Joshua stood on the doorstep of Sho's house on Cat Street. He was grateful for the large kanji "Minamimoto" that decorated the mailbox, for without it he probably never would've figured out which of the small squished houses was correct.
He was aware that Sho may no longer be here, as Joshua didn't exactly run all the way to Cat Street. Still, it was worth a shot. With this thought in mind, he pushed open the peeling white door.
The house was small, to say the least. In the narrow room was somehow squished a kitchen area; a table and chairs now folded up against the wall; a couple of tall, slender cabinets; a toilet behind a screen; a staircase; a television the size of Joshua's head; a beat-up couch; and a mildly obese, balding, middle-aged man passed out drunk on the floor.
At the top of the staircase was a very small landing that led to two rooms about half the size of the one downstairs. The right-hand room held a doodling child.
"What have you got there, Jun?"
Sho's little brother seemed to have no qualms about the white-haired boy suddenly appearing over his shoulder. He smiled at him. He gestured to his drawing, which seemed to consist of an Abraham Lincoln-esque figure riding a monster truck. "This is Sho at work."
"What does he do?" Joshua was genuinely curious what story could inspire such a picture.
"He's a garbageman. He says he'll make sure Minamimoto can't throw us out in the trash again. He's so cool!"
"Yes, he is really cool, isn't he?" A thought suddenly entered Joshua's head. He couldn't tell if he was jealous of Sho for having a family member that loved him so much or just bitter from being abandoned earlier that day, but Joshua no longer wanted to just grill Sho for information. Besides, he'd left his brother alone. Sho should have been more responsible.
"So, that's what he told you… How interesting." Joshua kept his tone light and innocent.
Jun nodded, looking slightly perplexed. "What's interesting?"
"Well, Jun, I'm just shocked that he would lie to you about what he really does."
"Oh no, Sho would never lie to me".
Joshua let the smirk escape his face. "Of course he would. He clearly doesn't trust you with the truth. After all, you are only a child."
"I'm six years old, I'm not a kid. Stop it."
"Stop what?" Joshua paused lengthily between the words, drawing them out just to get a reaction from the younger boy. "I'm sorry. I probably shouldn't have told you, Sho probably didn't want you to know."
The boy sniffled. "Why wouldn't he want me to know? He never kept secrets from me. Why would he do this? Tell me… Please."
"Oh, Jun, I couldn't. You're clearly not supposed to know about it. You want me to go against your brother's wishes?"
Jun nodded after a pause, and Joshua wasn't sure what to do. To be perfectly honest, he'd only intended to stir up some trouble and make Sho look bad. He had planned to slip out after merely upsetting the boy and let Sho deal with the aftereffects. But now there was an opportunity here to further his revenge even more. The living were not supposed to know about the Reaper's Game, but Joshua himself was an exception to that rule. So, why not?
"Are you absolutely certain?"
Jun appeared to be thinking hard, and then nodded fiercely again. His faces were so adorable it was making the entire situation even more gratifying.
He smiled softly at him. "All right then. Well, Jun, do you know what happens when we die?"
The child smiled back. He knew this one! "They go up to heaven with Mommy and Daddy and the Angels."
"That's right. How smart you are! But not everyone finds their way up there-especially not kids." He bopped the boy on the nose as he spoke the last word.
"Why not?" Jun said with a giggle.
"Because kids' imaginations are so big they aren't always paying attention, so they get lost on the way."
The little boy looked horrified now. "What happens to them?"
"They play a game, the Reaper' s Game. If they win, then they don't even go to heaven until later because they are allowed to come back to life."
"Wow! So, what does Sho do?"
Joshua tried to keep his face as calm as possible, but that darn smirk kept on coming out, so he tried playing with his hair to distract himself. "He is one of the Reapers that the game is named after. His job is to stop as many of the kids from coming back to life as possible. He destroys them so that they no longer exist."
"And then…" Jun shifted his feet uneasily, "they get to go to heaven?"
The older boy shook his head. "They don't go anywhere. They don't exist. Gone. Poof. Zero." He added the last word wondering if the family history would make the boy more receptive to math references. It seemed that word wasn't necessary though, because he already seemed to be about ready to have a conniption.
It's possible Jun may have argued with Joshua over the truth about his brother, but they did not get that chance. For, ironically, Sho appeared from the UG in the doorway.
He didn't even seem to notice something was amiss, tossing a bag of fast food onto the bed and looking excited to see the two spending time together.
That excitement quickly faded when Jun recoiled from Sho's touch.
"Jun? Hey, wha's wrong? It's me." He reached towards his brother's head, most likely seeking to ruffle his hair or something of that sort, but Jun ducked behind Joshua for protection. Needless to say, Joshua found the entire situation hilarious and tried to stifle his giggles.
Sho glanced from one boy to the other. "What in the name of Pythagoras is goin' on here?"
Apparently Jun had no intention of answering, however, for he simply bore his face deeper into Joshua's upper back. Joshua held up his hands in a mock shrug as Sho continued to stare at them dumbfounded. He clearly did not suspect anything was Joshua's doing. A few more moments passed of a concerned older brother continuously reaching out towards his shaking younger brother, and the middle child began to lose patience.
He turned back towards Jun and gently removed the hands covering his eyes. "Jun," he whispered softly, "you need to be a big boy and let someone know why you are upset with them." Jun nodded through teary eyes. Joshua never realized he was this good at manipulating children.
"You… You're scary. You take those poor kids trying to come back to life and you make them go poof." He gestured emphatically with his hands.
Realization dawned on Sho's hurt face as he glared at the only person in the room who could have told his brother this.
Joshua quickly weighed his options. He could try to explain himself, but he'd meant to leave long ago, and there really was no respectable way out this. And with that look on Sho's face… Joshua slipped into the UG and raced down the stairs, but someone pushed him the rest of the way.