Day 3
Mint stood awake standing in the Scramble Crossing, waiting for Ren to wake up. She could tell that today was going to go by extremely slowly.
Slowly, Ren's eyes opened and he yawned as he sat up. "Morning," He said.
"Morning," Mint replied normally, no hatred or sarcasm found.
"I have a question. How did you die?" he asked.
"That's not a good question to ask in the morning," she said.
"I was just wondering," he replied.
"Why does it matter?" she replied. "I died that's all that matters."
"You know, I remember somebody, but I can't at the same time. I know she was there, but not anymore. I think that was my entry fee, my memory of this person," he said as he looked up. "I kind of want it back, so those reapers are gonna get torn a new one if they get in my way."
Mint blinked and looked back at him. "Of all the players in the UG I had to pick the most random and dramatic of the bunch, but you know," she added as she turned around and looked at him, "I've been wondering something. Why is it that Naomi and Matsu know all this? When we got here yesterday?"
"Maybe, this isn't their first time playing. One team wins, while the other has to stay behind," Ren replied.
Mint just nodded her head and looked down at her cell, "There haven't been any texts this morning, maybe Satan found a better way of conveying our missions," she joked.
"Yeah, maybe it'll be in blood on the giant TV screen," he counter-joked.
"I don't know, but when we see angels crucified upside down we'll know we'll have a mission," she said. She then stopped, thought about what she said, and shook her head, "If I wasn't already dead, I'd so be going to hell for that."
"Welcome, your already here. I wish I was in America," Ren joked.
Mint snickered, "Hey cheapskate has a sense of humor. Speaking of money let's get some breakfast."
"Yeah, I could go for some ramen," Ren said.
"I could go for five bowls of ramen, and the special, and whatever else you can't afford," she joked.
They both walk into Ramen Don and order their food. Ren asked for a bowl of ramen and Mint ordered the special.
"Do you even know what the special is?" Ren asked
"No, but I know it costs a lot," Mint replied. The man behind the counter handed them each their plates. Ren and Mint grabbed the food and walked over to a nearby table. They both sat down across from one another.
Mint looked down and hatched an evil plot. "Damnit! I forgot a napkin, could you go get one please?" she asked, pouting up at Ren.
Ren stared at her for a moment, scoffed, and walked up. He grabbed a few napkins, then, when he returned to the table, saw Mint eating his ramen. The special now in front of his seat.
"Huh, fine," he whined as he sat down and devoured the food.
"You're like a human vacuum aren't you?" She asked starring at him.
While they were eating two familiar players walked into the restaurant. Naomi glanced over and smiled as she saw the two.
"Ren! Mint!" She exclaimed. Today she was wearing a purple skirt, pink top, and a matching purple scarf around her neck. Next to her, Matsu stood wearing yellow sunglasses and a fully back outfit with yellow strips down the sides.
"I thought we killed the bumble bee!" Ren exclaimed.
Matsu glared at him and looked him over, "Are those the same clothes you were yesterday? I know we are dead, but you could shower and change clothes and all. You know, enjoy the Shibuya lifestyle," Matsu spat.
"Says the bumble the bee," Ren replied.
"I'll have you know," Matsu said, showing off a magazine which had a picture of the Prince wearing the same outfit. The magazine was called F-fashion. "This is the latest F'd clothing. Black and yellow are the current top colors for this season."
Ren just shook his head. "You still look ridiculous. Right Mint?" Ren asked. He then noticed how quiet she had been. "Hey, you okay? You're never this quiet."
Mint was simply starring at the two, specifically the new clothing. She then looked over at Ren and pointed her finger in his face. "You are taking me shopping now, get your money." She demanded.
"Let me finish my Ramen first," He said.
She grabbed the bowl of ramen from him.
"You are so cruel," Ren said, sadly. Then, Mint had an idea.
She then pulled out the her phone and texted him, then set the ramen back down.
Ren blinked and checked the message. "Finish this ramen, you have ten seconds, failure will result in you wearing it."
She then pulled out a permanent marker from her thigh pouch and drew a timer on his hand.
Ren snickered and just gobbled the food down. "Now how the hell am I getting this off my hand?" he asked.
"I'm sure it'll go away when the real timer comes. Now, shopping , shopping, shopping!" she exclaimed.
"Fine, let's go," Ren said.
"We'll come with you!" Naomi exclaimed.
Matsu looked at her, "We just got back."
"We'll go again!"
"I don't have the money for this."
"Well if you would have never spent 20,000 yen on your glasses we'd be fine."
"Are you gay?" Ren asked jokingly.
Matsu just looked at him, "If your bold enough bend over and see what happens."
Ren quickly caught up to Mint.
At one of Shibuya's main department shops, Ren sat on a bench in the shop, bored and waiting for Mint. Previously, Mint and Matsu had been arguing over what Ren's next outfit was. However, he had found and tried on his own attire. Ren now wore a teal sleeveless turtleneck and snow camo baggy pants.
Mint had found some clothes she liked and was trying them on in the dressing room. With not a thing better to do, Ren desperately tried to think of a way of amusing himself. Finally, he thought up a solution.
Using his player pin, Ren scanned the room. He noticed a thought appear overtop one of the other dressing rooms and decided to read it.
"I wish my boobs were bigger! That way he'd look like at me like that and not as his secretary. Damned happily married men," the thought read.
Ren decided to find a new target after that.
While still in focus, however, Ren glanced in the general direction of Matsu. It was then he saw a thought floating over his head. Curiously, he tried to read it.
The next thing he knew, he had a hundreds of abstract thoughts rush into his head at once. The sudden overload of messages and memories caused a severe headache to throb into his skull.
"Dammit!" he exclaimed and held his head.
Upon seeing him wince Matsu looked over. "Stop wincing, it's not that bad trying on clothes," he joked and crossed his arms. "Stop being a pussy."
Just then, he felt himself fall a bit. He tried to keep his balance and caught onto something. Unfortunately for him, though, that something was the curtain hiding Mint in the dressing room.Pulling down the curtain, Ren looked up seeing Mint in skirt and bra.
"Uhhhhh. Hi Mint."
Mint turned around and saw him. She then screamed and kicked him in the side of the head hard, as if it were a soccer ball.
Ren sat there with an ice pack on his head and an aspirin in his mouth, staying quiet. He waited while Mint was getting dressed in the newly duct taped area.
"Ren, I'm sorry this happened," Naomi said.
"It's not your fault Naomi," Ren said.
"You're lucky your already dead," Matsu pointed out.
Finally Mint stepped out wearing a pair of white and baggy snow pants. She also wore a teal tank with a black heart design on the front and white fishnet overtop of the shirt.
"Yay! Now me and pervy Ren match!" Mint exclaimed. She then reconsidered and put a pout on her face. "Great, now I match a pervert."
Matsu and Naomi snickered then ran off to the cash register to pay for the new clothes that had found. This left Mint and Ren alone.
From across the store and at the entrace, two players walked in. The first was a tall blonde female. She had short blonde hair which was mostly covered by her oversized blue hat. Her outfit resembled that of a breakdancer's. Beside her stood a short boy with black hair and teal tips. He wore a black and aqua blue outfit with a bubble like design on it.
The blonde female scanned the room before she smiled and looked at the boy, "There's more players in here," she said as she walked over to Ren and Mint.
Upon seeing the girl walk up to them, Ren blinked weirdly at her, confused.
"Hiya!" the blonde greeted, the black and teal haired boy standing behind her. She smiled at him and Mint, eyeing the two. "You two are both playas aren't ya?"
"Yeah, how'd you know?" he asked, startled.
"Oh, that's easy! Yinz are the only people here I couldn't scan," She said.
"Wait, you can't scan other players?" He asked as he looked over at Matsu who was away at the store counter.
"Well of course ya can't." She stopped for a moment, then looked over at the boy and smirked. "We got ourselves some newbies here. That's okay, though. Trent here's new too." she said nudging towards the boy.
"I'm Ren and this Mint," Ren decided to introduce.
"Nice to meetcha," she greeted again. "My name's Emmi and this here is Trent."
"So, uh, what if you could scan player?" Ren asked.
Emmi blinked, a bit confused by the question. "If you could then the person wouldn't be player. Ya know, normally I wouldn't help my 'ponets. But, since you two are newbs, I guess I could share little tidbits o' info. This probably won't be yer last week here."
"Encouraging."
"Better than dying. Anyways, anybody that you are able to scan lives in the RG," she began while Trent took a seat at a nearby bench. "In fact, the main thing preventin' us from scanning other players is the pin itself that allows us to scan people. As long as you got that player pin, then yer mind is your own little secret."
"That's good to know," Mint thanked.
"Know what else is good to know? I think this info might help ya'll out in the nearby future. It's a lil' thing we in the UG called imprinting, thus saving all our asses. You see, sometimes a mission calls for interfering a tad bit with the RG. But we cannot be seen. So the only way to do this is to force ideas into people's minds. Thus, what imprintin' is!"
"Huh, that is also good to know," Ren said smiling.
"Uh huh," Emmi said. "But that is enough info for me to be givin' yinz. Have ya gotten a mission yet today?"
"No," Ren said. "It's weird."
"Not really," She replied. "I've gone through a few weeks we had three days off. It all depends n the current GM. All though with this one. I thought we'd have one everyday," She said.
"Yeah, she likes to 'uproot' players," Ren said.
"Oh every GM's got there own little quirk. This one is particular to gardening and flowers and such apparently," She said.
"Well, thanks, but can I talk to my partner alone for a moment?" Ren asked.
"Sure I'll leave you two alone, come on Trent," She said as they walk into a store.
"She said you couldn't scan players," Ren said.
"So what of it?" Mint asked.
"I was able to scan Matsu, it hurt like hell, but I could still do it. That's why I fell," he explained.
"I see how it is. You are just making up excuses to try to get me to forgive you."
"Fine you try it."
"I don't want to try it if it hurts!" Mint exclaimed. She hesitated for a moment, then sighed and decided to give in and listen to what he had to say. "What did you hear when you tried to scan him?"
"A bunch of meshed together words. They were thoughts just too many to hear properly."
"You couldn't get a single word out?"
"No, not a one."
Mint thought for a moment then looked up, "Well he is obviously part of the UG and he can see us. I mean he has a player pin." At that, Mint wondered something to herself. "Wait, does he?"
"I don't know, but I plan to find out," Ren assured her.
"Well, whether he does or doesn't, what does it matter to us? Maybe he lost it. We are all trying to get the same goal aren't we? So why fight against each other?" Mint asked.
"I don't know, but I just want to be sure for Naomi's sake. If he is somehow cheating then that can't be good for her."
Mint thought for a moment and sighed, then nodded. "I guess."
"Let's go find out." At that, Ren started on his way towards Matsu. He got closer and closer and closer...
Then, suddenly, all their phones started beeping.
"What has grown tallest has become corrupt. You must rip out the weeds. You have 100 minutes. The weak will be uprooted."
"Of all the times!" Ren yelled.
END OF PART 1