Chapter Seven: Game Rules:

-September 2nd, 2011-

Midnight.

There was something fitting about ending this at Tokyo Tower. Cliched, but perfect in Yasuo’s mind. He looked at his phone. They should be here right about… now.

Yasuo looked up, smirking. Tsuzuki and Hisoka stood inches away from him. He held out his arms.

“Welcome!” the old man said. “So glad you could make it.”

“Yeah, no thanks to your confusing message,” Tsuzuki said.

“What do you want?” Hisoka asked.

“Just to talk,” Yasuo said. “I have a proposal to make.”

“And that is?” Tsuzuki asked. Yasuo looked like a drunk fox.

“Let’s play a little game,” he said. The shinigami gave him an odd look.

“Why?” Hisoka asked. Yasuo moved his hands behind his head.

“Makes things more interesting,” he said.

“And what is this game?” Tsuzuki asked. The old man had a gleam in his eye.

“A survival game,” he said. Yasuo reached into his pocket and pulled out a small black stone. He smirked as it hit the ground.

Boom!

Black smoke filled the empty entry.

----------

Tsuzuki awoke in a pitch-black setting.

“Hello?” he asked. Not single sound. Not even his echo. The shinigami shifted his eyes back and forth.

“Hm. So the game has started,” he said in a whisper.

“That’s right!” Yasuo boomed overheard. Tsuzuki jerked his head upwards.

“Yes,” the kitsune tsukai said. “This is survival game. You have twelve hours to kill me. Winner walks out alive.”

“Where’s Hisoka?” Tsuzuki asked. Yasuo laughed.

“Away,” he said. “Two against one is cheating.”

“But you have a partner too remember?”

“Ah. Good observation. She’s here too.”

“You won’t tell me where, will you?”

“No.”

“Figures.” Tsuzuki kept a serious face the whole time. He wouldn’t panic. Just play along. The shinigami took a breath. He stretched his neck.

“What are you standing around for?” Yasuo asked. “Get moving! The clock is ticking! Tick! Tick! Tick!” Tsuzuki rolled his eyes.

“Fine,” he said. But go where?

---------

Hisoka awoke in darkness too. His body fit stiff.

Where am I?

He looked up when he heard dripping.

“Hello?” he asked. “Tsuzuki?” The shinigami slowly turned behind him. A pair of eyes appeared in the distance. Hisoka figured out what needed to be done.

“If you want to be that way, let’s play,” he said. Hisoka turned and started walking. Like his partner, he didn’t know where he was going.

May the game begin.