[vatheon] ( application )
[ Character's Name ] : Sakuraba Neku
[ Character's Age ] : 15
[ Series ] : The World Ends With You
[ Canon Point ] : At the beginning of Week 2, Day 4, right in the middle of the story. Neku is currently partnered with Joshua and was right about to head to the Udagawa District to hopefully obtain some answers that he'd been dying to know no pun intended.
[ History ] :
There's a lot to take in when it comes to Neku, and even he still doesn't know everything that's going on. He wakes up one day in the Scramble Crossing of Shibuya, Japan with a strange pin in his hand and an onslaught of voices in his head. Suddenly, he's attacked by a strange creature, but when he tries to yell out for help, it's as though no one can see or hear him. In fact, they can't. Just as he's losing hope, a girl named Shiki comes along and asks him to form a pact with her, which will allow them to defeat the Noise-- the strange creatures. It worked, but to Neku's dismay, by forming the pact he had agreed to become Shiki's partner for the week, something which was necessary to survive the Reaper's Game. Of course, Neku didn't even know what that was, but he was being forced to play it or face erasure.
The Game consists of Players, those playing it, obviously, and Reapers, those in charge of the Game who are also trying to erase Players before they can reach the end of it. Each Game lasts for one week and each day, a mission is given out with a set time limit. If that mission is not completed before time runs out, it's erasure time.
He has difficulty coming to terms with his situation, since he's missing a large portion of his memory. He's given no choice but to stumble through the Game blind, so to speak, something that's particularly difficult on his partner considering Neku has some severe trust issues. Early on, the two meet a reaper who promises to let Neku out of the Game on one condition: he has to erase his partner. In a moment of weakness, he tries. But thanks to an intervention from Mr. Hanekoma, Shiki is saved in time and Neku is given a hard lesson about trusting his partner. After that incident, Neku would generally think twice before condemning Shiki for one reason or another.
Mr. Hanekoma obliges the two with some more information about the Game. For instance, it takes place in Shibuya, but not the Shibuya they're familiar with. It's actually split into two realms coexisting on the same plane, the UnderGround (or UG) which is where the Reaper's Game takes place and the RealGround (or RG). This is why the other people can't see or hear those playing involved in the Game.
As the Game progresses, Neku learns bits and pieces that will finally help him piece together what exactly is happening. He discovers that the reason for his missing memory is that upon entrance into the Game, every Player has to forfeit what they value the most. He also learns his reason for being entered in the first place. Every Player has a common goal: to win the game and earn a second chance at life.
That's right, if you die in the game, you die in real life!! Or well, you'll stay dead, anyway.
It's after hearing that news that Neku finally starts to get serious about the Game. With a little more cooperation from him, they manage to get through the final days and even learn a bit about each other. As they're about to complete the final mission, defeating the Game Master, they agree upon a meeting place, the statue of Hatchiko, so that they can reunite in the RG. They successfully complete the mission, only to find that even at the end, the Reaper's Game is just riddled with stipulations.
For this particular Game, it was decided that only a single player would be allowed to revive back to life, and that chosen player was Shiki.
Neku awakens once again in the Scramble Crossing to find he's been enlisted in the Game once more. This time, a different entry fee was taken from him: Shiki. Needless to say, he gets serious right away and searches for a new partner, but one seems to find him first. He's made a pact before he even realizes it, and this time he's paired with a kid named Joshua. Neku has difficulty getting along with him right off the bat since Joshua seems to care less about fulfilling the missions and he's very mysterious. He makes vague comments and dodged replies to inquiries, and Neku's trust issues start to surface again, though he tries to keep in mind the lessons he's learned.
However, that becomes rather difficult due to certain things bothering Neku. For example, Neku was able to read Joshua's thoughts using his Player Pin, something that should only work on those not involved in the game. Furthermore, in his mind, Neku saw himself lying dead in Udagawa. Believing that there's a connection with how he died, Neku keeps a close eye on his new partner, but he doesn't let on to his suspicions too much since he doesn't want to jeopardize the mission and therefore Shiki's safety.
The new Game itself poses its own problems. The new Game Master is a bit eccentric and just as mysterious as Neku's new partner. After the first two days of missions, there were two days of silence. Nothing. As a result, Neku is dragged the city by Joshua. It turns out he's good friends with Mr. Hanekoma, and that fact alone leads Neku to trust him just a bit more.
At any rate, Mr. Hanekoma beefed up their cell phones, adding a special tracker to it, and Joshua takes Neku around the city in search of... whatever the tracker is tracking. As usual, he won't give him any answers, and without any missions to contend with, Neku has little choice but to go along with it. Finally, on the fourth day, the place Joshua wants to search is Udagawa, the place Neku saw in his memory, the place where he was lying dead. Finally, he could get some answers. They're about to head off, when Neku is pulled into Vatheon.
[ Personality ] :
Neku is one of those lone wolves you hear about every now and again. He doesn't really care for other people, and he doesn't care if they care for him. He has his values, but he doesn't push them onto others. He simply requests that everyone else have the same courtesy! As a result of this, he appears standoffish, aloof, and sometimes downright cold. His philosophy is that everyone should just look of for themselves and that would save the trouble of getting hurt by forming attachments. “Do what you want, how you want, when you want it.” Those are the words he lives by. He doesn't necessarily view himself as more important than others, per se, but rather that everyone is the most important person of their own world. However, he does have a tendency to look down on others and can be vocally sarcastic of their opinions.
But that starts to change-- that has to change-- as his situation forces him to cooperate with others and on a rather intimate level. For survival, it's necessary to trust one's partner, but Neku's life is too important to put it in the hands of others who are only going to slow him down. He gets confrontational when others expect too much of him, when they try to pull him out of his safety zone, and he has no problems leaving them behind if he doesn't need them. But especially going into his second week, he accepts that he needs help and sort of ends up in the reverse position. He gets angry at Joshua for his lack of cooperation, despite the fact that Neku was just as much of a burden on Shiki until he realized the severity of their situation. He does mature a bit, but at the same time, he doesn't. While he understands the need to stay with Joshua, he's constantly complaining that Joshua is keeping things from him. It's a bit hypocritical, since Neku doesn't trust Joshua and therefore hides his true thoughts from him as well more often than not.
Basically, Neku is at a crucial turning point in his life, in so many ways since his very actions depend on whether or not that life will continue to exist. He's in a difficult situation and needs to adapt, something which doesn't come easily for someone who is very set in his opinions and withdrawn from the world to begin with. As such, he struggles internally quite often about how to react, what to say and what to keep to himself, and yet he can manage to mull over the life lessons he receives as well. Through the Game, he is gradually learning to expand his world beyond that of just what pertains to himself. However, the only progress he really retains at this point is his trust in Shiki. If not for the bond that grew with her, he wouldn't even be taking the small steps he's taking now, and when it comes to her, he's determined to do anything to see her happy. After all, he's playing the game again to keep her safe.
Aside from his issues, Neku's a pretty bright kid. He's often quick to solve the riddles that the missions tend to be, well, riddled with. And it probably goes without saying that he values individuality, since his entire outlook on life is drawn from the perspective of an individual. Even though Shibuya's a town that tends to shift focus to whatever the new exciting trend is, he prefers to stay at his own pace and enjoy the things that he finds enjoyable. As he journeys through the Reapers Games, what he's slowly achieving is a balance between his world and the world around him.
[ Strengths/Weaknesses ] :
STRENGTHS::
Neku's intellect is a useful strength for himself and his partners. He's rather analytical of particular details which helps keep him protected in his little safety bubble, and his analyses are often helpful in clearing the daily missions. But that's not his only advantage; he's also skilled when it comes to using psyches. To defeat the Noise, Players are given a set of pins which are capable of activating various psyches, but usually someone can only use a certain kind. Neku, however, seems to be able to use any one that is given to him which gives him a definite edge on the battlefield.
WEAKNESSES::
Neku tends to be rather close-minded, and as such, he has a difficulty viewing the world from different perspectives. He has difficulties with communication, or rather expressing his thoughts, and for that matter, he doesn't really care about what others are thinking unless it directly concerns an objective he needs to clear. Currently, Shiki is a weak spot for him, since he's worried about her condition and being all that he really thinks about, he's willing to give the benefit of the doubt, letting his defenses down, so that he won't jeopardize her safety.
[ Other Important Facts ] :
♪ Neku is a huge CAT fanboy! CAT is a graphic artist to the extreme who coined Neku's favorite phrase: “Do what you want, how you want, when you want it.”
♪ Neku has a Player Pin that allows him to read the thoughts of the living. (I'm assuming it probably wouldn't work here, though)
♪ The missions are delivered via e-mail to the Player's cell phones. Their cell phones will only work in regards to the Game; they cannot place or receive calls.
♪ Neku has a variety of pins that activate different psyches. (Again, not sure if they would work here).
♪ Each mission is timed. Once the mission is delivered, a working countdown clock appears on the palm of the Players' hands. It's like a physical injury, so it stings a bit each time it's activated. The counter disappears once a mission is completed.
♪ Players wake up at the start of each day and black out after the mission, only to wake up the next day for the next mission. It's assumed that they slept in the downtime.
♪ Players can enter certain shops that have a Reaper insignia marking on them which enables them to become visible to the RG while inside.
[ Sample ] :
It was another lapse in his memory, or so it felt like. What happened? An entire day couldn't have passed, could it? There was never a mission received, and more than that, it felt like there was a purpose that remained unfulfilled... That's right, the Udagawa district! He was following Joshua, who said he was looking for the Shibuya River and that if his guess was correct, the key may lie in the Udagawa district.
“Where...” he started to say aloud subconsciously. As his eyes began to focus, he noticed he was surrounded by water. One thought jumped to the next, and it was enough to extract a gasp from his lips. Had he fallen into the Shibuya River? Maybe Joshua pushed him. Neku certainly wouldn't put the act past him, but the scenario didn't seem to match his current situation. Though he was surrounded by the water, he wasn't immersed in it; it was safe to say he was in a new location, somewhere he'd never been, but how could that be? He was Shibuya born and raised, so he was very familiar with the setting. Maybe there was a secret to the Shibuya River, like a passage that led to this place...
“Oh, get real,” he told himself before he could even finish his own thought. But then, stranger things had happened, right? At any rate, “where” wasn't the important thing right now. “Why” seemed much more pressing, and going a step beyond that, he needed to find the “who” that was (probably) responsible and would be able to answer those needed questions and more.
He needed to find Joshua and fast. Glancing around, he quickly noticed there was no sign of him. Typical. But this was no time for hide-and-seek, and having even his initial search turn up nothing just made him frustrated on the spot. Still, he had to keep calm. First off, he checked his phone for a possible mission mail. There wasn't one, but more importantly, it was then that he realized a mark on his right palm. He poked at it, but there was no response. It wasn't moving... It wasn't a counter.
“Wait a minute--!” he realized, pushing that thought aside as his focus returned to his cell phone. The tracker Mr. Hanekoma had installed... It wasn't responding. But didn't Joshua say that the Shibuya River was what he was ultimately looking for? “Ugh...” He groaned, seeing as the mysteries just kept piling up, and his partner wasn't around to answer them (or not answer them as he so often liked to do). Well, he wasn't making any progress here, that was for sure. Tucking his phone back into his pocket, he started to follow the road before him, eyes peeled for his elusive partner.