My muse has been strangely cooperative lately. I've been able to draw what I want and I've been able to write a lot more than usual. Not that I'm complaining. :3
I tried using a different writing style without having the characters talk (for the most part) and I'm a bit worried about my tense issues with it, so if there are any mistakes, please point them out! c:
This is Joshua's ascension to Composerhood... through someone else's eyes.
~I do not own TWEWY~
For Sanae Hanekoma, it was all so boring.
The Higher Plane, filled with its uptight angels and deities, was stifling to stay in. All day spent watching and preaching the Lower Planes, but never doing anything to help them. Always strutting around with their great powers, but never using them. It was tedious to say the least.
So when they announced the open position, he jumped at the chance. They were surprised at his eagerness and for good reasons. Shibuya had always been a chaotic ground. Constantly moving, changing, conflicting. They didn't expect anyone to want the job. But boredom made people do crazy things and he had always been a bit on the whimsical side, so they decided to let him be the Producer.
He liked the city. Everyone was different and unique and- unlike some places- openly expressed it, whether it was through their fashion, music, or art. This kind of variety was only possible for city that had a bustling UG like Shibuya. The Composer wasn't bad- a little on the strict side, but she could be fun if she actually bothered caring. The Game was pretty standard, just at a larger scale than most- though he noticed a few of the Reapers were particularly lazy.
All in all, Shibuya wasn't bad, just a bit hectic, and really that suited him just fine. Watching from the Higher Plane- feeling disconnected from everything- had felt like torture but now, interacting with the people and watching them grow and flourish made him love the city even more.
While searching for a place to stay in the RG- a headquarters if you will- he discovered a treasure that was somehow unknown to him in the Higher Plane despite its grandeur and abundance of everything.
He found coffee.
After the first taste, he was determined to master the beans and decided to open a café so he could spread his love for it throughout Shibuya. Oh, and he guessed that it could be a decent base of operations.
The higher ups were a bit wary about his sudden obsession with coffee but let him open the store. Though as years went by, he couldn't help but noticed with a hint of suspicion that very few people came to his café...
It was during one of these many days at his beloved café that he first saw him. He wasn't impressive looking, just a little unusual with pale hair- and really, pale everything. His hair was odd, an ash blonde color and he had a pallid complexion to match. What had captured the angel's attention, however, was the sheer brightness of his soul and how it shined through his violet eyes.
When the angel first noticed him, the boy looked around eight and was chatting excitedly with a woman- his mother he presumed. They were laughing and then suddenly the boy turned for a second to glance at a seemingly empty spot. The angel knew better of course- there was a pair standing there, arguing about whether or not they should eat before completing their mission. The boy was quick to snap his attention back to his mother, but he had seen them and the angel knew he did.
He tells the higher ups about the peculiar boy and they react as he expected: watch him and make sure he doesn't become a threat. We don't want a wildcard.
How typical.
Of course, he knows better than to call them out for it and does as they command him to. He would have watched out for the kid even if they hadn't told him to, so it didn't make a difference anyway.
The boy is ill he soon discovers and is often bullied. His sickness makes him thin and frail- also explaining his hair color and complexion- but he's surprisingly sharp for an eight year old. Unfortunately, his wit and the way he talks to people riles them up and earns him more enemies- more bullies.
He gets beaten a few times by them because they think he's crazy when he starts talking about death and people with wings that look like iron bars and the way he sneers at them doesn't really help either.
Sanae would have helped the kid, but there was never any need. There was always someone there to witness it- it was like the boy had rigged the situation it so that he would be played off as the helpless victim. In all actuality, he was, but the way he acted always seemed to suggest otherwise.
The Producer tells the Composer about him- this strange kid who could see everything and acted like he was above everyone despite his illness. She was interested. Maybe he was the boy that Shibuya's song had been whispering to her about- the one who has so much potential. She starts to watch him too and the angel can't help but feel like he made a mistake by telling her, but it's all too late now.
A year pasts with the angel and the Composer just watching him and the boy begins to grow restless.
He wants someone to talk to. He doesn't have any friends- he was always sick and was homeschooled- and he was practically a magnet for trouble with how many enemies he had.
Sanae felt bad for him. No one understood him- not even his mother who had begun to give him concerned looks when he tried to tell her what he had seen that day. He knew he shouldn't have, but watching the kid for a year made him attached. This attachment made him do the single act that would screw him over with the higher ups for the longest time.
He talked to the kid.
He approached the nine year old and invited him to the café. He found out his name was Joshua and the angel realized that he had never known the boy's name for the year he had been watching him.
At first they would just talk about trivial things- weather, news, musicians and the like. It was when the Producer noticed Joshua staring out at the seemingly empty street that he decided to delve into the main topic.
Joshua was understandably wary of talking about what he saw- so many had shunned him for it, called him insane among other things- but when he found out, no, he was not crazy and, yes, they were real, it was like a floodgate opened.
He was full of questions and the angel was fine with giving him the answers while still managing to leech some money off the boy with each passing visit. He told him all about the UG and the Game and its role in Shibuya. All the while, Sanae couldn't help but wonder if the Composer was listening in on these conversations. If she was, she gave no hint of it.
Joshua was interesting to talk to- even if he was a bit annoying at times- and Sanae likes having him around. The boy regularly comes to the café at least once a week for the next few years, despite the toll it takes on him and his already frail health.
When he's fifteen, the Producer mentions the recent drop in imagination in Shibuya. Joshua just gives his typical smirk and suggests that he should do something to inspire the people. Become the inspiration for their imaginations.
And then maybe close down this empty café.
The angel just laughs, but when the teen leaves, he begins to contemplate the idea.
Maybe... but the café stays.
It's around this time that Joshua also starts to voice his desire to be part of the Game- of the UG. He's tired of living, but is beaten back by the angel's argument of only the dead play and only by those who want life.
Joshua backs off and changes the topic, but Sanae knows it's still on his mind. It doesn't help that the next time the angel sees him, he's wearing the customary support Reaper jacket and looking happier and healthier than he ever did when he was alive.
Apparently he died in a car accident that the Producer vaguely remembers hearing about, and was somehow permitted to play the Game. He suspects the Composer, but she admits nothing and by now, there is nothing he can do.
He just congratulates the teen and grins slightly when the boy's soul starts to shine even brighter than before. The Game did its job all right- his soul was stronger than ever and the Producer could hear the pleased murmurs from Shibuya's music. It was expecting something from Joshua and the teen was unsuspectingly charging straight into the fray.
Shibuya's levels of imagination had recently started to drop and while the Producer had begun his attempts at his so-called "inspirational art," it did little to stop the decline. Something was happening to the city- to the Composer- and Sanae had no idea what until he heard the change.
Shibuya's song during his time as Producer changed depending on where he was in the city, but always had a consistent beat underneath all of the melodies. Now, it had been completely rearranged.
It was now louder, livelier- happier- than before. It still changed slightly whenever he entered a different part of Shibuya, but the familiar beat was gone.
Shibuya had a new Composer.
When he headed to the sewers to meet his new boss- and really, why the Composer hid in the sewers of all places was beyond him- his mind was buzzing. He was a little sad that she was gone, but he had never really become friends with her despite the decades working together, and he wondered who had erased her. Was it one of the officers? Or was it that one harrier who the angel knew was far stronger than his position suggested.
When he walked into the Room of Reckoning, he didn't know how to react when he saw a familiar teenage boy sitting on the throne of the Composer, or how to react to the fact that- oh hell, he's my boss now isn't he?
And really, all he could do was laugh and think, 'This definitely beats sitting in the Higher Plane. '
So, this isn't so much of an explanation for how Joshua got the job, but rather what Mr. H experienced as the Producer. This story is named Twister because everything is spiraling out of control (kind of like the song) and Mr. H can only sit back and watch it all happen.
Mr. H is really one of the coolest characters in the game. He's so chill and just there, until you realize that he had a huge part in everything and he's a freaking angel and what- he's an angel?! (Yes, that was my initial reaction xD)
I always had an issue with the idea that Joshua committed suicide, being that the Game is for those who want a second chance. So, instead, I explained it with a Composer who had no idea that she was inviting her killer into her ranks. :3
Explanation for Joshua's illness: he has some kind of anemia or something. (I know... I should have researched more...) :P
Oh and Mr. H and coffee OTP! xD