While Josh met up with his friends at Ramen Don, Hanekoma reminisced, half a city away, in his quiet little cafe.

It had been a rainy, dreary Saturday, so the dense crowds Shibuya usually had were thinned out, even after the rain let up that evening. Hanekoma had decided to go for a walk, heading down to Hachiko as the sun set. It had been a lazy day for him, the Players of this week's Game never made it down to Cat street, so he hadn't had much business.

As he approached the dog statue, he felt as though something was off. At first he chalked it up to the lack of people bustling about, but he decided to focus in on the Music as he glanced around in the end.

Spotting him.

Hidden in the bushes behind the statue was a small boy, no more than eight, with scraggly white hair, eyes a piercing violet widened in fear.

Hanekoma walked over, bending down to talk to talk to him. "Hey kiddo, whatcha doin' out here all alone?" He smiled at Josh (is his name even still Josh now?), worrying about why he might be doing here, with no parent or guardian in sight.

The kid eyed him for a moment, distrust written on his face in the form of scrunched eyebrows and a half-frown. "...Got lost," is what he mutters, after the moment of silence. "Parents told me to run, so I did, ended up here… Something bad happened."

Hanekoma frowned, tilting his head at the response he got. "Do you remember where you were when you last saw them? I can take you there, and make sure nothing else bad happens if ya want."

"We were by the trains, just got off one. I saw a pretty pink frog and tried to chase it, parent's followed. There was a person with a gun on the way back. Mother told me to run, so I did, don't know what happened after."

"Well, I can take you back there, if you want? If the bad man is still there I can keep you safe, and hopefully your parents are okay. Name's Hanekoma by the way, you can call me Mr. H though." He held his hand out to the child, making a mental note that he can see the UG in this life too, based off the reference to the Fifenfrog.

"My name's Yoshiya," he said, reaching out and taking Hanekoma's hand, crawling out of the bushes as he does so. "Thank you for offering to help, Mr. Hanekoma."

"It's no problem, kiddo. Can't just leave ya outside like this, after all. And your name's Yoshiya, huh?" Hanekoma paused, taking a breath. "Mind if I call ya Joshua? I had a friend, a while back, named Yoshiya, that was his nickname." He started to head towards the station underpass, trying not to worry about what they might find upon arrival.

"Hmm, sure. I don't mind that nickname."

"Well then, it's nice to meet you, Joshua… You mentioned pink frogs earlier, didn't you? Did they happen to have graffiti-like legs?"

Joshua's face lit up as Hanekoma asked the question. "Yes! They did! You can see them too? My parents always thought I was making it all up, all the strange animals and winged people."

Hanekoma smiled down at Josh, nodding. "Yeah, I can see 'em too. What you see is called the UnderGround, or UG, while what we're in right now is the RealGround, or RG. Most people in the RG can't see the UG, but some people such as yourself are tuned into the vibes of the UG better and can see it. The animals you see are called Noise, and the people with wings are called Reapers. I'm sure you've also noticed people running around that others seem to ignore, they're called Players, and they play in the Reaper's game, which is a big part of the UG." Hanekoma chuckled at Josh, noting how the kid looked like he wanted to grab a pencil and write all this down.

"What's the Game? What do the Reapers do? What do the Noise do? How do you know all this?" Joshua was practically bouncing up and down as he walked, an eager little kid who wanted to learn all about the mystical world he saw.

"Whoa there, slow down. I'll answer all your questions, but later. For now, we're getting pretty close to the station underpass, where you said the bad thing happened. You might wanna stay back, in case something did hap-"

"No," Josh interrupted. "I'm coming with you. They're my parents, and I don't want to be all alone around here."

Hanekoma sighed. "Fair enough, just stick close, and if you're afraid of what you might see, cover your eyes."

Josh nodded, and clung to Hanekoma's hand, following him through the underpass.

As they rounded a corner, Joshua reacted first, screeching and ducking behind Hanekoma to hide from the sight of two bodies, bullet holes left in each of their heads', blood pooled around them, the murderer nowhere to be seen.

Hanekoma grabbed his phone out of his pocket, calling the police to inform them of this. He listed the details before hanging up, leading Josh back around the corner.

"Are you okay, Joshua?" he asked, holding his arms to to move and give him a hug.

Joshua backed away from his spread arms, shaking his head. "Don't try that. Don't wanna be touched."

Hanekoma frowned but nodded. "Okay, I won't touch you. I'll stay right here until the police come, I'll make sure nobody hurts you."

Josh didn't say anything back verbally, but he nodded, sitting down on the ground and leaning against the wall. After a moment, he started to rock back and forth, arms wrapped around his knees and eyes closed. Hanekoma chose to stand nearby, keeping an eye out for trouble-makers or the police as he waited, thoughts churning in his head.

He glanced down at Josh, wondering what he was going to do. If Josh's life were much like the one before, he wouldn't have any family to take him in, or if he did, none of them would be good at raising him. The best-case scenario would be to take him in himself. Raising a kid wasn't something Hanekoma had ever officially done, but he knew the basics, and he could do it, he would do it if it was best for Josh.

Hanekoma pulled out his phone, finding a certain contact and typing out a quick message.

^Found Joshua, his parents were just murdered, if he doesn't have a good home somewhere else I'm taking him in.^

Hanekoma sighs as the bell to the shop rings, and he looks up to see Josh grinning, so he smiles back. "Hey kiddo, good day today?"

Josh nods, walking to the back to deposit his bag. "Yeah, think I did well on my test, and afterwards I hung out with Neku at Ramen Don, and that one chef, Beat was there. He makes the best ramen. Anyway, me and Neku chatted, he tried to steal my ramen, but I managed to save it. He helped me with some of my history homework, which I really don't know how he knows all that stuff…" Josh kept talking, rambling about his day, and how great it was to hang out with Neku, and Hanekoma could only chuckle and shake his head a bit. He'd missed seeing this side of Josh, all those years ago, the happy excitable kid who didn't have the weight of a city on his shoulders.

"What are you laughing about?" Josh asks, pouting at him, and Hanekoma rolls his eyes at being called out.

"Nothin', nothin'. You just care about him a lot, don'tcha? You're infodumping about everything you did with Neku today, after all."

Josh blushes, covering his face with his hand to hide it. "Yeah, well… Neku's pretty great, okay? He's my friend, why wouldn't I care?"

"Yeah, he's a good kid. You're both good for each other. Here's the part where I'm supposed t' tease ya about having a crush on your best friend, but I don't feel like doin' that, so you're off the hook today, J. Now go change outta your school clothes before you do any more stuff!"

"Alright, alright I'm going. Thanks for skipping the teasing." Josh chuckles, waving back at Hanekoma, and as the kid disappears up the stairs, Hanekoma sighs once more.

He'd been right, all those years ago, Josh had no family willing to take him in, distant relatives he barely knew who didn't care. With a bit of work, some of it magical, Hanekoma had been able to snag Josh and get appointed as his legal guardian. The beginning was bumpy, but he wouldn't change a thing.