neverplaysfair | Game 021 [Action] - Happy Six-Month Anniversary. Sucker.

[ Totally slumping against Neku, sorry if he gets any blood on you, man. Would be thanking him but can't quite sum up the energy or willpower. He feels about twenty times weaker than he did sixty seconds ago, and his whole back is unpleasantly wet, and the world is definitely getting dimmer. Is he dying? Dying sounds incredibly inconvenient. He'd really rather avoid it.

He had to take this chance to fix Joshua, and he did. Mission accomplished. Teleporting on home to heal and rest sounds like a great plan, but he's not so sure he can manage a jump that big. For the moment, he's just gonna keep leaning on Neku and breathing shallowly, thinking about just how pissed he'll be at Joshua if he manages to die from this. ]

Mr. H?

[There's a bit of desperation there in his voice, but mostly just that panic he's still feeling. He's not even caring if there's blood on him, just that there is blood and it's coming from Mr. H. His stomach is in a huge knot and he even feels like crying right about now. He wraps his arm around Mr. H's shoulders and just hangs onto him, afraid to let go. Please don't die.]

[ Joshua barely notices that the nausea is gone, or that the warning bells in the back of his head aren't firing a million times a minute anymore, or that if he tried he could probably sit up now, and the only reason he wouldn't be able to stand is because of how he's shaking.

For the first time, it's hit him hard. For the first time, he's actually acknowledging it. He's trapped here in a world without Shibuya. And he has no way to get back there. Back to his city. ]

[ Mr. H hears his name and gives a low noise of acknowledgment, but there are no coherent words to it. How long has it been since he was hit? One minute or five? Time's moving in an odd way and he can't tell, but he knows that he ought to fix himself soon, that shots to the abdomen are bad and he'd really prefer not to die from something like this.

His legs won't hold him up and his vision is doing something odd, but Hanekoma's not wasting any more time. He's out of here. Won't even shoot for home, can't think clearly enough to shoot for home -- anywhere is good so long as it's away from here.

There's a slight shift of light and Hanekoma is gone. ]

[And with that Neku is no longer hanging onto Mr. H anymore. He's now hunched over on the ground, believing the worst and Mr. H has died. What else could that have been? He's... gone. And Neku is crying. This wasn't fair. Wasn't fair damnit. He doesn't even want to look up and see if Joshua is okay or not.]

[ By this point, Joshua has pulled himself up, staring emptily at Neku. But he's not looking. He's listening. Listening to one of the few remnants of Shibuya that are with him in this place. ]

[He still doesn't want to look up, doesn't want to look at Joshua, but he wants to know why. So after a few moments Neku does finally look up at Joshua, still obviously crying and only weakly able to mutter one word.]

Why?

[ And there's only one response to it, despite the many different possible meanings because the question. ]

Shibuya.

[He just looks at Joshua with a confused expression, not getting how Shibuya could be the reason for killing Mr. H. There should be no reason. His voice cracks a little as he speaks again.]

He was helping you.

You don't know that. [ Joshua slowly pulls himself to the side and reaches, picking his gun up from the ground, his expression blank. ]

[He's stopped crying now, anger taking over. Neku growls a little and quickly gets to his feet.]

He was! Even after you shot him he still wanted to help you!

[ Joshua starts wiping the gun off, keeping his gaze on Neku, completely level. ] He doesn't have any problems with trying to kill me, Neku. That's not a risk I take lightly.

[ He gives a shrug that's almost careless. Almost. ]

I did warn him.

[Pause. Wait, what?]

Huh? Why would you think that?

[ He was going to let Hanekoma tell this story himself. Even if Sanae deserved it, this wasn't something that Joshua wanted to inflict upon Neku of all people.

Too bad things have a way of working out for the worse sometimes. ]

He said it.

...

[That doesn't make sense. Why would Mr. H be okay with killing Joshua? He just tried to help him. Everything is just so confusing right now and Mr. H is gone and... Neku hides his face behind his bangs and clenches his fists. He can't focus right now.]

[ And Josh will just be here, cleaning his gun. Mostly so that he has something to keep his mind on that isn't Shibuya. Or the fact that he just shot Hanekoma and the guy still apparently did something that had helped. Or Shibuya. ]

[Neku just wants to go somewhere and be left alone for a while, wants to forget this happened and that he doesn't have Mr. H's blood on him. He doesn't even know why he's bothering to ask this anymore, or why he even still cares, but-]

Can you walk now?

[ Joshua looks up and pauses to consider. ] Not sure. [ He turns back to his gun, and with a bit more honesty in his voice than he meant to slip through, ] My legs are shaking.

[He moves closer to Joshua and offers him his hand.]

Come on.

[ Joshua carefully tucks the gun away, then reaches to take the offered hand. He unsteadily pulls himself to his feet. ]

[Once he's up Neku pulls Joshua's arm around his shoulders to give him something to hang onto, also puts an arm around Joshua's waist to give him more support.]

Where are you staying?

[ Josh doesn't entirely need the support, but as his legs feel like they may very well mutiny and cease to work at any moment, leaning on Neku sounds like a good idea. ]

Community housing five. [ Yes it is far away thanks for noticing :| ]

[...sheesh yeah that's far away. Hopefully Joshua can make it that far because that's where Neku is heading for. He just really wants to get away from this spot like now.]

[ And Josh has no objections. This would be so much easier if he was willing to float his way over there, but falling out of the sky doesn't sound like a nice plan and Joshua honestly has no idea if this sudden lack of not-badness is going to last, or for how long. ]

... I was going to let him tell you, himself.

I still don't understand.

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