This was written for BrDPirateMan and ZettaFlower, though I don't really know how good of a gift it is.
~ Now; call me foolish, but I am saying this is a one-shot, but, I'll leave it purposely open. Why? I plan to come back to this, a "long" while from now and look it over as a candidate to pick up and continue. This was written as an appreciation gift. I own no rights that belong to Square Enix or Jupiter, thus, I do not own the title "The World Ends with You."
~ Finalage.
+-~TWEWY~-+
Opus Sixty Symphony Four
+-~SOTR~-+
It was raining in Shibuya. Raindrops making invisible sounds on the pavement, heard only by the dead. The sound to them was similar to a faucet's…a slow drip, for rain hardly managed to reach the ground anymore…the umbrella's stood too tight a guard, clutched by the sentries that were the living.
A single member of the dead took a glance at his phone, its aged screen dimly reflecting the overcast sky. A single drop hit as he watched.
"Climb the Pig with a stellar Monkey, defeat the bed monster. You have 360 minutes. Fail, and face erasure. ~The Reapers."
Day Two, Week Four.
It was just another week.
Another day.
Same streets…same sounds…same people milling around. A billboard on 104 proclaimed Jupiter of the Monkey to be the brand in style now, and nearer to home, two kids huddled under an awning to a restaurant along the scramble, playing Tin-Pin on a table…was one of them that kid…Shooter? Someone yelled out something about a sale on umbrellas, and a gruff business man plowed through the crowd, muttering darkly into his cell phone, briefcase jouncing around in his loose grip against his leg.
All these people.
They all had hopes, dreams, thoughts and souls. He got that now. He knew their values, he respected them…had even let some of them change his. He glanced to the side of him. His partner…he remembered. He had no such luxury.
His hand came to rest in his pocket, where the Rhyme pin resided. That was his partner…no, She was his partner. Last time the game had been without partners…this time as well. Not because they had been taken away, no…no, the composer had seen fit to make him go at it alone this time…his own personal game.
They had some five hours and fifty some odd minutes. He looked up at the rain, and some of it splashed him in the eye…he didn't flinch.
This time…for the last time…right?
Adjusting his headphones so that they sat complacently, fully covering both ears and defying the rain, Neku narrowed his eyes, his mind already arranging the pieces of the puzzle set before him. The beat set the rhythm of his feet, and that of his brain. "Calling", that's what blasted in his ears.
A pig…one that he had to climb with a stellar monkey, all to defeat a bed monster in the end…Joshua, you're losing your touch…if he were here, it would be counter time for Neku to the rare slip up on Joshua's part.
He had spent a week with him, shared a pact, souls…he knew how the Composer worked…the same way he knew how Beat worked…Shiki.
It…Mr. Mew.
His feet stopped, his headphones; silent. Nothing; nothing but the sound of the rain bouncing off the ground and umbrellas could be heard…but again, what did Neku care for the sound of the rain?
His eyes focused in on the crowd, and the voices assaulted his head. Pushing them irritably aside, he tightened his focus…nothing.
He couldn't read the person walking by.
So, that was his punishment too, huh? Not only did he have to play the game a fourth time, all alone…
He had to play it while Shiki walked around, alive and unreachable…maybe Beat too.
Gritting his teeth, he watched as the girl walked on by. Brown hair encompassed her face, and a pair of fair glasses covered her eyes…but there was no mistaking Mr. Mew. That…he wanted to say pig just for spite, but no, that cat was unique.
It was her…it had to be.
Abandoning all thoughts of his mission after all, he had plenty of time…Neku blindly followed the girl in green, observing her movement as she went past scramble crossing, and kept on walking…she was headed…for Hachiko. No way…
His purple sneakers made a huge fuss of silent, speaking ruckus to anyone alive, but the squeaks were way too loud for Neku. He stopped when she did, and broke into a run when she moved ahead…all the way to Hachiko.
The rain obscured his view, and he was afraid to get too close…if this was really her…what was she…
"I'll wait for you…everyday. At Hachiko. I'll bring Mr. Mew, so you can recognize me! ...See you there?"
No…no way.
In this pouring rain, with the temperature dropping rapidly…she was not seriously going to…
She wasn't really thinking of…
She was.
"Sure…It's a Date."
… … …
Neku just stood there. His headphones and hair were getting wet, but he didn't care much. He just watched Shiki. She took a glance up the streets, as if she were waiting…while Shibuya continued to move around her, never stopping.
He dared himself to go closer, to say-
Say what? He was dead. She was alive. The hell was he going to do, phase through her or make funny noises? Knock something over? He didn't have that kind of effect on things in the RG…He stared as she did, through the crowd, waiting for himself to make an appearance from the mass that was the life of Shibuya.
Nothing ever came.
Some two hours later, Shiki gave a little nod to herself, as if Mr. Mew had told her something. Her eyes even rested on the black cat for a while before she drew herself in and walked off, umbrella in hand. He watched her go, a tremor in her hand.
"…There was nothing special about me at all. I hated myself. I wanted to change, to be somebody else. To be Eri…"
Standing there in the rain, Neku couldn't help but think the opposite. Nothing special? Does a person like that keep a promise like the one she made? Even if it meant standing in the rain every day…for who knows how long?
Stupid Idiot. She'll get a cold. Probably already had the beginnings of it.
A small sneeze made him look up, and he saw Shiki unceremoniously wipe her nose.
Just an idiot…
…an idiot who had waited out in the rain for two hours, for her dead friend to come…and he had.
Right there.
"…I hated who I was. All I wanted was to like myself. To be cute, and smart, and perfect...like Eri…"
Well…I can't give you points for smarts, but cute…? You've got that covered…perfect…well, I don't know what to call someone who can stick to their guns like you can anything but that…Shiki.
His eyes looked to Hachiko, and he saw something sparkle. Drawn by curiosity, Neku went to take a closer look. It was a needle…and some loose thread. It was light, lighter than the Creeper's coin…
He didn't know why, or what possessed him to do it, but he took the needle and poked it through the ground a bit, there was a grill over a drain near Hachiko, and he wound the needle around the grid, making a kind of rendition of a pair of headphones with the bright green thread.
Stupid. It would loose in the storm and be gone in the morning. Why had he done that? Was it supposed to be a message? That he had been there?
Pointless. He took a look at his hand. Three hours and thirty minutes.
It was still raining.
I've become a sap. A real; full on sap.
Pushing himself off the ground he had gotten on to sew the thread, he gave one final glance at his handiwork before walking away.
I'll be there next time, Shiki. Just wait for me. If I'm alive…I'll be there.
He didn't go back to Hachiko again for the entire week…but if he had, he would have seen it.
The headphones were still there.
…and now they had the design of Mr. Mew wearing them.
+-~E~-+
Ehh, it was a short piece, and I'm not completely satisfied with it, but it came from me, wholly and fully with good intent, so I'm happy with it regardless. I hope it makes a suitable "gift". ~Finalage.