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

Date: posted the 20 of April 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 try his best to make the city survive.

Trigger of this chapitre: None I can think of


The problem with getting so far ahead on the chapters is that I want to tell you about the one I just finished, not one I wrote months ago and couldn't remember until I reread it to post it X)
Enjoy your reading!


Even though he didn't have much to observe and preferred to come in the daytime, he didn't mind spying on him at night. It had a different flavour, that was for sure. When he could find time during the day, he could watch Neku at school or model for Shiki or try new activities with Rhyme and restaurants with Beat. But Sunday afternoons were his favourite: that was when Neku was on duty at WildKat. The parallel universe Neku had managed to negotiate art lessons from Sanae in exchange for helping him out in the café from time to time. Not that it had taken much begging to convince the Producer. From what Joshua had seen, the Angel had jumped at the chance and seemed only too happy to share his knowledge. So, on Sunday afternoons, Neku would go to the café, put on an apron and serve the surprisingly large number of customers who came through its doors. Well, surprising... for Neku.

The seal of the WildKat Reapers was a bit unusual. It differed from those of other shops quite drastically. It was not a seal to allow Players to interact with the living, but one that kept the living at bay. So when a Game was in progress, the café was available for players seeking respite from the Noises or advice. But when the Game wasn't going on, Sanae deactivated the seal and WildKat became a normal café again, a popular hub for artists looking for inspiration.

The problem was that, like Joshua's own Game, his double's Game had no set schedule and depended instead on events that might inspire a mission. Except, of course, on Sunday morning when the last Game of the week always took place. Then, as with his own Game, the afternoon was spent deciding on the outcome of the current Game and planning the next one. Sanae was an integral part of this process as Producer. Having Neku work on Sunday afternoons was therefore a way of keeping the café open when it would otherwise have been closed and, above all, of preventing the former Player from crossing over from the present.

In a way, Neku seemed to enjoy the work. He still found it a little difficult to open up to others, but the customers at the café were quiet and came there more to work in their own time than to hang out with friends. Which was good for Neku because, once served, they rarely bothered him and he could concentrate on his homework or drawing pad himself. Or, as was often the case, his friends coming to see him. The Composer sometimes wondered if Neku had partly chosen to work at the café in the hope of seeing his own Joshua... But that would never happen, his double only coming there when the seal was active and thus, as a living person, repelling Neku. The boy could have planned a visit at a specific time of the week, marked it in his calendar and even set off if, when he arrived at the café, a Game was in progress, the seal would make him suddenly remember an urgent task and he would forget all about WildKat without even realising it.

Unfortunately, Joshua couldn't always get away on Sunday afternoons. His own workload was intense with a Game every week and although he tried to complete it at night, he was often in meetings the weekend to tie up loose ends from the current Game and set the next one in motion. It was the same on the other days, he had to watch the game for the few hours it was running and then check that the players were in stasis until the next day without any Reaper taking advantage of their sleep for a few bonus points and then debrief and read the urgent reports... And finally, he also tried to spend time with his partners. So, sometimes, he had no choice but to watch Neku's dreams when he was... well... dreaming.

Because, Joshua had only connected their memories, created an access, so to speak. His Neku was more or less wired into the life of the Other-Neku. It was a bit like a television in that he could, unconsciously, choose whether he wanted to watch the Other-Neku's life or not. Usually, having absolutely nothing to do but dream, his Neku would "choose" to experience the life of the other. Because in order to dream, one needed experiences, and the new events that this other world brought was more enticing than rehashing the same memories a thousand times. However, there came a time when the Other-Neku stopped living his life to, well, sleep. With no more new information, his Neku tended to 'switch off' and create his own dreams with the information of the day. Why was this interesting? Because even though sometimes it was a replay of a memory, more often than not, it was a colourful dream that awaited him. A seemingly mindless thing, incredibly far from Shibuya and yet sometimes so close. Filled with music and familiar faces, exhilarating chases or warm cocoons. It was a deluge of confused sensations, experienced one hundred percent with a genuine naivety derived from a lack of limits in the human world. And Joshua liked it, because unlike an old memory of his Neku or a replay of the Other-Neku's life, there was no danger of him inserting himself into the dream. No danger of making it bug and crash by his mere presence, of altering the boy's psyche and, worse, of 'waking him up'. Making him aware again that he was between life and death, desperately waiting for Joshua to get his powers back to get him out.

Fortunately, Neku didn't really remember it, or if there were any lingering bits in his conscious mind, it was a dream, something so fantastic that it couldn't be real, could it? So whether Joshua was there or not, it couldn't be true either, of course. All this to say, Joshua wasn't specifically trying to visit Neku at night rather than during the day. But, well, when his schedule left him little choice, he didn't complain about it either.

Like that night, for example. It was a Sunday at the end of August or, now that he thinks about it, more like a Monday morning. Mother had dropped by unannounced the night before. It wasn't a resurrection day, though, and Joshua had been caught off guard. Even hours later, he still wasn't sure what her purpose with the visit had been and it made him nervous. She'd simply spent hours asking him about the Game, reworking his plans with him, complaining about Father... as if she were just talking. And that's just it, if it had been Father who'd teleported in unannounced to chat, Joshua might have understood. Father regularly did absurd things like that, things that a normal Angel certainly wouldn't do. But Mother was efficient, she rarely tolerated wasting her time and only for Father's benefit. So there had to be a purpose to her visit, a hidden purpose that Joshua hadn't discovered and it was driving him crazy. But even after cogitating for hours following his departure, barely wrapping up his work, he couldn't see what it was. And desperately needing to regain his composure before the next Game began, Joshua had decided to spend the three short hours of rest he had left in Neku's dreams.

And that's where he was again, thankfully much calmer than earlier in the evening. Neku had spent the last few hours (or was it minutes?) immersed in a psychedelic city, a little too full of colour with a perspective that made little sense. It was interesting, but the constantly changing patterns on the walls had quickly given Joshua a headache and he was glad that the dream had gradually evolved into a classic summer day in Shibuya. If you ignored the dolphins in the sky. Joshua wasn't too sure what memory of the day had inspired these bold changes in the local fauna, but he had to admit that they had a certain appeal. Now, at least, they were in the closest thing to a memory without actually being there yet. So Joshua was enjoying it, walking lazily alongside Neku as they made their way through Dogenzaka towards (Joshua guessed) Neku's flat. The boy was talking about a thousand things and, okay, Joshua wasn't ashamed to say he wasn't really paying attention. His excited voice alone was enough to complete the happy atmosphere. Peaceful. Which is why it took him a moment before he noticed that the subject had veered drastically off course. Or at least, until Neku suddenly grabbed his wrist.

"You're shorter." The former player stated, his eyes confused. Joshua was confused too, and it took him a few more seconds before he realized what was happening: Neku was regaining consciousness. He had stayed too long. "No... I'm taller?"

It was true that Neku was taller than him now, Joshua thought absently as he glanced up. Yep, the dolphins were gone. He'd better get out of here quickly. "Not by much." Joshua smiled before gently extracting his wrist from Neku's fingers. It wasn't hard, he was still in the limbo of sleep: not quite in a dream but not quite lucid either. "But you will be even more so if you go back to sleep." Joshua cajoled, snapping his fingers. Neku blinked slowly, the street around them morphing just as laboriously into Neku's room. Other-Neku's. Fortunately, he too was waking up in the other universe, and his memories began to flow back through the link. Joshua had already disappeared when the teenager opened his eyes again and Neku barely made a movement as if looking for someone around him before he shook his head as if to put his thoughts back in place.

The Composer watched from a distance as he packed his bag for school, completely invisible again. Now that he had pointed it out, it was true that Neku was taller. Joshua had to look up slightly to see him in the eyes. Same for Beat, though the most impressive growth spurt in the last year and a half was definitely Rhyme. Joshua looked at his hand, as white and thin as it had been during the Long Game. Perhaps... he too needed to grow his body? Surely Rhyme, Beat and Shiki wouldn't ask questions if he stayed like this forever but... Eri... his model pictures... Besides, wouldn't it be an interesting new experience to grow old alongside them?

Sighing, he dropped his hand, took one last look at Neku and disappeared. A new Game was waiting for him in the UG.


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