"Those boys sure are special, aren't they?"

I nodded my head for a simplistic response as I looked at Shiki, who had continued to watch the two boys bicker back and forth. Neku and Joshua returned from wherever they had decided to go, since Neku insisted on speaking the the ash-blond in private, which translated to: Follow me around this building and talk or else. This, however, only seemed to ignite Joshua's antics, as he sat between Neku and I, leaning against the orangette as he attempted to make Neku as uncomfortable as humanly possible.

"Well, at least I have a girlfriend." Joshua's arm slipped around my waist as he pulled my closer to his body. He smirked at Neku as I blushed, trying to push away the feeling in my chest that was rising with each second.

"Uh huh. We aren't dating! How many times do I have to say that for it to process in that thick skull of yours?!" I said. Oddly enough, I didn't try to pull away from him and rested my elbows on the table as I held my head in my hands. Shiki decided that we should all go to a fast-food restaurant nearby, where we sat outside at one of their picnic tables, which was round. My glove slipped slightly, and my wrist could be seen as well as just a glimpse of the sigil crawling underneath. I caught this and pulled my head away from my hands as I readjusted my gloves to cover my right hand. Neku noticed this and looked at right hand.

"Is there something wrong with your wrist?" Neku asked. I shook my head, silently cursing myself for slipping up like that.

"No. I was just readjusting my gloves. Is there a problem with that?" I asked.

"No, but-" Neku was cut off by Shiki squealing in delight as she grabbed one of my hands, examining the glove.

"No way! Is this...?"

"Yep!" I said, laughing lightly at her energy and enthusiasm for fashion. "They're one of a kind. You've got to keep up with the current trends right?" She nodded and engaged in a conversation with me about the threads going on in Shibuya and what our favorite style was. It was a relief to stop talking with Neku about my hand and it was joyous to be able to have a conversation for once, about something carefree and random, as if nothing horrible was going on in the world around us.

Joshua's phone rang and we all turned towards him as he excused himself, standing up as he pulled out his phone. He walked a good distance away before answering the phone, making sure we were all out of earshot. I missed the warmth radiating off of his body when he had pulled away.

"Who called him? Mr. Hanekoma?" Neku questioned. I shrugged.

"How should any of us know? It's not like I was looking at the caller-ID. For all we know it could be an alien on Mars," I said, pulling out my own phone to check the time. 7:53 P.M. Joshua and I started to talk to Shiki and Neku around six, and all of us would be heading back home soon.

I pocketed my phone and thought back to the Reaper I had encountered before. Koki Kariya. I was most likely to see him again in the nearby future, and I would need to be prepared for whatever he might throw at me. Even if I tried to avoid him, he'd find me, or 'conveniently' be where I am. Joshua walked back up to us, a serious expression on his face, that I couldn't tell if he was faking or not.

"(Y/n). We have to go," he said, then turned towards Neku and Shiki, smirking when his eyes landed on Neku. "It was so lovely to see you again Neku. Don't cry over me too much when I leave." Joshua winked at Neku who slammed his head on the table, and waved towards Shiki and I stood up, bidding my goodbyes to the two of them as I walked off with Joshua, whose stride was quicker than usual.

"Joshua, what's going on?" I asked.

"You'll find out."

Joshua refused to answer any other questions regarding the phone call he received from who I assumed was Mr. Hanekoma. I couldn't list what would be so important as to have Joshua quickly run off like this, dragging me through Shibuya as he brought us onto Cat Street, and all the way at the end was our destination: Wildkat.

He brought us inside where Mr. Hanekoma was, waiting for out arrival.

"Glad to see you both," Mr. Hanekoma said, before turning towards me. "Josh most likely didn't tell you this, but we found the Rouge Reaper. The one with the sigil covering his body you know. Anyways, Koki Kariya managed to get him to spill the beans on what he was doing and who he was working for. I applaud that kid for his efforts even if they were for his partner, who was nagging him to death about it."

"But who he's working for shouldn't be possible," Joshua added, crossing his arms as he sat down at one of the stools at the counter. I sat down next to him.

"I'm glad that we found the sigil-covered Reaper, but what do you mean? Who's he working for?" I asked, afraid of the true answer. Mr. Hanekoma no longer had a smile on his face as he looked me straight in the eye.

"Nikolai. The Rouge told us that he was never Erased and barely avoided the Archangels when escaping from the Higher Plane."

My eyes widened as I stood up abruptly, the stool screeching as it slid across the floor. My breath got caught in my throat as I struggled to find the words to speak. Images of the journal, or rather, the diary Nikolai had and the imagination-reversal sigil swarmed and consumed all of my thoughts as I knew at that moment, where I had seen the symbols before. The ones that made up the sigil.

"I-I know where I've seen the symbols before," I whispered, not registering the fact that this seemed slightly irrelevant to what the two males were discussing about Nikolai beforehand. I never told Mr. Hanekoma or anyone about the symbols on the sigil looking familiar. "The symbols on the sigil looked familiar but I couldn't put my finger on it. They were the same symbols that were on this diary that Nikolai had at his house back in the Higher Plane. He recorded all sorts of information in it. Some of which dated back to when my parents were still alive. Weird sigils and incantations were written in it. But there was one which caught my eye, and that was this one talking about how to transfer someone's power, and I assumed he was talking about me since one entry in the diary was talking about my mother who was 'special'. Nikolai was talking about her being some kind of special person, with extreme power that he wanted for himself. And that the power was passed down to me."

"I wouldn't know. But it's best to not go off alone. Either he or another Reaper could confront you," Mr. Hanekoma said, rubbing the back of his neck. "I should've known that Nikolai wasn't truly gone. He always comes back, no matter what the circumstance. I've never understood him and probably never will."

"And the Angels haven't mentioned him being alive either. The only news that went around was him being erased," I added, remembering some other Angels talking about Nikolai in the Higher Plane, and how he was truly gone. Still, Solaris would've told me the instant they announced that he was gone.

Joshua was silent during that entire time and was deep in thought. Best not to disturb him then. I placed a hand on my head as I steadied my breathing.

"Then this means that Nikolai is responsible for all of the Taboo Noise attacks, correct?" I asked. Mr. Hanekoma nodded.

"That would be correct. But, Shibuya is not the only city being attacked. Cities surrounding Shibuya, such as Chiyoda have also been attacked by Taboo Noise. It's slowly spreading."

"I could contact Solaris and see if she knows anything about what the Archangel's decision is," I offered.

"It wouldn't be necessary. The Archangel's usually stay out of problems in the UG unless the have proof an Angel or a Fallen is responsible. Then they take action." I nodded, remembering that as well.

"The only thing to focus on is Nikolai then, hm," Joshua said, flicking his hair out of his face in an arrogant manner as he smirked. "Simple enough. He won't hold too much of a problem."

"Then would he be stupid enough if we baited him? I mean, he's looking for me, ri-" Joshua cut my sentence short as he covered my mouth with one of his hands.

"Don't speak dear. That's the worst idea that I've heard come out of your mouth out of all the years I've known you. We're not using you as bait. It would be just awful should something happen to you while Nikolai is still lurking around. If you left like that, then who else would I hang out with when I'm feeling bored?" Joshua asked. I smiled, seeing that he added he last part as a coverup for what he was originally intending by his words. I took his hand away from my mouth.

"Aw~ That's sweet of you Joshua. Honestly, I don't know what I would do without you in my life." There was truth in my words as I teased him, wrapping my arms around his torso as I did. I rested my head on his shoulder, as I continued to embrace him. I wasn't too sure of whether I was just needing someone else to comfort me, after hearing the horrible news of Nikolai which caused hate to pass through my mind for a split second before vanishing as soon as Joshua wrapped his arms around me. It was a nice distraction but something in me felt guilty as if I was using him because I was acting like a child. Needing someone to comfort me.

I finally pulled away and found it silly that I was afraid of someone who I knew wasn't with me at the moment. Being scared of someone like that is childish to me, but it made sense. Most aren't afraid of the dark itself, but rather what could be lurking in it. Our minds twist the reality we see into something else that could be seen for the better or worse. And Nikolai is on a whole other level of worse. No one could possibly outdo him for how much terror has been thrust onto others because of his actions, and how many have died at his hand.

"Heh, you seem tired (Y/n)," Joshua said. I yawned as soon as he said that, and before I knew it, Mr. Hanekoma and Joshua had started to yawn as well.

"It's contagious," Mr. Hanekoma said. I nodded in agreement as Joshua rubbed his eye.

"No kidding...," Joshua said.

I let out a soft giggle. "I'm going up. This.... was a lot of information to take in," I said. Mr. Hanekoma nodded and Joshua jumped to his feet, following me as I began to walk up the stairs.

"I want to come too. I'm tired~" Joshua complained. I rolled my eyes as I opened the door to my room once I had reached the top of the stairs and went down the hallway.

"Fine. You were going to come either way so it doesn't matter what I would've said."