#i mean neku refused to kill joshua before so and josh knows it...

[holograms-in-the-night]

this scene seems normal until you remember that composers have to be "killed" in order to be replaced by a new composer

[composeregg]

5hcs AUs : how about one in which Neku becomes Composer ? starting from "how did it happen ?" and then going wherever you want to take it

Send me an AU and I’ll give you 5+ HCs about it! (accepting)

Okay I’m getting to this first but rest assured the ask/essay about Hanekoma is gonna happen

SO twewy spoilers obvs lol, and also suicide tw

Also this got long it’s basically a bulletpoint fic OOPS

I have multiple fics where he becomes Composer!!! The series Feels More Like a Memory has a bunch of Composer Neku hijinks and more planned! Alternatives a 400 word one-shot Take Your Place Dear which is what this is gonna expand on!!

“How did it happen?” With the duel. Neku pulled the trigger. He didn’t mean to pull the trigger. He was going to lower the gun, but thoughts pound in his head, he’s tired, and the force of a Composer’s strongest Imprints hit him as he starts to drop his arm. He flinches. The gun goes off. And Josh does not stop it. Josh lets it hit him, lets Neku kill him, as he always intended.

He’s absolutely distraught over this. He didn’t mean to shoot, but there’s always a part of him that thinks “you wanted that. You wanted to do that. Him Imprinting me is just an excuse. I shot him and it’s my fault.”

He actually has to cope with becoming Composer first, though. It takes a toll, becoming connected to a city. Mentally, it exhausts him, becoming everywhere at once.

But he deals, and he brings his friends back to life. His Entry Fee was his friends, yes, but he won. The winner becomes Composer, he gets his fee back. Josh, in the canon, just gets to decide what to do with it in canon and doesn’t hold onto it.

So he has a meltdown, this autistic boy, breaks down and is overwhelmed and screams, but he manages to get it together enough to do that. And then he passes out for three days.

He manages to drag his ass to Hachiko, and he tries to keep it from his friends. Hanekoma says he shouldn’t go at all, he’s Composer after all now, that requires secrecy, isolation. That’s just how it’s done. But Neku insists, and goes, and keeps his Composer Title secret.

It works, kinda. Rhyme knows something is up, they can tell it instantly. They sense it, residual Noise instinct. Beat and Shiki don’t quite realize, but they know something is wrong with Neku. Eri is there too but she doesn’t know shit.

Rhyme asks, one day, about a month after the Game. Neku breaks down, and explains. The first Game week he’s overseen has just ended, no Players made it to the end of the week, and he s h a t t e r s. 

In front of Rhyme, and Shiki, and Beat. 

He breaks. He cries. He tells them everything, tells them about Josh, about what he did. What he doesn’t know if it was his own will or not. He’s so terrified that they’ll reject him, freak out because he’s still tied to the Game, and what if they’re afraid of getting dragged back in?

They all just fuckin pile on top of him and hug him and comfort him and give him all the love and affection he deserves, he needs.

“Neku, it’s okay. It’s not your fault. You said he was imprinting on you, you didn’t want to do it.”

The thing is.

Josh lingers.

His soul. It still exists. The code is strewn through Shibuya, but sometimes. It whispers.

Neku can feel the impulse, Josh’s thoughts and feelings, or at least what he would’ve felt, thought, and he doesn’t know if he’s imagining it or if it’s there.

He also never realized a city could be sentient, or that he’d never get to sleep again. It takes a bit to deal with that. But Shibuya loves him. She loved Josh, so much, even under the threat of Erasure she loved him, was sad for him, but accepted his choice for his replacement. But she. Holds onto him too.

Neku learns, and grows as a Composer. He’s so powerful, but he refuses to be recruited by the HG. He’s no Angel. He can shape the Game here, make it better, heal the broken cracks. Find himself in Shibuya, her power, his friends adding to his own power. He expands his world, pushes those horizons as far as they’ll go.

Decides to believe the that Joshua whispering in the back of his mind might be something more than just wishful thinking, when it shares facts about Josh he never knew. Little details, at first.

“Hey, you’ve got more friends than I’ve ever had.” Makes sense, he could extrapolate that.

“Oh, that game came out the year before I died.” Does not, especially not when it’s whatever pokemon game was just 3 or 4 years old at the time of the Long Game.

Another Josh visits from a different universe, and between the infuriating conversation and a breakdown, and finding out a lot.

Neku realizes. that these Notes, this Music strewn through Shibuya, the tune stuck in his head, is actually Joshua.

Long story short he finds a way to bring Josh back by reconstructing that Music into being a person, using Alt!Josh as a basis. 

And Joshua is alive again. He’s a living, breathing, human being. he sees the UG, but he has life. A second shot. 

Josh moves into the back of WildKat and gets to try being a normal boy! Who has friends!

Shiki throws something at him the first time she meets him, Beat threatens to wreck his shit if he ever pulls anything so fucked up ever again. But Neku wanted this. So they respect that choice. And grow to care about him

Neku is also big pissed at Hanekoma for the Taboo Noise thing. And gets Uzuki to be his Conductor. Josh may take that role from her later but that is unknown.

[littleconan]

Neku: It’s getting late though, goodnight. Joshua: Get some sleep, dear.

SO YALL I ACCIDENTALLY MADE MYSELF CRY WITH A TEXT I SENT MY NEKU DURING OUR RP.

Also if anyone is curious, we RP Josh & Neku after the events of TWEWY and adding on the events of DDD. So we pick up back in Shibuya after whatever happened to the TWEWY kids during KH: DDD.

So Spoilers for TWEWY under the cut explaining what I realized after I sent the reply:

If you’re reading this then you know what the heck goes down in TWEWY, aight here we go!

So we all know of Joshua’s bet to destroy Shibuya’s UG, yes? And how Megumi was part of that bet. Well first off, in order for a UG to be destroyed, it means the Composer has to be killed with no one to take his place, which can only happen if someone kills a Composer themselves so that they may become the new Composer.

SO TO ME THIS MEANS THAT JOSHUA WANTED TO END HIMSELF SO SHIBUYA’S UG WOULD END. And Megumi agreeing to the bet for Shibuya, and not for Joshua to stay alive hurts me.

And then the Secret Reports in Another Day where Sanae was saying he was the one that helped Sho become a Taboo Noise as a backup if Neku was to fail. Sanae, who probably knew Joshua when he was still alive, before the game, wanted to end Joshua instead of trying to help him.

Who knows, maybe they DID try before Joshua made his bet. But that means they gave up on him.

So I was like “...Oh.” when I realized the alternate meaning behind what I sent AND THEN I STARTED CRYING WHEN I GOT NEKU’S RESPONSE. CAUSE NEKU REALLY WAS THE ONLY ONE THAT DIDN’T GIVE UP ON JOSHUA. HE REFUSED TO SHOOT THIS BOY WHO HAD JUST RECENTLY BECAME HIS FRIEND. And Joshua saw this. And Neku is the reason why he decided to keep living.

[composereggwrites]

TWEWYtober, Day 5: Haunted

TWEWYtober prompt list

AO3  | My TWEWY Discord server

Neku is super lucky, besides all those pesky near-death experiences! At least he has a ghost to watch out for him!

Neku is being haunted.

After what he’d been through, he shouldn’t have been so quick to doubt the idea, but the odd noises, the slight shift of objects? He chalked it up to an overactive imagination. He could still see the UG, after all, if someone were playing tricks on him from there, he’d know.

Until a truck driver doesn’t look while Neku’s crossing the road, and the only thing that saves him is Joshua flickering into view, mouth open in a silent shout of Neku! Static screaming in his ears as he’s pushed backward, out of the way, falling to the ground.

The asphalt stings his palms, but the safety-pin punctures don’t compare to the stab wound in his heart when he looks up and Josh isn’t there.

 The second time, muggers with pointy blades and strong muscles have him cornered in an alley. It’s dark out, he shouldn’t have been out so late, but the hangout had run later than planned.

This time, Joshua appears in front of him, violet eyes burning, a fire raging within as he snaps his fingers, soundless and yet the static reaches Neku’s ears, and makes the attackers drop unconscious.

“They’re not hurt, right?” he asks, before he can choose anything else to say.

Josh gives a wordless shake of his head, and Neku’s reaching out to grab his wrist when he vanishes.

 Neku was never very lucky before his death, but after it? At a glance, his luck had changed. The things he wanted were always on sale, people liked him, he managed to find random yen everywhere, his favorite songs always played on the radio. Like Shibuya was saying here, you deserve some good stuff.

There’s just the little problem of all the times he almost dies.

 The third time, he’s staring down the barrel of a gun. His veins turn to lead, his breath stalls in his lungs, eyes wide at the man before him. Terror clenching his heart like a metal clamp freezes him in place. He can’t grab his wallet, can’t move to give into demands.

Joshua, please. If you’re listening, if you’re out there, help me, he thinks, loud as he can. The only thought bouncing in his head as the safety clicks off.

The gun clicks.

No shot is fired.

Joshua stands at his side, one hand wrapped around the gun, a wild grin on his face. “Sorry, but I think your bullets may have been compromised.” In his other hand, he holds out the cartridge.

His face falls, turning stone cold as he speaks with such force that Neku knows it has to be an Imprint. “[Leave Shibuya. Leave Shibuya and do not return.]”

Joshua stays to watch the man flee, which gives Neku enough time to grip his wrist, a vice refusing to budge an inch. “[Stay.]”

He spits the word, refusing to let it choke him by staying knotted in his throat. It flies from his mouth, and Neku swears he saw Joshua flinch, saw him try to leave. But he remained rooted to that spot, held in the eye of Neku’s emotional storm.

Lightning crackles, somewhere, and it takes a moment for Neku to realize he’s been electrocuting Josh.

“Tell me what’s going on. Tell me, and stop running away.”

Josh laughs, using his free hand to run his fingers through his hair. “I was restricted from RG access for a bit, but the border between realms is thinner whenever death draws near. But then you called out to me, and I used that to tether myself on both ends, and I maaaay have just punctured reality a bit to get here. Needle-sized hole, I swear!”

“You’re… not flickering,” he murmurs. “And I can hear you. I couldn’t before, is that why?”

Josh nods. “Oh Neku, so clever of you! Yes, that’s exactly why.”

“Why do I keep almost-dying, anyway? Is it your fault?” he asks, because if there’s someone to blame, it’s probably Josh.

“Mm, no… Well,” he sighs. “Yes? Maybe. Indirectly!”

“Explain.”

“Can I have my hand back?” Neku doesn’t answer, staring him down instead. “Okay, guess not. Best to put it simply, then: You’re kinda the Conductor, and the universe hates the fact that you’re alive, so it’s trying to fix that.”

What the fuck?

“What the fuck.”

He must’ve dropped Josh’s wrist from the shock, because Josh uses the hand to pat Neku on the shoulder. “It’s not so bad. You’re like, unofficial. You haven’t been appointed it formally, so it’s not like you have any work or anything, it just means you’re the default Conductor and there’s nobody else I can find to fill the vacancy.”

Neku wants to scream, shout his throat raw about how unfair this is, how he shouldn’t be relegated a UG position when he worked so hard to get his life back, but…

If he doesn’t have to do anything… If he can stay alive… If it means he can see Josh…

“Just make sure I don’t die, or I’ll kill you.”

Josh laughs, free as a bird as he smiles up at Neku. “No, you won’t! But I promise I’ll always be here to make sure you’re fine.”

[oveliagirlhaditright]

Show Appreciation

https://archiveofourown.org/works/33771730

Joshua tries to tell Shiki that she did something that an Angel could have, something hella powerful, but he does it sort of creepily. But even with that, Josh and Shiki find themselves having a pretty pleasant day with each other, as they more and more find their footing with one another.

A story where Shiki/Neku/Joshua are all in a relationship but Shiki/Josh is the focus here. Neku Sakuraba mentioned a lot.

Shiki was shopping at 104—thinking of buying some violet thread, since she could finally sew purple clothes again, without being depressed after Neku’s disappearance; she was even thinking of buying some ashen colored ones—when she ran into Joshua.

Quite literally, actually.

He was drinking an espresso, while he was in the check-out line with magazines he’d bought about the Prince’s latest fashion blunders, Shiki saw. And she’d fallen backwards into him, when she’d been going into a changing room nearby… but one of the workers had decided last minute to put up tape, so that no one could go in there, since the pandemic clearly wasn’t over and they must have decided they didn’t want people trying on clothes, after all. And since Shiki wasn’t expecting that sudden change at all, that was what had caused her to trip and fall into the Composer.

Thankfully, Joshua had the grace of—well—an angel, and didn’t spill any of his drink (actually, he have even made it disappear from existence to keep it safe), as he kept Shiki from a very nasty fall (something she was most thankful to him for), but she could tell he wasn’t exactly happy with her for colliding into him.

And Shiki sighed.

Even though she and Josh were sort of dating now (her and Neku and Josh—all three of them, actually—were a thing), she still understood this one the least. Partially because she less of him, of course.

They actually had hung-out a few times in the three weeks before Neku’s second murder (and Neku had probably been more surprised about this than anyone). And that was probably where the feelings had started.

Neku and Joshua would stay up late at some Tin Pin event—that they would also kindly invite her to, in order to be nice… moreso Neku (and Beat and Rhyme, too)—and then the two of them would end up crashing at Shiki’s place, since it was closer to the Molco than their homes (Beat and Rhyme did go home, however, as the Bitos were still worried about their parents giving Beat a hard time. And didn’t want to start Beat’s revival on the wrong foot. Also, thinking about it now, Shiki wondered if Joshua had kind of been lying about his home being “far away”. For all she knew, he could have magicked a house in the sky with his powers, but she’d only been too happy to help).

But even though all three of them were exhausted by the point they made it to Shiki’s house, they still didn’t sleep a lot. No. Instead, Shiki would work on some fashion designs, of course, and Neku would then be inspired to draw some characters… And the two of them would talk about how if they ever became famous, perhaps Neku could be a character designer, but Shiki could help him with clothes ideas for his drawings, because he still somewhat struggled with that. And then Joshua would say that if they ever made it that far, he would Produce everything—because he was filthy rich, of course—and he perhaps owed them something.

And it was all so fun.

…But then Neku was shot again and Shiki’s world fell apart. And Joshua left it just as soon as he’d entered it, pretty much.

And though Shiki had gone to the Dead God’s Pad with Beat and Rhyme (Rhyme had refused to stay behind when Beat had asked her to), Joshua had only told them that Neku was as fine as he could be in this situation, and the three of them would hopefully see him again someday, but he couldn’t spare them anymore details than that and wouldn’t do so.

He’d ushered them all away sort of rudely after that.

And other times they’d all went back there, it had seemed like Joshua had set up operations elsewhere… or was at least acting like he had.

And, of course, he’d changed his phone number, too.

Shiki hadn’t seen him again until he’d shown up when Neku had—when everyone was trying to fight against Shibuya Syndrome. But he’d only had eyes for Neku then, and hadn’t said a word to her.

Since then, the five of them had miraculously begun hanging out again. Sometimes with the Wicked Twisters, too, and even with Hazuki at rarer times.

And even more crazily… Neku, Shiki, and Joshua had all picked up their relationship together again.

And it was even better than it had been before… It was pretty similar to past times—with them all three working on their dreams together—but now sex was involved too, and that was so nice.

Though Shiki and Neku had both told Joshua that he needed to be a better partner if he wanted this to work, which meant he needed to show up to group outings more… he needed to be more transparent… and he needed to treat Shiki like an equal, as well.

And bless him—and bless Shibuya, Shiki supposed (which was also Josh?), that showed that it could change—Joshua had done all of these things… but he was still Josh, and maybe that was okay.

“Shiki,” Joshua told her now, as he steadied her form, so she was no longer wobbling into him or the worker behind her. “I came here to tell you that you should have died during the last Reapers’ Game.”

Scratch what she’d said about him not being happy with her before. Clearly that wasn’t it. He’d decided to be creepy with her. That was it.

“Joshua,” Shiki started, feeling a migraine coming on, as she pinched the bridge of her nose and decided to buy the slinky black dress, after all, even though she couldn’t try it on… If the way Joshua was eyeing her purchase, as she made her way down the aisle with it, she’d made the right choice. “What did I tell you, first off, about saying that kind of thing at all? But secondly, about speaking like that in public?!”

“Hehehe,” Josh laughed, with a hand held high in a symbol of peace, no doubt. Shiki groaned. “I don’t mean to offend, dear. Really, I don’t. But this is my work. Aren’t I supposed to talk about my work with my spouses… or whatever you and Neku might one day be to me? And it hardly matters if I say this stuff in public or not, no one listens. Or if they do, they think we’re talking about an anime, or perhaps that a hidden camera show’s being shot here—and they’re all on camera right now—… or that I’m crazy. Which I can live with. I don’t care what they think about me, since understanding people is impossible, as I’ve said.”

With her purchase in one hand, Shiki grabbed Joshua’s wrist with her other hand, and headed out of the store, and began making her way towards the Scramble. If Joshua wanted to talk about his work with her, she wondered if he’d want to go to the Shibuya River, which was clearly open for business once more.

And she must have been right, because Joshua began leading her there—running quite fast for someone who usually didn’t like to break a sweat—before she could even blink. And then Mr. Mew was almost falling out of Shiki’s purse with how fast they were now jogging.

“Hey, Josh. Slow down. Slow down! Hey!” Shiki urged him, moving herself to be in front of him once more, as she grabbed ahold of both of his arms and pulled him onto one of the crosswalks. “I’ll have you know, that if I lost Mr. Mew to the traffic, I never would’ve forgiven you!”

But Joshua wasn’t listening to that claim in the slightest. Instead, he was looking at her faux-starry-eyed…. Or was it? “My, my, my. I have to say, I love the way you manhandle me, Shiki. It sure does get the blood racing, you reversing the gender roles this way. Why don’t you push me against a wall next?”

Shiki rolled her eyes, pulling Josh over to a small bench, so they could sit down and talk about all of this civilly, like normal adults…

But, she wasn’t going to lie, Joshua saying that to her sort of got her going, too. If only Neku were here, as well…

“If it’s really important work stuff you want to talk about, I’m sorry for snapping at you before, Josh. Mind filling me in now?” Shiki asked with a wide smile on her face, just as she reached across the table so she could hold Joshua’s hand in her own.

And it was certainly a testament of how far they’d come, that Joshua didn’t flinch away in the slightest, but rather held her hand… Their fingers still weren’t laced yet, their hands just cupped, but Rome wasn’t built in a day, Shiki knew.

“Hmm… I probably misspoke in making you think it was something that mattered now, Shiki. I was just trying to tell you, that in the last Game… you actually did something on an Angel’s power level, when you freed Tsugumi’s Soul from Mr. Mew, which is most impressive.

“Furthermore, Shiba had last Game set up, so only people with more and more impressive psychs could keep joining in. That’s essentially why no one joined after the Wicked Twisters did. But as I said, dear, you did something that an Angel could have… You definitely would have been able to enter back into the UG, even with that stipulation, and would have been a great help to the team, I’m sure.”

While Joshua was complimenting Shiki here—which was something that never came easy for him, so she was definitely happily taking it all in—there was also a lot wrong with this scenario, too.

First of all, Joshua had earlier said she should have died in the last Game. What? Did he think she should have killed herself to help Neku and everyone? To help him? Shiki wanted to believe that he would have found a way to let her into the UG while alive. And that if she had committed suicide, he would have brought her back to life in the end, of course, like he had Neku… but something about this all still stung.

Shiki also now feared, that Joshua would use this as reason to try and make her ascend. He was always trying to convince her and Neku to become Reapers (and they mostly had decided they probably would do that when they both died again, but not before that). But now would he want her to be an Angel instead? Maybe that would be better than having to erase Players, and perhaps that was what he was doing for her here, but…

“Shiki, look. Your Mr. Mew did slightly fall out of your bag and get damaged without our noticing. I’ll fix him, toot sweet.”

And Joshua did just that, before Shiki’s very eyes, with his lovely Composer powers.

So, she was clearly worrying over nothing, huh? Maybe Joshua still had some issues to hammer out, but so did she. So did everyone!

Shiki still wasn’t Miss Congeniality… not that she thought she ever would be, or really wanted to be. Heck, when Shiki was sort of trying to be like that—like Eri—it had been when Neku had hated her!

Leaning into kiss Joshua for a sweet kiss, when a fluffy cloud—that almost looked blue because of the lighting—floated by, right after Joshua’s blue powers faded away, Shiki decided that Joshua was plenty peculiar, alright… but that maybe that was a good thing.

“Shiki, what-” Joshua asked plenty startled—and the Composer usually didn’t do startled; Shiki almost laughed—when she pulled away from him.

“I just want you to know that I like you as much as I do Neku. That’s all.”

“Hmm…” Joshua hummed now, standing up and grabbing Shiki’s hand, so he could begin leading her towards the River once more (was Neku there?) “And I suppose I like tolerating you, as well.”

And with Joshua, that might as well have been a proposal for marriage. Shiki would take it for what it was. She leaned into him merrily, with her hand in one of his own, while her other hand held Mr. Mew.

“Now let’s go find something related to edible art that the three of us can do together,” Joshua smirked.