"What's with all of these Reaper's Games? They're not that far out from one another," I said, crossing my arms as I sat on one of the stools at WildKat. Mr. Hanekoma rubbed the back of his neck and made a shrugging gesture. Joshua, on the other hand, busied himself with his orange flip phone, clicking buttons on it.

"To be honest, I'm not entirely sure why we're having so many. Josh?" Mr. Hanekoma asked, seeming to be as clueless as I was. Usually there was at least a few weeks between Games, but there was only about a week between the two happening recently. Joshua peeked up from his phone before shutting it, absentmindedly tapping it on his chin.

"Hm. Let's see... I don't know. Boredom, I would assume. Although, dear?" Joshua said, turning towards me. I snapped my head up from the empty drink laid out in front of me on the counter. "I overheard that you got some books from the Higher Plane."

I took one glance at Mr. Hanekoma who looked at Joshua with an eyebrow raised, crossing his arms as he looked at the ash-blond boy, who merely shrugged.

"I did. Were you spying on us or something?"

"Spying? Dear, I have my ways." I sighed, knowing that Joshua wasn't going to tell me how he knew.

"Listen, Joshua, those books were written by my mother, who apparently knew a lot about Noise and sigils, and dedicated whole books about them. I was letting Mr. Hanekoma look over them to see if he could find anything on sigils Nikolai might be using to jack Shibuya." With the sigils appearing around Shibuya, my worries only grew. I had yet to read through all of the books

"Jack Shibuya? Puh-lease," Joshua scoffed, "Nikolai would have a better chance at going for Shinjuku." Joshua looked off to the side and giggled, most likely thinking about something having to do with Nikolai and Shinjuku. Concerned, I reached over and tapped Joshua's shoulder, snapping him out of his daydream. He continued as if it never happened, and I didn't want to know exactly where Joshua's train of thought had led him. The thought sent shivers down my spine.

"Well, how did Neku do this week?" I asked, changing the topic to avoid another awkward moment with Joshua and his unusual daydreams. His actual dreams were probably just as weird.

"Oh he did quite amazing seeing how he's new at it. Honestly, I couldn't have chosen a better candidate for the job. Of course, Megumi will always be my favorite, no matter what. Neku though, he's adjusting still. Pressuring me to bring back all remaining players to life. Oh how I wish he knew how tiring it is. I'm still exhausted from last Game... (Y/n)," Joshua whined, pocketing his phone. He leaned over from the stool he was sitting on and rested his head in my lap, using the stool he was sitting on to balance himself as his legs hung off the other side of it. My face heated up as my body froze, unsure of what to do. Embarrassed by Joshua's actions, I sat there agape, looking down at Joshua, whose violet eyes were studying my reaction.

"W-What are you doing?" I asked. Mr. Hanekoma just smiled and grabbed the cup sitting on the counter and disappeared off to the kitchen most likely.

"Laying here. What does it look like to you, dear?" Joshua asked. He brought a familiar phone up to his face as it buzzed, signaling that a message had been sent to it. I instantly reached out and Joshua held it away from me as far as he could. "No. It's mine now."

"It never was! Give it back!"

"I want you to sing for me." I stopped trying to reach for it and instead flicked Joshua's forehead, causing him to reach for it with his other hand as he rubbed his forehead. "What...? That hurt me dear."

"I hope it did. I'm not singing. I can't even sing," I said.

"I bet you have the voice of an angel."

"Oh really? I think it sounds more like a seal dying mixed with a hyena's laughter while a whale is making noises in the background."

"How descriptive of you. But I want to hear you sing. You don't even have to sing a whole song. Please~ Pretty pretty please with a cherry on top? You already know that I'm not giving you back your phone until you do." Joshua looked up at me with a begging expression on his features and I looked at him for a minute, glancing back at my phone, and then back at him, before sighing, giving into his begging and puppy dog eyes.

"F-Fine! But I warned you." I cleared my throat and took a deep breath, singing the first words that popped into my head.

"When the light fades from your eyes...

When all hope seems lost and gone...

Just remember that I'll always be right at your side,

Despite the words that many others will throw.

I want to be the reason you are true to yourself...

As I watch you wear a mask made of stone...

I want to see who you truly are inside.

To watch you smile freely with joy."

Joshua stopped and stared up at me with an unreadable expression in his eyes. The arm holding my phone relaxed for a minute, to which I snatched it from his hand.

"Yeah yeah, I know, I can't sing. Honestly, your silence speaks a lot," I said, holding my phone up to my face to try and read the message someone sent to distract myself from the embarrassment of singing in front of Joshua.

"... You have to remind me to ask you to sing again. Dear, I couldn't have heard better. You truly do have the voice of an angel," Joshua said. My face grew red out of embarrassment from hearing that compliment and I couldn't help but hear the slight irony of him saying my voice sounds like an angel.

"T-Thank you..."

"That's just adorable, hearing you stutter over such an innocent compliment such as that, but you didn't have to take my phone over it," Joshua said.

"It's my phone, not yours. When did you even get this?" I said, wanting the subject to change more than anyone. Joshua shrugged and adjusted himself, stretching as far as he could as he lifted his arms far above his head, letting out a small yawn. This caused me to yawn as well, like the domino effect. I stared at the message on my phone, my (e/c) eyes scanning over the message Shiki had sent. Before I could read it fully, my phone rang from Shiki calling me. I answered and held my phone up to my ear. She sounded like she was out of breath and running.

"(Y-Y/n)?! Where are you? Neku, Beat, Rhyme, and we need to find Joshua, and fast. Neku's phone isn't working!" Shiki's panicked voice rang out from the speaker of my phone and I had to hold it away from my ear from her voice. Joshua looked up at it curiously from my lap, as he reached up and took my phone from my hand.

"Hello? Is there something you needed? I didn't know you missed me that much already Neku. It's only been about a day since I last saw you," Joshua said.

"Dammit Joshua! Now isn't the time for this! You're at WildKat, right?" Neku asked, trying to contain his annoyance over the phone.

"Perhaps-" I cut off Joshua to spare Neku Joshua's response.

"We are. I assume you'll be here in a minute to explain what's going-" The door to WildKat slammed open and in the doorway was four teenagers, all out of breath and panting. I took my phone back from Joshua and ended the call.

Neku took in a deep breath before looking directly at Joshua. All of the commotion brought Mr. Hanekoma out from wherever he disappeared off to in the first place.

"What's with the noise? 'Phones? What brings you here like you just ran a marathon?" Mr. Hanekoma asked. Neku held up his finger before speaking.

"There's... There's a huge problem... There was some guy with black and white angel wings that attacked us all, forcing us into the UG. He mentioned something to me about needing to find you, Joshua, and how you and him have unfinished business. I think he knows that I'm your Conductor and was going to Erase me, but then Shiki, Beat, and Rhyme got in the middle as the guy tried to fight me. We barely got away."

My eyes widened as I glanced at Mr. Hanekoma who was in as much shock as I was. Joshua's mouth was pressed firmly into a thin line. Neku looked at each of us, studying how we reacted to this.

"He attacked you Neku?" I said, not wanting to believe what I was hearing. The thought of Nikolai coming and trying to Erase Neku to get to Joshua made me sick inside.

"You know him?" Neku asked.

"Not in a good way."

"Just who is he?!"

"Neku, he's a very dangerous person who you should try to avoid at all costs. It's possible that he may even be stronger than Josh," Mr. Hanekoma added, causing Neku's eyes to widen.

"Stronger than Joshua? But he's the Composer for crying out loud! The guy had angel wings! What the hell is that supposed to mean?! That we're fighting against Angels now?!"

"That's precisely what's going on. Although it's just him and his Reapers to be specific. The one you ran into just so happens to be interested in me and (Y/n). Were you followed?" Joshua asked. Rhyme shook her head.

"No, two Reapers came and helped us. They told Neku to find the Composer as fast as he could," she explained.

"Yo! It was Lollipop and Pinky!" Beat said.

"Kariya and Yashiro? I doubt they would stand a chance against him. I barely could stop him the last time I tried. This makes three, right?" Joshua asked, looking at me.

"That doesn't matter. What matters is finding him before he does Erase those two," I said. Even though Kariya may annoy me, throwing questions at me, that doesn't mean that he had to get dragged into my mess and get Erased over it. His partner doesn't deserve it either. "Where did you last see him?"

"Wait, just who is 'he'?" Shiki asked. "I'm still a little lost."

"That guy, as you know, is an Angel set on Erasing Joshua and Mr. Hanekoma, to try and get to me. His name is Nikolai," I said. Neku crossed his arms as I turned away towards Joshua who had pulled out his phone, typing furiously away on it. I twirled a strand of his hair with my finger, and I didn't have to look to know that Neku's eyes were narrowed and looking straight at me.

"To try and get to you? That would effect you because you're really close to Joshua right?" Shiki asked. I nodded, not wanting to think about Joshua getting Erased. The thought of it made me sad and angry at myself for thinking about it.

"But why is he looking for you? Doesn't that put us all in danger?" Neku asked. I looked down and noticed Joshua's grip on his phone tighten. I bit my lip and Mr. Hanekoma ran a hand through his hair, unsure of how to respond. Neku did have a point. I was putting them all in danger by staying here. Joshua looked up at me and I frowned slightly.

"She's here because I'm keeping her here. What other reason would she be here? She's safer here and Nikolai doesn't stand a chance against all of us. Besides, she doesn't need a reason to stay here. Nikolai wants her, and I decided I wasn't doing to allow that. I'm not going to let her be taken by him and have her be used against everyone. I never would've thought I'd hear something like that from you. I have a reason behind everything I do. Shibuya is safer with the proper adjustments made, and Nikolai just made it easier to find him," Joshua said and sat up before he finally stood up, still holding his phone in his hand as he looked at Neku. Joshua wasn't smirking, frowning, smiling, or anything. His face was void of emotion with the exception of his eyes which were swirling with different emotions. "But I must say, I am quite tired from the most recent Game. Where did you last see Kariya and Yashiro?"

Neku was almost speechless at Joshua who talked with no tone of teasing or anything, and it was Rhyme who answered Joshua.

"Here, I'll show you."