The brown-haired girl gets off the train and makes her way up to the Shibuya surface. She looks at her phone and checks her messages. As usual, she has texts from her friend Eri, as well as messages from her business associates, but some concerning messages from an old friend stand out.
Rhyme: Shiki, something's wrong. Beat hasn't come home.
Rhyme: He left to go skating yesterday and he hasn't come back.
Rhyme: I've tried texting him, but I can't get a hold of his phone.
Rhyme: Every message I try to send won't go through.
Me: It's like he disappeared off the face of the earth.
Rhyme: Yeah. . .
Me: Do you think he's in the UG?
Rhyme: I checked, but I haven't seen anything about someone like Beat dying online nor in any police or medical records.
Me: You got ahold of those records legally, right?
Rhyme: That's not important.
Me: Yeah, you're right. I'm sure Beat's fine wherever he is though. He's strong, he can take care of himself if he needs to. But I'll keep an eye out for him while I'm in the area today. I'll text you if I learn anything.
Rhyme: Thanks Shiki!
Shiki puts her phone into sleep mode before looking up at the streets of Shibuya. She readjusts her thick glasses as she takes a deep sigh.
"Beat. . . what've you gotten yourself into?" she says to herself, before continuing to walk to her destination. She's supposed to meet Eri for an important meeting relating to their next line of clothing for their brand Gatto Nero. She hastens her steps as she gets closer and closer to the desired location when suddenly, she hears a loud noise from behind. She turns and sees what looks like a small explosion in the distance.
"What was that!?" She asks to no one in particular, but no one responds. She looks around and sees that no one else has seen or even noticed the explosion.
"Uh, excuse me, sir, did you see-" Shiki reaches out to a stranger but she phases right through him like she's a ghost.
"What the-," she says in a shocked tone. She pulls out her phone to see if what she's thinking is true, and finds that her phone is completely different than when she last checked. Her internet connection is down, and she's connected to something called the RNS. she opens up her contacts to try and get a hold of Rhyme or Eri, but it's been completely wiped.
"How did I get here?" she asks herself, stunned at the conundrum she's found herself in. Meanwhile, in a separate part of the city, someone else is dreaming strange dreams.
"Oh, I know what you kids were thinking;" says a stranger's voice
"Hnngh. . ." Fret doesn't know how to respond.
"This guy's just a wishy-washy pushover. Well, look who's up the creek without a paddle now. How the tides have turned!" the stranger continues
"L-lord Rindo, I fear we may be in rather d-dire straits. . ." Nagi says in an anxious tone.
"You can row, row, row all you want. . . but you won't go gently down this stream!" The voices grow quiet as everything fades away.
". . . The hell?" Rindo immediately begins to question the events he foresaw in his dream.
"Morning! 'Sup?" says Fret with his usual grin plastered on his face.
"What was that just now?" Rindo asks no one in particular.
"Uh, what was what?" Fret inquires.
"Huh?" Rindo is surprised, but quickly manages to deduce that only he saw the strange vision after Fret admits to not knowing what he's talking about.
"It was probably just a bad dream. Nothing to worry about." Fret says, reassuring his friend that everything will be fine.
"That vision I had yesterday didn't come true. . . maybe these aren't visions of the future after all." Rindo thinks to himself. His train of thought is put to a halt, however, as both his attention and Fret's are turned to their fellow Wicked Twister, Nagi Usui.
"IS ANYBODY OUT THEEERE!?" she cries.
"Hey, is that the boss?" Fret asks. The pair hear the sound of quick footsteps, before seeing their teammate come into view close by.
"Ah, there you are, Lord Rindo." She says in a now calm voice.
"H-hey, Nagi. Is. . . everything okay?" asks Rindo.
"Yes, I could not discern if this were reality or some reverie, thus I shouted in hopes of receiving some response. And I have deduced this is, indeed, the waking world." Nagi takes a short pause before continuing. "'Tis Day 5," she remarks.
"Which means we've really gotta rack up some points today." Rindo points out. They barely managed to crawl to fourth place and out of elimination, but it wouldn't take much for them to fall back to fifth.
"Sure wish we had a shortcut or something. Erasing noise will only get us so far, y'know?" Fret brings up a good point, but all attention is turned away from him and to the local powerhouse.
"Listen up, zeptograms" Sho practically shouts, successfully getting their attention. Nagi perks up as she sees him. "The Reapers have factored themselves out of the equation today,"
"L-Lord. . . T-T-Tomonamanamanamaaa-!" Nagi squeals with pure excitement.
"You casting a spell or somethin'?" Fret asks sarcastically. Sho ignores these interruptions and continues
"Hopefully we won't have any trivial variables impeding our progress again. Today, we're taking charge of the Game."
"Um. . . how do we do that?" Rindo asks.
"By sabotaging the others so we can keep the points for ourselves." Sho cracks his knuckles, effectively getting the message across to his fellow twisters.
"But that's cheating!" Fret argues.
"Perhaps. So you'd better act fast before they can put up a fight." Sho responds
"I'm . . . not sure how I feel about this," Rindo speaks up. As the leader, his opinion matters the most to his teammates, but Sho reassures him that it'll be fine.
"Relax. The arithmetic sequences are already defined. You just have to reach within yourself and rewrite 'em." Sho explains. "I'll be checking your answers, and I don't forgive miscalculations."
"We're getting graded for this!?" Fret is completely stunned at the idea of all this. "Wait, are you seriously a teacher? 'Cause, you're absent a lot, and you never send a sub."
"Let's just say I'm an exception to the rules," Sho responds with a smirk forming on his face. "That's all you three need to know. And not a yoctogram more." Rindo pulls out his phone and tries to translate Sho's math-mumbo jumbo, and gets a general idea of what he means.
"So if you wanna be a part of the remainder, then c'mon!" Sho says before walking off.
"Well, it appears we've no choice but to heed his Radiance's call," Nagi says in a serious voice, before taking off after the brawn of their team.
"Yeah, I guess you're right." Rindo and Fret race after their teammates, and not too long after catching up with Nagi, they get their mission.
"Defeat the single boar made of real gold ore." Rindo reads the message aloud. "So we have to beat up a gold pig noise?" Rindo asks his fellow team, who agree that their mission is most likely that. They look down at their phones again and continue reading. "One swine has already been set loose upon the city." Rindo reads aloud
"Geez, already?" Fret says, surprised that the target is already out for the taking. His surprise doesn't end there though
"As well as another player!?" Rindo reads aloud in shock.
"Another player has entered the game? Why at a time like this?" Nagi asks.
"Who knows. Would it even be a good idea to go after them?" Rindo asks.
"We need all the firepower we can get." Fret points out.
"Yes, but we mustn't forget what his radiance said," Nagi argues.
"Right. . . this new player could mess things up for us, and we're already late into the game." Rindo sighs, unsure what to do. "I guess we'll have to keep an eye out for any players we don't recognize while going after the boar," Rindo concludes. He looks back down to his phone and continues reading.
"In addition, the Upheaval Rule is now in effect. Teams lower in the ranking will earn more points if they succeed." Rindo reads aloud.
"'Tis our chance to stage a revolution." Nagi points out,
"Right, we have to get that Golden Boar, find the new player, and take out any gilded boars along the way," says Rindo confidently. "C'mon, let's go. We don't have time to waste." The Wicked Twisters take off to gain more information on the target. While doing so they overhear a man talking about some sort of lecture. They continue forward and are interrupted by a notification. Fret pulls out his phone to read it.
"True gold boar spotted at Tipsy Tose Hall!" Fret exclaims.
"That's here!" Rindo points out in shock
"Dude, what are you waiting for!? Hurry up and scan!" Fret says impatiently
"Okay! Geez. . ." Rindo focuses his thoughts through his player pin and scans the area, and immediately finds what looks like the golden boar. "There it is! Let's go!" Shouts Rindo. The trio dash after the noise and attack it with all their might. Rindo slashes away with his psyche while Nagi and Fret use their ranged pins to deal damage from afar. With their coordinated efforts, they take out the noise with ease.
"Yesss! How many points did we get? . . . what? That's hardly any!" Fret says disappointingly.
"So those ones were. . . just gilded?" Rindo asks.
"Evidently so." Nagi answers. A notification sound is heard coming from their phones and they check it to find a new message.
"True gold boar spotted heading toward Center Street." Rindo reads aloud
"Let's go after it!" Fret exclaims. And with that, the Wicked Twisters run as fast as they can to center street, passing by some members of the Deep River Society, the rival team right below them in the rankings, as well as Ryoji, a businessman known for doing his odd jobs. It seems he's up to another one of his odd jobs, as now it seems like he's trying to sell some ugly stuffed pigs. They approach Ryoji as they try to learn more about whatever business he's up to when they're interrupted by another person.
"Heeey! You there! Buongiornooo!" says a stranger in a white shirt and blue overcoat.
"Hey there. . . whoever you are!" Says Fret in his usual carefree tone.
"Oh, phew! I wasn't sure if you'd hear me, but perfecto. You three must be Players-wait! Don't tell me. Let me guess: Les Mechenats Tornades, right?" he asks.
"Um. . . "May-shan tour-nades"?"Fret repeats, not understanding at all what the man said.
"Oh! I thought you might be those new Wicked Twisters. Are you with the Reapers, then?" the stranger asks
"Nonono, you were, uh, "perfecto" the first time." Fret responds.
"Ayyyyyy! Super glad I ran into you! Gotta give gracias to fate for bringing us together." the man says cheerfully.
"Ayyyyyy." Fret says along with him, not completely understanding the man.
"Whoops! Guess I forgot to introduce moi self. But you probably already know who I am." says the stranger.
Fret laughs nervously "Why don't you just go for it anyway?"
"Ayyyyyy, it would be my plaisir! Mi nombre es Motoi Anazawa." the Wicked Twisters sit in silence as they try to understand even a little of what he said. "Ah, that's Spanish for "My name is Motoi Anazawa." I'm the leader of the Purehearts."
"The leader of the Purehearts, huh?" Rindo remarks.
"Geeze, getting thrown into this Game without any prior warning. . . Quelle surprise, am I right? Oh! Speaking of the Game, how goes la missione?" asks Motoi
". . . You aren't from around here, are you?" asks Nagi.
Motoi laughs "don't be fooled by my impeccable pronunciation: I'm as Japanese as curry rice! I just traveled a ton, that's all. I was quite the international sightseer while I was alive."
". . . So you were a professional tourist." Nagi deduces.
"I prefer "citizen of the world," but yes. There's nothing like taking a deep breath at the airport-" Motoi is interrupted by a remark from Nagi
"And inhaling all the pathogens?"
Motoi seems to take the remark as a joke, since he laughs in response, "¡Que alegria! I think you and I will get along smashingly."
"I cannot fathom engaging with you any further," Nagi responds, treating Motoi even more harshly than she does her fellow twister Fret. After a quick laugh from Fret, Motoi turns his attention to the leader of the twisters, Rindo.
"So! Is there anything I can help you with?" Motoi asks.
"Hm. . .I'm kinda curious about the other teams." Rindo admits. "How far along they are. . . who they are, even."
Motoi begins to list off the teams for the twisters"Let's see: there's yours truly, then Kanon the leader of the Variabeauties, as well as Fuya, the leader of the Deep River society, and of course the Ruinbringers and their enigmatic leader."
"So, there's four other teams." Rindo asks for confirmation.
"Exactamente. As for how they're doing with the mission, I'm afraid even I can't say. I can say, though, that something seems different about Fuya. . . Je ne sais quoi. He knows that if he can win the grand prize, he can easily escape last place, but if you give it your all, you can seal their fate." Motoi explains. "Of course, they recognize this, so they're gonna give it their all, too. . . That's about all I've heard. Anything else I can do for ya?" Motoi asks
"Hm. . . How about that new player? Do you know anything about them?" asks Rindo
"Hmm, lo siento, but I don't have any information on the new player, other than that my team isn't looking to recruit them, and I don't think Kanon's team is either," Motoi explains. "I can't say for sure if Fuya is, but it seems unlikely with how much they're focusing on today's mission."
"Alright. Thanks, that's all we really needed to know."
"You sure? Nothing else your pal Motoi can help you with?" Motoi asks.
"Um. . . I guess it'd be nice if you knew a way for us to talk to people on the street," asks Rindo, after taking a passing glance over to Ryoji
"Oh, yeah. It's like they don't even know we're there." Fret laments.
"Ahhh, que claro. Unfortunately, there isn't much you can do aside from imprinting." Motoi answers.
"Uh, "imprinting"?" Fret inquires.
"Oh? Do you not know about Imprinting? It's one of the fundamental powers afforded to players like us!" The twisters shake their heads, and Motoi gives them the rundown on how imprinting works, about learning keywords, and how to implement a word into a regular person's head.
"Well, it's been a blast, but I should probably get back to my team," Motoi admits as he rubs the back of his head
"Oh, yeah. Hey, thanks for all your help." Rindo says, a small smile forming on his face.
"Ayyyyyy, no problem, mi amigo. Until we meet again. . . Au revoir!" Motoi waves his hand goodbye and walks off.
"Huh. That guy didn't seem very rival-y to me." Fret admits.
"Me neither," Rindo adds.
"It may have been a ruse meant to lower our defenses," Nagi suggests
"True. But it's like he was so fake-nice that there's no way it wasn't real. . .y'know?" Fret counters.
"Uh. . . sort of," Rindo replies.
"I will concede that the information he provided about imprinting seemed valuable," Nagi admitted. "I daresay it might help us expedite our efforts to complete today's mission. Heh. Rather foolish of a supposed "rival" to aid us in our plight."
"Yeah. . . Maybe he's not such a bad guy after all," says Rindo.
"See? I told ya so!" Fret brags. "Well, what're we waiting for? Let's go find a test subject for this imprinting thing!". With their new information gained the Wicked Twisters begin to look around their environment and scan the minds of nearby people in order to gain the keywords necessary to make Ryoji's stuffed swine sell. While searching, however, they run into a businessman possessed by noise.
"Shall we proceed?" Nagi asks. Rindo nods, and the Trio dive into the mind of the man to aid in his issues. The noise within the man is nasty and puts up a great fight, but with a coordinated effort, the three twisters manage to erase all the noise within his mind. Once they leave his mind, they find his attitude to be completely different, as to be expected.
"Looks like Peace of Mind is a keyword. We'll need to make a note of that." Rindo points out after scanning the man's mind.
"You think that's enough Rindude?" Fret asks
"Yeah, maybe. Let's try imprinting on Ryo-" Before he can finish, however, he's interrupted by a stranger.
"Excuse me. You guys are players right?" The Twisters turn to face the stranger. She has short brown hair and thick-rimmed glasses. She wears a black undershirt and black leggings underneath her large severely-oversized white shirt, which features a red puzzle-piece-like pattern on it. Over that she wears a loose green cardigan and a black-cat purse, and last but not least, she wears pale-yellow sneakers.
"Uh- yeah. We're players," says Fret. "Say, I've never seen you before. Which team are you on?"
"Team?" The girl asks confused.
"Yeah, you know, teams. Like, the Purehearts, or the Variabeatuies, or us Twisters, well, not that you're on our team I think we'd know that." Fret says jokingly.
"Oh, so players are put into teams rather than partners. That's a nice change of pace." The girl comments.
"Huh? What do you mean?" asks Rindo.
"Oh, well. During my first Reaper's game, Players had to find a partner rather than form a team." the girl explains.
"First Reaper's game? Are you insinuating that this isn't your first time in the UG?" Nagi asks, to which the girl nods.
"Yeah, I was a player three years ago, though I don't exactly know how I ended up back in the game." the girl pauses before changing her expression to one resembling shock. "Oh! Where are my manners? I'm Shiki Misaki. But feel free to call me Shiki."
"It's nice to meet you Shiki! Name's Tosai Furesawa, but everyone calls me Fret." Fret turns Shiki's attention over to Nagi. "That over there is-" but he's cut off by Nagi
"Nagi Usui at your service miss Shiki. If you need advice I can always come to your aid."
"Oh, well it's nice to meet the two of you" Shiki turns her attention to Rindo. "And who are you?" Shiki asks.
"I guess I'm the leader of the Wicked Twisters. My names Rindo, Rindo Kanade."
"Nice to meet you Rindo," says Shiki, with a smile. "So, do any of you guys know what to do for today's mission?" she asks.
"Well, we're supposed to be searching for the real gold boar in Central Street, but we've got ourselves caught up trying to imprint a slogan into that guy's head so his stuffed pigs can sell." Fret explains
"Oh? is this your first time Imprinting," Shiki asks. To which Fret nods.
"Motoi gave us a rundown on how it works but we've yet to actually try it. . ." Rindo explains.
"Motoi? Is he a reaper?" Shiki inquires
"No, he's the leader of a rival team," Rindo answers. "He seemed like he knew what he was talking about, but he left before he could show us how to do it."
"Well, I'm not the strongest Psyche user, but I have some experience with Imprinting. . ." The twisters guide Shiki to Ryoji, and she guides them through the process of Imprinting. Once Rindo successfully imprints the thoughts into Ryoji's head, Ryoji began to sell the stuffed pigs like they were the new big thing, and it worked.
"His wares are selling startlingly well all of a sudden." Nagi points out.
"Man, we must be some kind of marketing genius. Wouldn't you say so, Boss?" Fret says with a big old grin on his face
"Perhaps."
"Aw, c'mon Can't I get a few more syllables?" Rindo quickly changes the subject away from Fret and Nagi, and back to the new player.
"Thanks for your help Shiki, we really needed it." Shiki smiles a little and nods.
"It's no problem. The Reaper's game is tough, you'll need all the help you can get."
Rindo nods along with her. "Yeah, we really could use all the help we can get." Rindo "Shiki seems to know more about the ins-and-outs of the game than we do, but she doesn't look like she can carry her own weight all that much." Rindo debates himself "But we really do need more firepower, the four of us can only get so far, and we're not all that much without Mr. Minami". Rindo sighs, it seems he doesn't have much of a choice. "Hey, I know we just met, but would you be willing to join our team? We're struggling to stay out of last place, and we could use an experienced player like you by our side."
"Huh? I thought I was already on your team." Shiki says, still not fully understanding how teams work in this new game. "Is this what it was like on Neku's first day?" Shiki thinks to herself.
"Heh, well. I guess you are now!" says Fret, with his usually goofy grin. "Welcome aboard!" Shiki smiles and nods.
"I'll help in any way I can." She says, and not a moment later, they get an alert from their phones.
"Hark! We have received word regarding the mission." Nagi clarifies as she turns her phone on. "Spain hill is now open. True gold boar spotted heading toward Spain Hill."
"If the true gold boar is the target, then we should go there as soon as possible," says Shiki
"Right. Spain Hill it is, then. Let's get going." The four Twisters make their way to the newly opened area, and take a look around. After a short run-in with their rival team, the Deep River Society, they manage to find the gold pig noise and take it out with ease.
"So anyone can use pins now? That's nice." Shiki comments
"Oh right, Mr. Minami said that they removed the psyche limits on pins. I'm guessing that means you couldn't during your first game." Rindo concludes.
"That's right, I had to rely on my weaker Psyche to help my partner erase the noise. It worked then, but this is definitely better." Shiki remarks. "Also, who's Mr. Minami?"
"He's sorta a member of the team? He's crazy strong and saved our butts on the first day. Though he tends to dip and come back whenever he wants." Fret explains.
"Yeah, but he's definitely helped us get out of last, so he's definitely a great member of the team." Rindo clarifies. "Speaking of which, how many points did we get?" Nagi pulls out her phone to check and grimaces.
"An insignificant sum, I'm afraid."
"You mean those were all just gilded ones!?" Fret asks
"So alongside the real target, we have to deal with these fake ones too. . ." Shiki laments.
"Yeah, we'll never rack up a high score taking them out. . ." Rindo comments before he gets an alert on his phone. ". . .Huh?" he pulls it out and reads the message. "True gold boar spotted. . . heading towards Tower Records."
"That's close by, we can get it if we hurry!" Shiki exclaims.
"Right! This is our big chance! Tower Records, here we come!" Fret shouts, before running off in the direction of their destination, with the rest of the Twisters running closely beside him, but as they arrive, they run into a small group of players who happen to be a part of the Deep River Society. Upon running into them, they discover that the golden boar is no longer there, and is instead heading towards the Scramble Crossing. They make their way over there, but run into an issue.
"A wall. . . great." Rindo remarks. The twisters look over to see a reaper in a red hoodie standing beside the wall.
"I see they still have these guys blocking the way. Guess some things don't change after all." Shiki remarks.
"Guess we have to complete a mission before they'll let us pass." fret says, a bit tired of these obstacles at this point.
"Yeah, obviously. And I have a super, extra urgent mission for you." says the reaper in an incredibly annoyed tone. "Could you please, PLEASE make that guy shut up?" he points in the direction of a man leaning against a black pole that seems to be talking to himself
"Uh. . . What's up with him?" The group watches as he continues to talk to himself about whether or not to buy certain products. "Dude, just pick one or the other. It's not that big a deal."
"It is to some people. I guess this guy really doesn't know how to make a choice." Shiki remarks.
"The item he covets can either be downloaded or purchased with a bonus." Nagi comments
"Kid's been mumbling to himself nonstop for at least half an hour. It's driving me insane! I', begging you-make it stop! Imprint something on his brain and shut him the hell up! Do it for me, and I'll let you through!"
"I guess even Reapers have their psychological limits. We'll have to help him make up his mind." Shiki concludes.
"Right," says Rindo. The four Twisters roam around the area and gather a few keywords, before managing to come to a conclusion on what to imprint into his mind.
"I've decided: I'm gonna make that album mine, bonus and all!" the man exclaims, before racing to TOWER RECORDS. Much to the reaper's delight.
"Finally, some peace and quiet! I owe you guys my life-or at least my sanity. Go on through." The reaper walks off, and the wall dissipates, leaving an open road for the twisters to take to the Scramble Crossing. Upon arriving Rindo scans and immediately finds a gold pig noise.
"Do you think this is the real one?" asks Shiki
"Don't know, only one way to find out." Rindo answers. The four twisters attack the noise and manage to erase it without issue. Rindo checks his phone to see the results, only to face a new issue.
". . . Huh? Why didn't we get any points?" asks Rindo
"Just 'cause they're gilded doesn't mean we don't deserve something!" Fret exclaims
Nagi thinks for a moment before coming up with a potential answer, "Perhaps they were false swine planted to mislead us."
"That's definitely possible. Reapers aren't didn't exactly play fair three years ago, I wouldn't expect them to now either." Shiki comments
"Yeah, but we have to find the real gold one before anyone else does. . ." Rindo stops to think, and realizes something. "Actually, wait. We shouldn't rush into it. Let's make some mental sushi first."
". . . Make some what now?" Fret asks
"I think he just means we should slow down and think before doing anything else," Shiki explains. Rindo pulls out his phone and sees he has no messages.
"Okay, calm down and think. . . Not seeing any piggy updates yet. . . Which means the gold boar should still be around here somewhere. Let's give the area another look."Rindo suggests. The four players search the scramble crossing for the true pig noise, and while they do so, Rindo runs into two members of the Deep River Society and takes note of what sounds like a code word used to communicate between fellow members. And not too long after, they get another message
"Lord Rindo! We have an incoming message!" says Nagi. "True gold boar spotted heading toward Center Street."
"Center Street again?" Fret sighs "Welp, no choice but to circle back."
"Yeah, and we'd better be quick." Says Rindo. They make their way to central street. Only to see if a member of the deep river society is heading there already.
"Quick! They'll beat us to-" Fret says in a hurry, but he's cut off by Shiki.
"We can't, there's a reaper in the way."
"You've got a good eye for a new player." The reaper remarks. "If you want through, you gotta fight some noise for me first."
"Shouldn't be a problem, Let's do this!" Rindo yells, hyping the team-up. The reaper waves his hand and creates a group of noise consisting of multiple wolf-like beasts and a large scorpion. Nagi and Fret keep a distance from the noise, attacking with their ranged pins while Rindo and Shiki team up to take down the scorpion. By working together, the two take out the noise with ease, but quickly hear cries from behind.
They turn to see Nagi desperately trying to erase a noise that's on top of and attacking Fret. Rindo dashes to the noise and hits it as hard as he can with his slash pin, knocking the beast off his friend and leaving it vulnerable to an attack from behind by Shiki, erasing it for good. They don't have too much time to rest though, as the reaper behind them speaks up.
"Hmmm . . . Maybe that was too easy. I'll whip up something a little tougher next time." the reaper remarks, before dissipating the wall behind him, and walking off.
"Guess we don't have time to rest. We should get going," Shiki suggests. Rindo nods and the four twisters walk back to the place where they had first met Shiki. Rindo scans upon entering the street and makes a startling discovery.
"Uh. . . Rindude, am I seeing things, or are there WAY more pigs than before?" asks Fret
"You're definitely not imagining it!" Shiki exclaims
"Where are they all coming from?" Rindo asks
"'Tis rather suspicious indeed. . ." Nagi says with a frightened look on her face
"Man, this is like looking for a golden needle in a piggy haystack" Fret remarks
"Just gotta keep our eyes peeled for the pig that's real. No time to waste on the fakes. Let's go!" shouts Rindo as he and the rest of the twisters begin searching the rest of center street. They search every nook and cranny, running into false pigs, members of the deep river , and someone possessed by noise along the way, but they don't find it in time before getting their next notification
"It's another message," says Shiki. "True gold boar spotted heading towards Spain Hill."
"Let's get it. For real this time." says Fret
"Yeah, we better hurry!" The four players run off to Spain hill as fast as they can, and upon arriving at the top of the hill, they don't find the golden swine, but rather, players.
"Well, look who's washed ashore: a pack of pig poachers." The Twisters look at the mysterious player with a stunned expression. "I must say, I didn't expect you to diverge from the mainstream like that. But we erected a formidable dam just in case you floated along in our little tributary. The Deep Rivers Society!"
"Uh. . . who are you?" asks Fret
"Hah! Don't make me laugh. I am the one and only Fuya Kawahara, team leader, and culvert connoisseur. "
"Go on Rindude, introduce yourself" Fret insists half-jokingly
"Me!?" Rindo is pushed forward by his friend and he stands face to face with the leader of their rival team. "Uh, Rindo Kanade."
"Nary a verb in sight." Nagi silently comments. Shiki practically jumps as a large man in a black hood walks past her and steps beside Rindo, his voice booming.
"Listen, you swaggering sinusoid. You don't belong here, so scram," shouts Minamimoto
"That guy. . . have I seen him before?" Shiki asks in her head.
"You would ask us to retreat before we claim our rightful reward?" Asks Fuya nervously
"Yep. and if you don't. . ." Sho curls his right hand into a fist and punches it into his left palm. "CRUNCH!" Minamimoto smirks. ". . . What'll it be?"
"Look, we don't want to fight you" Shiki speaks up, "But we won't hesitate to if we must."
"Maybe you should just cut your losses and split." Fret offers
"I appreciate the advice. But my comrades and I didn't make it this far by simply going with the flow. It's been an upstream swim, but we made it here through sheer grit and determination. And while our intel suggests your friend here is indeed quite formidable. . ." Fuya laughs in a sickly manner "That's precisely why we put preparations in place- so as not to get swept away." Suddenly, members of the Deep Rivers Society come out of every nook and cranny of Spain Hill and surround the Wicked Twisters.
"Uh-oh. . . We're surrounded!" The five twisters gather in a tight circle and look at their surroundings. "And not just by People-pigs too!"
"All to prevent us from poaching the prized pig. . ." Nagi laments
"A little flotsam won't stop us. If anything, it's given us a positional advantage! We will not allow ourselves to drift away when the going gets tough. If we merely float along wherever the river of life takes us, then we deserve to be trounced by the torrents of the downstream waters! We have just as much right to be here as anyone else! And we will fight for the right using the powers given to us, and return to the headwaters of the UG!"
"Rindo, Things aren't looking good for us, do you have a plan?" asks Shiki. Rindo doesn't know how to respond.
"I know exactly what you were thinking. You took one look at me and said, "This guy's just a wishy-washy pushover." I'm right, aren't I? Well, look who's up the creek without a paddle now."
"L-Lord Rindo, I fear we may be in rather d-dire straits. . ." Nagi comments nervously
"Um, Mr. Minami? A little help?" Rindo whispers
"Heh. Don't look at me. You got this, zeptogram." says Sho confidently
"No, I don't!" Rindo snaps, clearly panicking at this point.
"You can row, row, row all you want. . . but you won't go gently down this stream! Rejoice, comrades: the golden swine is all but ours! Wahahaha!" Fuya runs off alongside a few of his teammates, while the rest stand alongside the false gold pigs as they stand against the Twisters. Rindo closes his eyes, and everything suddenly fades to white.
". . . Huh? Wait- I remember this feeling! Does this mean there's a chance I can change things!? . .. Okay. If I can stop him from calling in reinforcements, and do something about the pack of pigs, then maybe we can turn the tables!" Rindo thinks back on his day and thinks of where to start. "That guy possessed by noise was strange. I should go there first." and in a flash, he's back to Central Street alongside Fret, Nagi, and Shiki. He notices Minamoto in the distance behind them, seemingly watching them, but brushes it off, and walks down central street with the rest of the Twisters.
"Urgh. . . Dammit! This is unacceptable. . ." says a frustrated man standing on the sidewalk.
"Dude feels cursed as hell." Fret comments "Wanna see what's up with him?"
"Yeah. . .Hey Nagi? Do you get like. . . a fake pig vibe from this guy?" Rindo asks
"Ah, so you can sense it as well. "Tis difficult to describe, but his scent resembles that of those sly swine. But alas, even if we erase his Noise, it shall afford us no points." Nagi concludes.
"I still think we should do something," argues Rindo. "Nagi, can you take us inside his mind?" Shiki looks over at him stunned
"Inside his mind? Is that her normal psyche?" Shiki asks in her head. Nagi nods at Rindo and scans the man's mind, before entering it alongside her teammates. Upon entering the man's mind, they find themselves in a blood-red rendition of Central street, and within seconds, the possessive noise appears before the Twisters, alongside the ill thoughts that plague the man. The twisters take out the noise with ease, save for one large noise resembling a shark. It dodges most ranged attacks from Fret and Nagi. Shiki and Rindo are forced to act as bait and lure it out of the ground, which works, but causes some minor injuries for the players as they were launched into the air by the noise. In the end, however, the noise was dealt with, and the man was freed from the intrusive thoughts.
"So the stuffed pig was the cause of all this," Shiki concludes.
"His mind was corrupted by the evil boars born from the doll. . . That corruption must have manifested as noise and worked its way to the world outside." Nagi hypothesizes.
"Geeze. . . Sounds like something out of a horror movie," Fret remarks
"I feel like we've seen too many pigs for this to be the only source." Rindo thinks aloud
"You think there's more!?" asks Fret
"We were the ones who got them sold in the first place. . ." Shiki recalls
"Who cares?" asks Fret "We've got bigger things to worry about. Like-oh, I dunno- the golden boar?"
"That's true. . . But I've got a bad feeling about this. I think we should investigate." says Rindo
"We could, but that guy's probably sold too many by now, there's no way we can get rid of all the noise and get the gold boar at the same time," says Shiki
"Hmm. . . " Rindo thinks deeply "If we can't stop it now, then we'll have to stop them from selling in the first place!" Rindo focuses energy into his black and red player pin. He thinks of when Shiki helped them learn to imprint, and in a flash, they're back to Central Street at approximately 11 am.
"See, not even Ryoji knows how to sell those things," says Fret.
"Let's make sure it stays that way." Rindo comments
"Huh? Why? I thought you said you were trying to imprint a slogan into his head?" Shiki asks
"Because we really don't want those things to sell. Those stuffed animals are cursed." RIndo explains vaguely
"Like by a witch or something?" Fret asks with complete seriousness.
"Not quite- by Ryoji whether he realizes he did it or not." Rindo answers
"There may be more to him than we assumed." Nagi thinks aloud.
"Anyway, we have to stop him from selling too many of those plushies. Or else a whole bunch of people will wind up cursed," says Rindo
"Whatever you say Rindude, Time to take this imprinting thing for a test drive," says Fret
"Let's do our worst!" Rindo exclaims
"What is going on? This is a complete 180 from what they were saying earlier." Shiki thinks to herself. "It seems they trust his judgment though. I'll help them out either way." Upon imprinting the worst slogan known to man into his head, the team prepares to head to Spain Hill when they hear a voice behind them.
"Gotta say, you've got a hell of a way with words." says the orange-haired reaper. "Not the phrasing I woulda pick, but at least you've got a handle on imprinting."
"You of all people. . ." Shiki thinks to herself, the scene of her friend's erasure permanently seared into her head even after three years, and that face and name still stick with her.
"You get a new player on your team and suddenly you just forget me? That hurts." says the reaper jokingly.
"Nah, Rindude's just shy around strangers." Fret responds.
"They know him already?" Shiki asks in her head "Guess he hasn't done anything to them. . . I have to make sure he isn't trying anything funny."
"We Reapers just can't help but take advantage of that sixth sense of his," says Kariya, referring to Rindo.
"The Reapers did this?" Nagi inquires
"Yup. Gotta keep the missions interesting, ya feel me?" Kariya gets a quick taste of his cherry-red lollipop before asking a question "Speaking of, how's today's mission treating you Twisters?"
"Meh. . . We might have to take the other teams directly," answers Rindo
"Are we actually having a normal conversation with a Reaper right now?" Shiki thinks in bewilderment.
"Oh? How proactive of you! Well then, good luck, you'll need it." says Kariya, before walking off. Shiki sighs.
"Finally, I thought he'd never leave." Shiki comments
"Not a fan of his?" Fret asks
"Definitely not. He was a reaper during my reaper's game as well." She explains. "I don't know what exactly changed since then, but Reapers and Players never just talked like that."
"Wow, looks like things have changed a lot since you were a player." Fret remarks. Rindo isn't paying attention anymore though, all he can do is think
"All right, that deals with the noise, but now we have to cut down their numbers. . . but where to start. . . maybe the beginning?" Rindo rewinds time back to the start of the day. As events play out, he finally runs into those two members of the deep rivers society and remembers something about one particular group of girls the deep rivers society members were talking about. By going through time he manages to distract them by reminding them of the event taking place that day, successfully distracting them from their primary goal.
"Let me see. . . I think there were more in Scramble Crossing. . . right?" Rindo fast forwards to when the four Twisters were in Scramble Crossing and sure enough, there were two, who noticed them almost immediately.
". . . Hm? Ah, you must be the messengers. Aren't you a bit early?" asks the member suspiciously, but he brushes it off. "Anyway, just tell us the password."
"The password? What password?" Rindo thinks for a moment but remembers what the pair had been discussing last time he had rewound time. "The river flows swift and clear" Rindo answers.
"What is he doing? Do we have time for this?" Shiki thinks to herself.
"The river flows swift and clear . . . That means it's time for us to go. Where's the meeting spot?" asks the rival team member.
"Where's a familiar location that's far from Spain Hill. . ." Rindo thinks. "Uh. . . By 104." Rindo replies.
"Roger that. We'll head there now. We can't mess this up. No way we're getting erased!" they say before running off to the wrong destination of 104.
"So the punishment for falling in last place by the last day is erasure. . . Should've guessed" Shiki thinks to herself
"So, uh. . . what was that?" asks Fret
"It's . . . hard to explain. . . But that should stop them from giving us any trouble later." Rindo answers.
Nagi seems to understand what Rindo is saying. "I see. . . They may be a few in number, but we are still fewer. Divide and conquer is an effective approach."
"There should be fewer members now, but there might be too many for us to fight even now. I need to stop just a few more from showing up. . . but where. . ." Fret thinks hard for a second, but then remembers "That's right! There were some in Central Street. If I can just get rid of them, that should be enough."
Rindo goes forward in time and learns that a pair of rival players are considering sneaking away and attempting to participate in a meet and greet, but can't because they don't know the specific date and time. Rindo manages to learn this after going back in time and visiting Tower Records where he learns that the stars the pair adore are arriving at 4 pm. He relays this information to the pair and successfully distracts them, at the expense of him looking like a massive fan to his teammates.
"I feel like we've been doing their team a lot of favors today. . ." Fret comments accusingly.
"It might seem like it. But we've really been distracting them." Rindo clarifies, "The more they're out having fun, the less we have to deal with them"
"Ohh, I get it. Good thinking, Rindude!" says Fret.
Meanwhile, not too far in the distance, Sho has come to a conclusion, but in return only gets another question. "No way those numbers are natural. . . But are they distributive or absolute?"
With all the changes made, Rindo is comfortable going with his decision to change fate. Things seem to proceed as planned for Fuya, when. . .
". . . But we erected a formidable dam just in case you floated along in our little tributary, the Deep Rivers Society!" There's a pause where nothing happens, and Fuya grows nervous. "Huh?"
"He, you talk a big game for a guy who's sorely outnumbered." Fret remarks with a smirk on his face
"Wh-what?" Fuya's anxiety rises within him.
Nagi decides to make things obvious for him. "Let's just say you shan't be receiving any reinforcements."
"This can't be. . ." Fuya cowers behind his book. Meanwhile, Shiki practically jumps as Sho walks by her.
"Listen, you swaggering sinusoid. You don't belong here, so scram, And if you don't. . ." Minamimoto curls his right hand into a fist and punches it into the palm of his left hand. "CRUNCH!"
"That guy. . . have I seen him before?" Shiki asks in her head.
"What'll it be?" Sho asks, a devilish grin forming on his face.
". . . N-no. I will not be cowed into submission by you thugs! We have just as much a right to b-be here as anyone else!" Fuya exclaims. "Y-you may think you've outsmarted me. . . b-but these quiet waters run deep! Watch out for the undertow! He shouts, before engaging the twisters in battle, he and his five teammates, versus Rindo and his four. Psyches clash as the two teams butt-heads. But during their fight, something else intrudes.
"Gooold! Gold pig alert!" Fret shouts.
"What inopportune timing. . ." Nagi laments.
"We'll need to take it out if we want any points today. . ." says Rindo.
"I'm on it! Just cover for me okay?" asks Shiki.
"Right!" Rindo responds. Nagi and Fret hit their foes with the strongest attacks they can muster, Sho brings them great pain as he deals with two members at once, hitting them incredibly hard with his ice-element pin, and Rindo goes head to head with Fuya. The two exchange blows, Fuya taking more than Rindo, who has the strength and speed to counter and dodge more than a handful of Fuya's attacks. As Shiki gets closer and closer to eliminating the Gold Boar, Fuya is forced to pull a trick out of his sleeve.
"Open the floodgates!" he exclaims.
"To your stations!" shouts another member of the enemy team.
The five teammates gather together and rise into the air before simultaneously launching projectile attacks at their foes, primarily towards Shiki. She attempts to dodge these attacks to the best of her ability but still manages to get hit a few times, resulting in her getting knocked off her feet. Rindo leaps into the air at one of the four and attacks with his slash pin, forcing him out of the air and causing the others to change targets, but they're quickly knocked to the ground as well and forced to continue fighting as normal, allowing Shiki to get back up, and with one final attack, finish off the gold boar.
"The boar-!" shouts one of their foes before being shut up and knocked out by Minamimoto, who quickly took down his other target now that he had one less to deal with. Fuya hyperventilates as he and his team are slowly getting more and more outnumbered. Fuya quickly pulls out an Uber pin and makes use of it.
"Here's a little trick I've been hiding up my stream. . ." he comments, before activating the pin. Suddenly, multiple explosives resembling deep-sea mines appear. They grow larger and flash red as they slowly approach detonation, and the Twisters are forced into the one area that lacks bombs in order to escape an explosive doom.
The four remaining members attempt to attack the Twisters while they're together, but this goes horribly wrong, as Nagi and fret manage to take one out on their own, Rindo and Shiki manage to knock another unconscious, and Sho manages to scare off Fuya and the other member. The last regular member attempts to create distance by shooting at the five, but he's quickly taken out by a coordinated attack by Nagi, Fret, and Rindo, leaving Fuya all alone. He looks down to his uber pin only to find that it's still recharging, and when he looks back up, his face goes pale as he sees Sho, Shiki, and Rindo all right in front of him, launching one last attack on him, which knocks him down to the ground, unable to fight any longer. Sho taunts him as Fuya crawls back away from him.
"Time for a little quiz: at what rate can I erase a floundering fractal like you?" before anyone can even guess, he answers his own question. "299.792,458 milliseconds." Three of the twisters stare blankly at Sho while Rindo pulls out his phone.
"Two hundred ninety ni- oh, the speed of light." Rindo comments.
"I'll give you one last chance to get lost," says Sho with a sharp-toothed grin. Fuya trembles as he crawls back, away from Minamimoto
"I- I. . . I- I. . . I s-s-sur- Sssur-rrr. . ." he stammers and stutters, struggling to find the will to speak as Sho towers over him. ". . . I surrender." tears rush like a waterfall from his eyes. "I SURRENDE-HE-HEEERRR!" he cries. Sho laughs to himself before walking off, leaving the other four twisters to watch as Fuya squirms on the ground.
"W-We worked so h-h-hard to stake our claim, and all that work went down the draaaaaaiiiiiiiin!"
"Yikes. . . I hate to lose, too, but is it really worth bawling about?" Fret asks nobody in particular
"I surmise some other factor is contributing to this excessive show of grief," Nagi answers
"I don't know if I should be happy or sad that none of them know the truth about erasure," Shiki thinks to herself
Suddenly, one member of the deep rivers society arrives just as the battle is officially over "C'mon, sir- the levees have broken. I'm afraid we have no choice but to retreat. I would have come sooner if I could, but I was off searching for our comrades: many of them have gone MIA!" he exclaims. "We may be in deep water, but our society will not simply stand and accept our erasure!"
"Erasure?" Rindo seems confused by this new term
"We'll rebuild the bulkheads. . . but for now, we must flee!" Fuya cries more as his teammates help him onto his feet and practically drag him away from Spain Hill once they're long gone, the Twisters turn together to talk about everything.
"Based on that uncontrolled outburst, I suspect his tears were less tied to one emotion and were more the embodiment of a crippling existential crisis," Nagi concludes.
"Maybe he was just upset about the whole "erasure" thing?" Rindo suggests
"It can't be THAT bad, can it? It's only a game" Fret remarks, causing Shiki to visibly and audibly wince. "Huh? Shiki you alright?"
"Oh, right, you were a player. Do you know anything about erasure?" asks Rindo. Shiki sighed shakily
"It's death." she answers a bit shakily.
"What?" Fret says, eyes wide.
"When someone gets erased. They ceased to exist as anything but a soul. There's very little anyone can do after that besides accept that you're gone." Shiki explains. "There's only one example I've heard of someone coming back from erasure, and the fact that they came back really does boil down to a lot of luck."
"Are you for real?" asks Fret, to which Shiki nods.
"So it seems he wasn't just having an existential crisis, but a severe mental breakdown," says Nagi grimly.
"I really feel bad now. . . but I'd rather it be them than us." Rindo admits, a bit ashamed
"I have to agree, as bad as erasure is, sometimes it just happens, and with the changes they've made to the game, it seems unavoidable now." Shiki remarks. And as that conversation comes to a close, so does day five of the game, as the results finally come to the Twister's phones.
"Today's results are in. . ." says Rindo. "The Wicked Twisters managed to complete the mission in record time."
"Alright, that's good. . ." Fret says, a bit less carefree and happy than usual.
"With the Ruinbringers remaining on top." Rindo finishes. Shiki keeps scrolling however and notices something.
"Hold on, there's something about a"team fight"." she says. "The Deep Rivers Society was in hot water, and before long, the Wicked Twisters had them all washed up."
"That's one way to rub salt on the wound." Fret remarks.
"'Twas a decisive victory, albeit a bittersweet one." says Nagi "In any case, Lord Rindo. We've avoided finishing in last place. A pat on our respective backs is in order."
"Yeah, I guess so. . ." says Rindo, managing to crack a small smile. Rindo's phone buzzes and finds that he's got a few messages from his friend, Swallow. He worries about how the two of them may be in the UG together, but pushes it aside, before getting interrupted by Fret
"Who're you texting?" asks Shiki
"My friend I made over FanGO." Rindo answers.
"Wait- how? Aren't they back in the RG?" asks Fret.
"They are. . . Or at least that's what I thought" Rindo answers
"He has a friend in the UG? Who could it be. . . Maybe Beat? I've never heard of him playing Fantasy Go. . . I guess we'll have to find out later. I have a feeling I'm gonna blink for a moment and find that the next day has already started." Shiki thinks to herself.