"Another one, huh? What is going on with this town?" Questioned a young man with black, wavy hair, his green eyes focusing on the computer monitor before him. On the screen was a news article the was dated today, a picture of a young man with headlines "Parents say 'He didn't tell us where he was going or that he had any grievances for staying here. If he sees this, we only wish for him to come back home.'" The young man stared at the article, wrapping his arms across his chest "Just getting up and leaving, just like the other reports... who just gets up and leaves without telling anybody?" As he questions this to himself, slender hands, one which wore a rather expensive-looking bracelet, reached from behind, and enveloped in front of his eyes "Looking into those disappearances again? Man, you are a boring guy, no wonder you don't have a girlfriend!" came the voice of a young female, giggling as she leaned over and looked at the screen "Oh, this is today's newspaper... another one going missing. The more you look into stuff like this, it's very likely that you will end up disappearing as well, right?" The boy sighed, reaching up and pulling the girl's hands out of the way "Yeah, right. You just watch too many movies, Sarah. And why do you wear that bracelet everyday? It's so tacky..."

Sarah smiled, shrugging a bit "It is, right? Wearing such nice jewelry while wearing something so simple as this school uniform. I don't know but, I just can't help it." She glanced down at herself with her blue eyes, her red hair tied to two long, pony tails that drapped down each side of her head. The uniform she spoke of was a tight-fitting white collare shirt that buttoned from her belly up to her upper chest with a black tie fixed in front of it. The plaid skirt she wore was close to explicitly short but, still managed to be acceptable, her legs covered in thigh-high white socks with the top trimming of it being black and black loafer shoes. The boy sighed, closing the web browser and turned to her "Everyone has a choice, right? Well, I guess you choose to wear it so, whatever..." He stood up from the chair and stretched, his uniform consisting of the collared shirt and tie as well but, he wore black pants. Sarah giggled, looking him over a bit "Say, Makoto. I know it's only been only been a few months since you transfered from Japan but, have you heard of any strange rumors?" The boy, called Makoto, looked to Sarah "Aside from the fact that American women are hotter and crazier, no."

Sarah giggled some, looking over to the bracelet around her hand "Well, maybe I shouldn't tell you about this. It's hard enough having to hear about it when you have to worry about those missing people reports." Makoto yawned, hoisting his backpack over his shoulder "It's a little bit late for that now, isn't it? Spill it, now that you've got me interested." Sarah sighed, giggling a bit and shrugged "Ah, the slip of my tongue, it can't be helped then." She looked Makoto in the eyes "Have you ever looked to the floor and found a really expensive piece of jewelry laying in front of your feet?" Makoto blinked a bit and snickered a bit "Ha ha, like I would have such good luck. Why do you ask?" Sarah smiled at him, turning away "Oh, I see. Well, in case that ever happens to you, don't pick it up." Makoto tilted his head a bit, knowing she left some important information out "... And why shouldn't I pick it up?" Sarah turned around, a big smile plastered on her face "Rumor has it, the person who picks it up will come to meet an unfortunate fate... and die!" Makoto flinched a bit, looking the girl in the eyes "Please don't have such a smile when talking about such things. And this rumor of yours is just corny, like hell something like that would happen."

Sarah giggled "As expected of you, Makoto. Thinking logically before letting some random rumors into your head. But, still, just like those random disappearances, not everything could be logically explained." Makoto stared at her, shaking his head "I refuse to believe that, Sarah. Everything that happens in this world, happens for a reason. We just have to find out what that reason is..." Sarah nodded to him "Very well, Detective. Just don't pick up any stray jewelry lying on the floor, no matter how shiny it is, okay?"

Sarah turned to leave, only to bump into a chubby male, who was walking inside "Eek!" The chubby boy backed up a bit, looking to her with brown eyes through glasses, a few strands of his long, black hair swayed over his face "Eh? Sarah? In the library? So rare..." Sarah shook her head "Hmph, only reason I was here was to talk to Makoto." The chubby boy looked to Makoto and back to Sarah "Eh? Well, if you wanted to talk to someone, you could of came and talked to me." Sarah giggled, stepping past him "Hee hee, no way, Gin. I'd be afraid you would try to molest me if it was just the two of us... well, I'm going now, bye bye!" As she walked off, Gin turned and watched her "What was that all about? Saying such things out loud..." He turned and looked to Makoto "So, what was it that she had to talk to you about?" Makoto slipped his backpack on, walking up to Gin "Nothing important. Let's go home."

Twenty minutes passed, Makoto waved to Gin and Gin doing the same as they headed seperate ways. Makoto walked down a shopping strip, comprised mostly of fashion design shops that is mostly populated with women. Then, he stopped, as he heard the sound of metal grinding against pavement. Makoto lowered his head and glanced down, seeing that he was kicking something that looked like a necklace. "... Did someone drop this?" Makoto blinked and kneeled down, reaching down for it with his right hand. As he was about that, it was then he remembered something Sarah said. "Have you ever looked to the floor and found a really expensive piece of jewelry laying in front of your feet? In case that ever happens to you, don't pick it up. The person who picks it up will come to meet an unfortunate fate... and die!" As Makoto remembered this, he shook his head and muttered "... How stupid..." He reached down and picked it up, He held the necklace over his face and looked at it. The charm that hung from it was a gothic cross with the engraved letters "Thy Debt Undone". He looked at it curiously "... This doesn't look like a female's necklace. Maybe I should leave it at a shop, someone will most likely come look for it..."

It was then, he heard the shouts of a woman as she ran past him "Mikey, wait! Please stop!" Makoto glanced at the woman and over more, seeing a young boy who couldn't be any older than four years old was running towards the crosswalk, with incoming traffic driving through. Makoto stuffed the necklace into his pocket and without a second thought, he took off after the kid as fast as he can. As Makoto got there, he gasped, seeing the child was only a few steps from the street. He rushed over, grabbing the kid around the waist when, a load beep sounded off to the left of him. Makoto quickly lifted the kid off the street and spun out of the way as the car drove past them. He placed the kid down and sighed in relief as he saw the mother running towards them "Mikey, don't scare your mother like that again!" She looked to Makoto and smiled "Thank you very much! Thank you!"

Makoto smiled and waved her off as he went back to go to one of the shops "Now, to drop this necklace off..." Makoto told himself, not seeing the van that lost control drove right at him. The squeal of tires and the sound of a loud crash caused people to rush out from the stores. The scene was horrific, the driver in the car being injured, while Makoto's body laid on the sidewalk, coughing up blood. Makoto heard screams of people, someone shouting out to call for the ambulance. But, even that started to muffle and his body started to feel cold. His breathing got harder as the last thoughts ran through his fading conciousness.

"... How can this be? Sister... Gin... everyone... I'm sorry..."

"... sorry... ..."

Chapter 1: Welcome to Darkness

As his eyes opened, he only saw what he had been seeing with his eyes not being open. Darkness. He tried to raised his hand to his face and he still could not see it. He blinked, noticing that he wasn't breathing, placing his hand over his chest and tried but, he couldn't. "W-where am I?" He asked in a raspy voice that lacked oxygen, to no one in particular, like he asked himself. Still, he saw nothing but, darkness. "I-Is this heaven or hell?"

DO YOU WANT TO LIVE?

The loud, strong voice seemed to come from nowhere. He glanced around to see where it originated from. He saw nothing at all, he was totally unaware of time and direction. "Wh-who are you?" He tried once more, his voice still being weak without oxygen filling his lungs.

DO YOU WANT TO LIVE?

The voice didn't answer his question, only seeking an answer for it's own. Makoto nodded his "Y-Yes, I do..."

SIGN A PACT WITH ME AND YOU SHALL BE ALIVE ONCE MORE.

What did he have to lose? His soul, maybe? Or would he rather risk it and get out of this, darkness. "A-Anything... just g-get me out of this place."

AGREED.

In an instant, his eyes opened up into the brightness of the sun the filled his bedroom and oxygen once again filled his lungs. He gasped heavily, looking around to realize his recognizable location "... This is, my room?" He sat himself up and blinked, remembering what had happened to him before, only to realize he felt no pain "... Was it all a dream?" As he stood himself up, her heard the sound of small metals clanging into one another. He glanced down, seeing that around his neck was the necklace he had found on the street. "... I slept with this thing on?" He questioned himself as he took it off and rested it on his drawer. He looked over to his clock and blinked, seeing the time and date "... Only one day passed since that..." Makoto blinked "Crap! I have to get ready for school!" He quickly pulled his shirt off and reached down to undo his pj bottoms when, he stopped, seeing something strange in the corner of his eye. He stood back up and stared himself in the mirror, staring right on his chest. And there was a tattoo-like marking on his chest which said "Gamer" and had the numerical form of ten below it. He looked at this oddly "... Gamer?"

Minutes later, Makoto was dressed into his uniform, looking down at the necklace that laid on his dresser. "The person who picks it up will come to meet an unfortunate fate... and die!" Upon remembering her voice, he shook his head "... It was just a dream, I bet. Stupid Sarah... I can't quite explain this tattoo, though..." He picked up his backpack and was about to step out from his room when, his whole body just froze in place "Wh-what the hell was that? That feeling..." Makoto thought as he tried to move some more and blinked, seeing he couldn't move. He turned around, glancing over at the dresser, where that necklace was "... It's like, I want to take it with me. No, like I HAVE to take it with me..." He stepped back to the dresser and grabbed the necklace, unhooking the chain, and placed it around his neck. He slips the charm under the collar of his shirt and went to exit the room, this time with no problems.

As he stepped down the stairs, he blinked and saw his mom out there, fixing eggs, sausage, and pancakes for breakfast. "Ah, Makoto! Right on time, it's time to eat!" Makoto walked over towards the kitchen, his younger sister looking up to him and smiling "Good morning, brother!" Makoto looked to his sister and nodded "M-Morning..." He turned back to his mother, who raised a dish with the food on his plate "Say, Mom... did anything weird happen yesterday?" His mom blinked and looked to him "Huh? Nothing out of the ordinary. You came home, did your homework, had dinner and talked about the day, played games and watch anime, and sleep... like you normally do." Makoto blinked a bit and nodded "I-I see... so, I didn't happen to run out and um... get a tattoo?" Makoto's mom blinked and looked to him "I would hope not... you remember what I told you about stuff like that. Tattoos get all distorted and ugly as you get older." Makoto nodded, placing his plate down "I know, I know but, hear me out." Makoto opened up his shirt a bit and showed the tattoo that marked his chest "See? I'm trying to figure out how I got this." His mother looked where he was pointing and blinked "Umm... get what? All I see is your scrawny, little chest." Makoto blinked a bit "... You don't see it? It's a tattoo that says 'Gamer' with a '10' under it." His mom looked again and shook his head "Are you sure you're awake? Because, I don't see a thing." Makoto blinked and glanced down himself, and there the tattoo remained "... What the hell is this supposed to mean? Why can't she see it?"

At school, Makoto was sitting in class, taking down notes as the teacher lectured the class. But, as he was doing so,his necklace was dangling out and his other hand touched it, feeling all the texture and design of it. "No mistake... it feels like another piece of jewelry... but, what's the significance about it? Why couldn't I leave it home? Why couldn't Mom see my tattoo?" As he thought this, he jumped as he heard a voice "Yo, Makoto! Whatcha doing with that charm? You're fondling it like a woman's tit." Makoto glanced up, seeing the silly grin on Gin's face "Ah, nothing. I'm just wondering..." Gin sat back onto a desk, which must of been his own "Oh? Wondering what?" Makoto shook his head "... I have a hard time explaining... I don't even know how to word it." Suddenly, slender hands fitted right over his eyes "Makoto! Could I borrow you for the next class?" Makoto blinked a bit, taking her hands off his eyes. "Sarah? We can't though... we still have fourth period." Sarah smiled "You worry too much, Makoto. Skipping one day won't KILL you..." Makoto blinked at how she added emphasis on the word "kill". Makoto looked back to Sarah "O-Okay, okay. I'll go." Sarah smiled brightly "Great! Let's go now! See you later, Gin." Sarah ran, pulling Makoto along with her. Makoto blinked and called out "W-wait, Sarah! I could walk on my own!"

Sarah ran all the way up to the rooftop, finally releasing Makoto as they got there. Makoto huffed a bit, trying to catch his breath "Sheesh, you didn't have to pull me like that, I was going to come with you." Sarah stayed standing there, glancing out to the scenery of the town before her "... It wasn't a dream, Makoto. If that is what you thought." Makoto blinked a bit, looking at Sarah "What are you talking about, Sarah?" Sarah turned back, the ever so bubbly smile on her face "Yesterday... you really did die." Makoto gasped a bit, looking into her eyes "H-How do you knew these things? My own mother said that nothing odd happened." Sarah giggled, rather darkly "She wouldn't of noticed. Neither would Gin or anyone of them. But now, you're quite like me, right?" She reached over to unbutton her top and opened it, and there was a "Gamer" tattoo but, the number was quite different, and larger, being the numerical number of "two hundred fourteen". Makoto blinked a bit "Th-that tattoo and that number... what does it all mean?" Sarah smiled "What does it matter to you? You're going to be dead again, anyway..."

Makoto's eyes widened as he looked at this girl, Sarah, who he considered as a friend "W-what did you just say?" Sarah smiled and held her arm up as the bracelet started to grow "Hee hee... Makoto, are you stupid or something? I said it in plain english, didn't I?" A dust cloud kicked up as wind seemed to blow from the bracelet that Sarah wore. Makoto raised his arm, trying to block the sand from his eyes, only for it to suddenly stop. Makoto opened his eyes as the dust started to settle, his eyes opening wide as his body shook in fear "W-what?" Sarah stood there, the bracelet being absent from her wrist. In exchange, Sarah was holding two oversized cleavers, both in each of her hands "So, I'll say it again... please try to grasp it this time? I. Will. Kill. You!" She said it in a cute, twisted way. She came running at him, giggling psychotically, as she jumped and swung one of her huge cleavers at him.

Chapter 1: END