Yara jumped from place to place. Staying at a manga café one night, an Internet café or a love hotel the next night. She avoided staying in any one place for long. At this point she was sure she had gotten away with the ATM robbery, but you can never be too sure.

Yara had enough cash now to last at least two months if she was thrifty. She had bought herself a second set of clothes, hygiene products, and a red backpack to carry everything in. As for food, she was making due with bulk cheap non-perishable foods. Yara wouldn't call this thriving, but coasting was good enough for her.

She had gotten into a rhythm. Other than trying to avoid attention, her days were passing in a fairly boring manner. She mostly walked around Tokyo, only being able to take in the sights without extra money to spend. Yara never really thought about just how much free time a person could have when most of the day isn't eaten up from working. At this point it had been almost three weeks since she had last seen GANTZ and the other hunters. She nearly forgot about what she would be forced to do.

Then one night, as Yara layed out in her small rented out cubicle space at a manga café, she felt a chill on the back of her neck. It was colder than anything she had ever experienced. Even sleeping on the streets hadn't been this cold. Yara leaned up to grab her backpack, pulling out her only other shirt in hopes that putting on an extra layer would warm her. As she was searching, backpack on lap, she froze. Her body wouldn't move and a familiar sharp ringing pierced her ears.

GANTZ was calling them all back to the empty apartment. The hunters were all already there: Izumi, Nishi, Yamasaki, Hasegawa, and Chiba. Yara could only stay stock still as she slowly transported in, momentarily blinded by the change in lighting from her dim reading cubicle to the bright blank room. She was relieved to see that the backpack was being brought in with her. The thought of having to start from scratch again made her nauseous.

Once fully in the apartment she could move. Yara quickly stood up from her spot, only for another person to begin scanning in immediately after in her previous spot. Yara made her way into a corner clutching her bag, waiting for whatever came next. She passively watched what the others were doing.

There was lots of angry shouting or weeping happening as other crash survivors were being brought back to the room. Unlike Yara most of these people had no idea they would be forced back. As it was, Yara felt numb to what was happening, avoiding any thoughts on the upcoming mission.

As Yara began to lose interest in what was happening, a familiar face was transported in. To her shock it was the son, Caden. She was sure that he would have died from saying too much, just like his mother. His face contoured into sour disgust once he realized where he was.

In a weird way she had hoped that Caden wouldn't be here, even if she knew the notion was morally wrong. It was a confrontation bound to happen, now that the rage fueled young man didn't have his mother to calm him anymore. Yara crumpled up to the wall, in a futile attempt at hiding. But of course Caden saw her.

“You! You damn coward!” Caden made his way to Yara, stomping with every step. “You left me alone to deal with everything! My mother died and you just ran away!”

“I-i'm sorry–”

“Is sorry really all you can say!?”

“I don't know what you want me to say!”

“Not sorry! Saying sorry doesn't do anything!”

Yara was literally backed into a corner as Caden shouted and pointed at her. No one else in the room seemed eager to help. Not that she really thought anyone would. She had seen first hand that this environment was dog-eat-dog. Realization hit her that even she had adopted this same mentality when her own life was on the line.

Am I really that bad?

“Please stop yelling… I'm sorry I ran away, but I was scared. I was scared I was going to die too.”

Yara could feel tears forming at the corner of her eyes and her face felt hot. She looked away, not wanting him to know how much this was scaring her. Yara held her bag in front of her, as if it could shield her from the mess she was in. She knew that she had dealt with the situation poorly, but did it really warrant this level of intimidation?

Caden was getting angrier. The fact that she couldn't even have the decency to look him in the eye, pissed him off. He grit his teeth and raised his fist as if to punch her. He honestly debated it. It would make him feel better, for a moment. Still, the idea of what his mother would think flashed in his mind. His mother's disappointed face nagged at him. Frustrated, Caden opted to hit the wall behind her with a loud smack instead. Yara jumping at the sound.

“Whatever, you're fucking pathetic.” Caden turned to walk away. He passed the apartment windows and stopped in his tracks.

“Is that the fucking Tokyo Tower!?” Yara didn't understand the bewilderment.

Of course it is. This is the same apartment as before…

“How the hell am I back in Japan?!”

Huh?

Unbeknownst to Yara, Caden had managed to get back to the United States. He played dumb as to how he wasn't in the plane crash. He told authorities truthfully he didn't know how his mom died. And for the last few weeks he had been arranging his mother's funeral from the comfort of his home.

Whilst Caden tried to cope with his newfound crisis of being stuck in Japan without his passport for the second time, two new people were being scanned in. Yara didn't recognize them from the previous mission. Not that she figured she would remember forty different faces, but she was sure she would have remembered these two.

These two were the epitome of punk: bright dyed hair styled up with gel, black metal studded clothes, and numerous body piercings. The male had wide set eyes that were so dilated they looked black. The woman had a smell of cigarettes wafting off her and hollowed cheeks. Both had rubber tie-offs still attached to their upper arms and Yara had a pretty good idea of what they had died from.

After them no one else came in. Yara looked around, expecting there to be more. After several minutes, she feared the worst. There were only nineteen people here.

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Did they all die from talking about GANTZ? Why didn't anyone tell them not to…

“Looks like that's it.”, said Izumi.

Not a second after saying that, GANTZ's cheerful song began to play. The punk couple examined the ball, trying to find where the sound was coming from. They banged on it, while the woman made funny faces at her reflection.

“Fuck's this thing?”

“Never seen like it.”

GANTZ once again displayed on its screen that the people in this room were at its disposal in a mocking childlike tone. The punk pair and some of the crash survivors gathered to read it. Most of the survivors from the previous mission never got to see the memo, with there being too many people blocking the ball at the time. Murmurs of confusion spread across the room. One man that had been in the previous game pointed at the hunters.

“You lot know something, don't you!?” The man looked like an overworked salaryman with salt and peppered hair. His finger pointed out one by one the four hunters, missing Nishi.

“That's right! Those men were in strange suits when we came back!”, yelled a woman.

“Tell us what's going on!”

“You're the ones keeping us here aren't you!?”

A small mob of people formed around the hunters demanding answers. Every hunter, except Izumi, seemed genuinely unsettled by the crowd. To Izumi, this situation was a mild nuisance. He crossed his arms with barely visible irritation on his face. If the people here couldn't figure out what was happening on their own, they weren't going to be useful to him.

Chiba, the quiet older man, stepped over to Izumi whispering in his ear. “What do you want us to do?”

Izumi sighed before addressing the crowd of people. “We have nothing to do with why you're here. Now back off. I have no problem killing you all if I have to.”

Chiba shook his head in disbelief. You could practically see him thinking, ‘Why the hell would you say that?’. Hasegawa began to laugh nervously as the mob formed a circle of people around the four, angrily yelling. One person in the mob went as far as pulling on Yamasaki's hair. Yamasaki spit out insults in retaliation and began shoving people away from him. That seemed to make things worse and soon punches were thrown.

During all the chaos, GANTZ deployed its three shelves containing its weapons and gear. Yara, going unnoticed, found this the perfect opportunity to finally see what was inside the metal boxes. Digging a little, she came across the one she thought was her's. The lettering on the front read ‘GRAND THEFT 0TAKU’.

GANTZ knows about the robbery. I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

Upon opening the box she was faced with a black skin tight GANTZ suit of her own. Lifting it up, it felt incredibly light, with a rubbery texture. Feeling it with her fingers, she realized that the thin layer of clothes was actually two layers of material with a gel-like substance in between. Yara could only wonder how it didn't rip from basic use, let alone how it was meant to protect someone in battle.

A glance up from behind GANTZ, Yara could see that the conflict between the hunters and the others was ending before it really began. The salt-and-pepper haired man was lying unconscious battered and bruised on the floor. Caden, who had joined in on the mob, had his back to the wall with his hands up as Hasegawa pointed his rifle at him. Everyone else was dispersing, black eyes and swelling all around. No surprise, the GANTZ team had no injuries.

“Stop them from taking any weapons. They can't be trusted with them.” Izumi commanded the others.

At this point, Izumi had made the hunters body block the weapons racks. Hasegawa and Yamasaki made a big show of standing with their guns drawn on the people in front of them. Chiba seemed reluctant, but still lightly pushed people who got too close away from the ball. Amused, Nishi watched all of this from his leaning position against a wall.

“Let it be known, I will not take shit from anyone here. If you can prove you're strong and not mindless idiots - you can join us on the winning side. If not, stay out of my way.”, said Izumi.

Yara could feel the adrenaline and fear coming off everyone, but couldn't understand why she was now behind the human blockade. Two young men, likely brothers, came up meekly and apologized to Izumi with bows. In turn, Izumi handed each of them a gun. Unlike the rounded pistol Yara had, their guns had a Y shaped front. Everyone else stood away from the hunters apprehensively.

It was clear sides were being drawn, but Yara didn't know where she stood in this drama. Being on Izumi's team was probably the best option, but burning bridges with everyone else sounded like a bad idea. Getting up from her crouched position, new briefcase in hand, she looked into the array of weapons searching for something specific. If she could get her hands on the device Nishi had used in the previous mission, being homeless would become a lot easier. Izumi caught this and stopped her.

“That means you too, American. Just because I helped you last time doesn't mean you're a part of this team.”

She was startled by this. “Me too, what? What are you talking about?”

Only now did Izumi realize his mistake. A portion of the flight crash survivors were foreigners and likely didn't understand a word he had just said. Izumi let his long hair fall onto his face. His stoic pretense slipped as he pursed his lips. Yara was tickled at Izumi's clearly frustrated pout. She tried her best to keep a neutral expression and not let the smile that threatened her lips peek out. Displeased, Izumi shooed her away to the otherside of the room.

Guess I should change into the GANTZ suit while I still can. The entryway might work…

As Yara did her best to edge away from everyone, the teleportation began on the passed out salaryman. Realizing that there probably wasn't much time left, she raced to the entryway, smacking into a person that had been standing inside it. It was Caden. Clear signs of crying showed on his face. Yara made a split second 180° spin away from him, only to be held back by his hand on her shoulder.

“Wait-wait a second! Could we…” Yara tensed up, expecting to be hit or screamed at some more. Caden paused, noticing her distress. “Nevermind.”

He let go of her shoulder, looking down a bit in shame. Caden's hands were shaking and his face was pale. He wiped his sweaty palms on the front of his shirt. Yara wondered what happened to the person that called her pathetic not even fifteen minutes ago.

I should just leave. Nothing good is going to come from talking to him. Despite that, her conscience nagged at the back of her mind. She sighed internally.

“...what were you going to say?”

“Nothing. It's clear you're scared of me.”

Well, duh. You almost punched me! But she held her tongue. “Caden, just say it.”

“Can we start over?”

Yara didn't answer back immediately. One minute he's threatening her and the next he's asking for reconciliation. The emotional whiplash on top of everything else happening made her stomach knot. When it became apparent she wasn't going to respond, Caden continued.

“When that jackass with the glasses pointed a gun at me, I really felt like I was going to die. My first instinct was to get out of there. To run and hide. That's why I'm back here away from everyone.”

Yara knitted her brows. She didn't understand what this had to do with her. Caden carried on.

“While it was shitty of you, I get why you ran now. People act weird when their life's on the line. For instance, I'm not an aggressive person normally.”

Yara held in a scoff. She had a hard time believing that. Her gut told her to not involve herself with him. As she tried to come up with a response, Caden flinched back. The top of Yara's skull was transferring outside. She was strangely relieved by this. Somehow fighting aliens to the death seemed much more pleasant than being stuck in this conversation.

“Be safe out there.”, said Caden. His voice was solemn as he watched her leave.

With that her head was enveloped. It was strange hearing him say something nice. Thinking about it, it had been weeks since she'd spoken to anyone outside of broken Japanese. She worried that she might forgive him out of simple loneliness.

At the very least he should apologize…

Yara gripped tightly to her metal case and the X-gun in her jacket pocket, her torso still in the apartment. She spotted the five people that teleported in before her milling around, one of them being Yamasaki. It was night once again, but this time they were surrounded by bright flashing lights and blaring carnival music. In the distance one could spot a ferris wheel turning. Above them a banner read ‘Welcome to Funland!’.