Story: Mind the Gaps (French version available : "Intervalles")
Date: posted the 20 of august 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.
Trigger of this chapter: None I can think of
This is definitely one of my favourite chapters of the story! I feel like it flows well, it fits with the characters, it makes sense...
I hope you like it as much as I do :D
Enjoy your reading!
"It's your final decision?" Mother asked, the corners of her mouth turned resolutely downwards.
"Yes, Mother." Joshua replied without blinking.
"I told you, he's stubborn." Father replied with an amused smile.
For the first time in... years, really, Joshua found himself with the dubious pleasure of both Father and Mother as company. The three of them were in the judgment room and it was particularly fitting considering Joshua was feeling very judged at the moment. Mother, arms folded and looking sombre, was facing Joshua. A little to one side, more or less in the middle of them, as if he were playing referee, Father smiled, his hands in his pockets. He didn't really arbitrate much, though, preferring rather periodically to add fuel to the fire.
"We've given you enough time, don't you think? More than three human years and many more before that."
"And I am grateful for your patience, however, if that is to be my choice, then I am very happy to remain wisely where I am." Joshua smiled, a curl of his lips that reeked of insincerity. Potentially adopted from Father, now that he thought about it.
Mother shook her head in disbelief. "Why do you so vehemently refuse the honour of ascension... do explain, Joshua, I want to understand."
Joshua blinked, genuinely surprised by these words. It was the first time that Mother had asked the question instead of simply reprimanding him. He was silent for a second, thinking about the subject in a concrete way instead of just denying everything as he was used to doing.
Why didn't he want to ascend?
In the beginning though, when he had been a mere human being dreaming of something else, he had carefully studied the Game, counting on climbing the steps one by one until he reached the top. The top, at first sight, had been the Game's Master. Then the Conductor. And he'd even suspected the existence of the Composer when he met Sanae. Of course, this immediately opened up a whole new world of possibilities. Not only did the Composer exist, but there was a whole society above him. Hundreds, thousands or maybe even millions of individuals? All connected for a greater purpose.
It was incredible, in the most mundane sense of the word: really hard to imagine.
And then he had jumped in... literally. He'd become a Player and then a Wall-Reaper and then a Lieutenant, an Officer, a Game Master... He'd climbed each step with an enthusiasm he'd never known before. It was intoxicating! And then he became a Composer and met his Tuners. Father and Mother had given him a new identity, taught him how to develop his powers and control them, how to manage his city and create links with it... Perhaps their lessons had worked too well? For the first time in his life, Joshua had found something he loved completely, utterly and irrevocably. Shibuya was beautiful, so vibrant, so different from him and yet all his. So when Mother had approached him that first time an angel feather had pierced the frame of his Reaper wings, Joshua had hesitated. He wasn't quite ready, anyway, Mother had told him. He was well on the way, but he still had a long way to go before he could reach the higher planes. The Composer had easily accepted this break in his meteoric rise and had continued on his way, taking Shibuya to the top of the rankings in Tokyo... and then Japan... and then the World. Mother had been incredibly pleased and had then delayed Joshua's promotion herself, trying to enjoy those good results a little longer.
But in the meantime, Father had deemed him competent enough to teach him a few skills usually reserved for Angels, and Joshua had discovered the amazing world of parallel universes. Or to be exact, since he was already using them to transfer memories for the winners: the joy of travelling in them. A source of endless amusement! An infinite number of worlds as similar or as different as he wanted, and as long as he fulfilled his duties to his own Shibuya, then he was free to go and have fun.
So when Mother had said that, really, Joshua's wings were almost as white as an Angel's, now it was time for him to go up and had come back to see him, he had simply... refused. He had Sanae and Shibuya and the parallel universes and it was more than he'd ever had before. Somehow his endless hunger for more, more, more, more because otherwise he'd end up with nothing, had dried up. He was fine like that, happy even, if he dared say so. But what about up there? It was easy to give up everything when you had nothing, but as soon as you finally had something...
Mother had frowned, the first note of disappointment sounding in her Vibe. It had been the first, but far from the last over the next few years. Yet she had let him do it. He had to want it, it had to be his choice, she had insisted. That didn't stop her disappointment growing with each new visit, though, and Joshua hadn't liked that one bit. Not at all. Because, as much as it pained him to admit it, there was no denying that he'd made the name she'd baptised him with, his own. And there was a reason for that: Joshua respected them. Mother and her rigid rules, Father and his incomprehensible games... they were nothing compared to all the knowledge, support and pride they had had in him. Strange, isn't it, that he could so easily call these non-human beings "Mother" and "Father" when he could barely force those words into his own human progenitors.
Perhaps... perhaps some of his subsequent unhappiness was due to that. He desperately didn't want to disappoint them but... he loved Shibuya and Sanae and even his Reapers so much, he didn't want to lose them either...
And then slowly, gradually, bit by bit... Joshua had fallen into depression. This was nothing new to him; he'd been around this destructive apathy for as long as he could remember, and had succumbed to it on several occasions. He'd thought he'd got away with it with the UG, but it seemed to have been just a slightly longer distraction than usual. Surely sensing his deteriorating mental state, Father and Mother had insisted more and more on his ascension. But the more they insisted, the more Joshua tensed up. Shibuya was his! His safe place, the only thing that really belonged to him, he couldn't abandon her... But maybe Mother was right? And that's what he needed? Father said it was one more adventure, something to give Joshua back the zest that was escaping through his fingers...
And then they'd hypothesised a Reconfiguration.
"Shibuya no longer seems able to support itself without you." Mother had said disapprovingly. Beside her, Sanae seemed incredibly tense and yet silent. That was how Joshua had suspected that whatever it was, Mother's proposal was not good news. "You've interfered too much, Joshua, a city can't depend so much on its Composer, especially not when he's... well."
'Unstable'. That's what Mother had meant. And he was, Joshua realised. He, like Shibuya. Mother was right, intertwined as they were, they had locked themselves in a circle. Virtuous if one of them was happy, but if the slightest negative feeling came to taint one of their spirits... And with the uncertainty Joshua felt about his future, that's exactly what had happened. Multiplied exponentially by a city that wanted its Composer to leave as little as he wanted to leave her, his malaise had begun to spin through space, infecting everything he touched. His insecurity had turned to anxiety and then fear and then despair. And before he could even think of doing anything, there was nothing left to do. Despite all their efforts, Sanae's, Joshua's and even the Reapers', Shibuya wasn't getting any better and probably wouldn't be until Joshua got better first. But then again, Joshua couldn't get better if Shibuya didn't get better either. And he'd tried, he'd really tried, but...
He'd at least wanted to save the thing he cared about most in the world.
When Mother came to him with the ultimatum of his ascension or the restructuring of Shibuya, Joshua gave it serious thought. But ascension meant seeing his Shibuya taken away from him and given to someone else without his consent. And restructuring it meant saying goodbye to everything that made Shibuya, Shibuya. None of the options had suited Joshua, so he'd chosen his own. If he was the one poisoning Shibuya, and if he couldn't fix himself, then the diseased part had to be amputated. That was what you did, wasn't it, to save the most important piece of a whole? If Joshua disappeared, if he found the perfect successor to take over from him, then Shibuya would prosper again without having to go through a complete restructuring. It wouldn't be Joshua's Shibuya completely, exactly, but... that was the point, wasn't it? And anyway, he wouldn't be around to see it.
So he'd carefully selected his successor, planned his Game, organised the pieces just as he needed them and when everything was in place... well, the Long Game had arrived. And then a glimmer of hope, the loss of his powers, the inversion of Shinjuku, the disappearance of Neku and Sanae, the coup, his partners, The Executor, the plan to invert Shibuya...
In a way, he'd found even more reasons not to ascend. With Neku still dead, Shibuya on the brink, Sanae in limbo, his partners to keep an eye on and prevent his Reapers from wiping each other out, he simply couldn't leave. And that's what he told Mother.
"I've got too much unfinished business to leave now," he summed up with a smile.
Mother frowned, obviously annoyed. "I understand and commend your need not to leave your affairs undone, however, this has gone on long enough."
Joshua felt a sudden concern at Mother's words, even more so when Father jumped into view, a saccharine smile on his lips.
"Which is why we have decided to authorise The Executor to use any means at his disposal with the aim of bringing about an Inversion in Shibuya." He said cheerfully, Mother nodding behind him.
Joshua froze at once, even as his Vibe turned and turned even faster, leaving the contours of his Composer form considerably more blurred than usual. All the means at his disposal? It was practically carte blanche. Kubo could do anything he wanted, use the full range of his Angelic powers, not just what he was normally allowed to do as a field agent. It was practically everything except the taboos: large-scale mind control, legalised involvement of living people, requisitioning Angelique relics...
Joshua couldn't face it. Not in his condition.
His lips curled into an angry grimace. Why? Shibuya was on the right track! She was doing much better, he was doing much better, and it wasn't for lack of putting obstacles in his way! Did they really want him to rise so badly? To the point of destroying a town that didn't need it? It was illogical, incomprehensible, not in line with the philosophy of his Tuners. How was Joshua supposed to play his cards if he didn't understand the motivations of his opponents? Nevertheless, he had to try. So, his jaw still clenched, he turned to Father. He would be the easiest to convince, he simply had to...
"I see... In that case, I can hardly see him failing. But wouldn't that be too... easy? Why not play a little Game to spice things up?"
Joshua immediately saw Mother roll her eyes as she mumbled an annoyed "No, no, no Ga-..." but Father interrupted her before she could finish her sentence.
"Oh well, why not, it's true that otherwise this story becomes far too predictable. What did you have in mind?"
Joshua took a second to wet his lips and choose his words carefully. Father was giving him a chance: he couldn't waste it. "The usual rules, everyone chooses a representative and the winner decides the fate of the town."
Father tapped his chin, thinking, as Mother sighed behind him. "Hmmm, traditional. Why not, but let's add some stakes, shall we? You've trained hard for the last three years, so let's put those skills to good use: no intervening in the Game other than through a proxy."
Joshua gritted his teeth, but he'd expected it. He wouldn't be able to override it, but he could still use it to obtain a quid pro quo. "In that case, if I succeed in spite of everything, not only do I decide the fate of the city, I get my full powers back."
"And if you fail, then Shibuya goes into Inversion and you ascend without further discussion." Mother inserted herself and Joshua frowned. "Well? Do we have a deal, Joshua?"
He wouldn't get any better this time then...
" It's a deal, Mother, Father."
Think about letting a review on your way out, and see you the 30th for the continuation!
