What A WONDERFUL World

[King Naruto]

The Dead Gods Pad's door opened slowly as the leader of the Reapers made his way inside. Not many people would accept that the Conductor was the last person to arrive within the hideout but, none of the Reapers could say anything about it....You know rank and all. Kazuki's eyes scanned the area, watching the reapers lounge around and enjoy the fine living conditions such as the bar, fooseball table, couchs, jukebox, and tv. He loved being here, even if half the time he had to deal with game. Making his way to the jukebox, Kazuki pulled out of his phone with a cord hanging from it. Attaching the cord to the jukebox, Kazu pressed one of the number buttons which caused a sound to blare out in an attempt garner everyone's attention.

Kazu began typing as DMC's Vergil's voice rang out of the jukebox. "I see everyone is here.....I think. I believe it's time to get down to business. We need to discuss the death of one of the reapers named Yuzuki. Unfortunately for us, Yuzuki was killed by a noise. A terrible thing to happen but, the most important part is that it's a noise that killed Yuzuki. I have no idea who the noise is nor why Yuzuki was murdered. I can honestly say that I have no big info on the situation at hand except for the noise being the killer."

Kazuki grabbed a drink from the bar, taking a swig as Vivace sent him a mental message. A mental note was created and he looked around at his reapers. He didn't know how they would take the news but, it was all he had on the situation currently. For now they would have to be much more cautious in the goings about of the game or else they could end up like Yuzuki. Then again Kazu wasn't worried as he could probably beat up anything that came his way.

 

[MegaWallflower]

Cadence stared quizzically at Sync. "Sync," she greeted, still attempting to comfort Minnie. Was he good with kids or just trying to shut Minnie up? Either way, it was a crapshot whether or not this kid would listen. But what did she know? She was always bad with kids. If he thought he could do better- pretending the situation was real, and even then Cadence would react about as well as she was now- then he was welcome to be her guest. His hair was certainly interesting. Was Codominace for hair possible in humans? Especially considering that blond hair was recessive to black. It should be completely overshadowed, right? She made a mental note to look up a book on Codominance in traits for humans later.

Minnie clung more tightly to her friend as she heard another Reaper apparently trying to comfort her. Why he suddenly decided to mention that the guy's hair that NO ONE EVEN MENTIONED OR CARED ABOUT was natural was beyond her, seeing how no one even mentioned it. His so-called attempts to make her feel better and disregard what that idiot said was probably an attempt to make her quiet, really. He was probably even with the Blaster guy. Cute, really cute.

Still, she sniffled once more and pulled herself away from Cadence to flash a bright smile at the man. "Thank you," she said, doing a little curtsie. "Cadence told me to be mature, so I will." She still looked clearly upset as she continued to wipe away falling tears, even with the smile on her face.

Cadence was snapped out of her deliberation about human hair traits when she heard her name. She had said that in passing, but she hadn't expected the girl to even have been listening. She probably wasn't really, but at least she heard the words. Cadence stopped paying any attention to the smaller girl when Kazuki walked in. "That's the Conductor, don't draw attention to yourself," she said, patting Minnie's head. Minnie nodded, still sniffling as she stared at the man.

So do I have to impress him or beat him? Minnie idly wondered, not paying attention to what he's saying.

Cadence raised an eyebrow and considered the news. Noise were attacking Reapers? Well, at the very least they killed that one. Was there a precedent to this? "Minnie, stay on your guard out there," Cadence ordered, hitting Minnie to make sure she had her attention. The girl responded with a dejected nod. "Oh, right, you, too, Sync," she added idly. She hoped to dig up more information on these traitorous soon, but she probably wouldn't find a book on it in her library. Quite troubling, really...

 

[OmniChaos]

Gendou dropped to his knees and brought his hands up to the side of his head, clutching it tightly. Sweat ran down along side his face, gathering at his chin and dropping onto the ground. His bulging eyes shifted from orange to red, from red to blue, from blue back to orange and so on, shifting from color to color in a rapid blur that lost all color.

The Reaper's mind was in a fit, his personalities shifting from one to another without control. All of his personalities--even his chaotic one--were suffering from the rapid blur of control and the body which held them being feeling ill. If it didn't stop soon, Gendou--all of him--knew he'd be sick.

As the sound--that horrible screeching; it pierced his body, his very being--stopped, Gendou's rushing blur of personalities began to slow, eventually stopping altogether. But the effects continued and Gendou found himself dazed, unable to even rise to his feet. And just as he had thought, Gendou's stomach lurched upward and poured out from his mouth.

"What the f--" he bearly managed, staggering to his feet with the help of a nearby bicycle rack. He stumbled forward slightly as he let go of the rack and lifted his gloved hand to his mouth, using it to wipe away a bit of breakfast from his lips. It tasted better going down...

Knowing he was in no shape to continue on with the day, Gendou disappeared in the blink of an eye.

---​

When the Reaper arrived at the Dead God's Pad, he stumbled through the doors and nearly brought the table down with him. He managed himself back to his feet--with help from the table--and staggered himself back into a corner, which supported the Reaper as he stood. Gendou lifted a hand to his head, slightly covering his right eye, and slowly began recollecting himself.

Finally, the Reaper lifted his head to see the Conductor and Harriers occupying the pad. That's right. The meeting... The thought brought an exasperated chuckle from his lips.

"Hey Kazy," the Game Master called out, limply waving a hand toward the Conductor. Truthfully, Gendou feared the Conductor as much as he feared the pawns that scurried through the game to cling to some fleeting hope of revival. The man held no real power over Gendou--according to him, though he imagined many others would agree--and was only still around because Gendou allowed it. He could easily be the Conductor himself, but the Reaper had no interest in the position. Why garner a closer eye from the Composer and Producer? "Think you can hand a guy a drink?

"Oh, and I think I might have found the noise that erased Yuzuki."

 

[Ðari]

Jam stared at the phone.

'I don't think she can talk yo...is that, what those winged douches took from her?'

"ight Anise. We should just exchange numbers so you can text me while we're..."

Something felt chilly and unsettling. She put her fingers up for one, zero, four. 104. The building across from the scramble is the first thing that came to mind. As Jam could hear something, what he could only discern as static. He turned around, able to see the screen from the statue of Hachiko he pointed to the building, there?

White Noise.

The static was evident, and the echo from the very screen is what offset any normal person that was alarmed by technology malfunctioning. The sigil that manifested in its center was the oddest thing. As Jam pointed, he was sure Anise noticed the very same thing, and suddenly their individual lights dissipated and soaked into a loud CRACKING noise, splintering like glass breaking.

"What...?" Jam said shocked. "The pact...da fuq did I just see??"

He looked puzzled, though suddenly the noise began to spawn as if hunting them insensitively and without reprieve.

"Guessing the safeguard is down. Lets try this shit again!"

There was a glint in his eyes as he took a step in front of Anise, and re-established the pact. The very same glimmer of the blue light emerged again, to ensure they were protected from senseless attacks from the noise sigils.

"OK. Now that we've taken care of that little problem. Lets double time to Ten-Four yo!"

Jam made the motions, breaking into a sprint shuffling for the scramble from where they stood. He knew shibuya just as well as he did the streets of Asbury Park, New Jersey.

Scramble Crossing.

Passing through it was enough, just more and more people that apparently couldn't see them. There wasn't really anything here for them. Noticing another one of the common things, the guy in red that stood beside the entrance to ten-four. Jam had seen him before, but it was more towards the entrance to A-East? Same...guy? Eh, now wasn't the time for questions, and it felt as though the timers evaporated before they made the cross over.

104 Building.

"Looks like we're a little late to the party." this happened to be the first thing out of Jam's mouth as he watched two players engage noise on the street. Quickly disappearing to another plane, it seemed. The Noise sigils remained, he never understood how that worked exactly only having done it once himself.

Pulling out his phone, he went through the last text message.

"Oh yeah thats right. Anise, lets exchange phone numbers."

This wasn't usually his style in getting a female's number, but for the sake of communication it only seemed ideal, you know?

 

[qster]

"I call the chimera right over there. You got some distance attacks, so how about you take care of that griffin? I'll keep that chimera from coming after you and I'll help you out when I'm done. Just be careful. I don't want to die if you get careless and die on me." Roucher replied, turning to face the large goat-lion hybrid.

Roucher wasn't afraid of the now roaring lion's head, with its' thick, sunburst pattern mane blowing in the breeze. Nor was he afraid of the black goat's head sticking out of the vertebral column of the beast, looking straight from a gothic metal album cover, gazing at Roucher with glowing red eyes. The red legs of the beast with sharp claws didn't scare him either, along with the green serpent that served as a tail. Since he was already dead, showing fear was something that would only cause their downfall.

Roucher roared back, holding the blade formed by the Masamune pin with both arms behind him, rushing towards the beast as it ran forward. Once the chimera raised its' red paw into the air, Roucher rolled towards it, causing it to miss as the clawed being swiped past his head. He countered by slashing at the left hind leg, causing the serpent to attempt to bite him, forcing him to jump backwards in order to dodge. If he wanted to make any progress, the serpent would be the first thing that needed to go.

He searched through his pockets, looking through the pins with a look of some military strategist, wondering what each of them did. The one with a black background with four white spheres struck his fancy, causing him to grip it as he ran towards the chimera once more, this time towards the serpent tail. With an additional grip of the pin, Roucher spun around as his blade of energy was swung in a spinning slash. The serpent reeled back in pain, then quickly took a bite into his shoulder, causing Roucher to instinctively swipe once more, slashing off the head of the serpent.

"One part down, two to go. How you doing over there, Sana?" Roucher yelled to Sana, unable to look over his shoulder to see her progress.

 

[Piercing Light]

Just when he thought this whole game was clear to him, it scrambled as if someone had dumped water on the cable box. There was an ear splitting screech, one he couldn't quite place as real or fantastical.. It forced him to acknowledge it, driving him to his knees as he futility attempted to drown it out with the palm of his hands. Allegra's hand slipped from his shoulder, and from what he could see she was was being affected by something as well. He could no longer feel the connection between the two of them, and as he feared this meant that the noise would be after them again. Over the piercing drone he could scarcely hear his partner calling out to him. The noise was closing in, she tried to use her pins but as he figured they gave no result.

The screeching stopped though the ringing in his head did not. He knew what he had to do, he just wasn't used to pushing himself like this... "I'm here Allegra!, we have to form the pact again!" He stomped his feet on the ground, leaping to his feet. He placed his hand on her shoulder, and in an instant he got a dose of deja vu as he was connected once again to his partner. Everything became clear once again, and to his surprise he saw a group of noise surrounding them. "Just where in the Dogenzaka did they come from?... Allegra, be careful." He spoke in his usually calm voice, though that was just a habit, he was seriously worried right now.

 

[Cassette-Disk]

With sounds of her partner engaging the other beast behind her as reassurance, Sana began to face off against her own demon. It quickly recovered from it's previous bullet damage and once again readied itself for another pounce, Sana was more than ready this time. Raising her now sharpened Flying V axe over head she timed her swing as the winged lion charged her, striking it on what she believed was the forehead. She assumed this would be enough to take it out, but the beast had more fight in it than she had though.

The chimera began to take another tactic, realizing that its head-on approach would be ineffective. Standing on its hind legs, it let out a low roar as the wings stationed on its back began to flap. Placing her arms in front of her to shield herself from the sudden winds, the beast started slowly leaving the earth. Then with a strong burst, it flew much higher than she expected, easily clearing most of the buildings around, including the 104. Just as quickly as it left, it returned, dive bombing itself straight at the young rocker. Sher herself dove out of the way, though just barely. As soon as she stood she found herself having to dive back down to avoid the surprisingly agile monster. During the third dive, she pulled out a new pin and slapped it on her guitar, activating a new power she subconsciously realized she had.

As soon as she stood her ground again, the strings from the neck of her guitar shot out, binding the beast by the torso and keeping it in place. She noted what looked like spikes on the newly created tethers, which she guessed slowly sapped away the noise's life from it. That's not needed. Sana thought to herself with a smile. Aiming her free palm at the chimera she once again activated her Skull Rabbit pin and fired off a few rounds at the wings. A few lucky shots hit their mark before the pin overloaded, but it was enough. The large Noise was now pitifully flapping its useless wings as it quickly began falling from the sky. A large amount of what looked like static appeared where the Noise landed, and her tether went slack before quickly returning to the neck of her Flying V. She grinned, feeling rather proud of herself.
"I'm doing pretty damn good." She finally said, answering Akiba's long asked question. She then turned to his location, still beaming. "And you?"

 

[Key Wielder]

"I'm here Allegra!, we have to form the pact again!"

Oh, thank goodness! Allegra thought, relief flooding her mind as she heard Adagio moving back toward her over all the noise--er, Noise. A hand touched her shoulder and she suddenly felt the same sensation she'd had before as their pact was remade. It was finally starting to make sense in a strange, nonsensical sort of way. The others were dead. And so am I. They would perform these inane tasks while getting attacked by Noise until someone announced a winner. Which is probably the last person standing. ...Even though we're already dead... I'll work on that later. But they didn't have to work alone--they were allowed one, and only one, partner. Well, I think we stand a pretty good chance.

Using his arm as a rallying point, Allegra shifted until she stood right next to him. Now that they were partners again, she could sense where he was, but she wasn't about to take any chances as they were surrounded once again by Noise.

"Just where in the Dogenzaka did they come from?... Allegra, be careful," Adagio's voice sounded beside her, calm in spite of the situation. Allegra was beginning to wonder if he really felt it or if it was simply a force of habit.

Either way, she didn't need telling twice. Swiping a hand in front of her, she was pleased to feel a pin vibrate slightly in her hand and apologized silently to whoever's vehicle she was probably about to destroy. Allegra reached out with her senses. There was still color all around them, but many seemed to have been knocked aside momentarily from her attack. They weren't gone, however, and they certainly weren't down for long; they must have been more formidable Noise than the frogs, which were more a nuisance than a threat.

"How far are we from 104?" she asked Adagio as she brought an icicle up right in the middle of a group of colorful Noise. "Maybe this will stop if we get there."

 

[Orion]

Requiem sat outside the River Styx, one leg crossed over the other and the tip of his katana's sheath occasionally tapping the ground from his subtle movements. The cafe, which kept the most unusual and inconsistent hours, was closed, indicating Gendou's absence.

For a while, Gendou simply enjoyed facing onto the street and watching passers-by. When bored, he made a game of snap-judgements of them, guessing how well they would do if they found themselves in the Reapers' Game, or even if going through the Reapers' Game would be good for some of them. Many of them could, at the very least, do with a good reassessment of their lives, but Requiem wasn't a self-help therapist, and rarely dealt with goings-on in the Realground.

Growing bored, he pulled out his 'phone'. At least, that was the quickest way of referring to it. It resembled a piece of card, pitch black on one side, mirrored gunmetal grey on the other. Its 'earpiece' was a pin with the graphic of a speaker that pierced the left side of his collar, it's microphone a such-labelled pin on the right collar. A tap on the mirrored surface of the card and it went foggy, and image appeared hovering above the surface. As he navigated through the menus, windows slid off the side and faded out as they did so, until he reached his contacts, and scrolled down to Gendou.

Laying the 'phone' down on the table, from outside he grew silent even as he spoke. A bubble of captured sound surrounded his head, and in complete privacy he enunciated - "Gendou, Requiem here. You were bold enough to find me out for what I am, and that took balls, craziness, or both. I've got some plans and I know you're pretty much the only other person who's enough of those things to hear it out and maybe take part. It involves some of the higher-ups. I'm outside Styx, get here soon."

 

[Eternal Dream]

~- Shove it Into Overdrive -~

Siam. Kind of a strange name, he had to admit, but Rhys had heard even stranger ones. So after the exchange of numbers so they could communicate (course he'd pick someone who'd lost their voice as their entry fee, huh?) the new partners made a beeline for 104.

But just as they were passing by Cadoi City, Rhys stumbled, feeling like he'd been punched in the gut; at the same time, the connection he'd felt form between himself and Siam just dropped off his radar. He couldn't feel her anymore.

And the Noise were coming straight for them again.

Before Rhys could twist around and reach for her, Siam lunged for him, grasping his arm tightly. That surge of power flooded his nerves again as that sense of her hit his mind. He wasn't sure what the hell had happened, but he wasn't about to try and unravel it at the moment either; there'd be time enough once they cleared the mission.

He had a feeling they were doing a sucky job at that, though.

Okay, so, pact back in place and Noise leaving them alone again, Rhys pushed the strangeness of the haywire pact to the back of his mind, caught Siam's hand in his, and wound through the crowd in front of the Shibu Department store. After that brief spat with the link, he wasn't about to let her go to get lost in the crowd.

Finally reaching the Scramble and having a little more room to move, Rhys dropped Siam's arm, not quite as worried about her getting caught up in the flow of people. But just as her hand slipped through his fingers, Rhys came to a dead stop, his eyes widening in horror. No way, this could not be happening; she couldn't be here too...

"Cheza!"

~- Ready to Win -~

"I'm sure it's kind of obvious, but I haven't been able to see anything since I got here. I don't really know why; I've never had this problem before... It's not even partial. I can sort of see those frog things in my head... I can't really describe it, but they're just different colors."

Adrian blinked, kind of surprised. So what, she was blind? He was about to open his mouth and stick his foot in it when he heard Cheza whisper softly, "The Sight? Or maybe not; it doesn't really sound like it..."

"I'm being rude aren't I? My mother always told me to properly introduce myself when I met a beautiful lady. My name is Adagio, and I believe it would be in our best interests to work together as well."

Cheza scoffed at Adagio flirting, and Adrian sensed a definite irritation in the noise. But before she seemed to think better of the remark she was about to make, and instead, she watched Adagio and Allegra walk away, a troubled frown on her features.

Okay, Adrian was a flirt himself, but this wasn't the time for that. Reaching for Cheza's hand, he was a little surprised when she pulled away, never allowing his fingers to brush her own. Remembering her reaction when they first forged the pact, he said, "Hey, you okay? It wasn't something that was said, was it?"

Seeming to understand his true meaning, she shook her head quickly, stray strands of hair falling into her face with the motion. "No. It's just... bad things usually happen when I touch people; to keep others from getting hurt, I try to avoid contact. It's nothing you did."

He didn't get it exactly, but he did feel sympathy for her. Sticking his hands in his pocket as they trailed after Adagio and Allegra, Adrian comment, "Gotta suck though, huh? No direct contact..."

Cheza stumbled at the same time that Adrian got the feeling of being wiped off the board by a mega wave. Rubbing at his pounding temple to ease the ache, Adrian reached down to help Cheza back to her feet. "The hell was that? Felt like my head was gonna crack open all over again..."

His words quickly changed gears when he felt the bond settle over them a second time. "The hell?! I thought we'd already made a pact; why would it happen again...?"

"How far are we from 104? Maybe this will stop if we get there."

"Noise, Noise, Noise. These buggers never give up, huh? Wanna lend a hand Cheza?" Adrian rolled his head slightly so he could see that scalding look he got from his Partner. Laughing, he reached for the pin he'd used earlier. "I take it that's a yes. Hey, head's up Adagio!"

Throwing his hand out, Adrian unleashed a stream of lightning at the Noise surrounding the other two Players and Cheza fired a round of bullets at them. Once the animal-freak things had been cleared, they were about to go join Allegra and Adagio again when Adrian heard someone call out, "Cheza!"

The girl whipped around, and shock widened her blue-green eyes. "Rhys..."

~- Hate Everything About You -~

"I thought we were on the same side... You don't have to be so mean..."

Blaster rolled his eyes, totally unaffected as the girl cried into her partner's shoulder. He knew Minnie was faking; he'd pull the same stunt when he was about five or six, when the routine had still worked for him. Shrugging, he looked away from the twit as he added, "Just saying, kiddo. But then again, I guess I can see your point. You should probably start off with an easy target of an unpartnered Player; you probably can't handle the challenge of one that has a Pact in place."

Again, he was being an ass, and he couldn't give a shit about it. Minnie played his opposite in the bitch department too well for him to feel any remorse about digging at her.

"Minnie, calm down, Blaster's known for a bad mouth and an equally bad attitude, so don't take it to heart. And by the way, those blond streaks? They're not dyed, they're all natural; that's something that keeps getting brought up again and again, and is yet another way to get him grouchy...er. So just steer clear of Mr. Bad Attitude here."

His eyes rolled again as Blaster commented, "What the hell ever, Sync. And for the record, I don't think pipsqueak or her partner give a shit about my hair." He ignored Sync's next comment entirely as he tapped a cigarette out of the pack; with the way things were going with Minnie, he was gonna need the damn thing to get through the meeting after all.

What had he said about the meeting from hell again?

Blaster had just lit the end of the cigarette when the Conductor showed up. Dropping his feet to the floor, the Harrier's bearing changed as he locked some of the attitude up.

"I see everyone is here.....I think. I believe it's time to get down to business. We need to discuss the death of one of the reapers named Yuzuki. Unfortunately for us, Yuzuki was killed by a noise. A terrible thing to happen but, the most important part is that it's a noise that killed Yuzuki. I have no idea who the noise is nor why Yuzuki was murdered. I can honestly say that I have no big info on the situation at hand except for the noise being the killer."

"Yeah, well, the Noise have been getting much more volatile recently," Blaster interjected, rolling his shoulders as his own attack came to mind. "But last I heard, I think I'm the only one who's run into a Taboo in the last twelve months. So, if it's not one of those, then what the hell is it? Do we have that much of a lead at least?"

That was when this week's Game Master, Gendou, staggered into the room. Blaster's eyebrows rose; the head case looked like he'd been to hell and back. Stumbling into one of the room's corners, the guy asked for a drink and then commented in an offhand manner, "Oh, and I think I might have found the noise that erased Yuzuki."

Okay, maybe Blaster had been wrong. This just might be the most interesting meeting yet.

 

[qster]

Roucher heard Sana's response to his question, doing quite well against the beast she was tasked to defeat, while he was still attempting to get rid of the rest of the chimera. He gave her a slight thumbs up using the arm that was bitten by the serpent tail, leaving him cringing as he felt a sharp pain emit from his shoulder, much like when a person gets shot in the chest. He looked back up to the chimera, only to see its' hind legs kick backwards like a donkey, making him go airborne and skid across the pavement until he was only a short distance from Sana. He looked over at her with a pained look on his face, but he tried to keep smiling for her, so she wouldn't worry about him.

"I'll be okay, no need to worry about me. Just let me have the pleasure of beating this ugly mofo to a bloody pulp." Roucher cringed, raising himself off of the ground.

With his now wounded arm, Roucher would be forced to be extra careful, so he would have to quickly experiment with each of his pins and pray that they would be as useful as he hoped they would be. One of the pins he plucked from his pocket with a puzzled look on his face was patterned with an upside down one with a black background and an outline of blue and orange around the white numerical symbol. He clutched the pin in his fist and quickly found himself above the chimera's goat head, his blade instinctively downward as gravity came to his aid. The blade crafted of lightning split through the skull of the black ram, leaving the head slumped to the side. Pulling the blade from the now-dead goat's head, he made a hasty retreat, not wanting to feel another attack from the ferocious lion portion.

The enraged feline let out a threatening, primal roar that split the air, causing sharp wind to rip at Roucher's body, knocking him back onto the ground. Seeing as the beast had the advantage, Roucher quickly jumped off of the hardened tar, looking at the final pin that he had yet to mess with. It was known as Unjo to those who actually knew the name, but the pin itself had an orange "n" shape which was adjacent to a blue "u" shaped symbol that also was an "n" shape, which was then above a silver "u" shaped pattern. The lion jumped into the air, intending to land on top of him and pin him to the ground like a fat wrestler on television. The pin, however, had a change of plans, dragging Roucher like a child with a large dog, and leaving him unleashing a flurry of jabs into the belly of the beast.

With one final roar, the chimera collapsed, changing into a large clump of static and then disappearing to wherever the creatures went to when they died. Heaven? Purgatory? The real world? There was no way to tell, but Roucher was too dumbfounded to lurk on that question. With a series of "whoops" and jumping up and down, he danced around the place where the creature once was, celebrating his victory.

"Let's just hope the rest of these missions are this easy. C'mon! Let's celebrate while we can!" Roucher grinned, running over to Sana and giving her a hug while lifting her off of the pavement.

 

[Eva]

It's about time.

While being the same thought word for word, the meaning was different; Vivace say atop the 104 Building, humming to herself as she clicked away on her phone. The Players had enough, and she was sure the Reapers were already in their meeting. Despite the obvious sigil, nothing had changed about the 104 Building, and no other disruptions came to.

Still, it was odd, to say the least; exactly what purpose was it to break the Players' Pacts? And if that was the goal, did that mean that the Players were the targets? But for what? As far as she knew, this was a fresh Game; most, if not all Players were relatively new. If anything it would've been the Reapers, but no, it was them.

So rather than investigate the building, should she look at them instead?

Right now, it didn't matter; she was going no where. "I think I'm not gonna get anywhere today. Maybe tomorrow." She yawned as she pressed a few buttons.

Almost like hitting the forward button on a remote control, Vivace watched as people zipped left and right, the sky darken and bright up again, and admired the transition. Despite having done it several times, it never ceased to amaze her. The night lights would brighten just as much as the stars did, and people looked funny as the sped everywhere. Still, once the next day had come, it all resumed as usual.

DAY 2 -- START​

"Tomorrow it is." Vivace giggled to herself, laughing at her own dumb joke as she stepped forward. Her hair and clothes trailed behind her, then shot up as she plunged towards the ground. At the last few feet she descended slowly and touched the ground lightly, flipping her hair as she did so. At any moment now, the Players would awaken, shortly followed by Gendou's assigned Mission. Meaning she really had to beat the clock, too, before that thing popped up again.

Time to investigate. Where should she start? Or rather, with whom?

 

[Story Keeper]

~- It's All Been Done Before -~

Siam let Rhys lead her through the streets; it gave her more time to think about what just happened. Looking up to see they were at the Scramble Crossing, she smiled softly as a boy called, "Noise, Noise, Noise. These buggers never give up, huh? Wanna lend a hand Cheza? I take it that's a yes. Hey, head's up Adagio!"

Apparently Rhys recognized the girl, since he called out to her. Siam saw the shock that widened Cheza's eyes at the sight of Rhys before she returned the greeting. Nodding silently, Siam grabbed Rhys' hand and pulled him over to Cheza and, what Siam could only assume was her partner.

Looking in between them, she listened while the introductions were made; before she glanced over at the other team of players. Without saying anything, Siam bolted over; hearing Rhys's annoyed sigh before he followed her, muttering something about, "I'm so glad that all I've got is younger brothers." Even though she could tell he wasn't actually annoyed; if anything he seemed amuse.

Putting on the brakes, Siam looked at the two before looking back at 104. She threw a look over her shoulder at Cheza, Adrian (was that his name?) and Rhys as they came up. A smile spreading across her face, Siam bolted back over to Rhys and hid behind him; looking out behind him to stare at who she assumed was the boy Adagio.

A sudden thought springing to mind, she grabbed Rhys's sleeve and tugged on it, nodding toward the ten-four building when she got his attention. Her question was clear: Maybe we should talk while we head toward ten-four?

She glanced at the other Players and raised an eyebrow, curious to know what they thought of her question to Rhys. Stepping out from behind Rhys, she nodded at all of them and smiled softly, before she turned back to look at Rhys to wait for his opinion about moving onto ten-four while they talked.

Suddenly growing dizzy, Siam fell forward, the ground rushing up toward her. Closing her eyes, she fully expected to feel her body impact with it....

Day 2....

Bolting upright, she looked around her, eyes wide with panic as she searched for Rhys and tried to identify where she was. She hastily climbed to her feet and bolted toward the exit, whipping around she saw what was obviously bars to keep a crowd back; between that and the concrete stage she realized where she was. A-East, inside the concrete studio.

"You're awake, that's good to know."

Whipping around to face Rhys, Siam tackled her partner before she looked up at him and smiled. Noticing the semi-cold look on his face, she stepped back and looked at him, trying to figure out what's wrong. Apparently Rhys had been watching her, 'cause his face suddenly softened and he ruffled her hair, saying, "Don't worry about it, Tabby; it's nothing you did."

She nodded reluctantly and followed him outside, raising a hand to shield her eyes from the bright light. Suddenly having a sinking feeling, Siam glanced down at her phone and started scrolling through it, curious to know what today's mission was.

~- Never Thought I'd Feel This -~

Sync pointedly ignored Blaster's snappy remarks, refusing to give the older Harrier any more power. He even ignored the cigarette that Blaster lit before the Conductor wandered in; hearing Cadence's comment about being careful, he looked over at her and nodded. "Same to you," he said.

Cracking a can of cola, Sync took a sip as the Conductor got things going with the usual introduction. "I see everyone is here.....I think. I believe it's time to get down to business. We need to discuss the death of one of the reapers named Yuzuki. Unfortunately for us, Yuzuki was killed by a noise. A terrible thing to happen but, the most important part is that it's a noise that killed Yuzuki. I have no idea who the noise is nor why Yuzuki was murdered. I can honestly say that I have no big info on the situation at hand except for the noise being the killer."

Sync paused and looked away from everyone, his mind spinning too quickly for his tastes. Yuzuki? Weren't they the other one on patrol that day? he thought, scrambling to remember which reapers had been patrolling the streets between Games. Him and Yuzuki were two of them, that's for sure.

He heard a faint interjection from Blaster, but didn't pay close enough attention to catch it. Scrambling for anything that could make sense, Sync was drawn out of his thoughts when the week's Game Master staggered into the room; but even than it wasn't enough to keep him from being drawn back in.

"Oh, and I think I might have found the noise that erased Yuzuki."

But that was enough to keep him grounded. Looking at Gendou, he asked, "Why would you say that, Gendou?" Looking back at the Conductor, Sync added, "And just how long have these things been around?"

Scary thing was, he was positive he'd encountered it too. But that was just a suspicion, so he wasn't about to say anything...yet.

 

[Piercing Light]

'Where... Am I?' Adagio found himself trapped in a box, at least it looked like a box. He couldn't call it a room, a room had a way inside of it and a way outside of it. There were four walls, each so smooth and free of blemishes they felt as if they could slip away one's very soul. There was a ceiling that was surreal in nature, he couldn't quite tell just how high up it was. One moment it appeared only a few feet above him, the next it looked as limitless as the universe. And then there was the ground, it was made of what felt like paper to his bare feet. It was as if the floor were naught but a mound of bleached parchment. Bleached... That was the worst thing about this room. It was blank, as white as the corners of his eyes as they shifted about for any semblance of detail, for something of substance. It was driving him mad. Fumbling through his pockets he found one lone item. Feeling it with his fingers he grinned in relief, it was a pencil. He wasted no time in driving it to the canvas on the ground. "...What?" He slid the tip of the pencil across the paper, but there was no visible mark. Bringing the tip of the writing instrument to his face he was frozen in shock. It was white, the lead was white.

DAY 2​

Adagio woke in a cold sweat, jumping to his feet so quick his head spun from vertigo. "The Crossing..." He sighed, thankful that what he just went through was nothing but a dream. This was not a dream however, he was still in the reapers game, his future on the line. "Allegra." He turned to his partner, she couldn't see the down trodden expression he had on his face at the moment, though he could take solace that his voice stayed calm. "The things we lost... We have to get them back."

 

[Key Wielder]

Allegra divided her hair into three parts, braiding it carefully to make sure no ends were sticking out all over the place. Looking in the mirror, she turned her head to the side and nodded in satisfaction before taking in her appearance as a whole. This wasn't supposed to be a huge performance and casual dress was permitted, but she still didn't want to look like someone who didn't care if they got in. The black T-shirt was new and clean, and she carefully examined it for at least the fifth time to make sure there was no lint or hair on it. Her dark jeans almost looked like dress pants, and black sneakers would definitely make her look professional while not overdressed.

Her green eyes finally found her face, watching her reflection bite its lip before remembering that she had actually decided to wear make-up for once. Allegra usually didn't bother with it, but she wanted to look presentable today. This was her dream, and she wasn't about to give it up now. She looked over at her violin case with pride. I can do this.

She checked her music to make sure it was the correct pieces, grabbed her case, and went down the stairs. Dad was already at work, but he had wished her luck before he left. By the time he got home, she was determined to be part of the symphony.

Smiling, she locked the front door behind her, was starting her car, driving down the road. There was a loud bang somewhere, a bright light, then nothing.

~Day 2~

Allegra gasped, jerking upright and straining her eyes to see as her head turned in every direction. When she didn't see anything, the last day came flooding back to her and she suddenly wondered when she had fallen asleep. Was that just a dream? ...Or is this the dream?

"Allegra."

Her partner's voice was in front of her somewhere as she unsteadily rose to her feet. Adagio certainly seemed real enough, and she doubted she would have dreamed him up twice if this really was just her imagination. But the other part had felt so real... Was that how she'd died? Was that how she ended up here? It made sense, but she wasn't ready to face it yet. Death was permanent, which meant she would never see her father again. Think about that later.

"The things we lost... We have to get them back."

Even though she couldn't see his face, Allegra could hear the sadness underneath his usual calm tones. "We're dead, how can we get them back?"

Oh, brilliant. "Sorry, never mind," she backpedaled immediately, shaking her head. "Yeah, we'll figure out a way. But, uh..." He could obviously see, hear, and speak, so... "If you don't mind me asking, what did you lose? Mine's pretty obvious," she added, trying to gesture to her eyes.

I'm just batting a thousand today. "Ugh, sorry," she said again. They had only known each other for part of a day; what she lost was pretty debilitating, but what he'd lost could be something more personal. "I'm being nosy. Anyway, do we have a mission for today yet?"

 

[Cassette-Disk]

Akiba's sudden fit of happiness was contagious, and Sana quickly found herself jumping along with him like an idiot. Not that she had much choice, he was surprisingly strong and had managed to pick her up by the waist. Getting caught up in the short festivities made her forget the situation they were in, and how dangerous this new side of Shibuya was. Just because they had made it through the first day didn't mean the following days would be as easy. She would have loved to just relax for the rest of the day, but once again she didn't have a choice.

Day 2

For the second time in the same amount of days, Sana found herself groggily waking up in the middle of the Scramble Crossing. For a few seconds she thought she was waking up from a bad dream into a second dream. But a quick pinch to her check assured her that this was reality. Sitting up slowly, her hand brushed against her partner's arm. She tapped her knuckles lightly on his chest.
"Wakey-wakey. I wish I could say there was eggs and Bakey, but no dice." She stood up as Akiba began to rouse himself from his sleep. "I've got no idea how we got here. Look's like we got through the first day though. So we're on to day two now." She started to play with a stray strand of hair that fell into her face. It was the strand dyed purple. She had started feeling a wretched twisted feeling in her gut as she remembered what they had done at the 104. Was that really her fighting against those monsters--Noise? She was suddenly terrified of the thought of doing it again, but also knew there wasn't much of a choice here.

"I, uh..." She cleared her throat. "How...how are you?" was all she could spit out. "I mean, like this whole Game is pretty stressful. Just thinking about having to do what we did yesterday for another six days has me a bit shaken, you know?" Sana looped her index finger around the strand of hair. "I mean, I'm sure we'll be fine but I'm just getting some...preshow nerves, I guess." She then started hopping from one foot to another. This was something she did before she performed on stage when she got nervous. It didn't really help, but she liked to pretend it did.
​

 

[qster]

-DAY TWO-
Roucher's eyes opened to the feeling of something hitting his chest, leading him to instinctively swat whatever it was away, believing it to have been a bug-- or worse, one of those creatures dubbed the Noise. To his relief, he realized it was Sana's knuckles tapping against his hoodie-wearing chest like a wooden door. She greeted him with the slightly unnerving "wakey wakey" saying, but the reality of the situation was that there was no reason to be cheery. Just because they survived day one meant nothing, since they now had to survive today and five more after, each one likely becoming exponentially more difficult than the last.

Sana then asked how he was, as if they were two guys at one of those water... tank... things in some cubicle-filled, claustrophobic, boring skyscraper. He couldn't help but glare at her after hearing something like that after what happened yesterday-- heck, what could happen today. It really didn't make him feel any more regretful as she said that she was getting "preshow nerves" and then hopping around on one foot as if she was just trying to test him. He rose up from his spot on the pavement in the Scramble Crossing with a look of anger in his eyes, putting his hand on Sana's shoulder, forcing her weight down on the ground in order to prevent her from hopping around.

"Preshow... preshow nerves? What, is this like one of your small time gigs at one of those night clubs or something? Last time I checked, we were busy surviving for an entire week-- and this is only day two! Oh, and I'm doing fan-freaking-tastic, thank you for asking." Roucher shouted at her, trying to remind her of their current situation.

Roucher walked a small distance away, facing away from her whilst his hands were pulling at the pale, pink skin underneath his eyes in anger. Realizing his anger arrow was pointing in the wrong direction, he let out a deep sigh in order to help calm him down. After all, it wasn't her fault she never thought before she spoke or knew how stressed he truly was. She was trying to make things better and he just repelled it as if she was the sun and he was just a cumulonimbus cloud raining despair down below and around him.

"Look, I'm sorry about that. I'm just... I guess the stress was getting to me, much like it probably is getting to you as well. You didn't need to be yelled at, since I do have you to thank for even being here right now. There's just a ton of stuff on my mind right now and I just don't know what to do.

"Heck, the one guy I thought I could trust is the guy who got me in this in the first place. Well, it was my fault, since I did... kiss his girlfriend behind his back. But something in me is saying something different, even though I know for a fact that I did it and that I deserved it. For some reason, I feel as if it never truly happened... but I know it did. I don't know why, but I feel like I didn't do anything wrong. I don't know what to believe: The truth in my mind, or my gut instinct." Roucher explained to Sana, hoping that she would end up forgiving him for lashing out at her.

 

[Cassette-Disk]

What she had at first thought was a hand on her shoulder to calm her down turned out to be more of a restraint. Like a parent trying to stop their child from bouncing off the walls at a waiting room. A roulette went off her head as she tried to figure out exactly what to feel. It landed in between sadness and anger. Sana bit her tongue as she tried to keep herself from retorting to her partner's out-lashes. Pushing the hand off her shoulder, she crossed her arms as Akiba walked away and stuck her tongue out at him when his back was turned.

"Look, I'm sorry about that. I'm just... I guess the stress was getting to me, much like it probably is getting to you as well. You didn't need to be yelled at, since I do have you to thank for even being here right now. There's just a ton of stuff on my mind right now and I just don't know what to do."

"Yeah, alright." Sana said not unkindly. She had stopped jumping from one foot to another at this point, but it was a difficult thing for her to start it up again. Instead she opted to pout at a nearby man walking his dog while looping her purple strand of hair around her finger index while her partner went on with his side of the story. If she didn't know about how stressful this Game was, she might have accused him of being bipolar. First he was hoping around with happiness, then he was angry, understanding, now sad. Or at least, she saw him being sad right now, she probably wouldn't be able to tell a story like that without getting a bit bummed.
"Don't worry about it." She said finally with a small smile. "We just have to work our way through this bullcrap Game and get our lives back... But I can tell you that usually my gut instinct is right more of the time than my brain ever is." She let out a small chuckle. "That probably doesn't help you any, but y'know." After a second of silence she cleared her throat. "I... If it hasn't been obvious enough yet, I lost my musical talents. Like, my price paid for entering this hell Game was all of my music. Guitar, singing, piano, you name it." She flipped her guitar off her back and played a chord. It was terribly out of tune, and she had to slam her hand over the cords to stop them from vibrating. "I'm not sure if it was some kind of sick joke or something that made me come in with my old guitar, but it's just a reminder of what I lost. At the same time though, it's like this beacon that tells me what I'm fighting for." She strapped the guitar back behind her. "Know what I'm saying?"

 

[OmniChaos]

"Hmph."

Gendou staggered from his corner as quickly as he had arrived, leaving the Dead God's Pad in a far less dramatic manner. The meeting had little to no progression, what little there was being pain-stakingly slow, and, as Game Master, Gendou had far more important things to do. After all, tomorrow was a new day.

Walking along the Trail of the Sinner with an eerie whistle on his lips, Gendou drew his phone from his pocket and began to text. Tomorrow would be all his; no "go to 104" or any other simplistic mission. His mission would ensure complete erasure of these low-leveled pawns. Even if they were to somehow stumble across the answer, they'd never be able to handle the piece he had set up. Tomorrow would be checkmate. Plain and simple.

-Day 2-​

"Route 3 is closed, as is region three through five in Route 5. I want you supports set up with walls between all the remaining regions. Understood?"

Gendou made his way to Cat Street, wanting to get some time in his coffee place (not to mention to see if the producer still sat, waiting for the Game Master). Today was the day. His previous record, complete erasure by day three, was about to be broken with the simple press of the button. The Reaper smiled just thinking about it.

"At least they'll serve a purpose this way. Instead of wasting away in what they call 'life', they'll extend my existence--someone who is truly living."

Upon arriving at Cat Street, the Reaper drew his phone and typed out his mission:

Mission 2,
All pawns advance upon R5,2; free the tormented prisoners en suite.
Time is set at 1:20.
Fail, and be erased.
--The Reapers
Have a nice day.

With a press of a button, his message was sent and the mission began. And though the Reaper did not have his hopes high, especially after the pitiful performance of the day prior, part of him actually wanted the players to solve and complete his mission. He had grown ever so bored of the simpletons that made their way into this game that he longed for someone who could prove an admirable opponent; someone who he could go all out on. But alas, none had proven themselves against him, so he would have to wait.

 

[Piercing Light]

Adagio raised an eyebrow at Allegra. The way she was speaking to him it was as if she were walking on eggshells. Clearly she was curious, however she seemed more concerned with overstepping the personal boundaries between the two of them. "Stop apologizing so much." He spoke with an amused chuckle. "We're in this together, I see no harm in telling you what I lost. Besides it's only fair since I know what you lost right?"

He had no issue sharing this with her, it had been weighing on his mind like an anchor and talking about it just might help. He lead Allegra to a bench, motioning for her to take a seat. Planting his own behind on the wooden bench he let out a sigh. "Let's see.. For nearly as long as I can remember I've been an artist, it's always been that 'one' thing that I excelled in. Heh.. the one and only thing I'm remotely good at actually. My talent, my 'eye' for creative detail, it's gone. I can't imagine yet alone draw a work of art no matter how hard I try, feels like a piece of me is missing honestly."

He had never thought about it before, but his talent was what defined him. Without it... Just what would he do with his life? What would he talk about, what would he aspire to? He sat there for a while, unintentionally letting these negative thoughts nestle down in his mind. Thankfully the sound of classical music coming from his pants snapped him out of it. Taking his phone out he looked at the screen. It was another mission. He looked to Allegra, who no doubt received the message as well. Obviously she couldn't read it, so he read it out loud to her.

"Well, this one is certainly more vague than the last. 'Pawns advance upon R5,2...' Directions... albeit directions masked in cryptic chess metaphors. And what does he mean by 'tormented prisoners?' Got any ideas Allegra?"