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

Date: posted the 10 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


And Intervalles is... complete! I've just finished writing the last lines, so the story will stop at chapter 50! The penultimate chapter is, like, 4 times the size of a normal chapter, but shhh.

Also, it's the last fluffy chapter before the end arc. Next chapter, we will jump right into neo canon again! Everyone's ready ? :3

Enjoy your reading!


"... well, yeah, it's only been five weeks since the opening, but the results are so fantastic that I'm not at all worried about them," Joshua said, raising his hands to shoulder height.

"And you're sure you had nothing to do with it?" Neku teased, leaning forward to be able to look him in the eye.

Joshua immediately placed a hand over his heart, looking outraged." How dare you doubt Shiki and Eri's abilities?" Neku looked up with a small smile. The curl of his lip automatically brought a similar one to Joshua's.

"It's not them I doubt, it's you. You can't help but interfere in our poor mortal lives." The orange-haired boy mocked, though without malice.

Joshua laughed as his only reply, but the words were no less true. "Intervene" that word again, eh? As much as Joshua could try to convince his Tuners otherwise, it was difficult to do the same with Neku. He was the product of his repeated interventions, after all. The current situation alone was a good example.

Perched on the high tower of the fourth district of Traverse Town, Joshua and Neku, their legs dangling in the air, had an unobstructed view of the alleyways below. They were obviously in a dream. It had been almost eight months since Joshua had told Neku almost everything. If Joshua continued to observe Neku as regularly as before, these kinds of lucid conversations could be counted on the fingers of both hands. Although, to be honest, they were becoming more and more common as the months went by. It wasn't because he didn't want to that they were so few of them, but because he had to keep some restraint. Joshua only indulged in this kind of conversation when Neku could remember that he was in a dream. Of himself, anyway. Joshua could provoke these memories easily enough, but it was safer for Neku's fragile mental health if he didn't play with them.

Or not too much.

"What about Beat?" asked Neku, easily pulling Joshua out of his thoughts. "How's he getting on with university? You told me about his induction week last time."

"Pretty well, all things considered. Unsurprisingly, he has a bit of trouble with theory classes, but his motivation more than makes up for that." Joshua replied, rolling a lock of hair around his index finger.

"If there's one thing you can't fault Beat for, it's the strength of his determination." Neku agreed with a smile, but even from the corner of his eye, it was easy for Joshua to see that he was more than just fragile. Neku didn't want to admit it, but as much as he was more delighted than sad every time Joshua talked about Shiki's progress, Beat's university stories invariably caused discordant notes disturbing his music. However, it was difficult to blame him. After all, if he wasn't stuck here, he too would be at university with Beat.

Restraining himself from wincing at the high notes of jealousy, Joshua tried to calm them by changing the subject: "Speaking of stubbornness, Rhyme passed the prelims with flying colours."

"For the programming competition?" Neku confirmed and Joshua nodded, "Wow, that's impressive! Three years ago she didn't know a thing about it, and now she's managed to enter a national competition."

"International." Joshua recalled with an annoyed tone, but just the fact that he was correcting Neku showed how excited he was about it.

"You can already see the Shibuya representative on the world podium, admit it." Smiled his Proxy, jostling his shoulder slightly.

"Of course I do. Besides, a bit of recognition wouldn't do the town any harm." added Joshua, crossing his legs with enviable fluidity.

"I thought you said Shibuya was on the right track. Is that your producer again?"

"Acting Producer." Joshua corrected, "Sanae still technically holds the title. And yes, of course, it's still him. Ever since I had to relocate Gatito to Minato, the town's imagination has taken a hit. And he must have noticed my interest in Gatto Nero because he's desperately trying to get the new shop shut down too."

"I don't understand why he hates the town so much." Neku replied with confusion. Confusion not surprising to Joshua given that he had carefully avoided talking to him in detail about anything to do with the Executor and the possible impending Inversion. Even though Neku had sacrificed Shibuya and... basically everything for Joshua in their last Game, that didn't mean he wasn't deeply attached to it. More so since the Long Game, in fact, and Joshua didn't want to demoralise him any further by talking about it. Although he only remembered it from their almost monthly chat. Joshua didn't really want to deal with a depressed Neku, the only time he could talk to him, thank you very much.

"Not all Producers are as enamoured of their duties as Sanae is. If anything, it's more of an anomaly, most don't stoop to keeping any semblance of human life, you know." Joshua replied nonchalantly.

"Uh. I hadn't thought about it, but with his job as Producer, Barista and CAT, Mr H had to be-... well..." Neku cut himself short, seeming to have suddenly remembered who he was talking about. He swallowed hard and then continued as if nothing had happened. "He must have been very busy."

Joshua always felt a vicious sense of victory when Neku winced at mentions of Sanae. The boy harboured a lot of hard to reconcile feelings about the Angel and unlike Joshua, he hadn't forgiven him. But perhaps the betrayal was greater? CAT was Neku's idol after all... but Joshua liked to think their relationship was more precious, hence the extra effort.

"Sure, he didn't make things easy for himself, but he has the not inconsiderable asset of not needing to sleep." Joshua finally replied. Leaning back, he let himself fall gently onto the stone, looking up at the stars. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Neku watching him before he, too, lay down comfortably.

"Oh... and you? Don't you need to sleep either?" Asked his Proxy in the direction of the sky.

Joshua hummed, wiggling his fingers in rhythm. "I can refrain if need be." Replied the Composer, but he wasn't sure if Neku had heard him. Joshua turned his head towards the boy, watching him without surprise. His eyes were fixed on the sky, his eyelids wide open, as if that would allow him to see more.

Not surprisingly, with each note Joshua had whistled, the sky above them had changed significantly to represent the sky over Shibuya. Or rather... the sky Joshua could see when he was communing with the city. It was a lot less impressive without the aura and clatter of music that went with it, but it was still a novel sight, a mess of stars and multicoloured veils twirling at high speed.

It wasn't something many people had seen. Nobody below Joshua could, and nobody above him bothered. And that suited Joshua just fine, it was his moment, just the Composer and Shibuya, as if they shared some great secret. But somehow, Joshua had wanted to... well, share that secret with Neku too. He knew he'd appreciate it to the fullest.

"This is amazing." Neku murmured, and Joshua smiled slightly at him before staring up at the sky again.

"Fantastic, isn't it?" Joshua agreed, feeling no shame in boasting about it as if he had anything to do with it. "I never tire of it."

They both watched the colourful swirls in comfortable silence. Or at least until Joshua noticed a discordant beat growing louder and louder in Neku's music.

And then suddenly, his eyes riveted, without really seeing it, on the sky, he exploded: "I see them every day in the other world, but they're not going to be the same, are they, when I come back? We haven't been through the same things, we haven't done anything together since we were fifteen, no, in fact, I haven't done anything at all, have I? I'm just borrowing someone else's life." He said before suddenly stopping short, swallowing hard and then resuming much more slowly. "Sorry, I... I don't even know where I'm going with this, I'm just... tired of the situation, I guess. I know it could have been a lot worse... I'm not completely dead yet, and I've got the Other-Neku's life but... I just want to be me, in my own life. And at the same time, I don't even know what I'm going back to, it's been years and..."

Neku stopped there, but his blurred eyes showed that he still had a lot of things weighing on his heart. Joshua wasn't the type to reassure anyone, well, see how things had gone with Shiki when they'd had more or less the same conversation... but then, he'd never thought himself capable of doing anything emotional before. And yet, look at him now! Shiki, Rhyme, Beat, Sanae, Neku... somehow, they'd all managed to change him. Just a little.

"It'll be fine." Assured the Composer with as much confidence as he could put into his voice. "I'll resurrect you and you'll go to university with Beat. You'll have to help him with his English, he's clearly no genius when it comes to languages. And Shiki and Eri are sure to have you model, so I hope you've overcome your shyness a little. Well, if you haven't, it'll be fun for me. You'll also have to accompany Rhyme to the museum and take part in her experiments. It'll be a chance to take those drawing classes you were talking about, too, and I'm sure that if you bother him a bit, Sanae will jump at the chance to teach you how to tag when he gets back. You're going to be so busy you'll almost wish you could laze around in your dreams again."

"Almost." Neku laughed softly, "What about you? What will we do together?"

Joshua hesitated for a second. He still wasn't quite sure what he himself wanted to do once his quest to regain his powers and save Shibuya, and therefore Neku, came to an end. But he realised at that moment that he had no desire to stay away any longer.

"Well, I suppose if you haven't had enough of me after all this, we can always hang out in Hashiko." He replied nonchalantly.

Neku smiled, his hair scattered on the tiles around his head, before suddenly grabbing Joshua's hand and shaking it firmly. "Deal." he beamed, and Joshua wished very hard that, this one, he could honour.


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