(Skip down to the underlined title if you don't want a plot summary. The plot summary is designed for new people who have no idea what this story is. The Term Bank is for reference and would be unnecessary for veteran Twewy players. Although feel free to tell me if I'm wrong about something. I'm a fanfic author, I'm not infallible.)

[Art]

Art commissions are being made for this fic.

They were made for the purposes of this RP and commissioned by me. Thanks to Blue Wind for working on it. His profile can be visited on the link.

To see the art based off the story you must add a period for any place you see (period)

0er0(peroid)deviantart(period)com/

XXX

(If at any time you see something that could be improved, then try to pm me. I'll fix it as soon as I can. I won't ever be mad.)

Author's Note:

I'm aware of the drastic quality difference between the unedited chapters and the beta read chapters. This is partly due to other eyes and this is partly due to the fact when I started the story I was VERY new to writing. While I'm still new in a lot of ways, I wouldn't call myself a stranger to it now. I'm going to rectify the quality difference in time. Thank you for your patience.

Attention: I would like to issue anyone interested in voiceacting/ drawing, editing or game design to give me a holler. I would like to put together a very simple project (one of amateur level). Please contact me via inbox or email me with the email provided at the bottom. I'm not exactly a genius writer, here... but the plot is the only thing that keeps the story going.

Plot Summary:

The World Ends with You is a well crafted game created by Square Enix and can be played on the Nintendo DS. Although my author's notes from one of my editors suggests the gamefaqs script; I was inclined to help others who have no knowledge of the World Ends with You.

In the city of Shibuya a young boy, Neku, found himself with no memory of how he ended up in the center of the street when every screen in the center of the city flashed the words, "You have seven days." It is later revealed that he is part of the "Reaper's Game". A game played by those who had died in Shibuya. If one were to win the game, another chance at life is granted. The rules are complicated, but the underlying principle is simple: Survive.

To win the game players must must defeat both noise and reapers who attack them. Noise are creatures that can be called in the Underground, the place where the game takes place. Noise are created by negative emotions from the living world. The noise appear as tattooed animals and they devour unwitting players. Reapers are allowed to send noise to destroy players, but cannot attack players directly. Reapers are usually much more powerful than players. One of the few conditions a reaper can attack a player directly is self defense, in most other situations Reapers use Noise. Players have special powers depending on their personality. They must use these powers (psyches) to defeat the noise.

Neku proved to be extremely powerful with psyches and Shiki, his partner, was quick to tell him so. Neku slowly had to learn the truth about the Reapers Game and day by day fight for survival. Shiki revealed to him that upon entering the Reaper's Game, that something is taken upon the game beginning. The commanding reaper collects something precious to you in life, your Price. Neku's price was his memory and Shiki's price was her appearance. The game is run by the Reapers, but every week there is one Reaper of significance: The Game Master. Usually a Game Master is a Reaper officer and they are always given command of what tasks Players must fulfill to win. To win the game Neku and Shiki had to complete the tasks the Game Master put in place. Ultimately they defeated the Game Master of the week. Neku regained his memory for if you win you claim your price back. Despite winning the game, Neku was forced to play the game again, this time. Shiki was his price.

With the help of Joshua Neku battled against Sho Minamimoto. A powerful game master who used the power of Taboo noise, noise who were beyond even reaper's control. The Taboo noise devoured players and Reapers alike. Ultimately serving Sho's purpose. Neku and Joshua faced relatively few missions, but many dangers. They managed to make it to the end of the week and battled against this powerful Reaper. Joshua saved Neku from a devastating attack, much to Neku's surprise, to let Neku live. It was revealed that Joshua was not a player, but a living human. As such Neku (being his partner) was disqualified from the game and forced to play another. Obvious foul play was afoot. Neku was cheated twice out of his chance at life. This time the Conductor, the leader of the reapers, took all the players in Shibuya as his price. Effectively meaning he would have to face the Reapers and Noise alone. His chances of victory changed from small to impossible.

Neku had long since found out that fighting without a partner is impossible. Beat, a former friend of Neku, joined Neku. Beat himself had become a reaper, but it was thanks to Beat's help that Neku was able to face the Conductor in a final showdown. The Conductor needed to erase Neku. He had planned to take over Shibuya and Neku was a thorn in his side. Beat and Neku fought against the Conductor only to learn that he was trying to save Shibuya from being destroyed. The Composer, the most powerful being in Shibuya and the ultimate authority in the Reaper's Game, wanted to destroy the city altogether. The Conductor and the Composer were playing a game against each other. A game of trying to erase Neku. If the Conductor failed to erase Neku, the Composer vowed destroy Shibuya. Joshua was the Composer all along. Neku felt betrayed by Joshua. Joshua was the one who killed him and forced him to enter the game. Neku refused to play further games against Joshua and rejected the temptation of becoming Composer himself. Seemingly Joshua killed Neku, but when Neku woke up he was very much alive. Joshua had decided to spare the city. He argued that Neku, the one he considered to represent the very worst parts of Shibuya, had changed. As such he said the city of Shibuya would change in time. Neku awoke alive and was relieved to meet all his new friends in the living world. Joshua left with Hanekoma, the Producer, saying, "There will be repercussions upstairs."

Term bank:

Players- Players are humans who have died in Shibuya. Every player has the ability to use psyches in accordance with both their soul and imagination. In order for a player to use psyches, they must make a pact with another player. If the person you made your pact with is erased, then you have minutes to find another partner. Otherwise you too are erased. Players strive to survive for seven days so they can get a chance at life again. They dwell in the Underground and cannot be seen by those living in the real world (aka Real Ground).

Underground- Is the realm in which the players play. It is the realm of the spirit. It is a dangerous realm where noise, players and reapers are granted special powers. These supernatural abilities are granted through Psyches, but it has no effect on the RG. Players can be visible in certain marked locations and otherwise cannot be seen by the living. Reapers can be seen in both the real world and the underground however they have to shift between them. In the RG the reapers have no superhuman abilities nor do players. Players can shop in most stores in Shibuya by means of a Reaper seal above the building. If any shop has the reaper seal players may temporarily interact with the living. Usually this is for the purpose of shopping or missions.

Mission- Missions are given out by Reapers. Ordinarily they present easily understood objectives but are not limited to be so. A mission is often given a time limit. If no player can complete the mission before the time is up, then all players are erased. If all players are erased the game is over. The conditions that are chosen depend on the Game Master. Every week changes dramatically with every new game master. There are rules forbidding reapers to make the missions impossible. Game Masters and conditions are regulated by the Conductor. If the Conductor fails to do his job he must answer to the Composer. Ultimately the Conductor and Composer take observing roles for missions. The Game Master sends all players one mission a day. The mission message is received by phone and cannot be deleted from your phone. There may be one mission every day only, but Reapers have tricked players into believing they can give more. Any additional messages you receive from any source other than the reaper are not linked with the mission. When the mission is over players often wake up the next day when the new mission starts.

Noise- Negative emotion given off in the real world which takes the forms of tattooed monsters. The Noise hunt players and can be controlled by reapers. Noise by their nature do not attack players unless a reaper summons them to attack. A player can fight a noise freely anywhere in the city by scanning for one. Noise are visible in the Underground but have very real effects in the real world (or Real Ground / RG). The noise can effect the emotions of living people and distort thoughts by real people. Players can choose to erase them to help clear a person's head and sometimes it's required in missions to progress. Noise gradually get more power as the week goes on. Although this may be linked to the progressive rise of Noise.

Reapers- Reapers can be of two types, support or active. A support reaper does not directly combat players and rarely summons noise unless the game master of the week ordered them to do so. The support reapers most important job is to put up barriers to either guide or slow down players. Barriers simply prevent players to be unable to pass unless an objective is met, this objective can be simple, difficult or even impossible. The active reapers are black winged humans. Each who was once either a player or human that chose to join the reapers. The active reapers are the ones seen most often by players as they actively seek out any players they can find and send noise to attack them. Reapers are not allowed to attack players and are only allowed to use noise. By nature, reapers are a great deal more powerful than players and could easily erase them if a player actually wished to fight one. Some reapers egg players on so they can have a legitimate reason to use their full power (self defense). The stronger the reaper, the stronger the noise they can call. The more players the reaper erases the more points they earn and the longer they live. It is a possibility that some reapers have been alive for longer than a lifetime. Players best avoid reapers although if a player is stronger than a reaper... There is no rule stating a player can't attack a reaper. Attack one at your own risk.

Game Master- A reaper chosen by the Conductor. It is difficult to have such a position and it usually takes years to be able to be game master. You have to be of reaper officer status, Sho Minamimoto was the youngest ever to become an officer. The game master makes missions and gives instructions to other reapers. They can choose what location noise will attack they can choose where to wait in ambush, the game master runs the week. The game master often is the most powerful reaper players will encounter and they WILL encounter. He cannot attack players directly until day seven (the final day). However when day seven comes along the Game Master is allowed to personally attack all remaining players. The players must defeat the game master for the week to end. If the game master is defeated the players can regain their lives.

Conductor- The highest ranking Reaper officer. All reapers report and answer to him. The Conductor personally congratulates players who defeat the game master. He is allowed to collect and give any players entry fees. The Conductor reports to all reapers the will of the Composer and in terms of power. The Conductor is often in a power tier all their own. Neku managed to kill the last Conductor six years ago, Kitaniji. The new Conductor has been chosen.

Composer- The Composer runs the game and any decision he makes is promptly carried out. The Composer is the only being capable of bringing a player back to life. Without a Composer there is no law and there is no game. The Composer's full power is unclear, but he is argued a god. (In this story, the Composer draws power from the city they rule. This gives them inhuman amounts of Soul and Imagination, but they do have limits.) The Composer can be killed and if someone manages to kill the Composer then his throne is forfeit to the one who killed him. Although it is unclear exactly what rules the Composer has to follow, there are even rules he has to follow in Shibuya. Perhaps rules he makes for himself?

Producer- The Producer is of no relation toRreapers although the Producer has spoken to players. The Producer is from the Angel Plane. Which may as the name suggests be what we perceive to be an angel in human form. Hanekoma has been the Producer of Shibuya for some time and is openly friends with Joshua. Hanekoma's job as Producer is to use art and words to gather the greatest minds into Shibuya. He produces the game and gathers different people from different cultures. The Producer has full knowledge of the game rules and mechanics of noise. With this knowledge he had used it to teach Sho Minamimoto the ability to make a noise that was beyond reaper control. Despite him being a friend of Joshua he secretly wished Shibuya to be saved and to this day works to keep the city safe. Even if there might be, "Repercutions upstairs."

The World Ends with You Too

That's pretty damn funny.

You thought you could push people around.

But you're the one who ended up hurting.

Nothing's funnier than that.

I don't get people. Never have. Maybe I never will.

I've tried to understand. I'm still trying.

But you can all be so evil, and so stupid.

And a lot of other things, bad and good.

Why can't everything just be easier?

Why can't people be simple?

Joshua stared at the mass tattoo in the sky. Call them glyphs or runes if you like, but the black symbols, bordered and marked with lines of color, were more like tribal tattoos than anything else. The collection of marks were like storm clouds, with all different sizes of tattoo stamped across the sky at different heights, over and under one another, reducing the sky to jagged slivers of blue. You could catch flickers of them against a seemingly clean sky from the ground, but to see them all at once, you needed to be somewhere with an unusual and powerful flow of soul. The thirteen-story tower known as Pork City fit the bill perfectly.

Yoshiya "Joshua" Kiryu and Sanae Hanekoma walked side by side to the railing of Pork City's roof, studying the growing storm of noise. It had been growing since before Joshua had been born, let alone since before he had…persuaded the previous Composer that abdicating his throne would be the best thing for him. He glanced down at his white-gloved hands. "Well, that's not good." He said lightly.

"I was hoping that with all the strong hearts and minds, Shibuya could head this mess off before it got going. I suppose wishing for a miracle was a bit much." Hanekoma sighed and passed a polystyrene cup to the Composer. "Your favorite. Or it would be if you showed up more often."

"Well, it is going now. It seems our mass is starting descent." A sarcastic smirk hit Joshua's face. "Maybe I should have destroyed this town. At least it would have gone with a little dignity." He smelled the steam coming off his coffee cup and exhaled a sigh.

Hanekoma might as well have scowled at Joshua. But Hanekoma didn't know how to scowl, he just had a light smirk. "Nothing's worth the death of a city, chief. Especially not the noise. Shibuya is a living, breathing organism. Dying as it is, what good would we do if you killed it before finding a cure?"

"Well, for one, you'd still be a full Producer, and I wouldn't have what might as well be a death sentence." Joshua chuckled lightly as he played the devil's advocate. It was in his nature to do so. Hanekoma lightly scratched the back of his head as he studied the Composer with black eyes just visible above his black shades and below his black hair. Joshua, with his vibe not down-tuned, was an adult, and slightly taller than Hanekoma. The Composer turned to the angel next to him, and their eyes locked, black with sunglasses against stony gray-blue that showed bitterness, sarcastic amusement and calculation in a dangerous mix.

Hanekoma spoke again. "You're not dead yet. Live for the moment. There's a reason I tried to stop you, chief. I love this city. I loved it enough to defy the angels and you. Repercussions aside, I have nothing to regret."

"I envy that." Joshua said back. He turned back to the noise mass and took a long, slow, loud sip of his coffee. "Any chance the noise won't turn this place into one of the Conductor's scrap heaps?" he asked purposefully.

The angelic would-be Producer chuckled and looked back up. "Making some progress, there's still a number of things I'm itching to try. Any luck with picking out someone who can fill in for you?" Joshua glanced at his gloved hands again at that remark. "None. Going to the angels for help is a risky thing, and my last resort. I'm not going to rush into it."

"Wise words. Just don't choke on 'em when the noise come. You need to act. All of us do." Hanekoma mused. Joshua drained his coffee and crushed the cup in frustration. He dropped it off the top of Pork City and hid his annoyance with a feigned smile. "If only we had a little more time…"

XXXXX

A boy got up in the center of the crowded city. Shibuya was as lively as ever. When wasn't it? As he rose from the ground he examined the cracks in the floor. The more he came to his senses the more he wished he was deaf. He could hear cars, advertisements, people and thoughts. The boy had short pure white hair and gold eyes which reflected off a nice looking phone. It took a moment of examination before the phone gave a quick little buzz. No text chirp on his phone, just a vibrate. His phone had no phone numbers, it had no contacts or any sign of social life. There was only a single text. His face seemed to be mesmerized by the words written on the screen, but at the same time felt disdain. The wind blew and his black jacket, with two white stripes down the arm, seemed to dance with the wind.

"Breezy."

He had one of those raspy voices. By the sound of his voice he could use steroids. A bunch of odd feelings flooded him. A thrill of excitement like he had been waiting for this day. A half assed smile and a neck pop later there was pain. His hand felt like it was shocked with a tazer. After the shock there was a timer. It was counting down slowly. Little by little it was a countdown to the end. But of course it was only the end if you didn't make it to the end. He didn't know where he was and he didn't care. He just took off running. He ran past people. Avoiding them at first and then noticing that he phased through them like they weren't there. This wasn't real, this was like a dream. Only it felt too real to be a dream. That's when he remembered something about dreams. Dreams didn't have real danger. This wasn't a dream.

"Reach 104 or face the jaws of erasure. You have eighteen minutes."—The Reapers

Week One, Day One: Find Me

XXX

Neku Sakuraba... Yoshiya Kiryu... Why do I know those names?

Why does Shibuya cry out in despair?

And why am I here?

So many questions and so much time to answer... But when have answers done any good?

The boy began to run from Shibuya Square, as of this moment he was a Player. It was the heart of the city and flowing through it, the human lives were the blood being directed every which way. The boy turned and you could get a gander of one those white under-shirts. Shibuya was odd today, everyone was ignoring him. Not too unusual, but other human beings walking through you seemed odd. One viscous smirk later, "It's seems they can't see me, kind of convenient."

He remembered, he had something important he had to do. He felt his face and tried to remember. It wasn't a pained expression, it was two eyes shut lightly and deep breathing. He ignored the Darklit Entertainment advertisement. He felt like he knew a ton of information, but it was closed to him. It wasn't that he couldn't reach the information, it's like he just couldn't bring himself to try to remember. Something about him didn't want to remember whatever he knew. Not because there was some painful backstory. He knew he wasn't one of those trama cases who conveniently forgot stressful moments of his life. It just felt like he genuinely didn't need to know anything. He was content and he would stay as such

He put on some shades and gave up. His sun glasses didn't seem to stop the light at all. All they did was barely tin the world in a slightly darker tint. From this darker tint he started to see symbols reflecting off his glasses; they were all around him take the form of animals with markings replacing various body parts. Frogs, that's what you might call them if you cared to call them that now. Frogs weren't dangerous, these were. These were Noise. Noise were monsters, nothing more. They came from the negative emotions of living humans. Now in the realm of the dead, they were dangerous to Players. The boy barely reacted, "Noise…" Then one of the memories triggered. He saw Neku Sakuraba, as a boy. This phantom vision of Neku was fighting against Noise. Unable to do anything but run. "That's right... I should run." Weiss didn't fight the frogs, he just ran. His little vision of Neku faded as he moved forward. Apparently he could remember things when they mattered.

That boy, Neku, was in this place six years ago. Shibuya changed, well not really, but the brands and stores were different. What happened to Neku? He already knew what happened to Neku. He didn't know everything that happened to Neku, but he remembered seeing him run through these streets. That's right. He was watching Neku run past here long ago. Then the other thought occurred, "Joshua was here too. Watching." The moment he recalled he could see a phantom Composer. It was just a memory, but a fluid one. Neku ran to the Hachiko statue back then. Joshua watched him make a pact with Shiki. Apparently he saw her too. He had difficulty placing exactly where he saw them. He definitely saw that day, he was there. He took a long look at the memory Joshua, "Joshua... you were playing a game... Neku was your chosen one. He was going to decide Shibuya's fate? This game must be your making..."

It was a very good thing that no one could hear him. He would have sounded crazy. He certainly sounded crazy to himself. Neku and Joshua were two very important people to Shibuya. What he said about Joshua wasn't all memory. It was an unhealthy mix of speculation and feelings. He couldn't remember more. He couldn't make himself remember and damn those frogs were slow. How long had he been standing there? They didn't even bother attacking him. Apparently their attention was on something else.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHH!" Well after hearing the voice there wasn't much in the way of speculation if it was a girl or not. Definitely a girl's scream. Well a chivalrous male would go to help her, but no. He watched her run around as the frog harmlessly stuck to her face. "Get it off! Get it off! Please stop ignoring me!" Oh cute, she was pleading with people to get a frog off of her face.

Well cute as it was, it had to stop. The boy walked up and tried to get the frog off of her face. It was really stuck on there. He tried tugging, but he had to try harder. It took a good three yanks before he peeled the frog off the poor girl's face. "Make a pact with me." He said getting to the point.

The girl was dressed in a business skirt and jacket. The kind of thing you wore for business or trying to join a business. In her hand was a simple notebook and in her other a stylish pen. Luckily she didn't have the usual high heels. It was hard to run in those things although he never personally tested it. He just figured. She of course had the usual questions, "And who exactly are you?" Guess it was a cautious question.

"We need to make a pact to fight Noise. Which are those monsters there. Shouldn't you know the rules to the game?"

"What game?"

"Troublesome, I guess you don't."

"The frogs are coming back!"

"Those are the noise." The boy said calmly with a smile. It would have been comforting if there weren't monsters trying to kill her.

"Thank you captain obvious."

"Accept my pact and I'll help you. I'm a player, like you. If we work together we can beat the noise."

The girl was a little older than him. There was a moment pause before she said, "I accept."

Blue light and power. When a pact is made you feel the other persons soul and imagination. It's intimate and a little scary. A pact could force empathy even on the worst social cases. Other than feeling someone else, you also shared power. Part of it was evening out your soul wavelengths to match the other person. "Your name?" The girl asked.

"Oh umm..." He had to think, what was his name? Surely if he could remember the rules for the Reapers Game and other names he could remember his own. Nothing and more nothing. "Call me Weiss." He was attempting to make up a random name. But it was catchy, he could get used to it. Weiss went well with the whole white hair thing.

The girl was older than him sure, maybe by a year or two. It was hard to gauge because Weiss didn't exactly know his exact age. Probably sixteen? Seventeen? Something like that. She seemed to be suffering from memory problems herself or at least didn't have a faint clue about the reapers game. "Nanami Haruka. How do we deal with them?"

Showing was better than telling her. At the Hachiko statue was where Neku made a pact with Shiki and it's also where he learned about psyches. It seemed the opposite was true for Weiss. Not only did he know how to use psyches he KNEW how to use psyches. By the way he used them he was no amateur. When the battle with the noise started it was abundantly clear that Weiss knew how to use his crappy psyches. Oh and they were crappy pins. He had one useless gold pin in his pocket, one slightly less useless player pin in his pocket and two incredibly useful (but still low quality) pins. He could use shockwave and so he did. Shockwave was a slicing motion of energy. The visual was a deceptive slicing motion that hit a surprisingly wide area. The user could wave an arm or a leg and energy would surround that limb to send damaging force at the enemy. In this case the enemy was a frog noise who didn't respond well to the receiving end of a barrage of shockwaves. The psych went well with combos. You didn't even have to punch, just wave across them and let the psych handle the rest.

The other pin sent energy bolts from the palm. Bolts the size of your fist. And you could send a volley of these bullets. The better the pin you had, the better the psych. That's how Players fought. It was partly a collectors game. Noise dropped pins and you could exchange them for money if you didn't need the pin. That stuff wasn't really worth discussing. Right now there were Noise to finish off. Weiss was pretty good, but really the frogs were just weak. Beginners without talent could beat them. Mostly Noise like this served the purpose of figuring out how your powers worked. What was really dangerous were the people who commanded them: Reapers. You could bet your left ass cheek that there were reapers watching. Each one observing and reporting potential threats. Weiss was going to be on their list, sure enough. Hell he could see a support Reaper taking mental notes. A lot of support reapers reported to the higher ups about any players with particular talent.

Nanami found herself mostly dodging. She didn't know what the hell Weiss was doing, but he was making short work of the frogs. Ever time she dodged she waited for an opening. When one presented itself she instinctively swatted it with her notebook. But the notebook wasn't harmless in the Underground. In the real world a notebook served no practical battle application. But that notebook meant something to her. It mattered somehow. Just like a skater might find his skateboard his ultimate weapon in the Underground, she found her notebook to be hers. When she hit that thing with the notebook it didn't even make an expression. It just exploded into static. You couldn't really blame her for not figuring out her power sooner. She had a lot on her mind. Monsters chasing her and people phasing through her like she was a ghost. That was it wasn't it? She was like a ghost. Whatever was going on didn't exactly consult physics. She could feel power in her notebook and she could feel her partner was nearby. It was a sixth sense. A mix between a gut feeling and a little fairy on your shoulder. It wasn't easy to describe. From this sense she could feel something... odd about Weiss. She could feel him, but he wasn't all there. Like part of him was missing.

"Glad to see your still here." Weiss appeared from out of nowhere.

Nanami jumped and turned, "Did you just teleport?"

Weiss had a smile that she could already tell was going to annoy her. It was an airhead smile. It was carefree and there was something false about it. She couldn't tell what. He made an effort to explain, "Oh no. When we battle Noise we have to fight in our own zone. We can still draw off of each other's power and we're fighting the same enemy, but we can't directly interact during Noise battles."

Nanami understood, but didn't know why it was true. She paraphrased, "So when we're fight those... frogs. We're both fighting the same frogs, just we can't see one another."

Weiss smiled, "Glad you figured that out." He didn't sound too sincere.

Nanami looked at the timer on her hand, she'd had that timer a while now. But what did it mean, "And this? This is?"

Weiss casually mentioned it as if it were no urgency, "Oh that's our timer. If it runs out we're erased. We need to reach ten-four, before the time is up." He held his hand up to demonstrate that time was ticking.

Her eyes widened when she saw the time. They needed to start running. Why the hell did he know this and not mention that sooner? "Umm... shouldn't we be running?"

Weiss put some genuine thought into it. "Well I don't see any reason why we can't." He didn't sound like he cared if he lived or died. The truth was he didn't care. He didn't care at all. "We shouldn't want to be erased after all."

Nanami was suspicious, "No... no we shouldn't." Who was this guy? She didn't know much about him. But it really wasn't the time to concern herself over this. That's because time was running out. Hurry made people ignore a lot of things and for now she'd ignore this.

"Well ten four is this way. Plenty of time and we might be the first ones there. Let's go." He took the lead, but they didn't have to run for long. A minute couldn't have gone by before an invisible wall blocked their path to 104. He stopped just before he hit it and Nanami slowed down just barely fast enough to get shocked by it. It stung to the touch.

"What's this?" She asked.

"This would be a wall. They put up barriers like this if a reaper bars our path. There should be someone standing nearby." There was. A man in a red hoodie. Who stood in silent observation.

"Him?"

"I think so. Oh... it looks like he's getting ready to leave."

"Why?"

They approached a little closer and he muttered something as if he'd said it hundreds of times, "Pact complete. You may pass." It was as if he were directing traffic. The barrier was gone and the support reaper had done his job. He was one of the support reapers. Barriers were raised and lowered based on the conditions met. This barrier's condition served one simple purpose. To confirm the number of pacts made versus players erased. Very valuable data for the reapers. In fact, it was so valuable to know the number of players who survived the first day, that the mission was always the same. The first day was just the simple task of making a pact and surviving a very easy noise battle. They survived. So they got to pass. Their mission was as good as cleared. Or at least that was the norm.

Relief.

The timer vanished. The mission was met. They weren't going to die. Now was the time for questions. Nanami remembered nothing and from what she could gather, this boy remembered the rules at least. So she'd start with those. Maybe after she knew a rule or two she might ask more about his past. Although talking about his past usually meant her talking about her past. She remembered her past and she didn't feel like that he earned that conversation. "How many more days do we do this? And what's the limit on missions?"

Weiss answered promptly, "Seven days. It's the number of perfection or completeness. The number of missions we receive per day is 1 and only one. It'll be given to us via text. Never deviate from the the text asks you to do. Reapers will try to trick you and they often lie to new players to get them erased."

Nanami had a fair question. A bit of a philosophical one, "Why are Reapers trying to kill us?"

Weiss frowned, "Mostly because it's the way of the world. It's a competition. They survive by erasing players. If they don't erase players they too will eventually be erased. But your question asked more than that. What you really want to know is why someone would do something like to another human? Reapers were human once and they gave up some shreds of humanity for power. They all have different reasons for joining. Support reapers survive by doing as the Game Master instructs. They aren't our enemies. Our real enemies are the winged reapers. They are the ones who send noise after us. They're the ones who kill because they enjoy it."

"They enjoy it?" People ENJOYED this?! What kind of sicko enjoyed this?!

Her question was answered. A reaper appeared. Black winged and rugged. He had human eyes, but they were feral. His teeth almost seemed to be fangs. He wore a fur jacket and bone accessories. "Dog meat. You're dog meat." He was scary. He was nuts and he probably wanted nothing more than to kill personally.

"Dog meat? Oh us? Well we could be. But you'd have to kill us. Which seems unlikely since we all want to live to get our entry fee back." Such an astute observation. The entry fee comment was worth noting. Nanami heard that. She was already suspicious that something was wrong with her. That there was something wrong. Something was taken from her. Something was missing. But what did they take from her? What did they take from Weiss? That might explain why he was so odd. An entry fee?

The reaper pointed with leather biker gloves. Not at them, but behind them. Nanami looked, but Weiss didn't. There were other players approaching. Just like them. The reaper gritted his teeth as he spoke, "Prey travels in packs to the stream. Unaware they predators lie in wait. You have your water, you have another day to live. But now the wolves will feast on the weakest prey first. Natural selection as it should be. Which of you will be devoured?"

Nanami couldn't speak. This man was completely insane. He had a feral look that wished her harm. When he was talking about the weak, he was talking about her. He could smell fear. But Weiss broke his gaze towards Nanami, "That's an officer class Reaper. He's probably this week's Game Master. Essentially he's in charge of the Reapers and our missions. Game Masters traditionally don't reveal themselves to players on the first day. He wants to make an impression. To inspire fear, perhaps?"

Weiss finally got the Reaper's attention. "Observant little pup with an insolent bark. You are sly prey and I'll hunt you down all the same. Now is not the time for words, now is the time to show me your teeth. Show your bite to the noise, boy!"

Anyone could sense the noise coming. But they didn't strike, not yet. "My name is Weiss and this is Nanami, my partner. I was wondering if you heard anything about our prices. You being Game Master and all. I mean, if you aren't willing to tell us I completely understand."

"I am Okami, I am the pack leader for this hunting season. The alpha male of the pack. I don't ask questions about my prey, to me you are nothing. You are food. What use does a wolf have for further conversation with dying prey?" His name was Okami. He was the Game Master and he was about to sick Noise on the players.

The faint glimmer of hope that their price could be revealed washed away. Nanami wanted to know about their prices more than Weiss, but what kind of man just asks a Reaper? It didn't matter. Noise were coming and she stood face to face against a colorful bear noise.

Her price as far as she knew wasn't her memory. She remembered her life. Not all of it sure, but that was natural. The only thing that made her wonder was that she didn't remember the game rules. That was a big factor. Maybe Weiss just knew them and she didn't? Well he made it sound like other players should have known the rules, how come she didn't know them?

Again thoughts were interrupted. There was never enough time to sit around and reason. That's one of the ways this game was dangerous. You were always drenched in confusion and danger. The danger was before her: Noise. It took the shape of a long clawed bear. It was riddled with tattoos. The girl couldn't see Weiss, he vanished. She had to fight the bear noise that stood before her alone, no easy task. The monster didn't have arms but blue markings. These markings could extend as needed to stab and swipe. The girl might rather fight a real bear.

"Alright... I'm gonna try." The girl at the very least had her Psych; she opened up her notebook and tried scratching pen marks onto the paper. With each pen slash a black line went flying out in front of her. The bigger the line she drew the longer the energy line would be. Big or small, it was a projectile attack that flew at the enemy in an instant. Each pen mark became a damaging energy slash that cut against the bear noise. The girl smiled at her psych, drawing was her power. She could win. The bear was flinching and taking damage, but it got closer and closer. She was getting cornered. The pen streaks remained on her paper. Then a though occurred. She could make a picture out of the lines she drew. She tried putting the lines together to make a crude drawn house. The page let out a glow and blew the bear back after she completed a simple picture. It was starting to make sense. Every pen mark was a ranged attack. If she completed a picture she could use special attacks. Lines became pictures. When she made a picture she could feel Weiss' soul energy building up inside her.

As she unlocked her power she could access more of her partner's. Her partner had a lot of energy. Not enough to make her useless, but enough to make her realize that she had a lot to learn. She could feel him fighting in his zone. She could feel his psyches. He was learning like she was. Although was learning his psyches inhumanly fast. She tried to tell herself that he had done this before, but her sense told her better. Her partner was completely new, like she was. He was a little stronger and he was a much faster learner. What was scary was that he felt nothing as he fought. He didn't feel fear or excitement. He just felt nothing. Emotions played a huge role in how your psyches worked. His emotions effected her and she could feel it. Although she couldn't name it. It only confirmed that something was wrong with him. His soul felt like it was changing itself at a whim. Like it was changing itself to better suit her.

The fight continued as she finished drawing a simple tree and the page let out a faint glow and the bear took a powerful blast from the notebook. This was cool. I mean besides being life threatening. The girl exclaimed right as the bear drew it's arm back to cut her into tiny pieces. Nanami screamed and held up her notepad as the slash was stopped by the book. It slashed again with its second arm and Nanami let out a yelp as she didn't know what to do now. Her little notebook shouldn't have been able to handle a slash from a super bear. But it did. When she blocked with her notebook, the attack didn't reach her. Blocking took skill, but it seemed to completely suppress the attack. But she kept blocking and realized how hard it was to keep doing it. It was tiring her out physically and sapping her soul's energy. She needed to do something, but what? It had her cornered and she was helpless if this continued. The game was so new to her and she didn't really know how to fight beyond basic instinct. Before the bear noise struck once more it paused and began to blur in static. A white glow fluttered around it as it vanished as quickly as it appeared. Weiss appeared and in a good mood, "Sorry I couldn't help. I was fighting one in my zone. But I see he didn't scratch your pretty face."

Somehow she didn't want to be called pretty from him. It just seemed... creepy.

Okami snarled, "Pitiful Players! So many devoured… By so feeble a predator. You'll not survive." He seemed disappointed he didn't have more players to work with.

Nanami took a look around her. People were being erased, being mauled, they were dying. They were being robbed of their existence and future.

Okami was evil. He was enjoying this, "There's no need to summon more noise... I will show them how harsh this dog eat dog world is in time. I have eaten my fill, I'd best save prey to hunt another day. But... How can I do such a thing. I feel the need to destroy... TO DEVOUR!" He raised his hand to summon more Noise. He wasn't being fair. These were new players. Summoning more Noise was just overkill.

Another Reaper appeared and caught his arm as it rose. This new Reaper was different than Okami. He had control and he had apathy. He gave Okami a playful smirk. By the way he spoke to Okami, he must have been an officer himself. "Down boy. That's all for today. Rules are rules and the boss is the boss. Settle down a little." He talked with a lolipop in his mouth. His orange frilly hair and skull vest made him stick out like a sore thumb.

Okami didn't appreciate that, "Bite your tongue! I know my place among the pack, remember yours! I am the Alpha for this week."

The Reaper before him was called Kariya, he had seniority. Although he shared the same rank as Okami, both were officers. "You are. But you need to know when to stop working. If you can't control yourself they'll give the job to someone else."

"Are you hoping for this? You wish to become Game Master for this week?!" Okami looked like he was about to fight Kariya over this.

Kariya was quick to correct, "God no. I hate being Game Master. If you don't chill out the Conductor will have a word with you." The term 'have a word with you' roughly meant having the life beaten out of him. Possibly erasure. He was helping Okami, but the wolf reaper failed to see it.

He should have thanked Kariya, but instead he just threatened the players, "I've got your scent, players. I've got your scent." He vanished at the same time as Kariya. All the reapers did. The mission was over. As it should have been.

Nanami felt terrible. All of the players who were erased. Right in front of her. It was mortifying and she felt herself shaking. What right did she have to live and they did not? Life wasn't fair, she knew. But she never thought she'd have to see anything like this in her life.

Then she heard laughter of all things. Laughter. Not something she wanted to hear. Weiss was having a jolly chuckle, it might have been he just survived a tramatic experience. That might have been his way of coping, "That was funny. Players were expecting other people to save them." He stopped his little chuckle to look at Nanami. He felt no empathy, he felt nothing for them. He LAUGHED at them. For what? Being helpless?

Nanami looked at him in disbelief, "You... you're laughing at them?"

Weiss looked surprised. "Well not anymore, no. The moment passed."

Nanami got up clenching a fist, she wanted to hit him. She wanted to hit him a lot. "Why?"

Weiss changed his expression from his usual fake smile into something that seemed more real. It was solemn, but cold, "Nanami, death is a part of life and erasure is a part of the game. You'll need to accept that."

Silence.

More silence.

Nanami stopped shaking. She looked at Weiss and then looked away, "That doesn't give you the right to laugh at them. You're despicable."

Weiss didn't argue, "Sorry, it may have something to do with my price? If it really bothers you that much, I won't laugh at them again. We're partners now and I'm going to have to trust you. You did well today, Nanami. Not everyone survived. But be grateful that you did. The days coming are going to be worse. I look forward to winning the game with you."

Nanami didn't feel better. Something was wrong with Weiss. Something was wrong with her. Something was wrong with this game. He might be able to trust her, but she couldn't trust him. Not in the slightest. They both had interest to survive. She could trust him enough for that. They'd have to survive either way. This was the Reaper's game. It sickened her, but Weiss was right in a way. She should be grateful and the days were going to get worse. "Promise you won't laugh at death again."

Weiss was quiet. Then he did that blank smile of his, "Promise."

XXXXX

"Why do we have so many players? There's been too many for weeks! Weeks!" A hot headed reaper squealed with her pink hair seeming to be on fire from the rage. The reaper had never seen this many players before. Every week there were more and more. What was worse is players were surviving the reapers game. She couldn't stand it, "And I STILL haven't got my promotion!"

The last complaint was one her orange haired partner saw coming. Kariya could admit that the players alive was unusual, but he never felt like complaining, "Weren't you whining some time ago about there being too few?" Except for when it made Uzuki angry, was it bad he did it for cheap laughs? He was a natural troll. Watching her get mad was funny. No harm meant.

Uzuki snarled, "Nevermind that! There's players everywhere! We need to make the game harder!"

Kariya twirled a lollipop skillfully before letting it rest in his mouth, "Think they're a step ahead of you… We brought Okami out of retirement."

Uzuki paused a moment and remembered him. "Ohh… Isn't he the one who got dismissed?"

Uzuki was quick to calm down and Kariya was quick to anger her again, "Didn't take long to get to game master… did it?"

Uzuki's rage returned again and one might wonder how long it would take her to get an aneurysm "He was dismissed! He shouldn't be game master! You should! You never .lost control of yourself!"

Kariya attempted to calm her after he had his fun, "I never tried either. I've got veteran status and plenty of points, what am I going to do with more?"

Uzuki grabbed him by the shirt and made several death threats. Some didn't even make sense. "I'll kill you with a giraffe!" Like that one. She finally told him, "You're how I'm going to get my promotion! I WANT my promotion!"

Kariya had to exhale a light sigh and tell her, "Listen… Okami being here can only mean one thing. They don't want players to survive. Okami… he's insane."

Which didn't mean much except Okami even made reapers look sane. "I KNOW!" Except for maybe Uzuki.

Kariya looked at the players below, "He's already erased quite a few of them. He's making everyone look bad…"

Uzuki made herself look bad, "I'll not be outdone by that wolf weirdo! He has to be cheating! Cheating!"

Kariya glanced around with a vacant expression on face and body, "Nope… don't think he is. He almost lost his temper and summoned more Noise than allowed, but he's not cheating."

Uzuki wouldn't have it, "He has to be! He's stolen my promotion!" Clearly Uzuki was on another rampage.

Kariya had enough fun being an ass. Now to business, "How about a game? You'll love it."

Uzuki perked up a little, "A game?" The angered reaper waited to hear how'd she lose to one of Kariya's stupid bets.

"Whoever catches Okami cheating… while erasing the most players. Buys a bowel of ramen for me-" He quickly corrected himself, "I mean the person who wins. Whoever wins gets treated to Ramen. Sound fun?"

Uzuki thought a moment. She knew perfectly well Kariya would win if he tried. But Kariya never tried, "Alright." She said after a long pause. She took a happy pose, "You're on! I'll erase more players than you or prove Okami's a cheater." The reaper let out a giggle.

Kariya let loose a light smile, "That's a good girl." He had no intention of winning. But it was wise to keep an eye on Okami and these huge numbers of players. There shouldn't have been that many deaths in Shibuya given the population. But that wasn't his issue. For now he'd not question providence.

End Week One, Day One: Find Me

Question of Review: This is where I pose a question which you can answer on the review if you like. The first one for this chapter is one I'd like to draw out a little opinion. What is your favorite character who appeared in this chapter. It can be new or old. But please tell me why. A little crowd involvement goes a long way. : )

Author's note: I know you all want to see original characters, I know... I know. But I can't exactly open with Neku. I had two options when making this fanfic. I could either make the main characters weaker, or make new characters up. I refuse to make old characters weaker for no reason. They'll be making an appearance in this story, but you better belief I'd rather the canon be kick ass. The new characters aren't here to replace the old characters. I have too much respect for TWEWY to do away with anyone's favorite Player/ Reaper. Expect to see them and when you see them.

Thank you for taking the time to read the first chapter of The World Ends with You Too. There will be more following, though there's no set timetable. Also I give you fair warning now. Some chapters were written long ago and they weren't written well. Although the story will never completely change, I will take the time to eventually edit the poorly made chapters. Part of it is document errors and part of it is just poor writing. If you skip to the last chapters, you'll know what to expect from me. I will finish the story. I know how the story ends, but I'm finally taking the time to pretty up some of the older chapters.

If you'd like to review, I welcome anything you have to say about the fic (good or bad) and by all means go into detail. Just check to make sure no one's told me in a recent comment. If you don't want to comment, don't sweat it. You don't owe me a review, buuutttt... if you're feeling generous ^^

For the current Beta visit the forum

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-0er0 out.