ˡᵉᵗ'ᶳ ʷᵃᵗᶜʰ ᵗʰᶤᶳ ᶜᶤᵗʸ ᵇᵘʳᶰ

“… But I really do appreciate it,” Neku repeated. “It… really was nice to at least talk to someone about it,” he added, still not looking back at Joshua- At least, he wasn’t until Joshua said something else. 

Even if Joshua had cut himself off- Neku knew exactly what the Composer was referring to. And, almost instantly, the ex-proxy redirected his gaze so that he was looking more towards Joshua- Though he wasn’t making eye contact. Just from the way he was acting, it was obvious that Neku was incredibly nervous at this point. “… It’s… n…othing,” he responded quietly, barely even audible. 

Yes. That light, barely visible, line across Neku’s throat was nothing. Just like how a sniveling little boy, all those years ago, was nothing. Just like how the gun he held shakily to his head was nothing. Just like the feel of his fingers around the trigger was nothing. Just like how the sudden, bursting, pain of a bullet was nothing. Just like how suddenly your vision could fade to black was nothing.

Nothing left scars, visible or not.

...Still; There was a time and place for everything. And now was certainly not the time. Joshua had had a glimpse of ‘nothing’ now; And that was enough to know. Perhaps he’d pressure Neku at a later date, when both of them were more ready to talk about such dire things. Or, perhaps, Joshua would never bring it up at all. Some things were just better left in the past; Unspoken. Maybe Neku’s scar was to be laid to rest... Much like past friends.

“Yes, of course.” Joshua quietly responded, brushing a few strands of hair away from his face. “Forgive me to jumping to any conclusions. You really must get the lighting in here un-ghost-proofed. It appears to be making me see things...” Joshua fell silent. Was lightening the mood even worth it? Would that only make things better or worse?

   Josh had to be jerking him around.

   Who the hell saunters their prissy little ass up three flights of stairs, dead of night, frigid temperatures, to visit on a fucking … Thursday. Who does that? Who shows up unannounced on a Thursday? Unaccustomed to the nuances of friendship as he may be–who the hell does that? And after he had explicitly resolved to himself to do absolutely nothing until tomorrow. 

   But–no. Of course, there the little shit was, for once so unfortunately speaking the truth, when Neku peered cautiously through the peephole. Since … since when is a text conversation an invitation to home wreck? Rrrg.

   Rather than unlatch and open the door just yet, the boy tapped out a lazy message for Giggles McUninvited over there.

    Was it really fair to refer to him as ‘stiff and serious,’ when the only reference material Joshua had was from when he had been dead? And grieving a loss, to boot. Of course … Josh hadn’t been the first to make this brand of ‘observation.’ Far from it, really. It seemed as if his student peers were on a mutual quest to call out his resting bitch face whenever present. Or to point out how quiet he was. Or to ask why he didn’t talk. Or to …

    Luckily, he was distracted from that train of thought. Less luckily, the distraction came in the form of Joshua nearing busting his nose with one of his shoes. Did … did Josh ever take a break from being insufferable, or was it a full-time gig?

    Neku felt vaguely, in that moment, as if he had a very, very annoying kid brother.

    “Yeah, amazing. Nerdiest old lady shoes I’ve ever seen. First prize.”

    It was when he was shielding his face from potential damage that an impulse came over him. It was fucking rude to disrespect his personal space. And really fucking rude to disrespect the couch’s upholstery. His mom was still paying that shit off, honestly, or so he expected. So it was high time he leveled the playing field. He could be fucking rude, too.

    “Tell him what he’s won, Johnny,” he added, in a lofty, falsely charismatic tone, and he slid his hands under the lump of a boy strewn across him, implications be damned. “An all-expense paid trip to–”

    The floor. Joshua and his bony ass was being dumped onto the floor, flipped out of Neku’s lap (and out of his hair) in one fluid motion. 

Joshua didn’t even manage to fall gracefully. He slipped off the couch with a pathetic, nasally, cry, and a desperate flailing movement as he saw the floor racing towards him. And... Even more shamefully; His humiliation couldn’t save him from a face-first collision with Neku’s carpet. He let out yet another quick pained, cry, before just kind of lying in a sprawled out mess on the ground.

Get dunked on, Joshua.

His oh-so-smug expression now reduced to an irritated pout, Joshua pushed himself onto his knees. He hoped this wouldn’t leave a bruise. Surprisingly enough, Neku’s floor was more painful than one would have anticipated. Either that, or Joshua’s bones were just made of glass, and his skin of paper. The latter was much more likely.

The boy spent another moment pettily glaring at Neku, on his knees, before getting up and letting out a passive aggressive jab.

 “How could you, Neku!?”

Nonetheless, despite his now-sore-elbows, Joshua got Neku’s point. The Composer retreated to the entrance of Neku’s house, proceeding to, shamefully, take off his shoes. He gingerly placed the white sneakers down, before heading towards the dreaded couch, with less confidence, this time. Usually, if it had been anyone else shoving him off the couch, he would have obliterated them in a second. But this was Neku in question. Joshua couldn’t just shoot him for something like petty bickering. (Probably.) So, with that in mind, Joshua merely sat down, once again.

┘♫┌ “You. Shot me. Twice. You shot me, and befriended me, and then had the nerve to just disappear. What the hell is your problem?”

Someone was talking to him. He quickly snapped out of his thoughts and turned towards the source. Time had eroded away at him, and alas he didn’t remember who he was speaking to.

“Traveling, like you. Mostly wandering this town right now.”

This was the first person he’s seen in a while. He really can’t tell if it was just another person passing through or if it was someone living here. Most likely the former.

“I was looking for something here, but it’s deserted. A lot of people were able to go home because their worlds had been restored.”

He just wished his had been one of them. He couldn’t deny he was homesick. Considering he watched their home tear to pieces and what occurred right before that moment, he also didn’t want to see it again. It was just another conflict in his heart he needed to sort through.

“I’ve noticed how drab it’s been, too, though. Last time I stopped by it was more interesting.” Not very fun or stressless, but interesting, to say the very least. “With a town this big, you’d expect more bustling streets. Yet, it seems to be just you and me? How bizarre.” He knew exactly why there were less people. More worlds were returning to normal... Correct? Of course people would go scrambling back to their homes. The emptiness of the worlds was a good sign. Joshua knew he certainly hadn’t enjoyed his forced stay here.

But… yeah. No scientists. No scent of scientists anywhere around. There were only faint scents of people, but something about this world was just… familiar. It had to be a card world’s real duplicate, that was the only way he would know it. The original’s sense of smell hadn’t been as good as his was now before he’d entered the castle.

“That… works.” It was looking like it was pretty late on this world, wasn’t it? They had some time before the sun set, most likely, and he doubted there were any Heartless around. If there were, he couldn’t smell any, so they hadn’t been wherever they were for some time. But…

The boy continued to look around the area, but couldn’t note anything too special. There were overgrown trees, here and there. There was a red sunset looming overhead. And, of course, there was a ginormous mansion towering near the back of the fores-

Wait. What.

The deceased child halted his looking around, and instead settled for gawking at the building. Then, he proceeded to tap Riku on the shoulder, and accusingly whisper. “Is THAT familiar? Or am I just starting to hallucinate from whatever drugs I was on?” No. It looked too real to be fake. That had to be something. Could it be shelter for the night? Or was it already occupied?

Was someone watching them from there right now?

It… wasn’t a nice feeling to have that hope that he’d held on to ever since the Game was all for nothing- That he’d been gone for a very long time. That it wasn’t worth hoping that he was still around in the UG- It… just did’t seem like hoping for that was worth anything anymore. And, to be completely honest, it wasn’t. 

What was the point of having hope for something that he now knew was impossible? There wasn’t any point to it. 

“… Yeah, I guess you have a point, Joshua,” Neku responded, finally. As he spoke, the ex-proxy just kind of… scooted back a bit, leaning back against the wall and tilting his head up a bit- staring at the ceiling. Even if Joshua was trying to help, it… still hurt to think about it. But, Joshua did have a point. His friend’s death is what had led to everything that happened. It’s what led to oJoshua becoming Composer, to him meeting Joshua, Shiki, Beat, and Rhyme…- Even if he missed him so much, it… still led to something pretty nice in the long run. 

Neku was silent for another moment- Listening to Joshua talk about how, apparently, this was the ‘optimal Shibuya.’ About how things ended in the best possible way- 

But, Neku perked up just the slightest bit at the mention of how the souls of the Erased make up the city- Be it the Noise, or something else- While it may have been… Slightly strange to think about, it… did vaguely reassure Neku a bit more. Made him feel just the slightest bit better about everything. It… didn’t make him feel completely better- Not in the slightest. But it did help matters some. 

Neku was almost completely silent for another moment. It… Was really nice to have talked to someone about it. To have been able to share his feelings with someone- … Though, at the same time, he’d felt like a complete idiot for thinking that Joshua was going to be completely heartless and teasing about it- But could really blame Neku for thinking like that? You know how Joshua can be sometimes. 

“No need to thank me.” The Composer responded, shrugging quietly. “It’s just my duty to watch out for the citizens of my city. You especially. I couldn’t have you sad. Don’t worry, I’m not going to make you pay me back for this later, or anything. It’s the least I can do.” The Composer wouldn’t have admitted it, but he felt his heart swell with pride. He’d... Done something right, for once in his unlife. Even if it had only happened because of how selfish he’d been in the past.

“Truly. I don’t deserve that flattery.” And Joshua meant it. He felt just the smallest smile form at the corner of his lips. At least, until he took one good look at Neku, whom still had his head pointed up directly at the ceiling. At first, Joshua had only been bothered by the fact that Neku wasn’t making eye contact when monologuing... But then the Composer saw something much more disturbing. 

Just barely there, hardly visible to the naked eye, lay a light scar across the boy’s neck. Joshua froze up, staring directly at Neku’s upturned head, and hoping he was getting the wrong idea.

“Neku!? What is th-” The ghost(?)’s mouth ran dry, as he cut himself off. If that was what he was thinking it was, then now wasn’t the time to bring it up. Neku had just been through a lot. He didn’t need to go through more. If worst came to worst, Joshua would just ask him later... Or scan him. He didn’t want to make Neku cry again. Not when he was finally calming down.