New Line: A Fresh Step   von Xanderionas
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                             Kapitel 1: Chapter 1
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Hifumi’s lungs were spouting fire, the strain on her airway enough to make her
gasp with every step. She would never normally find herself in this position.
Her entire life, she resolved to take her time with tasks. She knew it could be
considered ‘lazy’, but Hifumi never thought to exert herself beyond her
limits physically.
This time however, Hifumi had thrown caution to the wind. For over an hour, she
had been running around town, keeping in touch with the rest of the Character
Team and their new friend, Futaba. The young manager had sent a voice message
loud enough to shatter glass, bringing Hifumi’s recent good mood crashing down
with a few simple words:
“Boss has resigned!”
In that second, Hifumi lost all touch with the world. She wasted no time after
that, receiving updates continually from Futaba as she ran out of her apartment
and began to search for his last known whereabouts. She had already met up with
Aoba and a few co-workers from Eagle Jump, all as desperate as she was in
finding out just what the meaning was behind the image Futaba sent.
A resignation letter.
Hifumi shook her head as she continued walking down the next avenue to a
shopping mall, where a passerby had mentioned seeing Anders. She stopped to
catch her breath, sensing her throat constricting with pain as she struggled to
breathe. She was going beyond her limits, she knew that. Her hair was in
tatters, her makeup was ruined and she couldn’t feel her toes anymore. Yet she
ignored her discomfort and pressed on, rushing through the mall and every
conceivable store before popping out through the other end. She wiped the sweat
from her brow, letting the stream of water drip from her fingers. A truck drove
past her, advertising some sort of new navigation system.
If only I could use it to find him.
Examining her surroundings, she saw something completely unexpected. Across the
street from her, a large entryway opened up to a roundabout, a sign beside it
with macabre writing.
“Tama Cemetery.”
She had only visited a cemetery once before, never wishing to do it again. The
idea of entering one had always frightened her, the image of countless graves
before her something she vehemently wiped away from her mind. Yet, she slowly
came to the realization that she had already looked everywhere else in the area
apart from here. It was a long shot, as Futaba and the other co-workers had
mainly  considered places where a lot of people were to hide under. Yet oddly
enough, they had never explicitly mentioned the chance of him being where few
people visited. Her intuition told her that perhaps, Futaba had them
deliberately searching in places he normally wouldn’t be at so that nobody
could find him by accident. While she was already close to believing it, one
question stuck out for her.
Why?
None of it made sense. Anders resigning from the job was a huge deal, not just
for her. Everyone knew how much trouble he had now after being falsely accused
of performing a cyber-attack on his own company. Although he had come out
without charges, it still marked the end of his career, a reason why Hifumi was
so thankful for Yagami to have been able to get him the job at Eagle Jump. Yet,
this sudden turn of events told her that behind the scenes, a lot more was
happening than she originally thought. 
“I... I need to check…” she huffed through gasps, her body screaming for
relief, “If he’s...maybe there…”
She knew it wasn’t more than a hunch, a fleeting hope. Yet she couldn’t deny
herself the chance of being able to find him. She had so much to say to him, so
much to complain and argue about with him. She couldn’t forgive him personally
for having run away, for leaving her and the others behind without saying a
word. She heard how frustrated Yagami was when she found out, feeling the exact
same way. So she forced herself to stand upright, ignoring the pain in her chest
and marching towards the entrance. She kept a careful eye out in the meantime,
unwilling to let even a hint of Anders’ presence escape her.
“I can’t let him leave. Not without... not without…”
A blush decorated her face as she crossed the driveway and found herself at the
first row of graves near the roundabout, at a loss what direction to take. She
fought back the heat in her cheeks, trying to stay focused.
“I can’t let myself… get distracted… what?”
The pain in her chest had gotten worse, despite her having slowed down. She
looked down and realized that her legs weren’t responding anymore. Hifumi felt
her sense of balance abandon her completely, collapsing on the ground. She tried
to raise herself with a grunt, but the pain in her chest had grown too great,
barely able to move her fingers as the graveyard’s silence enveloped her. 
Hifumi felt a shudder run down her back. She recalled the words a doctor had
said to her all those years ago when she had fallen unconscious during a school
marathon:
It appears to be a form of cardiomyopathy. Regular light exercise will help keep
you safe in the long run. However, attempting extended runs or heavy lifting
without training can lead to muscle paralysis or, at worst, a heart attack.
“A heart attack.” 
She couldn’t believe it. Here she was, having lived for over twenty years
without issue by simply never straining herself. Only to end up flat on the
ground, running around for somebody she had barely met for more than a week. She
didn’t even have the strength to clench a fist and pound the ground in anger.
Tears began to fall as she contemplated dying alone, in the middle of a
graveyard. The irony was enough to make her cry twice as much. 
“I just…”
Her throat tightened itself on her, the pain in her chest having grown beyond
description now. She felt her world grow dark, her eyelids closing on her with
absolution. She gave a grim smile as she recognized the stupidity of her
actions, yet at the same time she didn’t regret them. She let her thoughts
wander as she slipped from consciousness:
I just wanted to see him one more time.
With that, the world closed itself around her. Her vision gone, her touch a
passing memory, she resigned herself to the fate she had brought on. The last
thing she ever sensed was a voice in the far distance, unable to figure out who
it was. Yet as it called out her name, she felt incredibly blessed by it,
succumbing to nothingness on the cold ground of death.

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