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

Well, all I can excuse myself for the chapter's lateness is... I'm lazy =C Meh...

Fun Fact: Alternative chapter titles (Hey, when you're a writer, you have plenty of ideas that might not work out, such as chapter titles if you feel like hinting at their content): - Busy Work With Molco. - Little and Big Stars. - Negative Daze Faze Dance, Stage 2.

Week 2, day 2:

Chapter 43: Molco Mystery: Part 1:

Now that they were done here, Joshua knew it was time to leave for Molco. So they walked towards the entrance and entered their destination.

This place seemed as busy as the last time he was here; buzzing with life; cluttered with crowds. Most of them were dressed in absurd, wild attires and were loud and obnoxious... He let out a couple sighs as a particular assortment started howling with ridiculous laughter, watching as one of them headlock their friend and did a painful noogie to them. 'I'm glad that Cat Street is my home... not this-' Quickly he walked away from the rambunctious party, hearing the laughter infiltrating his poor ears. 'This meagre zoo!'

That was one of the reasons he barely stepped foot here, but there were a couple more he could rant on about. Specifically, a simple one... Tin Pin Slammers.

Slowly he flickered his eyes to the Slammers' hive.

Teaming with Tin Pin fans, the idle chatter was consumed by the screams and hollers during the action. The main building here was the base for Tin Pin competitions, large enough to trap the fanatics for their passion. It was known as the Molco Main Centre. With one scan of the District, you would know which building it was.

He merely knew this because of Ayumu, who often seemed to visit the area. For a second it confused him as to why Ayumu didn't request to be here instead, but he remembered Izo had something in mind to go to.

But other than that... he received a faint feeling there had to be something to do with Tin Pin in Molco for the mission. Yet, he couldn't help but wish his suspicions were wrong.

'I hope I'm not jinxing myself...' He immediately ripped his eyes away to face forward. 'And if I did... joy...'

Mayu suddenly walked ahead of him, glancing around uneasily as she watched people. Joshua could tell that she was a bit awe-struck by this place, yet unusually stressed also. She almost seemed lost, maybe even more nervous here than anywhere else. It struck him curious... but also concerned for his Partner. "Are you okay?"

The smoky black haired girl turned to him before looking down timidly, she quietly replied as he joined her, "I-I never been here b-befo..." She instantly held her hands together and closed her pretty eyes.

'Oh...' Even though he felt bad for Mayu, he was unable to understand why visiting a new place was nerve-racking to her.

"How come?" he asked politely as he blinked at her, "Almost any kid I know has been here?" Soon something dawned on him, so he looked away as he added sheepishly, "A-Ah, e-except you... of course... um..." he rubbed the back of his neck feeling a bit weird. "B-But there's nothing wrong with that..."

She blinked at him, smiling a little as she rested a hand on his arm gently. "Don't worry about me, Joshua. There are many places I haven't seen in Shibuya."

"Many?" Joshua widened his lavender eyes; he blinked at her as she nodded a little. "Well, that's a shame. I haven't either, so I guess we can be in the same boat."

She flinched, her eyes shining in surprise. "R-Really? I-I thought y-you visited many places, Joshua."

Joshua laughed a little and smiled, shaking his head gently.

He never thought Mayu assumed that, yet when he thought about it, the Reaper's Game forced him to. It was funny, how he visited places outside his comfort zone in order to exist another day. When he was alive, he felt going to places other than Cat Street was a bore and waste of time. But now he started to value his experiences in different Districts, they expanded his knowledge of Shibuya and the people around him.

"Yeah, well... I wasn't the adventurous type when I lived. But, would you like to come see more places with me if we have the time?" asked Joshua hopefully as he gazed at her, she squeaked a little in surprise and he frowned a little. Right away he yelped desperately, "I mean, if you want to..." he ran his hand through his scraggily locks, feeling the heavy awkwardness of the situation set in. "We could explore Shibuya together, b-but it's fine if you don't, Mayu..."

His Partner said nothing, but she was blushing lightly.

"Y-You can think about it." Joshua tried his best to hide the sudden painful grip on his heart, he knew he was being a bit too pushy and decided to step back a little. He had no clue why he acted like that, but he secretly hoped Mayu would agree to his request. He knew it would be perfect to allow for Mayu to visit other areas in Shibuya, except he threw Udagawa out of the list. He knew that place was a bit too dangerous and daunting. But above all, he felt showing Mayu Shibuya would be nice for her. A swell of excitement burst into him and gave him energy when he thought about it.

Abruptly his thoughts were ceased when a little kid shot through him. He yelped and Mayu withdrew her hand in a flash, screaming a little. They looked at each other baffled and alarmed before Joshua placed his hand over his panicking heart.

"Dear..." he breathed out shakily, closing his eyes as he breathed in softly. "Oh dear... that nearly gave me a heart attack!" Soon his lavender eyes opened and landed on Mayu. "W-What about you?"

His Partner bit her lip, her blue green eyes wild from being startled. She quivered beside him and he frowned at her in concern. 'I hope it didn't scare Mayu too much... No... she definitely looks pale and frightened...' His eyes hardened as they drew away from her, and he felt his anger boil and churn inside him. 'That little kid had to do that!' He felt livid about this; he clenched his hand into a fist feeling almost robbed of that moment! It felt like the kid ruined the moment, no matter what he told himself that the RG citizens could do that anytime inadvertently.

He turned to the kid who was sobbing a distance away from him, his back was turned to Joshua and his little frame was shaking. He looked about the size of a 7 year old, which led to Joshua wondering where his parents were. Upon that thought, his anger drained as his eyes softened with confusion and worry.

"Shuto, wait!"

The little brown haired boy ran away, sobbing harder.

Soon a teenager; who wore a dark blue bandana that had skinny, jagged dark brown tiger-stripes over it with only his messy black bangs and ponytail not hidden under it, arrived on the scene. His sprint slowly turned into him trotting to a stop behind Mayu, whipping his head around franticly. Joshua hoped he wouldn't run through Mayu and scare her more so he immediately and carefully tapped her shoulder.

She cringed but he murmured to her, "We really should move away." He scanned the area and spotted a bench nearby a phone-booth, so silently he gestured to the paint-peeling seat and she smiled a little after a few seconds.

They soon sat down; Joshua had no clue where she liked to sit so he waited until she had chosen a spot before he joined her.

A sigh escaped him and he closed his eyes, he leaned back and relaxed. "We're safe here... no one can walk through a bench..."

He opened his lavender eyes when quiet laughter sounded beside him; slowly he turned his head to his Partner who was smiling at him. He let a smile ease onto his lips, feeling happy that Mayu wasn't frightened. But the emotion died when he noticed how she wasn't, considering the shorthaired girl would blink before glancing frequently at the teenager. Joshua saw how worried she was as her pretty eyes darkened and she was nibbling her soft lip.

When he looked at the teenager, he was calling out for 'Shuto', who Joshua assumed was the little kid. He felt horrible inside as he watched the teenager, seeing that the teen wasn't having any luck finding the boy.

This reminded him of when Ayumu disappeared after their quarrel about their dead parents. When he searched he felt as though he'd lost Ayumu forever, that when he found him he would find him dead. Luckily he was alive, but Joshua always wondered why he went out in the middle of the night to just accept their parents' deaths. But then that led to him to thinking back to when Ayumu psychically pleaded for help on the day they were murdered... that time he found Ayumu dead. He remembered at that moment he felt his world crumble away when he failed to protect Ayumu… leading them into his current ordeal...

At once he stood up, filled with resolution. "Mayu..." She gazed at him in surprise. "Let's help him..."

Mayu seemed relieved when he said that, she got to her feet slowly as she nodded.

That was all Joshua needed to know that Mayu understood his reasoning. She had two little twin sisters, so he was certain she must know what it's like to be worried about them.

So they left that old bench and walked back onto the road.

Joshua could cross the pavement with ease, watching as they grew closer to the teenager in distress. But unlike him, Mayu once or twice shielded herself when RG cars flew by. And every time this happened, he calmed her down before continuing to the teenager. He didn't mind the fact Mayu was slowing them down, it wasn't her fault she ended up in a magical playground that he heard Players (when he spectated them) call a 'Second Hell'... Right now, he was beginning to understand what they meant.

As they got there, the teenager gripped his bangs, cursing with irritation. "Why'd you have to take it like this… it wasn't a big deal, Shuto…"

The ashen blond blinked at him, bewildered as the black haired teen shook his head and plodded over to the large building. He couldn't help but feel exasperated; he let himself glare at the teen and gnawed on the inside of his mouth. 'What!? Are you just giving up!? You can't do that! That Shuto kid shouldn't be out there alone because you are not searching for him! Grr…'

Right away he looked at Mayu who gave him a puzzled look. "We need to talk to him somehow! He can't leave that kid like that!"

She instantly cringed and stepped back. Her expression wasn't shocked by his harsh tone, it was perturbed. He knew he should have used a different tone; Mayu was easily scared from what he'd seen so far.

So Joshua felt his eyes soften with concern as he carefully stretched his hand towards his Partner. "H-Hey… I didn't mean to be that harsh…" When she looked at him timidly he sighed, retracting his gesture, and turned his head away in shame. "S-Sorry…" For a fleeting thought, there might have been a possibility she was merely startled, not terrified. He wasn't sure which one it was, but he decided maybe he should check just in case.

Through his scraggly bangs, he peered back anxiously. But he wished he hadn't.

He saw how Mayu's eyes sparkled with unshed tears, she was silent as he turned away again, desperately not wanting to see more of that fear… For a second he hated himself; that expression haunted him, knowing that he caused her to backpedal from his harshness.

No later than when he stared off in the direction the boy went did he feel a gently placed hand to rest on his shoulder, causing him to start and flick his head quickly around to see his Partner behind him. Once she saw he was focusing on her, that soft-skinned hand left as she eyed him shyly.

"I-I forgive you," she murmured quietly, brandishing her weak smile. "I u-understand…"

Joshua felt like the weight on his chest lifted, but he saw how her watery eyes held sadness in them still. He hoped she wasn't lying to him if she was still upset just to make sure he didn't feel guiltier.

As he was about to question her about his suspicions, she hung her head and sagged her shoulders. "M-Mao and M-Mio…" she murmured sadly and continued to stare down, her bangs drifted over her face as the breeze fluttered past the both of them. "Mao and Mio… r-ran away from m-my mother and I in the S-Scramble Crossing… a-a y-year ago…"

Joshua raised his eyebrows, frowning as he continued listening to her.

"Th-They were j-just 5 year olds… they could have been h-hit by c-cars or b-been k-kidnapped…" Mayu said in a sob, her voice shaking. "My mother… was f-furious at th-them… a-at me… She kept sc-scolding me… 'Why didn't you watch your sisters, Mayu!? Why didn't you when I took this call!?'" She sobbed harder, trembling as Joshua's heart clenched. "We couldn't f-find them for o-over a hour, Joshua… and it was r-rush hour then… I h-had… had a-a constant fear we'd find them in the middle of the road, d-d-dead!" She pressed her hands to her face, wailing into anguished sobs, her whole frame shaking as each one racked from her.

"D-Did you find them?" asked Joshua with worry, his lavender eyes gazing at her sadly. "Were they safe?"

"…A-A kind man… A kind man f-found them." she sniffled sounding calmer, biting her lip as if it all was a second thought. Her eyes fluttered closed as she continued in a murmur, "They were climbing Hachiko's Statue and he took them to s-search for us. B-But we… we always seemed to m-miss each other… One place they were… another we were… It-It wasn't until he called us when Mao told him Mother's cellphone number that we found them…" Joshua noticed her quiver as she shakily brought a hand up to cup her left eye. "M-Mother was furious with all of us…"

Joshua couldn't help but hug her, rubbing her back as he felt her trembling vibrate through his body. She was silent the whole time, even as he spotted her tears roll down her cheeks as he softly told her, "I'm sorry you had to go through that, Mayu… You must have been so scared…" he squeezed her more. "And so worried…"

"... Th-They c-could have d-died..."

His breath hitched as his eyes dilated.

"M-M-Mom... c-can't be dead... She can't be dead! My mom just fainted!" He curled his fingers and clenched some of Mayu's jean jacket's fabric, willing Ayumu's voice to stop wailing denial. "She f-fell into a p-puddle, that tree sh-shoved her in-into a m-m-muddy p-puddle! Th-This... th-this isn't blood... h-haha... nix... blood... b-blood... B-Blood... not blood... No... n-no... AAH! This isn't her BLOOD! No... ni-nix! NO! I-I- BLOOD! I-I'M COVERED IN BLOOD! NO! BLOOD! AAH!" His stomach churned, smelling blood faintly as Ayumu's hysteric caterwauls attacked his ears, "MY MOM ISN"T DEAD!"

He was reminded again of the day his and Ayumu's parents died… painfully aware it has always been fresh and recurring on his mind ever since that very dreadful day...

Ayumu walking out in the middle of the Scramble Crossing's famous crisscrossed pedestrian crossing road, failing to respond to their shouts as though he was deaf while still blind…

Auntie Chise screaming for Ayumu, wailing for her son to come back just as that shady tree gave way and trapped her, making her more hysterical…

Mitzuki trying to dislodge the tree, reassuring Chise the best she could despite terrified for her dear friend…

Hinata… ordering him to stay with them and not go after his half-brother... but in the end Joshua disobeyed him…

Joshua remembered the adrenaline pulsating through him as he ran onto the road straight for Ayumu, barely dodging cars and getting honked at, nearly slipping on the wet pavement... catching up in time just to shield Ayumu from that bus that nearly took his- their lives at that day…

The rain puddled ground making the bus driver lose control, and hearing that axel break upon it swerving riotously when they tried to regain its control…

All of this ending in that bus colliding into their parents... and stealing their priceless lives…

He held onto Mayu tighter, closing his eyes and hoping that this might distract or quell the misery in his heart and soul.

Joshua never learned why Ayumu went out onto the road, only that his half-brother was returning from the washroom when he acted in that strange way… acting… zombielike… deaf... mumbling incoherently...

Squirming within his hold alerted him, now hearing Mayu call out to him almost sounding strained. For a moment he was baffled as to why she seemed stressed, but then he blinked in realization. In dismay he let her go before stepping away. "Sorry!"

Mayu was gasping and clutching her sides, fear flashing through her eyes that caused his heart to lurch. 'I can't believe I almost crushed her!'

He felt his cheeks warm up and he let out a sheepish giggle. "S-Sorry, Mayu, I didn't mean to space out like that… hehehe…" he felt so awkward now.

She gave a tiny nod, but then she stared at him curiously. "You… your giggle…?" she started nervously and he flinched a little.

'Oh dear…' Joshua let out a sigh, rubbing the back of his neck as he refused to see Mayu's expression. "Yeah… don't worry, I've heard many people tell me it annoys them or creeps them out… So you're-"

"No!" she gasped as she shook her head wildly. She blushed lightly soon and looked away as well. "I… like the sound of i-it… It's… nice."

'Huh? Nice? She thinks it sounds… nice!? Wow…' Joshua blinked at her in astonishment as he exclaimed, "Oh? R-Really!?" he hardly believed her sweet words that made his heart swell. "I'm so used to everyone complaining about it! Even Ayumu! He used to keep telling me to stop giggling like that because of how weird it is…" He blushed before he added, almost breathless, "But you actually like it!? No joking?"

She nodded quickly, making Joshua widen his eyes and beam at her. "That's reassuring! Th-Thank you, Mayu…"

He had no clue why this made him so exuberant… but he didn't care! After all these years of his giggling's haters… he found someone who liked it! And he had to admit; he thought his natural giggle wouldn't charm anyone, but now… He kept his radiant beaming as his heart swelled in happiness, giggling loudly. 'I can't believe Mayu actually likes it!' It felt so easy to giggle now; especially when Mayu didn't mind it's weirdness… He should giggle more often, it always made him feel happier, like releasing a burden or piece of himself for the sake of the moment.

"Cherish the moment…" Ayumu's soft words echoed to him, a past effort to draw him away from observing the Reaper's Game. "Cherish it even when they don't seem bright… You never know when they cease to last, Josh, so it's better to cherish anything that happens to you… the bad, the good, cherish any of them the most that you can…"

As soon as Joshua stopped giggling, swiping tears away from the sides of his eyes, he noticed Mayu was smiling weakly. But then as she blinked, it seemed almost as though she wanted to ask him of something, but decided not to when they caught each other's eye.

She looked around before gasping.

"Is something wrong?" Joshua frowned at her, furrowing his eyebrows as Mayu turned pale.

"T-The guy!" she gasped as she shook her head. "We're trying to help him, but then-"

"Oh crap! You're right!" Joshua instantly hooked onto her wrist and began to tug her into a dash for Molco Main Centre. "We're wasting time! Let's hurry!"

"O-Okay!" Once he was sure she wasn't tripping as she was forced to run aside him, he released her and pulled ahead.

He halted in front of the glass sliding doors and waited, huffing in exhaustion. 'Oh why did I have to sprint like that!? Now I'm tired and covered with sweat! SWEAT!' he bit his lip as she joined him. 'That was a dumb move… it was within walking distance! I guess when we are shocked-' he leaned backwards and exhausted against the nice, cool door... '-our senses go haywire…'

It was so relaxing to feel the door absorb his heat… he let out a sigh.

Suddenly air rushed around him before his head smacked the ground hard. "Gah!"

His head throbbed, as he lay stunned, staring at the red ceiling numbly. 'Oh… sliding doors… ow…' He wanted to bang his head on the ground for his plain idiocy. 'Smart move… smart move, Yoshiya Kiryu…'

While he scolded himself, he knew his Partner was kneeling down beside him and fussing over him. Suddenly he was struck with mortification, wanting to turn invisible from the sake of having Mayu witness his failure. Why did this have to happen now!? His face flushed red as his bangs shadowed his face. 'Erase me now…'

As he noticed her fretting grow worse, he simply raised a hand up and struck up his thumb to the blocked sky. At once Mayu sighed in relief, but still fussed over his unimpressive entrance into the place horrible Tin Pin Slammers matches existed in.

"They're called, 'sliding doors', for a reason."

"Ngh…" Joshua sluggishly lolled his head to the right to notice the teenager from earlier. But then a rush of dizziness made him half close his eyes.

It was until a hand was thrust into his vision that he could focus better. "You don't push them or anything, y'know?" said the black haired guy with a frown, clicking his tongue. "Plus, you can't keep your girlfriend hangin' terrified like that, dude. Seriously, that's so uncool… I give you a score of number 2 on the awesomeness scale."

Joshua swung himself to sit up and grabbed the offered hand hard. "Well then… thanks for the rude 'Are you okay?'!" he grumbled and got pulled to his feet, tottering for brief moments before he regained balance. He blushed again before closing his eyes tightly and frowning. "A-And s-she's my f-friend… would you respect us and keep your notions to yourself!?" he spat snappishly, ripping his hand away and crossing his arms.

The guy's dark brown eyes blinked before closing and he sighed, he turned away shrugging with a snort, "And where's my 'thank you', dude? You sure are a snobby prick, aren't you?"

"I-I'm not a snob! Or- a prick!" Joshua glared at him before stalking to Mayu's side, whipping around to continue his glaring. "I'm not the type of person to be pleased by insults and adulterated assuptions, thank you very much, dearie…" He grimaced by that term he used for the guy, seeing that it unfit him. "We very much would like to do our business without a smudge more of being offended."

He glanced at his Partner. "Right Ma-" she was hiding behind him. "-yu…?"

Joshua just remembered how timid she was of people, new and old. He did admit he was rude for speaking on his Partner's behalf without her consent, but seeing that conversations would go nowhere if he didn't, he didn't have much of a choice. So he sighed and shook his head. 'Well then, I guess I'm the lucky spokesperson to talk with this nasty person… Congratulations, Yoshiya!'

He went back to glaring at the teen and sighed.

This teenager wore a sleek black t-shirt that was stuck to his body with a short and skinny jean hoodie vest worn over; but Joshua only focused on the vest because it was littered with multicoloured Pins from top to bottom only on the front of it. 'He must be a Tin Pin fanatic! How fun it will be to talk to him more! I just hope he won't enlist in the wicked 'Tin Pin ranting' my brother does to me… ugh… How I hate Tin Pin…' His pants were plain old jeans with a dark brown belt that had a holster, one that held some shooter mechanism that was coloured harshly in ugly shades of blue and green... Joshua hoped it was a Tin Pin Launcher his brother told him about and wasn't a gun… His shoes were gold sneakers, Joshua was well aware again of the dark blue and dark brown jagged tiger-striped bandana over his head with his ponytail or bangs sneaking out, and he had equally striped white and red cloth fingerless gloves that went past his elbows.

The black ponytailed haired guy let out a sigh also, now looking down in a guilty fashion. "Oops, sorry, I guess I'm a bit too touchy and rude for you too huh?" he sighed again before barely lifting his head up to catch Joshua's lavender eyes, speaking in irritation as he shook his head, "I'm just… ugh… jus' a bit upset about my lil' bro, a'ight? He ran off a few minutes ago and…" he sighed again, huffing at the same time, "I'll tell it to ya straight… I'm the worst big bro here in the city… can't even interact with my sibs well enough… They're too scared or too uncomfortable around me… except…" He looked away, frowning deeply as his expression twisted in vex. "Shuto…"

He flinched a bit before he exhaled harshly, pressing a hand onto his cheek. "But now… he hates me!" It was a few seconds before he turned around, starting to walk away. "Whoops! Here I ramble far too much again! No wonder Shuto took it the wrong way! Argh!" he began to mutter under his breath, "Failure… big bro's a big dope… I hate myself…"

The scraggly haired ashen blond watched him go wide-eyed, it was as if that guy was under depressing rain clouds that hovered atop his head. Joshua could only imagine that he was going through so many emotions right now that he shut himself down and dragged himself into a pool of trash... That thought made Joshua shudder with disgust as bile tried to scale his throat. If that happened to himself… ugh…

Hastily he swallowed back the gross fluids straightaway.

Mayu lightly tapped him on the shoulder; he turned to face her as he noticed her hold her hands together shyly. "S-So this place…" Mayu cringed as a group of foul-mouthed teens, which Joshua guessed were Slammers, paraded past them hooting and hollering. As soon as one winked at her, she whipped her head around to give him a teary look as she gave a shocked cry, "Th-They see us! Th-They see us e-even th-though we're d-d-dead!"

Joshua flinched before he shushed her in a silent gesture, glancing warily at a crowd who were quite attentive in them now. After grumbling to himself he yelled to him while waving them off dismissingly, "Don't worry! She's just worried that she forgot her wallet at home! Nothing to see here folks!"

They all shrugged nonchalantly before entering idle chatter.

The smoky black haired girl gawked at him in disbelief as he tilted his head and frowned. She was about to speak when Joshua went over to place a hand on her shoulder. "Relax… they can see us perfectly well, Mayu."

"B-B-But why?" she squeaked in confusion as more people brushed by, she quivered as she scrutinized them from afar. "W-Why?"

"Well, a good friend of mine told me once that this place is marked by the Reapers." explained Joshua casually as he checked to make sure no one was listening in on them, once he deemed it was safe he continued with a giggle, "They use what is called the Reaper Sigil to mark it, decals outside of the building if you didn't notice, which is why no Noise can enter the buildings of the RG because it disguises the RG citizens' Frequency. And apparently, the Reaper Sigil's side effect is the reason why we can be seen; it lowers our Frequency enough that it is so close to the RG that it practically almost allows us to be RG citizens. So to summarize, we can be seen by the RG when we enter a marked place like this, Mayu." He smirked. "It makes it easier to interact with them, huh?"

Mayu frowned in confusion; she shifted a bit on the spot nervously. "R-Reaper… Sigils…? Frequency?"

Joshua giggled nervously now, rubbing the back of his neck idly while sighing. "Hehehe… I know the concepts and terms are confusing… but just accept them, it makes it easier than to question them."

Although he said that, he was basically the second volume textbook of the Reaper's Game so if she needed to understand something better, he would happily comply to answer her questions. "But… don't be afraid to ask me if you're confused about something alright, Mayu?"

She gave a nod, smiling weakly. "O-Okay, Joshua."

For the next bit, Mayu spent time asking him about Frequencies for a little bit before she seemed to understand it better.

Soon she eyed him timidly after they finished the Q and A session. "Shouldn't we ask that guy about his brother?" she blushed before putting in quieter. "It-It could be r-related to the m-mission…"

"I thought so as well." The ashen blond smiled warmly as he glanced around the filled auditorium, soon bringing up his hand to gingerly hold his chin mindfully. "It looks as though those two brothers are in a quarrel, which, of course, happens for any sibling at some point."

Mayu flinched instantly, saying nothing in a reserved manner.

Joshua wondered why she seemed so disturbed so suddenly by what he had just said… He had a feeling she knew what it was like but didn't want to confirm it with him. While at the same time, nor did he.

A couple times Joshua remembered that Ayumu and himself would argue more after they both met Sanae, especially when Joshua later on was stripped of his free time to learn to play the violin with his mother. Many times when Joshua did have enough time to spend with his half-brother, he seemed to notice Ayumu would grow more arrogant, rude, and reckless each meeting. At first he thought it was because he thought Ayumu missed and hated not spending time with him and grew apart more… but then he had a feeling it was not the case.

For some reason, he learned later on Ayumu got into more fights, seemed more irritated, insulted and argued with adults (rarely) and kids more, and acted like his own older half-brother was the plague. One reason he thought this was happening was because of teenage hormones kicking in and messing around with his younger half-brother, and that was the best he could figure out that could have been happening. And he was even more convinced of this by the example of when Ayumu had beat up Ryou and Sora when he was 13. He had come to wait in Joshua's last period Physical Eduation class in case Joshua fainted, in which Joshua had, and was provoked easily into attacking his bullies after they called his mother 'a Blind Hag' and got suspended for 2 weeks. Auntie Chise and Hinata were none too pleased with him. Chise grounded him, and Hinata had a long, serious conversation with him when he was forced to stay over for a few weeks at Joshua's house when Auntie Chise was dealing with a tricky patron.

Yet… Joshua couldn't shake the feeling Ayumu seemed to be almost hiding something from him. He never found out what it was in the end...

He remembered the day they went out on that picnic again, before their parents died. Joshua almost thought there was tension between Ayumu and Auntie Chise. Ayumu seemed less cheerful than normal and Auntie Chise barely spoke with her sole child. They almost acted like their bond as mother and son was dead… He couldn't imagine them ever arguing… but he realized they probably did. One that was so nasty, so horrible, that they could hardly put up masks to hide it. Joshua remembered his father even commented that it looked like they just found out that the both of them slipped poison into the other's drink.

"You're right, Mayu. This might give us more information and we shouldn't jump the gun yet."

Mayu gave a nod back before they began to search for the guy.

To be continued… hope you enjoyed the chapter =3