TWEWY Book of Oneshots

Muscle Memory

NEO: The World Ends With You spoilers!

Prompt: Beat returning to the UG in NEO. Requested by Polli2123!

-xXx-

Beat leaves his house calmly, something that had been occurring more and more often over the past few years as the arguments with his 'rents slowly lessened. Whether that was them finally understanding or just giving up on him, he wasn't sure, but it was a welcome change. He was frustrated, sure, but he always vented through his usual methods: going out to the local skate park and practicing by going a few rounds on his board.

It's been over three years since Phones disappeared. Three years since they had both been dragged back into the UG, even for a brief moment. Three years since they had been duped by Pixie-Chick. Three years since she shot Phones and he vanished into thin air. Three years since he had heard the shot ring out and he had to watch Phones' face go blank as he crumpled to the ground in front of him and disappeared.

And that damn Priss-Kid wouldn't say a word about where Phones went, even though it was obvious to even Beat that he knew where he was. At the very least, Rhyme and Shiki were able to find a silent-lining in his words and had told Beat that while Priss-Kid wouldn't say where Phones was, he was saying that he was doing okay.

Beat grit his teeth and kicked the ground while on his board, making him go faster but while keeping an attentive eye out for cars.

After the four of them had escaped the UG together, they had all went to meet up and had gotten each other's numbers. As it had turned out, all of them, except Rhyme, went to the same school. It took some nagging from them at times, but he had maintained a good attendance with them at school with them. And to his 'rents surprise, his grades had even gone up, what with Phones, Shiki, and Eri helping him study and explaining the shit they had to learn in a way that actually made sense.

But now that Phones was gone... it just wasn't the same. It only helped a little that people at school only thought that Neku was sick at first, before the rumors were saying that he had switched schools. Beat had wanted to yell at the people who made the rumors, but he didn't. The rumors actually helped calm him, somewhat. Made him think that Phones really had just gone to another school and that he wasn't trapped somewhere.

Still, school was harder without him. Beat had friends at school, sure, (one had even given him one of those 'Reaper Pins' that had gotten popular recently as school earlier that day) but none were able to give him the same confidence and determination to do well like Phones did.

Beat does not see the person turning at the corner of the street.

"Bwahh! Look out, yo!" The person, in fact, did not look out before Beat nearly crashed into them, skating past them so fast that it almost seemed like he passed right through them.

Beat slows himself to a stop. Damn, he should be paying more attention. But the small voice in his head that sounded suspiciously like Rhyme insists that he should apologize, so he agrees.

He scoops up his board under one arm and he runs after the person in a, hopefully, non-threatening manner.

"Hey, 'scuse me, man," He says. The person ignored him. Beat doesn't like the eerily familiar feeling that settled in his gut. No, this could not be happening again. "Yo, didn't you hear what I said?"

He reaches out to put a hand on his shoulder, but to his horror, his hand phases right through. No. No no no no no. His phone buzzes and he quickly yanks it out of his pocket expecting the same old text message. To his surprise, something was installing instead, the app letting out a creepy laugh once it had finished downloading without his permission.

Shit. Shit! He has to tell Rhyme what's going on. Or Shiki. Or anyone who could be able to help him. He glanced at the app which was displaying a chart of some kind with 5 different colors on it. Each color had a name of some kind. Did this have to do with the Game? Different from what he remembered, even though three years had passed.

He shakes his head before exiting out of the app and opening up his contacts.

...what the hell is this?

Every single contact except for one had been removed. No Rhyme, no Shiki, no Priss-Kid (who he didn't even have the phone number of in the first place). No King a Coffee, either, though no had been able to get in contact with him shortly after Phones disappeared. No classmates from school, neither of 'rents' numbers were listed, no nothing.

The only contact that was left? Phone's number. But he hadn't been answering for years.

But if Phones' number was still here, that had to mean that he was somewhere in the UG, yeah? If he was nowhere to be found in the RG, that really only left one place left. And now he had the chance to go looking for him!

Something was off about the UG, though. How'd he get here in the first place? He was still alive.

There's no time to think about it as the painfully familiar Noise symbols begin to gather. He takes off in the other direction, not particularly in the mood to fight. He was too confused to be able to focus. And besides, during that third week with Phones, they found that blending in was the easiest way to not get attention drawn to yourself. And Beat knows that the last thing he needs is the Reapers on his ass.

"Jus' hang on, Phones," Beat promises to the air. "Imma bring you home!"

-xXx-

And then the next day is the pig hunt. I'm assuming Beat arrives sometime after he walks past Rindo on Day 4, probably Day 5. And then Rhyme begins to hack into the RNS on Day 6, searching for Beat.