Countdown

10…

Also previously stated, Shibuya loved Neku.

Joshua knew this much:

If Joshua lost, there would be no one else better to replace him as Composer. Joshua was also aware that Shibuya had a similar bet, a similar game to his and Megumi's. Joshua knew that Shibuya betted that Neku would change Joshua, would change Shibuya for the better. He knew this very well.

Because Joshua cannot deny that Neku always had the ability to change him.

The second week of the game was not the first time Joshua met Neku, nor was it the first time Joshua met Neku in his entire lifetime as Composer. Quite actually, the second week was the 7th lifetime that Joshua had met him and in reality, that second week was not Neku's second time playing the Reaper Game, it was his 9th.

Barring Shiki from the first week, Joshua has been his partner for the Reaper's Game (Composer or not) every single time. Neku has never failed to impress him since.

Shibuya loved Neku.

Joshua knew this was because Joshua loved Neku.

9…

Originally Konishi was not from Shibuya.

In fact, if you asked her, she would merely say that she was from a small rural town that no one had ever heard of.

If you asked about her family, she would stare at you and would reply, "What family? I have no family."

Both are lies.

Konishi came from a beautiful city with a huge castle that towered over it. She lived with her older brother Even, whom she adored. But she had no desire to return there, especially after her brother so carelessly left her behind once the shadows had come and took over the world.

8…

If you asked Neku about his family and home life, he would give an uneasy smile as if you're trending on eggshells and that something might seriously be wrong there.

But he would reassure you that nothing was wrong. He would even show you a picture of his mom that he carried in his wallet.

When Shiki asked about his father, Neku grew cold for a moment. Shiki wondered if she had offended him and that her worse fears might be true after all. But Neku would brush it off and then proceeded to tell her about a man named Aigo. Shiki's fears start to melt away a little and begun to convince herself that Neku's cold moments are merely a part of his personality.

Joshua knew better though. He was there after all.

7…

A wise witch once said, "There is no such thing as coincidence in this world. The only thing is Hitsuzen."

Joshua wondered how much of this is true.

"You," he stated. His voice was devoid of emotions.

Ice blue eyes blinked back at him curiously. "Me," she confirmed.

Silence fell between them as Joshua tried to understand why this murde- no girl, girl was still in Shibuya. He thought, he assumed, that she would have left after their previous confrontation. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he toyed with the thought that perhaps he was wrong in assuming that the girl could see in the UG like he could when he was alive, despite how the girl acted last time.

"What do I owe this honor, Ruler of Shibuya," she muttered softly so that others won't hear her.

That caused him to raise his eyebrow a little. So she did know who he was. She wasn't from the higher plane, yet she knew much more than she let on if she knew his identity.

"Tam!"

Joshua looked towards the source of the voice. Heading towards them was the same boy with wild chocolate brown hair, and more curiously Neku was behind him.

He watched as girl relaxed just a little, a soft smile on her face and just like before, the darkness fled from her soul at the boy got closer. Joshua figured then, that maybe it wouldn't hurt to keep these two around. At least he was certain that as long as the boy was around, the girl won't hurt anyone, unless someone hurt the boy, but then Joshua couldn't fault her if she sought revenge from that point.

Besides, they were interesting.

6…

On the other side, Joshua didn't see his student before him.

Instead, he saw the daughter he didn't have before him.

5…

Yodai Higashizawa loved food. He lived for food, breathed for food, thought of food and spoke of food.

The irony of it all?

He couldn't taste a thing.

4…

Shiki didn't know it. Eri will never tell her.

But there was once a time that Eri was very envious of Shiki. Shiki wasn't as popular as her, but that just meant the friends Shiki made were real, true friends. Shiki couldn't design very well, but she brought Eri's designs to life. Shiki made them real.

So while Shiki envied Eri for all her talents, popularity, and beauty, Eri envied Shiki for her ability to make the things that matter most real.

Huh, imagine if she knew how Shiki use to feel about her. Life would have turned out a little different no?

3…

On the other side, Neku tucked his two youngest sons to bed.

They had fallen asleep listening to their favorite bedtime story. A story about a hero, or two, or three, and a strange key shaped weapon and creatures made out of darkness.

He smiled to himself and knew that that particular story was a lot closer truth then anyone realized.

2…

There was one thing that Beat was afraid of: losing Rhyme.

The fact that he already lost her once in a car crash, then almost for good thanks to a trap, was already much more than he could handle.

There was one thing that Beat wasn't afraid to do: to give away Rhyme.

Beat was ten times prouder then he had ever been, when Rhyme asked that he, not their father, to give her away at her wedding.

1…

Statistics was a wonderful thing.

Fate had fun predicting these ones.

There was a 50 % chance that Neku would live a normal life, growing up to become a successful person, have a family and die peacefully in his sleep at the ripe age of 101. Likewise, there was a 50 % chance that Neku would become a Reaper/Conductor/Producer/Composer.

From that, there was a 10 % chance Neku would become a low class reaper, a 10% chance that he would have become Composer, a 20% chance that he would become Producer and 60% chance he would become Conductor because Joshua was that possessive of him and Uzuki would never forgive Neku for becoming a higher rank than her. There was also a 50% chance that the only reason as to why Neku would accept becoming any of these was because he fell in love with Joshua and the remaining 50% were the various OTHER reasons that were out of Neku's control that he would accept.

If Neku became Producer, there was a 70 % chance that Neku would only remain good friends with Joshua.
If Neku became Conductor, there was a 70 % chance that Neku would fall in love with Joshua.

There was also a 10% chance that upon that situation, Joshua would get Neku in bed the first time. 90% chance that he would get Neku in bed only after 4 years, 7 months, 95 days, 2 hours, 4 minutes, and 37 seconds. Coincidentally, that was on the anniversary of their first meeting several centuries ago.

Also, there was a 33.333% chance that Neku would become a successful artist that rivaled the mastery of CAT. A 33.333% chance that he would become the greatest thing since Elvis in the music industry. 33.333% that he would become BOTH an artist and a musician and finally .0001% that he would become neither.

There was a 40% chance that Sanae would leave Wildkat to Neku.

On the note of Sanae, there was a 33.333 % chance that he'll be branded a fallen angel. (Should he be branded there's a 50% chance that he'll be reassigned, and a 50% chance he won't). A 33.333 % chance he'll be killed for treason. 30% that chance he won't be killed because the higher ups think that working with Joshua for all eternity is punishment enough and 3.4% chance that the higher ups want to erase both him and Joshua.

There was a 40 % chance that Uzuki would marry Kariya and have two kids. There is a 20% chance that she would marry Kariya and have four kids. 10% chance that she would marry Kariya and have no kids. 30% chance that she wouldn't marry Kariya at all.

Plus, if Uzuki ever wanted to move up in rank, there was a 50% chance that she eventually would and 50% chance that she didn't, but that all depended on Kariya, who has a 70% chance that he would have the chance to move up... again but will decline... again. 20% chance that he would accept and move up. 10% chance that Joshua won't even suggest it because he already knew that Kariya would decline.

It was a 5% chance that Neku would end up marrying someone outside of his group of friends. 10% that he would end marrying either Beat or Rhyme. 10% chance that he would not end up marrying at all. A 5 % chance he would end up marrying Eri. A 25% chance that he would marry Shiki; leaving Joshua with a 35% chance of marriage. Because, once again, Joshua was that much of a possessive bastard and understood Neku on a level that Shiki and the others could only begin to comprehend.

In hindsight though, Neku aside, there was a 30% chance that Shiki and Eri would get married. 30% chance that Shiki or Eri would marry Beat, 25% chance that they wouldn't marry at all. 10% chance the one of them would marry Shooter, Yammer, or Eiji. And 5% chance that they would marry someone else.

Likewise, 30% chance that Rhyme would marry Shooter or Yammer. A 40% chance that she was content with just staying with Beat, 15% chance that she wouldn't marry at all. 15% chance that she would marry someone else outside from their group of friends.

Joshua? There was a 50 % chance that he would marry Neku. A 50% chance that he wouldn't. But it didn't really matter to him. He had waited several lifetimes for Neku. Waiting for one more to have another chance doesn't seem that long to him.

Interestingly, if Neku married Shiki, there was almost a 100% guarantee that they would have a baby girl. There was also a .0001% that Shiki would lose her baby.

Even more interestingly, if Neku married Joshua, there was almost a 100% guarantee that they would have three sons. Fate hadn't quite figured out yet how THAT worked. The remaining 0.1% is that they would end up with three sons and one daughter.

Finally, of all the possible things that could/would/should happen, Fate is sure of one thing though. There was a 99.9999999 % chance that one way or another, they would live happily ever after.

0…

"If I close my eyes and listen, really listen, I can hear music."

Actually no longer like the drabble for 1. Couldn't figure out what to replace it with but eh.