Week Two, Day One: Replay
"God damn it…" I growled while getting to my feet. "I can't believe this happened! He said nothing about this!"
I took out my phone and raised it over my head. With an enraged scream, I threw it onto the ground as hard as I could. The only thing that accomplished was hearing the phone hit pavement really hard. I knew it wouldn't crack or malfunction no matter what I did to it. The Game kept you from ruining anything but yourself and other Players. As angry as I was, I took the phone from the ground and opened it to see that the mission mail was already here.
"Game I: X = 30 + 74. T = 60 min. Incompletes will be destroyed."
I bit my lip so hard that I drew blood as I shoved the phone back into the pocket of my skirt. I was steamed badly and that kept me from thinking about the mission; so this Game Master had it going for him pretty well. I glanced around to see if I could find any Player's nearby me and I sighed when I saw several, though they were pretty weak. With my luck, I'd kill them within two minutes of forming the pact with them.
I growled to myself and turned away from all of them and headed towards the scramble crossing. I hadn't even made it completely when I ran into Neku, who was shocked to see me. I opened my mouth to say something when I began coughing once again. I put a hand over my lips as the warm blood coated the palm. I looked up at him as I lowered my hand after I stopped.
"None of these Players are strong enough for you or me. Not if we want to-"
"We? Who said we were going to be like last week? I sure as hell didn't!"
I frowned at him but I could understand why he was so angry with me.
I started to say something when a crab Noise pinched at my ankles. I spun around and kicked it before a dizzy spell hit me. I staggered back and fell against Neku's chest while more Noise appeared around the two of us. I cursed and raised my hand as my psych began to fizzle before spurting out of existence. I couldn't use my psych in the condition I was in.
"If you want to live, you'll have to forge a pact with-"
"There's no way in hell I'd ever do that with you!"
Neku interrupted with a glare sent my way. I returned it with one of my own as Noise jumped at the two of us. Before I began to attack, a shiver went passed me and I turned my head to see that the boy had just forged a pact with someone without his consent. My eyes widened and he matched my face as he looked around to see who had done it with him.
"Too late! We've got to get rid of the Noise if you want to see your partner!" I yelled while kicking one of the crabs as hard as I could.
These Noise were pretty weak compared to last weeks. They were destroyed with ease and I rubbed my chest where I had been killed and struck by Yodai. It hurt a lot. Probably a bruise and inner damage, but nothing that would kill me.
I turned to Neku and opened my mouth to speak when someone spoke before me.
"Howdy. The name's Yoshiya Kiryu. But Mother and Father call me Joshua," I spun to see who was talking and it surprised me that it was a boy around our age with sort of silver gray hair, a short sleeved pale blue shirt, and jeans. Neku came to a conclusion before I did as he tried not to look annoyed and disappointed.
"I guess you can call me Joshua, too- seeing as how you're my dear, dear partner." He said with a chuckle.
The orange haired teen asked what the hell he was talking about as I glared at Kiryu- or Joshua. I didn't trust this boy at all. He was already beginning to get on my nerves with how he was talking to Neku. I'd hate to see what happens when he starts talking to me.
"You mean you didn't want to be partners with me? You seem like such a pro. I decided to just…help myself." Joshua said to him.
"A pro? How could you know that?" Neku replied while crossing his arms.
The other boy chuckled and the hairs on the back of my neck tingled at just that small noise. He answered by saying that he had been watching the orange teen and was very impressed by what he saw.
"I'd rather be Rose's partner." Neku muttered just quietly enough that I heard him.
I frowned but made no move to make a retort as Joshua captured our attention once again. I swear he was ignoring me on purpose though.
"Today's the first day and all…Let's just take it easy and give this area a scan, eh?" He asked with a smirk.
Neku grumbled under his breath but took out his Player Pin anyway. With a flick of his thumb, he caught the pin and I knew he could see into the thoughts of everyone in the RG. Since his eyes were closed, I had no idea what he was thinking at the moment. But when I saw his eyebrows scrunch together and sweat start forming at his temples, I realized that he was seeing something that must have involved himself.
When he put the pin away, I saw him flinch and grab his head in pain. I could only imagine what he was feeling because of what he saw.
"Something wrong? Are we not feeling well?" Joshua asked in a tone I knew for sure was mocking. "Is this going to be a problem? I need you to pull it together. Unlike some people, I'm new at this. I'm expecting a bang-up job from you, Mr. Escort."
I glared and chose that moment to step in. I walked over to stand beside Neku and I crossed my arms over my chest.
"He's fine. I doubt that he needs you telling him things that he doesn't need to worry about." I snapped.
Joshua looked at me in the eye for the first time and that was when I saw that he had purple eyes. I didn't make a move to back down as he smirked at me in a sadistic manner.
"I think there's a lone Player at the scramble crossing you'd be interested in meeting. Carcinofolk Noise are really pesky." He said.
I gritted my teeth and clenched my fists tightly. I knew that whoever Joshua was, he did not want me to be around Neku at the moment. I glanced at the boy to see that he had finally recovered from whatever it was that he had heard and he looked at me with slightly heavy breathing.
"I'll meet you at the point where we're supposed to go to, Neku. I don't care how much you hate me now; I promised her that I'd do this." I said to him before running towards the scramble crossing.
I had just reached the crossing when I heard a girl screaming in pain. I rushed towards the source of the sound and saw three or four of those red crabs- Carcinofolk Noise -attacking a girl on the ground, with her arms over her head. All I could see was bright blonde hair as I stomped over while destroying the Noise.
"Are you okay? They didn't hurt you that bad, did it?" I asked while getting down to her level.
At the sound of my voice, she looked up. The world seemed to suddenly fall apart about me when I saw her eyes. They were emerald green, the same color as their namesake. My mouth suddenly became dry and I felt sick to my stomach. The pain in my chest began acting up and it was all I could do to not cough blood again.
"Those pinches really hurt, actually! Thank you for saving me!" She said while getting to her feet.
I took a step back and she watched me with her head tilted to the side. I didn't understand how she could be so happy and calm when she was dead. How she could act like she didn't know me.
"I guess I should ask if you want to form a pact with me. Is that alright? If not, it's fine! I'll find someone else before those weird creatures attack me again." She said while offering her hand to me.
I continued to stare as it felt like my world began twisting even more. I opened my mouth to speak and I closed it again. I couldn't find any words to say to this girl. But I knew that if I did forge a pact with her, it wouldn't destroy either of us. I could see that she had a strong psych inside her, even if it wasn't like mine or Neku's.
I lifted my hand while noticing that it was perfectly healed from the fight with Yodai. There were no marks left on it to show that I had even fought the previous Game Master.
"Does you lifting your hand mean you're accepting my offer for a pact?" The girl asked me.
I coughed a little while nodding my head sort of hesitantly. I didn't know how this was going to end, just like with Neku and Shiki. She smiled at me and clapped her hand over mine happily. I felt a spark of energy crowd inside me from my palms and then what felt like chains connected me with the girl. I realized that this must be what it felt like to have a partner as she smiled at me brightly.
"We've got ourselves a pact with each other! That's really cool! Oh, I'm sorry; I forgot to ask you what your name is."
I rubbed the back of my head tiredly while flipping open my phone. The mission mail stared back at me but I had nothing else to look at for the moment. I closed it and put it back in my pocket.
"I'm Rose Cermai." I said while walking passed her and towards the Ten-Four Building.
She kept up with me easily and asked where we were going. I glanced at her and tried to keep my face nonchalant with a smirk.
"The mission mail is hard to figure out, since I'm no good at math. But I know for a fact that we need to go to Ten-Four. How long do we have?" I saw her look down at her palm, where the timer was.
It said that we had ten minutes left and I scoffed while grabbing her wrist.
"There's a Reaper up ahead, so it won't take long for us to destroy them. Do you know what your abilities are when you fight Noise?" I asked while glancing at her.
With a shake of the head, I sighed as we got to the red Reaper. He stared at the two of us and let out a sigh.
"Defeat these Noise. It's an easy task, so you can find out your partners abilities." He said to us.
I looked at my partner with a smirk and she did the same back to me. Without a word, Noise jumped out at us and she was gone to the other dimension.
"Wow! This is so cool! Can you hear me, Rose?" I heard her voice echo in my head and I couldn't help but chuckle.
"Of course I can. Partners have links that can't be shattered easily. Now, let's see what you can do!" I said while attacking the red crab that came at me.
I prepared to attack it with my psych when it suddenly vanished out of thin air, which surprised me enough that I got pinched by a crab. I destroyed that one while hearing my partner going on about how she's got this amazing power that can throw the very air at the Noise. She mentioned once or twice that there was a glowing yellow orb or green orb floating in front of her face at certain points of battle.
"I'd recommend grabbing those lights. We just might get a stronger attack from them if we did that." I said to her while stomping on one of the pincers that came close to me.
She said something but I didn't hear it as we continued fighting the crab Noise. Soon, an explosion of energy came to me. Words bubbled from my mouth as I jumped into the air while doing a summersault. I couldn't stop them from coming out as the new energy I had danced at my fingertips.
"Let's bring down the sky!" My partner cried.
"Using our own breath!" I yelled.
And then, sharp blades of wind spun around me and destroyed all of the Noise surrounding us. The sudden attack soon vanished as I landed on my feet. The blonde haired girl appeared beside me and I could see that she was breathing hard from exhilaration. I glanced at the timer on her wrist and saw that we had less than two minutes to get to the building.
Without explaining anything, I grabbed her wrist and yanked her after me. The wall had been brought down after we destroyed the Noise so we didn't hit it. I knew we just barely made it as I saw Neku and Joshua. The orange teen saw my partner as she smiled.
"How unfair. The timer didn't go off for us until we got here. When did you two get here?" I asked while letting go of her wrist.
I was frowned at but I glared right back at him.
"Just a few seconds ago, like you." Neku muttered.
I shook my head as my partner began talking animatedly to Joshua, which surprised me. I didn't think that it was possible for someone to like conversing with that boy. I heard the orange teen ask me if I knew what the thing to my right was. I turned my head to see a huge junk heap standing maybe thirty feet in the air. My mouth fell open before I turned back to him.
"No, I have no idea what that is." I said with surprise in my voice.
That was when I heard someone groan and I turned my head back to the junk heap.
"You're zetta slow!" An adult male screamed.
I just happened to look up at the near top to see that there was someone sitting there on it. My eyes widened as one thought ran through my mind:
Game Master.
Joshua told the others to look at the top of the junk and I knew that the three did. Neku was the first to ask if there really was someone up there as they groaned again.
"I said, you're zetta slow! How long does it take to crack a Z-class code, you factoring hectopascals!" He screamed down at us.
I scrunched my eyebrows together as nearly all of us repeated that last word. I heard Neku gasp in pain while moaning about his head. I turned to look at him when the adult on the junk heap jumped down from the top. I had to face him while my partner bounced over to my side.
"Sho Minamimoto. Remember the name. I'm the new Game Master."
Yep, I had been right. He was the Game Master for this week. Joshua said something that I didn't hear and whatever it was caused the Game Master to actually look at him. I saw his lips move in a gasp and his eyes to turn to surprise.
"Wait a minute. You…You're a Player this time around?" Sho asked.
For a moment, I thought he was talking about me as Neku murmured under his breath something incoherent.
"Now that's a happy miscalculation," He said with a smirk and a flick of his black hat.
In fact, everything he wore was black. He had a grayish brown hair color hiding under that hat with a long black trench coat with a lot of buttons and matching gloves. The collar was popped open and you could see his collar bone and the strange necklace hiding under the outfit.
"This brings me one iteration closer to my desired solution!"
Neku asked him what the hell he was talking about as I clenched my fist. If I wanted to defeat him now, this was going to be the best time. But I had a feeling that Sho knew if I was going to attack him. I heard Joshua chuckle and I glanced at him with a frown.
"Day One and the GM's already putting in an appearance? Not one for tradition, are you?" He asked sardonically.
Sho instantly frowned at him for some reason.
"Tradition is garbage! Crunch!" He suddenly yelled while slamming his fists together. "I'll add it to the heap! This is my Game. And I only allow two things: Flawless calculations and beauty!"
Joshua sighed and brushed some of his hair out of his eyes while saying, "I'd heard you were quite the eccentric-"
"Some Old Horses Can Always Hear Their Owner Approach. Now, time for a little quiz. How much weight will I let you Players carry in the UG?" Sho asked us.
I muttered under my breath that I could only imagine what the answer was.
"One yoctogram!" He shouted.
"Oh! That means we're on the atomic level, right?" My partner asked with a faint smile.
The Game Master smirked and nodded his head while saying that none of us had any value here. I glanced around and noticed that we had a ton of Players partnered at the building. They were chattering with each other as well. Sho saw and he pulled out a megaphone. My eyes widened as I realized he was getting ready to scream into that thing. I had just covered my ears when he spoke in the megaphone.
"Attention, all yoctograms! (It's X 2) Die!" He screamed and Noise jumped up all around us.
Players screamed all over as they were taken by surprise, but I quickly attacked whatever Noise came at us. Neku's partner and mine went to the other dimension and we began fighting a Noise rhino together.
"The horn is going to be the tough part to dodge! Get ready!" I said as the creature reared onto its hind legs in preparation to slam down its horn.
I leaped out of the way and Neku did the same. I threw out a hand and managed to cause a wound to appear on the rhino's shoulder, though it was thanks to my partner. It let out a steam of air and came barreling at me.
"You've gotten slow, Rose!" Neku cried as I barely got out of the way from the stampede.
I scoffed and hopped onto the back of the Noise.
"Who say's that? My partner and I have this Noise down!" I said as I bashed both of my hands in the base of its skull.
I had a feeling my partner did the same and with the double blow on both sides of the dimensions, we got the creature destroyed. I landed on my feet as the partners appeared and I saw that several other Players had been taken out thanks to the Noise. I walked over to mine and checked to make sure she wasn't all that much hurt. She only laughed at me.
"Why would I be hurt? Oh, I never told you my name!" She said.
I shook my head and traveled towards Neku and Joshua, who glanced at me with a mocking smirk.
"And with lil Rose's help, we'll be able to cruise through this week with yours and her psychs, my brilliance, and our excellent teamwork." He said to us.
I gritted my teeth at those words. Who was the one that said I was going to help these two? I had my own partner to take care of this time around! As if Neku heard my thought, he turned to look at me and his eyes asked who the bubbly person beside me was. I sighed and touched the girls arm gently, which caused her to look at me with a bright smile.
"This is my partner, Aesh. She was a best friend of min- Of that singer, Rose." I said softly.
Neku then understood who this girl was perfectly. My best friend from back when I was still alive. And she was dead like us.
