05: Joshua

        “Josh.”

        “Why are you in my bedroom?”

        Neku was confused, extremely confused. He had gotten home from an outing to an art store, only to come home to Joshua laying on his bed and playing with that stupid orange phone.

        “I was waiting for you to get home. This is a nice little apartment by the way, I like how you keep it clean. I figured that it had been a few days since we chatted, and you never bothered texting me, so I decided to show up.” He grinned at Neku and Neku rolled his eyes.

        “Yes, okay, fine, give me some warning next time. By why, specifically, my bedroom, why my bed?”

        “Because it is comfiest here and I thought it would surprise you the most. I was right.” Josh laughed while Neku sighed, sitting down on the other side of the bed.

        “So you wanted to chat about something with me?” Neku was facing Josh. This had better be something good.

        “Not really about anything important, I just wanted to chat. I haven’t had much experience with idle conversation before but now would be as good a time as any to try. Anything interesting happen today on your end?” Josh… was trying to carry out a normal conversation… the idea that this could happen had never occurred to Neku.

        “Um, interesting. On the walk to school a car swerved and nearly hit me, I am honestly amazed that it didn’t.” Neku figured Josh might have something to do with that, but he didn’t wanna ask. “Then there was the ceremony that was in memory of the shooting two months ago at Udagawa,” here Neku glared at Josh. “It seems that your memory alterations didn’t quite cover everything. So yeah, it was interesting attending something in memory of the ‘unidentifiable dead teenage boy’ that got shot. Never thought I would attend what was basically a funeral for myself, but myself being anonymously dead while currently alive.”

        “I have to agree there, attending your own funeral is a rather weird experience. Though, for mine it was more annoying, quite a lot of the people that had showed up, especially the ones from my school, had a favorite pastime of calling me crazy. Mr. H wasn’t lying when he mentioned that I could see the UG as a kid, it got me diagnosed with schizophrenia and isolated me from pretty much everyone. How hilarious it was to see them weeping over my grave, they felt guilty no doubt, guilty because they were assholes who didn’t think to be less mean until I was supposedly buried six feet under.” Neku’s eyes widened slightly as Josh chuckled, amazed at what had been said.

        “Josh, casual conversations don’t generally involve being so blunt about that sort of thing. You admitted to your bad social skills, yes, but that doesn’t mean you can’t work on improving them now.”

        Joshua shrugged, but took that to heart. “Okay then, I will revise that. I agree, attending your own funeral is pretty weird, I attended mine when it happened and found out that a lot of kids who didn’t even know me were mourning my death, almost as if they felt bad for me. I think it is pretty silly how you get the most attention after you die.”

        Neku smiled at Josh’s attempt, it was a good start. “Better. I am sure that you will be able to pick up social skills in no time if you put some effort into it. You don’t need to gloss over everything, you can still be yourself when working on this, but saying something like that diagnosis so lightly is a bit off-putting.”

        “Thanks for that tip, dear.” Josh giggled, feeling more flirtatious right now.

        “Tip number two then, Josh. Don’t flirt with people if you don’t mean it.” Neku was a bit fed up with insincerity when it came to this topic.

        “But how do you know I am faking it? Really, you just like to assume that my flirtatious words are a joke, what would you do if they weren’t?”

        Neku… didn’t know what he would do. The idea of love buried itself into his chest. The idea that he could be loved was foreign to him, but he kinda liked what his mind was coming up with. Someone who really cared for him, wanted to snuggle and hold hands, someone to fall asleep by, that was what came to mind. But… this was Josh, and Josh loved to joke, this could just be one big joke to him.

        “I think I would tell you to stop lying. If you were serious, well, honestly I can’t see why you would be. There is nothing about me that seems all that romantically appealing.”

        “Neku, if there is one thing I will not stand to hear you say it is anything that is berating yourself.” Joshua’s expression  got very serious as he looked dead into Neku’s eyes, causing Neku to shiver at that gaze. “ There’s not many people that a city will very literally mourn when they are killed, yet when I shot you that second time Shibuya got angry, at me. Do you have any idea what kind of potential you have? I really think you don’t, and that is a shame, because your potential is so high that it has gotten the Angels to start trying to plan things for you, though I doubt that my city is going to let you go anytime soon. Every single person has Music, a song that defines who they are, everything about them is stored in those notes and it is always playing. Yours stands out, no matter where I am in Shibuya I can pinpoint exactly where you are. Right now, sitting by you, I have to keep my vibes tuned down low enough so that I can actually focus on conversation and not get distracted. So have some fucking confidence in yourself, because when I say that I am not joking around, then I am not.”

Josh hadn’t yet realized what he had just said, anger at Neku’s lack of self-confidence making him forget that this could very well destroy what tentative relationship they had right now. When Neku was struck speechless by that spew though, it hit him that he had said just a bit too much. His eyes widened and Neku figured that Josh was about to flee, but he couldn’t let that happen, and so he took Josh’s arm in a death-grip.

“You. Are not. Allowed. To leave. Not after that, not after all of that.” Neku took a deep, steadying, breath, because holy shit, Josh,  he’s actually serious about this, about me.

“Josh. Tell me, please tell me that you were serious about all of that. If you are joking about all of this, then I will not. Ever. Forgive you. I am sick of being manipulated by you, so if this is all just a joke that you find amusing then you can leave, now, and never come back.” For the love of god, Josh, please don’t leave, stay, stay, stay here, say it is the truth.

Josh smiled at Neku. Neku was afraid of the rejection, not the truth. “Neku Sakuraba, I can promise you that this is no joke of mine,” he said as he placed a finger under Neku’s chin, tilting his head up slightly. Neku let him do that, lacking words. “The emotions of friendship and romance are closely tied for me, but I can tell them apart. I deal with the latter by using silence, better to deal with an unrequited crush than face rejection. Sometimes my tongue likes to do its own thing though, just a warning.”

Joshua kissed Neku. Neku kissed back. That tongue of Josh’s didn’t try to be tricky during this time, it stayed put in his mouth during this innocent kiss. And for once, neither of them were teasing each other, neither of them were hiding something, and both of them were very truly happy. Happy with each other, happy with themselves, just two happy fools in love. Love. Something Neku had never thought to gain now came in the man who killed him twice. Well, existance is funny like that, and that was certainly one way for the both of them to expand their horizons, open up their world, and open up to each other.

Endings are never this happy. Endings are deadly.

This is not the end, the end comes with death.

--

04: Right In His Stupid Face

        “Yoshiya Kiryu, I know you are standing right here and you had better do whatever it is you do to appear in the RG or I will find some way to punch you in the face.”

        I smirked at Neku’s threat, knowing it was an empty one. Rhyme was helping him, they probably wanted me to appear and speak to Neku. That suspicion was confirmed when Rhyme spoke. “Josh, stop hiding and stop smirking. You need to talk to more people than just me and Hanekoma.”

        “But Rhyme, I am supposed to be limiting my RG time to a minimum. I shouldn’t be interfering much.” I sighed dramatically.

        “You and I both know that’s an excuse, you are perfectly capable of hopping planes and can do so at your leisure. Since when did you let rules stop you?” Damnit, they had a point, but on this matter, I wished to be a coward.

        “Hey Josh, stop hiding. It’s kinda rude to shoot a guy twice then never speak to him again. I am not mad at you for the game… much, but I am mad because you refuse to come out and talk to me. It’s like you are afraid. Are you? Because if you are, then remember, facing your fears is important, and so is letting others in. Of course, you probably think that you don’t have to adhere to what others do, but it applies to you too.” What was with everyone making good points? If they both kept this up I would run out of excuses.

        So I popped into the RG, sighing. “Fine. Here I am. Happy now? Or were you expecting me to go get my gun again so we could chat in the UG instead?” I grinned, just because it was my first time talking to Neku since the game didn’t mean I couldn’t be an asshole about it.

        Of course, I really should’ve considered that he might punch me in the RG too, which he did, hard and painfully. “You know, I was hoping for a bit less of a bloody nose. But ah well, satisfied with yourself now that you’ve got that angry energy out?” I knew that this was possibility, and a high one, but I didn’t care. It was therapeutic for Neku to take out his anger at me, hence why I had provoked him.

        “Yeah… I’m not apologizing for potentially breaking your nose though.” He watched as I healed the injury, vaporizing the blood. “Well that takes some of the satisfaction out of it.”

        I laughed. “Yes well, I would rather not have a broken nose for a long duration of time, I do feel pain after all.” I looked over to Rhyme now. “Do you think he should apologize for breaking my nose?” Lighthearted humor is what I was aiming for, but Neku didn’t quite get that.

        “Hey, leave her out of this argument, Beat’ll kill me if he finds out I punched someone in front of her.” The concern for his own life was pretty funny, but it didn’t quite work on me.

        “I think that Rhyme can be in this if they want to, after all, Rhyme is the one that started this by getting us to meet again.” Neku didn’t notice my pronoun choices, maybe I was lucky that he was unobservant sometimes. I made a mental note to be careful about those around others, Rhyme hadn’t told everyone else yet.

        “Fine, fine. Rhyme, what do you think I should do?”

        “Always apologize if you do something wrong. That applies to both of you.” Rhyme grinned.

        “Well, you first Neku, we will go by how recent the event was.”

        “Fine then Josh, sorry for breaking your nose even though you totally deserved it.” He snickered at me, and I laughed in return.

        “Well then, sorry for shooting your forehead, twice, even though that led to significant improvements in your personality and life, once you had life again that is. Oh, and sorry for lying and manipulating you all through week two, that was me trying to make you dislike me enough to shoot me though, which apparently wasn’t enough.” I shrugged, sighing as I leaned against the statue. What had started as an insincere apology had become sincere, but only if Neku picked up on that.

        Which I figure he did, because he was silent for a moment before he spoke. “You know, you might not be as big of a dick as I thought you were. You are still a huge dick though.”

        “Yes, obviously. The low amount of social interaction I’ve had in my life has made it kinda hard for me to be anything else. I lack those basic skills such as empathy and caring; figuring out how to be acceptable when it comes to socialness has never been my forte.” This was better, much better, than what I had expected for a first conversation between us. I had been expecting a bit more injury on my side and more hate from Neku, that wasn’t happening. I was glad. I was glad because Neku and I could still be friends, and I knew that I shouldn’t get too attached to him, but it was so easy that I didn’t even notice.

        I was about to say more when I noticed the time. Well shit. There was something in exactly half an hour that I couldn’t miss, if I did then I would have to say goodbye to my afterlife. “I would love to stay and chat, dear, but I have gotta run. The HG has a meeting with me in 30 minutes. If I don’t attend it then you probably won’t have to worry about ever seeing me again. Here is my cell number though, feel free to text.” I handed him a piece of paper that had previously been air. It had my number on it, and it was a real number, though a moment after he entered the digits into his phone I felt mine buzz.

^Hey Josh, is this really your number?^

I quickly typed back. ^Yes Neku, it is.^ I grinned at him. “Doubting me, were you? Makes perfect sense with how I have been avoiding you, but I will try not to get erased anytime soon. Feel free to stop by the Dead God’s Pad whenever you want, that applies to both of you.” Before I could disappear Neku gave me a quick hug, and Rhyme joined in.

When they stopped hugging me I waved at them and blinked out of existence, then right back into existence in the trial room I had been assigned to.

          “Yoshiya Kiryu, you stand before us today-”

        “Actually, if you didn’t notice, I am sitting. Technically we all are.” Sassing my higher-ups probably wasn’t smart, but it was fun, and that was what mattered.

        The groan that went through them all amused me, so I smirked as they continued. “You sit before us today in order to be put on trial for your crimes during the Long Game. Those crimes include-”

        “No need to repeat them all again, this is the third trial after all.”

        “Fine. Today you will endure a trial for your most recent infraction then. You have once more approached and spoken to your proxy in the RG. How do you plea to this charge?”

        “Not guilty, because I was told not to interfere in their lives, to let them choose how to live them. My proxy invited me back into his life by breaking my nose and then hugging me. I was invited though, and so it is not an infraction.”

03: Prime Rhyme Time

        You can still see the UG. That is the first thing you notice when you come back to life. There are still Noise everywhere, you can still see the wings on the reapers’ backs, and you can feel the vibrations running through the plane as Joshua mends the damage he has done. That was another thing, you remembered Joshua, you remembered all that he had said to you. The others didn’t seem to remember, when you mentioned Joshua to Beat, he said “How did you find out ‘bout that prissy kid Neku was partner’s with in week 2?” Asking Shiki was no better, she barely knew who he was at all.

        Today was your chance to ask Neku about Josh. Beat was busy with a detention after school and called Neku to get him to pick you up. You are standing outside your school when you see him walking your way, that hair flaming in the bright sun. You smile and walk to meet him on the sidewalk. When you reach him he grins and ruffles your hair, which you don’t really mind because it is a form of affection that he is fond of. You don’t really like it when adults do it though, it makes you think that they think you are a child, which you are not.

        You have already fought through death and survived after all.

        “Hey Rhyme! How’ve you been?” he asked you.

        “I’ve been good, in school today we were discussing career goals…” You sighed, you used to excel at planning out your future, after all, you used to have so many dreams for what you could do.

        Neku smiled at you sympathetically, he knew what it was like to lose something, even if he did have it back now. “Well, don’t worry too hard, I am sure you will find something new to dream about.”

        The two of you started to walk, a nice casual pace toward Hachiko. You figured now would be the best time to broach the subject. “You know, it is fine to talk about the game to me if you want. The others don’t seem to like talking about it, but I don’t really mind. I’m also curious about what happened… while I was Noise that is.” Josh had explained it to you after he had brought you back to life, sure, but you wanted another person’s take on it.

        “Ah, well, that’ll take a long time to explain, it was two weeks and three more days after all, but if you want me to I can.” He seemed unsettled by your question, but you wanted to know more.

        “Well, Joshua explained it pretty quickly, but that was more of a broad explanation.”

        Neku froze when you said that name, Joshua, his mouth hung open and his eyes were wide in surprise. He took a deep breath to steady himself and spoke, “...You’ve met Josh. You’ve met Josh, and he explained things to you. What exactly did he tell you?”

        You smiled, Neku remembered Josh, just like you thought he would. “Well, after he brought me back to life he told me that he was the Composer, which was easy to believe since he forgot to stop glowing, though why he was glowing I am not sure. He told me who Mr. H was and explained how he had saved me, then mentioned that he was partners with you  during week two. When the person he described as ‘this one insane reaper game master dude who likes to swear using math terms’ fired at you two he absorbed that energy by using it to hop to a parallel universe. But he also told me everything he had done, and he seemed pretty mad at himself for all of it.”

        Both of you had resumed walking while you talked, but now Neku was almost angry. “Hmph. It’s been three weeks and he hasn’t even bothered to explain any of this to me, he left me in the dark. He told you more in one night than he told me in a whole week.”

        “Neku, try looking at it from his perspective. As Composer he is deeply tied to the city, Shibuya was horrible back then because of Josh’s mood and view. He was angry with his past self because of everything he did. Now he is looking at Shibuya differently, I can tell, I can feel all the changes he is making in the UG.” So maybe Josh had been visiting you since the game, it had only happened twice, but he was nice and understood you. He kept saying that you were important to the city, that you were special, and he knew those feelings of not belonging too. It had only been half an hour or so, each time, but each time you walked away feeling happier than you had earlier.

        “...You can still see the UG?” And there was the stopping in the middle of the sidewalk again. Neku really needed to get better at that.

        “Yeah. I think it is because I was Noise for the better part of three weeks, I was part of it. As Noise everything is different, sure you are still contained in some form or another, but I felt a lot more connected to the city during that time, even without having had any real thought ability.” As Noise you had basic instincts and feelings, hunger, pain, anger, but lack coherent thought or language. You grabbed Neku’s hand and started to pull him along, stopping was getting you nowhere.

        “That sounds… interesting. I mean, I definitely don’t want to be Noise, but it wouldn’t be horrifying. But so you were saying now Josh was trying to change Shibuya? Are you sure he isn’t just slowly destroying it?” Neku’s eyebrows furrowed at the thought, he had just come to love Shibuya so its destruction was off the menu.

        “He isn’t. Haven’t you noticed how much happier the city feels? That is because of his change. A house can smell horrible but the person living in it won’t notice what is causing the problem, they might not even notice it, it takes another person entering the house to realize the problem and help fix it.” You smiled, from what Josh had said that was exactly what Neku had done.

        Neku opens his mouth as if to say something, but before he can Shiki spots you two and hurries over. “Neku! Rhyme!” she said, rushing forward and hugging you. When she lets go she smiles at you. “How was your day? And where’s Beat?”

        “My day was good, for the most part. Beat got an after-school detention though so he isn’t going to be here.” You smile right back.

        “Well besides a fiasco in English where the teacher took my sketchbook for ‘doodling during an assignment’ my day was good. What about you, Shiki?” He smiled, and you always liked the smiles that he gave Shiki. They were genuine but not like the kind a joke would get, it was like he was seeing her again after a vacation, coming home to a friend. And Shiki smiled all wide and toothy, happy just to see them.

        “Oh no, another detention? Well, he will have to make up the missed time today by coming tomorrow during our Saturday meetup, be sure to tell him that, ‘kay Rhyme?” You nod to say you will. “Sweet, now I’ve gotta dash though, I am supposed to go help Eri with some more outfits for our line today. We are planning on doing a fashion show soon.”

“I am sure you will do great! Good luck on working on those designs, make sure to remind her that I am a man and don’t wear dresses, and that gravity exists.” Neku chuckled though, waving a farewell to Shiki as she dashed off. You waved too.

        So Neku and you walk the small distance to Hachiko. Even when not everyone could make the after-school meetings those who could would still go. You had noticed that two people always found a way to show up, or at least you figured it was always, considering you had missed a few days yourself. It was always Neku, sometimes he would sit and draw under the statue for hours, glancing up and looking for someone to show up. Of course, when that happened, there was always someone sitting right by him when you got there. Joshua.

        Sure, Josh wasn’t ever in the RG at those times, but he was there, at every meeting. He would always smile and wave at you, but you would never wave back because the others would notice. Today was an exception, today you waved when he waved. Josh’s eyes widened at that, surprised by the acknowledgement.

        “Who are you waving to, Rhyme?” Neku tilted his head, curious.

        “Josh. He shows up to every meeting you know, but never bothers to come out of the UG. I think he is afraid of doing that, actually.” You have tried encouraging him to come out of hiding, but it hasn’t worked yet, maybe this will.

        “Really? Where exactly is he standing right now?” When Neku asks that you tell him, with words and gestures. Neku walks right over to where you said Josh was, stopping a bit before him and staring him down. You follow.

02: Neku

        Neku sat up in his bed, disorientated by the strange comfort. He had dreamt of waking up at the Scramble Crossing once more, but this was not it. Slowly, the memories of that last day returned to him

        He and Beat were trying to become Composer, fighting Konoshi, Shades, and expecting Mr. H, but that wasn’t who it had been. Oh, who had it been? He couldn’t seem to remember, brain failing to wake up completely, but there was that stupid giggle, that irritating voice, that ashy blond hair, that-

        Joshua! That’s right! The asshole hadn’t actually sacrificed himself for Neku! It had all been a stupid trick, a game, and here Neku had thought that he had made another friend, instead he had trusted a traitor. He had shot Neku, twice! Sure, there was no evidence, no scars from the bullets, but he could still feel the residual touch of them that he had felt when they went through his head.

        Neku hurried to a mirror, just to make sure that there was really no sign of being shot, twice. There wasn’t, his skin was flawless in that regard. He gently touched the spot on his forehead where the bullet had entered, and he could feel the scar, the pain it had caused him, but that scar didn’t really exist. It was all in his mind, he decided, the feeling of a scar there, all in his mind, because naturally a scar would exist from being shot, but Josh had patched that right on up.

        Three weeks though, and now Neku didn’t even know what day it was. Was it a Saturday? Sunday? It was probably Sunday, considering how he wasn’t woken by an alarm, meaning there was no school today. That was good, after everything he had gone through, Neku was ready to spend a day doing nothing. But really, he was kinda looking forward to school again, walking through those halls and seeing how everyone would react to him being alive once more.

        Speaking of which, he was glad that his father was almost never home, he probably hadn’t heard of Neku’s death yet, and if he had, well, Neku was sure that Josh had some magicy Composer power way of taking care of that. He and his dad were never on the best of terms, it wasn’t a bad relationship, but when your dad is always out of the country and your mom is dead then the distance becomes more than physical.

        After cooking up some breakfast— well, making a bowl of cereal— and his morning routines, Neku settled down at the desk in his room. A lot of stuff had happened, but most of all, he had rekindled his passion to draw. All his old materials still littered that desk, colored pencils and paints and even crayons. He had always loved to draw, yet after the death of his friend a year ago that love had died with him. Now that he had died himself and survived he was overflowing with the desire to pick up those long-familiar tools once more.

        And so Neku did. He started with a sketch. He didn’t even know what he was drawing yet, but he felt inspiration to put lines on the paper and so let his hands do all the talking. Soon a head was forming, and then shoulders, it was clear that this artistic piece was going to be a head bust. Soft, wavy, curly hair, the nose and eyes taking shape soon too, along with a mouth. Once that sketch was done it was clear who he had been picturing, it seemed as though the bastard wasn’t content to let Neku be, rather he had to get Neku to draw himself too (nevermind the fact that he wasn’t even here).

        Neku sighed. Now that he had this sketch, he might as well color it in. That hair shading seemed like it would be impossible to get, let alone the eyes, but he managed alright. The hair was still a bit off, even after countless pencils used, and the eyes were a bit lighter than what he had been aiming for, but overall it was a pretty good job for being so out of practice.

        Why Neku had drawn Josh the asshole, dick, traitor, bastard, stupid dead kid who had killed Neku and used him he didn’t quite understand. All he knew was that no matter however horrible Josh was, his aesthetic was, outwardly, appealing. It was an appearance that he wasn’t going to forget, that’s for sure. Neku had that stupid smirk seared into his mind, the same way the bullet had before.

        At this point in time Neku took a glance at the clock, and holy shit it was after 4pm. He had woken up late, true, 10am was pretty late after the game, but he had spent all of that time drawing. Neku recalled now that, while working on pieces, he often forgot to eat, forgetting that hunger was a thing he could have. But now that he was done working the pains of hunger attacked his stomach. He figured the game might’ve had something to do with his internal clock though too, considering how odd the eating patterns had been.

        So Neku ate food and did some other unimportant things like shower and whatnot. It was in that shower that the realization hit him, there would be no more running or adventure in his life. There would be school, friends, casual meetings without having to fight for his life. Now Neku understood why Josh said he had been itching to play the game. The game was a change of pace, always adrenaline rushing, always trying to beat that clock, always doing something. But that mundane way of living life was still good, still satisfying. He had passion, he had friends (friends that he really should call), and he had life.

        Of course, this was all assuming that Joshua wasn’t just waiting around to destroy Shibuya. For all Neku knew, the asshole could just be waiting until the right moment, lulling Neku into false security to take more pleasure at his outrage later.

01: Post Game

        Thump.

        The sound of Neku’s head hitting the floor echoed through the air, fading fast. I still held that smoking gun, the one that previously held that bullet now lodged in his skull. Why didn’t he shoot? Anyone would have shot me to save the city and have my job. Why? The constant echoes of why kept running through my head. Neku had grown to care about this city over these last three weeks, hadn’t he? Hadn’t I done enough to get him to hate me, to want to erase me to protect the city?

        Oh well, I was just going to ignore those thoughts for now. Neku was just laying there, appearing to be asleep, he would’ve looked much better without that hole in his forehead though. As I walked over to his body I flipped frequencies into my Composer form, all glowy and stuff. Contrary to what some might think, that form wasn’t just for show, it allowed me to fully utilize my powers.

        In that form I could hear how Shibuya mourned, the city was weeping, for the life of this human boy. Shibuya was angry with me for robbing her of his potential, I comforted her with the thoughts of bringing that potential back.

        Carefully, I knelt down by the boy, assessing just how fragile he looked like this. Neku, the strong Soul, the boy with Imagination untold, was here crumpled on the floor, broken. It wasn’t right, but that was what I was going to fix. The body is just a vessel anyways, a container for all that energy. This container was going to be fixed up though, nothing fragile about it was going to exist once I was done.

        Step one: Fix the physical damage. Remove the bullet from the brain, carefully string together the wayward notes residing there and heal the injury. Use prior knowledge to recreate the lost brain matter and prepare the right brainwave patterns,

        Step two: Perform a physical checkup. Heal all the wounds that resulted from fighting over the course of the week (or in this case, three). Restore body to health, carefully extract any potentially damaging physical problems from pre-death (such as the chance for cancer). Revitalize the body to its best possible state, better than what it may have been previously to give the person a better chance of living once more.

        Step three: Gather up the Soul and Imagination of the person. Reach out to Shibuya and find all the parts of the person's Soul before it can assimilate with the city. Once that is done, breath the life back into the person and revitalize them. Awaken them for a moment, but make sure to ensure that they are asleep within the next.

        Sounds easy enough, right? Well, usually it was, but this time I wasn't dealing with some person or another, this was Neku. One wrong move and I would cripple him, cause physical problems, or hurt his mental health more than I already had. I made sure to follow each step oh so very carefully, straining to make sure I got every last bit of Neku before pouring that (wonderful, beautiful, amazing) Soul back into the body.

        Instantly, he started to wake, but before he could do too much I gently made him return to sleep. He would be allowed to wake in his bed. There was absolutely no reason for Neku to wake up lying on the cold hard ground, a soft bed would be much better. So I dug through his memories to figure out just where his home was while picking him up and holding him in my arms.

 After getting the details I teleported the both of us there. First, I laid the boy down in his bed,using telekinesis so I wouldn’t have to switch to my RG form, covering him with the blankets. My next task was to fix everyones’ memory. First came the families of the previously deceased, erasing the memories of these past weeks where their kids had been dead, and then the friends, they wouldn’t want to remember the feeling of their friends being dead. It would be like a big dream to all of them, because obviously the dead don’t come back, but memories can’t be completely erased, not without doing damage to those minds.

I followed those same steps with Shiki and Beat. Eri was the hardest to make forget, but in the end I managed, that memory would be a bad nightmare to her. They would be allowed to remember their time in the game, minus my identity, but the human mind always works to keep sanity, and so eventually they would deem this a dream or forget entirely. Just a game played with friends.

Next came Rhyme, such an important person. Losing those dreams would surely cause damage, but they had lost and that was the price. I took the pin from Beat, holding it in my hands. Wake up Rhyme, time to come out of hiding and be human again. I was delving into that pin, channeling the Imagination and Soul outwards, pouring my own Imagination into it, reawakening the child that slept within, Soon, a body formed, human, and they started to take shape, looking as they once did.

All those memories, all those emotions, and all that wisdom, were preserved by the pin, the pin that was no longer needed. Bringing someone back from erasure was more tiring than from death, but still, it would be worth it, Rhyme was going to be so very important to Shibuya in the future. Once that body was breathing, alive, the pin was no longer needed, and so I tossed the now-blank aside as I bent down by them. Rhyme was a special case, not just for being Noise, but I felt as though they could benefit from a chat.

“Wake up Rhyme, time to be alive,” I said as I shook them slightly, watching as they sat up, rubbing their head.

“Hi there,” they said with a smile, Rhyme always seemed to be smiling from what I could tell. “You seem to know who I am, but who are you? And where is Beat?” Clearly they had their memories of Beat being their brother back once more, that had been returned after week one, after all.

I smiled back at them. “My name is Joshua, I am the Composer, the person in charge of the game. Beat is fine, he is safe and at home, you will be joining him shortly, but I figured you deserved to be filled in on what happened while you were Noise. Believe me so far?”

“It is hard not to believe you when you are glowing. Nice to meet you Joshua. I suppose I have you to thank for bringing Beat and I back to life, don’t I?”

At Rhyme’s words I realized that I was still in my Composer form, and down-tuned myself back to my RG body. “Whoops, sorry about that, I meant to look more human during this chat. You don’t need to thank me though, as Composer that is one of my jobs, and it is not as though I would just leave you as Noise, that would cause more negatives than positives.”

“You don’t need to be afraid to show what you really look like, if people judge you for that then judge their ability to have biased preconceptions based on looks.” Rhyme grinned, and I chuckled as I got a dose of that wisdom I had heard about first-hand. “And that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t thank you, just because it is your job. You seem rather nice.”

“I think I will stick in this form nonetheless, it will be less of a strain on both your eyes and your vibes, especially after having been Noise for over two weeks. A lot has happened while you have been in that limited form of consciousness. And if you insist on thanking me, then I guess I must say you’re welcome.” This person was much too nice for their own good, but I figured Rhyme could figure that out on their own, eventually, figure out how to be wary of others so that they wouldn’t get taken advantage of.

“I imagine it is late and you have probably had a long day, so it would be best if you just told it now, instead of beating around the bush.”

I yawned at the mention of how long the day had been. So I started to summarize what what had happened over the past three weeks. I explained who Mr. H. was, talked about how he turned Rhyme into a pin/Noise, detailed quickly how I became partners with Neku during week two, told Rhyme about week three, mentioned parallel universes, and then started to tell them about what had happened today.

“This game of mine, by the way, took place because a month ago I was equal parts sick of humanity and sick of being Composer. My two end-game ideas were to either erase Shibuya, and myself with her, or to have Neku take my place,” I smirked, a bit remorseful, but amused too. “You can see how well that plan went. It was a duel, he was supposed to shoot and replace me, because I betrayed him and told him that if he didn’t Shibuya would fall. Surely that would motivate anyone, I thought, but that boy has changed so much since I chose him as my proxy that he didn’t shoot. That change is what I saw happen though, so now I get to deal with the aftermath of my foolish game.” I sighed, waiting for their reaction.

It didn’t take too long to come. “You don’t want to destroy Shibuya anymore though, right? And wouldn’t doing that doom yourself to erasure too?”

I smiled at Rhyme’s inquisitiveness. “You are correct on both assumptions. I was projecting my own problems onto Shibuya, and that is why the city seemed so ridden with problems. Neku… helped me change my views, he managed to show me all the potential for this city, all the potential I had been ignoring in favor of the hatred for everyone and everything. I figured that if Neku didn’t shoot then I would just take everything out anyways, including myself, but, that boy has so much potential that it reached out to me and changed my mind.”

“Sometimes the best way to see light is to have other people shine it on you. I am glad that he managed to change your mind, and thank you for taking the time to explain everything to me.”

“I have two more things to say though, Rhyme, before I send you home to sleep the rest of the night away. One is that it will be very hard to live without your entry fee, but just because you lost your dreams doesn’t mean you can’t find new ones, there are endless possibilities out there for a person like you. That brings me to the second thing, don’t be afraid to be something that isn’t the norm. The way you were born does not define anything about you. You will be oh so important to Shibuya in the future, but only if you stop hiding who you are and what you feel is you.”

While I spoke Rhyme looked surprised, but then gave me a big grin. “I guess now you are sharing that light with me. I will figure out who I am and who I plan to be, no matter how long it takes. Thank you again, Josh.”

I grinned right back, standing and offering a hand to help them up, which they took, and then used to hug me for a moment. “Come on, lets get you home. I am sure that you are probably tired, and so am I, so sleep is the best thing for right now.” While Rhyme was hugging me I teleported us to their room, helping them get settled before waving goodbye as I teleported back to the pad.

I flopped down on the futon, yawning. It had been a long day. I was more tired than I would let on to anyone, but everything today had drained me. It was good to be back in my Shibuya though, a week of being away from her had left me feeling empty in the head, these long familiar connections gone in other universes. With them back now, I could sleep peacefully.