Welcome, one and all, and thanks for taking an interest in this story of mine.~ It's my first time writing for this fandom, and it happens to be a rather strange AU of it... Seriously, none of my fanfics ever take place in the canon universe. I always have to put my own weird twist on it. Anyway, I won't give away too much at this point, but this AU contains elements that are heavily stol- *cough cough* that is to say, heavily INSPIRED by something else. So heavily that this thing could almost be a crossover... but because I believe it fits into the general themes of Mirai Nikki, I think it works just as an AU. Don't worry, you won't need to know anything in particular in regards to this story; there are no spoilers, and anything that isn't based on MN will be explained in due time. Anyway, let me know what you think! As this is my first time writing for MN, constructive criticism on areas such as characterisations (or anything, for that matter) would be much appreciated.

Anyway, here are some warnings:

If it wasn't already obvious, this story contains boyxboy/shounen-ai/yaoi/etc., and the eventual pairing will be Yukise (Amano Yukiteru x Akise Aru). If you don't like that sort of thing, then I strongly suggest that you don't read it. Any flamers will be ignored.

I've set the rating at T for now because I'm not really certain about what exactly will happen in later chapters; the current content doesn't contain anything that falls anywhere near the M category. However, there's still the possibility of the rating increasing, so I'll just leave you with that warning for the moment.

Finally, I don't own Mirai Nikki, of course. I'm just a nerdy fangirl writing her weird nerdy fanfics.

Well, now that that's over, I hope you enjoy this story! Reviews are welcome, of course.

And, without further ado...

Chapter One: Watch And Learn

[Amano Household, Sakurami City]

"He's watching."

Yukiteru stared blankly at the words which occupied the screen of his phone; two lines of large neon-green pixels. He had to almost squint in order to comprehend them; some sort of glitch had caused the kanji on the second line to distort, as though the characters had been twisted out of shape by some kind of paranormal force.

And then, just as suddenly as those words had appeared, they abruptly vanished from the screen, revealing the usual display of Amano Yukiteru's treasured mobile phone once more.

Yukiteru felt his heart rate catch up with the buzzing neurones in his brain. What… what was that…? "He's… watching?" What could that possibly mean? Is… Is somebody watching me right now?

The notion caused the teenager to pan his dark cobalt irises around the room wildly, searching for any signs of intrusion, of unfamiliarity – but it was just his room; the single bed, the dartboard, the desk displaying photographs of himself and his parents – as familiar and unchanging as he had always known them to be.

Yukiteru caught his breath, forcing his heart to stop pumping so wildly. Seriously, Yuuki, get a hold of yourself. There's nobody here. It was just a glitch. It doesn't mean anything… all it means is that there was a malfunction in the wiring of your phone or something… these things happen.

He didn't pretend to know a lot about computer science, but he had heard of these so-called "impossible coincidences" happening before, on all manner of electrical devices. Even his own mother occasionally came home from work with a wild tale or two surrounding a video game that her company had been recently developing. It was easier to dismiss it when it happened to somebody else, though. Now it was happening to him – and he just couldn't shake off the feeling of trepidation that gripped him, no matter how hard he tried.

Glancing downward, Yukiteru noticed that he had twisted his duvet and bedsheets into a tightly wound helix of fabric as he had frantically checked his room for danger earlier. Disentangling himself from the mess, he swung his feet over the side of the bed, placed his heels flat on the floor, and breathed deeply. "Nothing but a glitch," he uttered, over and over, in an attempt to convince himself.

Once sufficiently calmed, he glanced back to his phone. It was the same display as always – the electric-blue background that he had not bothered to change since the mobile had come into his possession, with all his icons and apps floating in their various places on the screen. He opened up his diary, creating a new log for the current date. For his first entry that day, he wrote:

9:07 A.M. [Home] I discovered a strange glitch when I turned my phone on this morning. It was weird, but I should probably just ignore it.

Flipping his phone closed, Yukiteru placed the indigo gadget on his pillow and stretched, preparing to get ready for the day ahead. He threw on a pair of beige capris, a blue shirt and a black sleeveless jacket before tying up the laces of his boots tightly and pulling his trademark hat firmly over his obsidian hair – all the time trying to push the memory of the glitch to the back of his mind.

"Let's see how darts goes today."

Reaching into the pouch that he always kept on the right side of his waist, the boy withdrew a yellow dart and flung it toward the dartboard opposite his bed. The projectile impacted the board, just millimetres short of a bull's eye.

"Hm, not bad," he murmured. "Guess it's going to be a pretty good day."

As he picked up his diary to write down his score, the screen suddenly flickered. For a split second Yukiteru's body jolted, but then the usual display appeared once again.

Nothing, he thought through gritted teeth as he recorded his second entry that day. It's a tiny glitch. It's nothing I should ever be worried about. …Right?

[Sakurami City High School]

The first lesson of the day was Mathematics, and instead of listening to the droning voice of his teacher detailing the rules of trigonometry and Pythagoras (a rather ridiculous name, Yukiteru thought, and one that he could barely pronounce), the blue-eyed boy entertained himself by observing the antics of the students, all the while discreetly punching in entries of what he saw unfold around him into his diary.

Gasai Yuno was the only student who appeared to take any remote interest in the ramblings of Mr Hashimoto. She was scrawling down the answers to the examples the teacher wrote on the blackboard rapidly - sweat beading beneath her rose locks as her brow folded in concentration. She was working almost as though her life depended on it. Then again, perhaps it did.

Yukiteru had heard of a rumour that suggested that her parents worked her so hard that she was never allowed a holiday… or even a short break, for that matter. That seemed a little extreme, although it was common knowledge that Yuno's parents were strict. They even had a specific curfew in place that she had to arrive home by.

Kousaka Ouji and his gang were messing around and picking on the other students – no surprises there. They had, however, spared Yukiteru his usual daily torment, or at least for the duration of this lesson. Kousaka himself was kicking the back of the seat of the student in front of him whilst simultaneously passing derisive comments such as, "Y'know, I saw your mother on my way to school this morning and I thought I'd finally found the secret to why you look so hideous." He burst into peals of chortling laughter afterwards, as though he had just cracked the ultimate joke of the year.

Nonosaka Mao was gazing adoringly across the room at Hino Hinata, her eyes totally fixed on the other girl as if she were the only other human being in the world. A growing blush adorned Mao's features as Hinata herself continued chatting with the girl next to her, oblivious. There were plenty of rumours about those two as well… to say the least.

As the lesson drew to a close, the tone of the school bells seconds from sounding, Yukiteru looked down rather proudly at the set of entries he had collected.

9:50 A.M. [Maths Classroom] Gasai is paying attention to Hashimoto-sensei's examples. Looks as though she's concentrating really hard.

10:02 A.M. [Maths Classroom] Kousaka is tormenting other students again, but at least it's not me this time.

10:15 A.M. [Maths Classroom] Nonosaka is gazing at Hino almost like she wants to kiss her. Are the rumours true?

Yes. Observing. That was what Amano Yukiteru did best. By observing, he could learn anything about anyone, without ever having to talk to any of them. But still… what was it like, to have a friend? To have someone, other than your parents, whom you could put complete trust in? Yukiteru had never experienced friendship… and, if he was honest, he longed almost desperately to know what it meant. As much as he told himself he didn't need friends… that he had his imagination… that he had his diary… it never seemed to be enough.

But just as the school bells sounded, and Mr Hashimoto motioned for the students to stand up out of their seats, time appeared to abruptly grind to a halt.

Everything became suddenly monochrome, and Yukiteru wondered for a moment if he had somehow lost his colour vision. But then, his view was suddenly filled with red – a dark, crimson liquid was seeping through the cracks in the floor, steadily rising upwards. It seemed… It seemed almost as if the building itself was bleeding uncontrollably.

But then, as the fluid began to pool at his feet, rising up past his ankles, his shins – and then, as it come into contact with his skin, he felt its warmth (it practically scalded him) and its stickiness – Yukiteru realised that this liquid was indeed blood. He even spied organs floating in the broth – a heart here, a liver there – all graphically outlined. The stench of gore began to fill the air.

My God…

But the blood wasn't just rising from the floor. As Yukiteru glanced around, he saw waterfalls of scarlet cascading off his fellow students from their mouths, noses, eyes – dribbling down their chins and pooling on the creases in their clothes, making a haunting drip, drip sound as they hit the surface of the literal bloodbath that was filling the room at a phenomenal rate. The haemorrhaging students held expressions that could only be described as dead – and yet their lacklustre irises all seemed to focus on Yukiteru.

Why… why me? he thought, bewildered and utterly terrified. Their vacant expressions were somehow accusing… did he do this? What did he do to cause this?

He wanted nothing more than to scream and to run, but he could do neither of those things – his muscles were frozen as the blood lapped up at his shirt, crawling steadily higher until his mouth filled with its metallic flavour.

Yukiteru submerged, his eyes clamped shut tightly. Despite his efforts, his eyelids unhinged almost of their own accord. But instead of seeing floating organs in a world of macabre claret, as he had expected, he was instead greeted by the sight of a man surrounded by computers and wiring. The hum of the machines was palpable, and the only illumination originated from the laptop that the man was hunched over, so his face could not be seen. As he watched, Yukiteru's field of view suddenly narrowed, zooming in ever closer towards the laptop. Long, bony fingers danced relentlessly across a keyboard that was marked with strange, alien characters – not kanji, not even English – but something Yukiteru had never seen before. As the man typed, the strange characters appeared superimposed over the boy's vision. He could not tell what the message read, but somehow, reading it filled him with utter dread.

What… what is going on here…?

"He's watching," a voice whispered, delicately but urgently, into Yukiteru's ear. "He's always watching…"

Yukiteru could hold it in no longer.

He screamed.