Hey guys I'm back with a new chapter. Thanks to everyone who's read this far and I hope you'll continue reading. Nothing much to say other than that especially because I don't wanna spoil anything. Anyway, here we go.

The World Begins With You

Chapter 6: Facing your inner noise *part 1*

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"Got you now" Neku grinned before teleporting behind a few noise and quickly shooting them with his shockwave-like gun. The noise immediately turned into blurry images and then faded away into the air.

"Did we get em' all?" Shiki asked as she looked around an empty Udagawa where the battle had taken place. Her question was answered when they were transferred back to the RG Udagawa from the empty soul plane.

The victim finally snapped out of his trance-like state and continued on to what he was originally supposed to do before the noise attacked him.

"You know…I just realized this now but its like were running some kind of charity group by doing this," Neku sighed as he removed the headphones from his head and put them around his neck.

"Well then that's a good thing isn't it?" Shiki started as she picked up her stuffed cat which had just turned back from a pin. Neku sighed again at that comment. "Well…I just wish we could at least get a 'thanks' from the people we help but obviously they don't even remember what happened…"

"How about Nana? She was thanking us all day yesterday, remember?" Shiki said but Neku quickly fired back. "But that's a rare case plus we helped her even after the noise attacked. I don't think we'll ever get a 'thanks' from victims we just save from noise,"

They spent the next few minutes arguing about who was right or wrong with some random topics in between. Mr. Mew eventually started to fall asleep but was immediately woken up when Shiki accidentally dropped him but still continued to argue with Neku.

"Geez just stop it already, you two" Mr. Mew demanded but he was answered back with a "Shut it, pig!" from Neku which immediately made him swipe his claw on Neku's face again. "Stop calling me that, Porcupine!"

This time, Neku and Mr. Mew were the ones arguing. For like 10 seconds they kept on yelling "Pig!" and "Porcupine!" at each other until Shiki finally realized how stupid she looked when she was the one arguing. Luckily, not many people come to Udagawa so there wasn't really anyone around.

"Okay that's enough arguing for one day!" Shiki ordered as she covered both their mouths with each hand. Neku and Mr. Mew also realized how stupid they looked and eventually apologized. Usually, Neku was the voice of logical reason but not right now it seemed.

Shiki quickly decided to change the topic. "Speaking of Nana, Mr. Hanekoma made her a player now too right?" She asked and was answered with a nod.

"Yeah, he did. She said she really wanted to help out because she didn't want anything like that to happen to anyone else. Pretty determined statement if you ask me," Neku commented and Shiki agreed with that.

They were drawn out of that topic when Neku's phone suddenly rang. "Hey Phones, it's Mr. H. We just got word on a new order from the higher plane so I need you guys to get here as soon as you can. See you there"

Neku hung up with an anxious look on his face. "Neku? You look like you're just about to play a finals match on a tin pin tournament. Did something happen?"

He quickly explained the situation which made Shiki anxious too. What they were really hoping for was some info on Joshua but they knew that it would just be another round in the Angel's game. They still had hope though.

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A few minutes later, Neku and the rest of the players under Hanekoma were gathered at the RG Wildkat. It seemed that Hanekoma didn't need the other Wildkat from the parallel world anymore since he put up some protective barrier that was supposed to ward off noise and Soulless alike.

"So what's the scoop, yo? Anything new on lil' prissy kid?" Beat asked which told Neku that he wasn't the only one worried about him.

"Unfortunately…no, I don't. The good thing is, however, is that the Angels don't know either so at least we're both at a loss. It seems that we both can't figure out when exactly the gate to the noise plane will open again,"

"Darn…I guess I can't really rush things…" Neku thought calmly as Hanekoma began his explanation. "The next thing we're supposed to do is to go to one of the parallel worlds and meet up with one of their Seraphs. His name is Jean Javier and he'll be giving you instructions on what to do once your there,"

The name that Hanekoma mentioned immediately made its way into Neku's memory. "Jean Javier…that was the guy we met during the Shibuya station incident a day ago," He mentioned and everyone remembered the Seraph's face.

"Yup that's the guy alright. I've dealt with him in the past and let me give you a little tip…that guy…is pretty devious. He's got as many tricks up his sleeve as there are stars in the sky and I mean that almost literally so be careful alright?" The man with shades warned.

"Well there ain't no stars in the sky right now so we'll be just fine, yo!" Beat interrupted. For some reason, that comment actually made sense in a way but yet…was still something only Beat would probably say.

Before Sho could comment on how stupid and illogical his statement was, Hanekoma immediately raised a hand at him and spoke before Sho could.

"Here's the thing…the Seraphs also have another order which is rather specific. They only want Neku and Shiki to take part in this round.. I'm thinking it's got something to do with being players from the last game but hey, it's just a hunch. I mean, Beat and Rhyme were players too but they only want you two involved"

That explanation left everyone wondering what exactly the Angels were planning for that round. Aside from the players that were to take part in the round, the others only had to continue with the noise erasure around Shibuya.

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Since it was just a parallel world, they didn't need the use of Pork City's gate to other planes. The problem was that a specific parallel world was given to them so Hanekoma had to be the one to bring them there.

Before he took them to the parallel world, he gave them different outfits complete with wigs which confused the two at first sight. "Uh…I thought we were supposed to go to a parallel world. I didn't think you meant a circus," Neku joked half serious.

"You got it all wrong, Phones. In the Parallel World, you'll most likely see yourselves there so what do you think would happen if people saw an exact copy of you?" Hanekoma replied. Obviously, people would freak out and knock themselves on the face just to make sure they weren't dreaming.

Shiki's outfit was more or less normal; a normal looking wig, normal looking jeans and other normal looking stuff. Neku's outfit would've pass as normal if it weren't for one tiny error.

"WHY THE HELL DO I HAVE TO WEAR A PINK WIG!?!?" Neku demanded as he pointed to the light pink hair which now rested on Neku's head. Not only was it pink but it rather melon shaped as well.

Shiki and Mr. Mew were having a hard time holding their laughter as they stared at Neku's 'fashionable' wig.

"It's okay Neku…it isn't…that bad…really," Shiki assured although her held in laughter said otherwise. "Sorry boss. That was the only one they had left. Unless you wanna use this sweet looking rainbow colored afro I got from a Halloween party," Hanekoma said as he held up something that Neku would rather use as firewood than a wig.

Neku had no other choice but to wear the wig so that he did. Hanekoma then proceeded to transfer them to the parallel world that they were assigned to.

The man snapped his fingers and a light dome surrounded the group once again. As soon as it did, Hanekoma stepped out of the dome and waved at the two. "Sorry you two but this is as far as I can go. We're leaving the rest up to you two. Don't lose now ya hear?"

Neku and Shiki both nodded as the dome slowly faded away from sight. Eventually, they also faded away from sight leaving Hanekoma who walked back to Wildkat with a smile.

Neku and Shiki appeared in front of Wildkat once again but this time they were inside the parallel world. When the dome finally disappeared, Neku's phone beeped. "A text message?" He mumbled as he took out his phone.

'Meet me at the scramble. You're given 10 seconds. Fail and face erasure'

"What!? 10 seconds!? We gotta get there-" Neku was interrupted by the sound of his phone beeping again. "Another one?"

'Just kidding. LOL you're not given a time limit but meet me at the scramble anyway. See you there. Best regards, Jean Javier"

Shiki let out a deep sigh. She really thought they only had 10 seconds to get to a place about 15 minutes away. "That nearly gave me a heart attack. Now I really believe that Jean guy is just like Mr. H said…"

Neku put the phone back in his pocket and sighed as well. "We should get going now. I don't feel like hanging around here for too long," He said as he started for the exit with Shiki following behind.

They weren't at the scramble yet but they stopped mid-way because a certain person caught their attention. He had orange spiky hair, blue headphones around his neck and blue eyes. "Well…that's me alright" Neku said before hearing the parallel world Neku mumble something to himself.

"Ah, another beautiful day! It makes me just wanna smell that fresh and forget all about my emo urges!. Now, I need to head over to Molco right away to enter the new Tin Pin slam-offs. I WILL be the greatest slammer who ever lived!" He concluded before speeding off like lightning.

Neku had an expression on his face that was a mixture of confusion, humiliation, and maybe a little irritation. "Is he…high or something? Last time I checked…I'd rather shoot myself in the head than say anything like that,"

"And did he just say…emo urges? That's like…totally the least thing I expected you to say," Shiki added trying to hold her laughter in once again.

An irritated Neku decided to leave his other self alone "Well it's not me so let's go and let emo boy do what he wants. Geez…10 minutes in this place and I already feel like going back,"

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After a good five minutes, they reached the ever busy and crowded scramble crossing. Neku and Shiki looked around the area for awhile but they couldn't find the Seraph anywhere. That was when Neku's phone beeped once again.

'Face yourself. Fail and face your own demise. I'm serious this time. Good luck to you. Yours truly, Seraph Jean Javier'

Neku put the phone back in his pocket with a confused look on his face. "Face…ourselves? What does he mean by-" At that instant, Neku sensed something approaching and dodged a sudden black beam just in time. The beam looked awfully familiar to Shiki's attack.

"Huh? Th-that wasn't me Neku! I swear!" Shiki said as she held up Mr. Mew who was still in a stuffed toy form and therefore couldn't possibly have fired that.

Neku and Shiki looked around to see that all the people had vanished out of sight and instead, two figures stood before them. One of them looked exactly like Neku and the other looked exactly like Shiki.

"I guess she was the one that fired that. Question is…why are they attacking us?" Neku asked as he kept his eyes focused on their enemy's movements.

The Neku and Shiki copies looked just like their counterparts except for the fact that they had red eyes and had this kind of Aura around them that had a killing intent that would even scare death itself. This Neku looked nor seemed nothing like the Neku that ran of to Molco a little while ago.

"If it's a fight these guys want then that's what they'll get" Neku put on his headphones and focused the energy on his hands but much to his surprise, nothing happened. "I-It's not working?" Neku muttered before hearing his phone beep again.

'Just so you know, I've rendered your abilities useless for this fight. Enjoy!'

Neku angrily put the phone back in his pocket and took the headphones off. "Damnit! How the hell are we supposed to fight like this!?" Before he had time to complain anymore, the imitations charged at them again.

Thankfully, physical strength wasn't something you could take away just like that so Neku and Shiki were still able to dodge whatever came at them. They were still in a hopeless situation though because that was the only thing they could do.

Neku didn't notice that he had already split up with Shiki due to all the moving that they did. "Darn…this isn't good. I wonder how she's doing…" He asked himself before taking a kick to his ribs which sent him flying through a window of one of the buildings.

Blood was now dripping from Neku's head as he got up slowly to see the 'impostor' standing in front of him. To his surprise, the 'impostor' actually started to speak.

"I am you, and you are me. We are one in the same didn't you know?" He said with a grin. His voice sounded like Neku's voice but was slightly distorted which irritated the real Neku. "Yeah I realized that, dumbass!" Neku charged at the copy only to be thrown to a nearby wall.

"You're the one who doesn't get it. I came directly from you. I'm that part of you that you just can't get rid off. Think, Neku. The noise live on one purpose. Do you know what that is, hmm Neku? The copy asked before dodging a punch from Neku and slamming him down on the ground with one hand.

"The noise live so that they could one day become what they want to become most: Human. You see, the noise are born from three ways. The first was by the reapers in the reapers game. The second was from noise summoning graffiti, and the last…is by the 'souls' of people,"

Neku's eyes widened at the last way that the copy Neku said. "From…my 'soul'? Wait…how do you know all this?" He asked his other self who grinned.

"Oh that? Isn't it obvious? I was born..." He began as he lifted Neku by the neck and lifted him up. "From you, Neku Sakuraba. I came from your 'Soul'. Do you get it now?" Neku's jaw dropped from surprise but that was removed when he was thrown into another wall.

"And once I kill you, I'm gonna be taking your body. We noise need 'Soul' and bodies to evolve you know and once your friend dies, her body will be taken over by her noise too,"

"Tch…Shiki…please be okay…" Neku thought as his counterpart walked over to him slowly with a grin on his face.

"Well…I think it's about time I put an end to this. Goodbye…my other half,"

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And that about wraps it up for this chapter. I've got a few ideas for the next part but I'm still thinking it through. It's getting a bit harder to connect the plots together but I think I'll manage. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. I'll see you soon.