Necessity

By: Aviantei

A The World Ends with You One Shot

In the end, killing Sakuraba Neku is justified by its necessity, and only that.

He has so much to live for. Talent, if not a bit restrained by inexperience. Focus, if only present because of blocking everything else. Consideration, though birthed from past tragedy. Still, all the flaws that Sakuraba Neku possesses can be explained by immaturity. And that, if any other reason, is why this boy should be kept alive.

But despite all of that, it's those reasons that he needs to die. Everything, it adds up, feeds his potential. Sakuraba Neku possesses an incredible amount of Imagination, and that is what is needed. Because if Megumi is trying his best to unify Shibuya, then the best is needed to try to stop him, no matter how good things would be if Megumi succeeded.

And a few pulls of the trigger later, Sakuraba Neku becomes the Proxy.

Your Proxy.

The first week shouldn't really be much of an issue, considering Megumi has the better part of the month left on his side. You're curious, though, so you camp out by Hachiko on Day One and sneak off after Sakuraba is successfully contracted.

The Game is the same as usual, so you're not entirely interested. When Yodai makes direct contact with the team, you watch. As Neku collects more Pins, it's obvious how much Imagination he has. Really, you wouldn't put it past him to be able to use even some older Pins that are out of print.

When it comes down to it, taking Neku out of the RG is such a waste.

You don't even want to win.

And then week two hits, and Megumi chooses Sho (of course he chooses Sho), and the Shiki girl is gone, so you guess it's in your best interest to become Neku's new partner.

A game is boring if it ends too early, that's for certain. And even if you're technically an illegal player, that doesn't change the fact that it's interesting. Not to mention you're probably the best shot Neku has at surviving this week, and the game can go on longer. Even if you lose, you'll at least have fun with it.

But talking to Neku is completely different. You act familiar, because you do know him. But he gets his memories of death back in bits and pieces, and part of you is relieved that he blames Sho, that he doesn't know it was really you.

And even though you act like you're angry at him when he talks about how much he wants to live, you know that Neku deserves it more than anyone.

And when it comes down to the fight with Sho, to the GM's desperate last stand, you almost can't believe your own thoughts.

Because he can't afford to lose.

You end up stranded in an alternate universe with no way to get home, and that's great, just great.

Of course, there's some perks to it, too. You get to see this world's version of Neku, not as your Proxy. He's actually alive, and you're never shot him. All of his friends are alive, too, and they're going on, adding to the world. You even get to see yourself—still technically dead, still a Composer, always the Composer, but living an ordinary life as well.

It's been years, but now you actually feel something akin to regret. Not just about Neku, but about yourself. About life and how fragile it is, how unnecessary it all feels sometimes.

Neku and his friends wander into the Shibuya River, and you give them a little game to play, hoping that it will help them appreciate what they have just a little bit more.

And when Sanae eventually does show up (after having his own bit of fun, it seems), you may whine about how he's late and talk about the plan and get ready for the upcoming finale, but you really have to try to shift yourself into the right mindset.

And you think about your Proxy, your Neku, and you hope he has it in him to survive this.

The betrayal doesn't matter, the outcome of the Game doesn't matter, the fact that Megumi's own timer has run out doesn't matter, none of it matters.

Because Neku is staring you down and you want him to shoot you, because that would at least be a start to being even.

But he can't. He can't shoot you, because you're his friend, just like you can't shoot him. Not to Erase him. If the world is going to keep going, you can't Erase him, because the world is wonderful if it has people like him inside of it.

But you can shoot him if it'll make him live.

And one week later, Sakuraba Neku, no longer the Proxy, meets up with his friends in the RG for the first time.

He's alive. You know it because you're the one that brought him back—and the others, too. But seeing it is different, almost confirms something. And before Sanae can convince you that going down there yourself would be a good idea, you take to the sky.

Sakuraba Neku is alive. That's what you came to see.

But part of you wants to see more.

Sakuraba Neku. A boy with potential, with imagination. A successful Proxy. Someone that deserves to live every last second he has left.

And as long as you're in charge, he won't have to enter the Reaper's Game again.

[Author's Notes]

When I was shuffling through my fanfiction folders, I found this unpublished one shot/drabble thing of a possible take on Yoshiya's perspective through TWEWY. The document is easily a couple years old, so I can't even remember what inspired me to write it. But in the end, it exists, so I figured I'd share it.

But TWEWY -Final Mix-, yeah? Let's hope it's good (and that we get an easy way to buy that Mr. Mew plush that's coming out).

It's also rather fitting that this is posting the week before June 2-because that's when this year's [Twelve Shots of Summer] season starts! If you're unfamiliar (which is more likely than not), T-Sauce is a twelve week one shot writing challenge. Normally I'd say you can look forward to twelve weekly one shots from me, but I'm also taking on the special [Gotta Write 'Em All!] achievement, so I'll be publishing a lot of one shots over the summer.

These one shots won't be a substitute for my regular weekly updates, though! Next week, I'll start the queue of Reliability chapters, so check it out if you're a Kuroko no Basuke fan. Or even if you're not! I got into KnB through fanfiction after all.

Regardless of if you read anything else I write, though, I'm glad our paths crossed here. So thanks for reading!

-Aviantei

[POST] 05.21.2018