Yuki crossed her arms and looked at Naminé. The blonde Nobody sat in a chair drawing in her sketch pad. She hadn't looked up at Yuki since their conversation had begun. It was starting to annoy Yuki a little bit.

"Are you sure you'll be fine if I leave again?" she pressed. Naminé still didn't look up, her hand easily moving the pencil as she sketched the various images. "I've been leaving you on your own a lot. I don't want you to be scared."

"I can't be scared," Naminé said calmly. Yuki narrowed her eyes, her hand gripping her arms tightly.

"You and I both know that's not true," Yuki said quietly. Naminé stopped drawing at this time. She looked up and met Yuki's eyes. "Seriously, are you sure you don't want me to spend the day here?"

"There's no reason to. I'll be fine, honest," Naminé said with a soft smile. Yuki only frowned again.

"I'm leaving Phoenix with you," she decided, turning away from Naminé. Naminé almost jumped up, her surprise clear on her face.

"Huh?"

Yuki didn't reply, bringing her hand to her mouth as she whistled a short series of notes. In a vortex of shadows, the large Heartless bird coated in black and white flames appeared, wrapping itself around Yuki as it landed on the floor.

"I'm not leaving you without protection again. It just freaks me out. Anything could happen. Phoenix will protect you," Yuki explained resting her hand on top of Phoenix's beak. She turned to look in the bird's electric blue eyes. "Got that?" Phoenix chirped.

Of course.

Yuki chuckled briefly turning back to Naminé. She was glad to be getting used to taking to the less elite Heartless. She didn't seem to have to listen so much anymore.

"Good. Anything happens to Nami and I won't be happy," she said. Phoenix chirped again, this time it sounded like laughter.

"Yuki, this isn't necessary," Naminé said, with an exasperated sigh. Yuki smiled at her patting Phoenix's head. Despite the fire, it didn't burn. It only tickled Yuki.

"Yes, it is. I'll see you when I get back," Yuki said opening a dark corridor.

She reappeared in the backstreets of Shibuya. She stared at the mural covering the wall. She didn't really understand the mural. It was brightly colored and something that looked vaguely like a cat was in the center. Yuki reached out and touched the painting, smiling softly. She might not understand it. But it was at the very least cool.

She sighed turning away from the mural. She wandered the streets mindlessly, not even sure where she was going. Though, even if she had been paying attention she probably still wouldn't have known where she was going. Joshua had never done a very good job showing her around.

She wandered aimlessly until she heard a voice behind her.

"Look out!"

Yuki turned around to see a girl with choppy black hair jump kick a group of Noise. The girl skidded to a stop beside Yuki, her green eyes narrowing at the Noise. She wore a black t-shirt with a yellow plaid skirt.

"Thanks," Yuki said pulling her arms tightly to herself.

"No problem. You should be watching yourself better, Noise don't attack normals like you unless something is going on with them," the girl said, brushing her choppy bangs out of her eyes. Just from one look, Yuki swore she used safety scissors to cut her hair.

"Normals?" Yuki asked.

"Ya know, live ones. My special name for our kind anyway," the girl said. Yuki nodded glancing back to the Noise. The frog-like creatures were emitting the high pitched static. They didn't change expressions, but Yuki could tell they were angry.

"Well, no offense, but it doesn't look like you did much damage," she said. The girl grimaced.

"Yeah, I think I just made them mad," she said staring at the Noise as she seemed to think of what to do. "Run!" she grabbed Yuki's arm and dragged her through the city.

The two ended up collapsed on the sidewalk in the scramble crossing. The people milled around them, oblivious to the Noise that had chased the girls to this place. They looked at each other before bursting out into bright laughter. The girl brushed her bangs aside, smiling as she held her hand out to Yuki.

"My name's Ayano, Ayano Himura. What's your name?" the girl asked. Yuki smiled as she took her hand.

"Yuki, just Yuki," she said.

"No last name? Huh, that's kinda weird," Ayano said making a strange face. Yuki cringed, but Ayano shrugged it off. "Eh, whatever. So how long have you been in Shibuya?" she asked.

"Oh, I'm only here off and on. Not all that often really," Yuki said. Ayano visibly slumped.

"Really? That's too bad. It's not often there's another who can see the UG like me," she said. She glanced around, leaning to the side to avoid being ran into. Yuki smirked watching her.

"I've met at least one other," she said. Ayano turned to look at Yuki with a smirk of her own. Mischief twinkled in her eyes.

"Let me guess. Mr. Yoshiya Kiryu, all high and mighty, sarcastic and prissy to boot," she said, motioning widely with her hands. She hit a few passerbys who shot her glares but she didn't cast them a second glance. Her focus was on Yuki.

Yuki had a sneaking suspicion she knew who Ayano was talking about. All the descriptions seemed to match what Yuki knew about Joshua. Except the names didn't match. There couldn't be two Joshua's, could there? Would the world even still be standing?

Ayano chuckled seeing Yuki's blank stare. "Oh, he probably told you his name was Joshua," she said. Yuki felt a sigh of relief escape her. There wasn't two of him.

"You know him?" Yuki asked.

"Yup! He's my best friend!" Ayano said cheerfully. Yuki blinked a few times.

"And you talk about him like that?" she asked after a pause. Ayano laughed again, pulling at her choppy hair. She threw it over her shoulder turning back to Yuki.

"Yeah, someone has to keep him from getting too full of himself," she said. Her eyes looked off to the distance. Her smile dropped as her eyes narrowed. Yuki glanced in that direction and saw nothing of interest. Just people she couldn't identify. "Kariya, I wonder what he's doing. Didn't think there was a game this week."

"Who?" Yuki asked, looking back at Ayano.

"Lollipop reaper with orange hair. He's probably the strongest reaper around, but he never puts in the effort. There's a lot of talk that he'll be the conductor one day," Ayano explained. Yuki frowned tilting her head to the side.

"I'm sorry, conductor?" she asked. Ayano sighed and dropped her shoulders again.

"Right, Josh is a dick," she said. Yuki blinked in surprise once again. "Well, simply put there are about three super important guys who run the UG. The Conductor is in charge of the reapers, he picks the game master and in the end allows the players back to life. He collects entry fees and holds them too. There's the Producer, that's a guy named Mr. Hanekoma. He makes sure players know the rules. Usually, he just observes, but sometimes he'll hop in and help a few players out and remind reapers of the rules. And lastly, there's the Composer." Ayano explained calmly. Yuki frowned.

"That doesn't sound ominous at all," Yuki said. Ayano nodded and chuckled.

"Yeah. The Composer, he runs the entire UG of Shibuya. Mr. H says he's kinda like an angel, but he hasn't said much else on the topic. He decides when they play the game, who plays the game, and how many can make it back. He chooses the Conductor too. In the end, everything comes down to what the Composer says." Ayano frowned still staring off into the distance. Yuki followed her gaze, this time seeing the orange haired reaper she had called Kariya.

"Sounds like a fun guy," Yuki said. She had seen that reaper before. Her first time here. He had been the one to kill the girls she had followed.

"Yeah. I wanna find him one day. Then maybe I can find out what makes me so different," Ayano said wistfully.

"Sounds a little crazy," Yuki said.

"Yeah, but crazy is what works sometimes. One day, I'll know. And me and Josh won't just be freaks anymore," Ayano said. She shook her head looking away from Kariya. Her eyes were bright again, filled with fire.

"I hope that day comes soon then," Yuki said smiling. Ayano would be able to do it. The fire in her eyes made that clear.

"Thanks," Ayano said. She smiled and pushed herself to her feet, holding her hand out to Yuki. "Come on, let's go someplace else. We're getting a lot of weird looks here."

Yuki took her hand and allowed her to pull her up. They walked through the crossing to a side street. Ayano explained where they were going and which streets would lead where. It was far more helpful than when she had been with Joshua. Ayano was at least able to give directions.

The pair walked into the Wildkat café Ayano throwing the door open.

"Hey Mr. H!" she called as she pulled Yuki into the door.

"Hey Aya," Mr. H said not looking up. The man with black hair glanced up from the glass he was cleaning. His gaze seemed to stop when he saw Yuki. "Oh, Yuki right?" he asked.

"That's me," Yuki greeted with a salute. Ayano laughed covering her mouth with her hand. Mr. H didn't acknowledge her laugh, instead looking back down to the glass he was cleaning.

"Didn't know you were around," he commented. Yuki shrugged following Ayano over to the counter. Ayano leaned up against the counter with her arms crossed. Yuki stood beside her leaning on one of the tall chairs.

"Just showed up. There haven't been any major problems have there?" Yuki asked.

"None in your division."

Yuki glanced over her shoulder to see the familiar blonde figure of Joshua. He was smirking, his violet eyes locked on to Yuki. Whatever he was thinking Yuki was sure she wouldn't like it. Ayano groaned leaning her head onto the counter.

"And the prissy brat appears," she said sarcastically.

"Funny, I thought you were here before me," Joshua shot back turning his attention to the distressed girl. Ayano looked up at him with narrowed eyes.

"Oh, hahaha, I'm so amused at that weak comeback."

"Oh please dear, you know I would win if I was trying."

"Only if hell froze over," Ayano said spinning around to face Joshua. He rolled his eyes.

"The ninth ring of hell is frozen," he said simply.

"Why do you know that?" Ayano asked.

"Why don't you?" Joshua retaliated. Yuki held back a chuckle glancing at Mr. H.

"Are they always like that?" Yuki asked. Mr. H snickered and nodded.

"Pretty much," he said. He looked up from his task once again watching the two friends go back and forth again. "Are you two going to keep arguing, or am I going to have to put you to work?" he asked. They both froze, their eyes meeting.

"To be continued," Ayano said. Joshua shrugged looking away from her.

"Sounds fair," he said. He turned away from Ayano and walked to the counter, sitting in the seat beside Yuki. He turned to her with a smirk she did not like the looks of. "So, what brings you around?" Yuki shrugged looking to her other side where Ayano had sat down.

"I felt like it. Hadn't been here in a while," she said.

"Well, are you willing to answer a few more questions about those Heartless?" Joshua asked. Yuki nodded turning back to look at him. He smirked at her crossing his arms. "Are you one?"

"An elite form, yes," Yuki confirmed calmly. She held back a laugh at the expression that crossed his face. It only lasted for a second before he returned to his calm expression touched with arrogance. She glanced over at Mr. H to see him looking at her over his sunglasses. Ayano seemed to be the only one who didn't react. She only looked to be confused by what Joshua had said. "Didn't expect me to admit it?" Yuki asked.

"I was expecting denial, yes," Joshua agreed.

"What's a Heartless?" Ayano asked leaning onto the counter and looking around Yuki to Joshua. He rolled his eyes and brushed his hair out of his eyes.

"Remember those shadow monsters that I kept insisting weren't Noise," Joshua asked. Ayano pursed her lips together and nodded.

"Yes. One of them flipped us off," she said sourly. Yuki chuckled bringing her hand to her mouth to mask the chuckle.

"Oh, that one," she said.

"See a lot of him?" Joshua asked.

"Yeah, he never sticks around long enough to get killed," Yuki admitted. She had too many encounters with that one. And X and Y had admitted to knowing that particular Shadow too. At least they assumed it was the same one.

"So that was a Heartless?" Ayano asked.

"A Shadow specifically," Yuki answered. Ayano nodded and crossed her arms, tapping her chin.

"And your just an elite version of that?" Ayano asked looking at Yuki. She nodded calmly. Ayano looked her up and down as if looking for some sign she was something similar to a Shadow. Or waiting for her to grow antenna or something.

"How elite exactly?" Joshua asked. Yuki glanced over her shoulder at him and shrugged once again lowering her eyes.

"Highest you can get," she said softly.

"So, you don't have a heart?" Ayano asked. Yuki turned her attention back to her.

"Debatable," Yuki said. Ayano scrunched her nose and frowned.

"So you're not heartless?" she asked.

"Also debatable," Yuki said. Ayano stared at her for a moment, a blank expression on her face. Her brows furrowed together as she turned to look at Mr. H.

"Well, I'm confused now," Ayano announced before pressing her forehead into the counter. Yuki laughed and patted her shoulder gently.

"Join the club," she said. Ayano chuckled sitting up and glancing at Yuki. She heard a chuckle from her other side, which meant Joshua was somehow amused.

"Well, as long as we're both confused," Ayano said.

"Why did they show up here?" Joshua asked. Yuki frowned as she looked down at her hands.

"My fault, they followed me. But, they're probably trying to drag your world into the darkness so..." she trailed off. She had never had to explain this to someone. Usually, there was some rule they couldn't interfere. But she doubted Joshua would let vague answers fly, though he gave plenty of his own.

"And what will happen then?" Joshua asked.

"Don't know, never seen it happen. Eventually, it returns but, not sure what the whole process is," Yuki admitted. Joshua nodded and looked away, tapping his chin in thought.

"How interesting," he said softly. His eyes narrowed as he stared at nothing.

"Oh no, he's plotting," Ayano said.

"I regret everything I said that led to this," Yuki muttered. Joshua sighed dropping his hands.

"Well, I suppose I'll leave it there for now. Save more surprises for later," he said.

"Great!" Ayano said jumping up. Yuki flinched back as she hit her hands on the counter. "Then I'm taking Yuki and we're hanging out! See ya!" she declared grabbing Yuki's arm and dragging her out the door.

Yuki didn't know much of what was going on for the rest of the day. Ayano showed her around the city ("Properly," she said as she glared at Joshua, who had followed them). She pointed out different stores and the quickest route from place to place. She even showed Yuki where reapers would usually hang out.

"Ok, I'm pretty sure half of the city has suddenly decided long white coats are fashionable," Ayano commented as the walked through Dogenzaka. Yuki glanced at her with furrowed brows. She hadn't really been paying attention to people, only places. To hopefully avoid getting lost. It wasn't looking promising.

"You know how the trends work around here," Joshua said off-handedly, not looking up from his phone. Yuki had made note he seemed to always have his eyes glued to the device.

"Are you suggesting that there is a player wearing a long white coat that is a total badass?" Ayano asked. Joshua shrugged.

"You never know," he said.

"White coat?" Yuki asked. Ayano stopped Yuki grabbing her shoulders and turning her to face a person on the street. They were, in fact, wearing a long white coat that went to their feet with a hood.

"See, white coats. They're everywhere," Ayano said sarcastically. Yuki frowned.

"That's, that's actually a bad sign," she said. Ayano released her and raised her eyebrows looking at Joshua. Joshua had looked up from his phone and looked at Yuki.

"And why is that?" he asked.

"That's what most elite Heartless wear. It's kinda a uniform," Yuki explained crossing her arms around herself.

"And you don't wear it because?" Joshua asked.

"I'm not exactly on great terms with my kind," Yuki answered evenly.

Joshua and Ayano exchanged a look, their eyes meeting. They seemed to have an entire conversation between themselves without saying a word. The way X and Y used to. Ayano rolled her eyes looking away from Joshua. As he was about to ask something, a reaper ran past fear in his eyes. The group all looked at each other in shock.

"Was, that a Reaper running away from something?" Ayano asked.

"So it would seem," Joshua said, looking toward where the reaper had run from. If Yuki remembered her tour correctly that would be the concert stage.

"I'm going to go check that out," Yuki said calmly taking a few steps forward. She stopped when she felt Ayano's hand rest on her shoulder.

"We'll come too," Ayano said.

"Are you sure?" Yuki asked. She didn't know what they would be facing. But she doubted it was something small if a reaper was running from it. Her understanding of reapers said little scared them. Joshua stepped forward placing a hand on his hip.

"Please, we have to protect ourselves from Noise, we can help with whatever this is," Joshua said, smirking. Yuki looked between her two friends and sighed.

"Alright. Let's go," she said.

Luckily from where they were, it wasn't a long trek to the concert stage where even Noise seemed to be running from. It was strange to see the creatures that had attacked Yuki numerous times running away from something Yuki wasn't sure she wanted to know what it was. But in the end, she had to help this world. Somehow.

The stage was dark, but not dark to the point they couldn't see entirely. Standing on the stage were two figures, wearing white cloaks with their hoods up. It did help mask the identity of one. But Yuki knew very well only one member of Organization XIV refused to zip their coat up, showing the red crop top she wore underneath it. Sykitune.

"Suspicious enough," Joshua commented, tensing beside Yuki. The two cloaked figures turned to look at them, one clapped their hands together.

"Oh, look who's here," she said calmly. Yuki knew her voice. Myruai.

"Fun, we get the little princess," Sykitune said, putting her hand on her hip. Yuki glared at the older Heartless.

"You know, now that I know you guys seem to have no problem reminding me. But before I knew you couldn't say anything," she said in annoyance. Sykitune shrugged.

"What can I say, didn't feel like having a new boss," she said. Yuki rolled her eyes, feeling her hands itching. She wanted to summon her keyblades and get this over with. But, she should give them the chance to leave peacefully. Myruai didn't like fights after all. Maybe she could reign in her friend.

"What do you want here?" Yuki asked.

"We have a few things to do. More Heartless to spread, find the keyhole. Usual stuff," Myruai explained. Yuki sighed heavily.

"That doesn't sound pleasant," Joshua said. Sykitune smirked flipping her hood back.

"Bringing Somebodies with you. Seems you're desperate for help. Where are the other traitors?" she asked, her turquoise eyes narrowing. Yuki glared at her in turn.

"Even if I knew I wouldn't tell you," she said. She summoned her keyblades to her hand, which caused Ayano to jump back.

"Oh, looks like we got a fight," Sykitune said, summoning her own weapon to her hands. A set of twin sai's, bright red like much of her hair. Beside her, Myruai lowered her own hood, showing her nervous blue eyes.

"Do we have to?" she asked softly. She summoned her flute to her hand, twirling it between nimble fingers.

"Come on Myruai, do you want to tell Syrine we failed our mission? Just because a little brat showed up?" Sykitune asked.

"We can't kill her. She's important," Myruai said simply. Yuki frowned her grip on her keyblades tightening. What was she important for?

"So, we capture her. No biggie," Sykitune said, brushing off Myruai's concern. The brown haired girl sighed heavily and turned to the group of three watching.

"Fine, but if we mess up it's on you," she said as she brought her flute to her lips.

Yuki moved before Myruai could play a single note. She didn't know much about how Myruai fought. She had only been on a few missions with her. But she knew she couldn't let Myruai play. Her sounds could do some crazy things.

Yuki skidded back from Myruai who had managed to get out a short series of notes. Glancing over she was surprised to see Joshua and Ayano holding their own quite well. Like the blonde player Yuki had seen the first time in Shibuya, Ayano used a whip made from a chain. Joshua was still glued to his phone, but it seemed with a press of a few buttons he was able to drop objects ranging from blockades to actual cars onto his opponent. Yuki didn't know how he managed that, but it was useful, so she wasn't going to complain.

Yuki turned her attention back to Myruai who's eyes were wide and pleading. Yuki frowned glancing at Sykitune. She didn't seem to see what was going on. Yuki returned to look at Myruai and nodded. Myruai smiled and pulled back, dropping to the ground as if beaten.

Yuki pulled back and joined Ayano and Joshua, just as Joshua dropped a car too closely to Ayano. The car did hurt Sykitune, but Yuki had to push Ayano back to her feet.

"Joshua dammit!" Ayano snapped.

"Just point it out, dear," Joshua responded standing beside the two girls. Ayano gave an exasperated sigh.

"You are not god," she muttered, but Joshua didn't seem to hear her.

"Ok, abort mission," Sykitune said, holding her shoulder.

"I told you this was a bad idea," Myruai said from where she knelt.

"Whatever, we'll have her under our thumb soon enough," Sykitune snapped back. She glared at Yuki as two dark corridors appeared, taking their enemies away.

"What was that?" Ayano asked, dropping her chain to the ground.

"They seemed pretty intent on making you work for them again. Got any ideas?" Joshua asked, tilting his head to the side. Yuki frowned looking where the two had vanished.

"Not a clue. But whatever they meant, it's not going to be pretty. I should get going," Yuki answered. Staying here would likely only cause more trouble. And she wanted to check on Naminé.

"Alright, come back soon," Ayano said, smiling briefly before a trouble expression crossed her face.

"If you need anything don't hesitate to ask," Joshua said. Ayano rolled her eyes and shoved Joshua playfully.

"Don't ask him. He'll make you pay later," she said. Yuki chuckled and nodded.

"I'll keep that in mind."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~*<3*~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N: This chapter obviously features another original character. Ayano is my OC for The World Ends With You. I'm probably never going to get around to writing her story, so I figured why not throw her in here.
I also just want to apologize. I feel like this last few chapters haven't been up to par with my usual standard in writing. I don't know what it's been, but I hope the next few chapters get better. Thanks for all your support!