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NEXT STAGE

I know... I thought as I looked to the large text overhead eerily staring down at me as the large silver blimps shadow moved away from my frame... But when were the games going to actually start?

I suppose it was the anticipation and expectation of sudden death that left me uncomfortable simply standing still at Shibuya crossing. I felt like it was necessary to have moved, to run even, it felt wrong to have known 'The Next Stage' had begun but everything seemed so normal, so unusually serene.

"None of the games have started yet" Arisu stated after a moment. We'd been watching each angle of the crossing diligently awaiting for movement, danger even, but nothing arrived.

"Maybe we still have some time" Usagi suggested, looking at one side of the large crossing as I moved in my position to turn slowly and I took it upon myself to glance to every corner.

"Or they forgot to push the big red start button" Chishiya added almost jokingly.

"They didn't even tell us the rules for this one" Kuina said calmly, seated on the floor as if we weren't threatened by the games reappearance by Mira.

"Or maybe we're in the wrong place" I suggested aloud, glancing to Kuina who'd turned her head to look at me "Should we be following the blimps?"

In the sky there seemed to be countless blimps within the distance, each one scattered over Tokyo and I'd assumed they had to represent something.

Chishiya was the one who replied to my question, humming loudly as he usually did, replying with a monotone "Maybe".

The rumble of something begun abruptly, a distant echo of engines from afar made knowing the cause of the noise almost unidentifiable. I wondered if it was was a blimp but the noise had been entirely different, the sound was coming from the ground too and I couldn't help but feel as if it were coming closer.

"What is it?" Quizzed Kuina, still seated on the floor despite the distant noise as if she hadn't been able to hear anything but she'd looked to Usagi heedfully. Usagi heard it too, I'd known she heard the distant rumble the moment she froze to let her eyes linger from left to right.

Was this it? The beginning of 'The Next Stage'?

The distant rumbling intensified, as if it was coming closer to us and I wondered if we should have been running.

Was it safe to have stood still simply awaiting the unknown?

"I hear something" Usagi stated, thankfully proving I wasn't going utterly insane (Quite frankly I'd been surprised I hadn't lost my sanity already) Usagi moved from her position and walked past Kuina to look out into the distance, however everything was still so uncomfortably normal.

"Me too" I whispered, following the girls eyesight and looking into the distance as if expecting its appearance soon.

Kuina stood up after my words and Usagi's obvious interest with the noise. Everyone slowly moved from their position, moving to check the direction Usagi had been so suspicious of.

There was an empty road ahead of us in which the cars were left unattended as if they were forcibly halted in motion.

A gentle wind from the distant sound blew the rubbish scattered on the road, I'd felt a strand of my hair blow over my face attaching itself to my cheek as a result of the wind washing over us; it was a ruthless whisper that interrupted the silence. The arch-like tunnel created from the building casted a shadow over the road therefore heightening the eerie scene created by the fear of the unknown.

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