Week Two, Day Four: Neku's Truth, Rose's Rage
I watched in boredom as Joshua and Neku battled with some Tin Pins for the fourth time now. Aesh was looking the same and as we glanced at each other, it finally came to an end. Again.
"I win!" Neku cried in excitement. The other one sighed and said that this wasn't a fair game at all and asked when he became an expert at Tin Pin.
"Why should I answer that?" The teen asked in a taunting tone- which was a first.
The new question annoyed Joshua and he yelled it was because he was asking. Aesh snorted and both boys looked at us with upraised eyebrows, as if they had forgotten we were waiting for them to finish their game again.
"When you aren't looking, he likes to train with Rosie! And yes, he does get beat by her over half the time." My partner commented.
I rolled my eyes but smirked at Neku nonetheless. He wasn't too thrilled that his secret was out as Joshua began laughing. He didn't stop for a long time and when he finally did, his partner said that since he won we had to wait another hour for the mission. This brought out the whiny side of the silver haired boy and the two males began their stubborn streak. It would have gone on if Joshua hadn't given in and pulled out his phone in aggravation.
All of us knew that this waiting was wearing thin on him but we were doing it to see how long it took for him to crack. I glanced down at my phone because it suddenly vibrated silently in my skirt pocket. I took it out and checked the message.
"Fourteen Players have died, and no missions have been assigned yesterday and today. Not to mention Reapers have been attacked continuously on Route Five. Taboo Noise is the suspect. The Game will not last a week at this rate. Keep those Players surrounding you alive, Rose. They might be the only ones left- and you may need them to complete the week so you don't fight alone. -Kitaniji."
My eyebrows furrowed together in worry at the text. Usually, no Reaper really contacted me with that kind of thing. I'd find out these kinds of things on my own. But this must have meant how serious everything was for the Reapers. Sho Minamimoto was missing then if there were no missions for today and yesterday. Either that or-
"Say, Rose. Do you think you could do me one teensy favor?"
I looked up at the mention of my name to find Joshua staring down at me. He had puppy eyes that I knew were a lie as Neku frowned at his partner. I hardly noticed as I closed my phone so no one saw the message. I then got to my feet and stared at him calmly.
"I won't convince Neku to lift the wait. We've got forty-five minutes left so I think you can-"
"How's about a trade then?"
The orange haired teen's face told me that this was what he had been waiting for this entire time. He had questions and wanted answers to them. And the only person that had those answers was Joshua.
"Then tell us what you're after." I demanded.
"You've twisted my arm, Rosie," Joshua remarked coldly, but I didn't let it phase me. "I'm not looking for anything major. Just looking for a way to jack Shibuya- which truly is the answer you all want. The only way to get the town is to find the Shibuya River."
My ultra blue eyes widened at the mention of the river. I hadn't known that someone outside of several close Reapers- myself as well -knew about the place. Neku asked what the hell he was talking about and Aesh agreed with him. But Joshua didn't want to answer that one as he looked at all of us.
"Do you all really want a second chance?" He asked, which made us ask what he meant. "What's waiting for you in the RG? Aren't you three as alone there as here? What's the difference?"
I looked at Neku to see that he was struck dumb by the question. Aesh didn't seem to want to even think of what was waiting for her. I didn't know about those two, but I knew there wasn't a chance that I'd come back to life.
Not when I still had a while to go before I was brought into the Game for real. I mean, I was in it at the moment- but if I got seriously hurt, it healed before the next day. Only I had that ability so I couldn't die. And I can be killed, but I don't want to again. So I have to keep fighting until I could come back to life.
"You don't have to answer. I don't really care. But now that the trade is over with, let's see how our signal is doing today," Joshua looked at his phone as it beeped and then he sighed. "It's coming out past Shibu-Q Heads. That puts it over near-"
"Udagawa!?" Us three cried in surprise, causing the silver haired boy to say that he was astonished that we knew the city so well.
"All of us were born and raised in Shibuya. And since it's in Udagawa, we don't have to go very far." I said while putting my phone to my face so I could open the message again.
Joshua muttered that someone was an eager beaver today and I glared at him before walking across the scramble crossing and putting in a new text for Kitaniji.
"Alright. I'll keep on the lookout for Taboo Noise and keep the Players I find alive."
I sent the message and closed my phone with a sigh. We traveled through Center Street when I found a Reaper clothed in red. I knew that he had a wall up then and I looked at my group. Neku already noticed and I began to wonder if I could get this Reaper to let us slip through without having to do the challenge. We were practically right on top of him when he looked at all of us.
"The boss isn't showing up and telling us what to do, ya know?" He said to me. "I put up a wall for the first ten minutes, but it's gone now. Just walk on through."
I stared at him in disbelief because no Reaper did that- even if the Game Master had gone AWOL. I didn't argue though because it was a free pass. The others seemed to think the same thing because they rushed on ahead of me. I had to run after them just to catch up, only to find that they were halted at the AMX building because of another Reaper. Aesh saw me coming and she smirked at me.
"He wants us to do a four chain battle! You up for that?"
"I'd be crazy not to." With that said, we fought off four different symbols of Noise.
It was an easy task for the most part, but I couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching us the entire time. Who it was specifically I'd never be able to say unless they showed themselves- which was highly unlikely. If I had no way of seeing them, then they didn't want to be seen. I pushed the watcher out of my mind as the wall was brought down for us.
We made it to Tipsy Tose Hall when Joshua stopped me from going any farther. I stared at him questioningly and he pointed further away.
"Reaper alert." He stated.
I looked to see which Reapers it was and I noticed one was red clothed, another in black, and the last one was Triple Seven from the week before. The three of them seemed to be arguing but I had yet to figure out what it was about. I glanced at the three Players beside me and I had a feeling they weren't that concerned over the Reapers.
I shouldn't have been either, but I knew Triple Seven. He was one of the nicer Reapers that loved my music and he was never mean to me.
"I'm going to see what they're arguing about." I declared before walking towards the three of them.
Aesh paused for a moment and then called for me to come back, which I ignored. Someone stomped after me but I didn't bother to check who it was as I finally stood in front of the Reapers. Triple Seven looked at me and seemed surprised to see that I was here- at least for a split second. Then his lips broke out into a grin as he wrapped an arm across my shoulders.
"Hey there, Rose! I was wondering where ya ran off to last week!" He said to me.
"Just wandering around Shibuya in the Game again with Phones and a couple of other kids." I replied.
At that moment, Neku appeared beside me. He had a look of shock on his face when he noticed Triple Seven, who grinned down at him.
"Well, talk about perfect timing!" he cried. "You four aren't busy, right? Do you mind helping me out?"
I would have said yes immediately before he even got that sentence finished. But I kept my mouth shut because Neku was the one he was asking- not me. I felt Aesh lay a hand gingerly on my arm and I glanced at her with a smile that told her everything that okay. She seemed to feel a bit better after that as the orange haired teen finally groaned that we'd help.
"Ahem, Neku, Rose, did you forget that we're book at the moment? We have to get to Udagawa?" Joshua said to us.
I turned my head to glare at the boy as Triple Seven looked at him for a moment. After that, he turned to the Reaper clothed in red with a sigh.
"Tenho!" He said.
The Reaper nodded and snapped his fingers together, which I knew created the wall that led to Udagawa. Neku looked surprised at this and he glared at Triple Seven, which Joshua did as well.
"You four wanna get through here, you've gotta help us out." He said to us slowly, as if the boys didn't understand it.
Neku grumbled under his breath and cross his arms over his jacket. He and Joshua did not seem all that thrilled to be aiding any of these Reapers. I, on the other hand, was okay with helping because I liked Triple Seven. I turned towards the blonde Reaper with a slight smirk.
"So what's the short story of your problem?" I asked.
"Our band's mic has gone missing! It happened around two yesterday. We were doing a little gig at Molco, right? Unveiled a new track and everything. That shoulda been no problem. But! The show ends, we split for the day- I let our stuff outta my sight for one minute, tops- I get back and the mic's gone!" He exclaimed to me.
I noticed one of the other Reapers say something insulting under their breath and Triple Seven heard it. He turned to frown at his group as I sighed.
"You prob'ly just left it someplace."
"BJ, I'm tellin' you it was stolen! That thing is Def March's heart 'n' soul! I wouldn't just lose it. Somebody took it!"
"Well who in hell would want a mic with wings?" BJ commented.
Tenho nodded his head just a little and there was a moment of silence as the lead Reaper glared at the two. The Reaper in the black asked what he was glaring about before he started getting defensive, saying that it wasn't him that took it. I looked at my group and my eyes told them that this was a silly argument.
"We'll split up with you guys and look around for your mic, Seven. And personally, I'd love to have a mic like the one you guys have." I said to the Reapers just low enough so that only they heard me.
Triple Seven began laughing at my remark as I turned to walk off with the other Players. Aesh was at my side instantly as I glanced behind myself to see if there was something that I could catch. Joshua copied my actions so I knew that he was thinking the same thing I was.
I noticed BJ giving Tenho his cell phone back and the one in the black outfit said he found it at Spain Hill- but he said it so hastily that I had a feeling he was covering something up. I stopped walking a few feet from Spain Hill and the other three Players did the same.
"I'm going this way to see if I can find any new information," I said to everyone. "I'd ask if one of you boys wanted to come with instead of Aesh, but she can't fight without me around to help her."
My blonde friend smiled sweetly and rubbed the back of her neck as if she were embarrassed. Neku made a noise that I had a feeling meant he didn't believe me at all.
"Can't you create some Noise out of the air like you've been doing when you think none of us are watching?" He grumbled.
I looked at him with a frown but I had known he would eventually bring this up. The problem now was telling him the truth when I didn't even like the subject of me having that ability.
"I'd rather not talk about it, but I've always been able to create Noise as long as I have the energy for it." I answered the boy.
Aesh stepped closer to me and looped her arm through mine. Neku frowned at me for the answer that I gave him but I didn't make a move to elaborate as I looked at my partner.
"We'll take Spain Hill and you boys can figure out what happened down at Molco. We'll meet up back here in an hour." The blonde said to them.
Without another word, the two of us began walking away. I heard Neku take in a breath like he was going to say something and I waited impatiently for whatever it was. But it never came as Aesh and I stepped into Spain Hill. I noticed Tenho first and pointed him out to Aesh.
"Are we going to go talk to him then?" She asked.
I nodded and we made our way towards the Reaper. He didn't notice us until I was right in front of him, which seemed to startle the Reaper.
"Tenho, you got an alibi, I'm sure? For yesterday, around two?" I asked him.
I could tell I had the poor guy startled because he looked around with shifty eyes and saying that he was right here on Spain Hill yesterday. I frowned at him just a little while glancing at Aesh. She seemed to have caught the same things that I did.
"BJ said that he found your phone here, so I guess he wasn't lying." She muttered.
There was an awkward silence between the three of us but I shoved it aside and thought about any other questions that I could ask him. Aesh was the one that beat me to it this time.
"What makes that mic so special?"
Tenho and I stared at her as if she had said that she was alive. She had been around me for so long when we were living that it was a stupid question to ask- on my part, at least.
"It just is," the guy started. "Back when we were still busking on the streets, we all pooled our money to buy it. It's a symbol of our bond as a band. As friends. I stuck the wings on it, to remind us of that. Got us through some rough times."
Aesh and I nodded to show that we understood what he was telling us.
"But lately Triple Seven and BJ have been fighting over who gets to sing- over who has rights to the mic. Talk about irony…"
"So you must be pretty happy that the mic is out of the picture." Aesh stated.
"Yeah…" Tenho realized his mistake and started shaking his head back and forth rapidly. "B-But not that happy! I just…You know what? Never mind. I'm going to go wait with Triple Seven."
He stomped passed both of us with a look of annoyance, but I couldn't tell if it was false or not. Mainly because his back was facing me. Aesh turned to look me square in the eyes and she smiled happily.
"So, since we got done and we still have at least half an hour left, should we head on over to Molco to check on the boys?" I smirked at her and shook my head.
There were some things that I could never forget about this girl. Her way with admiring boys, for instance. Though I wasn't happy about it, I had occasionally caught her sneaking glances at Joshua when she thought no one was looking. Aesh's twinkle in her emerald green eyes suddenly sharpened and she smirked at me.
"Don't tell me you haven't thought of either boy that way, Rosie! I'm not the only one that's seeking to impress one of them." She teased while bumping me in the shoulder with her own.
I felt a crimson blush starting to appear across my cheeks and I turned my body away from the girl. She began laughing at me and grabbed onto both of my arms.
"It's fine to admit to thinking one of them is cute, you know! They aren't around to hear it." Aesh assured me.
I glanced back at her with a sigh even when the blush traveled up to my ears. I couldn't help the redness that was only increasing the more the girl spoke.
"I personally find Joshua absolutely gorgeous! I mean, I should have noticed when we first met on Day One, but it just hit me yesterday that I found him really hot! Neku I think is okay, but he needs to open up some more in my opinion. But I do know for sure that you have a thing for Phones! You're always trying to convince him of something that happened last week wasn't your fault, right? I think it's because you really want his attention, to be honest. I'm surprised you haven't thrown yourself at him."
I shook my head again and looked away from her. That was just too much. I could feel that my entire face was boiling red by now and I'm sure she could tell by just glancing at my ears. I felt Aesh nudge my shoulder for a reaction and I let out a sigh.
"I'm not going to say I'm into Neku or not, Aesh. That would give any Reaper worth their life to sell me out and use it to my disadvantage. There are people that want me dead, after all." I replied, causing her to laugh.
"You realize that means you actually like the guy, right Rosie? Besides that, I think he likes you too!"
I felt my feet stop moving in that instant. My ultra blue eyes swiveled towards my partner widely and she found me staring at her like that. She laughed a little and did a little twirl to face me completely.
"When you have one of those coughing fits, who's the first one that runs over to make sure you're alright? Not me! I'm always the second," she cried. "Oh, and he protected you from Aera when she tried to stab you in the face. And even though he says that he can't stand the sight of you and that he holds a grudge for whatever you did, if you sneak a glance at him, he's always watching you."
Those times floated through my head as she spoke them and I couldn't stop from thinking about them the way that she was telling it. I felt her grab onto my wrist and pull me forward as I realized that she had stopped talking all together. I was dragged all the way to Molco before my thoughts stopped moving all at once. It seemed that just because we were talking about the boys, they just had to show up when I didn't want anything to do with them for the moment.
We snuck up right behind them at the moment- well, Aesh did; I was being dragged -and the only ones that noticed were the Players from yesterday. The blonde beside me raised a finger to her lips in silence and both seemed to understand since they pretended we weren't there for the moment.
"…She was my entry fee instead of the other girl yesterday. And it's…it's my fault for-"
"No worries, man. That girl was your entry fee, right? That means you really care for her. No reasons to be guilty about that. And I'm not snipping any other Players. I don't care if only one of us gets to come back to life. Anyways, we better get moving." The guy said.
I heard them starting to say their goodbyes as they walked off but my eyes were entirely focused on Neku. I couldn't believe he just said what he said. All this time, all this time he's been blaming me for what happened to Shiki and what does he do? He says that the fault is on him.
Joshua turned to his partner and caught sight of Aesh and me. His violet eyes widened just a little before they smirked and I had a feeling it was because of the anger building in my eyes.
"Hey, Neku, you may have lost one girl, but I think you've just upset another." He commented.
The orange haired teen physically stiffened as he turned to face Aesh and me. His eyes fastened on me immediately and they grew wide in fright. I didn't have to glance at myself to know that even if I couldn't use my psych this week, my entire body was glowing its deep red color. I sank my nails into my palms deep enough to draw blood as I glared at the boy. I was so angry it was hard to get the words out the first time, but the second time I managed it.
"You…You've been telling me this entire week that what happened to Shiki is my fault. How could you go and say that it's actually your fault?" I asked him.
He opened his mouth to speak but I wasn't going to let him.
"All this time I've been busting my ass in hopes that you'd forgive me for what I did. I told Kitaniji to throw in strong Players this time, I picked out of five Reapers who the fricken Game Master was going to be, and I even made sure that I appeared close to where you would! Even with my psych taken away and the wound that Kitaniji gave me, I still followed you and hoped to be forgiven! Neku," here I took a deep breath and the red glow dissipated entirely. "I hope you rot in hell for not telling me I wasn't the one to blame. At this point, Joshua is no longer the one I can't stand to be around."
I spun away from the three and began to stomp towards the area I knew that Triple Seven and Tenho were at. Aesh made no move to follow and I could understand why. When any girl loses her cool, it's usually best to let her calm down alone.
I continued my slow way towards the Reapers while letting off a little steam by fighting some Noise whenever they showed themselves to me. Even if I was a Player, getting pissed or depressed still attracted Noise to me and anyone else. I continued walking until I reached Triple Seven and he noticed me first.
"Whoa, Rose, you look like hell broke loose! What happened?" He asked me.
Tenho and BJ noticed me as well but they didn't seem as concerned as the main singer was. I ran a hand through my hair and felt all the new tangles in them that had been caused by the glow of my psych. I looked back up at the blonde while crossing my arms over my chest like a kid.
"Phones just lied to me is all. Nothing to concern yourself with, Triple Seven. I'm going to be fine." I murmured to him.
The expression in his eyes said that he didn't believe me at all. But before he could say anything more to me, I heard Aesh calling my name. I turned my head only slightly to see her with the two boys and I whipped my head back around to face the other Reapers. If Neku was there, then I wasn't going to acknowledge either of the boys.
I stepped to the far side of the Reapers far enough away that I wouldn't hear the words anyone spoke but I was close enough to know when we were going to leave. Aesh came over to my side and stared at me for a few seconds before she smiled softly in a knowing way.
"If you want someone to vent it out on some more, I'm standing right here." She offered.
I frowned at her but shook my head. I wasn't going to let anymore of my anger slip out on someone that didn't deserve it. At the moment, it was all directed at Neku, and if he even stepped an inch closer to me, I'd blow up again. It wasn't a long time before I heard a loud voice coming from a megaphone.
"Sine! Cosine! Tangent!"
I realized what the voice was as soon as the first letter came out and my eyes just happened to be drawn to the junk heap that was towering over me. I nudged Aesh and she glanced at me questioningly.
"Their mic is in that giant pile of trash left by Sho." I said to her.
She looked at me with wide eyes and then turned to face the junk heap I had mentioned. Those emerald eyes told me that she hadn't thought that that was where the mic would be. I honestly hadn't either until I heard Sho's voice in the megaphone. Aesh looked at the two boys and said the same thing to the Reapers. All three of them glared at the junk heap before lunging at the pile in search of their beloved mic. Tenho released the wall over the route we wanted to take and I walked on ahead without pausing for the others.
I heard my partner calling out for me to wait but I didn't listen as I made my way through Shibu-Q. The stores in the area caught my attention for the most part so I didn't notice when I bumped into someone- probably a Player because we in the UG just go through those in the RG. I backed up and started to apologize when they grabbed at my throat. I made a choking sound and looked at who was picking me up off the ground so my feet were dangling in the air. My eyes widened when I found that the one holding me was Beat.
"Yo, where's Phones?" He asked me.
Just that question alone brought my red aura coming back brightly. His eyes expressed confusion as I swung a foot up and kicked at one of his knee caps. I was released and I stepped hastily back while summoning two wolf Noise beside me. They growled and raised their hackles warningly at the Reaper as my glow remained the same.
"I'm not in the mood to talk about Neku. For now, I suggest you get out of the way and leave me the hell alone." I said to him.
Beat glared down at the wolves but they didn't back down. I glanced around Shibu-Q Heads in hopes of finding an escape from the Reaper. I did not want to have a fight right here at the moment, though my anger would do me good to beat him. The wolves made a sharp barking sound that told me that Beat was beginning to step closer.
I brought my attention back to him while lifting one of my arms in a way that made the aura tingle. I was about ready to summon a bear Noise behind him when a knife came flying at me from the side. I saw it just in time and darted out of the way. One of the wolves ran in that direction while the other lunged at the Reaper.
"I warned you, Beat. I am not in the mood to go as easily as last time." I said while bringing out one bear Noise and several frog Noise.
The blonde gritted his teeth and lifted his skateboard, which I knew was going to be used to attack me. I watched as he ran at me with a smirk and the Noise I created ran towards the attacker as well. I turned my head just enough to see who had thrown that dagger at my head and I saw that my wolf that went over there was fighting against a black mass.
Of course, that was only because it looked like a mass. The wolf was just fighting a Reaper clothed in pure black. I noticed Beat coming at me one more time so I created another wolf beside me to block the attack that would have hit. I heard a yelp of pain behind me and a slight burn ran up the back of my calf. I flinched but managed to keep from showing most of the pain to both of the Reapers. They'd realize the one flaw I had when Noise was summoned by me.
I started to look back to see what had hurt the wolf Noise when another dagger from the darkened Reaper came flying at me. I pivoted out of the way while kicking up one foot at Beat. His skateboard came in contact with me but I barely felt it before something hit me over the head. I had no choice but to stagger slightly before falling to my knees as a loud ringing erupted in my ears.
The Noise I brought out were forced to vanish from sight as my hair was roughly grabbed and slammed backwards. Even if I had been expecting it, my heart nearly stopped beating in shock when I saw that it was Aesh's twin, Aera. She was staring down at me with that malicious grin that she had on last time I faced her.
"You were a lot tougher to catch this time thanks to those Noise you summoned! But I finally managed to get to you, thanks to Beat." She told me while nodding her head in the direction the other Reaper was in.
I gritted my teeth in anger for being caught off guard like this as I struggled to bring out at least one strong Noise to fend her off. But I knew it was useless. I could hardly move when she was around me, as much as I hated to admit that. Aera caused memories of my death to come back as if it were happening all over again. And every time, even when I knew that whoever had killed me was never going to be known, her face filled the void with blood lust in her red eyes.
That scared me more than anything because it made me feel as if she was the one who always slaughtered me, when I knew that I had never met her until this week.
"Hey, you're not listening to me at all Rosie!" My hair was yanked back further and the tip of a dagger was placed right at my eye, where it threatened to stab itself through. "If you don't pay attention, I just might take out one of those eyes every Reaper talks about. Or maybe it should be both…"
I swore the blade grew bigger and I cringed away from it. Aera made a noise that sounded as if she were scolding me just before a new voice called out to us. I opened my eyes and just barely turned my head to find Aesh and the two partners looking at the three of us. Beat rushed over to them as my partner darted passed him to get to me.
"You let go of Rose right now, Aera! I won't forgive you if you don't!" She called out while swinging up a foot.
The twin released my hair and I scampered on my hands and knees to get away from the Reaper. I managed to get enough distance between us that I turned around to face the siblings who were glaring at each other. The one full of malicious intentions looked right at me with a smirk I absolutely didn't like.
"Aw, let me at least rip off her arm, sis. She deserves so much more than you would ever let me do!" Aera cried as Beat began fighting the partners.
"No! She doesn't deserve anything from you! Rose doesn't even know who the hell you are."
I slowly swayed to my feet as the two yelled at each other over if I could be cut up or not. In the distraction, I managed to regain some of my strength from before seeing Aera and I concentrated some of that towards bringing out several bear Noise. This worked after a slight struggle and the creatures made their appearance known by roaring very loudly in all directions.
Beat and the partners even stopped fighting to look back in confusion at the sudden Noise. But of course, all eyes focused on me when they noticed I was standing beside all of the bears. I glared at each Reaper as three Noise each went towards one of them.
"Get the hell out of my sight. I don't care if you want my head or not, Aera. You may frighten me a whole ton but unless we're fighting on fair terms, I won't be going as easy as you think. And Beat, if you stop bringing this girl with you, maybe I'd actually have a chance of battling you. But seeing as none of you will listen to what I have to say, I'll let my bear Noise get rid of you." I growled out before said Noise swung a paw at their opposing Reaper. Both dodged the attack and returned my glare more than what I had given them.
"I'll slaughter you the next time we meet and I will hear your screams, Rosie! Mr. Kitaniji promised me that much for every moment we faced each other and I have yet to hear them from your mouth. So be a dear and loosen those lips for the next time we meet up." Aera said in a venomously sweet tone.
A chill ran down my entire back before returning as the feeling of dread made circles in my eyes. I forced the emotion down and the bear Noise began to slash their claws at her. With a flap of her wings, the crazed Reaper was completely gone and Beat had vanished as well, though I don't remember when. My partner rushed towards me as my knees gave out from being so tired.
Bringing out so many Noise at once drained even the strongest of Reapers so it's no surprise that even I collapsed. I heard Aesh ask if I was okay and I nodded a little while taking a few deep breathes. When I recovered enough to stand I noticed Neku was holding a bell necklace tightly in a fist. Just looking at it, I remembered that Rhyme had been wearing that last week before she was killed by the giant shark Noise.
A deep pain in my chest appeared at the memory as my partner helped me go to the two boys. I couldn't bear to look at the piece of jewelry anymore so I focused my eyes on Neku's face. Even if I wasn't all that happy with him, it was better than seeing bad memories.
"We should probably get going. Udagawa is right over there." Aesh said to us.
The boys nodded and the orange haired teen put the bell in his pocket while glancing at me. My eyes were still on him so we made eye contact easily. In his eyes, I could see that he was trying to appear sorry for doing what he did to me. I didn't believe him at all so I looked away and walked towards the Udagawa section. All of them followed me and we eventually made it.
"You guys know Udagawa well?" Joshua asked us.
"Yeah. I used to come here after school." Neku replied.
"I always played games with my kid brother around here. And my best friend and I used to do some graffiti before I grew famous." I added.
"Well, I don't remember much about it, but I think I used to do some graffiti in the middle of the night as well." Aesh said, though all of us but her knew she and I were talking about the same experiences.
Joshua asked if Neku ever went here with his friends. The latter scoffed and muttered that he didn't do groups because he had never met anyone fun to be around. The silver haired boy chuckled and agreed with him.
"You know, Shibuya's a lot like you, Neku. Cut off from everything else."
"Where the hell did that come from!?"
He ignored the outburst and continued talking. "The UG is split into different areas. Shibuya's just one of them, just like it's only one part of the world at large. Each UG area has unique rules. You can't travel between them."
I rolled my eyes because I knew all about this. Reapers and other Game Masters from different UG sectors showed up to discuss how many Players died or survived or who had the better Reapers. The last time one appeared, I was the talk of all UG's and everyone wanted me to go to their Game. But Mr. Kitaniji 'convinced' the others to let me stay here.
"Oh, so you know about Mr. H and my conversations. Anyway, as I was saying, every area has its own rules. They never meddle with each other. Sound familiar?"
"That could apply to anyone."
Joshua chuckled and he said that as long as we had our own worlds, no one was ever going to change. That was when they began talking about the murals that CAT always put up and I lost interest in keeping to the conversation. It wasn't that I had no appeal for CAT, I liked them as much as Neku did. But I didn't voice CAT as much as I should and could. After they were done talking about other people's values and ideals, we walked up the steps to the mural CAT made up ahead.
"3 is the point of the 1," my ears and eyes found Sho talking to himself. "4 the 1-5-9 are 2."
Aesh and Neku began to ask loudly if that was who they thought it was when I turned around and silenced both of them with my hands. Joshua shushed them both and whispered that we should see what he was up to.
"6-5, 3-5! 8-9, 7-9! 32384 62643 38327! And…perfect. Soon I'll have my desired solution." Sho said to himself in excitement before he vanished from sight, like most Reapers can do.
I glanced around in every direction to make sure he wasn't around and I looked back towards the other three and nodded to show that he was gone.
"So...What was that all about?" Aesh asked when I lowered my hands from the two of them.
Joshua and her walked over to where Sho had been and I started to follow when my hand was caught by Neku's. I turned to glare at him when I saw that his cheeks were turning a light pink underneath his jacket. The glare faded to be replaced by a questioning expression in my ultra blue eyes. His own shifted away from me as his free hand played with one of the strands of wild orange hair.
"Um...I just wanted to, um..." He was stuttering a lot so it made it difficult for me to understand what he was trying to get at. I finally frowned at him and yanked my hand free.
"Look, I'm still angry that you were lying to me this entire time and making me think everything was still my fault. Even if you're trying to say sorry, I'm not going to forgive you that easily." I told him before walking over to Joshua and Aesh.
They were inspecting the ground for some reason and as I got closer, my eyes began to widen and my fingers trembled. Both of them looked towards me as Neku slowly followed as well. I couldn't describe what it looked like completely, but it did have strange symbols and dark purple markings of Noise- the opposite of the red symbols we usually saw.
Joshua told me something about his phone reacting to it but I was hardly listening as I pulled out my own cell phone. Without a word, I tried to take several pictures of the symbols but my hands were shaking so badly it was blurring the photos. A hand suddenly reached passed my head and pressed it against mine to steady it.
I jumped at the contact but recognized that the hand was Neku's as he snapped the pictures I had been trying to get. They came back non-blurry and I glared at his hand for it, even though I accepted the help wordlessly. When he let go of me though, I moved away to stand next to Aesh as Joshua looked towards his partner.
"I'd like to check over by that mural. Do you mind?" He asked.
The partner stuttered out a no and he followed the silver haired one. My best friend did the same as I put the pictures in a message to send to Mr. Kitaniji- even though I didn't want to.
"These were drawn in the Udagawa section by Sho Minamimoto. If they're what I think they are, we might be in big trouble for the rest of the week."
I texted before sending the message.
Hopefully he'd actually look at it and reply before it was too late, but that usually never ended well. All I could do now was wait for his answer to the photos.
"And just what are you doing here?"
I turned my head and glared at Uzuki and Kariya for sneaking up behind me. The pink haired one rolled her eyes at my expression in exasperation.
"I asked you a que-"
"Uzuki, get on the horn with HQ. Now." The male Reaper interrupted.
Both of us stared at him questioningly and at that moment I began to wonder why none of the other Players noticed that there were two Reapers talking to me not far from them.
"That's a Taboo Noise refinery sigil." He stated.
My eyes widened and I was glad that I had chosen to send the pictures. It was exactly what I had thought it was. The female Reaper looked at the ground in shock as if she didn't believe it at all.
"So the GM's the source of the Taboo Noise." She said.
"No, not this one. The sigil hasn't been used. There has to be another source. But we saw him do it, just like the Players and Rose. Strong enough evidence that he's behind it all." Uzuki then began talking about all the promotions the both of them could have and I couldn't help but roll my eyes at her.
That seemed like all she ever wanted. Promotions, promotions, promotions. I didn't know any other Reaper besides her that was more greedy like that.
"I'll pass. Just get me a bowl of ramen or you can just take care of that report for me."
"What?! You're too lazy to even claim the credit?"
"Yes, something like that. 'Sides, I have another mystery or two to unravel." He said as the two of them walked off, leaving me where I stood.
I turned my head to look after Neku and I saw that he was grabbing at his head in pain with his Player Pin clenched tightly in one of his hands. I couldn't find where Aesh was but I wasn't worried in the least. She never left us for very long. I had a feeling that she was in the CD store close by.
I grudgingly made my way towards the two partners as Joshua began talking to the orange haired teen, asking if there was anything wrong. I crept forward a bit more and inspected the two males to see if one of them caused the pain. Neku suddenly grabbed a hold of my forearm and I looked down at him in surprise before beginning to pull it free.
"I'm…Just a little dizzy. I'm good." He murmured while lifting himself up using my arm- much to my dislike.
"Good. Let's move on. Nothing else to see here." Joshua said and he began muttering that the tracker was leading us in circles.
I sighed a little and headed towards the CD store that was right in Udagawa. As I made my way there, my cell phone started vibrating incessantly. I pulled it out of my pocket and flipped it open to find that it had two text messages. One was from Mr. Kitaniji. And the other was from a number I didn't recognize. I opened the one from Kitaniji first.
"Rose, other Reapers have said the same thing. If it is really true, be on your guard and eliminate Sho if there is need for it."
I muttered something that sounded like bastard before going for the second. At first, I didn't believe the words that had been sent to me. It took several minutes to fully realize that this was real.
"This is the Composer. You must kill Neku and Aesh on Day Five."
And unlike other times, I couldn't get out of this.