Yuki looked up at the sky with a heavy breath, leaning back against a wall. She was in an alleyway away from the chaos and crowds that filled this world. It was strange to her. No other world had been so full of people. But here there were people everywhere.

Yuki shook her head trying to clear the mounting panic within her. There was no need to overreact. She could finish her mission without a problem. She just had to think logically.

Yuki pulled off her organization coat and dropped it on the ground. If she wanted to continue her mission she had to blend in with the people in this world. Wearing her coat would only mark her as an outsider. Underneath her coat, she wore a black tank top and black jeans with a red belt. Yuki broke the chain off her coat that the paopu fruit charm hung off. She slipped the charm into her pocket. Why she didn't know, maybe for comfort. She was never without the charm after all. Whatever the reason she took the charm with her as she walked out of the alley back into the crowd of people on the street.

Yuki's basic mission was recon. This world had never been found before and no Heartless had ever come here. It was a world free of all that trouble. For the moment anyway. Depending on how the world looked that could very well change.

Yuki found herself in a street crossing. People hurried about, brushing shoulders with others as they passed them by. Many were talking into some strange object Yuki hadn't seen before. The area was filled with noise that never ceased, even for a second. The air had a harsh metallic scent and something else along with it. Yuki wasn't liking this place at all. She took a step back to see if she could find anything of interest. Her eyes scanned the crowd, looking for anything strange. To her surprise, the strangest thing was in the middle of the road.

Two girls were fighting against strange creatures. Yuki first assumed the creatures were Heartless, but quickly realized she was wrong. They weren't anything she had seen before. They looked like frogs of some kind, but they were almost made of a strange tribal pattern. The two fighting looked young. One had long blonde hair that was tied up in a ponytail. Even in a ponytail, her hair was reaching her hips. The other girl had wavy red hair that just passed her shoulders. They stood back to back, but they didn't seem to be touching. The blonde was using a chain like a whip while the redhead was using some kind of magic against the creatures. The weirdest part of what Yuki saw was that no one else seemed to be able to see it. People skirted around the area naturally, but no one looked at the two girls battling for their lives.

Yuki walked away from the wall she had been clinging to trying to get closer. As she approached, the girls finished their battle. They looked at each other and smiled.

"I think that was enough to get past the barrier." The redhead said breathlessly. The blonde nodded in agreement.

"That should be enough." She looked down at the palm of her hand. "We only have an hour left. We better hurry." She said. The redhead nodded before both took off towards a walkway leading to a different part of the town. Standing by that walkway was a strange man in a red hoodie. The girls spoke to him briefly before running past. Yuki watched them go, confused by what had just happened.

Yuki walked to the area the girls had passed through. Taking a closer look at the man standing guard, she didn't see anything strange about him. He seemed to be bored just standing there. Yet again none of the people passing by seemed to notice him. It was strange for sure, but Yuki wasn't sure what it meant yet.

Yuki walked through into the next part of the city. She deciding following the strange girls might be her best bet at figuring out what this world was like. Finding the girls was easy as, yet again, the crowd swerved around them, as if they existed in their own little pocket of reality that no one could trespass in. As Yuki got closer she noticed them staring down a man with wild orange hair. The man wore a sleeveless black hoodie and dark jeans. He had on sunglasses despite there being little need for them. He was smirking at the girls, mischief plan in his eyes.

"Can't you reapers just stay the hell out of our way?" The blonde girl demanded. The man seemed amused by this.

"Come on now, you know we can't." He said calmly. "It's just our job to take down as many of you players as we can."

"What's in it for you? What kind of sick person runs this kind of game anyway?" The redhead demanded. The man frowned at her.

"Those are dangerous questions, missy, best not be asking." He said. Yuki could tell he was faking concern. He would be glad to see these girls disappear. The man waved his arm off to the side. Out of nowhere more of the strange creatures from earlier appeared and attacked the girls. The man stood back and watched as the fight commenced. It didn't take long for the girls to be overpowered by the vast number of creatures. The man smiled as the girls collapsed. "I do believe that gives me more points."

Yuki turned her back on the scene and ran. Her thoughts were filled with panic as she ran. Where she was running she didn't know, but she knew she had to run. She couldn't help but agree with the redhead's question. What kind of sick person ran such a game? A game fighting monsters and being hunted like game animals for points. It was a sick game. But there was obviously players.

Yuki didn't stop running until she was in front of a statue of a dog. She sat on a bench panting. The world was strange, she wasn't liking it. The people all around must have been blind to not see what was going on. There was some weird game and a puppet master that half the players didn't even know existed. There were strange creatures that weren't Heartless but seemed to be just as destructive. It all wasn't adding up to make anything remotely like sense. Yuki let out a deep breath leaning forward to rest her elbows on her knees. Other worlds were confusing sometimes.

Suppose we do manage to get to other worlds, what do you do there?

Yuki tensed up at the voice of a childish girl. Yuki didn't have to look up to know it was just in her head. She knew that voice though she often forgot what it said. She had gone almost the entire day without some weird memory coming to mind. But of course, that wouldn't last. Yuki groaned in frustration.

Why had so much about her mental state changed over hearing two names she wasn't even sure who they belonged to? It wasn't fair for her to be caught up in nightmares. Or for her mind to never leave those stupid names. She could hardly take time for her own friends anymore. What did she do to earn such treatment? Her life had flipped upside down over something so small. It made Yuki angry beyond words.

A strange sound that reminded Yuki of some kind of static caused her to glance up. In front of her several of the strange creatures had gathered. She looked around at each one slowly. Standing as slowly as she could Yuki continued to watch the creatures. They hadn't moved yet. Yuki took a step to one side, and that was when the creatures sprung at her.

Having been in as many fights as she had been Yuki knew it was unreasonable to panic. All the same, that's what she did. She ducked out of the way of one creature quickly. She could feel her breath quickening as she tried to think of her options. She didn't know what these things were, and she didn't have the slightest clue how to fight them. Yuki felt a pressure on her wrist and a slight tug.

"Come on, we can't fight them." A young boys voice said. Yuki didn't argue and let herself be pulled away by the boy. She was still in too much of a panic to pay attention to where she was being dragged, or even to who was dragging her. She followed without a thought until the creatures were left far behind and she stood in front of a café of some kind. The pressure around her wrist vanished when they stopped running. Yuki glanced up to see who had saved her.

As Yuki had guessed, it was a young boy, somewhere in his mid-teens. He had wavy dirty blonde hair on the verge of being brown that almost reached his shoulders. It was shaggy and looked a little messy. His eyes were violet and looking around. He wore a short-sleeved button-up shirt and dark jeans. From a glance, he didn't look dangerous.

"What were those things?" Yuki asked. The boy glanced at her curiously.

"So you really can see them." He said rather than answer her question. Yuki rolled her eyes.

"No, I was just dodging nothing. Of course, I can see them." She replied getting very irritated by this boy already.

"You were screaming too." The boy said offhandedly. Yuki glared at him. He put his hands up. "Sorry, no need to be so hostile. It's just most people can't see them." He said. "Come on inside, I'll explain in there." He motioned to the café they stood in front of. The WildKat café. Yuki frowned but nodded slowly. The boy smiled and led the way into the café.

Inside was surprisingly empty. Only a man with black hair wearing sunglasses was inside. He glanced up at the two but didn't say anything as they took a seat at one of the many empty tables.

"For starters, I should probably introduce myself. My name is Joshua. What's yours?" The boy said. He looked at Yuki from across the table with mild interest.

"Yuki." Joshua nodded glancing around the room. Yuki followed his gaze but saw nothing of interest.

"So Yuki, how long have you been in Shibuya?" He asked. His attention had returned to Yuki again. Yuki shrugged.

"Not long." She replied. Joshua nodded once again.

"How long have you been able to see the UG?" He asked, a small smirk appearing on his face. Yuki looked at him in confusion. She had never heard that term before and didn't have the slightest clue what he was talking about. Joshua chuckled at her reaction. "Ok then, I'll take it you really don't have the slightest clue what's going on."

"I thought that was fairly obvious, but yeah, I'm lost," Yuki replied. Joshua nodded.

"Well, then this will take a while to explain. I'll start with those creatures. Those are called Noise. Usually, they only attack players in the Reapers Game like that, but you must have been having some negative thoughts that attracted them." Joshua began. Yuki nodded, listening intently. This was a great opportunity to get information quickly. "Seeing as you haven't asked any questions yet I'll keep going. The UG, as I mentioned earlier, is the underground so to speak. It's where the Reapers, Noise, and dead hang around."

"Dead?" Yuki asked. Joshua smiled at her question. The smile was a bit unnerving, spelling out trouble.

"Yes, usually the only people who can see the UG are the dead. They're given the choice to play for a second shot at life. They have to complete whatever task the Game Maker sets and avoid being killed by the Noise and Reapers." Joshua explained calmly. How he was so calm was beyond Yuki. But maybe this was normal for him.

"What's a Game Maker? And what are Reapers?" Yuki asked. Joshua continued to smile as if he was pleased to hear Yuki asking so many questions.

"The Game Maker is the Reaper in charge of a particular week, which is the time period of their game. Reapers themselves are exactly what they sound like, the collectors of souls." Joshua answered. Yuki frowned. It was a game. Joshua had referred to it as such and so had the girl that had been a part of the game. It was a sick game where players tried to get another chance at life. That's why they were willing to play.

"Why can't anyone else see it? The UG that is?" Yuki asked slowly. It didn't make much sense but Yuki was following. Her experience with things that made little to no sense was finally paying off.

"I don't know. The better question is why can we see it when no one else can?" Joshua replied. Yuki was reminded of X. He liked answering questions with questions.

"How am I supposed to know?" Yuki asked. "I'm just learning what the hell is going on here." She looked at Joshua in challenge. He seemed to read her look and smile. Perhaps he enjoyed tormenting others. He opened his mouth to answer but was cut off by the black haired man finally speaking.

"Josh, come look at this." The man said. Joshua looked at him confused but stood and went to the window the man was at anyway. Yuki followed him, curious to see what they were looking at.

Joshua frowned staring out the window with the black haired man. Yuki looked over his shoulder to try and see what they were looking at. It looked fairly normal, just people walking around. Until Yuki noticed something by an alleyway.

"Is that some kind of Noise?" Joshua asked.

"Not one I'm familiar with." The man said. Yuki took a step back and sighed heavily.

"It's not a Noise," Yuki said, sounding very annoyed. The other two looked at her in question. They looked at each other and exchanged looks that held an entire conversation.

"What do you mean?" Joshua asked. Yuki shook her head.

"It's a really long story. I have to deal with that actually." Yuki said walking to the door. "Thanks for explaining everything, I'll explain what these are next time I see you."

"When will that be?" Joshua asked. Yuki shrugged.

"I don't have the slightest clue." She answered before darting out the door and across the street to where the alleyway was. Sitting in the mouth of the alley was a Shadow, watching Yuki with its bright unblinking eyes.

As Yuki approached the Shadow it turned to run away. Yuki muttered a curse under her breath but followed after it. The Shadow moved soundlessly like they always did. Sometimes it ran across the ground, other times it sunk into the ground and continued its path. Yuki kept pace with the Shadow easily. She was confused why it was even here. No Heartless were supposed to have found this world yet. Had the reports been wrong?

Eventually, the Shadow led Yuki to an empty area in front of a large mural on the wall. Yuki froze in shock. Heartless were everywhere. Mostly Shadows, but several other kinds as well. Soldiers and Loudmouths. Watchers and Zip Slahers.

Yuki took a step forward, towards all the other Heartless. All of the Heartless turned their attention to Yuki. Their bright yellow eyes followed her movement. She heard them make sounds that she somehow understood.

The lady has come. She is here.

Yuki looked around at all the Heartless. She couldn't understand how they all got here.

"Why are you here? How did you find this place?" Yuki asked. The Heartless replied quickly.

We followed you, our lady. Just like the lady of the shadows said to.

Yuki clenched her fist tightly. The world had been free of Heartless. But it wasn't any longer. Yuki had brought them here. Tayressa had insured the Heartless would follow her. She had been used. Yuki was getting tired of being just a pawn. A pawn that no one thought was important enough to tell their mission. To say what the real goal was. To even have a choice in what she did. Yuki was sick of it.

Without much thought, Yuki summoned both of her keyblades. The Heartless around her hissed, panic and fear filling their words. Yuki glared at them before darting forward, hitting the Heartless with the keys. The Heartless fought back. First, the Zip Slashers spun with their own blades. Yuki easily blocked each blade with one keyblade and swung at the Heartless' sides with the other. Then the soldiers flipped at her, kicking her sides. Yuki knocked them aside with a single swing. The Loudmouths hopped about, singing notes that healed the other Heartless. Yuki darted forward at them and slashed them with her keyblades. She jumped on one Loudmouth using it to push her towards the Watchers place in the sky. She cut them out of the sky, jumping from one to another, before landing back on the ground.

The sound of Heartless' dying shrieks filled the air. Yuki spun her keys effortlessly, cutting through the large group. The sky above her soon filled with the pink crystal-like hearts released at the death of a Heartless. Soon the area was empty.

Yuki stopped, panting slightly. She looked around to see if any Heartless remained. Off to one side, a single Shadow sat watching her. Yuki glared at it, taking a step towards it. The Shadow moved it's head to the side in curiosity. It realized quickly what Yuki was going to do and made a very rude gesture before sinking into the ground and fleeing. Yuki stared at where the Shadow had vanished in shock.

Yuki shook her head brushing it off. She banished both of her keyblades and let out a heavy sigh. She had found all she was going to about this world. She might as well leave before more Heartless showed up. But something told Yuki it was far too late to be worrying about that.

*<3*

Day 277- Is it right?,
I'm tired of this. I can't stand that I'm being treated like a pawn. No one can answer a simple question and they trick me into doing things. That makes me wonder if they have to trick me into acting, is it right? I wonder if we're destroying worlds for no reason. I wonder if me starting to think becoming whole might be a bad thing is right. I'm just too confused.