Story: Mind the Gaps (French version available : "Intervalles")
Date: posted the 20 of september 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.
Trigger of this chapter: None I can think of
Enjoy your reading!
Seeing Rindo Kanade fall asleep after his first day in the game had given Joshua hope. His body had barely had time to succumb before the protective stasis bubble formed around him, causing him to float blissfully in the Scramble Crossing, Furusawa in a similar bubble beside him. Joshua let out a sigh. The first day was over and his Proxy was still fully alive. It was already technically better than the Long Game, Joshua thought morbidly.
"...And so it begins. I sure hope you wake up soon. Wouldn't want you to miss all the action…"Joshua murmured as he stared at the people milling around the pedestrian crossings.
The Compositor sighed before returning to the judgment room: he had to be in his safest place to stay unconscious long enough to wake him up. Because after all this time, the only thing stopping Neku from waking up was... well, it was Joshua. As long as he couldn't resurrect him, knowing full well that Neku didn't want to be a Reaper and that, in this complicated atmosphere, it wasn't a good idea anyway, Joshua had kept him firmly in the dream world. But now the argument was a little futile. After all, if Joshua still didn't have the ability to resurrect him, it didn't really matter any more. Because if everything went well, then he could do it soon. And if everything went wrong? Well, Joshua wouldn't be around to look after Neku and he'd be in the dream world for an eternity. And somehow... well, the Composer had some hope that Neku might be able to save Shibuya a second time. The hero of the Long Game, as Kariya used to say...
Dropping back onto his throne, Joshua prayed for a second that his Tuners wouldn't decide to show up to debrief him on the first day, or at least not right away, and closed his eyes.
Traverse Town, without much surprise. Joshua looked at the perpetually nocturnal city around him as he walked towards the Fourth Ward. Some dream-eaters dog and bat, Sora and Riku's favourites if Joshua remembered correctly, were chasing each other around the fountain. Neku was sitting on the edge, his purple cat at his feet, seemingly lost in the reproduction of CAT's mural. He must have been less mystified than in his younger days, though, because he noticed Joshua straight away and smiled at him. They'd become surprisingly sweet and steady in three years, it was hard to remember the guarded teenage Neku when he'd got used to this calm young adult.
"Hey, Josh." He greeted when Joshua was within earshot. "Still dreaming, I take it?"
It wasn't a real question. Ever since Joshua had explained almost everything to him nearly nine months ago, when Neku had been conscious, he'd remembered that discussion too.
"I'm afraid so... but not for much longer." Joshua replied nonchalantly. It took Neku a few seconds to process the sentence, but as soon as his brain registered the words, he gasped, his eyes wide open. Joshua couldn't revel in the surprise for long, unfortunately, because soon a cautious frown kept him at bay.
"What do you mean?" He asked, following Joshua with his gaze as the Composer gracefully dropped beside him.
Contrary to his habits, Joshua didn't let him dawdle any longer: he was too keen to tell him the good news for that. Well, whether it was good news or not remained to be seen, but at least he was going to get out of the dream. That was something.
"You'll be able to wake up." Neku blinked, immediately opening his mouth, but before he could articulate his hope, Joshua was quick to nip it in the bud. "I still can't resurrect you, but soon, if all goes well."
"So when you say 'wake up', you mean be conscious in the UG? You've been able to do that for months, so why now?" Neku asked, suspicious.
He was right to be, and Joshua began to play with a lock of his hair, hesitating how to phrase all this. "Do you remember the new producer?"
Neku frowned. "The one who's replacing M.H temporarily? And who hates Shibuya?"
"The very one, although it would be more truthful to say he doesn't hate Shibuya, he's just doing his job."
"His work? But I thought he did everything to sabotage the city?"
"Yes, that's his job, Producer, it's merely... a secondary stand-in gig, if you will. In reality, he's an Executor, an Angel of the Higher Planes who goes from town to town on the edge of precipices to push them in."
Realisation dawned on Neku's face. "So... Shibuya, he...?"
Joshua nodded. "My decision to spare the city three years ago was not well understood and accepted by everyone on the higher plane. An Executor was then sent to observe the city and my rebuilding efforts and rule on whether or not Shibuya is remediable."
"But it is! Isn't it, Josh?" Neku interrupted him urgently, jumping to his feet to plant himself in front of the Composer. His sudden movement had dislodged the dream-swallower from his feet and the cat-like thing feigned with annoyance, but Neku seemed too worried to notice.
"She was recovering, yes." Joshua replied diplomatically. With his reconstruction plans constantly thwarted, he himself was still not certain that Shibuya could make a full recuperation. Not that he'd admit it to Mother, of course. "However, the Higher Plans hate to be wrong. They had felt that Shibuya was not salvageable and when I suddenly decided otherwise, they were not happy. Most of them accepted it, but others didn't, and some individuals decided to send an Executor. It wasn't a unanimous decision, only a handful of Angels insisted on mass existence. The worry was that the others didn't care."
"So what? The sighting was just an excuse? They decided to destroy Shibuya anyway?" Neku boiled.
Joshua nodded, and the boy shook his head violently. "No, no, they can't! What's going to happen to my parents? What about Shiki, Rhyme and Beat?" And then, suddenly, as if he'd realised something: "Wait, is that what happened in Shinjuku? The Executioner, is that the guy who was fighting Tsugumi's brother?"
"Yes." The Composer replied simply, not wishing to dwell on the subject. "And as for Shibuya, it's simple, I got a chance to save her."
Neku only seemed to relax for half a second before a critical frown pierced the Composer. "If you tell me I have to play another Game, I swear to you that...!"
Joshua smirked at his reaction, amused to see again that teenage rage that was appearing less and less in the young man. "Oh, don't worry, I've chosen another Proxy for this Game." He interrupted. "The first day went well, and I'm hopeful he'll be able to achieve it. However, the Executor intervened with my Proxy, and although I have some leads, I'm still not quite sure why. In any case, all the help I can get is going to be needed and, what better way to help than with the legendary Neku?"
As he had hoped, the last comment diverted the young man's attention for a second, and he lost the question he was about to spit out in favour of a puzzled stammer: "Legendary? Are you serious?"
" This isn't my own words, you're famous in the UG, you know? The Player who played three weeks in a row and saved Shibuya. The legend has grown even bigger in the last few months if that were possible. They're probably hoping you'll save Shibuya again." Joshua teased him. But strangely, Neku didn't react, simply staring at Joshua with a piercing gaze.
"What about you?"
"What about me?" Joshua asked confusedly, not understanding what Neku was referring to.
"Are you hoping I'll save Shibuya again too?" He rephrased calmly.
Joshua blinked before smiling slightly in spite of himself. "Maybe a little." he admitted.
Neku nodded before suddenly sitting back down next to Joshua, his body turned to face him. Behind him, the dream-eaters continued to circle the fountain and, seeming to sense a lull, Neku's cat jumped onto the ledge beside him before curling up into a ball.
"All right, tell me everything. What can I expect? What do I have to do?"
"If you insist... The Game is a bit different now. The current conductor is from Shinjuku, so he's more or less adapted the Shibuya Game to resemble it. So, as you experienced over there, there are no more pacts and the game is played by team. The catch is that the winning team gets their wish, and for the last few months it's been a team of former Reapers who keep winning. Each time they ask to play again and so the other teams are forced to play again too."
"You mean... people have been stuck in the game for months?" Neku sighed in horror.
Joshua nodded and Neku turned white as a sheet. Hmmm, maybe he was going to stop there. "I can keep explaining it to you, if you want, unfortunately, there's little chance of it being of any use to you." Joshua remarked, making Neku jump.
"Why's that? Any information is good to take."
"Sure... if we remember it. But, Neku, I remind you that we're currently in a dream and there's little chance you'll retain much of it when you wake up. In fact, I doubt you'll even remember much of what happened after you died. You wore your Timbre out a bit too much trying to save Matsunae, you know?" Joshua tried gently to say, but it sounded like an accusation. Embarrassed, Joshua cleared his throat slightly and quickly continued. "Anyway, at best you'll remember what happened in Shinjuku and a few bits of dreams, but in reality it'll probably just be bland impressions."
"But how am I going to help, in that case? If I don't even know what I'm saving... are you going to explain it to me again when I wake up?" Neku asked confusedly.
Joshua held back a wince. "Ah, no, I'm more or less stuck in Shibuya at the moment. However, don't worry, I'll send someone to meet you and guide you back to Shibuya."
Neku nodded slowly before letting his gaze fall to his hands. "I'm really not going to remember anything? Not Shinjuku, or dreams or even the other Neku's life? Am I going to be my fifteen-year-old self again?"
"I don't think so, it should be more... like an impression, a memory that did happen, but that you're having trouble remembering. You know it's there, but you can't quite make out the outline." Joshua tried to reassure him. Seeing that it didn't take, he hesitated slightly before revealing a little secret. "That's what happens after a normal Game, you know."
"What, staying locked in a coma state for over three years and forgetting about your life once you wake up?" Neku replied sarcastically.
"I can think of a couple of similar cases, yes, but that wasn't what I meant. Neku, players generally don't remember the UG or even the Game once resurrected. I block out those memories, but that doesn't mean they didn't happen and what they learned during the Game? The new person they've become? It remains and continues to evolve in their second life."
Instead of jumping on that information, Neku immediately focused on a little tidbit that Joshua wished he hadn't paid attention to.
""We weren't supposed to remember the Game? I'd have forgotten Shiki and Beat and Rhyme and... you?" Neku muttered before suddenly blinking and turning hastily to Joshua. "Is that why you left us our memories? You wanted me to remember you?"
Joshua blinked. This wasn't what he was supposed to get out of this information. But... um... If Joshua thought about it... he wasn't wrong... The Composer looked away, occupying his fingers with his lock of hair. "It would have been a shame to erase such good times together, wouldn't it?" He said, aiming for sarcasm, but it sounded more honest than he would have liked.
Neku immediately slapped him on the shoulder, a reflex more than anything else, really. He muttered a "bastards" under his breath, placing a smirk on the Composer's lips. He didn't really want Neku to dwell on that much longer, though, so he hurried on:
"Traverse Town has a certain charm, but you've probably had enough time to look around by now, haven't you? So, ready to wake up?"
"Like now, now?" He exclaimed. As if sensing his confusion, the dream-eater patted Neku's hand with his head, feigning to attract his attention. Neku stroked it automatically, smiling sadly. Then he raised his head, looking at the other dream-eaters and the distant buildings and Sanae's mural one last time, before turning to Joshua. "Okay, fine, go ahead. I'm ready."
Joshua would have loved to be able to make fun of his overly serious air but... the symbolism of the moment weighed just as heavily on him and he couldn't bring himself to lighten it with a taunt.
Raising his hand, he placed two fingers on Neku's forehead and gathered his Vibe, wrapping it around the boy. In less than a second, the link with the Other-Neku was broken and the chains Joshua had fastened around his soul to keep him asleep: severed. He was just throwing a final wave of Vibe to wake him up when Neku whispered, "Don't forget this time, Josh." Making Joshua jump.
"Wha-...?" The blond began vaguely, but was immediately cut off.
"See you in Hashiko."
Neku had timed his moment incredibly well, because before the Composer could even think of answering, he disappeared in a flash of light, leaving Joshua alone on the edge of the fountain, the hand still raised.
Think about letting a review on your way out, and see you the 30th for the continuation!
