Week Two, Day Three: A Darker Secret
I woke with a scream bubbling at my lips this time. I jumped to my knees to find my entire body shaking in nonstop fear. I couldn't get to my feet no matter how much I forced my quivering to stop. My ultra blue eyes skidded all over in search of what I had seen that scared me so badly. But I didn't know what it really was.
All that I knew before waking up was a feeling of intense hatred directed at me. It was total darkness so I had no idea where it was coming from, but I knew whoever had that much disgust for me still had it. What terrified me the most was that the knife gouged out my eyes and throat without a second for me to block it. That was why I almost screamed and was unable to move.
I noticed Aesh was just getting up while Joshua was talking on his phone and Neku was frowning at his partner. None really saw that I had freaked out as my breathing lessened until it returned to its normal pace. I got to my feet leisurely and I pulled out my phone to see if the mission mail had come while I was asleep. It hadn't yet, but I knew that it would be coming soon since I was awake now. Usually, I was the last to wake up from all the Players.
"Rose, you seem a little down for just waking up!" Aesh stated as she walked over to me.
I blinked and looked at her with a slight tilt of my lip curved upwards. It wasn't entirely a smile, but it also wasn't that forced so she'd be able to see through me. I didn't want her to figure me out that easily- even if we were supposed to be best friends and she didn't remember.
"You would be too if Neku stressed you out as much as he did me." I said teasingly.
The orange haired teen didn't even acknowledge that I had spoken, which wasn't surprising. He was kind of hooked up on glaring at his partner, who I noticed was still talking on his phone. I shook my head and made my way towards Joshua with my blonde haired partner skipping beside me. She was checking her cell phone for the mission mail that none of us had received and I'm sure it bothered Neku that he hadn't gotten it yet.
I barely noticed because the Reapers liked to do this at different intervals in some of the Games, just to freak out the Players. Sometimes it worked, and sometimes it didn't do anything but annoy them. Aesh suddenly grabbed my forearm and I stopped to look at her, but her eyes weren't on me.
They seemed to be fixated on something that wasn't near me. I followed her gaze to a group of people hustled around each other laughing, but I saw nothing that would have caused so much distress in her body. I flinched when she sank her nails deeper into my skin and when I tried to pry her off, it only hurt more.
"Aesh, that hurts! What's-?"
"Shh! She'll hear you and then we'll all be dead!" Aesh hissed lowly under her breath.
My eyebrows scrunched together in confusion as I looked around the area that had my partner freaking out. No one stuck out to my eyes as I held my phone tightly in my free hand. If there was someone out for blood that wasn't a Reaper or a Player, I had to tell Mr. Kitaniji or one of the higher-ups. That was usually how serious this kind of thing was. I struggled to find who Aesh was telling me about but I finally grew annoyed that I couldn't find who she was saying was there.
"No one is there! Come on; let's get to Neku and Joshua. If we're with them, then we'll be okay- right?" She agreed grudgingly and followed me towards the two boys.
Joshua was the one to notice me first and he had an eerie grin on his face that had me glaring at him before I took one step further. I could tell that he was plotting something just from that face. I hated that so much that my fingers dug into my phone.
"If I can convince Rose to join us, will you come?"
Damn it, I knew it was going to be something like that. Using me like that was the kind of thing that I didn't like. Only if it was without my consent, actually. Neku glanced at me to see what I thought of this new idea. My ultra blue eyes bore into his in hopes that he'd realize that that wasn't what I was going to agree to. Before he could possibly read those thoughts in my eyes, all of our phones went off at once.
"Whoa, you were right. Here's the mission mail Neku!" Joshua said while smiling in a twisted way. "Rose, how 'bout you read the mail- seeing as you like to do that."
I glared at the silver haired boy but lifted my phone so I could read it anyway. There was no point in getting Neku mad at me for not doing something that we all needed to know. I checked the mission and crunched my eyebrows together in confusion. Glancing back up at the orange haired teen's partner, I saw that he wouldn't look me in the eye at all. Aesh repeatedly asked me what it was saying as my glare deepened.
"Proceed to Cat Street. Time limit: Fifteen minutes."
Neku and my partner shrieked that we wouldn't make it in time unless we ran all the way. The reason for that was because the street we had to go to was on the opposite side of Shibuya from where we stood. The two voiced that in shock and Joshua merely chuckled.
"We'd better hurry then."
My wrist was grabbed by my blonde best friend and she went running in the direction Cat Street was. I nearly dropped my phone before I managed to put it back into my skirt pocket. We raced towards the department stores since it was the fastest way to get to where we were going and at this point, a feeling of dread slapped me in the chest.
I stopped moving when we got to Cadoi City and I spun to stare at the area we had just come through. I scanned the crowds as that feeling rose higher and higher until it washed away all my other emotions.
No one stuck out to me as I continued searching. My hands dug into my pockets before one of them pulled out my black skulled Player Pin. Something was not right at all. Not if an emotion was scattering all the others and making me stop moving to find it. I flipped my pin into the air as Aesh asked me what I was doing.
I could hear her urging me to come help break down the wall a Reaper had put up as she grabbed my sleeve. Instantly, my heels dug into the ground as hard as they could when she started pulling me. I caught my pin and every person I could see had their thoughts slamming into me from all angles. I pushed the ones away that weren't concerning and listened for ones that threatened our lives.
None caught my ears and I sighed while lifting my pin to get rid of all the thoughts. Just before I did, a stabbing pain ran down my body straight from my head. I didn't really scream, but I must have made some noise because the next thing I knew, I was on my knees with my hands over my ears. Neku and the other two were staring at me but it was the former that was screaming my name.
My pin was staring at me from the ground with blood caked all around it. The liquid hadn't dried up yet so I knew it hadn't been long. I felt hands grab my shoulders and shake me violently, which made my hands let go of my ears.
"…the hell is wrong?! You were just fine a minute ago and then you crashed onto the ground coughing out blood!" Neku shrieked at me.
I could only imagine what else he had been saying since it was obvious that I caught the end of his words. He shook me again roughly to bring me back to reality and I blinked up at the three of them. I knew two of them would want to know what had brought my coughing fit on and I struggled to find an answer for them.
"I…I sensed something…When I tried to figure out who it was, I-I guess an emotion hit me too deep and brought out the blood."
I didn't think that was right though. But it was the best idea that I could come up with that wasn't a lie. Sometimes when you looked into a person's thoughts, if the emotion they feel is raw enough, it could do things to you depending on what it was. It had never happened to me before, so I had no idea what kind of feeling caused the attack.
Neku looked me over for a moment longer and then he rubbed what I thought was blood from the corner of my lip. I felt a jolt in my chest and that was when I scrambled to my feet while grabbing my Player Pin. I soon felt dizzy and I pressed a hand against Aesh instead of Neku or Joshua to keep myself from falling over.
Heat was rushing up to my cheeks despite what I coughed up already and I struggled to keep it away, but it wasn't working.
"W-We cleared the wall so let's get going, Rosie! I think we're almost to Cat Street." Aesh said while placing a hand around my waist.
She spun me towards the way Towa Records lied. Before I even thought to object, we were racing forward once again. Joshua smirked at me as we passed him and Neku rushed after us. I didn't notice at the time because I was trying to keep from falling over. It was not a wise decision to run with a dizzy head.
"If you're not careful, we might have to give you a transfusion." Neku said as Aesh finally slowed down in the underpass.
I felt her let me go as she rushed towards one of the Reapers with my bag- where I kept my money and the pins we usually needed to give to Reapers. I turned to stare at the other teen next to me to find that he was already looking down at me. I frowned just a little but I didn't consider what he had said was an insult.
"At this rate, it might be the only thing that'll keep me alive long enough to end this entire week. And I see that you aren't being rude to me so does that mean you forgive me just a little bit more?"
The expression in his eyes switched at my words. I realized that he must have teased me out of habit and that I was most definitely not forgiven. A sigh escaped me but it hurt worse that he thought about me like that.
"I guess it was a fluke, then." I muttered lowly before walking towards Aesh.
She looked at me with a broad smile as the Reaper took down the wall while holding one of the pins from my bag. She handed me the thing back and I put the tiny object in my pocket.
"We ready to go?" She asked all of us.
I didn't bother to say anything because it was obvious that I was going to go even if the others didn't. I walked forward and Aesh was with me, along with Neku and Joshua. When we left the underpass, the orange teen said that we should sprint from here. I opened my mouth to object and before I uttered a single syllable, he was gone.
I heard my partner and his mutter that he was really energetic today. They got a reply back saying that we needed to bust our asses running. I groaned a little but did as he said without much complaint. When we got to Cat Street, Neku was there, huffing his heart out.
"Did we clear the mission, Ro-Aesh?"
My partner stared at him in surprise and even Joshua did the same. It was obvious how much he was trying to avoid me now that I had pointed out he wasn't acting like he hated me. As my partner glanced at me, I only shrugged my shoulders and she lifted her hand to show that there had been no time at all. Neku's eyes grew to the size of the moon and it made me smirk at him.
"Joshua tricked you this entire time. There was no mission mail, the message was sent to only mine and his to convince you what it was. Aesh knew as well because she realized there was no timer on her hands." I clarified.
His partner nodded his head and pointed to a cafe- which must have been where he wanted to go this entire time. I dragged Neku towards the cafe as the other two passed us. I could tell that he was in shock that we had lied to him this entire time and I chuckled a little, though he didn't seem to really hear me.
"Mr. H? You in?" The silver haired teen called out.
"Heyy! I was waiting for ya, Josh." Hanekoma's voice said as he appeared from a room in the back of the counter.
I wasn't surprised to see the guy but it seemed the one I held was. Neku made a noise that caused the old guy to look at the two of us and he burst into a wide smile.
"Phones! Lil' Ro too! Both of ya are in the Game again?"
"We're both in it, yes. Shiki is Neku's entry fee this time around."
I watched as Mr. Hanekoma stared at me in puzzlement when I didn't say what my entry fee was. I kept my mouth shut even when it hit everyone else that they didn't know my entry fee or my partners. When the silence stretched on, the old guy shrugged his shoulders and told Phones to buck up.
"Nothin' you can do about that right now. 'Sides, boss, I'm sure she understands," He grinned at this point and looked towards me again. "And you seem to be in a real fix, Ro! There's blood all over your outfit and face and hands. What have you been up to, eh?"
I rubbed the back of my head while glancing down at my clothes. I had know there was a ton of blood from over the week but I hadn't thought that there was that much. You couldn't even tell my outfit was any color but red. That meant I had to find a different outfit eventually.
"So Mr. Hanekoma has saved your asses more than once last week? What a coincidence. He has been in the business of saving my ass for some time," Joshua turned to the guy then. "I hate to seem impatient, but could we- you know?"
Mr. Hanekoma nodded and asked for all of our phones. Neku was the only one to ask what he was going to do with them and I heard his partner snicker.
"Upgrades. And it shouldn't take long either." Came the reply.
It wasn't long before the old guy came back with all of our phones. Joshua thanked him and said that we can finally go on a little hunt. Without answering our questioning eyes, the silver haired male led us all outside. He pulled out his phone and pushed some buttons before a beeping noise came from the device.
"Hm, nothing here. I guess we'll have to canvass Shibuya and look for signals." Joshua determined.
He walked on ahead and Aesh followed without a word. I frowned and looked to Neku to find that there was something bothering him.
"You both look like ya got something on your minds." Mr. Hanekoma said to us.
I turned to face the old man with a smirk. If he was going to let us ask questions, then we better take the opportunity and not let it slip past us. We needed answers more than anything.
"How do you and Joshua know each other?" That was the first thing that came to mind because he knew someone that bothered me a lot.
"I've known him for a while now. He'd swing by when he was bored, and we'd talk. You see, he's a little special…As in he sees things. Like dead people- which is how he knew about the Game. He saw the Players and Reapers and all when he was still alive. And when he wanted to talk, he'd come to me. Not many folk would listen, if you know what I mean. He's been alone all his life, if you think about it. Even if he's really aloof and can be prickly, he's not a bad kid. And since the two of you are hanging around him, both of you are gonna have to make friendly." Mr. Hanekoma said.
Neku asked about the phones at this point and he was answered that trackers were installed and they'll find energy spikes and it point us towards the nearest one. He also installed another thing- but the thing was that we had to ask Joshua about it. Like hell he'd give us the answer we'd be looking for.
"We haven't gotten a mission today- do you know why?" Neku asked.
His eyes glanced at me the most so I decided to answer the best I could.
"Game Master's are the only ones who handle the missions. Hanekoma wouldn't know for sure, but I've been around enough to know that they really can only give you one mission. If something happens and makes the mission impossible to accomplish, though, I step in and change it- if Mr. Kitaniji approves of it and allows the change. Now, my last question is this: Why the hell do you have a cafe?"
"Hm? You mean WildKat? Isn't it pretty hip?"
We slowly nodded but I noticed that there was no one in the cafe at all.
"Always did love me some beans. I had to start a cafe because I came to be such an addict. Oh! I said I'd fix you two up with a cuppa last time, huh? Here, have some for the road. Only five hundred and twenty yen." I chuckled because it was expected that he would charge us. We wouldn't be getting off that easily.
"Hey, remember what I said at the beginning, Phones? Trust your…?"
"Partner, I know." He muttered.
"But the only person you seem to actually trust is lil Ro at this point. She's not your partner, Josh is. Trust him- even though he is the way he is. Enjoy every moment with all you've got."
I noticed the shock on Neku's face from one of the sentence that Mr. Hanekoma said but I don't think he really noticed at the moment that it had been pointed out I was the only person he trusted. I heard Aesh calling for me and I left the cafe without a second thought. Neku was able to find the three of us if he got away from the old man. But before I was out of ear shot, Mr. Hanekoma called out to me:
"The world ends with you, Ro! If you and Neku want to enjoy life, expand your world. Push your horizons out as far as they'll go."
I smirked to myself and waved a hand to show that I had heard him. Soon, the teen was at my side and we were chasing after Aesh and Joshua, who purposefully kept at least one sector ahead of us. I ground my teeth together and looked back at Neku. He was starting to slow down, which was a surprise. He was usually faster than me.
I grabbed his wrist and forced him to stay next to me as we got to Towa Records. That was where the two finally stopped running away from us. I almost slammed into Aesh as she turned to me with a wide smile.
"That was fun! We need to do that again, Ro-!"
"Found ya!" The voice that pierced the air caused me to freeze for a second.
My phone buzzed inside my skirt as I turned my head while pulling it out. I glanced down at it as Neku demanded to know who was there. My eyes widened when it was a message from a Reaper that I didn't know about:
"You're going to die before the end of the day. I guarantee it."
Pain laced through my head and the phone slipped from my fingers and crashed into the ground. The threatening words reverberated all over in my mind and I felt the blood beginning to rise from my throat. I grabbed at my stomach and dug my nails in as far as they could go.
Aesh said my name in worry as Beat appeared in front of us. I collapsed to my knees and swallowed what saliva I could to keep the blood from coming up.
"Get ready to hurt, Phones! You and Rose gonna bleed today, yo!"
I felt that deep feeling of dread rise and consume me at this point. I noticed that my phone was buzzing once again but I didn't dare look at it. Not if a Reaper caused this bad of an effect on me. I heard Neku cry out and say that Beat was okay.
"Better'n okay. See for yourself." I heard the flap of the black wings all Reapers had so I knew he had shown Neku what was different about him.
Joshua asked the two of us if this was one of our friends and Neku was the one to nod. The silver haired boy muttered that we got around for friends a lot.
"They ain't no friend a' mine. I only came here to erase you punks." Beat said.
I felt the earth shaking when he ran at us. I cursed and released my stomach. I brought up both hands and a red light fizzed between them. Before Beat struck Neku or me, a bear Noise appeared in front of us. It roared at the blonde Reaper and it made him stagger back. I let out a relieved breath before my eyes squeezed themselves shut tightly.
"Y-You summoned Noise! I thought only Reapers do that!" Aesh cried out in shock.
I didn't answer as I swayed to my feet; even with how hurt I was obviously feeling. The bear Noise lifted my phone from the ground and handed it to me- which shocked everyone but me. I stuffed the device into my pocket and opened my eyes after the wave of pain passed.
"N-Neku, we have to fight Beat. I won't be much help, but we have to try." I said to him.
The boy looked me over several times because he and I both knew that I was in no condition to fight. Not so early after getting an attack like that- even though no blood was coughed up. I turned to stare at Aesh and she seemed to agree with me that we were going to fight.
Without a word, she disappeared to the other zone before Neku said yes or no. The bear Noise's that I had summoned attacked Beat as I took a deep breath and forced the blood to stay down for at least ten minutes. When one was destroyed, I took action and went running at the Reaper. He noticed and swung a skateboard at me. I jumped into the air and dodged the blow before swinging a frog Noise at him.
It croaked before blowing up in his face and Neku ran passed me to get his attack in. The other bear Noise was erased when I glanced at it and that seemed my mistake. Beat kicked the orange teen away and came racing at me with his skateboard at the ready. I struggled to bring out another Noise but I couldn't think of which one to use, which ended in me getting bashed in the side pretty hard. I staggered to the left and ran into a person that I couldn't see. I hoped it was someone okay as I fell to my knees once again.
"That it? Your psychs is limp, yo! I was hopin' for a real fight from both yas! But your weak asses ain't worth beatin' down. Get lost an' consider yourselves lucky." Beat said with a glare at both of us.
I returned it with one of my own and I grabbed onto the fabric of whoever was standing beside me. As I lifted myself up, I felt something sharp dig into my throat. I immediately froze because I knew what that thing was. I knew it like the back of my hand.
It was a knife, the same thing that was used to kill me.
"Does little Rosie remember the feel of this blade? Is that why she's frozen?" The female voice was right in my ear and I could literally feel the malice washing into me.
I recognized the voice but it was odd because that was Aesh's voice. I remained silent as I struggled to have my partner appear next to me. Beat had walked off long ago and Joshua was talking with Neku- so why wasn't Aesh appearing yet?
"Do you remember me, I wonder? Do you remember how that blade slipped in and out of your chest while you begged for it to stop? Or even how hateful I was of you?"
I felt the knife press against my throat a bit harder and I dared myself to look up and see who had me in their hold. And as soon as my ultra blue eyes found a rich red staring back at me, I was scrambling to get away. It wasn't just the voice that had reminded me so much of Aesh now.
This teenager looked so much like her that I thought my partner had betrayed me. I swung up a fist and knocked the knife from my skin. I rushed to my feet and staggered backwards before landing on my ass. The girl was looking at me with malice in her eyes as she smirked at me.
I felt my memory of my death coming back when I saw her eyes again. The knife she held glistened with blood that wasn't actually there and a scream bubbled up to my lips. Tears bristled at the edges of my eyes and even though I tried to stop them from falling, they did as they wanted.
I couldn't breathe as she stepped closer to me. I opened my mouth to scream at her to stay back when Aesh jumped in front of me with her arms holding my head tightly to her chest.
"Don't you dare touch my partner, Aera! She has nothing to do with you!" She screamed, catching Neku and Joshua's attention.
The girl stopped moving and cocked her head to the side at the demand of my partner. It was like she was mocking us with those red eyes. I watched as the knife was raised and it was pointed directly at me.
"That bitch is the one who killed you, Aesh! She's the one that ruined our lives by getting murdered! I'll be damned if I let her take you away from me again!"
When the crazed teen threw the dagger at me, I brought up my hand and prepared to shove my partner away from me. But the weapon stopped moving inches from our faces with a blue aura surrounding it. I didn't have to look back to know that Neku had been the one to keep us from dying. The tears continued to fall as the girl glared at the one that had saved me.
"You'll regret that, boy. Rose is mine to kill- and it will be accomplished before the end of the week." With that, she stomped off with a cloak of darkness shrouding her from sight.
Aesh didn't let me go as she looked me over for any wounds that could have been given. I knew she wouldn't find any as my body began shaking violently and Neku rushed over. The knife fell to the ground forgotten and he was in my face as well. I had a feeling Joshua was watching from wherever he stood at this point.
"Who the hell was that? She really wanted to kill you, Rose." The male teen said to me.
I shook my head without saying a word because my thoughts were still fixated on my death. Still thinking about how she had known about my death when I had told no Reaper about it.
"I should be careful, hanging out with the three of you. All of you are bad luck. I'd hate to run into one of your enemies if that was a friend, Neku. Anyway, we better move on." Joshua said to us.
I heard Aesh object because I wasn't fit to be moved, considering how frightened I seemed. Someone scoffed and I assumed it was the silver haired teen as my friends helped me to my feet. I held Neku and Aesh tightly to keep from falling over as the tears continued to spill down my face. I couldn't stop no matter how much I tried and I think the male holding me knew it.
"Rose, did you want to sing a song? Maybe that would calm you down." I heard him suggest.
I don't know how he thought that would calm me down, but I knew that I should at least try it. Singing normally did calm me down- especially when there was darkness. Like that time Shiki, Neku, and I went to A-East and I couldn't breathe, so I had to sing to stop from freaking out. So I thought up a song I hadn't sung in awhile and took a shaky breath.
"Where did we meet before just like this?
I know your smile, your voice, just like that.
You talk to me and I smile back.
I don't believe in fantasy.
Same dress that now reminds me, something I can't forget.
Same song same tone in your voice, tell me this isn't a dream…"
I felt the tears starting to slide away and they didn't fill my eyes as we walked towards the scramble.
"Take me forward, stars are still asleep.
You and me, we live forevermore.
I would follow you, my destiny.
Won't you get my favorite photograph?
I'm getting played by you.
Déjà Vu."
I saw Aesh staring at me with her eyebrows knitted together in confusion and I had a feeling her memories were trying to come back. But they weren't going to because it was obvious her entry fee was everything about me. They wouldn't appear until the very end of the week. I noticed Neku was keeping himself from staring down at me and I knew by experience that he was thinking about my voice.
We had just stepped onto the scramble when Joshua yelled at us to hold it. We turned to look at the teen to find that he was looking down at his phone and it was making a sharp beeping noise that metal detectors made.
"We're getting a response! That means it has to be around here. But I don't know where…That means I have to pinpoint it. We're gonna have to keep looking around." Joshua said, though I had never seen him so excited before.
It was a first. We made our way towards the subway to find a Reaper clad in red waiting for us. I sighed and stepped over to him with the help of Neku.
"I'm not in the mood to do anything that you say so just let us through. If you don't, I'll erase you without a pause- and don't think I won't." I threatened.
The Reaper visibly gulped and shut down the wall without a thought. He ran off and I could see that he was sweating profusely. I turned to look at everyone and I urged them forward. We kept walking until we passed the Ten-Four Building, where Joshua made us stop.
"What's up with that line?" Neku asked all of us.
"I don't know but we should take a look anyway! The smell of all the ramen is making me hungry!" Aesh said with a bright smile.
She dragged me forward and both males and we reached a new ramen shop. The name of it was called 'Shadow Ramen' and by what I smelled, it wasn't really that good. The two boys stepped inside to see what the big deal was while we girls waited outside.
"I don't think we're going to be getting inside any time soon. All of us are invisible out here and we can't cut in line to get to the front because we'd get caught." I informed Aesh.
She nodded because she knew what I was saying. Not long after that, the boys came out looking annoyed. They were talking to each other and Joshua was glancing at his phone so I knew that he had found what he was looking for in that shop. I looked towards one of the ramen shops that I used to love going to and I found the store owner staring out at the people that wouldn't come to his shop.
I could tell that he was depressed because he was sighing so heavily it made me sad. But then I noticed that he was attracting Noise from all over the place. I signaled it to Neku and Joshua before going over to the guy with Aesh. The Noise that was surrounding him was easily wiped out without my need to summon some Noise.
"Heyy, Rosie, I'm hungry! We should go inside and get something to eat!" My friend whined to me.
I rolled my eyes but knew that all of us were hungry as well. I walked inside without waiting and Aesh did the same thing. The owner looked over at me and smiled a little.
"I haven't seen you since last week! I've got a new special ramen in! I call it 'The Big Catch.' You wanna try?"
I could see Neku didn't want to try this at all and it made me chuckle a little. He opened his mouth to disagree when Joshua and I beat him to it.
"The four of us'll have the Big Catch, sir." The owner grinned widely and took out four bowls for us.
He offered them to us and Aesh immediately dug in without complaint. She was moaning and saying how good it was and I followed after her. The silver haired one did the same and he told the owner that it was really good. Neku was forced to try some unless he wanted all of us to force it down his throat and I could tell that he was shocked to find that it tasted really good as well.
I glanced at Aesh to see that she was already done with her bowl and she was demanding another. I did the same just to tease her and she frowned at me.
"I'll beat ya, just watch!" She cried before gorging herself on the food.
I smirked and did the same- which brought on a ramen eating competition between the two of us. I didn't hear anything that was being said as the two of us ate more and more bowls without thinking. I was just about to get another bowl when a scream pierced my ears.
Aesh must have noticed it as well because she rushed outside with the two boys. I stayed where I was and finished my friend's ramen while getting another bowl to finish. I already knew who was making lots of girls scream. I was familiar with that kind of sound. More than likely, it was the Prince.
There was no other person that I was aware of that could make females scream themselves hoarse like that. The owner watched the door eagerly for new customers as I took my time finishing my last ramen bowl. By the time I finished, Aesh was calling my name excitedly.
I groaned just a little and paid for our food before walking out leisurely. I saw my best friend preparing to jump me and I smirked at her. She hardly noticed and when she tried to surprise attack me, I tackled her with my arms swinging around her waist. Aesh let out a little holler as the two of us laughed and I looked down at her while getting to my feet. I helped her up and at that point, I heard Neku screaming about today's mission.
"But what mission, Neku?" Joshua asked in a teasing tone. When there was no answer, he smirked and continued speaking. "Now, let's start sniffing out the reason this place is such a hit."
I frowned as the silver haired boy looked at me with a grin that told me what he was trying to get us all into. I wasn't going to do something for him at this moment. Not when I knew that he could figure it all out himself. So I turned to Aesh and her emerald eyes looked at me to see what I wanted.
"I'm going to go to A-East and get some new clothes instead of hanging with these two. You wanna come with?" I saw those orbs light up in excitement and she latched onto my wrist like a leech.
She gave a short cry of goodbye before I was dragged the entire way to A-East, even though it wasn't that far. I heard the boys saying something to each other but I was too far gone to hear it. I noticed that we passed the Prince and some guy that was dressed up fancy and had slicked back hair. Before I could really do anything, I was brought back into Lapin Angelique- the clothing store that I liked to go to.
The girl that was working there noticed both of us and if she saw the deep red in my clothes, she was really good at pretending it wasn't there.
"What can Princess K help you two find today?" She asked with a smile.
I glanced at my partner to find that she was giggling because she was ready to find clothes that matched her style in here. I wasn't as prepared as her, but I had an idea of what I wanted to grab.
"I want a two-tier skirt with white instead of red, a lacy spider web jersey, a ribbon mini hat with white ribbon instead of red, and my friend will have…?" Aesh grinned widely and took off where I had left the sentence hanging. "I'll have an asymmetric jersey, bandage pants, platform shoes, and a lace bonnet. Oh! And I couldn't possibly forget M'sieur Lapin!"
Princess K nodded happily and went off to get what we asked. I led Aesh into one of the booths and I went into the one next to her. Not much longer, the lady tossed over the clothes I asked for. I stripped myself of the bloody clothes that I had worn all last week and as I slipped into the new, comfy clothes, my partner started talking to me.
"That girl…the one who tried to kill you. Do you know her?"
There was hesitance in Aesh's voice, I could tell just from the sound of it. She didn't want to talk about that teenager more than I wanted to go insane from my death. But it had to be spoken so that we knew if she'd come back or not. Just so we could stay alive.
"No, I've never seen her in my life. I know that I thought she was you at one point, though." I replied.
"…That's because…" I opened my door and poked my head out after the outfit was put on. Aesh did the same and I saw that she had guilt in her eyes as they shimmered with unshed tears. "Sh-She's my twin sister, Aera. I remember my sister back from when we were alive and she never left the house. I used to have a best friend that was murdered- and while I was weeping over it, she'd actually leave the house and do things. I don't know why she's here, though. That doesn't make any sense."
I stared at her for several seconds as she regained her breath, but she was still distraught.
"I think it's my fault that she's here. It's my fault that she attacked you and I don't understand why."
I shook my head as the beginnings of her tears dribbled down to rest at the tip of her nose. I knew it wasn't her fault for this teen wanting to kill me. Some Reapers felt the same way for me and others liked having me around.
I paid the lady for our new clothes and I tossed out the ones that we didn't need any more. After that, I led Aesh outside so that no one but Players and Reapers could see us. I led her out until we stood near the area of Dogenzaka. She was still crying but not as badly and I had to force a comforting smile to appear on my lips.
"Don't be so down, okay? I'll kick Aera's ass with yours and Neku's help. She's not going to be able to kill me unless my arms and legs are ripped off!" Aesh began to giggle and I felt relief bubble up inside of me.
It was so good to know that I could make someone laugh when they were down in the dumps. As Aesh whipped the tears from her face, we made our way back to the two boys. The old guy's ramen shop was getting a lot of attention when I noticed it. I stepped towards it and found that Prince Eiji Oji was arguing with the man with slick backed hair inside the shop.
"…And you've got it backwards, Mick. A store isn't good because people talk about it. It's the product. The taste! People talk about a store because it's good. There's love in Sebastian's soup- love for the people eating it. That's the sort of ramen I want others to know of!" The Prince declared.
"Ugh…Eiji."
I watched from where I stood outside of the shop. Aesh was with me and it didn't seem like Neku and Joshua could see us- or else they would have been staring.
"Shibuya today is inundated with 'adventure.' And when all anybody offers is 'something different,' you get hungry for the familiar. It's comforting. Love has always been the world's best secret ingredient." Joshua said with a smirk.
"Yeah, you gotta fill more than just your belly." Neku added.
The old ramen guy began going off about how he had forgotten about the ingredient and the boys slipped out unnoticed. I placed a hand on the orange haired teens and the muscles underneath his clothes jumped at the contact. He turned his head towards me with surprise and I chuckled at the reaction I got.
"I see you've fixed the situation here." I nodded towards the shop at this. "That man will probably get a ton more people here if Eiji writes it in his blog."
Joshua looked towards me and I saw that he was staring at me up and down. I knew it was because of our outfits and Neku seemed to notice my clothes as well. The two gazed at Aesh and I for a long time until I grew annoyed.
"Stop staring and say something or forget about it." I snapped, bringing them out of their awed state.
"Well I don't know about Neku but I looked so long because I've never seen you that pretty." I scowled at what Joshua said but I didn't retort.
Neku's face turned a slight pink and I had a feeling he was thinking about what the silver haired boy said. I didn't let myself wonder exactly what his thoughts were as I grabbed Aesh and walked off.
"Let's head over to Spain Hill. I think there's a heap of junk that way." I informed them.
I was followed and while we were making our way there, I heard the two boys talking about what had been said inside the ramen shop.
"People aren't meant to figure each other out. There's no point in trying to change for anyone when you don't know them that well." Neku muttered.
Joshua agreed and I felt my partner release my hand so she could turn around with a smile. I shrugged my shoulders and copied her so we were walking backwards and showed that we were involved in the conversation now.
"You do realize that there is a difference between wanting to shut people out and getting rid of them, right?" Aesh asked Neku.
He frowned as if he didn't understand what she was saying. I shook my head and he turned his attention to me.
"The headphones that you constantly wear say how you feel about the world." I pointed out.
Neku's frown deepened and I rolled my eyes while looking towards Joshua. He told us that we were going to have to continue our search tomorrow. The other two asked why and when he didn't answer, Aesh asked what we were tracking. Still no answer. I sighed before the world went dark for the day.