Hello again! This chapter was both easy and hard to edit, since I had to move up a lot of stuff from later chapters. This chapter was pretty empty in the rough draft. But once everything was in place, and some little scenes filled the remaining gaps, this one was pretty straightforward to get ready. Enjoy!
Scale 2: Try it Again
And then suddenly Rindo was floating in that weird green-and-black space from before. This was…
Rindo had done it again! The...whatever it was that let him jump back in time!
And finally that weird vision at the start made horrifying sense. Rindo's mind had gone so wild that he was gonna attack Fret and...what? Erase him? Eat him? What had that Kaie guy said about Noise again? Something about Noise taking someone inside of them? Wasn't that just eating though?
Rindo floated there for a while, body curled up slightly as he tried to manage his panic. He had almost killed Fret. He had almost killed—
Eventually he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Okay, he'd jumped back, and he wasn't crowing for Fret's blood anymore, so he should be fine now. He just needed to make sure that didn't happen again.
But what had caused it? Had it been the shrine? That was when he had started feeling sick. Even though shrines were supposed to repel evil, not cause it. Maybe it was bad for Player spirits though, because...having a second chance at life wasn't natural? So maybe Player Souls didn't mesh well with holy places of order because of that?
Why had Rindo started turning into a Noise though? Minamimoto seemed to think that it was the 4-2-1 thing, but that still told Rindo nothing. Had a Noise possessed Rindo without him knowing? Could Noise even possess Players in the first place? There had been a lot of Noise around him though, and he already hadn't been feeling good. Maybe one had ambushed him somewhere in the chaos.
He had been in a cage though, thanks to her. Had something possessed Rindo before that then? Something near the shrine maybe? If he had already gotten possessed by a Noise, and the shrine had been trying to exorcize it, maybe that was why his health had taken a nosedive.
Okay, so Rindo would just avoid going to the shrine area. Should be simple enough. Fret had suggested going there, so Rindo would just need to distract him with something else. Hell, maybe they would actually do the mission this time instead of screwing around. Might as well make the most of the time travel. No wait, Rindo still needed to take it easy because of the 4-2-1, right?
Hmm…He really should try to get more information on this 4-2-1 thing…Hopefully avoiding the shrine would be enough to prevent whatever happened in his vision, but in case it didn't…Or in case he had to watch out for the 4-2-1 tomorrow too…
Good thing he hadn't recruited her. Dealing with her and this 4-2-1 thing would've been way too much.
Alright, alright. So he should go back to...right after they had eaten at Donburi Town, yeah. No reason to go through anything before that again, especially the mandatory Noise fights. No reason to redo the fortunes afterward either. That should give Rindo plenty of time to gather info on 4-2-1, while avoiding the shrine and her. Perfect.
Rindo closed his eyes, visualizing the outside of Donburi Town in his head. He felt more than saw the time void melt away and place him back into reality.
Suddenly sights, smell, noise—not that Noise, hopefully—lit his senses up with the rowdy everything of Shibuya. It never failed to be jarring, at least for a few moments.
"Earth to Rindude? You there?"
"Huh?"
Fret let out a purposefully dramatic sigh. "I said, you wanna go check out that Kaie guy's fortunetelling place? You're supposed to—"
"No."
"Okay then, let's—Wait what?"
"I'm not feeling fortunetelling today," said Rindo. "Actually, I want to do some research on 4-2-1. See if anyone besides Mr. Minami knows what it is. That shouldn't be too physically taxing for me, right?"
"Research, huh?" said Fret. He smiled. "That's my mock-exam genius Rindude! Always thinking ahead!"
"Ha ha," said Rindo. Why was Fret so obsessed with Rindo's mock test score? It wasn't even a perfect score. It was only 89…
"Though, why not ask Mr. Minami more about it? Since he seems to be the expert?"
"Did you understand anything he was saying, Fret?" growled Rindo. "Because if you did, that would save me a lot of trouble."
Fret chuckled, eyes looking elsewhere. "...Oh, right. Good point. So, uh, where do we start?"
"Everywhere we haven't been yet, which is…most places," said Rindo as he glanced over his phone. He noted the time too: 12:08. Four hours until he'd try to maul Fret again. That should be plenty of time, probably. Just needed to avoid the shrine, and her, and anything else even vaguely weird...
While at Scramble Crossing, Rindo and Fret ran into another Player, Kanon. The leader of the Variabeauties certainly lived up to the 'beauty' part of the name, and she wasn't even Rindo's type of girl.
Fret, meanwhile, had the brightest, stupidest grin on his face."Heeey Kanon!" Rindo could practically hear the heart emojis fluttering around his voice chords, and it made Rindo unreasonably irritated.
Kanon turned and put on one of those subtle smiles that could have meant anything. "Why hello, Fret! And Rindy too! And just what are you boys up to?"
"We're actually looking into something called 4-2-1," said Rindo, before Fret could derail the conversation with a bunch of cringey compliments. "Do you know anything about it?"
"4-2-1?" asked Kanon. "Can't say that I've heard of it. What does it entail?"
"Uh...Something about a person turning into a Noise and attacking someone?" said Rindo.
"Wha?" Fret's eyes bugged out as he glanced between Rindo and Kanon. "That's what it does?"
Oh, right. Rindo didn't learn that until he actually started turning into a Noise. Wait, how was he gonna explain knowing that? Uh oh…
Before Rindo could reply, one of the Variabeauties chimed in. "Oh! I saw that happen to a couple of wall Reapers once! Two guys were circling each other like sharks, and then suddenly they both grew wings and tattoos and started fighting each other!"
"Oh, I remember you mentioning that before!" said Kanon. "Hmm...Reapers turning into Noise, and then turning on each other..."
"Yeah! That's it!" exclaimed Rindo. "Do you know what caused it?"
"Not a clue," the Variabeauty admitted, looking deflated. "After one guy absorbed the other one and became an even bigger Noise—"
"A-Absorbed?" exclaimed Fret, eyes wide. "Like the guy got freaking liquefied and then was sucked up like a smoothie? Yikes…"
Rindo grimaced, but said nothing. So he would have killed Fret if he hadn't turned back time. Not that there had been much room for doubt in the first place.
"Well, the other guy broke down into bits of light, but then all that light went into the first guy and he started transforming into that larger Noise," the Variabeauty explained. "After that, he did turn back into a person again, but then some long-haired lady with a lizard showed up and escorted him away. And that's all I saw."
"I see," said Rindo, sighing. Not that he could blame the Variabeauty for not knowing more. "Well, that helps at least some anyway. Thanks. Let me know if you learn anything else."
"Will do," said Kanon. "We never got any more info about it from the wall Reapers, but it wasn't for the lack of trying. All of them act like they know, but get very quiet and uncomfortable when asked. Seems they're too scared to talk."
"Hmm..." said Rindo.
"So be careful out there you two," said Kanon with her usual sweet smile. "If you do get more info, let us know. But don't let this distract you from the Game too much, or you'll end up in last place. And that would be a real shame."
"Got it," said Rindo. Yeah, right, the Game. Honestly he would worry about the Game once he wasn't worried about accidentally absorbing Fret. But that wasn't something Kanon needed to know, ever. "Thanks for the help. Good luck on the mission!"
"You too, Rindy." She smiled and winked.
"W-What about me?" asked Fret, almost whining.
"And you as well, Fret!" said Kanon, and Fret beamed. "I'm sure you'll have more sweet words for me next time, and perhaps some honest ones too. Ciao!"
"Ciao!" Fret parroted back cheerfully as she walked off. After a few moments, his expression grew more curious. "Hey, what does she mean by 'honest'? I was being honest!"
"Who knows," said Rindo, still processing the new information. Okay, so the Reapers knew what this is, but how could he get the info out of them? Seemed like just asking wouldn't be enough.
"Hey, Rindude?"
"Ah! I wasn't spacing out!" exclaimed Rindo. "I'm just trying to think of what to do..."
Fret stayed silent for a few moments, folding his arms. "So, uh, I don't know how you figured the whole '4-2-1 means turning into Noise and eating people' thing, but…Why didn't you tell me then? Because that's kinda important, dude."
"I..." Rindo groaned. "I didn't want to worry you, okay? Because I'm still not entirely sure this is the same thing? Like, it sounds like it's a Reaper thing? Except I'm not a Reaper, so that doesn't even make sense."
"Yeah." Fret didn't look mad exactly, but he wasn't smiling either. "You're not acting like you wanna eat my face or anything."
Rindo envied Fret's obliviousness. Then again, Rindo had been just as clueless last time, and look how that turned out. "But it would explain why Mr. Minami doesn't want you anywhere near me if this 4-2-1 stuff starts up."
Fret folded his arms, frowning. "Maybe? But I still don't—"
"Fret." Rindo returned the frown. "Fret, I still don't know what this is, or why it's happening. That's what I'm trying to find out. So if I start acting weird or sick, just…please get away from me as fast as you can. Even if we're in the middle of a fight. Just in case."
"But what if you're—"
"Please."
Fret's eyes dropped to the ground, eyebrows creased upward. "...Right. I will."
And that just made Rindo's heart tighten and ache. He almost wanted to hug Fret, tell him it wasn't his fault, just hold him and wait until—
Rindo shook his head. Where the hell had that come from? He needed to keep himself together before he really lost it later on. No, he needed to make sure that he didn't lose it at all! He checked the time. 12:20. Okay good, that hadn't taken too much time…
"Buddy?"
"It's fine, I'm fine," said Rindo quickly, putting on a lopsided grin. "Was just thinking about stuff for a second. I just wish we knew more, but it sounds like the Reapers won't tell us anything."
"What about Shokie?" asked Fret. "She's a Reaper, right?"
"I mean, if we can find her," said Rindo. Which Rindo doubted they would, because he hadn't seen Shoka at all today, even before he'd turned back time. And they had no way of contacting her if they had a question either. Not that Shoka was super helpful even when she did show up. She still hadn't explained much of any Game stuff to them, even though she was supposed to be their guide.
"True. Hmm..." Fret's hunched-over thinking expression was always so funny to Rindo. Even funnier, if jarring, when Fret suddenly sprang out of it with a smile, pounding his fist into his hand. "Maybe they won't tell us, but what if I Remind them that this 4-2-1 thing is, well, a thing? We'll hide nearby, I'll use my galaxy brain, and then maybe they'll mutter to themselves about it or something?"
"Huh...You know, that might just work," said Rindo.
"And there's a wall Reaper blocking off Tower Records over there, so let's try it." And there went Fret, running off without Rindo again.
"Dude, wait up!" shouted Rindo, dashing after him. Just like he always was, it felt like.
They mingled into a crowd of laughing teens bunched up in front of Hachiko Café to hide themselves from view. Pretty easy, considering that they could phase right through the RG people. Rindo and Fret peered around the crowd at the bored-looking Reaper. Good, he hadn't noticed them. Rindo turned to Fret and nodded.
Fret nodded back, closed his eyes, and—
—And suddenly a Noise symbol spawned right in front of them. They didn't even have the time to yell before they both got warped into the Noise plane.
It was just some wolves and ravens. They could definitely handle that. Rindo felt better once the power of the sync pumped through him, melting anxiety and tension that he only kinda knew about.
Maybe Rindo did like syncing. He'd found it nerve-wracking at first, but now it was almost soothing. Fret shot down any ravens that got too close, while Rindo cut down the wolves with surprising ease. Fret stuck closer to Rindo this time, probably because the Noise had them boxed in.
Yeah, as long as Fret stuck close, everything would be—
Then Minamimoto abruptly joined the fight, stomping the static out of both ravens and wolves, because of course he did.
Where had he been anyway? Had he been off to see her? Or maybe Rindo was just being paranoid. There were a bunch of other things Minamimoto could have been doing.
And why wasn't he synced? Oh wait, oh no—Wait, Rindo felt fine though?
And it didn't matter anyway, because Minamimoto ended the battle by snatching the last raven out of the air and crushing it with one bare hand. Holy shit, how was he that strong?
They returned to the UG. With his connection to Fret now cut, Rindo's heart...hurt? Rindo's eyes searched for Fret, just to...make sure he was still there?
And Fret sure was, quietly staring back at Rindo, looking...what was that look?
"Zeptograms! I told you to not align your eigenvectors!"
"Oh shit, you did say that!" exclaimed Fret. "Wait, how do we not sync in a fight?"
"Simple. You draw an exclusive OR—"
"A what?"
Minamimoto sighed. Then, he went on a long mathematical tangent that frankly Rindo just didn't have the brainpower for right now. Judging by the blank look on Fret's face, he didn't have the brainpower for it either. Or 'galaxy brain', as Fret would put it. Instead his attention kept wandering to Rindo, though his eyes would instantly snap away once he noticed Rindo looking back.
"ZEPTOGRAMS!" Oh boy, Minamimoto had whipped out the megaphone.
That made both boys yelp and turn to Minamimoto.
"Do I have to do every factoring thing myself?" Minamimoto grabbed Fret's hand, drew the ⊕ symbol on the back of it, and then strode over and did the same thing to Rindo's hand. "This exclusive OR sigil will keep you two from aligning your eigenvectors. Don't disturb my perfectly calibrated handiwork, and you won't have to do anything else. If it does get disturbed, then redraw it to these exact specifications, or have me redraw it for you. Got it?"
"Y-Yeah, I think so," said Rindo. He glanced over to Fret, and yup Fret was staring at him again, and not even turning away from him this time. "You good, Fret?"
Fret blinked, averting his eyes. A nervous smile stretching his lips. "Y-Yeah, I'm good!"
Minamimoto eyed both of them for another moment before striding away into the crowd and vanishing. Like he always did.
Fret watched him go. "Man, the big guy never wants to just chill with us. Well, his loss! Anyway, let's go, Rindude! To...uh, what were we doing anyway?"
"Uh…" Rindo had to think for a moment, which was surprisingly hard when Fret was staring at him so expectantly. "Oh right! Remind the Reaper of the 4-2-1 or whatever!"
"Oh yeah!" Fret's face contorted as he concentrated. "C'mon—think!"
And Rindo instantly thought of when Fret shuddered with terror before him, Rindo's talons rising to strike.
Rindo hated Remind sometimes.
The wall Reaper blinked. "Huh? Oh crap! I was supposed to do laundry today. Guess I'll have to do it tonight. Or maybe I can get away with wearing unwashed clothes for a day. It's not like anyone really cares about presentation much nowadays, besides Shiba…"
"Kweh? What does 4-2-1 have to do with laundry?" asked Fret.
"It probably doesn't," said Rindo. "It's like how the first time you did Remind, I was Reminded of stuff I meant to pick up for my mom. So this guy doesn't know anything."
"Man, and I made the numbers really clear in my head too," grumbled Fret, squinting at the Reaper like it was all his fault. "So I guess we need to find another wall Reaper?"
"Guess so," said Rindo.
And so their hunt for wall Reapers began. Only to not find another wall Reaper anywhere. Not at the 104 Building, or Dogenzaka, or Tsutaya O-East, or Shibuya Hikarie. And Tower Records was nothing but a dead end, which was extra annoying because they needed to beat the wall Reaper's summoned Noise first.
And fighting Noise didn't feel nearly as good without the sync active. Sure, Minamimoto took care of most of the Noise no problem, but it felt so wrong that Rindo couldn't sense Fret at all. And Fret probably felt the same way, since he stayed right next to Rindo the whole battle. Even when they mostly clung to the sidelines, watching Minamimoto chucking Noise left and right.
13:59. So much for not wasting time. And for actually getting info on 4-2-1. Or taking it easy, with all this running around. Trekking all over Shibuya for absolutely nothing left Rindo feeling so tired.
A loud ding from Rindo's phone nearly made him yelp. He fished his phone out of pocket. Oh! It was Swallow!
"hey how are you doing? ;)"
"hi swallow! i..."
Honestly Rindo didn't feel quite 'good' or even 'okay'. Which really sucked, because usually Swallow was that one person he was always really happy to hear from. Well, he was always happy to hear from Fret too, even if his sticker spam sometimes irritated Rindo. It literally would not stop until Rindo finally replied with something. But Swallow didn't do that. Swallow was patient. Swallow let him think through his anxiety.
"...this game im playin sux tbh." Rindo typed out. "like theres this thing called 421 that turned—" He backspaced the 'me'. "—my char into a monster or something? so i had to restart the level. but no1 will tell me what this 421 thing is? what do i do?"
Rindo sighed after he sent the message. Not that Swallow would have a clue what he was talking about, but somehow it helped to just complain about the current situation, even in this roundabout way.
His phone dinged after a minute. "that's...weird? you should talk to a mod about it."
"i can't find any tho?"
Swallow replied almost immediately. "keep looking. i'm sure there's one around somewhere that can help." Then, before Rindo had even finished reading the message, Swallow sent another one. "oh hey do they have like a hint system in the game? like some games have a librarian, or a fortuneteller! maybe something like that?"
A fortuneteller? Oh right, maybe Kaie would know something! Rindo's excitement deflated almost immediately, however, because Spain Hill was still locked behind a barrier with no wall Reaper. And even though Kaie had happened to pass by the wall earlier, he must've been long gone by now.
Great. Rindo should have gone to Kaie's place first after all!
Then, before Rindo could start a reply to Swallow, he spotted her. She was surrounded by seven or eight other DRS members, all ranting on about…favorite rivers? Okay then? Guess they were called the Deep Rivers Society. Meanwhile she seemed…uncomfortable?
"Really?" growled one DRS member to another. "How can you say that the Nile is better than—"
"I-I-If I may intrude?" she finally spoke up. "Instead of squabbling over bodies of water—"
Several of the DRS turned to scowl at her. "Do you not like bodies of water, even though you're part of the DRS?"
"I-I have no opinion on the matter," she said. "However, the mission—"
"Saying that you have 'no opinion' is the same as saying you don't love them!" barked another DRS member, as several others also turned to grimace at the girl. It was kinda creepy how much they mirrored each other. More like a hivemind than a society.
"That's w-wasn't what I—"
Man, Rindo kinda felt bad for her.
Then something dark suddenly filled the corner of Rindo's eye. Rindo spun around to see Minamimoto. Watching her with a toothy smile.
Huh? Minamimoto never showed up unless he was interested in something. Her? He had been giving her instructions last time, and she'd been talking to him like she couldn't refuse. Talking like they knew each other already...Did they have some kind of deal? Maybe he really had been off to see her earlier! Maybe Rindo hadn't just been paranoid!
"Yeah, all you care about is that Duke Tommy game," said another DRS member.
Her eyes went from owlishly large to narrow slits, her teeth bared. "EleStra is not merely a 'dumb game'! And his name is not 'Duke Tommy'!" Several DRS members cowered before her flailing arms, like she was about to fly up and—
Oh no, what if she lost it again? What if she lashed out and tore everyone's Souls to shreds and then went after Rindo or she went after Fret and—
With a fresh spike of panic, Rindo grabbed Fret's wrist and bolted.
"Wah! R-Rindude?"
"Zeptograms! The helix are you displacing your vectors for?" Minamimoto yelled after them, but he didn't pursue either. Was he staying behind to talk to her?
Meanwhile it was that damn falling truck scene all over again in Rindo's head, gotta get Fret outta there, gotta get Fret somewhere safe before—
Rindo suddenly got dizzy, stumbled, and crashed face-first onto the ground. And because he held on so tight to Fret's wrist, Fret yelped and crashed down with him.
"Ow…" muttered Rindo, pushing himself back up. He saw Fret rubbing his nose. "You okay?"
"Yeah," said Fret, his tone a little nasally. His face twisted in all kinds of silly ways as he wiggled his nose. "So what was that about, buddy?"
Her. "Those DRS guys were spoiling for a fight, and I didn't want us getting caught in it," said Rindo. "There's way more of them than of us."
"Oh yeah, we definitely don't wanna fight that many guys at once, even if they are just a bunch of nerds. I kinda feel bad for the girl though." Fret studied Rindo for a moment, before grinning as usual. "So, what're we doing now, Rindude?"
What should they do now? Did they even have time for anything else before…Rindo glanced at his phone clock. 14:21.
The phone screen abruptly doubled in his vision. Vertigo again, only this time it was worse.
"W-Whoa!" Fret exclaimed, as Rindo stumbled back into him. "Y-You okay, buddy?"
"Y-Yeah," said Rindo, quickly regaining his footing as the lightheaded feeling lessened a little.
But dread bubbled up in Rindo's stomach, because this felt all too familiar. But he should still have had at least another hour before the 4-2-1 began! So then why was he starting to feel sick now?
"Hey losers. Any last words before you fail another mission?"
Both Rindo and Fret jumped when Shoka strolled over, putting her hands on her hips.
"What do you—" Rindo began, before catching himself. Right, she was a Reaper too! "Wait! I have a question!"
"Oh?" Shoka grinned in that irritatingly smug way that drove Rindo up the wall. "Then let's hear it."
"What's this 4-2-1 thing?" asked Rindo. "I don't wanna turn into a Noise!" He hated the anxiety that slipped into his voice.
"Rindude..." Oh great, now Fret sounded worried too.
"Back up, moron," said Shoka, frowning and folding her arms. "You're a Player. What makes you think you'd have a Noise form? That's a Reaper thing."
Okay, so she did know what it was! "W-Well, what if I do get a Noise form, uh, somehow? How do I keep it from wanting to eat someone?"
"Wanting to…" Shoka's eyes widened. "Wait, are you talking about singing? Who the hell told you about that?"
"4-2-1, singing, I don't care what it's called!" snapped Rindo. "What is it, and how do I stop it?"
"Okay first, like I said, singing is a Reaper thing," said Shoka, hands on her hips again, though her usual sneer had given way to a strangely serious look, and that only made his heart pound with more anxiety. "This isn't a thing that happens to Players, so you don't have to worry about it, dummy."
"That still doesn't tell me what it is," Rindo hissed through gritted teeth.
Fret reached over, hand twitching in hesitation, before laying it on Rindo's shoulder. "Hey, uh, easy buddy."
Rindo relaxed, but only a little. This touch was nice, actually…
Fret turned to Shoka with a big smile and a wink. "So whatcha telling us is that you Reaper guys are a buncha furries or something?"
Now Shoka was the one with her teeth on edge. "No, that's not—Look, Reapers have this thing called Inner Noise that, like, depends on our personality or whatever! But it stays inside you until you, uh..." Now she looked uncomfortable. "...Need to absorb another Reaper and evolve. That's what singing is."
"Wait, so you guys have to eat each other to survive or evolve or whatever?" asked Fret.
"We're not cannibals. From what I've heard, it's more like you fuse into one person. Nobody's, like, making a literal meal out of someone," Shoka explained, though she still looked displeased about it. "It's...weird. And definitely not your problem as long as you stay away from any half-Noise Reapers. Though I doubt anyone would want to sing a loser like you anyway when there's literally anyone else. There, happy?"
Oh, if only Shoka was right...And Rindo never wanted Shoka to be right. "Okay...So how do I stop this singing thing? If, uh, a singing Reaper went after me for some reason?"
"Then you get the hell outta there," said Shoka. "You can't stop singing once it starts."
"You can't stop it?" Oh no. "Alright, then how do I prevent someone from singing then?"
"Uh, you can't," said Shoka. "Singing is just a thing that happens to all Reapers eventually, whether they want it or not. Because to be honest, most don't."
"Well I certainly don't!" This heat, engulfing his heart and chest...
"I already told you that you won't, dumbass!" shouted Shoka.
...Hot pins and needles, aching heart and skin, anxiety spiking up and up...
"I swear, why are you always so..." Her angry words trailed off as she really looked at Rindo clutching his chest. "Wait..." Bringing out her phone, she started swiping and scrolling rapidly.
"R-Rindo?" asked Fret, his voice so full of concern.
But Rindo dared not to look back at him, instead fixing his eyes on Shoka's phone.
But Fret edged into his view anyway. "Rindo, is…" Fret's eyes widened. "Oh shit, is it the 4-2-1 thing?"
Shoka stared at her screen, her mouth hanging agape. "Wait, you can't be serious, right? These numbers..." She typed something furiously, then huffed in impatience. "Dammit, Kaie! Hurry up and answer me!"
Rindo kept his eyes fixed to the sidewalk as he crouched down, one hand on the pavement and the other still over his heart.
"Rindo!" Fret crouched down beside him, hand between Rindo's shoulder blades.
Oh, that did not help at all. Rindo's back tightened and throbbed.
"Uh..."
Rindo glanced at Shoka, who stared back. She looked...lost. Maybe even terrified.
Why...Why was this 4-2-1…singing thing happening again? And why was it happening sooner?
Shoka frowned at Fret. For a second she opened her mouth, only to close it again. She backed away, step by slow step.
Not that Shoka was in any real danger. Rindo's heart...No, Shoka had called it an Inner Noise, right? That Inner Noise only wanted one person, one Soul. And that Soul was right beside him, rubbing his back tentatively. That...felt really good actually. It almost relaxed him.
Until sharp scorching pain in Rindo's back made him hunch over further, both arms wrapped around his torso. As if clawing his hands into his sides would keep those wings from rending his back open again.
Fret jerked his hand away. "Rindo..." His voice sounded so small, so uncertain. "Rindo, w-what should I do...?"
Leave. But Rindo couldn't quite bring himself to say that. Rindo was glad Fret was here. Rindo was so glad Fret was here.
Then suddenly Minamimoto's tall shadow loomed over both Rindo and Fret. "Zeptogram No. 2's past the event horizon. There's no stopping the 4-2-1 equation once it's intercepted the axis. Zeptogram No. 1, unless you want to be integrated into his function, subtract yourself from his vicinity."
"What? But I thought you said that as long as we weren't synced we'd be okay!"
Minamimoto scowled. "Improbable that my calculations were off." His eyes widened. "This acceleration beyond the curve...multiple temporal translations?" He glared down at Rindo. "Zeptogram No. 2, how many timelines have you iterated through?" Minamimoto then frowned at Fret, before his piercing eyes returned to Rindo. "And what fraction of Zeptogram No.1 have you integrated already?"
"I-Integrated?" None, because the singing was only really kicking off now, right? If he stopped it now, if he could force himself to jump back now, then Fret should be okay.
But…Integrated. Not erased. Shoka said it was like fusing with another person…No, Rindo didn't want that! But even thinking about it only made the hot pain in his heart and back worse.
"What're going on about, Mr. Mina—" Fret yelped as Rindo grabbed one of his arms. "R-Rindo?"
Fret, please stay. Please stay and never go. Please...Rindo opened his mouth, vocal chords trembling and unnaturally reverberating. "Fret, please go."
"But—"
Rindo let go of Fret's arm and pushed him away, before stumbling down the sidewalk. Moments later the sharp pain in his back morphed into a searing agony. He collapsed onto his knees, sweat breaking out all over.
"Rindo!" Hurried footfalls. Goddammit.
"Zeptogram No. 1! Don't converge with him unless you want to get crunched!"
"Fret, don't—" Don't stay. Don't go.
Rindo heard Fret's shocked shouts and skidding steps more loudly than his own scream. The two sets of wings tore out of his back again, damp and shaking. Rindo looked over his shoulder to see Fret standing there frozen, eyes wide.
Did…Did Fret not want him this time either? But he needed Fret, needed every atom of him, or...or…
Don't scare Fret, Fret would just run if Rindo scared him. Rindo could have chased him down if he really had to, but…Rindo called to him with pleading caws, even feigning injury in one of his bird-like wings.
Fret didn't say anything, keeping his frightened gaze focused on Rindo. His hand clutched his shirt. "R-Rindo…"
Please, Fret, come here. Please, Rindo promised he would make it quick, and then neither of them would have to be scared anymore…
"ZEPTOGRAM NO. 1!"
Fret yelped, turning back to Minamimoto. He had his megaphone out now, looking beyond frustrated.
"THAT'S NOT ZEPTOGRAM NO.2, YOU HOLLOW-SKULLED HECTOPASCAL! THAT'S HIS EIGENVECTOR! DIVIDE OR BE DIVIDED!"
Fret's concerned gaze turned back to Rindo. Good. "I…I…." He swallowed, before squeezing his eyes shut. "I-I'll be right back Rindo! Don't worry, we'll—"
And that was all the permission Minamimoto needed before warping off with Fret.
Shit, where had they gone? He had to find Fret! He needed him and he missed him and he was gonna collapse in on himself if he didn't—No he needed to leave, needed to jump back in time like before, but he couldn't leave without Fret. And the tattoos were already spreading so fast, burning and binding and eager to bury his whole body in them until—
With taloned hands Rindo tore at the glowing tattoos snaking up his arms and legs, but they grew faster than he could rip them off. He even clawed at his wings, though they remained intact and untamed. And now tattoos squirmed out of his cheeks too, stretching out and trying to form a beak over his face. Rindo struggled to rip those out too, which made pruning the rest of his out-of-control body feel even more impossible. His Soul screeched and screeched and screeched as his muscles felt like they were melting into magma.
"Hey, idiot! What are you doing? Stop it!"
Rindo stopped, more out of surprise than anything. Shoka? Why had she come back? Or had she never left in the first place, and had only been hiding somewhere? She seemed angry, but also…something else?
"You got a deathwish? Do you want to turn into a Boss Noise, dumbass?" Shoka snapped. "Find someone else to sing with!"
Someone else? But he wanted Fret!
Surprisingly, her hostile features softened. "But I guess that's easier said than done, huh? It's not like you know anyone else here. You only just became a Reaper, after all…" She took a deep breath, and walked toward him.
Why was she approaching him? He let out a warning caw, both sets of wings flaring out.
Shoka flinched, but didn't stop moving. "Okay...Okay Rindo. If you're such a loser that no one else will do it..."
And then immediately Rindo felt...a sync? What the hell? And he…didn't hate it either? It almost felt…familiar, even though they had never shared that kind of connection before. But that made no sense!
"Then I'll be your singing partner then!" Shoka declared. "C'mon Rindykins, let's just get this over with."
What? That didn't make any sense either! Why was she doing this? She didn't want to get eaten, did she? No, those weren't the kind of feelings he sensed from her at all. There was pity and anger and sorrow, but not for herself.
She showed him a sharp-toothed grin. "Just don't think you'll win just because you got a head start!" Shoka shouted, holding out her hand. "On your knees!"
Rindo stumbled as some invisible force pulled him toward her, before he got blasted in the face by raw psychic energy. The attack sent him reeling, and made him really mad. With talons bared and an enraged caw, he lunged toward her.
But she flitted out of the way of his clawed strike. "Missed me," she taunted as he rocketed past, before unleashing another psychic shotgun blast, this time straight to his wings.
Ow that hurt that hurt that hurt that hurt! Rindo's rage morphed to panic. He shot some sharp feathers from his arms as he fled on his four wings.
"Aw, what's the matter? You scared?" she asked, her voice suddenly full of reverb. Bat-like and bird-like wings emerged from her back too, though they didn't seem to tear out like Rindo's had. "I swear, you're always so flighty about everything." Luminescent cherry-red tattoos oozed out of her skin and hardened her limbs into talons and feathers as well.
And Rindo...almost didn't want to run? Despite her words and appearance, there was something almost...comforting? The sync? Just not being alone as they both turned into Noise?
No...No Rindo didn't want this! He wanted Fret! Where was Fret?
Shoka shot after Rindo now that she had wings too. So fast! Probably because hers had a considerably longer wingspan than him. She flew above him and snatched his wings from the air. The sudden raw fear paralyzed him, causing him to plummet down and skid on the pavement on his stomach, her weight further pressing him down. The sync held none of that pity or sorrow from before, only a desire to rend and consume.
Rindo felt her talons dig into his wings, and that only worsened the overwhelming fear. Then she tangled both sets of her wings with Rindo's batlike wings, only to start pulling his wings into opposite directions.
He squawked as he got stabbed with strong spikes of every emotion at once, but most of all pain and panic as he tried to thrash free. She was gonna tear his wings apart, and then tear him apart, and no no he didn't want this, he didn't want—
Rip Rindo. Again.
Since many chapters are mostly ready to go, chapter updates should be at least somewhat consistent for a while. Though the next couple of chapters do need a little extra work since some stuff got rearranged.
