Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

DIVA District - or so it was popularly known; a peaceful, if somewhat busy, area on the northwestern edge of the city of Diola. Although there had been certain unpleasantries in the past years, and more than one tragic occurrence lately, the District for Imaginative and Vocal Attitudes yet remained a place where warm-hearted, enjoyable people tended to gather... and those who did not qualify for such a description did their best to avoid being seen in that district.

Purgatory's Ghost was a bar on Amaretto, and although it was of rather low profile, many people would come to it for its friendly atmosphere, fine drinks, and the live music that was performed every night. On this particular night, a hooded figure stepped into the bar to find music underway; she quickly made her way to the counter, asking for a light drink, and made her way to a table in plain view of the stage - where stood a woman in hues of orange and yellow, with a pair of silver goggles atop her head.

"Gifted talent
It all comes so easily
Gifted talent
Wish I could be just like you
Gifted talent
Excelling at everything
Gifted talent
Wish I could be just like you"

Naka Gumi had a small, but respectable following among the patrons of Purgatory's Ghost, and had learned some six months ago to appreciate what she had. The new arrival to the bar caught her eye - as would anyone who hid their face - but she refused to let her voice falter as she watched them take their seat. Only once they had, and turned to face the stage, did she recognize the black shape affixed to the fore of their garments.

With a stylized white skull upon it.

"Gifted talent
Chance one in a billion
Gifted talent
Wish I could be just like you
Gifted talent
Wasted on a simple soul
Gifted talent
Wish I could be just like you"

As the instrumentals vanished, Gumi bowed politely to the crowd and made her way off the stage. The hooded figure waited for her to approach, their drink untouched; the vocalist sat down next to her, speaking quietly.

"Miku. What brings you here?"

Hatsune Miku - lead vocalist for the popular indie band known as Glory Music - offered her a small smile. "Two reasons, actually," she admitted, keeping her voice low to avoid drawing recognition from the others around them. "I found some of your online recordings and thought I'd come see if the live version did them justice."

Gumi blushed. As apropos as it was for Miku to walk in on it, that particular song had originally been written and recorded when Gumi was in high school - with the corresponding difference in her vocal skills. "Is it weird to be proud of something but embarrassed of the old version?"

"Have you seen the videos for both versions of Electric Angel?" Miku argued. "I keep telling Rin and Len that we should play theirs during concerts because I don't want people finding the video for mine."

"A-Anyways," Gumi stumbled, changing the subject, "what was the other reason?"

Miku fought back a giggle at Gumi's embarrassment. "So, I don't remember if we told you and Gakupo, but we're keeping Bad ∞ End ∞ Night off the concert rotation because... we wanted to try and make it a theater performance."

Gumi blinked. "To the music?" she asked.

"Yeah," Miku confirmed. "Would you be on board for that?"

"I... might?" Gumi murmured. "I mean... that's a pretty different undertaking than just singing a song."

"It's different than a concert performance, too," Miku admitted. "What do you say?"

Gumi sighed. "I'll think on it," she insisted. "You're not gonna be to offended if I say no, are you?"

"Why would I be offended?" Miku argued.

"...You know why."

Miku's smile fell. "I've long since let that go, Gumi," she protested. "Why won't you?"

"Well..." Gumi pulled back. "Let's just say that I went a few places I very much regret after the fact."

"Welcome, Players. You are all victorious."

Gumi stood in a cavern of what appeared to be blue crystals; she, her partner Sera, and a pair of male Players she didn't recognize had found themselves here after the Game Master had gone down. Now,  an ominous-looking figure had entered into the cave; a dark-skinned man in a fancy suit, with impenetrable sunglasses hiding his eyes and a respectable pair of headphones. A pair of spikes seemed to extend from the shoulders of his ensemble; after a moment, Gumi realized that they were the tips of Reaper wings.

One of the men took a ready stance. "Who are you?"

"I am Cyber Songman," the man introduced. "Conductor, and second to Cyber Diva, the Composer who decrees all that defines DIVA. It is my task to carry out her will - and with the Reaper's Game having concluded, I must return those who have proven themselves worthy of returning to life."

"Is the intermediary really necessary?" the other man snarked. "You could've just had us wake up at home without needing to lecture us first, no sense in dragging us here. Or what - did you want the four of us to meet each other so we could throw a party when we got back to life?"

The Conductor smirked. "Four people is not a party - and two people, even less so."

"What?"

"Surviving the seven days alone does not earn your return to life," Cyber Songman proclaimed. "We grade Players according to how they perform during the Reaper's Game, and only so many may return. Diva has been generous enough to grant return to two Players, and you should all be grateful for being considered."

Sera growled. "Grateful, my ass!" she snapped. "You expect us to-"

"Your time grows short," the Conductor proclaimed, heedless of the interruption. "Those of you deserving of return, let this be my final message: change is key to life and death alike. Let what you have experienced in the Underground change the life you live in the Realground - and let your life continue anew."

Light flooded the cavern; when it faded, the two men had vanished, leaving Gumi and Sera in the cavern with the Conductor.

Cyber Songman turned to them. "As for you two, your fate is of your choice. If you are tired of your existence, you may be erased. If you wish to join us as a Reaper, you may. If you are desperate to have your second chance, you may enter into the Game again, and endure seven more days."

Gumi made to respond.

Sera beat her to the punch. "You expect me to play your Game again?" She stormed forward. "Like hell am I gonna keep being a pawn on your chessboard, you f-!"

Cyber Songman moved in a rush; the next thing Gumi knew, she was suspended in the air, at the end of Songman's outstretched arm. His hand was closed around her neck, and she was gasping for air, desperate to breathe. Her hand seized his wrist, trying to pry his grip off of her yet failing to muster the strength to do so.

A smirk rose on the Conductor's face.

"Erasure, then."

The illumination of the cavern's wall vanished, plunging them into darkness - and from the darkness, Sera screamed... and was abruptly silenced.

When the blue glow returned, Gumi stood alone before the Conductor.

"And now it's your turn," Songman mused. "Naka Gumi. What fate do you choose?"

Gumi stepped back. "Such... power," she murmured. "Is that... the power of a Reaper?"

Songman nodded. "Players are weak," he proclaimed. "A Game Master can only be overcome by Players willing to become stronger - but officers forced to action can overcome even the strongest of Game Masters. And even the strongest of Players is nothing before the Conductor, who stands in the light of Diva herself."

"Then... make me a Reaper," Gumi pleaded. "Power such as that..." She glanced at her hand. "I'd... never have to be afraid."

"Very well," Songman conceded. "Your wish is within my power to grant."

As ominous as they were during the Game itself, meeting the Reapers was no less of a whirlwind than any other community. Gumi trusted herself to learn their names after a while, but as she stepped into her residential room on her first night, there were only a few people she really remembered clearly. The bandaged Oliver, the adopted Zola triplets ("How can you be adopted triplets?" Gumi had asked, to which the trio had laughed).

The room was hers to use or not use as she saw fit; her residence in life, an apartment building in Diola, was still available to her she should want it. Gumi decided to to make comparisons and decide in the morning; for now, she was exhausted from the introductions, and sat down on the bed intending to pass out in short order.

A knock on her door interrupted her, followed quickly by a male voice. "Excuse me? Naka?"

"Just a sec!" Gumi got to her feet and approached the door, peering outside to find a luscious head of purple hair waiting outside. She pulled back from the peephole, hesitated a moment in an effort to remember who that was, and pulled the door open. "Hi, uh... Kami?

"Kamui," the Reaper corrected. "Kamui Gakupo." He held out his hand. "I believe these are yours."

There was a pair of silver goggles in his hand; Gumi reached for her forehead and realized she'd never reclaimed them after the Game Master had knocked them off. "Oh, shit," she murmured, accepting them. "Thanks."

"I meant to return them during the introductions," Kamui insisted, "but it slipped my mind."

"Small wonder," Gumi admitted, slipping the strap of the goggles back over her head. "Thanks."

Kamui eyes the silver frames curiously. "If you don't mind my asking," he inquired, "exactly what purpose do those serve?"

Awkwardness took hold in Gumi. "Just something between me and a group of friends I had in high school," she admitted. "When I got really focused on something, I'd pull them down to warn them not to bother me. It got into such a habit that even when we parted ways and nobody knew what I was doing, I'd bring them down anyways."

"I see," Kamui chuckled. "I'll keep that in mind."

He turned and stepped away, leaving Gumi to close the door. As she started towards the bed, she pulled the goggles off... and paused, glancing at them. Why did I put these back on if I was gonna get undressed for bed anyways?

She shook her head in self-reprimand, setting them on the counter of the kitchen area. Stupid, Gumi. Stupid.

For my soul
Chapter Closed

Chapter Text

"I just don't understand why she expects me to hold it against her."

With Gumi's willingness to participate in the attempted theater performance, Miku had approached the other member outside of Glory Music. Kamui Gakupo had been repairing and testing several broken shinai in the dojo in Swordsman's Square when she had arrived - and the dojo had been closed for the day, which meant Miku didn't need to worry about interrupting lessons. He'd given his answer to the query, and noticed her own discomfort about something; she was grateful that he was willing to let her get it off her chest.

At Miku's comment, Gakupo lowered his weapon. "Have you been told about her predecessor?" he asked.

"Cyber Diva," Miku recalled, "right?"

"You suffered in the Underground because Gumi held a personal grudge against you," Gakupo observed. "She let her emotions bias her judgement. It would ring familiar to anyone who suffered Cyber Diva's rule.

Miku raised her gaze. "The Producer said that was grounds to have Gumi deposed," she recalled.

Gakupo shook his head. "Gumi mistreated a Player," he specified. "The Game is meant to be an impartial judgement of the Players. Cyber Diva mistreated the Reapers - who are not subjected to the judgement of the Game."

"Mistreated the Reapers?" Miku echoed. "Gumi's 'mistreatment' was just always choosing me to be left behind... Was that what Cyber Diva did?"

"Not exactly," Gakupo admitted. "But the reason is the same. Gumi forced you back into the Game time and again because she thought you undeserving, for no reason but the fact that she did not like you. Cyber Diva would treat Reapers the same. Those she was personally fond of would receive promotion, better treatment - ease of existence. It had nothing to do with how they performed - only what she thought of them."

"And Gumi doesn't like that she came that close," Miku realized.

Gakupo nodded. "She is among those who suffered under Cyber Diva's rule. Having seen herself inflict suffering upon others for the same reason... haunts her."

"Oh, shit, not another one!"

Gumi had been lying in wait at Tengaku Square; Players would either come through here or Starmine on their way to the mission at the Flower Fight Memorial, and she had been hoping to ambush a few with a pack of wolf Noise. Now, however, her attention was drawn to Two Kind Walk; several Players had come from that direction, and Daina was on their tail. Their attempts at quickly circling around to Aqua Street were cut short at the sight of Dex charging down from that route; when they tried to head up Parallel Circuit, they found Avanna dashing in.

Pure surprise stopped Gumi from attacking the Players as they realized they were trapped.

"Daina!"

"Dex, now!"

"Come on!"

Avanna swept a hand forward, and a great Noise sigil with tusks advanced forward; the Players couldn't react before a woolly Noise charged out, and it swept its trunk at them, throwing them into the air. Daina raised one hand over her head and lashed it down, and another betusked sigil manifested above her, from which a drake Noise soared out at high speed. Dex promptly swung his arm back and brought it forth in a low swoop, and an open-mawed sigil advanced along the pavement as the drake's talons launched the Players to the ground.

From the sigil emerged three rows of threatening teeth, and the Players couldn't react before the shark Noise leapt out of the pavement and closed its teeth on them, erasing them.

The three Reapers stumbled to a stop in the center of the plaza, trading victorious smiles as they were rid of the Noise they'd invoked; Gumi shook her head, clapping her hands as she stepped forward to get their attention. "That was so awesome I'm not even going to be mad at you."

"Oh, hi," Avanna greeted. "Gumi, right?" She glanced at the place where the Players had been erased. "Uh, did we steal your erases?"

"Not exactly," Gumi mused, "but I was planning to erase the first Players to get here."

Daina set her hands on her hips. "There were four of 'em when we went through Starmine," she admitted. "Two of 'em must have broken off to the Memorial. Wouldn't want to try our luck getting the credit for erasing them while they're dealing with all the Noise that have homed in on that argument."

"Yeah, two erases is good enough for me," Dex agreed.

Gumi smirked. "How did you manage to coordinate like that?" she asked.

Dex angled his head, drawing his hair back to bare the headset clipped to his ear. "We've got phones, and we use 'em," he admitted.

"I can't find a headset that works well enough for me to even think about taking a call on the run," Gumi observed. "Props for that. I'd love to see-" She was cut off as the trio's phones rang, and her gaze narrowed. "You don't have your ringtones going through the headsets?"

"Not for texts," Avanna admitted, drawing out her phone.

"The last thing I want is being in the quiet and having this ringer scream in my ear," Daina argued.

"I... didn't know that was a thing," Dex admitted.

As they checked their messages, Gumi's attention was drawn towards the memorial. "Wow," she murmured, "they wrapped that up fast. Never seen anyone figure out their memes that quickly."

When she turned back to the trio, their expressions had darkened considerably. "This... doesn't make sense," Avanna murmured.

"What doesn't?"

"Avanna, Daina, Dex: report to the Dead God's Pad after today's mission," Dex read aloud. "You have shown merit deserving of officer positions."

Daina turned to Gumi. "For the triple-front erasure? How does that make us better than someone's who's been a Reaper for twice as long as we have?" She aimed a finger at Gumi in observation.

Gumi's gaze fell. "Well, it's not like my tactics have been all that creative when it-"

"That's the first time our creative tactics have gotten anything done," Dex objected. "You and Gakupo have done a whole lot in slashing the Player counts of every Game since we got to the UG - including when we were Players. What 'merit' have we shown that makes you get passed up on promotions?"

"I... don't know," Gumi admitted.

"Wall clear."

Gumi watched as a pair of Players proved their pact to the Support Reaper manning the wall to 39; she quickly lifted the barrier, allowing them to advance. Not interested in culling numbers on the first day of the game, she elected to wait until the Reaper had started to leave before making to approach.

Someone else got there first.

"Hey, if it isn't Aria."

The Support Reaper glared, turning towards the voice to find the Zola brothers approaching. "For the last time, Wil, it's IA. Ee-ah."

Wil huffed. "You think some little Support girl who can't even take a promotion has any business expecting us to call her by a self-proclaimed nickname?" he retorted.

"You three are the only punks who think you're above calling someone by the name they choose to go by," IA protested.

"And if you actually did anything to deserve calling you by that name," Kyo countered, "maybe you'd get it. But you joined for Support duty, and the one time you got offered a Harrier position, you threw it in Songman's face. Didn't you, Aria?"

IA glared. "I swear, if you-"

"We came here on business," Yuu interrupted. "You're responsible for walling up Pain Crave tomorrow. Miki wants you to have the wall in place before sundown so she can set things up."

"And was that really worth the personal visit from all three of you?" IA demanded. "Why didn't she tell me herself?"

"Ran into her on her way up," Kyo admitted, "and she said to pass it on. Sounds like she's got something big in mind."

The three of them took off, heading towards the Otherworld's Await. Once Gumi was sure they weren't going to turn around, she stepped up to IA, who was still fuming. "Hey," she greeted.

She hadn't realized she'd gotten close enough to startle; IA turned around with a loud yelp, pulling back. On seeing who was standing there, she loosed a tired breath. "Gumi," she breathed. "Um, how much of that did you see?"

"Enough to wonder what the hell their problem is," Gumi admitted.

IA groaned. "Their officer promotions came in while I was a Player," she recalled. "By then, they already knew me as 'Reichi Aria' from their time as Harriers, because my partner was a formal cad who had to address me by the full name every time, and I didn't realize until it was too late to just give him the short version. Everyone else heard me introduce myself as IA, and listened to it. But no matter how many times I tell them..."

Gumi glanced after them. "They won't listen."

"I wouldn't mind it so much if they wouldn't act condescending about it," IA insisted. "But they have to pile that on top of trashing me for Support duty."

"I thought you liked Support duty," Gumi admitted.

IA glanced back at her Reaper wings. "I like how it gives me a consistent score to keep my wings on. I turned down the promotion for the time being because I wanted to have a bit of a buffer before I became a Harrier. But that was a dozen Games ago. No matter how well I do, he hasn't given me the offer again."

"He did offer it to you kind of quickly, all things considered," Gumi observed. "Maybe if you..."

"If I what?" IA asked. "If a Harrier applies for an officer position without having it offered to them, they get GM duty. What's gonna happen if Support asks for a Harrier position?"

Gumi's gaze fell. "He wouldn't..."

"Maybe not," IA mused. "But I don't wanna risk it until I'm 100% sure."

"You wanted to see me, Conductor?"

Calne Ca had been called to the Dead God's Pad, on the seventh day of hiatus between one Game and the next. Gumi couldn't suppress her curiosity, and had made to follow her; now, she lurked just outside the door to the Pad, listening as the to-be Game Master spoke with Cyber Songman.

"Thank you for coming, Calne Ca," the Conductor greeted. "I wish to speak to you in regards to your requested tenure as Game Master."

"...What of it?"

"No Players have been inducted in the time since the last Game," Songman observed. "However, the Composer has made her decision. If you wish to serve as Game Master over a personal vendetta, against these six Players, it will come at a penalty."

"What, exactly?" Calne Ca asked.

"The Game begins tomorrow," Songman proclaimed. "You will serve as Game Master against these six Players, and no others."

Calne Ca gave an amused hum. "That's the penalty?"

"No," the Conductor corrected. "The penalty is that you will not serve as Game Master with any greater promises. Diva has proclaimed that if you succeed at erasing all the Players, you will not be rewarded with an officer position."

Gumi started. "What?" she hissed under her breath.

"I understand," Calne Ca conceded. "It's of no consequence to me."

"Very well. You are dismissed."

Calne Ca started to retreat, and Gumi quickly turned, heading back out the Walk of the Dead. She managed to reach her quarters along the Walk of Demons before running into anyone else; she quickly pulled the door open, slipped inside, and closed the door behind her, contemplating what she had heard.

This doesn't make sense, she observed. The position of Game Master is supposed to be a gateway. If you ask for an officer position, you serve as GM. So shouldn't serving as GM get you an officer position? Why would they change that just because Calne Ca asked for it? Why shouldn't she be rewarded if she's a successful Game Master?

Her gaze fell. Unless... they don't intend to reward a successful Game Master. The officers who already have the position got the promotion without being GM. Is it... Do they...?

She closed her eyes. "It's not a threshold... It's a barrier."

Locked in a Game
Chapter Closed

Chapter Text

"I... really don't see how this is gonna work."

Miku, Gumi, and Gakupo had gathered at the Swordsman's Square dojo to discuss the proposed theater play - and the analysis wasn't going well so far. At Gumi's comment, Miku breathed a displeased sigh. "I hate when an idea looks good in my head, and then reality laughs at it."

"The concept was sound," Gakupo observed, "but trying to synchronize something this complicated to music would be... far too much for a stage."

"It would take an army of stagehands, at the least," Gumi observed. "And half of them would have to be on the stage for, like 90% of the performance."

Gakupo shook his head. "One or two stagehands can be easily dismissed," he admitted, "but if there are more stagehands upon the stage than there are actors..."

With a groan, Miku crumpled up her half-script and threw it across the room. "I should stick to music."

Gumi sighed. "You don't know you can't do it if you don't try," she comforted. "At least you figured out it wasn't going to work before you spent, like, an entire concert's proceedings on stage-settings."

"Um... yeah," Miku murmured, "good thing..."

The Reapers turned to her in bemusement. "Are you telling me-?"

"Not on the stage," Miku insisted. "But... we did order costumes from Charioteer." Her gaze fell. "Including fake doll limbs for Rin and Len."

"Fake..." Gumi furrowed her brow. "How does that... work?"

Miku drew out her phone; she'd snapped pictures of the Kagamine twins when they'd gotten outfitted. "Here..." She showed the photos off. "They're designed to look artificial and doll-like, kind of like prosthetics. Like they're supposed to be able to turn in ways that humans can't. But they just fit over their real bodies, so they don't actually do anything like that."

"Interesting," Gakupo mused. "Are you quite sure the song wouldn't work in concert? Would be a shame to put them to waste."

"Afraid not," Miku admitted. "The song tells a story, and I designed the music video to do the same. It wouldn't be the same to be performing it on stage without doing the story justice, and trying to even hint at the story wouldn't..."

"Isn't the implication that you kill the rest of us with the clock hands?" Gumi mused.

"Yes, I was getting to that," Miku retorted. "Besides which, it would be kind of rude to ask you guys to join us for the concert and only have you on the stage for one or two songs."

Gakupo narrowed his gaze. "What do you mean 'or two'?"

Gumi glanced at him before facing Miku. "Didn't you tell him?"

"I did," Miku insisted, turning to Gakupo, "don't you remember?"

"Remember what?"

"Okay, Gumi, what's this about?"

Oliver was the last one to arrive at the gathering of Reapers; Gumi had invited several Harriers and Support Reapers to meet her at the end of Pain Crave Bridge. The actual meeting place was at the side of the river that ran beneath it - but well outside of the domain of DIVA, which meant everyone stood in the Realground. As Oliver approached, he found fellow Support members IA and Exi Mayu already there; the Harrier members of the group included Anri Rune, Otori Kohaku, and Kamui Gakupo. Gumi was sitting at the water's edge; as Oliver took his place, she got to her feet.

"Thank you all for coming," she praised. "I'm sorry for asking you to come out of DIVA, but suffice to say that I don't want this to be heard in the Underground."

"Don't want what to be heard?" Mayu asked.

Gumi took a deep breath. "You all saw it, didn't you?" she prompted. "What happened to the last Game Master. How the Composer chose to 'reward' her."

Dread washed over the gathered Reapers.

"Calne Ca achieved 100% erasure," Gumi proclaimed. "At cost to herself - suffering she couldn't reverse under her own power. And Cyber Diva forbade her - in advance - from achieving an officer position for doing what no Game Master has done. With the power of the throne, she should have been able to unmake that transformation; instead, she condemned Calne Ca to a world of her own." She shook her head. "This is only the pinnacle of her abuse of power."

Rune stepped forward. "What do you mean, 'abuse'?"

"All of us - the field Reapers - have suffered because of the Conductor, who carries out the designs of the Composer." Gumi shook her head. "Officers aren't promoted by merit, but by favouritism. If a Harrier applies for a promotion, we're forced to serve as Game Master - and now we have proof that succeeding as Game Master won't give us what we're promised. The officers sit around the Pad and rack up score. Meanwhile, Harriers have to struggle against the Players and hope we do enough, and Support members are left to man walls without any guarantee that they'll ever do more than that."

The gathered Reapers traded glances.

Gumi sighed. "We can't stand for this. We're suffering because of the whims of the hierarchy. The Underground needs to change."

Kohaku gave an uncertain sigh. "How can it change? The Composer is responsible for the rules of the UG; only she has the authority to change them. Cyber Diva's word is absolute."

"That's why we're going to erase her."

That quiet utterance from Gumi had all of the Reapers pulling back in shock.

"Devils act where gods won't intervene," Gumi proclaimed. "If Cyber Diva hasn't done anything the Angels are willing to punish, one of us has to strike her down." She raised her gaze to the group. "But it's not as simple as walking up to her and putting a blade in her heart. None of us can do this alone. We need to plan, and prepare - together."

"Did you have a proposed plan?" IA asked.

Gumi sighed. "The more of us are willing to work together, the better. I called you all here because I knew you had all suffered at Cyber Diva's rule. The rest of the Harriers, the other members of Support, I'm not sure of. But if any of you think there's someone else who would be willing to help us, try and enlist their help. Don't ask them straight-out; the last thing you want is to have one of her supporters onto us in advance. See if they're suffering. See if they want a change.

"Beyond that... our best course of action is during the Game. The Conductor watches the Game to grade the performance of the Players - so as to determine who deserves to return to life. If his attention is divided, we're more likely to succeed.

"Which means... we need a Game Master."

"Conductor."

Cyber Songman was standing in front of a filing cabinet in the Dead God's Pad when Kohaku arrived - and his back was to the drawers. At her entry, he seemed to start, briefly, but on seeing who was there he only turned to face her. "Kohaku," he greeted, stepping forward. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"Forgive me if I'm mistaken," she prompted, "but the next Game is yet to be decided, correct?" It had been some time since Gumi's gathering, and a Game had come and gone without any indication that the officers - or the Composer - had any suspicions of their plans.

"If by that you mean that the Game Master is unchosen, then yes," Songman confirmed. "Why do you ask?"

"I wish to be made Game Master," Kohaku requested.

She kind of wished Songman didn't hide his eyes with glasses, because seeing his eyebrows lift didn't have any of the gravitas that seeing his eyes widen would have. "You are the second person to request the position," he observed. "Why do you seek it?"

"Well..." Kohaku made to pace, as though idle; even so, however, her attention was drifting across the room. "When someone submits an application to request an officer promotion, they have to go through a stint as Game Master first." She turned to Songman and caught her hands behind her back. "I figured, hey, might as well cut out the middleman and just ask for the Game Master stint directly."

Songman smirked. "So, this is your roundabout way of applying a promotion?" he observed.

Kohaku giggled. "Pretty much."

"Such ingenuity," the Conductor snarked. "Then this has nothing to do with the newest Player?"

"Player?" Kohaku echoed, confused. "What? No. Who's the newest Player?"

"No one, apparently," Songman observed. "But the last individual to request Game Master position did so due to a personal grudge with the Players inducted."

Kohaku shook her head. "I didn't even realize someone had died recently enough for that to be a thing," she mused. Turning away; "This is kind of awkward. Maybe I should have checked out the precedent before I made the application."

The Conductor chuckled. "Forgive me," he insisted. "It was my mistake for assuming your motives were the same."

"Well, no real harm done," Kohaku assured him, "aside from the embarrassment." Her gaze traced the filing cabinet that Songman had been standing before. "So, is that a yes, or...?"

"I'll discuss it with the Composer," Songman insisted, "and give you the answer in time."

Kohaku glanced at him. "Appreciate it." Then, without waiting for any other comments, she started out into the Walk of the Dead.

The cabinet wasn't resting properly upon the floor of the Pad; and it seemed to have been set into the wall, somewhat.

The question was why.

"Gakupo, wait up!"

The voice behind him caused Gakupo to slow to a stop on his way out of Ashes Square - and out of DIVA, into greater Diola. He turned to find Dex coming up behind him. "Hello, he greeted. "To what do I owe this?"

"It's kind of a long story," Dex insisted. "But I'm not going anywhere in a hurry, so, why don't we keep walking while we discuss?"

Gakupo gave him a look, but continued on his path; Dex followed at his side, and once they were a few paces out of DIVA, he spoke.

"So... about your little coup."

The response was instantaneous; Gakupo whirled around and grabbed Dex by the shirt, pushing him between two buildings. As soon as they were out of plain sight, he upshifted to the Underground - and brought Dex with him. The officer's Reaper wings had barely appeared before they ground against the wall that Gakupo forced him against, and he raised a hand in threat.

"Wait, stop!" Another hand seized his arm, and Gakupo turned to find Daina standing there. "We're not against you!"

"What?"

Gakupo's grip faltered on Dex's shirt, letting him fall to the ground; with a sigh, Daina released his arm. "Well," she mused, "I hope you had a plan for explaining that to Songman if you were intending to erase him."

"I was merely going to coerce him into silence," Gakupo insisted. "Wait, what do you mean you're not against us?"

"You and Gumi are planning to usurp Cyber Diva, right?" Dex prompted. "Because of the officer hierarchy."

"Are you not officers?" Gakupo mused. "Why would you be opposed to the system?"

"Because Songman promoted us and Avanna over hard workers like you and Gumi," Daina countered, "just because we had theatrical teamwork plans. There's no reason for that."

Dex shook his head. "He told us we were gonna be doing paperwork and passing on orders," he observed. "But we haven't gotten any jobs whatsoever, and we've been racking up points. That's not fair."

Gakupo hummed. "This would be the first time I've witnessed someone complain about being on the beneficial end of an unfair bargain," he mused.

"Benefits at the cost of someone else's suffering are just guilt," Daina protested. "Look, we want to help you guys. How can we help?"

"First things first," Gakupo demanded. "How did you learn of the coup? The last thing I want is for less benevolent interlopers to overhear us."

"Actually, Avanna told us," Dex insisted. "She said that she'd been approached by Chika."

"...Chika hasn't been involved," Gakupo observed.

"I don't think she wants to be part of it," Daina observed, "but she's doesn't seem like she's against it."

Gakupo quickly drew out his phone. "That's not good enough to go on."

Miraculous Encounter
Chapter Closed

Chapter Text

"Do you gain some sort of pleasure from hearing of peoples' suffering?"

Miku turned deep red. "I really hope that came out wrong."

Once again had Gakupo found Miku approaching him at the dojo with a query about something she had not witnessed for herself. At her remark, Gakupo turned away, a small blush of his own manifesting. "What I mean to say is... why would you want to hear about this?" he asked. "What benefit could it have for you?"

"You said that Gumi was scared of what she did to me," Miku insisted. "I don't want her to keep... fearing that I'm going to retaliate against her for that."

"And you think that hearing of her predecessor's actions would somehow allow you to convince her otherwise?" Gakupo asked.

"Well, yes," Miku admitted. "If I can understand what exactly Cyber Diva did that Gumi feels she's echoed, somehow, then I can understand why she feels so guilty about it."

Gakupo shook his head. "Few are willing to try and understand their tormentors," he observed, "and fewer still willing to empathize with them."

"Tell me about it," Miku mused. "Rin and Len still ask why I forgave her so quickly after I came back."

"Forgiveness is not to be offered lightly," Gakupo mused, "let alone an offer such as you made."

Miku's gaze fell.

"But very well." Gakupo turned to her. "If you wish to hear of Cyber Diva's rule, I will share."

Kokone was waiting in Gumi's room in the Otherworld.

Gumi tried to act and found the senior Harrier beating her to the punch; the door was closed slowly enough to avoid rousing suspicion, yet swiftly enough to avoid anyone who might be outside from noticing as Gumi tried to swing and found her blows knocked aside. The silver goggles were ripped from her brow, and the strap was shoved into her mouth, muffling her yelp as Kokone lifted her by the shirt and threw her against the side of the bed. Before she'd even come to a stop, Kokone was standing against her, a foot set against her torso.

The strap was forced out of Gumi's mouth, and she was left sputtering across Kokone's shoe.

"Are you trying to disgust me into giving you leverage?" Kokone demanded.

"Bleh!" Gumi's hands were presently free, and she reached for her mouth and swept them across her lips with a sputter. "Hair in my mouth." Then, turning up to Kokone; "Wait, what the hell is this about?"

"Don't play dumb with me," Kokone reprimanded.

Immediately did Gumi's demeanor change. "Why are you confronting me here?" she reprimanded, her voice reduced to a whisper. "Are you out of your mind?!"

"Me?" Kokone argued. "You can't seriously be thinking of-"

Gumi quickly seized Kokone's free leg and pulled, throwing her off-balance; she moved her foot off Gumi's chest, and the junior Harrier seized her goggles and shot up before Kokone could correct herself. Her hands closed on Kokone's top, and Gumi slammed her to the bed, pressing her goggles against her mouth to muffle her with the strap.

"Not a word," she hissed.

Kokone's hands went up to grab Gumi's shoulders and were interrupted when Gumi grabbed her forearms and pinned her to the bed, leaning in to her ear.

"Not. A word. Not out loud."

There was a long moment of silence between them; then Gumi sat upright, trapping Kokone beneath her but leaving her hands free as she drew out her phone. Kokone seized the goggles with one hand, pulling them away from her mouth, and was about to speak before Gumi turned the screen towards her, revealing the memo she'd tapped out.

If you're not with us, you're against us.

Kokone fumed, but to Gumi's relief, said nothing. She reached into her pocket and drew out her own phone in return, opening a memo to type her response. Cyber Diva can't actually see everything.

We've never seen the bitch, Gumi countered, I'm not about to rule out her being able to listen in from the walls.

A look of incredulity rose on Kokone's face before she tapped her response. I am neither with you, nor am I against you. I just don't want you all getting yourselves killed.

Gumi shook her head. We're not going to charge in guns blazing.

The Composer is supposed to be able to erase someone at will, Kokone reprimanded. If she realizes there's a coup underway, she'll erase you before you can even consider attacking.

If that was true, she'd erase everyone who wasn't an officer, Gumi countered.

Kokone blinked. "What-?"

"Quiet," Gumi hissed.

What kind of insane Noise logic are you following to come to that conclusion? Kokone tapped out.

Officers are hand-picked based on personal preference, not performance, Gumi observed. If anyone who isn't chosen to be an officer asks to be an officer, they're handed a death sentence in the form of the Game Maser position.

Kokone breathed a heavy sigh. The Reaper's Game needs a Game Master, she insisted. That's decided by the Higher Plane, not the Composer.

What about Calne Ca, then? Gumi countered. The Composer expected her to get erased as GM, and she survived. Cyber Diva should've been able to unmake that transformation, but instead she sentenced her to isolation. Are you telling me she WANTS a Cantus lurking around?

"...Maybe you've got a point," Kokone breathed.

Gumi cleared the memo and started over. Chika told Avanna about the plan. How did you two find out?

From IA, Kokone replied. She wanted to approach Avanna. The Zola brothers interfered with her every attempt to get close. Chika figured out it had to do with the gathering on the riverside and offered to be the middleman.

A prominent F formed from Gumi's lips as she read that.

The officers don't suspect anything, Kokone assured her. Prima said it just seemed like field Reapers imitating a vacation. But Chika figured out it was something you didn't want Cyber Diva to know about.

Where do you two stand? Gumi demanded.

We're not going to try and stop you, Kokone insisted. But we don't want to get involved. You're right that the field Reapers are treated unfairly, but trying to change that by attacking the Composer is suicide.

It has to have been done before.

Maybe, Kokone countered. The only sign that the Composer has changed is the Conductor's choice of pronouns. And even then, I don't know for sure that Angels aren't genderfluid.

Gumi slammed her fist to the mattress next to Kokone's head. "Don't even joke about that," she hissed.

"I'm not," Kokone insisted. "Have you read the reports? The only reason anyone below Conductor knows what an Angel is is because of how many times they've shown up in DIVA."

You're trying to tell me the Composer is an Angel? Gumi typed out.

I know it's a possibility, Kokone confirmed. Angels have held the position elsewhere. They say if the Composer suicides, the Producer substitutes until someone else goes after the throne. You think you have what it takes to stand up to the Higher Plane?

Gumi took a deep breath. If the field Reapers being frowned upon is the will of the Higher Plane, I'd sooner be erased than serve this hierarchy.

Kokone sighed. "Your funeral," she insisted.

The junior Harrier moved off. "Get out of my room, Kokone."

"Out of curiosity..." Kokone got to her feet. "Did you have a good explanation in mind?"

"In mind for what?" Gumi asked.

"The sound of the bedsprings when you came into the room and I left," Kokone mused.

Gumi's face turned deep red as she turned away.

"Yes, Conductor. I'll be on my way as soon as I can."

Anri Rune hung up her phone, getting to her feet; she and Gakupo had met at a restaurant in greater Diola intending to discuss matters, yet no sooner had their meals arrived than Cyber Songman had called asking Rune to come to the Otherworld. "Best eat up quickly," Gakupo advised.

"I will," Rune assured him. "Out of curiosity... how many replies have we gotten?" There was always the risk of running into officers that made conversing plainly a bit hazardous, and so their allies had agreed to be oblique about it whenever they were discussing things in the open.

"Aside from our initial group?" Gakupo mused - IA, Oliver, Mayu, and Kohaku, in addition to themselves and Gumi. "Daina, Dex, and Avanna."

"Still not much."

"Quite frankly, I'm surprised we've got anything beyond the start."

Rune finished her meal quickly and left payment for her part with Gakupo before heading back to DIVA. The return trip was largely uneventful; as she reached the Dead God's Pad, she found Cyber Songman already waiting for her. "Apologies for the delay, Conductor."

"Understandable," Songman assured her. "You did say I interrupted a meal."

"To what do I owe this summons?" Rune inquired.

"Mew has been entered into the queue to serve as Game Master," the Conductor informed her. "We will have need of someone else to induct newly-deceased Players during her tenure, and possibly afterwards, if she should fail achieve 100% erasure." Rune narrowed her gaze at that; there was nothing that could convince her that Mew would succeed. "You have been deemed the most appropriate replacement."

"Just a Harrier?" Rune was surprised. "I thought the induction was an officer position."

Songman shook his head. "The task is technically a Harrier position, but excludes the assigned Reaper from traditional Harrier duties."

Rune hummed. That explains why she got saddled with it, she observed. But, wait... "Wasn't Kohaku lined up to be the next Game Master?" she asked. "Or was she just being optimistic when she told me?"

"Oh, forgive my ambiguity," Songman admitted. "Mew will serve as Game Master in the next Game. Her tenure has been queued in advance due to the nature of her position, and the need for a replacement. You are required to speak to her in regards to your assignment, that she may inform you of any... nuances that she may deem appropriate for you to know in advance. She is currently within the 39 Building, if you wish to approach her now."

"I see," Rune mused. "Thank you."

She made her way out of the Otherworld, heading to 39; Mew was on the rooftop when Rune made to scan for her from outside. The elevator took her up without trouble; as Rune stepped out, she found Mew lashing out against the ambient Noise.

"I'm sorry," Rune mused when the fights lapsed, "is this a bad time?"

Mew whirled around, and a blade of light soared forward and halted, a foot away from Rune's heart. On seeing who was standing there, Mew let the attack vanish with a sigh. "Anri." She seized the sunglasses hooked on her top, slipping them over her eyes. "I'm sorry, I'm not in the mood to socialize right now."

Rune made to approach. "Let me guess," she proposed, "you applied for an officer position?"

"I told Songman I was fine with continuing the induction job," Mew spat. "I'm not responsible for Harrier duties anyways. I just wanted to be able to sit down in the Pad while the Game's on without Tonio asking what I was doing there. But it doesn't matter, if I want the officer position, I've gotta be GM first. Like I don't know that being GM is gonna get me erased."

"And he makes sure the whole Collective knows it," Rune sighed.

"You sure it's not just you, because he sent you to replace me?" Mew argued.

Rune didn't bother trying to feign ignorance. "The officers start rubbing it in well in advance," she admitted. "Look... Do you like the job you have?"

"I don't have a problem with the job," Mew insisted, "I just don't want everyone mocking me because I'm not busy during the Game proper."

"And... what if we could see to that?"

Mew turned to her. "You think you can change how the officers act around me?" she mused.

"Well... we can probably make sure they're punished if they keep it up," Rune admitted, drawing out her phone.

"Sounds like an Angel-send," Mew mused. "Who's 'we'?"

Rune opened a text to Gakupo. "It's a long story that I don't think I wanna tell on the heart."

Hallelujah・Super Idol
Chapter Closed

Chapter Text

It was nearly noon on the fifth day of Otori Kohaku's tenure as Game Master. She was sitting atop a building along the south edge of Two Kind Walk; she'd lined up her mission to take place as soon as the sun was directly above the Flower Fight Memorial, at least from the view of this rooftop. Many of the other Reapers were already scattered throughout DIVA; the officers, although technically required to be within the purview of the Game during missions, were largely on leisurely strolls in the RG. Support was manning the walls that Kohaku had designated for this mission, and Harriers were set up to invoke the target Noise at key points for the start of the day.

At least, such descriptions fit those who were not occupied elsewhere.

IA was at the Otherworld's Await, with Daina and Dex lurking nearby; Oliver and Mayu were on guard at the intersections on I_O Walk, with Mew and Rune ready to back them up. Gumi, Gakupo, and Avanna were waiting in the shadow of 39, prepared to move out as soon as the mission began.

The Players were starting to wake up; Kohaku tapped out her mission as the sun started to approach, and once it and the memorial were aligned, she sent it.

Mission: Confront the great bird on Two Kind Walk.
You have 150 minutes.
Fail, and face erasure
~The Reapers

"Is this Songman's idea of a joke?"

The Zola brothers had intended to return to the Otherworld when the mission went out - so as to minimize the chance of coming across any hardass Players with intentions to attack the Reapers. Sure, an officer could erase a Player with his little finger if he had a self-defense excuse, but it was still unnecessary effort they had no interest in exerting if they didn't have to.

Their return had been cut short by a wall over the elevator box.

At Yuu's comment, Wil set his hand against the barrier. "It's only here in the UG," he observed. "If we just downshift to the RG..." His wings vanished, and sure enough, his hand passed though the wall and hit the doors. "Yeah, it'll be fine like this."

Kyo shook his head. "The buttons don't work in the RG. It's to stop civs from coming in.

Wil ran a finger down the seam. "We should be able to pull the doors open by hand, right?" he prompted.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

The voice was somewhat muffled - it was coming from inside the elevator box. "Aria?" Yuu called. "Seriously, what are you doing?"

"It's IA," was the retort they received. "And to answer your question, I'm under orders from the Game Master."

"What the hell does Otori think you need a wall in the Otherworld for?" Kyo protested.

"Don't know, don't care," IA insisted. "The Game Master's orders take priority over the officers' whims. I can't just subvert them for no reason."

"No reason, my ass," Yuu retorted. "You can't just barricade an area Players have no business running around on."

IA laughed. "Not so fond of the hierarchy when you're on the low end, are you?" she reprmanded.

Kyo slammed a fist against the wall. "Are you gonna let us in, or do we have to call Songman?"

The Support Reaper hummed. "Go ahead and call him," she mused, "but I reckon he's a little busy."

Wil raised an eyebrow at the doors as he upshifted back to the UG. "A little busy with what?"

"Holding off a coup d'état."

The twang of a bowstring followed that voice from above; an arrow slammed into Kyo's arm, earning a yell of pain and causing the brothers to scatter as the projectile vanished. Immediately, a pointed blade descended towards them; Yuu tried to avoid it with his center mass, only for it to strike his wing and leaving him crying out as two figures descended from the buildings that surrounded the Await.

Dex had a bow in one hand, and Daina raised her hand as her knife reappeared in it.

"And if you know what's good for you, you'll let it happen."

Kyo took a fighting stance. "What the hell?" he demanded. "What are you two doing?"

"Setting things up," Dex mused. "Now, if you don't mind..."

He raised his bow at Wil, who leapt aside before the shot could fire; Daina dashed forward and slashed at Yuu's leg, earning a howl of pain as she drove a kick into Kyo's torso. As he reeled, Yuu tried to lunge at his back, only to take an arrow of his own in the shoulder; Wil couldn't close the distance before Daina was close enough to sweep his legs, flooring him.

Wind started to gather around the brothers, and they couldn't try to rise again before it surged into twisters, throwing them to opposite corners of the Await hard enough to rip up the barren soil. Avanna skidded into the area, and once she was sure they weren't about to rise quickly, she yelled, "Now!"

With a ding, the elevator doors opened as Gakupo and Gumi charged into the Await; IA bashed the wall with a fist holding a keypin, causing it to vanish as the Harriers entered, then stepped out and bashed the empty space to remanifest it.

"Have fun," IA called.

"With pleasure," Gumi insisted.

Gakupo hit the button for the elevator to descend, and the doors closed as the Zola brothers got to their feet. "What the hell is this about?" Kyo demanded.

"You treat me like shit for being Support and you have to ask why we're kicking off a revolution?" IA retorted. "This is why assassins get sympathy."

"Only when they wear hoods," Avanna observed.

"You three are in on this?" Yuu protested. "Why are you backing up a bunch of jackasses?"

Avanna turned to him. "Wanting to better their own treatment is hardly worthy of being insulted over."

Yuu scoffed. "If they want better treatment, they should earn a promotion!"

"And you're going to act like you were given a promotion because of some merit?" Avanna demanded.

"Like hell," IA dismissed. "These guys were joyriding when it came in."

"We were trying to erase a Player, Aria," Wil snapped.

"Continually pursuing a single Player is hardly 'trying'," Avanna reprimanded, turning to him, "especially when you put off the erasure to torment her." She shook her head. "Promotions are handed out based on attitude, not merit. All of us were made officers because there was something about us that the Conductor - or perhaps the Composer - perferred."

"Then why are you three complaining?" Wil demanded. "You got promotions!"

"At cost to someone else," Avanna retorted.

Kyo groaned. "Why do you care what happens to someone else?"

IA rolled her eyes. "And there goes your last chance of sympathy."

She raised a hand above her head and spread her fingers - and the dirt across the Await started to shift. The Zola brothers pulled back in surprise as shimmering fragments of light started to rise from the ground. "What the hell are you doing?" Kyo demanded.

"That's... a good question," Dex admitted.

"Do we want to be on the ground for this?" Daina asked.

IA chuckled, lowering her hand. "It's not gonna hurt you."

"Answer the question, Aria!" Wil snapped.

"I prepared this while you three were out strolling," IA retorted. "You keep calling me Aria..."

She twisted into a spin, and the fragments started to whirl in the air around her.

"...so now you can listen to an aria from the earth!"

IA lashed her hand aside and snapped her fingers - and the fragments began to burst, each sounding a single note as it did.

"I'll man the elevator," IA proposed.

Kohaku giggled. "Where did that volunteer come from?"

"The Zola brothers never want to get their hands dirty during the Game," IA observed. "If they have to be in DIVA, they'll want be in the Otherworld before the coup even starts. Set off the mission before they can get there, and I'll keep them out."

"Not alone, you won't," Dex warned.

Daina nodded. "We'll back you up," she insisted. "Triple threat tactics should throw them off their game."

Gumi smiled. "No objections here. Then, Oliver and Mayu, you'll have to watch the intersections."

"Prima and Tonio are gonna be harder to handle," Oliver mused. "I catch them roaming the streets for fun. If Songman tells them to get back, we're gonna have to hold them off."

"Me and Rune will be ready to help," Mew assured him. "Here's hoping we catch them individually."

"...Maybe not," Mayu mused.

Rune turned to her. "What do you mean, maybe not?"

"What does Songman want that gets him to demand us back to the Otherworld?"

Prima and Tonio had been most annoyed when they had gotten a message from the Conductor - Return to the Otherworld immediately, on pain of erasure. As much as they disliked being interrupted over a meal, they new better than to assume the Conductor's message to be an idle threat; thus, as they came up Amaretto, they were annoyed to find Mayu at the intersection with I_O Walk, indicating an obstruction.

"Hey!" Tonio called. "Mayu! Clear the wall!"

Mayu raised her gaze; she was sitting at the corner of the intersection, with hexagons extending around her to indicate there were walls set up north/south and east/west. "Hi, Tonio," she greeted. "Hi, Prima."

"No time for pleasantries," Prima reprimanded. "Songman's ordering us back. You gotta clear the wall."

"Umm..." Mayu glanced down at the rabbit doll sitting in her lap. "No, I don't think so."

Prima pulled back. "What?!"

On the opposite side of the doll, Mayu had her phone out, and quickly tapped a message to Mew; P & T both here. "I'm not gonna clear the wall."

"This isn't funny, Mayu," Tonio insisted, setting a hand against the barrier. "We have a direct order from-"

Mayu seized the arm of her rabbit doll and pinched as she pulled it back - and Tonio yelled as crimson light danced around his forearm, feeling something like a powerful, crushing grip as his arm was wrenched off the wall. "What the-!?"

"Tonio!" Prima turned to Mayu. "You bitch, what are you-?"

She was cut off with a strangled grasp as Mayu released the doll's arm and seized it's neck; she was left choking for a moment before she managed to set her hands on her shoulders, dispersing the light and sending a resonance through the psych that forced Mayu's hand off the doll.

"Songman wants you to stop Gumi and Gakupo," Mayu observed. "We don't want that to happen, so we're not going to let it."

"Stop them?!" Tonio demanded. "What do you mean, stop- Agh!" He gasped as Mayu grabbed the doll's neck again, choking him this time.

Prima fumed, raising her hand. "I don't know what do you think you're doing, but-!"

She was cut off when someone dashed out from behind the nearest building and grabbed her arm - Anri Rune. "Oh," she warned, "I wouldn't do that!"

The Harrier quickly twisted, using the arm as leverage to throw Prima face-first into the wall as Tonio forced Mayu's chokehold off his neck. "What's going on?!"

"It's called a revolution, choir boy," Rune reprimanded.

"What?!"

Mayu turned to Prima, who was bleeding at the nose. She quickly moved her hand up and pinched the center of her rabbit's face; a crimson light manifested around Prima's nose for a moment, and then a crack sounded as Mayu twisted the pinch and released it. "You bitch!"

"Mayu! Rune!"

The voice from nearby drew Rune's attention to see Mew and Oliver coming up. "Nice to see ya!" she called.

Prima growled, whirling around and going for Rune's head; Mayu halted her hand with a grip on her doll's arm, holding back Prima's attack long enough for Mew to hurl an edge of light. Tonio ended up blocking the attack with his arm, but that incapacitated him long enough for Rune to grab Prima's other arm and spin, pulling her in opposite directions just hard enough to earn an upleasant yell before Mayu released the doll's arm to grab it's leg instead, leaving her slamming to the pavement. Oliver and Mew were close enough to the barriers by now; Mayu grabbed her keypin and struck one and then the other to clear the way for her allies before re-raising the barriers and picking up her doll again.

Tonio tried to go for Mew, but at Oliver's prompting, a length of chain manifested vertically in his path, barring him just long enough for the links to shatter apart and bombard him.

"Let's wreck 'em," Rune prompted.

"Happy to oblige," Oliver assured her.

Change the World
Chapter Closed

Chapter Text

"Prima and Tonio are like veteran theater performers with no synergy," Mayu retorted. "They know their individual lines well enough, but when they actually on get stage together, they can't work in sync. If we manage to pin them together, they'll constantly be second-guessing themselves not wanting to hurt each other."

"Nice," Mew praised.

"That's the officers taken care of, then," Oliver observed. "That just leaves the Conductor and the Composer."

Gakupo shook his head. "Songman is not our opponent," he insisted. "If we can avoid confrontation with him, we'll be better off."

Rune hissed in uncertainty. "I don't think you can," she admitted. "He's going to know you're coming. If it's just the two of you, he's going to intercept you at-"

"The Under Dark," Gumi finished. "Yeah, Calne Cantus had plenty of room in there. Songman won't be shy about fighting us."

"How do you propose you get past him?" Mew asked.

Gumi smiled, raising her gaze. "You ever tried to exercise your pact with your shadow?"

As soon as the elevator doors opened on the Walk of Demons, Gakupo dashed out at a dead sprint. There was a slightly open door to almost every bedroom with a label - Zola Yuu, Zola Kyo, Zola Wil, Oliver, Exi Mayu, Anri Rune, Mew, Uomo Tonio, Tusi Prima, Otori Kohaku, Kano Akira, Kuma Rana, Utatane Piko, Avanna, Daina, Dex, IA - but Gakupo's and Gumi's (directly opposite each other in the hall) were firmly closed - and, to Gakupo's pleasant surprise, two more doors side-by-side were closing as they passed them... labelled Kokone and Chika.

Would that they were so fortunate to have that continue; the doors to the Under Dark were also wide open, and Cyber Songman was standing there.

Gakupo slowed so that he could come to a firm stop just inside the door. Lights circled the open battlefield, and although their activation was not so simple as flipping a switch near the doors, there was still the customary section of bare wall between each entrance and the nearest light. Songman hadn't turned on all the lights, and the specific ones he had left Gakupo casting shadows clearly upon each of those gaps.

"Conductor," Gakupo greeted.

"Kamui," Songman spat. "What is the meaning of this?"

"Ignorance may be bliss," Gakupo mused, "but only until the consequences strike you. After the way you have treated the Reaper Collective, you are surprised at my presence, here?"

Songman shook his head. "I act in accordance with the will of the Composer," he proclaimed. "Diva's law is absolute, and no lowly field Reaper has any business attempting to defy it."

Gakupo huffed. "Then why don't you let her tell me that herself?"

"You dare!?" Songman demanded. "To think a wretch like you would even entertain the idea... What makes you think yourself worthy of laying your eyes - let alone your ears - upon Diva?!"

A purple light shimmered at Gakupo's hip, forming a long sheath that came to rest upon his belt. "Yes... that's right," he mused. "The Conductor is the only one who deserves to meet with the Composer in person, isn't he?" He reached for his brow, sweeping at his hair. "But then, however did she come to earn the position? Or am I supposed to believe that her predecessor gave up the position willingly?"

"Diva is-"

"She calls herself Cyber Diva," Gakupo retorted, "and you expect me to believe the moniker to be anything but narcissism? She calls you Cyber Songman, and I'm supposed to believe that makes you her equal? If she were deserving of the title, she would treat the Reapers fairly - and we wouldn't be here."

He smirked, spreading his hands. "But here we are. A man carrying out the orders of a just leader who has earned unwavering loyalty... and a fool with garish sunglasses."

Cyber Songman thrust his hand forward, and a crack manifested beneath his opponent.

Gakupo leapt to the right, causing the shadow on that side to move accordingly.

The shadow on his left side - a shadow that didn't exactly trace his figure - mirrored the motion without anything to cast it - though that much was lost to the Conductor in the gale of frigid air that surged out of the crack he had manifested. Gakupo quickly advanced to keep Songman's attention on him, drawing his sword during the charge; as he got near enough to swing, Songman brought both hands up horizontal before him.

The blade moved - and found itself stopped on something.

Gakupo started when he realized it was a folded fan - his blade was pinched between the sticks, and wasn't even penetrating the cloth between them.

Songman quickly thrust it forward, causing the Harrier's sword to be thrown back; Gakupo quickly leapt away before the Conductor's following swing could strike his body. As he stood upright, his attention was on Gakupo - which meant he failed to notice the shadow marching across the wall and dashing into the Walk of the Dead behind him.

He spread the fan before him, and his Reaper wings rose above his shoulders - no, from below his arms... no. As Gakupo watched, no less than six Reaper wings appeared upon his back, extending out at six angles around him, growing longer than the Conductor's wings should stand. Then, abruptly, he swept the fan closed again, and Gakupo heard a snap, like metal breaking; the wings parted from his back, sweeping through the air point-first with the whistle of blades. Songman reached for his glasses, seizing them by the top of the visor-esque frame and pulling them from his face to bare his crimson eyes; as the arms parted from the sides of his head, they fell closed, and he hooked them upon his collar.

Then he pulled the headphones from his head and tossed them into the air - and the wings lunged forward, destroying them in a rush of swings. 

"If you wish for erasure..."

He opened the fan again, holding it before him as the wings returned to hovering around him.

"...then I shall oblige."

Gakupo swept his sword to his side with a smirk; his task was already done.

"You can't both go after the Composer," Kohaku warned. "The access is hidden in the Pad. You can't open that up with the Conductor chasing after you. One of you has to keep him busy."

Gumi sighed, turning to Gakupo. "Rock-Paper-Scissors?" she suggested.

"No need," Gakupo insisted. "Leave Songman to me." Then, turning to Kohaku; "Where is it hidden?"

"The filing cabinet isn't resting on the floor," Kohaku declared. "It's mounted on the wall. I saw Songman standing in front of it with his back to it; he looked like he was scared of being seen doing something when I walked in. That's gotta be the road to the Composer's chamber."

Gakupo nodded. "Then all that remains is how to deal with the Composer herself," he observed, turning to Gumi. "Do you have a plan?"

"Two plans, actually," Gumi admitted. "A, I walk in and bait her into throwing the first punch."

Everyone recoiled at that proclamation. "What!?"

"Please tell me your plan B is smarter than that," Oliver begged.

"B," Gumi replied, "she's not there when I arrive, so I have to get her attention somehow."

Mew slumped. "Angels help us," she muttered.

"Hey," Gumi defended, "do you have anything resembling an idea of what Cyber Diva's packing?"

"Well... no," Mew admitted.

"Exactly. There's no point in coming up with a complete battle plan if there's no intel on the enemy." Gumi shook her head. "If the room's empty when I get there, maybe I can come up with some basic tactics, but the fight will still largely depend on what she can do."

Oliver sighed. "Best of luck, then."

Once the shadow on the wall was near the Dead God's Pad, it shifted - and Gumi found herself standing near the entrance.

"Ugh..." Gumi shuddered in discomfort; maneuvering as a shadow was bizarre in ways she hadn't expected. Things were insubstantial, and it was uncomfortable not being 100% aware of what she was seeing. "Never doing that again if I have the option."

She stepped into the Pad, finding it empty; with all the officers in DIVA and Cyber Songman fighting with Gakupo, the only obstacle between her and the Composer was the passage. As Kohaku had pointed out, the filing cabinet was indeed not resting; the floor of the Pad was a smooth glass floor illuminated from below, with what appeared to be structural support in a grid below to give the appearance of 'tiles'. It wasn't that the cabinet couldn't rest on the floor - the various lounge seats surrounding the coffee table were plenty heavy on their own, and Gumi reckoned that as long as the cabinet wasn't dropped, its breadth being larger than a single 'tile' meant it could rest upon the surface without damaging anything.

But the light coming from below meant that the millimeter of space between the cabinet and the glass floor seemed to be shining.

Gumi approached the filing cabinet; for a brief moment, she considered opening the drawers and checking for a lever of some sort, but she doubted it would be so easy. The files were unlocked - there was nothing classified inside them, just information on the Reapers and Players of past and present - and no Composer who wanted to be hidden would be so foolish as to leave their access be a switch easily accessed. The cabinet was slightly set into the wall; after a moment's curiosity, Gumi seized the sides of the cabinet and made to pull, finding there was some slight give to it; after a moment, it started to swing to one side, prompting Gumi to circle around.

The cabinet was mounted on a door - and behind that door was a hallway.

With a smile, Gumi stepped into the hall; the door had a handle on this side, and she quickly closed it behind her. "So," she mused, "this is the Walk of Seraphim." Her gaze fell to the floor; several silvery-white feathers were scattered along the edges of the hall, yet there was nothing resembling dust.

The Walk of Demons hosts the Reaper quarters, Gumi recalled, and the wings really make us look like demons. The Walk of the Dead leads to the Dead God's Pad, which I think is a UG standard name. Then, the Walk of Seraphim... She raised her gaze. Don't tell me Cyber Diva really is an Angel?

She took a deep breath and started to advanced; after several long minutes, she found herself approaching an ornate double-door in black, covered in golden patterns. When she set her hands upon it, a light coursed down the seam and scattered across the patterns; Gumi pulled her hands away as the doors opened of their own volition, revealing the room beyond.

Black Illusion was a wonder - six towering pillars of darkest jewel stood in a ring around the center of the room, connecting the floor to the ceiling. The floor and walls looked like some kind of dark marble, but seemed to be constantly shifting, the marble streaks radiating from the pillars and climbing up the walls; the ceiling, meanwhile, looked like a starry sky, such that Gumi only knew it wasn't a window heavenward because Kohaku's mission had begun around noon, and nowhere near enough time had passed to allow the stars out. Oddly enough, the throne wasn't between the pillars; it stood clear on the other end, beneath an array of diamonds that looked like a stained-glass window.

Four animals were arrayed upon that window - ram, lion, tiger, and snake.

The throne, meanwhile, was empty.

Gumi stepped forward, looking around. "Hello?" she called. "Composer?"

No response.

"Producer, maybe?" she asked.

Why do you seek the Producer?

The voice wasn't heard - it echoed in Gumi's mind, a voice that wasn't her own and yet wasn't a memory. Her gaze shot up to the diamond pattern, which seemed to have started shining, and dread took hold in her.

"I-I was just guessing," she insisted. "I heard that if the Composer isn't killed by someone else, the Producer holds the position in lieu until someone else shows up."

You mean to say that you seek the Composer, the voice observed, and asking after the Producer is merely acknowledging the possibility that she is not here to be sought.

Gumi nodded. "Yes."

Then the Composer will come after you, in time.

The glow from the diamonds subsided, leaving Gumi standing alone in Black Illusion.

After a deep breath, she stepped towards the throne; when no attacker found her, she turned around and sat upon it, hoping to get the Composer's attention sooner rather than later.

In time, the Composer did arrive.

A golden light appeared in the center of the six pillars - standing out for miles in the chamber's darkness. When it faded, someone most unfamiliar was standing there - a pale woman with long blonde hair, dressed in what appeared to be gold fabric. A top that left her shoulders bare entirely, seeming to be one piece with her leggings, which ended before they reached her knees; her footwear looked like Roman sandals, with the figure of boots but leaving the majority of her feet exposed. Like Cyber Songman, she wore headphones and sunglasses, hers of bright gold; the arms of her headphones were less prominent than her Conductor's (although that might have been blamed on her hair hiding more than Songman's short-shaved head), but the speakers were closed-back, and her sunglasses were not of a visor design, but with noticeably separate lenses joined by a narrow length that couldn't have held any more than the bridge.

Cyber Diva raised her gaze, and found someone else sitting on the Composer's throne with her legs crossed.

"Lovely place you've got here."

The Composer opened her mouth, and condescension dripped from her voice. "What is a lowly field Reaper doing in Black Illusion?"

Gumi shook her head in disapproval. "That attitude is the entire reason I'm here."

An eyebrow lifted from behind Cyber Diva's glasses. "You would claim to be anything greater than a common Harrier?"

"You think 'common Harrier' is a lowly position," Gumi retorted. "You think we're worthless because we actually have to do anything. Songman and the officers all sit around doing nothing, and rack up score for it. And the rest of us have to stalk the Game, hoping to catch a Player who can't fight off the Noise."

She uncrossed her legs and set her hands upon the arms of the throne. "And how did the officers get their positions? Not hard work. Not seniority. Not even by fighting off attackers on the throne. Everyone higher than Support ended up in that position because the big C's thought it suited them."

Cyber Diva smirked. "A comedian, then. You should ask for the stage at Purgatory's Ghost."

Gumi sighed. "You know, I had some small hope that his attitude was his own," she confessed. "But now I see - Songman is just a middleman. He has that attitude because the Conductor is sworn to carry out the designs of the Composer. If the Composer was a respectable, mindful person who treated the Reapers as they deserve to be treated, the Conductor wouldn't be such a jackass."

She spread her wings past her shoulders. "Why do you think being part of the crowd is something to be frowned upon? What makes you such a benevolent Composer? How long did you think it would take before someone said enough?"

Cyber Diva scoffed, her dismissive smirk never leaving her face. "Please."

Her own wings raised past her shoulders - minute black wings no larger than Songman's own... but Reaper's wings nonetheless.

"You think you can stand in front of the Composer and demand answers?"

One day, Gumi would understand the threat posed by those words; yet in this moment, all she heard was condescension from a woman who thought herself far greater than she really was.

"No," the Harrier admitted. "Not really." She shook her head "Frankly, I'm surprised anybody self-absorbed enough to call herself Cyber Diva even realizes there's questions being asked."

The smile vanished from the Composer's face; her hand went up and seized her glasses by the hinge, pulling them from her face.

"Okay, get up."

Her golden eyes opened, and she folded the glasses at her side and crushed them in her hand.

"You're in my seat."

Gumi reached for the goggles resting across her brow, and brought them down to cover her own eyes.

Diva rushed forward, shining as she did so; the Harrier seized the arms of the throne, using them as leverage to raise her legs and propel herself into the air. The Composer's blow slammed into the empty throne as Gumi landed behind her, sending light coursing across the throne; Gumi promptly turned around with a spinning kick, and as the blow connected with her wing, the metallic frame started to sear, earning a scream of pain as Diva stumbled away. The Composer whirled around, a sphere of light soaring forward from her palm, but Gumi only leapt away, leaving it to soar beneath her and strike the nearest pillar ineffectively as she landed some distance away.

"You arrogant little shit!" The Composer's body began to shine again. "You think you deserve to bask in the light of Diva!?"

"You know what they say," Gumi retorted. "The closer you get to the light..."

Dark figures began to rise from the silhouette cast on the floor behind her.

"...the greater your shadow becomes."

With a furious screech, Diva crossed her arms before her, and brilliant spheres appeared in her grip as Gumi's shadows broke ranks. The Composer hurled the orbs forward, and Gumi wove around one, and then the other; then Diva was right up in her face, and the Harrier's body silhouetted as the Composer tried to drive a fist through her heart, trading places with the shadow to Gumi's left. The blow passed through her ineffectively; but Diva's light intensified, and the shadow dissipated from the shine at its core; Gumi leapt into the air, leaving her shadow cast high on the wall, and a dark figure emerged from it as she pitched a blast of red down at Diva.

The Composer seized the attack in her right hand, and then brought her left hand around it, crushing it even as it tried to burst out from the contact. Then her hands shifted, and an edge of light soared up towards Gumi; her body silhouetted, leaving her shadow to be cleaved through. Two dark figures emerged from behind the two pillars nearest the throne; Gumi reappeared to substitute one of them, hurling a purple blast at Diva from one side, and then switched places with the other to fling a blue blast at the other.

Diva seized an attack in each hand, bringing them together before her as they tried to burst and crushing them against each other; then Gumi dashed out between the two pillars before the bursts had subsided, sending a green blast forward while her hands were still occupied. Diva couldn't react before it slammed into her, throwing her back; Gumi silhouetted again, and the shadows quickly retreated as Diva righted herself.

She started forward... and hands closed upon her wings. Diva couldn't react before heat coursed through the metal frames, turning them red-hot as Gumi made to bend them against the joints. With a yell in equal parts fury and pain, the Composer began to shine; Gumi promptly silhouetted, and then the shadow dissipated against Diva's light as it burst out around her.

Gumi and three shadows emerged from the pillars, each brandishing a Reaper-issue revolver; Gumi pulled the trigger, and then silhouetted, switching places with the next shadow to pull the trigger there, and then again. The four shots slammed into Diva over the course of a single millisecond as Gumi silhouetted from the fourth shadow, leaving them all retreating; Diva retaliated, hurling spheres of light that made to circle the pillars and then charging at the space between them with intent to pincer Gumi with her own attack.

She was thusly unprepared for Gumi to step out from one of the furthest pillars to the throne, hurling an orange blast at Diva from there. The Composer made to intercept it and found Gumi trading places with one of her shadows - which had all given her lights a wide berth that prevented them from vanishing in the radiance. She seized Diva's arm and dragged her into the blast, and as soon as it made contact, she silhouetted again, leaving Diva reeling across the room.

"Just look at this place." Gumi's voice came from nearby one sentence, and then the next seemed to come from clear across the other. "Black Illusion - darkness, death, and oblivion. You think a self-righteous light deserves a throne like this?"

"Cowardly wretch!" Diva yelled. "Fight me!"

"I am fighting you," Gumi proclaimed. "With all the power I have - both body and mind."

"You're hiding in the shadows!" Diva reprimanded.

"And you think I'm going to come out in the open, where I'm an easy target?" Gumi countered. "Sufficient tactics can overcome any level of power - so long as they are properly applied. The greatest might in the world is worthless if brandished by someone who can do nothing but charge ahead without thinking."

A grip closed on Diva's wings again; this time she whirled around before the heat could course through her wings, her arm shining as it crossed through the shadow and left it vanishing. Gumi and the other three shadows emerged around her, pitching blast after blast at the Composer before her swing had ended; Diva didn't have enough hands to hold back all the attacks, leaving red, purple, blue, and green slamming into her in unresisted before Gumi charged forward and grabbed the Composer by the wings once more.

This time she drove her knee into Diva's back, earning a scream of pain; then the heat coursed through those metallic frames, and Gumi used her leg to force Diva forward and her hands to pull the wings back.

A moment of torment; then there was a sickening crack, and Diva was thrown forward as Gumi stumbled back. As the Composer hit the ground, the headphones were knocked off her head, clattering to the floor as she tumbled aside; Gumi managed to regain her balance and glanced at her hands to find them closed on a pair of red-hot wings, slowly deforming from gravity's pull and Gumi's grip.

A grin rose on her face as lowered the wings, stepping towards Diva. "Had enough?"

Diva raised her gaze with a low growl. "Who the hell do you think you are... that you expect me to bow to you!?" she demanded.

Gumi shook her head. "I don't want you to submit," she reprimanded. "I want you to succumb." Her foot slammed into the headphones for emphasis, snapping them in two as she passed over them.

"You want to rule over Diola! I am the Composer - omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent! I am the Realground, and the Underground! I am DIVA!"

With a yell, Gumi drove her foot into Cyber Diva's face, throwing her back; then she dropped to one knee, and slammed the other against the Composer's chest. Her grip shifted on the wings she had torn from her opponent's back, red-hot and deforming, before raising them above her defeated foe, points facing down.

"Then DIVA must be a hellish yard."

She slammed the wings down, driving them into the Composer's heart; Cyber Diva threw her head back, opened her mouth... and vanished, erased before she even had the chance to scream.

Flames
Chapter Closed

Chapter Text

"I received a message from Miku. They're prepared for the follow-up to Bad ∞ End ∞ Night."

Gumi sighed at Gakupo's comment; he'd come and found her at Purgatory's Ghost, waiting until she'd come down from the stage, and somehow she'd dreaded his approach was on this matter. "Of course they are."

Gakupo smirked. "She did say this was likely to happen."

"Yeah," Gumi mused, "but I didn't think they were gonna get it done that fast."

With a chuckle, Gakupo took a seat next to her. "She said we shouldn't feel obligated to join them if we're... not fond of it," he announced. "The original was meant to stand alone if circumstances should require - either the story being unpopular or the guests being unwilling."

"I'm not unwilling," Gumi insisted, "I just..."

Gakupo turned to her. "Are you still so wary of retribution, after so long?"

Gumi raised her drink to her mouth without a word.

"Honestly..." Gakupo shook his head, lowering his voice to avoid drawing unwanted attention from the bar's other patrons. "Gumi, she refused to shoot you the day after it happened, she's not going to retaliate well after you've changed so much."

"Miku doesn't know how close I came to-"

"Yes, she does."

Gumi turned to him. "What?"

Gakupo took a deep breath. "She... asked."

There was silence for a long moment before Gumi demanded, "And you answered?"

A shockwave ripped through the Otherworld as Gakupo's attack connected with Cyber Songman's.

Both combatants were thrown to opposite ends of the Under Dark, their weapons flying after them. Gakupo managed to right himself first, panting as he reclaimed his sword and braced it before him; Songman's wings-cum-blades rose before he did, but failed to advance as he got to his feet, turning his attention back to Gakupo with heavy breath. The two stood there for a long moment, trying to reclaim enough air to have the strength to continue.

Songman moved his fan across his body, his weapons started to turn in the air... and his phone went off.

Gakupo's rang in the next instant, catching both of them off-guard.

For a long moment, the two of them stood still; then Songman spoke. "I can't speak for you," he admitted, "but that was the Composer's ringtone coming from mine."

"A custom ringtone for the Composer?" Gakupo laughed. "Conductor's privileges, I suppose."

He kept his sword before him as he reached into his pocket; Songman's weapons positioned themselves before him in defense as he did the same. "Come to Black Illusion," Songman read aloud. "Bring Kamui Gakupo with you. Do not harm him any further."

"Follow where Cyber Songman leads," Gakupo read in return. "Cease your conflict. Signed 'the Composer', from a number I don't recognize."

With a huff, Songman folded his fan; the wings vanished from the air before him, and his own Reaper wings appeared upon his back as he slipped the fan into his sleeve. Gakupo slowly sheathed his own weapon, and the two men started into the Walk of the Dead. Gakupo made sure to remain a couple paces behind the Conductor as he marched to the Dead God's Pad, opened the Walk of Seraphim, and led the way to Black Illusion.

When Songman opened the door, terror wrought him.

"You!?"

Naka Gumi was sitting upon the Composer's throne; at the yell from the entrance, she raised her gaze. "Well," she mused. "Hello, Conductor."

Cyber Songman charged forward. "What the hell are you doing, resting upon that seat!?" he demanded.

With a smirk, Gumi raised her hand with two fingers extended, and a flame gathered between them. "I thought it would be obvious."

"...No." There was dread in Songman's voice. "You couldn't have...! No common Harrier could have overcome Diva herself!"

"Diva was a nickname," Gumi reprimanded, unfolding her legs. "A self-proclaimed title for a narcissist who thought she was so much greater than she really was."

Songman started to storm forward. "You dare to-!"

Gumi's hand shifted, and she snapped her fingers.

Pain - raw, unbearable pain - tore through Songman's body. He didn't scream... not at first. But his rapid paces halted, and his body was shaking as he tried to advance further. Gumi smirked, aiming her index finger at him as he took a second pain-wracked step, and then a third, tears starting to stream down his face.

"You recognize this sort of power, don't you?" she observed. "Not that she ever used it this way... but a Harrier couldn't have this kind of power."

Songman's mouth opened, but he refused to cry out.

"Nor an officer, I think."

He fell to his knees, but refused to fall further.

"...Nor even the Conductor?"

The pain became too much, and Songman threw his head back and screamed, pure torment in his voice as his body gave way, falling to the side. The moment his body hit the ground, Gumi curled in her finger, and the torment ended; he slumped to the ground, gasping for air in desperation.

Gakupo stepped past him. "Congratulations, Composer," he greeted.

Gumi got to her feet. "Songman," she proclaimed, "I've sent out word for all the Reapers to gather in the Dead God's Pad. When they get there, you're going to inform them that the rules of the Underground have changed."

Songman raised his gaze weakly. "Ch-Changed... how?"

All Reapers are to cease hostilities at once, by order of the Composer.
All Reapers are to gather in the Dead God's Pad immediately.
Any continued hostilities reported by the majority of witnesses will be punished with immediate erasure.

That was the message that all the Reapers had received; Avanna, Daina, Dex, and IA's clash with the Zola triplets had halted, as had Prima and Tonio's battle with Mayu, Rune, Mew, and Oliver. The revolutionaries had arrived in groups of four, while the resisting officers were a single group small enough to descend at once; Kokone, Chika, and Gakupo were already seated when they arrived, with Cyber Songman standing in the corner of the room looking uncomfortable. In time, the remaining field Reapers - Utatane Piko and Kuma Rana of Support, and Kano Akira the Harrier - arrived as well.

Kohaku was the last one to arrive, having just watched the mission end at Two Kind Walk when the message went out; as she stepped in, Cyber Songman stepped forward.

"Thank you all for coming." The Conductor's voice didn't sound the most sincere, but in a manner that had more to do with his being too weary to show gratitude. "The Composer has decreed that several changes to the rules of the Underground will be put into place, effective immediately."

The gathered Reapers traded uncertain glances before turning back to Songman.

"First and foremost... as of today, the designation of 'officer'... has been retired."

"What!? " All the officers cried out at once, but Kyo was the only one to shoot to his feet. "What's the meaning of-?!"

"Due to the approaching end of the current Game," Songman continued, "officers will not be required to accept field duties until its conclusion. Thereafter, all officers must apply for Support or Harrier positions, to be regarded henceforth."

"That's bullshit!" Wil snapped. "You can't expect us to-"

"The Composer's law is absolute," Songman proclaimed. "Anyone who refuses..."

Kyo stormed forward. "Don't talk to us like that, you son of a- Agh!"

A crimson light gathered around his neck; Prima and Tonio quickly lunged for Mayu, who had her hands around the neck of her rabbit doll. "The Conductor's talking, Kyo," she said as they pulled her arms back. "You should listen to him."

"That's enough of that, Mayu," Songman said firmly - and although Kyo looked displeased, he didn't make to attack before the Conductor turned to him. "Take your seat. I am not finished."

With a heavy breath, Kyo retreated, sitting back down with his brothers.

"Secondly... all Reapers may henceforth apply for Support or Harrier positions freely. Positions will be granted to any who request them, with the exception of those suffering from low enough score to have lost their wings, who will be delegated to Support positions until such time as they have amassed enough score to reclaim them."

"That doesn't make sense," Prima protested. "What if-"

"If the Game Master of the current Game requires more Support positions than there are available Support Reapers," Songman continued, "Harriers will be selected at random to fulfill the remaining positions for that day only. If there are Harriers awaiting punishment at such time, their punishment may involve serving in Support positions."

Daina and Dex shot looks at each other.

"Finally... all Game Masters henceforth will be decided by group vote, except in the occasion that an individual Reaper requests the position, and is not suffering from low enough score to have lost their wings."

"Group vote?" Tonio echoed. "You mean anyone could end up as Game Master?"

"Any Game Master who refuses to accept the position in full will instead be designated as Game Master by proxy," Songman continued, "with missions issued by myself or the Composer, and Support and Harriers assigned position by the Game Master unless higher orders conflict. The Game Master will still be held responsible - and credited - for the erasure of the Players of that Game."

Kohaku quickly realized the real intentions of that statement: a Game Master by proxy is still a Game Master whose erasure is the seventh mission.

"In conclusion," Songman finished, "all Reapers gathered here today are henceforth regarded as equals, and are expected to treat one another as such. Failure to do so will result in penalty to the offending Reaper's score. Due to these changes being determined in the midst of the current Game, requested position changes may not take effect until the conclusion of the seventh day, so as to avoid complications in the remaining missions."

Akira got to her feet. "With respect, Conductor," he insisted, "I don't think it's quite fair to regard the Game Master as equal to Harriers and Support."

"Not during the missions," Songman conceded. "However, unless the Game Master is approaching you in regards to an upcoming mission, any deference to them is by choice, and not expected of you. Consequently, any mistreatment of Harriers and Support by the Game Master will be punished appropriately, unless the Harrier or Support Reaper is disobeying your orders as Game Master."

He started out of the Pad... and then halted. "One other note," he added. "As you should all be aware, a Reaper who joins the collective is free to give the name they wish to be called by. It has been drawn to my attention that some of you have refrained from addressing those who have done so by their chosen name. Any further misconduct on this front will result in a penalty to the score of the Reapers responsible."

Yuu's jaw dropped. "What-?!"

"That will be all," Songman concluded. "You are dismissed."

"You expect to change things so dramatically," Songman demanded, "and have everyone obey your orders without question!?"

Gumi shook her head. "The unfairness that has plagued the Underground thus far has been obeyed without question," she proclaimed. "Promotions based upon bias, being condemned as Game Master for wanting to rise up - everyone accepted it until the moment you punished Calne Cantus for succeeding where everyone else failed. And even then, we chose to change the rules rather than defy them.

"Because we knew - the cost of breaking the rules would be immediate intervention, from the Conductor - who serves the will of the Composer."

Songman pulled back. "You expect me to enforce your rules?!"

"You are Conductor," Gumi observed, "and you have carried out your role admirably thus far. I trust your capability to do so. However, if your willingness should be lacking..."

She poised her fingers to snap, and Songman's gaze fell. "I... very well."

Gumi let her hand fall. "Another thing," she added. "You will inform Gakupo of the nuances of the Conductor position, as a contingency. If the would-be officers do in fact choose to retaliate against you, and should prove too much - or if you should fail me as Conductor, and force my hand - he will take your place."

"You're asking me to train my own replacement," Songman accused.

"In the hopes that the time never comes that he needs replace you," Gumi insisted. "So long as you serve the role of Conductor faithfully, and you are not struck down by anyone else, Gakupo will never need to assume the role. I sincerely hope that you continue to act as Conductor for the duration of my tenure as Composer."

"...Understood."

"Gakupo will stay in the Otherworld tonight," Gumi mused. "Remove the designation for my room, and then begin his teaching at midnight."

The Otherworld was mostly empty that night; as midnight approached, Cyber Songman approached Gakupo's chamber and knocked on the door. Without a word, footsteps could be heard from inside, and after a moment the door opened to reveal Gakupo standing there.

Before he could say a word, Songman raised his hand.

Gakupo realized what he was holding in a moment. "Is that... your fan?"

Songman nodded. "This - and the Game's conclusion - is all you need hear from me, and all I will share."

"...In fairness," Gakupo observed, "being Conductor just seems to be carrying out the orders of the Composer, otherwise." He beckoned to the fan. "What's this, then?"

"Diva branded this with a signal," Songman proclaimed, "and I have no faith that she imparted that knowledge to Naka. When the fan is opened in the elevator, the signal activates a means to access isolation."

Gakupo's eyes widened. "You mean..."

"Machine Muzik," Songman confirmed. "A slot will open in the control panel; hold it open and slide this in, and utter the name of the Cantus' domain, and you will be delivered to her clutches."

He handed the fan to Gakupo, who accepted it with confusion. "You will not hold onto this until such time as you are struck down?"

"I have every reason to believe the officers will strike me down the moment the Game concludes," Songman proclaimed. "Naka is mad if she expects them to heed her rule."

With a huff, Gakupo pocketed the fan. "They will learn," he proclaimed. "Or she will intervene herself."

"The Composer would not be so foolish as to-"

Gakupo raised one hand and snapped his fingers - and Songman automatically pulled away with a gasp before he realized that none of the same pain had struck him. With a smirk, Kamui lowered his hand. "Gumi led the revolution," he proclaimed, "and everyone involved followed her knowing she would take the throne. If she intervenes, she will not merely be defended by the Conductor, but by the Reaper Collective - who benefit from her regime."

He made to close the door behind him... and then opened it again. "By the way... I think Kohaku wanted to speak to you."

Incandescent
Chapter Closed

Chapter Text

"Not very timely, are you?"

The question from behind stopped Miku on her way to Purgatory's Ghost; she turned to find Akita Neru standing there. "I'm sorry?"

Neru smirked, stepping forward. "Asking them to join your music now is a bit insensitive," she reprimanded. "The Game begins the day after tomorrow."

"I thought Gakupo would tell me if something like that came up," Miku admitted. "We're not in some kind of hurry, it's not like we're asking them to stop being Harriers in the meantime."

With a shake of her head, Neru stepped forward. "I'm guessing they're a bit late to get back to you?"

Miku rolled her eyes. "Can I ask you a weird question?" she prompted, changing the subject.

Neru's paces slowed. "What about?"

"I thought Haku said Gakupo's entry fee for the... 'cleansing' was his respect for Gumi," Miku recalled. "Is there a reason he's back to...?"

"That the thing about some entry fees," Neru admitted. "Even if they're rendered non-refundable, some of the more insubstantial ones can be replaced, or regrown. He didn't get his respect for her back - but once he cooled down from the aftermath of the wager, he started to rebuild his co-worker relationship with Gumi." She shook her head. "Maybe, in time, he'll respect her again, to the same degree."

"Seems kind of counterproductive," Miku mused, "don't you think?"

"Entry fees aren't taken out of cruelty," Neru reprimanded. "It's meant to make Players understand why they value what they do... for the most part. And when a Player goes through the Game more than once, sometimes their entry fee changes - as a sign of their growth as a person."

Miku's gaze fell. "I suppose..."

"So," Neru asked, getting the conversation back on track, "how's Gumi been feeling singing alongside you instead of against you?"

"It's been a bit of an effort to get her to stop feeling guilty about it," Miku admitted, "but she seems to be enjoying the music itself."

Mission: Defeat the Game Master.
She awaits at the Flower Fight Memorial.
Fail, and face erasure.
~The Reapers

Kohaku was sitting at the edge of the memorial when the Players arrived - the last four Players were a group of boys in what looked like high school uniforms, though no two were of the same fashion. As they stepped off of Two Kind Walk, Kohaku got to her feet, smirking at them.

"Question," she mused.

The boys traded confused glances before one of them spoke up. "What is your question, Reaper?"

Kohaku stepped forward. "Do you want to fight me, or would you rather just continue to the Game's end?"

"...I wouldn't say no to just ending the Game," another boy admitted, "but you're not really gonna give us the choice, are you?"

"On the contrary," Kohaku insisted, "the mission is to defeat me, not erase me. Right?"

A third boy drew out his phone to check the message. "...Looks like it," he confirmed.

"Well, then I admit defeat."

"What!?" The Players all checked their timer hands, and the surprise told Kohaku that the timers had vanished. "Wait, what!?"

"Revolution has coursed over the Reapers during my time as Game Master," Kohaku proclaimed. "A new age has dawned in DIVA, and I hope to see the needless bloodshed end henceforth. You may go to see the Conductor, while I will greet the morrow anew."

She turned away, and raised her gaze heavenward.

"Won't I, Composer?"

A brilliant light washed over Kohaku; and when it faded, the Players stood alone before the memorial.

"You wish to be made a Player once more?"

Songman's incredulous echo earned a quiet nod from Kohaku. "Yes. I don't intend to be erased at the Players' hands, but nor do I want the former officers retaliating against me for having the common sense to not throw my life away. When the Game ends, I want to be made a Player."

"And how exactly do you intend to have the Game end without your erasure?" Songman demanded.

"I noticed something over the past few Games," Kohaku admitted. "When a Game Master is cruel, or gets reckless, the mission is to erase them. If they play fair, the mission is to defeat them. So, if I fight the Players, and they overcome me, and I admit defeat..."

"You expect to-"

The Conductor cut himself off when his phone rang; he reached into his pocket and drew it out. Kohaku smirked when she saw his expression change at what he read, and he took a deep breath through his teeth before lowering his device.

"...Very well," he conceded. "You will be made a Player upon the conclusion of the Game - so long as you survive."

Kohaku bowed her head. "Pass along my thanks to the Composer," she mused. "Let's hope I'm not the only one who's smart enough to choose to survive."

She turned around. "Seeing as we're no longer run by a bitch who expects us to die."

Songman stiffened at that as she stepped away.

The glow of the Players' appearance snapped Songman out of his reverie; they had appeared in the Eternal Feel, the Conductor's domain to pass on the decree of the Composer. After a moment of confusion, the four boys noticed him standing there, and all took ready stances.

"...Welcome, Players. You are all victorious."

One of the boys stepped forward. "And you're supposed to be?"

"I am Cyber Songman. Conductor, and second to..." He had to stop himself from saying Cyber Diva's name, having worked off the same script so many times that it was nearly automatic to continue. "...to the Composer, who decrees all that defines DIVA. It is my task to carry out her will - and with the Reaper's Game having concluded, I must return those who have proven themselves worthy of returning to life."

Another boy seemed to realize what that meant. "What do you mean, those who are worthy?"

"Surviving the seven days alone does not earn your return to life," Songman replied, continuing on his script without any presumptuous Players to earn deviation. "We grade Players according to how they perform during the Reaper's Game, and only so many may return. D-" Once again did he cut himself off, stopping himself from saying Diva's name. "The Composer has granted return to one Player in the aftermath of this Game."

"Only one?!"

Songman nodded. "Your time grows short," he warned. "Those of you deserving of return, let this be my final message: change is key to life and death alike. Let what you have experienced in the Underground change the life you live in the Realground - and let your life continue anew."

Light flooded the cavern; when it faded, one of the boys had vanished, restored to life by the Composer who sat the throne in Diva's place.

"As for you three," he continued, addressing the remaining Players, "your fate is of your choice. If you are tired of your existence, you may be erased. If you wish to join us as a Reaper, you may. If you are desperate to have your second chance, you may enter into the Game again, and endure seven more days."

Two of the Players chose to continue into the Game again; the last, who apparently thought the promised revival was some hellish necromancy, instead chose peaceful erasure. Songman claimed their new entry fees and withdrew through the caverns to the exit of the Eternal Feel - where Gakupo was waiting, having heard his announcements echo through the cave.

"Is the repetition demanded of you," he asked, "or simply your own professionalism?"

Songman opened his mouth to retort... and then fell quiet. "I don't know that it's strictly necessary," he admitted, "but I do not wish to risk missing an element, so I work off the same script each time."

"Announce your position, reveal that not all of the Players return, and give the choice between Reaperhood, a second Game, and erasure," Gakupo summed up.

"Yes," Songman confirmed. "And with this, you know all that you must know for when the officers strike me down."

"If the officers strike you down," Gakupo retorted. "You are still Conductor - with all the power the position entails. You certainly pushed me to my limits when I tried to overcome you."

"Only because I did not want you to overcome me," Songman retorted.

Gakupo's face fell. "What?!"

"Naka slew Diva," Songman declared. "When the officers retaliate against me for carrying out her will, I will not resist them. I'd sooner join the goddess in erasure than carry out any more than the bare minimum of the devil's orders."

Sure enough, when Songman and Gakupo returned to the Dead God's Pad, they found themselves ambushed by the Zola triplets.

Gakupo had the readiness to draw his sword before Wil managed to get within striking range, blocking what would have been a strike to the stomach on the flat of his blade. Songman didn't even try fight; Kyo grabbed him by the neck and threw him across the Pad, where Yuu intercepted his flight with a furious blow that flattened him against the coffee table.

"What is the meaning of this!?" Gakupo demanded.

Wil pulled back with a scoff. "Sorry," he spat. "Wasn't expecting him to be bringing in trash."

Yuu hoisted Songman from the table and then slammed him back down upon it, sending cracks across its glass surface. "You still carrying on this bullshit, Songman?" he demanded. "You expecting us to act like field Reapers now?!"

"The Composer has decreed the retirement of the officer position," Songman proclaimed. "If you choose to strike me down for the decision of my superior, the guilt for that action rests on your conscience, not mine."

"Hell with that," Kyo muttered. "If you're gonna be throwing us to the Players like a bunch of Support, we're not gonna sit here and take it!"

Gakupo's phone went off as Songman took a knee to the face; he quickly reached into his pocket and found Gumi calling him, raising it to his ear. "What is it?" he asked quietly.

"I'm just inside the Walk of Seraphim," Gumi replied with a hushed tone.

"You're not going to-?"

Kyo lifted Songman to his knees upon the coffee table; Yuu and Will proceeded to drive simultaneous blows into his face from opposite directions, whereupon Kyo kicked him square in the chest to knock him off.

"He said he didn't want to carry out my orders," Gumi observed. "If he'd rather be brutally erased than serve any Composer but Cyber Diva, that's his problem."

"Why are you here, then?" Gakupo asked with a whisper.

"So that when I send out the name of his replacement," Gumi replied, "I'm here to defend you."

She hung up as Wil picked up Songman; Gakupo lowered his phone, shocked, as the Conductor was thrown back across the table. "You're not gonna fight, you son of a bitch?"

Songman coughed, blood spattering across the surface. "Get it over with, if you insist on this pointless retaliation."

With a yell, Kyo lifted the Conductor from the table and then slammed him down onto it head-first; the impact shattered the table, and Songman vanished into the air, leaving him gripping nothing. The three brothers stood around the shards for a moment, trying to catch their breath; Gakupo quickly made to circle the walls of the Pad.

Yuu noticed. "What are you doing?" he demanded.

"Trying not to be in your way, if you decide to leave with your violence done," Gakupo replied. "I don't wish to be your enemy."

"Damn right you don't wanna be my enemy," Kyo muttered. "Pissing off a Conductor who's gonna defend himself isn't a smart idea."

Gakupo blinked. "You... what?"

Wil snickered. "With Songman dead, someone else has gotta be Conductor," he retorted. "Who better deserves it than the one who landed the killing blow?"

Everyone's phone went off in rapid succession following that utterance; the brothers reached into their pockets, and Gakupo raised his own to find a message that looked like it had been written as a mass-notice.

Cyber Songman, Conductor of DIVA, has been struck down.
By order of the Composer, his replacement has been decided.
All Reapers are to gather in the Dead God's Pad to acknowledge Kamui Gakupo as Conductor.

"What!?" Kyo turned to Gakupo. "You!? Some Harrier!?"

"You're no greater than Harriers yourselves," Gakupo retorted, "there's no need to-"

"This is bullshit!" Yuu snapped, storming forward. "I'm not about to..."

The snap of fingers was not heard - but its effect was felt nonetheless. In an instant, the Zola brothers' furious glares vanished, and they all screamed in pain, falling to the ground. The torment only lasted a moment; when it subsided, their phones went off again.

Any who refuse to acknowledge the Conductor will be erased by the Composer herself.

The door to the Pad opened, and Gakupo turned to find IA stepping inside. The sight was quite amusing - Yuu, Kyo, and Wil collapsed on the floor, the coffee table shattered, and Gakupo standing along the opposite wall; after a moment, she turned to Gakupo with a smile.

"Hello, Conductor," she greeted. "Are these guys giving you trouble?"

Gakupo chuckled, closing his eyes. "No," he admitted, "I think they understand the situation now."

The brothers were the only ones who openly objected to Gakupo's assignment as Conductor - and even then, with most of the Collective backing him up and the Composer's being prepared to punish them, it didn't take them long to accept that his position was indisputable. Gakupo carried out the duties of Conductor with pride, enforcing Gumi's rules in the UG and seeing that the Reapers were justly treated.

But over the countless Games that followed, DIVA found new Reapers joining from the Player base, and old ones perishing to the position of Game Master. By the time ten years had passed, only Gakupo, Kokone, Chika, and Calne Ca were still Reapers. And so the changes that gradually began to encroach upon the Underground went unnoticed over the three years before they reached their culmination.

When Utau City was devastated, the Players that were inducted over that time found themselves brought to DIVA - and their despair convinced Gumi to subject them to a Player Hunt, with no holds barred, that they might be granted the oblivion they desired. On the second day of that Game, Gakupo made his way to the Eternal Feel, asking Gumi to speak with him in regards to a new Player... and found the Composer already waiting for him.

"Afternoon, Gakupo," she greeted.

"Afternoon, Composer," Gakupo returned. He had never addressed Gumi familiarly since she made him Conductor - partly for the sake of formality, and partly out of habit that had concealed the change in Composer from those who were not privy to the revolution.

He unfolded his fan before him, and a small light appeared upon it - with a human figure visible within.

"Hatsune Miku, age 19."

There was an uncharacteristic amusement in Gumi's voice, but Gakupo had no opportunity to inquire before she continued with her observations. "Talented vocalist for an indie band created in high school with a group of friends. Presented by consensus as the 'face' of the band for productions. Cause of death: assaulted from behind while atop the 39 Building. Earned her friends by showcasing her vocal skills during a school project." Gumi nodded. "I think this is clear enough."

"Her entry fee?" Gakupo asked.

"Take her voice," Gumi replied. "If she earned her friends with song, then she must earn partnership without."

Gakupo nodded. "Very well."

He folded his fan, causing the apparition to vanish; and Gumi raised her gaze to Gakupo. "I think that's all for now, no?"

"One more matter," Gakupo requested. "As to the current Player Hunt..."

"Yes?"

"Only 10% of Players have been erased so far," Gakupo mused. "I fear we may lack sufficient Reapers to give them all the erasure they seek."

"If that is the case," Gumi observed, "then we can erase them ourselves. Let the Reapers rack up their score, for now. Our numbers have dwindled over the years, Gakupo. The longer the ones we have can survive, the better."

Gakupo nodded. "Fair enough."

Gumi turned away, starting out of the Eternal Feel.

As she made to depart, Gakupo could have sworn he heard a chuckle upon the wind.

The Precedent of Hatsune Miku
Away From You