"So Rhyme, tell us." Mana said as she, Rhyme, and Trixie got ready for bed. The girls were seperated into groups of three, and the guys were separated in groups of two. Trixie giggled and rolled over on her bed, feet scizzoring eagerly as she finished Mana's question
"What's he really like? The richest guy in Tokyo?"
Rhyme smiled nervously and rolled on her back in her bed, placing her hands behind her head "He's just a guy, Trix! He's...kind, and a little bit mysterious. He's protective, yet he isn't afraid to fool around himself. He seems...lost somehow, like he's never really loved anyone before. It's normal though...at least that's what he said. After all, love isn't necessary in his line of work, right?"
Mana cocked her head, putting a hand on her chin "I mean you aren't wrong. My Father never knew actual love until he met Mom. In his teen years he always flirted, but it never went anywhere. Still, Yoshiya is a known heartbreaker. Witnesses attest to his actions over the years, and when I saw you engage, I admit I wanted to warn you off...and not just to get with him myself! I even heard that one girl tried to sue him out of ten mil for mental damages because supposedly, he proposed to her but them two days later broke it off so he could get with her best friend."
"That was just a tabloid article." Trixie snorted, rolling over "Honestly, the well-offs need to take a chill pill and stop supporting gossip chains. I heard the real story was that Joshua was the one suing, because he'd been assaulted by the girl in question...and it almost went to third base without consent."
Mana gasped "I remember! She drugged his coffee right? Made him lucid. His wit proved too much for her though, and his skinny bod was outta there faster than Mina on sales day!"
Rhyme yawned "Well, that does sound like something that would happen to him. Everyone at school flocks wherever he steps, after all. It's only natural some of us turn into crazed lunatics and fangirls."
"You are way too relaxed with that information about your man, miss 'I snagged the richest boy in Tokyo and am casually dating him.'" Trixie said with a smirk "Honestly Rhyme...you're way too chill. I mean, he could be cheating on you and you'd still act like he's just some guy doin' his thing!"
Rhyme had to laugh at that, and flipped over on her stomach "I just know where I stand, that's all. I mean, he had his pick from any of us girls...and he chose me. I don't know why, maybe because...I stood out as someone who'd spend honest time with him. To be honest, despite all the fame, money, girls hanging off him, and crowds penning him in...he just seemed...lonely."
Trixie smiled before yawning as well.
"He picked a good one, that's for sure."
"Thanks, Trix." Rhyme said, her eyes closing as sleep decided to finally whisk her away.
TWEWYTWEWYTWEWYTWEWY
"There is no doubt. Yoshiya Kiryu committed suicide."
"But that makes no sense! That kid had everything! Wealth, fame, power, even a girl. What would possess him to take his own life? So...brutally too. I mean we aren't talking a bullet here...it was a freaking torture scene in there! His limbs were impailed...like some kind of sadistic ritual. Throat was slashed to heck, and his eyes….they held such pain and fear. Are we sure it wasn't a homicide?"
She strained her ears, her heart screaming and her mind struggling to seperate truth from fiction. That wasn't good...that meant that she too was affected by the imprint. Why? Why would he do this to her?!
"We're sure. As sure as we can be, given the evidence. No witnesses, a note, and the fact that the weapons all have his fingerprints on them. He was also quoted as saying keywords eluding to the fact that he 'didn't have much time left' among other things."
"Did he leave his estate to anyone?"
"Neku Sakuraba. He's to inherit both the estate and Kiryu Industries. He left quite a hefty sum of money and his summer home to one Rhyme Bito, as well as his dog. He also-"
She couldn't listen any more. She fled, tears in her eyes as she bolted to find some trace...any trace at all of him. She searched WildKat, Udagawa, the Scramble, and lastly...the Room of Reckoning.
She didn't find him. Not even in his stronghold of power. The place itself began fading in and out, revealing nothing but actual sewer behind.
The RG.
"No...NO Please!" She threw her arms into the air, as if imploring the room to stop disappearing, for she knew what this meant and she refused to believe it was happening. "Please! Don't take him away! Stop! Stop please!"
"Rhyme!"
She begged, she pleaded, she demanded loudly "What did he even do?!" To no avail. She sank to her knees as the UG stronghold faded forever, blocking her off from the realm he used to escape to when he needed to work...or to get them away from the crueltioes of the world. The room began to shake, and suddenly she felt as if she were moving.
"Rhyme! Rhyme wake up, we're almost home!"
The girl opened her eyes slowly, tears streaming from her face and her body shaking like a leaf. A dream? She yawned, faking indifference as she shook her head, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes and looking slightly miffed. "Hrrrm. Already?"
Trixie looked relieved, pointing out the bus window and sighing "Yeah, there's 104, peaking out of pure chaos to greet us. You ok? You were moaning and stuff in your sleep. Motion nightmares huhb?"
Rhyme cocked her head and took the opurtunity right away, nodding slightly "Yeah, I guess. At least I'm not snoring like a pig." she pointed to Sakura, who was open mouthed and sawing logs. Neku had the misfortune of having his assigned seat be next to her, and his head was buried so far down his collar that it looked like he had no face, and he had one hand on his headphones, no doubt having turned the sound up to drown out the noisy racket.
The sight made both girls giggle, but Rhyme still had an ache in her chest. Was the dream a premonition? A warning? A vision of the future, or simply a bad dream? She didn't know. She was determined to find out, and for now, the only person she wanted to see, besides Beat, was her Composer.
Please...be okay…
TWEWYTWEWYTWEWYTWEWY
Joshua yawned, stretched, and flung his pillow halfway across the room. He wasn't happy, to say the least. His time at the hospital had proved a giant waste. Every time he felt he reached a breakthrough, something interrupted him. He snarled and nearly ripped out his IVs out of his arms as a wave of pure frustration coursed through his body and he flung his hands in the air.
The only thing that he could gather so far was that he lost part of his ability to comprehend and engage his heart in more than caring shortly before he became Composer. His visions and memories at least told him that much.
As he went over and over in his head the various truths that had been kind enough to reveal themselves to him, a wave of the sweetest melody tore through his angered and stonewalled tune, making him smile and calmed his ire. He reached out his senses and found the source, hoping to convey his gladness at the Song's return. The tune of his Proxy had also re-entered Shibuya, and he chuckled as the dulcet tones of the once-emo screamed the teen's discomfort and characteristic annoyance.
"So, they have returned at last." He said softly, a smirk replacing the pleasant smile he wore when the Melodies reconnected with Shibuya's song A wave of relief washed over him as the implications of the schoolbus re-entering his domain once again revealed themselves to him once more.
She was safe. He was as well, but he was always watched over by the Composer. She on the other hand…
He frowned as a sour note entered her pleasant tenure. What's this? Raimu...are you frightened? What dare haunt your beautiful tone?! He felt his ire rise to the surface, fists clenching and jaw set as he reached further, probing deeper to find the source of her discomfort.
Suddenly, he stopped. An instinct? No...something much deeper made him pull out. It was as if something inside his own gut had wrenched his feelers away from the other teen's Music, and had stopped the search. What? He tried again, but the results were the same. A shot of uncomfortable gut clenching assaulted him every single time he tried probing too deeply into Raimu's sad and desperate melody, as if a force field were repelling his curiosity. A force-field that he himself erected every single attempt.
This is new. Does it have to do with my subconscious? Perhaps I do not wish to probe too deep into her privacy? But then...is it only her?
He picked a random tune, one that was snoring away in slumberland, and probed as far as he had with Rhyme. He ignored the actual melody, as it didn't interest him in the slightest, and got positive results. He was able to penetrate the Song's deepest notes without issue. He was about to pull out when a shot of malice grabbed his attention. He frowned and gripped the shot, following it to the root and sneered. Of course. Your melody has alweays been rotten, just like your sincerity, which has never been anything but vile. I will keep my eye and ear on you, Sakura Shoru.
His experiment completed, the Composer pondered what he had learned. Rhyme wasn't aware that he was probing, so she wouldn't guard herself from his feelers. Even if she were aware, the teen knew his Song, and would have been glad to let him into her root melody. So then, it had to be himself that refused to let his probe go too deep into her Music, as if his own tune felt intrusive and therefore stopped itself from going in all the way.
Joshua pondered the reasons for this, though his sharp mind was already made up as to why this was happening to Rhyme and Rhyme alone. The reason being as simple as he simply was giving her the oportunity to give him her concerns on her own. The fact was, his trust was preventing him from probing for answers and instead was forcing him to wait for the girl to tell him herself. He sighed, not at all disappointed with that conclusion. It was comforting in a way, knowing he was close enough to Rhyme for his own song to fight against his wants.
So he waited, getting comfortable, as he knew that the first thing she'd want to do after getting off that bus and into the swing of things, was to come visit him. He snorted as he shut off the camera and retrieved his pillow with his telekinesis, turned it back on, and silently waited for the inevitable reunion to take place, his chest getting warm as a considerable amount of stress relieved itself, making him lay back and sigh contentedly, closing his eyes as he once again tuned in to his district's melody, and the one tune that harmonized so well within the symphony.
Before he knew it...she was there, clinging to him like they had been apart for centuries. The reaction was odd to him, as the girl had never felt comfortable giving him a full-on embrace before, thinking (foolishly but sweetly) that he would be afronted by such a blatent breach of his personal space.
"Joshua!" Her words were fearful, her gesture more of comfort than actual affection. He placed his hand on her back, his arm gently around her middle, offering what little assurance he could as she suddenly wept into his weedy chest. He was curious. There was no need for such drama after so little time apart, and Rhyme wasn't the clingy type anyway.
"Now now, Raimu." he soothed "I don't know why you weep so, but it is not like you at all. I must admit, I am quite curious. What happened on that trip that made you so desperate to seek me out as opposed to dear Daisukenojo?"
The girl sniffed, clinging to his shirt desperately, "It wasn't the trip...that was wonderful! It was...oh Joshua...I had the most awful dream on the way home! I needed to see you...to make sure you were still...still here."
Joshua chuckled lightly "Still here?" he rubbed the girl's back calmly, weaving a soft tenure into her Song, soothing the glitches and sour notes with his reassurances as he used his soft voice to straighten her view, "My dear Raimu, rest assured, I have no intention of leaving any time soon. You may sleep easily knowing that Shibuya will not lose her Composer so easily. Her symphony is mine alone, as are the notes that dance across the bars of her tune. I will not abandon my concerto…"
He brought her face close to his own, his ageless gaze piercing through her doubts and reaching for her core as they conveyed his sincerity, his tone even softer as he silkily caressed her name on his lips, the essence of assurance and comfort in his tenure as his next words shot directly to her heart, soothing her worry.
"Nor will I abandon you, my Raimu Bito."
