Megumi's long fight was over. Neku had survived in the UG for three weeks before facing Joshua in the final battle for Shibuya. Joshua's terms had been simple: the first person to shoot the other would decide the fate of the city and its people. Neku had lost.

Neku knew something had gone wrong when he woke on the pavement in Scramble Crossing. He wondered briefly whether Joshua's shot had missed, but shook the thought from his head: there was a dull ache in the center of his chest. He looked down. The purple stripe down the center of his shirt had been stained a dark red.

Panicking, he sat up and tore off the shirt, but his chest was smooth and unblemished. Neku lay back on the crosswalk, heart beating fast. Why was his wound healed? How long had he been asleep?—and why had he been moved from the Room of Reckoning? Joshua, it seemed, couldn't stand to let him die in peace.

Neku shoved his hand into his pocket. It emerged with a fistful of pins.

"Damnit," Neku muttered. He let the pins fall around him. "What a liar. I was supposed to be erased." He thought back to the end of the previous week.

("Oh, before I forget! I've collected your entry fee," Joshua says. "Now... Let the Game begin. 10... 9...")

"That's right... He didn't actually say what decision he'd come to," Neku mused. "So he must have..." God damn it. "He probably picked 'return to the RG' or something dumb like that as an entry fee." Neku stood up, brushing off the seat of his shorts, and pulled his shirt over his head. "That self-righteous idiot!" He bent to pick up his pins. As his hand closed around Pyrokinesis, a thought occurred to him. What had happened to Beat and Shiki?

Neku slipped the pin into his pocket and started toward the statue of Hachiko. He would start by checking the Room of Reckoning. If he couldn't find his friends, he would find Joshua. He didn't know what he would do afterward.

His phone went off. He pulled it out and flipped it open, almost surprised to see a mission. "Reach 104. No time limit. Fail, and face erasure. —The Reapers."

So Joshua had entered him in a new Game. "How original," Neku muttered. He shoved the phone into his pocket, spitting curses into his collar, and walked right into a wall. "Ouch... Haven't done that since week one..." He laughed, reluctantly. "I guess I'm turning into Shiki." The thought of Shiki was sobering.

He looked around. No Support Reapers were in sight.

"Are you serious!? What the hell!" Neku was getting angrier by the second, and the upbeat, poppy music in his ears was doing nothing to help. He pulled his headphones down around his neck. "Where is everyone!?"

"Calm down, kid," someone said from behind him. "This is day one. The easy day. You're gonna pop a blood vessel or something."

Neku spun on his heels and sighted an orange-haired adult, unmistakably walking straight toward him. "It's you! Lollipop!" Frustrated as he was, he couldn't remember the Reaper's name, but he knew that he had fought both the Reaper and his partner during the third Game. "...Kariya!" he finally managed. Hadn't the Reaper been unconscious at the end of their last encounter?

"It's me, back from O-pin oblivion," Kariya said. He scuffed a heel on the pavement, regarding Neku impassively. "What's the problem?"

"What makes you think there's a problem?"

"You're yelling in the middle of the street, never mind the fact that no one can hear you," Kariya said. He shrugged. "Yelling won't fix anything. It's better to keep calm, you know?"

Neku crossed his arms over his chest, obscuring most of the blood stain. "What do you care?" He glared at Kariya suspiciously. "My Partner's just over there. And it's too early for you to attack Players directly. Don't think you can sic any Noise on us and win."

"What a bluff. There aren't any other Players in Scramble Crossing. It's just you 'n' me," Kariya said, and added, "I'm not going to sic anything on you." He stuck his lollipop into his mouth and glanced at Neku out of the corner of his eyes.

Neku wrinkled his nose in disgust. "Yeah, well," he said, "thanks. I guess."

There was silence as they avoided looking at each other. An elderly man shuffled in front of Neku. Neku sidestepped him impatiently.

"So. D'you want to make a pact or not?" Kariya asked.

Neku looked at him, startled but unwilling to show it.

Kariya was watching a pair of girls across the street. "That's how this Game works, innit? Players form pacts?"

"But you're a Reaper," Neku said.

"Pay attention! Don't you notice anything different?" Kariya turned his back on Neku. He glanced over his shoulder. "For a kid who's survived the UG this long, you're really kind of slow."

"Your wings..." Neku said slowly. He remembered noticing black wings on all of the Reapers he'd encountered, including Kariya. However, the skeletal jacket before him was unmodified. There was no hint that wings had ever sprouted through the fabric.

Kariya nodded. "Good job. I'm not even Support any more. They got tired of me, I guess."

Neku touched his Player Pin. Kariya was right; there were no other Players in the area, and he had few options to progress. Still... "I can't scan you," he said aloud.

Kariya scoffed. "'Course you can't. I'm a Player now. Got the pin and everything." He held out his hand. "Look, d'you want to make a Pact or not? We haven't got all day." Neku glanced pointedly at his blank palm. Kariya rolled his eyes. "Figure of speech, man. You in?"

Neku shrugged. "Fine. I accept." He grabbed Kariya's hand and they shook briefly.

"We should probably go over my fighting style before we meet any Noise," Kariya said. "I use energy. A negative psych. I can block close-range attacks; not so hot with the long-range stuff. Uzuki and I were able to use a light puck, and if you and I can buddy up for long enough, I might be able to figure out how to send one to you. Got it? Want me to go over it again?"

"Got it," Neku said. He bit back a sarcastic comment. Kariya was his best bet at surviving the week, and fighting would become easier they more they were in-sync. Unfortunately, syncing required friendliness.

"Great. 104's our destination, right? Is there a reason you were heading for Hachiko?"

"Actually... there was," Neku mumbled.

"What's that? Couldn't quite hear you."

"I was looking for some friends," Neku admitted.

"Well, they're obviously not in a blocked area. We'll be better off searching 104," Kariya said. Neku noted his use of "we": Kariya was definitely turning out to be a better Partner than Joshua.

"The last time I saw them was in the Room of Reckoning," Neku said, "but I don't know when that was." Honesty was probably his best bet at finding Beat and Shiki. "I'm not sure how long it's been since I was last awake."

Kariya nodded. "We're in the same boat, then. I haven't known what's going on since I was demoted. I can, however, help you get to Hachiko." He grinned, removed a keypin from his pocket, and waved it at Neku. "This wall's level two. Too easy, that is. Some grunt must have set it up."

"Wait!" Neku felt in his own pockets and took out a level four keypin. "Isn't this yours?"

"I got another," Kariya replied smoothly. "They forgot to take it away when they demoted me."

Neku shoved his hands into his pockets, ducked into his collar, and regarded Kariya from behind his bangs. "We still have to complete the mission," he said. "I don't want to be erased on the first day."

Kariya waved the comment away impatiently. "No timer." He cleared the wall. "...And now there's no reason not to go." He stuck his lollipop into his mouth and tossed the keypin up and down, weighing it. Neku shouldered past a group of schoolboys and headed toward Hachiko. As always, there were throngs of people aimlessly milling around, waiting to meet up with their different groups. Kariya hurried after him. "What's the rush? We have all day."

"The longer we wait, the harder it'll be to find them," Neku said. They passed Shibukyu Stationside and a flash of red hair caught Neku's eye. "Wait! Shiki!" He ducked into the store, but the hair was too bright, its owner too short.

"Sorry," Kariya said. He clapped Neku's shoulder; Neku grumbled and shook him off. "What do your friends look like, anyway? I've forgotten."

"Beat was wearing a white shirt and a black beanie," Neku said. "He's got blond hair. Shiki's got..." He trailed off. Crap. Come to think of it, Shiki had gotten over her jealousy during the first week. If Joshua had re-entered her into the Game, she would have a different entry fee. She probably wouldn't look like her friend—Eri? Eriko? Neku wasn't sure. He also wasn't sure what Shiki looked like. She had been vague about her real appearance, and he had never gotten a good look at the pictures on her phone. He remembered dark hair, and he was almost sure that she wore glasses. Beyond that, the only thing he had to go on was...

"Mr. Mew!" Neku blurted.

"'Shiki's got Mr. Mew'? What is that supposed to mean?" Kariya demanded.

"She has this stuffed animal. It's black. It looks like a pig. Or a cat," Neku said. "She takes it everywhere. And she's got dark hair." For good measure, he added, "...and probably glasses."

"Okay." Kariya shrugged. "We'll look for your beanie-wearing friend and the pig-toting one. You could try calling their names, too, you know? There aren't any other Players in this area, and you won't be heard in the RG. It's worth a shot."

Neku shrugged back. They walked the length of the bus terminal; Kariya took down another wall in front of Station Underpass. "How do you know your friends are playing, anyway?" he asked.

"I don't," Neku said. "I saw them at the end of my last Game. If I've been re-entered, it stands to reason that they have been, too."

Kariya thought for a second. "That's probably true," he agreed. "You said you were in the Room of Reckoning, right? That sounds like it's past Dead God's Pad? I've never heard of a Player getting through there before. One of the higher-ups must have seen something special in you."

Slowly, Neku said, "So you've never been to the Room of Reckoning."

Kariya shook his head. "Never had the pleasure."

"I thought all Reapers lived there or something."

"You don't go past Dead God's Pad if you're not an Officer." Kariya carefully avoided meeting Neku's gaze. "I never wanted anything to do with promotions," he said. "Apparently that's an unusual desire. Actually, for that reason, I almost met the Composer before I was demoted. The Conductor came to get me, said there was urgent business."

"What do you mean, you 'almost met the Composer'?" Neku asked. "I thought you and Joshua already knew each other."

Kariya threw him a sidelong glance and stopped walking. "Joshua," he said.

"Yeah. Doesn't he know all the Reapers?"

Kariya was silent for a moment. "Oh, sure, sure," he finally said. "You mean the Composer. No, he only speaks to the Conductor."

Neku ducked into his collar. During the second week, Joshua had erased a particularly powerful Taboo Noise, and Kariya had confronted them directly afterward, saying that Joshua was alive. Had Kariya not known he was the Conductor? Neku certainly hadn't. Perhaps Joshua had been hiding from his Reapers, too.

"He's probably just busy," Neku said aloud. Busy being an arrogant sadist, that was. His mind was hedging around another thought, but he couldn't verbalize it and decided to let it slide.

"Prob'ly," Kariya agreed. He stopped. "Trail of the Sinner," he announced. They were silent afterwards. Sho's trash piles had been removed, Neku noted, and he lingered when he noticed a small but new CAT mural on one wall. He sent glances back toward it as he moved away, and was so absorbed by this that he walked into Kariya. This was getting out of hand; there was no excuse to be as scatterbrained as Shiki. Neku was too observant for this kind of behaviour.

"It's a level five wall," Kariya said.

"So open it," Neku muttered, before realizing that Kariya only held a level four keypin.

"What a pain," Kariya said, ignoring him. He turned around. "Nothing for it: we'll have to go back."

Neku glanced around, not really expecting to see any Reapers waiting nearby. The sewer was empty. He started back toward Station Underpass.

The walls between the Trail of the Sinner and Scramble Crossing had been resurrected in their absence—were they being followed? and if so, by whom?—but Kariya opened them again with no trouble. They wandered back into the surge of humanity and stopped.

"I want to look by the store," Neku said abruptly. Shiki was a fashionista, after all. Shibu Department Store was a logical place to look for her.

"Sorry, no can do," Kariya muttered. He nodded at a red-hooded Reaper across the square. "We're being watched now, and there's a wall up. If he sees me using my keypin, we might have to worry about more than some small-fry Support."

"What, Noise?" Neku asked. He touched his pin. There weren't any Noise in the area—just a torrent of thoughts and ideas from the people around them. "I don't think he'll summon any. It's day one. The easy day. You said so yourself."

"I mean Harriers," Kariya said. "Or worse, Officers. I am so not up to dealing with them today."

Neku scowled. "Fine."

The Reaper had spotted them through the crowds. Neku couldn't see his eyes, but as they moved closer, he felt as though the Reaper was analysing him.

"Pact confirmed," the Reaper said. "Wall clear!"

Neku and Kariya walked past him. When Neku looked back, he had vanished.

"Looks like we're done with the mission," Kariya said. He strolled to the base of the 104 building and sat. "The end of the first day. You know, it's weird, being on the Players' side."

Neku scanned the crowds. "No other Players," he said.

"It's pretty late. They've all either finished the mission or let us finish for them," Kariya said. He laughed. "Wouldn't that be a riot. First day, too. We'll see them sooner or later."

Neku sat beside him and watched the crowd for a black beanie or dark hair. Kariya was silent: after a while, he lay back on the pavement and closed his eyes. Neku continued to watch and wait. He wasn't aware of losing consciousness.

AN: I think it's pretty obvious that I have no idea what I'm doing, but... hope my dumb prose didn't bore your socks off. (If it did, drop me a review or smth and I'll direct you to the nearest Target.)

Sorry for the lame-o title and summary, I'll come up with something better eventually. In the meantime, thanks for reading!