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

Hi everyone, I just wanted to let you know I don't know when I'll post the next chapter but for the next bit of time I'll be quite busy with life, give or take half the month. *Sigh* but don't worry, I'll be back for sure! Enjoy =3

Fun Fact: The previous chapter was supposed to called Bitter Echoes, but then chapter 41 (chapter you are reading now) didn't have the best name possible so since Bitter Echoes was a better name for this chapter I had to come up with something else for the other chapter. So voila!

Week ?, day ?:

Chapter 41: Bitter Echoes:

Laughter, it filled every inch of this place.

The kids a distance away were playing some kind of game that the boy was uncertain about. It made them happy... yet here he was... not alongside them.

He closed his eyes, silent as he sat on his bench. No one dared to sit on it, knowing that he had been on it. So they avoided it... and him. Their caretakers made sure of that.

A breeze tussled his floppy hair; he immediately grimaced and drew his bangs away. He had an urge to sigh the moment they drifted back; annoyed by the constant mocking his hair gave him. But he didn't, he had grown accustomed to this by now from the years he lived here.

Today, he pondered as the laughter continued on, wouldn't be any different from any other...

"Mind that I join you?"

The boy opened his eyes, squinting the moment he turned his head to the voice. He took his floppy bangs and tried to tuck them behind his ears before looking at the tall blurry shape in front of him.

"It's brighter to talk to them," the boy quietly told the man, somewhat grumpy as his bangs threatened to make his blurriness turn to darkness again.

The man ignored his, deciding to take a seat and cause the bench to let out a creak. "Oh? Why is that?"

"They love attention." The boy felt slightly annoyed by his... eagerness to chat to him.

"And you don't?"

The boy didn't reply.

For a moment he thought the man had given up talking from the long silence they held when the man exclaimed in an astonished tone, "Ah? I see you have blue hair!"

The boy squinted again; memories of taunts filled his ears from the past. He thought grumpily, 'Isn't that too obvious? Of course it's blue!'

"I've never seen anyone with this hair colour before..." chirped the man cheerfully, "did your caretakers allow for you to dye it?"

"It's..." the boy began, bored yet annoyed by the same reaction couples always had when they had the stupid notion to talk to him. "It always has been blue..."

"Fascinating... so you were born with blue hair. Heh, you must be very lucky."

The boy said nothing, his hair was a nuisance. Dark blue hair... was not normal to be born with.

His caretakers had told every child dumped here that he was... a freak. After that they would avoid him, whisper even when he was standing nearby. Never would they ask if he would want to play, they never were brave enough nor did they want to. But he didn't care about that; he was fine being on his own.

He was pretty sure the caretakers hated him. Their caretakers would scold and yell at him far more than any kid at the orphanage. The boy would even get the least amount of food during meals, and often he would feel his ribs poking him.

Clearly, he knew their caretakers never wanted him.

"I'm Genji Shuuito." The boy turned his attention back to the man. "So, what's your name?"

It was a few seconds before the boy quietly replied, "I don't have one."

This must of caught the man by surprise because the man made a sound of shock before resting his large hand on the boy's bony shoulder immediately. "Pardon me?"

"I don't have a name," repeated the boy shrugging.

"You should have one!" exclaimed the man, anger hinting his dismay.

"They never gave me one," the boy told the man, "but they gave everyone else names."

He squinted again, tucking away more of his floppy hair as the man spat, "That's terrible for them to do that to you!"

"They're strict," said the boy, squinting even more. "All grownups are when doing their job. It's normal."

"That's not being strict!" The man seemed quite angry. "That's just- just wrong!" A moment later the man asked as the boy tried to look at the man the best he could, "How old are you exactly?"

That question made the boy think about it. "5... I think they said 5..."

For a moment the man seemed to be grumbling under his breath before he asked in confusion when the boy squinted at him once again, "Wait a minute? Why do you keep squinting like that?"

The boy sighed before he replied in frustration, "Everything is so blurry..."

For once, the man didn't reply surprisingly.

He heard the man move as a blurry shape again before moving down a little. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

The boy leaned forward and squinted hard, he wondered why the man asked that. He couldn't see very well, which was completely normal for him. He couldn't count like the other kids could either. He felt frustrated and grumpily yelled in his head, 'I can't see what you're doing!? Why are you asking such a stupid question? I can't answer that! Argh!'

Anger boiled in the pit of his heart, he clenched his hands and shook. "I can't! How would I know how many fingers you're holding up either!? I can't see them! It's blurry! Too blurry!"

He hated that he couldn't see! He hated his hair! He wanted that stupid man to leave him alone and sweep away another child to live with him! He hated everything! He hated his parents! They abandoned him! They sent his life to hell!

He grabbed his stupid hair and tugged at it, wanting to tear all of it out! He grumbled under his breath angrily and closed his eyes tightly, wanting everything, events, people to freeze up and stop!

Right now he wanted to scream!

Punch anything within his reach!

He wanted to be alone!

As he lowered his head, tears almost ready to form and fall, he felt his hands be clasped onto and slowly made him loosen his grip on his hair.

"Hey." Fierce anger made him try to jerk his hands away from the man. "Stop that."

"Let go of me..." growled the boy, trying his best to glare at the man. "Let go!"

The man did so, allowing the boy to draw his hands back. But before he could realize what was happening he was pulled against his will forward and felt strong arms wrap around him.

He stiffened immediately not liking this strange gesture the man gave; yet he found himself eventually relaxing and slowly closed his eyes. Warmth seemed to envelope him and he felt confused, he frowned instantly. 'What...? What is… what is he doing to me...?'

His anger felt like it was dulling down and left to simmer.

When the arms left him, he strangely had an urge to grab onto them and never let go. So he forced himself to not let his hands act foolishly and stared forward numbly.

"I'll be back," the man said softly and the boy faintly heard him walk away.

Oddly the boy was confused. 'Back...? What did he...?' he shook his head. He felt like his eyes widened, which felt weird to him.

That man was confusing, dumb, but very confusing.

The laughter the other kids that lived here created that had been echoing up to now abruptly stopped when a roar of rage cut through the air, "You have been mistreating that boy!? Haven't you?"

He heard the caretaker who hated him the most scoff, "He doesn't complain about it now like he used to," she sounded like she didn't care about being accused, "so it doesn't matter."

"It does matter! How can you be so stupid and cruel!? He's a child!" yelled the man and the boy heard a stomp.

"Mr. Shuuito, we work towards giving children homes, not giving them this home. They live here as long as it takes them to be adopted, but as long as they live under this roof they live by our rules and care." explained the caregiver strictly and annoyed. "Act your age and don't speak more of this trifling."

"And it involves not feeding them enough to the point they are skinny and malnourished?" spat the man bitterly. "That's sick!?"

"We treat children to behave how they should, this isn't a charity."

"Your methods include the fact of neglecting those who need love and help!?"

"Mr. Shuuito-"

"Listen here!" The woman fell silent but the boy imagined she was dazed by the man's passionate rant. "You neglected that boy! Do you realize he needs glasses!? Or that he may not know how to count... or perhaps read?"

"That boy... isn't wanted by anyone." said the woman stiffly. "His own parents didn't even drop him off, the nurses did that. Even the couples that try to go near him, all of them change their mind in the last second and choose a different child." Finally she spat, loud enough that her voice rang throughout the whole orphanage, "He's undesirable! Why do you attempt to stand for that brat!?"

The boy clenched his fists. He hated her so much; she was the main caretaker here and owned this orphanage. She could go on for hours for why no one should adopt him. She even told a couple he had a rare disease that could kill them, but he knew he didn't. She lied about him and swore at him every time she saw him. No one would question her word, never-

"Because he needs someone, he needs me."

The boy blanked, unable to understand if the man was lying or not.

"When I hugged him, he acted like he didn't know what a hug was." explained the man. "That truly shows... I'm the first one to give him one. The first one to actually get close to him enough to see that he needs a home, not this place you chain him to and call an orphanage. You never have given him compassion or inspiration have you? You made his life horrible! You mistreated him! You must be driving off anyone who could adopt him! Clearly... clearly you shouldn't even be licensed to run this place."

"Fuck you!"

The boy heard everyone gasp except the man.

"I take these children in and what right do you, a bloody fool, to criticize the ways I run things!?" her voice was shrill and filled with more fury than when she yelled at the boy.

It was silent for a while before the man replied in a pleasant tone, "My wife, Etsu, is a journalist... Ms. Rikoni... she can come here and write an entry about your lovely orphanage for the newspaper."

"How would she know about any of this!? What!? Will she take your word for it? How will anyone take your word for it? A nobody!?"

"Actually, I'm detective Genji Shuuito." said the man cheerfully; it sounded like the caretaker choked on her own breath. "Would you care to see my badge? Ah ha! Here it is! See how shiny and official looking it is?"

The boy heard a kid exclaim, "You're a detective!? Awesome! C-Can I see your badge, mister?"

"No you won't, Yuta!?" screamed the woman. "Stay there!?"

"Aw..."

"I can file up a report and get you arrested, would you like that? Or perhaps get a permanent watch on this orphanage to make sure you never mistreat another child again? Hmm?"

"G-Get out! Leave this place!?"

"Oh I will, but first, how does your adoption process work here? I'd like to adopt that little 'undesirable' that you say he is if it's not much trouble, thank you very much." chirped Detective Shuuto.

The boy blinked blankly as his bangs covered over his eyes completely again. 'What...? Why would he adopt me?'

"Of course sir!" Another caretaker seemed to step in despite the threat. "We do a foster trial for a month then check how it's going. If the child and family are happy, then we'll roll with adoption completely. If not... well, we'll go more into detail if it does happen."

"Sounds swell to me!"

The boy heard the man walk back to him, he was certain of it. When he looked up, brushing his bangs away again he sighed. "Are you sure you want me? You can still choose the others."

"I'm quite sure!" After a pause the man asked, "Can you walk, or...?"

The boy nodded before he felt his hand grasped as the man led him away.

He had no clue if he'd see the bench ever again...

Week 2, Day 2:

Izo snorted, the dark building made him narrow his eyes.

Fushima Tatomo Home For The Young... it sickened him.

Beside him the Blind Brat stood silent as Izo death gripped his wrist, he was aware of the fact he held on to hard but he cared less. He never wanted to babysit him. If Aleck wasn't threatening him right up at his throat with invisible knives he would have dumped the blond in a battle to fend for himself.

Yet his anger for this place overtook his for the blind psychic.

He continued to glare at it, curling his lip as he saw a caretaker teaching a young child to read. 'Why bestow so much effort on that brat? He'll be conveyed to a damn home and never see you again! It's a waste of time, don't get attached to it!'

"Very good, Jun!" The caretaker clapped. "Soon you'll be able to read past your age!"

'Fawning shouldn't be squandered on that brat!'

"Thank you." The child hugged the caretaker. "I bet I'll read better than Tsuko soon!"

"I'm sure you will!"

Izo without warning roughly dragged away the Blind Brat, not caring if he tripped over his forced steps. He felt bitter and sickened to stay standing by that orphanage.

Joshua walked into the familiar surroundings of Cadoi City, chuckling as he saw Mayu gawk at it awe. "Like the view?"

Mayu gave her usual weak smile to him. "Yes."

Despite how it felt nice being back here, he couldn't take his mind off of what had happened earlier.

After Izo had recovered, he dragged Ayumu off. Joshua didn't like the fact that Izo looked so ill tempered, so he worried for his younger half-brother. Luckily beforehand he finally managed to give Ayumu his phone, but that was when Izo took him away.

Yet, his mind wandered back to the icicles Izo formed. The frozen boy still denied the creation of the ice, but Joshua remembered how he thought the teen had doubt creep into his expression briefly when Joshua queried him about it again.

'Izo can create ice... it makes sense because of the cold air he emits...' Joshua held his chin gingerly and closed his lavender eyes; a rush of worry soon came to him after he reflected on the event again. 'I... hope he's okay.'

A hand touched his exposed arm and he gazed at his Partner. "N-Now that we are here..." she looked at him expectantly, "Wh-What do we do?"

"Good question." He blinked and glanced around, looking for anything that could relate to their mission. "The mission talked about freeing corners from wicked clutter..." He grimaced from the mission's lack of clarity. "Clutter..."

He wished he knew what was going on; it would be harder to do anything if they ran around clueless.

"I told you! We go to the mall!"

Joshua saw a brunette teenager with blue eyes shaking her fist at a dark blond teen.

"H-Hey... I said we were going to visit a café… then I'd take you home." The dark blond seemed stressed.

"No-no-NO!" Furious by his response, she slapped him. "You promised, Aoi!"

"I said, 'another day', not now." Aoi touched his hurt cheek.

"Ugh! Terr-i-ble!" She jerked her head up and turned her back to him. "You're the worst, boy-friend! Ugh!"

Joshua frowned at this. "Oh boy... It doesn't seem like he's having fun right now?"

"She's… being so mean to him..." replied Mayu in an upset tone as her smile flipped into a frown, he heard her whimper incoherently as she slowly drifted behind him.

The ashen blond sighed; he saw that the poor guy was suffering so much by his girlfriend. Aoi didn't deserve this…

"If you keep being this way… I'll break up! Nothing more between us!"

Suddenly the boy gasped and shook his head wildly, "No! Noa, I love you!"

"I don't want any more empty excuses! Aoi, you keep breaking your promises!" Noa spat, scowling as she twisted her head to him. "Ugh, unbelievable! I don't want us to be together if you don't show you care for me!"

"I DO!"

"Fine then, hmpt, we'll set our fate with Reaper Creeper then!"

"'Reaper Creeper'…?" echoed Joshua in puzzled; he crossed his arms frowning as he asked, "What's that?"

"Um... I think it's... um… err…" Joshua turned around just as Mayu hung her head, she let out a sniffle, "I-I… I don't know..."

"Hey, don't worry about it, Mayu." Joshua hesitantly patted her shoulder. "Please… don't cry..."

His heart was twisted and pulled seeing Mayu getting upset over this, he couldn't ignore that she was acting like this was her fault. Yet… he couldn't think of any other way to calm her down so he left himself to keep patting her shoulder, feeling uncomfortable and terrible inside.

A loud thud broke his concentration, sending his brain into hysterics briefly. It took a few seconds for him to recover before he discovered that the brunette was now opening a dark brown case. Intently, he watched as Noa reached into the case, revealing now a beige board. The board, from where Joshua was able to see from, had a white double lined triangle that had sections of black, white, and red each at a different end point of the triangle. Joshua slowly crept over to be able to peer at it closer, now beside the dark blond who jittered and wiped away sweat from his face. "Please… don't... The game never works..."

"Fine! We'll break up now!"

"No!"

In the center of the triangle a round white token was placed.

This sparked curiosity inside Joshua, making him want to know more about this game. He could only wonder how it worked, seeing that there was no instruction manual available.

Suddenly Noa whipped her hands up and viewed the sky. "Reaper... Creeper!"

"Reaper Creeper..." Aoi looked unhappy as he halfheartedly repeated his girlfriend's actions.

Nothing happened.

"Ugh, you did it wrong!" screeched Noa and stomped her foot. "No wonder nothing happened!"

Her boyfriend sighed.

Joshua watched as they performed the same actions again, it seemed like a stupid game now and he felt bored by it.

He shook his head slowly. 'No wonder I never heard of this... This seems worse than playing Tin Pin Slammers when Ayumu always bothers me about it!' At once he shook his head, again, not thrilled by that thought. This Reaper Creeper game didn't change his opinion on the latter; he was horrible at playing it.

He could list many reasons of why he wasn't good at Tin Pin Slammers.

Firstly, having to strike Pins across a wide board drained him; his aim was dreadful if it required physical effort.

Secondly, he was unable to unleash the Pins' tricks needed to throw off everyone's game. He could only ask how it is even possible to do that to his younger half-brother, who merely gave him an explanation that didn't strike a cord for Joshua.

Thirdly, tournaments were too loud and he couldn't focus!

There were many more reasons, yet he already expressed them to Ayumu on numerous occasions. Often times, Joshua saw that Ayumu seemed saddened and disappointed when he declined on the suggestion of them playing it.

Joshua just wasn't into that game, yet Ayumu was surprisingly. He remembered that Ayumu would often get so excited and rant about the game to the point that Joshua would have to steer the conversation away and that would anger his half-brother. He had no clue as to why Ayumu liked it; clearly being blind denied him of any opportunity of playing. Yet, Ayumu would still brandish that Pin a kid gave him years ago and continuously tried to persuade Joshua with no avail.

Only once or twice did he actually play, it was only for Ayumu when Joshua was nearly eleven-and-a-half and Ayumu nearly eleven-years-old at the time. Joshua did it in order for Ayumu to gain a better understanding how it worked after Ayumu requested it, knowing that Ayumu could sense his every movement he made to play. Only then did Joshua one day discover that Ayumu could sense Pins.

"I… Pins have auras…" Ayumu looked away shyly, but Joshua caught his face screwing up in bewilderment. The young blond fidgeted with his Pin. "Josh, they have auras like us… like everyone…"

"But that's nonsense!" retorted Joshua as he frowned at Ayumu, he dove forward and began to shake Ayumu by his shoulders causing him to yelp. "You can't be serious! That's dumb, Ayumu!"

Ayumu cried out shrilly as Joshua shook harder, "No! It's not! They have auras! They do!"

"Quit it!" groaned Joshua as he halted, glowering as Ayumu swayed a bit on the spot. "Just… quit it! Pins are not people, Ayumu. They are not, PEOPLE. Got it?" He waited for Ayumu to stop swaying and stop talking about this; it was really weird how Ayumu was convinced by this nonsense and it was creeping Joshua out.

The petite blond huffed, clearly telling Joshua he didn't like how he responded. "I can sense them, you can't tell me what I can sense. You can't!" He now narrowed his eyes at Joshua; he spat sharply, "Josh, I don't like this! Why won't you believe me!?"

"There's nothing." Joshua reached for his half-brother's shoulder and gave it a short shake. "Nothing. Nothing to believe."

He heard Ayumu's breathing hitch just before he turned away, ready to go and put the Tin Pin Slammers board away. But before he could he heard Ayumu yell out before Joshua was sent crashing to the ground by a blow to his back.

Once he recovered from his daze he scowled, hating the fact that he was probably absorbing the ground's bacteria. So he pushed himself up into a sitting position as he looked towards his half-brother, only to cringe as he saw Ayumu's face was twisted in rage.

"What was that for!?" loudly cried Joshua as he set his hardened lavender eyes on his half-brother who was trembling after a few seconds. He could tell Ayumu's anger was settled on him, yet he could see the glistening of unshed tears ready to leak out.

"Y-You're…" Ayumu shook again, his voice fraught and furious, "You're… lying…"

Joshua gasped before he spat, "What!?"

"You're lying!" The petite blond clenched his hands and lowered his head, his bangs slid over his closed sightless eyes. "You're lying, Yoshiya! Just as you've always have! You're lying and you've never stopped! Stop lying to me! Stop it!"

The ashen blond couldn't believe he was hearing. Ayumu was being immature and outrageous about this, especially when he was the one who was lying at that very moment. No Pin could have an aura; it was an object, not a person. Yet Ayumu was insisting on these lies to be true.

"I'm not the one lying, Ayumu Ki!" Joshua kept his gaze hardened as he glared at his half-brother. "I'm not the one who punched a person because they were telling the truth! You are being a child about this!"

"I'm not! I'm not lying!" Ayumu shook harder, his voice growing shriller. "I'm not being a child! You're lying! Lying right now like you always do with that stupid soul something idea! I'm the one who's rational!"

At this Joshua scoffed at the very idea. "Rational!? Rational!?" he stalked over and roughly grabbed Ayumu's shoulders. "You think you are rational!? You think being rational means denying the truth before you!? Ayumu, you're making no sense at all!"

Ayumu squirmed in his hold but Joshua did not relent, he kept glaring at his half-brother who was yelling out, "You're the one who is insane! A freak! My brother is a freak! No wonder everyone hates us!"

Finally Joshua shoved him down, too angry to argue with his stubborn half-brother anymore. 'I'm not a freak! I'm not insane! The Reaper's Game exists and Ayumu keeps lying that its not! He's the one who's lying!'

Right away he bit his lip, dismissing that dreadful game and memory from his mind. 'I don't want to think more about that game!' He knew that game held too much pain to even think about it in a better light, the memories were too much! His blood boiled as he inhaled deeply for a while until he felt calm enough, he then gazed back to the board.

Nothing happened, the token sat exactly in place.

"Grr..." The girlfriend shot a glare at him. "It's your fault! You bought this broken crap!"

Right away Aoi flinched. "It's brand new..."

"Fine!" She grabbed his arm and shook it. "We'll do this one... more... time! And if, if it doesn't work, we're through!"

Joshua rolled his eyes at this. "She's not really putting her faith in this board is she...? Right, Mayu?"

"I don't know, Joshua…" The smoky black haired girl sadly watched them. "I wish we could help him..."

"Yeah..." Joshua kneeled next to the board and absentmindedly poked the token. "I feel the same-"

It moved towards the black point.

"Aoi! You moved the board!" spat Noa and slapped her boyfriend. "Now we have to restart! Thanks!"

The ashen blond widened his eyes. "Did they just see the token move?" he watched as the girl complained about the game. "I just poked the token, nothing more right?"

Mayu blinked at him. "Maybe we can move the token for them?"

Joshua felt that it would ruin the point of the game; he assumed that they were asking for spirits to guide them by moving the token... 'Oh, wait... we're spirits...'

Right now he desperately wanted to facepalm himself, but he didn't want to confuse his Partner or make her upset after what she had just said to him. He didn't want to give her the wrong idea that he didn't like what she said; that would definitely injure their trust and friendship they formed over the small amount of time they spent together. The only thing he could do was detaining himself from doing the rude gesture. So he grimaced, not really sure about deciding the fate of the couple's relationship. Yet, he felt the guy needed help.

He sighed and kept kneeling, waiting for them to call out again. When they did he slowly poked the token, he didn't know where to push it.

"It's working! Finally!"

He poked the token, hearing the girl become annoyed as he moved the token to the red point. He wondered if he was doing this wrong, but he had no way to back out because the token now rested on the red point.

"Neither!?"

Joshua stood up promptly, frowning as he saw the guy droop his shoulders as his girlfriend screamed, "Why NEITHER!?"

"It's just a superstition," said Aoi fearfully. "It's not like our life together depends on-"

The girl stalked away in a fume.

Joshua let out a sigh, scratching the back of his head. "Oh dear... what did I just do?"

He knew he just broke them up, he should have listened more to his mother when she explained to him relationships and bringing home a girl for dinner. He finally let himself facepalm his forehead. 'Ugh... Did I really have to think that?'

Guilt swelled inside as he watched the poor guy wail his heart out. He wanted to turn away and cover his ears, pretend this was a dream or this wasn't reality at this very moment. Beside him Mayu watched, her eyes pools of sadness. Joshua couldn't believe he did this; it bothered him more than he thought it would. It was their problem, right?

When he couldn't take much more, he quietly spoke in dejection and lowered his gaze, "L-Let's go, Mayu..."

Mayu nodded and they left, regret never left Joshua.

They stopped after a while when they caught sight of Ayumu and Izo. The two of them were talking to a Support Reaper before the sound of a door unlocking filled the air.

"There you guys are!" Joshua stopped trotting over and stared at Izo. "I didn't think you two still were in the district."

The dark blue haired teen didn't really turn around when he let out a bitter growl, "Feh."

Joshua was a bit confused by Izo's response for a split second, that was before he reminded himself Izo must have wanted to not talk to anyone after what had happened.

Ayumu turned slightly in his direction. "Hello Josh." after a second he blinked his blind eyes. "Izo doesn't seem happy right now, so you shouldn't talk to him."

Izo snorted and still didn't look at them.

"Ah, I understand." Joshua kept his tone friendly, but inside he felt wary of Izo. "Thanks for telling me, Ayumu. I don't mind." He saw the Reaper walk away that was guarding the former Wall to enter a Natural Puppy store. "So… you're going to Towa Records?"

"Yes." The petite blond tried to turn around more, but Izo's grip on his wrist prevented him from doing so. "Izo said that he wanted to check something out. But I don't know what exactly."

'Huh...? Why would Izo want to go to Towa Records?' Joshua thought curiously, he glanced at the frozen boy.

A thought suddenly struck him. "H-Hey, Ayumu?"

His half-brother simply nodded. "What is it, Josh?"

"We figured out that the mission takes place in Towa Records, Molco, and Cadoi City! They make an obtuse triangle if you look at them on a map!" explained Joshua with excitement as he smiled at Ayumu. "It might be a good idea for you guys to tackle Towa Records while me and Mayu can do this district and Molco."

Ayumu nodded and replied while he looked back towards Izo. "Alright, sounds like you got it worked out, Josh." for a second he stared slightly almost at Izo before he added, "Izo, are you okay with this?"

For a moment Joshua expected Izo to lash out and decline immediately.

The frozen boy was quiet for a moment before he coldly growled, "If it's for the mission, feh."

Despite the surprising response, Joshua took that as a yes.

"That's good." Joshua nodded and sadly saw Izo start to drag Ayumu away again.

Soon Ayumu stopped, causing Izo to try to yank him with him. So Joshua was confused as Ayumu tilted his head to Izo for a few seconds until Izo let go of him.

"Josh, you sound... odd... sad." said Ayumu hollowly as he turned around and stared forward sightlessly.

He looked away and let his expression melt into his gnawing guilt. "Yeah..."

"You do, why?"

Joshua bit his lip, not wanting to explain what he had done.

"Josh..." Ayumu tilted his head and kept his gaze still. "I know I don't have my psychic powers at this moment, but I know you're bothered by something. What is it?"

He knew he should feel grateful that Ayumu was asking about if he was okay, he seriously wanted to blurt out everything that instant because of that. But the sound of Ayumu's emotionless voice halted his own and made him refrain from speaking. It was hard for him to know that anything that Ayumu spoke about would be dead sounding and he wouldn't care about what he was saying or hearing. He felt his guilt for his own Entry Fee blend with the guilt and regret he felt at this moment for the trouble he caused. He clenched his eyes closed as he hyperventilated a bit. 'All of it's my fault...'

"Josh."

It took him a while until he sighed. "You win, Ayumu..." he reopened his lavender eyes and looked at Ayumu's pewter. "I... I think I broke a couple up."

"Feh, never knew you broke hearts."

Joshua whipped his head to Izo, who stood beside Joshua's half-brother and was now scowling at him. Joshua felt a bit irritated as he protested, "Hey! I didn't mean to!"

Izo let out a snort, his maroon eyes dark and hardened, "Do enunciate how? I might take some notes for my own practices."

"Huh?" Joshua was baffled by Izo's remark, but then he smirked as he giggled, "Hehehe... don't tell me... you date?" He blinked as he continued thoughtfully, smirking still, "Although... it makes sense that girls might like you for your poems I guess..."

"No!" snarled Izo coldly as he glared at Joshua, he flicked his bangs away. "Anytime they attempt to solicit me out I break their prospects at once for the precise perception!"

"So, you're a heartbreaker, Izo... huh?"

Izo's gaze burned into him. "Feh, you can say that."

Joshua couldn't help but laugh. "I can imagine the many girls who wanted to give their hearts to you, it's too bad that you do that, Izo." he continued to smirk as he asked curiously, "So, you were interested in none of them? Really?"

Turning away and folding his arms, Izo snorted, "I have no usage nor time for girls. I wouldn't desire to get enmeshed in the hopeless conspiracies of love and heartache eternally as I subsist."

Joshua couldn't stop laughing about how Izo was acting; it was almost tempting to embarrass Izo.

"Well, I'm sure you'd be a wonderful boyfriend if you give it a shot."

Maroon eyes bore scorches into Joshua's soul. "And your dexterity is?"

Joshua jumped and widened his eyes. "What!? I-I-I don't-"

"Then pay heed to dampen this symposium!" snarled Izo as he adjusted his glasses.

"O-Okay..." Joshua hung his head, frowning deeply. 'Sheesh... Someone's bitter and snappy... I was just kidding with him.' he let out a sigh. 'I shouldn't dig deeper into this, I might become an ice sculpture if I'm not careful...'

Ayumu looked around before he spoke, "But shouldn't we figure out the mission?"

"What do you mean, Ayumu-kun?" asked Mayu shyly, she held her hands together. "D-Does the mission involve the couple?"

'Ayumu-kun...?' Never in his whole life did he ever hear anyone give his brother that honorific, other than the adults. Mostly everyone called him Ayumu, Joshua called him Ayu just to tease him or for the plain sake of it being a nickname, Rei used to call him Blindy, Izo seemed to label him Blind Brat, other than that Sora and Ryou called him 'the Younger Freak'.

The petite blond blinked as he explained, "This mission... it could involve solving the RG's problems. Those people Josh mentioned could need help, seeing that Josh broke them up."

Joshua grimaced when Ayumu said that. "I-I d-didn't mean to..."

"And there could be others in Molco and Towa Records." Ignoring his older half-brother's comment, the blind boy went on, "We just need to identify the source of their woes and eliminate them, to do the mission properly and survive this day. It doesn't matter what happens to them, the mission is our key objective. Our... your emotions could lead you astray so you need to suppress them and not let them ruin the chances we have to deal with anything we must do. Don't let them erase us, watch yourselves, and know what is best for us. Emotions... they do not matter here."

'What!?' Joshua stared at Ayumu in dismay; he couldn't help but wish he hadn't heard those words. 'Ayumu... no, you don't mean that! You're only saying that because you can't feel anything, those words you would never say! Once you have your emotions again you will return to your normal self! Don't say anything that you don't believe in! Stop it!'

Ayumu turned in Joshua's direction. "It's the only thing we can do, think nothing of it."

He gulped for a moment before he gave Ayumu a concerned look. "Ayumu... Why would the mission want us to do that? Why would you think we need to help people in order to complete it?"

The petite blond tilted his head to one side. "Brother, it's simple to realize that 'free the corners' emotive restraints from the wicked clutter' leads to the answer of what I just told you. You eliminate the problems they bottle up inside." he nodded as a breeze ruffled his hair. "Noise... Noise could influence this, just as they did to you when you let yourself, your heart, waste away for a moment. I suggest you take this into account, seeing that everything doesn't care about our problems and existence on the line. You should know that brother, you spent years in that WildKat Cafe."

Joshua could only blankly stare at him.

Ayumu blinked again before he looked almost at Izo. "Izo, it makes sense."

'Why is he saying that to Izo when it clearly was meant for me?' Joshua crossed his arms, furrowing his eyebrows at his younger half-brother. 'What's going on with you, Ayumu...?'

The dark blue haired poet snorted, narrowing his maroon eyes at the blind boy, clearly he looked annoyed by what Ayumu had just told him. He instantly grabbed ahold of Ayumu's wrist and began dragging him into the next district.

Joshua watched them go, frowning just as Ayumu added, "It's what we were meant to do, we're Players of the Reaper's Game. They control us."

His last words made worry erupt into Joshua, the thought of them controlling Players by the missions made him feel sick to his stomach. He closed his eyes, dipping his head sadly. 'Ayumu… are you saying w-we're p-pawns!?'

To be continued…

Hope you enjoyed the chapter =3