Author's Note: Apologies again! I've been spending my time making a present for one of my friends, but I managed to write this and part of the next chapter in my spare time. Hopefully I'll be able to write it fairly quickly.
Enjoy!

Chapter 4
Day 2- Start

"So, we have a decent number of partners this time." Kariya cracked his knuckles slowly, watching as Uzuki wove small strands of her hair into a braid. It looked a bit difficult for her, but she managed.

He leaned against the counter and passed her mug of coffee to his other side, nudging her leg. She picked it up and asked, "Does it look alright?" while holding the braid out with her other fingers.

His noise of confirmation was not convincing to her. She placed her hand over the lip of his own mug, making him pull away. This time, though still a tad surprised, he gave a firm, "It could look better."

Just barely refraining to force his coffee down his front (for the sake of his new clothes alone), she tugged out the braid angrily. "You do it, then!"

He placed his mug on the counter, swung around to face her, and took a small bit of her hair between his fingers. "Who's crabby this morning?" he wondered aloud.

A huff of air blew out from her nose like a discontent, particularly diverting dragon.

His fingers tugged gently, face assuming a blank focus. "You're good at this," Uzuki mumbled.

"Bobby pins," he requested. Her fingers fumbled blindly for the ones on the counter, then held them out in his direction. He pinched the braid and pinned it back into her small, brush-like ponytail. "There."

"Thank you," she said, then decided to push a little again. "How'd you learn to braid?"

His expression turned around to a more amused look. "Are you asking due to my gender? My hair happens to be just as long as yours."

She bit the lip of her coffee cup, then turned noncommittal. "I dunno." He was becoming awfully good at deflecting the intentions of her questions. It was frustrating.

Uzuki, for a moment, struggled to find another way to state her question. Anything she thought of, however, crossed his taboo line. Everything crossed that line.

Her mouth sunk into a scowl.

"Watch it, Uzuki, or you'll burn the linoleum with that stare," he teased, watching her as he finished his mug.

"If only I could do the same to you," she shot at him lamely.

"Oh dear," he said calmly, "What did I do this time?" Water splashed up against his cup as he washed it.

"I hate asking you questions."

Head tilted just a little, he dried his hands and said, "You mean you hate the way I don't answer them." He turned around to look at her. "But think of it this way." He made eye contact with her carefully. "In a way, I wish I could answer your questions. But ultimately, all that would do is satiate your own curiosity with little other virtues."

She placed her hand over her mouth, trying to backtrack in her mind because, wow, she really shouldn't have gone there. But even with this just occurring to her, she whispered out, "Are you saying I'm selfish?"

Kariya grimaced, and ran one hand through his hair. "It's fine, Uzuki. You're fine. Just- we should go."

She nodded, hoisting herself off the counter. Her arms felt heavy. "We're together today."

"Yeah."

"How many pairs?"

"Eight or so," Kariya said, rolling a pop in his mouth. He looked possessed by the demon of small eye movements at that moment as he looked out the window. The street people of Shibuya moved about like small ants. She wondered what, or who, he was searching for.

Uzuki appeared impressed. "Lots of people died these few weeks to have such a surplus," she mused, straightening out her skirt. She wore a starry, blue button-up knotted at her high-waisted skirt. She had the collar popped to show the white inside and she pushed her sleeves up likewise as they went out the door.

They descended the steps, Kariya with that thoughtful, absorbed look if his. She tried not to appear to be watching him, and went so far as to silently tell herself to stop. That was a futile attempt on her part.

He took his hands out of his pockets and skipped down the rest of the steps. "It's a new day! Let's get started," he said, holding the door open for her.

She shoved at his chest with her small hands, grinning. "Let's end those losers."

The way Uzuki saw it, she was doing little more than collecting souls. It held no significance for her that she might be ending their lives terminally. To her, they were dead and they were supposed to be dead. If they persevered, then shucks- they deserved to live.

She looked at all the survivors and was somewhat surprised and a little disappointed to discover that none of them seemed worth her time. "You can see right through them," she said, "They're all worthless!"

With a flick of her wrist, noise swarmed one of the couples. The man paled.

Rarely, as Kariya would know, did the older ones succeed at getting a second chance. The ones that did had something else worth living for, if they remembered them at all. Anyone who fought to live solely for themselves were missing the point of the games. They proved to have the least amount of motive, in the end.

It was either the ones who were insane enough to try, or the defiant ones, who expected more from life. Many took that leap of insanity and found a partner, but there were others who just sat and cried- whether they were man, woman, or child.

The most depressing things Kariya had ever seen were when small babies that cried on the first day. Reapers were allowed to take them gently, themselves. It was often a fluke that they were there at all.

"Let's just get rid of one a day," said Kariya, "It's more interesting on the last day when there's more than one couple."

"It's not often we get that chance," said Uzuki thoughtfully. The two that Uzuki had sicced her noise on had defeated the minor enemies and moved on. She stared after another two players like an idle, pink-haired hawk.

"Those couple weeks more certainly raked in some dead, that's for sure," Kariya said in turn. "It makes sense that there would be twice as many this week."

Each city center had a zone of the towns and countryside without the city where, if anyone died within that zone, they gathered at the center for the games. Shibuya had a large zone, and thus contained quite a number of players during the weeks. However, it still occasionally came as a shock when there were more people than could ever be counted.

"Wonder what their entry fees were?" she mused, just as some kid ran into her from her other side. "Ow! Hey, watch it!" she yelled. Before she could, Kariya summoned small noise to stop the boy. He was the small 'redhead' that paired up first on Day 1.

"Kid! Where's your partner at?" Kariya said, long legs taking him to stand over the boy as the noise made low bickering sounds of restlessness.

"I-I'm here." The tall blond stumbled into the area, face screwed up in an apparent exhaustive state. His eye saccades went awkwardly from the noise, to Kariya, to Uzuki. "They're bats, Spud. I hate bats," he muttered. The other kid reacted to "Spud" like it was his name.

Uzuki's hands went to her wings.

"No, they're Reapers." He looked Uzuki up and down, then stared at Kariya. "I didn't think Reapers ganged up."

"We try to fight fair," Kariya said calmly. "Two against two."

"Sure," said Spud caustically. "Like we'd ever get to fight you. You just hide behind the noise."

Uzuki's shoulders tensed. "You wanna fight, Player?" she challenged just as Kariya said, "Those are the rules."

Kariya raised his eyebrows at his partner, then turned back to Spud. He reached out for Uzuki- to calm her down before she did some other stupid thing. "You don't want to fight us, kid."

"Yes, I do. So does Kazu." His glower was rather intense for a boy. "But you're beyond our level," he said. Kazu was starting to gasp, raking his hands through his hair. Spud's gaze faltered when he heard him, and he backed up so he was next to Kazu again. "You and your girlfriend would cheat, anyway."

Uzuki spluttered angrily. "Hey! Stop talking to him like I'm a potted plant!"

Kariya didn't move, but the noise were getting restless being held back. "I'd get lost if I were you. We're not the ones with limited time on our hands."

Spud's eyes narrowed. "I don't like bullies."

"Neither do I," Kariya said. "Now scram." The noise leapt up, snarling, and Spud flashed his pins. Kazu, who had calmed slightly with his partner at his side, loosed the chain he had around his neck. It enlarged itself, growing longer, and Kazu blinked rapidly.

It was a relatively quick battle for them, but Kariya had pulled Uzuki away into an alleyway. "I thought you wanted a promotion," he said calmly.

She scowled. "I do!"

"Then stop trying to break the rules," Kariya told her firmly. "And stop taking offense at the smallest implications," he added.

"But-"

"I know."

Uzuki's eyebrows pulled down, her whole expression sinister. "I hope the game ends him."

He leaned back, attempting to spot Spud through the crowd. "We should let other Reapers try to deal with those two before we allow them to get under our skin."

He flashed her a comforting smile. "For now, let's just see if there's anyone worth picking off, and then call it a day."

Her eyes were distant, and he could easily imagine what she was thinking- wringing his neck until he was purple in the face. Kariya wasn't quite comfortable knowing she was thinking that.

"Hey," he said sharply. Her eyes focused in on him and took in his expression. "Stop thinking about it."

She crossed her arms, but ended up looking more insecure than upset.

"I'll buy you ramen in a few minutes," he told her, voice shifting back to gentle. "After we get rid of some of that frustration." Kariya smiled at her until her eyes lost enough of their flame for her to appreciate it.

"Okay."