Day 2: Pins
The Players' biological alarm clocks woke the duo up, not even a minute apart, though perhaps it was more the result of a Reapers' Game mechanism that they were roused together as they fainted together. Kariya stretched his arms back and rubbed the sleep out from his eyes as he stood up.
"Mornin'," he looked down at Higashizawa. "How ya doin'?"
"Starving," Higashizawa grunted as he too rose to his feet.
"Well, let's go get some grub," Kariya said. "Doesn't seem as though our mission has arrived yet." Higashizawa nodded in agreement, and together, the two set out to find a meal. As Shibuya locals, both were fairly familiar with the town, and Kariya in particular frequented their current location.
"We're at Tipsy Tose Hall right now. If we go this way for a bit, there is a great Mexican restaurant nearby," he informed Higashizawa.
"Mexican, huh? I could definitely go for that," Higashizawa licked his lips.
"Not only that, I need to get some more bean paste lollipops and I know Mexican Dog has some." Higashizawa palmed his face with his hand.
"You're right! What would happen if the Noise attacks us while you don't have a medium?"
"Then I'd be royally fuc…oh! Sr. Kikuchi!" Kariya started waving to a man passing by. He did not notice the duo and kept walking. "That's rude," Kariya muttered, trailing the familiar man.
"He doesn't seem like the most tasteful gentleman," Higashizawa commented as he followed his partner.
"He really is…I don't know why he's ignoring me," Kariya pondered. He shouted Kikuchi's name a few more times, but to no avail. Trekking after him, his restaurant quickly came into sight. Kariya noticed a white skull incrusted above the sign of Kikuchi's business, and wondered with curiosity how long that had been there. Entering Mexican Dog, the man's continence changed as Kariya and Higashizawa entered behind him.
"Bienvenido! Oh, Sr. Kariya! So good to see you again," Kikuchi beamed, causing Kariya to raise his eyebrow.
"We've been right behind you saying your name for several minutes now." Kikuchi looked genuinely surprised.
"Oh, really? Lo siento muchachos…I'm still a little bit sleepy. I hope I didn't offend you…"
"Nah, it's fine," Higashizawa interjected before Kariya could pursue the matter. "What do you have to eat? We're starving!" Kikuchi's face lit up.
"No one can make a better hot dog than me. Especially if you like chili dogs!"
"Give me four," Higashizawa relished, "and one cola please." Laughing wildly, the purveyor started setting some frankfurters on a grill.
"What would you like, Sr. Kariya?" He asked.
"A hot dog with some ketchup and a glass of orange juice." Kariya replied. "Oh," he remembered as Kikuchi was pouring him a cup, "and ten bean paste lollipops, please."
"Still love your lollis, huh?" Kikuchi laughed, reaching into a drawer and retrieving Kariya's favorite snack. Kariya gratefully set the proper currency on the counter, observing Higashizawa eagerly pacing in anticipation of his food. After a few minutes, Kikuchi set the duo's food on the table.
"Looks delicious," Higashizawa inhaled deeply with his eyes closed in ecstasy. "Let's dig in."
The duo clapped their hands together in prayer. "Gochisou Sama Deshita! (Thank you for the food!)" They exclaimed before stuffing the hot dogs into their mouths. Savoring the perfectly grilled dogs, the Players were content as they ate for the first time since the Reapers' Game began. As Higashizawa stuffed the last of his four chili dogs down his mouth, he jerked his hand away in pain as a timer appeared on his hand. Turning to his partner, he saw that Kariya had already pulled out his phone to inspect the message for the day.
"What do you think it means?" He asked, showing Higashizawa the message. Head to the place where everyone sees everything. Defeat the depicted Noise. You have 120 minutes. Failure will result in erasure. Higashizawa dabbed his lips with a napkin before he turned to Kariya. "My guess would be that we head to the highest point in the city."
"That can't be right," Kariya frowned. "Place where everyone sees everything? There isn't one specific all-encompassing vantage point in the city. There's gotta be something we're missing."
"If you're missing something," Kikuchi interjected, "the large televisions at the scramble crossing have a lost and found report list every few hours." Kariya and Higashizawa stared at each other for a moment before they stood up instantly, Higashizawa's bulky frame knocking the stool he was sitting on over.
"Puta!" Kikuchi swore, rushing to help Higashizawa; an unnecessary gesture as Higashizawa lifted his seat back up with one hand and calmed his flustered host with the other.
"Sorry about that!" Higashizawa exclaimed, "but we've dined and now we've gotta dash!"
"Keep the tip!" Kariya threw a 500 yen pin on the table which a baffled Kikuchi picked up as the two Players scrambled out the door. They heard a scream behind them and despite the urgency to complete the mission, Kariya looked back and saw that Kikuchi had fallen to the ground with a horrified expression on his face. "Higashizawa, hold on a sec! Something's up with Sr. Kikuchi." They ran back inside which only enhanced Kikuchi's horror.
"What's wrong, sir?" Higashizawa asked him, to which Kikuchi scooted back away from him.
"You…you…you stepped outside and disappeared!" Pure terror filled his voice. Kariya palmed his face.
"That's right! We're dead!"
"Oh, yeah!" Higashizawa laughed. "That explains why he didn't hear you when we were following him earlier."
"Doesn't explain how he can see us now though," Kariya frowned as he jammed a thumb in Kikuchi's direction. "Or, for that matter, how we can be hungry when we're dead."
"Are you haunting me?" Kikuchi exclaimed.
"Maybe being Players in the UG doesn't necessarily make us ghosts," Kariya deduced, ignoring Kikuchi.
"So what, we have a corporal form when we are planning to buy something? That's ridiculous," Higashizawa laughed. Even Kariya laughed at the absurdity of it, but the reality of the situation is that Kikuchi was only aware of them within the boundaries of his restaurant. Unless…
"Wait a sec!" Kariya exclaimed, running out the door. Kikuchi whimpered as Higashizawa followed his partner and the duo once again escaped the purveyor's gaze.
Kariya stood outside carefully examining the skull he had noticed earlier. "Look familiar?" He asked Higashizawa who instantly reached into his pocket and pulled out his Player pin.
"The symbol for the Reapers' Game?"
"Bingo! Looks like places marked with these decals are where we can shop and eat," Kariya said satisfied.
"Food for thought, Kariya, we've gotta go!" Higashizawa pulled Kariya away from his inspection. "Good thing we stopped here though!"
"Right! We know where we need to be thanks to Sr. Kikuchi!" The duo took off in a dead sprint towards Molco, coming to a grinding halt as they nearly collided into an imperceptible wall. The only telling sign that it was there was a familiar looking man with a cap pulled low under the raised hood of a red coat. The Players could not see any visible signs of the tribal wings that had been exposed yesterday, but there was no doubt about it; this was a Reaper.
"You the same chump from yesterday?" Kariya asked bluntly, resulting in a raised eyebrow from the guardian of Molco.
"Nope. Must have been another Support Reaper."
"Support? Guess Reapers come in all flavors," Higashizawa commented. Kariya shrugged, as did Higashizawa before he turned back to the Reaper. "All right, spill the beans. What do we need to do to get past your barrier?"
"If you want past this barrier, clear all the Noise out of Spain Hill."
"ALL the Noise?" Kariya asked disbelieving. "That's gonna take forever!"
"Can't eat barbeque if you never put it on the grill," Higashizawa offered. Kariya rolled his eyes and stuck one of his recently purchased lollipops in his mouth.
"All right, we had better get started then." Kariya took his Player pin out of his pocket and gripped it. Touching it, his world went hazy as color disappeared and his mind went blue, save the loud thoughts of nearby pedestrians and the brightly colored Noise that spewed from a negative few. Kariya dashed at each of the floating symbols, tagging them and unleashing the monsters hidden within.
"Let's begin the feast," Higashizawa licked his lips as the prey appeared. There were three red crabs with strange blue patterns adorning their shells, four black ravens with a bluish hue, and four blue jellyfish hovering slowly above the ground from a distance. They seemed harmless enough, but Kariya had no desire to prove this assessment wrong.
"Don't give them a chance!" Kariya yelled, his hands cracking with electricity. He quickly emptied his pockets of all of his pins (save his Player's pin) and equipped them to the sleeve of his arm. "I didn't try any of these pins out yesterday except Hounder Magnum. Time to level up!" Apparently, it was enough simply to wear the pins, for the electricity that Kariya threw went in the same divided direction as it had yesterday while he was holding Hounder Magnum. One of the ravens were grazed by said power, but the other three hovered above it, a wicked expression blazing in their respective eyes.
"Duck!" Higashizawa yelled as the flying Noise swooped upon them. The Players hit the ground in defense, but clearly there was a forgotten element to this fight.
"Fuck me!" Kariya screamed furiously at their mistake as the crab Noise furiously pinched him and his partner. Kariya felt his jeans tear open as red blood mixed with faded blue. Higashizawa was faring far worse though as the crabs clawed his neck and the ravens flocked above him, pecking indiscriminately at his chest.
"Higashizawa!" Kariya cried alarmed, but he could clearly see his partner's strength was fading away as he struggled to get up. Kariya looked at his pins desperately. He knew what none of them did, but he recognized one of them clearly. Though most of his pins he possessed came into his possession after he had died, this one pin had been with him while he was alive. "Whatever you do, save us." Kariya tapped it with his eyes closed, and released his electricity.
The loudest crash Kariya had ever known echoed throughout Shibuya, yet it rang strongly like a bell, as a massive chain made entirely of electricity obliterated all of the ravens and crabs that were attacking Higashizawa and Kariya. Was it a power given to him by God? Kariya did not know, but energy surged through him as all of the aggressive Noise disappeared in the blind of an eye. Only a few blue mollified jellyfish remained in the background. Kariya ignored them and focused his attention on his partner.
Other than his massive form and distinctive dreads, Higashizawa bore little semblance to how he had been prior to the attack. His skin was colored red with his blood, his flesh stripped in various areas and punctured in others. A particularly nasty hole fell under his heart, and as he coughed up blood, Kariya realized a lung had been punctured.
"I'm sorry, Kariya," Higashizawa coughed, tears clearing up his skin slightly. "I …fucked up. Guess that…is just how the cookie crumbles." Kariya shook his head quickly.
"You aint't done, dammit! There's gotta be something I can do!" Kariya looked at his pins quickly, including the two extras in his pockets. He had a total of six, not including his player pin. Two of them were clearly offensive, which meant that of his four remaining pins, one could potentially provide assistance. Kariya read the labels on the backs of them quickly.
"Cure Drink!" He exclaimed, eagerly grabbing a pin that depicted an orange soda can. Pressing it to Higashizawa, Kariya felt his energy sapped as his partner gasped, his open flash mending itself with miraculous efficiency. Kariya could see the fatal wound on his lung sealing up, but it was not enough. "Again!" Kariya exclaimed, and pressing it to Higashizawa once again, the healing was complete. Kariya collapsed to the ground exhausted as Higashizawa weakly pulled himself to his knees.
"Kariya…you saved my life."
"Don't…mention it," Kariya panted, wiping sweat from his brow. As he brought his hand down, he looked at the time and swore. "We've gotta hurry it up! We've got an hour left and who knows what kinda shit these Reapers are going to throw at us before we get to our destination?"
"Damn, you're right. Let's finish these guys off!" Higashizawa and Kariya stood up and turned to face the last remaining jellyfish, but fell back in horror.
"What the hell?" Kariya felt winded as an army of angry jellyfish hummed in the distance. Previously there had only been a few blue jellyfish, but now there were numerous red ones as well. He watched with a mixture of disgust and fascination as one of the blue jellies squirmed awkwardly before splitting into two separate jellyfish, the clone red.
"Of course! Jellyfish are asexual!" Higashizawa swore.
"That was my bad. I should have dealt with them before they started this crap," Kariya apologized. Higashizawa shook his head.
"You were busy saving my life. I'm grateful for that. Now, let's go nuts on these guys! I'm always in the mood for a peanut butter and jellyfish sandwich!" Higashizawa charged at them yelling wildly, determined to make up for his weakness before. Kariya just shook his head.
"Jellyfish sandwich? Lame…" He muttered, but grinning in spite of himself, he chased after his partner. Higashizawa was charging so quickly that dust was left in his tracks, and before he connected with the enemy Noise, Kariya was certain he saw a pin on Higashizawa's breast shimmer.
"Let's mash 'em!" Higashizawa exclaimed, connecting powerfully with the jellyfish. Multiple jellyfish flew backwards and maimed other jellyfish, resulting in a domino effect in which each and every jellyfish sustained damage to a degree, despite the overwhelming number of foes.
"Nice! Let's finish them off!"
"Rare?" Higashizawa asked, squashing a red jellyfish with ease, ignoring the blistering sores that sprouted up on his hands.
"Nope."
"Medium?" Higashizawa pushed the Noise together, rounding them up to their confusion.
"Nope."
"Well done?" Higashizawa jumped back as Kariya grinned.
"Bingo." Kariya released the same energy that had annihilated the crab and raven Noise prior to Higashizawa's recovery. The jellyfish, despite their regenerative skills and naturally resilient bodies, were by no means immune to the fate that had befallen their Noise counterparts. Deconstructed down to the last particle, oblivion was the final fate for all the Noise of Spain Hill. Kariya and Higashizawa did not celebrate this hard-earned victory; however, they raced to the Reaper.
"Open up, mother fucker!" Kariya exclaimed. The Reaper looked annoyed, but complied with the snap of his fingers. Higashizawa charged through the remains of the invisible wall before it had even completely disintegrated, shattering the supernatural matter in his haste. Kariya followed after him and the duo sprinted through Shibuya. Running through Molco, straight past the Shibu Department Store, and into the scramble crossing, the duo finally arrived at their destination.
"If we're wrong about this, we're boned," Higashizawa muttered, but Kariya shook his head.
"We're right. Sr. Kikuchi made us realize the truth. Everyone converges at the scramble crossing and can see anything and everything they wish through the jumbo televisions. Now let's scan and be done with this damn day."
Higashizawa nodded and acquiesced. Scanning the television, a Noise symbol appeared over an ad depicting Mus Rattus apparel. A tribal arm reached through the television, extending towards the Players.
"Let's stay cool as a cucumber and finish this!" Higashizawa exclaimed as the final Noise jumped through. A golden grizzly bear with black stripes, a white underbelly, and oddly jointed tribal arms landed in front of the Players with an almighty roar. Kariya felt a chill creep down his neck as the beast snapped its jaws at them, saliva flying in all directions. Even though his enemy wasn't sophisticated enough to understand an insult, Kariya still felt the illogical need to poke fun at the brute. Pinching his nose, Kariya looked at Higashizawa.
"Pee-yew! You smell that? This guy needs a breath mint!" The Noise swiped Kariya in the chest with its arm, sending him flying into the ground.
"Needs some table manners too!" Higashizawa cried back to him, his belt glowing and doubling his size. The bear tried to swipe him too, but the gargantuan man caught the attack and locked arms with the Noise, pushing it back. Instinctively recognizing a challenge of strength, the bear locked its legs up and held firm, wrestling Kariya's partner back.
"Higashizawa!" Kariya yelled, but his partner shook his head adamantly.
"I've got this!" Higashizawa stubbornly proclaimed, and his muscles bulged as the bear found itself on the defensive once again. Its knees buckled, and the bear went crashing to the ground. Realizing its inferiority in terms of strength, the Noise slashed at Higashizawa with its deadly claws, but it was too late. Having won a wrestling match with a grizzly bear (Noise), Higashizawa was satisfied, and Kariya was now free to engage as well.
"Gotcha!" Kariya sent his electrical blasts towards the bear, scoring a direct hit on its chest. The bear tumbled in agony and Higashizawa, eager to be done with the day, jumped high in the air. The bear's eyes went wide before they exploded under the pressure of Higashizawa's feet.
"Success!" Kariya yelled in triumph.
"And just in the nick of time too!" Higashizawa added, looking down at his timer that had two minutes remaining. The timer blinked and ended with the completion of this mission, and Kariya high fived his partner with joy.
"So tell me," Higashizawa said after the adrenaline slowly faded, "how are you able to produce such powerful electric blasts now?" Kariya removed a pin off of his shirt and handed it to Higashizawa.
"King Arthur," Higashizawa read the label before staring at Kariya. "I've heard of this pin! It's supposed to be incredibly rare!"
"It is, my friend," Kariya said, taking it back from his partner. "And apparently, it's one of the more powerful pins here in the UG."
"But how did you wind up with a pin like that? Surely the Reapers wouldn't just give away a pin like that for nothing…" Kariya laughed loudly.
"Those cheapskates? Nah, I won this pin."
"Won it?"
"Yessir! Ya see…before I died, I was a professional gambler." Higashizawa's eyes widened at this.
"You? You don't look like a gambler to me," he said, to which Kariya burst out laughing.
"And how do you think a gambler is supposed to look? Trust me Higashizawa, my skills are next to none and the adrenaline it gives me surpasses any drug or sex addiction that this world could offer."
"Is that how you died?" Higashizawa perceptively questioned. Kariya's eyes flashed angrily behind his glasses, but the moment passed and he laughed a chilling laugh.
"Yep. I wagered my life on a bet and I lost it. Extreme gambling. Have you ever experienced it before?"
"Can't say I have," Higashizawa replied, but Kariya cut him off with a violent head gesture.
"Oh, but you have! The Reapers' Game! This is the deadliest gamble I have ever participated in! Not only are our lives at stake, our very SOULS are on the line! Can't you feel it! What a fuckin' rush!"
"Kariya…"
"Mr. Kitaniji, it would seem that no Player was erased today," Konishi reported to the Conductor with a stoic continence, though her wavering voice betrayed her.
"Wonderful! A Game is only enjoyable if someone survives to change the tide," replied Kitaniji who clasped his hands together with enthusiasm.
"They have not won the Game yet," Konishi muttered resentfully, though Kitaniji ignored this comment.
"What do their pin decks currently consist of? I'm curious as to what their strategies are."
"Koki Kariya makes use of an electric theme deck, and though he is best suited for long range combat, he has a lot of versatility with close-handed combat. One of our Support Reapers saw him use electricity to amplify his physical attacks and incapacitate a Garage Wolf. His deck currently consists of the pins Hounder Magnum, Cure Drink, King Arthur, and Top Gear."
"King Arthur? Kariya really is an interesting character…and what of his partner?" Kitaniji asked.
"Yodai Higashizawa is primarily an offensive tank, though he definitely has enough intelligence to compensate this narrow focus. Close-range is obviously his speciality, though he can be an effective mid-range attacker as well. His deck currently consists of the pins Velocity Tackle, Meteor Hook, Kinetic Warning, and Ohabari."
"I see. The very mechanics of the Game requiring Players to partner up are what allow this brute force strategy of his to work in the first place. They are both some very skilled opponents, Konishi. You had better be careful."
"Yes, sir," Konishi replied.
"Now tell me about the other two Players still remaining in the game. What do you know about them?"
"Well…"
Author's Note: I was hoping to update this series once a month, but with the bombardment of fans demanding updates from my other series, this one will progress more slowly. Never fear; I will get around to updating this one again eventually. If you enjoyed it, the best incentive you can give me is a review, favorite, and follow. As always, thanks for reading!
Crow
