Story: Mind the Gaps (French version available : "Intervalles")

Date: posted the 30 of October 2023

Beta: None

Fandom: The World End With You

Disclaimer: No, I don't own TWEWY, and I'm not making any profit from this story.

Summary: Just after the Long Game, Joshua saved and resurrected the rest of the Hashiko gang but was condemned by the Angels for his actions: He is confined to Shibuya and half of his powers have been sealed. Neku dies again, but without his powers, Joshua cannot resurrect him. He takes him to safety anyway, which leads to M.H being banished by the Angels. Joshua is left alone to manage Shibuya, well not quite since he's got Shinjuku's scum on his hands. Months pass, Joshua is struggling to manage the UG without Sanae and Kitaniji and Shiki and the other reach out with an offer of friendship. But Shinjuku's Reaper strike a coup and Joshua loose a lot of powers. He still tries his best to make the city survive. He became friend with the Hashiko Crew, keep in touch with Neku in his dream and, finally, after 3 years, succed in launching a game with his Tuners which will decide of the futur of Shibuya. He chooses a proxy, Rindo Kanade and then wake up Neku.

Trigger of this chapter: None I can think of


Enjoy your reading!


Joshua was breathless.

The last two weeks had been... intense, was the word. He hadn't felt this feverish since the Shinjuku coup... no... since the Long Game. It had been incredibly difficult to give his Proxy only minimal help when he kept stumbling headlong into trouble, dragged along by Furesawa's arm.

He couldn't do much directly because of his agreement with his Tuners, but he wasn't without resources... in fact, as a Composer, he still had access to part of the Game. Admissions, for example... like adding Nagi Usui to the game. Or the population of Noises, which he could direct, removing if it was too hard or, on the contrary, increasing the difficulty so that they improved. This was something he would do in a normal game anyway, to help players evolve as much as possible. However, he had never been so precise in his manipulations and concentrated on a single group.

But his assistance was limited, and it was impossible to deny that Kubo's back-in-time badge had helped him. Temporarily, that is. It had taken a little longer than Joshua would admit to discern his purpose, but in his defence, Joshua couldn't understand why he'd chosen such a convoluted method to end Shibuya when there were far simpler ways. But perhaps that was the point? Maybe he'd wanted Joshua's own Proxy, that is, the Composer himself, to end the town through his own actions? If that was it, it was vicious and Joshua would expect nothing less from The Executioner.

The disappearance of Minamimoto and then Motoi Anazawa and Kanon Tachibana had dealt the Twisters quite a blow, but fortunately Beat had joined them as planned. No, because with Joshua's luck, he could just as easily have ended up with the Varia Beauty and it wouldn't have surprised him. But no, he was there to guide the younger members and lend them a hand. The addition of Shoka Sakurane was no surprise, but he hadn't been a hundred per cent sure that she'd take the plunge. Afterwards, it's true that Joshua had pushed things a bit. His help had been minimal and might have gone unnoticed had it not been for the rumours that his Reapers in Shibuya had carefully spread through their ranks. A quick word to the Reaper Review and the fuse was lit.

And finally, the highlight of the show: Neku had arrived in Shibuya. His crossing of the border might have gone unnoticed by the average person, but not by Joshua. He had tracked his journey through their pact, becoming more and more distracted as he got closer. And yet, this really wasn't the day to be distracted! Kubo had apparently launched a new phase of his plan, increasing and manipulating the Noise population until they were capable of influencing the RG. More than by influencing emotions, in any case. Fortunately, even though Uzuki found it hard to go against the rules and preferred to concentrate on the survival of the Reapers in Shibuya, Kariya had recruited the help of 777, Tenho, Hanako and the Reviewer to deal with the problem. In itself, they made a good team, attacking both sides of the problem and allowing Joshua to wash his hands of it and concentrate on his latest project. When, finally, his partner had crossed the line separating the remains of Shinjuku and the northern residential area, it was as if Shibuya had suddenly lit up twice as brightly. The city resounded with such excitement that Joshua couldn't understand how the residents of the RG hadn't noticed. Those in the UG certainly had. The strength of Shibuya's welcome was such that it took Joshua by surprise. He had wondered, not for the first time, if it was he who had influenced Shibuya's affection for his partners so much... or if it was the other way round. Shibuya and Joshua were so intertwined at this point that he honestly couldn't be sure... Either way, if the excitement was shared, the overwhelming relief Joshua felt when Neku crossed the line was all him, he couldn't deny it. He hadn't fully realised how much he'd been affected by Neku's estrangement until he was finally home, in his own domain. Although, he could have guessed with how tense he was every time one of his other partners left his district. Maybe Joshua had a tiny fear of separation. Maybe. Even if it was true, he didn't have time to deal with it anyway.

In any case, Joshua had been eagerly watching Neku's progress through the city. Having entered from the north, he had a few kilometres of residential areas to cover before reaching the centre, the Game zone. Joshua had only tracked him because he would have to open a wall for him to enter when he got there, nothing more, really. But it's true that he'd taken the opportunity to observe him a little. It was fascinating to see him walking through his Shibuya even though, to be honest, he'd seen this exact same scene hundreds of times in his dreams. But somehow it was different. Firstly, because Shibuya was chirping in his ear, churning out a litany of happy notes modelled on Neku's heartbeat, with no end in sight. Secondly, because he was wearing the jacket that Shiki had made for him. The Other-Neku had received dozens of garments from the Other-Shiki, but never one like this. Thirdly, because he could finally feel the gentle hum of the pact between them. And finally, just knowing it was real was already adding a lot to the experience.

Surprisingly, things weren't going so badly. But obviously, it couldn't last. Joshua's attention was diverted from Neku's journey when an out-of-tune note suddenly sounded in his own music. It was... the verse dedicated to his Reapers. Surprised and above all worried, Joshua did the mental equivalent of tapping Shibuya. The city was quick to give him its focus and turned its attention to Udagawa. In the short time he'd been out of sight of his proxy, the latter had managed to get his whole little troupe back in front of CAT's wall. The wall before which stood the Tuner and his laziest Reaper. The latter was the source of the out-of-tune note in Shibuya's music. Kubo had had the nerve to manipulate Kariya's own music and was about to forcibly insert a Noise. Fortunately, Uzuki chose this moment to barge in, having no doubt sensed herself that something was wrong with her partner. In a magnificent example of teamwork that the Twisters certainly didn't have just a few days ago, they stood up to Kubo. But he was an Angel and obviously he wasn't going to le-... Had Minamimoto just knocked him down with a kick to the head? Joshua couldn't help laughing. Even though he knew that the Executioner had nothing in reality, the sight was thrilling.

Unfortunately, shortly afterwards, Joshua felt an alarmed spike in the surrounding energy: Kanade's badge was being triggered again, and this time not to take him back in time. Minamimoto's sudden intervention seemed welcome then, absorbing the overflow of energy and temporarily preventing it from exploding. But however much Minamimoto sought power, the power of an angelic object, especially one as charged as it had been, was too much for him. In a magnificent display of pyrotechnics, the backlash from the badge was triggered, causing him to lose control.

An intense battle ensued, but the teenagers were already exhausted from their day, especially as they had just fought Kubo... they didn't stand a chance. Especially as Minamimoto was already out of their league, but with this badge boost on top of that? Impossible. The Twisters hadn't even noticed that Kubo had disappeared, the Enforcer having set up his Plan to easily evade their fight. But Joshua had noticed, and he made the most out of the opportunity. Because no matter how hard Kanade tried to beg his badge, Joshua knew it wouldn't go off: not with his Vibe so diminished.

That's when Joshua decided it was time to pull out the big guns, especially when Beat had the terrible idea of literally throwing himself into the lion's den. To save his Proxy, yes, but still.

It had been incredibly easy. Beat, unconsciously or not, had fully opened the bonds of their pacts, begging his partners for extra energy to last longer, just a little longer against Minamimoto. The girls' souls were already answering the call and Joshua wouldn't be surprised to find them knocked out with exhaustion if he checked their location now. This was also what Joshua could have done, as he had already experimented in Shinjuku with Neku, simply feeding his partner with a constant stream of his power. But he could do better. Because while Joshua's actions were limited, managing the pact was still one of them. Because a pact was sacred and, above all, personal, and not even his Tuners could take that away from him. They were the ones who had taught him about its sacredness, after all.

Cradling Neku's soul, he pulled it along the bond of their pact, releasing it just at the intersection of the five paths. With Beat begging, Shiki and Eri sending and Joshua silent again, Neku's soul naturally followed the movement of energy and manifested itself, in a flash of light, just in front of Beat. When he arrived, all the energy that Shiki and Rhyme had been sending at Beat was released at once, and the more contained energy dissipated as quickly as possible, taking the form of a shockwave that sent Minamimoto tumbling. Destabilised by this amount of energy, the residue that the ex-Reaper had tried to absorb separated from Minamimoto's soul and soon disappeared from view of the UG.

"It can't be." Beat murmured all his inner music having shifted from a decidedly morbid melody to an excited and incredulous drumbeat.

But it was, and now that the immediate danger had passed, Joshua settled back to watch the long-awaited reunion of the two boys.

After more than three long years, Neku was finally back.


Think about letting a review on your way out, and see you the 30th for the continuation!