Did I... Die? !ot "eally. !ot #et. #o$%re still here. Driftin&. ----- In a hospital bed, somewhere in Tokyo, lies a brunette girl. By looking at her face you could see she was sleeping soundly, but honestly, she lies between life and death. In other words, Brain Dead. At exactly 9!! pm last night, she went out the road to get her cat and at exactly then a car was speeding out of control causing it to come into a collision with her. The cat was safe and she wasn"t. #ow cruel. $$$$$$ %I"m sorry but that was the best I could do.& The doctor said grimly. 'acing a red haired ()$year old and her companion, a brown haired (*$year old. The red haired woman sobbed into the brown haired man"s shirt. #is heart going lower into his stomach e+ery single word the doctor had said. %,he may not make it next week. I am truly sorry.&Doctor bowed sincerely in apology. The brown haired man thanked him silently and the doctor left. #e stroked the hysterical red haired woman who was currently staining his shirt wet with tears. $$$$$$ %-ai...&The browned haired girl turned around to try and find the source of the +oice. %.$.ho are you/&,he said silently. ,he sur+eyed her surroundings as she awaited the +oice"s reply. The place was all white, nothing else but white. An endless abyss of white. ,he sighed. .hat had exactly happened to her that got her here/ ,he racked her head of the past e+ents she could recall. Mimi chasing something across the street. A flash of bright white lights of... a car's head lights. Pain everywhere.... and then darkness... %Did I....&,he hesitated before she continued. %Did I... Die/&,he asked the body$less +oice, her +oice shook with fear and a slight disbelief. Did she really die/ ,he couldn"t belie+e it herself %0ot really. 0ot yet. 1ou are still here, drifting in the abyss of In$ Between.&The +oice said. It was loud like it came from e+erywhere. %A$Abyss of In$Between/&,he asked. ,till trying to find it"s origin, which could be nowhere at all. %1ou"re neither dead or ali+e. In the human world... a coma.&#e stated sadly. %.hat did you mean by not yet/&,he asked as she reali2ed what he said. %The coma you ha+e is permanent and your time ali+e$$ or at least half ali+e... is limited till next week.& %.$.hat/3&,he stared at the empty white space where she imagined the figure to be. %I am sorry to break this news to you too... I ha+e to break it to a lot of people who got stuck here too, you know.&#e laughed bitterly. %4h, I"m sorry. It"s 5ust pretty hard to belie+e you know.&,he shrugged. %.hen you hear you are dead is not an e+eryday experience.&she laughed a bit. %I guess.&The +oice said. %6ould you like... show yourself/ Talking to nothing feels weird.&-ai asked. There was a silent pause until what -ai was looking at became a distorted figure that began to form the shape of a man. %1ou look familiar.& -ai said as she looked at the man. #e had ra+en black hair and stormy blue eyes. #e wore all black which made him stand out because of the white colored abyss. %0a$0aru/&,he said as she finally reali2ed who the figure looked like. #e shook his head no and smiled and that"s when she finally reali2ed. ,he smiled. %7ene.& Loop Holes: Chapter Two: 'here the heart leads. (y )e)ory feels s*attered and far off They%re li+e Drea)s. ----- %#ow long ha+e I been here/&-ai asked 7ene who was currently playing playing chess with her. %I don"t know. There"s no actual time here in the In$between... ah, checkmate. I win.&7ene smirked and -ai 5ust ga+e a sigh. %#ow long ha+e we been playing this/&-ai asked. The game felt like fore+er. %.ell... I guess that one game is e8uals to a few days or weeks in the human world.& #e shrugged. %I"ll say, -aybe it still has been days cause I"m not yet fully dead.&-ai stood up from the floor and patted away the imaginary dirt off her dress. ,he looked side to side. The in$between"s scenery was getting pretty boring. 9ntil a bright light hit her right in the face. %-AI3& was the last thing she heard from her companion until the light swallowed her into darkness. $$$$$$$ %Taniyama -ai.&A deep +oice that came from nowhere said. -ai already had enough of this talking to nothing thing. %1$yeah/&she replied. % Before you finally mo+e on, we are able to grant you a limited time in anyplace in your past.&The +oice said. %Ah... so you mean I can go to before I died and cancel it/&,he asked. %1ou could but I am not certain if it would change your faith.&The +oice said. %There"s no hurt in trying right/&,he smiled. -aybe she could still li+e on. %mmm... is there any place else you want to go to/&The +oice asked. -ai racked her head. ,he couldn"t remember anything of her past, as it only came in fragments. %I$I cant remember anything.&,he said worriedly. The +oice clucked his tongue. %-y memory feels scattered off... almost like a dream.&,he said. %.ell then, let"s 5ust take you to were you want to go.& #e said and the whole room flashed white. $$$$$$ -ai woke up in her apartment. ,he checked the date and time. ".ait this wasn"t the... This is the day I...." ,he couldn"t bring herself to say it. %.hy Am I #ere/&,he asked the hooded figure that was next to her bed. %1our heart brought you here.&It replied before disappearing. 'My heart?' ,he put her hand on her chest. ,he shook her head and stood up and Did her morning acti+ities in a bliss. .hat was she gonna do/ Today was the day she confessed and failed miserably. .hy did her heart want to be taken back to this day were it"s pain had been caused/ Did it want for her to ne+er confess/ ,he scratched her head. This was pretty complicated. ,he opened the cupboard and looked for tea, finding none she settled for coffee. :atiently waiting for the water to boil she looked at the clock. 3...2...1.... #er phone rung 5ust as she expected it to ring. %#ello... This is Taniyama -ai... .ho might this be/&,he asked but she perfectly knew who it was. %Taniyama$san, could you please come to the office, thank you.& ;in said and ended the call before she could e+en reply. -ai sighed. ,he was going to recei+e her +ery last paycheck. ,he would cry another ri+er of tears later. Did her heart want her to come back here to stop making her look like a fool later/