Story: Mind the Gaps (French version available : "Intervalles")
Date: posted the 20th of january 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.
Trigger of this chapitre: None I can think of
Enjoy a cute chapter before some draaamaaa
Enjoy your reading!
"We can't, we don't have a sponsor." lamented Éri.
"Your parents really don't agree?" Rhyme asked sympathetically, and the girl shook her head.
"My mother is more or less okay with it, but it's not like she can help us financially... and Shiki's parents are firmly against it."
"They thought I was going to go to a top business school." Shiki explained. "And I was well on my way there but after the... after Neku... well, it came as a shock to them." She muttered, her eyes jumping to Joshua before returning just as quickly.
"I bet..." Eri replied as she rubbed Shiki's arm, bringing what little comfort she could with the mention of her 'dead' friend. Eri had met Neku a couple of times in the short month he had been alive again. Just enough to appreciate the kind and caring boy he tried to be to his friends. Not enough to know the sarcastic warrior with the many traumas he was painfully trying to accept. She didn't know about the Game, and somehow the "death" of the young Sakuraba had become in the collective imagination of parents, friends, teachers... the event that had made Beat, Ryme and Shiki change terribly. While the loss of such a young friend had made most understand the sudden changes in the three, there were some decisions that were less easy to accept than others. Most notably, that the sweet and obedient daughter of two salarymen in the midst of their careers should suddenly refuse the path laid out before her to enter the relentless world of fashion.
"What are you going to do about the contest, then?" Beat asked and the two girls looked at each other, pained.
"If my parents don't accept, there's nothing I can do." Shiki replied glumly. "I'm not of age yet after all. Eri can accept the prize on her behalf but... it's all the same, without a sponsor, we're not going to get very far anyway."
"But you won, can't they be your sponsor?" Beat replied, clearly confused.
"If we do that, we'll become their employees and lose the opportunity to build our brand." Eri lamented.
The small group remained silent for a moment, contemplating the problem darkly. Joshua did the same, surprisingly. Mechanically spinning the ice cubes in his nearly empty glass, he stared at them as if he could provide the answer. Shiki's imagination had been incredibly refined by the Game and Eri's wasn't bad either. It would be a great asset to Shibuya if the two girls could get their project done. Despite its best efforts, the city was struggling to recover and new artists to feed it was a necessity.
"What about Mr. H?" Rhyme asked suddenly, looking at Joshua, " He's... well you know, maybe he can help?"
"Hey, no, I don't know, Mr. H?" Eri jumped at the name, feeling the evaluative mood. "Who is he? What are you talking about? Why am I the only one who doesn't know?"
"Oh, Mr. H, it's... well..." Shiki muttered, shooting Joshua a panicked look. She clearly didn't know what she was allowed to say or not.
"He's my uncle." He replied boredly, his hand continuing to make turns with the ice cubes. "And I don't know if you've heard of him, but he's the artist CAT."
"CAT!?" Eri shouted as she leapt to her feet bringing the entirety of Sunshine's customers to look at them. Shiki turned red as a peony but Eri didn't seem to care in the least, leaning towards Joshua with stars in her eyes. "Of course I know CAT! He's the most popular native Shibuya artist! He's even known internationally! And he created his own collection, Gatito, which is doing incredibly well. It's the hottest brand among young adults right now and...!" She babbled, only slightly less loudly than her scream earlier. A little disgusted at the joy, and for Sanae, at that, Joshua leaned back and was secretly grateful to Shiki when she pulled back her friend into her seat.
"Shhh!" She sighed and Éri laughed, embarrassed. And then, turning to Joshua, she took on a contemplative look. "Would... would that be possible?"
Well... Sanae wasn't really in a position to help right now, but this wasn't the first time Joshua had taken the reins of Gatito. It wasn't the first time Joshua had promoted projects either. Not so much lately, but just the year before, he had launched the careers of 42 artists, either by giving them their first opportunity with this or that company or with a small meme to give them the courage to start.
It would be nice if he could do it again.
And Shiki and Eri were suitable beneficiaries.
"Sanae is abroad right now but I'll call him and ask." He replied nonchalantly and Eri exploded with joy, throwing herself at Shiki as if all their problems were already solved. The glasses girl seemed more hesitant and when an hour later they said goodbye to Eri, who apparently had to absolutely go check the new Angelic Rabbit collection, Rhyme and Shiki turned to him, ready to have another difficult conversation.
"M.H is abroad?" Rhyme asked and Beat frowned behind her, clearly not understanding the problem.
Joshua had absolutely no reason to answer this question. Angelic affairs were no concern of the humans. But he'd already told them plenty, and somehow keeping them informed had so far been the lesser of two evils. Plus Sanae would probably want them to know so...
"Sanae was punished for his actions in the Long Game." And mine, Joshua thought bitterly, "He's been banished to another plane and he's not coming back until the Higher Planes decide otherwise."
This time, even the girls looked at him confusedly even though there was some fear mixed in as well. It was normal, they didn't have much context to understand what was going on and the words 'banished to another plane' were surely more terrifying than they really deserved.
"He's fine." Joshua conceded when Shiki turned a little too white. "We just can't contact him right now."
"And why did he get punished but not you?" Beat asked as he crossed his arms, clearly annoyed at the perceived injustice.
Joshua had a sudden urge to destroy their trust in Sanae. To tell them about his role in the Game, to tell them about the taboos that had killed dozens of Players and Reaper, to explain his role as Producer... But he restrained himself. Instead, a cynical smile stretched his lips. "Oh but you see, he was trying to save Shibuya while I was trying to destroy it... just as the higher plans had decided."
"There are people above you?" Rhyme whispered, as if she suddenly realized something important. "And they wanted to destroy Shibuya? But why?"
Joshua suddenly felt an immense fatigue. Why indeed? "Shibuya had been stagnating for years, the UG was deliterating from lack of imagination and overly eclectic minds were tearing each other apart." He tried to explain. "They gave notice of Re-creation over four years ago but Sanae and I objected. We tried to save it. But... well, the town is closely tied to its Composer and its condition wasn't helping mine. And at one point I just... gave up."
"But you could have just destroyed it then, couldn't you? So why the Long Game?" Rhyme insisted, her eyes squinting.
"I guess I wanted to give it one last chance." Joshua admitted. Give us one last chance, he thought.
"And Neku was that chance." Beat suddenly concluded with frighteningly understanding eyes, for once.
"And Neku was that chance." Joshua confirmed quietly.
Think about letting a review on your way out and see you the 30th for the continuation!
