Gantz: The beginning

Consequences part 1

Yoko flicked through the mail, muttering about useless advertisements until she came across an envelope with her college stamp on it. "This must be my dissertation results." She eagerly opened the letter and read through it carefully. Yoko frowned at the written statements and slammed the paper on the counter. "Bastard, my thesis was accurate, I swear, what the hell did I do wrong?"

"That's what you study?"

Yoko let out a short scream and turned quickly to see Nishi standing behind her with a grin on his face. "What the hell! I didn't even hear you come back, you scared the fucking crap out of me."

Nishi chuckled and tapped the sheet of paper in her hand with a grin. "No wonder you didn't want to tell me."

Yoko groaned and folded her arms with a small pout. "It's not that bad..."

Nishi raised an eyebrow. "Someone whose killed a person, two people in fact, wants to be a human rights lawyer. Now I have to ask what the fuck you wrote about."

Yoko's cheeks reddened, and she hunched her shoulders at his statement. "You don't have to be so blunt about it, and by the way, both of those times were self-defense."

Nishi tilted his head and said, "Only one of them was, and barely, but that's not the point." Nishi grinned at her. "So what did you write about?"

Yoko screwed up the sheet and quickly threw it in the trash. "You'll never know."

Nishi shrugged. "You might as well tell me, it's not like I'll remember when I'm free anyway, and you won't remember you told me."

A sadness swept over Yoko, and she looked down at the floor with a smile. "I'll tell you after the next mission is over."

Nishi looked at her with a knowing grin. "Is that supposed to be a parting gift?"

Yoko regarded him with amusement. "Why not."

................................

Yoko looked at Nishi with a nervous smile. They stood in one corner of the Gantz room, suits on, equipment already on their person. There were eight fresh players, one female, the rest males, most of them in the age range of eighteen to twenty-five, two of which seemed to be brothers, both dressed in what appeared to be a construction uniform. The only female of the group wore a hospital gown; she looked around in confusion, but her eyes searched for something in particular as they grew wide with worry; they made a guess her death involved childbirth. The rest of the group appeared to be ordinary citizens; no sign of how they got here or what they did for a living, but they all had one thing in common, they would all die. Yoko's nervousness came from Nishi's irritation, she knew he couldn't stand the new players for a variety of reasons, and the main one was their ignorance and lack of independence; one day, he just might snap, but she figured they'd both be free by then and would never have to see a repeat of this again.

Nishi rolled his eyes when he caught her expression, knowing she was thinking the same thing. They would be the only ones who returned, just like always. Nishi suspected there was an underlying sympathy from Yoko for the fresh players, but she didn't care enough to voice it.

The group of newbies tried a few times to approach Nishi and Yoko for an explanation, but each time, the teens brushed them off and declared they had no knowledge of what was happening. Despite their suspicions that the two were lying, they didn't continue to pursue the issue.

"Remember your agreement," Nishi said quietly to Yoko when the Gantz screen gave them a vague explanation of its own. "After this mission is over, you choose option one, no exceptions."