Joshua woke cuddling Rhyme, his lithe form wrapping the girl in a protective embrace. He uncurled a bit reluctantly. He had had a very disturbing nightmare about the young Bito, and it made him want to keep her close to him...as close as she could possibly get.

Aparently, Sanae needed to create a rune that warded off unpleasant and hostile asshole parents, because halfway through the morning, while Neku was out running errands, Raimu's father decided to visit.

He was not sober.

Rhyme tried getting distance by going behind the island in the kitchen, but the drunken man chased her around and around until he finally caught her by the arm and threw her into the oven backfirst.

"Little wench!" he drawled as she crawled desperately away from him. He persued her, and Joshua was too weak to actually stand, so he did the next best thing...

"Raimu! Neku's room...Lock the door!"

She was halfway up the stairs when she felt Satoshi Bito grab her ankle. He pulled her to him and then threw her into Neku's room.

Joshua grit his teeth and rolled off the couch, his ears hurting with the girl's muffled squealing and the thudding coming from his Proxy's room worried him. He felt a surge of energy as a crash was heard, and Rhyme's tune...shut off abruptly after a scream and a crash.

"No..." he croaked. Purple eyes turned a glowing white and narrowed as there came nothing but muffled thuds from upstairs, "No!"

The Composer hoisted himself up, insides boiling in rage and desperation as he willed himself up the stairs and flung Neku's door open, readying an unpleasant surprise for the one attacking the helpless girl he had begun to cherish.

The monster turned to him and snarled a drunken snarl, a—Joshua's blood boiled—slightly red chair leg clenched in one fist.

"You..." The Composer growled through clenched teeth, hand raised to point directly at the sneering Bito "Are done!"

He dropped his hand, and a pile of debris fell on the drunken maniac, Neku's motorcycle once again lending itself to his whim as it topped the pile, pinning the man under its full weight. The Composer bent down with a sneer and hissed "Be greatful I did not disintegrate you. "

He then dropped to his knees next to the beaten, bloodied form on the ground by the bed, his ashen hair falling in his face as he gently scooped her up. She was like a limp doll in his embrace, mouth slightly open and eyes closed. He clutched her to his chest, his face buried in her blond locks.

"Raimu..." His voice was a whispered croak, thick with emotion. Wetness gathered in his eyes as he was suddenly overcome with a tightness in his throat. "No...Raimu, open your eyes! Play me your song...Raimu please..."

She had lost the Game. If she went now, he would most likely never see her again. She would be out of his reach...out of his life. Forever.

He couldn't bear that at all.

He held her head next to his own, his mouth whispering...pleading, in her ear as a sob escaped his throat. A feeling...a feeling he didn't understand welled up inside him as he felt her body grow even lighter, her breath labored. "Please don't leave me..."

He was overcome with a warmth that seemed to wash over his entire body, he clutched his burden even tighter, and then...an urge, like he'd never felt before, overcame him, and he tipped her head back, murmuring three words he never thought would come out of his mouth in her ear, trying to reach her very soul in a pleading, desperate voice thick with yearning.

"I love you."

He then curled up, his body protecting her own and he finally felt something after seven long decades of...nothing. Everything hit him all at once...and it overwhelmed him. His body shook with sobs as he clutched the tiny, limp form as close as she could be to him, his music reaching into her and trying to draw out her melody...before realizing that her song had totally stopped.

Lifting his head to the sky, Yoshiya Kiryu let out a heartbroken, frustrated, agonized roar.

The roar intensified, and his body began to emit a white glow as he howled his defiance and unacceptance of the truth that he held in his arms. The glow encompassed Rhyme as well, and there was a flash...

Then Joshua collapsed, no strength left in him to do anything but weep as he sat with her cradled in his arms, repeating his declaration of love over and over, as if wishing with his entire Soul that his Bito would hear him wherever she'd gone.

When he was all but spent, he closed his eyes and just sat, eyes closed, cursing the universe and fate for being so cruel to him. To her. The tears began to fall again, but silently now.

"Joshua?"

He didn't move for a full second. Then his mind finally switched back on, and his eyes snapped open, wide and full of unbelief as a familiar melody rang in the very edges of his hearing.

"Raimu? RAIMU!"

He drew her in a hug, rocking back and forth as their eyes met again, as if for the first time. He hugged her tightly, eyes filling with happy tears as he buried his face in her hair, a smile threatening to shatter his face as he felt that lovely warmth overtake him again.

"I thought I lost you." He whispered forelornly in her ear. "I thought you went where I'd never...never see you again."

"I'm right here. I hurt, but I'll be ok-"

She was forced to stop talking as his lips met hers, a sacred bond sealed and she knew...she knew that somehow...

Somehow he conveyed to her that his soul had found its way to healing. And she congratulated him, celebrating with him...

By returning it with just as much passion.

In the doorframe, Sanae smiled, turned, and disappeared into the UG without a sound. But once there, he threw back his head and gave a gloriously happy, relieved laugh.

"You've given him back what he lost, Raimu Bito. Well done! Well done indeed!"