Chapter 119

The Reaper's Game

The party regrouped in front of a fast food joint on Spain Hill, having spent the whole night in search of Sora ever since they escaped from the crowd of Prince fans and gathered together to find their friend nowhere to be seen. After searching the whole store, during which time Mickey exchanged a large amount of Munny for yen at the Moogle Shop, they stepped out and split into two groups to search the city. Due to their unfamiliarity with the area, they went in circles a few times and were unable to explore every street. When they reunited the third time that night, it was already daybreak and they had not come across any sign of their errant friend.

"Still nothing?" Aqua asked, disappointed.

Donald shook his head sadly. "We can't find him anywhere," he lamented.

"Where could he have gone?" Goofy wondered.

"I said we should meet up by the entrance. What could have convinced him to leave?" Riku asked in exasperation.

"Maybe he saw something strange and felt he had to follow it," the blonde girl next to him suggested.

"You were with him before the crowd formed. Do you have any idea what he might have seen, Kai..." Noticing that the girl spoke more softly than the way Kairi normally talked, he looked down at her only to find a small-framed girl, standing more than a head shorter than him, with long blonde hair that partially draped over her right shoulder, blue eyes, a white dress which ended at her thighs in an embroidered lace pattern, and light blue sandals decorated with yellow flower designs. Riku jumped in surprise as he recognized the girl, who stood where Kairi should be, as Naminé. "N-Naminé?" he gasped. Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and Aqua gaped as they noticed who the girl actually was.

"Where did Kairi go? And where did she come from?" Aqua asked.

Mickey turned to Aqua to explain. "Naminé is Kairi's Nobody. We told you about her when we found you, remember?" he reminded her.

There was a pause as Aqua thought back to that conversation. After a moment, she nodded, recalling the part about Naminé. "You opened the way out of the Realm of Darkness, right?" Naminé nodded. Aqua smiled. "Thank you."

"What happened to Kairi?" Riku asked.

Naminé shook her head. "I don't know. It felt as though something pulled her away. And then I was just standing in her place, and I couldn't feel her presence," she explained.

"How long ago was that?"

"About two hours, I think." Riku raised an eyebrow, wondering why she had not said anything. "I think I was in shock for a while. I couldn't figure out what happened. I was barely able to keep up with you."

"So first, Sora gets lost, then Kairi vanishes, but Naminé stays… I wonder what's going on," Goofy mused.

"I don't know, but there might be a connection. It's morning now, so let's explore more of the city and see if we come across any of this world's secrets," Mickey suggested.

Aqua nodded. "Great idea. But first…" She placed her hand on her stomach as she felt it grumble. "Let's find something to eat."

Sora groggily opened his eyes. He saw the feet of dozens of people passing him by. Groaning, he pushed himself to his feet, feeling his fingers press against an asphalt pavement. Had he fainted in the middle of the alley? To his confusion, no one seemed to see him. Taking a look around, he realized that he was no longer in the back alley, but he was in the middle of a four-way intersection. Looking down, he noticed that he was standing over a crosswalk that went diagonally through the middle of the intersection. The street was packed with pedestrians going every which way, though there did not appear to be any cars on the road. Most of the people were barely paying attention to what was in front of them; they all seemed to be talking to the air while holding something to their ears, much like that Shinra troop had done when he reported their presence. Wait, were those supposed to be like phones? Portable phones, not connected to a landline? Some people simply stood in place, staring at their phones.

"Ugh, what happened?" he wondered. "How did I get here?" He looked up and shielded his eyes from the sun. "Morning…?" He took another look around, wondering if anyone would be able to help him. "Excuse me. Can you tell me whereー" However, the person he attempted to ask did not seem to notice him, despite the fact that she was not preoccupied with a phone conversation. He decided to try someone else. "Hey, have you seen my friendsー" Still no reaction. "What is with everyone?" he complained, spreading his arms in exasperation. He then screamed in horror when he saw one person walk straight through his outstretched arm, as if it were not really there. He also noticed that no one reacted to his scream. It was as if he was just a ghost.

Something stung on the left hand. He looked at it to find, to his shock, a set of numbers burned into the palm of his hand, even exposed through his glove: 59:50. What was even stranger was that the second number was decreasing, like a timer, the burn mark reshaping on his hand, though he only felt the initial sting that must have been the moment when it had appeared. He wondered what the timer was supposed to be for.

Deciding to get a better idea of his surroundings, he took a look around at the surrounding buildings. To the west was a tall building labeled 104. Below the sign, there was a large television screen that showed advertisement signs, like an electronic billboard. To the east, he could see an overpass on which a train ran by. He sighed, unable to recognize any of his surroundings; it appeared as though he was nowhere near Molco or the back alley.

Unsure of what to do, he stuck his hands into his pockets casually. He felt his right hand touch something. He grabbed it and pulled it out to examine it. It appeared to be a circular pin made out of tin, with a black background and a main design that looked exactly like the white demon skull design on the graffiti mural.

"What's this about?" he wondered aloud. He closed his fingers around the pin and tried to make sense of everything. However, things became stranger as the chatter around him became muted. He could see everyone around him in his mind's eye, white silhouettes on a blue background, while he began to hear certain voices. He could see everything normally through his physical eyes as well. He focused his gaze on one of the people in front of him, who stood still and appeared to be lost in thought.

I'm so tired of plain old hamburgers. If only there were gourmet burgers… Like a caviar burger, or a foie gras burger, or a truffle burger!

Sora raised an eyebrow in confusion. That was weird, he mused. He turned his focus to a woman who was walking with a spring in her step, though she did not seem to be focused on her route.

Wonder if the Prince has posted anything new on his blog. Checking it every day is what I live for.

Sora turned to a man who stood on the street corner.

Back on the stakeout. The suspect's a blonde with dark skin and gaudy makeup. Geez, why do I keep getting these cases? I can't tell these kinds of kids apart!

Sora looked at the strange pin again. Was he… Was he reading minds? Did this pin let him do that? What is going on? First he is a phantom in this city, and now he has a pin that lets him read minds?

Before he could ponder more on his situation, he tensed up as he heard terrified screams. Looking around, he saw a couple dozen people cowering, though the rest of the crowd was oblivious. Were they in the same boat as him? Looking up, he saw red and black sigils materialize in the air. Rifts opened up in the sigils and creatures that resembled green frogs with black markings crawled out. They were quite clearly otherworldly monsters, but they were not Heartless or Nobodies. They radiated their own specific energy.

"Unversed?!" he gasped. He blinked in surprise and confusion. Why had he said that? "How do I know what those are?" He did not have time to ponder on it, though, as he saw the cognizant people run for their lives. The frogs attacked some of them, causing them to vanish into thin air. He gasped in horror. Resolving to stop whatever was going on, he slipped the pin back into his pocket and threw his arm to the side and willed his Keyblade to appear, but nothing happened. He looked at his empty hand in bewilderment, at a loss for what could have happened.

Suddenly, a frog hopped at him, hitting him square in the chest and sending him stumbling back. He held his hand out and tried to use magic. "Fire!" Nothing happened. "Uh-oh." With no other option, he turned and ran. Seeing others run through the crowd in a southward direction, he followed them, glancing over his shoulder to keep an eye on the frogs. When he reached the street corner, he spied a trash can on the curb. He picked it up and threw it at two of the frogs that were chasing him. To his relief, the trash can hit the frogs and knocked them down, albeit briefly. He noticed that the people who previously had not noticed him screamed and ducked out of the way.

Okay. Going to have to be careful of these people when fighting back in here, he thought. But how am I going to fight if I can't hurt the people who don't know I'm here?

He continued running. A frog closed in behind him and leapt at him. Wanting to try something, he hopped up and twisted around, bringing one leg up and kicking the frog away. He landed and continued running, glancing back to see the frog hit the ground, only to get back up, uninjured.

After a few minutes, he came upon a plaza with a statue of a dog sitting atop a pedestal, with a semicircle of benches surrounding it. Some of the panicking people, who all seemed to be teens or in their early twenties at most, paired up, shaking hands, and suddenly relaxed. However, others were looking around frantically. Some of them were attacked by the frogs and apparently erased. Sora noticed one boy standing around apprehensively. He wondered if the boy was part of this horror movie scenario or if he was part of the crowd that was oblivious to the nightmare. The boy seemed to be shifting his gaze to each of the terrified teens. A sigil materialized behind him, and a frog prepared to throw itself at him.

"Get down!" Sora yelled. He sprinted toward the boy, then jumped into the air. The boy turned around in surprise and saw Sora and the frog. Just as the frog made its leap, Sora came down on it and blasted it across the street with a punch, sending it bouncing away. Hitting the ground and catching his breath, he turned back to the boy. "Are you alright?"

The boy nodded. He appeared to be a lanky young man around his age with blue eyes and spiky, bright orange hair. He stood a few inches taller than him, at least as tall as Riku. He wore a sleeveless purple-gray shirt with a high collar and a purple stripe down the middle, white cargo shorts with a loose-fitting black belt, a pair of shoes that perfectly matched his shirt and each had a pair of white straps in place of shoelaces, a yellow sweatband on his left wrist, and a set of purple headphones that pushed some of his hair straight back.

As Sora looked around frantically in hopes of finding some way for him and the others to survive the attack, the boy tapped him on the shoulder, causing him to turn and face him again. "Forge a pact with me!" he requested.

Sora was flabbergasted. "A what?" he asked.

"Listen! If we forge a pact, we can beat the Noise!" the boy said, dead serious.

"The what?"

The boy groaned. "Do you want to survive, or not?!" he shouted in frustration.

"Okay, okay!" Sora said, waving his hands defensively. "I accept!"

They clasped hands, and they were suddenly enveloped in a white light. Sora was bewildered, wondering what was going on, and why he suddenly felt as though he were being bound to the boy. When the light faded, Sora looked at the boy in confusion.

"What just happened?" he asked.

"I'll explain later. There should be a pin in your pocket. Use its power to fight," the boy advised.

"The mind reading thing?" Now Sora was even more confused, and he did not think that was possible. Then again, he did not think it was possible before waking up in the middle of a street with no one able to see or hear him, a timer etched into his hand, and an army of frogs trying to kill him, but the universe certainly knew how to surprise him.

The boy shook his head. "Not that. The other one. Just pin it to your clothes and you'll be able to use the Psych." He crossed his arms in front of him and took a battle-ready stance. "Get a move on!"

Sora reached into his pocket and pulled out a second pin. This one was red with an orange fire design. He hurriedly pinned it to the flap of his pocket and ran up next to the boy. He got ready to fight side by side with his new ally, but then there was a flash of light and he was standing on his own, with a frog monster in front of him.

"Okay, now what?" he muttered. He glanced down at the fire pin, wondering what he was supposed to do with it. "Use the Psych… I guess I'll just do what feels right." He held his arm out in the direction of the frog. He moved his hand from side to side, imagining a trail of fire. Indeed, a trail of fire materialized on the ground under the frog, moving over the street in the direction of his hand movements. The flames harmed the frog, which tried to hop to safety. However, Sora, now confident in his ability with the Psych, moved the fire trail to catch up with it. After a few seconds, the flames died out, and Sora realized that he would need to wait for it to recharge, much like when he uses up all of his magic energy. He ran to avoid the frog as it tried to attack him. When he determined that the pin was ready, he turned to resume his attack, only for the frog to fade away, fizzling out in a manner that resembled static on a television screen.

As he wondered what he would do now, two more frogs appeared, and he realized that the battle was not over. He used the flame Psych on the frogs, waving his arm back and forth to deal the most damage to both of them. When the energy ran out, he ran to avoid the monsters, then resumed his attack when the Psych charged back up. After a minute, the frogs both faded into nothing. There was another flash of light and he found that the crowd of people had reappeared, including the boy.

"Not bad," the boy commended.

Sora flashed a grin. "Thanks. So, uh, what just happened, exactly?" he asked.

"We entered two different planes where we could fight the Noise. We were in separate zones, but the Noise existed in both of them," the boy explained. "Fighting them on both sides erased them."

"So, those frogs we just fought… those were Noise?" Sora began to unconsciously tap his feet as he faintly heard the music from his companion's headphones.

The boy nodded. "They'll try to erase the Players. But since we made a pact, they won't directly attack us. If we want to grow stronger, we can use the Player Pin to scan for them and engage them directly."

"Got it. I think. So, what now?"

"We complete the mission," the boy answered. Sora tilted his head quizzically. The boy sighed. He held up his left hand, which had the same timer burn that Sora had, which now read 40:36. "Didn't you get a text? We have to complete the mission before the timer hits zero. You should know this, shouldn't you?"

The statement was starting to make sense to Sora, although none of it rang a bell. Was he supposed to already know that? He did not recall being briefed. And what did he mean by "text"?

The boy sighed. "Whatever. I'll explain later. The mission is to get to 104. Let's go."

"Ten-Four?" Sora asked for clarification.

"The department store west of Scramble Crossing. Big numbers Ten and Four in red. You can't miss it."

"Oh." Sora nodded. "Yeah, I saw it. Okay, let's go."

They started to walk north, back to the intersection which the boy had called Scramble Crossing. Sora nodded his head to the beat of the headphones' music. "Brain ware, main wave"/ psycho got a high kick/ collect and select/ show me your best set. "Crystals, blisters"/ it's all over now/ psycho cane/ you're so keen/ I need more candy canes.

"Oh, yeah. I'm Sora," he introduced himself.

The boy turned back to him. "Sora?" After a moment, he breathed a curse. "He really went and did it," he muttered.

"Who did what?" Sora asked.

The boy shook his head. "Never mind. My name's Neku. Neku Sakuraba."

"Huh. Neku Sakuraba? That's a mouthful," Sora remarked.

Neku chuckled. "It's really not."

They continued walking, and soon were back in the intersection, which Neku had called "Scramble Crossing". Sora noted that the name was incredibly fitting. He saw a pair of police officers standing around the trash can that he had thrown, apparently having been called to figure out why it suddenly went flying, and he recalled one of the morning's anomalies.

"Say, Neku, how come nobody can see us?" he asked. A pedestrian walked straight through him. "And, you know, how does that happen?"

"You, me, and the rest of the Players exist on a different plane from everyone else. We're in the Underground, the UG, and they're in the Realground, the RG," he explained. "We can see them, but they can't see or feel us. We can influence physical objects across both planes if we focus, along with some other stuff."

"Did you say 'Players'?"

"Yes. In the Reaper's Game." He sighed as he watched Sora's expression display more and more confusion. "You don't remember the orientation, do you? Fine. Whatever. I'll explain everything I can. But we have to complete the mission first."

Sora nodded. "Okay. It's that building over there, right?" He pointed at the department store due west.

Neku nodded. "Yeah. Come on." He ran in the direction of the building before stopping just before the beginning of the street. "Hang on. There's probably a wall here." However, Sora failed to heed the warning and ran headlong into an invisible force field, which flashed a honeycomb pattern on impact.

Sora groaned as he hit the ground. "Man, I hate those things," he complained.

Neku shook his head. After a moment, he turned to Sora and helped him to his feet. "Wait, you've seen these walls before?" he asked. He wondered how Sora was unfamiliar with the Reaper's Game, yet he was familiar with one of the tricks used to impede or direct Players.

Sora nodded. "Yeah. Though they usually haven't been used to keep me out. More to keep me in or to keep my friends from helping me fight. They're really annoying." He shook his head. "So, I guess we're going to have to fight some monsters or do something to lower the wall."

Neku nodded, surprised. "Yeah. See that guy?" He gestured to a man wearing a red hoodie and a camo hat who was standing in the middle of the intersection. "He's a Reaper. He's supposed to guard the wall and challenge the Players to do something before he'll lower the wall. Usually, it involves fighting a bunch of Noise, though a few times a Reaper quizzed us."

"Okay. So, let's go talk to him." He approached the man that Neku had called a "Reaper". Neku simply stood back, staring in confusion with one hand on his hip and the other fiddling with a lock of his hair. "Hey, there."

The Reaper's expression did not change as Sora made an attempt to talk to him. Sora could not see his eyes, which were heavily shaded under the brim of his hat and his hood, but he felt as though the man was staring into his soul. "Pact confirmed," was the only thing the man said, and it seemed as though it were more to himself than anything.

Neku crossed his arms as he thought about his own experience. "Wait… The wall on the first day was just to make sure the Players formed a pact, right?" he muttered to himself. "I wonder if he already decided we were set…" He turned around and reached out to touch the wall, only for his hand to pass through empty air. "It's down." He began to step forward and proceed to the destination before he stopped, remembering something. He turned around to see Sora still trying to talk to the Reaper. "Hey, Sora! The wall's down. We can keep going."

Sora turned to see that Neku had stepped past where the wall had been. "Oh. Okay. Wait for me!" He ran after Neku.

As Sora caught up to him, Neku checked the timer on his hand. It now read 19:55. There was plenty of time left. Glancing around, he saw a few more pairs of Players running through Scramble Crossing in order to get to 104. Deciding that he wanted to get there and complete the mission first, he started running, with Sora right alongside him.

When they reached the sidewalk in front of the 104 building, they felt a sting on their left hands and came to a stop. Checking their hands, they saw that the timers were gone. "Today's mission is done," Neku said.

Sora nodded and smiled. "So, now what?" he asked.

Before Neku could answer, they heard someone chuckle. "Please. You think you're done for the day just like that? Where's the fun in that?" They turned to find the source of the voice, but were only able to catch a glimpse of a pink hoodie and a skeletal black wing before two Noise sigils flew toward them.

"I thought you said they wouldn't attack us!" Sora shouted, surprised by the ambush.

"They will if the Reapers send them directly," Neku clarified. "Listen. We may be in different zones, but we're still fighting together. Keep the fight up, and we'll share strength. The Light Puck will make our Psychs stronger. Got it?"

Sora nodded. "I get the idea."

"Don't mess this up!"

There was a flash of light as the first sigil reached them, and they were divided between planes again. Sora used his flame Psych against the frogs, keeping Neku's words in mind. In the other zone, Neku, armed with a lightning bolt pin, directed bolts of lightning at the Noise. After a few moments, his body began to emit a green glow, and he felt a surge of energy. With his strength boosted, he blasted the frogs while silently thanking Sora for being a quick learner. After some time, the green glow faded as the Light Puck was passed to Sora. Sora noticed the green glow and felt the Light Puck boost his strength. Letting out a shout of "Power", he fried a frog Noise, erasing it, before moving on to the next. The process repeated until the battle was over and they were back in the UG field. With that set vanquished, a larger sigil hit them. When the fight began, Sora found himself face to face with a large grey bear with orange and brown skeletal arms that almost looked like floating tattoos. The bear swiped at him with its tattoo arms, knocking him back the first time, but he worked to dodge the subsequent attacks and keep at a distance while using his Psych to burn the large foe when he had the Light Puck, then letting his Psych recharge while he passed the Puck off to Neku. The bear did not last long; it was soon Erased, and Sora and Neku reappeared in the field.

Sora and Neku looked around, but were unable to see their attacker. "Who was that guy?" he asked, irritated.

"Just another Reaper punk making things difficult for the Players," Neku replied bitterly. "Something tells me we'll see him again. No point looking for him now."

Sora sighed in resignation. "So, we beat the mission and survived another Noise attack. What do we do now?" he asked.

Neku reached into his pocket and pulled out a device that was attached to a cord that went in his shirt and connected to his headphones. He fiddled with the device and lowered the volume of his music. "Well, we just chill until the Reapers knock us out for the day and we wake up tomorrow in time for them to send out the next mission. Rinse and repeat for the rest of the week. After the seventh day, the Reaper's Game ends for the week."

"So, what exactly is the Reaper's Game?"

Neku crossed his arms and stared at Sora intently, trying to figure out what was up with him. "You don't remember the orientation?"

Sora shook his head. "No. None of what you said earlier rings a bell."

Neku raised an eyebrow. Huh. Sounds a lot like me when I was in my first Game, he mused. He let out a gasp as an unsettling thought entered his mind. Could they have taken his memory?

"Sora, do you remember anything from before this morning?" he asked bluntly. He knew that it would be a shock to insinuate that he had his memory removed, but he had to broach the subject.

"Huh? Of course I do." Sora nodded. "I remember my home, my family, and my friends. Before today, I was journeying with my friends across…" He trailed off, realizing that it was probably best to not expose Neku to the existence of other worlds if it were not absolutely necessary, and he had not seen any indication that the city was facing any danger from external threats. "I was with my friends, and we stopped in this store… Molco, I think it was called. We got separated in a screaming crowd." He noticed Neku roll his eyes at this. The local teen had a good idea of what the crowd had gone wild over. "I saw this weird guy watching me and I followed after him. I found myself in this back alley with a lot of graffiti… Next thing I know, I wake up in the intersection."

Neku crossed his arms again. So, memory loss is out of the question. But what could have caused him to forget about the orientation? And what got him in this, anyway? The back alley… Could it be…? He sighed. He figured it was best to not worry about that question for the moment, and instead tell Sora what he could.

"The Reaper's Game is a week-long contest overseen by people called the Reapers. They each have a different role to play in the Game. On the streets, you'll see Support Reapers, who test the Players and monitor their performance. Kinda like the guy in red we saw earlier. We'll also run into Harriers, like the jerk in the pink hoodie. They'll attack you and either try to Erase you by siccing Noise on you or try to make sure we fail the mission. They get points depending on how they do their jobs, and if they fall short, they get Erased. There are also Officers, who manage the UG. Among them are the Game Master, who sets the missions and is the final boss of the week, and the Conductor, who runs the show behind the scenes. The Players have to work with their Game Partners to complete the missions and survive the Game. The missions vary from fighting some monster to helping a company sell its products or even getting from Point A to Point B. But they're really trials to test the Players so the Officers can determine if they deserve a second chance at life. It doesn't matter who completes the missions, but they grade us for ourー"

"Wait. What was that last part?" Sora asked suddenly, interrupting Neku's exposition.

"Which part?" Despite asking, Neku had a good idea what he was referring to.

"What's this about a 'second chance at life'? Do you mean…"

Neku nodded solemnly. "The Reaper's Game is for people whose lives were cut short too soon, usually teens. That's why we're on a plane of existence above everyone else in Shibuya. All of the Players are dead, and they're trying to win a chance to come back to life."

Sora was shocked. He did not know how to respond. A Game to win a second chance at life? All of the Players are dead? Did that mean… Was he dead too?

Neku shook his head. "Sorry to hit you with that," he said sympathetically. "It was hard for me when I found out in my first Game."

Sora blinked in surprise, his thoughts turning from shock at his own situation to concern for his new friend's. "Your first Game? Neku, were you in this before?" he asked.

Neku nodded. "Yeah. I was. About a year ago."

"And… you died again?"

Neku did not answer. He slowly turned the volume up on his music, indicating that he was not going to answer. Sora wondered what secrets his Game Partner was keeping to himself. Was it related to how he died? Or was there something else that he was hiding?

But Sora was once again more worried about something other than his mysterious new friend. "I'm… I'm DEAD?!" he blurted in shock.