But Joshua would not know whether or not Jun Minamimoto would love him or not, because the boys' journey back to Cat Street was interrupted by a beep. Joshua was pleased to discover that his ringtone had been restored to its former glory.

"What do these zetta sons of digits want now?" They each checked their phones, Joshua hiding masking his excitement over the fact he could actually read it now.

"Is it really necessary to go to some silly reaper Reaper meeting?" Joshua crossed his arms.

The moment Joshua finished his sentence, their phones beeped once more. "Yes," was their texted answer.

"That's not creepy at all."

Sho looked disappointed. "Well, we'll just sit in the back and ignore everybody, an' be first to leave so we can go see my brother afterwards."

"Sounds like a plan." Joshua nodded.

Of course, Joshua did not intend for this plan to include tromping a trek through Shibuya's sewers.

He also did not intend to get some sort of sludge on his jeans, once again ruining another outfit in the name of the Reaper' s Game. "The things I do for you all…" Joshua muttered. Sho looked concerned at the out-of-place comment, but Joshua waved it away. "Well, that's interesting."

At the end of the gross, dirty sewer tunnel was a large ornate door. It had a black wood base smothered by white painted metal curlicues and other elegant designs. The center of the door contained an outline of the Player's pin. It was impressive, to be sure, but a bit too much for Joshua's taste.

Sho lifted the wrought iron latch, and the boys caught the tail end of a speech, "… Refining the greatest souls and imaginations of Shibuya before sending them back into the world to improve everything that they touch- that is the goal of the Reaper's Game. And as Reapers, it is our job to guide the most worthy to this equally wonderful point. As your new Conductor, I will do my best to secure this purpose effectively and efficiently. I aim to immediately begin by cleaning up the messes left behind by my predecessor who neglected…"

But 25 pairs of eyes suddenly stopped paying attention to their new supervisor as the two greenhorn Reapers shuffled into the room.

"… Pi-Face… "

"Look who finally shut up…"

"… The Screamer…"

"… Can't be them, they are both so dead quiet…"

" right now…'course they're late…"

"…Hey Pi-Face, what is a "hectopascal" anyway?"

"… Let's give the kid something to scream about later…"

Joshua shuddered as the last sentence hit him like a minivan. Sure, he was used to torment. But these weren't kids, these were ageless Reapers who could actually back up their threats. With those wings, they could scratch him just by turning whipping around. He didn't want to know what their noise forms or their psychs were either.

"Keep your head up, J. Keep your zetta friggen head up." Sho muttered as he led him to the back of the room. Joshua nodded, yet for once lacking a snarky retort.

He needed something else to focus on, and but the reaper who they were now apparently supposed to refer to as "Mr. Kitaniji" was too insipid to hold his attention. Although, he was somewhat entertained when Sho leaned over and whispered in his ear "Mr. Kitaniji? Nah, think I'll just call him Megs." Joshua giggled, and then decided to evaluate the room before him..

At first he watched the fish below the glass. As they entered the room, Joshua had noticed little pockets of the fish scattered throughout the room under the seats of a few Reapers. But when Joshua and Sho walked in, all the fish swarmed under them like insects on decaying flesh. Yuck, where did that morbid analogy come from? Well, anyway, the fish were fun to play with. Joshua amused himself for a few moments by lightly stepping back and forth across the glass floor, watching the fish trace his every move to the sound of Sho's stifled laughter. This earned them a few glares, and particularly from the blonde Reaper from the other day.

Bored of the fish, Joshua chose to observe the ridiculously decorated room instead. It looked as if he had walked into a Gothic dollhouse with a bit of a Japanese touch. Extravagant white furniture dotted the room, all choked by lace. Porcelain dolls served as sentries for the reapers in various spots of the room, many of them geishas. Throughout it all, there was far too much lace. Even the occasional vase of orchids was covered in black lace as it rested on a doily.

Joshua took issue with whoever had designed this room. If he had his way, it would look a bit more… Classy.

"Kiryu. Minamimoto. Glad to see you've decided to join us AND hold your tongues." Joshua returned his attention to the meeting, which was apparently over. In fact, even the chairs were gone, having disappeared with the snap of Kitaniji's fingers. Most of the reapers had vanished as well, with only a few still loitering to chat.

Joshua and Sho found themselves face-to-face with the stern Reaper. "Mitsuki." Sho said.

"That's Ms. Mitsuki to you." The woman replied coldly. "And I did not appreciate the jokes you made while our Conductor was speaking. You will show more respect to your superiors."

"Perhaps I will when I learn who they are and if they are deserving." Joshua replied with equal frigidity.

"Do you know who I am, you inconsiderable chimp?"

Joshua shrugged and began playing with his hair in mock boredom.

"I am your superior. I am Konishi Mitsuki, the officer in charge of all new reapers. And you WILL listen to me."

"Charmed." Joshua replied.

"I predict you will always be this insufferable. Wonderful. Minamimoto, I am glad to see that you have finally decided to stick around and erase a player. As annoying as you two both may be, we could always use some new, highly imaginative reapers to further our Lady Composer's vision."

Sho nodded, but he had also randomly nodded after the word "always" so he was probably only pretending to pay attention.

"And as for you, Kiryu." Mitsuki said, "I trust you will now be fully functional?"

"Of course." Joshua smirked.

Mitsuki smiled, but even the smile was cold and emotionless. Calculating, even. "Excellent. Then, you know the drill. Work on filling your quotas unless we text you otherwise about a specific mission. Understood?"

Joshua responded with a mock salute, which probably wasn't the best idea, as Mitsuki punched him hard in the shoulder. His partner looked as if he were about to start a fight, but Joshua stopped him. After all, they were only new Reapers. What could they do against those who have had years to hone their strength and skills? Deserving of respect or not, the other Reapers such as Mitsuki were at least justified in calling themselves his superiors.

As they watched the blonde Reaper walk out the wrought-iron door, Sho cackled.

"She's as cold as the metal on that door, huh? Might as well call her the Iron Maiden."

Though the boys thought she was out of earshot, the Reaper officer turned back to send them one final glare before she slammed the door behind her. But the other reapers had heard the nickname as well; there was no going back now.

"So, Sho, didn't you want to introduce me to someone?"

Sho's smile grew wider. "Yeah, let's go!"

Honestly, Joshua was not too impressed with the child. He was no older than seven, and that was stretching it. He was cute, Joshua would give him that. But there was nothing… There. Nothing special, nothing interesting, nothing but those big, sparklingly friendly eyes leaping straight out of an anime.

But the worst part was that he was unspeakably happy.

"Josh-ee-wa," Jun called him. "It's so nice to meet my big brother's friend!"

"Yes, it is truly delightful to make the acquaintance of das kinder I've waited approximately eons to ultimately encounter." The confusion in the boy's face was delicious.

Jun flashed an impossibly wide smile at his older brother. "Sho, your friend talks funny."

"Yeah, he's a weird binomial. But I guess I am too."

"Oh, he knows what a binomial is, does he?" Joshua said with a deprecatory smile.

Sho frowned. "Joshua, lay off my little bro."

Joshua ran a hand through his hair. "My apologies. I didn't mean to offend him. Did I offend you, Jun?" The little boy shook his head, the giant beam never leaving his face. "See? No hard feelings. I know we'll be great friends."

Before Sho could reply, Jun's annoying face faded from view, as did the rest of Cat Street.

Hello everyone. I do hope you're enjoying this little trip down memory lane with the Composer. Unfortunately, this is the last installment you might get for a while. I'm going on vacation, and if I'm bored enough and have enough time to do so I'll write, but most likely I won't. I'll try to have the next chapter out next week, but if I don't please don't waste your time checking for a new chapter until after the Fourth of July. Enjoy the nice summer weather, especially if like me you're staying inside and reading fan fiction.

**A note: despite my attempts to edit these chapters, every read-through shows me I apparently cannot speak English properly. If you see a glaring mistake, please let me know. I use a speech program since my neck injury prevents me from typing, and the damn thing always either misses important words like 'a' or 'of' or will repeat words. Thanks! Please enjoy, review, and I hope you will stick around to see what happens next after the Fourth!