A/N: I've been waiting so very long to upload this story, but "Ballad of an Eternity" really needed my attention. However, now that I'm almost done with that story, I can begin focusing on this one. This fic has been in the works for nearly a month, and I am so incredibly proud of the work that's gone into it so far. I hope you all enjoy the prologue.
I don't know when I'll be updating this next HOWEVER I can say this for certain. It will begin receiving bi-weekly updates the Monday AFTER I finish writing Ballad of an Eternity. That should be anywhere between a week and two weeks from now, to give you a more specific time frame. Anyways, enjoy!
Same streets
Same people too
Yea, Shibuya hasn't changed one bit.
A coffee pot hissed loudly, the sound and scent it emitted were both a clear indicator that it finished preparing the hot beverage within.
A tall slender man went to tend to his drink. He poured the steaming liquid into a cup and handed it to a customer who had been waiting for it. "That'll be five hundred and twenty yen."
The young man scoffed slightly. "Nice to see you still overcharge." He spoke playfully, not being too serious with his statement. He and Sanae Hanekoma laughed. They'd become pretty good friends a while back, and this was almost a daily routine at this point. The young man with the striking orange hair disappeared through the door after he paid for his beverage, leaving Sanae Hanekoma all to himself.
"Great to see you still come to see me. Even if my prices are a little steep" He joked to himself. He overcharged just for the sake of it. Someone in his position really doesn't have a need for any sort of currency. He was the Producer of Shibuya, after all.
Not that anyone knows that, of course.
He went behind the counter, reaching under to grab a folder. He opened it, and reports of several games spilled out, with the report of the Neku Sakuraba game actually falling onto the ground. He picked up the file, and flicked through it.
Its been what, four years?
Sanae sighed to himself. After that game, time seemed to slow to a halt for him. It was his fault though, he had gone and interfered with perhaps the most important game in the history of Shibuya.
It's funny how things work out.
"Man, what are the guys upstairs thinking?"
He didn't hear the sound of the cafè doors open.
"I'll tell you exactly what they're thinking, if I can get a warm cup of coffee on the house." The young man that walked through the doors startled Mr. H. "Oh, didn't see you there, J."
Joshua snickered. He was decked out in his usual attire. When he wasn't in his true form of course. He was always fond of the Dragon Couture and Pegaso clothing lines. "Surely you sensed my vibe? Anyways, so how about it?" The composer teased. He knew when it came to his coffee, Sanae wouldn't make exceptions for anybody. Not even the guy who writes the rules of the Reaper's Game
"Stop messin around. You know I charge for everyone. Even the occasionally snobby composers like you." Hanekoma teased
Giving into defeat, Josh pulled out some money from his wallet. "Here just take it then. Give me the usual please."
Hanekoma smiled, almost snatching the money from his friend's hand. "You got it boss."
"The angels decided that due to outside interference in the Neku Sakuraba game that we must, oh what's the word... We shall essentially be redoing the game, and must see what the new outcome is. Without the influence of a certain CAT." Joshua's tone emphasized the last word.
"It took them a four whole years to come to that decision?"
"The angels never have been known for their efficiency or reliability on these sorts of matters."
"I hope you're planning on putting that kid through another month of hell. He has no further reason to play the game." Hanekoma didn't want Neku getting involved with the UG again. The kid learned everything he could from his time there, and definitely changed for the better. Someone with strong imagination and potential to change the world emerged from those three weeks as a completely transformed individual, capable of making friends and actually living life.
Josh chuckled, as he always did. "No, I'm afraid that won't be the case this time. While I would love to go blow the brains out of my dear partner again, knowing that whichever side he played for would be guaranteed the favorable outcome, I can't. My former conductor banned Neku from participation in further games during the final week of that game, and that still remains in effect till this day. No, I'll need to find a new proxy this time around."
"Got anyone in mind J?" Sanae poured the drink he had been preparing for Joshua. He handed the cup to the composer.
"Well, there is someone. I'll have to look into it a little while longer before I settle on my final choice." Josh blew the beverage, trying to cool it before raising the steaming hot cup of mocha to his lips for a sip.
Sanae grabbed a cloth and began cleaning another coffee cup. "I can't believe you're really gonna shoot another kid."
Joshua set the drink down, licking his lips to catch the remaining liquid on his mouth. "It happens, nothing to get too worked up about."
Neku strutted the streets in his ordinary attire. His trademark "phones" clung to his neck as he sipped his coffee.
Today was his first day as a sophomore at the Shibuya University of the Arts. Neku flipped open his cell phone, like he had dozens of times before, checking the time.
"Make it to class, you have 120 minutes."
It was something Neku did whenever he set a reminder on his phone. Nothing got him fired up quite like seeing mission mail on his phone, and it was a great way to make sure he was ready to take on the day.
Seeing that he was behind schedule because of his sudden coffee craving, he quickened his pace.
Neku texted as he walked. He pulled up a contact and typed out a message quickly. Satisfied that his message had been sent, he allowed himself to focus on the pavement in front of him.
He gripped his phone once more as he trekked through Towa Records, on the screen it said he'd received a message from "Shiki".
"Hey Neku, where are you? I've been at Hachiko for 5 minutes. Hurry it up!"
He smiled, and began typing away on his keypad. "I went to see Mr. H at the cafe. I'm almost at Cadoi City, see you in a little bit." He clicked send once more, and looked at the time.
1:15 already?
He started jogging to make up for lost time. He had barely passed the scramble crossing, when he'd noticed that there were ambulances beside the city. He slowed to hear murmurs from the crowd that gathered.
"What happened?
"I hear she got hit by a car. The driver was being careless and didn't see her."
"She was so young too. What a shame."
"Poor kid..." Neku said to himself.
He knew where that girl would end up. If she was lucky, she would end up in the next Reaper's Game and have to fight for their life against noise with a complete stranger for the next seven days, having the thing that mattered most to them taken as an "entry fee".
That's if she was lucky.
She would have to participate in missions, and if she was good enough, defeat that week's GM. After that still, she would need to be chosen to be brought back to life. From what Neku knew, only one person was brought back per week.
And that was all only if they happened to be holding a game for the next week. Otherwise, she was as good as gone.
He knew the game all too well, having been made to play the Reaper's Game for three weeks in a row. While it had changed him for the better, he still didn't appreciate that the one partner he related to the most ended up being the walking deus ex machina that had killed him in the first place .
Wasn't I supposed to be doing something?
"Oh snap! Shiki's waiting!" He remembered his friend was at Hachiko waiting for him to arrive.
Shiki Misaki. My first partner, and my first friend since.. Well, I'd rather not think about that.
"Neku! There you are!" Shiki waved to Neku as he approached the meeting spot, like he had several times before.
"Hey Shiki, sorry for keeping you waiting."
"Oh, it's alright. So, shall we?" She wrapped her arm around his. Neku blushed. He still wasn't used to this whole dating thing after all. It'd been two years and Neku still found himself wondering how it all happened. Not that he was complaining. He loved her company, which was a distinct contrast from when they had met.
She's just as upbeat as ever. Seems like something is missing though...
Neku scanned her person, finally noticing what was lacking. "Hey, where's piggy? You bring him everywhere."
Shiki frowned a little. "He's a CAT. Mr. Mew the cat! You'd think after four years that you would get that right by now!" Shiki calmed herself down as Neku chuckled. He liked teasing her. "Well you see, there was this little girl I met. Maybe a few years younger than you and I. She seemed so lonely and distant. So I talked to her for a little while, and decided that she should have Mr. Mew and needed him more than I did, so I gave him to her!"
Neku was astonished. Shiki loved Mr. Mew, he couldn't believe she would just give him away. "Shiki.. Isn't Mr. Mew really important to you though? I mean, he's what got you started in sewing isn't he?"
She smiled, and readjusted the glasses on her face. "Yea he was, that's not important any more though. I don't need him for inspiration anymore. Besides I have you now."
Neku's cheeks became flushed again. "Well, we should be on our way."
"Right!"
Neku and Shiki walked through Molco arm in arm. "So Shiki, what was she like?"
"What was who like?" Shiki was caught off guard by the sudden inquiry.
"The girl. The one you gave Mr. Mew to."
"Oh her! Well she looked young. She's probably still around fourteenish. She reminded me a lot of you when we first met."
Neku raised an eyebrow. "How so?"
"Well I could tell she wasn't exactly social. She hardly even said more than three words at a time to me. Not to mention she had that whole "world be damned" attitude."
Neku thought to himself about when he was antisocial. He'd shut out the world, and had no friends, and definitely didn't care for others and their opinions. The accident way back then set him on that path.
"There's one more thing too."
"Oh yea? What else?"
"She wore a pair of headphones. Kinda like how you wore yours."
What does she expect me to do with this thing anyways?
A girl stood at the entrance to Ugadawa, in her hands she held a stuffed cat.
How old do I look? I outgrew stuffed animals years ago.
"Still... That was nice of her. For a stranger." She brushed her hair out of her face. Platinum locks of hair gently fell behind her ears, which were hidden by a pair of bulky silver headphones.
The breeze tugged at her clothing, whipping her plaid skirt into the air slightly.
Looks like its just another ordinary day..
The girl started walking, clutching the stuffed cat close to her blouse.
She passed a group of guys as she continued towards the end of Ugadawa. A few of the young boys howled cat calls at her, and one even whistled.
Perverts.
She ignored them, having finally reached her destination. The Ugadawa murals. In front of her was a giant wall, but this wall was special. It was covered completely in graffiti, made by none other than the most renowned artist in Shibuya, CAT. She reached out, resting her hand on a drawing of a cartoony looking cat face.
I can't believe it's been a year already. I miss you mom.
Another voice interrupted her thoughts. "We'll this is absolutely adorable. I think I've seen everything I needed to."
BANG.
She tried to turn her head to see who else was there. That never happened, as the bullet hit her quicker than she could have ever expected.
The last thing she saw was a flash of silver hair as she fell to the ground.
Is that mine, or someone else's?
Hundreds of thoughts flew through her mind, almost as quickly as the bullet did. The realization that she had been shot. Killed, even. The thought that she wouldn't live to see that nice girl ever again.
Her senses slowly began to ebb away. Her ears rang, and her vision began to fail her. When she could no longer fight the shutdown of her body, she finally gave into the blackness that followed.
"Well, this feels like Deja Vu. To be fair though I HAVE done this before." Josh mused to himself. He took one last look at his handy work as he grinned devilishly.
"Oh, I'd better not forget to give you this. Consider it an apology for killing" He pulled a pin out of his pocket. It was a black and white pin with the image of a skull imprinted on it. He dropped the pin on the girl and started walking away.
"Good luck, I'm sure you'll need it." Josh laughed one more time.
A/N: Reviews, reviews, reviews. I really wanna get some input on this, as I feel there is just so much potential with this story.
Again, I don't know when I'll be updating next, but rest assured knowing that I am working on future chapters alongside my other story. Hope you enjoy! :D
