Authors Note:
I do not own TWEWY.
"Strike!" A yell came from the fairly tall guy in a black hat. He glanced up at the score sheet on the screen above the bowling alley. A perfect streak... flawless. He would win this... if everyone else hadn't got exactly the same.
"Well done, Sho dear." The smug voice came from the shortest member of the party, a white haired kid in a white shirt and dark jeans. Sho Minamimoto sat down and folded his arms.
"Hmph." He watched as Joshua went up to pick up a bowling ball. He threw it elegantly, and watched it bounce off several invisible barriers before knocking all the pins down.
"Well done, Sir." The congratulations came from the guy in the shades and red headphones.
"Thank you, Megumi." Joshua smiled, and Megumi Kitaniji went up to bowl.
"Ah, if you're not a bowler can you please stay out of the lane area, sir." The person at the desk said rather timidly.
"Ah, I'll only be a minute. Just need to talk to someone, real important." Joshua recognised the voice and turned around.
"Mr. H? How nice of you to join us." He said brightly. Hanekoma grinned, and sat down next to him.
"Whilst you lot are here, the UG is falling into a state of chaos with Noise running loose and Reapers running around like headless chickens." He muttered under his breath. Joshua raised an eyebrow.
"We're busy Mr. H. Can't you see we're bowling?"
"Yes, but..."
"We're bowling." Joshua frowned. Hanekoma got the message.
"Right, right... But don't be expecting me to clear up this mess, boss." Hanekoma waved his hand.
Several strikes later, it was almost the 10th round. Joshua, Kitaniji, Konishi and Sho were all on equally perfect scores. Hanekoma was frowning at the cheating most of them were using.
"You and Kitaniji are using telekinesis, and Konishi is using her shadow to avoid it going into the gutter. Is Sho the only one actually playing legitimately?"
"No, he's using math to figure out how to get strikes." Josh replied, as Sho finished his 9th shot.
"That's not as much cheating as you're using."
"It's not cheating if I allow it, Mr. H." Josh giggled. Hanekoma just sighed.
"Your go, boss." Josh nodded and walked up to get a ball. He took a few steps back, and was about to get another strike when another kid stepped out in front of him. There was a loud crash and the bowling ball rolled into the gutter. The tray with drinks the kid was carrying flew into the air, the majority of which went over Josh and the control panel. A loud crackling and sparks accompanied the screen with the scores on going blank. Laughter broke out among the group, with Kitaniji and Konishi trying to hide it, whilst Hanekoma and Sho didn't try as hard.
"Sorry..." The kid looked up at the person who was currently lying on top of him. "...Wait, Joshua?!"
"Well well, if it isn't my dear partner." Josh giggled, looking at the orange haired, blue eyed boy. "I almost didn't recognise you with that smile on your face, Neku."
"Can you get off me now?" Neku muttered, clearly not pleased to meet him.
"Aw, but this is so comfy..." Josh giggled again.
"Agh, get off!" Neku shoved him to the side and sat up.
"Honestly, is this how you treat me after that week we spent together? I'm hurt, Neku..." Josh said with mock sadness, sitting up. A mixture of soft drinks dripped from his hair.
"You killed me! I don't have to-" Neku yelled, before Josh put his hand over Neku's mouth.
"Now now dear, I don't think you want to be yelling that in a crowded place like here, hmm?" Josh muttered. Neku replied by biting his hand. "Ow! Hey, that wasn't very nice." Josh rubbed his hand. Neku just folded his arms.
"...Wait, weren't you guys erased?" He said, looking at the rest of the group.
"They got better." Josh said cheerfully. Neku sighed.
"Wait, and they're still working for you? After one got erased by you, one betrayed you, and one betrayed you and got erased by you!?"
"Oh, Sho saw things my way eventually... didn't you, Sho dear?" Sho flinched and tried not to make eye contact. At that moment, Neku almost felt sorry for the insane maths-obsessed freak who'd tried to kill him several times.
"Hey, Phones." Hanekoma said, walking up to the pair.
"Mr. H? What're you doing here?" Neku asked, whilst being helped up by Hanekoma. When he was up, he looked down at the pool of drink on the floor.
"I just needed to tell Josh something, boss." Was the reply, whilst he helped Joshua up.
"Right... I should probably go and buy some more drinks, the others are expecting me..." Neku turned back towards the snack stand.
"Oh, you're with the others?" Josh grabbed Neku's arm and span him around.
"Hey, let go of me!" Neku said angrily, trying to get out of Josh's grip.
"I don't think so, dear. First you ruin our little game, and then you get drinks all over me. You're not going to get away that easily." Josh's voice was still cheerful sounding, but a lot more threatening.
"I didn't do anything! It's your fault you weren't looking where you were going!" Neku pointed out.
"You still ruined out game, so how about you pay for it."
"No!"
"...Then how about another little game then? One on one in the arcade, loser pays for the bowling game, drinks and arcade games?" Josh smiled.
"You're on." Neku grinned. He was going to win this.
Five minutes later, the two groups met in the arcade.
"Alright, Sho, you go against Daisukenojo-" Josh's instructions were interrupted by a loud "Bwaaaaaah!" From Beats direction.
"...Anyway, Mitsuki, you'll go against Shiki, and Megumi will go against little Raimu. You'll have to decide what to play by yourself, alright?" Josh finished. Everyone nodded and headed off to go argue about what to play.
"Who am I going against?" Neku asked, looking between Joshua and Hanekoma.
"Me, silly." Josh giggled. "We're going to be playing DDR, okay?"
"But I'd rather play House of the..."
"DDR!" Josh said firmly and grabbed Neku's wrist, dragging him off kicking and yelling in the direction of the DDR machines.
"We gonna play House of the Dead, yo." Beat said. Sho grinned.
"Fine. Prepare to lose, radian!" They both picked up a controller and began to shoot.
"Uh... Who are you?" Shiki asked, still holding the stuffed cat Mr. Mew.
"I am Mitsuki Konishi, officer of the Reapers." Konishi said, looking over the top of her glasses at her.
"Uh... I don't remember you. Anyway, shall we go on DDR?" Shiki smiled, her glasses reflecting the light so you couldn't see her eyes.
"Alright. I'll crush you!" Konishi smirked, before realising she sounded like Higashizawa. No-one wanted to sound like Higashizawa. They both stepped onto the DDR machine.
"Um...Mr Kitaniji?" Kitaniji felt a small tug on his sleeve. He looked down, and saw his opponent. Raimu Bito was about half his size.
"Ah, Raimu. I'm sorry, I did not see you." He said.
"It's okay, but can you please call me Rhyme? Can we go on the racing game, I really like playing on that one." Rhyme smiled.
"If you want..." Kitaniji decided it was worth giving her the advantage for this, for... obvious reasons. He followed her to the game of her choice.
"No! Josh, I don't want to go on the DDR!" Neku yelled. He was currently holding on to one of the pillars supporting the roof, as if it was the only thing holding him from death. The death of his dignity.
"Don't be silly dear, it's fun!" Josh was pulling at his arms, trying to get him to let go. He stopped for a moment, and stepped back. He pulled out his phone and pressed a few buttons. Neku's shorts fell down.
"Wha?! HEY!" Neku went bright red and pulled them back up, whilst Josh just giggled. When he had finished, Josh grabbed his arm and dragged him onto the DDR machine.
"Noooooooooooo!" The yell from Neku echoed through the whole arcade. It was ignored.
Ten minutes later...
"Take that, you hectopascal!" Sho yelled.
"Bwaaaaah! How'd you do that, yo?" Beat yelled back as Sho entered his name for the high score.
"Played it all the zetta time when I was alive. Do the math." Sho grinned.
"Guys, I'm sorry, yo..." Beat muttered.
Shiki and Konishi were moving almost in perfect sync, hitting ever step. It was nearing the end of the song, and someone needed to miss a step.
CRASH
"Omigosh, are you okay?" Shiki stepped back, hitting the last step. The word "WINNER" flashed up on her screen. Konishi had fallen over and got a face full of floor, just as Sho and Beat came round the corner. The two burst out laughing.
"Haha, Iron-face got served, yo!"
"Heheh Konishi, looks like you zetta lost."
"Insolent chimps!" Konishi snarled, getting up. "My calculations were perfect, how could I have lost?!"
"DDR in those shoes? Are you zetta stupid?" Sho pointed out.
"Shut up! As if you know anything about DDR, chimp!" Konishi was getting very annoyed.
"Ooh, looks like I zetta startled the witch." Sho muttered under his breath. Beat was the only other one who got the reference, because they both liked playing zombie related first person shooters. Who knew? They both started laughing, and Sho ducked the shoe thrown by Konishi, the heel of which embedded itself into a door.
"Uh... Beat, how did you do?" Shiki asked, stepping off the mini stage.
"Sorry, I lost, yo." Beat grinned. "But you won, so that makes it equal, aight?"
"I suppose so... I hope Rhyme and Neku are doing okay."
Kitaniji was surprised. And slightly annoyed he'd given his opponent the advantage in the first place. Rhyme watched as her car went zooming around the track, driving with a professional like standard, despite the fact she could only just reach the peddles. As the cars crossed the line, Rhyme cheered and Kitaniji face palmed. The other four came around the corner, and saw that they had finished.
"Rhyme, how'd you do, yo?" Beat yelled. Rhyme span around and looked over the back of her seat.
"Beat! I won!" She smiled happily. Beat and Shiki ran over, and Rhyme hugged them both. Sho and Konishi walked over to Kitaniji.
"Am I the only one who can zetta win?" Sho complained, earning himself a glare from Konishi.
"Only one...? You mean..." Kitaniji started.
"Aight, yo! It's 2-1, and we gonna win!" Beat yelled.
"...I just hope He will win." Kitaniji said quietly, before the group moved on to see how the last two were doing.
Neku was trying. He was trying. He just wasn't good enough to beat Josh. Joshua had managed to hit every step with grace and dignity, whilst Neku was moving jerkily and missing a lot of the steps. The song ended, and Neku collapsed onto the floor, breathing heavily. Josh leaned on the handles on the back.
"Well Neku, dear, looks like you lost. But you could always repay me in another way if you wanted to." Josh giggled.
"Hell... No!" Neku gasped between breaths.
"Aw, are you going to break the promise you made?" Josh said, with mock sadness tingeing his voice. "Oh, hello everyone."
Neku turned around, ignoring Joshua's question. "How long have you been there?!" He yelled at the laughing group of Reapers and humans.
"So, how are you going to make the repayments?" Josh started to ask.
"Whoa whoa whoa, we aint payin' nothing, yo! It's a draw!" Beat yelled.
"Two of you lost?" Josh frowned.
"Don't zetta look at me. I won." Sho grinned.
"Mitsuki and Megumi?" Josh turned to the two Reapers, who were now looking at the floor.
"I...I'm sorry, sir, but we lost." Kitaniji said quietly.
"Well, that's a shame... Hey, Mr. H, you didn't help either side did you?" Josh turned to Hanekoma, who was sipping a take-out coffee.
"Didn't help anyone. Just got myself a coffee, boss." Hanekoma replied.
"Ah, good. Since a draw is neutral grounds, you can pay!" Joshua said brightly.
"What? But I didn't even participate-"
"You can pay." Josh frowned again. Hanekoma sighed.
"It's not fair on me to be paying this-"
"Everyone, say thank you to Mr. H for paying." Joshua said loudly.
"Hmph."
"You should do as the Composer asks and thank him, Minamimoto."
"Thank you, Hanekoma."
"Thanks, Mr.H."
"Thanks, King 'a' Coffee!"
"Thanks, Mr. Hanekoma."
"Thank you Mr. Hanekoma."
"Well... it's fine." Hanekoma sighed again, and pulled out a cheque book. Joshua smiled whilst he signed it, and then took it from him.
"Oh, Mr.H, this won't be enough." Josh smiled.
"What? How much did you spend...?" Hanekoma's mouth fell open when Josh whispered in his ear. "How could you spend that much?!"
"Well, We had 5 games because we kept getting the same scores, we had to pay shoe rental for each of them, then there's lunch, snacks, drinks, the arcade, and dear Neku's drinks." Josh counted off each thing on his fingers.
"I...I'm not paying that much!" Hanekoma protested.
"You've already agreed to pay, you don't really have any choice..." Josh grinned.
"I...I...agh... I suppose I can sell some more art..." Hanekoma tried to figure out how to pay this and the rent of his cafe at the same time.
"Oh, I suppose Neku will buy it, won't you dear?"
"Yeah. I'd buy CAT's work." Neku grinned.
"But Neku, then you'd be paying for the whole thing!" Shiki said, holding Mr. Mew again.
"...Hey, you're right!" Neku yelled.
"Aw, Neku aren't you going to get up?" Joshua extended a hand, and Neku took it, standing up. "Okay Mr.H, we're going to leave now. Try and get the money soon, okay?" Joshua smiled, and the Reapers and humans left the arcade. Hanekoma sighed, and sat down to finish his coffee. A yell came from outside.
"Josh, you can let go of my hand now. Hey, let go! Don't touch me! Leave me alone, damnit!"