Darkness engulfed a large room, swallowing it up the same as every other night. However, on this particular night, the gleam of the moon reflected off black metal as a lone fifteen year-old boy fiddled with the object in his hands.
Tonight, it would end. He would end this fake life filled with boredom, chained down by the dull routine which enslaved him. Taking a deep breath, he eased up his hand, and he placed the barrel of the gun against his head. After one little "click," it would all go away forever, and he'd never turn back.
"Goodbye, Mother," he whispered to no one, his lips spreading wide in a grin. "I'm through with being your caged little bird."
-Day 1: Eden's Game-
The bright sun of Miyashita Park greeted deep purple eyes. After a few blinks, the owner of them—a boy of about fifteen—sat up with the clinks and grinds of morning construction as his only ambiance. Others rose around him in a scene he knew all too well. This was the start of another Game. However, this one wasn't just any Game for him.
He closed his eyes, replaying the previous win in his head. Was it just yesterday? A glance at his orange phone confirmed that it was, setting in motion his fifth Game in a row. The fourth one had ended when he and his Partner had erased the previous GM in a battle that had become all too predictable. What happened to the thrill of the life or death struggle he'd willingly entered?
The boy's mind reeled over his last conversation with his Partner as they'd waited for the Conductor to collect them. "You really were an amazing Partner. It was an honor playing with you," the man he'd gotten to know over the previous week had told him, settling his red headphones down around his long black hair. Next, though, came the question every Partner asked at some point: "What do you plan on doing now?"
"Now?" the boy had repeated, his usual smirk covering his face. He always gave the same answer, though with a different flair depending on how he felt. "Megumi, I thought you knew me better than that. I'm going to play again, of course."
"Play again? But—wouldn't you rather be a Reaper and play with the Players?"
"That's a thought." The boy had leaned against a wall, fiddling with his phone as they waited. "But then I'd be part of their system—I'd have to follow their orders and work my way up. That takes all the fun out of it."
"Exactly how many Games have you played now?" Megumi had inquired, though surely he knew that he wouldn't get a straight answer.
"Enough that even this is starting to get boring." The boy pushed himself up, snapping his phone shut. "And enough to know that Mr. Conductor is late."
"Boring? But... Joshua..."
Joshua's eyes had eased away, though his smirk never left. "Yes... boring. Surely there's something more I can do. I just need something to spice the next Game up a bit."
And spiced it had become, though it seemed the Composer herself had offered him that chance. Glancing around now, on day one, he noticed significantly less Players than the previous times, but still Players he didn't recognize—which meant boring introductions. With nothing to worry about yet, Joshua played on his phone while he waited for something interesting to happen.
"Joshua!" a man's voice called. Megumi Kitaniji—Joshua's previous Partner—pushed his way over.
"Good morning, Megumi," Joshua greeted. "I hope you had a good nap."
"It was the same as every nap since I've been here," the elder replied. Both of them had already spent one week as Partners, and this man had the skills to help Joshua. Smart and cunning with powerful psyches, Megumi could certainly secure one final win for the boy.
"Welcome, everyone, to the Reaper's Game," a loud voice boomed over them, cutting their conversation short. With a scoff, Joshua turned back to his phone. "I'm your GM, Daichi. The rules of the Game are simple..."
"So that's his name," Joshua concluded. "And I was getting so used to calling him Blondie." The man who made the announcement stood up on a bridge, and he was indeed blond. He was scrawny, too, but he wore a suit and held an air of confidence about him as he stared out over the Players.
"The Conductor is the GM this time?" Megumi observed with a frown. "Is it because of that special Game he mentioned? Eden's Game..."
That took both of them back to the white room from yesterday, after the Conductor had finally collected them in a bath of white light.
"Yoshiya Kiryu," the man had said then, watching the two surviving Players with a smirk. "Part of me wants to thank you—you got rid of all of my competition in your four previous Games."
"Competition? For what? You're already the Conductor. The only seat higher than you is the Composer," Joshua had pointed out.
"Precisely. The Composer's thinking about moving on—up somehow, I assume. She had Her four Officers and me each run a Game to see who would take Her seat, and you erased all four of them."
"So you're going to be the next Composer?" Joshua had deduced. "How disappointing..."
"If it were that simple, I would already be gone as far as you knew, not explaining things." Daichi had then crossed his arms, his eyebrow twitching in annoyance.
"Oh? Do go on."
"The Composer wishes to enter you into our special Game for Her seat—Eden's Game, you could say. This will be the last Game for both of us, and whichever one of us survives will become the next Composer."
Joshua's eyes grew wide. He could jump from Player to Composer? That thought settled down with a sinister sneer. If he had that seat, he could control it all and do anything he wanted. If he was the Composer, perhaps then life finally wouldn't be so boring. His creativity would have no bounds, and he could control the Game to his own will.
Though, as much as a surprise as that came, what stunned him even more was what Megumi said after that: "If that's the case, then I'll be entering the Reaper's Game again with Joshua." When the boy threw him a confused look, he continued, "It'd be an honor to help you become Shibuya's Composer. Even if you don't choose me for the job, I'll act as your Conductor for the time being."
The current Conductor paused a moment, a hand on his chin. He pulled a phone out of his pocket and stared at it a moment before nodding. "Fine, then both of you will enter again. Don't think I'll be as easy as the last four you beat, though."
"I look forward to erasing you, too, Blondie," Joshua had taunted before the man had sent them back into a slumber.
Because of that decision, both waited through the boring introductions now as repeat Players on the field.
Joshua let out a sigh as Daichi went over the basics of how the Game worked. "Honestly, shouldn't this be done before the first day? Let me know when it's time to start the mission."
"Before? But how would that work?"
"When we decide whether or not to enter," the boy replied. "Why not just go over the rules there for each person? Then repeat Players like me wouldn't have to sit through this bore."
"Joshua, I think you're the only one who repeats the Game more than twice..."
"Plus, wouldn't it be more interesting if we started in the scramble or somewhere crowded? Then we'd have an actual challenge the first day—we wouldn't know who's part of the Game and who to partner up with without actually trying to find someone. Instead, we have this." He wove a hand at the park, which made it obvious who lived in the RG and who roamed the UG. Though still crowded, sections of park varied from people racing to strolling to the laughter of kids. Even the clatter of construction near the kiddie park seemed so far away from their Game.
As the GM got to the missions, Joshua moved on to his next bit of criticism. "Also, the missions printed on paper you wake up with? Talk about a waste—and totally ten years ago. Why isn't everything done on cellphones in this day and age?"
"Everything?"
"Sure. Missions could be texted, memes can be saved on them as a Player hears them—it takes out all the fun if you just receive everything you need on a slip of paper when you wake up."
"Do you plan on doing that when you take over as Composer, then?" Megumi asked, and the boy passed him a sly grin.
"Of course. Hmm... Maybe I could do more to make it more interesting, too. Say... raise the stakes a bit. Hee hee."
"Raise the stakes? What do you mean?"
"I mean give the Players more to fight for. All we're fighting for now is our right to exist—what's the point of that?" Joshua asked with a laisse-fair shrug.
"I think existing's the point..."
"And that's the problem," Joshua drawled. "You're dead anyway—if you lose, then fine—you die for good. If you win, the Composer decides what to do with you. But what if you actually lost something important when you lost, too? Then you'd really give it your all not to lose. It'd make it more of a struggle instead of a remake of a crappy anime about people just coming back to life."
"I see... Anything else you'd do with the Game?"
In response, the boy leered. "I could always give everyone a uniform. Say... a dress from Lapin Angelique. Hee hee."
"Then you'd lose about half of your potential Players," Megumi rebutted. "Or more."
"Crush all my hopes and dreams, why don't you?"
The GM's speech finally came to an end, finishing with, "Now, check your pockets for the first mission."
Joshua didn't even bother—the first mission was always the same, after all. Partner up and defeat all the Noise in the park. He continued messing around on his phone while he waited, trying to decide how he wanted to spend day one.
"Joshua," Megumi's voice whispered, catching the boy's attention. Joshua looked to see that Megumi held not a white slip of paper, but a black one with white ink. Everyone around held the same sort of page, all staring as they read over the paragraph on it.
A crack sounded in front of Joshua, and the boy watched as a man with orange hair held up his paper and a destroyed lollipop in one hand. "Become Composer?" he said, his back towards Joshua. "Sounds like too much work. I think I'll pass." He then disappeared in a flash of light.
One by one, others followed suit. This isn't normal, Joshua realized as he dove his hand into his pocket and recovered his own mission note.
The note read, "Welcome to Eden's Game. You're all invited to participate for the spots of Composer, the ruler of Shibuya, with your Partner as your Conductor. The rules are the same as the GM explained, except the one with the highest score, be they Reaper or Player, will be invited to become the next Composer. If you fail this Game, you will be erased. No one participating in this Game will be able to return to life. If you would prefer to wait for the next Reaper's Game, hold up this note, and your Soul will be stored until the next cycle. Best of luck to you all."
"Everyone's participating?" Joshua repeated, his gaze darting to the other Players. Many left, but about half still remained. This was definitely no normal Game, and he'd have to take care and choose when to score his points.
After the last of the forfeit Players disappeared, the black notes burned away to white like normal, and they found their first mission printed on it. It was exactly as Joshua expected: the Noise began appearing before some could even prepare. Chaos reigned around him as Players sought to find Partners and fight the Noise. Only Joshua and Megumi stayed in place, reforming their pact to keep the Noise from chasing them. Still, despite the fear, many Players found a Partner before the Noise erased them—how could they not with everyone in one place? Joshua scoffed as he watched it. Even if day one was supposed to be easy, under the current rules of the Game, it was too easy.
Though Megumi moved to fight, Joshua held out a hand to stop him. "Might as well take this chance to watch some of the other Players," the boy suggested as he switched to the camera app on his phone. "We need to know how competent our help is. And our competition." Finding his first pair to take a picture of, he aimed his phone and set the flash on.
"Smile."
