Disclaimer: The World Ends With You belongs to Square Enix; I'm just borrowing.

A/N: Aaand... another from the ldws community, this one from the third round of the competition. The prompt was 'Miss me?'

Have to admit I'm kind of proud of this one -- it won the round, too. :) I'd have liked to flesh it out a bit more, but there was a 500-word limit, and it was just barely under that as it was.

Loyalty

Joshua's never been terribly fond of dogs, and this one has always been a bit of a mystery to him, but he'll concede that it merits some respect. More than many people do, certainly. A lot of animals, when they die, never reach the Underground; this one is an exception. It's been here longer than Joshua has.

And so he stops, crouches down, gives it a brief scratch behind the ears. The dog leans into his hand slightly, but its head never turns, never looks away from the platform where a train will soon arrive.

The previous Composer had something of a soft spot for the creature, and set this area of Shibuya Station off-limits to the Game and the Reapers so that it could have some peace while it waited. Joshua can't help but think that erasure would be kinder, but he can't quite bring himself to do it. That puzzles him-- but he's not obliged to explain himself to anyone.

"What's it like?" he asks quietly, though of course he's only musing aloud. "It's been more than eighty years, now. Do you really still believe your professor's going to step off the train one day and say 'Hey there, boy! Miss me?' Does it hurt, every time he doesn't? Do you really think your vigil's going to be rewarded in the end?"

He pauses, considers. "Or do you just not remember how to do anything but wait?"

The dog glances up at him with eyes sad and hopeful and incredibly patient, and shifts a little closer to lean against his leg. Joshua's on his feet in an instant, stepping away and wrinkling his nose. "Excuse me," he says sternly, "These clothes are worth several dozen of you, thank you, and I'm very fond of them. You shed on them, or drool, or whatever you do, you die."

The dog tilts its head to one side, regards him curiously, and then turns back to the empty platform with, perhaps, the closest thing to a shrug that a dog can manage. Joshua shakes his head, starts to walk away. Why he stopped at all he's not sure.

It's not really been a good day. He had lunch with Neku, and that's generally fun, but apparently Neku's started thinking about college. Joshua cautiously pointed out to him over lunch that there's a perfectly decent school in Shibuya, no reason he shouldn't go there. Neku... didn't outright dismiss the possibility, but Joshua doubts it's happening, at least without some serious misuse of his powers.

And if Neku leaves--

He hesitates, trying to ignore all the ways that thought could end, but eventually he turns around and walks back.

A thought, and the clothes are replaced with jeans and a t-shirt. Joshua settles himself down on the station floor next to Hachiko with a sigh, reaches out to give the dog an awkward attempt at a consoling pat.

They sit in silence, and wait for the train to come in.

A/N: Comments always welcome. :)