Heart of Akasha

Chapter 2: Fragmentation

When Ji-Han woke up, he heard the steady beeping of a heart rate monitor, like those that were used in hospitals. At first he was confused as to why he would hear such a sound, then his memories of everything that happened before came to him. That was enough to let him jerk off all the sleepiness, open his eyes and jump into a sitting position. Naturally at the same time the heart rate monitor's sounds increases in pace as his pulse accelerated.

But it was that sound that calmed him down again, as it meant that he was still alive. Not only that, someone had to connect the heart rate monitor to him, so there had to be other people here… wait! Don't say… he had only dreamed all of those things and nothing really happened?! Where was something to observe…

But any thoughts on using Observe on a random item were put on hold as when he looked around, he not only noticed that he wasn't in an actual hospital bed but something that more resembled a survival pod from a sci-fi movie with an open front, he also noticed a person sitting next to him on a swivel chair. A person, who had letters floating above her head, making his latest adventures not a dream.

[-ˀ?ˀ-
LV? Akitsu]

Akitsu was a young and extremely beautiful woman with light skin, short, light brown hair and gray eyes. She wore something that he thought resembled a Japanese Kimono with a black sash. Though he did think they usually didn't come with chains around the neck and – here Ji-Han had to blush – in between her well-endowed boobs which were only partly covered by her clothing thanks to the very low V-cut.

But for all her beauty, Ji-Han was still getting unnerved by her because she just. Kept. Silently. Staring at him with that blank expression, like there was nothing to live for anymore in the world. That was completely in contrast with the bright crimson symbols on her forehead, a yin-yang symbol with a winged bird above and two tomoe or comma left and right, with the left ones mirrored.

"Ehm… hi?" Ji-Han tried and, to his surprise, she actually answered back, even in a completely neutral tone:

"Hello."

That was all.

"Okay… ehm… I am Han Ji-Han." No reaction. "Who are you?"

"Akitsu." Again with that completely neutral tone.

"…so… where am I?"

"The hospital." To be fair, she wasn't wrong. It still didn't tell him anything new.

"Then, did you took care of me? Are you a nurse?" Not that he really believed that last part considering her attire, but who knew? He certainly didn't expect to be fighting against a demonic giant with a giant hole in its chest using a giant key.

"I am watching you", she, however, offered only as an answer to his question.

"…why?"

"Because Takami told me to."

"Takami? Are they the one who took care of me?"

Akitsu took a while, but when she answered, it with a "Yes." Good. That cleared up at last something. Still…

"….where is Takami now?"

"Outside."

"Do you now when they will be back?"

"No."

That was a pity.

"Did they perhaps tell you to tell me something when I woke up?"

A pause and then:

"No."

Huh. Takami didn't? Perhaps there was no choice for him but to wait until the doctor came back.

"…Takami told me to get her when she you woke up", Akitsu suddenly continued however, making Ji-Han stare at her incredulous.

"…then, don't you want to go to her?" He asked her, earning more stares from her.

"Ah", she finally exclaimed still with that same tone of voice, "I forgot."

Then she stood up and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her. Ji-Han let out a sigh. Damn, she was difficult to talk to. But at last now they were getting somewhere.

Waiting for Akitsu to come back with Takami, Ji-Han had nothing better to do but to look over his surroundings in more detail. That was when he noticed another blue transparent panel in front of him. But it didn't seem to have just appeared… did he just overlook it because he went up so fast?

{You have slept for eight hours in a comfortable bed.
Your HP and MP have been fully restored.}

"Bed" wasn't really the best word to describe what he was sitting in, but it was good to know he was back to full health. Looks like he didn't need to use the [Recovery Potion], after all. Speaking of which, where was it?!

Ji-Han looked down on himself and noticed that he didn't wear his own clothes but a white hospital gown. Did the doctor took the potion and the other drop items with his clothes when they redressed him? Hopefully. He didn't want to lose them.

Closing the panel, he now actually did look around the room. On the opposite wall where a bunch of windows, but he had difficulties making out anything outside as the lambs on the ceiling illuminated the room so much, the glass just acted as a mirror, reflecting his face back at him. Which probably meant that it was dark outside.

Next to him in a row lay more of the pots like the one's he was in, six to his left and three to his right and on the other side were ten more. All of them were closed with a dark blue yet transparent plastic-looking material but when he looked to the left, he could actually see people lying in them. And since he could see them, he could also see labels floating above their heads:

[Thousand Strings
LV? Mitsuki]

[Impulsive Lightning Twin
LV? Hikari]

[ˀ?ˀ
LV? Haihane]

[LV? Kujika]

[ˀ?ˀ
LV? Shiina]

[Avalanche Legs
LV? Ichiya]

Interestingly, they all had a level that he couldn't see, yet with some he could see a title while others had only question marks where the title would be and one didn't have even that. However, one more thing they all had in common was a name made out of a single word. Just like Akitsu. A coincidence? Probably not. Were they all orphans used in an experiment with Akitsu the only successful one?

That was the moment that the door opened and the smell of cigarettes assaulted his nose. In the door stood another slender woman, also with short hair, but this time of a grey color, framing her black eyes. And while she didn't have such an impressive mark on her forehead like Akitsu, there was a long scar over her left eye. She also wore an actual white lab coat with a black tie over a white top and black trousers, which made her look a lot more like a professional. And above her head:

[-Sekirei Caretaker-
Lv34 Sahashi, Takami]

Sekirei? What are Sekirei? Ah, first things first.

"Are you the one who took care of me?" He asked more out of formality than as an actual question. "Thank you very much!"

"You are welcome", she replied as she sat down next to him, Akitsu standing at attention behind her. "I am actually surprised you woke up. People who fall unconscious in Traverse Town usually don't wake up again. And you were such a picture of perfect health that I believed you to be another case."

Picture of perfect health? Oh.

"I am sorry for worrying you", apologized Ji-Han. "I just recently got a condition that lets my body heal extremely fast. So that is normal for me."

"Condition? That's pretty vague. You don't need to hide any supernatural abilities here in Traverse Town. After the destructions of our worlds, keeping any masquerade is pointless."

"Destruction of your worlds… so my world really was destroyed?"

"Yes. You are now in Traverse Town, a patchwork world made out of all the remnants of the worlds that were devoured by the Heartless. I am sorry for your loss."

Damn it! And after all that trouble he had gone through to take down the Darkside it looked like it had already been too late.

"So, what now?" He asked the doctor. "What am I supposed to do now?"

"First, the most important thing to do is to not give up hope. This is not just an empty saying, but the Heartless are beings drawn to negative emotions. If you give into despair, they will take your heart, effectively killing you and turning you into one of them. Thus it is important you do not give up hope and find something to live for. Either here in Traverse Town or with an organization traveling through the multiverse. The Leon Shop is often on the lookout for new staff and if you can use magic and are not afraid of combat, you could become a member of the TSAB. You should look around and talk to many people; to see what they do after their world got destroyed and then find your own path. If you have some medical knowledge or healing abilities, you could even work here at the hospital. It is up to you to decide."

"My decision, huh?"

He held out his hand and summoned his Keyblade, taking in its appearance as he thought on what he should do. All he had going for him was this, after all. This and [-The Gamer-]. Maybe he should join the TSAB, after all.

But his musings were interrupted by Takami's own, who was looking just as intensively at the Keyblade as he was, muttering "A key?" while staring at it.

"Ehm, is something the matter?" Ji-Han asked uncomfortable, making the woman bring her attention back to him.

"I think Genos-san from the Hero Union mentioned something about a key being important", she told him. "You should probably go talk to him. How useful is your key in battle?"

"As good as a crowbar, I suppose", he answered. "Why?"

"Because Heartless can only be defeated by supernatural abilities. And the way to the White Ant is long, so you will be meeting a lot. If you cannot defeat them, you should not be walking around alone. With 50 Munny, you can ask Yato-san to accompany you.

Munny is, what we call our local currency, by the way. It is the result of a system set up over Traverse Town by the Hero Union to transform the currencies into a single usable one. If you had any money on you when you got stranded here, it would have transformed into Munny. But since you just arrived, I would pay the cost this time."

"I guess it would be better to have some support before I know how I stack up against the Heartless here", conceded Ji-Han yet before either of the two could say or do anything else, the door was ripped open and a female voice spoke in a hurry:

"I've heard voices, is he awake…."

The newcomer stopped talking as she locked eyes with Ji-Han and the first thing Ji-Han though was 'BIG'. Which did not refer to her admittedly most impressive pair of breasts but her one giant eye with a red iris that took the space of half of her face. It was in fact so large that her light blue hair on her forehead was cut in an arc to prevent any from getting into the eye. Compared to that, her hourglass figure was only of a passing interest to him, no matter how tight the blue skirt and white blouse under her white lab coat stuck to her body.

Moreover, this one eye was now starting to fill with tears.

"You are awake!" She exclaimed, downright tearing up as she ran over to him and pulled him in a hug, smothering his face in her assets. Luckily for Ji-Han, his air supply wasn't restricted for long as she separated soon from him, to look him over from any angle.

"You are alright, aren't you?" She asked him while she did so. "You don't have any poison or deadly illnesses, where you die if you don't take medication, do you?"

"Ehm… no", he answered, making the Cyclops, for what else was a human with a single eye in the middle supposed to be, sigh in relief.

"Thank God", she exclaimed, making Takami snort.

"It was Ame-chan and Yuki-chan who found him. Don't forget to thank them, too", she commented as if there was a joke Ji-Han didn't understand.

"I didn't mean it like that", refuted the newcomer, "…but it would be appropriate in this situation."

[-Frontier Nurse-
Lv24 Manaka, Hitomi]

That was what Ji-Han could make out over her head, now that he got the chance for it. Quite the mundane description for someone who was not human. Not to mention that she was 10 Levels lower than Takami. It looked like he really couldn't trust any of his former common sense. But to the things at hand…

"What's that about God?" Wondered Ji-Han.

"We are talking about Yato-san", clarified Takami for him, "he's a god of deliveries and was also the one who brought you here after Ame-chan and Yuki-chan found you. If you want to thank him, the best way is to make use of his services. In fact, I was going to call him so that he could accompany him to the White Ant."

"Okay", Hitomi acknowledged. "Then I am going to bring his belongings." With that she stood up and walked out of the room.

"Now that I think about it", noted Takami as she went to remove all the cables from the medical equipment stuck on him, "you might want to ask for a map while you are in the White Ant. It will not be the most detailed or current one but with how often Traverse Town changes, it is difficult to make one. Fortunately locations don't generally vanish from Traverse Town. Usually there are only new ones added whenever a world is destroyed. That said, it is best to keep to the areas shown in the map and away from any edge. I don't know how your world was, but Traverse Town is mostly flat so we actually do have an edge one can fall off."

"Seriously?" Exclaimed Ji-Han in surprise and Takami nodded. "Huh. Thanks, I will keep that in mind."

Now Hitomi came back with Ji-Han's folded clothes, as well as a small plastic bag.

"Here are your clothes and what we found in the pockets", she said, lifting the plastic bag at the second part of the sentence.

"Good", added Takami. "Then we'll wait outside until you are dressed. Come out when you want to call Yato-san."

With that the two doctors left the room, leaving him alone… with Akitsu.

"A-Aren't you going to leave, too?" Ji-Han asked her uncomfortable.

"No", she answered prompt.

"…Why?"

"I am watching the Sekirei." Sekirei?

Ji-Han followed her gaze and came upon the six filled pots. Where those unconscious people these Sekirei?

"…Then do you mind, if I change behind you?" He asked, not wanting to argue with her and, getting a positive response from her, went to do so. Even if it was still awkward to change in the same room as such a beautiful woman. Wait. Who was the one who changed him into hospital clothes in the first place?!

Deciding strongly not to think about it, he quickly finished the change, folded the extra clothes and picked up the plastic bag.

"Goodbye, then", he told Akitsu who didn't show any reaction to his words. "Thanks for watching over me."

Still no response, so Ji-Han just opened the door and went out of the room, closing the door behind him.

"Thank you for the clothes", Ji-Han told Hitomi as he gave her the hospital gown, "and for taking care of me. But I guess I should be going now."

"Okay", noted Takami and… folded her hands.

"Huh, I guess I should have seen that coming", noted Ji-Han slightly bemused. Of course you would call a god by praying to it.

"That should do it", decided Takami finally. "Now we only have to wait. Any last questions before you depart?"

"Hmm…." What should he ask? Maybe he should take her earlier advice and try to find out what kind of work would await him in the hospital.

"…is taking care of newcomers all you do? And how often does that happen?"

"Taking care of people who are stranded in Traverse Town is actually pretty rare", Takami confessed. "We generally take care of injuries and sick people. Though our workload in regards to the first half did get reduced quite a lot after the arrival of our White Mage Sakoshita-chan."

"So you actually only need people to take care of illnesses", noted Ji-Han who couldn't stop a quick glance to the room behind him, which Takami and Hitomi noticed.

"Indeed", confirmed Takami with sadness in her voice. "But the people in the room behind you are not actually ill. They are Sekirei, a race of aliens that bond with humans. However, when the Ashikabi, the human they had bonded with, dies or rather, when their psychic link is broken, they cease to function. Only eight Sekirei made their way to Traverse Town and out of these eight only two managed to stay conscious. One was lucky enough to come here with her Ashikabi, the other was not able to bond in the first place."

"And that's why you were worried, I might have a similar condition", realized Ji-Han and Hitomi nodded.

"And then there was still the chance you could have a deadly illness that needed specific medication we couldn't provide. We lost some people that way."

"Hello! Thank you for calling! Fast, affordable, and reliable! Delivery God Yato, at your service!"

Ji-Han nearly yelped in surprise when suddenly a new person appeared right next to him, shouting those words. The person in question was a handsome young man with dark purple to black hair and bright blue eyes. He wore a darker blue tracksuit with light blue lines along the sides of the sleeves and a small golden crown at the left side of his chest. At the bottom the tracksuit was tucked into two brown leather boots and around his neck was a neckerchief that had definitively seen better days. Its edges were ragged and its previously blue color faded into near white. Lastly, and that was the only thing that actually made him look a bit special, was a leather belt around his waist with small knife attached to it.

Still, even with that, this guy didn't really look like a god. But he did introduce himself as Yato. And for once Ji-Han had to actually take that at face-value because above the guy's head were only question marks. Unlike any other person he had seen before, not counting the truth seeker since he had been in a puppet, even the space where the name was supposed to be was filled with question marks. That was as good as any way to tell him that the person was more than he appeared.

"Sometimes you have really have the worst timing", commented Takami and Yato was taken aback.

"Huh? What? But you called for me, didn't you?!" He exclaimed downright frantic and Takami shook her head.

"I did. We were just having a serious conversation before we interrupted. No matter. I want you to take… oh, I apologize." She turned to address Ji-Han. "We have yet to introduce ourselves. I am Sahashi Takami and these are Manaka Hitomi and Yato."

"Oh, I am Han Ji-Han ", he introduced himself sheepishly, realizing he, too, had forgotten to do so before. Was that because he could see the names of other people before they did so?

"Han. Jee. Han?" Repeated Takami slowly. "I am sorry, but which part would be the surname?"

"Huh?" Ji-Han let out in confusion. "Which part...? Oh." So that was it: They didn't know the Korean naming conventions. Makes sense. Their own names sounded more Japanese, if his knowledge of anime didn't fail him and coming from another world they might not even have met a single Korean before.

"It's just the first Han that's my family name. Ji-Han is my first name. Huh, I guess that is where the comma comes in handy."

"Comma?" Inquired Hitomi curious and Ji-Han flinched. Damn, he didn't meant to say that out loud. Wait. Did it really matter? It wasn't like he had to keep his abilities secret here.

"I actually knew your names beforehand", he admitted. "It was probably why I forgot to introduce myself. I can in fact see the names of people floating above their head – or at last most people." The last part he added with a glance towards the god next to him. "There is a comma which separates the family name from the first name and I just thought that this comma might be there exactly to avoid confusions with names from different cultures."

"Seeing people's names?" Repeated Hitomi astonished. "You have an Iris?"

Iris? Something told him the Cyclops didn't meant the biological part.

"He also has enhanced healing and weapon summoning", added Takami, then addressed Ji-Han: "An Iris, short for Mystic Iris, refers to an ability that lets you see things that aren't normally visible or even there, like a filter before your eyes. It is a sub-division of Mystic Eyes, which basically include all eyes with supernatural abilities. The term Iris was introduced by Sasamori-chan who can see whether or not a person is suited for a task and comes from a world where 99 percent of children have such an Iris. Unfortunately she is the only child from her world to have made it into Traverse Town. I suspect Hitomi was thinking of introducing you to her so that she would have someone familiar to the people of her home world to talk to."

"There is still nothing against that idea?" Hitomi pointed out. "Give it a thought, okay? Just look for Chie's Apartment Building if you want to talk to her."

"I'll do", promised Ji-Han, "but for now…"

"Right", exclaimed Takami and gave Yato a small yellow orb. "Please accompany Han-kun to the White Ant and protect him from the Heartless."

"Your wish… ", Yato said as he took the orb, flicked it into the air and caught it, before holding it between the index and middle finger of a peace sign near his head, "has been heard loud and clear!"

"Yes, he does that every time he gets a request", confirmed Takami the question Ji-Han had in his mind but didn't voice.

"Once again, thank you very much for taking care of me", he instead told the two doctors. Takami just answered with a "you are welcome" while Hitomi told him to come back and visit. And with these parting words, Ji-Han left them behind, for the first time getting to actually see Traverse Town.

It was night and millions of stars hang in the clear sky, visible through the buildings of many different shapes and sizes. Yet the buildings weren't too different as they all still followed the theme of big urban city. It could have given the illusion of him still being in his home world, if it weren't for the fact that the only light came from oil lanterns and glowing orbs on a stick while the actual street lambs were dark. Curious, Ji-Han used [Observe] on one the supernatural sources of light, yielding:

{[Simple Lacrima Lantern]
A lantern of the most simplistic design
using a Lacrima to generate light.}

Lacrima? What was a Lacrima? Probably the crystal orb that was on top of it…

But as Ji-Han turned around, he noticed something else.

"…this doesn't look like a hospital", he commented as he took in the sights. "In fact, this looks like a school building!"

"It was a school building", confirmed Yato. "Originally. As far as I've heard, they converted it into a hospital because there wasn't yet a functional hospital the time they needed one. At the entrance there is actually still the plate saying 'Tokisadame High School'. But all that was before I got stranded in Traverse Town. You've got a better chance to ask Hitomi if you want details."

"Hitomi-Ssi?"

"Yeah, she's actually older than she looks. In fact, she's actually one of the first ten people to be stranded in Traverse Town. Or at last, one of the first ten who survived up until now."

"Do people often die here?" Ji-Han inquired nervously but Yato shook his head.

"Not anymore. In the beginning, yes, but now there are enough people for company to prevent deaths out of despair and enough of them are strong enough to stop direct attacks from Heartless. After the Leon Shop settled in, we generally only loose people to age or in the first few days after they arrived, if they can't deal with the situation. But you seem to take it all pretty well. If you were to let yourself die it would be like a suicide."

"I think the situation just hadn't had the chance to sink in", guessed Ji-Han and Yato had to concede the point.

"True, that could be. But just because something bad happened, it isn't a reason to give up! You aren't one of the first Traverse Town residents who had to do everything they could to survive. As long as it's not harming anyone else, you can practically do anything you want. So you should just try out different things and see what you like."

"Takami-Ssi said something similar", remembered Ji-Han and Yato… pouted?

"Are you telling me, you wouldn't have believed me, if Takami hadn't said anything before?" He actually pouted, making Ji-Han quickly try to placate him.

"This wasn't what I meant at all!" He proclaimed. "It is just that… the more people give you the same advice, the less likely it is to be bad advice, right?"

Yet before Yato could respond, six small black orbs appeared in front of them. But only for a second. Then they transformed into humanoid things. They were the size of a child but had body proportions not belonging to one. Their arms were incredibly thin yet their hands were incredible large and ended in red claws. Their feet were stuck in black shoots with spiral tips and their head was covered by a silver knight's helm whose tip ended in a spiral similar to these on its toes and had two more spirals painted on it in black.

Besides those, and its face, which was just a dark surface with two round yellow-glowing eyes, the whole body was covered by a dark-blue skin-tight bodysuit, which had a specific symbol on the chest-area. The symbol was black and red in color, black for the contents and red for the lines. The outline was close to a heart but for the tip which ended in a curved cross, like one of those halberd-symbols seen on flag and at the center of the heart crossed two lines who were adorned with triangles like thorns.

"Time to work!" Decided Yato and charged forward.

'FAST!' Was Ji-Han's only thought as the god moved forward faster than Ji-Han could follow, only really visible the four times he changes direction.

In the end, it had taken little more than an instant and Yato was back at Ji-Han's side and all the creatures exploded into clouds of darkness at the same time.

"That was impressive", Ji-Han had to admit and Yato beamed.

"It was, wasn't it? That just shows that I am indeed the best god in Traverse Town!"

"Are there many gods in Traverse Town?" Ji-Han inquired curious, visibly stumping the self-proclaimed best god.

"Ahem, well, three. If you count D. And Yuuko." In other words, he was the only one.

"That aside", declared Ji-Han, "would it be possible to leave one for me the next time? I'd like to see how I match up against the local enemies."

"These are just cannon fodder so I suppose it would be good if you can take them down", he agreed as they continued to walk. "But if the Guard Armor shows up, I'll take it down at once."

"Guard Armor?" Inquired Ji-Han and Yato nodded.

"Yeah, it's really annoying since it makes all the other Heartless more aggressive. And since it's a Heartless, no matter how many times we take it down, it always comes back at some point. Like I said, really annoying."

"Heartless come back?" asked Ji-Han in surprise and Yato nodded, just as four more of the heartless in armor appeared.

"Heartless are pretty much just hearts or negative emotions taking shape and attacking everyone", he explained as he took care of three of them and held up the fourth by its helmet as it tried to claw at him unsuccessfully. "They just reform after a while after being destroyed. Which reminds me, can you even destroy them? Heartless are pretty much immune to anything not supernatural, so unless you are using chi or aura or something like that, martial arts are pretty much useless on them. I've got a knife made out of demon parts but what about you? Takami said something about summoning a weapon?"

"Right", confirmed Ji-Han. "I just used this to take down little shadow-like heartless."

He sat down his bag of item drops, summoned the Keyblade and held it in front of him in a fighting stance-like position.

"Alright, let it… wait, just keep it for a bit longer. [Observe]!"

Thinking it might be a good idea to study the enemy when it was already immobile like that, Ji-Han used [Observe] on it.

{Soldier Lv4
HP: 48/48
Type: Emblem-Heartless
Heartless that emerge from various places. They are brisk in their movements, and rush into their opponents.}

But at the same time the panel for the enemy appeared, Ji-Han's attention was brought away from it. That was because of Yato suddenly shouted:

"IS THAT A KEYBLADE?!" The god had lost is laid-back demeanor and was staring aghast at the object in Ji-Han's hand. But Ji-Han was just as surprised.

"You know what a Keyblade is?" He inquired. "Aren't you from another world?"

Yato shook his head.

"A Keyblade is so special because it is not bound to a single world", explained the god. "We do not know exactly how they are created or how they do what they do, but Keyblades are able to open and close anything. Including paths between worlds and their hearts.

You remember how I said Heartless cannot be defeated permanently? With a Keyblade you can forget that. They release the trapped heart, effectively destroying the Heartless and sending the heart to the afterlife or wherever else the heart goes if it doesn't have a body. Which takes care of the Heartless permanently. The Hero Union used a worlds-wide survey to find information on how to deal with Heartless and the Keyblade is the only thing that popped up.

But no one could actually find one. Not the TSAB, not Zelretch, not Yuuko. For it to suddenly appear randomly like that… how did you get it?"

"I don't know", admitted Ji-Han. "The Seeker of Truth just opened the keyhole, the world got reduced to the side of an island, the Darkside showed up and suddenly I got the Keyblade. I have no idea how exactly that happened."

"Hmm… I know too few things about the Keyblade to tell. Maybe that was why Takami wanted you to go meet Genos. As a member of the Hero Union he can just ask them through the BBS if he doesn't remember."

"BBS?"

"Yeah, the Hero Union has a worlds-spanning Bulletin Board System. Unfortunately it's invite-only and the one doing the inviting is the BBS itself. Good luck getting it to accept you. But it's still instant messaging to any world with a member, so it's pretty good for information gathering and sharing. So let's go and ask Genos about the Keyblade!"

"Okay!" Responded Ji-Han to his enthusiasm. "Can I still…"

Without any further ado, Yato threw the Soldier-Heartless at Ji-Han. Quickly regaining his bearing, Ji-Han swatted the enemy out of the air, sending it flying towards the ground.

"[Observe]", activated Ji-Han. {26}, huh? Barely over half…

"[Power Strike]!" Ji-Han attacked the downed Soldier, instantly eliminating it with the increased damage from the skill, giving him {+24 EXP}. However, unlike when Yato had eliminated the Heartless, a pink and a bit fuzzily outlined yet sill heart-shaped crystal rose from the corpse, letting it fly into the sky before it just vanished into thin air.

"…is that what you meant with releasing the hearts."

"…yeah", mumbled the god. "A bit more obvious than I expected but sure, that works. That said, let's go. I'll take this for now." The last part was directed at Ji-Han's bag of belongings, which Ji-Han approved of. Yato could take down Heartless without breaking a sweat, opposite to him, who still had to concentrate and would be hindered greatly by carrying anything.

The next time they came upon enemies, it were three Soldiers and two Shadows. Yato took quickly care of the Shadows, leaving the Soldiers for Ji-Han. Or rather, two of them. The last one went after the god on its own. An [Observe] revealed one of them to be of {Lv5} with {52 HP}. But before he could use [Observe] on the second one, the first was already upon him, scratching at his face. Ji-Han jumped away in haste and then used a [Power Strike] to knock away his foe.

To his surprise, a flashy {Critical} proclaimed the enemies fate of instant-defeat, followed by a {+31 EXP}. Right, he did have a higher critical rate with [Power Strike], didn't he?

He pushed the second Soldier back with just a normal attack and used [Observe] on it then.

{Soldier Lv5
HP: 28/50
Type: Emblem-Heartless
Heartless that emerge from various places. They are brisk in their movements, and rush into their opponents.}

Were all the Soldiers here around that level? It certainly seemed like it. In that case the best way to deal with them would be to open with a [Power Strike] and then take them down with a normal attack if he didn't CRIT.

He avoided the swipe of the Soldier by stepping to the side and attacked its back. Unfortunately that did not give him a Critical but it was pretty easy to take down the Heartless before it had the chance to turn back around.

{+28 EXP}, good. Wait.

Ji-Han took a closer look at the place where the Soldier had been.

"That hadn't been there, had it?" Wondered Ji-Han as he activated [Observe] on the object.

{[Scrap Iron (1dm³)]
A piece of metal that has no current use. But it can be recycled.}

PING!

{[Observe]'s Level has risen by 1.}

"The Soldier just dropped Scrap Iron and my [Observe] leveled up", noted Ji-Han. "Great!"

"Drop? Level?" Repeated Yato and Ji-Han nodded.

"Besides the Keyblade, I actually have another ability. Do you know video games? I am basically a character in one of them. Seeing names, levels and stats, getting skills, getting quests, losing HP instead of getting wounds and enemies sometimes drop items."

"…seriously?" Exclaimed Yato and Ji-Han nodded.

"Seriously."

"…Elena did say that in her world they had things like levels and stats. But I have yet to hear from anyone able to make Heartless leave objects behind."

"Huh. That's special?"

"Special? Heartless are pretty much just twisted hearts. They don't have physical bodies! Your ability is pretty much creating something from nothing!"

"Huh. So you are saying, my ability… it's actually pretty amazing?!" The last part Ji-Han said with glee at the thought that his ability was actually a lot more impressive than he first thought.

"As far as rarity goes, at last", interjected Yato. "Creating objects out of nothing after you defeat an enemy doesn't mean anything if you can't defeat it first."

"Right", Ji-Han conceded and handed the Scrap Iron over to the god, but he just stared at it confused.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" He asked and now it was Ji-Han's turn to look confused at the other.

"You do have my bag, don't you?"

"Oh, yeah", Yato conceded sheepishly. "I guess your ability does not come with an inventory then?"

"It could have one", Ji-Han admitted, "but even if it did, I'd had no idea how to activate…" Wait.

"… [Inventory]."

At once a brown panel appeared in front of his eyes. It was split vertically into two areas, the right made out of a grid of dark brown squares and the left showing the silhouette of a human figure with multiple dark fields depicting different objects like a helmet, a shield, rings and bracelets. However, there were other fields that were not dark. Instead they depicted objects more clearly than the other fields, all on a light blue background. One field at his chest showed his blue t-shirt, one at his waist showed his black trousers and one at his feet his blue sneakers. At his right hand was a field with a key and below that a field with a golden globe, resembling the one hanging from his Keyblade.

Wordlessly he took the Scrap Iron from Yato in his free hand and suddenly the dark field next to the right hand of the figure was filled with a picture of the very same Scrap Iron. Then he held it towards one of the empty field on the right side. There the surface rippled and the Scrap Iron was downright absorbed into the surface, leaving his hand, as well as the left hand of the pictured person and appearing at the very same field that Ji-Han had pressed it against.

Oh. My. God. He had an inventory!

"Was that really the first time you tried that?!" Yato asked incredulous, making Ji-Han blush.

"Oh, give me a break", he told the god as he bag of spoils from him. "I had that ability for like four days in a world where the supernatural hides itself. At the beginning I thought I was hallucinating!"

Huh, so the plastic bag only took up one item slot. Looks like anything in a container stayed in that container… speaking of item slots, did he had a maximum item limit?

"You can stare at it later", Yato ripped him out of his thoughts. "Right now we've gotta get a move on!"

"Ah, right", Ji-Han acknowledged and closed the panel. "Does that mean I can't test my strength against the Heartless? I kinda wanted to see how I do against multiple enemies."

"I guess you should", conceded Yato. "How about the next time we meet them, you just go for it and I'll bail you out if it gets too much?"

"Deal."

Of course, the next time enemies appeared, it was only a single lonely Soldier. Though the [Observe] showed that it was a little bit more powerful:

{Soldier Lv8
HP: 75/75
MP: 24
Type: Emblem-Heartless
Heartless that emerge from various places. They are brisk in their movements, and rush into their opponents.}

Ji-Han rushed towards the Soldier and it suddenly jumped into the air. There it did multiple rolls before stretching out its right leg and smashed it down. Luckily, Ji-Han hadn't decided to just see what would happen and, as soon as the Heartless had started its acrobatics, he had jumped to the side, making the attack miss him easily and giving the perfect opportunity to get a hit in. But as he went for the second one, Yato called out:

"Behind you."

Ji-Han was already in motion and so he still hit the Soldier lightly, but as soon as he could react, he jumped away to the side. {-5} It wasn't fast enough, however, and the light damage at the first Soldier was returned in kind by a second one who scratched Ji-Han at his arm.

"[Power Strike]!" Ji-Han turned around to swat away the back-stabber, directly past a Shadow. Fearing for more surprises, Ji-Han quickly dashed to the right, passing a second Shadow. Once he decided, he was far away enough, he turned back and took a quick look at the situation. Two Shadows and three Soldiers. All in all, too many enemies at once to play around.

"[Power Strike]!" He used on the first Shadow coming after him, but to his surprise the Shadow did not disperse as he hit it. Instead it flew through the air. Weren't those supposed to be weaklings?!

"[Power Strike]!" This time his target was a Soldier who came clattering towards him. As in, the movements were irregular and the metal parts on the helmet clashed against each other, resulting in a clattering sound. But like the others, he too, was thrown back when hit with the skill.

"[Power Strike]!" The second shadow had reached him, yet as Ji-Han was prepared to knock it away, too, it suddenly flattened itself and slid over the ground.

"Damn it!" Cursed Ji-Han and he ran to the left again. Too many Heartless had already reached his current place and he did not want them to surround him. And he could use this opportunity to [Observe] them. Especially these surprisingly tough Shadows.

{Shadow Lv7
HP: 1/41
MP: 18
Type: Pureblood-Heartless.
A Heartless that emerges from various places. It is completely
untouchable while hiding within the darkness.}

Okay, so it was at a higher level than the ones the Darkside had called. Wait. 1 HP?! You've gotta be kidding me! Forgetting everything else, Ji-Han made a beeline for the Shadow he had hit earlier and, ignoring the Soldier next to it, just tapped it with his Keyblade as he ran past it while it tried to claw at him, dissolving it into black particles. {+21 EXP} One down.

Ji-Han curved around and realized that the Heartless were all a bit less nimble than he was. Or rather, they had not as much initiative, often just standing around while one or two attacked. And once they attacked, they just stood around for a while. At last if they missed. It seemed as if these were indeed just small-fry.

"[Power Strike]!" He used on a Soldier from above who, unlike the Shadows, did not have a fancy evasion move and was hit right on the head, resulting in its sprawling on the round. Ji-Han used the tip of the Keyblade to pin it to the ground, quick looking around how eager the others were to attack.

Unfortunately there were still four other enemies so he couldn't take his time with the one on the ground as another Soldier went after him. Ji-Han quickly went out of the way as it jumped into the air and performed a series of kicks, which would have most likely hurt if they had connected. But as it was, Ji-Han just ignored it and went after the third Soldier with another [Power Strike], sending him down on the ground. And, seeing that the other enemies were still a bit behind him, followed up with yet another one.

That was finally enough to take it down, resulting in {+42 EXP} and another item drop.

"Sweet", exclaimed Ji-Han as he picked it up and promptly got send towards the ground by an impact against his back. {-12}

When he looked up, he saw the Shadow just landed some feet in front of him.

"Bastard!" Shouted Ji-Han as he picked himself up and swung his Keyblade at it.

"[Power Strike]", he shouted and hit true, but only with a normal attack. The signature glow was missing and the Shadow was not thrown back. Instead it just clawed at him. {-5}

"Screw you!" Ji-Han told it and attacked it again, this time destroying it. {+24 EXP} But even with that he didn't feel satisfied as he still had two Soldiers to deal with. And it seemed that [Power Strike] used MP, which meant that he couldn't use it for now.

{[Blunt Weapon Mastery]'s Level has risen by 1.}

Thank god for small mercies.

His Keyblade in hand he waited for the first of the two last Soldier to come towards him. He easily avoided the swipe, but then the Soldier suddenly followed up with a thrust, which took Ji-Han by surprise. {-12HP} But Ji-Han pushed through the pain and hit the enemy, destroying it. {+45 EXP} One left.

The Soldier jumped into the air, spinning vertically and attacking Ji-Han with its outstretched leg. But Ji-Han went to the side and hit his enemy twice. Once before it could recover, once while it did so. Then it swiped at Ji-Han the same time he struck it. {-15 HP} {+46 EXP}

"Finally!" Exclaimed Ji-Han exhausted. "I thought it would never end."

"Want to go at it again?" Inquired Yato, making Ji-Han snort.

"Hell, no", he declared. "You can take the next ones. I am all out of MP!"

"Yeah, I guessed as much. But it seems as if running away would work if you ever got into a sticky situation. Here. You dropped these."

With that Yato held two objects towards Ji-Han. It were literally monster drops.

"I didn't even notice them dropping a Lucid Shard", he confessed as he put the item in question into the [Inventory]. And then the Scrap Iron that he dropped after getting hit by that Shadow… wasn't that thing a bit light to be iron?!

"[Observe]!"

{[Scrap Aluminum (1dm³)]
A piece of metal that has no current use. But it can be recycled.}

Huh. It was aluminum and not iron. That explains it.

"Let's go", suggested Yato and Ji-Han agreed.

Six random encounters later, which the only interesting part being a new enemy, the Air Soldier who was like a winged version of a soldier with a brown leathery aviator cap, and they arrived at a large white building.

It was symmetrical from the front, heaving a rectangular hangar at the front with a roof slanted upwards towards the rest of the building which seemed to have the shape of a hexagon or octagon, it was a bit difficult to tell which one from the front. Nevertheless, three rows of windows went around the whole building above the space where the roof from the hangar was connected to the main building and long thin concrete constructs when in a sixty-degree angle from the mostly flat top of the building to the ground. Probably as some sort of support. And most memorable were the letters on the slanted roof of the hangar spelling {Another Logic Counter Agency}, as well as a crude picture of an ant that someone had drawn below it by hand.

"I am guessing, this is the White Ant?" Reasoned Ji-Han and Yato nodded.

"Yeah. As you can tell, this one had at some point belonged to some government agency before it got stranded in Traverse Town. Which means it's pretty sturdy so the mayor's using it as the central for Traverse Town. Genos should be here, too."

"So, do we ring the bell or do we just go in?" Inquired Ji-Han and Yato shrugged.

"I usually just go in. I also don't think the bells work. Any electricity we get our hands on goes normally to the hospital. Let's use the direct route."

"Sure", responded Ji-Han, only to yelp in surprise as Yato swooped him of his feet and into a bridal-carry.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Shouted Ji-Han embarrassed. Yet Yato didn't answer. He jumped.

In a single bound he has reached the top of the slanted roof and looked through the window in the middle of the lowest row. Though window was a bit of misleading as it was more like the whole wall of the room behind was made out of glass

"Lucky!" He exclaimed as he knocked against an actual window with wooden frame in the middle of the glass wall, while Ji-Han was hanging on for his life. Soon the window was opened and Ji-Han noticed a middle-aged woman with short blue hair and golden eyes, wearing a blue business suit.

"How often do I have to tell you to use the door?" She asked exasperated and Yato shrugged.

"That's what the window is for, isn't it?"

"It's an emergency exit in the case of emergencies!" She elaborated. "Not to be used as a simple shortcut. And you even brought someone along this time?"

"The door is way too out of the way", complained Yato and he dropped Ji-Han inside. "And Takami wished for me to bring him to Genos."

"To me? What can I help with?"

Genos was, to make is short, a cyborg. He had short blond hair and a human face, except for the eyes, which were glowing in a mechanical yellow in a black sclera. His arms and neck were clearly made out of black-colored metal, too, but the rest was covered by a white sleeveless sweater and his black trousers and sneakers. And above his head were all question marks with the exception of his name.

This stood in strong contrast to the woman who had opened the window for them:

[-Traverse Town Secretary-
Lv12 Sagiri, Mikage]

But there was someone else in the room who Ji-Han could not anything from besides the name:

[ˀ?ˀ
-ˀ?ˀ-
Lv? Hitoyoshi, Zenkichi]

Zenkichi was a man of middle age whose blond hair was barely an inch long and the first wrinkles started to appear around his blue eyes. But Ji-Han himself had no idea they were there as they completely blended in with the many scars the man had crisscrossing over his face and his arms. With the black suit and tie, as well as the sheathed katana decorated with goldfishes leaning on the table next to him, he looked like he belonged to some mafia.

Speaking of the table, he and Genos were sitting on opposite sites on a wooden conference table with each of them having sheets of paper lying in front of them. The place next to Zenkichi had also such sheets of paper and it soon became as to why as it was where Mikage sat down while Ji-Han was studying the people.

"We were just going over the funds Traverse Town gets from the Hero Union", explained Mikage. "But please, introduce us, if you belief it to be more important."

"Aha", Yato exclaimed, "I, the Yatogami, am proud to tell you that your prayers have been answered! For this boy next to me, Han Ji-Han, is the owner of a real Keyblade!"

"A Keyblade?" Zenkichi repeated and studied Ji-Han with interest, making the Gamer fidget uncomfortable, before he turned back to Genos. "I belief the Hero Union had information on how it can defeat Heartless permanently?"

"I had actually assembled a dossier on the facts and speculations the Hero Union had on the Keyblade", noted Mikage. "Please wait while I get it."

With that the secretary stood up and left the room, leaving the males behind.

"Can we see the Keyblade?" Genos asked and Ji-Han held out his hand, summoning the special weapon.

"That is a unique visual effect", commented Genos on the digital letters and numbers that always appeared when Ji-Han summoned his Keyblade. "And my scanners cannot determine the material it is made of. Have you used it against Heatless, yet?"

"Yep. And when he defeats an Emblem-Heartless, there literally is a heart-shaped crystal flying away."

"Speaking of", interrupted Ji-Han, "why does that only happen with Emblem-Heartless? Why not with Pureblood? Shouldn't all Heartless release hearts?"

"That is because only Emblem-Heartless are full hearts", explained Zenkichi "Pureblood-Heartless just come from the darkness, the negative emotions, inside people's hearts. There is no trapped heart to release."

"Doesn't that mean that the Keyblade is as good as any other weapon when dealing with Pureblood-Heartless", wondered Ji-Han and Yato shrugged.

"Could be", he admitted. "But it could also be that it disperses the negative emotions for good while other weapons just bring them out of order temporarily. Unfortunately there is no way to check."

"But defeating Heartless is not the only thing the Keyblade is capable of", interjected Genos. The reason we even need the dossier is because there are so many abilities attributed to the Keyblade."

"Oi, what exactly did this [Observe] of yours tells you when you use it on the Keyblade?" Yato asked. "If it's your own ability, so you should already have gotten something, right?"

"Oh", voiced Ji-Han sheepishly. "I haven't thought of that. [Observe]."

{[Gaia Key]
The Base-Form of the Gamer's Keyblade.
Decreases damage taken by 50% when in clearly
disadvantageous situations.}

"No good", commented Ji-Han. "It just tells me what kind of Keyblade I have, not what a Keyblade is. But Base-Form? Sounds like I can upgrade it."

"Transformation was one of the abilities I remember hearing about", noted Genos. "But I have doubt all of them are correct. One mentioned the Keyblade transforming into a full spaceship."

"I am back", announced Mikage as she came in with the dossier in hand. "According to our research, the Keyblade is, as the name would suggest, a weapon in the general shape of a key." She took a look at Ji-Han's Keyblade. "The specific details differ from source to source but that just supports the theory that Keyblades are weapons connected to the owner's heart, taking a shape specific to the user and are unable to be used by anyone else. Would you like to try?"

The last part she addressed to Yato who shook his head.

"I'll pass. We have no idea how a Keyblade would punish someone else trying to use it", he explained. "For all we know it could turn you into a cat or something."

"I doubt that exact thing would happen but you do have a point", conceded Zenkichi.

"Though I can at last let go of it", interjected Ji-Han who, out of curiosity, had put it down on the table and let go of its handle. "So it's not like a cursed item."

But as he went to grab it again, it suddenly vanished in flash of digital letters and reappeared in Ji-Han's hand with the same visual effect.

"It seems to be a personal weapon, after all", commented Mikage as she looked down on the dossier, again. "The abilities attributed to the Keyblade fall generally into two categories: Effecting locks and effecting hearts. Under 'Effecting Locks' fall all mentions of the Keyblade opening or closing anything imaginable, from simple doors and treasure chests to demon lord-suppressing seals and pathways between worlds and even the Akashic Records themselves. It is also said that nothing opened with the Keyblade can be closed without one and vice-versa."

"Let's try it out", suggested Yato enthusiastically. "We do have a door right there."

"Go ahead", told Genos Ji-Han who went over to the door of the office. Now, how should he got about it?

"Open Sesame", he said as he pointed the Key towards the door, but nothing happened.

"Maybe you should knock first", suggested Yato, earning him a stern look from Mikage but Zenkichi placated her.

"There is nothing wrong with trying", he reasoned, so Ji-Han did just that, hitting the door with the Keyblade twice in a row. This actually did the trick and the door swung open all by itself.

"Huh, that actually works", noted Yato and Ji-Han tipped twice against the doorframe, making it close again.

"But I can still open it", realized Yato, after he had tried just that and Ji-Han shrugged.

"Maybe I'll have to level-up my [Keyblade Mastery] for that", he guessed. "It is currently stuck at level 1."

"Level?" Inquired Genos and Ji-Han nodded.

"Right, I've got the body of a video game character, so everything is expressed in stats and levels. It's possible that I get more of the Keyblade's abilities once I used it more."

"I see", exclaimed Mikage. "It is possible that the abilities witnessed have been used by people who have mastered their Keyblades. In that case we have to figure out which are those granted just by the ownership of a Keyblade. Effecting locks seems to be available from the start at last, even if only in its crudest form.

Leaving that aside for now, the second set of abilities, effecting hearts, shows more variety. The most common is the ability to defeat Heartless even if some sources say that it can be used to kill anything, even things that are normally immortal."

"Not it!" Interjected Yato instantly, making Zenkichi chuckle while Mikage send the god yet another disapproving glare.

"It has already been observed releasing the hearts of Emblem-Heartless", added Genos to continue the conversation. "At last that part seems to be true. Whether it works on things still having a body or not is a different matter. And not something we should try."

"Agreed", Mikage continued. "The second ability is to be able to connect to a world's heart, effectively talking to it."

"Excuse me", interrupted Ji-Han, "do you mean, without the keyhole? Because I can't remember the Seeker of Truth having a Keyblade when he tried to get to the Heart of the World."

"Everybody can reach the Heart of the World if they can find the keyhole", explained Zenkichi. "The keyhole is the connection of the Heart to the outside, after all. But if that allows them to talk to the world is a different matter. Additionally, the only times I have heard of the keyhole so far was when Heartless reached through it to devour the world. As Heartless are always looking to devour strong hearts to add to their ranks, finding the hearts of the worlds is one of their main goals."

"So when the Seeker of Truth opened the keyhole, he opened the way for the Heartless", mused Ji-Han. Wait. Open?

"Ehm, when you were talking about opening and closing stuff, do the keyholes count, too?"

"As a matter of fact, the keyholes are mentioned as something the Keyblade can open and close", Mikage confirmed with a look at her documents. "Why do you ask?"

"It's just", began Ji-Han, "if the keyhole is the only connection to the heart and the Heartless destroy a world by devouring its heart and something locked with a Keyblade can only be opened with a Keyblade, wouldn't locking the keyhole with the Keyblade protect a world from the Heartless forever?"

Silence filled the room as the people processed Ji-Han's line of reasoning.

"Theoretically it would", agreed Genos. "And any world where you would close the Keyhole that way would be save from the Heartless. There are just too many worlds out there to save all of them. Unless you find something like a central keyhole for all worlds, this is just not feasible."

"Actually, it could work", contradicted Yato. "It takes a long time for the Heartless to reach the keyhole. We get newcomers like, what? Once every two months? Not to mention, saving even one world would save more often than not billions of lives. Heck, why not go all the way and find out where the hearts of the devoured world are? They are pretty much just big Heartless, right? With the Keyblade he can set their hearts free, too and maybe even restore them!"

"Would that work?" Genos asked the other two who were deep in thought.

"It is all just hypothetically", admitted Zenkichi, "but with the current information we have, there is no reason to think it shouldn't."

"Under the condition that he learns how to permanently close the Keyholes", appended Mikage. "But if he does, he could at last prevent some worlds from being devoured."

PING!

{A quest has been created.}

PING!

{A quest has been created.}

Huh? Two quests at the same time?

{Quest Alert

World Graveyard: The Hearts of Lost Worlds

The hearts of the worlds devoured by the Heartless have to go somewhere.

Find the location of the hearts and restore all the worlds to their original state.

Completion Award: +5 Levels.
You will be known as savior of worlds by anyone connected to Traverse Town even indirectly.

Completion Failure:
The worlds will stay lost.
Decreased reputation with the members of the Hero Union.}

{Quest Alert

Central Keyhole: The One Keyhole to Close them All

Closing the hearts of each world one at a time is just impossible.

Find the keyhole for all worlds and close it.

Completion Award: +5 Levels.
You will be known as savior of worlds by anyone connected to Traverse Town even indirectly.

Completion Failure:
The Heartless will continue to devour worlds.
Decreased reputation with the members of the Hero Union.}

Holy shit, five levels each?! The homework ones had barely gotten more than a defeated enemy yet here he got downright levels? To be fair, it was saving multiple worlds while saving even one was generally an endgame goal.

"Oi, I've just got these things, the central keyhole and restoring the worlds as quests", voiced Ji-Han. "Looks like that's what I am going to do!"

"Then you might want to get some training in", commented Yato skeptically. "Currently you don't look like you could save one world, yet all of them."

"You do not have to do it, if you do not want to", interjected Zenkichi. "Saying the journey will be dangerous is not just idle talk. Since Traverse Town is just the remnants of other worlds, it has no heart for the Heartless to go after, making less Heartless arrive in Traverse Town. Not to mention all the strong people who call Traverse Town their home. Just because you have the Keyblade, does not mean you have to risk your life if you are not committed to it."

"Na, I'll do it", decided Ji-Han. "Having all this power and not using it? I'd go crazy. Besides, saving all the worlds, means saving my own world, too."

Ji-Han looked down at his Keyblade and clenched it tightly.

"I was there, when the Keyhole got opened, you know", he reminisced. "If I had just known any of this beforehand, I could have sealed it away then and there. But I didn't, so the world got destroyed while I got stranded here. My family and friends included. And I want them back. So if there is the possibility of reclaiming my world, I will take it!"

With that he pushed {YES} twice.

"Nice speech there", noted Yato. "I approve."

PING!

Huh. Another panel?

{Through acceptance of a quest fit for a hero you have gained
the Perk [Hero Union – Active Hero].}

{[Hero Union – Active Hero]
Declares the owner as an active hero under the definition of the Hero Union BBS,
making him a member and allowing him to use all of its function.}


A/N:

Hi, guys and gals.

Traverse Town's gotta be one of my favorite worlds in this story. I had a lot of fun looking for characters to fill roles in Traverse Town and then decide on a timeline, when which world and their people got added to Traverse Town. Though I had to be careful which characters I added, since everyone is a potential party member, unless they have a reason why they can't or don't want to travel with him.

Which was one of the reasons I've decided to make people age in Traverse Town. This way I can have characters who wouldn't have minded joining Ji-Han in their youth but are at that moment in the story too old for that. On the other hand, I decided to make people in Traverse Town not need to eat or drink to prevent Ji-Han from wasting even more time to get nourishments for his companions (he himself doesn't need to do any of that period thanks to being the Gamer) before he can finally start to travel.

Now, with the general stuff out of the way, let's talk about the people and why they are in Traverse Town:

Akitsu and the Sekirei in general. As a Sekirei gets "terminated" when their Ashikabi does, I thought it would happen the same if the Ashikabi is a world away, their connection broken this way. And since the surviving the destruction of a world by Heartless is here (technically) random, only Akitsu as a Scrapped Number wouldn't have any risk and would, in my opinion, decide to watch over those that fell into a coma. Takami is meanwhile the expert of Sekirei physiology, allowing them to survive even in this condition.

The shortly mentioned wolf children Ame and Yuki are mostly just characters to flesh out Traverse Town with people you don't expect to join Ji-Han. However, they are also people who are technically better off in Traverse Town, not having to hide their inhuman traits.

Hitomi-Sensei was one of the first with medical knowledge to survive Traverse Town, even if only as a school nurse. But the fact with "random" survivors is that you don't always get people who are perfect at the job needed afterwards. I've also chosen Hitomi-Sensei out of the many school nurses in anime and manga, because she adds more inhuman characters to Traverse Town. The people who died on her because of missing healthcare technologies are by the way inmates from Deadman Wonderland, who died because they didn't had the necessary antidote to the poison in their systems.

Yato is a powerful character who needs to be believed in to survive. That means he's good as a mentor while in the "tutorial level" Traverse Town but can't leave it out of fear of accidentally getting left alone in a world nobody knows him, spelling his doom.

Zenkichi I've chosen, when I wanted a strong character who would normally be screwed if he was stranded in Traverse Town because he himself had no supernatural abilities, but got lucky by finding a supernatural "weapon" and managed to hold on while everyone else didn't. Which made him the de-facto leader of Traverse Town as he was the first survivor, when multiverse-traveling people did not even knew of its existence. A role he continued to fulfill to this point.

Mikage is just one of the first people with experience being a secretary I could think of. She's also not the only named person from her world, though any skills in card games aren't as important when their only enemy is the Heartless.

Genos is the Traverse Town representative of the Hero Union from Hero Union BBS. He already was a hero in his world and should have qualities allowing him to gain the approval of the BBS. The Hero Union BBS themselves would take on a role later in multiple instances.

On that note, to emphasize the fact that Keyblades are legendary weapons, I had them work with incomplete and unconfirmed information, as well as conclusions from those information. This also plays into the fact that nobody tells Ji-Han that he has to go out and save the world. Not only do they not know if it is even possible, even with the Keyblade, Ji-Han is still an untrained civilian who could die easily fighting against the Heartless or the denizens of other worlds. Not that any Gamer would say "no" in this situation.

Gashadokuro Amanojaku