Neku woke up coughing. He also had a slight stomach ache and felt feverish. Groaning, the once-emo sat up and trudged downstairs to get a drink and to have words with his houseguest. Rather annoyed, accusitory words to be precise.

"What the hell did you do to me?"

Joshua barely lifted his head, waving his Proxy off with a weak dismissive gesture and groaming as he turned towards the back of the couch. He mumbled something that sounded like "Not now dear, busy dying." and tried going back to sleep. His host, however, was not taking any of his nonsense and forced him to turn and face him.

"No you aren't. Now tell me...what the hell is wrong with me? I was fine yesterday!"

Joshua closed his eyes, then opened them after a minute and said groggily, fatigue in his normally snooty voice making him sound utterly exhausted,

"Your Music is all in knots, 's screwing with your vibe, that's all. Now please...let me continue to study the inside of my eyelids...I'm exhausted!"

Neku snorted and turned away, going to trudge back upstairs. Behind him, the ashblond turned back into the back of the couch, a frown settling on his face as he closed his eyes tightly, sorrow bubbling in his chest as he drifted off to sleep again with a tired last statement.

"So it begins."

TWEWYTWEWYTWEWYTWEWY

Sanae Hanekome frowned as he entered the home of Neku Sakuraba. The air was stale and smelt of sick people. He raised an eyebrow as he noticed that obviously, Joshua had not let in Shibuya for at least twelve hours. The barista also smelled vomit, and that meant that Neku, usually so meticulous, hadn't cleaned up the insides of the Composer's stomach in hours. The boy's bike was parked in its usual spot, meaning he was home.

"Phones?"

A groan came from upstairs.

Not good. Phones is sick too. But why? Surely he couldn't have gotten it from Josh, not this soon!

"Stop pondering so loud, Sanae. My head is in enough pain without your mental barrage attacking it." Joshua complained, sitting up groggily and feeling for his phone. "Great...Kariya needs a mercy limit. I feel like crap, and Shibuya has more than enough Imagination this week. One resurrection should be plenty. Everyone else can become Reapers. We're short staffed."

The Composer turned to his faithful Producer, a line of gloom on his face as he said seriously,

"My Proxy is in dire straights."

Sanae sighed and sat down. "So it's come then. I thought he could avoid it."

"No. His vibe is just way too ripe. Of course this would happen.I just hate the fact that there's no stopping it. He just expanded his world...and now it's going to end."

"You could take him now you know. Half power or not, You're still Composer."

"No." The blond flipped his hair before flipping on his back, arms behind his head and a scowl in his eyes as he said defeatedly "I made a promise."

Sanae nodded, and opened the window. The breeze washed over the room, tussling the ashen locks and making the Composer relax as the Music of the district washed over him once more. The wind erased the stink of vomit and bodies, and gave the air a pleasant feel once again. Now that it smelled less like death warmed over, the barista found it more apropriate to begin making a meal, while continuing their conversation.

"How long does he have?"

Joshua opened one eye and grunted "His Music has just started to fade, Sanae. It is going to be a while yet. Dear Neku has quite a stubborn melody. It won't reach crescendo for at least several weeks."

"You are going to tell him."

"Not so much, no."

"Josh, you have to. If you don't-"

"Not that I need to. Neku's been listening this entire conversation." Joshua pointed to said teen, who had been leaning on the wall next to the stairs with a horrified, yet calm, look on his face.

"Is it true?" Neku croaked "I'm dying?"

Joshua sighed "Well, the cat's out ironicly. Yes, Neku dear...you're dying. Again. Not your fault, or mine. It's just happening. Your Music isn't just tangled in a big knot...it's fading completely. This has happened before, when a soul I granted life to faded several months later. No one knows why it happens, and the Higher Ups don't care enough to research into the situation. My guess is that your vibe is just too large for this plane, so your Music is sending you back to the UG...or perhaps into a higher plane of existence."

Sanae snorted "You can't really think he's phasing into...the third plane, J."

"I don't know. All I know is that Neku...you're not long for this world I'm afraid. Much as I want to, this is something I can't fix. I'm sorry."

Neku fell against the wall, his vision blurry. His head felt light, and his limbs seemed weighed down by thousands of pounds. The reality that he found himself spun, and he sank to the floor, wanting to scream and vomit and curse...it wasn't Fair! He'd fought so hard...and now it was all going away!As his vision went blank, his last thoughts were far from himself.

Shiki...I'm sorry.