He’s never been quite this attached to any of the other Composers – but then again, Shibuya’s never had a Composer like Joshua. Perhaps he’s biased, though; after all, he had known Joshua pre-game.

He tried to explain it to Neku, but Neku wasn’t getting it, which was a shame. He’d always thought that Neku was bright.

Joshua may be finicky and somewhat fickle – heck, sometimes, he’d even call him petty, but Joshua’s Imagination rivals his own, and Joshua knows what’s best for Shibuya. He cuts and snips at the parts of Shibuya that are causing it to die, all tenderness and caring, and Neku can’t see past the little details.

He’s not just watching Neku grow, he’s watching Joshua grow. He’s not just watching Shibuya grow, he’s watching the world grow. It’s a shame that he can’t take a bigger part in it – as if aiding Minamimoto wasn’t a big enough crime – but he doesn’t mind too much. He’s always been more of an observer than a doer.

It’s interesting to watch Joshua interact with Neku, especially now, after the game. The way Joshua still insists on playing games with Neku, the way Neku still insists on getting riled up on it. The way Joshua teases him – you could have killed me, you know – the way Neku takes the bait – maybe I should have.

He’s not really jealous; to be jealous of Neku would be akin to being jealous of a bird, or a tree. He’s not meant to have this, these fanciful relationships with people he admires. Joshua is still young, especially relative to him – it’s easier for him to relate to Neku. Joshua had once trusted him with everything, and in a sense, he still did. He was still Joshua’s main outlet for frustrations about the game, about Shibuya, but Neku is filling a void that he didn’t even know Joshua had. A void too small for anyone but a child to fill.

Neku was rough around the edges once; now, his Soul resembles Joshua’s – tangible, clean, and pure. Neku would make a fine Conductor for Joshua, and he knows Joshua well enough to know that that’s what Joshua is angling for. Joshua always has had a tendency to want what he cannot have. He’d wanted Shibuya, and at the age of fifteen, he’d gotten it. Now he wanted Neku, and he would have him too. In a sense, Joshua had wanted him too, and now look at what had happened.

Still, he thinks, as he watches Joshua give the proposition to Neku. There could be worse things. Neku knows what he’s doing – he knows the game well, knows Joshua well – and Shibuya would be in good hands. To have to contend a little with Neku would be inevitable. It’s already inevitable; it’s already happening, and there’s nothing he can do about it.

Joshua had been his, first. But now he’s watching Joshua grow, and change, and he’s going to lose him, piece by piece, to a boy he had chosen. It hardly seems fair, but then, since when is anything in life – Angel or otherwise – fair?

Neku looks so vehemently opposed to being the Conductor; he watches as Joshua pretends to retreat, and he knows what’s coming. He had been the one to imprint Neku before, after all. He also knows he’ll say yes.

He can never resist Joshua.