Week One, Day Seven: The Final Truth
"This is it. It's Day Seven." Shiki said to the two of us as I looked around the scramble crossing.
I knew that we were going to have a hell of a time getting to the Game Master. No idiot would ever be out in the open so that it would be easy to destroy the Reaper. I heard my phone go off so I quickly flipped it open, also gaining the attention of the two partners.
"The Game Master awaits you on the freeway. Defeat him. You have six hundred minutes. Fail, and face erasure. -The Reapers."
I said with a light smirk. I knew that the Game Master was the Reaper with the bull belt, but I doubted that he was going to be easy to combust like the other Noise.
"We need to pay him back for getting Rhyme." Neku said to us.
We nodded at him and agreed to ourselves that we were going to win this for everyone, including each other. All of a sudden, my phone began blaring out one of my songs and I was so startled that I almost dropped it.
"Who's calling? And isn't that Déjà Vu?" Shiki asked me as Neku questioned if it was the Reapers.
"I don't know who it could be, but it probably is the Reapers. And yeah, it's Déjà Vu." I said before answering the phone.
I pressed it against my ear and didn't even get a word out when Mr. Hanekoma's voice started screaming at me. I flinched and pulled the phone back and put it on speaker so all of us could hear it.
"Mr. Hanekoma, what's wrong? You almost ruined my ear." I said to him.
There was a loud crash on the other side of the phone and a curse before I heard the older man begin talking to us once again.
"Listen! Beat, he…he's gone!" He screamed.
I scrunched my eyebrows together then. I hadn't even known that Beat was still alive, let alone with the cafe man. Neku repeated the last word the old man had said in shock.
"Don't worry, he's not erased. At least not yet." Mr. Hanekoma told us.
Shiki immediately demanded to know what that was supposed to mean as I listened to the screaming teenagers.
"Look, he musta left the cafe while I was out. And don't ask why because I don't know."
Wow, this must have him freaking out like these two. The way his voice was rising and then lowering told me he was more worried than he was letting us know. But he must not want to freak us out any more than what we already felt.
"Look, no more questions. You gotta hurry! That kid ain't got a partner to fight with. He's Reaper-chow the second they spot him. Not only that…Today's Day Seven. The GM can attack Players directly now! And believe me when I say he will." Mr. Hanekoma said to all of us.
I looked up from where I was looking at my phone to see that the two were getting anxious to find their friend instead of just standing here, listening to what was going on.
"Have a little faith, guys. You're almost there! Put an end to the Game before anything can happen! If you do that, Skater-Brain might just survive this. Can you handle that, Ro?" Mr. Hanekoma asked me.
I sighed and shut the phone, indicating what my answer to him was. Though it wasn't an insult like I knew everyone was going to think it was. Shiki and Neku asked what we were going to do.
"That dummy doesn't realize what trouble he's caused. I suggest we go to the freeway and pray that we can defeat the Game Master before Beat gets destroyed by any Reapers." I said to them.
They agreed with me and we ran off that way. We headed straight for Hachiko since that was the way towards the freeway. We got to a Reaper as he looked at the three of us.
"Fight through a battle with Noise three times as a chain." He said to us. I sighed because it was going to be a pain in the ass to do that kind of thing.
But, I suppose we didn't have a choice.
"Nonstop fighting with Noise three times. Are you ready for it?" I asked the two while preparing to reach out to the Noise symbols we needed.
They nodded with excitement dancing in their eyes. With those motions, we all attacked every Noise that came at us. None could even bother to stop for a break because there were too many fighting us. When it was finally over, the Reaper in red smirked and cleared off the wall for us.
Shiki started screaming and ushered Neku and I forward. We complied with her and all of us were on the run when a Reaper dressed in pure black stepped in front of me. I was forced to skid to a halt and glare up at him while the others crashed into me.
"Get the hell out of our way." I growled.
I made sure to keep the partners behind me the entire time because you could never tell what was going to happen. It was better to be careful then to be idiotic.
"Sorry lil kid, but I'm here to clean the streets of the three of you." I saw a bird Noise come straight for me and I yelped.
Neku grabbed the collar of my shirt and yanked me backwards, so the beak just barely grazed my cheek. I flung my hand up and destroyed the bird from the inside out like usual. I had just barely destroyed that one when a giant Noise bird came flying down on us. I felt my eyes widen as the Reaper hopped out of the way. Its orange claws came for me as I snapped out of my shocked state.
"Jump back guys! It'll tear you to pieces if we get too close!" I yelled before following my own command.
Neku did the same as Shiki teleported to the other dimension to destroy the Noise there. I landed on my hands and heard the bird cawing. Tinier flaps arrived and I knew that it had just created some from the feathers that fell from its wings. I pushed off the ground and saw the giant beak coming at me. I kicked the thing as hard as I could while grabbing the head feathers tightly. With a quick jerk, I managed to spin myself onto the back of the crow Noise.
It went raging mad as I held on as tightly as I could. Neku called out to me and asked what the hell I was doing. I looked down at him with a smirk that showed how amusing this felt for me.
"I'm going to ride this thing and use my psych to rip it apart!" I yelled down to him.
I think he called me a suicidal maniac before the crow suddenly ascended. I wasn't prepared for it so I went tumbling down the length of the Noise. My name was screamed loudly as it looked like I was going to fall completely off. I gritted my teeth and managed to grab onto the Noise's wing tightly. I held on as hard as I could while yanking myself up. With each beat of the wing, I almost let go; but I managed to bring myself back to the top of the crow's head.
It didn't seem like the bird noticed as I raised both of my hands over myself. I powered up my psych to nearly half of its maximum power and I felt a sudden weight fall into the palms of my hands. Without pausing, I swung the hands down together and slammed them into the base of the skull.
The Noise began cawing in pain and it flapped all over erratically. But when I pulled my hands back and a massive, bleeding dent was visible to even me, I felt it disappear underneath me. I gasped while feeling the wind ride up behind me. I realized that I was plummeting to the ground with no way to stop myself from possibly snapping my own neck. I turned my head and saw the ground coming for me at a fast speed.
I put out a hand and slapped my psych into the ground only feet away. I saw my hand spasm all of a sudden and my power sputtered away from me. I realized then that I wouldn't be able to use my powers to save my skin. I had to do something else entirely. Neku and Shiki screamed at me incoherent words as I shifted my entire weight forward. My world flipped upside down for a split second until my feet were in an upright position with them pointing to the ground.
I raised my hands up to catch something that would stop me from dying when the falling sensation suddenly stopped. I looked down with shock written all over my face and I saw that Neku had caught me using his telekinesis. I could feel my heart pounding violently because of how close I had come to dying once again. I was lowered to the concrete easily and I felt my legs wobble just a little before they collapsed underneath myself.
"Be careful, Rose! Don't ever do something like that again! You could have gotten killed!" Neku screamed down at me with a hardened glare that made me shiver.
I never heard him sound so worried for me this past week. I heard him yelling and asking if I was listening and I blinked my eyes towards him.
"Y-Yes, I'm listening!" I stuttered to the orange teen.
He looked down at me with a smirk and then he offered his hand to me.
"Good. Now let's get going to finish this week!" Neku declared.
I nodded and put my hand in his, letting him pull me to my feet. Shiki walked over to us and smiled just a little. I glanced at her hand where the timer was and saw that we had wasted a good twenty minutes fighting that crow Noise and its minions. I cursed a little and then grabbed the girl's wrist tightly.
"Hurry. Yodai is waiting for us to pummel his ass into the ground." I smirked before taking off towards the freeway.
Shiki and Neku followed close behind and we knew that Yodai was going to be waiting for us after this. I could only wonder if all of us were ready for it. I knew that I was; but only just a little. In fact, I was almost as scared as when I had been in the darkness of A-East.
"I've just realized something, guys." Shiki said to us.
I halted in my steps and turned to face the girl and Neku did the same. We both held questioning looks as she smiled at both of us.
"We've gone through a crazy life here. Our time in the UG, I mean. But I've learned how lucky I am." Shiki whispered while smiling faintly.
"Of course. Most Players take each day for granted until they face the Game Master after being struck by death," I replied while crossing my arms over my chest leisurely. "You wake up, do your normal thing, hang out with friends, come home, eat, watch TV or play games, fall asleep, and repeat the process all over."
Shiki nodded to me and she murmured how it was so normal now that she thought about it.
"I've actually never thought of those things as living. This week was the one that woke me up. It made me feel more alive than I ever did when I really was."
I smirked at her before lowering my arms and extending a hand towards her and Neku. Each took their wrist and the two matched my smirk for one of their own.
"The best is still ahead, though. Once we win and come back to life." The orange haired teen said to us. We nodded at the same time.
"Neku…Rose…Thanks for these last seven days. The three of us are pretty good at this partner thing." Shiki said to us.
I shook my head and looked at the girl with my bright blue eyes and white hair.
"There can only be two synced as partners. I'd rather be a…a very protective friend, then a partner." I said to her.
This made her smile and Neku made a rude snort as he pulled his wrist away from my hand. I smirked at him while noticing a small tint of pink cross his cheeks.
"Save it for when we win this all you two idiots," Shiki made a noise like she had been insulted and I merely rolled my eyes.
"Now, are we ready for the big boss?"
"Don't you know it!"
We girls said in unison together. I began to turn away to head towards where Yodai was hiding, but Shiki stopped me by gently touching my arm.
"If…we make it through this…how about we all meet up in the RG. You, me, Rose, and Beat. But neither of you may recognize me, so…" Shiki gasped and clapped her hands with a smile. "I know! I'll bring Mr. Mew with me. The three of us can be a team again!"
I glanced down at her stuffed cat but couldn't help smirking a little.
"I'll think it over." Neku said to us.
I kept my mouth shut instead. I didn't have words to say if I knew I would live long enough to be alive.
"Let's get going. Yodai doesn't seem like he enjoys being waited on." I said softly.
The two nodded and we ran towards the other side of the station. Our feet echoed all around us even when cars zoomed past us and we had finally gotten to the other side when the Game Master made it known that he was there.
"Such a shame you three are late. I hate setting the table before cooking the main dish." Yodai said to us.
I immediately halted in my run and shot my hands out, which made the partners slam pretty hard against my arms. I heard them grunt as I muttered several bits of apologies as Shiki rubbed her stomach while glaring at the Game Master.
"We're not on the menu. You are!" She growled while she grabbed Mr. Mew by one of its paws.
I had to say, that little thing sometimes scared me. Especially when Shiki used it to fight the Noise on the other side of the dimension. Yodai looked at the three of us, but his eyes seemed to stare at Shiki and me the longest. I glared at him while my psych hummed to life, though not as nearly powerful as when I had defeated that giant crow.
"Hello, young ladies. I've been waiting for this day to arrive. The jealousy you feel for Eri must be boiling and spilling-" Yodai stopped talking in that moment.
His golden eyes bore down on Shiki and I lowered my arms just a little so the two could stand beside me.
"What's this? The jealousy in your heart- my secret spice! It's…gone." He murmured.
I smirked while glancing at the other girl. I was glad that she didn't have the envious emotion inside her anymore. That kind of feeling twisted you in odd ways that were never good for anyone.
"Have you lost your appetite?" Shiki asked with a smirk and a hand on her hip.
"But…You were green with envy! Begrudging and roasting to a golden brown color! Deliciously jealous…" Yodai said as he stared down at her, as if wondering how it had suddenly gone away.
I smirked while Shiki stepped forward so she was face to face with the Game Master.
"You're right. I was jealous. That's how lucky I am! It takes an amazing friend to make you jealous. So you can just get ready to lose! I swear I'm getting my life back! Eri's waiting in the RG, and you are NOT gonna get in my way!"
Those final words bounced off the walls around us and even just glancing at her, I could see the fire of determination soaring in her eyes. Shiki intended to win this last battle and get her body back.
And all for Eri…
"You've gone stale, young lady. But no matter," Yodai raised his arms to the ceiling and I tensed the muscles in my entire body. "A true chef can whip up a toothsome meal- even from the basest of ingredients! Mr. Kitaniji has given me a recipe that I intend to cook! Prepare to become a spicy tuna roll!"
I let a second go by before a chuckle came out of me. I hadn't thought anyone could call the three of us a spicy tuna roll. None of us burned your mouth that badly. I saw his fists suddenly come down straight for Shiki and I reached out for her.
I latched onto her arm tightly and flung her into Neku's chest. The blow meant for Shiki was coming for me pretty fast so I put my own hands above my head. When the blow hit me, I felt my bones scream in agony. Every muscle in my body shook like jello as I tried to hold the two fists so they didn't smash my brain. I let out a gasp as more weight pressed down on me. Shiki yelled my name and I managed to look up at her.
"What are y-you standing there for! Attack!" I ordered.
Neku was the one that shot a blast of fire at Yodai, sending the man staggering back. His fists slipped away from me and I darted away from him, though my legs suddenly gave out on me.
"Rose! Are you okay?" Shiki asked while helping me to my feet.
"It was just the impact. I'm fine now." I said while taking a deep breath.
I was feeling better now and it was easier to get on my feet. I turned my head and saw Yodai was angry now. He was huffing and growling and that was when he let out a rumbling yell. I saw Yodai suddenly change forms into something that looked like a giant bull the size of a building. I felt my mouth slip open in shock.
This was Yodai, the Game Master, in his Noise form. Each Reaper possessed the power to change themselves to a Noise, though it wasn't to their choosing. It all depended on their personality.
"Rose! Can you take him down with one blow?" Neku asked as Shiki and Mr. Mew went to the other dimension.
I looked at him like he was crazy and he continued to stare at me as he got several pins for his attack ready.
"Why the hell do you ask me that?! This is a fricken bull, Neku! It'll take maximum power of my psych to deal even a cut on that body!" I yelled at him as Yodai raised one of his Noise hands.
I cursed and swung out a hand. The blow that would have crushed the teen was blocked as I ran over to him.
"We don't have time for this! Yodai is massive, but with your help, I might be able to bring him down enough for you to finish him," I looked at him with a smirk then. "Are you ready for that?"
He had a matching smirk on his face and I knew the answer then. The Game Master swung an entire arm towards us like a club and we both had to jump out of the way. I landed on the bull's thigh and I scampered up to his head like a monkey. A hand came for me and I barely dodged it while lunging for the horns. I caught it quickly and swung in a wide circle before stopping in his face.
"Yodai, I think it's time you learned how to taste something sweet and something sour." I said while bringing my psych up to its full power.
A red light circled my entire hand and I slammed it into one of his eyes just as a Noise finger hit me. My hand slipped from the horn it held as blood splattered my face. The source was from the eye I had rammed and I caught myself with both hands on the ground. I hopped all the way towards Neku and landed on my feet while seeing Yodai hold his bleeding eye in pain. I smirked but then flinched and grabbed my hand that had been used for my maximum power.
I glanced down at it and saw that the entire limb was twitching and bleeding on the fingertips.
"Wh-What happened to you, Rose?" Neku asked when he noticed the dripping blood.
I tried to move my hand the best I could and all I got was three fingers of the five to bend. I cursed under my breath while watching Yodai warily.
"My psych backfires at times when I'm too close to the target. Even though I managed to strike his eye, the sacrifice I gave was too much. One hand is all I can use now." I said while bringing my uninjured hand up and let it hum with the red glow.
I put my limb into a fist and prepared for the coming attack Yodai would make. I knew just one more blow was all I could use if I was as lucky as the last one that happened. Yodai recovered from the blow I gave him and I saw blood still oozing out of the useless thing like puss from a pimple.
Disgusting.
He turned to me with a smirk on his bull lips.
"Ha! Your spears will do nothing now that I know where they come from!" He yelled at me.
I gritted my teeth as Neku looked at me in confusion. He had no idea what Yodai was talking about. I raised my clenched hand so it was balanced with my eye level and took deep breaths.
"I'm going for his right eye now. That should give you enough time to finish him off." I said while running at the Game Master.
A massive hand came flying at me and I jumped up onto his forearm. I leaped out of the way of the other limb and grabbed a hold of one of the dread locks Yodai's hair contained. I brought a knee up and slammed it into his chin before dodging a hand that tried to grab me. I succeeded in getting onto his right shoulder and as he turned to look at me, I brought my good hand to his face as the red glow pushed away from the limb.
"This isn't a spear, you idiotic bull. Let me show you a glimpse of what my psych truly is." I said as the red took the distinct shape of a wooden scythe.
It didn't fully appear, but I could feel its physical weight anyway. I swung my weapon forward and the sharp scythe dug into Yodai's other eye. I pulled the red glow out and I danced across the broad shoulders to the back of the Game Master's neck. I looked at Neku from where I stood while raising my psych above my head.
"I'll cut off his movement and when that happens, finish him off you two!" I yelled down before turning to Yodai's spine.
I saw both of his Noise hands coming for me just as I brought down my hand and bashed the center of the spine where I was able to reach. I knew when I had done my job when I felt the bone crack. I smirked and began to go to Neku when Yodai punched me in the chest. The blow made me fall to the concrete and I coughed because of the impact.
Warm liquid trickled down the corner of my lip as I strained my body to sit up. Neku ran to my side as the red of my psych vanished completely and I gasped for breath. I grasped my chest where I had been stabbed and I could feel the blood there as well. I felt the first droplet of rain fall on my face as I looked up to see Neku scrunching his eyebrows together in confusion.
"I've got him right where you can destroy him in one hit. Do it before he or I recover from my psych." I said while pounding my good fist on my chest, which instantly made the bleeding near my heart vanish completely.
I only had to deal with my struggled breathing now, which was fine at the moment. I glared at Neku only once and that was enough for him to get the hint to attack Yodai. I watched as he ran over to the bull and I got to my feet slowly. The injured hand I had wasn't going to help me with anything so I left it as is as Shiki appeared next to me.
"So that's what your psych really is? A giant scythe?" She asked while helping me to my feet.
"It's a normal sized weapon. When we've finished of Yodai for good, I'll show you what created its shape." I said while seeing the big Game Master fall to his knees.
Shiki and I made our way to stand beside Neku and he watched the both of us to make sure we didn't fall.
"Indigestible!" He immediately screamed as the rain continued to pelt us wet to the bone. "Well done…young ladies…"
I glared at him and I brought my hand up shakily. My psych hummed to life as it took on the scythe-like shape. I then raised my tired limb so it looked like I was going to decapitate Yodai.
"I hope you remember the taste of death as you fall to my dinner." I said before bringing down my weapon.
It lodged in the Game Master's head before he was erased from the UG. The energy I had used to do just that simple act had my psych sputtering and disappearing completely as I dropped my hand and closed my eyes. The fight had drawn me out so much that I just wanted to sleep now.
"Um…is that it?" Shiki asked while looking around, as if Yodai would come back at any second now.
A chuckle from me told them that there was nothing left for us to worry about. The ex-Game Master wasn't going to come back any more.
"We did it! We won!" Neku yelled, making me jump.
I hadn't expected him to act so excited, but I guess you would if you've beat the Game.
"Woo-hoo! Now we'll all come back to life!" Shiki screamed while doing an air punch.
I smiled tiredly at them as a flash of light burst around us. It startled the partners and the girl demanded to know what was going on.
"Shiki…I don't think it's a bad light. It's probably a pat on the back as congratulations." Neku said to her.
She nodded her head and then grinned with a laugh.
"You said 'Shiki'! That's the first time you used my name, Neku!" She said and I smirked at her.
The orange haired teen rubbed the back of his head and asked if that was true. I nodded and he frowned at me while muttering that it was a rhetorical question.
"Neku? Rose? I'll see you two on the other side. You know the meeting place: Hachiko!" Shiki said to us.
"Heh. It's a date." The boy said.
I felt the four eyes staring at me to see if I was going to confirm the date. I looked at them with a forlorn smile and a shake of my head. The girl frowned at me and asked why I wasn't going to meet up with them at Hachiko. I bit my lip because I didn't want to tell them why I wouldn't meet up. I wanted to give them a lie, but I decided to change my mind and say the truth.
"I…I can't go back to my parents. I've been like this for so long that there's no way I can convince them of anything but death. They saw my body after the murder, they know that I died. I can't change that…no matter how much I want to." I said as tears began to pool in my eyes.
I rubbed them in hopes that the tears wouldn't fall, but that only made it worse. They began to fall and I quickly wiped my cheeks dry with my sleeve.
"How will that stop you from meeting up with us at Hachiko? You can just come and live with me until you figure out a way to convince your parents you didn't die!" Shiki offered.
I looked at her with my red rimmed blue eyes and smiled at her. I hadn't been given something like that for a long time. Aesh was the only one that ever did that for me.
"Thanks…I'll keep that in mind." I said to her while pulling out my phone.
She gave me her number as we glanced at Neku. He looked at us and sighed. With much annoyance and convincing, we both got his number.
"I'll see you two at Hachiko then!" Shiki said and the two of us nodded.
I opened my eyes and began coughing like mad. I rolled onto my knees and held my chest as blood painted pictures on the ground below me. When I had just recovered, I looked up to see that I was at Hachiko. I scrunched my eyebrows together and pressed my forehead against the blood-soaked ground.
"God damn it all!" I hissed.
