I do not own The World Ends With You.


Oh, God.

Please, Neku thought, please don't do this. Isn't it enough he suffered through three Games, died more times than he could count, watched people he cared about be erased before his eyes, and spoke to Josh on a daily basis? WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT FROM ME? WHAT MORE CAN YOU TAKE? he wanted to scream. Why was he the one to suffer, the one who always had to move on? The one who had the burden to carry? Why him?

He went through so so so much—Shiki, Joshua, Beat, all of them dying or being erased or in pain. If it hadn't been for Shiki, he would never have opened his world. If it hadn't been for Josh, he would n ever have realized how precious these feelings really were. If it hadn't been for Beat, he probably would have gone suicidal. He was happy for the first time in a long time, and this asshole wanted to take it all away?

This is for the people who have been there for him.

He looked at his shirt, drenched in rusty red liquid. There was a searing pain in his stomach. I'm dying, he thought, and his shoulders slumped.

Distantly, he could hear Shiki's wails, Rhyme's horrified gasps, and looked up into the merciless eyes of Beat.

Why? I thought I could trust you.

But I'm doing this for you too. So we can all one day smile.

"You bastard," hissed Beat. "You made my ketchup pack pop."

"You're the one who punched me in the stomach while holding it," Neku snapped.

Shiki rolled her eyes. "Thanks for that. Now I'm going to havfta clean that shirt up, you moron." She eyes them both. "Now what are we going to do for dinner?"

"Curry." Beat sent a death glare.

Neku responded in kind. "Ramen."

"Curry," repeated Beat through gritted teeth.

"Ramen," Neku spat.

Beat cracked his knuckles. "Curry."

"Ramen."

"Yo, Rhyme, curry or ra—"

Both boys stopped and blinked when, turning to the State of Hachiko, an odd scene played before their eyes.

Both girls were chewing. And there was the smell of food.

Rhyme opened her mouth to pop in a fry. Shiki slurped her milkshake.

Neku's mouth watered. Beat drooled.

"Uh," Neku managed.

Shiki handed him a cheap napkin and mentioned toward the splattered ketchup. "We decided to go for the nearest thing. You know, Sunshine's."

"Burgers," explained Rhyme, in case they missed the presence of meat.

"Um," muttered Beat.

"We got you some," she said reassuringly, and mentioned toward the oily paper bag beside them.

They were munching happily (except Neku, who never munched) when Shiki the Traitor said, "And we decided salads for tomorrow."


Beat hates salads, and I can't Beat-speak. I dunno why he was holding the ketchup packet in the first place.

Written in a matter of minutes.