DAY 1

A young girl with long, blond hair carried a black plush cat named Lil Whiskers in her left hand.
She was wearing her school uniform a white blouse with a red plaid bow and skirt and donned
white headphones.

Kotone Baisho was staring off into space as she walked the streets to her house. A carefree smile
was on her face.

Until she heard someone running up behind her.

She turned around, eyes wide open in shock and her smile no more. A tall, muscular man with a
gun was charging up to her.

Tears filled Kotones eyes, and fear prevented her body from moving.

Wha- what do... what do you want from me?

The man replied bluntly. Youve got something valuable, kid.

No I dont! Please, leave me alone!

Yeah, the man said that you probably dont know bout it. Now sit still and be quiet or things are
gonna get a whole lot more ugly!

Suddenly, there was the sound of a slap, and the man fell to the ground in an instant. Standing
behind him was Kotones twin brother with his hand outstretched.

Her brother looked down at her. Didnt I tell you to wait for

The man grimaced and shot the boy. The red blood marred Yoris blond hair, and he fell to the
ground.

Kotone walked over to her brother. YORI!

The man stepped on her chest, sending her body down to the pavement.

Thats what he gets for interferin.

He pointed the gun at her as a smile crossed his face.

Sleep tight.

///////

Arata Kajiya was a Reaper in his early twenties. A high-ranking Reaper, to be sure, but he tried not
to think about that. He was wearing an expensive tuxedo gotta look good when youre attending
a meeting right after your big promotion instead of his usual sweater. He didnt really want to
forgo the sweater that his mother knitted for him right before she passed away, but this meeting
was kind of important and he decided showing up in casual clothing would be in bad taste.

At least, thats what he thought, but apparently none of the other Reapers had picked up on that.

He glanced down at his watch 7:00 AM on the nose and cleared his throat and smiled.

G-Good morning, everyone! he said nervously. My name is Arata Kajiya, and as Im sure youre
aware, Im the new Conductor of Shibuya.

I understand you may all be a little on edge after the events of the last three weeks. A weeks
worth of players were all put on standby except one, many of our Reapers, including most of our
Officer Reapers, were erased, and on top of that, the Red Skull Pin wreaked havoc on the minds of
the Realground. And I know what youre probably all thinking All that happened under the
command of a Conductor that we all trusted. How do we know that this new guy isnt going to be
worse?

He sheepishly glanced down at the ground as he ruffled his curly, light auburn hair.

Well, I cant force you all to trust me, but I can promise you something the Games that I
Conduct will not be like the last three weeks at all. The Composer and I will run a fair Game, free
from influence from our own agendas. But theres one thing that I need from all of you: your co-
operation.

Yeah, you probably dont trust me yet, and I get that. But please hear me out even if The
Composer and I do everything perfectly, we cant keep tabs on each and every Reaper at once.
You all are responsible for upholding the integrity of the Game and making sure everyone follows
the rules. Because, without rules, what are we? Nothing more than superpowered maniacs with
wings, thats what.

In conclusion, as we start our new game this wonderful Monday morning, lets wipe the slate
clean. Put aside any animosity you may have towards another Reaper, or any anger you may have
regarding the events of the last three weeks, and lets have a fresh start free from any scheming
or corruption.

Lets have a new seven days.

///////

When Kotone woke up, she was sprawled across the pavement of Scramble Crossing holding her
Lil Whiskers in her left hand. Hoards of people walked right over her, never once noticing or
stepping on her.


She got up and sighed. Reaching into her pocket with her free hand, she pulled out four pins and
put them on as she talked to herself.

So. This is the start of The Reapers Game, huh? And just when I thought that getting mugged was
the scariest thing that could ever happen to me. But, hey... if we work together, well be fine!
Right, bro?

There was only silence. She turned around, but her brother wasnt there.

Bro?

She turned around, looking for someone in the crowd.

Yori? Yori, where are you?

She started running. Not in any particular direction, just somewhere in the crowd.

Yori?

No sign of Yori. She ran somewhere else.

Yori?!

She looped back around to where she maybe might have started, but she couldnt tell for sure.

YORI? YORI! I CANT I CANT FIND YOU!

She sat down, clutched Lil Whiskers tightly, and started crying.

Yori...

Her cellphone started buzzing. She sighed as she pulled her phone out of her purse to look at the
text message.

Game #1

Go to 104. Your time limit is 60 minutes, and the price of failure is erasure.

--The Reapers

A searing pain shot through her right hand.

AIIIIEEEE! she screamed, digging her right fingers into her stuffed cat.


She didnt need to look at her hand to know what had happened. Engraved there was a timer,
slowly ticking down. 60:00. 59:59. 59:58. 59:57...

Her breathing increased rapidly and she started trembling. I cant do this. I cant, I cant, I cant...

She sat in silence for a moment.

But wait a minute. Is this really any way to behave? Crying like a coward is that how Yori would
want me to carry myself? If he could see me right now, hed probably tease me for being such a
wuss...

She stood up, puffed out her chest, and clenched her fists.

A-alright, I can do this! Even though Im scared, Ill pull through!

She smirked.

I dont need Yoris help to walk to a stupid building! Im an independent cat lady who dont need no
man! I mean, as long as manage to avoid the Noise, I should be fine, right?

She started to briskly walk over to 104.

Nothing to worry about at all.

Suddenly, something leaped onto her face. She stopped running, but inertia was bound and
determined to make her loose her balance. She wobbled her arms to regain her footing and
grabbed the whatever-it was with both hands, trying desperately to pry it off her pace.

EEEEEEEEK! GETITOFFGETITOFFGETITOFF! she screamed as she fumbled around.

After a few desperate tugs, the thing well, now she could see that it was a frog Noise of some
sort was off of her face. Unfortunately, now a whole herd of Noise had gathered.

Another frog leaped onto her shoulder, and then two more onto her opposite arm. A wolf lunged
at her, which she deftly avoided by quickly hopping out of the way. The rest of the wolves started
charging towards her, soon followed by hopping frogs.

Kotone looked behind her and smiled. She was standing in between the noise and 104.

At this point, she did the only thing she could do.

She ran.

///////

Koki Kariya and Uzuki Yashiro stood on top of a building, watching the Players in the Scramble
Crossing. Uzuki was trembling and giggling gleefuly as she looked down at them, while Kariya just
stared and frowned.

Youre really set on this promotion, arent you? Kariya asked.

Uzuki just continued to giggle.

Kariya sighed.

Look, I understand if you wanna move up in the world, but weve just had an unprecedented
three weeks of work without a break. Did you really have to volunteer the two of us for a fourth?

Kariya, stop being such a slacker! Youre gonna ruin my big break! Uzuki said, still staring down
at the Players and with a wide smile still on her face.

Life is too short to spend it chasing after pipe dreams.

Uzuki turned to Kariya and frowned. This isnt a pipe dream, Kariya! This is a full harvest!

She motioned towards the vast multitude of players. Look at them all! Not only are there all the
people from the RG who died last week, theres also all the people who should have played the
Game last week but couldnt!

And yet here we are on a roof, Kariya snarked.

Hmm... Youve got a point. Come on, Kariya! Were going into the warzone!

But I never even wanted this promo

Uzuki walked away from their lookout point towards the stairs. Kariya sighed.

Well, if it makes her happy, he said as he followed.

///////

Kotone arrived at 104, panting frantically. As she looked down at her hand, she sighed in relief to
see the timer gone.

Phew!

That was easy. That wasnt really anything to be afraid of, I mean, really, what was I thinking?
Crying like some sort of idiot on Day 1, thats just silly

Kotone! her brother said.


She turned around. Standing about 10 feet behind her was Yori.

Yori? Yori its you! She rushed towards him and enveloped him a hug.

No time for sentiments, Kotone! I need you to forge a pact with me!

Her eyes widened in fear. R-right now?!

Yes, right now!

F-fine! I accept!

A blue light enveloped the two of them as they closed their eyes. The two of them floated up
above the ground, and once they had stopped rising, they opened their eyes. The blue light went
away, and they floated back down.

Suddenly, with a huge smile, a gleam in his bright blue eyes, the speed of an arrow flying through
the air, and the force of a highly lethal samurai, Yori grabbed Kotone by the shoulders. Thank you,
Kotone! Thank you!

Youre welcome! But, um... why the big rush?

Yoris smile suddenly disappeared. He opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted.

Because, at that moment, out of nowhere a wolf noise came barreling into him like a rhino.

Starting from where the wolf had struck him, an orange light spread across Yoris body and
enveloped it. Almost immediately afterwards, a yellow light shone up from the ground right under
Kotone and filled her field of vision.

When the light dissipated, everyone else was gone, even Yori. It was just Kotone, the cat, and the
Noise.

And, curiously, there was now more than one. A frog had joined the wolf.

Alright, Kotone, her brother said as she switched which hand she was holding her Lil Whiskers
with. Although she could hear him, she couldnt see him. What pins do you have on?

Umm... she glanced down at her pins, having forgotten already. This one has a lightning bolt, so
no points for guessing what it does...

She looked up to see that the wolf had gotten closer and was about to bite her. At the last second,
she thrust out her left hand. Sure enough, a bolt of lightning burst forth, forcing the wolf to a halt.


Her eyes widened and she jumped back in fear.

WOAH!

Did it work? Yori asked.

A smile crossed her face. HECK YEAH, it worked! And, umm she jumped out of the way of the
frog; the wolf had started charging again This one might let me use some sort of tornado attack
but Im not sure.

Kotone held her hand out at the wolf again. No attack came to stop the oncoming mound of fury.

OHHOLYCRAP!

She jumped out of the way.

Im not able to use this pin.

Ive only been able to get one pin to work for me. No shame in that!

OK, this one is white with a blue triangle pointing assuming I put it on rightto my left. Ice
bullets?

She held her hand out just like she did with the lightning, and a shard of ice flew out from it. She
managed to hit both the wolf and the frog.

Alright! It worked! This last one is a lime green heart with a white border on a light blue
background. Sounds like a healing pin.

Best to wait, then, Yori said.

What? No, not best to wait! Use it now!

Didnt you hear what Mr. Kajiya said? Until healing pins evolve, they generally only have one use
per combat. So unless those noise are kicking your ass hard, lets hold off.

...Did he say that? All I remember was the stand and think part.

Pay attention next time, Kotone.

Kotone shrugged. A frog jumped up towards her face, and she responded by shooting lightning at
it.

Instead of falling to the ground like she had expected, the frog exploded into what looked like TV
static. She could hear applause.


Way to go, sis!

Thanks, bro! She curtsied just like a princess form some European country would. Not that her
brother could see.

Next, she fixed her gaze to the wolf.

It was right next to her, about to lunge. She held her hand at it, and let fly a quartet of lightning
bolts, followed by three ice shards. Her attack was cut short, however, by what she could only
assume was the pins recharging.

Now it was the wolfs turn.

It lunged into her and knocked her straight to the ground. The back of her head was filled with
intense pain. She got up, held back tears, and held her hand to the wound.

H-How are you doing, Yori?

Bad.

Then Im using the pin.

Its hard to describe the sensation of using a psychic ability that has no real correspondence to any
motion youre making in the real world, but for Kotone it felt a little like making a wish on a
shooting star. She just stood there and thought really, really hard about her pin.

Except when she was done thinking, she felt no better.

The pain was still raging on. She spat out what little words she could. It... it didnt...

KOTONE! Her brother yelled. Kotone, dont die on me!

She could feel something swinging back and forth in her right hand.

The hand that she put the cat in.

She looked down at her hand to see Lil Whiskers swinging back and forth in her hand as she held
him by the arm. And he was looking up at her.

I let you die once! Yori continued. I cant let you die again!

Do... do you want to be free? she whispered to Lil Whiskers.

He nodded.


She gently set Lil Whiskers down on the ground. Much to her surprise, he immediately rushed
towards the noise and punched it.

A lot.

And it wasnt just a rush of ineffective hits, it was solid punch after solid punch. He was landing
hits like a trained fighter.

He finished his combo with a monster of a punch that Erased the noise.

The stuffed cat.

Kotones jaw dropped. After a few seconds she was able to regain her composure.

Yori, it looks like you wont have to!

Lil Whiskers ran back to Kotone and hugged her leg right before the yellow light came back.

When the light faded away, all the people were back and Yori was right at her side.

She immediately turned to him and said Yori, the pin worked and it brought Lil Whiskers to life!
Somehow!

What.

I know, its a little weird. Well, a lot weird. But, hey, he gets the job done, right?

Lil Whiskers walked up to Yori and grabbed his leg.

And look! Kotone said. He loves you!

Hesitantly, Yori lowered his hand and gave Lil Whiskers a head rub.

Thatll do, cat. Thatll do.

///////

A man woke up stark naked and sprawled across the floor of his bedroom, and he realized almost
immediately that he had amnesia.

Its a strange experience, to be sure. Thinking to yourself I have no memories is probably one of
the most terrifying things you can experience.


But thats just what happened to this man. This man, by the way, is one that you are all
acquainted with, so I shall now refer to him by name.

Sanae Hanekoma had no memories.

He sprung to his feet with a worried look on his face and panted nervously.

I... cant... remember... anything...

He looked around for some traces of his identity a photo ID, a piece of junk mail, an old school
assignment, anything and found that it was significantly harder when you dont even know what
specifically it is.

He went through a pile of papers on his desk, but they all seemed to be sketches of graffiti or pin
designs.

Come on, come on, theres got to be something...

Finally, at the bottom of the stack, there was a check.

Pay to the order of Sanae Hanekoma

AH-HA! My name is Sanae HANEKOMA!

In the corner of his eye, he could spot a notebook and a permanent marker, both of which he
quickly grabbed.

The notebook was, unfortunately, blank. Regardless, on the first page he wrote:

Sanae Hanekoma
artist (graffiti, pins) unsure if professional or amateur
very disorganized
I woke up naked as a jaybird and Im not sure what that means

He capped the marker and looked back at his artwork.

It was all bright and colorful, and captured what he assumed was the heart of the bustling, urban
life in an optimistic fashion. At the top of each piece of paper, two phrases were written: Enjoy
the moment more and Gather. A cat featured very prominently in most of his designs, as did
the words Do what you want, when you want, how you want. The design at what was once the
top of the pile, however, seemed to be built around a simple, yet mysterious, five word phrase:
THE WORLD ENDS WITH YOU.

He set that one aside in hopes that he would figure it out later.


This point in time seemed like a good opportunity for getting some clothes on, so he walked over
to his dresser and pulled out a plain white t-shirt, briefs, and a pair of grey sweatpants.

He made some changes to his list:

Sanae Hanekoma
artist (graffiti, pins) unsure if professional or amateur
very disorganized
I woke up naked as a jaybird and Im not sure what that means
briefs over boxers
regarding art:
o cats
o Do what you want, when you want, how you want
o The world ends with you
o Enjoy the moment more
o Gather

and was about to embark on an information hunt when his phone rang.

He followed the sound to the top of some shelves attached to the head of his bed. The phone
prompted him to place his finger on a white square, and once he did so, it scanned his fingerprint.
The phone unlocked and displayed a new text message from a sender that it couldnt identify.

hey, this is shiki. i just got a new phone, and im texting you so that you have the number.

Inspiration struck. Sanae smiled and started typing.

Shiki, could you please come over
as soon as you can? I need help
with something.

im free tomorrow at noon.

whats the situation?
Ill explain once you get here.

Thank you.
no prob

Sanae put his phone back, lied down on his bed, and sighed.


Who are you, Sanae Hanekoma?


///////
Day 1: Reapers Game

COMPLETE

///////

DAY 2

Yori woke up on Tuesday in the same place as the day before on the pavement in the Scramble
Crossing. He could hear the sounds of the RG crowd, but none of the Players seemed to be making
any noise.

Except behind him, he could faintly hear the voice of a girl.

I-ro-ha-one, i-ro-ha-two, i-ro-ha-three, i-ro-ha four...

He turned around and saw his sister and Lil Whiskers bent down, doing some sort of exercise. On
iro they were holding their knees and bending them, and on ha and the number they tapped
the ground.

I-ro-ha-five, i-ro-ha-five no, wait i-ro-ha-six, i-ro-ha-seven...

Hey, Kotone, Yori said. What are you doing?

She and the cat paused their exercise. One moment, Yori.

The exercise stated again.

I-ro-ha-eight, i-ro-ha-nine, i-ro-ha-hold!

They reached for the ground as Kotone counted One hippopotamus, two hippopotamus, three
hippopotamus... Once she got to twenty hippopotami, she sprung back up and grinned.

Hi, Yori!


...Hi. What was that?

Oh, I was just doing some of my morning exercises! Mr. OCathain taught me this one right before
winter break. He says that he learned it in America while he was taking Tae Kwon Do. But in the
version he learned, instead of saying iroha, you say hana-dul-set-one, hana-dul-set-two... she
was doing the exercise as she demonstrated the original chant.

Kotone, you can get up now.

Matt OCathain (Kotone insisted on spelling it Cathin, as that was the proper spelling, but
OCathain was how the man himself spelled it) was an Irish-American and the assistant teacher in
Kotones English class. He was a nice man, and he and Kotone had grown very close. He was also
the club advisor of the track team, which Kotone was a member of.

...So, anyways, she resumed, I added it to my routine. I didnt get a chance to do any exercises
yesterday, but since the Reapers Game is pretty physically taxing, I figured Id get some in before
the mission

Just then, the air was filled with the cacophony of hundreds of phones ringing at once. The Baisho
twins both simultaneously reached into their pockets and grabbed their phones.

Game #2

Find the source of the energy spike and bring it to me. Ill be waiting at 104. Your phones
have been given an extra functionality. Your time limit is 80 minutes, and the price of
failure is erasure.

--The Reapers

Pain shot through Yoris left hand as the timer took its place.

He loaded up the Reapers Game app on his phone. Overlaid on the normal map of Shibuya was an
indicator of the energy spikes location.

Kotone, its in the Station Underpass.

Kotone nodded. She was on her phone, too, holding up each of her pins to the camera. Apparently,
she was taking advantage of the apps ability to tell you the power of each pin.


Did she not do that yesterday?

Hey, Yori, she said. Just before you attacked the man who was about to shoot me, he said that I
had something valuable, but that I probably didnt know what it was. What do you think he was
talking about?

Yori shrugged. Maybe Lil Whiskers is hiding some precious metals or gemstones underneath all
that fluff. Ooo! Or what if its that mini-statue of an angel that went missing from the art museum
two weeks ago?

Could be. Kotone wordlessly walked off towards the Underpass.

Yori chuckled. Cant stay on one train of thought for too long, can we?

///////

Arata Kajiya was sitting down at a desk in his office, leaning back in the chair with his feet propped
on the edge of the desk. In front of him was a vast wall of TV screens with data on each of the
Players and Reapers when and where they died, who they were paired with, whether or not
they had been erased, how many points they had, and their Imagination level. He also had a
screen with a map of Shibuya showing where each Player and Reaper was, along with the locations
of any walls and mission-critical events and items. Presently, he could see that there was a
massive source of energy in the Station Underpass critical to the mission, there were no walls, and
that the Game Master, Katsuro Sumeragi, was in 104 as the mission stated.

There was a knock on his door.

Kajiya immediately adjusted his position to look more professional and in charge. Imitating his
sisters favorite anime, he put his elbows on his desk, held his hands in front of his face, and
interlocked his fingers.

Enter.

Aika Bando, an Officer Reaper, walked into the door on Kajiyas left. She had hair dyed dark red
and cropped short, and was wearing an orange t-shirt with the name and logo of her band, Lass
jetzt los, printed in black over top a black long-sleeved shirt. Her pants were a pair of black jeans
that accentuated her rear end perfectly without being too tight as to be unflattering, and on her
left wrist she wore a black-and-white checkered wristband.


Hi, Arata sorry, Conductor, Aika said with a smile on her face.

Kajiya smiled. Aika! Have a seat.

She did so.

Conductor, she said, The Composer leaving has made me a bit worried. I mean, He never even
told you where he went.

Kajiya put his hand on her shoulder.

Aika, itll be fine. Hes still in the UG, and He doesnt intend to be gone for more than a couple
days. He just has some important business to attend to. Youll hardly even notice that He was
gone!

Whether or not to release details regarding His total absence from the UG for three weeks was still
under discussion.

Besides, Kajiya continued, the Composer is a very secretive man. Sure, He didnt tell me where
He was going, but thats to be expected. No need to worry!

Youre nervous, too,Aika said out of the blue.

What? No, Im not!

Yes you are, Aika said. Cmon, Ive known you for too long for this to be a surprise. When the
Composers and Conductors of Shibuya and Minato had a meeting last year, you flipped out.

It was completely unscheduled and nobody knew what was going on! I think that was cause for
concern!

But back then, you couldnt know what was going on! Now youre the high and mighty
Conductor! Back then, practically everybody but me was your superior, but now youre second in
command! You dont have to be the little guy anymore!

Kajiya stood up and finally let his fear show.

And thats exactly what Im afraid of being! Im the least qualified of all the Office Reapers for the
job, I was low ranking, and Ive had practically no training. And now Ive been lifted up as the

pinnacle of what a Reaper should be, and somehow I have to live up to that! I try to be mature and
professional and look like I know what Im doing, but its all an act! Sure, Im afraid of what caused
the Composer to leave his post for the day. But more than that, Im scared of something
happening HERE while hes gone! I dont know what Im doing, Aika! Im just a kid whos dressing
up and playing pretend!

Aika just smiled. If the Composer chose you

Then the Composer is crazy! We think of Him as a god, but Hes not some perfect, holy being like
in Christianity! Hes capable of making bad choices! Hes capable of screwing up! And I know you
were about to say Then maybe He had a good reason, but if He does, Id like to know! Especially
since He thinks I can run a Game all on my own!

He buried his head in his hands.

Kitanji, I envy you... he muttered.

Aika turned to look at the map.

If you want to know so bad, she said, then why dont you just ask Him?

About His important business or about my job?

She smiled smugly and glanced back at him.

Both.

///////

As Kotone and her brother reached Hachiko, they heard a woman call out to them.

Why, hellooooo, ghost kids!

They both turned to the source of the voice to see two Reapersa woman with pink hair wearing
a corset over her shirt and a person of indeterminate sex with poofy orange hair and a hoodie with
a skeleton pattern printed on it.

What do you want from us? Yori asked.


Oh, how rude of me not to introduce ourselves! The woman said. Im Uzuki Yashiro, and this is
my partner, Koki Kariya. Were here to Erase you.

The orange-haired one conjured up some Noise. It looked like a werewolf it had the appearance
of a canine, but its body structure was similar to that of a human. It was standing on its two hind
legs, sneering at the twins.

Game partner or partner partner? Kotone asked.

The noise immediately sprung itself on Kotone, sending them to the Noise Plane.

///////

Yori had always been a fan of yo-yos. Ever since he could remember, he had gone to the schools
Yo-Yo Club, where he learned how to use a yo-yo like the pros did. So it didnt surprise him that,
out of all his pins, the only one he could use was Rise, Turn, And Fall a pin that let him use his
yo-yo as a weapon.

So, his sister said, I finally figured out what this other pin does.

Oh? He went up to the werewolf and used his yo-yo for an attack combo an upward swipe
across the torso, a right hook to the head, a downwards attack on the head, and a left hook.

It lets me use a super-karate chop attack! Kotone said as Yori was attacking the werewolf.
HIIIIIII-YA! she cried out. He sighed. Kotone was always a strange one.

Didya see that, Yori? Didya? Well, I guess you didnt, but it was pretty cool.

Although Yori didnt see the attack, he did see the werewolf take damage.

I bet it was! Yori said. He was in the middle of another combo as Kotone said that, but was
interrupted by the werewolf taking a swipe at him.

So, what do you think the energy source is? he asked as he started another combo.

My current theory is that its some sort of superweapon. Its previous owner tried to hide it, but
the Game Master found it and wants it for himself. He cant just go and grab it himself, though, so
hes having us do his dirty work.


Left, right, left, right, up. He dealt the first blow of another combo. You certainly have an active
imagination.

Well, what do you think it is?

Im pretty sure that its something completely normal he finished his combo, and the wolf
took this opportunity to attack and the only reason that it gives off energy is so that we can
find it with our phones.

Maybe thats what they want you to think!

Youre weird.

Nyeh nyeh nye nye nyeh nyeh.

Up, down, right, left. Up, down, up, down the wolf swiped at him again Down, left right, down,
left, right. The second combo was much more successful.

AH-HA! Kotone cried out. Now thats what Im talking about!

What happened?

Lil Whiskers attacked the wolf while I used my totally cool karate chop attack to flank him. Flank
the Noise, I mean. Not my cat.

Yori tried his best to protect his sister, but he couldnt help but get the impression that she was
more effective against the noise than he was.

Just like Tsukiko.

///////

Meanwhile, Kotone was doing her best to avoid the werewolfs attacks.

She was dishing out plenty of damage from afar, sure, but eventually she had to go up to him to
use her melee pin. And whenever she did that, the wolf interrupted her barrage with his slash
attack.

You certainly have an active imagination, Yori said.


Well, what do you think it is? she asked as she shot a lightning bolt at the Noise. She had decided
to give up on her karate chop thingy.

Yori answered with Im pretty sure that its something completely normal a smile crossed
Kotones face; she had the perfect idea and the only reason that it gives off energy is so that we
can find it with our phones.

Maybe thats what they want you to think!

She pointed at Lil Whiskers and mimed him attacking, then pointed at herself and mimed
sneaking up on the wolf.

Youre weird, Yori said.

Nyeh nyeh nye nye nyeh nyeh. Lil Whiskers had started his attack combo, and now it was her
turn.

She rushed up behind the wolf and went at him with her karate chop pin. Once that started to
recharge, she shot some ice shards at him for good measure.

AH-HA! Kotone cried out. Now thats what Im talking about!

What happened? she heard Yori say.

Lil Whiskers attacked the wolf while I used my totally cool karate chop attack to flank him. Flank
the Noise, I mean. Not my cat. She went back to her lightning bolts.

Good for you! Yori said.

There was a pause in the conversation. Kotone turned to her cat and whispered Lets do that
again!

Lil Whiskers nodded and went at the wolf some more. Kotone, once again, went up behind it and
attacked it.

Immediately after she had used up her melee pin, she ran away from the wolf and used her
lighting pin.


Hey, Kotone? her brother said with a forlorn tone of voice.

Yeah? she replied.

He sighed.

When were done with this Noise, theres something I need to talk to you about.

Kotone nodded, but then realized that her brother couldnt see that. Alright.

Thank you, Kotone.

No problem. She flanked the noise again.

Lil Whiskers pointed upwards presumably to the top Plane, where Yori was and then used his
paw to show a tear coming down from his eye.

He does seem sad, Kotone said, but Im not sure why.

///////

Shiki Misaki pulled her phone out of her pocket, checked the time (12:00), and walked into
WildKat. She was greeted by the sight of a forlorn Mr. H sitting on a chair by the entrance and
holding a notebook. He immediately perked up when he saw her walk in.

Shiki! he said. Thank you so much for coming! Can I get you anything? He motioned towards
the counter. He had a caf, apparently, which came as a surprise to him. A caf that was empty
during lunch hour, mind, but it still freaked him out a bit that he owned one in the first place.

The girl, who he inferred was Shiki, nodded. A cup of coffee would be nice. And maybe a muffin.

He smiled nervously.

Comin right up!

In retrospect, it was a bad offer to make, considering that he didnt know what he was doing, but
there were instructions written on a piece of paper behind the counter addressed to Josh, so he
figured he was fine.


As Mr. H started to make Shikis coffee, her phone rang, playing her special ringtone for Eri.

Hold on, I have to take this, she said to Mr. H, who was strangely hesitant during the coffee-
making process.

Go ahead, he replied.

She took a few steps back and answered her phone.

Hello? she said.

Hi, Shiki. This is Eri. Listen, Im at 104, and there are these two guys here trying to ask me
questions about... you-know-what.

Oh. Oh! Hand the phone to one of them.

Eri presumably moved the phone away from her mouth, but Shiki could still hear Eri tell them that
she was letting them talk to her friend Shiki and apologize for not knowing the answer. The two
boys one about her age, one who sounded like he was in grade school agreed to this, and one
of them took the phone.

Hello, Madam Shi Miss Shiki, the older one asked in a dignified tone of voice. What psyche
does the Sexy D pin have?

Oh, um... if Im remembering right, its Psychokinesis. Ive never used it, but my partner during
the Game did. Why do you ask?

A wall appeared that impeded our progress There was a wall that stopped us, and a Reaper
said we had to pass a Reaper Review.

Oh, yeah, those are tough. Did he do his little Like a bolt from the blue thing?

Indeed. Well, thank you for your help.

Youre welcome! Oh, hey, I never got your names.

I am Daniel Funayama, and my partner is Hachiro Mizukawa.

There was silence. Oh? Funayama said. Oh, alright. You can say goodbye.


After a moment more of silence, Shiki heard the voice of the younger boy. Hi, Im Hachi. Nice to
meet you!

Nice to meet you, too, Hachi!

We have to go now. Bye bye!

Bye, Hachi!

After a moment, Eri took the phone back.

Thank you soooooo much! she said. When I asked them if they were Players, they assumed I
was one too!

No problem, Eri.

And, Shiki, I know Ive said this before, but... thank you for trusting me enough to tell me about
the Game. I know that was a hard thing to decide to do, and it means a lot to me.

Youre welcome. Thanks for listening.

Shiki looked over to Mr. H, who was now done with her coffee.

Well, I have to go now, Shiki said. I guess Ill see you on Friday.

Thank you, Shiki!

Anytime!

They said their goodbyes, and Shiki hung up and took her coffee.

Thank you, Mr. H.

No problem, he replied. He turned the sign on the door from OPEN to CLOSED.

He had decided to make himself a cup of coffee, too, and took it and the notebook over to a table.
He sat down, and Shiki did so soon after.


So, she said, whats the problem?

He sighed. Shiki, I cant remember anything.

Shikis eyes widened. She was silent for a moment.

Wow, she said.

Who am I, Shiki? And who are you?

Well... youre Sanae Hanekoma, a single man who not only owns a caf, but is a famous artist
called CAT. I can count on one hand the number of people who know that youre CAT, though.

He nodded. That explains the graffiti sketches on my desk.

He took out his notebook. He had made some additions yesterday, and now he could add some
information about his artistic career to his ever-growing list.

Sanae Hanekoma
artist (graffiti, pins) unsure if professional or amateur professional
very disorganized
I woke up naked as a jaybird and Im not sure what that means
briefs over boxers
regarding art:
o cats
o Do what you want, when you want, how you want
o The world ends with you
o Enjoy the moment more
o Gather
Close friends: Shiki Misaki , Goro Aragaki, Hisako Ikeda, Noburu Ueda, Yoshiya
Kiryu (nickname Josh), Tsubaki Koizumi, Asuka Kingetsu, Neku Sakuraba, Ichiro
Sato, Chiharu Takemoto, Akemi Tachibana (ne Murata), Juro Nagamine, Isabella
Nagamine (ne Gardener), Daisukenojo Bito (nickname Beat), Ryo Fukui, Daniel
Funayama, Jackson Matsuoka, Yamaguchi Yamamoto, Noboru Wakahisa, Eri
Watanabe, Sydney Jones (ne Smith), John Smith, David Smith, Daniel Thompson,
Helena Holmes,
Family: Tsubasa Hanekoma (father), Mineko Hanekoma (mother, ne Aihara), Noa
Amura (elder sister), Hibiki Hanekoma (elder brother)
I have a Feisupejji profile (password: darklit+Eden)
I have a Songbird profile (username: Wildkat; password: G4T1T0)
I have a Dashr profile (username: Wildkat; password: H4N3-N0-N3K0)
Regarding art

o pseudonym CAT
o identity is a secret

Whats that? Shiki asked as he was writing.

A notebook, Sanae answered. Im writing down what I know about myself so far. He put his
marker down.

So, Shiki, how do I know you?

Do you do you know anything about The Reapers Game?

He shook his head.

Shiki fiddled with her glasses nervously. Well, this might be a bit hard to believe, but... when
someone dies, theyre not quite dead. Their soul moves to a place called the Underground, or UG,
where they have to play The Reapers Game. The Game is a week-long deadly contest where you
have to pair up to complete the missions the Reapers give you or you get Erased. You also have to
fight creatures called Noise. At the end of the week, a few people come back to life, and everyone
else can either play the Game again for another chance, become a Reaper, or be Erased. You saved
my life while I was playing the Game, and you taught usmy friend Neku and me pretty much
everything we know about it. I dont know how you knew so much, but you did. Th-this isnt too
weird for you, is it?

Youre joking, he said. Youve got to be joking. Theres no way.

Please tell me why you would ever be friends with someone who would lie to an amnesiac like
that.

Mr. H just sat there in silence. After a moment, his eyes started to widen, and he made a beeline
for the chalkboard behind the counter as Shiki followed.

He hurriedly erased some information on a special that ended on Sunday anyways, picked up a
piece of chalk, and started to sloppily scrawl some words onto the chalkboard.

Shiki, someone stole my memories and left me thinking that Im a normal person! Thats the only
possible explanation!

What?


He finished writing on the chalkboard and turned to Shiki.

WHAT WE KNOW SO FAR
I am involved in Reapers Game
knew a lot
taught Shiki and Neku
did not tell them my position
later believed myself to be a normal man

He had a large smile on his face as he excitedly and energetically explained his thought process.

Think about it, Shiki! The only reason anyone would ever think The Reapers Game is anything out
of the ordinary is because, as we grow up, we learn that the supernatural doesnt exist! Once I lost
my memories, I should have forgotten that period of maturation where I started to deny the
existence of the supernatural and instead I should have returned to having a childs willingness to
believe anything! If I don't remember anything, how do I know that The Reapers Game is any
stranger than the sun coming up in the morning and setting at night? But the first thing I said to
you when you told me about The Reapers Game was Youre joking; youve got to be joking!

To add to that, even though my memories were supposedly gone, I still knew what graffiti was, I
still knew that some men prefer boxers over briefs, I still knew what Feisupeji and Dashr were! I
may have forgotten where I went to school, but I still remember what I learned in school! But if my
memories were gone, I wouldnt remember any of that! UNLESS someone decided to take all of
my memories except the ones that I needed to be a normal human being! And if someone took my
memories, you know what that means?

It was Shikis turn to be excited. That means that there might be a way to get them back!

YES! Mr. H put his hands on her shoulders.

I have no idea why anyone who wanted you out of the way would take away your memories
instead of just killing you, but thats a question well worry about later! Shiki said with a wide
smile.

The two of them excitedly babbled on, but were interrupted by a knock on the door.

They turned to the door and saw a teenager with ash blonde hair and a baggy polo. What he said
next was just barely audible through the glass:


Status update, Sanae?

///////

Yori looked on in pride as the werewolf erupted into TV static. He was enveloped in orange light,
and when it faded away, they were back in the main UG plane.

UGH! Yashiro yelled. Its the start of Day 2! You should NOT be that good at fighting yet!

The fact that they had three combatants may have helped some, Kariya (who they gathered was
male by the sound of his voice) said. Anyways, you owe me a bowl of ramen now.

Well, I am getting a bit peckish. Time check, Kariya?

He pulled out his phone. 11:40.

Alrighty, then! Yashiro said. Lets get a move on!

She headed over to the Scramble. As she walked, Kariya looked at the two kids.

Just an FYI, kids: the Underpass is closed off, but the energy source youre looking for passed
through here as you were fighting the Noise. Hes heading for the Shibu Department Store, and
where hell go next is anyones guess. If you see a kid with pale blond hair, a baggy dress shirt, and
a smirk that makes you want to clean his clock? Thats the one.

Kariya left the twins as he followed Yashiro.

So, Yori, Kotone said, what is it that you wanted to tell me?

Yori opened his mouth to talk, but then just sighed.

Nevermind.

///////

WHAT DO YOU MEAN, IT WASNT WHERE YOU EXPECTED IT TO BE?!


It was five minutes until noon, and Kajiya was on his lunch break, sitting at the bar in the Dead
Gods Pad. His meal had been interrupted by a phone call from the Game Master, Katsuro
Sumeragi.

I dont know how it happened, Kajiya! I was expecting it the energy source to be in the Scramble
Crossing, but it was in the Underpass instead!

So you misplaced it?

Not exactly, sir.

What do you mean by that?

I put it in the Scramble Crossing this morning, I swear! How it ended up in the Underpass is
anyones guess!

Kajiya took a deep breath in through is nose and out through his mouth. Now that he was at least
a little bit calmer he went back to his phone call.

Well, maybe one of the Reapers moved it, Kajiya said, making a mental note to ask Aika to help
him gather an interrogation team.

That sounds likely, but why would anyone do that?

I dunno, maybe they want to use all that energy to power their house so that they dont have to
pay their

Kajiya glanced at the energy tracker on his phone.

Oh no, he said.

What is it? Sumeragi asked.

Its moving away from 104.

What.

Kajiya stood up from his chair and slammed against the bar countertop. SOMEONES STEALING A
PIECE OF GAME EQUIPMENT!


WHAT?

Barkeep, sound the alarm! Im putting the UG on Emergency Call!

Sir, I dont think The barkeep tried to interject.

Shut up, Barkeep! Kajiya snapped.

If that things gone missing, Ive got to go find it! Sumeragi said.

Sumeragi, I forbid you from leaving your post! Kajiya shouted into his phone.

No use trying to stop me! Im going!

Sir, if you would just hear me out The barkeep tried to interject again.

Sumeragi, Kajiya said, if you leave your post, I will report you directly to the Composer!

Sumeragi hung up. Kajiya sat back down.

My careers over. Give me the strongest drink youve got.

Youre giving up just like that? The barkeep asked.

Theres nothing I can do.

Course there is! Dont you remember what got you here?

I I honestly have no idea.

Well, it wasnt cowardice and incompetence, I can tell you that much. You may not be the man
you want to be, but that doesnt mean youre worthless!

Kajiya smiled. Maybe youre right.

I know Im right.

Kajiya stood up.


Barkeep, take Sumeragis position at 104. Im going after him and the energy source.

The barkeep nodded.

Of course, sir.

///////

At about five minutes past noon, Kotone was about a stones throw from Cadoi City. Yori followed
a fair bit behind, panting and sweating.

Kotone! Kotone, wait up!

CATCH up! she replied.

She kept running. Her hair was flowing behind her, her favorite music was playing on her phone,
and the temperature

HEY, LITTLE GIRL! a Reaper shouted. YOURE ABOUT TO CRASH INTO A REAPER WALL!

Startled, Kotone came to what would be a screeching stop in the case of a car.

Like a bolt from the blue, the Reaper continued in a normal tone of voice, here comes a Reaper
Review from me to you. Now, these questions all have a common theme: D+B.

Question 1: What psyche does the Pin Sexy D have?

Psychokinesis, said a mature-sounding boy from behind her.

She turned around and saw two boys standing behind her. One was tall, probably half-Caucasian,
and around her age. He had brown hair, glasses, a white dress shirt, and brown slacks. The other
looked to be about 9 or 10, and he was full Japanese and a bit pudgy. He had black hair, a Tin Pin
Slammer t-shirt, and jean shorts.

Kotone froze up.

Oh gosh its people what do I do what do I do what do I do


We came across this same wall earlier today, the tall one said.

Yori came running up behind them. Hey, Kotone! Hey... whatever your names are!

I am Daniel Funayama, the older boy said, and this is my partner, Hachiro Mizukawa.

You can call me Hachi! the little one said.

Yori introduced himself. Im Yori Baisho, and this is my twin sister, Kotone.

Kotone waved sheepishly.

Hello, Master and Madam Baisho oh! Hello, Baisho twins. Daniel said. He turned to the Reaper.
Of the set Happy Beam, Ice Blow, and Earthshake, Happy Beam is not a D+B pin. In addition, D+B
stands for Dangerous Buffalo.

3 out of 3! The Reaper said. Congratulations! You pass so pass on through.

Well, while it was nice making your acquaintance, we must be off, Daniel said to the twins.
Until we meet again.

Bye bye! Hachi said.

The twins waved goodbye. Bye! Kotone said.

Daniel and Hachi ran off.

Kotone smiled as she dashed off as fast as she could and soon after overtook them.

Kotone, what did I say about waiting up?! Yori called out.

///////

It was now 10 minutes past noon, and Joshua was running down Cat Street.

He ran up to the door of Wildkat to see Sanae talking excitedly with Shiki Misaki about something
or other. They were blocking his view of the chalkboard, but he was fairly sure he could see the
words Reapers Game written there.


He knocked on the door, and they both turned to look at him.

Status update, Sanae?

Sanae turned to Shiki and whispered something, and she replied in turn. He then walked up to the
door and opened it for Joshua.

Hello, Josh! Come right in!

Shiki waved as Joshua walked into Wildkat.

Thank you, Sanae. I dont think Ive ever seen you this excited before in my life.

Actually, Im having a bit of a crisis right now, Sanae told Joshua. Someones stolen my
memories. But you can help us find a way to get them back, right?

What. Joshua had a deadpan look on his face.

Just then, a blonde teenage girl ran into the caf.

Thats him! she said, pointing at Joshua. Thats the energy source!

What.

Hey! Shiki called out. She ran over to the blonde.

Youve got the same cat as I do! Shiki said, holding up Mewkinz or whatever his name was.

Aww! she said. She held up a near-identical stuffed cat. Look, Lil Whiskers! Youve got a twin!

He must be made from the same pattern that I used, Shiki said.

A blond boy, presumably a relative of the girl (brother?), ran after her panting. Kotone, Im not as
fast as you! He paused to catch his breath. Youll slow down when we take that guy to 104,
right?

What? Joshua said once again.


A Harrier (or maybe Officer) Reaper in his 30s with a white dress shirt, black slacks, a grey dress
jacket, and his hair in a black bowl cut ran through the door next.

A-HA! Its in here! Its thief was quick, but I was quicker.

What?

Arata Kajiya, the new Conductor, ran in next.

Katsuro Sumeragi, I command you to return to 104!

Kotone ran over to her brother and grabbed his arm.

These are way too many people! she whimpered.

Daniel Funayama and Hachiro Mizukawa stepped in.

Wow, its like a giant party in here! Hachi said. He walked up to Sanae. Hi, Mr. H!

Oh, h-hello!

Joshua turned to Daniel.

Code Alonso, Daniel. He pointed at Sanae.

This cannot be! Daniel replied.

Upon hearing Joshuas voice, Kajiya turned towards him and lay prostrate on the ground. Y-Your
Radiance!

Rise, Kajiya, Joshua said to Kajiya.

Yes, sir.

Wait, who are you? Shiki asked Kajiya.

Thats the new Conductor, Joshua answered.

The Conductor of what? Sanae asked.


Good Heavens! This is serious, Daniel said.

Indeed, Joshua said.

Master Kiryu, Daniel said, I have a matter which I must discuss with you in private at your
soonest convenience.

Then we shall retreat into private to discuss it, Joshua said as he walked toward the door.

Hold on, that boys Shiki said, before she was cut off.

No, wait! Kotone called. We need you to come to 104 with us!

What? Joshua asked.

I believe theyre referring to the mission, sir, Kajiya explained sheepishly as he adjusted his tie.
See, the mission says to find the energy source, which Im sure isnt referring to you, per se, but
its easy to get confused, seeing as you show up on the energy tracker since you havent bothered
to disguise your vibe and youre the only source of energy this tracker is picking up on, oh dear
mother of Tokyo.

Kajiya, show me those readings, Sumeragi said. Kajiya handed his phone to Sumeragi, who
looked over the numbers some before saying:

Its not the one I was using for the mission.

Wait, WHAT?! Kajiya yelled.

Y-You cant be serious! Kotones brother shouted. How is that boy even a major energy source?

CLASSIFIED! Kajiya, Joshua, Sanae, and Shiki all shouted at him.

Wait, Sanae?

Joshua turned to Shiki. Did you tell him that Im

Yeah, Shiki said. Weve talked to him about it in the past, though, so I figured


Shiki, that man Joshua said before he stopped himself. Can we talk about this later?

Is this something that I would benefit from knowing? Daniel asked.

Well talk later, Joshua said.

Wait, arent you that guy from the phone call? Shiki asked Daniel. How do you two know each
other?

Joshua glanced at Daniel, who shook his head.

That, Joshua said in reply to Shiki, is our secret.

Sumeragi, Kajiya said, if the if that boys not the energy source, what IS IT?! Because the
Administrative Description I was given never actually bothered to GIVE THE READINGS FOR THE
PROPER SOURCE!

I-Ive never actually seen it in person, sir, he replied sheepishly.

YOU WHAT?!

When I told you earlier that I put it in Scramble Crossing, I meant that I had someone else do it.

Who?! Kajiya asked.

Hes since been Erased. So if youre planning on asking him, dont.

T-Then do we automatically lose? Kotone asked softly. She was looking at the palm of her right
hand rather worriedly.

No! Kajiya said. As the Conductor, Im declaring Player victory due to unwinnable mission!

Hachi smiled as he looked down at his left hand. My timers gone! Thank you, sir!

Youre welcome! Kajiya said before he turned to Sumeragi. This mission was clearly doomed
from the start! What do you have to say for yourself?

It wasnt MY fault! Sumeragi said. It was the fault of the man who was in charge of the energy
source!


And you never bothered to check on it until noon?

I assumed my tracker was broken, so I tried to fix it, but by noon I gave up.

Well, you should have told me first thing, and I could have tried to help. And what about when I
ordered you to stay at 104?

Well, I

Two Support Reapers walked into Wildkat.

You requested backup, sir? one of them said.

You two! Kajiya said to them. Take Sumeragi back to base and have him report to Kenta
Sengoku.

He turned to Daniel and Joshua.

You two I-I mean, most esteemed sirs! You have my full blessings to go find a location for your
meeting.

Ive got a room upstairs, Sanae said.

Good. Show them where it is.

Sanae lead the two of them upstairs. Kajiya turned to Shiki.

You good with kids, Shiki?

A big smile crossed Shikis face. Yeah! Im great with kids!

Good, cause I have the feeling that Hachis going to be waiting a while.

Soon, Sanae walked back downstairs.

Kajiya pointed at Shiki and Sanae.

You two! I dont know why youre not in school, young lady


My mom wont let me go until shes gotten all the lice out of my hair! Which will probably take a
while.

Alright, then! You two meet me at the West Exit Bus Terminal tomorrow at noon, and well take
care of this Code Alonso.

He turned to the two blondes.

And you two...

He held out his hand.

...sleep.

///////

Joshua was sitting in Sanaes guest room talking to Daniel Funayama.

...which we started to refer to as Fourty-Four, Joshua said.

There was a knock on the door.

Enter, Joshua said.

Kajiya walked in nervously.

My careers over, isnt it?

///////

Day 2: On the Prowl

COMPLETE

///////

DAY 3


An important note from your friendly neighborhood author:

Dialogue surrounded by slashes (known in Britain as strokes), /like this/, represents
something being said in German. I apologize if this gives any linguists conniptions.

In addition, <this sort of formatting> represents something being said in English.

We now return to your regularly scheduled story.

///////

Kajiya opened the door of The Room Of Reckoning, and, slowly but surely, walked in. Waiting for
him there was The Composer, in all His glory.

Kajiya, the Composer said. You said you wanted to talk about something?

Y-yes, Your Radiance, Kajiya said. Its about the events of yesterdays Mission.

Kajiya, I believe I made my position clear last night. Those events were completely outside of your
control. You had specifically asked Sumeragi about the intended location of the energy source the
morning of the Mission, and he neglected to answer.

Furthermore, he neglected to inform you that the source of the energy was not in its intended
location until a considerable amount of time had passed since the start of the mission, and
disobeyed your direct orders when he left his post to look for the energy source.

Lastly, he had the ability to verify whether the energy source registered by the trackers was giving
the correct readings, but he did not. The culpable party is Sumeragi, not you.

But as the Conductor, dont I have a responsibility to ensure that the mission runs smoothly?
Kajiya asked.

Yes, the Composer replied, but Sumeragi has the responsibility to submit to authority. He failed
to inform his superior of a crisis that later rendered the Mission unwinnable, and that is no-ones
fault but his own.

A-are you sure, sir?


Yes, the Composer replied. But I do have one comment to make about the way you handled
the situation.

Kajiyas eyes widened in fear. My deepest apologies, sir!

The Composer chuckled. Kajiya, no need to worry. Im not going to Erase you just because you
were unsure of what to do in a new and frightening situation.

Its not Erasure Im worried about, Kajiya told Him. Its my own shortcomings! Im unqualified,
untrained, and unable!

Kajiya

Why am I the Conductor?

The Composer rested one of His hands on Kajiyas shoulder.

I spoke to the barkeep yesterday, and he said that, when you noticed what appeared to be
robbery of a Game-critical item, you did nothing. You doubted your own ability to succeed so
much that you didnt even try. And its time to do away with that attitude. Youre not the weak
man you believe yourself to be. Hidden under all that fear and sadness and self-doubt is strength.

So what if youre not perfect? Nobody is, especially not right from the start. But youll get better.
All the other Reapers are obstinate in their pride. They wont change, they wont learn, they wont
grow. But you not only accept growth, you long for it. And that is why I chose you.

A small smiled crossed Kajiyas face.

Thank you, sir.

///////

Eichhrnchen! Eichhrnchen! Eichhrnchen! Eich-hrn-chen!

The two twins had woken up at Spain Hill, each of them with a box the size of a pizza container,
labeled TO BE OPENED ONLY BE RECIPIENT. At first, Yori was glad to see that Kotone had
cheered up after their fight the day before. But it weirded him out that she was babbling on
about... something.


Kotone, Yori asked his sister, whats an aishonshen?

Yori, its not aishonshen. Its Eichhrnchen! And that means squirrel! Everybody says that German
people cant pronounce the English word for squirrel, so German people started challenging
English speakers to pronounce the German word for squirrel! And thats my personal challenge!

...Good for you?

Danke. Kotone smiled.

Hey, Kotone, what made you decide to learn German?

I like languages. I was already doing a good job with English, even though its so different from
Japanese, so I decided to try another Germanic language.

Im still surprised they let a 13-year old into a class for adults.

Mr. Cathin put in a good word for me. He said that, in all his years of teach English, I was the
best student hes ever had! And thats why Mrs. Wei let me in.

I know. Youve only told me about a hundred times.

She stuck her tongue out at him.

Their phones rang.

Hopefully our mission will explain whats in these boxes, Yori said as he pulled out his phone.

Game #3

Deliver your packages to the caf on Cat Street. If the contents of the package are
damaged during the transportation process, it will not count as a victory. Your time limit is
80 minutes, and the price of failure is erasure.

--The Reapers

P.S. In order to protect the contents of the packages, do not open them. Also, use your
memes on the recipient.


Memes were concepts used for imprinting, The Conductor had said, and imprinting was placing a
meme in somebodys thoughts.

Apparently theyve got something fragile in them, Kotone said. Maybe theyre picture frames?

Yori opened his mouth to answer when his phone rang.

Again.

Just his.

Hold on, what? Kotone said.

What the crap? I thought it was impossible to call Players! Yori said. Nevertheless, he answered
the call.

The person at the other end of the line said something in a worried tone of voice.

Yori sighed and replied with one of the only things he knew in German. Einen Moment, bitte.

He passed the phone to Kotone.

Its for you! he said.

But I dont wanna take a phone call!

Yori glared at her.

Kotone slowly took the phone from him with her left hand and held Lil Whiskers up against her in
her right.

/H-Hello?/ she said nervously in German.

/Sorry, I called the wrong number. Whats the Mission?/ the boy at the other end of the line said.

/Youre German?/ Kotone asked.

/Yes, Im German. Do you speak German?/


/I do!/ Kotone said excitedly. /But whats the mission is that some idiom Im unfamiliar with
or are you asking about an actual mission?/ Kotone asked, suddenly even more suspicious of him
than she was previously.

/What do you think?/

Kotone raised one eyebrow.

/Are you a Reaper?/ she asked him.

/Ah, so you ARE involved in the Game. No, Im not a Reaper, just an unaffiliated observer./

/How are you calling us?/

/Classified. Which Game District are you in, miss?/

/Shibuya, she said, assuming that he was talking about the wards of Tokyo. /Why?/

/Well, ysee, each District has a number assigned to it according to the order that it becomes an
official Game District. A bunch of German Districts, one of which someone that I was trying to call,
all became Districts at the same time, and it seems Shibuya just so happened to become a District
in the middle of all that./

Kotone heard the sound of the boy typing.

/Whats your name?/ she asked him.

/Names are cheap. Call me Herr Aunskunft,/ he replied.

I understand his desire for anonymity, but... Mr. Intelligence? she thought to herself.

/So, Shibuya, huh?/ he said. /Seems like a nice place, full of stores and... oh. Oh, my./

/Whats wrong?!/ she said, gripping Lil Whiskers even tighter.

/The energy readings coming from Spain Hill! Theyre crazy!/

///////


Katsuro Sumeragi was sitting down at the bar in the Dead Gods Pad, looking down at his phone. It
seemed that the energy source hadnt turned up yet.

He sighed, walked over to the door to Kajiyas office, and knocked on it.

Enter and make it quick, Kajiya said.

Sumeragi opened the door and walked in.

Id like to take a look at some Player records, if you dont mind.

Sumeragi, I already told you, that friend of yours refused to play.

Thats not the Player I had in mind, sir.

Well, which Player did you have in mind? Kajiya asked.

All of them.

//////

/Spain Hill? Im on Spain Hill!/ Kotone said over the phone to Herr Aunskunft in a panicked tone
of voice. /Whats going on?/

/I dont know, but my energy tracker is picking up on a massive source of Angel energy!/ Herr
Aunskunft said, typing frantically (maybe trying to check the readings?).

/Angels? There are Angels in this Game, too?/

/They dont usually interact with the Game, so I dont know whats going on!/ Herr Aunskunft
said, just as surprised as Kotone was.

/Maybe its coming from whatevers in these boxes?/

/What boxes?/

/Oh, um our mission gave us some boxes and told us to deliver them to Cat Street. Were not
allowed to open them, though./


/Are you delivering them to someone whos going to be there? Maybe theyll open it. Meanwhile,
dont hang up on me. I want to see what becomes of this./

/Roger that. Hold on, Im going to tell my twin brother Yori what just happened./

Kotone pulled the phone away from her face. She noticed that Yori was holding both boxes.

The man on the line calls himself Herr Aunskunft, somehow hes got an energy tracker that can
pick up on readings on the other side of the globe, and theres a massive source of Angel energy in
Spain Hill! she explained.

WAIT, WHAT!? What kind of freaky crap is in these boxes!?

I dont know!

Well... regardless of what it is, we better get a move on. But please, go at a reasonable pace!
Especially since Ive got both the boxes!

Kotone nodded and went at a jog instead of her usual sprint.

After a few seconds, Yori spoke up.

Hey, Kotone... he said in a forlorn tone of voice. Remember how yesterday, I said there was
something I had to tell you after the Noise Battle?

Kotone nodded.

Well, before I partnered up with you, I had a pact with Tsukiko Ishiguro.

You... you did?

He nodded. She asked me to be her partner almost the moment that we woke up. I felt a little
guilty saying yes, since I knew you were in the game and I felt like I was abandoning you and I
saw you there, right in front of me, but the love of my life had just asked me to spend seven days
by her side, and I just...

Tears started welling in Kotones eyes. Y-Yori...


The Ishiguro family lived next door to the Baisho family. They had four children, and the youngest
was Tsukiko a girl who was born a year after the Baisho twins.

Growing up, Yori had a crush on Tsukiko. Unlike most cases of puppy love, this one lasted well
through middle school, and Yori was still in love with her the day that he died.

Once Yori saw Kotone crying, he struggled to keep calm. And once we made our pact, she ran off
for 104, and I followed her, and I knew I should have checked up on you but Tsukiko was so
perfect and beautiful, and I just... I... Im sorry, Kotone!

For him to start crying at this point would have been entirely uncool, but his eyes were getting a
bit misty.

Kotone, however, had no such inhibitions, so she broke down crying.

And then she got erased by Noise, and I found you... Yori said, struggling to hold back tears.

Y-YORI! YORI, WHY DID YOU ABANDON ME?

Im sorry, Kotone! I really am!

Is this why you were in such a rush to make a pact with me? Was I just your ticket to survival? DID
YOU EVER REALLY CARE ABOUT ME?!

OF COURSE I DO! And I always will! But I was weak!

Still crying, Kotone turned away from Yori and ran out towards Tipsy Tose Hall away from Cat
Street.

KOTONE! Yori called out.

The tears started rolling down his face.

Kotone...

///////

Kajiya stood at the West Exit Bus Terminal as Miss Misaki and her friend with the Alonso problem
approached him.


Miss Misaki! he said excitedly as he shook her hand. Ive heard so much about you, and may I
say that it is an honor to meet you in person!

Thanks, but... I didnt really do that much, she said. It was mostly Neku and Beat.

Nonsense! If it wasnt for the friendship you showed towards Mr. Sakuraba, he would have never
opened up and learned to grow! You may not have contributed much in combat, but what YOU did
means so much more!

She smiled. Th-thank you, sir!

She put her hand on the amnesiacs back. This is Sanae Hanekoma. He was a big help to me and
Neku during the Game. He also saved my life.

I did what now? Mr. Hanekoma asked.

Kajiya excitedly walked over to Mr. Hanekoma and shook his hand.

Mr. Hanekoma, although you dont remember what youve done, may I say that it is an honor to
meet the man who saved one of the Saviors of Shibuya!

Shiki saved Shibuya? Mr. Hanekoma asked.

Its a long story, Miss Misaki said. Ill tell you later.

Kajiya pulled two pieces of cloth out of his pocket.

Now, Miss Misaki, although I trust you wholly and completely, for the sake of protocol Im going
to have to ask each of you to wear one of these blindfolds.

Kajiya gave one to each of them, who each took their glasses off, and he put the blindfolds on over
their eyes.

After spinning each of them around three times, he led them by the arms to his office, on the
other side of the Shibuya River.

He took off their blindfolds and motioned for them each to sit down on one of the chairs. They did
so, and he sat down behind his desk.


Taking out a notebook and a mechanical pencil, he asked Mr. Hanekoma a question.

When did you lose your memories?

I woke up at about 9:00 on Monday without my memories, but Im not sure when the actual
memory loss occurred.

Kajiya wrote that down.

Do you remember anything at all about your previous life? And I dont mean finding information;
Im talking about actual memories.

I dont remember anything about my identity, but I do remember how to function as a normal
adult.

How did Miss Misaki become involved in all this?

Right after I woke up, Shiki texted me. I replied to her text by asking for her help.

What do you know about yourself so far?

Sanae Hanekoma, born to Tsubasa and Mineko. Youngest of three children. I own a caf called
Wildkat, but Im also an artist who goes by CAT. I was very knowledgeable about the Reapers
Game through means that neither Shiki nor I are incredibly sure of. That blond kid who was in the
caf yesterday is the Composer, which basically means he runs Shibuyas Game and has
phenomenal cosmic powers.

Kajiya raised one eyebrow. Youre CAT?

Apparently.

It didnt really surprise Kajiya that Mr. Hanekoma knew who The Composer was, since Miss Misaki
knew who He was.

Describe to me the first thing you remember.

I woke up naked as a jaybird, sprawled across my bedroom floor.


After he was done writing, Kajiya set the notebook and pencil down.

Mr. Hanekoma spoke up. Hey, Kajiya...

Mr. Hanekoma pulled some folded-up pieces of paper out from his pocket and handed them to
Kajiya. Kajiya unfolded them and saw what appeared to be photocopies of notebook pages
keeping track of what Hanekoma had learned about himself so far.

Thank you, Kajiya said as he put the papers in his notebook. Now, Im not sure what happened,
but

Were pretty sure somebody stole his memories and left Hanekoma thinking that he was a
normal person, Miss Misaki said.

What makes you think that?

Well, for one thing, he almost didnt believe me when I told him about the Reapers Game, which
means he at least knows well enough to know that the Reapers Game isnt something that
normally happens, she explained. If his memory was completely wiped, he wouldnt remember
that something like the Reapers Game is any stranger than the sun rising in the east and setting in
the west. Also, Ive been doing some research on amnesia, and standard memory loss doesnt
work this way. If he forgot everything, then he would have forgotten everything. But he still knows
how keys work, who Oda Nubunaga is, the fact that the Earth is round, the fact that the Sun has
nine planets that all orbit around it

We have eight planets, Kajiya interrupted.

P-Pluto lives on in my heart! Miss Misaki said defiantly.

Well, Kajiya said, if the memories were stolen, then Im not sure if this will work, but...

Kajiya got up and pulled away a tarp on a nearby table, revealing a helmet which was plugged into
a computer system.

This is the Memory Modification Machine! Kajiya said. Its so powerful that only the Composer
and I are supposed to know it even exists! Now if you would put the helmet on...

Mr. Hanekoma put it on and adjusted the strap.


This machine can be used for removing and sharing memories, Kajiya said as he configured the
computer, but the function which concerns us today is its ability to restore lost memories. Its
effectiveness will probably be hampered by the fact that this memory loss was brought about by
an external influence, but its worth a shot!

He looked up at Mr. Hanekoma.

Lie down, please. This machine causes fainting in many individuals.

Mr. Hanekoma did so.

Ready? Kajiya asked.

Yes, sir! Mr. Hanekoma replied.

Alright!

Kajiya got ready to push a button on the computer.

Beginning restoration process in three, two, one...

///////

In his memory, Sanae was lying down in his bedroom. He saw Joshua wearing a white sweater,
kneeled down, and leaning into Sanaes face. It was cold in his room.

Joshua turned to his left and said something which Sanae couldnt quite make out.

An adult male voice which Sanae didnt recognize responded.

Sanae attempted to look at this other man, but before he could do so, Joshua grabbed his head
and turned it back to him.

Joshua pulled a penlight out of his pocket and shone it in Sanaes eyes (this was a test to see if
ones pupils dilate properly; Shiki told Sanae about it on their way to the Terminal). Joshua had his
eyebrows furrowed and was staring at Sanaes eyes intently. He said something to the mystery
figure.

Joshua turned the light off and pocketed it. He turned to the other man and said something.


Sanae turned to the other man.

It was him.
///////

Kotone reached the Udagawa Back Streets with her face still wet from her tears.

As she was running away, her phone received two messages, each telling her that she had found a
meme weak and seven days.

As Kotone ran, in front of her was the graffiti mural.

She walked towards it in awe.

There was no-one else there but a boy with purple headphones and orange, spiky hair who was
sitting in front of the mural.

Kotone sat down next to him.

A thought crossed her head.

I havent tried scanning anybody yet. I wonder how that works...

She remembered the Conductor saying something about touching the Player Pin, then getting into
your zone and extending your thoughts outwards and then you could read the minds of others.
She wasnt sure if she could manage in a crowded area with a bunch of people, but here seemed
like a good spot.

She touched the Player Pin and got into her zone by holding Lil Whiskers close to her with her
right hand and holding up her left. At this point, she could start to feel the range of her scan. She
extended that field outwards in her mind, opened her eyes, and focused on the boy.

When Beat falls asleep in class, she heard him think, why does he blame me for not waking him
up?! I try, but no matter how many times I try to wake him, he wont! And even before that, when I
say Open your eyes, dont let them close!, he ALWAYS lets them fall close! He claims he can keep
awake, but clearly he cant! I love him like a bro, but this almost makes me glad that I caught
Shikis lice, so he doesnt yell at me.


Almost.

Kotone pulled out of her scan and got a new text message. It was for a new meme open.

She put her hand on her chin.

I should practice imprinting, too.

She scanned again, pulled up the list of phones on her meme, and picked seven days.

Seven days...

What? That has nothing to do with anything.

...Wait a minute? Was that a player imprinting on me?

He reached into his pockets and dropped some pins on the ground.

Here. Take em, he said. Ive got a bunch of those.

She smiled, pocketed them, and pulled out a permanent marker from her pocket. She wasnt sure
if he could see it, but...

She wrote THANK YOU in big letters where the pins once were.

She sat back down and started looking her pins up with her app.

One of them, Sexy D, was a black D on a purple sparkly background. Apparently, it could be used
to pick up objects in the Noise Plane and use them as Weapons.

Another, Pop Pendulum, showed a pink kangaroo jumping in a blue background and could be
used to fire a giant boomerang at the Noise.

The third, Velocity Attack, showed some sort of firestorm. It could let Kotone charge into the
Noise like a human battering ram.

She put them on in place of the attack pins she had.

Just then, she heard Herr Aunskunft shouting her name.


She put the phone up to her face.

/Herr Aunskunft, Im right here!/

/Oh, good! I thought something bad had happened to you! Have you delivered the packages
yet?/

/Well, um, funny story.../

/Yes?/

/It took me a while to find my brother on the first day of the Game, so I always just assumed he
couldnt find me, but today I found out that he did find me, but decided to partner up with
another girl instead!/ she said, as if she was talking about a bad ex to one of her BFFs or
whatever kids say these days. /So now Im in Udagawa./

/Kotone, I understand if youre upset, but... you responded to finding out that your brother
abandoned you by abandoning him?/

/...Well, when you put it that way.../

She got up and ran back the way she came, towards Shibu-Q Heads.

IM COMING, YORI!

////////
Turns out, Mr. H did indeed faint.

Shiki was sitting down on the ground, waiting for him to wake up. Kajiya was monitoring the
computer and making a phone call at the same time.

Sumeragi, this is your last warning. If you do not send me the Administrative Description for
todays mission by 13:30 today, you will be put on probation effective 14 o clock.

The Conductor hung up.

According to the wall clock, it was 13:13.


Still no answer, he said to Shiki. And I dont have the authority to declare unwinnable mission
unless I know that its genuinely unwinnable.

The Administrative Description, according to the Conductor, was a document that defined the
exact winning conditions for the mission.

His explanation reminded Shiki of her second mission Set the cursed statue free referred to
the statue of Hachiko the dog, not the Easter Island-esque Moyai head by the Terminal. When
Shiki and Neku removed the curse on the Moyai head, it did nothing to stop the timer. Only
removing the curse from Hachiko counted as a victory.

The Administrative Description for that mission, then, specified which statue counted.

How much time do the Players have? Shiki asked.

24 minutes, 44 seconds, the Conductor responded.

So once the Game Masters time to send in the Description is up, then can you declare an
unwinnable mission?

The Conductor shook his head. At that point the timer is paused and I defer to the Composer.
Once Hes issued His verdict, the timers either keep going or disappear.

Shiki got up and put her hand on The Conductors shoulder.

Hey, Im sorry that you have to deal with all of this on your first week, she said. Must be really
frustrating.

It is, he replied. But, really, it cant be helped. I just need to try harder to get things to work.
Serves me right for scheduling a memory manipulation procedure in the middle of a Mission,
anyways. I should be going out and fixing this myself.

Dont say that! You said yourself that youve got your best Reapers looking for the GM. Youre
doing all you can.

She looked down at Mr. H.

How long does this memory thing usually take? Shiki asked.


It varies from person to person, the new Conductor said. Usually 25 minutes to an hour, though
there have been recorded instances of both 17 minutes and a day and a half.

Wow, Shiki said.

They sat there in silence for a moment. The Conductors phone rang.

He picked it up.

Conductor Kajiya speaking, he said.

The person on the other end said something. The Conductor frowned.

What? What is he doing at 104?

The other person said something else, and the Conductors frown faded away.

Oh! Well, in that case, congratulate him for me.

The other person spoke.

Um, Im a bit busy right now, but Ill send someone else in my stead.

The Conductor walked over to the door of his office, cracked it open, and poked his head through
the crack.

BARKEEP!

///////

/Hey, Kotone?/ Herr Aunskunft said when Kotone reached Shibu-Q Heads.

/Yeah?/ she responded.

/Youre at Shibu-Q Heads, right?/

/Yessir./

/Well, the energy isnt coming from the boxes. Theres an Angel stalking you./


She stopped in her tracks and looked behind her.

/I... I dont see an Angel,/ she said quietly. /Are they able to turn invisible?/

/Some are./

/What do you think it wants with me?/

/Dunno. Maybe its got a crush on you./

/So youre saying that a being with phenomenal cosmic powers is stalking me and wants to.../

She curled up in a ball and started crying.

/Kotone!/ Herr Aunskunft said. /Kotone, go where there are a bunch of Players! That way, that
Scheischwein wont be able to get to you!/

Kotone wasnt sure what a Scheischwein was, but she got the feeling it was something pretty bad.

She got up and kept running towards Tipsy Tose Hall.

///////

Yori was right there, at Tipsy Tose Hall, being attacked to within an inch of his life by the Noise.

He was hunched over, leaning on one arm, not having the strength to get up anymore. His attacks
were all useless, as his partner was out of range.

His school uniform shirt hardly had what constituted as a backside, and gashes in his skin gave way
to the TV static that passed for blood here.

The rest of him wasnt much better off his face was a mess, he had big cuts on his legs, and his
right arm was broken.

He was holding back tears. He braced himself for another hit

...and nothing came.


He lifted his head up to see Kotone standing there with a stern expression, left hand outstretched.

Yori wasnt quite sure what Kotone had done, but regardless, the Noise that was once there was
gone.

Wordlessly, and with the same expression, Kotone picked up Yori using some sort of psychic magic,
bent down and grabbed the (miraculously unharmed) boxes from the ground, and started walking
towards Spain Hill.

They were back on track.

Once they reached Spain Hill, Yori felt that he had it in him to talk again. He said something to
Kotone.

Thank you for saving me, Kotone.

Welcome, Kotone replied in a stern tone of voice.

I was... I was on my way to find you, but then I kind of got attacked, Yori continued.

I appreciate your concern.

Did you get a new pin? Yori said, trying to find a subject that Kotone would be more open about.

A psychokinesis pin. She was still as stern as before.

There was an awkward silence, during which they reached Molco.

Are you still mad at me? Yori asked.

Yeah, but Im not gonna let you die.

Technically, were already dead. I would have been Erased.

Semantics.

Silence.

You know, you could probably start running again.


I need to keep you as still as possible.

Then why move me at all?

Well, theres a Mission.

A Mission that someones probably already beaten.

Kotone looked down at her right hand.

Nope, she said.

Well, how hard is it to deliver a box?

Apparently, fairly so.

Silence.

Im sorry, Kotone. I shouldnt have left you all alone on the first day.

She sighed. Her stern tone of voice disappeared.

And I shouldnt have left you all alone just now. Were both sorry together. And I forgive you.

So do I.

As they reached Cadoi City, they crossed paths with two girls.

One had pale blonde hair in a bob cut and was wearing a white tank top with a short jean skirt.
She was carrying over her shoulder one of those old brooms that swill used straw for the thistles.

The other was Caucasian, and had big, blue eyes, a big, round nose, and wavy green hair in a boys
cut. She was wearing a t-shirt printed with the design of the British flag, and had black slacks and a
fanny pack on.

Dont even bother, the blonde said to Kotone. The owners not there.

Wordlessly, the green-haired girl pulled out a first-aid kit from her fanny pack.


Yes, please! Kotone said. She gently lowered Yori, and the green-haired girl went to work.

Kotone turned to the blonde.

The owners not there? Kotone said quietly.

The doors locked, the lights are off, and theres a sign on the door that says Out for lunch! the
blonde responded, more passionately.

So just leaving the boxes at the door doesnt count?

Thats where the boxes are right now! the blonde said. Thats where a whole stack of boxes are
right now! But our timers are all still ticking! The only person there is some redhead Reaper chick
looking for the GM, and she might not be there anymore!

Kotone made a mental note to inform Herr Aunskunft once she was in private.

The Players phones all started ringing.

Kotone and the blonde both pulled their phones out and read the text message. The blonde
turned to the green-haired girl.

Hey, Melody!

Melody, the green-haired girl, looked up from her work.

Due to the possibility of an unwinnable mission, the blonde read, Players timers will be paused
once they reach 15:00 until The Composer issues His verdict, at which point, the timers will either
resume or disappear. In either case, the Players will be notified prior to the action taking effect.

The Conductor

Kotone looked down at her timer. 15:03.

15:02.

15:01.


15:00.

You know, this isnt the first time this week that theres been an unwinnable mission, Yori said.

What? the blonde said.

Yesterdays mission, with the energy source? Turns out the real one went missing and we were
all following a different one, Yori explained. We were there when the Conductor found out. In
the caf on Cat Street, in fact.

Oh? Well, what was the energy source? the blonde asked.

The one showing up on the scanners was a teenage boy. We have no idea what the real one was
supposed to be, Yori said.

Mmm.

There was silence.

Oh! We never introduced ourselves, the blonde said. Im Hana Yutani, and this is my best friend
Melody Thompson. Shes English.

Yori Baisho, and thats my twin Kotone, Yori said.

Nice to meet you, Kotone said.

Kotone saw Melody pull a broom like Hanas out of her fanny pack. She put it next to Yoris broken
arm and started wrapping bandages around both. Not the weirdest thing Kotone had seen all
week, honestly, and it was probably because of the phone apps Inventory power.

Why do you have a broom, Hana? Kotone asked.

Its my weapon, Hana said. Melodys a pin user.

So am I! Kotone said.

Yo-yos, Yori said.

Their phones rang again.


Mission unwinnable. Timers cleared.

///////

The Conductor stood at his computer. The timer had been paused not long ago, and Mr. H was still
asleep.

There was a frantic knocking at the door.

Open up! Ive got the Description! a man with a familiar voice said.

The Conductor bolted to the door and opened it.

That orange-haired Reaper who laid the trap that got Rhyme erased walked through the door.
Shiki glared at him.

Wherezit? The Conductor said hurriedly with his arm outstretched.

The orange-haired Reaper handed a manila folder to The Conductor.

I would like to make it perfectly clear, the orange-haired one said, that I was given this folder by
the GM himself before you paused the timers, but I couldnt open the Shibuya River Wall, so I had
to find an Officer Reaper to open it for me.

Then Sumeragis safe for today, The Conductor said. Ill have to have a word with him about
tomorrow, though.

The Reaper nodded. So why do you have a civvie in here?

Classified, the Conductor said. He opened the manila folder, look over it, and then set it down
on his desk.

The conditions for the timers to be cleared require that the boxes be personally delivered to a
man whom I know for a fact is unavailable, he said.

The Conductor walked over to a computer terminal in the corner of the room. Shiki followed and
saw him type a message.


Mission unwinnable. Timers cleared.

///////

DAY 3: Die Zwei Jungen

COMPLETE

///////

DAY 4

Once again: Japanese, /German/, <English>. Thank you.

///////

Kajiya was sitting in his office. Across from him was Sumeragi. Kajiya glared at him.

The Administrative Description for todays Mission, Sumeragi.

Sumeragi gave Kajiya a manila folder. Kajiya opened it and nodded as he read.

Everything checks out, Kajiya said.

He gave the envelope back to Sumeragi.

So, he said. Koki Kariya says that you handed the folder to him before your deadline.

13:17, sir. Terribly sorry that it took so long. I lost my cellphone, so I didnt get your message right
away.

I understand, Kajiya said. However, this does not excuse the fact that you did not give the
Administrative Description to me at the beginning of the day because you were out wasting time
at 104.

Oh, Im sorry, Mr. Kajiya! Sumeragi said in a frantic tone of voice. Honest I am! I just

You just what? Let it slip your mind? Kajiya said.

Yes, sir. Sumeragi seemed dejected, and avoided looking at Kajiya.

Well, youre on thin ice, Kajiya said. DONT screw this up.


///////

/And so thats what happened/, Kotone said on the phone. (Herr Aunskunft has just called her
directly this time, instead of having her use Yoris phone.)

/I see. So you never figured out what was in those boxes?/ Herr Aunskunft asked.

/We didnt. Yori and I are thinking of stopping by today and asking the caf owner, if weve got
the time./

/Alright./

/Hey, is that Angel still following me?/ Kotone asked.

/If youre at the Scramble, then yes./

/I am./

Yori tapped Kotone on the shoulder.

Kotone, he said, can I borrow your permanent marker?

Kotone pulled it out of her pocket and gave it to Yori. Dont draw anything embarrassing! she
said.

Thanks, Yori replied.

Kotone went back to her phone conversation. /You know, Herr Aunskunft, I know shockingly little
about you./

/Thats by design/, he said nonchalantly.

/No, really. How are you calling me?/

/Thats a secret Ill take to the grave./

/If youre an Angel, you can tell me. I wont tell anyone./

/Im not telling you anything about me, you!/

And then the phones rang.

Kotone read the mission aloud to Herr Aunskunft as Yori read it silently to himself.

/Game #4


/There are four sources of negativity which are attracting Noise, and three memes to find. Each
meme will nullify one and only one source of negativity, and each source of negativity can be
nullified by one and only one meme. (The other source of Noise is an extra one, meant to throw
you off.) Once you have used a meme in its proper place, it will be cleared from your phone.

/With this knowledge, nullify all the sources of negativity that are attracting Noise, and then
Erase whatever Noise remains as a result.

/Your time limit is 120 minutes, and the price of failure is erasure.

/The Reapers/

The twins hands were painfully marked with a timer.

/Wow/, Kotone said, /they really covered all their bases this time./

So, Yori said, we just roam the streets looking for memes?

/Hang on a moment, Herr Aunskunft./ Kotone pulled the phone away from her face. Thats
what it looks like to me, Yori.

She could feel Lil Whiskers tapping one of her legs. She looked down at him.

He was holding Kotones permanent marker, and written on the ground in somewhat sloppy
letters was LIL WHISKES LOVES KOTOE.

Aww! Kotone said. Did you write that all by yourself?

Lil Whiskers nodded.

You found that cat on Saturday and hes already your best friend, Yori commented.

Lil Whiskers put marker to asphalt once again, and drew Yori, Kotone, and himself underneath...
were those sakura trees?

Aww! Kotone said. Look, Yori! Were going to see the cherry blossom trees together! She took
out her phone and took pictures of both the message and the picture.

She picked up Lil Whiskers and set him on her back so he could go on a piggy-back ride.

Well, times a wastin! she said. She pulled out her phone again.

/Do you know where anything is?/ she asked Herr Aunskunft.


/Um.../ Her Aunskunft said as he typed something, /I dont know where the memes are, but it
seems to me that there are high concentrations of Noise in the Station Underpass and Spain Hill.
You might want to check those out, so you get at least some idea of what and where the memes
might be./

/Thanks. Hold on./ She lowered the phone from her face. High concentrations of Noise in the
Station Underpass and at Spain Hill, she told Yori.

He said Thanks, and led the way to the Station Underpass.

///////

Kariya and Uzuki stood on their rooftop once again.

Look at them scurry around, Kariya said. All so confused.

Yeah, Uzuki said.

Her eyes widened and a smile crossed her face.

Kariya, she said.

Yeah? he responded.

Lets convince two people in the RG to have a fight. The fightll attract noise, the Noisell distract
the Players, and while they figure out which meme to use... BLAM! We ambush them with a Noise
attack!

Uzuki, as much as I love that idea, creating an extra Noise source would get us in trouble.

Oh, come ooooooooooon!

Nope.

Uzuki frowned. Fine. You got any better ideas?

Kariya chuckled.

Oh, yes, he said.

///////

The twins had arrived in West Exit Bus Terminal, and were about to enter the Station Underpass
when a Reaper in front of a wall stopped them.


Only one player allowed in at a time, he said. Whos it gonna be?

Yori turned to Kotone. Why dont you go?

Why me? Kotone asked.

Well, youve got that...

There was a pause.

Oh! Kotone said. Oh, yes. Ill go.

The Reaper nodded and made a little doorway in the wall.

Just lemme know when youre done, he said.

Kotone took a deep breath and walked in.

The wall closed.

The Station Underpass was a dark, gloomy place that looked like what remained of a city after an
apocalypse. It was quiet, except for Kotones own footsteps.

Kotone pulled a flashlight out of her pocket and held her phone up to her face.

/I-Im at the Underpass/, she whispered. /Only one of us was allowed in at a time, so Yori
picked me because Ive got that phone call with you going./

/Aww! Im honored,/ Herr Aunskunft said. /Can you see anything?/

/Im looking around the room with my flashlight, and I dont see much. Should I try scanning?/

/Yes./

/OK, then./

She scanned the room.

There was no Noise. Coming from the far end of the room was a mysterious static noise that
wasnt there before Kotone scanned.

Whatever was making that Noise, or something near it, had a mind.

/What did you find?/ Herr Auskunft whispered.


/Something or someone is making a weird staticy noise. Should I try reading its thoughts?/
Kotone whispered back.

/Yes./

Kotone held her hand out and focused on it.

HA HA HA

She could hear no more thoughts, and instead images of letters flashed through her head. The
noise intensified.

i r

There was silence.

Her phone rang.

NEW MEME:

/Kotone/, Herr Aunskunft said, /I heard your phone ring. Did the entity send you a message?/

/No/, Kotone said. /I got a meme, and its just a bunch of gibberish./

/Well... this isnt a good sign./

/What happened?/

/Im... not entirely sure. Id do some research, but Im not even sure where Id even begin to look.
At any rate, youd best turn back now./

/Youre Mister Intelligence and you have no idea?/


/Well... thats not entirely true. I have one theory, but its extremely unlikely./

/What?/

/Youve got a Soul Virus on your phone./

Kotone stood still with a fearful look on her face.

/What/, she said, /is a Soul Virus?/

/Well/, Herr Aunskunft explained, /Dont tell anyone but... Im gonna let you in on a little secret
about how the Underground works.

/Every entity in the Undergound, whether human or Noise, is made of something called Soul.
Every human, in turn, has whats called Imagination, which is exactly what it sounds like./

/Okay/, Kotone said. This was all new information, but after learning that Angels were part of
this grand scheme and one was stalking her, the exact mechanics of the Underground felt like no
big deal.

/When a person is Erased/, he continued, /their Soul still sticks around. Most Players heck,
most Reapers only that this Soul can turn into the person it once was by The Composer, or be
formed into Noise by a Reaper. But in very rare cases, it can snag onto some Imagination and
become a Soul Virus.

/You see, since Noise lack Imagination, they dont have a mind or emotions all they have is
their instinct to hunt, Erase, and destroy. But with Imagination, that Soul has the ability to think
and to feel. Unfortunately, in most cases, the Noise never gathers enough Imagination to be able
to feel anything other than primal anger and hatred, so it goes on with the same attitude it would
have had as Noise unable to create, able only to destroy./

Kotone held her cellphone in front of her face and stared at it in horror.

/Well, whats something like that doing in my phone?/ Kotone asked.

/Only Reapers and the Composer can create Noise, and only the Composer can form Soul into
people, so a Soul Virus has no physical form unless its given one. Instead, it hijacks the bodies of
Noise and humans by imprinting on them. You cant be imprinted on because youre wearing a
Player Pin, so when it tried to possess you, it rebound off and became a meme on your phone. I
had you scan it so that it wouldnt possess anyone in the RG, just in case it was what I thought it
was./

At this point, Kotone was crying from fear.


/Cant I delete the meme?/ she said in between sobs.

/Players cant delete memes from their phones. Only high-ranking Reapers can./

Kotone took a few deep breaths.

/The owner of that caf seems to know someone who knows the Conductor/, she said, at least
somewhat calmed down. /You think I should stop by and talk?/

/That would be best./ His tone of voice suddenly became frantic. /But, please, if he must know
that you know what a Soul Virus is, dont tell him that I told you! And no matter what you do,
dont imprint the meme on anyone!/

/Alright./

She walked back to the entrance to the Underpass and knocked on the Reaper Wall.

Im ready, she said.

The Reaper let her out and she ran back over to Yori.

Well, what was it? Yori asked his sister. Whats the negative thought?

...Can we talk about this somewhere private?


///////

Shiki was sitting down in one of her kitchen chairs, frowning and reading the newest book from an
American series that she was hooked on. A towel was wrapped around her torso on top of her
clothes. Right behind her, her mom was meticulously picking through her hair, looking for lice.
Shiki wasnt sure how long the process was actually taking, but it felt like an eternity.

Her phone started to ring. Shiki grabbed it from the table and answered it.

Hello? she said.

Shiki, Mr. H said, that brown-haired boy from Tuesday says his names Daniel Funayama
hes here at WildKat, and he wants your friend Eris phone number. Seems hes in love.

Oh! Um tell him Id need to ask for Eris permission to give it out. Also, warn him that she might
have caught my lice but Im not sure.

Alright, Mr. H said. He pulled the phone away from his face, but Shiki could hear enough to tell
that he was relaying that information to Daniel.


Hes fine with that, Mr. H said to Shiki. Oh! And... he says he has something important to talk to
you about, if youll meet him at WildKat.

Like what?

I dont know. He wont say. But he says its about the Reapers Game.

///////

Yori and Kotone were sitting down under a clothing rack in 104, one facing the other, hidden by
what seemed like a forest of dresses. Kotone was showing Yori the meme on her phone.

So that thing on your phone is an evil spirit bent on destroying us all?! Yori asked with fear in his
voice.

Possibly, Kotone said. It might not be evil, but it did try to possess me.

How do we get rid of it?

Im pretty sure that caf guy knows someone who can help.

So are we skipping the mission and going straight to Cat Street? Yori asked.

Seems like the best bet, Kotone said. At any rate, we might run into one of the things we need
for a mission, anyways.

Alright, Yori said, to Cat Street we go.

///////

Shiki walked into WildKat and saw the door to the upstairs open.

All the way at the end of the hallway and to your right, Mr. H said. Daniels got a bunch of other
people there that he wants to talk to.

Shiki nodded, said thanks, and walked up the stairs and to the room.

She knocked on the door. Daniel said If you are Madam Misaki, you may enter.

She opened the door and saw a bedroom with walls painted light blue. On the left wall, there was
a bed with chocolate brown pillowcases, blue sheets and a comforter that was blue with chocolate
brown polkadots. Against the front wall to the right of the door was a brown loveseat. The entire
back wall was a window with brown curtains covering it. Daniel was standing up in the middle of

the room, Joshua, Neku, and The Conductor were sitting on the bed, and Eri was sitting on the
loveseat.

Shiki! Eri said, smiling and frantically waving. Come sit next to me!

Shiki sat down on the loveseat and sat Mr. Mew up on the armrest. She waved to Neku, and he
smiled made a slight wave back.

Ladies and gentleman, Daniel said, thank you all for coming on such short notice. There are
three matters I wish to discuss with you today, and some topics shall pertain more to each
individual person than others. Now, merely including the Conductor in such a discussion is near
unprecedented, and three civilians even more so. Therefore, I ask no, I demand that all that is
discussed here remains a secret.

Now, the first matter to discuss is

Shiki raised her hand.

Madam Misaki, Daniel said, do you have a question?

Uh, yeah. Who are you? she asked.

Daniel Funayama, as you are well aware.

Thats not what I meant.

Daniel sighed.

Very well, he said. I was not planning on disclosing this information, but I have no particular
qualms with sharing it in present company, so...

He cleared his throat.

My name is Funayama Daniel, and I am the Conductor of the Reapers Game in the neighboring
ward of Minato.

Now, then, the first matter to discuss a Reaper of unknown identity has been Erasing the
Conductors and Composers of Tokyos wards one by one, and it is believed that he will come to
Shibuya next.

///////

During their journey to Cat Street, Kotone and Yori had been on the lookout for Noise and memes,
respectively. They were currently at Towa Records.


Kotone scanned while Yori scoured the vicinity of the music store for a meme.

Lessee, he said to himself, meme, meme, meme, what here could be a meme...

He tried eavesdropping on some conversations.

Hey, have you heard Cube Cube-chans new single? Its totally adorable! Its called FACE, and its
about...
...and then MC Krono started freestyling about his fancy car and how it was totally better than
Titans and, oh, man, it was so sweet...
...Yeah, its called Crash Like Rhinos, and its gonna be released in a couple of weeks. Thank The
Pianos released a single from it yesterday called The Te Amo Train, and its so awesome! Its
gotten me really excited about the rest of the album, I mean, theres no way its gonna be the next
Jetcoaster like some people are expecting, but...

Yori sighed. There were just too many conversations, and besides, it would be unlikely that the GM
would pick something as fluid as a conversation between two civvies to hide his meme in.

He walked into the Towa Records building.

Welcome! the cashier said to him.

Yori started to look around.

On the New Releases shelf, there was one album in particular that leapt out to Yori one by
Megane, his favorite band. It was called Untrue, and the cover was pixelart of the bands
trademark fake nerd glasses lying in a field that didnt look out of place in an RPG.

It had been released today today and now three copies were sitting on the shelf. Yori had
been saving up his money to buy the album, and now it was finally his.

A huge grin crossed his face. He grabbed one of the copies of the album and raced over to the cash
register.

A fan of Megane, are we? the cashier said, ringing up the album and bagging it. Yeah, theyve
got pretty awesome music. Whats your favorite song by them?

Oh, gosh, I cant pick one... Yori said as he paid for the album. Well, maybe Go, Go, Pixelman!
or Scotch Tape For A Broken Heart.

Id have to say mines Chiptune Hope, the cashier said as he handed the bag to Yori. Its one of
the ones from Untrue.

Yoris phone rang. Did he find the meme during their conversation?


Well, I look forward to hearing it, Yori said. Luckily, all Megane albums came with a download
code that could be entered into the Megane app.

He walked toward the door. Bye! he said.

See ya! the cashier said back.

Yori pulled up the new message on his phone the meme was Untrue walked over to his sister.

The memes Untrue! he said. Also, I bought Untrue! He held the bag up.

Nice! Kotone said. Her phone rang, presumably to alert her that the meme was Untrue. I wasnt
able to find anything.

So, onwards?

Kotone nodded.

Onwards.

///////

Uzuki and Kariya stood at Dogenzaka, the location of one of the memes.

Uzuki smiled. I dont know how you did it, Kariya, but this is the best trap weve laid yet!

Thank you, Kariya said. Its taken years for me to get the technique right, but all that work is
finally paying off!

So... now what do we do? Uzuki asked.

Kariya smirked.

Sit back and relax.

///////

The two twins entered Miyashita Park Underpass (not to be confused with the Station Underpass)
and immediately came face-to-face with a young blond man and woman having a rather intense
argument.

<Honestly, Eric, it wasnt what it looked like!> the young woman said defensively. <The toilet
was clogged in his hotel room; I let him use ours! Thats it!>

<Thats not what it looked like to me, Jessica!> Eric shouted angrily.


<You werent even gone long enough for us do anything!>

Yoris English wasnt that good, but he was able to understand most of what they were saying.

Kotone scanned as they were arguing.

Looks like theyre attracting a bunch of Noise, she said to Yori, who was currently preoccupied
with trying to download Untrue.

Then imprint on em, Yori said, not looking up from his phone.

Untrue ought to do the trick, she said.

<Honestly, Eric>, the woman said, <cant you trust me with anything?>

<Well, apparently not, because you cheated on me! You invited another man into our hotel room
while I was gone so you two could>

The man stopped midsentence. A devious grin crossed his face

Ha ha ha, he said.

Yori looked over to his sister, who had a look of horror on her face.

Scheie, she said.

Kotone, whats wrong?

A ha ha ha ha ha, the man continued.

Scheie, Scheie, Scheie.

Kotone?

The man let loose an evil laugh.

<Eric?> the woman asked.

Tears started to well in Kotones eyes.

My finger slipped.

She handed her phone to Yori. Untrue was still in the meme menu. The Soul Virus was not.


<Eric, whats going on?> the woman asked, frightened.

<Something completely beyond the limits of your knowledge!> the man said cockily. <And
Erics gone now! Youre never going to see him again!>

The man frowned. Man, Ive really got to step up my game...

The woman stared at him for a moment, then ran away as fast as she could.

Eric shrugged and pulled out his phone.

Kotone held her phone to her face.

/Herr Aunskunft?/

/Yes, Kotone?/

/Well/, she said, her voice permeated with shame. /I was trying to imprint something and my
finger slipped... /

Kotone could hear Herr Aunskunft do a spit take.

/Y-You mean its in the RG now?/

/Yeah./

There was the sound of typing.

/Looks like its in Miyashita Park Underpass/,Herr Aunskunft said, / though the signal is growing
faint. Kotone, you need to have the Conductor find its new host and find it fast! Who knows how
much longer itll stay where it is, and the signal might soon disappear!/

/Roger that./

She started running for Miyashita Park.

Come on, Yori!

Yori ran as fast as he could after her.

Kotone! Kotone, are you sure the owner of the caf knows how to contact the Conductor?

Best lead weve got right now!

////////


The two of them reached WildKat and bolted in through the front door.

Hey, kids! Nice to see you again! the owner said. What can I get for you two?

Does that blond boy know you? Yori asked.

Hmm? Oh, Joshua! Yeah, hes an old friend of mine. Why do you ask?

Well, he knows the Conductor, right? Theres an emergency, and

Hanekoma walked over to a door to the upstairs, opened it, and poked his head in.

MISTER KAJIYA! THOSE KIDS FROM YESTERDAY WANT TO SEE YOU!

The Conductor walked down the stairs.

Yeah? he said. I-I mean, to what do I owe your presence?

Kotone started frantically giving her well-rehearsed speech, with some additions to the end due to
the Soul Viruss escape.

There was this weird noise coming from the Station Underpass and I think it might have been
some sort of evil technology monster because a moment later I got this weird gibberish meme on
my phone right before the noise stopped and I didnt want to imprint it on anybody but I was in
the Miyashita Park Underpass and my finger slipped and now the evil technology monster is
possessing someone in the RG!

What? The Conductor asked. Are you saying theres a Soul Virus roaming the RG?

Whats a Soul Virus? Kotone asked.

Well, every entity in the Undergound, whether human or Noise, is made of something called Soul.
Every human, in turn... he rattled off a spiel that was basically the same as the one Herr
Aunskunft gave her.

...Anyways, he said, if this was a recent imprinting, we should be able to trace the signal and
neutralize it. What does the host look like?

American, Yori said, with blond hair, blue eyes, an orange t-shirt, brown jeans and a brown
baseball cap.

Excellent. You two kids go back to your Mission; Ill take care of this.

He walked to the door, and Yori ran up after him.


With all due respect, sir, we could help! We may not look like much, but weve had a few Noise
Battles on our way to and from places. I mean, the first one was hard, but then we hit our stride by
the second one and after that, we got good! I mean, I respect your experience and I know that our
doesnt nearly compare to yours, but

Kids, Soul Viruses are highly dangerous once theyve taken a physical form. Its best that you stay
away.

But, sir

Let me handle this, The Conductor said firmly. I dont want you two to be put in danger.

Then he walked out the door.

Kotone looked at her brother.

Herr Aunskunft said that theres a big concentration of Noise at Spain Hill... she said a bit
sheepishly.

And you expect me to just go about my mission and forget about the man that weve just caused
to be possessed by an evil spirit?

Kinda...

You know what? No. Im not going to just give up and let someone else take care of our problem.
Were going to take action, and were going to take action now.

But

But nothing, Kotone.

With one hand, he grabbed Kotone by the hand and dragged her towards the door. With the other,
he took Kotones phone.

<Where is the Soul Virus now?> he said to Herr Aunskunft.

<Ehh? Wheres your sister?> Herr Aunskunft asked, annoyed.

<It does not matter. Where is the Soul Virus now?>

<Shibu Department Store. Why do you want to know? Are you trying to catch it?!>

<Yes.>


<But what can you possibly do against it?>

<I will think of something,> Yori replied confidently.

<So what youre saying is that you dont know?> Herr Aunskunft said dryly.

Yori stopped walking and pondered this thought. In all honesty, he didnt know. He didnt even
have the faintest idea of what he was going to do, or even what he could do. He had no experience
with Soul Viruses, no way of interacting with the RG, and certainly not any weird Conductor
powers.

<Yori>, Herr Aunskunft continued, <I understand that you want to fix your mistakes, and thats
great. But you need to recognize that this is out of your control.>

Yori sighed.

<Youre right. I cant control everything in life.>

Yori let go of Kotone and handed the phone back to her.

/Im back/, she said.

/Why hello there/, Herr Aunskunft said.

There were footsteps coming from the stairs, and that blond kid walked through the door to the
stairs.

Hello again, kids, he said. You two look hungry. May I recommend the bouillabaisse?

Whats that? Yori asked.

Its fish stew, Kotone answered.

Well, I am a bit hungry, Yori said. He turned to the owner. Two orders of that fish stew and one
order of decaf coffee, please.

The owner nodded. Comin right up.

The two twins sat down at a table. The owner brought over their bouillabaisse and Yoris coffee,
and Kotone set Lil Whiskers down on the table.

Um, I wouldnt recommend that, the owner said. The cat might get dirty. Why dont you put
him on the table next to you?

Kotone did so.


The black-haired girl with the cat walked downstairs and put her cat next to Lil Whiskers. Her cat
was wearing a paper hat.

Kitty twins! the girl said. She pulled out her phone to take a picture, and Kotone did the same.

Aww! Kotone said.

Daniel walked down the stairs.

Daniel, what are you doing here? Yori asked. And wheres Hachi?

Nevermind that, Daniel said.

He knelt down in front of the two cats and placed one hand on each of them.

These are precious, he said with a smile. And both so soft.

I wanna touch the cats! the blond said. He walked over to the other side of them and laid one
hand on each of them.

Ah, so soft.

The twins and the black-haired girl both looked at the two boys with quizzical looks on their faces.

Dont judge, the blond said.

The twins just shrugged and went back to their bouillabaisse.

Hey, Mr. Owner Yori said in between bites.

The names Sanae Hanekoma, the owner said.

Alright, then. Mr. Hanekoma, what was in those boxes from yesterday?

Oh, those? Those had weird little toy robots that could use suction cups to climb walls. I had
ordered them earlier from a man who is apparently now the Game Master.

OK, Yori said.

After the twins were done with their soup, they threw away the cup and bowls, grabbed Lil
Whiskers, and were about to walk out the door.

Hey! Mr. Hanekoma said. Be sure to come back later today, if you can. Schools starting back up,
so I have a special going on after school this week. I call it the Back-To-School THINK! Sale.


Cool, Yori said. Well drop by if we can!

We will? Kotone asked.

Kotone, show some manners.

///////


The two twins reached Spain Hill in a huff.

Kotone scanned and found Noise congregating near a woman who was sitting down and crying
with her face hidden behind her knees.

He broke up with me... why did he break up with me?

Was it because Im not good enough? Thats gotta be it.

I really am good for nothing.

THIS, Kotone said, is where Ill use untrue.

She selected untrue from her list of memes.

Hmm? Untrue?

...Yeah, I guess I was being pretty stupid. I mean, its not like my boyfriends opinion defines what
kind of person I am. I dont even really NEED a boyfriend!

She stood up with a determined look on her face.

IM A STRONG, INDEPENDET WOMAN! HEAR ME ROAR!

Imma get me a hot dog and ice cream cone!

Untrue disappeared from Kotone and Yoris phones, and the woman smiled and ran into
Mexican Dog.

And now for the Noise, Yori said.

He scanned one of the Noise Symbols and they were whisked away to the Noise Plane.

///////


Kotone had gotten 3 new Pins the day before Sexy D, Pop Pendulum, and Velocity Attack. Sexy D
was a Psychokinesis Pin, Pop Pendulum let Kotone summon a giant boomerang to shoot at the
Noise, and Velocity Attack let her ram into the Noise.

The Noise they had to face were two wolves and one of those werewolves things from a couple of
days ago.

She found a nearby newsstand, picked it up, and repeatedly bashed the werewolf with it. One of
the wolves charged into her and knocked her back, ending her combo.

Lil Whiskers charged up to the wolf that had attacked her and started throwing punch after punch.
Kotone, however, was still focused on the werewolf. Activating Velocity Atteck, she charged up to
the werewolf and let out a mighty warcry as she crashed into him. She turned her body to ther
right now facing the wolves, but still being able to see the werewolf and fired a boomerang at
the two of them. She picked up the newsstand once again and threw it at the werewolf just before
the pins charge wore out. The werewolf slashed her with his claws, and Kotone winced in pain just
before she retreated.

She used Velocity Attack on one of the wolves, charging into it. She then charged back into the
werewolf and retreated once again. A boomerang flew into the werewolf, and it was down for the
count.

Turing back to the wolves, Kotone fired a boomerang at them again, then picked up the newsstand
and threw it at both of them. She prepared herself to fire another boomerang when the two
wolves were Erased by her brother.

The twins reappeared in the UG, and were approached by a girl with purple pigtails, a black t-shirt,
and a teal hoodie, and black jeans.

Theres more Noise in Dogenzaka, she said, but no-ones found the meme yet! You should go
there and see if any of your memes work! Also, there used to be Noise in Hachiko but that got
erased.

Thanks for the tip! Yori said.

Yori started to walk to Tipsy Tose Hall, and, much to his surprise, the girl walked beside him.

Hello! she said. Whats your name?

Im Yori Baisho, and this is my twin sister, Kotone.

A twin sister? the girl said. I wish I had a twin. My best friends are twins and triplets. Anyways,
my name is Sumire Fujimaki. Nice to meet you, Yori and Kotone!

Hello, Sumire, Yori said.


They kept walking, and Sumire smiled at Yori.

Youre cute! she said.

Yori blushed. Th-thank you!

Youre welcome.

They kept walking.

If time allows, Sumire said, or if the next mission allows, would you like to go to Ramen Don
together?

Yori stuttered for a moment, then finally managed to say Sure!

Great! Thank you! I look forward to it!

Didnt Tsukiko just get Erased three day ago? Kotone whispered to Yori.

The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak! Yori whispered back.

///////

...And today I ran across a Player named Daniel who can speak English, Japanese, and Portugese!
Sumire said.

Daniel Funayama? Yori asked. No way, I know him too!

The twins and Sumire were nearing Dogenzaka. Yori and Sumire were hitting it on, and Kotone felt
really uncomfortable. Not only had Yori gotten over Tsukiko a bit too fast based on what Kotone
was expecting, this other Player appeared to be without a partner, somehow. Both of these facts
confused Kotone.

She had taken refuge in following a few feet behind and having a hushed conversation with Herr
Aunskunft.

/I once knew a girl/, he was saying, /whose boyfriend cheated on her with her married sister
not once, not twice, but FIVE TIMES, and when she found out, she was pissed off and broke up
with him screaming herself hoarse during the process but then a week or so later, went
crawling back to him./

/My dads ex is one of my closest friends/, Kotone said, /but my moms ex used to be my
history teacher and he would always give me low grades because my mom left him because he
was sleeping around. My parents had to talk to the school board about it. But, hey, cest la vie./


/Hey, that reminds me of a certain English book series./

/Those are my favorites!/

/No way! Mine too!/

/Awesome!/

Herr Aunskunft sighed.

/Yknow/, he said, /romance has the potential to bring so much joy. Its a shame so many
people screw it up./

/Yeah. Its one of my life goals to get it right./

Herr Aunskunft chuckled.

/Mine too./

The three of them arrived at Dogenzaka.

/Were here/, Kotone said. /Gotta go./

She put her phone in her pocket and caught up with her brother.

Thank you for coming to Dogenzaka! Sumire said to the twins cheerily.

Well, we kind of need to complete the mission, Kotone said.

I found another team, a boy said from behind them casually. The twins turned around to see a
tall, brown-haired boy in an outfit identical to Sumires. He was accompanied by a black-haired
boy and girl that looked to be siblings (maybe twins?). The boy was wearing an orange t-shirt, a
blue ball cap, and black jean shorts. The girl was wearing a purple sweater with a soccer ball
emblem knitted into the front, a teal bow in her hair, and a jean skirt.

Much as with Kotone and Yori, the girl was clinging to the brown-haired boys arm and looking at
him longingly, while her brother was quietly ignoring them.

Meet Leo and Aimi Matsuoka, the brown-haired boy said.

Thats Tsuchiya, Sumire said. Hes my partner. I mean, not a partner partner. Just a friend.

Sup, Tsuchiya said.


Kotone was curious why Tsuchiya was being introduced with just his last name, but he did seem a
bit distant. Meanwhile, Yori was glaring at him.

Thank you all for coming here! Sumire said, super-chipper and with a wide smile. Now, using
teamwork, the six of us can figure out how to solve this problem!

Uh, Sumire? Tsuchiya said.

Tsuchiya and I have looked at it from every angle, Sumire continued, oblivious to whatever
Tsuchiya was trying to tell her, but we just cant figure this out!

Sumire?! Tsuchiya said.

Plus, maybe one of you has the meme? Sumire said.

SUMIRE FUJIMAKI! Tsuchiyo shouted.

Yeah, sup? Sumire asked, still with a smile on her face.

Havent you noticed that, except for the twins we found on the way, almost everyone here looks
identical to someone else? Tsuchiya asked.

Kotone finally took the chance to look around.

Standing casually by Shadow Ramen, there was a girl with sky blue hair in a braid, a yellow bow in
her hair, and a yellow and white striped sundress. Intently playing a game of Tin Pin by Ramen Don
were... two girls with sky blue hair in a braid, a yellow bow each in their hair, and a yellow and
white striped sundress.

Sitting by Ramen Don and reading a book was a girl with black braided pigtails and a uniform for
Kotone and Yoris school. Taking selfies by Shadow Ramen was a girl with black braided pigtails
and a uniform for Kotone and Yoris school.

A boy with brown hair, glasses, dark blue jeans, and a white t-shirt with JUNICHI printed on it in
the Latin alphabet walked by the twins on his way to 104. Another identical boy was watching the
game of Tin Pin.

Dogenzaka was filled with twins and triplets in matching clothes, and while none of them were
noticed by the RG, none of them had Player Pins.

Kotone looked at Yori with a worried look on her face.

Whats going on? she asked him.

I dont know! he said.


Someone laid her hand on Kotones shoulder.

Kotone turned around to find that it was another girl with braided pigtails and a school uniform.
The girl was smiling, but it wasnt exactly a smile. Oh, sure, the corners of her mouth and her
eyebrows were raised, but the smile was... wrong. Uncanny.

This effect was worsened by what the girl said:

Wont you stay a while?

///////

Foxes.

There were foxes with different colored pelts where the twins and triplets had once been, and Yori
and his sister were surrounded.

That explained the identicalness, then. The foxes were shapeshifters, but they werent able to
come up with enough identical forms to make them all look unique.

Yori grimaced as he pulled out his yo-yos.

It was go time.

A white fox transformed into a wolf and lunged at his sister, catching her off-guard. Yori retaliated
by a throw of the yo-yo. For reasons that werent entirely obvious, the twins were not pulled into
the Noise Plane.

Kotone charged into the fray using one of her new pins and rammed into about seven of the foxes,
knocking them down like bowling pins.

What can best be described as a pink, sparkly, heart-shaped energy orb went flying at some of the
Noise to Yoris left. He looked behind him (bad decision, one of the Noise took this opportunity to
lunge at him) to see another one coming from the girl from the other twin set (Aimi, was it?).

Leo had summoned an old book and was looking through it.

Perede, o focus fortus, perede, perede, PEREDE! he read with gusto.

A line of fire shot out from his feet with great speed, burning the Noise in its path.

Alright, need another one... he said to himself as he turned pages frantically.


Yori turned back to his sister and found her shooting boomerangs at the Noise. Aimi frantically
rushed up to her.

Hey, Aimi said, lets do one of those things where you stand back to back and attack the ones
on either side of you!

Kotone nodded and got in position. She fired boomerang after boomerang at the Noise on her side,
and Aimi fired energy hearts at the Noise on hers.

Yori tried to run up to the two girls, but tripped on one of the Noise. The Noise transformed into a
copy of Yori, albeit wearing a mask, and attacked the real Yori with a yo-yo. Yori was knocked back,
and crashed into another Noise, which took the opportunity to summon fire to burn Yori.

Fire more boomerangs! Aimi shouted.

I cant! Kotone replied. The pin ran out of charge!

Yori got up, but was sent back to the ground by a low attack from behind that knocked him off
balance.

Then use another pin! Aimi said.

Yori fell into the fire that he had just gotten up from. An empty table flew over his head and
barreled into some of the foxes in front of Kotone.

Yori was now surrounded by foxes that had transformed into jellyfish and were attacking him with
their tentacles. Yori threw his yo-yo at one, but it blocked his attack. He turned to another one and
tried again, but again he failed. He threw another yo-yo at a third one, which also blocked his
attack.

Leo, Yori said, Now would be a really great time to help!

Uh... Leo said as Yori heard the sound of rustling pages. DISPERGERE!

A shockwave, with its center at Yori, blasted the jellyfish Noise away from him.

Now that he was no longer surrounded by jellyfish, Yori could see that there were hearts,
boomerangs, and tables flying all over the battlefield, not just at the foxes near the girls.

Thank you! Yori said with a smile on his face.

Youre welcome, Leo said, Sorry for the wait; Im running out of spells for the day, so I had to
find an unused one. I should have a few Disperses left, though.


So you use one of your Pins to summon a spellbook? Yori asked as he threw a yo-yo at another
fox.

Leo nodded as he dodged a fox in the form of a wolf. Tome of Strength, he said as he pointed to
a pin on his shirt. The pin was black, and it had some sort of runes written on it in orange.

In front of the two boys, a green fox got hit with one of Aimis hearts, and Kotone charged past
them with her pin and crashed into it, Erasing the fox.

Awesome! Yori said. Our first Erasure!

Actually, its our fifth, Aimi said.

Leo pointed his hand at another green fox and shouted Luz!

The fox was Erased by an orb of light.

Hows about number six? he said.

From behind the two boys, a fireball got shot at one of the Noise and Erased it.

Yori turned around to see Sumire perfect, beautiful Sumire smiling like an angel.

Seven, she said.

I-I wore it down for you! Yori said.

Like heck you did! Aimi cried out.

Hows about eight? Tsuchiya (ugh) said from next to Sumire as he shot another fireball at a fox.

The fox was not Erased.

Ha ha, sucker.

Yori walked up to the fox and threw his yo-yo at it.

Eight, he said.

It had taken them a long time and a lot of teamwork to hurt the foxes enough so that they could
be Erased, but now everything was going their way.

Hearts and boomerangs were still flying everywhere. Lil Whiskers walked up to a green fox and
punched it with a jab-cross-hook-uppercut combo, then diverted his attention to one that was in
the shape of a frog.


Sorry we cant help out much, Sumire said, but were really bad in combat and cant take a lot
of hits.

Its OK! Its OK! Its all perfectly OK! Yori said.

He turned to one of the wolves and threw a yo-yo at it from the right, then hooked back to the left.
He was about to go for another shot when it was Erased by a fireball.

Yori turned back and saw Tsuchiya leaning casually against a wall, blowing over the top of his two
front fingers as one might for a gun.

Yori scowled.

Nine, Tsuchiya said.

Yori walked backwards into the fray, still glaring at Tsuchiya. He stepped in fire.

WHY IS IT SO HARD TO FIND THINGS IN THIS BOOK?! Leo screamed.

Use the meteor one! Aimi cried out.

Cant! Leo replied. I used all two of those!

Use the smaller meteor one!

I CANT FIND THE SMALLER METEOR ONE!

Meanwhile, about five or so foxes were nearing Yori. He threw his yo-yo at them in a sideways arc,
managing to hit all of them.

Kotone charged into all of them from behind, then quickly swerved away, presumably to attack
more Noise.

A few moments later, he heard her cry out Ten!

Yori attacked the foxes with his yo-yo again.

Eleven and twelve! he cried out.

There were three left. Yori decided to try something different.

He used a downward hook on the leftmost one, then went up and to the right to attack the center
one, immediately followed by a hook down and to the left, a regular hook to the right that hit the
centermost and rightmost fox, an hook up and to the left that hit the right-most fox, and a

downward hook that Erased the middle one (Thirteen!). As he was about to go for a hook on
the left-most fox, it was engulfed in fire.

Fourteen! Sumire yelled.

A fox in the form of a jellyfish attacked Yori, and a wolf charged into him from the side.

T profunditte voc, o potns serpns! Leo cried out.

A snake about the size of a person shot out from the book and spiraled around Leo, taking out
Noise in its path. When it was about 10 feet out, it burrowed into the concrete.

Fifteen through eighteen! Leo called out. Man, I didnt think I had any of those left... he said to
himself.

The fox in front of Yori that was on the right during his combo created fire right in fornt of him,
which happened to burn Yori. A heart Erased it.

Nineteen! Aimi said.

Yori walked up to another fox and attacked it with his yo-yo, Erasing it.

Twenty!

Saxum Cael, idic hanc prgeniem viperarum! Leo cried out.

The ground shook.

Yori looked at Leo and saw a meteor that had landed right next to him.

Twenty one and twenty two! Leo called out.

Wow, Leos racking up quite the body count! Aimi said. Hearts and boomerangs were still flying
everywhere, as they had been for most of the fight, when the pins werent recharging.

A table went flying past Yori.

Twenty three and twenty four! Kotone said soon after.

Yori caught a heart shooting past in his peripheral vision.

Twenty five! Aimi said.

Two foxes turned into wolves and were about to lunge at Yori when they were Erased by a
boomerang.


Twenty six and seven! Kotone said.

A ball of fire came flying at one of the foxes and Erased it.

Twenty eight! Tsuchiya called out.

Twenty nine! Sumire said.

Kotone charged into one last fox.

Thirty! she called.

She held her hand up in the air.

High-five for twin power! she said.

Yori, Leo, and Aimi, all worse for the wear from the battle, all walked up and high-fived her.

Now for the mission, Yori said.

I really dont want to have to fight the Noise, Kotone said. Im kind of Noised out.

Same, Leo said.

Yeah, pretty much, Aimi added.

Wheres it all coming from, though? Yori asked.

Kotone scanned, then pulled out.

There isnt any!

Yori looked down at his left hand to find the timer gone.

Wha? he said But how?

Maybe another team came in and we just didnt notice! Aimi said.

I was told by one of the two Junichis that there was Noise here and that I should spread the
word... Sumire (oh, Sumire) said as she put the tip of her finger on her chin ever-so-innocently.
Maybe it was all a trap?

Maybe there was, but we just missed it, Yori offered.


Or maybe you two were part of the trap, Leo said.

WHAT?! Yori cried out in defense of his maiden.

Wait, what? Kotone asked.

Bro, Aimi said with exaspiration, they HELPED us.

So that if the trap fails, we trust them and they can lure us into another trap later! Leo said.

There was a lull in the conversation.

It all makes sense now! Aimi yelled with a horrified look on her face and her hands on either
cheek.

Yeah, Kotone said, they are kinda suspicious.

Yori sighed. Looking forlorn, he whimpered out I hate it when youre right.

Such bold accusations! Sumire said. But, no, were not foxes. Although I am pretty foxy.

One of the doubles in the Junichi shirt told us that there was Noise here but not at Spain Hill,
Tsuchiya said. Looks like they were lying.

Yeah, maybe there was Noise at Spain Hill that got Erased near the end of our battle! Sumire
said.

Or maybe you were the liars, Leo said firmly.

Yori looked at Sumire, heartbroken.

Did you really trick me?

///////

DAY 4: Noisy Noise

COMPLETE

///////

DAY 5

Kotone and Yori woke up in the Scramble Crossing.


Good morning, Yori, Kotone said.

Mornin, Yori said.

Yori had woken up with a stuffed cat identical to Lil Whiskers next to him, for whatever reason.

Hey, Kotone.

Once he had Kotones attention, he held up his cat and smiled.

Its Lil Whiskers new friend! he said.

Kotones eyes widened and she grinned. Omigosh! You know what this means?

She showed him the picture on her phone of the two cats at WildKat.

Lil Whiskers has triplets!

She danced around excitedly and babbled. Finally, she said:

Youve gotta give it a name! You HAVE to give it a name!

He looked at his new cat.

He looks kinda like a Billy, he said.

Then Billy he shall be, Kotone said. Cmon, Lil Whiskers. Lets start our exercises.

Kotone and Lil Whiskers started their morning exercises with a lunge stretch.

Hey, Kotone? Yori asked.

Yeah, sup?

Do you... do you really think Sumire was leading us into the trap intentionally?

Im not sure. I mean, it seemed almost certain on the day it happened, but now Im not as
confident about that. Strange what a night off not-quite-sleep will do to you.

I dont want to believe it, but Im kinda starting to... I dont know what to believe anymore.

Yori pulled up a picture of him and Tsukino on his phone and looked at it with sadness. Ktone
walked over to him and peeked over his shoulder.


The picture showed Yori and Tsukiko on a rollercoaster together. Yori was on the viewers left,
smiling and blushing. Tsukiko was on the viewers right with a wide grin on her face, with one arm
wrapped around Yori and the other stretched out holding the camera.

Though her curly hair was brown when she was born, Tsukiko bleached it white at the age of
thirteen. She also started wearing black lipstick and eyeshadow, and sported a wardrobe that
generally consisted of black and dark purple. Kotone had the feeling that this made her all the
more attractive to Yori.

I miss Tsukiko, Yori said. Do you think maybe if I had done a better job protecting her...?

Kotone shook her head. Dont blame yourself for something outside of your control. You did all
that you could.

Ythink so?

I know so.

Yori smiled.

Thanks, sis.

Their phones rang.

Game #5

Make your plush cats popular!

Brands get more popular as Players fight Noise with that Brand on. The cats brand is
Gatitio.

The time limit is seventy (70) minutes. If the mission is not successfully completed within
the allotted time, all Players will be Erased.

--The Reapers

Pain shot through their hands, and there was now a timer set to 70:00.

Thats odd, Kotone said. I wonder why the Mission format is different.

Maybe that Sumeragi guy finally got sacked, Yori suggested.

Their phones and only theirs rang a second time.


What the

Kotone and Yori Baisho, you are to ignore the given Mission and instead report to West
Bus Exit Terminal and await further instructions. If you do not do so within twenty (20)
minutes, you will be personally Erased.

You will receive no point penalty for not attempting the mission. If the standard Mission is
not completed within the allotted time, you will be exempt from daily Erasure.

--Conductor Kajiya

The timers on their hands changed to 20:00.

Hold on! Yori said. What does the Conductor want from us? Has he figured out that weve got
contact with Herr Aunskunft?

Maybe its about the Soul Virus, Kotone suggested.

Why, though? We already told him everything we know about it.

Kotone shrugged. Maybe hes got a sketch artist or something, so he can find the man who was
possessed.

She picked up Lil Whiskers.

Cmon, buddy! she said to it as she ran off towards Hachiko.

Yori started running after her in an attempt to catch up.

Kotone! he called.

///////

Kajiya stood at the West Exit Bus Terminal with a plush cat identical to the ones given to the
Players. His phone rang, and he answered it.

Conductor Kajiya, he said.

Arata, Aika said, I have reports of an Erased Player by the name of Hiro Unryu being resurrected
by a Taboo Sigil at 104.

What? Kajiya said.

Apparently both Sumeragi and the Barkeep failed to neutralize it, Aika said.


I-I tried neutralizing that, and I thought it worked! Kajiya said. Howd it all of a sudden resurrect
a Player?

I dont know, Aika said. On the bright side, we were able to keep the Taboo Noise away from
the Players.

Yeah, but thats hardly a consolation prize for a resurrected Player! Kajiya said. I mean, who
resurrected him and why?

What about a resurrected Player? Kotone said.

Kajiya looked behind him to see the Baisho twins.

One moment, Aika. He pulled the phone away from his face.

Oh, thats just nothing! he said to the twins. Now, Ill need to put these blindfolds on you, if you
dont mind...

He put the blindfolds on the twins and spun them each around three times.

Take a hold of my hand, please.

They each grabbed onto one of his hands as he lead them past the Shibuya River, though the Dead
Gods Pad, and into his office.

Once they were in his office and the door was closed, Kajiya took away their timers, took off the
blindfolds, and sat down in his chair.

Is this about the Soul Virus? Kotone asked.

Its about several things, actually, Kajiya said. Though I suppose we can start with that.

He got out his notebook and pencil.

Miss Baisho, he said were you the player that entered the Station Underpass on Day 4?

Yes, sir, she said.

He wrote that down.

Describe that to me.

W-Well... it was really dark and I couldnt see anything, and I wanted to see if there was a Noise
source there, so I scanned the area. Once I started the scan, I heard a weird static sound, and

either the thing that was making the sound or something near it had a mind. I wanted to know
what it was, so, perhaps against my better judgment, I scanned it. It laughed, the sound got louder
and high-pitched, and I saw some weird symbols in my head.

Kajiya was writing down what she was saying.

Such as? he asked.

I dont remember what they looked like, sir.

Kajiya made a mental note to secretly use the Memory Manipulation Machine on her.

Anyways, she continued, After I saw the symbols, the Noise was gone, and I got this weird
meme on my phone. I didnt know what it was, so I didnt want to imprint it on anybody, but I
accidentally imprinted it on a man in the Miyashita Park Underpass. He started laughing, and when
his girlfriend asked what was wrong, he said Something completely beyond the limits of your
knowledge! And Erics did I mention his name was Eric? Erics gone now! Youre never going
to see him again! Then the girlfriend ran away, and he just stood there and checked something on
his phone. And thats when we left to go get you.

Kajiya nodded.

Thank you. Now, I have a second question.

He held up a picture of Hiro Unryu, the Player who was resurrected by a Taboo Sigil.

Is this the man who killed you and your brother?

She nodded. He noted it in his book.

Now, question three

The alarm bell went off.

RED ALERT! RED ALERT! a Reaper said, his voice bellowing from the walkie-talkie on Kajiyas desk.
We have a confirmed sighting of Chikyu-No-Daio on the Shibuya River!

With a frightened look on his face, Kajiya leapt up from his chair and put his hand on the wall
behind him. Immediately, the wall next to him moved out of place to reveal a door to a tunnel.

The voice on the walkie-talkie carried on. I REPEAT, CHIKYU-NO-DAIOHAS BEEN SIGHTED ON THE
SHIBUYA RIVER!

Kajiya rushed back over to his desk, put the walkie-talkie in one of his pockets, and pulled the
twins through the secret door.


All Reapers must assemble in the shelter immediately! I REPEAT, ASSEMBLE IN THE SHELTER
IMMEDIATELY!

Kajiya closed the secret door.

A few recessed lighting fixtures on the ceiling every 10 feet illuminated the tunnel. It was painted
grey, but the paint was peeling in places to reveal metal that was often rusting. There were
guardrails on either side, and a thin black carpet lined the floor.

Kajiya ran down the tunnel, holding Kotones hand. She appeared to be carrying Yori with
Psychokinesis.

Whats going on? she asked. Whos Chikyu-No-Daio?

Kajiyas answer was simple, yet effective.

That man wants to kill me.

///////

Koki Kariya and Uzuki Yashiro were each high-tailing it to the shelter entrance in Dogenzaka. Each
district of the Playing Field had a shelter Entrance hidden in it for exactly these sorts of
circumstances.

Uzuki placed her hand on a spot in the asphalt, and a block of concrete rose up nearby to reveal an
entrance to a stairwell. She raced over to the entrance and down the stairs, pulling Kariya along
with her

Once they were both in the stairwell, Uzuki lowered the block of concrete.

The two of them rushed down the stairs.

You know, Uzuki said, Ive never actually been in the shelter.

I have, Kariya said.

Oh?

It was a few years before you joined, Kariya said. A Composer from a ward in Osaka somehow
managed to merge all of the Reapers in Osaka with himself in order to turn himself into a giant. He
decided he was going to take over Tokyo, and to the shelter we went.

That sounds like the sort of thing that could only happen in an anime, Uzuki said.


Oh, it happened. Trust me.

They kept running.

So, I always thought that Chikyu-No-Daio was just a myth, Uzuki said. But now someones
actually seen him?

Ive heard that there was a confirmed sighting in Shinjuku two weeks ago, Kariya said. So,
definitely not a myth.

Its a scary thought, though. I mean, if this man thinks were in his way, hell just Erase us without
a second thought. And hes strong enough to do that, too.

Dont worry, Ill keep you safe, Kariya said.

Oh, please, Uzuki said with a playful smile. ILL be keeping YOU safe.

///////

The shelter was massive, obviously built for thousands of people. It reminded her of a nuclear
fallout bunker, in all honesty, and thats probably what its design was based on. All the doors were
labeled with dark red stencil lettering in English and Japanese. From where she was standing,
Kotone could see PANTRY, WATER, EMERGENCY GENERATOR, and LIVING QUARTERS HALL
A.

The alarm hadnt gone off all that long ago, but there were already about 20 or 30 Reapers in
there with them, all wearing photo IDs on lanyards around their necks.

When they first walked in, The Conductor had made up IDs for each of them. They stamped their
fingerprints on their respective IDs, which he then attached their pictures from the instant camera
to.

So whos this Chikyu-No-Daio? Yori asked after they both had their IDs. I mean, besides a guy
who wants you dead.

Well, The Conductor said, the way the UG works is, if you kill the Conductor or Composer, you
get their job. Chikyu-No-Daios been Erasing the Composers and Conductors of Tokyos wards one
by one. Heck, some people say hes been doing that outside of Tokyo for quite some time.

So are we just gonna stay here until someone sounds some sort of all clear? Yori asked.

Yes, The Conductor said.

More Reapers started pouring into the Shelter. The Conductor went over to calm them down and
assure them that everything was OK.


Hey, Kotone, Yori said.

Yeah?

What do you think question three was gonna be?

Kotone shrugged. I dont know.

///////

Neither Yori nor Kotone had any idea of how long they had been in the bunker, since they had
neglected to check what time it was when they went down, but it had felt like an eternity. The
Conductor had spent all that time trying to prevent chaos, finding out who was there and who
wasnt, and tending to any Reapers that had been attacked by Chikyu-No-Daio. Yori and Kotone
were left all alone.

Kotone was zoned out, listening to music, when someone started shaking her by the shoulder.

Kotone, Yori was saying. Kotooooneeeee.

Kotone took off her headphones.

Yes, what is it? Kotone said.

I found a hidden door! Yori said. We should find out whats on the other side of it!

Yori, Kotone said, that sounds dangerous. And if its hidden, its probably against the rules to
open it.

Come on, sis! Live a little!

Yori, youve seen too many horror movies to not know that two kids going off alone to investigate
something mysterious can never end well.

But weve got freaky superpowers! We fought off all those shapeshifting foxes, surely well be
able to fight off a monster if we find one down there!

Yori...

Plus, youve got to admit its getting pretty boring.

Kotone sighed.

Lead the way, she said with exasperation.


Yori smiled and grabbed Kotones hand. He led her down a hallway, around a corner, and through
a hidden cranny. The twins were now in a hidden room which appeared empty, except for the
faint outline of a door.

Yori managed to find the lock and pick it. The door opened to reveal a ladder going down.

Yori attempted to grab onto the ladder, but it was blocked off by a Reaper Wall.

So, a voice said from behind them suddenly, you found the ladder.

The twins turned around to see the orange-haired Reaper they came across on Day 2.

Youre not the first ones to find it, you know. Many a Reaper has been down this hallway,
wondering whats behind that door. Not many people have managed to pick the lock, though.

Youre a Reaper, Yori said. Why dont you take the wall down?

Cant, the Reaper said. That walls too strong. Only the Conductor and Composer can open it.

The Reaper pulled a Pin with the Player Pin skull as a key head out of his pocket.

...Unless you manage to rob the Conductor blind.

The Reaper took down the wall and started descending the ladder.

Yori grabbed onto the ladder next. Thank you so much!

Kotone sighed.

Whyd I agree to this?

///////

Yori, Kotone, and the Reaper reached the bottom of the ladder, and hopped down from it to find a
room with tables and chairs, all facing a 1940s era scientific control panel. There was a book on
one of the tables.

Yori walked over to the table and picked up the book. He opened up the first page and started to
read.

Il... ke... fa-lu-ga... ista... in-to-ro-du-zi-ti-aKotone, do you have any idea what this says?

Kotone started to walk over to where Yori was, until a beeping sound started.


BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

All clear! a voice said.

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

All clear!

You kids need to head back, the Reaper said as the beeping continued. If you stay behind, the
Conductors gonna get suspicious.

The kids nodded, ran back to the ladder, and shambled up as fast as they could, with the Reaper
close behind them.

Soon the three of them were back in the main room of the shelter.

Im gonna go stealthily return this keypin now, the Reaper said. See you two later.

He walked off.

Hey, Yori? Kotone asked her brother.

Yeah?

Did anyone tell you what your Entry Fee was?

Yeah.

Well, Kotone said, I still dont know what mine is.

There was a lull in the conversation.

Whats yours? she asked.

I... I dont feel comfortable sharing. He avoided Kotones gaze.

Kotone looked disappointed. Oh... OK.

Must be something pretty bad if he doesnt even want to tell me, Kotone thought. I could ask the
Conductor what it is

...wait, no, I couldnt. If Yori doesnt want to tell, he doesnt want to tell.

...But whats mine, then?


Excuse me for a minute, she said.

Glancing around the room, she found The Conductor sitting at a desk, typing something. She
walked over to him.

U-um... she said nervously, Excuse me, Mister Conductor...

The Conductor smiled.

Call me Mr. Kajiya, he said.

O-OK. Mr. Kajiya, whats my Entry Fee?

He stopped smiling and sighed.

Ive seen a lot of people run around the Underground confused and distressed, not knowing what
their Entry Fee is. Theyve lost the most important thing in the world to them, and they dont even
know what it is. Thats why weve been more willing to tell people what their Fee is lately.

Yours, however, is memory-based. Kotone, Im really, truly sorry, but I cant tell you what your
fee is.

Kotone looked down at the ground, sorrow building up in her heart.

I... I see...

Technically, Mr. Kajiya said, even telling you that its memory-based is breaking the rules.

Kotone started to cry.

I-if its affected my memory, Kotone said, then its taken whats most important to me and I
dont even know that its gone. I never even knew that I had it in the first place...

Kotone felt herself caught in a warm embrace.

She looked up to see Mr. Kajiya enveloping her in a hug.

My fiance had taken her own life shortly before the start of my Game, he said. I had nothing
left of her except for the memories of the time I shared with her, and thats what I lost.

Kotone could notice tears welling in his eyes.

What did it feel like when you remembered her? Kotone asked.


To be honest, he said, I was in tears. To think that I could ever forget my Sakura was too much
to bear and from my new mindset, to think that I had someone this wonderful in my life but
never knew it just added to the pain. Those memories were all I had of her, so when they were
gone... she was gone.

But then I realized something, he continued. By giving me back my memories, the late
Conductor Kitanji had given me the greatest joy I had known. Sure, I was sad when I realized that
the joy was gone for a week, but it had finally come back! My Sakura could once again live on in
my heart!

Kotone smiled.

Thank you, Mr. Kajiya.

Dont mention it. And, hey when I lost my memories of Sakura, I had essentially lost Sakura, but
you? When you win the Game and regain your memories, youll be able to make more.

Mr. Kajiyas phone rang. He let go of Kotone and read the text message that he had just received.

Well, he said, someone won the Mission. As much as I enjoyed our talk, its time to put the
Players to sleep now.

Yes, sir, Kotone said.

He released Kotone from the hug.

Thank you, sir, she said. W-When I first saw you in front of all those Players explaining the rules,
I thought you were just someone heartless, treating us like rats in a maze. But you care about us.
Thank you.

Kajiya smiled.

Happy to help, he said.

He cleared his throat and suddenly took on a more serious demeanor.

Now, what weve just discussed it to remain strictly confidential, he said. Those with memory-
based Entry Fees arent supposed to know that theyve forgotten something.

I understand, sir.

But, if you do ever need to talk about this with me again...

He passed Kotone a slip of paper.


Just give me a call, he said.

Thank you, sir.

///////

DAY 5: The Machine

COMPLETE

///////
DAY 6

Mister Hanekoma, Mister Daniel Funayama said as he walked into WildKat, There is a matter
which I would like to discuss with thee.

Yes? Mister Hanekoma replied inquisitively.

Reaching into his satchel, Mister Funayama drew out a cellphone and lay it upon the counter.

Mister Hanekoma retrieved it, looked upon it, and set it back down whence he picked it up. Its
still locked, kid.

Mister Funayama groaned and, turning the cellphone towards him, pressed upon the buttons that
matched the password.

Mister Hanekoma picked it up once again from the counter and read what it displayed: a
correspondence between Isabella Nagamine and a third party, which Mister Funayama knew by
rote.


Isabella Nagamine (ne Gardener),
you have been chosen by The Inner
Circle to enforce the Law of the
Angels upon a non-compliant.
Refusal is not an option.
I receive the call and am ready to
serve.

Faithful servant, an Angel called by
the name of Sanae Hanekoma
has disclosed Rank Gamma

classified information with the
intent to interfere in a Private
Game. You shall revoke from him
his power and knowledge for
exactly one (1) month, at which
point he shall have an opportunity
to appeal to The Inner Circle.

I shall do as I have been
commanded.

Reading the message silently, Mister Hanekomas hand trembled, and his expression turned to
that of fear.

I-Im an

Yes, Mister Funayama replied, divining what Mister Hanekoma intended to say.

And my memories were taken because So if I wanted to get them back, I would essentially be

Not quite. Thou wilt notice, Mister Hanekoma, that the cellphone I that have retrieved is the
same one from which the messages were sent. Now, I ask thee this thinkest thou that I have, or
that any person hath the power to rob from an Angel of most high rank?

...No?

Then this message is not genuinely sent by an Angel. Madam Nagamine, although believing
herself to have acted in accordance with the will of the Inner Circle, only acted in accordance with
the will of a liar.

So all we have to do is march up on Isabella with guns blazing?

Oh, would that it were that simple! No, if Madam Nagamine hath an object as valuable as the
essence of an Angel, she will be guarding it as one would His Majestys crown.

...How old are you?

W-would you rather I talk in a more modern fashion? Mister Funayama asked, in his best
approximation an accent more fitting that of the twenty-first century, but in a manner quite
dismayed.

Naw, youre good, Mister Hanekoma replied.


A-are you sure? Because I can totally talk like that if you prefer it; Ive been practicing quite a lot
and I think Im getting good, I mean, I have had entire conversations with civilians and nary a
one not a single one acted as if they thought my speech bizarre

Its fine, Mister Hanekoma interrupted. Look, Joshua told me that youre the Conductor of
Minato, and I know that job tends to significantly increase your lifespan. Plus, if Im not mistaken,
you were pretty high society in life. So, if thats the kind of speech you were raised with, dont
worry!

Well, the main reason I ask is because... after our meeting on Thursday, I asked Eri Watanabe to
accompany me to Ramen Don.

...Arent you about 30 times older than her? Like, at best?

She is sixteen years of age. I am, functionally, nineteen.

And then theres the part where youre about 400.

I have been nineteen years of age for four hundred and forty-nine years time. There is a
difference, Mister Funayama objected sternly.

...OK, Mister Hanekoma said. Willing to admit that I know hardly anything about the mindset of
immortal people. Changing the subject what do you think our first step should be in retrieving
my memories?

There is a man who may know of her whereabouts Noboru Wakahisa, her brother-in-law.

So were gonna interrogate him?

No, Mister Funayama countered, you are going to interrogate him. I am going to enjoy my date
with Madam Watanabe. Joshua may be willing to accompany thee accompany you, however.

Mister Funayama produced a folded sheet of paper from his pocket, which Mister Hanekoma then
took.

His home address, Mister Funayama explained, and pertinent information.

Mister Hanekoma opened the paper and examined its contents.

Wakahisa lives pretty far out, so Ill make arrangements for Josh and I to leave later today. Thanks,
Daniel.

Daniel smiled. Think nothing of it. Shall I be going, then?


Before you go, I have something to ask you. A few days ago, the Conductor of Shibuya tried to
restore my memory himself, and the only thing I got back was me waking up in my room. Joshua
was there, making sure I was OK, and then I looked over and saw myself.

Daniel sighed and turned towards Mister Hanekoma, and answered, in a triste voice,

Regretfully, I have no explanation to offer. Goodbye, Mister Hanekoma.

Goodbye, Daniel, Mister Hanekoma said in return.

Mister Funayama departed.

As he walked away, he took his own cellphone from his pocket and sent a massage to Joshua.

Mister Hanekoma has been given
the cellphone and the location of
Mister Wakahisa. He plans to leave
to-day and request your
accompaniment.

I should be able to make it.

Did he say what time he wanted to
leave?

No.

In addition, he inquired about the
memory that was revealed to him
on Wednesday.

///////

Kotone woke up in the Station Underpass to the sound of her phone ringing. She answered it and,
before she had a chance to respond, was greeted by a frantic Herr Aunskunft.

/KOTONE! KOTONE, IS THAT YOU?!

/Yes./

Herr Aunskunft started talking at about a mile a minute.



/KOTONE! Oh, thank God, I thought you were dead! Well, Erased, technically, but still, thats
technically worse than dead since you dont have a chance to keep living anymore./

/...Wait, what?/ Kotone replied. /Why would you think I was Erased?/

/Well, I wasnt able to call your phone, so/

/Oh, that? I spent most of yesterday in an underground bunker. Seems like I didnt get any signal
down there,/ she explained.

/...What were you doing in the shelter?/

/Apparently theres this guy who calls himself Great King Of The Earth whos been going around
killing off Conductors and Composers one by one, and he was spotted near the Reaper
headquarters./

/Great King Of The...? Oh, Chikyu-No-Daio./

/So is that what he calls himself in every language?/

/Yep. There are notes left by him announcing his killings in Chicago, Berlin, Taipei, Osaka, Vitoria-
Gasteiz

Kotones eyes widened in surprise. /Hold on, you/

Herr Aunskunft continued on. /Buenos Aires, Valencia, Rio De Janeiro, Leeds, Cardiff/

/You you know more about this than the Conductor does! How are you getting this
information?/

/I am information,/ he replied firmly.

/But still! I asked the Conductor about him! And Mr. Kajiya said Some people say Chikyu-No-
Daios been Erasing Composers and Conductors outside of Tokyo for quite some time. He doesnt
know that anythings going on outside of Tokyo at all!/

/Well, the Conductor tends to not know as much as the Composer, anyways./


/Herr Aunskunft/

Someone tapped Kotone on the shoulder.

/Excuse me for a moment,/ she said.

She turned around to find the Reaper from the day before.

He handed her a messenger bag.

I may have accidentally-on-purpose learned that your file says that youre good with languages,
he said. In here is a copy of that mysterious book and a tablet computer. Installed on the tablet
are Japanese-English, Japanese-German, Japanese-Spanish, and Japanese-Italian dictionaries.

Y-youre just giving away a tablet computer? she asked.

I got it as a present, but I already had one just like it. So, that ones for the little cunning linguist.

Thank you, sir!

Welcome. Now, whats your phone number? This is all pretty exciting, so I want to stay in touch.

She gave it to him.

He pulled out his phone and typed something. Kotones phone rang.

Let me know what you come up
with, OK? I *REALLY* want to see
how this pans out!

Kotone nodded. You can count on me, sir!

The Reaper chuckled. Sir? Thats much too formal. The names Koki Kariya, but you can call me
Koki.

Alright... Koki. Kotone felt a little bit uncomfortable using the first name of an adult she had just
met, but he had asked for it, so Kotone felt obliged to comply.

Koki smiled. Thats the spirit! Now, I hate to leave, but Ive got some important business to attend
to. You wont have very long until they realize that the book is gone, so be quick!

I will! Kotone said.

Good. Oh, and one more thing! Word on the street is that theres no mission today. See ya round.


Koki walked off.

Once Koki was out of earshot, Yori decided to speak up.

Im I the only one whos getting the feeling that weve been inadvertently made part of a spy
ring? he said.

Come on, Yori! Kotone said. Koki seems like a... yeah, youre right. This is totally suspicious.

Youre still gonna translate it anyways, arent you?

Kotone smiled smugly.

Heck yeah.

///////

Eri walked up to Ramen Don wearing blue high heels, a pleated navy blue skirt, and a button-up
sky blue shirt. Her hair was in a braid, held back by a blue ponytail holder. This was apparently
what her mother had worn to a birthday party that started at this very restaurant the same
party where she had met Mr. Watanabe so it was very important that her daughter wear this on
her first date.

Waiting by the entrance was Daniel Funayama in a suit and a red tie.

Hello, Madam Watanabe.

Without realizing it, Eri chuckled.

Daniel blushed, his face now nearly matching his tie.

Wh-What did I do? he asked, nervous and embarrassed.

Nothing! Eri said, frantically trying to make up for her reaction. Its just that, when my parents
met, they were both wearing blue! Now here we are, both wearing colors that are the opposite of
each other!

Daniel calmed down considerably.

Oh. Oh, it was only that, he said. I thought that I had done something foolish.

He cleared his throat and assumed a more serious pose.

The color opposite blue is orange, Madam Watanabe.


Ive never in my life seen an orange necktie, Eri said. Plus, most people treat red and blue as
opposites more than blue and orange.

A shame, really. The artistic contrast between orange and blue is something to be admired. A
warm, orange fire burning, providing solace form the cold, blue night...

He held his hand out to Eri.

But doesnt most of the talking happen inside the restaurant?

Eri smiled and took his hand, at which point Daniel lead her in.

Irasshai! Ken Doi, the owner, called out. Now, whatll it be for the young couple?

Hello, Mister Doi, Daniel said. For me, a bowl of miso ramen.

Ill have some shoyu ramen, please, Eri said.

Comin right up! Ken Doi said.

The two of them walked over to a table and sat down.

So, Eri said, hows Conducting?

Conductings good, Daniel replied. The events of the last three weeks in Shibuya have disturbed
the normal order of things a fair bit, but thats nothing that we cant deal with.

How so?

More rules and restrictions on what we can and cannot do, many of which are opposed with
what we are accustomed to. Oh, um many of which fly in the face of what were used to.

Eri smiled. Someone who inadvertadly used formal speech during a date and waxed poetic about
color theory wasnt exactly what she was expecting out of a date, much less someone who was
second in command of his local chapter of a game where everyone who died competed to decide
their eternal fate. This was reminding Eri all too much of those supernatural romance books that
all her friends were going crazy over. Eri wasnt all that in to those books she didnt really like
any of the characters in the series that started the trend, and everything else after that just
seemed like a rushed attempt to cash in on a trend. In cases like that, Eri was glad to have a best
friend who was a bit of a comic book and manga nerd who didnt really care much what Lee and
Alex were getting up to, so long as The Blue Phoenix saved his sister from her unknown captor.

But we digress heavily.


Daniel decided it was his turn to ask a question. So, Madam Watanabe, how did you hear about
the Game?

Daniel, were on a date. Call me Eri, she said. Or at least Miss Watanabe.

Anyways, she continued, on our last day of summer vacation, Shiki and I usually have a girls
night out we go out clothes shopping at 104, Shikis mom makes our favorite dumplings, and we
rent out a karaoke room. On our way to Shikis house from 104 on Sunday, Shiki said she had
something important to tell me, and I said I would listen. Then she told me everything about the
Reapers Game, about Neku, about what happened in the Shibuya River... and she did all this not
knowing if I would believe her.

Daniel smiled. Its nice to have close friends like that.

Yeha, it is, Eri said. Shiki and I are really close. The two of us met when I was 7, and weve been
best friends ever since.

When I was a child, Daniel said, there were several boys that I was especially close with
Maruo Michi and Mikio, Teodoro Crespo, and my cousin, Matthew Philips. I lived on a Portuguese
mission in Japan as a child, and after church every Sunday, the five of us would sneak away into
the forest and pretend to be samurai of different clans engaged in a vicious battle.

We had an ongoing storyline my character, Funayama Daiki, was the master of an apprentice
called Kurisu Tetsuya, who was Teodoros character. The Maruo twins were the two heirs to out
rival clan, led by Matthew as Maruo Matsuo. It was all very intense.

When we were little, Eri said, Shiki and I would always pretend to be superheroes, facing off
against a supervillain that we convinced my older brother to play. We promised each other that,
when we grew up, we would try to turn our adventures into a comic book.

Sounds exciting, Daniel said.

Yeah. One of my favorite adventures was when Froggirl thats Shiki discovered that her
parents were both aliens, and they had been kidnapped by an evil scientist who wanted to use
their DNA to make a race of supersoldiers, so then we had to break into the scientists evil lair to
get them back, but while we were there, we found out

Daniels phone rang.

Pardon, he said.

He walked over to the corner of the room to take his phone call.

Funayama Daniel, he said.


Pause.

Good, good. What progress has she made?

Pause.

Well, please inquire about that.

Pause.

Well, if you do not want to seem bothersome, disguise it as something else that still gives you the
opportunity to talk with her.

Pause.

We have two weeks. Do not fail me.

/////////

What do we got so far? Yori asked his sister.

Kotone read aloud what she had so far, which was all typed out on the tablet.

What follows this introduction is a guidebook for the usage of the Status Quo Enabler.
The Status Quo Enabler was invented in 1957 by Nickolaus Girolamo Lagomarsno.
Lagomarsno was the Producer of Zrich, Switzerland from 1942 to 1964, and was re-instated in
1985.

Sounds pretty boring so far, Yori said. Cept for the part about this Producer position that
weve never heard of.

I feel like Im going to get to something good after the introduction, Kotone said.

Are you going to tell Koki what weve got so far?

Kotone shrugged. Hes a pretty suspicious character, sure. But I also feel like, if we dont follow
through, hell Erase us. So, Im not sure.

You know, you could just save yourself the effort and ask Herr Aunskunft. This sort of weird crap
is right up his alley.

Kotone picked up her phone.

/I found a weird machine in the bunker. A Reaper helped me break through the security protocols,
and we found the manual to it. Its written in some sort of auxlang based on both the Germanic

and Italic language families, and the machine is apparently called the Status-Quo Enabler. You
know anything about this?/

/Ive heard of it in passing, but I cant find any documentation on it thats not too heavily
encrypted for me to read it./

/Wait. Hold on. Mister Intelligence himself cant find anything on it, but we were just able to walk
in, grab the manual, and walk out? I mean, granted, the Reaper stole one of those keypin things
for us, but still.../

/Are you insulting me?!/

/No, Im just saying, we were able to get this manual a little too easily. And its way too easy to
translate the auxlang its written in. I mean, I didnt start translating very long ago, and Ive already
gotten a lot done. And about half of the language is based on a language family that I cant speak
anything from./

/What do you have translated so far?/

/What follows this introduction is a guidebook for the usage of the Status Quo Enabler.
The Status Quo Enabler was invented in 1957 by Nickolaus Girolamo Lagomarsno.
Lagomarsno was the Producer of Zrich, Switzerland from 1942 to 1964, and was re-instated in
1985./

/Now that I have an inventors name, Im going to do some more research based on that./

Kotone heard keystrokes.

Nothing yet, she said to Yori.

She went back to translating.

%%On the 8th of August, 1956, Lagomarsno started researching a means by which to
create the illusion of normalcy after the success of a Class Tau.

The 8 of... August, 1956, Lagomarsno... started... to research a manner... for to create the illusion
of normalcy after the success of a Class Tau.

Tau, tau, tau... thats the 19th letter of the Greek alphabet, isnt it? But whats a Class Tau?

Wait a minute. Are Players Class Taus? Is this the doo-hickey that makes sure no-one knows we
were dead? Seems harmless. Why are they hiding this things very existence, then? I mean, just
because I know that nukes exists, Im not gonna get my hands on one. Why do they want
everybody to think that the Composer just uses his magical powers for all that?


Wait. No. Hold on. What if this is for when people outside of the Composers jurisdiction learn that
the Player died? Do they activate this in those cases? Is this some kind of thing that scans the world
for people with a certain memory, then changes that memory?

Holy cow. Holy cow, this thing can read the minds of everyone on Earth. This thing can re-write the
memories of the entire world!

Yori! Yori, its a brainwashing machine!

Its a what?

Its supposed to only be used to make people think that the winning Players never died, but this
things potential applications are far more dangerous than that!

Wait, WHAT?

Kotone read form what she had just typed into the tablet. On the 8th of August, 1956,
Lagomarsno started researching a means by which to create the illusion of normalcy after the
success of a Class Tau.

So, you think were Class Taus? Yori asked.

Kotone nodded.

/OK/, Herr Aunskunft said, /Ive done some research on Lagomarsno and it seems that he was
the inventor responsible for about half of the Angel technology in use today. Nothing about a
Status Quo Enabler, though./

/On the 8th of August, 1956, Lagomarsno started researching a means by which to create the
illusion of normalcy after the success of a Class Tau./

/...Run that by me again?/

/On the 8th of August, 1956, Lagomarsno started researching a means by which to create the
illusion of normalcy after the success of a Class Tau./

/...The illusion of normalcy after success of a Class Tau?/

/Yes/, Kotone said. /...Class Taus are Players, right?/

/Hard to say/, Herr Aunskunft said. /The Greek alphabet is the Angels catch-all classification
system./

/I thought Angels would use Hebrew./


/Greek letters sound... cooler?

/Anyways, when it comes to ranking entities/, Herr Aunskunft continued. /Players are indeed
Tau. That puts you above RG, Inhabitant, Human As Noise, Noise, Soul Virus, and Raw Soul./

/...Human As Noise?/ Kotone asked.

/When a Human is Erased, it can be reformed into Noise, during which it will still possess it
intelligence, memory, and emotions./

/Well, what other things can Tau refer to?/

/Imagination levels, technology levels of devices and civilizations, chronological age of an
individual, the Greek alphabet is used for disasters but that scale doesnt go up to Tau but theres
also era in time, physical strength, health level, intelligence level, strength of a code but that also
doesnt go up to Tau, military capabilities, level of freedom... I think Players are the only thing this
could be referring to. Or at least the one that makes the most sense. You should probably just
translate it to Player, to be honest./

/I am a translator, not an editor/, Kotone replied firmly. /If they wanted to say Player, they
would have said Player. Ill note it in a footnote, though./

/Suit yourself./

Kotone continued translating.

///////

Not much later, Kotone stared at the book in horror.

Yori! Yori, you need to take a look at this!

///////

What follows this introduction is a guidebook for the usage of the Status Quo Enabler.

The Status Quo Enabler was invented in 1957 by Nickolaus Girolamo Lagomarsno.
Lagomarsno was the Producer of Zrich, Switzerland from 1942 to 1964, and was re-
instated in 1985.

On the 8th of August, 1956, Lagomarsno started researching a means by which to create
the illusion of normalcy after the success of a Class Tau. The solution to returning the
world to its prior state had eluded Reapers and Angels alike since the first Game, and the
world had suffered because of it.

We offer our eternal gratitude to Lagomarsno for his invention of the Status Quo Enabler,
without which we would still be resorting to outright barbarian tactics.

However, there is still a price to pay for order and normalcy.

To anyone who is reading this book and has not heard of the methods we now use, we
offer our upmost apologies.

We regret what we do.

We regret it deeply.

///////

DAY 6: Scaring a Certain Player

COMPLETE