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cryingcow · 3 years

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Character Story - Yuki (2006) [RGGO]

The next few stories will be about three very beautiful, very elegant, very alive ladies (which should narrow it down quite a lot lol). First up: She’s single! She’s 39! She’s probably addicted to gacha games! It’s Yuki!!

Story: Yuki learns that her father is ill, and wants to show him that she is reliable and capable so that he won’t pass on with regrets. Everyone tries to help her maintain the lie because she is, in fact, neither reliable nor capable. Majima gives a speech about the power of friendship.

(Featuring the 3 different artstyles of RGGO-verse: anime, paint-y, and Dragon Engine; all in the same weird screenshot!)

Majima & Youda: “We love you, Yuki-chan. Even if you’re dumb, and clumsy, and stupid, and gullible . . .”

Yuki: “. . . I wish I had better friends.”

CHAPTER 1

|Four Shine wins the Cabaret Club Grand Prix, and became a popular cabaret club after that . . . The temporary club manager Kiryu leaves Sotenbori, so the owner Yuki and the club manager Youda handle the club in place of three people.|

|Four Shine, Sotenbori.|

Waiter: “Kirara has been nominated for Table No. 2! Bring a wet towel for Table No. 4!”

Yuki: “Phew~ . . . I’m even busier than usual . . . Oh? Koyuki-chan, you look pale. Maybe you’re sick?”

Koyuki: “. . . I couldn’t sleep much yesterday. But it’s fine. We’re short on staff today.”

Yuki: “No, no! What if you break your body! Please go home now and get some rest!”

Koyuki: “But the 5th table . . .”

Yuki: “No buts! I’ll do something about your absence, just leave it to me!”

Koyuki: “I . . . I understand. But, I want to work once I feel better, so I’ll just rest here in the back.”

{Koyuki leaves to take a break.}

Yuki: “Indeed . . . Koyuki-chan is a hard worker.”

Waiter: “Yuki-san. Where is Koyuki-san? Table No. 5 has been waiting for a while now . . .”

Yuki: “Eh?! Table No. 5?! That’s right, I forgot . . . Koyuki-chan is resting right now. What should I do . . .”

Waiter: “If Koyuki-san can’t do it, then I guess they can wait a little longer, Aika-san would be available then . . .”

Yuki: “Y-Yeah, yeah! I’m sorry, please do that . . . ! I’ll go apologize to the customer later . . . !”

{The waiter leaves to give Table No. 5 the news.}

Yuki: “Haa . . . I said to leave it to me but then I completely forgot . . . I’m losing my mind . . .”

Cast Member Erica: “Uuugh . . . Yuki-san . . .”

Yuki: “Oh?! What’s wrong, Erica-chan? Isn’t it your day off . . . ?”

Cast Member Erica: “I . . . I was dumped by my boyfriend . . . I was feeling sad and lonely . . . so I came here . . .”

Yuki: “Oh . . . Don’t cry Erica-chan. I’m sure you’ll find a better boyfriend. And even if you don’t have a boyfriend, it’s fun! It’s great to be able to play online games by yourself at home!”

Cast Member Erica: “I-Is that okay for Yuki-san? Even though you’re 39 years old, you haven’t had a crisis about having no boyfriend . . .”

Yuki: “Eh?! I-I . . . ? I-Is that actually bad after all . . . ?”

Cast Member Erica: “Well, I guess it depends on the person . . . you’re 39 years old. If you like older men, would you like me to introduce one to you?!”

Yuki: “Don’t mention my age so much . . . you’re making me depressed. At the very least, Erica-chan seems to be feeling much better. . . . Oh!! Look at the time! Youda-san wanted us to talk about shifts!”

----

Yuki: “Ah, I’m here . . . but, is he on the phone?”

Youda (on the phone): “. . . I want to go to the amusement park with my family too, but as the club manager, I can’t take a day off on a busy Friday. So maybe next time, when everyone’s schedule lines up again . . . yes, I’m sorry.”

{Youda hangs up.}

Yuki: “Youda-san. Are you talking about next Friday? You can take a day off if you want to go with your family!”

Youda: “Eh?! Ah, Yuki-chan. No, that’s not the case . . .”

Yuki: “It’s not a problem. I’ll do something about it when the day comes. You should enjoy yourself with your family once in a while!”

Youda: “. . . Thank you, Yuki-chan. Your words have brought me happiness.”

----

Yuki: “. . . Ah, this is bad, this is bad! Before I forget, I should make a note of the change in Youda-san’s schedule . . . Is Takada also on break that day . . . he said he’d be on a date with his girlfriend so he’ll be taking a day off. Oh? Shirota is also taking that day off. That means . . . there are no waiters for that day?! I’ve done it now . . . how can I do this without Youda-san . . . But it’ll be hard for me to say he should work again . . .”

Youda: “Hey, Yuki-chan. I’m grateful for you giving me next Friday off. Thanks to that, both my wife and daughter were happy.”

Yuki: “I-Is that right . . . I’m happy for you . . . Haha . . .”

{Yuki’s phone rings.}

Yuki: “. . . Hello? My dad’s . . . you’re a colleague of my dad? . . . Eh? He collapsed and was brought to the hospital?! What . . . What should I do . . . I . . . What should I do . . .”

Youda: “Go do what you need to do! Leave the club to me . . . go on!”

Yuki: “. . . Yes. Youda-san, thank you very much. Excuse me . . . everyone, please let me through!”

----

{Yuki bumps into someone on her way out.}

Yuki: “Ah! S-Sorry . . . I’m in a hurry . . .”

Rough-looking Man: “Oi, oi . . . that hurt, Neechan . . . my bone is broken where you hit it. I think the cost of treatment’s gonna be pretty high.”

Yuki: “B-Broken bone?! Are you okay?!”

???: “If you can get a broken bone from getting hit by a girl, you’re a pretty pathetic man~.”

Rough-Looking Man: “Oh? Who’s that?”

Majima: “Hi~hihi! Awfully hostile for a weak kink! Are you a masochist looking to experience some pain?”

Yuki: “Ma-Majima-san!”

Majima: “Yo, Yuki-chan. I was in the area so I dropped by . . . but it looks like you’re in a hurry! I’ll handle this pathetic Niichan. You should get going.”

Yuki: “Th-Thank you very much . . . Please excuse me. I’ll pay the treatment fee later!”

{Yuki runs off.}

Rough-Looking Man: “You let that Neechan go without my permission. Are you paying for my treatment fee instead?”

Majima: “No one’s paying. Unlike Yuki-chan, I ain’t a fool who believes ya actually broke a bone.”

Rough-Looking Man: “. . . So I guess you’re not paying up obediently. If you go against me, you’re paying for your own treatment!”

{Majima beats up the guy.}

----

Yuki: “Haa . . . Haa . . . My dad’s hospital room . . . is here . . .”

???: “I’m . . . so terrible . . .”

Yuki: “. . . ?!”

Yuki’s Father: “. . . Doctor. Please keep it secret from my daughter. My daughter . . . I don’t want her to know. How much longer do I have . . .”

Doctor: “. . . Around 1 month.”

Yuki: (1 month?! My dad only has 1 month to live?! So . . . to not make me sad . . . Dad has been trying to keep his illness from me . . .)

Doctor: “Excuse me.”

{The doctor leaves, and Yuki enters the room.}

Yuki: “D-Dad . . . Are you okay? I heard you fell down . . .”

Yuki’s Father: “Oh, Yuki . . . you came. It’s not anything major . . . nothing to worry about.”

Yuki: “Is that so . . . that’s good.”

Yuki: (That’s a lie . . . it’s really a major illness. But . . . it’s a lie he’s telling just for me . . . so I can’t say I know it’s a lie . . .)

Yuki’s Father: “That’s right. So . . . urkk!!”

Yuki: “?!”

Yuki’s Father: “Oh, it’s nothing bad . . . I just got a big hiccup, hahaha.”

Yuki: (. . . that’s also a lie. I’m sure he’s sick and his body is in tatters . . . to be enduring such pain . . .)

Yuki: “Dad . . . I’m going to the bathroom for a while.”

{Yuki leaves and starts pacing outside the room, crying.}

Yuki: Uuugh . . . Don’t cry. It makes no sense for my dad to hide his illness so desperately.”

Yuki’s Father: “. . . Haa. I hope Yuki’s alright.”

Yuki: “. . . !”

Yuki’s Father: “I can’t help but worry about the future of that child.”

Yuki: “Dad . . . he’s worried about leaving me all alone. It’s because I’m not reliable . . . If Dad is worried about me, he’ll die with regrets . . . That’s not good! I have to let him know I can make it on my own . . . I have to reassure him at least . . . !”

{Yuki marches back in the room.}

Yuki’s Father: “So Yuki . . . is work going well?”

Yuki: “it’s going really well! It’s going so well, I’m actually worried about needing to expand the club!”

Yuki’s Father: “Well, that’s good. Isn’t Yuki’s clumsiness causing trouble for the club?”

Yuki: “Ughh . . . speaking of which, earlier today . . .”

Yuki: (I shouldn’t . . . I have to reassure him . . . ! He has to know I’m not a bad owner!)

Yuki: “Don’t you know, I’m not the same Yuki anymore? I’m called a charismatic owner now. I’m so reliable, everyone in the club is piggyback riding on me! So I’ve been busy lately!”

Yuki’s Father: “I see . . . Yuki has become great too. Okay. Can I come see the club tomorrow? I want to see the work of a charismatic owner.”

Yuki: “Eh?! Come see me work?! But you’re ill . . .”

Yuki’s Father: “I’ll talk to my doctor about it. It won’t interfere with your work, right?”

Yuki: “Y-Yup. Of course. I, I, I . . . I’ll show you what a charismatic owner looks like.”

----

|Four Shine.|

Yuki: “Hiii~! Everyone, Wh-What should I do~!!”

Koyuki: “You really went all out by saying you’re a charismatic owner . . .”

Youda: “Moreover, your dad is dropping by tomorrow . . . you don’t have time to grow up . . .”

Majima: “Hihihi, then I have no choice but to show off my charisma skills to Yuki-chan!”

Yuki: “You’re going to help me Majima-san?! Thank you so much!”

Youda: “Making Yuki-chan look charismatic . . . It’s a difficult problem, but I have no choice but to do it.”

Koyuki: “For Yuki-san . . . we’ll overcome any troubles!”

Majima: “Alright! Let’s turn the stupid, stupid Yuki-chan into a person full of charisma!”

Koyuki & Youda: “Yeah!”

Yuki: “It’s like being casually told something so cruel . . .”

-END-

CHAPTER 2

Yuki’s Father: “Sorry for bothering you. Oh, this is the first time I’ve seen it, but it’s a lively club.”

Yuki: “Fufu. That’s because it’s a club run by a charismatic owner like me. I’ve told everyone, so you can tour around as much as you like.”

Yuki’s Father: “Yeah. I want to see Yuki’s hard work. I’ll just be careful not to get in the way of everyone in the club.”

Majima: “. . . Alrighty then, Youda-han. Let’s start the operation. Ask away.”

Youda: “Please leave it to me!”

Youda: “Owner! I want to consult about our monthly sales.”

Yuki’s Father: “Oh, it’s Yuki’s turn right away . . . good luck, Yuki. I’ll be nearby.”

Youda: “Compared to last month, weekend sales have dropped by about 10%, what measures should we take?”

Yuki: “I see . . . last month was a busy month, we’ll need to deal with the decline immediately.”

Youda: (Good, Yuki-chan. Just like I taught you. Now just talk about the measures as it is. That way your dad will think you’re an owner who makes solid management decisions . . . Operation ‘Make Perfect Management Decisions’! Yuki-chan, tell me exactly what I taught you . . . !)

Yuki: “Since the seats are almost full by 7:00 PM, If we want to increase sales, we should consider opening at other times or making outdoor seating available. To the customers who come in early . . . you need to be ‘sensitive’.

Youda: (?! No, Yuki-chan! You need an ‘incentive’! You don’t need to be sensitive!)

Yuki: “Besides labor costs . . . you also need ‘Cosmo Cut’. Make a list of the things you need to buy in large quantities.”

Youda: (Yuki-chan! You’re supposed to say ‘cost cut’! Cosmo Cut is a special move . . . !)

Yuki: “I’ll do it, I’ll call our suppliers. I’ll be out for a while.”

{Yuki leaves.}

Yuki’s Father: “. . . Sensitive? Cosmo Cut?”

Youda: (No, no! He has doubts! At this rate, the hopeless owner will be revealed . . . I got it!)

Youda: “Oh, you might not know about it. Those are technical terms used in the nightlife industry.”

Yuki’s Father: “Oh, is that right?”

Youda: “Yes. ‘Sensitive’ means good customer service that enhances customer satisfaction and encourages future visits. ‘Cosmo Cut’ is a cost-cutting method where we purchase on a large scale, as large as the universe.”

Yuki’s Father: “I see! I was wondering if Yuki had made a mistake. I learned a lot. Thank you very much.”

Youda: (Phew~ . . . that’s good. Somehow I managed . . .)

Yuki: “Fufufu. How was it, Majima-san? I did it perfectly.”

Majima: “Yuki-chan, did you even notice you made a mistake . . . you should thank Youda-han later.”

Yuki: “Eh?! I-I made a mistake?!”

Majima: “No worries. Youda-han managed to fix it. Operation ‘Solve the Cast’s Worries!’ is ready to go, so it’s okay. Good luck.”

----

Koyuki: “Yuki-san. I have something to consult with you . . . is that okay?”

Yuki’s Father: “Oh, a consultation from the cast. Can I watch from nearby?”

Koyuki: “. . . Yes. No problem. Because you’re the father of the charismatic owner Yuki-san.”

Yuki’s Father: “Thank you! Then I’ll be close by. Good luck~ Yuki!”

Yuki: (It’s fine . . . Koyuki-chan is going to talk about customer service and I just have to give advice . . . I failed earlier . . . but I can’t make any more mistakes. I have to give solid advice as an owner.)

Koyuki: “Actually, I’m worried because the number of requests for me has decreased recently. How can I give good customer service that will increase my number of nominations?”

Yuki: “I see . . . That’s . . . um . . . hmm . . . That’s . . .”

Yuki: (Why is nothing good coming out of my mouth?! Wh-What do I do, what do I do!!)

Yuki’s Father: “Oh? Is something wrong, Yuki? If you keep silent, you won’t be able to give advice . . .”

Yuki: (Wh-Wh-Wh-Wh-Wh-Wh-What should I do?! Nothing’s coming out! My dad’s going to figure out the lie!)

Koyuki: “. . . I understand, Yuki-san. You’re saying I should find the solution myself.”

Yuki: “. . . Eh?!”

Koyuki: “Even if I think I’ll understand if I ask other people for help, I won’t really get it. Instead, I should think hard and figure it out myself . . . ! You did something as bold as shutting up, just so I’d be aware of it. Thank you very much! I’ll try my best!”

Yuki’s Father: “I see . . . It’s better to figure things out by yourself. To convey that through silence . . . Yuki has grown up.”

Yuki: “A-After all, there are things better communicated if unsaid . . .”

Yuki: (That’s good . . . thanks to Koyuki-chan’s wit, I managed to keep up the lie . . . Next, Majima-san’s friend will cause a ruckus and I’ll stop him in Operation ‘Don’t Tolerate Annoying Guests!’ . . . What kind of person is this Nishida-san who’s going to play as the annoying guest?)

Majima: “So, is it time to give the signal to Nishida and the others?”

Waiter: “Excuse me, Majima-san. A thug outside the club said to ‘give this to the man in an eyepatch with a Techno haircut’ . . .”

Majima: “Haa~, it’s hard being so popular. . . . I’ll give the signal to Nishida and the others when I get back.”

----

Rough-Looking Man: “I thought I saw a similar guy entering this club . . . looks like I was right on the mark.”

Majima: “. . . Huh. You’re the weak Niichan from yesterday. Did you come back to have your bones broken for real?”

Rough-Looking Man: “This is the end of the line Eyepatch Guy! This time I brought a friend who prides himself on fights! We’ll kill you and sink you in Sotenbori River!!”

{Majima fights the guys.}

----

G.B. Holmes: “Nishida-san. Is it okay to rampage now?”

Nishida: “No! Stop, stop! We have to wait until Boss gives the signal. But what is the boss doing . . . it’s been too long since his last instruction . . .”

???: “Stop screwing around, idiot!!”

Nishida: “?!”

Waiter: “C-Customer. Please calm down.”

Troublesome Customer: “No way! I’m paying a lot of money for so few drinks!! I’ll teach you what happens when you try to scam me!! Bring me the person in charge!!”

Nishida: “Eh . . . ? Is that a real disruptive customer? We have to stop him . . . but . . . knowing Boss, he could have actually prepared someone other than us to make it a surprise . . .”

G.B. Holmes: “Would you like to go ask the boss . . . ?”

Nishida: “Yeah. It would be bad if we get in Yuki-san’s way . . . I’m sure Boss went out the club a while ago . . . Let’s go look for him, Gary!”

----

Troublesome Customer: “Where’s the person in charge!!”

Yuki: “The person in charge is here! I’m Yuki, the owner. If you have any complaints about our club, I’ll listen to them as much as you want!”

Yuki: (. . . I keep failing so far. I have to make a quick decision here and recover my honor! Even so . . . He’s a much scarier person than Majima-san said . . . this Nishida-san.)

-END-

CHAPTER 3

Troublesome Customer: “Where is the person in charge!!”

Yuki: “I’m Yuki, the owner. If you have any complaints about our club, I’ll listen to them as much as you want!”

Yuki’s Father: “That customer . . . that man looks like he’s yakuza . . . will Yuki be alright?”

Youda: “She’ll be fine. Yuki-san is a charismatic owner.”

Youda: (It’s a customer we prepared . . . but, I didn’t know Majima-san’s friend Nishida-san was this kind of person . . .)

Yuki: (Repel this disruptive customer prepared by Majima-san . . . I’ll show my dad what I can do! Show him I have a solid place . . . my dad with a low life expectancy . . . I’ll reassure him!)

Yuki: “This is my club! I won’t let you do anything! If you have any complaints, then settle your bill and please get out!”

Troublesome Customer: “You’re the owner? How dare you speak to your customers like that!!”

Yuki: (Huh . . . ? Nishida-san is supposed to run away if I say ‘get out’ . . . Did he not notice the cue for the little arrangement? I’ll say it more clearly . . .)

Yuki: “G . . . Get out!!”

Troublesome Customer: “Who are you to order me around!!”

Yuki: (Eeh . . . ?! He still hasn’t noticed?! It’s really spontaneous, Nishida-san. Maybe he’ll understand if I speak in a Kansai dialect? . . . Alright then!)

Yuki: “L-Let’s get out!!”

Troublesome Customer: “. . . Huh?”

Yuki: “Eh? Did I say it wrong? Then . . . Can’t get out! . . . Is it still wrong? How about . . . Please get out!”

Troublesome Customer: “What are you doing! Are you playing around!! I’m being serious!!”

Yuki: (Kansai dialect isn’t working . . . ?! I-I don’t know what more I can do!)

Yuki: “N-Nishida-san . . . I’m already saying your cue to turn back. Next time I say it . . . please run away.”

Troublesome Customer: “What the hell are you whispering!! And who is Nishida! I’m Kawano!!”

Yuki: “Ka-Kawano-san?!”

Troublesome Customer: “You keep saying a Miss like you is the owner, the owner! I was just having fun, just got a little handsy and rattled the pitcher a bit! I’m a customer who paid lots of money! How will you make up for making me feel bad!!”

Yuki: (He’s different from what I heard from Majima-san . . . This person, could it be . . . h-he’s a real disruptive customer?!)

----

Majima: “You’re a really stubborn guy . . . Hm?”

Nishida: “Boss! I have a little something to tell you . . . uguh!”

{Nishida suddenly gets Tachibana’d and drops to the ground. Fortunately, unlike Tachibana, Nishida is wearing a Majima Construction Helmet ™.}

G.B. Holmes: “Nishida-san!”

Rough-Looking Man’s Friend: “That’s one of your buddies down . . . Don’t think you can get away with doing that to our friend.”

Majima: “. . . He still has friends. I thought he only had one. But . . . it can’t be helped, Nishida. Sorry I didn’t keep them away.”

Nishida: “I’m sorry, Boss . . . ow ow . . .”

Majima: “I’ll show you right now how to pass judgment on a fool who chooses the wrong kind of prey!”

----

Troublesome Customer: “Hehe, I finally see a scared face. Then I’d like you to apologize quickly.”

Yuki: “A-An apology . . . ?”

Troublesome Customer: “I was looking forward to throwing back drinks here, so get me a lady and a waiter. Shouldn’t you pay me too? Call it a compensation fee. Then I’ll think about forgiving you a little.”

Yuki: “Th-That’s . . .”

Troublesome Customer: “I don’t care about your opinion! Bring me a lady and a waiter!!”

Yuki: “B-But . . .”

Troublesome Customer: “Do it!! Or I’ll kill you!!!!”

Yuki: “Hiii! Do-Don’t kill me!”

Troublesome Customer: “Heh, you’re a pitiful figure. If you don’t want to get killed, bring me a lady and a waiter and give me back my money! I’ll hit the waiter until his face is messed up, then I’ll bring the lady to a hotel and punish her a lot.”

Yuki: “. . . ! I . . . I won’t let you do that.”

Troublesome Customer: “. . . Oh?”

Yuki: “To do my best to give the staff peace of mind . . . that is the work . . . of an owner . . .”

Troublesome Customer: “Huh?! I’ll kill you!!”

Yuki: “I’m sorry you’re not satisfied, but everyone in the club is doing their best to serve customers. Doing things that the girls don’t like . . . If you have any complaints, you don’t have to come here anymore. Here’s your bill. Now go home and don’t come back again.”

Troublesome Customer: “Don’t come back again? Is this your attitude towards customers!!!!”

Troublesome Customer: “. . . what are you doing?”

Youda: “Apparently, he’s not the guy we prepared. As the store manager, I can’t forgive any violence!”

Yuki: “Youda-san . . . Erica-chan . . . Koyuki-chan . . . ! it’s dangerous! Stay back! Don’t get hurt for a bad owner like me!”

Youda: “. . . Didn’t you switch around my shift so I can go to the amusement park with my family? Think of this as me returning the favor.”

Koyuki: “That’s right! I also have a lot of gratitude towards Yuki-san for caring about my physical condition!”

Cast Member Erica: “Me too! You showed me a lot of kindness after my boyfriend dumped me!!”

Yuki: “E-Everyone . . .”

Troublesome Customer: “This disgusting club . . . treating me as the bad guy. If you all get in the way, then I’ll kill you all together!”

{All four of them gang up on the guy and beat him up.}

Troublesome Customer: “Haa . . . haa . . . you cowards . . . fighting 4 against 1 . . .”

Four Shine Customer A: “Not just 4! If you do anything else, we’ll join in too!”

Four Shine Customer B: “That’s right!! There’s no better club than this! If you have any complaints, then get out!!”

Troublesome Customer: “. . . ?! That’s it, I’m never coming back to this club again!”

{The disruptive customer runs out.}

Koyuki: “. . . Yuki-san, are you alright?!”

Yuki: “Y-Yeah . . . I’m okay. Everyone . . . thank you so much for your help.”

Yuki’s Father: “. . . That was great, Yuki.”

Yuki: “. . . I don’t think so. My clothes got dirty . . . I’ll go get changed a little.”

----

Yuki: “Haa . . . it’s no good . . . I . . . Even this year, I’m still being helped by people . . . Because of this, my dad can’t be reassured by the lie that I’m a ‘charismatic owner’ . . .”

Majima: “. . . As usual you’re thinking so negatively~. I . . . I don’t think that’s the case.”

Yuki: “Oh! Majima-san?!”

Majima: “Yuki-chan did well today. Didn’t you stand up against a real nuisance customer? Besides, it’s not a bad thing to be helped by people. It’s all thanks to Yuki-chan’s humanity. Youda-han, Koyuki-chan, Erica-chan, the customers, they all took the risk to help Yuki-chan.”

Yuki: “Ma-Majima-san . . .”

Majima: “I don’t know if anyone can live by themselves. If you need help, then you’ll be given help. As a father, if I found out that there are many people who can help Yuki-chan, I think that’s enough to give me peace of mind. . . . even if Yuki-chan herself is a stupid, stupid owner.”

Yuki: “. . .”

----

Yuki: “Dad . . . do you have a moment? . . . Actually, I have to apologize for something.”

Yuki’s Father: “Eh? Apologize for what . . . ?”

Yuki: “Actually . . . it’s a lie that I’m a charismatic owner of the club and everyone relies on me. As you saw, I’m a hopeless owner who can only do things with the help of everyone . . . Dad, I’m sorry for lying to you . . .”

Yuki’s Father: “. . . Is that so. I had a feeling it was like that. But I’m glad I could see your hard work even if it was a lie. Even if you being a charismatic owner is a lie, I could see you were loved by friends.”

Yuki: “Dad . . .”

Yuki’s Father: “I’m relieved that you are blessed with good friends.”

Yuki: “U . . . uugh . . . Daaad! I don’t want you to dieeeeeeee!!!!”

Majima: “Yuki-chan . . .”

Yuki’s Father: “. . . Die? What are you talking about?”

Yuki: “. . . Dad has a serious illness and only has a short life expectancy. I heard you ask the doctor to hide it from me, to ‘please keep my illness secret from my daughter’ . . .”

Yuki’s Father: “Oh, you heard that?! I should have told you properly.”

Yuki’s Father: “This is hard for me to say, but my illness is . . . ‘hemorrhoids’.”

Yuki: “Hemorrhoids . . . that is a serious illness . . . wait, hemorrhoids?!?!”

Majima, Youda, & Koyuki: “He . . . Hemorrhoids . . . !?”

Yuki: “Hemorrhoids . . . that’s . . . is it the one found on your butt? It has a similar name with a serious illness . . .”

Majima: “. . . you can’t find hemorrhoids anyplace other than the butt.”

Yuki’s Father: “I was so embarrassed it hurt so much that I fainted . . . so I kept it secret from Yuki . . .”

Yuki: “Th-Then . . . wasn’t it your life expectancy that the doctor said was only ‘one more month’?”

Yuki’s Father: “. . . That’s how long it takes for my hemorrhoids to heal completely.”

Yuki: “So when you sometimes looked like you were in such pain . . .”

Yuki’s Father: “. . . It’s because the hemorrhoids hurt.”

Yuki: “Then when you said, ‘I’m worried about Yuki’s future’, didn’t that mean you were worried about leaving me all alone?”

Yuki’s Father: “. . . I heard that the tendency to get hemorrhoids is inherited. I was worried you’d develop terrible hemorrhoids.”

Yuki: “E-Eeeeeeeeh?! So it was just a misunderstanding that you have a short life expectancy?!”

Yuki’s Father: “Th-That’s right. I’m sorry for the misunderstanding . . .”

Yuki: “I-I see . . .”

Majima: “. . . Haa, I was so exhausted trying to make this work. And it was all because I was swayed by hemorrhoids.”

Koyuki: “I was almost crying until a while ago . . . but it was just hemorrhoids . . .”

Youda: “What was the point of the strategy we brainstormed last night . . .”

Yuki: “Majima-san, Koyuki-chan, Youda-san . . . um . . . I-I’m so sorry!! I-I know! I’ll apologize to everyone with sushi! So . . . please forgive me! See, with the money in my wallet . . . huh? Huh?! I don’t have my wallet . . . Wh-Where did I drop it? Le-let me look for it for a second! Aaa~h, I can’t find it anywhere!!”

Majima: “Haa . . . Yuki-chan will always be Yuki-chan.”

Yuki’s Father: “You’re right . . . hahaha.”

Yuki: “Where did you gooo~ my wallet!!!!”

-END-

Masterlist

#Majima's such a different person when he's not dealing with yakuza problems #is it too early for me to be making Tachibana jokes in the year of our lord 2020 #rgg online #rggo lore #rggo #rgg #Ryu ga Gotoku #yakuza #Yuki #Goro Majima #Majima Goro #Youda #Koyuki

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itsybitsylemonsqueezy · 3 years

Note

Please now I am desperate for a Baba breakdown from you. Favorite part of him? Least favorite? What would you change? What do you think is unchangeable? *pleading face*

Oh, I see I’ve sparked an interest ^^; Of course I’ll talk about the best little whore in all of Japan, Baba Shigeki xp

I joke, but like... have you seen Y5? He’s not leaving much up to interpretation, tbh : | And I love that! Baba is a really fantastic and well-executed RGG character and it’s a shame so much of fandom is sleeping on him. (I know mostly it’s that it takes people awhile to get to Y5 ^^; )

Baba occupies a really important space in the Yakuza universe, the assassin. He’s an important reminder that not Everyone in this universe is a moralistic do-gooder. People like Majima and Kiryu are in fact in the minority. Most of the yakuza are thugs, people ready and willing to hurt others and even kill. And we’ve had assassins before in Kazama and Sera, but they’re mostly out of our hand. We don’t know them too well personally. and that makes sense, they’re the previous generation, their values and choices are reflective of a different time. Our time is largely shaped by Kiryu, he is the yakuza messiah. But just because he’s king god of the criminal underworld doesn’t mean that the underworld isn’t still... y’know, dark and harsh. Especially since Kiryu renounced his throne.

And Baba is the stark reminder of that. I had been waiting for a long time for us to come into contact with a yakuza member who didn’t fall in line when we finally got to Baba. Because, as we all like to point out, Kiryu’s version of this job is pretty rose-colored and naive. HE might be able to only fight bad people and to use his power to help others, but so few of us are in that position. Kiryu is king god, there are no challenges for him, there’s nothing stopping him, literally. So he CAN just do whatever he wants, up to and including being a good person. Most of us aren’t that lucky, just look at Majima. But even Majima, after a time, gets to be a good person and amasses enough power that he can be nice without it being a death threat. But they’re gods, legends. Your average yakuza member is some punk kid who grew up to being a punk adult who has a shitty boss to answer to and dues to pay. Sometimes there isn’t a convenient bad person to pick on. Sometimes, to save your own neck, you gotta take money from people smaller than you. Sometimes you gotta intimidate and scare people. Sometimes you gotta do unpleasant things to please the boss, to make ends meet, to hold up your end. Not all of us have the luxury of making moral choices.

And Baba is in a worse position than most. Baba isn’t big and tough. He doesn’t have the physical might to be a brawler, so he can’t be some street thug. His options in life likely weren’t great. Probably an orphan, probably had no one to look after him. So he grew teeth fast and figured out quick that ain’t nobody gonna take care of him, he was gonna have to take care of himself. With a body and face like his, he could easily enter sex work of some kind but that job is punishing for a whole other list of reasons. And Baba’s no dummy, he’s canny, he’s strategic. No, he’s smart enough to use his body to dupe others. He knows people trust his angel face. And there’s more money and more security to be had in a job of violence than selling himself to the highest bidder and forever being at someone else’s beck and call. My bet is Baba’s plan was to make enough money as an assassin that he could retire and live out his life in peace where no one would bother him. And his training as n assassin would keep people off his back. Baba decided a long time ago it is MUCH better to be feared than loved. Can’t rely on love, can’t trust it. But fear, people listen to fear.

So I LOVE that we finally get the perspective of someone who didn’t get any breaks in life, who wasn’t blessed with divine strength, or lucked into a special position. Baba had to struggle for everything and it made him sharp and it made him paranoid. He doesn’t like killing people, it’s not fun, but he’s so scared of what will become of himself, he can’t bear to stop. He can’t afford to make moral choices. He has to survive, above all things, he has to survive. So another assignment in a prison? Sure, why not. Get close to a guy he has to take out later? Sure, he’s done it before. He’s a great spy, a great flirt. And it makes him feel better to sneer over people too stupid to see through him. They get what they deserve if they believe his honeyed lies. He doesn’t have to mourn his actions if they deserved it. Wash his hands, move on to the next mark.

Saejima should have been no different. And for awhile, it’s easy. Saejima’s a big dumb hunk of meat. All Baba has to do is bat his pretty eyes and look like he needs help. Piece of cake. But Saejima... is different. Oh, he’s duped, sure enough, he’s gentle and sympathetic and protective, all the things Baba needs, but... One of the reasons Baba hated his past marks so much and felt no remorse killing them, is they all wanted something from him. Every last one of them thought they could get something from him, usually his body, but sometimes not. Every one of them was a selfish piece of shit who would have used him just as surely as Baba is using them right back. But Saejima... Saejima doesn’t want anything. He doesn’t try anything. Even when Baba flirts, even when Baba offers, Saejima acts like he doesn’t understand. The fuck??? It starts to anger Baba, the way Saejima just looks at him blankly and shrugs off invitations. Who does this guy think he is, think he’s better than him? Baba will make him understand, make him want him. Still Saejima is stunned and still he seems to only respond because Baba is asking him to, not because deep down Saejima was trying to use him to.

Baba can’t... he can’t accept that. That can’t be real. If Saejima really was just helping him because... because he likes him or something, because he’s nice... no, that’s wrong. No one’s good and no one’s nice. Everyone’s out for themselves. No one goes out of their way for each other. Because if they did... then why did no one ever help Baba before? He wraps himself in sureness that Saejima’s just stupid and his selfish instincts are really in there, they’re just slow to appear. He’s just like all the others, he’d kick Baba to the curb the same as anyone else and then... Baba doesn’t have to feel bad about killing him. Then Baba can pull the trigger and all of this will be done.

He’s sure, without a doubt in his mind, when he feels his hands slip off Saejima on that snowmobile and he’s sent flying, his last conscious thought is that he’ll die here. He’s almost happy. Because then he’d be right. Saejima will have left him and he’d be right. And, maybe just a little, he’s happy that he won’t have to kill Saejima either. Maybe this is best.

It is the shock of his life when Baba wakes up. He wakes up and he’s warm and indoors and there’s a fire going and weak broth and Saejima hovering over him with a spoon going “You’re awake!" Baba starts crying and Saejima assumes it’s the shock and holds him, actually fucking holds him and... Baba doesn’t think he can do this anymore. How is he supposed to kill the one person who’s ever been nice to him? How is he supposed to look Saejima in the eye and shoot him? Oh god, Saejima should have left him there to die, he should have, he should have... why is Saejima so fucking stupid, why doesn’t Saejima suspect?

The next couple of weeks are some of the worst Baba’s ever spent. Saejima’s nicer than ever, cuddly and affectionate and warm, and Baba feels sick with guilt. See, this is why he only kills stupid people. This is why he only killed people who deserved it. He can’t... bear this. Pointing the gun at Saejima is the hardest thing he’s ever had to do. But he has to, his whole life has been about this, his life above anyone else’s. If he can’t kill Saejima then... what was it all for? What had it all been about? He’s crying. He’s actually fucking crying like a little bitch and he can’t stop. It’s weak, it’s pathetic, but he just wants Saejima to take the gun out of his hand, to tell him it’s going to be okay, to take him home. Saejima screams at him and Baba falls apart. Saejima swoops in on him, holds him close, takes the gun and tells him it’s all going to be okay. It won’t... in the back of his mind, Baba knows even if he fails here, he still has half a job to do. But the fact that... everything out in the open, true colors showing, Saejima is still hugging him and refusing to let go... Baba sinks into that for a minute and believes that maybe there is something else he could do with his life.

Oh... I have feelings about Baba Shigeki ^^; I love him to death I wouldn’t change a thing. The only thing I want is for Saejima to take Baba home and bring him into the Tojo and then we’re all a weird dysfunctional family together ^^; That’s my dream. Friends and family for Baba X3

#Yakuza 5 spoilers #long post #Baba Shigeki #I fucking love him #Shameless SaeBaba shipping #Anonymous

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subasekabang · 4 years

Text

i've got some falling to do

Title: i’ve got some falling to do Rating: T Word Count: 8,020 Pairings/Characters: Neku Sakuraba, Joshua Kiryu Warnings: near character death, implied character death, injury Summary: Seven days after Neku’s returned to the UG, he receives a text that sends a chill down his spine. The Composer needs help. You’re the only one who can do it. Partner: @sugarsomg, desiquiche Author’s Note: Many thanks to @beyondworldborders for… practically writing a good portion of this. She’s my go-to Neku dialogue person. She also betad! neku-phones-sakuraba also gave this a once over and pointed out a lot of spelling and grammar errors. Title from Lemon Demon

The soda tastes sharp on Neku’s tongue as he leans back on the bench, gaze flitting around from person to person. The condensation slicks the cardboard cup in his hand, stealing his attention from the way the crowd threatens to overwhelm him. The Shibuya crowd is as loud as ever, but it doesn’t really bother him anymore, not like it used to. He likes the reassurance that people can see him, can feel him on the off chance that he shifts a little too close to another and accidentally shoulder checks someone. It’s a reminder that he’s alive, that the breath pulled through his lungs isn’t just due to muscle memory. His free hand raises to grip at the familiar weight of his headphones around his neck, but his fingers only curl around air.

Right. He sort of left his limited edition CAT headphones in the middle of the Shibuya Scramble Crossing when he’d woken up on the pavement for a fourth time to find that he was alive after-

Well. Neku’s in high spirits. He’s had a good day. No thoughts of the past are going to wreck that.

It’s been seven days since he’d miraculously come back to life after his three long weeks fighting for his right to existence in the second, hidden layer of reality hidden right on top of Shibuya. For seven long days Neku has sat anxiously on the bench at the statue of Hachiko, hoping and praying to the maybe-god he knows there is that his friends are okay and will show up to greet him. He had almost given up hope by the seventh day, but seventh days had always been so monumental when it came to Neku and his friends. If they were going to show, it would be today.

And sure enough, Beat and Rhyme and even Shiki in her unfamiliar body with that very familiar smile had finally shown up- a week from the Game at Hachiko, just as promised. Their presence had lifted a weight from his chest, let a smile grow wide on his face as Beat snagged him around the neck, as Rhyme showed him her bell with glee, as Shiki had shoved Mr. Mew into Neku’s arms in order to talk animatedly with her hands as she discussed her reunion with Eri and her family. It had been a good day spent with his friends. Now it’s late, nearly dark, and Neku’s friends have headed back to their homes. Neku stopped for a drink, wanting to revel in the moment just for a bit longer- and to linger just for a few more moments, to give that one person just a few more seconds to pop in unexpectedly with that light step, that lazy swagger to his movements.

Neku still isn’t sure that he even wants to see him, but he does want to know that Joshua is okay, despite everything. He realizes now that Joshua had spent their week together within the Game intentionally hand feeding him bits and pieces of information, showing him where to go to jack Shibuya- from Joshua. He still isn’t sure what it means. Why give Neku the chance to shoot him, in those final moments in that dark grey room, if all Joshua wanted was to be done with Shibuya? Neku would have thought that he’d failed whatever test Joshua was levering against him when he faltered at pulling the trigger on the boy he’d come to think of as a friend.

So why is everything still standing?

Why does Neku hope to hear that gratingly self-satisfied voice so badly?

Neku can’t understand- it’s impossible to. But he knows he isn’t seeing Joshua anytime soon, much less tonight, so he pulls himself to his feet with a heavy sigh to begin the walk home, one hand shoved into his pocket to fiddle with the black lacquered pin he keeps tucked away. He absently chews on the straw of his drink as he ambles through the busy Shibuya streets, headed to the station to take his train line home. He reaches for his pocket when his phone buzzes with a text. Probably just Shiki or Rhyme letting him know they got home… safe…?

Unknown The Composer needs help. You’re the only one who can do it.

Unknown Immediately

The soda cup cracks open and spills along the concrete as Neku breaks into a run towards the station.

Neku’s lungs are burning by the time he reaches the sewers that Joshua had so carefully led him to during the Game. It’s as dark and dank and cold as he remembers, the sound of his feet echoing down the tunnels so loud it sounds like gunshots in his head. He half expects another barrier pulled up to keep him out, to keep him from making sure that stupid asshole is alive- or existing, or whatever.

But no, the door to that weird retro underground club is open, cracked open with a flip flop of all things stuck in the doorway so it doesn’t swing shut and activate the padlock again. A bubble of anxiety wells and pops in Neku’s chest. What is this? Is someone here to hurt Joshua? Or is this the person who messaged him to help Josh? He doesn’t understand what’s going on.

What if this is another of Joshua’s Games?

Neku takes a deep breath and shoves the door open, barreling into that same retro lounge he’d once been forced to fight Shiki in. It’s quiet, near silent except for the hum of the refrigerator behind the bar. No sign of anything or anyone. The schools of fish in the walls and floor continue to swim idly, completely undisturbed. It seems like a normal lounge. It all sets Neku’s nerves on edge.

Neku silently pads into the room, every muscle aching with how tense he feels. Okay, room empty. Where’s the jackass then? His heartbeat thunders in his ears, reminding him that yes, he’s alive.

Which, Neku realizes as he searches the room to find no one around and no other exits except the one he entered through, means he’s in the RG. That huge wooden door that Neku had to scan for isn’t open for him now. His Player Pin is dead without whatever energy the UG carries within it, nothing more than a token of his trials. He pulls the tiny pin out anyway and clenches it tight in his hand, breathing in deep and closing his eyes as he opens his senses.

…

Nothing calls out to him, nothing shifts in his mind or pokes at his attention. No stray thoughts or Noise distract him from the solitude of his own head. There’s nothing. It’s what he’s always tried to achieve.

Now it only reminds him of that last day, barreling through a still Shibuya to finally regain his life.

With a snarl of frustration, Neku’s eyes snap open. No door. Nothing has changed whatsoever except for the speeding up of his pulse hammering away, the shaking of his hands that want to fight doing nothing to calm him.

“How the hell am I supposed to save him if I can’t even get in?” Neku shouts into the empty air, raking a hand through his hair. He stomps a foot, fish scattering in alarm underfoot. Something is wrong, he can feel it in the air. If Joshua were okay he’d have appeared already to taunt him, right?

Why Neku, did you miss me so badly today that you had to break into my home?

Yeah, jackass.

“Please,” Neku whispers into the empty air, eyes closing once again. Panic has his chest tightening. Joshua needs him, he can feel it through whatever connection has been left between them, right? So why is he being forced to just sit here? What if he’s already too late? “Please let me in.”

With bated breath, he opens his eyes once again. Relief, strong enough to send him nearly to his knees, surges through him as he sees a tall, oaken door standing before him.

The panic in his chest curls tighter and tighter with every step closer he takes, has him hesitating as he shoves past the heavy doors. What is going on? This… doesn’t feel like him. He’s done this before, he’ll be fine. He has to be fine. Joshua has to be fine.

Why does he even care about the bastard anyway? What has Joshua ever done for him, really?

Graffiti rushes past him as his aching feet carry him deeper and deeper back to that fateful spot he and Joshua had last seen one another- that smirking grin, the smoke wisping off of the barrel of the gun. Three weeks of hell, just for that. What if this is just another of those stupid games of his?

Trust your partner.

Well. It’s gotten him this far, if with an extra bullet scar to his chest. He can trust CAT’s words one last time.

Besides, he can hear screaming.

Neku feels what’s wrong before he can actually see it, the hair on his arms and the back of his neck rising as something that he would describe as feeling like static dances across his skin and through his veins? What the hell? Is that Noise? That’s one hell of an energy spike for even a dangerous Noise.

But then Neku stumbles into that throne room and immediately has to throw his arm up over his eyes, squinting as a bright light nearly blinds him. Wind whips around the epicenter of this glow, tugging at his hair and his clothes and his heart. “What the hell?”

He plants his feet and squints through the bright light, grinding his teeth together through the pain as something deep in him tells him to get out, go, run. But he can’t because there in the middle of this power, this personal storm wrapped around him, is a tall figure with broad shoulders, curled over in pain and mouth open to scream, a pair of white fluffy wings sprouting from his back and flexing as if to try to pull the figure free from the storm. Neku can really only recognize him by the sight of that messy, curly hair and that connection that urges him closer, urges him to help. His partner is in pain.

“Joshua!” Neku grits his teeth and tries to take a step forward, only to be buffeted back by the power. He snarls and firmly plants his foot forward, then again, determination settling in his chest. He could turn back, return to the life Joshua gave back to him and forget this storm is happening, give in to the fear and anxiety and live like the ignorant RG person he is. Neku scoffs and takes a third step, bringing himself that much closer to his bastard of a partner. “Like hell I’m giving up on you after everything! You hear me, Josh?”

The storm seems to shudder in response, lessening slightly. That head lifts weakly, showing glazed, blank eyes that close in… resignation? No, that feels wrong. The Joshua he knows wouldn’t be giving up. What’s happened to him to get him here?

The fear curls up again as Neku fights his way through the storm. What’s to keep Joshua from killing him again, or this power that surges back up to meet his forward progress? His hands are shaking.

To think this is how he sees his partner again. No smarmy sudden howdy, Neku from around a street corner, or the bastard showing up suddenly to their friend gathering. No, Neku has to save his ass from whatever the hell this is. Fucker. He wants to yell at this idiot until his throat is hoarse, to yank him from this oppressive static clinging to him and hold him tight in relief. But Neku has to get Joshua free before he can do anything. Stupid.

“Get down here!” With another snarl, Neku shoves forward and plunges his hands into the glowing mass, eyes widening when his hands sink in to settle around a familiar wrist, a wrist he’d grabbed and dragged around Shibuya when his partner hadn’t wanted to participate in the mission. Neku grits his teeth and tightens his grip, thrusting his other hand in to snag Joshua’s shoulder. The form under this glowing feels like the kid he knows, the bastard who would giggle and taunt him. But it’s wrong, trembling under the power he’s trapped in. Static pricks along Neku’s arm, stinging warningly as if to make him release his prize. Neku shakes his head and ignores how he can’t feel his arm. “Damn it, I’m not letting go! That’s my partner!”

Neku grits his teeth and yanks, pulling Joshua free of the storm that tries to cling tight to it’s Composer. When he pulls that trembling hand free first, the white glow seems to peel away and leave a small, pale hand behind. Sure enough, as Neku hauls Joshua down from the epicenter and safe into his arms, static fizzles out and pops off of the tall form of what Neku can only assume is the Composer, leaving nothing more than the small teenager that Neku thought he knew so well leaning helplessly against his chest. Large feathered wings, disheveled and shuddering, hang limp from his friend’s back, drag against the ground as Neku quickly backs away from the storm that had possessed Joshua. White feathers rip free, pulled by the storm, and vanish upon hitting the ground. Joshua shudders in his arms and weakly looks up at him.

Joshua blinks hazily up at Neku, limp against his chest. His voice breaks when he speaks, hoarse from screaming if Neku had to guess. “N..?”

“Josh…” He looks exactly the same, right down to his clothing choices. But he also looks completely different, torn and beaten to hell and back from whatever was trying to rip him apart up there. Around his neck, hair tangled in the headband, lies a large pair of purple and grey headphones, battered and beaten from years of heavy use and worn from love. What the hell? Neku had tossed those things to the ground as soon as he’d realized he was alive. How did Josh end up with them? Why is he wearing them?

Questions for later. Are they safe?

Neku glances up warrily. The storm is just… gone, after its victim has been freed. Neku looks back down at his rescue in his arms. What was that? What’s been happening for the last week? Why does Joshua look dead on his feet? Neku frowns. “Are you okay?”

“I-” Joshua coughs, turning his face away from Neku’s. Everything about the boy in his arms looks worn and beaten. Dark circles cling to beneath his eyes. When’s the last time Josh slept? Does he even need to sleep? He sure looks it. His cheek rests heavily against Neku’s shoulder, tired gaze searching the dark corners of the large stone room. Neku follows his gaze, but can’t find anything. “I’m fine.”

Joshua seems to sigh, almost resigned as he tries to straighten up. Neku slowly lowers his arms, a hand resting between his partner’s shoulder blades- between those wings- as he wobbles, unsteady on his feet. The wings flare a bit, as if to steady him, but Joshua grits his teeth and they slump back to the ground. Neku frowns. Does that hurt him?

“You look like you’re about to keel over.” Neku scowls back at Joshua’s dirty look sent his way. It’s true. “What happened? What was that?”

“I am.” Joshua licks at his lips, gaze still slightly unfocused. Neku’s tempted to wave his finger in front of his eyes to see if he can track it. The blond leans in against the supportive touch to his back. “About to keel over, that is. It seems, Neku, that you’ve…” Joshua wobbles and raises a shaking hand to his shoulder, rolling out the joint a bit. He laughs sardonically under his breath. “It seems you’ve interrupted my execution.”

“Your what?” Neku asks sharply, baffled. As per usual with Joshua, every answer to a question only raises five more answers he needs. Joshua just cringes back at the noise, head falling back as his eyes squeeze closed. The guy looks like he’s about to drop, frail and ready to shatter. This isn’t the Joshua he knows.

Neku presses his lips into a firm line and gently takes Joshua by his upper arm, urging him towards that large throne at the back of the room. “C’mon, sit down.”

Joshua digs his heels in when Neku tries to pull him deeper into the room, shaking his head. He’s trembling in Neku’s grip, nearly collapsing in his attempt to pull back from where Neku’s leading him. Neku nearly lets him fall in surprise as panic flashes across Joshua’s worn expression, gaze locked onto the cold stone. “No, no, not there. The couch, in the Pad, but not here.”

“Okay, okay… not there. Got it.” Neku reaches for Joshua again, feeling almost like he’s reaching for a scared animal. What happened to him? He frowns and winds his arm around Joshua’s thin wait and drapes his arm across his shoulders. A little barbed tease about how Joshua needs his help rests on the tip of his tongue, laced with fury, but Neku swallows it down. He’ll have plenty of time to get mad at Joshua later. “C’mon, lean on me. You said we’re going to the pad?”

That has to be the weird western retro looking room outside of those invisible doors. What’s with that thing anyway?

Joshua gives Neku a blank look, reluctance in his eyes as he nods and leans against Neku. His gaze flits over one more time to the far wall, searching the dark corners, before falling to watch where he’s placing his feet. Must be taking a lot of concentration, Neku guesses, even with the way Joshua’s leaning his weight against Neku. Those pitiful, ruffled wings that look like they should be fluffy and bright drape over his arm and drag along the ground as they slowly make their way through the graffiti halls back to the RG. Joshua’s silent along the walk except for a tiny muttered curse when he trips over his own feet.

“Careful,” Neku mutters, pulling Joshua closer. This feels wrong, seeing Joshua so exhausted and practically defeated like this. The last time he’d seen his partner, the jackass had been smirking at him over the smoking barrel of a gun. He looked like he’d had the world resting in the palm of his hand, content and satisfied with how his plans had gone. But this Joshua looks like he’s on his last legs, tossed to hell and back and only clinging on to existence for some determined reason only he knows. Neku lowers Joshua carefully to the couch when they finally make it into that glaringly bright room, despite the urgency in his nerves. “There we go…”

Joshua blinks up slowly at Neku as he sinks into the couch, a grimace pulling at his lips as those long, wilted wings get pressed against the back. His eyes slide closed for a moment, brows knitting together in what Neku has to assume is pain, and the wings seem to simply fizzle out of existence. Neku can’t quite even focus on where they would be on the couch anymore. Huh.

Long, pale fingers are pulling at a thick blanket draped over the arm of the couch, but Neku can see how much effort it takes his once proud partner to even tug the blanket over himself. He exhales slowly through his nose, but looks around to find a distraction. He draws the line at tucking his murderer in.

Neku turns away, gripping his arm. What now? He’s got questions, so so many questions, but he doesn’t even know where to begin, much less how to get the answers out of Josh when his partner knows so well how to run Neku in circles.

His gaze lands on the bar on the far side of the room. Neku’s feet take off before he can process the thought, taking him behind the bar to search through the various glass bottles lined up against the wall. He can feel Joshua’s curious gaze tracking his movements, sending the hairs on his neck standing on end. Neku scoffs. “Do you have nothing but wine and liquor here?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Neku,” Joshua murmurs lightly. He sounds so tired, but there’s a little more life to his voice now that he’s sitting down. Neku rolls his eyes. Who’s the ridiculous one here? “We have plenty of soda and juice back there for mixers.”

“I’m looking for water, dumbass,” Neku snips back, kneeling to investigate the minifridge stashed beneath the bar. He pops open the stainless steel door and breathes a sigh of relief. Behind a neat stack of soda and juices stands a few bottles of water. Neku snags one and grabs a soda for himself before standing with a groan and looking at his ex partner.

He doesn’t think he’s ever seen the blond look so small, curled in on himself with the thick blanket draped so carefully across him. Everything about him seems wilted, even his curly hair more tangled and limp than usual. His shoulders sag, as if those wings are still weighing him down. His gaze listlessly tracks the fish swimming through the flooring underfoot.

What’s with those things anyway? Is Joshua so far removed from humanity that he has wings? Maybe he shouldn’t be too surprised. The Reapers had wings, though they were black and gothic, skeletal and reaching. Joshua’s were long and seemed like they would spread wide if he were to extend them, feathered and full even as disheveled and painful as they looked. Joshua looked like he could have flown with them, if they were taken care of better.

Neku sighs and sets the can of soda and the bottle of water on the bar, leaning against it as he pops the tab with a quick jerk. Joshua looks up at the noise, tired violet eyes meeting Neku’s gaze. Huh. Neku’s lips turn down as he stamps down a surge of anger.

“So…” Joshua’s gaze dims even more as Neku starts off. His lips press together as Neku clears his throat. “What was that back there?”

“What was what, Neku?” Even his voice is tired, none of that cocky inflection that used to color his tone.and infuriate Neku so much. Neku needs to hear that tone again, if only so he wouldn’t feel like shit for still having the urge to deck the kid.

“That, Joshua, back in that stupid stone room.” Neku’s voice rings in the empty room, crossing the expanse between them. He’s worried about the jackass. He doesn’t know what’s going on. Is Joshua still in danger? Is Neku? He doesn’t like worrying, doesn’t like the bubble of anxiety that builds and builds and builds in his chest so he does what he always has and turns it into something else. That anger rises again. He comes all this way after missing the asshole who shot him for a solid week, and now he’s going to try and play coy? He was led like a dog to some stupid final showdown between people much more powerful than him and this is what Josh is going to try and pull in response? No. Neku grits his teeth. “What did you mean by execution? And damn it, you need to give me a straight answer this time.”

“Neku…” Joshua turns his gaze back down, expression unchanged by Neku’s outburst. He raises a delicate hand to press against his temple. He’s probably still in pain. “Now?”

“I can’t help you if you won’t share what’s going on!” Neku snatches up the drinks and marches around the bar to stand in front of the couch, facing down Joshua. He tosses the water bottle down beside Joshua, reaching behind himself to set his own soda on the table. His hands are shaking. Yelling at someone who looks like a walking corpse doesn’t feel good at all. “Why was I called here to help if you won’t even take it?”

“Called here?” Joshua blinks, expression slipping as he stares flabbergasted up at Neku. His brow furrows in as he gapes open mouthed at Neku. He clears his throat and looks away, tucking his hair behind his ear as he reschools his expression. “I don’t know of any such calling, Neku. I was a bit preoccupied.”

Right. Josh looked pretty wrapped up in that storm. Neku can’t forget those agonized screams. There’s no way he would have been able to make a phone call, much less send two different messages.

Neku can’t get over how exhausted his friend looks. The anger drains out of him all at once. With a heavy sigh, Neku flops onto the couch beside Joshua. He does relish the visible surprise on his partner’s face when he bounces for the force.

“What are you doing?”

“Staying with you.” Neku sighs and runs his hand through his bangs, shoving back the gelled spikes. “I’m making sure you’re okay. Drink some water.”

Joshua sputters when Neku reaches across him to pick up the bottle and press it against his chest through the blanket. He squirms, hands fighting free of the confines of the fabric to grip the bottle even as he protests. “I don’t need-“

“Drink. The water.” Neku snaps, crossing his arms. His gaze drifts to those headphones around Joshua’s neck. He doesn’t know what he’s doing here, or anything about what’s going on in Joshua’s head, but there’s some connection between them even still that Neku has to figure out. He doesn’t know why Joshua has his headphones. But it reassured him, strangely enough. “I want to help, dumbass.”

He meets Joshua’s wide gaze. “Don’t get me wrong. I’m still pissed at you and I will be getting answers. But I trust you.” His voice softens. “I won’t leave you alone like this.”

“But…” Joshua falls silent for a moment, as if gathering his thoughts. The fabric tightens and loosens, as if fingers are clenching at it from the inside.

Neku nudges Joshua’s shoulder. “Water.”

“This is my penance, Neku,” Joshua murmurs quietly. The plastic of the water bottle snaps as he twists the cap off. Joshua pulls his feet up onto the couch. Neku swears he sees his jaw trembling before he turns away. But Joshua’s voice does sound tight, like there’s something stuck in his throat. “I’m supposed to be left ‘like this,’ to be left alone.”

“That’s bullshit,” Neku spits. The quiet admission strikes a chord in him. He once thought he could live alone too, that it was fine if he kept his world borders closed to only himself. That he deserved it. But he learned differently, thanks to his friends. To Shiki, Beat, Rhyme, and yeah. Even Joshua. “I’m sitting here right now, aren’t I? You don’t have to be alone.”

Joshua’s silent for a moment.

“So chivalrous, Neku. When did that happen?” He laughs, quietly and sardonically. Neku wants to grab him by the shoulders and shake him. Joshua, face still turned away, tucks his hair behind his ears. “What I mean, Neku, is that I am quite literally not allowed to have any unnecessary contact with anyone. A Composer’s identity is supposed to remain a secret, you know. Only the Conductor can know who he is.” Joshua’s expression falters, a dark shadow across that cutting gaze. “And the powers that be have decreed that I’m not allowed to have another. Can’t be trusted not to break my toys, apparently.”

Some kind of punishment? That makes sense, Josh did try to nuke Shibuya. Even if he changed his mind, Joshua shot him, and even he has to face some sort of consequences for that, right? Sounds like it, if he has some kind of higher tier watching his movement. They probably weren’t too crazy about Joshua apparently going renegade.

But if Joshua isn’t allowed to have any kind of contact, then who the hell called him here? Someone who would insist that Neku is Joshua’s only chance at living.

It seems like every answer Joshua deigns to give him, he only has so many more questions to give back.

“Does that have anything to do with why you were being torn apart back there?”

“Ah…” Joshua flinches, the fabric of the blanket tightening around him as if he’s squeezing himself inside his cocoon. His voice comes out as a near whisper. “Yes. As you can imagine, Shibuya was… rather dissatisfied with my actions. She wasn’t too happy with me trying to destroy her current UG and hand the reins off. So… it appears as if she decided to simply give me what I wanted.” Joshua’s breath hitches. “Really, she must have seen it as a kindness, perhaps. After all the trouble I went through.”

Joshua laughs, one of those forced giggles. He nudges Neku’s arm with his elbow. “But how lucky for me that Shibuya adores you so much.”

She? Does Shibuya have… her own personality or personification or something? Alright. Sure. Not the weirdest thing that Neku’s heard of in the last month. His mind is running a mile a minute, stumbling over itself. He frowns in response to Joshua’s playfulness and nudges him back. Joshua’s smile wavers, but he covers it up with a sip from the water bottle.

Neku’s surprised at how quickly he’s learning to read this more fragile Joshua. He’s entirely on the defensive. If Neku pressed hard enough, he might be able to get any answer he wanted.

He just wants to know if Joshua is okay.

“So Shibuya was mad that you tried to nuke it- her.” Neku rubs the back of his neck. “But what? Adores me? What does that mean?”

“You spent three weeks tromping all across her UG, meeting the challenges set by her denizens and spreading your influence. You left a bit of you, Neku, near everywhere you went.” Joshua just laughs softly when Neku stares, flabbergasted at him. “It’s only natural that she would grow to love you. The same way that you grew to love her, no?”

“I… guess you’re not wrong.” Neku shifts uncomfortably, lacing his fingers together to hang loosely as he leans forward on his knees for support. He used to hate this city, hate its ideals and the noise and the crowds that made it all clash. But Shibuya is his home. The Game taught him to appreciate it, to listen to people and see how their differences make it a better city. “So… what are you saying? Shibuya led me here?”

“No.” Joshua shakes his head. The tiniest and most honest smile Neku has ever seen on Joshua’s face curls his lips. “And if my suspicions are correct, I can’t tell you who did. That’s beyond my jurisdiction. Normally that wouldn’t stop me, but I’m trying to get time off for good behavior.” He laughs- forced again- and tucks his hair behind his ear. “No, Neku, Shibuya was trying to kill me. Why would she lead you here?”

“I don’t know.” Joshua just sounds so resigned. He’s never heard him sound like this before. Neku feels helpless. “Because she knew I would try and save you?”

Joshua freezes beside him, the plastic of the bottle crinkling. Neku turns to glance at Joshua, catching only a glimpse of wide eyed confusion just as his head snaps away. Joshua shakes his head as if to clear it. “Ah, well. Of course, I’m very grateful to still be sitting here.”

“Will it happen again?” Neku takes Joshua’s momentary tension as a yes. Joshua’s clearly trying to hide his reactions and expressions as he usually does, but nearly dying must affect the amount of effort one can put into that.

“I have to assume so,” Joshua murmurs. He sighs. “A Composer is not meant to be without a Conductor. A Conductor not only serves as his Composer’s link to the Reapers and makes sure the Game goes smoothly, but he also helps to assist the Composer in guiding and mitigating the sheer power of the city that runs through the Composer. And as I don’t have a Conductor, I have to try and handle all this power on my own. Add Shibuya’s anger to that and…”

And Joshua doesn’t have long, Neku finishes silently. Joshua’s set back into the couch by this point, gaze tipped idly towards the floor. His partner looks sleepy, of all things. Guess that makes sense. Neku follows his line of sight and isn’t at all surprised to find him watching the fish again. He wonders what Joshua is thinking. He’s lost the one person who was allowed to know him. And now he’s fucking dying because of it.

“There has to be something we can do…” Neku offers weakly, mind racing. Joshua doesn’t deserve to die. He firmly believes that, even as the snarled knots of dual scars in his chest twinge at the thought. He still doesn’t quite know what Joshua was thinking during the Game (what did he mean, Shibuya was going to give him what he wanted? Shibuya was killing-). But it all worked out, in the end. He didn’t destroy Shibuya. He even restored it. Rhyme’s back, and she lost fair and square. Neku’s even pretty sure that he saw a poster for a Def March concert pop up a couple days ago. Josh did all that.

Neku runs a hand over his mouth. Could he…?

“You need a Conductor, right? They won’t give you one and aren’t exactly giving you the chance to appoint a new one.”

“It’s a bit more complicated than that, but essentially that’s the gist.” Joshua tiredly lifts a hand, letting his fingers drift through his own hair. His shoulder leans just a bit more heavily against Neku’s. Neku sits back to support him better. Joshua sighs heavily. “So I’m quite out of luck, you see.”

So if Joshua gets a new Conductor, he’ll live. Those higher ups of his have made it so Josh can’t find a new one. Probably fair enough, considering what happened to his last one.

Neku has to be crazy to be thinking what he’s thinking, then.

“What if I was your Conductor?”

Joshua’s head snaps around, wide startled eyes clashing against Neku’s calm gaze. Jaw dropped, Joshua stares. Neku almost has time to find amusement in it when Joshua’s gaze narrows. “Are you an idiot, Neku?” Joshua snaps through grit teeth. Neku’s almost offended by the venom in Joshua’s voice. “You hated every second you spent in the UG.”

“Not every second,” Neku mumbles. It’s where he met his friends, including Josh. He would still be a lonely, abrasive asshole if he wasn’t forced into the Game. It doesn’t mean he forgives Joshua, and he’s going to punch him as soon as he can without knocking the Composer flat on his ass. But he can’t let him die like this.

“Nonetheless, you don’t even know what you’re trying to sign up for.” Joshua spits, shaking his head. He scowls at Neku, glaring. “Are you always so impulsive?”

“No,” Neku answers plainly. But he’s not thinking about himself right now. He hasn’t thought about if he wants back into the Game, even if he isn’t a player. All he can see are those wings that had dragged against the ground, the way they had shed feathers all across the ground like tears. Joshua could die. Neku can’t just sit back and watch something like that happen again. “But I can’t just do nothing.”

“You absolutely can Neku.” Joshua sighs. “I’m simply dealing with what I’m owed.”

Neku frowns and scoots closer to Joshua. Josh leans away for a moment, but looks down as he slumps against Neku’s shoulder. Neku clears his throat. “Your face deserves to meet my fist, but you don’t deserve an execution.”

“Don’t I?” Joshua tips his head back, leaning just a little bit more against Neku’s shoulder. He runs his tongue across his teeth, clearly deep in thought. “… do it.”

“What the fuck, Josh,” Neku spits. A surge of hot anger runs through him. What kind of jackass does Joshua think he is? “I’m not going to punch you right now. Do you think I’m that shitty?”

“You said I deserve it. Get it over with,” Joshua says simply with another infuriating shrug. “I’m waiting.”

“Oh, fuck you,” Neku bites, leaning away from Joshua. He grits his teeth. “Don’t fucking toy with me, Joshua. I’ve got some things I want to say, but it can wait until after I help you.”

Joshua scoffs. “You do still have all of your memory, yes? I know I haven’t taken anything I didn’t give back to you. Why would you help me at all?”

“Because you’re my friend, damn it!” Why the hell is Joshua being so difficult? Is this another of his stupid games? Neku’s anger burns hot in his chest. “I haven’t forgiven you, if that’s what you’re asking, but we’re still friends. I don’t want you to die. If you need me to become your Conductor for that, I’ll do it.”

It probably isn’t that simple. But in this moment it feels like it is. Maybe the Game won’t be so bad if he has some control over it.

“I don’t get friends, Neku,” Joshua hisses. A sympathetic pang runs through Neku’s chest, quenching some of the fire. He’s… shaking. Neku’s eyes widen as their gazes clash. Is Joshua… afraid? “Apparently I have a tendency to get them erased. You should run while you still can.”

Josh… wants him to get mad, Neku realizes. Is he trying to push him away? Well. Like hell is Neku doing anything that Joshua wants. He crosses his arms. “You don’t get a say on people caring about you. And I’m not going anywhere.”

“You do realize what you’re volunteering for, yes?” Joshua sneers. He’s clearly shaken. This can’t be one of Joshua’s games. Neku doesn’t think he’d ever voluntarily look so weak. “Did you like the taste of metal so much, Neku?”

Neku’s breath hitches and his chest seizes up. He hasn’t forgotten what being shot felt like, or the ring of gunfire through Joshua’s pistol. He fought so hard to come back to life. He doesn’t want to die again, he just found friends, a new goal, things to live for! But he can’t leave Joshua like this… Josh is his friend too. But Neku can’t swallow around the taste of metal in his lungs, can’t hear around the thunder of gunshot in his ears.

But then there’s a hesitant weight against his shoulder, a warmth to distract him from the memory. Neku blinks and looks down to find Joshua facing away, but leaning to brace his back against Neku’s shoulder. He’s pulled both legs up onto the couch, knees to his chest with the blanket wrapped around him as he faces away completely from Neku. Is Josh… trying to comfort him? Neku can’t see his expression like this. It’s odd, but not unpleasant.

“What would I have to do? As Conductor.”

“That’s classified information.” Joshua sinks deeper into his blanket. If Neku had to guess, that petulant gaze is locked on the fish below again. He sounds like he’s pouting. “I don’t want you as my Conductor, Neku, we’ve been over this.”

“You don’t exactly have a lot of people lining up for the position,” Neku tosses back. He frowns and leans in to press his weight against Joshua’s. A reminder that he’s there. This isn’t going to be the last time they talk. He won’t let Joshua be alone.

Joshua sighs. Neku can see the way his finger curls again and again and again in his hair. “You’d have to die again, for one, and how boring to lose your life just after having it returned to you. And then you’d have to put up with me constantly, listening to my whining and my demands and then you’d have to obey them. And most Conductors get erased in the line of fire when someone is gunning for the Composer’s position.”

Joshua’s tone is a little rushed, a little frantic. Neku can’t help but huff softly, smiling a little.

“Do you give this campaign speech to every candidate you have?” Neku snarks.

“Only the ones I don’t want.” Joshua sneers.

Neku hums in response. None of that really sounds great at all. But Joshua’s still trying to push him away. That can’t be all to it. “I’ve seen Def March in the RG. So I could still see my friends and could grab a burger here and there.” He nudges Joshua’s back. “Could grab you some of those chili dogs you like.”

Joshua’s hair pulls taut around his finger. Neku’s a little worried he’ll pull it out, but Joshua’s sigh cuts his thoughts short. “Theoretically, yes.”

“Then it doesn’t matter.” Neku can still expand his world from UG just as well as from the RG. He can finish the murals he’s started. He wouldn’t even have to give up any goals. Except maybe graduating, but it isn’t like Neku hasn’t thought about dropping out of school before. Hell, that only sweetens the deal.

“You are unbelievably frustrating, Neku!” Joshua shouts, running a hand through his hair. Neku’s never heard the other sound so done with the situation, not even when dealing with the Grim Heaper. “I am fine. I don’t need you as my Conductor.”

“Why are you being so frustrating?” Neku shoots back, shifting to look at Joshua properly. The other boy reluctantly shifts away to meet his gaze, frowning hard. Neku’s hands start to tremble. “I know you’re in pain. Every movement projects it so hard you should just give up on trying to hide it. You’re dying, Josh, and Shibuya’s going to finish you off if you don’t let me help you. I can do that.”

Neku sighs and sits back without breaking Joshua’s gaze, even as his friend visibly flinches. “If you really don’t want me as your Conductor, then fine. But let me fill in until you find someone you can work with so that you don’t just evaporate out of existence.”

“I don’t want to kill you again, Neku!”

“What, you already killed me once for your Game. You can’t kill me now to save your own life?” Neku snaps back immediately. Joshua looks hurt, like it took everything for him to admit that. It might have. Neku doesn’t particularly care. And yeah, he’s a little bitter. He’s allowed that.

“That was before you had to go and change! Had to go and change me!” Joshua tugs at his hair with both hands, teeth ground together. Joshua’s head snaps up to meet Neku’s gaze. He looks desperate. “Why didn’t you just shoot me?”

Neku presses his lips together in a firm line, meeting the stubborn Composer’s glare with one of his own. “How could I? You put me through all kinds of hell. You stole my life. Forced me through a cruel game. You manipulated me. But I’m still trusting you despite all that. Like I keep saying.” Neku softens his voice. Joshua’s just gotten more and more visibly distressed the more he’s spoken. “You’re my friend.”

“You trusted me and I threw another bullet at you!” Joshua scowls. Neku’s struck again by how fragile he looks. A shaking kid wrapped in blankets, beaten to hell and back and… nearly crying. Joshua hiccups as he struggles to fight back tears. Neku’s heart squeezes tight in his chest. “How could you call me a friend? I don’t… I don’t understand, Neku…”

If Joshua’s trying to convince Neku that he’s a horrible person who doesn’t deserve to be saved, this heartbreaking image isn’t cutting it. He just sees a lonely kid who’s been forced into even more solitude. Slowly, timidly, Neku reaches out to curl an arm around Joshua and tug him close.

“Wha-” Joshua gasps in his ear, but doesn’t fight when Neku pulls him into a tight hug. He squirms in Neku’s grip, but rests his chin on his shoulder. “N-Neku?”

“Just shut up for a second, Josh.” Neku wraps his other arm around Joshua, shifting to rest his chin on the crown of the Composer’s head. Joshua’s chest, pressed to his, is heaving and he can hear Joshua trying to take measured breaths. Neku tightens his grip. This is… really warm. He can’t remember the last time he had a hug. He squeezes his stubborn, frustrating jackass of a friend closer. Neku closes his eyes. “I missed you.”

Joshua shifts again and takes a moment to work a hand out of the blanket. Neku hides a smile in those blond curls as a tentative hand curls in the back of Neku’s shirt. Joshua sighs softly. “I’d tell you that I missed you too, but you told me to shut up.”

“Dumbass,” Neku laughs, snorting softly into Joshua’s shoulder. Damn it. He even somewhat missed arguing with this guy. They still have a lot to work out, but Neku just can’t let him die.

Joshua chuckles back and seems to melt into the hug for a few moments before loosening his grip. He pulls back to look at Neku, smile slipping away. Neku’s own grin falls at Joshua’s serious look. “I don’t want to have to kill you again, Neku.”

“Believe it or not, I’m not crazy about the idea either, Josh.” Neku crosses his arms. He really isn’t. He remembers the taste of metal in his mouth, the way blood had welled in his lungs. But he got Joshua to smile. It makes Neku just as happy as when he made Shiki smile today. “As long as I can see my friends again and live my life to some extent, I can handle it.”

“I suppose you will know your way around the Game by this point,” Joshua muses, the curl of his knuckles pressed to his lips in thought. Neku raises an eyebrow as Joshua laughs. “Especially as I was one of your guides.”

Is that him giving in, or bragging? Knowing Josh, probably both. Neku rolls his eyes.

“Right.” His gaze tracks Joshua’s movement as he pulls his fingers through his messy hair. His chest feels heavy. “So… we should probably get this over with quickly, yeah?”

Joshua twists his hair between his fingers. “If this is what we’re doing, then… yes, best to get this done as soon as possible, before Shibuya…” Joshua falters. Clears his throat. “Before Shibuya decides she’s tired of waiting.”

Joshua waves his hand. Neku flinches as a familiar heavy gun snaps into being in Joshua’s palm. His partner raises an eyebrow. “Are you sure you can handle this, Neku?”

“No,” Neku answers honestly. “But the only other choice is to let you die, right?”

Joshua nods, silent.

Neku takes a deep breath- his last one, maybe. He glances towards the padlocked door, towards the RG. Does he have any loose ends he wants to take care of as living and breathing Neku?

No, actually, nothing he hasn’t been told he’ll be able to do as Conductor. He can keep his friendships, can keep Shiki and Beat and Rhyme and he’ll be able to meet Eri eventually and he’ll be able to create still.

And he’ll be able to work out his complicated feelings towards Joshua.

“Neku?”

“What?” Neku looks up at Joshua. He holds himself up a bit better now, seeming to sit up a little straighter. One hand lightly grips the headphones draped around his neck. Neku’s a little afraid that the familiarity of the gun in his other hand is what’s bolstering Joshua’s confidence. But he kind of hopes that it’s Neku offering to be his Conductor that’s helped Joshua pull himself together. Neku raises his chin stubbornly.

“What are you waiting for? Shoot.”

#TWEWY #TWEWY Bang 2020 #The World Ends With You #Subarashiki Kono Sekai #shadowstryker #submission

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shinadog · 3 years

Text

Time to (finally) update Mob! Go check it out, it's full of tears.

Summary : Something happened after Haruka’s concert. (PART 1) (AO3 Link)

2 - TEARS

He had been crying for what felt like hours.

Days, even.

None of this felt real.

He vaguely remembered talking to people. Distant family members, coworkers, neighbours. Nice, friendly people with their sorry, pained expressions and their kind words. They all came flocking to him the second the news talked about it.

He hated them.

Hated how he felt them struggle with his own raw grief. Hated the sad tint of compassion in their voices as they told him they couldn’t imagine what he was going through. Hated how they looked at him as he cried, scared of that pathetic display.

He was scared, too.

But mostly, he was angry.

His anger, at first, was directed at no one in particular. Or everyone at once. He blamed the people who made this concert happen. He blamed the girl, the idol who started this disaster. He blamed the yakuza who had raised her. He blamed every single fucker who had been in the crowd that night.

He blamed her, too.

He hated himself for that.

When some journalists managed to track him down, asking him about what happened, what he felt now that his world had been turned upside down, he could barely believe it. These people were vultures. All of them. Hounding him down, following him everywhere until he cracked and talked to them. And even then, as he allowed some of them into his house, he was speechless. Their questions barely made sense, he barely remembered saying anything, his eyes lost in the camera in front of him. He doubted any of his answers made any sense. How could they? Nothing made sense anymore.

All he could offer to the good people of Japan, who were in no doubt watching because they wanted to see what a broken man looked like, were his tears.

He kept crying long after everyone had left.

**********************************

Kiryu was awake. And, like all the times he had been conscious enough for it, he was begging. Bargaining. Trying to win over whoever was in front of him, to be finally allowed to leave this damn room. Today’s target was Akiyama, who was trying to avoid his desperate plea by looking at something outside, through the window. The man was being particularly stubborn today, not even meeting Kiryu’s eyes as he made small talk, attempting to distract him. Well, Kiryu was stubborn enough. He knew he would win at this game, eventually.

He tried to brute force his way out of there several times, only to be pushed back in his bed by Saejima or Majima. Sometimes both. Apparently, the two oath brothers were standing guard next to his door at all times, making any escape impossible. For the time being, at least. Kiryu couldn’t wait to be back in full force; to show them what it means to try to stop him.

For now, he was still far too weak to even attempt to fight anyone. Last time he tried, punching Majima in the nose after he stupidly got a bit too close, the nurse gave him something that made him sleep for an entire day. His punch was so weak it didn’t even manage to break Majima’s stupid nose.A total flop. After that, Kiryu was forced to behave, not wanting to lose more time than he already had.

The big bad dragon of Dojima, grounded. Stuck in this hospital room when all he wanted was to see Haruka.

Not being able to be with her was driving him crazy.

So he begged.

Asked as soon as he was awake, no matter who was in front of him. The nurses, the doctors, Majima and Saejima, Date that he only saw once or twice, Akiyama… They all gave him the same answer. Not today. Not yet. You’re not strong enough.

If today was any indication though, he was making some progress. He felt it as Akiyama wriggled uncomfortably, back on the chair he usually sat on next to Kiryu’s bed.

He knew if anyone was going to cave in and give him what he wanted, it was going to be Akiyama. The man was crushed by his guilt, and Kiryu wasn't ashamed to exploit that. He'll feel bad about it later.

“You do look better, today.”

Too busy focusing his thoughts on trying to win him over, Kiryu almost didn’t hear Akiyama talk. He blinked stupidly, trying to process what had been said.

“Good enough to take a walk?” he asked, daring to hope it would be enough to work. He would have tried to smile, but his face kept its usual stoic expression, hoping he looked at least strong enough to walk out of here.

Akiyama just stared at him, and for the first time since he had walked into his room, Kiryu noticed how truly exhausted he looked. He usually looked tired, with bags under his eyes and his dishevelled suit, but everything about him looked worse right now. Having lost track of days ever since he woke up, Kiryu didn’t know how long the man had been in the hospital, keeping watch over him or checking in on Haruka. He would have been thankful for it, if his mind was not solely focused on finding a way out of his cell.

After what felt like an hour, Akiyama finally talked again, his voice weirdly hushed. “It’s a bad idea.”

And just like that, Kiryu was set free.

Well, more or less.

Taking a walk was apparently out of the question. Kiryu had to admit he probably wouldn’t have been able to take a step on his own, but he refused to admit it as his friend pushed a wheelchair that he got from who knows where in front of him.

It would do.

Finally being able to get out of the room felt unreal. Kiryu immediately felt the anticipation of it all making him dizzy, his body still aching from his wounds. Still, he said nothing as they started moving, afraid any comment about his pain would take him back to his room.

Akiyama was pushing his chair, mumbling to himself some more about what a bad idea that was while Majima and Saejima were following like two nervous shadows. Kiryu was more or less sure they didn't ask anyone’s permission before they took him out of the room. Not that it mattered now, no doctor's order could have stopped him, anyway.

Kiryu felt better than he did when he first woke up, his head wasn't spinning as hard anymore, and he could more or less focus on what was happening around him. Still, he felt numb. Wrapping his brain around what happened after the concert was hard, no matter how many times it was explained to him. Even now, as Akiyama kept talking to him as they advanced through an empty corridor ("It looks worse than it really is" , "Doctors say she was lucky" , "Her chances of waking up are very good", things like that), Kiryu's mind was blank. He didn't know what to make out of those words. He was probably still high on painkillers. And probably a bit in denial, too.

He heard Majima take a deep sigh behind him and wished he could have punched him again. He wasn't sure why.

Maybe because they had finally taken a stop near a small room, similar to the one Kiryu had just left.

Maybe because Date came out of it, looking more glum than Kiryu had ever seen him.

Maybe because right now, fighting someone, anyone, sounded better than getting inside this room he had begged again and again to be in.

Now that he was here, he was scared of what was inside.

Date was talking to him, no doubt saying the same kind of things Kiryu has been hearing while he was being pushed here. This time, he couldn't focus on his words at all, barely aware of how his own hands got on the wheels of the chair, making a move for the room. Akiyama showed no resistance and let go of the chair, taking a step back.

Scared or not, he had to do it.

Once he was inside the room, everything went too fast. Everything he saw was too much for his still fuzzy head, but it was still enough to make him stop in his tracks. Feeling as if his blood has frozen in his veins, Kiryu took in the details of the horrid scene laid out before him.

The slow beeping of machines and, louder, the respirator, filling the room with a hypnotic rhythm.

The bruises on her face, deep purple in places, still way too vibrant after so many days.

The terrifying paleness of her skin.

The catheter lodged in her arm.

The fact that it was her, the child he swore he would stay far away from, for her own sake, lying here, completely still. Haruka.

Kiryu only managed not to fall down because he was already sitting in the wheelchair.

He did break down, though.

He wasn’t sure when he had started crying. The world was spinning again, his body screamed in agony, and the only thing that made him take his eyes out of the bed where his daughter laid way too still was a hand on his shoulder.

Date. The man was suddenly next to him, kneeling next to his chair, at his eye level.

He was crying, too.

All that Kiryu could think about as their eyes met is that it felt wrong. Date wasn’t supposed to cry. He wasn’t supposed to cry, either. And Haruka wasn’t supposed to be here, wounded and unconscious.

It was all wrong.

**********************************

Majima ran away as soon as everyone started falling apart around him.

It was not that he was scared of that unbearable display of vulnerability. No, really. He was tough, he could handle a few tears. But when he heard some actual wails coming from the room, he felt as if he’d rather be somewhere else. It did not help that both his oath brother and that loan shark guy looked absolutely mortified, the latter looking like he was going to burst into tears as well at any moment. Majima really didn’t want to be here to see that.

So he turned tail and quickly put some distance between himself and all those unpleasant emotions. He did hear Saejima call for him, but he was already far enough to pretend he didn’t notice.

His quick, angry steps disturbing the stupid silence of the hospital earned him a few suspicious looks from staff members and patients alike, but Majima didn’t mind. He couldn’t exactly blame them, the place was quiet enough than a tall, obnoxiously dressed yakuza stomping around stuck up like a sore thumb. That was alright with him. If anything, looking at the nurses glaring at him as he zoomed past them made him forget about his thoughts for a hot second. Which was nice. Not much, but nice. He gave them a wide grin, baring his teeth as they quickly looked away.

He would have accepted anything to distract himself from the voice in his head, his own voice, what he had said to his oath brother right before their fight echoing at the back of his mind.

He loves her more than life itself.

God, he hated being right.

He had known Kiryu for long enough to know the man cared too much about pretty much everyone he met. He forgave backstabbers without a second thought, worse, he was the kind of sad sap that would grieve for a fallen enemy like he would for a dear friend. Most of all, the bond between Kiryu and that kid that somehow ended up in his care was something else. Sure, Majima couldn’t pretend he knew much about what being a parent was like. Hell, Kiryu had what, a dozen crying orphans? A whole pack of sad little fuckers, waiting for him at home, that he surely cared about just as much.

But Haruka was special. Had always been.

And, right now, she was in pieces. Broken by the very same morons who swore they idolized her right before she had the nerve to open up to them. And, just like Majima had predicted, this also broke Kiryu. He felt an unpleasant shiver creeping on his neck as he thought of the other man crying in the depressing little room where his daughter laid.

Still, things could have been worse - at least, the kid was still alive. For now.

Alright, so trying to not think about it wasn’t working as well as Majima had hoped. He needed to think about something else right now. Find an actual distraction, since wandering through the hospital aimlessly didn’t work.

He needed someone to pester.

He went straight for Daigo’s room.

As he made his way through the much nicer hospital aisle, with the fancy rooms they kept for the important, wealthy guests, Majima frowned. The place felt strangely empty. No body-guards in front of either of the corridor’s end, no guy standing in front of the room’s door, and, surely enough, no one inside.

He sighed.

One of these days, they were going to make a “ Who’s the biggest dumbass who had ever led the Tojo Clan ” poll, and Majima wasn’t sure who would actually win that title. Sure, Kiryu was a colossal meathead who kept putting himself into impossible situations, but Daigo was no slouch either. What he lacked in stupidity he made up for in impulsivity. The only reason he was still in the hospital at all was because he kept finding ways to escape his room, and, way too often, fuck up his stitches again.

It had been years since Majima had sworn he would keep an eye on the chairman for Kiryu’s sake, and the guy had managed to throw himself at all kinds of dangers with a frightening regularity ever since. Though he had joked when he proposed keeping his boss on a leash last time a major crisis happened, Majima found the idea pretty reasonable right now. That would at least cut the poor nurses some slack. They were always running after their patient, and, if the emptiness of the room was anything to go by, they didn’t have much luck in finding him this time. That, or they simply gave up. Majima wouldn’t blame them.

Still, they probably didn’t look that hard, because as Majima got down a few floors, abandoning the quiet fancy corridors to come back to something more modest, he found Daigo in his usual spot, standing guard in front of room 407. Well, “standing” was perhaps a bit of an exaggeration, as he was sitting in a wheelchair similar to the one Kiryu was probably still weeping in. A few Tojo clan men were scattered in the corridor, keeping an eye on their chairman. As Majima walked past the closest one, a sweaty brat who literally looked like he had never worn a suit before, he had to stop himself from barking at them to get lost. If the way the guy bent over as he passed was any indication, shaking and sweating even more, he would have obeyed pretty quickly, too. Those body-guards might not have looked like much, and looking at them shaking as they stared at him did nothing to make his bad mood better, but they were at least doing better than their predecessors, so far. After the whole Aizawa fiasco, the only thing Majima asked of these guys was to be born and raised Tojo men, no more wolves in sheep's clothing bullshit.

So he settled for a grunt of acknowledgment, leaving the bodyguard behind to go sit on a chair placed conveniently next to his boss. As if Daigo knew he was coming to bother him. Majima was grateful - he had been standing still for too long while Kiryu was unconscious, and though he wouldn’t say it out loud it, he was starting to get a little tired. He frowned, realizing this was basically just him admitting he was getting old, which was not something he needed right now.

“Aren’t you supposed to be in your room, boss? Ya know, getting some rest, not playing hide and seek with the nurses, that kind of stuff?” he said as he collapsed on the chair with a loud thud, making all the body-guards suddenly stiffen. Majima paid them no mind, focusing his attention on Daigo who… Certainly looked like a man who hadn’t slept in a week. Which, to be fair, was how he usually looked, but still!

Before he could attempt to make fun of him for looking like shit, Daigo answered his question with another, not even taking his eyes from the door he was surveying. “Aren’t you supposed to be in front of Kiryu’s room?”

“Yeah, about that…”

That got him a reaction, at least. Majima appreciated for a few seconds the fact that his boss finally stopped staring at the door like an exceptionally sad looking guard dog to glare at him, before he took pity on him and grumbled some kind of explanation. “They took him to see the kid. Went as well as you’d think.”

“And by “they”, you mean…?”

“That loan shark guy. And Saejima, I guess.” Majima decided to omit he too had taken part on their little excursion to Haruka’s room. It wasn’t like it was his idea. And it wasn’t like they could have kept Kiryu from escaping forever. “He felt better, today. Hell, he has always been quick to heal, the fucker. So taking him to her room didn’t sound like such a bad idea.”

“How bad did he take it?”

“Eh. If he hasn’t fainted by now, he’s probably still wailing in there, I bet.”

As if summoned by the growing tension in the corridor, a nurse got out of room 407, freezing in her tracks as she realized a bunch of yakuza were staring at her. Still, she said nothing and left the scene as quick as she had appeared. Majima guessed when you worked in a hospital, you had no time to lose on a bunch of criminals looking at you funny. He assumed the conversation would just continue, but the chairman’s eyes were once again wandering to the now semi-open door of the room.

“That friend of yours is doing okay, I heard?” Majima only had a brief knowledge of who was the patient of room 407. Some guy that Daigo knew from high school, who ended up fighting alongside Kiryu and his ragtag bunch of buddies, because, of course, why not. He was also the one who was actually AT the concert that night, and who didn’t exactly save the day. That was a bit of a touchy subject, though, so Majima thought he would rather focus on something safer. Like what the guy was called, for instance. “Shit, what’s his name again? Swear Saejima told me, but-”

“Shinada.” Daigo cut him off, still focusing on the door, his brow furrowed. “I don’t think I should be calling myself his friend. He’s only in there because I meddled with his life. Again.”

Majima was musing on what that “again” meant when he noticed a worrying twitch of Daigo’s eye, as the man lowered his head slowly, his shoulder sagging. It occurred to him that perhaps he had just fled a crying chairman to come find another, and frankly, this pissed him off.

A good subordinate would have said nothing or, better, changed subject to spare his chairman the embarrassment of showing some kind of vulnerability, something the bodyguards were doing very well, as they all mysteriously started to look in different directions. Majima wasn’t exactly a good subordinate, though.

“If you start crying, I’m going to sucker punch you.”

The exhausted glare Daigo gave him was miraculously tear-free, so that was nice. “I’m not going to cry. And it’s not exactly a sucker punch if you warn the guy beforehand.”

“Maybe. But hey, let’s look at the big picture, yeah? The clan is still standing. Most of our guys are still alive.” But a lot of them were dead, Kiryu’s kid was in a coma and he himself wasn’t doing well at all, the clan’s hierarchy was once again all shaken up… Majima gritted his teeth, struggling to find something positive to add, before he settled on what he thought was a particularly nice note. “And shit, almost forgot, Saejima and Kiryu are not going to jail, thanks to ya!”

Majima had been slightly worried when cops started to get into their business shortly after the concert. That they had the nerve to show up at all, claiming that it was time for Saejima to go back to jail, and that Kiryu somehow had to go too, for some reason. It only took a little bribe from Daigo, the you-could-buy-a-house-with-that-much-money kind, to get them to back off and forget about the whole “jail” thing for a little while. They would come back, of course, but for now, his oath brother was free to haunt the hallway of this damned hospital, and Kiryu was free to cry for his daughter in peace. Lucky them.

“They’re not going to jail yet.” Daigo added, still looking pretty glum but at least finding some kind of a normal posture again.

“Yeah, sure. Still, it was nice of ya to do that. They’ll never admit it, the big idiots, but it’s probably better if they stick around, at a time like this.”

Would be a shame for them to miss all those tears, uh?

#yakuza #yakuza 5 #yakuza fanfiction #rgg #rgg5 #weird art of mine #stories #fics #mob

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retphienix · 3 years

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I just wanted to simplify my complaint on Yakuza 4′s story because I’ve dwelled on it, ranted in places I shouldn’t about it, and tried to tie it down to simple to deliver ideas so an outsider can understand. So here goes.

1) Yakuza 4 is not terrible, not by a long shot.

2) A great deal of what I dislike about the two stories (explained shortly) can be chocked up to the short dev time- Yakuza games are/were/what have you, yearly releases.

3) This entry tried something new and SMART- multiple protags to help prevent Kiryu burnout, but this is a difficult task and I feel they overall failed on delivering the benefits this writing style can provide.

4) The story is more or less split in two. The overarching “25 year long planned hit” story about the hit, Ueno/Tojo relations, and who stands to benefit in the modern day | And the “four protags” story, or more or less “Why these four care and how they discover and ultimately join forces. IE: How do these 4 coalesce into the 25 year planned hit story”.

5) Both suffer, likely from the dev time, but also from some poor decisions.

5a) The “25″ plot is interesting, but in a bid to make it more interesting more and more layers keep getting added to it. This isn’t bad in itself, a little complexity goes a long way in a thriller, but some of the decisions are just nonsensical and demand conveniences and coincidences to work out.

Rubber bullets falls apart when the flashback sequence features blood and only serves to explain how Katsuragi survived when less damaging ideas could have been put in place. Rubber bullets makes no sense visually (there’s plenty of blood exploding from some of Saejima’s victims during the scene), spits in Saejima’s eye (not necessarily a bad thing just mean), creates cascading effect where they had to explain Munakata betraying the force, had to have Katsuragi do the killing to explain the deaths. The intent of rubber bullets was to make it ‘easy’ to explain why it was air tight that Katsuragi survived, but something as simple as Saejima bringing additional ammunition or beating Katsuragi to death physically (as he beat another during the attack) would destroy the plan.

The 15 layers of betrayal hierarchy become less interesting the more they spread- initially it’s a bid for power, then it’s a bid for profit, then it’s a bid for a perpetual crime machine for profit that benefits someone otherwise uninvolved in the plan at all, then it’s a... well then it’s Arai taking 100 billion to create his own sense of justice, something that has nothing at all to do with the 25 plan and just sorta happens. It loses it’s way fast as layers get added.

Only tertiary but REALLY bad, Arai shooting Munakata and not realizing it’s a rubber bullet, AND getting out of that building without being questioned- both are just ridiculously stupid.

5b) The four protag stories don’t naturally coalesce and some of them struggle to be relevant at all until forced by the writers to be involved.

5bi) Akiyama- Good! He’s involved with Arai and is interested in what Arai is doing which naturally leads him to the 25 plan, he is romantically interested in Yasuko which, again, naturally involves him in the plan, all this provides an interesting POV and motivation especially considering he is in no position to say any of the intended ‘winners’ of the 25 plan are in his camp. He has no direct interesting in Tojo/Ueno beyond knowing and liking Arai, and that falls apart as he gets too close. INTERESTING! PROVIDES A WAY FOR HIM TO JOIN FORCES WITH THE OTHER 3 BY VIRTUE OF KNOWING SAEJIMA’S SISTER AND TRACKING ARAI WHO IS A KEY MEMBER OF THIS STORY!

5bii) Saejima- Fine, adequate even. You would think he’d be the best written in terms of tying to the 25 plan and the four protags story but honestly he exists mostly for backstory on the 25 plan. He wants revenge on Majima (well, answers, but semantics) and this only barely points him to finding the 25 plan. It mostly just points him to Shibata, whom he never meets and never gets closure on as he’s jumpstarted to a further point of the story when the writers realized they needed him to get a move on.

5biii) Tanimura- Not great. Now I’ve ranted about Tanimura a lot and unfairly so, I’ve dwelled on his obsession over his father unfairly so as well, but in truth it’s where he’s at in the story that bred my disdain because he’s the smoking gun that shows the writers struggled and began to give up on tying these threads together. Tanimura’s only initial tie to the 25 plan is that his father died and was “probably” involved. He doesn’t get ANY more of a tie to the plan until the effective end of his story where he’s more or less told that Munakata is at the top of this which THROWS him into the main plot. It’s such a heavy dump of motivation that wasn’t there before that they made Tanimura jump the shark and do something irrational- abandoning his current objective to instead return the borrowed money to Akiyama- JUST so that they could have an excuse for Tanimura to get an info dump and catch up with the rest because up until this point he wasn’t following the story at all. As such he doesn’t follow the 25 story and he’s forced into the four protag story purely by heavy handed writing forcing him to be.

5biv) Kiryu- Look, Tanimura is the worst tied in, but Kiryu is pretty poorly incorporated as well. Not horribly, but he’s only here out of obligation (in-universe). He’s involved in the 25 plan purely because Hamazaki says “This’ll fuck up Tojo and is tied to the previous games” and he’s only involved in the four protags because Hamazaki tells him to go to Saejima and that cascades to the four meeting.

So the tl;dr:

Yakuza 4 has two stories.

One overarching story that starts interesting but gets downright silly with how many conveniences it relies on which makes focusing on the ACTUAL INTERESTING PARTS (Police corruption! Power and what that means! Scandalous inter-family sabotage as lives are treated as pawns for a game of success!) difficult.

One of four protags with wildly varying levels of motivation toward the plot teaming up because the writers plot armored them into doing that so you can’t really enjoy them naturally coming together or each of their individual motivations and POVs.

In the end. It’s fine. It’s my least favorite Yakuza game thus far, but it’s fine. And seeing the ambitious plan to use four protagonists for an interesting view of the story and cut down on Kiryu burnout coupled with the year long dev cycle- I fully understand why it doesn’t quite click for me. It was a big challenge and they did well for what was demanded of them.

#Yakuza #Yakuza 4 #RetPlays

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nakazonoluck · 4 years

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G E N E R A L —

HEIGHT. arisu has always been small, only standing at 5′ feet tall. she’s been petite in height her whole life, having reach 5′ feet at 13 and not growing at all since. it doesn’t bother her, she likes being small. it’s easier to disorient & dodge in fights she believes.

WEIGHT. while she is petite in height, she’s less so in body size. she’s fairly muscular, putting her at 140 pounds of pure muscle. it makes sense considering how far she can throw people.

ETHNICITY. japanese, born in tokyo.

OCCUPATION. arisu is the matriarch of the nakazono clan, first-tier subsidiary family of the tojo clan. the family is not the largest but big enough to have a few second-tier subsidary families. the family specializes in gambling and various other nightlife activities.

GENDER. cis-female.

SEXUAL & ROMANTIC ORIENTATION. arisu is bisexual/biromantic; she has gone out with several men, though has always had a preference towards other females. she has not been known to have had many “official” relationships & does not develop deep attachments in a romantic sense very quickly.

MBTI. entp, the debater - No one loves the process of mental sparring more than the Debater personality type, as it gives them a chance to exercise their effortlessly quick wit, broad accumulated knowledge base, and capacity for connecting disparate ideas to prove their points. Debaters are the ultimate devil’s advocate, thriving on the process of shredding arguments and beliefs and letting the ribbons drift in the wind for all to see. They don’t always do this because they are trying to achieve some deeper purpose or strategic goal, though. Sometimes it’s for the simple reason that it’s fun.

S P E C I F I C S —

FAVOURITE FOOD. arisu has an affinity towards fish: takoyaki, sashimi, etc. but he also has a big sweet tooth. if you promise her favorite candy, she might do whatever you ask. white rabbit candy is among one of her favorites.

FAVOURITE DRINK. as per her sweet tooth, she loves fruity sodas. melon, strawberry, etc. she loves. her favorite brand is ramune, due to all the flavors and popularity, so she’ll drink that a lot.

FAVOURITE HOBBY. like her father, gambling is one of her favorite hobbies. she prefers mahjong, but it’s not unlike her to play any other type of gambling game (poker, blackjack, koi-koi, etc.). she does have a reputation for suspected cheating, given that she rarely loses a game, but most lack evidence to back it up. other than that, she does love video games. if she’s not in her office, or in a gambling hall, she can almost always be found in an arcade or at her house playing a game.

FAVOURITE SCENT. cherry blossoms and vanilla are about tied, cherry blossoms remind her of her father while vanilla reminds her of her mother. her father because of his tattoo, and her mother because of her vanilla perfume. as for non-flower smells, she does really like bubble gum. a bit childish, but it relates to her sweet tooth. sometimes she’ll smell something like that because she’ll almost always buy a bubble gum perfume if she sees it.

FAVOURITE PERSON. an obvious answer is her father, given how close she was to him. but she does also really like nishitani; though she never got to meet him when he was alive, she loved hearing stories about him and looked up to him, thinking he was one of the “coolest” people alive when she was a child.

T E N F A C T S —

when outrun was still in the arcades, she always had the top score under the pseudonym “arn”, because she was uncreative and essentially used her initials. & she had an intense want to have the top score in most places, even going as far as sotenbori. it also gave her an excuse just to go, she always liked sotenbori for it’s entertainment strip in the norther part of the town. she liked looking at the restaurants for it’s outside decorations; like the big crab, big octopus, and the dragon that blew out smoke.

she snuck off a lot as a child, thinking she was so cool for being able to go out alone without parents. while it tended to fly under the radar with her parents, it didn’t for her uncle. hisashi (her father’s sworn brother & top lieutenant) tended to follow her around when he could, or sent someone he trusted, making sure she stayed out of trouble and people didn’t mess with her. there were only a few times he had to step in when people would get annoyed when she would get mouthy (maybe bite) when they tried to mess with her. she never knew this, still doesn’t know this. whenever he’d step in, everything would either go too fast to where she couldn’t catch his face or she ran away before she could.

arisu ate a lot as a child. being so energetic, she’d burn through calories faster than she probably should’ve. she’s still this way for the most part. she’s not quite as energetic, but she tends to get into too much trouble to not burn through everything so fast.

if you were to ask her if she remembers any other tojo clan members from before she became matriarch she’d most likely say no, even if they may know her. a very rude child, she never paid attention to who any of her father’s coworkers. except maybe yayoi and sohei, but that more lies in how much she admired & had a small crush on yayoi. she didn’t know her name for a while, frustrated arisu to no end & ended up just called her an equivalent to “mrs. daigo’s mom”, same for sohei. but once she knew her name, she stopped for both. they were then known as “yayoi” & “yayoi’s husband”. if sohei ever complaned about it, she didn’t care enough to pay attention.

she definitely bullied daigo as a child & did not stop when he became chairman. she does not care she just sees him as the boy she would put in a headlock whenever she saw him.

she’s been around for four chairmans & only respected one of them. she doesn’t highly regard daigo for personal reasons, kiryu wasn’t around long enough for her to interact with, & didn’t respect terada because of how he tried to destroy the tojo clan as well as manipulating kiryu & ryuji. she didn’t know & didn’t meet ryuji, but she knew enough about what happened with him & kaoru to sympathize. sera, though, she always liked. she admired how he could be so assertive & strong without having to try hard, & how acquiring a position like that at a young age.

arisu has a pet fox named momo. she didn’t get him in a traditional way, as in going to a breeder or a pet store (not that you can get a fox at a pet store). she found a small fox pup, probably the runt of the littler, wet & shivering in a pipe. it was hard to coax him out at first, but she didn’t leave until he walked up to her & let her pick him up. her mother & father weren’t the happiest when they saw her walking in with a small fox pup but they soon go used to him. by the events of kiwami 1, he’s only a year & a half old. she never had any other pet besides koi fish in her backyard before him.

from around 8 or 9 on, she had a group of kids who followed her around calling her “aneki”. it was a huge shock at first, going from none of the kids liking her to having a group like this. they were all boys at first, looking to be “cool” & “tough” & hanging around a yakuza’s kid meant that to them. then as she got into her teens more girls came into the group, looking for a way to rebel. these kids are the reason for her big ego.

while she didn’t have the closest relationship with her mother, they were still fairly close in their own way. without her mother, she would’ve never learned how to fight or defend herself. they tended to bond over that, & would always spend most nights watching movies or tv shows together, but not much else.

unless a lieutenant were to step up in place as matriarch/patriarch, the nakazono clan will end with arisu’s death. she doesn’t plan on having children, but if she did, she wouldn’t allow them to try & run the family.

FIVE THINGS SHE LIKES.

tattoos

foxes

candy

family! surrogate or blood.

beating people she finds annoying up

FIVE THINGS SHE DISLIKES.

being told what to do

street thugs, punk, etc.

misogynistic behavior

people who mess with her friends/ family

male strangers expecting her to help them without some kind of reward

COMMON WORDS / PHRASES THAT ANNOY THEM. anything with telling her that she’s too young for something, or trying to limit her because of gender or sex. it’s a good way to get hit.

PERSONALITY TYPES THEY PREFER. she prefers strong, loud, & excessive personalities. people who see fun in the same ways she does. other personalities don’t deter her though, she just gravitates towards these ones more.

PERSONALITY TYPES THEY AVOID. besides ones that are very discriminatory in some way, she hates people who think they’re superior & condescending. nothing aggravates her more than to feel less than & dumber than.

WHAT DO YOU FIND DIFFERENT / DISTINCT ABOUT YOUR PORTRAYAL? she’s an oc so there’s not really anything to compare her to, but i do like to think there are a lot of things that does make her original & sets her apart from canon characters & other ocs.

#save #i found this & it was a lot #brain fried

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crazyfreckledginger · 5 years

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Zero Kiryu x Reader - “Asking Zero Out On A Date Would Include...”

Requested by anon: "Can I ask for a zero kiryu imagine. His future so confessing to him. Or him confessing/asking out and what the date would be like.”

A/N: First time writing for Vampire Knight, let me know what you think! ^^

It took a lot of time for him to realise his feelings for you.

Let alone accepting them.

He doesn’t really know how to show you that he likes you.

Very clueless.

He hates to admit it but he kind of looked at Hanabusa to see how he interacts with girls.

Was probably the worst person to take notes on.

But none of the other guys really do anything so he could only ‘rely’ on Aido.

He tried to drop subtle hints that he fancied you.

Like making sure you got to class on time or accompanying you to the headmaster’s office if it’s dark out.

He isn’t as grumpy around you either.

Zero thinks that Yuki might have figured his feelings out.

And he’s sure she’s trying to help him.

He’s pretty oblivious and always in denial when it comes to feelings but you are a completely different story.

Probably being frustrated by how clueless you are about his feelings.

And throwing punches at his pillow every night.

He’s hella protective.

And he gets jealous easily.

Yuki finds out about your feelings.

It’s probably after that, that she picked up on Zero’s feelings as well.

She also encouraged you to straight up tell him how you feel.

Because his stubborn butt wouldn’t dare do anything about his feelings and be sure as hell he won’t understand if you drop hints as well.

It’s not that he’s oblivious really, he just feels like he doesn’t deserve love.

So on the Valentine’s day, you make chocolates for him and give it to him.

His genius sense still didn’t understand you liked him and thought you gave it to him out of appreciation for being a friend.

Which makes you angry and you end up throwing a fit at him for being so clueless.

He pulls you aside, seeing that you were in the middle of everyone, even the Night Class had noticed.

A very tiny smile appears on his lips as he sees your flushed cheek and your breathing ragged from the outburst.

He has a faint taint of pink on his cheeks as well honestly.

“Quiet down will you, you are being so loud!”

Being a blushing mess and he timidly pokes your hand.

To which you immediately get the message and hold his hand.

Him being a little speechless and blushing as well because, what now?

“D-do you want to go on a date with me?”

Him not saying yes but nodding slowly with flushed cheeks and humming softly.

The next day he takes you into town and you eat at a small restaurant.

He’d be less shy than he was when you asked him out but it’s only because he’s been practicing and reflecting over night.

Zero really didn’t get enough sleep.

He’s been thinking about you the whole night.

I probably shouldn’t have said that.

Kiryu is very contained for the date, he acts comfortable but he’s very nervous.

He doesn’t want to mess up.

You can tell though so when you finished eating and you walk through town, you slowly move closer to him.

“I can tell you’re nervous Zero,”

He’s caught off guard and his eyes are wide as you slowly reach his hand and hold it in yours.

A blushing mess at this point but he doesn’t pull back.

That’s how he started becoming a little comfortable with slight PDA.

Dates were always cute. Simple but nice, every time.

Hanabusa would tease Zero for dating you.

Because he’s a grumpy and pouty boy.

And you’re not… maybe not as much.

Zero also getting mad at Aido.

The night class being amused when Zero holds the fangirls back because of his constant yelling before his calm and composed demeanor when you greet him when your lessons are finished.

But he slowly starts to fall for you even more.

And he couldn’t be happier that you’re interested in him and only him.

Comments, votes and feedback improve motivation, writing and publishing, so it is in your best interest to leave some! :)

Want to be tagged? Let me know in which ever way you are the most comfortable with!

Tagging: @lumifuer @ijustwantmyshipstobehappy @plethora-of-things @xlatinaaxx @lostnliterature @batette @pythiaaa @nxttime-deactivated20190202 @gearsinice @mizmahlia @tina8009 @alex--awesome--22

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elaera23 · 5 years

Text

A Special Otome Men Ranking

... or which would I fuck, date /marry or be best friends with 😎

So my dear friend @mandyinwonderland came up with this funny idea to do a ranking with all the Otome men I’ve read so far and put them into categories - Fuck / Date or Marry / BFF, so three characters per game.

So here is my ranking, sorry for making the explanations so long 😅 I shortened them towards the end 😉

1. Star Crossed Myth

Fuck: I mean this is a obvious choice – Scorpio would be definitely my fuck! Of course you wouldn’t get vanilla sex, but who wants that anyway with this hot and prickly guy? We would be riling each other up in front of the others, which would us turn on so hard that we’d stomp out of the living room, smash the door behind us, leaving the other gods clueless how this interaction actually could’ve been the foreplay 😂 Behind closed doors you can do all that naughty stuff you always wanted to try out with him, maybe leaving behind a destroyed bedroom. Sounds like a good plan for me?

Date: This was a really hard one. I decided to go with Zyglavis. I would be really curious to find out what kinda man lies behind the god who always looks severe and follows the rules. I’d love to mess with him and test his limits and of course I did fall in love his his damn hair (which is probably prettier then mine, cough.) I’d like to know what he is able to do in bedroom, just so I can gush around the other gods when they would make fun of him again 😏 He’d be the ying to my yang as he for example has the objectivity that I need as counter part to my emotional side.

BFF: There were a few possibilities for this position, but when I’m honest I would go with Ichthys. We would watch my favorite Disney movies together while singing along with all the songs 😁 (which of course would earn us annoyed looks from the other gods) Shopping would be always fun with him as he would try on the same dresses, assuring me that they look much better on him then on me. Going on street food festivals or try out new recipes at home would be so much fun as Ikky would try everything, no matter how spicy, exotic or strange it might look.

2. Kissed by the Baddest Bidder

So this was a hard one.... and I had to cheat a little but - who cares?!

Fuck: Here I definitely have to go with Luke. He is British, means he probably has an irresistible English accent, he is tall and honestly - I couldn’t resist his bone structure fetish. The way a doctor sees your body is so much different from a “normal” guy and it fascinates me. Not even mentioning that he for sure knows where and how he has to touch you to give you the most amazing night ever. Paired with his odd behavior which is just hilarious he is my man 🤷‍♀

BFF: As I was thinking about Eisuke and Soryu being really good buddies too, I went with one where I share more interests with - Rhion. He’d be my BFF because he is a dreamer but not stupid, an artist, he loves to dance and sucks in the kitchen so I would be glad to show him some things 😂 You’d had fun going shopping with him or binge watching Disney Movies or Series like Once Upon a Time, Grimm or Doctor Who.

And then there is Baba…

If I look at it realistically he is all three for me - I would totally fuck him (I mean, come on?!), I’d be more than happy to be his wife and in the end he would be my BFF too. I mean honestly, this man for sure will grant all your wishes in bed, he gives you a helping hand at home and is an amazing cook, brings you flowers and not just calls you princess but also treats you like one. He’d go shopping with you and give you style tips and your holidays will always be adventures and relaxing. What would you want more from a guy?

3. Irresistible Mistakes

Marry: I have to go with my No. 1 Otome-Man here and that is Toma. He is a tease and I’m sure we would have a loooot of fun together (not just in the bedroom lol). I can imagine us chasing and throwing pillows each other and then fall on to the bed and cuddle. He is my shoulder to lean on when I feel small and he will bring me back to reality when I’d be getting to irrational. He appreciates my food, my hard work and is supportive where ever he can be – what do I want more?

Fuck: Hmmm. I honestly can’t decide between Shunichiro and Yukihisa. Shun is a scoundrel and ooses sex appeal while Yuki is unpredictible and a mind reader. But Yuki gets a small minus point as he would not kiss me - and that’s something I’d definitly miss.

BFF: I was thinking really really hard about this one. There are two type of friends which I love to have around me. The first one are funny and crazy grown up childs and the other ones are my complete opposite, the calm, objective thinkers. So I went with Toshiaki here. He would be my calm anchor when I lose the connection to the ground and he’d help me organize my mind chaos when everything gets to much.

4. Enchanted in the Moonlight

Marry: For me there is just one real answer for this one – Kyoga. He is actually the type of guy which I can imagine really having a relationship with – easygoing, humorous, loyal, a literal beast in the sheets with a good appetite (in more than one sense, if you know what I mean… 😂 😂 😂) He wouldn’t complain go shopping with me, we’d explore the world together or just cuddle on the sofa watching a movie (which I probably would have to explain to him lol). So I’d be very happy to be the woman at his side.

Fuck: In this case I’d go with Miyabi, I’d love to catch him by surprise when he comes with one of his pervy jokes and I’d be like “Sure let’s go, show me what you Kitsunes are made of” 😏 😏 or pulling him into the shower and start making out instead of throwing him out of the bath where he tried to peep on me again xD We’d have fun.

BFF: As I love books and writing my choice is kinda obvious, so I’d go with Kiryu for my BFF. He is a more the objective type of guy and would help me a lot to organize my thoughts when I would rile myself up about some stupidity. He knows the human world better then any other Ayakashi and would be able to understand my problems I might have at work or with my friends. Of course he would be merciless while teaching me how to write better fanfiction and we’d have a What’s App chat where he sends me new book recommendations quicker than I can actually read all of them.

5. Scandal in the Spotlight

Date: I’d go with Kyohei, I mean he is charming, good looking, successfull and loves Revance more than anything. It would be a little annyoing to date him in secret but would be really happy to share those special moments where we are alone and he actually shows me his ‘real’ self.

Fuck: This was a close call for Nagi as he is just as pervy as I am, but I’d go with Takashi… You know, still waters run deep – and he has a sound proof bedroom.

BFF: I mean come on! Of course I’d go with Nagito! He is a fashion designer and I sew my own clothes, so who would be a better fit for me there? On top he is just as suggestive and childish as I am – so we would have plenty of fun together. If it’s gossiping about the other boy’s love life or a way how we can organize an amazing surprise party for them, I’d be all in.

6. Our Two Bedroom Story

Marry: Minato

Fuck: Tsumugu

BFF: Shusei

7. Era of Samurai

Marry: Okita (tho I would also fuck him xD)

Fuck: Hijikata

BFF: Kondo

8. Mystic Messenger

Marry: Zen

Fuck: Saeran

BFF: Seven

Tagging @mandyinwonderland-blog @justjen523 @lin-ful @speakfearlessly1989 @hifftn @rougepetale @you-wandered-here @iluvsexyvoltageguys @voltage-my2dlove @gamerneko-girl

#tagging #voltage #voltage ranking #kissed by the baddest bidder #star crossed myth #enchanted in the moonlight #irresistible mistakes #scandal in the spotlight #era of samurai #mystic messenger #our two bedroom story

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subasekabang · 6 years

Text

Ties We Bind (& Break), Chapter 3

Author: @composeregg Rating: T Word Count: 15435, Chapter total: 3415 Pairings/Characters: Joshua/Neku, Shiki/Eri, Joshua & Neku & Shiki & Beat & Rhyme & Eri in a queerplatonic poly-pile relationship. Hanekoma, Kariya. Warnings: Includes depression heavily, and mentions of suicide. Summary: One year after the Long Game, a tall boy named Yuuto Kimura, who has messy black hair, glasses, and bright green eyes, stumbles into Neku’s life, and he can’t help but let him get close, letting him join the circle of friends.

One year after the Long Game, Joshua aches to hang out with Neku again, but the restrictions he’s gained for his transgressions are very clear: Yoshiya Kiryu, Composer of Shibuya, is not to interact with Neku Sakuraba.

(But every rule has a loophole.)

Author’s Note: Each chapter is also being added to ao3! Here! (Small delay per chapter).

Featuring autistic/neurodivergent characters, the “Joshua is Neku’s Dead Best Friend” theory, and lots of headcanons abound.

“So not that you ain’t cool, man, but what’cha doin’ at this meet?” Beat asks, looking at Yuuto.

They’re gathered at Hachiko on a Saturday, like they’ve done twice a month since the Game. Without Eri, so they could hang out as former Game Players.

At least, Beat thought that’s what this was, but Yuuto is standing near. He’d tagged along with Neku to the meetup. None of the others are questioning it, and it makes Beat feel left out of the loop.

“Mm, and here I thought this was for people who’ve played the Game,” he says with a smile, and Beat freezes.

“Sorry, I told him I was meeting up with you guys and he invited himself along,” Neku says. “I told Shiki already, she was the first to show up last Sunday besides me, so we got to chat, but yeah. He apparently played a few years back.”

“It’s been a while since my Game week. I got to play under the previous Composer, in fact; there’s been a regime change since.” Neku frowns at that statement, a flicker across his face before it’s gone, but Beat catches it.

He also notices Rhyme’s reaction, or… lack of it. So he nudges them. “And how come you ain’t surprised by this?”

They shrug, hesitating. “I… I could feel it. My instincts said he’d been touched by the Game, and trusting your instincts is important.”

Ah.

Beat wraps an arm around them, giving a big squeeze. He knows they haven’t told the others yet, and he hasn’t either, but they don’t keep secrets from each other, and… Being a Noise for a bit did something to Rhyme. They get glimpses of the UG, see and feel the presence of Noise, and sometimes they talk about it. Noise running on basic emotions, how it’s heightened their instincts, and how they have to restrain those more now.

Being a Reaper means he didn’t get out unscathed either. The UG is greyscale, hazy, but there in his sights. Power pulses under his skin, buried deep in his core. It’s locked away, he can’t reach it, but if he could…

It’s not a risk he’s willing to take. Beat doesn’t want to be a Reaper, and he doesn’t need that power.

“So, where should we hang out today?” Shiki asks, steering the conversation back onto the tracks. “I’d offer the studio, but Eri said she wanted to get some work done, so she’s there right now.”

“Me and Rhyme’s parents is home, so our place is a no-can-do, sorry yo,” he says.

“And my place is too small to hold us all. Or at least, my mom thinks so, and she’s home.” Neku sighs.

Yuuto grins, and chimes in, “I don’t mean to be presumptuous, asking if you’d like to come to my place, but… Like I said before, rich parents and I live alone.”

“Cool wit’ me,” says Beat, and the others agree.

One quick walk later and, “You live here!?” Shiki gasps, holding a hand to her chest. “If you can afford a Pork City apartment, you must not’ve been joking about rich family!”

“Not just any apartment, the penthouse. The lap of luxury, all to myself!” He laughs, rolling his eyes. “It’s so boring and lonely being isolated there all the time.”

It’s an expensive place to rent, Beat knew that, but as they walk through the halls illuminated by chandeliers and past lounges and rooms of all sorts to the elevator, it starts to sink in just how extravagant this place is.

“It’s a bit much, I think,” Yuuto says, “but I’m not gonna argue where my parents put me. Just a heads up though, a lot of Reapers live here too. I think it’s part of being in the Game, they still need a place to stay, after all.”

With a flourish, he opens the door, and plops down on a recliner chair. Beat follows him in, as do the rest, and Yuuto instructs them to make themselves at home so they all get situated. Neku stakes a claim on the other empty chair, while Beat ends up on the couch, Rhyme in the middle, with Shiki on the other end.

“Sooo,” says Yuuto, “what do y’all do when you gather like this, Players only?”

“Talk, vent, throw stuff at each other, make bad jokes and memes,” Neku says, slipping his headphones down so they rest around his neck. “We should probably share Game stories first, since you’re new here.”

Yuuto nods. “Mm… Well, I played about two years ago. My partner was Uzuki Yashiro,” he says, continuing without noticing the way the rest of them tense, the way the background music jumps as the CD hits a scratch. “She’s a Reaper now, as far as I know. We did not get along well, but we survived.”

“She’s awful,” Shiki groans. “We all had to deal with her, and she’s a manipulative slimy asshole.”

“Sounds about right,” he says with a snort. The next words out of Yuuto’s mouth were softer: “My Fee was my friend’s memories of me. They managed to nitpick something I’d done, and I didn’t get it back. He remembers nothing.”

Neku winces, Shiki gasps, Rhyme closes their eyes and sighs, and Beat… He can only think of Rhyme, and how they never recognized him as their brother. Every little thing they should’ve been able to think of, from calling him bro to their jokes and the quiet nights they’d whisper to each other, not wanting to be alone. Losing that, forever?

It’d destroy him.

“I can’t imagine what it’d be like to forget someone so close to you forever,” Neku says. He’s sitting sideways on the chair, legs draped over one of the armrests and his head against the other. “I mean, the memories are just gone? How do you not realize you’re missing something? How do other people not notice, if they were so close to you?”

“I remember,” Rhyme sighs. “I remember what it was like to forget. It’s like, you know that person exists, know who they were to you, but all the little details were gone. Name, face, specific memories… dust in the wind.”

Beat wraps an arm around them, and they lean on him. Soft touches, a solid presence, reminders that they’re there for each other. That they haven’t left or forgotten.

Yuuto nods at the words, and dangles himself upside-down off the chair, hair skimming the wooden floor. “He doesn’t remember me. He knows he had a friend, but I haven’t tried to rekindle that bond… I miss him, but I lost it all when I lost my Fee.”

“Well hey, maybe you’ll get another chance someday!” Shiki says, cheer infused in her voice. “Not every end is final, and even if he doesn’t remember the details, I’m sure he’d love to have an old friend back.” She’s hops up on the back of the couch, feet hanging in front of the back cushion.

“The world begins with you and all that jazz, huh?” Yuuto snorts. “Your world gets bigger if you reach out to others. Maybe I’ll tell him, sometime. For now, I’ll wait and see what the future holds.”

Chat: [It’s not gay if we’re dead]

[Emo gay has added Yuuto Kimura to the chat]

Emo gay: Welcome to the dead kid’s club.

A lot of this chat is Shiki yelling about how cute Eri is.

An entire 50% of this chat is all of us being queer.

Fashion lesbian: Listen,

She’s beautiful and I’m gay as hell.

And she’s not in this chat so I’m allowed to scream.

Yuuto Kimura: Noted.

[Yuuto Kimura has changed their name to Music queer]

Music queer: I figured I should fit the theme.

Space battery: Nice name!

Music queer: Thanks I picked it out myself!

I must ask, though, why battery?

Space battery: I’m triple-A.

Skateboard ace: And they always got enough energy to charge up everyone else

Space battery: Beat,

You should take a look at yourself sometime, you’ve got enough energy to power the sun!

Emo gay: Another 20% of this chat is these two being adorable siblings so jot that down.

Music queer: What’s the last 30%?

Emo gay: 20% memes and dead jokes, 10% depression.

Music queer: You know what? Valid.

I think I’ll fit right in.

Rhyme likes Yuuto, they really do! It’s been a month since he’s joined the group, and he’s been nothing but fun. Maybe not the nicest, he likes to tease Neku, but he’s got good intentions, so they like him!

It’s just…

There’s something wrong about him.

Indescribably, horrifically wrong.

Noise do not draw near him. If one gets too close, they freeze and dart away. His mere presence wards them all, and Rhyme can sense it, the Noise are afraid.

Rhyme knows this, because they feel the same.

An instinctual terror, prickling at the hair on their arms, raising the alarm. They squash it down, tuck it away until it doesn’t bother them, but it’s there. Clawing at the back of their throat.

They’ve felt it before, in the presence of Neku’s 2nd week Game Partner. Joshua.

It’s fuzzy, grey-scaled and water-damaged, but they remember being a Noise, operating on instinct alone. They remember when they were returned to a human form, to life.

They remember the Composer.

So they message him.

Rhyme: Hey can we talk today? At WildKat, preferably.

Yuuto: Sure. May I ask why?

Rhyme: You can, but I’m not answering that here, only in person.

Which is how they find themself seated in a booth across from Yuuto after school that evening. Untouched coffee sits before both of them, steam curling up and away.

“So,” he draws, picking up his cup, “Are you going to answer my question now?”

They nod. “Your name is actually Joshua, and you’re the Composer.”

Coffee splashes over the table and over his lap as Yuuto flinches back and drops it. With a yelp, he jumps up, hissing, “Ow! Fuuuuck that’s hot!”

They watch as he hops around, grabbing at napkins to clean up. With a roll of their eyes, they say, “I’m right, aren’t I? You can use your powers if I am, no sense hiding them.”

He spares a glance at Rhyme, and then waves a hand to make the mess disappear.

“Well, I’m sure that answers your question,” he says, sliding back into his seat. “Do I get to know how you figured it out?”

“I remember,” they say. “Not… Not well, most of my time as Noise is static, but I remember what it’s like. During the second week of it all, I know Neku’s Partner set me on edge, and when the Composer brought me back, I remember that flighty feeling from then, too. You’ve got the same vibe.”

Yuuto rubs his forehead, taking a long, deep breath. “This was unexpected,” he mutters. “You want to know why I’m lying about my identity, I assume.”

Rhyme nods. “I also want to know if you plan on messing with Neku again,” they say. When Yuuto’s eyes widen, they cut in before he can speak. “He didn’t tell us what you did, but we can all see how he acts. You did something. You don’t have to tell me what you did, Neku isn’t ready for us to know, but I want to make sure you won’t do it again.”

“Fair enough,” he says, and then his color starts to bleed away.

The black seeps out of his hair, and it bounces into wavy curls. Green flashes to purple in his eyes, and his skin goes a few shades paler. Nothing about the structure of his face changes, but he takes off his glasses, and there’s Joshua, sitting in front of them.

“I’ll start simple. I promise I mean no harm to Neku.” At their snort, he frowns. “I mean that! I hold my past actions in great contempt. I wasn’t in a good space, mentally. Like, you met Neku early on during the Game, I was like that, but a hundred times worse.”

“Oh.”

He laughs. “Yeah, oh. I won’t say what I did, but it was bad, and he has every right to be mad. I didn’t expect him to want to see me, after everything.”

“He does though, so hiding behind a false face is a cowardly move.”

“My superiors would rather I not interact with him at all. This is my loophole,” he says, which, what?

It’s a puzzle, and they don’t have all the pieces, but with some work and head-tilting, they can still make out the picture. “You were told not to meet up with him, weren’t you?”

“Bingo, but they specified Yoshiya Kiryu, Composer of Shibuya, not Yuuto Kimura, ex-Game Player who lived in America these past two years.”

Rhyme crosses their arms over their chest, leaning back. “Clever. Going to fake this forever, then?”

“Nah, working on getting that rule repealed.”

“And what will you do when it is? Your reveal will be another betrayal, another way you stab him in the back, because he’ll think it’s been an elaborate joke.” It’s dramatic, but Neku would. At first.

Joshua snorts. “I know him better than you do. I know he’ll call me an asshole and think I’m messing with him, pulling his strings, but I have some stuff I can say, which might help.”

“What sort of stuff?”

“The truth.”

“Okay, so first things first, we need to get your measurements!” Shiki says, measuring tape in hand as Eri grabs the notepad and pen.

Yuuto laughs. “No time to waste?”

The studio is a mess, mannequins with half-finished projects hanging off them, fabric strewn across the floor, needles shoved into the armrest of the couch, spools of thread in corners and on shelves, and design papers scattered around the room.

It’s perfect. Creativity spawned from this disaster, beauty found in the calamity of a localized tornado. Shibuya’s life shines bright in spaces like this, her Soul strengthened, bursting with energy.

Were he not Yuuto right now, he’d love to soak up the Imagination and refine it, give them good luck for ages.

“Of course, of course! Why dilly-dally when we can get this ball rolling?” Eri laughs, pulling him out of the doorway and into the room proper. “Now let Shiki work her magic!”

He does, standing still as Shiki measures and calls out numbers. Eri dutifully writes them down, and he lets Shiki adjust his positioning as needed to get the most accurate results.

Once Shiki has the measurements, he plops down onto the couch, a grin on his face. There’s more than enough seating for the three of them. The entire gang had crashed here the day before. “So, this thing you’re gonna have me model, what is it?”

Eri flits around, grabbing her sketchpad and pencils, before sitting at her desk. “We’re going to start with something simple first. Maybe a basic suit, or a dress? You could rock either. How do you feel about pink? I feel like it’d suit you well. Or maybe a bright green, or something more forest-y. It’d go well with your eyes.”

“Ooh, pink is always fun, but you’re right, green would match my eyes. I absolutely love blues and purples too, by the way!” He leans back, pulling out a sheet of paper for himself, and a pencil. “Musical motifs are fun, since I’m a composer of music.”

Shiki’s head snaps up to look at him, but he gives no reaction back. Eri, meanwhile is going “Oooh,” and scrawling that down as a note.

“Music notes would be cool to work into some of the things we make you in the future! Little embroidered notes and designs! It’d be super cute!” she says, a grin lighting up her face.

Danger lurks in the room, Shiki refusing to take her eyes off him, but Eri remains oblivious. He gives Shiki a wink, after a moment, playing it off with a shrug. She huffs, and turns her attention back to the doodles Eri is scrawling.

“Mm, we could add some lacework, couldn’t we?” she asks.

Yuuto sighs, tapping his fingers against the fabric of the couch. “If you do add lace, could you keep it minimal or in places that won’t rub against my skin? The texture can be irritating as all hell.”

“Noted!” Eri scribbles that down in the margins as well. At this rate, they’re no doubt going to have a folder on his preferences and design ideas.

The thought of them keeping a record on him sends a spark of warmth through his heart. Watching them squabble over design ideas in the afternoon sunlight, filtering in through the window, makes the sight look like home.

The kid sitting in front of Koki is not one he knows. It’s not one he’s ever met or talked to before. He’d been enjoying his meal when this kid walked into Ramen Don and sat across from him.

Except that’s a lie.

Koki might not know this kid with short black hair and green eyes, but he knows those glasses, he knows that grin, and he knows the Music.

“What’s up, J?”

“Shhh, I’m Yuuto like this, remember?” He holds a finger to his lips, hiding his smile. “Can’t have you talking about my secret when the others could waltz right in and see me.”

Koki snorts. “And what will they say if they walk in on their good friend Yuuto having lunch with a Reaper?”

“They know I’ve always seen the UG, I’ll just tell them the truth. I’ve known you since before I ever played, and you’re just a weird uncle type dude.” Yuuto grins, and orders some Shio while they talk.

“Alright, you got me there. I pull off weird uncle well, don’t I?” he asks with a laugh.

“You do, you really do.”

Koki takes a bite of his own ramen, slurping it up. It’s been a while since he’s gotten food with the little brat, but it’s well worth it to make sure he’s eating. The kid always forgets to take care of himself, so if Koki has to step up the family-figure role in his life to ensure he does, so be it.

“So, how’s the whole friends thing goin’, anyway? It’s been a few months so far, right?”

Josh shrugs. “Yeah, it has. It’s going good. They’re all… really nice to me,” he says, fiddling with his hair. “Like, Rhyme, the one that got Erased, they figured out who I am, and they still accept me, though… They don’t know the whole story, but still!”

Ramen arrives, and so Josh has to speak between bites now, as Koki sits and listens to him ramble. “Neku checks up on me and makes sure I’m not left out. He keeps me from retreating into my shell. Shiki and Eri have already been working on making me clothes because they need more models,” he laughs. “Beat is trying to teach me how to skateboard, and I have to remember not to heal up my scrapes and bruises because that’d be suspicious.”

“You’re happy with them all, huh?” he asks. It’s obvious to him, the way Josh lights up, even in this false form. This is the most friends he’s ever had, and it shows in the hands he waves in the air, the glint of life in his eyes, how much this means to him.

“Yeah! I mean, I wish I could tell Neku,” the blinding smile dims at the statement, “but I can’t. This is the best alternative to that.”

“Hey, in a year or two? You’ll be able to tell him, so don’t sweat about that. I’m sure he’ll understand.” With the way his mom raised him, he’d better, Koki doesn’t say, but he thinks it. It had taken a bit of digging, and it’s such a trivial fact, one thread of being related, but it’s there.

He died before he could see his little sister have children, over a hundred years ago. Now, he’s found a distant descendant. He’s an uncle, with a few greats in front of the grand, but he’s an uncle to somebody alive.

The conversation continues, both of them unaware of the figure watching from outside the window. With a snap, Shiki takes a picture of Yuuto hanging out with a Reaper, eyes narrowing.

She’s got her suspicions. They’ve grown a bit stronger now.

#TWEWY #The World Ends With You #World Ends With You #Subarashiki Kono Sekai #TWEWY Bang 2018 #submission

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