Chapter 57: I am the storm that is approaching

I got into the 'Reaper Game'. And it's Sunday, the final day.

"So you're the new rookie huh? Doesn't look like much"

says a pink haired girl, she's a head shorter than me.

"Chill out, Uzuki... You're scaring the new guy."

Another Reaper with orange hair said so while licking his lollipop.... he reminds me of a certain highschooler on a bizarre adventure.

"The Name's Koki Kariya, Nice to meetcha."

Koki Kariya's the name of the orange haired reaper. you can tell one's a reaper by looking at the wing growing out of their backs along with their... unusual fashion sense.

"Akira Dojima, Nice to meet you."

I simply nod at Koki's introduction, while reaching out a hand for a handshake.

"Confidence, I like it. Glad to know Uzuki didn't scare ya'"

"I've seen scarier things in life."

"I have no doubt about it."

"HEY! Stop ignoring me!"

"Oh someone's mad."

"Grrrr.... Sigh... Calm down Uzuki..."

It seems like Uzuki's trying to calm herself....

"Name's Uzuki Yashiro, remember that Dojima-san."

"Of course, Yashiro-san."

I replied in kind, she seems to be all business.

"You guys are too stiff, loosen up a little."

"Says the guy who always slacks off when he gets the chance."

Both of them seem to have something going on huh.

"So what should I do today?"

"Hmmm? Oh, today is Sunday, the last day usually we have to report our weekly report and count up each contestant's points. The winner will obviously be reported while the last place is going to be eliminated."

"Oh you got the data ready?" asks Koki

"Of course! Who do you think I am!"

Ah Reapers Game, a second chance for players. Most players are teenagers who lost their life too early, hence Reaper's games are used to give the worthy a second chance.

"What criteria are we judging these contestants on?"

"OH! That's easy, each week the game master will give players quests, and we judge the players from their completion rate."

"That's inefficient."

"See! Someone agrees with me Koki!?"

Koki simply shrugs his shoulders.

"So what's today's mission?"

"Easy, beat the game master."

"!? Aren't the game master strong, how can players beat him?"

"..."

a dark expression is seen at both of their faces.

so it's not a game for second chances huh, but a death game...

---

Like what we expected, nobody wins the game this round.

Another thing I learnt today is the reapers have to 'reap' the souls of players to continue to exist, it's a grave cycle, but a necessary one.

Player's are already dead to begin with, so 'reaping' them is part of the natural cycle.

we're currently in a luxurious room. There's a few people here including me.

"Where's the Prime Variable? He's inconsistent with his time as always."

... What kind of chuuni is this?

"Oh hush it, are you like for realz? OMG LOOK! there's a newbz here!"

a loli with a colorful dress points at me.

"Name's Akira Dojima, Pleasure to meet you."

I extended my hand for a handshake to the loli.

"WOWzers gentlemen in this day and age? I thought you're a thug tbh. the name's COCO, literally the cutest reaper!"

she grabbed my hand and shook it fiercely. I would say she's young but appearance can be deceiving right?

"Are you thinking of something rude about me? cause I'm gonna rekt you real good if you are!"

"No, I was surprised to see someone so sociable here, makes noobs like me feel at ease."

"HAH! see that, Akira-kun's a gentleman and KNOWS MY WORTH!"

"Ha! nice well said Yoctogram, a nice equation to distract noisy variables."

I simply smiled at the Math Chuuni.

"The name's Sho Minamoto, Factor that to your mind."

"HEY WHAT's that supposed to mean?"

*bang* a sound of a door opening and closing loudly can be heard.

a secretary-like blond lady walks inside the room, along with a huge man with a beefy build walks in.

"It took you 10 minutes and 32 seconds to settle down."

said the secretary lady

"So what are we talking about today? What's this week's mission like?"

"This week's theme is trend, we'll have to see how the players are going to increase trend in a certain area."

said the beefy man.

"The next round of players are numbered 35 which is more than the last. So this week we have to eliminate a certain number of players each day. 5 seems acceptable."

The secretary continues the beefy man's speech and without words, we simply nod.

"Ah and it seems like we have a new reaper here, care to introduce yourself?"

"With pleasure, my name's Akira Dojima."

I extended my hand.

"Yodai Higashizawa, a cook, and Shibuya's Game Master."

he grabbed my hand with force, but I'm not backing down, I also exerted the same force he did.

Both of us smiled.

"HAHAHA! it seems that I'll have to cook a fine dish today for a welcome party, anybody coming?"

none of them answered.

"Sham--"

"I'd like to try your food."

"!"

Everyone in the room suddenly pays attention to me.

"Good! I like you already Akira"

"Likewise Yodai."

---

After the meal both of us are smoking. His cooking skills are comparable to 1 or 2 star chefs I, and I must say I'm impressed.

"So who were you before... ya know.."

"Yakuza ..."

"Figures ... Why Join the reapers? being a player suits you more."

Hmmm this beef is not so dumb after all.

"Nah, too much work in the real world, I didn't know what I really wanted. But here, This is where I belong. a true dog-eat-dog world."

"HAHAHAH! Somebody gets me!"

... ? what?

"*Sigh* Maybe I'll ask the conductor to promote ya if ya did good."

"Thanks Yodai."

"No need to thank me, Akira."

---

"So how was the ram crotch's meal?"

? well Yodai did have a ram belt.

"It's surprisingly good Coco."

My partner for today's Coco. and she's quite Loco to say the least.

"So how should we do this?"

"Oh you're new so you don't know. We're going to monitor central shibuya. Today's mission is to make a pin become a hot trend here. players can use their psych power to read and give suggestions to pedestrians' minds, so we're here to monitor who did good."

"Ah! How about those guys with red hoods? are they on our side?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot you skipped a few ranks. Ya see we're like, super high on the leadership ranking and they're super low fodders."

"..."

Huh we even got employees, nice.

"So we just watch?"

"Yup."

"Can we do something?"

"Well, we can help the players... or 'reap' them outright!"

"..."

"What?"

"It's boring, how bout we kick it up a notch."

"?"

I took out a phone, our phone is connected to everyone in the underground. As reapers we can send missions here and whatnot.

I immediately opened the app and set a conference call with every central shibuya player.

"Players of Shibuya, The Name's Akira, A Reaper. Since today's the first day, let me tell you something. Not everyone will win."

"Remember the last one standing wins. But there's no rule to say that you can only erase noise. You know what they say, if you can't win, if there's no competitor, then ..."

I stopped there and smiled evilly.

"!"

a shock appears on Coco's face, other reapers' faces, and even other players' faces.

Suddenly all hell broke loose.

whether it's noise or players. one gets deleted one after the other.

".... demon ...." coco said in a soft voice, barely audible

and before long, the day ends for players.

---

"So I heard you did something unthinkable today."

"You praised me too much."

"Nobody's praising you, UGH."

a certain pink haired reaper is reprimanding me.

"Uzuki, it may look like he broke the rules, but trust me it's fine, he didn't touch the players personally."

"!"

Yeah I made sure not to lie, nor misinform the player.

"Yo Zeptogram, no you're an irregular, leading those binomials to slaughter each other. "

*Bang* A familiar sound can be heard as Yodai and his secretary enter the room.

"Akira"

"Yes?"

"Come with me, the conductor wants to see you."

---

Hmmm... I don't remember anybody like this in the series. The current conductor is a man with a very punchable face. He has blue hair, with his right side slicked back. with a green jacket and a pair of glasses.

"You may leave."

"Yes Conductor."

Now we're alone, in this eerie room made up of darkness, only the center of the room is lit by a hanging lamp and on one end sits the conductor.

"So, Osaka's Maou, no it should just be Maou-sama, right now. Why are you here."

"So you know about me. not surprising."

"Who are you?"

"Jin Shirato. or used to be anyway."

"Explain."

"As expected of Maou-sama, not even standing in front of your superiors scare you. but sadly, your authority doesn't work here... [Persona]!"

"[Sazabi]"

His persona looks like a beyblade stacked on top of each other with a left hand floating around it. and legs. strange...

"Oh a mechanical persona, I don't think I'll find someone here who can use it, tell me are you also... no it doesn't matter, what matters is now you shall die. End him, MOROS!"

as his persona's giant arm swung against sazabi, Sazabi easily crouch down, took out his beam tomahawk and slices Moros's body.

*Clang*

"!"

"Your puny Persona can't compare to mine. Now MOROS! BUFUDYNE"

I calmly control sazabi to throw his beam axe towards Moros before equipping a beam saber and a beam cannon.

As ice began to form around Sazabi, I ordered it to fire it's funnels. aiming towards Moros. bombarding it without stopping.

"What Person is that? I never heard of a myth called Sazab--"

*Punch sfx*

Jin flew a bit before landing not far from me.

"What's all that abou--"

I kicked him on his stomach when he's down.

"IF that's how you're gonna --"

"Noisy"

"!"

as he was trying to get back up and get something out of his pocket, I simply stepped on his left shoulder... hard. I heard a bone snapping.

"ACKH!"

something fell, it's a round white object. huh. what's that?

I grabbed his only functioning arm, and put it in an arm lock.

"So, Jin, the easy way is left along with your left arm."

"Now tell me everything I want to know, and who knows you might have the right to leave...." (WN: Get it? too much? ok I'll shut up.)

----

anyway, have a nice day, stay hydrated, and if you need a sign to be productive, this is it. this is the lazy author signing out.