Neku walked into 104, accidentally bumping into someone on the way.
"Sorry." he muttered, but they had already disappeared into the crowds of Shibuya Neku looked at his feet, and saw something yellow on the floor. A phone. That person must have dropped it when they bumped into me he thought. He flipped it open, looking for someone to call to tell them he had their friends phone. Oddly enough, there was only one message on the phone, and no numbers. Neku looked at the message.

Reach 104
You have 60 minutes
Fail, and face erasure

Neku gasped. The game was still going on? He hadn't tried to think about his four weeks in hell after getting out. Occasionally he'd see people in shops wearing odd outfits, or overhear a pair in a restaurant talking about a mission, but he didn't pay too much attention. He tossed the phone lightly in his hand, trying to decide what to do. Should he leave it here? But then it might be stolen... Keep it? He might not see the players again. Hand it to one of the store clerks? They might give it to the police... And then they'll never get it back. Neku reached a decision. He pulled out his own phone, and dialled a number.

"Hey."
"No, you don't have customers."
"What, you actually do?"
"Anyway, I have a player's phone here."
"You sure?"
"Fair enough. I'll be there soon enough."


I woke up in the scramble crossing, thoroughly confused. How did I get here? I thought back. I was leaning on the balcony at the hotel, then... I felt hands on my back, and saw the ground rushing up at me. I was pushed... And I died. If I was dead, then what was I doing here? I heard something go beep in my pocket. I pulled it out. A yellow, flip up phone that I didn't recognise lay in my hand. It beeped at me again. I opened it. There was a message.

Reach 104
You have 60 minutes
Fail, and face erasure

I felt a painful sting in my hand. There was a timer on it! It was counting down 59:44... 59:43... 59:42... Shit I thought. I looked about hurriedly, and started walking towards the tall shopping centre. I ran into an invisible wall halfway there. I sighed. I looked left and right. Other people were passing throughout it easily enough. I knocked on the wall. Still there. I tried to get someone's attention. Everyone ignored me. I grabbed an arm, getting desperate now. My hand passed through them. I stared at it, confused for a second before remembering Oh. I'm dead. I turned round unsure of what to next. A man in a red hoodie walked up to me.
"You need a partner. Try Hachiko." he said. I stared at him blankly. Was he talking to me? The hooded man repeated himself. "You need a partner. Go to Hachiko."
"You can see me? I asked dumbfounded. He rolled his eyes, and repeated himself for a third time. I finally got the message.
"Oh. Thanks!" I said. I wandered to the statue of a dog, and looked around. All of a sudden these symbols appeared out of nowhere. Frogs came out of them.
"Bloody hell!" I swore. I turned to run. There were more symbols. I saw another person trapped in this ring. He had brown hair and odd eyes. One was blue, the other purple. Not pale purple either. A proper deep purple, like a Cadbury's chocolate wrapper.
"Make a pact with me!" he yelled. I stood there. "Come on!" he growled "I need a partner!" I snapped out of my stupor at this point, remembering what the hooded guy had said.
"Okay." I said. Before I had even finished my word, a blue light had surrounded us. "What was that?" I asked.
"It allows us to fight the noise." my partner said gruffly. "Look out!" Before I had time to react, I was transported away from him. I was surrounded by a pair of frogs, and I couldn't see my partner, but I could sense him. I heard his voice in my mind. Use the pins it said. I looked around confused. Check your- The rest of the message was cut of by a frog jumping on me. I yelled in reflex, and some speakers came out of nowhere and stunned the frog. I was pretty stunned too. I could see another frog preparing to leap, so I yelled again, hoping for the speakers to appear again. They did. This time however, the frog wasn't stunned. It disappeared into static. I turned around in time to see the other frog do the same. I returned to the normal word.
"What just happened?" I asked him.
"I'll explain later. We need to get to 104 now!" He grabbed my wrist and pulled me along.

"Hey! I can walk!" I said, pulling my wrist out of his grasp. I jogged up beside him. We got to where the wall was. I stopped for a second. My partner carried on, then turned round, and gestured for me to hurry up. I walked forwards carefully. My partner was inside the doors of 104 by now. I hurried to catch up. I saw him looking at his hand.

"Timers gone." he said.

"So what do we do now?" I asked. He smiled.

"Get to know each other. I'm Cade Lokos. You are...?"

"Becca Dwydda. Nice to meet you, Cade."

"Want to go shopping?" Cade asked.

"Not particularly. Anything else spring to mind?"

"There's a café on Cat Street that does a good coffee...?"
"It's a date." Whilst walking out the door of 104, I bumped into a ginger kid. I heard him murmur an apology, but I was already out of the shop, and in the middle of the crowds.


At WildKat Café, I ordered a cup of the house blend. Cade led me to a booth at the back. I heard the phone ring, and the shop owner went to answer it. Suddenly a thought popped into my head.

"Hey! I bumped into someone earlier. When we were in 104, someone walked into me. But before that, in the scramble crossing, I passed straight through people..." Cade smiled.

"You're new to the game then?"
"This is a game?" Why on earth would they send killer frogs after us in a game?

"Yeah. The Reapers Game. Everyone has two things in common. We're all dead, and we're fighting to get back alive. And to get our entrance fee back. I suppose that's three things..."
"Entrance fee?" I asked.

"Yeah. You give up your most valued possession, whether it be friends, family, memories or a skill. I had to give up my best friend's memories of me first time round. This time... I haven't worked it out yet."

"This time? You've played it before?"

"Yeah... I didn't do well enough to get brought back to life last week. You have to get a high enough score to be revived."
"How do you find out the score?"
"You don't. Only the Conductor, and probably the Composer, know the score and bring the right players back to life. If they want to be alive again that is..."
"What else can they do?" What else would you do?
"They can become Reapers."
"Reapers?"
"Like the guys in hoodies who man the walls, or those that create the noise to attack us." I heard the bell for the door jingle. I didn't pay it much attention.
"So how long does this game last?"
"A week. To win, you have to defeat the Game Master on the seventh day."
"But we still need to complete the other missions as well?"
"Yep." A shadow fell over the table. We both looked up. It was the ginger kid I'd bumped into at 104.
"You dropped this earlier." he said, handing my phone over.
"Thanks." I said, shoving the phone back into my pocket.
"How did you find us?" Cade asked, a concerned look on his face. The ginger kid frowned for a second, as if trying to work out a suitable answer. He eventually said "Luck." and turned to the café owner.
"You actually have customers Mr H!" he said with a smile.
"Don't sound so surprised Phones! The shop's normally open!" The ginger kid - who I presumed wasn't actually called Phones - muttered something that sounded like 'Yeah, when you're not out graffiting random walls in Shibuya.' Mr H just laughed. I turned back to Cade, who had a concerned look on his face.
"What's up?" I asked quietly.
"I can't read his mind."
"Mind reading?" I had only just processed the information he had told me earlier, now this? I was going to end up with a headache soon.
"Yeah. I keep forgetting you're new to this. You should have some pins on you somewhere." I felt around in my pockets. I quickly felt my fingers brush against metal. I grabbed all the pins I had in my pocket and spread them out on the table. Cade looked at them, then picked out a black pin with some sort of stylized skull on it.
"This is the player pin." he said. "It shows that you're a part of the game, and allows you to scan for noise and to peoples thoughts. However, you can't read reapers, or other players." I thought about this for a second.
"So when you said you couldn't read the ginger kid..." I said slowly.
"Yeah. He's either a player... Or a reaper"


Neku couldn't help but overhear the players' conversation. Mr H was obviously listening in as well. He turned to Neku, one eyebrow raised. Neku shrugged sheepishly, and pulled his player pin out of his pocket.
"You still carry that thing around with you?" Mr H asked.
"Old habits die hard, as Rhyme would say. Besides, I always have a few pins on me now." Neku replied. "I know you say to trust your partner and all, but shooting me, then withholding the memories, then shooting me again does not inspire complete trust in me." Neku paused for a moment. "Well... It's not that I don't trust him... But I wouldn't be surprised if he did." Mr H just shook his head.
"Don't worry. He's got enough on his plate at the moment. No betting with anyone, I promise." Neku relaxed slightly. Mr H continued. "So how are you getting along with Shiki? And Beat? And Rhyme's back isn't she?"
"Yeah, everyone's good." Neku glanced at the clock, and jumped out of his seat. "Shit! I'm late! See you soon Mr H!" Neku rushed out the door. Mr H watched him sprint past Jupiter of the Monkey.


I watched the end of their conversation with amusement. Cade had explained to me how to use the rest of my pins. Apparently I had a very music-based deck.
"I don't see why though." I said to Cade.
"A player's starter deck is sometimes based on what they're best at. Want some more coffee? Only 520 yen a cup!" I looked up in surprise, Cade only laughed.
"Stop trying to sell us your coffee! We haven't finished these cups yet!" he said.
"Do you sell tea? And I don't play any instruments or anything. I'm not even that much of a fan of music." I said. Cade looked confused. "Then what's with all the music pins?" A look of comprehension crossed his face. "Do you know what your entry fee is?" he asked quickly. I just shook my head. He grinned. "I think I've worked it out then. Your entry fee was your memories of music!" I just looked at him. "What? It explains the pins. And music is always around us. Nowhere you go in Shibuya is music-free. You must have heard at least one song you like." I thought about that for a second...
"It makes sense..." I said. "But why those memories? I have much more cherished memories."
"Ah, now you do. But some of your most cherished memories must have been about music, or they make up part of who you are. I wonder... Did you play any instruments?"

"Yes. Of course I know what instruments I play, as I have many memories of playing them that in no way, shape or form has been taken away from me." I deadpanned. Cade looked abashed. I heard Mr H chuckle from the other side of the counter. I finished up my coffee, and said to Cade "Come on. Let's find some less musical pins."


Neku reached Hachiko in record time. However, he still had to wait a few minutes before anyone else arrived. However, it wasn't who he was expecting.

"Hello, Neku. You know, you really should close your mouth, it looks quite unattractive on you, dear." Neku shut his mouth.

"Joshua! What the hell are you doing? Don't you have a game to run?" he blurted out. Joshua looked up, stroking his chin, then moved his head down, and said

"Well, yes, but I was looking for a bit of a distraction. I thought I'd come and talk to you. It always manages to cheer me up." And piss me off Neku thought bitterly. "...Neku? Were you even listening? I was asking you how you're getting on?"

"You're being nice? Now I'm suspicious. What do you want?"

"I told you. I need to take my mind off things. I promise I won't shoot you. This time." Joshua giggled. Neku shrugged a shoulder.

"That'll do for now." He proceeded to tell him how he's been getting on,and got a story of how the Composer had been since they'd last seen each other. They chatted happily for a few hours, until it started to get dark. Neku went home at this point, leaving Joshua feeling happier than he'd been in a while.


"Come on! I don't like shopping either! It's only one shop. What else are we going to do?" I told Cade. He sighed.

"I know, but does it have to be all the way on the other side of Shibuya?"

"That's not my fault." They passed Hachiko, and saw the ginger kid from earlier.

"Hey. You hears what they're taking about?" Cade said. I listened in.

"...don't you have a game to run?" I looked at Cade.

"He's the Game Master for this week?" I asked.

"Probably. But why is he talking to someone who's alive about it? And how is the ginger kid seeing him?"

"Maybe he's a reaper?"

"He's got no wings."
"The red support reapers don't have wings."

"He's not wearing red." Silence for a few seconds.

"Did he just say he wouldn't shoot him this time?"

END OF DAY ONE