"Wow, J, you're just one big crazy bowlful of irony, ain't cha?"

The wings were gone, but then, so was the music. It was finally silent in Joshua's head, silent but for the words of Mr. Hanekoma. Joshua chose to drown those out in favor of basking in the disappearance of the discordant noises. He focused on his sight, which he was extremely grateful to possess. He could see that next to Mr. H, drumming his fingers on the table impatiently, was the teenage reaper dressed all in black. Black shirt, black jeans, black cap; along with his greasy gray hair and dark skin, there was little color on this animated boy.

"Sho?" Joshua asked tentatively.

The reaper grinned toothily. "The one and only, radian." Joshua smiled back.

"I can tell when I'm being ignored." Mr. H laughed.

Joshua turned his gaze back to his mentor, distrust evident in his eyes. "What happened to your wings?"

Mr. H stared back at him, cool and composed. "What are you talking about, J?"

"You saw them too, didn't you, Sho?" Sho shook his head. Joshua frowned. "I saw them. Right before you put the pin on, I saw them." Joshua's insistence reminded himself of the many years he spent trying to convince those around him of what he saw. But usually, Mr. H supported him. Apparently, that was no longer the case.

"I think the strain was causing you to experience hallucinations, J," Mr. H said softly.

"No! It wasn't a hallucination. It was-… they were real."

Sho looked concerned. "He gonna be okay?"

Mr. H took a long swig of coffee. "Not sure. No other reaper has heard Shibuya's music. Really, it would have driven most insane. So I don't know what the after effects will be, even though he can no longer hear it."

"Yeah, okay, can someone explain what the factor is going on now?"

Joshua looked at Mr. H from the corner of his eye, still angry as the man began. "Joshua has always been able to perceive more than those around him. As a regular kid, he could see the wings of reapers and even Noise and Players."

"Wait, wait. Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally, you serious?" Mr. H nodded in reply.

"I suppose it makes sense that now that he is a reaper, his senses reach even farther. Shibuya's music-how do I explain this…? Every person, every thing, every city, is made of soul. If you think of each individual soul as a melody, then a city as big as Shibuya is just full of songs all competing to be the loudest. This is the Noise that has been attacking J since he became a reaper-"

"-And it's gone now because of another pin." Joshua finished for him, tracing circles on the smooth surface of the black and green pin.

"That's right. Now, I wanted to let you know that this pin also… "Mr. H trailed off as he noticed Joshua attempt to stand. Sho took another step closer to his partner as the boy sank loosely back into the chair. "Always the impatient one, J."

"What in infinity did you do to him?" Sho accused.

Mr. H raised his hands in mock defense. "Hey, hey, lay off the barista. S'not my fault. Not J's either. To stop the music, this pin suppresses all of his abilities as a reaper. J, you're basically a player with a reaper's responsibilities in a body way too woozy from this frequent gain and loss of power you've experienced the past few weeks. That's gotta suck."

"So, he does or doesn't have to hunt for players?"

"What?" Joshua was struggling to understand. He finally got a good look at Sho. What he had him thought were just strange decorations on his black combat boots Joshua now realized were patches of static starting at Sho's toes. "You too…" He muttered.

"What, looking at my pretty zetta fuzzies?" Mr. H snorted into his cup from the ridiculousness of the statement, but Joshua continued to stare at Sho waiting for him to respond to the younger boy's confusion. "Yeah, you missed a lot, J. S'pose it was hard to hear over all of that music or whatever. So, guess what? No one told us that in order to be reapers you've got quotas. Players you gotta erase. Otherwise zetta fuzzies spread all over us and we get erased instead."

Joshua found himself staring at Mr. H again. He wasn't too happy with his friend today. "Strange. You failed to mention that when you were telling us all the perks of being a reaper."

"I don't pretend to know everything, Josh." Mr. H said with a shrug. "I do have to warn you 'bout something though."

Joshua crossed his arms. He was feeling quite done with revelations.

"They're looking for you. I can't say much, but any second without any warning you could be whisked away to the trial. Just thought you should know."

"What radians?"

"What trial?" The boys said at the same time.

But Mr. H had no intention of answering either question. He began to shuffle them out the door, reminding "well, boys, it's almost closing time. Normally I'd let you stay in and chat but since you're not paying me I gotta be a bit harsh. Besides, I've got a hot date tonight and I need time to get ready. So you boys be on your way. Have fun erasing players and all that."

And with that, the doors of the WildKat Café were shut, and a big fat "sorry, we're closed" post suddenly appeared through the frosted glass windows.

"Well that was surprisingly infuriating. Now what?" Joshua threw his hands up in the air, trying not to let the betrayal escape onto his face.

"Guess we fill some quotas."