He felt his body and his mind regain consciousness.

The young man opened his purple eyes and looked at his sorroundings, not standing yet.

"Where am I?" He started thinking. "This pure blue sky, this fresh countryside air..."

As he stood up, he got a better view. A Japanese village was in sight, as well as a young teenager walking past a mill.

"So THIS is where I ended up... Hinamizawa village, but which one?"

He remembered as hard as he could. He had seen it all, the deaths, the different worlds, the way those kids beat destiny, everything. However, he wasn't sure just, in which of all the worlds he had seen he had just landed.

He looked at his clothes, he was wearing lilac sneakers, a pair of dark blue jeans, a black t-shirt with a fierce white dragon on it and a black leather jacket.

"I guess I managed to do this much when I used Apparition"

He also noticed that he was carrying a wallet filled with Yen.

"There must be around 100,000¥ in here. Well, one's never too careful when landing in a different reality I guess. I don't remember exactly what my complete self did, but I trust him-me, arghhh! Whatever..."

After counting the money he realised that there was a paper too. It read:

Fragment I: Apothéose

"So that's the fragment I'm after. Well, let's start this off then. First of all, I should rent a house or something though, I can't just sleep in the floor..."

He started walking. The village looked simple, but overall pretty, and it was more advanced than the world where he came from anyway.

"If it wasn't for Omnipresent Perception I would be so lost. Everything's different, which is to be expected considering that I am in a completely different continent about 800 years into the future..."

Finally, he came across a sign in a building that offered houses for rent. It wasn't really expensive (4,000¥ the month) and even if it was, he would be able to pay it with the money he had anyway.

He entered to arrange everything.

"Hi, I saw the sign, I wanted to rent a house"

The man that was there seemed to be the owner. He looked old, of about 70 years.

"I see. You look a bit young though, what's your name young man?"

"Tsugaru Amuro. Do I really look that young?"

Amuro looked very young indeed. He had mid-length white hair that covered one of his purple eyes and fell pointy on his shoulders, and a baby-shaved face of European features with a Japanese touch. He was 1,77 meters tall and was thin but quite muscular for his age.

"I would say you're about 17 aren't you. Well, kids these days do as they please don't they?"

"That's not a problem at all, I have the money, I can actually pay you in advance if it makes you feel more comfortable"

"Hehe, nah. Don't sweat it sonny, I trust your word. By the end of the month I expect you to come here and pay your rent"

"Thank you so much, could you show me the place?"

"Well, I'm a bit busy right now, but I'll give you the directions, it's not too far from here. Just walk two blocks to the east and it's the first wooden house. It's small, but it has everything you should need, how long are you planning to stay?"

"For the moment, one month is alright"

"I see. Well, I hope you enjoy your stay. Here are the keys!"

"Thanks a lot!"

"If there are any problems feel free to come here and tell me, there's always something I can do if something is not working properly, even though that's rarely the case"

"I'll keep it in mind. Bye!"

Since it was a small village, people were more about trust than of paperwork, so just giving his word seemed to be enough to leave the landlord happy.

He followed the instructions and arrived at his temporary home. Just like the old man had mentioned, it was small, but for one person it was perfect. A kitchen, a living/bedroom and one bathroom.

"Tomorrow I'll join school. The fastest way to realise which world this is, is by meeting those kids"

The house was also equipped with basic things such as a japanese-style bed, a functional kitchen (oven and refrigerator included), a couch and even a TV.

It seemed good enough, but he felt something was missing.

"Hum... I love playing the Oud, but I guess it will be too hard to find one here... Maybe I could get something similar!"

He decided to go to Okinomiya and look for a musical instruments store. Once he found one, he searched for something that wasn't too expensive and at the same time was similar to his previous instrument.

"Excuse me, What is this?" He told the assistant while pointing a 3-strings wooden instrument that looked quite odd.

"That's a Shamisen, it's a traditional strings instrument from Japan. It's kinda like a banjo, but the sound is very different" The assistant answered, even though Amuro had never heard of a banjo.

"It's fretless too... You know, I'll take this one!" He told him while looking at the 30,000¥ label.

"Ok, sir! You need a special pick for that one, and you may need a bag. Will you include it all in your purchase?"

"Of course"

"You can pay at the register while I bring everything"

"Okay"

He went and paid the final quantity, that was 33,000¥.

"Thank you for buying here, Bye!"

"Bye!"

He had just spent a third of the money he had, but it didn't matter, since he was taking something that would give him an unlimited amount of entertainment.

He went through the other shops looking for an extra pair of jeans and a couple t-shirts. He ended up buying almost equal jeans to the ones he already had and 3 black t-shirts with different prints. Also, he realised he that had to wear a school uniform, so he went looking for one.

He ended up buying one that made him fit in the Banchoodelinquent subculture, but he had no idea of it.

Also, he needed at least a pencil case and a schoolbag, so he bought the simplest ones he found.

Before going back home he had to buy some things to eat. He bought rice, oil, and some slices of meat at the local market. He also decided to buy a bento box to take food to school.

After getting back to the house he realised it had gotten dark. There was a clock in his room that indicated it was 9 PM.

"I should go to bed soon if I want to wake in time for school... Tomorrow I'll try my shamisen"

He cooked the food he had brought with no problem, and ate it once it was ready.

Of all the things he had seen up to now, electricity was by far the most crazy invention he had seen. In his world, the only electricity that existed was wielded by some individuals, but it had never been used as a source of energy or light.

He turned off the light and got inside the bed. There were many things in his mind, so it was quite difficult to get to sleep, but after some 30 minutes of struggle he could rest until the next day.

~~~~X~~~~

Door knocking was heard.

He put on his clothes (cause he was in boxers) before doing anything.

"*Yawn* Who could it be at this hour?" He thought as he walked towards the door.

He opened it and saw a green haired teenager wearing a yellow t-shirt, a pair of jeans and carrying a toy gun.

"Good morning! You must be Amuro-kun don't you? My name's Sonozaki Mion"

"Good morning Mion-chan? How did you know I was here? I arrived yesterday!"

"Just call me Mion, and well, this is a small town. Everyone knows everything important that has happened in no time!"

"Is my arrival THAT important?"

"Hey you're my age aren't you? There aren't many of us in town... So I did think it was great news!"

"Many teenagers you mean?"

"Uh-huh"

"Well, did you come here only to greet me or?"

"I heard you were staying for at least a month, so I thought you'd like to come to school!"

"Shit, they really know EVERYTHING" He thought. "It's 7 AM, don't you think it's a bit early to come? And how will I go to a school I'm not formally transferred to? And even if I was, we don't have school for at least an hour and a half..."

"I talked to Chie-sensei yesterday and she said that she would tell the principal to make everything official. I didn't give them any more information than your name, since I didn't know more either... And about the time, it may be true, but every member of the club arrives as early as possible so we can hang out for a while before class starts"

He knew what club she was talking about, but he had to pretend he didn't. It would be weird otherwise.

"Club?"

A shine appeared in Mion's eyes as she said: "The games club! We already have 5 members. We play all kinds of games when class ends. It might sound simple, but we are very competitive. Our only rules are that you have to give it your all to attain victory... and to do the punishment game if you lose"

"4 members... I would assume that it's Rena, Satoko, Rika, Keiichi and Mion herself. It could be Satoshi instead of Keiichi though..." He thought as he looked for a calendar.

There was one attached to the refrigerator.

June 3rd, Friday, 1983

"No, it's Keiichi, and I have 3 weeks more or less to save this world, whichever it is. I could ask Mion if she received a doll from Keiichi, but it would be too suspicious. I'll have to wait a bit more and see how it all develops" He finished thinking.

"Amuro-kun, is something the matter?" Mion asked looking a bit worried.

"Ah! No, not at all. It's just that I wasn't sure which day was today! The club sounds quite neat!" He said while thinking: "I must have spaced out for a couple seconds".

"Please consider joining. Now, shall we go?"

"Mion, as I said before, it's too early! You were the one that woke me up, I haven't taken a shower, and most important, I haven't had any breakfast yet!"

Amuro was quite calm most of the time, but with his belly empty it was a completely different story.

"Oh, sorry. I guess I'll wait for you to do your things then, cause you don't know where school is do you?"

"Not really" He bluntly said.

"Don't worry. You do your things and I'll be right here when you finish, but you must hurry ok?"

He thought about inviting her inside, but he remembered that his room was also the living room, so it would be "impossible" to get changed with Mion in the same room.

"Got it. I'll do it as quick as I can, and sorry, I would invite you in, but it is a very small house, so I can't get changed if you come in..."

"I understand. This old man ain't a perv!" She said with a cool smile.

He closed the door and got inside the shower. After 2 minutes he was out. He grabbed his uniform and wore it in a minute. Finally, he devoured the cold bowl of rice in 30 seconds and put rice and a piece of meat in a bento box in another 30, to finally brush his teeth in a minute.

He opened the door and met Mion who looked surprised.

"Wow, I know I said that you had to hurry, but that was godspeed!"

"Really? I just took you very seriously, haha" He said as he scratched the back of his head.

"Let's go then!"

They walked for a while, Amuro taking mental notes of the road to be able to go to school on his own later.

"So, have you liked Hinamizawa?" Mion asked him as they kept walking.

"Even though I've been here for a day, yeah it's great! I love the fresh air and the country atmosphere of this place" Amuro answered honestly

"You sound like you come from the city. Where are you from?"

"Shit! I did not think about this. Well, I did see many places of Japan and know their names when I used that power, but in no way will I be able to elaborate an answer about that. For once it may seem that honesty is the answer" He thought. "I come from Milan, Italy" He told her.

"I see! I thought that you didn't look Japanese, but I would've never imagined that you come from Europe of all places..."

"Yeah, it is beautiful there. There were marvelous forests on the outsides of the city where I used to play as a child"

"How did you get here? I heard you're all alone"

"I am an orphan after all. But I had the luck of meeting the right people at the right time. I worked for them and now I wanted to relax, so I ended up here" It wasn't a complete lie.

"What kind of people could do that? Wait... You're Italian, which means you're part of... Mafia!" Mion exclamated.

"Mafia... I think I saw something about that in my vision. Criminal organizations that made tons of money doing all kind of illicit activities. There was a similar organization in Japan but I can't remember its name..." He thought. "No way! I'm not a criminal, I mean, why would you even think that?" He said with an upset tone.

"It was just a possibility I guess, hahaha. I wouldn't really care if you were though, after all, my father is a Yakuza boss..."

"Yakuza! That was it!" He thought. "Really? He must be quite fearsome" he told Mion.

"Yeah, but if you ever meet him don't mention it. He hates when I tell other people about it, cause they later fear him, I understand why they would though..."

"I won't say anything then"

"Now that I think about it, you speak perfect Japanese! How did you learn it if you come from the other side of the world AND you are an orphan?" She started getting more suspicious.

"I met a guy that was Japanese in my job. I thought that it could be useful so I told him to teach me" He lied.

"Just what was that job of yours?" Mion inquired with a very intrigued expression.

"Hum... now I'm stuck. Maybe I could go on with the game that I am part of the mafia or something. In the worst of the cases I would be investigated by the police but they would find nothing. It would be fun to see her react to this too" He thought. "Mion. Don't ask, don't tell. You already know the answer..." He told her in a serious tone with a defying glare.

"Ah! So it's true! Well... as long as you don't do anything bad to Hinamizawa it's alright, I guess" She said a bit scared at first but stoic in the end.

"Don't worry, I'm here to protect Hinamizawa" That was true.

"It's okay then! This old man won't tell anybody" She said with a sincere smile.

"Thank you Mion. Hey, is that the school?" He asked as they were approaching the building that seemed to be their destination.

"Yes! We're here. And we still have about an hour to hang out. Class starts at 8:45"

"Perfect, I'll get to meet your friends then!"

"Of course! And now Kei-chan won't be the only man to play with. I'm sure he'll be happy to meet you!" She said as they went through the entrance.

They entered the classroom and noticed that a wet Keiichi was pursuing a laughing Satoko around the room. Amuro caught the glance of a bucket of water that laid on the floor.

"Dammit Satoko! I'm gonna get you and I'm going to punish you for this!" Shouted Keiichi.

"~Ohohohoho!~ You can try as hard as you can fool, but you'll never get me!" Answered the blonde girl.

Rika noticed that the two youngsters had arrived, and she was pale when she saw Amuro.

He noticed this, but didn't bother as it all made sense. "Of course. Of all the worlds she's been to, she has never EVER seen me. Poor Rika... Wait, Rika might be of help, since she will understand what I tell her and I can share the information I know with her, but she has to trust me first..." He thought.

"Good morning everyone, great news! There's another transfer student in Hinamizawa!" Mion shouted to her friends full of happiness.

"Eeehhh?!" Managed to "say" the fighting pair.

"Hi, I'm Amuro. Nice to meet you all" He politely introduced himself.

"A new guy huh? It was time already, I was tired of being your only punching bag... I'm Maebara Keiichi" He said as he extended his hand towards Amuro.

Amuro shook his hand with moderate strength, but Keiichi felt a true man's grip.

"Wow, you really know how to shake a hand man! I bet you are more than meets the eye..." He congratulated Amuro.

"You look strong too. I guess all those punishment games have given you a will of iron"

"Absolutely. Try your best so you don't end up like myself though. Some are quite shameful"

"Keiichi says that because he's terrible, but you look cooler and smarter, so I bet you'll make him bite the dust as well..." Insidiously said Satoko. "My name's Houjou Satoko, the Trap Master!"

"I see. There was a bucket with water on the door when Keiichi entered the classroom wasn't it?" He asked Satoko.

"See? He's sharp enough to have it figured out without being here... You should learn from him Keiichi"

"Shut up you brat!"

"Waaahhh! Keiichi called me a brat! He's so mean!" She started crying, but those tears were as fake as a crocodile's.

In that moment, Rena entered the room.

"~Hau~ Satoko is so cute when she cries... I want to take her home!" She went on a light "take it home" rampage on Satoko.

"Rena you just arrived!" Mion shouted trying to calm her.

"Rena knows, Rena knows... But Satoko is so kyuut! Huh? Who might you be, I've never seen you around..." She asked referring to Amuro.

"Hi, I'm Amuro"

"Nice to meet you. Where are you from Amuro-kun? You don't look Japanese, but your name is" Rena dangerously pointed out.

"I'm Italian, and it's true that my name is Japanese, but it was the name that I suppose my mother gave me when she left me as a baby..." Amuro told her with a well acted feeling of sadness, since he had overcomed this long before.

"Oh... Sorry, sorry" She apologised to him.

"Yeah, he told me a bit about it while we were on the way here, but I didn't want to mention it if Amuro didn't feel comfortable doing it" Mion said.

"It doesn't matter, I am used to it after all these years..." It was true that he was an orphan.

"Why have you come to Hinamizawa?" Asked a cute blue-haired girl.

"I wanted to relax and have a taste of what's it like to live in a village of this kind. I have been fascinated with Japan since I was a little kid"

"I see. I'm Furude Rika and I hope you like our village ~nipah!~"

"~HAU~" Rena's eyes shined like red lasers.

"DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT" Mion stopped her.

"So Mion, did you go to Amuro's place to bring him here?" Asked Keiichi.

"Yep. Yesterday Ba-chan told me that a new kid had transferred in, so I had to meet him and make sure he went to school at least once in a while. Sorry Amuro-kun, but she is very strict so I had to follow her orders"

"Don't worry. I wanted to come to school eventually, just to see what it's like..."

"Don't tell me you had never gone to school..." Rena said.

"Not really. I was taught at the orphanage, and later I had a tutor. I had never really gotten to know a school before..."

"Wow, so this is the first school you're going to?" Asked Satoko not believing that was possible.

"Yep. I have high hopes for a school life in here, Mion told me everything about the club, and I'm willing to join" He happily said.

"I still can't believe Mion went on her own to a boy's house..." Keiichi mumbled.

"What do you mean by that Kei-chan?" Mion answered with a pissed off grin.

"Ehhh! I just didn't picture it, that's all!" He said as fear went through his body from Mion's aura.

"Hahahahaha, you're all so funny, I really hope we get to know each other" Amuro laughed.

They chatted for the remaining minutes about trivial stuff. This helped Amuro to know them better. The other kids arrived one after the other until the classroom was complete.

After a while, a bell was heard across the hallway and Chie-sensei entered the room.

"Good morning everyone. Today is a special day, since we have a new transfer student! Please, Amuro-kun come to the front and tell us a bit about yourself"

He walked to the blackboard and stood before the class.

"Hello, my name is Tsugaru Amuro, I'm 17 years old and I come from Milan, Italy. This is my first time in a school, so please help me to enjoy this month with everyone. I like playing strings instruments and eating a lot of food. I can cook quite well, but I don't like it very much, I live alone though, so I had to get used to it" He introduced himself while telling a bit more about his likes and dislikes. He didn't know how old he was, but he said what seemed to be his age to other people.

"Oh, is that true Amuro-kun? We'll do our best to make sure you think that school is the best then!" Chie-sensei was all fired up.

"Thank you, I guess..." Amuro looked for a chair. He noticed Rena and Keiichi sat together, and so did Satoko and Rika, that left...

"You can sit with this old man, Amuro!" Mion invited.

There was a lonely desk too, but he decided to sit by Mion's side. He would've preferred not to, since he thought that this world's perfect outcome was if Keiichi and Mion ended up falling for each other, but with his arrival it seemed that Mion got closer and closer to him instead. It didn't bother him at the very least, he thought that Mion was cute and that she had the best body of the two candidates for Keiichi's love story, but he wasn't sure of how would things turn out if he continued meddling in this aspect. Now he couldn't deny Mion's invitation, so he just accepted it.

"Thank you Mion!" He said while putting his bag on the floor, on the side of his desk and putting his pencil case on the desk.

Class started and it seemed to be math. Amuro looked at the problems with an oblivious look. Mion noticed this.

"Hey Amuro-kun, you don't understand anything you have in there right?"

"No, could you explain it to me?"

"Hahahahahahaha... I can't"

"Eeehhh! But, you've been to school all these years haven't you?"

"Yeah, I know, but I've never been able to understand math that well..."

"Well, I've never been to school before so I can't judge..."

"We can ask Kei-chan though!"

"But isn't Keiichi-kun one grade below us?"

"He might be, but he understands this stuff pretty well, he's an excellent teacher!"

"Maybe Mion really likes Keiichi anyway and I don't have anything to worry about..." He thought due to Mion's admiration. "Well, I'll go ask him" He said.

Keiichi noticed that Amuro was walking towards him so he looked at him.

"Amuro, is something the matter?"

"Mion and I don't understand heck of this hahaha..."

"Not you too!"

"Sorry, but could you help us a little?"

"Let me finish this page and I'll go to help you..."

"Thanks a lot Keiichi. Hey, Mion really depends on you on this stuff, you shouldn't let her down..."

"Huh? Well, I guess it's true. Thanks for pointing that out" Keiichi felt it was weird that a guy that had just arrived already read Mion like a book in that matter. "Maybe this guy really is sharper than I am..." He thought.

Amuro went back to his seat and told Mion to wait for a while.

"For the time being, tell me a bit more about yourself Mion"

"Like what?"

"I don't know, like your plans for the future"

"Ah... well, it's already been decided".

He knew what she referred to, but still he wanted to make her explain this claim.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I will become the head of the Sonozaki family"

"How is that a job in any way?"

"Oh, right, you don't know about it. There are three main families in Hinamizawa. The Furude, the Kimiyoshi and the Sonozaki. The other two families have more of a historical importance in the village than anything, but the Sonozaki family is by far the most powerful, so our responsibility for the village is a lot greater. I don't feel that our family is better than any other though, don't get me wrong!"

"No, I perfectly understand what you mean by that" Amuro said with a smile.

"Well then, what do you want to do?"

"I don't know. Honestly, I have no idea about what I'll do in the future"

"But, what do you like doing? Or what are you good at?"

"Well, I'm quite good at fighting. Like, literally breaking the shit out of other people, hahahahaha..."

"Wow. Well, for where you come from I perfectly understand why you grew up like that..."

"Really? Do you have a motto about life?"

"I don't really have one, but why do you ask?"

"Because life makes you see the world in different ways. My motto is You Can't Win. I bet that gives you an idea"

"But Amuro-kun, that's so sad! Are you all right? I feel that you are depressed or something..." Mion said with a pure sense of worry and sadness.

"And what about you Mion... How have you been feeling lately?"

"Huh? What do you mean? It's you who has that terribly pessimistic idea of life!"

"I don't know. For a moment I felt a faint sadness in you. Like, somehow you related my situation to yours..." He tried to make Mion tell him something about this world indirectly.

"Amuro, I... It's... No, it's nothing, hahaha! This old man is alright!" She lied.

"Really? If you say so I believe you, but you can count on me ok? After everything you've done for me I can truly call you my friend" Amuro realised that in this world Mion had been hurt in a way, that was enough for the moment.

"Okay, and the same goes for you! I'm going to try my best to change that motto of yours to something as positive as the shining sun!"

"Oh but is the sun's shine truly something good? If it shines too much you can get burnt pretty badly..."

"Huh?"

"Ha! Just a philosophical joke, don't think too much about it!"

"Damn, I had never thought of it that way. It may be a joke but it is true now that I think about it"

"Everything in excess is bad. Remember that. Well, possibly love is the exception..."

"Maybe you're right"

"Look Mion, Keiichi-kun is coming this way!"

Keiichi grabbed Mion's sheet and looked at the problems. "These are second grade equations. You have to find X1 and X2 with this formula" he said pointing at the formula at the sheet's introduction.

"It seems so hard Kei-chan..." Mion said.

"You just have to organise the numbers in the correct order and replace these values. The same goes for you Amuro"

"I think I understand, so I'll try it out"

He managed to finish two problems correctly.

"Well done Amuro! See Mion? It can't be that hard..."

"I'm not so sure about that..." She sadly mumbled.

"Thanks a lot Keiichi! Don't worry, you have your own problems. I'll do my best to help Mion"

"You think you can do it?" Keiichi asked him.

"Yeah. If for some reason I get stuck I'll ask you again though"

"Okay, I'll get back to work then" And he got back to his seat.

"Now Mion you have to..." And he started explaining Mion step by step how everything was done.

By the end of class they both managed to complete the first side of the sheet.

"Woo! I think I had never completed so much work in a maths class, thank you a lot Amuro-kun!" Mion was legit happy.

"It's nothing Mion, we're friends right! I had never taught someone before, and it feels good you know?"

The rest of the classes were not a problem for them and the day passed pretty fast.

"I really enjoy sitting with Mion. She's so cheerful and has a great personality" He thought as he looked at her for a moment.

Mion herself looked at Amuro and their eyes met for a split second and turned around immediately with a slight blush on her face. "His eyes are so... beautiful. Was he looking at me too? Is it possible that he looks at me the way a boy looks at a girl?" She thought.

"Mion is a lot more feminine than she thinks" Amuro thought.

"Well! Now it's time to start the club games! What do you know playing Amuro-kun?" Mion said.

"I know chess..."

"Hum... We're going to play something very different but pretty cool!"

"Which one is it?" Asked Rika.

"Sympathy, the game consists on picking a random word of the dictionary and writing a word that you think most people will write, and you get the number of points for each person that wrote the same"

"You're dead Keiichi" Said Satoko.

"So, let's get started with... Seasons!"

Amuro thought: "Winter of course. Who wouldn't love playing in the snow and going deer hunting?"

"Now everyone, show what you wrote down"

Rena wrote Spring, Rika Summer, Satoko Summer, Mion Summer and Keiichi Spring.

"Shit... I guess I lose this one" Said Amuro as he showed his Winter.

"Try to think like the other would, Amuro-kun!" Said Rena. "Chess isn't so different!"

"It wasn't in theory, but in chess you manipulate the player to do what you want him to do and leave him no other choice. It's very different in the end" He thought.

The game continued for half an hour and ended up like this:

Mion: 9 points

Satoko: 7 points

Rena: 7 points

Rika: 5 points

Keiichi: 2 points

Amuro: 0 points

"Looks like I didn't win, but I didn't lose either!" Keiichi said relieved.

"I didn't expect Amuro-kun to be like this..." Satoko said with a disappointed voice.

"Sorry, so what's my punishment game?" He asked.

"I won, so I get to decide it!" Said Mion.

"I wonder what atrocious destiny awaits poor Amuro... Mwahahahaha!" Keiichi said with an evil laugh.

"Nah, I'll go easy on you. Carry my things to my room and that's it" Mion decided.

"Wha-?" Keiichi was disappointed.

"No problem Mion, off we go then?" Amuro was already with 2 backpacks on his back.

"Yeah. Bye everyone!"

While walking down the road Amuro felt that there was something he had to tell Mion.

"Hey Mion..."

"What's up Amuro-kun?"

"I'm so sorry about failing this game so badly"

"Why would you say that? It doesn't harm me in any way..."

"It's just that I failed because I am not like you guys"

"What do you mean?"

"I... I don't feel empathy"

Mion felt a terrible sadness inside of her and stopped walking. "Amuro... you mean you can't feel what others feel?"

"Exactly, and I'm so sorry I am like this..."

"But you can't be! You helped me, you do good things, so why would you believe such a thing?"

"Because I imitate you. I mimic your behaviour in order to fit. I contort my mind to be able to guess what you think, and even then I fail... I am a being born of pure egoism" He said as water started running down his cheeks.

"But you're crying... you are not insensitive!"

"I cry because I'm disappointed in myself, Mion"

"Amuro..." She said as she started crying herself.

"See? Now I made you miserable... Sometimes I wish I hadn't been born..."

This time a slap was what he received. In terms of pain it was nothing, Mion couldn't possibly hit him so hard that it would damage him, but it was his stone heart that felt like a small crack appeared on it.

"Don't ever say that Amuro! That is the most egoist and insensitive thing you have said! You are not a monster, you are my friend..."

"I am Death. I have cold-bloodedly killed so many people through my life that I killed my own feelings. I'm hollow Mion"

Tears stopped flowing from him, and his shiny purple eyes changed into a darker colour.

"Stupid! You have helped me a lot today, you showed interest in helping me not only with work, but with my feelings! You felt that there was something wrong with me and you know it!"

"Wait a second... that was correct, the time I asked Mion about herself, I knew she wasn't ok, regardless of expecting it, I could feel her sadness for a moment" He thought. His eyes regained their shine. "I think, I think you are right Mion!" He smiled and hugged her.

"Amuro... you're not as cold as you think... This embrace is proof of that. I was feeling a bit cold now, but your embrace is so warm..." She wasn't thinking about anything else.

"Mion, can you call me by my name only?"

"Huh?"

"Call me Amuro. I feel a lot better when you do so"

"Just like you call me?"

"Exactly. I only ask for one thing in return..."

"What is it?"

He broke the embrace, grabbed her closely by her shoulders and looked her in the eyes:

"Just show me what it means for me to feel again"

~~~~X~~~~

And thus a new story begins. Now now, I know I am far from finishing Megaman ZX III and I haven't updated lately Pokémon Zero, but I am the writer, I do what I want, and I felt that Higurashi is a story I wanted to write about. Also, this story is legit important. Like, the other ones are good and all, but this one has a place in my Light Novel's universe. Tsugaru Amuro is by far my favourite character of all the ones I've created, cause he's the incarnation of my own self, or at least a piece of it. So I hope you liked this first chapter, I'll delay between chapters because as you can see I'm writing a lot more than in the others, I wanted to give it kind of the feeling the Visual Novel gives, so I'll do my best to write wholesome long chapters. If I ever have time to finish off the Fragment series I'll do it, but this part of the story will end, I promise you! I will also do my best to not leave the other stories in a hiatus, but this one is the top priority right now. I won't start any more stories until I finish at least one of them.

I'll just say it once: Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni and all other stories from 07th Expansion belong to them.

PD: There's a chapter of Pokémon Zero in progress.

Darkmatter17 out.