A/N: Three days remain in Week 1, so Week 2 shouldn't be that far away. Maybe just one more month after this month's over. Alright, this Mission's only going to take three chapters but the length for each chapter is pretty long. Day 5 will give out some background information to some of the events that have been going on in Shibuya for the past while, before the Game started and the things that have happened or been mentioned during the Game. And Kazuma's bonus Mission, going down "Memory Lane" will either be touched on as part of the next chapter or given a chapter on its own, haven't decided yet. I'm just trying to handle this story one chapter at a time while only having a minor outline for the story. And I know that there are a lot of unanswered questions that you all have but trust me when I say that everything in this story has a point. Every detail is important. Now without further ado, let us begin the with the first answer to the big question.

Disclaimer: Don't own the World Ends with You.

Chapter Twenty-Six: Week 1, Day 5-I will Never Forget about You

Mistake's POV-

Bunkamura-dori Avenue, Shibuya-August 6, 2009, 2:50 P.M. (August 6, 2009, 12:50 A.M. EST).

Bunkamura-dori Avenue, Aug. 6th-Many cars are moving down the busy avenue, but the road through Shibuya that many commuters take during the day was less busy in the past couple days than it usually was. This was mostly due to the fact that half of the avenue was an active crime scene for a horrible bus crash that had taken place five days ago. The bus crash had been talked about all over Tokyo and all over Japan, by adults and teenagers, in public places and in chat rooms. The bus crash had definitely become a hot button issue in the daily lives of Shibuya's commuters, but who could blame people for their overall curiosity with the accident? Seven people died. Five of them were teenagers. Everybody in the small nation of Japan was mourning those people's deaths right now. But in the end, the mourning wouldn't matter. Japan is one of the world leaders in deaths, most of them being suicides. Give it another week and everyone would probably end up forgetting about the bus crash and move on to talking about another tragedy or event that was taking place. Because in Japan there was always something going on.

I don't want to forget though. I'm never going to forget. Because four of those teenagers were my best friends. No, before you get the wrong idea this isn't about obsession. Well no, maybe it is about obsession. I mean think about it. If someone you knew died and the last conversation you had with them was about going over to a karaoke bar and hanging out and you say that you can't make it because you have to hurry back home and study, wouldn't you be kind of obsessed too? Kenta, Jonathan, Daiya, and Charity were four of my best friends. Four out of five of my only friends. The only other friend I have left is Yuu, and I haven't seen or spoken to him since the accident. My name is Masataka Naito, but in this series of diaries I shall refer to myself only as "Mistake", not as a play on words but because it was a mistake for me not to die with them.

I closed my small leather bound journal and let it hang loosely from my neck on its small stainless steel bead necklace. Then I put my pencil back in my right jeans' pocket and turned my attention to the crime scene that lay before me. The whole area was surrounded with yellow tape. Crime Scene Do Not Cross. Those five words written in Kanji mocked me. I felt like it was asking me why I was there. It was already too late, I couldn't change anything. My friends were in a morgue somewhere, probably being autopsied as we speak. 'They have to do that,' I reassured myself, 'To make sure that they didn't die from causes other than the crash.' But even then, nothing was getting done. That's the reason I was here. Five days had passed since my friends departed from this world and the police hadn't found anything. They hadn't even released all the names of the deceased to the public yet, apparently they were still trying to identify the last of the deceased who was another kid that was crushed to death under the front wheel of the bus. I wasn't mad over that, I was mad at the fact that the police still had no idea what caused the crash. One of the theories that were going around was that the bus driver was drunk and didn't watch where he was going and ran over the other kid while knocking into another car and then finally toppling the bus on its side in the middle of the street. I wasn't satisfied with that answer though because I knew that bus driver, we all did, he took his job very seriously and would never do something as stupid as that. But still I had to know why. Why did this happen? I had my theories but I wasn't sure if they were true, yet.

I looked over the police tape and saw a few uniformed officers and detectives on the inside of the crime scene. They were taking notes and examining the bus inside and out. I stood very quietly and tried my best to make out what they were saying. '"There's nothing wrong with the brake line at all, there's no reason the bus driver shouldn't have been able to stop when he saw the other driver and the kid. If you ask me he's going to get seven acts of vehicular manslaughter at the very least." "Yeah but that still doesn't account for the fact that we tested the bus driver and he came back negative for all tox screens. Plus, the impacts on the bus don't match that of it being the cause of the crash, it's more like something hit it." "That doesn't make any sense; did you guys even see the other car? It was completely totaled, even if the driver of that car got emergency treatment right there on the spot he would have still at the very least been in a deep coma." "Hey guys, is that kid over there watching us?" "Tsubasa, go check it out." ' They noticed me and then one of the officers in uniform came up to talk to me.

"Hey kid, can I help you with something?" the officer named Tsubasa asked me. He had short and shaggy black hair which was only slightly hidden under his standard uniform cap, and he also had pale skin and sort of dour blue eyes that showed both concern and worry. He was in full policeman uniform from head to toe, and his badge caught my attention the most. It was so shiny I could see my reflection it. A face with baggy amber eyes and dark brown hair stared back at me. I stayed silent for a few moments before I responded to officer's question.

I shook my head and replied, "No problem officer, I was just here to catch a glimpse of the bus up close and personal."

The officer frowned at me and stared at me intensely as if he was micro observing my every movement and gesture. "How much do you know about what happened?" he asked.

"Only what I've seen on the news and heard online."

The officer scoffed. "You see that's the problem with social media, people have got nothing better to do nowadays but discuss things on the web until they get curious about things that they're better off not knowing about. It's almost like death is a form of…"

I finished his sentence. "Entertainment to them."

He nodded in reply. "To tell you the truth you're the fifteenth person today who stopped here to look at the crash. Five of the people prayed and then moved on, three people shed tears over the scene, and then the other four just watched us work with a look of interest on their faces. But you're different from all of them," he said as he pointed at me. "You're watching but you don't look interested at all. You seem emotionally detached. Is something wrong?"

I looked down at the ground for a few moments before I answered him. "Four of the five youths who died were my friends. Today I finally managed to get the nerve to come out here."

"Geez," the officer said and then he shook his head in distaste. "I am so sorry."

"It's okay," I replied without giving much thought over it. I turned my attention to the bus. "Is it true that you have no idea what caused the crash yet?" I asked.

The officer nodded. "Yes, I'm afraid it's true. But it's only a matter of time before we find out who or what did." Then he chuckled and asked me, "And if an outside party did cause this, you know what they say, the culprit always returns to the scene of the crime. Hey, you didn't have anything to do with the accident, did you? 'Cause I'd hate to see a good kid like you wind up behind bars." He was joking to make me feel better; I could tell that Officer Tsubasa was a good guy. I turned to face him again and he flashed me a big smile. I wanted to smile back but I couldn't, a feeling in the pit of my stomach was putting in all of its effort to keep my face emotionless. "What's your name anyway, kid?" he asked me all of a sudden.

"Naito," I replied, "Masataka Naito."

"Well Masa-kun," he reached into his uniform's front shirt pocket and pulled out a white card, "If you ever do get yourself into trouble or just need someone to talk to, give me a call anytime, anywhere."

I looked at the fine print of the business card, it was strictly business. His full name, precinct address, and work phone number were the only things on it. "Thank you Officer Tsubasa," I said, pretending that I was reading his name off of the business card. I couldn't let him find out that I was eavesdropping. Then I reached into my left jeans' pocket and pulled out my own business card which was mostly like Officer Tsubasa's, except for my logo and gilded edges. "And please take mine."

Officer Tsubasa stared at the card with confusion at first, and then he read my information off of the card. "Masataka "Mistake" Naito. Private Investigator. Will fix your mistakes and solve any case that you have with no problem." He raised his right eyebrow at me. "You're a private investigator, Masa-kun?"

I nodded. "I decided that I wanted to do whatever I could to help out on this case and help out anyone else who feels useless in these kinds of problems. I have to admit that this was partially the reason I just came here today. I had to get everything else arranged first."

"Look, Masa-kun. I realize that you're trying to help but becoming an investigator just because of an accident like this, don't you think you're going a bit too far?"

I shook my head. "The truth is I've always been interested in becoming a detective, this accident was just a push for me to actually become one." I finally smiled. "That's the reason I want to find out what happened to them, as thanks for leading me on the right path. I don't expect to be directly involved but could you maybe just keep me posted if you gain any new leads?"

Officer Tsubasa sighed. "I'll see what I can do, but I'm not promising anything."

I nodded in understanding. "Thank you." Then I turned around and proceeded down the street.

Officer Tsubasa called after me. "Hey, where are you going now?!"

I looked back at him while I continued walking down the sidewalk. "I told you! I'm doing this so I can help other people as well! I've already got my first case set up!" Then I turned my head back around to face what lied before me. While I was walking down the sidewalk, I pulled out another one of my business cards and stared at the logo for my detective agency. My logo was the Trinity symbol engraved with several words on each of the lines. 'Never forget those we have lost. Because they haven't forgotten us. Keep moving forward but always pause to look back.' I didn't tell Officer Tsubasa the whole truth. If I did he probably wouldn't have cooperated with me at all. I've lived in Tokyo all my life and I have always felt like there was some other explanation to the weird occurrences that plagued everyday life in the bustling city. Things that can't be explained. Those detectives said it themselves; the bus crash didn't make any logical sense. And when the logic is taken out of a situation you're faced with the illogical. There was no doubt in my mind that my friends were killed by the paranormal.

Neku's POV-

Scramble Crossing, Shibuya-August 6, 2009, 2:50 P.M. (August 6, 2009, 12:50 A.M. EST).

A few things were different from when we last came to Scramble Crossing. For one thing, Kazuma wasn't with us anymore. He had gotten himself involved in some sort of bonus Mission while we were all at "Doux Rêves". Madoka was really bummed out, she told me that Kazuma and here were going to play Chopsticks together again the next time they had the chance. But thankfully the void that Kazuma left for her was, if only partially, filled by Anna. Just like I figured, Madoka and Anna got along real well the very moment that they met. Anna complimented Madoka on her hat and then they ended up getting in a twenty minute conversation on cats. I was happy for the both of them. I had grown to hate it when Madoka wasn't smiling, and after all that Anna and I had gone through yesterday, the last thing I wanted her to do was feel left out. But Rin and Madoka made her feel instantly welcome. 'I'm really lucky to have such great friends,' I thought to myself as I leaned up against a crosswalk signal pole.

Madoka and Anna were having a lively conversation over on a bench across the street, the same bench that I had sat down on Day 2 while Madoka and Kazuma were playing Chopsticks together in the middle of the Crossing. My guess was that after moving on from cats, Madoka started to tell Anna about all the things we had already gone through. After every statement Madoka said, Anna would laugh her head off. Meanwhile, Rin was sitting down on the pavement beside me while he had his knees strapped closely to his face by his arms. He was staring intensely at Madoka and Anna. His mind seemed preoccupied with something. "Hey dude?" I got his attention and he turned his head towards me, "Something on your mind?"

Rin's eyes traced the sidewalk ground before he sighed and looked back up at me. "Anna was the cause of all those weird plants appearing in "Doux Rêves", right?" he asked.

I frowned and replied, "Yeah, what about it?"

"I was there; I fought against those things with all the other Players that were stuck in that house. They were menacing, they wouldn't stop attacking us. A lot of the Players ended up getting caught by them."

Rin was beating around the bush about something, I could tell. My eyes narrowed at him. "If you're going to say something about her just come out and say it."

"Fine. Are we sure we can trust Anna?"

I glared at Rin. "Yes, I'm sure. She didn't mean to do any of that, she was being controlled by this thing called the Fear Feaster that was controlling everybody in the house through these weird marks. Anna was fighting against the Fear Feaster; she was keeping it from Erasing any of us and instead just making us go to a world of illusions. If it wasn't for her, a lot less than a hundred Players would still be in the Game and its thanks to her that we even won yesterday's Mission in the first place. So if you're going to insult her, or say bad things about her behind her back, I suggest that you get ready to get your ass kicked by me."

"I thought you liked Shiki," Rin simply said in reply to my statement.

My eyes widened when he said that. "What?"

Rin turned his attention back to Anna and Madoka. "You're doing all you can to defend Anna even though you know that she's a loose cannon because of her personality."

I frowned. "You mean the piece of her humanity that's missing," I replied.

Rin looked back at me. "So you do know what her Entry Fee was? And you know that if she's lost her humanity there's no telling what could happen or what she could do, right? She could become as insane as Shatter does when she uses "Cut"." Rin turned back to face the girls and I could tell that he was staring directly at Anna as she was smiling and giggling at Madoka. "She's fine when she's surrounded by people that she views as her friends but if she becomes isolated again there's no telling what could happen. Whether it's this Fear Feaster thing, Noise, or some Reaper, something may try to manipulate her again. Because in the end, I think the humanity that's missing from her is her free will. And for someone to lose their free will, I can only guess that something very terrible happened to her when she was still alive."

I didn't want to listen to Rin but I couldn't help it. He was making some valid points. "I'm not saying that we should cut her loose, I like Anna she's a really nice person. But her Entry Fee makes her unpredictable and susceptible to mind games; if she gets tricked by someone then she'll have no way of knowing how to get out of her situation. She'll be a helpless little pawn in some madman's chess game. And I don't care if you have some feelings for Anna, man. But just don't let them cloud your judgment about her. Let's keep a close eye on her, just in case."

He was wrong about one thing; I didn't like Anna that way. She was like Madoka was to me. She was like a sister. Like how I often thought that Rhyme was like my little sister too. 'Rhyme, I wish you were here too,' I thought to myself.

"But if want to hear my honest opinion about your love life. I think that you should stick with Shiki. "Data" often tells me about all the memories that you too shared when you think about them. If that isn't love I don't know what is," he said with a smile. "I'm a Niku fan myself, but I guess I could also swing towards that other girl you spent a lot of time with. Eri."

"Wait. What? Niku? Eri?"

"Niku is you and Shiki's couple name that I just came up with," he said with a chuckle. "And I said Eri because you have a lot of memories about her too. Why didn't you tell me you had a girl childhood friend? Conflicted between many girls. It's like something out of "Amagami", I can't wait to see which route you take," (A/N: The term route is usually associated with games in which you capture a girl's heart at the end, known as Galge. "Amagami" is a well-known and popular Galge involving a boy named Junichi Tachibana).

Rin started laughing again but my mind was focused on what he said about Eri. "Wait, Eri was my childhood friend?!" I asked in shock.

Rin raised his right eyebrow at me in confusion. "So since Joshua gave you your lost memories two days ago you haven't recalled a single one of those memories. Pardon me, but if I had lost my memories for as long as you had I think I would've tried a bit harder at remembering things."

I reached into my pocket and fished out one of the two photos I had of me and my friends. The photo of me, Eri, and Josh. Then I handed the photo to Rin and asked him, "Can you tell me when this was taken?"

Rin shook his head as he stared at the picture. "I can tell you but I think it's better for you if you remember on your own."

I grunted and focused solely on the photo, trying to recollect the tiniest memory from it. Then voices flashed through my head. '"Come on Neku; get in closer with your best friend."' I recognized this voice and the little giggle that came behind it. Eri. '"Hey, I thought I was his best friend."' Someone else was there. Josh. '"I've known Neku since I was five and you've only known him for three and a half months. Therefore I'm his best friend and you're lucky to be second best."' I remembered that I had a part in this conversation as well. '"Eri, in Josh's defense, I can't hang out with you like I can with him."' Then it all came back to me.

Flashback:

The Hachiko Statue, Shibuya-May 7, 2006, 12:20 P.M. (May 6, 2006, 10:20 P.M. EST).

Eri was wearing a pair of short jean shorts, a strapped camouflage top, a pair of black flip-flops, and her golden heart-shaped locket. She put her hands on her hips and frowned at me. "And just what is that supposed to mean? If you didn't have me around you'd probably lose your mind to boredom. If you didn't like me being near you then why did you move to Shibuya on your own anyway, Nekki?"

I was wearing my headphones that were connected to my MP3 Player that hung around my neck, a blue t-shirt, a pair of tan cargo shorts, and a pair of black and blue tennis shoes. I rubbed the back of my head while a blush spread across my face. "Well it definitely wasn't because I wanted to be closer to you or anything, Eri," I said while I chuckled nervously.

Josh leaned in and whispered in my right ear, "Way to lay it on their thick, buddy." I pushed him away with a grunt and he started laughing. Josh was wearing a maroon polo shirt, a pair of long khaki pants and a pair of white shoes.

"Neku?" I turned back to Eri and saw that she was blushing like crazy. Her face matched her red hair perfectly. "Is that true? I was just kidding but did you really move to Shibuya to be closer to me?" She was fidgeting nervously with anticipation. And I was so anxious that I began to mimic Eri's movements.

"Well you know the only time that I ever saw you was around the summertime when you went to go stay with your aunt. One month in Shinjuku and then you would travel back to Shibuya and I wouldn't see you again until next year. So yeah, I wanted to be closer to you because I um…you know."

"You do?" Eri asked in reply.

I rubbed my arm and looked at the ground. "I think so, I mean ever since I came here I've felt different about you. My heart beats really fast whenever you're around and it aches whenever you're not. I guess you could say that I like having you around me all the time."

Josh scoffed. "That's the understatement of the century. Last week when we went to go check out the Udagawa Mural all he could think and say the whole time was "I wonder what Eri would think of this". He was like a lovesick puppy."

I glared at him and he backed away in a joking manner. Then I turned back to Eri. "So um yeah, there's a reason why hanging out with you is different from when I hang out with Josh."

"Oh? I'm glad to hear that." Neither of us were making a move, we both just stood there with our hands twitching and our faces red like beets.

Josh sighed and then shouted at the both of us. "Oh for the love of God, this is too damn awkward! Would you two just kiss or something already!"

Me and Eri's faces turned ever brighter. Then we both swallowed hard and leaned forward into a kiss. It only lasted five seconds and then we backed away from each other. "Well that was…interesting," I said as I turned away from Eri.

"Yeah, that was…something else," Eri replied. We both wouldn't look each other in the eye.

Josh gave out a disgruntled sigh. "Oh for Pete's sake, do I have to do everything around here? Hey awkward Romeo and Juliet, I believe we said that we were going to take a picture to commemorate Neku's first official tour of Shibuya," Josh said as he waved around a digital camera. Then he walked up to the Hachiko statue and placed his camera Hachiko's pedestal next to his front left foot. He shouted out to the two of us without turning his back so he could fiddle with his camera. "You two go ahead and get in position and Neku just stick close to Eri or she's gonna keep whining over who's your best friend." He set the timer on the camera and then he turned around and said, "But then again, now I'd say I'm your best friend and Eri is something more."

I turned to Eri and smiled at her. "Are we something more now?"

Eri returned my smile and then she shrugged her shoulders. "Do you want to be? You already know what my feelings for you are."

I grabbed Eri's left hand with my right hand and she gasped at the sudden contact. "Then you should know how I feel too." We both warmly smiled at each other as a gentle blush enveloped our faces, and then Josh came up behind us and turned our attention to the camera.

"Big smiles now, this picture will be to commemorate our first friend's excursion and the day that you two finally got together," said Josh.

The camera's flashing light blinked for a few more moments and the three of us scrunched close together. Then the camera flashed and the photo was successfully taken. This day was the first step into a sequence of events that made me into the person I am today. However, I had completely forgotten about this day and every other day I had spent with my childhood love and my best friend.

Flashback End

I traced my finger over the linoleum surface of the photograph, checking to see if it was actually real. This event happened; I had the picture to prove it. I was friends with Eri and Josh at one point, but things were different now. This Josh who I remember and the Josh that I saw on Day 1 were different from the Josh who I had known for the past year. The same goes for Eri, the Eri I only knew as Shiki's best friend and the Eri that I have a connection with were two different people. I didn't know how this was possible but I knew that it wasn't something that was fake. At one point in my past I had two friends named Yoshiya Kiryu and Eri Takeyama, and at some point along the road they disappeared and became the Josh and Eri that I know now.

The world that I was in right now was not my own world. It was fake, nothing more than a false place created by the Angels. Yet it was still real. The people who I had met in the past five days. Madoka, Kazuma, Rin, Shatter, Ian, Alex, Pyros, Willow, Satori, Anna, all the Reapers, and Uriel; they were all real. So maybe this world wasn't fake, maybe it was something that had existed all along. Nobody else was aware of any changes besides Rin and Josh because I confided in them. I was the odd man out, the isolated individual with knowledge of other worlds. Was I supposed to exist in this world or the world in which I was friends with Beat and Rhyme and in love with Shiki? Then a thought came to me. "I've been in both worlds before," I said aloud.

"That's my guess but I think you're going to need someone else to explain it to you, like Joshua if you can get a straight answer out of him," Rin said. "I think that you first existed in this world and were somehow transferred to the other world with no memories of this world. This world already had a certain destiny played out for you but the other world presented you with new things and new events that turned you into your emo self. In that world you were never friends with Eri or Yoshiya."

"No," I simply said.

"Pardon?"

I traced my finger around Josh's face. "I remember one more detail. This single memory was taken as my Entry Fee for when I faced Josh in the Duel. In the world that I'm most familiar with, I was given a different personality. I was an emo from the beginning. I liked being in solitude and also secretly despised it. I had one friend before I died, one single friend who I only met when I first came to Shibuya. His name was Yoshiya Kiryu, nicknamed Joshua. I met him basically in the same way that I apparently met this world's Yoshiya Kiryu. We both had a fascination of art, he was a painter and I loved graffiti and street art. And then…he died. This photo was taken three and a half months after I had come to the Shibuya in this world. So in my world, my Josh died at least a week before this was taken. He died when he was hit by a car en route to Udagawa. He was going to show me the Mural." I stuffed the photo back into my pocket. "The Angel Joshua took Josh's form and inserted himself into my life so I could become his Proxy for his Game. He killed me in the same area that Josh was killed, probably for some type of poetic justice."

"You felt responsible for what happened to the Yoshiya Kiryu in the other world, didn't you?" Rin asked.

I nodded. "For two years I wandered around Shibuya, isolated and alone." I touched the rims of my headphones. "I didn't even listen to music that much after that, I just used these to block out Shibuya's noise. I felt like I wanted to disappear into nothingness just like sound does when there's nothing to carry the vibrations. It's funny to think that the very things I swore I would never use again are what I needed to keep me tied to the Game."

"Well it looks like the two of us have your predicament mostly figured out, but I still say you're going to need a third party to explain it better. "We both watched Madoka and Anna after that but the two of us still kept talking. "So why did you choose to leave Anna's illusion world? You could have gone back to just being part of one world instead of being a part of two. Even if it wasn't technically real."

I shrugged my shoulders. "I guess I didn't want to forget about you, or Madoka, or Kazuma. And I still wanted to get some answers about why I'm so important to the Angels."

"You think they were the ones who were doing the world switcheroo on you?"

"Who else could it be?"

Rin sighed and didn't respond for a moment, and then finally he asked me, "Neku, do you believe in God?"

I turned my head in Rin's direction and gave him a confused look. "Are you serious?"

Rin nodded without looking in my direction. "There's something lurking in the shadows of this world. "Data" can sense it. It's something very powerful and also very dark. I think God is here and he's really pissed off for some reason. I think God's messing with your head."

Before I could respond to Rin's conclusion, I felt my phone vibrate. It was clear that we had to complete a new Mission before I could get my answers.

A/N: Okay hopefully this chapter answered a few of your questions. In the next chapter we'll catch up on how Rhyme and Krystal are doing and Neku and the others begin their Mission to help two more reoccurring Mortals. Also there will be more mentioned about the mysterious detective known as Mistake in the near future.