Chapter 2

Our New Friends

"In any matter, is Key coffee really that good!"

"Of course it is! How could you hate that stuff! It's the beeeesssssttttt thing ever!"

"I get it! You don't need to stretch the word out!"

Hinata and Yui were continuously arguing, even about the most trivial things, like coffee, but there was no hatred in their arguments. Their relationship was a weird one, as beneath their arguments, there was only happiness and friendships, and also a hint of romance.

"Other than arguments, do you have any other talents at all?" Hinata said jokingly, when he paused to himself. 'Wait…when I just said…could that have hurt her?'

Yui was paralyzed, and could not move her body at all. She was unable to be like others and go to school, and couldn't even do simple arts & crafts or household chores. Hinata was quickly about to apologize when Yui interrupted.

"The heck! I don't have a talent in arguing!" Hinata stared back in surprise, as a sweat dropped down at the back of his head comically. "Even though I can't move, I can sing really well!"

"Hah? Singing? Like children lullabies, right?" Hinata said mockingly.

"Yeah, like Iwasawa on TV!"

"Iwasawa? Oh, that rising singer right now…She's at our age, you know."

"Yeah! She's so cool! She can play the guitar so well, and sing as well. Apparently, she's even starting this band with these other girls, and they're gonna be called 'GirlsDeadMonster' or 'GirlDeMo' for short!" Yui's eyes seemed to sparkle as she explained to Hinata. "I want to be like her one day!"

"Eh, is that so?" Hinata said as he whistled. "Then let me hear it."

"Hear it?"

"Your singing, idiot!" Hinata said with a laugh. Yui only pouted back, but spoke.

"Okay then. I'll sing it…my original song."

"Eh, original? You made it yourself!"

"Of course! It's called 'Thousand Enemies'!"

"Then let's hear it!"

And with that, Yui began to sing. Her voice was nothing like Iwasawa, instead, it was unique in it's own way. Yui had an upbeat song as she sang, but it was also beautiful by itself at the same time. Her lyrics were nothing special, just a typical love song, but somehow, they stuck to Hinata like glue and paper in his brain.

Her eyes were closed as she sang, and it felt almost magical to Hinata. He closed his eyes himself, and as he listened to the song, he could almost imagine it. He could imagine Yui strumming a red electric guitar, as she sang into a microphone, with the spot light radiating her. He could see many fans cheering her on, as she sang with all her might, sweat drops falling down from her face from the mood and heat of the light.

Yui didn't sing for that long, only for a minute or so. As she stopped, Hinata opened his eyes in amazement, while Yui stared at him.

"It…wasn't too bad, right?"

"Bad? Are you insane? That was amazing!" Yui's shy look quickly disappeared, as Hinata began to compliment her, with excitement in his voice. "Even though you were singing a capella, it sounded great! I could imagine you singing this at a concert or something!"

"You…" Yui began to blush in surprise at Hinata's comment, and he quickly noticed.

"Oh, what's this, starting to fall in love with me?"

Yui smirked to herself. "In love? Ha! As if! Of course my song was good! That's what you can expect from me!" Yui boasted with confidence in her voice.

'She really covers things up in the weirdest ways…' Hinata thought to himself.

"You know what? I take the comment back." Hinata said with a sigh, leaving Yui to pout in frustration.

"Eh! What's your problem! No fair! You can't take it back!"

"But man, her singing really is nice…" Hinata was leaning against the railing of the rooftop, looking out onto the horizon, as he propped his head up with his hand and arm.

"Eh, who?" Otonashi was beside his friend, who was obviously lost in a trance, thinking about something else.

"Yui, obviously Yui…"

"Oh, that girl you're always talking about? The one that you like?"

"Yeah, her-"Hinata finally snapped out of his trance when he realized what Otonashi had said. "I don't like her!"

"Okay, okay, but you really are in a daze when you think about her."

"As if. Anyways, what did you want to tell me?" Hinata sighed to himself, and looked at Otonashi, who had a small blush on his face.

"You see, there's this girl that I had met on the street the other day. We started talking more and more, and kept meeting up. I finally found out she's actually transferring to our school soon!"

"Ha ha, what is this, love?"

"Huh! Of course not!" The blush on Otonashi's face was crimson red, and Hinata could only snicker to himself. 'He's totally in love, he's badly in love!'

"Oh yeah…you're not too bad of a guy, right?"

"The heck is that suppose to mean? We've known each other for a long time. I'm sure you can think of me as a good guy." Otonashi retaliated back, with no enthusiasm in his voice.

"Then do you wanna meet Yui?"

"Don't just invite me recklessly as if you're the owner of the house." Otonashi said back, but it didn't shoot down Hinata's enthusiasm.

"It's good for her to get to know more people, you know!"

"Well, she does sound like an interesting person. Sure, let's go."

"Yeah! Otonashi has just joined your party!"

"Don't make this into a video game reference, will ya?" Otonashi sighed to himself, as Hinata finally peeled himself away from the railing, and stood in front of Otonashi.

"By the way, you better not fall in love with Yui, and forget that transfer student of yours!" Hinata said, with a big smirk on his face. Otonashi was about to argue back, but decided to try a different comeback. He smiled to himself, and gave a pat to Hinata's shoulder as he started to walk away.

"Don't worry, I won't. This Yui girl is yours, isn't she?" Otonashi said, with a bit of amusement in his voice. Hinata looked back with a small blush on his face at that comment.

"No chance! Wait up!" Hinata chased after Otonashi, and started to walk beside him as they went back to class.

"Hey Hinata, how far is her house anyways?"

"Hmm?" Hinata looked back on Otonashi, who began to walk slowly. School had already ended, and they went to go to Yui's house right away.

"Have you already forgotten? It's the house where we broke the glass window."

"Where you broke the glass window." Otonashi corrected Hinata quickly, who looked back with a 'does-it-really-matter' face. Otonashi continued. "I mean, she's right near by…so why don't we see her at school?"

Hinata stopped in his tracks, which Otonashi noticed quickly. He could tell there was something wrong with this Yui girl.

"The thing is…" Hinata seemed to have trouble speaking, but calmed himself down and continued. "Yui…she's in our grade…but she got into an accident when she was younger. She's…she's paralyzed from the neck below…" Hinata's voice had a different tone from usual. It didn't have any sadness, and especially did not have any pity. It was one that could easily display Yui's hard work and the fact that despite how bad the situation was, it would be okay in the end. His voice itself depicted Yui's hope of living. "Yui…she's trying her best. I can tell…She continues to talk to me, and she looks as though she wants to try to make new friends…" Hinata couldn't help but give a small smile as he ended his explanation.

"She…she sounds like a really strong girl…" Hinata turned back to see a smile of admiration on Otonashi's face.

"Yeah…she is…" 'But to me, the word 'strong' is an understatement. She's much more than that…' Hinata thought to himself.

"Coming! Oh, Hinata, who's this young gentleman?" Hinata and Otonashi had arrived at Yui's house, where Yui's mother greeted them like usual.

"This is Otonashi Yuzuru. I thought it'd be better for Yui to get to know more people, and Otonashi isn't a bad guy."

"Pleasure to meet you." Otonashi quickly bowed, as Yui's mother did the same.

"Pleasure to meet you. I am Yui's mother. I'm sure she'll be happy to see you both." Yui's mother said with a smile.

Hinata led Otonashi to Yui's room, and knocked on the door.

"Yui~ I'm here. You awake?"

"Of course I am! Just come in!" Both Hinata and Otonashi could hear the TV that was turned on, but Hinata still asked just in case. He opened the door, and greeted Yui, while keeping Otonashi out of the room for a bit.

"Yo, doing well?"

"What took you so long today?" Yui said with a pout.

"What, you're starting to become more like a spoiled brat!" Hinata said with a big grin on his face, as Yui stared back surprise.

"As if!"

"Anyways, I brought one of my friends today. I thought maybe you could get to become friends with him."

"Eh, friend?" At that very moment, Yui started to become nervous. Despite her cheerful personality, it was still hard for her to interact with others.

"Don't worry." Hinata had quickly noticed Yui's uneasiness, and quickly reassured her. "He's a good guy, so there's no need to be nervous or scared. Although, I think anyone gets nervous when meeting someone." Hinata smiled to Yui, who looked back. "Oi, Otonashi, get in here!"

'Otonashi?' Yui quickly started to repeat the name in her head between the few seconds before Otonashi entered the room. As he did, Yui caught his glance, as Otonashi caught Yui's glance.

"This is Otonashi Yuzuru. He's a pal of mine from the baseball team!" Hinata said with a grin. "Otonashi, this is Yui. I just met her recently!"

"Pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise…"

Hinata quickly noticed the silence between the two.

'Where have I…'

'Met him before?' Both Otonashi and Yui could feel nostalgia in between them, and only stared back at one another while in thought.

'Eh? What's up with those two?' Hinata quickly noticed the silent glance between them, which would usually be comical to most people, but not to Hinata. 'It couldn't be…they're staring at one another because of…' The idea of the two looking at each other with love-blinded stares really irritated Hinata, leading him to interrupt the two.

"A-anyways! I thought we could all do something!" Hinata quickly snapped Otonashi and Yui out of their thoughts.

"Oh, how about a word game?" Yui said happily.

"O-okay! You fine with that, Otonashi!" Hinata seemed to have a weird edge to his voice, which Otonashi noticed.

"Uh, yeah, okay. What's up with you?"

Before they knew, they played word games for over an hour, leaving Hinata and Otonashi with exhausted minds.

"How many words have we come up with?" Hinata said, as he laid back against his chair tired like crazy.

"I can't even remember anymore…" Otonashi's body was flopped over, as the two boys sighed to themselves.

"Uwah, a wrestling match is on!" Unlike the other two, Yui was still as enthusiastic and jumpy like usual. Hinata and Otonashi could only sigh at the fact she still had so much energy.

"Yay! German Suplex!" Yui quickly cheered on the wrestler, and Otonashi turned to look at the T.V.

"Wow, the German Suplex, huh?" Otonashi stared in amazement as he whistled in approval.

"You know the move!" Yui said with the energy of a three year old.

"Well yeah. But there's no way I can do a move like that!"

"I bet I could if I could move!" Yui said with pride and ego in her voice, and Otonashi laughed along.

"With that personality, I bet you can." Otonashi smiled to Yui, who only grinned back, and the two began to laugh together. Hinata sat and smiled, but it was more of a solemn smile than one filled with laughter.

With the Sun starting to set, the sky began to take a purplish glow, showing the Sun was setting quickly.

"Ah, we better get going. I'll see you later, Yui."

"Bye, Yui." Hinata and Otonashi got out of their chairs, and said goodbye to Yui.

"Bye bye!" Yui smiled to them as they left the door. As soon as Yui saw the door closed, her smile quickly disappeared. 'Something…there's something wrong with Hinata…' Worry filled Yui's eyes, but tried to shake the feelings and looks away.

The sun was almost completely gone at this point, leaving the sky in a light purple that quickly wanted to transcend into darkness.

"Oi, Hinata…what's going on?"

"Huh?" Hinata looked up to see Otonashi had stopped walking and staring at him. Otonashi had noticed that this whole entire time, Hinata had been silent throughout the whole walk, which was unlike him.

"There's nothing wrong…" Hinata tried to avoid Otonashi's gaze, hoping it'd help him get away from the question, but both he and Otonashi knew that wouldn't work.

"You've been silent this whole entire time. What's going on?"

Hinata stayed silent for a second, trying to gather all his thoughts together. But it was impossible for him. He had all these mixed up emotions that welled up inside him. Before he knew it, his mouth opened, saying everything he couldn't compromise in his mind.

"Do you…Are you and Yui like…" Hinata clenched his fist, out of frustration from the fact Yui and Otonashi could like one another and also because he couldn't even ask damn properly. 'The hell is wrong with me?'

"Don't like her in that way." Hinata quickly looked up to see Otonashi's back facing him. Otonashi had slung his bag behind his shoulder, and turned his head back slightly to Hinata with a smile.

"I do like her, but only as a friend. She's pretty impressive, and she has guts. But I don't think I can fall for a girl like that. And besides…she's yours, isn't she?" Otonashi gave a bigger smirk at this point, and turned to look forward, and kept walking. "Hurry up, or I'm leaving you behind!" Hinata looked in surprise, and smiled.

"Yeah, yeah. Your feelings for Yui are way different than with another girl!" Hinata commented back jokingly, leaving Otonashi to punch Hinata in the arm playfully.

"Oi! Sorry to keep you waiting!" Hinata had been drinking a juice box while sitting on the rooftop when Otonashi came running in with a big grin on his face.

"Dude, breathe first. Then you can introduce me." Hinata tried to help his friend out, who was tired from running. "Why were you even running?"

"I…I lost her when the bell rang…" Otonashi said shyly.

"Hah? Lost her! She's in our class, though!"

"I know…but she got so interested in things, so I ran around looking for her." Otonashi gave a small laugh, while Hinata looked back shocked. 'How stupid is this girl?'

"Anyways, come out here. Tachibana!" Otonashi called out to the transfer student, who gracefully entered the rooftop. Her shining white hair was mostly left down, but some of it was clipped at the back. Her petite figure was just as small as Yui's, and her golden eyes were piercing but also gentle at the same time.

"Hinata, you should already know her from the introduction in class this morning. But I'll introduce again. This is Tachibana Kanade, the girl I've been telling you about."

"Hello…" Kanade replied with a quiet voice, as she bowed politely.

"This is Hinata Hideki. Just call him Hinata."

"Ah, hey!" Hinata quickly bowed as well, not wanting to seem out of place and rude. 'Somehow…' Hinata quickly sneaked a peek at her. 'I feel like I've meet her before. What is with all this nostalgia lately? But unlike Yui, I think when we met, I was scared of her at first…' Hinata quickly felt a shiver down his back.

"Oh, there you guys are!" A strong voice interrupted Hinata's train of thoughts, and he got up to see Yuri standing at the entrance to the rooftop.

"Yurippe! What are you doing here?" Hinata asked.

"First of all, I told you not to call me by like that. And second of all, I had nothing to do, so I went to look for you guys." Yuri had a bit of anger at Hinata for calling her like that, but when she saw Kanade, it quickly went away.

"Oh. Yuri, this is Tachibana Kanade, a transfer student in my class. Tachibana, this is Nakamura Yuri. She's from another class." Otonashi quickly did the introductions.

"H-hello…"

"Hi." Yuri quickly examined Kanade, who stood still in confusion. "You're…actually pretty cute. And you seem like a nice person! Hey, will you be my friend?" Yuri smiled to Kanade, who stared back with sparkles in her eyes.

"Okay." Despite her quiet voice, Otonashi could easily see the happiness in her voice. He smiled to himself, and Hinata noticed.

"Oh? Already head over heels this early in the day?" Hinata nudged Otonashi in the chest as he snickered at him.

"As if! And besides, it's not that early right now! It's already the afternoon!" Otonashi retaliated back.

"Hey, Hinata. I got a request."

"Hmm?" Hinata noticed Otonashi looking at him with determination in his face.

"What, you want to go on a date or something? If so, no thanks!" Hinata waved Otonashi away, leaving Otonashi agitated.

"That's not it!" Otonashi took a breath, and looked at Kanade. "You told me Yui can sing, right?"

"Huh? Yeah, I guess." 'I didn't exactly tell you…I just happened to blurt it out by accident' Hinata thought to himself as a sweat drop fell down the back of his head.

"The thing is, I want Tachibana to get to know more people. She can play the piano, so I thought maybe she and Yui could get along."

"Hmm, that does sound good for Yui as well, to get to know more people."

"Oh, talking about someone not from school?" Hinata and Otonashi got out of their distant gazes to see Yuri and Kanade in front of them. Yuri had a smile on face.

"This Yui girl…she sounds interesting. I want to meet her as well!" Yuri quickly showed her feelings to this meeting, and Hinata sighed.

"Okay, I guess everyone is going to her house today then."

As everyone entered Yui's room, she was left shaken a back.

"Ah, sorry Yui. Forgot to tell you I brought two more people. Don't worry, they're girls." Hinata tried to reassure the shocked Yui, who stared back with almost no soul. However, Hinata didn't realize Yui actually froze from the nostalgia she felt when she saw Kanade and Yuri.

"I'm Tachibana Kanade. Pleasure to meet you." Kanade introduced herself to Yui, not daring to make any movements that would make Yui uncomfortable.

"I'm Yui! Nice to meet you!" Yui replied happily, contradicting Kanade's quiet self. Although Yui had this strange feeling of fear in her, she ignored it, and tried to get to know Kanade better.

"I'm Yuri." At that very moment, Hinata quickly realized something. 'Crap! I forgot to explain Yui's situation to Yuri! I guess Tachibana knew because of Otonashi, but what about Yuri!' Hinata wanted to interrupt, but he did not dare do so. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

Just like Kanade, Yuri made no movements, only a smile.

"Yeah! I'm Yui, and it's nice to meet you!" Yui returned with a smile as well. Hinata quickly noticed Yuri giving him a small smile, and he smiled back. 'That's right…This is Yuri…she knows how to handle any situation…'

Yui began to ask Kanade and Yuri about their life in high school, and what it was like, with Hinata and Otonashi joining in once in a while.

"Hey Yui, I have a question." Hinata spoke out, getting everyone's attention.

"What is it?"

"You call Yurippe 'Yuri' and Tachibana 'Kanade', so why don't you call me and Otonashi by our first names?"

"Why? Hmm…" Yui closed her eyes, trying to think. "Well… I'd rather call guys by their last name. Oh, but I could also call them 'scum'!" Yui said back, apparently proud of that.

"Don't be so happy to call others 'scum'. It's just plain rude." Hinata said back with a mono-tone voice, leading everyone to laugh together.

"Umm, Yui-san…"

"Yeah? And you don't need to add the '-san'!" Yui corrected Kanade, who quickly tried to fix it.

"Y-Yui, I've heard you're good at singing. I want to hear it."

"Eh?"

"Oh yeah." Yuri chipped in. "Hinata kept telling us you were good at singing."

"Huh?"

"Yeah, last time, he was just spacing out while he said that himself." Otonashi nodded his head in agreement.

"Hi-na-ta…" Hinata quickly noticed the rage around Yui.

"A ha ha, well, you did say you were really good when I asked you last time, and you're not that bad. So it kind of slipped out…" Yui continued to glare at Hinata, but gave up, and sighed to herself.

"Let's hear it then!" Yuri quickly exclaimed. Kanade and Otonashi nodded their heads in agreements. Yui looked back nervously at Hinata, who smiled at her. 'Go for it!' was what his face said. Yui slowly nodded her head, and began to sing the lyrics to 'Thousand Enemies'.

'Really…' Hinata had closed his eyes once more as he listened to Yui's singing. 'No matter how many times I may hear it, I don't think I can ever get sick of Yui's singing…' Hinata thought to himself. Everyone else listened quietly until the song ended, with everyone politely clapping in return.

"That's a beautiful song…" Kanade said, leaving Yui to smile.

"Thank you."

"Man, you're really good at singing though, Yui!" Yuri exclaimed, with Otonashi laughing.

"You really surprised me!" Otonashi said in return. Hinata quickly noticed Yui's smile, and smiled as well. 'Yui, you don't have to be alone. Even if you can't walk, you can still have friends who truly care about you!'

"I…I think I got the basic melody down now." Kanade said with a small smile. "I want to try and make a piano version, if that's okay."

"Please, go ahead!" Yui quickly smiled to Kanade, who smiled back in return.

"Look, they're actually getting along pretty well like what you said." Hinata whispered to Otonashi, who smiled back.

"I think they get along with Yuri as well." Otonashi and Hinata took a glance to Yuri, who had her eyes closed. They both looked in wonder, as she seemed to have a serious face.

"Yup, that's it…" Yuri was nodding her head, leaving Hinata to wonder if she wanted to fall asleep instead. In contrast, she quickly jumped out of her sheet, making Hinata, Otonashi, and Kanade to flinch, as Yui looked up in surprise.

"Yui!"

"Yeah?"

"I've decided!" A huge smile was planted on Yuri's face, glowing brighter than the Sun itself. She pointed her finger to Yui, leaving her to blink in surprise.

"We're gonna help you make 'Thousand Enemies' a full song!"

A.N.- Well then, chapter 2 is done! After 2 months, I've finally written this chapter! I suggest rereading the first chapter first, because I've edited it due to a grave mistake I made about Hinata's name! (Thanks to Ethynn for pointing this out) Well, I'll still refer Hinata and Otonashi by their last names during narration :P This chapter…it just kind of came to me. This series is one that I'm really relaxed about, but I thought I should work a bit harder on it. So let's hope at least one new chapter in at least a month :P I have 2 other series that are ongoing besides this, but I can't help it XD I really wanted to write all of them, and there it is! I'm really happy I could write Yui getting more friends. It makes me giddy. Right now though, I'm really scared they seem out of character… Are they? :O Well, I'll rewatch the series again to get a better grip on the characters once more XD .I…really don't know what to write now DX I guess that's all I have to say today! TripleK3, out! ^_