you, Asuka, to track down the people who did it! At one point she looked to me and said to gather our forces."

"Konomi," Takamasa said more sternly. "We were all there. It's fine."

"She was trying to lead." Shingo said to Konomi. "Imagine someone who you felt personally responsible for got hurt. Your mind just goes in overdrive."

"Sorry everyone." Konomi said to the group. "I realize how that sounded. I don't often think before I talk so I can see that came out wrong."

"It's okay." Takamasa said as he lovingly bumped against her slightly. "We're all on edge. We feel like we have to do something but we don't know what to do. We want more information, but there's none to be had. We're in the dark here."

"Nah, if it was the dark then Shingo would be happier about it." Asuka jokingly chided as she stuck her tongue out and then smiled at Shingo.

His face curled up into a smile as if he was reveling in the idea.

"You know me too well Asuka." Shingo's mood had completely changed and surprising, and almost scaring Takamasa and Konomi, he had a large, toothy, maniacal grin on his face. "This is actually good."

"What do you mean?" Konomi puzzled.

"We're in the dark." Shingo said. "It's just like going to our worlds. We have no idea what's happening. We don't know what's going on in the bigger world. If anyone, in the entirety of the world, is prepared for this kind of thing, it's us. We've all been thrown into a situation like this before."

"Wait, you're absolutely right!" Takamasa exclaimed. "When it comes to dealing with complete unknowns, we're the best option."

"And with what we've all already been through," Asuka chimed in, "whatever we're set to face won't be nearly as bad."

"Plus we have each other this time." Konomi cheered.

The upbeat excitement of the group, however, was short lived. Though they had resolved themselves to an action, they noticed something off with the group and the overall mood began to sour. The booming silence rolled over the room.

"If she was here, she'd still be talking." Takamasa mumbled.

"Yea." Asuka uttered as she shook her head.

"When is the funeral?" Shingo asked of the group.

"She had a brother who lives in Okinawa." Konomi volunteered. "He's on his way. Once he gets here, then we'll know."

"I'm not good at dealing with people." Shingo added while looking to Konomi. "So I figure you're going to be the one talking with him the most."

"Most likely." She responded.

"There are these companies that take your ashes after you're cremated and turn you into gemstones." Shingo explained. "From what I knew about her, I think that's what she would have wanted."

"I'll let him know." Konomi stated sadly.

"If he needs anything," Takamasa contributed. "And I mean anything at all. Money for the costs of it, a place to stay, food, travel expenses..."

"I'll let him know." Konomi said again before continuing. "From what I understand, or at least from what Inori told me, he doesn't have a problem with survivors like her...like us. He's supposed to be very friendly too."

"That goes for any of you too." Takamasa added. "This is a hard time for us and I don't want any of you to have to worry about day to day stuff."

"I think we'll all be okay in our own way," Asuka said to Takamasa, acknowledging his offer, "don't get me wrong, I think we all appreciate it, but we're all in the same position."

"I know." Takamasa claimed.

"No, I don't think you do Takamasa." Shingo chimed in. "If you need anything too, then we want you to come to us. We're a party. Don't try to shoulder all of the responsibility on your own."

"One person trying to carry the weight would crush them." Konomi beamed. "But if all of us carry that weight then we can do it."

As the group finished up their conversation, all of their phones buzzed or beeped at the same time. A text message came through to all of them at the same time.

The message was sent by Yuki and had only two words, "He's awake."

Asuka was the first to check her phone and virtually shouted it to the rest of the group. In response, everyone started sending messages back.

Takamasa asked, "Should we come?"

Shingo simply replied, "Good."

"I knew he'd pull through, that's our boy!" was quickly typed by Konomi.

Asuka, on the other hand, didn't respond but rather took the opportunity to close her eyes, and let the calm and content wash over her as her mind wandered back to her world for a moment. She remembered how it felt to stand on the rooftop of a building in her world and see her efforts come to fruition as the civilians who were writhing on the ground, dying, moments before began to collect themselves and stand back up. After reveling in the feeling, she noticed it felt so much like that moment knowing that her friend survived.

"I don't think I could have mentally managed losing another." Asuka said to Shingo.

After thinking for a moment before responding, Shingo looked Asuka deep in her eyes and stated, "If I can do anything about it, you won't have to feel that way ever again."

Asuka leaned against Shingo in appreciation as Takamasa's phone buzzed again.

"Yuki wants us there." Takamasa informed the group. "I figure she wants a show of support for Ichiro while he's in the hospital."

"Then we should get going!" Konomi trumpeted to the group.

The support group picked themselves up after hearing that and immediately left the office in order to go see Ichiro.