Title: Logical Requiem
Characters: Reincarnated!Sho/Reincarnated!Neku (Father/Son relationship—not pairings!)
Rating: M-Mild Violence
Warnings: Spoilers for end of the game. Takes place 300 years after the official game.
Summary: Sho tries his life anew as a math teacher aged 22, after completing his course in Uni. With the present and past holding a missing link, it is soon evident that his life so far, had been hurdles that even he can't recall. One day, he finds Pi-Face's cap beyond the Shibuya River, only then does his life as an unwilling trouble magnet begins, the first signs being that a familiar student with headphones and a sketchy past enters his first session...
Notes: Co-written with Houkai-Amplifier. (DeviantART)
Known Characters involved in this Chapter: Sho, Neku, Joshua, Yammer.

Beep... beep... beep...

The sound of a heart monitor eventually dragged Sho out from the immense, but peaceful silence. As nerves began to reconnect with his mind and body, he soon understood he was lying in a comfortable, hospital bed. How the factor did I get here...?
His eyelids gave protest as he tried opening them. The very last thing he recalled was the day he and Neku were shot by Joshua. ...How did I survive a headshot?
The next thing he recalled, foreign and alien to him, were the event's that happened almost 300 years ago, in the UG. Everything about it is distinguishable. So what am I really missing?
Finally winning the war against his tired eyes, Sho opened them. He glanced around; next to him, resting silently, was Neku Sakuraba. Without a reason, Sho smiled with a warm heart.

The sound of bustling people and cars in the distance was the first thing Neku had noticed once gaining consciousness. It was a strange feeling. Vivid memories of the past week stayed within his mind, as if they had appeared out of nowhere. He eventually opened his eyes. The blank and boring roof greeted him. The hospital atmosphere caused some confusion. ...If I was here...
Was it all just a dream induced by a coma? Dream or not, the memories stayed. Neku looked to the side. A skyscraper plastered with advertisements and billboards was visible from the small window on the wall. He looked to his other side to find Sho, smiling at him. He smiled back widely, overwhelmed that he was by his side. Promises or not, just having Sho there was satisfying enough.

Neku's smile confirmed that not all had been lost. Sho chuckled, the tired strain from something unknown to him. He felt he hadn't had a decent rest.
"Hey Neku..." he greeted, "How are ya?"

"...Everything's alright..." he replied weakly. He looked back up at the ceiling, staring blankly, "You're alright?"

"Aside from the small factor that's in my right shoulder, never better..." Sho chuckled quietly in response, "Say... I've never seen you with such a smile... who are you, and what have you done to the real deal?" he then joked.

Neku laughed a little, saying nothing in return. So... he really has forgotten?
He yawned out of fatigue. At least he has a while to finally rest. But what to do when he has healed? He couldn't waltz back to his Aunt's place so easily...

Sho noticed the unease look on Neku, causing slight concern to rise up from the depths. It felt familiar, but why?
"What's wrong?" he asked out of curiosity.

"It's weird..." Neku began, "...I dreamt you and I had died... We went through this whole 'Underground', fighting off monsters, getting attacked by Reapers... It was so real..." he finished, trailing off.

"Oh..." Sho blinked, surprised a bit, "Uh... I'd like to hear more of it once we hit the road... you sound convincing..." he ended with a smile.
"Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally. I'm so zetta tired for variable factors. Sleep is suppose to restore energy, not drain it... heh... see you in a few hours?" he asked, yawning.

"Sure..." Neku replied quietly as he let his eyes rest. He was apprehensive about the future, but still hopeful. However, now was the time for rest, which Neku had greatly looked forward too. Not long after closing his eyes did he fall asleep.

Sho sighed, his own fatigue, unknown to him, catching up. "I wish you would tell me what's really bothering you..." he mumbled, before taking a deep breath, closed his eyes, and exhaled. Very soon, he fell asleep.

--

Weather it was to happen or not, Joshua awoke in his hospital bed, and realized that the nurses were moving him out of ICU. Some of them looked reluctant to help the teen, some frown, some confused.
Keeping close behind the bustle was good old Yammer.

Yammer kept an eye on Joshua from time to time, and another on the nurses. He walked with crossed arms, still stingy about the way this hospital has treated Josh. Yammer came to a stop as the group did. Only barely catching a glimpse of the room number, he had a strange feeling. "Haven't we been here before...?" he said curiously to himself. Shrugging it off, he followed the nurses into the room.

Joshua looked up, a spark of memory entering his thoughts. Yeah... we have. This is where Sho and Neku are...
Directing his violet eyes to Yammer, he gave a brief nod, paying no mind to the staff.

The nurses were busy setting up the equipment for Joshua. They were unenthusiastic and seemed as if they were forced against their will to do the job. Yammer shook his head.
As the nurses cleared the room, Yammer caught a look at a sleeping Sho and Neku. He kept quiet and decided to focus his attention on Joshua again. "The service here..." he said with a hint of humour, keeping his voice down to not disturb the others.

Joshua felt the pressure leave him once the nurses cleared out. He allowed a smirk tug at his mouth, glancing up at Yammer again. "I know..." he chuckled very quietly.
Apart from neglect here and there, the boy's lung had stopped hurting, making breathing and communication much easier to bear with. He still felt lighter in one side, but that will be a feeling he'll grow accustomed to. Since yesterday, Joshua decided not to talk to anyone but Yammer, and with Yammer alone. Anyone hearing the teen's voice in earshot will have stirred resentment to that individual.
Which explained why Joshua felt nervous in talking to the two sleeping individuals, resting next to him in the room.

Yammer offered a smile. He took a look at the two sleeping. "Ironic... isn't it?" he asked rhetorically to Joshua, "Don't worry about it." he added after seeing a sort of discomfort on Josh's face.

Joshua sighed, "How long will I be here? When with the pump be removed?" he mumbled.

Yammer forced a small, sympathetic smile, "...Just get some rest. That's the only way you'll get out of this any quick--." He stopped dead in his words. A slight buzzing came from the pocket in his hoodie. Hesitant to react, Yammer reached into his pocket and retrieved his phone. This is bad... He braced himself for whatever grim news about his fate as a Reaper may hold, and opened his phone to receive a short text.
'You are to report back for neglect of duty.'
Yammer put his phone away with a burdened sigh. "Neglect duty..." he told Joshua quietly. Better than having my ass erased for being an accomplice...

Now it was Joshua's turn to put on a smile. "Sorry I dragged you into this..." he giggled, "I'll be fine... but I'm not tired. I may not sleep for a while."

Yammer scratched his neck. "Nah... I've been skipping my post a few times anyway..." he grinned a little. "I'll come see you later." he added as he made his way for the door, opening and closing it as quietly as possible.

Joshua smiled weakly, before letting out a quiet sigh. He can't sleep, so the day might be a long one...

--

3pm approx, and Joshua continued to lie there, teaching himself to adjust to the missing weight in his chest. Nope, sitting here and doing nothing at all was hell, having everyone hating your guts is death.
And sitting in the same room with those you were forced to kill is mental murder.
Just then, Joshua opened his eyes to the sound of shuffling steps outside the room, accompanied by angry mumbles.

The door opened. A suspicious-looking woman entered the room with a pillow, paying no attention to the other patients. Neku's Aunt walked straight pass Joshua and Sho's bed, mumbling in an aggressive tone.

Joshua's violet eyes narrowed, eyeing the woman carefully, a hand on the nurse bell at the ready.
While Sho and Neku were spending such a week in the UG, the living teen had encountered her before; it was Neku's Aunt, the very same one Josh sent packing by imprinting. With the aggressive attitude and pillow in hand, Josh had the right to suspicious.
And just as said Aunt pulled up by Neku's bed, Joshua pushed the nurse button.

She approached Neku, standing by the bedside, looking down on him with resentment. "Like it never happened..." she mumbled to herself before taking the pillow and covering it firmly over Neku's face. No sign of struggle or distress from the teen. A cry for help was muffled by the pillow.

Hang in there, Neku! Don't exhale! Don't panic; keep the air you have inside!
Joshua watched intently, his heart racing, somehow imprinting his thoughts to Neku without his mobile.
Not a second too late and the nurse that was summoned by Joshua quickly rushed over and restrained the Aunt off from Neku, the pillow already knocked aside. The nurse yelled for help and a few more swarmed in, dragging the enraged woman away.

Breathing heavily, Neku's rude awakening left him shocked and paranoid. He sat up as the nurses attended to him. What... What the hell was that?!

The commotion was enough to wake Sho as well, glancing around. He caught the last glimpse of Neku's Aunt being dragged out of the room, screaming her insults. What a zetta psychopath...
A faint memory drifted up from the depths. Sho closed his eyes, recalling something that shouldn't be there, a surreal dream, which felt more like a memory. A... A promise? Oh, how zetta stupid of me... I promised Neku I'd adopt him...

Joshua looked on, worried. He wanted to say something, but couldn't out of fear that the nurses would turn on him. And he wasn't sure if Neku and Sho would also respond sourly.

Neku rested back on the pillow, his heart racing. He looked over at Sho. "S-Sho...?" he called out when he noticed a bed beside Sho's. He was too shaken to say anything.

Sho noticed it too, the teen in question watching them nervously.
He then turned to Neku, "What happened, exactly?"

"Your Aunt tried snuffing you for good, Neku..." came the bold reply from Joshua, eventually looking down at his bed sheets. The response from the nurses was immediate, and they left in a rush.

"J-Joshua?" Neku asked himself. How did he wind up in the same room as them? Neku was too worried to care at the moment
My Aunt just tried to kill me...!

Sho frowned. There's no way he would let Neku live with someone horrid, especially while the Aunt that tried to murder him. He looked over at Neku again, "Are you alright?"
He then turned to Joshua with a smile, "Thanks Josh... Without you, there's no telling what would have happened..."

Joshua blinked in surprise. Did... did he just say thanks? No malice, no resentment...?
He went quiet for a while, "You don't... hate me?"

Neku took a deep breath, finally getting a grasp on the situation. "I'd be dead if you hadn't had been here..." he said quietly. Dying isn't great either...

"It's nothing..." Joshua concluded sadly, lying down again and gazing at the ceiling miserably.

Sho scratched his neck a bit. "Did I... make a promise I'd adopt you Neku?" he inquired.

Caught off guard, Neku's tone changed completely as his mind was taken off of the recent attack. "H-how did you remember that...?" he asked out of surprise.

"It felt... surreal... I don't know, it came out of the blue... must have been a dream. But now that I think about it," Sho paused, pondering a bit, "You really want me to adopt you? Especially now that said Aunt will have 'attempted murder' charged at her title, rendering her unstable."

Is this for real? Sho remembered...? "I-it's your call in the end..." Neku said, sounding a little down.

"May as well... otherwise the law may send you away somewhere, and until you're eighteen, will keep you there. That simply screams 'independence denied'. I enjoy having you around, Neku, and if you like the idea living with some zetta weird math teacher, say so." Sho smiled. The more he thought about it, the stronger the memory of the promise he made on Day 6 became.
"Yeah... I do, but... that's all I remember. Everything else is... blank..."

Joshua looked up from his trance. He felt a bit left out, but that was expected with the state he's in...

Neku smiled weakly. His luck had turned right around, along with his hopeless view on life. "Better a math teacher then a psycho." he joked.

Sho watched Neku in return for a while, an elated glint in his eyes. "It's settled then. Moment I can bounce out of here, I'll ask the law."
On the other hand...?
It was then he stopped and thought, turning back to Joshua, who pretended to sleep. "Neku...? Is there room for 1 more?"

Neku took a while to take everything in. "I don't know... You think there's room?" he reversed the question. It would take adjusting too, but at this moment, Neku wouldn't mind whoever he lived with.

Sho remained silent, not sure how to answer himself.

Joshua looked over at the two from his bed. "I... wouldn't have anyone left to care for me..."

Neku sighed a little, "It's a big commitment... You're sure about this, Sho?" he asked, trying not to sound selfish, but realistic.

Sitting in silence pondering, the teacher eventually came up with a conclusion, "If I can handle a class, I'm zetta sure I can do a good job with you two." he responded boldly.

Joshua, bemused with this, continued to watch the pair chatter with each other. He was left speechless. Is... is this a dream? I must be dreaming...! They... care?

Neku smiled. He had a feeling that things would only get better from now on. And he didn't even mind if Joshua lived with him. The past was behind them, after all.

"Can I have a say in this?" Joshua spoke up, "Once I leave this place, I... don't think I'll ever speak again in public. You saw how the nurses reacted? I'm truly on my own here..." he added sadly.

Sho chuckled, treating Joshua's statement as a joke, "You may feel lonely, but you're never alone."

Neku nodded. "We're going to be like a family from now on, after all."

From that moment on, their time in the hospital ward went by quickly. They spent their time talking about even the most stupid of things. Yammer would often visit and throw some jokes around the place too. After all, their recovery was one of the two barriers holding them all from a hopeful future together.