Yukinoyo Nishiroi 2
An intense light bathed the area in its warm glow. Caught off guard by the sudden brightness, the boy shielded his eyes. As his vision adjusted to the light, he started to make out a figure among the beams. A girl, he realized. Blinking away the spots from his eyes, Joshua began to separate vivid green eyes from pale skin, long golden hair from the back it cascaded down. Steadily, the girl's bell-bottom jeans and peace sign necklace began to come into focus as well. A few moments passed, and then the girl extended her arms and spoke.
"Welcome, Player!" She said with the lifeless tone of someone who was forced to recite the same lines many times. "Welcome to the Reaper's Game. You will be here seven days. You'll get a mission every day. You need to forge a pact with a partner. You're going to get attacked by noise. Defeat them with them your partner. Survive to the end of the week, and you just might come back to life." She sighed and flipped her hair. "Let's see…I think I covered everything…" She muttered to herself.
Joshua could only stare at the glowing being before him, blocking out every word she spoke after: "Player." Player. In the Reaper's Game. After being forced to remain a spectator for so long, he was finally in the game! All his fantasies of playing the game, of experiencing that thrill, of having the talent to erase the strongest noise and take on the meanest reaper- because, naturally, he would be one of the strongest and most admired players, how could he not?- would finally become reality.
"HEY KID! Are you DEAF?" The girl's shrill yell jolted him out of his reverie. "I'm talking to you, kid!"
"Ah…sorry…what was that again?" Joshua tried to stifle a smirk from her annoyed tone.
"I SAID do you have any questions!" Came the irate response.
Of course he had questions. He had more questions than he had ever thought of before. Did those who were still alive KNOW he was in this game? Was there a funeral for him? What was going to happen to Neku? How do you use those odd attacks he'd seen Players using? What was his entry fee? But for some reason, only one question left the boy's lips.
"…Are you a hippie?"
"WHAT? NO! NOT ANYMORE! WHY DOES EVERYONE ASK ME THAT?" The shimmering girl demanded, now enraged.
"…Sorry…it's just you look SO much like one…" Joshua didn't even bother to hold back the growing smirk on his face, nor the quiet, girlish giggle that suddenly escaped him.
The girl paused, silently looking the silverette with cold, blue eyes. Pulling her lips back in a sneer, she broke the stillness with a sudden comment that caused Joshua to simply shudder.
"You're going to love your entry fee, you little brat…" The girl snapped her fingers. Instantly, the world went black, and all that could be sensed in the darkness was the lingering scream of a small silver haired boy.
"Well, Meggy, are you sure you're up to this?" The blonde haired girl asked a shadowy man with red headphones.
He gave a slight bow, trying his best to suppress his frown at the nickname. "Of course, Ms. Chiaki. You can fully depend on me."
Chiaki grinned. "Yeah, I know. You're not like the other reapers, all after my seat and Sayuri's. Oh, speaking of Sayuri, I just heard that we have two players in the game with really high imagination. She wants us to keep an eye on them…oh, but just between you and me, one of them is a really annoying little kid. He thought I was a hippie, too." She crossed her arms, pouting. "He's also, like, ten years old. He won't last long anyway. So, you know, if you make things extra hard for him, I won't tell anyone…" The Conductor's grin started to resemble that of the Cheshire Cat, a smile that any reaper knew to fear.
"…A-as you wish, Ms. Chiaki …" The man said trailing off.
"Excellent." She said with a grin. "Well, I have to be at a surprise 'appointment' with Koki. It's about time that man moved up in the food chain. I'll check up on you later, Meggy!" She said in a sing-song voice. With that, Chiaki strutted out of the room, her long blonde hair billowing behind her.
The man's demeanor immediately changed from obedience to rage in her wake. "No…I mustn't get upset yet…not until the game is over…" At the thought of the unbearable Conductor's fate, a small smile appeared on his face. "Chiaki Itazuki…your time is almost up."
Darkness. Nothing but the pitch black darkness. He could feel the cold pavement and itchy fallen leaves through his clothes, he could hear the boisterous crowds, he even caught a whiff of the distinctive scent of a hot dog stand. But he saw nothing.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEE- "All right already…" The aggravated boy felt around for his pocket and pulled out what he assumed was his vibrant orange cell phone. The minute he answered it, however, he realized there were two problems. First, this wasn't a phone call, it was a text. More importantly, someone had changed his ringtone to some irritating beeping! How dare they! Still, he had no way to view the text. Frowning, the boy placed his phone back in his pocket. After watching so many players struggle with their own entry fees, it wasn't hard for Joshua to deduce his own. Sight. The boy was practically helpless in the one place he'd always dreamed of being in. And he still didn't even know the mission.
Suddenly, Joshua felt like his very hand was burning. Appalled, the boy brushed his fingers across his other palm. As he realized just what was on his hand, he had to clamp his mouth shut to stifle a shriek. For, etched into his palm, was a timer, slowly ticking away.
Joshua jumped as he heard a croaking sound from very, very near. Slowly, a pack of dixiefrogs had crept up to the boy.
"Ow!" Joshua yelped as he was scratched by the amphibious Noise. He was set upon by the Noise at once. As much as he tried to run, the boy didn't need eyes to see that there were far too many to outrun. It was over, he realized. Erasure was just around the corner. He was noise-food. Until he heard a glorious sound. One that he never thought he'd be so grateful to hear. Footsteps.
"Prepare to be iterated!" A voice rang out. "You, kid, make a pact with me, NOW!"
Stumbling and shielding himself with his arms, Joshua staggered towards the direction of the voice. He heard an irritated sigh as an unknown hand grabbed his own.
"So zetta slow…" The voice murmured.
Suddenly, a peculiar sensation overwhelmed him. The boy had never really been aware of his own heartbeat-unless, of course, he was scared-but now he felt the odd impression of two hearts beating within his chest. After the shock of this revelation wore off, he also began to feel the presence of…something. Something…unfamiliar, something definitely not he, that stirred at the edges of his consciousness. If this was what it felt like to have a partner, Joshua wasn't so sure he wanted one anymore. He would never be able to get used to this feeling.
A wonderful feeling of weightless snapped him out of his thoughts, but the sense dissolved all too soon as he felt solid ground beneath his feet. 'What I would give to just float like hat again, instead of walking around as blind as a mole' he thought to himself forlornly. There was no time for asinine desires, however, for Joshua could hear the grating croaks of the approaching noise.
"What do you think you're DOING, you zetta son of a digit? If you get hurt, I feel it too, so you better stop daydreaming and start fighting!" An angry voice resonated in his mind.
But the boy didn't have the faintest idea how to fight the creatures. He let out a yelp as one of them knocked him to the ground. Somehow, he could feel his partner cringe from the impact, as well as his phone digging into his side. But then he heard a beep, and an echoing crash. Something very large and very heavy landed on top of the nearest Noise, and Joshua heard the sizzling sound he always associated with erasure.
"Was that…me?" The stunned boy wondered. Recalling the earlier blip of his phone, Joshua dug around in his pockets for the familiar object. The child stood up and gripped his phone in his trembling hand. Looking to what he assumed was the general direction of the noise; Joshua dialed a random combination of numbers. As he waited with bated breath, he once again heard the sound of something enormous colliding with an amphibious being accompanied by the crackle of erasure.
"Heh heh heh…" Joshua let out a suspiciously maniacal giggle as realization dawned on him. Smirking, the boy entered combinations faster than he ever had before, relishing each satisfying sound of static. The very moment he stopped hearing the croaking, the sense of flying encompassed him once more. As he felt his feet touch pavement, he had the unnerving feeling of someone watching him.
"Well that was fun!" Joshua said cheerily, assuming he was talking to his math-obsessed partner. For a moment, he heard only silence from the other end.
"…You're a weird kid." The voice said finally.
"So I've been told." Joshua replied with a smirk. As the man paused yet again, Joshua twirled his hair indifferently to fill the silent void.
"Hmph. Annoying as you are, you're not a bad fighter. I think we're going to get along pretty well, kid." The boy detected a hint of a smile in his partner's voice. "What's your name, anyway?"
"I'm Yoshiya Kiryuu, but Mother and Father call me Joshua. I suppose you can too." He responded nonchalantly, his fighting rush beginning to wear off. "And yourself?"
"Sho Minamimoto. But Mother and Father call me…Sho. Minamimoto. You never could've guessed that, radian." The man answered in a condescending tone.
Joshua ignored Sho's teasing and quickly moved on to the topic he'd been curious about since he started the game.
"So, um…what's the mission?" The boy asked, attempting to sound casual. He could feel Sho gawking at for the umpteenth time.
"What do you mean, 'what's the mission'? Haven't you checked it yet?" Sho shouted furiously.
"Of course I've checked it." Joshua lied, preferring to sound like an idiot over losing his pride. "I just…didn't understand it."
"You didn't understand it? What are you, a yoctogram? It's so simple!" Muttering angrily, Sho took out his phone and read off the message. "'Welcome, Players! Proceed to 104 before thirty minutes are up. If you fail, you face erasure. Good luck! Signed, the Reapers.' Now is that so difficult?" Sho demanded, clearly doubting the intelligence of his partner.
"Ah…now it makes sense…I must've misread it. Thanks SO much for clarifying that, Sho-kun." Joshua said with a forced grin. There was silence from the other end again. Joshua wondered if Sho wanted to take back what he had said about them getting along well.
"Don't you EVER call me that name again, you zetta son of a digit, unless you want to drown in a sea of imaginary numbers!" The man shouted indignantly. Joshua only giggled.
"I'll try to remember that. Now, shouldn't we be on our way to 104? I don't know about you, but I'd prefer not being erased on the first day, hm?" The boy said with an air of impatience.
"A2+B2=C2! We're almost out of time!" Joshua could only hear Sho's loud footsteps thundering away from him.
"…Right…" The boy said sardonically. Shaking his head at the many math references, he strained his ears for the sound of Sho's steps. Not surprisingly, it wasn't mission impossible. He hoped no one could tell he was following Sho like one of the three blind mice. Three blind mice…what an awful pun.
Disgusted by his thoughts, Joshua tried to divert his mind to another subject. He wondered how many clueless people he was walking through. He wondered if, somewhere among the raucous and close-minded throngs of Shibuya, there was another person like he who could see the Game. He wished, while he was alive, he could've met this person. Talked to them. Shared their odd experiences, that no other living soul would believe. Except Mr. Hanekoma, of course. But Mr. H. was so…old, compared to him. He longed for someone his age. He often felt so alone. There had been many times when he had considered leaving it all behind and becoming a player. It would've been so easy. A pull of a trigger, a dive into water, a leap off of a building- simple.
However, he could never bring himself to do the job. Something, someone always held him back. Neku. They were the other's only real friends. They were both outcasts, the crazy kid and the emo kid. Neither cared. They had each other.
But he was dead. Neku was alone. Joshua couldn't help but worry what had become of his friend. He had to win this game, he decided. For Neku. Otherwise- Joshua halted abruptly from the noise, or rather, the lack thereof. Had he lost Sho? Terrified, he rushed forward into the unknown without a clue of where he was going. Suddenly, he felt a jolt in his hand. Running his hand over the other, he was astonished to discover smooth flesh.
"There you are, you zetta moron! What took you so long?" Sho's voice rang out.
"I don't do the sweating thing." Joshua responded curtly. Sho groaned.
"Do you have to be difficult in every way?" Sho asked exasperatedly.
"I try my best~!" Joshua replied with a smirk.
"This is going to be a-" Sho started, but then stopped. Everything stopped as the world slowly faded away.
"Meeeeeeeeegyyyyyyyy!" A woman called out with false cheer. "Why did you assign that generic first mission? It's so…boring! I thought we agreed that you weren't going to follow boring traditions!"
"You never said that, Ms. Chiaki." The man stated calmly.
"…Well now I am! And by the way, forget what I said about that kid." Chiaki sighed exasperatedly. "Apparently he has an unusually high imagination, and his partner's is almost as high. Sayuri thinks it'd be interesting to see how far they get. She never let's me have any fun, senile old hag…" Chiaki murmured, pouting.
The Game Master instinctively glanced around the room for eavesdroppers, than turned his shocked gaze to the Conductor. "M-ms. Chiaki! Surely you don't mean such things about the Composer…?"
"Of course I do!" Chiaki snapped at him, "I think it's about time she stepped down. Anyway, have some more creative missions, 'kay?" Her sweet smile immediately returned as if it had never left.
"As you wish, Ms. Chiaki" As the girl left, the man couldn't help but gloat to himself about his miraculous luck.
"She's planning an attack on the Composer? This keeps getting easier and easier…"
The revamp of Joshua's past continues~ This one was ridiculous...I think I must've been watching TV while writing, because there were random lines inserted everywhere that had nothing to do with the plot. My absolute favorite? Kitaniji's "Now I must ready the stars..." Stuck in the middle of a rant to Chiaki. Not really sure where that one came from.
Seems like no reaper is safe right now, with all of the assassinations being planned. Now we get to see how Kitaniji became the Conductor as well~
Please review! For ten-year-old, blind Joshua?