"Neku, are you even paying attention?"
"Huh?" The orange-haired boy in question turned to his friend, tilting his head a little. Shiki found herself letting out a low sigh, to which Neku shrugged. "Oh, right. Nothing to do."
"Yes!" Shiki nodded triumphantly, pleased that her partner had at least heard her. Sometimes she thought that he was just really good at lip reading and didn't ever actually hear anything anybody said. "Neku, we did our mission for today... so I think we should do something a little different."
"Like what? I don't know if you noticed, but Traverse Town doesn't really have much going for it in the entertainment department." Neku crossed his arms.
"Right, that's why we need to find something to do. I can't just sit around all day with nothing to do again..." Shiki sighed and her shoulders slumped. She wasn't sure if anyone knew what to do during their free time... besides Beat, that was. He seemed pretty happy turning the entirety of Traverse Town into his own personal skate park.
Normally, in her free time, she'd go over some designs with Eri or finish up one of her personal projects... But Eri wasn't here. And, at that thought passing through Shiki's mind, a loud pang of sadness followed. She still wasn't sure if her friend was okay. ...Or why she was wearing her body again. Without thinking, her grip on Mr. Mew, her cat plushie, tightened considerably.
They had asked Joshua—of course they had asked Joshua! But all he'd done was shrug his shoulders and look thoughtful. He obviously knew something, but he was keeping it quiet. Eri would have pestered him until Joshua had given in. Eri would have been able to think of a reason. But Shiki was not Eri.
A-and that was a good thing! Shiki needed to remind herself of that more. Only, being back in her friend's form was seriously tripping her out. It was tripping everyone else out too. None of them had recognized her at first, thinking that she was Eri.
"Well, we've already done our share of looking around. It's smaller than Shibuya, a lot smaller, so I don't think that there's a lot that we can do... besides walking in circles all day," Neku replied. "And none of the stores are open, so shopping is out. Unless you want to go pull a B&E with Beat or something."
"I don't want to break into anywhere with Beat!" Shiki replied quickly, waving one of her hands a little to emphasize the amount of "not happening."
"...Maybe we missed something fun somewhere, Neku. C'mon, it's worth a peek, right?" Shiki asked, beaming a small smile at Neku.
Right now, there were standing around in the Fountain Plaza by the CAT mural. The one that Neku was still puzzling over. The one that Shiki liked to imagine Neku made daily offerings of coffee beans he'd stolen from the café in the First District to.
Another sigh from Neku. "Fine, whatever. Beats sitting on our asses all day, I guess."
"Thanks, Neku!" Shiki cheered, hugging Mr. Mew close in excitement. "Maybe we'll find something new this time. Maybe we'll find something to do."
"Maybe Beat will pass his next test," Neku added flippantly.
"Neku, don't be mean," Shiki huffed at him, frowning a little now. She did not appreciate his insulting their friends, even if they weren't around to hear it.
"I'm just saying," Neku returned the huff and gave her a look. "I thought we were actually going to go somewhere, not talk about going somewhere, Shiki."
At that, Shiki's eyes brightened. "Right! Let's go to... umm... the Greenhouse in the Fifth District!" Even if it was humid in there, it was pretty. There might possibly be a back entrance to some secret place too! You never knew when it came to these strange worlds.
And so, the intrepid pair set off, walking leisurely to their destination. Whenever a Nightmare appeared, the two of them would get into battle positions and fight. Even though they could easily have outrun the creatures, Shiki didn't want to.
This wasn't because Shiki was bored... she was worried. The Nightmares had been getting stronger and stronger for some reason, and Shiki wanted everyone else to get stronger as well. This was not a problem for Beat and Rhyme, since Beat sometimes dragged Rhyme to go looking for a fight out of sheer boredom. Neku, on the other hand, sometimes really did not care to battle.
Now, Beat and Neku were pretty tough: they were the ones that didn't have to work as hard when it came to training. They were the ones that had gone all the way through the original Long Game back on Shibuya... Shiki had only gone through one week of it. Sure, she'd helped out at the end, but those two had still been there for the majority of the time.
She just needed to get stronger so that she wouldn't hold Neku back (that, and the last time Neku had run from a fight he'd deemed "not worth his time" Shiki had called him a chicken. She wasn't willing to have that thrown back at her).
In a flurry of fire and punches from a psychically controlled Mr. Mew, Shiki and Neku broke through the Nightmares to the Flick Rush arena in the Fourth District. The two of them were breathing a little heavily from the exertion, but had come out pretty much unscathed. Shiki had a small bruise on her leg, while Neku remained unmarked.
"Want to look around here before we move on?" Neku asked, adjusting his headphones. They'd gone a little askew when he'd been fighting. Shiki's clothing, on the other hand, remained flawlessly in place. Shiki smiled and gave herself a mental gold star. She really needed to teach him her ways.
Before Shiki could reply to Neku, she was interrupted by a familiar voice from behind them. Upon turning around, Shiki cocked her head to the side.
There was Joshua standing next to a Moogle, an idyllic smirk on his face as he waved to them. "I was wondering when you would show up, Neku. And with Shiki too. Don't tell me you two are trying to have some fun away from prying eyes, hmm?"
"What!?" Shiki blurted, waving both of her hands (and making Mr. Mew fly back and forth as well) in front of her. "That is totally not what we were doing!"
"Get real, Joshua," Neku huffed, burying his face back into his collar. "What are you even doing here?"
"I, not willing to submit myself to another uneventful day, decided to give this Flick Rush game a go. I established a little Cup for a few... friends, and wanted to check up on them," Joshua answered, brushing a strand of hair behind his ear. "Unfortunately, the guy who runs the final round wasn't very happy to see me, especially since I just spent a fair amount of time relentlessly pounding his rear into the ground."
Shiki and Neku just stared at him.
"...Um..." Shiki tried to think of something to say, but could only giggle and fiddle with Mr. Mew.
"...Right," Neku slowly crossed his arms in front of himself.
"What's the matter? You don't think I'm capable of giving our dear old Minamimoto the battles of fiery passion he oh so desires?"
"Pi-Face?!" Neku practically shouted, making Shiki jump to turn to look at him. "What's the Grim Heaper doing here?"
"What? You don't think you were the only people I saved, do you, Neku? Didn't I tell you there were Reapers here too? Who else is there to play on the opposing side of the Game?"
Shiki supposed that made sense, but she couldn't help but ask. "Wait, the Grim Heaper is that one guy who really likes math, right? His name's Minamimoto?"
"Bingo," Joshua nodded at her, then smirked at Neku. "See, Neku? Your partner pays attention. Hmm... maybe I should have picked Shiki as my proxy."
Something in the bottom of Shiki's spine crawled at that statement, and it occurred to her that Joshua was probably only saying that to get Neku's goat. It seemed to be working, from the way her friend was bristling. Oh, shoot. Now she'd have to think of a way to make Neku feel better. She did not want to be toting around an irritated Neku all day.
That was when an idea formed in her mind.
"Joshua, how fast did you say you beat that... tournament?" Shiki asked, uncrossing her arms and smiling at the Composer.
Joshua arched an eyebrow, but answered, "Seven minutes."
"What's up?" Neku asked, tilting his head to the side a little. "Don't tell me you're interested in playing. You don't even like Tin Pin that much."
"Yeah, well, this isn't Tin Pin, so maybe I'll be better at it," Shiki huffed, shuffling her feet slightly. "I mean, it's not like we have much else to do. Why not at least learn how to play? You should learn with me, Neku! Please? It'll be fun!"
There was a loud sigh from Neku and a muttered "fine." This was followed by a "I don't see a point."
"Weeelllll," Shiki started, grinning now. "The point is that you and me are going to beat Joshua's high score!"
It was amazing how much Neku brightened up at that prospect. The prospect of beating Joshua in general seemed to turn on the competitive light in Neku's head.
"Oh?" Joshua piped up from behind Shiki. "Now that sounds like a lofty goal for some who doesn't even know how to play. I await your efforts."
At that, Shiki reached out and grabbed Neku's hand so that he could not escape. "Come on, Neku. Let's show him what we can do." That said, she turned to look at the Moogle.
After a few exchanges and explanations, Shiki found herself in the practice room. The Moogles would be giving her a run-down on how the game was played and a few pointers. Determination was etched across her face as she summoned her Dream Eaters to her side.
It turned out, surprisingly, to not be that confusing of a game. She'd been preparing herself to ask Neku for an easier explanation after the run-down from the Moogles, but... she understood what needed to be done and how to accomplish it.
Unfortunately, she still wasn't very good. There were opportunities that she'd missed to defend her Dream Eaters, ones that could easily cost her the match. She wanted to get a little better before challenging something tougher. Confident that Neku knew what he was doing, she let him take on the Tin Pin Cup (the Cup that Joshua had been talking about) while she practiced more on the Training Cup.
She spent the rest of the day training, stopping only to greet an irritated Neku, who had failed in both beating Joshua's time and in defeating Tenho. But that didn't stop her from going back to practicing (Neku stuck around to talk to Joshua in the stands before wandering off to go hang out with Beat and Rhyme).
The feel of flipping the cards under her hand, watching her Dream Eaters carefully, noting the fine details of how her deck was arranged were burned into her mind by the time she had retired back to the Hotel with the others (the first place they had found that had beds). She wasn't complaining. She felt quite confident in her abilities. She was going to decimate Joshua's high score. And then, then...
Then she would get Neku to play with her and maybe beat him too. That was always an option. Maybe it wouldn't be good for getting Neku into a better mood, which was the reason that she'd wanted to play in the first place, but it would be fun. Maybe she could teach Rhyme how to play if she hadn't learned already!
Finally, Shiki stepped up to face her opponent, Minamimoto: a guy that seemed to have walked straight out of a biker-gang store. The red bandana, the boots, the ripped up black jeans... Although, she had to appreciate his color coordination (black with a red accessory was a combination she could respect. It almost always looked nice).
Was that a pointed tooth?
Biting her tongue before she made any comments about it, she summoned her Dream Eaters to her side. Joshua and Neku were watching her right now, and she hadn't passed Joshua's time yet. Yet.
Why had she thought that this was a good idea? A gross sweat had broken out over her as she shifted nervously. Shiki wasn't that good at Flick Rush, not like she'd thought.
"You look outta your vector," Minamimoto taunted her, grinning dangerously. "Hey, digit, go on and guess how fast you're gonna run out of variables."
"Kick his ass, Shiki!" Neku called out, an intense look that Shiki hadn't seen for a while on his face.
Even though she hadn't guessed, Minamimoto answered anyway. "299, 792, 458 meters per second!"
Shiki's frown deepened as she cocked her head to the side. "That doesn't even make sense..." she mumbled, leaning down to pet one of her Dream Eaters on the head. It looked up at her as if it loved her very much, and she couldn't help but smile. "Yeah, you too."
Standing up straight now, she steeled her face behind a mask of determination, ignoring any further taunts from the Reaper.
"Why don't you back off so we can get this show on the road?" Shiki scoffed, clenching her fists at her side. Just play it cool and everything will end up fine.
"Oh, so the Yoctogram can talk after all! Mog, get this match started," Minamimoto smirked, snapping his fingers to summon forth his Dream Eaters. For a moment, Shiki couldn't help but stare at the very large, very mean-looking T-Rex Dream Eater. Shiki didn't know it's actual name, but she knew a dinosaur when she saw one.
"Omigosh..." Shiki mumbled, staring at the next one. It looked like Neku. But... more lizard-like. "It's so cute!"
"Who gives a digit? You asked to start, so let's start!"
As Minamimoto said that, the cards shuffled across them, revealing a rather... poor hand to Shiki. Drat, she'd have to power through this with multiple cards. Her deck would be depleted faster, so she'd have to switch out soon.
She selected her cards, only to see one of Minamimoto's Dream Eaters charging her already! Not good! Shiki quickly deselected and picked one of her higher numbered cards, slamming it down to make a defense barrier. Since hers had been higher in value, her card gained a level.
Shiki quickly found that Sho's tactics were extremely aggressive; something that she couldn't just power through on her own. He quickly depleted her first Dream Eater's deck and she had to switch to her second one. She hadn't even touched Minamimoto yet!
This hand was much better. Shiki managed to make a few hits of her own, downing his Necho Cat quickly. It was time for her to face the Neku look-alike. She almost didn't want to obliterate it.
Said obliteration, however, was easier said than done. Minamimoto had switched up his tactics and it was getting very hard to protect what he would do. It did not help that he made his decisions so fast that Shiki could barely react to them. Had she come too soon? Maybe she should have practiced for another day...
She didn't have long to moan to herself about this, as this match required all of her concentration. She could hear Neku cheering her on in the background. Neku.
And there went her Dream Eater, to the Neku look-alike. Gritting her teeth, Shiki sent out her first Dream Eater again. She needed to get this done, and fast. She was already almost out of time!
It took a lot of her Dream Eater's health, but they managed to slay the Neku look-alike. Minamimoto did not look pleased to be on his last Dream Eater while she still had two. The T-rex looked mean as ever, and Shiki couldn't help but gulp.
The battle with the T-rex was cataclysmic at best. It easily decimated her already weakened Dream Eater before pounding into her last. Both of them were on their last legs. Shiki was sweating like crazy and biting her lip so hard, she was afraid it might start bleeding.
She gasped loudly when the T-rex charged her, it's number almost impossibly high. Wait a minute... There!
Shiki slammed up one of her cards, a star-ranked one! Just what she needed! Minamimoto's T-rex was stopped as her Dream Eater attacked it head on, shattering it's attack and ending the match!
"Was that close or what...?" Shiki mumbled, letting out a long breath. Minamimoto was cursing on the other side of her, but she wasn't paying attention to him. She was trying to catch her breath. Turning around, Shiki saw Neku and Joshua walking over to her.
Giving them the biggest smile she'd done all week, Shiki ran over to them. "What a rush! I won!"
"Yeah, I saw," Neku grinned at her, stepping aside as the Moogle flew over to award her with medals. "Good job. I didn't think you had it in you."
"Oh? What's that supposed to mean, Neku?" Shiki pouted at him. She'd kicked butt! Didn't she deserve a little more faith than that?
Neku went quiet, rubbing the back of his head. "Nothing... I just didn't think that you'd be this into something that wasn't fashion related."
Shiki giggled at that. "Well, I'm not. Fashion is still my passion, but this was really fun too!"
"I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but Shiki, you didn't win," Joshua spoke up, a smirk spreading across his face like a wildfire.
"I'm pretty sure she did, Joshua," Neku replied, frowning now.
"Yeah," Shiki agreed, confused. "I got my medals and everything."
"You may have bested Minamimoto, but you didn't best me. My time still remains unsurpassed," Joshua scoffed, playing with his hair. Shiki frowned at that, crossing her arms.
"Then I'll beat it tomorrow," Shiki declared, a stubborn look appearing on her face. "Or... someday. I need to rest today... and I promised Rhyme that I'd teach her how to play tomorrow. I could give you lessons too, Neku."
"Sorry, but I'll pass."
"Aw, Neku, you're just too embarrassed to admit that Shiki's better than you," Joshua smirked. Neku, wisely, said nothing.
"So, tomorrow?" Shiki offered. "I'm sure Rhyme would appreciate some tips from you too."
A sigh from Neku. "Yeah, fine... I'll come. But I'm not getting any of your lessons."
"That's okay," Shiki replied. "I'm sure you can pick things up just by watching. Come on, let's go find Beat and Rhyme."