Title: The Composer of Shibuya
Author: Soshite
Summary: It was agreed that Shiki would work on image, Beat would handle the choreography, Rhyme would make the words and Neku would be the voice. Problem was that none of them had a talent for making music. Or more correctly...composing. JoshuaxNeku
Rated: T, for now
Disclaimer: I do not own The World Ends With You/It's A Wonderful World, its storyline or its characters. They belong to Square-Enix.
Beta: Un-betaed. Anyone wanna be my beta reader?
A/N: This is what happens when you introduce TWEWY to a person well versed in music...and Phantom of the Opera.
PROLOGUE
Overture
"This is the last of it, yo."
"Thank you Beat. You have no idea how much this means to us."
"S'aight, Mrs. Sakuraba. The least I could do."
Everyone was gathered in the Sakuraba apartment, completely devoid of anything personal except for the five persons themselves as they moved boxes out one by one to a van waiting on the ground floor of the apartment building. The Sakurabas were moving to Shinjuku it seemed, saying there were more opportunities there for them, than if they stayed in Shibuya. But still, it had been a hard choice to make, considering that Shibuya harbored so many good memories for them. Then again, it was probably because of those memories that they chose to move away. Over the long period of time they had lived there, Shibuya had changed on them and, perhaps, that was what had helped to drive them away.
Shiki sat by the curb, guarding the boxes and the moving van that would take the Sakurabas to their new lives, playing with Mr. Mew. Or Piggy, as he was affectionately known by some. Some of the boxes would remain, as keepsakes for the children who had helped them. Neku apparently wouldn't be needing them anymore and it would be such a waste to throw them out.
Rhyme wasn't too far away, helping out her older brother still by organizing boxes. Things that were fragile went here and non-breakable items should be stacked so. The young girl always knew what to say and do and had no problems directing her older brother about. She helped sort the smaller things though; things of iportance that needed to stay behind or be taken away. Things that belong to Mr and Mrs Sakuraba and the things that wer distinctly Neku's. Neku surprisingly didn't have many things to his name that he didn't already carry around on his person at all times, so his CDs (he always did have a penchant for music, that boy) were carefully packed away in a box and tightly wrapped up and sealed away.
Once everything was put away that needed to be put away in the van the kids took a well earned rest, sipping from plastic cups of bubble tea that Mr. Sakuraba had been generous enough to buy for them on the way back from the general store. The Sakurabas needed provisions, too. It would be a long ride to Shinjuku with all the weight they were traveling with. They would only need to make one trip though. When it was time to go hugs were exchanged all around and heartfelt good-byes were made.
And then the Sakurabas were gone from Shibuya forever.
But Beat, Rhyme and Shiki weren't the least bit sad. They had no reason to be just yet. Neku wasn't gone entirely and would never be, if he had his stubborn way about things. He was just a part of Shibuya as he was in their hearts. The friend that got them through so much. The game...school...their careers...just life.
The funeral had only been a week ago, but it felt like nearly forever. The decision to leave Shibuya had come just as quick, but hadn't left anyone with as much dread as it should have. Then again, the link shared by these friends would last unto eternity, so why worry at all?
"Well, time to head on out," Beat said, trying to get rid of the depressing air that was slowly descending on the group. He wasn't the really sentimental type and he wasn't good in situations like these where he had to say something. Rhyme usually knew the right words to say, but even she was uncharacteristically quiet (sipping her bubble tea not withstanding). But Shiki managed a small smile and adjusted her glasses as she stood up, Mr Mew firmly in her arms.
"Yeah...Hey. How about we head to Hachiko?" she suggested. "For old time's sake." She was met with quick agreements and the group headed off for the statue of the dog who waited for her master to return.
Hachiko was full of memories, just as the rest of Shibuya was. But here, they had a special connection. While the Scramble would always be remembered with fond irritation, Hachiko was place beloved by all of them in a way. Hadn't they all met here together two years ago after the Reaper's Game was over? Hadn't pacts been made here and people grown up little by little in this place? Even after the initial meeting, they continued to meet nearly every week. It all started out so great—had kept being great. And they all had great dreams and ambitions, then and made a promise they'd get to their goals together. How could they not when they were such great friends, supporting one another in the ways only they knew how.
Neku had always loved his music. It was something that would always be a part of him no matter what. On one of their outtings it was discovered that the orange top had a voice on him—a voice that, when trained correctly would be beautiful, but not lacking in emotion as it did. While the teen's spirit had been refined in the Game, his attitude adjusting accordingly as his self actualization loop had been blasted straight into next year, some habits were just harder to break. While people did change, assholes could still be assholes and Neku Sakuraba had been a jerk for so long it still showed in his voice at times. But while thet problem had persisted for a while, no one could say that Neku Sakuraba couldn't sing. And that was how things started off for the little motley group of misfits and their amateur career in music; everyone had something to contribute to the group and no one was left behind.
It was agreed that Shiki would work on image, Beat would handle the choreography, Rhyme would make the words and Neku would be the voice. Problem was that none of them had a talent for making music. Or more correctly...composing.
"Hey," Beat said, disturbing Shiki's thoughts. They had long arrived at Hachiko and had decided on squatting around the old statue. The brunnette noticed that the bronze statue seemed to be...down. Not that she could tell—she wasn't the monument freak who spoke to these statues on a daily basis and checking in on them as if they were old friends—but Hachiko had seen better days. Maybe she needed a good polishing.
Remembering how well that had gone last time made Shiki want to punch something. Or make Beat wear a lolita costume. Yes, that would get the slightly homocidal urges rising in the young seamstress nicely.
"Yes, Beat?" Rhyme asked her older brother, looking up at him curiously.
"You think Phones's thinking about us, wherever he is?" the skater boy asked, arms crossed and looking up at the sky. Both girls looked at the boy, surprised that he would even ask such a thing. Of course Neku would think of them! He always had—selflessly, too, and nearly every step of the way; even if he hadn't shown it at first. They were his first real friends, after all.
Rhyme followed her brother's gaze, her own blue eyes staring right at the big blue sky. Was there a Heaven out there for them all? Or was there just the UG when they all died? There was a lot of things that didn't have answers when it came to the world beyond death and beyond the Reaper's Game they were all familiar with.
"...In the depths of your eyes...there is a blurred darkness..." Rhyme began to sing, a song that the three of them knew intimately. It was Neku's last song; one that everyone had worked hard on. It was still unfinished, however, and was doomed to remain so as none of them could pick up the slack from where it had left off. But Rhyme knew the song well enough, even if her voice wasn't pretty. She had written the words, with input from Shiki and Beat occasionally, making it a joint effort. Neku had given his imput as well...just not in a way that he had noticed, until he figured out the meaning of the unfinished song. "Do you have any feelings inside your heart...?"
Shiki and Beat looked at Rhyme, surprised that she would suddenly start breaking out in song like that. But she continued and, somehow, it soothed the two older teens a little, hearing the song that had no end. And as they did, their minds drifted to a time where there had been high hopes for this piece, where their dreams had formed as one.
"...Even though this world is yours to claim, would that make you happy even a little bit?"
When Neku had still been alive.
"Why do you look up into the lonely heavens now..."
It was agreed that Shiki would work on image as she had always wanted to be a designer. Beat would handle the choreography, for nobody had rad moves like he did. Rhyme would make the words, because she always knew what to put down on paper. And Neku would be the voice, because his couldn't be heard by Shibuya, because frankly, Joshua wasn't going to start gallavanting around in a mask just so he could be heard.
--
So, what do you guys think? Hate it? Like it? Want to kill me for killing off Neku already?
By the way, some of you may have already recognized this song, but it's my own version of Ayaka's Why? From Crisis Core's ending. Listen to it. Read the actual translation. It just screams 'The World Ends With You'. Seriously. Of course, we're using MY version, but that's besides the point. At least MINE is singable, comapred to the actual translation.
In the next chapter...
We skip back a year to when the kids try to kickstart their careers in the music industry. The beginning of the story of the Composer of Shibuya.