"Hey Phones!" Mister H said cheerily, "Made a post run for you, picked up the mail!"
He tossed the teen a letter. Curious, the Proxy looked at the sender...and froze.
Anoka Sakuraba
Just seeing that name made Neku's skin crawl and his breath catch in his throat, shortening his breathing. He steadied himself with a hand on the wall, head bowed as he fought to regain his composure and failed miserably.
"Neku." Joshua said sleepily, "Could you turn down your frantic Music, just a smidge? What has you so riled up, anyway?"
Neku slid down the wall, sitting on the floor
"My uncle Anoku's coming back from Paris this weekend. He'll be here on Saturday."
"Anoku Sakuraba?" Joshua's voice was hard and...cold. "You're related...to Anoku Sakuraba?! "
"Um, to my great annoyance and misfortune, yes."
"Misfortune is correct." Josh laced his fingers together.
"Every five years, there's a Composer's meeting. Before my trial, I met with the Composer of Paris, as it was tradition to meet one Composer in private each meeting. Anyway, she told me that a mortal by the name of Anoku Sakuraba was responsible for half the Players in three of her Games. All of them...were under 18 years of age."
Neku felt sick. "He went to Paris to find an heir for his company. You're saying he killed most of the candidates?!"
"According to Clevelle, yes."
"And they let him leave the country?!"
"Obviously. Of course, Clevelle would've loved to enter him in the Game, but unlike me, she's a stickler for rules and regulations. The authorities have no knowledge of his crimes. Even if they did, they most likely wouldn't care. It's less street urchins running amuck."
The proxy glared at him before registering the bitter tone Joshua clearly disliked child murder, despite his proxy's age when he shot him. It was simply a task that needed to be done, and he felt no pleasure doing it, despite the smirk on his face after the body hit the ground. He was pleased with his choice, that was all.
"Now he's coming here." Neku groaned, "What a pain. You know, he was the reason I began shutting out the world. Pain is easy to forget once it's tuned out."
Joshua was silent, sharing a knowing look with Mister H. Neku suddenly got an idea.
"Wait a second...he's coming to Shibuya. Josh, you said the Composer of Paris was a stickler, so she didn't do anything about him. But you're not. Shibuya is your territory. You could—"
"—I know where this is going, my dear, dear proxy...but unfortunately, I have no intention of killing a mortal again any time soon. If you remember, taking you out was one of the reasons I ended up like this. I doubt the Council will let another infraction so soon slide. I can guarantee my punishment would be ten thousand times worse. It may even erase me."
"If you go, Shibuya goes." Neku said glumly "I'm so screwed."
Joshua giggled, "I said I wouldn't kill Anoku. I never said I would lay back and let him do whatever he wants in Shibuya. When he causes a problem, I'll take care of it."
"He's coming for your Proxy." Neku pointed out, "I'd hope you'd consider that a problem, Josh."
The Composer smirked, "That goes without saying, Neku. So relax! You're correct, I am more hands on than practically every other Composer. That's thanks to you, by the way. However, I cannot protect you outside the house, so do attempt not to let your uncle kill you on the way to school or the supermarket."
"Very funny."