Mr Reaper

by EeveeGen9988

A young Reaper set in his ways has enough of seeing Shibuya being left unprotected from criminals, and finds himself leading those of common interest to take action. If only he knew how one step to betterment would lead to another he would take alone... Written for [Shibuya Operation - Story Storm 2019-present] and [Twelve Shots of Summer 2019].

6. Mr Stray

Mr Reaper

I do not own The World Ends With You, Square Enix does!

Mr Reaper Part 5 was written for Shibuya Operation - Story Storm (SOSS) 2020/21; previous chapters (Parts 0 and 1) were posted during Twelve Shots of Summer (TSoS) 2019 and Parts 2 to 4 were posted during Shibuya Operation - Story Storm (SOSS) 2019/20.

...

Part 5 - Mr Stray

---

Months Ago...

---

"I don't know what to do with you."

"..."

"I can't keep up with you, I can't make you stay together… Don't you want to stay together?"

"..."

"How am I supposed to finish the job if I can't leave you alone for one second!? I've spent Days without rest, and this is how you repay me!? Just stop moving!"

"..."

"I don't want you to be lost, but how can that happen if you're still fickle like this!? I'm running out of time with making sure you're not going to have your light snuffed out! What can I do to make sure you're completed in time!?"

"..."

"I've gone through every speck of your being- your composition- and my headways are being spoiled by you! What am I doing wrong!? I've done it by the book, even outside the book- so why isn't anything working!?"

"..."

"Wait… H-Hang o-on a moment-"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Wh-What the fuck is that!?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"...Oh crud. Wh-What... wh-what is that?"

"..."

"Th-That makes no sense- Wh-How is that possible!? Wh-Why isn't…"

"..."

"I-I… I-I'll need to recheck. Th-That's good, I'll just circle back and re-recheck."

"..."

"...But I can't let him know. Not sure if he'll have my head, or I'll get the composer on my back- but it's for your sake. That should be fine, r-right?"

"..."

"Oh fuck, the things I'm doing for you… I've stretched my neck farther than any soul I've worked on."

"..."

"...He better not be unhappy with me."

---

- Present Day -
1975

---

He was in so much pain.

The Harrier couldn't help but want to curl up in a ball, yet was left to keep leaning forward in a stiffly held position. He could feel that instead of floating, he was slowly falling downward, into a smoky abyss that he knew was below him. He wanted to ask why he was being tormented like this, but he couldn't even make a sound from his choked breaths suffocating on the smog.

Light crackled and altered into flicks of flames that danced in the hazy distance...

Yet it never cleared the darkness.

Already he was in a cold sweat, his clammy hands wouldn't stop shaking as he sobbed silently, wanting to cover his ears as shouts came from all around him. He couldn't pick them out but the eyes were everywhere, staring and burning into him relentlessly as he was forced to ensure their fearsome glares. He knew why they looked at him like this, but he couldn't get himself to explain himself.

The Harrier was all but feeling heat start to lick him as his descent came faster and faster until he knew he was being burned alive. The entirety of his body screamed as excruciating pain enveloped every fibre of his being-

His eyes widened; he was stuck in the Cherry again! The metal parts and the fucking metal hood were already caved in on him- they were stuck to his figure, melting him alive! No amount of struggle bade him success in escape- he was powerless as the pain wouldn't stop being pain on pain on pain on-

Then he wailed out and flailed his arms, thrashing and trying to get out of the stupid fucking Cherry! But it wasn't working! It wasn't letting him out! It wasn't going to because it trapped him inside- because Kage wouldn't let him out!

He sobbed raggedly as he went limp, knowing that it was futile to get out if it was inevitable he was going to…

The Harrier rapidly blinked in his flinch when he suddenly felt someone rub circles into his back. For a second, it pushed away the smog as they murmured, as if they were coaxing him to relax. It came in the form of him slackening in their hold until he wearily gasped, as he felt his heart's thumping slow down. Then it was silent, if he didn't count his occasional sob or his harsh breathing. He was confused as to why he wasn't still burning when he all but felt himself dangle limply, drearily being reminded of the fact he should have been dead-

...Hold on; he was stuck under the hood... There shouldn't be someone-

He shuddered where he lay rigidly, gasping sharply again as his eyes wildly darted around him before he breathed in slower in bafflement. And yet, his breathing wouldn't slow down enough, as he was soon hyperventilating again at the fact he was submerged in darkness. It was just as black as… the lights that came on before a door clicked shut? Oh. ...Did the person calming him down just leave? Or was this still part of the nightmare?

...Wait? He was in a room?

The Harrier grimaced after five seconds, blinking in befuddlement as he eventually let his gaze settle on the ceiling. 'Th-This isn't...' With his eyes shifting towards the left, even with his hood partly in the way, he registered this as a room. But... it didn't look like the one from the Barracks- Wait, he wasn't supposed to be in the Shibuya River!? Why did the Conductor have to keep putting him in the same room!? Even though the furniture arrangement was wrong, nor was he on a plank that was being spun as a mattress or on a literal bed of luxury...

He took another moment to survey his surroundings before his breath stuttered out.

This wasn't the room!? And if this wasn't the room, then where was he!?

Even with the barebone fact that he felt better because he wasn't in the darkness anymore, he felt his chest remain tight as he tried pulling himself up from where he was laying. Yet all that caused was for him to fall back as the energy he had suddenly vanished, landing him on something that cushioned the impact. His groggy mind became more alert of the fact that he may have been on a bed, but even then, he helplessly felt his head start to fill with questions he had no choice but to answer right now if he were to leave this place.

The first of which was about where he was currently. Although he couldn't put a finger on it, even though it felt familiar to him, it was still a valid thing to worry about. And when it came down to the next question, it was more for the matter of what he could do. That being... it involved what time it may have been.

After all, he wasn't stupid to have not noticed the lack of windows.

Now that he wasn't trapped in that hellish recreation of his death, he could only surmise it was later in the Day- perhaps nighttime- if the light in this room was spilling through the crack of the door. But for all he knew, the next room could have had no lights on because another room had a light on and that threw a wrench into his whole theory! It also put into perspective that his awareness of time was thrown out the window, as he couldn't figure out what Day it could or could not be right now. He didn't have any information to go off on and that pretty much meant he couldn't use the time of Day in consideration of what possible time he could use to slip unnoticed...

But that wasn't the important aspect of this. No, oh no, it left him all but weary that so much has happened to him and so much has gone wrong for him that he was having a hard handle on the situation he was in. Just… why was he here, wherever here was?

Trying to think back on what may have happened gave him an immediate blank. It was unfortunate he couldn't do much about a lapse in his brain's functioning... seeing as he sorely needed it to help him get out of here. The Harrier, in his silence, merely made note of how the comforts of the bed shouldn't have been so irritating now. It wasn't a bad bed, but it wasn't about that. He didn't deserve this bed- whoever it belonged to- and he didn't deserve to be here. That's right, wherever he was, he didn't deserve to be here, especially when the…

When the Conductor was going to Erase him.

Blinking wide in response to that, his breath stifling, his gaze straightaway shifted towards his resting hands. 'That's right... I-I was in an alleyway!'

His right hand briefly warped. It disappeared for a moment before it materialized back where it was.

The Harrier didn't react to that at first, but he frowned sullenly. 'I was in an alleyway... when I was in the Scramble Crossing…'

Pain flooded his side only to vanish rapidly.

He hissed in a breath as dots began pulsating in his shaky vision. 'The Conductor ripped it open!' He gritted his teeth in his grimace. 'I was in the Scramble Crossing!'

Flashes filled his vision, the brilliance was searing his eyes as agony began to build in his body.

'Wh-Why am I here!?'

He was prone on the ground...

'Wh-When I was supposed to be Erased!?'

He was knocked off the Sadist from an attack...

'I-I was supposed to be Erased...'

"DaYBReaK!"

'I-I was supposed to be Erased!'

"DoN't STruGGLe."

'I was supposed to be Erased!' He was aware of how his breathing became unsteady, splashes of vertigo coming and going as he clenched his eyes shut. 'It was finally going to be over- and yet-' His hands shakily curled around the blanket. 'It was stolen by someone! I-I was stolen by someone- stolen away when I could have gotten my end!'

The Harrier's eyes were burning as tears rolled down his cheeks, feeling as if they were acid ruining his complexion as he ripped open his eyes wide. His vision violently rocked and was unable to focus or work for him properly. 'Wh-Why would anyone d-do that!? T-To make me suffer again!? Again!? AGAIN!?' He hiccupped as he frowned harder, his lips wobbling as he thought in misery, 'Wh-Why can't I fucking get a break from anything!?' His teeth gritted as he exhaled harshly. He shook his head, moreso it was trembling on its own, as he sobbed hard. 'Wh-What gain do they want from this!?'

Without warning, he flipped downward before all of his oxygen was expelled from his lungs, causing him to gasp sharply in muteness as he sprawled across the floor. Something crumpled around him as his vision was soon treated to gloom when the last of it flopped over his head.

Breathing shallowly now, he tried pulling himself up, only to find that his body didn't follow along with his intentions. Instead, he felt hopelessly trapped as something was coiled around him, something was trying to squeeze him- He shakily let out a breath he was holding when he noticed this, desperately trying to wrestle his arm out of there so he could free himself. But he couldn't bring life into them as he wanted, they were completely useless as they refused to listen to him. He then kicked, only to feel his heart sink deeply in his horror.

Why couldn't he move his body!?

He tried again only to receive the same result. His mind grasped the concept of paralysis, but there was no way his body was shutting down on him now! He couldn't let this thing take him down when he was supposed to have been Erased by the Conductor!

Suddenly, the thought to call out for help reached him in time. He immediately yanked on to it as he pried his mouth open, yet his voice fleetingly tapered on his tongue.

In the hold of the fabric he now noticed, the blanket from which was keeping him warm, his panic evaporated. However, a resigned fact came to him. He numbly stared across the floor, frowning as he merely let his left cheek remain pressed against the roughness of the carpet.

He dully blinked.

What did it matter...? What did it matter where he was, or why he was here...? What was the point to change anything if nothing mattered? When he was supposed to have been Erased.

He closed his eyes.

When the Conductor made that clear.

---

The feeling of being weightless was never something the Harrier liked. There was the obvious fact you couldn't control yourself, because if you were in control, you would definitely feel how much you needed to step down or move your arms.

Right now, the Harrier could attest to the fact he still hated it.

Something was moving his body.

In the barest of his consciousness, the lull he was under was pulled away as the unstable equilibrium of his body made quick work to wake him. He softly groaned, yet already his complaints fell short when he realized there was mass beneath himself. He didn't really like it, but his headache was the only thing responsible for muzzling his ability to react properly.

He could tell the person, whoever they were, didn't mean harm. But the Harrier could list dozens of reasons for why the harmless threats were the worst threats... seeing as he didn't know this person. That put his body into immediate tension, yet the person didn't seem to mind as they started dragging the Harrier's limbs around. In their mindset, the Harrier theorized, the black-hooded Reaper was still asleep.

And that was their mistake.

Readying himself to spring his body off, his plan to run fell flat when he realized the limb he needed to throw off the blanket wasn't responding to him. He wanted to curse, but if he were to use surprise to his advantage... he had to not make it known he had his awareness back.

Therefore, even with his gripes about them mishandling him, he tried to even out his breathing. His tired mind could only cling to that as his available skill of feigning slumber was brought into play, something he often had to do whenever the Woman and the Scumbag came home late to check on him. That lit up his ire at the many times they spoke in hush about him, then the disrespect as they loudly conversed in the room over as if they thought they were in the clear. It was so stupid how they-

His head was being tilted back to his alarm, slightly enough for his panic to set in and the snapping sound to reach his ears. He could only zero in on a quiet sizzle in front of him before the coldness of metal met his lips... nudging gently to part them open before popping liquid dribbled into his mouth. He immediately wanted to spit it out, but the perplexity of the fact he was being fed coffee stopped his protest.

He realized his mouth cavity must have been parched as the moment it filled up, moisture started to return to it. But that was the last thing that stayed on his mind when he felt a hand make contact with the cloth of his hood to access his throat, his body not flinching as his mind instead froze. But the hand wasn't needed as he involuntarily gulped it down, feeling it shoot through his throat quickly.

The Harrier sputtered out a cough against the liquid, feeling it leak off his lips as the metal was taken away, leaving him dizzy, almost swaying, as his head was eased back on to the pillow. Then before he knew it, he felt it again at his lips, ready to feed him more of its contents as the hand gently rubbed against his hood and neck again. By this time, he found that he was starting to calm down as he swallowed in confusion, hating it at first before realizing it was actually helping him the less disconnected he started to feel with his limbs.

In the fuzziness of his mind over all this, he couldn't help but wonder if his body had given up on him, that perhaps that was why he wasn't able to get himself away from this person... Although, he didn't have long to ponder about it.

The hand wasn't trying to slosh more liquid into him anymore and the footfalls, as soft as they were, told him he was being left in peace finally.

As his chest deflated, his eyes rolling back as he closed his eyes, he sighed when the door somewhat behind him was closed again.

---

The next time the Harrier opened his eyes, he found he was in the bed again. He couldn't help but frown at this fact as he dully observed how neatly the blanket was tucked around his form, knowing full-well that the person must have checked on him at some point because the light was off again. However, unlike the previous occurrence, the door was ajar, this time letting light from the room over seep into the area, leaving it nowhere as dark as it had been.

He was aware of how his lungs deflated, his chest losing its tightness as he soon loafed in the dimness of the room. Not quite loafed, mind you, moreso that he couldn't help but lie in silence as he appreciated the fact that the person may have realized leaving the Harrier by his lonesome when he was this prone to falling mustn't be ignored. At least, from what he remembered, that must have been the case when he was visited. So the Harrier must have worried them enough if they were trying to listen in for any more giveaway sounds.

Knowing that he shouldn't be as disappointed as he slowly found he was feeling, the Harrier had enough of dwelling here. Even though the thought of doing nothing was pretty much the one thing his mind immediately shifted to, the Harrier had a feeling after what happened with the Yellow Noise, he shouldn't be so quick to letting himself waste his time. While he knew it didn't bother him as much as it should have, he knew letting the stupid predators have their way with him again would only worsen the state of his being. And while he didn't mind that, he knew it wasn't wholesome to be open to…

Deciding to test the waters, he experimentally tried shrugging his right arm out of being pinned by the weight of the soft fabric. He felt his arm jerk just as he was pulling it free before he flung his hand up, causing the corner of the blanket to fold over haphazardly before moving on to do the same with his other upper limb. At least, that was enough for him to be happy about for the moment.

Once he had his arms out in the open, he examined how his black sleeves revealed he indeed hadn't been taken out of his pullover hoodie. He mentally gave thanks to whoever it was that was considerate about the Harrier's aversion to having it being taken off, but that didn't make the creepier aspect of it less bad. After all, he was in an unknown location with an unknown someone, so he couldn't let nice favours sway him to their liking. Strangers were rightfully named after all, thus, he shouldn't be letting his guard down.

When he helped to drag his legs out from the blanket to rest his shoeless feet on the carpet, the moment he placed his hands down was when he realized how shaky he was with their movements. He crestfallenly registered that while he could control his body now, he couldn't just let himself give up. He had to do his best to make his body work for him if he were to leave, or to at least figure out his whereabouts to leave.

Five minutes later found him nudging the door with his shoulder and the moment it swung open was when his jaw dropped. Another door from across from him told him where he was; any plan of escape wasn't needed anymore.

After shuffling out of the room, he used the wall to his right as support to hobble through the short hallway. He felt as if every step was almost draining his energy, having to assert effort to practically drag his body forward until he met the corner that would turn into the living room. One glance was all he needed to find Jimmy sitting cross-legged on the ground, a sight he never thought was more welcome to see than he ever knew it would be.

Although, his questions were quickly replaced with new ones as he quietly watched the New Zealander. 'How... how did this happen?'

As the Harrier noticed the Reaper was wearing his Support hoodie inside-out for some reason, which was dappled with brown and grey smudges, the Support was facing his smudged mat that was in front of the wall, his mucky hands fiddling with the clay he was working with. The copper haired male must have been so invested in whatever he was creating because it took him almost three minutes to realize the Harrier was peering at him from the hallway.

"Oh-" Light grey eyes merely turned until the Support's head followed along with the motion to regard the harshly breathing Harrier with surprise. "How's it goin', bro?"

'How's it... going?' If the Harrier wasn't far off from his assumptions, you don't just ask someone how they're doing if this was the first time you're seeing them walk around after making them sleep in your bed. Why would acting casual be the first thing you would want to react with!?

Upon blinking, taking note of how the Support was still waiting on him, the Harrier realized he shouldn't be criticizing Jimmy's greeting right now.

"I, uh... " The Harrier took a moment to readjust himself as he leant on the corner. "Got out of bed? So that could be an achievement?" He frowned self-consciously.

"Mmm, I hear you," hummed Jimmy with a nod, soon tilting his head as he murmured, "Surprised you could do that after last night, so I reckon you should take it easy for now."

The Harrier grimaced right away. "Take it easy? Why would I want to take things easy right now?"

From how quickly Jimmy attained a frown, the Harrier knew he chose the wrong words. But when the New Zealander's lips flattened a few seconds later and he released a sigh, the Harrier found couldn't be more accurate with that conclusion. "We found you in the alleyway bleedin' out," replied Jimmy in a serious tone. "Not bleedin' out, but the hidin' you got was nasty for me to heal."

"Hiding?" Jimmy merely raised his right mucky hand as a fist and swung it up diagonally. The Harrier pursed his lips and nodded. "Ah." He grimaced again shortly after as he let more of his weight lean into the wall. "Shit, that should have been my first idea..." he mumbled as he felt his body ache from the corner. "I guess I'm not so smart."

Jimmy's gaze softened slightly when he shook his head. "Not even, ow, you shouldn't be hard on yourself. You just woke up since we found you."

'Not counting the possibility I might have gotten up sooner? Then sure, we'll go with that.'

The Harrier sighed as he tucked in his chin, "I suppose so." Keeping his head still, he made out how his knees twitched once and awhile before he frowned more. "I know you said I got… beat up?" Jimmy promptly nodded. "Yeah, so I guess my body's got to rejuvenate so I can get back into kicking and punching the assholes away." He tried chuckling at his joke, but it came out humourless and it appeared that it wasn't amusing enough for Jimmy either to count as one.

Jimmy immediately straightened his posture, looking more alert as he spoke carefully, "Might be a mint idea if you wait on that, bro."

"Hmm?" The Harrier lifted his chin enough to regard the other male Reaper again. "Why?"

For a few seconds, Jimmy's mouth remained open before he shut it with a shake of his head. He meticulously waved his wet, clay-coated hand with the smallest of movements past his shoulder to gesture behind himself. "How about you sit down and we could have a bit of yack."

The black-hooded Reaper's eyebrows furrowed. 'A bit of a yack...?' In light of that thought, he felt it may be best to just take Jimmy's suggestion instead of determining its meaning. He carefully trudged forward from the wall, trying to keep himself from faltering in his progress as he was left without aid anymore when traversing the small distance to the sofa nearby the entryway. And the moment he started to set himself down, his knees buckled and he gave an 'oof' when he flopped the rest of the way, falling onto his right shoulder against the somewhat firm and somewhat soft surface.

Peering out at Jimmy, who was half-ready to get up until he was staring back at the Harrier, the black-hooded Reaper merely settled himself by dragging his legs up to curl enough to fit on the burgundy sofa. Jimmy took another moment before he started for the kitchen, and the Harrier heard the rush of the tap water entering the kitchen basin for a minute or two.

When Jimmy briskly strode back, he had already pulled off his red hoodie to drop it next to the mat and soon took a seat on the other sofa, which was more of a dove-grey… Huh, now that the Harrier thought of it… these two sofas were from different Brands.

"So," said Jimmy as he played with his clean, clasped hands on his lap, shooting an awkward look to the Harrier as he sighed, "To be straight-up with you…" He finally stopped moving his hands when he frowned. "You're bein' hunted down."

At once, the Harrier tensed. "Hunted down?" He right away blurted out, "It wouldn't happen to be a 'Emergency Call' hunt down, would it?"

Jimmy's eyes immediately widened and shook his head hard. "Not even, ow!"

The black-hooded Reaper felt his chest deflate. "Ah..." He grimaced straightaway as he tittered, "So just being hunted down then..." He supposed he wasn't that important to have the Posh Bastard issue it, but that didn't lower the weight of the words 'hunted down' so easily. To the Harrier, that inspired a sort of urgency or threat to take down, as it was exactly that. However, in his case, an instant burst of anxiety was given to laugh at him.

"Hunted down," agreed Jimmy grimly with a small nod. "Ever since the Conductor got you with his attack… and when you vanished."

"'Vanished'?" echoed the Harrier warily as he half-closed his eyes. He frowned as he rolled the words in his head before speaking in bewilderment, "What do you mean I 'vanished'? I was-"

Jimmy sighed again, "We found you in an alleyway."

The Harrier halted his speech before tacking on, "You already told me that."

"I know, but we don't know why you were in an alleyway," said Jimmy firmly as he frowned.

The Harrier didn't like how Jimmy framed that. Yes, he knew he was put in an alleyway by someone, or something, for some reason, but that didn't constitute anything he hadn't known beforehand. He had his gripes about how Jimmy stumbled upon him or knew where to look... and he liked to think that Jimmy found him without someone there. However, the constant thrown in pronouns didn't do much to paint the picture as the Harrier wanted to see it.

Right away, the Harrier furrowed his eyebrows as he studied Jimmy carefully. "Okay, alleyways aside- Why do you keep talking about 'we' as opposed to yourself?" He pursed his lips as he felt a pang of uneasiness push against his chest.

"...Annee."

Blinking at that answer, the Harrier relented slightly as he relaxed. But, unlike him, he noticed the other wasn't as calm about it. That made him frown back at the New Zealander. "Okay, so Andy was with you. But what's the matter with that?"

Jimmy's grey eyes immediately shifted into uneasiness as his shoulders drooped, his wings twitching every few seconds as if doing so so Jimmy wouldn't squirm. "Annee nearly… she was furious to the Days." When the Harrier shifted his head on the sofa, Jimmy sighed before he quickly spoke again, "Really, really furious, and gapped it heaps of times to do stuff while you were asleep."

While informative as that was, the Harrier couldn't help but pick up on how odd that delivery was. His question wasn't quite answered directly... In fact, the Harrier had to say the wording wasn't making it out to be a positive thing. Yet, despite feeling the need to comment on it, the Harrier realized maybe Jimmy wasn't that comfortable with sharing the exactness as he implied.

"Where is she…?" asked the Harrier instead as he tried moving his head again, only to feel a spell of dizziness. He left it wedged in the corner of the sofa in response and sighed in disappointment, "I know there probably wasn't a need to be part of the welcome wagon..." He blinked while looking over at Jimmy again. "So did she go back?"

"Nah, yeah." The Support inhaled, seeming calmer before he closed his eyes. "She wanted to crash here, but I reckoned it wouldn't be smart. 'Ey would notice she's gone, and 'ey know her as your mate. So... you have the idea."

"It would be just as risky for her to come back," agreed the Harrier worriedly as his eyebrows knitted. "If Reapers tailed her, that is."

"She does it not so often, bro. Not sure how many of 'em know about me knowin' you, so thought it would be safer," Jimmy replied; the Harrier felt slight reassurance from that. "But I'm sure you wouldn't have liked havin' 'em wrangle you back to the Conductor when you weren't awake."

The Harrier frowned straightaway. "Good, because I don't want to go back." The Harrier's clipped tone briefly made Jimmy pause to watch the black-hooded male. The Support eventually adjusted his posture again, moments before the Harrier scoffed, "I told the Posh Bastard as such, so I don't understand what his motives are other than ensuring my Erasure is absolute."

But even after he had spoken, he felt his mind pause as he focused on his words.

Jimmy didn't necessarily say the Posh Bastard was out for the Harrier's existence, yet he couldn't help but feel as if it was a given that the man wanted him gone. The Posh Bastard had to have been perfectly prepared to do the deed the last he saw of the finely dressed man. However, despite the Harrier's niggling urge to squirm at the thought of Erasure, the Harrier couldn't help but remember in that moment... he wanted that.

Here he was... talking about the prospect of fading away if the man got to him... And yet, the Harrier couldn't help but wonder if it should be as tempting as it was. In the moment with the Sadist, it was exactly as he said he wanted it. In the moment with the Posh Bastard, it was nothing to complain about.

...Now?

The Harrier blinked as his throat became dry.

What about now?

His thoughts were broken upon hearing Jimmy laugh, causing the Harrier to focus on the New Zealander again.

"Heh, then I reckon we made the right choice." Jimmy smiled for a short bit, his expression appearing less on edge than it had been when the Harrier was first asked to sit down with him. He blinked as he soon chuckled, "You're free to crash here as long as you want, bro, if it means you don't have to be pushin' up daisies."

"Pushing up…?" started the Harrier with confusion.

"Dead." Jimmy waved a hand and shook his head. "I just call it that and others to not confuse myself in the Underground."

"Ah, right." The Harrier promptly bit his lip nervously. "Right..."

"You're all good, bro," said Jimmy with another chuckle but stopped at a knock on the door.

The Harrier's gaze drifted towards the door, yet he felt Jimmy's gaze linger on him for a while longer before beginning to stand up. Even when passing by the resting Reaper, Jimmy swiftly glanced back at the Harrier in the middle of heading for the entryway. The Harrier quickly took the silent messages as something to be worried about so he remained still, keeping himself quiet as Jimmy was fiddling with the lock upon the revelation that the amount of movement on the other side couldn't be his friend right now.

Jimmy had closed the door before the voices had a chance to clue the Harrier in on the situation, but he slowly became aware of how rigid he had become as the muffled conversation happened. It couldn't have been the worst-case scenario... but just knowing that Jimmy easily chose to close off the threat instead of remaining at the door was enough to conclude from.

Biting his lip as the voices rose and fell in a short amount of time, he was already trying to strain his ears to figure out what was going on. But it wasn't the lack of results that made him back down fast, knowing being nosy about something that wasn't his business was. He shouldn't dabble with the lives of others, there was no reason he should be a part of something that wasn't associated with him, but the fact that he wasn't involved in the first place made his point.

Like he had mentioned... Weeks ago? What he got on the case for with that izakaya owner he forgot the name of... you should mind yourself and not dig into the personal lives of people. It was private, it was their right to deal with it, so why the hell do you think it's something you naturally have the right to claim you should know, to be in the situation they were in? It was downright insulting and a deliberate invasion of their privacy! Anyone with common sense would know better than to break the precious shield the person was protecting it with.

The Harrier blinked for a moment, not knowing when his eyes may have closed. However, he didn't have time to concentrate on that further, as he watched Jimmy appear in his peripheral again.

But the moment the other male sat down with a slump of his body, the Harrier bit his lip at how downcast Jimmy looked. For a few seconds, the Harrier felt the need to ask if Jimmy was doing okay, but he hesitated, knowing from his mental rant that he knew better than to do the thing he despised. Although, that didn't stop him from feeling guilty over his indecisiveness of what he could do to brighten the mood of the Support. But once again, he reminded himself that it would only make it clear the Harrier knew that conversation, thus something, bothered Jimmy.

Yet, in the corners of his mind, the Harrier couldn't help but wonder if it had something to do with him.

He blinked again, frowning to himself just as Jimmy started to mumble, "Sorry about that, bro." Turning his attention back to the Support, the Harrier couldn't help but frown deeper when Jimmy chuckled, but it sounded more like an uneasy titter, "My mates usually crash here, but I don't want 'em to find out you're layin' low at the same place."

Ah... crud. He'd forgotten about the fact that Jimmy didn't just see him and Andy; the New Zealander had other friends he surrounded himself with. Yet the Harrier couldn't help but feel bad after a few more seconds.

"Because of the Barracks' male quarters' lockdown?" queried the Harrier remorsefully, tipping his chin to his chest with a sad sigh. If Jimmy was warding off his friends from staying here because the Harrier was here, then the Harrier was practically more of a hypocrite than the vultures gave him credit for. Not only did he deny them shelter in their time of need, even if he wasn't conscious for it, he was the sole reason that caused the fuckover. And if he was the sole reason that was inhibiting that, that also meant he was forcing Jimmy into becoming a babysitter instead of being a shopkeeper-

Oh god... Jimmy probably hadn't been working because of him!

Jimmy's steady voice drew him back. "Isn't the first time I've kept 'em out." The copper haired Reaper started to lean back, the dove-grey sofa whining weakly upon Jimmy nestling into it. It was a few moments later that Jimmy sighed as the Harrier blinked back in disbelief, "Thought it wouldn't be a mare to play it off that it's normal, but imaginin' 'em burstin' into my room to see you…" He shrugged into the sofa. "Makes it a mare when 'ey've been visitin' me heaps lately."

The Harrier swallowed before mumbling uneasily, "You don't think they can keep a secret?" When the Support didn't respond right away, the Harrier felt unnerved at the absence of certainty as he eventually grimaced. "What? You think they'll just turn tail and go straight to the Posh Bastard like the other vultures would?"

"Nah, it's not like that-" Jimmy then protested as his voice was raising. However, his tone didn't match anything reassuring or convincing enough to dispel the Harrier's accusation.

"Even with them knowing about what we failed to accomplish?" the Harrier stressed before inhaling shallowly. He shifted uneasily as he lost his grimace and grew quieter. "Even with them knowing about what we failed to accomplish..."

There was an immediate beat of silence when he said that.

Jimmy readjusted himself and appeared to stare right at the Harrier, who merely closed his eyes in doleful resignation over this. Bad move; that was the last thing he wanted to bring up, and now-

"As soon as…" The Harrier barely paid mind to the other male, other than letting Jimmy's voice invade his negative thoughts. "As soon as we heard it wasn't goin' to happen…" Jimmy paused before he sighed sadly, "I couldn't believe any ow of it- that it wasn't approved-"

Merely inhaling quietly again, the Harrier breathed dismally, "Me neither."

Jimmy seemed reluctant before the Harrier felt him nod. "But, my mates… 'ey let it go just like that. So, I just- I'm havin' a mare of a time of doin' the same." His pause couldn't have been more awkward. "...You understand me, eh?"

"Yeah," mumbled the Harrier with a weak, shallow smile, feeling it quiver as it wasn't a pleasant one. He swallowed hard before his voice cracked. "C-Completely." Opening his eyes, the Harrier couldn't help but bite his lower lip as he murmured out pathetically, "S-So it really was silly... to think we could have c-convinced them that Recruitment was the right move- t-to handle the wrongdoers…"

"To be straight-up with you, bro," said Jimmy suddenly before hesitating, soon propping his forearms on his legs as he leaned closer to the Harrier. "I thought it was important enough to talk about. Seein' as we have a way to do it, and crime is a problem."

"But still, we just…" The Harrier's eyelids lowered to be at half-mast, letting his gaze linger on the cushion then Jimmy. He felt his body go tense as he breathed out weakly, "We did everything correctly... r-right?" Upon Jimmy's immediate nod, the Harrier couldn't help but slump entirely against the back cushions of the sofa he was on, sighing with resignation, "Th-Then I suppose that's that."

"Annee said somethin' about the Conductor messin' with you…" supplied Jimmy, as if that was an afterthought of his. "But that's just what she said, since only you and her know what happened."

For a brief second, the Harrier's throat felt dry as his vision shook.

"Why shaourld eit maattaarr whaatt waas saaid!? Eit waas burlsheitt! Yaa said the Caompaoserr waourld aahcephtt this! Haow caourld the Caompaoserr bee rleal!? Yaa keep terling meh the Caompaoserr eis reaarl, bautt haow caan thaatt bee tlue!? Yaaw'rre taarlking naosense!"

The Harrier narrowed his eyes after blinking them hard, feeling them begin to burn as he shook his head. "...She's wrong."

When Jimmy's eyes settled on him for quite some time, the black-hooded Reaper scoffed bitterly, "It's true, that we were the only ones who received and read the response for the legalization… However-" Pursing his lips, the Harrier grumbled as his face contorted, "I suppose she couldn't accept that the Composer Himself rejected Recruitment."

"...Composer?" echoed Jimmy softly, in a tone that suggested he was testing out the word. He blinked thoughtfully after a few seconds. "So that's who you were writin' to..."

The Harrier cleared his throat. "Yes." He nodded stiffly. "We read the response, and Andy blew up at me that the Composer wasn't real."

"I mean, I only heard rumours about it myself..." Blinking in acknowledgement of that, the Harrier listened on. "But is it actually true?"

"Of course it is," said the Harrier as firmly as he could. He tried to ignore the tickle at the back of his throat as he explained, "The Conductor reports to the Composer. And, as we may all know, a conductor directs how a composer's music comes out, even if it's off base."

"Ah, and that's where the name's from." Jimmy sounded awfully impressed by that. "Mean as."

"Heh." Feeling his lips curl upward by their own volition, the Harrier couldn't help but feel a warmth readily swell into his chest. But then, just as quickly as it arrived, it evaporated.

The Harrier stared at the burgundy cushion, letting his lips part as the corners of them fell. "Bypassing the obvious obstacle should have given us what we vied for… and yet-" He blinked tears away. "A-And yet it's… o-over."

Jimmy gave a thoughtful hum for a while. "Well, what was said then?" he eventually asked curiously.

The Harrier's mind immediately whirled to the memory, as painful as it was to recite the words in his head before giving up in the middle of the recall. He gave a choked sob, shaking his head as he drew up a trembling hand, intent on pressing it against his head as if that would curb the hurt he felt in his heart when it wasn't even a headache…

His eyes widened when he moved his arm again, glancing at it only to blankly stare at the empty air. 'What the...?'

Where was his arm?

A half-cry of agony ripped from his voice as he abruptly curled inwards to his stomach, in spite of how its origins came from his right flank again. The results of such a reaction came when Jimmy was already kneeling at his side, thrusting a can towards the pained, gasping Reaper. Even when his head was tucked into his chest, the Harrier's vision was bleary and splashed with fuzziness as he felt his eyes loll involuntarily…

The flash of light… the flash of light that came when he heard the Conductor shout out his attack…

"DaYBReaK!"

It was there.

Chomping down on his lower lip hard, ignoring the possible repercussions he sure was going to regret later, he let out another scream but it was muffled incredibly by his clamped mouth. 'Wh-Why…' He clenched his eyes closed as his head suddenly spun. 'Wh-Why is this- Wh-Why do-'

"I-I still feel it…" he heard himself gasp out in a babble, as he unlocked his teeth from tearing into the flesh of his lip to speak. He wasn't sure why he was voicing his thoughts aloud, but he felt his eyes drain as hot liquid cascaded down his cheeks, almost on command when he sobbed out raggedly, "I-I still feel it, Jimmy- Why do I still feel it!?"

"Calm down- Just focus on me," said Jimmy in a firm yet concerned voice. "Maybe Cure Drink can stop it?"

"B-But why-" He stopped to moan when a pulsation rippled crudely through his side again. He felt an odd sense of disassociation from his missing limb, seemingly still moving in spite of how it wasn't there as it frantically thrashed aloftly.

"Bugger all- He struck you ten Days ago, so what's this crap about!?" yelled Jimmy in frustration.

The Harrier's gaze flew open in appall. "Ten DAYS!?"

Jimmy hissed in a breath before he hastily explained, "Yeah, ten Days- so it shouldn't be possible that you're still feelin' his attack-" He huffed in another breath before he shook his head. "Reckon it's an after-effect of some kind… But I mean, he is the Conductor, so that must be it- that he's powerful to the Days to have an attack of that calibre!"

"F-Fucking shit!" spat the Harrier as the next pulsation made him grit his teeth, to the point he knew any more pressure would start to break his teeth. "A-Always the bastard- al-always the Posh Bastard-!"

"You could wait it out if we don't have other options for this," the New Zealander came to say before adding, "Or it's a trashy case of phantom pain."

"Ph-Phantom pain…?" the Harrier gritted out harshly, narrowing his eyes as he growled out, "Fuck him… maybe my hand has always been gone after his Dawnbreak fuckery!"

"...I-It's still there, bro," Jimmy said hesitantly after a few seconds. "Arm and all."

"Wh-What…!?" The Harrier tried twisting his head out from his excruciating position, only for his expression to contort at the resistance he felt. "But I-I can't feel it-"

And yet, despite the Harrier's certainty… the arm was there.

As if that was the solution to the problem, the pain vanished abruptly, leaving the Harrier panting in his dismay the longer he stared at his arm. For a long while, it was all he did, stare at it as he reluctantly tried curling and uncurling his fingers, watching them move shakily as he drew in shuddery breaths.

When he turned his head out from his curled-up position, to take in how Jimmy was gazing at him in bewilderment and bated uneasiness while still holding the can out for him, the Harrier finally exhaled out in relief. His body went slack. 'I-It's over…' The Harrier looked at his arm again then shook his head. "It's over."

For a few seconds, Jimmy remained silent before he soon started to pull himself up to his feet. "Not even, ow, you looked heaps crook and was about to chunder."

The Harrier merely laid his head against the arm of the sofa again. "It just… vanished," he whispered in near disbelief.

"Hmm…" The copper haired Reaper soon was gazing down at the Harrier with a frown, tapping the can idly as he mused, "If… if you say so, bro. But to be straight-up, I think it's not even." His eyes flashed with concern. "You were in heaps of pain."

Grimacing slightly, the Harrier closed his eyes as he sighed again. 'Maybe the Posh Bastard wants it that way.'

To be frank, he was beyond tired of having to deal with the ramifications of the encounters he kept having with the Posh Bastard. Yet, in his mind, he felt as if his declaration of never wanting to see the man again fell on deaf ears. And here he thought he may have gotten the moot point across…

As Jimmy placed down the Cure Drink by the leg of the sofa nearest to the Harrier's head, the Harrier couldn't help but think that perhaps… perhaps the man must have wanted the Harrier to have a despicable reminder that there was no escaping the Posh Bastard's torment… that the Harrier was meant to suffer… Or was this a half-baked attempt at ensuring that the Harrier had to eventually forfeit on his own words and return to the Shibuya River because of the pain beset upon him…? That is, if the pain was going to be reversible in the end.

Either way… this had to have been a deliberate curse the Posh Bastard concocted for him…

The Harrier blinked slowly, aware of how Jimmy appeared to be concerned as he stared from the dove-grey sofa. ...When did Jimmy sit down? Or, if he were to be more specific, how long had Jimmy been sitting there? The Harrier felt as if his grasp on his surroundings were looser than usual, as he couldn't separate what was going on around him as easily as he usually did…

Groaning softly, the Harrier soon breathed out tentatively, "...Sorry."

"Nah, it's all good, bro," said Jimmy as he shook his head. He leaned back against the back-cushion before he added mildly, "If you're knackered, just rest. I won't be offended."

That almost brought a heavy painfulness into the pit of the Harrier's stomach as an uncomfortableness settled in him again. "I-I suppose you're right, but-" he began hurriedly then frowned deeply when Jimmy gave another shake of his head.

"You've buggered yourself with all that you've done, bro," said Jimmy firmly, his grey eyes appearing steady and he appeared collected. "You're not a piker, I've seen you work harder than any bloke I know... I'm straight-up when I say you deserve goin' bush."

Even when he tried to pin down the meanings of the new terms he was hearing, he shifted uneasily on the sofa. Resting or taking a break was the equivalent of doing nothing, achieving nothing… It was the epitome of what he knew wasn't possible for him to do. While, yes, he was gathering the suspicion he was exhausted from the episode he survived, a part of him vehemently refused to resign himself to slumber.

He's done enough sleeping, before the Yellow Noise intrusion and before his apparent hibernation at Jimmy's home. He just couldn't bear the thought of passing out more and letting the Days slide out of his awareness when he's done nothing but do nothing!

The Harrier wasn't sure if Jimmy took his silence as agreement or acceptance, or that the Harrier was napping, but the New Zealander was already getting up and walking back to his work mat and clay. The Harrier simply watched Jimmy pull his mucky, inside-out Support hoodie back on as Jimmy's wings manifested into view again, biting his lip lightly as he became more aware of how heavy his body felt as he half-closed his eyes.

Being told to rest… Being told to take it easy… Being told to take a break... Being struck down after punching and yelling his heart out at the Sadist about the Harrier's insecurities… in public… by the Posh Bastard himself… Being put on stand-by… punished by the Posh Bastard when the Harrier lost control over his emotions from being forced to absorb innocent Souls' Points… Being lectured, Day after Day, about how his beliefs for Recruitment were unacceptable… Being denied the legalization of Recruitment by the Composer… Being subjected to whatever Sadist Saiyama was subjecting him to with the Yellow Noises' leftover Imprints… forced into a corner by Sadist Saiyama into almost accepting the fact that everything was fucking going wrong for the Harrier… appearing fucking pathetic in front of that Old Man-

The Harrier clenched his eyes close, knowing he probably couldn't get off the sofa even if he tried. He didn't even need the Sadist to see this, the man probably was happy at the thought of the Harrier being disadvanged like this because the Old Man probably knew the Harrier wouldn't walk off their battle so easily. The Harrier hated how he was having a hard time controlling his own breathing as flashes of the Sadist's murky gaze materialized out of nowhere to spite him-

'Dammit!' Why couldn't the Sadist stop tormenting him when they weren't even in the same room!?

Quickly opening his eyes, letting them settle shakily on Jimmy, he tried pushing the image out of his head as he observed Jimmy work with a deeper frown.

---

It took getting used to living in Jimmy's home (or grannyflat as the New Zealander seemed to call it). In fact, the Harrier felt he may as well count himself as Jimmy's roommate now from how Jimmy had already silently accepted the Harrier's lingering presence as normal in his home.

However, the Harrier found it wasn't that easy to relax.

In the five Days that flew, the Harrier early on found that he was generally exhausted. It made him question how long it may take until he felt normal again and it stuck with him as he spent his time struggling to walk back and forth between the living room, to curl up on the sofa, and Jimmy's bedroom, where he always lay in ponder and slept on the bed. He even found himself dozing at the oddest of times, in the occasions where he wasn't chatting about things with Jimmy, watching the New Zealander work on various art styles for his shop, or whenever the Support took time to explain and teach the Harrier the phrases from his country of origin.

Even with the fact that the Harrier was free from his duties, even if it was because he was in hiding, and was away from anything that could vex him... he couldn't help but feel dissatisfaction with himself. If he were to be frank, maybe he was lethargic. He just couldn't tell what he was feeling currently other than the decline of his energy, feeling as though he couldn't really do anything. It was akin to being forced to stay in the Barracks but different. Unlike that time, even though the Harrier had the liberty to do anything he desired, he just couldn't because moving parts of his body quickly drained on him, leaving him to flail wherever he currently was. What he did realize was that he was starting to feel slivers of annoyance whenever Jimmy suggested for the Harrier to take naps, even though the requests were purely benign and shouldn't be causing him unrest.

One Day, after waking up groggy, after struggling to go back to sleep from another nightmare that night, he merely groaned out noncommittally before dragging himself out of the bed he was being loaned. He felt another slab of guilt over the affair, even though Jimmy kept assuring him the Harrier should take it because of his recovery. He even felt as if he was invading the home he was occupying by the action alone and somehow it translated into making the comfortable surface feel downright grating, like nails were nipping in and going through the skin under his hoodie for the last three Days...

And during those said Days, he'd been constantly fighting with himself over when he should try to persuade Jimmy into the idea of swapping back with him. But every time he tried to, something inside him kept thinking it wasn't the right time whenever Jimmy kindly regarded him.

Thus today, the Harrier summoned every bit of willpower he had inside himself and resolved to sort out the issue once and for all.

Once he picked his way towards the living room, the Harrier could only jolt in surprise mid-step the moment he realized Jimmy was loading items into a crate with another Support Reaper… He could feel his body freeze, trying to snap himself out of the abrupt stupor in an attempt to go backwards carefully, straining his ears as he deliberately tried to return to the room unnoticed.

While he blamed his exhaustion for his watered down senses, he couldn't help but feel his chest start to tighten as his breathing came out faster in rasps, barely audible. But he couldn't trust that they couldn't somehow hear him despite how meticulous he was being. That thought almost made him put his next foot down hard, yet he managed to place it gingerly before shuffling almost beside the door. He cursed how he felt the need to close it when he left the room; it made it all the more challenging to go undetected. Why did he think that? Well, if the first visit to his previous home since he died taught him anything, it convinced him his stealth had areas where it was lacking.

Just as he was trying to figure out how to make the least noise with reopening it, he tensed at the sound of movement from the living room. Despite his efforts to maintain his composure, his mind started to race as panic shot through him, nervous to even take a glance to see if they noticed him yet…

He was in Jimmy's bed again, blinking bemusedly as he yawned, smacking his lips before he mused on the fact that was a stranger dream than he's usually had. It was oddly realistic, which he found to be almost jabbing his nerves for some reason, feeling as if it shouldn't have been a dream from how real it felt… But he digressed; it wouldn't do him good if he mulled over the finer details.

Slowly pulling the blanket off, he soon settled his feet carefully on the carpet, waiting a few moments until he pushed himself up. The Harrier braced himself for the spinning of the room… when he blinked in surprise at how nothing was swimming in front of him. He smiled at that; maybe he was finally on the climb for recovering readily. The Harrier then started for the door, pausing to listen to see if Jimmy had any visitors like he had in the dream, then turned the doorknob.

He got to the end of the hallway in no more than a minute, taking in the frequent shuffle of Jimmy's feet as he stood in the kitchen while angled towards the living room from the counter in the middle of the kitchen. It was where he was scratching a pencil across a sheet of paper from left-to-right, deep in concentration on the writing from the looks of it.

Lowering his gaze as he fixed his hood awkwardly, he soon murmured softly as his eyes flickered back up to Jimmy, "Hey."

The New Zealander's pencil paused. "Howzit, bro." His head rose to look at the Harrier with a nervous frown before his face quickly became curious. "Sleep well?"

All the Harrier did was shift on the spot before he replied quietly, "Kind of..." At Jimmy's eyebrow raise, the Harrier put in with a shrug, "It's nothing to worry about, though. I'll just forget about the details in five-to-ten minutes."

"You sure, bro?" asked Jimmy tentatively.

"Scientifically, dreams have been said to disappear from our awareness after that allotted time, you see." The Harrier crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, dipping his head as he sighed coolly, "Or at least... that's what I know."

"Mmm." Jimmy gave a nod before he put the pencil down. He then stared at the Harrier directly. "Say, bro… I just wanted to let you know that I may be busy for the next while."

"Hmm?" The Harrier blinked at that, tilting his head when his chin rose to normal level as he studied the other Reaper. The Support appeared to be nervous for some reason, yet the Harrier could only surmise the New Zealander was concerned with the idea of leaving him be. Deciding to go along with that deduction, the Harrier frowned as he spoke up, "You're going out?"

"Not far," returned Jimmy with a bashful, half-baked smile. He now looked at the Harrier directly before he went on uneasily, "Just poppin' down to my shop…" He turned his head away and frowned deeply. "Might check on you after a few hours at most, but I-"

The Harrier shifted a little before he asked curiously, "Is… would it be a problem if I came too?" Jimmy blinked in surprise at that, but the Harrier merely went on quietly, "I mean, I get that I should hang low and all… and I can't describe it…" He lowered his gaze momentarily before he breathed as confidently as he could while folding his hands together, "But I just… can't stay here forever. I need to breathe- only for a short while."

While biting his lip nervously, Jimmy merely stared at him for a long time, his gaze half-closing as he refused to look at the Harrier. A burst of panic came to the Harrier and he took a step forward as he added anxiously, "I mean no offence to you- it's just that I feel a change of scenery may help make me feel less like... " He swallowed thickly before continuing, "Like… I can't do anything! If all I do is pace around any longer, I think I'll lose it."

The New Zealander's visible eyebrow furrowed. "Someone might look-see you."

"I know, I know-" The Harrier hung his head promptly, half-closing his eyes as he frowned upsetly. "But I just can't… stay here. If I stay here, I'm doing nothing. Even if I don't do anything in your shop, at least being there would give me peace of mind."

"Bro…" The copper haired Reaper inhaled deeply, exhaling long while swerving to face the Harrier again with a look of apprehension as he spoke, "I don't know what will happen if you stop goin' bush, but you can't let yourself forget the Conductor is searchin' for you. If you stuff up… there's no plaster to fix it."

"Jimmy," started the Harrier again as he sighed dismally. "I know it's a big risk, but I would like to at least be somewhere else for a few hours. Be it your shop, be it your stairway…" He closed his eyes, pinching his lips and felt the edges of his teeth brush against his lower one. "I just need a few hours, okay?"

He hated how he was likely causing a problem for Jimmy, but he couldn't help it. Just the idea of leaving was appealing the moment it came into the picture; an escape that could possibly be in his reach. While he couldn't pin down his feelings over how he felt about staying indoors for any longer, he couldn't deny he was feeling like he was a total shit for hounding on Jimmy like this. It bothered him immediately that he did so without thinking, when all that Jimmy had done for him was supply him refuge when the Harrier wouldn't likely find it anywhere else with the hunt of him being on the mind of any other Reaper…

"I'll see you right."

He straightaway snapped his attention to Jimmy again, who gave a nod before his grey eyes settled into steadiness. "Gizza a minute so it's all good."

The Harrier blinked while he raised his eyebrows in perplexion. "R-Really?"

"Well, your mind's made up, so how can I change it?" asked Jimmy mildly with a chuckle, shaking his head as he slipped around the counter and started for the Harrier's direction.

"But you were just telling me a minute ago why I shouldn't," protested the Harrier in confusion as the Support soon stood in front of him.

The New Zealander rubbed the back of his neck at that. "Yeah... I was mostly worried about the chance of a gawk."

"Then…" The black-hooded Reaper perked up a little at the implication. "Then it's a definite yes?" As soon as Jimmy nodded, the Harrier gave an annoyed huff, "Then why did you have me plead for what I wanted?"

"Look, bro, I just wanted to make sure we're both on the same page." The copper haired Reaper lowered his arm as he released a sigh, his stance nearly free from the unease he showed on his person previously. "You're bein' hunted down, so we gotta make sure you're all good before we go out."

The Harrier deflated at that. "What…? So you're now saying I'm not ready because of my recovery?"

"You seem much better than yesterday," Jimmy said as he blinked briefly in thought. "You've been standin' without droppin' for the last few minutes, so I reckon that you're all good for goin' out today. But it's not just about if you're ready, it's like… it's like you never asked, so I thought you weren't opposed to crashin' inside." He gave a short chuckle before he went on, "But now's the best rather than earlier because I had to prepare stuff for you."

Ignoring his misgivings on the matter, the Harrier decided to push into the new topic. "Prepare stuff?" he inquired pointedly, unfolding his arms as he grimaced at that. "Prepare for what?"

The moment the last question left his lips, Jimmy gave a simple nod before the Harrier was ushered quickly into Jimmy's room. "You from 'em."

---

It was half an hour later when the Harrier followed Jimmy outside, simply picking at the red fabric hugging his frame now. "I can't believe he bought that."

"Mmhmm." Jimmy was busy with his keys, but his hum indicated that he wasn't going to pretend the Harrier hadn't spoken. "'Tis was a piece of piss when you make it genuine, bro."

Thinking on that slew of logic for a bit, the Harrier merely kept his voice low as he chuckled, "If there's one thing for certain, the Posh Bastard hates letting things fly when he can stick his nose into it just as easily."

The New Zealander paused the moment he put the key in the doorknob slot before nodding. "Never would have thought he'd fork over two." He twisted the key. "Now I have my paintin' gear and backup pullover to boot."

"What baffles me," said the Harrier in a jovial scoff of laughter, waiting for Jimmy to open the door before following the Support inside to finish, "is why he never thought to ask why you needed two different sizes."

From what Jimmy had explained to the Harrier minutes ago was that the New Zealander needed new Reaper upper-garments because of the fact that he 'accidentally' ruined his old one. Now while the Harrier knew it was a poor excuse at best, that is, if the Harrier was the one to relay the lie, it worked excellently on the Posh Bastard enough with Jimmy for the Posh Bastard to not pay attention to the finer details. The Harrier couldn't say it enough that the Posh Bastard wasn't the brightest tool in the shed, yet now he had all the firepower to give out the evidence he needed to back up his claims.

However, as he fell beside Jimmy inside the shop, he couldn't help but jut out his foot and duck his head to look at the black runners he was now sporting alongside the Support uniform. "I'm less bothered by that and more on how you knew my shoe size, though."

They were merely Natural Puppy's trademark: Scampers, shoes that any teenagers of the age spectrum could bear with if they weren't ones to complain or worry about how the pair would go with their ensemble. The Harrier didn't really care he was wearing them, to be frank, yet he kind of did feel a slab of grief over not proudly blazing through the streets with his Tigres.

But nonetheless... if you didn't want to be caught by a man you didn't want to see anymore, you had to make your worthy sacrifices.

"Not a mare to find the size if you were wearin' a pair that had 'em," supplied Jimmy with a shrug as he was grabbing a beige apron from a hanger that was beside the door. He slipped his head through, letting his hood lower to free his bedridden copper shock of locks as he added, "I only had so much money, so you better not complain about the type I got you."

"Oh no, this is merely a temporary setup, so I won't bore you about the specifics." The Harrier simply stuffed his hands into his red hoodie's front pocket, bouncing on the tips of his toes of his new shoes for a few seconds before stopping. "Even if the creepier aspects of this are still on my mind."

"Heh." Jimmy padded over to a neatly set up pile of crates and pulled the highest box to his chest. He hugged it in his arms as he turned back with an amused smile. "Enough about that, bro. How about you grab a seat and I'll just start settin' up my shop."

For a brief second, the Harrier blinked as he took into account the number of and the size of the crates behind Jimmy and the number of shelves in their vicinity. Coupled with the fact that Jimmy was intending to put away all his wares before opening... the Harrier couldn't help but shake his head.

"It'll be faster if I didn't spectate a show," he breathed in response, causing Jimmy to blink in shock. The Harrier merely offered his arms out. "Let me lend you a hand."

Jimmy soon frowned nervously between the contents of his crate and the Harrier. "You don't have to, bro."

The black-hooded Reaper shrugged. "You're right, I don't." He shook his arms once. "I want to."

Jimmy hesitated for a while until the crate was finally safe in the Harrier's hands. "Just... just be careful with them."

The Harrier gave a nod at that. He caught a glimpse of newspaper-wrapped items in the crate he was carrying as he slowly began walking over to a nearby shelf against a wall.

With one glance, he noticed there were more light-coloured shelves set up against the walls and that the counter space was a mere wooden desk with two wooden stools put behind it. The empty walls of the counter area gave the Harrier the guess that Jimmy's kitchen was above them, which made sense because the layout of the floor appeared to be flipped the other way, except it felt a little more spacious than the upper counterpart. Considering that the stairs outside led them down to the door to the right of the apartment entrance, instead of to the left, it seemed correct to believe the two apartments were exact copies.

Which meant that it lent itself to differences in this shop environment.

Unlike Jimmy's apartment, there was a door that looked like it would lead into another room next to the left of the counter area (that is, your left when you operated your work behind it), but the Harrier guessed Jimmy must have had it put in if it was another hallway like Jimmy's home had. He could only guess the other rooms were converted into storage rooms, as well as the fact that the kitchen counters and kitchen appliances were absent, so the Harrier also believed Jimmy must have sold them after removing them for the counter space and additional funds. Not to mention, they were standing on hardwood flooring, so that must have been where some of the funds went.

But that begged the question… why did those crates in front of them match the ones from his dream? And why did Jimmy leave his crates out in the open where they could be easily stolen by robbers?

Deciding to voice that thought, the Harrier turned around to do so. "Not worried about petty thieves?"

"Not even." Jimmy was starting to set down clay figurines of some kind on a self when the Harrier asked that, not turning to face the Harrier as he explained, "I have no idea what happened this mornin', but I just felt it wasn't goin' to be an issue if I didn't bother to store 'em away."

"From what I've seen, you handcraft them," countered the Harrier in wary rebuttal, which made Jimmy pause in placing down another ware. "So why aren't you worried about them being stolen?"

For a few seconds, Jimmy didn't respond until he sighed, "To be straight-up, I think I must have passed out after droppin' off the crates here before poppin' back up." When the Harrier was about to voice his opinion about how one shouldn't be so lax about losing consciousness, Jimmy suddenly waved a hand as he put in with a laugh, "'Twas all good, bro, I had Michito with me the whole time."

The Harrier pursed his lips and swallowed before speaking sternly, "I don't see what's so funny about syncopating." That being him averse to it himself, but considering this was Jimmy... the Harrier couldn't find it in himself to be jokey about the situation.

Jimmy shook his head. "I've just been so knackered lately... guess I got what was comin' to me." His tone didn't connect with his face too well, which was almost serenely blank as if he was recounting a mere story, not the passage of having lost too much sleep. The Harrier had a suspicion the Support was having a loopy moment. "Glad Michito was there."

While the Harrier furrowed his eyebrows at that, he crouched to put the crate down before carefully removing the newspaper. 'Odd… why not be more wary when it's your business?'

Even though the Harrier had no inkling of who this 'Michito' person was- who knows, maybe it was one of Jimmy's friends- the Harrier felt he couldn't accept how casual Jimmy was being. Sure, the Harrier could attest to being on the receiving end of syncopation multiple times as of late, but the thought that Jimmy didn't see the issue over passing out had quickly gotten on his nerves. He shouldn't be annoyed by this, he told himself, yet a part of him stubbornly kept a stern hold over his emotions.

The Harrier was only able to push past the anger he had when he reminded himself that he was holding on to a likely fragile ware. He couldn't let himself get emotional and damage something Jimmy spent hours on.

"And... you were with this 'Michito' the whole time?" asked the Harrier cautiously. He loosened his grasp as to not break the newspapered item, but not enough to drop it. "Until you had come back up?"

"That's right."

The Harrier didn't say anything to that until he sighed wearily, as he found he didn't have anything he could use to strengthen his forming argument, "Alright, I'll let you off the hook this time." Jimmy gave a chuckle from where he was and the crinkles of newspaper told him he should get back to work himself.

He soon dropped the now heavily wrinkled newspaper to unveil an odd sort of clay bird in his hand, quirking his head around curtly until he spotted where the exact same type of art was on the shelves. The Harrier right away migrated over to gently place the bird next to its neighbour at the end of the shelf. He kind of adjusted it so the bird was regarding the other bird before his lips quirked up as warmth bloomed in his chest. 'Stick with your friend, little birdie, your fellow feathered brothers and sisters will soon join you.'

To him, as he began unloading the other wares with Jimmy, it brought back memories of when he worked for the Gotorutsus. Sure, the Harrier mostly spent his time unloading shipments of perishable goods, but it was akin to what he was going through now: Making sure the shop was set up so that the owner wouldn't have to be divided between making sure their shelves were stocked while having to balance it with the exchange of pleasantries with their customers. Sometimes the Harrier had rare moments of having to take over for the elderly couple, when he implored the two of them to go out to have their lunch or to take a nice stroll. He just wanted to let them spend more time with each other without being separated for too long while he took over during that time. He hoped it had been a nice enough gesture, as he handled the customers without much trouble to give them that grace period. But even if there was trouble, he felt it was worth it as he was happy to let the two of them be happy during their reprieve from work.

The Harrier soon found that he had nothing more to unload upon swinging back for another crate. He looked up from the floor only to face Jimmy, who was openly staring at him with surprised grey pools. "Blow me down… You're almost like a natural, bro."

At that, the Harrier merely dipped his head and touched the hooded back of his neck. "It's not the first time I've done this."

"Eh?" Jimmy blinked twice then raised an eyebrow. "Since when?"

Chuckling for a moment, the Harrier soon replied modestly, "...Worked at a bodega. I mostly was the heavy-lifter for the couple that owned the place, you see." A few seconds later, he added sheepishly with a mumble, "I-I mean, they called it bodega, even though it was a konbini that offered a lot of fresh produce. Heh." He smiled slightly afterward.

"No kidding?" The Harrier nodded deftly then watched Jimmy grin. "Well then, makes me jealous I hadn't asked you sooner to lend me a hand."

"Oh please, it's nothing special," the Harrier breathed quietly as his head rose up again. He lowered his hand to clasp it with his other, shifting slightly before he added mildly, "It's second nature to me now, I guess."

"You're fast and efficient," said Jimmy incredulously as he shook his head. "Usually it takes me thirty minutes, but it just took you ten at most, bro."

The Harrier frowned at that. "Really?" He tilted his head a little as he furrowed his eyebrows. "I hadn't noticed."

As Jimmy continued to shake his head in disbelief for a while, the Harrier merely chose to start stacking the crates in pairs to busy himself in the meantime. And after Jimmy unlocked the door so the Harrier could put the crates away in one of the three rooms he was led to, feelings of nostalgia swarmed him again as he did so.

He usually didn't like sharing anything about himself that could spark recognition in the memories of Reapers or even for the Players… but the Harrier had a supposition that being in an environment so close to what he was used to working in did the trick to loosening his tongue. He hated it, of course, but at the same time too… he couldn't help but feel sad that he missed this mindless labour. Having to not think about anything when his life was full of stress was a blessing. Sure, he tried to separate his home life from his work life to the best of his ability since high school, but it fed more into the fact that it gave him reprieve from…

Clenching his hands on the current crate pair he was holding, the single thought he had blew away the tranquility he nearly managed to have.

Right away he walked straight to the shop area, closing the door behind him louder than he should have as he beelined for one of the stools behind the pseudo-counter. Jimmy gave him an once-over the moment the Harrier sat down, yet the Harrier pretended he was coolly getting used to the stool he was currently perched on. He watched Jimmy do various little checks around the shop before joining the Harrier after flipping a sign over that probably indicated his shop was ready for customers now.

Speaking of which… the Harrier couldn't help but mull over the name of the shop as he took note of how Jimmy was adjusting his apron again. The moment the Support placed down the change tray and calculator in front of him once he brought them out from the desk, he sat down on the other stool and nervously tapped his index fingers on the table once and awhile.

The Harrier couldn't help but frown slightly when he noticed this. "Are you okay?"

Jimmy merely nodded before he replied, "Service is always slow, but that's because the shop's open whenever it is."

"So you don't have regular shop hours then?" then asked the Harrier carefully, pursing his lips upon receiving another nod. "Then how are customers supposed to know when you're open if they have no idea when you'll be open?"

With a sigh, Jimmy lowered his gaze and sighed, "Wasn't like this before I pushed up daisies."

The Harrier quickly cross-checked the phrase with what he knew so far of Jimmy's phrases before speaking again, "Had the shop before then, right?"

"Nah, yeah." The copper haired Reaper closed his eyes with a brief grimace passing over his expression. He suddenly smiled tightly and hummed, "Had it pretty consistent until then. But it's a mare to do the same thin' when your Days are numbered now, eh?"

While the Harrier mentally took a step back from hearing that, the Harrier eyeballed the other Reaper mindfully as he frowned more. "So you're struggling."

Right away, the Support started, blinking open his dismayed gaze as he soon whipped his head to the Harrier. "Oh bugger, I-" He stopped, his mouth hanging open for a moment before he closed it sadly with a sigh and nod. He hung his head afterward. "Shame... didn't mean to brin' it up."

"I'm more sorry that you hadn't wanted to talk about it," stated the Harrier as he shook his head and let his elbows lean on his legs. He clasped his hands together and rested his chin on his intertwined fingers as he sighed, "It's not my business, so I'll drop it then…"

"Yeah nah-" Jimmy shot him a wide-eyed glance that the Harrier couldn't quite place the emotion of before he settled on 'surprise' for now. The lankier Reaper frowned hard as he spoke uneasily, "You just... caught me off guard, so I wasn't expectin' it."

The Harrier fixed him a steadfast look. "Jimmy… if you don't want to talk about it, you don't have to talk about it. I don't want to just press for information that you'd rather keep to yourself because I don't want to be the guy that's nosy. In fact, I hate it when people think they should know something that's private to someone else."

"But you were spot on…" Jimmy furrowed his eyebrows at that.

"I-I guess my deduction hit too close to home," the Harrier supplied bashfully and closed his eyes, exhaling out long before he merely angled his head down a little. As his lips fluttered against a finger or two, he pinched his lips as he mumbled, "I'm doing it again."

"Doin' what?"

The Harrier grimaced into his fingers. "Saying that I'm going to do one thing when I just…" Hesitating for a while, he soon finished lamely, "Can't seem to follow through with it." After a shorter pause, he sighed sadly, "Just like how I got you all excited for pursuing wrongdoers… only to fall flat on my face with a rejection letter from the head honcho Himself. It's like I'm thinking with my stomach, but instead of hunger gnawing at me..." He closed his eyes. "I'm just thinking as if I'm eating something bigger than I can even chew. ...If that makes any sense?"

Jimmy hummed during his response, "Hmm… not even." He shifted himself, probably to sit better, then went on with a smack of his lips halfway through, "You had heaps of cracker points, bro. I arrived... I reckon... near the end of your speech, and luckily some Reaper revised what you said. I thought it was sweet as and had no issues with joinin'."

After expelling more air from his lungs, the Harrier simply dropped his arms and let his head dangle. "It makes me wonder why you want to put up with me still."

Straightaway, the Harrier heard Jimmy scooch on his seat and was now facing the black-hooded Reaper. "Enough of that, bro… You're a ripper bloke." While the Harrier was instantly confused, wishing he wasn't because he didn't wanted to discourage Jimmy from using his diction, he felt Jimmy's gaze on him as the New Zealander spoke again firmly, "You have solid ideas that are worth listenin' to… you are a hard case with good humour… and I've enjoyed gettin' to know you."

"I hardly talk about myself," merely replied the Harrier with a twitch of his jaw. "So, if anything, you're the one I've been getting to know, Jimmy."

Jimmy went quiet for a few seconds then shook his head. "You're different than my mates. You and Annee are."

The Harrier blinked in bewilderment as he raised his head, turning it to Jimmy as he breathed out, "D-Different…?"

Instantly, the Support smiled with a small chuckle. "To be straight-up… I've mostly hun' with 'em because we knew each other as Players." The Harrier frowned deeply at that as he felt his eyes widen. "I call 'em my mates because 'ey're the only ones I knew when I got here, so I actually han' with 'em because 'ey're all that I had for mates back then."

"So wait," the Harrier interjected with surprise. "You're not friends?"

"I reckon we are, but lately with Haruo and Joben…" Jimmy shook his head after halting, his gaze slightly misting over before he sighed, "It's been rough lately."

"Do you… want to talk about it?" offered the Harrier carefully, hoping to test the waters so he wouldn't infringe on Jimmy's boundaries the best he could.

Jimmy gave him a long look, biting his lip in the midst of his grimace before sighing again, "Not happy with me. 'Ey're goin' nuts."

"Not happy with you? Err… and angry?" As Jimmy nodded, the Harrier gave a grimace and soon asked, "What's wrong?"

With an inhale, Jimmy started to explain, "Ever since I let you crash at my place, I've had worries that my mates would not take the news well."

The Harrier uneasily nodded as his chest tightened. "You've mentioned that."

Jimmy gave a grave nod. He soon frowned, or rather, scowled, when he continued irritably, "As much as I like helpin' 'em out, 'ey've just been anguses because I won't let 'em crash at my grannyflat." He sighed shortly after, "'Ey won't dob in you, but I can't help but wonder..." The Support shook his head; his expression looked stressed despite his now mild tone. "But it's all good, bro."

"I-I don't want to cause you any trouble if-" The Harrier's words died when Jimmy shook his head in frustration.

As grey eyes narrowed at him, Jimmy huffed, "You're all good, bro. Don't pack a sad." He leaned against the wall beside him with an annoyed expression forming as he sighed, "What's not all good is how he treats Reapers."

All the Harrier did was blink widely. "...The Posh Bastard?" The Harrier couldn't help but feel bemused at the sudden subject change, but judging by Jimmy's earlier comments, the Harrier yielded to the fact that maybe he was pressing too hard on Jimmy's limits.

He tried to compose himself as he watched Jimmy before he spoke with a grumble, "Yeah, we talked about that, didn't we?"

Jimmy gave a stiff nod. "To be straight-up, I never liked that stink fulla. The reason why was that ever since I popped here, I had to fight for not lettin' my shop go out of business or my home." He pursed his lips as he closed his eyes, his voice tight and his body tense. "Mana Saddleback… is my life. My home here… is my life. I can't go givin' it up because I wasn't given the Second Chance… so me and the Conductor have argued several, several, several times for me to not lose it because I would work for him now." He sighed, "Got here in the Underground two months ago, and still we're not meetin' each other's eyes about it."

Upon shaking his head, the Support frowned harder. "Couldn't bare the thought of leavin' my parents heartbroken, either… but lost on that one when I kept discoverin' he's been sendin' Reapers to intercept my letters. Now all that's doin' is makin' their son out to be an egg, because I can't tell 'em anythin'. I'm goin' to bust a gut to ensure he doesn't do anythin' else trashy to my life."

After hearing that, the Harrier couldn't help but scowl. "Guess that makes it two of us. Not to mention Andy."

"Annee mentioned he wants her to only speak Japanese and not English," brought up Jimmy crabbily in response.

The Harrier huffed as he glowered, "It's because he doesn't speak English." With a frustrated growl, he hissed, "It's like… I don't know… he thinks she should be able to speak Japanese and is choosing not to." From the way Jimmy's face lit up with anger, the Harrier couldn't be more sure that Jimmy was just as miffed about this as he was. "Until I gave her lessons, she couldn't say hello or even her own name. In fact, her name should have been the thing she could say in Japanese, from my understanding, but her parents didn't even reteach her Japanese before they arrived here."

Taking a pause, he inhaled to steady himself before he sighed harshly, "Oh no… I shouldn't have said that." He immediately slipped his hand past his hood to grip his nape, squeezing it as he exhaled shakily. He sighed in disappointment in a mumble, "No wonder people keep telling me I have no filter at times."

"Well, bro, it looks to me that the Conductor doesn't like foreigners if that's the case…" Jimmy was scowling back at the Harrier as his gaze darkened.

With a quick readjustment of his position on the stool, the Harrier merely scoffed, "That's the mildest way to put it." He rolled his eyes as he shook his head in frustration. "He's just the devil that makes us think we're getting something out of staying here for his pure enjoyment to watch us suffer."

Jimmy snickered at that before slapping his knee. "Hard out!" He formed a smile at some point in the middle of chortling and his gaze flickered with mirth briefly, while on the other hand, the Harrier stopped squeezing his nape and pulled his hand out from his hood as a heaviness settled in his chest. He lowered his head, frowning as he reflected on the fact that he wouldn't be in this position if the Posh Bastard hadn't-

A jingle from the door startled him. It caused him to stiffen in shock before it occurred to him Jimmy had a customer.

Unlike the Harrier, Jimmy dropped all signs of being angry and lit up with joy. He craned his neck while twisting on the seat to watch an elderly lady venture slowly into the shop. "Gidday, Mam."

Letting his thoughts drift as he spectated the interaction between Jimmy and the customer, he couldn't help but feel his own anger drain from him. All too quickly did he feel his expression go blank, when the thought came to him that he couldn't be more pathetic that he could get so worked up about hating the man yet he wanted the man to be the one to end his existence the most… He had the chance to fade away, and yet… someone went out of their way to dump him in an alleyway, far from the man to be free of Erasure.

Lowering his head, feeling his hair shift against his face… he couldn't help but hear his heart pump blood in his ears as his gaze shuddered.

...Why was it so easy to forget how much he wanted it to end there?

Blinking, he felt dazed, as it was almost like something was trying to go up his throat… He wished it was his own heart so he could stop feeling the torment he had because of that Posh Bastard. The pain had to go away somehow, right?

R-Right…?

...Why was it so easy to get distracted by everything else when he was so close?

Shedding a look to Jimmy, who was cheerfully chatting with a new customer, the Harrier absently watched in silence.

...Why was he… making things difficult for Jimmy?

A headache came to the Harrier and he closed his eyes with a groan. He placed a hand on the region the pang was coming from, holding his hand there as he watched his vision become blurry, watery… Without thinking he stood up, casting an apologetic look to Jimmy before quietly speaking as another customer left, "C-Could you give me a moment?"

Jimmy's eyebrows knitted. "What for…?"

Quickly surveying the rest of the shop, the Harrier was glad that it was currently deserted. He then grimaced before he answered with a lame smile, "Since I have this getup, is it alright if I just step out for one second for air?"

In response, Jimmy stared at him for a while before nodding slowly with a concerned frown. "If… if it's just for a second."

"Th-Thanks…" said the Harrier with a hiss through gritted teeth and immediately shuffled around the desk's corner.

He headed towards the door, twisting the doorknob to slide out quickly then took a moment to inhale before glancing around. Searching for what he came out here for to check didn't take long as he soon pinpointed the faded skull decal that looked sloppily slapped to Jimmy's door. He warily approached it, taking in another inhale before reaching out for it.

Tugging out the energy didn't take long; he watched as the decal grew paler and paler as the seconds went by, until nothing remained when he had all of the grimy-feeling essence in his hand. Without hesitation he crushed it and quickly started preparing a new one, soon transferring the fuzzy sensation from his palm to set down his own decal.

Managing a smile, he examined his work with a critical eye before swiftly catching the doorknob again. He reentered Jimmy's shop, soon releasing a sigh of relief when the headache left him. 'Hah! Take that, you yellow menaces…'

After reclaiming his seat to watch Jimmy work with his customers again, it was a few minutes later that the Harrier couldn't help but wonder why he wasn't feeling any better.

---

For the rest of the Day, the Harrier watched Jimmy interact with the few customers he received. Oftentimes he was chatting with the New Zealander after the exchanges, which filled in the gaps of time until Jimmy deemed it was time to close shop.

The Harrier had been, for the most part, quiet as Jimmy counted up his profit for the Day. He kicked his feet idly as he mulled over the fact that the Reaper Sigil decal hadn't worked for the shop other than placing them both at a lower Frequency, seeing as Jimmy's wings were still absent, yet intrusive thoughts had continued to plague the Harrier's mind. Sure, he felt less trapped than he was these past five Days, but at the same time too, it put into perspective that he was far from feeling better. The Harrier couldn't put his finger on what was stymieing him other than how screwed up it was that he was borrowing his existence in his mind. He shouldn't be existing still, the constant sharp aches that passed from time to time reminded him of that.

Blinking as that thought brought an unhappy frown to his face, he agreed that he shouldn't have survived a direct attack from the Posh Bastard. As much as he didn't want to admit it… the Posh Bastard was stronger than him. Even Sadist Saiyama was stronger than him, if the middling details of how each of the Harrier's attacks were pretty much moth tackles on the burly Reaper… That meant the Harrier was pretty much a fly compared to those two… as he gave it his all yet all it did was sap his energy. He would have thought the final Ignis Swarm ballistics would have done a number on the behemoth, but the older Harrier came out to walk it off with a broken arm.

A single, broken arm!

The conclusion he drew from analyzing his actions made him realize it was just a humiliating defeat; he should have definitely had Erasure handed to him but someone intervened. He didn't know who intervened, but it frustrated him that another party stepped in when they shouldn't have. Be it that he would have liked that to be a touching end to him… it would have been easier on him if he didn't come out of it than to be stuck thinking about every stupid piece and bit of the overall situation.

Bowing his head, he clenched his hands and closed his eyes. 'This is so stupid… that I was the wrong person given an out when it wasn't necessary for that shitshow…' He sighed under his breath and scoffed. 'I didn't even come out on top, it was just a pathetic playfight!'

Just as Jimmy returned the Yen he was counting to the tray and began writing down on a sheet he had pulled out and unfolded from his pants pocket, the Harrier sighed, "Jimmy, could you level with me?"

In response, the copper haired Reaper gaze shifted towards the Harrier. "Sure, what is it?"

For a few seconds, the Harrier felt his shoulders slump a bit before he spoke uneasily, "You saw me… fighting the Sadist, right?"

"Sadist?" questioned Jimmy back.

"You know, Sadist Saiyama?" the Harrier intoned as he began nibbling on his lower lip, briefly pressing his hands together as he tilted them up then downwards as he went on, "That army guy that's a literal giant?"

"Oh nah, yeah, the guy you were hidin' until the Conductor popped over," said Jimmy in confirmation. He blinked as he asked plainly, "What about him, bro?"

Hesitating momentarily, the Harrier inhaled to compose himself the best he could then breathed out quietly, "Do you think… I could have beat him? Or could have come close to beating him?"

"If you ask me, you were doing a sweet as job at hidin' him when I got there," said Jimmy with a shrug, which wasn't reassuring to the very least for the Harrier's thoughts. The New Zealander soon turned his head before adding on, "I couldn't quite understand what you were yellin' about, since I was quite a ways away, but recognized it was you so I gapped it to get Annee."

The Harrier frowned uncomfortably. "You didn't… hear what I told him?"

"Nah, not at all. Heaps of Reapers like me popped over when we heard a commotion from the Scramble Crossin', since it was to the Days loud and I felt it from right in this district." Jimmy closed his eyes. "At least, that's how far the radius was on my end."

The Harrier felt like he swallowed one of the cement shards from that very Day's 'commotion'. 'No wonder the Posh Bastard found out... If it was just one of my own attacks, I wouldn't be stuck under his radar now.'

"But I couldn't believe you managed to topple him down, bro," then said Jimmy with a blink, his gaze starting to emit awe as he murmured, "He was bigger than you, and you were throwin' swings without him gettin' back up! I heard other Reapers talkin', and apparently that Reaper just doesn't lose fights like that."

At that, the Harrier raised his head, feeling his gaze broaden in disbelief. "He doesn't lose fights like that…?"

Jimmy shook his head. "Most Reapers couldn't believe it because no one's seen him fight. 'Ey just never wanted to fight him, I think from what I heard, so it must've meant 'ey're scared of fightin' him."

The Harrier straightaway shook his head with a mumble, "Th-That couldn't be right…" He frowned deeply as he breathed out with a raise of his voice, "He egged me on… h-he kept trying to stop the fight, h-he-" Shaking his head wilder, he blurted out loudly, "The Sadist wasn't even-"

Trying to Erase the Harrier. He was playing around with the Harrier the whole time. Nothing could have given the Harrier the upper hand because the Sadist was simply waiting until the Harrier exhausted his energy from fighting a losing battle. The Harrier wasn't making any headway, he was a fraud that the public embraced as a noteworthy fool, who managed to knock over a foe that was pretending to not be his foe…

The Harrier released a ragged breath and cried out miserably, "I-I should have lost!"

As he whipped his head towards Jimmy, about to dismantle every part of the misunderstanding that the Support perceived, a jingle suddenly came from behind him. The Harrier froze, his breath hitching as he soon inhaled and exhaled shakily with a failed effort to shake off his rising anxiety in regards to the abrupt intrusion. He soon heeded the mustard hoodie and dark green cargo pants that the visiting Harrier Reaper wore and it took everything in himself to not flinch. 'Shit-'

Jimmy stood up as the Reaper treaded over and spun on the spot to face him once they stood nearby the desk, their hood shadowing their face as they readjusted their wine-coloured shoulder-strap bag...

Wine-coloured shoulder-strap bag!?

Eyes becoming saucers as he then took note of their ruddy-orange boots, he couldn't stop himself from throwing himself off of the stool and hustling around the desk before using the momentum to hurl himself right at the other Reaper. Before they could react, he latched his arms around them and grinned shamelessly as he cried out gleefully, "Andy!"

From how he disturbed her balance, he felt Andy stumble backwards as her hood was jostled off her head. Her amber-brown gaze were wide with shock before he stepped away while releasing her, breathing hard with amazement as she soon gasped out with disbelief, "M-Mah sawheett bumpkein…!?"

He nodded right away and breathed happily, "It's me…"

The dark dirty-blonde turned her head between him and Jimmy for a bit before she gave a whistle, "Gaoing faorl eincaogenitao? Naott surlplised."

While the Harrier nodded in response at that, not sure if he could summon words to express anything else for the moment, Jimmy merely watched on with a smile as he soon spoke up, "Gidday, Annee." His mouth switched into a frown when he asked worriedly, "Did anyone follow you?"

Andy spun around and put her index and thumb together, raising her other fingers to the Harrier's confusion. "Nobaodee." The Harrier could only wonder why she was asking about money as she placed a hand on her hip, shooting a sidelong glance to the Harrier briefly before regarding the New Zealander again when she lowered her hand. "Weith the Caounducttarr taaking sao lraong weith geitting plaotection baack aup ein the Baarlaacks, everleebaodee eis tlying ta buollee eaach aotherr einto geiving aup aour beds." She rolled her eyes with a groan, "Yaa gaott nao eidea haow maanee times aI haave ta shaake mah Psych ein theirr faaces ta reaave meh aahraone."

As Jimmy nodded sombrely at that, the Harrier kept concentrating on the female Reaper as he asked bemusedly, "It's been, what? Two Weeks since I've gone missing and the Posh Bastard hasn't done jackshit?"

Andy had turned her head back to him in the meantime of his speech, eyeing him with an odd look that made the Harrier confused about what her expression was trying to tell him. Her eyes did shine with blatant wariness, however, making the Harrier all but backpedal mentally when he sensed there was some kind of trench between them.

She was being careful, not shamelessly wanting to be close, he realized. The friendliness they usually shared was amissly stale. Even though the Harrier knew why this may have been, the reminder of their argument the Day they went through with the delivery of their pitch heralded itself heavily into the forefront of his thoughts.

It was then and there that the Harrier felt his happiness deplete, feeling a hollowness rise in spite of how he should have felt, but the fact that he'd almost forgotten what happened brought a bout of uncomfortableness straight into his stomach. Perhaps that was why she wasn't as thrilled as he initially had been to see her? That their last confrontation was stuck on her mind and now things were going to be awkward for the both of them. Whatever it would be, from here on out, he just wished he knew what he should feel about the fact that he was still angry about what they argued about and how, at the same time too, his closeness to his friend made him feel as if things should be back to the ways things had been…

Except… in the eyes of the universe, how could things be normal between them after that disastrous of a argument? It left ill relations between them and now he was giving Andy mixed signals from the hug he gave her. At least, to him, it was mixed signals. Did that mean that she thought he wasn't being sincere? Or did she think he had somehow forgotten about the exchange?

Whatever the case was, Jimmy had finished cleaning up around the shop, apparently doing that during the Harrier's ponder while Andy was leaning against the wall leading to the doorway. The Harrier shook his head, yet kept his focus on his friend to survey her.

It didn't take too long until they were back inside Jimmy's home, thankfully.

The first thing the Harrier did was go straight to Jimmy's room to change back into his regular hoodie after leaving his Scampers at the entryway. Even if it meant that he was delaying the time he was going to spend with Andy, he just knew he couldn't stand around and be forced to make small talk, especially after having his realization.

As soon as he returned to the living room to deposit himself on the sofa he usually sat on, he couldn't help but cringe a little inside when Andy was already seated on it herself while chatting it up with Jimmy, who was busying himself in the kitchen. So he veered off from his usual path to claim the sofa that Jimmy tended to sit on to observe them both, not feeling up to offering contributions to the conversation while he allowed himself to slide his body more onto the sofa and lay there quietly.

For the most part, he seemingly remained unnoticed, or should he really define it as invisible, because neither Jimmy nor Andy regarded him. He supposed his stance may have suggested he was tired, so he didn't adjust his position while thriving on his ability to listen in and not be expected to voice his thoughts yet.

From what he gathered from the exchange, apparently the Posh Bastard was still hot on his trail and wasn't letting up with having Reapers search for him. Andy was a prime suspect for the Posh Bastard to grill because of her closeness to him, but Andy didn't seem particularly happy to bring it up. As for Sadist Saiyama… Andy didn't seem to stress that part of the conversation, so it really was up in the air for how the Old Man was doing.

On that note, the Harrier couldn't help but feel a little anxious towards knowing more about what had befallen the hulking Harrier Reaper. So as soon as Andy was starting to talk about something he wasn't focusing so much on, he asked brusquely, "Did something happen to the Old Man?"

The amber-brown eyed Reaper's words tapered briskly when she seemed to realize he had spoken. She sent him a look of frustration, probably not for him, per say, before she answered with a huff, "Whaatt aahbaoutt him?"

Pinching his lips into a frown, he merely didn't gaze back as he mumbled, "To be frank... I'd like to know anything that could be of particular use."

"When yaa saay eit leike thaatt, yaa maake eit saound leike yaa waant ta dao saomething ta him," Andy added with a small, unhidden smile directed to him. She chirped as she immediately leaned his way, "Geive meh the dirlt then!"

While the Harrier huffed at that ideation, he then coolly returned, "I didn't necessarily mean I would do anything…" With a brief adjustment of his body, he levelled Andy with a impassive look his father would be proud of, in spite of how she would only receive a shadowed hood facing her. "I only wanted to learn of what had happened to him. Nothing more, nothing less-" He let his right arm unsling itself from leaning against his stomach to slide off the cushion, to dangle over the carpet as he sighed, "...I don't know, maybe I shouldn't have said anything."

The female Reaper fixed him a look of disbelief from the way both of her eyebrows furrowed and her lower lip pulled half over her other lip. He didn't really offer more of his thoughts and simply waited, once and awhile paying heed to what Jimmy was doing with himself in the meantime while he was met with silence by Andy. The Harrier was aware of how his fingers were practically tickling the carpet, yet didn't feel disposed to moving his arm in spite of how the constant texture of the brush was irritating to him. In fact, right now, he didn't really care much about letting his body language become slack, finding no need to change how he was currently conducting his behaviour in front of Andy and Jimmy. In fact, he was entirely certain if he tried to remedy that, it would only make it harder to appear as if he was disinterested by what Andy was trying to say. Although, making it seem like he didn't want to listen would only be a blatant lie, so he supposed that plan shouldn't be the one he should-

Cursing inwardly at himself, he scolded himself at how quick his brain jumped to thinking of this as a plot that he would allow to unfold when his brain was too stupidly wired to realize this wasn't the time to make a plan or scheme. This was a time where he didn't have to do anything but lie here and relax. Sure, he wasn't a big fan of relaxing, but right now, he felt that the more at ease he was, the better it would be to get through being near Andy without thinking about what happened between the both of them.

With a grimace, he tried to snap his attention back to the conversation when Andy sighed, as if to gently break through the silence they were encased in. "Werl…" At first, she let her head tilt upwards to stare at the ceiling, blinking in thought before she went on in a clearly displeased voice, "AI jaust haaven'tt been paaying aahtention ta him."

In response to her answer, the Harrier felt his body wilt even when it was supported by the sofa. He should have expected that Andy had better things to worry about than to get some intel on the one Reaper who kept screwing over the existence of the Harrier. She shuffled on her spot on the sofa to twist her body to fully face the Harrier, now lowering her head to gaze at him again when she shook it. "AI've haad bettterr things ta dao thaan ta braow aup aahtt thaatt stuupid aolgrre... Bauutt aI gueess aI caourld sclaounge aup saome dilrt ta maake yaa feerl bettterr?"

"You don't have to, I was just curious if you knew anything currently." Closing his eyes, the Harrier merely frowned. "But I suppose I shouldn't have ran my mouth like that then."

Andy made a face and started to open her mouth, but before she could speak, Jimmy called over, "I think it would have been helpful to know, Annee." When the Harrier opened his eyes to peer over to the other Reaper in the home, he saw how Jimmy was mixing a bowl of... something. Whatever that something was, Jimmy must have been quietly working while him and Andy were exchanging words.

...Wait? Was Jimmy trying to give the Harrier the floor to talk with his friend?

With a little yawn, the Harrier soon added while pushing that thought away, "I mean, it's not like we asked."

"Bauutt yaa jaust saaid-" Andy's eyes flashed with vexation, but the Harrier quickly picked up from where he'd left off before she had a chance to finish that.

"I meant that it's not like we asked for you to do a recon mission for us, Andy," he said to her with a small shrug into the back of the sofa, earning her bewildered blinks that soon became blank pools of molten. As the Harrier let his shoulders relax back into becoming comfortable in his lying position, he merely stretched his legs out a little before he added with a mumble, "So don't worry about it."

Jimmy shot him an odd look while Andy's attentive gaze remained on him. "Eif... " she started tersely with a head tilt. "Eif yaa saay sao." While the Harrier ignored the strange undertone she had, he simply focused on the fact that maybe he was just being a killjoy for the both of them.

Sighing, the Harrier stayed quiet, waiting for the two Reapers to start up a new topic without him while he contemplated on the fact that him being here must be unbearable for the two to work with. They couldn't really have a conversation without the constant reminder they weren't the only ones in the general vicinity. Even if he had the heart to join in, he couldn't help but feel like, as a killjoy, he would only prove the fact that the dismal guy he was wasn't able to perfectly fit in the puzzle with them. Instead, he was the waste of space that was taking up Jimmy's-

"Hey, bro-" With a blink, the Harrier hardly had time to react before jolting at a sudden iciness on his left shoulder, almost flailing and kicking at an invisible target before halting when he realized it was just Jimmy. Not only just the New Zealander, but the fact that the same person was holding something cold against his shoulder. When he twisted his head to get a better look at it, he noticed the giveaway design of a Cure Drink can being held in Jimmy's grasp.

While Jimmy gave him a brief gesture to show he meant no harm, which involved drawing the bright-coloured can away from the Harrier, Jimmy soon returned it but instead angled it nearby the Harrier's face. "Wanna fizzy pop?"

The Harrier didn't respond at first, simply concentrating on the lingering sort of numb sensation that remained from the area of contact as he soon drifted his gaze back to the copper haired Reaper. With a stiff nod, mostly because of how his head was against the arm of the sofa while he was reclining and it restricted his head movement, he soon willed energy into his right arm to rise back up again finally to collect the offered beverage with a blink and gave his thanks to the other male.

As he hoisted his body up from his current position to sit, mostly to better access the drink, he then stared down at the Psyche beverage for a bit. He only turned his gaze to Jimmy when the Support spoke, "Thought I'd ask if you'd like one, bro, since you were real quiet."

While the Harrier appreciated Jimmy's concern, he was rather puzzled by it as he soon returned his eyes to the flashy red and wavy orange-striped can. Sure, Jimmy had expressed that he cared about the Harrier, just as the Harrier did for Jimmy, but the amount of concern at this moment in time couldn't be less baffling. Usually he could figure out why people did certain things… but right now, he had been brought to a blank. It was akin to that one time the Sadist and him were talking after waking up from the Yellow Noise's attack on him… Except, right now, it was purely of the perplexity that Jimmy was constantly looking out for him these Days.

Even if he couldn't fully understand everything right now, he merely opened up the can and began to sip quietly while Jimmy sat down beside him. He relaxed slightly as the bubbliness of the pop quickly altered into the taste of coffee, recalling how the flavour of the beverage would change for each individual who used it. While Cure Drink was primarily a healing Psych, the Harrier couldn't quite put it past him to not appreciate the additional aspect that came along with it.

It was funny that this one Psych, out of the hundreds of Psyches that were created over the decades, was one that had the knack to suit your needs by becoming the one soft drink you liked the most… And yet, for the Harrier, in all the Psych's glory, all he got was a nice mouthful of coffee… Not that it was bad, or the fact that he was nursing what should have been a piping hot can of the stuff… it's just that he wasn't much of a fan of soft drinks, he found. So he didn't think he lost out on anything but the temperature of it alone.

As a kid, he was inclined to like yuko yuzu flavoured drinks until he found out the fruit had a chance of becoming endangered… So, being the ever anxious kid he was, he had this thought that if he stopped drinking yuko soft drinks, it would naturally stop endangering them. Now? Well, the Harrier hated how much the universe wanted to laugh at his pitiful effort and punish him for being too naïve and trusting that his little plan would actually work... even if he was too young at the time to think about the fact that the universe had the capacity or ability to hate him back.

The moment he finished letting the ebony liquid slosh down his throat, he sighed contentedly as he simply held the can until it disappeared. 'Can't go wrong with coffee... ' he thought as he closed his eyes briefly. 'Except, when it isn't coffee, but somehow stitches you back up with Psychomancy voodoo. ...But still good coffee.'

Disregarding the fact that there had been no nutritional value of sorts from consuming said beverage, especially when it was not real coffee, he simply closed his eyes. He inhaled for a bit then murmured, "Man… I'm jealous."

"Jealous?" echoed Jimmy curiously with a chuckle, turning his head towards the Harrier as he nodded.

"Yeah." The Harrier leaned back and opened his eyes as he blinked them. He chuckled mildly, "If I had a Cure Drink Pin, I would probably be addicted to coffee by now."

"Caouffee?" Andy incredulously cried out as she gave him a big frown from the corner of his eye. Her amber-brown eyes were wide as she soon whistled, "The maorre yaa knaow... "

The Harrier gave a lazy shrug. "Let's be fucking real… coffee is the only damn thing that keeps me fuelled up in the Underground."

"In that case, perhaps I should lay off the Cure Drinks for you, mate," said Jimmy in amusement as he gave a snicker while smiling. "None except for when you have those sessions of pains."

The Harrier reservedly relaxed his limbs while a frown came to his face, starting to nibble on his lip uneasily while he drank that in. He knew it was a joke, but the mere mention of what happened before only made it fall flat in the Harrier's mind. He released a subdued sigh as he soon watched Jimmy's face scrunch when he seemingly remembered the exact same thing...

"Paain!?" Andy exclaimed out of appalled shock, instantly leaning forward in the corner of his eye. Her eyes went so wide he could easily tell where her eyeballs started and ended; her hands clenched into fists when she demanded, "Whaatt the herl aarre yaa taarlking aahbaoutt!?"

The Harrier merely gave her a blank glance, feeling his mouth go dry at the thought of having to explain to her what happened roughly five Days ago. He wasn't quite ready to bring it up himself yet, and while he didn't fault Jimmy for casually bringing it up like this and pulling the rug out from under the Harrier at that moment, the Harrier couldn't help but keep staring at Andy without a single idea of knowing how to smooth over the situation. After all, while it was a big deal on the Harrier's end, it was the last thing he wanted to be put into the limelight for right now.

With one glance towards the Harrier, the copper haired Reaper's gaze dwelled on the black-hooded Reaper before it flickered towards Andy. "The Conductor's attack, Annee," said Jimmy in a terse tone, suggesting he wasn't going to soften the blow for the dark dirty blonde. He then went on in a voice the Harrier hardly heard from the New Zealander; a stilted deliberateness, "Just a few Days ago, we were havin' an all good yack between us when he just… just started to spasm from pain." His eyes closed glumly. "Not even my Cure Drinks could stop it."

Andy's expression shifted into one of concern, her face turning from Jimmy to the Harrier as her eyebrows knitted tightly. Her eyes half-closed in the process as she half-whispered out, but loud enough for the two of the male Reapers to hear, "Thaatt fucking baastaarrd ded thaatt…?" Her expression became acerbic immediately as she hissed out in aggravation, "He fucking serliriousrlee ded thaat!?"

All the Harrier did was close his eyes as Jimmy added, "That's what we were thinkin'… since the pain was comin' from the side he was struck on."

"Bauutt eit waas jaustt aah powafurl aahttaack!" Andy protested incandescently as she shot Jimmy a glower, gritting her teeth as she growled, "He shaourldn't be feerling aah thing aahfterr sao raong- eit's been fifteen Daays!"

Inhaling quietly while the two fussed over the topic, the Harrier could understand why Andy was upset about this, but the one thing that didn't make sense was why she was getting upset for him when they weren't on comfortable terms. Or, rather… he wasn't quite sure which terms he should be on with Andy right now. After all, it was hard to gauge their friendship when the last time they had seen each other they were in a shouting match...

He frowned as the two of them kept throwing back words without him, letting the Harrier sink into the background as a prop they had probably forgotten about; like he wasn't important. He couldn't help but feel like crud the longer they argued, or rather, kept talking and talking and talking until they were shouting and shouting and-

Exhaling out unsteadily, he very much just wanted to clap his hands over his ears right that very second.

"Y-You know what," the Harrier said straightaway, lifting himself up as he went on while Andy and Jimmy shot him immediate looks, "I think I'll turn in for the night now."

"Huh? Aahrlreaadee?" Andy's tone reflected exactly her surprise as she shifted into a more alert position. "Bauut eit's stirl naott-"

"He's been pretty knackered lately, Annee," explained Jimmy while concern still passed over his otherwise settled expression. The Harrier neared the hallway as Jimmy added after a few seconds, "You wouldn't even believe that today was the first Day that he's had the best energy out of all Days he's been here..."

Even though Andy remained quiet, the Harrier didn't linger too long to see if she would speak as he drifted further away until he eventually turned back. The Harrier put his hand on the wall for support while he wordlessly offered the two Reapers staying in the living room a half-hearted wave, trying not to focus on their expressions too much before he was treading slowly towards Jimmy's room again.

As soon as the door clicked shut, effectively blocking out the voices of Andy and Jimmy to a good degree now, the Harrier finally allowed his shoulders to slump and exhaled a long, heavy sigh.

'I can't believe I can't face her right now…' he thought dismally as he pressed his back to the door, sliding down it until he was on the floor. He bent his knees until they were close to his chest, letting his arms fall around them in a loose hug as he frowned deeply now. 'Shouldn't I be happy that Andy came over to see me and Jimmy? Shouldn't I be glad she isn't yelling at me like last time? Shouldn't I be out there and not ignoring her...?'

With another sigh, he merely shook his head. 'I'm just a mess with my emotions… aren't I?'

For a long while, he remained where he was seated, mulling over the conversation- or lack therefore of- before he finally helped himself back up and headed right for the bed. Exhaustion was already seeping into his bones from his long, tiresome Day as he brought the blankets over himself and stared at the ceiling while worrying his lip.

'What's wrong with me?'

---

Years Ago...

---

It was raining… Droplets were coming down outside as the boy tried concentrating on his Literature homework, still having yet to finish it today. He touched his nape and wrapped his fingers almost around it, but instead curled his fingers to scratch at it at the last second before grabbing his pencil again.

The twelve-year-old sighed, merely twiddling it to bob it from side to side in worried thought. However, he stopped, raising his head when the bedroom's shoji door opened. Freezing, he hurriedly readjusted his grip on the pencil to hold the lead to the paper again as he heard footfalls from his left.

"Are you still not finished?" asked his mother shrewdly as she passed by him, soon looming over his right side as she craned her neck to check on his work. The twelve-year-old merely twisted his head to regard her as she sniffed, shaking her head when she sighed, "Honestly, child… it is a school night and your bedtime. I know you should have your homework done by this hour."

The boy merely ducked his head down and frowned. "I-I'm sorry, Mother…"

She inhaled and rolled her chocolate brown eyes. "I expect it to be done. You cannot fall behind on your classmates, you need to stay on top of your classes. You know this."

"I-I know." The young boy kept his head down and soon stared at his work unhappily. "I'll try to get it done faster tomorrow."

"Child, it should not be done faster. It should be done… end of story," she huffed disapprovingly before turning away. She stiffly walked off towards the closet in the room, probably to get her futon ready as she grumbled, "You are a smart boy, and smart boys should not need to worry about finishing if they know what to do... Making excuses is meaningless."

Holding his tongue respectfully, the boy didn't shed another glance as he turned his attention to his notebook again. The sprawl of his neat Kanji half-covering the page created a pit in his stomach, leaving him to feel coldness settle in his body as his pencil shook… No, his hand had begun shaking at some point. He felt his chest constrict as he instantly tried wiping the wetness away from his eyes before holding in his sniffle, placing down the rag he had picked up in order to…

Blinking, he gazed down at the rag in confusion, wondering where it came from. He started as his sight momentarily went blurry, and when the blurriness went away, the rag went away too.

He shook his head hastily in disbelief before scribbling a random word down by mistake, crossing it out before continuing to write as much as he could then slowly started to pull himself up. It occurred to him he was getting too tired, he was only going to make more mistakes if he didn't go to bed now. He decided the best thing to do was that; he would have to finish his homework in the morning.

The near-thirteen-year-old ventured into the living room with his ruddy-red knapsack to place it by the front door and went to lock the house while he had the chance to, turning off lights until he went to the bathroom to brush his teeth. While he slid into the room adjacent to the front door and his mother's shared bedroom, he flicked the switch on and gathered the means to do so, slowly bringing his gaze to the mirror as he brushed his teeth. As he stared at his murky reflection, the mirror so sleek and clean yet didn't allow for him to see himself, he couldn't help but squint and lean close to it. With a huff of breath, rubbing at it with his free hand, he couldn't help but go back to what he was doing when that hadn't helped to defog it.

However, as he did so, he couldn't help but find that the mirror was cracking as he continued to clean his teeth. He ignored it for the most part before jagged ripples splayed across it, crawling and crawling until multiple fissures filled the whole surface. He stumbled back in alarm as the murkiness was now gone, but from what he could see...

There were two boys beside him.

To his bemusement, they started switching sides so fast he could hardly tell who was where or what they truly looked like… despite having sworn they had the same body shape as him. Black and yellow blurred together into a mottled blur pretending to be of a splash of colour; brown and green flecks were dancing back and forth; the colours were continuing and continuing to mix until he whipped his head around himself.

The twelve-year-old found he was alone.

Feeling his chest rise and heave in uncomfortableness, the boy took a long time until he was somewhat relaxed. As he turned his head back to resume brushing his teeth again, his toothbrush slipped out from his slackening grip as he faintly heard a shatter below him.

Eyes were on every fragment of the still hanging, cracked mirror... staring straight at him.

They were burning into him… burning into him… burning into him!

Frozen to the spot, the boy could only hyperventilate, hyperventilating for so long that it took him ages to realize he had started to scream shrilly at some point. Then, without thinking, he ran out, sprinting for the bedroom only to slam into his mother by accident. He ignored her frustrated questions and simply tugged at her arm until she let him lead her into the bathroom, explaining something to her in a blurt that he couldn't figure out what he was saying but made sense that he was saying something so fast it was beyond comprehension but still audible enough for someone to make sense of-

And yet, as he brought her into the small room, he could only feel his blood leave his face as he all but stared at a perfectly fine, blurry mirror.

It took a while to realize his mother was talking, turning his head to her blankly in befuddlement as she scoffed, "Honestly, child… What has gotten into you? Waking me and putting on an inappropriate outburst when I was-" He grimaced as she cuffed him on the ear, making his hearing buzz as he lowered his head meekly. She tutted, "Sometimes I wonder what goes on in your head…"

As he opened his mouth to explain, probably to blurt it out unsuccessfully, she then squawked before exclaiming in dismay, "What have you done to your-" She pointed at something; whatever it was, he wasn't sure. But as he followed her finger, all he could see was nothing. For a second, he thought he saw it, fizzling in some sort of squiggly, squirming mess of grey, black and white…

Then it was gone.

The near-thirteen-year-old felt numb as his mother nudged him dismissively to the side to grab at nothing in the bathroom basin; the nothing felt heavy on his nose and ears when she put it on them. But as she left with a promise that he was going to pay for something out of his allowance, or lack therefore of, when he tried grabbing at what he couldn't see… his fingers merely scratched at his face.

He kept searching for the weighted nothing, soon staring back at the mirror that was murky yet flawless again. Even as he was confused by what was going on, he slowly reached into the sink, only to cry out a whimper of pain when something made his fingers bleed.

Even though there was nothing there.

---

To be continued... Hope you enjoyed the chapter! =D

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EeveeGen9988: Congratulations on getting to the end of the chapter, I do hope all of you took reading breaks to get through Part 5! =D

I can't believe it's that time of year again when I get to post chapters to SOSS, especially this time around when I actually had a plan to follow than going in recklessly. By that I mean this time around I didn't wait to edit at the two weeks before posting mark, which was a relief on my mind unlike last year. XD

Last year this chapter was supposed to be part of the Mr Reaper chapter package, but due to vague insight, this chapter never got finished by the time Spring ended. So... I'm finally glad this chapter got finished! =D

This time around, I promise you all, I would like to get five chapters out without losing stride! So hopefully that can happen, and I think I'm determined to make that happen, so I'll make sure this year will be a smooth, clean run!

There are other fantastic stories to check out other than this big slice of cake, and if you're interested, please check out the Shibuya Operation - Story Storm forum. =D

Fun Fact - It's interesting to note that the 'ok' hand gesture means 'okay' or agreement for some countries while in Japan, it usually means the person is trying to talk about money nonverbally. Just in case you were confused about that in one scene.

As well, by reaching this point, I think you uncovered something. It's your choice to check it out or not. ;D

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NEW LETTER THREAD HAS BEEN [SUCCESSFULLY] CREATED

THREAD_TYPE = [PRIVATE]=[HM to KF]

DATE_OF_CREATION = 09/31/44/PM/SAT/14/JUN/1975

ENTRY_NO = 349722

LOG_NAME = SD

DOCUMENT_ALIAS = Secret Documents - Entry 349722

ENTRY_GAME_SEQ = DAY/04/JUN/14/1975

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Hiraku's Second Report of his Fifth Term in the Lower Grounds
- 1975 -
the Shibuya River

I know I should be reporting on other things and all, but I couldn't help but remember something Iwao told me once.

For the matter of this report for this time, I will be focusing on the Shibuya River itself. Not to mention, I hope the formatting and grammar of this report comes out better than last report's.

Over centuries ago, the Shibuya River was just a river in the village of Shibuya, which later became a part of Edo (and Edo became Tokyo). A natural flowing river that flowed all over the area that would later become known to be Shibuya, with an abundance of water plains that spread across the area. To the known public, it was just the river that passed through the area, but when the Underground was formed, it became one of the havens to the residents the first Composer brought over after they died horrorfic or traumatic or dramatic deaths, as He had seen them as lost, tortured souls, which he dubbed the Dead, that deserved much better than accepting the unknowns of after they had died. Why was it a haven? It was a haven at the time because the remote area they were in, aka the Plane where they could watch over their loved ones as the first Composer tried figuring out how to bring them back to life, but it was also a place where they could sit in fellowship and peace to feast upon the waters as they contemplated their lost lives. It wasn't back then known as a haven, but when the Noise first appeared… it was the one of the places where they could hide in while they fought hard to not experience Erasure.

As society back in the Realground advanced, eventually turning the flood plains into a waterway or a sewer, as some had come to call it, it was the most advisable location to maintain in to shelter themselves from the constant onslughts of Noise. Back in 1800s, the war against the NOise was more prominent in attacking Reapers, not wanting to share the same grounds as the souls that had gathered over the years but as well as how various locations in the Underground all across Edo wouldn't serve as many good defences as the Shibuya River did. There was, of course, locations all across Edo that would serve as bases, but the lengths and distances were much to vast to maintain proper contact with Reapers and the travel distance and time was much too large and the dangers of Noise attacking travelling Reapers was much too big of a risk to ignore or get around. Therefore, the REapers mostly congregated in teh one location the current Composer felt the most connected to.

After the Edo Earthquake, as it was named, the Shibuya River truly did live up to its purpose when the Noise received the first ever vantage and the Composer at that time's Erasure happened, which I was told was teh catalyst to the earthquake itself. The Shibuya River served as the primary shelter from the Noise that prevailed, but when the newest Composer solved the issue after Ascension, it was naturally accepted that the Shibuya River was the home for all of the Underground inhabitants that bravely fought back against their eneimes and took away the vantage from the Noise (and came out on top). It was then decided that because the Composer used their being to encompass Shibuya through the Leylines (that I now know about), the Composer created a brand new locations in the Shibuya River, which the Composer named as the Trails. The Trails to what? I'm not too entirely sure what the Composer was thinking when the Composer named the Trails, but I suppose at the time they used to just be trails to walk alongside the River on the river plains.

Many years passed and when I became part of the first batch of Interns to have ever played the Reapers' Game, the River was already surrounded by concerete to create trafficways and someone decided to cover over the areas where the Reapers' Barracks, Lounge and pathway to the supposed Trail to the Heart of Shibuya were. The Composer had apparently carved into the concerete some sort of illusion, or was it some sort of Imagination Plane type of thing? Anyways, the Composer created a space where those areas could persist and for Reapers to live in, such as the Barracks and various corridors and rooms for the Officer Reapers to work in, which could be accessed through some sort of teleportation point to bypass the wall that used to be the entrancne to the whole area.

The Composer created this because the concrete… um… how should I put this…? Encased the Reapers inside the original areas the Composer had set up for them to preside? ...None of them were Erased through being burried alive or through suffocation in the concrete, they just couldn't move until the Composer solved the issue. The Composer even had to Pause the Game- everything in the Underground- just to not cause a mass panic or chaos for the Reapers. Even the Conductor got trapped and the Composer was said to have been alone for such a long time until the Composer unPaused the Underground after successfully solving the disaster. The whole thing when I got into office in the Higher Planes here was to see what was going on, and it wasn't pretty to watch, but Fukuhashi had me watch it because she said it would be good training for me because I was in the middle of becoming a Rulemaster… Although, just the idea of being stuck like that because of what happened in the Realground affected the Underground would probably make me hysterical. Although, just watching it made me hysterical and I can't seem to forget what happened for the life of me- it just gives me terrible chills to this Day! Fukuhashi tells me I was traumatized by this, but I have an inkling she mentioned something else about the fact I should be lucky the damage to my Soul, because of the 'trauma to my being', wasn't as substantial as the Underground's residents had experienced. I should ask her about what that means later, I don't understand why trauma would affect my Soul or Composition.

The thing about the Underground, in regards to this, is that the appearance and phyicality of it is rooted in what happens to the Realground. If a building is created in the Realground, the building appears in the Underground. If a car is created in the REalground, however, the Composer made it possible that the automobiles don't Erase Reapers by mistake again. It was brutal and brutal to watch!

On the otherhand, when something like fighting happens in the Underground, it usually doesn't impact or impart any damages or disruptions to the Realground. Sometimes, through certain means, Underground residents can manipulate things like items or objects depending on the circumstances. Sometimes, Reapers who have immense power fight and their attacks make an impacgt in the Underground, there's a chance that it can translate back to the Realground. I heard a few Days ago that Iwao made a big, big impact with his attacks because apparently, from what he told me, he was fighting some 'foolhardy brat' and had to put up with the fact that the Reaper in question didn't want to back down from fighting him for some reason. It got so bad that the Conductor involved himself, but Iwao keeps telling me the Conductor shouldn't have interfered! I mean, if a fight lasts too long or disturbs the Realground too much, shouldn't that be a good thing to do? The Conductor has every right to cease actions like that, right?

Iwao for some reason doesn't think so. He's been telling me that over drinks several times. I don't have the heart to tell him he may have been getting too destructive back there since Iwao thinks the Reaper he fought... Well, that doesn't matter for the report. That's not exactly important for it anyway, is it?

Sorry for putting baggage in the report, Fukuhashi,
- Hiraku Maeda