Fandom: The World Ends With You / It's a Wonderful World
Pairing: Yoshiya 'Joshua' Kiryuu x Neku Sakuraba
Theme set: Gamma for
1sentenceRating: PG-13 for one or two vague descriptions of sex.
Warning[s]: Spoilers to the entire game.
Author Notes: I am so sorry these suck so hardcore. Trying to do 1-sentence drabbles for these two is like being asked to
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I think it works both ways - kill the Composer, get the job, or work your way up to Composer and be promoted to the job. But you have to look at it from the point of just how powerful Joshua is. He literally can warp Shibuya to suit his needs or can wipe it off the map. Anything that is done to him is because he allows it to happen. So the idea of killing the Composer to get his job means either being allowed to have a shot at the Composer (such as Joshua gave Neku) or outsmart the Composer.
And I think Joshua probably IS very wary of his Composer - I mean, he kills Kitanji without hesitation even though he didn't really have any need to, when you'd think that maybe Kitanji would be one of the few beings that could be close to being a friend to Joshua. So that's either A) Proof of what a God Complex Joshua has that he only honors Neku as another Being (and Hanekoma) or B) He does regard Kitanji as a genuine threat.
I think that maybe Joshua is not particularly great as a Composer. He has the Imagination and the intelligence to be him, but the point of the Reaper's Game is not to be evil and enjoy killing/punishing people. (As hinted at by his 'I'd rather just get rid of them' mentality, he doesn't seem to like people, or consider them people. And here we run into the similarities with Josh and Neku, who could very well be prodigies suffering from alienation.) It's meant to be a way to test the souls of people. Those that fail the test get erased because they're not worthy to continue on to a higher existence, according to the Secret Reports. (That whole 'erasure' thing seems like a shorthand for 'sent to hell' almost. I know it's not, but just an observation.)
In other words, the whole game is an effort to find good souls. Except Joshua is one twisted puppy and when you're twisted, you can only create things that are equally twisted. I mean, look at his subordinates, the people he chose to do his bidding. They're all sadistic, insane and so on. I think Shibuya went bad because Joshua became bitter/or couldn't improve himself, stuck in the same mentality that Neku is in at the beginning of the game. Joshua relates to Neku, sees a mirror image of himself - different, but the same. So when Neku starts getting 'better', Joshua is confused and intrigued. It's one of the reasons why I ship these two so hard, I think Joshua wants to grab hold of Neku because he views him as the part Joshua needs to complete his own being, because obviously, Neku is capable of change - whereas as far as we know (if my theory is right), Joshua has ruthlessly manipulated everything to suit his own needs, unable to change. We're both pretty sure he did some nasty, Joshua-esque things in order to become the Composer, and as the Composer he does a LOT of bad things that just break poor Neku's head. But in the end he seems to do the one genuinely good thing that we know of that he's ever done, that isn't driven by personal gain, and seems almost a favor to Neku - sparing Shibuya, and bringing Neku & company back to life.
I'm just going to stop now. TL;DR; Joshua is Neku's soulmate. Totz. And he's a sneaky little bastard.
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So much intricate patterning and theories and occasional crack. It's just. . . amazing.
Seriously, though, from now on I am actually thinking Genius/Prodigy!Neku is canon. IT MAKES TOO MUCH SENSE TO NOT BE.
Also the fact that Joshua + UG = YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG. You know he totz became Composer in the most shady way ever. Then again, despite the fact that Joshua had kind of twisted the game, the souls that came out in the end were probably much, much better than ones that would come out in a normal game because he pushed them so far. Case and point - Neku. So you could say that it's a good thing that he's made it so goddamn hard.
TL;DR; Joshua is Neku's soulmate. Totz.
WHOLEHEARTEDLY AGREE. MEETING ADJOURNED [EXCEPT NOT, BECAUSE I LOVE THESE MEETINGS.] Srsly, I think if he could, and I think he kind of can, Joshua would totz give Neku everything and more. Except Neku would never except it because Neku is Neku and therefore paranoid ♥
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Which brings me into what it means to be the Composer and what Shibuya is. Shibuya is just one ward (of 23) of Tokyo. So what Joshua means by destroying it it's not like he's saying he wants to blow up the world. I think it literally means that Shibuya would fade out of existence as if it never was. Both the RG and the UG version. I don't think he means that he's going to kill people because as theorized above, I don't think it's within the rules for him to touch anyone that is alive. His business is the souls of the dead, not the living. (and since Shibuya is just one out of twenty-three, one wonders if the other 22 wards don't have their own running Games with Composers. Or if Games are only set where high concentrations of diverse samplings of humanity converge.)
This is really not what I should be trying to figure out twenty minutes after waking up. No siree. and I'm hungry.
I agree with everything said. Lawl. ♥ Come on, Square-Enix. Make a TWEWY sequel. You know we'll buy it.
.... I was just about to hit post. And I went to pick out an icon.
EXAMPLE OF HOW MY BRAIN WORKS;
Step 1: Open icon gallery. Browse.
Step 2: Look at new icon I just made from Chikan Diary.
Step 3: Have been thinking precisely one minute prior about how awesome Josh and Neku are and the whole Soulmate/alternate dimensions theory that they're together no matter what changes.
Step 4: Stare at icon. Notice school uniform.
Step 5: Plot bunny pops to life; "Mmmn, Josh and Neku in school uniforms in a boarding school...."
Step 6: Drink yourself into oblivion. wait, I'm allergic. FUCK.
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I'm pretty certain games would be everywhere instead of just in places with a high concentration of people because, surely, the players would have to know their way around right? So, if they're just put into the game nearest to them, maybe with a place they've never been, that's hardly fair.
Oh but there's totz some shit going down upstairs, because, as you said, the living are a no-go. However, despite Josh breaking this assumed rule of not doing anything to the living, he technically saved Shibuya by doing that, so the superiors are probably all like "Fuck." because they don't know how to punish him. They were also alerted to the presence of Neku, who is clearly quite 'special' in terms of the living, what with him now having a ridiculously pure soul.
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So, yeah. no go on the whole boarding school thing because way too cliche and I am tired and I have enough crackfic and aufic on my plate. But mmn. Uniforms.
He saved Shibuya from what though? Himself? I do lawl at the upper management totally not knowing how to handle him though.
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Oh, yeah, seriously, your plate is full enough as it is lololol I am a hypocrite because I put a lot of bunny on that plate
Such a lovely thought, though ♥
I feel bad for thinking that upper management are literally idiots. I mean, they are angels. They must know something, right? Right?
Yeah. No need to tell me. I know they know nothing. Probably can't even see anything from their clouds and whatnot.
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That whole 'of one mind and one thought and PERFECT BLESSED ZOMBIE HARMONY' amongst the angels is bullshit, otherwise Hanekoma would not have gotten up to the hijinx he did. AND ALSO, Josh probably heard that's what happens up there and went 'hell no'.
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LAWL x 10000
Maybe when you're outside of a certain radius you get your mind back? Like, because Mr H was so far away he could get into mishaps and hijinx and whatnot. Yeah, Josh probably got the chance to ascend forever ago, mostly because they don't want him as Composer anymore, and just laughed in their face before going to completely obliterate their main rule by shooting Neku.
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Sounds... pretty much exactly like Josh. He's happy ruling his little piece of hell earth, why would he want to be a mindless servant drone in heaven? Goddamn, this makes me really curious as to how old Joshua is. He's obviously in his mid-late twenties going by his Composer form, but considering Kariya's comments, I think Josh has been around longer than Kariya, so I'd say he's been the Composer for at least 10 years... Square-Enix, plz answer our questions, thx.
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I know, right? This also gets you on to the topic of when exactly did Joshua die? And how? I kind of think he committed suicide to get into the game because he somehow knew about it, but I wouldn't think he'd do it in his twenties. Also, I kind of believe there's a rule about not getting to be in the game if you commit suicide. So, there goes my whole theory about his suicide by my own contradicting mind :D
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Well, my favorite theory is that Joshua and Hanekoma were never lying to Neku. That Joshua really IS/WAS a psychic kid who while alive watched the game, and then shoved himself into the game 'while alive' with the intent to dispose of the current Composer and take control of the River.
I think if that's true, it'd be very symbolic that Joshua takes that important part of his life, those series of events that made him who he is... that he more than likely did ALONE because being a psychic kid like that/a prodigy probably meant that he had a god complex/alienation issues from the very start, and tries to relive them with Neku.
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I'd be all "OHMYGOD WTF." *cries in a corner*
Golly gosh. I do love the fact that we know next to nothing about Joshua and can twist everything back to Neku, Neku, Neku who is his soulmate forever and ever :D
It's weird that he relieves it with Neku. Almost like he's hurting himself. Then again, I suppose that he probably just wanted to see if Neku would end up in the same boat as him, which we all know he does not, and boom, obsession occurs.
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I don't think it's painful in that he's hurting himself by reliving the memory with Neku. If he went into the game alive, he did it with the purpose to gain power. So he went in with determination, same as he 'seems' to do when we first meet him via Neku. I mean, it's painful because no one ever likes being alone even if they're convinced themselves that they're perfect/better without anyone/etc - I think trying to relive it with Neku is a way for Joshua to feel closer to Neku, sort of draw Neku into his life without Neku having a clue of how special he's being treated.
But really, that's just one of the theories. We'll never know, I suppose. *shrugs* I do at the same time think that if it's true, then he did it also with the intention to see what Neku's reaction would be. Plus that whole 'last game' with the shooting of each other... it's got very interesting implications.
Not to mention highly suggestive. Lawl. Josh killed Neku TWICE. What other couple can claim that? xD
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