The board at Kiryu Industries was like a hoard of wolf Noise. They were content to follow their CEO as long as his interests aligned with their own, and he followed the all-consuming creed of earning money for the company to continue running. This also meant that, like a pack of wolves, they were willing to turn on him and devour every shred of meat on his bones should he prove a liability.

Joshua knew all this, and he also understood it from both a literal and figurative sense. Being the Composer of Shibuya was actually quite similar to being the head of a pack of bloodhungry, ravenous investors and staff that were waiting for any excuses at all to oust him from the company should he prove weaker than them.

Therefore he was never unguarded when he entered the bloodbath known as a corporate meeting. He walked in like the proud, confident Alpha he was literally bred to be, brimming with the highest possible amount of certainty and poised to defend his standing if he needed to do so. His head held high, he made it quite clear without needing to use a single imprint that he was the one in charge. His purple eyes took in the other members of the board, locking with them all individually until they were forced to break contact and look down at their hands one by one, each intimidated by the sheer cunning in his gaze.

It was clear to the members of the board that despite his age, the son of Daichi Kiryu was no pushover, nor was he naive as a youngster should be at this stage in life. They remembered well his first act as acting CEO, which was to immediately go to war with Hudson International and thoroughly, ruthlessly, secure victory by a landslide through sabotage, superior marketing, and then rubbing salt in a gaping wound by buying them out, then cutting them off to go die of bankruptcy. They knew their once-rivals had a pretty obvious grudge against KI, but they never expected that the young heir would react so vengefully.

Needless to say, no one on the board wanted to risk getting on Yoshiya Kiryu's bad side. So when he entered the board room, not one schemer ever let him know their true feelings about someone so young being in charge of the empire. They became extra careful after the boy relentlessly harassed one such schemer who thought he kept his true intentions veiled. The man was publicly ousted, made to apologize, then banned from ever applying in Shibuya...for anything, even Mexican Dog. Smaller, less drastic fates awaited a pair of board members who sent their CEO on an impromptu vacation, hoping to wrest the company from him in his absence. The result was him freezing their assets and compromising their credit cards, maxing them out while he was in Tahiti.

As the meeting commenced, it became clear that while Yoshiya could be ruthless if they pissed him off or tried to usurp him, the teen was nothing if not the most compromising Kiryu to run the company since its origins. He gave the members freedom to dictate much of the decisions, unless he found their methods had flaws that could damage the company, or their assets. He listened more than spoke for the most part, unless he was proposing a new plan or strategy, and he gave advice when things were in contention or the board began arguing.

Today however, he had a very important announcement to make. The subject of the special announcement was sulking in the shadowy corner of the room, cursing his name under his breath. He was being comforted by a light that urged him to not be such a downer, that this was a good thing, and he should be excited.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the board, I have an announcement to make." Joshua began grandly "It has come to my attention that our PR needs a bit of tuning. I have so far held us up for a while now, but even my methods are getting stale. This should not happen. Shibuya needs to always evolve, and we at KI must lead the evolution! Therefore, I proudly announce our new head of PR/advertising, Neku Sakuraba!"

Neku snorted as he stepped forward, Rhyme urging him and then stepping back herself. The board was clearly not impressed, and Joshua giggled as remarks about his Proxy's age and lack of business experience hummed around the room. He permitted it for a few minutes before raising one hand and explaining calmly,

"Yes, he's a bit on the young side, and not quite peppy enough to actually be featured as a spokesperson for the company. However, his creative talent leaves nothing to be desired, rivaling, if I do say so, even CAT himself! Ah, but you all need reassurance. Therefore, I shall put him in the intern seat for three weeks, directly under myself. Then you'll see his potential, and stop shooting him petty disapproving looks."

The members murmured amongst themselves for a few minutes before each nodded their approval, much to Neku's chagrin.

Rhyme however, was immensely impressed, for she knew that this entire meeting had progressed without one imprint on the Composer's part. This meant that Joshua, under the right conditions, could actually be ok with not being in full control of a situation, and that gave the girl an oddly relieved feeling, though she couldn't understand why. She trusted Joshua to not manipulate her, but as for others? He'd already inserted himself back into society with a Composer-level imprint that rewrote history. His own personal past and death, sure, but still...that was manipulation on a very grand scale! Neku had warned her about the sneakiness of the being she was getting attached to, yet her very nature demanded she give him a chance to prove his sincerity.

As she continued to watch Joshua sell Neku's potential, Rhyme found herself awed by the way in which his words swayed the thirteen other members . She noticed he kept his hands out of his pockets, which was another clue as to the lack of imprinting going on, although he'd said before that his powers were not truly linked with his phone, and therefore could be using them right then and there...but Rhyme knew better.

Joshua had a certain vibe about him when he used his abilities; an aura of power and danger that sprung up even when he used a tiny fraction of his power. This odd, unsettling and frankly intimidating aura wasn't present at all, so she knew that the board had agreed to his terms completely on their own.

The Composer knew when to let the notes write themselves, it seemed. Or perhaps it was something he'd learned. Either way, Rhyme was proud of him.