The lost composer of London

Epilogue

Neku and Joshua fell through the void for a while. Neither particularly cared to say a word to the other. Neku was beginning to nod off when light opened up under them and the Shibuya streets suddenly rushed up on their feet. Neku landed on his rear with a jolt; Joshua floated down gently, chuckling.

"Welcome home dear." Joshua extended his hand, and Neku took it. The two stood in the populated crosswalk just outside the 109 department store. No one seemed to notice the two boys fall out of the sky, but Neku thought that was likely a part of Joshua's design. It was all one part of his scheme or another. He didn't even care.

"Ugh," Neku groaned, shrugging an invisible weight off his shoulders. "I missed this place. I think I'm going to fall asleep in an alley before I even get home..."

"Heh, I'll call you a cab." Joshua plucked at his phone, frowned, and swiped through a few pages. "Hmm."

"What?"

"The portal extension. It's gone. Must have been removed when we were in the return portal..."

Neku grinned and punched Joshua in the shoulder. "Good, you have enough toys to play with as it is. Now how about you call me a real taxi or something? You have Reaper taxi drivers or something right? You have them doing all kinds of random crap."

Joshua looked at his phone another moment, sternly resolute on finding some trace of the extension, then chuckled and dialed a number. "I get a lot of new hires, gotta give them some kind of job. If all of them were off erasing Players nobody would make it through the first day." The line connected, and Joshua muttered a few things to the person on the other end. In a matter of minutes a compact car painted entirely black pulled over beside them. An unfamiliar face peered out the drivers-side window.

"Mr. Kiryu. Mr. Sakuraba." The driver gave a curt nod to them both. "Need a lift back to headquarters, sirs?" The man got out of the car, Reaper wings fluttering to his heartbeat, and opened the back door for the two.

"Neku's place, please. And Ed, for the fiftieth time, it's Joshua."

"Whatever you like, Mr. Kiryu." They sat down and were off down the road, weaving through traffic like a snake through grass. Traffic moved irrespective of them, as always no one could see the Reaper's vehicle.

Neku shifted in his seat, struggling to reach into his pocket. "Before I forget..." He pulled out the bag of Pins. "Here are these back."

Joshua stared at the bag oddly, like he was being offered a bushel of radishes, and pushed them back to Neku. "Keep 'em. Consider it my thanks for helping me with that. Also the bag is deep so you can keep that gun in there so your parents don't find it and freak out."

"Dude," Neku pressed. "I don't need these things. I'm just a kid now. High school, mall walks, video games. None of this..." He shook the bag, agitating the Pins inside and making them buzz like bees. "This. I only hang onto my normal Pins in case I get mugged or something. This is enough to fight Superman."

Joshua shrugged and took the bag. "Alright, but if you get mugged by Superman, these'll be waiting for you." The two laughed, easing into the leather seats and releasing the tension of the last few days at a light drizzle. Neku dozed a bit until they pulled up to an isolated neighborhood and the driver, as instructed, parked just outside the five block stretch he actually lived on. Reapers were not allowed to know Neku's full address. Only Joshua was privy to that information.

"Give Shiki my best," Joshua said as Neku stepped onto the sidewalk. "Ask her if we're still on for shopping this weekend!"

"You two are such girls," Neku snickered as he walked away.