Work Text:
After some long, long hours, Shiki left the conference room absolutely exhausted. Her day had been nothing but design meetings for Gatto Nero’s next clothing line, consisting of a lot of back-and-forth with their collaboration partners. All of the discussion was draining, and Shiki hadn’t felt this tired since the Reaper’s Game. But considering that this was the dream that she and Eri had for years, she wouldn’t trade it for anything else in the world. Eri walked out of the conference room a bit later, and after they sent a few emails and scheduled another set of meetings for tomorrow, they parted ways for the day.
With work finally over, Shiki pulled out her phone and shot a quick text to her boyfriend.
Shiki: “I’m all done for the day!”
The reply never takes long.
Neku: “Cool. At the usual spot.”
Shiki smiles. Every day since finally coming back to life, Neku’s been waiting for her after work at Hachikō. She starts to make her way over there, and makes a note to ask Neku to set time aside to model. To Shiki and Eri's surprise, Neku had become the best model Gatto Nero could ask for. Shiki still finds it funny that Neku had no idea that she and Eri had started Gatto Nero together while he was dead, and that he only picked out the clothes because he liked their vibes. He now occupied a spot as Gatto Nero’s main male model, much to the despair of the guys over at Jupiter of the Monkey, who were distraught to see one of their top brand reps turn traitor.
Shiki then mulls over the new clothing set Gatto Nero had planned. It was a collaboration with a popular video game series, and they would be designing clothes based off of two of the main characters. A tactician and a princess, who had a rocky start to their relationship, going so far as one attempting to kill the other, but eventually found love, only to be separated when the tactician sacrificed himself. They were separated for years before the tactician came back to life.
As Shiki thought of Neku modeling their latest set though, she noticed that she and Neku had an eerily similar relationship to the tactician and princess, right down to one of them dying for a few years. That odd coincidence let a recurring dark thought she's had before come creeping back. A nagging fear that no matter how hard she tried, just never fully went away.
Neku’s supposed to be waiting for her at Hachikō. But what if today he disappears again? What if Shiki shows up to their usual meeting place, and she can’t find him. What if Beat calls her again, and tells her Neku’s been killed. What if she has to wait another three long years for him to come back.
Joshua rewrote their world when Neku was revived. Made it so that it seemed Neku was never gone at all. Made it seem that he finished high school, started going out with Shiki, attended college, and took over WildKat for Mr. H.
But these fake memories only affected people without a connection to the UG. For Shiki and the rest of Neku’s friends, they remember everything from those three years when he was gone. Shiki remembers rushing over after getting Beat’s call, and seeing Neku lying dead on the ground. She remembers having to tell Neku’s parents and the despair in their cries learning their son had been killed. She remembers every day since then she spent waiting at Hachikō, wishing it would be the day Neku returned to her, and not having that wish fulfilled for three years.
It’s not the first time she’s had these thoughts, and as she crosses the Scramble Crossing, her heart starts beating faster and faster, and she becomes more anxious. Finally, she turns the corner, praying that Neku’s still there.
He is.
Shiki sees him in his usual spot, a bit to Hachikō’s left, out of the way of tourists taking pictures. He’s got headphones on, probably listening to Dëf March.
Most importantly though, he’s still alive.
Neku’s looking around until he notices Shiki. He shoots her a wave and takes off his headphones. “Hey.”
Shiki fights off her anxiety enough to smile back. “Hey!” She runs up to him and quickly reaches out to clutch his hand, and holds it tight.
Neku raises an eyebrow at this, but says nothing about it as the two begin to walk back to their apartment. “So, how was your day?” he asks.
A simple question, but it’s enough to take Shiki’s mind off of the dread she’s been feeling. She eagerly starts gushing about the collaboration Gatto Nero had secured. The designs that she and Eri had come up with and were incredibly excited to bring to life. “We’re going to need you to come in next week to help model them, by the way.”
“Yeah yeah, I’ll be there.” Neku groans.
Shiki beams and playfully bumps into Neku. Though he complains about all the work Shiki and Eri put him through, Shiki knows that he enjoys it. Neku too remembers the long years spent wandering Shinjuku, away from Shiki, Beat, and Rhyme, so he’s happy to spend every second he can making up for lost time, especially with his girlfriend. But the comfort slowly slips away from Shiki, and her memories of the years without Neku creep up on her again. She clasps his hand a little tighter.
Neku again notices, but doesn’t say anything.
Eventually, the two arrive back at their apartment. Shiki puts her stuff down while Neku starts heading for the kitchen.
“Hey so what do you want to do for dinner?” he asks. “We could hit up Beat and Rhyme to see if they want to head to Ramen Don, or I can make something here if you’re too tired to head back out. If so, I’ve been practicing a new kind of curry and I-”
He's cut off by Shiki rushing to him and embracing him in a tight hug, nearly toppling him over. “Shiki? What’s the matter?”
Shiki buries her head against Neku’s back. “I’m sorry. It’s just…” she tightens her hold.
It doesn’t take much longer for Neku to get it. “It’s okay, I understand.” He lightly taps Shiki’s arm to get her to loosen her grip, and turns around, hugging her back. “I’m here, don’t worry.”
After a few moments of just holding Neku, Shiki pulls away slightly, and looks deep into Neku’s eyes. They stare back at her, warm and caring.
Neku then leans down, and kisses her. Shiki leans up in return, and presses their lips together a little harder. A few tears stream down her face, but now Shiki finally begins to relax a little.
Neku’s hug is real.
Neku’s kiss is real.
Neku is real. He’s here with her, and he won’t leave her again.