Hiya. I don't have much to say at this point, but yes, I do realize this can be confusing. If you're cool enough to read up to this point, you noticed it too and want to solve the mysteries. My undying thanks to those people (like you, Vengeance). That's very humbling. Now, let's set things straight: I don't know the first thing about math, I'm confused as to some concepts on chess, and I don't understand a lot of techno-babble. However, if there's one thing I like to think I grasp decently, it's the English language. (If you must know, I create the quotes at the beginning of the chapters…)
"'Obscure' is, by definition, equivocal."
Uzuki's eyes opened and she saw, after regaining focus, the plain white ceilings of a hospital room. She sat up with confusion and felt the most pain ever conceived swarming to her stomach. She leaned over the side of the bed and threw up, missing the trash receptacle by a foot. As she wiped her mouth, she saw blood plague her vomit. Uzuki gasped as a nurse ran in from the hallway and grimaced. She ran back out calling for a doctor in a mildly rushed manner.
'What the hell happened to me?' she thought, leaning back in her bed, which someone had propped up with pillows at some point. Uzuki put a hand on her head and felt bandages wrapped around her forehead, going at a slight angle.
Suddenly, a doctor hustled in the room and threw back the room divider, narrowly avoiding stepping in Uzuki's bloody vomit.
"Get someone to clean this mess up," the doctor said irritably at the nurse, obviously displeased with her. Then he faced Uzuki with a smile and a change of tone. "I see we've awoken finally, yes?" he asked.
"Wh… What happened to me?" she asked softly.
"We weren't told. We pleaded for hours with the man who brought you in to tell us, but he remained silent," the doctor explained, "But he finally said that he'd tell you once you had awakened."
"Who's the man who brought me in?" Uzuki asked.
"His name is Koki. Koki Kariya, I believe." The doctor replied.
The nurse returned with a janitor's bucket, full of ways to clean the mess. She waited behind the doctor as he stood up straight and cleared his throat.
"Yes, visiting hours are over, however. He'll have to come in tomorrow morning and see you. I hope that will do. If you'll excuse me…" the doctor then turned and started for the door.
The nurse began on the clean-up while Uzuki stared blankly at the wall, trying ever so hard to recall what happened to her. The pain in her stomach sort of halted all levelheaded thought, however.
Soon, the nurse packed up and headed out, saying, "It's about 10 o'clock now. I realize you may not be tired, but you still need rest." She shut off the lights and closed the door behind her.
Moonlight shone through the window, and Uzuki was awe-stricken. She watched the beam of light as it placed itself gently upon her bed sheets. She slid her hand across the light and sighed.
The light disappeared. Uzuki looked out the window and saw a thin man with red hair standing in it. He opened the window and hopped in, closing it after he landed safely. Working on a sucker, he stood by her bedside.
"Uzuki, you ready to go?" he asked casually.
"…Uzuki?"
The man paused for a moment. "Uzuki is your name, remember? Do you remember mine?"
"…Koki Kariya?" Uzuki guessed, recalling the name the doctor gave her.
Kariya placed his palm over his face and shook his head. "There's gonna be hell to pay…" he uttered maliciously.
"I told you guys not to bother me when I'm busy," Hanekoma said, walking out of the back room with his sleeves rolled up to his shoulders. But when he saw Shiki unconscious in Neku's arms and Minamimoto thrown over Beat's back, he rushed to them. "What in the world happened?" he asked, taking Shiki from Neku and laying her across the table behind him.
"Korasu, that's what happened," Neku replied, stretching his scrawny arms.
Hanekoma looked back at them apprehensively. "So you met him, huh?"
"Met him? He tried to kill us, yo!" Beat shouted.
"But he didn't," Hanekoma added, noticing the obvious, "How?"
"Another Reaper came in just in time to stop him. His name was Jisatsu, I think." Neku said. Then his eyes gleamed with enlightenment. Taking out his phone, he opened the text message from Joshua.
To kill: suicide, homicide, and dreariness.
"The gamer guy told Shiki and I to use kanji, meaning that this could be read as 'Korasu: Jisatsu' and so on!" Neku exclaimed, "These are two of the names of who Joshua called the four horsemen!"
"Aw sweet, yo!" Beat said after he sat Minamimoto up against the wall.
"That gamer dude has to be one of them. Either Satsujin or Sappukei."
"Korasu called him Kei, right?"
"Yeah! Then the Nerd-Herder is probably named Sappukei!"
"Good to see you finally figured it out," Hanekoma said, placing his hands on Shiki's wrist, checking her pulse.
"Did you know this whole time?" Neku asked crossly.
"I did," Hanekoma replied, focused more on Shiki than Neku, "But Joshua told me not to tell you anything. The day before he was killed, he received a message from Korasu telling him to meet him in A-East. Joshua was of course suspicious, so he called me and told me what would happen. He said he'd send a message to his proxy if something were to happen, and instructed me to tell you nothing. Believe me Neku; I didn't want to stay quiet--"
"So why did you?" Neku questioned, tightening his fists.
Hanekoma looked back at him with a frown.
"Because of you, Minamimoto got shot, I was almost killed, and something happened to Shiki!" Neku cried, practically yelling at the top of his lungs.
Beat stood back with his hand on his shoulder.
"If you were to have told me what to expect from day one, all of this crap could have been prevented!" Neku continued, holding back his tears the best he could.
"I'm sorry," Hanekoma declared solemnly.
"Sorry won't wake Shiki up!" Neku snapped, swinging his arm across the space before him. Realizing how he sounded, he added, "Sorry won't wake Pi-face up either…"
Hanekoma placed his hands on Neku's shoulders and stared him square in the eyes. "Shiki will be alright," he said quietly, "She's just unconscious and doesn't have any injuries…"
"What about Tabooty, yo?" Beast asked, feeling it was a good time to give Neku a break.
"What happened to him?"
"He got hit by some attack from the Snaggletoothed Wonder," Beat replied.
Hanekoma examined the Reaper's body only to find the shroud of darkness enveloping around his skin and permeating through his pores. "He's been… Reformatted?" Hanekoma asked himself. He stood up and took of his shades, wiping the dust off of them with his shirt. "This isn't good," he said.
"What?" Neku asked.
"I don't know how Korasu does these things, but he's reformatted Minamimoto."
"Jisatsu said that too. What the hell does that mean?"
"It means, Neku, that Sho Minamimoto is no longer a Reaper."
Neku and Beat's jaws dropped.
Before continuing, Hanekoma put his shades back on. "He can't use his Reaper powers and is just like you two are now."
"We-well, can he get them back?" Neku asked, now more frightened than ever of Korasu's powers.
"Maybe. I've never heard of anyone doing it… But I've never even seen a reformatting before."
Shiki made a very feminine noise and blinked few times.
"Shiki!" Neku cried, running to her side.
The girl sat up and pushed up her glasses. "What happened?" she inquired.
"That's what I was gonna ask you," Neku said, smiling and relieved she was alright. His worries for the time being had faded.
"I was walking by the Concert Stage when I saw a tiny bright light coming from inside. I went in to examine it, but lost consciousness when the light got really big and blinded me." Shiki said.
Suddenly Neku broke down. He lowered his head and let loose his tears, right in front of Shiki.
"Neku? What's wrong?" she asked, confusedly.
"Ever since this guy came to Shibuya," Neku began, his voice shaking, "Everyone has suffered. Even Kariya and Minamimoto… This has to stop. We have to stop Korasu!"
"Then let's factor that zetta son of a digit…" Minamimoto whispered, sitting up against the wall.
Everyone looked at him, surprised that he was awake.
"Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally," Minamimoto continued, "I may have lost all my Reaper powers, but I can still instruct you three how to fight against this rogue." He struggled to stand. As no one offered to help him, it took a few tries before he regained his footing. "Let's derive that radian."
"Lower your frame rate, Koro," Kei said, watching his old partner run back and forth looking for something in the Concert Stage.
"I won't rest until I fix this muck-up I made," Korasu replied, angrily pacing back and forth.
"Perhaps you should take this time to stand back and formulate a strategy?" Jisatsu recommended, lowering himself from the ceiling to the ground, where he hovered inches above to seem taller.
"Perhaps you should shut up! You popped in at the worst possible time, you know that buddy?" Korasu snapped, jabbing a finger at the Reaper.
"Strike where your opponent isn't looking. Basic tactics. I figured a man of your playing level would have seen it coming."
"Shut it with the obscure chess references!!"
"You have used that word erroneously," a voice boomed, coming from the back of the Concert Stage.
"Is that you, Jin?" Kei asked, looking back.
"Undeniably so. I appear to have arrived with faultless timing, agreed?" Jin replied, walking out of the shadows with a grin. He had long hair separated down the middle and many whiskers across his chin. Overall, he seemed very foreign.
Korasu growled and continued on his ambiguous quest.
A chuckle from Jin indicated he wasn't as boring as Jisatsu, but they still seemed similar in Kei's eyes. The two were partners as Harriers as well, but they must've been one heck of a team to listen to; Jin with his expansive vocabulary, and Jisatsu with his incredibly slow way of speaking. He was sort of proud how he and Korasu handled things back in the day: quick and to the point, if not sometimes against the rules.
"Ah, but I cogitate: Why have you summoned us?" Jin asked.
"You're all with me now," Korasu exclaimed, utterly pissed that he couldn't find what he was looking for.
"As what? Your wall of pawns?" Jisatsu wondered aloud, sitting on the air and crossing his legs as if he were on a throne, "If so, that's a terrible strategy."
"No, we're in it together," Korasu said. He sat next to Kei who was stuffing some potato chips under his moutherchief into his unseen mouth.
"You expect, after all you put us through, our assistance in this quandary you got yourself in?" Jin asked, crossing his arms with a spiteful smirk.
"Yes," Korasu replied, finally standing still.
Jin and Jisatsu looked at each other with doubt. Then they both shrugged in unison.
"I suppose we don't have a choice," Jisatsu muttered, "Once you begin a strategy, you don't back out…"
"Without any metaphors I can agree," Jin added.
"Thanks guys…" Korasu whispered. He turned away and threw his arm over his eye and sniffled pathetically. Rather humorously, really.
'Bizarre that he even experiences emotion…' Jin whispered to himself.
'Is he…crying? Disturbing…' Jisatsu thought.
"Awright!" Kei cried, jumping to his feet, "Let's delete some old programs!"
"Yeah! Let's kick ass!"
"Fine, we will strike quick and precise."
"Youngsters and their misplaced fortitude…"
Gee, I sort of cut this one short. But quite a bit happened! Or rather, quite a bit will begin to happen in the next (official) chapter. What is Kariya planning? What are the 'Four Horsemen' planning? What is Minamimoto planning?! (I said at the end of chapter three that Minamimoto would become useful, but I lied. He'll become useful soon.) Well, I'm gonna put a cute little filler chapter in next. Don't worry; I have it under control… I'll get right back on track soon. Promise (3)