Yay, my first TWEWY fanfic...hopefully, you'll enjoy it. And no, this is NOT yaoi, just a friendship fic.
NOTE: There are spoilers if you haven't finished the game!
Disclaimer: I do not own The World Ends with You. The World Ends with You belongs to Square Enix and Jupiter.
Belonging
'I never realized…how large my world is…only because I met you all, did I realize how I closed out my world…'
He walked down the crowded streets of Shibuya, the crowds he used to despise, the crowds he used to not understand. But those three weeks…he'd never forget them. Right now though, he really wished he could walk through them like he used to. The stupid crowds were going to make him late for his meeting at Hachiko.
It had been four weeks since Neku Sakuraba had been freed from the Reaper's Game and the Shibuya Underground, but in a way he was glad he was in it to begin with. It had given him a meaning to his life, a meaning to the lives around him, a reason not to give up…
"Give up on yourself, and you give up on the world."
Neku shook his head rapidly, making others in the crowd stare at him apprehensively. He wasn't going to think about…him. That had been Neku's only regret in the end. He had waited for him in places he thought he would be; the CAT graffiti tag in the Udagawa backstreets, the entrance to the Shibuya River, even in front of the WildKat Café, which Mr. Hanekoma had apparently sold to a guy who couldn't make a decent cup of coffee. He had met Mr. H once, but he had been closing up the cafe, saying he had to leave because of an "issue" he had not explained to Neku and not to come looking for him. Still, he had never shown up, and Neku wasn't sure whether to feel upset or grateful about it.
Sighing, Neku started to walk around a mob of girls that were all staring at the Prince at 104. Did they all have to gather around is route? It took a few minutes, but he managed to push through the squealing fangirls into the scramble crossing, taking a minute to catch his breath before looking up.
That's when Neku saw something…someone he hadn't seen for the past four weeks.
Unbelieving and yet still unreasonably frightened, Neku ran off course into Center Street, hoping he hadn't been seen. What the hell was he doing here? He couldn't be here…could he? Neku had pretty much given up hope that he would--
A hand clamped tightly down on his shoulder from behind him. Neku felt like his breath had been stolen from him as he heard a familiar voice filled with arrogance and a slight feminine twist speak.
"Neku Sakuraba."
He closed his eyes, not bothering to turn around as he murmured, "Yoshiya Kiryu."
A snobbish tone, almost mocking replied, "That's Joshua to you, Neku. Haven't we established that already?"
Neku finally turned to see Joshua, the guy who had been his partner for a week, the guy who he had been waiting for ever since he had returned to the Real Ground, the guy he thought he knew but clearly didn't. He looked exactly like he had four weeks ago; the same lavender-hued eyes that shone with mischief, the long ashen hair that he enjoyed flipping and twirling so much. Hell, he was even wearing the same expensive Pegaso clothes. Joshua had an enigmatic smirk that Neku knew all too well.
"How goes, Neku? Everything okay in the RG?"
How the hell could he be speaking so…casually? Like there was nothing wrong at him with him being here?
"...What are you doing here?" Neku's voice came out like a hiss.
"Hey, I asked you a question first." He was laughing...Joshua was laughing at him...how could he be doing that?
Neku felt a fresh surge of rage come out, and a moment later Joshua was pushed against the wall, with Neku pinning him down by the shoulders, taking slow, deep breaths.
"Ow...what's up with all the shoving, Neku?"
"Why..." Neku was finding it hard to breathe evenly in his anger. "Why the hell are you here?!"
Joshua shrugged as best as he could with Neku's hands pressing him down. "I just wanted to talk to you, is all."
"Talk?!?" Neku heard his voice rising higher, slightly surprised that none of the Shibyua citizens were staring at them yet.
"Yeah. Is there a problem with that?"
"Hell yeah, there's a problem! How could you...the entire time you've been using me as your pawn and now you just...just--"
Neku trailed off, seeing the Composer still smirking at him, like the entire situation was a joke. Like he was a joke.
"What, is this amusing to you?" Neku glared at him, almost daring him to say yes.
"Oh, no, not really. I'm just enjoying how mistaken you are."
"M-mistaken?" Neku finally loosened his grip on Joshua's shoulders but did not let go.
"Neku..." Joshua dropped the grin, his face possessed by a type of seriousness that had never been there before. "Are you...mad at me?"
Neku stared at him like he was insane. This kid had killed him...then put him through three weeks of total hell...then betrayed him and killed him again...and now he was asking if Neku was mad at him? Wasn't it obvious?
"If it helps...I, personally, enjoyed out time together during the second week." Joshua murmured.
"Oh, of course you did!" Neku snapped, hands tightening once more. "I'm sure you enjoyed lying to me the entire time--"
"--I just--" Joshua tried to interrupt, but Neku kept going.
"--killing me on purpose just to make me play your stupid game, watching me suffer the entire time--"
"--Neku, I did not--"
"--killing me a second time--"
"Silence!" Joshua was scowling now, his usual teasing manner completely gone. Neku felt like he had been frozen in time, trapped in position, unable to move. It was probably something Joshua did, like when he stopped those bullets before they came close to him when he had gone to "collect" Neku so many weeks ago...Joshua broke free of Neku's grip and swept past him, arms crossed, like absolutely nothing was wrong. Only after Joshua had walked away a few feet did he feel like he could move by his own will again.
"For your information, Neku..." Joshua turned to face the shocked boy, violet eyes lit with fire. "I never enjoyed watching you struggle through the Game. I was human once after all; I had to go through the Reaper's Game myself a long time ago. And let me justify your death with this: If I hadn't taken you as my proxy, I would have chosen someone else who would have never survived the three weeks. You, Neku Sakuraba, would have continued hating the world as you used to, refusing to let others inside. I changed you, Neku, made you into something better, gave you friends and a life worth living. It's because I killed you and put you in the Game that you can truly enjoy your life, truly expand your world."
"The world ends with me..." Neku whispered, remembering the first time he had been told that.
Joshua nodded. "And your world begins with you as well."
Neku hated to admit it, but the blonde was right. He hadn't felt like he had really lived prior to the Game; he had been content with ignoring the diverse crowds and having them ignore him. They were nothing to him and never would mean anything to him...at least, that's what he thought before. But still...
"You're still a liar." said Neku, determined to fight this losing battle. "You didn't tell me anything about, well, anything. How am I supposed to take anything you say seriously? How am I supposed to tell what was a lie and what wasn't?"
"I wasn't lying to you because I wanted to." Joshua took a step closer to Neku, the angry spark still in his eyes. "I merely did what was necessary to protect the both of us. You saw what the Grim Heaper was doing, trying to track me down while I was in this state and kill me to take over the role of Composer. Besides, what do you think you would have done if I had introduced myself as the Composer, or if I revealed myself as your killer, or the being that was about to destroy Shibuya? How would you have reacted?"
Neku couldn't respond. All of it was true...there was no way he would have done anything with Joshua if he knew his real intentions. That entire week would have been a disaster, more of a disaster than it had already been. But there was still something bothering him...
"How come you didn't destroy Shibuya, anyway? I thought that was your plan."
Joshua raised an eyebrow. "Would you have preferred it if I did?"
"Well, of course not!"
"Then there's no reason to ask. You should be grateful I gave you and your friends your lives back. Don't question what you don't understand."
Neku stared weakly at him. None of it made any sense...
He heard a ringing noise resonate from his pocket. As the orange-haired boy pulled out his phone, Joshua commented, "It's probably your friends. I suppose I kept you too long."
Neku flipped up the phone, checking the text message from Beat. Wasn't he ever the impatient one... "It is from them...I better go..." He glanced up when he didn't hear Joshua reply. The blonde was looking down at the ground, his eyes that had been full of force minutes ago were now dying to sadness, and he looked tentative, unsure. Was he...jealous?
"You know..." Neku started slowly, "if you want to come along..."
"No." Joshua's reply came out sharp and staccato, even forced. "I don't...belong in your world."
Neku had no time to protest as Joshua walked close to him, whispering in his ear, "You're not the only one who changed in those three weeks, Neku. You made me realize that...that not all humans are unworthy of life. The way you fought in that game, for your memories, for your friend, for several people you never even knew...if all Players could think like that, then..."
"Then what...?" Neku's tone was as soft as Joshua's.
Joshua opened his mouth, but shook his head and closed it, instead muttering, "I'll keep in touch, Neku, if you want to..."
Joshua pushed past him, into the Scramble and the crowds. Neku tried to follow, but was impeded by the Prince's fans once more, strutting down the crossing with their idol as if they owned the city. By the time Neku pushed though the crowd, the Composer had vanished from sight.
Neku let the cell phone drop, ignoring the next round of complaints from Shiki, Beat and Rhyme, and stared at the sky. So softly, so quietly it was unheard by anyone else and almost by himself, he called out, "You're wrong, Joshua. You do belong here...all people do, no matter where they come from. This is everyone's world..."
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