He sits on his throne in the Room of Reckoning, listening to Shibuya and her song. Her beauty expertly weaved together in perfect harmony shown by the masterfully played chord progressions. The music flowed from the city into his soul before returning to the city to find more notes from the city's Imagination and people.
His eye twitched. An entirely off-key staccato sounded again. When he had first heard the note, he had thought he had misheard it, but his ears and perception had never deceived him before. These notes have become more frequent lately. Notes from individuals who differed so differently that harm was being caused. The notes inspired more of the same. Shibuya's once flawless harmony was breaking.
He had tried to fix the melody before, personally finding the offender and stitching the music back into the melody, but, well, he wasn't a master at repairs. The note continued to tear away from the composition, pulling more notes with it, like tearing out seams in clothes. They pulled at the makings of the entire city, pulling and plucking out notes at its leisure. At this rate, the entire melody would be scrambled, unpredictable, and be a poor representation of nails on a chalkboard as the people's Imagination collided and clashed against each other before nothing was left behind.
He wondered what caused Shibuya's decline. Was it the people who gradually became more defined over the years as people became more accepting of each other? Or was it himself, unable to hold together all the pieces of the city, overlooking possibilities that created the whole distortion of Shibuya that resonated within him?
He knew how important music was to each city. It was the foundation of the people's daily lives and of how well a city flourished. And such sour notes were an inspiration and could affect the board, dooming others to take the fall with Shibuya. And that would result in disaster.
Well the solution was obvious, wasn't it? When everything was falling apart, you merely had to start from scratch.
He regrets the decision he has to make because, well, starting over includes everything including the people in both Underground and Realground.
Joshua stands and calls for his Conductor. When he arrives, he informs the man of his decision. Poor Megumi (the man knows his name, Yoshiya Kiryu, but is overly devoted to referring to him by his title. He has a suspicion that Megumi doesn't even remember what his name is) is overwhelmed by his grief of his decision to erase the city the man loves with all his heart. He explains and dear Megumi comes to the understanding of the music being poisoned by the people.
He sees the desperation in Megumi's eyes as the man thinks. Well, he thinks, perhaps his Conductor could fix this with an approach he hadn't thought of.
Joshua sighs and takes a glance into the future of the city with his foresight. Shibuya still stands, but something strikes him as different than before. He sighs and brings himself back to the present. Megumi is asking him if he'd change his mind if the people changed. Well obviously yes, that would be ideal, but the people in Shibuya are too stubborn, and it's much too late at this point. However, Megumi seems willing to try to save Shibuya, and Joshua supposes there's a small amount of time before it's crucial that the city is shut down.
He gives Megumi a month and gives himself the appropriate handicaps for the game he issues between them. If he's gonna die in a little over a month, might as well make it enjoyable.
Oh Joshua's aware that he's going to die. Without a Composer to guide it, the UG and subsequently RG fall (he doesn't care too much for the RG anyways, so he doesn't see it as a total loss). However, this goes both ways. Part of being a Composer is a city's music flowing through your soul, which comes from the people and Imagination of the people. Imagination is the people's willpower and passion. And without any people in the city, there would be no music which would cause his own decline, bringing down the downfall of the UG, in which case the only survivor would be his Producer (which reminds him, he needs to inform Sanae about his decision. A shame, he had liked the effect his Producer's work as CAT had on the city. It'd be disappointing to see the downfall of the work of the person who informed him of the UG in the first place. He also notes to keep an eye on Sanae. He was not a person who would stand idly by while he destroyed everything).
Megumi goes off on his way to play their game. Joshua watches him go without a word. He is adamant about his decision to destroy Shibuya. His look to the future, to a different Shibuya, tells him everything he needs to know. Megumi won't be able to prove anything. Well, it doesn't matter now that they've started the game, and he is mostly a man of his word. He'll need to pick a proxy that'll be easily manipulated.
He listens to the music and scans the outlier of notes until he finds a candidate. Actually, he finds someone perfect. A boy with a strong Soul filled to the brim with Imagination. Not to mention, his aversion to others would pair off well with what he has planned. He's sure Megumi would agree on the boy's entry fee, too. Neku Sakuraba, hm? He smirks. The game has begun.
He's not sure how Minamimoto discovered what his RG form looks like, but he supposes it'll be fine. In fact, he thinks shooting Minamimoto in the shoulder as poor, confused, little Neku watches in terror, this could work in his favor. Plans and fees and broken rules weave together in his mind. He points the gun on Neku who's still on the ground and pulls the trigger, the boy collapsing the ground fully and dying. Yes, this would work together nicely.
He was not expecting Neku to change like this. A boy who hated each other to the point he almost erased his partner via choking just for annoying him (well, that and the Reaper who had claimed she was spying for them. From how the Game played out, had the Harrier succeeded and Hanekoma had not stepped him, his plans would have failed and Megumi would have one. Not that it would have changed the outcome before him) to a boy who was reaching out to other people and trying to save them. His mind flashes to the pair of Players who won the Tin Pin Slammer tournament during the second week. They were prime examples of what people should aspire to be.
He supposes this is why Shibuya is still standing in the future (he checks again briefly. Shibuya is still standing, but he realizes the harmony is still overall the same), because Neku will become the next Composer. Neku Sakuraba has the potential to guide the city to something better, more desirable. Neku had changed himself. A boy who had gone through that development would be an ideal leader, and Joshua knows that if he remained as Composer, the grounds would be forever poisoned and quickly affect the other wards (he acknowledges that Shinjuku is in hot-water with the higher-ups at the moment, and the poison of Shibuya would bring unneeded attention here. He didn't want to die via Inversion, thanks).
Joshua watches where he is bound, the terrified music of Misaki and Bito are acknowledged but not soothed, because there's no point. Neku will win this fight without it (he still finds himself following their lead and lending Neku a bit of power when he needs it).
Draco Cantus falls, and all five of them (Megumi included) return to the ground. He ignores the confusion of the three survivors and addresses Megumi as his timer ticks down to zero, before being erased. Now to guarantee Shibuya's survival and get Neku to become Composer.
For one to become Composer, you have to kill the current one. Neku was definitely feeling all sorts of anger, betrayal, and confusion right about now. Especially after Joshua returned the memories that he stole and kept from Neku.
He challenges Neku to a duel in the style of a western standoff and forces him to take the gun. There was no doubt, Neku was going to kill him. He made sure his intentions to destroy Shibuya, the city that Neku has grown to love, if he didn't win the duel, were clear.
He started to count down from ten, pointed the gun at Neku, and felt his heartbeat start to race.
Ten.
Nine.
Tears dripped down Neku's face, more than likely because of his betrayal, and pointed the gun at him. Excellent.
Eight.
Seven.
Six.
Joshua kept the smirk high on his face, but internally he was frowning. (He stamped out the anxiety that had started to creep up.) Why hadn't Neku pulled the trigger yet?
Five.
Four.
Three.
Two.
Joshua blinked in surprise. Neku lowered the gun and offered a weak smile. Joshua loathed the small bit of relief that crept into his mind. This wasn't how this was supposed to go. Neku was supposed to kill him and save Shibuya from him. So why was he giving up!?
One.
Zero.
Joshua pulled the trigger and watched as Neku collapsed onto the ground, not unlike how he died in the first place. He sighed and both guns vanished from existence. Well then. He had not been expecting that.
Joshua wondered if the future of Shibuya was different, now that nothing was stopping him from restarting it. No, everything was the same as it had been every time. He listened to the future's music and was surprised to find that the outliers from before had more joining them, except they had lined up in ways that had made the music of Shibuya even more beautiful than before. Huh. Was time the answer here? No, certainly not. He thought back to all of the people he watched in the RG change alongside Neku. And Neku had changed, too, because of his experiences in the UG.
He came back to the present where Neku was still dead on the ground. He ignored Sanae's presence behind him, who was watching the situation carefully. He thought back to the relief he felt when Neku put the gun down.
"Seems you came to a realization, J," Sanae says simply, staring down at Neku.
Joshua stays quiet because yes he did, he just doesn't want to admit it. They both knew that, though. Sanae was especially good at reading him by now. They both knew what he realized.
In the outcomes he had planned for, the one where he restarts from scratch and the one where Neku takes over, he dies. He had to, because the city had been doomed to fall. He never had an opinion on and had accepted his death as the only outcome, but now…
He didn't want to die.
How irritating that he had to learn all of this now when he actually has to carry through with his plans to destroy everything.
"It's not too late, y'know."
Joshua opens his mouth to disagree, but shuts it when he thinks back to what he saw when he searched to the future for answers. He wonders if all the separate plans made by himself, Megumi, and Sanae (he now realizes that Minamimoto's plans to become Composer were aided by Sanae. His Producer really thought the assassination attempt wasn't going to be noticed?) were doomed to fail from the start.
Joshua knows what he has to do now. He approaches Neku and crouches down next to him, his white shoes magically staying free from the blood that had pooled around Neku. He repairs the boy's wounds and fixes his soul and sends him back to the scramble in the Realground. He binds Misaki to her own body and sends her back, too. He located the Soul of Raimu Bito and restores it completely before sending it back to the Realground with their older sibling (as per the rules of the game, Raimu cannot recover their entry fee, given that they had lost the game. However, their entry fee was their dreams, not the ability to make dreams, so he supposes that they'll be alright).
He turns around and nods to Sanae who nods back in understanding. Sanae departs and Joshua sits on his throne. He listens to the music of Shibuya and how she loves all the people within. It's a comfort to his ears, and he sits back to let it flow through him.
Yoshiya Kiryu lets out a small smile as he lets the city continue on as diverse as it is.
Why does no one talk about how Composer's have clairvoyance? "Normally, the Composer possesses a certain degree of clairvoyant foresight" - Secret Report 6. This is more of a... look at Joshua character development, given that it was almost entirely off-screen (but not really, because I would've included a convo from week 2 if that were the case).