♪001 | Video

[shibuyasmusic]

[Joshua is holding his wrist out before him, smiling at the watch's camera. This thing is interesting... this whole place, really, is interesting to him. He's sitting in a cafe, with a steaming cup of coffee in his hand. While aware of his need to spare the money he had for food here- after all he was practically human again- it did good to rest his nerves.]

I've been investigating this extra thirteenth hour in the day as others are calling it. It's quite interesting, really, for more reasons than one. Most interestingly... restrictions on my abilities are lifted during the Thirteenth Hour.

[In other words, he's completely human every other hour of the day, and that's incredibly frustrating.]

I'm perfectly aware that there are those here who are more experienced with this world than I am. I'd like to know more about the Thirteenth Hour, if it's possible. What exactly it is, why it exists, what effects it has on this world... Anything you can tell me~

Comments

[shibuyasmusic]

I used to think so too. Would it make you mad if I said we're actually similar in some ways~? [He grins at Sho before shaking his head dismissively.]

If the Angel wanted my death and was using you as 'backup', obviously he meant 'backup Composer.' [That conclusion was almost scarily easy to come to.] ... Which means he didn't like what I was planning to do with Shibuya. Well... what do you know, that actually adds up~ A little Angel got too attached to Shibuya and wanted to stop me from destroying it. So he got himself an attack dog- or cat, I suppose- and sent him after me~

[tangentlion]

Yes, it would. I'm nothing like you. I'm zetta smarter, for one thing. And zetta better looking for another! [zetta conceited, too, apparently]

Hm? What were you planning to do with Shibuya? ... Wait. [did he just hear that correctly.] You were going to divide Shibuya by zero?! Why?!

[shibuyasmusic]

I used to think the world was garbage too, Sho~ But whatever suits your fancy, I still think there's a lot of comparisons you could make between us.

[He laughs a little at Sho's shock and surprise. For someone who thought Shibuya was garbage, he certainly seemed to care for it more than he let on.] It wasn't meeting its potential. I thought its people were beyond change, could not reach the limits of their Imagination. I thought they were going to poison the other grounds, that their resistance to making connections was going to isolate each and every person and cause this world to stagnate.

I was going to destroy it to prevent that from happening.

[tangentlion]

So you don't anymore. What changed your mind? [he would prefer not to draw more comparisons kthnx] Don't tell me that empty-set-for-brains changed YOUR mind. Zetta unbelievable!

[garbage or not, it was his home!! He'd been born there, died there, lorded over there from the UG... he was a little more attached to it than he let on. Sho growls and pulls his hat down a bit to cover his eyes and try and hide his emotions] You don't think every zero in Shinjuku, and, I don't know, maybe the rest of Tokyo might notice if you Erased a whole ward?! How the factor were you going to smooth THAT over?

[shibuyasmusic]

I don't know who you're talking about, but I assure you, I love the city just the way it is now. [Let's not get into how Joshua discovered that friends are actually pretty great things that he wants but doesn't really have.

Josh notices the intense amount of worry Sho seems to have, regardless. So Shibuya still mattered to the Reaper. Interesting.] Who ever said I was going to 'smooth it over'? I would have ended up being erased with the rest, if not by myself then by someone else, probably your rogue Angel if the other ones didn't get to me first.

[tangentlion]

Your precious Proxy. Hmph. SOMETHING must have happened. [but he'll find out what it is later. They have time, after all. And they'll be working together, he expects.

For Sho, Shibuya WAS garbage. But it was like his junk sculptures. It could be beautiful. Other places? Well, they had no aesthetic at all. One always got attached to their home, no matter how hard they try not to] So what happens, then? When you Erase a whole factoring town. Obviously all the digits get divided out into Soul... What about the buildings? Would there just be a smokin' hole in the ground?

[shibuyasmusic]

I'll let you believe whatever you'd like to believe. [He's neither going to confirm nor deny his conjecture for right now.

Joshua just shakes his head slowly.] Two things would be erased. [He holds up one finger.] One, as you said, all of the 'digits' would be divided into Soul. [And a second finger.] Two, the Underground plane would cease to exist over Shibuya, essentially erasing the seat of Composer and the Reapers' Game as a whole. Buildings would remain in tact, but the city itself would be a virtual void, empty of people, and empty of Noise as all negativity is dispersed. Something I once viewed to be a necessary tragedy.

[tangentlion]

[SO HE'S RIGHT. That's what he believes. And what he'll act on in the future. Oh Sho.

He frowns.] ... I've never heard of anything like that happening. Ever. Something as major as that would surely get codified in history books! So your plan was unprecedented. And also bad. Heh. Maybe that Fallen Angle wanted me to stop you from dividing Shibuya by zero because it would mess up the rest of the world too much.

[shibuyasmusic]

[.... Yes yes, good job Sho. That'll be troublesome later on the road but moving away from that thought.]

As far as I had heard, the Angels in the Higher Plane didn't want any interference with my Game. They wanted to see what would happen between my Conductor and me...

That's why that Angel must have been considered particularly rogue, not only for breaking the Higher Plane's laws but because he was going directly against the Higher Plane's wishes. Whoever he is, I must say his plan was a rather good one.

[tangentlion]

[Whenever someone won't "confirm or deny", it usually means "confirmed, but I don't want to say so". People are easy.]

Tch. Factoring asymptotes. The Higher Plane doesn't care about the UG at all!

[shibuyasmusic]

Of course they don't. You actually thought that Angels really cared about what goes on in the Realground or the Underground? All they care about is results. The whole world is a stage, and we're they're entertaining little puppets.

[Hanekoma was so much of an exception to other Angels, it was legitimately astonishing to him sometimes.]

[tangentlion]

.... [Sho looks a little disappointed, but it goes away quickly, replaced by a sour frown] All the more reason for me to climb the ladder so I can look down on the UG like God looks upon ants.

[shibuyasmusic]

Hmm... Well, I wish you the best of luck in your endeavors to prove yourself to be worthy of their attention~ You've gotten the attention of one Angel, that's surely a start.

[tangentlion]

An Angle who's in trouble for helping me. Real useful character reference.

[shibuyasmusic]

Well you're just going to have to try a little bit harder, aren't you~? You know I wouldn't even be surprised if that Angel ends up stabbing you in the back. For entities that are supposed to embody goodness, they're not exactly the nicest people~

[tangentlion]

"Goodness"? Only in folktales. You go to the source and they're all about vengeance and fiery swords. My set of people!!

[shibuyasmusic]

I assure you, they are nothing like their biblical counterparts. They're as much Angels as you are a Grim Reaper. It's strange, really, very organized like one harmonized, societal machine. The Higher Plane represents order.

I wouldn't think they'd be 'you're set of people' at all, Minamimoto.