A/N: Well, here is the obligated author's note announcing "hello, this is my first fanfic on :D". Yup, got that over with anyways.

Just to let you know, this is an Original Charater-basedstory, and it takes place two years before the original The World Ends With You. There are some canon characters in here (as you'll see at the end of this day...), and maybe some added cameos, if I feel like it. Oh, and it goes without saying...but this fic is riddled with spoilers.

Enjoy! :)

Flashing lights. Gunshots. A great abyss.

These were the things my senses felt. In this stretch of darkness, my eyesight was worthless; I could only rely on my ears, my touch, and the things I knew instinctively. I didn't like what I was feeling…My heart told me it was a horrible place, thriving on my fear, my dread, my hopelessness.

And finally, the blurred darkness gave way to light and life. But when all was clear again, I was struck with shock to find myself in…

"The scramble crossing?!" I exclaimed, staring wide-eyed at the monstrous crowd. This didn't make any sense; only a moment ago, I had been on the other side of Shibuya.

No, that's not right, I corrected myself mentally. That dark expanse…The fog of sleep was clearing out of my mind, and I pushed myself off of the hard asphalt to sit up.

Wait. Asphalt?

What the hell was I doing on the road? More importantly, why had no one bothered to wake me up and point out that I was sleeping in a crowded crosswalk? I rolled to the side to dodge a busy-looking businessman who rushed by. His foot had come dangerously close to my head. Jumping up, I called, "Watch it!" He didn't look back at me, and no one turned around to stare.

There was something horribly off with this scenario. Foreboding loomed over me. I wasn't fully conscious of what I was doing, and I yelled a little louder, "Hey! Did any of you see that? Can you hear me?!"

Of the seventy-something people in the scramble crossing, not one answered.

And I remembered everything now. The echoes of voices in the abyss had been whispering something in my ears…

I was trapped in the Reaper's Game, my life in the hands of hunters who would pick me off. And I literally meant my life. The memory of gunshots rang through my head again. I was dead.

Day One
Sky and Earth

The basic rules of this life-or-death "game" were fairly simple: find another Player and partner up, or risk the consequences. Those, by the way, weren't pleasant at all: erasure by the Noise. Truthfully, I had no idea what Noise were…but "erasure" was the key word here.

That left the whole partner thing. How was I supposed to know the difference between the living and the non-living? I looked at my hands: no weird, zombie-like withers or anything of the sort. No greenish tinge. (Technically speaking, I was an undead…)

Just then I heard a beep-beep and felt a vibration in my pocket. I pulled out a cell phone, sky-blue in color and very sleek. There was a sticker with the words "RENT ONLY" on the back; in smaller print it said "Distributed by Shibuya Reapers." Ha, ha. Very funny. Well it was nice to know that someone trusted me with my own cell. I flipped it open to see a bolded message appear.

NEW TEXT MESSAGE!
Press OK to Continue

…Innocent enough. I pressed "OK."

First Mission:
Make your way to 104 Building. Time limit: 40 minutes. Failure to complete the mission will result in erasure.
-The Reapers

Knowing that no one would hear me regardless (and therefore no one would perceive me as…insane) I yelled out, "What the hell? You guys can keep the phone, and keep your stalker texts to yourselves, as well!" I looked down the road to where a large building stood; the numbers 1-0-4 hung at the top. Pfft. As if it was really that hard to walk a few minutes away, anyways—

"Ouch!" A heart-stopping pain pulsed through my right hand, like someone was etching writing into my palm with a razor. At first, I ignored it; I knew I wouldn't like what I saw. After a moment's hesitation, I caught a glimpse of my hand…

39:51, emblazoned in bright red. And the number ticked down with every second.

What in the hell…?

"Ow!" I cried out again, as yet something else had struck me; there was a large scratch on my arm. I spun around, about to defend myself, but I was greeted with the sight of…frogs. In Shibuya? No way, I thought at first. But I was a sucker for frogs.

"Oh, wow. Adorable frogs. Soooo dangerous," I chuckled. But on second glance, they looked more like the frogs you'd find around an abandoned toxic waste dump. They were a shade of sickly green, had jagged red markings, glowing blood-red eyes and—the most startling feature—black-and-scarlet claws that extended a good foot or two out of their webbed feet.

I examined them, wondrous, until one leaped right onto me, claws extended and slashing. The razor-like nails sunk deep into my arm, and then it soared off again—after grazing me with its rear claws. I shrieked and clutched my arm. It flew back up for a third strike with its super-powered legs.

I would have been toast…if an arrow hadn't pierced straight through it at that moment. It made an awful screeching noise and fizzled out of existence. "Silly. You can't take out the Noise if you haven't made a pact with another Player," a voice said. Three more arrows were shot. They took care of the other frogs.

So those were the Noise…

I turned around to thank my saviors, and I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw two kids who couldn't have been more than eleven years old. Their physical features were alike in every aspect; they stared up at me with their large brown eyes. Their dark hair mirrored each other, spiking in opposite directions and falling flat in the same way. They both wore necklaces, a moon dangling off the girl's and a sun catching the light on the boy's. They boy, holding a sword, looked around, inspecting the area; the girl, putting away her bow and stashing her spare arrows, checked to make sure I wasn't too badly hurt.

I said, rather awkwardly, "Thanks." You're not saved by preteen twins every day.

They boy sheathed his sword. "No problem," he replied. "If you're trying to find a partner, you'd better hurry. They're getting picked off one by one at Hachiko."

The Statue of Hachiko! Of course, the monument built in memory of the legendary dog was the typical meeting spot for most people. "Okay! Thanks again. Nice meeting you." I waved and ran down the left road, searching for my soon-to-be partner.

"Any Players out there?" Geez, I was yelling a lot today. All for the greater good, so whatever…My timer read 31:46 now.

But I didn't need to yell. He was there, in plain view. As soon as I spotted him, the chaos surrounding me melted away.

It was a boy around my age, with tousled, dirty-blond hair stuffed underneath a blue beanie. His puffy, red-orange vest flared out over his black-sleeved white t-shirt, and his jeans hung loosely from his legs. His boots were grounded to the earth. The ensemble of Wild Boar and Tigre Punks brand clothing would have made him seem like a very intimidating figure, if his intense green eyes weren't focused on the Noise that had cornered him.

I did the first thing that came to mind—I ran to him, mentally claiming him. "You!" I shouted, catching his attention. No time to remember the old "don't talk to strangers" rule. "Forge a pact with me…please!" At least I remembered my manners.

Relief entered his eyes. "I accept."

There was a flash of brilliant blue light, and energy surged through my body. The pact was complete.

"You have no idea how happy I am to see another Player," he said.

"Same here," I replied. "Let's beat this Noise down. I have to pay them back for something!"

"You know how to use your pins, right?" He tossed me a red button with a flame pattern on it. "Wear it! It's how you fight."

I caught it rather clumsily and put it on, no time to think about how much pins were so not my style. "How…wait! How do you expect me to attack with a pin?"

"Use your imagination," he said quickly. "They're coming!"

I dodged as a frog jumped to me. I wasn't falling for that again…I looked at the pin again. A flame…

Thinking fast, I imagined a fire burning my target to a crisp. He said use my imagination, right? Nevertheless I nearly jumped back as I saw the fire actually materialize before my eyes. Focusing, I dragged it to one of the frogs with my mind. In a few seconds, it disappeared. Before I knew it, they were all gone.

"You…catch on pretty fast," my new partner commented after the battle. "I was afraid I had been too vague with my description…I'm new to all of this."

"Hey, join the club," I said cheerfully, holding out my hand. "My name is Skye, by the way."

He took it shyly, and shook it. "Terran," he said. "Uh, that is…it's my name. Yup." Very graceful, I noted.

"Nice to meet you. So, seven days, huh?" There was something really ominous about that…Seven days. I didn't know if I was just being paranoid because of that one horror movie…the Ring, or whatever it was called.

"Yup." He glanced at his hand—the timer, I presumed. "Hey, should we be going to 104 yet?"

"Oh! Right," I laughed. "Nearly forgot. Let's get going."

"Made it!" I exclaimed as we reached the building. There was a flash of light, and when I checked my hand again, the timer had disappeared. I gazed back up at the large store.

Up close, it seemed to loom over us, a big difference from just seeing it afar from the scramble. My eyes widened at the sheer height.

"It's not that tall, compared to some skyscrapers," Terran said, guessing at the thoughts in my head. "You act like you've never been to Shibuya…"

I shook my head. "I've only seen certain parts," I replied. "I know some places, like the scramble and Hachiko. But that's all."

He gave me a pitying look. "I thought it was every girl's dream to shop at 104 and those other boutiques for clothes."

I stuck my tongue out at him. "Nah. I prefer to make my own style." I fingered my pleated skirt and my hood; they were homemade, not brand clothing that I had seen my friends admire at school.

My friends…

"Well, don't worry about getting lost!" Terran reassured me, waving his hand (and my train of thought with it). "I come here a lot. Although I'll admit I usually hang around Udagawa."

Oh, well that was reassuring. Maybe I should have tried to explore the world a bit more before I kicked the can.

"Hey! It's you again!" I turned around when I heard a familiar voice. It was the twins again, and the boy was waving. The girl smiled, although it was a cool, catlike smile. The boy rushed up to us, the girl following slower and calmer.

"You know them, too?" Terran asked me. "They taught me how to use the pins."

"They saved me as I was about to become frog food," I explained to him. "Good thing they did, too. Hi!" I greeted them.

"Hey!" he greeted us, almost as if we were old friends. "Glad to see you made it. Oh, but I don't think we introduced ourselves properly. I'm Sol."

"And I'm Luna," the girl said. "You might've figured it out, but I'm his sister. I have to make sure this dummy stays in line." Her brown eyes shone with a steely glint, the kind you only found in strict teachers.

"Aww, harsh," Sol protested.

"I'm Skye. And this is…" I nudged my partner, who I had noticed was attempting to shy away without attracting attention.

"I'm Terran," he nearly stammered. "Nice to—"

"Whoa! Seriously?" Sol exclaimed. "That's a sweet name! You know, Terran is also the name of one of the three races in StarCraft—"

"You'll have to excuse my brother," Luna quickly cut in, seeing Terran shift strangely. "He's a huge StarCraft geek. Keep that in mind if he ever says anything weird…"

I looked at the two again, not focusing on their looks, but their personalities. And it was so hard to see them as related. Sol was the image of innocence, of being carefree; Luna had an air of maturity and brilliance around her. I suppose Shibuya's got room for all types, Skye figured.

"So! Six more days left, then," Terran said, who seemed to have gotten over his timidity. "Although, something tells me the missions will get a lot harder than 'go to 104.'"

"Do I really have to do this?" the orange-haired Reaper sighed. "Seriously, I just hand out missions and wait for that happy, happy day…Day 7." He waved around his lollipop, bored. "You higher-ups give me a promotion to Officer without telling me, and then right away you bump me up to Game Master. It's unheard of."

"The Composer wills it," the Reaper's companion replied, his shades reflecting the light in a way that made him seem more mysterious. "And if He wants it a certain way, as the Conductor it is my responsibility to carry it out."

"Whatever. I'd rather be out in the UG as a regular old Harrier." He shrugged. "Ah, well. I guess a job is what you make of it, right, Mr. Kitaniji?"

Mr. Kitaniji chuckled. "If you say so. Well, with that said, I sure hope you make this an interesting Game…Koki Kariya."

End of Day 1

Well, that wasn't too bad, was it? (It was kind of long, and I hated writing some parts, but oh well...) Tried to catch all the typos/errors, I hope I did okay.

Cue Day 2...