#Been inactive because of Spiderman spoiler fear

[dragonseattofu]

That Reaper Pin (TWEWY Fanfiction)

Summary:

What if instead of Beat being sent to the UG after his buddy gave him the Reaper Pin, it was Shiki? What will Shiki do, now that she's given this chance to find the person that disappeared two and half years ago? (Written for Neshiki Week 2021 Day 6: Battle Couple)

Preview:

“Morning Ai!”

“Hey, good morning Mina. Check out what Makoto-kun gave me.”

“Morning Ai, Mina. Did Eri come in yet?” The bespectacled teen asked her classmates as everyone was settling into their seats. On the off days that she was in Shibuya, Shiki tried to attend school, and catch up with her classmates. There were a couple minutes before homeroom started, and Shiki wanted to run some ideas past her co-founder of their new brand that was really taking off in strides.

“Morning Shiki, no, we haven’t seen her yet.”

“Ah, thanks anyway.”

“No problem,” Ai replied, “anyway, take a look at this,” she continued her conversation with her best friend.

“Oh, isn’t that CAT’s design?” Shiki’s heart skipped a beat.

CAT?

“The graffiti artist? I guess, now that you mention it, it does look like his work. Didn’t he go underground like two years ago?”

Two years and five months, actually. No one has heard from Hanekoma since he disappeared. WildKat was shut down indefinitely, for ‘renovations,’ and CAT stopped creating artwork around that time too. It could just be an art thief or a copycat, right?

“Hey Ai, can I take a look at it?” Shiki asked curiously.

“Yeah, sure, hey aren’t you a huge fan of CAT? You can have it if you want. It’s really not my style anyway,” Ai offered.

Shiki didn’t consider herself a enthusiast of CAT, but she could see why others might think that. When he vanished, she looked into anything and everything that could give her a clue about what happened, including Mr. H’s alter ego, but even that turned out to be a deadend.

“Oh, thanks,” Shiki replied.

Ai handed the item to her, and she ran her thumb along the circular shiny surface. It was definitely CAT’s design; it was so similar to her old player pin. But the sigil was slightly different, more edgy, almost as if it was emitting sinister vibes. She instinctively shivered.

“Thanks, Ai, but I’m good,” the designer said, and was about to give the pin back to her friend, when she noticed that Ai’s pupils started to shimmer.

“Ai?” Shiki asked simultaneously with Mina.

“Huh?”

“Class is about to start, what are you standing there for?”

“Hn, I’m not … sure. I thought I was talking to someone …”

They were acting like she wasn’t even there.

“Yeah me, but I’m over here silly. Come on, Mr. Hoshigane is about to walk in!”

Shiki reached for Ai to give her back the pin again, but her hand phased through Ai’s arm, and suddenly she heard a voice in her head.

Mina’s right, I must be going crazy, but I could have sworn I was talking to someone just now.

Shiki jumped back, withdrawing her hand as if she had just touched fire.

No, this can’t be.

The brunette pulled her phone out of her school uniform pocket. No service.

No.

She looked around the classroom, and their homeroom teacher walked in. All the other students shuffled to their seats, no one batting an eyelash to the fact that Shiki was standing in the middle of the walkway. The teacher started to do the roll call.

With bated breath, Shiki waited until he got to Maiki, Miho, Mokane …

Even though her attendance was sporadic, she’d been in this class since the beginning of the semester, and now it was as if she didn’t exist.

Shiki stared at the incriminating object still in her hand. All she wanted to do was throw the pin on the floor, and smash it into a thousand pieces. And she would have done so, if her bag didn’t kick her in the side.

Dropping the offending item, and practically throwing it at the wall, she watched as something wiggled inside, a black object peeking its head out.

“Mr. Mew?”

His head flopped to the side, and he used his stuffed arms to bring it back into place. Kicking the bag strap off his leg, he stumbled a couple steps before successfully righting himself. Shiki watched as he turned his head side to side, then stopped when he found her, and sprinted into her arms.

“Oh gosh, Mr. Mew!” she cried, returning the hug. If this nightmare she found herself was really happening, Shiki was glad that at least she had her friend again.

And she was going to need him again, because if she was … in the UG again, that meant reapers, and noise.

But for some reason, she wasn’t scared, or nervous. This time, she felt a sense of clarity. For years she felt helpless; all she was told to do was wait. If she was in the UG, she didn’t have to wait any longer, she was one step closer to finding who she had lost.

“Say, Mr. Mew, let’s take a look outside and see what’s going on?”

Her companion nodded, then jumped out of her arms, and out the classroom he went, with his master closely behind.

The sky was still blue, the grass around the campus was still green, and the iron gates at the front entrance of her high school were still closed shut. Even though people could phase through her, physical objects did not. She sighed at the sight of Mr. Mew sliding in between the bars before climbing the stone pillar, and jumping over the gates ungracefully. She thanked her lucky stars that now one saw that.

Her first task was to find a partner, since she remembered that she wouldn’t be able to fight any noise without one. The idea of having another partner was unsettling, but her search would go nowhere if she got erased.

And as if the gods were praying for her demise, on their way to Hachiko, the first stop on her journey, Mr. Mew stumbled into the crossing and bumped into an army of frog noise.

Right when one of the noise raised it’s webbed arm to slash at her, in a last ditch effort, she commanded Mr. Mew to block, and attack through psychokinesis. To her surprise, the noise shuttered and disintegrated. In synchronicity with Mr. Mew, Shiki raised her arm and brought it down in a striking motion, wiping out another one. This was so against the rules, but if playing the game alive was also against the rules, then she was okay with breaking a couple more.

She continued to battle until all that remained were flickering pixels.

“Okay, so fighting without a partner is possible, and because I kept this pin around, I can still use my psych.” Her original Groove Pawn pin became more of an accessory for her after the game was over, and now she was glad to have held onto it all those years.

Pocketing both pins, Shiki picked Mr. Mew up, and asked, “what do you think about saying hello to an old friend?” He bobbed his head in approval.

The trek to Hachiko was familiar, the journey was one she took everyday. The bronze statue always waited with her, but today was different.

“Hey Hachi. Thanks for always being by my side, but I’m not waiting today. I’m going to go find him myself.” Shiki placed a hand on his paw. “Wish me luck.”

From there, Shiki decided to head North. Chances are, if Mr. H wasn’t in the RG, then he might be in the UG. To her disappointment, when she got to WildKat, the old cafe looked the same as it did before. She ventured inside, but there was nothing there to suggest it’s been inhabited for a while. Once back outside, Mr. Mew jumped from her arms and scanned the area for any noise.

She didn’t see any noise, but she heard something else, like a low frequency buzzing. It was so faint, she almost didn’t notice it. Mr. Mew walked toward the sound, with Shiki behind him.

As they got closer to the sound, the buzzing morphed into soft murmurs, almost like several people were whispering into her ear all at once. A chill ran down her spine, but she walked further until she reached the Shibuya border. From her knowledge of the game, there was nothing beyond this point, or rather, it was always closed off by reapers. Fortunately, there were none in sight right now, and there was a path along the train tracks that wasn’t there before.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?

Picking up Mr. Mew again, Shiki journeyed into the uncharted territory, and didn’t look back.

The moment she stepped over the border, a wave of thoughts rushed through her mind, and she crumbled to the floor. Mr. Mew fell out of her arms, and he ran to her, gently patting her legs in concern.

It was like she walked into a hurricane of voices that swirled around her, wailing and screaming about things she didn’t understand. Wherever she ended up, the people here were confused, anguished and desolate.

Shiki shouted in pain, her head felt like it was going to burst.

And then a shocked and familiar singular voice broke through the avalanche of cries.

“Shiki?”

What? Her eyes wandered around for a splash of orange around her. There was nothing but piles of debris and broken up asphalt.

Again, “Shiki, is that you?”

“Neku?” she asked aloud, tears welling up in her eyes from the thought of him or the crushing migraine, she wasn’t sure.

“Gods, Shiki, what are you – where are you?”

“I – I don’t … know,” she tried to speak, but the screams were overwhelming, and she was finding it hard to breathe. “I can’t see you, N-Neku. How–?”

”Just focus on my voice.”

”Take a deep breath, and focus.”

Air filled her lungs, and she exhaled as slowly as possible, grabbing onto the image of him that she remembered, holding onto the feeling of finally seeing him again. In and out. In and out.

The voices were still present in her head, but quieter, as if someone had turned the dial on a radio down, but not off. With a little more clarity, Shiki picked herself off the ground, clutching Mr. Mew closer to her chest.

“Okay, tell me where you–”

”Argh!”

“Neku!?”

”I’m okay … Just, hold on a sec.”

Without a direction, or even a clue as to where he was, Shiki proceeded into the darkened territory, not realizing that the way she came in was no longer there. The sky was tinted red, and the clouds were blackened and overcast. It was chilly, or maybe she thought it was because everything felt so off, wrong almost. Like nothing was supposed to exist in this space, and she was trespassing.

From his grunts, she imagined he was fighting, but she wasn’t going to let him fight alone. Focusing on him, Shiki felt his presence coming from her left, and with resolve, took off in a full sprint.

Sensing what she was doing, Neku telepathically warned, ”no, don’t come here. Ugh! It’s too dangerous. Argh! I’ll find you when I’m done here.”

“No,” she responded much the same way he did, “I’m coming, my psych works!”

”But –!”

“We are not having this conversation!” She shouted internally, jumping over a heap of broken rocks and a fallen lamppost. She heard actual sounds of combat in the distance and knew that she was getting close.

”Ugh, fine do what you want!” He scoffed, too preoccupied to change her mind.

Flashes of light emerged from a dune in front of her, and she frantically ran to see what was going on.

Wisps of black energy encircled Neku, whipping at him as he deflected their attack. The psych master was greatly outnumbered, and if that were noise, Shiki knew that Neku could probably handle it alone. But they weren’t noise, and he looked exhausted already.

With abandon, Shiki jumped from the top of the crater, sending Mr. Mew flying before her.

“NEKU!”

Both the faceless monsters and the young man she waited two years and five months for looked up at the sound of her voice. One unlucky wisp of energy dissolved from Mr. Mew’s fist as he then proceeded to land elegantly on his feet. Neku’s eyes widened, his mind no longer on the enemies that were trying to erase him, but instead on the young woman that was barrelling toward him. He slashed at the monster to his side, and ran.

He wanted to be angry; she had the gall to smile at him like that when she was practically free falling. He wanted to yell at her for being so reckless, even though he knew he would always catch her. He wanted to demand why she was in Shinjuku, but actually seeing her for the first time in such a long time left him too stunned.

Tears rolled away from her face as she fell but her smile was simply breathtaking.

Neku stretched his arms out to catch her, spinning her around to lessen the momentum, and pulling her into a tight embrace.

The petite teen looked up from his chest grinning, “You’ve gotten taller,” she said giggling.

He jovially chastised, “and you’ve gotten more brash. What has Beat been teaching you?”

“I missed you,” she pouted.

“I missed you too,” he said, placing a hand on her cheek.

Before he could say more, Mr. Mew was thrown in their direction, smashing into Shiki’s back, and she gasped at the scuff marks on his body.

“Mr. Mew!”

Neku summoned a wall of electricity around them. The shadowy figures whirled outside of his barrier, touching the sparks and recoiling. A brave soul of the group whipped it’s effervescent appendage, and broke through heading straight for him.

A black blur rushed past him, and the monster faded.

“Trust your partner, remember?” Shiki said standing back to back with him, “let’s take these guys down!” Mr. Mew was back at her feet, bouncing in anticipation.

He smirked.

They both rushed forward and the battle began.

Mr. Mew flicked his wrists outward, and elongated red claws emerged. Shiki lifted her right hand out, “Go, Mr. Mew!” A flurry of red lights flashed, black clouds dissolving into dust.

Neku pulled his arms back, focusing on the heat in his palms, and threw the fireballs at the nearest monster. Six more to go.

He summoned a couple ice pillars, and impaled two monsters in one shot. The shadowy figure in the middle cried out in pain as a red claw emerged from its center.

“Neku, come on!”

The young man chuckled, “right behind you, partner!”

Three wisps remained, Neku smashed his glowing fist into the one on his right at the same moment Mr. Mew slashed the one on his left. And then only one remained.

Neku moved to take care of the straggler, but Shiki stepped in front of him, high fived Mr. Mew and sent him flying toward the monster. The stuffed cat kicked the wisp, did a backflip midair, and drove its claws into the shadowy figure from top to bottom, landing with style.

“He’s gotten cocky,” Neku commented, slightly impressed.

“Really? I was imitating what I thought you would do.”

“Haha, very funny.”

As their laughter ebbed, and the sounds of the battle died down, the eerie whispers of the lost souls brought Neku back to reality.

He frowned, “Shiki, how did you get here?”

“I’m not really sure, my classmate this morning had this pin,” she replied, taking out the item for Neku to see, “and when she handed it to me, I ended up in the UG.”

He let out a breath of relief, “so you’re still alive.”

“Yeah.” Shiki walked to him, “but you’re not,” she whispered.

“It’s complicated,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck, “I was sent here to investigate something, and I can’t go back until I do. When I’m done, I have a friend that will help me find a way back.”

Shiki placed a hand on his bicep, “Whatever it is that you need to do here, let’s do it together?”

Neku felt his cheeks warm. He hadn’t felt the touch of anyone in years, and the person most precious to him was now so close. He felt himself gravitate toward her, his hands coming around her subconsciously. The orange haired teen dipped his head down, their foreheads touching. To his satisfaction, she was blushing too.

“Yeah, together.”

Notes:

I took “Battle Couple” in the literal sense? And then I thought, what if Shiki's classmates gave her the Reaper Pin, instead of Beat? And then I set this during the three year time period that Neku's stuck in Shinjuku. AND THEN I was like, Shinjuku is directly north to Shibuya, what if Shiki could just stumble into Shinjuku to help Neku fight the negative energy left behind from the lost souls after the inversion? AND THEN what if Shiki can actually fight pretty well because I read somewhere that the people who play the game have imaginative souls to begin with, and if power comes from creativity and imagination, than my girl would be really tough! And I can't pass up a reunion story. Sorry, not sorry.

One more prompt to go! The gift that keeps giving even though she should probably stop! My goal for the last story will be before or on Christmas, so stay tuned! - Tofu

[sunnycityshadypeople]

Defining Heartbreak: The Friendzone

I felt like writing and I guess could be a place to put it as it’s my only social media account where I have a bit more anonymity.    I feel hung over as fuck today, but noticed when I was articulating some deeper thoughts with someone that instantly felt better - so here goes with a story not of woe is me, but of the discovery I made about myself  Unrequited love over the years has reared it’s head a couple times.    In my early twenties, a guy I met online on Gaydar (is that site still a thing) - became a friend. I was actually his first gay friend and we hung out a lot.  We both went ot the same university and had one class that we both had in common - despite studying different degrees.   I thought he was super cute, intelligent and a catch - he had a certain confident swagger about him. Nothing sexual ever happened between us.   He then went overseas to live in France for a year - studying at the same university that the recently departed Kofi Annan.   Fast forward a year and over that time of missing him, I realised I had feelings for him and the cliche of distance only making the heart grow fonder certainly rung true.   When he finally returned to Australia, I was so happy to see him and a bunch of us hit the town together. A friend brought his rather cute pal along and joined me and my crush on a night out.   As it turns out, my friend’s cute pal ended up hooking up with my crush.  In a tree. IN A FUCKING TREE.  

I was crushed.      Like *spoiler alert* Captain America watching his best mate Bucky die or Tony Stark seeing a fading spiderman begging him not to go.   Yeah I was in my early 20s but it was defining moment of heartbreak. 

I dont remember how long after but I was moping around at my brother’s place and my sister was there.  She saw me dejected and withdrawn, asking me ‘what’s wrong?’ - I left out the front door and sat on the balcony and ugly cried.   And not the ugly crying I did when KFC stopped selling hot and spicy chicken, this was far far worse.  And a defining moment of heartbreak.  Sidebar:  I’ve always been a bit of a philosphical existentialist - mainly due to the the movie ‘The Matrix’.  The nature of reality fascinates me.    When I was 18, the philosphical book ‘The Celestine Prophecy’ came into my life... I actually ‘found’ the book on the street (I kid you not!) and it changed my life and the way I think abnd that’s where the true existentialist in me had an awakening. anyways. I’ve always been an introspective soul -- something perhaps most people I know don’t realise.  The cyclic nature of life (ok picture me holding my laptop up ala the Lion King pose as we sing the Circle of Life) - means that sometimes it feels like things repeat themselves.  I sometimes forget about the lessons that we need to learn and of course it came from another defining moment of heartbreak - this time in my mid 30′s.  I’d started chatting to this guy on a dating app mid 2016.    I thought he was super cute, intelligent and a catch - he had a certain confident swagger about him.   Feeling a sense of De ja vu?  No,it’s not a glitch in the matrix.    I tend to have a long lead time before I meet anyone online (I’m sure there’s a basis of fear of rejection in there but really are you that surprise after hearing that fucking sob story before!?) Anyways, we ran into each other at the gym and that was the first time we met.  We hung out a few times, and certainly these felt like dates.  We had a lot in common (and a lot in difference too), laughed alot and he was probably the first guy in a long time I met whose personality I loved.    He was witty at time cutting, his text game was super strong - but I’d usually own him face to face.   We’d spend our days jibing at each other trying to insult each other with memes (because Memes are life, right!?).  One time I was chatting to him via text -  describing a guy I used to like and how this dude and I had a lot common, was super nice... he replied to me ‘Kinda like us really?’  AND WHOA hold up this could be a romantasiced re-telling of my overthinking interpretation of a message - but that was sliding doors moment that would lead me to my next defining heartbreak.     I should have taken the bait.  But I was scared.  My absolute fear of rejection was scared to just tell this dude I like him - even if I was misconstrued in that message.    I do prefer voice messages over text because tone is a hard mother fucker to judge - thank god for emojis and ifs but still - just press that record button on whatsapp (He didnt’ like voice messages as he thought they were lazy) whereas I like to really convey my meaning.

Unless that meaning is ‘cue Madonna’ “IM CRAAAAZY FOR YOU TOUCH ME ONCE and you’ll know it’s truuuuue I never wanted anyone like this it’s all brand new... you’ll feel it in my kiss, you’ll feel it in my touch because I’m crazy for you - touch me once and you’ll know its’ true’

Anyways sorry about that Australian Idol gone Karaoke wrong moment. If you’ve fallen asleep reading this, you can thank me for the cure to insomnia later.  Ok, cut to the chase Jimbo - fast forward a year and half of being friends with someone you secretly love.  I use the term’ secretly’ loosely - because OMG was I just coming across as the love sick despo girl - random presents in his mailbox, being the nicest most supportive, generous friend - because hey, maybe he’ll come around if I kill him with kindness.  There’s an excellent article on being in the friendzone you should read by the way - I’ll talk about that later. I’m not going to go into details out of respect for this guy, but I knew inherently and the truth of the matter was no matter what I did or who I was - he was still on his Rupaul ‘can’t love nobody unless you love yourself’ journey.   So the harsh reality, and the ‘hes just not that into you’ vibes as espoused by Oprah back in the day meant this defining heartbreak was a bit different to the first.   I knew it was too far into the friendzone (never say never, but yeah let’s be real).. if it’s in the friendzone, they have to give you something that’ll finally get you into the endzone.  Anyways, I’d do anything for this guy.�� Despite actually rationally speaking he didn’t tick some major core values for me.  It’s funny how attraction works.   A close friend who is a counsellor told me about ‘attachment styles’ (look it up, I wont digress more than I already have) - but essentially I was a major victim (of my own doing, because people don’t cause us to feel - we cause us to feel - think about that for a sec).. I was a major victim of treat em mean keep em keen. And I kept coming back for more.   I even tried weening myself off him by disengaging and that was great, but then we re-engaged. His was of re-engaging was sending me a message that said ‘Welfare Check’.  If it was me, I’d be like ‘Hey dude, I miss you! whats up!?’  The last time we saw each other was almost 2 months ago - nothing dramatic went down, but after not seeing the guy for a few weeks - he could only afford me about 40 minutes of his time.    It was a pleasant catch up but neither of us have communicated since.   He’s stubborn and I’m stubborn too.  But ulimately, it’s not healthy for me to love someone who doesn’t know what to do with my love.   And I look back at my own behaviour and do a major eyeroll because I really should save that stuff for someone who likes me back. That article I mentioned above - which I’ll post the link to - had a very simple suggestion and rule to avoid unrequited love and being in the friendzone. Only like somone who likes you back. OH MY FUCKING GOD REGINA YOU COULD HAVE TOLD ME THAT A YEAR AND A HALF AGO! Anyways, I’ve had some amazing dates and met a couple awesome guys (there’s still a them of them not living in the same city as me but hey I can deal with that for the moment). I have a lot of love in my life and the love I give  is welcomed and I’m not feeling like I’m being treated as an afterthought.  I emphasis ‘feeling’ because the truth is, I may not be an afterthought to him.   But actions do speak louder than words, and his inaction has spoken to me.   That’s cool.   My love will always be there.   But in defining heartbreak, I defined myself and thank you for reading this I’d like to thank the academy and you for being you. You are loved.