A/N: Tada- oh forget it. This chapter was so freakin hard to right. I swear, I kind of want to give up on writing this collection. Besides, after tumblr-ing I think I'm kinda leaning more towards Joshua x Neku now, strangely enough.

22 - Vignette- Post Reaper's Game

xxxxx


Envy

It sometimes occurred that not all of the former Players could make it to Hachiko every time they decided to meet.

Shiki, especially, had to miss out on their gatherings every now and then. Usually this was because she needed to work on a new design Eri wanted to make.

Today was no different, Neku had thought. His first Partner wasn't here today and this wasn't a problem; she would be here next time, or the time after that.

He, Beat and Rhyme had been walking down the streets when they saw Shiki enter a shop, accompanied by another boy who looked the same age as them. Neku stopped walking immediately. Looking through the glass in front of the shop's display, he could see that they were looking at the different materials there.

"I thought Shiki had a project with Eri, yo," said Beat, echoing Neku's thoughts.

"Oh! No, she told me that she had a school art project. I think that guy is her project partner," Rhyme explained, looking in just as curiously. "She was telling me that she was nervous about talking to him since he's been in her class for so long, though she never really talked to him before."

Neku narrowed his eyes. It didn't seem like she was having any trouble; she seemed to be laughing at something the guy had said while the guy was grinning like a fool.

Well...it was good that she was making her own friends, right?

Just as he had thought that, the boy picked up a paper flower from the pile in front of them and tucked it behind her ear.

He said something to her which had made her blush.

It suddenly felt as if everything was closing in on him. His stomach felt empty and his chest tightened. Clenching his fists, he wondered what caused him to feel like that. It was certainly not because Shiki was giving that boy a kind of smile that Neku had never seen directed at himself.

She now looked away from her project partner, only to notice Neku looking at them. She smiled and gave him a small wave.

Unreasonably, he returned the gesture with a cold gaze and turned to continue down the street; Beat and Rhyme fell in step with him while giving him confused looks.

What had possessed him to feel so constricted, he wasn't too sure.

All he knew was that he didn't want to see that other boy with Shiki again.


A/N: That awkward moment when no one falls for your fail attempt at an April Fool's Joke. Oh well. You guys all know that NeShiki is and will always be my TWEWY OTP right? I don't like JoshNeku much at all tbh x3 And actually this fic came to me pretty easily~

Shoutout to cutekitty5597 for making this beautiful icon for me. Go read a fic of hers and review, will ya? x3

Also, I'll dedicate the next chapter to all those who know which song I'm referencing for this chapter's summary.