AG: Hell yeah! Here I am again! With something different from my part, so I hope you like it.
WARNINGS: Beware of motherly love, strange conversations, lists and minor (did she just say minor, no wai!) JoshxNeku. You have been warned.
It's a family thing
Mrs. Megu Sakuraba knew her boy had changed, she just didn't know why or when. Her son, Neku, became surprisingly social and Megu knew he wasn't before. She talked about it with her friends, her neighbours, even Neku's teachers! But they all didn't seem to se it, or they didn't think of it as a important thing. Comments like 'you're overreacting Megu' or 'don't you think it is good for him?' she got on a daily base. But she knew something wasn't right.
And to proof it -at least to herself- she made a list of all the strange thing around her son.
1. The big gap in her memory after he had gone to the Udagawa mural. She does vaguely remember him coming home far too late and herself being angry at him, but there's something off at those flashes in her head.
2. Neku seems to collect pins and take them with him at every occasion. But he doesn't take them all, he only takes six. And what's even stranger, he picks those six with the greatest effort. And when Megu asks him about it, he tells her he wants to be prepared for everything.
3. There is something up at Hachiko. Neku seems to daze off whenever he gets there. The same is happening when he is at the Scramble Crossing.
4. The sudden interest all the shop clerks have for her son, as if he'd been spending WAY too much.
5. The hangout spot Neku and his new friends have. A smelly ramen shop ands a shady café.
6. Neku's friends? They seem to be speaking in a different language sometimes. Or their shared imagination world. Things about Noise, the Underground and Reapers... Again very shady.
7. And last, but not least: Neku's sudden interest for BOYS. Megu always thought her son was asexual, but this development was very interesting. The first time Neku took his friends home she could see it. Neku seems to be in denial, but his love interest -she believed his name was Joshua- seems to have no shame.
Of course it was great to have Neku get actual friends and Megu didn't mind it at all. She just wanted to know where the changes came from. Asking Neku seemed the best idea, so she tried it.
"Say Neku, can you tell me something?"
"Uhm... yeah?"
"I don't want to be annoying or something..."
"Yeah..."
"I am just talking as your mother, okay?"
"Okay."
"What did happen why you are talking to people now?"
"I... got to take a taste of life?"
"That's not a decent answer..."
"Why are you asking?"
"Because I am your mother!"
"Okay... I... uhm... got to talk to CAT..."
"...Really?"
"Yes..."
"So... how does he look like?"
"Sorry, top secret."
"Oh, okay..."
After this, Megu dared to ask her son the most important questions of all. She was convinced every mother should ask her children these, since they are extremely important. And as a mother, she already knew the answers from her son.
"Say Neku, are you seeing someone?"
"No, why?"
"I thought I heard someone say you are seeing Joshua..."
"I am not... wait, what did you say?"
"Are you seeing Joshua?"
"..."
"Well?"
"ARE YOU INSANE?"
"That's not how you talk to your mother Neku Sakuraba!"
"..."
"Are you, or are you not?"
"...I am..."
"So you are into boys?"
"... kinda..."
"You are doing it safe aren't you?"
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU IMPLYING!?"
"Neku, watch your mouth."
"Of course we are..."
"Okay good. Are you top of bottom?"
"THAT IS NONE OF YOUR CONCERNS!"
And with that, the discussion ended. Neku stormed to his bedroom and Megu snickered about her son's sudden touchiness. Because that is what mothers do.
Upstairs, in Neku's bedroom, something rare was happening. Neku enraged wasn't rare, Joshua spying on his boyfriend wasn't rare at all. But the fact that Joshua was laughing, yes, laughing out loud, was very rare. And only because of the mother-son thing that was going on just a couple of moments ago. Between those hiccups of laughter Joshua was able to say: "It was so good, I couldn't help myself. I recorded it all!"
AG: I look how it looks really long in word... Anyway, Neku's mother is named after Megu from Volks. You probably don't know her. And by the way, this new keyboard is killing me!