Sanctuary

The social symphonies never end,

Even here and even now.

It's expected –

It's all part of the game of life.

Yet, I would never have thought 'I' would be one the players in this silly game.

No, I do not envy you.

I'm disappointed in you.

I really am.

Trust me.

The Original

Today, the meeting point was at Hachiko. It was a point that their group had started to congregate to whenever they wanted to meet up, mostly due to the fact that it was right outside the station and it was an easy landmark to see. The downside to picking this spot was that Neku found that he couldn't stand still in one place for too long, because there was always a group of friends or tourists who wanted to pose in front of the iconic dog-statue and he always seemed to be getting in the way. Oh well, he had gotten used to it by now.

He checked his watch, which he had quite recently gotten from Shiki for his birthday. They were supposed to be here at ten thirty, so he had ten more minutes of waiting to go. Well, make that fifteen minutes because he while he expected Beat to be ten minutes late, since Rhyme was coming too, she would make sure they were no more than five minutes late. He predicted that Shiki would arrive just on time. Joshua wasn't coming – even though it was only four days after the new year, apparently he was already busy with some business related social event that his dad needed him to attend.

Four days after New Year…Yeah, it was already January.

Neku couldn't believe how much time had passed. It was all the way back in April last year when he had met Beat and Rhyme. He encountered Other Joshua, then Shiki and then the real Joshua. Thinking back on it, they really had been through a lot.

It was crazy how things had turned out. Neku would have thought it had all been a dream if not for Shiki being the living proof of all of it. Okay, Joshua and Rhyme could still pull out their Soul Energy if they wanted to, so that was another sign too. Joshua more than Rhyme, because he seemed to find it fit to subtly trip over anyone bad-mouthing him, while Rhyme was a lot more conservative. Beat liked to recount their adventures too – because he thought that they were cool, paying no mind about whatever emotional stress that had been included in those adventures. It was a bit off-putting at first, but Neku found that, it actually felt better to be able to laugh about it all.

"Neku!" Ten thirty exactly. Called it. Shiki walked into view, Mr. Mew swinging along in her arms. She offered Neku a smile when she arrived.

"Hey, Shiki," he greeted back. He stretched out a hand to tap her plush on the top of its head. "How come this little guy's coming along?"

"I've got my cousins staying over at my house since New Year's. They're only five and seven and they've been trying to get their hands on him ever since they've arrived so I couldn't just leave him alone," she said, reacting to Neku's tap by making Mr. Mew wave its hand at Neku in a hello.

"Speaking of your house, when am I going to be going over?" Neku asked, making Shiki stop the cat's waving. "You are going to have to introduce me to your folks eventually."

"Eh!? What? I wouldn't think you'd want to meet them. Wouldn't it be a bother to you or something?" she said, with a slight stutter.

"No, should it be?" he said. "I've seen them when I went to visit you in the hospital, but we were never really introduced. You've said their protective but I find it strange that they haven't demanded to meet me themselves."

"Uhh…well that might be because…I kind of…haven't," she lowered her voice and her head in shame," told them that I'm dating anyone." So that's why. "Erm, you're not going to be mad about that, are you?"

"Nah, it's cool."

Oh yes, he was dating Shiki now. They got together about a month after she remembered him. Their friends would say that even that took long enough, but they had their reasons. But that story would best be left for another time.

He had somewhat got used to dating Shiki. It had been a bit awkward at first – he didn't really know a thing about dating so he let her take the lead. After he lost the mind-set of consciously thinking of it as 'dating', he was much more natural about it. He and Shiki just had to act like they always did, and that was just fine.

"You can take your time with that kind of thing. Just tell them when you're ready."

Shiki looked back up at him, eyes softening. "Thanks Neku."

He smiled back – that was much better.

"Yooooo! It's too early in the morning to be all mushy!" called out none other than Beat as he and Rhyme arrived.

"Shush, Beat! I think it's rather cute."

They got a lot of this from Beat and Rhyme too, which was another reason Neku was fine for he and Shiki to be taking their relationship at their own pace. Joshua? He was worse.

Good thing he's not coming…

"Heehee. Yes, adorable aren't they."

…Nevermind.

The four of them turned to see that Joshua had also joined them, smirking as he usually did.

"Thought you had something on?" said Neku, voice filled with mock-disappointment at Joshua's appearance.

"Skipped it," said Joshua with a light shrug. "Now, where are we off to?"

"Yeah, Phones! Where're we going?"

"You'll see. C'mon, follow me."

xxxxx

"This was here?"

"Woah, Neku this is tight!"

"It's quite striking."

"Amazing!"

The mural stood, taller than all of them, with strokes of black, white, red, yellow, green and blue all coming together to create the piece of art. At the centre of the stretch of graffiti was an image of some sort of cat with white gloved hands.

"Pretty cool, huh?" said Neku, grinning at his friends' reactions. He was glad that he finally had the chance to take them here. The original plan had just been to go with Shiki, but of course that hadn't happened. "Apparently, CAT bought out this wall so that any street graffiti artist can do what they want here. Uncle H changes the topic whenever I ask him, but I've got a feeling he's the one who did the cat in the middle."

"Hmm, he would be the one, wouldn't he?" said Joshua, walking right up to the mural and touching it.

Shiki, Beat and Rhyme had gone up and down the mural, looking at all the different words and pictures that had been put up there, but Joshua didn't bother.

"Have you been here before?" asked Neku. He himself had often come here years ago, during his middle school days. Of course, most of the art he'd seen was gone, covered by the new layers that others had added on, but the one of the cat that interested Joshua seemed to have remained unchanged. Maybe Uncle H touched up on it every now and then.

"No, I haven't come here before," said Joshua.

"Yeah, you wouldn't have," said Neku. "Not really your kind of scene."

"I take offense to that, I can easily appreciate urban art too, Neku." Not that he really sounded offended.

Shiki adjusted her glasses as she tiptoed up to take a closer look at the taller aspects of the mural. "The woru…worulu…"

"The world ends with you," said Rhyme, reading off the words for her. "It's nice how someone has even done graffiti in English."

"Bwaaah! It's hard 'nough to read graffiti in Japanese, yo!" He tilted his head at a particular one in front of him. Neku was pretty sure it said 'peace'.

"It's such a great phrase to put on there, though," said Rhyme, looking at the words brightly. "Kind of gives you energy, because it's up to you how your world turns out."

"That's right!" said Shiki, also looking at the words more excitably. "We can choose how our futures run! We've proved that again and again!"

"…Just like you can choose to leave your holiday work right up 'till the last minute," said Neku.

"Would you please stop killing the mood?" And there's the punch line. "I was saying something really cheerful just now!"

She huffed and pouted, and though he really shouldn't have, he chuckled at her expression anyway.

"You're not really mad, are you?" Neku asked, repeating her words from before.

Her look lasted a few more moments before she started laughing too. "…Nope, but it would be nice if you did stop killing the mood."

"I won't when it counts."

"And when would that be?"

"Well, say I were to one day propose to you…"

Shiki made a strangled sort of squeal and her face exploded into red that was as dark as the graffiti behind her.

"Not that I'm saying I will yet but you know, in that situation I wouldn't."

"Yet!?"

Her words became more unintelligible as Neku laughed at her once again.

"Oh, so Neku's that kind of guy," Rhyme said, deadpanned.

"Yo…he did that on purpose," said Beat, looking just as unimpressed.

"We may just have found ourselves in the midst of a sadist," Joshua whispered conspiratorially.

…

"Oi."

"Yes, Neku dear."

"Don't call me a sadist. That's creepy."

"Heehee."

If anyone was one, it would be you. Joshua's smirk did look a bit more…cruel than usual, for some odd reason.

There was a beep emitting from Beat, and the conversation stopped momentarily as Beat checked his phone. He stared at the screen, before putting it back in his pocket.

"What was it?" Rhyme asked her brother.

"Mum just sent a text telling us to be back by dinner."

"You'll be back by then," said Neku nodding. "We haven't even had lunch yet."

"That's good. Mum can get scary when we're too late," said Beat, making Neku wonder how many times Beat had been scolded by his mother.

"My, my, Beat, I didn't think that you were such a mummy's boy."

There was no malice from Joshua in that statement and his tone was the same as ever.

But…

Rhyme's black sand-scythe materialized instantly and was curved back around Joshua's neck. She was glaring at Joshua intensely.

Joshua raised an eyebrow at her. "You're not usually one to get offended so easily. Is something wrong?"

With no reply, Joshua looked at Beat, whose gaze was just as heated.

"You're not even saying anything. Now really, what is going on?"

He turned his head slightly as he noticed that Shiki had tightened her arms around Mr. Mew, edging closer towards Neku.

"Shiki?"

Finally, his eyes met Neku's.

"Is someone going to inform me about what I'm missing? You know how I hate to be left out of the loop."

"Cut the act. Who do you think you're trying to fool?" said Neku harshly. He grabbed the violet-eyed boy by the collar. "Actually, just answer this: who are you?"

He had a completely bewildered look…which was dropped the second Neku had asked that.

"Heehee. Looks like you've caught me." His smirk, familiar yet at the same time completely alien, spread across his face. "Looks like you're just as sharp as my dear, dear Partner." He flicked Rhyme's scythe, which flew to the ground like it was nothing. "I'll have to commend the others for figuring it out too, I suppose. Mind enlightening me how you did it?"

…

"He may be the biggest bastard to ever exist," said Neku through gritted teeth, "but he would never make that kind of comment towards Beat about his parents. Especially his mother." Joshua would never say anything about anyone's mother, especially after what happened to his own.

"This Joshua's mother is hospitalized? That would explain it."

Neku dropped the imposter. How did he-? No, Neku shouldn't be surprised that this person read his mind, he'd taken Joshua's exact appearance after all.

"If anything, it would be him who has taken my appearance, actually," said the stranger, adjusting his collar. "I've been 'Joshua' in my world long before yours was born."

His 'world'?

"Yes, a parallel world, if you must know. There's one of each of you too. I'm not very well acquainted with your counterparts as the Joshua here seems to be. That's with the exception of yours, Neku. I know him very well." It was just a feeling, but Neku thought that he wouldn't envy his counterpart for knowing this Joshua. "In fact, this was exactly the spot where I met him."

So that's why Neku thought something was a bit off when this guy was looking at the mural. He said he had never been here, but maybe he had…in his own world. Did he still look like Joshua when he was in his own world?

"Oh, not really. I change my form sometimes, though this is my most recent," he said, reading Neku's mind again. "But as a being, I'd be the same entity that correlates with your Joshua. We are both 'Joshua' yet we are not the same."

"Hold up!" Beat yelled, all of a sudden. "You mean there's three of them now!? Let me get this straight…there's Priss, who's human…Other Joshua, who's…from Priss's other half of his Soul and there's this guy who's from…somewhere else?" Beat pulled his beanie over his eyes. "That's messed up, yo!"

"Other Joshua," said this one, eyes sparking with interest. "He seems like an interesting entity. It's rare to find two of one in the same world. I must have a chat with those two."

This thing was dangerous; Neku just knew.

"This 'thing' is a bit harsh," he said. "Call me the Composer. That's another one of my aliases in my world."

"If you have your own world, why are you here?" asked Rhyme abruptly, having called over her black particles to surround her once more. "It doesn't seem like it's the first time you've travelled to another one. It can't have been out of curiosity. Are you running away from something?"

The Composer considered her. "I'm not running away, per se. I'm just biding my time. Very perceptive of you, though. I suspect your counterpart is much the same? I might have to consider that factor when the endgame plays out in a week's time…"

Whatever this 'endgame' was, it didn't seem like it would be pleasant.

"Although apart from being a place to stay for a while, I am curious as to the mechanism of a Soul in this world," the Composer admitted, bringing Shiki into his sight, this time.

Shiki shifted even closer to Neku. "W-what is it?"

"A Soul here seems like something more solid and whole. Souls in my world are a bit more susceptible to scattering into dust. Consider yourselves very fortunate that you don't have to participate in the Games." He smile grew even darker. "It's a wonderful test, though your counterparts have suffered a lot because of it."

It left a bad taste in Neku's mouth, what the Composer had just said. Even if it didn't directly have anything to do with him, to know that someone out there was toying with a version of himself was a very unfavourable thought.

"Alright then," said the Composer. "It was an honour to meet you all but I will need to depart soon. I'll pay your Joshua a visit, before I leave, don't worry." He took out an orange phone from his pocket, flipping it open.

Neku rushed forward, intending to snatch it away. He didn't know what would happen if the Composer met Joshua, but he didn't want to take any chances.

With a click of a button a bright flash emitted from the phone's camera, stunning everyone. Neku felt his eyelids grow heavy and he felt Shiki beside him start to struggle to stand on her feet. Through the vision he had left, he could see Rhyme and Beat start to fall down as well.

"Don't be too hard on yourself. You would never have reached me like that, Neku. At least, not in this world."

xxxxx

Yoshiya smiled as he snuck out of the building, none of the guards trying to stop him. Why would they? To them he just looked like a kid, not the heir to the Kiryu Company. That was partly because he had changed out of his required 'smart' attire to his more casual clothes. He wasn't going to meet the others in a suit, after all. Beat would just start running his mouth and there would be no stopping that at all.

It was nearly eleven thirty now, so considering the meeting time and the actual time that they would need to get there…they must have been there for fifteen to twenty minutes by now. If he called them, they would probably wait for him.

Slipping his hand into his pocket, he was surprised to find it empty. Did I leave it upstairs?

"Looking for this?"

Yoshiya was already used to hearing his Other personality talk to him but that was always in his head. Now this experience was completely new. He was actually hearing his own voice with his own ears. And even more interesting, he was staring at someone who looked like he just stepped out of his mirror. Yoshiya couldn't believe he had not noticed him before, it was like he had appeared out of thin air.

"Well. This is different," said Yoshiya. "I know that I'm well-loved but I didn't think that anyone would actually completely replicate my image. How flattering."

His double didn't seem fazed by his words. Rather, he smiled in the same smug way Yoshiya would if he found something amusing. "You're a bit full of yourself, aren't you? Though I guess it's understandable, if you're granted with the blessing of looking like me."

He tossed Yoshiya's phone to him, and he caught it, watching his look-alike carefully. "Not going to introduce yourself? I'll go first then. I'm Yoshiya Kiryu, and you?"

"Surprise, surprise. I'm Yoshiya Kiryu too, but you can call me Joshua. It's what Father and Mother call me," he said, then backtracked, "No, actually, call me the Composer. I hear you already have another Joshua with you."

'Yes, you do.'

Hmm, so you decide to speak now?

'Yes, well this is a fairly odd situation for us. Be careful Yoshiya, he may look like you but…'

"But seeing as how I'm the original, I'm obviously more powerful," finished the Composer.

'How rude. I don't know about who came first or about power, but he doesn't seem very friendly. That is all I was going to say.'

Friendly or not, don't worry. I have you. We're the more powerful ones, of course.

"Power is measured differently in each world, so I doubt that even if we had a match of wits or strength that we would have an obvious winner."

Each world. Hmm.

'Perhaps he travelled from a parallel world?'

I don't see why not. It'd be possible, wouldn't it?

'Anything is possible.'

"As expected from one - or should I say two? - of my counterparts," said the Composer. "Your deduction was correct."

"That's nice to hear," said Yoshiya, understanding the situation completely. "So…you don't need to bother me with the reasons you're here. Just by looking at you I can tell that it would be a long boring story, and I have some friends to meet, so if you were just here to see what I was like, as I expect you were, I'll be on my way."

"Don't worry about that. I've met your friends. They won't be moving for a while now, so there's no need to rush."

The tone in the Composer's voice made Yoshiya narrow his eyes. "It isn't smart to bother my friends."

'Stay calm, Yoshiya.'

You don't need to tell me that.

"Your other self is right. Like I've said, I've only met them. Neku tried to take my phone in an attempt to stop me from meeting you, so I had no choice but to put them to sleep. They're just lying there in front of the mural, but there's no harm done," he said, off-handily.

"And you took my phone momentarily to compensate for Neku trying to take yours away." How useless.

He giggled, making Yoshiya realise how irritating it felt to be on the receiving end of one of those. "Yes, it would be trouble if he did take it. I didn't do anything bad, really. It could be worse, you know. Unhappy things like to take place there."

"Even so, it sounds a bit childish to me," said Yoshiya, putting down the Composer.

"Not if you realised the importance of this device," said the Composer. "I have a much important role in my world than you do in yours."

"Hmm…" No point in asking the Composer what role he actually had – he was obviously just baiting Yoshiya. "You could have just explained it to them. Aren't you friends with them in your world?"

At this he giggled again. "Friends? No. Well…perhaps you could call Neku somewhat close to what you would classify as a 'friend'. As for the others, I don't have much interest in them. Neku's definitely the most interesting one, don't you think?"

Yoshiya was liking his counterpart less and less. "Neku certainly is interesting, I won't deny. However I don't enjoy the company of Beat, Rhyme and Shiki any less." They were all his friends. It would not be the same if one of them were missing.

He had become extremely attached to his group of friends. Though, he never had and never would intend to openly show them by what degree his attachment went.

"Human attachment is one very strange thing…" the Composer mused, though Yoshiya thought it was more of the Composer speaking to himself than a comment for him to hear.

"You sound like you're some sort of alien," said Yoshiya at his words.

'And you sound like Father, for once.'

…That's…a completely different matter. I'm not saying we're going to get abducted, like he does.

"Abduction? Hee hee. What's that about?" The Composer looked fairly amused. "Your father sounds like quite the character."

"And yours isn't?"

"I wouldn't know – my parents are long gone. I don't even remember much of them."

Don't remember…?

Yoshiya did not see a boy his age in his moving mirror anymore; he saw a being that must have been living for a long, long time. Someone ageless.

But perhaps if he did have parents before they might have been like his, if the Composer was Yoshiya's counterpart. He took a lot of pride in being a Kiryu, but for the Composer, his last name must just be an empty word by now.

That won't do…then…

'Wait, Yoshiya, are you sure?'

Yes. It can't hurt.

"Well, Composer. If you don't remember yours, would you like to meet mine?" Yoshiya offered decisively. "Like I've said, Father is quite the odd one, but he makes the Kiryu name worthy of its recognition. Just don't mention aliens or abductions around him. As for Mother, she is in the hospital, but if you would like to drop by I think we are similar enough that she wouldn't be able to tell the difference for at least a good hour."

Then Yoshiya saw a look of surprise on the Composer's face. It wasn't a look that he himself put on often, and he expected it was a rarity for his counterpart too. The Composer resumed his smug look in no time, though.

"No, thank you," he said. "I don't really want to stay in this world for much longer. It's starting to grow dull. I think I'll visit somewhere else for the rest of the week. Even the Tin Pin world sounds more appealing at this point."

Yoshiya didn't quite understand the term 'Tin Pin' but he had the feeling that his world had just been highly degraded.

"Alright, don't trip on your way out."

The Composer giggled once more. He turned his back to Yoshiya, taking his own phone out of his pocket and starting to type something in. He started to glow as a white light started surrounding him.

"Yoshiya," said the Composer, "I didn't think that we would be much different. In fact, my first impression of you was that we were indeed people with the same personalities." He turned his head, and violet met violet with a look that Yoshiya hoped he would never have to experience in his own eyes. "But there's one important thing that sets you apart from me…"

He spoke his last words, and then the Composer was gone.

Yoshiya stood there, staring at the spot where the Composer had been standing, feeling like it was all just a bit surreal.

Shaking it off, he thought, better get to the mural and wake those idiots up…

He didn't know why, but the Composer's final words resonated deep in his mind and Yoshiya found himself feeling sympathy for his counterpart.

"…Even with that second personality of yours, compared to me, you're just too…human."

xxxxx

Neku woke up to the feeling of something poking him. Sitting straight up quickly, he almost bumped his head against Joshua's, though luckily for them both, the other boy was quick enough in moving away.

Wait…Joshua…?

He sprung to his feet and backed away from him. "What the heck was that for, Composer?"

"I was just collecting some material that would be ideal for blackmail. It would be very useful for when I need things in this world –" He was interrupted when the also awakened Beat punched his arm, causing him to stagger sideways.

"He's just messin' with you, Phones. That's the real Priss," said Beat, without a trace of doubt in his voice.

"Really?" said Neku, still eyeing 'Joshua' suspiciously. "How would you know?"

"I think that Composer guy wouldn't have let Beat get near him, seeing as how he pushed away my sand so easily," said Rhyme, explaining it to Neku.

"Yeah, what she said," said Beat, agreeing. Neku thought that Beat probably just had a gut instinct, but he'd let Beat get away with it.

"I feel a bit weird though," said Shiki, ambling her way to the rest of the group. "How long were out for?"

"About forty five minutes," answered Joshua. "It really wounds me to know that you all couldn't tell the difference between us until you got to the mural. The Composer told me what he did to you guys, so I had no choice but to come over here. Really, you guys can't do anything without me, getting caught off guard like that." Clearly, one of the others had gone through what had happened to them but it turned out that the Composer had visited Joshua too.

"I was just trying to keep him here," said Neku. "That guy seemed like bad news."

Shiki nodded. "He did a really good job of acting like he knew us, Joshua. We're sorry we didn't realise…but we'd have been really worried if anything happened to you."

"Worried? Nah. But I would've beat that guy's ass."

"You shouldn't think of biting off more than you can chew. I don't think you would have been strong enough to fight him…although I think I might have perhaps been able to hold my own for a few minutes."

Finding that he agreed with Rhyme, Neku said, "Bottom line is we're glad you're okay."

"Thanks for your concern." The rest of the group stared at Joshua's response. He was smiling genuinely, not a hint of sarcasm in his tone.

"…Yo, you sure he didn't do anything to you, Priss?"

Joshua giggled. "No, Beat. It's just…it's good to be human." He spun on his feet. "It's almost lunch time. Let's go eat."

"Yeah!" Beat cheered, forgetting Joshua's uncharacteristic behaviour. "Ramen time!"

He proceeded to drag both Joshua and Rhyme forward so that they could get there as fast as possible.

Neku shook his head, chuckling at them.

His friends would never change.

Feeling Shiki lace her fingers with his, they started walking to catch up with them.

"He's right," said Shiki thoughtfully. "It's good to be human."

With humanity came all those special emotions and actions that people took because it was in their nature. Because even after all of it, inside, they were human.

"I think so too. I wouldn't have us any other way."

A/N: Tadaa! Happy One Year Anniversary for Sanctuary! That's right! Exactly one year ago, on this day, the first chapter of Sanctuary was published. I can't believe I finished this fic in under a year…that's a record for me for a multi-chapter fanfic, especially considering the length of it.

I had to do this chapter for the commemoration of this special day, of course. Good 'ol Joshua the Composer paying Sanctuary's cast was something I had been itching to do. Hopefully it kind of shows the (slight?) difference of Sanctuary Joshua with the original.

And of course I put in some NeShiki fluff because I can. Ahem.

The response for the last chapter was simply amazing, thank you to everyone who put it on their favourites: A Paper Flower, Warlord13, Dr. John Madblender, Nicole Peach, metalpizza123, Snipaush, , Raid Gospel, Poodlocity, Ryuu613, BC1250, Clogallie, Thriefty, and MelanaShadow.

And a very warm-hearted thank you to all of those who reviewed the last chapter - B.A.G-GOMEZ, The Professor of time, A Paper Flower, Warlord13, ElementLegend, Omega Zekrom, Chronic Guardian, RaptorMJ, LightzMusic22, Alice and The Mad Hatter, I'll Break Your Heart, Michael Mario, ,

Primo: No, thank you, Primo for sticking around for so long. I'm really glad that you enjoy my work. :3

Guest Number 1: Storymistress? That's a cool thing to call me! Thank you!

Guest Number 2: Thank you so much. Hehe, glad you liked to read it all.

YOLO: Haha, thanks :3 You're even awesomer!

But wait. When's the next extra coming out, you ask? It'll be coming out either next month or the month after that.

But wait. I can't leave without self-plugging! That would go against the Dina-code. Therefore while waiting for the next extra, I urge you all to go check out my newest TWEWY AU fic, 'Deck 104'. [And yes, that is the 'anime' Shooter mentioned in Chapter Twenty Three…hehe –shot to death-]

But wait. I also have a few omakes at the end of this. Yay.

Dina (9/2/2014)

Pseudo Poem Perspective

Yoshiya 'Joshua' Kiryu – The Composer of Shibuya

Omake:

Joshua and Hanekoma

"Whaddya doing in front of the station, Yoshiya? Aren't ya supposed to be at the Kiryu event? I'm on my way there now. Need a lift?"

"…"

"…Something on my face?"

"No…I'll be there in a bit. Go ahead, first."

"Suit yourself. Bye, kid." Hanekoma ruffled the top of Joshua's head.

"Yes…goodbye."

Joshua and Hanekoma – Part 2

"On behalf of Kiryu, welcome Mr. H."

"Yoshiya? Weren't you just at the station?"

"No, I've been here since nine."

"I see…"

"Why, is something wrong?"

"Nah, I think I just haven't drank my cuppa coffee yet and my mind's playin' tricks on me."

"In that case, I'll ask one of the assistants to have some ready for you."

"Thanks."

A Scattered Dream

"Phones!"

"What the hell, Beat? Why are you calling me at…two in the morning?"

"Yo, I heard this loud sound and I looked out the window and I saw this red spaceship flying around and there was a guy in it with a giant human-sized dog an' duck. The animals were wearing clothes, yo!"

"…Go back to sleep, Beat."

"Bwaaaah!?"

"You were obviously dreaming, idiot."

"I ain't dreamin'! I really saw 'em. I even got a picture! I'll send it to you!"

"U-huh. You do that."

"I will! When I see you tomorrow I'll say I told ya so!"

Beat hung up, and thirty seconds later a picture was sent to Neku's phone.

Idiot.

There was nothing to see in the picture except for Beat's finger covering the camera.

A Scattered Dream – Part Two

"Yoshiya, they must have been aliens."

"Mmhmm," said Yoshiya, uninterested in his father's stories.

"There was a talking duck."

"Sure."

"And there was a talking dog who stood on two feet."

"Right."

"And there was a young boy who had the strangest clothes on. He was holding a massive key."

"That's nice, Father."

"I'm being serious, Yoshiya. What if they were here to abduct us?"

"Ooh, I am so scared of the anime cosplayers."

"Cosplayers?"

"That's probably the people you met, Father. You'd fail as a Japanese person if you didn't know what those were."

"…"

"…"

"They were aliens!"

Oh Father…

Yoshiya could handle parallel worlds, but aliens?

That was just silly.