Before we start, I'd like to thank tenthlttr and Pokehturtle for making me realize that my writing style was a bit informal and not very good. That's the reason why I decided to re-write the other past chapters and make them at least a little more presentable. So now, I'm gonna stick with a more writer-like approach and try not to get caught up too much and accidentally put myself in the story because of it.
Also, I've uploaded a group pic of updated versions of Neku's noise form, Shiki and Ryou at my deviantart page. Once again, the name's gibder. If you can guess where I got the name gibder, then you're pretty good. Here's a hint though: Instrument
The World Begins With You
Chapter 10: opposing resolves
"Neku...you awake? Hellooooo?" Shiki whispered as she examined a sleeping Neku who was quietly resting on a chair, head leaning on a window that was right beside him. Shiki decided to try something else to wake him and entrusted that task to her little stuffed friend who climbed atop the boy's head.
"Wakey wakey big bro Nekky!" The toy shouted into Neku's ear which made his head bounce hard on the window. After his rather rude awakening, he quickly grabbed the toy and threw it ways away from their current position.
"Can't you find a less painful way to wake me up...?" Neku complained before looking around him and remembering that he was actually on a train. He wasn't the only one on the train but Eri, Ryou, Rhyme, Beat, Nana, Hanekoma and the person right in front of Neku were on the locomotive as well.
(Flashback)
"So here's the deal, the angels have announced that they'll be using one more area for the game now" A serious looking Hanekoma started "They'll be using Akihabara as a new area although Shibuya will still remain our main HQ. Once again...they haven't told us the reason but I'm sure it's gotta be something that benefits them. I kinda have a good hunch it's about research on different potential gates to the noise plane"
(End of flashback)
"Different gates to the noise plane huh?" Neku began "Damn, we're all being used like guinea pigs by those angels. I'm sure every round they make in this stupid game just benefits them and them only"
Shiki could see the irritation in Neku's eyes and decided to change the subject before his mood becomes even worse. "You know, it's kinda funny that we're actually going to Kyoto instead of Akihabara. I guess we really need more players huh?" She said as she stared at the digital notice on the train which told them that they were a couple of minutes away from Kyoto.
"Well...Mr. H did say that the reaper's game in Shibuya wasn't the only reaper's game that took place. A couple of years ago, there was a reaper's game that took place in Kyoto too so there's gotta be some veteran players that we can ask" Neku explained before putting his headphones on to listen to some music.
A few seconds into the song, Neku suddenly stopped his music player because he felt a warm piece of fabric on his shoulder. He examined the fabric to be a yellow colored scarf which he grasped, shooting a confused look at Shiki after.
"You like it? I just started on it last night and finally had it done this morning. I made the others some scarfs too with different colors each" Shiki cheerfully said which surprised Neku on how fast she had made all of them. He knew she was fast in sewing but he didn't know she was that fast, although it'd been quite awhile since he'd seen her sew something. She had also improved a bit on designing with the help of Eri.
It was already nearing December and it was rather cold already so receiving a customized scarf wasn't only thoughtful, but also very useful too. "Thanks, Shiki" Neku said with a smile as he wrapped it around his neck along with his headphones. It took awhile though before the two could realize that they were already being watched by their friends on nearby seats.
"Aww, she saved the best for last. That's so sweet of you, Shiki" Eri suddenly commented which made her best friend blush at hearing that.
"N-No, that's because..." Shiki began "Well, Neku's seat was the farthest so I thought I'd give his the last..." Even though she said that, the smirks on the audience's faces explained that they weren't really convinced.
A couple of minutes later, the train finally stopped at the Kyoto train station following an announcement made for the passengers to not forget their belongings and such. Everyone immediately stepped out of the train to finally breath some fresh morning air. It was actually nice to be surrounded by nature for once and not by huge buildings everywhere they looked.
Seeing the green captivating scenery around the station, Beat stretched his arms and let out a relaxed yawn. "Ahh...this feels great, yo" He said and his little sister quickly agreed with him.
"Even the air smells nice" She said "I dunno how long it's been since we've stepped out of the big and busy Shibuya" Rhyme stretched out her arms as well and swayed her eyes around her surroundings. They were only in the station so they were still far away from the city itself. In the distance, they could see a huge temple with a pond and numerous trees around it.
Hanekoma could already see the curiosity in everyone's eyes and sighed "Look, I know you guys are hyped up about exploring Kyoto but we still have to focus on the main mission here: To recruit more players" He instructed which made them sigh, which in turn made Hanekoma sigh as well with guilt included. "Hmm...well I guess we could explore a little bit while looking for the players..."
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
After a long while of info gathering (with a few sight seeing in between), the group had figured out that there were actually players still living in Kyoto although some of them had already left. The game that took place a few years ago in Kyoto focused on a different theme than the one that happened in Shibuya. It wasn't about giving people a second chance but was actually about making those players realize solutions to their problems. All the players in that game had a deep and serious problem which they probably might've not survived if it had lingered on, so the game acted as their cure.
Right now, the group had recruited a few players with most of them even volunteering to show their appreciation for the composer of that game. Surprisingly, when Neku asked who the composer was, they pointed at the middle-aged man beside him who wore shades even when it was dark.
"N-No way...so you were the composer of that game here in Kyoto?" Neku asked Hanekoma who laughed in response "Surprised? Well, yeah i was the composer all right. That game was also the reason why Josh befriended me in the first place. He knew from seeing that game that I was someone he could trust completely"
After a few more minutes, the group chose to take a break and decided to visit a certain place in the city called Hankyu Department Store. Actually, it was mostly the girls' idea to go there.
"Wow…just look at all these different styles of clothes. Maybe I'll even get a nice kimono here" Eri mumbled before heading off along with Shiki to look around the store.
Seeing the two girls speed off, everyone went their separate ways around the department store (except Hanekoma who decided to just hang out at a nearby coffee shop). The store had an adequate variety of clothing and other things like cooking ware and furniture although those things weren't really needed at the moment.
Neku was walking around the electrical appliance isle when he found Ryou holding a sort of tennis racket. Neku wondered why there was a tennis racket in a department store but suddenly remembered that not everything was what they seemed. "Ryou, don't touch that!" Neku yelled just in time to stop his friend from touching the stringed part of the racket.
"Huh? Is there something wrong?" the boy with goggles asked, making Neku take the racket and a coin from his wallet. Upon contact with the coin, the strings suddenly sparked a bright light which made Ryou even more curious.
"See now? If you touched it, you might've gotten shocked just like the coin" He explained although the violet clad boy still seemed clueless.
"You seriously don't know what this is? It's a bug zapper that you swing around; but not too fast or bugs won't be the only thing this racket zaps. I thought everyone knew what this was"
Ryou swayed his head in contrast to Neku's statement. "I'm sorry. I'm just not used to the city. I grew up living the more traditional way…" He said, a silent look on his face which made Neku just a little more suspicious of his friend.
Meanwhile, the two girls were happily looking around the clothing isle. "Hey Shiki, what do you think of this? Maybe I should wear it in the up-coming festival" Eri asked as she held up a pink kimono with a yellow sash. Shiki scanned the fabric from top to bottom and smiled "Yeah, it would look great on you, right Mr. Mew?" She said and the stuffed animal nodded in response before taking a look at a green colored kimono which hung right behind Shiki.
"Hey big sis, I think this one would look good on you!" Mr. Mew pointed at the leaf colored kimono which Shiki took and put it close to her body, as if imagining how it would look like on her. Eri thought it matched pretty well. Shiki did seem to look good with green clothing.
"You should definitely get that one. It suits you perfectly" Eri commented, an honest smile on her face. Shiki thanked her best friend and put the kimono in her shopping basket before looking around some more.
Little did they know, Beat and Rhyme were in a close-by area and managed to eavesdrop on the whole conversation. "You know, Beat" The smaller sibling began "those two seem really close, it's almost like they're sisters. I can tell, because Eri acts like a great older sister; just like you act like a great older brother"
Beat smiled and put his arm around his sister's shoulder "Aw shucks Rhyme, what you said was pretty tight. Thanks fo' thinkin' of me that way. And I agree with you, if I didn't know em', I'd probably think they were siblings too"
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Eventually, Eri and Shiki finished their shopping and decided to head for the counter to pay. A few steps away though, there was this strange feeling that struck them. It felt like they were being followed so they decided to turn at a corner and hoped to ambush whoever it was. As they expected, the stranger turned at that same corner with a gun in hand but was intercepted by Eri who quickly gripped the gun and froze it in a matter of seconds.
"Who are you and what do you think you're doing?" Eri suspiciously said before gripping the frozen gun even tighter and cracking it. The attacker immediately let go of the gun and instinctively backed off. As soon as he did, another gun was pulled out from his jacket but was once again interrupted when an unknown force sliced the gun in half.
"Don't move" Neku was already right behind the man and had a shockwave blade pointed right at the attacker's neck. Across him was Ryou who held the cut half of the gun in his left hand and pyro blade at his right.
"Well" The attacker said "Aren't you the most alert brats I've ever seen" Before Neku could interrogate the man; he quickly ducked and gave Neku's legs a quick sweep which made the teenager slip and fall on his back. Ryou proceeded to intercept but the hooded assailant dodged the slice and flipped a few feet back, putting himself out of harm's way. His movements were almost like a ninja's in the fact that they were so swift and accurate.
"You guys are pretty skilled but I'm afraid you're out of luck. You see, I've set a bomb here that'll explode anytime I push this button" The mysterious man alerted, a switch already in hand which stopped Neku and the rest in their tracks.
Seeing that he finally got their attention, the man flipped his hood back to finally show his face. He had black hair styled in a ponytail with grey sideburns and a small scar across his nose. His face mentally told the group that he looked like he was still in his late teens.
Moments later, Hanekoma arrived along with Beat and Rhyme. The man with shades immediately recognized the attacker as he stared into the man's black, serious eyes. "Shin…Shin Amaya. It's been awhile. How've you been?" Hanekoma asked with a polite tone although his face remained serious and alert.
The man known as Shin crossed his arms and grinned "Sanae Hanekoma…we meet again, I see. I'd like to thank you for all the pain you caused me during that last reaper's game you put me through" Although, his tone sounded calm, his words were clearly the opposite.
"Shin, you know I did that for your own good" Sanae replied although Shin still seemed like he bore a grudge against the man. "That's total bull if you ask me. You killed my sister, you asshole" Shin's tone was now starting to change from his former calm one to a rather aggressive tone.
Hanekoma could now see the hate in his eyes that he remembered from two years ago. He never would've expected that his grudge would still be this strong and fiery. "Open your eyes Shin. She gave her life to protect you! Why do you want to just waste it like this?"
As the argument stretched on, Shin only became more irritated "What makes you think I'm wasting it? I've been waiting for this day to finally get my pay-back! I…never thought you'd come back but holy hell, you did and now…I've resolved myself" Shin said with rage before holding up the switch in his hand.
"Now, I want you to meet me at Kiyomizu-dera temple at 7:00 tonight. If you don't then I'll push this button and watch the fireworks from there. But just to make sure you don't high-tail it out of here…you, get over here" He ordered as he pointed at Shiki who refused at first.
"I'm gonna need one of your friends as a hostage so that you don't try anything funny on me. If you refuse, then I'll push this button right now. I don't really care anymore if I die but how about all the other innocent people here?" Shin's threatening words finally managed to convince Shiki. Although her friends dearly wanted to stop her, she told them that there was no other choice.
"That wasn't so hard now, was it? So, meet me at Kiyomizu-dera…or else" At that statement, Shin threw a small ball to the ground and tons of smoke rose soon after, taking them out of sight.
When the smoke was finally gone, so were Shin and Shiki which caused Neku to slam his fist on nearby furniture and look angrily at Hanekoma "You've got some explaining to do. Just who the hell is that guy?"
Hanekoma decided that it was best to tell them everything he knew about Shin Amaya. Unlike the reaper's game Neku and the rest competed in, you didn't have to die to be able to play the game that took place in Kyoto. All you needed was a serious dilemma that threatened you greatly. Shin was placed in the game along with his older sister because their family was part of some assassin group called the 'White Hand'. Neither Shin nor his sister could stand what was happening although they couldn't do anything about it because betraying the group meant certain death.
The reaper's game helped Shin and his sister realize that they had to do everything they could to take down the 'White Hand'. They were doing it for all the innocent people and mostly, for themselves. Shin's sister though, didn't want any harm to come to her little brother so one day; she knocked her brother unconscious and headed for the 'White Hand' by herself. The next day, Shin found out that the 'White Hand' had been destroyed but sadly, so was his sister.
"That's…pretty tragic…" Eri began, a tear already falling from her eye. "I can kind of relate to how it feels like to lose someone that close to you"
Eri took of her star shaped hairclip from her long pink hair and smiled "I really thought I lost Shiki when I heard she died. The day I found out what happened, I couldn't help but cry all day and it even took me awhile to actually get over it…but…I was so happy when I found out that she was alive. I just really couldn't believe it"
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The time had finally come for Neku and the rest to head over to Kiyomizu-dera temple. At the temple, Shin was quietly waiting for his guests to arrive. Shiki was doing the same in a far-away corner and was surprised that he didn't tie her up or restrain her. That was probably because Shin still had the detonator and knew that Shiki wouldn't try anything risky.
"Hey" Shiki called out "Do you seriously think you're gonna get away with this?" She asked which made Shin stand up and look at her "No, I don't" He replied, making a confused yet shocked look appear on Shiki's face.
"I plan on dying here tonight whatever the outcome of the fight will be. My sister…was all the family I had left. My mom…dad…and everyone else were just trained assassins born to kill people. Now that I've lost her…I've got nothing left. That's why…it's my resolve to die here…because…it's the most fitting place for me. This place holds a lot of memories. When I was a kid, I used to play here with my sister all the time. Do you know the legend behind this place?" He asked but Shiki swayed her head.
"If you fall from the top floor of this place and survived…then you'll have your deepest wish granted. A few years ago when I was still playing here with my sister, I tried doing that although my sister stopped me at the last minute and knocked my head pretty hard while calling me a numbskull"
Hearing his calm and happy tone, Shiki could see a different side of Shin that time. Instead of feeling angry at him, that turned into a feeling of pity and sadness towards him. He didn't seem like a bad guy at all; he's just had an enormous amount of bad luck.
Moments later, both of them heard footsteps coming from the stairs and turned to see Hanekoma and the rest of the group who had noticed that Shin had removed his hooded cloak and was now dressed in a traditional ninja get-up.
"Now…" began Shin, "I'll fight a one-on-one battle with any of you. I don't care who it is just as long as it's only one person. If anyone tries to interrupt, I'll push the switch and this whole place goes up in flames. I'll give you five minutes" He said before turning away from the group who began discussing.
"I'll fight-" Neku began but was immediately interrupted by Eri "No, let me do it. I…wasn't able to do anything for Shiki before. And I even said something that hurt her feelings even before she died. I thought I would've regretted it for the rest of my life but she's still alive and she's right in front of me now. I couldn't do anything before…but now I can"
Hanekoma saw the determination in Eri's eyes and smiled "So that's your resolve? I see…Neku, I think it's best if we let Eri take care of this one" He said and Neku nodded without a second thought. He could also see the determination that Eri had. He'd never seen her like this before and it kind of reassured them that she could do it.
Before approaching Shin, Eri was reminded by Hanekoma of one more thing. During that game, pins weren't used but instead, he had to learn how to strengthen his own physical body. Noise didn't exist in that game but tasks requiring physical strength did. Shin already was an assassin in training but going through that game made him even stronger, so not having any pins wasn't much of a disadvantage for him.
"Before we start, if you win, then you get this girl back and I'll bother you no further but if I win…then I'll push this button" Everyone was shocked at the assassin's condition. Even if Shin won he'd still want to die anyway which was plain inhuman.
"Then…" Eri started "I've got no choice but to beat you. For everyone's sake, including yours" She said, causing Shin to grin at that statement.
"Well then, if that's how determined you are…let's begin!" Shin immediately jumped up in the air and threw a few kunai knives which were blocked by sudden ice pillars that rose from the ground. Eri could see Shin dashing towards her with a sword in hand so she quickly took one of the frozen kunai and blocked the incoming strikes until Shin decided to back off. "You're pretty good little lady. I didn't think you'd know how to use a knife"
An irritated Eri immediately flung a few icicles at the assassin who leaped backwards to dodge them "Quit the flattery and get moving. If you underestimate a girl then you're asking for a beating!" She yelled which made Shin grin at how easily she can be distracted. He had secretly planted smoke bombs while clashing with her a little while ago and decided to reveal them.
"You should learn to pay more attention, little girl!" The small smoke bombs suddenly exploded and left Eri in a cloud of smoke. Shin got ready to slash at her from behind and would've actually been successful if it weren't for a certain puddle of water which made him slip and lose his balance. Seeing his now revealed position, Eri immediately pushed him back with a strong kick.
"So, what were you saying about me paying more attention?" Eri asked sarcastically. Shin grinned once again when he finally realized where that puddle of water came from "You changed the ice back into water huh? I guess you were paying attention after all"
Neku and co. were rather impressed by how the battle was going so far. Eri proved to be quite adequate in a head-on battle by what they've noticed.
Eri continued to stay alert because she had a feeling that shin wasn't fighting at the best of his abilities and it turns out that she was right about that hunch.
"Let's see how well you handle a doppelganger" Shin exclaimed and moments later, Eri could see another copy of the same enemy. Before Eri could even determine which one was the real foe, both clones sprinted towards her. Fighting both of them was tough and Eri's only option at the moment was to use multiple pillars to block out one copy so that she could focus on the other. However, even that strategy was pretty tough to pull off which eventually led Eri to use more energy than usual.
Hanekoma could clearly see that she was slowly tiring out "Eri needs to find a way to end this quickly or she won't stand a chance at the state she's in" He said before seeing Eri make a careless step which lead to her arm being hit by Shin's sharp blade.
Eri flinched and immediately backed up for more room. The teen gripped her bleeding arm and continued to think of a strategy but before she could get anywhere with her thinking, another copy ran straight towards her. She made multiple pillars rise once again but she'd completely forgot about the other copy which landed another strike, this time on her left leg which made her groan in pain.
"Eri!" Shiki called out, but stopped herself because she knew that she needed to have more faith in her best friend. Everyone else was also trying hard to stop themselves from interrupting the fight but they knew that it was all up to Eri this time.
The pink haired girl was now taking deep breaths as she tried hard to keep her balance due to her injured leg "I don't have any other choice. I've only got one shot at this and if it fails…then I'm dead meat" She thought to herself before closing her eyes in order to concentrate.
Shin saw that this was his chance and was about to move in for the final blow but something suddenly stopped him. The temperature of the whole area started to drop at an alarming rate which even made everyone start shivering due to the coldness.
Shin had failed to notice all the water throughout the area from the melted ice pillars which was a critical factor in Eri's plan. This would be the first time she would try something like this and she wasn't even sure if she had enough energy to pull it off. But still, desperate times called for desperate measures.
"PLEASE WORK!" She finally shouted as she slammed her hands on the water and froze every single drop of it into one giant pillar of crystal which even broke through the roof of the building and extended even farther. Shin dodged the pillar when it rose from the ground but that was only half of her plan.
Seeing that things were going smoothly, Eri suddenly changed the whole pillar back into water which started to fall like rain. Because of the severely cold temperature mixed with the water's already cold temperature (because it had just changed from an ice pillar), the rain drops quickly morphed back into solidified icicles which poured down on Shin like a hail storm.
"She won" Neku said with a grin. Apparently, only he, Ryou and Hanekoma could tell why and how she actually won but when the icy fog finally cleared out, everyone else could see the reason to her victory: Shin was now surrounded by fallen icicles that numbered in the hundreds. If Eri's plan was to kill him, then she would've aimed all those icicles directly at Shin's head, but merely surrounding him with the fallen ice was enough to get the message through.
"You win. Nicely done" Shin said which confirmed Eri's victory. Seeing that Shin had finally surrendered, Eri changed all the fallen pieces of ice back into its original liquid state. "I told you…I'd win…" Eri weakly said before ultimately falling unconscious due to exhaustion and her wounds. Everyone hurriedly rushed over to her to see if she was ok and thankfully, she just needed some rest and a little first aid (which came from Rhyme's healing ability from her zodiac pin).
Unnoticed, Shin took one last look at the group and headed over to the edge of the building and stood on the ledge. Shiki, who was still checking up on her unconscious friend, suddenly remembered the words that Shin spoke "I plan on dying tonight whatever the outcome will be"
Remembering those words, she quickly scanned the wide room for him and eventually found him standing on the ledge, ready to jump off the wooden bars.
"SHIN!!!" She called out, tears present in her eyes but it was too late for her to do anything. Shin turned his head around one last time and smiled before finally jumping off the enormous temple. With his eyes closed, he patiently waited for his body to hit the ground and eventually decay into the ground. He started recalling everything that had happened, with his sister being the last thing he thought off. "Reina…I'll be with you soon…" He mumbled as he continued to fall.
Suddenly though, Shin heard a loud flapping noise and opened his eyes to see Sanae Hanekoma who had caught him in mid-air. On his back were large, white, and heavenly wings which actually made Shin think he was in heaven for a few moments before realizing who had caught him.
"Don't throw your life away" Sanae began "Life is precious and your sister proved that by sacrificing herself just so you wouldn't get hurt. If you died now because of this idiotic thinking of yours, how do you think she'd feel about that?" He said with that everlasting calm tone of his.
After a few moments, tears stared to well up in Shin's eyes for he'd now realized how stupid he was for the last two years. He didn't want to burst out crying because that just wasn't how he was but still…he felt pretty happy now. It was like a heavy load was just lifted from his shoulders.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The next day, Shin could no longer be seen although he'd promised Hanekoma that he would live his life without anymore regrets and even proposed that maybe he would join them someday as a player. But for now, he just wanted to re-organize his thoughts and make a new path for himself. He was greatly thankful to all of them for making him realize something that he had forgotten. Now, he holds a new resolve.
Neku and the rest proceeded to the train station along with the few new recruited players to head to their next objective at Akihabara where another round of the Angel's game waits. During their time in Kyoto, everyone, especially Eri and Shin, had realized a new resolve for themselves which they will use to grow stronger as a person.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
And we're finally done with chapter 10 of TWBWY. Once again, I hope you enjoyed and please don't forget to leave a helpful comment or two. Those things really helped me and my writing.
Also…this chapter is dedicated to my cousin who I believe is now in God's arms. Remembering him also helped me think of the ideas for this chapter so I know he's still helping me even when he's no longer with me. Well, I'll see you next time. Cheers!