[From here]Sho might have recognized the significance that the Composer was aiming for. Or maybe he had tracked the boy to the easternmost area of the town, recognizing the East as the source of the sun, life and light. It was possible, had he known anything about the town's layout or the names of its locations, but as it stood, he had arrived here simply because he was retracing his steps and planning on systematically flushing the boy out area by area until he found him. So it was to his complete surprise when he saw his target idling at the origin point of the park, obvious as anything
( ... )
And there the Reaper was, just as Joshua had anticipated. Really, he had to find Sho Minamimoto's display of emotion to be complimentary. He normally showed no concern whatsoever with what other people thought, but here he was, off his usual mindset from the very start. No wonder he kept losing his Games.
Compared with that harsh breathing, Joshua was calm and collected, and he idly ran his hand through his hair. Truly, this was what Landel's had been missing- something concrete, a face to put upon all of the ills. For the moment, Minamimoto's would suffice. "Mm, I could ask you the same thing. Using a Level i Flare isn't like you at all... and then, of course, the last time I saw you I left you buried under a vending machine, a convertible, and at least three bicycles."
Still, he couldn't help but goad the Reaper, just a little bit. "But as for that question... you didn't honestly think that such an underpowered Psyche would bother me at all, did you?"
Minamimoto struggled to get his breathing under control - he hadn't run that fast, had he? - but found that it was a losing prospect when the very sight of the kid made his blood boil
( ... )
"Bravo. I knew that you'd get it once you had the right data." Joshua giggled his usual creepy little giggle, ironically rather pleased that Minamimoto managed to figure it out so quickly. He was right, of course. A Level i Flare wiped out everything simultaneously, crossing dimensions and wiping out everything in that same wavelength. But as he so easily pointed out, Minamimoto's Psyche didn't hit across those waves. Simply by switching to a parallel dimension, Joshua had evaded something that otherwise could well have erased him from existence
( ... )
And there was that laugh! Minamimoto wondered if that was a just a trait of Joshua's pretty boy RG form or if he laughed like that as the Composer too. The idea of it - or the chill air? - sent an unpleasant shiver up his spine.
He had other things to consider than his bodies own irregularities and possibly physiological-chemical responses to the Composer though. The sharp headache was receding to a dull throbbing that beat in the background of his mind as he processed this new information.
"Taboo, huh?" he muttered as he approached. Sho certainly hadn't intended anything like that; he merely meant to refactor into Shibuya after unleashing the Level i Flare. But the formula had been a rather high-level refinery sigil based on Taboo code... it was entirely possible... or had his future self...? The more he thought about it, the more he liked it. The numbers and symbols for how to make that come true - a Taboo Reaper! - were flashing through his mind. He'd already experimented with Taboo noise in similar ways... then this... could it
( ... )
Nothing at the moment? Well that was rather odd. Joshua had been preparing- though it was difficult to tell from his relaxed posture- to get out of the way of Minamimoto's first swing, but it hadn't come yet. It seemed like he was still one to give a healthy respect to Joshua... so hm, how to play this Game? That was the question of the moment.
After that moment's pause, Joshua sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "Ah, I should have known that someone like you would figure out the truth by now. Really, Minamimoto, there's nothing I can hide from you, is there?" The Reaper had a suspicious streak a mile wide, but it was a roll of the dice as to whether he'd bite or he'd snap. Either way, Joshua was ready for any eventuality.
There was an awkward pause as Joshua neither struck first nor prepared for an attack. Holding back until the last nanosecond? Then he just had to say something so slickly complimentary that it didn't register as a compliment at all. Was this a real number, or was the kid spouting results for which he had no backup?
Well, there was one way to find out.
"Let's see it then," Sho said with a grin. "You stopped bullets once... let's see you stop fists!"
He lunged forwards, swinging with an outside right that angled in for a trajectory towards Joshua's face. Sure, the kid was quite the one for dodging, but there was always Sho's left, which was tucked in by his side, ready to shoot up for a jab to the central point if he only sidestepped and didn't just get the heck out of the way.
The idea that he might counterattack never crossed the mathematician's mind.
Ah, and there was the Sho Minamimoto that Joshua had expected. Forcing the issue, trying to find his solutions through brute force and direct application. Honestly, that lack of foresight would be the death of him. ...hadn't it been that way at least twice by now? Ah, the travails of being his opposite
( ... )
When Joshua stepped inside his swing radius and reached up for his arm, Sho's first instinct was to use his teleportation Psyche to evade and reappear behind him. This, of course, didn't work due to a number of missing factors for that particular algorithm, the most crucial of which being his ability to use Psyches
( ... )
Well, that was a bit disappointing. Here he'd hoped for a little more room... ah, the frustrations and limitations of a human body! If he had even a fraction of the power he deserved, then this wouldn't have even been a contest. And while the novelty was still invigorating...
...that blow to his leg was not. Now it was Joshua's turn to be caught off-guard, as he'd thought that Minamimoto would try the same tactic again- he had forgotten just how quickly the Reaper could adapt. The boy's knee buckled from the blow, and he staggered back, trying to think of another option. Just a few moments would do...
Ah hah. That just might work. "You know the rules. You have to beat the current Composer in order to take his place!"
Sho cackled triumphantly as the kick connected, sending the Composer stumbling back. Ignoring both the nurses and the rivulets of sweat dripping down his face despite the sharply chill air, the Reaper quickly followed up with another wide, powerful swing, depending on Joshua still being off balance to prevent an occurrence like his first attack.
"What the factor do you think I'm wait what-"
At that moment, as confusion struck his brain, so did a sudden rush of blood and all the pains from his previous exertions caught up with him as the fever that had been incubating since his encounter with Eve last night finally came on in full force. The world spun before his eyes, the horizontal plane of the park changing axes rapidly, causing him to stumble drunkenly and his punch to go wide of its mark, far outside the acceptable margin of error. Not that this was going to stop Sho; staggering and pivoting, he came around, throwing another wild swing at the boy as he tried to focus his eyes.
"You are the- there's no way - don't tell it was-
( ... )
"Shawn! Joshua! What in the world are you two up to?" The nurse had caught the word 'composer' as she ran up to them. "Don't tell me you're having this violent a fight over music." She'd heard of plenty of ridiculous reasons for fighting, but really? A fight over that?
She motioned to a nearby pair of orderlies. "Now. Are you two going to play nice or are we going to have to take action?"
Well well, it seemed like Minamimoto was reaching his limits. Rather oddly so, to be honest; if he didn't know better, Joshua would say that the Reaper was... sick. Fever, maybe. It certainly wasn't any other physiological response that could be named, even if the Reaper was rather unnaturally fixated on him.
Joshua smoothly flowed around Minamimoto's clumsy- albeit savage- swings, seemingly unruffled by the attack from earlier. Of course, this worked out well to his advantage, as the nurses came right on cue, and that meant Joshua was the winner of this impromptu Game. He quietly whispered, "Maybe I am. You never had an idea about the truth from the start, did you?"
After that, he hopped back, raising his arms in a nonchalant shrug as he giggled at the nurse. "I'd be more than happy to be separated from him. He did attack me first, after all."
Ignoring the staff, or perhaps not noticing them, Sho lunged at Joshua again, his fist going wide of what he thought was a moving target.
"Kiss my arc! Once I've derived you, it'll be elementary to calculate the rest!" he yelled as he stumbled past clumsily. As he turned to attack again, he seemed to notice the nurs for the first time.
"And you can just factor yourselves before you even think of sticking me with your chemical negations!" he yelled, waving an arm at them in an attempt to ward the orderlies off.
Well, at least one of the two was calm. The nurse nodded to Joshua, then motioned to one of the orderlies, who picked Minamimoto up from the waist as the other held his arms down. She noticed his glassy eyes and flushed cheeks; was that from the fight, or was it something else? She wasn't entirely sure until she touched his arm while preparing the sedative injection.
"You started a fight while you're running a fever? I don't know what you were thinking, but we're going to have to give you an extra dose of medicine." She injected the sedatives first, following that with an injection of Tylenol."
She turned to both of the boys then. "You're not going to fight if I move away, right?"
Ugh, that didn't seem to have worked. It seemed like Minamimoto had decided to go with a simplification process before solving the Joshua problem, and that did not bode well for the teenager. Ah well... it was worth a shot, and he could still think of some way around Sho Minamimoto's plans. It would just take some thought.
For now, he just shook his head and smiled. "I won't. Thank you for coming when you did." The Grim Heaper's threats went unremarked upon... as far as they went, they were relatively mild. Besides, it wasn't like the Reaper was really capable of carrying out those threats at the moment.
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Compared with that harsh breathing, Joshua was calm and collected, and he idly ran his hand through his hair. Truly, this was what Landel's had been missing- something concrete, a face to put upon all of the ills. For the moment, Minamimoto's would suffice. "Mm, I could ask you the same thing. Using a Level i Flare isn't like you at all... and then, of course, the last time I saw you I left you buried under a vending machine, a convertible, and at least three bicycles."
Still, he couldn't help but goad the Reaper, just a little bit. "But as for that question... you didn't honestly think that such an underpowered Psyche would bother me at all, did you?"
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He had other things to consider than his bodies own irregularities and possibly physiological-chemical responses to the Composer though. The sharp headache was receding to a dull throbbing that beat in the background of his mind as he processed this new information.
"Taboo, huh?" he muttered as he approached. Sho certainly hadn't intended anything like that; he merely meant to refactor into Shibuya after unleashing the Level i Flare. But the formula had been a rather high-level refinery sigil based on Taboo code... it was entirely possible... or had his future self...? The more he thought about it, the more he liked it. The numbers and symbols for how to make that come true - a Taboo Reaper! - were flashing through his mind. He'd already experimented with Taboo noise in similar ways... then this... could it ( ... )
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After that moment's pause, Joshua sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "Ah, I should have known that someone like you would figure out the truth by now. Really, Minamimoto, there's nothing I can hide from you, is there?" The Reaper had a suspicious streak a mile wide, but it was a roll of the dice as to whether he'd bite or he'd snap. Either way, Joshua was ready for any eventuality.
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Well, there was one way to find out.
"Let's see it then," Sho said with a grin. "You stopped bullets once... let's see you stop fists!"
He lunged forwards, swinging with an outside right that angled in for a trajectory towards Joshua's face. Sure, the kid was quite the one for dodging, but there was always Sho's left, which was tucked in by his side, ready to shoot up for a jab to the central point if he only sidestepped and didn't just get the heck out of the way.
The idea that he might counterattack never crossed the mathematician's mind.
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...that blow to his leg was not. Now it was Joshua's turn to be caught off-guard, as he'd thought that Minamimoto would try the same tactic again- he had forgotten just how quickly the Reaper could adapt. The boy's knee buckled from the blow, and he staggered back, trying to think of another option. Just a few moments would do...
Ah hah. That just might work. "You know the rules. You have to beat the current Composer in order to take his place!"
Reply
"What the factor do you think I'm wait what-"
At that moment, as confusion struck his brain, so did a sudden rush of blood and all the pains from his previous exertions caught up with him as the fever that had been incubating since his encounter with Eve last night finally came on in full force. The world spun before his eyes, the horizontal plane of the park changing axes rapidly, causing him to stumble drunkenly and his punch to go wide of its mark, far outside the acceptable margin of error. Not that this was going to stop Sho; staggering and pivoting, he came around, throwing another wild swing at the boy as he tried to focus his eyes.
"You are the- there's no way - don't tell it was- ( ... )
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She motioned to a nearby pair of orderlies. "Now. Are you two going to play nice or are we going to have to take action?"
[Jen]
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Joshua smoothly flowed around Minamimoto's clumsy- albeit savage- swings, seemingly unruffled by the attack from earlier. Of course, this worked out well to his advantage, as the nurses came right on cue, and that meant Joshua was the winner of this impromptu Game. He quietly whispered, "Maybe I am. You never had an idea about the truth from the start, did you?"
After that, he hopped back, raising his arms in a nonchalant shrug as he giggled at the nurse. "I'd be more than happy to be separated from him. He did attack me first, after all."
Reply
"Kiss my arc! Once I've derived you, it'll be elementary to calculate the rest!" he yelled as he stumbled past clumsily. As he turned to attack again, he seemed to notice the nurs for the first time.
"And you can just factor yourselves before you even think of sticking me with your chemical negations!" he yelled, waving an arm at them in an attempt to ward the orderlies off.
Reply
"You started a fight while you're running a fever? I don't know what you were thinking, but we're going to have to give you an extra dose of medicine." She injected the sedatives first, following that with an injection of Tylenol."
She turned to both of the boys then. "You're not going to fight if I move away, right?"
Reply
For now, he just shook his head and smiled. "I won't. Thank you for coming when you did." The Grim Heaper's threats went unremarked upon... as far as they went, they were relatively mild. Besides, it wasn't like the Reaper was really capable of carrying out those threats at the moment.
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