Disclaimer: I do not own The World Ends With You. This is a fanfiction, hence why it exists on this site rather than in a published novel.

Day 1: Mediums

The teenaged boy woke up on the ground at the scramble crossing of Shibuya. He blinked away the grogginess and confusion that was rapidly consuming his thoughts. What was he doing here? All of a sudden, his cell phone buzzed a few times. He glanced at it. A message from an unknown sender. Reach 104. You have 60 minutes. Failure will result in erasure. Pain suddenly shot through his hand. Looking down, he was startled to notice that his hand had numbers, red and with a carved appearance, ticking down. Four digits. 59:59…59:58…59:57.

All of a sudden, a bunch of red marks appeared. A swarm of creatures escaped through these marks, as though they were portals and it was a natural occurrence. The man observed them intrigued. They resembled green frogs, but each one was the size of a small dog. One hopped up and kicked him in the arm with a strangely jointed leg.

"Ouch," he exclaimed, his grip slackening causing his phone to nearly slide between his fingers. The toads growled at them. He bared his teeth at them.

"You want to dance, assholes?" He asked, extending his hands. They began hopping on him, only to be knocked off by numerous, well-placed strokes. Unfazed, they continued their attack. "Damn, persistent buggers," he muttered, looking around. There was a statue of a dog where people seemed to be converging. The boy ran towards it. The toads hopped after him.

"What's with these damn frogs?" He yelled out, kicking one on his heel in the head with a well-placed blow that served merely to stun the beast. The strange thing was that most of these critters were specifically targeting him…

"Hmm, you know, I've never personally considered frog legs to be much of an appetizer." Wheeling around, the boy beheld an extremely large man with a tangled head of dreadlocks, a white coat with dark pants, and a belt that supported a metallic ram's head. He seemed to have his own problems with the amphibious onslaught as well. "It will be a lot easier to take care of these stir-fries if we forge a pact."

"Not sure what you mean, but I'm game."

The giant grinned. "Impatient one, aren't you? My name is Yodai Higashizawa."

"My name's Koki Kariya. Nice to meet ya!" Without warning, the duo experienced a surge of understanding as their thoughts synced up. The frogs came to a sudden halt to observe the light that suddenly protruded from the two humans' bodies.

"Whoa, freaky," Kariya mused.

"Delectable," Higashizawa stated.

"Well," Kariya looked at his hands after the light dimmed down and finally vanished. "What now?"

"You should have some pins in your pockets!" Higashizawa said. "Just pull them out and tap into them."

"Tap into them?"

"I don't know... I saw another guy that was getting attacked by those frogs using them…but they don't do anything when I try."

"Me either," Kariya said, frustrated as the pins he gripped failed to produce any otherworldly effects. The frogs continued to bombard him, throwing themselves against him. "Shit, what now?"

"Find a medium!" Higashizawa hollered back. Kariya stared at him. He must have doubled his normal size. His belt buckle was glowing intensely and he was thrashing on the toads that attacked them. In a matter of minutes, they were all completely squashed.

"Never seen that before," Kariya muttered. He felt completely useless. Mediums? The stupid pins obviously didn't help. Nothing more than a fashion accessory. He could not give up his search though; more frogs were appearing.

"You need to find a medium before the pins can do anything!" Higaashizawa said, swinging at the nearest frog with vigor. "For me, my buckle did the trick!"

"A medium..." Kariya whispered, focusing on all of his accessories, but to no avail.

"Kariya, we're in hot water! This is pretty difficult to do single-handedly!" Higashizawa was indeed starting to discover his weakness; the time it took him to smash one frog gave the rest of the pack an opening to exploit.

"Right, right," Kariya quickly began trying to focus his energies on other aspects of himself. His glasses? Nothing. Shoes? Nothing. Fists? Nothing. Kariya swore under his breath.

"Guess the bastards in charge of this thing expect me to make the lint in my pockets a weapon or some shit," he muttered angrily, searching through his pockets desperately. Surprised, he realized that he had a bean paste lollipop carefully wrapped up in his left pant leg. Instinctively, he unwrapped it and stuck it in his mouth. At this, sparks crackled around his body. Higashizawa stared at him.

"So food works for YOU?" He asked, somewhat affronted. Kariya grinned.

"Sorry big guy, but I guess now we can move past the appetizers!" He reached into his pocket and grabbed the first pin he could find. The back of the pin said "Hounder Magnum." Gripping it, Kariya directed the sparks out in front of him, sending them forth in three different directions. The various frogs squealed as they succumbed to a shared weakness for electricity.

"Incredible," Higashizawa muttered.

"Incredible is right," an irritable voice spoke softly. Wheeling around, Kariya and Higashizawa beheld a woman with long blonde hair, a black costume that resembled that of a maid, and thin black specs.

"Hey, Higashizawa, looks like we just found our entre," Kariya laughed. The stranger did not seem amused.

"Entre? Hardly. I am Mitsuki Konishi, the Game Master. You'd be wise to respect that," she icily replied.

"Our apologies," Higashizawa cut in before Kariya could piss her off anymore. "Ms. Konishi, please tell us, what is all of this?"

"You are in the Reapers' Game," she replied, "which is where people from the Realground go after they "die" (Konishi air quoted this for some reason) to receive another chance at life. An encore as it were."

"So we're dead?" Kariya asked blankly.

"That is how you would be referred to in the RG, yes," Konishi explained. "Now I must be off; you two behave. Players would be wise not to agitate the Reapers." With this final bit of advice, black tribal-like wings protruded out of her shoulders and began flapping, and she soared over them. Kariya and Higashizawa watched her leave.

"Cute panties!" Kariya called after her. Her face went red in midair, as if she could not believe what she just heard, and she hovered for a second in shock.

"I was going to let you two off light," she said, "but I think I would prefer getting rid of you monkies here and now!" Pointing her finger at them, a sound wave vibrated through the air, screeching through the duo's ears. "Enjoy the Noise," she called after them. As Konishi flew out of sight, a large shadow fell over the duo.

"You really like to stir up the pot, don't you," Higashizawa muttered spitefully. Kariya grinned.

"Don't act like you didn't enjoy the view." He frowned, realizing the shadow was growing smaller. "What is that up there?" As if to answer his question, a pair of red kangaroos smashed down into the ground from the sky, barely missing the Players who somehow sidestepped the incoming blow. Nevertheless, the duo was knocked off their feet.

"Those boomers," Kariya jumped to his feet, sending sparks toward them. It only reached their afterimages as the two Noise had once again gone airborne.

"Get ready," Higashizawa shouted. The two tensed and dove out of the way as the kangaroos once again destroyed the ground around them. Somehow, plenty of people were walking by the scene without noticing anything.

"Recover!" Kariya yelled, but the Noise were up in the skies again. "Shit!" He cursed as the attempt to go on the offensive was once again thwarted by the boomers' immediate reaction timing.

"Hey Kariya, get over here. I've got an idea," Higashizawa said.

The Noise had risen so high that they were completely out of sight. They could see the Players, however, and what a sight awaited them! Higashizawa had Kariya standing on top of his broad shoulders, stacked together as one target. As the shadows began getting smaller, Higashizawa bent his legs.

"NOW!" Kariya screamed. Higashizawa jumped with all his might, barely avoiding the powerful landing that would have surely proven a fatal injury had he remained stationary. Kariya jumped off his shoulders at this exact instance in the opposite direction, avoiding the shock that staying on the ground would have caused. The two Noise realized their own downfall as he pointed his palm at them.

"Die." Their brains exploded as Kariya soared above them, electricity penetrating their heads. He tucked into a roll as he tumbled to the ground, jumping to his feet as soon as he found the proper footing. The Noise stood on their feet for a few moments before falling to the ground.

"All right!" Kariya clenched his fist in triumph.

"Quick!" Higashizawa looked at his hand. "We've only got 15 minutes left! We've gotta get to the 104 building!"

"Oh, damn! Let's bounce!" Kariya yelled. The two took off running in a full sprint towards 104. For such a large guy, Higashizawa could hold his own in a race. As they passed through the scramble crossing, they ran into an invisible barrier.

"What the fudge?" Higashizawa cried as he bounced off the wall. "What is this?"

"Not a clue," Kariya pulled out his bean paste lollipop curiously. "Maybe that guy knows." He jammed a thumb in the direction of the one man who seemed to be noticing them. He was donning a red hoodie which snuggly covered his head. He looked a lot like a drug dealer, if the stereotype were to dictate his profession, although he had a pair of tribal-like wings that was disconcerting. He was watching their frustration with amusement.

"Want past this wall? You have to take care of these Noise." With the snap of a finger, sound waves emitted from his palm, attracting three silvery wolves with blue paws and tails.

"Let's make mincemeat out of these guys," Higashizawa said, his belt glowing in anticipation.

"Well put, big guy," Kariya grinned, twirling his medium in his hands. Electricity flickered between his fingers. He aimed his fingers at the wolves and let sparks fly. A single wolf dashed to the left at an impressive speed while the other two sped off to the right. The left-sided wolf was clipped in the shoulder, but otherwise, the Noise were relatively unharmed. Gigantic Higashizawa was aiming punch after punch at the wolves, but they were avoiding it with relative ease; one was able to sneak pasts his swinging fists and bite into his leg with jagged teeth.

"Shit! I'm being eaten by my dinner!" He groaned loudly. Kariya laughed, despite the severity of the situation.

"Hey, Higashizawa, think we can push these guys back?"

"What are you getting at?" Higashiza asked as he grabbed the wolf by the neck and began to beat it.

"The ground conducts electricity right? What happens if these guys step on it?"

"They get baked?" Higashizawa rubbed his chin, providing the wolf enough leeway to escape his grasp. "Let's try it." Increasing the wingspan of his swings, he began moving forward, causing the wolves to cautiously step back. Kariya jumped into the air, aiming an electrical blast towards the ground behind them. In stark opposition to the Players' expectations, the wolves were immediately blasted from their backsides. Kariya and Higashizawa both stared at them.

"Didn't expect that to happen," Kariya said, eyebrow raised.

"Effective though; do it again!" Higashizawa prodded. Kariya gathered his energies together, but to no avail.

"Damn, I need some recovery time," he muttered. A wolf tackled him in rebuttal.

"At least we've got a weapon now," Higashizawa replied, smashing down on the wolf that had knocked back Kariya. It whimpered and recognizing its singed shoulder, Kariya knew it was near its breaking point.

"Gotcha!" He threw an electrical blast at the wolf pinned under Higashizawa's fist. It shrieked and collapsed to the ground. The other two wolves exchanged a glance and began to howl.

"What are they doing?" Higashiza asked. His question seemed to be answered by a low rumbling. The ground slightly rose in a line, trailing from about twenty feet north of Higashizawa. Kariya did not realize what was happening up until it was about five feet away from his partner.

"Higashizawa…GET OUT OF THE WAY!" He roared. Higashizawa looked down alarmed and dove as a pair of powerful claws sprung from the ground, a golden shrew catapulting from below. He might have dodged this potential fatal blow, but now the vicious wolves were attacking his undefended flank. Kariya growled and blasted the nearest one between the ribs. It yelped and fell to the ground. Unfortunately, this momentary distraction gave the shrew the opportunity to crawl back into its hole and resume its vengeful tunneling.

"Kariya, you concentrate on the wolves, and I'll take care of the shrew!" Higashizawa exclaimed.

"Gotcha," Kariya said. Knowing he could trust his partner, he concentrated solely on the snarling prowlers circling around him. Snipping at his heels, he performed a backflip and knocked one in the jaw with his foot. It yelped, but tackled him, feet kicking at his face. He caught the wolf by the feet, and despite the claws scarring deep into his skin, he grinned with malice.

Higashizawa followed the shrew's tunnel patiently, staying light on his feet, so as not to disturb its growing sense of security. Higashizawa had a hunch that it detected people by combining its excellent memory (when its head is above ground) with its ability to sense others above it by the slight tremors in the ground that people create when stepping. To combat this, Higashizawa had taken a giant leap towards a number of scattered objects, guaranteeing that his heavy landing in a new location had secured the shrew's startled attention. Picking up street signs and ripping parts off cars, he gradually threw them in the opposite direction as he dragged his feet after the shrew. The shrew, with its sharp senses, could still feel a slight tremor above it, but the heavy items landing a few feet away were what really had hooked its attention. Drilling upwards from the ground, it sprung up in anticipation of a heavy target. Instead, it found itself fooled as its claws struck a red car door. Turning its head, Higashizawa's enormous fist bashed it into the ground. Turning triumphantly towards Kariya, Higashizawa beheld a gruesome picture.

Kariya had caught a wolf by the limbs and split it in half, grabbing both of its jaws with his bare hands and pulling it apart with electricity enhancing the effectiveness of his physical prowess. Its frightened comrade had tried to retreat, but Kariya jumped up and attacked the ground, causing it to blow to smithereens with the ground it stood on. It was raining bits of wolf by the time Higashizawa had finally extirpated the shrew. His partner was still holding half a wolf, panting with an expression of pure adrenaline on his face. Higashizawa had never seen someone look more alive.

"Kariya, we need to go. Three minutes left…" He said.

"Ah, shit!" Kariya tossed the wolf corpse aside and turned to the red-cloaked stranger restricting their progress. He looked terrified and was pointing at Kariya with a mixture of fear and respect.

"Are you really a Player?" He whispered.

"Yup, now take down this frickin' wall!"

"You were so vicious…" The man muttered to no one in particular.

"You goin' anywhere with this?" Kariya asked. The stranger snapped his fingers defeated.

"Mission complete. Wall clear," he said, though Kariya and Higashizawa were rushing past him so fast that they didn't even notice. As they made it past the final obstacle, Kariya nervously watched the numbers on his hand go down. 6…5…4…3…2…1…The numbers disappeared.

"We did it!" Kariya fell to his knees in joy. He had been certain they were goners. Wiping the dust off of his specs, he looked up at Higashizawa and grinned. Higashizawa extended his hand and Kariya gripped it firmly. And then they both blacked out.

Konishi stood before the Conductor, trembling before him in the face of what she considered to be an absolute failure. She had attacked every Player with stray Noise in addition to the default mission intended to effectively seal off any newbies from succeeding. Two pairs of Players had breached her trap, ruining her perfect one-day kill plan.

"Konishi, you seem nervous," Megumi Kitaniji mused, rhythmically tapping his foot to music that only he could hear floating out of his headphones.

"My incompetence is already evident," Konishi replied, hanging her head in shame. It was not only her first day as Game Master; it was her first day as an Officer. The rank alone stood as testament to her experience, but she felt significantly belittled that she had allowed four puny Players to slide through her snare.

"Settle down," Kitaniji soothingly replied. "It was an impressive first day. You mustn't set such high expectations for yourself."

"Thank you sir," she bowed. "What was it you wished to speak to me about?"

"The surviving Players…they seem full of potential, and judging by their entry fees, they would make perfect Reapers."

"You think so, sir?" Konishi asked. Sure they were good, but no Reaper had ever heard the Conductor plan of recruiting Reapers on the first day of the Game. Did they really have so much potential? "Well, I'm afraid I will have to disappoint you sir, but they will not escape erasure this week…"

"Oh, by all means!" Kitaniji grinned. "If they cannot escape the Game's mastermind, then they have no business in joining the Reaper ranks. I expect nothing but the best from you."

Konishi bowed and took her leave. Learning that Kariya and Higashizawa had survived had come as quite a shock to her. Higashizawa had shown her the respect and potential that she would like and expect of Reaper underlings, but Kariya had a…disturbing presence. He had the feel of a demon, if such things truly existed, and the intellect of the world's most devious bastard. 'I won't let him survive,' Konishi swore. Kitaniji just chuckled to himself as the Game Master faded into the shadows.

Author's Note: What you guys think? A younger and more reckless Kariya partnered with Higashizawa, Konishi as a new officer, and a plausible backstory from the main storyline. I am only planning to make seven or eight chapters for this series, but they will be longer than the chapters from my current other TWEWY series, Choose the World You See. I have several favorite characters from the game, but the Players seem pretty well-covered, and I would rather explore the Reapers. Review and follow if you guys enjoyed!

Crow