“Guys, maybe this isn't such a good idea.” Yara said, as she trailed behind the mother/son duo. They went at a brisk pace, keeping in line with what was normal for downtown Tokyo.

“Why, cause one of those assholes in black told you so?” replied the young man. He was side eyeing Yara pretty hard.

“I think the youngest one told me not to tell anyone. Or at least I think it was him…”

“He was one of the worst ones you know! Oh, wait you wouldn't know because you weren't there!”, the son's bitter criticism dripped from his lips. “Look, if you want to keep it a secret because some sociopath told you to, that's on you. But good luck finding a way home otherwise!”

He had a point. How the hell could she ever begin to explain surviving a plane crash and teleporting back into the middle of Tokyo. If she wanted to get back home, she had some explaining to do. Yara didn't even want to think about the headache of proving her identity without anything on hand. Would a call from her parents be enough? Would she have to pull out dental records?!

“It'll be alright, you two. No need for bickering. Yara, if you're that worried you can play dumb. Just let me do all the talking.”, said the mother.

Fairly soon the group came across a small police station, a kōban. They were dotted everywhere around Tokyo, but Yara had no idea that she would ever need to use one. It was small, no more than maybe three rooms. Behind a counter was a uniformed police officer that quickly put down his paper when the group entered.

“Hello sir, we need help in speaking with the American embassy or something similar.”, as previously mentioned, the mother took control of the situation.

“Ah, yes sorry. My English not very good.”, the officer held up a finger to indicate waiting a minute while he began calling someone on the phone. He spoke briefly to the person on the other end before gesturing that the older woman take it.

The mother began explaining to the person on the other end what she was needing. So far, she hadn't gone into the whole alien thing yet. Yara sat on one of those uncomfortable plastic seats that were set up in the front area. This situation was overwhelming and only now that she was back in the real world was it all settling in for her. She mulled over everything with her head in her hands.

I died. I fought aliens. I'm stuck in Japan. Fuck, fuck, fuck, I just want to go home! I don't care how much it sucks back there! 100 points! How! Not like it really matters. I'm dead if I do and I'm dead if I don't!

Yara caught the last snippet of the mother's conversation. “Yes, we were being held prisoner by some black ball machine. Yes, yes, I know it sounds strange but I'm telling the- I'm telling you–” The woman dropped the phone, wobbling on her feet.

“Mom? MOM?!” The mother collapsed into her son's arms. Blood was coming out from her eyes, ears, and nose.

The officer rushed out from behind the counter, in a vain attempt to help. Yara from her seat could see the moment the mother died. Her eyes unfocused and the life behind it drained. One last rasp left her throat.

The son let out a bloodcurdling wail that filled the small room. He kept yelling her name over and over, shaking her slightly as if it could wake her from the dead. The officer hung up on the previous call and began dialing for medical personnel.

Yara was frozen for all of this. The kind woman was dead and there was little hope of anything being normal from this point on. Nishi had been right; telling others was a mistake. GANTZ was capable of reviving the dead. And she now knew it was capable of taking away that life just as easily.

Shit. Shit.

Before she really knew what she was doing, Yara fled from the police station. She didn't know where she was going and she didn't know what she would do. All she knew was that she needed to get away with only the clothes on her back and her impending sense of dread.

This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

—

It had been night when the plane had taken off. It was early morning before the sunrise when they fought the spiders. The walk to the kōban had happened in the first morning lights of the day. But now, once Yara came back to her senses, it was somehow midday. In her panic, she had managed to lose hours of time.

Her legs shook from exhaustion. She didn't recognize where she was. Not that she knew much in the first place, having only been there for a week. She had stopped at a seemingly quiet side street near some lower density apartments. Yara sat on one of the nearby stone benches that was meant to be an outside common area.

For her plane trip back, she had worn a practical outfit of a t-shirt and jeans with a light jacket. Most of her important assets she had taken with her were in her carry on. She was reasonably certain her passport, IDs, cell, meds, and most of her money had gone up in flames. Yara cringed thinking about all the cash she had spent on souvenirs now a pile of ash somewhere.

Yara rummaged in her pants pockets. She found two 1000 yen bills and a few loose coins. She also had keys to her car and her apartment back home with a new Pokémon keychain attached. The only thing left was her boarding pass.

Yara crumpled up the boarding pass and threw it randomly on the street before regretting it and picking it back up. She unwrinkled it then put it back into her pocket. The thought occurred to her that this might be the only object she had that could prove what she had gone through.

She was blatantly trying to ignore the heavy weight in her jacket pocket. Yara had left the GANTZ room with the pistol, forgetting to put it back in her haste to leave. After the experience she had this day, the gun just felt like a curse weighing her down.

I don't think this is enough money to last a single day. And thinking about it, even if I did have the money, no hotel is going to take me without some form of ID.

Will I have to sleep outside, use that damn gun to rob people for food money, be homeless til I beat that ball's stupid challenge?

She wanted to scream up at the sky. At least it was summer. She wouldn't be dealing with snowstorms at least. With not much option she wandered away with the intention of finding a secluded place to sleep for the night.

—

Over the next several days, Yara slept on park benches. On one occasion she had discovered the existence of manga cafés that you could rent out and sleep in for a few hours. Unfortunately at that time, she only had enough money for thirty minutes.

She was very hungry at this point. Even with her scrimping and picking up any yen she happened to find on the ground, Yara was now officially out of money.

She was also beginning to smell. The Japanese people around her, being polite as they were, were still obviously disgusted. She washed herself in sinks but there was only so much she could do.

Yara desperately wanted to call home, to her family. They all probably thought she was dead. Yara didn't know if she could even mention that she was alive or if that would result in a brain bleed.

If this keeps up, I'll die of exhaustion. Forget the aliens…

Then, after six days of this, a risky thought crossed her mind. While mindlessly walking down random streets, she noticed some clothes that a local left to dry outside. Yara checked to see if there were any people or cameras around before snatching a thick black hoodie and floral headscarf.

She hid out until nightfall and made sure to stay far away from her target that day. No security cameras to catch her casing out the place. Once it was dark enough for the streetlights to turn on, she made her move, pulling her new hoodie over her face and the headscarf over her nose and mouth.

Out of the way, on a less used section of a subway station was an atm. She had stumbled across it one day when looking for a warmer place to sleep. The presence of some workers deterred her from actually sleeping there, but she couldn't help but notice how few people would pass by.

You can do this, you can do this, you can do this–

Yara hid the GANTZ gun in the sleeve of the oversized hoodie and fired at the ATM. She quickly put the gun back into the front hoodie pocket. She braced herself to run.

*BOOM* Chunks of plastic, metal, and money blasted from the impact. Yara ran forward. She prayed that at least some of the bills were left intact. Plus she had to act fast. She could hear people running over, wondering what the commotion was.

Yara found that there was some money left. She grabbed what she could, not caring if it was 1000 yen notes or 10,000 yen notes. Once she got three or four handfuls, she ran for the exit.

Even when she had burst out into the open air, she didn't stop running. She ran and ran until she reached another residential area. Squirreling away between two buildings, Yara shed the hoodie and scarf onto the ground. She stuffed her newly acquired money and the GANTZ pistol back into her old jacket before walking away.

Huffing, she tried to act nonchalant. Her hands shook out of fear and adrenaline, but right now she only had one thing on her mind. She was going to get a nice warm meal.