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True, Hazuki didn't care about Shinjuku, he didn't care about the Lower Planes, or the people in it... in fact, he's really quite selfish. He's always been selfish. It seemed that part of him refused to be killed. Hazuki cared about this because of what could happen to him, and he's still alive enough to be afraid of that, no matter how deep he buries that fear.

Shiba pipes up again, standing up as he speaks and catching Hazuki's attention. The Composer's eyes first focus on that smile, he doesn't miss that it doesn't fully settle into Shiba's expression, but this doesn't exactly bother him.

The question makes Hazuki sigh, and he hunches forward with his arms against his knees, looking away again. Shiba makes a lot of assumptions, but he won't explain himself or that it's more complicated than simply wiping the slate clean. Hazuki does find himself pleased that his Reapers, at the very least, understand that their home can't be the way that it was before.

The passionate theatrics draw his attention again as Shiba sets the stage, so-to-speak, to the journey towards Shinjuku's future. He can't help wondering; Is it hope that fuels Shiba's energy? Or is this an attempt to motivate him? The comment about Shibuya makes Hazuki believe it could be both.

"We'd better." Hazuki stands up and shoves his hands into his pockets like always, his body turned towards Shiba now, but his eyes are back onto Shinjuku's remains. "Which brings me to something else that needs to be decided before we can continue. Seeing as we have no point system to assist us in this, I have had to carefully consider; Who will be my Conductor?"

The Composer allows that to hang in the air for a few seconds, letting it gain its deserved attention before he continues, "Miyakaze... I've judged you to be the best fit for this position."

Said like he really had any options. Hazuki had ruminated on this for a while, carefully examining each and every one of his remaining Reapers, weighing not just their personalities but their Souls. Their dedication to this cause wasn't in question, just their ability to take the position at all. There were so many complications and the Dissonance left over from Kubo's influence made this delicate. The rejection, and the paranoia that would come from anyone else taking this position, would cause Shiba's Soul to regress and break down further. Hazuki couldn't take the risk of the potential consequences. Truthfully, he didn't feel sure of this, but nothing was sure these days and he'd already been dragging this along behind him for far too long now.

It's frustrating. Has Mikagi always been like this? How was Shiba supposed to convey the Composer's will if he couldn't understand it? Did he just not care about anything under him? Perhaps Shinjuku was just a mere springboard before he could ascend ever higher... Shiba couldn't know if Mikagi never explained himself.

A part of Shiba wishes that he could ask the former Conductor--though there is no way he'd be seeing him again. Aside from the fact that (Shiba assumed) he'd been erased through the Composer's own desires, the potential conflict between them would be...problematic.

Even if it would take some of the load off them for the foreseeable future.

Well, there was no rest, even in death.

Shiba shifts when Hazuki stands up, straightening back up and looking at him closely as he starts to speak about the Conductor position. Who, indeed, would be the next Conductor? It was what they'd all been wondering. Kaie, at least, didn't seem to hold any interest in it. Or, Shiba thought he didn't.

Tsugumi needed to stay far away from Mikagi's attention, as far as he was concerned. The last thing he wanted was for the Composer to decide she needed to be erased out of concern for his own safety. The previous Conductor had been her older brother. It would be all to easy to assume her lingering feelings may drive her to revenge.

And Hishima... Shiba didn't even want to think about it.

The tension in Shiba's shoulders grows the longer Haz makes him wait for his answer. He wishes he could snap at him to just hurry it up already!

Miyakaze... I've judged you to be the best fit for this position.

Shiba blinks, his expression going blank. He...was going to be Conductor again. This time, of Shinjuku. He was going to be in charge of the Game again. He takes a breath through his nose, filling his lungs with the ash of his mistakes.

He doesn't deserve this recognition after it was by his hand that Shinjuku was destroyed. But.. Shiba felt strongly that this was for the best, and even his guilt is offset by the sheer relief he feels. It permeates his entire being and he can feel his body finally relaxing.

"Thank you for your consideration, Composer. I must admit, I'm honored to be considered your best choice." Best out of four, really. "I will do my best to convey your will to the rest of the Reapers."

As they finish their walk, she can't help but be amused. This was so much like when he and the others came to Shibuya, except it was genuine this time. The way she thought it had been before.

"Oh, looks like they've got a special today," she comments, seeing a sign up. "Well, as promised. Spicy Curry Don," she gestures to the restaurant before them, purposely being a little dramatic about it.

She holds the door open for him, and gives a quick wave to the staff.

He thanks Uzuki when she opens the door for him and slips on through. What a colorful little restaurant, with the blue walls and white ceiling. A chalkboard menu hangs behind the counter, giving the restaurant an informal, personable feeling. His eye catches on a bright red hanging rug on the wall with a geometric pattern on it.

Finally, Hazuki gets the explanation, and it's about what he expected... he immediately starts to assume; Shiba is doing this to comfort himself. But then the conclusion comes.

Shinjuku is an irrevocable part of me, my beloved home. And I want to see it sing again.

"Ah..." Is the only thing that comes out of Hazuki's mouth at first. Seeing Shibuya... opened my eyes to how unique Shinjuku was. Unique. It certainly was unique, wasn't it? At its entirety, it buzzed with life at all hours of the day and the night, good people, terrible people, people just trying to get through another day. The powerful emotional feedback was constant.

The first time Hazuki had ever felt Shinjuku in his Soul, it felt like violence. The hate for the city he'd tried to release himself from found its way back into his freshly cleansed Soul, a beast not so easily overcome. He wonders; Could he have ever had the strength to see it through its worst? Could it have grown, in spite of it all? Could he have learned to endure it?

What did Joshua feel like under the weight of noisy Shibuya? Why did he choose to save it from this very same fate? Why did Joshua step in for Shinjuku? He still doesn't understand.

Hazuki looks away from Shiba, out into the vast empty space, at the broken and distorted buildings. When he lets this place breathe again, it won't be the same anymore. What kind of Shinjuku can they make together? Will it feel good to be a part of it, or will he continue to resent it? How much of what was will survive from the effort his remaining Reapers now make to restore it?

"Shinjuku was my home, too." The Composer finally says, his eyes drifting shut, "It is as much a part of me as it is a part of you, but I've never felt the kind of love for it that you're talking about. I don't know if I can. But all of you... You want to see it live again." Was it just a fault of his own that he couldn't see why they wanted it to be what it was before? Was it a fault of his own that he couldn't feel much of anything for it anymore? Or did this hope of theirs survive off of pure nostalgia and the could-have-beens?

How disquieting, that all their lives hung suspended from the hand of such a being.

At least now that Hazuki wasn’t looking at him directly, Shiba feels like he had a bit more room to breathe. To think. He sighs and reaches up to massage his forehead, shutting his eyes as he thought.

And what had Hazuki said earlier? That he did not choose Shinjuku and yet he was its Composer anyway. That made no sense. Any high ranking Reaper knew what would happen if you took out the Composer. It wasn’t exactly a secret among the Officers and Elites.

But Shiba doesn’t think he’s lying. The Composer had no reason to. What would be the point of Hazuki lying about any of this? Shiba certainly couldn’t imagine. After all, it just made Hazuki sound like a fool, or at the very least, woefully uninformed.

Still, one thing Hazuki says feels like hot ash on Shiba’s skin.

It is as much a part of me as it is a part of you, but I've never felt the kind of love for it that you're talking about.

What the hell is he supposed to say to that? There were plenty of things that Shiba wanted to say. Things that the Composer might not have taken lightly. The lives of all of those in the UG and the RG depended on the Composer. It was by his design that the fabric of reality was able to exist at all.

It won’t be the same as it was.

Shiba takes a deep breath, then stands up, turning his heard toward Hazuki. He smiles at Shinjuku’s Composer, but it doesn’t quite reach his eyes.

“Must be a miserable task, watching over a place you feel no spark for. Were you hoping the Inversion would allow you to mold Shinjuku into somewhere more appealing? Everything you had a problem with should be gone.” Shiba reaches up to adjust his sunglasses to keep his bangs firmly in place.

“All four of us have accepted that our home will never be the same. After all, if we brought it back exactly how it was, you’d burn it down all over again without a second thought, wouldn’t you?”

He shrugs his shoulders dismissively, as if the thought doesn’t infuriate him. His smile grows wider and he lifts his arms in a grand gesture, turning to face the broken Shinjuku. “But, so long as some pieces of our home remain, we’ll be satisfied.”

“So!” And he turns to Hazuki, suddenly energized. He bows to Shinjuku’s Composer, a low sweeping one that would fit better in a theater than a proper greeting. “Let us rebuild your stage! It will be better than it was, a true beacon to set the souls of this city aflame, blazing hotter than ever!”

And he looks up, his smile widening into a grin.

Shiba hearing people talk about Neku before the events of NEO like—