Author's Opening Note: Um...hey, everyone. This is technically my first TWEWY fic...and it's a novelization of the game. I didn't see one yet, so I thought I'd make my own and...yeah. I hope you like it!


THE REAPER'S GAME

Prologue


Neku Sakuraba was never exactly fond of people. He much rather preferred to be alone rather than hang out with friends – though, in truth, he never really had any friends to begin with. His basic routine of daily life was very simple: wake up, survive school, walk around town, go home, get some sleep. The only change in it was that on weekends there was no school to survive, only a city to skulk around in. He never had any extracurricular activities to speak of, though he did enjoy listening to music and looking at the graffiti in the back alleys. The said graffiti was supposedly done by the great artist known as CAT, the only person Neku really admired.

He was on his way to find another spot that CAT had done when school let out that fateful day. He pulled his headphones onto his head and walked sternly down the street, eyes narrowed in hopes that people would keep their distance from someone looking disgruntled. There would, of course, be the occasional missionary that would try to invade his space and cheer them up, but over the years Neku had found some very effective ways to keep such people out of his space, and surprisingly none of them involved violence. Yet.

He passed by that hot chick in the designer clothes on the way outside the building. She fumbled with the phone in her hand and quickly hurried past him. He didn't care. As long as she left him alone. There was that rough skater kid. He sent a smile to Neku, but Neku ignored him and kept on his way. Several people he knew at his school saw him while he was on the street as well, but they didn't say anything to him. Neku didn't say anything to them, either. He preferred it that way.

A lot of girls swarmed the 104 tower. Some of them were paired with their boyfriends, whom were probably dragged along for the ride. Some of the guys headed for Molco - apparently there was a Tin Pin competition or something of the sort going on - while others went to the alleys for skateboarding, among other things. Anyone that wasn't headed to those locations were probably headed to the statue of Hachiko. People normally did that.

But Neku didn't. There was no one to meet up with in the first place.

Weaving his way past the crowds near the Shibu-Q Heads store, Neku casually strode down the backstreets of Udagawa and paused in front of the large wall covered in graffiti. Once more, the art had changed, this time into a large image of some sort of cat, next to it a visual of what probably could have passed as a modern-day grim reaper. There was also an odd skull design placed cleverly between the two – standing out, yet perfectly blended into the picure.

Placing a calm hand lightly on the wall, Neku looked upward, feeling an oddly familiar sense of peace. He often felt it when he looked at CAT's art, thus was his reason for visiting so often. Today was no exception. As he looked up to admire the art painted higher up on the wall, he could practically hear the words of his idol ringing in his head, as though someone were speaking them loud and clear.

Enjoy the moment more.

But even though he admired the phrase, Neku found it hard to enjoy any moments. After all, it was here, at Udagawa, that he was to meet up with a friend several months ago. They were meeting for the first time, as they had only recently met each other. But that friend had never arrived, having been killed in an accident on the way to their near-sacred meeting place. Neku didn't know why he continued visiting the graffiti, even without anyone to share it with. He could have done what other people usually did, and he could have avoided the place at all costs, blaming his past, but he didn't. Maybe it was simply to pay tribute to the only friend that he had lost. Or maybe, just maybe, it was something else…

The sound of footsteps reached Neku's ears, even through his headphones. There, racing at him, was a platinum-haired boy, a gun in hand. Neku spun on his heels and made to run, but the boy had already fired a shot toward him. He stumbled, falling to the ground, but the shot had missed. Thank the gods, it had missed.

But Neku's nightmare was far from over. Behind him, an angry voice spoke out in distain. "I blew it!"

Spinning around, Neku noticed a man wearing black holding up his own gun and aiming it straight forward. Neku, acting on vain instinct, shielded himself with his arms, but the gun wasn't even aimed at him. A volley of shots went off, but none landed. Footsteps behind him. The man, terror in his eyes, took off running. Neku turned to see the barrel of a shotgun staring back at him. Eyes widening, he scrambled to his feet just as the trigger was pulled and the sound of the gun shooting echoed in the empty backstreets. Neku desperately attempted to flee, hoping he would be out of the way in time to escape and make a run for it.

The bullet was faster.


Author's Closing Note: So...is it okay? That's just the prologue, though...And it's shorter than most of my chapters normally are...