A/N: Looks like I've got a few readers for this story. Thanks for all the views! Anyway, if anyone thinks that Harry and Neku are acting out of character … let me know, okay? I'm having a particularly hard time with Harry. He's not ordinarily hard to write about, but how would he act in this situation? He can't remember anything, so he's particularly short-tempered. And Neku has to be the one to carry the group, although in the game itself he's usually being carried by his partner. Ah, just play the game or read a walkthrough if you've never played it because I can't explain it very well.

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Chapter 2: Confusion and Chaos

He had been arguing with Neku in front of the 104. The next thing Harry knew, he was standing in the pitch-black darkness. Much like the beginning of the previous day, Harry was alone. His partner – Neku – was nowhere to be found.

"Where am I now?" Harry held his hands out in front of him and stumbled around. "Why is it so dark in here?"

The first thing he would have to do was search for the exit. Then he would track down that Neku kid and have him finish his explanation. Harry had just realized that Neku had yet to finish telling him about their situation; he had barely even begun.

A bright spot of light suddenly appeared in the distance and approached him, growing larger as it neared. Harry drew his wand and pointed it at the light, ready to fight if necessary. But the light turned out to be only Neku, who was holding a glowing object in his left hand.

"There you are." Neku scowled. "Finally awake? Come on, the mission could come in any minute!"

"Mission?" But before he could inquire any further, Harry heard something in his robes beep, the thing in Neku's hand giving off the same sound.

"And there's the mission." Neku let out an aggravated sigh and glanced at the object. " 'Round 2. Rout noise in Udagawa. Time limit: 60 minutes. Game over will result in erasure.' "

Neku had finished reading the message when Harry felt a sharp jolt of pain shoot up his hand. Seeing the way Neku cringed and grabbed his right hand, Harry guessed that he had experienced the same feeling as well. Already knowing what would be there, Harry saw the red timer back on his palm, counting down from 60:00.

"Udagawa?" Neku nearly dropped the object in his hand. "That's nearly half an hour from here!"

Harry, not knowing where or what Udagawa was, remained unbothered. "I guess we better hurry, then."

"No kidding! Hurry up!" Neku snapped, racing away from Harry. His footsteps became more distant and he was soon swallowed by the darkness.

"H-hey! Wait up!" Harry called. "We don't even know where the exit is!"

"It's over here! Now hurry up!" The spot of light and Neku's voice were both coming from the other side of the area.

Shrugging, and a bit irritated at not knowing what was going on, Harry went over to Neku and they both stumbled out of the darkness and into the light.

"So … we're in A-East. Better head back to the scramble and make our way back from there," Neku muttered, pocketing the object in his hand. It was the same rectangular folded object that Harry had found in his robes the previous day, except Neku's was blue instead of red.

"Um, Neku, right?" Harry pointed at the device in Neku's hand, which was halfway in his pocket. "What is that thing?"

Neku turned to him, a look of disbelief on his face. "Are you trying to be infuriating? How could you not know what this is? Don't you have one too?"

"Well, yeah." Harry pulled his out of his robe pocket. "I don't even know how it got there. What's so important about it?"

"Have you been living under a rock for the past twenty years or so?" Neku was scornful. "How could you not know what a cell phone is?"

"Look, I barely know what's going on right now." Harry was starting to get tired of Neku treating him like an idiot. "And you still owe me an explanation."

"Later, okay?" Neku was running down the street. "First we have to make it to Udagawa if we want to complete this mission." He turned a corner and was out of Harry's sight.

The bespectacled boy sighed. Momentarily, he considered leaving Neku to take care of the mission alone, but recalling the events of the previous day changed his mind. Harry didn't know why the frogs had left him alone once he had formed a … pact with Neku; still, he chose not to risk getting chased again.

Harry ran after Neku, hoping that the other boy hadn't put too much distance between them. Rounding the corner, he saw that the district he had just entered was much cleaner and cheerier than the one he had left – A-East, Neku had called it.

The spiky-haired teen was waiting for him in front of a ramen shop, tapping his feet impatiently. Catching sight of Harry, he scowled and stormed over to him. "Come on, let's go! You move too slow!"

"Why the big hurry, kiddo?" the ramen shop owner, an older man with glasses dressed in all white, asked. "Stop by and have some ramen."

It was then that Harry realized he had no idea when the last time he had eaten was. "Good idea. We should probably eat before go any farther."

Neku was about to protest, but changed his mind and sat down in one of the booths. "Fine. Then I'll have a bowl of shoyu ramen."

"Um …" Harry glanced at the menu posted in the front of the shop, a sinking feeling in his stomach when he saw that it was mostly in Japanese. Luckily, underneath the Japanese writing was some English. "I'll have the same thing he's having, please."

"Coming right up!" The ramen guy turned to the stove, then back to Harry and Neku, and placed two bowls of ramen in front of them. "Here you go!"

"That was fast," Neku said. Harry agreed with him.

Not that Neku was going to complain about it. They were on a mission, and the faster their food arrived the sooner they would be able to finish and move on. Neku split his chopsticks and began eating his ramen. Harry was struggling with his chopsticks, not knowing how to use them, but he followed Neku's example and was soon working his way through his bowl as well.

Ten minutes later, Harry and Neku had finished their ramen. Neku paid for both his and Harry's meals, assuming that with all the questions Harry was asking it was unlikely that he had yen with him.

"We still have forty-five minutes." Neku was looking down at his hand. "If we take no more side trips, we should make it there with enough time to complete the mission."

"Lead the way then."

Harry and Neku made their way out of that district, which Neku referred to as Dogenzaka, to the 104 building that they had gone to the previous day, back to the scramble crossing.

"All right … if we're going to Udagawa," Neku muttered, "then we should take the … urgh! Not one of them!"

He was glaring at the route directly to the right of the one he and Harry had just come out of, a guy in a red hooded sweater and bat wings guarding it. Knowing that Neku had talked to a similarly dressed guy to get through to the 104 the day before, Harry wondered what their significance was.

"Want past this wall?" The guy let out a low chuckle. "You, specks!"

"Me?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, you! If you want to get past, then come back here dressed in Wild Boar clothes!"

Neku looked down at his palm again. "We'd better hurry. Follow me. Now."

"Follow you?" Much to Harry's dismay, Neku was heading back towards the 104 building. "But where are we going?"

"That Reaper wants you to dress in Wild Boar clothes, or he won't let us through," Neku said. "Let's get this over with."

He had known Neku for only two days and already he was dragging and bossing Harry around. Really, it wasn't something Harry would put up with but Neku knew something that he didn't, and he had to place his trust in Neku if he wanted to survive. Harry didn't know what he was doing in Shibuya, but he had a feeling that there was somewhere else he needed to be and he had to do something important.

They had reached 104 with plenty of time to spare, but Neku was still restless. The last time he had gone inside the 104, he had been called a spicy tuna roll by some arrogant snob and Shiki had lectured him on trends, and he was hoping that nothing of the sort would happen.

The 104 was overcrowded and loud, as it always was, but Neku had managed to get Harry into one of the stores – one that always had Wild Boar clothing handy, which Shiki had pointed out to him in the last week – without much problem. People around them were pointing and laughing at Harry, who was still wearing his robes and trying hard not to notice. He was failing miserably.

"Why are they laughing at me?" Harry grumbled, shooting a nasty glare at two girls who walked past him giggling.

"It could be your clothes." Neku grabbed a hooded sweater and a baseball cap off one of the racks and threw them at Harry. "Forget them." He then pushed his way through to the accessory section and picked a gold chain necklace at random. "That should be enough."

After he had paid for the clothes, Neku dragged Harry out of the store; the black-haired boy was only too happy to comply.

"Put those on," Neku said as he and Harry walked back to the scramble. "That Reaper wants you to wear it."

"Then hold on to my robe." Harry held it out to Neku, who took it without a word but glared at the garment. "By the way," Harry said, pulling the sweater over his head, "why couldn't people see me on the streets, but how is it that people in shops are able to?"

"We're invisible to people on the streets, but there are stores marked with a decal in which we become visible." Neku watched as Harry placed the cap on his head and put the chain on.

"Oh." Harry couldn't think of anything else to say.

When they had made it back to the scramble crossing, Neku and Harry made a beeline for the Reaper who had sent them shopping, Harry showing off his new Wild Boar clothing and hoping the humiliation would end. The Reaper had laughed at the outfit that Neku had haphazardly pulled off the racks but had let them through. Harry's mood had become even worse than before.

Harry and Neku had gone through four more districts – Center St. Entrance, AMX, Tipsy Tose Hall, and Shibu-Q Heads – without incident before they reached Udagawa. Neku checked the timer on his hand and sighed in relief. "We have a little less than twenty-five minutes. Gives us a bit of time to do this mission."

"Let's do this," Harry said.

The two Players entered Udagawa, prepared to tackle their mission yet unprepared for the sight that greeted them. Neku had expected Udagawa to be mostly empty, save for the people shopping at the two stores in that district, but Udagawa was strangely crammed with people that day. A large crowd was gathered in front of the mural in the Udagawa backstreets, listening to a man standing on a soapbox.

"The mission said to clear the noise," Harry started, "but … what exactly does that mean. And what does it have to do with all these people standing here?"

"I'm not sure but … whoa!" Neku cried out. "Do you feel that?"

"Feel what?"

"Negativity." Neku closed his eyes and pressed his hands against his headphones. "It's coming from the crowd."

"Really?" Harry attempted to mimic Neku's actions, but came up with nothing. "How can you tell?"

"Try scanning these people with your Player Pin," Neku said. "You can just feel all this negativity."

"All right then." Harry was about to ask Neku what a Player Pin was when his hand brushed his pants and bumped against something in his pocket. Pulling it out, clutched in his hands was a black circular object with a white skull on it. Upon closer inspection, he saw that Neku was holding one in his hand. Assuming that what he was holding was a Player Pin, Harry held onto it tightly and concentrated. All at once, he could hear different voices in his head.

I knew this was a bad idea. Satoshi just had to bring these guys down here!

Oh … I can't believe I skipped out on work. But I couldn't miss out on this! Hope nobody catches me here …

What am I doing here anyway? It's not like I believe any of this. I've got to stop letting Sayuri talk me into doing all these things.

Harry let the Player Pin slip from his fingers and the voices stopped immediately. "Were … was I hearing … those people's thoughts?"

"Exactly." Neku nodded and frowned. "This crowd is screaming with negativity. That must be what's drawing the noise in. Well, Harry, you know the mission. Let's defeat the noise."

Nodding in response, Harry reached into his pocket for his stick and held onto it tightly. A few seconds later, he was surrounded with a beam of red light and felt himself being pulled upwards. When the sensation and the light disappeared, he found himself standing in Udagawa, no people around and five noise staring him down: two purple kangaroos, a green frog, a dark blue raven, and a purple porcupine; all of them ready to tear him to pieces.

As he fought against the creatures, Harry noticed several things that had escaped him the previous day. First and hardest to ignore was the green light energy that seemed to pop up from out of nowhere every once in a while. He would land a hit on one of the noise and the light would leave his body and disappear, then reappear again. Harry didn't know why, but his attacks felt stronger whenever he had the green light with him.

He knew when the noise managed to land a hit on him. The pain that accompanied the strikes was hard to ignore. But at times the pain would come even when he wasn't hit. Harry didn't know why, but whenever that happened he couldn't help worrying about Neku.

The partners went through battle after battle, defeating noise after noise. But all their efforts seemed to be in vain; the banished noise were simply replaced by more noise.

"This isn't working," Neku said after ten rounds of fighting noise. "And we have less than ten minutes to complete this mission."

"Why do they keep coming?" Harry was exhausted and nearing his limit.

"Something keeps drawing them here." Neku crossed his arms and glared at the crowd. "But what?"

"It's the speaker," came a voice from behind them. "He, too, is possessed by noise."

"What?" Neku and Harry, surprised to hear someone replying to their question, whirled around to see another pair of people standing at the Udagawa entrance. Two teenagers, a boy and a girl, had just arrived.

"Whew!" said the boy, looking down at his hand. "We just made it!"

"Because the speaker is possessed by noise," explained the girl, "the people listening to him are taking in his negativity, which then draws in noise. If we get rid of the noise around him, then we should be able to stop the noise from coming in."

"That's … a good idea." Harry wondered why he and Neku hadn't thought of it before.

With the additional help of the two new Players, Neku and Harry challenged the noise that was possessing the speaker. Harry caught a fragment of the man's thoughts; he was fuming over the injustices of the world and depressed over how no one seemed to care, and his frustration was welling over to the crowd, who were supposedly people more conscious of world affairs and matters. Neku guessed that the man was trying to give a speech that would motivate people to make a difference, but had become angry thinking about how horrible people could be and then been possessed by noise.

Harry and Neku found themselves against a towering bear noise. It was taller than both boys put together, but it was the only one they were facing. Harry and Neku were able to erase it after several painful minutes of battling.

"It's working!" the girl exclaimed. "The noise is thinning out!"

"We'll clean up here," said the boy. "Leave the rest to us!"

The two Players were then gone in a flash of silver and purple; Harry assumed that they were off fighting noise. He was about to suggest to Neku that they give the other two a hand when Neku spoke up. "Well, timer's gone. I guess this mission's complete."

"Huh? Oh, right." Harry glanced down at his own hand to see that the numbers had indeed vanished. "Good thing that those other two people showed up."

"Yeah." Neku looked down at his shoes to hide his expression, but Harry hadn't missed the tone of his voice. He didn't sound too happy.

Behind them, Harry could hear the now de-noised speaker giving the speech he had been meaning to give. The negativity was gone, replaced by plans for a better world, and the crowd had lost its pessimism as well.

"Another mission down." Harry turned around to see that the girl and her partner were back. "It was nice meeting you two. We couldn't have done it alone. My name is Miyuki Kuroda. This is my partner Kiyo Takahashi."

"Hey." Kiyo waved. "And who are you to?"

"Oh, uh, my name is Harry Potter," he introduced himself. "And my … partner, Neku."

"Harry Potter?" Kiyo made a face. "You're not from here, are you?"

"Well, no …"

"That must suck," said Miyuki, her voice sympathetic. "Sorry."

"Don't worry, we'll make it through." Kiyo grinned. "We're all going to win this and make it back!"

Harry was more confused than ever. What did his not being from Shibuya have to do with anything, and why were they sorry for it? And where were they supposed to make it back to? He turned to Neku, hoping to ask him to explain, but the redheaded boy was not looking at them or even at the crowd, seemingly lost.

Again, Harry wondered what he was doing in Shibuya.