Chapter 120

CAT Street

Sora's eyes shot open and he pushed himself to his feet, grumbling. He noticed that they were back in Scramble Crossing, plastered on the asphalt. It was morning again. He did not remember falling asleep, or even night falling. He suddenly understood what Neku had meant when he said that the Reapers would knock them out for the day until morning. "Would it kill them to lay out blankets or something for us?" he complained.

Neku stretched his arms out. "You know, I almost forgot how awful that feels," he remarked.

"This might sound stupid, but dying must suck in this world."

Neku nodded. "Can't argue with that. Wait… What do you mean by 'this world'?"

Sora gulped, realizing he had slipped up. "Uh… Just an expression…?"

Neku raised an eyebrow, clearly not buying his excuse. However, he simply shrugged, deciding to leave it alone. Hearing a beep, he pulled out his phone, a purple flip phone, and opened it up. "Well, time to get to work," he said.

"What do you mean? Ow!" Sora clutched his wrist and saw that a timer had appeared on his hand. This time, it counted 07:59:52.

Neku checked his hand as well. "The mission, of course. You didn't get it?"

Sora checked his pockets, but did not find a note that would have told him the mission. "Where should I have gotten it?"

"On your phone…" Neku was perplexed, but he soon deduced the cause of the confusion. "Do you… not have a cell phone?"

Sora shook his head. "Nope."

Neku put a hand on his hip and tugged at his hair. "I guess the Reapers just assumed that all Players would have a phone," he surmised. "What are we going to do about you?" He stopped and stood up straight when he had an idea. "I know. Hold on for a second." He stepped aside and dialed a number into his phone. He put it to his ear, waited for the recipient to pick up, and started talking. "Mr. H. Yeah, turns out my Game Partner doesn't have a phone, so he can't receive missions. You got anything to help with that? Thanks. See you there." He hung up and put the phone away, then turned back to Sora. "Follow me."

"Where are we going?" Sora asked.

"We're getting you a cell phone," Neku replied.

"But what about the mission?"

"We'll have time. Besides, there are plenty of other Players who can work on it."

"Okay. But do you think the Reapers will mind us ducking out on the mission to go shopping?"

Neku smirked. "That's their problem."

Sora smiled, liking his reasoning. He knew what it was like to have enigmatic weirdos appear suddenly and try to set the rules then leave as he and his friends flounder around. Any measure of defying them and refusing to dance to their tune made his day, which is something that a dead boy had to take when he could get.

Neku beckoned him on and they ran through the city streets, heading north. They passed a building labeled "Shibu Department Store" and came upon another store labeled "Cadoi City", which appeared to sell clothing, furniture, and jewelry, before Neku came to a stop, a thought having crossed his mind. He turned around to talk to Sora.

"We should probably get some practice fighting the Noise while it's early in the week," he suggested. "Especially if you want to take on stronger enemies."

Sora nodded. "So, how do we start fights?" he asked.

Neku took his Player Pin out of his pocket and showed it to Sora. "First, we scan the area. You'll see the Noise sigils floating around. To engage them, reach out to them like you would when reading minds," he explained. "When you connect with them, they will float toward you and strike. You can engage a lot at once, but they'll grow stronger, as you stack them, so I'd hold off on that until you can handle them better."

"Okay. I'll give it a shot." Clutching his Player Pin, Sora reached out into the mindscape of the people of Shibuya, still hardly able to believe that he was actually reading minds. As a blue filter fell over the world which he perceived with a sixth sense, he saw floating red-and-black sigils appear. He focused on one of the sigils, a medium-sized shape, and watched as it moved toward him. As it floated closer, lines of white static crossed the gap between him and the sigil. Finally, a burst of white light exploded from the sigil, enveloping him.

The Noise that appeared took the form of grey wolves with purple tattoos in place of forelegs and floating green minks with elongated, twisting bodies and green tattoos for limbs. In both zones, the Garage Wolves lunged and slashed at Sora and Neku while the Thrash Minks slashed and spun in tornados, but the Players were able to defeat the monsters using their Psychs. When Sora erased the final wolf, a pin fell out and flew into Sora's hand. The pin was purple with a white stripe, with a design resembling a profile of a purple skull with a bat-like wing on top of the purple-and-white background.

Huh? What's this for? Sora wondered. Before he could reflect any further, there was a flash of light and he was back in the UG field.

"Glad you're getting the hang of it," Neku commended.

"Hey, Neku, when we beat that last Noise, it dropped this," Sora told his Partner, showing him the pin. "Any idea what it's for?"

Neku leaned in to examine the pin, and his eyes widened. "I think that means you just got another pin to use in battle. Funny. Most other Players can only use one Pin, but I can also use a lot of them. See? I got another one, too." He took a pin out of his pocket, showing that it depicted a purple background with a light blue spike jutting up from a blue ground.

"That's weird. Why do you think that is?" Sora asked.

"I'm not quite sure." Neku clipped the pin to his shirt, right next to the Pyrokinesis pin. He crossed his arms as he contemplated what it could all mean. Last time, I think I was able to use most of the Pins because I was chosen. But how come he can? Can he do it naturally? Or was he chosen too? Dang it, did you really…

"Neku?" Neku turned around upon hearing a familiar voice and gasped as he saw two girls running toward him. Sora glanced past Neku to see the girls, who appeared to be the same age as them. The first one he saw had long red hair that curled up at the tips and brown eyes. She appeared to be slightly shorter than Neku. She wore a red, midriff-baring short-sleeved shirt with black trim, a short yellow hoodie with white trim and a white hood, a necklace with a puzzle piece-shaped pendant, a low-cut green denim skirt with a brown pouch wrapped around her waist, knee-length brown boots with yellow stripes, a yellow bracelet around her left wrist, and a brown newsboy cap with a tin pin clipped on. She appeared to be very curvy, despite her skinny and small frame, but he quickly realized that this was only because her waist was incredibly thin, appearing to be barely wider than Sora's arm.

The girl next to her was somewhat more plain-looking, with green eyes and short, black hair. She wore a loose green jacket over a black shirt, a tan knee-length skirt with a light oak leaf pattern, black leggings, brown sneakers, and round spectacles with black frames. She held a stuffed black cat with white eyes in her hand. She was taller than the other girl, appearing to even be roughly an inch taller than Neku. She waved to Neku before she and her friend ran over to him.

"Shiki?!" Neku gasped. He quickly lowered the volume on his music player. "And Eri? What are you doing here?"

"Well, good to see you, too, Neku," the taller girl, Shiki, teased.

The taller girl, Eri, waved. "Hi, Neku," she greeted.

"You know what I mean!" Neku countered. His tone and expression reverted from momentary exasperation to concern. "What are you doing in the UG? Don't tell me you're…"

Shiki shifted uneasily. "Well, not quite…" Averting her eyes, she noticed Sora, and quickly perked back up. "Oh! Hi, there. You must be Neku's Partner. My name's Shiki Misaki." She did a little bow in greeting.

"I'm Eri Menbuta," the redhead introduced herself, holding up two fingers in a V shape.

Sora smiled and pointed his thumb at his chest. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Sora."

Neku looked Shiki up and down. "You still look like you," he noted. "What'd they take this time around?"

Shiki shook her head. "Neku, we're not dead." Sora was taken by surprise, as, based on his understanding, only dead people could be in the Game. Then again, he recalled that Neku was being evasive when he brought the issue up in reference to him. "We're… Well, it's complicated. I think it's best if we show you. Are you going to WildKat?"

Neku nodded. "Yeah. Have to get this guy a phone," he remarked, gesturing to Sora. Sora simply shrugged modestly.

"Well, come on." Shiki beckoned them on. Sora noticed that Eri looked uncomfortable at the idea of going to the place that Shiki had called "WildKat". He wondered what they would find there.

As a group, the four Players continued north, turning right at a record store and soon entering a tunnel that ran under the train tracks. Sora noticed that the walls were covered in graffiti, and saw two college-age boys adding their own uncommissioned art with a few cans of spray paint. On the other wall, he saw a teenage girl wearing a red hoodie over top of Gothic Lolita attire with her own spray can, who appeared to be venting about her algebra homework. They took a moment to scan for Noise and fight. Sora quickly discovered that his new pin let him fire an energy beam from his hand, while Neku used his new pin to conjure spikes of ice from below his enemies. After defeating the Noise, Sora received a new pin, which Neku explained granted the power of psychokinesis. He then clarified as to what psychokinesis was, and Sora beamed at the idea of using a technique that his enemies had abused in the past.

"Wait, you can use a bunch of pins, too?" Shiki asked, astonished.

Sora nodded uncertainly. "I guess." Is it really just me and Neku who can use so many pins? he wondered.

Shiki giggled. "Now we've got two Psych geniuses on our hands!"

Oh, brother, Neku complained inwardly. There she goes again.

"Look out, Reapers' Game! Here we come!" Shiki cheered.

You do realize that you can only use one Pin, right? Neku remarked mentally. "Whatever. Let's keep going."

They passed through the underpass, not noticing as the girl in the hoodie scowled in their direction, and came out into another district of the city. Sora saw a nearby sign with the graffiti-painted words "CAT Street". The first building they came upon was a coffee shop, with the window displaying the name "WildKat".

"In here," Shiki said, beckoning them on. She opened the door, ringing a bell as the four teens entered. They maneuvered around the customers, some of whom stepped aside to let them through, and approached the counter, where two baristas busily prepared and handed out drinks. One of the baristas was a middle-aged man with black hair combed up at the front, a stubble of a moustache and beard, and gray eyes. He wore a white short-sleeved button-down shirt, which had some of the top buttons undone, a dark gray vest that was pinned at one button, black slacks, black sandals, and black sunglasses. His nametag read "Hanekoma".

When Hanekoma saw them, he flashed a grin. "Hey, there! Something I can help you with?" he greeted. He turned to the other barista. "Hey, can you cover for me for a bit?" The barista nodded. "Come on in," he told the teens, leading them into the manager's office. Sora quickly determined that Mr. Hanekoma was the owner of the shop. "You guys want coffee?" he offered, turning on his office espresso machine.

"Two sugars," Eri said.

"Café Latte, please," Shiki requested.

"One cream, one sugar," Sora said.

"Black," Neku said.

"Comin' right up." He scribbled their names on cups and began brewing coffee for them. Sora raised an eyebrow in confusion as he watched Hanekoma write his name一both in kanji and in English letters一without him having introduced himself. He briefly considered that Neku would have told him when he called ahead, but then realized that he had not actually said his name, and even if he had, he should not have known that he prefers to write his name in English.

"Sorry, but, who are you?" he asked.

Hanekoma chuckled. "Name's Sanae Hanekoma. To the guys out front, I'm a hip café barista, and I design pins and do art, too. But to others, like you kids, I watch over things behind the scenes in the Game."

"So you're a Reaper?" Sora surmised.

"Mm, not quite. I keep the Reapers in line, making sure they don't bend the rules to score cheap Erasure points," Hanekoma clarified. "Think of me as a guardian a-" He stopped himself. After an awkward pause, he coughed and cleared his throat. "Uh, so, kid. Phones here says you need a cell phone. Is that right?"

Sora tilted his head in mild confusion. "'Phones'?" he parroted, confused by the nickname.

Neku, however, was familiar with the appellation, and he was also picking up on Sora not being very tech-savvy. "He means my headphones," he whispered, leaning close to Sora and tapping the accessory on his head.

"Oh," Sora breathed in response. So that's what that's supposed to be. "Yeah. I didn't have a cell phone before… you know… and I was dropped in here without a way to get any of the Reapers' messages."

Hanekoma laughed. "Well, Spike, I think I can hook you up with something. Gimme a sec." He began rummaging through his desk drawers. Intermittently, he would stop what he was doing to give each of the teens their requested drink and start preparing the next one.

Sora turned to Neku. "So, how do you know this guy?" he asked.

"He helped me out of a tight spot more times than I can count when I was in the Game last year," Neku answered. "He also helped me see things differently. Gave me a clearer perspective. Said I shouldn't keep being a pathetic lonely jerk, that I need to expand my world and let other people in if I want to enjoy life."

Sora smiled, thinking of the scores of friends that he had made on his journeys across the worlds. "Sounds like some good advice," he agreed.

"He's also CAT, the coolest artist in Shibuya," Eri added with a hint of a squee. "Neku's his biggest fan."

"Really?" Sora smirked.

Neku smiled and studied his wrist as he proudly reflected on how much he had grown. "'Enjoy every moment with all you've got.' That's his motto. Of course, I took it the wrong way, and I didn't realize that the way I chose to live only hurt myself and others."

"Well, I'm glad you figured it out," Sora said.

"Aha! Here it is!" Hanekoma stood up, holding a dark red flip phone. "I've been tinkering with the functions and coverage options." He handed the phone to Sora while also delivering the last coffee to Neku. "I linked it up to the GM's mass-text. I also stuck in some of my special apps. Phones can fill you in on them later. And this one's for when the week's over: I call it 'Lifestream Reception'. You know about the Lifestream Leynodes? The spots where you feel all warm and fuzzy and charged up?"

"Safe Points?" Sora guessed.

Hanekoma snapped his fingers. "Exactly. Where the energies of the worlds criss-cross and shoot up to link with the other worlds."

"What the heck is he talking about?" Neku asked Sora.

"You travel through space?" Eri wondered, trying to figure out what Hanekoma meant. She gasped. "Are you an alien?!"

"What? Uh, it's not exactly as clear-cut as that…" Sora tried to explain. Am I really like an alien to this world?

"Or are you from an alternate world? Omigosh, is the Multiverse a real thing?" Eri seemed very giddy at the idea.

Sora waved his hands defensively. "I-I don't know what that means!" he stammered.

"Calm down, kiddo. He can explain it in a way that makes sense later, if he's comfortable with it," Hanekoma advised. "The idea is, when you sync up at one of those Leynodes, the Safe Points, you can call anyone who has a phone from anywhere on the world you're on. The spirit of the world will be your cell tower. I mean, so long as the person you're calling has a lick of reception, even if they're on another world."

Sora flipped the phone open and stared at it in wonder. "Wow," he muttered.

Neku snickered. "Suck it, T-Mobile," he muttered.

Sora blinked and tilted his head in confusion as he realized something. "Uh, how do I turn it on?"

Hanekoma pointed to one of the buttons. "You hold the 'end call' button," he explained. Sora raised an eyebrow, thinking that it did not seem very intuitive. "And I added a bunch of contacts for you so you'll know who's calling and who you're calling, though you won't be able to use some of them until you get back to the RG."

Sora turned the phone on and studied the display on the screen, then began fiddling with it to figure out how to use it. "Thanks, Mr. Hanekoma," he said.

"No problem, Spike. Happy to help."

"Mr. H, there was actually something else we wanted to ask you about," Neku said. He turned to address the girls as the topic of conversation. "How are Shiki and Eri in the Reaper's Game?"

Mr. Hanekoma's expression turned solemn. "Follow me." He led them through a door behind his desk, marked "Authorized Personnel Only", into a room that appeared to be a CAT art studio, with canvas parchment on the walls and Hanekoma's trademark graffiti painted on the back wall. But rather than the artwork, what drew everyone's attention was the two tables set in the middle of the room.

On either side of the tables, a heart rate and breathing monitor was set up. One of the tables carried a girl who looked exactly like Shiki, sound asleep or in an induced coma. On the other one was a girl who looked exactly like Eri, except that part of her midsection and one of her arms were bandaged, an assisted breathing unit was set up and connected over her mouth and nose, and she was hooked up to an IV unit. Neku and Sora gasped while the girls stared somberly. Neku deduced that the resting girls were Shiki and Eri's living bodies in the RG. Grey and white symbols floated around the bodies, as if shaping a protective barrier.

"What happened?" Neku asked in disbelief.

"A few days ago, we were attacked by a monster," Shiki explained. "I've never seen anything like it. I never thought something like that could exist in the RG. Eri was hurt, badly. Thankfully, Mr. H was there, and he drove the monster off, then helped me bring Eri here."

"They're lucky they weren't far off," Hanekoma mused. "I did what I could, but it wasn't an ordinary wound. The only way to save her is to destroy the source of the power cursing her. So I put her in stasis and used a backdoor trick to put Shiki to sleep as well and sneak both of their souls into manifestations in the UG. Technically, I'm not allowed to do that, but you know what they say about desperate times. I also got them to bypass the entry points right under the Reapers' noses." He chuckled at his own resourcefulness. "So, they didn't have to worry about the whole 'Entry Fee' business."

Sora crossed his arms and contemplated what Hanekoma had said. He noticed that he had turned to look directly at him, and realized that the last part of the explanation was purely for his benefit, as if he was the only one who needed the explanation. He decided to save that peculiarity for later, focusing on another question that the conversation had raised. "Do you know what the monster was? Was it a Heartless? An Unversed?" he asked, once again stopping to wonder how he knew the word "Unversed".

Hanekoma raised an eyebrow, apparently wondering the same thing. He then turned his gaze away. "It's something that shouldn't even exist," he replied with a bitter tone. This only made Sora more curious about the enigmatic "guardian".

Neku cleared his throat. "Well, thanks for all the help, Mr. H," he said. "We should probably get back to today's mission."

At that moment, Sora heard a beep coming from his phone. He looked down at it and saw a message appear on the screen. "'Defeat the master of A-East. You have 480 minutes. Fail and face Erasure,'" he read. "What's A-East."

"Say, Neku, that mission sounds very familiar," Shiki noted.

Neku nodded in agreement. "Yeah. It's the exact same one that we had for our third mission in our first go-around. Except we have more time."

Shiki considered the reason that would be. "Well, it has been a year. Maybe they're recycling missions," she suggested.

"Or someone's having the same problem as last time, and a Noise showed up to make things worse."

"But we have more time this time." Shiki checked her phone to verify. "Didn't we only have six hours last time? Now we have eight."

Neku shrugged. "I guess the problem's a bit more complicated than last time. Or they're not in as much of a rush and can spare an extra two hours."

Sora checked the time on his phone. "Well, either way, I think it took us an hour to get here, so now we have seven left, meaning we should get going." He turned back to Mr. Hanekoma. "Thanks for the phone."

Hanekoma smirked. "No problem. Oh! I've got something else for you." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pin, then tossed it to Sora, who caught it and examined it. Unlike all of the other pins, which had a unique design printed on them, it was completely white. "It's called a Harmonizer Pin. Sync up well enough with your Partner, and you can use it to fuse your energies together and blast the enemy in a powerful joint attack."

"Like a team attack?" Sora asked, recalling the moves he performed in conjunction with his friends, breaking the limits on what he could do on his own.

Hanekoma nodded. "Exactly like that. Now, listen: the greater the energy you build up with your teamwork, the stronger your Fusions will be. If you have any questions later, Phones'll be sure to fill you in. He has experience with the Harmonizer Pin."

Sora nodded. "Thanks. We'll make it through the Game and help Shiki and Eri," he promised. He, Neku, Shiki, and Eri turned to leave.

Hanekoma chuckled again. "I'm sure you will. Just remember. If you want to survive the Reaper's Game, you need to trust your Partner."

Sora grinned. "Of course," he replied, as if it was not even a question for him. And it was not.

They left the café and made their way back the way they had come. Shiki showed Sora how to look up a map on his phone so that he could get a sense of direction. He studied the map and understood that Shibuya was split up into several districts. Each district was labeled on the map, so he could figure out how to get to each section of the city. He quickly determined the location of A-East and figured out the most direct path to get to the area. The route involved returning to Scramble Crossing, passing 104, and going through a street called Dogenzaka.

"You know, there's really something off about that guy," Sora remarked. At that point, they had returned to Scramble Crossing.

"Who? Mr. H?" Shiki asked.

Sora nodded. "Yeah. He knows a lot more than he should. He knows a lot more than anyone here should." To demonstrate his meaning, he held up his coffee cup, showing how Hanekoma had written his name in two different written formats.

"Yeah, I did pick up on that," Neku admitted. "He also said something about you traveling between worlds. Whatever that means."

"I'll explain later," Sora said simply.

"I don't totally understand him myself," Neku continued. "He has his secrets. I guess they're too big for the UG. I think there's only one person who knows his true nature, whatever that's supposed to be."

"That doesn't concern you?" Eri asked.

Neku shook his head. "Nah. I trust him. His secrets are his to keep. And besides, he did save your life."

Eri smiled. "I guess you have a point."

"Yeah. I guess you're right," Sora conceded. "It just caught me by surprise, you know?"

Neku nodded. "I know the feeling."

"Maybe he told you he knew all that as a way of letting you know that you could trust him," Shiki suggested. "He's saying you can ask him for help with whatever you're doing, when there's no one else around here you can ask."

Sora shrugged and crossed his hands behind his head. "Maybe he is. I guess he can help my friends figure things out, too. I wonder what they're doing. I haven't seen them since the other day."

"They must be worried sick," Eri said sympathetically. "I bet people are worried about me and Shiki, too. Mom, Dad, Mina, Ai, Rhyme…" Shiki nodded in agreement. After a moment, Eri stopped and went flush. "I-I mean, th-they're probably worried about you, too, Neku!" she stammered, fearing that she had made a misstep that indicated a lack of concern for Neku.

Despite her apparent concerns, Neku did not appear offended. "It's okay. I catch your drift."

Laughing nervously, Eri kept walking, not noticing that Neku, Shiki and Sora had stopped. As a result, she walked into a barrier next to the 104 building, revealing a honeycomb pattern on contact as it zapped her and sent her stumbling back. Shiki quickly helped her maintain her balance while Neku and Sora took notice of a man who was dressed like the Support Reaper from the day before. Two exasperated teens were trying to reason with him, but he stonewalled them.

"Has no one really taken the wall down?" Neku asked aloud in disbelief.

"Well, it is only the second day. And the first wall to get through," Shiki argued. "Beat and Rhyme had trouble with their first wall. And it doesn't look like that many people woke up here. I guess everyone else ended up on the other side, like when we woke up inside A-East last year."

"Not everyone's an instant expert like you," Eri remarked.

"Fair enough. Let's just get this over with. Sora?" Neku turned to see that Sora had gone over to talk to the Reaper.

"Hey, there. How do we take down this wall? Is it alright if I ask you that?" Sora inquired.

"Clear the area of Noise to proceed," the Reaper said simply.

"We get that, but how are we supposed to find them?" one of the exasperated Players complained.

"You're supposed to use the Player Pin to scan for them," Sora told them.

The Player slapped himself on the forehead. "Why didn't anyone tell us before?!" he whined.

The Reaper shifted nervously. "Oh… Uh, was I supposed to tell you how to do that?" he asked, his tone betraying embarrassment. "Ugh, I am so dead. Conductor's not gonna like this." He shivered in fear at the thought.

"You new to this?" Neku asked.

The Reaper nodded. "Yeah. My first week as a Reaper."

"Oh. Don't worry. I'm sure it's a learning curve," Sora assured him. "Let me take a look." He scanned the area and saw three Noise sigils floating around. He went back to normal perception. "You guys want to split the work between us? One pair per battle?"

"Oh, yeah! We could use some practice," the second Player agreed, excited.

Sora nodded. He turned back to Neku, Shiki, and Eri. "You guys with us?"

Neku nodded. "Ready."

"Let's do this, Eri!" Shiki cheered encouragingly.

Eri seemed less than enthused. "Uh, I, uh…" However, Shiki did not notice, and she scanned the area and drew a sigil toward her.

When her battle began, Shiki saw two bears on either side of her. She maneuvered around them and stood so that they were both in front of her. Her stuffed cat, named Mr. Mew, danced at her side, animated by her Psych but acting largely autonomously. "This won't be hard," she declared confidently. She pointed toward one of the bears, selecting a target for Mr. Mew. The stuffed doll ran up to the Noise and jumped, delivering an uppercut. Air hardened into claws around its round felt paw and sliced into the Noise. Mr. Mew dealt a few more "scratches" to his opponent. A green light formed around Shiki, and the Light Puck was passed to the other zone, just in time for Shiki to cease her attack and duck aside to avoid an attack from the other bear.

Eri was not as confident as her Partner. She shivered in fear at the sight of the bears and their large, sharp tattoo claws. She could barely build up the will to move. One of the bears ran toward her and drew its arm back to strike. She panicked and raised her arms to brace herself. As if in response, the Psych held in her pin, "Dream Weave", conjured crackling sparks which formed into a rectangular shield in front of her, and pushed outward. The bear charged straight into the shield and was knocked back. Eri opened her eyes and lowered her arms, causing the wall of sparks to dissipate. As the other bear started to make its way toward her, Eri turned and ran. She ducked behind a car, hoping that it would be sufficient protection against the Noise. However, when she heard one of the bears knock something down, she realized that it was a futile wish. Wishing for a desperate way to defend herself, she saw a ball of sparks appear in her hand. At the same time, the Light Puck appeared around her. Turning and peeking over the hood of the car, she threw the ball in the direction of the bears. It hit and burst, sending one of the bears flying back. The other bear continued to close in, so Eri desperately conjured another ball and threw it. She felt the Light Puck leave for the other zone, and she took the moment to run and try to stay away from the Noise.

Shiki did not let up on fighting the bears. When she was at a safe distance, she directed Mr. Mew to attack. As Mr. Mew was animated with Psych energy and did not have the kind of life force they were looking for, the bears ignored it in favor of bearing down on Shiki, to their own peril. Within minutes, the bears had been Erased. Shiki pumped her fist into the air and did a little hop. "Talk about seamless," she cheered. A few yen notes escaped from the remains of the Noise and slipped into her pocket.

A moment later, everyone was standing back in the 104 plaza. Shiki and Sora cheered at the victory, but stopped themselves when they noticed that Eri was shaking in her boots.

"Hey, are you alright?" Sora asked. Eri took deep breaths to try and calm down. Sora put his hand reassuringly on her shoulder and breathed with her. "That's it. Nice and easy," he coached her, recognizing how scared she was and trying to help her relax.

"You did great, Eri," Shiki assured her friend.

"Challenge met," the Support Reaper said. "That's what I'm supposed to say, right?" he muttered. He shrugged and did what he was supposed to do, lowering the wall.

"Well, sounds like we can keep going," Neku said.

"Awesome! Let's get to A-East!" one of the other Players exclaimed. He and his partner ran through where the wall had been.

"Come on. Let's go," Neku said, beckoning his companions. He led them down Dogenzaka street, heading up the hill that would lead them to A-East.

Now you've been introduced to Shiki, Eri (who was just a minor character, if that, in the game), and Mr. Hanekoma. Mr. H is actually my favorite character in the game.

Disclaimer: I actually have nothing against T-Mobil. I simply thought that would be a funny thing to say when bringing up the superpowered cell reception that Sora will get. And neither Verizon, AT&T nor Sprint rolled off the tongue as well.