The World Begins With You

Day 1

"Huh…?" I found myself flat of my stomach, on the ground. Where I was, I didn't know. I did know one thing for sure. Or at least, I remembered one thing. I remember dieing. How, I'm not sure, but I had an image flash in my mind that, I got shot. Slowly, I stood up. Looked over myself. There was no blood on me; the only red thing was my sports jacket, zipped up. Maybe I got shot in the leg? I quickly looked over my legs for any sign of blood; nothing but red stripes on the side of my black pants. Where am I?

There was something by my feet though. It seemed to be a pin. It was black with a white skull-looking decal on it. I picked it up, to examine it. There didn't seem to be anything special about it until I started hearing voices inside my head. In shock, I let the pin go. The voices ceased. I plucked the pin off the ground once more. This time, holding it in a fist. Once more, I heard voices. They sounded like thoughts; the thoughts of the people who surrounded me. Hmm, what clothes should I buy today? I heard the ramen shop in Dogenzaka is really good; perhaps I'll eat there. The thoughts continued on and on. I pocketed the pin. The thoughts stopped. It appeared that when I held the pin I could hear thoughts.

To make sure I really was reading people's thoughts, I raced up to a man. "Hey, were you really thinking of going to the D + B store in 104?" The man just passed by, not even noticing me. I tried again with someone else. They ignored me too. I felt invisible. To be honest, I somewhat liked that. I've always wanted the ability to become invisible and be able to read minds. I felt a mischievous smile creep onto my face. I turned to run 104 Building. Who knows what people over there thought? Instead, I bounced back. It felt running into a brick wall.

"What the hell is up with that?" I screamed. No one even gave a look, except for one person.

"Meet my conditions and I will clear the wall," said a red-hooded man.

"Who are you?" I questioned.

"I'm don't get paid to chit-chat, just meet my conditions and I'll clear the wall."

"Fine. What are your conditions?"

"Forge a pact and clear one symbol of noise." He replied.

"Educate me please."

"Figure it our yourself kid." I was left in the dark.

I decided to go to where the Statue of Hachiko was. Maybe I could learn something here. I took out the pin I had pocketed a while ago and put it in a fist, reading people's minds, trying to figure everything out. No info was there to help me. However, there was one person's mind I couldn't hack into. He had orange hair, had headphones, and wore a lot of purple, with white shorts. He seemed about sixteen of age. Two years older than me, I guess.

"Hey. You look like someone who has the answers…"

He stared up at me. "I have the answers you want so shoot away."

"What going on? I was told to forge a pact and clear one symbol of noise to get past a wall or something like that."

"You need to find yourself a partner, forge a pact, and just keep going with missions."

"Why? Why would I do that?" I asked, not understanding anything.

"You'll do it if you want to have a chance at life again." He calmly said.

"You mean…I'm dead?" I was shocked. I knew I was shot but I didn't think I was dead. "Is this…the afterlife?"

"You're dead, but this isn't the afterlife. This is the next generation of the Reaper's Game. It lasts a week. Get through all seven days, and you just might have a second shot at life."

Beep! A message appeared on my phone. Why do I have a phone if I'm dead?

Go to 104. You have 60 minutes. Fail and face erasure.

- The Reapers

For some reason, I didn't feel as if this was some joke. Zap! A timer appeared on the palm of my right hand. And boy did it hurt when it came up. Time was ticking…I had get to 104. The red-hooded man was blocking it though…I need to find a partner!

My movement was pretty limited. I could only go to the Scramble and the Statue of Hachiko.

"Oi! Stop! Wait!" A blonde boy, who looked about my age, came running up to me. "Will you forge a pact with me?" He asked, gasping for air.

That was my chance. I nodded and our pact was formed. I failed to realize that the reason why he came running was because he being followed by red symbols. The symbols transformed into…frogs!

"We'll do introductions later, now we've got to erase these Noise before we get erased. How do you fight?" He asked.

"I dunno." I shrugged.

"Well, we'll just have to try everything then. Here!" He threw some pins onto me. I pinned them. I felt energy pouring into me. He took out a katana. "Use those pins' Psych!"

Then battle was on. He fought off his set of green frogs and I fought mine. Somehow using the pins' energy I was able to make flames, thunderbolts, and slash n' swipe at the enemy. The noise was easily erased.

"You're good at using pins. I couldn't use even one."

"What the hell are you talking about?" I just stared at the blonde kid who wore a black T-shirt and black jeans.

"The pins. Pins have powers called Psych. Using them, you can inflict damage on Noise to be able to erase them. Now let's hurry up and get to 104 before time's up"

The two of us raced to the red-hooded man who was a Reaper.

"Conditions have been met. Wall clear."

We entered 104 Building and felt relief sweep over our right hands. The timer vanished.

"So what's your name?" Blondie asked.

"Koki. Koki Hoshikawa. You?"

"I'm Kenta Saihouin."