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

Date: posted the 10 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


To celebrate my ten years of writing, I've just posted 3 new one-shots and corrected/translated three old ones, so don't hesitate to check them out!
Also, this story is one year old as of yesterday! But no worries, just a few more chapters to reach the end :3
Enjoy your reading!


It was with an absent mind that Joshua had watched the clumsy efforts of Kanade and Furusawa on the second day. In spite of himself, turned inwards, he couldn't help but stare at the silent link binding him to Neku. Even the presence of Minamimoto, who had apparently decided to lend a hand to the Composer's Proxy, barely managed to distract him for long. Although it had to be said that Joshua was particularly puzzled by his actions. He knew that Minamimoto would be a joker, either a bonus or a malus card, but even now he still wasn't sure which. Why had he chosen to help the Composer's proxy? Had he seen something in Kanade that Joshua had missed? Or was he also interested in the powerful badge that would allow Kanade to go back in time? Or was it simply his way of protecting Shibuya? It was hard to understand the man on a good day, so after the years of hardship Joshua had put himself through, he didn't even have the strength to think about it. In the meantime, Minamimoto certainly helped him, because otherwise Joshua wasn't sure his Proxy would have survived his second day.

It was only after the day's game had been over for a good three hours and Joshua was immersed in his paperwork that he felt a rubber band snapping inside his chest. Not as if something had broken, no, on the contrary, more as if part of a well-oiled machine had clicked back into place. Even though he'd been expecting it all day, it still took him by surprise, taking his breath away. Placing a hand over his heart in the faint hope of getting closer to this strange but welcome new sensation, Joshua couldn't help a small smile from stretching his lips.

Neku was awake.

His smile didn't linger, however. It was nice, but it didn't help, at least for now. Forcing himself to remove the fingers gripping his shirt, Joshua dropped his hand to the sofa, his other firmly wrapped around his pen. He had paperwork to do. Yet he'd barely scratched out a sentence when his phone vibrated on the coffee table in front of him. It was Shiki and, not sensing any great distress on her part from their pact, ordinarily he wouldn't have looked at the message. At least not until he'd finished his work. But right now, the slightest distraction was welcome and he practically jumped at it. His partner was asking him if everything was all right, she'd felt a strange feeling similar to when they'd made their pact and she wanted to know if it was normal or if she was imagining things. Joshua had shown them a bit about how to sense the Pact and get information from it, but he hadn't expected her to notice Neku's reappearance two cities apart. She must either be more attuned or have practised a lot more than he thought.

He wondered if Rhyme and Beat had felt it too, and thinking about them made him remember something. It was years ago but... he'd promised Beat he'd tell him when Neku was awake.

Joshua hesitated a little. He hadn't wanted to tell Shiki and he didn't really want to tell the others either. Especially Beat, because, Joshua was sure he'd find a way to get himself into trouble. On the other hand... he'd made a promise and, even without that, he was keen to share the news with someone who could understand its magnitude.

Giving himself a few more minutes to think about it, he texted Shiki to reassure her and then, without so much as a conscious effort, he checked the pact to see where Beat was. Not surprisingly, the answer was his student-job and it didn't take Joshua long to get through the doors, the spices immediately tickling his nose.

Well, he'd made up his mind, apparently.

Beat had just served an order, but instead of returning to the kitchen, he headed straight for the door before even seeing Joshua. If Beat wasn't as good as the girls at voluntarily using the pact, he was incredibly attuned to it subconsciously.

"Yo, Josh! In the mood for a curry?" He asked him, presenting his fist. Without showing how checking back was still strange to him, Joshua clinked their knuckles together with as neutral a face as possible.

" I don't see why not. The usual will do." He replied nonchalantly, trying not to think about the fact that he already had a usual dish when Beat hadn't even been working there for three months.

"Got it! Have a seat in the corner, I'm almost off duty, I'll be right there. Hey Chef! A formula C for me and an extra spicy B for number 4!"

Joshua rolled his eyes at the comment, he certainly hadn't been the one to ask for the extra spice, but it wasn't surprising. It fascinated Beat that Joshua didn't react to it at all, something he'd discovered one of the first times they'd all been to a restaurant together. It was a few weeks after Joshua had decided to hang out with them, they'd had enough dates and heart-to-hearts together that Beat wasn't really scared of him any more, but not enough for him to stop trying to test and antagonise him. So Beat took advantage of Eri showing Joshua some new designs to spill a bottle of chilli on his plate. But the skateboarder wasn't the pinnacle of discretion and he had stared at the Composer with such a wicked grin that Joshua hadn't even needed to read his mind to understand what he'd done. All that remained was to eat everything very calmly and Beat threw his arms in the air in frustration before stealing Joshua's spoon and taking a mouthful of the dish, thinking he hadn't added enough spice. Of course, he had immediately turned red, sticking his tongue out grotesquely, on the verge of tears. Joshua had watched his joke backfire with a smirk. Strangely enough, that was what had won Beat's respect in the end, and the boy didn't need to know that he'd used his Composer powers to get away with it.

What ? He hated sweating, after all.

Since then, Beat always ordered Joshua's extra spicy food when he got the chance and, well, Joshua was too proud to tell him to stop. Whatever, he'd pretend to put up with spicy food for the rest of his life if he had to, but he wouldn't give Beat the satisfaction of being right. And no, it wasn't childish, just... strategic.

"I'm off boss, see you tomorrow!" Beat exclaimed as he left the kitchen and a gruff voice answered him, two plates in hand. Without further ado, Beat made a beeline for Joshua before placing the plates on the table. "Go on, tell me what you think, I made the sauce myself this time." He said proudly before taking off his apron and dropping into the chair opposite Joshua.

Raising an eyebrow, Joshua dipped his spoon into the curry before bringing it to his mouth. At least it smelled good... and actually tasted even better. "Not bad, Beat, there's an improvement." He said, pleasantly surprised. "It doesn't taste quite the same as the Chef's, but the difference is good too."

Beat squinted, leaning forward. "Why are you being all nice, yo, is it that bad?"

"What are you talking about." Joshua took offence, it was an honest compliment!

"I was sure I'll got sarasma, did you have a good day, or what?"

"Sarcasm." Joshua corrected him without thinking about it. "And actually, yes, I did get some good news."

"What, Neku's back in Shibuya?" Beat teased and Joshua felt his lips pucker into a wicked grin. If he was handing him the perch, too...

"No, but he's on his way."

It took Beat long seconds to register what Joshua had just told him, but when he did, he dropped his spoon with a surprised "Bwaaah!". Obviously, the utensil fell onto the plate, sending curry all over the table, a few drops even falling onto Beat's jumper. Joshua smirked, pleased with his effect.

"Are you serious, man?!" Beat almost shouted, making all the other customers turn around. His tone was a mixture of incredulous and annoyed, so Joshua wasn't sure if his exclamation was about Neku's return or his cruel way of announcing it. Probably both.

"Very serious. I woke Neku up last night and sent someone to take him back to Shibuya. He's probably going to need some jo-..." The Composer began to explain, but Beat was already getting up, pulling on his sweatshirt before picking up his curry, still standing, and shovelling spoon after spoon down his throat at a frankly impressive speed. The sight provoked such disgusted fascination in Joshua that he lost his words, watching the other boy complete his curry in record time.

"Thanks for the meal!" Beat exclaimed before running to the counter to put his dishes down, passing his fellow waiter whose job he had just stolen. Running in the other direction, he passed Joshua again, barely slowing down to shout goodbye.

"What are you... Beat wait!" Joshua exclaimed as he rose to his feet and, wonder of wonders, the young man stamped his feet, trotting on the spot as he looked back impatiently.

"I'm going to get Neku, yo!"

"But he's not still...!" The Composer began to exclaim, but the skateboarder had already left. "Oh screw it, he'll figure it out sooner or later." Joshua grumbled before dropping back into his chair. He wasn't going to ruin a good meal, no matter how spicy, just because Beat couldn't be bothered to listen to him for more than a minute. Besides, Joshua had no desire to chase after him.

In any case, Joshua had fulfilled his promise: Beat knew Neku was awake. Now, if the idiot wanted to run around Shibuya like a headless chicken for a few hours, that wasn't his problem.


Think about letting a review on your way out, and see you the 20th for the continuation!