Sorry for the delay and more apologies in advance 'cause next chapter will probably also take some time to get written and posted. Real Life is getting very busy (and I'm lovin' it).
This aside, am I the only one who gets chills during Higashizawa's speech to Shiki, never mind how many times I read it ? I hope I managed to do it some justice despite the rush I'm currently in
'Kay, enjoy (I hope) !

SHIKI, DAY 5

Waking up is eerie. Mostly because Neku feels he shouldn't be waking up, not after the previous day. Maybe because he feels he doesn't deserve to keep living - if you can call this living - and definitely because he wishes he didn't have to deal with any more of this shit.

He breathes in deep, and tells the emo urges to go screw themselves.

He's still trapped in this joke of a new Game, Shiki's still depending on him, he's still got to make it through it all (again) and he will. Day Four is over, done with, in the past, and even though nothing guarantees he'll never have to go through it again, it's not an issue at the moment.

Right now, what's important is Shiki, trying not to look at him and not to fidget and being such a brave girl even when she's scared witless.

"Sorry about yesterday," she mutters. "I crossed the line with what I said."

Hard feelings don't make for good teamwork. Always apologize, never let hard feelings pile up, get rid of conflicts because you can't survive on your own here. You need your partner.

You need to trust your partner.

Yeah, well, trust Shiki to take that to heart and apologize even when they both know she was absolutely right.

Rhyme...

... is not the issue at hand anymore. The mission comes beeping and Neku is fairly sure they're the only pair left already - Yashiro said fifteen erased, just by her, just yesterday. It's up to them from now on, although really it was always up to them.

Today's program : free Spain Hill. Perfect. Beating up on Noise is exactly what he needs right now.

o

No matter the time of day, Spain Hill always has large patches of shade positively swarming with Noise. Neku chains up a four-reduction battle and just crashes his way through them - and is disappointed when he realizes the fight's already over.

"Stupid things don't even last ten seconds," he mumbles.

"Hem." Shiki's lightly biting her thumb again. "Neku ? I don't think this is making any difference."

Neku is scanning the area again before he even thinks about it. It's a bit of a scary habit to have, but at least there aren't many people in the street to throw their thoughts at him - or black Noise coming after his hide. Though Shiki's right, there's still just as much Noise as ever -

- heeey there. Yellow Noise, negative Noise, Noise that like to feed on people's emotions, hello.

That's right. It's the pair of schoolgirls. They were in that ridiculous, hugely blown out of proportion argument about something or other.

Getting rid of the dark yellow symbols floating around them is no use either, they just spawn more the next second. Only one solution : invasion of privacy. Neku wonders if the Game was specifically designed to screw over anyone with actual morals. (And considering who's in charge of it, it's even pretty likely.)

The girls are scary, really.

The whole thing is stupid, a silly misunderstanding caused by a hasty assumption and a complete absence of trust, and Neku has always thought that girls were weird in general but these two ? That Ai chick ? She's taking all this way too seriously, way too far, and being way too frighteningly bitchy. How the hell is the human race still around if girls react this way when they're jealous ?!

The way she 'summons' the 'Reaper' of her game, it doesn't sound like she's hoping that it will answer her questions so much as that it will curse her supposedly best friend. She's almost murderous when Neku slowly nudges the coin to the true answer rather than the answer she'd like : yes, your friend lied to you, but no, she doesn't have a crush on anyone (as far Neku knows, anyway). You're just imagining things. She's just looking out for you, trying to do something nice for you.

So much for friendship, Neku catches himself thinking again.

Shiki tried, he's gotta hand it to her. She tried to get him to believe in friendship... to make herself believe it. As they stand side by side, watching the two girls make up, she starts her big speech again and Neku listens to it with new ears. She sounds so convinced, so sure of what she's saying, too, he probably would never have guessed that she was just reciting by heart bullshit she didn't believe in at all either. It is disturbing to think that the only sincere thing in it all is probably that Eri really was nice to her - but Shiki didn't like it, didn't like it at all, maybe hated her friend for being so loving and lovable.

The thought takes him by surprise, so much that he's not sure if it's really his - maybe he did just think it himself or maybe he used to think it, or perhaps he simply accidentally scanned it from the crowd or something, or someone imprinted it in him - but he's got to agree with it, reluctantly :

It's scary, the strength with which humans hate, and just how much easier it is for them to hate than to love.

The scariest thing of all is probably the Game Master, though. Neku faintly remembers having been creeped out like hell when the huge guy just popped out of nowhere, having apparently been stalking Shiki, but he'd forgotten all the bad puns and food analogies. Somehow.

'The barbecue of your heart' ? 'The tomato of your soul' ? Seriously ?

Worst thing is that there's nothing funny about this. Shiki is shuddering, about to fall to her knees on the ground but not daring to cling to Neku for support - not even looking at him.

He's not sure she even remembers that he's there, actually.

"Oh, how deeply you must hate yourself," the Game Master coos, with a sickly sweet, sugary voice that gives Neku chills and must be doing so much worse to Shiki.

She's staring at the ogre of a Reaper with eyes open wide and bulging and far away and maybe she doesn't see him, either, although she certainly hears him.

"No one loves you," he hisses on, like a serpent, delighting in the horror painted all over her face. "You can’t love yourself."

"Stop," she whispers. "Stop !" she whimpers. "Don't say it, don't say it..." and she clutches at 'her' face, 'her' skull, 'her' cherry-colored hair that's not hers at all and she pulls.

Neku can almost see how much she wishes she could get out of her own skin (not, not, not her own).

"Nothing will change if you are restored to life. You’ll just go on hating yourself and being jealous of everybody else."

Shiki makes a choking sound.

The guy, Higa-something, is about twice Neku's height and at least five times bigger than him, and a friggin' Game Master - (Neku knows being a proxy really means nothing as far as actual power goes) - but he really, really doesn't care. That's not what's stopping him from running to the huge Reaper and making him shut up, fuck it, shoving something in his mouth before he breaks Shiki down into pieces that never did hold together so well in the first place.

What's stopping him is his own body, absolutely refusing to move a finger, once again. Neku can't believe he didn't move at all, didn't do anything the first time this happened - Shiki is freaking out and falling apart right in front of him and, judging by the words that come out of his mouth, all he was concerned about the first time around was that he was dead.

"I'm dead ?" he repeats, machine-like and still as a statue, trapped in his own body while his partner runs away on shaky legs, sobbing and clinging to the raggedy stuffed animal that is all that's left of her.

EMPTY URBAN LEGENDS