Muse

By: Aviantei

[Shibuya Operation – Story Storm]

The Sixth Day:

"Compete & Slam"

Sunshine. People chattering. Back on the concrete. Chou didn't know why she'd expected anything else out of her morning, but the same old sensations met her once again. The biggest difference, though, was the weight of emotions still pressing down on her. The loss of Suzu, connecting with Hotaru as her Partner, seeing their parents so broken up over her and Hotaru's death—It was a lot to go through in twenty-four hours, let alone three, and being heavily unconscious until the next day didn't do her any favors.

If the Reapers can drop us wherever the hell they want in Shibuya, couldn't they at least dump us on something comfortable to sleep on? Hell, I'd even take waking up on the grass in Miyashita Park over this.

Chou well knew that griping over unrelated trifles was one of her biggest ways of deflecting dealing with her feelings, but she needed to be on top of things for the next few days. Once the Reaper's Game was over, then she could let herself break down. But not now. Not whenever Hotaru was working so hard so that they could make it home together.

The thought of her sister helped pull Chou to her feet, and she assessed their surroundings. The penultimate day had landed them outside of Shibu-Q Heads, and Hotaru was standing nearby, along with Hasekitsu and Nifuji. Chou cracked her neck a few times as she approached, and Hotaru's eyes darted towards her. "Oh, Nee-chan, you're awake!"

Nodding her greetings to the rest of them, Chou stepped into the spot Hotaru had opened up for her. "Awake and ready to roll," she said, trying to sound reassuring. While her voice didn't come out as strong as she would have wanted, it wasn't anywhere close to how pathetic it had sounded the day before. "Any word on the Mission? Or do you think Daikoku is gonna come be as dramatic as yesterday?" The memory still brought a nasty taste to Chou's mouth.

Hasekitsu shrugged. "Not yet. Nifuji-kun and I worked our way down from Udagawa before we crossed paths. I was just complimenting Tsukiko-kun on her job well done yesterday. Of course, the same goes for you Tsukiko-kun."

Chou let out a half-hearted snort. "Nah, that was all Nee-chan yesterday. I just played support." That was putting it mildly, as she had mostly let Hotaru handle it since Chou herself couldn't have imagined comforting someone else's grief on top of her own. If I hadn't agreed to playing the Reaper's Game, would Hotaru at least been able to make it back to them?

The beeping of their phones cut off any following thoughts of self-blame for the moment, and a temporary silence hung over the group as they took in the words.

Quest Six: Though you are close to your end goal, a local tournament has sprung up nearby. You decide to take a breather and participate before heading into to final challenge. Emerge as the victor. You have five hours. Erasure awaits those who fail.

Chou had the string of the Timer press into her palm so many times that she hardly even recognized it as pain anymore. Nifuji still grimaced a bit, but he was as quick as ever to type up his thoughts. [Well, that seems straightforward enough. The trick is going to be finding this tournament and making sure we can enter.]

The idea of showing up late to whatever they were supposed to enter and completely missing out on the opportunity to clear the Mission was not an appealing prospect. Chou jabbed her thumb in the direction of Tipsy Tose Hall. "Well, if the thing was in Udagawa, I'm sure you two would have noticed it. Let's try our luck somewhere else."

It was more than enough consensus to get them moving, and it didn't take up too much of their time to make it to the most easily accessible area. It also didn't take long for them to take a guess at what they were supposed to be doing for the day, as there was a rather large signboard setup outside one of the buildings, as well as a mini crowd milling outside the entrance. Above the door was a sign that read STRIDE. If Chou remembered right, the place was a sort of game store with plenty of space in the back for people to set up cards and board games.

"I swear that if Daikoku expects us to play some tabletop thing we've never touched before and win…"

"Yeah, I think we're going to be spared from that fate," Hasekitsu said, his eyes flickering over the signboard. "However, this is probably where we need to be…"

Following Hasekitsu's gaze, Chou easily found what he was talking about. Sure enough, the signboard was advertising a tournament for the day, with open participation. "Tin Pin?!"

"I'm kind of impressed at how popular it's gotten. Sure, I haven't been out and about for a Game in a bit, but I'm pretty sure there wouldn't have been a crowd this size for a mini tournament just a few weeks ago, and it's even less likely they would have used it for a Mission."

[Well, they did just start airing the Slammurai anime. I'm not too surprised that it's started to catch on more.]

Hasekitsu gave Nifuji an amused look. "Are you familiar with it, Nifuji-kun? Happen to play much?"

Chou was impressed that Nifuji didn't immediately flush red. Tin Pin's target audience happened to mostly be people that were at least half of Chou's age, let alonee Nifuji's. [My younger cousin's into it, and they don't have many other people to play with. Plus the anime makes me kinda nostalgic.] Nifuji shrugged. [I wouldn't say I'm an expert, but I can put up a decent enough match, I like to think. Depending on who's here to play, I might stand a chance at winning.]

"Well, I definitely haven't had a lot of practice myself, but joining will be better than not. The more slots we Players can take up, the better chance we have at scoring the victory for the Mission."

"Good, because I happen to suck at it," Chou said, crossing her arms. She'd given it a shot with Suzu for the hell of it, but neither of them had been very good. All Chou would be contributing to the tournament would be giving someone else an easy pass onto the next round.

Hasekitsu's teasing grin came back in full force. "And our other Tsukiko-kun?"

"Well, Nee-chan…"

A glance at Hotaru was enough of an answer, as she was already sucked into her own mental world—the one of fierce concentration usually reserved for poetry, just with a bit more muttering aloud involved. "Hm, the deck I have now is okay, but definitely not a competitive set by any means. These two would work alright, I think, but this one's too hard to control, and I don't have a balance of whammies, either. I guess I could see if they have the tournament default set to work with, but that's not going to go right with my playstyle, and anyone more experienced will be able to take advantage of that…" Still muttering, Hotaru shuffled through her pouch, collecting pins into her hands and shaking her head every so often. Chou had mostly let Hotaru be when it came to the game, as it was nice to see her get into something outside her usual comfort zone, but who would have thought Tin Pin of all things would end up being useful in the Reaper's Game?

"You need any help there, Tsukiko-kun?" Hasekitsu asked, snapping Hotaru out of her self-induced reverie.

"A-ah, sorry!" Hotaru flushed red all the way down her neck in an instant. A few pins almost slipped out of her grasp, and she yelped while trying to catch them. "I was thinking about the best set of pins I could end up using to compete. I mean, yes, you can just play with whatever and do alright, but since the Mission said we needed to win, I thought…"

[If you need more pins, I think we can help. Do you mind sharing, Hasekitsu?]

Hasekitsu shook his head. "Not a problem if it means we have a better chance." Chou, now on the sidelines, raised a half-questioning eyebrow. "If you want a better selection of pins, I've got plenty. Here, see if there's something you like. I can't use 'em all anyways."

Chou had expected Hasekitsu to have a few backups, but she hadn't expected the practical shower of pins that emerged from his pockets. Nifuji didn't help by doing basically the same thing, and Chou had now idea where they even fit all the things. Nifuji caught Chou's wide-eyed expression and said, [This is what happens whenever you get into a fight with any Noise within scanning distance.]

"Excuse you, a lot of these are from previous Games. I am a veteran Player, you know." Hotaru had also gone wide-eyed, but her look also conveyed an element of heavy excitement. Like a vendor showing off his wares, Hasekitsu gestured a hand over the pile he'd upended on the concrete. "If you think something will do ya good, Tsukiko-kun, go ahead and take it. You, too, other Tsukiko-kun. Sticking with the same pins means you get really good with them, but sometimes you gotta upgrade if you want to stand a chance."

It's a good thing we're invisible, or I could totally see us getting accused of littering right now.

That thought didn't stop her from crouching down next to the pin mountain. While Chou hadn't really participated in any of the fighting yesterday, she knew that Hasekitsu was right. She'd already started to notice some of her attacks coming up short of the expected results when squaring off against the Reapers, and that wouldn't do any good whenever they still had the final day to go.

Chou ran her hands through the pin pile, snatching a few that caught her interest based on the design, while Hasekitsu gave her a few pointers on which ones she might be able to use based on her current set of Psyches. Hotaru was in full swing, and she managed to not only build her own Tin Pin deck to her satisfaction, but had talked Nifuji through some strategy terminology that went right over Chou's head, built two more decks for the others, and swapped out a few of her starter pins for enhanced versions. Let no one say that Tsukiko Hotaru couldn't be efficient when she set her mind to something.

Though she totally could have left me out of her tournament planning. With a fresh deck of pins dedicated to the game, it wasn't like Chou could just stick to her plan of sitting on the sidelines.

"Alright," Hotaru said, helping Nifuji and Hasekitsu scrape the remainder of their massive pin collection back into their pockets, "that should be good enough to give us a fighting chance. Let's get going before they close up registration!" Not one to argue with anything that made Hotaru focused, Chou followed her twin through the crowd and into the store.

It was almost just as packed inside, half the people browsing about the shelves with looks on their faces which suggested they were killing time. A decent-sized cluster of its own was around one of the countertops, where several elementary and middle school aged kids were picking out pins for last minute upgrades to their decks, with a few redheads almost shoving each other out of the way in their enthusiasm. The tournament signup was close to the back room, and Hotaru had already marked down both their names by the time Chou caught up with her.

Alright, fine, I guess I'm in. She can't blame me if I don't contribute much. She knows I suck at this, right?

After Hasekitsu and Nifuji had also signed up, all they could really do was wait. Hotaru went to check out the playing field (which wasn't much more than a weird-shaped table along with the requisite nearby controls). Chou found a spot up against a poster on the wall that she could lean up against without being in immediate range of hell-raising children worked up over whose accessories would reign supreme. Whoever was behind the marketing team for Tin Pin sure knew what the hell they were doing.

Still keeping a watchful eye on Hotaru, Chou casted another quick glance around the room, content with people watching until the tournament time started. Nifuji seemed to be explaining some action figure or another to an overly interested-looking Hasekitsu, while a couple of people who looked to be the organizers were starting to set up a tournament bracket on a whiteboard they'd pulled from the back of the room. No one else in the vicinity screamed Player to Chou, but she did catch sight of one of the red-hoodied Reapers just a few seconds short before his back pressed up against the wall right next to her. Too caught up in shock to remember that she was visible inside the store, Chou didn't bother to hide her outright shock at his presence, and the Reaper caught her expression without much effort.

"A Player?!" he said, sounding just as surprised as Chou did before clearing his throat and putting on an air of self-importance. "I-I mean, of course you're here. I came on the GM's orders, ya know?"

Even Hotaru wasn't trusting enough to believe such an obvious lie—and Chou had at least half of her sister's general faith in humanity. "Uh-huh," she said, crossing her arms. She highly suspected the guy would outright attack her when they were technically tuned into the RG, plus she'd figured out that the ones in red tended to be much more along the Support end of things, which made them annoying, but not necessarily a threat. "I wasn't aware Dungeons and Dicehead was so into screwing over Players that he'd have his underlings learn how to play a children's pin game."

"W-well, that's cause—he—" Watching the guy stutter made him seem several levels less intimidating, and Chou relaxed out of the defensive stance she'd taken. The Reaper gave up the bluster and sighed. "Oh, balls. Look, I like Tin Pin, okay? It's my day off and I just wanted to do something fun, so sue me."

For as much energy Chou had expended on marking the Reapers as the enemy, it was much harder to maintain that stance whenever she was face to face with a guy who was just trying to enjoy his—admittedly out of the ballpark—hobby in his free time. Sure, he probably could have done without the Reaper getup if he wanted to be less conspicuous, but to anyone who wasn't involved with the Reaper's Game, it just looked a lot like casual clothes. Nifuji's explanation of your options once you made it through the Game sprang back to mind, and Chou had to remind herself that, for all the BS the Reapers shoved on Players, they had once been human, too.

Applying that same sentiment to Daikoku, who had sat by and just let Kano Erase Suzu, was another matter entirely.

Blowing some hair out of her eyes, Chou settled back against the wall. "Relax. If you're not gonna get in our way, I'm not about to rat out what you get up to when you're off the clock. Just know that there are other Players here, too, and they'll probably notice you." Though maybe not recognize him, given how the uniform outfits of the Support Reapers made them all blend together. The guy might have been responsible for handing out one of their Wall missions, and Chou wouldn't have been able to tell. She did notice the relieved expression on his face, even underneath the pulled down brim of his face, and, looking closer, he did seem somewhat familiar…

The connection was so far away from anything Chou had been thinking about during the Reaper's Game that it took a moment for it to catch up with her—and when it did, it slammed into her awareness like a truck. "W-wait a sec. You're Tenho, the bassist from Def Mӓrch, aren't you?!"

It took several more seconds for the concept that a member from one of her favorite bands was a Reaper—and then she really thought about the other two and realized that it was super-obvious they were, too. She would have never guessed that the group spent the time they weren't making music corralling dead people through the underworld.

The Reaper—Tenho, that's definitely fucking Tenho—looked just as surprised as Chou felt by her exclamation. "Uh, yeah, that's me. You actually recognize me? People normally don't do that unless I'm hanging around with 777…"

"Are you kidding me?!" Chou clenched her hands into excited fists and leaned in. "I mean, yeah, 777 has the most iconic look of you all, and he's the lead singer so he catches all sorts of attention, but it's you and him and BJ altogether that make Def Mӓrch what it is! Plus, I mean, I'm a bassist, too—er, well, I can play bass, and I know you can pull off some real crazy stuff when you're in the groove, so of course I'd—"

"Alright, Tin Pin Slammers, it's time to begin!" Without a mic or speaker system, the lead organizer had to work a lot to raise his voice over the crowd, and he had just enough projection to be audible over the rest of the shop. Most of the ruckus quieted down to excited murmurs and the occasional unrestrained shout from a worked up kid. The organizer smiled. "Welcome to Stride for our first-ever Tin Pin tournament!" There was an array of applause and whoops from the crowd, and the organizer smiled a bit wider before raising his hands to quell the crowd. "We're super impressed by this turnout; it's way more than we expected. So before we get into the main competition, we're going to do some mini group matches to narrow down who will move on to the…TOURNAMENT BRACKEEEET!" He gestured to the whiteboard behind him, sending up the crowd in another frenzy, and Chou was certain that she'd seen one of the redheaded kids leap into the air with a cheer. "Alright, we're going to start pulling names, so when you hear yours, move to the Slammurai Stadium in the middle here. If you don't come within three minutes, you forfeit your spot. First up is…!"

Chou halfway considered just not participating to save herself the embarrassment, but she was sure at least Hasekitsu would call her out on it. Nifuji was the first of their group to participate, and, while he seemed to be uncertain about how to best use some of his new pin stock, he pulled off a victory. Tenho was in the next group, and he had the performance of an obvious novice that Chou would have felt bad not at least giving her round a shot. She lost, just as expected, and to a spiky brown-haired kid who had to still be in elementary school, but at least she'd tried.

Hotaru, on the other hand, was a different story. The switch in her that had flipped upon seeing Hasekitsu's pin collection was still on, and she zoned in on the battlefield with an unnecessary intensity that easily net her passage onto the bracket. Hasekitsu made it as well, but his victory was more from letting the other players whittle each other down before he swooped in from the sidelines to take advantage of the aftermath.

It was three of them through, if nothing else, and with sixteen participants on the bracket, having almost a fourth of them Players was probably as strong as a position that they were going to be in to make it through this Mission alive. It wasn't long before Hotaru's first round match came up, and Chou gave her an encouraging smile from across the room. "You've got this, Nee-chan!"

"Hm, I think I'd agree with you. Hotaru-chan's almost a completely different person when she's playing, now isn't she?"

Ah, damn, Chou thought, there goes the hope that Kiryu got offed yesterday.

Hotaru was hunched over the Tin Pin controls, waiting for her opponent to get their next pin on the board. She'd already made it to the second tournament round following the qualifying heats, and she tried to keep her mind sharp. Her turquoise pin was steady, ready to move at the slightest moment. While it would have been tempting to wait close to the launch point and stun with a whammy, the opposing Player had already seen through the trick once, and Hotaru wasn't willing to lose her own pin in the process.

Rushing in doesn't do any good. Breathe.

Though it was just a casual local tournament and the rules weren't all that strict, the other Player still launched their pin within the required time and got to work on leaving a purple trail streaking after them. Hotaru leaned into the controls ever so slightly, dodging out of the way of the immediate blow and inching her way towards the edge of the board.

Most people tended to focus on the quickest way to push the opponent off the edge. Whenever necessary, Hotaru took advantage of that tendency and focused on control, baiting the opponent into coming after her and then getting the heck out of the way, earning herself victory by having the enemy launch themselves right off the playing field. That meant her deck tended to lean towards lightweight pins that could move quickly and were at a disadvantage in a head-on collision, but there were no rules that said all your pins had to be the exact same.

For her current opponent, it didn't matter, though, as they took the bait. Hotaru feinted like she was about to activate a whammy, then spun out of the way, just skirting the edge of the table. Her opponent gave a surprised shout, but, by the time they tried to yank back on the controls, momentum and gravity were both doing their jobs, and the match was over with.

"And that's another victory for participant Hotaru, moving her on to the semi-finals!" said the MC, but Hotaru was only half listening to his assessment. She gave her opponent a quick bow along with a "Thanks for the game" before collecting her pins and vacating her spot by the controls. She was doing alright—somehow Tin Pin was one of those things that could make even crowds fade away—but being at the center of attention for longer than necessary wasn't high up on her list of things to do.

Just two more rounds of this, and then we'll be home free, she thought, glancing at the Timer on her palm before quickly closing her fist. If the Reaper Sigils on stores made Players visible to the RG, she didn't want to know if that included what must have looked like an ever-changing tattoo on her palm. Already, the next round was beginning, and the crowd made appropriate reactions to the MC's play-by-play.

It didn't take too much time to find Chou, as leaning up against a wall to watch over what was going on was a frequent enough tendency of Chou's to be called a habit; if it didn't involve music in some way, she was mostly content to be on the sidelines. Hotaru waded through the crowd towards her twin, and it was only by the time she'd basically arrived there that she noticed Chou wasn't alone.

"Ah, if it isn't Hotaru-chan herself. You've got quite an unexpected vigor for Tin Pin, don't you?"

Hotaru immediately flushed, though she couldn't tell if it was because of Yoshiya's words or just his sheer presence. "N-no, really, it's not like that, I just, for the Mission…"

"Mmhmm. Whatever you say, dear."

"Oi, asshole, who do you think you're getting friendly with?" If Chou hadn't looked disgruntled before, the emotion was plain on her face now. Hotaru wasn't necessarily surprised—this, too, was one of Chou's habits—but it still wasn't always enjoyable to bear witness to. "You've hardly interacted for more than a few hours. You can't go and talk to Nee-chan like that."

Yoshiya raised a delicate eyebrow and held a finger to his chin. "I'm just trying to make it easier to be sure of who I'm talking to. I don't hear Hotaru-chan complaining about it." Complain wasn't quite the right word for Hotaru's reaction, but embarrassment tended to override turning anything else into action. "Besides, we're all in this Game together, aren't we? Not many bonds run deeper than scrambling to survive, don't you think, Chou-chan?"

Chou looked well on her way to popping a blood vessel and quite possibly the eardrums of everyone in the immediate radius from the volume she was about to put into her next words, but Hotaru waved her arms. "It's really not a big deal, Nee-chan. Yoshiya-san's right; there's no sense being picky about these things whenever there's much bigger stakes to focus on." Though it was a bit hard to feel the gravity of those stakes when they were crammed into a game shop playing Tin Pin on what could have been just an ordinary summer afternoon.

Considering that Chou chose to exhale rather than contributing her lungpower into a shout, Hotaru considered the intervention a victory. "Fine. But don't expect me to get along with His Royal Pretentiousness over here."

"Oh, Chou-chan, you think I'm fit enough to be royalty? I'm flattered—"

"Kiryu, I swear if you don't stop talking, I'm going to make you wish you'd permanently died the first time—"

"Well!" Hotaru said, trying her best to cut off the bickering before it got started. Chou looked at the end of her patience, while Yoshiya had enough of a smirk starting to melt onto his features that Hotaru could tell he was content with egging her on for the fun of it—a combination destined for disaster. Hotaru's mind scrambled for a safe redirection of the conversation, her mind feeling as messy as one of her rough drafts of poetry. "I'm sure there's probably something you two have in common," or at least can talk about safely. "Oh, Y-Yoshiya-san, did you know that Nee-chan writes her own music? She's really cool; I can't wrap my head around something like that at all."

It was the easiest possible diversion: get Chou to talk about her interests, especially one that she and Yoshiya had in common. Chou seemed mollified by the praise, and even Yoshiya's voice wasn't nearly as sarcastic as usual as he said, "Is that so? You could say I'm something of a composer myself."

Composer. The word seemed just right for him in a way Hotaru hadn't been fully expecting. She wondered how it would fit into a verse of poetry, and she tucked it into the corner of her mind that was holding the melody from two days before. Even Chou looked dully impressed, though she was trying pretty hard not to let it show on her face. Hotaru could see the spark in Chou's eyes upon recognizing a fellow artist.

Chou let out a chuckle. "Any chance you happen to know how to write anything that isn't pretentious?"

Yoshiya only returned the jab with a smirk. "I think you'd be surprised by what I can come up with."

Hotaru smiled at the lightened atmosphere, glad to divert a potential argument from breaking out. They were so close to the end; just a bit more until they figured out who was going to get their second chance or not. If possible, Hotaru didn't want any more people to miss out just because they didn't survive, and building up good relationships between the Players seemed like a good way to have everyone watch out for each other.

"And with that great show of Slammanship, that leads us into the semi-finals! Just a bit more until we see who's your Stride Tin Pin champion. Let's get our top four contenders up here before we get moving—"

"Sounds like your cue, Hotaru-chan," Yoshiya said, giving her a wave. "Go out there and have fun. Chou-chan and I will be just fine over here. I'm sure we're about to have an interesting discussion."

"R-right!" If Hotaru dawdled any longer, the nerves would catch up to her, and she didn't need that. What she needed was focus and an opponent she could handle across her at the table. "I'll do my best to win this thing, so you guys just hang tight." I gotta give my best—for my family, and the rest of the Players in the Game.

And with that little resolve bolstering her heart, Hotaru went to join the other top four contestants in the tournament.

"If you think that I'm going to play nice with you, then you've got another thing coming."

Chou didn't waste any time in cutting to the chase; it wouldn't take Hotaru too long to clear out her next match. The kid facing her definitely looked obsessed with Tin Pin based on his get-up that almost matched the anime's protagonist, but he was still short enough that he almost couldn't reach the table. He may put up a fight, but Hotaru could school brats like him without even breaking a sweat—even if she didn't realize it.

Watching the Tin Pin matchup from afar, Kiryu didn't look the slightest bit concerned by Chou's rudeness. "Well, I certainly wasn't expecting that much courtesy," he said, shrugging. Chou didn't bother to feel concerned, seeing as she wasn't really trying to hide her animosity. "Though I will say I'm not so sure what's got you so worked up about me. I'm in the same situation you are, you know."

He made a fair point, and that only served to agitate Chou more. She didn't like how familiar Kiryu was with Hotaru, but he wasn't the first person to earn Chou's ire for that feat. There were two main differences between Kiryu and the others that came before him, though, the first being that he hadn't backed down, even when called out.

The second being that not many people had been on the receiving end of Chou's anger within twenty-four hours of losing Suzu.

Chou knew Hotaru would scold her, and Suzu might even make a remark about Chou's tendency to turn other people into venting points for her internal feelings. But Chou was also all out of patience, and she wasn't about to give any leeway to someone who had no sense of manners and also had a statistically high chance of not even surviving the week.

"You can be in the same situation all you want," Chou said, though it wasn't a matter of choice by any means, "but if you mess with Nee-chan, I'll have no problem feeding you to the Noise."

Kiryu giggled, taking the time to look at Chou with the express purpose of giving her another of those infuriating smirks. "Your irritation is adorable but noted. Though I'd really like to see you try. Think you could get away with it?"

"Those are some tough words for someone who came in without a Partner," Hasekitsu said, easily parting enough of the crowd thanks to his height. Having been distracted by talking with Hotaru, Chou hadn't even noticed how Hasekitsu was doing in the tournament, though a quick glance at the white board bracket indicated that he'd lost to Nifuji. "I noticed you wander in on your own. Not a lot of people have the guts to play solo, let alone make it this far."

Not so much as balking at Hasekitsu's sudden appearance, Kiryu let out another of his infuriating laughs. "Close, but not quite. My Partner's not a big fan of crowds, so I decided to leave them somewhere safe and came on my own. Quite the nasty Entry Fee, you see; we've mostly survived on luck so far. Though I did end up showing up too late for registration…not that I really have much interest in playing Tin Pin anyways."

Chou opened and shut her mouth once, twice, before she could manage to get the words out. "You just left your Partner behind? What if they get attacked? What about you?" The Mission two days ago had already proven getting too far away from your Partner made it near impossible to summon your Psyches. Intentionally separating was basically walking into a death sentence.

"Aw, Chou-chan, I didn't realize you cared so much—"

"Dream on, asswipe! I'd just feel sorry if your Partner got Erased, too, because you were feeling like a reckless little twit." Chou'd been lucky that Hasekitsu had shown up to help and made it possible for her to Pact with Hotaru, otherwise she wouldn't have made it. No matter how you looked at the situation, a loss of one Player would end up as a loss for two.

"Hm, however you choose to play ain't any of my business," Hasekitsu said with a shrug. Don't encourage Kiryu, please. "Though it's a shame you missed out on entering. I like a little tension as much as the next guy, but it wouldn't've hurt to have another Player in the tournament pull to increase our chances."

Chou was almost impressed at just how many different ways Kiryu had figured out how to smirk. Did the guy even know how to give a normal smile? "I suppose, but I wouldn't have done you much good, I assure you." There was the sound of a pin colliding with the floor, and a smattering of applause and cheers washed over the room as the match came to a close. "It seems like Hotaru-chan's got it covered, though."

Sure enough, Hotaru had emerged as the victor, leaving her elementary school opponent in awe. He dogged after Hotaru in pursuit of a conversation (or possibly demanding a rematch), but the MC managed to calm the kid down and move onto the other semi-final match, with Nifuji stepping up to the table.

Chou clenched her hands into determined fists. If Nifuji made it through to the finals, then they'd have a guaranteed Player victory, and the Mission would be in the bag. After that, there was only one more day, and the damn Game would be over. "You've got this, Nifuji-san."

"You're getting unexpectedly into this," Kiryu said.

"Of course I am!" Chou said, enjoying the snap in her voice. "You do realize this is a Mission, right? I'd rather not get Erased over something as dumb as—as some stupid game of Tin Pin!" Sure, she had faith in Hotaru's skill, but there was still the chance she and Nifuji could lose. And that would be the stupidest way to exit existence ever.

Kiryu's nonchalant shrug was just asking for a punch to the face. "Well, you getting worked up on the sidelines won't change anything, now will it? At this point, we might as well sit back and enjoy the show." Damn, how I hate it when you're right.

"Look on the bright side, Tsukiko-kun. I hear that Erasure for failing to complete a Mission is a lot less painful than having the Noise tear you to shreds." Only Hasekitsu could manage to grin while saying something like that. Considering the number of Players they had left, it was almost a miracle they'd managed to survive as long as they had. "Ah, looks like there's no need to worry, though. Nifuji-kun's made it through." He glanced at his palm, where the Timer was still ticking down. "At this point, we've just gotta declare a winner as a matter of formality, and it's on to Day Seven for us."

Day Seven. End of the line. Exhaling, Chou tried to get her thoughts together. Only one more day of running around for their lives. One more day of putting up with Daikoku's bullshit.

One more day until we get to go home.

Not wanting to think of any other possibility, Chou got ready to watch Hotaru and Nifuji face off in the Stride Tin Pin Tournament finals.

Standing across from Nifuji at the Tin Pin table, Hotaru felt relieved and flustered all at once.

The relief was simple: with two Players in the final round, it didn't matter which one of them won. Hotaru had watched a few of Nifuji's matches, and he was good. He had a good sense of control and could pull off tricky angles, letting him dance around the opponent. It was, overall, a bad matchup for Hotaru's style, which Nifuji must've had the opportunity to observe, too. At least, if she lost, it wouldn't spell complete doom for all the Players.

Feeling flustered was a different matter. Hotaru was well aware that she got too worked up over Tin Pin—something about the game just brought out a competitive edge she didn't give to anything else. Playing against kids who were enthusiastic about the game and likely wouldn't remember her in the future was one thing. Going up against someone within her age range and who she'd been talking with for a few days felt like a whole other matter.

Maybe if I forfeit before I embarrass myself, we can just end this and not worry about it…

Hotaru opened her mouth to do just that, but Nifuji had already raised his phone screen first. [Let's do this, Tsukiko. I've been itching to face you since I saw how you played, so let's have a good match. One on one!]

While Tin Pin allowed you to have up to six pins in your deck, it wasn't uncommon for someone to have an unfair advantage just because they had more ammunition to play with. On the other hand, not a lot of people went for a one vs. one approach, because a poor matchup of pins could easily lead to a game being over in a few seconds. Two vs. two was usually the minimum—but Nifuji was setting the rest of their deck aside and only picking out one for the game.

I guess this way we shouldn't take too long to play so we don't have to worry about the Mission, but we can still have a face-off based on skill. Hotaru thumbed through her pins, considering her options. She gave her fellow Player a smile. Alright, Nifuji-san. I accept your challenge!

"What's this?" the MC said, having gotten a chance to look at Nifuji's phone. "It looks like our semi-finalists have agreed to a one pin vs. one pin match! Given the moves that these two have shown off so far, it looks like things are boiling down to a matter of pure Tin Pin skill! Alright, if both contestants are ready, let's go ahead and get things started. Alright everyone, it's time for a countdown!"

The crowd drew in a collective breath, using the MC's raised fingers as a guide.

"Three!"

Hotaru wiped her hands and gripped the controls letting out a breath of her own.

"Two!"

Nifuji also got into position, waiting for the moment the game would start.

"One!"

"Slam on!" Hotaru shouted for the both of them, and then their pins were on the board. Hotaru didn't even have enough time to tell which of Nifuji's deck he had chosen, as he launched into an offensive right off the bat, transforming his pin into a blur of color. It was an obvious move, so Hotaru didn't have any difficulty dodging it, but she had to keep alert; the last thing she needed was to end up corralled in a corner exactly where Nifuji wanted her.

Though the MC was narrating the match for those farther away from the table and the crowd was letting out a series of boisterous reactions, Hotaru barely registered any of it. The board took up most of her focus, the rest of the world melting away until all she could pay attention to was the movements of their pins—it was all she could afford to look at. While Nifuji didn't give a nonstop assault that could batter her pin down, he was doing just enough and at the right angles that Hotaru couldn't lure him into easily toppling off the edge without risking doing the same herself.

The victor may have been irrelevant as far as things went in regards to the Mission and their survival, but Nifuji had asked for a match, and Hotaru wasn't about to back down.

As in the zone as she was, Hotaru still could feel the minutes start to trickle past. While you could theoretically have a match Time Out, that sort of setup didn't work as well in a one on one match, where there wouldn't be any previous ring outs to help determine the victor via score—and she was pretty sure the tournament setup wasn't about to end on a tie. Which means one of us is going to need to knock the other out to win this—there!

Nifuji had tried to dip in a curve to avoid Hotaru's latest attack, and, while he had avoided the brunt of the collision, his pin was still at just the right angle. Hotaru's pin slipped in, turquoise colliding with rainbow for just enough force to send it hurtling towards the edge. Nifuji sucked in a toneless breath, trying to reverse the momentum but not having much success. Hotaru didn't dare let go of the controls, just in case she needed to dodge a counterattack, but, even without knowing Nifuji's pin's stats, she felt sure—

Almost halfway off the edge of the table, Nifuji managed to keep his pin under control. Hotaru waited to see what direction he would go to next, so she could put herself in an optimal position, but Nifuji's hand pressed down on a button on the side of the console, setting off the swing of a hammer that was just long enough to reach Hotaru's position—and fast enough to strike before Hotaru could rush out of the way.

Instinct let Hotaru's fingers reach her own buttons on the side of the console. Hitting the wrong one would make her prone to getting stunned—and even hitting the right one just a few seconds later could spell disaster. Luckily, Hotaru managed to get her pin airborne for a bomber, and she choose her position. There weren't many advantageous spots with how close to the edge of the table Nifuji was, and if he let off a stinger in response, she'd be the one toppling off the edge. Either way, it would make for an excellent finale.

Her target chosen, Hotaru shut her eyes, waited for the impact, and then pushed the controls in what had been Nifuji's direction, not knowing whether her pin was able to receive the signals or not.

Someone's pin hit the ground, and Hotaru peeked through her eyelashes. Somehow, her pin was left on the table, though it looked ready to slip off the edge any second. Nifuji snagged it before it could complete its tumble. He passed it back to Hotaru with a smile and a quick message on his phone. [Good game, Tsukiko. Thanks for playing me.]

Hotaru smiled herself and dipped her head into a bow. "Thanks for the game!"

"And with that, we have our victor of the first ever Stride Tin Pin Tournament, Tsukiko Hotaru!" The MC raised Hotaru's arm in a victory pose, and she once again became aware of just how many people were looking at her. Maybe it would have been better if I let Nifuji-san win after all… The next several minutes were a blur of activity, with a post-tournament interview (the MC seemed to realize Hotaru was floundering and let her off easy) as well as Hotaru obtaining a customizable pin launcher as a prize, with Nifuji getting a small set of pins as the runner up. Many people who'd come for the tournament had started to file out the door, but a few lingered, taking over the Tin Pin tables for themselves or setting up other games in the back room.

The biggest relief was that the Timers had disappeared, meaning that the Mission was a success. Finally free from the event staff, Hotaru worked her way back to where Chou had been, finding Hasekitsu already there. She looked for Yoshiya, but he didn't seem to be anywhere close by. Instead, the café owner from the other day—Hanekoma-san, that's it!—had joined their number, and he flashed a grin as Hotaru and Nifuji approached.

"Ah, there's Firefly and Mt. Fuji," he said, the nickname leaving Hotaru to just nod in greeting. With the rush of the Game over, the song she'd been thinking of had wandered back into her mind, though the melody seemed somewhat different. Hanekoma-san inclined his head towards their Partners. "Like I was tellin' ol' 'Kitsu and Butterfly Girl over here, I just wanted to swing by to see how you're doing. We're almost at the end of the road, here, so just a little bit more until you're done. I gotta say, though. You put on a pretty intense showing out there, kiddo. That's the kinda guts it takes to survive up to Day Six."

Under any other circumstances, Hotaru would have flushed red, maybe managed to mumble out a protest. But those usual thoughts were gone from her mind, instead replaced by the trails of a melody snaking through her mind. And so, when Hotaru opened her mouth to try and say something relevant to the conversation, what came out was instead the first word that the song playing in her mind fed to her:

"Producer."

[One Day Left]

[Author's Notes]

Hello, yes, I am very disoriented this week, so these notes may not be the most cohesive, but they sure do exist!

Thanks once more to She Who Loves Pineapples and Chronic Guardian for their reviews! I really do enjoy seeing what you're thinking about when you read!

But, yes, this chapter. We have a little bit of breather room going on with some Tin Pin. I also tossed in a bunch of unnecessary theories for how Tin Pin has grown in popularity, too. Also Tenho. Because when else am I going to be able to write Tenho?

Overall, I really wanted to play around with more character interactions before we delve right into Day Seven. We're almost at the end, baby!

Oh, yeah, and some Producer shenanigans from Sanae, but that's less important, right?

Ahem, we're almost at the season finale, though, so I hope you're ready to roll on that front. How will the week end? Find out in two weeks' time! Please look forward to it!

-Avi

[02.04.2020]

The Sixth Day Bonus Episode

"Brew & Disinterest"

"Well, well, well, I wasn't expecting you to stop by, Boss. What can I do ya for?"

Sanae put on his best smile, for whatever good it would do. In response, Joshua looked…listless to put a word on it, and Sanae hadn't seen that change in quite some time. Not when he was being genuine anyways. Whenever Josh wanted to fake things, that was a whole other matter.

The self-satisfied smugness that slipped over his face a moment later was a prime example of that.

"Well, if you're willing to take an order from me…" Josh said, settling down into a seat with a flick of his hair. "I'd sure love to know what you were doing playing checkup on me today, Sanae. It's almost like you think you need to babysit me or something."

Well, it wasn't like I was trying to be subtle, but… Sanae shrugged, deciding to put some coffee on anyways. Depending on Josh's mood, their little talk could take a while. "Come on, you know it's well within my role to go ahead and check in on the Players. Who says what I was up to had anything to do with you, Boss?" Josh's expression twitched into a frown. "Heheh. If you go reacting like that, you're gonna give me a reason to think I should've been babysitting you."

Josh's huff was enough to tell he was pouting, even with Sanae's back turned. "It's not like there's any rule that says I can't go into my own city."

"That's true, but most Composers tend not to do that whenever a Game's going on." And you've hardly left the Room of Reckoning whatsoever, Sanae thought, pulling out some mugs as the coffee started to finish. "I'm not here to scold you or anything. I'm just curious 'bout what caught your interest enough to make you wanna come out and play, that's all." He considered what had happened when he interacted with the remaining Players and decided to take a shot. "I mean, I did happen to hear something intriguing today when I was chatting with Firefly over there."

Glancing over his shoulder, Sanae caught the slightest bit of interest in Josh's eyes before the apathy settled back in. "And what might that be, Sanae?"

Sanae poured out a few mugs of the house blend and picked them up, heading for Josh's table. "I'm pretty sure you're not going around spilling higher level secrets, and even ol' 'Kitsu doesn't know my position." Josh didn't reach out for the coffee, so Sanae set it on the table and took his own seat. "So then, when it comes to Firefly, there's only a few options for what's going on with her, and I think you know which one's most likely." As the Composer, there wasn't anyone more connected to Shibuya than Josh, and if the City was responding, then…

"Hotaru-chan, hm?" Josh sighed. "Too bad it's a bit too late. Even with that in mind, as far as I'm concerned, Shibuya is…" He didn't need to finish his sentence.

Sanae had the feeling someone like Tsukiko Hotaru wasn't going to make a difference when Josh's mind was already made up.