The World Ends With You

Week 1, Day 1 - Continued.

Neku’s POV

Huff. Huff.

I greedily breathe in air to remove the tightness in my chest. On shaky legs I stagger over to a giant statue of a dog and lean against it for support. Beads of sweat are making their way down my face. I fix up the headphones on my head and sit down. Just as I am starting to feel better, I hear a croak. In the near distance I can make out the blurry image of two frogs quickly leaping over to me.

”Freakin’ frogs! Just leave me alone!” I scream. “I didn’t do anything to you!”

I hear a cry behind me and quickly whip over. What I see doesn’t make any sense to me. More of the floating figures are surrounding people, and from each figure emerges a creature with a strange tattoo engraved on it. A few people stare frozen in shock, gaping at the scene, while most others pay zero attention.

In no time the creatures – frogs, wolves, and bears, to name a few – throw themselves on the frozen people and attack mercilessly. Screams of terror fill the air and yet most people pretend not to hear. My eyes are frantically scanning the area for any shelter, any place I could run off to.  I place my hand on the statue for support as my head starts spinning in circles, unable to make sense of anything. Then my eye catches something.

In the distance I see a wolf biting off and clawing vigorously at a middle aged man. Blood rushes out from uncountable gashes while he cries for help from the people walking by. They don’t give a damn and pretend like nothing’s happening. My eyes find their way back to the man, now lying motionless on the floor.

He  then vanishes into thin air.

Just disappears without a trace.

What the hell happened?

I bend down and clutch my head in my hands while shutting my eyes. Everything is out of place. The frogs that seem to have lost interest in me are now coming back. I don’t even bother running anymore.

 What the hell is going on? Why am I even here?!

“Found one!” A girl’s voice rips through my confusion. I turn around and see a young girl running towards me. “You!” she yells, pointing a finger at me. “Forge a pact with me!”

What? “Uhh.. I’ve kinda got my hands full..”

“Listen!” she snaps back. She stands in front of me, her deep brown eyes glaring. “If we forge a pact, we can beat the Noise!”

She’s insane. “Who cares about a little noise?!”

“You wanna be erased?! Hurry up, there’s no time! Make a pact with me, please!”

“A-Alright?”

As soon as the words leave my mouth I feel a weird sensation, like fire spreading out through me. Except it isn’t burning hot, it’s a nice and calm warmth.

“Good! Listen, here!” She fumbles around in her pocket and takes out a pin. “Use this pin!”

It’s a similar size to the one I found with me when I woke up, but the design is completely different. This one has flames on it.

“But-”

“I’ll explain later! Right now we have to stop the Noise!”

“Uhh, ok?”

“Get ready!”

A piercing white light suddenly engulfs everything around me. I squint and shield my eyes until, soon, the light fades away. I gasp as I take in the view. Everybody around me, including the weird girl, has disappeared. All that is left are the few frogs, croaking at me.