Story: Mind the Gaps (French version available : "Intervalles")
Date: posted the 20 of July 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
Enjoy your reading!
Joshua was in the Reckoning Room, analysing the pre-sorting of his Reapers. One by one, he approached the multicoloured balls of light carefully lined up in front of him and gauged them. Colour, emotions, Vibe, goals, memories, actions... everything he had access to, Joshua dissected. And in the end, it was he who weighed the scales to decide whether these beings deserved a second chance... and more importantly : whether they had the potential to be useful to the Higher Planes. After all, even the most 'angelic' of beings, if they didn't have at least a modicum of imagination and adaptability... There was little point in putting them in the Game if they proved incapable of forming a pact or controlling psychs. Better to spare them further suffering and reserve the limited places for more suitable candidates.
Joshua had already done this dozens, if not hundreds of times, and the task, although always a little different, had become repetitive. So much so that it was easy to let his mind wander. Barely a few days after the Executioner had begun his experiment involving souls with latent potential, he had demoted two of his Reapers to Players. After the coup in Shinjuku, Joshua had spent a lot of time studying their laws, well aware that they would probably use them more than those of Shibuya. Or at any rate, that they would use the ones that were most advantageous to them in a given situation. Seeing this, Joshua had initially thought that the Executioner had decided to have one last laugh at Matsunae's expense before erasing them. Indeed, under Shinjuku rules, a Reaper demoted to player status had a week to live before being simply erased. But no, it wasn't to punish Matsunae Tsugumi and Kaichi Susuki that the Enforcer had fired them, no, he had used another rule: the winning team could ask for a wish of their choice within the limits of what was feasible.
While this wish was widely used to resurrect the winners, it had also been employed to resurrect a loved one lost in battle or to request the removal of a particularly detestable Reaper. And so, every week since, Matsunae and Kaichi had played with the players. And every week, they won. And every week, they asked to play again.
In other words, it had been over two months since Joshua had had anyone left to resurrect. The last team to live through the blessed pre-Ruinbringer era had given their all in the last game, desperate to end it one way or another after three months of playing. Obviously, having attacked them head-on, they were completely wiped out one by one, right down to the last Player. All that remained were young teams who had never experienced resurrection, and their mental state was already beginning to decline drastically. Soon, the resurrection would be nothing more than a rumour passed from Player to Player, a dream that seemed even more unattainable than before.
The only good thing about this was that it should have, if not stopped the visits from his Tuners, at least drastically reduced them. But no, worse, there seemed to be more and more of them, Mother and Father taking turns as if to keep Joshua company. A companionship he, he reiterated because it didn't seem to sink in: didn't want. Father had just spent the last hour trying out human snacks, slumped in Joshua's throne as he checked the souls selected for the next Game. Every crunch of crisps or startled noise made him grit his teeth and want to throw a soul at him.
He had finally taken his leave two minutes earlier and Joshua was just beginning to relax when a new Vibe announcing a being from the higher planes crackled in the air. Wondering whether it was Father returning because he'd realised he'd forgotten one of his snacks or whether, worse, after Father it was Mother who'd decided to pay him a visit, Joshua was only marginally relieved when he recognised Hazuki's distinctive music only seconds before it formed in front of him.
But only marginally.
Hazuki too, over the years, had got into the habit of visiting him more and more. Often at particularly inappropriate times. Not that there were many suitable times, but... Well. So it was a bit strange to see him now, when the most exciting thing likely to happen in the next few hours was the collapse of one of his piles of paperwork.
"Good morning." He said in a monotone voice before walking over to Joshua.
"Hazuki, did you need something?" Joshua asked without looking up. It was easy to follow him with his Vibe and he absolutely had to finish filling this. He'd fallen behind because of Father.
The Shinjuku Composer approached and stopped beside Joshua, seeming to observe the souls in suspension with particular curiosity.
The Shinjuku Composer approached and stopped beside Joshua, seeming to observe the souls in suspension with particular curiosity. Or rather one, for that matter. He had walked all the way down the line without barely glancing at them before stopping in front of a soul who didn't seem all that different from the others. He stayed there so long, looking at it strangely, that Joshua had time to finish sorting out a couple of souls before his counterpart spoke again.
"Why this one and not another?" He asked without answering Joshua's question.
Joshua spared him a glance, tempted not to answer either. He was standing in front of a faint whitish orb, its form held in place by a protective shield all around it. The question wasn't clear, but Joshua thought he knew where he was going with it. He hoped he was wrong, though, because he had no idea how the other would have found out. The soul was treated like the others, carefully sorted into one of the three groups in front of him. Nothing individualised it. But there had to be something or Hazuki wouldn't have noticed. It wasn't his time to worry, but if he'd discovered Joshua's new little secret habit, then Father and Mother had certainly noticed too. Which perhaps explained their continued visit, now that he thought about it. But Joshua was sure that they would have put an end to his experiment much sooner if they had.
After all, from the outside it looked a lot like compassion and, it must be said, his next sentence didn't help the idea.
"He's a child. He's had a hard life and an equally hard death. He deserves another chance and he has the potential to achieve it." Joshua replied.
"So why don't you let him take part in the Game?" Hazuki asked, tilting her head towards Joshua.
"Oh, he's going to be in the Game." Replied the Shibuya Composer with a pucker of the lips.
"But not this week's." Hazuki declared.
"But not this week's." Joshua confirmed.
"Isn't it bad form to keep souls for so long?"
"Only if they know about it, and otherwise it's not against the rules." Not Shibuya's, not Shinjuku's and not even in the Higher Planes code of conduct. Joshua had checked three times. It was actually a bit worrying, there was no protection for the souls that higher beings wished to keep. But it sure helped him in this case, whether it was for these future players... or Neku.
"How many have you kept aside ?" Hazuki asked curiously, turning away from the soul to stare at Joshua.
The Shibuya composer froze for a second. It was easy to speak in innuendo, it was much harder to admit what he was doing out loud. Especially to himself.
"Four." He finally said, his voice coming out much stronger and calmer than he would have thought.
"For now." Hazuki added and Joshua nodded curtly. "And then what? Are you going to do something? He's quite clearly overstepped his bounds."
Joshua let out a bitter smile. "Our Tuners have made it quite clear that they will not intervene any further in this conflict. So I'd have to contact the relevant authorities on the high planes, and... well, they don't have my best interests at heart. They'd get rid of Kubo, sure, but they'd also dispose of me and, strangely enough, that's no longer an acceptable outcome."
"So you're just going to keep letting it happen? Let Shibuya tip over into an Inversion?" Hazuki insisted, and Joshua tilted his head, curious.
"I thought you wanted an Inversion for Shibuya?"
"I do not care," Hazuki corrected. "I just don't understand why you don't want it, so I'd have thought... you'd make sure it didn't happen." He explained, his lips contorting into a puzzled expression.
Joshua turned to look at him, watching him precisely for once. With his furrowed brows, pursed lips and troubled eyes, it was easy to see that his Shinjuku counterpart was genuinely trying to understand Joshua and his decisions. The Shibuya Composer wasn't sure he'd ever seen so much emotion on that face before. Hazuki Mikagi, too, had changed.
Joshua smiled slightly and returned to his work without answering.
Think about letting a review on your way out, and see you the 30th for the continuation!
