"Rhyme Bito you astound me!"

The woman speaking was lounging on the aforementioned girl's bed, playing with her long black locks and smirking as a giggle escaped her throat.

"You can't sit there and pretend that you aren't even a little afraid of the future! After all, your time as a pseudo-Angel is only temporary. It's only natural to be a tiny bit panicked"

The blond girl, floating a foot off the floor with the help of her new feathery appendages grinned wildly "The future is whatever you make it, Haineko. I choose to make it an adventure! I'm a little scared but not for myself, more for Beat. He risked everything in the Game to help me...and now he's going to lose me again. Joshua won't be safe after I go. Beat tends to blame him for all the wrong in the world, and my ascension will take the cake."

The Angel threw back her head with a howling chuckle "As well he should! Yoshi has screwed the pooch so many times, it's natural to blame him every time something horrible happens. He kinda dug his own grave there, and as far as We know, he hasn't put down the shovel yet!"

She calmed down and fanned out her wings, cocking her head and blinking her silver eyes. "You do realize muscle-head won't actually lose you once you ascend, right? Not with Seraph running the show. You are essential to Yoshi's well being, and We don't want to lose him or Shibuya. Mister H. is a prime example of a Higher Being living their life on the RG plane, while being connected to a higher frequency. However...I wasn't sent here just to teach you about your new existence. There are rules, and though Yoshi won't lose you when you ascend...you could make it so the rest of the RG does by breaking too many of them. You're a good kid, so it shouldn't be an issue."

"Alright." Rhyme said confidently, coming to sit on her bed, hands folded "Explain them to me."

TWEWYTWEWYTWEWYTWEWY

"So is that it?"

Rhyme cocked her head "You were expecting more, Neku?"

"Well yeah. I mean, mister H was sort of adamant that Angels had tons of rules to follow and everything. I was thinking you'd have a lot more to learn and a ton more restrictions."

Joshua giggled, a hand on his chin "Raimu isn't a full angel at the moment Neku. They won't expect too much from her just yet." He paused to cough, and Rhyme got concerned.

"You don't seem to be getting any better, Joshua." she said softly.

The Composer shook his head, waving a hand nonchalantly "It's nothing new, Raimu. I was always like this in life. It will just take longer for me to heal. Par the course for me really. I used to spend weeks in bed, wasting away because I was so sickly. I missed quite a lot of school and boring social events, so it worked out."

The girl didn't look convinced, but she wisely chose not to push the matter. Instead, she smiled and ruffled his hair, and continued in a lighter tone,

"Haineko said hi, by the way. She misses you a lot, but the Higher Ups are restricting her from seeing you while you're still being punished. She's being punished too, but I told her you don't blame her for almost killing you. She laughed and said yes you do but you will have your revenge after you're well."

Joshua gave a nasty little grin, his purple eyes narrowing in that sceming way they did when he was being malicious. "She isn't wrong."

Neku groaned "Oh gag me with suspense..please. Seriously enough mush. It's all well and good for Rhyme, but Josh...you creep me out."

"More than usual you mean, my dear, dear partner?"

"Shut up you ass."

Joshua snickered and put a hand in the air in a shrug, then made a gasping squeak and froze, totally immobilized. His eyes panned to the side, and his voice was a whispered panicky plea.

"Raimu...let go."

The pseudo angel gasped and quickly released the invisible wing she'd grasped. "I'm so sorry! It's just...they're both here and not here. I wanted to see if I could touch them even though they're in the UG."

Regaining his composure, the ash-blond cleared his throat and said simply "Yes, now that you are slightly ascended, you can interact with the other planes in ways you never thought possible. To think you've ascended so far as to see hidden things on the third plane…"

"Third plane?"

"The Composer plane. It's a frequency higher than the UG, but not quite high enough to be considered the HG. It's where I usually keep my wings."

"I thought you hid them in the UG" Neku said.

"Sometimes I do. But I'm weak and injured, Neku. I need to keep them even more hidden, so I tune them to my Composer vibe until I heal enough to put them back in the UG. You'll learn how to do the same, Raimu, though you'll probably be better off just folding them into your back."

Rhyme nodded, but still looked horrified and embarrassed. "I didn't mean to hurt you." she whispered.

"Hurt me?" Joshua cackled "No, my dear Raimu, it didn't hurt! My wings are simply more sensitive than those of angels. Therefore grabbing even the tips rendsers the rest of me completely immobile. We Composers rarely interact face to face, but when we do, we have to all show our wings as a sign of peace, that we're on mutual ground. Any one of us could seriously injure or even kill the other very easily just by messing with our opponent's wings. It's in our best interest to keep them hidden and out of reach. URK! Neku Sakuraba...that is not funny! Let go!"

"You killed me, you put me through hell THREE TIMES...you don't get a say when I finally get the chance to make YOU helpless for once!" The Proxy said a bit too savagely, though his blue eyes sparkled with an amused mischief as he held a wing that Joshua had unconciously revealed, the white feathers clenched firmly in his grip.

"Hanase, Nekusan! HANASE!"

"Neku please…" Rhyme said, noting the look of absolute panic in the Composer's eyes and tone.

Neku gripped the apendage harder before grinning sadisticly and letting go.

"What the hell, Neku-KUN!" The Composer snarled, preening the abused wing tenderly "What got into you all of a sudden?!"

"I guess" the once-emo said softly "I wanted to know what it was like to be you."

He was suddenly blasted into the wall by a light beam.

Rhyme's hand smoked, abnd a scowl was on her face . A look of sheepish surprise soon followed it, and the girl raised her own wings menacingly,

"That was cruel Neku."

Neku sat up, holding his head "Rhyme...I…"

"You what? Revenge is a dish not served at all. Violence invites more violence, and cruelty is the path to ruin! That was cruel, and not like you at all!"

"I guess I just...I had to get it out of my system." The once-emo said mumbling.

"Think...before you act." The new psuedo-angel said, comforting the whimpering Composer "That was an abuse of his vulnerability, Neku. Please...don't repeat it."

Neku wilted at the small girl's gaze, and hung his head in some shame.

What had he been doing? What came over him all of a sudden?