(I edited this as best as I could : )

CHAPTER 3

"Watch where you're going," she heard someone groan underneath her. She gasped and pulled herself up muttering apologies, "I-I'm so sorry I didn't mean to run into-" she slowed her sentence to a stop as she saw him. They stared at each other, realizing something about the other that they recognized. Time was still for the two of them and in that time, both of them were only able to say one word.

"…wow."

~before~

Hours ago before they accidently ran into each other, Joshua, having already thought of what to do, walked into an alleyway, up the fire escape stairs, then pulled himself up on a roof of a building near the West Exit Bus Terminal. He stood atop there, taking in the view. Actually, it wasn't that much of a view as the building wasn't as high as the 104 building, but it was good enough for him at least. Joshua plopped down at the edge, closed his eyes, and with his remaining powers for the day, he tuned in to the vibe of Shibuya. Thoughts had begun buzzing in his head and soon they turned into an orchestral melody. Each song a person has is different and all together; it made the song of Shibuya.

It was in perfect sync, he could stay there for the whole day, just listening to it if only he wasn't limited. The vibe was normal until suddenly, he heard a slight shift from it, as if the notes had been twisted to make an odd buzzing or scratching noise. It kept shifting back and fourth, affecting everyone's music. Joshua tuned out and blinked his eyes open, "now that was unpredictable," he said to himself placing a hand on his chin. He thought about what would have caused it, many answers came popping up in his head, knowing that it could have been just about anything trying to shift the balance itself. Thinking about it, Joshua helped himself off the ground, placing his hands in his pockets and watching the pedestrians walk by. He could feel the sudden change of emotions and how the twist had affected them, I need to talk to Sanae about this.

He sighed and closed his eyes again, feeling the breeze brushing his face. He felt disappointed with the little power he had now. Thankfully, it would only be for today, which is why he's so eager for nightfall to come. He needed to recharge his energy, and the only way he could do that is by a good night's rest. But that would be hours away until that happened, his biggest problem now is to figure out what to do until then.

Many hours have passed, and the sun was close to setting. On top of the same building sat a lonely and very bored figure, which stared at the same horizon with a poker face look, and had just begun growing mushrooms on a few spots on his body. He then clutched on his hair as he fell backwards, "UGH! THIS IS SO BORING!" Joshua shouted out. He relaxed as he stared at the sky, honestly, there's hardly anything to contribute in the RG. It's as dull as ever. He stared up for a while longer, then got up, dusted his pants, and slowly walked towards the stairs.

As soon as he made his way out of the alleyway, Joshua stopped in his tracks when he saw two police cars parked near the sidewalk. The two cops were talking to a man on a bike who seemed a little freaked out at the moment, he could tell by the amount of noise gathering around him which made him wrinkle his nose a little, great, not only has she brought me back alive, but she brought back my sight as well, he thought, crossing his arms. He noticed that the driver's sides of the police cars are open. He placed a hand on his chin, thinking, and as he did, his lips curved looking at the cars menacingly.

The poor man on the bike only wanted to know how to get to the shopping district; instead he got stuck in an argument with the policemen's until he pointed out a little theft happening behind them. The two turned around only to see a young man taking the keys out of the ignition of the second car while holding the first batch of keys from the first car in his other hand, "HEY YOU!" one of the policemen yelled out.

Joshua turned to see them rushing towards him. He smirked and started running himself, now THIS is fun.

He led them around in circles, from the Bus Terminal to the Station Underpass, and back again. The two cops were now slowing down tremendously, losing their breath, "th… that kid is… fast," one of them said between breaths.

Joshua, slowing himself down to make sure they were still on his tracks, knew he had become victorious and decided that enough was enough. He was about to stop when he heard a faint melody. His smirk disappeared while he was listening to it, mentally tuning out his surroundings.

The melody is familiar to him, but he couldn't seem to put his finger on it, where have I heard this before? He thought. It had been so long, the blurry memories of way back then started to become clearer, and now finding himself staring at a little girl. He knew that girl, she's Maiya right? She has to be… is she? He tried to shake the thought off his head, but the more he did, the more they became visible in his mind, it was then that he started to feel a slight headache and the pain kept throbbing with every memory of her that entered. The song got louder and louder and as much as he wanted to stop himself from going any further, he couldn't help but keep running as it seemed to be pulling him towards it. Joshua easily maneuvered through the crowds and was about to pass Hachiko until it happened. He got hit by something, or someone. The force lifted him off his feet slightly, and sent him crashing down.

"Watch where you're going," he groaned.

The last bit of those memories had been restored as the melody came to a sudden stop. He snapped his eyes open as if it hit him in the face, and it might as well have. His eyes grew wide, taking in the familiar look. He wanted to say her name, but instead, he whispered, "wow."

~after~

Neku and Shiki just stared at the scene, small groups of people were gathering, asking them if they're alright, but neither Joshua nor Maiya replied to them as they were as still as stone in that position, "… I believe they're… having a moment?" Shiki said quietly to Neku who looked at her from the corner of his eyes.

Maiya was the first to snap out of the trance upon hearing a loud voice from behind, "we… we gotcha now!" said one of the two cops that followed. Maiya turned her head and saw them from far away, looking tired and sweaty (Luckily the chase didn't affect their eye sight). She looked back and saw the two keys Joshua was holding and glared at him, but Joshua could only give her an innocent looking smile.

As the cops came nearer, Maiya took the keys from his hand, and then stood up to face them, hands behind her back and smiling sweetly. They staggered to a stop, bending down to catch their breath, which sounded like it'll take an eternity to do, they are seriously out of shape, if you ask me, they did needed the exercise, thought Joshua who helped himself up. His focus turned back to Maiya who was holding out the keys in front of the two. Just then, Neku and Shiki came running towards them, Shiki standing next to Maiya, and Neku near his ex-partner, "Joshua," he called.

"Why hello there Neku. I hope you've been behaving without me," Joshua replied, flipping his hair and having that smug look on his face. Neku had to hold back on smacking him being replied to that, I haven't seen this basterd for months, and this is the greeting I get? He had so many questions to ask him even if he wasn't going to get a straight answer, like where had he been? Why didn't he destroy Shibuya? Why this? Why that? He also had a lot of questions that dealt with Hanekoma (aka CAT). Since the end of the last game, Neku had been paying Hanekoma a visit in his ruined café, which wasn't so ruined after seven seconds he came in. he remembered seeing him magically work everything back together by a simple drawing on the wall. Now he could have asked him those questions then and there, but Neku never got around to asking him any of those, he always felt shy to ask every time he was around the café owner probably because he is his biggest fan.

"Th… Thank you, young lady," said cop as he took the keys from Maiya. Neku walked over and stood next to Shiki with his hands in his pockets.

Maiya just smiled sweetly and replied, "You're very welcome sir. I'm sorry about my friend; he's kind of a dope sometimes."

As their breathing started to slow, the cop who took the keys, tipped his hat, "sorry just isn't enough, your friend needs to come with me. Now sir-" when he checked behind Maiya and the others, the ash blonde haired teen was nowhere to be seen, "drat," the cop grumbled, "he got away again." The other cop who was still bent over, looked up and around the area, "I bet he escaped using the crowd as cover. Probably headed back to Bus Terminal,"

"We'd better get a move on then; it'll be faster to search by car." With that, the two cops made their way towards the Bust Terminal and out of sight. Shiki placed a hand on her hips, glancing at them with disgust, "all of that because of a pair of keys? Police these days,"

"There are worse crimes to deal with out there than this," agreed Maiya, who was scanning the area herself. Shiki slid her glasses up and tilted her head, "… say, Maiya… do you know him?"

Maiya glanced at Shiki as she continued to speak, "it's just that, you two were staring at each other for quite some time, and you did call him 'friend' so I thought-"

"YO!"

They heard Beat call as well as the sound of his skateboard; Rhyme was on his back waving to them. The streetlights were all on, making the city of Shibuya light up beautifully, as if Shibuya was the sun itself just like any typical big city. Maiya blinked then checked the time on her phone, "I need to get going," she said as she sprinted off again, "s-see ya!" Shiki shouted, a little disappointed that she didn't get an answer.

Beat skids his skateboard to a stop and let Rhyme down from his back, "who was with you guys?" she asked

"And why'd she hav'ta run off like that? Did I scare her?" said Beat afterwards. Neku glanced at the spot where Joshua was, and just like the cops and Maiya, he glanced around the area too, giving up shortly. He sighed then told Beat and Rhyme about the girl that just left.

Behind the Hachiko statue stood the composer himself, having a hand on his forehead as he thought about the things that happened when he heard the melody. Those memories came at him in a flash, but how could he forget about someone like her and yet still remember her name? He leaned against the statue and sighed, then took a peek towards the small group of four. They were occupied which gave Joshua the perfect time to slink off without being noticed.

Ssssssssssssssssss

He made his way towards Cat Street, still thinking about the event. He had to go back a ways, remembering about the downfall of the previous composer and the rise of… well… himself. To be composer, one must have to sacrifice many things, this included giving up the thing that he held dear to him. He smiled remembering now. He had given a small note to Hanekoma before the duel with the previous composer.

~flashback~

"I did it Sanae," Joshua said, leaning back in his chair, hands behind his head, and putting on a victorious smirk.

Hanekoma chuckled, "so I've heard J, congratulation's! Let's celebrate with some coffee. And I guess that means I'll have to call ya boss now,"

"Whatever name you'd feel comfortable with. Also, I've already decided on how to reformat the games so that it's fair for everyone,"

Hanekoma chuckled again and gave Joshua his cup of coffee. He sat across from the new composer and heard a slight crinkle noise in his pocket, "oh yea! I almost forgot. Here, this is for you." He held out the paper towards him. Joshua tilted his head and reached for the folded piece of small paper. He paused for a moment, confused on what could be on it. He unfolded it and read the only thing that was written, the only thing that, at the time, felt rather familiar, "…it says… Maiya."

~end of flashback~

That was it… wasn't it. Joshua stopped in front of the café, still smiling. He looked up at the night sky seeing nothing but blue, my entry fee, was memories of you.