Chapter 25: Trust Your Partner

Three full days had passed in the Reaper's Game. Noise had been erased, missions had been cleared, and other Players had unfortunately been lost. But they hadn't encountered any Heartless since that first fight at the Scramble Crossing, and there was no sign of Maleficent or Pete or Organization XIII… Xion was starting to wonder just what they were doing in Shibuya.

Xion, Sora, Neku, and Shiki woke up on the morning of the fourth day outside the Shibu Department Store. Shiki had gone to a nearby coffee shop to grab a small breakfast for the four of them, and taken Sora along when Neku refused to go with her. So now Xion sat awkwardly on a bench next to the brooding and silent Neku, watching the people in Shibuya when it became clear he wasn't going to start talking.

Of all the worlds she had visited, or at least the ones she remembered, Xion only really had Twilight Town to compare this place to. To some extent it was similar to Shibuya, mostly in the Tram Common with all its shops, but Shibuya was on a whole other level. The crowds were so much thicker and the buildings so much taller. Xion could see people of all kinds and with hundreds of different personalities just from the short time she had spent watching the street.

"It's a battleground."

"Huh?" Xion hadn't expected Neku to speak up, so he caught her off-guard. "What do you mean?"

"Shibuya," he said. "A girl I know once said it was like everybody's values are trying to come in the loudest over the others. Everyone has their own story, and everyone wants to be heard."

"So, this girl-is she a friend?"

Neku didn't say anything back to her, and Xion worried that she had upset or angered him somehow. But the young man sighed and shook his head. "…I dunno," he finally spoke up. "I want to call her my friend, but I don't feel any friendship towards her-or towards Shiki, or anyone else."

"Oh, right, your entry fee. Sorry I brought it up."

"It's fine. Whatever."

Xion went back to people-watching, but the subject of entry fees made her too distracted to really focus on Shibuya. Her mind kept wandering back to her own fee: the memory of the blonde boy. She only had one memory of him in the first place: sitting on the Twilight Town clock tower and watching the sunset. She didn't even remember his name. Until the Reaper's Game began Xion had known his face, at least, but now she couldn't even picture him. Xion couldn't help but wonder how Sora was handling forgetting Kairi. Since he had lost his memory of her completely, unlike Xion "simply" forgetting the boy's appearance, he may not have even felt that much guilt. No. Xion shook her head and mentally slapped herself for even thinking that. Sora was a sensitive, caring guy, and even if he didn't remember anything about Kairi, the idea that he completely forgot someone was probably eating away at him.

She hoped nobody ever completely forgot about her like that.

Shiki and Sora returned from the coffee shop then and Xion tried to look cheerful to keep her partner from worrying – they had to work together without issues if they were going to make it through the Reaper's Game, after all. As the two of them approached Xion and Neku, Xion saw that Shiki was holding a box of pastries and Sora was munching on a bagel.

"We miss anything?" Shiki asked and sat down next to Neku. "Is the mission mail here yet?"

"No, nothing," Neku replied. Shiki looked like she expected Neku to continue and crossed her arms with a huff when he didn't.

"Fine, be that way. You won't get any breakfast," Shiki said. She handed the box to Xion, who looked through it silently before choosing a muffin and returning the box to Shiki.

"What?!" Neku was wide-eyed and then his stomach growled, causing the other three to laugh. That's when some guy started speaking from the direction Shiki and Sora had come, his loud voice heard above all the others in the area:

"This is so messed up, yo! I swear I just saw Shiki in this place!" The voice was vaguely familiar to Xion, like she had heard him somewhere before. A boy and a girl were standing in front of the coffee shop, and the boy was staring intently inside it.

Shiki seemed to recognize them. "Is that Beat and Rhyme?" she wondered out loud.

"Friends of yours?" Sora asked. Shiki nodded.

"Rhyme is the girl I was just talking about," Neku said to Xion.

"Are you sure it was Shiki, Beat?" Rhyme asked the older boy.

Beat groaned, tightened his fists, and shook his head. "I'm certain! That was totally Shiki! But the guy with her wasn't Phones." When he said 'Phones' Xion realized where she had heard his voice before: in the Scramble Crossing on the first day, when she had picked up the Player Pin. He was looking for Neku and Shiki back then, too. Had they been searching the city this whole time?

Rhyme eyed the coffee shop, especially the designs out front. Her eyes fell on the skull and crossbones graffiti near the doorway. "Beat, look," she said, pointing at it.

"The decal? Argh, I'm such a dumbass! Rhyme, you thinkin' they're in the Game?"

"If Shiki really vanished as soon as she left the store, then that must be it."

"That's it then! Let's go pay a visit to Coffee Man! He's definitely seen 'em, yo!"

"Sounds like they're going to Mr. H's place," Neku said.

"If they're your friends, then we should go too," Sora said. "WildKat has one of those decals, right? You should let them know you're okay."

But before Neku could consider it, their phones all beeped. The mission for the fourth day had arrived:

"Reach A-East. You have 120 minutes.
Fail, and face erasure.
-The Game Master"

"Guess we'll have to put them on hold, then," Shiki said. "From Shibu Department Store to A-East in two hours? We don't have time to stop by WildKat."

"I guess not…" Sora admitted. "Well, let's get moving."

As the four of them moved down the street toward the Scramble Crossing, Xion watched the crowds and did her best to pick find other Players in the mix. There were so many fewer than just yesterday, so many people erased. If the Reaper's Game was really a chance for Shibuya's dead to return to life, then all those who had already fallen… they were gone forever. Xion suppressed a shudder.

But of the Players she did see, one pair in particular caught Xion's attention. A man with orange hair and a woman with pink hair, the two of them wore black and had… wings? Given all the strange fashion statements she had seen these last few days Xion didn't think much of that. But the reason they caught her attention was because the two of them looked especially interested in her group, eyeing Neku specifically.

"Hey, Neku, are those two friends of yours?" she asked him.

"Huh? Who?" Neku asked.

Xion pointed to them. "Those two Players over there. They keep looking at you."

"…Oh, hell. Xion, those two aren't Players."

But the two of them approached before Neku could elaborate. The man pulled a lollipop out of his mouth and smiled at the four of them.

"Hey, kids. You here for a fourth round, Phones?"

"Let's free them from the Game, Kariya! What do you say?" The woman pulled out a gun and pointed it at Neku.

"Hey, Reapers can't attack players directly!" Shiki shouted.

"Word from upstairs, this week's Game Master is allowing it," the man named Kariya said. "More work for me, but them's the breaks. I couldn't stop Uzuki now if I tried."

"I love the boss this week!" Uzuki said with a disturbingly childish giggle. "Which one of you goes first?"

"We're kind of busy!" Neku dashed forward before she had a chance to pull the trigger and knocked the gun out of Uzuki's hand. "Run! We're powerless outside of the Noise zone!" He shouted. Uzuki snarled and moved to pick her gun up off the ground, giving Neku a chance to escape with the others.

"You could have stopped them, Kariya!" Uzuki snapped at her partner.

He shrugged. "Maybe, but… I dunno. Those two new kids seem weird to you?"

"Huh?"

"They're giving me a really weird vibe, like they don't quite belong here. Reminds me of those freaky new Noise."

"Ugh, whatever! I'm not giving up until those punks are erased!" Uzuki pulled out a cell phone and practically screamed at the person on the other end. "Wall. Up. Now!"

x-x-x

Neku and Shiki ran as fast as they could through the streets of Shibuya, and Sora and Xion were only a little bit behind. The four of them reached 104 and Shiki stopped for just a moment to look back at Sora and Xion.

"This way is Dogenzaka! A-East is just on the other end of the street!" she called back to them.

"Got it! We're almost there-oof!" Sora slammed into something invisible and stumbled backwards, rubbing his cheek. He placed a hand in the air in front of him and felt something solid, but still saw nothing. "A wall?"

Neku, who was on the other side with Shiki, swore. "There must be a Reaper nearby who put it up. Do you see anyone standing around in a red hoodie?"

Sora looked around, but saw nobody – or, well, nobody who looked suspicious. His shoulders drooped. "No, no hoodies here. Whoever put it up probably ran away."

"Are there any other ways to A-East that we could take?" Xion asked.

Shiki nodded. "Yeah, around the other side of the 104 building is the road to Shibukyu, a department store. Dogenzaka and Shibukyu both meet at A-East."

"Then that's the way we'll have to go," Sora said. "We'll meet you guys there!"

"Be careful!" Shiki called after them as they vanished into the crowds. She looked beside her, where Neku was brooding and leaning against the invisible wall. "You could have wished them luck, too."

"Why bother? They can handle themselves."

"It's the thought that counts…"

"Whatever. Let's hurry over to A-East already."

If looks could kill, Neku would have dropped dead in a second. Shiki glared daggers at him and tightened her grip around Mr. Mew. But Neku's bored expression never changed, and he turned around and began walking down the street. Shiki continued glaring after Neku's retreating form for a little longer, then finally gave up with a sigh and sprinted after him. She may hate how his personality had reverted with his entry fee, but as Partners they couldn't afford to be separated.

But Shiki still thought over Neku's sudden 180 in personality, he anger bubbling up as they walked through Dogenzaka. She wasn't angry at him, and she knew it was unreasonable to be – it wasn't Neku's fault that his entry fee was their friendship. She was angry at the situation. But Neku certainly wasn't helping matters, with his silence and refusal to even so much as glance back and make sure she was actually following him. When they passed Ramen Don, Shiki finally put her foot down.

"That's it!" Shiki shouted. She stopped in the middle of the street and stomped her foot. "Neku, open up to me! We need to work together or we'll never win this Game!"

"I can't," he said simply.

"Yes you can! We've done this before; you just have to want to!"

"I do want to!" Neku shouted back at her. "Shiki, I've been trying to open up. I've been trying to trust you! But the fact is I can't. My entry fee was my friendships with other people. I don't feel anything towards anyone. And I wish I did, but I don't!"

"Neku…" Shiki's anger quickly fell away, replaced with pity and sorrow.

"Aww, isn't that too bad?" Uzuki's mocking giggle sounded around them. She appeared in the middle of the street, arms crossed. "But I guess that makes it easier for me!"

Neku and Shiki's Player Pins flashed and static filled their vision. When it cleared, Shiki stood in Dogenzaka's zone, appearing completely alone save for Uzuki in front of her. But after so much experience in the Reaper's Game, she knew she wasn't really alone. She could feel Neku in the other zone, and no doubt he felt her. The only problem, was could they work enough in sync with Neku's new/old personality dragging him down?

"Going somewhere?" Uzuki asked. She pulled out her gun and fired-not a bullet, but a burst of energy. Shiki had seen similar attacks plenty of times before from Neku. She dodged out of the way of the blast and held her arm out.

"Go, Mr. Mew!"

The stuffed cat began to glow and flew forward to attack Uzuki. Shiki didn't fight on personally; her psych, a pin called Groove Pawn, allowed her to animate Mr. Mew with psychokinesis to fight for her. The little doll slammed into Uzuki with surprising force, knocking the Reaper woman onto the ground.

Uzuki snarled and fire another blast from her gun. This time it split into different projectiles that all flew toward Shiki separately. She had no time to get out of the way before the blasts reached her, exploding on contact and sending dust and smoke up into the air. When her vision cleared, Shiki threw her arm up in the air and Mr. Mew mimicked her motion with an uppercut against Uzuki. But after it connected Uzuki vanished. She had jumped into the other zone.

"Guess she's yours, Neku…" Shiki said. Around her Noise began to appear-a parting gift from Uzuki, no doubt. Shiki readied Mr. Mew.

x-x-x

Neku watched as the Noise was erased then felt a sharp pang in his chest. Players shared their life, even when separated by the zone. Since he hadn't actually been hit by anything, the only explanation was that Shiki got hurt. He heard a giggle behind him and spun around to find Uzuki appearing in his zone. Neku swore; if he and Shiki weren't fighting in sync then they couldn't use the light puck. This was going to be trouble.

"Your girlfriend's a bit wimpy, kiddo. How about we fight instead?"

"Go to Hell!" Neku shouted back. His hand glowed and he motioned over to a car sitting in the middle of the street, which then flew forward and crashed into the Reaper. But enemies in the Game were durable, so he knew that wouldn't kill her. Unlike Shiki, or anyone else he knew for that matter, Neku wasn't limited to just one psych. A number of pins were on his person and allowed him to fight with all their abilities. His personal favorite was psychokinesis, but there were others as well.

When Uzuki recovered from the car crash, Neku put his hands over his headphones and focused. A stream of fire erupted out of the ground and flew toward Uzuki, threatening to burn her to a crisp. Just before it met her Uzuki fired her gun and hit Neku right in the chest, breaking his concentration. Neku staggered backwards, panting heavily. Another one of his pins flashed and a can of soda appeared in his hands. It wasn't ordinary soda though, drinks in the Game restored vitality to Players. Neku quickly downed it and tossed the can away before firing off energy blasts of his own from his hand.

Uzuki vanished and appeared behind him, delivering a kick to his back. Neku fell to his knees then felt her gun dig into his back. Uzuki was ready to fire at point-blank range, and he was helpless. Damn him and his stupid entry fee.

"Guess it's game over for you, kid," Uzuki said with a sneer.

x-x-x

Unlike Neku and Shiki, Sora and Xion had a much less exciting trip to A-East. No Reapers, no walls, no Noise… it was surprisingly easy.

"I guess that Reaper girl was only interested in Neku," Sora said. "It looked like they knew each other."

Xion nodded. "Yeah, they must have met in one of the other Games Neku's played." She looked around the street while the walked, continuing her people-watching, when something strange caught her eye. "What is that thing?"

"What's what thing?" Sora asked.

"This way, follow me!" The two moved through the crowds and over to the side of the large Shibukyu building, where the weird object Xion saw was sitting. As they got closer she realized it wasn't one object but instead a pile of smaller things. It was a huge pile of junk just sitting in the middle of Shibuya!

"Who built this?" Sora wondered. He looked around at the crowds, but no one seemed to be noticing it. "It must just be in the Game, not the real Shibuya."

"So did a Player make this? Or maybe a Reaper?"

Sora just shook his head in bewilderment. He didn't know any more than her. Then the two of the heard a beeping sound like an alarm clock, and Sora looked down at the timer on his hand.

"We can worry about it later, right now we have ten minutes. Let's hurry up and get today done."

So the two of them hurried down the rest of the street and into A-East. The district felt like a back alley, with its tall buildings close together on the tiny street. There were a lot of clothing stores, all of them selling things in black judging from the displays in the windows. A concert hall was also on the street, and a few people holding instrument cases stood outside.

The constant burning sensation of the Game's timer vanished, and Xion looked down at her hand to see that it was indeed gone.

"Mission accomplished," she said. "I wonder how Shiki and Neku are doing?"

x-x-x

"Neku! Neku, open your eyes. We're okay!"

Neku hesitated. Was that Shiki? He had braced himself to be erased then and there, but come to think of it nothing had happened yet. So Neku opened his eyes to find Shiki staring up at him and Uzuki raging a few yards away. People were once again visible in Dogenzaka. They were out of the zone, then.

"What happened?"

"Mission's over," Shiki said. She showed Neku her palm, where sure enough the timer had vanished. "Xion and Sora must have reached A-East. And with the day done we got tossed out of combat."

"Looks like you're safe today," Uzuki said. She was practically shaking in anger and obviously just barely containing her rage. "I can't go around breaking the rules and attacking you once a day is done. But I'll get you tomorrow." With no other words, she simply vanished. Neku figured that if she had stuck around any longer she would have snapped.

"Come on," Shiki said, helping Neku to his feet. "Let's go find Sora and Xion. And… we need to work on working together. That went pretty badly."

Neku hesitated. "Hey, Shiki."

"Hm?"

"…Thanks."

x-x-x

Yoshiya Kiryu, otherwise known as Joshua, was confused. "You allowed Reapers to attack Players?" he asked Luxord.

"Was that against the rules, dear Composer?"

"Not at all, but it's not something that's done very often."

Luxord smiled as he shuffled a deck of cards. "I felt like adding a bit of a wildcard to the game, you see, and I needed to grant the Reapers permission to attack Players before I could do that. Rules are quite interesting in this Game you've created, with the way they actually block the Players and Reapers from breaking them."

"And who is this wildcard?" Joshua asked.

"He should be here any moment."

The door opened for a moment, letting light into the dark room. The newcomer stood in front of the light, casting him in silhouette and blocking any details from Joshua's view. But something about that long hair was familiar.

"Sorry I'm late, but I was doing some factoring," The stranger said. He let out a short laugh and placed a hat on his head. "Hey there, Composer. Where are you in this equation?"

Joshua chuckled. "I should have known it would be you. The Game just got a whole lot more interesting."