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The ocean sky of the city, moving in wavelengths, repeating the movements into oblivion; watching down on the players that remained in the game.
Neku was the first to wake up before the rest of the Wicked Twisters, he just met them two days ago; today was the day they're gonna defeat Shiba for good so they can return to their normal lives. Although, Neku wouldn't say "normal" for him. He came back after three years after all, there was bound to be changes in Shibuya. He was standing on the curb, watching the liquefied-like roof moving.
"Yo, Phones!"
Neku curved towards the voice, he gave his old companion a small smile, "Hey Beat."
Beat walked over to his partner, stretching in place when he stopped, "The day's finally come. You ready?"
"Ready as I'll ever be," Neku replied. "Can't wait to get out of here."
"Am too, yo. Even tho' I've been n' here fo' a few, I had fun with da gang."
"Your friends seem pretty nice from what I've seen so far," Neku complimented. "Although, it seems like you get along pretty well with that Fret guy."
"Dat's 'cause Fret n' I get each other, y'know?"
"Fret reminds me of you back when we were in the game," Neku said before his lips curved into a smirk. "Doesn't surprise me that you two would get along the most."
"Can it, why don'tcha," Beat punched him on the arm as they laughed at the thought. "If anythin', ' Kitty girl sorta' reminds me of you, yo."
"You mean Shoka, right?" Neku raised an eyebrow.
"Ya, Kitty girl's blunt, like how you use' to be back then." Beat explained, smiling, "N' Rindo too, but he doesn' really show it that much."
"Oh yeah?"
"Ya, Kitty girl n' Rindo bicker'd here n' there before she joined. They're pretty much cool with each other. They kinda remind me of Shiki n' you," Beat chuckled, reminiscing about the game back in Shinjuku. "I can still remember where Shiki n' you would fight; runn'in' onward while she followed behind, to you two arguin' whenever you guys were on missions."
"I feel bad that Shiki had to deal with me for the first few days," Neku smiled at the images of the two of them yelling at each other, slowly turning into moments when they helped each other out. "But I'm glad she didn't leave me. She had every right to since I was rude to her; but she didn't."
"Geez, you really were an ass, weren't 'chu?"
"Speaking of which," Neku looked over at Beat's choice of clothing, "What happened to you over these three years?" He reached and pulled on the arm section of the jackets' fabric, "You look like I inspired you in some way. Don't tell me you're going through a phase." Neku teased, his smile widening. "What? Are you gonna use your headphones to block out everyone around you?"
"Can it, Phones." Beat nudged him with his elbow as they laughed, eventually his smile washing away into a frown. "Y'know… Rhyme n' Shiki didn't take it too well when I told 'em the news… about your death I mean."
Neku's smile immediately vanished when Beat started, he intended to listen further when Beat's mouth opened again to continue, "I get that I was there when you got shot. I didn' take it lightly either, but… Shiki was the one that took it harder than Rhyme n' I." Neku's eyes widened when his lips ajared, breath escaping in the process; "Shiki didn' want to get up, didn' even have the strength in her to eat, nor go out. Me n' Rhyme wanted to be there for her, so we would go over to her place, n' knock on her door; sometimes she'd answer, sometimes she didn'. One day tho', we met her best friend, Eri."
Neku stood up slightly, "You met Eri?"
"She said she wanted to check up on her, that was why she was standing by her door on that day. After that, Rhyme, Eri, n' I would hangout with her, to cheer up, I even told her that you wouldn' want to see her sad. Then one day, we dragged her out of her house, to get her back on her feet, y'know? Since then, she's been her usual self. Was able to make her outfits a success and became the most popular brand in Shibuya, Rhyme n' I was so proud of her when we found out."
Neku was silent to let it all sink in: Shiki's grief of his death, how she didn't get out of bed, how she didn't take care of herself, how Beat and Rhyme did everything they could along with Eri to cheer Shiki up. He couldn't help being happy, but it didn't wash away the guilt that stirred up inside. He thought back to his last conversation with Shiki.
"What a relief! It's just, one of Mr. Mew's seams ripped…" Shiki's voice escaping through Neku's speakers. "And I got this feeling something terrible was about to happen."
"Nope. Just another day in the RG," Neku bluntly replied.
"OK. Sorry for freaking out. Speaking of Mr. Mew," Shiki began, "I've gotta buy some stuff to stitch him up tomorrow. Wanna come with?"
Neku fiddled with a strand of his spiky hair before he muttered, "Sure, why not?"
"Great!" Neku could sense that Shiki was smiling on the other end, "I'll text you later, then. Talk to you soon!"
"Sounds good," Neku pulled away to press end call.
"Shiki was right," Neku muttered. Beat blinked with confusion written on his face. "The last time I spoke to her was when she asked me if I wanted to go with her to buy stuff for Mr. Mew. Before that, she said she had a horrible feeling that something was gonna happen. She was definitely right about that." Neku brought his hands through his hair, burying his face in his arms. "I ended up being stuck here for 3 years. Missing out on what we could've done: the hangouts, the conversations, the events, the birthdays, Shiki and Eri's career becoming a success… But I ended up being stuck in here. Fighting the noise, and picking up some tricks from Shinjuku. I get that Coco killed me to save Shibuya, but… it sucked that I missed out on you guys. Growing up and living life."
Neku sighed before lifting his head, one hand retracted while the other remained in his hair. His face expressed guilt while feeling his heartbeat speeding up against his chest; filled with mixed emotions, "I just…" Neku's lips agape, but failed to make words speak out.
The companions were silent, eventually, Neku felt a pat on his back, "I get it, you couldn' be wit' us over the past 3 years." Neku cocked his head over to him, "It sucked; for all of us. But you can make it up to us when we get outta here, aight? Like you said before, we oughta have a reunion!"
Beat pulled his hand away and raised it in front of Neku, "We're gettin' outta here after we kick Shiba's ass."
Neku stared at Beat's determined face, eventually mirroring the expression with his own. Reaching out his hand for theirs to join, shaking a bit. "Yeah, we're getting out of here."
Beat's smile grew a few millimeters, before being suddenly pulled into a hug by Neku. Neku patted his back, "...Thanks. For taking care of Shiki when I couldn't. And for listening, I kinda needed that… yo."
Beat chortled before copying his action with Neku's back, "You're my brotha, Neku. We got each otha's backs no matter what."
Neku hummed in reply, pulling away from the hug, "C'mon, we have to go to the others before they go searching for us."
"Y'know, Shiki's gonna be happy to see you again when you get back. C'mon!" Beat ran off ahead where he came from.
"You bet," Neku follows behind, with Shiki's smiling face on his mind.