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
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EeveeGen9988: *sighs and hangs head* I apologize for not uploading this sooner... I know that I said before I was would try my best to get this out as soon as possible, but... I had a lot of stuff to deal with in real life. Just know that... workplaces are not always the nicest of places, alright? I'm just going to keep it at that, so let's move on, people...
So, voila- TWEWY AFIH Chapter 52 Part 2 has arrived! I'm sorry for keeping everyone waiting for so long, and I totally wasn't abandoning this story or TWEWY UF at all! I'm going to try to release chapters sooner, considering how the days I've been working to earn cash for post-secondary won't be as many as it used to be, so I'm stoked to pop out these puppies to everyone! =D
On another note... I don't personally like to ask this myself, or even mention it, but... I would like to know how TWEWY AFIH has been doing so far. I mean this in the nicest way possible, and I don't mean to be rude or demanding for reviews, but I would like some feedback. I know it's asking for a lot, but I think feedback would be the most wonderful way to improve TWEWY AFIH as it continues forward, as well as TWEWY UF, of course. I'm just having a hard time right now gauging how it's doing... not that I'm planning on abandoning writing the rest of the chapters, I just would like to hear your opinions on it purely for the sake of making this the best story that it can be for everyone! I appreciate your support so far, so thank you for putting up with me for all these years! *bows*
Week 2, Day 3:
Chapter 52: Painted With Distortion, Part 2:
As the light faded away, they were standing in the streets again. Their surroundings were a bit altered, but similar enough for Joshua to recognize that they still were in Udagawa. He stood at the base of the steps, beside his Partner and Izo as they stared up towards the mural again.
There was something at the base of the mural; a little silver-furred Noise with swirly light blue and dark blue tattooed paws and tail. After staring at it for a while, Joshua figured out that it was a ferret. He faintly remembered that Ayumu wanted one as a pet once, but he pushed that memory away, knowing that this wasn't the best time to reminisce about the past.
The first thing Joshua did was frown at it. 'We're... supposed to fight that?' he thought in bewilderment as he watched it sniff at the ground, once and a while blinking its beady black eyes. 'That's the Noise? You got to be kidding me! It's pretty much a pipsqueak!'
"Wow, um…" Joshua rubbed the back of his head, sharing a glance with Izo who scowled back. "It's so… tiny."
"We know that, brat," growled Izo with a roll of his eyes, shaking his head along with his bangs. "You don't have to expound that."
"I know, but it's shocking…" replied Joshua with a sigh, shaking his head. "I had expected it to be… more menacing, and larger… But its…"
"Its so..." Mayu chimed in, gaining his attention. He turned to see that she had clasped her hands together, and her pretty eyes were sparkling as she squealed happily, "So cute..."
Joshua instantly frowned deeper at her, feeling sweat roll down the side of his face. "Uh... Mayu? We need to fight it, you know?"
Almost instantly her face fell, and she lowered her gaze to the ground. "Oh..." she whimpered meekly, "I'm s-sorry..."
A twinge of guilt spread through him as he watched her, and he right away wanted to facepalm himself for ruining her happiness. But despite what she thought about it, he knew they had to face the reality that it was a Noise. As cute as it was... it was a Noise, one that needed to be Erased if they wanted to survive the day.
"Feh, fawning over our adversaries isn't what we're here for!" snapped Izo as he snorted, shooting Mayu a glare as she continued to stare at the ground. "That vermin needs to be annihilated if we crave to resume our subsistence, Craven!" His tone grew harsher. "Get that through your cranium!"
Mayu whimpered at that, moving closer to Joshua immediately. Joshua felt himself blush as she stood beside him, but he fought against it as he glared at Izo. There was no reason for Izo to get furious at Mayu at that, and Joshua couldn't help but feel angry towards the frozen boy.
"Did you really have to say that!?" spat Joshua, clenching his hands as he shook his head. "Mayu was just expressing her opinion of it, nothing else!"
"But the veracities are absolute, whether we abide to the mission or wane!" snarled Izo as he flicked his bangs away in annoyance, shaking slightly as his bangs slid back over his eye. "We ought to strike it down promptly then depart!"
"Yeah, I got it, Izo…" said Joshua as he sighed. "It shouldn't be too hard to Erase it, seeing how small it is…" He cocked his head to one side slowly. "...And it probably doesn't take attacks well..."
Mayu lifted her head, looking towards the Noise as it scuffled about the spot it stood. She blinked slowly, her eyes watering for a few moments before she tore her gaze away from it, turning her attention to Joshua. "I-I... I will need a weapon."
"Oh yeah, you do..." Joshua held onto his chin at once, frowning as he scanned over the area. It didn't look like anything remotely usable was here, nor were there any wreckages to search for anything. He could only understand that there was no way for her to fight.
"Um..." He hummed for a moment, trying to come up with a good way to gently let Mayu know she couldn't fight. He didn't want to come off as abrupt and rude, seeing how Izo was great at that, but Joshua also didn't want to hurt her feelings the best he could. He didn't know what he would do if he did that, because he knew Mayu wouldn't be able to recover from being told that she was useless here. If only there was something she could do for them...
Something occurred to him just as he glanced at Ayumu when checking up on him. 'Wait... I got it! Mayu can make sure Ayumu doesn't get hurt!'
"Maybe... you can look after Ayumu, Mayu!" he chirped, beaming at her as she widened her eyes in surprise. Seeing that as a confirmation that she wasn't offended by that, he continued brightly, "That way, you won't have to hurt the Noise!"
Instantly, her eyes lit up and she gasped, "You really mean it?"
"Of course, Mayu," replied Joshua pleased. "You shouldn't fight if you don't want to."
Mayu smiled happily, her pretty eyes sparkled as her body relaxed. "Th-Thank you, Joshua!"
The ashen blond felt proud of himself, especially from how Mayu seemed to glow from happiness. Mentally he applauded himself for coming with that idea. Mayu wasn't going to do something she didn't want to do, which made him feel a lot better than forcing her. If she didn't want to hurt the Noise, then she shouldn't. And considering how she and Ayumu seemed to get along, it made sense that Mayu would be up to the task. She wouldn't hurt Ayumu; she would keep him safe...
"We better find a safe place then, Ayumu," she said as she momentarily paused to frown, soon flinching when Ayumu offered his hand before him. Reluctantly she grabbed ahold of Ayumu's hand gingerly after staring at him timidly then led him away, ambling over to a nearby alleyway and stopped. Joshua continued to smile as he heard her say softly with determination while peering into the dark entrance, "How about... here..."
"It's up to you. I can't tell where we're going anyway, Mayu," said Ayumu as he remained stationary, causing Mayu to glance at him for a moment or two before she whipped her head back to the alley.
"R-Right!"
Soon they entered the alley, making Joshua breathe out a sigh of relief. 'I knew Mayu would do a great job.' After a moment, he pondered to himself as he turned around to face the mural again, 'And now that leaves me and Izo to take care of that-'
Izo had his arms folded; glaring darkly at Joshua.
For a moment, the ashen blond almost let go of his grin to frown, but he didn't. Instead, he nodded to Izo while sliding a hand into his pocket, asking airily, "Well, what's bothering you, Bluey?"
"You were doting on that Craven again!" growled Izo coldly as he glared at Joshua.
"I was not!" protested Joshua indignantly. "How was I 'doting' on Mayu, Izo?"
"You sent that Craven away from the mêlée!" spat Izo as he shook his head.
"She didn't have any way to fight, nor did she want to!" growled Joshua as he gritted his teeth, giving a huff as he put in, "Plus, someone had to protect Ayu-"
"It doesn't matter if the Craven adores the vermin or not!" spat Izo with ill-temper as he narrowed his eyes to slits. "She shouldn't be exempt from doing the mission, and she shouldn't be exempt from the mêlée, dammit!" He drew an abrupt step closer to Joshua and snarled, "Why did you let her go!?"
"I was just making sure Mayu had something to do, and I already said there's nothing for her to use to fight the Noise, Izo!" replied Joshua sternly, letting his lips slip into a flat line as he went on, "Besides, I'm sure the both of us can take down that Noise within two minutes. It hasn't even attacked us yet, so its basically harmless."
"Heed yourself, Aleck..." Izo wrinkled his nose at that, growling as he barked, "You've grown permissive!"
"P-Permissive!?" Joshua stiffened, gaping as he cried out in appall, "What are you talking about!? I'm not-"
"Relinquish your pretexts!" snapped Izo rudely as he pointed at him. "You're permissive!"
Joshua cringed and stepped back, feeling worried that an icicle could shoot from Izo's hand. When it seemed safe, Joshua relaxed with a sigh. 'Phew... no ice powers... I'm glad I'm not going to be a human skewer today.'
Izo gave a roll of his maroon eyes with a shake of his head at Joshua, snorting with irritation as he set his eyes directly into Joshua's lavender, "I'm certain if that Craven solicits you to not harm that vermin, you would. I'm certain if that Craven solicits you to buffer her from assaults, you would! I'm certain that if that Craven solicits you to carry her all around Shibuya... YOU FUCKING WOULD!" Izo breathed in sharply a deep breath before he jabbed his finger at Joshua again, snarling loudly, "She has you swathed around her finger! She's fucking incompetent, and she has you to shelter her for it!"
"I-" Joshua grimaced at once, gazing at the frozen boy dumbfoundly before scowling. He drew in a deep breath then shook his head as he huffed harshly, "You're wrong, Izo..." Joshua gritted his teeth as he clenched his hands. "Mayu isn't that. She's not useless, and she's NOT a CRAVEN! I don't know what has gotten you to believe in her poorly, or believe she's useless, but I want you to stop it RIGHT NOW!"
Izo at once snorted, turning his head sharply away to growl, "You're incalculably blinded by her, aren't you? I can't even say that I can scarcely believe this, feh..."
The ashen blond opened his mouth to retort, ready to defend himself, when the shrill squeaking of the ferret Noise alerted him. He turned to it, widening his eyes as its nose twitched while it sniffed the air; balancing on its hind light blue tattooed paws. Its beady black eyes didn't even blink; only staring at them...
"Uh..." Joshua frowned, blinking as he stared back at it uneasily. "Why is it staring at us...?"
Izo let out another snort, shaking his head as he growled icily, "You would cogitate your paltry querulousness piqued its inquisitiveness, Aleck..."
"That... that makes sense..." sighed Joshua with a shake of his head, grimacing as he mused, "So... what plan do you think will work?"
"Feh, you're conventionally the one secreting them out," drawled Izo coldly. "It's astounding you're even petitioning for my stance."
"Well, it looks fast, so it could outrun us..." explained Joshua as he tilted his head to one side, blinking as he studied the tiny Noise. "And it could evade our attacks easily..."
"This would be simpler if you hadn't impelled that Craven away," growled Izo with a scoff. "The vermin could be engrossed by her swooning, or maybe Erase her in that matter which would afford us a prospect to finish it off for good..."
"Hey, knock that off!" spat Joshua shortly, crossing his arms. "Can't you keep Mayu out of this?"
"You kept her out of the mêlée, so she won't perceive my affronts anyway." Izo rolled his eyes. "You can cavil all you crave, but keep the mêlée in mind."
"Ugh... I am, Izo..." Joshua couldn't believe Izo right now. He was the one complaining about Mayu...
Suddenly the ferret Noise squealed as it sprang forward, bounding towards them which alarmed Joshua. At once, Joshua sent energy into his Windy Whirl Pin, channeling rolling gusts right into the Noise as it leapt into the air. As soon as the wind picked it up and hurled it into the mural, Joshua cried out, "Use your thread, Izo!"
Izo stiffly brought out his twine, looping it around his fingers as the grey pin under his shirt jacket glinted. He immediately swung it at the Noise, cursing the moment they were blown backwards. "Dammit! Sojourn your assault!" He let out an aggravated snarl that rang through the district, "I can't ensnare it when you're barring my own!"
'Oh dear, Izo's right! All I'm doing is pushing it back!' Joshua flinched and stopped channeling his attack, letting the Noise land on the ground as it lay twitching with frantic squeals. "Izo, now's your shot!" he shouted, pointing at the Noise as it was about to lift itself up. "Go!"
Izo once again threw his barely visible thread at the Noise, catching its limbs and neck within seconds. The ferret Noise didn't delay its thrashing, letting out terrified cries while Izo growled, "Finish its futile subsistence!"
"Got it!" Joshua smirked as he started up his Breezifreeze Pin, intent on creating ice shards to impale the poor creature. If he tried Transflaration, he knew he would burn Izo's twine to a crisp. Plus, letting the Noise get away now would make it harder to receive another opening to Erase it. As soon as Joshua was finished breaking up the ice that shielded him, he hurled them straight at the Noise. "As nice as it was to meet you, I must end you," he murmured contently.
As the shards flew towards it, Joshua widened his eyes as the thread started to glisten and turn rapidly into frost. Before Joshua's attack even could hit the Noise, it broke out of Izo's hold to scurry erratically across the pavement back and forth.
"What was that, Izo!?" growled Joshua as he whipped his head to the boy, who stared at his thread in shock. With the slight twitch of his fingers, Izo's thread shattered and fell to the ground. "You froze your thread! Really!?" Joshua shouted out sharply, not looking at the Noise as he gestured sideways to it. "It was in the perfect position to Erase it!"
"I didn't do it!" snarled Izo as he swung around towards him, letting out a growl as he glared, "I was entrapping it when your assault dilapidated my own!"
"Oh give me a break, it was you!" snapped Joshua as he turned back to the Noise, only to cry out as it hopped on his head. He leapt back, raising his hands up to grab it as he shouted loudly, "Get off me!" Before he could grab it, it sprang and wrapped its body around his wrist. Joshua froze, feeling strange suddenly and let his raised arms fall to his side and go limp. Within moments he felt his blood boil before he glared at Izo, clenching his fists as he growled in a low voice, "This is your fault."
Izo narrowed his eyes, frowning uglily as he pointed at Joshua's wrist. "Why are you haranguing me vis-à-vis that whilst the Noise is latched onto you!?"
"That doesn't matter, Izo! All that matters is that you messed up our plan, no wait- it was my plan!" Joshua shouted as he breathed heavily, taking a step towards Izo as he hissed bitterly, "You thought you had a better idea, huh? You didn't like my plan so you thought it would be dandy to freeze your thread so the Noise can escape! Wow... you are more of a jerk than I thought!"
"What is wrong with you, brat!?" growled Izo as he started to back away, warily watching Joshua as he continued to walk closer. "Snatch that Noise and end it, dammit!"
"Like I want to do as you command!" scoffed Joshua snootily as he started up his Transflaration Pin, stopping to throw the flickering blue fire into the air and condensed it into bright reddish orange lapping flames. The ashen blond ignored how Izo stepped back while looping more thread around his hands as Joshua glowered, too angry to even feel threatened by the frosty poet. "If you think I'll back down and follow your lead, then don't! Unlike Ayumu and Mayu, I thought your plan to not skip the Wall Objective was pointless! It was fucking stupid and I don't see why they listened to you! No one should be willing to listen to a selfish, disdainful, antisocial jerk like you, Izo!"
Izo quickly threw his threads towards Joshua, and in response, Joshua threw his fire at Izo's hands. As soon as it contacted Izo, making him cry out in pain, Joshua created more of his flames and levitated it with his psychic powers.
"I wasn't done talking!" he snarled as he clenched his hands harder. "As you can see, your half-baked plan failed! Unlike me, you can't come up with practical strategies that help people, which makes sense because you hate people! You cause more harm to people than help, Izo! I bet that's why nobody likes you! You're an orphan like me, but you were abandoned by your parents because I guess they hated you! In fact- I bet people hated you so much that you never had any friends! But I bet you were fine with that, considering how you don't care about anyone but YOURSELF!"
Suddenly, Joshua was bowled over, crashing to the ground and felt someone grab ahold of his collar before his face was treated to an onslaught of punches. "SHUT UP!" roared Izo furiously as he swung punches into Joshua's face, not giving Joshua a chance to stop Izo as he continued to yell, "YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO CONSTRUCT MEDIOCRE CLAIMS VIS-À-VIS TO ME! SHUT UP!"
"Telling me to shut up won't work unless you sew my lips together!" crowed Joshua as he let out a bitter laugh, interrupted when Izo punched him in the mouth. Momentarily Joshua was dazed, only recovering when Izo had stopped; breathing heavily as he glared murderously at Joshua.
With a smirk, Joshua sneered, "See! You exhausted yourself! Your plans are coming out exactly like I said, Izo! They're useless! This is why I should be making the decisions, because despite your intelligence you are horrible at putting a plan to good use!"
"Shut... up..." wheezed Izo angrily, continuing to clench Joshua's shirt collar as he growled through his laboured breathing, "I have... no inkling... why you're..." He wheezed a bit before he growled again, "Acting like this... but nonetheless you have no right to... to convey that to me..."
"Haha... I don't care what you think. But I think the useless person we're dragging around is actually you, Izo," he hissed smugly, feeling the Noise's claws slightly scrape against his wrist as it shifted. "We don't need to drag around someone who constantly mocks us, belittles us without reserve, and can't make a decent plan. In fact- what are you still doing here? I know you'll never receive the second chance at the end of the week, so why are you putting up a struggle? The world doesn't deserve another antisocial person crawling on its streets... doing nothing but waste the world's oxygen and space. To me, the world's better off without you, Izo..."
Before he knew it, a sting of pain shot through his head and he blinked, widening his eyes as he saw Izo throw down the Noise and brought his foot up to stomp on its head. Instantly, it burst into particles, and Joshua frowned as he watched them drift away.
Looking back at Izo, light flashed through Joshua's vision before he was standing at the mural again. Suddenly his vision blurred as intense pain waved through him, finding that someone slammed his body into the wall. A scream sounded but all he could focus on was Izo's livid face, which intensely glared at Joshua as Izo threw a clout into the ashen blond's face.
"What are you doing!? We're done the fight!" Joshua yelled out with dismay as he tried to shove Izo back, but Izo clutched onto Joshua' shoulders firmly and slammed his back into the mural again.
"You transferred over the mêlée when you patronized that low in affronting me!" roared Izo harshly, hurting Joshua's ears as he growled, "If you cogitate doing that aggregates to no ramifications, then you are erroneous, Yoshiya Kiryu!"
Straightaway, Joshua was shoved to the ground, earning a yelp from him as he landed. He felt instantly contaminated by the ground, but despite that he pushed himself up to see that Izo was already stalking down the stairs.
Before the ashen blond could stand up, or at least yell after Izo, Mayu knelt down beside him as she spoke anxiously, "Are you okay, Joshua!?"
"I'm alright, I guess..." replied Joshua halfheartedly as he looked at her, frowning deeply as he sighed, "But for Izo... I have no clue."
"You did say a lot of nasty things to his face, Josh," said Ayumu emotionlessly as Joshua stood up, Mayu soon following after to stand by his side as Joshua stared at Ayumu in dismay. "Before you can deny it, we heard everything from where we hid."
"Oh..." Right away, Joshua felt ashamed of himself, slapping his hand to his face as he groaned, "There's no way he's going to forget that… and I have no clue what came over me to say all those things!"
"Wait, you don't?" asked Ayumu as he stared past him, blinking his pewter eyes as a breeze swayed his long sleeves and hair. It was a minute later when Ayumu breathed in, clasping his hands together as he asked, "Are you sure you don't?"
"I just don't know!" shouted Joshua in frustration as he instantly ran his hand through his scraggly locks, letting out a growl as he shook his head with a sigh. "That ferret Noise just sprang at my head, and before I could pull it off it got on my wrist, then..." He lowered his head as he groaned flatly, "Then I felt nothing but anger towards Izo..."
Joshua received silence from Ayumu and Mayu, and Joshua welcomed it. He didn't need them to comment on what he did, he already felt guilty enough about it. In fact, it escaped him why he felt angry in the first place; even what he had said to the frosty poet perplexed and disturbed him. What he said was out of line, yet he couldn't control his tongue for some weird reason. Or, it felt like the anger he had was unreal, as though someone was fuelling his fury to such an extreme that it was not possible for him to feel that way. Even what he had said was something he would never say or think, except for the fact he resented how Izo won everyone (but him and Rei) over with his plan that costed them time. But that wasn't just it... He utterly insulted Izo to the point it was heckling, and Joshua would never do that to anyone... until that fight happened.
He wished it never happened. He wished he never met that Noise. He wished that Noise never leapt out at him, and...
'The Noise!' He whipped his head up, staring at the spot on the mural it had previously replaced the grinning cat. Mayu gave him a confused look as he continued to think eagerly, frowning deeply as he clenched his fists, 'It had to have been the Noise! After Izo tore it off my wrist, my anger died! It was making me feel that way!' His eagerness drained out of him, leaving him feel bleak and appalled. 'Oh dear... It also made me blurt all that stuff out to insult Izo... and now Izo hates me...' He facepalmed again, making sure he hit himself harder. 'And I could have Erased him... fuck.'
He rubbed at his temples with his hand that he used to hit himself, trying to make the headache that was coming on to him go away. He couldn't be more humiliated, and it was all because of that Noise.
"J-Joshua...?"
Sliding his hand off his face, Joshua grimaced as he faced Mayu. Worry was evident in her expression as her pretty eyes were widened, and she had one of her hands extended out in front of her as she softly asked him with concern, "A-Are you... okay? You hit yourself hard..."
Joshua felt his face throb in pain, and he grimaced again. Izo already battered his face, and facepalming himself didn't help... Joshua wouldn't be surprised if he found he left a mark on his face identical to the shape of his hand.
"It must have been the Noise," he started bitterly, closing his eyes as he grumbled while he lowering his head, "As soon as it wrapped itself around my wrist, I started to say all those things to Izo. And when it was off of me, I stopped. Even though I was conscious of what I was saying and doing... I didn't stop at all."
"Are you telling the truth, or are you defending yourself with denial?" asked Ayumu, causing Joshua to cringe. "You could be lying."
"I th-think Joshua's not lying!" Mayu gasped in surprise, and Joshua looked at her as she blinked at Ayumu and kept her lips flatlined. "I saw the Noise was on his wrist!"
"Y-You did!?" gasped Joshua in surprise.
The smoky black haired girl nodded, reaching out to grab his hand and looked at it. "Y-Yes... I was watching from the entrance of the alley, b-because I was worried about you, and I couldn't bear to not watch and… I-It was on this wrist, r-right?" She dropped his hand, edging back to look away while blushing deeply. "I… I-I'm sorry! That wasn't polite of me to do that, especially when..."
"You've grabbed my hand before, Mayu, so it's okay if you want to..." He felt himself blush, blinking as he went on sheepishly, "...Hold it." Quietly he stared at her, catching her eye when she started to look back at him before he looked away. "…B-But yes, it was this wrist."
"I see..." Ayumu nodded, his slightly messy hair bouncing as he spoke, "I wanted to make sure it was true by hearing it from you. But if Mayu saw it, there's no way that I can deny what you said, Joshua."
"Thanks, Ayumu..." Joshua nodded, unsure of why Ayumu didn't believe him sooner. But he considered how Ayumu couldn't see or sense things, nor he could he read anyone's minds at the moment, so Joshua couldn't quite get too upset about how Ayumu was questioning his words.
"You're welcome." The petite blond breathed in and blinked. "Just know that Izo could've taken your words and actions differently as an offense towards him, not because of the Noise. You might need to clear it up with him, just to make sure he understands it wasn't intentional. Or, he might've taken your words to heart already and holds it against you now."
"I'll have you guys to back me up when I tell him, right?" Joshua asked with uncertainty, frowning sadly as he glanced at the both of them. "Right?"
It took a while until Ayumu spoke up, "Of course, you're my brother."
"Ayumu, thank you!" he breathed gratefully as he pulled Ayumu in for a hug, breathing in as he sighed. "I knew you'd be there for me..."
"Why question it?" Ayumu's voice was muffled from where his face rested on Joshua's shoulder.
"There's always the chance you might not, since..." Joshua sighed and shook his head. With a tiny chuckle, he sheepishly murmured, "Never mind. We're always there for each other, so I guess it's silly how I thought you wouldn't because you don't have your emotions. Heh..."
"Yeah, if you think it's silly. I can't tell."
"But still... Thank you, Ayumu." Letting go of his younger half-brother, Joshua smiled warmly at the petite blond and ruffled his hair with a giggle. "I can always count on you~"
Joshua turned to see Mayu was watching them, losing his smile the moment he saw her silently crying. He frowned at once, reaching towards her as he spoke with worry, "...Mayu?"
"Y-Yes?" she squeaked meekly.
"Are you okay?" He took a step to her, blinking in confusion as another tear rolled down her face. "You're... crying?"
"Oh!" She raised her arm up and used her dark jean jacket sleeve to wipe her face, smiling weakly after she had cleaned away her tears. "I-I'm okay!" she chirped, blinking as she smiled more. "I... I-I remembered my sisters when you two were talking, that's all!"
Joshua tipped his head to one side, feeling concerned about his Partner now. He reached over to rest his hand on her shoulder, and looked into her pretty turquoise eyes as he murmured, "I understand... you miss them. It's not something to be ashamed about, Mayu, so don't feel guilty if you need to cry. Alright?"
For some time, Mayu stared at him, widening her eyes in shock before she bit her lip, nodding a little. She blinked for a while as she gazed down, soon bringing her eyes back up into his own when she murmured nervously, "O-Okay..."
"And if you need someone to talk to about them, I can lend you my ear anytime you want, Mayu," he said gently, feeling his heart flutter the longer he gazed into her eyes. He wished his heart would calm down, but he couldn't help but continue to gaze deeper into her pretty eyes.
"I... Th-Thank you, Joshua," she said quietly, smiling brightly as her eyes sparkled. "I really appreciate it..." A second or two later, she blushed, avoiding his gaze for some reason.
Joshua was a bit confused, but then he discovered he still had his hand on her shoulder. He instantly drew his hand away, feeling his face heat up in embarrassment. He must have made her uncomfortable with how long he had his hand on his shoulder, and he mentally scolded himself for not noticing how it made her feel sooner. He got used to doing that so long that it became almost second nature to do that, so he knew he should try to do it less often.
Rubbing the back of his head, he cleared his throat awkwardly before he spoke, "...So, do you think we'll get another text from the GM?"
"We should, unless she chose to not do it today," replied Ayumu with a tilt of his head. "We could name that Noise while we're waiting for it?"
"But Izo's not here..." Mayu pointed out meekly, frowning sadly. "He… H-He could get angry, Joshua..."
"Good point," Joshua remarked with a nod, sighing as he grimaced, "It might be good to not anger him more than I have..." After a moment, he smiled at her. "How about you start brainstorming which music genres will work for it, Mayu. We can always ask Izo later on if he thinks it works for it."
"And Izo hasn't had a good day, so it might be better if we wait a long time for him to cool off," Ayumu said with a nod, staring past Joshua as he went on, "I think we should wait until tomorrow, Josh."
"Yeah, another good point," said Joshua sadly, sighing as he brought out his phone the moment it jingled. "Looks like the GM came through to us..." He started fiddling with the zooming function as he asked, "Okay... are you ready, Mayu?"
Mayu instantly took out the pamphlet, smiling as she unfolded it to the map. Joshua nodded back, giving a warm smile as he aimed his phone to it. As soon as he saw the light zap to the map, leaving a emerald green mark where Udagawa was located, he grinned as he turned on his heel. "Okay, everyone ready to leave?"
Mayu nodded quickly and Ayumu raised his hand, allowing Joshua to grab his half-brother's hand and started to lead them down the steps. As he walked down, he could only sigh and give up his cheery mood. 'I really messed up…'
To be continued... hope you enjoyed the chapter! =3