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3 good things

Got free lunch today

Feel like I've been getting along well with my preceptor. He's really funny

Talked to some really nice patients today (:

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3 good things

Made plans for next weekend

Boiled a few eggs to bring with lunch (:

Finally trimmed my bangs

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3 good things

Got to sleep in today

Worked from home since I'm helping to screen applications for the incoming residents next year

It was a lot warmer than I'd expected!

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3 good things

Thought it was going to be cloudy today, but the sun came out eventually (:

Didn’t do anything productive today

Felt like I had a cold, but it seems to be getting better

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3 good things

It was very sunny and nice today

Ate some really good bread!

Started reading something funny

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3 good things

Ate some yummy egg tarts today

Lit a candle for a little bit

Watched a cool documentary thing on border collies (:

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deposition

Blue-tinted raindrops splatter against the window as he zips up his bag. Condensation climbed up the opposite side of the glass overnight, freezing into lacy strands of frost.

He pulls his coat over one shoulder, fumbling with the sling. Earlier, he could still see a crescent of the moon. He hadn’t thought it would rain, yet the sky has been blotted out by deep violet clouds. 

Someone knocks on the door to his hospital room, sliding it open. 

“Good morning. It’ll take a couple of hours to discharge you, just so you know.” 

“Oh. Thank you.” Yukio glances at his phone. He cleaned up most of his belongings last night since he was told he might be released today. Although Sir Pheles is his legal guardian, Yukio can’t imagine him coming to help. Calling the monastery this early in the morning would be bothersome, especially since he hadn’t told them he was injured on the mission to Aomori. 

The other option is to call Rin, but he’s already struggling in his classes. Pulling him away for something like this would be unreasonable. 

“Will your father be coming to pick you up?”

Yukio’s hands pause over the buttons of his coat. He swallows, lifting his head.

“Will your father come pick you up?” the woman typing at the computer repeats. 

“No,” Yukio finally manages to say. His hands clench in the heavy fabric of his winter coat as he tries to breathe through the familiar tightness in his chest. “No. I’m sorry. He won’t be. I’ll be fine on my own.”

The woman frowns. Yukio missed her name and role when she introduced herself yesterday. Inconveniently enough, her long, dark hair has covered the badge clipped to her scrubs.

“He signed your forms last night, but we haven’t been able to reach him since this morning.”

Yukio looks down at the form. Johann Faust V. The name is printed in dark ink. Of course. She must have assumed.

Rain strikes the window with a harsh cadence like hail. Outside, the sky has grown darker, laden with heavy storm clouds. It’ll be difficult to carry his belongings and an umbrella back to his dorm on his own. 

“I’ll be fine on my own,” Yukio says with a smile. “Thank you for trying to reach out to him.”

The woman nods and moves on with the remaining discharge paperwork. She must be busy, glancing at her watch repeatedly as Yukio reads and fills forms.

Yukio grips the cheap ballpoint pen carefully and signs his name beside the curled, elegant signature Sir Pheles penned as his legal guardian. Of course, he didn’t tell anyone at home he was injured. Rin has class at this time. It’d be too much of a hassle to bother any of them. 

No one will come pick him up, but he can manage on his own.

A low roll of thunder swells in the distance. He has a feeling this rain will continue for the rest of the day.

By the time he leaves the hospital, first period is over. He still needs to change, so he heads to the old male dormitory. At this point, he’s already missed several classes. Making up the work will take up time he doesn’t have. He needs to hurry before he misses all of second period too.

This broken arm is wearing on him, but it’s manageable. As he sets the bulging folder of discharge instructions aside, his phone vibrates.

This is the monastery’s number. Did Sir Pheles tell them he was being discharged? That seems unlikely. He grabs his bag, holding his phone with his shoulder as he reaches for the door. “Hello?”

“Yukio,” Nagatomo begins, somber and weary. “You should come home tonight.”

Fear climbs up Yukio’s throat. The window rattles with low tremors as a furious gust of rain splatters on the glass. Lightning cracks across the dark sky stained deep blue and grey. 

Months ago, Nagatomo called him as well, in this manner. His voice was harsher then, scarred by the touch of fire. 

Yukio. Come home as soon as you can. It’s Father Fujimoto. He’s—

Yukio clenches his jaw. “What happened?”

“Misumi-san passed away this morning.” Nagatomo draws a pained breath in and sighs. “It… was acute heart failure. With his age,” he whispers, “it couldn’t be helped.”

Misumi?

Yukio’s bag slips slowly from his grasp, slumping with a dull thump to the floor. He shuts his eyes, lowering his head. How long had it been since he spoke with Misumi? He hasn’t been home since starting school.

“I’m sorry,” he says. “Thank you for telling me.”

For a breath, neither of them speaks.

“The funeral,” Nagatomo says, “the funeral is tonight.” 

Yukio nods. “Then we’ll come back. I can let Nii-san know.”

Nagatomo hesitates. “No, I can call Rin. You shouldn’t have to…”

“It’s fine. I’ll see him during lunch.” He can barely recognize his own voice, pale with gentleness and asymmetric calm. “I’m sure he’d rather know sooner than later, and he won’t have his phone in class.”

“Yukio, if you’d rather take the day off…”

Yukio reaches down to pick up his bag. “I’ll be fine. Please don’t worry about me. I’m sure this is far more difficult for you and everyone else,” he says. “Please take good care of yourself, Nagatomo-san.”

Nagatomo sighs. “Of course. Thanks, Yukio,” he says with a tremulous breath, “for always being so reliable. You take care as well. Look out for Rin.”

The call ends abruptly.

Yukio adjusts the sling on his arm, swallowing as he takes a deep breath in and back out. As he gathers his composure, pattering rain taps the window with an impatient rhythm. 

He’ll tell Rin at lunch. It won’t be as difficult for him as it is for Nagatomo. 

He raises his umbrella and steps out into the rain. His thoughts are slow and blunt at the corners, submerged beneath still depths. If he goes back to the monastery tonight, he won’t have as much time to catch up on work. It can’t be helped, but he’s already behind. 

Yukio. Come home as soon as you can.

Home?

His breath fogs in short, scattered puffs as he stops across a bridge toward the academy. 

When his eyes throb, he rests his elbows on the rough stone ledge and takes a deep breath. Bits of moss and lichen cling in the thin cracks. He grits his teeth and shuts his eyes, waiting for the warm ache to subside. 

Wind trails through his uniform sweater, rippling across the tall bridge with a whispered promise of snow. 

What use is there in going home at this point? The one he misses is already gone. 

To read more on AO3 (:

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Contract

Flickers of his breath graze Yukio’s ear, soft as wisps of flame over kindling. 

He knows Shima can’t have fully grasped what this message means. No. Of course, he hasn’t. Shima may have been tasked to pass this secret along, but he wouldn’t say it in this way if he knew more. 

Regardless, it’s too late. The idea is irrevocable, swaying just beyond the corners of Yukio’s vision. He’s already enthralled by it, so much that there’s no decision to be made. 

“Now I’ve told you, so do what you want with it.” Shima raises a finger to his lips and winks as he walks away. 

“Which side are you on?” It’s a futile question, yet he’s asked it twice now. He doesn’t even know what answer he cares for. 

Shima laughs. “Who knows?” When he turns back, the mirth in his voice doesn’t reflect in his eyes. “Which side are you on?” 

Those words fall from his tongue one by one like scattering dice. As he leaves, their echo swells in the empty hallway, spoken as if they were particularly clever. 

Yukio’s lip curls when he catches sight of his own silhouette in the tall row of windows beside him. He’s cold and sheer. Do his motives appear as simple to see through?

“Of course,” he says, “you of all people wouldn’t be fooled so easily.” 

Perhaps it doesn’t matter. Shima won’t be enough to stop him, and it’s clear he has no intentions to do so in the first place. 

The soft hum of warm air vents switches on when he steps near the windows. It’s never completely silent here. Blinking specks of red lights line the ship’s massive steel wings. In spite of the darkness, no stars are visible. All he can see are layered clouds in the distance. 

This fortress is undeniably impressive from a technological perspective. It’s clear it was designed with both comfort and safety in mind. He hadn’t expected that after seeing their lab in Shimane. 

Yukio turns away and strides down the hallway with measured, even steps. 

He’s been given a weapon. All that’s left is to weigh how best to use it. 

To keep reading on AO3 :)

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3 good things

Feels like I'm becoming good friends with my coresidents lately (:

Riding the trolley reminds me of home

Had a lot of time to catch up on my projects

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morose 5 o'clock shadow yukio my beloved

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3 good things

Saw some pretty clouds *O *

Got home a tiny bit earlier today

Memorized more equations for board exams

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Ao no Exorcist: Yuki no Hate-hen (Blue Exorcist: Beyond the Snow Saga) - Teaser Visual and PV. Premiere: October 2024. The Blue Night Saga premieres January 2025.

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3 good things

The baby birds are hatching! *O *

Had a relaxing day off

The breeze felt very nice today

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Blue Exorcist

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Renzo Shima's birthday commemorative digital present