Neku mused over what Joshua had said to him as he ate some Shoyu. Picking at the noodles, he ran over and over the implications of the honest statements presented to him. Right now...he was the most powerful being in Shibuya, and he wasn't even trying.
"Mister H." he croaked, looking at the older man who sipped his coffeeas if everything was normal, "Is it true? I...I'm more powerful than Josh right now? So powerful...I could even kill him if I wanted to?"
The barista cocked his head "Phones, even Little Skulls could kill J right now. It wouldn't be hard. What makes you unique...is you could erase him right now using your Music alone if you wanted. So, yeah. It's true."
"I just...never thought of that being a thing. I could actually accidently erase him...without even trying. Mister H..." Neku put his chopsticks down and hung his head "What if...I'm the reason Joshua's not getting better?"
"Now hold on Phones! Don't think too much into this, now." Hanekoma protested "Josh's condition is fragile because he's being punished, not because you're attacking him unknowingly. This is all the Higher Plane's doing, not yours."
"But what if I'm making it worse?" The teen protested "What if just being near my Music is preventing him from fully healing?"
Sanae put a hand on his shoulder "Phones...Phones! You're thinking too much about this, kid. Joshua's gonna be fine wether you're near him or not, and I can guarantee he'd actually be doing worse if you weren't here."
Neku opened his mouth to protest, when suddenly, his eyes narrowed and a shadow fell across his face. Sanae followed his gaze and gasped in suprize. "It's not possible...The rune is still active!"
Standing there, right next to Joshua, her glowing hand stroking his pale cheek...was a member of the Higher Plane. Her figure was small, about the size of a teenager, and her features, what could be made out under the crackling, fluxuating glow of pure Imagination, were soft and kind.
Neku balled his fists and was about to step towards her, but Sanae stopped him/ "Wait Phones." He hissed, "She's not one of Them. She's on my level. That must be why the Rune let her in. All us Angels have a similer base frequency."
"Who the hell is she?" the Proxy hissed back, not trusting the stranger at all.
The Being looked right at him and smiled.
"Thank you. Thank you, Neku Sakuraba, for taking in this prissy Bastard, and giving him the will to keep existing."
She smiled endearingly, then returned her attention to the unconscious Composer. Neku's eyes went wide as the girl knelt down and gave the ash-blond a gentle, loving kiss on the forehead, whispering with a smirk in her voice
"Are you giving up already, rich boy? Doesn't sound like the Partner I know!"
Partner? Is she...
"Haineko?" The proxy murmnured tentatively, stepping towards the Angel. She looked at him curiously and nodded
"Yes. I was at his trial, though he never saw me. I didn't want him to see me, when he couldn't...when he didn't feel anything for me. It would've just been awkward, and would have added to his torment. I couldn't do that to him. He suffered so much in the Courtroom...They were excessive assholes and some of them enjoyed it enough that they just kept him in agony. But he laughed it all up in their pompous ass faces, and that..that I enjoyed most of all. I've actually been watching his prissy ass ever since the Noise took me. The Higher Ups decided I could be much more useful as an Angel than a cat Noise. But I promised myself I wouldn't let him see me...not until what was stolen from him was returned."
She looked fondly at her former Partner and said with a sigh "I would have loved to be the one who healed his Soul. But regardless...I am happy he finally got off his ass and repaired himself using someone else's influence. I owe miss Bito a blessing of some sort."
She sighed "But it seems that he's out of tune, the idiot! Mister H. you know I could help with that. I may not be as powerful as you, but I can manipulate a subject's Music, ike you could if you weren't Yoshi's Producer."
Neku cleared his throat "As much as we'd appreciate that-wait...Yoshi? He actually let you call him Yoshi?! And he didn't sacrifice you to Noise?!"
"Nope." She threw him a look, what he could see of her eyes looking surprisingly snarky, like Josh's, "But he did throw someone else who mocked him about it into the sewer drains, so please, don't risk needling him about it."
Sanae laughed and said merrily "Neku's a...special case."
"Oh yes, you're his Proxy aren't you. Well in that case, " the glow subsided enough that he could see her smirk, a ringer for the snide Kiryu's own, "Tease him excessively."
Oh, he could totally tell what Joshua saw in this girl. She was a dead match for him!
"So...you can help him retune?" he asked hopefully.
"No. I know what he;s supposed to sound like with that note inside his melody. He just has to relax and play Sleeping Beauty until I can put that poor thing back where it belongs in his Song. So really, as usual, I'm not helping so much as I'm doing all his work for him. Prissy bastard Kiryu."
"Could you do it...in three days? I kinda need him to tell me how to plane hop from here to the UG. Without dying." Neku mumbled, feeling oddly relaxed in front of this Higher Being that could destroy him with a glance. It was weird...she gave off a similer feeling that Mister H. gave off. It was easy as hell to feel comfortable around her.
"Ah, then the angry pink haired brat hollering outside the Dead God's Pad must be a challenger. You are the Proxy, and Yoshi is being too hurt and lazy to accept himself...but he knows that if he fails to accept a challenge from such a high ranking Reaper in three days...then he forfeits the right to be Composer. So he picked you to go in his place."
"Uh...yes. That is what 'entering the challenge by Proxy' means-Wait...WHAT?! When the HELL was that even a thing?!"
"I don't know! Forever I think." The female angel said with a shrug, "Anyway, it's so moot. As usual, Yoshi had a backup plan, and it happens to be you. Anyway, Mister H travels between planes all the time, I'm sure he can teach you."
Sanae smiled "Well, I suppose, since Josh'll be occupied especially after he wakes up and finds out who's rewriting his Song, that I can play mentor."
"Good, then its settled!"