Fic: Because Life Can Never Be Simple (Files 22-25)
Title: Because Life Can Never Be Simple
Author: anigirl15
Rating: PG-13 for the f-word
Warnings: Spoilers for EVERYTHING! (Well, you don't actually have to have read the Secret Reports, but I'll spoil them for you if you haven't.) My theories and ideas about various things in the TWEWY universe. Swearing.
Summary: Neku knows he shouldn't agree to anything Joshua proposes any more. He knows, yet he willingly starts a chain of events that will eventually shatter the boundaries of his world and shake Shibuya to its core. Stupid Joshua.
Notes: This is the companion fic to It’s Your Fault It’s Complicated, which is posted at twewyslash. These are the exact same story told in two different parallel worlds: one world where Joshua falls for Neku, and one world where he does not. This also means that both stories are VERY similar, and you should probably just pick one and stick with it, since reading both will involve a LOT of re-reading. If you wish to read the other story, you can find the link below, or click the cut to read this one.
Because Life Can Never Be Simple (Files 22 - 25)
[first] [back one] [forwards]
[jump to the other side]
[File 22]
“Can you hear it?”
Neku raised an eyebrow at the note that mysteriously appeared on his desk. He waited until the teacher had turned back to the board and was writing another equation to look over his shoulder and cast a confused glance at Joshua. Joshua looked back levelly at him. He quickly turned back to his desk and scribbled a reply, then gently tossed the piece of paper over his shoulder. “Hear what?”
A few moments later, the paper appeared on his desk again. “Listen. This doesn’t happen that often.”
Neku tuned out the math lecture, instead listening to Shibuya’s Music. Joshua was right, it was different. The swelling and crashing was a lot more pronounced, a lot more rhythmic than it usually was. As he listened, he could feel it going through him, riding the highs and sliding through the lows; a great beat like he’d never heard before.
“What is it?”
For once, he couldn’t hear Joshua beneath it all. The current was too powerful; it overwhelmed him and drowned out the voice that he could most of them time still faintly hear quietly beneath it all.
Then it happened.
He felt strange. His energy was changing, the now-familiar feeling of slipping into the UG starting to spread through his body. He gasped softly, beginning to panic. Suddenly the energy seemed to freeze in place, warp, and shift oddly. It wasn’t until the feeling receded and completely vanished that he felt Joshua’s finger poking him in the back.
The note was back on his desk.
“It’s a resonating dissonance. Two parallel worlds are now at odds in a way that makes them resonate together. It’s rare that it’s ever this strong. Usually these sorts of things only last a few seconds. Oh, and you’re still in the RG.”
“Sakuraba!”
His head snapped up and he quickly stood up. “Yes?”
The teacher was looking at him sternly. “Have you been passing notes in class?”
“I, uh, er, no…” He tried his best not to turn red with embarrassment. The teacher looked at him with a skeptical expression, then turned to Neku’s desk.
“I suppose you wouldn’t mind showing me that piece of paper, then?”
Neku stared at the floor as the teacher walked over and snapped it up before he could think of anything to do. He waited a few agonizing seconds, not exactly sure what any normal person would make of his and Joshua’s conversation.
“Fine, then. You may sit.”
“Huh?” Neku looked up in surprise, but quickly sat down. He looked in confusion to the note on his desk, only to find a slightly crumpled piece of paper with the equations from the board meticulously copied down on it. He stared at it, dumbfounded yet relieved. A few moments later, another note appeared in front of him.
“You owe me dinner. ♥”
He quickly tore that one up and stuffed the shredded remains in his pocket.
[File23]
Neku sighed and turned the Player Pin over in his hands once more. It was dark outside, really dark, probably well past midnight by now. His desk was lit by a single lamp, and the light reflected off the pin as he played with it.
How the hell do you make something like this?
He could definitely feel it now, something he couldn’t feel before. The energy that the pin radiated. The receiver that was encoded into it. The transforming signal it emitted. How it was trying to bind to him but at the same time it was pulling back, almost afraid. All these he could tell, he could pick them apart, he could separate them and he knew what each piece did but dammit if he could not figure out how to actually make one.
“Neku?” His mom knocked on his door. “Go to sleep, Neku. It’s late.”
He didn’t reply. After a moment he heard her sigh and walk away.
He uncovered the pin in his hands, hidden in the off-chance she walked in. He stared down at the design, studying it. For the first time that night, he wasn’t sensing its energy code. He was just looking at the design. Remembering its creator. Wondering just what the hell had happened that he’d missed.
What had happened to Mr. H.?
After a few moments he flipped his phone open and scrolled through the pictures. For some reason, he couldn’t bring himself to delete that one. The picture of Hanekoma standing at the back of WildKat, hiding the Lv. 5 keypin for him and Beat to find and go to the Shibuya River to bring an end to the Game. Neku found himself wondering, between Joshua and Hanekoma, how much of that Game had been planned out from the very beginning. The picture was all he had left of Mr. H. The picture, and the Player Pin.
Neku turned back to the pin. What would Joshua do if Neku refused to do this? Could the Composer possibly not be able to make them? If he didn’t have Player Pins, Joshua couldn’t run the Game. Maybe. But Neku doubted that the system hinged on a detail as small as that. So Joshua probably could make them, he was just too lazy of an ass to do so. Neku sighed.
He picked up the pin and held it in his left hand, sensing its energy yet another time. He looked at his empty right hand, imagining a second Player Pin there. What would it feel like to have two? Back when he had two, he couldn’t feel it like he could now, so it wasn’t as if he remembered anything useful. He closed his eyes and sighed again. They probably felt the same way. They’d have to be very similar, at least. Were they coded so that two could bond to a person? Or had he just been special?
He went through the different codes once more, paying careful attention to each of them. Neku had been surprised about how many effects the Player Pins truly had that as a Player he’d been completely unaware of. Though, now that he looked back on it, most of what he discovered made perfect sense when paired with his experiences.
He went to open his eyes again, but suddenly found himself much more tired than he’d thought. All he could really see of his desk was a blurry light, which he managed to turn off with a bit of fumbling just before laying down his head and falling asleep in his chair.
He awoke in the morning nearly an hour late for school. Neku quickly got ready and rushed out of his home in a panic, too distracted to realize that he’d left behind two Player Pins, sitting innocently on his desk.
[File24]
Neku slunk into his seat, trying his best to avoid catching the attention of the teacher who luckily hadn’t quite yet turned around to take attendance. He cast a quick glance over his shoulder, catching the gaze of a pair of purple eyes.
“You’re late, Neku. Hee hee.”
He scowled. “I was working on your stupid pins.”
Joshua smiled, but Neku somehow doubted that it was genuine. “Such a hard worker! I hope you still have energy left to practice controlling your vibe, Neku~”
Neku was about to respond, but the teacher began speaking and he had to turn back towards the front before he got in any more trouble.
[File25]
“That was closer.”
Neku made a sound of frustration and pulled away from Joshua, sitting back in his chair. “How many more times am I going to have to try this today, Josh? It’s been over two hours already.”
“I said, until you-”
“‘Until I can control my vibe’, I know. I’m not entering the UG on accident anymore, isn’t that enough?!”
Joshua was staring at Neku in surprise. Neku was about to question when he spoke again. “You cut me off.”
“… And?” Neku deadpanned.
Joshua chuckled to himself. “Oh, no. It’s nothing. Nothing at all~”
Neku threw him the most skeptical glare he could manage. Joshua grinned back.
“Alright, break’s over. Back to work.”
Neku groaned in frustration, but obediently leaned forwards regardless. He placed his palms on Joshua’s, sighed, and concentrated.
“Once more.” Joshua’s energy slowly shifted upwards, sliding into what seemed to be a nice equilibrium, and stopped there. Neku tried to follow it. His own energy seemed to waver, trying to reach the point that Joshua had, before flickering and sliding back to where it was.
He cursed under his breath, his fingers momentarily moving forward and passing through Joshua’s. “Joshua, I can’t-”
“Stop being a baby and try again.” Joshua pulled back so that it seemed as if they were just barely touching, even though the only contact between the two was a connection of energy that straddled two different Planes. Neku grunted and tried once more.
He pushed, pushed his energy, trying just for once to shut the damn bastard up so that he could go home. They’d been at this an hour longer than usual already and Joshua was now-
Something shifted. Neku could feel it inside of him, the same shift that Joshua had made. He opened his eyes in surprise.
“Did I just do it?”
“Congratulations on raising your vibe.”
Neku stared blankly at Joshua for a moment. It took a few seconds before his mind caught up to the fact. He sat back in his chair with a sigh. “Yeah, well it’s not like you made it easy or anything.” He crossed his arms stubbornly and glared.
Joshua chuckled. “Oh, please, Neku. I imprinted you with the information, I let you copy my energy, I did everything I possibly could to speed along the process. If you felt you picked it up slowly, that’s your own incompetence.”
Neku scowled at the word ‘incompetence’, shooting Joshua the nastiest glare he could manage as if he hadn’t already been doing it.
“Can I go home now?”
“I don’t know, can you?” Joshua grinned. “You’re in the UG, after all, don’t you need to-?”
He cut himself off, mildly surprised as Neku slipped back into the RG like it was practically nothing. Neku seemed to notice, and shot Joshua something that was almost a smirk. “Weren’t expecting that, were you?”
“Well it isn’t much of a surprise since you spend all your time in the RG anyway.” Joshua shrugged, but Neku could definitely sense some sort of discontent beneath the indifference, and he inwardly reveled in it. He’d caught Joshua off-guard. It was a rare day when that happened.
“I’m going home, then.” Neku stood up and walked to the door. He slid it open, paused, and glanced back. Joshua was staring indifferently out the window. After a moment, Neku stepped out and shut the door behind him.
[CloseFiles]
Comments/critique are much appreciated.
Author: anigirl15
Rating: PG-13 for the f-word
Warnings: Spoilers for EVERYTHING! (Well, you don't actually have to have read the Secret Reports, but I'll spoil them for you if you haven't.) My theories and ideas about various things in the TWEWY universe. Swearing.
Summary: Neku knows he shouldn't agree to anything Joshua proposes any more. He knows, yet he willingly starts a chain of events that will eventually shatter the boundaries of his world and shake Shibuya to its core. Stupid Joshua.
Notes: This is the companion fic to It’s Your Fault It’s Complicated, which is posted at twewyslash. These are the exact same story told in two different parallel worlds: one world where Joshua falls for Neku, and one world where he does not. This also means that both stories are VERY similar, and you should probably just pick one and stick with it, since reading both will involve a LOT of re-reading. If you wish to read the other story, you can find the link below, or click the cut to read this one.
Because Life Can Never Be Simple (Files 22 - 25)
[first] [back one] [forwards]
[jump to the other side]
[File 22]
“Can you hear it?”
Neku raised an eyebrow at the note that mysteriously appeared on his desk. He waited until the teacher had turned back to the board and was writing another equation to look over his shoulder and cast a confused glance at Joshua. Joshua looked back levelly at him. He quickly turned back to his desk and scribbled a reply, then gently tossed the piece of paper over his shoulder. “Hear what?”
A few moments later, the paper appeared on his desk again. “Listen. This doesn’t happen that often.”
Neku tuned out the math lecture, instead listening to Shibuya’s Music. Joshua was right, it was different. The swelling and crashing was a lot more pronounced, a lot more rhythmic than it usually was. As he listened, he could feel it going through him, riding the highs and sliding through the lows; a great beat like he’d never heard before.
“What is it?”
For once, he couldn’t hear Joshua beneath it all. The current was too powerful; it overwhelmed him and drowned out the voice that he could most of them time still faintly hear quietly beneath it all.
Then it happened.
He felt strange. His energy was changing, the now-familiar feeling of slipping into the UG starting to spread through his body. He gasped softly, beginning to panic. Suddenly the energy seemed to freeze in place, warp, and shift oddly. It wasn’t until the feeling receded and completely vanished that he felt Joshua’s finger poking him in the back.
The note was back on his desk.
“It’s a resonating dissonance. Two parallel worlds are now at odds in a way that makes them resonate together. It’s rare that it’s ever this strong. Usually these sorts of things only last a few seconds. Oh, and you’re still in the RG.”
“Sakuraba!”
His head snapped up and he quickly stood up. “Yes?”
The teacher was looking at him sternly. “Have you been passing notes in class?”
“I, uh, er, no…” He tried his best not to turn red with embarrassment. The teacher looked at him with a skeptical expression, then turned to Neku’s desk.
“I suppose you wouldn’t mind showing me that piece of paper, then?”
Neku stared at the floor as the teacher walked over and snapped it up before he could think of anything to do. He waited a few agonizing seconds, not exactly sure what any normal person would make of his and Joshua’s conversation.
“Fine, then. You may sit.”
“Huh?” Neku looked up in surprise, but quickly sat down. He looked in confusion to the note on his desk, only to find a slightly crumpled piece of paper with the equations from the board meticulously copied down on it. He stared at it, dumbfounded yet relieved. A few moments later, another note appeared in front of him.
“You owe me dinner. ♥”
He quickly tore that one up and stuffed the shredded remains in his pocket.
[File23]
Neku sighed and turned the Player Pin over in his hands once more. It was dark outside, really dark, probably well past midnight by now. His desk was lit by a single lamp, and the light reflected off the pin as he played with it.
How the hell do you make something like this?
He could definitely feel it now, something he couldn’t feel before. The energy that the pin radiated. The receiver that was encoded into it. The transforming signal it emitted. How it was trying to bind to him but at the same time it was pulling back, almost afraid. All these he could tell, he could pick them apart, he could separate them and he knew what each piece did but dammit if he could not figure out how to actually make one.
“Neku?” His mom knocked on his door. “Go to sleep, Neku. It’s late.”
He didn’t reply. After a moment he heard her sigh and walk away.
He uncovered the pin in his hands, hidden in the off-chance she walked in. He stared down at the design, studying it. For the first time that night, he wasn’t sensing its energy code. He was just looking at the design. Remembering its creator. Wondering just what the hell had happened that he’d missed.
What had happened to Mr. H.?
After a few moments he flipped his phone open and scrolled through the pictures. For some reason, he couldn’t bring himself to delete that one. The picture of Hanekoma standing at the back of WildKat, hiding the Lv. 5 keypin for him and Beat to find and go to the Shibuya River to bring an end to the Game. Neku found himself wondering, between Joshua and Hanekoma, how much of that Game had been planned out from the very beginning. The picture was all he had left of Mr. H. The picture, and the Player Pin.
Neku turned back to the pin. What would Joshua do if Neku refused to do this? Could the Composer possibly not be able to make them? If he didn’t have Player Pins, Joshua couldn’t run the Game. Maybe. But Neku doubted that the system hinged on a detail as small as that. So Joshua probably could make them, he was just too lazy of an ass to do so. Neku sighed.
He picked up the pin and held it in his left hand, sensing its energy yet another time. He looked at his empty right hand, imagining a second Player Pin there. What would it feel like to have two? Back when he had two, he couldn’t feel it like he could now, so it wasn’t as if he remembered anything useful. He closed his eyes and sighed again. They probably felt the same way. They’d have to be very similar, at least. Were they coded so that two could bond to a person? Or had he just been special?
He went through the different codes once more, paying careful attention to each of them. Neku had been surprised about how many effects the Player Pins truly had that as a Player he’d been completely unaware of. Though, now that he looked back on it, most of what he discovered made perfect sense when paired with his experiences.
He went to open his eyes again, but suddenly found himself much more tired than he’d thought. All he could really see of his desk was a blurry light, which he managed to turn off with a bit of fumbling just before laying down his head and falling asleep in his chair.
He awoke in the morning nearly an hour late for school. Neku quickly got ready and rushed out of his home in a panic, too distracted to realize that he’d left behind two Player Pins, sitting innocently on his desk.
[File24]
Neku slunk into his seat, trying his best to avoid catching the attention of the teacher who luckily hadn’t quite yet turned around to take attendance. He cast a quick glance over his shoulder, catching the gaze of a pair of purple eyes.
“You’re late, Neku. Hee hee.”
He scowled. “I was working on your stupid pins.”
Joshua smiled, but Neku somehow doubted that it was genuine. “Such a hard worker! I hope you still have energy left to practice controlling your vibe, Neku~”
Neku was about to respond, but the teacher began speaking and he had to turn back towards the front before he got in any more trouble.
[File25]
“That was closer.”
Neku made a sound of frustration and pulled away from Joshua, sitting back in his chair. “How many more times am I going to have to try this today, Josh? It’s been over two hours already.”
“I said, until you-”
“‘Until I can control my vibe’, I know. I’m not entering the UG on accident anymore, isn’t that enough?!”
Joshua was staring at Neku in surprise. Neku was about to question when he spoke again. “You cut me off.”
“… And?” Neku deadpanned.
Joshua chuckled to himself. “Oh, no. It’s nothing. Nothing at all~”
Neku threw him the most skeptical glare he could manage. Joshua grinned back.
“Alright, break’s over. Back to work.”
Neku groaned in frustration, but obediently leaned forwards regardless. He placed his palms on Joshua’s, sighed, and concentrated.
“Once more.” Joshua’s energy slowly shifted upwards, sliding into what seemed to be a nice equilibrium, and stopped there. Neku tried to follow it. His own energy seemed to waver, trying to reach the point that Joshua had, before flickering and sliding back to where it was.
He cursed under his breath, his fingers momentarily moving forward and passing through Joshua’s. “Joshua, I can’t-”
“Stop being a baby and try again.” Joshua pulled back so that it seemed as if they were just barely touching, even though the only contact between the two was a connection of energy that straddled two different Planes. Neku grunted and tried once more.
He pushed, pushed his energy, trying just for once to shut the damn bastard up so that he could go home. They’d been at this an hour longer than usual already and Joshua was now-
Something shifted. Neku could feel it inside of him, the same shift that Joshua had made. He opened his eyes in surprise.
“Did I just do it?”
“Congratulations on raising your vibe.”
Neku stared blankly at Joshua for a moment. It took a few seconds before his mind caught up to the fact. He sat back in his chair with a sigh. “Yeah, well it’s not like you made it easy or anything.” He crossed his arms stubbornly and glared.
Joshua chuckled. “Oh, please, Neku. I imprinted you with the information, I let you copy my energy, I did everything I possibly could to speed along the process. If you felt you picked it up slowly, that’s your own incompetence.”
Neku scowled at the word ‘incompetence’, shooting Joshua the nastiest glare he could manage as if he hadn’t already been doing it.
“Can I go home now?”
“I don’t know, can you?” Joshua grinned. “You’re in the UG, after all, don’t you need to-?”
He cut himself off, mildly surprised as Neku slipped back into the RG like it was practically nothing. Neku seemed to notice, and shot Joshua something that was almost a smirk. “Weren’t expecting that, were you?”
“Well it isn’t much of a surprise since you spend all your time in the RG anyway.” Joshua shrugged, but Neku could definitely sense some sort of discontent beneath the indifference, and he inwardly reveled in it. He’d caught Joshua off-guard. It was a rare day when that happened.
“I’m going home, then.” Neku stood up and walked to the door. He slid it open, paused, and glanced back. Joshua was staring indifferently out the window. After a moment, Neku stepped out and shut the door behind him.
[CloseFiles]
Comments/critique are much appreciated.