#or neku's memories of shiki

[vitalitypopkat]

Occasionally I think about how in TWEWY, Beat and Rhyme have a memorial for their accident put there by people who knew them.

And Shiki has people (or at least Eri that we see) clearly mourning her death.

But Neku has...nothing. No memorial. No people thinking about this 14 yo kid that got shot and died quietly alone in a back alley with no one to help him. It was just cleaned up and nothing is left to show that he was even there.

I understand it's likely this way to help with the plot twist(s) but it really does hammer home how Neku really had no one before the start of twewy.

At least he has people that remember him later...

[lapinparka]

I really love the popular headcanon that Neku ends up drawing Joshua a lot after the first game, and specifically draws beautiful art of his wings.

The main issue of this is that Neku's never actually seen Joshua's wings, and doesn't even know he has them.

So my bonus headcanon that fixes this: each partner has an official efficiency factor in-game, that helps calculate the damage dealt by their fusion. At level 3, Shiki's is 20, Beat's is 30, and Joshua's is... 99.99. I take this to mean Neku and Joshua are synced to incredibly powerful and incredibly intense levels during their level 3.

So intense, maybe, that parts of them start to bleed into the other. Not enough for it to be concerning, and probably subtle enough that Neku doesn't notice it's happening. I also like to think none of the partners can sync to level 3 with Neku until the ends of their respective weeks, so it might only ever happen twice - during the Minamimoto fight, and during the final battle against Megumi.

But there's blurry images, and fragments of memories, and hints of feelings that aren't his own lodged somewhere in Neku's soul. Buried deep enough that he only gets glimpses in passing when he dreams.

It's enough, though, that following his return to the RG, when he first wakes up and feels the urge to put pencil to paper, it's a familiar face and soft, beautiful feathers that follow in its wake.

[alto-tenure]

preliminary twewy thoughts (on early day 6):

wow I suck at this game

uh. okay. something is up with Eri and Shiki. first of all "best friends" my ass Shiki is constantly looking at her homescreen of the two of them it isn't that the homescreen depicts them it's that she keeps looking at it

but also I think Shiki's entrance fee was Eri. give up what's most important and evidently from how she talks about Eri...Eri is someone who's very important to her. and that's why she doesn't want to talk about it.

(my speculation about Neku is that his amnesia is because he gave up his memories, for what it’s worth)

just what does anyone get out of this that isn't a Player? why does the Composer hold these games in the first place? am I even asking the right questions at this point

[harley-style]

VBS fans i offer for you an AU : VBS in the Reaper's Game aka TWEWY.

Ok ok SO. This is before their RISE event aka Kick It Up a Notch and shortly after Find A Way Out. The four of them are heading to weekend garage before BAM they die

They dont know HOW they died is the thing. That was wiped from their memory.

The one who personally puts them in the game is Neku but Joshua supports this decision (neku is the conductor in this au nc shinjuku fucked with his existence blah blah handwavvy canon). Theyre both personally interested in this group (and WxS but theyre still alive) bc the group is breathing life into Vivid Street and shibuya by extension.

Such important souls should not die so early so like, yeah, theyre given a chance to fight for their lives.

Neku goes to them in a reaper outfit and explains to them (patiently bc akito firmly goes into denial for the first half) that they are DEAD and they will be given a chance to be ressurected (incorrect but vbs are kind of not in the right mental space to brain their way through this) by playing a weeklong game.

Toya is immediately suspicious and asks why specifically them.

Neku doesnt answer bc honestly confidential, and kinda just says its a whim even tho its rlly not, VBS needs to be alive. Joshua personally sees into a potential future where VBS doesnt exist and its kinda bad.

How are our beloved street musicians doing you ask? Well.

Kohane is scared, but she handles her terror well. She asks the right questions and quickly adapts. She thinks Neku is hiding something (he is) so she has the most questions about this 'game'. She doesnt want An, Akito or Toya to be dead, so shell do her best to ensure that isnt a permanent reality. No matter what price she has to pay.

Toya is very skeptical about the Reaper's Game, but atp he doesnt really have a choice. Its not only his life on the line here, its the people most precious to him as well. So he squares up. But the poor boy reverts back into his cold facade when neku meets them. He only softens when he notices An (Akito can tell how he really feels on the inside so he doesnt feel the need to soften around him)

An is literally two seconds away from a total mental breakdown. Out of everyone she is handling it the worst. Shes thinking about vivid street, her family, her DAD...nearly works herself into a panic. Toya and Kohane hold her hands to keep her grounded, but only barely.

Akito is similarly not handling it well bc goddamnit, why did it have to be his team? They dont deserve this. Hes angry and accusatory towards neku, but his senses have sharpened to a point that he notices a few holes in neku's explanation. But the bastard doesnt seem intent on actually explaining, so once again, akito has to piece things together. Similar mindset to kohane-- he will do ANYTHING to get them out of this fucked up game.

Neku himself is pleasantly surprised by the fire in VBS' eyes and feels kinda guilty about whats about to be done. He explains the entry fee and it doesnt go well.

Kohane needs to lose her voice -- its something she feels brings her to VBS so she considers it very important. Her personal challenge will be to connect to her teammates without the power of her voice

An will become an Eri-Shiki situation and will have Nagi's appearance for the duration of the game. She needs to face her issue about being reminded of Nagi, and wanting to be like her when she doesnt need to-- An needs to find value in herself first.

Akito loses his passion and this hits VBS hard. Akito, i consider, is the literal backbone and foundation of VBS that keeps it working, yanno? Hes very meticulous when it comes to his teammates, his value and the most important thing that kept him going is his burning desire to chase his dream. IG he's like rhyme? He cares about his VBS, but he no longer understands why they chased after...what was it again? (Throughout the game he mostly just likes hanging around VBS and having fun with them. He would still very much like to leave the game but like...yeah

Toya is tricky, bc its not actually explicit what he values most. The entry fees are also meant to help the players in a way, so i cant just take his love for music bc there would be no point lol. His entry fee is...probably the ability to express his love. I feel like he needs to be able to show he loves his team despite it being taken from him.

Ofc, in true TWEWY fashion, they lose memories about their meeting with Neku, so they wake up confused and something missing

Kohane is with Akito near Hachiko. An and Toya land somewhere near Main Street. They all quickly realize something is wrong. Akito panics when he realizes Kohane cant talk. Kohane has to keep an arm on him at all times to keep him from spiralling and to prevent him from leaving her behind. Bc of his lost passion, akito comes off a lot nicer, which is weird, but kohane doesnt know why it unsettles her until later

Toya is a lot colder, this time, but he cares a lot about An (his entry fee wasnt his love for his teammates but the ability to express it ig) so he holds her hand all the way once he recognizes her. An initially doesnt realize she looks like Nagi until Toya points it out...by being a dick lol

An: Toya! I found you!

Toya: ...who are you?

An:...its me? An?

Toya: You dont look like An.

An: wtf do you mean *sees reflection* WHY DO I LOOK LIKE NAGI-SAN????

Theyre accosted by a mean-spirited Reaper who tells them they are dead and they have 1 week to win to be revived. Toya quietly points out that akito and kohane had been there before they ended up here. So begins the search.

They all instinctively form pacts bc theyre stupidly in love with each other and they trust each other. They are In Sync!!!

They do struggle though -- kohane has to act a lot bolder to attract akito's attention. Kohane quickly loses her shyness in the determination to survive and drags akito along, whos confused as to why kohane is trying this hard. Kohane slowly realizes why akito is acting a lot more subdued -- his fire, its gone. Hes not passionate anymore.

Akito rlly only cares about reuniting with VBS. Hes not thinking about how to get revived immediately, thinking he can just take his time. They work better as a team, yadda yadda.

So kohane has to struggle being the only one determined to get out

VBS reunites chaotically bc Akito sees An and is like Toya what are you doing with Nagi-san? And An is like akito its me tf! Surprised mf is he. Kohane explains (with limited vocab) that they need to survive for one week and complete missions etc...or face 'erasure'. None of them want to be erased to like yeah might as well.

An is having a TIME as Nagi. Bc as it turns out, some reapers are actually big RADder fans! They keep asking her to sing when she comes across them and she tries to oblige but ppl can tell when youre pretending to be someone youre not. Poor An has to live with the fact that shes barely like Nagi, even if she looks up to her so much.

Im sorry but we r also going thru an AkTy divorce arc 2. Toya resents akito's current situation bc wtf happened to his partner??? Akito is worried about Toya's sudden attitude and can tell hes mad but doesnt understand why. Akito is FINE. But stupid Toya doesnt see it that way.

Poor Kohane actually needs to wrangle these idiots bc akito cant muster up the willpower to, An is a little distracted and Toya isnt helping. With her voice out of the picture she really needs to try, with them. It forces her out of her shell more.

An slowly realizes that its not fun being seen as Nagi, bc shes quite proud of herself. Akito actually helps her make this conclusion bc he is attuned very well to VBS. No i will not shut up about how much attention akito pays VBS. Anyway An cries abt wanting ppl to love her for HER and not NAGI. VBS tells her shes being stupid, they already love An Shiraishi and no one else.

Toya is a lot less positive, sometimes even bitter, especially towards AkKh. He still very much loves them with all his heart, but you can resent a part of your loved one's character, yknow? He doesnt like that Akito is a lot more chill now, almost following along with Kohane. He no longer has his sights set forward and that fucks Toya up a bit. Where do they stand now, if his partner looks so lost? And man, Kohane. He appreciates that shes stepping up, but theres an ugly feeling thats welling up inside him. Its kinda like the feelings Akito had for kohane pre-main story ish.

AKITO. man akito. Akito starts off strong, willing to take the heat with Kohane and VBS, but on day 6 he practically doesnt give a shit. Kohane has to drag him everywhere, to get him to do anything. He has to be bribed. He just doesnt see the point, plus they figure out that they can just come back as reapers. He and Toya get into a fight about it -- toya pointing out that reaper duties would interfere with practice, and akito getting confused as to why theyd need to practice. They discover that akito no longer recognizes rad weekened and thus has no desire to surpass anything. Rather than his passion (honestly at this point theyre the same thing), they took his DREAM. Ouch. Its a good thing he still likes being a musician with VBS. But he thinks its just a fun thing. Kohane and Toya get really mad. An tries to mediate.

They all nearly die on the sixth day but Akito finally gets out of his funk and helps them. He may not understand why theyre trying so hard, but he loves them (he is a kind and caring boy fight me) and hes willing to try for their sakes

Kohane struggles with inferiority issues, but most of her struggles are physical. She really just needs to recognize that her value isnt just her voice, she is valued as KOHANE. She also becomes a good leader (not that VBS has a leader, just someone who takes charge in certain situations) bc she is willing to do anything she can. If she cant be a good singer for VBS, shes going to damn well shine in other ways.

Same thing with An and needing to be Valued as An Herself, though there are a lot of angsty stuff that happens throughout the week. An breaks down a lot, its not pretty. Especially when a reaper lets it slip (hes a part of the Vivid Streed community) that nagi is Dead DEAD and cue An not wanting to return to her old self bc she desperately wants Nagi. So she is also resistant to the idea of ending the game which doesnt sit well with kohane or toya. Eventually she does admit that she wants just to be AN, not Nagi despite how much she wants to see her again (but she cant). She learns acceptance!

Toya is desperate to leave the game, and is almost harsh for it. He feels so fucking hollow and depressed and he hates it. He wants out. He pushes them a lot and its only akito getting angry that hes acting like his father that toya gets a reality check. It nearly breaks him. He loves his father, but he doesnt want to end up treating his loved ones the same way his father has treated him. He apologizes after a minute of self reflection.

At this point, in the seventh day, theyre all in agreement that the goal here is to find a way out of the game. By the seventh day, they have to fight neku and its an extremely difficult fight. Neku hits hard and he hits home, both physically and emotionally. Its more of a test on his part, he needs VBS to truly shine, and they do. Akito, even without his passion/dream, displays that he loves, and he loves fiercely. He loves VBS, and thats all he needs to fuel him further and further.

Kohane learns to shine and impact others even without her voice. She is a heavy presence on the battlefield and demands your attention, giving her friends time to whittle away at the enemy

An does things her own way, and she does so by riding the momentum of her teammates. She dances to the beat of her own tune, and even though she wears the appearance of Kotaki Nagi, its clear that she is An Shiraishi and no one else

Toya learns to channel all of himself. He has a distinct ugly side, and with it he learns to wield it without hurting others, but instead support them. Just ok im losing words for this but he is there he learns to accept himself yeah thats how he fights

Neku deems them good enough and shifts down the plane and explains to them, finally, why they specifically have been chosen to play this game. Its very ominous, his warning of "Shibuya needs you. It needs VBS" bc YEAH NO PRESSURE RIGHT. Anyway, they learn Neku is like chill af and they get his card. Akito bugs out bc. CAT???? WTF??? neku doesnt explain but invites them to Mr. H's cafe instead.

They wake up in hospitals. A week has indeed passed since they got killed lmao. A worried ken visits An, Ena is sobbing over Akito, Kohane gets piled on by Minori and Emu, and Toya gets worried Tenmas lol.

VBS goes to the SEKAI (previously being unable to in the UG) and tells the VS about their troubles. MEIKO doesnt let them out of the cafe for HOURS. Miku Len and Rin hover over them, and even KAITO and Luka seem worried. But theyre gonna be ok.

VBS, after getting out, are a lot more cohesive as a unit. Now youll catch akito referring to kohane and an as his partners along with toya. Toya has a bit of a mean streak and his vocals have gotten more powerful. Kohane gains a hell of a lot of stage presence and An begins to defy expectations, bc everyone always was like "just like nagi, just like ken, just like taiga" to her but now shes unapologetically An to everyone.

Thats not the only thing thats changed with VBS. Now theyre able to identify Reaper aligned stores and mostly hang in there. They meet Shiki in Gatto Nero and become instant fans (especially akito. Hes delighted when hes offered a flexible job from her lmfao)

An is a little uoset that her town hid a big secret from her, but mostly doesnt dwell on it bc like, hell, shes been through the wringer. She DIED, and came back to tell the world she LIVED, BITCH.

vbs meets hanekoma and honestly mr h doesnt know why secrecy is a thing anymore and exasperatedly tells them highly edited accounts of neku and joshua. And their world. Vbs realizes that, yeah, they really are THAT important, and while they are pressured, theyre just all the more incentivized to practice and become the best musicians. RAD WEEKEND is now just another stepping stone for them -- they have their sights on bigger and grander things.

Which is why, during RISE...things happen a bit differently. Kotaro, Arata and Tatsuya are in for a big shock bc Kohane KILLS it from the get go, white lines and all. An is so fucking proud (and she went through the nagi angst already so no "she looks like nagi :(")

things calm down with EVER and Kotaro and Arata. And then VBS comes on stage and blows the crowd away. Wheeee.

Taiga still does the thing where he challenges a bunch of teenagers and young adults but is absolutely thrown for a loop when, after revealing the secret, an goes "i know. Youre a dick for keeping it secret, btw"

VBS nearly matches Taiga and that serves to shock all of them even more. Where the hell is this fire coming from? Taiga begins to doubt his intial impressions of VBS. He thinks they could actually surpass rad weekend, but doubles down and slams them with his full strength

And Vbs. Doesnt even. Flinch. (Well, yeah, compared to fighting a 24 story tall monster who can absolutely toss you at a building, an intensely singing middle aged man is significantly less terrifying. Like. Noise is based on emotions, negative emotions especially. So like, theyre pretty intense, you gotta fight them with your full soul.)

Vbs loses only bc their voices cant properly convey their passion, but the fire in their eyes dont die out. Theyre steady, and more than ready to take on whatever bullshit the world decides to throw at them.

So when Ken finds them hes surprised to see them all just chatting quietly. An asks him to explain why vivid street lied calmly. An finalizes her resolve -- she wants to take nagis dream as her own, and fulfill it in her own way, with VBS.

Oh yeah, ken still trains them, but VBS also gets in contact with a bunch of the reapers who want to give them a hand. 777, especially, takes an interest in them. Vbs expands their community to all around shibuya. Everyone is like, why is vbs running around shibuya like all the time without looking tired???? (Bc they went through 7 days of exactly that. Running around shibuya without looking tired.)

Anyway more fun HCs their pin powers: kohane gets puppy (forgot the brand but its happy puppy? Puppy? The paw brand one fuck) pins and pins themed around spring. An gets star types and ones that let her move around the field heh. Akito has fire based ones and minor telekinesis. Toya somehow has a basic ice pillar, lightning, and the healer pins. He was their angry healer.

Joshua meets them at one point and Akito immediately susses him out. Neku tells them joshua is his boss and vbs is like Oh. 🧍‍♂️ (they are legit terrified of him. Joshua thinks theyre cute.)

Vbs also starts dating shortly thereafter, but their dating lives are a mess. They dont know what to call each other! Bc atp girlfriend and boyfriend feels too shallow. They default to partners but its rlly more than that. Kohane starts calling them her soul, akito follows with his heart, an calls them her lights and toya gets rlly sappy and calls them his everything. They dont know what theyre doing. Someone help them.

Like genuinely theyre not sure if theyre dating or just really really clingy, and theyre not interested in exploring it either. Theyre just happy being together, yanno?

Kohane starts up her solo shows again but this time shes experimenting with styles. She missed her voice a lot and is a lot more self assured so she makes more mistakes but gets a lot farther with making her voice a unique tone.

Akito no longer has that filter holding him back and just pours his whole soul out. Ken is so fucking proud. He refines what akito has and lets him loose

An also works on her stage presence, starts upgrading more than just her voice. She gets lessons from haruka! And her charm shoots through the roof (shes a quick study lololol) she nearly gets scouted by a label but is like nah sorry ive got a music group? Im just doing this for training 😊 she and kohane also go to WxS for lessons on acting and stage presence!

Toya, in a surprising turn of events, dives into classical music (patiently explaining to his father that he still wants to pursue his music career with vbs) bc now...now toya wants to devour EVERYTHING. All music. Because every music is valued. He expands his repertoire and truly comes up with some of the most unhinged demos for VBS (some are unreleased bc vbs only does the best but they keep the unreleased ones bc its just plain fun, they realized along the way that they dont HAVE to sacrifice what is fun for what is exceptional)

Overall VBS just gets a major upgrade and joshua is as pleased as pie bc shibuya is once again thriving. Now if only he can get the other units to thrive too... thats only if they die, like vbs did, and get put into the game ofc.

[goldensunset]

How does death work in the TWEWY universe, from the perspective of the living?

Thinking logically, I might believe that the Players are merely in a coma, stubbornly refusing to die until they either get erased or win.

But it's also so amusing to have the idea of a Player winning the game and crawling out of their own grave because they were, in fact, Actually Deceased.

REAL this is bonkers to me

•the coma idea is neat but i doubt there’s any doubt in the minds of living people that these guys are dead. we know eri referred to shiki as having died.

•i believe it was established in the reports in the first game that by the composer’s power they are reformed with a new body (iirc). which begs the question of what happens to their old body that’s been buried or cremated or w/e. wouldn’t that be wild if it just remained so when the person died again now they had two bodies in the same grave or w/e lol*

•i think it was implied in neo at some point that once someone comes back to life the living sort of just. forget??? that the person ever died??? which is insane. like their memories of reality are overwritten by the lie that the composer feeds them. only the reborn person knows the truth which. ouch. that has to be a horrible burden to carry. but it makes sense

•but i also think. if i remember correctly shoka has a line (i think she was talking to beat?) that’s like ‘geez how does she even remember you’ when he’s talking about how he’s communicating with rhyme. which. girl what do you MEAN. is she implying that the living forget the dead ever existed at all even if the dead have not been erased yet??? that can’t be right. we know eri remembered shiki. or is it specifically because of the weird thing that happened to the people who got pulled into the game without dying. where like their entire presence online got erased (why exactly did that happen? idk)

•i think they say something about how rhyme and shiki, as former ug residents, can see beat, rindo, fret, and nagi even across ground lines because those guys are not truly dead. ordinary rg residents can’t see them at all and no rg residents can see neku and shoka are truly dead. idk. but still i would like to know what the situation was like for, say, nagi. someone alive in the ug. did the people who knew her temporarily forget her. dude

*another set of questions has been raised. sorry <3

•first question: do all of the recent dead in an area automatically join the game? most are probably erased, and probably immediately. twewy week one has dialogue that implies the size of that week’s game was a mere 12 people. idk what average number of people in a given population die per week in real life so idk what conclusion to draw there. but probably more than 12 in all of shibuya lol.

•anyway, if it’s not everyone, if where do the other dead go??? instant erasure?? i think it might be that as a test to see who’s worthy of rebirth, only certain people even get a ticket into said test. like the reapers use their prejudice to determine if you’re even worth inviting. or if that’s not the case, the people who get in could simply be the people who WANT to live again. a lot of people probably just accept oblivion. the reason we only see plucky young kids (or like. nerds and influencers in neo lol) is because they still had entire lives ahead of them and were not at all prepared for death. so the reapers might’ve just like read their souls and determined their desire. of course we see like the twewy main 5 all being like ahhhh idk if i have anything to come back to am i even worth it… but that’s just them lamenting the state of their lives. that’s not the same as openly welcoming death.

•second question: could you die and play the reaper’s game multiple times? cheating death infinitely because you’re just that good at solving puzzles beating noise? imagine a player on their fifth life and death the reapers are like ‘c’mon man just join us already it’s the only path to angelhood aka the ideal highest state of being. every game is a gamble and you’re only getting older and less capable. don’t you want to chill out and live in peace?’ and the player’s like ‘no shut up i don’t want your crummy job. i still have so many books to read and my cats need me. i’ll see you in like a month when i inevitably fall down the stairs again’

tldr: ‘oh simple ask i’ll respond right away with just a few words and a normal amount of thoughts about the twewyverse’

[frickingnerd]

being in a poly relationship with neku sakuraba and shiki misaki

pairing: neku sakuraba x gn!reader x shiki misaki

a/n: i've been replaying the first twewy game (& hope to replay neo:twewy soon) so i had to write for my favs from the og cast! but i'll post poly for neku & his two others partners too <3

shiki and you are much closer at first, as neku just has a hard time opening up and isn't super social when you first start dating

he has grown a lot already, but he knows that he still has to improve, so that eventually there's no trace of the antisocial asshole left that you and shiki first met

even though the two of you liked him back then, he's determined to be a better person for the two of you! but that sometimes leads him to isolate himself

neku struggles to show how much he cares about you and shiki, while he's also the one most passionate about the relationship and an absolute simp for you two!

both neku and shiki are incredibly touch starved, but neku even more than shiki

those two felt so lonely and isolated for such a long time, that they're desperately longing to touch you, while also being too shy to initiate intimacy

both of them also need a lot of reassurance and reminders that they are loved the way they are!

shiki struggles the most with confidence, regarding her looks and her talents, while neku often wonders if he's even a good person…

whenever the three of you go on dates, you meet up at hachiko! it's your little spot and it holds so many memories, that even if it'd be quicker to meet somewhere else, you will always meet at hachiko's statue!

due to dating shiki, you and neku quickly become close friends with eri too!

shiki never shuts up about you and neku, leading to eri knowing all the details of your relationship and becoming your biggest supporter!

shiki not only makes the three of you really cool throuple costumes when halloween comes around, but she also makes regular clothes for neku and you!

and while she always refuses to let you pay for them, as she sees them as gifts, neku and you always sneak some money into her wallet when shiki isn't looking…

[hadassahriv]

One-Sentence Fics: TWEWY

Ages ago on Twitter I did a little writing exercise with one-sentence fics that fit into a single tweet. Then did absolutely nothing else with them. And so I give you: one-sentence fics, TWEWY edition.

The moment the boy who will become Joshua realizes he has wings, he takes flight to see Tokyo—the sprawl, the infinite possibility of it—for the very first time.

Joshua knows how the game will end, has looked into the future, every eventuality, discarded most of them; it is not until Neku drops the gun that he realizes he has been outplayed, by a boy who has no idea what he’s won.

Neku sees his friends differently now, after so much time away; he wonders sometimes if it’s a consequence of being trapped in Shinjuku, or if he has always been this way and just never noticed.

Joshua thinks sometimes that he has been Composer too long and perhaps it would be better to let someone (Neku, it must be Neku, it can only be Neku) remove him from the board to create a future beyond his imagination.

Once upon a time, there was a boy named Neku, who died and lived and died and lived and, one day, realized that he could no longer tell the difference.

Many years later, with his first Game faded to sepia in his memories, Neku looks at Joshua, the two of them together, and regrets nothing.

Joshua is difficult to like—catty, superior, sure he knows best—but Shiki sees the way he looks at Neku, hears the reverence when he says Neku’s name, and maybe it’s not so difficult after all.

Had someone told Neku, during the first Game, that there would come a day when he would say “home” and mean “Joshua”, he would have laughed in their face—and he would have been wrong.

Dealing with the politics of the Higher Plane has always been a regrettable side effect of becoming Composer; watching Neku take a sledgehammer to it all is a pleasure Joshua had never even allowed himself to dream of.

There are things Joshua knows to be true—his city will collapse, stripped of all meaning;  this final game can only be lost—until Neku drops the gun and the future rewrites itself in an instant.

[purplelea]

Related to my other post about Neku the other day.

This scene is what gives the best glimpse of what Neku was like before the Game. They just saw Rhyme getting erased, and Neku is hurt and lashes out on Shiki, opening about his feelings at the same time. We need to remember that at this moment, Neku is still amnesiac and doesn't truly remember anything about his past. Still, I believe he truly means those words since he never takes them back even after regaining his memories.

As I said in the other post, Neku doesn't hate people. What he hates is getting hurt because of others, and this is perfectly explained here: the word hurt itself is highlighted in his dialogue. But there's also something else, that we can find again in neo: it's this need of real, genuine human connection. Neku hates having friends because he thinks that the connection friends have is fake and based on lies. It tracks with what he says afterwards during his week with Joshua: you can't truly understand others, so any connection you will have with people won't be genuine and true.

At the beginning of the Game, Neku is selfish. There's no going around it: he pushes others away because they might hurt him, he tries to kill Shiki to save his own skin (remember Uzuki's words? "You're the star, kiddo. Just do things your way. [...] What are you waiting for? Do what comes naturally. Save yourself. Screw everybody else, right?"), he doesn't consider for a second that she needs him as much as he needs her to stay alive. Because of this selfishness, he doesn't believe that others can offer genuine kindness to others, that everytime someone does something nice to someone it's to get something from it—thus, the idea of people "pretending to agree with you" so you end up caring about them and getting hurt afterwards. It was all their big plan, right? And Neku doesn't want to walk into that.

So you'd think that because of that and his hatred towards liars, Neku would be mad at Shiki for lying about her appearance for almost the whole week, right? But our favourite emo boy simply tells her "Everyone has their off days, right?" when she apologises that they might fail the mission (and get erased) because of her. So what happened? What made him change that much? Well, the answer is simple enough: Shiki.

Shiki's kindness, her dream to make people happy with clothes, her insistence on the fact that "Not all lies are bad ones", her forgiveness and will go give others a second chance... Everything Shiki did, unknowingly, brought Neku to consider that maybe, just maybe, people weren't all that bad. Taking a peek into Shiki's world made Neku expand his own. She might have lied, but that was because she was scared and lost, just like him, and he sees himself in her—just two teenagers thrown into a game of life or death, holding on to their beliefs and trying to work together despite the hurt they're both carrying. I believe this is what makes Neku start to change—it's only the start, and his two other Partners will, too, help him to keep going towards that path of change.

It all comes up to that big lie in neo—that I already talked about here—the fact that he tells everyone that he doesn't know who sent him to Shinjuku. Neku, the blunt, brutally honest Neku Sakuraba, who hated lies because he firmly believed that nothing good could come of it, that they would only hurt people and especially people close to you like your friends, lying, openly, to the whole group of the Wicked Twisters—including Beat! Incredible. I just wanted to elaborate a little more on that, because that hatred ran deep, and despite everything, Neku managed to change that much.

[dj-of-the-coven]

Neku and Joshua - Detail Diatribe

Otherwise known as my complete analysis of Neku and Joshua's relationship, from the first moment they share to the last.

------------

BEFORE YOU READ:

This post is an opinion piece and will thusly be colored by my biases. I am not a big fan of Joshua or the Joshneku ship. This means absolutely nothing about what I think of the people who do like him or Joshneku. I don't think liking villains or morally gray characters makes a person immoral or villainous themselves, nor do I think having a ship that CAN be read as abusive makes anyone an abuse apologist or an actual abuser. Ship and let ship--we're all just here for enjoyment. If reading a negative depiction of Joshua or Joshneku will upset you then I implore you not to read this essay. Please take care of yourself and block liberally! This post is also NO EXCUSE to send harassment towards Joshua fans or Joshneku shippers. It is meant to be analysis of a fictional relationship in a game that I enjoy, not a reason to bully or make fun of people who disagree with my reading of the text. To ensure that those sensitive to Joshua-critical arguments do not see this post, I will not be tagging it with any of Joshua's character or ship tags and I humbly ask that you refrain from adding them as well. BE KIND TO PEOPLE AND BE UNDERSTANDING OF THOSE WITH DIFFERENT PREFERENCES.

------------

Whether or not you liked Yoshiya "Joshua" Kiryu after finishing The World Ends With You, it's no stretch of the imagination to say that his character is incredibly complicated--both morally and textually--to fully grasp. His opinions are often hidden behind layers of fluff and fancy words, and his actions might be even less comprehensible at times. He was the one responsible for kicking the plot of the entire first game into action. To put things bluntly: Joshua wanted to purge the world of something he deemed worthless, humanity, so he non-consensually "employed the help" of the moodiest teenage boy in the city to gamble over the lives and deaths of about 203,500 people in a game that cost his proxy...

his memories (initially)

three full weeks of his life

the life and safety of a new friend (twice)

the life and safety of a new friend's little sister (whose erasure he witnessed)

the lives and safety of literally every person he's ever met in his lifetime (e.g. the roughly 203,500 people living in Shibuya, Tokyo in 2007-2008)

his own safety

his stable perception of reality

And eventually, upon being sent to Shinjuku...

three whole years of his life

three years of his living memory (it's unclear as to whether ANYBODY but Beat and Shiki were able to remember him)

three years he could've spent with his new friends

three years of physical touch and interaction with living humans

the rest of his already ruined health and sanity

And this was after the proxy extended his friendship and good will to Joshua, despite him being unable to forgive the atrocities committed against him during those initial weeks of the game.

This begs the question, "Is Joshua a good person?"

Well, I wouldn't say he's a great one. I'm personally not so fond of those who perform genocide as a silly thought experiment, and I don't think most people are either--however, in the context of the game, this doesn't feel true. It does not feel true that Joshua wanted to kill, or was at least ambivalent about killing, 203,500 people in one swoop. Joshua's definitely supposed to be annoying, a bit disturbing, and NOT the good guy, but he also doesn't feel like a genocidal maniac within the context of the story. He feels like an annoying little bitch, and that's for the very important reason that he needs to reasonably be comparable to Neku Sakuraba, his proxy.

Part 1: Sides of the Same Coin

Neku Sakuraba was a boy who had closed himself fully off from the world before his involvement in the Reaper's Game. He had no friends, nor did he want any, as he was under the false impression that humanity had literally nothing to offer him; to Neku, people were burdens he was forced to bear and obstacles to weather through in order to live a peaceful life. This makes him the perfect proxy for Joshua at the start of TWEWY, because Joshua was operating on nearly the exact same axis of thinking. Humanity had nothing to offer him. He thought himself above it, so he felt no real remorse at the idea of making them all go away.

The way that the two of them differ, however, is that Neku was essentially being untruthful with himself in order to maintain his fragile worldview. It took less than a full week with a kind person for his ideology to start crumbling around him. This only continued to happen when he was confronted with someone who hated people, a boy exactly like him, in week 2. Neku's time with Joshua was fraught with conflict, manipulated actions and memories, and confrontation with the existential horror of needless cruelty. It served to show that he was already displacing himself from the niche he'd wanted to fit into. Neku no longer worked as a real, proper proxy to Joshua once he started to open up to others and expand his thinking. This was only cemented when Neku started his third week learning about acts of selflessness, first with Joshua's "sacrifice", then with Beat's act of true mercy, benefiting nobody but Neku himself. Neku could no longer be a proxy to a murderer. Through Beat's actions (and Joshua's perceived death), he learned the value of human life--why someone he didn't even get along with would put himself in danger just to make sure Neku had a fighting chance.

Neku was like Joshua, but he was able to start seeing the humanity in others after spending time with only one of them. Neku is what happens when someone like Joshua deconstructs their worldview at its core, opens up to new people, makes friends, and truly gets to know them. That's the first half of the foil. In order to complete this foil, Joshua is what happens when someone like Neku does not deconstruct their worldview. While Neku was learning an ideology of trust and mutual benefit, Joshua was still viewing everything as transactional, up until the very end. He crushed what little was left of Neku's trust by proposing the shootout at the end of the game--also taking Shiki and Beat for good measure--then asked the boy he'd been emotionally and physically manipulating for weeks to kill him.

When Neku put down his gun, he was displaying an ultimate act of selflessness. Not because he thought Joshua was deserving, as he admitted through his own words that he didn't forgive Joshua for what was done to him, but because he wanted to trust that Joshua could change.

Neku had the maturity at that point to realize that he and Joshua were fundamentally the same: neither of them understood why people bothered to help each other, but Neku, crucially, had been offered a way out through Shiki, Beat, Rhyme, and a number of other side characters. At the end of the first game, Neku had learned all he needed to know about why humanity was worth saving. He even tried to extend a hand to Joshua in spite of his deep hurt, asking him to come meet him and his friends at Hachiko for a second chance. But Joshua didn't take this invitation. And by refusing his second chance, Joshua's foil with Neku was completed, leading him to a life of literal inhuman detachment as an angel.

Now, how does Neku feel about his act of mercy being rejected?

Part 2: A New Day

During the events of A New Day, we get to see Neku after an indeterminable amount of time since the Game ended, at least more than one week and less than one year. There are a few important things that get established on this day:

Neku regularly sees Beat, or at least has seen him recently, not commenting on any long separation when they get inexplicably paired up for a game

Beat has a very negative view of Joshua, exclaiming "Priss Kid!? Lemme at 'im!" when his name is first mentioned

Neku does not have major qualms about this behavior, only responding with "Wh-whoa, slow down."

When having memories of his first death, Neku's face is dark, implying that he has no fond recollection of the incident

It is implied that Neku and Beat have not seen Joshua at all since the end of the Game

Beat calls Joshua a whack-job, and Neku again has no problem with or comment on it

Beat is rude and confrontational towards Joshua during their entire conversation, and Neku has no reaction to any of it, implying his silent approval

Immediately upon returning to the RG, Neku makes plans with Shiki to hang out, and chats lightly with Beat, but shows no concern for the whereabouts of Joshua

When Neku is shot by Coco, the camera first pans to Joshua's gun, NOT Coco's, mimicking an episode of PTSD from Neku's perspective

In short, we can see what Neku is like in a world without Joshua's continued presence... and it appears that he's doing fine, minus the lingering pain of a traumatic incident. He hangs out with his friends. He talks to them, or at least to Beat, enough for him to know that Joshua has majorly wronged him. Beat's anger can be extrapolated as protective, and his anger towards Joshua is treated by both of them as justified. Neku has told Beat enough about his death and partnership with Joshua for it to be old news--old news that Beat is sympathetic about to the point of wanting to immediately wail on the angel at the first mention of his name.

So, how did Neku feel about Joshua after the first game? Based off this information, it seems like Neku had been willing to befriend Joshua for real--but treated it as a missed opportunity. He moved on with his life as normally as possible given the circumstances, and even began to consider his time with Joshua to be somewhat traumatic, at least enough that was willing to pour his feelings about it out to Beat at some point. And this, keep in mind, is before the reckoning.

Part 3: Isolation and Desolation

Isolation does funny things to people's heads. According to this article published by the Prison Policy Initiative, people who go through extended isolation or solitary confinement often experience significant changes in memory and personality; changes that are mostly permanent. It's so damaging to memory in particular that isolation physically shrinks the part of the brain that plays the biggest role in memory after too long without human interaction, and this point comes much sooner than many people realize: after only fifteen consecutive days. Beyond the sixteenth day, forced isolation is considered by the UN to be a type of psychological torture.

Neku was subjected to this torture for three consecutive years.

No breaks, no visitors, no living people. Neku was in isolation for three entire years, waiting for Joshua or anyone else to release him.

Knowing about the effects of isolation on personality, it's easy to see the ways that Neku has changed when he returns to Shibuya after his time away. Despite being warm and amicable, seemingly all smiles, it's immediately obvious to players of the original TWEWY that his personality is lacking something important--that being the trademark snarkiness that made him such a compelling narrator. He has his moments of course, but for the most part, he's very different from how he was as a young teenager. He's soft-spoken with everyone and is mostly content to trail behind Beat as he catches up on the things he'd missed in his time away. He takes less action than he used to. He's less blunt. Considering all that was happening at the time, it makes sense that Neku wasn't too talkative about his own problems, but he hardly mentions anything at all about the place he spent three years being fully, completely isolated in. He even lies to the Twisters about knowing who put him there in the first place. Neku is clearly... off. And I bet that not all of it is unintentional on the part of the developers.

A thing that we in the TWEWY fandom joke about a lot is that Neku keeps befriending his murders, but to be fair, this is actually a bit of a non-point when you think about the fact that Neku has gone through a massive, relentless trauma of total isolation. After being by himself in Shinjuku for so long, he was probably desperate enough to talk to someone for his memories of anyone to start shifting, to give him literally anything to hold onto in an attempt to keep himself alive. This is compounded with the fact that time also changes one's own perception of past traumas. It wouldn't be a stretch to say that his memory of the time before his isolation would be hazy and hard to grasp, and this goes double for anything before the Game. He remembers the important bits--the people who inspired him, the intimate moments they shared, the fear and uncertainty that plagued those weeks--but he remembers everything in its vague emotional constructs, and some of those emotions smudge onto each other. So, when he sees Joshua in NEO, he smiles.

I'm not saying that Neku is literally remembering everything improperly, but I am saying that his recollection of the Game is colored by the fact that it was the last time that he'd been with people before he was isolated. He sees his time there as more nostalgic because it was the "before" to his "after". Neku is happy to see anybody from his past at this moment; he's reeling from the experience of suddenly being around them again. Combined with Neku's general dislike for unnecessary conflict (lying to the Twisters & not telling Beat about Coco, both to avoid making a scene), and also being in the middle of something too important to be derailed with petty fighting, he decides to take Joshua's sudden appearance as comforting. He's not necessarily happy to see Joshua anymore than he's just happy to see somebody that he knows.

This is a huge contrast with how we see him thinking about Joshua in A New Day, in which nearly every mention of him is treated as negative or neutral by both Neku and Beat alike. The expected thing for Neku to do here would be to first act surprised, then roll his eyes or make an annoyed sound. But instead, he smiles and allows Joshua to stay before returning to the task at hand. Why is he glad to see the man who killed him and then rejected his friendship? Well, that's because he isn't really, or at least not to the extent that a lot of fanon content would have you believe. It only looks like that if you don't compare how he interacts with Joshua to the way he interacts with Shiki and Beat.

Neku's reunion with Beat is one of the most beautiful cutscenes in the game, full of warm light and soft expressions:

Their eyes meet, and they grasp hands, coming together in a shower of golden bubbles and sparkles. It's pure magic.

As for Neku's reunion with Shiki, it's less spectacular, but appropriately emotional and sweet:

Meanwhile, Joshua gets introduced like this:

The difference is obvious. Joshua gets almost no fanfare from the narrative, not even receiving some sort of special animation or character sprite for the moment. And though Neku does eventually crack a smile, his initial reaction is stunned and doesn't change until the whole dialogue is through. He smiles a little right after he says "Not at all, partner".

"Partner" is the word that's the most important to this reading. Neku smiles after he affirms Joshua as his partner--someone he knew and briefly traveled with before his extended isolation in Shinjuku. E.g., someone he placed trust in. Someone he used to speak to after years of not speaking to anyone. Essentially, even though Neku had little to do with Joshua after the events of the Game, and definitely doesn't get along with him... he also does want to trust him, which runs directly counter to the moment that Joshua admits he didn't trust Neku enough to release him from Shinjuku. Neku's memories are warped by years of being so fully alone that it changed his whole manner of speaking and interacting with the world. Of course he clings to a familiar face and voice, if only for a moment.

But here's exactly where that moment ends:

Neku immediately loses that smile from earlier, confronting Joshua with a deadpan expression.

He asks Joshua about a couple of loose ends. Then, when Joshua mentions that he had plans to intervene if Neku and his friends were unable to do anything, he smiles again and he asks to go home. At this point, his grand reunion with Joshua has been completed: now he knows that Joshua has little visible remorse about what he's done, but at least he also has confirmation that Joshua had been planning some kind of backup in case Neku wasn't able to pull through. Neku's demeanor was largely uncomfortable and stiff until the moment that he realized it was all going to be okay. It was only after Joshua mentioned that he would've saved the city anyway that he truly relaxed--he does trust Joshua at his word, after all. And then he decides to go home, back to Shiki and Beat, the way he'd been wanting to.

Part 4: Conclusion

Neku and Joshua's relationship is like a rubix cube: a question with a simple answer, but a method of solving so complex that the majority of people who pick it up will never finish the puzzle. Most TWEWY fans do what humans do best and slap a romantic label on it, but I think doing that and ignoring some of the other dimensions to their relationship does a bit of a disservice to the way that Neku was treated by Joshua throughout the series, regardless of whatever his true intentions may have been. It's fair to say that Neku, Shiki, and Beat are best friends--if not something much stronger--just based off the way they interact, particularly with the beautiful mundane moments we get to see between Beat and Neku in NEO as party members.

On the other hand, for Joshua, his moments are few and far in between after the original game ends, but his presence is still a lingering thread throughout Neku's life that forces him to reckon with himself again and again. He could've been like him. He didn't end up that way, and so they can't truly be close. Neku wants to remember him fondly. For a moment, he does, until he remembers who was the warden for his years-long imprisonment. They are mirrors of each other and they will each haunt each other's actions forever, with Neku as Joshua's guilty conscience and Joshua as Neku's ironic shoulder devil. I don't think they could ever be described as friends, given their history, though I do think that they'll probably meet up for coffee once a year and make incredibly intense eye contact. Neku will silently ask why Joshua did it all, and Joshua will sip from his cup without ever answering the question. Maybe both of them or neither of them truly know.

[scramble-crossing]

Euler's Identity

Chapter 1: After the Sermon, Before the Wake

Rating: M

Characters: Sho Minamimoto, Neku Sakuraba, Shiki Misaki, Daisukenojo "Beat" Bito, Rindo Kanade, Tosai "Fret" Furasawa, Nagi Usui, Shoka Sakurane

Pairings: Sho Minamimoto & Neku Sakuraba, Sho Minamimoto & Rindo Kanade & Tosai "Fret" Furasawa & Nagi Usui, Implied Neku Sakuraba/Shiki Misaki/Daisukenojo "Beat" Bito

Warnings: Implied/Referenced Suicide and Self-Harm

Summary:

It happened again

As it has happened before

And as it will happen a hundred times more

After yet another attempt at the Composer's seat leaves Minamimoto critically wounded, he's forced to seek refuge in the only place left that will have him: his old home, WildKat. But it's come under new management since he's seen it last. Proprietor Neku Sakuraba has been dealing with his own ghosts since reclaiming the life he should have lived after the Long Game, though he's able to find comfort in his friends as they help him, and the cafe, get back on their feet. Maybe they can do the same for Minamimoto, when the Wicked Twisters reach out to him with an offer of reconciliation...

Sometimes all it takes is a little deviation

Read on Ao3

(And also a playlist here!)

My fic for the @subasekabang 2023! Had a blast participating alongside my Bang partners @starocide and @awanderingserena. Make sure to check out their works!

Preview under the cut

Morning broke, and from within it spilled a city untouched by rapture.

The gentle, lapping water of the Shibuya River blushed indigo, reflective of a sky that fell like a silken curtain over towers buttoned here or there with a warm yellow light, a few windows stirring, blinking sleepily open. Little moved and all was quiet. Well, quiet as it ever could be. Washed in a dusky lowlight burnt only at the very edges by the dayish gold of a still-rising sun, most of Shibuya was still dreaming as Sho Minamimoto emerged from the dark tunnel’s maw, greeted only by the rumble of far-off cars like a cat’s amused purr.

He breathed fresh air. It was tinged with the familiar scents of scathed asphalt and smoke and filled whatever mimicry of lungs he had left in his chest. Notes of citysong danced in his ears. He heard birds chitter, saw airplanes pull white-tufted tails behind them, both swimming the sky’s murky depths, and him, standing inside of it all, a part of it all, was as alive as a dead man like him could ever be.

…But he wasn’t supposed to.

‘Incongruent.’

This time was different than before.

‘Why am I…?’

Sho staggered. A searing pain tore down through his stomach like a knife plunged in and twisted, blood bursting in his head, filling his sight with a pulsing red haze, ruby dark, growing darker. He shut his eyes. Fumbled in blackness. His legs trembled like that of an infant still fresh to the earth; it took all he had left just to keep himself from collapsing into the embrace of concrete beneath his feet.

He would not fall. No, he would hurt and he would ache, he would fracture into pieces, but he would not let himself go wholly and with quiet humiliation into a storm that had since vanished.

And so he started walking.

Shadows of the overpass criss-crossed his path as Sho dragged himself over the gutter’s sloped ridge, keeping low along the city’s underbelly. They were long and soft in the surrounding dimness. Easy to slide into. He knew someone who would’ve loved them (Who? That was lost somewhere in memory), but for him the angles were too stretched, too obtuse, the encroaching sunlight giving too little space to hide. He would have to keep moving. Even as exhaustion weighed heavily on him, sucking at his heels like torrent water and making him think for one wild, confused moment that it was the river wanting him back.

He tried to shake it off, clean his mind of the clinging, gurgled whispers whose voices he couldn’t tell from his own. It was all the same, anyways. A reprise on unfinished business.

You lost

‘I lost.’

He never stood a chance.

When he flexed his hands to make sure he could still feel them, his fingers pressed with splintered nails into palms that hadn’t once brushed the fantastically inhumane coldness of divinity. They were hot and slicked with sweat and dirt from the ground he’d crawled across. His eyes were not reverent, nor were they holy. They were pained by the light that had filled them. Even when they were closed he felt no relief, the image of His split-grinning face twin tattoos on the insides of his eyelids.

White.

‘No’

Teeth.

‘Stop’

Cherubim faces, child’s hands.

Great shafts of light like sterile dreams.

He grasped his hair, tugged hard until it screamed.

Peach lips. Apple cheeks. Fruit of the Lord, piercing his still-warm core.

(It didn’t help)

Him. Him in the center of it all, when the omnipotent hymns of gold and saintly frequencies fell silent, and he met his violet, ice-chip eyes.

‘It hurts’

When he smiled.

‘It hurts.’

When he laughed.

‘It hurts’

When he saw himself in a smear across the floor, everything he ever was or ever could have been left as a stain on God’s front porch.

+ some bonus shitposts

[masonsystem]

the next game i plan to play is TWEWY. unlike the other games ive been playing recently i will not be going into this game blind bc that is impossible for me, cuz ive lived with the worlds biggest twewy fan who is my brother. literally have memories from 2009/2010 of hearing the twewy ost from his ds first thing in the morning. he has also told me the entire lore of this game multiple times. i also tried to play it before in like 2016 or 2017 cuz my brother rly wanted me to and he was like 'its shorttt you can do it'. He Was Lying. and i also watched like 80% of his neotwewy playthru.

so im going to try again now as a More Experienced Gamer. hoping to finish before the end of january cuz thats when i see him again and i wanna hv scholarly discussions abt it with him. and maybe ill play neotwewy if i feel like it (i doubt this). for fun i want to list down everything i know abt the game from my brother so after i finish it i can revisit this post and laugh at it

- "What's a meme?"

- i dont actually know what a meme is. i remember this gameplay mechanic confusing me

- everybody is DEAD and this is PURGATORY or something like that. i still dont really understand what the reaper's game is despite knowing abt twewy for like 16 years

- this game is not a week long my brother LIED. i thought the game would end after one week which is why i tried it back then LOL i know that theres three weeks.. i think..

- shiki doesnt actually look like that thts actually the appearance of her toxic yuri friend or something. i remember this Very vividly bc its like the biggest plot reveal from week one and i remember being like WOAHHHH and jaw-dropped and it was so awesome. its still so awesome! im excited to experience that again

- beat and rhythm are hit by a car but the cars look like sharks bc uh.. hm...

- i actually dont know why the enemies look like that. i know theyre like..... Negative Spirit Energy or SMTH LIKE THAT but why they take the form of animals... idk

- Calling..... Someone is Callinggg 🎶

- the music is really good

- EVERYONE IS SO SKINNY ITS ALMOST SCARY

- fashion fashion that mechanic is fun. you need bravery in order to crossdress which gives you epic stats. which i think is very fun!

- also fuck im realizing that this is a squarenix jrpg meaning im gonna have to be planning members stats and all that shit again. and while i do miss doing that, i hope twewy's 2008 (2007?) design isnt too asswater and is actually functional

- THE COMBAT IS HARD i remember having to draw shit with my left hand while my right hand had to tap buttons! like what!!! according to my brother the combat utilizes every part of the ds, even things like the microphone and closing the screen, and is why he likes this game so much. i hope i can like it as much as him

- im nekuuuu and im rude and unfriendly and i cant remember anything and im mean but I'll Become Kinder as the game progresses

- neku chokes shiki??? i think he was trying to kill her??? so he could leave the game or something.. and she was floating? i have levitation powers???

- i dont remember if i get epic powers.. i feel like thats something i shouldve remembered

- i dont know what the math dude does in this game. i dont remember what all the dudes with the wings are called or what their deal is but ohhh i remember them all pissing me off

- THE FUCKING PIN GAME pins??? badges?? bottlecaps??? i dont remember but i remember that minigame pissing me offff. fuck im gonna have to experience squarenix minigames again

- there is so much dialogue wohfuisdhfjk Squarenix JRPG.

- shiki DISAPPEARS at the end of the first week.. for some reason.. and neku plays a second week so he can bring her back. and that happens again for the third week where i think??? beat and rhythm disappears at the end of the second week? but this time neku isnt just betting on bringing his friends back HES BETTING ON THE FAITH AND GOODWILL OF THE ENTIRE WORLD somethinggg like that

- joshua is the new partner for week 2 and he is such a gay boy.

- Mother and father calls me Joshua ohohohoho

- only dead people can enter the reaper's game and if you win you get another chance at life or something?? idk why tho..

- beat and rhythm entered the game bc they were running away from home cuz they have shitty parentsss and then they got hit by a car

- and shiki attempted suicide i think

- and neku can't remember how he entered the game.. oh... so mysterious....

- it was because joshua shot him with a gun

- and joshua is God because this is a Squarenix JRPG

- joshua wanted neku to show him humanity's worth or SOMETHING cuz neku was a kid who had lost faith in humanity or something like that??

- and joshua disappears in the ending i think very ambiguousss

- The World Begins With You....

[mythicalartistx]

Soriku in Novels Part 4 — DDD

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 5

The cricket's question made Riku think of Sora. Of course, Riku couldn't tell him everything, but Sora was still a friend with a special place in his heart.

"Yeah... actually I do." Riku closed his eyes and imagined Soras's face for a moment, then looked at Pinocchio and Jiminy. "That stupid grin he's always wearing— he's the best teacher I could ever have."

DDD novel — Riku's side.

I loved this scene during the game and it was clear in DDD he's so gay and he loves Sora so much. A big part of DDD in my perspective was being able to accept yourself/forgive yourself of the darkness of the past and maybe someday open himself up to Sora about his feelings.

And here it shows Sora has a special place in his heart... He definitely likes him. I love how he imagines Sora in the scene, I mean I thought he was thinking of Sora BUT TO EXPLICITLY SAY he imagined Sora's face is another thing.

"He saved me. But you two are nothing alike." Shiki leaned in close to Sora's ear and whispered, "You know, Neku and Riku are really similar."

"Huh?". Surprised, Sora looked at Neku.

Now that you mentioned it, I can see it. They're both a little prickly sometimes, but they have a heart of gold underneath.

"Wh-why are you staring at me..?" Neku returned Sora's gaze uneasily.

"Yeah, you may be onto something."

DDD NOVEL — Sora's Side

This is a nice section that shows a comparison between the characters. Shiki notes how Sora and Riku are nothing alike, but Neku is quite similar to Riku. It's not that Soriku filled, but it's nice to see the comparison with Neku who ends up in his actual game accidentally trading Shiki (who's very important to him/ with no memories at that) to continue to survive another round to be able to return to life.

Also I'd imagined Riku getting flustered if someone stares at him because of one of the kh2 novel states that Riku always won sword fights, but Sora won starring contests. HE PROBABLY GETS FLUSTERED.

"I won't hold back, and I won't underestimate you. I give everything I have to set you free. I was always jealous of you, Sora. I used to feel it all the time, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't still. I believe that feeling was darkness, but now I know it's not.

The truth is, it gave me strength, and so did having someone to challenge me. Light and Darkness are perfect compliments of each other — the shadows are always greatest next to the dark. I know what that means now, truly. When those dark feelings come over you, only your heart can decide whether to let them sink deeper into the darkness or to bring them out into the light of the sun.

Accepting both is what it means to have a heart. It gives us strength. Even a form of pride, in a way. I don't think anyone can honestly say it's not. Same with wanting to be stronger. Joy and Sorrow, Anger and Hatred— whether those feelings become your light or your darkness is for you to decide.

The strength of your darkness is what allows you to choose. That's why I choose to let the light shine onto my own darkness. And Sora that's you."

DDD Novel — Riku Side

I made a post on just this entire statement Riku made before but I had to include it, it's so gay. He's comparing dark and light to him and Sora. He says Sora is his light. He accepts both light and Darkness and because of that it's strength and some sort of pride... Maybe gay pride 🧐🧐🧐

But he realizes his jealousy made him stronger and just shows his development of how he is with darkness and how he is with Sora.

[altorav]

GIVE ME THE ANGSTY NESHIKI. I DEMAND IT. why do the JN fans get to eat so much good angst but NS is all soft and shit. MAN

Well people are gonna make what they wanna make I guess 😅 also having soft, fluffy stuff is good once in awhile. Plus these two are always admired for their healthy communication styles so mutual comfort fics are bound to be abundant. It doesn't mean ns has no angst potential though, they're an ENFJ x ISTP duality pair, so they're bound to have some frictions just by their natures alone.

Since you asked for some angsty post-neo stuff (I guess) here are a few:

1.) I personally think that Neku never really gets comfortable in social situations. He still remains somewhat socially awkward even post-neo, and never really quite be good at reading the room, which became a great source of insecurity for him. He particularly dislikes when Shiki invites him to one of her high-end business parties because of how much it alienates him and reminds him of how much he sucks in this type of environment. And oh, he also hates it when Shiki got to be close with other men who are more animated and socially competent than him (he despises the fact that he isn't really built like them and able to be quite as good at matching his girlfriend's social energy and emotional sensitivity)

2.) I have a headcanon that the Hachiko's gang memories of Neku actually dwindled after awhile during the course of the 3 years as a result of the world trying to erase any trace of him ever living after his passing and the three had to try their damnest best to preserve it by trying to jog their memories of him constantly. Might as well also make it the reason why Beat oddly only made a few refferrences about Neku during his time with the WTs (his memories only got fully restored once he showed up) and Shiki being reduced into a bawling mess in the end is because she had perhaps become the one among the three who had been the most obsessive when it comes to trying to maintain her memories of him. I can see it might even have badly interferred with her Gatto Nero work too, since her obsessiveness of trying to stay focused on remembering a seemingly non-existent guy made her seem somewhat crazy and delusional to others.

[nat-seal-well]

Okay so, first off, I’ve had this The World Ends With You AU in my head for almost a year. And I think it would work really well with the DAMN crew because it’s all about making connections with people, and building friendships, and learning to appreciate the world around you.

If you don’t know what TWEWY is, I don’t judge you. It’s a video game released for the original DS, which means it's old as balls. It’s also my all-time favorite. I may also be getting old. (But they did finally release a sequel two years ago for the Switch!)

I can give you the bare-bones, spoiler-free summary right here: our main guy Neku wakes up in the middle of Shibuya with all of his memories gone. He learns very quickly that he died, and was entered as a Player into the Reapers’ Game: a competition lasting seven days, full of challenges the Players have to complete to avoid being Erased. If they make it through all seven days, their prize is the chance to be sent back to the world of the living.

At first I thought Freelancer would work as Shiki, but Huxley and Damien live in my mind rent-free forever, so I’m shaking things up a bit.

Damien would work really well in Neku’s spot as the protagonist, I think. We love our edgy, angsty, anime boy who wants nothing to do with anyone. Damien isn’t nearly as closed-off as Neku is in the beginning, but I think he would still fit that role pretty well for this AU.

I’m gonna put Huxley in Shiki’s place because I love Shiki with my whole heart. She’s probably my favorite companion character and I like the cat plushie she fights with :)

The only character who could possibly pull off the level of sass and bastard-ness that Joshua has is Gavin.

Lasko and Freelancer would work really well as a duo, I think, and they’d probably take the places of Rhyme and Beat. I love the relationship they have in the canon world and I also want to see them fight together just because I think it’d be cool.

I want Caelum to be Shuto—or Shooter, which is his nickname. I think. It’s been a while since I played this game last. I feel like he would love the Tin Pin Slammer, though. (So do I. I’m awful at it.)

Hanekoma is one of my favorites from TWEWY. I don’t know who would really fit his role but I want it to be Scorpius just because I love him a lot. We can ignore the fact that he hasn’t had any interactions with the DAMN characters in the canon universe.

I think a lot of the d(a)emons would be Reapers. This is partially because I think they would be cool. This is also partially because I want to see them all with Reaper wings.

Vega, however, would be a Game Master. One of the bosses you have to beat at the end of one week of the Reapers’ Game.

Kody would also be a Game Master. This is a little bit bc I’m pretty sure we all want to fight him. (And by that, I mean kick his ass.)

One thing I love about TWEWY is that there’s a lot of NPCs in all the shops and restaurants, and as people you meet in the side quests. And as you interact with them more, you can build a sort of friendship with them. It’s cool. This also means there’s lots of little ways to sneak in characters from over Redacted storylines too :)

[manofmanymons]

I feel like a Survive x TWEWY crossover would be so fun

Both in the sense of TWEWY characters in the Survive storyline and vice versa

I like how both stories have the shared trait of "trust your partner or die" but in TWEWY your partner is Just Some Random Person (or whoever you happened to die alongside) while in Survive it's your fated partner

How would Neku's initial distrust play out if his partner was a digimon instead of Shiki? Would it go more smoothly because he'd connect with them since they'd inherently be similar to him, or would it go worse because "aaaaah monster" ? I'm leaning towards the former, but still.

I think Shuuji might actually initially handle a human partner better tbh

How would the Survive cast react to the end of Week 1 if they all made it to the end only to find out that only one of them could be revived and go home? Who would they choose? Would they fight over it? Or if they didn't all last the full week, well...what killed them?

How would Kaito handle the fact that he and Miu were already dead, meaning he already failed her twice?

Hell, knowing how Part 3 of Survive went, how would Ryo react to already being dead? Would he even try to win the game?

And what about Saki? Would her illness still exist even in death? If not, would it come back upon resurrection? How would that influence her attitude towards winning the game?

Conversely, how would things be different if Beat and Rhyme never died?

Would Joshua be a Normal Person or would he have some kind of unusual power like Miyuki's? Or would that just make Survive yet another parallel world to the main TWEWY world and he would be uncomfortably self aware about it aksjnd

What kind of psychs (powers) would the Survive kids have?

What partners would the TWEWY kids have? Personally voting for Joshua's partner following the straightforward Patamon->Seraphimon line because...well he's Joshua.

How would Shiki's self-image issues reflect on her partner?

What would the Survive kids' entry fees be, and how would that affect their ability to work together? Would they all look like themselves? Would they all keep their memories intact? Just what is the most important thing to each of them? And I don't mean like the objects from the waterway.

Well okay for Kaito that question has an easy answer and my real question for him is would he end up more like Beat in week 1 or Neku in week 2? As in would Miu forget him or would the reapers just straight up take her away?

Would Takuma even work as the main protagonist in TWEWY? I feel like he's more similar to Rindo than Neku, but even then he's way more open and personable than either of them. That being said tho

What if the Survive kids were in Neo instead and they were all a team together? How would they (especially Aoi) feel knowing their survival hinged on the other teams dying? Fighting monsters is one thing, but fighting other people and knowing they'll be erased if you win? That's...a bit much.

And now that I've said Neo, how would Rindo, Fret, and Nagi fare in Survive? At the very least I don't think Nagi would fall for monsters in disguise or illusions, but idk about the other two.

How would everyone even die lmao

I mean that both in the "how did the Survive cast end up playing the Reaper's Game" sense and in the "who in TWEWY would die and how in the kemonogami world" sense

I have all of the questions and none of the creativity to hc answers.

Anwyays take this incredibly self-indulgent rambly post that is incomprehensible to anyone but the maybe two other people on the planet who like both TWEWY and Survive.

[ungodly-amounts-of-godly-trauma]

Is it time for Neku Sakuraba propaganda? I think it is! Okay so. Neku’s an angsty 15-year-old who doesn’t get people (“never have, never will”) when he awakens and finds himself in some kind of weird weeklong Reaper’s Game, with no idea who he is or what he’s doing here. Turns out, his memory was his entry fee - the thing he valued most - to enter the game. To win the game and avoid erasure, he has to team up with a Partner and fight with them. In the course of the week, he discovers he’s dead and forms a close enough attachment to his Partner, Shiki, that she becomes his next entry fee when he’s forced to play for a second week straight.

His second week, some little shit makes the Partner Pact FOR him. “You looked like an expert, so I just helped myself,” he says. Enter: Yoshiya Kiryu, but Mother and Father call him Joshua, so he supposes you can too. He’s smarmy, abrasive, overly-familiar, and has somehow been watching Neku (?) despite Neku being in the afterlife and knowing this kid hasn’t played before. Oh, and he remembers seeing Neku laying on the ground the last place Neku remembers being… and he still doesn’t remember how he died. They spend the week, in turns, with Joshua getting on Neku’s nerves infodumping about Shibuya and making innuendo, talking about how they mutually don’t get people (with Joshua concluding he’d rather get rid of them all because understanding others is impossible,) and Neku accusing Joshua of murdering him after Joshua remembers coming at Neku holding a gun. During this, Neku discovers that Joshua’s apparently somehow Playing while alive - he could always see the afterlife, decided he belonged there and wanted to become the Composer who runs it all (basically a local god,) and has incredible powers that let him teleport into the air and use massive, cherub-laden lasers of doom. We call them the Jesus Beams.

The week ends with a fight with this week’s Game Master, who’s been harassing them personally throughout. During it, Neku suddenly remembers that HE was at the site of Neku’s death with a gun, too, and concludes he was wrong about Joshua. When the GM is defeated, he unleashes a massive explosive attack that’ll take them all out, but Joshua smiles and pushes Neku out of the way, taking the brunt of the blast. Neku assumes that Joshua sacrificed himself, feeling bad for the week of shadiness. This messes Neku up DEEPLY! And Neku has to play ANOTHER week, because Joshua was playing while alive.

Through the week, Neku and his third Partner Beat conclude they have to take out the Composer and put Beat in charge, like Joshua wanted to do, as the city and game get increasingly messed up. They conclude the Composer is probably the game’s mentor figure, break into the secret sewer base of the Reapers, and fight the Composer’s second-in-command Kitaniji. They win, when suddenly Joshua reappears and seems to know Kitaniji, who incorporates him (with Joshua posing like he’s been crucified) into his massive monstrous dragon form and traps Beat and Shiki. Neku fights. Neku wins. And then we get explanations.

1) The reason why the entire city was falling under creepy mind control was because of Kitaniji’s plan to unite the city under his vision.

2) This was because he was playing a Game with the Composer, whose plan for the city was WORSE - outright destruction. The Composer wouldn’t directly interfere, but use a Proxy he’d chosen for this purpose.

3) Who is the Composer? Hee hee. It was Joshua all along!

4) Whose Proxy, of course, was Neku. And how did he pick him? Well Neku, he never said he DIDN’T kill you.

But if Neku wants to stop him (or even if he doesn’t,) time for one more Game. The winner gets to be Composer and do whatever they want with the city. Of course, Joshua’s already decided.

Here’s a gun. Joshua will count to ten, and then they fire. Neku, tears in his eyes, readies the gun - and then lowers it. Despite everything, he can’t do it. He’s changed too much over the past three weeks.

Joshua shoots.

Neku wakes up in the middle of the street for the fourth straight week in a row, everything seemingly unchanged. He looks around and screams “What the HELL?!”

And this is before we get to the part where Neku later dies AGAIN so Joshua sends him to a destroyed city removed from reality for three years. As one does.

To sum up: One of Neku’s best friends is the local god of the underworld, who murdered him, shot him twice, does seem to genuinely care about him despite it all, and collects Jesus symbolism like it’s a contest.

Play The World Ends With You!

holy jesus fucking christ. I REMEMBER THE NEKU SAKURABA SUBMISSION. also i think he and josh were in the homoerotic betrayal tournament or something??? good god. bloody hell. godly trauma unparalleled