Author's Notes: Another thank you and welcome to the next chapter. I'm in the process of editing still and if anyone is reading this for the first time I can tell you you're in for a nice long treat. The whole story has purpose and yes, these original characters play some plot importance to the main arc. I took some creative liberties with the previous characters and think that six years after the first game seemed to make everything new enough to be new, yet still inspire nostalgia for the original game. I wanted the weeks to thematically feel the same as the original game. The first week being something of an introduction to the game and plenty of explanation for the inner workings of the game. My excuse for explanation is Nanami and my excuse for flashbacks is Weiss. I believe it's necessary to explain/ remind readers of the original story and pray read on. I think you've just about reached the point where all the new characters have been introduced and it's high time to start meeting some old friends. In person. : )

Please PM me if you see any errors. If you think there's an error, well there probably is.]

XXXXXX

XXX Day 2 XXXX

The boy was lucky. His partner was strong, even if the blue haired bastard didn't seem very motivated. "Let's go!"

The partner had blue colored everything: hair, eyes, clothes, trinkets and even his aura was blue. You could sense this depressed outlook on life and this irritation that could only be colored blue. "Quit hurrying… there's no time limit…"

This guy was driving him nuts. He wasn't even putting the slightest amount of effort into the mission. "Then why not finish early? I don't get you man. We're partners. We should be working together a little bit."

The blue haired partner didn't answer the boy with tact, "We don't work together. I'm not your damned partner. Never was… You made a pact with me by chance… I don't need you…"

The boy walked passed the record store toward Catstreet. "You can't do anything alone! You can't fight without a partner, man. Humans need other people to survive. The same is true in this game." T

The blue haired kid grabbed the other boy by the jacket stopping him from walking further, "Did it ever occur to you that I don't want to survive? Heaven or hell! I'll take either one over this game! If you're ready to die... then you can call yourself my partner. As for my name, it's Thanatos."

What was with this blue haired jerk. He was an ass. No one wanted to die and no one wanted to lose this game. He needed to remember that, "Well I am your partner and we are going to survive. We all want to exist."

The boy didn't notice that there was a little noise symbol floating toward him. There was a Reaper nearby and he was about to sick Noise on the unsuspecting moron. Captain blue didn't seem to even warn his partner, whatever happened happened. Well, maybe just one warning. "Keep your eyes open or you're going to die… and I won't save you…"

The other boy looked at his blue haired partner as a noise seal sat right under him, "Save me? From what? Noise? Reapers? What? Do you think I'm not ready for this game?"

The blue haired partner let loose a grin at him with both hands in his blue jean pockets, "Your ignorance damns you… die in peace. And... no you're not."

The boy was erased by noise summoned by the sniper above the record store. A bird shot up from the symbol and swiped the pins he held; then another bird shot out the symbol as yet another gunshot went off. The two birds attacked the boy and erased him, now all that was left was his partner. He didn't matter anyway. Thanatos didn't think so anyway.

Thanatos wore a button downed shirt, an unbuttoned button down shirt. Something about that seemed amusing. Around his neck was a silver necklace, and around his jeans was a silver belt, he was about, perhaps 24 years of age and by the look on his face he'd be willing to commit murder or suicide. He looked up and smiled at a sniper above the record store. "Nice… summoning noise right below players… not against the rules either." He was bold for a player who just lost his partner. He had minutes left to live.

Joe Hawkeye heard the blue haired player and answered, "I got your partner, mate. You can't fight without your partner… also won't be long till you're erased. But thanks for the compliment, it's all too rare to get a kind word these days. I wish you the very best after life."

The blue haired player wore a confident smile and opened his hand as a bright blue bear appeared in front of him. It looked something like a noise, but it couldn't be. The blue haired male wasn't a reaper. He was a genuine player and Hawkeye knew it.

"That looks like one of the grizzly noise… what is it?"

Thanatos held his grin as he told Hawkeye, "It's my psych… And the reason it looks like a noise was because it was one… It's just a pin in my hand now… In the end... noise are just a psych to be used! Like humans!" The player made a striking motion and the bear mimicked. That bear was as fast as it's owner, which was pretty damn fast.

To Hawkeye, it sounded like he had the power of a reaper, "You're dead anyway, mate. You got a few minutes left… I can tell those bird noise are no match for you… No need to summon a flock of em."

The blue haired player kept fighting and making quick work of those Noise, "You're pretty observant for a reaper… I can erase your noise and reapers without much effort… Doesn't mean anything though… this game… Shibuya. Nothing matters… Fate should be accepted. I've accepted mine. You'd best accept yours."

The two bird noise were erased in an instant by the blue haired player's psych. He controlled the bear with a pin and that's how he did it. Some noise left pins behind, this guy could use those pins to make some sort of modified Noise. The bird noise could only take a few swipes before vanishing. The blue haired player continued on to Catstreet. The mission was clear. Sadly it had been before he got there. He was in no hurry, though. There was a nearby clothing store, he could probably find a place to nap there. It wouldn't be long until he slept. Into the Jupiter the Monkey store and the shopkeeper gave a silent nod at him as he walked into the upstairs area of the store. There were no Reaper symbols upstairs or places to shop, so no one could bother him. He lay down on the floor until he passed out.

XXX Day 3 XXX

"I've played this game for far too long… Let me go gravity... just let me float away somewhere." The boredom set in.

He was depressed all over again. To him the ceiling was colored gray, what did it matter what color it was supposed to be? Depressed and lazy eyes never really cared much for color. As the mission mail was received the eyes turned to his phone. "Another one… Rest and relax?... Sure…"

Thanatos hit the button on the phone as he rolled over to continue sleeping. That's all he did anymore, sleep. This was just another day and another game. The blue eyed male lazily closed his eyes; missions meant nothing, partners, reapers, the game, it all meant nothing. That's all there was around him, nothing. He slept soundly despite the ruckus outside. He got up after who knows how long. He could have looked at the time on his phone, but it didn't matter. He walked up to the door of the shop and reached for the knob. He was shocked by a barrier and he flung his hand away from the door.

"What's with this crap?" He examined.

He glanced around realizing they had put up a barrier outside the shop. He turned to see the shopkeeper, but the shop owner couldn't even see him now. The reaper seal that allowed shops to see players was gone.

"Interesting…" He was locked out of the mission. Normally a player would panic, but not this one. You couldn't make the boy panic or care. He wasn't a hero or a villain, just a man waiting to die. He'd go right back to the second floor of the store and passed out… again. It didn't matter what happened to the other players or the reapers, "It's their problem."

The player slept away and dreamed of nothing; he had nothing to dream of anymore. He awoke again when he noticed the timer on his hand had 6 seconds left. He got up and headed toward the door. His sleep pattern went to hell after being in the game for as long as he had. After looking at his hand he noticed the timer was up. He left the store after that. "Well… that was a successful third day mission…"

Outside it seemed lively enough. Aww, a couple was kissing. It was some cute black haired girl with some younger white haired kid. After a few seconds they opened their eyes and the girl pushed the white male away from her. Extremely embarrassed like she would never ordinarily do such a thing.

Okami was furious. "No… Why? Why are you still here?!" None should have passed, there wasn't anyone who met the criteria. What was going on here?!

Kotori had to giggle, "A player passed the mission." Oh she must have been SO proud of herself.

Okami turned around, looking for a single detail he missed. "No! No one passed! Where is the player?"

The blue haired player glanced around and walked up to join the rest of the group. Okami turned and snarl at him, "You! Where were you?"

The blue haired player gave him a confused look, "In the store... Are you stupid? You reapers locked me in there."

Okami barked with fury, "How did you get locked inside? You shouldn't have got past Hawkeye! You weren't reported!"

Joe Hawkeye saw the blue haired player and tell Okami, "I erased his partner yesterday… There's no way he formed another pact in time… Look he still don't ave a pardner!" He didn't. There were an odd number of players. Wait, how?! Every player had to have a partner or they'd be erased.

Kotori smiled at both of them, "Quite humorous…" Oh this was a much better scene than she predicted.

Okami pointed at her, it suddenly dawned on him. "You! You did this! You sabotaged my mission!"

Kotori stopped giggling, but kept on grinning, "You were the one who said put up the barriers around the stores… so I did… and as I promised they did not break. I believe you even inspected the barriers yourself. If you noticed something was wrong you should have said something then."

Okami punched the floor and every player slowly realized that they weren't going to be erased, "I didn't say that! I said to lock all the players out of the stores… He was supposed to fight! There should have been no one outside our barriers!"

Kotori could only give a feign apology, "Well… I must have missed him… my sincerest apologies." She did that on purpose. It was painfully obvious.

The woman was grinning ear to ear and Okami knew full well that woman wasn't capable of doing anything by accident. She did this to humilate him. To rob him of his victory. "Clever bitch..."

Joe Hawkeye had point out something about the blue haired player, "How did he survive? He should be erased without a padner."

Thanatos could only look around him and notice that apparently he was the only one who did the mission correctly. How'd that work? Usually he never completed missions. Now he was the center of attention, "You're kidding... Really? I'm the only one who did the mission..." After a scoff he had to say, "I don't need a partner for the same reason a reaper doesn't. Go ask your Composer why I'm here and he'll tell you."

Okami snarled and looked around him, "I could erase you easily… I will devour the soul within you… It'd be within my rights! You're cheating somehow!"

The blue haired player gave Okami an angry glare, "I'd like to see you try. You'd be erased before me, reaper."

Okami was enraged, he was clearly genuinely thinking of attacking the player. Okami's wolf noise appeared next to him and gave a whimper. The game proxy paused, his pet wolf being the only thing to calm him down "I've got your scent… I'll have the dogs of hell hunt you down… Don't expect to make it through the week."

The blue haired player openly laughed at Okami, "That's rich! Well I wish you a very good hunt and the best of luck with that." He walked away with a devil smirk.

The player genuinely was making Okami angry. Okami might lose it there in a second. He'd show everyone just how powerful an officer class Reaper was.

Kotori warned him, "Don't attack a player, Okami. Wait until day seven. Then and only then can you attack."

She was hoping he would attack. If he did, he'd answer to the Conductor. Okami was strong, but he wasn't a match for the Conductor.

He glared at Kotori and he told her, "You robbed me of my victory… Unforgivable… You call yourself a reaper?..." Okami was clearly angry and then he let a grin out, "Make no mistake, Kotori… I'll delete them all… no matter how you try and save them… Take a good look at them… None of them will survive day six… no one has."

Kotori stopped smiling at him, "Take care what you say… I will place limitations to make the game possible…"

Okami growled, "I should erase you too, bitch…" He said using the last word in context He was getting brave enough to kill her right about now. Okami turned and pointed at the players, "It's a dog eat dog world! Only the strong survive! In my eyes you're all weak! Fit only to be nutrients to the strong! I hate Shibuya… I hate you players… I'll have it my way… and I'll erase you all!" Okami let out a howl.

Hanekoma stepped out of the café, "Hey!" Okami was getting really rowdy outside. He had about enough of it.

Okami snarled at him too, "Don't test my aggression… I really do feel like erasing everyone here…"

Hanekoma had his hands in his pockets and told the game proxy, "One mission per day… Your mission's done. Start walking."

Okami just kept barking, "And just what makes you the alpha dog?"

Hanekoma kept a straight face. The expression was that of complete authority. "Start walking."

After silence Okami turned and walked away. "Serenade, come." His pet wolf noise followed him and one by one the reapers left and Hanekoma stood where he was. "Well that takes care of that." He looked at Weiss and Nanami, "You did the right thing Weiss… Compassion is never a weakness. Remember that."

The players were passing out, they completed their mission. Day four was coming. They passed the halfway point.

XXXX

Day 4

Nanami woke up with a groan. Her head was hurting and she had the feeling something was wrong, "Where's Weiss?" They really didn't talk after that whole kiss thing. But she didn't really want to talk about it. It was too sudden, she'd never kissed a boy that fast. It had been three days and she hoped he didn't get any strange ideas. But then, he was a strange guy. It's normal for strange guys to have strange ideas.

She got up and looked to see him returning with two cups of coffee. "Good morning." He said with morning cheer.

Nanami looked up slowly and sent a wave, "Hey."

Weiss handed her a cup and then sat down, "My such a beautiful day in Shibuya. Is your head still hurting?"

The girl nodded at him, "It's not that bad." She lied. "Thank you for helping yesterday."

Weiss paused and said, "Well… everything worked out. I'm still not entirely sure how…"

Weiss began to wonder, but Nanami stopped him, "Does it matter?"

Weiss felt like sighing, "No, I suppose not. The mission should be arriving any time now." He stood in wait for now. He seemed to be content at looking at the sky as if he could see something she could not.

It was odd, Nanami had a lot she wanted to talk about. But didn't. It might have been her head. Well she could skim over them maybe? "So many things that happened yesterday, the suited man, the blue haired player and…-"

Weiss would guess at the last one. He had a victorious smirk. "The kiss?"

Nanami blushed until her face was red with irritation. "Well… I thought we were going to be erased and…"

Weiss sat down next to her, "Think nothing of it, I think you're a natural kisser?"

The girl kept turning redder and found herself at a loss of words, "I… Well…-"

Weiss looked at the sun overlooking Shibuya, "Look around you… the world is beautiful. Humans were meant to enjoy moments like these… and moments like those. There is nothing to be ashamed of Nanami. It's a woman's right to give kisses away at her digression."

Nanami turned a little pink. It was embarrassing, but then again she kinda deserved it. She just kissed this guy yesterday. I mean she just sort of did it. It was too much to ask that he wouldn't comment on it. "It's not shame, Weiss." It totally was. "I'm just not used to situations like this… awkward ones. I avoid them whenever I can…" Especially this one.

Weiss sipped his coffee, "Perfectly understandable. But feel free to kiss me again whenever you wish. I'd like to be more prepared next time." The girl blushed and looked at the ground. She couldn't blame him for teasing, she earned it.

Both of their phones vibrated they grabbed their phone and look at the screen. "Yet another interesting mission…" When were the missions ever simple?

Weiss said glancing at it. He hoped that this one would be less difficult. Nanami looked at the screen and asked him, "Any idea what it means?"

Weiss could guess, "They probably expect us to find out the hard way."

The girl had to nod, "I guess they do… Well… let's get on it."

Week 1 Day 4: Speak to Me

Find WATER. No time limit. Fail and be devoured. –The Reapers

"Where to?" Weiss asked Nanami.

"Umm… Why are you asking me where to go?"

Weiss chuckled, "I figured since we don't know where to go, starting anywhere is fine. Anywhere you want to head to?"

The girl tried to think a moment, "Well… Nothing I can think of. I'm just as clueless as you, Weiss."

Weiss had a thought, "Perhaps we should examine the river. There's plenty of water there."

Nanami got another idea, "Well… wait, Pork City."

Weiss cocked his head, but kept his smile and eyes shut, "Odd request…"

Nanami responded with an explanation, "Well… other players will probably check the river. We should go somewhere they aren't going. Pork City is as good as any other spot."

Weiss was as suspicious as anyone should be, "Hmmm… any particular reason why you want to head there?"

He smiled hoping the girl planned to give him a hint of some kind. Nanami in fact did, "Well… I just want to see what's on top.."

Weiss guessed, "You want to go there because of me? That's where I went before I died."

Nanami had to wave her hands, "No!... Yes!... Kinda… You said you remembered going to the top floor yesterday and it got me curious… maybe you'll remember something about how you died."

Weiss could only ask, "Does it really bother you? I really don't know how I died and if I don't remember how… there may be no explanation. But do you still want to go? There may be consequences."

Nanami slowly nodded, "I want to see whatever you saw…" She still kept finding his word choices odd. Consequences? Did he remember anything? Or did he just like making unnecessary warnings?

Weiss let out a light sigh, "There could be harm in checking what was up there. But… I suppose we could head up there. Lead the way, Nanami." Again, another creepy warning. Even so. Her better judgment needed to be cast aside for now.

It was a long walk.

It was a silent walk.

They could be searching for whatever the Reapers meant by 'WATER'. Okami was surprisingly crafty for someone obsessed with dogs and wolves. One would think of him more of upfront fighter. Yet he was displaying at least a small amount of care to little details. It wasn't too surprising as he was an experienced Reaper, but still. You'd think he'd make his missions to be as dumb as he sounded. But they weren't. They were always sly and misleading. In truth... It was how wolves would hunt. Wolves are actually clever hunter. Weiss nor Nanami knew much about wolves. But generally even though wolves could attack in straightforward manners, they often made encirclements and such to corner prey. Whatever thoughts of Okami and wolves they had didn't last long. They were getting close to Pork City.

Weiss walked next to Nanami silently as the sounds of Shibuya washed over them, to them the people walked by unknowing of the dead. The people, the cars, the wind, the sound of commercials and it was all at once. Weiss didn't have to guess why this place was so full of noise. He almost seemed to be disgusted as he walked through the streets. He did his best to hide it, but he really didn't seem to like Shibuya.

Still, Pork City made this place a joke. One scan in Pork City and it'd be the last thing you ever did. Noise were EVERYWHERE. That might be what killed him. He didn't know, Nanami went there unsure of how dangerous it really was, it was where the noise gathered. It looked like she got second thoughts after getting a good look at that tower. "I didn't expect it to be like this." She said quietly.

Nanami wanted to go up there before. And despite what she said she still kept going. So be it. Weiss couldn't argue, perhaps there was something in his nature that was preventing him from wanting to know his death. There had to be a reason he didn't want to know and even Nanami knew that. If he didn't want to find out, she would. Basically if something happened to his memory, maybe she could remember or see something he couldn't after they left.

Weiss was saying unnerving things. Maybe to dissuade her from looking. "Nanami… I should let you know… whatever you see on top of Pork City… don't let it break you."

What the hell should that mean? She gave a demanding look at him, "What's up there? What could break me?"

Weiss told her, "Whatever was up there… it could have been something that made me forget portions of my life… You should be careful. The mind blocks out memories of painful events or near death experiences. I'm not saying not to go. I'm just..."

He was scared?

Nanami understood a little, her mind was blocking out her death. It was painful. Part of her wouldn't want to see it again. That's what Weiss could be looking at. "Don't say stupid stuff like that again."

Weiss sigh and remove the smile, "Alright, I won't." He was being a total pushover about this.

On their way to the tower waited Uzuki and Kariya. "Just the players I wanted to see." Kariya began.

"Where you heading?" Uzuki had her arms crossed and seemed to be staying quiet. Kariya was up to something, no doubt.

Nanami wondered what they wanted, "Reapers?..."

Weiss spoke to the reapers first, "We're looking around for something called, 'WATER'."

Kariya smiled and gave his lollipop a twirl around his fingers, "Doesn't seem like you're looking for it. You won't find it here and I think smart kids know that.."

Nanami had to ask them, "What do you want from us?"

Kariya smiled and pointed his lolipop at Nanami, "I love a girl who gets to the point, listen… I got a deal for ya. You help us… we help you…" Nanami didn't like where they were going with this.

Weiss wore smile and closed eyes while saying, "Alright, we'll listen to any deals you have." He didn't even give it a second thought. He was going to hear them out. Weiss would be the type of guy who smiled and while talking to Satan.

Kariya motioned for Uzuki to tell the players, "Well… It's gross… but we've been told not to attack any players this game. Okami wants all the points for himself."

Nanami wondered what that had to do with them, "We don't really like Okami either." She confessed.

Kariya gave a conventional smile and nod, he put unnecessary emphasis on the next couple of words. "That… is… Exactly… what I wanted to hear. He's game master, the proxy of this game. If he deletes you all… he'll be game proxy again. Meaning he'll probably hog points all over again. We didn't think this fair."

Uzuki wanted to shout, "And it sickens me to think that he's game proxy! He's probably doing illegal stuff! There's no way you can erase so many players that fast! He's a cheating bastard who's stealing my promotions!" Oh she was a hothead.

Weiss smiled in the direction of Uzuki, "Well she's lively."

Kariya had to say, "Young reapers are. But anyway, we want Okami gone… permanently."

Weiss was catching on. "And you want us to do it?"

Nanami didn't like where this was going, "Wait… they want us to fight Okami?"

Kariya put the lollipop in his mouth and a lump was visible on the side of his mouth. "So… You think you might be interested in that?"

Nanami was about to disagree, Okami was strong and it would make more sense to avoid the game proxy than to look for him. Of course they wouldn't agree to something that stupid.

"We'll erase him for you." Weiss said with both eyes happily shut. "Any way you can help? We need to defeat the game master on day 7 anyway."

Kariya grinned and got what he came for, "Sure sure… Take one of these." Kariya gave Weiss a phone with a reaper skull on it. "It's a reaper's phone. It shows you what all the support reapers know. What walls to put up, where they think the mission objective is… everything. Most importantly… I'll use it to contact you. We need you nice and healthy to kill Okami. Plus I just like screwing him over."

Weiss put the phone in his pocket, "Thank you for your help, Reapers. I suppose you want to keep this meeting secret?"

Kariya began to walk away with a shrug, "Meeting? We never met. I don't know what you're referring to."

Uzuki glared at them, "Tell anyone we helped you and I'll kill you~. I own a gun or two and I wouldn't take me a day to find you. Even if you do win the game." She smiled and giggled there at the end to get the point across she'd do it happily.

Kariya dragged her away, "Down girl." Eventually she stopped resisting and they both vanished. The reapers were gone.

"Well now we know where we're headed." Weiss said with a smile. Nanami shook her head, "How can you trust them? They're reapers."

Weiss didn't think too long on that, "The very same reason you trust anyone you don't know…" He tapped the phone and pulled out a map of Shibuya. Then showed it to Nanami, "We have common interests." There was a blinking dot of every reaper with one of those phones. "We can track where all the active reapers are… and…" He tapped a few more times and showed her, "The mission objective is… here? Whatever we're looking for is right here."

Nanami cocked her head and squinted, "WATER? In a hospital?"

Weiss looked at it too. Yeah that was a little weird. Although with no time limit, part of the game might have been figuring out what WATER was supposed to be. "Apparently… but we don't have any other leads; we may as well check there."

Nanami felt like this was cheating, "I really don't know… what if they're trying to trick us?"

Weiss thought about that, "Possible… but it's more likely they were being honest. Okami doesn't seem to be loved by the other reapers. I think they genuinely want him to fail." Nanami let out a defeated sigh, "Alright. We'll use this little tool to help us… for now."

XXXX

"How did it go?" Kotori asked. Of course she was the one orchestrating this. She would be the type who'd be getting reapers to double cross one another.

Uzuki let out a happy giggle, "Like a charm."

Kotori smiled at things going smoothly on that end, "Okami needs to be shown he is a fool… that failing to recognize the other reapers around him will result in him making bitter enemies. He should share points, I don't approve of children unwilling to share."

Kariya told her with lollipop in hand, "You really think those kids can do it? Erase Okami?" He started sucking on it after his sentence.

Kotori responded with honesty, "We are still reapers, Kariya. If they are erased… even by Okami. Okami could even be weakened. If he were to fight those players, either they would erase him or I would erase him. I can't imagine the players could be at top shape after fighting Okami either. So you see if the players succeed or lose…"

Uzuki let out another giggle, "We still win. This is a win-win situation for us. Easy as cake~"

Kariya stopped her there, "Unless we got caught."

That stopped Uzuki from experiencing any further joy, "Ohh yeah…"

Kotori told them with both eyes shut, "I assure you… that if the cover is blown, you two will take full responsibility… but I will see to it that your punishment is light at worst. Okami's absence in future games should more than make up for any losses you may have. I myself would probably suffer a demotion or something. Hardly matters. The Conductor dare not erase the two of you. You're valuable. As am I."

Kariya liked the idea, "But we won't get caught. You intend to bury the evidence, don't you? We all have reasons not to talk and you're going to erase anyone who doesn't." That meant Weiss and Nanami were going to be erased right after they dealt with Okami. Erased players don't talk to Conductors or Composers.

Kotori had to grin a moment and change the subject, "That phone you gave them will lead them wherever we want them to go… We'll need them to make certain to avoid other reapers until the evidence is gone."

Uzuki got back on the previous subject, "Dibs on the girl."

XXXXX

Elsewhere

XXXXX

"We came as soon as we could!" A pair of voices said at the same time. Both female, both attractive. In their twenties and wearing very fashionable clothing. Although 'fashionable' in Shibuya might mean stepping on a landmine in a clothing store.

A blonde lady who was a little younger than them seemed surprised they arrived so quickly."Shiki? Eri? You both came?" There was gratitude at the proof they cared enough to come see her. She sat in a hospital bed, wearing nothing but that dreadful hospital getup. Hospitals weren't known for their taste in clothing. What's more you'd occasionally see someone's butt. They were places to get better, not enjoy yourself. It was a miracle that the blonde turned out as well as she did.

"You got hit by a car, Rhyme… Of course we came." The brunette said. Upon closer inspection it was Shiki. In the first game Shiki mostly walked around in Eri's body. Eri was the 'pretty' one back in the day. Eri still wasn't bad looking, but Shiki's confidence changed a lot. Shiki wore her own sense of fashion and her brown hair was a little longer now. It was styled now instead of simplistic. Her look worked for her and Mr. Mew was always accompanying her as it did back in the day. Although her Mr. Mew design could be seen all over the place, she had the original plush doll. There were Mr. Mew keychains, dolls of different sizes, hats and even Mr. Mew bags/ purses. Shiki didn't wear hats, her clothing was a mix of casual and professional. Her glasses was an accessory for intelligence. She made sure to wear glasses that she thought was cute. Shiki had grown in six years although she was still a tiny even for a girl. Luckily for her guys tended to like tiny girls.

Eri on the other hand wasn't tiny. She looked more like a model. She had the curves of a model and she dressed like a model. Her job was a clothing designer, so you could often see her wearing some of her own designs. So essentially she WAS a model. Shiki was the real brains of the organization and usually was the ying to her yang. Shiki and Eri were best friends. They did everything together and six years ago Shiki really started coming out of her shell. Whatever happened six years ago really made Shiki turn a new leaf. It might have been Neku? Well regardless of what changed her, Eri welcomed it. Shiki wasn't living in her shadow anymore. Shiki was her own person and proud of it. Almost made Eri jealous. "We left work the moment we found out, are you alright?"

Rhyme actually worked at the same company, but at a different division. Rhyme was excellent at organizing and planning events. A master at those little details that makes or breaks. Rhyme unlike Shiki and Eri was dressed fully professionally. Her hair was much longer now. Rhyme wasn't as short as Shiki, but she was younger. She worked for a big company and growing her hair out was one of the first ways to seem older. She stopped wearing hats, she stopped wearing shorts and switched those kid shoes for high heels. Overall it suited her, but her brother liked the way she used to look. He liked to think of his little sister as little. But that was the thing, she wasn't little anymore. Rhyme didn't need to be reminded she was little, "Honestly I'm fine." She said softly. "The only thing I hurt was my ankle." That wasn't quite true.

She didn't mention that Beat took his newest skateboard design and threw it at her. Before you think it was out of hate, it was out of care. Rhyme was about to be hit by a car and Beat wasn't near enough to push her. At the time he was carrying a new skateboard design that took him weeks to make. When he saw Rhyme in danger he took that skateboard design and threw it at her without a second thought. The board hit her in the back and caused her to fall out of the car's way. The car would have hit her fully if the skateboard hadn't. When the skateboard hit her she fell and the car broke her ankle. It would have done a lot worse. Even if she had survived, well she'd be in a coma. Poor Beat, he must have been so mad at her. Wasting his newest skateboard design. That car hit his skateboard and broke it. It was worthless now.

Eri took her sad look the wrong way, "Why isn't Beat here? Did he not know you got hit by a car?"

Rhyme did a sad smile, "He knows, he's just outside taking a breather. He's got a lot on his mind." He was probably freaking out about his design now.

Eri questioned, "You almost got hit by a car, he should be in here with you."

Shiki touched her best friend on the shoulder, "Beat cares a lot about Rhyme. He probably needs to blow off some steam right about now."

Eri calmed down. Shiki was right. "I'm still surprised how many accidents have been happening lately. People have been driving worse and worse. People are even walking into the streets carelessly. This is getting to be a bigger problem."

Rhyme frowned, "The Noise. It's the Noise."

Eri knew about them, but not as much as the others in the room. "Have you been sensing more of them lately."

Rhyme could feel noise, ever sense the game she could feel when Noise were close by, "I felt them in the driver. He had way above what a normal person could handle."

Shiki was like Rhyme, she could sense Noise. Not just Noise, but Players and Reapers. Beat couldn't sense them like she could. But Beat could hear Noise, Players and Reapers. It was weird, it's as if one of their senses worked when it came to the Underground. However, if a former player were to use their Player pin, they could pretty much become a player again temporarily. Pretty much all of them carried around a player pin in case they needed to erase some troublesome Noise they knew about. You could say it was community service, but sometimes it was just to keep themselves from going nuts from all the Noise around them.. "Were the Noise distracting you? Was that why you almost got hit?"

Rhyme didn't really answer, but it was probably true. "It was an accident. Beat saved me. He threw his skateboard design to knock me out of the way." For those of you who are wondering how that was physically possible. Beat's psych was a skateboard. Beat probably put so much spiritual power into that throw that it knocked Rhyme further than a normal throw.

Poor Rhyme, she felt terrible. Eri gave her a hug and asked Shiki, "Is Neku coming?"

Shiki frowned, "It's been hard to reach him ever since he got that new assistant. He doesn't know."

"Rhyme listen." Eri said, "Don't worry about that skateboard design, it doesn't matter. What matters is that you're OK."

Shiki kept glancing at the doorway, she felt someone was there. Although she didn't say anything. Players were nearby, there was one maybe two people watching. Shiki might have spoke to them if she weren't in a public place. That and there was a nurse coming in. An orange haired nurse who arrived to give Rhyme some pain killers. Shiki couldn't get a good look at the nurse. The nurse let them know the details, "We just finished the X-Ray and it looks like she'll be walking in a few days. Still it'd be best of you stay off your feet a few days to be sure. Sorry the X-Ray took so long to get. There's been a lot of accidents over the last couple of weeks." The nurse gave a little plastic cup with some pain killers in it. "Take some of these if your ankle hurts."

"Thank you." Rhyme said to the nurse. The nurse gave a warm little smile and left. She must have been working extra shifts. There wasn't much time for medical staff to give patients as much care as they'd like.

Weiss looked at Nanami, "WATER isn't here. But it's close. The marker's at the Shibuya hospital."

Nanami didn't know why, but she was almost crying seeing Rhyme like this. Her face didn't show it though, "Do you mind if I stay here a while?"

Weiss was surprised. He himself found this group interesting, but he wasn't emotionally moved. It's true he wasn't exactly good at... well... feelings. But this shouldn't have been anything that should bother Nanami. Did she know them? Given the circumstances that might be possible. They knew about Noise and that meant they were catching on to one of the problems with Shibuya. The Noise were flooding the city. Only now was the real world starting to feel the effects. "You can stay here." Weiss said glad of it. Nanami was getting more and more headaches. It was getting to the point where she wasn't going to be of much use against the Noise. Staying here in the hospital she'd be safe. Weiss left in a hurry, WATER was moving. Whatever it was, it was moving. Weiss only wondered one thing about Nanami, "Why is it that she wants to stay with them?" It didn't matter, he had to move.

Outside the hospital was depressing.

"Ain't no way I'm repairing this in a few hours. Ain't no way." Beat sighed looking at a broken skateboard. He was wearing a professional suit to present his new skateboard. Not that it mattered now. He actually wore a suit pretty well. You could see him as a stock trader in that thing. People who walked by thought he was somebody important. Someone sophisticated. He thought a moment of how he looked and when he saw himself in a suit he was disgusted.

"Screw dis!" He ripped off his suit jacket and threw it. He took off his nice white button down shirt to reveal a tanktop underneath. "This ain't me! That ain't ever gonna be me." He even threw away his nice shoes and took off those nice socks. He was barefoot, wearing a tanktop. He messed up his nicely combed hair. From the nearby shop he bought a lighter and a pack of cigarettes a little earlier. He desperately needed a smoke. Normally he didn't smoke, but today was crappy. It earned a cigarette.

Beat had a rough day, one bad enough to make even him feel down. "No way… no way… I'm gonna do this in a few hours… but… I gotta present something…" It's not like that new prototype was all that good. I mean it sure didn't suck, but it wasn't nearly as kick ass as his first design. Rhyme would feel a lot better if he could just fix up the design a little. His best design was back when he saved Shibuya with Neku. The design he came up with was a ninja grinding across a giant snake. Now that was a kick ass design. The outline of Shibuya in the background made it only look better. That had inspiration. That fight with Kitaniji was inspiration. But he hadn't fought a Noise in forever. He just went to a skate shop to try to get that ruined design repaired. He ended up getting a fresh wooden board. He got a good board for the price, but he had to put a design on it and soon. Honestly they didn't care about the finished product, they just wanted a design. Even if the paint wasn't dry, they'd still take it if it was good.

His well was dry. No designs coming to him.

That's when Weiss walked up behind him. Weiss was looking at his cell phone and almost didn't notice it was Beat until he got really close. When he saw Beat the memories came flooding in. Beat fighting Neku, Beat with reaper wings and Beat trying to save his sister. Just images at first and sometimes quotes, 'yo man, we in trouble.' 'Yo phones!' 'Rhyme!' Back then Rhyme got erased and he became a reaper in an effort to bring her back. Weiss was shocked at the memories, this guy was the real deal. He was one of the heroes that saved Shibuya. Weiss felt a sense of respect, he didn't know where from. "Beat?" He didn't expect the skater to hear him. Living people couldn't hear ghosts.

Beat turned around and looked right at him, "Who said dat?"

Weiss felt his eyes widen. This guy heard him? "You can hear me?"

Beat took his fresh wooden board in his arm. He had a broken one next to it. He must have been thinking about putting the design from that one on to the blank one. The reason he picked up that blank board was because a skateboard was his psych. If he was talking to a reaper, he was ready for one. "If you a reaper I ain't go no time for your shit." Beat pulled out a player pin. If he focused and used that thing, he could even see Weiss. Probably even attack Noise. He focused and looked Weiss right in the eye, "You a player?"

Weiss was impressed, Beat was spiritually aware, "I am."

"Whatcha want?"

Weiss didn't quite know how to put it, "I'm actually here for a mission. It lead directly to you. The objective is 'Find WATER'."

Beat was a little surprised, "Well... I was naming the newest skate design WATER. All capitals for style. They talking about the new skateboard design. It's being released today. Well... was."

Weiss smirked happily, "Well that's great, do you have it?"

Beat frowned, "Nah, it's broken. I need to make a new one. I only got a few hours to come up with an idea. I can show these guys a rush job, but I can't show them nothin."

Weiss offered, "Well can you just make one up? Any design should work right?"

Beat shook his head, "That ain't fair to my fans, man. I got a lot of people who love my stuff, yo. I can't give em dis crap. I want a real design. I don't know how to git one. My sister is ova there. In that hospital." He motioned his head and Weiss turned.

Weiss already knew Rhyme was his sister, although he didn't know how exactly he could have learned that. "You're worried about her." Weiss stated factually.

"Hell yeah man, hard to think right."

Weiss looked at Beat differently. He squinted and focused. "Noise. Noise cloud your mind. If I get rid of the Noise within you, then you should be able to think clearly."

Beat tried scanning, but didn't sense any Noise. "I don't feel no noise here."

Weiss was about to try something. "Well... I can sense a very powerful Noise. It might be that you're not able to feel this Noise because it's hiding in your own soul. Actually most people have Noise if you dig deep enough."

Beat was confused, "I ain't never heard ova noise in a soul."

Actually he did. The Reapers often used the Noise in their own soul to create their Noise forms. In fact Hanekoma even might have told himt hat once over the years, it's just not everything you told Beat sunk in.

Weiss walked towards him with player pin in hand. "Hold still, I can draw it out."

Beat ordinarily would have wondered what he just smoked. But this kid might know something. "Alright, I don't want no Noise in my soul man. Do what you gotta do."

Weiss held out a player pin. Then used it to touch Beat. The moment he touched Beat, there was a burst of psych that neither Beat or Weiss had seen before. It was like Weiss was using his own soul to push out Beat's. The end result wasn't painful, but Beat felt like his body was passing out. There was an explosion of white and then there was nothing. Beat looked around confused, "What the hell did that do?"

Weiss had to point behind him. His body was laying idly on the ground. "You can return if your soul touches your body." Weiss himself didn't have the faintest idea how he knew this. Actually Weiss never heard of anyone doing ANYTHING like that. Pushing a soul out of a body was... well unheard of.

"Whoa! Am I out of my body?! I ain't nevah seen this!"

Weiss confessed, "Neither have I." How come he knew to do that? Had he done it before? No, not that he could remember. He tried remembering anything that had to do with this, but ultimately got nothing. He couldn't even remember how he just did that. In fact he just now forgot. How did he do that? Did he do that? The memory just blurred. Disturbing. An action he committed seconds ago couldn't be remembered.

"You're a damned wizard man! Alright where's dis noise?"

They both looked around. There was no sign of any Noise. Quiet for a moment. Then they both looked at the floor. There was a giant noise symbol on the floor. At the exact same time they both jumped off the tattoo on the floor barely in time to avoid being bitten by a giant shark Noise.

It didn't dawn on Weiss immediately. But he didn't have his partner with him. He didn't expect a Noise that powerful. This thing had been locked up inside Beat for a long time. Weiss was going to have a hard time, but he could manage if he could just get to Nanami. "Alright. I'll erase the Noise for you! Leave this to me."

Beat didn't leave it to him.

Beat rushed the shark and hit it really really hard with a wooden skateboard. The amount of force in that hit was a sign of Beats soul. You would NEVER want to try to outmuscle Beat. His spiritual power was higher than any Reaper and even if he didn't have focus. He could put huge amounts of force into his psych. That shark felt it too. There was a huge imbalance in Beat's soul. The amount of power he used was inefficient. He couldn't let his power come out halfway, you got all or none of it.

Weiss didn't have nearly as much power as Beat, but he had more control and precision. He launched vorpal blades at the enemy noise and energy rings at the shark. The monster felt it, but it wasn't going down any time soon. Well actually it was going DOWN. But it wasn't out of the fight for sure. It dived into the concrete as if the concrete was w

X Transformation X

watch?v=J_P1OwYgZNIater.

X X

When it went into the concrete only it's fin could be seen. Beat let Weiss know how it was going to be, "I erase my own Noise, dammit!" He raced that skateboard to stylishly hit the Noise. There were skate boarding tricks you can't even name. Beat was shredding that board against that shark fin and he did skate tricks as naturally as throwing a punch. There were spins, kicks, slams and hell even a handstand/ full body kick. That skateboard must have been glued to his feet, because it did NOT come off.

Weiss was being outdone. He launched a volley of energy bolts, but it didn't look near as cool as what Beat was doing. It didn't do near as much damage as what Beat was doing. Weiss had distance, he had abilities he could use very close or very far away. Beat was only ever close. That shark must have figured it out. It started biting and it started biting a lot.

"Weak yo! This thing is weak!" Beat took a bite like a man. That thing couldn't have bitten very soft. It bit him twice, but it Weiss and Beat took advantage. Beat kept hitting it with his board and not barely hitting it. REALLY hitting it. Weiss used a full shockwave at the back of the shark Noise. It couldn't bite Weiss and it couldn't take shockwaves long. It dived.

Beat and Weiss moved before it bit again. Weiss sent ranged bolts at it and Beat just skated away. It started focusing on Weiss. Apparently it thought he'd be easier to kill. He wasn't. Where Beat took hits, Weiss avoided them. He hovered around and zipped around the shark. Sending blasts of attacks in a variety of ways. It looked familiar. Neku had a similar, but more forceful attack pattern. Beat saw it and didn't ignore the coincidence. That kid used psyches just like Neku did back then. Not during the final battle, of course. But back when Neku was starting out, he was about as strong as Weiss. "He's not going to notice you if you strike now, Beat." Weiss told him.

Beat heard. Then he did something new. Beat pointed an open palm at a light pole and a chain shot out of it. The chain stabbed into the light pole and made it easy for Beat to yank on it. When Beat yanked it gave him speed. He was on a skate board and he used that chain to pull to make him go faster. He shot out another chain and used it to change direction. He raced into the shark and let loose a legendary amount of ass kicking. "Feel the Beat!" There was lights and explosions. Every hit charged up his psych more and more. Beat could build up massive amounts of power very fast.

"Quit walking! Hit it for real, man!" Beat said.

Weiss was surprised at how much power Beat was launching at this thing. He didn't know how to hold back. Bar none, Beat could do more damage than any player that Weiss had ever heard of. Weiss came in close to shockwave and the Shark was nothing but a ragdoll. It was just taking hits. But Beat wanted to finish strong. "You know how to fusion?!"

Weiss nodded, "I can use a fusion pin."

"Use it!"

They used it.

The result was different than Nanami. This wasn't any sort of stage one fusion attack, this was Beat at his best. Weiss was just along for the ride. A tidal wave rose up from out of nowhere. It was Beat's soul power given form, an unstoppable tidal wave. It only went one direction. It didn't know how to stop and it was going to crash into something. Beat rose up with the tidal wave and so did Weiss. Weiss got a gold colored surf board and beat used his own skateboard to surf. That's when Beat noticed the most. This Weiss guy was really really similar to Neku. At least as far as psyches went. Their fusion move was the same. Beat could feel Weiss' soul energy. It was way different than Neku's. It felt very different, but when it came out they looked very close.

"Feel the Noise." Weiss began with glowing blue eyes.

Beat finished, "Break the Noise."

The tidal wave surged forward and washed across everything. It slammed down with enough force to utterly destroy all Noise it went against. It was definitely not normal water. Because normal water didn't erase a giant shark. The tsunami blasted the shark into obliteration.

It was over. "Kick ass." Beat said stylishly landing on this wooden board. "That was tits, bro." Must have been slang. Weiss didn't get it.

Weiss wasn't familiar with slang, "Pardon if I don't get the expression. But I don't think you were talking about-"

Beat wrapped his arm around Weiss' neck, "That was killer! Tight! Awesome! Badass! Whatever the hell you call it. That's what the hell it is!"

Weiss had to think a bit, "Oh, tits meant cool?"

Beat ignored that comment entirely and seemed to be entirely focused on his board idea.

Now before the noise was even destroyed Beat got a really good idea for the design. "Dude... a skeleton. A skeleton surfing on a street wave! Hell yeah! That's what I'm going to put on this damn board!"

Weiss was surprised killing the Noise went that well, "Well glad I could help. That was... tits?"

Beat frowned, "Nah that don't sound cool when you say it."

Weiss felt a sweatdrop. "Oh? Sorry."

Beat punched him in the shoulder, "I'm messin wid ya! It sounds cool when anybody says it. You helped me out man, big time." Beat had this way of smiling so big you just didn't doubt what he was saying at the time. The confidence was refreshing.

Weiss smirked, "Well it looks like my mission will be solved today. If you got your idea, that means your project is complete. WATER is what you're calling this one?"

Beat chuckled, "Tell you what man, even if it was your mission, I owe ya. You come find me when you come out of this alive. I'll take you to the skate park and show you what a Darklit sponsored skater can do. I'm getting myself a skull mask to skate in! See ya! I gotta go tell my sister! I got this!"

Beat ran off before Weiss could respond. He was really excited. Really excited. Now the mission was over. Weiss had to head down to the hospital. But before he did, he noticed the shark left a pin behind. He took it and smirked. It was a healing pin. Well now it was time to find Nanami. Or it would have been if he hadn't started falling asleep. "Oh... no..." Weiss was passing out now that the mission was over. But he didn't even have time to get back to Nanami. This was bad. He started walking towards the hospital only to see a Reaper waiting for him at the door.

"Sorry mate. Fraid you can't see ya pardna. See I got a score to settle. Sleep best ya can, I'll see ya when you wake. We got a sayin in the down under." The Reaper took the butt of the gun and bashed it over Weiss' head. "

This wasn't good.

XXXXX

Amnesia

watch?v=4lZWXzR1VW8&feature=related

Nanami stood staring at Rhyme. Unsure why her heart shook at the sight of an unknown person hurt. Unsure why her mind refused to acknowledge who she was. How her head began to spin, ache and pulse at denying that Nanami had never met her. Why couldn't she remember why she cared about Rhyme? They'd never met. So the girl could only ask herself again and again what was going on. Why did she want to be by Rhyme's side. Did she know Rhyme?

Nanami tried her best to remember her mother and her friends. She remembered resenting herself for never going to Shibuya, she remembered selling flowers day after day in a dull environment. Nanami recalled sitting and looking at the application online, she tried to submit with pain. But she wouldn't take the job. Even though she got it. How badly she wanted to leave her home and family but didn't. She always wished she did. Nanami regretted not taking it and wondered what her life would be like in Shibuya. This is what she wanted, she was there now. How could she have died in Shibuya and never been there? Why did the memory of her death seem stronger than every memory she ever had of her whole life? The memories felt empty and she didn't know why. Her head ached and the pain only grew as she began to reason with herself. "I died in Shibuya… I had to… I remember this place… somehow… I was here. I was here!" But the more she thought about it the more her head hurt. Nanami then grabbed her forehead as it began to scream in pain. Nanami let out a yell, but no one in the hospital could hear her. Nanami began to cry from the pain. It was unbearable, it was so bad she wanted to die, her headache might actually kill her. Was this a punishment? What was this pain?

"Calm down." She heard a soft feminine voice as she opened her eyes to see a purple eyed nurse. It was the same one that was looking over Rhyme. "You need to get away from here… you're causing yourself pain." The nurse pulled Nanami's arm over her shoulder and lift her up. Together Nanami and the nurse left the room. Nanami's eyes were watering from the pain in her head. "You're hurting yourself."

Nanami turned to look at the orange haired nurse and let out a low groan. The nurse explained, "Don't think of your past. Don't think of what you should have done. Think of the experiences you feel now. Think of home. Think of your mother. Think of her smile." Nanami's head began to loosen its grip over her body. "Think of home and the pain will fade. Don't think of Shibuya and don't think you belong here. There now, you're starting to feel better aren't you?" The nurse felt the girl's head and told her softly, "Your price cannot be given back to you… You can't try to obtain it… If you think of your memories you'll only experience pain. You can't remember them for a reason."

Nanami was being laid down in a hospital bed. She asked, "Was my price my memories?"

The orange haired nurse couldn't tell her, "Rest now… Please… don't think about your price… your head will feel better the less you think of your price."

Nanami did so. She was losing consciousness. Everything was fading including her headache. That's when she realized something was wrong. That wasn't a normal nurse. It couldn't be. "Who are you? How can you see me?" A normal person couldn't see her... unless.

"Calm down." The orange haired nurse said.

The nurse frowned a moment. But not at Nanami, at whoever was behind her. Nanami was talking to a Reaper. That was a Reaper! "Get away." Nanami moaned, but couldn't really fight back. She just passed out.

"Please… get some rest." The nurse said softly. Her eyes focused on something behind her.

Nanami tried to lay down in a hospital bed as her head felt better and better by the moment.

The nurse looked at Nanami's phone. The mission was over. Behind the nurse stood Okami, "I'll take it from here." He said with a smile.

The nurse nodded a moment and told him, "Yes… now would be a good time to place the next mission properly. The condition has been set."

Okami asked her, "For now you should report the players who lasted this long to the leader of the pack. We need to fill him in on the next hunt for players. You're always telling me to count, this time you can do it."

Kotori showed her agreement with a nod, "I did a count of the players before and after. I'll report to the Conductor about the next mission. We've already discussed the limitations."

Okami showed teeth with a snarl, "Every wolf must prove their worth to the pack, you only prove to be a hindrance. No matter! I'll erase them all "

Kotori got up and took off her nurse cap and started to walk away, "I only hinder those who need be hindered. Take care to follow the rules Okami." Kotori went into the Underground as she walked. When she was invisible she grabbed her usual coat off the coat rack and lost her nurse uniform. She switched her costume in seconds into her normal outfit. Then it was immediately recognizable. "Let's put an end to this charade. Separate all the players and put them in different parts of the city."

XXX End Day 4XXXX

Question of the Chapter: This one is a little more detailed and I'd like to see just how much my readers have caught on to. This chapter's question is: What do you think Nanami's price is? I think I gave enough for you to make some educated guesses. No cheating!

Author's Notes: Second edit. Special thanks to Kribble for pointing out a few things.

Feel free to pm me if you see any errors. Feel free to comment if you want me to know how you feel.