Angel Beats! Reunited

Chapter 5
Love Story

Moe seemed to be trapped. It had been weeks since she had arrived in the Purgatory, and although she had helped many students, she was still unsatisfied. Otonashi had asked Moe why she thought her work was not enough to rest. Moe, honestly, had no idea.

Moe was trying her hardest to think of anything she could do that would finally bring her peace. Of course in order to do that, she could not be distracted with useless things, like school. She cut class day after day.

One day, Moe decided to hide in the girl's restroom instead of the roof on account of the group of NPCs who decided to overtake her usual spot to finish some project that had apparently been assigned three days before.

Moe stood looking at herself in the mirror, emotions overflowing. Why couldn't she just do it? Moe was at a loss to explain why nothing she did rendered the results she wanted. She felt, as she often had, that she was not good enough. Moe felt that all her efforts had been in vain, even though person after person had accepted their death and fulfilled their wishes with the help of Otonashi and Moe.

And then she realized, "That's it! I can't move on because I'm relying on him. Just like I relied on my sister for everything, I am now relying on Otonashi-kun for help with everything. I'm still useless."

As she realized this, Moe had to dodge a group of incoming NPCs. Moe did not want to be caught cutting class by anyone, for fear of being dragged back. As she hid in the farthest stall, Moe overheard the NPC girls' conversation.

"Otonashi-kaichou is so mysterious!" one girl was saying. "I wonder why such a cute guy like him doesn't have a girlfriend."

"I heard," another girl said, "that Otonashi-kun is waiting for someone."

"Eh? What do you mean by that?"

"Apparently, he had a girlfriend once, but for some reason she left, and as she left, Otonashi-kun promised her that he'd wait until she came back."

"But she hasn't has she? It had to have been a long time ago since I've never really seen him with a girl. Why doesn't he give up?"

"He really loves her. And yeah, it's been a long time. I heard that he's been waiting for years."

"I've got it!" Moe exclaimed, bursting out of the stall. She had forgotten that the NPC's were still in the restroom. There was a moment of awkward silence as Moe stared at the two girls, who stared back in return.

"Got what?" the first girl spoke first.

"Uh . . . the answer to . . . an algebra problem! Yeah . . . I came in here to focus on it since I . . . uh . . . can't focus when there's other people around. DON'T TELL SENSEI!"

"I won't"

"I won't either." the second girl added, "I understand. I don't like doing math with a bunch of people watching either."

"Thanks." Moe said, relieved. "I guess I should go and tell the teacher I got the problem done. BYE!" Moe ran out of the bathroom as if she had just seen a big spider. Instead of running to the classroom like she had said she would, Moe headed straight to the student council room. "Otonashi-kun!" Moe exclaimed as she burst through the door. "Oh," Moe had just burst in on Otonashi and another student's conversation.

"Sorry Moe-chan. He arrived earlier today, and you weren't on the roof. I couldn't find you."

"Yeah, there were NPCs on the roof so I hid in the restroom. Not my best idea since I want to avoid them and they come into the restrooms as often as living people do."

"I see."

The new student laughed.

"What?"

"Sorry if I'm being rude. I just find this conversation slightly . . . odd."

"It is odd. I forgive you."

The boy laughed again. "I haven't met people as . . . funny as you since . . . well actually I've never met people who could make me laugh this much." And without any more explanation, the boy disappeared.

"Depressing life?" Moe guessed.

"Yeah, he just needed someone to make him smile. You really helped, Moe-chan." Otonashi complemented.

"YAY! Not good enough."

"Why?"

"You know usually I would say that I don't know, but I just figured it out while hiding in the restroom."

"Okay."

"You see, I can't move on because I've never been able to help anyone on my own. When I was alive, I always had my sister guiding me. Now I have you always here helping me. The point is that I have never done anything for someone else on my own. PLUS here we are doing things for strangers, kids we just met. However, I have known you long enough to call you my friend, but I have not done one thing for you."

"Not true. You help me with the other students."

"Yeah, but that's more for their benefit instead of yours. I want to do something that makes just you happy, and I think I know what it is!"

"What?" Otonashi was slightly worried when he saw the over-excited look that crossed Moe's face.

"I heard a rumor about you from the NPCs in the restroom. I heard about you and this girl who had to leave, and that you two fell in love, and now you're waiting for her, but she's been gone so long and-"

"Kanade." Otonashi interrupted.

"Kanade? Oh, that's what her name is."

"Yeah. She was here when I first came to the purgatory. When we met she stabbed me with a sword. I had just been told that I was dead and that Angel, as they called her, was the enemy. I refused to believe it, so I went to ask Angel herself.

"She thought it was weird that I was asking her if I was really dead, so she stabbed me through the heart to prove it. Of course I passed out, like you did after you jumped off the roof, and I woke up in the nurse's office.

"Well, the first people I met here thought that Kanade was the enemy and I joined them in their rebellion. It took a long time for me to realize that Kanade was really just trying to get us all to accept our deaths. After I did, I secretly started working with her to help the others. It didn't remain a secret for long.

"After everything settled down, and everyone had accepted his or her death, only Kanade and I were left. I admitted to her that I'm in love with her and she told me that she was actually alive because of my sacrifice. You see, before I died, I signed the card to be an organ donor, and Kanade was the one who received my heart. She says she knew when she stabbed me because she could feel that I don't have a heart.

"She had gotten lost in the purgatory because she wanted to thank me so badly, and after she thanked me, she disappeared, like all the other kids do when they find happiness. Everyone but me, I really had no regrets and only ended up here probably just because of Kanade. I can't leave, so instead I help everyone else who ends up here mo- why are you crying?"

Moe attempted talking between sobs "It's . . . such a . . . beautiful . . . LOVE STORY!"

"Oh, typical teenage-girl-love-story response."

"It's decided!" Moe leaped off the table that she had sat on when Otonashi started his story. "I am going to reunite you and your long-lost-love Kanade!"

"How are you going to do that?"

"I have no idea! But I will think of one! And I will do it on my own, so no helping."

"Good luck with that." And with that being said, Moe ran out of the room and headed towards the empty baseball fields to come up with a plan without being disturbed.