DISCLAIMER: I do not own in any capacity TWEWY, SquareEnix or any FF references that pop in to this work of fiction that will come up. That honor belongs to Tetsuya Nomura and the people of SE, Jupiter Corporation, or h.a.n.d.

Beta-read by: None, currently looking for a willing reader.

Warnings: Yaoi, Yuri, LGBTQ community in general, mentions of sexual relationships (nothing explicit, I like having my account here), mentions of suicide, Death, mentions of abuse(full spectrum of it), mentions of phobias, crossdressing, swearing, OC's abound(got to have players and other Regions of course).

This will be a slow build story. I have plans for it to go beyond 10 chapters (not counting the prologue) and I wish to expand upon the Game a little more with ideas that I've seen loosely touched on as well as things that I have plotted out. I will do my best to not copy anyone else's works, but it will be a little hard to keep too many ideas from clashing.

Conducting A Symphony

What happened last time:

Joshua moved back to the small sink in the furthest corner from the entry- that wasn't there before, was it? – and he filled the glass as well as another which he brought over to Neku before he sat down across from him next to Mr. H who was looking at a file in his hands. "What do you want answered first?"

Neku had a whole list of questions that he wanted answered and he took a few moments before he asked the first one he believed to have the same answer. "What is happening to me Josh? Why am I hearing Music now?"

Chapter 2 Answers bring more questions.

Joshua was silent for a long few moments, agitating Neku for the time that the other took, but when he spoke it was not exactly what he wanted to hear. "I'm surprised you haven't answered that yourself. But I will humor you on this. Your body and Frequency are adjusting itself to that of a Conductor, which you inherited by defeating Megumi. That is also the source of the Music you are hearing, from the inheritance of the power."

Neku wanted to deny it, to scream that it wasn't true, but there was something in the back of his head accepting it as fact. Taking a slow breath and shuddering in the feeling of a chill he looked back up to Josh and Mr. H who was now looking over the rim of his glasses between Josh and Neku. "Can I pass it off to someone else?"

"No. Not unless you want to be dead for real this time. Erasure is the only possible official way to pass on the mantle of Conductor or Composer for that matter." Joshua sat back and crossed his arms over his chest as he brought a leg up to cross them. "I doubt you want to go that far Neku. But, there is another way to go about it, you won't like this either because it still ends in one of two ways, Erasure or Ascension. You would have to be deemed either too weak by the Higher Plane for the first, or too powerful to continue as Conductor to Ascend."

Neither sounded appealing in truth, and Neku shifted, clenching his hands into the fabric of his pants, frustrated at the lack of choices. "Why are you telling me this now? When there have been 4 games already…"

"Because if a few more games happen without the proper Conductor, rather than the Acting, Shibuya will collapse on itself and that would not end well for anyone." Violet eyes were burning into his and he swallowed as an undercurrent of worry swept through him through the Music, as if Shibuya itself was fearful that he would deny it. "To put it bluntly, nothing would Live. Everything would be bland, no inspiration at all, no artwork, music, fashion, nothing. What Megumi was trying to do by Imprinting upon the population was a small fragment of what the destruction of Shibuya would have been like."

"The Higher Plane also wouldn't react well to the loss of one of the larger Regions either. We are truly intertwined in with Tokyo's Game as well as the surrounding Prefectures. The loss of one would in turn affect the surrounding ones, before bleeding out to more and more of the Country before the world unless someone can stand up to Revive the Source of the damage." Neku looked over to Mr. H when he spoke following Josh's answer. His usual amused voice was stern and blunt. "Also, the Angels would come for you to start with. There would be no choice, they would take you Phones, nothing you would be able to say or do would help you either. I don't know what they would do with you, but you wouldn't be yourself any more that's for sure."

"Indeed. Even I don't know what would happen if you were to refuse to pick up the mantle Neku." Neku turned back to Joshua and nodded slowly at his words, now somewhat resigned to his sudden gain of position. "It won't be so bad dear, I'm not as difficult to work with as you think. I'm rather lenient to what the Conductor does so long as things get done and reviewed properly."

"Fine… And don't call me that." The redhead snarked off to his Composer. A burst of pleasure and happiness echoed through the Music, erasing any of the worry and fear that had previously been weaving through it as he had been thinking of how to get out of being the Conductor. He took a breath and relaxed, letting it weave through him as he went quiet again. The next few questions were quietly spoken. "What am I supposed to do? How often do I need to be in the UG? What will this do to my RG life?"

A chuckle and a soft snort were the start of answers and Neku huffed. Joshua spoke though while chuckling. "It's quite simple Neku. You are to oversee the Game in all its workings. You will be taking the Fees, regulating potential Missions to the GM you pick for the weeks Game, approving the Final Designs for Pins, Noise, and Clothing that Players encounter, Promoting or Demoting Reapers, and dealing with all manner of smaller tasks that pop up throughout the course of the Games. The main task that you will be needing to tend to of course is being the First and Last line of defense for the Throne Room where I will be residing from the 5th day until the 7th when I will decide the Rewards, Choices, and Consequences of the Players as well as some of the Reapers."

Everything that the blond had told him made his head spin slightly. "That's simple?! That's a Lot of things to get done for a Game!"

"Neku, majority of it works hand in hand with everything else, moving on. You need to be in the UG at least a few hours every day. You can choose when and how often a day you shift your Frequency, and no you don't have to live in the UG if you wish. Most of the Reapers are still present in the RG with the exception for Game weeks. During that time the Reapers are to remain UG the entire time, you however do not need to be here fully until Day 7 only. It is your choice to participate actively or not beyond the Final Day. The Game will always start upon Sunday and conclude on Saturday where you will bring the Players to the Throne Room for Judgement and as stated before for the Results I will tell you." Josh was faintly amused at the questions being asked, and to himself Neku was getting a little annoyed with his voice.

"Your RG live will be as affected as you let it be. But I will say this; You are effectively immortal and you will not age when you fully embrace your power. You can Elevate your Frequency to appear what you would be like as you would have naturally aged, but at your Base you will be the age you are the moment you Rise." His Composer's voice was stern, but not to an unfriendly degree, and he grimaced at the thought of being forever a teenager. "You are a little way off from Rising to that point, but it is not far. I give you a few months before it slides into effect. When that happens, you should be ready to gradually adjust to keep people whom do know you from suspecting anything if you hold onto them as friends."

The corners of Neku's mouth thinned as he thought about the implications of what could possibly happen to him were he to remain the same. More questions than even he would be comfortable with would be asked of him and he didn't want to risk the friends he had currently were he to refuse to age. Questions that he didn't know if he would be able to get the answers for them without revealing what was going on at that. He knew that everyone remembered a little bit of what happened in their Game, but he didn't know how much was remembered. "You're being rather forward for once. Usually you lead me around in circles before you give me an answer…"

"This is a serious matter Neku, I'm being honest because if you turn down the role then I have to start from scratch before Shibuya collapses from the strain. Also, Sanae even said that you prefer honesty over veiled truths." A careless shrug was given as Joshua reached forward for his glass of water to take a drink. "Anything else?"

Neku let his eyes trail off to the side as he thought once more and his eyes fell upon the little rock garden at the entryway. "A few. How did I manage to do that? Mr. H said that I wanted it so it came to me, but I don't get why it did that. Isn't this your domain?"

"Hardly, this is our domain Neku. You have just as much influence over the functionality of the Dead God's Pad as I do. I just had no reason to take sole responsibility over the whole design. Quite frankly, I have no plans for this room beyond keeping the fish tank below us. The rest is for you to choose, Megumi held the design for the previous one all to himself and I let him. Just as I am letting you keep that choice." Josh shrugged once more as he watched him, the ghost of a smile starting to tug itself onto his face.

"Oh." It made sense. Several other questions he could feel were bubbling up, but he figured most them would be answered by his own hand as he started to ease into being the Conductor. But only a couple stood out. "For now I have just a few more questions… Do I need to eat and sleep?"

A grin crawled onto Josh's face and Mr. H, who had remained silent and once again focused upon his files, softly snorted in amusement. He was the one who answered that question for Neku. "You don't need food, but it does help you build up your energy, your Soul, as well as resting helps… reset so to speak, your strengths to keep you at your peak without diminishing anything. Plus, your Soul and Imagination will continue to grow if you keep up with your physical health. In other words, keep doing what you do Phones. Alright Josh, here you go. Paperwork is all done as well as some of the ideas that you had. I'm off, got somethings to do still today."

Taking the papers to look them over Josh lightly waves his free hand at the older male. "Alright Sanae, see you later. Try not to drown yourself in paint again."

"Of course not, I'm likely to drown in paperwork that you make up for me more than the paint I use. See you later Phones. Any other questions that Josh doesn't answer I'll try to if you stop by." Sanae turned his attention to Neku and the teen blinked before nodding.

"See you later Mr. H…" The next blink he started as the man had vanished that quickly. "How did he do that?"

"Hmm?" Josh looked up from the file and then to where Sanae had been standing and he gave Neku a lopsided smile that made the one he was looking at want to punch him. "Oh, he just shifted his Frequency to a higher one. Even I can't see him unless I move up to that Frequency, he's gone for now."

Now Neku was silently plotting Josh's murder in his head, discarding ideas as even more amusement flowed into him from what he was starting to understand was Shibuya's Music. That brought up another question out of the blue and it spilt from his mouth before he could stop it. "How sentient is Shibuya?"

"Very. Shibuya itself cannot speak to normal people, but she is intelligent to a terrifying point to those of lesser status. She cares deeply for those within her borders and I know she was and still is furious with me for the threat I posed upon her during the Long Game." To echo the blond's words there was an upheaval of discordant notes showing it- her displeasure. It echoed in Neku's head and he reached up to grasp the side of his head as he felt the beginnings of a headache. "She was very pleased when I brought you back, even more pleased with herself when you defeated Megumi actually. Shibuya herself was chafing at what he had restricted her with, as well as hoping that you allow her to branch out and grow even further."

"She?"

"Yes, she. Shibuya in her most basic form is a Mother to all the people within the city. Plus, when she does 'speak' it is as a young woman, close to your age in fact. It depends on her mood, how she appears, but often when she does Shibuya prefers to be seen wandering her own streets. In fact, you may have seen her wander before in the RG. I can 'speak' with her and in time you will be able to do the same." Josh turned his attention back to the papers in his hands. "Anything else you need answered Neku? I'm not going to be this generous when you see me next, I have a reputation to upkeep after all…"

"Will I meet other Composers and Conductors?"

"Why wouldn't you? Next week I will be sending you to watch another Region work their Game so you can get a feel for how it works. This way I'm not throwing you entirely into the fire as Sanae had so crudely put it while you were sleeping. As well as there are some gatherings that happen every couple of months to let everyone have a breather so to speak. All Games are put off for a week, and everyone from Composer down to Support Reapers can have free reign. Of course, there are limits to the freedom, but it is far more than what it could be. In fact, after our next game there is a Gathering, I believe it will be in San Francisco this time…"

"San Francisco? Why there?" Neku was confused as to why it would be over there, but Josh answered him quickly.

"Because we don't always have Players that are located here from just our Game borders. I've had several unlucky Europeans and Americans fall prey to the Game, as well as several of ours fall to other nations Games." The look on Joshua's face had Neku huffing in agitation before he looked back down to the papers once more.

"If you have no other questions, Sanae will have a new laptop and phone for you to use by the time you are at your place. It's still your current number, just a more updated model as the one you have currently won't assist you all that well with your new duties. Much like how he upgraded our phones during your Second week, he added several new ones as well as fixing a few of the original, ones should be a manual included for how to use them. I'm sure you can find your way back home from here yes?" The papers were up in front of the blonds' face, but his eyes were watching Neku, an eyebrow raised waiting.

"I can… but I have one last ques-" The exasperated sigh had him clenching his jaw for a moment before he continued. "I have one question. How do I shift my Frequency? I don't exactly want to be stuck in the UG if someone comes over to my place that doesn't know…"

"Oh, that. That is simple, think of your Frequency as a radio, just tune yourself until you hit the right channel or layer and you will be good to go. You'll know which level you need to be on when you do it. Go on… You have school in the morning dear." Joshua waved his hand nonchalantly at the air in dismissal as he tuned Neku out fully, intent on the file.

"Simple, right… thanks I guess." Neku looked down at the still untouched glass of water and grabbed his headphones and put them back on before he stepped outside, making his way back down the River and through the streets, Shibuya itself guiding his feet with the soft tones of her Music. He was lost in his own mind, not truly paying attention to what was going on around him as he thought about what was going to be happening in the future.

It was surprising yes, but it was something he had an inkling would happen after he started to find those reports that Mr. H had mentioned. He wasn't dumb, even he could piece together some of what was happening around him subconsciously, there were just some answers he was worried about receiving when the time came.

One of which was a big question that he should have asked Joshua about. What would his Noise form look like? For that matter, what would his Wings look like or did he even have wings? A humming note of calm rolled over him when Shibuya sensed the worry and upset that he was working himself into. It was all very surreal to him and he didn't exactly know what to think of his new situation.

When he hit 104 he stopped in the middle of the street and looked up to Q Floor, watching the advertisements flickering across the screen here and there along with the occasional Breaking News flash. Thinking about he snorted softly as he remembered the whole day of him and Shiki running around trying to promote the Red Skull Pin. It was an annoying series of fights to do when he finally got Shiki to calm enough to do the Mission. After the first two of attacking and nothing coming from it they both decided to switch roles, Shiki being the heavy hitter while he played defense to get the pin to sell. That single pin as well as Cure Drink and Shockwave were the only ones he wore into the fights. He could have gone with a few more pins, but he didn't want to run the slight risk of something happening to ruin their chances of success.

In truth, he was glad that they had managed to succeed that way as it helped Shiki grow more confident in her abilities as well as to help her push past the jealousy that had been eating at her. To finally meet the real Shiki was amazing, and when he met Eri at the same time it caught him a little off guard, but he took it in stride. Shaking his head, he continued down Dogenzaka to get home, aiming for a long hot shower and hopefully a good warm meal, even if it was just takeout.

-LINEBREAK-

A/N: There is this chapter finished now! That is two down out of who knows how many I can pump out, I'm going to try to update every couple of days or so, but if work gets hectic, work will be the priority as I want to go on vacation later this year and my mom and I are paying for it so… If money comes up I am taking the chance.

I am still looking for a Beta-Reader for this work, I had a few prospective ones that I was going to message until I read through the entirely of their Beta profiles and was rather put out at the content they weren't willing to work with as well as inactivity on the site. But I will not give up. Please message me if you are interested at all, my Message box is open to PMs.

I will also be posting this on Archive, I like both sites and both have a good variety of fictions that I read. If anyone has any feedback I would be very happy to accept it.

As always, Read and Review please!