Eclipse^

Amidst the burning torpor of my mind, I see it all again. The planes of shining luster, the metallic wings, the pierced back. However, the kneeling person — whose hair now reminds me of something — is slowly standing up. Pushing onto limbs I've seen before. A face looking at me with a vibrant blue, framed by silkish, blonde hair.

Tenshi Kanadera. Her name now changes in meaning. She appears truly evangelic. Perhaps she's come to take my life. My mind as bursting as it is, I cannot flee. I'm done for. Actually, it might be easier to just hand over my life.

It makes no sense. It doesn't have to. Why would I even have those visions? How fair could it possibly be? But it's how things will have to go down. No reason at all to doubt it. I can finally end it all in peace.

After watching Kanadera-san's shadow, reflected in front of me — whence did this light come? —, I cast one final, lifeless glance at her. The wings are moving and glowing, they are emitting the light. And they deploy as a fantastic architectural device...

To shred Kanadera-san from the inside-out. But she doesn't feel alive at all, with her head fully obstructed by... a cubic thing? Blood gushes forth from all sides, eventually reaching me. My hands. My face. I scream with horror — a reflexive reaction I'd have thought myself unable to produce...

The previous crimson of blood now fades to blinding light. However, I quickly accustomate to the urban lights and the twilight. Still weak, I falter as I come about.

I... I lie on the concrete, with a crowd starting to gather. Kanadera-san is still well and alive, looming over me. With a worried face. How long did I remain unconscious?!

As for Yuuyami-senpai, she still clings onto her tablet, trying to keep an eye on her screen while having me in the periphery of her stare.

"Are you well, Taoru-kun?"

"Passably... But I don't trust you," I tell Kanadera-san.

"Trust... me?"

Her eyes feign ignorance, but my predictions always come out to be true. Always.

"You are the angel of death..."

"What?!" Yells Yuuyami-senpai, this time looking at us.

We have to get away from the crowd before the police arrives. Though Kanadera-san offers me a hand, I push it away. I finally stand up.

"Let's go to a café..."

The one to say that is Kanadera-san. This time around, she has her determined eyes. But she did not murder me... She was the one to be killed within this vision. So I guess I should hear her out.

A while has passed as nightfall is looming above the skies of Tokyo. The landscape outside is still a vibrant purple, a jungle of electronical advertisements and neon lights. But that's beyond the glass windows of the café.

"I've got something to tell you both. But you have to swear to hear me out, and to believe me. Whether you help me afterwards is your choice to make, so I will not hold it against you..."

Yuuyami greedily ogles her parfait, before licking her spoonful.

"Sweet!"

And there she goes, licking again.

"What I'm about to tell you... is about the Eclipse project, that involves my family's company, Kanadera..."