Prologue
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A/N THIS IS UNFINISHED - I NEEDED TO KNOW HOW THIS GOES W/ YOU GUYS

The bell rang. 

Yifei was daydreaming on one of the outside benches at school, lost in thought and silently cursing her twin sister Yukei when a random woman sat down next to her. Probably just a teacher. At first, she thought nothing of it, but after a while, the woman left without one of the bags she was carrying, a rather small and unnoticeable paper one with simple string handles. Yifei sat up immediately, but the woman was already nowhere to be seen. 

Strange. I should probably check if there is anything valuable in it, to see if I should just leave it here or take it inside the school. Opening the bag, she froze. A black box with wires and a display screen. 

It was a bomb, timed to two hours and twenty minutes. This was the start of break, and in two hours and twenty minutes, everyone would be around the school, gathering to meet their parents and completely unaware. Two hours and twenty minutes are enough to slip out early and flee well out of the explosion range calmly with no one suspecting a thing. This was definitely planned. What a smart woman. There was only one thing that she could think of doing.

This was Germany, where the schools don't have fences and the students no uniforms. One hour should be enough to run home, find the most isolated spot and detonate it there, away from everyone else. Terrorist's goals are supposed to cause as much fear and panic as possible, and one missing student would be less panicking than a school blown up. Sometimes, it's better not to know. Plus, her going missing would ensure that security is tightened, and these kinds of things would happen less in the future. No time for explosives experts to arrive. Most of all, her twin sister would be safe.

So that was what Yifei did.

Never before in her life had she sprinted so fast for so long, not stopping until she reached home. Thankfully, mother was not home at this hour, so she whisked to the computer and searched for the most remote place in the area.

 One hour fifty minutes left.

 Yifei grabbed her old beloved barbie bike from the garage, pedalling faster, faster, faster along a rushedly memorised route, all the while clutching the paper bag ever so gently to her racing heart, which would beat for only two hours more.

Then she arrived at the vast hills she had chosen to be demolished. She rode as far into the centre as possible, before her trusty bike finally broke down. Yifei patted her long-time companion twice on the worn leather seat and sprinted on.

One hundred and seventy-three seconds left.

Now comes the timing. She weighed the box cautiously in her hands judging the force of it shooting up into the sky. Then watching the timer carefully, she took one last minute to wonder about her family and friends, how they would react to her disappearance, and if her sister would still be the sparkly otome-game-obsessed Otaku girl she had known all her life.

One minute left.

Would Lucia have been a scientist? A dentist? Or even an author? Would Anton learn to skate without me? Become the Olympian that we all knew he was?

Twenty seconds.

Will Naomi ever find peace in her little spiritual quirks? Will Lamar find courage to report her mistreatment at school?

Fifteen.

What about ... me? Would I have been an artist, author, translator, environmentalist? Would I have been able to bring Ruby to Xiamen like I promised? Would I have accompanied Hannah with her travels to Borneo to help her with her mission to save those Orang-Utans?

Ten

Would this valley survive the blast? And what about the woman? Why did she do it? Will she ever find peace too?

Six

I sure hope so.

Five

Well, I hope I was a good enough big sister to you, little twin.

Four

Adios, SiQi.

Three

And with that thought, Yifei hurtled the bomb up, up, up, paper bag and all, into the sky with all her might.

Two

One.

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Later that day, the little town of Tuebingen was in turmoil. A bomb set off by the hills, all on the news, just before the report of a small Chinese immigrant girl, missing. Now the old town's schools had fences and the fences heavy iron locks. 

But life continued spinning.

Lucia became a gentle dentist, insanely skilled and Anton a renowned figure skater. Naomi became a medium, the world's possibly first completely accurate spirit guide, helping lost souls get found again, and Lamar one of the warm voices behind the anonymous caller lines, ready to help any living soul stay in this world.  

Ruby grew to love the Chinese city, and even built a small garden there to honour the friend that set her along the way. Hannah had an award named after her in the efforts for the world's creatures that were not human, and a decade after the incident, the small, Chinese twin is now a successful Otome game developer, with one particular character named and designed after her lost half.

Yifei Zhao

A/N the story's not over yet!

Moral of the chapter - don't be suicidal like Yifei Zhao, 'kay?

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