“Open up your senses…”

WARNING: this blog contains Autoplay and potentially sensitive material (please see the Tags and Muse Pages for more information) “No one sees me. No one bothers me. No one expects anything of me. It's like a dream. Once I survive seven days... does the dream end?” Independent Roleplay Blog for Neku Sakuraba from The World Ends with You, penned by Aaron Mutuals Only, Semi-Selective, Multiverse and Multiship, Canon and AU, OC Friendly, 5+ Years Roleplay Experience Navigation link for mobile users can be found here

[saphorasasirixx-blog]

Send  ☽ for a starter where your muse witnesses mine having a nightmare while calling out your muse’s name.

[psychgenius-blog]

(( *falls in*

I apologize for my sudden disappearance on here: Neku decided to be a massive butt, I’ve been traveling, I’ve been on other blogs, am working for an upcoming convention, and am just generally very tired, both physically and mentally.

On that note, I’m going to try and squeeze out replies, but I can’t promise I’ll be doing too much OOC chat: I’m in one of my super introverted modes where just looking at a message that requires me to talk out of character feels draining. I promise that I don’t hate any of you/am ignoring you on purpose. I just get socially drained super easily and need space more often than I’d always like.

*runs off to try and get some replies done (or at least posts some memes) before I have to handle gross chores* ))

[erixdesign-archive]

Anyone up for RPing with an Eri from TWEWY?

She’s a sideblog of musicaproxxi, so erixdesign can’t follow back.

All necessary pages will be up eventually!

[psychgenius-blog]

♪ S K U L L C H I L D R E N ♪ ♪ S T A R T E R   C A L L ♪

           Well, it was about time for Neku’s once-weekly dose of positive social interaction. A while back, he would have spent his weekend in his room unless one of his parents asked him to run an errand, but actually having people in his life that he liked to see made leaving the house less of a chore than it used to me.

          With that, he left the house, not bothering to say where he was going: his mom and dad probably didn’t care, anyway. That was okay with him, though, since he was going to see the people that did care, and they were more important.

          He slid his headphones on over his ears, turning up the volume to a point where it was just enough to hear among the busy streets of Shibuya as he walked – not enough to completely drown out the city’s noise; just enough for him to hear the music amidst the footsteps and clamoring voices.

[composerwithashotgun]

“Bingo. Had no reason to stay alive, especially since I knew death wasn’t the complete end, just a change in perspective.”

He can sense that Neku is uncomfortable with that conversation topic though, so that’s all else he has to say on the matter.

“As for the Taboo, he wanted to stop me. Minamimoto wanted to Erase me and become Composer, remember? Sanae first told him I’d be at the mural, then when that failed, gave him Taboo, to try and stop me. Of course, he’d be a pawn, be replaced quick, since a Composer can’t be allowed to have Taboo, but he didn’t know any of that, which is why he was perfect. A disposable gambit that could be powerful enough to take down a Composer, and if I were gone, I wouldn’t be able to destroy Shibuya’s UG.”

He drinks more of his daiquiri, frowning. “Known him for nine years, practically saw him as my dad, only to have him set it up so I’d get replaced by the math freak as soon as I’m no longer one of the good guys.”

[psychgenius-blog]

          Neku wasn’t happy with any of what Josh was telling him right about now. Clearly their outlooks on death were very different, which wasn’t all that surprising, considering the difference in their circumstances, but no less upsetting. Nobody – not even his worst enemies – deserved to feel the need to resort to killing themselves.

「… I’ll be honest here, Josh: if I was in his position, I’d probably do the same thing.」

          That probably wasn’t the best thing to say to the person who had killed him once before, but Neku had never been known for holding his tongue and keeping his thoughts to himself.

「I’m sorry that he turned on you – I’d feel betrayed, too – but what you were trying to do was… unimaginable. Shibuya’s my home, and I’m sure that it’s his, too. I’d rather have it stay, personally.」

[psychgenius-blog]

~ Starter Call | Mutuals Only | Like or Reblog ~

Second Chance (HOME) | Amnesia (ASK) | Entry Fee (SUBMIT) Player (NEKU) | Reapers’ Game (RULES) | Shibuya Map (NAVIGATION)

[duskisms-deactivated20240319]

“H̥͓̩̮ͬ͘a̽ͥ̈́ͭ ͙̾͊͆͗̓ͥ̊v̷̲̘͎͑̃ͨ̀ͅe͎͑ͭͧ͒ͦ ͓̯͓͖̜͂ͣ̇ͦ̌ͫ͘ ͎̖͚͈͖̏T͔̠̳͉̭̃͊ ̸͖̖̟͍͉̱̭o͉̻͙̩͛ͯͮ͆͑ͮ”

It didn’t know why the stranger seemed to confused by that - it had to follow orders, else it’d be punished. Easy as that. Of course, it new some Outsiders were unaware of the Lessers’ purpose, but it was easy enough to educate them  (even though it hated speaking).

[psychgenius-blog]

“… Listen, I know it’s not my business, but it sounds like whoever’s giving you orders is an asshole.” 

          If there was anyone who hated authority, it was Neku Sakuraba. Nobody had the right to control other people or force them into doing anything, in his mind.

[sweetoothgirl]

Iced Mocha with Coffee Cubes

[psychgenius-blog]

@hippestbarista

[psychgenius-blog]

“Jus' walk it off, yo."

♪ B E A T T O H E R R H Y M E ♪♪ I M P R I N T E D ♪

          Neku gripped his knees as he hunched over, trying to catch his breath. He hadn’t really expected the sudden need to run after his friend, but this was Beat they were talking about, and he was a pretty energetic guy. Neku, on the other hand, was not good with exercising on the days that he was fasting. That was probably proof that he should stop doing it, but that wasn’t about to happen. 

「Yeah – just… give me a second… What the hell… was that about, anyway…?」

[composerwithashotgun]

He can see the pieces of the puzzle click together inside Neku’s mind, the moment Neku figures it out, by the way his face shifts.

“That is exactly what I’m saying. I mean, he’s not a Reaper, and he’s not the Composer or Conductor, so that only leaves one position for him to fill. I met Hanekoma when I was like, ten, he was the first person to not think I was crazy for seeing the UG, told me all about it. Still wouldn’t tell me just what he was though, took me five years and a bullet for him to tell me.”

Josh sighs, closing his eyes as he remembers all this. “He seemed kinda disappointed in me, when I chose to play and become Composer, but I dunno what he was expecting me to do. I mean, I was a kid, a kid who wanted to get out of the situation I was in, and he tells me about being a Composer and all the perks, like being able to alter your body, power, magic, about how the Composer is like a god of their city. What else was I gonna do, really, when I’d been fed such a fun exciting fantasy?”

[psychgenius-blog]

「… So you killed yourself.」 

          That thought didn’t sit right with him: Neku had always had a bad opinion of suicide. He understood the reasons that would drive a person to do such a thing – believe him, he did – but it was still the type of thing that would leave a sour taste in his mouth.

          Neku decided it was probably best not to linger on that topic.

「I just don’t get it: why did he bring Taboo Noise into the UG? I mean, Mr. H seemed like he was okay with how Shibuya was, so… why give someone like the Grim Heaper that sort of ability?」

          Hanekoma didn’t seem like the sort of man who would do something like that. It was for that reason that Neku had insisted that he couldn’t be the asshole behind everything that was going wrong in the UG in the first place. Facts were facts, and Neku knew that he couldn’t change them, but… he wanted to know what his motive could have possibly been. What was so important to him that he fell?

[psychgenius-blog]

“Have you been eating enough?” || comes in to remind Neku to fucking eat this is all

♪ K I L L C R K I I N G ♪♪ I M P R I N T I N G ♪

「Of course I have.」

          If by “eating enough”, Josh meant “eating enough to survive”, then yes: Neku had been doing that. If you wanted to get into the details, this meant 200 calories for four days while fasting on the fifth: a cycle that he’d been going through for many months now, and it hadn’t killed him yet.

          Typically, he was pretty good at lying about these things, but this was Yoshiya Kiryu that they were talking about here, and he knew much more about Neku than what most would probably be comfortable with.

[duskisms-deactivated20240319]

It nodded best it could, giving a happy twist as he finally came to the correct realisation. See? The ways of Dusks truly were simple. If it had eyes, it would’ve blinked at his next statement. Instead, its sightless head turned to him with a smile.

“F͖̘ͫ̑o͖͔̤̥͌͞ ̷̼͉̈́ͫ̉̽͛ḷ̣͚̠̝͚̙͐l̶̩̥͇͔̟͚̔͌͐ ͓̰̠͙̖̉̅ö̪̱̝̙͐̄͢w̶̫̱̬̮͐ͨ́̇̅ͥ̉ ̴̙͓̳̟̟͖̙̓̔͂ͫ͛̐ ̳̗̥̮̱̲͒ ̲͖̿͋́̒̚O̙̭̼͕̺͔̻͆ͬr̫̲̗̠̎ ̸͓̰̩̐͋̀̃̍ͨ̎d̰ͥ̆̑̓̌ͯ ̡͗͐̇͐̾̍̏ȇ̟̮̹̃ͬ̄ ̰̤̍r҉̺̯͚s͏͕̰̫̤ ͏̺͓̖͉͖̗.̪͖̝̞̤̝̫”

[psychgenius-blog]

“Let me get this straight: you’re given commands – orders – and you just… carry them out?”

          That most definitely didn’t sound right to him. If anything, it sounded like enslavement, which had never felt right to Neku, especially after he’d seen the entirety of Shibuya turned into a hoard of mindless, zombie-like people.

[memes-for-the-rper]

Not-doing-too-good sentence starters

“Whoa, are you okay?”

“You took that hit pretty hard…”

“Don’t stand up yet.”

“That definitely looks broken…”

“Walk it off.”

“How are you feeling?”

“When was the last time you slept?”

“You look like shit.”

“Have you been eating enough?”

“Here, let me help you.”

“Why are you limping?”

“You’re really pale…”

“Did you just go throw up?”

“Why aren’t you eating?”

“______? You’re bleeding…really bad.”

“That looks infected.”

“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?!”

“I told you you’d get sick.”

“How many fingers am I holding up?”

“Wake up–you were hyperventilating, are you okay?”

“It was just a dream, you’re alright.”

“Look at me–you’re safe.”

“Take a deep breath.”

“Are you bleeding?!”

“How’d you get a bruise like that?”

“What happened?”

“Let me help you!”

“Can you hear me?”

“You hit your head pretty hard.”

“Don’t move.”

“I know it hurts, I’m sorry.”

“Breathe.”

[composerwithashotgun]

“Perfect! It’ll be so nice to see you there at those meetings! I hardly know anybody at all, we all have too much trouble befriending each other.”

When he sees Neku smile, Josh’s face just lights up. He’s made Neku happy, he’s done something good. 

“I mean, yeah, of course there’s some oddballs. They generally get frowned upon, they are generally the Producers, the ones that stay in a district, get more hands-on than they should, become an artist or open a cafe, or both even, maybe step in during Games more than they should. Usually they don’t mess with Taboo though, that makes them a Fallen generally, but it still happens sometimes.”

There is a slight tone of bitterness on the edge of his last words, they’d definitely sting the Producer that chose to mess around with that stuff.

[psychgenius-blog]

「I can’t promise that you’ll have a lot more luck with me. After all, if I was sociable, I wouldn’t be coming to these meetings, now would I?」

          His joking attitude didn’t last for much longer, as Josh’s words seem to click in Neku’s head, his expression shifting into something more shocked. 

「Wait a minute: you’re not saying that—?」

          Of course, he was well aware that Sanae Hanekoma was a very… unique individual. When he’d first met him, the air that he’d had about him immediately caught Neku’s attention, mainly because it could actually get the teenager to talk. He’d been surprised to learn that the barista was CAT, who Neku had admired for years, but that made sense when he thought about it. 

          Still, he would have never thought that he was an Angel, of all things. It definitely matched up with what Josh was telling him, though…

[musicaproxxi-blog]

“It’s the same shit as always,” Natsu answered, her body leaning against the doorframe as she observed her sibling on the bed. “Mother and Father discuss work with each other, ask me how you’re doing, and then ignore me for the rest of the time.”

The Sakuraba parents have seemed to have given up on their children these days; their precious little ‘girls’ don’t behave like young ladies, and they’re both too stubborn for them to waste their time on. Natsu didn’t care for dresses or skirts and she would rather play volleyball or stuff her face with food that act like a dainty little princess, and her /brother/, Neku, was far from being a girly-girl. So it wasn’t a big surprise that family dinners were just for show nowadays, hence why the son of the family could get away with not coming downstairs to join them. Natsu didn’t blame Neku for not coming, and if their parents hadn’t insisted that at least one of their children come down to see them for supper, the redhead girl wouldn’t be there whatsoever.

Pushing herself off of the wooden frame, Natsu entered the bedroom to poke Neku in the stomach.

“It doesn’t look like you’re doing homework.” That was always Neku’s excuse for not eating dinner with everyone else, and while she would believe that reasoning because her brother was in a more advanced class than her and thus would have more homework, she still didn’t seem him doing any of it.

[psychgenius-blog]

「They actually asked about me? I was starting to think that they forgot I even existed.」

          Neku’s relationship with his parents was far from a good one. Even before he’d tried to tell them that he was a boy, they’d always tried to push their ideals onto him, which he didn’t appreciate in the slightest. Honestly, if they did forget about him or just stopped caring altogether, he wouldn’t mind. He’d decided that he didn’t need them in his life if they were going to make it miserable. 

          He swatted lightly at his sister’s hand when she poked him, appreciating that almost as much as he did his shitty parents. Neku’s relationship with Natsu was a much better one than he had with his parents, but both twins were a little… closed-off. 

「What – I’m not allowed to take a break? It’s none of your business how I study, but I’ll get it done.」

          He’d gotten some of his homework out of the way before he turned to the recluse that was his music. Neku was a smart kid, but he hated school. He was more of an artist than he was a student. He had his music lessons, sure, but he preferred the sounds of modern music over the classics, personally (and this wasn’t to say that he hated classics – he quite enjoyed them, actually – he just leaned towards the new eras of music). 

「If you’re going to get on my case about homework, then what about you? I’ll bet that you still have a load of it.」

[composerwithashotgun]

“Welcome to the socially awkward club, meets never because we all fail at effectively communicating.” He grins.

At Neku’s remark about the Angels, Josh laughs, like, it’s an actual laugh, genuine and open. A true rarity, long thought to be dead and gone, congratulations for discovering that it still remains, Neku!

“Goddamn, if they were, I’d be more fucked than I already am. I mean, they’re stuck up pricks that manipulate their laws like fuck to keep everyone in their proper place and try to prevent a lot of risk-taking, but nah, they mostly ignore anything too human. Gender, religion, who you’re attracted to, any fuckups in relation to yourself, don’t matter. What matters is your capacity to grow and change, and your Imagination and Soul levels, though they’re getting a bit restrictive in allowing risk to achieve growth lately.”

[psychgenius-blog]

「You know, it’s crazy, since we both know that I’m so busy these days, but I think that schedule for the meetings might just work for me.」

          Maybe it’s Josh laughing – actually laughing, and not just that reserved, slightly devious chuckle that he manages on occasion – that gets Neku to smile, despite the circumstances that brought him here. He’s either chosen to ignore the fact that Josh immediately brought up gender or simply didn’t notice, but chances are that he’s going to learn the hard way that the Composer knows more about him than he thinks.

「Well, they sound like a bunch of dicks either way. I would hope that there are at least one or two decent guys in the batch. I mean, as shitty as they sound, there are always a couple of oddballs.」

[composerwithashotgun]

“I lack adequate social skills in like, all areas. Believe it or not, I’m incredibly conflict-avoidant when I don’t have any idea of what the script for the scene is gonna be like. Definitely some guilt involved too, and the preconceived notion that you’d very justifiably hate my guts.”

He’d continue, but Neku gets to process that first.

“As for higher ups, after I took this position I got to learn all all about them. Angels. Highly classified information, I don’t give a shit. Their plane is the Higher Ground, HG, one step above the UG and two above the RG. They set the rules for us Composers, they get to hold onto all the super secret knowledge about stuff like Taboo, and there’s one in every district to watch over and supervise the Game. ‘Course, only the Composer gets to know who that person is, technically.”

If Neku guessed right, Josh would let him know, but he’s not gonna go naming names for the hell of it. It’s pretty obvious to him anyways.

[psychgenius-blog]

「Yeah, well, that makes two of us.」

          Neku was still lacking in the department of social skills, himself. Regardless, he wouldn’t say that he hated Josh. He was still trying to figure out how to forgive him – and him admitting that Neku had reasons to be mad at him was a start, honestly – but that wasn’t the same as hating him. 

「I’m really hoping that these Higher Ground assholes aren’t the same ones that these brainwashed Bible thumpers keep preaching about, because if they are, I am so fucked.」

          Neku seemed to be taking the knowledge presented to him relatively well. There really wasn’t much in this world that could surprise him anymore, so hearing about some holy beings keeping watch over the UG like Yoshiya and the Reapers did wasn’t too strange. Still, if they were anything like those right-wing shitheads were, Neku was definitely screwed.