This was based on me wondering why Rindo, Shoka, and Neku aren't targeted during the Iris Cantus boss fight. Neku, obviously because he wasn't in the party yet so why would they program it like this. Shoka isn't targeted for obvious reasons. But why wasn't Rindo targeted?
Ayano hates change.
Well, hate is a strong word. She dislikes it, and it always takes her far too long to adjust, so she avoids it. She hated cutting her hair because the few inches that were there before are gone, just after she had gotten used to it being there. Her parents were busybodies, so she had found herself home alone on a number of occasions.
She never minded, though. She had her routines, and plenty of activities to busy herself with.
Ayano died when she was 19. Far too young and far too early, there was so much that she could've done with her life. So much she could have done in Shinjuku, the city that she was born and raised in. The city she loves with all her heart.
She never had many friends. She didn't want to have to deal with the change that came with people inevitably dragging her out around the city. It would disrupt the routines that she had made for herself. But considering the fact that she's now dead (a big change to her life that's still left her reeling), she joins the Reapers after her team wins (she didn't have much to go back to anyway, and it was the decision of the leader of their team. So she, and two others named Shiba and Hishima join and somehow become friends. They quickly become friends with a younger-looking girl named Tsugumi, the Conductor's younger sister.
Tsugumi explains to them the different features of being a Reaper. Extended lifespans, controlled aging (she explains that you can't de-age yourself, only stop your physical body from aging), and being able to freely travel between the UG and the RG. Ayano briefly wonders how old Tsugumi is, due to the experience in her voice, but swiftly decides she's better off not knowing. It's probably rude to ask a Reaper their age, now that she thinks about it.
It takes Ayano six years before she decides to stop aging physically. Shiba stops a year after her while Hishima stops two years after him. Over the years, the three of them, Tsugumi, the Conductor, and a newer Reaper named Kaichi (though he insists to be called Susukichi) grow close, a family that Ayano had secretly always wanted. The feelings she harbors towards all of them are more platonic than familial, but she can never stop herself from fretting over all of them. Tsugumi and Susukichi accuse her of being a mother hen on several occasions. A Reaper named Kaie, a man of very few words but many text messages join them. Ayano didn't spend as much time with him as she did with Shiba or Susukichi, but his fortune-telling did pique her interest, so they did spend a lot of time talking about it.
Shiba had risen to a higher status in their ranks over the years, to a position just under the elder Matsunae. Many other Reapers that Ayano had befriended over the years speculate that he would be the next Conductor if something were to happen to their current. Ayano agrees that Shiba would be an excellent Conductor, but hopes that the need for a new one wouldn't arise.
Shiba introduces the latest Reaper to them, a sixteen-year-old girl named Shoka. The girl is quiet and way too young to have felt that the Reapers was the place for her. She agrees to watch over the girl as she teaches her her duty as a Reaper, so it's to no one's surprise that two become very close, very fast.
The two spend nearly all of their time together and with the others. They have plenty of moments where they are apart, neither of them are dependent on the other, but Ayano quickly has time with Shoka as part of her daily routine, even if it's through text messages.
As Reapers, they all have Noise form, but Shoka has the least experience with hers. The transformation into a Noise form can be painful if not done properly, and coming out of it is even harder. Ayano does everything she can to make sure Shoka is properly trained at everything, and constantly frets over here, like the elder Matsunae would over the younger.
She pauses. The bond between the Matsunae siblings makes sense since they are family, after all, but she and Shoka are not. Yet, the feeling is still the same. She eventually comes to terms that maybe she sees Shoka as a younger sister, but doesn't allow it to change anything. (She doesn't tell Shoka. Both of them acknowledging it out in the open would definitely change something. Or maybe that's just her fear talking.)
All of them, Ayano, Shoka, Shiba, Hishima, Kaie, Susukichi, and the Matsunaes are family. One night the elder Reapers sans Tsugumi go out drinking when they notice the elder Matsunae especially stressed. While drunk, he lets slip about a disagreement between himself and the Composer (apparently named Haz? She isn't sure how accurate it is, given the Conductor's state), and how it might end up worse than the Shibuya incident. That startles all of them. Everyone had heard of the incident in Shibuya that had almost ended with the Composer wiping it off the map. How could they not, with how big a deal it had been at the time.
Instead of voicing their concerns to their Conductor, they assure him everything will be alright.
A Reaper named Kubo joins their rank and everything changes.
The first thing to go wrong is Shiba. He miraculously gains new powers that Tsugumi claims is called Dissonance. His attitude as Game Master becomes more and more cruel as he puts harder and harder challenges on the Players.
Then a new type of Noise appeared. Completely clear in any form of physical observations. Ayano asks Kaie what he had observed about them, but other than them not attacking the Reapers and being behind something called Reverb, he doesn't have much.
Along with the appearance of the new Noise, the sky turns gray and constantly shifts, as if made out of liquid silver. When she had given an experimental scan (Reapers still possess the ability to scan, they just have no reason to use it given that it doesn't work on each other), the silver turned into a blood-red and she stopped the scan immediately. She doesn't scan again.
The innocent civilians of the RealGround are somehow affected by these new Noise, while possessed they go crazy or start attacking anyone around them, as if the whole world was out to get them. They are warned by Shiba himself to not mess with the Noise. (They all start getting scared when reports of lower-class Reapers being attacked by these new Noise arise.)
Ayano witnesses the Reverb firsthand. She sees the new Noise- Plague Noise- affecting a little girl with long dark hair. The girl reminds her too much of Shoka and, after making sure there was no way under Shiba's watchful eye, erases the Noise affecting her. She expects the girl to perk back up, as one would after being cleared away of any impending Noise, but the girl says nothing. Says nothing, thinks nothing, and only leaves after her parents drag her off, only a tad bit concerned, another effect or Reverb, she is soon to realize.
She sends text messages to everyone in her family, even Shiba, as a means of a daily check-in. To Shiba, she passes it off as making sure everyone's doing their job. He's convinced; it's in character for her to check in with everyone, but everyone else knows it's just her fretting over everyone.
To calm herself down and add something else to her constantly changing routine, she does something a little out of the ordinary. She buys an iguana and names it Shoka. Shoka, the Reaper not the iguana, is naturally embarrassed, flustered, and flattered at the same time. Shiba doesn't ask about it, and for that she's glad. Kubo rolls his eyes but doesn't say anything. Everyone else seems to brighten up at its presence, and she's glad to see a glimmer of happiness in an otherwise gloomy setting.
Ayano occasionally sees a smaller figure talking with Tsugumi and giving her a stuffed animal on one occasion. The smaller figure is short and wearing very bright colors (hot pink, teal blue, among others) and has two small wings on her back. Ayano figures she's a Reaper, but she's certain that she's never seen them around before.
Shortly after, Tsugumi gets demoted to Player.
The elder Matsunae gets Erased. No one, except maybe Tsugumi, knows who did it. Even Shiba is shocked, but he gets over it rather quickly.
Speaking of Tsugumi, the girl had changed practically overnight. Susukichi and Shoka would constantly ask her if she was fine, but the girl refused to speak. Hishima never asked anything in the open, but Ayano knew the eccentric man was more concerned than anyone else.
Before, the girl was very cheerful, friendly, and never afraid to speak her mind. Now, though… Now she hardly spoke, voice always monotone, and only did something if they were direct orders. There was a disturbing red ring around the pupils of her otherwise brown eyes. The only thing that gave Ayano hope was the fact that Tsugumi refused to erase anything other than Noise. (Ayano and the others had felt a little more than disturbed when witnessing Tsugumi's sudden new brutality in combat. Shiba, on the other hand, seemed more than pleased, alongside Kubo who had only snickered.)
Before the day is over, while the sun is (supposedly, they can't see it anyone) still high in the sky, a red symbol bears over the city, and Shinjuku is erased.
Over half of their population is erased. Ayano is devastated. She had been friendly with so many of those who had been erased in the UG. No one in the RG survived. The only saving grace is that everyone in her family is safe. Kubo and Shiba survive as well, and they make the decision to have them all travel to Shibuya.
(Ayano wonders when she stopped considering Shiba as being part of her family.)
She hates Shibuya. It's too loud, there's too many people, and everyone's ideals are trying to be in the spotlight. The only reason that she can't outright despise it is because Shoka is instantly in love. Or, rather, Gatto Nero, if Shoka's new cat hoodie has to say anything about it.
Ayano is confused about the design at first. The mascot, Mr. Mew the cat as Shoka has said during her babbles about the brand, is strikingly familiar. It's only until she sees Tsugumi again that she realizes that the stuffed animal that the gaudy Reaper had given her is the mascot.
Speaking of Tsugumi, Shiba has reinstated her as a Reaper. No one knows why, Shiba was never one for second chances, even before he changed. Then again, no one knows why she was demoted before. Perhaps she was reintroduced to their ranks on her virtual robotic status.
Shoka tries on multiple occasions to get her to like the city, but Ayano can't bring herself to like it. Why? Well that's simple. It's not Shinjuku. Sure, she's grateful for the pink-haired Reaper named Yashiro for taking them in and giving them, giving her family, a new home, but everything is too different from how they were before.
Too many things had changed, and they all happened within a month of each other. The reality of what happened was only now catching up to her, and she couldn't bring herself to adjust to life in Shibuya. Who could blame her? She had lived in Shinjuku her whole life, and now her home, everything that she loved, had been erased from existence. (She would later find out that no one in the RealGround remembered Shinjuku. It seems like it vanished from more than just existence.)
Shoka shows her a new game that she got on her phone. FantasyGO, she says it's called. Apparently, it's about catching monsters and fighting other players in real-time with them. Ayano doesn't understand what it's about or the appeal of it, but she's glad Shoka has found something to entertain her.
Kaie opens a fortune-telling shop on Spain Hill. She's happy that he gets to do what he loves for a living and make other people happy.
(She's jealous that he's already adjusted and she just can't.)
Shoka tells her about an online friend that she made. His username is Rindragon. She asks if he's nice and Shoka nods several times and starts to talk her ear off about the little things she knows about him.
Ayano wears a smile and nods along, not all of it processing completely. Shoka was growing independent and leaving her behind, despite Ayano's promise that she would never leave her. Her heart stings.
Over the course of the following three years, the RealGround continues on as normal as things in the UnderGround grow steadily worse.
Shiba had grown to the position of Conductor and also appointed himself as Game Master. He changes the rules of Shibuya's Game to what they were in Shinjuku.
Ayano and her family slowly become more and more scared of Shiba. Nearly all of the Shibuya Reapers had resisted all of the changes, but were forced to comply when Shiba… started making examples of them. If a Reaper shows too much restraint to the new rules, then Shiba would set them as the target of the following day's mission, causing every single Player in the Game to target them.
Shiba had created a team of his own, but kept his status as their leader a secret. The team only consisted of two other members: Tsugumi and Susukichi. The reason for the concealment of their Reaper statuses was necessary as it was undoubtedly against the rules for Reapers to participate as Players, but Ayano knew that no one would fight Shiba about it if they liked their existence.
As the population of Shibuya Reapers decreased, Shiba's power over their UnderGround only increased.
Ayano wondered if the Composer was ever going to step in if this continued. He was aware of what was happening, if Shiba's complaint about the Composer said anything. Shiba had painted a not-so-pretty picture of the Composer. Ayano doubted the validity of what Shiba said about them, but the pettiness inside of her thanked the Composer for annoying him to all hell.
(When she first thought that, she could have sworn that she heard a giggle and a "you're welcome~" in her head, but she kept it to herself. Didn't need anyone to think she was crazy or, god forbid, Shiba or Kubo's attention.)
The only thing Shoka ever talked about anymore was the clothes in Gatto Nero's latest lines and about her friend Rindragon (the two seemed very close, Ayano noted. She didn't miss the blush that passed Shoka's face whenever she realized she had been talking about him for fifteen minutes straight).
Something changed one day. Shoka had run to her, tears in her eyes as she talked quickly that Rindragon- Rindo was in the Game and what was she going to do, he was doomed!
Ayano soothed her and reminded her that as long as he didn't come in last, he was safe. She didn't bring up the possibility of them coming in first. The Game was rigged, and the Ruinbringers came in first every. Damn. Time.
All of the Reapers, sans Shiba, of course, were growing weary of the winners being the same every time. Though, the Deep Rivers Society, the Purehearts, and the Variabeauties were putting up one hell of a fight. Even Kubo seemed tired of it, though he seemed more impatient than anything else. What he was waiting for, Ayano had no idea.
The Game continued, and everyone kept an eye on Rindo's team, the Wicked Twisters, as they came from a staggering last to second in a single day, thanks to the upheaval rule.
To everyone's shock, that week's Game ended with the Wicked Twisters defeating the RuinBringers, however, Shiba managed to stop them from taking first over a technicality that no one had seen coming.
For the first time, Ayano felt hope. She didn't like Shibuya in the slightest, but Shoka loved it, so she internally rooted for Rindo and his friends to finally bring the Game to an end.
That's not what mostly caused Ayano's hope, and undoubtedly the hope of the Shibuya Reapers, to soar. The technicality was. Despite being what caused the Ruinbringers to win, the nature of the technicality, a third party interfering with the Game, came as a shock. Their identity? The legendary Player that saved Shibuya from destruction three years prior. Neku Sakuraba.
Ayano knew that Shiba had been searching for him. To either turn him into a Reaper (whatever good that would do) or kill him.
The trail on the boy had gone cold, so Kubo went off on the prowl under the condition of being able to do what he wanted with the boy when he found him. Ayano did not know what Kubo was going to do once he found him, but she decided to not think about it and save her mind from any dark thoughts. She prayed that the boy not get captured, or if he were, not by Kubo.
The Deep Rivers Society were erased that day.
"Neku" or who they thought was the Legend, turned out not to be him in the end, but someone who had partnered up with him in the past. But that was not the pressing issue.
Ayano was panicking, but she couldn't let Shiba see it. Why? Because of today's target. The target in question? The bastard had set Shoka as the target. It took all of her self-control to not wring Shiba by the neck and scream at him. That would only result in her own Erasure.
Shoka survived, but was kicked off the Reapers before the next day's morning.
Ayano did something she was not proud of. She begged Shiba to let Shoka come back. To her surprise, he considered her and offered Shoka a deal. Find out more about the powers of the Wicked Twister's leader, Rindo Kanade, report back to him about it, and he'd let her back in.
At the end of the seventh day, Shiba had been forced to reveal himself as the leader of the Ruinbringers after they had been sufficiently cornered by the Wicked Twisters and the Variabeauties (Ayano gave them kudos for that one. No other scheme to that level had been pulled off before), Shoka had reported back to Shiba, and he allowed her to rejoin.
To Ayano's horror, however, Shoka refused to return. Ayano pleaded with her, but Shoka kept refusing, announcing her refusal to comply with Shiba's plan to destroy the city.
Inwardly, Ayano was proud. In Shinjuku, Shoka hadn't made decisions of her own, preferring to go with the flow and so what everyone else was. Ever since they came to Shibuya, Shoka had found a place for herself and figured out who she was.
Unfortunately for the both of them, that new character trait came at a major disadvantage against someone like Shiba who would erase her without a second thought. (She longed for the Shiba of past, who, while still never giving second chances, would never Erase kick a Reaper out and Erase them for denying him.)
Thankfully, Shiba decided not to Erase her, but as the winner of the game decided, to no one's shock, to continue the Game another week. (The Purehearts were Erased, but she couldn't find it in her to care. Their leader was the reason Shoka was a target in the first place.)
Shoka officially joined the Wicked Twisters the next day.
Plague Noise roam the streets and the skies change to liquid silver again. Between convincing herself and Shiba that Shoka would come back to them he just needed to give her another chance please, she found that the Players had discovered the Plague Noise's weakness and were now able to fight them efficiently (she suspected Hishima had something to do with that. He was one of the very very few who knew how to defeat them).
Shiba finally snapped at her. Told her that he would have to force Shoka to come back, give her a choice that she could not refuse. Ayano or Shibuya. She desperately texted Shoka and demanded that she return. Shoka was adamant about her decision to save the city.
There was only one way to get Shoka back. This was not about Shoka being by her side anymore, this was about her keeping her family safe. As long as they were with the Reapers, they were safe. And, well, Ayano knew that there was only one way to get Shoka back to the Reapers. Through force. And there was only one way to do that.
Ayano knew she wasn't going to make it out of this game alive. Shiba would make sure of that and they all knew it.
She sends a text message to Shoka. She has to do it now. She won't be sane enough later. Shiba's special Noise has her. She thinks it's different from Plague Noise but she can't bring herself to care.
She stands in Miyashita Park. Ayano admits to herself that it's not horrible, despite the city slowly degrading around them. The grass and leaves are green and it's spacious. She feels her mind slowly crumbling away too, but she tries not to think about it. Well more like she can't, she's lost the part of her mind that would care about any of that.
She has to keep Shoka safe. Keep her safe, that's all she needs to do. Shoka, a member of her darling little family. Shoka, her darling little sister. Shoka her dArLiNG!
Shoka and her friends arrive. Shoka won't come back. She has to keep Shoka safe. Keep Shoka happy. Safe. Happy. Safe. Happy. Safe. HAppY.
Ayano slips into her Noise form. She isn't really sure what's happening anymore. She's… fighting them. She's fighting Shoka. Wait… she has to keep Shoka safe… why is she fighting her?
She can't control herself. The Noise is in complete control now. Don't hurt Shoka. Don't harm our Darling. Every hit adds physical and emotional pain. Don't hurt Shoka. Don't harm our Darling.
They're wearing her down. Their leader, Rindo, seems to care about Shoka. And from past conversations, she knows that Shoka cares about him too. It's clear how they cover each other from potential attacks, and how they always follow up on each other.
If that boy were to get hurt, too, Shoka would be devastated. She can't do that to her.
Don't hurt Shoka. Don't harm Rindo. Don't hurt Shoka. Don't harm Rindo.
The other three children. The two boys and the girl with glasses. The reminder, diver, and the returning Player. Shoka would've come back if it weren't for them. They're all why Shoka wouldn't come back. They need to know what they did. Shoka isn't safe because of them.
Keep Shoka safe.
She wasn't safe because of them.
Our Darling isn't safe because of them. They need to be punished. All of them need to be pUNisHeD!
Don't hurt Shoka. Don't harm Rindo. Don't hurt Shoka. Don't harm Rindo.
Thorns sprout from the ground, snaring the reminder, diver, and returning into its trap. The other thorns didn't target the other two and instead reinforced the others.
Rindo and Shoka are both panting, psyches no doubt recharging as she strikes the Diver. She moves towards the Reminder next. Rindo and Shoka move quickly and strike the thorns hard to break him free. They succeed just moments before she strikes, the boy falling out of the way. She turns to the last one. Shoka and Rindo had spent their psyches up time on the Reminder. Neither of them can get to Returning.
The Reminder scrambles to his feet and dashes over to the boy as the Diver gets back up on her feet. She'd be amazed that the girl had recovered this quickly if she were not trying to will her body to not hurt these children. They all had families to return to.
They're Shoka's family, too.
The two free the boy and they all band together to take her down for good.
Don't harm Shoka's family. Don't hurt Shoka. Don't hurt. Don't… dOnT…
…
Her mind disappears completely.
Ayano and the Shinjuku Reapers make me sad after beating the game. I really wished she and Susukichi could have survived through to the end, but alas. I might write a follow-up about what happens to Shoka the Iguana later.