Rhyme found herself more popular the next day, with the Sarahara twins asking questions, and Trixie fawning over how lucky she was. The only one not impressed, unsurprisingly, was Sakura, who claimed that she'd actually kissed the tycoon when he'd been over three days ago. This was quickly countered and debunked by Mina, who reported the ash-blond saying he had not kissed anyone yet that week.

Joshua himself found the day to be interestingly haunted by his Proxy, who had obviously forgotten that he could sense the orangette a mile away and was thus aware of his shadowing. He suspected it had something to do with Daisukenojo's surprisingly observant spotting him out the window when he walked Rhyme to the door the previous evening.

As the ash-blond opened his locker, he smirked as Neku cleared his throat loudly. Looking not surprised at all, purple eyes turned to cock his head at the scowling orange haired once emo curiously.

"It's quite rude to follow someone without permission, Neku. What do I owe the pleasure of such devoted displays of—"

"Cut the crap, Josh." Neku's voice was low, "I'm here to make one thing clear."

The Composer was surprised when his Proxy suddenly had him by the collar, shoving him up against the shelves of his locker to the point where the edges dug into his back.

"I promised Rhyme I'd give you a chance before warning you off. You blew it last night with whatever shit went down between her and you. She was shaking when Beat asked what the hell happened. You actually threatened her?!"

"A mere warning tone, dear Partner. She dug a bit too close to a wound I'd rather not have stinging again, that's all. I never uttered one word of harm, literal or implied. Honestly, what kind of monster do you think I am?"

Neku shoved him again before letting him go, a snarl escaping his throat as he hissed "I know exactly what kind of monster you are, Josh. Believe me, I haven't forgotten. Look, I know you hoard her like a dragon after a beautiful maiden. Just make sure you don't forget that every maiden has a knight to protect her from the dragon. You threaten her again...I may have to step into that armor."

Neku turned, and Joshua smirked nonchalantly. The orangette sighed and rubbed the back of his head, shaking it in amusement,

"By the way, I'd avoid going out of school the front way. Beat's looking to introduce his skateboard to your skull."

As his Proxy walked away, Joshua readjusted his collar and fixed his shirt, a sneer replacing the carefree smirk as his eyes glowed dangerously.

"Let's hope, my dear, dear Proxy...that you never don such armor. You know fully what kind of fire this dragon spews. I would hate to have to waste it on you, but I will if you try to come between me...and her."

Fully annoyed and needing to blow off some steam, Joshua closed his locker and headed to class, cocking a finger and zapping one Victor with a small spark of Holy Light as he strutted past.

TWEWYTWEWYTWEWYTWEWY

"In the future, Daisukenojo, you would be wise to deliver your invitations yourself. I have a nasty habit of literally shooting messengers when I'm ticked off. You are fortunate it was Neku who was delivering, as I refuse to shoot him a third time out of courtesy. Hmmm...perhaps you do have some semblance of a brain after all."

Beat clenched his fists as he faced the skinny, prissy boy who was the ruler of Shibuya, his ire clear on his face. He pointed a finger furiously at the snide blond, acusation strong in his tone.

"You threatened Rhyme, you bastard! I'm gonna flatten yo face into da pavement an' use yer hide for a ramp! She made herself vultable, an' you took vantage!"

Joshua narrowed his eyes "I didn't threaten your dear sister, Daisukenojo. I may have frightened her off a sensitive topic of conversation, but I did not threaten to do her harm. Nor would I physically cause her pain, nor mentally scar her. If I ever do so, rest assured I will allow you to do as you wish to me."

This last caught the brute off guard. Prissy was powerful. Very powerful. That he'd allow himself to be vulnerable to Beat's punishments was something unheard of, not to meantion unfathomable.

"You really do care bout Rhyme...doncha, Priss." He asked softly, lowering his fists.

"Care for her? Most definitely. Rest assured, I have every intention of treating Raimu correctly. No one will harm her. Not even myself."

"See that you don't." Beat raised his board "Or your brains'll paint the sidewalk, got it?!"

Joshua smirked "Most definitely."

Satisfied, the older Bito boarded off. The Composer sighed and giggled, flipping his bangs before suddenly getting into a ready stance, cursing his moment of vulnerability. Dasukenojo had brought a rather large Noise with him, and had left it behind. But that wasn't the problem.

The problem was that he was surrounded and alone. Kariya was doing some task with Uzuki again, and Beat had led him a ways from the school grounds, isolating them so they could have a conversation.

Now there were Noise, third year and fourth year bullies cutting off his escape back to the building he'd snuck out of to sooth Raimu's brother's homicidle urges, and because there were RG souls here, he was limited to fighting like an RG citizen so as not to compromiuse his position or shatter the façade he'd painstakingly constructed.

But Yoshiya Kiryu was not a fighter.

He knew a small amount of self defense, being one of the higher class, but there was a reason his attacks were hands-off projectile moves and beam attacks. He was a distance attacker, preferring not to get his hands dirty...and also preferring to stay out of reach of his oponent's grabby hands, punching fists, and poking nails.

"Kiryu."

He put on a non-caring air, flipping his hair "Ah, Reggie is it? Come to retrieve me? I do appreciate the gesture, but I can make it back by myself without an escort."

The bass player cracked his knuckles "Not exactly what I had in mind, rich rat. Teach raved about your solo the other day. But I'm curious..." he smiled a smile that Joshua was very familiar with, feral and malicious,

"Can you play without your hands?"

Joshua cocked his head "Yes actually. But I have no time for a demonstration. Niether do you have any time for experimentation."

The bass player laughed and the rest of the third abnd fourth year jocks he called friends moved in closer, cutting off any escape. At least, so they thought.

But their victim wasn't just any old skinny, ash-b;lond boy. He was the Composer of Shibuya, and he was in trouble. Ordinarily, trucks and vending machines would rain down from on high, and beams of firey distruction woild incinerate Noise and human alike for daring to touch him. But this was not an ordinary situation. This required something special.

Yoshiya Kiryu was not a fighter.

So when the first punch was thrown, he ducked under the arm and bolted as fast as his skinny legs would carry him. Which when you know exactly where you're going at the speed of get-the-hell-out-of-there, is pretty dang fast.

"Get back here, rich rat!" Reggie yelled as he and his ten goons and a swarm of their Noise gave chase to their wirey quarry.

Shibuya lent her Composer aid, helping him lose himself in the twists and turns of her many back alley streets, hiding him in her crowds or shadows as he made his way back to the school grounds and to the safety of a rather large peach tree in the front of the flagpole, which he shinnied up as quickly as he could then phased into the UG, panting hard.

"I detest running." He muttered bitterly as the swarm of boys and Noise washed over the area. From his perch, he dispatched the Noise rather effortlessly, not wanting there to be an unhealthy invasion at the school that would cause him and his Reapers headaches later, but he would have to stay invisible for a bit if he wanted to avoid the vultures called bullies.

School was let out shortly after, and he decided to observe Raimu as she walked with her friends towards the bus stop. Still in the UG, he decided to follow her, seeing Victor turn his head to watch the young Bito as well.

Joshua did not like Victor looking at or following Rhyme. In fact he detested the boy almost as much as he detested being sweaty. If it hadn't been for the fact that Rhyme would be horrified and the Council would no doubt punish him again, he would have flattened the smoking teen by now with a vending machine, several trucks, cars, signs, and Neku's motorcycle.

"Bito! Wait up!"

Oh no you don't. Joshua snarled inwardly as the smoker rushed to catch up with the group of girls. The Composer grit his teeth and phased back into the RG just in time to 'accidently' trip the rushing teen right into a telephone pole.

"Sorry, dear." He said to the unconscious boy with a sneer "Raimu is out of your league, I'm afraid. In fact she's quite...untouchable."

He stalked away, flipping his hair and smirking, as he went to catch up with the small posse Rhyme had collected over the day.