TWEWY: A Fall Into Honor:

This story is about how Joshua became the Composer. The story is from Joshua's point of view, and others if the story needs to. This is a prequel of the game The World Ends With You. TWEWY is made by Square Enix. And I own the OCs. This is a FAN FICTION and not the real prequel. Enjoy! =3

Also, if you're wondering why the chapters have been quite long recently it's because there's so much to write down that I hate to take out any of the detail! Hahaha... it's a bit hard to narrow down what you want all the time, you just want to keep almost everything you have, right? =3

Week 2, day 2:

Chapter 39: Dots To Be Connected Together:

White sunglasses glinted from the lamp's light above. "My, my… when will you trim your claws?"

The Gamemaster narrowed her eyes at him and huffed, "Claws? Are you comparing me to a feline?"

Megumi chuckled darkly; the girl clearly didn't seem to like him by the looks of it.

He simply was hanging out in the Dead God's Pad alone when she arrived a few minutes afterwards, protecting herself from the light with her parasol wherever she walked and turned. Megumi wasn't given orders today really, so he decided to spend time in the lounge since he didn't get a chance to after the day of his promotion to Harrier Reaper ever since. Normally Harrier Reapers were off limits to this place in headquarters, but today all the Officer Reapers were working. So he personally invited himself here. No one knew really until Leiko Kurokiku returned from what he heard was actually going out to pass out the mission to the Players herself, something that Gamemasters apparently haven't done in decades.

The valetino braided haired girl ambled to the sofa he was on and sat on the arm of it right beside him, she crossed her legs and tilted her head in his direction. "Hmph, what are you doing here? Personnel only."

He turned to her, lowering his shades to set his jade eyes on her. "I am personnel, merely below you two grades in the job."

Leiko kinked her parasol a bit to the side. "True." her pale fuchsia eyes were blank as she crossed her legs in a different position. "You will kindly leave."

Megumi didn't get up; he stared at her simply and smirked. "Oh, by… using that parasol… hmm?" he tapped his chin playfully and closed his eyes. "What was it called again? Hearty Umbrella? Shattering Sunshade? Dainty Canopy?"

He immediately pushed himself across the couch in time before Leiko could use her parasol to jab him. Her blank eyes flashed briefly with annoyance before she pursed her lips. "Heartbreak Parasol."

"Ah, heartbreak." Megumi made himself comfortable on the cushion he was on before he laughed, "It kills everyone." It was a second later before he snorted gently out a bit of air. "Yet, it escapes me. Why did you pester those Players so much?"

Leiko still gave him the same look as she blinked. "You mean the Player you leaked information to and his confrères?" she turned her head forward and stared off into the distance. "You know why, Megumi Kitaniji."

"Ah, how can I when you are being so cryptic your Sunlessness?" He clasped his hands together and rested them on his lap. He watched the new Gamemaster as she continued to look away from him, it was as though she thought of him as uninteresting or inconvenient. He closed his eyes sighing as he added, "Although, you stabbed salt deep into the youngest's wounds. Choosing to play with the half-brother of Yoshiya Kiryu is simply a gauche and chancy game, Leiko."

The Gamemaster's eye drifted slightly to him, her black lips pursed still. "I want my fair share, especially with the only Ki breed's case. He is the last of his blood on his mother's side. Petty… petty he wasn't part of the accident, perhaps he would have been spared of this game, or worse, the late times to come…"

A few minutes before…

Joshua watched as Leiko faded into the distance, finally letting out the frustrated sigh that he had been holding on to for the amount of time ever since they had received the mission. His blood that had been boiling soothed and returned to its normal flow by the time he was sure she wasn't coming back.

"Ugh…" He rubbed his temples feeling a headache forming. "I'm not going to look forward to seeing her every day!"

Izo kept grimacing as he growled, "Touché." he had 'accepted' the mission last, and Joshua saw that he hadn't gotten over the aftereffects yet. "Her modus comprises a supplementary-" he wheezed severely and clenched his eyes shut in pain, "- virulent formula- one that shouldn't be- pertained- like she had- indicated- afore…" he coughed harshly at the end.

Joshua nodded. He felt a bit bad for Izo, it would seem that his body was having a hard time taking in that stint of pain. Maybe because of how spindly it was implied the reason?

Izo tried to speak again, but his mere words were reduced to sputters and deep, ragged wheezes.

"U-Um… I-Izo?" Joshua's Partner looked worried as she timidly reached out a hand to Izo. "M-Maybe y-you sh-should r-rest?"

The walking freezer let out a horrible wheeze, swaying where he stood until he began to fall down. Joshua right away sprang forth and hooked his arms under Izo's, but he nearly fell down with him. Luckily just in time he managed to keep himself up and kept Izo's head from smacking the cruel drab road.

With a look to Mayu, Joshua sighed before he murmured to her, "I think that answers your question, Mayu."

Mayu closed her eyes and rested her hand over her heart that Joshua imagined was racing. "I-I guess… Joshua."

Joshua looked down at Izo's face, the normally frigid boy had a grumpy scowl, but now his was scrunched up in agony. Never would Joshua have imagined that Izo would actually look like this, to see the normal veneer of the walking freezer melt away due to the presence of pain. It caught him off guard, that Izo might just be like them, but he was hiding it earnestly.

Yet, all Joshua could wonder was if this was what he looked like when he passed out from Leiko's attack? It hit him pretty hard, and from remembering Izo's words it sounded like he wasn't taking it all that well.

'Why did it hurt me so much?' Joshua slumped slowly into a low crouch as he gently rested Izo down, not wanting to disturb the cobalt haired teen. 'I never… experienced pain like that before… Is the GM that powerful? To inflict such an attack like that on me? Or…' Joshua frowned deeply, shaking his head as he closed his eyes. 'Err… I just don't get it…'

Leaving Izo alone, Joshua stood up and stretched before he faced Mayu. Her face looked weary from the concern she showed, he didn't like that she looked daunted from this. Already he himself had enough hardships and burdens set upon him by the Reaper's Game, he just didn't want Mayu to deal with this sort of thing either.

He walked up to her and asked gently, "Are you okay?" he snaked his right hand behind his back and gripped the back of his left arm as he continued, "If you're worried about Izo, he'll be fine. We just need to wait until he's better, so don't worry." a second later he put in a bit too quickly, "Everything will be fine! I can promise you that!"

Mayu jumped a bit from surprise before she gave a weak smile. "I'm fine, Joshua… thank you…"

Joshua let out a sigh. He gave her a warm smile as he exclaimed happily, "Great!" he blinked before he spoke again awkwardly after noticing how he made her flinch, "Uh, I mean… yeah… good…" he rubbed the back of his neck before sighing. "That was a bit too loud for you… wasn't it?"

His Partner's pretty blue green eyes flashed with shock, she suddenly grabbed his available hand with both of hers as she cried, "No!" she blushed immediately and slumped her shoulders as she hung her head. "Um… it w-wasn't loud, Joshua… I don't mind, you don't need to do that for me…" She gripped his hand a bit harder as she suddenly shook and sniffled, "You… d-don't…"

The ashen blond frowned and placed his hand over one of hers. "Hey…" he bit his lip as he heard more sniffles. She must have been so stressed to the point she was crying, he hated that he truly caused her to start crying. After he bit more into his lip he softened his eyes and removed his hand from hers. Before she could let out any sobs he wrapped his arm behind her and drew her close to him.

He could feel warmth bloom inside his heart as he closed his lavender eyes, Mayu was still shaking and sniffling but she seemed to relax in his half-embrace. He felt that her grip on his hand loosened and sank away, making him sigh softly, yet it saddened him for a second. Did she feel too awkward holding his hand? He couldn't figure it out but he decided that making sure Mayu was okay was more important.

For a while they stayed like that, Mayu's sniffles softened to the point they were soundless and the shaking her body gave stilled. She just let him hug her which made Joshua feel happy that she did.

Yet, he felt baffled. Why was Mayu so stressed about him worrying about her? He knew she was shy, probably not used to hanging out with outgoing people at all, so he thought being too loud and abrupt around her might scare her. But how she reacted shocked him, he wanted to find out more about Mayu and answer his questions he had revolving around her behavior. He felt that he needed to, for Mayu's sake.

Soon she looked up at him, her turquoise eyes watery as she sniffled, "Joshua…?"

He smiled to reassure her. "I'm here."

She nodded before she closed her eyes, she whispered quietly, "Thank you…"

Joshua didn't respond right away, he hesitated a bit before he nodded. "You're welcome, Mayu."

He slowly released her and stepped away, he didn't want her to get stressed again from the contact they had. Yet he saw how her eyes opened a little, hurt flashing in them before they turned back to the normal timid emotion they held.

Before Joshua could say anything to her, Ayumu spoke, "Are you guys having a hard time with the mission?"

Joshua flinched before he turned to see his half-brother trying to twist his head to almost look in their direction. With a chuckle Joshua walked over to Ayumu and rested a hand on his shoulder. "Maybe…" he blinked before he asked in amusement, "What? Did you already have it figured out, Ayu?"

Ayumu quietly said something about the feminine nickname before he twisted his head again. Suddenly a spurt of golden yellow particles shot upward then fell down just like snow around him.

The older half-brother widened his eyes in horror; he gripped onto Ayumu's shoulder hard and turned him around hastily. Once Ayumu faced him Joshua shrieked.

Where Leiko had clawed earlier now looked like a growing crack of molten golden yellow that spewed out like lava and flowed down like blood.

"Ayumu!" screeched Joshua staring at the wound in horror, he placed his hand over the wound and summoned Rosetta Restore's Psych. "Hold on!"

He heard Mayu dash over to his side as she screamed, "Wh-What's wrong w-with his f-face!" he glanced at her fearfully as she covered her mouth in horror.

"I-I d-don't know!" he yelped and turned back to Ayumu. "It must be Leiko's fault!"

Ayumu tilted his head up, his pewter eyes flickered back and forth as he asked emotionlessly, "I don't see what the problem is."

Joshua let Mayu explain it to his unaware half-brother as he focused as much energy as he could to Ayumu's nasty wound. He felt sick as he saw Ayumu's aura swim and swirl around in the wounded area, it made him feel dizzy and ready to puke on Ayumu by mistake at the sight. To him, it was like seeing his parents' and aunt's blood gushing out of their limp forms as life seeped out of them.

He remembered how Ayumu wailed in horror and grief, how his younger half-brother was broken the moment he discovered the blood that welled from their parents. It echoed in his head, making him forget momentarily where he was.

His hand shook as he sent out healing energy to Ayumu's wound, the stream faltered for a second until he felt Mayu steady it by grasping his wrist, despite shaking herself. He gave her a look of surprise and gratitude but then paid mind to his task.

Even though he continued for some time with Mayu's support, Ayumu's wound barely closed. It stayed as a pool of molten aura.

Joshua narrowed his eyes and wheezed, feeling sticky sweat slick his bangs down. "Why… why isn't it working!?"

Ayumu moved his head a little bit. "What's working?"

Joshua could only look to his Partner for help, but she gave a sorrowful frown and whimper.

"Nothing." Joshua flinched before he turned to see Izo walk past him and join Ayumu's side. "Indubitably your enterprise is futile. Give up."

"I won't!" yelled Joshua angrily as he glared at Izo, he saw the now awake teen roll his eyes before Joshua growled, "It has to heal!"

The maroon eyed teen snorted, he adjusted his glasses before he coldly noted, "Feh, it won't." Joshua let out a growl as Izo growled, "You left it to rankle exceedingly long."

"I-"

"Generally in the RG," Izo cut Joshua off aloofly. "If you leave lesions untreated for too long, they become inoperable. They rankle, and become infected." his glasses seem to glint as he asked, "Now, daresay how long you were unconscious?"

Joshua bit his lip. "Well, I dunno... a while?"

"Furthermore, I'm speculating I'm been out long as well." Izo narrowed his eyes and grabbed his chin. "Hence, we can't treat the Blind Brat's wound."

The ashen blond whipped his head back to gaze at Ayumu's wound. "No… just give me more time." he began to heal the wound again and choked, "It'll close up soon, I know it will."

Izo set him a cold glare. "Tsk, it won't. It'll just be like how his nose is." he rolled his eyes before he slipped his hand into one of his baggy pockets and fished out a long black case. He gently pulled the lid out and showed it to Joshua. "But, if it makes you feel better, fantasize it will and put this on the Blind Brat, feh."

With a sigh, Joshua still continued with his efforts and took the case with his free hand. He looked down and was surprised to find some fine gauzes layered atop of each other. The truth was, he recognized them as the exact same ones that were used on his shoulder last week.

For a moment he looked at Izo before he asked suspiciously, "How come you carry gauzes with you, Izo? You're scared of going into stores?"

Izo didn't meet his eyes, instead finding some nearby billboards interesting. "I constructed them myself, seldom, with the thread the Tyke purchases for me."

Joshua found that to be fascinating.

Slowly he turned to Ayumu again, distraught to find that the wounds looked exactly the same as before, maybe even worse. He knew Izo was right, no matter what he tried to convince himself Izo wasn't. So he let out a sigh before he pulled out a long strip of gauze, noting how well crafted Izo made it to be, which seemed insane to accomplish in Joshua's opinion. For a second he paused before he placed it against the molten looking wound and kept it there with his hand as he began to wrap the gauze around Ayumu's head.

He continued to wrap the gauze around until he felt it was firm enough, not too much, for Ayumu's wound and himself. Throughout the whole time Ayumu said nothing, though he did try to move his head so Izo had to keep the young half-brother's head in place. In the end Joshua still saw Ayumu's aura from the wound, but it made him happier that he saw less of it and it didn't spurt or gush out anymore.

Soon he gave Izo the case back and Izo slipped the lid back on.

"It's not necessary that I have this on, Josh," stated Ayumu hollowly as he patted the gauze a bit with his hand. "I don't even feel any pain, so I don't think I need it."

Joshua pulled the petite blond's hand away from disturbing the gauze. "Of course you do, Ayumu. Don't be stupid."

Ayumu looked slightly in his direction. "I'm just saying I don't think whatever wound you say I have is that horrible."

Right away Joshua let out a sigh. "Ayumu…" his lavender eyes watched Ayumu's pewter flicker around to search for their locations. "The GM carved into your face!"

"She did?" asked Ayumu as Joshua finally let go of his hand. "Doesn't feel like it."

Izo let out a bitter growl as he glared at the blind boy, "Is this going to be a such pain to elucidate to the Blind Brat all week?"

Joshua closed his eyes for a second before he muttered, "It's all her fault… If she didn't claw this deep into Ayumu's face this would never have had happened." he shook his head and bit his lip. "I'll never like the GM, never…"

"I don't see how bad Leiko Kurokiku is." The petite blond slightly gazed in his direction. "From my understanding she has a different way in running things, but that doesn't mean you should hate her, Josh."

"You don't see the point!" snapped Joshua harshly.

"I don't see anything, Josh," replied Ayumu as he blinked. "Nor do I understand why you don't like her other than the fact you said she hurt me."

"She clawed into your face!" yelled Joshua as he shook Ayumu for a while. "Think about it, Ayumu! Get it into your head!"

"Well, I don't see the problem with it."

Izo finally pulled Ayumu out of being shaken and shoved him backwards; as soon as he turned to glare back at Joshua he growled, "Forget it, Aleck. It appears he won't get it no matter the sundry times you yell at him. It's useless."

Joshua growled angrily before he huffed, "Fine."

He was angry that Ayumu wasn't able to understand how horrible the GM was, it was almost like talking to a tree.

Soon he saw Mayu rush over to help Ayumu up, but he ignored Ayumu when he spoke, "I still don't see what's the problem is with Leiko." Joshua knew that if he tried to persuade Ayumu again they would end up in an endless loop of an argument, meaning he knew he had to have it end here. But he knew that didn't mean he would stop disliking her for that fact.

Sighing, he absentmindedly looked down at his timer only to see that there was 01:30:37 for the time for the mission. He flinched, knowing that they must have had 2 hours given for the mission yet they wasted it here. Whatever the objective for the mission was they had to complete must take at least that much time, so he knew they had to figure out a plan in order to complete the mission and survive the day.

"U-Um…?" Joshua's head jerked towards Mayu who stood close to him as she shyly held her hands, she flinched a little bit before she quietly asked, "Wh-What n-now, Joshua? D-Don't w-we have a mi-mission?"

He smiled at her, laughing a little bit in amusement, "You know, I was just about to mention that." after letting out a few more laughs he added warmly, "Wow, you're a step ahead of me already, Mayu. Great job!"

She blushed deeply and looked away. "Th-Thank y-you."

Izo rolled his eyes. "Tsk, anybody would have solicited about it. We've resided here ample to say we squandered the mission."

Joshua noticed that Mayu's face fell and he immediately glared at Izo. "Hey! That was pretty rude!" he stepped in front of her feeling furious towards Izo as he spat, "Go easy on her, Mayu hasn't been here long!"

With a snort Izo narrowed his eyes at him, "Neither have we. Simply a week dissociates her and us, what variance does it make?"

"Give me a break!" yelled Joshua as he clenched his fists. "Everything has been flying around at Mayu, she hasn't had time to adjust or learn about what is happening. She needs time to get used to things and discouraging her isn't helping!"

For a while Izo glared at him before he snorted, breathing no word he spun around and stalked over to Ayumu. Without any warning he grabbed onto Ayumu's shirt collar and started to drag him away.

"Where are you going!?" cried Joshua indignantly yet he was baffled as well.

After a few seconds Izo stopped before he growled coldly, "I am not waiting around for anyone. You help her hone on your own, mate." he then returned to stalking away while Ayumu could only follow awkwardly as he was dragged away from Joshua and Mayu.

Joshua could only glare at the dark blue haired teen until he could no longer see his half-brother or friend. Yet he slumped his shoulders afterward, feeling pretty horrible that he was separated from his brother and friend just because of one argument.

He felt something tap his shoulder, he slowly turned to see Mayu looking at him shyly yet he saw the surprise she held flashing from her eyes. "Y-You… st-stood up for me…" she bit her lip as she looked down sadly. "B-But you didn't need to."

The ashen blond raised an eyebrow as he asked in confusion, "Why not? I mean, Izo has been pretty rude to you ever since you two have met each other," he added promptly as he blinked, "I have no clue why but I'm sure it's been hard for you, huh."

She looked up and briefly met his gaze. "It h-has been…" she shifted her feet a little before she went on, "W-Waking up and g-getting ch-chased by… th-the N-Noise h-has been s-scary…" Suddenly she blushed when she gave a weak smile. "B-But then… y-you s-saved m-me… Y-You m-made things… ea-easier… th-than it has been f-for m-me lately. Th-Thank y-you, Joshua, I-I ap-appreciate y-your h-help."

Joshua smiled when she said that, he nodded to her as he placed a hand on her shoulder. "Well, it's a good thing I found you when I did. You might have been erased." he blinked before he looked into her pretty eyes. "I think the world would have lost a kind person yesterday, but now I'm lucky that she's my Partner."

He saw her blush deeper, but then again he found he was blushing a bit himself. He had no clue why he was complementing her so much lately, yet the words seemed to slide off his tongue easily as though he had been saying them his whole life to her. But he didn't mind though, the warmth returned again and he was beginning to like its presence.

She nodded timidly. "Th-Thank y-you, a-again…" After a moment or two later she squeaked, "Um… the mission! R-Right, Joshua?"

The ashen blond nodded before he grabbed his chin gingerly. "Hmm… M, CC, and TR… what do they mean?" he closed his eyes and let out a frustrated sigh. "Is this some kind of code or initials of something?"

Mayu held her hands close to her and bit her lip looking uneasy when Joshua reopened his eyes, she didn't really say anything for a while so Joshua could only guess she was mulling the mission over. He decided to simply follow her example also, they both had to brainstorm this by themselves since Izo or Ayumu wasn't there to help.

For a moment he wondered why the GM spoke of an obtuse triangle, he hoped she wouldn't give them math problems all week. And the 'wicked clutter' really drove him to a blank; he saw no solution to what that meant.

Finally Joshua groaned and slapped his hand to his face. "Ugh… The way she phrased this mission kills me…"

The smoky black haired girl jumped a little before her pretty turquoise eyes softened. "I-It certainly i-is hard… M-Maybe we should r-reference s-something…?" her voice slowly grew quiet as Joshua listened to her intently.

"Reference something?" Joshua widened his eyes in surprise as he mused, "What exactly can we reference here, Mayu?"

Her eyes closed tightly for a moment as she breathed quickly for a brief amount of time, she seemed to be getting stressed out by his question but then she looked at him shyly. She murmured, "I… I thought the m-map could help…" she suddenly waited for him to answer as her voice quieted to the point it became plain air.

'The map… huh?' Joshua blinked at her and noted it seemed as though she was bracing for something, he wondered if she thought her idea wasn't worth sharing for a moment. Mayu was a timid girl, she seemed nice and all but she seemed scared about putting herself out there for too long from what he had seen so far. He felt that Mayu was belittling herself too much, he felt she should gain more confidence in herself and opinions.

"That's… that's actually a nice idea." said Joshua as he saw her pretty eyes light up from astonishment. "I've never really thought of using maps for missions before. Heh, and here I am now from surviving last week." he gave her a warm smile.

"R-Really?" Mayu blinked at him.

"Yeah." Joshua nodded and giggled a bit.

Suddenly she giggled, bringing her hand up to hide her mouth at the same time.

Joshua liked her laugh; it seemed cute, just like her. But then he felt confused by why he thought she was cute again.

They went over to a nearby map board that had a flock of RG people who Joshua guessed was tourists, he felt lucky that he was in the UG or he would have to be stuck behind this rambunctious crowd of people. He went through the crowd, not daunted by the fact each person he passed through had a distorted ripple go across their figures each time. But as soon as he got to the front, he noticed Mayu wasn't with him.

"Mayu?" He was confused yet frightened when he couldn't find his Partner, he expected that Mayu followed him but the chance that she got lost was there. But then he realized his mistake and made his way back where he and Mayu stood before.

She jumped and let out a yelp when he got through the last person, he right away let out a sigh. "Sorry about that."

To Joshua it seemed like Mayu would faint from what she just witnessed, he felt bad that he ignored the fact of warning her beforehand. He merely stared at her for a while until he finally hung his head. "Oops, I guess you weren't expecting that, huh?"

She made a meek nod.

Joshua let out another sigh before he carefully offered his hand. Instead of hesitating like the first time, she timidly accepted it and let him lead her through the crowd.

Soon they reached and started to study the map. Mayu seemed to glance at every district with a bit of curiosity glittering in her pretty eyes and Joshua thought of how her eyes resembled his fathers, whose eyes until this moment seemed to best any of the same shade but now Joshua dubbed Mayu as the winner for eye colour. Her eyes truly seemed to be full of light, almost as though they themselves were the ocean shining from under the bright fiery sun.

"H-Have you figured anything o-out?" Joshua jerked his head and saw that his Partner was holding her hands together as she waited for him to answer. It took a second for him to interpret what she asked, since he was so absorbed in admiring her pretty eyes.

"Err... not quite." He frowned, mostly for himself.

She lowered her gaze sadly. "O-Oh, I see..." as she gazed back at the map a light breeze blessed them by cooling down Joshua who felt terribly warm all of a sudden.

'Stupid! I should focus on the mission and study the map!' Joshua whipped his head to the map. He noticed suddenly that almost all the times he spent in Shibuya that he never really had a chance to look at the map. There were many districts he noted in awe, most of them he never set a foot in due to his lonely life due to being a 'freak'. For example, he never had any reason to visit Udawaga. For one thing his parents warned him of gangs that settled in the area, so he made sure to advise against any suggestions Ayumu had for visiting that place, which resulted in seeing Ayumu's wounded expression that killed a part of his soul each time it was inflicted.

He still felt a bit awry about where they had to go so he absentmindedly started to look over the names of the districts. Boredom seeped into him soon so he began to recite the initials from the mission to himself for entertainment.

"Hurry up!"

A girl ran through Mayu abruptly, causing the shorthaired girl to squeal in surprise. Joshua hardly had time to observe her because she darted through Mayu again a trice later.

He was surprised by how fast she was, it was almost like she was a bouncy ball that shot in one direction and bounced to another.

Joshua turned around just as a boy halted in front of the speedy girl, panting deeply, "Jeez, when will you slow down for me? I hardly had time to breathe!"

"Kenny you're slow!" Huffed the girl, seemly half crossed and half amused by the boy. "You need to keep up with me if you want to go anywhere else!"

"Gah! No! You're too fast!"

As the two of them bantered Joshua couldn't help but smile and giggle a little. The twins, as he saw they were nearly identical, reminded him of the times he and Ayumu bickered when they still were alive. And he could tell they were 12 years old, as he heard the boy's voice crack suddenly once and a while during their banter.

The girl had short pale orange hair that was slightly spiked and styled in a distinct way and had very dark brown eyes. She sported a long-sleeved white turtleneck with a short-sleeved red and gold jacket that was unzipped and wore knee long jeans. She was somewhat scrawny and Joshua could see how her legs absorbed most of her strength, they seemed perfect for running considering how she seemed the type to dash everywhere.

Meanwhile the boy had flaming autumn orange hair that was a bit spiky and a few of his bangs were drifted over his face. He too had the exact same eye colour of the girl. Yet he was taller and looked sturdier evidently by his strong build. He had on a dark blue jacket that had long sleeves and was zipped up all the way unlike the speedy girl and had longer jeans on.

Joshua couldn't help but watch them; they seemed so happy and so innocent. So innocent, just like how he was to the Reaper's Game's true hardship that threatened to tear apart the Players' lives and values. And how Ayumu was denying the existence to the Reaper's Game until he was faced with it himself, having a normal life until he was stripped of his greatest parts and qualities of him. The twins wouldn't know anything... nothing like Joshua and the rest of his group had going on for them at that very moment.

"Hey…? What time did mom want us back by?" asked the boy who sported a baffled expression, he ruffled his hair as his face screwed up in frustration. "I can't remember heck of it!"

The speedy girl gave a quick curious look to her watch before she gave a frown. "She wanted us back before noon, and it's already 11:40… so…" suddenly her face lit up as a smile popped onto it. "But! I bet if we sprint for Cadoi City now we can do it!"

"Wha!" Who Joshua assumed to be her brother right away had his face pale deathly and burst into dismay. "No!" He let out a cry of agony as he ruffled his hair franticly until it was a complete mess; "I want mercy on my soul! You truly are working me to death! Wh-WHY!?"

The ebony eyed girl let out a loud laugh as she threw up her head. "Seriously!? Seriously!? Hah!" she looked at the boy with mirth as she let out a strong snort of amusement before she fell into laughter's clutches. "I could run a marathon sightless while you would choose to rest in my dust! Hahaha! You need more stamina, Kenny!"

"It's insane!" protested her brother hotly, thumping his broad chest with his hand. "It's like you're on the largest and longest running battery in the world! When will you stop running!?"

"Dunno." She wiped her fresh tears away before she cheekily grinned. "Maybe when I'm nailed to the ground?"

The flaming headed boy gasped and gawked at her in distraught. "Stop! That's horrible! Never say that again!"

Right away the pale haired girl sighed and patted his shoulder. "Fine…"

Joshua saw her brother seemed quite relieved when she said that.

Soon the two of them started towards the way they had to go when the girl stopped, she looked over her shoulder briefly in Joshua's and Mayu's direction.

Joshua felt himself hold his breath for some odd reason, he had no idea why but he felt like she had seen them. But he had to remind himself that no RG citizen could actually do that, only he himself could when he was alive.

For a while she stared their way until she clutched her head in pain, doubling over a second later. She stayed leaning forward in pain until the almost identical boy came over looking horrified. "What happened!?"

"N-Nothing…" Her forehead seemed to gleam with sweat. "I felt… as though something… something…" she muffled her yelp barely as she trembled a bit on the spot and moaned in her pain.

The boy looked uneasy as he firmly placed his hand on her shoulder and squeezed it. "Th-That's right! Nothing, there's nothing. Alright?"

She let out a moan before nodding reluctantly.

Right away the boy hugged her before he smiled brightly. "Well, I'm sure we can get something for your stomachache at Herbal Remedies! Let's go there now!"

The bright and cheerful demeanor of the girl seemed to have dulled greatly by her pain; she looked a bit disoriented and was almost struggling to stay standing up. She seemed to press her eyes tightly closed before she gave another nod but it looked more painful than the previous ones.

As they slowly walked away Joshua blinked and took a gulp of air in. He gently grabbed onto his chin as he watched the girl in pain be helped by her brother. "Hmm… I wonder what happened to her?"

Mayu gazed sadly and followed the twins in their sight. "I-I hope she gets better…"

Joshua nodded after a moment; he felt an odd emotion swell in his chest from just seeing the younger girl. But he tried to dismiss it, seeing it as inconvenient and irrelevant to what he and Mayu needed to do now. He had no time worrying about a random girl who had random sessions of pain. Yet, she seemed somewhat familiar to him...

Slowly he turned away back to the map, he felt it was hopeless just staring at the map until he was erased or fell sleep. There wasn't really anything that it could provide for them at that moment.

Just as he was going to say something to Mayu regarding that, he recalled the speedy girl's words suddenly.

"But! I bet if we sprint for Cadoi City now we can do it!"

He blinked. 'Wait… CC…?'

Right away he widened his eyes and gasped, "Cadoi City!"

Mayu flinched immediately as he abruptly seized a pamphlet from a stand next to the map and opened it straight to the map. He scanned over it briefly before he found the district. "Mayu! CC must stand for Cadoi City!"

"B-But what about M and TR?" asked Mayu shyly as she gazed down at the little map with Joshua.

At first he bit his lip and pondered about it, but it soon became clear to him. He fished out Mayu's fountain pen and set the pamphlet against the map board. With the pen he pointed. "Mayu, Molco and Towa Records are beside it! And look!" he connected the three districts by drawing a line between each of them on the pamphlet. "Does this look like a obtuse triangle or not?"

Finally when they were linked together by the line, he saw how they made up together and marveled at the narrowly conspicuous detail. Truly nobody would notice this and never figure it out unless they took a long time of observing the map. For a moment he felt like the GM valued little things like this, and he decided to keep a mental note of it for future references for the next missions.

Mayu gave a nod and smiled weakly at him. "It's nice to know that you can spot these things, Joshua." her eyes sparkled in delight.

"Don't dump the celebration on me, Mayu." The ashen haired boy smiled at her warmly. "You suggested the map, not me."

"B-But you figured it out." Mayu meekly dipped her head and frowned slightly.

He shook his head and stared at her with his lavender eyes. "I would never have figured it out without you…"

She blushed deeply when he said that.

Joshua knew that Mayu kept denying any credit given to her, but he knew that she would never gain any confident in herself that way. He promised himself that he would make sure she could understand that she just played an important part for the mission, and that always pushing any complements or achievements away would never be of help. He wanted to make sure she could see that she wasn't a nobody or a waste of space, she was an exceptional person yet she wouldn't let herself adore it. And overall, he wanted her to see that she was just as equal as everyone, including himself.

To be continued… hope you enjoyed the chapter =3