Story : Wonderful Investigation Noteworthy Group of Shibuya
Date : February 10, 2020
Beta: Nouilleverte
Fandom : The world end with you - Subarashiki Kono Sekai
Disclaimer : No, I do not own TWEWY and I am not making any profit from this story.
Summary: ... how about reading chapter one first?
Ooooh, new story ? Well, yes but I only wrote 3 chapters so far since last year sooo... But I couldn't miss the new game TWEWY2 coming out today ! (I will not be able to play it until the PC release so NO spoil please !) At least, I have a plan by chapter this time so you maaay have a continuation :p
Good Reading!
Neku stared at his phone with a puzzled look. It wasn't possible, was it? Was that a trick? A mistake ? Neku had no proof but ...
... it was Joshua's fault.
"Shit, Joshua," he muttered and to add to his paranoia, he almost felt like the wind was laughing as it stroked his hair.
What should he do now? Use it? No, he was sure it would bite him later… How had he not noticed it sooner? After the game, he thoroughly searched through his cell phone but yet… Glancing at his phone with a gloomy look, Neku thought back to the events following the pathetic duel in the throne room.
To be fair, that first week after the game ended had been the most surreal in Neku's life.
Even the three weeks of running for his life hadn't exhausted him so much. It must be said, waking up for the fourth time on a Monday morning at Scramble Crossing just after being shot and, therefore, losing against the composer… That did not bode well. It had taken an old lady to pull him up while he was crying, slumped in the middle of the crosswalk, for Neku to realize that something was wrong. Or rather, that something was no longer wrong . His second clue, after the old lady had dragged him to the sidewalk, had been the fact that he was no longer wearing any clothes from the game. No more Minamimoto's oversized coat or frayed cap, goodbye to the application of Reaper in his phone with all his objects in it, disappeared, his hundreds of painstakingly evolved pins.
All gone… all but one.
Staring at the player badge still neatly pinned to his chest, Neku had been persuaded, even for a few seconds, that he was off for a fourth week of Game.
But no, the old lady was still trying to get his attention, more and more worried, people around him were looking at him curiously or at least dutifully avoiding him and Neku no longer saw any Noise. Maybe, just, maybe… Neku was back in the RG.
In the real world.
Exhaling a shaky breath, Neku had vaguely stammered some reassuring bullshit to the overly benevolent grandmother and left it there, practically staggering to the statue of Hachiko. Sitting next to the dog, Neku had peered with wide, feverish eyes ... but no. Neither frenzied gamers nor demonic frogs revealed themselves to his eyes. Just the constant crowd of workers in a hurry pouring into the station.
Pulling out his cell phone, Neku had scanned his messages, but all of the Games were gone, replaced by a few texts to his mother telling him where he was for the past few weeks. If he hadn't had the player's badge on his chest, Neku might have believed he had been dreaming about it all. As it stood, there was only one correct answer ...
Joshua was an asshole.
Well, he could calm things down a bit… Nothing obliged Joshua to resuscitate Neku, it was already nice but if we considered that it was him too who had killed Neku… and to make him wake up in Scramble Crossing of all places… It was a bit like putting Beats and Ryhme in Mayash…
Beats! Rhyme! Shiki!
Frantically picking up his phone again, Neku tried to find Shiki's number that he knew was in his phone. She had insisted that they exchange them just in case on the sixth day but… no, no number. Like every other aspect of the game, that too had been erased. Was she… alive? Joshua had no reason to resurrect Neku, in fact everyone should have been dead… But Shiki had won the first game! And since Shibuya had not disappeared, Neku deduced that she must be there too… Right? But even though Shiki was alive… Beats… Rhyme… they didn't…
"Neku!" Suddenly a shrill shout emerged from the crowd, before a girl with glasses crashed into him, hugging him with all her strength. "I was so scared! I thought I was the only one! " she sniffled, her head on his neck.
Not quite understanding what was happening to him, it took a few long seconds before Neku could restart his brain and push the unknown girl away. "Hey, what are you doing?"
The girl blinked in surprise, looking a little hurt. But Neku didn't even notice it as that was when Neku saw the familiar plush stick out of the girl's bag.
"... Shiki." Neku breathed and it was his turn to throw himself on the girl to hug her as hard as possible as if he was afraid that she would evaporate in his arms.
Suffice to say that the rest of the meeting had been filled with relieved tears and awkward hugs. Worse, the overflow of tears had only started again, even stronger, when Beat and Rhyme stumbled out of the way to the station, running towards them at full speed when they saw them. Unfortunately, it had all been cut short when a police officer came to ask them why they weren't in class and it was with a quick exchange of numbers that the teens reluctantly parted ways, promising a reunion on the following Saturday.
Even though seeing his friends alive and then the new routine at school had helped Neku realize that yes, it was real, Neku no longer needed to gamble his life in a deathmatch, his brain hadn't yet fully integrated it. If running for your life during the Game had been tiring, being alert 24/7 without anything happening was even more so. Every second he was afraid that a Noise would jump on top of him or that he would stumble into an invisible wall while crossing a hallway. The worst part is that even though he couldn't go to the RG anymore, he still saw signs of the Game everywhere. It was there, in access tags next to the shops or here with these people who did not know him but whom he had helped during these three weeks.
He was on edge, exhausted and when he got home after school, he barely swallowed anything before collapsing on his bed, after sloppily finishing his homework . The only thing that allowed him to relax a bit was the constant long chain of emails that the group of survivors sent to each other all day long. Neku wasn't the only one who jumped at every shadow, nor was he the only one who decided to put in some efforts to change.
Because yes, Neku had learned his lesson, thank you very much and he was ready to change. So while he was trying to get to know his classmates, Shiki had reconciled with Eri, Beat was trying to make peace with his parents and Rhyme was looking for a real dream.
Fortunately, not only were their efforts paying off, but the more the days passed the less anxious they felt. The first Saturday after the game had undoubtedly helped in this vein. Seeing each other as real had cemented their sense of security (albeit all relative as they all now knew that dying wasn't that great.) And the uneventful days that followed had helped a lot as well.
So, just two weeks after the game ended, Neku was starting to relax. A new routine somewhat different from the old one had developed. Admittedly, he continued to eat with his father in the morning and go to school during the day but instead of staying in his corner, the headphones screwed on the ears then hanging out at Towa record or at the spots of graphs he tried to get to know his classmates and joined the drawing club. That didn't stop him from going to the record store or drooling over the murals, however, but now he was more often with company than alone and he was open to other things. He would never be a fan of shopping, but he didn't mind following Shiki ... sometimes. Beat even showed him how to skate! And he had already stopped counting the afternoons at the museum with Rhyme, trying to find a new passion for the youngest.
It was on one of those afternoons that Shiki timidly brought an Eri on the war trails with her. Eri was sure they were abusing Shiki's kindness and it certainly hadn't helped their cases that they couldn't help but stare at Eri's face with morbid fascination. But luckily for Shiki, somehow they had managed to come to terms between the photography exhibit and the marine animal one. It was with less prejudice that Eri had come the next day and, little by little, they had come to know each other. Neku honestly couldn't tell that they were friends yet, especially when he kept calling her Shiki by mistake, but he could at least assure that it was on the right track.
Finally, everything was calm again. Obviously, there were still some issues, but nothing of the caliber of the UG in three weeks. In fact, nothing had even made him think of UG in three weeks. Obviously, it was always in the back of his mind and his (ex) player badge certainly wasn't helping, more often than not ending up in a pants pocket, his fingers naturally playing with it as soon as he was a little anxious.
But that was it.
Joshua had never taken his offer and each new Saturday brought deep disappointment. He had thought to go find him at the river but the fear of what he might find (or not) there and his hurt pride that he had never come to Hachiko (if he had even heard it) had held him back. He had not dared to return to Cat Street since the first week after the Game either. The bar still destroyed, the lack of trace of MH and especially the secret reports that he had found there having created a big ball of emotion. confused that he didn't even want to touch with a two-meter pole. Shiki had tried to find Death Märch but they too seemed to have disappeared from circulation and despite their numerous ramen outings, neither had seen a hair of Lollipop or Pinky.
All that to say that Neku was damn surprised when trying to take a picture of a cat, it turned out to be empty. The alley was there but the cat, even if still directly in front of him, did not appear in the photo. It had taken all of Neku's self-control not to run off in the other direction even as his senses were screaming at him that something was really, really wrong. Convincing himself, however that the cat must have moved or something, Neku repositioned himself again, framed as neatly as he could, and pressed the button. But no, still no white cat… the worst thing is that half of a red cat was sticking out of the frame but Neku looked around, he didn't see any brown hair around. An idea starting to form wildly in his brain, Neku went to his camera settings and almost dropped the phone when he saw the "Past Pictures" and "One hour before" option checked. He had, it seems, kept M.H's improvements despite the end of the game.
Neku stared at his phone with a puzzled look. It wasn't possible, was it? Was that a trick? A mistake ? Neku had no proof but ...
... it was Joshua's fault .
Think about letting a review and see yah soon !