Story : Wonderful Investigation Noteworthy Group of Shibuya

Date : April 03, 2022

Beta: Wolf

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: Three weeks after the end of the Game, while Neku is finally starting to experiment a normal life without Noise, Reaper or Joshua to make him miserable, he discovers that his phone still has the application to take photos of the past. However, he can't find anyone from the UG and decides to do as if nothing's wrong for now.

A round of applause to our new Beta!
Good reading :)

A whole week.

That was how long Neku had been ignoring everything to do with the UG.

It was the Thursday of the fourth week after the Game. And Neku should really stop referring to dates like that... So, it was Thursday, October 4th, and Neku wasn't at all thinking about the photo app in his phone, or the pin in his uniform's pocket. When, really, there was no reason for it to be there since he was pretty sure he had thrown it in his desk drawer after his resolution last Thursday. Yet every day since then, regardless of whether he was wearing his class uniform or trousers (it was a bit too cold now to wear his white shorts. And to be honest, Neku hasn't been able to bring himself to touch them since the game) his Player's Pin was invariably found in his pocket. Neku must have been sleepwalking, and put it in his clothes the next day in the night. It must just be a strange side effect of the Game, like so many others. It was the same for his friends. Beat now always looked both ways at least twice before crossing the street, while Rhyme has developed an extreme fear of sharks.

Yeah, Neku Must just feel safer with it on his person. It was what saved him in the end, after all.

He didn't want to consider that something someone else could be the cause of this recurrence of accessories.

And it had been a wonderful week! His parent noticed his brighter mood, and they seemed to be less tired than before. Oh, that didn't mean they came home from work at a decent hour, but it was far more common for Neku to have dinner with at least one of them and have a nice chat rather than the uneasy silence from before the Game. Things were going well with his new friends too. They tried to meet up as much as possible, but it was somewhat difficult. Rhyme is two years behind Shiki, and I while Beat is one class above. And even disregarding that, they didn't even all go to the same school. The other three went to the Middle-High School of Shibuya, near Miyashita-Park while Neku went to the Shoto Middle School on the other side of Dogenzaka. To be honest, Neku was a little jealous. Sure, the others might not be in the same year, but at least they went to the same school, and Shiki even had Eri with her.

But instead of feeling sorry for himself, or changing schools as was his first thought, Neku had sat back for a second to think about the situation and figured it was a good opportunity. He only had five months left to finish middle school and since Shoto didn't have a high school attached to it, he would have to go to a new school in April anyway. Before the Game he had thought of going to Aoyama High School which was attached to the university of the same name, or Jissen Joshi which was right next to the train station, but it wouldn't be too difficult to convince his parents to let him go to Shibuya High School to join his friends, especially since it had a better reputation anyway.

Because yes, learning to open up to the world because of the Game was good and making lifelong friends was even better, but replacing his headphone with his little, tightly knit group wasn't necessarily the best idea. So even though he still flinched every time the sound of a crackling radio reached him, or he felt a stare on him without seeing anyone, Neku gritted his teeth and looked forward. He missed the presence of one of his partners at his back and it was difficult to face this terrifying world alone.

But It's a Wonderful World and he wanted to see all its colours.

Neku had decided that even if the evenings and weekends belonged to his friends, his days should be used to open up to the world. To accompany this resolution, and on the advice of Rhyme and Shiki, Neku had gone to the school's art club. It was a bit ironic since he had especially chosen the only school in the area where clubs were not compulsory so that he could get out of the suffocating pressure of school as soon as the day was over. Still, Neku had been impressed by the members' enthusiastic welcome when he had finally found the courage to knock on the door of their den. Inoue had been quick to take him under her wing, explaining to him how the club worked, what they should and shouldn't do, what they were entitled to... Even though she was full of the best intentions, she spoke loudly and Neku quickly reflected that only a few weeks earlier, she was just the kind of person he would have avoided like the plague. As it was, only his steely determination helped him to stay put and even ask her a few stammering questions.

Fortunately, Neku already knew her a little. She was his class rep and they had already had the opportunity to exchange a few words during the year. Nothing more than a classic teacher's message to pass on but it was still better than the vast majority of the other students. To be fair, if Neku hadn't turned his whole room upside down to find the crumpled trombinoscope from the beginning of the year, he would have continued to call her 'Miss Class Rep" in his head. As it was, he had spent the second week after the Ga-... the third week of September, with the trombinoscope neatly flattened between the pages of his hourly course book, tracking down who was who in his class and memorising their names. So it was with a certain pride and a sense of great accomplishment that Neku allowed himself to be guided by Inoue, listening carefully to her advice and sending her one of his rare but increasingly present smiles. To his happy surprise, his efforts had been rewarded when at the end of the discussion, Inoue had shyly admitted to him that he "wasn't scary at all after all. "

With a big smile on his face, he had immediately run to Hachiko to tell Shiki about his progress and she had congratulated him, seeming even prouder than he was if that was possible. Since then, Inoue had introduced him to several of their classmates and the delegate's tacit approval had done wonders for Neku's circle of friends. Well, not quite friends, not like the others anyway, but good acquaintances with whom he wasn't bored at school. In fact, it was quite nice to go from group to group, discussing graphics with the people from the art club, homework with Inoue and his friends or tin pin slammer and Death Märch with the people from his class. (And really, were they that popular?) He was learning about new people every day and discovering a depth he had never suspected before.

Yes, Ayumi seemed like the typical girly girl, always in pink and a whole buck of makeup on her cheeks, but when you got past the eye shadow, you discovered a girl with a keen intellect, a passion for mysteries and a dream of becoming a policewoman. Likewise, Takeshi seemed to be the quintessential sports jerk, the popular baseball player, and yet he was actually a devoted older brother, helping his widowed father with his four younger siblings, even sacrificing the practice of his passion to care for them. Of course, he'd gotten a glimpse of this by reading people's thoughts in the game, but it was always mind-boggling to realise that everyone had different problems and dreams that were so complex that it wasn't possible to fully understand them. But it was always possible to appreciate them.

It was this new openness to the world and, admittedly, the paranoia he had learned during the game, that got him into this whole mess . Without even noticing it, Neku had started to observe his surroundings, cataloguing the people around him and the possible problems that could arise. It was instinctive really, to leave an ear hanging out, now that they were no longer covered by his headphones. In fact, he hadn't noticed how aware he was of his surroundings until a conversation caught his attention on Thursday lunchtime.

Neku was quietly eating his lunch in his classroom, accompanied by two boys from the art club and four from various sports clubs when the judoka in the group told them about what he had witnessed this morning. Ordinarily Neku wouldn't have even paid attention, but it was harder to ignore the world when he didn't have his headphones on.

"...and she was right in front of me in the hallway, I swear, so of course I slowed down. I hadn't done anything stupid, I swear, but you know how the headmistress is." Said the boy as the others grimaced. Yes, even Neku. It must be said, the headmistress was Konishi style and controlled her school with an iron fist, not hesitating to apply the most punitive sentences possible. "And then I saw her swoop down on Takeshi, a real bird of prey! She started accusing him in front of everyone, he looked totally lost."

"What did he do?" Asked one of Neku's classmates from the art club. The same one who had invited Neku to eat with them actually.

The judoka waved his hand, annoyed that he stopped him in his tirade and resumed the story. "I'm getting to it! Someone vandalized the lockers in the second building, the ones by the toilets there. Dudes, you need to check this out, whoever did this is clearly not an artist like you guys, but there's a definite talent in the creativity of insults on the dirlo." He scoffed and a veritable pandemonium descended on the group, the boys horrified that anyone would dare to attack the headmistress.

"But why does she think it's Takeshi's fault?" Neku cut in, puzzled despite himself.

"I heard they found the paint in his locker." Replied the other with a shrug and Neku frowned. "Honestly, I don't think he did it, he's way too busy with baseball and his siblings to mess around with shit like that. Especially since I hear it might cost him his scholarship."

"The headmistress wouldn't do that, Takeshi is the best player in the school, they need him for the next championship if she wants the cup in her office." Scoffed one of the guys from the swim club.

"You didn't see her, Tada, she was so mad, I thought she was going to slap him on the spot." Insisted the judoka and the boys immediately went into debate.

Neku wasn't one of them, though, he was already lost in thought. Neku didn't know Takeshi too much, well, it's true, he didn't really know anyone here, but at least he had already spoken to Takeshi. And as the judoka had said (and heck, Neku hadn't learned the names of the other classes yet...) the scholarship was literally vital to him. Without it, he would have to take care of his siblings even more and wouldn't have time to play baseball. He would never do anything to lose it...

Neku didn't want to get into too much quick speculation, but it stank of...

"Scapegoat?" offered Shiki and Neku nodded.

"That's what I thought too... Takeshi is the ace of the team and he has too much to lose by doing this."

"Besides, who stores the murder weapon in their own locker?" Rhyme pointed out. "And they found it through an anonymous note?"

"Yes, under the door of the headmistress' office. As soon as she arrived in the morning, she saw it, went downstairs to check the lockers and then made the rounds of the corridors until she found Takeshi. He hadn't been in class all day and Inoue told me that he had been sent home."

"Yeah, you're right, it stinks Phones." Beat added, and with these words of wisdom, the four friends gazed at Sunshine's table in silence.

"If the police shows are to be believed, it's either a backup on the baseball team who wants to play starter, or someone who has a beef with Takeshi in particular." Muttered Rhyme looking far too focused for a story that was just supposed to pass the time until they got their fries.

"Or both." Her brother added, shaking his head.

"Or both!" Rhyme smiled, and she was beginning to look a little too manic for Neku's tranquillity. In the 24 days since the end of the Game and almost as many outings together, Neku had begun to recognize this particular expression as one that heralded a whole new obsession of Rhyme's. She'd had exactly the same one some three days earlier when they'd tried the new racing game at the arcade. She'd had to be pulled by force with Beat to get her to drop the controller and go home.

"Ah, that's our order!" Shiki announced and they got up to go get their burgers from the counter. It was still pretty nice outside so the four friends had decided to go eat at Miyashita Park. At least Rhyme had decided to and the others had followed suit. It was the first time since the end of the Game that the siblings had offered to come within a hundred yards of the place of their death, and even though Beat looked a little nervous, Rhyme was as determined as ever. It must be said, Neku understood them. He'd managed to get to Udagawa without too much trouble on several occasions, but as soon as he tried to get near the CA-... M.H.'s tag, his heart would race and he would invariably end up turning back. His death, sorry, murder was probably a big part of it, but his confused feelings about M.H weren't helping either. Absent-mindedly rubbing his player's Pin in his pocket, he wondered if he'd be better accompanied. Maybe he should ask Shiki?

"Do you know if there are any other students who might have a grudge against him?" Rhyme suddenly asked as they ate their fries on the steps of the skate park.

"What?" Shiki asked, and it took Neku a good ten seconds to realize that the younger girl was talking about the Takeshi thing again. Telling him that he didn't know him very well, but that from what he'd heard he was rather well liked, Rhyme looked thoughtful.

"Hard to lean towards either option without investigating a bit." She said and her brother swallowed the remains of his burger with a frown.

"How would you like to do that, Sis? Neku barely knows the people at his school and we know even less."

He wasn't wrong. No matter how hard Neku had tried over the past few weeks, he was far from knowing every one of his classmates or being up on the latest campus gossip. Bending his knee to rest his elbow on it, he felt the Player's Pin press against his thigh. "It was easier when you could see people's thoughts..." He muttered before freezing up, forbidden.

"Sure enough, one shot of Reaper Creeper and, bang! Problem solved." Shiki smiled as Beat nodded briskly and Neku relaxed. They'd talked about the game a bit, of course, hard otherwise when it haunted them day and night and was all they had in common at first... but this was the first time they'd brought it up as... as a joke, almost nostalgically.

"It was neat to be able to help people like that... and I miss the psychs, it was amazing to have super powers!" Rhyme nodded.

"Yeah, I miss flying on my skateboard too." Beat added.

The four fell into silence, memories of the Game suddenly assailing them.

"I wish I could still move Mr. Mew..." Said Shiki enviously before looking at them with a smile. "Still, there were some good things about the Game, right? We wouldn't have met without it, after all."

"Sure, but I'm still glad it's over." Rhyme smiled.

"Yeah, but you know, it's weird sometimes. I mean, if you weren't here, I'd think I was dreaming it." Said Beat, adjusting his cap nervously. "There's no proof of what happened to us, our parents don't even remember we died."

"No one remembers." Rhyme nodded before leaning towards Neku and Shiki. "Still, I don't know about you, but we passed away more than a week before the Game started. Mum and Dad lived a whole month without us. They had to notify the school, do the funeral ceremonies, sort out our stuff... and yet there's absolutely nothing to show for it. It's as if that whole month has been rewritten. It scares me a little, you know, that there's something capable of erasing and rewriting reality like that." She murmured and her brother slung a hand over her shoulder to hug her.

"I thought about it a bit too and I thought... I know our Game wasn't normal, the Reapers said there were hardly ever two weeks of Game in a row let alone three. And Rhyme, you should have lost but you were resurrected too. And I've looked around the internet a bit and there's absolutely nothing about the Reapers' Game. Not even rumours. There should be though!" Said Shiki and Neku suddenly realized that he wasn't the only one still obsessed with the Game. He had thought the others were doing just fine walking away from it, embracing their new lives while he fished to let go of his pins, but no. "I don't think the winners remember the Game when they come back to life. We shouldn't remember it either."

Oh. Shiki was right.

Not for the first time, Neku's thoughts turned to Joshua . He had lost the last duel. Joshua should have erased Shibuya.

So why were they still there?

"I still have my player Pin." Neku stammered suddenly and the others gasped, eyes wide as he pulled it out of his pocket to show them. "I can't use it and I can't see the UG anymore, but I have it and I... I... I need to tell you something."

"Uh... worse than that, Phone?" Beat asked apprehensively and Neku looked at him with pity. Oh, he had no idea how much ...

As if showing them the badge had broken a dam, Neku told them almost everything. He told them what had happened in the judgement room, his duel with Joshua, that he had given up and that not only them but all of Shibuya and their loved ones should have disappeared but that somehow they were still there. That he'd woken up at Scramble Crossing with the Pin in his shorts, that no matter where he stored it, it always ended up appearing in his pocket and that Neku couldn't help but touch it. That he was afraid it meant he had to play another Game, that the last few weeks were just a dream because they should have been dead. Well, even more dead than they were already. And then when he was finally starting to feel better, when he was starting to believe that no, it wasn't a dream, he'd discovered the past picture app on his phone and no, it wasn't a coincidence, it couldn't be a coincidence. Everything else was gone so why was it still there?! Was it a sign? An omen? Was he going to have to go back to...

"Neku!" Shiki exclaimed ,making him jump. Warm hands took his and pulled him into an embrace. Another pair of hands landed on his back, one larger and clumsier than the other and one last, strangely cold, brushed lightly against his hair before immediately disappearing. He felt much calmer already and he untangled himself from Shiki, Rhyme and Beat keeping their hands on his back.

"Wow, Phone, I didn't think you had all that in mind. That's rough, man." Said Beat, awkwardly patting his shoulder.

"I'm sorry Neku, but... you know, in a way it makes me feel better." Rhyme murmured. "I mean, I have nightmares of the Game almost every night but you all seemed to be doing so well and..."

"Me too!" Shiki exclaimed with wet eyes. "Me too... When I saw you going to the museum, Rhyme or making up with your parents, Beat or when you started the drawing club, Neku... I felt like I was the only one who couldn't evolve after the Game when unlike the three of you, I really only played for a week."

"Oh, we're silly, obviously it's not okay... we're all traumatized. " Realised Rhyme before turning to Shiki decisively and taking her hand with the one that wasn't on Neku's back, "But Shiki, trauma is still trauma, you shouldn't diminish yours because it seems less severe than someone else's."

Shiki nodded frantically, tears suddenly streaming down her cheeks, and Neku instinctively took her hand, hoping for a second that he could give her his energy like in the UG. Big strong arms suddenly wrapped around the three younger ones and Beat hugged them tightly.

"Beat!" Rhyme laughed and Neku felt his lips curl into a smile. Everything suddenly looked much better.

They stayed, strangely comfortable, in this cuddle for a good two minutes (and Neku didn't want to think about what passers-by were seeing... hey, another advantage of the Game) before Beat released them from the insistent patting of his sister. Shiki wiped her eyes with a laugh before refocusing on Neku.

"On a more serious note, Neku, I understand why you're worried. From what I know, none of us have any attachment to the game anymore, except for our memories." She said as she gave the brothers a questioning look and Beat shook his head that they didn't even have their contacts in their phones anymore when they woke up, let alone their hard earned pins or clothes. Rhyme nodded before hesitating slightly and then telling them that sometimes she felt like she could smell something, Noise maybe, but she wasn't sure. Shiki contemplated the answer before resuming. "But Neku has two: the pin and the app... have you thought about going to see Mr. Hanekoma? He might have some idea of what's going on."

"Yeah, maybe it's the Prissy Kid playing a bad joke on you."

"Beat." Rhyme sighed and Beat immediately raised his hands in front of him.

"What? I'm grateful to him for resurrecting us all when, you know... But it's really not cool that he killed Phone. Twice!" He said before pausing and muttering. "And he's a jerk anyway. "

Ryhme tried to hide a smile and Neku suddenly felt very far away.

Oh. He hadn't told them about M.H. yet.

Swallowing hard, Neku took a deep breath. "I... forgot to tell you some stuff." He hesitated before standing up and saying in a definitive tone, "I need to show you something."