Special Day
Fandom: The World Ends With You (TWEWY)
Pairing: Neku/Joshua if you squint, could just be friendship too.
Setting: Post-game
Was it just him or was something seriously off this past week?
Neku couldn't explain it even if he tried, but something was definitely off. Shibuya was having an odd vibe for a while now, and something was definitely up. For a moment, Neku was actually starting to wonder if something was wrong with the Composer. Of course, with no way to contact said guy (not that he'd want to, mind you) he opted to go for the next best person;
Mr. H.
"Ya noticed?" Hanekoma asked curiously as he cleaned up one of the cups.
Neku nodded, sipping from his cup a little bit. "It's not really that hard… somehow… Though it's still a bit vague at times. Tough game?"
"Hmm… you could say that," H said simply, setting the cup away. "Boss believes he's been jinxed, again."
The redhead quirked an eyebrow when Hanekoma chuckled. "Jinxed? How?"
"Ah, nothing, Phones." Neku just ignored the nickname (having been used to it by now). "Just that, around this time of year, he's used to something going wrong."
"Wrong how?"
"Well, last year, a few of the new pins that were brought out didn't work properly and backfired on a couple of Players. Year before that, he lost some very important songs he'd made for Shibuya. And before that… Hmm… Actually, I think he had to sit out the Game because of a serious cold."
"Wait… Joshua can catch a cold?!"
"Yeah, we were surprised, too."
Neku hummed a bit, sipping his coffee. "I can see why he thinks he's jinxed. So what's up now?"
"Well… he's kinda stuck without a Conductor."
"…So that makes it my fault?"
Hanekoma shook his head. "Nah. In the end, thats Joshua's own fault. But, it still leaves him quite busy with the Game. He's been working overtime on this Game." Sighing, the barista added: "I've been trying to get him to take a break a few times already, but he's a stubborn fool at times like this."
"Yeah…" Neku didn't need that told to him twice. "So… any idea why he's jinxed?"
"Not that I know. It's not around the time he became a Composer, so that's not it."
"Date of death?"
"Hmm… nope. He died sometime in July."
"Oh."
Silence befell the shop for a few moments, before Neku downed his cup and placed down the money for the coffee. "I better go. I've still got school tomorrow."
"Arrite. Feel free to stop by anytime, Neku."
Studying art was not easy at times. It involved a lot of studying the actual artists before they were actually allowed to do their own pieces of work. That was something Neku could deal with, actually. In fact, he was a bit ahead of the others of his class and was now choosing a subject for a project of his. He hadn't decided yet, but he was gonna make it a good one, that's for sure.
Humming a bit to himself, Neku skimmed past the books in the library with his finger. Suddenly he paused and moved back, blinking as he spotted a yearbook of his own school. Which was way off in the wrong section.
With a frown, Neku snagged the book off the shelf, and looked at the year. It dated back about 27 years and counted 5 years.
"Hmm…"
After a moment, Neku shrugged and walked over to a table and settled down to look through it a bit.
…and then he understood.
Joshua sighed in aggravation, quite ready to rip his hair out at this point. It had been one problem after another this week and it was driving him mad. This Game was just one big disaster, and the Players weren't even that good to begin with.
The Reapers were getting as annoyed as he was, he knew, but none of them dared to voice it around him. Hanekoma had kept calling him over and over, too, mostly when it got late, to tell him to go to bed. To which Joshua would respond by clicking his cell shut. He didn't dare turn it off for fear that something bad might come in, though he was seriously hoping against hope that it wouldn't.
To make matters worse, he'd just gotten an anonymous package from Uzuki, which was addressed to him, oddly enough. Of course, Joshua was not foolish enough to open it right away, and he was hardly curious enough to try and figure out what was in it, or from whom it came. He was not in the mood right now.
BEEP BEEP! BEEP BEEP!
Growling, Joshua stomped over to his phone and checked the ID screen. "Sanae…" he snarled, then clicked receive and put the phone to his ear. "The answer is NO!!"
"Whoa whoa! Easy, boss! What's got you so upset suddenly?"
"What's got me UPSET!?!?" Joshua fumed. "Sanae, it's been one disaster after another!! How'm I supposed to run a proper Game if everything I do ends up in a failure!?"
"Calm down, boss! Look, I know things are rough, but if you'd just--"
"NO!!" Joshua screamed and slammed the red button on his cellphone and proceeded to glare and fume at the orange contraption, a vein pulsing on his temple, before tossing it on the nightstand and walking back to his desk to get some work done. There was still tons of it to be done after--
BEEP BEEP! BEEP BEEP!
"ARGH!!" Joshua glared at the phone for a brief moment, before he finally just decided to ignore it and continue working, despite the noise. He figured Sanae would give up, eventually. It was only a matter of time.
BEEP BEEP! BEEP BEEP!
But the phone didn't stop ringing at all. Sure, it would pause, since the other side would be cut off, but a few seconds later, it would start all over again. And it was making it downright impossible for Joshua to get any work done.
"Grrr… that's IT!!" Josh snarled out when the phone started to ring for what had to be the tenth time and stomped over, snatching the phone from the nightstand and clicking receive just before the final ring. "I THOUGHT I SAID--"
But Joshua never finished, because it wasnt Sanaes voice he heard from the other side. It was a familiar voice, though it took a few moments for Joshua to pin a name to it, especially since he was first trying to process what he was hearing, which was taking him far longer than usual through his shock-clouded mind.
"Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday, dear Joshua
Happy birthday to you."
For a long moment, Joshua found himself unable to say anything, before a name finally came to mind. "N…Neku?"
"Yeah, yeah, it's me, shush already."
"You… w…why did you…?"
"Oh come ON! That's the polite thing to do when it's your birthday, ain't it?!"
"My… wha…?"
"Yanno, that's gotta suck… I mean, the being jinxed on your b-day thing, and all."
Neku was still talking, but Joshua didn't hear any more. It was like his mind had shut off Neku's voice so that it could attempt to process what had been said.
His birthday…? How did Neku even…?
After Joshua had become Composer, he had totally stopped paying attention to time, really. He didn't even remember for how many years he'd been the Composer, and he hardly ever kept track of the date. It wasn't important to someone who had forever until someone came to surpass him, and that usually took several eons.
"…Josh? Oy! Josh!!"
Joshua startled and blinked. "Buh?"
"Good, you're still there. So?"
"Uh… so what?" Joshua asked lamely. Why hadn't he paid attention when Neku'd been talking?
"Grrr!! Did Pinky give you the package!?"
"Pack…?" Blinking, Joshua whipped around to his table, spotting the box that Uzuki had brought him earlier that day. "Um… h-hold on a moment…"
Lowering the phone from his ear, he hurried over to the table, putting his phone down and starting to rip off the tape keeping the box shut tight. He couldnt remember the last time hed been so anxious or curious about anything, but he found himself very nearly cutting himself on a piece of tape before he could actually open the flaps.
The first thing going through Joshua's mind was 'Has Neku been hanging out with Kariya?', for in the box there were two other boxes. However, one of them was white and smelled like cake, which was also partly visible through the round piece of plastic on the top. Reaching in, Joshua pulled that one out first and opened it to look at the contents better.
It was a simple cake really. Chocolate, by the smell of it, with whipped cream and several small bits of chocolate in the shape of fruits on top the whipped cream. In the middle of it was a small plaque that said in calligraphic chocolate lettering "Happy Birthday Joshua".
Smiling a bit, Joshua dipped one finger in the whipped cream and put it in his mouth as he picked up the phone again. "Hmm… tasty," Joshua quipped.
"Glad to know you approve."
"How'd you figure chocolate was my favorite, anyway?"
"You mean despite the fact you always had a different chocolate bar wrapper in your pocket every day during the Game?"
At that comment, Joshua flushed. He could've sworn hed tucked those in his pocket properly every time. But he should've known that Neku would notice such tiny little things. Yes, Joshua was a chocolate addict, but that was a very well-kept secret from even Sanae.
"Well… um… thanks… but… how did you…?"
"Open the other box."
Joshua blinked once. "O…okay. Hold on."
Normally he wouldnt listen to someone telling him to do something just like that, but he had been planning to open it anyway. So he set his phone down, dragged a chair over and sat down as he pulled out the other box.
Unlike the cake box, this one was wrapped up in brightly colored paper with a bright yellow ribbon. Joshua put his hands on the two ends and pulled lightly, making the ribbon fall away quite easily. Then came the harder part; getting rid of the wrapping without actually damaging it.
"…Ah screw it!" Joshua quipped with a light chuckle before he dug his nails into the wrapping and dragged down, with the satisfying ripping of paper echoing through the room as he rapidly tore off the wrapping.
The paper was lying at his feet in less than a minute. The first thing he noticed, was a single photograph. Well, it looked like a copy, but it was definitely a photograph. And it looked like it was a school picture, though someone had drawn a crude red circle on it for some reason. But as Joshua picked it up and looked it over carefully, he felt his blood freeze.
The circle had been drawn around a single person standing in the back, and it was a face he recognized very well;
It was his own, after all.
But, he looked younger… about 12, actually, and he couldn't really remember the other children that surrounded him. But…
The date in the bottom dated back to 27 years ago, somewhere during summer. Joshua couldn't remember that far back, though, and he could only come to the explanation that he had forgotten it not just because of the time, but because he had wanted to forget…
His grip loosened and the picture slipped from his hands. "Ah snap!" Joshua tried to get it, but it seemed to mock him and fluttered well out of range to land somewhere on the floor. Cursing softly under his breath, Joshua swore to get back at it later, before he looked back into the small box still on his lap.
Reaching in, he pulled out several pale silver picture frames. For a moment, he almost thought thered be more pictures of his past in it… but no. Despite that they did look like pictures, they were actually small paintings, in acrylic.
When it registered what he was seeing, Joshua actually smiled.
The first was a scene surrounded in white, and six people were scattered across it, dressed up warmly for the weather that surrounded them. But something was off… and it took Joshua a bit to realize that they were… well, older than he remembered.
Beat was standing behind a tree, familiar grin on his face and the same hoodie on his head, only his hair was longer and hung a bit past his shoulders. He was holding up a snowball in one hand, but he didn't seem aware of Rhyme standing next to him, hand a little under his and a small cheeky expression on her face. Joshua could just imagine Beat looking over and Rhyme pushing his hand with the snowball in his face, making him giggle.
Rhyme also had longer hair, but rather than a hoodie, she only had a pair of earmuffs, and a scarf hiding her mouth.
Shiki was sitting in a mound of snow, giggling and her legs pulled up. Mr. Mew was right next to her in the snow, its arms and legs had been moved to make a "snow-kitty". She had longer hair as well, but still had her glasses up on her nose. That might be the reason why she didn't seem prepared to jump into the snowballfight.
Eri was also there, getting into position with a snowball in between her mitten-covered hands. She was grinning and clearly aiming straight for Beat.
And off to the side stood Neku, his ears covered with earmuffs, a scarf wrapped around his neck and gloves on his hands as he watched them while he held a larger snowball in his hands. However, the small smirk on his face made it obvious that he knew very well how this fight was going to end up. Neku hadnt changed much physically, though his hair did have a darker shine to it.
Most would assume that that was the whole group, but they'd be wrong, since the final person in the picture was Joshua himself. He was standing a little bit away from Neku, working with some snow on the two large balls of snow in front of him. A snowman, clearly. That explained why Neku was holding such a large ball; that was probably the head. Joshua was equally wrapped up in warm clothes like the others, though he hadnt changed much physically. He was just taller.
It was the type of scene that was, well, normal, but for some reason, the picture almost made him want to cry, and he couldnt even say why.
Flipping through the other pictures revealed several more of the same type of pictures, all of them winter-oriented. The pictures included skating, sliding and even a game of curling on the ice, using household items instead of professional gear. Simple pleasures, really.
A small smile was on his face when he picked up the phone again. "Did you make those, Neku?"
"Pretty much…"
Even if he hadn't asked, though, he would've known anyway. Joshua had noticed almost instantly the irregularities in the snow, spelling out the kanji for "Sakuraba Neku" for those with a careful eye.
"Very impressive."
"Thanks, I guess…"
Joshua smiled a bit, and attempted to speak again, but nothing would come out. The pictures had stirred up memories that he had attempted to forget, but had still been hiding somewhere in the back of his mind.
They included winter seasons with little to no snow, and a cold, empty house in the night. A birthday in December was never a happy occasion, especially if your parents both have to work double shifts all the time because of Christmas shoppers. It left you alone, and forgotten. He had never had any real birthday presents, and no one would come to his party even if hed asked. Friends had not been something he had a lot of, and everything always seemed to go wrong in the week that his birthday was to be held. Once, he'd actually had a birthday present, but his parents hadnt been there with him. He'd gotten home from school and there it had been; his present, along with a note that his parents wouldn't be home until much later.
And when he had unwrapped the present, it hadn't even been that special. Some kind of robot he could put together on his own. The thought had been nice, but he had never been interested in those kind of mechas, really. Yet he'd still pieced it together into the wee hours of the night, quietly singing a simple birthday song to himself.
Hed fallen asleep at the dinner table that night… and no one had noticed.
"…so I figured……Josh? Joshua, you alright over there?"
Joshua blinked blearily, not having realized that a) Neku had been talking, and b) that he had started to cry at some point. Hot tears trickled down his cheeks with every bat of his eyes, and a sob stuck in his throat. He tried to gulp it down, but no such luck. He choked on a sob and dropped his head, more and more tears falling down his cheeks.
"Josh! Are you okay?! Did you--"
"I-I'm okay… really… I'm okay" Hiccup. "I just… N-no ones ever… no one's really… given me a present like that… before…"
"No one…? Not even Mr. H??"
"N-no…" Sanae didn't even know it was his birthday this week. And if he did, he surely didn't show it. Not to mention the other Reapers. Then again, most of them were usually too scared to actually talk to him, too afraid of a retribution.
"…Geez… that blows…"
Joshua blinked, before he giggled a bit. "I believe you mean that the other way around, Neku, dear."
"Don't call me dear! And no, I don't!"
Joshua couldn't help but chuckle. Neku was just so easy to aggravate some times. He didn't even realize his tears had stopped until Neku spoke again.
"Better?"
"…huh?"
"You feeling any better yet?"
Joshua blinked slowly, then nodded, before remembering he was on the phone and Neku couldn't see that. "Yeah… a little…"
"Good to know. I don't feel up to dealing with oversensitive-sleep-deprived-Composers right now."
"Hey now, I am not oversensitive!" Joshua countered.
"Fine you're not, but you definitely ARE sleep-deprived!"
"I am n--"
"Yes you ARE! Shibuya's suffering because you're not getting any rest, you moron!"
"…e-eh?"
"You can't expect to run a city for 24 hours straight! Hell, even a God would have trouble dealing with that alone!"
'Interesting analogy…' "But I can't just leave Shibuya alone like that!"
"Josh…"
"I mean, I don't even have a Conductor at this time, so I have to pick out the Game Masters and ensure they don't screw up…"
"Josh."
"Plus I have to decide which psychs to have the shops sell. I can't have them sell WildBoar at JM, can I?"
"Joshua."
Not to mention I have to keep track of the Players points and--"
"JOSHUA!!" Joshua jumped at the shout, snapping his jaw shut instantly. "Dammit, what did I just say?! You CAN'T do all that alone for 7 days straight!"
"But I…"
"No buts! Seriously, just put Mr. H in charge for a bit if you're so worried. He hardly has any work to do anyway with the way his cafe goes so he'll have the time."
"Well yeah, but…"
"What did I just say?! You need a break, Josh, and I'm not just saying that! You're going to tear yourself apart like this!"
Joshua wanted to open his mouth to retort, but the word that was about to form was another "but" and it would only earn him another rebuke from the teen on the other side of the line. Normally, that wouldn't bother him that much since no one really dared telling him what to do to begin with, but for some odd reason, he couldn't tell Neku to leave him alone.
"Josh." Neku's voice softened then, as if he realized what Joshua was thinking. "If you don't take a break, you'll only end up making Shibuya more unstable. That's not what you want, right?"
"N…no…"
"So just take a break for now. You need it more than anyone right now."
"But--"
Joshua heard Neku sigh dramatically on the other end. "If it makes ya feel better, I'll keep an eye on Shibuya, too."
"Huh… don't you have…?"
"Nah. I got a few days off to work on a project. So I got time."
"But…"
"Josh."
"Yeah?"
"Just go. To. Sleep."
Joshua wanted to say something in response, something along the lines of "I can't go to sleep yet, I have some stuff to finish". But that wasn't what came out, though…
"Y-yeah, okay…" Joshua's eyes widened as he heard his own voice say those words, but as much as he wanted to take those words back, he couldn't bring himself to.
"Well that took you long enough." Neku really sounded exasperated at that point.
Joshua felt himself smiling a little, even as he set the cake away in the small fridge he kept in his room. "You make it sound so easy… Who's to say I'll fall asleep even if I go to bed?"
"Just shut up and get in bed already!" Neku sighed out.
"Okay, okay, easy, dear."
"Stop calling me that!"
Joshua just giggled as he dropped backfirst on his bed. He wasn't going to fall asleep just like that, he knew that much, but he may as well humor Neku. He waited for a few moments, before he quipped: "Told you I wouldn't fall asleep."
"Ill be the judge of that."
Joshua rolled his eyes. But before he could say anything else, Neku's voice echoed in his ear…
"Mukudori… Yamabato… Koganegumo…
(A gray starling, a turtledove, a Japanese gold beetle,)
Omurasaki mo yume no naka
(and a giant purple butterfly, all in a dream.)
Otsukimisou wa nemurenai
(The evening primrose can't sleep)
gin no shizuku wo… nonda kara
(because it drank the silver drop.)"
Joshua blinked slowly, not realizing that his eyes stopped halfway opening again. He was too focused on listening to really notice, though with every blink, his eyes seemed to slide shut a little more.
"Andoro-n… doro-n… naidoro-n…
(A dream, dream, no dream)
yoru no koe… mori ni watareba
(Voices of the night… If you traverse the forest…)"
Was it just him or did the ceiling seem to blur just then? Joshua reached up for his eyes to rub out whatever was obscuring his vision, but instead, he used it to cover his mouth as a yawn came from his throat. Slowly, his eyes slid further shut…
"Andoro-n…doro-n…naidoro-n…
(A dream, dream, no dream)
oyasumi yoiko
(Goodnight, my darling child.)
ashita sametara agemashou
(When you wake up tomorrow, I'll give to you)
Kiichigo… Natsugumi… Yamaboushi…
(a raspberry, a summer oleaster, and a dogwood.)
Joshua shook his head briefly to try and stay awake, but that action only succeeded in draining his energy even further, and his eyes slid shut entirely, the grip on his phone loosening until it flopped over beside his ear.
"Oyasumi yoiko
(Goodnight, my darling child.)
oyasumi
(Goodnight)"
Neku listened carefully, and smirked when he picked up Joshua's even breathing on the other side. He had a feeling that Joshua would not be waking up any time soon, with how he'd been going about. Right now, Neku was glad he'd actually watched that one anime a few times and downloaded the song to his mp3, since he tended to completely memorize a song by the 3rd time he heard it.
"G'night, Josh," he said softly, and clicked his phone shut. "And Happy Birthday, still."
The song at the end is from "Key: The Metal Idol" which I have never seen at all, if I may be honest. I was looking around for a good Japanese lullaby, and this was the best I could find. Well, anyway, I hope you like the story.