Kurono regarded the three new players in front of him confoundedly; more fragments of the timeline had been altered, excluding those he knew about. Mika and Furuta aren't here. I guess that's a good thing, but I wonder how that happened? His team had yet to be transported, so Kurono stood up and began to explain.

…

The stranger was the first to impugn Kurono's explanation. "You've got quite the imagination there, brat, do you think anyone here is going believe something so ridiculous?"

Kurono bristled at the stranger's words and looked to the two familiars for their understanding. "I'm telling the truth, honestly. When my team get here, you'll understand that this isn't a joke."

The stranger gave a snort. "You mean to tell me there are more delusional people like you?"

The blond teenager, who Kurono knew to be Nozaki, grumbled. "Damn you're judgmental, don't you have any decorum?" Nozaki's words made Kurono smile. It was apparent the stranger lacked imagination and was highly short-sighted, so Kurono was appreciative of Nozaki's aide. "You just saw him appear seemingly out of nowhere, didn't you? And correct me if I'm wrong, but who here remembers dying but a mere few minutes ago?"

Silence fell as the players mused over their last memory.

The stranger scoffed. "I'm drunk, how should I know what the hell happened? For all I know, you could all be a figment of my imagination."

Kurono tilted his head. He thinks he's drunk? Huh, that's a new one.

Nozaki turned to the man. "Oh, so you do have imagination, just not the intelligent kind. Even if you were drunk, these occurrences are far too real."

The stranger stepped forward balefully. "Dare to repeat that?"

The other player, Saito, finally spoke. "Speaking of occurrences too real, I wonder… could this be some form of experimental hypnosis? Maybe… maybe that's why we think we died… it's all part of the process."

Kurono inclined his head and sighed with annoyance. This never gets any easier, no matter how many survive.

The three ceased their theories when other people behind Kurono started to appear.

"There are more people coming?" Saito gasped.

Kurono glanced over his shoulder and smiled when Sei appeared first, followed by Kishimoto and Kato. "Hey," he greeted his girlfriend.

Sei sighed in relief. "I was almost spotted disappearing, damn."

Kurono chuckled. "I told you it would be tonight."

Sei shrugged a shoulder. "Well I wasn't about to let a poor girl meet her end by a creepy stalker now was I." Sei smiled.

Kurono lightly gasped. Holy shit, is she talking about Mika? What are the odds? It's like the change in events has some kind of positive ripple effect or something. Kurono returned her smile. "Heh, I guess not."

Kato stepped forward with Kishimoto. "So, Kei, how's the explanation going so far?"

Kurono shrugged with a dramatic sigh. "So far, they think they've been hypnotized, or drunk. At least, two of them do. Nozaki is the only perceptive one."

Nozaki looked at Kurono skeptically, and before he could question the knowledge of his name, the stranger demurred once more. "Alright, this is getting ridiculous, just tell me what the hell is going on right now, you-" The stranger stopped abruptly when another person formed into the room, and his eyes widened in horror. "Joichiro?"

Nishi's eyes immediately fell onto the one who had addressed him by his first name; there were only two people who used that name. At first, Nishi was unsure how to act upon discovering that his flesh and blood now were part of Gantz, but that wore off quickly, and a smile began to form at the corner of his mouth before turning into a hysterical laugh. "You've got to be kidding me!"

It was patent to Kurono, Kato, Sei, and Kishimoto, that Nishi and the stranger knew each other, and given the use of Nishi's first name, exceptionally well.

Kurono knew Nishi was an only child, so the only logical theory he could conceive was that this person was… No fucking way! Kurono looked at Nishi's display of amusement, aware of the boy's lack of altruism, but didn't expect him to be so unaffected, given who the man was.

Nishi's laughter eventually calmed, but his grin remained. "I don't believe in karma, but I think I might make an exception just this once."

Eiichiro stood rooted to the spot, baffled by his son's reactions.

Kishimoto covered her mouth. "Nishi, is this is your…." The girl didn't know how to broach the question; she and the teen didn't always get along.

By the time the others arrived, the animosity in the atmosphere had grown.

Nishi's grin widened. "Quite an amusing conundrum, don't you think?"

Kishimoto was bemused by Nishi's uncaring attitude. "But how can you be so…."

Nishi always did have such a ribald personality, and the excitement he displayed toward his own father appearing in a place like Gantz just proved it, but Kurono had learned something about Nishi that others neglected most of the time; the target of the teen's enmity likely deserved it.

"You were always the anti-social brat, and suddenly you're in some sort of, what, cult? I think you owe me an explanation."

Kurono raised an eyebrow. Usually, the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree, but in this case, I'd say it fell and rolled very far away.

"Do you know how sick with worry your mother has been because of you?"

Although it was slightly embarrassing to discuss such a domestic bromide issue in front of everyone, Nishi stayed passive and tendered the following declaration. "No doubt you did little to console her; in fact, I'm positive you purposely worsened the situation to suit your own desires. It must have been too incredible of an opportunity for you to ignore. How long did it take for you to start manipulating her mind? Not very long I imagine. At first you opposed the idea she had that I was dead, but then you started thinking how the outcome might affect you in a positive way. Like hoping she would forget about me in hopes of starting again. Isn't that what you said? Something about replacing me with a 'better' child? One you could understand and probably have more control over, one that isn't superior to you in every way?" With every word, Eiichiro got angrier as he slowly approached his son. "You had no qualms lying that my mother was dead, so it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if you resorted to telling her that I was dead, you pitiful excuse of society."

Eiichiro cursed in anger and threw a fist toward Nishi. "You ruined my life! I'll teach you a lesson you brat!"

Nishi grabbed Eiichiro's fist inches from impacting his face and grinned. "Do you know how long I've waited for you to do that?"

Eiichiro became shocked by his incapability to remove his fist and looked to the others for some kind of assistance but found he was met with anger from most of them.

Kurono curled his hands into fists, feeling anger on Nishi's behalf. That's right, if it weren't for his malicious lie, Nishi wouldn't have gone to school seeking revenge that day and killed his classmates.

Tetsuo regarded the man with aggression. How could a person treat their son with such disregard? Tetsuo couldn't imagine treating his own son that way.

Eiichiro suddenly laughed. "Oh, how amusingly cute, Nishi, that you've found little friends to stand beside you now."

Nishi pursed his lips, trying his best to keep composed. Even before when Nishi was at home, Eiichiro hadn't been this sardonic before. My disappearance and his lies must have driven him to madness. Nishi scoffed in response to Eiichiro's jab. "Nice to know you've sobered up long enough to notice a small part of what occurs in my life, like the 'anti-social' personality, but they're not my friends, their anger probably derives from your very existence here."

Kato raised his hands in an attempt to placate what was soon to be a vengeful turmoil. "Everyone calm down, we don't have time to be so hateful, if we all want to survive, we're going to have to-"

The black ball behind them interrupted Kato with its usual exercise song, causing everyone's attention to shift. Nishi released Eiichiro's fist in favor of witnessing the confusion on his father's face.

"Does this have something to do with what Kurono tried to tell us earlier?" Nozaki asked as the three newbies gathered near it.

Nishi noticed Kurono tense and narrowed his eyes thoughtfully.

Plz eliminate this alien.

Reaper alien.

Traits: Death, scythe/

Likes: Shadows, black.

Catchphrase: Grrr.

"Oh what the hell," Hojo remarked. "There's some fucking irony for you. We know death is probable, we don't need to fight the damn thing in physical form."

Kishimoto turned to Hojo. "Gantz doesn't create the aliens you know."

Hojo rolled his eyes. "I know, hence the term irony?"

Nishi chuckled as he approached Kurono's side and clapped a hand on his shoulder blade. "Don't think I didn't see you tense up. I bet you thought you were still the target, didn't you," he laughed.

Kurono shrugged Nishi's hand away. "Shut up, you would too if you were in my position."

Saito turned to those who seemed experienced and asked, "So, are we in some kind of game?"

Tetsuo nodded. "You could say that, but it's more like a game of survival, and it's very real."

The Gantz ball opened up to reveal their suits and weapons. Kato was the first to act and began to explain the next step. "We don't have much time left, so all of you grab a weapon and the attaché case with your name on; in it, there'll be a protective suit which fits your size exactly. You will need both of them if you want any chance of survival."

Nishi scoffed. "At least two of them will decrease our chances of survival," he said, deliberately fixing his gaze on Eiichiro.

While the experienced players gathered their suits and weapons, Kurono and Nishi, who already adorned theirs, began to converse again. "Hey, Nishi, doesn't that alien look unusual to you?"

Nishi shifted his attention to the ball and rolled his eyes. "You mean besides the unsubtle depiction of the Grim Reaper?"

Kurono sniggered lightly. "Yeah, besides that."

Nishi shrugged. "Not really, but I'm sure you're going to protest, and even though I don't care for your assumptions, you're going to tell me anyway."

Kurono hesitated for a moment, allowing the time it took for Nishi's harsh tone to simmer from his nerves before proceeding. "It's just that – don't you think this should be the boss or something? It looks too dangerous to be just a fragment of the real thing."

"Not when you think about the two statues which came before the actual boss. They weren't exactly easy to overcome, right?"

Kurono frowned thoughtfully. "No, I guess not."

"Also, looks can be deceiving. Sometimes the previous aliens are stronger than the one that succeed them."

Kurono nodded, remembering that the Suzuki aliens seemed more challenging than the bird boss was. "Has there ever been a mission that you didn't have a boss?"

"No," Nishi replied bluntly.

"Not one?"

Nishi shook his head. "There's always been a boss from what I know."

Kurono blinked at the odd context. "What do you mean? Weren't you the first to appear in the room?"

Nishi didn't let his slip-up show. "Yes, and up until now, there's always been a boss."

"Oh."

Shit, that was close.

"If there's always been a boss, then why did you think we'd all go back to the room when we first fought the Suzuki alien?"

Nishi couldn't tell if Kurono was mocking him, but he became bristled by the notion. "The whole of my senses were destroyed, pain has a way of clouding your mind encase you forgot."

Kurono flinched and held his hands up in a suggestive apology. "Oh, right."

By the time the two had finished conversing, the team was ready, and the only one refusing to wear the suit was Eiichiro, which came as no surprise to Nishi, nor was he concerned.

"You're all idiots," Eiichiro commented. "Allowing my son's foolish ideas to get to you and following him like a herd of sheep."

Kurono laughed. "At what point did Nishi offer any insight to what was happening? If you don't count insult that is. Every one of us, excluding you, Saito, and Nozaki have all been here before, and I can assure you, any insightfulness offered by any of us should be taken seriously."

Nishi clicked his tongue. "I wouldn't bother offering anymore information to him, he can be extremely obtuse. With a little luck, he'll die here, and I won't have to deal with his alcoholic antics again, one less hinderance for society."

Although it was patent that Nishi detested his dad, his indifferent attachment still astonished Kurono.

"Okay," Kato began. "Before the transfer begins, we should split into pairs to avoid solitary confrontation with the alien. I suggest that, if you're new, pair with someone experienced. Gantz doesn't always transport us together, so be sure to create a link between you."

Nishi grimaced and disregarded the idea entirely as he watched the team pair with each other eagerly. Kato and Kishimoto, Sei and Kurono, Tetsuo and Nozaki, Hojo and Sadako, Kondo and Saito, all of which were predictable. While working cohesively had proved to be effective, Nishi believed that wouldn't always workand that their teamwork might be prone to fail soon, so he preferred to work independently when he could.

Unexpectedly, Nishi felt someone grab his wrist and looked up to find the culprit to be Togo, the sniper. Nishi yanked his hand from the tall man's grasp. "I work alone," he remarked bitterly.

Ignoring the teen's reprisal, Togo reclaimed Nishi's wrist without care. "Tough."

Nishi resorted to a diatribe and stopped trying to remove his wrist.

00:30:00.

The Gantz timer caused numerous amounts of gasps; never had the time limit been so short.

"It's just thirty minutes!" cried Kishimoto. "How are we supposed to finish in thirty minutes!"

Kato began to fear the worst. "I – don't know."

"Holy shit maybe there really isn't a boss this time," Kurono suggested, looking at Nishi apprehensively.

Nishi regarded the timer with the same emotion, though with more subtleness when he remembered something else Izumi told.

"You might begin to notice small changes soon. I won't tell you what they are, otherwise that'll ruin the element of surprise for you."

"Doable," Nishi said with an implication of dishonesty.

Nishi's mettlesome behavior did nothing to soothe Kurono's worry; it only exacerbated it. How can he say that with a straight face! When Nishi hesitated with his responses or became defensive, either something was difficult to talk about or wasn't completely honest with his feelings regarding specific attributes. Is he just lying to hide the truth again?

…

Once outside, they had transferred to separate locations this time. Kondo was nervous because this was only his second mission. "Damn, I shouldn't have volunteered myself to pair up with fricking newbie, but it's not like I had a choice. The people I knew from the previous game were either already paired up, or dead. Goddammit Tomashino, why'd ya have to go and die for."

"So what are we doing now?" Saito stuttered out.

Kondo looked at the device on his wrist thoughtfully. How do I work this thing again? I push this button to expand the map, I think, and this button to – stealth mode?

Saito suddenly began to turn in every direction, horrified at the thought of getting left alone. "Kondo? Are you there…?" Saito felt someone touch his shoulder and raised his gun in panic. "Who's there!"

A laugh pierced the silence, and Kondo appeared again. "Relax four-eyes, I'm just fucking with ya!"

Saito screamed and attempted to fire a warning shot, but it inadvertently hit Kondo.

Kondo stood there flabbergasted before static around his suit became visible for a few seconds and disappeared. After realizing he wasn't going to die and remembering what happened to Kato after being shot with a Gantz gun, Kondo became defensive. "What the hell man! It was a joke!"

Saito closed his eyes and slightly bowed apologetically. "I'm sorry!"

"Do you shoot at everyone who plays a harmless joke? Sheesh."

"I'm really sorry."

Kondo huffed. "Talk about dramatic."

Saito sighed. "I thought you were-" Saito paled upon opening his eyes and realized they weren't alone anymore.

Kondo placed a hand on his hip. "Now what's your deal?"

Saito shakily pointed his finger. "The alien…"

Kondo angled himself to check. "Huh?" Kondo's eyes widened at the alien's sudden appearance. It did resemble the Grim Reaper, but in Kondo's opinion, a lot more terrifying with his long sharp scythe and floating movements, and even more chilling was the fact it had no face. I know that it's stereotypical to believe the Grim Reapers really do have skeletal bodies, but I much prefer that, really. Even its hands are shadowy. Kondo jumped to the side when the alien swung its scythe at him with incredible velocity, surprised he was able to avoid the assail.

Nevertheless, Kondo's relief was fleeting when he witnessed Saito meet the same fate he would have. Saito gave but a short cry before his body sliced in half. In his haste to avoid death, he had inadvertently forgotten about his teammate. Kondo squashed the need to vomit and stepped back. Shit, how am I going to explain this to Kato and the others? 'I didn't want to die, so I let it kill Saito instead?' How lame is that!

The Reaper alien turned its attention to Kondo, its scythe glinting in the moonlight.

"The fact it can see me with no face is somewhat disconcerting…." Kondo stepped back warily. "I could try shooting it, maybe that'll help," he scolded, mocking his own cowardice. As Kondo raised the x-gun, he did not foresee the scythe and was gored with its sharp blade, eyes wide and body suspended with shock. Kondo slowly fell backward, and the scythe vanished in a mist of shadow, only to reappear again in the alien's hand.

00:21:23.

"How do we kill this thing, any ideas dude?" Nozaki asked, panting for breath while he and Tetsuo continued to run for their lives.

"I don't know yet! Just keep fucking running!" Tetsuo gritted his teeth when he glanced behind. Dammit, it's quick. Tetsuo skidded to a stop and shouted, "Nozaki, duck!" Tetsuo quickly fired multiple shots from his x-gun when Nozaki flung himself to the floor, hoping the alien's hazy appearance could even be vanquished. Nozaki rolled onto his back when sudden silence filled the air. The alien had stilled for a moment, and Tetsuo and Nozaki regarded it skeptically. Suddenly, the Reaper brought his scythe down toward Nozaki. "Nozaki!" Tetsuo shouted admonishingly.

Nozaki closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable pain but instead felt a cold gooey-like essence covered his face and the clothes he wore over his suit. Opening his eyes, Nozaki discovered that the substance was black, and the alien no longer towered over him; in fact, the alien had vanished completely.

"It's reassuring to know that not all of the alien is shadow," Tetsuo stated with a slight grin as he held his hand out to Nozaki.

00:18:28.

Nishi looked at the map on his wrist from a crossing near a railroad; there was no efficient way of enumerating their enemies when they appeared at random on the map. "I feel like I've faced something like this before…." As Nishi remembered his primary missions, he couldn't help the amused smile that crossed his face. "I can't believe how easy it was to elude that marksman. I guess his guarding skills aren't as good as his sniping skills."

Nishi hadn't seen any of the other players thus far and briefly wondered how many aliens they had already killed in such a short period, and it discouraged him. Nishi repositioned his device and crossed over the tracks toward the next part of the borough he was in. Nishi never cared much about what area they were sent to; most of the time, it was either a city or a town within the Tokyo area, sometimes, specifically, a building, but this area appeared old and abandoned, judging from the exterior of the building's structure. Nishi found the irony of the Reaper aliens residing in a place like this ridiculous, but it also made sense and started to think the aliens were adapting to become harder to find, which meant that Izumi was right; the aliens were becoming vigilant.

Nishi supposed the best part about this area was it would unlikely appear on the news once the mission was over.

Nishi passed several tiny houses until the area spanned more openly.

"Joichiro."

Nishi grabbed the x-gun from his holdall, aiming high, and swerved on his heel to check behind, coming face to face with the end of another. Nishi wondered if one day his father might turn on him; he just never imagined it would be in the middle of a Gantz mission, nor would he have a gun to his head.

"I only want to talk to you, and I think this is the only way you'll listen."

Nishi narrowed his eyes, anger burning in them, yes, he had expected some kind of confrontation, but that made it no less acceptable; Nishi was fuming. "I can't listen if I'm dead, and you don't deserve to be heard."

The gun shook in Eiichiro's hand. "Here's what's going to happen, we're going home, and this never gets discussed. We're going to start again, you, me, and your mother."

Nishi grinned with a tilt of his head. "And play happy families? You're a joke." The teen laughed. "And you just don't get it; this is real; it's a warzone, you don't get to just walk away from this until all the aliens are dead."

Eiichiro frowned. "Stop talking nonsense, Joichiro, now come with me so we can go home to your mother, or I will-"

"You'll what? Kill me so you won't have to deal with me anymore? Wouldn't that be so much easier for you."

Eiichiro gritted his teeth, his fingers twitching on the triggers. "Don't make me shoot you, I'm giving you a chance as my son."

"I can't believe you're that brainless. The people who go to the room have already died once. You died, didn't you? Tell me how." Nishi grinned.

Eiichiro stood aghast when he remembered that a car had hit him. "But I-"

"Oh you're alive now, but for how long I wonder? I've been fighting in this world since I disappeared, you do the math."

Eiichiro's eyes widened. "You mean you-"

"That's right, you partially got your wish, so there is that."

"But how?"

Nishi tensed slightly at the mention of his death but was emotionless in response. "I fell from the school roof at the end of the day." It didn't surprise Nishi that Eiichiro looked impassive to his death; he was actually counting on it. If Eiichiro had shown any compassion toward him, Nishi would have probably puked.

"Even if what you say is true, the fact is you never bothered to come home, knowing you were alive which stands to reason that you never gave a fuck about me or your mother."

Nishi failed to hide his anger this time and bared his teeth. "You have no idea what I've been through to get back home, and it's not worth wasting my breath telling you."

Eiichiro frowned. "I never pegged my son for a delusionist that he'd believe in this stupid fantasy that much; what a poor excuse. Me and your mother would be better off if you did die."

Nishi pursed his lips. "You've got that backwards, but go right ahead and shoot me, and you'll see how real these guns really are." Nishi knew that if his father shot him, he wouldn't die, but his suit would eventually, and he hadn't even found any aliens yet. "For what I've done to survive, I wouldn't bother hoping I wouldn't kill you just because you're my father." Nishi chuckled. "Oh, and the suit isn't just a lame looking cosplay, you really should have put one on." Nishi grabbed Eiichiro's wrist and twisted hard, causing the man to scream and release the gun. "That's for telling me she was dead." Before Eiichiro could scramble for the gun, Nishi kicked it out of reach and aimed the gun right at Eiichiro's face once he stood up. "And this is for-"

Nishi's face was splattered with blood when a long sharp blade sheered through Eiichiro's torso. Nishi's eyes widened when he saw the alien appear in view as his dad fell to the ground with the blade still inside him. "Shit!" Quick to react, Nishi fired the x-gun with precision as it floated toward him, scythe now back in its possession, and jumped from its attack line. By the time the alien turned to attack, its body had exploded.

Nishi sighed and glanced down at the body of his father. "I would say rest in peace, but I hope you rot in hell."