A/N: Sorry about the lateness of this post, I just started college and I'm still getting adjusted to how things work. Well that and I grappled with trying to place so much information and so many characters in this one chapter, so anyway some parts will be left in cliffhangers and from here on out the other sides of the story will contain regular POV bits that show some things you will need to know to understand some things in the main stories. For instance, in this chapter there is a bit piece about Daisuke and Lana and the three patrolling members of White Mask inside Side E. And some new characters which I think you all will enjoy will be starting to pop up. Oh speaking of which, for those of you who have seen your OCs so far in this three chapter arc, I will mention you and your OC at the very end. Anyway, I'm out for the whole week because of weather issues so I finally managed to get this huge post finished.

Alright, next we add stories about Gamon, Willow, and Rin to the mix. But also keep in mind that the stories for Neku, Mistake, and Rhyme are still not over. They will still have bits and pieces, but now they will be mixed in with all the other stories of the other six characters. And remember that there's also going to be regular POV bits to clarify things that you've heard so you'll really know what's up, you can't really tell whose telling the truth or lying in character POV. Sorry about my madness, but keep in mind there is a method to it. Now let's start things off by continuing Neku's POV and then starting off Gamon's.

Disclaimer: I do not own the World Ends with You.

Chapter Thirty-Five: Week 1, Day 6-Wants and Needs, Sides D, E, and F

Side C Continued…

Neku's POV-

On top of the rooftops. Scramble Crossing, Shibuya-August 6, 2009, 17:05

I was filled with a sense of newfound confidence. "Then let's end this one day early. We'll save Rhyme and then take out the GM."

"Neku-san? I think there's a problem though," Madoka spoke up. We all turned to her and she showed us the problem. "According to this tracker thing, your friend is everywhere at once." We all looked at Madoka's phone and saw that on the Track Attack map of Shibuya there were little Rhyme faces all over the map, showing that Rhyme was indeed everywhere at once.

"Well, this just got difficult," Rin said.

Then I felt a strong sensation that something really bad was about to happen. I could feel it in the air, and I could feel it through the ground. Negative energy, so much of it that I shivered a little. I looked around at my friends and saw that they could feel it as well. Madoka started trembling, and Anna wore this panic-stricken expression on her face, Rin tried to keep his composure the best he could but I could tell that he was nervous by his occasional twitch, and even Jordan who was practically made of negative energy seemed overwhelmed. I looked up to the sky and saw that it had turned pitch black, the stars were barely visible and a full moon started to wane out of the shadows. It was as if nature itself was cowering in fear. Then I started to see them, they appeared one after another. Noise in all different kinds, shapes, sizes, and colors. They blanketed the sky and then swarmed down into the streets of Shibuya, latching onto many different people who walked about unaware that negative feelings were now feasting on their souls. I didn't even have to use my Player Pin to see them, it was like these Noise were in a whole different level than anything else I ever fought. This was definitely more Noise than I had ever seen before, the Game must have been going into overdrive to make this many of those monsters.

"Are those all…?" Anna started asking the obvious question, trying hard not to believe that it was true.

Rin nodded and finished her sentence, "Noise. Lots and lots of Noise."

"There's so many of them," Madoka observed.

"It looks like things just got even more difficult," I surmised.

Jordan hopped down from the doorway and joined us at the rooftop's edge to see the frightening amount of negative energy that was plaguing Shibuya. "That's definitely not good. There's so much negativity in the air you can actually see them without using your Pins. It looks like Ryukocchi took Raimu Bito's escape a little too harsh. She's even got her whole arsenal of Noise searching for her, and if her Mission mail was legit in every aspect, she's probably set up some walls throughout the town too. She's making Shibuya into one colossal maze." He chuckled, "She probably sensed that someone would try and come after her so she's shielded herself, but her paranoia was right on the mark, eh?"

I looked back at Jordan. "So you don't have any problems with us Erasing the GM?"

"Problems?" he repeated. "You of all people should know that Reapers only look out for #1. Erasing Players is how we rack up points, it's how we feed and maintain our strength."

I nodded in reply, "Reaper chow."

He grabbed onto his shoulder and started rubbing up and down in disgust. "I detest doing that, every time I hear their screaming it makes me sick. I've been at this job for years now but I still haven't lost my humanity so it's sort of a blessing in disguise, I guess. But most of the other people who become Reapers aren't so lucky; they lose themselves in the despair and terror. And then give into the darkness inside. The GM especially, she lost her true self long ago. Even before she became a Reaper. I don't care if you Erase her; it will get the Game over with quicker and be a gift to her. I don't think Ryukocchi wants to do this but she can't tell the difference between right and wrong anymore. And now that she's been named a GM she's just doing what she thinks she has to in order to survive. She's kind of like a Player in a weird way."

Madoka held up her phone and examined Track Attack's tracking ability on Rhyme's movements. "Now there's a lot of Noise on the tracker too, and there's still a lot of Rhyme icons. I can't tell which way we should go."

"Well things are probably going to be this bad all over, things are looking kind of bleak even when you guys have me on your side," Jordan said.

"You're going to help us too?" I asked Jordan.

He nodded and replied, "Yeah, we Reapers are part of the search too, Ryukocchi told us to find Teams which we thought had a good chance of winning. We've got a lot riding on this too so I really need a winning Team to back me up, and I'm betting my money on you guys." Then he scoffed, "It would have been nice if Kazuma was here too because if we run into Keisuke he's the best person to annoy the hell out of him as a distraction." He sighed and then shrugged his shoulders, "But you take what you can, please treat me well."

"Awesome, a Reaper on our side should be a big help!" Anna exclaimed. "Anna's ready to go, let's save Rhyme-chan!"

"Huh you just woke up from a nap and you're already full of energy. You never run out do you?" Rin asked smarmily. "Well that's a good thing because my plan for this Mission will involve a lot of teamwork, I say we all go in Psyches a blazing and kick some Noise ass so we can…"

"No! No more ideas from Rin-kun!" Anna shouted. "Yesterday you told Anna exactly what she should do to get Karin-chan to listen to Anna and Madoka and instead you just made Anna look like an idiot! No more tricks and jokes!" Then she stretched her hand back and then leaned forward so she could slap Rin across the face, making him yelp and twitch in pain. "And Karin-chan told Anna that she should do that as payback so it's fair now!"

I chuckled and then I slapped Rin just as hard as Anna did across his other cheek.

"Ow, seriously?! You too?! What the heck?!" he shouted in reply.

"You know why. That's for messing with Anna, I'll forgive you but I better not ever catch you messing with her ever again." I winked at him to let him know what I really meant. "Kapeesh?" I was still mad about what Rin tried to do but I didn't want to let Anna know about it either, so the slap I gave him was like an unspoken promise of forgiveness and trust. Though I bet Rin didn't see it like that.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever!" He rubbed his swollen face. "Geez, what is this, Slap Rin Day?"

"Ooh, that sounds like a fun holiday!" Madoka exclaimed as she ran forward to Rin and then she jumped up so she could slap him as well, getting another yelp from him. "Yay! I did it too! I'm part of the group!" she exclaimed with glee. Sometimes I couldn't help but think her innocent ways were priceless. Anna and I both snickered at Madoka's conduct while Rin just grunted and did his best to force a smile towards Madoka, letting that big brother quality of him show.

Then while Rin was still rubbing his face he looked to Jordan and asked, "Are you going to slap me too?"

Jordan shrugged and replied, "I don't really know you that well so until you do something noteworthy or tick me off, I'll hold back."

I smirked and then put on my serious face. "Alright enough funny business. Anna you said that you didn't want to hear any ideas from Rin so do you have an idea about the best way to proceed in finding Rhyme?"

Anna's eyes widened and then she stroked something. "Anna thinks she had something, hold on let her think." Then it was as if a light bulb turned on over her head. "Ooh, Anna does have an idea. Just a second." She closed her eyes and clapped her hands together in a praying position. "Please come out, please come out, please come out, please come out, please come out," she chanted over and over again like she was about to do something that hardly ever seemed to work. Then she opened her eyes and glared with a sense of confidence. "Bring out the Guardians of the Garden!" Then suddenly a bright flash consumed the rooftop and we all braced ourselves for the impact of a mini explosion. When we opened our eyes we saw that Anna had a sort of charred and smokey look, she was covered in ash and started coughing up smoke. "Sorry, Anna's only ever successfully summoned them twice and when it doesn't work it blows up in her face." She shook her body and then the ash fell off of her. "Looks like Anna's idea is off the table."

"Did somebody call for us?" a squeaky voice called out.

We all looked up and were amazed when saw five little creatures floating up above us. Anna smiled and giggled in glee. "It worked, it really worked!"

One of the little creatures floated down to Anna and spoke in a soothing feminine voice. "It's nice to see you again too, Anna-chan. Just remember the next time you call us not to force it so much otherwise things will get hectic." The little creature appeared to be a miniature girl; she had porcelain skin, soft pink eyes, and long and curly red hair. She wore a small green dress and green high heels, and she also appeared to have four small silver wings on her back.

Then another one of the creatures came down below. "Yeah but thanks to her strong force I feel like I'm brimming with energy, ya'll. Yee-haw!" the creature did a spin in mid-air to show how energetic it was. This creature also appeared to be a small female. She had long gold hair which was tied into to twin-tails, and a pair of electric blue eyes which were highlighted by a series of freckles on her cheeks. She wore a yellow sundress which was matched with a pair of dark brown straps in her dress and a pair of dark brown shoes on her feet. Like the other creature she also had a pair of wings, but hers looked more like the kind for a yellow butterfly.

Then the smallest creature flew down next to Anna as well. This was the one that had the squeaky voice and she showed it by exclaiming, "Anna-chan! I've missed you so much; I was so worried about you! You've got to call us out more often!" Then the creature latched onto Anna's cheek and began lovingly nudging her, to which Anna replied with a giggle. This creature appeared to be small girl with short purple hair that was controlled neatly by a black hairband; she also had shining yellow eyes which seemed to match her shining personality. She wore what appeared to be a purple colored nightgown which had a pink sash to tie it together, and she also wore a pair of lavender colored slippers. She also had two small wings which seemed to shimmer in the light.

Then another one of the creatures came down and tried to pry the little girl off of Anna. This one appeared to be male but he spoke in a sort of soft and awkward tone of voice, like he was very weak compared to the rest of the creatures. "Um, L-Lady Violet? Maybe we should let Lady A-Anna rest for a little while. Su-summoning us is no easy feat to pull off so she's probably ti-tired."

The little girl responded by shouting at the male creature, "Back off Scilla-kun! I'm never letting my precious Anna-chan go ever again!"

The male creature backed away and cowered in fear. "S-sorry, s-sorry." Then he appeared to droop his head in shame at the turn of events. He had light blue hair which appeared to stick up in a sort of drooping cone shape, and he also had bright green eyes which seemed like the matched the color of the summer leaves. He appeared to be a knight of sorts and wore a suit of armor, a cape, and a sword that was strapped to his back, which were all in different shades of blue. His wings appeared to be that of a dragonfly's.

Anna giggled again at the sight of the male creature, and then she said, "It's great to see you all again. I'd like to introduce you to my new friends." She motioned to Madoka, "This is…"

"No need to worry," the last creature flew down and cut Anna off, "I have every one of them already memorized." She had long black hair which was tied into a ponytail and beautiful amber eyes. She appeared to be dressed as a Miko and wore a white kimono which had hints of red here and there. She also had ladybug wings which she used to hover around our heads as she pointed each one of us out. First she hovered to me. "This is Neku Sakuraba, Team leader of Hikari and the boy who helped Anna gather her courage. You are in our gratitude." Then she went over to Madoka. "This is Madoka Amari, who has been like a little sister to Anna in the two days that she has known her. A true friend, indeed." Then she went over to Rin. "Rinnosuke Maeda AKA Rin, the mean and snobbish brute who tricks Anna into doing things for cheap laughs. You are on my list, mister!" she exclaimed with a glare, getting a confused look out of Rin and snickers from the rest of us. And then finally she went over to Jordan. "And you are…huh? Actually, I have no idea who you are." The female creature with red hair cut in and pulled the Miko girl back to Anna's side to join the rest of them.

"Okay enough with the introductions, Sakura. I think it's Anna's turn to introduce us now," the red-haired creature said.

"Okay!" Anna exclaimed in glee. "Everyone these are Anna's old friends, the Guardians of the Garden. They've been with Anna for as long as she can remember." She motioned to the red-haired girl. "This is Rose; she's the leader and the Guardian of Dreams."

"Pleasure to meet you," Rose said with a curtsy.

Then she motioned to the blonde twin-tail female. "This is Sunflower; she's the Guardian of Happiness."

"Howdy, ya'll," Sunflower replied with a big smile and a wave.

Then to the small purple-haired girl. "This is Violet; she's the Guardian of Love."

"Don't think for a second that just because I'm young I don't know a thing about love," she replied in a crude way as she placed her hands on her hips.

Then to the blue-haired male. "This is Scilla; he's the only male member of the group and the Guardian of Strength."

"I-it's n-nice to m-meet you," Scilla stuttered in a sort of weak way as he looked away embarrassed.

And lastly to the black-haired female. "And lastly we have Sakura; she's the Guardian of Truth."

"I see through all lies. Don't think that you can deceive me," Sakura said in a sure of her self way.

The rest of us were shocked beyond words at the appearance of these strange tiny individuals. "Are those things supposed to be fairies?" Rin asked as one of his eyebrows was raised up.

"This is one of the weirdest Psyches I've ever seen," Jordan commented.

"I think they look cute," Madoka commented, getting the fairies attention.

Sunflower hovered next to Madoka and praised her. "Aww, thanks darling. But you're the real cutie here, you look about as sweet as a plum."

Then Violet hovered next to me and gave me a weird smile. "So you're the boy who Anna has a crush on?"

Mine and Anna's eyes both widened, and Anna's face seemed to go beat red. "Pardon?" I muttered at Violet.

"You know what I'm talking about. She may not admit it but you can't hide feelings of love from me, and my intuition is telling me that Anna is thinking about giving you a great, big ki…" Violet was cut off when Anna reached out and grabbed her, pulling Violet into her chest and covering up her mouth. "Mmmph! Mmmph!"

"Never mind what she says Neku, Violet just likes to be dramatic!" Then she nervously giggled.

Then Rose came up to me and tried to talk to me as well. "You're probably wondering if we're more of Anna's illusions and if you should be worried that we'll attack you, right? Well actually we're the bits and pieces that make up Anna's subconscious, so the truth is that we're the things that make her illusions possible. Without us Anna couldn't make anything appear, but with us, she can do this." Rose snapped her fingers and suddenly the Rainbow Blade Pin that Anna made for me reappeared in my hand and my headphones reappeared on my head. "Pretty nifty, eh?"

Then Rin cleared his throat and got everyone's attention. "Okay, just thought I'd ask since we seem to be getting a bit off topic but how exactly do these "things" help us find Rhyme?"

Sakura hovered towards Rin and then said, "Allow me to explain, my faire Liar-kun. Anna's idea is that you all spit up and cover more ground, that way you can check out all the locations that Rhyme-chan is supposedly at in the shortest amount of time. And she summoned us so that we can each follow you and help keep in touch with everybody using our Telepathic connection."

"Yeah, and we can also help you guys fight too. We may not look it but we're actually really tough and we can control our own Psyches too. We're like five Annas rolled up into one," Rose added.

Anna nodded and agreed with her fairies. "Alright Neku, now we have ten people on our side. What's your call?"

I smiled at Anna's sense of good judgment in increasing the odds for us and the fire inside my stomach grew even more. "Okay Jordan, you take Madoka and go check out the locations in everywhere southwest of us. Rin, you check out everywhere northwest of us. Anna, you check the southeast. And I'll take the northeast."

"Then I'll go with you, Neku. The two of us together should be unstoppable," Rose said.

"Okay then I'll go with sugarplum here and the Reaper," Sunflower said, motioning to Madoka and Jordan.

"And I'll go with Anna-chan!" Violet exclaimed.

"Actually Violet, I think it would be best if you went with Sunflower, she might need the help," Rose said. "And I was thinking that Scilla should go with Anna."

Scilla's eyes widened. "M-me, Lady Rose? I…I d-don't k-know if I'm c-cut out for that."

"Nonsense you're the Guardian of Strength, when you put your mind to it you're stronger than all of us combined."

"What?! But I want to go with Anna-chan!" Violet whined.

Sunflower grabbed onto Violet and yanked her away from Anna. "Come on, you and me kid," Sunflower said, pulling along Violet as she struggled.

"Alright then! Let's go Scilla-kun!" Anna exclaimed, grabbing ahold of an unsure Scilla and placing him on her shoulder.

Sakura hovered over to Rin again. "I guess that leaves you and me, Liar-kun." Then she let out an exhausted sigh. "Let's just get this over with." Rin glared at Sakura's comment of him.

Rose hovered over to me and then plopped herself on my shoulder. "Shall we go, Neku?" she asked.

I smiled at her and then reached down into my pocket to grab Phoenix Feathers. I gripped the Pin tightly in my hand and allowed the fiery Psych Energy to flow through and envelop me in its red and orange aura cloak. "Yeah, let's go!" I ran towards the opposite end of the rooftop. "We're coming for you, Rhyme!" I shouted at the top of my lungs as I jumped off the rooftop and used Phoenix Feather's power to fly through the sky. My confidence that this would be over soon was soaring through the skies, little did I know that it would soon come crashing down and burn.

Side D-Dice and be Reborn

Gamon's POV-

Bito Residence. Love Hotel Hill, Shibuya-August 6, 2009, 16:50

My name is Gamon Aogiri, and for as long as I can remember I've been unhappy. You know how people are born with an innate sense of happiness inside of them; as soon as they're born they latch onto the first thing they find. That thing, whatever it may be, becomes their connection to the world. Without their connection they're nothing, they're a shadow. Because it's that connection that gives them happiness, and happiness is the gateway to everything in life. Imagine a well-rounded individual possible, he is surrounded by people who love him no matter what, his life makes him happy, he does all the things that give him joy every day and he spends every day with the people who bring him joy. Most of you out there are probably like this imaginary happy person.

Now I want you to imagine a person completely opposite of this happy person. He was abandoned by his parents when he was only two, not even dropped off at an orphanage or on someone's doorstep, just left behind in the street like trash or garbage. Fast forward a little and this person grows up on the streets, and learns that he has to take things in order to survive; he becomes a street rat and claims his first taste of misdeed. Fast forward a little more and this person falls into the wrong crowd with a group of people who claim to be his family and then again the person is left behind like trash when things turn from bad to worse for his newfound family. He watches them get slaughtered by men in masks. Fast forward a little more and he's all alone again, let's say he's ten now and he finds one of his old friends from before the slaughter. He has a son whom he recognizes as another kid who was brought into that questionable world and escaped unharmed, the kid doesn't even seem to remember because he was really young when the massacre happened. The unhappy person envies the kid because he's still pure in a way, and even though he came from a grim life similar to the unhappy person's he smiles and smiles with a face that says "everything is going to be all right." The unhappy person's old friend lets him stay with him and his son for a little while but eventually the unhappy person finds that the quiet little lifestyle that the father and son found for themselves is not to his liking.

He craves adventure now so he returns to the streets to live out his days as being ruler of the snatchers and street rats. Fast forward a little more and he comes into contact with a boy who wants to be just like him, even though he has a place to return too, a place which he can call home. The unhappy person, wishing for a connection on a deep personal level takes the boy in as his sidekick, and eventually the two street rats are on the same level. They learn the art of theft and con, they become artists and rip people off so that one day they can retire in luxury. But they both know that it's just a pipe dream, what they really love is the game. It gets their blood flowing and makes them feel all powerful when they pull of one of their heists. It will never end for them because they don't want it to end. And for a brief moment the unhappy person is filled with a new emotion. The mysterious emotion that has eluded him for so long. And then the person he had grown to call his brother was killed right before his eyes as if telling him that he was never meant to be happy. The blood leaves a scar in his mind and that horrible moment erases all the good times that he had come to have with his brother in arms. No happiness remained and he died in the same way he was born. Unhappy. If you can even begin to empathize with this type of person then you're just like me. A tortured soul that is just looking for a way to be snuffed out.

Only I didn't want to be snuffed out anymore, I wanted to feel happy again. I wanted to erase that horrible scene from my mind forever. I wanted to be reborn as a happy person. I wanted my brother back. Which is why I was here, badgering the guy who truly deserves my pain and hate. He deserves it because all he's done is capitalized on it and made me a slave to a pair of plastic dice that won't break no matter no matter how much I want them too. And because the dice tell me that he knows who killed my brother and I, and before I find my brother once again in this new game that we have found ourselves in, I want to make sure the guy who did this to us is bleeding at my feet. I haven't played the Reaper's game correctly since I began; I've spent all my time searching for the person who gave me these dice. I haven't been able to find him because the dice tell me that he has been protected by a barrier of sorts that shrouds him from their powerful gaze. However, today has proved differently. Here I was in the house of Raimu Bito, the girl for the Mission, and yet only one thing was on my mind. The one the dice call, Metatron.

Broken glass littered the room from where I had jumped through the window. Raimu Bito was cowering in front of her closet behind me while Metatron just gave me a disinterested look as he sat on her bed. I glared at him and then asked him the question that I wanted so desperately answered. "What do I have to do in order to be happy again?!"

Metatron smiled. "I was wondering when we would cross paths. I've been a fan of your work for some time now, Mirrors. Or is it just Gamon Aogiri now?"

"Shut the hell up!" I brought the cursed dice up to his gaze. They were blood red and instead of dots there were little skulls. They may have looked harmless but they were anything but. Since I got the damned things they've been whispering to me. I'm not joking. They had voices that implanted themselves in my head and constantly whispered things to me. The dice somehow knew everything in the UG, I knew instantly the names of exactly every participant, what their Psyches were, and where I could find them. The only drawback was that the dice would never shut up, no matter if I covered them up, no matter if I plugged up my ears, no matter if I tried to throw them away. I could always hear their eerie voices coming through like crystal-clear radio.

The one who knows is Metatron. The one who knows is Metatron. The one who knows is Metatron. He lies, he lies, he lies. Beware, beware, beware, beware of the trickster known as Metatron.

I started to twitch and my mind started throbbing. I couldn't take hearing their voice in my head for a single more second. "Arrgh!" I shouted out as I threw the dice at Metatron, who managed to catch them with ease. He eyes them for a few moments and turned them over in his fingers. The only sounds that filled the room were my exhausted pants and the clacking sound of the dice rubbing up against each other.

Then Metatron looked back up at me. "Problem with my gift?"

I chuckled sarcastically in exasperation. "Gift? You call those things a gift? They're making me lose my mind!" I punched the wall next to me, making Raimu jump out of fear.

Metatron looked back down at the dice and then he explained their function to me. "My own personal creation, they can sense things far clearer than your phone or your Player Pin. They can see things that you miss and then correct you by telling you what you should look out for. They are the perfect tools for surviving in the UG. With these at your disposal you could very well be the most powerful Player in the Reaper's Game."

He tells the truth about us. He tells the truth. Do not fear us because we are just a part of you. Use our power and you will become stronger than in your wildest dreams.

I held my head and grunted. "I don't want them! All I want is for you to tell me how I can get my happiness back! Give it back you damn bastard!"

"I can't give you anything back that was taken away as an Entry Fee; you heard the rules from my brother Leonidas on Day 1. If you want your Entry Fee returned to you than all you have to do is win the Game with your Team."

"I am not part of a damn Team! The only teammate I will ever have is somewhere in this hellhole with me and I am going to find him if it's the last thing I do! But your damn dice won't tell me where he is, him or the guy who killed us!"

They're in the UG. They're in the UG. Go and find them. Go and find them.

"I don't want to play your fucked up Game of life and death! All I want is to have my brother back by my side and to get back the little bit of happiness that you assholes stole from me when my back was turned! Make me normal again!"

Metatron stayed silent after that for a minute or two and then a smile spread itself across his face and he began to snicker. "Normal again? What kind of fantasy world are you living in kid? You used to scam tourists out of their money for shits and giggles. I don't know what you think normal is but in my book that is way far from the true definition. All you want is for things to go back to the way they used to be, right? Well news flash, things change when you least expect them too. Did you honestly think that you and Sado could keep scamming people forever and ever, that the folly of your actions would never catch up to you? If it wasn't being gunned down in an alleyway your lives would have probably ended in any other numerous bad ways. The cops might have finally gotten the two of you and you could have spent the rest of your life in prison, Sado would have probably gotten off though because he has people who actually care about him and he could have turned on you and said that you coaxed him into helping you rob people blind. Or maybe Sado would eventually surpass you and then pull the wool over your eyes when he reveals that he's been running a long con on you and then amscrays with everything you've ever earned. Or possibly worst of all, White Mask might have found you. Remember those days of being hunted. The Pharaohs were a Gold Color Gang were they not? They preyed on the weak and helpless and extorted and blackmailed people all for the sake of greed. You probably didn't imagine back then that a Colorless Gang like White Mask would show up out of the wind and one by one destroy each and every gang that ruled Japan. While they usually just planted evidence of the other gang's deeds to get the cops involved or plant seeds of doubt inside the gangs to make them destroy themselves, with the Pharaohs they did something really special, did they not? They murdered each and every member of your little gang, isn't that right? All except for Anubis, Osiris, and you, Amun. Tell me, did the dice tell you that those two were participating in the Game as well?" I sighed in exasperation and pulled back my left dress shirt sleeve to reveal an almost faded Ankh tattoo. The once proud mark of the Pharaohs.

Anubis and Osiris. The god of death and the one who will replace him.

"Unlike you they actually want to return to life. They've got far too much to live for. Which brings me to you, do you even want to return to life Gamon? You keep making demands of me, acting like I have something to do with what happened to you and Sado. But the truth is I'm the reason why you're still here, an uncertain person like you would have been thrown into Game Over before the Reapers' Game even began. I'm the one who stuck up for you and allowed you to compete."

He lies. You're more important to him than he says.

"Tell the truth! Who am I to you?! Why did you give me this fucked up power?!" I shouted out as my head began to throb more and more.

Metatron snickered again. "They really do work. I made them on a whim to see if I could give my Proxy an edge but their capabilities are truly limitless. I'm a freakin' genius!"

Without you, he cannot survive. Without you, he cannot exist. You are his Proxy and Lifeline.

"What's a Proxy?! How am I connected to you?! Is the reason you won't let me leave that if I go then you go?!"

I heard Raimu stand back up and then I felt her grab onto my shoulder. "Hey are you okay?" I nudged her away from me and then turned around and glared at her.

"Stay out of this!" I yelled. Then I turned back to Metatron. "And you tell me what the fuck is going on right now! Why do the dice talk to me?! Why am I so important to you?! How do I find my brother?! How do I become happy again?!"

Metatron stared at me for a few moments and then he sighed in grief. "I think I know how Joshie must feel with Neku now. Mortals always want things spelled out for them; they have no imagination what so ever. Do you think it's a coincidence that I chose you out of all the Players to represent me as my Proxy?" Metatron shook his head. "Nah, things are much bigger than that. You see this has all been pre-destined. Before we even started this Reapers' Game the Recorder of Fate checked all of the Players who were eligible to compete. And it turned out that we made ten errors. Ten out of about ten-thousand, so still pretty good. The Recorder of Fate, my sister Uriel, surmised that these ten errors were made by each of us sometime in the past. When their souls were first created we let them fall into the Mortal world without fully examining them because each of them had some sort of ingredient missing from their essence that only one of us picked up on in the end. And you see these ten errors are a really big deal because according to the Creator, the one you call God, in his prophecy about the end of days he said ten errors that we made over the course of history would come back to haunt us and bring about the end of days. And guess what you are, Gamon?"

My eyes went wide. "I…I'm an error? I'm…I'm not supposed to exist?"

"That happiness that you're missing. There's a reason why it's gone, it's because it was never there in the first place. You and the other errors did something or went through something that ended up destroying you deep down inside. Have you ever felt like there's a part of you that's missing? That's the uncertainty that the errors are forced to bear, the piece of you that's missing is your true self. And the emptiness that's left eats away at you from the inside and makes you wish to die. That's why you're an error because if we were doing our jobs correctly when you were first created, you would have been thrown into Game Over automatically so you wouldn't have to suffer the isolation and the unhappiness that your uncertainty would force you to bear. But like I said this has all been pre-destined, we couldn't have changed the outcome of creating you even if we wanted too. You were pre-destined to become an error to the system of the Reapers' Game and to destroy it along with the other bugs that we let slip through our fingers. Which is why each member of the Council was assigned to monitor one of the so-called Ten errors and watch their every move. And you Gamon, you are my Proxy. You mirror some of the qualities I possess as well as the other members of the Ten mirror the other members of the Council. But by making you my Proxy I have also inadvertently called up a Lifeline between you and me, and if the Lifeline reaches zero then we both get permanently Erased."

He speaks the truth. Listen to what he has to say.

"Shut up!" I shouted at the dice, "I'll handle this on my own! Even if you say I can trust him I'm not going too! How dare he tell me that I don't deserve to exist?!"

"No, no, no. You've got it all wrong; I'm not saying that you don't deserve to exist. I'm saying that you shouldn't exist, and am I really being obtuse by saying that? Think about it. All your life you have always felt empty inside, like a hole was inside of your heart. That's the error; no one should have to feel like that. It's a design flaw that each of you share, a hole which you tried to fill things up with to make you forget that it was there. And the only reason you can't accept that is because you feel like you've formed a real connection with Sado in the time that you knew him."

Then the dice fell silent, they stopped whispering to me. I was alone with my thoughts, at least for a little while. I had the chance to contemplate the things Metatron had told me and I found myself siding with his logic. 'On some level, he might be right. I've always felt empty inside, and when I met Sado I replaced that emptiness with a sense of belonging and thrills. But now that we're separated I feel empty again. And Anubis and the little guy are here too, eh? I wonder if they feel the same way.' Then I felt arms wrap around me and I twitched at the sudden physical contact. I looked back and saw that Raimu started hugging me. I didn't know what to make of it, she didn't even know me and I barked at her the whole time we met. Yet here she was, trying to comfort me like I was some little kid in her eyes.

She pulled me back around to face her and then she began to speak. "Hi we never officially introduced ourselves after you came crashing through my window. I'm Raimu Bito, but my friends call me Rhyme. I like that name because my brother gave it to me. He and I were separated by the Reaper's Game too at one time, but then we were soon reunited because one of my friends helped us through our problems and made us see a ray of hope that we had lost before we died. You're Gamon, right?" she asked as she gave me a warm smile.

I nodded in reply while I gave her an unsure look. "Yeah."

"You don't need to listen to anyone except yourself. Don't let anyone tell you that you're a mistake. Because being you is the greatest gift of all." Then she giggled. "I used to be just like you, I was what everybody told me I was supposed to be. I didn't listen to my own heart and because of that the dream I really wanted to have is out of my reach and I don't know exactly when I'll be able to get it back. But the important thing is that I don't give up hope, I believe deep down that I'll see my brother again because I know that my friend will help me though this. You need to make sure that you don't lose hope either Gamon, and if you want I can be your friend to help you go through this. I've been part of the Reapers' Game before so I know what to expect."

I stared at Raimu for what seemed like an eternity, playing the words she said to me in my mind over and over again. 'Why? Why does this girl want to help me? She barely knows me and I acted horribly to her before. Why does she even care?'

"It's just her way," I heard Metatron say, he practically read my thoughts. "Raimu is a sweet and caring girl, she always has been and she always will be. Like you, she was unhappy but I've reignited her spirit and allowed her true self to reemerge, unfortunately I can't do the same for you because that spark of happiness was never inside of you. If you really want to be happy you need to find the thing that makes you truly happy yourself. But the only way that you'll ever get normality back into your life is if you try and play the Game. Consider this an incentive." Then he snapped his fingers and suddenly Raimu disappeared.

I yelped in surprise and turned around to face Metatron. "What the hell did you do?! Where did she go?!"

"I made the Game more difficult, if she stays in one place for too long then the GM is bound to find her. Worse yet, I couldn't have risked the chance that you'd try and take her. Then Ryukocchi would win and everything I'm trying to set up would be all for naught."

"What the hell are you talking about?! Bring her back dammit; she's innocent in all of this!"

He scoffed. "Now you care about her all of a sudden? Up till a few minutes ago all you cared about was finding a quick fix way to piece together the shattered remains of what used to be your so-called life. You are a very fickle person you know that Gamon? But then I'm not one to complain. I'm also fickle beyond reason."

"Enough games! Bring her back, take back your damn dice, and give me my old life back!"

He folded his arms and changed into a serious tone. "I had to move her because in a few minutes this place will probably be swarmed by Players and Noise." Then my phone vibrated and I reached for it to check the Mission mail. "Speak of the devil."

I read over the Mission mail. "Raimu Bito is wanted by the GM? Why, she isn't even a Player?"

"Let me let you in on what's really going on here. I wanted to give her a head start but I also need her out of earshot because what I'm going to tell you will likely blow out her little fragile spirit like a birthday candle, but you need to hear this because it's likely to ignite your spirit into a roaring flame. You've been told by my brother Leonidas that Neku Sakuraba was the cause of this Reapers' Game and that all the frustration you have should be placed at him. That the reason we "Angels" have come here and made the Reapers' Game was because he embarrassed our brother Joshua last year. That is a boldfaced lie."

I pricked up my ears and listened to what Metatron had to say. "What do you mean? No more tricks and no more suspense, just tell me what you mean? Is that so hard for you people to comprehend?"

Metatron sighed, "Fine. I'm sorry, but we get this nature for our dad, he was always a joker. Now then, the reason we truly came here is because we were destined too."

"Destined too?" I repeated in confusion.

"We live off destiny; we've been around since the world began so we know what's eventually going to happen. Even you Mortals know that one day the world will end for good. Some of you say it will end with a climate shift of epic heat that will eventually usher in another ice age, others theorize that your world will eventually be consumed by the star it orbits, and even the more paranoid ones believe that it will end with nuclear war. Well I'm here to tell you that I and my siblings know exactly how the world will end. Eleven youths. Ten misguided, one too guided. The One will lead the Ten on a crusade to destroy the world as you know it and Erase all the Boundary Lines that separate the Planes of Existence from bleeding into each other. So says our father, the Creator of the universe. Years ago, he prophesized that his creation would be destroyed by the little mice inside the big cage. Last year, Joshua discovered the youth who would end the world as we know it. Neku was a loner; he didn't care for anyone else and preferred to be left alone. Which is why he died scared and alone? While he was in the Reapers' Game he met several people who felt empty like him, including my brother who disguised himself as a Player in order to get close to him. But eventually his point of view started to change and he became enthralled with the idea of making things better, when he eventually won and beat Joshua at his own game Neku decided to change the world for the better. To create a world where he and his friends can be together again, Raimu included. However serious ramifications came to light about the world he created."

"What kind of ramifications?" I asked.

"Reality is a fickle thing as well, if you change one thing it will create a ripple effect. That's why usually for each Reapers' Game we're only allowed to bring one Player back to life and not change anything else. Joshua helped Neku bring himself and his three friends back to life, erasing everything that happened in the RG in their absence. They were reunited with their loved ones who knew nothing and could not recall their deaths, worse yet they retained the memories of the UG, bending even more of the rules of the system that was set in place for the Game. Those bends caused backlashes and resulted in several parts of reality being altered, people who shouldn't have died ended up dead, and people who shouldn't have been made were born into the world. A year later, we've come to rectify the mistakes that he made and return things to the way they should be. As much as it pained me to do so, the world could not go on like Neku wanted it too. We had to recreate the things that were changed before Neku entered the Game and after he ended it. Now he's stuck in confusion, desperately trying to find a way to cling to the life that he carved out for himself."

He continued to explain, "Neku will continue in his quest and he'll claim that it is because he wants to create a better world but really it's because he wants to end this one due to the fact that things aren't too his liking. Neku Sakuraba was loved and cared for but he threw all that away when he stumbled upon my brother. My brother Joshua is way too treacherous for anyone's good but he somehow managed to gain the trust of Neku, maybe the little wart just grew on him." He chuckled and then continued his explanation. "Anyway then the Ten, that's you and the other errors, come into the picture. Apparently Joshua let Neku in on every single one of the Game's secrets by killing him and entering him into the Game."

"Wh-why would he do that?"

Metatron sighed, "For a bet with a Reaper. Joshua used Neku to help him win his bet but eventually he began to care for Neku, he said that he saw a lot of himself in the little emo. Things changed and Joshua left Shibuya under Neku's control. Neku, using his newfound power, was able to change Shibuya into what he saw as fit, however changing a few small little things resulted in a sort of Shift in the laws of reality, making things that should never have happened happen in an instant. Like I said, bending reality is a no-go. The Shift destroyed and recreated everything in a way that pandered to Neku's liking, and that Shift also affected the Ten. I know I said that we "Angels" were the ones who screwed up and placed you guys into existence but it was Neku's fault that you were even created in the first place. You're Neku's errors, you all embody aspects of him whether you know it or not. And Neku's growing power was the reason we had to come and put a stop to what was going on. We've taken away all the things which he fought so hard for in order to make up what his Shift caused for all of you. On behalf of Neku and the Council I want to say that we're sorry, we're so sorry we let Neku create you and leave you empty inside."

I didn't get what he was saying at first. 'What does he mean? I was never supposed to exist in the first place? I'm just some side effect of a world Neku Sakuraba created?'

"The person Gamon Aogiri was never supposed to be created, at least not in this way."

Could it have been true? Was I just a mistake, an error which the universe was trying desperately to correct? I reached into my other pocket and pulled out my Player Pin. "So this world is all Neku? It's a world which he selfishly created?"

"A UG within a UG. An Alternative world if you will. But now since we corrected the pieces of Neku's world that he holds so desperately, he's out for revenge. He's going to try and win the Game so he can use the wish to restore the balance to his world, and he will succeed. It's destiny, the world will be destroyed and recreated into something unimaginable in less than ten weeks."

"But Neku will just replace the bits and pieces of his world that you took from him, won't he?"

Metatron shook his head. "I'm afraid that when he created his own Alternative he also opened a proverbial Pandora's Box. All the chaos from each of the Planes of Existence is starting to blend together and eventually all the Planes will collide into each other and they will all be destroyed, making it possible to create a new world with new rules. Neku will get exactly what he wants and the rest of us will be lucky if we even have a place in his perfect world."

"So if Neku Sakuraba wins, then it's game over…for everyone?"

"It looks that way. The Council has kept the order of the universe for eons but it appears that our time is coming to an end. We're going out with a bang though and we swore that we would keep fighting until the end. We decided that we would try and get the errors on our side in order to combat Neku, but that's easier said than done because essentially Neku is your Creator and you have an unnatural willingness to follow him. He already has three of you on his Team, Madoka Amari, Kazuma Eturome, and Rinnosuke Maeda. And he knows three others, Akemi Ichikawa, Hideaki Ryuzora, and your little buddy Osiris."

My eyes widened. "Willy?! Willy's an error too?!"

"Willow, right? That's the name your pal Anubis picked out for Osiris when he found him all those years ago. Willow may not show it but he feels empty just like you, he's just better at hiding it. And eventually he'll give in and realize his place is with Neku as will Akemi and Hideaki. Then all that's left will be you and three others. One by one the errors will come back to Neku and soon he will be complete once again, ready to retain his perfect world. You'll all disappear but hey at least you'll finally be whole again, right? Only you'll be someone else entirely. Back together with daddy."

I put my Pin back in my pocket and my hand got my attention. It was all rough and sun kissed and a perfect metaphor for my life so far. And now here I was being told that none of it was real, I wasn't Gamon Aogiri, I wasn't Mirrors, I was nobody. (A/N: Have sympathy for the Nobodies in the world, Roxas, Naminé, all of you. You all have the right to exist. We love you guys.) I was just a shadow of Neku Sakuraba, according to Metatron that is. I looked up to the dice that Metatron was grasping in his hands. I couldn't hear their thoughts at first but then the rasping voices appeared once again.

You're his zest. Neku's will to live in the moment. Metatron's telling the truth because he's just like you; his Creator molded him in the shape of his knowledge.

"So that's why I'm your Proxy, because we're similar?"

"In some ways sure but saying my dad and Neku have the same bits and pieces is like comparing apples to oranges. Similar in some ways but different in others. The truth is I picked you to be my Proxy because I know what you're going through. Even though you and Sado weren't related by blood he was still close to you wasn't he. For the two of you it didn't matter if you guys ever left the streets, it was all about living in the moment. I used to feel that way with Joshua, we're the youngest of our kind you see and we knew that no matter what happened we would always have each other's backs. And even though Joshua and I may not see eye to eye right now it doesn't change the fact that I will keep searching and looking for him, if only to tell him that we're officially done and that I don't need him anymore. That's what you do when you care about someone that deeply, it's the kind of love that only siblings could know. You never give up hope because you know deep down that they're thinking the same thing. You don't think Sado's out looking for you right now? I was telling a fib just to get you riled up and for that I apologize."

"So what do you want me to do?" I asked, unsure of what I should do next now that my anger had officially been washed away.

"That's up to you. You can go run with Neku, like you're destined too. Or you can say "screw you" to destiny and go find Raimu and play the Game." Then he smiled and said, "Do you want to know a secret? Neku can't win unless he has the Ten in his arsenal. Joshua told him this especially because he wants the world to be remade too. He and Neku did everything they could to gather them all here. They were the people who ordered the hit on you and Sado."

My eyes widened to the size of dinner plates at Metatron's statement. My mind raced back to that day. That day in Odaiba, in the alleyway, a hole being shot through Sado's chest and him choking on his own blood, the man with the gun. 'Neku and Joshua were the guys who ordered that?'

"If you truly want to know the person who killed you and your brother I suggest you ask the person who made it all possible. Your Creator and your inevitable Destroyer, Neku Sakuraba." Metatron took my phone from as my arms dangled by my side and my mind was a million miles away. He entered something into my phone and then showed it to me. There were three photos. Sado, Raimu, and Neku. "A checklist. Find Raimu and deliver her to the GM so you can advance in the Game, kill Neku and Erase him from existence but only before he tells you who the shooter is, and lastly find Sado and live happily ever after living like street rats. Prevent the Day of Oblivion and Wonder from coming to fruition and all is assured." He gave me a gentle smile which somehow made me feel secure.

My anger returned but this time it wasn't rage. It was a calm anger. I could rationalize all my thoughts and I was seeing straight, an unnaturally peaceful sense of hatred. I took my phone back from Metatron as well as "my" dice and then proceeded out the room in the direction that I had come in. "And I should probably tell you, your Psych in case you didn't know is called Lucky, and with it you can use any of the Rare Breed Psyches. Just talk to your dice and they will assist you," Metatron called out to me. I heard what he said, like I said I was irrationally calm. I had three goals in my mind. Find Raimu and thank her for what she said before handing her over to the GM to obtain the reward, find Sado and return a dash of normality to this fucked up world, and lastly and most importantly watch Neku Sakuraba burn.

Scramble Crossing, Shibuya- August 6, 2009, 17:08

Could it be true? That one question kept repeating itself in my mind over and over again. Could it really have been true? I was me but also someone else. Could it really be true? Neku Sakuraba changed the whole world when he won the Reapers' Game last year. Everything. Was it a lie? Ten people who were never supposed to be created were born into this world. Was I really one of them? Ten pieces of Neku, all empty inside because not one of them was truly complete without the other nine. Was I really Neku? This morning I woke up and started Day 6 as Gamon Aogiri, the legendary Mirrors. Has my whole life up until now just been a lie? Me and nine others were just shadows of some guy that we all barely know. Did Metatron just lie to me? He could have lied; I mean it sounds farfetched when you think about it clearly. The memories that I have, the life that I've spent up until now, it's all meaningless? As I walked through Shibuya, searching for Raimu, the questions just bombarded my mind, making me question everything that I've ever known. I walked past thousands of people as I made my way to one of the locations listed on Track Attack. It was near Hachiko Square, I doubted that Raimu was really there but it was worth looking into. If it was a trap set by the GM I should be able to get out of it without any problems. One thing was concerning me though, Metatron said the dice would show me the way and that if I talked to them they would guide me to the answers I seek. I had to find Raimu because completing the Mission and advancing in the Game was the only way I was going to get my life back, I had to find Sado because my life just wouldn't be complete without my partner by my side, and I had to find Neku so I could learn if what Metatron told me was really the truth. Everything from me being a piece of him to him and Joshua setting me and Sado up in that horrible situation back in Odaiba. In the back of my mind I was hoping that it wasn't true because if it was then I might end up doing something really bad. But whatever the cost I had to find my answers. I had to know if everything that happens to me really does matter, that my whole life up until now was real.

I stopped walking right as I was about to enter Scramble Crossing and pulled my dice out of my pocket. I pulled them close to my face and then asked them, "Where is Raimu really hiding? Where did Metatron send her?" After a few moments I didn't receive a reply from the dice. I held them up to my ear and started to shake them, trying to get any response to come out of them. They weren't responding. I brought them back down towards my mouth. "What the hell?" I groaned. Then I sighed and let my anger go. I needed to conserve my strength because I could feel it. I could feel it in the air. Something bad was about to happen. Real bad. And then, almost as if the universe was calling out to me, I felt a presence looming past me. Watching me, studying me. I looked up and I saw him. I was sure he was watching me; his eyes were focused directly on me. Only I had no idea who this guy was. He had messy dark brown hair and baggy amber eyes. He looked about as bad as me. 'I wonder. Can that guy see me?' I asked myself. He was walking with a girl who was wearing a kitten knit hat but his focus was completely on me. As soon as he realized I was staring back at him he turned and tried to walk off like nothing happened. But something did happen, our eyes met. He knew. He knew no one else could see me, yet he could see clearly. Was he a Player or someone else connected to the Game? Either way he knew something that was for sure. I looked back down at my dice and then I sighed and gripped them tightly. I ran after the boy and before he could get out of my sight I stopped in his tracks by grabbing onto his shoulder. He turned around slightly and I confirmed my theory that he could see me.

"You see me?" I asked. He raised an eyebrow and nodded silently. Then I reached into my pocket and pulled out my cellphone, I brought the phone out in front of his face and then I showed him Metatron's checklist. "Do you recognize any of these people?"

He seemed afraid of me; I guess I was giving off a dark aura. "I know who the orange-haired boy and the blonde girl are but I don't know who the other guy is. Look what's this about?"

What was this all about? I didn't even know if Metatron was telling me the truth, he told me that Neku Sakuraba holds the answers and somewhere deep down inside I felt like that wasn't a lie. If I really was Neku then maybe I was feeling my connection with him. "One of these people tried to kill me, another one is needed to save my life, and the last one is part of my life. Do you know where I can find any of them?"

He shook his head, "No, sorry."

Be wary, someone is watching you from afar. They are blocking our reach and making our power wane. But fear not we will still guide you on your path, whatever it may be.

My eyes went wide at the sound of those hissing voices in my ear. 'Is that why you weren't responding? Someone's tuning you out?' I asked the voices in my head.

They are watching over you as we speak. Beware they possess a Psych Dampening ability. At any time they can cast a barrier to block out all Psyches. They are not someone you want to take on half-heartedly.

'Who is this person? Do they have anything to do with Neku Sakuraba?'

Yes and no. This person knows Neku but does not have anything to do with him. They are the same as this boy here. Merely an Observer who watches events unfold but could become a problem if they do decide to interfere later on. For now they are just watching you, observing your moves and calculating any responses they could make.

'And this boy right here? Are you sure he's not connected any deeper?'

This is just another side effect of the collapse of the Planes of Existence. All the people in the RG will eventually become able to see the inner workings of the UG. This boy is merely one of the few people who are already able to see. But he knows nothing about the things he sees. He doesn't even know that you're dead. If you want to find Neku then we will show you the way, head for the closest Raimu location and you will find the person you seek along with another one you wish to seek.

My gaze returned to the boy. "Never mind, the dice are speaking to me again. They tell me that the barrier is down. They can find them now, two of them are together, yet the third remains lost." I brought the dice up to mouth level again and then whispered, "Take me to the people who deserve my hate." Then I threw the dice on the ground and they started to bounce down the street. I let go of the boy and then followed closely behind them.

However as I chased the dice I could feel the presence of someone else watching me. I turned to my side to see a tuft of blue hair staying still in a crowd as person after person passed it. I could feel eyes studying me and I knew that whoever was watching me was the owner of that ocean blue mane. I stopped walking so I could get a better look at the person who was watching me but the second I stopped the crowd of people stopped clamoring through the area and allowed me to see to the other side of the street. There was nobody with ocean blue hair to be seen. They had vanished.

"One answer at a time," I assured myself and continued to follow after the dice.

Hachiko Square, Shibuya- August 6, 2009, 17:16

I followed the dice all the way through Hachiko Square until they made their way to the central plaza where the Hachiko Statue resided. There were a few people outside the central plaza but amazingly no one was inside, I had been to Shibuya on many separate occasions before and usually the central plaza was the most packed place in Hachiko Square. Everybody would want to stand near Hachiko, the icon of Shibuya. But no one was there that day. I watched them walk by the statue like they didn't even notice it was there. It was as if Hachiko didn't exist. I stopped in the middle of the plaza when I noticed that things were strange and then I heard that familiar clacking sound. I looked to the ground and saw my dice were bouncing back at me. I held my hand up in the air and then caught them, and then I held them in my hands and brought them up to my face so I could speak to them. "What's the matter? Where's Neku and Raimu? Why did you just come back?"

A barrier is in place around the statue. We cannot break through.

"Is it the person at the Crossing again?"

No, look up above the statue.

I did as instructed and saw an incredible sight up above the Hachiko statue. Numbers. It was a Timer up in the sky and the Timer appeared to be counting down. There was less than a minute to go. 00:54. 00:53. 00:52. 00:51. 00:50. "What's with the countdown?"

Check your phone. Track Attack.

I pulled out my phone and brought up the Track Attack app. And then I saw that the Raimu location at the Hachiko Statue had turned into a Timer icon that was also counting down. Out of curiosity I pressed the Timer icon and then a little popup message appeared on the screen. I read over the contents. "Raimu Event #10: Team Brawl- Help your Team fight against the other Team that tied with you in getting to the location." I looked back up at the Timer in the sky and saw that it was almost at zero. 00:10. 00:09. 00:08. "So this is the meaning behind the locations in the tracker app, they're traps set up by the GM." 00:05. 00:04. 00:03. 00:02.

Get ready, the person you seek is about to emerge.

When the Timer struck zero a blue shimmer shined across the front of the Hachiko Statue and then a whole in time and space seemed to appear. Three people were forcibly ejected from the hole and landed hard on the ground. Two boys and one girl. The tallest boy had windswept dark blue hair and wore glasses, the shortest boy had white hair and wore a pair of roller skates, and the single girl had long red hair and wore a beanie hat. All three of them seemed to be in bad condition, there were several cuts and bruises all over their bodies and it looked like they had just been through a hell of a fight. They were all grunting and twitching in pain so I rushed over to them to see if they were okay. I crouched down next to the tallest boy and asked, "What happened to you guys?! Who did this?!"

He looked at me and responded with a grunt. "R-run away, he's too str-strong."

My eyes widened and then I heard a snooty laugh coming from the portal. That's when I saw him; he stepped out of the portal with grace like he had just been proclaimed king of the world. Judging by the state of the kids in front of me I guess that meant he had won the fight that the GM set up. But there was no doubt it was him. The spikey orange hair, the sky blue eyes, and the purple headphones on top of his head. I was staring at the person who I was supposedly just a shadow of, the person who Metatron told me was just using everybody so he could to create his perfect world, the person who was responsible for everything that had happened to me so far. Neku Sakuraba.

When he saw me he immediately smirked. "I was hoping another one of the Ten would show up here." He started walking over to me. "I already have three on my side and I know the identities of three others, which just leaves you and three more pieces to go." He stopped when he was ten feet away from me. "I'll soon find out if what Joshua said was really true, when I reunite with the Ten of you I'll be able to create the perfect world once again." Then his smile grew. "Now then, what's it going to take to convince you to join me and help me redefine the definition of the world?"

I could see fierceness in his eyes. They were windows to the roaring fire inside his spirit. He spoke so calmly and passionately, he really meant every word. He was dead set on changing the world. But the question was did Neku want to change it for better or for worse? 'I need to know everything. He's confirmed what Metatron told me. I really am just a shadow,' I thought to myself. I closed my eyes and inwardly sighed. Then I opened my eyes and returned Neku's fiery gaze. "I want one thing, one question really. Depending on how you answer will determine my answer to your proposal. Do you accept?"

"That's all you want? Sure, I'll answer any questions you have to the best of my ability," he replied with his "trust me" smile.

"Okay then, here's my question." I took in a deep breath and then opened my mouth to let the words flow out. "Am I really just a side effect of you creating your own world after you won the last Reapers' Game, or did you actually intend to create me and the others?"

Neku snickered. "On a little journey of self-realization I see. You already know so much about the truth, most of the others don't even realize what they really are. All they know is that they have some gaps missing in their memories." He sighed in bliss. "Sweet memories. Did you know that one of the worst things a person can lose is their memory? Your memory is in essence everything you were, everything you are, and everything you will be. It's your identity, something that no one is whole without. I mean how can you be you when you're not even really sure who you is. It's your classic catch-22. No matter how much reason you find in your journey of endless answers it won't make a difference if there's no question to ask. Who am I? Without that question everything else is meaningless. How can you be sure that the way you think right now is what you truly think. You can't be sure. There is no meaning. Don't you get it, life is meaningless without any questions to ask. The others still can't accept that everything they know is a lie, they're unwilling to ask the big question."

"Who am I?" I repeated his question.

"Yes, and because of that they're lost. Lost in a sea of doubt, they're unwilling to change the person they are because they don't want to accept their true self. Only one of you has accepted your true side, you're on the fence right now, but the others…it might be forever until they finally reach the answer that they are satisfied with. Because they aren't willing to grow as people. They're surrounded on all sides by walls made of the thickest steel, their horizons are blocked off so they can't look to the future for guidance, nor can they move on and expand those horizons. They're trapped in a sea of isolation and despair. Cut off from the rest of the world and left to wallow in self-pity. They'll never escape unless they break free of those chains that tie them down and spread their wings so they can soar high and far just like they were meant to." Then he frowned and sighed in sadness. "I was once like all of you. Something happened to a good friend of mine and I ended up losing them. The pain was too much to bear so I made a vow to myself that I would never become that attached to someone ever again. So I shut down completely and cut myself off from the rest of the world. My walls stretched high into the sky and at the same time were closed in tightly around me. I created my own world, a world just for me, a world where I didn't care about anyone else, a world where I could do whatever I wanted whenever I wanted, a world where there was no sadness or pain because there were never any opportunities to experience interpersonal relationships. A world that was free and peaceful." Then he laughed again. "I can't believe how stupid I was."

I raised my eyebrow at his odd behavior.

"I thought of that as living. Can you imagine? Being isolated and alone, secluded in quiet and surrounded by darkness with no light at all to cast down hopeful rays. I hate the person I was back then, but luckily I met friends who helped me to change when I died and participated in the Reapers' Game." His smile just seemed to grow but I could feel nothing but despair and malice behind it. I started to get choked up like I could barely breathe at all. It was like just being near him was sucking the hope out of the air.

I shifted my eyes to the other three Players on the ground. They were all unconscious but still breathing. 'What did he do to them? This dark feeling? Did it consume them too?' I thought to myself.

"Truth be told, and you're gonna find this very hard to believe, the Reapers' Game was actually the biggest highlight of my pathetic life. It changed me completely, I became better, stronger, more caring. And it was all because I was forced to open up to the things around me by putting me in a life or death situation like that." He crossed his hands over his heart and started to laugh incessantly. "Being dead made me feel alive again, as strange as it sounds a little hardcore life therapy really did wonders for a horrible emo like me. When I won I only had one thought in my mind, trust your Partner. One of the guys who sent me into the Game told me to do that no matter what. That's how I won, I continued to trust in my Partner, even after betrayed me and revealed that he was the Composer and the one who had killed me. Even after all he put me through, even though deep down I couldn't forgive him, I still trusted that he would help me fix things and that we would all come out of it for the better. Joshua, my one true friend, my savior, and my redeemer. Together we created a world that we could both be happy with on the condition that I proved to him that one day we could all think the same way. In the world we created there would truly be no pain, suffering, sadness, anger, hate, no conflict of any kind. The plan was that we would start with ten of our very own children, Joshua separated my essence into eleven pieces and together we would help those ten children evolve and bring the world into a new era. It was our dream to save the world from itself."

Then he balled up his hands into fists. He seemed angry but none the less he kept on smiling. "But then those asshole siblings of his came and wrecked everything. All the work that we had done in the past year, recreating reality itself, and fixing things every time one of you messed up. They ruined our work! They ruined you!" It was as if a strong wind began to surround him. It was so powerful that I was knocked off my feet. I struggled to sit up. That's when I noticed that the air was calm. What I felt wasn't wind, it was something stronger. It was Neku's Psych Energy.

'Is this his true power?! So dark! It's giving me chills! Is this really Neku Sakuraba?!' I thought to myself as panic overtook me.

"So I guess the answer to your question is, yes. I did mean to create you but trust me when I say that you weren't supposed to turn into this, a bottomless pit of doubt, sadness and despair. When they changed everything we were left with no choice but to initiate a backup plan, so one by one Joshua and I killed each and every one of you. So yeah to sum everything up I did mean to create you, I'm not responsible for turning your life upside down, but I am responsible for your death. Because I realized that the only way you could truly be reborn was if you underwent the same hardcore therapy I did. Learning to trust people, having that trust broken, expanding your view of the worlds around you. That's the only way you guys can be saved. In order to be reborn as the hope of the future you had to die. The Ten Children of Hope will rise from the ashes! Even you, Gamon Aogiri, the person who was shot down without even knowing why."

My eyes widened and shock took possession of my face. I was speechless.

"You weren't even the last one we set free, we just didn't get around to telling you why you had to go through this. The guy Joshua and I hired said that he had to take you down kicking and screaming. But I guess that's to be expected from my zest for life. You probably can't remember because those days were taken away as your Entry Fee but in our world you loved life the most out of any of the others. You were loved and you loved everyone and everything in return, but look what the Council reduced you to. Some punk gutter trash who scams people for a living along with some stupid runaway who's a bad influence. A father should be very protective of his children, make sure they're not hanging around the wrong sort."

My vision started to turn hazy and my breathing grew rapid. I started seeing red and my temperature spiked.

"Don't worry my boy, by the time this is all over you'll be reunited with your brothers and sisters again and we can all return to our slice of heaven. Which is why I'm asking you to forgive me for having you killed, I was only thinking of the greater good. But soon it will all be over. When all of you are reunited again Joshua and I will be able to restart the world. That shining, beautiful world." He outstretched his hand. "So what do you say? You told me you'd give me your answer as soon as I answered your question. Granted, I rambled but still you owe me an answer."

My blood boiled. I had never been so angry in my life. Pure white hatred consumed me. I had to kill this son of a bitch! I hopped up off the ground and ran up to him while screaming like a madman. "You bastard, I'll fucking kill you!" I pulled my right fist back and brought up to meet his face. But unfortunately it was met by his palmed left hand which held me in place with pure ease.

He smiled again. "So I see, I guess I have your answer then. A very poor choice on your part. And you're supposed to be one of the smart ones?"

My anger grew and grew up to the point where I thought I was going to blackout from the fury. "You like death so damn much?! Let me fucking kill you again and this time around you might even get Erased!"

Neku sighed. "Oh if only, but that's wishful thinking. I'm not going anywhere. Stop." It happened before I even knew what hit me. The world suddenly went dark around me. It was like I was unable to comprehend what was going on around me, like everything in the world suddenly froze up. Then after a few moments I heard a single word echo through the darkness. "Start." The world suddenly came back into full view and I braced myself before I could fall face-first onto the ground. My eyes widened and I turned my head back to see that Neku was now behind me. "What the hell?!" I exclaimed with gritted teeth.

Neku smiled. "Sorry, why don't we try that again?" He motioned for me to come at him again.

I lunged and shouted, "Damn you! Stop fucking messing with me!"

"Stop." Then it happened again, my awareness just disappeared. Only this time I could feel pain. Several blows of pain. "Start." When I came to I collapsed to the ground while clutching my stomach. It felt like the air had just been knocked out of my lungs repeatedly.

I heard Neku chuckle and I cringed my head in the laughter's direction. That's when I saw that Neku had suddenly appeared in front of the portal that came out of the Hachiko statue. 'H-how in the…?' It was peculiar to say the least. One second I was about to pounce him and beat him to death and then the next second I was lying down on the ground with the wind knocked out of me. 'Is this some kind of Psych?' I asked myself. I slowly got up onto my feet again while continuing to grip my chest in pain. I breathed heavily and tried to maintain the anger I felt, feeling like it was the only strength I had left.

"Wow, you're weak. And I mean really weak. See this is why it's good to have a Partner. No one can fight in the UG without creating a Pact. Without a Pact you're about as intimidating as a daisy."

"Shut up!" I continued to shout at him.

"You can't even figure out a parlor trick Psych like this? Pathetic, and here I was hoping to see the famous Lucky Psych in action. You probably don't even know how to use your own Psyches, do you?"

"I told you to shut up!" I shouted as I threw my pain aside and rushed at Neku again. And that was when I saw it. It was only for a second but the image stuck out in my mind. For a second, just a brief second, Neku's eyes and hair completely changed color. But just as soon as the color changed, the orange hair and the blue eyes returned so I continued to press forward. Ready to throw a punch. If I couldn't use Psyches then I would have to settle for kicking his ass the old fashion way.

"Well let's see if you can learn from your mistake this time, shall we?" My fist was just inches away from colliding with his face when he said the word, "Stop," yet again. And then the world became darkness yet again, but this time it was only just a second before I heard, "Start." The world came back into full view and I saw that Neku was no longer in front of me. The only thing in front of me was the portal that was coming out of the statue. That was when I realized this was his plan all along, he had just been baiting me and waiting for the opportunity when I would run into his trap. And I fell for it hook, line, and sinker.

I tried to skid to a halt to stop myself from falling in head first but it was too late. Momentum took me and I fell into the portal. "Aaah!" I exclaimed as I fell into the unknown void. But before I completely disappeared I heard Neku call out to me.

"Oh well, looks like the plan will just have to work with nine! Have a nice trip, Gamon! Enjoy the coming fall!" And that was it. I disappeared from Hachiko Square, Shibuya, and the world all together.

I ended up going to another world which was like a mirror to that one. A mirror, just like my nickname. If this were a videogame that would be kind of like some corny pun as a bit of comic relief. But unfortunately that wasn't the case. If this were a videogame then I would be an actual character, I would have a right to exist for playing purposes. But that wasn't the case. Apparently, I don't exist. I'm just a piece of borrowed soul mixed together with a few pounds of flesh and bones. And the guy whose soul I had obviously wanted it back, so it was time to return it and return to being nothing. Nothing. Who was I really kidding? That's all I ever was and that's all I'll ever be. Living, dead, it didn't matter. I was an invisible nobody back in the RG and that was only multiplied in the UG. Out there I was even more worthless and pathetic. Almost two months of walking around and I hadn't accomplished anything. I hadn't even learned what my Psych was. Maybe I really was nothing, maybe I really just was trash lying on the street and just waiting for someone to do the decent thing and throw me away. What did it matter?

The Imaginary Number Plane. Hachiko Square, Shibuya- August 6, 2009, 17:21

I woke up in a world of only three colors. White, black, and gray. It was really freaky. At first I thought I was still at the Hachiko Statue and that the portal that Neku had tricked me into running into was just another trick, but that was when I noticed the emptiness of this particular area. No one was there, literally no one. There was nothing but quietness. The peace and quiet was so thick that it left a terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach. I tried to call out to someone, anyone else who was also here inside this place…wherever here was. "Hello?!"

Not getting any reply in return, I cupped my hands over my mouth and called out louder. "Hello?! Olly olly oxen free!" But there was still no answer.

It would be in your best interest not to shout in this area.

Those voices I knew. I pulled out the dice again and then started talking to them. "What do you know? What is this place?"

It is the plane that separates the UG and RG from the Noise plane. This is a parallel world in which no one exists.

"How can no one be here?" I pointed out the Hachiko statue. That statue of Hachiko, the area, it's all the same in Shibuya. The only thing that's different is the color scheme. It's really drab here."

This is a plane that only exists because it cannot be proven that it does not exist. The Imaginary Number Plane.

"Imaginary numbers?" I repeated the phrase, not knowing at all what the dice meant by them.

"They're numbers that simply exist because they can't be disproven." That's when I heard another voice speak to me. I turned around and saw a familiar and comforting face. It was Raimu Bito, being smiling and cheerful as always. Although she looked a little different. Her outfit had changed color; her black long-sleeved shirt was now a bright red-orange and the skull and cross bones design on it had changed to black, and instead of jeans she now wore a pair of denim khaki shorts, and her oversized beanie had been replaced with a smaller black beanie that had a skull decaled button pinned to it that looked eerily similar to a Player Pin. Her hair had also back to fully blonde and there were no more black dyed fridges.

"R-Raimu?" I mouthed.

She nodded in reply and then said, "Well yes and no."

"What do you mean yes and no?" I was perplexed at the flow of this situation. The dice said that no one was here in this place but there Raimu was, standing right in front of me.

"I mean like this." All of a sudden her whole body started to flicker like she was a bad television connection or something. But nevertheless she kept up that smile of hers.

"Holy…" I walked up to her and then poked her in the right arm, getting a flicker from her as a result. I was shocked to see that my whole finger passed right through her, it was like she was a ghost or a hologram. "This is unreal!" I waved my hand through her stomach just to see if the same thing would happen, only this time I got another response from Raimu.

She started giggling hysterically. "Hey stop it. That tickles."

I pulled my hand back and let confusion overtake me again. "If you're not Raimu, then what are you?"

Raimu shrugged her shoulders in reply. "To tell you the truth I'm not sure about what I am either."

"Wait. How does that even work? How can you not know about you?"

"Well, maybe it's because the knowledge on me isn't coming from my own head, it's coming from some other source."

"What are you talking about? Is this the trick of this world? Are you some kind of clue that Neku Sakuraba got for beating those three kids in the challenge."

Then Raimu's eyes widened. "Wait! You saw Neku?!" She ran over to me and then pleaded for me to tell her more. "Did you see Beat too?! What about Shiki?! Are they all okay?!"

I remained silent and let her ramble on in joy. The odd thing though was that the uncertainty she had just a moment ago seemed to completely vanish.

"This is great! This is the first time I've seen anyone else down here! I mean the flow of time doesn't exist here so I can't tell you how long I've been waiting! What's it been, two days?! More?! How did you meet the others?! Did you come and help them after I got chomped down by that huge shark Noise?! You have to tell me everything that's happened!"

I was flabbergasted at the energy and questions she had. It was like she didn't even recognize me, even though it hadn't been even an hour since we last talked. "Are you, Raimu Bito?"

She shook her head furiously. "But my friends all call me Rhyme!" Then finally she crashed and started to pant heavily. She slowly breathed in and then breathed out, trying to regain her composure. When Raimu was finally calm again she held her hand over her heart and sighed in relief. "I've got to maintain my excitement and go at this slow. I wouldn't be able to help Beat anymore if I didn't take my own advice."

"Are you okay?" I asked out of concern.

She nodded. "I'm fine, but I'm forgetting my manners. I should officially introduce myself and not just shout my name at you. Hi I'm Rhyme, it's nice to meet you."

I stared at Raimu oddly and raised an eyebrow. "Do you not recognize me at all?"

"No, why should I? Have we met somewhere before? Are you one of my brother's friends?" Then she frowned and looked down at the ground. "Is he okay? I haven't seen him for so long, I don't even know if he ended up in the Game with me or not."

I had seen a lot of weird things already since I first came to the UG but this had to take the cake. At first Raimu seemed worried and filled with sorrow, just like a lost kid. She claimed she was and wasn't Raimu and then she fizzed out slightly like a TV show with a bad cable connection. But the moment I mentioned something familiar, Neku in this case, she immediately responded to it like it was some kind of wakeup-call. And then there was her appearance, it had completely changed. And this place that we were in, the Imaginary Number…whatever, she seemed like she knew a lot about it at first but now that side to her is gone. 'What the hell is wrong with her? Why does she look so different? Why is she acting so different?'

Because this isn't the Raimu Bito that you know.

I heard those snake-like voices whisper in my ears again. 'What are you talking about? Are you telling me there are two Raimus?'

Yes. Before the world was recreated Raimu Bito was killed along with her brother, Daisukenojo Bito AKA Beat, in a tragic traffic accident. However, during the Reapers' Game that followed Raimu was erased for protecting her brother and then disappeared, leaving behind only her signature bell pendant. The world that Neku Sakuraba and Joshua created changed that outcome and allowed her to return to life along with the rest of Neku's friends. But in exchange she was forced to permanently give up her Entry Fee, the culmination of all her hopes and dreams. A small piece of her was shattered and cast out into obscurity, thrown away into the very pits of the Planes of Existence. The Imaginary Number Plane exists solely for containing things that do not exist. Raimu lost her hopes and dreams so they were sent here and took on the shape and appearance of herself from one year ago.

'So wait, you're saying she's…?'

Yes, this is the missing piece of Raimu. Her hopes and dreams for the future have appeared before you, just like a beautiful seashell that has been battered by the tide and washed up on the beach with nowhere left to go. She was most likely forced into doubt and grief at the loneliness and uncertainty that this world holds. A minute of your time is like an eternity in this world, just imagine what a year must feel like. The poor girl's been lost for so long that she must have forgotten what happened to her, you've just given her a reminder of her previous life. The Imaginary Number Plane is truly where hopes and dreams come to die.

'Did Neku do this? Did he want me to find her?'

Raimu cocked her head to the side. "Mister?"I didn't respond to her though.

Beware that boy, he is a being of neither light nor darkness. He is something else entirely. And there's also…

The dice grew silent. 'What is it? What about Neku?'

It's just…we've memorized his Psych signature already as Shibuya is completely coated with it's so strong. Our information tells us that he should be a Pin user with a high concentration of imagination, the very thing that makes using Psyches possible. With his high levels of imagination he could create a world by himself no problem at all. But…the boy we met didn't feel that way to us. His future hasn't been written yet either and the path he's walking on is still undecided, but it's like someone's walking on the road ahead of him and telling him to follow wherever they go. He's a puppet to this individual. If that boy is indeed Neku Sakuraba then there might some kind of problem with him.

'A problem? Someone's pulling the strings?'

It doesn't matter now. We are trapped here in the Imaginary Number Plane. It seems that Neku, or rather the hollow Neku has deemed you unworthy of furthering his plan as you are right now. He might've sent you here to ignite your will and unlock your true powers. If you fully accept your situation then maybe you can leave this place.

I frowned and loosened my grip on the dice. I felt like a large weight had just built itself upon my shoulders. It was a familiar feeling. Despair. I let it crawl through me and eat away at my insides. I couldn't stop myself from letting it soak in. 'But maybe I don't want to leave.' I heard the dice gasp in reply to my remark. 'Think about it. He beat me without even laying a finger on me. It was like playtime for him. What good will going back to him do me. You saw me back there, I was a hot mess. I was so angry I couldn't see straight and yet I just kept lunging at him. It was that same blind fury I had when I found Metatron, it's that same hate I've had for a while now. Maybe I was meant to come to this place. So I could finally say I've had enough.'

What are you talking about?! Don't you want to come back to life?! Don't you want to see Sado again?!

'Not if it means I have to feel angry at everything forever. I don't want everything that I do to be based on hate or revenge. Walking down that road, it looks like misery is my only destination. The days with Sado were fun but…did they even really matter? If I really am just some figment of Neku's huge ass imagination then why do I have to keep going on feeling depressed and hateful? What's the point of living then? What's the point of anything?' I felt like a dark mist had filled my mind and clouded my judgment. I knew deep down in my heart that what I was saying was utter nonsense but I didn't care. Was that the power of this world where dreams go to die?

You…you can't be serious! Are you saying you want to remain here, forever?!

"Mister, are you okay?" Raimu asked out of concern.

'What's the point of even trying to fight? I'll lose. Neku was right, I am weak. I pretend to be strong, people say I'm strong, but really I'm just a fucking coward. And this coward doesn't want to fight the truth anymore. If my destiny is to remain this way forever then so be it. I don't care anymore. J-just leave me alone and let me fall into obscurity in peace.' I dropped the dice to the gray ground and heard the sound they made upon hitting ground. 'None of it matters, nothing matters. I'm nothing. I'm no one. Gamon Aogiri doesn't exist. He never did. Why fight it? It's the truth. You can't hide the truth forever. I've just been lying to myself when I said that I had something worth living for. None of it was real. My life is a lie. Who's to say that the whole thing isn't a lie? Was Sado even real? Were Mich and Willy real? Was the world really just a load of nonsense created by some fifteen year old boy?' I was lost in doubt. There was no light at the end of the tunnel I was in. Just more darkness, empty darkness. Peaceful darkness.

"Mister?!" Raimu's concerns fell on deaf ears at that point. I started walking away from the gray Hachiko Square while that imitation girl kept calling out to me. I didn't know where I was going and I didn't care. Oh, the bliss of uncertainty. Then I heard a pair of faint voices echo.

You're…wrong. You aren't…simple zest Gamon. You are…hope itself.

I had hope? I was hope? If only that could be true. I am nothing. I am no one. I am nothing. I am no one. That's the truth, the ugly truth.

Regular POV-

But really that was not the truth at all. Gamon had been lied to from the very beginning, as well as Rhyme, and Neku. The words of Metatron were nothing but words, sweet simple words which he thought up on the fly, being the self-proclaimed genius that he is. He had single-handedly lied to all three of the poor souls and planted seeds of trust for him in each of their minds. Neku, filling him with some hope that there were other Angels besides Joshua and Hanekoma looking out for him. Rhyme, telling her a tall tale about the folly of their kind, the loss of Gabriel, the madness of Lucifer, and the Day of Oblivion and Wonder. And lastly Gamon his own Proxy, made to believe that he was not meant to exist and that he and nine others were just scattered pieces of Neku that were created when Joshua reset the world for Neku. The last lie, being probably the most deceitful of all. While it was true that Gamon was created untraditionally he was not a shadow of Neku but of something much greater. Gamon and the Ten errors will indeed try to bring the world to the Day of Oblivion and Wonder just as the prophecy left by the Creator dictated. But what Metatron did not mention was who the true ringleader of the coming Apocalypse was.

Telling Rhyme that the Day of Oblivion and Wonder was being brought upon by the Council in order to fix their mistakes and could only be stopped by Neku and his followers and telling Gamon how Neku would eventually lead Gamon himself and the other members of the Ten to cause the Day of Oblivion and Wonder and recreate Neku's "perfect" world, destroying this one in return. The whole time the Higher Being known as Metatron has been playing both sides of the front that will soon engulf the world. Shibuya is simply the beginning of his chess game. When the Queen falls the Game will be 1/10 of the way finished and he will be 1/10 of the way closer to having his plan come to full fruition. A plan to destroy all the Planes of Existence and start completely from scratch. A plan spearheaded by him and a few chosen siblings, while the remainder of the Council is completely in the dark. Metatron is the one pulling the strings to it all, he is one of the masterminds lurking in the shadows. Waiting patiently for their chance to end it all.

Side E- Lies, Lies, and More Lies

Regular POV-

Bito Residence. Love Hotel Hill, Shibuya-August 6, 2009, 17:00

The curtains waved in the wind that was provided by the broken window Gamon used as an entrance and an exit. Metatron sat on Rhyme's bed and stared out the broken window, expecting something to happen. He saw many Noise fly past the house, some of them looking inside the bedroom to check for Rhyme. Soon no more Noise passed by and Metatron lost interest in the window. He got up off the bed and then he reached into his lab coat pocket to pull out a large black cellphone which had a pullout antenna. Metatron pulled out the antenna and then proceeded to dial a number into the cellphone. He put the phone up to his ear as loud ringing filled the air, then he walked downstairs with the phone in tow and when he reached the living room the other line on the phone picked up with a clack.

"Hello, this is the automated Interdimensional Planes Connector Route. How may I be of assistance today?"

"Yes, I'd like to make a collect call to a Mr. Grave, my caller ID is Mr. Enigma."

"One moment please."

Then there was another clack and a person on the other line began to speak. "Mr. Metatron!" a guy on the other line exclaimed. "It's good to hear from you, sir! But I know you, and Mr. Enigma only calls for important reasons. Never just to chat. So how may I be of assistance? Have you taken care of the game pieces yet?"

"It's nice to hear from you too, and yes the game board for Shibuya is officially finished. It helped a lot due to the fact that I drew the luck of being in charge of the place where the Shift originated from. Sakuraba has already gained three members of the Ten thanks to my divine interference, making Amari and Eturome appear at a Starting Point that would inevitably lead strait to our little emo mouse."

"Don't forget the charming stunt you pulled on Day 2, drawing an extra Player Pin out for a Mortal and dropping it so he could find it. Thanks to his addition all the members of the Ten are officially gathered and ready to play! Give or take one or two still being alive."

"It was nothing; the others didn't even give the concept of another Player Pin suddenly appearing to a Mortal a second thought. They're all too preoccupied with their usual nonsense. Too stupid to see what's right in front of them, per ush." He walked into the kitchen and then started to rummage through the cabinets, looking for something and talking while he searched. "I've already talked to both Uriel and Orphiel, and both of them are clearly in the dark about what's truly going on. I even pretended to not know certain details just to see how much they truly know, they didn't suspect a thing. Clearly they've lost the touch of my genius."

"Do not mess with the Recorder of Knowledge. He will blow you away with his unprecedented genius!"

"Amen," Metatron said with a smile as he finally found what he was looking for. He pulled out a bottle of cheap wine from a cramped cabinet and then got to work in removing the cork, nudging the phone between his shoulder and cheek so he could use both his hands to do so. "But it might also be due to the fact that they've all formed Sync Pacts with Mortals. It takes a toll on the Mortal mind and body after all, that's why it's best to be sure that a vessel can be used to store more Psych Energy before just needlessly hopping into a body."

"Aaah. That's one thing that's great about working for the other side, no Pacts, no Partnerships, all it takes is one solo individual with some untapped Psych Energy and the means to use it. I just hopped into a body I saw that I liked and away I went, but this one's already starting to rot so I'm probably going to need another one sometime real soon. I'll just go around window shopping until I've found the perfect fit. Heh, beats having to wait for someone to openly let you in."

"It wasn't that difficult in my case," Metatron replied as he strained to remove the cork from the bottle. "The guy I found was a recluse undergrad student at the university here; nobody would miss him so I don't even have to keep up appearances. He had a lot of knowledge and talent but no real drive to it. He was actually an otaku, and now I can't get anime songs and manga spoilers out of my head. I'm also tempted to go to Akihabara almost any chance I get and buy worthless crap." Finally he got the cork off and it made a loud audible pop. "You're the closest to him. Do you have any idea why Mickey requested that we use living Mortals as forms this time around?"

"Not a clue. But it might have something to do with the fact that Mr. Michael found an odd little Mortal pet and he just wanted to show him off. The two of them actually had a lot in common and the Mortal's shown an incredible amount of willpower in controlling Mr. Michael, no lapses at all even though he's in such a fragile form."

"Is he sickly?" Metatron asked as he got to work in dousing the lower floor of the housewith the alcohol.

"No, he's just really scrawny and pasty looking; believe it or not he has white hair. Mr. Michael said he'll show himself when Week 1 is over, both to the Council and the Players. Probably at the Review."

"Review? Oh right. I forgot Mickey said that we would hold one of those every week in order to go over any questions the Players had and to show them their Point totals."

"You know Mortals. They always want things to be spelled out, never using their own noggins to figure things out."

"Alright, a few more things to report. One, Konoko knows that the Day of Oblivion and Wonder is going to be just like the Day of Amusement, mostly because I told him so."

"Nothing wrong with that, Mr. Konoko was one of the few survivors so he should have a right to know that his ass is on the line again. Besides he died back in the what, twelfth century? He's survived this long because he knows when to keep his head in his shell like the little turtle he is. He shouldn't be a problem."

"Nevertheless, I fed him some false information. I told him that I'm against Oblivion and Wonder from happening and that Neku and Joshua had a small chance of preventing it which is why monitoring them and blocking them is important."

"Reverse that, we want them to advance. The Day of O and W can't initiate without them, whether Mr. Joshua knows that or not."

"Yes, but Konoko's impartialness to Oblivion and Wonder was caused by the final member of the Ten, Rinnosuke Maeda being killed and having half of his soul taken away from him as his Entry Fee, after he picked up the Pin he officially became a Player without even noticing."

"And let me guess? He got mowed down by Noise?"

"No another Player, the seventh member of the Ten, Akemi Ichikawa AKA Shatter and her Team Shitsuren."

"Broken heart, eh? Clever name for the dark princess, from what I've heard of her she's the spitting image of Ms. Uriel. Cold and manipulative."

His work done, Metatron threw the bottle against the wall where it smashed on impact. "Not exactly, she turned out just like Rinnosuke. There are two halves to her, the cold and hateful Glass-Shattering Princess and the sweet and cheerful Princess Ichikawa. She's being driven by Cut to do horrible things like Erase other Players, and due to Cut's hive mind effect she's got her Teammates just as twisted as she is. (A/N: I'll admit that I stole the hive mind thing from Saica's power on "Durarara!" I just love that show so much, it's actually what drew me into TWEWY. A friend of mine said to me "hey if you love that show try out this game, its supernatural fantasy played out in an urban city too." And yes Shatter/Akemi is sort of like Anri Sonohara, in case anyone hasn't picked up on that yet.) Meanwhile Rinnosuke goes by the name Rin now, you know like cold and severe."

"They both made a dark pun on their names, which clearly shows anti-social behavior. Let me guess they're both hooked on their Rare Breed's power too?"

"A big bingo." Metatron walked back to the kitchen and started rummaging through drawers again until he found a ragged, old cloth dishrag. "Konoko may have gotten Rinnosuke involved in the Game but he had no idea that Data was already inside of him, Konoko just thought that it was a gift in exchange for a Penalty Play of him inadvertently finding a Player Pin, having a bad Entry Fee taken away, and being killed and Erased without even knowing what happened. Konoko is still too young so no one opened their mouth to him about the Ten; Mickey was even the one who made up the bogus story about the Rare Breed being a gift. Now Rinnosuke is somewhere inside the Game Area of Shibuya running around with Neku and friends, participating in a fucked up game of cat and mouse with the GM Ryukocchi."

"Oh it's much worse than that. Mr. Michael and I have been watching and Mr. Maeda has a strong affection towards darkness, he claims that he wants to win the Game and use the wish to create a perfect world. Free of the Reapers' Game, Reapers, Noise, and us. A world where no one kills anyone and everybody lives in peace and happiness."

Metatron chuckled. "Well that's just living in a fantasy world. He can't actually make that happen."

"Oh don't be so sure, Mr. Maeda is actually hiding a secret from us that isn't mentioned in his Record."

"Data has the power to mess with the Records; do you think he expunged something from his?"

"No Mr. Michael says he's not on that kind of level yet, I think someone else expunged it. But there has to be an explanation because there's a huge chunk missing from his Record, it's like it was mostly retracted."

"Well then the question is who did retract the Record?" Metatron walked up to the stove and turned on one of the burners. "And speaking of the Ten, Orphiel's Proxy and the Tza Twins' Proxy are still in the shadows. I've been checking up on all the members of the Ten in my spare time since the Game began but I haven't been able to locate those two, eight and nine, at all. Any ideas to where they might have gone?"

"The girl's main domain is in Mr. Gadreel's Area and we haven't been able to get anything out of him. There's a reason he's in charge of the whole city of Yokohama, it's because he's tough as nails and he has a pair of tight lips."

"That's actually two reasons."

"The point is that Mr. Gadreel isn't talking. Ms. Yumi Inoue and the rest of Mr. Gadreel's supposed all-star Team hasn't made a single appearance since the Game began. And as for this so-called King that has been selected by Mr. Tzadkiel and Ms. Tzaphkiel, we haven't been able to make heads or tails of him. All we have is a name and the business he's in. But he hasn't made a move either."

"Well they are all Illegal Players; they don't need to participate in the Game. Their Player Pins are mostly just for show and their Timers don't Erase them when they hit zero. The truth is that they have no real reason for playing the Game besides going to another level or getting the reality-bending wish. Well I get the King and the String Puller but the rest of Gadreel's team makes no since for playing, why did he ask that they all be allowed to enter the Game?"

"Something about ultimate warriors, blah, blah, blah, final examination, blah, blah, blah, head of the company's breathing down my neck, blah, blah, blah. Then Mr. Michael replied as long as they're interesting, blah, blah, blah."

"Alright one more thing did you and Michael happen to be watching as I gave my performance for Raimu Bito and Gamon Aogiri?" Metatron asked as his attention focused onto a small fire starting inside the old burner.

"Yes we were and might I say bravo to you. You caused quite an uproar and played the hell out of both of them. That will cause a lot of confusion which will definitely result in Mr. Aogiri meeting Mr. Sakuraba. They'll most likely duke it out and then Aogiri will realize that you tricked him and come looking for you again. Are you ready in the event that happens?"

Metatron smirked. "Wanna know a secret? Finding me was a test to see if the dice I made for him actually worked. I knew he was coming and I knew exactly what to say to him to get him wrapped around my finger if only for a little bit. Now I go. I get why Gamon's important but why is Raimu so important?"

"Mr. Michael said something about recurring characters being a great appeal or something like that, and then something about the fact that she can still be a Player since her Entry Fee is still in our possession, and then finally because Ms. Ryukocchi wants it that way and she'll complain otherwise."

"God, he's even more of a puppet master than Lucy, and that's saying something."

"Well what about you, you're definitely the fourth most fiendish and manipulative person out there, behind me and my master of course. It's like watching a reality show with you. Mr. Metatron just what will you do next?"

"This place is going to be a hoard real soon so I thought I'd give a little extra steam to the pot of today's Mission." Metatron lowered the dishrag to the flame and lit one corner of it, and then he threw the rag into a puddle of poured wine and watched the area instantly go up in flames. "Joshie would be so proud of my tricks." Metatron closed his phone and put it back into his lab coat pocket, and then he smirked and snapped his fingers. He disappeared and left Rhyme's house to go up in flames.

Love Hotel Hill, Shibuya-August 6, 2009, 17:05

Meanwhile, two Players were headed up to Rhyme's house to try and find her. Daisuke Ishida and Lana Ken. Lana raced up the tall hill with a skip in her step while Daisuke struggled to keep up far behind her. The older boy panted and wheezed as he ran while his backpack and accessories caught air in the tailwind created by his overexertion of energy. A neet was not built for any kind of exercise and yet he and Lana had ran non-stop to Love Hotel Hill, well Lana ran and Daisuke briskly jogged while he sweat profusely. When Lana was at the top of the hill she cupped her hands together and shouted down below to Daisuke, "Come on slowpoke, the finish line's up here!"

Daisuke continued to pant as he struggled to move his legs up the hill. "Somebody…please, just…kill me!" he yelped in exasperation.

Lana giggled at his remark. "Dummy, you're already dead! A little physical exertion is not going to get the best of you!"

"I…can't…help it! I'm so damn…exhausted!"

"Well maybe if you took better care of yourself you would be in better shape! I told you those cigarettes would damage your lungs, that's why you pant every time you exert yourself! Well that and the fact that you're clearly out of shape!"

Daisuke growled, "Listen up…you brat, just because you're more…athletic don't think that you're…any better than me!"

Lana giggled again. "You sound like a grandpa! I'm like what, one year younger than you?!"

Daisuke finally reached the top of the hill and then he crouched down and caught his knees before they could buckle under his weight. Then when he caught his breath he looked up at Lana and continued to speak. "And for your information, any person who maintains a hit blog would be unfit. Sometimes I went without leaving my house for weeks at a time."

Lana raise any eyebrow. "Whoa? Neet-san really deserves the title Neet-san; shouldn't you still be in school?"

Daisuke scoffed. "School is nothing but stress for me, everything that can possibly be taught in some classroom I already know from my own sources. So there'd be nothing left to deal with but the social anxiety. Do you think anybody would honestly be friends with a neet willingly?"

Lana shrugged. "They probably would have been your friend if you told them that you were the most popular neet of our generation. Anyone who's anyone follows your blog, its world-wide pandemonium. Why do you choose to be anonymous like that?"

Then Daisuke shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know, I guess I just figured that who I was didn't matter. You see, I started my blog because I wanted to help people who were going through the same kind of problems I was. Adolescence can be a bitch, but most people don't really like sharing how they feel inside so I thought that maybe they would feel better in a public forum. And if people could help me understand my problems like I understand theirs, I don't know maybe we could all be fixed. I'd rather be a silent and understanding next generation leader than be an obnoxious, self-caring one. Because if I just made everything about myself then nobody else would get the help they needed." Then Daisuke scoffed. "I don't know, you probably think that's stupid."

Lana shook her head. "It's not stupid at all. I'm living, well sorta living, proof that your blog really does help people. Why do you think I monikered my username after you? Bad Apple Neet and Poison Apple, it seemed to really fit."

Daisuke smiled at her. "So what did I help you out with anyway?"

Lana smirked and replied, "Not telling, you'll just have to figure it out on your own." Then she turned around and proceeded to skip the rest of the way Rhyme's house. But then she looked back for a second and smiled warmly at Daisuke, "But until you do figure out what you helped me with I'm just going to have to stick around and annoy the hell out of you. 'Kay, Neet-san?"

Daisuke replied, "Pfft. Whatever, Poison-chan."

"Poison-chan, I like the sound of that. But maybe Lady Poison or Poison-sama would be a better fit."

"Keep dreaming," Daisuke replied and then he ran to keep up with Lana before she could leave him behind in the dust yet again.

The two Players jogged down the winding street of Love Hotel Hill until they finally reached Rhyme's house. "So this is where that girl Raimu lives, eh?" Lana asked aloud.

"Looks like it? But tell me why do you think she's here? Track Attack says that she's all over the map of Shibuya, clearly that's some sort of glitch to make the Mission harder but wouldn't it be pretty obvious if she was hiding in the most likely spot?"

"You're reading to deeply into it, Neet-san. The GM wants to find Raimu, that's why she put so much effort into dispatching all the Noise, making Reapers help out Players, and giving the Players a big reward like a chance to return to life. Don't you think it's against the GM's cause if she makes a phony app appear? I agree with on the fact that Track Attack shows all the locations of Raimu but let's think about it from the GM's point of view. The whole point of the Reapers' Game for Reapers is trying to Erase us Players before we Erase them, now all of the Players are looking high and low for Raimu and probably checking each and every spot that's listed on Track Attack."

Daisuke's eyes widened in realization. "They're traps. The GM's designed the Mission to wipe us all out in one fail swoop."

Lana nodded. "That's probably why she didn't even set a time limit, she's confident that every Player will be wiped out. My guess is that none of the locations on Track Attack are legitimate, the whole app is just meant to lure us into a false sense of security. We can't trust the Reapers, remember?"

Daisuke nodded. "Right, in this land of lawlessness it's every man for himself."

"So we check out the places that aren't listed on Track Attack. Pretty good plan, right?"

Daisuke nodded in agreement and walked up to Rhyme's door and then slowly reached for the doorknob, trying to be wary of any surprises that lay on the other side of the door. "Here goes nothing." He grasped the doorknob and then noticed that it felt unnaturally hot, but figuring that it just must have been the summer heat affect the metal Daisuke preceded to opening the door.

Then Lana's eyes widened in terror. "Neet-san step away from there now!" she screamed in terror.

Daisuke looked back at her in confusion when he opened the door slightly. Air entered the house and the vacuum space of the flames inside reacted with a chain explosion, knocking Daisuke back and lighting the outside of the house on fire as well. Daisuke was sent flying a few feet into the air and landed hard on the sidewalk, his backpack barely softening his fall. He started coughing profusely as char and rubble entered his lungs, and his arms and legs became bloody and dirty from the impact of the fall. And his face was now coated in soot.

Lana rushed to Daisuke's side and kneeled down next to him. "Neet-san! Neet-san, speak to me!" she cried out in worry, trying to get Daisuke to respond to her. Daisuke's pupils were pale and dimly lit, and blood started to seep out from the top of his head, painting his forehead a dark red. He looked like he was real close to unconsciousness. Lana patted his face in an effort to help him stay focused. "Hey, stay with me! Come one Neet-san, you've gotta stay with me!"

"I think someone…also wants that…Raimu girl dead," Daisuke murmured.

Lana started shaking Daisuke. "Come on you've gotta stay with me! We'll get help! I'll carry you to a hospital if I have to!" Lana looked around them in a flurry of worry. "Where the hell is the hospital?! Dammit, I don't know Shibuya's layout that well!" Noise started to appear around the two Players. They must have sensed that one of them was in bad condition and a perfect target for Erasure. Lana looked petrified at the sight of the Noise symbols appearing and she reached into her pocket to pull out a Pin inlayed with the head of a pink rabbit that had blue-green eyes and a red ribbon around its neck. She gripped the Pin with all her might and desperately tried to get it to activate its Psych. "Come on dammit! Work dammit, work!" She gripped the Pin furiously but she could not activate it because she was too unfocused, her mind was plagued with fear of losing the person she admired for years. She was too concerned about Daisuke's well-being to concentrate hard enough to form her Psych Energy.

Then one by one, Noise started to appear in their full body forms. Hordes of Funkfrogs, Alterna Wolves, Mosh Grizzlies, and Thrash Minks. The Noise encircled Lana and Daisuke and bore sharp predator-like gazes into them, showing that they were ready to attack. While Daisuke barely hung onto consciousness Lana was in full panic mode. She looked all around the circle that the Noise had backed them into in hopes of finding some opportunity to escape. 'But Neet-san's in no condition to run!' she thought to herself. Then she started furiously beating her Pin against the sidewalk. "Work you stupid thing! Work!" Lana became frustrated with her uselessness to the point where she started to cry in anguish. When it became apparent to Lana that her Psyches were not going to be helpful she took a deep breath and then stood up on her feet and held out her arms in a protective position. "I am not going to let you hurt him! I swear that I will protect him if it's the last thing I do! He can't go away yet; I have nowhere near paid my debt to him for all that he's done to me." Then Lana twitched in pain when one of the Funkfrogs jumped up to her and kicked her in her stomach with its powerful legs. Lana forced her body to stay upright. "I won't let you hurt him!" she repeated. Then one of the Mosh Grizzlies clawed at her, leaving a bloody claw-shaped on her right shoulder. She twitched in pain but she didn't waver. "You hear me you stupid monsters?! As long as I'm around you will not harm him!" Another one of the Funkfrogs tried to kick Lana but she responded by knocking it back with a forced right hook that increased the blood flow of her shoulder wound. Lana yelped in pain as she tried to fight the Noise back with her bare hands, but her efforts seemed to be pointless because for every Noise she pushed back two more would come at her with even stronger attacks. It eventually got to the point where she could barely stand, but still she did not waver from her cause of protecting her important person. If nothing else, Lana was a dedicated young girl. But it appeared that both her time and Daisuke's time was quickly shortening. And then suddenly, fate intervened.

"Clamp!" someone shouted, and then the road and sidewalk around them started to mold into a different form and it appeared that the two solid surfaces changed completely into liquid, from which two giant hands made out of the road and sidewalk appeared and ensnared both the Noise and the two Players. Then the giant hands interlocked their fingers and sealed themselves together. Then after a few moments the hands released their grasp of each other and slunk back into their liquid pools of road and sidewalk which then turned solid once again. Everything that was trapped inside the hands, besides Lana and Daisuke, was erased with just a single flicker of static. Lana, enthralled by the event that just took place, sunk to her knees in both weariness and relief. She started heavily panting and then she rested her head back on Daisuke's chest to regain her strength. The fire from the smoldering Bito house warmed her and at the same time frightened her. Lana did not know what had just happened, nor did she care who had saved them, just as long as she and Daisuke were okay.

"My, my, whoever was here before us sure did leave things a mess," an unknown person said out of the blue.

Another voice came from the shadows. "Do you think it was Raimu Bito, trying to cover her tacks? Or do you think it might have been those two, having a little destruction soiree ending in a massive backfire, literally?"

"No, this girl seems generally concerned about her Partner, and the boy looked completely surprised by the blast," another mysterious voice replied.

"It doesn't really matter; this just means that wherever Raimu Bito really is she certainly isn't here anymore."

"Well what do we do about them?"

"Nyaaa! The boy looks cute, I say we investigate more." Lana rolled her head back in the opposite direction and saw three dark figures coming out of a nearby alleyway. They were in varying sizes and shapes but they all had one thing in common, all three of them wore white masks with peculiar designs on them that caught the sun and made them stand out. The masked figures slowly approached Daisuke and Lana and they were soon standing in the middle of the street next to them. Daisuke's eyes followed Lana's head and he saw the masked figures out of the corner of his vision. The figure in the middle of the group wore a mask with two pink, pointy ears and a red and blue Cheshire cat's face. She appeared to be female and she had long strawberry blonde hair that flowed down her back in ringlets. And besides her mask, she also wore a girly pink sweater with pom-pom strings, a red miniskirt, knee-high pink socks, and a pair of red and pink shoes. Then when she was in full sight Neko ran over to Lana and Daisuke's side and crouched down into a perched position on the edge of the sidewalk. She cocked her head to the side as she eyed the barely conscious Daisuke and the badly wounded Lana who was lying on top of him.

Lana stared strangely at Neko and searched for a sign that she was harmless in the slits of her mask that showed her diamond-like blue eyes. Electric blue met diamond blue and the two female Players exchanged thoughts of their first impressions of each other. 'Who is this weirdo?' Lana asked herself, 'Don't tell me she's the one who saved us. I don't want to have to owe someone like her, who knows what she'd make me do.'

'A very ugly and dirty little girl. Her outfit says scads about her whole personality, tomboyish and purely athletic. No femininity whatsoever, show some pride in the way you look you little tramp. No man is ever going to want you if you look like that,' Neko thought to herself. Then Neko shifted her gaze to Daisuke. 'But how did a little tramp like her land such a cutie like him as her Partner?' she asked herself in confusion. 'Maybe if I help him he'll want to come with me instead and I can add him to my collection of boy toys.'

Lana glared at Neko. 'Why is she looking at Neet-san like that? Don't tell me she's going to try and erase us too.'

'I wonder if I can erase the trampy girl. She's already bent out of shape from taking on all those Noise and by the looks of that fight she can't even use her Psyches properly. I could probably finish her off with a single finger.' Neither girl knew it but they were both badmouthing the other in their minds.

Then the two other masked figures came over to join the other three. "Yo, girly? You still good upstairs?" the thinner of the two figures asked. This member of White Mask was the notorious Spike, a one-man gauntlet that specialized in traps and weaponry of all kinds. His outfit got that point across perfectly. Despite how hot it was outside Spike was wearing a black leather jacket with spikey shoulder and elbow pads over a red t-shirt that had the word Skewered on it written in a black bloody design; and he also wore a pair of blue jeans that were studded with spikes around the sides and on the knees, a pair of black fingerless gloves with spike strips on them, and a pair of black and blue spikey shoes. He had dirty blonde, porcupine-styled hair and pumpkin orange eyes that were magnified by the eyepiece of the white, dual-filter gasmask he wore. "You and your pal were this close to biting the dust, luckily my man Goliath stepped in when he did," Spike said as he motioned to the bulky masked figure that was standing next to him.

Goliath was gigantic in stature which was probably where he got his name from. His white mask was shaped like a toad's face and it had black spots over its eye slits and on its cheeks. Goliath mostly had a shaved head and he also had green eyes with just a hint of pink that seemed almost like bright lily pads. He wore a large black full-body robe that was laced with dark emerald and covered up his arms and legs. "Are you okay, my dear?" Goliath asked in a soft-natured voice.

Lana was shocked at the arrival of the three masked individuals. 'Okay this is really weird. Did I get hit so hard by one of those Noise that I started to see things? I don't think people who wear masks out in broad day light are necessarily normal people.' As if on cue to her second-guessing, Neko showed Lana her Player Pin to let her know that they were indeed Players.

"We're playing too little girl and it looks like thanks to you we avoided a bad, bad trap. Or should I say thanks to your cute Partner, you just stayed behind and watched as he blew himself up, didn't you?"

Lana glared at Neko and forced herself to get off of Daisuke and guard him with her arms. "The same thing goes for you guys, if you want to hurt him you're going to have to go through me first!"

"No you have it all wrong my dear; we don't mean to harm you. We just want to…" Goliath started explaining.

Neko cut off Goliath with her giggling. "Well who's gonna stop us? You look like you can barely move." Neko flicked Lana on the forehead and nudged her off of Daisuke. Then Neko crept up on Daisuke and traced her finger around his neck, making sure that Lana could see how sharp her nails were. "You know little brat, if I had half a mind I could slit your boyfriend's throat right here and now and watch him bleed out until he gets Erased. I'm a curious kitten like that."

Lana twitched nervously at the sight of Neko tracing her nails across Daisuke's neck.

"But just so you know, I could never harm such a cutie. I'd much rather steal him away from you instead."

Neko looked back up at Lana. "You don't mind right, if I take your boyfriend away from you?"

Lana grunted and spat, "He's not my boyfriend."

"Right, so that little display of protecting him from the Noise with your own body, that was just for show?" Neko giggled again.

"It's not like that; he's done more for me than you could ever possibly understand. Sacrificing my life to save his is the least I can do. I swore to myself that I would repay my debt to him no matter what the cost. Now if you are going to hurt him like I said before you'll have to go through me first." Lana struggled to get up on her feet again but when she finally was upright again she nearly collapsed trying to move back to Daisuke. Luckily, she was caught by Spike before she could fall down.

"Whoa, easy there girly." Spike steadied Lana back onto her feet and then he released her from his grasp when he was sure her balance wasn't off anymore. Then Spike turned his attention back to Neko. "Hey Kitty, stop messing with the girl already. Can't you see you're just making her terrified? Would you just go ahead and heal them both already."

Neko sighed. "You're no fun Spike-kun, playing is what cats are best at." Then Neko started stroking Daisuke's face. "Well that and being affectionate, nyaaa."

Lana grunted again and then her attitude completely changed when she saw Neko move her hand up to Daisuke's head wound and pressed down on it, getting a twitch of pain in reply from him. "Don't hurt him!" she exclaimed.

"Calm down brat. Watch and learn about the healing touch of a cat." A yellow aura enveloped Neko's hand and all of sudden Daisuke's head wound stopped bleeding, and then Daisuke's face began to clear up and become clean. All the ash, cuts, and bruises that the explosion had caused were fading away from his person until he looked as good as new. Then Neko looked up at Lana again and outstretched her hand for her to take it. "Next person in line to see Doctor Neko." Lana, still being unsure of White Mask's true intentions, slowly reached out to grab Neko's hand. Then Neko clasped Lana's hand with anything but a gentle grip. "It will only hurt for a second." Neko giggled again and then Lana's pain started to turn into soothing comfort. Lana stopped twitching and let ease wash over her. And when Neko was done healing her, Lana was able to stand again without desperately clinging to balance. Lana tried to move and was amazed when she found that she didn't have to struggle at all. "You're welcome, now in exchange for us saving you and your not-boyfriend why don't you tell us something of interest." Neko stood up on her feet and showed Lana how much taller she was then her. "How did you know that something bad would happen if he opened that door?"

Lana looked down at Daisuke and saw that his breathing was even and regular again, right now he was just in a gentle sleep. 'I guess I can trust them,' Lana thought to herself. Then she looked back up at Neko and decided to explain things to her. "I'm not that in control of my Psyches, but one of the things I can do is something that just happens naturally. I can sense things, see things. Sometimes when something is about to happen I'll automatically know about it. I get a sort of flash." Lana looked back down at Daisuke. "That's how I found him, I foresaw us meeting at a place before it actually happened. And right when he was about to open that door I saw the fire and I knew that it was dangerous. Neet-san just didn't hear me in time."

"Interesting. You have a form of precognition. Tell us, have you seen anything else since the Mission began? Cats are always curious," Neko stated.

Lana looked past Neko and stared solely at the fiery building that was once the Bito household. She seemed almost mystified by the fire. And then it happened. Lana's eyes widened and she saw the sadness that this fire represented. In the not too distant future a girl with short blonde hair and a black beanie would return to this house and find that it had turned into a smoldering mass. In the vision it was raining which put out the flames and left behind a black spot of rubble, char, and ash. The rain hid the girl's tears but Lana could tell that she was crying. She could feel the girl's pain and isolation. She was completely alone in this world; someone wanted her to feel that way. Then Lana saw a few other people at the scene along with the girl. There were five boys and four girls and they all seemed as sad as she was, except for one of the boys. This boy looked happy, he looked exuberant and exhilarated. He had a smile on his face as he stared at the scene. Then he mumbled something. '"If they want a fight then it's a fight they're going to get. Bring it on you sons of bitches, if you like misery and despair then I'll show you your hell. I will destroy each and every one of you. I'll use Neku to use the other members of the Ten and unite all of us, and when that time comes I'll reveal myself to them as the snake in the grass that you guys know me as. Your precious Eden will come crumbling down and I will be left to create my own world. A perfect world where everyone's dreams come true. There will be no need for any of you trash in my perfect world, no despair, no misery, no sadness, no heartbreak, no loneliness, no anger, no hatred. Only hope, the bright shining future ahead is paved with hope down the roads. When the time comes the others will see it too. My vision is the world's new hope. So I dare you feathered rats and all that can hear this, if anyone tries to challenge my hope they will surely be defeated. So says…"' Then it just got weirder from that point on. Lana saw thousands of different images at once. There was a room that appeared to be made out of the sky, a boy playing with figurines, a man playing chess by himself in a dark room, Tokyo Tower, a colorful shrine, Ueno Park, the Black Gate, a river of fire, a whole block engulfed in flames, Tokyo burning to the ground, a shining company pitching in to help, four shadowy individuals, then all she saw was white. But slowly the white image started to be carved into the shape of a mask, a horrible mask with the face of the devil himself. '"All will suffer my hatred!Kill, Kill, kill! Rip, rip! Tear! Die in horrible agony!"'

That was when the worst of it happened. She saw hundreds, if not thousands of dead people. Their ghostly faces of death haunted her, their soulless eyes watched her one by one. Each and every second she saw image after image of death pour into her mind until it was all too much for her fragile mind to handle. Lana screamed and held her head in pain. Her nose started to bleed profusely and her vision became blurry.

She could barely hear Neko say "What did you see you brat, who caused this fire? Was it a boy with spikey, fiery hair?" Neko shook her. "What did you see?!" Lana couldn't respond.

"Girly doesn't look so good Kitty, I think we should let her lie down," Spike said as he tried to intervene.

"This brat knows something! One of the key points of White Mask is to gather intel from the shadows! She might know where Raimu Bito is, she might've even see Ignis and not have known it!"

"Enough!" Goliath bellowed as he pried Neko away from Lana and let her fall on top of Daisuke.

"Let me go! Let me go you damn behemoth!" Neko struggled as she tried to get free from Goliath's iron-like grasp. Then the three members of White Mask heard a large earth-shaking growl. Goliath looked around and saw a large black dog that couldn't be described as anything other than an ugly mutt. The dog's fur was matted and wet around his paws and his mouth with a dark red substance, and its coat looked like it was caked with dirt, his eyes were a dark tiger orange, and the fangs that he bore at White Mask appeared stained-red. Goliath let Neko go and then she responded to his sudden courtesy with rudeness. "What the hell is the matter with you?!" Goliath pointed at the dog, whose growl grew and intensified.

"That creature is not of this world," Goliath stated calmly as he remained absolutely still.

"W-what do you mean, big guy?" Spike said as his shoulders stiffened in fear of being mauled.

"I sense a dark hatred resonating inside of it, this anger can only be sated by bloodshed," Goliath explained.

"Is it another Noise, Mr. Toad Sage?" Neko asked impolitely.

Goliath started to back away from the group. "We must leave here now and never return. It means us no harm as long as we stand aside and do not mess with the children any further. If we don't do as it says it will destroy us and throw us into the pits of hell."

"Whoa, are you saying that monster dog's some kind of demon?!" Spike exclaimed, showing his scared side.

"I'm saying that it has the power to erase us in one fell swoop if it intended to do so. Its anger is unlike anything I've ever felt before, and that very anger gives him unparalleled strength."

"Oh my God! If only I had a weapon or something I could put him down with!" Spike mocked with scared exaggeration. And then insight grew in his eyes and he pulled out a black pistol that was concealed under his right jacket sleeve. "Oh wait a minute, I do!" Spike brought the gun up in the air and aimed it right between the dog's eyes, and then without any hesitation he pulled the trigger and the sound of a bullet firing ripped through the air. Oddly enough it was a silver bullet. The bullet sped through the air at light speed but before it could hit him, the dog dodged to the right and then started running towards Spike, snarling with rage as he did so. But Spike didn't deter and fired the gun again with marksman-like precision. But again the dog dodged the kill shot and pressed forward towards the human gauntlet, gaining speed and momentum. "Damn mutt! I ain't scared of some stupid bad omen!" Spike revealed another concealed pistol up his left jacket sleeve. "Fucking die already!" The dog was only thirty meters away so each blast from Spike's pistols sounded like a sonic boom tearing the air. Neko and Goliath covered their ears to protect their eardrums from the sounds of the many gunshots.

Spike fired bullet after bullet at the dog but he missed every single time due to the dog's lightning fast reflexes and resilience. Eventually Spike had had enough of the dog's eagerness to fight. He grunted and threw his pistols to the ground when he found that they were out of ammo. Then he rushed forward towards the dog just as the dog was rushing towards him. "That's it! You want to go puppy?! Let's fucking go! Quill Spike!" All of a sudden the spikes on Spike's clothing began to grow in size and shape until it looked like they were sharp and deadly like ice picks. Then without slowing down spike ripped one of the spikes off his jeans and held it menacingly like it was a murder weapon. "Can you bark euthanasia you fucking mutt!" Spike pulled back his ice pick like it was a pipe and then when he was only a few feet away from the dog he slung it forward, aiming for the dog's head. "I'll crack your skull like a fucking chestnut!" But before Spike could even get close enough to hut him, the dog rushed forward and locked his jaw do onto Spike's left arm, sinking his teeth so deep into to the tissue that a tremendous amount of blood gushed out. "Arrgh!" Spike yelped as the pain from the bite seeped into his core, tensing him up and making him drop his ice pick.

Then an amazing sight happened, the dog simply jerked his neck to the left and loosened up on Spike's arm a little and Spike flew with break-neck speed into the side of a brick building, bashing his head and making a large crater appear in the surface. Spike's vision blurred from the act of his brain popping against the back of his skull. He was about to go out like a light but the dog wouldn't have it. Then mercilessly and without warning, the dog sunk his claws and teeth into Spike, slashing and tearing him like he was nothing more than a chew toy to him.

Spike screamed in anguish and pain and slowly started to fizz out with static. It was an unbelievable sight for Goliath and Neko, the man known as the human gauntlet, a guy so tough that he practically led all their street maneuvers when they were still alive was going to be erased by a mangy, flea-bitten, dog from hell. Neko shook in place and it was clear even with her mask blocking a good deal of her face that she was absolutely horrified and praying to whoever would listen that she would not become the dog's next victim. Goliath tried to maintain his composure and crept closer to the dog, who noticed him immediately and stopped tearing into Spike for one brief moment so he could look Goliath in the eyes.

The dog had the piercing eyes of a predator while the gentle giant had the eyes of prey that was trying to confront their fears. Goliath did his best to hide his fear and calm his voice so he could speak to the dog. "I apologize for my friend. He didn't heed your warning and paid the price for it. But I humbly beg for your forgiveness, o noble Inugami (A/N: A dog demon that is born out of cruel abuse inflicted on a living dog that eventually lead to death, when they are created their only desire is for the destruction and death of others. The person who summons them, the evoker, can only control it as long as darkness and malicious intent are inside his heart. Inugami are usually summoned for some type of revenge)."

"Your anger, your rage, you know as well as I do that it can only be satisfied by the person your evoker has summoned you to destroy. We are just like you, trapped between here and the afterlife. Killing my friend now would only doom him into a life of being trapped forever without him ever knowing eternal peace. When your task is done your soul should be finally able to rest so I implore you to hasten your search for the one who has wronged your evoker and dispose of them. If the children truly are the ones you desire or if they are connected to the one you must destroy then by all means they are at your disposal. Just please let my friend return with us so that we may have a chance to find eternal peace as well. Please, may we simply take him with us and retreat?" Goliath asked of the Inugami in the gentlest way possible, going so far as to get down on his knees and beg.

The Inugami stayed silent for a few moments and then he responded with a simple nod and moved out of the way so Goliath could collect Spike. Goliath bowed and then grabbed Spike and brought Spike's arm around his neck so he could help him walk. Spike was barely conscious but before they walked away Spike mumbled, "This…ain't over…you damn mutt."

The Inugami obviously heard Spike's comment but chose to ignore it and simply growled at him. Then Neko looked back at Daisuke and Lana who were both still unconscious, "And that goes for you two as well," she said. Goliath hopped up onto a nearby veranda with amazing dexterity and then hopped up onto the rooftop of the building, carrying Spike in tow. Then Neko hissed and bore her claws at the Inugami and then she made her retreat as well. The Inugami watched White Mask hop from rooftop to rooftop until they were out of sight. Then he walked over to Daisuke and Lana and started sniffing them. He wasn't going to attack them, instead he looked to the building and saw that the fire was blazing and then he heard sirens in the distant. The Inugami pouted and decided that they would need to go somewhere else for their discussion about the person he was looking for. Then the Inugami's shadow changed to that of a human.

Inside Shadow Ramen. Dogenzaka, Shibuya-August 6, 2009, 17:05

"Order up!" one of the cooks in the back of the popular ramen restaurant exclaimed as he rang a bell. Shadow Ramen was busy as usual, but since it was a little late in the evening the rushing atmosphere had begun to dwindle slightly. But most of the restaurant was still packed with customers, most of them looked to be about the same type of people. Either university students that were grabbing a quick bite to eat before heading back to their places of residence, families who were trying to have a nice night out on the town, or trend followers who were just eating there because everybody else ate there. Those were pretty much the average consumers that made up the bulk of Shadow Ramen's daily customers. Although there were a few individuals in the restaurant that appeared to stick out like sore thumbs.

The first individual who met this criteria was a girl who was sitting at the bar part of the restaurant and reading a book while sipping a cup of tea. She was the very definition of the term mousy. She had short gray bobbed hair which was pushed up with a yellow flower barrette, and pink colored eyes which were hidden behind a pair of half-moon glasses, like the kind you would expect a librarian to wear, only this girl was very clearly in her teens. Although her appearance and outfit didn't justify that. She wore a pink blouse, a pleaded, violet pencil skirt, a pair of knee-high socks, and a pair of sensible black shoes. Old-fashioned was just an undertone to describe her. But nevertheless her mousy appearance caught the eyes of some guys all throughout the restaurant, which she ignored full-heartedly as she read her book without taking a single glance away from the pages.

Then there was a boy who was oddly enough sitting all by his lonesome at a big booth without so much as a drink on his person. He was tapping his fingers impatiently on the table like he was waiting for something big to happen. He looked to be in his preteens and there was a slightly anxious air surrounding him. He had spikey brown hair and blue eyes. He wore a pair of black headphones around his head, but they weren't plugged into anything and appeared to just be for show; he also wore a blue unzipped jacket with a yellow star on the front of his right shoulder, a black shirt, a pair of brown cargo pants, white socks with red sneakers, and several spinner and skull rings on his right hand.

"Come on, come on. What's the hold up?" he muttered to himself.

Then a waiter walked up to him. "Excuse me sir, if you're not going to order anything I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave. We have to make room for paying customers." The waiter couldn't have been more polite but that didn't stop the boy from replying in such a rude manner.

"Buzz off asshole. I'm waiting for someone." He waved him off like he was nothing,

The waiter seemed shocked at the young boy's blatant disregard for curtesy but nonetheless he tried to remain calm and composed. "I…I understand sir but it's getting close to dinnertime and the place is likely to become packed so we really need all the space we can get to deal with the incoming crowds."

"And I told you I'm waiting for someone, when they show up then I'll leave but I don't want to be bothered until then. So buzz off."

"But sir, I…"

"Oh god, fine! If ordering something's the only way I can stick around then just bring me some damn water! Is that good enough for your crappy restaurant or do I have to order a fucking entrée as well?!"

At that point the waiter was doing the best he could to force a smile. "Okay, water. Coming right up, sir." He walked away from the table and slunk back to the kitchen in a depressed manner.

The boy groaned and propped his elbows up on the table. "Geez, the nerve of some people." This boy obviously didn't understand anything about tactfulness or manners.

And the final odd person inside the restaurant was a young man who sat alone at a window seat at the far end of the restaurant. Back there he couldn't make out anything any of the other people in the restaurant were saying and nobody else could see what he was doing. The table that he sat at was in a small dimly lit nook of the restaurant where only his and one other table were placed. It was definitely the worst table in the house even despite it being stationed next to a window, which was slightly dirty and murky and only provided a view of the back alleys of Dogenzaka. Yet it appeared that the young man was perfectly content sitting in a dark corner all by himself. He gave off sort of a peaceful aura about being in the dark and quiet. But that was not the odd thing about him. The odd thing about him was his appearance, no doubt about it.

He wore clothes that you would think impossible for anyone to be in during the summertime. A musty, burgundy coat covered most of his torso and was zipped up almost all the way, and the area that wasn't zipped over allowed a dirty white t-shirt with a green beetle design on it to show through. He also wore a patchy, green scarf around his neck and over his mouth even though it was room temperature inside the restaurant, a pair of red fingerless gloves like the kind you would think a homeless person might wear, a pair of dirt and grass stained blue jeans, worn black boots, and oddly enough a pair of expensive-looking circular framed glasses that had an interesting zigzag design as the mold for the temples. The lenses heightened the color of his eyes which were a dark tortoise green and they also seemed to heighten the appearance that he was someone you would want to stay far away from which complimented his paler than the dead skin tone. His hair was by far the most frightening feature about him though. It appeared as though he had a bird's nest on top of his head. He had multiple split ends and knots, and his hair looked very greasy and shaggy. Each strand was sticking up on end and was also as white as snow. He had an Albert Einstein hairstyle even though he clearly looked like he was under eighteen.

He sat at his table in silence with his elbows propped up and his hands covering his already scarf-covered mouth. He looked like he was thinking about something, until something else caught his attention. The window he sat by was open a crack and allowed a small fly to come into the restaurant where it was immediately faced with the sight of the white-haired boy. The fly buzzed around his head for a few moments before landing on the table in front of him. The fly turned and looked up at the boy's face and then the boy slowly lowered his eyes and locked sight with the small bug. He made a creepy smile.

"Well hello there, little fella," he said in a jovial manner. He lowered his right hand down to the table and then extended his right pointer finger out to meet the fly. The fly was cautious at first but after a few moments he flew up and then landed on the boy's pointer finger. The white-haired boy then brought the fly up closer to his face and when they were on eye level he continued to speak. "How long have you been alive for? A day? A week?" He noticed that the fly's movements seemed kind of sluggish and weak and as he stared at it closely he saw that all of its eyes seemed a little dim. Then he frowned. "I see. So this is your last day on Earth then?"

The fly just continued to buzz, making it hard to know if the fly had actually understood him or not. The boy groaned. "You know that's never felt right to me. You flies are such beautiful and elegant creatures. You can see everything at once with all your eyes despite having poor vision, you can fly at a speed of five miles per hour, and your reproductive capabilities are extraordinary to say the least. But with so many natural predators it's a miracle that you've made it this long." Then the boy smiled creepily. "I wonder, are you in pain right now?" It was hard to tell but it appeared as though the fly was staring intently at the boy, almost like he could understand what he was saying.

Then suddenly the boy jerked his left hand into the air and brought it down with sheer force onto his right hand, smacking and swatting off the fly. The fly fell down onto the table and started to squirm and kick his legs up into the air. And then after a few moments of squirming the fly stopped moving and its eyes went completely dark. Then the boy balled up his right hand into a fist and slammed it on top of the fly's carcass. "There, I put you out of your misery just like my dear friend put me out of mine. That's a sign of friendship to him and people like me. That means we're friends now too, Mr. Fly. Wherever you are now I hope you keep that in your heart. And wish me luck on my journey to make even more friends." The boy's smile seemed to only grow in size and insanity.

And then his thoughts were interrupted when he heard a vibrating sound come out of nowhere. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a black cellphone with a blue eye decal on it. He opened up his new message and read the contents. "Raimu Event #12- Three of you are here. Only one will leave and get to advance with the hint. There are no Noise inside this walled area and I have made it so now the RG will not be able to interfere with the UG. So fight all you want inside this cramped little restaurant. Nothing will change in the RG no matter how much damage you do. And I only require that one of you is left standing, erasing each other and finishing off the job is all up to you. May the best Player win."

The white-haired boy looked up over his phone and saw that things around him were frozen in time. The only other moving things were two other kids around his age who received text messages at almost the exactsame time. His creepy smile slowly returned. "Two more friends," he said to himself as he put away his phone and got up from his table. He opened his mouth slightly and suddenly a purple started to seep out and fill the restaurant. 'With this special wall in play I'm free to finish it nice and slowly. Then I can enjoy my two new friends' company uninterrupted. I think a nice dose of nerve gas should do the job just fine.'

The white-haired boy approached the brown-haired boy who was still reading over the text message he received. He had not yet noticed the white-haired boy. "Hello new friend." The brown-haired boy jumped to the back of his booth in surprise at the sudden appearance of the white-haired boy and the toxic-looking gas that was currently flowing out of his mouth.

"The hell?!" he exclaimed in fear.

The white-haired boy smiled and reached out his right hand closer to the other boy, revealing that a gaping maul of a hole was starting to appear in his palm which allowed even more of the purple gas to seep out of his body. He started to whisper. "You got the message, right? But I'm afraid it's too late. I'm a poison man, everything that comes out of my body is purely toxic. I can corrode and destroy anything by simply breathing on it. It's an efficient way to erase Noise without fighting them. But this is my first time killing another Player with my poison. We can be true friends after this. I'll send you to the place everything goes when it's erased and then I'll send that girl over there along with you, and I'll keep sending more and more people there until I've become friends with every single Player in the Reapers' Game. Now please die again and become my first official Player friend."

"You've gotta be fucking kidd…" the brown-haired boy tried to choke out, but soon he inhaled too much of the gas and his senses started to become clouded. His eyes widened, tremors shook his body, and drool started to pour out of his mouth. He was going into respiratory failure from the poison gas's onslaught on his lungs. Then his eyes closed slowly and he fell face forward onto the table booth.

The white-haired boy started to cackle as poison kept flowing from his orifices. "That's it. For me that look of despair, the loss of light in the eyes, the paling of the skin, the stop of the heartbeat, it's all as good as saying "I like you, let's be good friends". For me this is a sign of friendship. My best friend gave me the gift of death and now before I come back and give him the same gift I want to become friends with all of you poor souls too. I'll do exactly what my friend did for me. I'll put you all out of your misery, one by one. You must have some regret too, right? Let go of those regrets and embrace my cold, dark sense of friendship. We can be friends together, forever and ever."

"Do you even know his name?" The white-haired boy's eyes widened and he turned his head to the rear slightly to observe the person who had interrupted his dark pledge of friendship. It was the gray-haired girl that he had desired to proclaim as his next friend. She stood half a foot shorter than the white-haired boy but her face showed that she had a look of pure determination.

"What was that?" the boy asked in reply as he turned around to face her completely, while poison gas was still leaking out of his mouth.

"I asked if you even knew his name. Call me old-fashioned but I think that if you're going to become friends with someone you should at least know their name. For instance…" The girl pulled out the same book that she was reading before and flipped it open to a blank page. Then she held out her right hand in the air and suddenly a red quill pen appeared out of thin air. "Diction," the girl whispered as she wrote down the word on the blank sheet of paper with the quill pen. Then after a few moments the word disappeared and a name appeared on the page. She showed the name to the white-haired boy and then bowed.

Haruka Hada

"My name is Haruka Hada, it is a pleasure to meet you…" then she wrote the word diction in her book again and received a different name in return.

Takashi Obi

"Obi-kun," she read off the book's page, getting a response of shock from the boy named Takashi.

Then Takashi's devilish smile returned as well as his cackle. "So you know my name do you. That's your Psych, huh? Some dumb question-answer power? Well Haruka-chan allow me to tell you a secret. True friends don't have any need for such trivial things as names. Do you think my best friend knew my name? Hell no. To him I was just an easy target. Someone the world wouldn't miss if they were gone. My friend had no idea who I really was, I was just another victim to him. And I'm content with that because I choose to believe that my friend killed me because he wanted to stop my suffering. And I realized in my final moments that if I ever got the chance I would do the same thing. Save others from pain and suffering, be their guardian angel, their hero."

Haruka did a once over look of Takashi. "So you see yourself as this boy's hero, do you?"

Takashi snickered. "Everyone, at some point and time, has always dreamed of being a superhero. And now we've been given these special powers that can help us rewrite reality into what we see as fit. They can be used to create or destroy. I'm an antihero. No one's rooting for me to win because I have a certain dark motif to my attributes, but nevertheless I still continue on being the dark person I am. This is my story and it will be written just so. So if I have to save the world one person at a time then so be it. The more friends I make, the more people I save. Friendship and death, for me these two completely different ideals are one in the same."

"Not even two sides of the same coin? Were you dropped on your head when you were little? Do you honestly think killing someone creates some kind of everlasting bond?" Haruka asked with a straight face.

"Are you honestly saying that it doesn't, Haruka-chan?" Takashi held up his right hand and allowed his palm hole to leak more poison gas out near Haruka. But the stoic, mousy girl was unfazed by the growing toxic fumes. "I think that a killing is the ultimate bond one can share with another person. The killer and the victim. The last thing they'll ever see is each other's faces. The last thing the victim will ever feel is the killer yanking the life out of him. And the killer will grow from the experience of snuffing out life with his own hands. The victim will become a pleasant memory for the killer. A friend in every way, shape, and form. Because I think that's the philosophy of life, if you want to create strong bonds you have to be willing to sever bonds as well. So I'll keep doing it, I'll erase this unknown boy, you, and every single other Player whose involved in the Game. Then I'll erase all the Reapers, and then the Angels. One by one I'll kill every single person and thing inside the UG and regain my life so I can go back and kill every single person and thing in the RG. An endless cycle of breaking bonds and creating new ones. A whole world that shares one connection, which is that it was snuffed out by me. I'll make so many friends and become the most popular guy in the world, both figuratively and literally. Do the math."

Haruka glared but still maintained her composure, even as she began to inhale Takashi's poison. "You're nothing but a sociopath who views living things as toys that you can break for your own amusement. This goes far beyond being dropped on the head as an infant. Abandonment issues, physical and psychological abuse, social isolation, morbid curiosity, and bad genes. You probably have all those things. So you could be the one I'm looking for."

Takashi's smile deepened even further. "You're looking for a killer, Haruka-chan? If so, then I'm your guy. We can best friends forever and ever…in my memories. Sweet memories of the light fading from your eyes, of you drawing your last breath, of the things I'll do to you when my non-lethal nerve gas puts you to sleep."

"So I was right, that was just a bluff you told to him so you could see his reaction. He's only out cold, right?"

Takashi cackled again. "You're smart Haruka-chan. I only use my deadly poison on Noise, they're just bad thoughts and feelings, no room for them in my collection of friends. They just fizzle and go out like static, no blood, no fear, no good memories. So for you two, my first Player friends, I'll just knock you out and then have the real fun while you're asleep. I'll glue your eyes open so you can see the god-awful things I will do, the gas is just to deaden your nerves. I want you to show some fear but not feel so much pain that you'll just pass out again before it's over. I'll wake you up with the fun times and then make you stay awake the whole time until I'm finished and finally put you out of your misery. This is my payment for putting you out of the miserable Game we've found ourselves in. A fair trade to end your suffering is just to let the psycho have some fun with your bloody corpse. And I can tell you're suffering very deeply, Haruka-chan. So just go to sleep and you'll wake up a brand new person."

"You're exactly how I imagined that person would be like. Could you really be the one I'm looking for? Are you…the Ueno Slasher?"

Takashi smiled and reached into his left pocket to pull out a large serrated-edged knife. It had that same eye design that was on his cellphone. "I can't believe someone really recognized me." He ran the knife back and forth through his fingers and did a few fancy tricks with it. "To tell you the truth I never intended for my reputation to go the way it did, but it just sort of took off after I began saving people. Of course to the serious minded people out there, I'm nothing more than a maniac with a knife who just doesn't discriminate and targets anyone of means." Then Takashi brought his knife up closer to Haruka's face, trying to get a reaction out of her. But even with the knife so close to her and the poison gas dulling her senses, Haruka remained unshaken. "But the select few know who I really am, I'm the antihero who sees people who are miserable and saves them from themselves. All I do is kill people who are just suicide cases waiting to happen."

"That little girl you killed in Shibuya the other day. She was a suicide risk?"

"Most definitely, in the coming days of stalking her I found that her home life was a very terrible one. She probably wouldn't have even made it to middle school before offing herself. But you know, unbeknownst to the police or media, she had a dog with her too. I didn't kill it but I beat it till it couldn't stand and then made it watch while I slashed its master to shreds. The damn mutt's probably dead now though, wherever the hell it crawled off too. But that little girl, her terror was unimaginable; it was orgasmic playing with her. I was partially amazed that I could touch her at all in the first place, she must have been special to come in such close contact with the UG. If she got the opportunity to be admitted into the Game I'm going to enjoy killing her all over again."

"And the "Bloody Concert" incident, all those people you killed were suicide risks too? Every last single one?"

"I trailed them all weeks before I struck. I found out they were all going to the same place so I figured I'd make a game out of it and enjoy their fear all at once. It was justified because on some level they wanted it to happen, they wanted to end their meaningless lives. I just granted their wish, plain and simple."

"What about the Chinese ambassador's daughter, did she ask for it too?"

"She was the one who guided me down this path of mine. She begged me to kill her in order to save her from her horrible father. I owe it all to her and my special friend who killed me."

Haruka closed her eyes for a brief moment and then let out a small sigh, like she was dreading about bringing something up. "And what about that girl they found at Raira Academy?"

Takashi stopped smiling for a moment and then looked at Haruka with a state of confusion. "W-what are you talking about?"

"The police ruled it as a suicide. And the media sensationalized her as an urban myth come to life, a girl committing suicide in a bathroom stall, the story of Hanako-san of the toilet apparently sells a lot better than the truth." Haruka looked at the floor. "But I know the truth. Even though those wounds looked like they were self-inflicted there's no way she would…" She shed a single tear and covered her face before she could star weeing completely. "There's no way, Chino would ever do something like that."

Takashi was a little unnerved but soon his smile returned as well as his cackle. "Oh right. My secret friend, she apparently wanted to get revenge on all the people who were mean to her so she confided in herself, unaware that I was watching her, that she would commit suicide in that stall and have the first people find her be the very people who bullied her. I didn't even get the credit I deserved for that one but I still have the memories so that's all that really matters."

Haruka was silent at first but after a few moments she started to do something that didn't match her personality at all. She began to giggle. Her giggling grew and grew until it turned into full-blown maniacal laughter. Then she looked up at Takashi again and showed him that she wore a small smile on her face. "You liar."

Takashi's eyes widened in disbelief. "What?!"

"There's no doubt in my mind that Chino was murdered, the serrated edges of her wounds did not match the kitchen knife that they found on her person. The police made nothing of it though because it still had her finger prints and blood all over it. Truthfully, I just think they didn't want to admit that the homicidal maniac that they had let run loose in Tokyo for so long managed to get into a private school like Raira Academy and kill one of the students. That would've surely caused mass panic, so they cast her out as a suicidal scape goat, they threw out the murder case of my girlfriend just to keep the peace of the people who bullied her. They let her killer run free and put the permanent black spot of suicide on her social record. And what's worse even after that, after all that, those bitches who bullied Chino showed no remorse!" Haruka was both laughing and crying at the same time now. "We were just teasing her, we didn't think that she would take it so personally, it's her own fault for being such a little freak. Hearing that day after day in the background made me want to kill them! The person I loved the most in the world faded away with such cruelty and lies! I wanted to shout out at the top of my lungs, it's a lie, it's a lie; Chino-chan would never do something so horrible! She loved life despite being treated so cruelly! Her optimism and hope were the very things that made me fall in love with her! For all of that to be a lie…!" Haruka did her best to maintain her anger as she shook her fists with all her might. And when she finally calmed down all that remained were her tears. "But now I know the secret behind the bastard. He's here in the UG. The Ueno Slasher is a Player, there's no room left for doubt. He's probably been a Player this whole time. That's why the police could never find him, that's why he's still not rotting behind bars and awaiting his execution, he's already dead. But that's not enough for me." Haruka did her best to glare at Takashi through her tears. "I'm going to find that son of a bitch and erase him from existence!"

Takashi was a lot more unnerved now. "Y-you, w-want to erase me?" It almost seemed like he was scared.

Haruka forced herself to laugh again. "You're not the Ueno Slasher. All you are is a rotten little worm who thinks of serial killers as celebrities. A fucking fanatic! A damn groupie! You've probably only ever done sick things to animals, never brave enough to commit the ultimate taboo. That the damn secret behind you, the reason you know so much about the victims and the murders, it's because you follow all of the horrible things he's done."

Those words stabbed at Takashi like they were sharper than the knife in his hand. He gritted his teeth and a vein in his forehead started throbbing. "Shut the fuck up! What the hell do you know anyway, you damn bitch! I am the Ueno Slasher! I killed your fucking girlfriend! She shared her most intimate moment with me and it just tears you up inside, that's all it is! I am the Ueno Slasher!"

"You're pathetic, that's all you are, a damn wannabe killer! Someone's whose screwed up in the head but has yet to commit a murder. Some stupid wannabe."

"Lies! Lies! Lies!" Takashi shouted at the top of his lungs. "I AM THE UENO SLASHER!"

"He's your idol. That's all. You probably weren't even planning to kill me and the other boy were you? You were just trying to force yourself to believe your own delusions. You were probably just trying to knock us both out with your gas and then make a run for it with the hint."

"Shut up! Speaking of my gas, why the hell are you not out yet! It's supposed to only take two minutes at the most!"

Haruka showed Takashi another page in her book. The words Cancel Out were written down. "My Psych allows me to manipulate reality and gather information by writing certain keywords down on the pages of my book. Before I even walked up to you I made sure that your Psych would have little to no effect on me. All your poison's doing is making me a little dizzy."

Takashi was still clearly angry but he was starting to become a lot quieter. "I am…the Slasher. I…am."

"Then prove it." Haruka stretched out her arms. "Try and kill me right now."

Takashi's eyes widened in surprise.

"You're gas is clearly not going to work so why don't you just man up and stab me through the chest with that knife you're holding in your hand?"

Takashi's poison gas stopped coming out of his body and he looked down to the knife in his hand and then back up to Haruka. He gripped the knife hard in his hand and then let out a scream as he thrusted it forward to Haruka, who did not budge an inch from her position. But before the knife's tip was even an inch away from Haruka, Takashi completely stopped and began to shake. He was literally seconds away from forcing the knife through Haruka's heart…but he couldn't do it. Takashi struggled to break free of his yips and prove to Haruka that he was indeed the Ueno Slasher. The only problem was that everything Haruka had said about him was true. He was just a wannabe serial killer, a fanatic that only fantasized and never acted, a sick weirdo but not a murderer. He dropped the knife to the floor and then collapsed in the booth opposite the other boy. Even without landing a single blow, Haruka had clearly defeated him. All that confidence and creepiness he had before was gone, leaving behind a weak, pathetic, true shell of his person. He was neither a psychopath nor was he normal, he was something entirely different. And Haruka had seen through him completely. His plan to become the UG version of his idol was dashed in the time of meeting her, because she exposed him for the fraud that he was and revealed to him the ultimate truth. His hero, his killer, his "friend" was here in the UG. He was a Player all along. Takashi was back to being miniscule, nothing.

Haruka just shook her head at him and then grabbed her quill and wrote down another command in her book. "Chains of Writ," she whispered as she wrote down the keywords. Then suddenly the words that she had written jumped off the page and expanded in size, and then they wrapped themselves around Takashi and circled his entire body until they had tightened around him like a boa constrictor. He tried to break free of the words' grip but it proved to be of no avail.

"It's no use, no matter how much you struggle you won't break free. Not until I write down something else. It also nullifies the use of Psyches so in short you won't get out until I want you out."

Takashi looked up at Haruka. "What are you waiting for? Erase me! You came here for the same reason me and that kid did, didn't you? Raimu Bito, apparently there's supposed to be more information about her here. So just erase the both of us and claim your prize already!"

"The rules of this challenge say that erasing your opponents is optional. And I don't see that as an option. You already incapacitated the other boy, and you gave up voluntarily. I don't see any reason for this to continue longer than it should. But I'm not going to release you, not until I clear the Mission." Haruka turned to face the exit and then began to walk away from the other two Players. But then she stopped and opened her book again. She found a blank page and then made her quill pen appear again. "Diction: Encyclopedia," she whispered as she wrote.

Haruka looked back at Takashi for a brief moment. "You said before that it didn't matter what that boy's name was as long as you could share his final moments with him. But even though that was a lie I think you should know the kind of person you're erasing if you indeed choose to do so in the future. His name is Sora Hikari, and believe it or not he wants to become a hero too. He's very crass and rude at times but he has a big heart and likes to help people in need. He doesn't think he's very strong either but he still likes to try, unlike someone I know, and the reason he died was because he pushed a girl out of the way when she was about to get hit by a bus. He's a real hero. Just food for thought, if you choose to do so a good person like that would become your first victim. Someone who enjoyed life and was probably hoping to get back to it, not run away from it. Although I'm sure there are others out there who feel that way, but unfortunately for you I'm not included in that category either. I still have a job to do." She picked up the knife that Takashi had dropped and then held onto it. "I'm not leaving the UG until that monster is destroyed once and for all. I don't care about this Mission personally, winning is just to help my Teammates. If anyone deserves to come back to life they do. But people like you and I, are dreams are meaningless because our fates are tied to the fate of someone else. We don't deserve to have a second chance at life because we can't let go of the past. The people who deserve to live again are the people who look for the silver lining to every gray cloud, who eagerly await the start of each new day, who keep moving forward with only slight glances back. You and I, Obi-kun, are beyond saving." She opened her book to the very back pages and stared at a hand-drawn portrait of a girl with curly hair who was basking in sunlight. But oddly enough the girl didn't have a face. Everything else about the drawing looked perfectly proportioned and beautiful, the only flaw was the large blank sot where the girl's face should have been.

Takashi glared at her. "This isn't over, I don't care what you say I will become stronger. I will become the next Ueno Slasher."

"A twisted dream. But a dream nonetheless, it's good to dream so that's why I must finish this. That monster you speak so highly of stole my dream away from me. He's going to pay for taking Chino away from me, he's going to pay for corrupting god knows how many people and turning them into idiots like you, he is going to pay even if it's the last thing I do. If the way to create new bonds is severing old ones like you said then I can't move on until my tie with the Slasher is cut completely." She stored Takashi's knife in her book like it was a bookmark and then tucked the book away under her left arm while her quill pen disappeared again. "I can't ever dream again until that job is finished." Haruka's phone went off again and she silently checked the newly received message. "Seems that I win. And now I know where I should look next." She closed her phone and put it away so she could look back one last time at Takashi. "However, let me warn you right now. If you attempt to hinder me in any way and we come into contact with each other like this yet again, I will not be as sweet as I am right now." With her final words spoken, Haruka ran towards the main exit of Shadow Ramen and exited the restaurant. And as soon as she did time began to flow normally once again inside Shadow Ramen, some of the men who were ogling Haruka earlier were shocked at her sudden disappearance because for them only a split second had passed.

Takashi, still being immobile due to Haruka's Psych, was forced to sit in the booth bound and next to a still knocked out Sora. After a few moments of silence the waiter that Sora had acted rude towards previously reappeared, still doing his best to force a smile. "Here's your water sir, sorry about the…" as he placed the beverage on the table he noticed that Sora was unconscious and that Takashi had across from him.

Takashi smiled and said, "I took so long to get here that he must have gotten tired of waiting, literally."

The waiter groaned in frustration. "Great now there are two of them," he whispered under his breath.

Takashi chuckled. "Sorry about this, me and my pal were planning on seeing a movie after we ate but it looks like his lights went out early. He always says that he could take a nap in the amount of time it takes for me to show up anywhere. He's probably not going to wake up for a while, a bit of a heavy sleep I'm afraid."

The waiter did his best to force a smile again as he talked to Takashi. "Well then is there anything I can get you, sir?"

Takashi smirked. "Now that you mention it I am feeling a bit peckish and my buddy did say that he was going to pay so I guess I'll have something on his dime, he won't mind."

Willow's POV-

Miyashita Park Underpass, Shibuya-August 6, 2009, 17:15

I stared at the outside of the dark barren tunnel with a slight ounce of fear. I wasn't really good with dark spaces like underpasses, especially not with it already being dark outside. And the police tape that covered the entrance didn't really do wonders for me either. Apparently a little girl had died in there a few days ago. She was killed by the serial killer known as the Ueno Slasher. 'But now they should probably change his name. Maybe Tokyo Slasher, or 23 Slasher, or maybe just call him plain and simple for what he is and go with Bloody Sociopath?' I tried to cheer myself up slightly by making light of my situation of checking out an area where a serial killer had been but try as I might it was impossible to get any humor from this situation. It was not funny at all, someone died in there. A little girl who was probably just walking home and minding her own business, not knowing what was going to happen to her until it was already too late. I could relate to her. I was dead too. Killed before I even knew what had happened, it's kind of one big blur right now. I remembered going to Shibuya with Michel to celebrate my birthday, practically begging him to take me to Molco – he didn't really like to go out in public places all that much considering how awkward he looked together with me –, us getting into the elevator and then the lights flickered and there was a loud snap, and then a big crash, and then just darkness. I didn't even realize I was dead until I woke up again with the Player Pin. And now I'm dead. I was only thirteen and I was dead.

But I still tried to keep a brave face because Michel was also dead. I didn't want to worry him anymore than he had to be, always protecting me and keeping me out of harm's way. My adopted big brother, my surrogate father, my best friend. I didn't want to worry him anymore, so I remained my usual care-free and bubbly self on the outside. If only to convince him, even a little, that I was okay as long as I was with him. But deep down inside I was afraid, more afraid than you could possibly imagine. Even though I act like I don't have a care in the world I'm usually always afraid. It was like that when I was alive too. I was a big scaredy cat, a coward, a "pussywillow". I secretly hate Michel for naming me that, because whenever I was trying to make friends with other people they would always usually end up calling me that accursed nickname. For guys it was when they found out that I was also male, but up until that point they would really act nice to me so it was kind of cool. And then for girls it would usually be when they found out how much of a coward I was about doing anything adventurous. Contrary to popular belief in Japanese culture feminine boys aren't really that socially accepted. Truth be told the only time when I would feel accepted was when I lied about my gender. I'm pretty cowardly aren't I?

But that didn't matter to Michel. He cared about me more than life itself, there was nothing he wouldn't do to help me conquer my fears and protect me. Every time I felt scared or alone he would hold my hand until I felt safe. Every time I needed something he would always be there to help me obtain it. And every time another boy was mean to me Michel would kick their arse until they were crying back home to their mommies (A/N: Remember, Willow is of Irish descent). As long as Michel was by my side I felt like I could do anything…but when we apart I felt just the opposite. Two days ago Michel and I were separated for the first time in a long time but I didn't let it get me down because then I met Neku…and Mr. Matsuda. The two of them tried to help me find Michel and I promised to help Neku find his friends as well. I guess he did because he and that girl that we came across ended up completing the Mission for us. I never got the chance to thank him for that. But unfortunately that wasn't the highlight of that day. No, that would had to have been when I was separated from Neku and Mr. Matsuda showed his true colors. He nearly erased me, and probably would've too if it weren't for his two friends stepping in and stopping him when they did. But there was nothing I could do against him on my own.

It's funny really. My Rare Breed Psych, Reflect, deals with protection and has the power to protect others but I can't use it to its full potential. So far, the only time it's been of any use to me was when I was fighting with Neku in Doux Revês but other than that it's been almost completely unreliable. The only things that I can use are me and Michel's terrot cards, and without him by my side that's only the weakest of our deck. My Psych is used for protection but I don't really believe that I can protect anybody. Neku completed that Mission with that girl's help, not mine. I'm almost completely useless without Michel by my side. That's the sad truth. I'm weak, utterly hopelessly weak.

I can't do anything without having an ounce of cowardice inside. Though I won't let it show up on my face, though I won't tell others, I can't hide what's inside. I'm afraid. So afraid of dying, of being erased from existence…, of losing Michel. I know that I have to press forward, I know that I have to keep smiling not just for my sake but for everyone's sake, I know that I have to be strong. But I still feel that aching quiver of fear deep down in the pit of my stomach, and no matter how far I push it down inside that single ounce of fear keeps threatening to pop back up and slow me down.

I don't really know how I got to feel this way. Was it just natural that I feel so weak, or was it something else? I looked down at my Ankh tattoo. The words of Mr. Matsuda had kept playing over and over inside my head since that day at Doux Revês. '"This mark is considered an apex in the world of magical protection charms. Which leads me to believe that your companion, Michel, thought something really dark was coming for the both of you. What are you exactly, Young Master Willow?" "This Ankh. I knew that I had seen it before. It's identical to the tattoo that he used to wear on his left hip. I never knew his real name until now but thanks to you I know that he's still alive, or at least was still alive. The mute bastard!" "I'd never thought that he would have the guts to take care of a child, but here you are, thirteen years later. It looks like that silent bastard made an excellent father. Though he probably should have taught you a little self-defense and made you dress more like a boy. A weak child is a dead child after all."'

I covered up the tattoo with my other hand. 'What did he mean? Did he know Michel, for real? The Ankh means something to Mr. Matsuda? It means something more than just a protection charm for Michel?' Ever so slowly I tried to uncover the tattoo, afraid that I would not like what I found on my hand if I fully revealed it. 'What does it mean?' I felt like I knew about it but I couldn't quite place the memory of it. It was like there was a big hole in my memory involving that tattoo. 'But how can that be? I just got this a few years ago. Michel's friend he gave it to me.' Then another thought occurred to me, one thought that filled me with dread and terror. 'Wait a second. What was Michel's friend's name again? And how did we meet him? And when exactly did I have this put on?' Michel and I arrived in the UG a couple of months ago and I remembered that on the very first day I discovered this tattoo on my hand like I had completely forgotten about it. Michel saw that I was confused and showed me his matching one, and then he told me that we had both gotten the tattoos a few years back from a friend of his. I just shrugged it off as a lapse of memory from the elevator crash, but what if? My eyes widened in realization. 'What if Michel was lying?' I wondered.

Could that really have been true? Michel lied to me about our tattoos? Mr. Matsuda, I don't trust him at all but can I really just ignore what he said about me and Michel? He was right about one thing, I am weak. Too weak to search for another truth, another explanation for why I can't remember things. If there even is one? And I am definitely too weak to fight this battle. I might as well have been wearing my fear and worry on my sleeves at that point. So it was no surprise that she took notice of my unease. Nozomi nudged me and made me jump slightly.

There was a light chuckle from her. "Come on, you can't be that scared. What kind of co-captain are you?"

I did my best to force a smile and laugh off her insult. "Are you kidding? I'm not scared at all." Although I probably didn't sound all that convincing.

She smirked at me. "Okay then tough guy, prove it." She pointed to the underpass's entrance. "Ladies first."

I laughed off her abuse again. "Ha-ha, very funny. But for the last time, no matter what my physical attributes are like, no matter how I choose to dress, I am a guy."

"Sure…" then she coughed out, "Crossdresser," in an obvious way so I could understand her.

I sweatdropped at her comment and then continued to laugh off her insults. But they did kind of sting. This venomous girl was named Nozomi Hibara. Though she was almost the same size and build as me she was actually almost twenty years old. And she was androgynous like me, whether she cared to admit it or not. She was the polar opposite of me actually, though being female she had revealed to me that she had constantly been mistaken as a boy when she was still alive due to her strength and husky voice. And her looks and clothes didn't give her true gender any credit either. She had short dark brown hair that was tied back into a small tail and two frontal bangs that drooped down to the left side of her face and were tied into braids; she also had pewter gray eyes which were kind of off putting, as were her thick eyebrows and the beauty mark on the right side of her neck. She wore a black and white plaid jacket over a white boy's shirt with bright green skull decals, a pair of light grey cargo pants, and trainers with white, gray and blue accents. And she also wore a bracelet around her left wrist, a black fingerless glove on her right hand, and an anklet around her left ankle, and an old, ugly orange Walkman which was fastened to the waistband of her cargo pants. If I was a littler braver I might say something like "It take one to know one" but like I said before I'm not all that brave. I play tough, but I'm anything but.

Nozomi, along with one other girl, joined me and Michel after Day 4. And with four members in total we were able to select a Team name for ourselves. We chose the name Birdsong, not for any particular reason but just because Nozomi suggested it. I liked it well enough but I couldn't understand the reasoning behind it and Nozomi did not explain why she picked that particular name. I couldn't help but feel that she had some sort of hidden connection with it, but since she wasn't sharing willingly I highly doubted that she would tell me the reason if I asked her flat out so I decided to hold back my questions. Then came the decision of who to appoint as Team leader. I suggested Michel and so did Airi, the other girl who joined our Team. And Nozomi voted for herself, claiming that she had just as much strength as Michel. But Michel surprised us all by voting for me to be Team leader, usually I could tell what Michel was thinking even without him telling me but I had no clue as to what his motives were behind volunteering me to be the leader. He knew about my inferiority complex and still he tried to put that kind of pressure on my shoulders.

And then Airi, who I think had a small crush on Michel and was just trying to appease him, seconded his motion or me as leader. But I tried to strike back by changing my vote as well to make Nozomi the leader. I was willing to do anything to make sure that I didn't have an opportunity to screw up the big responsibility of support. Thus, there was a tie. Both Nozomi and I were forced to become co-captains of the Team. Nozomi didn't seem to mind that much as long as I was willing to carry my half of the burden but since then the uneasiness in me had seemed to grow to an impossible size. I knew that I was weak, I had been called that numerous times in my life. But I felt that as long as I was around strong people like Michel I would always be strong too. Now I'm starting to realize that that just makes me appear even weaker. Relying on Michel to save me all the time, I had started to think of him as my own personal shield. Then when we were separated I tried my hardest to prove to myself that I could handle things on my own…but that failed miserably. Mr. Matsuda had me cornered and defeated before I eve realized what was happening. I couldn't even put up a halfway decent fight. I was pathetic.

I had even begun to think that I was born with my attributes to show what I really was on the inside. A snot-nosed, whimpering girl, a frail and weak damsel in distress. A person who just got in the way when push came to shove, no matter how desperately I wanted to break free from that curse of weakness I just couldn't. And even now I'm just putting on a mask of happiness and bravery to keep everyone from worrying about me. I felt like that was the least I could do. Then she nudged me again and brought me back to my senses.

"Are you sure you're okay, Goldilocks?" She had a look of concern on her face, a look that didn't match her usual stoic and cool demeanor.

I still tried to force a smile but I could tell that my true emotions were starting to bubble up out of the hole I stuffed them into. "Yeah…I'm fine, no need to worry. Come on, if that girl Raimu is in there we should go find her." I walked ahead to the underpass entrance but then she surprised me by grabbing my arm and pulling me back.

Then she glared. "Don't lie to me."

"I'm not lying, I'm fine."

"I know when someone's lying because I'm a liar myself. So don't think you can ever out BS me, got that Goldilocks?" I could feel the power laced in her words. It honestly felt like she could make me do anything she wanted if she felt like it.

I gulped slightly before answering. "Yes ma'am, but honestly I'm fine. Though my feelings are kind of getting hurt from your verbal abuse. I don't really like being called feminine nicknames since once again, I am a guy."

She blinked a few times and then sighed and let go of my arm. Then she walked ahead of me and proceeded to enter the underpass. "Sticks and stones, Goldilocks. Sticks and stones."

'She must've guessed my bluff since she's still keeping up the "Goldilocks" nickname. Either that or she doesn't care what I think and is going to do what she wants do.' Nozomi seemed liked a decent person, but she wasn't really the best kind of Partner to have. I would have preferred going with Michel but Airi snagged him up and dragged him off to another one of those supposed Raimu locations before I could even ask. I partially wanted to see if I could pick his brain about the Ankh. I had been too scared to speak up about it before because I didn't want to just come out and accuse Michel of lying to me. I hadn't gotten all the facts straight yet. But I knew that I couldn't just leave the matter alone. I had to know for sure. There was something else to my story, a certain detail that could maybe even reveal a path to creating a whole new me. I could feel it. There was a secret hidden in the mark on my hand. I had to know what it was. 'Maybe finding out the truth is a brave act in itself. Could it really be true? Could this Ankh be the key to me becoming stronger?' Then I felt it. Someone's presence. Eyes were on me. Unfamiliar eyes. I turned around in a flash to catch a glimpse of the intruder but was greeted with the sight of an empty street. 'I must be imagining things.' I looked back at my hand. 'This is making me paranoid.'

"Yo, Goldilocks?! You coming or what?!" I heard Nozomi shout from the underpass.

"Yeah, hang on!" I shouted back and ran towards the underpass entrance. Then I pulled up the police tape and ducked into the underpass to meet up with Nozomi.

Side B Continued…

Rhyme's POV-

Scramble Crossing, Shibuya-August 6, 2009, 17:18

There was a lot of foot traffic. I could hear car alarms, a myriads of voices and laughter overlaying on each other, and millions of footsteps. "Five more minutes…" I mumbled. I was sleeping peacefully, such a nice dream…wait, a second! I forced open my eyes and raised my head up. Then I saw where I was. I was lying face down on the black pavement of Scramble Crossing. "What the hell?" I tried to stand up but was immediately shot back down to the ground by a splitting headache. "Arrgh!" I held my right hand up to my temple as I used my left hand to maneuver my body into a seated position. I grunted slightly as the pain from my headache began to subside slightly. My blurry vision began to turn fully clear and that's when I saw a pair of chocolate brown eyes staring back at me.

"Hi Onee-chan."

I jumped up to my feet and saw the owner of the chocolate brown eyes in full view. It was a little girl. She was at least two feet shorter than me and along with her chocolate eyes she had sun kissed skin, shoulder-length blue hair that was partially hidden under a stylish black newsboy hat, and a series of freckles on her cheeks. She had thin arms and legs and a small waistline, it almost seemed like she would break in half if you so much as hugged her. She wore a black and white horizontally striped, short sleeve t-shirt, a pair of jean overalls which had a cute monogram of a paw print on the left chest pocket, and a pair of dark blue sneakers. She looked perfectly dressed for the summertime. A completely ordinary individual for this time of year. Which was made it so embarrassing that I reacted with fear when she came up to me.

Even more embarrassing was that she giggled at my response. "Hehehe, you're funny Onee-chan." Then she cocked her head to the side. "Are you a weirdo? I think only weirdos would take a nap right in the middle of the street."

"Umm…" I sweatdropped at the comment. 'Great, you wake up in the middle of the street and of course people are going to think you're weird that you were dozing off in some place like that. It's good that this girl was the only one who said anything, if it was an adult, or heaven forbid someone I know I don't know how I would be able to respond to them. Wait, what am I supposed to say to this girl anyway? I wasn't sleeping I was just somehow transported here from my room?' My memory came back into full recollection, I was in my room talking to Metatron and Gamon and then Metatron snapped his fingers and I ended up here.

'But wait. What do I do now? Metatron was supposed to take me to where Neku was so I could help him but he just sent me to some random location instead, and Gamon, what about him? I want to help Neku fix things but I can't just leave Gamon behind. From the way he made things sound the Angels messed with him in a bad way too.' I inwardly sighed. 'It's like they get joy out of watching us get caught up in turmoil.' I reached into my right pocket and pulled out the black lanyard to my bell pendant. 'But, Metatron might be…okay, he wouldn't have saved me from the GM if he didn't want Neku and me to win the Game. He said the only way that I can help Neku is if I find him and lend him my power.' Then a though occurred to me. 'Wait. My power?' I stared down at the black lanyard like I was staring at an object that was familiar to me yet foreign at the same time. 'My Psych? What is my Psych?' I couldn't remember, I couldn't remember ever using it. But I did use it, I was sure I did. 'What's going on? I remember everything else, every excruciating detail of what me, Beat, Neku, and Shiki went through. But why can't I remember what my Psych is?' It was strange, it was like a tiny detail of my memory was still lost, no not lost but more like not available. I remembered fighting with Beat before we met Neku and Shiki, Beat's Psych dealt with his physical attributes and was accessible through poker playing cards. I remembered during the battles I would try to match them up to increase his power, I remembered all the battles we fought before I was erased but I couldn't for the life of me, no matter how hard I tried, remember what my own Psych was.

"Onee-chan, are you okay?" the little girl interrupted my thoughts and brought me back to reality.

"What?" I blurted out, and then I made an embarrassed face when I realized that I had looked foolish again. "Oh sorry, yeah I'm fine. And to answer your question from before I wasn't sleeping, I just sort of tripped that's all. But I'm all better now, no need to worry." I tried to laugh off how weird I must have looked to her and showed her a big smile.

The girl showed a placid face and started rocking back and forth on her heels, an act that I had been known to do when I was thinking about something. Then she cocked her head to the side and murmured, "Hmm, collapsing in the middle of the street isn't a good thing. Nope, nope, nope." Then she took my left arm and pulled up my shirt sleeve. When she was satisfied with her examination she took my right arm and then did the same thing. "Hmm, no cuts or bruises so I guess you're okay. But still suddenly tripping isn't a good sign. Have you been getting enough sleep, Onee-chan?"

"Um…yeah, I think I've been sleeping okay." Why was this girl so worried about me, she didn't even know me. Was it just because she was nosey or was it because she had a big heart?

She stuck her right thumb to her chin and then hummed in contemplation. "Well how about water? You're supposed to keep hydrated."

"Yeah?" I raised an eyebrow to her general concern for me.

"Hmm, how about…food? Are you hungry, Onee-chan?"

"Umm…no thanks, I'm good I…" then my embarrassment increased when I heard a grumbling sound fill the area. It was my stomach. My cheeks flushed red as I tried to cover up the sound. 'I guess I am a little hungry, as a matter of fact I can't remember the last time that I ate.'

The girl smiled at me and then giggled. "I'll take that as a yes." Then a flash of insight overcame her. "Ooh I know, I'll bet I have some left." She pressed two of her fingers to her lips and then whistled loudly, and then after a few moments I heard something running over to us at an incredible speed. I turned to my right and saw a gigantic dog sprinting towards me, looking like it was ready to pounce. My eyes widened and I tried to back away before it could get any closer but it was too late. The dog jumped on to me and tackled me back to the ground. Then the dog started to lick my face, spreading slobber and drool all over me. "Arrgh…stop…stop!" I shouted, but the dog just kept on licking me. It was too strong to push off of me and it was too big that I couldn't get out from under it. And then finally the girl calmed down the gigantic beast.

"Bad Homura! Sit!" the little girl shouted at the dog, getting it to immediately calm down and stop licking me. The dog backed away, allowing me to get up, and then sat down on its back legs and began to pant incessantly. I forced myself back on to my feet and then wiped off my face to get rid of any remaining dog slobber. The little girl giggled again. "Sorry about that Onee-chan, Homura gets that way whenever she meets a new friend. Most people tend to avoid her because she's big but if you take the time to get to know her you'll find that she's about the sweetest pet in the whole world." She walked up to the dog and then began to pet its head, to which the dog replied with loving affection.

"She? That colossal thing is a "she"?" I asked in disbelief. That dog, Homura, was a giant Golden Retriever that had to weigh at least three-hundred pounds; it had a huge tail, large floppy ears, and brown eyes that resembled the little girl's in an interesting way.

"Yes Homura is as much a girl as you and I. But her size does come in handy for carry-on," she said pointing to a large green carry-on pouch around Homura's neck. Then the girl walked up to Homura and unzipped the pouch to gain access to the contents. "Ta-dah! Survival rations!" she raised up two candy bars in her hands with a triumphant manner. Then she forced one of the candy bars in my hands. "Always remember to keep your blood sugar up Onee-chan. That's why I always remember to pack extra sweets. You never know when you're going need to bunker down and make them last. Always be prepared!"

I sweatdropped at her actions again. "Um, thanks but I'm not sure chocolate qualifies as heathy food."

"What's not healthy about it? I eat a candy bar at least two times a day, that and gummies, cookies, and the occasional takoyaki. Homura carries them all for me and every time we go out for a walk we share. Usually I won't share with anyone else but I like you Onee-chan, so you're okay. Just don't go telling anyone else about my stash."

My sweatdrop grew in size and so did my smile, and my eyes even started to close partly. This girl was like pure comic relief. "That's a lot of candy, your dentist must love you."

"How did you know?" Then she gasped. "Onee-chan, are you by any chance an esper like Hitomi Onee-chan?"

"Um, I don't know who that is but I know for sure that I'm not an esper. I'm pretty average." I tucked away the candy bar in my pocket. "But uh thanks for this, I'll save it for when I really need it like you recommended. You're a nice girl uh…sorry I didn't get your name."

She flashed a peace sign and then winked like some kind of anime character. "Suzume Okane." Then she reached into her overall pocket with her other hand and pulled out something that shocked me to my very core. "And I'm just another person who was forced into this situation by your friend Neku, Raimu Onee-chan." This girl, Suzume, had that familiar and horrifying button from my past. She had a Player Pin.

My expression immediately changed from amusement to fear. Suzume kept smiling at me but her whole demeanor and the way she spoke seemed to change drastically. "Speechless? I can imagine. Hitomi Onee-chan told me that in the Reapers' Game Raimu Onee-chan and Neku Oni-chan competed in mainly teenagers and young adults were the Players, no little kids like me. But I guess this Game is different, no real rules anything goes, a proverbial teenage wasteland with Primary schoolers too. A lot of people have already been erased and I'm not sure how long I'll survive either." Then she started to frown. "I didn't want to die. I was just taking Homura out for a walk and then…the bad man showed up and he did horrible things to the both of us." I could swear she was starting to shed a tear. "After I woke up again I saw Homura near death, he broke all her legs and left her in so much pain. It sunk in that that horrible nightmare was actually real and I cried and cried and cried some more. But no one could hear me. No one could hear me at all. I was alone until I met Hitomi Onee-chan and the others. Natsu Oni-chan helped fix Homura up and they welcomed the two of us with open arms. I asked especially if I could come pick you up Raimu Onee-chan because I wanted to ask you personally. Did you mean for this to happen to us? Did you know that we would all be forced to go through this torture? Did you and Neku Oni-chan just stand by and wait for it to happen? Did you even try to prevent it from happening again?" She was clearly crying now. "I want to go home Raimu Onee-chan. I want to see my mommy and daddy again. And if I can't do that I want to at least go someplace safe, I don't want to be here anymore. So the others told me that if we found you they would let me go home first. So please Raimu Onee-chan, I'm begging you to help me, to help us. We don't want to be here anymore."

I didn't know how to respond. My mind was utterly blank. Only one instinct came to mind. Run. But could I really do that? Just abandon a little girl who was so nice and concerned about not five minutes ago? Abandon her when she was asking for my help? And then I felt someone creep up behind me and before I knew my mind went fuzzy and my eyelids grew heavy.

"Aller se coucher." ("Go to sleep.") A boy had snuck up from behind me. He had wisteria colored hair that had a single bang that drooped over his right eye, and his left eye was turquoise from the looks of it. He wore a royal blue coat with the hoodie down, an orchid colored t-shirt, a pair of blue jeans, and a pair of black rain boots. Then my eyes fully closed and I felt my body fall forward towards the boy. Then I felt him wrap his arms around me and then hoist me up over his shoulder. "Bonne nuit Raimu Bito." ("Good night Raimu Bito.") He was speaking French from the sound of it, I knew a little French from what I learned in school so I made out the gist of what he was saying. "Vous avez fait bon Suzume, allons-y maintenant. Les autres sont ramasser tout le monde que nous parlons. Nous avons besoin d'être là quand tout est révélé." (You did good Suzume, now let's go. The others are picking up everyone else as we speak. We need to be there when all is revealed.")

There was a long pause before Suzume said anything. "Do we really have to do this, Alphonse Oni-chan?"

The boy, Alphonse, nodded in reply. "Hitomi a déclaré que les particuliers détiennent des secrets dont nous avons besoin. Et maintenant que nous avons Raimu ici, notre objectif est de sortir du jeu est au sein de nos sites. Vous voulez rentrer à la maison aussi, ne vous Suzume?" ("Hitomi said that those particular individuals hold secrets that we need. And now that we have Raimu here our goal to get out of the Game is within our sights. You want to go home too, don't you Suzume?")

"I do. But I don't want to hurt anyone, Hitomi Onee-chan told me that some of the other Players are erasing each other just so they can thin out competition. Nothing bad will happen to Raimu Onee-chan or the others right?"

There was a long pause before Alphonse spoke again. "Vous pouvez comprendre tout ce que je dis, à droite?" ("You can understand everything I say, right?")

"Yes, it's part of my Psych. I can understand any language immediately, I can even understand what Homura is saying when she speaks to me. What's your point?"

"C'est un vrai cadeau. Vous savez comment communiquer avec tout le monde, vous pouvez être un véritable médiateur. Je ne peux pas dire avec certitude ce que les autres vont faire mais je sais pertinemment que vous essayez d'être la voix de la raison pour tout le monde. Si vous ne voulez pas n'importe qui de se blesser alors nous aider à découvrir leurs secrets. Votre alimentation peut aider. Tu es une bonne fille Suzume, je sais que vous allez me donner raison." ("That's a true gift. You know how to communicate with everybody, you can be a true mediator. I can't say for sure what the others will do but I know for a fact that you will try to be the voice of reason for everybody. If you don't want anyone to get hurt then help us find out their secrets. Your power can help. You're a good girl Suzume, I know you'll prove me right.") Then I felt him turn around and carry me off in an unknown direction. And I could hear Suzume and Homura following us. Then after that all my senses went dull and I fell into a deep sleep.

Side F-Rin' s Perfect World

Rin's POV-

Udagawa Back Streets. Udagawa, Shibuya- August 6, 2009, 17:37

As I inserted my money into the coffee vending machine, I noticed that little gnat Sakura glaring at me. She had nothing but pure contempt of me, of that much I was sure of. She and the other so-called Guardians of the Garden claimed to be hidden parts to Anna's personality. 'Is that why even Data didn't have any knowledge of them?' I asked myself as I pushed the buttons on the vending machine to make my selection. It was definitely peculiar. Since obtaining Data I felt like I gained a new half to myself, a more intelligent and clear-thinking half. Using Data's power I had successfully made note of every single thing that I should keep in mind for the Game. I knew exactly which Players to watch out for, which Players I could manipulate, all the Noise and Reapers, and even a few of the Mortals and Angels. I knew things that the others discovered in a set amount of time beforehand. I knew who the GM of Shibuya was and their goal since I was entered into the Game. 'Just another individual who wishes to change the world, but only for selfish reasons, and stupidly selfish at that.' I chose Neku, Madoka, Kazuma, and Annabelle to be my Partners specifically because I knew that if I manipulated them in the right way and told them all they wanted to here and prove that I would be a great asset to them with my ability that I could use them and form them into the winning Team. Because I knew that drive wasn't going to get them that far in the Game at all. I know a secret that they are not even remotely aware of. But still they proved to be worthy for myself to mold. Most of the other Players were lost and afraid kids who were just struggling to survive, no drive to compete. Most of them hadn't even obtained Partners yet so they were useless when it came to fighting. And besides Hikari only three other Teams stood out. Shitsuren was just controlled by a Hive Mind Rare Breed wielded by a sadistic/lonely insane girl who was driven mad by a childhood crush, one that her love interest is uninterested in reciprocating. And besides them the only other worthy Teams were the secretive group who chooses to stick to the shadows and then strike at the most unexpected moment. White Mask. I considered them to be extremely worthy but they were rejected due to the fact that they are loyal to no one but their leader, both in life and death. I don't take orders from anyone but myself. Then the next worthy group was another secretive Team who wants nothing more than to return to life and rid themselves from the Reapers' Game. This Team was at first considered by me to be on par with Neku and the others. They themselves resemble the latter in so many ways it's almost uncanny. Both Teams possessed the drive to win but only one of them had acted on it. This third ultimate Team is like White Mask and Hikari rolled into one, you see. You're probably asking yourself this question right now. Rin if this third Team was so great then why didn't you choose them as your little helpers? Well you see that's because of the little secret I know. And that secret is likely to cause a calamity of epic proportions if it's revealed too soon. So I'm going to let it pass for now and keep it to myself. No spoilers.

'The others will meet them soon enough. They're most likely watching them as we speak.' Sakura was too busy glaring at me to notice that besides the Mortals around us there was someone else following us. That person didn't think I could see them so they were just ducked out behind the corner of an alleyway, taking occasional glances to see where I went next. As I waited for my coffee to come out I leaned against the side of the vending machine, and then Sakura took that as he chance to pounce on me. She hovered over to me and then started shouting in my face. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

I cleaned my right ear with my finger. "Right now, I'm checking for tinnitus," I mocked.

She growled. "That's not what I mean and you know it! Anna and the others are counting on us to try and find Rhyme and so far we haven't found one single solid clue!"

She was right, we had checked out three different locations on Track Attack on our way here and came up completely empty. As I had assumed they were just false leads created by the GM; traps to erase Players with only little trivia facts about Rhyme as the prize. I picked up my phone and looked through the "useful" tips we obtained.

Raimu Fact #5: She's actually a childhood prodigy whether she likes to admit it or not. If it weren't for her idiot brother holding her back who knows how far she could have gone.

Raimu Fact #7: Raimu's favorite band of all time is Luna Delights. She got so upset when the lead guitarist, Yasuke Shitori, left the band for creative differences and the band's concert tour was put on hiatus.

Raimu Fact #9: One of her favorite places to hang out is the Gearcrank Arcade in Dogenzaka. She said her brother won her a stuffed doll on the crane machine there once and it's been a fun place to hang ever since.

I looked up from my phone. "Okay, so maybe we should stop looking at the places on the phone. All we've been getting is hordes of Noise and useless trivia for our efforts."

"I've been thinking the same thing! But why are you wasting our time right now by getting coffee?!"

"I got thirsty." When the coffee was fully poured into the cup that the machine put out I grabbed it and then took a sip. "Caffeine helps me concentrate." Then I took another sip. "Ah, nothing beats iced coffee." Then I smirked at her. "You know, you need to learn to loosen up. Compared to the others you're kind of a stick in the mud."

Her glare deepened "Neku's friend is in trouble, Neku is Anna's friend and she called upon us to help him find his other friend. You claim to be his friend as well but the way I see it you aren't even lifting a finger to find her. Either you don't care or you're keeping something form me. Now which is it?"

So she had caught on. The gnat wasn't as dimwitted as I thought. But like I said before, no spoilers until the finale is set. 'And judging by the state of things…' my eyes panned over to our uninvited guest, 'Things aren't fully set up yet.' It was time to see how good her powers of deduction were; Anna claims she's the Guardian of Truth but as I've stated before I fancy myself a pretty good liar. Why else do you think I would deliberately let Neku into my personal life with a trial of bread crumbs that eventually led me to reveal who I really was and how I knew Shatter? I knew that if I was going to make them trust me absolutely I would have to reveal who I really was at some point. That performance up on the rooftop was just that…a performance. I planned and calculated that whole heart-warming and light-shedding conversation from the beginning. 'It's amazing what people will do for you when you're honest with them. Just tem them a sob story and you automatically get their pity. I'm starting to see what the Higher Beings meant, Mortals are too simple; nowhere near challenging enough.' I took another sip from my iced coffee. 'Annabelle didn't hear any of that conversation, what with her being unconscious and all, but I wonder. Could Sakura know about me? If so, could she know that Akemi isn't even the least of my concerns?' So many questions. I have most of the answers, but still things continue to surprise me even now. 'There's always something new in this Game, that's what gives it its charm, its appeal. I'm still going to destroy the Higher Beings and end the Reapers' Game once and for all. But who knows? When I create my own world I might do something similar.' Just kidding. Had you going there didn't I?

In my world there will be no conflict. No war. No phamon. No disease. No death. A world where everyone is treated equally, a world where there is no hatred. A world where love is only warm and passionate, never bloody and sad. A world where no one shall be alone. A world where there will be no crime or violence of any kind, a peaceful utopia. That is my goal. With my guidance, Hikari will be proclaimed the victors of the Reapers' Game, just as Metatron and the other coconspirators want. Because when that happens the true secret of the Reapers' Game will be revealed. The Ten errors, the Ten Children of Hope, whatever Metatron wants to call me and the others to further his plan and manipulate those who are stupid enough to listen. I already knew about Gamon's battle with that Neku imposter, obviously another one of Metatron's tricks, but what's to be gained by sending Gamon to the Imaginary Number plane? Maybe Metatron wants someone to go and pickup something for him? If so, that just makes Gamon a delivery boy. No use to me at the moment. I'll bide my time with him and then when he is fully matured I will harvest him and sink my claws into him, just like Kazuma, Madoka, and Hideaki. 'Of course that means at some point I'll have to come for "her".' I smiled to myself while I was finishing up my coffee. 'In my perfect world, maybe the two of us can really be together? Or is that just wishful thinking?' When I was finally finished with my coffee I threw the container into a nearby trash can and then replied to Sakura's question.

"I do consider myself as Neku's friend. I've never really had that many friends before, heck when I was little my best friend in the whole world was this girl that I had a monumental crush on. But with Neku I feel like I can talk to him about certain things I could never talk to her about, like things about her for instance. If a friend isn't someone you can spill your problems too then what is it exactly. So yes he's my friend, in fact I would go as far as to call him one of my best friends. I want to come back to life with him and get the chance to hang out with him for real. That goes for Kazuma too, but you and Annabelle haven't met him yet so you probably don't know where I'm coming from. Madoka, she reminds me so much of my little sister and I want to protect her no matter what; and I think I could also say the same thing about Annabelle."

"If all that is true. Then why did you try to erase Anna?"

I inwardly smirked. 'So she does know, impressive skills of deduction indeed.' I frowned on the outside. "If you know about that then you should also know about my childhood friend. She's lost her free will just like Annabelle, a slave to her Psych, it's slowly consuming her and turning her into something twisted and dark. I've been contemplating the idea for some time, and if it comes down to it I think she would rather have me erase her than to continue letting her go around in her broken state. It was stupid but on some level I thought Annabelle might've felt the same."

"Well she doesn't. Anna still has so much to live for, whether she remembers or not."

"So I was right, she's connected to another person's Entry Fee and that's why trying to remember certain things caused her so much pain before."

"She's actually connected to two people. Her little sister and her boyfriend. But you already knew that didn't you, Mr. Data?" Sakura replied.

"Correct. I was just testing to see if you were able to remember. Data has no information at all on the five of you. You're an anomaly so it makes sense that you would be able to retain the things that Annabelle can't."

"So that's your reasoning behind the things you do? Just because they make you curious?"

"I consider myself a pursuer of secrets. Everyone and everything is made up of secrets. The Game thrives on secrets. The overseers are just toying with us so I toy back, I give them what they want, seeing me run around in circles in their maze like all the other Player mice. And I intend to only show my hand when it can bring about the most chaos and anarchy to their precious Reapers' Game. So I intend to help the others, just not until they absolutely need my help."

"You're a sociopath, you know that?" Sakura replied.

I nodded in agreement, "Guilty, but I'm not the only one. You want to know a big secret about the Game?" I smirked and then leaned in closer to the little gnat and whispered something that truly shocked her. "There are so many Player sociopaths it's almost ridiculous. The Higher Beings mixed us up with all the other little mice to see the reaction. As a result two people like me are now in control of two of the most powerful Teams in the UG. But don't worry. They're just like me, merely collectors and gathers of information and secrets. But the people they associate themselves with are just panicky morons who abuse their power. Just like the guy following us, his people are most likely following all the others right now. And one by one they'll collect us. They've probably already taken Rhyme as well."

I could see that Sakura was shocked.

I smiled. "Pretty good secret, eh?"

Regular POV-

?,? - August 6, 2009, 17:37

We find ourselves back in the familiar sky room. It mainly looked the same except for being slightly darker due to it being the evening time. The mysterious figure of the room was still there and he appeared to be humming a sad tune as he continued to play with his figurines. But with the sun being low you could now make out the figure's features. He appeared to be male, although he was very scrawny and pale, and he had messy silver hair that flowed down to the base of his shoulders and a pair of ruby red eyes which had a unique pupil star shape. He wore a gray t-shirt over a black undershirt, and a pair of gray sweatpants. And oddly enough the boy was barefoot. The figurines that he held in hands currently were his Neku figurine and a Shiki figurine. The boy stared at the two figurines intensely as if he too his eyes away from them they might disappear.

"Is there a problem, Mr. Michael?" another person in the sky room suddenly asked. The Higher Being Michael turned his head around slightly to see a tall and lean young man with straight and neat blonde hair and captivating jade green eyes. He wore an old-timey butler's outfit complete with a crow tail jacket and white gloves. "Watching exciting events such as these unfolding before your very eyes does seem like it might get tiring, shall I fetch you some refreshments?"

"No need Adam, I am content with merely watching and playing. I shall rest and relax when the Mission is over, until then I have to make sure things go smoothly. Playing god may be fun but it's a full-time job."

"I see," the young man named Adam replied. He walked closer to Michael and then looked over his shoulder to see him holding the Neku and Shiki figurines. "You created one for the girl too? But Mr. Michael I thought you placed her somewhere else."

Michael smirked and then replied, "Do you know what makes a game fun, Adam?"

Adam shook his head. "No sir, I can't say that I do."

"A fun game is a game that gets more challenging as it goes along." Michael placed the two figurines down and then motioned to the figurines of the Ten. Kazuma, Madoka, Rin, Shatter, Pyros, Willow, Gamon, Drake, and then two other unknown individual which were presumed to be the King and Yumi Inoue. "Nothing is more fun than suspense. A game that always keeps you guessing. A game that makes you say "just what is going to happen next". A game that is full of tricks and misdirection. That's the best kind of game. And this Reapers' Game is mean to be the Game to End All Games, so I intend to have so many surprises in store for our little Players." Then he picked up the Neku and Shiki figurines again. "And the next surprise will certainly be a doozy for a young hero, I can't wait to see how he reacts to seeing a familiar face on an unfamiliar person.

Abandoned warehouse. Outskirts of Miyashita Park, Shibuya- August 6, 2009, 17:40

There was a small room in the back of the warehouse that had a large full-body mirror sitting in the center of the room. It was dirty and cracked in some places but it looked like it would still be able to cast a nice reflection of a person who looked into it. There was one person in the room with the mirror, a girl who appeared to be in her teens. She eyed the mirror strangely at first and slowly approached it. Then she pressed her right hand to the glass and started in awe at her reflection in the mirror. Then she started to whisper to the mirror. "Mirror, mirror, though I may be meek I truly wish to find the one I seek. To hear his tale, to know his secrets. I want to know more about who he is, so please with this spell do not miss. Show me him, show me the person I miss, and with this spell, I seal with a kiss." Then the girl kissed the surface of the mirror and after a few seconds broke away. Then all of a sudden the reflection in the mirror began to ripple and distort until the girl's reflection was no longer visible. The thing that was visible in the mirror was an image of Neku. He appeared to be in the upper east side of Shibuya along with Rose who was hanging onto his shoulder.

"Hitomi-san?" a gruff-sounding voice called out. Then a boy entered the room. He had scruff black hair which was long and flowed down to his back, a pair of dark tiger orange eyes, the left of which had a small scar over it, and tan skin that showed the boy loved the sun. He wore an open jean vest with the sleeves torn off over a blue t-shirt with a wolf decal on it; he also wore a pair of dark blue jeans that were muddy and dirty around the cuffs, a pair of beat up black and blue sneakers, and a fang pendant. "I just brought back those two you saw at Love Hotel Hill, wasn't easy, I ended up having to fight off these jerks in masks."

"Masks?" the girl repeated.

"Yeah, white masks. They looked like they were in some kind of gang, but I'm pretty sure they were Players too. Are they by any chance on your list?"

The girl named Hitomi shook her head. "No, they weren't in my prediction. But with the addition of the two you brought the whole thing is starting to come into place. There has to be some reason why prediction showed all of them. And I have to find out what that is."

"Well I'm with ya, you're Psych's location power is spot on. Suzume and Alphonse had no problem finding Raimu Bito, I just saw her out there sleeping away. Heh, Alphonse's sleep Psych really knocks ya out."

"So they're back too. That's good, I was starting to get worried, and I haven't seen Remy or Chino either."

"I'm sure there's nothing to worry about. They're probably just waiting for the right moment to bring back the others." The boy looked over Hitomi's shoulder and saw Neku in the mirror. "So that's Neku Sakuraba, eh? And he's part of your prediction, too?"

"No Natsu, he is the prediction. The others were there but Neku has the information that I need. He knows who I really am, I can feel it."

"Are you sure you want to remember who you really are that badly? I mean, we've got Raimu Bito now, you could just come back to life and then find out that way. Maybe you don't need his answers."

"No, we already promised that Suzume would be the first one to come back. She just a little kid, she's not cut out for this Natsu."

Natsu lowered his eyes to the ground. "But…it's just…to us right now you're you. If Sakuraba really does have the answers you seek then what if you become someone else entirely?"

"That's a risk I'm just going to have to take. When you and I formed this Team we made a promise, right? That no matter what it takes we'll return to life. I know, somehow, deep down inside that he has the answers to make me whole again; and with that knowledge maybe we can find a way to restore all our Entry Fees and then find a way to return to life without continuing to play this horrible Game."

"But we're strong, if we fight we won't have to sneak around and look for answers. We can just fight head on and win the Reapers' Game."

"No! The more you play this Game, the more you start to lose yourself. It's designed to push you to your limits and then beyond them. If we stay in here longer than necessary we might permanently lose who we were before we came to the UG. Remember what you told me, Natsu? You have to find the man who killed you and experimented on all those poor animals. More time spent here is just making you lose time searching for that goal. I need to have something I can hang on to as well, because as of right now I can't remember who I was. And if Neku Sakuraba has the answers then I will get them from him." Hitomi started to walk out the door until Natsu grabbed her.

"No, you stay here. You're still trying to develop your combat skills, but against a pro like Sakuraba you'll be no match. Besides, the others count on you to motivate them and guide them through this rough patch. You're our leader, and if something happens to you, I'll…I mean we'll never forgive ourselves. Let me go instead, I swear to you I'll bring Sakuraba kicking and screaming if I have to. Just stay here where it's safe."

Hitomi looked back at Natsu and smiled at him. "Okay. I'll stay, just promise me you'll be careful and don't do anything too drastic."

Natsu nodded and then he exited the room, leaving Hitomi alone with the mirror. Then the mirror's image returned to normal and Hitomi stared at her reflection again. She was a beautiful and plain-looking girl. She had long brown hair which flowed down past her shoulders and had a small hairclip on the left side of her head, pretty brown eyes which were hidden behind a pair of glasses, and porcelain skin which was almost as white as snow. She wore a sailor uniform with a green shirt, a white ascot tie, a black skirt, a pair knee-high white socks, and a pair of black dress shoes. It was unmistakable. Her hair was longer but her face was the same. Hitomi was Shiki Misaki.

A/N: Again, sorry this took so long to update but I hope this chapter was well worth the wait. Hope fully I'll have the last chapter of the arc up at least by the end of the month.