Week 2.5
"But Neku...I thought you couldn't afford to lose. Give up on yourself... And you give up on the world." Joshua final words rung through Neku's ears as he finished off the last of Sho Minamimoto's noise form.
Next thing Neku knew, he was back at the crossing once again.
'Great.' He thought sarcastically. 'Another wasted week.' He looked down at himself. 'I only have two more chances left… I can't lose this time...for my life and hers...'
He returned his gaze back up at all the swarming people.
"Now, I've just got to find myself a partner. Maybe I should head towards the Hachiko Statue- it seems to be the best place to look. Hang on, Shiki..."
Neku ran over towards the direction of the statue, running through many people who were in the RG.
Then, he skidded to a stop the moment he caught sight of the notorious player pin.
It seemed to belong to a girl, who appeared roughly about eighteen. She was clad in a dark blue buttoned-up overcoat with a light blue miniskirt. In addition, the girl also had tall navy socks and a pair of white boots. Her dark blue hair wisped through the wind along with her long flowing scarf.
'Must be a new player.' Neku assumed. He hadn't seen her before.
He'd rather his partner be someone he already knew well, but the likelihood of that seemed very unlikely.
Regardless, Neku knew he needed a partner whether he liked it or not.
He approached the girl and showed her his player pin.
"I saw you have one of these pins. Do you have a partner yet?"
The girl shook her head. "Not yet. Do you still need one?" She questioned.
'Not like there's probably an option in the matter...' He knew.
"Yeah." He replied.
"So… I guess want to be partners then?"
Without much of choice, Neku reluctantly agreed.
The two felt the soar of energy and a growing connection as a pact was formed.
Neku let out a sigh of relief. At least he had a partner now...however useful or not she may be...
She reached inside her pocket and pulled out a handful of pins.
"So we use these to fight off the noise?" She asked for clarification.
"Yeah. You use the different psych abilities to fight off noise. But for some reason some people can't use certain psychs."
She nodded, taking that information into account.
"So anyway, the name is Sayuri Kiryu by the way." She introduced.
"Neku." He added.
"So Neku, do you-" Sayuri started.
Beep
Beep
Neku opened up his phone to reveal the Reapers' Message.
'Go to 104 Building. You have 60 minutes or face erasure.'
"I guess there's the first mission."
The message was soon followed by the timer piercing onto their hands.
They both winced at the sudden pain. Not long after, the pain started to fade.
Sayuri looked down to see the timer ticking away.
"Well I guess we should get going." Neku suggested.
"Yeah." Sayuri agreed as she walked ahead.
'Well at least now I have a partner.' He thought relieved. 'She won't be Shiki, but at least she won't be as annoying as Joshua either…' Neku looked down at the sudden thought of his 'late' partner. He felt the surge of guilt wash over him. 'That's right…Joshua…I blamed him for my death and never did apologize to him… and he risked his life for mine…' Neku looked up in determination. 'I've got to win this time around... for my life... Shiki's... Joshua's...and even Rhyme's...'
The two left Hachiko's statue and shortly arrived at the Scramble Crossing.
They headed towards the 104 building only to be stopped by a familiar reaper.
Neku crossed his arms.
"What's the deal now?" He asked, clearly annoyed.
"Want past this wall? Erase all of the noise in this area."
Neku turned back around to the area and scanned it.
Besides the noise, millions of thoughts came before him, but one was like no other.
It seemed to belong to his partner.
'Huh? How can it let me scan her also?' He wondered. It had seemed to work on Joshua, but not for any of the other players.
Something was definitely strange.
'Wait…what if she's playing the game illegally too?' He worried. However, Neku knew it was too early to make any assumptions. 'Hopefully not. I can't let another week become void again…' He narrowed his eyes at his partner. 'But something is seriously off...'
He looked down at his player pin.
There was one way to know.
He flipped the infamous skull pin, scanning the girl once again, only this time he paid attention.
-Sayuri's Thoughts-
He saw Joshua with his usual prideful smirk plastered onto his face. However, Neku didn't recognize the room or place. But without a doubt though, he saw Joshua standing there.
He jumped back in shock at what he just saw.
'Why was this girl thinking about Joshua?' Neku immediately wondered. 'Did she somehow know him from the RG?' It was the only logical explanation that came to mind. 'Is she playing the game alive too?'
The girl turned towards Neku.
"Are you okay? You look like you just saw a patch of black noise or something."
Neku narrowed his eyes. 'How does this girl know about black noise?'
She knew too much.
'There's no way I can tell her what I just saw.' Neku concluded. 'Not yet.'
It wasn't that Neku didn't trust his new partner; the ability to scan her could've easily just been an error. However, Neku still couldn't help but feel that something was up with this girl. But, he didn't need his only chance of survival to get ticked off and ditch him.
"If you really want, I can just do the scan." His partner offered.
Neku slightly shook his head in protest. "No, I'll just do it again."
Sayuri nodded in understanding. She inched backwards as Neku worked his magic.
'Open up your senses.'
Much like before, the scan happened to turn up noise. Neku knew what to do. The two readied themselves as he chained the noise together into a battle.
"You know my fighting style, right?" Sayuri addressed.
"It'll work as long as I don't end up having to do everything."
Sayuri gave a slight nod of understanding, but she didn't have enough time to forge a reply.
Before the two knew it, they were whisked away into the noise-dimensions.
Not long after, the noise arrived. It was a small swarm of jellyfish noise along with a few flying mink noise.
"I'll take the minks." Sayuri offered.
"Then, I've got the Jellyfishes." Neku assumed by process of elimination.
He pulled a fire pin out of his pocket and activated it.
Flames engulfed the jellyfish noise. But, that still didn't stop all of the noise. One outstretched its tentacles in an attempt to sting him.
Fortunately, Neku noticed the underhanded attack nearing him. Compared to the alternative of getting stung, he rushed over to another spot on the playing field, avoiding the jellyfish's grasp.
Once he was momentarily safe, he pulled out another pin; one that released a fury of bullets in the noises' direction.
The bullets pierced some of the jellyfish. As the jellyfishes' HP was coming to a sudden drop, Sayuri was busy focusing her attacks on the two mink noise.
For starters, she had ripped her scarf off from around her neck.
She then readied herself before finally throwing the long cloth at the noise. Similar to Mr. Mew, her attacks seemed to be mainly through an object.
The scarf shot forward and wrapped itself firmly around the noise's tail. With a sudden jerk, she yanked the scarf back towards her.
The noise spun around in the air, growing dizzy rapidly. Before long, the mink noise became stunned.
With the noise temporarily stunned, Sayuri got ready to go for another blow.
She spun her scarf around in the air, creating dual tornados.
Much like the black hole pin, the noise was attracted to the strong wind gusts like a magnet. It wasn't just the noise either; many objects flew over towards the funnels.
The objects and noise circled round and round the funnel, colliding multiple times with one another while doing so. With each and every hit, the minks' HP drastically dropped.
With both of the player's efforts, it took only mere seconds before the noise dissolved into static.
Not long after, the duo had departed from the noise dimensions.
'We did the reaper's crap, now time for him to clear the damn wall already.'
Neku and Sayuri returned back to the same hooded reaper.
"Objective Met. Wall cleared." He chimed before leaving.
"So that's that."
Meanwhile, Joshua was observing the game from The Room of Reckoning.
"So it seems that Neku teamed up with Sayuri?" He smiled. "This'll definitely be interesting."
Less than a minute later, Kitaniji burst into the room.
"So there's only two players this round, Boss?"
Joshua nodded.
"Since Daisukenjo 'Beat' Bito chose to become a Reaper, the proxy is the only one to continue on to the next week. The other is...well a new player." He added with a flip of his ash blonde bangs.
"So what's the report on the new Game Master?"
Joshua rubbed his eyebrows together in distress.
"Hopefully, I found a good replacement. It was a last minute decision, but even though she's pretty new, she seems to be pretty strong-willed. I would've put more thought into it, but I was busy dealing with my punishment for being a player in the game."
He didn't need to scan the Producer to know exactly what he was thinking.
"As punishment, I was told I could face erasure, but as Composer it's not likely I'll have to worry about that." He shrugged, obviously not too concerned about that small detail. "Oh well. He-he. Like that'll stop me from participating in the game with Neku."
Kitaniji could tell he was scheming something.
"Don't break any more rules, Josh." He advised before leaving.
"I don't plan on it. But trust me, even though I miss seeing dearest jerkface, I've got too much on the line."
Minutes -or rather- seconds after the wall cleared, the pair rushed over to 104 building.
Sayuri checked the palm of her hand. Instead of where the clock used to be ticking, stood the normal unscathed part of her hand.
"Clock's gone."
'That's good at least. One day down.' Neku thought somewhat relieved.
Shortly after, the notorious Reaper duo arrived at the scene, Uzuki and Kariya.
"I just can't believe he would pick her over me!" Uzuki complained. "I mean she's only been here about a week while I've been here so much longer." She let out exasperated grunt.
Kariya just nodded in response to her ranting.
"Maybe something is up with this girl or something. The Composer doesn't just pick a newbie for GM for no reason."
"I guess that's true..." Uzuki admitted. It was a valid point.
Kariya turned his head and caught of glimpse of the two players.
"Hey Uzuki, look who we ran into once again." He pointed out.
Uzuki turned to see Neku along with his new partner just standing there.
"Hey Orangey." She taunted.
Neku just crossed his arms in annoyance.
"Back for another week? I'm surprised you've survived so far. But you're not going to be so lucky for week three."
That caught Sayuri's attention.
"Wait...this is your third time playing?" She questioned.
Neku rolled his eyes.
"What the heck do you think?"
"I guess that makes sense now..." She murmured aloud, mostly to herself.
"Huh?" Neku muttered, clearly confused. What was this girl talking about?
"I thought you looked familiar..." She added.
'Do I somehow know this girl?' Neku wondered, trying to recall her face from any of his past memories.
When he turned up nothing of the sorts, he started to grow stronger in his suspicions of his new partner.
'First it was the scan, now this?'
"Anyway, we'd just like to send our salutations before the new GM arrives." Kariya concluded.
Neku had a bad feeling about this 'salutation' to which he was referring.
Which was right to do. The two harriers sent off a large group of noise towards the duo with just a flick of their wrists.
"You ready?" Neku asked as he got into his fighting stance.
She nodded and prepared herself as well. "I was born ready."
With that said, both Neku and Sayuri were sent away into the alternate dimensions.
On both sides of the noise dimension, noise frogs appeared along with one pesky shape-shifting fox.
Neku pulled out his psychs and started burning the frogs' HP gauges down.
On the other side, Sayuri was left faced against the fox.
She pulled off her scarf and started bashing the fox with it.
However, the fox transformed underneath her grasp into a jellyfish.
Sayuri tried backing away from the monster, but it was already too late. The jellyfish had stung her.
As the duo's shared HP went down, Neku immediately used a healing pin.
Seconds later, Sayuri was back up ready to fight.
As the fox changed back, Sayuri took the opportunity to try and trip it.
The fox did end up falling into her little trap.
As it tried changing into a kangaroo-like noise, she attacked it some more by creating some small tornados.
She would've planted another attack, but she felt energy soar through her.
Then, she realized what it was: a fusion.
"Let's finish this."
"Way ahead of you."
She felt herself rise into the air, much like what Neku usually did.
Whirlwinds of air sped on past her and her partner as objects were lifted up and thrown through the air, crashing into noise while doing so.
Eventually, the winds died down. The flying objects landed hard on the ground with a loud thud onto the remaining noise. Which by the looks of it, wasn't too many.
After the effects from the fusion faded, it only took about one attack and the fox was history.
She then spun around to see the few remaining frogs disappear before her eyes.
Before the two knew it, they were back face-to-face against the notorious Reaper duo.
"Awwwww..." Uzuki complained at her noise being erased so easily. "I was ready to have more fun."
Kariya shrugged. "It's not like we have much extra time anyway."
Uzuki was confused. "Wha-" She started to ask before getting cut short.
"Hello players." The girl greeted. She had a friendly tone in her voice, but also there was a sense of mockery.
Neku crossed his arms. "We seriously can't seriously be the only players."
The GM disagreed. "I beg to differ. This game was actually intended to only have one player anyway." The GM let out a laugh as she turned her attention to Neku. "You're entrance fee was the other players after all."
Neku was confused.
He turned toward his 'partner'.
With no doubt, she was standing there.
Neku didn't get it. How could she be standing right there if she was part of his entry fee?
He wasn't alone in his confusion; Sayuri seemed to be just as confused.
"Then how the heck am I here then?" She snapped back.
'Apparently she doesn't know either...' Neku noticed.
He heard the GM shrug as she replied.
"Who knows? Maybe you're illegally playing this game?" She suggested. "I don't know...maybe it's just a mistake." She guessed, not quite sure of an answer herself. "Well...whatever it is, Nekky here sure is lucky that you're here...or else both of you guys would've been already erased a long time ago."
Once she finished her answer, she started to make her way over towards the group.
Neku's eyes widened at the sight of her.
'No way...'
He couldn't believe his eyes.
"Shiki?!" He jumped back, clearly out of shock.
She looked nearly identical to his partner. The only small difference was the pair of black wings that sprouted from her back along with the absence of Mr. Mew.
'First Beat, now her? But why would she-' Neku cut himself short when he remembered something important. 'Wait, this can't be Shiki.' He realized. 'Not only did I see her taken as part of my entry fee, but she also doesn't have that stuffed pig with her either...'
"Wait a second...you're not Shiki!" Neku yelled out his revelation.
The girl let a giggle escape from her throat.
She shook her head in protest. "No, I'm not." She claimed. "But, you do seem to know her, huh?" She noted. "I guess I was told correctly, then."
Sayuri narrowed her eyes. "Correct about what, exactly?"
The Shiki-lookalike looked up from her nails. Her voice grew into a tone of utter and complete seriousness.
"You're the ones who took my best friend away from me."
With that one accusation, Neku knew immediately who it must be.
It was Eri, Shiki's best friend.
'Eri? What is she doing here in UG? Isn't she supposedly alive in the RG?' But before Neku could think too deeply about it, he looked down as guilt flooded throughout him. 'She can blame me... it's my fault Shiki isn't back in the RG yet...'
Neku remained silent, while Sayuri decided to reply.
"Look," Sayuri addressed. "Simply knowing a person's name is not enough evidence to accuse us really of anything. As far as you know, he could simply just be her neighbor in the RG."
Neku knew that wasn't right, but his partner was just trying to prove a point.
Eri rolled her eyes and let out an aggravated sigh knowing that Sayuri was right.
"Fine, whatever." She added, annoyed. "Even still though, you can't deny the fact that you haven't met." She smiled conceitedly. "Anyway, I should be going. But, I'll be sure to stop by and see you guys again...that is…if you're not erased by then."
Then, she was off.
"It still blows my mind that the Composer would pick her over me still..." Uzuki grumbled.
Kariya sighed and carelessly shrugged.
"Well anyway, let's get moving. The day is basically over anyway."
"I guess..." She halfheartedly agreed
With that said, the two reapers fled the scene.
Mere seconds later, the duo found themselves back at the Scramble Crossing.
"I guess that means Day 1 is over with then." Sayuri remarked.
"Yeah." Neku agreed, not ecstatic in the least bit. "I guess it's time for another hectic day."
Joshua had continuously observed the two from the Room of Reckoning.
"It looks like Neku likes the new Game Master. Maybe I made the right decision in choosing her over Yashiro."
Kitaniji walked into the room.
"It looks like the players passed Day 1."
Joshua just carelessly shrugged in response. "Not surprising." He added with a small giggle.
"Yes, boss, but both still have a long way to go. You know what'll happen if they fail."
Joshua waved him off.
"I know. I know. But, don't be so sure just yet. I know the proxy and Sis can't afford to lose."