As The Fox
By: Aviantei
[Twelve Shots of Summer: Eleventh Hour 6/12]
[Parameters: "Last Stretch" & "Final Form"]
Game Six
"Welcome, Players! Up here, pay attention now!" The voice is familiar, as is the appearance of the Reaper that flies in from the sky and lands before them during the usual gathering of early Game Players around 104. The hood of a red cloak thrown aside to reveal bright blue hair, an ensemble that wouldn't be out of place in a fantasy movie—and the grin of someone having the time of their life. I'm your Game Master for your week—or, if you will, your Dungeon Master. I'll be in charge of issuing your quests to see if you're worthy of coming back to life. I'm sure I'll get to know all of you in time, but for now—
"Who's ready to play?"
There you are. Nepuro recognizes the GM the moment he sees him, and he can't help the grin that splits his face. He's crossed paths with Harrier Daikoku Masato a couple of times since his third game, and it's always a fun time. DnD—as Nepuro has come to call him—loves games with his whole heart, and so he's always coming up with fun tricks and challenges. What will he come up with whenever the entirety of Shibuya is his game board to play with?
DnD paces back and forth, expounding extra greetings with an absolute flourish. It's all stuff about the Game Nepuro knows like the back of his hand, so he tunes it out, instead getting a handle on the other Players. Nifuji Chihiro—his current Partner; a short guy with a taste for baggy clothes that are just as pastel as the blue of his hair—seems more conscious of other people's eyes on him than he does about the Reaper in charge of their lives for the next week standing right in front of them.
"Relax, Nifuji-kun," Nepuro murmurs. "No one's paying attention to you right now, and, even if they were, no one would notice."
Nifuji goes to make a gesture with his hands, then corrects himself and dips his head in thanks instead. There's some mess with his Entry Fee undoing a surgery on his chest, and he's instead chosen to take advantage of his natural muteness to act as if that is his Entry Fee instead. While Nepuro tries to spend a bit more time getting to know his Partners, the what never bothers him, so long as they're willing to play with him.
Unlike him, most other Players have dreams they're willing to risk themselves for. Nepuro's gotta respect that.
And it's with those thoughts in mind that Nepuro is the sole Player gathered at 104 to give DnD a round of applause before the silence of Storage drags him under.
"For all the time we've known each other, we haven't ever gotten to have a proper conversation, have we?"
It's Day Four, and the Mission—or, as DnD likes to put it, Quest—goes like this: You and your comrades have been separated on your journey. Reunite with your Partner to proceed to the next stage. The keys you achieved for your efforts will open the way. You have four hours. Erasure awaits those who fail. In other words, Nepuro's woken up on his own, Nifuji no longer in sight. And when you don't have a Partner…
Well, it's not the best time to be face-to-face with the Game Master, that's for sure. Or it wouldn't be for most people. Nepuro just grins.
"Guess we haven't," he says, leaning back the wall of the Ramen Don storefront. With it still being early, the temperature is pretty comfortable, even for summer. It's gonna be a beautiful day, for whatever that's worth in the UG. "So? What did you come to chat with me about?"
"I wanted to know how you're enjoying the Game." DnD says, his smile amused. There's no point in wasting time on formalities whenever there's much more interesting things to discuss. "None of the other Players have any point of reference—well, aside from Kano, but his opinion doesn't matter as much as yours." DnD tilts his head, looking Nepuro right in the eyes. "Well? Has it been satisfying for you so far?"
"Well, we're just at the halfway point, so it's hard to assess the whole thing. But I did appreciate yesterday-that was the first time I got to scrap with some Reapers." In every other Game, Reapers aren't allowed to pick fights with anything but Noise, though the Game Masters' final Missions are the exception. And while they didn't fight 'til Erasure or anything, getting to square off with some Harriers was a nice touch. "This is looking fun today, too. Though I'm sure being separated from their Partners might be a bit too much for some of the others."
"Maybe. But the Game for you isn't fun without some sort of risk, now is it?" DnD spreads his arms, his cape fluttering with the motion. "At the end of the Game, there's one of two outcomes: either the Game Master is Erased or all the Players are. No matter what the outcome is, this Game will be the only time you and I are able to face off like this, Hasekitsu Nepuro."
A one-of-a-kind game.
Something that would never come again.
A face off between me and you, who also understands.
The thought is more than enough for Nepuro to grin so wide his jaw began to ache.
"There it is," DnD says, his smile having turned from amused to outright elated. "On the day I Erased your Partner. That was the same exact look you gave me." Had he been grinning back then? Nepuro had been so focused on the situation that he hadn't even noticed. DnD paces forward, his words coming faster as excitement takes over. "I already had thought you were interesting before. You were someone who kept playing whenever most others would give up. But you faced the possibility of your own Erasure with that same sort of excitement. You're someone that finds pleasure in every last part of the Game, even defeat. What better player could a Game Master even ask for? So I decided—
"I would make this Game the best it could ever be, Hasekitsu Nepuro, just for you."
And in response to Daikoku Masato's utter enthusiasm, Nepuro can just say one thing:
"Well, if that's how you feel, then I better start playing."
Day Four concludes whenever Nepuro reunites with Nifuji and the others, their Pact's Fusion Erases the last Noise chasing them all down.
On Day Five, Kano tries to up his chances of earning resurrection by condemning one of the other Players to Erasure; Nepuro Erases him in turn, allowing the leftover Players—twins Tsukiko Hotaru and Tsukiko Chou—to forge a new Pact to stay alive. Through their combined efforts, the four of them manage to Erase the Noise in Dogenzaka to finish the Quest.
On Day Six, the Mission has them competing in a Tin Pin tournament, and Nepuro meets Kiryu Yoshiya while Nifuji and one of the Tsukiko twins compete in the finals, guaranteeing everyone's survival.
And on Day Seven—
DnD has always been more of a reference to the way that Daikoku Masato talks, acts, and dresses. Not that Nepuro's ever had the opportunity to ask, but he's certain the man's hobbies had to include long evenings at the head of a table with fantasy maps in hand, or even heading out into the woods with friends in similar costumes. He, just like Nepuro, has taken full advantage of the UG to live a life that wouldn't be possible while alive.
But, for as much as he was looking forward to one day facing off against the man in a proper fight, Nepuro never thought that DnD's Noise form would be a literal dragon.
It suits him, the five-headed beast that towers over them all, an imposing obstacle even larger to the Drakes Nepuro's clashed with before. Those are tough, yeah, but they're at least just about twice as tall as a person, while DnD was big enough that it was hard to get an estimate, a mass of bright blue accented with red. Even better is that DnD isn't just a big boy—he's got plenty of tricks up his sleeves, too.
Further busting apart the Noise Plane to make everyone last one of them stand on their own, a multitude of attacks, heads capable of reviving each other if not defeated in time. Yeah, that's so like you, Nepuro thinks, his face aching from the grin cracking his face in half as he dodges moves and tosses off counterattacks, sending the occasional heal Nifuji's way to keep them afloat. And then, that familiar thrumming that resonates in the world as a fusion builds, voices of the Tsukiko twins calling out in time—
"Nee-chan, let's show 'em what we've got!"
"This is so we can make it home!"
At the end, whenever Draco Cantus falls and Daikoku Masato turns to static, the last thing he says goes like this:
"Now that's…what I call a game…worth playing…"
Nepuro can't help but agree.
[Author's Notes]
Hey, look, another piece finished up at the last possible minute! What fun!
Thanks to EeveeGen9988 for the review! May Nepuro's Nepuroing continue to being you interest.
This week's piece overlaps with Muse, specifically chapters 9-15. I ended up focusing this piece on the Nepuro and DnD relationship, but there's also a bunch of references to other events. If by some weird chance you're reading this without Muse context, perhaps there's been enough to pique your interest. And if not, we'll keep going with Nepuro hours over here!
This week's T-Sauce recommendation is EeveeGen9988's "Andy's Secret"! We've got some more TWEWY OCs with questionable worldviews/life choices going on over there, which I personally find fun.
Next week's prompts are "Last Legs" and "Final Solution," which will go up on Saturday the 13th. Please look forward to it!
-Avi
[7 July 2024]