#neshiki day 2021

[altorav]

8/24

[mandidandi]

HAPPY NEKUSHIKI DAY i did a redraw from ns day 2020 bc dang a lot can change in a year 🌻

[oveliagirlhaditright]

Teasing

Teasing

https://archiveofourown.org/works/33451297

“Neku, do you miss my being a redhead?” Shiki asks after Neku had gotten back to her in the RG after three years. And what Neku had thought was pillow talk with Shiki, might be the result of an underlying issue there.

“Neku, do you miss my being a redhead?” Shiki asked, nearly as soon as Neku had gotten back to her.

The two of them were chilling in Shiki’s apartment when she said it, even though Neku was pretty sure he had his own one too, thanks to Joshua—and memories of another self to somewhat go along with that place—but for now, it still felt more natural to be at Shiki’s. More real.

And, well… to say that they were just chilling was a bold face lie, Neku allowed. The two of them had gotten done making love just a little while ago, and it had been… amazing? Spectacular? Perfect?

All those cheesy things that people said about sleeping with their supposed soulmate: Neku thought that was what it had been like to be together with Shiki. And he wouldn’t trade it for the world. And he knew she wouldn’t, either.

But since then, the two of them had eventually sort of ended up doing their own thing, as the day had gone on—not awkwardly, like they were ignoring each other or bored of each other—but since Neku knew you had to be pretty close to someone to be able to sort of split off during your hangouts, and still be good friends (or more of course, since he and Shiki were definitely that). And he and Shiki could definitely manage it. But then, they’d always had a good sync rate, huh?

…Which was why Neku was so flustered by her sudden question now, as he sat on her bed with her. Neku had thought that Shiki was wrapped up with her fashion magazines, like he was with this tin pin game on his phone. But Shiki couldn’t have put up a guise in reading them—while deep down, she was upset about something—could she have?

Neku decided to go for the lighter approach in broaching the topic here. And really… he didn’t think Shiki was being too serious, anyway. So, he pulled her from the foot of the bed, and back closer to him and kissed the crown of her head once. “Of course not, Chic. I knew you were a brunette from before!”

“Yeah…” Shiki trailed off now, as she fidgeted with her hair that she had just cut recently shorter, “but we didn’t get to spend that much time together before… I worried that maybe Game-me would have been stuck on your mind. And sometimes, people think couples with the same-colored hair look good together for some reason. I don’t know. I probably am just being silly here.

“But fiery redheads are a thing. You’re that, Neku. And maybe I still am, I don’t know—even without my hair matching who I am—but would you miss me if I’m now not as blunt, as when I was trying to be Eri?”

“Clearly,” Neku argued—pulling Shiki underneath him now, so she couldn’t escape him and would have to look into his eyes and see only truth there, while he smoothed her hair back—“if you don’t think brunettes are fiery in their own right, you don’t know how scary you all can be, in being so smart and knowing everything.”

And when Shiki laughed at that, Neku kissed her nose afterwards to make her giggle even more… and maybe it was even a reward to him, for his getting her to laugh, that he allowed himself to kiss her nose. Because Neku thought that you couldn’t have a nose as fucking cute as Shiki’s one, and not kiss it.

“But in all seriousness,” Neku rued now, being somewhat bold and placing kisses onto Shiki’s arms now, however you want to look is fine by me. I, uhh… love you for your soul, I think. Especially since I can read those now. So don’t ever change that, please.”

And while Neku had started out that last confession to Shiki so well, he’d somewhat tripped at the finish line there, and was being like his fifteen-year-old self again, in awkwardly running a hand through his hair and wanting to avert his eyes from her now. Even after everything. Oh, well. Some things would come with time, Neku knew, and that was fine. He had had three years stolen from him, after all…

And Shiki was really chortling now, before she wrapped her arms around Neku’s neck to bring him in for another kiss. And who was he to complain?

Shiki tasted like strawberry bubblegum… and kissing her was like having had vertigo your whole life, but finally having your world righted when you were with her... or being told that you had a terminal illness, but that now you had the chance to live—as you looked into chocolate eyes of such warmth and life themselves—and Neku could never get enough of it. And it was certainly the case now.

He was loath to pull away for air. But Neku ended up being glad that he did, when Shiki immediately began joking with him again: “If we don’t care about looks in this relationship, does this mean you’ll look however I want you to? Like, bald, perhaps… or with blue skin, from putting on that one sunscreen that turns your skin that color… and with you wearing a floatie as shorts?”

And now it was Neku’s turn to guffaw. And he rolled off of Shiki as he did so, to make sure that he wouldn’t hurt her with his weight, as be absolutely lost it here. But they’d both heard recently that Hishima was thinking of going bald… and Neku had seen those commercials for that kind of suntan lotion in the 90’s… And, hey. He had to wear a floatie in the most recent Game once—and had told Shiki about it—and she’d never let him live it down. Leave it to Shiki to make a joke out of all of that, and to leave him dying, trying to catch a breath of air.

Thankfully, Shiki was very much an angel now—gently breathing into Neku’s face, so he might catch his breath—and calmly holding his shaking form until it calmed down.

With all that settled, Neku reached up and moved a strand of stray hair out of his lovely girlfriend’s face and continued their day: “I’ll even let you take my shirt this time, instead of my pants, if we end up in the UG again, Stalker. How’s that sound?”

And Shiki hummed, satisfied at that, as the two of them laid back down together again, while the sun started setting through the window and Shiki began using Neku’s chest as a pillow.

He had the most content feeling in the world at that, as she began drawing circles on him, that almost had him humming, as well.

“And a very good thing that you’re giving me that, Neku, since we’re sexually active now. I may want your shirt off all the time and might take advantage of this if we ever wind up in the UP again.”

“Tch. ‘A very good thing I’m giving you that’, indeed,” Neku echoed back to his girl, and thinking that he probably sounded a little bit like Rindo while doing so. Or maybe even Joshua.

And Neku had wanted to come up with a better snipe towards Shiki than that—since that was apparently what they were doing right now: like week one of their Game, but for fun now, and with their hearts in harmony with each other—but he instead thought better of it and kissed Shiki’s hand. “And… thank you for that, Shiki. Thank you for you.”

“Mmm. And thank you for everything, Neku!”

And there was really nothing better they could do or say than that, was there? Especially not when they were getting tired here, as it was getting late for these midnight owls.

So, it really was just another perfect day in the RG.

 Author’s Note: This came out a little different than I planned. With them being more playful than I’d imagined… maybe because I’m writing this late and am sleep deprived.

 Oh, well. They deserve this fun. Hope you all enjoy it!

 Happy NeShiki Day!

[ang3lwave]

Neshiki Week 2021, Day 3: Cherry Blossoms/Hachiko

(this technically works for both prompts cause its their reunion shhh)

art block + school means I couldnt do a proper piece in time, but I did manage to make these edits which I'm super proud of!! these 2 make me soft, please enjoy

btw these wallpapers are made with my super weird budget phone ratio in mind, so if you guys would like me to resize them to your phone or even for use in like a twitter header or smth, just give me the dimensions and ill see what i can do!

pls credit if you use online tho <3

[soundofez]

neshiki week 2021, day 3// cherry blossoms / hachiko

animal crossing, anyone? 🏝

[dragonseattofu]

A Step Closer to Home (TWEWY x KH Crossover fanfic)

Summary:

Shiki enlists Neku's help with redecorating the Gatto Nero store front for her new collection, but their plans get interrupted by a young red head and her black cloaked friend. (Written for Neshiki Week 2021 Day 5: Crossover; link to Ao3 in content source)

Preview:

Around him, whimsical neon signs blinked rapidly, with the lampposts flickering in harmony. The sky was darkened, but the various warm lights bathed the cobblestone walkways in a soft yellow glow. He could hear a soft jazz from the tavern, and the crisp air nipped at his nose.

Everything seemed so familiar, like he’d been here before, yet he couldn’t remember a place in Shibuya like this.

“Sora”

What?

”Thanks”

Huh?

That sounded like him, but he didn’t say that. Right?

The scene shifted, and Neku jumped in surprise as a younger version of himself stood before him, next to a pink haired teenager.

Eri? No, wait, he thought, she’s holding Mr. Mew. That must be Shiki, from the reaper’s game.

Neku grimaced, what kind of sick joke was this?

The game version of Neku and Shiki were talking to a brunette boy, clad in the most outrageous yellow shoes he’d ever seen.

”Once you find your friends Sora, you should come hang out in our town!”

”Definitely. See you in Shibuya.”

”Sure, it’s a deal.

His vision changed again, this time he was back in Shibuya. Neku could see the 104 building in the distance. It was the dead of night, and the Scramble was eerily empty, a rare occurrence, even from his time in the UG. Except it wasn’t completely empty; there was a single person standing in the center of the iconic crosswalk.

The individual turned around a couple times before glancing up and making eye contact with Neku.

Recognition dawned on the spiky haired teen, ”Neku?”

The teen started to walk towards Neku, but before he could respond, the mirage faded into white, and Neku woke up, gasping for air.

“Neku? What’s wrong?”

“H-huh?”

“Breathe Neku. Breathe through your nose.”

He shut his mouth, and forced air in and out of his lungs from his nose. Slowly, his heart rate started to normalize, and his chest rose and fell into a steady beat.

He sighed, putting a hand over his face.

“Nightmare?”

“Not sure if it was a nightmare, more like a weird dream.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“Mmm, I'm sure it’s nothing,” he grunted.

“You sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah, I’m okay.”

Shiki didn’t look convinced.

“Sorry for waking you.”

“It’s okay.”

Neku looked at the clock, 07:36. They still had some time before they needed to get up, “Do you want some breakfast?”

“What do you have in mind?” she asked, snuggling closer.

“Toast with the miso butter I made a couple days ago. Do you want eggs?”

“Okay, sounds good.”

He extracted himself from her embrace, to which she whined at the loss of warmth, before pulling the covers over her head to salvage whatever heat was left.

After breakfast was finished, the pair made their way to the subway station. The Gatto Nero store in the 104 building was getting the new spring collection, and they needed help putting up the promotional posters around the store. Being the busybody Shiki was, she volunteered to help out, stringing Neku along for an extra pair of hands. For her, Shiki started this business from the ground up, and every little detail mattered, including taking care of her first store front, even though she could have hired other people to do it for her.

But he wasn’t one to complain. Shiki always came alive when it came to things about her brand. He’d take seeing passionate Shiki anyday.

And that’s how he found himself on a ladder, an oversized poster folding over his spiky head as he feebly tried to stick it on the glass window.

“Miki, can you help me with this?” Neku heard Shiki call from across the room.

“Sure thing, Boss,” Miki Saionji responded.

After some finalgeling with the flimsy sticky paper, Neku finished smoothing it out on the glass, and stepped back to admire his handiwork.

“Neku-san, Boss is asking for you.”

He nodded, walking toward the back of the store. She was writing something down on the desk, and didn’t even look up when he passed, merely asked, “can you put those boxes in the back room for me?”

“Mhmm,” he hummed, as he went to do what he was told. After he reached his destination, Neku heard the bell on the door ring, signaling that someone had come in. Which in itself wasn’t odd, but they were closed today to set up the new collection; perhaps they forgot to lock the door.

“Hello there! I’m sorry but we are closed for today,” he heard Shiki begin to explain to the customer.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I’m just looking for someone, and I wanted to know if you’ve seen him around here?”

“Like a missing person? Sure, do you have a photo of him?”

“Yeah, let me just … pull it up.”

Neku walked toward Shiki at the counter, and took a look at the stranger.

She looked around their age, a little younger actually. Neku watched as she pulled out a red and black phone, with a yellow crown insignia on the top. It wasn’t a phone case he expected to see from a girl wearing pastel pink plaid. Shiki was definitely rubbing off on him.

The red haired teen turned her phone screen around for them to see.

“His name’s Sora –”

What? Neku felt his blood run cold.

“ – I had a lead that he might be here –”

It couldn’t have been a coincidence, right? He didn’t catch the rest of what she said, instead trying to look at the photo she was holding, and when his eyes found the familiar brown spiky locks on her phone, he knew there was more to this than just a dream.

“Sora,” he murmured.

The young girl looked up at him. “Yes, his name’s Sora. He’s been missing for two years. Have you seen him?” she asked, sapphire eyes sparkling with hope.

He hesitated. Usually his dreams are flashbacks from his time in the UG, or visions of things yet to happen in this universe, sometimes other universes. He didn’t talk about them often, barely even to his small circle of friends. Most strangers wouldn’t take him seriously, but she seemed different.

“I’m not really sure if this would help, but I had a dream last night. A dream about a boy named Sora.” Neku felt a strange pressure in his head, and he winced.

“He said he was looking for his friends.”

The petite girl looked him straight in the eye, and she began to cry.

He balked, “Ah, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to–.” Shiki reached for some tissues at the counter.

“No, thank you,” she started, smiling through her tears, “that’s Sora.”

Neku couldn’t say anything else before the bell rang again, and a black hooded being walked through the door.

His head pounded again, and his vision shifted to a view from his dreams. He was looking up, and that same cloaked being was standing on the roof. Neku couldn’t make sense of what was happening, but he knew that this person was shrouded in darkness, so dark that if there were noise around, they would be feasting.

He stepped in front of Shiki protectively, “you,” Neku sneered.

The hooded figure turned to the sound of his voice, and put their hands up in surrender.

“Woah, we come in peace!” the figure said, moving slowly to remove his hood, blonde spikes springing to life.

“Who are you?” Neku demanded, putting his arm out to separate the cloaked person from himself and Shiki.

“My name’s Roxas.”

“What do you want?” he questioned. Neku didn’t feel the same intensity of darkness from this person as from the one in his vision, if any at all, but he didn’t let his guard down.

“We’re looking for Sora,” the girl responded softly, stepping closer to the blonde. They seemed to know each other. Probably came together as well.

“He had a dream about Sora, it looks like the star shard worked,” she told Roxas.

The blonde boy gasped, “it’s true then, can you help us find Sora?”

He thought his death-defying, dimension-traveling days were behind him, but even he realized that was more of a dream. If Shibuya was in peril again, he would be the first person to try and save it for how many times it took. Neku looked back at Shiki who was still behind him, trying to take the situation in. I have a new reason to save Shibuya now.

“I’ll help as much as I can, but I’m not leaving Shibuya. I can’t risk my life on another adventure again.”

The reserved girl smiled graciously.

“Thank you …”

“Neku. Neku Sakuraba”

“Thank you Neku and …”

“Shiki Misaki. And you are?”

“My name is Kairi, and I’m here to bring Sora home.”

Notes:

I had a lot of fun writing this prompt! Like some of you, I got into TWEWY because I'm a huge Kingdom Hearts fan, I was really disappointed with MoM in terms of Kairi's role in the game. It was marketed for her, and in the end she was still told that she couldn't go with Riku to look for Sora. The only thing that made up for that huge let down was that she decided to go train with Aqua, and that's where this setting came into play. I headcanoned that this story takes place after the year Kairi was asleep and a year or two after she is training with Aqua. She's experienced enough to venture out on her own, but of course the extended family aren't going to let her go alone, so Roxas goes with her. In hindsight, this is sort of a sequel to my KH fic Is There Room for One More?, however you don't need to read it to read this fic. I hope those KH fans can see the little hints of KH lore in this.

This was written for Neshiki Week 2021 Day 5: Crossover. Thanks for sticking around for my late Neshiki Week entry! Two more to go, and they will hopefully both be done before Christmas!

[neshikiday]

Friendly reminder that - Neshiki Day is in tomorrow on the 24th of August!

We’re also more prominently on twitter at:

https://twitter (.) com/NeshikiDay2021/

Use the hashtags:

#neshikiday2021 , #nekushikiday2021 and/or  #ネクシキの日2021

[maski1]

Phew! I’m glad it isn’t as long as my Kingdom Hearts one-shot because otherwise, I don’t know if I could have make it in time!

Through I didn’t enjoy writing it as much as my KH one-shot, I still like it a lot. And it was fun trying “this style” again! I’ll definitely do more one-shots like this in the future.

Enjoy~

[thestormfall]

Friendly reminder that - Neshiki Day is in 7 days on the 24th of August!

This year I’ve made a tumblr to reblog the content:

https://neshikiday.tumblr.com/

Use the hashtags:

#neshikiday2021 , #nekushikiday2021  and/or  #ネクシキの日2021

[altorav]

"I'm Neku Sakuraba," he said, offerring his hand to her with a smile. "Just call me Neku."

'...I call this whack.' She thought.

NeShiki Week Day 2: Role Reversal

[oveliagirlhaditright]

NeShiki Day 2021 Piece 1

Maybe a happier AU, where Neku gets to Shibuya and reunites with Shiki, and not so much has changed... including WildKat café with Mr. H still being there!:)

Hope you all like this!

[oveliagirlhaditright]

Since it’s NeShiki Day, I thought I might as well upload this manip I made, like, nine or ten years ago, that’s supposed to be of them hugging:)

(Shiki’s hand is totes in her sleeve, btw.):)

[oveliagirlhaditright]

This Is Your Life - NeShiki

A NeShiki AU for Week 2, Day 2. Neo Spoilers. Oneshot.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/33449641

Shiki and Neku had been together for three years now… Three blissful years, even amidst all the heartache and pain of them having to live in the UG these days, but blissful they were.

Shiki could still remember well, the time that Neku had wanted to celebrate Christmas with her in the UG (their first Christmas together) and had wanted to buy a tree, of course. And he had… But he’d ended up buying a fake palm tree to decorate with instead of a pine tree, in fearing that if someone happened to see him in the UG… they might somehow link Christmas to the Christian God, and then that with the Composer, and then maybe jump to the right conclusion that Neku knew who the Composer was, and bring even more danger down on them all that way.

So, Neku had bought a fake palm tree. And, truly, it had been silly. Shiki had been sure to tease Neku for it, too. And later, even he’d realized he overreacted (even though they probably wouldn’t take back the chance to try and protect Josh, even if they could… as he had been pretty good to them since enlisting them here)… but even with the silliness, it was probably Shiki’s happiest memory. She’d put a Malibu Barbie on top as the “angel”, and Neku had replied that that seemed fitting of a fashionista like her… and it had all been ridiculous, and so much fun.

And it was for that kind of happiness, that Shiki was mostly glad that she had ended up in the UG with Neku again. She hadn’t killed herself after Coco had murdered him—even though a part of her had been tempted to, to Partner with him in the Game again if he had needed her—and hadn’t gone back to the old Shiki, but rather had gone to work getting Gatto Nero up off the ground with Eri.

But then… Shiki had died in another accident. Not a car accident this time, but a piano falling on her head, of all things, while she was walking down the street. Thankfully, she hadn’t felt that, and the next thing she’d known, she’d been in the UG with Neku and Joshua…

Shiki had then thrown her arms around Neku then and sobbed uncontrollably. And while Neku often tried to act calm, cool and collected, she thought that he had behaved as emotionally as she had when they’d been reunited.

Joshua had explained then, that he was just going to give her the penalty of not being able to play the Game again, since she and Neku were Partners (at the time, Shiki had wanted to slap Josh—thinking that he was trying to rip away her chance of trying to come back to life again—but now she understood he had just given her the solid of not having to play the Game again), and for that reason, they would be his unofficial Reapers working with him to figure out what had happened in Shinjuku.

Neku had apparently been working with Josh on that as soon as he’d died… though Shiki could tell he wanted to come back home, eventually, and so did she.

So, she told herself that when they stopped whatever was going to happen to Shibuya—Josh had to be mums the word about some things, it seemed—she would try and see if he would let them go back to the RG.

Shiki wanted to believe that Joshua would let them… seeing as how he hadn’t forced them to become actual Reapers, or anything—which he more than had the power to do so—and instead pretty much let them be Players, but without a Game to play.

Shiki did still work on Gatto Nero with Eri. Very rarely, Joshua would tune her into the RG, so they could work on a few designs—she would go and see her bestie in the dead of night—and the next day, they would be back to having to e-mail it again… It was hard, but Shiki would take it.

So, this was the life that Shiki and Neku (and Josh, to an extent) had had for three years. A lot of the time, they would live with Joshua at the Shibuya River—because it was faster to be able to work with him on things that way—but other times, they needed their private time and stayed in an abandoned house together. Relators said that it was haunted, which was why people didn’t go there, but Neku—who had learned how to scan Souls during some of their time in Shinjuku—told Shiki that that wasn’t true in the slightest: to which she had had to giggle, that people could be so superstitious.

This was the life that Shiki and Neku had built for themselves… And maybe it was a little reckless to split up from Josh, when they had so many people gunning for them. But she and Neku deserved some happiness, right?

They both had seemed to think so… but now Shiki was very much wondering about that, when in this new Game… Neku had been caught—after he’d been unable to help himself from aiding Players in need—when he’d been going back from the Shibuya River to their home.

And Shiki hadn’t heard from him since he had headed for the Room of Reckoning this morning.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out what had happened. And Shiki did find herself going outside, to hear players and Reapers alike talk about how they were going to catch Neku.

“Oh, Neku,” Shiki thought, as a tear escaped from her eyes now, “I should have made more of the trips to Josh myself. I’m less recognizable than you are, since my Entry Fee was my appearance and most people don’t know what I look like now. Nor am I a ‘legendary player’. Your leaving now had foolish written all over it, and I should have seen it and gone in your stead!”

The fact that Neku hadn’t even had time to text her since he’d become the UG’s most wanted didn’t bode well to Shiki, either.

And Shiki was freely crying now—and near a panic attack, as she clutched at her arms—but she told herself to hold it together. It wouldn’t do to start fretting while standing over here at her and Neku’s dining room table…

Their dining room table that Neku had once gotten so sick at, almost acting liking he had Malaria, as he how tripped down the stairs and into it, while Shiki had looked up from her knitting, horrified—even after being in the UG, he had gotten this sick, when she wouldn’t have thought that that was possible—and she’d had to lay him down on the table to get him to drink medicine as fast as she could then, as his fever had been great… and he had finally grown to like the stuff, and the flavor of it that she liked, too… And then, thankfully, he’d been alright.

If Shiki started losing it so that she couldn’t help now, she would never again get to heal Neku, or share more of her favorite flavors with him.

So, she had to do something!

Shiki no longer had Mr. Mew on her… she had given him to Tsugumi for her to use as a psych—as she’d had an even harder time finding a psych she could use than Shiki had—when it had seemed that she might be able to save Shinjuku in those early days… but she hadn’t gotten him back since Tsugumi had been lost.

But still… Shiki thought she could probably use some other psychs now, like telekinesis, if she had to.

She thought about calling Joshua for aid here… but Shiki feared that his hands were tied with the Higher Plane on this one. And if he was going to help Neku, he was probably already doing it or would have done so by now.

So, Shiki couldn’t waste time on that.

Instead… she prepared to run all over Shibuya to find Neku, if need be, but instead ended up going to the Scramble (so close to her and Neku’s home), which was pretty much right where she and Neku had met: since Hachiko Statue was right there.

Somehow, Shiki had known Neku would be there… and her instincts had been absolutely right about that.

Neku looked exhausted, worn down, and beaten, as he knelt on one of the Scramble Crossing’s many crosswalks now… All of the Players and Reapers fighting him must have really taken a toll on him, Shiki thought despairing and empathizing with Neku immediately.

And Tsugumi was about to erase Neku!

Shiki didn’t even think about what to do then!

She thought she saw a blond boy worrying with a certain pin, but she couldn’t process that now. Instead, she dove in the way of Neku and Tsugumi (holding him tightly as he shook, after she’d just saved him).

And after she got her bearings, Shiki very swiftly snatched her Mr. Mew from Tsugumi’s grip, synced up with Neku—and how she adored, that even now… that he was able to do that with her; if that didn’t show what they were to each other, she didn’t know what would—and did a level three fusion with him once more.

And once everyone was distracted by the laser show Mr. Mew was putting on with his eyes, Shiki grabbed Neku’s hand and ran.

Somehow, some way… she discovered she had a new psych like Neku did, as they sped away—that must have been activated the times Joshua tuned her back and forth—because Shiki could mess with their frequencies!

And for now, she got them both to the RG: Neku holding her and kissing her body all over in thanks and worship, as she did so.

She could breathe again.

And Shiki knew that their perfect life together would continue on… thank God or the Composer, she thought, grinning ear to ear and kissing him back.

Author’s Note: So, this is based on how after Tsugumi erases Beat or whatever… if you look closely, there’s a pair of white shoes that walk towards him afterwards.

And tbh… I was mostly certain that Hoodie was going to be Beat, and he was, but just for fun, I let myself imagine it was Neku or could have been him on this day. And I thought those shoes could have been Shiki coming to save him (because I thought they looked like the shoes she wore at the end of TWEWY, but now I think I’m just crazy). I also thought it might have been Rhyme coming to try and rescue Beat, but I doubt that, too. It was probably just Tsugumi walking or something.

But this whole story is based on that first fun AU idea. And that’s also why it ends right when Shiki saves Neku/when we see those shoes walking towards him or whatever.

Hope you all enjoyed!

And the medicine thing, is based on how… I think Neku didn’t like certain medicines in TWEWY? Or maybe none of them? Shiki liked one of them, though (I think). So, that’s what that whole thing is based on. I wanted it to be food, but I couldn’t find a canon food that Shiki liked that Neku disliked, that he could have changed his mind about for her, so this it was.

And it's NeShiki Day! I actually didn't think I would write this for NeShiki Day (I had something else done). And I just wanted to write tonight, and I didn't know where it would lead me. But, hey. It's NeShiki right on NeShiki Day. I think it's only right I share it for that day!:)

[soundofez]

neshiki week 2021, day 1// entry fee / fairy tale

inspired by lore olympus ♥

[dragonseattofu]

That Reaper Pin (TWEWY Fanfiction)

Summary:

What if instead of Beat being sent to the UG after his buddy gave him the Reaper Pin, it was Shiki? What will Shiki do, now that she's given this chance to find the person that disappeared two and half years ago? (Written for Neshiki Week 2021 Day 6: Battle Couple)

Preview:

“Morning Ai!”

“Hey, good morning Mina. Check out what Makoto-kun gave me.”

“Morning Ai, Mina. Did Eri come in yet?” The bespectacled teen asked her classmates as everyone was settling into their seats. On the off days that she was in Shibuya, Shiki tried to attend school, and catch up with her classmates. There were a couple minutes before homeroom started, and Shiki wanted to run some ideas past her co-founder of their new brand that was really taking off in strides.

“Morning Shiki, no, we haven’t seen her yet.”

“Ah, thanks anyway.”

“No problem,” Ai replied, “anyway, take a look at this,” she continued her conversation with her best friend.

“Oh, isn’t that CAT’s design?” Shiki’s heart skipped a beat.

CAT?

“The graffiti artist? I guess, now that you mention it, it does look like his work. Didn’t he go underground like two years ago?”

Two years and five months, actually. No one has heard from Hanekoma since he disappeared. WildKat was shut down indefinitely, for ‘renovations,’ and CAT stopped creating artwork around that time too. It could just be an art thief or a copycat, right?

“Hey Ai, can I take a look at it?” Shiki asked curiously.

“Yeah, sure, hey aren’t you a huge fan of CAT? You can have it if you want. It’s really not my style anyway,” Ai offered.

Shiki didn’t consider herself a enthusiast of CAT, but she could see why others might think that. When he vanished, she looked into anything and everything that could give her a clue about what happened, including Mr. H’s alter ego, but even that turned out to be a deadend.

“Oh, thanks,” Shiki replied.

Ai handed the item to her, and she ran her thumb along the circular shiny surface. It was definitely CAT’s design; it was so similar to her old player pin. But the sigil was slightly different, more edgy, almost as if it was emitting sinister vibes. She instinctively shivered.

“Thanks, Ai, but I’m good,” the designer said, and was about to give the pin back to her friend, when she noticed that Ai’s pupils started to shimmer.

“Ai?” Shiki asked simultaneously with Mina.

“Huh?”

“Class is about to start, what are you standing there for?”

“Hn, I’m not … sure. I thought I was talking to someone …”

They were acting like she wasn’t even there.

“Yeah me, but I’m over here silly. Come on, Mr. Hoshigane is about to walk in!”

Shiki reached for Ai to give her back the pin again, but her hand phased through Ai’s arm, and suddenly she heard a voice in her head.

Mina’s right, I must be going crazy, but I could have sworn I was talking to someone just now.

Shiki jumped back, withdrawing her hand as if she had just touched fire.

No, this can’t be.

The brunette pulled her phone out of her school uniform pocket. No service.

No.

She looked around the classroom, and their homeroom teacher walked in. All the other students shuffled to their seats, no one batting an eyelash to the fact that Shiki was standing in the middle of the walkway. The teacher started to do the roll call.

With bated breath, Shiki waited until he got to Maiki, Miho, Mokane …

Even though her attendance was sporadic, she’d been in this class since the beginning of the semester, and now it was as if she didn’t exist.

Shiki stared at the incriminating object still in her hand. All she wanted to do was throw the pin on the floor, and smash it into a thousand pieces. And she would have done so, if her bag didn’t kick her in the side.

Dropping the offending item, and practically throwing it at the wall, she watched as something wiggled inside, a black object peeking its head out.

“Mr. Mew?”

His head flopped to the side, and he used his stuffed arms to bring it back into place. Kicking the bag strap off his leg, he stumbled a couple steps before successfully righting himself. Shiki watched as he turned his head side to side, then stopped when he found her, and sprinted into her arms.

“Oh gosh, Mr. Mew!” she cried, returning the hug. If this nightmare she found herself was really happening, Shiki was glad that at least she had her friend again.

And she was going to need him again, because if she was … in the UG again, that meant reapers, and noise.

But for some reason, she wasn’t scared, or nervous. This time, she felt a sense of clarity. For years she felt helpless; all she was told to do was wait. If she was in the UG, she didn’t have to wait any longer, she was one step closer to finding who she had lost.

“Say, Mr. Mew, let’s take a look outside and see what’s going on?”

Her companion nodded, then jumped out of her arms, and out the classroom he went, with his master closely behind.

The sky was still blue, the grass around the campus was still green, and the iron gates at the front entrance of her high school were still closed shut. Even though people could phase through her, physical objects did not. She sighed at the sight of Mr. Mew sliding in between the bars before climbing the stone pillar, and jumping over the gates ungracefully. She thanked her lucky stars that now one saw that.

Her first task was to find a partner, since she remembered that she wouldn’t be able to fight any noise without one. The idea of having another partner was unsettling, but her search would go nowhere if she got erased.

And as if the gods were praying for her demise, on their way to Hachiko, the first stop on her journey, Mr. Mew stumbled into the crossing and bumped into an army of frog noise.

Right when one of the noise raised it’s webbed arm to slash at her, in a last ditch effort, she commanded Mr. Mew to block, and attack through psychokinesis. To her surprise, the noise shuttered and disintegrated. In synchronicity with Mr. Mew, Shiki raised her arm and brought it down in a striking motion, wiping out another one. This was so against the rules, but if playing the game alive was also against the rules, then she was okay with breaking a couple more.

She continued to battle until all that remained were flickering pixels.

“Okay, so fighting without a partner is possible, and because I kept this pin around, I can still use my psych.” Her original Groove Pawn pin became more of an accessory for her after the game was over, and now she was glad to have held onto it all those years.

Pocketing both pins, Shiki picked Mr. Mew up, and asked, “what do you think about saying hello to an old friend?” He bobbed his head in approval.

The trek to Hachiko was familiar, the journey was one she took everyday. The bronze statue always waited with her, but today was different.

“Hey Hachi. Thanks for always being by my side, but I’m not waiting today. I’m going to go find him myself.” Shiki placed a hand on his paw. “Wish me luck.”

From there, Shiki decided to head North. Chances are, if Mr. H wasn’t in the RG, then he might be in the UG. To her disappointment, when she got to WildKat, the old cafe looked the same as it did before. She ventured inside, but there was nothing there to suggest it’s been inhabited for a while. Once back outside, Mr. Mew jumped from her arms and scanned the area for any noise.

She didn’t see any noise, but she heard something else, like a low frequency buzzing. It was so faint, she almost didn’t notice it. Mr. Mew walked toward the sound, with Shiki behind him.

As they got closer to the sound, the buzzing morphed into soft murmurs, almost like several people were whispering into her ear all at once. A chill ran down her spine, but she walked further until she reached the Shibuya border. From her knowledge of the game, there was nothing beyond this point, or rather, it was always closed off by reapers. Fortunately, there were none in sight right now, and there was a path along the train tracks that wasn’t there before.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?

Picking up Mr. Mew again, Shiki journeyed into the uncharted territory, and didn’t look back.

The moment she stepped over the border, a wave of thoughts rushed through her mind, and she crumbled to the floor. Mr. Mew fell out of her arms, and he ran to her, gently patting her legs in concern.

It was like she walked into a hurricane of voices that swirled around her, wailing and screaming about things she didn’t understand. Wherever she ended up, the people here were confused, anguished and desolate.

Shiki shouted in pain, her head felt like it was going to burst.

And then a shocked and familiar singular voice broke through the avalanche of cries.

“Shiki?”

What? Her eyes wandered around for a splash of orange around her. There was nothing but piles of debris and broken up asphalt.

Again, “Shiki, is that you?”

“Neku?” she asked aloud, tears welling up in her eyes from the thought of him or the crushing migraine, she wasn’t sure.

“Gods, Shiki, what are you – where are you?”

“I – I don’t … know,” she tried to speak, but the screams were overwhelming, and she was finding it hard to breathe. “I can’t see you, N-Neku. How–?”

”Just focus on my voice.”

”Take a deep breath, and focus.”

Air filled her lungs, and she exhaled as slowly as possible, grabbing onto the image of him that she remembered, holding onto the feeling of finally seeing him again. In and out. In and out.

The voices were still present in her head, but quieter, as if someone had turned the dial on a radio down, but not off. With a little more clarity, Shiki picked herself off the ground, clutching Mr. Mew closer to her chest.

“Okay, tell me where you–”

”Argh!”

“Neku!?”

”I’m okay … Just, hold on a sec.”

Without a direction, or even a clue as to where he was, Shiki proceeded into the darkened territory, not realizing that the way she came in was no longer there. The sky was tinted red, and the clouds were blackened and overcast. It was chilly, or maybe she thought it was because everything felt so off, wrong almost. Like nothing was supposed to exist in this space, and she was trespassing.

From his grunts, she imagined he was fighting, but she wasn’t going to let him fight alone. Focusing on him, Shiki felt his presence coming from her left, and with resolve, took off in a full sprint.

Sensing what she was doing, Neku telepathically warned, ”no, don’t come here. Ugh! It’s too dangerous. Argh! I’ll find you when I’m done here.”

“No,” she responded much the same way he did, “I’m coming, my psych works!”

”But –!”

“We are not having this conversation!” She shouted internally, jumping over a heap of broken rocks and a fallen lamppost. She heard actual sounds of combat in the distance and knew that she was getting close.

”Ugh, fine do what you want!” He scoffed, too preoccupied to change her mind.

Flashes of light emerged from a dune in front of her, and she frantically ran to see what was going on.

Wisps of black energy encircled Neku, whipping at him as he deflected their attack. The psych master was greatly outnumbered, and if that were noise, Shiki knew that Neku could probably handle it alone. But they weren’t noise, and he looked exhausted already.

With abandon, Shiki jumped from the top of the crater, sending Mr. Mew flying before her.

“NEKU!”

Both the faceless monsters and the young man she waited two years and five months for looked up at the sound of her voice. One unlucky wisp of energy dissolved from Mr. Mew’s fist as he then proceeded to land elegantly on his feet. Neku’s eyes widened, his mind no longer on the enemies that were trying to erase him, but instead on the young woman that was barrelling toward him. He slashed at the monster to his side, and ran.

He wanted to be angry; she had the gall to smile at him like that when she was practically free falling. He wanted to yell at her for being so reckless, even though he knew he would always catch her. He wanted to demand why she was in Shinjuku, but actually seeing her for the first time in such a long time left him too stunned.

Tears rolled away from her face as she fell but her smile was simply breathtaking.

Neku stretched his arms out to catch her, spinning her around to lessen the momentum, and pulling her into a tight embrace.

The petite teen looked up from his chest grinning, “You’ve gotten taller,” she said giggling.

He jovially chastised, “and you’ve gotten more brash. What has Beat been teaching you?”

“I missed you,” she pouted.

“I missed you too,” he said, placing a hand on her cheek.

Before he could say more, Mr. Mew was thrown in their direction, smashing into Shiki’s back, and she gasped at the scuff marks on his body.

“Mr. Mew!”

Neku summoned a wall of electricity around them. The shadowy figures whirled outside of his barrier, touching the sparks and recoiling. A brave soul of the group whipped it’s effervescent appendage, and broke through heading straight for him.

A black blur rushed past him, and the monster faded.

“Trust your partner, remember?” Shiki said standing back to back with him, “let’s take these guys down!” Mr. Mew was back at her feet, bouncing in anticipation.

He smirked.

They both rushed forward and the battle began.

Mr. Mew flicked his wrists outward, and elongated red claws emerged. Shiki lifted her right hand out, “Go, Mr. Mew!” A flurry of red lights flashed, black clouds dissolving into dust.

Neku pulled his arms back, focusing on the heat in his palms, and threw the fireballs at the nearest monster. Six more to go.

He summoned a couple ice pillars, and impaled two monsters in one shot. The shadowy figure in the middle cried out in pain as a red claw emerged from its center.

“Neku, come on!”

The young man chuckled, “right behind you, partner!”

Three wisps remained, Neku smashed his glowing fist into the one on his right at the same moment Mr. Mew slashed the one on his left. And then only one remained.

Neku moved to take care of the straggler, but Shiki stepped in front of him, high fived Mr. Mew and sent him flying toward the monster. The stuffed cat kicked the wisp, did a backflip midair, and drove its claws into the shadowy figure from top to bottom, landing with style.

“He’s gotten cocky,” Neku commented, slightly impressed.

“Really? I was imitating what I thought you would do.”

“Haha, very funny.”

As their laughter ebbed, and the sounds of the battle died down, the eerie whispers of the lost souls brought Neku back to reality.

He frowned, “Shiki, how did you get here?”

“I’m not really sure, my classmate this morning had this pin,” she replied, taking out the item for Neku to see, “and when she handed it to me, I ended up in the UG.”

He let out a breath of relief, “so you’re still alive.”

“Yeah.” Shiki walked to him, “but you’re not,” she whispered.

“It’s complicated,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck, “I was sent here to investigate something, and I can’t go back until I do. When I’m done, I have a friend that will help me find a way back.”

Shiki placed a hand on his bicep, “Whatever it is that you need to do here, let’s do it together?”

Neku felt his cheeks warm. He hadn’t felt the touch of anyone in years, and the person most precious to him was now so close. He felt himself gravitate toward her, his hands coming around her subconsciously. The orange haired teen dipped his head down, their foreheads touching. To his satisfaction, she was blushing too.

“Yeah, together.”

Notes:

I took “Battle Couple” in the literal sense? And then I thought, what if Shiki's classmates gave her the Reaper Pin, instead of Beat? And then I set this during the three year time period that Neku's stuck in Shinjuku. AND THEN I was like, Shinjuku is directly north to Shibuya, what if Shiki could just stumble into Shinjuku to help Neku fight the negative energy left behind from the lost souls after the inversion? AND THEN what if Shiki can actually fight pretty well because I read somewhere that the people who play the game have imaginative souls to begin with, and if power comes from creativity and imagination, than my girl would be really tough! And I can't pass up a reunion story. Sorry, not sorry.

One more prompt to go! The gift that keeps giving even though she should probably stop! My goal for the last story will be before or on Christmas, so stay tuned! - Tofu

[dragonseattofu]

Very Beautiful, Very Powerful (TWEWY fanfic)

Summary:

Neku's not really sure why all the comments on his new cover art post are the same. (For Neshiki Week 2021 Day 2: Smile and Frown.)

Preview:

By the time she got up in the morning, Shiki found Neku at the coffee table in their shared living room hunched over his laptop, a confused frown painted on his face.

“Everything okay?” she asked cautiously.

Without looking up, he replied, “I just posted my new cover art to Twistergram, and everyone is leaving the same cryptic comment over and over again.”

Okay, that was odd.

She leaned over to take a look at his screen. As he scrolled down his post, almost all the comments were identical. Neku slowed down enough so that Shiki could read what the comments actually were.

Very beautiful

Very powerful

Then the metaphoric lightbulb went off.

“Neku, which cover art did you upload?”

Scrolling up to the top of the page, her suspicions were confirmed.

The client that requested his artwork was a marine biologist who worked at the Shinagawa Aquarium. They were commissioning local artists to create a mural for a section of the new saltwater exhibit to be completed in the spring.

The most sensible thing to do was make a fish the center of the design. Which he did. And then colored it cool tones of blue and green, because, well, the ocean’s colors are naturally blue and green. Still very logical…

Then the dimensions of said fish were plump, cow-like, and dare she consider stumpy. At the base of the design in colorful graffiti was the name of the fish Neku chose as his proxy, Cyclopterus lumpus, or the common lumpsucker fish.

Out of all the fish in the sea, literally, Neku chose the lumpfish.

And since he’s missed the last three years of meme culture, he couldn’t be blamed for the response he was receiving from his fans on Twistergram.

“So, um, how did you hear about the lumpfish?” she asked, pulling out her mobile and typing on the screen.

“Fret was showing it to Rindo the other day when we went out to lunch. It looked cool and since I had this project coming up, I thought I could make something wild.”

“And Fret or Rindo didn’t say anything to you about this idea?”

“I didn’t tell them about it at the time. Fret just showed me the image before Beat called him over for something.”

“I see.”

“What’s going on?” He was frowning again, unclear as to what Shiki’s line of questioning had to do with his Twistergram comments. She took a seat next to him on the couch, his arm going around her shoulders as she snuggled into his side.

“Take a look at this,” she said, showing Neku her phone.

As the video started, Shiki watched his eyes knit together.

Very beautiful

Very powerful

Then his frown relaxed.

Very beautiful

Very powerful

He looked at her with recognition clear as day.

“Wait for it,” she nudged.

My fish army is ever growing, and soon I will overthrow the world. Very beautiful, very powerful.

Needless to say it’s impossible to frown and laugh uncontrollably at the same time, Shiki thought, as Neku wiped the mirthful tears from his eyes.

Notes:

I'm one of those folks that live under a rock, and my friends have to explain popular memes to me all the time. This one I found on my own and it always cracks me up when it makes the rounds again. I hope this fic makes up for the disaster one I posted yesterday. If you don't know the video this was from, click here. This was written for day 2 of Neshiki week 2021, with themes of smile and frown or role reversal. Now excuse me while I go consume all the other creations from day 1.