Thanks to Divine Wolfe for helping me work out cultural continuity snarls. Or whatever. 8P

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Chapter Sixteen

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Beat and Rhyme had traveled in silence on his skateboard to WildKat, where the older Bito left her at the door.

"I'm gonna... go home now, 'kay Rhyme?" Rubbing the back of his neck, the athletic boy muttered this to the pavement, avoiding his sister's eyes. "You stay here; since our parents are probably gonna chew me out. I don't want you to... have to list'n to them argue."

Relief tempered her concern as she stared at her older brother. "Are you sure you'll be-"

"I'm sure, Rhyme." He forced a smile that was heavy with guilt and shame; Joshua's words had hit their mark. Reaching out, he ruffled her blonde, uncapped hair and forced a grin. "Besides, isn't Coffee Man s'pposed to be finishin' fixin' your necklace soon?"

"Yeah, I guess..." She laced her fingers together, feeling her soul fill with similar emotions to her brother as he skated away; she only wished it was from empathy.

I should be worried for Beat, going home to face our parents alone. But I keep thinking things like, he deserves it for running off like that, or I'm just glad they yell at him and not me.

The cheerful bell above the cafe door heralded her entrance, and she could hear Sanae's smile fade as he greeted her.

"Heh...ey..." The note broke in the middle, and the middle aged artist slid around the counter to kneel beside her. "You all right, Rhyme?"

She looked deep into those concerned, dark brown eyes; deep into the eyes of the man who had easily become a second father to her. And she lied.

"I'm fine," Rhyme answered, smiling gently as Hanekoma stood, ruffling his hair in a way that reminded her, painfully, of her brother.

"Have it your way. Mind holding down the fort for a bit? I'm expecting Josh around, and I get the feeling he's really going to need some coffee as soon as he gets here."

The blonde flushed, thoughts crowding her mind; drawing one at random, she presented it. "What makes you think that?"

His smile softening, Hanekoma handed her a copy of some magazine, ruffled her hair one more time, then was gone, with the hummed 'instructions for Joshua's favorite is on the blue Post-It on the fridge' ringing in her ears.

"Wait, I don't think this is such..." Rhyme sighed, her shoulder sagging as the door closed with a click. "... A good idea."

Taking a seat on the floor behind the wood counter, she cast an eye around her; there were plastic tower-like containers under the bar, filled with coffee beans in nothing short of thirty varieties that all looked exactly the same, with shelves laded with bottles of flavorings, sugars and even tiny marshmallows. She leaned against the black refrigerator, feeling oddly secure as she was surrounded by coffee machines and hot water dispensers lined against the mirror-backed rear counter and sink, and flipped over the magazine.

'Eiji Oji - Still The Prince! Wins 'Ultimate Beautiful Man' by landslide!' proclaimed the cover, along with other equally egotistical declarations such as 'Shadow ramen revealed; black noodles, black hearts' and 'How to survive Edoga's sales'.

One headline caught her eye, though. 'Kiryu's dirty laundry aired! Madoka tells all!'

Instantly, she was curious, but even as she was peeling open the cover, something felt... wrong about this to Rhyme.

Wouldn't it be better to get to know Joshua by talking to him, and not by reading what his mother has to say?

She was still in a hot debate with herself when the door was thrown open; Rhyme popped up from the floor like a jack in the box, rubbing the palms of her hands against her shorts nervously.

"Welcome to- Joshua?"

At first, she was relieved to see him; she was terrified by the thought of actually having to serve a customer on her first time alone in WildKat, and she had been worried about Joshua since he'd taken off but...

All of that relief shriveled and died when he glared up at her. His shirt was torn, his jacket gone, and his cheeks were flushed with the chill. Violet eyes were glassy, almost, from unshed tears, and she felt sick to see him like that.

So quickly, he tilted his chin up, freezing his eyes and sliding into a defensive sneer. "How the mighty have fallen, I know. I got mugged on my way here, and the bastards stole my wallet and phone. Now, put yourself to use, Ms. Bito. I'd like my usual."

The words were cutting and cold like knifes, but they were a release for her guilt so she turned to the post-it in silence.

'1 tbsp d crmr

1/2 c JL, blk

1/2 c BluM, blk

3 tbsp carm sug'

Rhyme sighed through her nose, as softly as she could, trying to force out her rising sense of panic. Turning to the rows of coffee makers on the counter, she tried to find a link between the cryptic marks and the shiny machines.

Joshua's gaze was a weight when it landed on her between flitting around the shop and filling the air with an aura of misery hell bent on being spread. She said nothing, though, and continued her quiet, seemingly pointless work.

At length, she opened the front of one machine in use, finding a metal mesh basket filled with coffee grounds. She inhaled the damp, cool aroma, just to test it, and then opened up the bellies of two empty machines.

Under the bar she found the bean grinder, and after plugging it in, tapping the top a few times and eliciting both angry whirrs of the blades and glares from Joshua as he scratched at the tabletop, figured out how it worked and poured in equal parts Blue Mountain and Java Love beans. The former was clearly labeled and seemed to be a basic coffee; the latter smelled of vanilla and cookies and smelled like a better flavor to mesh with what she'd found to be caramel sugar than the Jamaican Light, which smelled like spice. What 'd crmr' was she had no idea yet, but she knew enough about coffee - or so she hoped - to know that she needed to concentrate on the beans.

Once she'd started the machine brewing, Rhyme allowed herself a satisfied smile only to have it falter once she felt Joshua studying her.

"When's Hanekoma coming back?" he asked, a little gentler than before, as she turned to face him.

"He didn't say." She tried to offer him a sorry smile, and halfway though she worried he'd take her pity as an insult so the expression landed somewhere between an awkward grin and a tearful one.

One ashen eyebrow arched at this, but Joshua stayed silent, and she turned to start cleaning up her mess.

When Joshua arose from his seat and slid behind the counter to check the machine, she was only too eager to move out of his way; no doubt he knew more about the contraption than she did.

"Do you work here a lot, Joshua?" she asked, as he adjusted some secret setting with typical, resolve melting confidence. Of course she had done it wrong.

"I suppose," he replied, less evasive and more absently then the ice of before. "I have no qualms with paying Hanekoma to do the work for me, so I just know how to work the machines by observation."

"Would you ever want to take over WildKat?"

Joshua's eyes slid to transfix her; the rest of his body stayed as still and cold as marble for a few long moments, then he shrugged.

"I don't know what I want, really, apart from wanting something to do on my own. I want-" he started, turning to face her better, than froze as he saw her pick up the magazine.

Chilled cheeks went pale, then flushed again as he all but ripped the paper from her hands and studied the cover for a moment. When he tossed it aside, it clapped angrily on the bar surface, like a slap to the face, and Rhyme flinched.

Her mind flashed to Beat and worry took a bite out of her soul, but her attention was jerked back to Joshua just as quickly.

"How much did you read?" His face was set like stone, gaze inscrutable.

"None. Or, um... nothing your mother wrote," she amended, forcing herself to meet his gaze. Don't show fear to a bully.

A short sigh escaped his lips, and his gaze flashed to the window for a heartbeat before he slid closer, backing her against the wall where there was no escape.

She shifted, torn between avoiding his piercing stare and letting herself be swallowed up by it. Joshua gave a low, three note chuckle; a more sensuous and dangerous version of his typical giggle.

"You're rather calm, aren't you? Paler than I expected."

Rhyme took in a sharp breath as he pinned her to the wall, leaning in so that his lips were brushing her ear as he spoke.

"What if I said it was you that I wanted, Raimu?" he whispered, a sound like wet silk drug across stone. "What would you do?"

Fingertips brushed the top of her sweatpanted thigh as he continued. "Would you give yourself to me, or would I have to take it?"

She swallowed, taking a moment to assess her thoughts. Fear was just a niggling thought in the back of her mind, along with a very faint and pleasant warmth down her spine, but she was more concerned with his question.

"Are you asking me now?" Rhyme offered, in a gentle voice like she would use towards a savage dog.

A puff of his breath intensified the background sensations in her mind. "My question first."

"I don't know how I'd answer in the future. But today, I'd say no."

He chuckled, and she could feel him smirk into her skin. "Really. Why?"

"Because I know that you don't want me. And I trust you not to... take me," she finished, a little awkward at saying a phrase with such suggestion in it, and somehow she found the room to slide to the side enough to look him in the eye.

He was still facing the back wall, the back of his hand against his lips. "Why would you say that? What reason do you have to trust me?"

She shrugged one shoulder slightly. "Neku trusts you. That's all I need."

Joshua's still face cracked into a small, tired smile. "Is that so?" He turned and drew near to her again to press a gentle kiss to her cheek.

"Now," he murmured, still millimeters away from her, "act natural."

On cue, the bell rang; Joshua leaned back as Hanekoma slipped inside the door, hanging up his coat and fedora with a shiver.

"Coffee smells nice, Rhyme." When he raised his eyes and saw the two teenagers so close, he didn't even blink. "You made enough for me too, right?"

Joshua tapped the coffee maker Rhyme had opened at first. "You can have the old stuff, Sanae. I don't pay your rent to drink cold coffee."

Just like that, everything seemed fine again, and as Hanekoma finished Joshua's coffee and brewed milk tea for their female guest, she could only stand to the side and try to understand what was going on.

His mood changes so fast. It's like being friends with a hurricane. Weary with it all and confused beyond, Rhyme drank her tea in silence as her companions bickered like an old couple.

"Oh, Skulls Jr," Hanekoma remarked in the middle of some conversation she'd lost around the time they started discussing different roasts, "I got something for you. Stay put," and he rose from the end of the couch and headed for the back room.

"I must say, if this is how you 'act natural'," Joshua remarked casually from his easy distance on the middle cushion, adjusting the vest and shirt he'd borrowed from Hanekoma, "you had better not pursue a career in theater."

"I don't think I will," she admitted. "And, sorry. I'm just... having some trouble figuring you out."

He grinned and giggled, flipping a lock of his now-smoothed silver hair. "What can I say? I'm impossible."

"You sound quite proud of that," she observed softly, adding to herself, yet you look so sad. It must be hard to have no one understand you, not even your-

"You never told me what you wanted to do with your life," he cut off her thoughts; she wondered if he's guessed the road they were traveling down.

Rhyme fiddled with the hem of her favorite orange sweater. "I haven't decided yet, really. All I know is that... I want to be able to have a good career so that I can support my family."

"Especially Beat?"

She shrugged. "Not really. He's stronger than you think, Joshua." Glancing up, she tried to catch his eyes in a serious manner. "You don't give him enough credit."

Joshua sighed, swilling his coffee around in the cup. "This again? Must I like him? Isn't it enough that I have to deal with his overwhelming Beatness at our lunch table every day?"

Rhyme giggled, against her own will. Her companion gave her a half amused look.

"What's so funny?"

"You're so dramatic." She grinned, and then bit her lip. "Oh, um, no offense, of course. Sorry."

"Don't be sorry," he soothed her, pursing his lips in mock arrogance. "It's nice to see my powers of comedy are appreciated. Neku's such a stick in the mud, and Shiki..."

Joshua's face suddenly became more serious, and he turned away from her to take a contemplative sip as Hanekoma returned with a small box.

"Don't open it until this weekend," the barista grinned, then kissed the top of her head. "Need me to walk you home?"

Rhyme clutched the box to her chest, finishing her tea and leaving the cup on the table as she stood. "You don't have to do that. I'm not very far from Udagawa, and the Skate Park's still open, so I'll be fine."

"If you say so," Hanekoma sighed through his nose. "Still not too sure about it..." Clearing his throat, he cast a meaningful glance at Joshua.

The boy on the couch either dodged it or ignored it; Rhyme couldn't tell which. Hanekoma rolled his eyes.

"Be safe, Rhyme," he murmured, his eyes warm and fatherly. She offered him a smile.

"I will be," she promised him. "Bye, Joshua. See you tomorrow."

He raised a hand in absent response, and she headed out the door into the chill evening.

Definitely a hurricane.

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The next day at school seemed to have the same atmosphere as though it was about to storm; there was turmoil, and a sort of dampened spirits and charged hostility between all the members of the groups that sat loosely together at lunch.

Rhyme couldn't, and perhaps didn't, want to know what caused Shiki to veer away from Neku and Joshua, her eyes pleading to the blonde first year student in ways that belied her pale smile.

"Good afternoon, Rhyme," she whispered, a noise that sounded almost more like a whimper, as Neku dropped onto the seat beside her with his eyes hidden behind his hair.

"Good afternoon, Shiki," the other girl replied, her eyes sliding over to Joshua as he sat as far away from everyone as he could without looking obvious. There was an air of hurt and almost guilt to him; but it was all swathed in protective pride, so his faint smirk of greeting to her was fake and brittle as cheap plastic.

Something was wrong, and off; the youngest in their group was instantly on edge as much as her peers, but only from the creeping, bristling foreboding that nothing good could come from.

"Today, my class discussed what we're going to do for the cultural festival," she started, pasting on a smile that trembled like a flower in a gale. "We're thinking about holding a game booth."

"Hmm," Joshua noted, his attention still elsewhere.

Shiki smiled, matching Rhyme's uncertainty.

Neku slid his gaze over to study her, and instead of chiding her for pointless small talk looked away again in silence.

Beat was the only one close to enthusiastic. "Cool, yo. We're gonna do…. What was it, Phones?"

"Maid slash butler cafe," the teenager practically spat. "Once the idea was brought up that Joshua would wear a maid outfit, there was no stopping the movement from being voted through."

Neku sighed as though his soul was being dragged from his body with the memory. "It was like a tidal wave of obsession."

"Excuse me," spoke up a new voice; all eyes turned to the tall brunette standing behind them, a fashionable bag strapped across her bony hips and a messenger boy cap studded with pins in her hand. "Mind if I sit here?"

Shiki gave a low, shocked gasp. "Eri?"

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Cliffhanger because I'm lazy. Yay.