Ahah, I should mention that I'm well aware Players probably aren't corporeal and people just go through them like ghosts or some such. I was just thinking one day, what if they uh…didn't?

…

Yeah, first fic ever. Be gentle with me, internet.

Disclaimer - I own nothing. Except the weird lab-coat chick.

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Shibuya. The capital of clash. The consummation of contrast. The axis of antithesis and no doubt the subject of countless other titles and alliterations. Truthfully, there was simply no place like it. A place where chaos was not just an abstract concept. It was a way of life, and an ideal in and of itself.

To some, it was perfection. To others it was a hell on earth. To the Players it was the location of their untimely deaths, and a week long odyssey through purgatory.

And to Beat, it totally didn't have enough food. Who needed so many clothes stores anyway?

"Yo Phones, we got cash for food…?"

The only thing standing between Neku and outright horror was the fact that he had been all too certain of what Beat had been hoping for. Then again, it was the only thing that seemed to get his mind off of Rhyme. Other than fighting of course. And if Beat insisted on fighting as often as he did on eating, they would almost certainly both be dead.

"Again…?"

At this response, his blonde companion would come dangerously close to pouting.

Neku would probably be responding to that about now with some reasonable method of persuasion, but Beat didn't have the longest attention span in the world when it came to listening to reasons why he couldn't eat. So he let his eyes wander over the host of colorful characters on the street.

Some kid with a Mohawk. Some chick with her face pierced in five places. An androgynous Lapin Angelique enthusiast. A tall girl with red eyes affixed suspiciously on an ice cream cone.

"I-It's lovely Rou, I promise! There's milk and sugar and ice a-and…"

But the sudden piping of an eager squeaking voice would herald the most unusual figure of all.

A happily stammering girl with orange-pink hair like…some sort of ridiculous sherbert. She seemed to be gushing about the joys of dairy products to her strange-eyed friend, while somehow managing not to notice the bit of ice cream on her nose. She had a white coat too. Like a…doctor. Or a scientist. It was draped over her tiny frame like a blanket over a bird cage. It swayed with ungainly flapping clumsiness with her every movement.

Even for Shibuya, it was a strange sight.

"Beat…? BEAT."

Suddenly a hand was snapping its fingers before Beat's distracted gaze, causing him to flinch and stumble with his usual comical bellow.

"B-BWAAGH…!!"

A long pause would follow. Wherein Beat would apparently not see fit to unfreeze from his pose of utmost alarm.

"…Were you-"

"K-KWEH…!"

Suddenly a half yelp half squawk would skewer the awkward moment and replace it with stumbling, flapping, and flailing. The floppy little sherbert-haired wonder would land spectacularly at the feet of the blonde boy with a whimper of pain. Luckily, most of the impact would be harmlessly absorbed by her face.

"J-Jeez, kid!" Beat burst out in alarm. It took a while to get used to being invisible and mute to most of the world. It took a bit longer if you're a young adolescent with a floppy skull hat who has a persistence habit of acting without thinking first.

So of course by the time this fact finally managed to mosey its way into the mind of our young hero, he had already grabbed a pair of tiny hands and pulled the hapless girl to her feet. In fact, it only managed to dawn on him when the girl's eyes widened far beyond what would be appropriate for a simple act of kindness.

Her head would snap down to where he still had hold of her hands. She of course would only see her hands held out in midair. A look of wonder and disbelief would grow in her still-widening brown eyes. Intense curiosity would eclipse any trace of fear with fascination. One of her hands would be snatched back for a moment, only to cautiously reach slightly above its previous position to find itself latched to Beat's arm.

The other hand would quickly follow as her small fingers further confirmed the sensation of human skin where there should have been nothing. Arms. Shoulders. Neck.

Before Beat could even do anything but stand frozen in horror, her hands were resting on either side of his face, probing and poking to find a nose and chin. He was sure he had never felt quite this uncomfortable in his life. Despite the fact that she was looking right through him, he found himself far closer to her intense inquisitive gaze than he was sure he had ever been to any girl, ever.

(Rhyme didn't count.)

The only thing that seemed to be able to push itself through his sluggish mind was that he needed to get the hell out of here fast, and that somewhere far away Neku seemed to be laughing at something. He certainly hoped it was something funny, as he could probably use a laugh himself right about-

Her small thumb brushed delicately over his lips. He was sure he was having a stroke. He didn't even know what a stroke was.

Although, the girl would turn bright red and snatch her hands away.

"I-I'm s-sorry…!!"

For the next five minutes, the girl would remain there as onlookers stared as she bowed fervently at no one at all and hastily squeaked apologies to herself.

After a while, her red eyed friend would return from her short napkin errand. "Saffron? What are you doing…?"

"I'm s-sorry i-invisible m-man…" She would murmur wistfully to widespread confusion, still blushing madly.

By this time of course, Beat was tearing in the opposite direction as fast as he possibly could. Girls, man.