From fifteen places
Talismans you will gather
Avoid the feline
"Fifteen talismans," Manako paraphrased, looking over the mission on her wrist. "That shouldn't be hard. We just need to erase fifteen Smears."
"From different places," Joshua reminded her, his voice coming out grumpier than intended. "It probably means we need to take down fifteen walls."
"We should split up," said Sachiko. "Kenji and I will head towards the bus terminal."
Mr. and Mrs. Arita looked at each other and then their children, hesitant. "I suppose, if it's for the best…" said Mrs. Arita, "Momoka and I could go towards Dogenzaka, where our hotel was…"
"And we can go towards Spain Hill, where we got lunch the other day," Mr. Arita finished, giving his wife a reassuring smile.
"And Manako and I can do Miyashita Park. Perfect," Joshua finished.
"What do you suppose 'avoid the feline' means?" asked Mrs. Arita.
"Cat Street," said Joshua. "A street by Miyashita Park. Either that, or some kind of catlike Smear. We should avoid both, just to be safe."
But Joshua was pretty sure it was about the street.
He'd had some suspicions, and the Wall Reaper he'd spoken with the previous day had all-but confirmed it. "I'm not telling you anything," she'd said, looking far more panicked than she had even when Mr. Arita had captured her. "I don't want anything to do with… whatever you're doing! They warned us not to talk to you!"
Which meant they were on to him.
And it was rather telling that, of all four days so far, none had allowed entrance to Cat Street. Sure, it was common for the first two days to be limited to a smaller area; but the day before had allowed them to access pretty much the entire city – except Cat Street. That was partially why he'd made sure Miyashita Park was the group's destination for the previous day – he'd wanted to see if it was open, not because he had any intention of going to visit Mr. Hanekoma but because he'd wanted to see if he could – and, of course, it wasn't.
And now today, when he had a chance of getting past walls – the mission was blatant busy work, meant to keep him distracted from his personal goals – and, more important, outright told him to stay away.
So of course, Joshua took it as a challenge.
An odd feeling of worry tugged at him as he and Manako made their way past the Shibu Department Store. Not that there weren't plenty of logical reasons for him to be worried, but this didn't feel like it was coming from him. He glanced at Manako, and noticed the distant look in her eye, the way she was twiddling her thumbs. It was her that was worried. And he was feeling it – faintly, and in a way that made him aware the feelings were foreign – but her mood was affecting him nonetheless. Did his feelings have any such effect on her? He didn't think so – he had some way of keeping them confined to himself, which was why the Smears couldn't find him and why Players could imprint on him, but not scan him.
This provided interesting insight on the nature of pacts. He knew partners shared physical injuries, but emotional distress as well? He wondered if that meant emotional distress played a role in combat against Smears – more things he hadn't known he hadn't known, things he wished he'd thought to ask Players about before he'd become one.
"What's wrong?" he asked Manako, more curious than worried.
She frowned. "It's just… it's the twenty-third, isn't it? I had a paper due…"
"Manako," Joshua said flatly, "I'm pretty sure being dead counts as an excused absence."
"'Sempai!'" she corrected him again, practically stamping her foot in anger as she took her next step.
"Manako," Joshua repeated, in a more serious tone than he'd intended, "I know more than you. You may know more than me about… calculus, but you're not in that world anymore. You are in a world where grades and books don't matter, where the only thing that matters is Imagination, and your strength of will to fight for your own survival – a world that you never even suspected might have been existing right in front of your very eyes. A world that I have been living in my entire life. You may be older than me, you may be higher in grade – but you are not above me. And I'm not going to pretend you are. That might go to your head, and I can't have you thinking you know better than me. That would endanger us both." He let his serious face break into a smirk. "Besides, it's funny how easily it gets under your skin."
She huffed, but before she could say anything else, a redheaded Wall Reaper leaning lazily against an invisible wall called out to them with a casual wave. "Hey! You kids! Go buy me a bowl of ramen and I'll let you past the wall!"
"Oh, what a boring requirement," Joshua said. He grinned. "Good thing I don't have to do it."
He pulled from his pocket what he'd taken from the captured Wall Reaper the previous day: a strip of paper, with the word "open" written on it in thick black calligraphy ink. Basically indistinguishable from the ones Players used to use their Psyches, but the amount of power he felt pulsing from it was different. But he was confident in his ability to use it: he may have been a Player, but he was an exceptional Player. He slapped the talisman against the wall, dragged Manako through by the wrist, and took the talisman back just before it began to fall to the ground.
He looked back at the Reaper, not sure how he would react – but he only watched the pair with amusement. "Huh. That's interesting," he said to himself as they continued on.
"Wha – what was that?" Manako asked, any annoyance she'd been feeling with him earlier now replaced by fear. "You… you really are a secret Reaper!"
Joshua couldn't help but giggle. "To the contrary, I simply stole a talisman from one."
The older girl kept her mouth shut tightly.
"Is something wrong?" Joshua asked, not liking the way her anxiety pushed at him, the way she kept staring at him.
"You're not looking in every alleyway this time," said Manako.
"Is that a problem for you?"
"No," said Manako, "except it means you know where you're going." A pause. "It's Cat Street, isn't it?"
They could see Towa Records looming ahead. "Very good, Manako. How did you figure it out?"
"Why else would you need to steal that, if not to go somewhere we're not supposed to go? Were you really not going to tell me you're about to face off against the big-shot Reaper?"
"No. You wouldn't have come. I need you here to stop the Smears from going after me – if I am going to find the Author here, which I don't know for sure, I need to be in top shape. But believe it or not, I am a decent enough person that I wouldn't leave you high-and-dry," said Joshua. A hesitant pause, but not a pause long enough to allow Manako to get out another angry retort. "A friend of mine lives on Cat Street. He's alive, but… he's like me. Or, like I was, when I was alive. He knows about the Game. He can see us. You can stay with him in his café. You'll be safe there – Smears can't go inside. Maybe you'll even be able to get some studying in."
He'd been avoiding mentioning – even thinking about – Mr. Hanekoma, because he wasn't sure how to feel. He missed his old friend, he wanted to see him, to talk to him – the one person who might have understood what he'd done. The one person who might have cared about losing him.
But he knew Mr. Hanekoma would be disappointed in him. And he didn't want to think about the look that would be on his face when he found out what Joshua had done. Does he already know what I did? Joshua wondered. Is he wondering why I haven't stopped by?
Past Towa Records was another wall, being guarded by the Wall Reaper they'd met yesterday, and her new partner, Sebastien Santos. Mr. Santos waved at Joshua and Manako cheerfully, preparing to greet them, but the Wall Reaper cut him off. "This wall is blocked off for the rest of the week!" she said assertively. "No exceptions. Especially not for you."
Joshua giggled. "Oh, really? I'm especially not exceptional?" He pulled out the talisman.
"You know what I mean! Go hunt somewhere else." She glared at his hand holding the talisman, undoubtedly assuming it was for combat.
"Well," said Joshua, "it's a good thing you aren't supposed to be letting anyone past the wall, since you wouldn't be capable of doing so regardless!" He slapped the talisman against the wall, giving Manako enough time to sprint through before he then pulled out the other talisman he had stolen from the Wall Reaper – the one that read "Close" – and replaced it on the wall before taking the "Open" one back.
As she began digging through her pockets, the Wall Reaper's face grew paler and paler. "No, wait!" she shouted, as it sunk in on her that she had, in fact, lost both of her talismans. "You can't go there! You'll be dead meat! Ah, who cares about you – I'll be dead meat – oh damnit, I need to call my boss!" With one last terrified look at Joshua and Manako, she sprinted for the phone booth. Looking genuinely worried, Mr. Santos ran after her.
"…Okay, I have to admit. That was really funny to watch. Screw those Reapers," said Manako.
"Oh, it was hilarious," Joshua agreed, strolling towards the underpass. "It's really not the Reapers' fault, though – they're just doing their jobs, playing their own role in the ecosystem of Imagination, just like – "
"Um, Joshua – " Manako interrupted.
He sensed her fear before he heard it in her voice, sudden and deep and primal. Following her gaze to the top of Miyashita Park, he saw a leopard-like Smear. Looking right at them. Poised to pounce.
Manako acted first, touching her Strength talisman to activate it, then flinging her backpack off her shoulders in and, in one swoop, bludgeoning the leopard on the head as it sprang at them. "Tell me, smart boy – what the hell is that?" Manako screeched, getting ready to fling her backpack at it again.
Joshua could have told her – a Boss Noise, the remains of a particularly strong Reaper, probably a Game Master, erased by Players and recoded into a less humanoid but still strong form. Players weren't usually supposed to deal with them; the erasure rate would be too high.
Avoid the feline. A double meaning within a poem, and he'd missed it. How ironic.
Joshua had been able to use all of the talismans he'd tried, but what seemed to work best for him was the one that read "Music." He touched it, and an inky black violin appeared in his hands; playing it damaged the Smear while also warding it away. As the leopard heard the song and sat back, Manako came in again for another bludgeoning attack, then two – but it wasn't enough. His last notes faded, the violin disappeared, and Manako's next bludgeon suddenly lost its supernatural amount of force – and the leopard looked more irritated than hurt.
"Run!" Joshua shouted. Manako was already running, but it was too late – the feline sprang at her, caught her in its mouth. She screamed as it tore into her flesh, shook her as if trying to snap her neck, and, in one leap, made the distance back up to Miyashita Park.
"Joshua!" Manako screamed.
He could feel her pain, her terror, even the nausea of seeing her own injuries. For a second, it overpowered him, an excess of emotion creating internal pressure, blocking out his own thoughts – no, he told himself, think, and he touched his "Soar" talisman, allowing him to jump the same distance.
Manako was fighting back; her Strength talisman had recovered its efficacy and she was stabbing at the beast's eyes with a pencil, ripping its whiskers, kicking at its midsection. But pinned down as she was, it wasn't enough. As he touched a talisman reading Honor, Joshua felt a replica of a historical samurai sword materialize in his hand; he slashed down across the leopard's back.
The monster leaked a few wisps of black ink, rising out of it and evaporating like steam. It wasn't enough to kill it, but it did take its attention away from Manako. The Smear flickered and solidified onto Joshua's side of the plane. Manako gave its other half an upper-cut punch to the jugular, then sprang to her feet and swung her backpack again.
Joshua struck with the sword the best he could, but most of his blows, at best, only parried the leopard's own attacks. Claws marks stung at his arms and face, Manako's distress tugged at him – "Joshua, are you okay!? I don't feel you! It's like you're not there!"
He had no time to even wonder what she meant. His sword disappeared, and the panther took advantage of his split-second of emptyhandedness to pounce.
Claws. Teeth. He couldn't move, couldn't touch a talisman to shield himself, couldn't summon the violin – the leopard was gnawing on his arm, pinning down his legs.
Whack! Joshua could not see Manako, but he felt the force of her backpack slamming against the leopard's head. Joshua tried to scramble free, but the leopard didn't let go of his legs. Frantically, he dug a talisman from his pocket – "Shield," it read – to repel the beast.
Blocked from attacking Joshua, the leopard focused its attention on Manako's side. "Joshua!" Manako's voice rang out again, from his head. "Help!"
He couldn't see her, couldn't tell what was happening on her side of the Smear Plane. He didn't know how to help. He used Soar to jump onto a nearby tree, then activated the Honor talisman as he was coming down, summoning the samurai sword. As he brought it down against the leopard's neck, Manako appeared in his line of vision with her pencil in hand, coming down toward the creature's eye.
They struck at the same time, dealing a fatal blow –
But not before it slashed one last time at Manako, ripping her in two.
She looked him in the eye, mouth half-open, as though she wanted to say something – and disappeared before she could.
Agony. He felt her absence as profoundly as if he'd been the one torn asunder – and he had; his partner, whose Soul had been intertwined so closely with his, had been ripped away from him so abruptly – this, he realized, must have been what it felt like to have tar stripped from ones skin. He sank to his knees as the full impact of his injuries hit him – all that pain, and now he was bearing it alone.
Heaving, he looked over his injuries. Ink spilled from his wounds, creating a pitch-black puddle underneath. Something like black steam was escaping him, too, wafting through the air –
And, he noticed in horror, attracted the attention of every other Smear.
He forced himself to his feet and ran.
In the plane of the living, couples strolled, children played, people stewed silently about their problems while pretending to be happy – and none of them realized the amount of Smears that were clinging to them, feeding off their negativity and now becoming Joshua's problem. Every time he phased through someone he ended up with another Smear on his trail. Leeches clung to his legs; frogs jumped at the back of his knees, which in his current state was nearly enough to knock him over. Bats flocked around his eyes. Birds got tangled in his hair.
Cat Street had never felt so far. A weasel-like Smear ran under his feet, tripping him. He tasted pavement and ink.
There were too many.
He couldn't get back up.
"Mr. Hanekoma!" he screamed. He couldn't think of pride, his goals, his anger – he had no room for any of it in his head. All he could think about was pain, and survival, and Mr. Hanekoma – his only hope, the only person who cared, the only one who could protect him. "Help!"
He dragged himself forward. Something else – the weasel – was trying to tug him in the opposite direction. It was a pathetic little thing; if Manako had been here, it wouldn't have lasted a second. But Joshua was alone and helpless.
His muscles gave out, and he crumbled to the ground. "Mr. Hanekoma!" he cried again – the man had to hear him from hear, he was so close. He had to be there, he had to be –
But if not, he had to get to the café himself. Just a little closer. He forced himself up onto his hands and knees again, pulling himself forward, even if only inches at a time.
The café came into view. Straight ahead, Joshua could see a familiar pair of black sandals – he lifted his head to take in the rest of Mr. Hanekoma. He looked horrified. Grief-stricken.
But he wasn't coming to help.
"Mr. Hanekoma," Joshua said, and it came out as more of a whisper than the scream he'd intended. "Help."
Hanekoma started running towards him.
And everything went white.
Forgive me, Sanae prayed as he bleached the Smear Plane, erasing the whole plane within the district.
He knew that he wasn't supposed to interfere. If Players made it to his café on his own, they could let him in – but he was to do nothing to faciliate that process without the Author's explicit permission.
But Joshua did not know that.
From the moment he'd heard of Joshua's entrance into the Plane of the Dead – a kindness on the part of the Author, preparing him for a moment exactly like this – he'd been braced for the boy's erasure. He'd been prepared to sit hear about it after the fact. He would have been able to handle that.
He hadn't been prepared for it to happen right in front of him, Joshua looking him in the eye, begging for help, not understanding why it was being denied him.
She'd known he wouldn't be strong enough, Sanae realized, as he ran towards his fallen friend. She'd told him as much. That was why Cat Street was blocked off to Players for the duration of the Game – she didn't want him to have to witness his friend's erasure. And she'd known he wouldn't have been able to do so without interfering.
He supposed he should have been ashamed of his weakness, but he couldn't regret his actions.
Another psyche put Joshua to sleep before he could register what happened – Sanae needed time to figure out what to tell him, to explain how he'd helped him, to figure out the right words to imprint onto the boy. When he saw Joshua crumple to the ground, badly hurt but not erased, he let his wings out to provide lift as he gathered the boy into his arms and carried him to safety.
Author's note: Wow, I am stupid. I totally meant to mention in a prior chapter that, in this version of the Game, players use paper talismans for psyches rather than pins. I had decided that forever ago, and it somehow never came up until this chapter, but in this chapter it came up a million times. That's something I'll need to remember to fix in revision, but in the meantime, I hope it wasn't too confusing.
Also, has anyone seen that Saturday Night Live sketch "I am your mother?" That's Manako, except replace "mother" with "sempai." ...That's probably a really lame joke to make about my own fic, but I'm tired right now so my brain is tricking me into thinking every thought I have is comedic genius.
Also... today is the day that the TWEWY anime debuts, right? I haven't watched it yet, but I'm excited to do so someday when I have the time to sit down and watch TV.