Chapter 21
Otonashi Yuzuru

"Kanade!"

I burst into the room just in time to see Kanade slam into the wall at the back of the class. The whole classroom is a mess. Bits and pieces of the chairs and desks lie all over the place, with the only thing seemingly intact being the teacher's desk in front of the room. I barely register the girl standing immobile further inside. The only thing on my mind now is getting to Kanade as quickly as possible.

"Move, Otonashi-kun!" I hear Yuri's voice through the haze in my mind. "I'll keep her busy!"

I hurry across the classroom as fast as I can, making sure to keep close to the wall and far away from the action. I faintly hear the swish of what I take to be Yuri's combat knives but can make out no indicators that they are connecting with anything but air.

I reach Kanade who's still lying motionless on the floor. Quickly checking her for injuries and vital signs, I feel a heavy sense of relief to find that she seems to have suffered no lasting damage. Carefully picking her up, I take a quick look to make sure that the girl's attention is still on Yuri, and hurry back the way I came.

Hisako wastes no time ushering me out of the area and back towards the stairwell as soon as I reach the door. None of us says a word until we reach the top of the stairs.

"Go down and wait for us, Otonashi. The lower floors should be safer. I'm going back to get Yuri."

With that, she turns around and hurries back to the classroom where Yuri is still undoubtedly fighting the mysterious girl. Part of me wants to go back and help her out, but my concern for Kanade, still motionless in my arms, leads me to go down as Hisako asked. I need to have faith in Yuri as she is one of the most capable hand-to-hand fighters in the group.

Reaching the bottom of the stairs, I notice that the maze of corridors that was here probably just minutes ago is gone. In its place is the regular hallway of the school, looking as if nothing had ever happened. Not bothering to look for another classroom, I lay Kanade down on the floor. It's quite a miracle that she seems to have suffered no serious injuries, considering the state that the classroom was in.

I hear an echoing crash from upstairs and look back up, feeling worry wash over me again. What if the same thing that happened to Kanade has happened to Yuri? If Kanade, who I used to think was near-invincible, got beaten like this, I don't think even Yuri can win alone.

"Yuzuru?"

My head snaps downwards at the sound of this familiar voice. Kanade is already propping herself up on her elbows, and struggling to get into a sitting position.

I hurry to stop her.

"Kanade, how are you feeling? You probably shouldn't be getting up so quickly."

"I'm fine," she replies, grabbing my shoulder and using me to pull herself up instead. "Just hit my head a little. Where are the others?"

"Yuri's still upstairs fighting that girl. She distracted her for me to get you out of there."

"We have to get her out!" Kanade's abrupt response took me by surprise. She rarely, if ever, loses her cool. "That girl's not normal! I couldn't touch her. She's too fast and strong to be a normal person."

"Don't worry, Kanade-chan. I'm alright."

Once again a familiar voice comes from behind me. We turn around at the same time and look up the stairs.

Yuri is walking down the steps, supported by Hisako. She's a mess. She already has bruises all over and her uniform is torn and disheveled. Honestly she looks like she's in a worse state than Kanade is.

"She ran away. Jumped right out the window. Not before she gave me a good beating though," Yuri manages a weak smile that's quickly broken by a grimace. "Don't know why she'd do that. She had me cornered for good there."

"Don't strain yourself, Yuri," Hisako cuts in. "You can talk after you've had a good rest. Let's get you somewhere safe for now."

Suddenly weak with relief, all I can do is manage a smile and nod in agreement. Looking over at Kanade, I think she most likely feels the same way. This has gotten out of hand very quickly, and the best move now would be to regroup and reevaluate the situation. Thankfully, nothing unusual blocks our way out of the building and we head back to the student council room where Hinata and the others are waiting.

If anybody has noticed I've made some minor changes to the description of the story. I've done some reflecting and realized that as I've gone on with this, I've focused more and more on the story and action itself rather than romantic interactions between characters. I forgot if I mentioned this before, but this story has expanded further than I originally intended, partially because of my habit of not setting a definite outline or plan before writing. I've removed the romance genre and the Yuzuru x Kanade from the description to avoid further confusion. To those who started reading this looking for Yuzuru x Kanade romance, I apologize. I have some scenes between them in my mind but I haven't been able to fit them into the current storyline. Thank you once again to those who are still reading and/or reviewing despite my extremely slow pace. I'm aware that I'm very inactive here even though this is my only story.