JPHiP Forum

AKB48 Fanfics => AKB48 Fanfics => Topic started by: jubethehare on November 16, 2016, 08:40:36 AM

Title: [ALL48+46] Shinigami Playground (NagiUha+Various) [BONUS]
Post by: jubethehare on November 16, 2016, 08:40:36 AM

     Hello, I’m [Takamimusubi]
                                 
                                  And I am [Kamimusubi]


 
  Today we want to tell you something...

  The world is going to end




   Filth, malice, impurities, corruption--
                      Hatred, pain, sorrow, grudge--



    Everything had tainted this world in black




          But there is still a chance for you who seek for salvation~

              In this game of life; in this game of death




                                                  [seed]
                             Humans

[ayakashi]
Demons

                              [systems]
                 High Heaven


  [imperfect]
Gods






   Only one will have the last laugh in the end



 Even then don’t forget to enjoy yourself~


  In this end of a beginning
  and the beginning of an end







    (https://s14.postimg.org/v8j8t508h/shipure_01.png)







__________________________________________________________
Shinigami Playground: Teaser // END
Title: Re: [ALL48+46] Shinigami Playground (NagiUha+Various) [Teaser]
Post by: Rena-chan Daisuki on November 16, 2016, 09:13:23 AM
Kitta!!!! Finally~~~~~~
 :yossi: :yossi: :yossi: :yossi: :yossi:
 :cow: :cow: :cow: :cow: :cow: :cow:
 :shakeit: :shakeit: :shakeit: :shakeit:
Title: Re: [ALL48+46] Shinigami Playground (NagiUha+Various) [Teaser]
Post by: Ruka Kikuchi on November 16, 2016, 12:59:04 PM
Woooooooaaah!!!!! :shocked: :shocked: :shocked:

This looks REALLY GOOD!!! I can't wait! >w<
Title: [ALL48+46] Shinigami Playground (NagiUha+Various) [TOC]
Post by: jubethehare on January 09, 2017, 05:30:31 AM
Hello, everyone!

Err, so the thing is I actually planned to upload the first chapter last December, but... college was keeping me busy, haha. Hopefully I'll be able to upload it by February.
For now please bear with the cover art. Thanks and enjoy~





-Table of Contents-

(https://s30.postimg.org/clup5k71t/shipure_toc.jpg)

__________________________________________________________


++CHARACTERS PROFILE (http://)++
[coming soon]



++CHAPTERS++

--CHAPTER01: Kami-iro Awase ~Drowning in The Color of God (http://forum.jphip.com/index.php?topic=41185.msg1394248#msg1394248)

--CHAPTER02: Yumeutsutsu ~Sleeping Awake (http://forum.jphip.com/index.php?topic=41185.msg1397159#msg1397159)

--CHAPTER03: Uso Happyaku ~Liar Liar Pants on Fire (http://forum.jphip.com/index.php?topic=41185.msg1400627#msg1400627)

--CHAPTER04: Guru Guru Hashitteru ~Run, Run, and Back to Square One (http://forum.jphip.com/index.php?topic=41185.msg1407185#msg1407185)

--CHAPTER04: Keikenchi Kasegi ~Let's Grind Some Level (http://forum.jphip.com/index.php?topic=41185.msg1408626#msg1408626)



__________________________________________________________
Shinigami Playground : Table of Contents// TO BE CONTINUED
Title: Re: [ALL48+46] Shinigami Playground (NagiUha+Various) [TOC]
Post by: alice141 on January 09, 2017, 07:44:12 AM
Great! I love the cover art! And the title is the name of the opening of Danganronpa right? I will look forward to the first chapter! sorry for my english...
Title: Re: [ALL48+46] Shinigami Playground (NagiUha+Various) [TOC]
Post by: _bakunawa on January 09, 2017, 12:01:38 PM
Looks great already! I love fantasy-themed fics. Hope I can hear from you soon! :D
Title: Re: [ALL48+46] Shinigami Playground (NagiUha+Various) [TOC]
Post by: Ruka Kikuchi on January 09, 2017, 03:51:40 PM
That cover art is so cool!!! >w<

Now I'm even more pumped for the first chapter!
Title: [ALL48+46] Shinigami Playground (NagiUha+Various) [CH.01]
Post by: jubethehare on February 13, 2017, 07:27:30 PM
Hello and thank you for waiting, everyone. Here's the first chapter  8)

FINALLY. Finally I had the chance to finish this! I've actually written the concept for almost a year now and I have to say this fic will be... a bit different? From my usual NagiUha fanfic. I guess. What and where, I'll let you see for yourself after reading.

Enjoy~




Shinigami Playground
Chapter 01: Kami-iro Awase ~Drowning in The Color of God
__________________________________________________________




“Mom! Mom, mom listen!”

“What is it, dear?”

“We have a guest!”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. Ryouha saw him at the front door; there's this funny old man with his head stuck on a wooden wheel. And the wheel was on fire!”

“...”

“Oh oh and this old man, you see, he doesn't have a body! Did he forget it somewhere? Should Ryouha help him find it? Should I?”

“Ryouha... Come here...”

“?”

“Close your eyes and repeat these words together with mommy, okay?


'It's not real.”



=0=0=0=0=0=0=0=0=


“It's not real... it's not real... it's not—

“Oh yes, it's real. It's very veeery real.”

WHACK!

“!?”

The girl yelped. A small dulling pain was on her head and she reached both hands to cover the spot. She opened her eyes.

“Good morning, Kitagawa. How's your little nap?”

A woman dressed in green jersey was standing in front of her desk, arms crossed and a rolled-up book on one hand. The smile on that face somehow looked familiar. The girl blinked, her senses slowly returning to her.


Oh, it's Miyazawa-sensei.


Miyazawa-sensei...





M-MIYAZAWA-SENSEIIII!??!


The realization slapped her fully awake.

Kitagawa Ryouha sat upright on her chair, frantically fixing her hair and straightening her gray school blazer. She heard giggles coming from somewhere around the class and her face quickly heated up.

It was the first day of school.

And she had fallen asleep, face flat on her desk, for she didn't know how long.

On homeroom session of all times.

“Y'know, Kitagawa,” The homeroom teacher, Miyazawa Sae, lightly said as she unrolled the attendance book in her hand. “I've heard about your reputation of dozing off at any possible time but I'd like you to refrain from doing it in my class. Unless you have a good reason for it, hm?”

“Umm... err...”

Ryouha darted her eyes away in a nervous tic.

Luckily the school bell rang before the girl reached her breaking point.

“Oh, saved by the bell! I'll let it pass this time but don't you dare falling asleep on my P.E. Class, got it?”

“...yes. I'm sorry.”

“Cool. Okay class, let's wrap it up for the day!”

Ryouha kept her head down as she listened to Sae's energetic shout and the sound of the class rep calling to bow, before the class was finally dismissed. She closed her eyes, her body frozen in bowing position as the other students started to tidy their belongings and leave the room. She slowly raised her both hands to her face.

GYAAAAAAH----!!!!

The girl internally screamed and slumped back to her desk. Why? Why!? Why did she have to fall asleep right on THAT time!? Ryouha wouldn't care if she was caught sleeping in other classes but not homeroom! And perhaps P.E., though there's close to zero percent possibilities of falling asleep while doing sports.

“Whoa, Ryouha... yer still alive?”

She heard another familiar voice and raised her face, peeking from behind her arms.

It was Matsumoto Chikako, one of her close friends, an awkward smile on her face as she approached her desk. The kansai girl seemed to try hard finding the right words to say before she finally gave up and settled with a pat of condolences on Ryouha's shoulder.

“Don't worry. It could be worse.”

“...thanks, Chika.”

The kind gesture made her feel a bit better, at least until a small figure shoved itself in front of her face.

“No way, no way~ Ryouha-tan's had a crush on Sae-sensei since first grade, there's nothing worse than dozing off on her class and got caught~ Kyahahaha~~”

The small doll let out a high-pitched cackle.

Ryouha stared at it with a blank expression, just for a few seconds, before she drew herself back behind her arms, curling even smaller into a ball.

“Don't rub salt on her wound, Kanon.”

“Just kidding.”

Kimoto Kanon pulled back her doll and changed her voice back to her normal pitch. People might think that the tiny girl was an incarnation of evil with that sneer on her cute face, but she didn't mean real harm. She just liked teasing her shy friend once in a while. Or maybe a lot while. Which could end up a bit harmful sometimes. That's why it was up to the last person in the group to stop her, or mommy Azuma Rion as the other three would sometimes called her.

“You too, Ryouha. Stop being so depressed; this is only the first day of our second year. Come on, get up and let's go home.”

“No way, let me sleep...”

“...”

“I know, I'm a sloth in my previous life... So let me sleep, that's the only thing I'm good at...”

“Good grief.”

Rion put one hand to her face. There's no use talking once Ryouha went into sulking mode and Kanon laughing from the situation didn't help either. She stole a glance at Chikako, who in turn gave her a salute in affirmation.

“Yes, ma'am. Commence operation ice cream paradise.”

The word 'ice cream' perked her ears and Ryouha raised her face, still peeking from behind her arms like a suspicious kitten.

“Well.” Rion quickly said before she lost the girl's attention. “You'll have to step out of class if you want to eat one.”

“Or you can just sleep here and we'll eat without you~”

Kanon played along smoothly, pushing Rion and Chikako toward the door. Ryouha stared at the three, a huge pout on her face, before she gave up and stood. She put her belongings into her bag, letting out a huff as she walked past her friends.

“Let's go.”

Kanon let out another snicker from the response while Chikako grinned, catching up with Ryouha on a small run. Rion smiled and followed suit.

The blooming cherry blossom gaze down at them as the four girls walked toward the nearby convenience store, and Ryouha sighed as she saw that, feeling a bit better from the beautiful scenery. Rion was right. This is no time for her to feel depressed. It's still spring and her second year of high school had just began. She got her three best friends in the same class and Miyazawa-sensei as her homeroom teacher. Surely there would be more fun to come. If there's one thing to hinder it that would be her habit of dozing off on various occasion.

Ryouha let out another sigh and paid her share of ice cream by the counter, opening the wrappings around the cold treat as she walked out of the store. She found her friends sitting by a bench just outside and she took a seat on the empty spot beside Chikako, popping the ice cream into her mouth.


(https://s16.postimg.org/gjqbusf2d/shipure01_01.jpg)


She didn't always have that habit. And it's not like she lacked any sleep at night. It's just, her consciousness tend to shut down whenever her mind started wandering around. Or, if she wanted to be more honest, it's a self-defense mechanism to stop her eyes from showing whatever her mind had wandered to.

She couldn't even remember when it first started. She would always see them, those hallucinations, if she absentmindedly gazed on one space for long enough. Things other people couldn't see, voices other people couldn't hear; it was bad enough that as a child she couldn't distinguish which was real and which was not. But once she got older she started to realize.

There's no way an old man with no body, with his head stuck on a burning wheel, could be real.

And neither is that severed red hand that was waving at her from up the cherry tree1.

Ugh, not again...

Ryouha crunched her face and looked away. Her free hand reached toward her bag in reflexes to retrieve the plastic container sleeping in the deepest part of it.

“Here, Chika. You can have the rest of my ice cream.”

“Whooh. Shanks.”

Chikako sloppily said as she nibbled her spoon, taking the vanilla popsicle from Ryouha.

“What's wrong?”

Kanon chirped. The girl was sitting on the other end so she had to bend forward to take a look.

“It's drugs time already, Ryouha-tan?”

“I-it's medicine, I'm telling you!”

Ryouha said in a panic hush. She knew Kanon was just teasing her but she always fell for it. The girl sighed and rolled one of the white capsule onto her palm, before putting it into her mouth.

“Here.”

Rion handed her some water to help swallowing, and Ryouha handed the bottle back with a quick 'thanks' afterwards. A dizzy spell hit her after a few seconds, like it's always been, but likewise it was quickly replaced by a familiar feeling of sleepiness.

Ryouha had known, that her habit of dozing off most likely stemmed from this medicine, but she couldn't deny how effective it was from curing her hallucinations. The number of strange occurrences she experienced had lessened and even if she did saw something they're almost transparent now. Compared to how real they looked back in her childhood.

On side notes, the unnerving hand have now disappeared too.

Ryouha quietly thought as she gazed at the previous tree on the other side of the road. She let out her breath in relief. Kanon blinked as she saw the reaction. Her lips stretched into a playful smile.

“Come to think of it," Kanon absentmindedly said as she finished the last bit of her ice cream.

“Club won't start in another three days.”

Ryouha and Chikako glanced at her as they heard that, while Rion didn't seem interested much. Or maybe she already know where this would be going.

“You know, I'll be busy with drama club by then. So is Chika with kendo club and Rion with her student council duty. Ryouha-tan will also return to her going home club.”

“Haa...”

Ryouha let out a dry reaction, and Kanon continued.

“So let's hangout together before that. Like, how about, now.”

Chikako's eyes lit up as she heard that while Rion gave her a face that simply said 'I knew it'.

“Me, me! Pick me!”

“Yes, Chika!”

The kansai girl swung her hand in front of her, as if she was hitting a bell in a quiz show, before raising her index finger.

“Let's go to the game center at Akihabara!”

“Bfft!”

“Eeeh?”

Kanon puffed her cheek and made a cross with her both hands.

“Since Chika's idea is so bad, I propose going to a cafe and do some shopping in Shibuya.”

“But we just had ice cream~”

Chikako loudly whined.

“Now that you mention it...” Rion, who was sitting between the two, joined in.

“How about we do a group study at Minato public library? I'm sure it's good to relieve on our grade earlier before we're busy with clubs. Especially you, Kanon-'senpai'.”

“Geh!”

Kanon flinched. Rion smiled as she saw the reaction.

“Remember, the only reason you can continue with the drama club despite failing a year is because of my petition to the council body. What will you do if you fail another year?”

“Curse you, azumarion...”

T-this is getting dangerous. Ryouha thought in panic. She's not opposed to hanging out with her friends, but not when the two powerhouses were arguing like this. And she was getting sleepy from the side-effect of her medicine too. The girl raised her hand.

“Umm, how about going back to our respective home for today—

“DENIED.”

Kanon and Rion yelled in perfect unison. And Ryouha shrunk back in her seat.

“Fine then, if you decided to push me to this end—“

Kanon stood and clenched her right fist.

“--we have to settle it with a battle.”

Rion finished for her, mimicking her pose.

Ryouha drew up her knees and folded her arms above them, planting her face to the white sleeves of her shirt. Chikako let out an awkward laugh and petted her head in condolences.


“JAN--!”


“KEN--!”











I wanna go home...


“PON!!”


=0=0=0=0=0=0=0=0=


When talking about her hallucinations, Ryouha remembered, though she never wanted to think about it, there's certain rules to their occurrences.

First, they're easier to manifest in a place with lots of people. There also seemed to be a different stage of representation; the more people there is, the more monstrous and unnatural the image appeared before her eyes. So, let's say, it's easier to see one when she's at school than when she's alone at home. And the form also tend to be more gruesome, like that bloody little girl in red skirt she found in the third stall of the school's bathroom2. It's unnerving, but she could still deal with it. Because these kind of hallucinations would just be there like a layer of movie playing before her; it wouldn't interact with her in any way. But then came the troublesome kind of hallucination, which lead to the second rule.

The more mental stress she accumulated, the more realistic her hallucination would become. The image that look transparent at first would suddenly gain its density. At some point she could even feel them staring at her with their hollow eyes, like a predator searching for its prey. Sometimes they would approach and mumble incoherent words to her ears, and by then she could only whisper the magic words her mother taught her while trying to ignore the chill creeping up her spine.

Kitagawa Ryouha had led this kind of life for seventeen years.

And though her medication helped to reduce these occurrences, everything would deem to be ineffective once she's exposed to an environment where the number of people and amount of stress-inducing situation is too high. That's why the only thing Ryouha could do was praying for the safety of her mind when Kanon emerged victorious from the rock-paper-scissors game. Oh no, she could already felt her sanity slipping bit by bit from that black shadow of a giant towering over the sea of people at Shibuya crossing, which was the most crowded place she ever known in the country, or even the world, if it's not stretching it.

Oh wow, it's a Godzilla... Or maybe a Daidarabotchi3, ha ha...

“Err, Ryouha? Something funny with the billboard?”

Chikako hesitantly asked as she saw the creepy smile on the girl's face.

“...nothing.”

Ryouha simply answered before covering her eyes with both hands, chanting the usual spell. Okay. It's alright, I'm still fine. The hallucinations are a bit thick today, that's all. I can still recognize which is real and not. I have to focus on reducing my stress level and having fun. The girl let out another dry laugh, and Chikako took a step away from her.

“Uh-oh, Ryouha-tan broke.”

Kanon stifled her laugh as she said that, and Rion glared at her.

“Thanks to you. And I thought we're doing this to cheer her up?”

“Stop being so uptight, the fun is only starting~ Come on, Ryouha-tan!”

Kanon looped one hand around the girl's left arm and dragged her out of the train station, running toward the crowd of people. Rion and Chikako following after them. Ryouha could only smile bitterly.

Ignore the hallucination. Ignore everything unnatural.

Yes, even though how human they look at times.

They're not real.

That goes for that girl, too.

The one with wavy brown hair and a black beanie atop her head. And a sloppy blue jacket with black accents and yellow stripes.


(https://s15.postimg.org/69he0u9sr/shipure01_02.jpg)


There's no way a girl would perch atop the Hachiko statue like it's a normal thing to do, one hand drawn to her left eye as she peered through the circle between her thumb and index finger. While nobody seemed to give a care at all.

Of course that absurd sight couldn't be real.

And she's the only one seeing that absurdity.












“What's up with that girl?”

Ryouha glanced at Chikako as she heard the whisper.

“Eh?”

“What do ya mean 'eh?' There, on top of Hachiko—“

“Shush.”

Rion quickly slapped Chikako’s hand down.

“It's rude to point like that.”

“Sorry, mommy~”

“Hmm... But that's kinda cool.”

Kanon added as her eyes wandered around the crowded area.

“Are they shooting a movie or something? I can't see the crews or their equipment anywhere. How can they get a good shot?”

“M-maybe it's hidden.”

Ryouha blurted out without much thought, still feeling a bit uneasy.

“Let's just go.”

She pulled Kanon on her arm but the girl didn't budge. Her eyes locked on the strange girl.

“Come on Ryouha-tan, if it's a movie then I want to see the acting. Maybe I can use it as a learning material for the drama club. Let's wait until the next cut—whoa, she's looking this way!”

Ryouha froze. Her eyes met with the girl's for a while, before she quickly averted them; she could swear the eye glowing red from the distance. She gulped and pulled Kanon’s arm again, a bit stronger this time.

“I'm begging you Kanon, let's leave—

“Hey.”

A voice.

A voice she never heard.

A voice that sounded so far yet so close at the same time and somehow she knew, by pure instinct, that it was coming from the previous girl. She gathered her courage to glance back at the statue on the station front, only to find that the girl was no longer there.

“What an interesting quality~ Yer soul, that is.”

“!!?!?!”

Ryouha nearly screamed.

The girl had materialized in front of her, her face only a few inches away from hers as she smiled, as if amused by the fear in her eyes. A familiar chill ran up her spine. If it wasn't for Rion pulling her away Ryouha thought she would've fainted from the shock, but she managed to shake herself back to reality, swallowing her saliva as she grabbed her friend's hand tightly. The girl pulled herself away.

“What— when— how??”

Ryouha could hear Chikako stumbling with her words, seemingly as shocked as she was.

“I-it's CG. It's gotta be a CG trick!”

Kanon declared in awe, nodding to herself. The girl blinked and looked at Kanon for a while, then to Chikako, before switching her eyes back to Ryouha. She scratched her head.

“Huh? I thought humans couldn't see me save for a few potentials. Did I make a mistake? Wait, could it be that all of those humans have only been ignoring me as well? What a disaster...”

Ryouha stared back at her in silence. The way she talked did sound like a script for a movie. Her three friends could see the girl as well. Perhaps everyone too. Is she just being paranoid? Ryouha thought as she saw the girl hit her own head a few times as if scolding herself.

“Um, excuse me...”

“Ah, yeah. Back to our previous topic.”

The girl quickly regained her composure. She cleared her throat and, as if in pride, offered her right hand to Ryouha with a big smile.


“Do you want to be mine?”


“...eh?”


   …


      …



         …



             ..



                 








    EEEEEEEEEHHH???


       GRAB--

  GRAB--


Kanon and Chikako simultenously grabbed the girl on each of her arms.

“Okay, now speak.” Kanon spoke in a threatening manner.

“For what movie or TV show are you shooting?”

“Movie? TV? What's that?”

The girl tilted her head, and Chikako growled at her.

“Whaaat? So yer just hitting on girls?”

“Dunno what you mean. I'm just asking if she wanna be my property, ha ha~”

Ryouha felt another chill ran up her spine; a different kind of chill from the fear she previously had. She took a few more steps back, hiding behind Rion. Kanon snapped her head toward them.

“Sorry, Rion. Take care of Ryouha until we bring this weirdo to the police station.”

“Please. Take your time.”

Rion flatly answered as she saw Kanon and Chikako dragged the girl away. Ryouha could still hear some of their conversation.
 

“Are we going somewhere? I still have a business with her.”

“Yea, yea. Say that to the cops.”

“What's a cop? Oh, and are you from Kansai as well?”

“Yes. And stop speaking already, yer shaming every Kansai people in the world...”


The voices drowned into the crowd and Ryouha sighed, finally feeling herself calming down a little. She pulled away from Rion.

“Ryouha.”

Rion suddenly grabbed her wrist.

“If you ever see that girl again just run. Run away, as fast as you can.”

“H-huh?”

Ryouha gave her a perplexed look.

“I know she's a bit... 'weird'... but running is—“

“I mean it. Run.

Ryouha paused. Rion would never pull a joke on her. Especially not when she had a serious look on her face.

“...okay.”

Ryouha said quietly, watching a sense of relief washing the girl as she released her hand. It's probably just another of Rion's overprotective moment.

“You should go home now. The incident with Miyazawa-sensei was bad enough and then there's that girl.”

“...”

Ryouha averted her gaze. She didn't notice until now but the commotion seemed to have affected her hallucination, making several creatures looming around the area. Her mental stress had probably gone through the roof. Rion seemed to realize this as well.

“It's alright, we can hangout some other times. I'll tell Kanon that I'm walking you back.”

The girl pulled out her phone and called the said girl, while Ryouha could only mutter a quick 'sorry'. The peculiar creatures faded into the busy crowds after a while, and she felt sleepiness started to kick again from the back of her mind, making her yawn.

Ryouha let out a long sigh.

What a horrible day...


=0=0=0=0=0=0=0=0=


“Wakey, wakey, Ryouha-tan~ Time to get up~”

Uugh...

Ryouha groaned, moving to hide behind her arms like usual.

“Leave me alone, Kanon-senpai. It's recess, so let me sleep.”

“Hey, it's Kanon-'chan' for you!”

The girl let out another groan as she recognized the high-pitched voice and the small hands tapping her head.

“Kuuh, how could you! Even though she had saved you from that creep in Shibuya yesterday.”

“I don't want to remember about that...”

“But you should! 'cause she ran away before Chika and Non-chan managed to bring her to the cops.”

Ryouha raised her face, seeing Kanon's doll blocking her view like usual.

“Just kidding.”

“Can I help you, Kanon-chan?”

“Good answer. Oh, but the creep did escape though.”

For real? Ryouha could only pray for her luck. Then again, she's quite confident with her speed so running wouldn't be a problem. She put the plan away for now.

“Anyways, I want to show you something.”

Ryouha blinked as she saw Kanon put her doll on the far end of the desk and pulled out her phone.

“I found something interesting. Wait, we should call Chika as well.”

“Okay...”

She stretched her arms and yawned, waiting as Kanon called for Chikako.

“Where's Rion?”

“With the student council. She said she had an urgent business to attend, though she probably just wanna spend more time with her beloved Furuhata-senpai. Kehehe~”

That's probably half right. She really didn't want to bother Rion but she couldn't help feeling a bit worried right now, being left with Kanon and Chikako without a proper lifeline. Especially with Kanon saying that she found something 'interesting'. I have to stop relying on her to babysit us all the time... Ryouha sighed, fixing her sitting posture.

“What is it, what is it?” She saw Chikako tackled the other girl and glanced over Kanon's shoulder.

“Is it that game ya mentioned before?”

“Yup. It's an occult-theme game. You have to register yourself in their site before playing though. By the way, just for trivia, I heard the game was first distributed through a secret thread in 2chan4 so nobody really know who created it. Here it is.”

Kanon put her phone down on the table between them.

The background was pure black, with only the game title and the [REGISTER] button under it. Ryouha read the words carefully.

“Shinigami Playground?”

“A very dark fantasy-ish title, right? Try hitting the register button.”

Ryouha gave her a suspicious look. It’s better not be another jump scare or she swore she'd ignore everything Kanon said for the whole week. She hesitantly tapped the screen with her index finger. The image faded into the background before another pictures came out. A simple picture of a Torii5 gate, as well as a paragraph of words.


    Toryanse, toryanse~
    Going in is easy, but returning is scary

    Give away your soul as an offering
    And you may pass through


Chikako tilted the phone toward her, reading through the paragraph one more time.

“What is this? A song?”

“It's a nursery rhyme.”

Ryouha corrected for her.

“Do you know the music played by the traffic light when it's safe to cross? This is the lyrics. Though there seems to be some alterations...”

Kanon looked at her in awe and clapped her hands.

“Oh, as expected of Ryouha-tan! The amount of unnecessary information you store in your head is high.”

“Don't call it unnecessary... My mother is a writer and she mostly write about cultural stuff; I just happen to have read a lot of her reference books back at my old home in Nagoya.”

“You must have a very educational bedtime story.”

“...”

Ryouha ignored the random remarks and scrolled down the page. She found another section underneath.



   [HOW TO REGISTER]

   1. Place your index finger inside the Torii gate

   2. Wait for a few seconds until three ripples form around your finger

   3. Chant the binding spell inside your head “I give away my soul in exchange for my desire”

   4. The [Host] will make a contract for you and you'll be able to access the application through your phone


   [RULES]

   1. One application can only be used by one person

   2. The candidate must register themselves willingly and with their own hands. A registration made by a third-party is not valid

   3. The registration can't be nullified

   4. One person have a quota of one game a day. Once the quota is used they can only play another game after 24 hours have passed.
       The quota is not stackable. (*Exception only to the special game [Oni Gokko])

   5. The [Host] is absolute and never wrong. The rules inside the game are also absolute. Please read them carefully before participating



And that's it. Nothing else left in the page. Not even the date of creation or who created it. She glanced back at Kanon, who turned out to have that usual evil sneer on her face.

“What are you suggesting...?”

“You've read the rules; one apps for one person. I've also heard that the link will become unusable after one registration. We have to look for a different link swimming around the net for another person to play.”

Ryouha switched her gaze to Chikako, who raised both hands in defense.

“Nuh-uh, don't look at me. If anything let's do rock-paper-scissors to decide who'll play.”

“...fine.”

Ryouha sighed and put out her right fist. Kanon shrugged and did the same, followed by Chikako.

“Janken pon!”

The three girls froze.

Two rocks and one scissors. The loser slumped back to the desk with a groan.

“Thank you for volunteering, Ryouha-tan.”

I hate games... I hate this game and all games...

Ryouha childishly pouted as Kanon gave her the phone. She stared at the screen suspiciously, before putting her index finger inside the rectangle space. White circular lines formed around her finger as if she's treading on a water surface. The three ripples grow more apparent after a while and Ryouha continued the next step.

I give away my soul in exchange for my desire.

The ripples glowed in soft white light as she finished the sentence, and Ryouha thought that she heard a real sound of water dropping into a lake.


“Welcome, foolish human.”



Ryouha blinked. A voice rang inside her head.

She didn't know what happened; perhaps it was another wave of hallucination, or perhaps she lost her consciousness at one point and had started dreaming, but she was no longer in the same classroom anymore.

A split second of blackout.

That was the only time needed to transfer her to this place.

A place pitch black as far as her eyes could see, cold water covering its whole ground and submerging her to her ankles. In front of her was the red Torii, a stark contrast to the scenery, and she felt a presence of another girl standing under the gate. She couldn't see her face, her clothes, or even her form. But she knew for sure that a girl was standing there. Watching her.


“I am the [Host], the one who will guide you through this game. Shall we form the contract?”


Ryouha flinched. A sharp burning pain. Her chest felt like bursting apart as an unknown substance blocked her breath. She reached one hand to her neck and looked down.

A flower was there. A flower with the color of blood. It grew out of the hollow on her right collarbone, eating up her flesh and spreading its root. A beautiful red flower. She had seen this flower before in her mother's book.


The red spider lilies. The corpse flower; the higanbana6.


The flower of hell.


She gasped, her body failing from the lack of air. Her vision turned blurry.

C-calm down, it's not real... It's not real—

     “Ryouha!”

The girl blinked. She found herself back in the classroom, sitting on her chair as she grabbed Kanon's phone tightly in her left hand. The screen had turned black.

“Ya okay? You've been staring at the screen without blinking for almost a minute now.”

She heard Chikako asked in worry.

“...y-yeah, I'm fine.” She quietly answered, putting the phone back to the table.

“NOOOOO, MY PHONE--!!”

Kanon snatched the device and tapped the screen a few times in panic.

“What happened— is it actually a virus!?”

Ryouha ignored the outburst, reaching her hand toward her collarbone. Nothing was there. Not the red flower nor the pain left from its growth. She let out her breath in relief and switched her gaze to Kanon.

That's what you get for teasing me all the time...

The girl let out a spiteful huff.

The school bell rang afterwards and her two friends returned to their seat, Kanon hanging her head while Chikako tried to cheer her up. Ryouha herself could only lament on the good nap she missed. She saw Rion coming back to class right before the science teacher came in, a troubled look on her face. Perhaps the student council is having a problem with some club’s budget? Not that Ryouha knew. She put the thought away, focusing every last bit of her attention to stay awake through the rest of afternoon class.

Gratefully today's homeroom ended without too much of a fuss, and now Ryouha had found herself strolling down the school ground with a tired face. Rion had disappeared again once class finished while Kanon had to rush to Akihabara to get her phone checked, so only her and Chikako was left.

“In the end, the four of us didn't manage to hangout together as well today.”

She heard Chikako whined as they walked out the main gate.

“Kendo club will resume tomorrow and it'll be a busy week of fighting other clubs for new members.”

“Good luck with that...”

Chikako stared at her for a while, before tackling her neck.

“I'm sorry for bringing that up, Ryouha! We'll always be with ya at class so don't be lonely!”

“I-I'm not lonely!”

“Why don't cha join a club as well so we can at least go home together?”

“...”

Ryouha didn't answer. She had talked with her three friends about this before; she couldn't risk annoying other people with her troublesome sleeping habit, and she didn't feel like telling anyone but them about her hallucinations. Chikako seemed to realize her mistake and she looked away, trying to find a right word to say.

“Okay... How about... yeah, how about track-n-field? Yer quite quick on yer feet and maybe doing some sports could help you stay awake?”

“It won't be that simple...”

“Even though Miyazawa-sensei is their advisor?”

“T-that got nothing to do with anything.”

Ryouha huffed and walked a bit faster, leaving Chikako behind.

“Come on, isn't it a good idea? Hey, Ryouhaaa~”

The girl ignored Chikako's loud whine and stepped into the train station, tapping her card on the auto gate as she did. Geez. And here she thought today would end without any fuss. She knew Chikako didn't mean it, but is having a day without teasing was too much for her to ask? Ryouha sighed. At least Kanon isn't here to make things worse. She thought to herself as she took the stairs up toward the platform. Chikako following behind her.

“Fine, I won't talk about Miyazawa-sensei anymore... huh?”

The kansai girl paused as she saw Ryouha stood there without a word, her eyes locked on the other side of the train platform. She approached her carefully.

“Ryouha? You okay?

“That girl...”

“That girl who?”

“T-the one we met... at Shibuya yesterday...”

“What, that weirdo again!?”

Chikako quickly snapped her head toward the direction.

“Where is she? Ooh, I swear I'll bring her to the cops this time!”

“There...”

Ryouha raised her hand, pointing at the figure sitting on the floor with her legs dangling on the edge of the platform. The figure smiled happily as she peered through her fingers like before.

“T-there. S-she's sitting on the platform edge.“

“Eeh!? That's crazy— what, where!?

“C-can't you see, she's right—

Ryouha suddenly froze. Her arm limply fell to her side.

No way...

She finally understood what happened.

“You can't... see her...”

The girl stood. Her smile stretched into a full grin as their eyes once again met.

“W-wait, Ryouha!”

A huge howl resounded as a train passed between the two platforms. And Ryouha took the moment to rush down the stairs, heading toward the station exit. She could hear people yelling at her as she ran past the gate but she kept on running.

W-why? Why is she here? And why can't Chika see her anymore!?

She pushed through the crowded street, trying to lose the girl among the sea of people. Nobody seemed to recognize the girl's presence anymore, even when she pushed them away to her side like she owned the whole street. Ryouha bit her lip. She didn't know what happened anymore. But her instinct kept telling her to run. Away from that girl.

She took a quick turn on the next intersection, taking small roads and shortcuts only known to few people, before arriving at the different train station on the next block. If the schedule didn't change the train heading for her home would arrive on the third platform in a few minutes. If she could jump inside before that girl caught up with her—

Ryouha pushed herself through the small gap of the train's door before it closed silently into a perfect shut. She gasped, trying to catch her breath as she rested on her knees, ignoring the cold look people giving her as they moved away from the door. She could see the girl watching her from outside the window.

I-I made it...

Ryouha turned around and rested her back on the door, letting out her breath in relief. Ah, right. She suddenly ran and left Chikako alone on the previous station. She should apologize and tell her what happened. The girl stood and walked away from the door, taking out her phone. She blinked. New messages were already on her inbox. One was from Chikako, and she quickly replied telling her that she's fine and is on her way home. The other one, though, sent another chill up her spine.


   From: [Host]
   Subject: Welcome

   Thank you for participating in Shinigami Playground. We have downloaded the application to your phone.

   !!!IMPORTANT NOTICE!!!
   The special game [Oni Gokko] will start tomorrow on the third division of the hour of the rooster7.

   Please make sure to have a good preparation before your death.

   Enjoy your last game!


“What...is this?”

Ryouha clenched her phone tightly. She felt like puking, both from her fatigue and the absurdity of all this. She quickly deleted the message and turned off her phone. Only two days had passed since her second year of high school began. Yet, she already felt like giving up that something good would happen for the rest of the year.

A mysterious girl chasing after her...

A hallucination that felt more real than ever...

A sickeningly bizarre message...

She sat down and rested her head on the windowsill, staring out to the darkened sky.

“Give me back my peaceful days...”


=0=0=0=0=0=0=0=0=


“And so? You don't look so well, Ryouha-tan.”

“...”

Ryouha didn't answer. She only stared at Kanon blankly, both sleepy and irritated at the same time. She had locked herself in her room yesterday right after coming home, but still she couldn't get a good sleep at all. An unknown application had been downloaded to her phone and she couldn't erase it. And she had been hearing some eerie scratches and knocks on her window, even though her room was on the second floor. Of course she wouldn't be well. Kanon gave her a worried look.

“If you're sick you don't have to—

“No. Please.”

Ryouha cut her off.

“I want to do it—no, I NEED to do it... I don't feel like coming home alone right now... I could end up meeting that girl again... or worse...”

“Ryouha-tan, you've started mumbling to yourself.”

Kanon gave her a pitiful stare, before sighing.

“Okay, fine. Just don't tell Rion or she'll accuse me of bullying you again.”

Ryouha nodded, feeling a huge load leaving her shoulders as Kanon gave her the thing she needed.

Today marked the start of club applications, and like everyone else the drama club had been trying hard to reel in newcomers. They decided to walk around in their costumes while handing out flyers throughout recess and after school. Ryouha had promised Kanon to help, or was actually tricked to promising her help, but now she felt like it was the best scam Kanon had done to her. She now had a reason to wait for her friends and walked home together. Even better; the costume she borrowed was a full body costume of a corgi dog, that technically would hide her completely inside its soft doll-like material. Ryouha didn't have any idea what the drama club usually used the costume for, nor did she care actually, as long as she got what she needed.

“Ryouha-tan? Ryouha-tan??”

Kanon tapped the doll's head a few times with no response.

“Geez, she's asleep already? How could she do it while standing like that? Is it even comfortable?”

Kanon could only wonder. She shrugged and took out one flyer from the piles she had, before pasting one on the doll's torso. She snickered.

“Perfect. Right, time to get my own costume and start my round.”

And that all there was. Ryouha spent nearly two hours sleeping while standing like that, until Kanon came to wake her up again with a stronger slap to her head. She opened her eyes to meet the small girl with Chikako on tow, but again Rion wasn't there. She seemed very busy lately... Ryouha sighed and took off the dog's head, before walking inside the clubroom to change back to her uniform.

“Err, ya still look pretty drowsy Ryouha.”

“Of course I am...”

Ryouha let out a long yawn and rested her head on Chikako's shoulder. Kanon smirked.

“Uh-oh, Ryouha-tan spoiled side is showing~”

“It's because mommy Rion is not here to spoil me...”

“I dare you to say that in front of her face.”

“No way, I won't survive her earful lecture.”

The three girls let out a quiet laugh and continued their walk. Ryouha waved her goodbye to Kanon and Chikako as they reached the train station, heading toward a different platform. Everything had returned to normal today, much to her relief. And somehow her hallucination hadn't been appearing at all. If thing continue this way maybe I'll consider joining the track and field club... The thought made her a bit giddy and Ryouha stepped into the train, sitting on the empty seat on the corner. She let out another yawn. It would take around fifteen minutes to her next stop, then after changing platform it would take another forty minutes to her last stop. That would make a good time for nap. The girl closed her eyes.

   Next stop, Ebisu station--

Four more stops.

She felt her consciousness started to fading.

  Next stop, Shibuya station--

Three more stops...

   Next stop, Harajuku--


Two... more...

   Next stop--
               SLID—CLANK!


Ryouha flinched from the sudden movement, her eyes snapped open. A sudden stop? She shook her head and looked around. Nobody was there. Strange.

“Where am I now...?”

She stood and walked toward the door, finding it to be open. She could see the station name from there.

Akihabara.

Did she doze off and miss her stop?

It wouldn't be much problem since Yamanote8 is a loop line but it seemed like the train she took had experienced some kind of technical difficulties. She should ask the nearby officer when the next train would depart. The girl heaved her bag and left the train.

The station was empty. Empty, as in completely empty. But it wasn't like it was deserted. It was just empty, with no one else but her. Not even one officer. The girl gulped. She had a bad feeling about this. Perhaps she had started hallucinating again? She walked down the stairs toward the main area. Beside the row of ticket machines was a screen that usually showed notices and train schedules, and on the bottom right corner of the screen was a clock showing the current time.

18:00:00

It stopped there. Not even a second ticked at all. Was it broken? She took out her phone from her bag, checking the time.

18:00

6pm. The third division of the hour of the rooster.

Exactly the same.

“W-what's going on here?”

This was nothing like her usual hallucination. Something was definitely wrong. As if to add her worry Ryouha found another message in her inbox. If she's right, it must be another of that unnerving message. She hesitantly tapped the icon.


   From: [Host]
   Subject: Reminder

   The first round of [Oni Gokko] has finally started.
   You are the [Human].

   Good luck!


“Found ya~~”

Ryouha gasped. She snapped her head toward the source of the voice.

“Ya even manage to enter the barrier? What the heck are ya?”

It was that mysterious girl again, the one she met in Shibuya. The girl laughed and approached her, one eye closed as she peered through her fingers like she always remembered them.

“Oh well, the more reason I wanna make you mine. Ha ha~”

Ryouha took a step back.

“Whoopsie.”

It was just like the previous time. Whether it was the trick of her eyes or the girl was too fast, in a split second the girl was already standing before her, gripping her right wrist tightly. The girl cooed.

“Stop running fer a while and listen—hm?”

The girl suddenly stopped. Her expression turned grim.

“You... Why are you—”

Ryouha yelped. The girl suddenly yanked her collar, staring at the exposed skin of her collarbone.

A red mark that resembled a flower was there.

“The mark of [Seed]...”

“!!”

Ryouha swung her bag and slapped the girl's face with it as hard as she could. She felt the grip on her other hand faltered and she quickly shook it off, breaking into a run. The girl didn't chase after her this time, but still she ran, listening to her own footsteps that echoed inside the empty station. She ran and ran and ran, all the way until she reached the surface. The whole street was empty the moment she got there, and she kept on running, trying to find any sign of life in the usually so bustling part of the city.

The electronics store.

The game center.

The maid cafe.

Nobody was there.

As if she was the only human left. Together with that girl.

“Outside... Maybe if I go outside of Akihabara...”

She could give it a try. She wiped away the sweats running down her cheek, ready for another round of sprint, but then a certain sound stopped her. There was some rustles behind the building beside her, and the girl carefully approached it.

“H-hello?”

No response. She walked closer toward the small road. There was a silhouette of someone crouching on the sidewalk, as if they were searching for something on the asphalt. And the silhouette didn't look like that girl.

“Excuse me, can you tell me what... happened...”

Ryouha froze.

What was standing before her wasn't human at all.

It was a rotten humanoid creature that resembled one, with no eyes and a huge mouth that stretched until the far end of its face, its razor sharp teeth protruding out of the hollow space. Its four arms weren't searching for something, but were clawing on a bloody remains of something. Or someone.

Ryouha took a step back, feeling like she's about to puke.

N-no, it's not real... I have to calm down...

She assured herself, trying to ignore the sickening sounds the creature made as it tore and chomped down on the remains. She put one hand to cover her mouth, forcing herself to stay calm as she slowly backed away.

The creature suddenly stopped eating.

It raised its head and slowly, very slowly, turned its blood smeared face toward her.

“KCCRRRHHH—!!”

The creatures let out a loud strangled screech but Ryouha stood her ground, trying to stop her trembling.

N-none of this is real!! I don't need to—

SQUELCH...

“Huh...?”

Ryouha blinked, feeling a gush of wind blew past her. Her body suddenly felt a bit lighter.



The creature was holding something.

What was it? An arm?

A right arm.

Why did it look so familiar?

She felt like had seen it countless times before.

Countless times?

Why of course.

Because it was her arm.

Her own right arm.


"-----!!!”


Ryouha fell to her knees, trying stop her scream as tears ran down her eyes. Her right arm was torn from her shoulder and blood was freely pouring from missing part. The pain was unbearable. Mismatched footsteps approached her and she shakily raised her head.

It was the creature, one hand still holding onto her severed limb.

It opened its mouth.


“Ouuuut of the waaaaaay--!”


(https://s12.postimg.org/5vgdm8xhp/shipure01_03.jpg)


A shout.

The blue-clad girl suddenly jumped into the scene, stomping the creature's head with her black boots and sending it crashing to the nearby building. She landed on the ground.

“Aah, I'm not in a mood for a fight and this thing appear? I really have a bad luck—hm?”

The girl tilted her head. And her huge smile that had disappeared suddenly returned.

“It's a Tatari~! Scratch that; this is my lucky day, ha ha ha~”

She laughed and pumped her fists to the air, leaping in joy.

“Wait, but its regenerative ability can be troublesome. Imma need a vessel and call out my reaping tool. Let's see...”

She looked around the area, until her eyes fell on Ryouha. Her face didn't look amused.

“Whoa. She's dying.”

Ryouha stared at the girl with wide eyes, watching her crouching in front of her with chin resting on her palms. She tried to call out to her but her voice wouldn't come out. Her consciousness started to fade and she fell to the ground, breathing into her own pool of blood.

“What should I do; I'll get into a trouble if I help a [Seed]. But I'm also running out of time and there's no other potential vessel around. Hmmm...”

Ryouha couldn't understand what happened anymore. Who is this girl? How can she stay so calm? A person was dying in front of her and a monster was out there to kill her too, but she didn't seem to care at all. She only stayed there. Looking down at her as she whined like a little kid.

“Let's ask for yer opinion then. I don't know how long it'll take but you will shortly die; whether from the loss of blood, or the impurities spreading from your wound, or being eaten by that Tatari. I can also kill you right here if that's what you want.”

“What...?”

“Ya finally talk~! Hurry hurry, which one will you choose? We don't have much time until the Tatari recover. But hey, rather than feeding it how about giving yer soul to me? Yer gonna die anyway; I promise I'll take a good care of it~”

She would die.

She's going to die.

In this strange place, by this strange turn of event.

Alone. Not known by anyone.





No. That couldn't be true.

She's just having a nightmare.

But what if she'd never wake up?

Would she never see everyone again?

Her parents... Her family...

Her friends...?

No...


Kanon... Chikako... Rion...


Miyazawa-sensei...



Ryouha clenched her fist.

“No...”

“Hm?”

“I... want to live...”

The girl tilted her head.

“Really? Even if that means you'll cease to be a human?”

Ryouha choked out the words one more time, glaring at her.

“I'll live...”


“Heh!”

She heard the girl laughed.

“Aha ha ha~ I was right, yer so interesting~”

The girl removed the black glove on her left hand, showing the red skull mark hidden behind it. Ryouha could only see everything in blur. She could barely see the girl traced a finger over her left palm, splattering blotch of red from the swing, before clenching the palm over her mouth.

A warm liquid touched her tongue.

“Drink.”

Ryouha did as she say. It tasted like salt and iron, and as soon as the liquid went down her throat, she felt her whole body shook. Painful. Everything was painful. As if the foreign substance had took over and replaced her insides. Drowning her.


"O’ child of man, heed my call."


The girl's voice rang in her head.


“You shall be my flesh... My eyes, my bones, and my limbs.”


“The vessel of [Death]; The devourer of [Life],
with this oath I shall grant you the power to sever that line.



...



...



...



...err, what's the next verse again?”


Eh?

Ryouha couldn't believe her ears. She opened her eyes to a pitch black room, floating, as if she's underwater.


“Aah, whatever. Call upon my holy name—!”


She really didn't know what happened anymore. She could only see a faint light seeping from the surface and she glared toward it, reaching out her hand.


Stop... kidding with me...!


      Heaven Reversal
[Amanozako]


Ryouha whispered the name under her breath.

She opened her eyes, finding herself back on the deserted road of Akihabara. The pain around her body had disappeared. She glanced to her right, finding her severed arm back in place and holding onto something.


(https://s11.postimg.org/q2l4ty71v/shipure01_04.jpg)


A pure white halberd.

“Huuh... I kinda screwed up the Oath but looks like the pact's a success.”

Ryouha flinched, hearing the girl's voice echoed inside her head again.

“What is—“

“Save yer question for later, we have something more important to do.”

Another screech pierced the air right after and Ryouha clenched the halberd tighter, snapping her head toward its direction. The previous black creature stormed out of the rubble.

“Ya ready?”

She gulped. Ryouha couldn't see where the girl was, but somehow she knew that the girl was smiling.

Her laugh echoed in the far corner of her head.


               eat
“Time to reap some souls~”






__________________________________________________________
Shinigami Playground  : Chapter 01 // END









--Shinigami ☆ Q&A Corner--

1Akateko. An Ayakashi that resembles the red hand of a child descending from a tree.
Sometimes accompanied by the ghost of a young woman at the base of the tree. Maybe his mother?

2Hanako-san. A popular urban legend about the spirit of a young girl who haunts school bathrooms, but is actually an Ayakashi.
She's just a lonely child though, not dangerous at all.

3A super old and super gigantic Ayakashi.
Sometimes said to pose as a mountain range when sleeping.

42ch/2channel. A Japanese textboard.
Known for its absolute freedom of anonymous posting.

5A traditional Japanese gate usually found in Shinto shrine.
The symbol of transition from profane to sacred.

6Taken from the kanji higan- (afterlife) and -bana/hana (flower).
Believed to have guide souls toward the other side.

7An old Japanese way of telling time. A day is divided to 2 hours space and each assigned to 12 animals zodiac.
Rooster governs 5pm-7pm. Divide it by thirty minutes and you'll find the third division on 6pm.

8Yamanote line. A railway loop line in Tokyo.
It connects all of the major stations and urban centers. Always busy.

Title: Re: [ALL48+46] Shinigami Playground (NagiUha+Various) [CH.01]
Post by: jubethehare on February 13, 2017, 07:38:02 PM
The title is the name of the opening of Danganronpa right?
That's right. The inspiration for this fanfic mainly come from Danganronpa and Soul Eater, so like those two anime it will be a grim-dark but fun type.  :D

Looks great already! I love fantasy-themed fics. Hope I can hear from you soon! :D
Thanks! I hope you'll enjoy the first chapter~

Now I'm even more pumped for the first chapter!
Well, how is it~?
Title: Re: [ALL48+46] Shinigami Playground (NagiUha+Various) [CH.01]
Post by: Ruka Kikuchi on February 13, 2017, 09:02:22 PM
Now I'm even more pumped for the first chapter!
Well, how is it~?

It's AWESOME!!!!!!!!! OWO

I love it! This is so cool! So Nagi is a Shinigami? And now Ryouha's merged with her and got Reaper powers! So cool!!! >w<

Can't wait for the next chapter~ Keep it up! (^w^)d
Title: Re: [ALL48+46] Shinigami Playground (NagiUha+Various) [CH.01]
Post by: MaYukiIsLife on February 13, 2017, 09:26:58 PM
WOW
Title: Re: [ALL48+46] Shinigami Playground (NagiUha+Various) [CH.01]
Post by: Kairi65 on February 14, 2017, 05:06:37 AM
Just began reading and its dope!  :deco:

I can't wait to read the next chapter already!  :panic:
Title: Re: [ALL48+46] Shinigami Playground (NagiUha+Various) [CH.01]
Post by: alice141 on February 15, 2017, 02:05:14 AM
That was great! Nagi is the weapon and Ryouha is like her meister? :inlove: that smile reminds me to Soul.....I like your art! The scene of the hachiko statue!  :twothumbs :bow:
Title: Re: [ALL48+46] Shinigami Playground (NagiUha+Various) [CH.01]
Post by: jubethehare on February 15, 2017, 02:57:32 AM
Thanks for reading chapter 01~

So Nagi is a Shinigami? And now Ryouha's merged with her and got Reaper powers!

Nagi is the weapon and Ryouha is like her meister?

You're both correct~ The concept will be a bit different though and there will still be more surprises to come. Look forward to it :D

WOW

I can't wait to read the next chapter already!  :panic:

The plot's already baked in my head so please warmly wait until then~ ;)
Title: Re: [ALL48+46] Shinigami Playground (NagiUha+Various) [CH.01]
Post by: Ruka Kikuchi on February 15, 2017, 03:47:26 AM
Thanks for reading chapter 01~

The plot's already baked in my head so please warmly wait until then~ ;)

Hai~ :D
Title: Re: [ALL48+46] Shinigami Playground (NagiUha+Various) [CH.01]
Post by: Rena-chan Daisuki on February 15, 2017, 02:32:49 PM
Lalalal, finally done reading it!!!
I forgot who is chikako, but i understand why you chose someone from nmb rather still using souda sarina( ̄▽ ̄)

Can't wait for the others to scream ( ゚∀゚)ウァハハ八八ノヽノヽノヽノ \
Title: Re: [ALL48+46] Shinigami Playground (NagiUha+Various) [CH.01]
Post by: jubethehare on February 15, 2017, 06:45:40 PM
I forgot who is chikako, but i understand why you chose someone from nmb rather still using souda sarina( ̄▽ ̄)

Actually... she's a draftee from SKE and current fuku-captain of team S. She's also quite close with Ryouha. And when I saw them doing showroom together, they kinda remind me of NagiShu so...
Title: Re: [ALL48+46] Shinigami Playground (NagiUha+Various) [CH.01]
Post by: Rena-chan Daisuki on February 16, 2017, 09:26:07 AM
Lol, yeah you're right i forgot about her, well i don't know what they did in the showroom but i know how much it give you some fun  :rofl:
Title: Re: [ALL48+46] Shinigami Playground (NagiUha+Various) [CH.01]
Post by: Minamiyuki on February 17, 2017, 08:41:30 AM
Interesting. I like this now. XD XD

Waiting for your next update.. :) :)
Title: Re: [ALL48+46] Shinigami Playground (NagiUha+Various) [CH.02]
Post by: jubethehare on April 11, 2017, 05:41:14 PM
Hello and welcome back to Shinigami Playground~
I've got a lot to do lately so the updating pace is a bit slow... but it's finally here!
Chapter 2. 8)

Enjoy~



Shinigami Playground
Chapter 02: Yumeutsutsu ~Sleeping Awake
__________________________________________________________



This is real.

Though how much Ryouha wanted to deny it her whole senses betrayed her. The sound of her heartbeats, the cold feeling of metal in her sweaty grip, and the unearthly screech coming from in front of her; they kept screaming to her, that everything is real.

“Here it comes~”

A girl's voice echoed in her head and she raised to her feet, leaning her weight on the halberd as her whole body felt like mush. Her eyes wide as she watched the black creature rushed toward her.

“Jump.”

Her legs moved instantly from the command. Shattered remnants of the asphalt hit her skin forcing her to shield her eyes, and she could hear the wind howled in her ears. She hesitantly reopened her eyes. Everything looked strangely small under her feet, even the previously so huge creature down below, and Ryouha slowly turned her eyes to her right, seeing her own reflection on the glass window of a building beside her.

I'm...flying?

...

...

...

…no.


She paled. Her awe quickly replaced by panic as her body plummeted back to the ground in high speed.

I'm falling, I'm falling, I'm falling—

“Oi! Swing yer weapon down!”

That voice again, and without question her body complied, swinging the huge pole arm with a power she never knew she had. The creature let out another screech as the blade cut through its skin, blotch of black mud splattered from the gash before evaporating, as if the wound was burning them inside out.

“That was close... Now follow my lead.”

Without second thought Ryouha pulled the halberd close to her chest.

Left. Right. Left. Left. Right. Crouch.

Her body moved according to the girl's command, dodging every strike thrown at her as if it was natural. Several swipes later the creature's speed started to drop, and dug her feet deep to the ground, drawing her weapon back.

“Finish 'em!”

She swung the halberd across the ground with both hands, cutting the creature cleanly into two. It let out one last screech before its whole body evaporated, just like a chunk of dried ice, leaving nothing but a dull reddish orb in its place.

“Nice job~”

“!?”

Ryouha flinched, feeling a strong force pushed her away from the halberd. A white light covered the weapon as it left her grip, before it transformed into the form of that girl. The girl landed on the ground perfectly on her two feet, a huge smile on her face.

“Whoa, that's a hella lot of impurities. As expected of a Tatari.”

She walked toward the orb and observed it for a while before clapping her hands,

“Thanks for the food~”

And she chomped on it, like it was some kind of a snack. Ryouha could only stare silently.

“Gah, it's been a while since I ate some real soul~ It tastes amazing, don't cha agree?”

THUD--


“Huh?”

The girl blinked, seeing the fallen body of her vessel lying on the ground. She scratched her head.

“Oh, riiight. I forgot she's just a normal human. Always take a toll on their body on first possession.”

The girl switched her gaze upward, seeing a crack slowly spreading on the reddish sky.

“Uh-oh, gotta scram. Alley-oop.”

She snickered and heaved the unconscious girl over her shoulder.

“Now where should I go~”


=0=0=0=0=0=0=0=0=


Her head hurt.

Her whole body felt numb.

It felt as if a truck just hit her and left her in shambles, and she's now trying to patch herself together.

What just happened...?

Ryouha groaned and sat up on her bed. The first thing she noticed was that she's still wearing her school uniform, and that her school bag was lying on the floor along with her sweater and necktie in a messy heap. She couldn't remember how she got home or what exactly happened after she fell asleep in the train yesterday. She wasn't even sure if it was yesterday. She remembered seeing a strange dream though, about the deserted town of Akihabara and the strange black creature she encountered there. And also of 'that girl'. She sighed and held her head. Perhaps it was just another symptoms of her hallucination. She should get her medicine and tidy up her room; she didn't want her parents to catch her looking like this. Just as she thought about that the door to her room swung open.

“Morning~”

“Ugh, dad...” She let our another sigh in reflexes, nudging her throbbing head.

“Didn't I always tell you to knock beforehand?”

“Dad? I'm no yer dad.”

Huh? Ryouha blinked, replaying the voice in her head one more time. That's right. Her father may sound frivolous at times but not that frivolous. And even though she knew this voice it didn't feel like she knew it so well. Like she just heard it recently. Very recently. Suddenly the memories of that bizarre dream hit her again and Ryouha fearfully raised her face.


“You thought it's yer dad? Too bad it's only me! Yer friendly neighborhood shinigami, ha ha~”


(https://s28.postimg.org/fi2ppnh3h/shipure02_01.jpg)



Oh no.

Oh hell no.

No, no, no, no.

She slowly rose both hands to her face, clutching it tightly.

Mom, dad, I'm sorry... My hallucination has finally reached another height...

She could hear the strange girl cackled.

“Now now, no need to panic. You might be in a presence of a god but you may act as usual. I don't mind a normal greeting~”

Ryouha didn't know how to respond to that. She lowered her hands, seeing the girl sitting crossed-legged on her chair with a pack of milk coffee in her hand.

“You're not real.”

“Whoa, now that's a very rude greeting.”

“If you're real then I'll call the cops. Because you're a stalker.”

“What're ya talking about, I told ya I'm a god."

“...”

“And not just any god. I'm a death god.

What kind of death god wears a tank top and short jeans while cozily drinking instant coffee?

Ryouha gave her a look that just said that, and the girl raised a brow at her.

“Ooh~ Ya don't believe me, ain't cha? Then how would ya explain this?"

Ryouha yelped, finding the girl suddenly crouched in front of her and yanked her right hand up.

“Say hello to my reaper mark; the proof of divinity I bestowed on you.”


(https://s4.postimg.org/iwvxke2cd/shipure02_02.jpg)


There's a weird tattoo on my hand—!!!!

She nearly screamed as she saw the red skull on the back of her palm, and the girl laughed at her response.

“There's also the seed mark on your chest.”

“!?”

Ryouha instantly clawed on her collar, hoping that the girl was just joking but no; it was really there, the red mark of a flower embedded on her skin.

“And ya can't erase them till yer death, ha ha ha—whoa!”

“----!!!”

She pulled the girl's clothes, shaking her violently like a leaf.

WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME!?

“Can't ya talk? I won't understand what you want no matter how much ya glare.”

She abruptly stopped, staring at the girl for a while, before she released her grip and retreated under her blanket.

“Ya sure sulk a lot, girl. Anyways,” Ryouha felt the mattress shifted.

“It'll be awkward calling you like that all the time so tell me yer name.”

“...”

“Or wait, lemme guess... ya want me to give you a new name! Well, how about—”

“Ryouha.”

“Hm?”

“My name is Kitagawa Ryouha.”

“Huh. Don't want a new name?”

“...no, thanks.”

“Welp, your loss~”

She peeked out with another glare, finding the girl sitting on the edge of her bed while tracing the air with her index finger, leaving a trail of white mist with each stroke; the girl was writing on the empty space just like that, with whatever sorcery she had. She turned her gaze away.

My medicine... I need my medicine...

“Oh yeah, I found some shady drugs in yer bag so I sent 'em out to Koko-chan. She said she'll give a thorough information of its contents in a few days.”

Ryouha froze, staring at the girl with wide eyes.

That's my medicine!

“Right. Stop shaking my clothes and speak already.”

She couldn't take it anymore. Just—what with this girl!? Calling herself god and doing whatever she pleases. Who is she anyway and why is she following her? How did she know her house? And how did she manage to get in? There's just so many questions that her head felt like bursting just thinking about them.

“Hey, how do you write 'Ryouha? I get the kanji for 'Kitagawa' but not 'Ryouha'.”

The girl lightly asked, completely oblivious of her problems. She finally realized that the girl had been trying to write her name to no avail and Ryouha slowly drew her breath.

“...alright. I'm calm. Let's start this over.”

“Hm?”

“My name is Kitagawa Ryouha. It's written as 'north river' and 'weaven tomoe1'.”

“Oh, you can read that as 'Ryouha'? Cool, first time I hear about it.”

“...”

The girl erased the previous scribbles with a swish of her hand before writing the proper name above it.

“Ki-ta-ga-wa Ryo-u-ha. Got it.”

She grinned and wrote a small 'my divine vessel♥' above it, complete with the heart mark, before she swished over them once again, this time toward her gloved hand. A familiar skull glowed from under the glove and the mist vanished, as if sucked toward it. Ryouha didn't know how to comment on that so she pretended not seeing it. She decided to start another topic.

“And I believe you are... Amano—

“Shh.”

She yelped as the girl suddenly pushed her index finger to her lips.

“That's my holy name. It's not something you should openly say.”

“...?”

“My other name is 'Nagisa'.”

The girl retracted her finger and wrote the air again.

“ 'Inside the frozen wind, a flower bloom'2. Na-gi-sa.”

She put one proud grin from the name.

“And my surname, hmm... let's go with Shibuya. Yep, Shibuya. Shibuya Nagisa; that sounds awesome. You may address me with this name from now on, my dear vessel~”

Did she just make those up?

Ryouha had no idea. She better set the thought aside for now and move on to the next question.

“So you're... a god.”

“Yep, a death god.”

“Is that why you know where I live?”

“Nah, no way~ I don't have that kind of all-knowing abilities. I've been following you for three days so I just know.”

So you DO admit that you're a stalker?

“You won't believe it but the previous night I kept knocking on your window for hours but you won't come out. Then suddenly an ayakashi attacked me so I have to fight empty handed and withdraw for a while. That was horrible.”

And the eerie sounds that kept me awake that night was YOUR fault!?

“Oh, and I think ya might need to check the front door. I kinda picked the lock to get inside, ha ha~”

WHAT GOD PICK A LOCK TO SOMEONE'S HOUSE!?!!

That's it. Ryouha gave up. The more she heard the girl talked the more her head felt like exploding from the absurdity. She should just ignore her. Yes, ignore her and leave. She's good at doing that. Besides, what time is it? She could see light streaming from her window so it couldn't be night. And from what the girl said it seemed like only a day had passed so that means she had school today. Ryouha sighed and dragged her hand to the bedside table, fetching her alarm clock.

12pm.

12 o'clock at noon.

She stared at the blinking numbers silently.



Right, should she skip school today?

She didn't feel like going anymore.

But she also didn't want to stay home with this... this... 'Nagisa'.

She put the alarm clock back with a groan.



“...fine, I'll go.”

She stood and took her discarded sweater from the floor, walking toward her drawer. She could hear Nagisa's footsteps following behind her.

“Are we going somewhere?”

Ryouha ignored her and walked to the bathroom next, locking the door.

“Oh, yer changing? Then I'll wait for ya in the living room~”

The footsteps gradually disappeared and she sighed, unbuttoning her shirt. She saw her own reflection on the mirror. The right sleeves of her shirt was torn badly and a ghastly pain hit her as she saw that, reminding her of the time when her arm was severed. She slowly clamped her fingers together. She didn't know yet whether it was a dream or not but she at least knew her arm was back in one piece now, only with extra marking. She turned on the sink and tried to wash the mark off with some soap. It didn't work. She sighed. The color was too striking and it didn't seem like she could cover it with make-ups, so she needed to resort to either gloves or bandages. She chose the latter. As for the mark on her collarbone it wouldn't be apparent if she buttoned her shirt properly.

Now I look like a chuunibyou3...

She sighed to herself as she tied the white fabric around her hand, changing to her clean uniform. After she finished she took her bag with her and headed outside her room, finding that self-proclaimed god Nagisa lying on the sofa while reading some random magazine. Ryouha ignored her and kept walking.

“Ready to go?”

She heard her footsteps approaching as she finished putting on her shoes.

“Alright~ So where are we going—“

CLICK--

Ryouha stopped, locking the door.

CLICK. CLICK, CLICK, CLICK—
 
“Oi, Ryouha~ The door's locked, I can't get outside~”

Good. It's still working.

“Ryouha? Ooooi~~”

She put the key inside her bag and left, trying to forget that the girl even existed.

No, wait. That's probably a good idea...

Ryouha raised one hand to her chin.

Maybe she'll vanish when I come home later.

She gave herself a nod and walked toward the train station.

It was around 1pm when she finally got to school and it was right on lunch break so she could sneak inside quite easily. Her eyes met with her two friends as soon as she entered the classroom and Chikako instantly tackled her neck.

“Ryouha! God, I thought something happened to you!”

“...Chika, would you mind not mentioning the word 'god' for a while?”

“Geez, Ryouha-tan. Stop worrying us with your sleeping habit.”

She turned her attention to Kanon, seeing the small girl letting out her breath in relief. She blinked.

“Did something happen?”

Chikako pulled away as she heard that, stealing a glance at Kanon.

“Well, let's sit for once.”

Kanon said as the three of them moved over to Ryouha's desk, pulling their chair over.

“You see, there's a rumor that some students have been missing since after school yesterday.”

“...”

Ryouha paused as she heard that, letting her gaze wandered around the classroom for a while. It's true that some bags were missing from the spot but it's not really that noteworthy, until her eyes fell on a certain empty seat at the front.

“Wait, Rion—”

“Don't worry about her.” Kanon cut her off.

“Her great grandmother or something fell sick so she has to go to her hometown for a visit. She'll be absent for a few days she said.”

“...I see.”

“Furuhata is also taking a few days leave though so that might be a bluff.”

“Kanon!” Chikako hit her head lightly, earning a yelp.

“Don't stray away from the topic will ya? This is serious.”

“Fine, fine.”

Kanon puffed her cheek, before huddling closer to the group.

“Anyways, like I said, some people are missing. And the thing is, from what I heard they all share one thing in common.”

“One thing in common?”

Ryouha froze as she saw the look on Kanon's eyes. She suddenly understood what she mean.

“They all... have played that game...”

“Exactly. All of them had registered their name in Shinigami Playground.”

“...”

“But hey, that's just Kanon's personal deduction.”

Chikako chirped, trying to lighten the mood.

“We don't know for sure if they're really missing or skipping school. Besides, what worries me isn't that game but the other information we got from the girls. Right, Kanon?”

“Oh, that one. It seems too ridiculous now since Ryouha-tan's already here.”

Ryouha gave her friends a confused look.

“What do you mean?”

“Remember that creep we met three days ago at Shibuya? There were people witnessing her carrying you on her shoulder around Akihabara yesterday.”

WHAM!

“W-whoa, Ryouha. You okay?”

“...I'm fine.”

Ryouha quietly mumbled, keeping her red forehead against the wooden surface. What—she just—did she think I'm some kind of a trophy!? She raised her face and slammed it back to the desk a few more times.

“Oookay...” Chikako stood and pushed Kanon away from the desk.

“Anyways, we're glad that she didn't kidnap you or anything. Just call me or Kanon if anything happen, 'kay?”

“Wait Chika, this is just getting interesting.”

“Give her a break, will ya? Ryouha need her rest.”

Ryouha mumbled out a small 'thanks' to them, still not raising her face. After a while she sighed and switched to lean on her cheek, staring at her bandaged hand. What is happening? Was yesterday real after all? She just couldn't believe it. She knew at this point that 'Nagisa' was real but the ayakashi4 she kept mentioning? She wouldn't give in just yet. Of course she'd read about ayakashi in her mother's book but they're just folktales. They're not real.

Maybe my mind started making them up thanks to my mental stress these days. 

She gave herself one long sigh before she heard her phone rang. Oh yeah, I should silent them before class start. Ryouha absentmindedly thought as she pulled the device out of her bag, staring at the screen. There was something on the notification panel, and once she saw the familiar skull icon, her blood instantly ran cold.

  Shinigami Playground: You got 1 new message from the [Host]

Ryouha gasped and dropped the phone back to her bag, clutching her right hand tightly. No. No, she wouldn't admit it. This is not real. All of this! Everything was just part of her hallucination. They would disappear once she get her medicine and calm down.

F-fresh air... I just need some fresh air...

She thought to herself before standing up from her seat, walking toward the school corridor. She tried to get her mind occupied by watching some people through the window, seeing them lounging around eating and chatting with their friends. It's just another normal day of high school and it gave her a little sense of relief. She let her eyes wandered some more, taking in all the images to her mind, before they fell on a group of girls flocking near the school gate. She blinked. Oh, probably just those gossiping girls talking with some hot guy or shady peddlers. She rested her chin on her palm in a bored manner, but as soon as she recognized the figure on the other side of the gate, her hand slipped.

It's that girl again---!!!!

Ryouha sprinted back to the classroom and grabbed her bag, before speeding down to the first floor. People stared at her but she couldn't put herself to care right now as she changed to her outdoor shoes in a second and rushed straight toward the school gate. The conversation started to grow clearer as she got closer.

“Kya ha ha, you're so funny~”

“Right~? And then, oh Ry—ogh!

Ryouha threw her bag with everything she had. The gate was not that tall so the it flew perfectly in straight trajectory, flying over the gate and hitting the girl square on her face. The impact made her target fell to the asphalt and Ryouha panted, hearing the group of girls beside her shrieked in surprise. She shot them a quick glare and they scrambled away without another word.

“Ouchie... hey! Is that how ya treat yer god?”

Nagisa growled, sitting up on the asphalt as she rubbed her sore nose. Ryouha gave her the same sharp glare.

“Wait, lemme guess what that glare means. Ya want to ask... what I'm doing here.”

Ryouha crossed her arms.

“Oh, or is it how I got here?”

“Just. Answer. The first question...”

“So I was right? Well~”

Nagisa chuckled and rose to her feet, taking the bag with one hand.

“I'm preparing my cute lil' vessel for the next [Oni Gokko].”

Ryouha flinched, her glare wavered a little.

“What do you mean...”

“See? You won't know since only the shinigami get the announcement. Here~”

The girl took out her phone from her jacket and showed a message to her.

“In this Shinigami Playground the [Host] will tell the god side when the next [Magatoki5] will occur. Today it'll be on the second division of the hour of the dog. In human term it'll be 07.30pm. Come to think of it I haven't filled you in with the basic. Let's meet up on the nearest train station before the game start.”

“I'm not playing anymore.”

“Nuh-uh, ya can't quit midway~ [Magatoki] will still occur and since yer a seed you'll soon end up in one of those ayakashi's belly without me~”

Ryouha squirmed, squeezing her own arm for comfort.

“Why are you doing this to me...”

“Me? No no, you chose this yourself~”

Nagisa said in a sing-song voice.

“You're a seed. You should've died back then but you made a contract with me to keep on living.”

She walked closer to the gate, handing the bag to Ryouha through the metal bars.

“So that life of yours now belongs to me.”

She pulled the bag and whispered to the girl's ear, lowly, before she smiled and released her grip.

“Well then see ya this evening. Have a nice day~”

Ryouha stood there in silence, watching the figure slowly disappeared into the town. She clenched her bag tightly.

“Ryouha!”

She flinched and glanced behind her, seeing her two friends rushing toward her.

“What happened? Why did you suddenly run?”

Chikako asked without losing a beat, zooming past the exhausted Kanon.

“I swear this girl... She'll give me a heart-attack someday...”

Kanon wheezed, resting her hands on her knees as she tried to catch her breath, and Ryouha looked away.

“Sorry, I...”

She pulled her bag.

“I-I think I won't be coming to class after all.”

“Huh?”

She turned and put one hand on the gate, climbing over the metal bar. She thought she heard Chikako calling her but she just walked away, not even giving her two friends a single glance. She had to leave. Somewhere, anywhere. At least until she put her thoughts into order. She felt bad for doing that without saying anything but she didn't even have the words to explain what's going on, so she should now focus on calming herself. The familiar black shadows around her started mumbling and she closed her ears tightly.

And she just kept walking, deeper, toward the bustling town.


=0=0=0=0=0=0=0=0=


Ryouha wasn't sure why she was there.

In fact, she was sure that she didn't want to be there.

But there she was, walking toward the train station with slow heavy steps. She saw Nagisa waiting for her, back resting on the wall and hands buried in her pockets.

She wanted to turn away. She wanted to turn away so badly. But her legs kept on moving.

Perhaps she already knew what driven her right now.

It was fear.

After she calmed herself that afternoon she decided to muster up the courage to open the message on her phone. And what she saw there sent another shiver down her spine. It was a congratulations for surviving the first dusk, and an announcement of another [Oni Gokko] that would occur tonight at 7.30pm. Just like the girl said.

“Finally yer here~”

Nagisa gave her that usual big smile, her thumb pointing at the clock on the station front.

“It'll be half past seven soon. Watch closely around ya, I'll start explaining the basic of [Magatoki].”

There was less than five minutes until the clock hit the designated time, and Ryouha already counted numbers in her head.


5...


4...


3...


2...


1...


0—


And the world stopped.

Ryouha couldn't believe her eyes. Everything just...stopped. The people that were walking by, the birds flying across the sky, the cars speeding down the street; they just suddenly stopped, as if frozen in time.

This is the stagnant time of [Magatoki]; the time when the human world and the world where ayakashi dwell mingle together.”

She slowly turned her perplexed gaze to Nagisa, seeing the girl reading her phone screen intently.

“Hm, hm, yes. In order to get rid of impurities without destroying human's environment, the game is conducted in this stagnant dimension. The first round [Oni Gokko] is a game where [Seed of Malice], or simply seeds, are used to lure out ayakashi so that shinigami can hunt them. Thus it was called 'Oni Gokko6'. Oh, now I get it~”

Nagisa raised her eyes from the phone. All sign of life around them slowly blurred and evaporated to the air in tiny dust, leaving only empty landscapes.

“See? It's a safe game where uninvolved humans are excluded and kept away from harm. We gods are very kind to you~”

“...”

“Well, let's start hunting for some bad ayakashi now.”

The girl put her phone back inside her jacket before tottering away, and Ryouha hesitantly followed after her.

“...wait. There's still a lot of things I want to ask you.”

“No time for that. Just ask as we walk.”

She swallowed, trying to find her voice as they walked past the empty street. She noticed that the asphalt had started to crack and spewed some black haze; she stepped away, making sure to steer clear from the mysterious substance.

“Why is this game—this Shinigami Playground held? What are seeds and vessels you keep mentioning of?”

“I'll answer one at a time.”

Nagisa said as she raised her one hand to her left eye and looked around, peering through her fingers like she always did.

“First, I think the game is held because of something about the world's ending. And I think it happens due to the overwhelming number of impurities.”

“You think...?”

“Eeh, can't really remember the details. Don't sweat it too much.”

She's unbelievable...

“Where is it... oh, that way.”

“...”

“Moving on. Now about [Vessels], they're actually shinigami's personal  shintai7. You know what a shintai is?”

The container of god. The heart of a shinto shrine. It might not be a common knowledge but Ryouha had read about it. She gave Nagisa a small nod.

“Great! Then it's easier to explain. We shinigami use vessels to materialize in the mundane world and call out our maximum reaping potential, just like how other god use their shintai.”

“But you choose living humans as your shintai.”

“Well, what do you expect? Unlike other gods we can't just sit around in some grand shrine waiting to be prayed on. We need a flexible medium to do our job. Which actually includes purifying and retrieving souls, fighting ayakashi that try to steal souls, ensuring that every human lives according to their lifespan, and many more.”

So even gods can be busy... Ryouha thought as she saw Nagisa went through the list with her fingers, mumbling to herself.   

“As for [Seed of Malice], they are individuals deemed sinful by the high heaven and are unworthy of life. Shinigami are allowed to kill these seeds, but in the case of this game, they are used as fodder for luring out ayakashi.” 







...what?

Ryouha stopped on her track, staring back at the shinigami before her in disbelief.

“Sinful? Unworthy of life...? They are allowed... to be killed?”

“Exactly~”

Ryouha froze as she saw Nagisa twirled and smiled innocently at her. She didn't know what to say. Then does it mean those missing students... They're all... dead? She tried to convey the question with her eyes to no avail, and the girl in front of her simply tilted her head.

“Oh, ya don't need to worry about that. You're my vessel so I'm keeping ya alive.”

“...why?”

“Because I need you of course~”

She clenched her fists, her fear slowly turned into anger.

“Then why me?”

“Eeh, there's this thing called yorishiro8 which dictates the humans shinigami can or can't connect with. Ya just happen to have a great potential as my yorishiro so I chose you, that's all.”

Again, Ryouha didn't know what to say. The girl said it so lightly, as if the weight of one life didn't matter for her at all, and she finally understood. The reason was simple. What standing in front of her was not human but a god of death. A real god of death. No matter what she said, their views of life wouldn't intersect. She really didn't know what to say anymore. She could only switch her eyes to the ground, clenching her fists even tighter.

“Then promise me one thing...”

“Hm?”

“Promise me... that after this whole games end... you will give my normal life back...”

“Sure thing~”

The shinigami grinned and pulled her trembling hand, forcing Ryouha to look at her face.

“I swear in my holy name that I'll keep you alive and return you to your normal life. Besides, I can't go on if I lose my vessel I'll be disqualified, ha ha~”

“...”

“Now,”

Nagisa hooked one arm around the girl's shoulders and pumped her fist to the air.

“Let's march to our first official hunt! Our goal is the top, go go~”

And she skipped away laughing. Ryouha didn't understand where the girl got all her cheerfulness from but she knew she had to get used to it. If she wanted to survive this ridiculous game that is. She saw Nagisa peered through her fingers again, searching around the place. Ryouha sighed and followed behind her. As they turned on the corner the scenery started to look painfully familiar, and Ryouha quickened her steps.

“Finally! Our destination for the day~”

She froze, seeing Nagisa stretching her both arms to her side under the reddish sky.

Ryouha knew this place. She walked past it a lot of times before. Besides, just a few days ago she was there with her three friends, sitting while eating some ice creams, but the scenery she saw now was nothing like how she remembered them. The row of blooming cherry blossoms was no longer painted in their usual soft pinkish color. Instead their petals were dyed in maddening red, reminding her of that old story, where the trees sucked up blood of the death to gain its beautiful color. It sounded even more true now with the river behind it boiling in that same hue.

“Meguro river.”

Nagisa cheerfully said as she read the article in her phone.

“For humans it is a famous spot to hang out and watch some cherry blossoms, but for us shinigami there's another reason why this place is famous.”

The shinigami put away the device and switched to grab Ryouha's hand.

“They said toward the end of World War II, guess it's somewhere in 1945, an air raid happened and killed hundreds thousands of people around the area. The river boiled and countless dead bodies covered nearly all of the water's surface.”

Ryouha flinched as she felt the weight on her right hand multiplied, finding the white halberd back in her grip. She gulped and heaved the weapon up with both hands.

“And the curses left by those dead humans, have now turned this place into a perfect nest for ayakashi.”

“---!?”

Ryouha froze, her grips shook against the cold metal as she saw the otherworldly sight before her. Countless humanoid forms rose from the river, their black flesh melted, showing their rusty bones underneath. Their empty eyes boiled from the heat that permeated all over their body and their broken jaws hanging agape, spewing rough stricken voices.

   “Save us—“ “Hot! It's hot—“ “Mom—Dad—“ “I don't want to die—“ “H-help me! Help—“ “—can't breathe—“ “It's burning—!!“ “Why do we have to die—?“

Her legs failed her as she saw them crawled toward her.

“Hey, get up~ Our next meal have just arrived~”

“Uugh... Uwaaah!”

Ryouha screamed, kicking off the rotten hand that was clawing on her leg. No. No. No, she didn't want to face these monsters anymore. She had enough! She crawled back to her feet and ran.

“Wait, wait, wait, where are ya going? They're on the other way!” 

She ignored the voice and raised the halberd high above her head, ready to throw it away.

“Okay, that's enough—“











Ryouha stopped. The blunt end of the halberd hit the ground lightly, and she sighed.

“Aah, seriously. I actually don't wanna do this but ya leave me with no choice.”

She shook her head, hearing her own voice flowed. She wasn't the one saying it, but she was sure, it was her very own voice. Ryouha swung the halberd and turned toward the approaching ayakashi. She smiled widely.


(https://s18.postimg.org/tr3axy0qx/shipure02_03.jpg)



“I'll be borrowing yer body for a while.”


SLASH--

She froze, seeing her body moved by its own and tore through the line of ayakashi. Their muffled cries pierced the air.

“Watch and learn. This is how you clean impurities.”

Slash, slash, slash.


She saw herself slashed and hacked through the creatures, splattering blob of red and black around the sidewalk, while the only thing she could do was watch as if she was a mere spectator to the mad rondo.

“And~ The last one~”

SLASH--


And it ended, with a quick swing of the blade across the creature's neck, it finally ended. As soon as the halberd left her grip Ryouha fell to her knees, panting loudly. Her whole body screamed in pain. Her head felt like splitting apart. It was as if she saw forcefully put back into place after torn into pieces, just like last time, only a hundred times worse. She shakily rose her face, staring at the shinigami before her.

“Whoa, you look horrible. Want some soul?”

She couldn't speak. The only thing coming out of her mouth was hard breathing, and finally she fell to the ground unconscious. Nagisa blinked as she saw that.

“She fainted again? What's wrong with her?”

The shinigami shrugged and slurped the soul in her mouth.

“Oh well, just gonna grab her again after I finish with all these souls. And better stay silent about the window I broke earlier to escape, ha ha~”

Nagisa snickered to herself, before snatching another soul and continued her meal. Little that she knew a lone crow was watching them from above the cherry tree. The bird extended its wings silently and took flight, before crumbling down into tiny bits of paper that fluttered in the air.


=0=0=0=0=0=0=0=0=


“Have you found her?”

A girl in a baggy t-shirt asked as she saw her companion extended her hand, catching the paper crumbs drifting in the air. The girl swung her finger down and the papers followed the gesture, clumping together to form a simple crow figure standing in a neat line among the other twenty similar figures on the ground. She turned her head, her long black cape swaying in the wind.

“Yeah. One of the shiki9 caught her hunting in Meguro ward. And it seems like she already got herself a new vessel.”

“Wheew, always popular with the ladies, ain't she?”

The girl whistled, holding her cap as a strong gust blew against her. She glanced above her shoulder, seeing a giant horned beast snarling toward her.

“Let's start cleaning over here as well. Then we'll catch up with her.”

She drew out her right arm.

          ten-fists
[Totsuka].”

The girl beside her vanished and in her hand came a sword, a pure white longsword. A red skull mark appeared on the back of her hand. She grinned and walked off the tall building, letting her body fell through the empty air. The beast roared at her from below.


“We'll come for you soon, young mistress~”



__________________________________________________________
Shinigami Playground  : Chapter 02 // END












--Shinigami ☆ Q&A Corner--

1A Japanese abstract pattern that resembles comma shape,
mostly as the triple swirls called mitsudomoe.
It is sometimes viewed as the sign of Shinto’s threefold division (man, earth, and sky).

2‘kaze no naka ni tomaru' (nagi-) 'hana ga saku' (-sa).
Japanese tend to use such description to tell which kanji used for their name
since there are usually several ways to write them.

3A person with delusional behaviours who tend to think
that they have super powers, while in reality they don’t.
Quite common in 2nd year middle school students
thus called “chuuni-” (second year middle school) “-byou” (sickness)

4All form of supernatural monsters, spirits, and demons in Japanese folklore.
Can range from malevolent to mischievous, but love to eat human’s soul either way.

5The moment at dusk when the sky starts to grow dark.
It has two ways of writing, each with its own meaning;
“the time when one meets ayakashi” or “the time when calamity falls”.

6The Japanese words for the game of tag.
Written with the kanji oni- (demon) and -gokko (play).

7Physical object of worships that acts as a place for Shinto god to dwell.
Though called ‘the sacred body of god’, shintai is not part of god itself
but only a container to make them accessible to human beings.

8An object capable of attracting certain god just like a lightning rod.
Once it actually houses a god it will later be referred as ‘shintai’.

9Abbreviation of ‘shikigami’. A summoned spirit much like familiars
that do things according to their master’s biddings.
The most common type are enchanted papers that can produce illusion of another real-life objects.



Title: Re: [ALL48+46] Shinigami Playground (NagiUha+Various) [CH.02]
Post by: Ruka Kikuchi on April 12, 2017, 12:04:58 AM
I love that image of Ryouha waking up and seeing Nagisa in front of her. XD

I hope Rion and Nao are alright. I'm starting to think Rion knows something about the game.

And two new characters?! Oooooh I wonder who they are! ^_^

Awesome, awesome! Can't wait for next chapter~
Title: Re: [ALL48+46] Shinigami Playground (NagiUha+Various) [CH.02]
Post by: MaYukiIsLife on April 13, 2017, 06:34:15 AM
I love that image of Ryouha waking up and seeing Nagisa in front of her. XD

I hope Rion and Nao are alright. I'm starting to think Rion knows something about the game.

And two new characters?! Oooooh I wonder who they are! ^_^

Awesome, awesome! Can't wait for next chapter~

To be honest I dont think it's just Rion who knows something. I think both Kanon and Nao know something but I think it's just me. If Rion is in on it,  then Nao must be too. Heck I wouldnt be surprised if Nao was Rions Shinigami.

If those two are missing then I hope NagiUha can find them. I still want Furumarion!
Title: Re: [ALL48+46] Shinigami Playground (NagiUha+Various) [CH.02]
Post by: Rena-chan Daisuki on April 14, 2017, 02:08:49 PM
DAMN!!!! You finally post chapt 2 and i don't realize it~
well i'm going to read it later~
'cause i'm gonna watch Koe no Katachi First :yossi:
Title: Re: [ALL48+46] Shinigami Playground (NagiUha+Various) [CH.02]
Post by: Rena-chan Daisuki on April 14, 2017, 02:50:59 PM
well in the end i finally finished reading this, 'cause koe no katachi haven't aired yet
It's good and the servant or should i say the right hand man is coming!!!
can't wait to see the next detail~ :cow:
Title: Re: [ALL48+46] Shinigami Playground (NagiUha+Various) [CH.02]
Post by: jubethehare on May 29, 2017, 08:11:55 AM
Thanks for reading chapter 2~ And sorry for the late response, been busy lately haha...

I hope Rion and Nao are alright. I'm starting to think Rion knows something about the game.

And two new characters?! Oooooh I wonder who they are! ^_^


Well~~ We'll see about that~

To be honest I dont think it's just Rion who knows something.
If those two are missing then I hope NagiUha can find them. I still want Furumarion!

Oh, don't worry. They'll be back. Eventually... 

well in the end i finally finished reading this, 'cause koe no katachi haven't aired yet
It's good and the servant or should i say the right hand man is coming!!!
can't wait to see the next detail~ :cow:

Damn, I wanna watch Koe no Katachi----!!!!  They didn't air the movie at my place y'know...
The right hand men-- *shot for spoiler* We'll see what happen when they enter the fray...:kekeke:
Title: Re: [ALL48+46] Shinigami Playground (NagiUha+Various) [CH.03]
Post by: jubethehare on July 02, 2017, 04:15:20 PM
Hello and welcome back to Shinigami Playground! Here's chapter 3.  8)

Actually I've written this for a while now but I haven't got the time to draw the pictures, ha ha.
Enjoy~



Shinigami Playground
Chapter 03: Uso Happyaku ~Liar Liar Pants on Fire
__________________________________________________________


The whole class was silent when she entered. Nearly silent.
   
And even without raising her head, Ryouha knew that everyone was staring at her.

If it was the usual her she would've decided to skip school all together rather than being thrown into this nerve-wrecking situation but right now she couldn't care. Or to be precise, she didn't even have enough energy to feel embarrassed anymore. She simply closed the classroom door behind her and walked toward her seat, planting her face to her bag as she put it down on her desk, her arms hanging limply beside her. Soon the idle chatters returned to the room and Ryouha sighed. A long deep tired sigh.

“Err...”

“Don't ask.”

She mumbled the words quickly as she heard Chikako's voice.

“Just... don't ask...”

“Oookay?”

She heard the footsteps stopped beside her desk before another one approached. She could already guess who it was.

“So? You overslept again today and wear your gym clothes in mistake?”

“Sheesh!”

Chikako gave Kanon a quick elbow to her arm, and Ryouha let out another sigh.

“No. Some idiot spilled their food all over my spare uniforms, so I only have my school jersey left...”

“You really have a bad luck lately, Ryouha-tan.”

Bad luck? Bad luck?? Ryouha raised her face and gave Kanon a blank stare, before planting it back to her bag.

I rather have a year worth of bad luck than dealing with 'her'...


:.A few hours earlier—
 

“Okay. Calm down.”

Nagisa blurted out as she raised her hands, eyes locked on the enraged girl before her.

“Just calm down. Whatever yer thinking, it's nothing like that—woaah!”

She crouched, barely dodging the alarm clock that flew toward her face. The clock hit the closet door behind her in a huge 'clank' before falling into the pile of many other things scattered around her feet. It was almost an amazing sight, as if a storm just hit the room and swept all of the furniture to one side with the shinigami standing in the middle of it.

What's not like that!?

Ryouha seethed in fury as she gripped her blanket over her chest and clenched her fist. Even without the shout escaping her mouth it was clear that she was more than angry. Nagisa quickly stood and raised her hands again.

“Listen, I was just changing you out of yer school uniform! Stop throwing things like yer about to kill me~”

Oh, why wouldn't she? The first thing she saw as she woke up that day was the shinigami towering above her and unbuttoning her shirt. It's only natural that her reaction would be kicking the girl off and throwing everything at her in hope of killing her, if possible.

“Okay. I get it. I'm sorry.” Nagisa said in a slow careful manner. “I know it's my fault that yer uniform is covered with impure mud. I went overboard with the extermination last night.”

“...”

“I've reflected on that and I just wanted to make you feel more comfortable. I didn't do anything else. Besides there's nothing much to see anyway, ha ha—

SMACK!

Nagisa fell head first, the table lamp smacked to her face.

I wonder if mom wrote anything about a way to repel shinigami...

Ryouha huffed and walked toward her closet, ignoring the death god that was rolling and whimpering in pain on the floor. She took her alarm clock on the way, a bit disappointed to find it still functioning.

It's already noon again. Too bad she didn't have a choice to skip school today; she already did yesterday and if she did it on a row that would only make everyone worried. And there's also this shameless god in her house. She shot the said god a quick glare, before searching around her row of clothes. Great, and now she's running out of spare uniforms. Should she use the summer ones? No. It's still cold outside so she couldn't possibly wear them. That left her with one choice. She took the red school jersey on the far end of the closet, bringing it with her to the bathroom. She also made sure to lock the bathroom door afterwards. Two times.

Ryouha sighed, slipping out of her uniform and checking her body over the mirror. There's no apparent wounds and she couldn't feel pain on any part of her body save for the dulling headache. She needed a shower though, at least to wash away the remaining mud. That, and she needed the time to calm herself and put everything in order. The girl let out her breath and turned on the shower.

Everything that had happened until now was real.

Shinigami Playground.

A game conducted to stop the world from ending.

Ayakashi, death god, impurities, magatoki. 

She still didn't know much but she had no way to deny them anymore. Nor that she could run away from them.

Ryouha clenched her fist against the wall, feeling the warm water hit her skin and silently trickled down her body.

“...then so be it.”

If she couldn't run then she'd hide. If she couldn't hide then she'd crawl through the mud. She's not crazy enough to face those monsters head on. She didn't need to. Her only objective was to survive. Survive and keep on living until the end of this game, so that she could return to her normal life. Yes. She'd make it clear for that good-for-nothing shinigami. That's all there is to it. She turned off the faucet and dried off her hair, changing into her school jersey. She took another deep breath and opened the door, but as soon as she saw what was behind it her resolve instantly went down the drain.

“Welcome back~”

Ryouha froze. A giant circle was scribbled on her bedroom floor, a circle adorned with ancient patterns she didn't know with a small paper doll about the size of her fist lying in the middle. She slowly switched her gaze to the only possible culprit.

“Wait, before you throw anything let me clarify one thing; I didn't use permanent marker.”

“Then clean. This. Up.”

“That's why I said wait~ Remember about Koko-chan?”

Ryouha narrowed her eyes. She thought she heard that name before. Ah, yes. Someone who Nagisa gave her medicine to. She wondered why the shinigami suddenly brought up that topic, and seeing her big smile only added her unease.

“Aww, don't give me that look~ Koko-chan said she's finished analyzing the contents of yer dru—medicine so I'm calling her over.”

“...calling her over?”

“Yep. I prefer if she just talk through the phone but she said she want to meet you in person.”

Ryouha gave the shinigami another suspicious look. What does she mean by that? And what does it have to do with the strange circle? Nagisa didn't seem to care though. The girl simply stood and rubbed her hands in anticipation.

“Alright. Hope I still remember the chant.”

The shinigami extended her arms. She opened her palms and stretched out her fingers, keeping only her thumbs and forefingers touching each other to make a simple triangle.


   “ On chirichi iba rotaya sowaka... ”


The drawing on the floor lit up from the chant and Ryouha took a step back. She had a bad feeling about this.


   “ O’ spirit that dwells among the unseen, heed my call


   your root shall be [earth];
                          kokoro
   your purpose shall be [mind]


   come forth and serve my will—!”


Ryouha flinched, raising her right hand to block the roaring wind and the light that suddenly engulfed the room.


“!!?!?!”







POOF!


(https://s18.postimg.org/n9ll8527t/shipure03_01.jpg)


The unnatural forces slowly dissipated and between them stood a paper doll. The exact same doll from before. The only difference was that the doll was standing on its two feet, and slowly, the doll started to move. It flexed its thin paper limbs for a while, as if studying itself, before turning its empty face toward Nagisa.

“What?”

The paper doll hung its head, as if in disappointment, before turning to Nagisa once again. 

“It's okay, Nagi-chan. At least I can move the paper doll after you summon me this time.”

“Stop, don't pity me~! I know I suck at summoning shiki, okay I know!”

The shinigami fell to her knees in a dramatic manner, and the small doll patted her arm in condolence.

What...is going on? And did the paper doll just...talk?

Ryouha stared at the scene silently, trying to process whatever sorcery that had occurred once again in her room, before she wildly shook her head.

No. I don't have time to deal with her absurdity this time.

She held her breath and carefully tiptoed around the two, trying to stay clear from their field of vision as she retrieved her school bag from her desk, but it was too late.

“Are you Nagi-chan's divine vessel?”

Ugh...

Ryouha stopped, one hand reaching for her bag and the other stretched behind her to keep her balance. She let out the breath she was holding, before turning to face the doll.

“...yes. My name is Kitagawa Ryouha.”

“I see.”

The doll suddenly turned silent. Its blank face locked at her without moving, as if studying her, and Ryouha started to feel uncomfortable.

“Oh, I'm sorry for staring. I was worried what kind of person Nagi-chan chose as her divine vessel but you seem to be a good person.”

“Now what do you mean by that?”

The doll ignored Nagisa's protest and bowed.
                                                                                                                                                                         
“Nice to meet you, Kitagawa-san. My name is Naiki Kokoro; one of the shikigami serving [Byakko] clan."

“...nice to meet you too.”

“Oh by the way,”

Nagisa chimed, patting the doll head with her finger.

“Koko-chan's an ayakashi, y'know.”

“!?”

Ryouha stumbled back as she recognized the word, almost tripping on her own feet, and Nagisa laughed from the reaction.

“Hey, chill out~ I just said that she's an ayakashi but she's not a bad ayakashi.”

Is that suppose to give me an assurance!?

Ryouha gave the death god a skeptical look, and the doll raised its head.

“Are you perhaps not familiar with the art of shiki?”

“I've... read about shikigami. But it's the first time I meet a real one.”

“Really? That's quite a surprise. Usually humans of Kakuriyo1 are well-versed in—”

“Aaaanyways!” Nagisa suddenly cut in.

“The medicine~~ Did you find out anything about it, Koko-chan?”

“Hm? Oh, right. But first I want to make sure about something. Kitagawa-san,”

The small doll turned its attention to Ryouha.

“Do you feel any changes in your body when you consume those pills? Something like a wave of drowsiness or even a small headache?”

“I...guess.”

“Then it's exactly as I thought.”

Kokoro nodded its little head.

Those pills are [Skull Mushroom2], a drug used to seal and suppress spiritual energy.”







Huh?

Ryouha gave the small doll a perplexed look, while Nagisa simply tilted her head.

“Question.” The shinigami raised her hand.

“What's spiritual energy?”

“Do I really have to explain from there, Nagi-chan?”

“Ya know I couldn't remember anything Jonishi-sensei said~”

“I expect no less...”

Kokoro sighed, but she answered the question anyway.

“Every being with a soul emits spiritual energy. Each of those energy have a unique frequency and pattern, thus explain how shinigami can only choose human of compatible wavelength as their vessel. The more energy a vessel emits the more they can contain shinigami power, while the more stable the resonance between their soul and their shinigami's the longer they can maintain that power. A stronger connection between their souls can also make it easier to materialize the power.

'There are ways to manipulate this energy and a certain level is needed for human to be able to perceive creatures of Kakuriyo. Of course there are also those born with natural talent, but either way specialist have created several methods to strengthen this energy and use it for other purposes.”

“Hee...”

“Do you really understand what I said?”

“O-of course~ So what's that gotta do with the drugs?”

“I'll make it simple for you. Imagine spiritual energy like a water balloon and shinigami power like the water. The bigger the balloon the more water it can store and if you keep the balloon steady it won't burst from the water's pressure and movement. What [Skull Mushroom] does is like poking a needle to that balloon.

'[Skull Mushroom] scatters one's wavelength thus making them unable to produce a decent spiritual energy, let alone forming a stable resonance. It meddles with one's natural state and if consumed for long will render them unable to perceive Kakuriyo. What's worse, if you force a shinigami possession in such state it might physically damage your vessel as well.”

“Got it. No more of that drugs for you, Ryou-chan.”

“Eh?”

Ryouha stared at the two with wide eyes, and Nagisa shook her finger.

“No, no, don't 'eh' me. I've decided so it's final.”

Wha—who are you to decide!? And don't just suddenly call me 'Ryou-chan' so casually!   

Her expression quickly reverted to another glare but the shinigami simply chuckled, unaware of the situation.

“But I'm still curious.” Kokoro continued.

“[Skull Mushroom] is not an easy thing to obtain. How did you manage to get them, Kitagawa-san?”

Ryouha blinked.

How? How did she get that thing? She's been consuming them since she was small and it's always been there in the cabinet, along with other basic medicines for cold and everything else. It's been so natural that she never paid any attention to it. Who put it there for her? Her mother? Her father? Someone else? Did they know what it actually is? In the first place, when was the first time she started consuming them? When exactly?

Ryouha averted her eyes, trying to search for any trace of it in her memories.

She couldn't remember. She just couldn't remember. Even if she tried to the only thing she could recall was the memories of that day; the day from her childhood when she's still living in Nagoya, the day when she saw that old man with his head stuck on a fiery wheel waiting by the front gate. She quickly dismissed the thought.

“...I don't know. I've consumed them for as long as I can remember, and there's always new ones in the cabinet whenever I need them.”

“I see.”

Kokoro ended her sentence quietly, sensing the girl's unease.

“Whoa, wait, wait. You've been drinking 'em daily yet you still manage to materialize my power?”

“Nagi-chan...”

The small doll scolded her, but the excited shinigami seemed oblivious to it.

“What? Ain't that means she got some amazing spiritual energy?”

“Well if you put it that way, it's actually true.”

“Awesome! I knew she has great potential~ Glad I searched around with Tamamo's eye—

“You what?”

Nagisa clamped her mouth shut instantly.

“Nagi-chan. Can you repeat what you just said?”

“Eeh, what do you mean? I didn't say anything~ Aha ha ha...”

The shinigami let out a strained laugh and looked away, and Kokoro switched her blank face to Ryouha.

“She... said something about Tamamo—

“RELEASE!”

Nagisa suddenly shouted and swung her hand down, smashing the doll and crumpling it on the floor. The room turned dead silent.

“Oh, look at the time~! Isn't it about time you go to school, Ryou-chan?”

The shinigami plainly said as she discarded the paper and stood, pushing Ryouha away from the scene. A big smile on her face.

“Don't worry about your room; I'll make sure to clean 'em up so just leave and have fun. See you this evening. Bye bye~”

And with that, the shinigami slammed the front door on the girl's face. Ryouha blinked and stared at the door in silence, before she put her key into the doorknob and locked the house from outside.


:.end of flashback


That stupid god... I bet she's hiding something...

Ryouha grumbled as she absentmindedly listened to the afternoon homeroom. She made sure to lock the girl inside as well today, but now she wondered if it was really a good choice; that shinigami seemed to always find a way to escape, and when she did there will be one or two things broken in her house. That thought only made her head hurt again and Ryouha slumped to her desk.

She's more suited to be called god of misfortune rather than god of death... That aside, should I install a burglar alarm to keep her away?

She mulled to herself as the class rep called the whole class to give a final bow before heaving herself back to her seat.

“See you next week, class! Oh, and Kitagawa.”

Hm?

Ryouha blinked. Did Miyazawa-sensei just call her? The girl switched her attention to her homeroom teacher standing by the door.

“Meet me at the teachers' room after this.”

“Y-yes. I...understand.”

“So stiff! Oh, and don't you dare running away or else sensei will chase you home.”

Ryouha didn't know how to respond to that. She only nodded awkwardly, watching as Sae smiled and disappeared behind the door, and her heart stopped.

“Oooh, looks who's being called by Sae-sensei~”

The girl flinched as she heard that, her face instantly turned beet red.

“S-s-so what?”

She stuttered, her eyes avoiding Kanon all the while as she clumsily tidied her belongings.

“I'm sure she just want to scold me for s-skipping school and wearing a wrong dress code.”

“You're holding your bag up-side down, Ryouha-tan.”

“I-I know about that!”

Ryouha yelled as quietly as she could, fixing her grip on her bag and giving Kanon a quick glare.

“Will ya be okay on yer own, Ryouha?”

Chikako said as she watched her flustered friend.

“I'd like to accompany you but me and Kanon have club today so...”

“O-of course I'll be okay. I AM okay. See?”

“Right...”

The kansai girl narrowed her eyes in worry and Kanon snickered.

“C'mon, we shouldn't interrupt Ryouha-tan's precious lovey-dovey time with Sae-sensei~ Let's go, let's go~”

The small girl pushed Chikako out of the class, and Ryouha stared at them with a mix of fear and disbelief. Was she really going to see Sae-sensei? On her own!? Ryouha clenched her face and shook her head, trying to keep herself together. No, she won't! There will be other people in the teacher's room. What was she even thinking, being all nervous. Sae-sensei probably just wanted to scold her for skipping school yesterday. The girl said it over and over to herself on her way to the teachers' room, trying to calm her racing heartbeat. She took a deep breath as she reached the door, and she carefully slid it open.

“Excuse me...”

“Oh, Kitagawa! Been waiting for you. Come in.”

Ryouha nodded and mouthed a small 'thank you', closing the door behind her before she walked toward Sae's desk, her eyes locked on the floor all the while.

“Now, Kitagawa, I know this might sound trivial but can I ask why you were late today? And why are you wearing the school's jersey?”

“I-I'm sorry, I...overslept. And something...'unexpected' happened so I ran out of spare uniforms...”

“Kitagawa...”

Sae sighed, and Ryouha felt like she wanted to crawl into a hole somewhere.

“I also heard that you briefly came to school yesterday before you suddenly left.”

“...”

“Did something happen? I've heard that your parents are not home most of the time because of their occupation so you can talk to me if you want. Are you being bullied by someone at school? What happened to your right hand?”

“No, sensei. I...”

Ryouha paused for a while, before she finally raised her face.

“I appreciate your concern Miyazawa-sensei, but I'm fine. I just have a bad conviction lately. And my hand... I fell and hurt myself on my way home. It's just a small scratch.”

“Are you sure? You can have medical leave if you need.”

“No, I'll be fine.”

She gave the woman a small smile, and Sae hesitantly smiled back.

“If you say so. But remember; if you need anything, sensei is here to help. You can go now.”

“Thank you. Please excuse me.”

Ryouha gave Sae a quick bow, before she left toward the door.

“Oh, and one more thing, Kitagawa.”

She halted, glancing at her homeroom teacher.

“Would you consider joining the track-n-field club?”







Eh?

Ryouha blinked, still trying to process the words, and Sae gave her a small laugh.

“You know, I heard you're not enrolled in any club and it's quite amazing how you can jump over the school gate with ease. I also know your sprint time is among the top in class.”

“...”

“I'm also the supervisor for track club so you can always find me any time if you need me. What do you say?”

“I...”

I'd really love to! At least that's what Ryouha wanted to say. But as soon as she saw the white bandage on her right hand, she quickly stopped herself.

“I'm sorry but I have to decline. I have something to attend after school so I can't really join any club.”

“Really? That's too bad. A part-time job?”

“...kind of.”

“Can't be helped then. Well, see you next monday, Kitagawa. And good luck with your part-time job.”

I'll really need that... Ryouha quietly thought as she mouthed out another 'thank you' and closed the door behind her. She sighed and put her back against the door, trying to straighten up her thoughts.

Sae-sensei was worried about her.

She also asked her to join her club. And said that she could talk to her whenever she want.

Sae-sensei...

Ryouha squirmed and slid down to her knees, covering her burning face with her hands as she smiled. She was so happy that her chest felt like bursting. Today is a good day. Now it's time to buy some burglar alarm and keep Nagisa away before she started ruining it. Ryouha leaped back to her feet and left the school corridor, barely keeping herself from skipping in joy. She felt her phone vibrated in her bag and she took it out. Another message from Shinigami Playground. Somehow she just couldn't care right now and she dismissed the notification. There are also some missed calls in her call history. She tapped the icon.

   10 missed calls – “Your amazing god Shibuya Nagisa”

Hah. Ryouha smiled bitterly. Since when she had her number? And what with the ridiculous name? She promptly changed it into “Stupid Shameless Shinigami” and put her phone back into her bag.

Now about the burglar alarm, where should she buy them? The first place that came to her mind was the electronic store in Akihabara. She quickly dismissed the thought. There's no way she'd go there any time soon; she almost died in there and it still left a bit of trauma to her.

“It's Shinjuku then...”

Ryouha mumbled to herself as she stepped into the train station, walking toward the platform heading for that certain station. There's also a chain of electronic stores around the area, though not as big as Akihabara. She could also ask the store keeper to help her install the alarm in her house later. The girl thought to herself as she stepped into the train and took a seat by the corner, her eyes wandered to the window. It's 4pm. Now the sky was still dyed in a clear blue color but soon another dusk would come. Though how much she hated it she also needed to think of a strategy to survive today's Oni Gokko.

If her 'hallucinations' were real and it's actually her seeing ayakashi, then according to the usual rules she could deduct a few things. First, ayakashi tended to lurk around places with lots of people. From what Nagisa told her they seemed to feed from human's soul so that made sense. Second, they seemed to also like places with lots of negative feelings. And if 'negative feelings' equals to 'impurities' that Nagisa kept mentioning about then it's all added up. The only thing she needed to avoid them was going to less crowded area once Magatoki occurred, though she believed it's hard to find such place in Tokyo. She could always try her house since she believed it's in a quite peaceful neighborhood, but she didn't want to risk turning it into a messy wreck in case an ayakashi still appeared. That aside, what happened to all the destruction the previous ayakashi made in Akihabara? She didn't hear anything in the news. Could it be that destruction in Magatoki didn't affect the real world? Well, Nagisa did say that the game was conducted in a way that wouldn't harm uninvolved humans so should she try her house after all?

Ryouha silently thought as she watched the sight of tall buildings flashing outside the train's window. She could make up silhouettes of black shadowy creatures on the distance and she quickly averted her gaze.

It's decided then. She'd go to Shinjuku to get the burglar alarm and go straight home before dusk.

The girl nodded to herself as she exited the train and walked toward the city, trying to ignore the ayakashi she saw on her way out. She could see them more clearly now since she hadn't drink her medicine for the last two days but it didn't seem like they noticed her presence. They simply phased in and out of the crowded street, looking around the row of humans in uninterested, almost bored, manner. Could it be that they couldn't interact with humans outside of Magatoki? Her suspicion was quickly answered as she saw one of them phased their long claws through the humans without any difficulties like moving through thin air. Ryouha gulped, edging away a bit as the spider-like ayakashi skittered beside her. Calm down. It seemed that as long as she pretended she couldn't see them they would naturally ignore her. She just had to make sure which are which. It's easy to distinguish ayakashi with monstrous appearance but what about the those with human-like form?

For example, like that girl planting her face on the glass window of a store in front of her.

Ryouha held her breath, slowing her steps a little.

The girl with short black hair that hung just by her shoulder looked exactly like a normal human. She was wearing a long black jacket with a lot of belts and a red checkered skirt; a kind of clothes that she felt like coming straight out of anime or fashion magazine. She couldn't judge her simply from that though. She knew there's thing called cosplay and since the shop the girl was staring into was a hobby shop perhaps she was just one of those people called anime otaku3. Ryouha silently thought as she walked pass the weird girl, watching her from the corner of her eyes. It's same either way. Whatever she was, she just needed to ignore her and go straight to the electronic store—

Ryouha froze. She saw something on the girl's left hand that was planted on the window; a same red skull that she had on the back of her hand. She quickly averted her gaze. No way, is she a shinigami? Or perhaps a vessel? She didn't know. She simply quickened her pace, trying to put the thought away to the back of her mind.







“You.”

Ryouha stopped dead on her track, her blood ran cold.

“You can see me, don't you?”

It's a shinigami.


She thought to herself as she heard a footstep approached her, trying to decide whether she should run or face her or pretend not hearing her. Her experience with Nagisa proved that running was not an option and she had no idea what would happen if she interact with the shinigami. What if she found out that she's a seed? Wouldn't she be...killed? The thought made her heart race even faster and Ryouha hesitantly raised her hand, pretending to scratch her neck. She should ignore her and walk away. Now—

GRAB--

“Thank goodness~~~”



(https://s23.postimg.org/bdg2tehwb/shipure03_02.jpg)



Ryouha froze, seeing the shinigami held her hands in hers while sobbing in joy. She blinked.

“Thank goodness there's a human with natural talent in the area! I thought I would miss that limited edition action figure I've been searching for so long.”

What... is this shinigami talking about? 

Ryouha silently thought as the girl shook her hands rapidly and bowed in gratitude, giving her a loud 'thank you' over and over. The shinigami seemed genuinely relieved from the encounter and she raised her face, releasing the grip on her hand.

“I'm sorry for startling you. I'm a god and I really need your help.”

“O...kay...”

Ryouha quietly mouthed as she let her eyes wandered around her, making sure that none of the ayakashi or human started staring at her. She switched her eyes back to the shinigami.

“What can I do for you?”

“Oh, thank you! You see I— I mean, my human companion, really want that action figure over there. It's an ultra rare limited edition item and I've been searching it all over the town. It's so hard to find and—”

It's definitely for herself.

Ryouha thought as she heard the shinigami explained about the figure with pure joy, nodding to everything she said.

“Long story short, I've finally found it! But right now I can't contact my human companion and the storekeeper can't see me...”

“So you want me... to buy that for you?”

The girl's face lit up as she heard that and she stared at Ryouha with hopeful eyes. Ryouha almost let her guard down as she saw the cute reaction. Almost.

“Okay, please wait.”

Ryouha pushed the front door and entered the store, watching the shinigami followed behind her.

I wonder if all shinigami are weirdos...

She absentmindedly thought as she approached the counter, catching the storekeeper's attention.

“Excuse me.”

“Yes?”

She paused for a while, thinking of what to say. She didn't know much about action figures and she didn't really listen to what the shinigami was rambling about.

“Um, could you get that for me,”

She pointed at the action figure.

“And...”

She glanced at the shinigami, seeing her holding up a paper for her. An address?

“A-and deliver it to my friend's place?”

“Oh, the limited item. Of course, miss. Is it a present?”

“Um, yes.”

Ryouha hesitantly said, seeing the shopkeeper taking a box of the new merchandise and putting it on the counter. She could see the shinigami planted her hands on the table and stared at it closely with glittery eyes.

“Please write the address over here and we will take care of the delivery for you.”

“Thank you.”

She wrote down the address and other information as the shinigami instructed.

Oota Yuuri.

Is that the shinigami name? Or perhaps her human partner? Ryouha saw the shinigami pointed to herself, telling her that it's hers. She nodded in response and handed the paper back to the storekeeper, before paying for the item. It's more expensive than she thought. Perhaps she should postpone buying the burglar alarm until she get her allowance next month. The shinigami seemed to realize her unease and she clapped her hands together in apology.

“I'm sorry, I will pay you back soon.”

The shinigami said as they exited the store, but Ryouha quickly dismissed her.

“It's okay. Just think of it as my...'offering' to you.”

“You're so kind~! I swear I will give you my divine blessing—“

“T-there's no need. It's okay.”
   
Ryouha waved her hand again in dismissal. One shinigami is enough, she didn't need another one tailing along. The shinigami gave her one last bow in gratitude and Ryouha walked away, secretly glancing back to make sure that the death god didn't follow her. Fortunately she didn't. She let out her breath in relief and continued her walk. Since she's already here maybe she could at least check the price for those burglar alarms. There's still time until dusk anyway. Ryouha mulled to herself as she made her way through the sea of people, avoiding as many ayakashi as she could. Alright. She's starting to get the hang of this.

RING~ RING~

Ryouha blinked, hearing her phone ringing in her bag. She quickly pulled it out.

“Hello—

“WHERE ARE YOU NOW!?”

She cringed and instantly pulled the phone away. It's Nagisa. She growled.

“Don't shout on my ears...”

“That's not important, where— wait, I see you.“

“Huh?”

Ryouha blinked. She turned around, her gaze slowly rose to the bluish sky.

Nagisa was there, hovering in empty air as she jumped off of the several stories building like it was nothing, her hands brought together in front of her face.

“ On araba sha noo sowaka; Veil of heat-haze.”

Her form flickered for a second before she landed in front of Ryouha perfectly in her two feet, sending a gust of wind as she reached the ground. The people around them flinched and shielded themselves from the sudden wind. Some of them looked around in confusion, unable to recognize the shinigami presence. Ryouha, on the other hand, could only stare at the absurd scene before her.

“Come on. Let's go.”

“W-wait, what, huh??”

That was the only thing coming out of her mouth as Nagisa suddenly grabbed her hand and walked in a quick pace, dragging her. She desperately tried to keep up, almost tripping on her feet a few times and apologizing to people she bumped on the way.

“W-what is going on?”

“I'll explain to ya later. Right now we have to run.”

From what?


Ryouha thought as she glanced behind her, trying to find anything or anyone following after them. She couldn't find anything in the crowd, but then, something told her to raise her face again. Her eyes widened. There's someone there, standing above the tall building, their left hand raised to the sky.


   God of the eastern sea, whose name is Amei...


“Shit...”

Ryouha switched her eyes back to Nagisa, feeling the shinigami quickened her pace.


   God of the western sea, whose name is Shukuryou...
   God of the southern sea, whose name is Kyojou...
   God of the northern sea, whose name is Gukyou...

   O’ great god of the four seas,
   Repel the demons and melt away all impurities



“Hang on tight!”

“Wha—!?


   Tear open the line between two worlds
   Kyuu kyuu nyoritsu ryou—!



CRASH!!



(https://s13.postimg.org/cub8h720n/shipure03_03.jpg)



Ryouha closed her eyes, hearing a loud crash and a strong force lifting her from the ground. She opened her eyes after a while, finding Nagisa carrying her in her arms as they both suspended in mid-air, the reddish sky looming above them.

“Magatoki...?”

Ryouha mouthed in disbelief. No way—how!? There's still hours until dusk! She switched her eyes to the huge crater behind them, seeing that previous figure crouching in the middle of the destroyed road.

“So they sent her after me, huh?”

She heard Nagisa whispered under her breath, before the shinigami clenched her right hand tightly.

“Lemme borrow yer body again.”

Wait—

Ryouha didn't have any time to protest as she felt her unconsciousness being ripped out of her body again; a sensation she still couldn't cope with. She saw the figure from the crater jumped and swung something toward her. Nagisa quickly brought up her white halberd to block the blow.

CLANK— CLANK— CLANK—

The two weapons hit each other in perfect synch, and Ryouha could finally have a good look on her attacker; a girl with long black hair and a blue cap shielding her eyes, her baggy t-shirt swaying as she swung her metal pole wildly.

Is that her reaping tool? No. Somehow it gave a different vibe from Nagisa's halberd, and what's more she couldn't find any skull mark on the girl's hand. Is she an ayakashi? No, that's not it as well. Something felt wrong. What... is she?

“Still brutal as always, ain't cha?”

Nagisa playfully cooed as she switched her halberd to one hand and kicked the girl away. The girl blocked the blow with her weapon, sliding a bit on the asphalt from the force. The metal pole in her hands cracked and fell into small little pieces, and she raised her face, seeing the shinigami perched on the lamp post with a huge smile.

“But too bad~ Ya won't be able to stop me with a makeshift weapon like that, Shu-chan. Catch ya later~!”

Nagisa gave her a quick salute and leaped to the nearby rooftop, leaving the area.

“W-wait, what's happening? Who is she? You know her!?”

Ryouha asked in panic while Nagisa could only gave her an awkward laugh.

“Weeelll~ Kinda.”

A very vague answer. The shinigami leaped onto another rooftop and continued running.

“One thing for sure, it'll be really really bad if she catch us. But don't worry, she must've exhausted a lot of power from casting this fake Magatoki. Trust me, I know her limit; this barrier will only last an hour at most and as long as she's not using shinigami possession we can outrun her.”

“So she's... a human? And a vessel?”

Nagisa hesitated for a while, before she nodded.

“Yeah. Though sometimes I wonder if she's really not an ayakashi, fighting a god with mere strengthening spell like that. I don't know who's her current shinigami partner but it'll be game over once they fuse.”

Ryouha didn't know for sure what Nagisa was speaking about but she at least know that their pursuer was very strong. But still...

“Why is she chasing after us?”

Nagisa flinched as she heard that, not answering. She just kept on running. Ryouha narrowed her eyes in suspicion.

“Nagisa.”

“Because she's a bad guy? Ha ha...”

The shinigami let out another strained laugh, but Ryouha wasn't buying it this time.

“Spill it out, what did you—”

Nagisa suddenly skidded into a stop as she noticed someone on the other end of the rooftop, and Ryouha quickly switched her attention to the figure. She knew that person—no, that shinigami. And the shinigami seemed to recognize her as well.

“Huh? You are...”

“Gah, so it's Yuuri!?”

Nagisa turned away in panic, and as if in cue, their pursuer appeared behind her.

“Come, [Totsuka].”

The girl in black jacket disappeared in a flash of light and Nagisa cursed, leaping down the rooftop.

“This is bad.”

CLANK!



(https://s4.postimg.org/kmdnjpmlp/shipure03_04.jpg)


The two girls clashed once again, but this time it wasn't a metal pole that hit the halberd; it was a sword, a pure white longsword. The familiar red skull appeared on the girl's hand.

“Gotcha now.”

Ryouha froze, feeling a shiver ran down her spine as she saw the girl grinned.

The girl pulled her sword back, and Ryouha felt herself being forcefully put back into her body, the halberd leaving her grip. She could faintly saw a white translucent chain slithered around the halberd as she fell, its other end connected to the hilt of the longsword, before everything felt like moving slowly before her eyes; she could see the halberd flashed and reverted back to its human form, and the girl swung her sword at the figure, cutting Nagisa through her torso in one swift movement.

Ryouha closed her eyes, feeling a gush of wind slowed her fall and let her hit the ground softly. She quickly reopened them, seeing her shinigami partner falling to the asphalt in a huge crash.

...Nagisa?

She stared at the limp body with wide eyes.

No... it can't be...

Ryouha flinched as she saw their pursuer landing on the ground just beside Nagisa, a dark reddish orb floating beside her.

A soul...? Then she's really...

She shivered, not able to utter the word, but then she heard the shinigami groaned and started to move.

“Blergh... Stop pulling a soul forcefully out of me like that, I feel like puking...”

She's still alive. 

Ryouha unconsciously let out her breath in relief. Nagisa rolled, trying to push her face up from the asphalt as the chain still locked her arms tightly behind her. The girl with the cap simply growled.

“Shut up, ya twerp.”

She spat, stepping on the shinigami's back.

“Ya broke into the family's treasury, stole the cursed soul of Tamamo no Mae, and then ran away to the human's world. Think ya still have a room to protest?”

Ryouha narrowed her eyes, suddenly regretted worrying about the shinigami. She saw the girl released her sword, letting it reverted back to its human form. The red skull disappeared from the girl's hand.

“Shu-san! What do you think you're doing, you're stepping on the young mistress!”











...the what?


Ryouha watched as the girl called Shu pulled away her foot and rested her arms behind her head, rolling her eyes as her shinigami partner dusted off Nagisa's jacket and helped the girl up to a sitting position.

“Where were you anyway, Yuuri? Told cha to stay in position for our ambush.”

“That's, ahem, I have something more important to attend.”

Yuuri avoided her gaze and kneeled in front of Nagisa, her right hand resting on her chest as she bowed her head. Shu stared at her partner for a while, before letting out a loud sigh and did the same.


“Time to go home, Nagisa-sama.

The great master of Byakko clan, your father, is awaiting your return.”



Ryouha blinked, her mind still trying to register the words. She saw Nagisa clicked her tongue and childishly looked away, and finally her eyes widened.












WHAT IN THE WORLD!?




__________________________________________________________
Shinigami Playground  : Chapter 03 // END












--Shinigami ☆ Q&A Corner--

1Literally means ‘the hidden world’.
The world where ayakashi, gods, and spirits dwell.

2Rare hallucinogenic mushrooms that grow by the entrance of hell. Its shape resembles that of a skull.
Some human artist once caught sight of the mushroom and used it as a theme for his works,
but the number of human to actually obtain the specimen is close to none.

3Someone who is very very obsessed with a particular aspect of popular culture
that sometimes it hinders their social skills. Seems to be a growing population in human's world. 





Title: Re: [ALL48+46] Shinigami Playground (NagiUha+Various) [CH.03]
Post by: Ruka Kikuchi on July 02, 2017, 04:46:43 PM
Oooooh the plot thickens~

Just where did Ryouha's mother obtain that mushroom?

And now we have Shu and Yuuri added to the mix! Nice~ :D

Can't wait for more~~
Title: Re: [ALL48+46] Shinigami Playground (NagiUha+Various) [CH.03]
Post by: alice141 on July 02, 2017, 10:13:01 PM
I like your style, it's like a light novel!!! :D I recommend you "Gekkou" one of my favorites 
Great chapter! Who is Nagisa??? and Shu!!! I really like NagiShu combi they are very funny!!
 :twothumbs
Title: Re: [ALL48+46] Shinigami Playground (NagiUha+Various) [CH.03]
Post by: jubethehare on September 18, 2017, 10:40:22 AM
Gaaaah, I barely have the time to open this forum lately. Guess I'll start replying some comments for now.

Oooooh the plot thickens~

Just where did Ryouha's mother obtain that mushroom?

And now we have Shu and Yuuri added to the mix! Nice~ :D

Can't wait for more~~

Ryouha's mother... Well, actually her family going to play a big role later but that's all I can say for now, ha ha. Stay tune to it~~


I like your style, it's like a light novel!!! :D I recommend you "Gekkou" one of my favorites 
Great chapter! Who is Nagisa??? and Shu!!! I really like NagiShu combi they are very funny!!
 :twothumbs

Thanks! Those two will have plenty of time to mess around in this fic so no worries~ And is that title you mentioned a light novel? Guess I'll check it out later
Title: Re: [ALL48+46] Shinigami Playground (NagiUha+Various) [CH.04]
Post by: jubethehare on November 10, 2017, 05:32:04 PM
Hello and welcome back to Shinigami Playground! Here's chapter 4.  8)

It's been a while. A long while. I'm glad I managed to update this...   
Enjoy~



Shinigami Playground
Chapter 04: Guru Guru Hashitteru ~Run, Run, and Back to Square One
__________________________________________________________


“Time to go home, Nagisa-sama. The great master of Byakko clan, your father, is awaiting your return.”

Ryouha stared at the scene, dumbfounded. Her eyes locked on the two figures crouching before her shinigami partner, while her mind was trying to make sense of the situation.

Let's do a quick recap.

She was just walking around Shinjuku like normal. And then Nagisa broke her peaceful moment, like normal. Then a pair of strangers chased them like they wanted to kill them, and now that same people are bowing and calling that shameless shinigami partner of hers 'young mistress'.







WHAT IN THE WORLD IS GOING ON?

Ryouha felt her head started hurting again from the absurdity. She took a breath and closed her eyes.

Okay. Enough. Stop trying to understand, Ryouha, there's no point. Just... ignore them...

She let out the breath, feeling thought calmed her a bit. Now, let's find a way to retreat from the scene without being found. She reopened her eyes, studying the situation. She could see Nagisa stood after a while, looking down on the two girls with a blank expression, before the shinigami scratched her head.

“Uh, who? I think ya guys got a wrong person.”



Of course. Who is she kidding.

Ryouha mentally scold herself. She didn't expect that response, but at the same time she kind of expected it.

If that person is a young mistress of some important clan the world might as well be ending.

She saw Nagisa turned and let out her usual goofy laugh.

“Well then, see ya. Hope ya guys find that young mistress—“

“Bind.”

SLAM!

The shinigami squirmed in pain. A swarm of enchanted paper slithered around her legs, pulling her and making her fall to the hard asphalt face first. The girl named Shu growled and stood in exchange, crossing her arms as she stepped on the girl's back for like the countless time that day.

“See my point now, Yuuri? There's no use talking to her. I say we knock her out, stuff her into a bag, and send her straight back to the palace right NOW.”

“Do you want the great master to kill us? And for heaven's sake, stop stepping on the young mistress!”

Ryouha gave the bickering girls another long stare, before raising her hands to her face.

I forgot. The world IS ending...

She gave up. She didn't know what to expect anymore. The only thing she understood now was that they wanted to take Nagisa back to wherever her home was. She'd be glad if they would do just that.

“Hmph. Ha ha, bad news for ya, Shu~ I'm participating in Shinigami Playground and already got my very own vessel over there. Ya guys can't force me back now~”

So much for that pipe dream. Ryouha thought to herself as she held her face tighter, feeling her headache returned ten-fold. No, it's not the side-effect of the skull mushroom; it's just her frustration plummeting out of the roof again. She peeked from between her fingers, seeing the new duo had turned their attention toward her. And now I can no longer escape... She sent Nagisa a piercing glare, but the shinigami didn't seem to notice even a sliver of her frustration. That's it. She gave up. She wouldn't expect anything anymore. For real now.

“I'm sorry, miss. Are you okay?”

Ryouha blinked and lowered her hands. The girl in black jacket, the one she met before at the hobby store, bent down and offered her own hand to her. She stared at the extending hand for a while before taking it.

“...I'm fine, um, Oota-san...was it?”

“Just call me Yuuri.”

The girl smiled and helped her up, before stepping away to give her some space. At least this one was thoughtful, Ryouha noted to herself as she saw Yuuri stood a safe distance away from her, her hands tucked behind her back as if showing that she meant no harm. The black-clad shinigami stole a glance at her grumpy partner, and the small girl let out a long sigh.

“Fine, fine. Sorry 'bout earlier, I just charged so suddenly without thinking. Thankfully you manage to activate Byakko's blessing before hitting the ground. Yer not hurt are you?”

“Y-yes, I'm perfectly fine...”

Byakko's blessing? What...is that? Is she talking about that wind from before? 

Ryouha silently thought as she tried to keep her straight face. It's better not to pry any further before she's roped into something more troublesome. Curiosity kills the cat; she'd learned that the hard way. It didn't seem like Shu had seen through her facade anyways. She just need to keep up with the flow and slowly retreat—

“Pfft, her? It's me who activated that. No way an amateur like her know any spell~”

WOULD YOU SHUT UP FOR ONCE!? YOU STUPID SHINIGAMI!!!

Ryouha couldn't help sending another glare at Nagisa. If it wasn't for her quiet nature she bet she would've shouted for real. Too bad she wasn't that good at masking her expression so Shu easily read through her bluff. The girl grind her foot down.

“Oi, Nagi. Did ya just drag some human from Utsushiyo1 and make her yer vessel?”   

“Ouch, ouch, ouch, stop grinding my back! I didn't choose her just because; I checked with Tamamo's eye and ya gotta believe the quality of her soul and compatibility with mine are top-notch.”

“Spout yer defense later after I drag ya to heaven's court.”

“Ha ha, nice one.”

“It wasn't a joke. Or do you prefer if I bring ya to Jonishi-sensei?”

“Muuh, I don't know which one is worse... But hey, I'm innocent~ She's been able to see ayakashi before I made her my vessel so I'd say she's more on Kakuriyo side. Which means I didn't break any rules per se.”

“Do you even know the definition of 'humans of Kakuriyo'? They are people who can perceive and have been interacting with residents of the hidden world on their own accord.”

“Well, she has been interacting with them. In fact she's being chased by an ayakashi before I helped her.”

“Oh really now? It's not rare for ayakashi to drag normal people to their nest sometimes, especially when they're hungry.”

“How convenience~ Isn't that what you call 'interacting', eh Shu?”

The two girls glared at each other, a smile plastered on both of their face. Neither of them looked like they'd yield anytime soon. That aside, why are they arguing about me like I'm not here? Ryouha could only wonder as she switched her gaze to Yuuri, seeing the shinigami let out a long sigh. Looks like she wasn't the only one having a headache from this.

“Excuse me for a while.”

The shinigami flashed her a quick smile, before she left her side and stepped in between the quarrelling girl. Ryouha stared at the current situation in silence. If she wanted to escape this would be the best time, but it seemed like her plan was thwarted again.

“Like I said, I didn't do anything wrong~” 

Nagisa yelled, before switching her gaze to her vessel.

“Go tell them, Ryou-chan; you chose to be my vessel yerself, ain't ya? Saying things like 'I want live' and all.”

Ugh...

Ryouha flinched. She couldn't deny that. Though how much she hated it she did ask Nagisa to save her life. Which mean she did choose to be in this whole vessel business, even if she's kinda forced into it.

“Oh, I get it. Yer using the situation to force her into making a contract.”

Shu growled and grind her foot harder, while Yuuri tried to stop her by coiling her arms around the girl's.

“Break that contract and let the girl go. I thought you've known how much I hate yer petty tricks.”

“Ouch—I didn't trick her! I genuinely tried to save her life.”

“Heh, right. 'Genuinely'. Right.”

“It's true~ She's half-dead already when I found her so I gave her the position of divine vessel to heighten her regeneration and fix her flesh.”

“You what?”

Uh-oh. Ryouha felt like she had been involuntarily pushed onto a land mine. She had no idea what these girls had been talking about but it sounded bad. Really bad. It was bad enough that it turned both Shu and Yuuri into frozen statues in an instant, and she's somehow there tangled in the middle of the mess, with no clue or any way to escape. Yuuri released her grip on her partner, while Shu turned her face upward and took a deep breath.

“You...”

The girl whispered.

“WHAT WERE YOU THINKING MAKING A PERMANENT CONTRACT SO EASILY!?”

Shu roared and kicked the shinigami with all her might, ignoring the painful grunt from Nagisa. Yuuri didn't even try to stop her anymore as she trembled and fell to her knees.

“The young mistress... made a permanent contract with someone outside of the branch family... And a person from Utsushiyo on top of that...”

“Do you even understand yer position as the heiress of Byakko clan!? Argh, I've had enough of your frivolous action! I've had enough!!”

The girl clenched her head and screamed to the reddish sky, while Nagisa simply tilted her head. Ryouha didn't even know what to think. The only thing left in her head was the word 'permanent'. Permanent. Permanent contract. As in the contract she made with Nagisa would last forever for some indefinite time. She slumped to the ground and hugged her knees.

Death... I should've chosen death...

Nagisa pushed herself up and looked around, completely oblivious of the mess she had created.

“What's wrong with you guys? Isn't this the best possible outcome? Even Koko-chan agreed with my choice.”

“How much of a moron are ya!? She's an ayakashi, she won't give a shit about the tradition from shinigami clans!”

“Like you're one to say.”

“At least I know which is allowed and not allowed, unlike you who don't even know common sense!”

“Ehe he he~”

“IT'S NOT A FREAKING COMPLIMENT!!!”

Shu let out one last shout, before she fell to her own knees beside Yuuri. Nagisa simply shrugged, switching her legs forward as she tried to pry off the enchanted papers around them. The whole place turned silent.

“...wait, something is weird.”

Shu suddenly raised her face, and Nagisa tilted her head again.

“What's so weird? That aside, can't cha remove this binding spell already?”

She ignored the girl's remark and stood, turning her attention to the other human. Ryouha seemed to realize the change in the atmosphere and raised her own face, staring back at the approaching girl.

“You said she was chased by ayakashi before. I thought it was the usual case of a human being spirited away2 but I just realized it's impossible. At least not in the duration of this game.”

What is she talking about? Ryouha slowly rose to her feet and stepped back, sensing the dangerous look on the girl's eyes.

“Shinigami Playground is held in a way that it negates any harm to ordinary humans, which means she's a human from Utsushiyo who is invited into the game.”

The girl smirked.

“You're a [Seed], ain't ya?”

Ryouha froze. Fear started to fill her as she saw the joyful look on the girl's face.

“Damn, why didn't I realize this sooner? We can easily finish our job now. Hey, Yuuri.”

Shu grinned and pointed with her thumb.

“Let's kill her.”







Huh?

“If she's dead the contract will be nullified and that idiot will be automatically disqualified from the game. We can finish our job and shave any potential war among the branch families. Plus, we can cover up the fact that the heiress of Byakko is using a filthy seed as her vessel. Sounds good enough?”

The girl said it so lightly, with no remorse or hesitation. A vessel like her, a human, was talking about killing her like she was a mere livestock. She knew it already, that shinigami had a different way of seeing human's life, but for another human think just like those gods of death...had she become something even lower than humans then?



That's right. How could she forgot? She was nothing but a fodder to their game. A seed—

  “Stop spacing out and call my holy name!”

Ryouha flinched. The loud voice brought her back to reality and she gritted her teeth, stretching out her right arm.

[Amanozako]

The red mark on her hand crackled as she said that. A familiar white halberd materialized in her grip right after, and without thinking her body moved and slammed the bladed end to the ground.

“Shit.”

CRASH!!

Shu leaped away, moving just in time before the ground crumbled under her. She landed a few feet away from the crater, seeing her target fell into the big gaping hole that extended deep into the dark hollow space. The girl growled and ruffled her hair.

“Tch, they ran away. I didn't know there's a huge tunnel right under Shinjuku.”

“Shu. Shall we go after them?”

The girl glanced at her partner, before turning to the almost forgotten red orbs that was floating in the air. The orbs had grown exponentially bigger from the time she retrieved it, and Shu narrowed her eyes as she realized that.

“Bind.”

The previous enchanted papers slithered around the orb from her command, covering it perfectly like a cocoon.

“You go and capture 'em, Yuuri. I'll be watching after this cursed soul.”

“Got it. How long can you still maintain the barrier?”

Shu shrugged, heaving her body to the ground and sitting cross-legged in front of the cocoon. Yuuri nodded, before jumping down into the hole.

“Just another thirty minutes at most.”


=0=0=0=0=0=0=0=0=


Ryouha slid to her knees. Her breath ragged as she grabbed the white halberd tightly, leaning her weight to it.

“Wheew, that was close...”

She blinked, hearing Nagisa's voice echoed in her head. Right, she's doing this again; the shinigami possession. This was the fourth time she used it and she could feel herself starting to adapt to the sensation. She gulped some more air and stood.

“Good job back then. Now lemme take over—“ 

“No.”

She quickly said, almost in a hiss.

“I'll let you take over when the situation grow dangerous, but before that... I will do this myself...”

“Sheesh, no need to be so mad~ I get it, this is yer body so I won't use it again without permission. I'll just give ya instruction when needed.”

Hm? She's quite surprised that Nagisa would back down so easily. The shinigami could just forcefully take over her body if she wanted but it seemed like she decided not to. Perhaps she didn't care as long as she cooperated. Ryouha decided such and started walking, studying her surrounding as she did.

“Nagisa... what exactly is going on?”

“Eeh~? Nothing much, really~”

Oh, she's not having that. The girl stopped on her track.

“Whatcha doing? Hurry up, let's move.”

“No.”

“You want them to kill ya?”

“...why not? That doesn't sound too bad... compared to spending a lifetime with you.”

She could hear Nagisa let out a big whine from that. It took her whole courage just to say that. To be honest she didn't want to die, but it's probably her only way to make Nagisa talk since the shinigami said she needed her for the game.

“Okay, I get it~ I'll tell you. The thing is shinigami are not supposed to help a seed so it seems like my contract with you will create, well, some kind of an uproar. That's why those two are trying to kill you as it's the only way to break the contract.”

“...the only way?”

“The only known and easiest way, at least. Don't worry, I won't break my promise of giving your normal life back after the game. I still have my trump card hidden.”

That barely explains anything. But she could pull some plausible conclusion: Nagisa is a heiress of some big shinigami clan so following the traditional way of how Japanese clan works, the permanent contract she made with an outsider will create a political uproar among the branch families. Plus, if the truth about her vessel being a seed is brought to light it will taint the name of the whole clan. Before that happens those two, who probably happens to be her retainers, will sweep the whole case under the rug. That is, by killing her vessel.

Which is me...

Ryouha couldn't help clenching her face. Why is everyone trying to kill her lately? She didn't have a slightest idea. She knew that she didn't want to die though, so she better start walking.

“...fine, I'll take your words for now. Do you have any plan to stop them?”

“Ha ha, nope.”

“...”

“I just told you to break the ground for distraction but I didn't expect this underground tunnel, so I don't know my way around. Bet that's also the case with them.”

Ryouha took in the information carefully. From her observation both Nagisa and her pursuers used the same accent which was unique to the western part of Japan, mostly around Kyoto and Osaka. They probably just arrived to Tokyo so it's given if they didn't know how to navigate around this underground complex of Shinjuku; this set of tunnels were among the largest in the country and extended throughout the town just like a maze, gaining it the nickname of Japan's labyrinth station. She'd have a field advantage here.

Now, her objective; she just needed to survive until this fake Magatoki ended. She remembered Nagisa saying the time limit was around an hour which means she still got another thirty minutes. The safest choice was to hide and avoid direct confrontation until then.

“This feels just like hide and seek~”

Nagisa lightly remarked, and Ryouha frowned.

“Do you have any way to track their position?”

“Nope. It might be possible with Tamamo's eye but it's in their hands now.”

The cursed soul. She didn't know the details but it seemed to be able to give its owner some kind of tracking ability.

“Wait... Doesn't it mean they can use its power now?”

“Nah, no way~ Only the leader of each clan can control the cursed souls and use them, without being corrupted by the immense impurities that is. If a normal shinigami uses them they'll be toast~”

And what were you thinking using such dangerous item so carelessly before?

If Ryouha didn't know any better she would've flipped, but she had learned that there's no point in questioning Nagisa's action. She just needed to focus on the current matter.

“Wait, stop.”

Ryouha stopped on her track, planting her back on the nearest wall in reflexes. She silently peeked from above her shoulder.


(https://s33.postimg.org/gvxwfbgvz/shipure04_01_small.jpg)


A single bird-like figure was perching on the railing a few feet away, the big eye that sat on the end of its neck carefully scanned its surrounding. 

Ryouha gulped and gripped the halberd tighter. What is that? An ayakashi? As if reading her thought Nagisa answered.

“Its one of Yuuri's shiki. A scouting type.”

“...what does it do?”

“Eeh, sending everything it sees to her? I guess. When we were small she used them just like surveillance cameras to stop me from sneaking out of study session.”

“...”

Ryouha decided not to ask any further. But surveillance camera, huh? That means it wouldn't matter as long as she stayed out of its view.

“How many of them does she have?”

“I'm not sure. I've seen her use around ten at the same time but she might be able to use more.”

That doesn't sound good. This place might be humongous but with ten cameras flying around she wouldn't be able to move so freely. At worse she might even need to find a way to disable them.

“But, hmm... This is weird. I kinda expect Shu to charge right on. She hates this kind of recon thingy.”

Another piece of information. If she considered that and her previous confrontation with the other vessel she had to agree with Nagisa, which mean Yuuri probably went after them herself. She didn't know why but this is a great chance. Maybe she could even...

“Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Ryou-chan?”

“...”

No. No. Stop it, Ryouha. That's crazy. There's no way you could defeat a single shinigami even if they're not using their vessel.

The girl quickly scolded herself and turned away from the perching shiki.

“...we're not fighting her.”

“Eeeh~?”

“You said it yourself; that it'll be bad if they catch us.”

“That's the case if they're together, but Yuuri alone? I can take her. I won't let you die anyway so I won't fight a battle I think we won't win~ Oh, heads up.”

Huh?

Ryouha halted. One of the winged shiki suddenly passed by her face and twisted its neck. Its big pearly eyes grew even wider as it caught sight of her figure.

SCREEE——

SLASH!

Ryouha fell backward, her hand swung the halberd upward and cut through the creature before it finished its loud screech.

“Nice reflexes~ Yer getting better at this.”

You're doing that on purpose!

She shouted inside her head, hearing the shinigami laughed at her reaction. This is bad. That screech was probably some kind of alarm to notify its position. She had to get away from here fast. The girl pushed herself back to her feet and ran, maneuvering through the narrow and identical corridors of the underground tunnel. She needed a concrete plan; if she just moved around aimlessly it wouldn't take long until Yuuri find her. She had to think of something. Something she could use from the field advantages she had.

“Another shiki up ahead.”

Ryouha skidded and changed her course, slipping behind a pillar. Okay, think. Where is she now? The girl glanced around and recognized some of the shops. She's on the west side of Shinjuku station, on the Keio line to be precise. The corridors around here are quite simple so she better moved further toward Odakyu line, where the maze would grew more complex. The girl mulled to herself as she saw one shiki passed by without noticing her, her mind already devising an escape route. She could use the many pillars to stay out of those shiki line of sight, then exited through Oedo line gate B and took the escalators up to Odakyu south exit. Or, she could take the further and more complex corridor toward the central west gate. She could also hide in the deepest underground of Oedo subway, but if Yuuri chased her there she'd be trapped.

“...let's go with the first option.”

Ryouha grabbed the halberd and moved out of her hiding place. She didn't need to think too much. If she could move around and trap that shinigami in circle inside this maze it would be her win—

“Hey, Ryou-chan~ I'm getting sick of running all the time.”

“...”

The girl kept on running, trying to ignore the voice in her head.

“Let's do something else, I just found an amazing idea~”


=0=0=0=0=0=0=0=0=


“They got me.”

Yuuri muttered as she took the remnant of her shiki, seeing the paper doll cleanly split into two.

Half of the shiki she dispatched had been eliminated and she still had no clue where her target was. She didn't expect them to simply waste their time like this, luring her deeper into the complex structure without revealing themselves. It seemed like the vessel was a lot level-headed than she thought. It's not like she didn't predict this outcome though. The shinigami sighed and stood, bundling all the remnants of her shiki into a small ball.

“Come forth and serve my will, [Hebi].”

The crumpled papers shook and twisted, before transforming into a white snake that slithered around the shinigami's extended hand. The new shiki hissed and flicked out its tongue once, before it leaped to the ground and slithered away. Yuuri silently followed after the creature.

Her targets had done well escaping until now but they made a fatal mistake by choosing to disarm her shiki; sure it would decrease her vision but every time they made contact with the paper doll, even if they only left a little particle of dust, everything would be recorded in its formula. Once all the information had been accumulated she only needed to reuse the remnants to make another shiki with a keen sense of smell.

“And then I will be able to find you. Right, Nagisa-sama?”

Yuuri ended her sentence with a smile, watching her target being crushed onto the station wall by her enchanted papers. Nagisa growled, before spitting away the paper that was covering her mouth.

“Bfft, that's not fair! What the heck with that shiki, I never know you have 'em!”

“Well, thanks to you who always try to escape on every possible occasion I managed to define a new formula.”

Nagisa let out another growl, and Yuuri glanced around.

“Did you make yourself as a bait so your vessel can escape?”

“That's right~ Quite gallant, ain't I?”

“You really like to show off, Nagisa-sama...”

Yuuri let out another sigh.

“Still, I kind of glad that you did. Because I actually don't want to kill her with my own hands.”

“Ha ha, what's with that? It's not like you to be so unprofessional~”

“I owed her big time, or something.”

SLIP--

The shinigami turned and twisted her body slightly, dodging the fist that was thrown at her from behind. It seemed like her attacker wasn't used to fighting at all; her blow missed by a huge margin and she tumbled down from the force of her own punch. Yuuri almost felt bad for her, but as she saw the small smile on the girl's face, her eyes widened.

“...amanozako.”

The shinigami froze. The human girl wasn't targeting her at all, but the little pouch of enchanted papers dangled on the belt around her waist. Ryouha spun her halberd, snatching the pouch with its hook as Yuuri stepped away to reach the remaining papers on the wall.

“Don't move.”

Yuuri stopped, her fingers only a few breath away from the papers as the spear end of Ryouha's halberd pushed against her neck. She slowly retracted her hands, raising them beside her head.

“Or? What are you planning to do with that, miss?”

“...”

Ryouha didn't answer. She only stared at the shinigami, her eyes observing her each and every movement. Heavy silence lingered in the air until suddenly a loud buzzing could be heard. Yuuri waved her hands slightly.

“Don't worry, it's just my phone.”

The shinigami took out the said device from her jacket pocket, showing the incoming call on the screen.

“See?”

Ryouha narrowed her eyes.

“...pick it up and put it on loud speakers.”

Yuuri did as she was instructed and pushed the button.

  --“Yuuri. Have ya got them?”

“Sorry, I got careless. They caught me instead.”

  --“Huh!? Yer kidding me!”

Ryouha could hear Nagisa laughing inside her head.

  --“Whatever, try to escape and get back here quick—

       BEEP...

The call suddenly cut off. Ryouha bit her lip and pushed her halberd closer to Yuuri's neck.

“...what's wrong?”

“I'm not sure.”

RUMBLE... RUMBLE...

The two girls snapped their head upward, seeing the lamps above them flickered from the sudden movements around the tunnel.

“What's that? An earthquake?”

Nagisa asked, and Ryouha carefully looked around her.

“I-I don't know. Probably—

  “Look out!”

CRASH!

Yuuri shouted and tackled the girl down, saving her from the black sludge that shot out of the wall just like a hungry snake. Ryouha scrambled away in panic, watching the creature pulled itself out from the debris and screech at her.

“Ayakashi? I thought Shu's barrier supposes to stop them from entering.”

Another screeching sound echoed in the dim-lit tunnel. Ryouha turned to the source, seeing some more of that black creature flooding down from the staircase. She gripped her halberd tighter, trying to stop her trembling. Yuuri glanced at her, noticing the fear in the girl's eyes.

“Say. Would you like to make a truce for now, miss?”

Ryouha snapped her head toward the shinigami. It might be a bad idea, but it seemed that the shinigami genuinely felt indebted to her considering that she did save her from the previous ayakashi. Besides it's probably her safest ticket out of this current situation alive. Ryouha nodded, letting the shinigami took back her little pouch from the ground.

“Wait, wait, who said you can do that?”

“Thank you. Oh, and tell Nagisa-sama to save her protest for later.”

Yuuri threw the remaining papers to the air and brought her palms together.


  on chirichi iba rotaya sowaka;
   come forth and serve my will, [Onibi3]!



The ayakashi roared as they heard the chant, charging toward them; the creatures never reached them as a wall of blue flames sprung from the floating papers, burning anything that it touched. The black creature fell to the ground, wriggling inside the flame.

“Now!”

Ryouha instantly moved, stabbing and slashing the fallen ayakashi before they managed to recover. Their body dissolved into thin air. More ayakashi flooded down from the stairs, blocking the narrow entrance.

“Aah, this is getting troublesome. You don't mind I take over from here, right Ryou-chan?”

“...you already did.”

“Ha ha, I guess~”

Ryouha laughed, her brown eyes turned jet black as her shinigami partner took full control. She rested her halberd to her shoulder and tilted her head.

“Ya ready, Yuuri?”

The other shinigami nodded, before they both turned to face the incoming ayakashi.

“Time to reap some souls~”


=0=0=0=0=0=0=0=0=


Shu let out a low growl. She leaped to a nearby building and caught the protruding sign beside the windows, hanging on it with one hand.

“Dammit, what the hell with this amount of impurities?”

She pulled herself up and swung to a traffic light next, dodging another black spikes that chased after her. The girl jumped straight away after she landed, climbing higher onto the building. She grabbed her bleeding arm as she reached the rooftop, catching her breath. The red blistering orb on the ground had grown larger than her own body now, black liquid kept spilling out of it giving off a foul smell of sludge. Perhaps it was just her imagination but the sludge had started to transform, from an undistinguishable spiky blob into something that resembled a four-legged creature.


“The queen of Kitsune4... One of The Four Great Evil Ayakashi, Tamamo no Mae.”


(https://s33.postimg.org/o5o2c783z/shipure04_02_small.jpg)


Shu mouthed the name in a growl, before snapping her eyes to another part of the city. More and more ayakashi started to emerge from the black holes that opened up on the ground, as if attracted to that orb. The newly formed creature didn't seem to care and consumed those ayakashi in its sludge instead. The creature started to gain a more solid form, black fleshy texture covering its front limbs just like a set of muscles without a skin. Its size kept on growing.

“Shit, is it trying to regain physical flesh by feeding on other ayakashi?”

Shu growled and stretched out her left arm, sending out more enchanted papers from under her sleeves. The papers flew and circled the creature.

“Bind!”

The girl clenched her hand into a fist, and the papers crushed the creature from the command, forcing it into another cocoon.

“Comee ooon....”

The creature shakily raised its half-made face toward the sky.

YAAGGGHHHAHHH---!!!

It let out a loud scream, creating shockwave and sending the papers away along with a portion of the town. Shu cursed and sent the remaining papers circling around her right hand.

“Strengthen!”

She pushed her palm forward, lessening the force as her body was hurled across the air at high-speed. She crashed against some debris a few times before skidding on the asphalt, forcing herself to stay on her feet despite her ragged breath. The pseudo-ayakashi had grown to almost the size of three-stories building now. She didn't have any enchanted papers left and her right arm was as good as dead.

“I'm so screwed...”

Shu growled. She should've called the officers from Hell to transport this soul the moment she had it; she carelessly handled it like a normal soul, underestimating the amount of impurities it could produce. Now what could she do? Even if Yuuri came to her aid, will she able to exterminate this monster? The monster that took even the strongest shinigami to seal in the past.

...

“Let's give it a try.”

BOOM!   

Shu smirked. A huge explosion shot out from the ground, obliterating all the lesser ayakashi on its wake and cutting off one of the cursed soul's limbs. She sighed and stood into her full height.

“Took ya long enough, Yuuri.”

Her partner landed right beside her, her face as calm as ever. Shu glanced back to the creature, seeing more sludge falling from its missing limb and regenerated it into a more gruesome state. The sea of lesser ayakashi kept flooding out from the hole.

“What with the flashy explosion?”

“That was the young mistress. You know that she can be very rough with her technique sometimes.”

“Heh, she's just showing off...”

Shu snickered, before she drew her head back and took a deep breath.

“ONE KILOMETER ON TWO O'CLOCK DIRECTION; LET'S REGROUP AT THE TOP, SHITHEAD!”

Her voice rang across the ruined town, and the creature looked around, trying to find the source of that voice. Shu already ran to the destined position by then, wielding her longsword with her good hand as she cut through the lesser ayakashi and slipped into the remnants of some alleys. She kicked off the ground and climbed up another building, perching on its rooftop as she watched the giant creature from afar.

“Oi, stop calling me 'shithead'. And what the heck is that thing?”

Shu turned to see Nagisa landed on the other end of the rooftop.

“It's the cursed soul. And what are you, a control freak? Taking full possession of yer vessel like that.”

“C'mon, little Ryou-chan can't handle such huge ayakashi~ She'll faint on place.”

“That's your fault for choosing an ordinary human as yer vessel. Anyways,”

She stood, resting her longsword on her shoulder.

“Here's what we gonna do; you chip out its outer flesh and I'll seal the core.”

“You still have enchanted papers?”

“No. But you know that I still have other technique.”

“Half-assed spell won't work on it, Shu-chan~”

The girl growled as Nagisa patted her head, swatting the hand away.

“Grrh, then what do you suggest!?”

“You chip the outer flesh, I seal the core.”

“Like you know any sealing spell.”

“I don't. But I do have the best instrument to stop a rampaging impurities~”

Shu looked at the girl in disbelief.

“Are you trying to consume the cursed soul again?”

“Exactly~ There's no better way to clean impurities than using the natural metabolism of a healthy working shinigami.”

“Healthy my ass, yer head is so broken...”

Nagisa only laughed at that. Shu didn't know what else to say. She had to admit that it's her safest bet for now but that means she'd be going back to square one; Nagisa would take possession of the cursed soul again and the shinigami might use that to her advantages later. That also meant she would aid the criminal act of handing a cursed soul to someone outside of clan leaders.



“Screw that, rules are made to be broken.”

“Alright~ That's the Shu I know and love~”

Shu groaned and pushed Nagisa away.

“One swing; I'll put my whole power into it and cut through its outer shell. Ya hafta deal with the lesser ayakashi yerself.”

“No problem. Can your body hold on for another ten seconds, Ryou-chan?”

Ryouha swallowed her voice.

“Yeah... I... guess.”

It hurts. It hurts a lot. This is the longest time she ever let Nagisa possessed her and her head already felt like its splitting apart. But she had to endure it. Even without knowing much about cursed soul she knew that letting that monstrous ayakashi ran rampant wouldn't lead to anything good. They had to stop that thing here before it grew even stronger.

“Get ready. I'll start the counting.”

Shu drew her sword back, and Nagisa leaped down the building, planting her feet to the asphalt. 


  10...

Shu closed her eyes, shifting her focus to her sword.


  9...

Nagisa ran toward the creature, cutting through other ayakashi that stood in her way.


  8...

The wind around Shu raged, the red skull on her hand starting to give off a dim light.


  5...


Nagisa slid under a four legged ayakashi, using the momentum to cut it in half before continued running.


  3...

Shu jumped off the building and raised her sword high above her head.


  2...

The creature roared, before it was split cleanly in two from the downward swing.


  1—

Ryouha stopped. Her body suddenly lost its balance. Her vision turned blurry and she could see patch of red dripping under her feet. Nagisa seemed to realize the strange condition and stopped her rush, planting the halberd to the ground to stop her fall. Blood slowly trickle down her nose.

“Ryouha you've reached your limit! I'm undoing the possession—”

No. No, she couldn't stop here. She looked up toward the creature, seeing it starting to regenerate itself in blinding speed.

She couldn't stop. If she stop that thing would kill her for sure. And then it would kill everyone else.

She wouldn't allow it...

“Aaaah!!!”

The girl screamed and raised her halberd, throwing it with everything she had toward the glowing red orb. Her body rejected. Her muscles felt like they're being ripped apart. Black spikes flew toward her, but they dispersed before reaching her, as if repelled by some unknown force. She could faintly see Nagisa transformed back to her human form, her hand digging into the center of the orb, before she collapsed to the cold ground.

“Dammit!”

The shinigami yanked the cursed soul away from its flesh, the core thumping in her grasp just like a real heart; she brought it to her mouth and chomped it down without another delay, taking in the blob of impurities. The remaining sludge fell to the ground like black acid rain.

“Ryouha!”

Nagisa ran toward the fallen girl, holding her in her arms. The girl was unconscious. The shinigami put one hand over the girl's nose, checking her breathing.

“Is she dead?”

She flinched as she heard Shu said that, tightening her grip around the girl's shoulders.

“...no. She's alive.”

“Tch, that's too bad. I thought I could at least get one job done.”

Nagisa didn't answer, and Shu raised a brow at her. She kind of expected the shinigami to either laugh or lash at her, so the quietness only added her unease. She ruffled her hair and released her longsword.

“Nagisa-sama! Are you unhurt?”

“..yeah. Yeah, of course. Ha ha~”

The shinigami let out a small chuckle,  though her eyes was telling another story. She seemed to be lost in thought, until the girl in her arms suddenly moved.
 
“Uurgh... Where am I...? How many hours...had passed?”

The girl opened her eyes slowly, and Nagisa face lit up as she saw that.

“Ryou-chan, you're okay~!”

Ryouha yelped as the shinigami snuggled her as if she's some kind of a stuffed toy, feeling her body cringed from the sudden movement. She looked around. There was no ayakashi left, her whole body felt numb and was covered in impure mud, which mean the battle was already over. It seemed like she only passed out for a few minutes this time. But still...

My last spare of uniforms...

Ryouha silently sobbed to herself, mourning at the fact that her red school jersey had now dyed in muddy black. She's never been glad that she doesn't have school tomorrow.

“Heh. Yer quite sturdy for a person from Utsushiyo.”

Ryouha looked up to see Shu smirking. She narrowed her eyes.

“...are you still...planning to kill me...?”

Nagisa flinched as she heard that. She growled at Shu like some dangerous animal and tightened her grip around her vessel neck, not even realizing that it started to choke the girl. Shu simply sighed in response.

“Nah, I'm beat. I'll take my chances later.”

With that the girl threw herself to the ground, laying on the cold asphalt. She gave a long look at the reddish sky, noticing the crack spreading on it.

“It's about time for this fake Magatoki to dissolve anyway.”











“Not if we don't allow it.”

The crack suddenly started to fix itself, and Shu groaned, rolling her eyes toward the source of the voice.


“What do you guys want?
Shinigami Playground Reparation Unit, the [Zaka] clan.



(https://s33.postimg.org/wg9vjvj1r/shipure04_03_small.jpg)


Two girls in military-like uniforms walked in, one in blue and one in white. They eyed the whole scene with cold eyes.

Ryouha stared back at them.

Reparation unit? There's... such thing in this game? But didn't Nagisa say the destruction in Magatoki won't affect the real world? And what are they doing here? This isn't part of the game. As if reading her mind the girl in white uniform stepped forward.

“We do have something to say about this fake Magatoki you created but first and foremost, we're coming for that little prick of shinigami.”

Everyone's eyes followed the direction the girl was pointing and Nagisa blinked.

“Me?”

All of the girls let out a sigh in unison, as if tired of the obvious development. Ryouha swore she would slap her face if she could move her body. The girl in white uniform nudged her temple.

“Hirate. Please read the list.”

“Yes.”

The girl named Hirate snapped her fingers, and from it a flame lit up. The flame spread in the air as she opened her palm, scattering into a list of ancient letters.

“Several buildings in Akihabara. The sidewalk area of Meguro river. And just now the underground tunnels of Shinjuku.”

Nagisa tilted her head as she heard that, and the girl in white growled.

“THAT is the list of things we have to repair thanks to you. And you haven't paid for any of them.”

Ah. Shu and Yuuri stared back at Nagisa. They seemed to understand what's going on, but it wasn't the case with the main culprit.

“Pay? Why do I have to pay?”

“You little...“

The enraged girl dropped her shoulders and leaned forward. Somehow Ryouha could see her teeth elongated like fangs and something sharp started to protrude from her back. Her voice grew deeper.

“Are you trying to test my temper?”


“Um, S-shiraishi-san... Fangs...”   

The girl stopped abruptly as Hirate tapped her shoulder, dropping her head. She let out a long breath and returned to her full height. Her previous monstrous traits disappeared.

“Ahem, anyways, pay your due. You always disappear once Magatoki ends and we can't even locate you because you haven't signed the players contract.”

“Eeh, what's that? Never heard about 'em.”

“That's because you didn't attend the opening ceremony, Nagisa-sama. You already ran off by yourself to the human world...”

“Is that so~?”

Yuuri nodded. Sometimes she couldn't believe how airheaded her master could be. She turned toward the two figures.

“Does it mean the two of you are here as representatives from both Tsuchigumo5 and Jorogumo6? I thought your clan leaders are the ones who oversee the registry.”

Shiraishi glanced at Hirate, who in turn pulled out a scroll from her side pocket.

“It's because our leader of Jorogumo is not... 'suitable' for dealing with troublemakers.” 

“That goes the same for us Tsuchigumo. You wouldn't believe how soft can they be.”

Shiraishi finished with a sigh and put one hand to her hip.

“So miss troublesome shinigami over there. Come here and get this over with.”

“Aye, aye...”

Nagisa let out a lazy answer, leaving Ryouha to Yuuri's care. She stopped in front Hirate as the girl unrolled the previous scroll and held it open with both hands.

“And then? What do you want me to do?”

“Please show your reaper mark and hold it above the scroll.”

Nagisa shrugged and removed her glove.

“Like this?”

“Yes. Please stay still.”

Stab.

Nagisa froze. A sharp black limb shot out of Hirate's back and stabbed through her palm. Her blood silently dripped onto the empty scroll.

“THAT HURTS!!!!”

The shinigami screamed on top of her lungs and rolled around the ground in pain, clutching her bleeding hand.

“Oh, shush. You're a shinigami; flesh wound like that will regenerate in a flash.”

Shiraishi brushed the shinigami away and approached Hirate, noting the serious look on the girl's face.

“This is...”

“Something wrong, Techi?”

She peeked from above the girl's shoulder, reading through the ancient writings that appeared on the scroll.

“I see. What an irregular, no wonder her works are so messed up.”

The earth spider hummed, before pulling out a phone from her pocket.

“Fine then. You probably don't know about this as well so I'll show you how to calculate your Kegare points for now.”

Ryouha blinked as she heard that.

Kegare. Impurities. Are they using it as points in this game?

She watched as Shiraishi pulled Nagisa's hand and scanned the reaper mark on it with her phone just like a QR code.

“Here are your current points.”


||Scanning Result||
Lv.A – 0 x 100   : 0 pts
Lv.B – 0 x 50    : 0 pts
Lv.C – 0 x 30    : 0 pts
Lv.D – 0 x 10    : 0 pts
Lv.E – 20 x 1    : 20 pts
------------------------
Kegare gained   : 20 pts 
Damages   : -10000 pts
------------------------
Total       : -9980 pts

 _________________________________________
|                                         |
| Good work!                              |
| Don't forget to send the purified souls |
| to the Ministry of Right and Wrong~     |
|_________________________________________|



Nagisa stared at the screen blankly, her mouth slightly agape. Shiraishi gave her a sweet smile and waved the phone in front of the girl's face.

“Work hard to pay those points back, shinigami.”

“H-ha ha, you're rigged that device, right? I defeated a Tatari before and I know they're at least C rank.”

“Did I hear a protest?”

The ayakashi pulled her phone back. Her smiling face suddenly turned dark.

“Do you want me to rip you apart and check if there's really any C rank soul inside? Huh?”

“...no, ma'am. I'm sorry.”

Shiraishi huffed, satisfied to see the shinigami planted her face to the ground in apology.

“And you, onmyouji7. We'll be taking over your fake Magatoki and start the reparation of reality now. Please leave immediately and tell your clan leader, that the [Game Master] want to speak with them about this.”

“Sure, sure.” Shu waved her hand in dismissal.

“Just start working already you giant creepers.”

Shiraishi gave the girl a cold stare, before she jumped into the huge hole on the asphalt, followed by Hirate. The two ayakashi quickly disappeared into the underground tunnel, blending perfectly in the darkness.

“Hah... Ha ha ha... Minus nine thousand, she said? What a joke...”

Nagisa laughed under her breath, her body trembling. She stood and walked toward the gaping hole.

“Just you see! I'll pay those points back a hundred fold!!”

The shinigami clenched her fists and screamed into the crater, her voice echoed throughout the underground chamber. Shu sighed, while Yuuri couldn't help letting out an awkward laugh. Ryouha hung her head as she saw that, feeling the little energy she had left disappeared in an instant.

This is going to be another disaster...




__________________________________________________________
Shinigami Playground  : Chapter 04 // END












--Shinigami ☆ Q&A Corner--

1the ‘apparent’ world, in contrary to the 'hidden world' (Kakuriyo).
The place where humans and other physical beings resides.

2also known as ‘Kami-kakushi’ (being hidden by spirits).
A mysterious disappearance that happens when a creature of Kakuriyo,
usually ayakashi, takes an ordinary human away to their realm.
The said human will usually be found dead, have their mind broken,
or forever lost in the unseen.

3the demon fire. It has the appearance of a small ball of flame,
usually blue or white, that floats around the air.
They are known as spirits that born from corpses of humans and animals,
and also from the grudge of a living person towards others.
They usually don’t produce much heat but may grow bigger
when fed with impurities. That’s why ayakashi tends to avoid them.

4the word ‘kitsune’ literally means ‘fox’,
but it can also refers to ayakashi with the same appearance and name.
One of the strongest race of ayakashi, they are skilled in many kind of magic
especially shape-shifting. Most of them have a wicked demeanor,
but some are also known to protect humans as the servants of prosperity god Inari.
It doesn’t change the fact that their root lies in their cunning nature
so it’s better not to be involved with them at all.

5the earth spider ayakashi, one of the two races that make up Zaka clan.
They make webs in dark caves and lies in wait for their prey to venture in.
Because of that they’re known to be less aggressive than their sibling the Jorogumo,
while in reality they have bigger power and matching ambition.
Another special trait of theirs is their skill in construction;
it is said that they can construct any building in one night,
emerging above ground in one time and disappearing the next day.
This may explains why ayakashi’s structures are completed much faster than human ones.

6the fire-breathing spider ayakashi, one of the two races that makes up Zaka clan.
Unlike their sibling the Tsuchigumo they’re more cunning and may use all kind of trickery
to lure preys into their nests. They also have no fear of shinigami and have kidnapped
many humans from Utsushiyo in the past.
This tendency have been long gone but their ability to burn down any building in one night
as well as their eccentric nature make them widely feared even among ayakashi.

7the practitioner of the art of onmyodo,
the Japanese equivalent of divination and magecraft.
In the past the bureau of Onmyo have a high standing in imperial court
and even personally tasked by the emperor to protect the country from evil spirits,
but after a political clout during Heian period their authority have completely vanished.
Nowadays not many onmyouji are left and those who still continue the practices
do so in the shadow, acting as specialists in Kakuriyo.   









Title: Re: [ALL48+46] Shinigami Playground (NagiUha+Various) [CH.04]
Post by: MaYukiIsLife on November 10, 2017, 06:09:56 PM
Techi and Maimai appear!
Title: Re: [ALL48+46] Shinigami Playground (NagiUha+Various) [CH.04]
Post by: Shinoki on November 11, 2017, 02:32:55 AM
Ryouha-tan, I'm totally cheering her on. Haha, I feel bad for her.
Yet... this fanfiction is amazing! (And your art is... ngh! Top-notch!)
Techi appeared. Techi is cool. Yay~ Every chapter makes me more and more interested in the story.
Title: Re: [ALL48+46] Shinigami Playground (NagiUha+Various) [CH.04]
Post by: Ruka Kikuchi on November 11, 2017, 03:14:04 PM
Things just get more and more crazy for Ryouha. XD

And now, Techi and Maiyan are here! Sweet!
Title: Re: [ALL48+46] Shinigami Playground (NagiUha+Various) [CH.05]
Post by: jubethehare on December 16, 2017, 07:49:25 AM
Hello and welcome back to Shinigami Playground! Here's chapter 5.

Wheew, it's almost the end of the year. Time sure flies. And I only manage to make 5 chaps in a year. Shocking.


@MaYukiIsLife: I was actually thinking of choosing Maimai and Akanen as representatives who 'deals with troublemakers', but then I realized that there won't be anyone acting as a brake once their anger is lit. So the role ends up given to the cool-headed Techi, ha ha  :sweatdrop:

@Shinoki: Thanks~ It's fun drawing Techi since she gave a whole different vibe. And I just can't stop watching her performance when searching for references :roll:

@Ruka Kikuchi: Oh, no no. This is just the start of another level of craziness~  :lol:
 

That's all for the comments. Let's get on to the story.
Enjoy~



Shinigami Playground
Chapter 05: Keikenchi Kasegi ~Let's Grind Some Level
__________________________________________________________


“Okay, ladies and gentlemen—though it's all just ladies, good to see you all here.”

The girl in baggy t-shirt exclaimed as she walked in, her hands tucked behind her back. Two figures sat down on the grass in front of her, eyes silently locked on her swaying movements.

“Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time the world fell into corruption and almost reaching its end. In order to purify it the High Heaven invited the reapers—a pair of human and shinigami, to compete in a game of kegare hunting.”

The girl swiftly turned at her spectators.

“Yes. A hunt. And if you think it'll be like hunting for easter eggs then you can kiss yer life goodbye. Things will get dangerous over time and stronger ayakashi will appear more and more. But you want to survive, don't you? You want to waltz through this game alive so you can come back to your peaceful life, don't you? Then I'll give ya what you need.”

She grinned and raised her index finger to the sky.

“Let's get this started; the hell and heaven training regime!”


(https://s33.postimg.org/ejq6la94v/shipure05_01_small.jpg)


…why am I here?

Ryouha stared at the absurd scene for a while, before burying her face to her folded arms. She could hear a loud cheer, a certain shinigami's frivolous laugh haunting her with Yuuri's slow claps resounding in the background.

Indeed, why is she here? All she remembered was losing her consciousness somewhere when Nagisa was carrying her home after the whole ordeal with the cursed soul yesterday.



Wait, it got to be that. That piece of paper she found stuck on her red-but-now-tainted-in-black school jersey on her bedroom floor. She noticed them this morning right after she woke up and kicked Nagisa out for changing her clothes without permission again.

She had had a bad feeling about it. And now she's wondering why she even tried to pry the paper off, staring at the single letter inscribed on its other side.

[Summon]

It felt like she'd just drawn the worst luck in omikuji1, complete with the bonus curses. She knew that everything was too late once that strange yet so familiar magic circle appeared under her feet, and in a flash of blinding light she was already here on this grass field beside the river. Shu, Yuuri, and Nagisa staring at her perplexed face as if she was the weird one.

“Aha ha ha~ Nice speech, Shu~”

Ryouha raised her face and peeked from behind her arms. The voice pulled her back to the present time. She could see Nagisa putting her hands together, a huge smile on her face.

“So? Can I leave now?”

She does have a good idea for once, Ryouha silently thought in agreement. But Shu remained unfazed. The girl swung her hand down, pointing at the shinigami.

“Didn't I make myself clear enough? The training is for you, ya worthless pair of human and shinigami.”

“Now, now. I'm used to being called worthless but can you not call my vessel that way~?”

“Please don't get used to that young mistress, have some dignity.”

Yuuri swiftly interjected. Shu simply ignored her and continued.

“A good-for-nothing shinigami with no dignity and her weak vessel that piss her pants when seeing ayakashi. Yep. Worthless indeed.”

Ryouha felt her eye twitched from that. She considered herself to be quite the patient one but this girl was starting to get on her nerve, even more than Nagisa.

“And you. If you think something along the line of 'I don't need to get stronger. As long as I steer clear from ayakashi I can stay alive,' that's bullshit. In case you forget, you're a seed. So ayakashi will swarm around you like sharks chasing after a bloody carcass. Not that I mind if you want to die that way.”

“...”

“What with that look, ya angry? How about you show me, will you die crawling in a gutter or die fighting those ayakashi?”

“...I will live.”

“Pfft, big talk.”

Shu snorted. Her left hand shot out to grab the fleeing shinigami beside her.

“And when yer saying such cool line your god here just casually try to escape the scene.”

“That's not true~ My legs starting to feel numb from all the sitting so I'm just stretching them a bit.”

“Right. Sit down, ya petty liar.”

The smaller girl threw the shinigami back to the grass.

“Let me say it one more time; you guys are weak. So weak. And I'll tell ya why.”

Shu raised three fingers.

“You don't understand the three important aspects of shinigami possession; energy, stability, and bonds.”

“Eeh, what is that?”

“...a good amount of spiritual energy, stability of resonance, and connection between the souls.”

Ryouha finished for Nagisa flawlessly. Shu sighed as she heard that, dropping her arm.

“This is pitiful. Even yer vessel know better than you. But yeah, that's basically it. You can imagine it like stats in game; higher energy equals more damage, higher stability equals longer possession, while higher bonds, well, it affects a lot of things but putting it simply it gives you access to stronger abilities.”

“Oh. I think I've heard about that from Koko-chan.”

“Now that you get it I'll be giving ya training on this three aspects, at least until the two of you reached the necessary level to function properly as a reaper. And also, NO full possession. Sure it makes things easier for the shinigami since they can use their vessel's body like their own but it's also the fastest way to destroy a vessel and killing them.”

“Ha ha, ya sure about that one, Shu? First time I heard about it~”

Nagisa looked away, feeling Ryouha's glare boring into her from her side.

“But hey, what do you expect? She always run the moment she saw an ayakashi. If I didn't do that we can't hunt even a single soul.”

“That won't be a problem. I've prepared a perfect training for her.”

Shu swiped an enchanted paper out with two fingers, holding it in front of her face.

“Have you ever heard about Kaihogyo?”

Ryouha tensed, sensing something dangerous from the smirk that crept up Shu's face.

“It's an old ascetic training used by monks to strengthen their mind and body in a form of 100 to 1000 days marathon. But since we're short on time I'll add a little twist to it.”

The paper on the onmyoji's hand exploded into a small poof of smoke.

“A sudden death marathon.”

Ryouha felt a strong wind blew past her, leaving a small cut on her cheek. She turned her eyes to her side. It was an ethereal creature with a dog head on its end, its claws digging on Nagisa's face as its bloodthirsty eyes locked toward her. Her shinigami partner hit the ground in the next second, and Ryouha scrambled to her feet, running with everything she had as the hungry shiki chased after her.

“Not bad. I guess her cowardly nature does help in a flight or death situation.”

“Nagisa-sama! Are you okay?”

Yuuri rushed toward her fallen master like a good retainer she was, but Nagisa simply raised one hand and flexed her body back to a sitting position. A huge smile on her face despite the blood splurting out from her forehead.

“Oi, Shu~ That was frickin hurt, y'know~”

“My bad. My hand slipped.”

Shu replied in little to no interest, watching Yuuri tending to the scratches on Nagisa's face and putting bandaids over them. She dug her hands to her pockets.

“Yuuri. Can ya look after that vessel's training? Just make sure she won't die in the middle of the street and create more ruckus. I'll take care of this one.”

“Fine, I understand. Please don't go overboard. And stop abusing the young mistress for once.”

“Pfft. Yeah, sure.”

Yuuri tapped the last bandaid to Nagisa's cheek, giving her master a quick smile, before leaving toward the direction Ryouha had gone. Shu turned her attention to the remaining shinigami.

“So?”

Nagisa stood and patted her dirty shorts.

“Are we doing the usual sparring?”

“Nah.”

Shu took a twig from somewhere on the ground, using it to draw a makeshift circle around the shinigami. Nagisa silently watched her all the while.

“I still need to recover my injuries from the previous battle. And I'd like to focus on strengthening your vessel first, at least until she graduate from 'a human of Utsushiyo who can see ayakashi' to a proper human practitioner from Kakuriyo. That'll help as foundation for further training and to avoid unnecessary suspicions.”

“Okay~ Then can I leave now?”

“And what makes you think you won't be getting any training?”

“Well, I'm strong enough.”

“Let's see. I can keep up with you in one-on-one battle despite being a human and once I use shinigami possession you're toast. So, nope. For the standard of this game you're weak.”

“Aww, thanks for your honest opinion, Shu~ Can I beat you up and prove otherwise~?”

“There. Always biting on the first provocation. That's one crucial part you need to fix.”

Nagisa paused as she heard that, giving Shu a suspicious look.

“Are you lecturing me about self-control?”

“Oh. Can't believe you catch on that. That's right, self-control.”

Shu smirked and tossed the twig away.

“Human's body is not build to contain the power of god. So for you shinigami what matters most when possessing a human isn't how to exert your power but more on how to control it. It takes focus and precision.”

“Aah, I've heard enough about that from Jonishi-sensei.”

“Like hell it's enough.”

The girl snarled and pulled the shinigami by the ear.

“Controlling one's spiritual energy and synchronizing it with their vessel's will create a stable resonance; it's a basic knowledge needed for shinigami so they can materialize reaping power without damaging their vessel, hence performing their possession for a longer period of time. But what? Instead of doing that you force control over yer vessel and use a power beyond what her physical body can endure. Heck, even with all the compatibility and heightened regen from the permanent contract I'm surprised she's still alive until now.”

“Ouch, ouch, ouch. Okay, I get it~ I just have to start controlling my power from now, right?”

“Saying it so lightly... Try proving it then.”

She released the shinigami and stepped away.

“Stay inside this circle until yer vessel finish the Kaihogyo. That will be yer training. Simple, isn't it?”

Nagisa held her ear and stared at the said circle for a while, before turning to Shu.

“Wow, so simple~ Simple enough that I know yer making fun of me.”

“This is a serious training. I'm not making fun of you or anything.”

Shu swished out an enchanted paper from her pocket, releasing it on the air to summon a folding chair. The girl sat on it and crossed her legs in a comfortable position, pulling out a book from under it. Nagisa smiled wider as she saw the book title.

“Well then, Shu-chan~ Why is the cover of your book says 'Effective ways to train your dog'?”

“Yer imagining things.”

“You clearly makes fun of me, ain't cha?”

“Stay inside the circle.”

Nagisa stopped abruptly. Her boots hovering slightly above the line. Shu lowered her book, a mischievous smile on her face as she watched the shinigami put her foot back inside the circle.

“Good girl. I'll give you another info as a present; the way you do yer possession is so crude, it hurts like hell, and you always treat your vessel like a glass cannon. Keep using an ordinary human that way and they'll die in one or two more possessions.”

“Huh. Is that why she always faint every time?”

“It's not obvious enough for you?”

Nagisa paused, seemingly thinking, before she heaved herself down to the grass.

“Fine, I get it. I'll learn this self-control or whatever you're talking about.”

“...so you care that much about yer current vessel?”

“You said something?”

“Nah.”

Shu sighed and slid further down the chair, putting the previous book above her face.

“I'm taking a nap. If you step out of the circle, well, frankly I don't care. It's your own loss.”

The onmyoji closed her eyes. The only thing could be heard after that was the wind blowing against the trees and the sound of some children playing on the distance. The silence lingered for a while, until she decided to speak.

“Hey, Nagi.”

“Hm?”

“What were you thinking, making that girl your divine vessel.”

Nagisa tilted her head as she heard that, and Shu continued.

“If you wait until the ceremony you'll be given the proper right to attend Shinigami Playground. And you've also been assigned with the best vessel chosen from the branch families.”

“Aah... Aha ha ha, now that you mention it, what happened to that certain chosen one?”

“She disappeared right after you left. Knowing her she's probably gonna make you suffer for all that humiliation you gave her.”

“Whoa, that's scary... I wonder if she'll let me go if I apologize.”

Shu snorted.

“Try it. And call me when you do. I'll watch over your final moment with popcorns in hand.”

Nagisa let out a loud whine and hung her head.

“That matter aside, I've reported what happened with the cursed soul to the great master. They told me to leave it be for now.”

“See? Told ya not to sweat it, that person actually doesn't care. Not like they ever care...”

Shu lifted her book slightly, staring at the shinigami. She could sense a change in Nagisa's tone but the shinigami quickly masked it with another laugh. The girl sighed and put her book away, Nagisa staring at her curiosly as she pulled out her phone.

“Yer calling someone?”

“Hell's delivery service. Isn't it about time ya send the purified souls to the Ministry of Right and Wrong?”

Nagisa shot to her feet instantly, barely stopping herself from jumping out of the circle. She slowly turned her face to the girl.

“Err, Shu? Can we put that matter away till this training is finished?”

“Why? Ya hafta hand over those souls anyway, sooner or later.”

“Well~ I don't mind handing the souls but those hell people always send—“

“Oh, lucky.”

Shu flipped her phone, showing the screen to Nagisa.

“It's yer favorite kitten as always.”


Thank you for calling us!
Your messenger kasha2 is: Kurokawa Hazuki
Please wait a moment for their arrival

Keep up with the souls collecting~



Nagisa paled as she read that. Her whole body grew limp as the grass around the area rustled. A cat bell chimed in the distant, drawing closer and closer. Shu smiled and pulled back her phone.

“You ask for it, Nagi. Now yer training will finally get a little more interesting.”


=0=0=0=0=0=0=0=0=


How did it come down to this...

Ryouha panted, resting her hands on her knees as she tried to catch her breath. A low growl entered her ears and she flinched, toiling away before the shiki managed to attack her again. The people around her gave her a weird look as she did.

This is just ridiculous. How much longer does she have to run? She might be confident in running but when it came down to it she's actually not the athletic type. And of course she'd never done a marathon before. In fact, she's sure that normal marathon didn't include a rabid dog spirit threatening to eat you whenever you drop your pace. She glanced behind her for a while, catching a glimpse of the said shiki lurking on the distance.

She noticed something about it on this thirty minutes since the training started; first, other people couldn't perceive its existence since it's a creature from Kakuriyo. But unlike ayakashi it seemed like it could interact with physical objects outside of Magatoki. It's proven from how it managed to graze her skin and how it swiveled away from people instead of just phasing through them. Second, it didn't seem like it would attack as long as she didn't stop moving. It only did when she stopped completely but not when she slowed her run for a while, meaning that it also knew that it's impossible for her to run full speed all the time. She started to understand what this training was all about.

It wasn't about grinding her stamina, but how she learn to think clearly without being frozen by the fear of being eaten. Ryouha let out her breath, slowing down a bit as she tried to fix her pace.

GROWL...

She gasped and turned on her heel, barely dodging the shiki as it tried to bite her right foot off. The girl tumbled down the grass from the momentum, before pushing herself back up and ran faster. No, it's still about stamina. She didn't have the power to fight back so she could only rely on her stamina. She might have a chance in residential area but in an empty grass field like this her options are limited. It seemed like the shiki also purposely kept her running along the river and would attack whenever she went off track. So she had no other choice but to keep on running.

Another minutes passed by. Her legs started to feel heavy like she was running through mud. Her consciousness started to wobble. It was as if she was there in the moment but nowhere at the same time. Something about it felt familiar though; how her body kept moving almost automatically with her mind detached as if she's watching everything from a different plane. Yes, it was almost similar to that; to shinigami possession.

She didn't know whether Shu gave this training to teach her that or she just realized it on her own. But if her feeling was right, would that mean shinigami possession depended highly on the physical endurance of the human vessels? She wasn't quite sure. Perhaps it was one of the aspect but like they said, Kaihogyo trained not only the body but also the mind. She'd read about that from some old martial arts books in her mother's library but she didn't read much about it because the subject didn't interest her. Oh, how much she regretted it. But then again she never knew this kind of thing would ever happen. And it's not like it's impossible to search about that later. In fact, she had Chikako. That friend of hers is part of the kendo club so she probably knew about this mind and body concept in martial arts.

“Ryouhaaa!”

Oh, wow. She could already hear the girl's voice even now. Perhaps that's the power of the mind.

“Ryouha, over here!”





Wait.


Ryouha narrowed her eyes, seeing someone waving at her in the distance.





It really is her.

Ryouha kicked off the ground, speeding up into full gear.

“Wow, Ryouha, it's really you! How rare to find you outside on saturday morning—whoa!”

Chikaaaa~~

She tackled the girl with everything she had, twirled her around, before quickly releasing her and continued running. Chikako stood dumbfounded for a while, trying to clear away the stars from her head, before deciding to chase after her fleeing friend.

“Wait, wait, wait. What was that? Why did you suddenly use me as a personal merry-go-round and run away the next second?”

“Sorry, Chika. It's just... I'm so happy to see you but I have to keep running.”

“Okaaay, you've been acting really really weird for the past few days.”

Ryouha couldn't argue with that. Even she herself felt like she had done nothing but crazy stuff since her first meeting with Nagisa. She couldn't blame people for thinking that way, but she couldn't explain what's happening either. So she decided to take the safe route called 'changing the subject'.

“Say, Chika... Umm, what...are you doing here?”

“Huh? Oh, me? I always do my running routine here every weekend. As part of the kendo club I have to keep my body fit.”

Oh, right. She completely forgot about that. She guessed Chikako had asked her to tag along before, way back in their first year of high school. And she of course abruptly yet politely declined.

Why did I give in so easily to laziness...

Ryouha silently sobbed, scolding her younger self. Then again it wasn't completely her fault. It was so hard for her to wake up early due to the effect of her medicine. That, and she blamed her comfy pillow. That alluring piece of fluffiness could easily trapped her in dreamland until way past afternoon. Chikako seemed to realize that something was troubling her friend. She ran a bit closer to the girl and whispered.

“Hey, Ryouha. Does your hallucination start acting out again?”

Ryouha flinched as she heard that, glancing at Chikako. The kansai girl let out an awkward chuckle.

“Well, you've been looking back for a few times. It's like you're being chased by some wild dogs.”

Ryouha bit her lip and looked away. It wasn't necessarily wrong, but she still couldn't tell her what happened yet. It's not like she didn't trust Chikako. She just didn't want any of her friends to get involved in Shinigami Playground, moreover hurt because of it. They're the last thread connecting her with her normal daily life and she wouldn't let this terrible game taking even that away. She let out her breath and shook her head.

“No, I'm fine. I haven't been hallucinating for a while. I just...”

She trailed off, trying to find a good excuse. An excuse strong enough to keep Chikako occupied.

“I just... start training myself so I could...join the track club next year...”

Chikako stared at her in silence. Ryouha almost thought her friend didn't buy that excuse until the girl broke into a loud cheer and hugged her.


“Yeah, Ryouha! Finally! You're taking the bold move~!”











WHAT AM I TALKING ABOUT!?


Ryouha screamed inside her head, finally realizing that she just effectively stepped on a different land mine. She stuttered, trying to push Chikako away.

“W-what move? I don't know what you mean. And l-let me go, Chika. I can't run if you keep clinging on me.”

“Nuh-uh, no way! I'm so happy that my timid Ryouha is finally growing up. But no, no next year! We'll be on third grade already and it's too late to develop anything with Sae-sensei.”

“...”

“Or is that it? You can't let Sae-sensei see your inexperienced self so you start training and plan to surprise her next year? You're going to take the title of the track club ace in a swoop?”

Play along with her, Ryouha... Just play along...

Ryouha slowly nodded. Chikako let out another cheer, while Ryouha felt like she would pass out from embarrassment. A familiar growl pulled her back to reality and she clenched her fists, focusing back to the real matter at hand. Okay, she succeeded in steering away Chikako's attention. She just needed to make sure one last thing.

“So, um... Can you keep it a secret from Kanon? You know how quick she is in spreading rumors... and I want to make this a surprise...”

“You got it!”

The kansai girl patted her friend lightly on the head, grinning.

“Plus, you can ask me if you need any advice for your training. I'm not part of the track club but I know a quite a lot about running and other physical exercise.”

“Thanks, Chika. I'll keep that in mind.”

“Cool. So, which field do you plan to participate? Our school's track and field tends to compete in wide varieties of events from all-distance of running to high jumping. If you want to catch up with the regulars I think you need to choose one to focus on.”

“Err...”

Ryouha pulled away a little. She didn't know that much about sport actually.

“I was thinking about... something like a marathon...”

“Whoa, long-distance running? I thought you're more of a sprinter.”

“...I just feel like I need to build up my endurance. A-and it'll help me to stay awake.”

“Tsk, tsk, how naive. You can't beat the regulars with a determination that small.”

Chikako chuckled and shook her finger, earning a dry reaction from Ryouha.

“That aside, let's continue our chat some other time. We almost reach Kohoku park and I have a meeting with the kendo club there. How about you?”

“I think I'll be running along the river some more...”

“Okay, then. Don't push yourself too hard. And good luck!”

Chikako gave her friend a pat on the back, taking the next stairs down from the jogging track. Ryouha let out her breath once Chikako disappeared from view. She tapped her shoes to the ground to break her pace and switched into a small jump.

The almost forgotten shiki lunged for her feet again; this time she managed to dodge a lot better, losing her balance a bit but not until she rolled down the ground like before. The shiki growled from the failed attack, and Ryouha glared back at it, making it stiffened from the unexpected hostility. She darkly whispered.

“Go tell your cheeky owner... I will definitely survive through her senseless training.”


=0=0=0=0=0=0=0=0=


“Ah-choo!”

Shu sneezed and rubbed her nose. Her phone rang, showing the alarm on its screen.

“It's almost time for Magatoki.”

She pushed herself up from her seat, looking at a certain shinigami that was lying flat on the grass with her face planted to the dirt. The girl stood, stretching up her arms as she yawned, before nudging the shinigami with her foot.

“Get up, shithead. It's yer feeding time.”

Nagisa gasped and raised her face, showing the red trace of claws and bite marks on her skin. Her usually sloppy clothes were more disheveled than usual.

“That kasha—where—I'm still inside the circle!?”

“Yes. Congratulations, you are. The cat is hiding under yer jacket though.”

The shinigami froze, refusing to look behind her as she heard a loud meowing coming from her back. Shu ignored the loud scream that came afterwards and put her phone to her ear.

“Oi, Yuuri. How's that vessel?”

   --”She's holding up better than you predicted. Moreover I think that your inugami3 is somehow terrified of her now.”

“Pfft, no way. Where is she now?”

   --”She collapsed near Shikahama bridge so I took her to rest under it. I think she's fine except for some fatigue.”

“Fine. We'll start our hunt from there.”

   --”Understood.”

BEEP--

Shu put her phone back inside her pocket. She turned her attention to the black cat stepping on Nagisa's head, watching it cheerfully biting and pulling on the shinigami's ear.

“Yo, Haako. Seems like yer having fun so mind giving us a little lift?”

The cat blinked. Its red eyes turned into slits. The small furry creature released her toy and purred.

“Okay~”

POOF--


(https://s33.postimg.org/6ywchbg1b/shipure05_02_small.jpg)


The sky turned red. And in a cloud of smoke the cat transformed into a giant version of itself, a trail of flame grew from its limbs and its two tails.

“Where do you want to go?”

“Just that bridge over there.”

It lowered its head in reply, letting Shu hang onto its neck as it took Nagisa to its mouth.

“Wait, wait, if you bite on my jacket like that I'm gonna fall—“

“Hang on tight~”

The giant cat ignored Nagisa's protest kicked off the ground, jumping high into the air as if it was flying. It landed on the said bridge eight kilometers away without that much of a sound, proudly showing the shinigami that was dangling on her mouth like a dead mouse. Yuuri was already there waiting, her eyes wide in shock. Ryouha on the other hand decided that she was too tired to react. Shu ignored both of them and leaped down the cat.

“Thanks for the lift, Haako.”

“Shu! What did I just tell you about abusing the young mistress!?“

“I'm fine, Yuuri. No worries. Ha ha ha...”

The cat let out a low purr and flattened its ears, seemingly dejected.

“I'm sorry Nagi-chan, did I hurt you?”

“Huh? Nah, I'm okay. So, uh, can you release me now? I have some more souls to reap.”

“Okay...”

The giant cat closed its eyes. The flame on its limbs grew and covered its whole body, while Nagisa rapidly flapped her hand on her jacket to stop the fire from spreading on it. The blazing heat finally withered after a while and a girl in black uniform jumped out from the flame, her arms locked around the shinigami's neck as they both fell to the asphalt in a painful thud. Well, mostly the pain was in Nagisa since the girl practically used her like a cushion as they fell.

“Let's play again some other time.”

“Oh, ha... Ha ha ha... Sure. Let's do that, Haako.”

Nagisa flatly answered, her eyes were blank despite the smile on her face. The kasha finally released her bear hug and smiled.

“Now show me your reaper mark.”

Nagisa complied and removed her gloves, showing the red skull on the back of her left palm. Haako's eyes turned into slits again as she saw the small scar on it.

“You're hurt! Who did that to you?”

She brought it up to her face and sniffed it, sending a small shiver down Nagisa's spine.

“A Jorogumo...”

“Uh, calm down, Haako. It was back from I signed the player's contract; it'll heal in no time.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yep, pretty sure. Ha ha~”

“If you say so.”

Nagisa secretly let out her breath in relief. She let the girl traced her finger over her reaper mark. The mark glowed in response, releasing the souls kept inside it. The souls were a bit different from when they were first reaped, glowing in soft bluish light instead of muddy red like before. Haako smiled and opened the upper lid of her backpack, watching the souls settling into it. She clicked the bag closed as she's done.

“I'll be going now. See you again, Nagi-chan.”

The girl moved to get a kiss from the shinigami, but Nagisa swiftly pulled away and blocked her attack with her hand, earning a pout from her. She finally settled with another bear hug, before transforming into her small cat form and skipped away. Nagisa let out a long sigh as the ayakashi finally disappeared.

“That was horrible... I thought they supposed to dispatch someone randomly, but why do I always get her as my messenger?”

The shinigami mumbled to herself and put back her gloves. She stood and looked around, finally noticing her human partner standing not far away.

“Oh, Ryou-chan yer here~ How's your training?”

“...”

Ryouha didn't answer. She didn't even give her usual huff or glare. She just stood there, staring at the shinigami with cold eyes as if witnessing the lowest scum in the world. Even the usually so dense Nagisa could feel that something was wrong from that look.

“Err, Ryou-chan? That's a bit different glare from usual. Are you mad at something?”

“...no.”

A short vague answer. Yuuri raised one hand to her chin as she heard that, as if a switch just clicked inside her head.

“Could it be? Is this the legendary condescending look of a tsundere waifu who saw the affair of her partner?”

“Keep your delusion to yerself, Otaku Yuuri, what are you even talking about.”

Shu dismissed the remark without losing a beat, calling Yuuri to her weapon form.

“Oi, you two. Keep yer lover's quarrel for later. You'll see more troublesome girls flocking around that flimsy god in time, believe me.”

Nagisa answered that with another whine, while Ryouha narrowed her eyes in disgust. She's mad of course, but that mostly because the shinigami seemed to be having fun while she was suffering with the hellish marathon. Calling it a lover's quarrel was a mistake. In fact, just imagining herself and Nagisa being together was enough to make her skin crawl. Shu seemed to realize this but it only added her amusement. She smirked and put her longsword to her shoulder.

“Good job surviving the first part of yer training. It's now time for the second part where you'll gain real-life combat experience. But before that I have one last thing to explain. Oi, Nagi. Open the Shinigami Playground apps on yer phone.”

“Huh? What for?”

“Just do it.”

Nagisa sighed and did as she was told.

“Shinigami Playground covers the whole portion of Tokyo Metropolis which consist of 23 special wards. In the duration of [Oni Gokko] barriers will be cast between those wards to prevent impurities outbreak, making traveling impossible. Shinigami can pass through the barrier using special permits obtained from kegare points but seeds and ayakashi can't.”

“Wait, what's that about the special permit?”

“It's none of yer concern, minus nine thousand.”

“Uurgh, fine. I've opened the apps. I can see the list of wards on [Locations] tab, but what about these things written beside them? Lv... Seed... Cont...”

“It's the quick access to monitor the ward's condition. [Lv] means Danger level, which shows the average strength of the ayakashi in the area. [Seed] as you know, is the number of seeds presents. They're the fodder that attract ayakashi so use them however you see fit, either as baits or as distractions.”

Ryouha squeezed her arm as she heard that, trying to reel in her anger. She still felt disturbed by Shu's way of thinking, but the onmyoji didn't seem to care and continued her speech.

“[Cont] is the Contamination level of the ward. It shows how strong the connection of that place with Yomi, the polluted kingdom of ayakashi. You might notice on our previous battle with the cursed soul there were black muddy holes that spawned ayakashi. Those are actually portals connecting Magatoki to Yomi, and highly contaminated wards have more of those portals.”

“...which means to get the most of our training, you chose us a ward with low danger level and high contamination.”

Shu whistled and gave Ryouha a slow clap.

“That's right, yer amazing to deduct that much. Unlike that idiot god of yours.”

“I heard that~”

“Well, enough talking. Isn't it about time you get yer reaping tool ready?”

Ryouha tensed as she heard that, seeing Shu bended down to her knees. She instantly drew out her right hand.

“Amanozako—“

CRASH!

A huge whip of water shot out from the river, swinging down at the girls and breaking a great portion of the bridge. Ryouha felt her body flew away from the impact, the wind lessening her fall as she skidded on the asphalt.

“This is the Adachi ward. A ward with danger level of E and contamination level of B.”

She could hear Shu's voice coming from the other side of the bridge, smoke and debris hiding the onmyoji from view.

“It's a shitty ward with nearly no seed, so other reapers don't even bother using it as their hunting ground. A weakling like you better stay clear from its riverside though.”

Ryouha took that as a warning. She brought her halberd closer and ran further away from the bridge, dodging the water whips that chased after her. The barrage of attack vanished once she reached the residential area and she stopped her dash, resting her hand on the wall of a convenience store as the fatigue from the kaihogyo kicked again. She took a deep breath.

“Nagisa—“

“Shh, don't talk to me. I'm in the middle of concentrating.”



Okay. What is that shinigami planning now? Ryouha didn't have time to think about it as she heard a fluttering sound from behind her. She instinctively raised her halberd and turned toward the sound. A white ghost-like ayakashi4 was there floating on the street, its long tail dragging behind it as its large eyes stared off into space. It looked so frail compared to all the ayakashi she had encountered before, but she knew she was in no position to underestimate them. The creature looked around itself as if in daze, before its eyes fell on the girl. As if stricken by something the ayakashi shrieked and lunged toward her, and Ryouha tightened her grip on her halberd, waiting for the instruction from her shinigami.











Nothing.

“Nagisa!”

She barely dodged the attack, jumping to the side as the ayakashi dove head first and scraped the ground she was standing on with its fangs. She scampered from the ground and called her partner again in panic.

“Nagisa, what are you doing!”

“...huh? What? There's an ayakashi?”

The white creature shook its head and stared back at her.

“Give me the next command—“

SLASH!

Ryouha swung her halberd up, welcoming the creature with the blade and cutting through its soft body with no difficulty at all. The ayakashi dispersed in the air.

“Hmm, this is hard. I can't focus on controlling my spiritual energy while giving commands. Can't use full possession either.”

“What are you talking about?”

Ryouha darted her eyes away, hearing a new sound approaching her.

“This is the only way; you have to face those ayakashi by yerself, Ryou-chan. They're not strong so just think of this like a giant whack-a-mole.”

What? She stiffened from the absurd proposal, dodging another attack from a similar ayakashi. The ayakashi shook its head all the same, removing the rubbles from its face. This is no whack-a-mole! It could tear the street with its mouth; she's as good as dead if she's hit by that. The ayakashi repeated its attack, and Ryouha stepped away, avoiding its sharp fangs.

...calm down, Ryouha. You can do this.

She repeated the word inside her head, trying to stop her own trembling. It always used the same pattern of attack so she just needed to find the right timing to hit it. She swung her halberd down, catching the next attack short before it managed to reach her. She let out her breath, feeling her fear dissipated with it. More and more of that ayakashi swarmed around her and she turned to face them. The shaking in her limbs slowly disappeared.

She could do this. These guys are nothing compared to all the previous ayakashi she met before. She could take them on. She had to take them on. Ryouha gritted her teeth and swung her halberd in the exact timing of the ayakashi's attack, cutting them down one by one. Her movements looked stiff and awkward compared to Nagisa's, but her body had started to remember the basic; the range of her weapon, the way to strike her opponent, and how to follow up one attack with another. She spun and swung the halberd, finishing the last bit of the ayakashi in one downward swoop. She stared at its dispersing body in disbelief.

“Good job~ I know you can do it if you try~.”

She blinked, hearing Nagisa spoke again after what felt like forever.

“So, any pain or anything?”

“...?”

Ryouha studied the sentence carefully. What does the shinigami mean by that? Did she do something different with the possession this time? She raised her hand and stared at it for a while, opening and closing her palm. Strange. Usually after a fight she wouldn't be able to move anymore. Her whole body would be screaming in pain as if torn from inside out, but right now she couldn't feel any discomfort except for the dull thumping in her head. Did Nagisa do something to lessen the burden on her body? That's possible. She does need to keep her alive so probably that previous lecture from Shu made the shinigami reassigned her priority. Ryouha sighed and lowered her hand.

“...I'm fine.”   

“Wheew, that's a relief. So anyway, I'm thinking of facing that water ayakashi from before.”

Ryouha narrowed her eyes as she heard that, feeling a slight deja vu.

“...how strong do you think it is?”

“About as strong as the Tatari we faced in Akihabara? Maybe a lil' weaker.”

“Then we're not fighting it...”

Nagisa let out a whine as she heard that, much like Ryouha predicted. Looks like she hadn't really changed inside.

“Aww, come on~ It'll take forever to accumulate kegare points if we deal with those previous small fries. Can we at least find something a little stronger?”

“...”

A little. She couldn't really trust Nagisa on that. But if she think carefully about it, Tatari supposed to have the danger level of C or higher. So if that river ayakashi was around the same level as Tatari, then other ayakashi have to be level E or lower to match the average danger level of this ward. That means as long as she steered clear from the riverside she might stand a chance. This might also be a good chance for her to get used to shinigami possession. The girl mulled with her decision for a while before letting out a long sigh.

“...fine. But we're staying away from the river.”

“Alright~ Then let's continue the hunt.”

Squeak...?

Ryouha flinched and turned toward the new sound, finding a different ayakashi above the electric pole; a round bright red creature with big eyes5, its two clawed feet gripping the iron pole tightly as it stared down at her. It looked just like a deformed water balloon with eyes, legs and tail. Another squeaking sound entered her ears and Ryouha glanced to her side, finding more of the creatures peeking from under the nearby car. Their number increased in time, their squeaks keep repeating like a broken record, but none of them seemed likely to attack. They just stood there staring at her, as if waiting for something.

“Another small fry? Let's just ignore them and get going—oh, wait.”

The creatures suddenly let out their loudest squeak simultaneously. The sky grew darker afterwards and Ryouha fearfully turned, sensing a strong presence looming behind her.


(https://s33.postimg.org/m7m9v4k0f/shipure05_03_small.jpg)


A giant goblin-like ayakashi5 appeared from behind the convenience store, its bug-like eyes stared down at her as it raised its mallet high.

“!!!!”

CRASH!!

The previous ayakashi scattered from the strike like a wave of red jelly beans while Ryouha jumped away, a bit too strong from her panic. She shielded her face from the reddish creatures as she suspended in mid air. The familiar sound of Nagisa's laugh ringing in her head.

“Aha ha ha, this is great~ Let's hunt that one, Ryou-chan~”

Ryouha grunted. She landed on her back, rolling on the asphalt a few times before clumsily stood to her feet; her body surprisingly withstood the impact with less to no bruises. The grotesque giant pulled its mallet from the ground and rolled its eyes toward her. She hastily raised her halberd in reply, keeping her shaky legs on place as the creature lunged at her. A small smile tugged on her lips.

I must be out of my mind...


=0=0=0=0=0=0=0=0=


SCREEEE---STAB!

Shu thrust her longsword down, stabbing the ayakashi under her feet and ripping its flesh open. Warm black sludge burst out from its wound, until the creature finally stopped moving and evaporated to thin air. She released her sword, letting it transformed to its human form.

“This is the third Tatari we encounter today, the tenth this week.”

“That's barely enough.”

Shu growled, wiping the mud on her face with the back of her hand as her shinigami partner ate the corrupted soul. Yuuri sighed as she saw that. She pulled out a handkerchief from her jacket pocket, using it to clean off the remaining mud from the smaller girl's face, earning another growl from her.

“Take it easy for a while, Shu. Your right arm is still injured.”

“Grrh, this is nothing. That aside, don't cha think it's strange?”

She pushed the shinigami away.

“Beside the Tatari we've found nothing but B level ayakashi or higher. Even though the danger level of this ward supposed to be C.”

Yuuri paused and lowered her hand.

“Is it a [Shepherd]'s doing?”

“Probably. If our intel is right, that is.”

Shu shrugged and walked past her partner, checking the ward's condition in her phone. Yuuri followed her with her eyes.

“Then we better return to Adachi ward. Nagisa-sama and her vessel might be in danger.”

“Heh, no need for that.”

Shu put her phone back as she saw another ayakashi on the distance. She smirked and glanced at Yuuri.

“You realized it too, right? Back in our fight with the cursed soul, someone was watching from the shadow and keeping those two safe. Well, their soul signature was a little different so I can't really pinpoint their location.”

“A different signature... A reaper from another clan?”

“Interesting, isn't it?”

Shu snickered and called back her reaping tool. She jumped off the roof and appeared above the ayakashi, driving her sword down its head. The ayakashi let out a painful shriek and thrashed wildly, splattering impure mud all over the street.

“That weak cowardly vessel, she probably carries a lot more surprises than we ever expected.”



__________________________________________________________
Shinigami Playground  : Chapter 05 // END












--Shinigami ☆ Q&A Corner--

1The "sacred lot". Fortune-telling papers that can predict a person's luck.
It usually ranges from 'great blessing' to 'great curse'.
Can be found both in Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples

2A type of giant cat ayakashi. They are mischievous felines who left fire on their trails.
Long ago they stole human corpses from funerals to eat,
but since they became messengers for King Enma in Hell they have stopped doing it.
They have special gears called [Burning Cart] that helps them travel quickly between planes
and keep purified soul from getting stained while being transported

3A dog spirit of eternal hunger that is commonly used by Onmyoji as their shikigami.
They serve their master in absolute loyalty, performing tasks just like a faithful dog, and listen to no one else.
They behave just like normal dogs though, so modern Onmyoji tend to treat them like pets

4Shiro Ukari. A white floating ayakashi that wanders aimlessly in the air.
It is believed the word 'shiro' in its name not only refer to the color 'white',
but also to its true nature of absolute naivety. Thus it is harmless, most of the time

5Okka and Kanazuchibo. A pair of ayakashi that appears in many of the oldest picture scrolls.
Okka is a small red bulbous ayakashi with big eyes, two clawed feet, and rat-like tail.
Kanazuchibo is a green goblin with hunched back and beak-like mouth that always carries around a hammer.
Kanazuchibo is believed to be a spirit which haunts the cowards, or turns people into cowards
when it haunts them, so it tends to choose the weaker Okka as its target of attack.
In reality it's not really strong so if you courageously stand your ground it might flee instead, showing its own cowardly nature



Title: Re: [ALL48+46] Shinigami Playground (NagiUha+Various) [CH.05]
Post by: MaYukiIsLife on December 16, 2017, 07:43:47 PM
@MaYukiIsLife: I was actually thinking of choosing Maimai and Akanen as representatives who 'deals with troublemakers', but then I realized that there won't be anyone acting as a brake once their anger is lit. So the role ends up given to the cool-headed Techi, ha ha  :sweatdrop:

That reply was aimed towards an Akanen oshi LOL It's all good though, I would've wanted to see Akanen blowing a fuse on Nagisa (cause Nen's the bull sergeant) but yknow... not my fic

Good as always Jube-san can't wait for the next one

Title: Re: [ALL48+46] Shinigami Playground (NagiUha+Various) [CH.05]
Post by: Ruka Kikuchi on December 17, 2017, 04:52:53 AM
Okay, Kanazuchibo is terrifying... o_o"

I hope they'll be okay!
Title: Re: [ALL48+46] Shinigami Playground (NagiUha+Various) [CH.05]
Post by: jubethehare on January 07, 2018, 03:16:51 PM
(https://i.pximg.net/img-original/img/2018/01/07/22/38/16/66695235_p0.png)
[Full size] (https://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=66695235)

It's late, but Happy New Year everyone!
Title: Re: [ALL48+46] Shinigami Playground (NagiUha+Various) [CH.05]
Post by: jubethehare on January 07, 2018, 03:23:39 PM
That reply was aimed towards an Akanen oshi LOL It's all good though, I would've wanted to see Akanen blowing a fuse on Nagisa

Ha ha, I already have a different role for her but I'm still thinking which Nogi member to pair with her.
Just wait for a feeeew more chapters~  ;)


Okay, Kanazuchibo is terrifying... o_o"

I hope they'll be okay!

Yup, that thing is terrifying. Glad I managed to get that feeling across through the pic.  :badluck:
And as for those two... well, they'll get through it one way or another. Ha ha...
Title: Re: [ALL48+46] Shinigami Playground (NagiUha+Various) [BONUS]
Post by: Ruka Kikuchi on January 07, 2018, 04:56:19 PM
Woooooooow cool fanart, as usual! :thumbsup
Title: Re: [ALL48+46] Shinigami Playground (NagiUha+Various) [CH.05]
Post by: MaYukiIsLife on January 07, 2018, 08:07:48 PM
That reply was aimed towards an Akanen oshi LOL It's all good though, I would've wanted to see Akanen blowing a fuse on Nagisa

Ha ha, I already have a different role for her but I'm still thinking which Nogi member to pair with her.
Just wait for a feeeew more chapters~  ;)

Eto Misa maybe? LOL have the two beauties within Sakamachi pair up (heck they've already done a shoot together and are said to look alike so why not? XD)