Joshua watched Neku laughing with his friends. He looked happy, much happier than he had been before he entered the Game. However, Joshua was about to ruin everything for him. Again. Never mind, it had to be done. He crept closer to them, taking care not to be seen. He had to get Neku away from the others somehow. Shiki, Beat and Rhyme would be sure to object to him "borrowing" Neku for a week. Or maybe longer. For all Joshua knew, Minamimoto might completely scrap the "survive for one week" scheme and come up with something completely new. In fact, Joshua knew Minamimoto well enough to know that that was probably exactly what he was going to do. He edged behind a bush, as near to Neku as he could get.
"Oh Neku..." he called softly. Neku spun round, and Joshua smirked at the look of shock on his face. He had obviously recognised the voice.
"Are you alright Neku?" Shiki asked, concerned.
"Yeah... Just thought I heard something."
"Yo, dontchu go crazy on us!" Beat yelled, and everyone laughed. Neku smiled and turned away from the bush.Joshua pulled out his phone and sent a text to Neku.
Why don't you come and have a little chat with me Neku? Neku's phone rang and he read the message. Joshua watched as he visibly paled.
"Neku? Are you sure you're alright?" Rhyme asked. Neku swallowed. He knew it was probably a bad idea to talk to whoever it was... especially as their voice had sounded remarkably like Joshua. And he knew that Joshua was bad news. But he had to find out what this was all about.
"I'm not feeling too good... I think I must have eaten something funny. I think I'm going to go home." He felt bad lying to his friends, but if it was indeed Joshua he did not want them involved in any way at all. Plus Beat would probably try to murder Joshua if he ever saw him again.
"Do you need us to walk you home?" Shiki asked. Neku smiled weakly.
"No, I'll be OK." He walked past the bush Joshua was hiding behind, and glanced back. He froze. Joshua smiled that smile that Neku had come to dread.
"Hello Neku."
Neku dragged Joshua into the deserted alleyway.
"What do you want?" He snapped. Joshua, as always, seemed unperturbed.
"My, what a nice way to greet one of your friends. Aren't you glad to see your dear, dear partner Neku?"
"You're not my partner! I don't have a partner. And..." Neku stopped. Joshua tutted.
"Were you about to say that I'm not your friend either? That's not very nice, Neku. You might upset me." He mimed wiping a tear from his eye. Neku glared at him.
"Enough with the pantomime. What do you want?" Joshua shrugged.
"What if I only wanted to talk to you? Do you treat all your friends like this when they want to talk to you?" Neku glared at him.
"Only the ones that betrayed and manipulated me! Oh, and you killed me too. Do you kill all your friends?"
"Only the ones that are more useful to me dead than alive. Anyway, I returned you and your friends to life so I personally consider that particular crime against you null and..." Neku grabbed his shirt and shoved him against the wall. Joshua offered no resistance.
"That doesn't change the fact that you betrayed my trust. I trusted you, and you used me! You never cared about me. I was just a pawn to you all along."
"What a harsh comparison, Neku! If I thought of you as a chess piece, you would certainly be more than a pawn. Why, you might even be the queen!"
"I am not a girl! And that doesn't change the fact that you used me." Neku growled.
"I wasn't suggesting you were a girl. I was indicating your usefulness to..."
"Quit changing the subject Joshua! Just tell me what you want and go away." Joshua sighed.
"Fine, since you are so impatient. I am here, because I am no longer the Composer."
"What? Why not?"
"When you were attempting to find me, did you by any chance come across Minamimoto?"
"Yeah. He was dead, crushed under a stack of junk."
"No he wasn't. He followed you down the tunnel and waited until he was sure that you were gone. Then he defeated me, and sent me back to the RG as a normal human."
"What? But I swear he was dead! I took his hat, he didn't even try to get it back..."
"Tell me Neku. If he had indeed been erased, then why would his body have remained there? Surely you remember that when someone is erased they disappear."
"Yes, but..."
"Anyway, about the hat. Do you have it now? May I have a look at it?" Neku pulled the black cap out of his pocket and handed it to Joshua.
"I should probably take this. After all, now Minamimoto is Composer he will be looking for it, and he is after me anyway. After all, I wouldn't want to put my ex-partner in any unnecessary danger." Joshua smirked as he said the last bit, and Neku immediately became suspicious but decided not to pursue the subject. Not yet, anyway.
"Why didn't he erase you?" Neku asked.
"He wanted me to see what he's doing to Shibuya's UG, and to play his Game." Joshua suddenly realised something strange. He hadn't seen any Reapers or Players since he had gone to look for Neku. There were Noise of course, but that was it. It seemed that Minamimoto had begun his changes already.
"That makes sense." Neku said. "So, anyway. It's all very well telling me this, but what's the point in telling me? I can't do anything about it."
"You cooould..." Joshua smiled.
Neku immediately backed away.
"No. No way! You're not killing me again. I've got friends now! You can't kill me! And Shades told me I was banned from all Games after the one with Beat. As punishment for helping you," he added.
"Ah, but I doubt Minamimoto knows that." Joshua paused, enjoying the look on Neku's face.
"No... please..." Joshua laughed.
"Sorry Neku. I couldn't resist teasing you. I'm not really going to kill you." Neku relaxed slightly, although Joshua could see he remained tense.
"You're not? Then what are you going to do?" Play right into Minamimoto's hands, Joshua thought, but of course he didn't mention this out loud.
"I'm going to see Mr H. Neku, would you come with me? I'm sure Mr H would be happy to hear from you since you completed the Game, and I would like someone to talk to. I haven't talked to anyone my own age for weeks." He placed a deliberately sad look on his face, hoping the emotional ploy would work on Neku. Neku frowned. Joshua was definitely up to something. However, Neku couldn't see anything potentially harmful about walking to Mr H's. In fact, Mr H's cafe was probably one of the safest places you could be.
"Alright," he said reluctantly. "I'll go there with you. But I told my friends I was ill, and they won't be happy if they see you." Joshua smiled.
"OK. I understand. Shall we go?" He turned to leave but someone blocked his way.
"Yo! Where you taking Neku, prissy boy?"
"Howdy, Daisukenojo," Joshua said, smiling. Beat cringed at his real name.
"Bwaaaah! Yo, dontchu call me that! Dontchu call me that!" Rhyme giggled.
"Beat, don't get so worked up!" She looked at Joshua. "Joshua right? Where are you taking Neku?" Joshua sighed. Great. Just what he needed.
"We're only going on a little walk to Mr H's, right Neku? He agreed to come with me, and you don't need to worry. I'm not going to try anything. My gun's out of ammunition." He pulled the trigger a few times to prove it. Neku nodded.
"It's alright, guys."
"No! It's not aight Neku! You can't trust this little punk, he's the Composer!" Beat shouted. "The hell you thinking?"
"Neku, are you sure you can trust him? Remember, he was the one that killed you..." Shiki asked anxiously. Rhyme remained silent.
"Look, it's alright guys. I told you. I might not have forgiven him yet, but I trust him. He could easily have erased us and the whole of Shibuya, but he didn't."
"Yo, if you go we're comin' with you!" Beat said.
"No, really. I trust him. And anyway, I need to discuss something in private with him." Rhyme pulled at her brother's sleeve.
"Beat, if Neku wants to go on his own let him. I doubt Joshua will try anything knowing that if he hurts Neku he'll have you to deal with." Joshua smiled.
"Wouldn't dream of it." Beat scowled.
"Aight, but yo... you hurt Neku and you gonna regret it. You gonna regret it bad."
"I'll see you later then," Neku said and walked off in the direction of Mr H's cafe. Joshua stayed behind for a moment.
"How about you take this?" He handed Shiki Minamimoto's hat.
"What's this?" She asked. "Oh, it's that hat..."
"Neku gave it to me, and I've taken a liking to it. If I harm Neku in any way, I don't get the hat back. Deal?"
"Is this some kind of joke? Neku is worth way more than some skanky old hat!" Shiki said, glaring. Joshua shrugged, and walked after Neku.
"It's better than nothing."
Joshua and Neku entered Cat street.
"We should probably be quick, Neku. Minamimoto would probably expect me to come here first."
"Too zetta right! Just as calculated!" Joshua smiled. Yes. Exactly as calculated, for both him and Minamimoto. They both turned round.
"You!" Neku yelled. Sure enough, there was Minamimoto sitting on top of one of his piles of junk, pointing a gun at Neku.
"You!" Minamimoto yelled. "You zetta stole my hat! You'd better give it back or I'll subtract you from the RG and add you to the UG!" Neku blanched.
"I don't have it. Joshua?" Joshua made a big show of rifling around in his pockets.
"Heh, in that case don't bother." Minamimoto said, moving the gun to point at Joshua. "I'm gonna kill you anyway, and I can reclaim my hat then."
"Neku!" Joshua hissed, just loud enough for Minamimoto to hear. "I don't have the hat! I thought you took it back."
"What? No! I didn't!" Minamimoto's gun swivelled back to Neku.
"We don't have your hat! Go look somewhere else." Neku yelled.
"You stupid hectopascal liars!" Minamimoto screamed. He calmed down almost immediately, smirking. "Fine. You stay right there while I complete the equation." Neku had no intention of "staying right there", and tried to run. However, he couldn't move. Neither could Joshua. Minamimoto pointed the gun at Joshua.
"Have zetta fun in my Game, ex-Composer!"
"No!" Neku yelled, but it was too late. Not that he could have done anything anyway. Minamimoto fired, and Joshua collapsed to the floor.
"Joshua..." A horrible thought hit Neku. I'm next. Minamimoto searched Joshua's pockets for the hat, but found nothing.
"So you have got it! You zetta liar. I guess you want to play my Game too?"
"No! I don't have..." Minamimoto fired.