Awakening, The Reapers' Game Begins (WEWY)

[Kaz]

Kazuki blinked as the monster burned, surprised what happened and confused. Kazuki put his sword away and turned his head to look at Eiko. "Did... you do that?" He asked her and he noticed the red pin with a fire symbol on it. Where did she get that? He didn't know, but the same thing happened to him. Not that he was complaining, it helped them after all.

"So what were those things anyway?" Kazuki asked looking at Eiko. "You think that might have been the 'noise' the text message is talking about?" It sorta made sense, the only noise around them was people talking but there's no way to stop that, especially in the current state.

[Terra]

Eiko nodded, still dumbstruck, turning to face Kazuki with the red pin still in her hand. "I...think I did." She murmured in reply. Snapping out of her daze, she slipped the pin back into her pouch and pulled the remaining contents; her phone, a piece of paper that she'd scibbled something intelligible on, her wallet...and more pins. "These pins...they do stuff. Sort of like magic. That's how I was able to use that fire."

She put her things away and placed a finger on her chin. "And I think those things were the Noise they were talking about...but you only saw them after I did. Using this." She held up the black and white skull pin. "Maybe they're invisible, or something, and this pin helps to find them?"

[Kaz]

Kazuki shrugged. "Sounds logical. I wonder how come I can't see them though till you use that pin." Kazuki said looking a Eiko. "Either way, we gotta find more of those noise. The timer is still ticking, which means those weren't the only ones. So use your pin and let's find the rest."

[Terra]

Eiko nodded and closed her eyes, focusing, clutching the skull pin in her hand. She was instantly surrounded by a sea of thoughts, and opened her eyes again. Looking around, she searched for any sign of more Noise, though her eyes ended up stopping at something else entirely. Outwardly, it looked like a normal guy wearing a hoodie, his face completely shadowed. But that wasn't why she was staring at him. "Hey, Kazuki...I can't read that guy's thoughts." She pointed to the hoodied man, who stood further away from them between the 104 building they had come from and the intersection.

"Players confirmed." He mumbled under his breath; from how far away they were, Kazuki and Eiko wouldn't be able to hear it. "Yet to forge a pact."

[Kaz]

"Really?" Kazuki said and looked over at the guy. "That's weird, maybe he's stuck here like we are." Kazuki suggested. "Come on, let's go talk to him." Kazuki said and walked towards the hooded man and stopped in front of him. "Hey there, you stuck here too?" Kazuki asked him. This guy was weird, not being able to see his face but it's the first person they couldn't read their mind, so it might have meant he had to do with whatever was going on.

[Terra]

Eiko followed Kazuki uncertainly to the hooded figure, who stood still as a statue in the same, slouched position. He looked every inch the teenage gangster. She said nothing, letting her friend do all the talking, and watched the man for any sign of acknowledgement. He did nothing at first; didn't move, didn't speak, and if he breathed then Eiko couldn't hear it. Finally, he spoke. "You have 55 more minutes." His voice was emotionless, detached. "Complete the mission."

She blinked, alarmed. "Eh?" She then frowned and pointed an accusing finger at the strange man. "Aha! You do know something about all this!"

Once again, the figure didn't even flinch. "You cannot leave the Intersection until you have completed your task." He added, acting as if he hadn't heard what Eiko had just said.

[Kaz]

"Yeah yeah, we got 55 minutes. We'll complete the mission before than, not a problem." Kazuki said and put his hand on his hip, studying the guy. "First I got a few questions... are you a reaper? And what's going on here? Or just tell me... whatever we're doing here, what are we suppose to do besides apparently missions?" He asked the hooded man. "You at least owe us some answer on what the hell is going on and what we're doing."

[Terra]

The hooded man said nothing in response, and it was almost creepy, since his face was completely masked. Eiko was too frustrated to notice, though. "I'll bet he is a Reaper." She said coolly, glaring at the stranger. "It's probably just convenient for him not to say a word."

If the figure had any intention of defending himself, another voice beat him to it. "You won't get much out of him, I'm afraid."

Eiko blinked and looked over her shoulder, surprised to find two other kids around their age behind them, able to see and hear them, their thoughts completely masked. The one who had spoken was a girl with brown hair and eyes, carrying a stuffed black cat in her arms. She stared curiously at Kazuki and Eiko, a cheery smile on her face, before turning to her male companion. "Looks like Mr. Hanekoma was right, Neku. There are two more players around besides Beat and Rhyme."

Eiko was completely stumped. Players? Mr. Hanekoma? Beat and Rhyme? Who are these guys?

[Kaz]

"Damn it, spe..." Kazuki was cut off when a strange voice was heard. He turned around to see the girl and a boy around his age stand before them. "So... we're players? What are we in, a game?" Kazuki asked the new pair.

Neku scratched his head a little. "Yeah, basically. Except... this game is real, and your life is on the line." Neku replied to him. "We don't know too much ourselves... but you have to live for 7 days, counting today, if you wanna live and get back to the RG."

Kazuki blinked. They were in a game, and their life was on the line? It sounded hard to believe, but so did everything up to this point. "Alright so... since your here, tell us. Who is this Mr.Hanekoma? Who's Beat and Rhyme?" Kazuki asked the two. "What is going on here, and why can't anyone see us or hear us except a select few?" Kazuki asked and shook his head. "Actually... just tell us all you know about this game we're in."

[Terra]

Eiko listened to the boy - Neku, as the girl had called him - but said nothing. Kazuki, as always, was one step ahead of her, already asking the questions that were uppermost in her mind. The brown-haired girl smiled empathetically, and decided to be the one to explain. After all, Neku's not gonna say much about it. I'm surprised he even said anything to begin with. But then, he has been a little more open lately...a little.

"Well, for some reason or other, we all got stuck in this big game run by the Reapers. Mr. Hanekoma calls it it the UG." She explained. "The Reapers use the Noise to attack us. You've probably seen them around already; they're weird creatures you can only see using your scanning pin." She pointed to the black and white pin that Eiko had stuck onto her shirt. "We basically have to survive seven days of fighting the Noise, but the Reapers give us missions to do on the side. If we don't do them by the given time, we get erased, just like the phone message says. If we live all seven days, we get to go back to the RG; in other words, the real Shibuya."

Eiko looked alarmed at this. "So...we're not even in our Shibuya? We're in some sort of parallel Shibuya used for the Reapers' Game?"

The girl sighed and nodded, before looking at her feet. "As for why people can't see us...we don't know either. Nobody's told us about that yet."

She perked a little, trying to smile. "Mr. Hanekoma could probably tell you more, but we still can't find his cafe. We're not quite sure if he's a Reaper or a Player...but he does know useful stuff, and he's the only one willing to help us."

The girl gasped a moment after she finished her sentence. "Oh! I haven't introduced myself yet! I'm Shiki Misaki, and this is my partner Neku Sakuraba." She pointed to him as she said this. "We're Players, too. If you're wondering about Beat and Rhyme, they're also Players we met. From the looks of things...we're the only Players left..." She tilted her head. "You two are partners, right?"

Eiko looked a little confused. "Well, we're friends, but...what's this about partners?"

[Kaz]

"You need a partner to avoid being erased, it doesn't matter who your partner is as long as it's another player." Neku added in to the conversation. "If your not partners... than I'd advise you to hurry up and make a pact."

Kazuki listened to every word Shiki said, he didn't quite understand it but he knew he would. His attention was quickly turned when the other boy, Neku, told them they needed to make a pact to live. "We need to make a pact? How exactly do we do that?" Kazuki asked the two players in front of him.

[Terra]

Shiki shrugged. "Nothing to it, really. One of you just offers to make a pact and the other says yes. That's all." She giggled. "I scared the heck out of Neku when we partnered up; he didn't know what hit him." She turned her attention back to the two newcomers. "But yeah, he's right. If you don't do it, you're Noise food. But since you're friends, it's not a problem, right?"

Eiko tilted her head. That's all? Really? Well, if it's that simple...She turned and grinned at Kazuki. "So? How 'bout it, Kazuki?"

[Kaz]

Kazuki looked at Eiko after Shiki explained it to them nodded and smiled. "Sure, I'll form a pact with you Eiko." Kazuki said to her. "Alright so, we made a pact and got some answers. Now we just gotta clear the rest of the noise in the area." Kazuki said and looked at their timer. They had plenty of time. "Use the pin and let's take care of the rest, Eiko."

[Terra]

Eiko barely had time to acknowledge the blue flash after she and Kazuki made their pact; she assumed that was sort of the "official" verification that they were partners. She nodded at Kazuki's words; sure, they had plenty of time left, but it was probably best to get it over and done with now, so they wouldn't have to live with a timer over their heads...metaphorically speaking. Eiko tapped the pin with her fingernail and closed her eyes, noticing just before the world turned dark and her mind opened up that Neku seemed to be doing the same. After a moment, she opened them.

The Noise stopped what they were doing and stared at the Players; the frogs croaked, and the black, bird-like screeched in outrage. Eiko put a hand on Kazuki's arm. "Better get your sword." She pulled out her Pyrokinesis pin, and next to her Shiki's stuffed animal literally jumped out of her arms and came to stand beside her. Usually, this would have scared the stuffing out of her, but nothing seemed strange anymore.

[Kaz]

"Right." Kazuki said and pulled out his sword once more. As the frogs came towards him, Kazuki used his pins to slash at the frogs left and right, and up and down. "Take this!" Kazuki shouted and swung the blade up and knocked one of the frogs into the air. Kazuki ran at the bird and slashed at it next, and knocked it away.