When Neku next awoke, the pad was mostly dark, tiny lights from below the glass floor illuminating the water and adding a somewhat enchanted look to the room.

Neku rubbed his eyes, almost expecting Joshua to still be sitting next to him, but there was no sight of him anywhere in the room. Just as Neku was about to shout for him, his phone vibrated against the table, and he flipped it open, reading the text: "Meet me at the station underpass. You have 30 minutes."

Neku rolled his eyes at the mission-like format, telling himself he'd strangle Joshua when he next saw him, but knowing he wouldn't. He sighed, standing up to stretch and checking the time before slipping his phone back into his pocket. It was 11 at night.

Damn you, Josh… what do you want now? Neku thought, walking over to the doors to leave. He paused before opening them, though. What the hell did Joshua want with him at the underpass for in the middle of the night?

In the end, though, Neku decided to meet him there, half of him scared of what would happen if he didn't, and the other half feeling that stupid "companionship" as Joshua had called it.

The sewers were basically pitch black, and Neku needed to use his phone's backlight to navigate through them. Screw this… Neku thought. The underpass isn't even that far from here. Why go through the trouble of having me meet him there? Neku sighed, deciding that Joshua probably just wanted to irritate him.

A few more minutes of walking and Neku realized his surroundings becoming surprisingly lighter as he approached the underpass, which was strange because even though the underpass had an exit to go outdoors, it was night and the moonlight really shouldn't have been that bright.

And upon further inspection, Neku realized that the source of light wasn't coming from outside, but from something indoors.

As Neku approached he realized where the light was coming from: a glowing man standing in the middle of the tunnel. His hair was about shoulder length and kind of ratty, but it was indeed a beautiful sight.

He did look somewhat familiar, though, which troubled Neku. He stopped in front of the man and studied him with narrow eyes.

The man did nothing but smirk at Neku's choice of action, which was when Neku realized exactly who it was.

"J-J-Joshua? You… you glow?" Neku stuttered.

The man nodded, walking closer so he was standing directly in front of Neku. The younger boy took a step back, remembering something Megumi Kitaniji had told him once. "So… so when Shades said we were unfit to view you… he practically treated you like a god because… because you're… damn, what are you, Josh?"

"I'm Shibuya's composer." Joshua said simply, his voice a little different in this form.

"B-but how come… why do you?…"

"This is my true form, Neku. The form you usually see me in is my RG self. Right now, I exist on a totally different plane of existence." Joshua explained.

"Then… why… why can I see you?" Neku was seriously starting to lose it.

"It's very much like seeing the RG from the UG, although… most ordinary humans can't comprehend my existence."

"Wh-what do you mean?"

"All beings exist on a certain frequency; my frequency being so far above the RG's frequency that most humans can't even acknowledge me." He spoke in a voice tainted with sadness, and Neku could tell that Joshua had been going through this for a long, long time.

"But how can I…" Neku was still confused.

Joshua smirked. "Because of that gift I mentioned."

"And what exactly is this gift, Josh?"

"I'm sure you'll find out eventually." Joshua shrugged.

Neku sighed. Yep, this is definitely Josh… "So why did you drag me down here anyway?"

"The way I normally appear to you is my RG appearance, like I said before. I have the ability to down-tune my frequency to exist on different planes and grounds of existence. You should be able to do the same."

Neku crossed his arms. "Well that still doesn't answer my quest-

"Well I wouldn't want you breaking anything in the pad if something were to go wrong."

"Hmph. Well what about the-

"Throne room?" Joshua smirked. "Please, Neku. You think I could trust you in there after what happened last time?"

"Hey, that was mostly Shades." Neku said with a chuckle.

"Well maybe next time." Joshua smirked. "Now can we just get on with this?~"

Neku nodded.

"Alright, this may be difficult, but all you need to do to change your frequency in to will yourself to exist on a different plane."

"And… how am I supposed to do that?"

Joshua sighed as if trying to think of a way to explain it. "Try to imagine a radio with bad reception. To change the channel all you need to do is turn the dial, although it may still be hard for that channel to come in clearly."

Neku sighed. "So you're basically just telling me to wing it and hope for the best, then, huh?"

Joshua shrugged. "I suppose."

"Okay, well… before I do, could you, uh… stop being all glowy?"

"I guess I can for now…" Joshua sighed, his image becoming really blurry for a few seconds before he shifted back into his RG self. "But I don't really like being in this form too often." He admitted. "It limits my abilities."

"It… it does?" Neku thought back on when Joshua had formed a pact with him during his second week in the game. Had he really gone through the entire week with weakened powers? If so, Neku felt kind of bad for him.

Joshua nodded. "Now are you going to do this or not?"

Neku rolled his eyes. "Fine." He closed his eyes and tried to imagine the radio dial that Joshua had mentioned. It wasn't too hard to envision, but reaching for it, imagining himself turning the dial, was another story. As he reached for the dial, the image he imagined became fuzzy, and he felt himself becoming lightheaded. The boy took a few dizzy steps backwards, and Joshua quickly ran over to help Neku steady himself.

"I… I can't do it, Josh…" Neku muttered.

"You're doing fine." Joshua murmured in a soothing voice. "In fact, you're already down-tuned for the UG."

Neku's eyes grew wide with shock and he slowly turned around to look at Joshua. "B-But I…"

"You changed your frequency much easier than I thought you would." Joshua chided, continuing with a smirk. "I honestly wasn't sure if you could do it or not."

"H-How do I get back to the RG?" Neku asked frantically, starting to panic. He didn't want to be stuck in the UG. Not again.

Joshua shrugged. "Up-tune your frequency."

"But… wh-what if I can't do it? I… I don't want to be stuck here, Josh!"

Joshua's expression turned sympathetic, and he put a hand on Neku's shoulder. "Neku, you're going to be fine. If you can't do it on your own, I can up-tune your frequency for you, alright?"

"A-alright…"

"Now…" Joshua continued, removing his hand from Neku's shoulder. "You're probably hungry, right?"

Neku nodded, realizing how much of his feeling of weakness must be from hunger. "Well, yeah. I haven't eaten in over 24 hours."

"Let's head back to the pad for now. I'll make some instant ramen. Does that sound alright?" Joshua asked, his smirk returning.

"U-um… sure…" Neku replied.

Their walk back to the pad was mostly in silence. Neku kept glancing at Joshua every once and a while, wondering if he should say something. He never did, though, and within ten minutes they were walking through the ominous red doors to the dead god's pad.

Neku headed straight to the couch and sat down, too tired to do anything else, as Joshua disappeared into a back room for several minutes before returning with two bowls of steaming ramen.

Joshua sat on the couch beside Neku, stuck chopsticks into the bowls, and handed one to Neku.

"Thanks." The redhead yawned, grabbing a few noodles with the wooden chopsticks and shoving them hungrily into his mouth.

Joshua chuckled at him and ate a few noodles himself. Neku rolled his eyes and the two boys ate the noodles in silence. When Neku was done, he set his bowl on the table and turned to Joshua.

"Okay, Josh. I want some answers."

Joshua snickered and set his half empty bowl next to Neku's. "Ask away."

"What's happening to me?" Neku demanded. "What am I becoming? Are you… you're not training me to be the next composer, right?…"

Another of Joshua's wide signature grins appeared on his face. "Not the composer…" he smirked.

Neku's eyes widened as everything finally clicked into place. "This weird bond… these abilities… We… we killed Shades. You're short a conductor…"

Joshua giggled and clapped his hands a few times. "Very good, Neku. Really, I thought you'd have figured it out sooner than this."

"No, no, no…" Neku muttered, cradling his head in his hands. "This can't be happening…"

"It's already happened, Neku." Joshua stated with a shrug. "You're my conductor and you're going to have to deal with it."

"But… I… I never agreed to any of this…" Neku whispered in a heartbroken voice, tears stinging the corners of his eyes.

Joshua crossed his arms. "You came here and asked to be taught. That's agreement enough."

"Even so, you… you gave me these abilities before I agreed to anything!" Neku shouted.

Joshua shrugged. "That was merely a sneak preview so to speak."

"You are such a bastard!" Neku continued, his voice only getting louder.

"Stop it, Neku!" Joshua snapped, a mixed look of hurt and annoyance on his face. "Stop pretending like you want to part in this!"

"But I don't want any part in this!"

Joshua narrowed his eyes. "Neku, it's already too late. And even if you could stop being my conductor, would you?" You'd have to give up this new part of yourself. All of these new abilities. You'd stop sensing soul."

"I…" Neku sighed. "Damn you, Josh. Damn you."

Joshua giggled.

"What is it now?" Neku growled.

"Your insults don't sound nearly as serious as they used to." Joshua replied with a smirk.

Neku narrowed his eyes at Joshua. "You're in the middle of ruining my life and you have the nerve to point out that I'm not as mean as I used to be?"

Joshua's eyes glimmered with hints of sorrow and sympathy. "I'm sorry. I-I know how hard this must be on you…"

Neku blinked. Joshua was actually being nice for once; or at least trying to be. "It's happening to you, too…" he realized. "This connection or… companionship or whatever. You feel it, too…"

Joshua stifled a sigh of remorse. "Yes, I feel it. But it's… strange…"

"How come?" Neku pondered, momentarily forgetting the argument. "Didn't you go through the same thing with Shades?"

Joshua nodded with a troubled look on his face. "Yes, but… it was never this strong…" he was silent for a moment or two before continuing in a happier tone. "But I guess that just means we're a good match then, hmm?"

Neku sighed. "What am I going to do? I mean… if I'm really stuck with you… What about my friends and family? What about school?"

Joshua's eyes were sad again. "You'll have to leave them behind. We might be able to make time for your friends, but family is most definitely out of the question."

"What do you mean family is out of the question?" Neku snapped. "Aren't they going to notice that I'm never home?"

Joshua crossed his arms. "Did they notice when you died?"

Neku dropped his gaze to the floor. "Wh-what do you mean?" he murmured, knowing exactly what Joshua meant.

"When I killed you. Did they notice?" Joshua continued in a hard tone.

A sharp pain ran through Neku's heart as he remembered the theory he had about his parents as he played the reapers' game. Flowers had been left where his friends Beat and Rhyme had been killed by a car. Nothing had been left under the mural where Neku had been shot and killed by Joshua.

At first Neku could tell himself that maybe his folks just didn't know where their son had died, but he knew that wasn't the case. His death had been a big subject among the realgrounders during his three weeks in the game.

"Did you hear about that boy who was killed in front of CAT's mural?" someone would ask.

"Yeah, I read the article about it in the paper." Someone else would reply. "The Sakuraba kid, right?"

Deep down, Neku had knows that his parents knew nothing of his death. Both his father and mother worked out of town, and they were both constantly on long business trips. They were almost never home, and even when they were, they barely acknowledged their son, too busy making business calls. Even though none of the realgrounders remembered the deaths of Neku and his friends after they had won the game and gotten their lives back, thoughts of how his parents hadn't known that their only son was dead, murdered, still haunted the boy's mind.

"Well?" Joshua asked after several minutes of silence, bringing Neku's thoughts back to the present.

"No. They didn't notice." Neku replied in a scorned voice, turning to glare at Joshua with cold, emotionless eyes.

"So what makes you think they'd notice this?"

"It'll be a longer time." Neku replied angrily through gritted teeth. "They'll notice eventually."

Joshua shrugged. "And it won't really matter when they do, anyway."

"Of course it'll matter!" Neku shouted. "They'll probably call the police and order a missing child alert!"

Joshua rolled his eyes. "Please, Neku, Isn't that a bit dramatic?"

"No!" Neku shouted. "I don't know what kind of crazy mixed up world you're living in, but that's what normal people do when they realize their kid's missing!"

"They won't call the police." Joshua stated matter-of-factly.

"How do you know?" Neku asked in a suspicious tone.

Joshua sighed. "I'm the composer of Shibuya, Neku. I made the entire city forget about your friends' deaths. I made your friends forget about my identity. Don't you think I'd have ways of keeping your parents unaware of this?"

"So you did make Shiki forget about you…" Neku grumbled, crossing his arms.

Joshua chuckled. "Of course. Only the conductor and a few high ranked reapers are allowed to know my identity."

Neku sighed. "What about Mr. H? He's not a reaper and he knows you're the composer, right?"

Another laugh from Joshua. "That's a secret."

Neku rolled his eyes. "Well what's your grand scheme, then?"

Joshua shrugged. "All I need to do is unerase the memory of your death."

Neku sighed. Joshua was making everything sound way too simple. "But won't people notice a dead kid walking around? Won't that raise some suspicions?"

"Normally that wouldn't be a problem since the conductor doesn't usually make too many public appearances…" Joshua trailed off to sigh before continuing. "But since you're so intent on spending time with your friends… I suppose I'll have to erase your appearance from everyone's minds as well."

Neku just stared at Joshua with a blank look on his face. "Is that even possible?"

Joshua giggled. "Please, Neku, I'm the com-

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. The composer. I get it. Ugh, why did I even ask?"

The two sat in silence for a bit until Joshua spoke again. "So have you accepted your fate yet?"

Neku sighed. "I don't want this, but… you make it sound like I have no choice."

"You learn fast." Joshua smirked.

"Is… is there any way out of this?" Neku asked in a pleading tone.

Joshua shrugged. "Erasure is always an option."

Neku sighed yet again. Right now, erasure almost sounded inviting. Almost.

"And I suppose you could try running away."

Neku blinked. "You'd let me do that?"

"Please. Wouldn't you do it anyway even if it was against my permission?" He laughed a bit before continuing. "Ha! Neku's asking me for permission to run away. The companionship is stronger than I thought."

"I don't need your permission to do anything!" Neku shouted, angrier at himself than at Joshua at this point.

Joshua sighed. "There's no point in trying to fight it, Neku. We have a bond."

Neku stood up, choosing to ignore Joshua's comment. "If I run… you won't stop me?" he asked.

Joshua shook his head. "No, but running away won't save you, Neku. You'll have no choice but to come back to me eventually."

Neku clenched his fist and spoke through gritted teeth. "Maybe so, but that won't stop me from trying." He didn't stick around to hear if Joshua had anything to say to that. As soon at the words were out of his mouth, he booked it and ran.

-

Joshua smiled as Neku ran out the door without looking back. His new conductor was being so rebellious. This venture would prove to be very interesting indeed.