Nishi left the apartment and locked the door; he looked at the key in his palm. He had been pondering the thought of leaving for the past five days. Try as he might, Nishi didn't want to live there anymore; it wasn't his apartment to start with, and without Yoko there, it just felt wrong. Chewing his lip, Nishi took one last look at the key in his hand.

"The locksmith came and changed the lock while you were in the bedroom, so here's the new key." Yoko placed the key in his other hand, kissed him on the lips before he could avoid it, and jogged out of the door.

Nishi frowned and slid the key through the door's letterbox before he could reconsider. "I won't mourn you, Yoko, but I promise, I will not die." A part of Nishi missed Yoko, she was, after all, his first girlfriend, and they had been through a lot together, helped each other in more ways than one. "Five days is enough." Nishi did allow himself that small bit of time to adjust to the fact that she wouldn't be with him anymore on a Gantz mission, but now he needed to focus on surviving. Nishi placed a hand on the door and stood there silently for a few seconds before stepping back. "Goodbye."

Nishi was still employed at the motel, so his room remained available to him whenever he needed it, and now was the time to return.

….

Nishi wondered why he still came to check on his mother because it pained him to know that he couldn't embrace her and tell her he was okay, especially since he had to start over and was nowhere close to freedom.

Nishi stepped up to the house's living room window and peered inside to check, just like he had done many times since his first mission. Nishi furrowed his eyebrows; his parents seemed to be arguing, and he could already see tears on his mother's face; were they arguing about him?

"It's been five months Emiko! Face it, the little shit ran away, and he doesn't care, so forget about him!"

Nishi curled his hand into a fist, angered by his father's words because they were half true, weren't they? Nishi had given up when he threw himself off the roof, wasn't that the same as running away?

Emiko pounded her fists onto Eiichiro's chest, tears streaming down her face. "You're wrong, you're wrong! He would never run away, he's too strong!"

Nishi glanced away from the window, a shameful expression crossing his face. "I wish you didn't have that much faith in me," he whispered.

"I'm going to search for him again."

Nishi's attention came back to the window; again? How many times had she done that?

Eiichiro grabbed Emiko's arm angrily, pulling her close to his face. "Stop! Just stop these pathetic excuses, Joichiro isn't the son you claimed him to be, he's a fucking delinquent, and that's all he'll ever be!"

Nishi's blood boiled with every word spilling from his father's lips; he knew the man resented him, but those words….

"No!" Emiko narrowed her eyes and slapped Eiichiro across the face. "Joichiro is the greatest son I could ever ask for! I just wish I could say the same about my husband!"

Slap.

Nishi's eyes widened at the sight of his father swiping his mother across the face; she hit the table, and glass shattered.

Nishi snapped.

The teen caught his parents' attention, breaking down the back door that led into the living room. Nishi appeared from the fuzz of static, holding out the Gantz gun in front of him, directly aimed for his father's head.

Eiichiro's eyes were wide with shock; he couldn't grasp what was happening, much less speak.

Emiko rolled painfully onto her back and carefully sat up amongst the broken glass; her eyes immediately glistened upon landing on her son, barely able to comprehend that he was standing in front of her after five months of thinking the worst. "Joichiro…you're safe…"

Nishi heard his mother's words, but his anger never faded; his narrowed eyes stayed firmly on his dad. "How dare you lay a hand on her you piece of shit," he spat venomously through gritted teeth. Nishi's fingers pulled back the triggers on his gun, and a grin suddenly formed on his face. "You won't live to regret that."

Emiko looked at Nishi with confusion, and for the first time, she barely recognized him. "Joichiro?"

Before Eiichiro could utter a word, he suddenly let out a short scream before his head exploded.

Emiko's eyes widened in fear, and she froze when blood gushed over her and that who was responsible, her son. "Joichiro…what…what did you do…"

Nishi glanced down at her, and the look she gave him shattered his heart; his mother was afraid of him. "It's good to see you," he said despite her reaction and tilted his head when she didn't reply. "Aren't you happy to see me?"

Emiko stood shakily to her feet, almost frightened to reach out to him. "You're not…you're not my son, tell me this isn't you…"

Nishi looked up through his blood-matted bangs. "You're doubting me now?" A twisted smirk formed on the boy's face as he tilted his head up. "I thought you said you would love me for who I am, no matter what I did, right? Isn't that what you said, mother?" Nishi pointed at the body staining the light brown carpet. "He certainly didn't, but you no longer have to worry about him, now it can be just you and me." Nishi lifted his arms up with a wider grin. "I'm home now."

Nishi gasped as he bolted up from his pillow, sweat pouring from his forehead, his breathing uneven. Suddenly, he jumped out of bed and dashed into the bathroom. Nishi fell to his knees and threw up. He spat and retched for a few seconds until he was sure nothing else could come up and stood up shakily. "Shit…." Nishi rinsed his mouth with water and then mouthwash; he leaned on the sink for a moment to catch his breath before proceeding to splash water on his face. Nishi narrowed his eyes and looked darkly into the mirror at himself.

"Stop! Just stop these pathetic excuses, Joichiro isn't the son you claimed him to be, he's a fucking delinquent, and that's all he'll ever be!"

Even though it was only a nightmare, his father's words echoed in his head as though he had truly said them, and Nishi pursed his lips because he started to believe them.

…

Among the previous survivors, there were two extra players, but Nishi couldn't care less. He stood toward the back of the room and waited for Gantz to show him the next alien. Although Nishi wasn't too pleased to be with so many survivors at the start of the mission, he relished in the thought that they would probably all die tonight anyway.

The previous mission was unlike any he had faced before, and he inwardly grinned because those before him were in for one rude awakening; they had no idea what was coming.

"I hope it's not as big as last time," Takeda said with worry.

Nishi rolled his eyes; Takeda's passive-aggressive personality agitated him. God, I hope he fucking dies first.

Gantz began to sing, and soon enough, the rest of the group gathered in front of the ball.

"Why do we have to do this again?" Akari asked with a frown.

"I told you," Takeda replied. "We have to keep doing it."

"Until when?"

Takeda frowned. "I don't know."

Nishi grinned to himself. That's right, you don't know, and you never will.

…..

Screams echoed in the street as Misuki and Himari heads were crushed under the weight of the alien's foot. Akari shook on the ground, staring up into the dark eyes of his attacker, blood covered his attire. The alien looked human compared to what they faced in the apartment, except for its somewhat scaley skin and large build, able to crush anything it grabbed with ease. Akari didn't know what happened, one minute they were a group and the next…. He looked at the nurses' bodies, they had tried to help when the homeless woman had protected Itsuki from getting crushed, and now all four of them were dead. Akari raised his weapon pointlessly, only wishing he knew how to actually fire the damn thing. The two new players had been the first to die, but he still didn't know how it happened, their heads just – blew up, and there wasn't an alien in sight. As far as Akari knew, he was the only one left alive. Akari hadn't seen Nishi, Takeda, or even the dog since the start of the mission. "I'm next." Tears began to flow from Akari's eyes, and before he had the chance to even beg for mercy, the alien swung his foot and kicked Akari's head right off his shoulders.

The alien looked up in time to see Nishi appear and fire his weapon; it gave a loud growl and ran toward him. "Right, as if you'd even reach me in time, beast." The alien blew up only a couple of feet away from Nishi's position, and the boy smiled when he looked at the timer. "Thirty minutes to spare, I think that's a new record. It's so much easier when the others provide such good distractions." Nishi chuckled when he remembered how Takeda had his neck snapped without even a warning. "He was completely oblivious, the moron."

Nishi appeared in the room and rolled his eyes when the dog appeared after him. "Tsk, you better not outlive me mutt."

Nishi realized that it was the first time he had come back to the room by himself aside from the dog, and he suddenly felt truly alone. "Whatever, I'll still survive."

The Gantz ball displayed the dog's score first, and then Nishi's.

Nishi-kun:

8 points.

Total points: 13.

87 more, and you're done.

Nishi sighed; while he was confident, he knew he had a long way to go, and the thought of surviving enough missions to even gain back the points he lost actually frightened him. "I can't afford to be reckless anymore, it'll be a slow process, but I'll have to survive strategically from now on." Nishi grinned. "And those that come to this room will help me do that."