Today was a day unlike any other in Shibuya. Normally, the town is full of energy, bustling with all sorts of different vibes from corner to corner. The people are so lively and fresh, hanging out with friends or going shopping for some of their favorite brands of clothes. Nobody could walk even five steps without hearing some sort of noise clogging up the airwaves.
But today…there was total silence.
No cars were driving down the roads. No food was being purchased at the abundance of restaurants spread around town. No one was just standing around talking to one another hanging out. The city of Shibuya was completely empty now, with not a single person in sight.
Except that wasn’t the case either. Upon closer examination down at the ground, there were in fact people still out and about. All the people in the city had been shrunk down to half an inch in size. At their new height, even getting across the gaps in the sidewalk would prove to be a challenge. Obviously, everyone was in a panic over this massive change to them, but as the wind blew louder than their voices could carry, no one could hear their cries for help.
But it didn’t take long for the eerie silence to break. Atop one of the buildings in the scramble crossing, the monitor turned on, revealing a young girl dressed in a black cat hoodie on the screen. A huge grin formed on her face as she looked into the camera. Although the people spread out among the city couldn’t exactly get the best view of the screen from their diminished positions, they could most certainly hear her.
“Greetings, flea-ple of Shibuya…” Before the mysterious woman could finish her speech, she already put her hand to her head, letting out a sigh of disbelief. “That’s the last time I let Shiba write these lines for me.” she muttered under her breath before returning to her original position. “I think all might be a little short on the uptake, so I’ll fill you all in as to what’s happening. This is the Reaper’s Game, and I’m the game master for this round, Shoka Sakurane. This Shibuya you all are in right now isn’t the place you all know and love, but if you win this game, I’ll let you return back home to your normal size.” Shoka paused for a moment, waiting to hear the cries in protest about the absurdity of the whole situation…but then she realized.
“Oh right, can’t really hear you all. Anyways, since this might not be fair, I shortened the time limit down to make things easier for you all. Instead of one week of going through dumb tasks, you only got to play the game for three hours. And what’s the game, you ask? All you have to do is survive. Pretty simple game if you ask me, but I bet some of you will find a way to screw it up.” After a lengthy monologue, Shoka pulled her phone out from her pocket and began playing with it before continuing her speech. “During these three hours, I’ll be playing FanGO down in the city. So try not to get in my way. I’ll be focused more on these fake creatures than I will you pathetic bugs.” she stated with a smirk.
“Time starts once I get to the 104 Building. If I were you, I’d start running away from there. Anyways, that’s all from me for now. Later, losers.” She waved off to the crowd before the monitor shut off, leaving the town in an eerie silence once more - save for the crowd of minuscule residents all panicking as they took cover under benches or in the cracks in the pavement to avoid getting squished.
Again, Shoka let out another sigh. “Well, let’s get this over with. This dumb game better not get my shoes dirty.” She spoke once more to herself, boarding the elevator as she continued to look at her phone. Even though it seems like Shoka is disinterested in the whole thing, there’s one good reason she took up the role of game master this time around. Right now, there’s a special event in FanGO to catch a Cactuar with a Gatto Nero hat, and she didn’t want anyone else to get their hands on it. With everyone else so small and more focused on the Reaper’s Game than a mobile game, this catch was as good as hers.
Upon exiting the elevator, she landed down on the ground at the base of the 104 Building, officially starting the timer. The screen near the crossing lit up once again, showing a countdown of how much time was remaining, if anyone was fortunate enough to get a glimpse at it. Too focused on her phone, not even Shoka realized the game had started too as she had already claimed her first victim. In just a single step, the bottom of her converse already had a bloodstain form on it, with a mangled body of an unlucky victim who started the game at the start line caught in the treads. Another would soon follow with the other shoe as well. Instead, her attention was drawn to her screen where she was texting her game partner, Rindo.
“gonna get the gatto nero cactuar today :)”
“awesome!”
“wish i could join but i’m still sick :(“
“i’ll see if i can snag u one 2”
“thank u!”
“i think they have a high spawn rate @ the park”
To Shoka, it was a simple stroll around Shibuya without a single worry about having to run into anyone. For the players in the game, it was a nightmare. Those who were close to the mobile monstrosity felt the ground shake beneath them which each step Shoka took along her journey. There was no hope in trying to outmatch her speed, as it would take thousands of steps to cover the same distance the gigantic game master could travel in one. All they could do was seek shelter wherever they could. But they had an advantage over Shoka - there were thousands of them, and only one of her. Despite the clear difference in power, the pitiful players were actually the ones with the advantage in this game, given they were lucky enough to survive an encounter with the titan. Those who weren’t, however, found themselves staring at a white wall above them for a split second before it came crashing down on them, shattering all their bones and organs instantly. These people, once humans, now became bugs that would have to be scraped off by the end of the day.
But Shoka didn’t care about their fates one bit. She had her sights set on Miyashita Park to catch her prize, and no amount of damage to her shoes would stop her at this rate.
By now, the tiny Players realized the ground wasn’t the safest place to be. Sure there were lots of little gaps that a normal sized person would have difficulty fitting into, but getting up on the high ground was most likely the better play. A bunch of smaller folk in the park began to scale one of the benches in the area. The minute scratches caused by bad weather made the metal bars actually climbable, but it was still a task that required high physical demand. But soon enough, about twenty or so people found themselves on the wooden planks, taking caution so as to not end up falling back down between the cracks in the wood.
Shoka in the meantime was still fixated on her phone, waiting for her prize to spawn. Luck was not in her favor today as she continued strolling through the grass, bulldozing down ants and ant-sized people with each step she took through the grass. Soon she would find herself getting tired, and would have to stop to take a break. The gothic girl spotted a bench close by, and determined that to be the perfect spot. Wasting no time, she strolled over to the seat and turned around without checking to see if it was occupied first, before taking a seat, squirming a bit to get more comfortable.
On the bench, the people let out a scream as a massive shadow eclipsed their view. The ginormous behind of Shoka was quickly approaching their well thought out spot like a meteor. There was nowhere to run, and jumping down through the cracks was also a death sentence. But in the end, they were never in power to make any decisions. The titanic ass draped in part of a black hoodie descended down upon them, smearing them into paste in a moment’s notice. The twisting motion the behemoth made crushed their bones into dust, and their insides were mixed with their outsides, making them indistinguishable from humans anymore. They were no longer a part of the RG or the UG, but just a smidge that would be washed away in the laundry later.
Shoka’s face lit up as soon as she sat down. Not because of the fact she could feel a bunch of little morsels pop underneath her like berries, but because she finally found her rare cactuar in the game. She wasted no time at all catching it, immediately telling her friend about the encounter.
“got one! Took me forever to find so im not sure ill be able to get u one :(“
“dw bout it”
“just glad u did”
“want me to get u some medicine?”
“i still have to play this game for 2 hours but ill be free after”
“thatd be great”
“see u in a bit :)”
With the first phase of her game coming to a close, Shoka switched to a live streaming app that connected with the monitors across Shibuya, allowing her to speak to every reviving player still in the game. Her face popped up across the city, and although she was looking straight ahead at the camera, to everyone else it felt like the most intense stare looking down at them.
“I’d congratulate the rest of you all for making it past the first round, but let’s be honest, it really wasn’t that hard. I mean, I know you guys are puny but at least your brain still knows to get out of the way of traffic.” Shoka spoke in a condescending manner, fitting given the huge difference between Players and Reapers this time around. “But things are only going to get much harder from here. In this case, I think actions speak louder than words. Later, losers.” She snapped her fingers as she finished her speech, turning off the monitors across town, as well as the minds of everyone still in the game. Everyone was synchronized as they all passed out at the same time, as phase two was now underway.
When the remaining players woke up, it wasn’t obvious at first, but the minuscule players were even smaller now, each one of them only a millimeter tall. But everyone was more focused on the gigantic being in front of them. They figured everyone must have been teleported right in front of the game master, who they were all now meeting eye to eye for the first time.
“Let’s see, there should be about a thousand of you dweebs left. So let’s make this next part more of an actual game, shall we? I got to meet up with someone after this, and the ones who already lost got my clothes all messed up.” As Shoka spoke, she lifted her right foot up, showing the tiny players below the mangled up corpses of the victims of the first hour of the game. “So you all are gonna divide up into four teams. One for the left shoe, the right shoe, and the left and right halves of my behind. Whoever does the worst job cleaning me up will end up joining those losers in…well we’re already in the afterlife, so whatever is after that. And you all better not try any funny business, got it?” The stern look in her eyes down at the helpless saps sucked into this mess proved that she wasn’t kidding.
Thirty minutes later and everyone was still hard at working trying to clean those messy bloodstains. The whole population of the remaining citizens were now inside the Gatto Nero store. Those stuck on shoe duty had their work cut out for them, trying to pull out the dismembered limbs of their former allies from the treads in her shoes. While those stuck cleaning the backend of the hoodie had a tough time locating those stains between the fibers of the jacket, and making sure not to end up getting tangled inside themselves. Meanwhile, Shoka was wandering around the store, trying on different outfits and accessories of her favorite brand. Even though they had cool tops and hats perfect for the queen of black cat clothing, the only things that really caught her eye were a purse and a phone case.
Shoka purchased her two items and then wandered over to where she left her discarded clothes for the little players to work on. “You all got fifteen minutes left. I need to run over next door and pick up a few things, so you all better not slack off while I’m gone.” She sang in a teasing tone before heading out the door, knowing full well what’s about to happen next. While Shoka was next door purchasing some items, the specks’ pace incrementally increased, as this was literally a life or death situation. The overwhelming fear of seeing what would happen to them if they lose drove them past their limits. Members of the left and right halves on the jacket teams crossed over to the other sides, deliberately fighting one another to incapacitate them from working anymore. It was a bloodbath within the bloodbath, and the foul scent of bodies mixed with the sweat of the giant made it hard to breathe too.
But just like that, time was up. Shoka walked back into the store and found her belongings still lying on a table. She had to lean in close to spot the micro residents though, as the black clothes made them blend in more than anything. One by one, she inspected all the items they were assigned to, a frown on her face the whole time. “You guys did awful. I mean, I know it was only an hour, but if I could punish you all I would.” Her scorn was obvious, as there were still plenty of bloodstains left everywhere. Even though the players may have shrunk more, the victims did not, and that made cleaning up a mess thirteen times bigger than them much harder.
Since the teams working on the shoes never fought with one another, their progress was exceptionally better than those teams working on the jacket. Shoka’s eyes glanced back and forth between the left and right side, trying to figure out who all did the worst job. With all the in-fighting going on, some of the blood cleaned up was replaced with their own. She then let out a sigh, hovering her hand above the jacket. In her mind, she knew it didn’t really matter which team she picked, just as long as she didn’t pick both. Her fingers curled as her hand lowered, lifting up everyone that was on the left half of the jacket and tossed them inside her purse.
The tiny losers screamed as they fell deep into the chasm of the purse, their bodies getting bruised as they slammed into lipstick and chapstick containers much bigger and heavier than them all. From the long manual labor they had to do, they were tired, and were in no shape to put up a resistance now. Shoka smirked down into her bag, picking up her purse in both hands. “I had to get some items for my new purse, hope you like them. Cause you all are about to get a real close look at them now.” She giggled to herself, carelessly shaking her purse around, causing the microscopic people inside to go flying around, along with all the other miscellaneous items inside. Stuff like makeup brushes and a bottle of hand sanitizer jumped around, and the losers inside stood no chance surviving the impact against such heavy items. Some were completely crushed by cough drops, others mangled up inside the brush strokes, destroyed as the thin strands sliced through them. A few unlucky souls even wound up pierced through the needle of a spare pair of earrings, and some squashed beneath a medicine bottle for a certain individual that would need it later today.
In the end, not a single person from the losing team survived, and the inside of the purse was just as much of a mess as her shoes and jacket looked. “Well, I don’t mind how that looks, since no one is going to be looking inside that. At least he better not.” Shoka spoke to herself, looking back down at the rest of the remaining players. “I’d congratulate you all on making it this far, but you all aren’t finished with the game left. There’s still one more round, so let’s just hurry this up so I can go home.” With that, Shoka snapped her fingers, and once again the players found themselves passing out, soon to wake up to the hardest competition of their lives.
As the remaining players woke up, they found themselves in a strange world that looked nothing like Shibuya. The ground beneath them was brown and stretched on for what seemed like miles. Off in the distance, it was hard to tell but there seemed to be yellow and green strips of something indiscernible. The ground beneath them was very warm too, as well as damp, making traversing the new land a feat of its own. But before any of them could take a step, something even further in the distance caught their attention. The figure was black and blurry, but the outline resembled that of a human. From the previous events today, that could only mean one thing.
“Welcome to the final round. You all are so small now I can’t even tell if you’re there or not. I think you guys are like, half a micrometer or something? Either way, that doesn’t matter. The rules are the same as the first round, just survive. I know you can like, totally do it. Later, losers.” With that little pep talk done, Shoka put the top bun back on her burger and picked it up to take a bite.
Everyone on the burger patty was confused and terrified as their world went dark from the massive weight of the burger bun. Even though they were told what to do, nobody had any idea how to get out of this situation. They were far too small to make any progress, and the moistened texture of the meat did not help at all. There was soon light for a few of them as a huge hole was torn in the side from their colossal game master taking a bite. But for more than half the remaining group, there would be no more light.
First, Shoka’s teeth smashed down on their pathetic bodies as they mushed together with the beef and cheese and lettuce, providing an extra meaty flavor to the food. Their bones shattered instantly, as well as the rest of their bodies from the brutal pressure each chew had on them. Those who managed to evade the molar monstrosities found themselves on an even wetter surface - Shoka’s tongue. There, they found themselves falling deep inside the taste buds of their captor, completely shaken up in every direction as the tongue swayed gently, yet still at breakneck speeds for the minute players. Globs of saliva rained down on them and swept them up, adhering them to the sticky wet strands of spit. All the pain and agony of their fragile little bodies being tortured and crushed felt like an eternity. But for the hungry goth, it was just a few seconds. And then she swallowed.
If there were any survivors, they wouldn’t be surviving anymore as they descended down the long tunnel of the esophagus, splashing down at incredible speeds into the pit of acid waiting for them down below. Their bodies slowly dissolved into little grams of fat that would go to her thighs later on. But at their size, no one could hear their screams of terror or pleas for help, not even the one doing this to them. Her own chewing noises were many decibels louder, and soon Shoka was on to her next bite, and the next, repeating the process over and over again in her mouth until the entire playbase was gone.
“Ahh, that hit the spot.” Shoka mumbled to herself, reaching into her purse to pull out a tissue to wipe off her face, not even noticing the little splotches stuck to the paper from the last round. “Well, looks like I won. Gotta say, it wasn't much of a game, but I can’t say I didn’t enjoy it.” With a content smile on her face, she pulled out her phone to text her friend.
“omw now”
“your room better be clean too >:c”
“it will be by the time u get here!”
“how was the game?”
“i’ll tell u when i get there”
Shoka was about to put her phone away, when someone else decided to text her.
“Hey hey! How did the game master like this type of game?”
“It was pretty fun”
“ur the game master next right? i think u’ll like it a lot”
“Ooh fun!”
“I’ll show them how to treat a princess right :3”
Shoka laughed it off, putting her phone back in her purse. She felt a little pity for the next group that had to play, as the next reaper in charge was really going to put them to the test. But for now, she had to meet up with someone she’s been wanting to spend all day with. With a smile on her face, Shoka headed out from the burger restaurant and out into the sunny sky of Shibuya.
“I really do like this town.”