ceiling_cat | [01 | voice, Japanese]

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[01 | voice, Japanese]

...Well, now, that's funny.

I could've sworn I was back in Shibuya for a couple seconds there. Guess my mind was playin' tricks on me. That lovely lakeshore sure isn't anything I'd expect in Tokyo.

Sure isn't anything I'd expect in my apartment, either, and I recognize this little note they left me.

Hey there, Discedo.

Lemme guess - it's been a while?

I'd appreciate somebody fillin' me in while I make my way back to less soggy ground. Just how long has it been? Seems a bit colder than the last time I was here.

By the way, if anyone listenin' to this thing has a hand on the controls of whatever you use to drag us here, leave me a bit longer next time, won't ya? I could've grabbed a bag of beans.

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[Neku stood a few feet from the door to the apartment, staring at it. Wasn't like he'd thought this was going to go well... actually, he hadn't really thought at all. It just happened. What was he supposed to do, ignore he fact that his idol just happened to have attempted murder in the past year? ...Sort of, anyway.]

[He waited, fiddling with his headphones, sliding them on and then off again absently and wondering what Mr. H was going to do, now that he knew.]

[...And where the hell was Joshua, anyway?]

[Stowing his communicator in his pocket, Hanekoma broke into a jog for the last few blocks. Midafternoon meant the monsters weren't as bad; nothing showed enough interest to slow him down. Just as well. He wasn't in the mood for delays.]

[So had Joshua spilled all those beans out of spite, or was there something else going on? He spared a mental curse for the chip and took the stairs two at a time. Knocked on the door.]

Hey, Phones. Mind if I come in?

[He didn't wait for an answer, pushing the door open and toeing off his sandals inside.]

Uh...

[...Well, no need to answer that question. Nevermind. Neku leaned against the wall and watched Hanekoma warily.]

Josh stepped out. Said he'd be back in ten years.

[He could've said something about not telling Mr. Hanekoma if he was so worried. Whatever. Nothing Neku could do about that now.]

Guess he's wising up.

[Hanekoma turned a cool look on the kid. Lean or no lean, Neku looked tense.]

Sounds like he told you quite a lot, Phones. Why don't you pick up where you left off?

[Neku stood his ground despite the look, still leaning against the wall.]

You helped make the Taboo Noise, you tried to get the Grim Heaper to kill him, and you're an Angel. That's all he told me.

Edited 2009-12-29 09:44 (UTC)

Mmhm. And?

[He swept a glance around the room. Almost the same as the last time he'd seen it. Joshua was conspicuously absent. He wasn't going to take ten years to show up, though. Hanekoma would drag him out of his rathole by the collar if he tried.]

[Gaze sweeping back over Neku and away, Hanekoma crossed to the couch. Sat down, ankles crossed, arms akimbo. It wasn't Phones's fault, after all. And if it became an issue back in Shibuya... well, erasing a few memories wasn't hard.]

Tell me why you're telling me this.

...Why'd you do it?

Let's just say that I've known Josh a long time, but if it comes to him or Shibuya, I'm puttin' my thumb on the scales for the district.

[He leaned back, watching Neku through half-slitted eyes. How strange not to know what the response would be. He had a few educated guesses, and yet....]

[Made it more exciting.]

.............

[That's what Neku had thought, yet he still hadn't no idea how to respond. If it came to Josh and Shibuya... okay, no, he hadn't been able to put Shibuya before Josh. But that was only because--and shouldn't--ugh. That was the worst part of Mr. H's statement: he couldn't argue with it. Someone had to look out for Shibuya's interests. Someone besides Joshua, whose whims seemed pretty volatile at the best of times. But... still. Yeah. Still.]

[Neku stayed silent, just staring.]

[Hanekoma watched the emotion flicker on Neku's face for a long moment. Then he smiled.]

Sound too cold for you?

[Neku hadn't been able to fire, after all, despite all of Joshua's provocation. And it didn't look like he knew how to come to terms with the idea that Hanekoma'd pulled a metaphorical trigger.]

[Neku swallowed, looking away. ...Yeah. Yeah, it was. And it was stupid, but he couldn't have done it. Not even to save Shibuya. After all, he couldn't shoot Joshua (who was an asshole at the best of times) to save Shibuya. It seemed... wrong, somehow, but did Neku regret it? ...He didn't even know. It was probably stupid, yeah, but in the end it didn't matter. He couldn't pull the trigger. He probably couldn't now, either. Hell if he knew why. Maybe it didn't matter.]

...I don't think what you did was wrong. [He paused. Swallowed again. Still didn't meet Mr. H's eye.] ...But I don't know if it was right, either. Josh... doesn't seem to mind. [And he didn't understand that, but whatever.] I think I do. More than he does.

Oh, it wasn't right. I broke a few important rules.

[Not what Neku had meant, of course. He kept watching the boy. A bit of prodding might reignite that anger he'd felt earlier; or it might just put him lower.]

There a reason why you mind so much, Phones?

Yeah, probably. Hell if I know what it is.

[He dropped his voice to a mutter, realizing Mr. H probably didn't have a clue what had happened while he'd been gone. Hell, it had been weeks, and it was still pretty damn surreal to Neku.]

You missed a lot, okay?

Oh?

[Eyebrows soared. "A lot," huh. Maybe it hadn't been just the bits about Angels and Taboo Noise that Joshua had been telling the kid. A moment of very thoughtful silence indeed, and the corners of his mouth curled up with amusement.]

Isn't that interestin'.

[He uncrossed his ankles, getting more comfortable. He wasn't going to be getting anything useful out of Joshua, which meant he'd have to tread lightly here. A little honesty couldn't hurt.]

...You know, Neku, arranging for the best Composer comes with my job. I've never done it that way before, but I've also never known a Composer strong and stubborn enough to take the whole district with him when he stagnated in the position.

Setting Minamimoto up to go after Joshua.... It was a long shot, but I thought it was the only chance for Shibuya to stay in one piece.

Not my best call.

["Not my best call." Why'd he do it, then if he thought that? Still...] ...I guess there was nothing else you could do. Joshua changing his mind probably wasn't something you predicted, huh?

[Not that that made any more sense to Neku than it had a few weeks ago. He was trying to wrap his mind around it, when he wasn't avoiding thinking about it altogether.]

[Hanekoma ran a hand ruefully through his hair, ruffling it even more towards the vertical.]

It wasn't. That's where I screwed up, Phones; I didn't expect Josh to change.

[He waved a hand at the other end of the couch.] Quit lurkin' over there, you're going to give me a cramp in the neck.

[Neku pushed off the wall and sat at the other end, straightening his headphones absently.] ...Did he change?

Edited 2009-12-29 11:19 (UTC)

[Well, of course Josh wouldn't have talked to the kid about that.]

If he hadn't changed, you wouldn't be sitting there.

.........

Guess not.

[He leaned back, crossing his arms, and considered asking what had really been bothering him for a while.]

...Do you think it's going to happen again?

[Hanekoma glanced away, face going thoughtfully blank. Good question, that. One he'd been trying to address.]

[If he were putting money down on it, though, he'd know which side to bet on. Especially given whatever it was that had been going on in the last three months. Looking back at Neku, he smiled.]

Ya know, Neku, the district reflects the Composer. Shibuya was goin' downhill a month ago back home - stagnating, bad enough that Josh thought destroying it would be better than letting it fall apart.

After the Game, it was the best possible Shibuya that could be.

Can't say if it'll happen again. But the odds are pretty low.

[And he would be alert to it if things threatened to deteriorate again.]

............

[Muttering.] If you say so. [It was still hard to believe that Joshua could have changed that much. Especially because of...]

Josh didn't seem as confident. It came up a while back. He didn't seem convinced that anything had changed.

Might be harder to spot it from the inside.

[Joshua had said that? The trade secrets were sounding less and less important by comparison. Who would've thought?]

[Well, he'd had a hunch, but he hadn't had faith in it.]

...I guess.

[If it happened again, would he know? Could he stop it? Probably not, and that was the scary part. And if Mr. H had to stop it, Joshua would probably end up dead.]

Long as things keep going the way they are, it won't happen again, Neku.

[It better not. He might not shoot Joshua, but he could punch him. In the face. Repeatedly, if necessary.]

...You have a place to stay?

[01 | voice, Japanese]

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