TWEWYtober 2020 Prompts!

Day 15 - Shop

author's note: 
I really like using the prompt for the setting, and building the story away from the prompt.



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Joshua walked into the WildKat Cafe. He looked visibly tired. He took a seat down at the booth, and ordered a coffee from the shop. 

Some time later, Hanekoma came out with the coffee, handing it to Joshua. 

"Thanks, Sanae," Joshua said, sighing.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Hanekoma noticed Joshua's fatigue. 

Joshua leaned his arm on the table, looking tired. However, he didn't say anything, as he didn't want to show any weakness. Hanekoma began wiping down the counters.

"Come on, Mr. Composer," Hanekoma said, not looking at him, "You can trust me with it. The Producer and the Composer have gotta have trust between them." 

Joshua took a sip of his coffee.

"...Alright, Sanae," Joshua said, "I'll humor you. It's just... being the Composer is hard work, you know?" 

"I'd imagine so," Hanekoma said sympathetically, "You've got to maintain the Reaper's Game, and the entire UG... That's got to be hard work."

"Yeah, it is..." Joshua said, but Joshua knew that that wasn't the only thing that was bothering him. Hanekoma could tell as well.

"Anything else the matter, Josh?" Hanekoma asked.

"Can't get anything past you, huh, Sanae," Joshua chuckled, "Yeah, there's something else wrong..."

"Mind telling me?" Hanekoma asked.

"Sure... It's just... while I'm stuck maintaining the Reaper's Game, Neku and his friends are busy having fun in the RG," Joshua said, "I kinda want to join them, you know? Take a break from this work and go hang out with them, just once. I often find myself getting distracted by watching them, instead of doing my duties." 

"You must have grown close to Neku over the time you spent together in the UG," Hanekoma guessed.

"Yeah, despite my goal which was using him as a puppet, and despite me lying to him, he quickly became..." Joshua started, ".....became my best friend, if we're being honest."

"Yeah, it must be hard to not be able to talk to him ever again," Hanekoma said, "But... hey, I could deliver him a message for you, since you can't speak to him yourself,"

"Good idea," Joshua said, "Can you tell him...."

END