Joshua had proven to be a just ruler of his family's empire. He still kept up with events in the UG, and managed to fit doing homework into his crammed schedule. He was actually doing such work at the moment, lounging on his over sized bed while Rhyme took the extensive yet battered desk that sat against the wall. The piece of furniture was old, perhaps by three generations, but it held up amazingly well. There were nicks and scratches in the mahogany surface, some of them were actually musical notes, made by the young Composer who no doubt was bored while studying, which by the looks of the full melodies inscribed in the wood canvas, happened quite often.

It came as no surprise that Joshua was always the top of his class, looking down on the less intelligent student body with a wry air, and finding the teachers more and more inept the more he attended regular classes. He'd finish early and go home or to WildKat by one, even after his father enrolled him in the advanced courses. There was just no limit to this prodigy's intelligence, and it didn't seem to end with his death.

"Raimu, I believe that formula would be correct only if you wish to blow up half of Shibuya. Try dividing the dosage of nitro by five."

The girl blushed and quickly changed the equation she'd been working on. She was slightly bashful, not at all forgetting who she was studying next to. How embarrassing! If I'd been responsible for that, I'd never live it down! We're supposed to test these tomorrow!

"Sorry, Joshua. You would have had extra work tomorrow if I'd presented this to Mr. Foster!"

The Composer simply giggled, shrugging nonchalantly "I don't trust the teachers' collective intelligence as far as I can throw it, but I'm quite positive even Foster would not have allowed you to perform an experiment with that formula. I simply cannot abide you getting anything but a perfect grade for a class you clearly dislike. It would be torturous to have to retake it."

Rhyme looked down "I'm not surprised you noticed. I try my best in all my classes, more for Beat's sake than my own. If I do well, my parents tend to lay off him and let him do what he wants, since to them, at least they have one child who'll get ahead in life. But seriously, chemistry?! One misstep, one slight miscalculation...one wrong decimal poiint...and everything gets screwed up!"

"Or blown up" Joshua giggled under his breath so as not to hurt her feelings.

"Raimu" he said suddenly "I've finished my own tedious work, both for the school and for the upcoming Game. What say you to a small break at Ramen Don? It will clear the mind a bit."

Rhyme could hardly say no to that, her studies were getting a bit dull. She closed her books and grabbed her beanie, smiling as she secured the knit accessory to her head.

"All work and no play, as they say! Alright, let's go!"