Summary: Yoshiya was always alone; he had Angels, he had Reapers, he had Souls with Imagination, but he was always alone. Until 'Joshua' found young Neku, and then Yoshiya declared Neku would always be his. No matter what.
Disclaimer: I do not own The World Ends With You/It's a Wonderful World, that would be SquareEnix. I only own the idea behind this storyline.
Beta: Tysonkaiexperiment (from dA and ffnet); I love you my dear!
Pairing: Future Yoshiya/Neku
Word Count: 1945
- Begin Entry -
Kiryu Yoshiya was born as the youngest son in a family, in an area now called 'Shibuya', in the country of Nippon during the Nara period. The Nara period was the beginning of the centralized government, based out of city of Heijo-kyo. As the youngest, Yoshiya was viewed as the runt of the litter; his influential father had no time to spend on him, and his mother wasn't allowed to input herself in the middle of his affairs, leaving Yoshiya to fend for himself; he was sickly, weak, and looked nothing like his siblings with his ash gray hair and luminescent lilac eyes. However, Yoshiya was viewed throughout his hometown as a seer of sorts: the young boy (barely twelve years) could see the ghosts that wandered the lands, and communicate with them. This ability only isolated him more.
It was during the smallpox epidemic that Yoshiya found his death in a high fever and toxemia. Yoshiya went to bed feeling weaker than usual and woke up with his body below ground and a man named Sanae to guide him. Sanae explained that every so many years the Angels, a term Yoshiya had never heard before until Sanae compared them to Kami, would deem a guardian angel of death, something like Enma, necessary over specific parts of land. Sanae said Yoshiya would become the Composer, an Angel who oversaw all the events and people in the land of future Shibuya. He would do as the Producer, Sanae, suggested when it came to caring for the people's souls, and he would remain Composer for as long as he wished.
Yoshiya couldn't help but laugh slightly at the idea; knowing he was the seventh son of a seventh son and would have never had this opportunity alive. He was constantly reminded how low on the chain of command he was, and now he oversaw all of his Father's land and then some in the afterlife. However Yoshiya felt empty; as if the disease from his life had sucked out almost all emotion inside. He was rational, he was reasonable, he was emotionless.
Years past and Yoshiya allowed his spirit to age until he appeared twenty-three, coming to the conclusion that not many people would follow the order of a young boy, despite how powerful he is. And as he watched his land flourish and thrive with new lives, the Heian, Kamakura and Kemmu periods passed within a blink it seemed and Sanae said the Angels deemed it necessary for Yoshiya to have assistants. Yoshiya would have his own shinigami.
Sanae watched as Yoshiya's childish fascination with death reappeared, and the young man (despite being hundreds of years older now) took time in finding the perfect souls with the right amount of Imagination, as Sanae and the Angels called it, to serve him. It took the rest of Feudal Japan to gather enough souls to deem the land of future Shibuya well-covered, and the entirety of the Edo period for Yoshiya to compose the Reapers' Game.
Seven days, the monsters called Noise, Reapers ('shinigami' his mind told him, the wings matched those of shinigami), a Game Master, and puzzles to solve. Yoshiya had great pleasure in enforcing the rules, turning the game (a way to come back to life) into a battle not just for the wayward souls but for the Reapers themselves. It took five great games of afterlife and death before Yoshiya realized how 'unfair' the game itself was. So he added the necessity of partners.
The players must have partners, and the Reapers could reap with partners if they wished. This evened the odds in his eye and Yoshiya was most pleased. The Angels applauded Sanae on his great choice of a Composer, one of the longer lasting since the beginning of the system, and the land of Shibuya flourished even more under everyone's watchful eye.
And then, Yoshiya felt the hole deep inside his soul rend. And his wings began to suffer for it. Yoshiya could hide in his abode, composing and conducting from a room hidden from everyone but the Angels, but the more time passed, the more his soul tore. Sanae, who had been enjoying his job of entertaining others with his little street cart alongside the Shibuya River (Sanae liked to think of it as his own version of the River Styx), was quickly alerted of the Composer's danger by the radically increasing rates of Noise appearing in the UnderGround.
Sanae rushed to the Death God's quarters and watched as Yoshiya flickered in and out of existence. Quickly listening to his Music, Sanae discovered the problem. Yoshiya, in his experience and age, had become so powerful he could not completely control his own powers anymore. The extra Music and Imagination was reenacting the smallpox virus on Yoshiya's eternal soul. Sanae bid Yoshiya to pick a partner of his own, someone to share his power.
In a fit of complete despair, Yoshiya picked the first person with a slightly bright Soul and Imagination as his Conductor. Thus Kitaniji Megumi became Shibuya's first conductor in the year 1909. The Composer's strength grew once more, no longer being held back by the excessive power. The World Wars passed with barely a nod from Yoshiya; the Composer remained back in his room and only relayed orders to the Conductor, only feeling the effects of the bombings from World War II and any of his people dying through the screams of Noise throughout Shibuya.
Allowing Kitaniji to have practically complete control, seeing as Yoshiya (only now called the Composer by Kitaniji and Boss by Sanae) never bothered to truly check on his Shibuya, Yoshiya became infected by a disease that many Souls are subjected to: ennui. Years passed, Yoshiya finding himself frequently transforming into his image of seventeen years and exploring his land. He would walk passed his Reapers without any response; he would absentmindedly erase Noise as he wandered the Crossing or stood outside 104, just watching. It was a different view of his world; here he could see their physical appearances, not just their Music and Soul and Imagination. So much had changed over the years, no one person dressed the same; no one styled their hair in the topknot or bun, no one wore kimono unless it was for a festival, and even then the kimono were nothing like what he once wore in his lifetime.
Yoshiya became fond of all the numerous stores, clothing and music and food throughout his land, and decided to include them within the Game. He marked the walls of the stores with the graffiti-esque skull and crossbones memorable of Sanae's most recent art style. He allowed the Souls in his domain the ability to appear visible inside the stores, allow them to purchase items inside the stores.
And Yoshiya noticed as the spiritual abilities that were common in the afterlife during his beginning had disappeared. Players rarely could defend themselves against the Noise, much less the Reapers. And the Composer was well aware of his attempt to keep things fair. He introduced the theory of pins to Kitaniji and Sanae (who now called himself Hanekoma Sanae, or CAT for his graffiti). Kitaniji quickly acquiesced his omnipotent Composer and released the pins to the Players. Some could only use one pin, and a rare few could use more than one.
The Game became boring once again as Yoshiya watched on. The Players had weak Imagination, not enough power, and his land was becoming bland. Despite all the sounds, colors, fashion, people, Shibuya was becoming dull to her loving Composer. Yoshiya approaches his Producer and asks for his assistance.
"Create a place where the children with Imagination gather. They are spread too thin, too far apart." Sanae quickly agreed; he too noticed how the once flourishing land of Shibuya was falling behind. The Game that once led all other Games was becoming worthless. No Soul was being polished; no Imagination grew by the Game's encouragement.
Using his artist name of CAT, Sanae created the Udagawa mural, using his Music and Imagination to install subliminal commands similar to "Enjoy the Moment" and "Gather here". The mural becomes a focal point for the people in Shibuya, especially those of stronger Imaginations. Here, at this mural, it is when Yoshiya first sees young Neku Sakuraba.
Neku, a boy in his earlier years, called to Yoshiya. His Soul, Music, Imagination only at the age of twelve called to the Composer. Yoshiya felt that minor hole in his own Soul flutter and fill. The boy was something otherworldly. The Composer couldn't hold himself back. He had to be friends with this boy; he had to have this little boy.
Without permission, without clearance, without any acknowledgement over the fact the Composer has people to answer to, Yoshiya changed his age to Neku's. Yoshiya quickly enrolled himself in Neku's school, in Neku's class, and became a classmate Neku wouldn't ever be able to forget. Upon introducing himself in class, Yoshiya gave himself a moniker, 'Joshua'. He gives Neku permission to call him such.
A year passes, with Joshua in Neku's presence; Joshua gives Neku a pair of oversized purple headphones for his thirteenth birthday. And the Angels decided a year was long enough. There was no need for the Composer to harvest or invest in Neku's Soul. He had a Conductor, he had more than enough Reapers, the Music of Shibuya was peaceful (bland) despite all the Noise. The Angels cast their judgement, and the mortal Yoshiya "Joshua" Kiryu was taken from Neku's life.
Unable to interfere, unable to apologize for causing Neku so much pain. The boy withdrew into himself, becoming anti-social and rejected any form of friendship from anyone. He used the headphones, his only gift and memento of Joshua ("Who's Joshua? I don't know any Joshua." "Neku, he gave you those headphones." "No, I bought them myself.") to seclude himself from the world.
More time passes, Yoshiya falling back into ennui and aching for his friendship with Neku. Years pass, and Yoshiya glances at the passage of time. Three years. Three years since his second death, since his leaving of Neku, and the wound was still fresh. And still no change had been found in Shibuya's Reapers' Game.
Anxious, wanting his Neku, wanting the Game to change, wanting everything to change, the powerful Composer begins to plot secretly. The Composer visits Kitaniji in his full Guardian Angel of Death form, twenty-three year old appearance and all, and announces his plan to erase his dear Shibuya. Kitaniji offers to try and fix Shibuya's people, having become so fond of this realm he bets his life on it. Smug, the Composer agrees and gives Kitaniji thirty days.
Yoshiya counted the days, hours, minutes, and seconds until eight days pass. He takes his form in the age of a sixteen year old and decides to find a human to use as a Proxy. In his wanderings, he finds his dear Neku at the Udagawa mural. Sho Minamimoto, a powerful reaper in the Game, recognizes Yoshiya for who he is (despite the fact not even Kitaniji knew what his mortal appearance was) and decides if he could defeat the Composer, than he could become the new Composer, and exercise Shibuya's Reapers' Game however he wishes. He attempts to murder the Composer, one of the most powerful of them all, but fails and escapes. In a bout of psychosis, Yoshiya the Composer chose Neku as his proxy. As Neku's eternal Soul began fading into the UnderGround, Yoshiya dropped a Player Pin upon the boy, beginning the "Long Game" that would go in the Angels' records for eternity.
- End Entry -