A/N: I forgot to mention this in the note for last chapter, so I'll talk about it now. The entry fee for the Reaper's Game: the Players give up what they value most to enter the Game, which could be anything. Shiki, Neku's first partner, gave up her appearance; Neku his memories for the first week and Shiki for the second; his third partner Beat's entry fee was his sister's memories of him.

Players may not know what their entry fees are. For Shiki, it was pretty obvious … after all, she ended up in a body other than her own. Beat's entry fee and Neku's for the first week were a little less obvious … until the ending of TWEWY, it was believed that Beat's entry fee was actually his sister Rhyme's, and Neku's didn't know that his entry fee had been his memories until they were returned.

Point being, Harry's entry fee is his memories, but not in its entirety. I think Harry would value his memories of Ron and Hermione, of Hogwarts, and the magical world. His life before finding out that he was a wizard, after all, was not a happy one.

-

Chapter 4: Truth

He was back at the scramble crossing again, not that he cared. Harry didn't even care that Neku was nowhere to be found. Only one thought repeated itself in his mind: I'm dead.

The revelation had been shocking in itself, but to hear it so bluntly from the mouth of the Game Master, as Neku had called him, was more than enough to unnerve him. There wasn't a lot he could remember about himself or where he came from, but he was certain that a Game to determine the worth of a person for a second chance at life was not part of his world.

Or was it? The people of Shibuya, the ones who had yet to die, wouldn't have believed it. Maybe all worlds had a Reaper's Game of their own, and Harry had never known about any of it because he had never died before.

But no, that couldn't be the answer. If all worlds really did have their own Reaper's Game, why was he in Shibuya? Why wasn't he participating in the Reaper's Game of his own world if it existed?

How did he die in the first place? Harry couldn't remember the last seven or so years of his life. It was all a blank. Everything before his eleventh birthday was intact, but nothing after that was there. The details of his death and the reason he died … were they part of the seven missing years? Or was it some random accident that he had died in? Why was he even participating in Shibuya's Game to begin with?

Harry groaned and held his head in his hands. "I can't remember anything. This is … frustrating!"

"Hey." Harry looked up to see Neku heading towards him.

"Hey …" the other boy returned the greeting.

"Looks like the mission's not here yet …" Neku said.

"I know that." Harry glared at the spiky-haired teen. Learning that he was dead did nothing to lessen his anger at Neku. Even if the redhead was also dead – and apparently on his second run through the Game – much of Harry's anger still ended up directed at him, because he was the only person with whom Harry had constant contact.

Neku sighed and took out his phone. "It never takes this long for the mission to arrive."

"So …" Harry said casually, "how did you die?"

"…" Neku lowered his head, his expression hidden under his collar. "I … don't know. I can't remember how I died."

"Hmm …" A sudden beeping noise brought Harry out of his musings. "Oh, the mission." He pulled out his cell phone and read the message out loud. " 'Round 4. Defeat the boss of Miyashita Park. Time limit: 30 minutes. Game over will result in erasure.' "

As usual, once Harry had finished reading the text, his hand jolted with a sharp pain. Neku winced and grabbed his hand as well. "There's the timer."

"All right, let's start this mission," Harry said. "So … where is this Miyashita Park?"

"It's just past Towa Records." Neku crossed his arms and turned to face in the opposite direction. "We should have plenty of time to get there."

"All right, lead the way."

With a curt nod, Neku headed in the direction opposite of which he and Harry had gone the previous day. As they passed into the next district and ran by the Shibuya Department Store, Harry noted that there was no red Reaper in sight.

"Hi, Mina," came a voice from behind the Players.

"Oh! Hey, Ai!"

Harry and Neku paused and turned around. Two teenage girls wearing school uniforms, one with short black hair and the other with long brown hair, were standing outside the department store.

"It's those two again," Neku said.

"You know them?" Harry asked.

"Kind of." Neku scratched the back of his head. "Shiki and I had a mission last week involving them. They were arguing and drawing noise, so we had to help patch up their argument."

"These missions …" Harry furrowed his brow. "They can be anything at all, huh?"

"I guess so," the redhead said.

"So, Ai," started the girl with short hair. "Have you talked to Makoto at all?"

"Yeah, I saw him yesterday," said Ai, and her face fell. "He's been acting a little different nowadays."

"Hmm." Mina frowned thoughtfully. "It must be his work. The last time I talked to him, he's been having some troubles at work."

"Maybe …" Ai sighed. "I just hope he feels better before that Tin Pin match we're going to."

"I'm sure he will," said Mina. "Hey, I know what'll cheer you up! Let's go eat! I know where we can go!"

"Sure!" Ai smiled, and she and her friend headed toward the scramble crossing.

"Well … they seem nice," Harry said.

"Ugh." Neku scowled. "Come on, let's keep going. We won't make it in time if we keep on stopping."

Harry didn't argue with his partner even if he didn't like his tone. If he were dead, and if the Game was a second chance at life, then he wasn't going to take any unnecessary risks. All he knew was that he didn't belong in Shibuya, and he had a feeling in the back of his mind that there was somewhere else that he needed to be … somewhere important.

The next district that they entered was called Cadoi City, and – much to Harry's dismay – there were two Reapers in red, each standing in front of each exit. Neku sighed, annoyed, and walked over to the one farther away from them. Harry trudged after Neku, a disgruntled look on his face.

"Want past this wall?" the Reaper asked. "Then defeat all the noise possessing people here!"

"Looks like we're going to have to fight for it." Neku reached into his pockets and took out three pins.

"So … what are we supposed to do?" Harry asked.

"Use your Player pin to scan this area," Neku said, sounding irritated. "You'll know who is being possessed by noise."

"All right, then." Harry pulled out of his Player pin from within his robes, held it tight, and closed his eyes. At once, the sound of multiple voices filled his head.

Aw, man! My shirt's on backwards!

I wonder if that girl from the Natural Puppy store will go out with me?

That guy in my class says he knows CAT. I wonder if I can get him to introduce me if I become his friend?

As Harry listened to each person's thoughts, he began wondering why the Player pin allowed him to look into people's minds. Was it because the missions sometimes required knowing something that a Player would only know if he or she could read minds, or was it because he was dead and, therefore, not part of the living. On the second day, shortly after they had completed their mission, Harry had attempted to scan Neku. Not only couldn't he scan his partner, but the thoughts of the other two Players they had met, Kiyo, and Miyuki, were also kept from him.

Suddenly, a feeling of negativity washed over Harry and brought him out of his musings. Turning his scanning towards the negativity, he found that it was coming from two different sources.

She is so lying. I know it! What is she hiding from me? Maybe she went out with Takeshi even after I told her I liked him?

My boss has been giving me dirty looks lately. How could he know that I skipped out on work two days ago?

"Now, let's get rid of the noise." Neku's voice echoed in Harry's thoughts.

Harry was about to respond, but before he could he felt himself being pulled up and everything around him blurred into white. When the world returned, he found himself standing in front of a slightly distorted backdrop of Cadoi City. Two wolves, a hedgehog, and a slim blue serpent faced against him.

"Let's fight!" Harry drew his wand and pointed it at the blue serpent. "Stupefy!" he shouted.

A red jet out of light flew out from the end of the wand and hit the serpent directly. The monster recoiled and shrieked. Harry was about to strike another blow when, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a flurry of quills flying at him.

Turning on his heel, Harry pointed his wand at the hedgehog and cried, "Impedimenta!" successfully paralyzing it. Then, one of the wolves came running at him from behind and bit him on the shoulder.

Harry winced and held his shoulder. The second wolf noise was about to attack him as well, but Harry kicked it aside. He started muttering a spell to get rid of both wolves, which were circling around him, but a small blue disk hit him in the back.

"This is bad …" he said, doubled over in pain.

And then, he felt warmth surging through his body. His wounds were immediately healed and he felt his strength returning to him.

Look, we'll have a better chance of defeating these guys if we sync together! Neku's voice rang in his head.

Sync? But how do we …

Just … Neku hesitated for a moment, and Harry could imagine him grimacing. Just focus on me … and I'll do the same.

"Right," Harry muttered, holding his wand tightly and pointing it at the closest noise. "Aguamenti!" he yelled, and a surge of water flowed from his wand.

He then turned to fight the hedgehog, which had just released another barrage of quills, but before he could fire a spell at it, the creature vanished in a burst of static. Assuming that Neku had defeated the hedgehog, Harry waved his wand and launched a spell at one of the wolves. As the light left his wand, a green disk of energy surrounded his body. The moment his spell had hit the wolf, the disk floated out of sight.

That light … I've seen it before. But Harry hadn't the time to think about it. He fired another spell at the same wolf and it too disappeared.

It's called the light puck. As usual, Neku sounded exasperated. It makes your attacks stronger, but only if we're fighting in sync.

So that's how it works. The light puck had returned to Harry's field, and once he felt its energy within him, Harry shot a red jet of light at the serpent and it burst into static, defeated.

Only one wolf noise remained, and Harry stared it down, ready to finish it off. But Neku crushed it before Harry could attack it again. The battle now over, Harry imagined that he and Neku would be sent out of the battle zone; instead, he and Neku were taken into another battle zone, this time against five raven noise.

"And here we go again." Harry groaned. "Impedimenta!"

His attack never found its target. Again, Harry was surrounded by the same sensation that had accompanied every plane transition. He wasn't alone – Neku was standing close by him. The ravens were present as well, but none of them were moving.

"Let's finish this!" Harry shouted.

"No problem!" Neku said.

Neku and Harry then went into action. The two Players began firing balls of energy at the ravens, teleporting around the plane as needed. Harry didn't marvel at how he was able to do so; a battlefield wasn't exactly the best place for questions.

Then, it was over. When he and Neku stopped their barrage on the noise, they were back in the battle zone. All five ravens burst into static and vanished, defeated in a single attack. Harry blinked, and found himself already back in Cadoi City. Neku was talking to the red Reaper.

"Objective complete," said the Reaper. "Wall clear!"

"Great, now let's get moving," Neku said as he crossed into the next district, which happened to be Towa Records.

"I think I'm starting to get the hang of this. But what was that last attack we used?" Harry asked.

"That was a fusion attack," Neku answered. "As you probably saw, it's incredibly powerful, but we can only use it when we sync."

"So we couldn't use it before." Harry wasn't too surprised. He and Neku were barely cooperating now, and Harry could only guess at how terrible their "sync" had been when they first met.

Harry and Neku passed through Towa Records without issue, and they entered a dimly lit tunnel. There were a few large windows cut in the side and Harry could see cars going past on the other side.

"We just have go through this underpass and we'll be at the park," Neku explained. He looked down at his hand. "We still have eighteen minutes. Come on."

"Yeah, coming."

The two Players hurried through the tunnel and had almost reached the exit when a loud, high-pitched voice called out to them. "Yoo-hoo!"

"Who was that?" Harry asked.

Neku let out a shocked gasp. "You!"

Standing in the underpass behind Neku and Harry were two Reapers, a woman with pink hair and a man with a lollipop. The black bat wings on their backs let Harry know that they were Reapers, not Players.

"You again?" demanded the woman, sighing. "Like, who goes through the Game twice?"

"I … I don't know what you're talking about!" Harry said.

"Get out of the way! We don't have time for you!" Neku snapped, clenching his fist.

"Ooh, zing!" said the man, chuckling. "Let's make this quick, then, shall we?"

"Ugh!" Neku threw a quick glance at his palm and groaned again. "We don't have time to deal with these guys! We're going to have to make a run for it!"

"Huh?" Harry turned around to see Neku running at breakneck speeds out of the tunnel. "Wait for me!"

"What the –" The female Reaper stared after Harry and Neku, dumbfounded. "Where are you going? Get back here!"

"Chill, Uzuki," said her partner. "Stress is bad for your complexion."

Uzuki let out a scream. "Why should I? Who do they think they are, running like that!"

The man shrugged. "Ah, let them run. Why bother going through all the work to catch them?"

"… Are you really that lazy, Kariya?" Uzuki grumbled.

-

Neku didn't stop running until he was certain that he had put considerable distance between him and the Reaper pair. Harry followed him, panting and gasping for air.

"They just can't leave me alone, can they?" Neku sighed. "Well, we're here, Miyashita Park."

Harry glanced around. "We're supposed to be facing against some boss, so we'd better get ready for a fight."

"Right."

No sooner had the words left Neku's mouth than an animalistic shriek rent the air. Harry and Neku looked up and saw a large blue noise flying in the sky. Spotting the two Players, it flew down and landed on the ground, making the earth shake. It appeared to be a wyvern.

The two partners prepared themselves for battle. Once they had both been transported to their battle zones, Neku struck the first blow. Using one of his pins, he mentally grabbed a car that was placed in his battle zone and flung it at the wyvern. Harry, in his own zone, attacked the wyvern with spell after spell. As the boss of the park, however, it held strong through the Players' attacks.

Let's try using that fusion attack again, Harry suggested.

All right, but we've got to sync first.

"Not a problem," Harry said out loud to himself. Now that he knew what it meant to sync, and how to do so, it was only a matter of time before he and Neku would be able to use their attack again. "Stupefy!" he shouted, hitting the wyvern with a red beam of light.

The wyvern let out an angry roar and spat out a stream of fireballs at Harry, who was unable to dodge and struck with the full force of the attack.

You've got to be careful!

I know! I was caught off-guard. It won't happen again. Harry caught a glimpse of the monster flying towards him in a tackle and avoided it in time.

About a minute later, Neku and Harry had synced enough to be able to unleash their fusion attack. And not a minute too soon, thought Harry, who was nearing his last legs. Neku had healed them twice, and even then the noise's attacks would wear them back down.

"Let's finish this!"

"No problem!"

Again, the partners released their fusion attack against their enemy. Unlike the ravens, though, which had fallen immediately to the energy balls, the wyvern noise was still standing. Weakened, but not defeated, it launched another series of fireballs at both Harry and Neku in the separate zones.

"One more attack should be enough to finish this," Neku said. He then used one of his pins to raise a column of flames, finally erasing the wyvern noise. A second later, he and Harry were back in Miyashita Park.

"Timer's gone," said Harry. "I guess we completed the mission."

"Yeah …" Neku sighed. "Only three more days left until this week."

"Three more days," Harry repeated. "All I need to do is last three more days … and then I'll have my answers."

-

Because the battle system in The World Ends With You is kind of unusual if you've never played it, I'll explain a bit more about the battle system. Harry cannot fight anyone without Neku fighting as well. In TWEWY, no matter how strong a person is he or she is useless without a partner. Harry could have his memories and all his spells and whatnot. If Neku's not fighting, he can't do anything. Another reason why Neku stopped Harry in the last chapter from fighting Noboru is because Noboru is the Game Master. He's the Players' enemy on the seventh day. You can't fight him unless it's the seventh day. They're going to have to wait.