Knockin' on Heaven's Door

Synopsis
Sunrise.

As Kanade soars to confront the shadows appearing in the Afterlife, Otonashi, Hinata and Naoi gather at the SSS headquarters to prepare for the incoming battle.

Naoi and Hinata are still at odds with each other because of the former's superiority complex, but Otonashi asks them to get along as they need everyone's cooperation so the other members of the SSS can be gathered up as Kanade tries to fend off the shadows from outside.

Otonashi then leaves to see the remaining members of Girls Dead Monster awaiting him outside, with members of the SSS gathered in a group behind them. After a moment of contemplating, Hisako, Irie and Sekine have decided to give up Girls Dead Monster. Also, they have asked Otonashi to do his best in his "mission" and that by making the SSS disappear, he and the world that they lived in has fulfilled its purpose. As Hisako's last words before disappearing, she tells them that they are going to form a new band. Otonashi expresses his anticipation as the last of Girls Dead Monster and the group of SSS members vanish into thin air.

Otonashi is somewhat relieved that the others have moved on, but the real problem arrives when they are almost ambushed by a shadow that attacked from behind. The three then head off outside, only to discover that the numbers of the shadows are already more than they expected and in fact, have increased due to the presence of NPCs around the area.

A group of shadows then lunged to strike at Otonashi's group; luckily Noda appears to join the battle but will not admit to join his side, mainly because of his loyalty to Yuri. Later, Ooyama appears on the battlefield, equipped with a sniper rifle; he admits of his inability to master things, but he says that he will do his best. Also, Fujimaki and TK appear to help them with the shadows.

Just then, they saw an unfamiliar student taking down the shadows from a distance. When it approaches the group, they find out that it was Matsushita, whose leaner figure was a surprise for everyone; he tells them that the loss of weight was because of his training and the lack of food that came with it. The weight loss came with a bonus, however, as it made him more agile.

With the SSS's main force gathered, they push through the shadows.

Meanwhile, in Guild's headquarters, Yuri finds herself alone in the second basement level. She thinks that the underground is a good place to hide for a mastermind, but she didn't expect that the villain would hide on their base. Soon, she finds herself fending off the shadows, who have materialized from the walls of the access shaft.

The same goes for the First Connecting Bridge on the surface, where the number of shadows have not decreased in number. Soon, Shiina appears to help Otonashi and the others pass as she gives a diversion to their enemy.

Yuri now finds herself five levels down and with little ammunition. She then meets Chaa, who has decided to disband Guild altogether. He then gives Yuri a rifle to use before finally passing on.

Later on, Yuri reaches Old Guild. She rests for a while and assesses what is going on in the surface, especially if Kanade is still okay. That time, she expresses her regret for not being able to be friends with Kanade and how life would be less complicated if she did not see her as an enemy. But she knew that she can't let go of the feeling of being angry at God for what happened to her.

Suddenly, she finds herself confronted by a few shadows. Blinded by her urge to make her enemies disappear, she did not notice a shadow creeping up on her, and then...

She finds herself in one desk, sitting amongst the students in front of a teacher and a blackboard.



Yuri is in class, much to her shock.

After the class ended, she was confronted by one of her classmates named Hitomi about how she behaved a while ago. She tries to pretend like it's nothing to her and proceeds on the class later on, though she can't help but think of other things other than studying and the class itself.

When she is called by the teacher, she blurts out about her life, and how she longed to live in a life that was sincerely hers, not the life she is having right now in front of the class, which she calls a borrowed life, and she will accept it, no matter how miserable it may seem. As she continues on her monologue, she notices that everyone, including the class and the teacher are now gone, and she finds herself drowning in a sea of shadows, as she feels helpless, she hears Otonashi's voice and soon...

She wakes up. In front of her are Otonashi, Hinata, Naoi and Kanade.

Otonashi tells Yuri that Kanade felt her emotions and they rushed to her at once. Yuri felt grateful at their effort to save her, and, after neatening up her clothes after an ordeal with the shadows, she rushes forward.

Soon, they reach Basement Level 20 and there, they saw a pack of shadows, whose formation is similar to a group of soldiers defending something. Otonashi, at first, does not know what to do because they have no available firepower for an army of that size, but Kanade decides to step in and finishes things off "with the force of a bomber", as Naoi comments.

With things cleared up, they move forward, only to see another army approaching. Otonashi decides that they give Yuri the cover she needs to push forward. Yuri then heads off, and discovers a room with the sign "Second Computer Room" on it.

Inside, she finds herself surrounded with electrical cords and computer units. All of the monitor displays show a similar interface as the Angel Player itself.

Soon, an NPC appears to talk to Yuri. Yuri asks about his involvement in the shadows, and his usage of the Angel Player software. According to him, the Angel Player software gives the programmer the power to change anything and everything in the world where they are in; however, the boy admits that it is not him who developed the software.

Yuri then changes the topic to the boy himself, asking him why was he doing such things. He tells Yuri that the world they are in should not be a place where love exists as it is originally created for persons as a transit for somewhere else. However, love existed anyway, in the form of the programmer itself, and to avoid a bug that results from the existence of love, he made himself into an NPC. Later on, he made the world so that people would turn into NPCs for that same reason.

The AI soon tells her that anyone has a chance of editing the world, including Yuri herself.

Yuri instantly refuses.

She doesn't want to be the same person she is trying to confront, let alone be enemies with Kanade.

Yuri then tells The AI that she came to defend those who are important to her, and, despite the boy's offers of giving her an indefinite amount of time to think things through, proceeds to shut down the systems by shooting at every computer with her guns... and after that, The AI himself.

Soon, she finds herself alone, laying around the destroy computers, thinking about everyone else's safety now that the one responsible for the shadows has disappeared. She then reflects on her siblings which she has fought for so long and she feels that she is no longer fighting for them; instead, she wants to stay with the friends she has found in her quest to confront God.

Yuri then finds herself staring at her siblings, who reassured her that she doesn't need to fight any more. In the end, she cries.

Yuri then wakes up, at the school's infirmary, where Kanade, Otonashi, Naoi and Hinata await for her awakening.

Characters
By order of appearance
 * Kanade Tachibana
 * Yuzuru Otonashi
 * Hideki Hinata
 * Ayato Naoi
 * Hisako (last appearance)
 * Miyuki Irie (last appearance)
 * Shiori Sekine (last appearance)
 * Noda
 * Ooyama
 * TK
 * Fujimaki
 * Matsushita
 * Yuri Nakamura
 * Shiina
 * Chaa

New Characters

 * Hitomi (brief appearance)
 * The AI (only appearance)
 * The Programmer (mentioned)

Unanswered Questions

 * Why is it that nobody in the Guild found about the Second Computer Room, as Yuri was shocked to find herself wandering the Guild again. Could it be that they were so busy producing weapons for the SSS that they had no time to look around?
 * How did Otonashi, Kanade, Hinata, and Naoi find out exactly where Yuri was in the Guild? And how did the former managed to save Yuri from becoming an NPC?

Quotes

 * "I can't force it [life] on anyone, forget it, make it disappear, trample on it, laugh it away, or beautify it. I have nothing to do but accept this one cruel, meaningless life! ...That's why I'll fight. I will continue to fight. Because this kind of life... is unacceptable!" — Yuri's monologue as an NPC

The AI: I'm amazed that you made it here.

Yuri: Are you making fun of me? You had a nameplate on the door so I couldn't miss it.

The AI: Well, this is part of the school.

Yuri: I see you have a strange set of values.

The AI: No, no, I'm just obeying the rules, that's all.

Yuri: Rules made by this... world's God?

The AI: God...Yes, is He real or not? That's truly a deep question. It's most fascinating, but I have no means to pursut it. I simply obey the rules. I only do as what is expected of me.

Yuri: I bet you were programmed to do this.

The AI: It's just as you presumed.

Yuri:  So who programmed you?

The AI: You would'n know even if I told you. He's from a long time ago.

Yuri: Angel Player...What is this software?

The AI: As you are already aware, it's software that lets you create material and transform it.

Yuri: Maybe I am but have can it do that?

The AI: Beat's me, it's not like I invented it. But then again, you've been making weapons out of dirt. It's the same principle.

Yuri: ''"So it's just following the same set of rules." ''Did the creator of this Angel Player software want to become God?

The AI: Dunno; I don't know anything.

Yuri: Look, I'm short on time so let's skip the small talk. Were you programmed to do this if "something" happened?

The AI: I don't know the details about my programming.

Yuri: Then let me rephrase it. What change in the world as far as you're concerned?"

The AI: "Love started to bloom in this world."

Suddenly, all of the computers were now showing a heart on their screens.

Yuri: Huh, Love?

The AI: Right, love. That should never be allowed to exist in this world.

Yuri: "I see, makes sense. You should disappear the second you should start to love another. But would happen in this world if love started to sprout?"

The AI: If love should happen to take root, this land would turn into an Eternal Eden. But I cannot allow that to happen. After all, people are suppose to "graduate" from this world.

Yuri: At least, that's what someone though.

The AI: However, there are some cases where a person lived for another and had a good life, but wound up here because of a case that's like amnesia. This bug appears when situations like that occur.

Yuri: So that's it. That's what happen to Angel Player's programmer.

The AI: I'm surprised. What an excellent deduction.

Yuri: He realized there was some kind of a system bug in the software and fixed it. He used those NPC's to turn into those shadows. He's resetting everything.

The AI: Correct.

Yuri: So what? Are there more people like us amongst those NPCs? More people like the battleground?

The AI: Yes there is; just one other.

Yuri: The poor guy.

The AI: It's The Programmer himself. And he found himself always waiting. You see, he fell deeply in love with a girl who left him alone in this world.

Yuri: No way, he'd ever get to see her again.

The AI: I say that's it high unlikely, but the chances are certainly better than zero. He waited for so long that he lost his grip on sanity. As such, he created a program to turn himself into an "NPC".

Yuri: So you mean to say he was the first? Then he applied to the rest of the world so that wouldn't repeat itself?

The AI: I say that's a possibility.

Yuri: I wonder if he'll ever find peace?

The AI: Who knows?

Yuri: Eh, I don't know what is right or wrong anymore.

The AI: I confessed that I don't know what is right or not. However, you may be able to lead us to that answer, since you were able to make it all the way here.

Yuri: What do you mean?

The AI: I mean, that if you like, you can changed the world. If you choose too."

Yuri: Why would I change it?

The AI: You could choose the path he didn't choose in this world.

Yuri: What are you saying to me, that I could, become God?

The AI: You could say that.

Yuri: I could turn this place into an Eternal Eden if I wanted.

The AI: He denied pursuit of that path, but I personally will not. Actually, I lack the emotions to deny that.

Yuri: God? Me become God of this world.

Yuri stopped speaking for a moment. Then her lips started to form a smile, with slight giggling. But soon that all changed, with a full out insane laughter. The AI of course was confused by Yuri's laughter.

The AI: What is so funny?

Yuri: "Finally. This world is, finally mine! I finally did it! This is what I was fight for. I could even defeat Angel! With this massive system, I'd be invincible!"