Helloooooo, Corpse Party fans! This is my first fanfiction, although I've been reading Corpse Party fanfictions for quite a while now. I'd like to thank the authors of Corpse Party: A Dangerous Game (idig4skullz), Bittersweet - Corpse Party (Pofforx), and Passage (Jody14) for inspiring me to write my own fanfiction. I support both Yoshiki x Ayumi and Satoshi x Naomi, so don't worry. Those ships will survive. I'm new to the author side of this site, so please bear with me. Also, keep in mind that I am not done writing this story, so there may not be updates for long periods of time. I'm going to try my best to keep this going even after school starts (which is September 4th). And now, enjoy!

(UPDATE: Thanks to accentcore8 for pointing out in a review that Satoshi and Naomi refer to each other by their first names. I edited the story. To everyone else, if you have any suggestions of your own, I will definitely consider them!)

He was on fire. Every nerve in his body was screaming in pain. He had never experienced agony of this degree. Through the haze of pain, he saw a girl staring at him in horror, the one he was dying for: Ayumi Shinozaki.

"Shinozaki - run!" he grunted through gritted teeth. She began to protest. "It's too late for me! Save yourself!" he screamed in desperation. If she was safe, he could rest in peace. The weight of the burning anatomical model on his back in addition to the pain was too much; his knees buckled and he crumpled to the ground. Completely engulfed in flames, he saw Ayumi running for the door. She stopped for a moment in hesitation, glancing back at him, and he saw the bloodstained sledgehammer descending quickly toward her skull.

"SHINOZAKIIIII!"

Yoshiki awoke with a start, sweating and panting. "Shinozaki..." he murmured to himself, then shook his head to clear it. "It was just a dream." Kicking off his tangled sheets, he let the air conditioning cool him off. He was bare-chested, sporting only a pair of red flannel pajama bottoms.

He lay in bed for a moment, staring up at the ceiling and its many hairline cracks. Yoshiki lived in constant fear that the frugality of the building super would bite him in the butt and the entire setup would collapse.

When the chilly air became too cold for him, Yoshiki rolled out of bed and stumbled into the kitchen. "Hopefully I can rustle something up," he muttered, pulling open the fridge. Its meager contents were two cartons of leftover take-out, a bruised apple, a few cans of soda, a gallon of milk that most likely expired around the time that Columbus discovered America, one half-empty can of beer, and a very suspicious-looking casserole that Miki brought over at some point.

"Fantastic," Yoshiki said sarcastically, choosing the leftover take-out. It was sushi. As he began eating it out of the box, still standing at the counter, he glanced at the clock on the microwave. It was already noon.

If only Shinozaki could see me now, he thought with a small smile. Messing up the entire definition of breakfast. She's so organized... It would be almost upsetting to her! His smile faded. Then again, everything I do seems to be upsetting to her... He finished the rest of his 'breakfast' quickly, lost in thought.

It was Saturday. Nearly a month had passed since the events of Heavenly Host transpired, and the five survivors were finally beginning to move on with their lives. Naomi had it the worst; of all of them, she had been the closest to one of the victims - Seiko Shinohara - and was still struggling with depression. Granted, it was a hard burden to bear for all of them. Without the support of one another, Yoshiki doubted that any of them would have been able to recover. Luckily, the group was not torn apart by the tragedy. If anything, the loss of their beloved teacher and friends had strengthened the bond between them. He couldn't live without the others: Satoshi's kind heart, Yuka's cheerful countenance, Naomi's strength, and Ayumi's determination; Yoshiki needed them all. He only hoped that they felt the same way. He hoped that they needed him, for some trait of his that might be admirable. Yoshiki didn't think he had any such traits...

To this day, I have no idea why they befriended me, he thought. To everyone else, I was just a good-for-nothing slacker, and a delinquent to boot. But they saw something in me... Something that even I have yet to discover.

Yoshiki rubbed his eyes. "Why am I obsessing over this? Get on with it, man! Quit waxing philosophical," he commanded himself. He tossed the take-out box into the trash and returned to his bedroom to get dressed. After all, he was meeting his friends at the park in half an hour.

As he was slipping into a black v-neck, Yoshiki's cell phone buzzed. It was a message from Satoshi.

Getting ready for the park?

Yoshiki quickly tapped out a "Yep" before pulling on a well-worn pair of dark blue jeans. While he was buttoning them, his phone buzzed again. Prepared to answer another text from his best friend, he was surprised to see that it was from Ayumi.

The park at 1:00, hope you remembered! ;)

Yoshiki immediately panicked, tossing his phone on the bed. "She texted me! She put a winky face! What's that supposed to mean? How the hell do I respond to a winky face?" He began pacing the room, a nervous habit of his. Suddenly he stopped and stalked back to the bed, snatching his phone. "What am I freaking out about?" he wondered aloud, while continuing to freak out internally. "She, uh, probably meant to just put a normal smiley... Or maybe she doesn't really know the implied meaning of the winky face..." He cut himself off. "God! I'm being so weird! I'll just... tell her I remembered. And that I'll see her there." He tapped out the message. "Yeah! That's good. No smiley face. Definitely no winky face."

Sighing, he clicked Send and tucked the phone into his back pocket. He had to get going if he was to reach the park by one.

Meanwhile, Satoshi was struggling to escape the house, which was proving to be a difficult endeavor with Yuka refusing to let go of him.

"Big brother said he'd play with Yuka today," she whined, tightening her arms around his waist.

"Yuka, I'll play with you later, when I get home!" Satoshi said, exasperated, as he tried to pry her off of him. "I have to meet my friends at the park!"

His sister stared up at him with her big blue eyes. "Will big brother really play with Yuka when he gets back?" Her lower lip wobbled dangerously.

"Of course," Satoshi replied with a smile, ruffling her hair. "Now, let go so I can make it on time."

She let go of him reluctantly and watched him go out the door, slinging a backpack over his shoulders. Be careful, big brother...

At the designated time, three people were gathered under an oak tree.

"Where's Nakashima?" Ayumi wondered aloud. Her question was met with shrugs.

"I'm here!" came a sudden cry from a few feet away. Naomi was jogging towards them, a plastic bag swinging from her hand.

"Nakashima! It's nice to see you," Yoshiki said as she reached them, smiling. "How are you?" The question was a little more serious than it sounded. They were all worried about their once-cheerful friend, although she seemed to be recovering.

As Yoshiki smiled at her, Ayumi felt a pang of - was it jealousy? Why am I feeling jealous of Nakashima? I don't care about Kishinuma… Not in that way, at least…

"I'm good, Kishinuma-kun," Naomi chirped brightly. Her wide smile didn't quite reach her eyes, but that went unnoticed by the others. "I brought cookies," she announced, showing them the contents of the plastic bag.

"Then your lateness is excused," Satoshi proclaimed, grabbing a chocolate chip cookie from the bag.

"Oh, thank goodness," Naomi said dramatically with an exaggerated sigh of relief. "Cookie, class rep?"

"Sure, thanks!" Ayumi grinned and took a cookie. Naomi handed one to Yoshiki, then took one for herself. They each took a bite.

"Mmm, Naomi - these are good!" Satoshi mumbled incomprehensibly around a mouthful of cookie.

Naomi giggled. "Don't talk with your mouth full, Satoshi! Didn't your mother teach you manners?" she teased. As his face reddened, she smirked. "Aw, you look so cute when you're flustered!" Immediately, she mentally slapped herself and tried to prevent the color from rising in her cheeks. I'd better pretend that I was just joking. I sort of was, after all...

Satoshi blushed even deeper. "I - uh, it's - umm," he stuttered nervously. Yoshiki chuckled. Ayumi felt a flash of annoyance at Naomi for being so forward. Who did she think she was?

"Agh, Nakashima, look what you've done to him! You're embarrassing Mochida-kun!" she snapped. Maybe he'll notice that I came to his defense…

"Oh, uh, it's fine. I'm fine, Shinozaki," Satoshi recovered himself, his heart finally slowing to a normal rate.

Why doesn't he ever refer to me by my first name? Ayumi wondered furiously, shooting a glare at Naomi, who blanched.

Noticing this, Yoshiki came to her rescue. "Aw, lay off, Shinozaki," he said pleadingly, then paled as she turned her burning gaze on him. "S - sorry," he squeaked. Naomi grinned internally. Kishinuma was such a wimp when it came to their class rep, while to everyone else he was tough as nails. Secretly, though, she knew he was sweet and thoughtful. She wished that she could have a boyfriend like him. Wait, what am I thinking? I'm not interested in Kishinuma… right?

By this point, they had all finished their cookies. "I'm going to throw out this plastic bag," Naomi announced, wiping thoughts of Yoshiki from her mind.

"Uh, I'll go with you!" Satoshi blurted out. When they all looked at him, he tried to cover up. "Er, I have… this thing… I have to throw out…" Yoshiki smirked as Ayumi frowned.

"Okay, Satoshi-kun," Naomi agreed tentatively. What was this all about?

Reviews are welcome. (I will respond to them with personal messages.) If you have any feedback whatsoever (except nonconstructive hate) I'd love to hear it.