Gantz: The beginning

Death of a teammate.

There were three new arrivals when the Gantz team appeared in the room. Two women and a man. Each time a mission started, the new players just got worse. Nishi glanced at the man hugging himself in the corner of the room, he was rocking himself back and forth, and the teen rolled his eyes. Great, someone who belongs in a mental hospital. Nishi sighed and leaned against the wall, his team standing close by. Yoko leaned next to him, purposely brushing her arm against his; the two had no desire to acknowledge their relationship, but they were almost sure Ryo and Jiro were aware of it. The two women stood on the opposite side of the room looking quite calm considering, though their confusion was palpable. Their clothing was similar in style, dark in color, with a short skirt and the other leather pants, but had the same Satan symbol printed on their t-shirts.

Ryo leaned close to his group and whispered, "Those girls are freaking me out more than that rocking guy over there."

Jiro didn't try to explain anything because he knew it annoyed their youngest member; Nishi never forgot the Daikai incident and would not trust anyone else. However, Jiro did introduce himself and the rest of the team, much to their dismay, and they proceed to then observe the new arrivals. The newbies held no interest in the black ball, and after a few minutes, the man stood up and began to freak out.

"Here we go," remarked Nishi. "This is becoming extremely annoying."

Jiro smiled. "We could always try and explain it to them, keep things interesting."

Nishi grimaced and huffed, "And sign our death warrants while we're at it." The boy frowned at Jiro while shoving his hands in his pockets. "I died once already, I don't plan to die again, certainly not here anyway, do you?"

Jiro clapped his hand on Nishi's shoulder. "Certainly not, my boy."

Nishi shrugged off Jiro's hand. "Then take my advice and keep quiet."

The man continued to freak out, and he soon started muttering about conspiracies while desperately checking for bugs in the walls. "It's the government! They've trapped us, we're all doomed, I knew it all along, they're using us for their sick plans, they've been watching us from the very beginning I tell you!"

Nishi suddenly smirked. "Of course, we can always play along."

Although Yoko nudged Nishi with a frown, she couldn't help but chuckle when Ryo replied, "You're awful, kid, that's cruel."

Nishi shrugged. "Who wanted the hippies around because they were entertaining?"

Ryo stammered because he knew Nishi was right, "Hey! We all wanted that, shut up."

Suddenly, the Gantz ball began the next part of the stage, causing the man to freeze up, and the two women finally pay attention to the ball. As usual, the ball told them their lives were over, and their new lives were in the ball's hands. The guy freaked out again and pulled at his hair before slapping the ball a few times and then jumped back in terror when it burst open. He soon started to shout theories about cheating death and patterns to remain ahead of death, to which Ryo began to connect with the horror movie franchise final destination. "What a lunatic," Ryo muttered to his team.

"It's all real! We're going to die! No one has broken the chain, we can't cheat death!"

Yoko and Jiro shared a concerning look, and the old man smiled sheepishly, "Well, we know why he was sectioned, I suppose." Yoko hid her giggles behind her hand.

Nishi gritted his teeth, his fists clenched, he wasn't sure why he was suddenly angry, but he shouted, "Instead of coming up with ridiculous assumptions and basing your theories off fictional movies, try thinking about the reality of what's happened so far and actually do something useful!" The guy froze and crouched to the floor, wrapping his arms around himself to rock again.