Fun fact: This chapter and the last one were originally going to just be one chapter, since I planned one chapter for each Day. But then, not too far into the content of this chapter, I realized that it was getting way too long, so I broke it up into two chapters.

With that out of the way, enjoy. Be sure to leave a review and let me know what you think of the developments of each chapter.

Chapter 121

Game Master

As they made their way up the street, Sora felt his stomach grumble. "Hey, is there a good spot where a dead guy can stop for lunch?" he asked.

Shiki nodded. "Of course. There are plenty of spots. In fact, just over there is a great ramen shop," she replied, directing his attention toward a shop labeled "Ramen Don".

Sora grinned. "Cool." He blinked as he thought of something that did not add up. "Wait. I thought people couldn't see us. How do we order food?"

"Certain stores are marked to let Players know that we can go in and buy stuff and still be seen by the people in the RG," Neku explained. "And when we fight Noise, we get yen so we can pay for it."

Sora took the notes that he had received from his battles out of his pocket. "Ah, so that's what this is." Shiki and Eri looked at him with puzzled expressions. "Most of the other worlds use a different form of money. It's kinda weird how Shibuya is the odd one out."

"Well, I'm with you on getting lunch," Neku said. "Let's stop in. Ken Doi makes some really good ramen."

A few minutes earlier, Riku, Naminé, Mickey, Aqua, Donald, and Goofy had the same idea of stopping for lunch. During their investigation, they had noticed some peculiarities around Shibuya, but nothing that they could properly make sense of, nor could they see any sign of Sora. Evidently, no one had seen him, for some reason, although it seemed as though Shibuya was comprised of the sort of crowd that Sora could get lost in without anyone noticing him as the odd man out. They entered Ramen Don and each ordered a bowl of the special. Around the time they heard another group enter the shop, the waiter brought their food out.

"Gosh, what could have happened to him?" Mickey wondered aloud.

Donald shook his head in dismay. "I don't know. I tried every kind of locator spell I could cast at all of the Safe Points I could find, but it's as if he's not even on this world."

"We tried investigating the strange cases around the city, like yesterday's flying trash can incident," Riku said. "But we couldn't find anything."

"I did pick up on some strange energy," Naminé added. "It wasn't anything I'm familiar with, though it felt as though it was passing by all around."

"You think it might be dangerous?" Donald asked.

Naminé shook her head. "It didn't feel hostile, though there was something else in the air that seemed less stable. But then it started to wane before I could get a better idea of what it was."

Riku sighed. "Either way, it doesn't look like we'll be getting any leads at this rate," he said regretfully.

"I wish we could figure it out," Aqua lamented. "Have your keen senses picked up anything out of the ordinary, Goofy?"

"Hmm… Well, I didn't see anything before. But look over there. Doesn't that look like…"

The group turned to see where Goofy was pointing and noticed a group of teens, one of whom looked familiar from the rear. The familiar teen took a glance around and noticed the group at the table. He grinned from ear to ear and waved. Riku, Aqua and Donald gasped as they realized that he was Sora. Sora hurriedly approached his friends. The other teens he was with looked around in confusion as they noticed he had run off before quickly locating him again.

"Hey, guys! I'm so glad I found you!" Sora greeted ecstatically.

"You found us? We were looking all over for you for the past two days!" Riku remarked, incredulous. "Where have you been?"

Sora chuckled nervously. "It's kinda weird. Just… don't freak out."

"It'd have to be pretty serious to even warrant a freakout," Aqua said. Donald crossed his arms and shot Sora a light glare.

Sora sighed. There was no point in dancing around the subject, so he decided to spit it out. "I'm dead," he said bluntly.

"WHAT?!" Riku blurted. The other customers and staff turned to them curiously. Sora chuckled in an attempt to laugh it off and convince everyone that there was nothing to be concerned about. After a moment, everyone turned their attention back to their food and the conversations that they were engaged in.

"I'm not really sure how it happened," Sora admitted. "One minute I was chasing some strange kid into a back alley, and the next thing I knew, I'm involved in some kind of 'Reapers' Game'."

Neku, Shiki, and Eri came over, and Neku summed up what he had told Sora. At the same time, everyone exchanged pleasantries. One of the waiters walked over to take the Players' orders and noticed that they were chatting with the other group, so he and another waiter moved their table and chairs over so they could sit together, then he took their orders. Eri's eyes widened as she looked everyone over and, after asking the waiter for a pen, began sketching their clothes on a napkin.

"So, basically, you're stuck in this 'Underground' until you beat the Game at the end of the week?" Riku paraphrased.

"Basically," Shiki said sadly.

"And you're all… dead, too?" Naminé asked Neku and the girls.

"Not quite," Shiki replied. Eri went pale as she flashed back to the attack that had gotten her into the mess.

"We're actually in the Game to try to figure something out, and stop something that's threatening Shibuya," Neku explained. Sora raised an eyebrow. His suspicions were correct: Neku did not get into the Reapers' Game the same way that he did. He probably got in the same way Shiki and Eri did.

"Something's threatening Shibu… Shebee… Shibuya?" Goofy parroted, briefly struggling with the word "Shibuya".

"What's going on?" Naminé asked.

Sora crossed his arms. "Yeah. What is…" He trailed off and turned around as he finally noticed the one person who was not with the group the last time he was with them. He jumped in surprise as he realized who she was. "Naminé? Sorry. I didn't see you at first. How are you doing?" He stopped again as he noticed that something else was different. "Wait… Where's Kairi?"

Naminé shrugged. "She just vanished shortly after you disappeared. We've been trying to figure out what happened to her, too, but we couldn't find anything."

"Who's Kairi?" Shiki asked.

"She's our friend," Sora replied. "She's… really special to me."

Neku nodded. "I think I get it," he said. "Kairi was your Entry Fee."

"My what?" Sora asked. Thinking back, he remembered that Mr. Hanekoma had mentioned something about an "Entry Fee", but had not explained to him what it was.

"When you're put into the Game, the Conductor takes what was most important to you as collateral. If you win and return to life, you get it back. But if you're Erased, it's gone forever," Neku explained.

"What?! That's not fair! You mean if I die, Kairi dies too?" Sora protested.

"Afraid so. In my first week, my Fee was my memories. The next week, it was Shiki. The week after that, all of the other Players were taken away in a cheat move to try to get rid of me."

Shiki sighed. "My Fee was my appearance. I ended up looking like Eri, because I was jealous of her."

Sora looked down, despondent. He clenched his fists in frustration and determination. "We have to win this Game," he asserted.

Riku nodded in agreement and put his hand on Sora's shoulder in a reassuring manner. "You focus on doing whatever you need to do to make it through the week." The waiter came over and delivered the Players' food. "Neku, you said something about something threatening Shibuya?"

Neku nodded as he ate the first noodles. "Yeah. I don't know what's going on, though. I was just told that something was coming and that it could destroy both the UG and the RG. It might have something to do with what attacked Shiki and Eri before the Game began."

"Then I think we should do what we can to look into that on our end," Mickey suggested. "Any way we can check for leads?"

"You can go talk to Mr. Hanekoma. He runs the café in the northeast corner of the city," Neku advised.

"He knows we're from other worlds, so he should be willing to tell you what you need to know," Sora added with a forewarning.

"Thanks for the tip," Riku said. "So, this Reapers' Game, what's it like?"

Sora shrugged. "Can't really give a full opinion. It's only day two. But it takes some getting used to. I don't have my Keyblade, or magic, so I have to fight these weird creatures called Noise with the power of these pins."

"That does sound like quite an adjustment," Naminé commented.

"Yeah. Like having to use playing cards to chain together effective attacks," Riku retorted with a smirk.

Sora shot Naminé an incredulous look. "Was that really a thing?" he asked.

Naminé giggled. "I didn't make the rules," she said defensively. Aqua burst into laughter, then coughed as she almost choked on ramen. Everyone else started laughing as well.

"You know, I think it'd be a good idea to have Keyblade and magic users in the RG, if there are monsters running around where the rest of us can't take them on," Sora said, detecting a possible benefit to their situation. Perhaps he could use his status to get the Players to convene and swap notes with his friends.

"I don't really get what you're talking about, but I agree," Neku said. "Whatever's going on, we could use all the help we can get."

The conversation waned down and everyone finished their lunch. Checking their timers, Sora, Neku, Shiki, and Eri stood up to get going. Shiki laid down yen to pay for everyone's food. "Well, it was good to see you guys again," Sora said. "I guess we'll catch you later."

"It was nice meeting you," Shiki said.

"Same here," Aqua replied.

"Good luck, Sora," Naminé said. "Be careful."

Sora grinned. "When am I not?"

"The fact that you're dead speaks volumes," Donald snarked.

"Touché," Sora conceded. He waved good-bye as he, Neku, Shiki, and Eri exited the restaurant. The others watched after them, still incredulous as to what they had just discussed.

The Players arrived at A-East, standing outside of a darkened concert hall.

"So, the 'boss' is in here?" Sora determined. "Let's go get it."

Neku shook his head. "It won't be that easy. There's a whole other problem to resolve before we can lure it out."

"We should ask around. See if the other Players figured out what to do," Shiki suggested.

Sora wondered how they were going to figure out who around them was a Player and who was a living person in the RG who would not hear them or help them. Eri, however, noticed a pair of teens, a girl and a boy, who appeared to be scanning, then promptly open their eyes and catch their breath.

"I think I found some," she said. She approached them. "Excuse me. Hi. We got here late. Do you guys know what we're supposed to do about the mission?"

One of the teens let out a laugh. "Don't worry about it. It looks like we're supposed to find a way to turn the power back on in there," she told her.

"Yeah. I talked to one of the guys in charge, and he said his flaky tech guy's supposed to be getting a new fuse, but he must've gotten himself lost," her Partner added.

Neku swore. "Again? Don't tell me it's the same guy," he complained.

"Probably is," Shiki replied.

Sora crossed his arms. "Okay, so where did you get the fuse from last time?" he asked.

"Cosmic Corner, the secondhand store down Dogenzaka," Shiki answered. "But we had to remind the tech to go get it."

"How did you do that if he couldn't see you?" the second Player asked.

"We used our phones to imprint the thought into his mind with a 'meme'," Shiki explained.

Sora tilted his head in confusion. "A… 'meme'?"

Neku sighed. "Follow me. We'll find the tech guy and show him how it works."

The group of six went back to Dogenzaka and found the tech, a thin man with a black t-shirt and a nametag lanyard, as he was leaving the store next to Ramen Don, Shadow Ramen. Sora noticed that he appeared to be lost in thought.

"Okay. How do we imprint memes?" Sora asked, fumbling with his phone.

Neku held up a hand to stop him. "First, let's do a scan. Last time, there was a Noise possessing him and feeding on his emotions."

"Last time? You've done this before?" the female player asked in disbelief.

"Dang, that sucks," her partner remarked, clearly thinking that Neku had died a second time.

"Okay. I'll take a look," Sora said. He did a scan. While he noticed Noise sigils floating in the surrounding area, he did not notice any near the tech. He decided to read his mind.

Man, has it really been a year? I really miss the guy. I remember, before his last show, I was really jealous of his fame, how he was the guy in front and how everyone loved him. Just thinking about that makes me feel like…

Sora ceased the scan and shook his head. "No Noise," he reported.

"Well, let's get to work, then." Neku pulled his phone out and opened up an application, labeled "Imprinting". "You type the thought in here. It's easier if the message is simple, like, say, 'Fuse'. Then you point to the person you want to Imprint, and hit 'Send'. Watch."

He typed the word in, aimed at the tech, and sent it. A few seconds later, the tech tensed up and his eyes widened. "The fuse!" he exclaimed, remembering what he was supposed to be doing. He immediately ran to the secondhand store.

"Well, that was easy," Sora remarked.

"Great! Let's go wait at the concert hall and see what happens," the male Player said enthusiastically. He and his Partner ran back to A-East.

Shiki nodded in agreement. "Let's head back, too. We'll need to be on high alert to make sure the 'master of A-East' is destroyed completely." She and Eri started to run over as well.

"Okay. Sora and I will stay here and make sure the tech doesn't get lost again," Neku said. Sora waved the girls off.

"You think he'll be fine?" Sora asked.

Neku shrugged. "You never know with that guy. Funny how it's the same guy at the same place. I wonder who's in charge of the stage."

"That one guy said that he talked to one of the guys in charge. You think he's a Reaper?"

"That would make sense. For the most part, those are the only people who can see the Players outside of select stores."

They turned around as they heard a mischievous giggle. A woman stepped out of the shadows, flapping a pair of skeletal wings that identified her as a Reaper. She appeared to be a year or two older than the two teens. She had blue eyes, pink hair, and pink lipstick. She wore a gloved turtleneck sweater that opened up at the bottom to expose her navel, a white corset tied with green lace, a pair of black shorts, and knee-high white high-heeled boots. Neku rolled his eyes as he recognized the woman.

"Ugh. You're in the boat this week? So not cool," she complained as she realized who she was approaching. She sighed, covered her displeasure with a smirk, and strolled toward them. "Wow. You're really good at this. It doesn't seem fair."

Neku sighed and crossed his arms. "What do you want, Yashiro?" he asked, annoyed.

"Oh, come on! If you guys are such experts, what are Reapers like me supposed to do? If we don't Erase you, we don't get points," the Reaper, Uzuki Yashiro, mock-pouted.

"Sorry, but if you do Erase us, we stay dead," Sora retorted.

Uzuki scoffed. "Well, how 'bout I give it a try anyway?" She sent a medium-sized Noise sigil at them.

They found themselves up against two Garage Wolves and a green fox Noise. Neku zapped one of the wolves with lightning, then raised a spike of ice from the ground to strike the other one. Sora swept a trail of fire over the wolves. The Psychedelifox threw a green flame at Sora, but he dodged. He thrusted his arms forward, wrists together, palms out and released a solid beam of energy at the enemy. On recovering from the hit, the fox teleported above him, transforming into a statue and dropping onto him. Sora dodge just in time, but he was still launched across the street by the shockwave, allowing one of the wolves to attack him. Noticing a bicycle leaning against a street light, he used Psychokinesis to pull it toward him, knocking the wolf off of him. Neku blasted each of the Noise with balls of fiery energy. It was not long before the Noise had been eliminated.

When she saw them blink back into the scene and catch their breath, Uzuki gritted her teeth. "See! This isn't fair! Day two and the Players are Day Seven-tier!" she whined angrily. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Calm down, Uzuki. Remember what Kariya said. Remember therapy. Deep breaths. Think of your happy place." After a moment, she seemed to calm down. "Well, I guess you have this Reapers' Game in the bag. No monster can stand a chance against you."

Sora gave Uzuki a confused and suspicious look. "Uh… thanks?"

"Oh, but you never know what will happen. Any sort of fluke could throw your whole game plan down the drain. After all, you're here in spite of it all. Right, Spiky?"

"Spiky?" Sora was incredulous. "Would you people please leave my hair out of this… Pinky?"

Uzuki sighed. "Low blow, kid."

That didn't even seem that mean, Neku mused.

"Well, like I said, you could still lose, even if you power through like this," the Reaper continued. "And something tells me you can't afford to lose. Why, it'd be even worse than for other Players if you up and 'poof', were erased." She put one finger to her lip in a playful manner.

"What are you talking about?" Sora asked warily.

"Oh, you know. Your girlfriend. Kairi, was it?" She giggled, teasing him. "Why, if you were gone, she gets lost forever. And we can't have that, can we?"

Sora scowled. "You leave Kairi out of this!" he shouted.

Uzuki smirked. He was letting his emotions take control. "Unfortunately, I don't have a say in what's chosen as your Fee. But I think I can help you out. I'm a sucker for true love."

"What are you talking about?"

"I can get you out of the Reapers' Game, nice and easy."

Neku gasped. "Sora! Don't listen to her!" he warned. He remembered how Uzuki had played the same trick on him. He could only hope that Sora would not make the same mistake that he nearly made.

"You back there! Shut up!" Uzuki barked. "Now, are you in or out?"

Sora's tense pose slackened. He let out a sigh. "Kairi…" He looked up at Uzuki, wondering what she had in mind.

Uzuki smirked again, thinking that she had him in her clutches. "Game set? Good. Oh! I almost forgot. If you fail… I Erase you!"

"Huh?" Sora gasped.

"Sora! Don't!" Neku pleaded. Uzuki tried to snap her fingers to get him to be quiet, though she failed due to her hands being gloved, so she settled for flapping her wings to send a gust of wind back at him.

"Luckily, the rules are very simple," Uzuki continued, attempting to sound reassuring. "You have one minute to Erase that brat!"

"What?!" Sora could not believe what she had just said. He could not just Erase Neku.

"Yep. Just pretend you're Erasing the Noise. It's about as easy. Okay. Ready? Start!"

"I-I couldn't!" Sora protested. Was this real? There was no way that he would do something like that. But if he did not, would she really…

"Tick tock, shorty." Uzuki let out a sigh in exasperation. "Really? Fine. I'll help you out there. Your 'Partner'? He's not with you. He's spying on you for the Reapers!"

"What?"

"She's lying!" Neku protested.

"Oh, come on! Don't tell me you didn't notice. How he knows too much about the Game. How he's so good at all of the Pins that he has. And all that playing with his headphones? He's been in contact with us since before you even met!"

Neku touched his headphones guiltily. He had previously blared his music to stay in his own world and keep the "noise" of other people out. While he had taken them off as a sign of changing, old habits die hard, and he still listened to his music as he went about, even in social situations. He realized what kind of message that presented, but he had been trying to not let himself be isolated. His shame was also mixed with anger, as Uzuki was pulling the same trick that she had done on him, using Shiki's habit of looking at a picture of her and Eri to try and convince him that she was a spy. Was Sora actually going to fall for it?

"Sora…" he attempted to plead, but he only saw his Partner staring at his hands. Sora turned around to face him, wearing an expression that Neku could not discern (although, he still was not very good at it anyway). He could not tell what he was thinking.

"Ten seconds," Uzuki chided. Sora balled his hand into a fist. "Come on, shorty. Be the hero. Save the girl. Go home and see her on the other一"

She was cut off as Sora spun around and swung, connecting his fist with her jaw. The powerful blow sent her reeling. She stumbled back and fell onto her rear. "O-OWW!" she screamed in pain, rubbing her aching jaw.

"Leave Kairi out of this," Sora demanded, his expression ice cold.

Uzuki glared at him. "You little BRAT! Fine! You're not gonna do the mission? I'll just Erase you myself!"

Sora shook his head. "Really? Because it looks to me一" He opened his palm, showing the timer counting at 03:02:32 "一like the timer's still counting for our mission."

Neku breathed a sigh of relief while Uzuki gaped in shock.

Sora turned back to Neku and flashed a cheesy grin. "What? You thought I'd fall for that?"

Neku smirked, glad to see that Sora had not fallen into the Reaper's trap. "You should probably get going, Uzuki, before your bosses figure out you weren't playing by the rules. Give it a rest today."

Uzuki scowled, wincing as she did so, and stood up. "Huh. I guess you're smarter than you look," she remarked. She turned to Neku. "And smarter than you." She flapped her wings and shot into the air, flying away faster than the Players could watch her go.

Neku turned back to Sora and noticed the tech guy walking up the street, the replacement fuse in hand. "Looks like he got what he was looking for," he commented. "Let's go back to A-East."

Sora nodded. "Yeah. Let's go." They started walking. When they turned the corner and entered the A-East district, he turned to face Neku. "You didn't really think I was going to Erase you, did you?"

Neku sighed in shame and lowered his head, letting his bangs cover his eyes. "I don't know. I fell for the same trick once before, and… I nearly Erased Shiki."

Sora's face fell. "I'm sorry. I didn't know."

"If Mr. H didn't come to the rescue, we both would've been gone for good, and it would've been my fault," Neku lamented. "That was on the second day of my first week in the Reapers' Game, back when I was an antisocial jerk. I still think about that day. My lowest point. I almost killed the first person who ever tried to reach out to me since..." He trailed off and slumped as another painful memory filled his mind.

Sora put his hand on Neku's shoulder. "You know, you remind me of my friend," he said. "He went down a dark path and nearly hurt some people. He turned things around and came out a lot better, but he still beats himself up over his mistakes."

Neku looked up and met eyes with Sora. "How does he bear it all?" he asked.

Sora nodded his head to the side. "Me and my friends have been with him through it all. And he's been trying to cope by making jokes about it."

Neku shrugged. "I guess it's worth a try." He smiled. "Thanks."

Sora nodded. "Wait. You mean just the first part, right? Because I don't think the second part's going to be too healthy."

Neku chuckled. "I'll figure it out as I go."

They approached the entrance to the concert stage and rejoined Shiki, Eri, and the other two Players. The tech guy was already inside, and they could faintly hear chatter from inside.

"Well, looks like we did it," Eri said.

However, Neku disagreed. He shook his head. "Not yet. The timer's still going, and I'm pretty sure we're going to have to face something else."

Sora nodded in agreement. "Neku's right. Besides, if it was something that they didn't need us for, why make it into the day's mission?"

"Yeah. We should go in and take a look," Shiki suggested.

"Um, we'll keep watch out here, in case something shows up," the female Player said. "I'm not a fan of dark places."

Sora nodded. "Okay. Sure. We'll see you when the mission's complete." He waved as he, Neku, Shiki, and Eri went inside. The building was still completely dark, so Shiki used her phone screen to illuminate a small area. They approached the back, where they saw the tech working on installing the fuse, with two men watching. One of them was dressed like the Support Reapers, while the other wore a black hoodie and a red bandana over his mouth. The one in the black hoodie held a flashlight to illuminate the fuse box.

"Okay, it's set up," the tech said. "Now, let there be light!" He dramatically flipped the main power switch, only for nothing to happen. Confused, he flipped it off, then back on. "It's not working."

"What's wrong?" Eri asked.

"Something must be drawing all the power," Sora guessed. "That means the 'master of A-East' has to be in here."

Neku nodded. "Sounds right. We'll scan and take it on. Shiki, Eri, if we think we beat it but the timer's still going, you'll need to find it again and finish it."

The girls nodded. "Got it," they affirmed.

Neku scanned the area and found a large Noise sigil, which was crackling with electricity. He drew it in and pulled himself and Sora into a fight.

Sora stood in the hall's agora, which was still pitched in total darkness. He heard the flap of wings and felt a gust of wind. He rolled aside as a giant form flew past him, and raised a stream of flames, but the monster was completely unharmed.

I get it, he thought. It's like Barbossa and the Illuminator: it must be draining the power in the other zone so it won't get hurt. Good thing I've got a good Partner.

Neku stood up in the rafters, his view lit by sunlight pouring through the windows and holes in the ceiling. Looking around he saw red bats spread their wings and take flight.

Yep. Been there, done that. Except this time, I'm in this zone. I'm gonna have to take these guys out and build up a Light Puck so Sora can take on the boss.

He blasted individual bats with lightning bolts, then took out some more with energy bolts. Soon, the bats had dwindled in number to the point that they could not maintain their energy absorption sufficiently, and Neku noticed lights turn on below his feet. At the same time, he felt a green glow build up and then move over to the next plane. Smirking, he knew that the duty had been passed to Sora. But to be safe, he decided that he would use his free time to take out the rest of the bats, and began by raising an icicle from below two, sending them reeling on contact.

The lights turned on suddenly, causing Sora to shield his eyes until they adjusted. The giant Noise flew at him again, but he jumped above it just in time. Turning around to locate it, he saw a massive bat with yellow fur and red tattoo wings. The bat, which the Reapers named Vespertilio Canor, let out an ear-splitting screech. He pointed his hand toward the beast and conjured a trail of flames that danced all over it. Just as the pin ran out of juice, he landed on the floor and dodged another sweep. He retaliated with an energy beam from his hands that hit the beast dead-on. He dodged and fought for a few minutes when, eventually, the lights turned on full blast. Feeling the intense light as floodlights turned onto it, the Canor screeched in agony. He smiled as he felt the Light Puck charge him up. Using Psychokinesis, he threw speakers at the bat, then laid a trap with Pyrokinesis, letting the bat flee from the flying objects and straight into a wall of fire. After diving straight into the trail of flames, it turned around to escape and get revenge on Sora for the attack, but he blasted it with a Nexus Ray.

The all-white pin began to glow, and Sora felt a new energy fill him. A design materialized on the pin, taking the form of a crown that was the exact shape of his pendant wearing a set of headphones. Sora knew instinctively that he and Neku had charged up a strong synchronization. Glaring at the Canor, he held his hand over his heart and smiled. "Okay, Neku. Let's finish this!"

As he concentrated on fusing power with Neku, he saw an image of his Partner appear next to him. They both took a battle-ready stance. White flames began to dance around Neku's hands while a glowing light formed above Sora's palm. The light expanded in two directions, then flashed away to form a Keyblade. Smirking with fierce determination, and suddenly realizing how much he missed his familiar weapon, he grasped the handle with both hands and prepared to charge.

"Power!" Sora shouted.

"Right up yours!" Neku added.

They charged across the hall at breakneck speed, Sora slashing through the Vespertilio Canor with his Keyblade while Neku carved through it with the flames around his hands. They made their dash several times before finally turning and charging toward the Noise head-on. Sora drove the point of his Keyblade forward while Neku clapped his flaming hands together, the front-most point on each stopping mere inches from one another. The energy from both of them intermingled and formed a sphere of energy, which exploded into a blast of light that disintegrated the Noise's form.

"That's how it's done," Neku remarked. He and Sora crossed forearms as the white flames and Keyblade faded. A light flashed and they were back in the UG, which was still in total darkness.

"Did we beat it?" Sora asked.

Neku checked his hand and shook his head. "No. We just weakened it. Its real self bounced. Shiki! Now!"

"Found it!" Shiki announced after scanning the area. "Let's go, Eri!" She engaged in battle with the Noise, which appeared as a normal-sized gold bat. She sent Mr. Mew to attack the bat, but it flew out of the doll's range. Meanwhile, Eri noticed its non-threatening appearance. Eager to finish the mission, she ran after it. Drawing a series of crackling lines between her fingers and pulling them taut, she closed in on the bat and threw her arms around it. With her hands and the crackling lines in front of the bat and resolving to not give it any room to escape, she pulled back, catching the lines on the bat's neck. It struggled, but she continued to garrote it until it faded into nothing.

A moment after the girls returned to the UG, the lights came on. "Huh. I guess we had to let it fit in," the tech guy mused, unaware of the true nature of the power outage.

The four teens checked their palms and breathed a sigh of relief as their timers vanished. "Mission complete," Neku said.

"Nice job," Sora complimented. "You guys did great. Okay, I didn't see what you did, but I never doubted you."

Shiki smiled warmly. "Aw, thanks, Sora."

"You did pretty good, too," Neku returned the compliment. "And hey, you did most of the work fighting the boss."

Sora shook his head. "We're Partners. We worked together to beat it," he countered. "I couldn't have done it without you. I mean, that's what this thing is for, right?" He tapped the Harmonizer Pin.

Neku chuckled. "Maybe Mr. H was right to give it to you. He gave it to me to encourage me to open up more and work with my Partners. But it all comes naturally to you. Even when, for all intents and purposes, you can do all the fighting on your own, you don't hesitate to draw strength from your friends."

Sora nodded. "I kinda have a saying about that. The Keyblade isn't what makes me strong. Neither are the Pins. My strength comes from my heart, and the bonds I made with my friends. My friends are my power!"

Neku, Shiki, and Eri burst out laughing. Sora's grin faded as he looked at them in confusion. "What's so funny?" he asked.

"That's so corny!" Neku said, laughing wildly.

Sora pouted. "Gee, thanks," he said sarcastically.

"I actually think it's kinda cute," Shiki said, still giggling.

Sora frowned. "It's not supposed to be cute. It's supposed to be cool," he mumbled.

"Hey." The teens turned around to see the two men, who were all but confirmed at that moment to be Reapers, approaching them. "You guys took care of the interference?" the guy in the black hoodie asked.

Sora nodded. "That's us," he replied.

"Well, thanks. We owe you big time." The Reaper did a double take as he took notice of who was in the group. "Hey, I remember you! It's, uh, Neku, right? Man, you're in the Game again? Tough break."

Neku crossed his arms and stared as he tried to figure out who the Reapers were. "Uh, I'm sorry. Who are you again? You guys all dress the same," he admitted.

The Reaper in the black hoodie laughed. "Don't worry about it. It's probably been a year. You helped us figure out what happened to the mic, remember?"

Neku gasped. "Wait a minute… BJ? Tenho?"

The Reaper in the red hoodie, Tenho, chuckled. "What do you know? He does remember us."

Shiki and Eri gasped as they recognized them as well. "Weren't you guys in Def Märch?" Eri asked, letting out a squee. "Oh my gosh, I am such a huge fan!"

"Thanks. We really appreciate it," BJ said.

"So, what are you guys up to?" Neku asked. "You performing tonight?"

Tenho nodded. "Yeah. It's been a year, so we thought we'd join back together for tonight. We're holding a memorial concert for Hiraku."

"Who?" Neku asked, not recognizing the name.

"777," BJ clarified.

"Oh." Neku knew full well who they meant, and he remembered what had happened.

"'Triple-Seven'?" Sora parroted, confused.

"He was the lead vocalist of Def Märch," Neku explained. "He was a Reaper too. A year ago, during my third week, he was Erased by that week's Game Master, because he refused to kill me and my Partner."

"Yeah. We wanted to honor his memory, for ourselves and for our fans," BJ said. He sniffed. "Hiraku was our best friend. Things sometimes got rocky between us, but we always had each other's backs."

"I'm sorry for your loss," Sora said sympathetically.

"So, hang on. Was it really a Noise that was responsible for the power outage?" Tenho asked.

Neku nodded. "Looked the same as the one from last year, even."

"What is the Noise's beef with quality music?" the red-clad Reaper whined, incredulous.

"Well, thanks again for taking care of it," BJ said. "You guys should come to the show. Our treat. VIP guests. Then again, I don't think it'll make a difference if the planes are still separated in this building."

"Oh, thanks! We'd love to attend," Shiki said.

Neku nodded. "Sure." He was not sure if they would be able to attend, however. For all he knew, the Game Master would have them faint within the hour, only to wake up the next morning. Shiki had the same thought, but hoped that BJ and Tenho would be able to pull a few strings.

"Well, we need to finish setting up. We'll see you tonight. Nine," Tenho said.

"Okay. Later," Eri replied cheerfully.

"Take care," Sora said. The four teens exited the building. They noticed that the other two Players were nowhere to be seen, most likely having gone elsewhere after the mission was found to be over. Instead, an unfamiliar man stood just outside. He had blue eyes and black hair with bangs covering his forehead. He wore a pair of blue jeans, a white t-shirt, the short sleeves exposing his skinny arms, with a picture of Crono on it, a thin blue wristband on his left wrist, and grey shoes that were red on the front and which had white tongues. Finding something off about the man, who appeared to be in his mid-twenties, Neku tried to scan him. He only detected a faint twinkle of light over his heart, indicating that he could not be scanned. He did not appear to have wings, but he had met Reaper Officers who did not manifest them, and something told him that the young man was not a mere Player.

Neku crossed his arms and stared at the man suspiciously. "Um, can we help you?" he asked.

The man chuckled nervously as he realized that the teens were staring at him. "Oh, hi. My name's Osamu Takagi. I'm the new Game Master around here," he greeted in a friendly tone.

"Okay…" Neku traded confused glances with Sora, Shiki and Eri. "So, the mission's over. What are you doing here?"

Takagi let out a good-spirited laugh. "Well, I figured I could stop by and get to know the all-new Players this time around." He stood up and bowed. "Ah, Neku Sakuraba. It's an honor to meet you."

"You know me?"

Takagi chuckled again. "Everyone in the UG knows you. Uh, well, I guess it's just the Reapers and a few of the Players. But you're kind of a legend at the Pad. You left quite a mark on the UG last year. Three weeks in a row? And for the fate of Shibuya? Best. Month. Ever!"

Neku was taken aback. "Uh… thanks…?" he said, flustered. He was not expecting the GM to act like that. In his experience, all of the GM's had been hostile and cruel. Takagi seemed to be a really nice guy.

Takagi turned to Eri. "And Shiki Misaki, lovely as..." He stopped when Eri gestured to her friend. Embarrassed, he laughed and turned to address the real Shiki. "Oh. Sorry. My mistake. I forgot that hadn't been your true form. But is it alright if I don't retract what I was about to say?"

Shiki giggled and held Mr. Mew out toward Takagi. "I'm fine with that."

"Right. Because if I did that, this little guy would cut me to pieces," he joked, leaning in toward the doll. "What's he supposed to be again?"

"Pig," Neku quipped.

"Cat," Shiki corrected, giggling. Sora and Eri laughed as well.

Takagi laughed. "I know. I just wanted to hear you two do that." Lastly, he turned to Sora. "I don't think I've seen you around Shibuya. You must be Sora."

Sora jumped back in surprise. "You- You know me?" he asked, bewildered.

Takagi nodded. "The upper brass hears about things that go on beyond Shibuya, though the Officers don't hear as much as the Conductor and Composer do," he explained. "And what you do, flying around and saving the worlds, is just awesome. It really is an honor to meet you. Though, I'm actually surprised."

"What do you mean?" Sora asked.

Takagi shrugged. "I sort of have this image of you being this unstoppable warrior, cutting through anything that came your way. You being here and all, you know… It's kinda hard to wrap my head around."

Sora nodded in agreement. "I don't know how I died either. I'm still trying to process it." He thought back to his last memories before the Reapers' Game. He entered the alley, turned around, and then everything went black. He saw something when he turned around, but he did not have the time to identify it. Was that the murder weapon?

"Well, it was nice to meet you. I'll see you around. I've got some other matters to check in on," Takagi said. "Oh, and just so you know, I'm going to let you and the other Players stay awake until midnight. So, you can go to BJ and Tenho's concert. Well, see you. And good luck on the missions." He flashed a backwards peace sign before running off.

The Players watched him leave. "Well, that was… interesting," Neku said.

"He was a lot nicer than most of the other Reapers," Shiki noted. "I think it's a nice change of pace."

"Well, two days down, five to go, right? I think we can make it," Eri claimed with growing confident. "I think we should take all the breather we can, and go to that concert tonight."

"Great idea," Shiki agreed. "What do you think? Neku? Sora?"

"Sounds like fun," Sora said.

"Sure," Neku replied simply.

"We have some free time before the concert, so let's take a walk around Shibuya," Shiki suggested. "We can show Sora around Shibuya, or at least as far as the boundaries will let us. Maybe even go shopping."

"I'm up for it," Sora said.

"Fine by me," Neku agreed.

"Okay!" Shiki cheered. "Let's go!" With that, she led Sora, Neku, and Eri up down the northern street to Shibuki Main Store as the starting point to the tour.