Searching for the truth is like excavation work.

You have to dig deeper and deeper into the core of what you want to obtain, risking life and limb to get what you want. It is risky business, but what is life without a little risk?

And the rewards for all this hard work? Well, it varies.

The truth can be pretty horrible, and the treasures you dig up can actually produce more harm than good.

But you still search, you still work for it, giving up safety for glory, comfort for riches, all for a little something that glitters but is not gold. Because the revolution will not be televised and the truth will not remain silent for very long.

Despite my discomfort, I had a mission to fulfill...to uncover the truth and treasure that were the stories of the Dark Signers and how they were interwoven into my life.

And all of the blood, sweat and tears that I would shed throughout this investigation, in order to pursue something so important to me and me alone...my reward for this pursuit of nothing but the truth would eventually get to the point where I just dug my own grave…

...If only life had safety nets.

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2nd Shot (Part 2)

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Five Characters in Search of an Exit

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The boy says goodbye to Bel and follows the third Dark Signer towards her room. Despite the fact that Korni could easily skate the two of them there, she instead removes said skates and walks barefoot down the hall, quiet and looking as if she is concentrating on a complicated math problem...

Which reminds the boy that he has math homework (converting fractions, decimals and percentages to one or the other like alchemical transfusion) waiting for him when he gets home. As if the boy can be so interested in something like that when the most important moment of his life has appeared right before his eyes.

"So, Korni," says Shooti, breaking the silence. The hall is lined with iron sconces in the shape of lilies with yellow flames burning bright. "Bel has told me about the type of abilities you guys have, but I was wondering... Do you, um, feel pain even though you…"

Korni stops walking and sighs. Then after a second, she punches the wall, causing the manor to tremble and Shooti to step back. When Korni retracts her hand, there is now a medium-sized crater on the wall. She looks at her bruised knuckles before shaking her head.

"We don't physically feel, but…" Korni tilts her head back at Shooti. "Have you ever seen that Tim Burton film? The one where Johnny Depp rehearsed his wedding rites and slipped the ring on an innocently looking branch?"

"Oh! Corpse Bride!" Shooti answers, grey eyes bright as he places his arms in front of him. "I've watched it three times already! It's so beautiful and melancholic! Full of German Expressionism and tragic romance not unlike-"

"Remember that song Emily sings halfway into the movie?" Korni interrupts. "When her friends try to tell her that she's absolutely miles beyond plain Victoria, but she responds with…"

Korni pauses before she takes a deep breath. Her voice echoes across the hall as she sings,

"If I touch a burning candle, I can feel no pain.

In the ice and in the sun it's all the same...

And I know my heart is breaking, even though it isn't aching...

Yet the pain here that I feel, try and tell me it's not real.

"I know that I am dead...

"But it seems as if I have some tears to shed…"

Shooti stays quiet as Korni exhales, looking a bit embarrassed to ask such a personal question, awkwardly fidgeting at a stray thread hanging from the sleeve of his jacket and pulling it out before pocketing it. Then, he hears a clap as Korni turns to him.

"Well, enough gloom," she says, her face now bright and cheery. "To my room we go!"

She grabs Shooti by the arm and they run down the hall, take two lefts until they find themselves in front of Korni's room, marked with a large monkey glyph, five seconds later. Korni smiles as she raises her arm to the air, her purple monkey mark glowing as the door opens. Then, Korni hurls Shooti onto her bed, which he lands with an "oof" amongst a variety of pillows.

Korni approaches a table where an electric kettle, some tea cups, a basket of teabags and a radio sit. She turns the radio on as a song begins to play.

"Under the tree where the grass don't grow

We made a promise to never get old…"

"Avicii, huh?" says Shooti, sitting himself up. "I thought you'd be into Coldplay."

"Why would you…Oh, haha very funny," says Korni with a roll of her eyes. She picks up a tea kettle. "You want jasmine or oolong?"

"No thanks, I have water on me," Shooti answers, pulling out the water bottle from his satchel. As he opens his bottle, he takes a better look at the room. On the white walls are words and phrases scribbled in black permanent marker and a large outline of a raven drawn above and around three large mirrors. There is a lava lamp at the corner where various jackets and other articles of clothing are piled up like a pyramid. Korni has propped her roller skates by the door and unstrapped her helmet which she tosses onto a fuzzy chair without a care in the world.

Shooti begins his round of photo taking, wishing that his camera spits out Polaroids instead of having everything saved in an SD card. He wonders how much money he would have to spend to get these photos developed.

"My room ain't much, but I don't spend a lot of time here anyways," says Korni, pouring herself a cup of hot water. "I'm always on some sort of job helping people Domino Below, work at a suicidal hotline, or I go give people hugs for about an hour."

"Hugging is a business now?" asks Shooti.

"There are a lot of people who live alone and would like someone to comfort them," Korni elaborates, dropping a tea bag into her mug. "And for one hour a day, I can lift someone's spirits and perhaps feed on their despair if need be."

"Despair? I thought the sin of Sloth was for being lazy."

"Well in the olden days, if you were so full of despair then there would be no room in your minds to do good honest work. And despair used to be considered the unofficial eighth sin before the Church decided to mix that and laziness together and call it a day."

Korni picks up her mug and then walks towards the bed, where she seats herself down and blows off the steam. Shooti pulls out an onigiri from his bag.

"It's salted plum inside," he says. "Not my favorite filling but…"

"Ooh...my favorite!" Korni exclaims, unwrapping it and then taking a big bite. "You're such a sweetheart, you know?"

"Yeah, my mom calls me that too whenever I make her lunch."

"Oh really now? What's her name?"

"Saya, like that visual novel."

"Eh? You actually play that game? Saya no Uta is hella freaky if you ask me."

"No, but my mom told me that story once when she came home from…" Shooti pauses. "'Hella freaky?' Wait, does that mean you…"

"Oh, someone knows Life is Strange!" Korni chuckles, lightly punching Shooti in the arm. "I didn't know a kid like you was allowed to play that game!"

"I'm not. I play it with my babysitter whenever she comes to keep an eye on me." Shooti raises his arms in the air. "Ooh, the music, the gameplay, the graphics...everything about Arcadia Bay just screams majesty! I would love to go there just to photograph the place!"

"Same here, except I would be more into roller skating across the beach and watching the magnificent sunsets. Now, be honest, did you decide to kill Chloe in the alternate timeline or…"

Korni stops when she notices how Shooti looks at his feet, his wide-eyed expression now one of sadness. She takes another bite of the onigiri as the last part of the song plays.

"These are the days we've been waiting for
Neither of us knows what's in store
You just roll your window down and place your bets
These are the days we won't regret
These are the days we'll never forget"

As the song finishes, and "Wake Me Up" by Avicii starts a minute later, Korni sighs as Shooti wipes a tear from his eye.

"It all started with an open challenge from the Security officer, Armstrong," she begins. "Jun's father was sick and tired of that monstrous oaf and headed off to challenge him in the place known as The Facility. Jun was excited to see his dad in action, and then that's where things went wrong.

"Joining them on their trip to Domino Below was this kid known as Tokunosuke Omoteura. Everyone who knew him called him by his nickname 'Flip Turner'. Ever heard of him?"

"I dueled him once back at the Domino School Festival last semester," Shooti answers. "Well, that was when he dressed up as a girl and proclaimed to be a 'big fan' of mine...or rather, of my brother. He wanted to duel me and...well, let's just say that he learned the hard way why not to piss off a guy who uses a Batteryman deck."

That was a very long and annoying duel due to that jerk's Flip Effect monsters (and the boy thought Serena's Ghostrick monsters were annoying, especially that Ghostrick-Go-Round card that flips monsters around without a care in the world). Not even a minute after it ended, Flip "flipped" and tried to sic his lackeys on the boy. Fortunately, Akari Tsukumo, close reporting friend to Carly who was there to cheer on her younger brother, came to break it up.

Some time later, Yuma, Akari's brother, somehow managed to befriend Tokunosuke, even though the boy feels like he doesn't deserve it. Then again, if Gentaro Kisaragi would befriend the guy who tried to use the delinquent as a shield, Yuma befriending a cheat wouldn't be as surprising.

"Then you know how Tokunosuke has a special philosophy about life. 'Everything has a dual nature.' People and things have two sides of them, and Kurotsugu knew that when he specifically asked the kid to join them. Jun, however, just believed that brat's lie on being a huge fan on Kurotsugu and let it be.

"When they finally made it to the Facility, Armstrong was adamant on wanting to have Kurotsugu subservient to him. This was all while Tokunosuke was buttering Armstrong up to the point that I would have thrown up at all of the prose spewed out of the boy's mouth. Not to mention showing Armstrong his own deck of Effect monsters.

"Half an hour later, the duel (which was to ensure the freedom of some innocent inmates falsely accused of smuggling cards into the Facility) was underway with the condition of both duelists equipped with shock collars that would put a shock to their system whenever one of them took damage. Of course, Armstrong rigged it so that only Kurotsugu got shocked, cheater that he is and always will be.

"The duel continued, with Armstrong trying to mill Kurotsugu to end the Battle. Just as Armstrong was about to win, there was a blackout. And when the lights came back on, Kurotsugu obtained a clutch victory and the inmates were free to go.

"Jun was happy as can be; his father had won through thick and thin and Armstrong was going to be out of job. But as Jun was celebrating, he noticed how his father was thanking Tokunosuke about something regarding card tricks and the like. And that's when Jun learned the truth.

"Armstrong's fall came from Tokunosuke tampering with that deck earlier on by slipping a stray card into the Duel Disk when Armstrong was busy snorting nose hairs at someone, and how his father held an ace up his sleeve during the blackout caused by some of the inmates who were sick and turned of Armstrong's tyranny (and because Armstrong was using the security cameras to cheat). Jun was crushed to learn that his father, an honorable man, would fight dirty; his father always did the right thing, no matter the odds. Kurotsugu defended himself by saying that it had to be done, and Tokunosuke just stated his 'philosophy' on everyone's dual nature in that desperate times came for these desperate measures. After all, Samurai Jack (whom Jun is a big fan of) also fought dirty when push came to shove.

"Jun didn't want to hear any of this and ran off, Tokunosuke close behind. It was there that Jun bumped into an irate Armstrong, who accused Jun of tampering with the deck due to Armstrong 'seeing' his silhouette. Jun tried to tell the truth, but that oaf wouldn't take any of it. And as for Tokunosuke…

"Well, coward that he was and always will be, ran away, leaving Jun to his fate of being strangled to death with an iron chain and beaten until all the wind was knocked out of him. Jun didn't die with honor at all; he died for nothing."

Shooti grips onto his water bottle as the song has changed to "The Nights" and Korni looks up at the ceiling, where the glyph of a monkey observes them.

"That's where I came in, after Armstrong panicked and tried to hide the body, or at least make it look like Jun hanged himself. I had a job there delivering care packages for inmates with families and saw Jun's body swinging on a pipe. Using my powers, I was able to revive the boy and make him my Acolyte of Despair for Cusillu (my Earthbound Immortal) found his energy to be a perfect balance to the sin I so often feed upon."

Shooti stays still, not even bothering to write the story down as he tries to avoid imagining what his friend looked like while he died. He can't even fathom that his best friend is dead, due to how Jun always kept that grin on his face and never seemed to look like he carried emotional baggage in him.

As he contemplates this, he feels a pair of arms wrapped around him. Shooti turns to see Korni hugging him, sighing in relief as her body radiates with a lemon yellow aura. In fact, just by being wrapped up in this hug, Shooti finds himself not feeling as heartbroken about Jun's death than before.

"That feel better?" asks Korni.

"...It does," Shooti answers, relaxing into the hug a bit more. Now if it was only Bel that was hugging him...

Three minutes later, Korni releases Shooti from the hug as she places a hand on her forehead. "I just got news from Jun." she says. "He's fully conscious again and sobbing his eyes out."

"Really?!" ask Shooti, pulling his phone out. A few taps later, he pulls out a news article about a survivor, quickly scanning how it involves his friend being the only survivor of this suicide stunt. "Jun…"

"I have to take this call now and I don't wanna tell Jun that you're here...well, not yet, anyway," says Korni, taking a sip of her tea. She winces as she watches Shooti stand up, eyes locked on the article. "If you wanna continue your little tour here, take a left and keep walking till you find the door marked with a lizard. Oh, and make sure you knock before entering. Nagi might be getting 'ready' for work."

"Are you sure?" asks Shooti. "I mean, I...I didn't even get to know you."

"Ah, that can be for later. You're still young; you have plenty of time to dig up any dirt about me in the future."

Oh how the boy wishes that Korni didn't tempt fate so easily when she said that.

"Come on, don't look so glum," says Korni. "Let's take a photo, 'kay?"

Shooti has no time to answer as Korni grabs his arm and lifts the camera into the air. Then, with a ch'csh, the photo is taken.

"Hmm…" says Korni, seeing the photo. "Oh, it looks fantastic! Now, get going...you won't get to know us better if you stand still and all!"

"Okay then," says Shooti. "Oh and Korni?"

"Yeah?"

"...Thanks for telling me about Jun."

Korni pauses before she smiles. "Ah, no prob. It was the least I can do."

Shooti nods his head before he wraps his arms around Korni for a second or two before heading off. A part of him wants to cry in her arms at everything he has heard, but he ignores the feeling...it would not do him any good while he is in the abode of the Dark Signers.

As he walks down the hall, he slips his phone back inside, glad that he has not received a message of any kind since he left the apartment, and pulls out the notepad and pen, doing his best to scribble down everything he has learned. The only noises during this time are his pen furiously writing a basic summary of Korni's story and his footsteps across the silent hall.

He is so caught up in his writing, that he doesn't even know that he's walked past the door with the lizard until he hears a voice that says, "Over here, little boy."

Shooti looks up and looks around. The yellow light has now become a cool lime green, with the sconces now shaped like leaves. He takes three steps back to see the door with the lizard mark on it before approaching it, knocking on it three times.

"Hello?" he asks tentatively. "Is this the room of Nagi?"

"This is she," the voice answers back. "I take it that Korni sent you?"

"Yes, she did. Uh, is it safe for me to come in?"

There is silence before the door slowly opens. When it slides in all the way, Shooti can only open his mouth at what he sees.

It is a model, no, a goddess that has to be standing in front of him. Her hair and eyes a pale lavender color, her skin the color of alabaster, her shimmering sky blue tunic accessorized with golden bracelets and anklets depicting a white feather on them. She is as beautiful as a nymph, the envy of all other women everywhere.

Nagi tilts her head as Shooti looks close enough to faint. Instead, he slaps himself and shakes his head.

"That...that was rude of me to stare," he stammers. "I... it's just...I wanted to…"

Nagi chuckles. "Take a photo if you like and show it to your girlfriend if you want. I wonder how envious she would be to know that you found yourself in the midst of a beauty like me."

She turns away as Shooti follows her in. He looks around, seeing the color scheme of white and green like something out of the jungle. The green and white silk sheets like a canopy, the bamboo green walls, the blue-green carpet like a river...it reminds him of a documentary about the rainforest he saw at school once.

He brings out his camera to photograph it all, only to be surprised when he finds Nagi lying on the bed with a regal smile on her face, like many a model from a magazine centerfold.

"Go on," she croons. "Take one…"

With trembling hands, Shooti takes one photo - and only one - before he begins to take his photos of the room. As he observes a small shrine at the corner, which shows a platter of fruit, lit incense sticks and a small statue of a bird of paradise, he hears a lovely song being played out from a Bluetooth speaker, the female voice making him feel so light with her bright and airy notes.

"Goldfrapp," Nagi explains as she hums along. "The single is Black Cherry. Quite lovely, don't you think?"

"Y...yeah, lovely…" Shooti answers, stretching his collar out. "So Nagi, I assume you feed on Envy."

"Why yes," Nagi answers, spritzing herself with a splash of perfume. "How did you figure that out so easily?

Shooti looks all around him, seeing the decor colored in various shades of green like Nagi has just returned from a shopping trip in the Emerald City. "Oh, it wasn't that hard."

Nagi chuckles as she looks at her reflection in the mirror. "You know, a lot of people tend to mix up 'envy' and 'jealousy'. Envy is when you want something another person has while jealousy is you afraid of losing something you possess."

"I see…"

As the Goldfrapp song continues, Shooti then takes note of a deck of cards on the table out in the open. One card sits next to an earring rack; Quill Pen of Gulldos.

"You duel in your spare time?" asks Shooti.

"Well, 'spare time' is mostly when my company, Seventh Tree, wants me to advertise their 'wares' out to the public." Nagi explains. "I have competed in a few local tournaments, though."

She points to a wall where a few medals are hanging on a collection of hooks. From what is seen, she mostly placed 2nd, but there are one or two gold medals shining in the light.

"And I take it that you use Wind Attribute monsters, right?" asks Shooti.

"Correct."

"Ah. So, I guess you're into graceful monsters like the Harpy La-"

Shooti never finishes that sentence when he sees a dagger thrown directly at him. He dodges just in time to find the dagger now embedded to a poster of famed duelist Mai Kujaku, stabbing one of the blond woman's orchid eyes. Nagi doesn't even turn to a frightened Shooti, still staring at the mirror while she places some lipstick on.

"Please do not make the assumption that just because I use monsters of the Wind attribute, I automatically gravitate towards those provocative…Harpies." Nagi states, setting her lipstick down and exchanging it for a tube of mascara. "For the record, I use Gusto monsters."

"Oh…."

Shooti says nothing else, not even as Nagi's playlist begins its next song ("Time Out From the World"). Nagi, in the meantime, winks to herself before seating herself on the bed.

Shooti moves out of the way as Nagi lays back. "So...what do you do for a living?"

Nagi turns to him and smiles, her lips covered in a pink shimmery lip gloss. "I'm a model."

"Oh really? What...type of model?"

Nagi says nothing as she motions to a laptop with a camera attached to it, running a hand through her long pale lavender hair. It then takes Shooti a few seconds for him to realize what type of "modeling" Nagi is involved in.

"You're... you're…" Shooti stammers out, face turning red. "Um, this is...ah…I"

"I am not the type of women who spreads her legs online," Nagi sternly states. "And this is just a side job compared to my usual duties.

"Now, I suggest you hide in my wardrobe for the next few minutes until I say the phrase 'Melancholy Sky'. That means that my session is up, okay?"

Shooti nods his head as he walks to the (surprisingly large) wardrobe and opens it. He takes one look at Nagi slowly removing her dress before he enters it and closes the doors shut, praying that this is the last time he has to be in a situation like this tonight. He waits for a few seconds before pulling out his cellphone, about to log onto Chasing Shadows.

However, after a thought, he decides to go to Domino-Haikyo, his mind not wanting to go through numerous eye witness accounts or hearing what Carly has to write about this travesty. After entering the URL, he watches the loading wheel spin before being greeted with the 25 dots from earlier today ("A sign," Bel noted back at lunch). His heart pounds in his chest as he imagines what Jun must have felt seeing them at lunch, knowing that in just a few hours he was going to end up as a statistic amongst the rest of the ever eager/frightened/despairing collection of teens that decided to end it all via run-over by train.

But just Shooti clicks the link to enter the site, he hears a loud voice from Nagi's laptop.

"...and ever since she's gone to chase shadows, my newspaper has lost viewership, the reporters I hired are utterly incompetent, and I haven't had a decent cup of coffee in months!"

Shootics eyes widen in surprise as he opens the wardrobe just a bit. From the crack, he sees Nagi's back facing him and on the laptop is a man in his 40's, drinking a tiny glass of sake while spewing out his troubles to the Dark Signer.

"Oh my," Nagi's syrupy voice states. "And is that all that troubles you?"

The man scowls. "The worst part of it all is what she said just before she left. 'I would never recommend this job to anyone I know! Because working for you, sir, is like working in the pits!'" The man hiccups. "So now everyone calls me by that despicable nickname 'Mr. Pitts'! Don't you see? My reputation is ruined."

And Nagi just watches Mr. Pitts bawl in front of her, while Shooti hears the older man drown his sorrows in alcohol and an undead model, not sure whether to feel disgusted or awkward at the scenario.

Mr. Pitts...the boy knows this man very well.

Okay, not very well, but Carly has told the boy a lot about her job "working" under Mr. Pitts as an unpaid intern getting coffee whenever he was in one of his moods (which was all the time) and always demanding that she obtained the most expensive coffees in town (like the famous Blue Eyes Mountain coffee that costs a whopping ¥30,000!)

It was when Mr. Pitts refused to publish an article Carly wrote in regards to the underground dueling clubs in Domino Below (deciding that an article about Seto Kaiba and an incident regarding mushroom soup was more newsworthy) and a kiss-up who "blew steam up Mr. Pitts' ass" that she decided to quit and work on a Street Duel blog that would eventually bring her to the most important things in her life: meeting the boy, and the opportunity to an internship at Chasing Shadows.

Of course, getting a job at that website isn't easy. In order to obtain it, Carly dueled against an opponent who could see into a person's future and execute them before they could become criminals, saving a young child from becoming a dark force of insanity and ensuring the seer that the child would have a bright future. Carly never revealed that child's name out of privacy, but the boy always wondered who this child was and whether or not he knew them.

The boy observes Mr. Pitts and his rant as Nagi takes the time to "expose" her body towards the irate and idiotic man, waiting for the password to get out. But as the boy waits, and Mr. Pitts becomes more and more irate, it gets harder and harder to sit still.

"And I bet Carly had to blow steam up whoever gave her that job up in the ass in order to spite me!" Mr. Pitts snaps. "After all I did for her, this is how she repays me?!"

"You never even paid her in the first place!"

Nagi and Mr. Pitts turn to see Shooti emerging from the wardrobe, panting. He then sits on the bed and leans close onto the camera.

"Carly Nagisa is one of the nicest people I know!" The boy continues. "And she wanted nothing more than to report on issues that mattered, not spending her own money to appease your own appetite for coffee, not to have all her work be tossed aside for pointless celebrity gossip and definitely not to be bossed around as someone as incompetent as you! If you're so envious about losing her, maybe you should have treated her with more respect, and maybe then you would be happy drinking at a bar instead of being alone in your cheap apartment speaking to a call girl who will never love such a stubborn brainless fool like yourself!"

Shooti pants for breath as Nagi raises an eyebrow and Mr. Pitts is speechless, mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water before he growls and slams his hands on the table.

"Who the hell do you think you are?!" Mr. Pitts screams. "I actually have a job, compared to what you'll end up doing in ten years time! Why, if you decide to come working for me, I'll make sure to make your life twice as miserable as that nerdy bitch!"

Shooti snarls, ready to leap into wherever Mr. Pitts is at so he can bash that drunkard in the head with that sake bottle."Call Carly that again and I'll -"

"If I may interrupt," Nagi begins, her voice calm and breathy but strong enough to cause both fighters to pause. "But I am sensing a lot of hurtful feelings between you two and it is going to cast such a Melancholy Sky that I won't be able to eat. Arguments upset my stomach."

Shooti blinks as Nagi gives him a sideways glance.

"What are you saying?" asks Mr. Pitts, oblivious to the change in atmosphere.

Nagi chuckles, her lavender eyes turning black and red markings of a vertical line and two horizontal ones added to it form on her cheeks.

"What the hell?" asks Mr. Pitts. "Who the...what the…"

Nagi laughs a witch's laugh. "Your face looks interesting...just so green with envy…"

Taking the hint, Shooti rushes to the door, taking one last glance at Nagi licking her lips before bolting it out of there, not even closing the door before rushing off down the hall, the green flames on the torches darkening into the color of cerulean. The only thing he can hear are the screams of the pathetic Mr. Pitts.

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The boy doesn't know how long he runs after leaving Nagi, but the more he runs, the more he realizes that he is completely lost.

The only thing that saves him from joining their ranks so soon is someone grabbing his jacket just before he met his end by falling chandelier.

Shooti feels someone tug his arm just as a chandelier drops in front of him, sending glass shards everywhere. He pants as he looks up above, part of a chain swinging back and forth above his head.

"Are you all right?" says a voice.

"Yeah, I will," says Shooti. "Thanks for saving me, miss…"

When he turns around, he sees a woman in her 20s with shoulder length navy blue hair and piercing red eyes. She wears a magenta top that exposes her navel, white jeans held by a simple black belt, a pair of large black and green bracelets and pink slip-on shoes. Shooti blinks before it hits him.

"You... you're…" Shooti stammers.

"Yes?" asks the woman.

"You're... you're Natsume Yochi, Magic Queen Bellelba!" Shooti exclaims, eyes bright as he placed his arms out in front once again. "From the Mystery Doors of the Magical Land movies! I'm such a big fan of yours! C...can I take a photo of you?"

"No, I don't mind. Go on."

Shooti hurriedly takes his camera and shoots two photos of Natsume before nodding his head. Natsume chuckles in reply.

"I'm amazed to find such a big fan of mine tonight when I decided to take a walk," she comments. "You're...wait, don't tell me…"

Natsume closes her eyes and places her two fingers on each sides of her head as concentration. Shooti looks in curiosity before Natsume suddenly opens her eyes.

"You happen to be..Shooti Hayami, correct?" she asks.

"Uh, yeah!" says Shooti. "I can't believe it though... Natsume Yochi is a Dark Signer! It all makes so much sense now!"

"Really now?"

"Yeah! You mentioned in various interviews that most of the effects of the film's came from you, a bonafide psychic! It makes the film seem more alive than when they use wires in order to make things fly into the air. I guess being a Dark Signer gives you powers like that, huh?"

"Actually, I was born with powerful psychic abilities," Natsume explains as the two begin walking down the hall. "And when I became revived, then my powers became magnified to the point that I can peer into the future as well as I can the past."

"Really now? If you're that powerful as you claim," says Shooti, folding his arms. "Can you figure out what I had for dinner last Saturday?"

Natsume stops and turns around. She closes her eyes and places her hand on Shooti's head. "Let's see...You were watching Blade Runner with your babysitter and had pizza with extra cheese, bell peppers and sausage," she answers.

"Wow, that's amazing!" Shooti exclaims. "You really are psy…" He pauses and lowers his arms. "Wait a second, how did you know that I had a babysitter?"

Natsume opens her eyes, lowers her hand and smiles like someone hiding a surprise. "I have my ways."

The boy should have been more aware of how Natsume worded that, but instead he chalked it up to her being that powerful of a psychic and went on his way.

That's another mistake right there.

"I suppose you want an interview, correct?" Natsume asks as they continue to walk. "Very well, I will allow you three questions….but none of them can be about my life prior to being revived or how I died."

"I have no intention on delving into that right now," says Shooti, notepad in hand. "So…are there any websites that you like to visit? Do you have a favorite video game? Are you currently seeing someone?"

Natsume smirks. "I like reading articles on Chasing Shadows from time to time. My favorite articles come from those created by CC, and my favorite article from her happens to be the one in regarding a 'Thriller Restaurant' one can enter for a bit of late night entertainment.

"Favorite game? Let's see...I find myself in love with The World Ends With You. In particular, I relate to Shiki Misaki the most in terms of character. Her character arc of learning to love herself for who she really is just speaks out to me, particularly that line of 'Once you see the true me, will we still be friends?' So...real…

"And yes, I currently am seeing someone...you just left her room a few minutes ago."

Shooti stops writing and bumps into Natsume as his face turns red (again!) at the implications.

"You're lesbian?!" Shooti shouts, his voice echoing across the hall before he places his hands over his mouth in embarrassment. Natsume chuckles.

"Well, I am a lesbian, but Nagi considers herself as bisexual," Natsume elaborates. "Did she traumatized you with one of her calls?"

"No, but hopefully my little outburst didn't interrupt her, uh, 'feeding'."

"Judging by how loud he was screaming, I say no. Nagi loves to be dramatic; to her, a meal must be accompanied by the right 'entertainment'. Ah. And here we are."

Shooti turns and sees that they are now standing in front of a door marked with a large whale. Music ("Orinoco Flow") can be heard from the other side.

"And this is where I leave," says Natsume. "I'm glad to have found someone to make tonight's walk more... excitable."

"Yeah, I...wait!" Shooti shouts. "I forgot to ask you the most important question!"

"Yes?"

"What's your sign? And the sin you represent?"

Natsume just winks at him before she shows her arm towards Shooti. The purple outline of a human briefly appears before fading away.

"That was the mark of the Giant," Natsume explains. "And I represent the sin of List and untamed desire. List may be the weakest of the sins, but without desire nothing else can be obtained, no?"

"Ah, I see…" says Shooti, writing this all down. "Thank you so much!"

"You're welcome, Trip Deckard," Natsume laughs. "And here's a gift from me to you."

Appearing in the palm of her hand is a photograph. When Shooti takes it into his hand, he finds that it's an autographed photo of Natsume as Magic Queen Bellelba. He gasps.

"So cool!" he says, lifting his head. "Thank you, Na-"

Natsume has disappeared, leaving him all alone again.

But at this point, Shooti is just too excited with what he has learned to note the eeriness of Natsume's vanishing. Carefully slipping the photo into his satchel, he clears his throat before attempting to knock on the door…

Only for the door to slide open as a voice answers, "Welcome to Paradise!"

Shooti pokes his head inside as he sees the interior. It reminds him of the ocean, with a dark blue (indigo) color scheme and images of sea life on the walls that, if he isn't hallucinating, are actually swimming right in front of his eyes. It holds the canopy-like sheets of Nagi's room, and the ceiling a large dome where small orbs of light shine with a pearly light. There are statues of mermaids and sirens and large conch shells that act as speakers that reminds him of paintings of underwater fantasies he read through as a boy.

And the bed! If Nagi has a silk sheet to replicate a river, here the bed (shaped like a large clam shell) rests on a shallow pool of water where a person with turquoise hair rests, dressed in a white ensemble with a green shawl covering his shoulders.

Shooti takes a step across the mosaic floor and looks in awe. This is very excessive and he has to wonder how much money was used to make this room alone.

"Um," Shooti begins. "Nice to meet you?"

The person in the bed sits up and smiles. "Ah, you must be Shooti! Come in, come in and make yourself at home!"

Shooti takes a glance to his right as he sees a chair modeled after a sea anemone next to him. He seats himself down as the handsome stranger stretches his arms and stands (barefoot) in the water around his bed. Shooti can't help but photograph the person when he stretches like that, especially when the left arm of the man shows the mark of a large whale.

"Oh, where are my manners?" says the person with a mischievous wink. "I am Mikuri, Dark Signer of the Whale and the bearer of Gluttony."

Shooti raises an eyebrow at the man with slender hips and a midriff that shows no signs of fat. Mikuri notices that gaze and chuckles.

"Gluttony doesn't necessarily mean just about one's love of food," he explains. "But it is about excess, overfilling yourself with a substance to the point of damaging yourself.

"Take knowledge, for example. Oh yes learning is good, but if you waste your life on books instead of experiencing life then what good is it? There must be self-control in all things. But as long as people want and want and take caution to the wind, we will always have eyes bigger than our stomachs, no?"

"Ah, I see," says Shooti. "And, about all of this water…"

"People are like water," Mikuri explains raising a hand to the air as a stream of water follows his movements. "We move forward, flowing through life wherever the current may take us, and we do not know where we end up. And all life came from the ocean floors before they learned how to walk on two legs."

The water moves like a snake with his movements, captivating Shooti all the while. Droplets of water rise into the air and mist sprays on the boy's face as the lights cast a multitude of colors upon the two.

"I always found water to be captivating," Mikuri muses, eyes becoming as dark as the depths of the ocean. "So enthralling, so consuming...and I am getting quite hungry, you know?"

"Well, I don't have a gourmet meal in my bag, but I do have some onigiri," says Shooti, pulling out two rice balls from his bag. "I hope they are sufficient."

"They are perfect!" Mikuri exclaims, taking both into his hands. He takes a bite out of one and sighs. "Don't let my looks fool you, but I do enjoy the simple things like time to time. In fact, I remember a time that I grew up eating homemade onigiri with my friend Siebold."

"Siebold?"

"He's a well-known chef in Hokkaido with his magnificent restaurant known as 'Splendid Venus'," Mikuri explains, stepping down. "It opened just a few months before I was sleeping with fishes. His poor heart broke when he heard of my passing."

"You sound as if you and he were…"

"Siebold has a sweetheart, but no, we never went there," Mikuri sighs. "And my heart belongs to a precious pearl who knows of my fate and will always pine for me until we both reunite at the Gates of Hamunaptra."

"Oh? Who would that be?"

Mikuro smiles. "The ocean gem of the eternal waters of my soul is Daigo Tsuwabuki, the heir to Devon Corp."

"Devon Corp.?" Shooti repeats. "The mining and jewel business?"

"Of course!" Mikuri answers, observing the ring on Shooti's finger. "It is through my connection with him that we can sell the precious gems Bel procures when she feeds. It is also how she can easily obtain more sweets to snack on since gems are such a rare commodity for someone to pay their own arm and leg for such a thing."

"Oh. And did you and Daigo…."

"Daigo and I tried after I revealed myself to him," Mikuro notes with a hint of melancholy. "I wanted to go further, but he broke it off. He didn't want me to be heartbroken over how I would never age and have a normal life, but he promised that he would live for me and that he would never love anyone else other than me. Such loyalty...

"Last we talked, he recently adopted two boys: one whose soul is like a rainbow, the other who represents how gentle the darkness can be for those who are brave enough to pursue it." Mikuri sighs, shaking his head as a tear falls down a turquoise eye. "Perhaps, in another time, Johan and Judai could have been our sons."

Through this, the boy can imagine how traumatizing and heartbreaking the Dark Signers have it. What is the cost of living after death if it is not with loved ones, having to feed on the vices of people and having to watch as everyone ages but not you?

Shooti looks at his feet before he states, "You know, the canopy here reminds me of Nagi's room. And Natsume said that Nagi was bi so does that mean that you and she...were..."

Mikuri frowns and turns his back to Shooti. "Back when the two of us were still learning about our new purposes, we tried getting together. We later learned that it wasn't meant to be as our hearts belonged to someone else." He turns around. "I take it you caught Nagi feeding?"

Shooti shakes his head as he leans back, taking a photo of the pearly lights and listening to the sounds of lapping water relax him. The conch speakers have switched to a new song, but Shooti does not care for what it is ("Scarborough Fair" by Simon and Garfunkel) and would rather just sleep for a while, wanting to let his mind rest from everything he has heard.

Until someone enters the room.

"Mikuri-san," says the person, their identity concealed by the hooded cloak with violet trim. "I have come to pick up Shooti."

Mikuri, who was admiring a picture of a mermaid combing her hair by a tide pools, turns to look at the person and sighs. "Is it really that time? Oh well. Shooti, your escort has arrived."

Shooti sits up and sees the person, carrying a lantern in his right hand despite how bright the room is, before standing up.

"This way," the tall stranger notes, leading Shooti out of the room. He pulls the hood off his cloak as they return to the hall, the flames of the torches a cool indigo color. When the stranger turns to face Shooti Shooti gasps.

"You…" he says. "Is it possible….are you…"

The person, with violet hair pulled back into a long ponytail and spiky bangs and kind black eyes, smiles.

"Where are my manners?" asks man. "My name is Reiji. Reiji Shimabara."

When that name is uttered, the boy stands absolutely still. Reiji Shimabara was a well-known duelist; a rising star whose strange archetype of monsters made him near unbeatable in a duel, with monsters from his Extra Deck that covered everything from Fusions to Xyz and even a very special type of summoning that only a few duelists have been able to master called Pendulum Summoning. Anyone who tried to challenge him was doomed to fail. In fact, Haruka, the Princess of Prophecy herself, once stated that if she were to go up against Reiji, she would rather turn tail then fight. That's how dangerous he was.

Reiji had defeated so many duelists that he would eventually catch the eye of Seto Kaiba, who challenged him to a duel to test his skills. So, a few months ago, the rumors went, Reiji left his apartment (and little brother, Shinji), to go challenge the great Seto Kaiba in what would be the match of the century.

Days later, Reiji never came back. And it was revealed that, although Kaiba knew about Reiji's abilities, the CEO never recalled issuing such a challenge at all. Shinji himself fell into a depression, lashing out at anyone who tried to get close to him until no one dared to approached this sullen stone-hearted student.

That is, until Hikari Hitagi approached him. Somehow, she was able to convince her mother to adopt Shinji as a foster child, and Shinji, although still somewhat stoic, has become much more social than he was prior to his older brother's disappearance.

Which begs the question...

"What happened to you?" asks Shooti. "Your brother has been searching for you for months now!"

Reiji chuckles, but the smile on his face is empty like an abandoned well.

"I died, plain and simple," the older boy answers. "And I've mostly decided to hang out here ever since."

"And your deck?"

Reiji just laughs one more. "Gone, the proud sort. That's the price I get for making contracts with demons."

He says no more as he and Shooti continue their walk, the air getting colder and colder with each step taken. A part of him feels nauseous from seeing Reiji alive, wondering how to tell Shinji the news.

"Don't even think about it," says Reiji, his voice stern. "I don't want the forces of darkness to go after my brother. Oh, how is he by the way?"

That insensitive prick.

"He's….adjusting to not living with you," Shooti begins. "He lives with Hikari, a fellow student and they're becoming….close."

"Ah. Well, at least he has someone better to take care of him. And, oh! We are here."

Another door is in front of them, with a sign of a large bird in flight and it's wings outstretched. Reiji knocks on it once. Twice. Three times.

"Wataru-san," he says. "We're here."

He then blows out the lantern as the door slides open. The two enter and Shooti looks all around.

The room is like a grand library with shelves filled with so many tomes and scrolls that it looks so similar to the legendary Library of Alexandria if it was still around today. The carvings of Nazca lines (a pair of hands, a large spiral, a heron) dance in Shooti's vision, tempting him with the knowledge that perhaps there are more Immortals, and, more importantly, more Dark Signers, ready to awaken.

There are tables and chairs for reading, and small birds of violet light perch on large lamps. Sitting by a large oak table is a man with spiky red hair and wears a black cloak with the same purple bird on it.

"Wataru-san," Reiji repeats, bowing respectively. "Your guest."

Wataru looks up from his book and closes it shut. He then stands up and approaches Shooti, his carmine eyes softening at the boy.

"Ah," he begins. "Shooti Hayami, the boy that has enamored our sweet Bel."

"A pleasure to meet you, Wataru," says Shooti, bowing slightly. "You must represent the sin of Pride and your Earthbound Immortal is of the...hawk?"

"Condor," Wataru corrects. "But yes, I am also a Dark Signer who flies with the wind beneath his wings. However, I do not go out so often to feed as it can be very difficult to obtain a sufficient amount of who to convert into fuel."

"But on the rare occasions he does go out, it is in underground dueling rings and the like," Reiji notes.

"If I didn't go to one that night, your corpse would have been left hanging on that broken steel beam, swinging around like a piñata until you and copious other corpses were to be sent to a furnace to become nothing more than a kilo of ashes without anyone to mourn for you," Wataru replies coolly, a smirk on his face. "Know your place, Reiji."

"...I do," Reiji answers.

Wataru then lays his eyes on Shooti, who has taken a photo of the room and its numerous amounts of books. "I take it you know why Bel chose you?"

"Only because my brother is involved with my friend committing suicide," Shooti answers, seating himself down on a chair. He looks down at his camera, relishing at the photos he has taken this evening.

"That and more," Wataru answers. "Bel has taken a liking towards you."

Shooti looks up. "Like how Midori has taken a liking to Toru Watanabe in Norwegian Wood?" he clears his throat. "Oh, I just love the way you talk. Cool and smooth like plaster.' Or that Humphrey Bogart line about not wanting to be disappointed...If you ask me, Watanabe was nothing more than a drifter this side of Holden Caulfield who never really does anything to change himself, but rather just escapes his troubles and hopes someone else gives him the answers to his conundrums. He doesn't really comfort Naoko when she decides to run away to a hostel nor does he give what Midori wants from him. He can't even tell her his whereabouts! It's a miracle he actually is able to recall these events in the first place, if he wasn't just filling in dialogue."

Wataru chuckles. "How observing. Now, are you just saying that because you dislike Watanabe as a character or because you dislike how Watanabe reflects aspects of you?"

Shooti tilts his head. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, Watanabe is simply the 'Everyman' character in the world of fiction. He represents the average Joe, just reacting as to how everyone else reacts to life. His personality is simple so that the reader can focus on the characters that essentially is him as someone to vent all their frustrations over from Naoko to Midori to Reiko to Nagasawa to the Storm Trooper and his love of maps. All he does is just reacting, but he never acts on his own desires and wants.

"And what is Watanabe in the end? Just this drifter who runs away from his love life, unable to commit to anyone and lost in his sea of memories, unable to determine what happened next, nor does he even try to recall what was most important to him. Did he and Midori get together in the end? Who knows? But clearly, a person like Watanabe who just exists without exhibiting signs of a life, should not be used as a role model."

The talk paralyzes the boy. Sure, the boy has had a simple life, but...is this some sort of threat? A test? A warning?

Regardless, the boy has his pride. He would not let this go by without a fight.

"I am not like Watanabe!" Shooti exclaims, standing up. "Unlike him, I have something to search for, a reason to live and something that makes me different from the rest!"

"And what's that?" asks Wataru.

"I have a brother who has disappeared, another who has to deal with 24 dead students and their families and friends, a babysitter who treats me like her little brother, a friend who has become one of you guys and…" Shooti swallows. "I have a girl who is asking for my help."

"I see. You're saying that unlike Watanabe, there are plenty of people in your life who truly are for you. They don't see you as a prop, but a person."

"Of course!" says Shooti, more confident. "I am a person, someone who lives and laughs and cries like other people do. Watanabe does not care for others else he would step up and do something about it. He is just a bystander, but I cannot be at this point.

"There is something out there that is connected to me. And whether I like it or not, I am going to figure out what it is."

Wataru and Reiji look at Shooti taking a deep breath. Then, as Shooti calms down, Wataru claps his hands.

"Such pride!" he says as he sees a purple aura surround the boy. "Not enough to make a meal but enough to show that you are quite interesting."

"Was that why you riled me up?" ask Shooti. "To make me your meal?"

"No, if I wanted to make you a meal, I would let you age like a nice cheese or wine," Wataru answers. "Plus, it would be rude for me to feed on someone as important as you."

Shooti huffs as walks to the door.

"You sure you can make it out without a guide?" asks Wataru, raising an eyebrow. "This is a pretty big place, you know."

"I think I can manage," Shooti replies. "How hard can it be?"

Jot that down as another mistake right there, folks.

Wataru looks at Reiji before the older man smirks, raises his hands and watches as the walls shift and revolve. Instead of a door that Shooti is approaching, it is now a wardrobe.

"So if you'll excuse me," says Shooti, obliviously opening the door to the wardrobe. "I'm going to find my way out of HERE!"

As if he is traversing to Narnia, Shooti becomes entangled in various clothes before he falls, falls, falls down until he lands with a thud inside...another wardrobe?

Shooti, annoyed at this point with Wataru's antics, just groans as he removed a scarf that is tied around his head and tossing it to the side.

After feeling his arms and legs, and noting that nothing is broken, Shooti thinks he can hear something outside. He slowly opens the wardrobe and through the small opening he can see that the room is dark, with the only light source being numerous wax candles on ebony candlesticks. In the middle of this elegant room is a dark wood four poster bed covered by a black canopy with crimson and cyan silk sheets and a sprinkling of white rose petals decorating the bed itself like colorful ribbons of fondant on top of a cake.

The bed is currently in use by two men that Shooti knows.

From where he is sitting, Shooti can see a shirtless Kiryu pressing his lips onto someone else's, a man with glazed cobalt eyes and black hair styled like a crab…

And that man is none other than Yusei Fudo.