Yuzuru Otonashi/Plot

Chapter 1
Otonashi waits outside of a room before he is allowed in. Seated before him were a number of medical board directors and they begin an interrogation, to which he struggles every answer. The scene switches over to a bench outside the hospital Otonashi works in. It is soon after the interrogation that Otonashi is cleared of any wrongdoing and malpractice. It came a surprise to him that he was clear despite the heinous actions he has done when he takes out a wrapped piece of paper from his pocket, dictating a Do Not Resucitate order for his sister, Hatsune Otonashi.

The chapter fast forwards to the burial of his sister with both family members and Otonashi in attendance. He remains at the burial site for a prolonged period of time, leading to the gradual disappearance of his other family members. Questioning himself and on the verge a tears, he hears a voice apologize behind him and discovers it is Yuri who has come to pay her respects. The rain intensifies and she leaves, leaving Otonashi to himself.

Days turn to weeks and he mindlessly browses the internet when an advertisement pops up for medical jobs. Despite reloading the page and expecting a different ad, it only shows the same type of advertisement. He slams his laptop in frustration and goes back to bed, unknown to him that the advertisement was deleted as if someone deleted the code for it.

Chapter 2
Otonashi checks on the computer and recalls the medical advertisement, although it has been deleted. Upon noticing this, he begins to connect the dots of every divine intervention he has received throughout the course of his life. While he was certain of it, he had to manually confirm it.

To manually confirm it, he decided to head to the hospital and turn back on his values in a surface-level sense by resigning from the hospital. When he was directed to Tatenashi's office and made his attempt to resign, it was refused. She understood his situation but misspoke a word, angering him and letting him go. Unknown to Otonashi, a person with glasses was observing him and seeing the failure of his resignation, intervenes directly through unknown means.

Tatenashi proceeds to call Otonashi's phone but he doesn't answer. In the voicemail she tells him that he's off the hook and to call her, clearly worried about his condition. One of Otonashi's students visits him in a feeble attempt to cheer him up, bringing a drink and making conversation to make any attempt to comfort him. Her conversation ends in failure, and when they proceeded to do cheers, he realized he was given Key Coffee, the same type that Yuri had given him during his time in the afterlife. She ends it off, letting him know that she attempted to convince Hatsune to not sign the DNR.

He then realizes that for nearly his entire life has been manipulated...and that perhaps it was time to contact the organization.

Chapter 3
With all these events occurring and the sheer amount of time passed, he slowly edged his way out of despair into a productive mode. Hearing the voicemail from Tatenashi, he proceeds to do some work such as his daily chores and figuring out the numbers for his bills given he has now lost a job. He finally says that he'd like to see everyone, indirectly talking to the organization that spied on him.

Ending the day, he falls asleep only to be shaken awake by someone kicking his sofa, commanding him to follow. He wakes up only halfway, not being able to interpret the information his senses were providing for him. Finally awaking from his brainless state, he now realizes that the commanding figure was Hinata.

Hinata and Otonashi grab some food to catch up before he finally takes him to the Afterlife Battlefront base, which is situated under the mall accessed by a platform that acts like an elevator. Hinata leads Otonashi to Yuri's office, where he finally reunites with her.

Chapter 4
Reminiscent of his first time in the afterlife, Otonashi questions Yuri of the events that led up prior to his arrival. It's revealed to the reader that everyone had their memories return in a painful manner over a period of time. For multiple reasons such as just wanting to see everyone once again to helping those in the battlefront who aren't able to provide for themselves, she reunited the group under the pretense that they are doing it to ensure the futures of all of them. She says that they make a lot of money, which bothers Otonashi.

He continues the line of questions such as who returned, how big the group has become, why the uniforms are similar and if anyone has actually died while a part of the group. He asks the question which bothered him the most: How the battlefront makes money. To his discovery, the battlefront participates in activities that aren't particularly legal in nature, specifically operating in the black market handling weapons and drugs.

Bothered to find this information out, his stance on rejoining the battlefront on his own accord became slim given his past experiences with the results of illegal activities. Yuri briefly explains that they only operate where the least amount of damage to humans was possible, almost similar to how they wouldn't directly harm NPCs in the afterlife.

Still in doubts, he asks Yuri for time to think. She leaves him, leaving an order that tells him to stick to whatever decision he chooses because there's no point if he chooses to regret.

After meddling in his thoughts and thinking in the broad scheme of things, he realizes that no matter what he does, it's not as if the problems are going to disappear. He needed more information on how the group operates and how they conduct business and that if there was any point in time he could stop the illegal activities the group participates, he'll make a reasonable attempt to do so. Considering all the factors including his own personal situation, he returns back down to Yuri's office where all the top brass awaited him.

He officially declares that he'll rejoin the group.

Chapter 5
Following directly after the events of Chapter 4, Otonashi goes with both the Top Brass and Girls Dead Monster out to eat at a ramen place. Some memories resurface a bit and he compares the scene in front of him compared to the cafeteria in the afterlife.

As the group ate and dabbled in their own conversations, Hinata asks Otonashi to explain what happened ever since he was revived. An unlikely person identified as Iwasawa agrees with Hinata to which Otonashi found odd, but nonetheless complied with their requests. He explains the changes that occurred after his revival and that the train incident where he died and went to the afterlife was where everything changed. The majority of the victims of that incident worked together in a better fashion compared to last time, assisting Otonashi with his injury that he didn't disclose before his arrival in the afterlife. While Otonashi was the only one critically injured, the rest only suffered from minor injuries, dehydration, and starvation thanks to Otonashi's efforts.

After his time in the hospital, Otonashi was able to reschedule his medical exam (which are notoriously known for being extremely difficult), earning a score of 97 much to everyone's disbelief. Iwasawa promptly gives cheers to him for reaching his dream and everyone follows in celebration.

As the party came to a close, he finds himself walking beside the Girls Dead Monster band after being offered a ride by Iwasawa, much to Hinata's dismay. As he approached two vehicles, he discovers a sports bike that he supposedly thought belonged to Hisako, but instead belonged to Iwasawa. The rest of the band leaves, leaving Iwasawa and Otonashi alone and they chatter for a bit before she offers him to ride her bike. He takes her up on the offer.

Getting a feel for the bike, he begins riding it around the surrounding areas with Iwasawa holding onto him tightly. He looks at her occasion to make sure she was okay with him weaving through the streets dangerously, and in reply she strokes his stomach where her hands are, letting him know it was alright.

They end up back at his place and they chatter a bit more when he offers her to come inside, citing the time of day and her previous offer of letting him use her bike. She returns his gratitude, following behind him into his house. He then proceeds to offer her a seat and a drink, but realizes she's there for another reason when she says she wanted to ask him how he left the afterlife.

He explains everything up to the point where Kanade left. Knowing that more people will show up in the afterlife, he became the student council president in order to help them move on. Otonashi was able to move on himself after a person whose been in the afterlife for a long time since the battlefront's formation saw everything told him that he can rest.

Iwasawa, while listening, began to shed tears quietly. She then addressed Otonashi by his first name, asking him why he doesn't remember her.

Chapter 6
Otonashi became quickly confused, noting that she called him by his first name when he's never told her.

Apologizing, she explains to him that they both left the afterlife in different ways, completely disregarding his experience of how she left because that's not what she experienced herself. She becomes emotional, telling him that the memories she had were real to her and that he should take that into consideration the next time he speaks. She then explains everything that happened up until her disappearance. Her emotions begin to overwhelm her and she steps outside in the rain. Attempting to interpret her words, he comes to the realization that everyone had their own version of the afterlife that goes in accordance with their happiness, not just through their regrets.

He follows her outside as the rain begins to intensify but she tells him not to get closer to him. She downplays her situation, giving up hope that the person she knew and loved from the afterlife wasn't the same one. She describes that because no one has any different experiences from everyone else, she began to doubt what she experienced was real, unknown to her that Otonashi believed her. Not knowing what to do or knowing a way to make her feel better, he approaches her cautiously and hugs her from behind.

Wondering why he's still with her, she continues on her story of how she fell in love with him all over again.

She turns around and they hold eachother in their arms, forehead against forehead as the rain falls down. She then leans forward and kisses him.