Yoko smiled as she lay on top of Nishi's slightly heaving chest, her own erratic breathing matched his, and the sound of his heart beating was an array of comfort like she couldn't entirely describe. The dead couldn't miss someone, or so she assumed, but it was the only theory she had to explain just how she felt. Yoko's hand reached up to rest over Nishi's slightly toned abdomen, smiling lightly to herself when he twitched under her fingertips but didn't acknowledge it. Nishi wasn't ticklish, but Yoko knew her touch could affect him from lingering sensitivity not long after sexual activities.

Whether they realized it or not, it was the first time that sex hadn't been instigated by Nishi's excitement through a Gantz mission, so the emotional prompt was new to their dysfunctional relationship. "Nishi?"

Nishi glanced at the window, looking at the first signs of sunrise that peeked in through the gap of the thin drapes of the motel room; his mind had been mulling over his little break down a few hours ago before Yoko's voice snapped him from his thoughts. I must be losing my mind - or whatever's left of my sanity.

"Nishi?" Nishi realized he hadn't answered and turned away from the window to Yoko and grunted in reply. "I don't care if I die again, I realized that when I came back."

Nishi would have probably been annoyed by that statement if he really had been the one to bring her back, but he knew Yoko wouldn't say that without reason which made him oddly aware the relationship he had with her was, in fact, real. "And your point?"

Knowing Nishi presumably felt uncomfortable from the touchy-feely motions from the aftermath of sex, Yoko shifted to move from Nishi's chest to lay back on her side of the pillow but found she couldn't comply. Yoko slightly smiled to herself; apparently, Nishi was very comfortable. Yoko didn't protest and continued her explanation. "There's no one I'd rather witness the end of the world with than you."

Any normal person would have found that remark unsettling, but Nishi found it almost endearing, and as much as he'd rather not have the end come to pass, the thought of it still excited him all the same; it would be the most thrilling fight of his life since he first came to Gantz. "Makes sense." Although the concept of 'saving the world' ultimately had no appeal to him, the perfect score, unfortunately, was the result of that, so he didn't have a choice.

... One week to Katastrophe.

The members of Gantz watched as another deceased player appeared in the room. The old man blinked in surprise at the familiar surroundings, wondering what happened; he thought for sure he had died. "Am I really alive?" Like Yoko, Jiro Sugihara was a member of Nishi's team who almost reached a hundred points before he was eaten by a giant mannequin. Jiro noticed several unknown players in suits before his eyes found two familiar people. "Nishi, Yoko? What's going on?" The unfamiliar players were not the ones he remembered on his last mission, and he was positive they had all died.

"You died," Nishi told him bluntly.

Jiro gasped lightly before sighing sadly. "I see..."

Yoko, who was more sympathetic, having gone through the same ordeal, offered an explanation. "Mr. Sugihara, this might sound hard to believe, but almost eleven months have passed since you died, and a lot has happened in that time. A long story short, Nishi became the only survivor."

"That's not important," Nishi stated with annoyance, although grateful to Yoko for avoiding the conversation of his prior death. Nishi looked at Jiro with an expressionless face, and for some reason, the old man knew he wasn't going to like Nishi's following words. "Before you go back home, you should know that your wife and grandchild became part of Gantz."

Kurono's team were once again astounded by Nishi's blunt explanation, yet Kurono himself had accepted that it was just the teen's way and realized Nishi's team had most likely done the same, more so than him, since the old man seemed to appreciate Nishi's honesty.

Jiro looked grief-stricken but held himself together well considering. Jiro curled his hands into fists, and Nishi couldn't blame him for getting angry. "May I ask how they...how they died?"

Yoko offered Jiro a comforting hand on his shoulder despite knowing how strong the old man always acted. "Of course, you have the right to know, but are you sure you want to?"

Jiro ignored Yoko's comforting attempts but didn't shrug her off since he appreciated it anyway. Jiro continued to look at Nishi, awaiting his response.

Nishi realized Jiro wanted the absolute truth from him, no sugar coating, and the boy's forgotten respect came rushing back. It would be too confusing to describe their deaths in the three different ways it happened, so Nishi carefully pondered his words before explaining. Nishi looked at Kurono for some kind of assistance, wondering which one to leave out, and the nod from the older teen gave him the answer. Although part of Nishi felt annoyed to leave out their original Gantz deaths, the explanation would probably lead to his own, and they no longer had time to explain how Gantz forced them back in time. "They became part of Gantz by dying in a traffic accident." Nishi wasn't there when the old woman and her grandson were killed, but Kurono told him about it later. "Your wife fought the aliens without much fear, but in the end, although a stupid move in my opinion, died trying to save the child when he stupidly got in the way; they were both killed instantly from a sword."

Jiro stood in silence, staring at the floor, trying his best to keep his emotions in until a time when he was alone, but it wasn't easy to feel grateful to be alive when the one he loved would no longer be there to return to.

Nishi understood Jiro's unsaid feelings because, he too, had felt them before, although temporarily, when he thought his mother was dead. As much as the concept of reviving dead players to aid them inebriated him, Nishi knew Jiro would be a great asset, so they couldn't afford to wallow in despair and off himself, which Nishi learned was always a possibility no matter how emotionally strong the person was. "I couldn't save them even if I wanted to, which, as you know, was most unlikely anyway. However, since she was a part of Gantz, I offered her the truth about what happened to you, that you died the soldier you always were, and not just an old fool who was run over by a truck. I think the result of that knowledge allowed her to survive her first mission and fight for herself without the reliance of others." Unlike the first time, that is.

Jiro looked up at Nishi, absolutely dumbfounded; the information in itself was enough to pull him from grief momentarily. Jiro couldn't describe how grateful he was to Nishi for sharing that information with his wife, never thinking the boy would do such a thing. Jiro bowed thankfully. "Thank you very much." Jiro clapped a hand on Nishi's shoulder. "You didn't save them, and I wouldn't expect that of you, but what you did meant more to me than anything. So thank you."

Nishi tried not to get annoyed by his so-called act of compassion, the whole reason for his breakdown in the motel room, so he batted Jiro's hand away and muttered, "Whatever."

Kato watched the scene utterly perplexed. "How strange."

... Two days to Katastrophe.

The players regarded the Gantz ball carefully, reading over their target for the upcoming mission.

Seedling alien.

Traits: Sharp teeth; thorns.

Likes: Bugs.

Catchphrase: Nom Nom.

Ryo Ashi, the third and final member of Nishi's previous team, had also been revived. Ryo huffed and placed one hand on his hip as he said, "Not to sound like an ungrateful dick or anything, but it kinda sucks that you guys revived me and two days later I have to fight an alien already."

Yoko clicked her tongue. "Well that's hardly our fault."

Ryo inclined his head. "I never said it was, but it still sucks."

Jiro chuckled. "These people have revived us with their own points, I think it's the least we can do to fight with them."

Ryo slumped with an annoyed frown. "You know, it's not very nice to make me feel bad about it."

Nishi rolled his eyes. "Would you prefer to know the only reason they revived you was to just gain more players to fight?" Nishi laughed. "You're like a useful tool to them."

Kishimoto frowned. "That's not how it was at all!"

Ryo waved his hand dismissively. "It's fine, I know it was probably Nishi's whole idea anyway."

Nishi clicked his tongue. "You really are deluded if you think for one second I'd use my points to revive someone rather than get a weapon."

Ryo tilted his head. "Come to think of it, that does sound more like you."

"Is it me, or are the aliens getting more - odd?" Kato asked. "I mean, compared to the Reaper alien and the previous ones, this one seems - kinda easy."

Ryo placed his hands behind his head. "You so wouldn't be saying that if you had to face some creepy-ass Annabelle doll who, according to Yoko looked cute, but it sure as hell wasn't."

Yoko remembered the alien Ryo was referring to and hunched her shoulders with slight embarrassment.

Kato hummed. "Looks can be deceiving I guess."

"The aliens Gantz assigns vary quite often, it's the way it's always been, and as long as the points are worth enough, the appearance or strength doesn't matter," Nishi told them.

While Kurono nodded in agreement, it didn't stop the serious expression from crossing his face. "Regardless of how well we've depicted the aliens now, it doesn't change the fact that events have changed dramatically since we first came here."

"Certainly didn't expect no innocent bystanders to die," Nozaki said with a disgruntled look.

Kato looked down solemnly. "Yeah, me either. The fact that people could see us, and the aliens could attack non-Gantz people certainly came as a shock."

Nishi scoffed. "But you idiotically trying to protect complete strangers sure as hell didn't. Honestly."

Kato frowned. "You can't seriously believe ordinary people would stand a chance against them when we've been fighting them for months with weapons and suits, and we still struggle."

Nishi grimaced in disgust. "Whether they can or not isn't our problem, we're there to fight the aliens, not to risk our own lives by defending random bystanders, and even though the timer was scrapped, it's still a complete waste of time. Casualties of war, isn't that right, Sugihara?"

Jiro rubbed the back of his head, unsure how to feel. "Nishi's right, it's sad but inevitable."

Sei gasped. "This isn't World War two! With our suits, we could help people survive."

Jiro sighed sadly. "Regardless, it's still a war, and Nishi is right, we can't go around saving people, but if we stop the aliens, it's enough."

Ryo suddenly started laughing, and Yoko looked at him with a frown. and asked, "What do you find so funny?"

"It's just that - well, we're the guys in black suits fighting aliens," he laughed, failing to muffle it.

"So?"

"We're the men in black!" Ryo laughed again. "Oh come on, that's just a little hilarious."

Yoko huffed. "Again with the movie references? Grow up Ryo."

Ryo shrugged. "Say what you want, but that one was spot on."

Nozaki found the other half of the team strangely uncouth. There were two halves to the team as a whole; one half, seemingly lead by Jiro Sugihara, acted without concern with little show of emotional attachments despite the appearance of closeness to one another, fought the aliens without a display of conscience, shoot first, deal with the consequences later. In contrast, the other half, guided by Kurono, who had taken over the lead some time ago, obtained everything Jiro's team lacked, and together, they made one heck of a team. The fact that Gantz had stopped bringing in new people only made it easier for them to work together without worrying about newbies getting in the way.

The team always split off into two once a mission started, and although Nishi almost always left his team's side, much to Togo's dismay, he appeared conveniently toward the end if they ever had a boss, which was rare these days.

The Tokyo team were transferred from the room, ready to face what might possibly be their last alien mission before disaster struck.

...

Nishi, Jiro, Yoko, Ryo, and Togo made their way through the desolated streets once they had parted from the other half, yet to see the cause of destruction; the aliens appeared more and more frequently, and in far greater numbers.

The team looked at Ryo with annoyance when he started humming the men in black theme while holding up his x-rifle. "If you don't shut the fuck up, I will render your suit useless," Nishi said.

Ryo smiled sheepishly. "Heh, sorry about that."

A sudden scream caught their attention, and they ran towatd the sound, rounded the street's corner, and froze in shock; the entire road's length, including below the bridge, was under attack by the alien Gantz showed them; definitely annulling the definition of easy target like Kato said.

"Holy shit," Ryo remarked.

...

Kurono's team desperately fired their weapons at the strange aliens, never knowing when they were going to attack. The aliens resembled plants with a large bud for their head, sharp teeth showing only at the point of their attack but had no eyes, yet a seemingly strong sense of smell when a human was nearby, having witnessed it when a plant crashed up from the ground and tore someone in half.

Kurono had a feeling there was more to these aliens than just their fondness for eating humans. "Goddamn it, they're fucking everywhere! This is insane!"

Kato tugged Kishimoto back from the larger group of aliens. "Kei! We should get to higher ground! It might be safer!"

Kurono gritted his teeth as he continued to shoot. "How do we know that! Plants can grow anywhere, and I have a feeling we won't get very far!"

"He's right, Kato," Nozaki shouted. "There's too damn many of them, we should just continue to attack them while we-" Suddenly, a plant formed from the tiny gap in the ground and towered over Nozaki. "Ah shit!" Before Nozaki fired his weapon, the plant's mouth covered the top half of his body and sunk its teeth into him.

The team gasped in horror as blood spurted from Nozaki's body, causing him to scream in pain. Kurono's eyes widened, and tears threatened to fall in anger. "Nozaki!"

"Nozaki!" Kishimoto shouted.

"No!" Sei cried.

Nozaki's screams were cut off when the plant ripped his body in two and then devoured the top half, leaving only his legs. "Nom Nom."

"This can't be happening!" Kato shouted as he and the others began shooting the plant aliens in rage.

So far, the best change to the missions had been to the guns as they no longer had a time lag.

Kishimoto turned in time to see a plant rise up behind her, teeth ready to tear her apart like Nozaki.

Kato gasped and reached out. "Kishimoto!"

Kishimoto narrowed her eyes and shoved the rifle inside the mouth when it came down and pulled the trigger. The team sighed in relief. Kishimoto grimaced and shook some of the plant's blood from her arms. "Ew."

Kato ran up to his girlfriend with concern. "Are you all right?"

Kishimoto smiled. "I am."

Kurono grinned. "Come on, it's time we de-weeded this city." Oh yeah, that was badass.

...

"Shit shit shit! I never wanna be a botanist!" Ryo shouted as he ran from four aliens crawling after him with their curly thorny roots. "Why did I agree to be bait!" Ryo stopped suddenly when he reached the end of a street and propelled himself high into the air, watching as his team soon appeared from the static of stealth mode in front of the plants and fired their weapons simultaneously, killing all four aliens in unison. Ryo cheered loudly, shouting victory comments, even as he free-fell back to the ground, landing almost with perfect balance, amazed by the remembrance of the suit's abilities. "That was awesome!"

….

"Oh, here come the men in black, and girl, ones that you'll remember!" Ryo sang as the team walked on to find more aliens. Nishi and Togo were at the forefront while the others watched their back - or were supposed to be. "Here come the men in black...and girl."

A vein appeared on Nishi's forehead when Yoko and Jiro decided to join in.

The trio linked themselves with arms on their shoulders. "Galaxy defenders!"

Togo chuckled with amusement, more so at Nishi's displeasure.

"I'm going to kill them," Nishi said as though it was a statement of fact, knowing others knew he'd probably do it.

"Lighten up a little, it is their first time fighting as a team again, even I can acknowledge that much," Togo said.

"I can't believe I even once considered them a team. Utterly ridiculous."

The final straw for Nishi was when Ryo tried to rap; he was so done.

Nishi cloaked himself and parkoured up onto a high building top before he really did kill them.

Togo stared in the direction he assumed Nishi went and sighed before regarding the others behind with a frown, entirely blaming them even though he defended them mere seconds ago.

Jiro cleared his throat, slightly embarrassed for joining in so childishly. Yoko slapped Ryo's arm and said, "Now look what you did."

Ryo huffed and stomped his foot. "Me? I wasn't singing alone ya know!"

Togo found it hard to believe that these three were actually Nishi's team, but despite Ryo's childish antics, Yoko's shy vibe, and Jiro's sweet act, the way they fought the aliens more than made up for it, and Togo knew there was more to this team than what was on the surface.

Nishi grunted as he jumped back from an alien before blowing it to pieces. "I was right. The plants aren't just rooted to the ground." Nishi flinched, annoyed with the inadvertently lousy pun, and instantly blamed Ryo, muttering about how glad he was that no one was around to hear it..

"Don't be so sure!" someone called before swooping in, cutting a plant that had grown from the roof, and opened its mouth to attack.

Nishi stared in surprise for a moment before realizing who made the attack. Nishi watched the tall, lean man move swiftly and elegantly with his weapon of choice, the sword, and picked off the alien plants one by one with ease. Nishi frowned when the man turned to face him with a grin, his long hair falling back past his shoulders. "Izumi," Nishi sighed; goddamn it, this guy annoyed him. Nishi suddenly gasped. "Wait, how are you here?"

Izumi stalked toward Nishi, exuding his air of chauvinism as he did so. "Hello, we meet again," he said, retracting the blade of his sword.

"Answer the question."

"You know you could thank me, I did just save your life."

Nishi clenched his gun tightly when Izumi grinned with amusement. "I didn't ask for it, nor did I need it."

Izumi shrugged. "Next time, I'll let you be plant food."

"Fuck you! Just answer my question, how are you here?"

"Remember when I said there are different teams in different cities? Well, sometimes, Gantz mixes them together, so actually, you are in my city; Osaka."

Nishi was surprised to hear that but didn't let it show. "So I suppose the Osaka players already died?"

Izumi chuckled. "Well actually, since Gantz stopped transferring new players, it's been just me for a while now." Izumi walked toward the roof's edge as though what he just said didn't faze him at all.

Nishi watched him for a moment, slightly unnerved by the information; while Nishi had managed to survive for a long time on his own, he still had players to use if he needed to, but Izumi was single-handedly completing missions on his own. That's a little disconcerting.

"Oh, by the way, watch out for their seeds, and don't worry, I'll let you and your team defeat the boss on this one. Can't hog all the fun; after all, I'm the one who'll get the perfect score, so I should let you have some fun while you can."

Nishi watched with narrowed eyes as Izumi jumped from the roof and then disappeared. "Over my dead body."

A/N: I do not own the song Men in black which belongs to Will Smith :)

I would like to give credit to my little sister, who has always been there for me and read every chapter I have wrote, and as a thank you, I wanted her to create a Gantz alien to place in my story so she could be a part of what she continuously helps write by support. She is also NishiGantz14 :) She told me her alien idea came from playing the Crash Bandicoot game.

Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter.