pierroettie

it's been too long since I've written the last post I lowkey forgot what I'm doing

Beat Bito (swapped with Shiki)

Beat's entry fee- Rhyme's memory of him- is still the same, but Rhyme is no longer a player. Beat would be a lot more upbeat (no pun intended) since Rhyme is still alive. But under that, Beat would struggle with motivation. Dying after an outburst with his family, and dying alone this time, no longer would Beat have the drive to get through the reaper's game to save Rhyme, since she's perfectly fine. I don't think Beat would be depressed enough to the point of being suicidal and giving up completely, but I do think he'd struggle with knowing what he wants and what his goal even is in the first place. Beat would struggle with more self deprecation but swallow it down, and at the end of week one he'd be able to come to terms with himself and move forward.

Beat would encounter Rhyme in the rg, acting as if she didn't just have her brother up and die. He'd get pretty worked up about it before realizing that her memories are gone. Rhyme would feel as though some huge piece of her was missing. After seeing her express this, Beat would collect the courage to beat the game and repair his relationship with his sister.

Beat and Joshua would be reluctant partners who eventually warm up to each other throughout the week. They're like street smarts and book smarts duo. This au doesn't have any specific ships in it though I will say beatjosh may have been my inspiration for making this in the first place lol... but I also just liked the idea of exploring different character dynamics. I don't think Josh can escape the priss kid nickname regardless of what universe he's in.

Design Notes:

For Beat, if you squint you'll see he's wearing like 3 layers but they're all sleeveless lol. I added some pins on his vest as a reference to Shikis design. I gave him pants and changes his shoes a little. Most of my design work for him was purely cosmetic and not for any particular reason.

For Rhyme, the art may look a little off model but she didn't have any forward facing sprites for me to base her off of but shhhhh it's fine. I have her wearing a school uniform with her iconic necklace & beanie since I think it makes most sense for the scenes for her in the rg to be with friends after school. Her cardigan is a duller version of her original sweater's color just so she still looks like herself. The cardigan is also similarly structured to the jacket I gave Beat.

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w/o the fog

Shiki Misaki (swapped with Beat)

Here's where things start to get interesting; as I've mentioned in the previous posts, the characters entry fees are the same. So in this case, Shiki still looks like Eri. Only this time, Eri (who is swapped with Rhyme) is actually a player and Shiki's game partner in week one- Eri's dreams are her entry fee. Like Beat with Rhyme, Shiki loses Eri who gets turned into noise. Of course, Shiki becomes a reaper as well (both pictured in the art above).

In og TWEWY, Shiki's arc has her able to figure out why her entry fee was what it was, and work through her turmoil and identity struggle through the (kind of) support of Neku and catalyst of Higashizawa. Neither of those things are true for this au. In this case, she has to figure it all out on her own. Initially upon realizing that Eri no longer remembers wanting to be a designer, and upon realizing the nature of her own entry fee, Shiki would feel incredibly guilty. A mix of guilt and determination is what drives her.

og Shiki's bubbly nature is her mimicking Eri, since Eri is actually a player and very much present this time, Shiki would no longer do this. She's still kind, loyal, and occasionally stubborn, she just doesn't play the part of Eri since it would be kind of awkward. She'd be a bit more shy but still eager to work with everyone during the first week. Like Beat, her kindness would prevent her from doing any real harm as a reaper in week two.

Joshua and Shiki don't interact much if at all during the course of the og game. After the first two weeks, Joshua will have opened up and softened up a bit more. In week 3, when the two of them are partners, I think Joshua and Shiki would get along quite well. Shiki no longer has to bear her burdens on her own, and Joshua would appreciate the company. Also it's a plus that they both like shopping this would be like girls week fr.

Design Notes:

For Shiki, I wanted her outfit to be pretty similar to her real appearance in both og TWEWY and NEO, but following a closer silhouette to her outfit as Eri. Mr. Mew is like an oversized plush keychain though honestly that was just cuz I didn't want to draw her holding him lol. Shikis hair is also a little different since its not being held down by a hat and also because I wanted a little more visual distinction between her and Eri, it's a bit shorter and more compact.

For Eri, I just wanted to give her a simple and cute outfit to reflect her interests. I used mostly the same colors from her original design aside from the hat & belt. Her noise form is a cat, and it's based off of Mr. Mew.