Application - History
History:
Neku is a teenager from Japan. Born and raised in the Shibuya district of Tokyo, he spent most of his life hating other people. Anti-social and apathetic, he considered them a nuisance and firmly believed they can only get in his way and ruin the fruit of his effort. For that reason, he wore headphones, blasted music and high volumes and did his best to pretend nobody else exists. It was a slow and sometimes frustrating life, but Neku liked it that way. He believed that anything else would be a painful and pointless existence.
That is, until something happened.
One day, Neku awoke on the largest scramble crossing in Shibuya, all of his memories gone and his presence invisible to others. As if prepared for his awakening, his cell phone suddenly received a mail. In that mail, there was a message ordering him to seek out a partner and head to 104, the largest building in Shibuya. Along with it, was a warning. He had to complete the mission in thirty minutes or he would be erased from existence. As if on cue, a timer of thirty minutes imprinted into his hand.
As he explored the scramble crossing in search of answers, Neku found himself attacked by strange creatures that resembled animals with limbs replaced by bladed tribal designs. As he escaped from them, he encountered one other person who was able to see him - a teenage girl by the name of Shiki. Telling him that he would be killed without being bound to a partner, she asked him to make a pact. For the first time in his life, Neku agreed to work along with someone else.
After defeating the creatures, Neku confronted Shiki about the situation. She told him a strange story. There is a second Shibuya existing right within the one he knows, but visible to others. This Shibuya, known as Underground Shibuya or UG, was used as an arena for the so-called Reapers' Game. In this game, Players - people who once died in the real Shibuya - completed missions and fought against Noise, strange tattooed monsters, and Reapers, humans with
supernatural abilities whose mission was to erase the Players. Those who would survive for a week, would be given a second chance at existence. Those who would fail, would be erased. Even more, one had to play the game with a partner or they would be unable to complete missions. In fact, a Player without a partner had seven minutes before erasure.
Realizing that he needed a partner to survive, Neku formed an alliance with Shiki. It was an uneasy partnership. Cheerful and friendly, Shiki provided an extreme contrast to the dull, apathetic Neku. As they continued to perform missions, they clashed numerous times over their opinions and ideals. At one point, Neku even attacked Shiki when he was offered escape from the game in exchange for her death. However, as time went on, the two of them slowly started to develop a bond. For Neku, it was a strange experience. For the first time, he found himself supporting and caring for another person. As he struggled between his philosophy and growing affection for his partner, they
reached the middle of the week.
By that time, the pair encountered three people who would play an important role in the Game. The first was Hanekoma, a mysterious owner of a small cafe in Shibuya. Not only did he save the duo from foul play, he explained them the rules behind the game and supplied them with a lot of useful advice. Among all his words, one sentence was intended specifically for Neku. "Trust your partner."
The other two people were a Player team of two siblings, the brash, thuggish Beat and peaceful, intelligent Rhyme. Although the four quickly made friends, their relationship was shattered when Rhyme was erased while shielding her brother from a Noise attack. Left with little hope of survival, Beat was taken away by Hanekoma.
As Neku and Shiki continued to play the game on their own, Neku has learned to see beyond Shiki's exterior and understand her as a shy, insecure girl that she really was. As they approached the end of the game, the two made a promise. They would win a game, come back to life and, one day, meet each other in Shibuya so they can go on a date. With that promise driving them both, they confronted Higashizawa, the Game Master of Reapers' Game, and erased him. Neku and Shiki have won the game.
...Or so it would seem. As the game ended, they met face to face with Megumi Kitaniji, the Conductor of the game. He explained that although they won, their individual progress only allowed to resurrect one player. Shiki was chosen as that player. Neku remained behind, on one condition. He would play the Reapers' Game and win once again, this time restoring himself to life.
Megumi agreed. As a sign of contract, he returned to Neku his entry fee for playing the game, the most precious thing he had at the time of entering. His memories, the sign of him as an individual. In exchange, he took his new most precious thing as an entry fee. This time, Neku would have to play for the sake of Shiki Misaki.
During the second game, Neku found himself partnered with Joshua, a mysterious, selfish boy. A friend of Hanekoma, Joshua had an unique ability to see UG during his life, thus making him aware of the Reapers' Game. Eventually, he revealed himself to be alive. According to him, he played the game to locate the Composer, the one controlling UG, and hijack both the game and UG by killing him. This made him an illegal player, endangering Neku's progress in the game. However, that wasn't the only thing on Neku's mind.
Although his memories were restored for this game, Neku still lacked one important one... The memory of his death. The sensation of paranoia caused by this, combined with Joshua's manipulative personality, drove Neku to reading his new partner's thoughts. What he found was a vision of being murdered by Joshua, shot in the head from point blank. No longer capable of following Hanekoma's words, Neku became more cautious toward his partner, hoping that he would reveal his motivation for killing him.
In addition to that, his conversations with Joshua and Hanekoma drove Neku to reconsider his philosophy once again. As he analyzed his relationship with Shiki, Neku came to a conclusion that his hatred of other people may have been unfounded. Based on that, he began developing a new philosophy. He doesn't have to understand people to like them. In the end, even if people will change his path, letting them close may be much more fulfilling than he thought.
As he confronted those things about himself, Neku found himself confronted with two new enemies. The first was Beat, his friend from the first game. Driven by his sister's death, Beat became a Reaper and continued to haunt Neku at every turn, hoping that he would eventually learn to resurrect Rhyme. The second enemy was Sho Minamimoto, an eccentric genius who acted as the game's Game Master. After a week of fighting off his traps, Neku and Joshua confronted him in his hiding place on top of a business building on the edge of Shibuya. There, another vision appeared to Neku and expanded the circumstances behind his death.
Joshua wasn't the only one on the murder scene. Sho was there, and he was aiming at Neku. Joshua's bullet was to protect him. It failed. Neku was shot in the back and murdered by Sho Minamimoto.
Enraged by this realization, Neku teamed up with Joshua and fought Sho. As they gained an upper hand, however, Sho refused to give away the victory. He self-destructed, killing himself and releasing a massive wave of energy. Neku was already preparing for loss when Joshua moved in the wave's path, sacrificing himself to save his partner's life.
As he confronted Megumi Kitaniji once again, Neku was informed about two terrible facts. One is that for the last few days, Sho Minamimoto employed illegal tactics. In other words, Neku and Joshua were used as bait in order to eliminate a rogue Reaper. Second, because of Joshua's illegal actions during the game, Neku's progress during the game was nullified. If he wanted to return to life, he would have to play again. Enraged by the loss of his friend, Neku agreed.
The third game began badly for Neku. As someone who accepted human beings as precious, he paid an entry fee of all other players in the game. He would certainly be erased in the first seven minutes, if not for Beat. Angered by Neku's unfair situation, the boy renounced his status as a Reaper and formed a pact with Neku. Together, they set out to hunt down Mikaki Konishi, the current Game Master, and win the game. Meanwhile, Beat began nursing plans of defeating the Composer and taking over the place, thus allowing Neku and all his friends return to life.
It was a frantic week filled with revelations. As they continued, Neku and Beat discovered that Sho Minamimoto didn't die; he refined his Soul and returned in a forbidden body merged with Noise. Even more, someone attempted to brainwash the people and Reapers of Shibuya into mindless dolls with the help of special pins. Driven by the worsening situation, Neku and Beat infiltrated the Composer's base. There, they finally faced Konishi, who allied herself with Sho in order to take control of the game, and destroyed her. With nobody standing in their way, they moved on to face Kitaniji.
Neku and Beat, now supported by rescued Shiki, confronted Megumi Kitaniji. It was then, that he revealed that his plan was to destroy Neku all along, as he was chosen by the Composer for a special mission. As he transformed into a giant dragon-like Noise, Neku and his friends rushed into their final battle. During that battle, one last player joined the stage...
Yoshiya "Joshua" Kiryu. Neku's deceased partner. As he stood at the place where Megumi dispersed into Soul, he revealed his true motivations. Joshua was the Composer all along. As the Reapers' Game continued, however, he began to consider it stale and incapable of properly judging the Players' potential. As he prepared to erase Shibuya UG from existence, he was stopped by Megumi offering a bet.
Megumi would have three weeks to destroy a Player chosen by the Composer. If he would win, UG would remain. If Joshua would win, Megumi would be erased along with his precious Shibuya.
For that purpose, Joshua chose a Player with a particularly strong Soul, one Neku Sakuraba. Pursued by Sho Minamimoto, who desired the position of the Composer, he made his enemy to look like he killed Neku. In reality, he shot the boy in the head right after fending off Sho's attack. But now, with Megumi erased and Sho killed, he won the game. And Neku was no longer useful.
In the end, Joshua offered one final deal. He and Neku would have a duel. The one who would shoot the other, would become the Composer. But as Neku, driven to tears by this betrayal, lowered his gun and refused to fire, Joshua wasn't so compassionate. He rose his gun and fired. The last thing Neku remembered was Joshua and Hanekoma smiling at him as he faded into unconsciousness.
And then, he found himself within Template's cathedral.
Neku is a teenager from Japan. Born and raised in the Shibuya district of Tokyo, he spent most of his life hating other people. Anti-social and apathetic, he considered them a nuisance and firmly believed they can only get in his way and ruin the fruit of his effort. For that reason, he wore headphones, blasted music and high volumes and did his best to pretend nobody else exists. It was a slow and sometimes frustrating life, but Neku liked it that way. He believed that anything else would be a painful and pointless existence.
That is, until something happened.
One day, Neku awoke on the largest scramble crossing in Shibuya, all of his memories gone and his presence invisible to others. As if prepared for his awakening, his cell phone suddenly received a mail. In that mail, there was a message ordering him to seek out a partner and head to 104, the largest building in Shibuya. Along with it, was a warning. He had to complete the mission in thirty minutes or he would be erased from existence. As if on cue, a timer of thirty minutes imprinted into his hand.
As he explored the scramble crossing in search of answers, Neku found himself attacked by strange creatures that resembled animals with limbs replaced by bladed tribal designs. As he escaped from them, he encountered one other person who was able to see him - a teenage girl by the name of Shiki. Telling him that he would be killed without being bound to a partner, she asked him to make a pact. For the first time in his life, Neku agreed to work along with someone else.
After defeating the creatures, Neku confronted Shiki about the situation. She told him a strange story. There is a second Shibuya existing right within the one he knows, but visible to others. This Shibuya, known as Underground Shibuya or UG, was used as an arena for the so-called Reapers' Game. In this game, Players - people who once died in the real Shibuya - completed missions and fought against Noise, strange tattooed monsters, and Reapers, humans with
supernatural abilities whose mission was to erase the Players. Those who would survive for a week, would be given a second chance at existence. Those who would fail, would be erased. Even more, one had to play the game with a partner or they would be unable to complete missions. In fact, a Player without a partner had seven minutes before erasure.
Realizing that he needed a partner to survive, Neku formed an alliance with Shiki. It was an uneasy partnership. Cheerful and friendly, Shiki provided an extreme contrast to the dull, apathetic Neku. As they continued to perform missions, they clashed numerous times over their opinions and ideals. At one point, Neku even attacked Shiki when he was offered escape from the game in exchange for her death. However, as time went on, the two of them slowly started to develop a bond. For Neku, it was a strange experience. For the first time, he found himself supporting and caring for another person. As he struggled between his philosophy and growing affection for his partner, they
reached the middle of the week.
By that time, the pair encountered three people who would play an important role in the Game. The first was Hanekoma, a mysterious owner of a small cafe in Shibuya. Not only did he save the duo from foul play, he explained them the rules behind the game and supplied them with a lot of useful advice. Among all his words, one sentence was intended specifically for Neku. "Trust your partner."
The other two people were a Player team of two siblings, the brash, thuggish Beat and peaceful, intelligent Rhyme. Although the four quickly made friends, their relationship was shattered when Rhyme was erased while shielding her brother from a Noise attack. Left with little hope of survival, Beat was taken away by Hanekoma.
As Neku and Shiki continued to play the game on their own, Neku has learned to see beyond Shiki's exterior and understand her as a shy, insecure girl that she really was. As they approached the end of the game, the two made a promise. They would win a game, come back to life and, one day, meet each other in Shibuya so they can go on a date. With that promise driving them both, they confronted Higashizawa, the Game Master of Reapers' Game, and erased him. Neku and Shiki have won the game.
...Or so it would seem. As the game ended, they met face to face with Megumi Kitaniji, the Conductor of the game. He explained that although they won, their individual progress only allowed to resurrect one player. Shiki was chosen as that player. Neku remained behind, on one condition. He would play the Reapers' Game and win once again, this time restoring himself to life.
Megumi agreed. As a sign of contract, he returned to Neku his entry fee for playing the game, the most precious thing he had at the time of entering. His memories, the sign of him as an individual. In exchange, he took his new most precious thing as an entry fee. This time, Neku would have to play for the sake of Shiki Misaki.
During the second game, Neku found himself partnered with Joshua, a mysterious, selfish boy. A friend of Hanekoma, Joshua had an unique ability to see UG during his life, thus making him aware of the Reapers' Game. Eventually, he revealed himself to be alive. According to him, he played the game to locate the Composer, the one controlling UG, and hijack both the game and UG by killing him. This made him an illegal player, endangering Neku's progress in the game. However, that wasn't the only thing on Neku's mind.
Although his memories were restored for this game, Neku still lacked one important one... The memory of his death. The sensation of paranoia caused by this, combined with Joshua's manipulative personality, drove Neku to reading his new partner's thoughts. What he found was a vision of being murdered by Joshua, shot in the head from point blank. No longer capable of following Hanekoma's words, Neku became more cautious toward his partner, hoping that he would reveal his motivation for killing him.
In addition to that, his conversations with Joshua and Hanekoma drove Neku to reconsider his philosophy once again. As he analyzed his relationship with Shiki, Neku came to a conclusion that his hatred of other people may have been unfounded. Based on that, he began developing a new philosophy. He doesn't have to understand people to like them. In the end, even if people will change his path, letting them close may be much more fulfilling than he thought.
As he confronted those things about himself, Neku found himself confronted with two new enemies. The first was Beat, his friend from the first game. Driven by his sister's death, Beat became a Reaper and continued to haunt Neku at every turn, hoping that he would eventually learn to resurrect Rhyme. The second enemy was Sho Minamimoto, an eccentric genius who acted as the game's Game Master. After a week of fighting off his traps, Neku and Joshua confronted him in his hiding place on top of a business building on the edge of Shibuya. There, another vision appeared to Neku and expanded the circumstances behind his death.
Joshua wasn't the only one on the murder scene. Sho was there, and he was aiming at Neku. Joshua's bullet was to protect him. It failed. Neku was shot in the back and murdered by Sho Minamimoto.
Enraged by this realization, Neku teamed up with Joshua and fought Sho. As they gained an upper hand, however, Sho refused to give away the victory. He self-destructed, killing himself and releasing a massive wave of energy. Neku was already preparing for loss when Joshua moved in the wave's path, sacrificing himself to save his partner's life.
As he confronted Megumi Kitaniji once again, Neku was informed about two terrible facts. One is that for the last few days, Sho Minamimoto employed illegal tactics. In other words, Neku and Joshua were used as bait in order to eliminate a rogue Reaper. Second, because of Joshua's illegal actions during the game, Neku's progress during the game was nullified. If he wanted to return to life, he would have to play again. Enraged by the loss of his friend, Neku agreed.
The third game began badly for Neku. As someone who accepted human beings as precious, he paid an entry fee of all other players in the game. He would certainly be erased in the first seven minutes, if not for Beat. Angered by Neku's unfair situation, the boy renounced his status as a Reaper and formed a pact with Neku. Together, they set out to hunt down Mikaki Konishi, the current Game Master, and win the game. Meanwhile, Beat began nursing plans of defeating the Composer and taking over the place, thus allowing Neku and all his friends return to life.
It was a frantic week filled with revelations. As they continued, Neku and Beat discovered that Sho Minamimoto didn't die; he refined his Soul and returned in a forbidden body merged with Noise. Even more, someone attempted to brainwash the people and Reapers of Shibuya into mindless dolls with the help of special pins. Driven by the worsening situation, Neku and Beat infiltrated the Composer's base. There, they finally faced Konishi, who allied herself with Sho in order to take control of the game, and destroyed her. With nobody standing in their way, they moved on to face Kitaniji.
Neku and Beat, now supported by rescued Shiki, confronted Megumi Kitaniji. It was then, that he revealed that his plan was to destroy Neku all along, as he was chosen by the Composer for a special mission. As he transformed into a giant dragon-like Noise, Neku and his friends rushed into their final battle. During that battle, one last player joined the stage...
Yoshiya "Joshua" Kiryu. Neku's deceased partner. As he stood at the place where Megumi dispersed into Soul, he revealed his true motivations. Joshua was the Composer all along. As the Reapers' Game continued, however, he began to consider it stale and incapable of properly judging the Players' potential. As he prepared to erase Shibuya UG from existence, he was stopped by Megumi offering a bet.
Megumi would have three weeks to destroy a Player chosen by the Composer. If he would win, UG would remain. If Joshua would win, Megumi would be erased along with his precious Shibuya.
For that purpose, Joshua chose a Player with a particularly strong Soul, one Neku Sakuraba. Pursued by Sho Minamimoto, who desired the position of the Composer, he made his enemy to look like he killed Neku. In reality, he shot the boy in the head right after fending off Sho's attack. But now, with Megumi erased and Sho killed, he won the game. And Neku was no longer useful.
In the end, Joshua offered one final deal. He and Neku would have a duel. The one who would shoot the other, would become the Composer. But as Neku, driven to tears by this betrayal, lowered his gun and refused to fire, Joshua wasn't so compassionate. He rose his gun and fired. The last thing Neku remembered was Joshua and Hanekoma smiling at him as he faded into unconsciousness.
And then, he found himself within Template's cathedral.