#“Nanako stop being mean to your sister.”

[yutamayo]

And then her sister starts copying her...

[lemonlover1110]

suguru as dad plss 🙏🙏

Suguru Geto

Summary: Suguru's twins just make mornings unnecessarily difficult.

Warnings: Fluff

Discord +18 - Twitter - Ko-Fi

Suguru knows how much you adore sleeping in, so he tries to help you with that task by taking over in the mornings. He wakes up early to begin cooking breakfast for his baby girls, making a special menu for each one of the twins. Nanako prefers a sweet breakfast while Mimiko leans more to the savory side.Suguru loves to spoil his four-year-old daughters, especially when it comes to food. 

When he’s done preparing breakfast, he wakes them up so they can start the day. They’re his little angels the first hour of the day, the sweetest the girls can possibly be. They clean up after themselves, have the best manners, and the most important part, they get along. Mimiko helps Nanako and vice versa– He doesn’t know what happens after breakfast though because his sweet girls turn into mini demons.

“Mimiko, did you put on your outfit?!” Suguru yells, checking if she’s somewhat ready. Mimiko delays the process of getting ready each and every morning, which makes Suguru run late. He drops them off at preschool before going to his job, but soon enough this routine will have to change because he’s always late.

“I don’t want to!” She stomps her little feet, walking to her bedroom to hide under the covers of her bed. She walks by her father as if he doesn’t have the ability to stop her. Which he won’t, not until he’s done with Nanako’s hair at least.

“How about space buns, honey? Do you like that idea?” Suguru changes to a sweet tone when talking to Nanako because even though both girls are difficult in the morning, she’s the easier one in the morning. She hums in response, more focused on playing with her dolls. 

“Ow! That hurts, daddy!” Nanako whines, even though the comb has yet to brush her hair. Suguru sighs, remembering to be patient with her. He isn’t even rough with her hair, he does everything possible to be gentle with those pesky knots that get in the way– But she seems to prefer running around with her hair tangled. 

He begins to comb her hair and style her hair, drowning out the cries that she makes just because she feels the brush on her hair. He looks at the clock, knowing that he still has some time but he needs to hurry up. Suguru wants to be early for once in his life, an arduous task these days. He clears his throat before yelling, “Mimiko, when I go in there you better be changed or else!”

“There. Go get changed, Nanako. I need to do your sister’s hair.” Suguru says, and Nanako pouts, but she puts her dolls down and goes to the bedroom to pick out her outfit for the day. Suguru stands up as well, and follows behind Nanako to grab Mimiko.

He wants to laugh, seeing his daughter’s body under her purple bed covers. Does she really think that she’s invisible once she’s under the covers? He’s smirking, very loudly asking, “Where is Mimiko? This girl disappeared from thin air.”

“Daddy, she’s there!” Nanako points out, and Suguru pretends to be shocked, hugging his little girl through the covers. He can already picture the pout that’s on the girl’s face after her sister snitched. Suguru takes the cover off, and he’s proven right.

“Let’s go get you ready, honey.” Suguru says, and he can see the tears building up in her eyes. She doesn’t want to. He sighs, before asking, “Why don’t you want to get ready? I thought you and your sister loved looking pretty.”

“You always say we look pretty no matter what. Do you lie to us?” Her eyes are filled to the brim with tears, one sudden move from Suguru will make this unnecessary longer. 

“No, baby! What I mean is…” What does he mean? He doesn’t know what he means. He takes a moment to think about it before turning the cards on her. “Why don’t you like getting ready? You know you two have to go to preschool, and I don’t like being late.”

“I don’t want to leave you, daddy.” Mimiko confesses, and it makes his heart flutter. His baby girls just make getting ready difficult because they don’t want to leave him. He’s already a big softie for his daughters, and this confession certainly doesn’t help. “Can’t we just stay with you?”

“Mimi, don’t you want to go with your friends? Nanako is excited.” Suguru says, and she hugs her father tightly. He hugs her back, kissing the top of her head. “Nanako, do you want to stay today?”

“Yes!” She doesn’t waste a second, and he thinks about it for a minute.

Would it be too bad to take the day off and keep them home just for today? It won’t become a routine… Except it definitely will. 

[sillydummydum]

Hello Everybody!!!

My name's Luna, I'm an autistic 16y old demiaroace bissexual girl who really enjoys playing games, drawing and self shipping!! I've been doing it without knowing since I was like 8 so yeah -v-" I'm a little bit shy and definitely don't know how to make pretty aah tumblr posts but I try to have fun! Never interacted with much people from the self shipping community due to shyness-- but I'm happy to make new self shipper friends!! I tend to talk allot so sorry if I yap! I got the silly--

☆ She/her ☆

I really like:

- Persona (main special interest)

- Pokemon (very strong special interest!!)

- Sonic

- Undertale

- Touhou

- Rpg

- Honestly videogame and uh-- hell! even anime in general!! sign me in! I really like to learn abt other people's passions so plz show me lots of cool media!! I'll love it!

- Does my boyfriend counts?... cuz I do like him allot

- Making friends!!

I don't really enjoy:

- fighting on the Internet (I swear don't fight me I'll cry) /j

- Basic dni stuff yk just bad people in general

- Anti self shippers duhh

- People who don't like my boyfriend

- People who DO like my boyfriend/j

Romantic F/O's:

- Goro Akechi ♡ (my main f/o!! My boyfriend! My silly!~ Will mostly if not a 100% of the time talk about him!! And I'm usually mocking him lol he's stupid, miserable and fun to laugh at/pos Not really comfy with sharing! Aaah sorry i mean i don't mind if you interact but you knoooow... ><")

- Naoto Shirogane (kinda jealous so nu-uh)

- X!tale Chara (don't mind!)

- Satori Komeiji (don't mind~)

Short list lol the only ones I am very invested in are Goro and Naoto, i'm a detective kisser ig 😭

- Shuichi Saihara (don't mind!!)

- Shadow the hedgehog (It's a little funny to think abt that one I mean I freaking love yall Shadow selfshippers plz do interact)

Platonic F/O's:

- Honestly all the persona 3/4/5 main cast are my best friends in my respective persona alternate universes, change my mind. BESTIES BESTIES BESTIES!!! I LOVE MAKING FRIENDS AND BEING SILLY WITH THEM!!!

- Akiren and Futaba specially tho, Leblanc familly makes me happy happy happy hi Sojiro plz adopt me :3

- Sumire too, THAT'S MY BESTIE RIGHT HERE EVERYONE!!!! (Can my royal trio favoritism be noticed throughout this post? Impossible challenge.)

- Nanako as well!~ my cute little consideration sis <3

- Sumireko is my absolute Touhou bestie!!!

- Flandres is my sis <3 (Remi too naturally cof cof)

- Cream the rabbit as my little sister? HELL YEAH, CLAIMED!! (I really enjoy having siblings leave me alone 😭)

- If a character exists in a media I self insert into, i'll probably be their friend or steal their blood/hj

Okay let me stop myself before i start becoming a friends/sister with the whole fictional universe...

So that's it! I'm not really good at using tumblr or... talking to people-- so yeah lol sorry!! I just really really like my boyfriend and wanted to share that! he makes me happy and joyful and makes me forget about my problems to worry about his ♡ And i wish that everyone could be able to experience that hapinnes without judgements! happy self shipping for everyone!!! And remember...

Your F/O loves you ♡

|....☆.....☆......☆......☆.....☆.....☆......☆......☆.....☆....|

[mirumirumin]

Found this under a clip of Nanako and Rei's first date ever. The second comment says "they are not lesbians, it's just admiration since nothing is confirmed". This just made me think, how can you watch the show and get those conclusions?

Nanako's first impression of Rei is a direct give-away; she was infatuated by her on their first encounter in the bus. Then, when she found out that they went to the same high school, she became her "fan" instantly... She looked out for her in her free time and took the time to understand her. Interest is a sign of affection, she was so adamant on knowing more of her that she even went to her house and looked after her when almost no one else did; she made her food, cleaned her appartment... She would leave the house at night and stay with Rei just so she wouldnt be alone.

This is one of my favourite episodes: their first date ever. Here, Rei and Nanako decide to skip classes since they missed their bus stop. They go for a walk and she is just so happy with her presence that she wishes she could stop time, to make that experience a timeless memory. They go sit down in the shade, under a tree, just chilling. Rei smokes a cigarette and tells her how a junior wanted to save the ends of the cigarettes to smoke them later; that is something that Nanako did too... And since she didnt want to stay on the same lane as a simple junior, since she wanted to be more than just a fan that liked to smoke her crush's cigarette butts, since she wanted to be seen differently, Nanako asks Rei to let her smoke, saying that "she smokes too". What an obvious lie, she just wanted to impress her. She was about to smoke a cigarette just to get her approval! She wanted to feel validated so bad that she was willing to burn her lungs for Rei... And so she tried, and failed miserably. And I personally think that it was cute. Charming, even. Romance is about trying so hard to impress your loved one that you end up making a fool of yourself.

Rei tells her "Now you know, you shouldn't smoke; it doesn't suit you. I want you to stay just the way you are, always". And that is just so wonderful to me. Telling her that she doesn't have to try hard to look cool because she is just precious the way she is... just like her "Ma chérie la Poupée". The fact that she compared one of her most precious belongings to Nanako just tells me enough (she caught her attention).

And then, Nanako confessed her feelings... She explicitely says "I love you". She doesn't get a response in that moment, just a "Let's go back". Rei couldn't give her a real answer in the moment because her heart wasn't clear yet. I don't mean transparent but, she was so depressed and troubled that she couldn't even consider Nanako's feelings. And that's just her character. She is such a tragic character, a beautiful girl who is given love but can't give it back. An ethereal being doomed to live loveless and miserable, and the moment she breaks that seal (by this, I mean when she finally reciprocates Nanako's feelings, plans a date with her, and her relationship with her older sister gets a little bit better) she has to pay for the consequences. A tragic character doomed by the narrative, who can only suffer and negate any type of positive outcome. That's why she had to die, that's what she had to pay for getting a little bit of happiness.

And Nanako, who is just a ball of sunshine. I wouldn't say she is the opposite of Rei (and that is, by saying that Nanako is a hero and Rei a tragic hero), but she is so different from her. She brings joy to almost everybody who she encounters. She is her parents' reason of joy, her friends love her, her older brother loves her too... She has so much love to give, and Rei was just doomed from the start. It's interesting how Rei was considered an illegitimate child (she was supposed to be Miya's half sister) and later on revealed to be legitimate, and Nanako on the other hand thought she was a legitimate child just to be revelaed to be the daughter of her dad's second marriage. Nothing relevant to say about this I just wanted to point that out.

I'm just blabbering things at this point I'm sorry, I just love NanaRei so much. I think I'll rewatch the series just to keep talking about them haha.

Also wanted to note that the comment mentions "lesbians", but they are not talking about the sexuality of the characters, it's obvious that they are trying to deny the romance between the girls, by how they say "she just feels admiration". girl dpmo

[randomahhbrainrot]

Why I Hate Teddie and How I’d Fix This Idiot (Yes, spoilers)

Yes, I know the image is low quality. In all honesty, he deserves it.

Teddie is honestly one of the worst characters I’ve ever experienced. I genuinely have no clue how people prefer this walking garbage bin to Morgana. I might be a bit biased to Morgana because I genuinely love him, but I can understand what turns people off of him.

Morgana has a nice story and relationship to Joker, but his relationship with Ryuji is painfully unchanging and grating to experience, especially during the break-up arc. Speaking of that arc, Morgana DOES steal away the spotlight from Haru in both the introduction AND the ending where he was the one to get the last word against Okumura before the battle instead of, I dunno, his actual daughter.

BUT NONE OF THAT IS WORSE THAN TEDDIE’S FLAWS.

When first playing P4G (great game btw, loved it all the way through except when I realized that I accidentally locked myself out of the true ending and got so mad I had to take a break from the game), I was fine with Teddie. In fact, he was pretty neat, being so innocently supportive of the protag after the first awakening. I was perfectly fine with having him around as an innocent otherworldly being who gets eased into the ‘real’ world and grows attached to it and wants to be a part of it.

The big fuckin’ issue is that he STOPS being that at Yukiko’s palace. At first, when he got introduced to the ‘hot stud’ thing, it was a fine joke. Innocent character gets introduced to saucy talk and doesn’t know what exactly it means. But then suddenly????

Suddenly, Teddie starts acting exactly like some suave pick-up artist??? Why??? Wasn’t the point that he had no idea what any of it was, so why was he suddenly acting like yet another pervert added to the team? We already had Yosuke and he’s enough pervert for the whole game. I love that guy, wish he was gay, but I only had enough patience for ONE pervert.

And the worst part is, Teddie continues to play the role of “I don’t know anything and I want someone to help guide me through it all so I can be useful”, while still clinging onto the “charismatic” (in HEAVY quotation marks) perv who tries to sweet talk any girl within his range.

INCLUDING THE MOTHERFUCKING 6-7 YEAR OLD NANAKO. AND THE WRITERS STILL HAD THE AUDACITY TO CREATE A CONNECTION BETWEEN THE TWO. YOU HAD NO CHOICE BUT TO WATCH THE LITTLE GIRL YOU’VE CREATE A BROTHER-SISTER TYPE RELATIONSHIP OVER THE COURSE OF THE GAME START LIKING THE PERVERT WHO HIT ON HER.

WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK.

THIS ISN’T A MAIKO “Let’s get married when I grow up! :D” SITUATION. THE OLDER PERSON IS THE ONE WHO INITIATED IT AND IN THE SAME PERVERTED TONE HE USED ON EVERY OTHER GIRL HE HIT ON.

TLDR: Teddie is presented as an otherworldly being who wants your help to navigate through the new world he’s found himself in, just as you needed his help in the Midnight Channel at first. In reality, he’s another fucking pedophilic pervert who’s somehow worse than the hormone addled Yosuke AND allowed to have a deeper connection to the fucking CHILD he hit on.

If I were to fix him, I’d want Teddie to actually be that innocent and naive person who’s completely clueless to social situations.

First off, his SL is fucking trash. Why is every single rank up dependent mostly on what the investigation team’s doing? You can just call his link “Investigation Team 2” or hell, fucking 1.5, because it’s literally just spaced BETWEEN the ranks of the actual investigation team SL. His SL needed to be quiet one on one moments with the protagonist, updating him on all the new things he’s learned ever since coming to the real world and adapting to it. You could BE the sensei he keeps calling you. He’d come to you on advice on how things really are, admiring you for your leadership and guidance. He’d open up about how out of place he’s felt since becoming a part of the team and how his lack of memories frustrates him.

And you know what that’d make him?

Childlike.

Teddie should’ve been legitimately more childlike. In wonder, in discovery, and in social situations. And THAT would honestly make his relationship with Nanako much more warranted, AND much sweeter too! They’d both essentially the same; with Teddie being the one that Nanako could lead with her own experiences. Nanako would have a friend who thinks just as childishly and innocently as she does, with Teddie having a genuine friendship with her. Not that his relationship with you isn’t, but you’re more his mentor and superior that he respects. Nanako would be the friend at an equal level.

But alas, instead we have Persona’s own Pedobear. What a joke.

[booksandchainmail]

oniisama e, episode 19

getting big Touko Bloom Into You vibes from this whole "don't change" conversation. Also ties back into the doll thing

WAIT WHAT HOW DOES THE ONIISAMA KNOW KAORU

sidenote but I have no intention of remembering his actual name

maybe it's meant to be tights but nanako has no toes in this closeup of her foot

another moment of appreciation for Tomoko's outfits. Modern anime is losing out by making everyone wear uniforms

big light up sign with the silhouette of two women that says CAMP in this shopping montage... whatever could it mean...

So Rei's siblings do live together, it's just her that is apart

DONT TELL MIYA WHAT REI IS UP TO

DONT MENTION NANAKO

WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU

just stop! don't give Miya more reasons to go after Rei

also fucking hell stop talking about your little sister corrupting younger girls

anyways

Shoutout to the one girl who brought an old timey camera for Sainte-Juste basketball photos. And then doubles down by asking for one with Kaoru in as well, very bold

"You've gotten really cocky". I mean. It seems to be working for her.

What kind of rich kid tea cruise is this

ok but using seagull meat would be so inefficient, they're not that big and you'd have to catch them

"Rei's soul is enslaved to a goddess" ... ok! normal way to describe a normal situation!

WHY DOES THE DOLL SEEM TO HAVE GLOWING EYES

... this is a wild phone call

so if they met as 10-11 year olds, they almost certainly aren't full sisters, so my "Rei is illegitimate" theory is gaining steam,

wow kid!Rei really looked like a little fauntleroy prince boy

yeah OoK this is an, uh, non-standard sibling relationship. hoenstly this loops right back around to me being right about them being exes

really fun pulse effect on Miya's reaction here

she is so good at billowing

[nyctoaerah]

𝐃𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐋 𝐈𝐍 𝐃𝐈𝐒𝐆𝐔𝐈𝐒𝐄

“𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐋 𝐈𝐒 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐈𝐑𝐑𝐎𝐑, 𝐇𝐄'𝐒 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐌𝐄”

╰┈➤𝐒𝐘𝐍𝐎𝐏𝐒𝐈𝐒: You wanted revenge for Suguru, So you joined jujutsu high to gather information. Satoru was your saving grace, an angel, a lifesaver that is always sparing you from the risk of being caught while snooping around various rooms and areas. You would've thought that he's an angel sent from heaven, but not until he becomes unhealthily obsessed with you. Showing you that he was just actually the devil in disguise.

╰┈➤𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒: Yandere! Gojo Satoru x Fem! Traitor! Suguru's Adopted Daughter! Reader

╰┈➤𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐆𝐄𝐑 𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒: Implied Non-Con, Unhealthy Relationship, Yandere Behaviors, Satoru is an abusive a-hole. Age gaps (Satoru is 28, Reader is 19). Manipulation. Dark Themes. Satoru has mood swings. Violence. Reader is scared of Satoru. Foul language. Victim Blaming. (Ooc)

╰┈➤𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄: I do not support or approve of any of the behaviors and actions depicted in this book. The content is intended solely for entertainment purposes. The main storyline will be introduced in the following chapter, which will delve into the details of how the characters first encountered each other. It might be a bit confusing though. Also, support me on Quotev and Wattpad pls?:) hearts and reblogs are greatly appreciated<3

Masterlist

𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐋𝐎𝐆𝐔𝐄

HOW MANY DAYS HAS passed since you found yourself in this situation with him again? The passage of time eluded you, as you had stopped keeping track, but it seemed like you had been trapped in this place for months, perhaps even a year. It felt like an eternity since he orchestrated your fake ‘death’ and locked you up in his place.

You’re not weak by any means, in fact, you’re strong, as you were a grade one sorcerer, but when faced with Satoru, you were nothing. No matter how much effort you put into finding a way out or escaping him, it seemed futile.

He was the strongest after all.

Should you attempt to flee, say goodbye to your walking privilege as he would incapacitate you by breaking your legs with.

Any resistance or argument on your part would only result in more severe punishment and degradation at his hands.

You try to use your domain expansion and fight back? He’ll use his domain expansion too and it doesn’t end well on your part.

Even if you dared to confront him and try to reason with his twisted mind, you would find yourself outmaneuvered and manipulated.

Asking others for help was equally fruitless, because what can they do against the strongest sorcerer?

You tried to ask Shoko for help, but unfortunately, she is unable to intervene in the situation. However, she mentioned that there is a person who has the ability to control and Tame Satoru—Suguru. Sadly, the dilemma lies in the fact that Suguru is no longer alive, and it was Satoru Himself who killed Suguru.

Suguru was the only reason why you joined jujutsu high. You wanted to find Suguru’s body, since according to your sisters, Nanako and Mimiko, Suguru’s body wasn't cremated, so you joined jujutsu high to look for suguru’s body, and to also get some information, because vengeance is what you seek.

Gathering information about the school and the sorcerers there was made easier by your loud teacher—Satoru Gojo, who constantly yaps and shares details about literally anything.

Anything but Suguru.

Unfortunately for you though, Satoru ended up finding out that you’re a traitor.

And that’s the main reason why you’re stuck with him.

Satoru’s fingers were lightly pressing against your throat, exerting gentle pressure that caused discomfort yet not crossing the threshold into pain. His touch was brand and it felt like a scorching imprint on your flesh. His fingertips grazed the delicate skin of your throat, tracing the rhythm of your racing pulse. His nose was nestled into the curve where your neck meets your shoulder, his breath hot and oppressive. Unconsciously, your fingers curled in response to his touch as you tried to distance yourself from him—yet, unable to tune him out.

You fought back the rising bile in your throat, swallowing hard to prevent it from rising and vomiting, your every muscle tense with discomfort. 

You squirmed uneasily, unable to escape as his other hand pressed firmly against your tummy, immobilizing you while his grip on your neck intensified, forcing your spine to meld into his chest as you were practically ensnared on his lap. Your jaw clenched, your airway constricting involuntarily, making each breath a struggle.

“S’toru,” You whined in discomfort.

“Relax your throat, baby” he coaxed, loosening his hold slightly. With great effort, you tried to comply, swallowing down a torrent of curses and insults that threatened to escape.

“Don’t vomit on me... ‘m just trying to listen to your pulse, n’ see if you’re healthy or not.” He assured you, a honeyed lie.

But you’re not. You wanted to say.

You’re trying to choke me. You said mentally.

“Come on, relax, pretty girl.”

He drawled, his icy blue eyes narrowing as they pierced through you from beneath his pale lashes.

“No...” You murmured.

“Don’t worry about me.. I’m.. calm.” you feigned, though the erratic thumping of your heart against your ribcage betrayed your facade. His sharp ears likely caught the drumming tempo echoing through the hollow of your neck.

“But you’re not.” He said.

“Hmph. Such a pretty liar, are you? Don't gaslight yourself.” he admonished, a disapproving shake of his head punctuating his words. You ground your teeth in frustration.

“You’re the one gaslighting me here,” you countered, a futile attempt to deflect his observation. Deep down, you knew his accusation rang true—a self-imposed gaslight, for you were only convincing yourself of a false relaxation, when infact, you are beyond calm.

“Tsk, tsk. Liar.” his voice carried a weight of disappointment as his hand migrated from your neck to your jaw, the firm pinch of his forefinger and thumb steering your gaze towards his stare.

“Fine,” you huffed. Each breath felt like hot coals burning in your lungs, and your muscles tightened like steel cables. As you clenched your fists, the skin on your knuckles paled beneath the pressure, your nails digging crescents into your palms.

 “I’m not calm,” you uttered stiffly, almost choking on the words as if they were bitter pills forced out of your mouth. Satoru cocked an eyebrow at your admission. His lips curled into a smirk, a condescending smile.

“I know, babe,” he murmured.

“Then why ask?” You asked sharply, [E/c] eyes narrowed.

“Why would you lie in the first place?” He asks back.

You fell into an uneasy silence, not knowing what to say.

“That’s what i thought.” Satoru scoffs.

You grimaced as his warm breath tickled your skin as he pressed a gentle kiss to your neck, his hand going underneath the fabric of your shirt. A shiver ran down your spine at the touch, a mix of revulsion and fear coiling within you as you fought the urge to swat his hand away.

You were keenly aware of the thin line you were threading, one wrong mood can cause Satoru to get mad. And satoru getting mad was far from the things that you would enjoy.

You don’t want to deal with a pissed satoru.

“Was that hard to admit?” Satoru asked suddenly.

You shook your head, the movement terse and strained, like a puppet pulled by invisible strings.

“Words, baby. Use your words,” he prompted.

“No... it’s not hard to admit,” you forced the words out through gritted teeth as he lets out a mocking laugh.

“Tsk, such a prideful princess,” he teased, his amusement palpable. You fixed your gaze on the ground, unable to meet his eyes, the weight of his hands on your body sending discomfort through your nerves. The struggle to maintain your composure, to resist the urge to push him away, felt like a battle

“But hey, you lied again, didn’t you? It was hard for you to admit that after all.” Satoru says, and you stiffened as you felt his gaze burning into you.

“What do you mean?” You feigned innocence.

“Don’t play dumb, pretty girl.” He glared at you.

That stupid cold stare of his never failed to make the hairs in your skin go up, and you hated it.

The adoring light that once danced in his gaze whenever he’s looking at you had been extinguished, replaced by a frigid darkness. His words and demeanor was now clashed with the vibrancy that once filled his eyes.

You hated it. You loathed it.

Loathed the way he looked at you in such a cold way, loathed the way he would always manipulate you, make you feel bad and blame you for everything.

This wasn’t the satoru that you had fallen for.

“you know, [Name]...When you lie,” he began, his thumb delicately tracing the lush curve of your lips. The urge to sink your teeth into his probing digit churned within you, an impulse that you struggled to suppress.

How did it go south so fast? He wasn’t like this before.

“Even if s’just a seemingly harmless little lie just like the one you just uttered,” he continued, exhaling a sigh heavy with disappointment.

“When you lie, it makes me remember how much of a traitor you are.”

With a sharp press, his thumb breached the barrier of your closed lips, barely grazing the tips of your teeth. A shiver ran down your spine at the invasion as he skillfully maneuvered his thumb into the warm recesses of your mouth, grazing against the tender foliate of your tongue.

“Traitors, don’t deserve mercy y’know?” He mused.

Gritting your teeth, you bit down on the inside of your cheek to suppress the snarl that threatened to escape.

“But lucky for you, i love you, so I’ll be showin’ you mercy.”

“Love?” You repeated incredulously, your words muffled.

He claims to love you, despite the vile deeds he's committed? The audacity of those words sends a surge of rage coursing through your veins. You make a desperate move to chomp down on his finger, but limitless stopped you.

The moment you does so, Satoru laughs.

“See? You Fuckin’ traitor.” He snorts.

“Can’t even trust you for a second, can I?” he drawls, and your insides twist with guilt and terror when you realize what you almost did. 

Shit. You messed up.

“Thought that you’re a good girl by now but looks like you’re still on your rebellious phase, hm?” He taunts.

“I didn’t meant to—” You tried to defend yourself but he interrupted you.

“I’m speaking.” He said firmly, and you shifts, hand twitching.

“But i—”

“I said i’m speaking.” His voice now rose making you flinch.

“If I turn limitless off, you’d take a bite outta me, ‘m sure of that.” he said, shaking his head as he withdraws his now moistened finger from your trembling lips, tainted with your own saliva.

He was right, but you’re not gonna admit that. If he has limitless turned off, you’ll smash his head on the wall.

“I didn’t mean to..” You said, swallowing thickly. But you did meant to do that though.

Satoru rolled his eyes.

“When will you stop lying?”

“Never thought that suguru would raise such a brat, a traitor one and a liar, at that.”

He says wearily, rubbing his temples in exasperation.

“Gosh, such a careless father, letting his poor daughter go.. but hey, i can’t blame him now, can i?” He hums, stroking his chin.

“I mean... He’s the reason why i met my sweet little [Name] after all.”

The mere mention of suguru being careless made the fragile tether of your composure snap.

Suguru was not careless.

You hated it when people talk shit about Suguru.

Your eyes widened with furious intensity, your blood coursing hot with rage as a vein visibly throbbed on your forehead. Anger constricted your throat, making it difficult to even breathe. In a moment of pure instinct, you crossed your fingers together, ready to use your domain expansion.

CRACK!

However, before you could fully comprehend what was happening, he snapped your fingers, twisting it, sending a jolt of pain throughout your body.

“What did i tell you about trying to use your domain expansion again?” His questioning gaze intensified as he firmly grasped your fingers, causing your eyes to widen in shock.

Then another came.

CRACK!

Then a ripping sound echoed through your ears.

You felt a sharp pain as blood started to trickle down from where he had inflicted wounds on your fingers. Your heart sank as you heard the sound of your severed fingers hitting the ground.

A scream was about to escape from your lips until he silenced you with a forceful kiss. His teeth clashed against yours as he firmly gripped your hip, effortlessly flipping you over and pinning you down.  

As he broke away from the kiss, a thin trail of saliva lingered between your mouths, and you felt like you're going to vomit.

“That’s the third time that you’re trying to use your domain expansion on me,” he snarls, seizing both of your wrists with one hand and securing them above your head while straddling you. 

“Haah.. ‘ve forgiven you for the other two times, but it’s getting annoying now. Try to use it once again and I’ll cut both of your hands off, okay?”

“There, there, don’t cry. It’s your own fault anyways.” Satoru comforts you as if he hadn’t just cut your fingers off. He gently licks the tears from your cheeks, savoring them as if they were sweet syrup, causing you to continue sobbing.

“Maybe if you weren’t so feisty and disobedient this wouldn’t happen... Suguru seriously forgot to teach you some manners, didn’t he?”

Shaking his head in disappointment, he lifts your hand to his lips and kisses it, displaying a strange mix of affection and detachment despite the gruesome act he just committed.

Looking down at you, Satoru grins, his eyelashes fluttering shut like those of an angel, looking peaceful.

Looking so innocent despite doing gruesome things.

Just like the Devil In Disguise .

[izdatazn]

S.U.I.T.S - Terran's Hidden War

TERRAN 13 - H.A.R.V.E.Y

I didn't take advantage of the remaining days to rest, as I immediately left when Daisuke informed us that he had revived him using a different method. Kumiko and her team stayed behind at the facility, while Asuka gathered her team to follow Raquel's new trail in Malaysia. Meanwhile, I decided to head straight to London to meet up with a SUIT's Agent and her team.

As Viktor continued driving towards our destination, I received an incoming call from Kumiko and the others. Suddenly, Sho appeared on the screen.

He exclaimed excitedly, "I'm back from the dead!" Sho laughed confidently. "If the poison couldn't kill me, nothing can!" Nanako playfully slapped his head as they bantered back and forth.

"His friend is also alive," Kumiko interjected, pushing them away.

"It's good to know," I replied calmly.

"Hey, Kobayashi!!" Sho called out loudly. "Is this where you guys mysteriously disappeared to instead of hanging out with me? I thought you guys didn't like me." He chuckled teasingly, but I chose to ignore him.

"What do you mean by 'one of us'?" Nanako angrily shouted. "You nearly died!" Their argument continued as they bickered among themselves.

"I'll see you soon, Sho," I said.

"Don't keep me waiting for too long, Kobayashi!" he shouted.

The transmission feed disappeared and another one came up. I joined the meeting with Daisuke, Kokoro, and Asuka. Miyoung and Isabel also joined me.

Asuka began, "I will be arriving in Malaysia shortly with my team. I will be joined by another team stationed in Kuala Lumpur."

Daisuke started speaking next, "Master Shiro has taken action and promoted hundreds of officers to agents, including your team members. With more agents, it means there will be more reconnaissance effort to find The King of Spades."

"Isn't that reckless?" I asked.

"Master Shiro handpicked hundreds of officers that he believes are suitable to become agents," Daisuke answered. "He's usually not wrong. You will meet the newly promoted agent Tuyen Pham again in London."

"What about the Obitus Clarus poison?" I asked.

"The database doesn't have any information about the Obitus Clarus poison because it didn't originate from Earth," Kokoro added. "According to Shiro, The Zyger Brothers produced the poison eons ago and they are considered the worst criminals in the Milky Way Galaxy. They are much older than Master Shiro as well. Although they have mysteriously disappeared, they remain a top priority alongside the Ace of Spades."

"So we don't have an exact location on where The Zyger Brothers are?" I asked.

"Not at this moment," Daisuke answered. "Our current priority is to find Raquel Gustov, the rest of the Clubs group, and locate where Obitus Clarus is being produced. This space poison is dangerous, as it killed two healers during the extraction process. If mishandled in the production line or used recklessly, humanity will have no defense against it.”

Despite meeting with Tuyen Pham as soon as possible, we were guided to multiple locations of Raquel’s whereabouts, including the Obitus Clarus but came out empty handed again. It is Monday, April 30th 2079. We just entered the shores of the United Kingdom’s territory. We hid our vehicle and decided to use another transportation to arrive in London. This time we didn’t stop for anything.

Tuyen Pham was born in 25 AD in Vietnam, a country that was initially under Chinese dominance. She was influenced by the Tru’ng Sisters in 40 AD when they led a rebellion against the Chinese and successfully revolted against Han Governor Su Ding. Tuyen found peace under Queen Trưng Trắc until Emperor Guangwu of Han sent his army to quell the revolt. Tuyen escaped to the south after The Tru’ng Sisters ended their lives and Han China regained their territory. In 45 AD, Tuyen was captured and sentenced to death after being imprisoned.

After some time, we finally managed to meet up with Tuyen Pham near Big Ben. Our team was scattered, with Miyoung perched on top of Big Ben while Isabel and Viktor positioned themselves at the end of the bridge. Tuyen's team had secured the waterfronts near the bridge, creating a protective barrier around us during our meeting.

"How was the trip?" Tuyen asked. "I heard what happened."

"The trip went well, and my friend is also doing fine," I replied. "I heard that you came across a lead?"

"Yes, it was a lead we found a couple of days ago," Tuyen answered. "The King of Spades and the Seven of Clubs were gathering at a pub. I can give you their last known location, but not their most recent one."

"What did you learn from this gathering?" I inquired. "What is the King of Spades doing on Earth?"

"They were discussing plans to ramp up production and take down key assets," Tuyen responded.

"What do you mean by 'key assets'?" I questioned.

Miyoung chimed in, saying, "The Orbital Defense Platforms are considered key assets. The Illusion Defense Shields are also key assets. Even private corporations hold significant importance as key assets. If our enemies manage to dismantle these major components, they will gain an advantage over us."

"Exactly," Tuyen added. "They have been actively sabotaging smaller SUITs assets worldwide, making it difficult for agents to keep up."

"That's why several hundred officers have been promoted to agents in order to counteract Club's sabotage efforts," Isabel explained.

"They won't stop, and things will likely worsen as time goes on," I stated.

"I'll provide you with directions to where the King of Spades and Seven of Clubs met, but first I need to find another lead on something else," Tuyen assured us.

Tuyen's location led us to a place outside of London, a quieter and less crowded area where we found the pub they had arranged to meet. Isabel used her skills to determine our current whereabouts. While locating the King of Spades proved challenging, we were able to track the movements of the Seven of Clubs within a few minutes.

"The King of Spades is skilled at avoiding detection. I couldn't gather any further information," Isabel admitted. "However, I will be able to find out where the Seven of Clubs is located in a couple of days.”

A brief silence enveloped us as I took a moment to process what she had said. "Do you sense that?" I paused again, waiting for her response. "How quickly can you activate the shields?"

"How large do you need them?" Isabel inquired.

I responded with determination, "Covering the entire city."

It took several minutes for Isabel to set up the shields, creating an intense atmosphere filled with anxiety for me. Suddenly, I heard ticking sounds and movement from behind me. We turned our attention towards it and saw a figure standing in the middle of the road wearing formal attire and a top hat. It tapped its cane against the ground rhythmically. What aroused suspicion was that this figure appeared to be an android dressed in human clothing.

“Is that machine wearing a mustache?" I whispered incredulously.

"You are absolutely correct, my distinguished gentleman," the figure spoke, gracefully bowing before us. "Allow me to introduce myself as HARVEY." Miyoung aimed her gun at HARVEY, showing no signs of lowering it. "Please do not be alarmed by my unexpected presence," it calmly stated. Suddenly, IT materialized in front of her. "Madam, isn't it considered impolite to point a gun at a stranger?" IT casually tapped her shoulder with its cane. In an instant, Miyoung was forcefully thrown into multiple walls by some unseen force. HARVEY swiftly shifted and with a swift motion slapped Viktor with its cane, sending him hurtling into several walls as well. My eyes widened as I witnessed everything unfold so rapidly.

"My name is HARVEY," it reiterated.

"I couldn't care less," Isabel replied defiantly.

Isabel launched an attack at the machine, but HARVEY skillfully evaded each strike. He declared, "My name is HARVEY - (H)ydraulic (A)ndroid (R)eliable for (V)iolence and m(E)thodical Butcher(Y)." HARVEY emerged victorious from the clash, delivering a swift blow to Isabel's knee with its metal can and following it up with a clean kick to her face. She was sent flying backwards into the wall.

Suddenly, Viktor appeared before HARVEY, taking Isabel's place in the confrontation. He shouted, "Wilma, Let's Get Serious!" Metal materialized and covered his hand and arm while extending from his feet up to his thighs. Slamming his foot into the ground caused a wooden wall to rise up as he fused it with his unprotected body, creating a thick armor for protection.

"Kimchi, Guide me. 25%," Viktor commanded. Miyoung then appeared above them as both of them unleashed an immense amount of energy while summoning their spirit animals. Isabel joined Viktor in the fight as I felt a gust of wind picking up around me.

"Pozole, Diversify My Range," Isabel exclaimed. She gathered water from the air using her left arm while ice formed on her mechanical arm.

From above, Miyoung fired a dozen precise bullets at the android, but HARVEY effortlessly evaded each one while simultaneously blocking Viktor's and Isabel's attacks.

"What a predicament I find myself in," HARVEY spoke. "Is that an Xeanides Occular Tech? Quite primitive for Earth." With a swift kick, HARVEY sent Isabel flying and used his cane to slam Viktor into the ground, temporarily incapacitating him. HARVEY glanced at Miyoung. "I don't believe you require that Occular tech, my lady."

In the alleyway below, I heard a scream and quickly joined the ongoing fight against the machine. As it leaped away from Viktor's grasp, I relentlessly attacked alongside Isabel.

"What have you done?!" I shouted.

"I simply disabled her Occular tech. A mere virus to disrupt her movements," he replied casually.

HARVEY struck me with his cane and tapped my shoulder in one swift motion. The impact sent me hurtling backward until crashing into a nearby wall. Miyoung swiftly joined forces with Isabel in close combat.

"I don't need my oculars to end you!" Miyoung shouted defiantly as she engaged in hand-to-hand combat with her pistol at close range. Shortly after, Viktor also entered into the fray.

"Allow me to disable your Zipraria tech as well, dear lady," HARVYE taunted. "It astounds me how inferior Earth technology is despite attempts at reverse engineering superior models." Disappointment colored his words.

HARVEY forcefully threw Viktor and Miyoung aside, clashing with Isabel's water whip and ice spear. I joined the fight as well. HARVEY repeatedly jabbed at Isabel before shattering her ice spear and tearing off her mechanical arm. It then slapped her with her own arm and kicked her away, tossing the arm aside to continue fighting all three of us.

"It's an even fight," HARVEY remarked as it connected its cane with me, pushing me into another wall. Viktor struggled against HARVEY but ultimately lost in their strength match. "Sir, you must do better than that," taunted HARVEY as it pushed him away and swung its cane, shattering Viktor's Earth chest armor. It pointed its cane at him and shot a bolt of electricity that tightly wrapped around him.

"As you can see," spoke HARVEY confidently. "I predicted the outcome from the very beginning. You will be assassinated by me." Miyoung and Isabel surrounded it, but were easily dispatched by HARVEY using his cane. "The Queen of Spades gave me a mission, and I obliged," declared HARVEY while holding them down and glancing at me menacingly. "The Queen of Spades will have a nice trophy on her wall.”

I found myself standing in the middle of the alley, feeling utterly hopeless. My team had been easily defeated by some sort of machine. Suddenly, I heard voices echoing around me; multiple whispers filled the air. Blood seeped out from my eyes, and I instinctively touched it with my thumb as I listened to the eerie voice.

Kobayashi touched his elbow and spread his hand open.

"Blood Art: Jealously Is My Sin, Hageshiioji," he exclaimed.

His left sword materialized in his hand, accompanied by a transparent dragon that appeared on his left shoulder. The dragon spoke. "You called me forth and I have answered your call. The other dragon is useless; I will assist you in finishing this fight." Flames burst from Kobayashi's sword, but instead of the typical red flames, they changed to an intense crimson color while his hair remained bright red.

"The prediction algorithm didn't account for this," HARVEY stated. "Regardless, you will be defeated just like the others."

HARVEY raised its cane and aimed it at me as a threat. In response, I raised my right arm while Kobayashi firmly held onto its mechanical arm before letting it go. To our surprise, HARVEY's cane split into multiple pieces right after being released.

"Oh my! You've disabled both my arm and cane! Sir, that's quite disrespectful of you," HARVEY remarked sarcastically without receiving any response from Kobayashi.

HARVEY took a step forward but suddenly crumbled into fragmented pieces before reaching us.

"Was that disrespectful?" questioned Kobayashi as he stepped closer to where HARVEY's head once stood underfoot. He pressed his feet onto what remained of it with added pressure until it shattered completely.

"There won't be a next time," declared Kobayashi confidently, destroying the HARVEY’S mechanical head.

Viktor managed to break free from his restraints, with the help of Isabel and Miyoung. As they assisted him in getting back on his feet, Miyoung's ocular was finally freed from the virus that had infected it. At the same time, Isabel reattached her mechanical arm.

"This isn't Kobayashi," Miyoung stated. Viktor leaned against the stone wall behind him and noticed that a thin layer of protective coating had formed on his exposed skin. "My ocular isn't functioning at full capacity," Miyoung mentioned, turning to Isabel.

"My arm is shattered, so I can't control it properly," Isabel replied. "And you, Viktor?"

"I've reached my limit too," Viktor admitted. He then turned to Miyoung and asked about her state.

"Same here," she confirmed.

"We need to finish this quickly but we have to be careful," Isabel whispered cautiously. "We don't know what we're dealing with." She shifted topics and took a step forward. "Kobayashi? Are you there?" she called out.

"Who is this Kobayashi?" mocked the controlled Kobayashi.

Kobayashi suddenly appeared beneath Isabel, causing Viktor to react and push her away. However, he ended up being on the receiving end of Kobayashi's attack. The impact was so powerful that it created a crater beneath them. At the same time, Miyoung materialized behind Viktor, aiming her pistol at his shoulder. She hesitated for a moment, but Kobayashi wasted no time and kicked her into the wall before pushing Viktor backward.

"Kobayashi!" Viktor shouted desperately. "Are you there?"

Kobayashi kicked him into the wall once more and followed it up with a strong punch to his armored body. Another crater formed beneath them as the wall shattered behind Viktor, sending him flying away. Isabel reappeared behind him and they engaged in intense combat for several minutes.

"Kobayashi, wake up!" Isabel shouted at the top of her lungs as she ensnared him with her water whip. However, Kobayashi swiftly evaporated the water and managed to break free from her grasp. They continued their intense battle for a few more seconds until Kobayashi gained the upper hand. He grabbed Isabel by the neck and forcefully slammed her into the ground, using his shoe to keep her pinned down.

"Second Metal: Rolling Thunder," Viktor announced as he appeared in the middle of the road and began spinning towards Kobayashi like a steamroller. Kobayashi raised his other arm with an open palm, successfully catching Viktor at full force. The resulting shockwave was so powerful that it shattered windows from a distance and created multiple layers of craters beneath them.

"Second Sound: Silent Whispers," another voice called out before a bullet pierced through Kobayashi's left shoulder.

Isabel reached out and gripped onto Kobayashi's ankle, causing ice to rapidly spread from his ankle up to his waist. Despite this, Kobayashi tightened his grip on Viktor and lifted him up before slamming him into Isabel. He then promptly melted away the ice on his lower body. Miyoung suddenly appeared behind him, pointing her pistol directly at his head without hesitation this time. She took a shot at him, but Kobayashi swiftly shifted to his left as the bullet grazed his cheek. I glanced over at Miyoung slowly.

Kobayashi spoke confidently, "Too slow."

"You wish," Miyoung retorted as she fired another shot that curved back around and pierced through Kobayashi's ear this time. Undeterred, she took yet another shot at him. However, he managed to push her weapon into the ground while delivering a powerful elbow strike to her face. Staggering backwards from the impact, Miyoung struggled to regain stability while Kobayashi relentlessly pursued her, swinging his sword downwards.

Shiro suddenly appeared in front of Miyoung, skillfully intercepting the powerful strike of his sword. He swiftly pulled Kobayashi closer and gently touched his scar with his left thumb. In an instant, Miyoung collapsed onto the ground as Kobayashi's eye and hair returned to their natural state. His spirit animal and the crimson flames that surrounded him vanished from sight. Shiro tapped Kobayashi's forehead, causing him to fall backward.

"Master Shiro," Miyoung gasped.

"What a chaotic situation," Shiro sighed. "Are you all alright?" Viktor crawled away, managed to stand up, and assisted Isabel in getting back on her feet. Shiro then lent a hand to help Miyoung up. "I didn't anticipate this happening so soon.”

  It is Sunday, May 13th, 2079, a few weeks after the incident involving the HARVEY model. Viktor, Isabel, Miyoung and I decided to take some time off from our mission and seek rest at a nearby hotel in London.

When I regained consciousness, they informed me that I had not been myself. Apparently, something had taken control of my body. They were correct in their assessment and I shared my own experience with them. I recalled feeling desperate to assist my team and hearing a sinister voice beckoning me to utilize its power. Succumbing to temptation, I responded to the call. Subsequently, everything went black and I found myself awakening in the medical wing of the facility. This was not the only incident that came to mind upon regaining consciousness.

"What is it, HARVEY?” I asked.

We all gathered in the meeting room, accompanied by Master Shiro and the usual individuals. Asuka joined us via hologram.

"HARVEY, also known as (H)ydraulic (A)ndroid (R)eliable for *(V)iolence and m(E)thodical Butcher(Y), is a Xeanides Assassination Cyborg Model III. It possesses the ability to simulate and devise strategies to overcome its targets."

"If we are going to encounter more of these creatures," Miyoung remarked, "then I need an upgraded version of my ocular technology to prevent it from disabling me with malware viruses again."

"Seunghoon will assist you with that," Daisuke replied.

"Then I also require his help in upgrading my bionic arm," Isabel added. "Not only can it easily dismantle my arm, but it can also introduce malware."

"We are currently working on that," Daisuke added. He changed the subject. "Not only did Raquel bring alien poison to Earth, but she also brought a Xeanides Assassin Robot. We don't know how many there are, but within a week we received reports that other Agent teams were attacked by HARVEY models. Luckily for them, they were model IIs.”

"The Xeanides Model III is the latest prototype or at least a hundred years old, yet still efficient considering its age," Shiro interjected. "We should assume the worst and consider that Raquel brought more than just alien poison and HARVEYs."

"What about the scar?" I asked, pointing at it.

Kokoro spoke up. "I had a team seal a spell on your scar. You won't be able to activate it or hear any voices from now on."

"I hope so," I replied.

"Earth's Hidden War is just the beginning," Shiro asserted. "Raquel and the remaining Clubs must be stopped from achieving their ulterior motive."

[silverynight]

Big brother

Reki doesn't admit it out loud, but he loves to take care of his sisters. Koyomi is usually locked up in her room and claims she doesn't need him to babysit her so he usually ends up watching over the twins alone when their mother is away.

This time though he's asked her permission to take the little girls to the park to teach them how to skateboard.

Langa is with them; it's not a surprise, he's always with Reki. Sometimes he wonders why he spends so much time with him instead of a cute omega girl. He's a very popular alpha and has been invited to several parties, but doesn't seem interested in them for some reason.

Even though Reki is the only omega in his house (well, at the moment, they don't know about the twins yet, they're too young for that) he likes it.

When they get to the park Reki leaves Nanaka and Chihiro on the ground carefully. He sits next to them and starts putting them the helmets, knees and elbow pads. He's so focused on the task and their excitement he doesn't notice Langa has been staring at him the whole time.

Well... At least until he speaks.

"You look good with kids," he blurts out, prompting Reki to quirk up a brow at him. Langa's scent becomes more intense suddenly, almost protective, and he blushes when their eyes meet. "Would you like to have your own... someday?"

"Of course!" Reki beams at him before turning around at the twins that are constantly demanding his attention. "At least two."

"I-I'd like that too, you know?" Langa mumbles before handing him one of the boards he's been carrying.

"I'm sure you'll soon find a nice omega for you," Reki says absentmindedly, after explaining to the girls how to stand on the board. He helps one at a time, holding them firmly when they get on the board.

Chihiro chuckles and her sister pouts, already making grabby hands at him. Reki smiles at her fondly.

"Be patient, Nanaka. It'll be your turn soon enough."

"I think I-I have already found someone."

Even though he's still watching his sisters, Reki hears Langa clear enough and feels suddenly, inevitably sad, however, he wants to show his friend he supports him so he turns around and grins at him.

"That's great! What's her name?"

"Her?"

"Slime!" Miya stops right in front of Reki, prompting the twins to squeal in excitement, looking up at the cat ears over the teen's hoodie.

"Hi!" They both say at the same time to which Miya just frowns in response.

Reki suddenly remembers that the young alpha is an only child so he's not that surprised by his reaction.

"Who are they? Langa and you have pups already?"

The older alpha groans like he's in pain, covering his face with one hand. Is it really the thought of having pups with Reki so disgusting to Langa?

"They're my sisters! Chihiro and Nanaka!"

At that, the young alpha looks at him like he's been betrayed.

"You didn't say you had siblings!" Miya hisses, looking almost hurt.

"I'm pretty sure I've mentioned it a couple of times," Reki says, confused.

"You didn't," Miya insists, still upset.

"What is it, Miya?" Reki reaches out and strokes that black hair of his, for a moment the alpha leans into the touch, but he quickly moves away.

"Nothing. Anyway, I hope you pay attention because I'm about to do a few tricks. You need to learn a lot."

"Alright, but be careful because my sisters are here."

The girls seem to be really impressed with Miya, they think he's flying in the air and would like to do something like that too; Reki has to remind them they're not ready for that yet.

Langa is watching over the three of them; he's constantly asking Reki if he needs help and preventing the little girls from falling right on time.

Nanako manages to stay still enough for Reki to move her along with the board. When she giggles, delighted, Reki takes her in his arms and gives her a kiss on her little forehead. When Chihiro starts pouting, he leans to give her a kiss as well.

Finally, he notices they're not alone anymore, a group of people are looking in their direction. Langa looks particularly tense.

"Your fans are here, Miya," he says, grinning. "Well, maybe they're Snow fans too."

"They're looking at you," Miya replies, irritated. "You're acting like a perfect omega mommy again."

"What?" Reki blurts out, at the same time his brain goes: 'again?' What is he talking about?

"Are those your sisters?" A pretty girl asks, staring at him with a huge smile. She smells like a beta.

"Yes!" Reki nods. He introduces them quickly, making the girl's eyes glimmer.

"You're such a good big brother," she comments, leaning closer to him. "Can I have your num–"

A growl cuts her off suddenly; it takes Reki a while to realize that it has come from Langa.

"Are you alright?" He asks the alpha who looks a little bit embarrassed out of the sudden.

As he nods, still eyeing the girl, she decides to run away from them.

Reki would like to point out that's not a good way to get a girlfriend, but chooses to keep teaching his sisters the basics.

"Such a pretty omega," an alpha boy comments. Honestly, Reki just assumes he's talking to someone else and doesn't look up until the boy is just a few feet away from him. "You do seem to know how to take care of pups."

"Uh... Thank you?" He's not sure where the conversation is going or why he and the other people around appear to be interested in him.

Before the boy can say something else though, Langa has already walked in between them and is glaring at the other alpha like he wants him to disappear.

They stare right at each other until the other alpha nods and walks away. It's really weird.

"Reki, let's get out of here before Langa kills someone," Miya says, trying not to look worried, however, it's easy to smell the concern in his scent.

Noticing the tension on Langa's shoulders, Reki nods, rises quickly and takes both girls in his arms.

"Let's go, Langa."

The alpha doesn't hesitate, he takes the boards and follows Reki with a smile on his face.

"You're acting like a puppy," Miya tells the other alpha, rolling his eyes, but he follows them as well anyway.

"I'll see you at school, cutie!" A girl tells him, waving a hand at Reki. "I'll help you babysit your adorable sisters whenever you want!"

"Thanks!" He says, although Miya grabs him by the sweatshirt and pulls hard so he keeps moving.

Langa looks like he's going to get sick.

When they get home, Reki gives the girls a bath, puts them clean clothes, makes sure to feed them and finally takes them to their room when they fall asleep.

He doesn't realize that Miya and Langa are having a discussion in the living room.

"What was that all about, Langa? Are you alright?" He asks, sitting on the couch when he comes back. The two alphas sit right next to him at each side.

"I'm... fine."

"He was being a stupid jealous alpha," Miya informs him, prompting Langa to blush to the tip of his ears. "He doesn't like when other people hit on you."

"They weren't hitting on me," Reki protests, feeling his cheeks burning, his blush is probably matching Langa's now. "But I don't understand... what about the omega girl?"

"Reki, there is no omega girl or anybody else for that matter," Langa mumbles, taking both of the redhead's hand in his. "I just want you."

"Oh," he whispers feeling like he's been purposely blind all this time. "I... like you too."

"Would you let me scent you, please?"

Reki has started to realize that Langa is a very possessive alpha, but he kinda likes it. He nods, ignoring Miya's protests or the way he covers his eyes and enjoys when Langa nuzzles his neck.

He kisses him on the lips afterwards, but Reki can't lose himself in the sensation because Miya is already making puking sounds.

"Later," he promises Langa who's eyes darken at the thought.

"You two are disgusting," Miya grimaces.

"Miya is jealous of your sisters," Langa says in revenge.

"What? That's not true!" The young alpha hisses, turning completely red.

Reki is about to ask why, but then all those memories of Miya demanding his attention come back to him at once.

"It's alright," he says, running his fingers through the boy's black hair. "The fact that I have sisters doesn't mean I don't consider you my brother as well."

Miya tries to deny it, but something in him breaks and he jumps into the omega's arms.

"Really?"

"Yes, I consider you part of my family."

Langa embraces both of them, purring happily as he keeps nuzzling Reki on the back of his neck.

"You already scented me," he points out, amused.

"They all need to know you're mine."

Miya protests, but keeps his arms around the omega's waist.

***

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[linkspooky]

Since you’re planning to rewrite the Zenin Massacre arc as a sequel to your Werewolf fic.

Does that mean that Choso and Maki will have a little interaction before she goes to the clan?

I would think it would be a nice/funny moment. Like imagine Maki being like “Oh. It’s you.”

And Choso being a bit surprised to see Maki, especially in her burnt form.

Yuji being curious how they know each other would ask, in which Maki would probably bluntly replied with a “Oh, I almost killed his younger brother in a mission, but Mai stopped me.” In which, Choso would confirm it by saying that he owns Noran-so’s life to Mai.

And Choso, being such a big bro that he is, would probably asked about how Mai is doing and if she’s alright.

I dunno. I would think it would probably be a nice little interaction between them before the tragedy hits the fan.

These are vague plans so far, but yes.

A couple of rewrites is that Maki will not go back to the Zenin household right away, I am interested in exploring the time in between post-Shibuya and culling game without rushing back in.

The big difference in this fic is that one, Choso does not stay behind to guard tenzin and instead Yuji, Maki and Yuta go together with Choso to try to recruit Hakari instead of Yuji and Megumi, before the Zenin Clan Massacre. Megumi instead goes to the Zenin family first to get the weapons and this throws a twist in things and makes the arc longer.

I can't give every detail because I'm still in the outlining phase.

Maki interacts with Choso, and with Mimiko again. Mimiko having survived through Shibuya because this is my rewrite and I do what I want. In this scenario Maki foils both of them.

Mimiko is an incredibly codependent twin sister with Nanako, who has been living her life practically attached to her and letting Nanako make all the decisions because she's been the stronger twin. However, Nanako has been fighting recently with Mimiko prompting Mimiko to go off on their own. Mimiko is also similiar to Maki a victim of abuse, but differently from Maki instead of leaving her twin sister behind and fighting for independence she is incredibly codependent on her family, first on Geto and then on Nanako. She even dies in the original version of Shibuya because she cared more about getting Kenjaku out of Geto's body, to the point of begging Sukuna for a favor so big mistake.

So, Mimiko and Nanako are fighting and seperating which is an entirely new experience for them because after surviving the massacre of their village, they are everything to each other. They are slowly gaining independence, whereas Maki and Mai used to be each other's only family and source of comfort in the Zenin clan until Maki retreated from Mai entirely robbing Mai of that source of comfort and practically leaving her alone. Except now, Maki has changed her mind and wishes to reconnect with Mai. So the foiling there is they are going opposite paths. Maki would probably see Mimiko as weak because she can't stand on her own two feet, Mimiko would see Maki as callous in regards to her own sister. I think Mimiko would also see an element of Geto's actions in Maki, because of the way Maki massacres the Zenin clan after snapping si the same way Geto destroyed their home village.

Choso on the other hand foils Maki in that they are both big siblings. I wrote this in another post, but part of Choso's character is how much he chooses to ignore the circumstances of his birth, and love his brothers instead. Maki is the mistake of her father, and the shame of the Zenin clan. Choso is the mistake of his father, and the shame of the Kamo clan. Choso has the added benefit of being a weird human curse hybrid who has spent one hundred years as a fetus. However, Choso chooses to look at the blessings of his life instead and take an active role in loving and caring for his older brothers. However, I think Maki dwells in the negative trauma in her life more. I think she does love Mai a lot she is clearly devastated by her death but she loves her from a distance, I think she expects Mai to just know that she is loved rather than showing it or communicating it. Maki doesn't choose Mai because her vengeance against the Zenin clan is more important.

I don't think Choso would look down on Maki though, rather he'd try to council her for her choice. Like you said, Choso owes Noran-so's life to Mai, and he would want to help Maki bridge her relationship with Mai, because he also understands the difficulties of being an older brother. If Maki considered herself a failure as the older twin, I think Choso would relate to her because he also failed in several regards, he did let two younger brothers die, he almost killed Yuji. He places all this importance in the role of the older brother, but Choso also considers himself a failure of an older brother despite all he has strived to do so I think he'd be sympathetic overall.

Basically yeah, the whole point of the Werewolf Sequel is to give Maki and Mai breathing room and time for development instead of rushing straight to the slaughter.

[skaylanphear]

Only Practice Makes Perfect

Summary: Reki doesn't know the first thing about kissing and after a bit of light-hearted taunting, gets the idea to practice with Langa. They're best friends, aren't they? So they should help each other out. Boy lips couldn't be that different from girl lips anyway. Langa, meanwhile, knows this isn't a good idea. Yet, if having Reki to himself is ultimately impossible, then might as well take what he can get--even if it is going to be painful in the end.

Their experimentation starts out innocently enough, but with curiosity and raging hormones at play, they might be too late by the time they go too far. 

Chapter 20

Having dropped Nanako off at work so they could take the car for the day, Langa and Reki sat parked just outside the Kyan household. Pulled up along the street, Langa sat behind the wheel, watching Reki, while Reki was visibly nervous as he stared at the familiar stone wall lining the property. The car whirred lightly around them.

"Your sister said your mom's not home," Langa reminded gently, hoping—vainly—that this fact would help ease Reki's nerves.

Though Reki didn't feel that he could return to his parents' house anymore, that didn't stop him from texting his sister. While they'd never texted much before—or so Reki had said—Koyomi had been rather "chatty" with him since last they'd seen each other. Not invasive or probing, as she generally just sent him memes and emojis, but it was something that always made Reki smile. And made it easier to find out when would be best for them to come over and get all of Reki's stuff.

Langa had assured Reki that it didn't really matter when they went, that he'd made sure they got everything whether his parents were home or not. But Reki felt better doing it at a time when no one was around, and so with Koyomi's assurance that Masae was taking the twins with her to their grandparents' house that Wednesday morning, they'd made arrangements to take Nanako's car for the day and transport all of Reki's stuff to a storage space Cherry had just beneath his office.

"I know," Reki said weakly, to Langa's previous statement. "I just feel like I'm doing something wrong, sneaking around my own…" He slumped. "It's not my home anymore."

"You're not doing anything wrong," Langa assured gently. "You have every right to your things."

"I know that! It's just…"

Reaching out, Langa placed a hand lightly on his shoulder. "You have nothing to feel guilty about."

"But I do feel guilty!" Reki said helplessly. "It's because of me that this is happening at all! And I know I can't 'help it,' but—"

"You can't think that way," Langa replied, making sure to keep his voice gentle. "This isn't happening because of you. This is happening because your parents don't want to accept who you are. You're not hurting anyone. It's their fault for being so closeminded, not yours for… loving someone."

Hand slipping from Reki's shoulder, Langa was about to replace it on the steering wheel, but then Reki reached out and grabbed it.

"I know that," he whispered, their eyes meeting. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean… I just feel bad, that's all."

Read More

[reki-of-the-valley]

Boy Like a Fading Dream

A part two of the uni AU? More like a "I wanted to characterize the Langa of this AU". Wrote it a couple of days ago but didn't want to back-to-back post, just give a few days for the first part to settle in.

Find it on AO3 here!

Context: For his skills on a snowboard, Langa landed himself a scholarship. But he hates it. He hates his studies. He hates the athletic training. He just wants to go back to the time when it was fun, racing his dad to the bottom of the mountain.

“Where’s dad?”

Langa lets his bag hit the ground with a thud as he kicks off his shoes. His mother is in the living room; she’s cutting carrots in front of some sitcom. She lifts her head to smile at her son as soon as he enters her line of sight.

“How was your day, baby?”

Langa sighs as he crashes next to her. He feels her watch him as he picks up a carrot from the bowl before snapping it in half between his teeth. He feels her gaze, just as heavy as his eyelids are.

“Tiring.”

It’s all he manages to say to her. It’s all he finds to say. Tiring. His days are always just tiring.

“Did you have fun at practice?”

Fun? Langa barely remembers what that feels like. Fun, it feels like a foreign word now. He knows he must have felt it in the past, the thrill of gliding down the snowy slopes, but now it’s anything but fun. Snowboarding isn’t fun anymore, especially when there’s no snow outside. Especially when he’s cooped up in a gym rather than out on the open mountains.

So was training fun? No. No, it wasn’t.

“It was fine,” he lies. He can’t tell his mother how much he hates it. He can’t tell her when it’s what’s paying for his education – an education he also hates. “The usual, you know.”

Nanako pats his arm, her smile sweet and ever so motherly. “That’s good, baby. I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself.”

Langa sucks in a breath as his mother presses a kiss to his hair. I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself. If only she knew how big a lie that was. He would have done anything to just quit everything right now and lay in bed for the next ten years. Everything lost its appeal. If only everything could stop just for a moment, just for a minute, just enough time for Langa to catch his breath.

“Dad’s not home yet, is he?”

Nanako shakes her head. “He’s staying late tonight. He has a project that’s due, I think, tomorrow? Something about his team not being up-to-date so he has to stay late.”

Langa sighs again as he straightens out on the couch. He grabs another carrot before getting up to fetch his bag.

“I have to go study.”

Nanako doesn’t say anything as he leaves to climb the stairs that lead to his bedroom. Langa knows she’s watching him, watching his every move, but she doesn’t say anything. Maybe she can sense his disappointment. Maybe she knows that he’s lying to her.

Langa crashes in his bed, slinging his bag at the end of his mattress where it bounced before falling among the pile of dirty clothes he’s thrown aside. His room is a mess, but he can’t bring himself to clear out his trash. He’s already in a deficit of energy when just doing his mundane daily tasks. So he crashes among his pillows and pulls out his phone.

It's automatic, the swiping left and clicking on the app. It’s become a routine, crashing in bed and opening Instagram to scroll mindlessly. Langa doesn’t actually care for what’s on his screen, he just needs something to do, something to make him forget about the emptiness that’s formed in his chest.

So he scrolls. Pictures of old friends from high school, professional pictures and reels of snowboarders, screenshots of old Tumblr posts, reels of animals being cute, Langa scrolls through them all. He scrolls, scrolls until everything on his phone becomes a big blur. He scrolls until his phone slips from his fingers, falling flat on his face.

Another sigh as he turns to his side. His phone rests against his pillow as he goes back to scrolling. Always scrolling, numbing everything he’s ever felt. Because Langa does feel. He feels a million things, but none of those feelings are good. Frustration, loneliness, exhaustion, the list can go on. He hates all his feelings, especially that hollow feeling of disappointment that has been growing over the past year or so.

A notification pulls Langa out of his mindless scrolling. He usually ignores them, swiping them away, but for some reason, this one catches his attention. For some reason, he clicks it rather than get rid of it. The flash of red catches his attention.

.MechanicStarReki. – Suggested for you

Langa squints at his screen. The name doesn’t ring a bell but the face seems familiar. Familiar, but he can’t pinpoint where exactly it is that he’s seen it. His memory of the familiar face is hazy, like that of a dream starting to fade as morning takes shape. Familiar yet so foreign.

Langa scrolls through the profile, careful to not make his presence known. Most of the captions are in Japanese and he can’t find it in himself to decipher their meaning. He knows with a little effort, and maybe a little help from a translator app or from his mother, he could read the words, but he doesn’t bother. He contents himself with the scarce English. He contents himself with the many pictures of a boy with red hair.

The last post dates back a few weeks, a set of pictures with the caption “See you for Christmas.” The pictures show the redhead hugging who Langa assumes to be his sisters. They all look too much alike for them to not be family. Langa swipes between the pictures, taking in the scene: two school-aged girls cling to the boy, identical in all ways except the color of their dresses. He’s hugging them, a wide grin stretching across his face. Langa swipes again. Another girl is shown in the picture – she must be around 15. She’s pouting, but the sun reflects against the tears that had started to form at the corner of her eyes as she hugs the boy. Her eyes are the same color as his, a deep amber color that Langa knows he’s seen somewhere. He knows he's seen the boy, but he also knows it’s impossible. He can’t have seen him, not with the location associated with the picture: Okinawa, Japan. There’s no way he’s ever seen this boy; Langa’s only been to Japan once, the summer before he started high school.

Langa moves on from the set of pictures. He scrolls down, analyzing everything that has been posted over the years. Skateboards, sketches of various types, doodles, the boy with his friends, more of his family. Langa always pauses on the pictures of him. He always squints at him as if that would help him remember where he’s seen him.

A part of Langa knows that this is obsessive behavior, that he should just let it go, but he needs to know. He needs to know where he’s seen those faded freckles against sun-kissed skin. He needs to know where he’s seen those bright amber eyes. He needs to know where he’s seen that lopsided grin. He needs to know where he’s seen this boy, this boy that feels like a fading dream.

Does he resemble an actor from one of his mother’s shows, the Japanese ones she puts on while she cooks? No, that’s not it. He’s too young to look like any of those actors. Anyway, Langa never pays attention to the actors on the screen; he only knows the story because his mother has been following the ridiculous drama for years now. So the boy doesn’t just look like someone Langa might have seen on tv.

Does he look like an athlete Langa’s watched perform time after time, desperately trying to analyze his technique in hopes of recreating whatever is being done? No, it isn’t that either. Langa never recognizes the athletes, even when they tell him they've been competing against each other for years. He remembers their boards, but never their faces. So it isn’t that.

No matter how much Langa rakes his brain, he can’t find where it is that he’s seen the grin, the bright eyes, the freckles. Maybe the boy really is a figment of his imagination, a face given to a faceless dream that comes back every so often. Maybe he’s caught a glance of someone who looks like him in the street, or maybe it’s just a mere coincidence that the boy Langa’s made up looks like him, a mixture of a bunch of features that gave someone real. Or maybe Langa is delusional from his lack of sleep.

Langa drops his phone as his door is pushed open. He knows his mother knocked, but when he gets lost in his own little world, nothing else exists. Nothing exists until his bubble bursts.

“Langa sweetheart?” Nanako is standing in the doorway. She's looking at him, a slight frown pulling at the corners of her mouth. Her usual worry is evident in her features. “Is everything alright?”

Langa shifts, pushing his legs off of his bed to sit up. He nods at his mother, his words failing him. He hates how he finds himself unable to speak.

“Are you sure?” She shifts her weight to the side. Worry. “I’ve been calling you to set the table for the past 10 minutes now.”

Langa blinks at his mother before apologizing. He hadn’t heard her, he says. He had gotten lost in his own little world. He’s sorry, he’ll be down in a minute to set the table.

“Langa.” Nanako’s voice pierces through him as he fishes his phone out from under his pillow. “Are you sure nothing’s bothering you?”

Langa almost cracks. He almost tells her. He almost admits that he hates everything he’s doing. He almost admits that he hates going to school. He almost admits that he hates training. He almost admits that the thing he hates most is himself. Almost, but he doesn’t. He wouldn’t be able to survive the disappointed look on his mother’s face. He knows she would understand, that she’d tell him he’s allowed to quit, that she would support him no matter what, but he also knows she would be disappointed.

So he just smiles at her, that closed-mouthed smile he’s been practicing for years.

“I’m just tired.”

Nanako nods before making her way to him. She holds him tightly against herself, the warm embrace of a mother. And for a moment, Langa doesn’t hate himself.

“If you’re tired, I can bring your food up. You don’t have to eat downstairs if it’s too much.”

Langa shakes his head. Dinnertime is the only time of the day where he can spend time with his parents. Between classes and training, he’s barely ever home. It’s the only time where things feel normal, like they were back in the day when Langa was young, doing homework at the kitchen table while his mother cooked, explaining to him what he had to do. It’s the only time where he feels like they’re a family again.

“Just give me a minute and I’ll be down.”

Nanako sighs as she steps away from him, nodding. A small, tired smile pulls at the corner of her mouth as she turns back to him, halfway through the door.

“You promise you’d tell me if something was bothering you?”

Langa nods, promising, but the promise is hollow, his fingers crossed behind his back. It’s broken before even being uttered because Langa knows that he can’t make that promise. There’s just no way that he can promise such a thing. He can’t bring himself to tell anyone about how he feels. But still, he smiles and nods at his mother as she makes her way out of his room, down the stairs, back to the kitchen. He smiles until he can’t bear it anymore and crystal tears fall from his eyes, fall right onto the picture of the grinning boy in his phone, the phone he's been gripping so tightly.

[satoruverse]

au! baker gojo x bookstore owner getou

warnings: none

wc: 2254

The snow fell softly as it crunched under the long-haired man's feet, his cheeks nice and rosy as of course it was winter. The bell rang out signifying that a customer had entered the bakery. He looked around to see decorations being put up with faint Christmas music playing in the background. One of the regulars at his bookstore always told him the fruit tart from the bakery across the street was to die for. Suguru decided that today would be the day for him to try it out, so that’s how he ended up here.

“Oi, old man someone’s here to order! Hurry up,” The girl called out before quickly turning around and instructing the two boys where to put what decorations.

This made Suguru laugh a bit to himself, but he turned around to face the counter, coming face to face with a man he did not expect, he was tall with white hair, and bright blue eyes. A quite attractive young man at that with the softest smile he’s seen in a while.

“Uh hello! Welcome to Satoru’s Bakery, how may I help you today? Sorry for the commotion, we’re setting up decorations,” He said softly. 

Suguru blinked twice, before blushing again, he was staring into the man’s eyes. 

“Oh well, I’m the owner of the bookstore across from this bakery, and I would like to buy one fruit tart please? I’ve heard they’re to die for,” Suguru said smiling back and Satoru nodded. 

“Alright, coming right up!” Satoru said while humming the song playing in the background softly. 

Suguru watches as Satoru slips on a glove and carefully slips the fruit tart into some wrapping and then into a winter themed box, taping over some doodle (drawn by Itadori) and then placing the box down while turning to the register typing in the price for the fruit tart.

“That’ll be $3.50 sir. Hello, are you alright? You seem spaced out,” Satoru says with a small laugh after. 

Suguru’s heart clenched slightly upon hearing his laughter, before he noticed he found himself laughing with the baker. He handed the money to him with a polite smile while Satoru received the nicely decorated box. Thanking Satoru quickly, he waved goodbye and went out of the shop, the same bell jingling accompanying him. 

“He was completely lost in your eyes Satoru,” Nobara said, leaning her head on her hand as she smirked up at him. 

Satoru blushed slightly, before waving her off quickly.

“Don’t you have more decor to put missy? Also, don’t call me an old man. I'm only in my late 20s,” Satoru said with a frown.

Nobara laughed a bit but nodded before turning back around to instruct Itadori and Megumi on her vision for the rest of the decorations. 

Itadori quickly put down his decoration taking the hands of Nobara and Itadori before pulling them away as Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas played. “What are you doing idiot?” Megumi asked with a sigh.

“Let’s dance together cmon,” Itadori said and the other two gave in, swaying with him slowly. 

Satoru walked in with a soft smile, taking a picture of the trio, making a mental note to print it out for the album Satoru has filled with their christmas pictures. Megumi caught Satoru looking at them and quickly pulled him over so they could all dance together. The bakery got busy again after as it was lunch time, so many people would be stopping by. The bakery was split into two, an area to eat, accompanied with an outside area as well, and where people could buy their food. After quite the busy day Satoru found himself sighing while he stretched, he had sent the kids home, he looked out the window to see the bookstore keeper locking up and making his way home, oh how he envied him. Satoru looked back making sure that the birthday cake he was making was in perfect shape, which it was of course. Once he finished, he locked up his bakery and got in his car commencing his drive home. 

Satoru slipped on his jacket calling out after Megumi, Satoru had promised to go with him to this place he’s been wanting to go for the past week. Megumi never exactly told him where it was but that it was nearby. Satoru decided to humor the boy as it was the holiday’s and the holiday spirit was quite contagious. 

“Okay, you two call me if the shop picks back up ok?” Satoru says while looking at Yuji and Nobara who nodd. 

Megumi walks out, his scarf covering half his face Satoru, who insists he bundled up as the temperature was dropping. It’s quite the short walk until they are facing the bookstore, which looks a bit lively. Megumi opens the door, Satoru follows, taking in the space, looking around. The lights were slightly dimmed in some areas, decor was simplistic, nothing too flashy fitting for a bookstore.

“Hey! How can we help you today?” A girl comes up to them with a smile on her face accompanied by what seemed to be her friend.

Megumi began chatting with her about some book while Satoru just peacefully looked around. He decided since he was here he might as well just get something for himself, but he didn’t know what.

“Hey, be careful,” A familiar voice called out, a soft warning, Satoru looked over to see the man that was in his bakery earlier that week.

They both blushed slightly, neither expecting to see the other soon. Meanwhile on the other side of the bookstore three people were busy talking. 

“I didn’t know he was a dad, you two look nothing alike?” The one with the ponytail asked, Nanako.

“Yeah, he took in my older half sister and I, she’s off in college right now though. Anyways, I’m glad you two came up with this idea. Do you think it’ll work?” Megumi asked and both girls contemplated. 

“I think it will, from what you said, Suguru couldn’t stop staring,” Mimiko said and Megumi nodded.

“I should have brought Nobara with me, she was the one to catch on after all,” Megumi and the two girls nodded.

“Well, let’s go see how they’re doing,” Nanako said and they nodded.

Satoru caught himself staring for a bit, before blushing offering a smile.

“I apologize, I actually want to buy a book but I don’t know which one, do you have any suggestions?” Satoru asked while looking around taking in the rest of the shelves.

“Well, it depends, which kind of genre would you like, Satoru?” Suguru asked softly. 

“You remember my name?” Satoru asked, blushing to which Suguru nodded.

“Yeah, I mean it says on your shop as well but, I rarely forget names. Comes as a bonus with owning the store,” Suguru said with a soft laugh after.

“Right, genre hm, I like science fiction? Like Ray Bradbury, got into him recently,” Satoru said and Suguru nodded. 

“Oh, good choice, do you want to read more of his works?” Suguru asked to which Satoru nodded his head.

Suguru with a simple gesture motioned for Satoru to follow him, the two of them making small talk, not noticing they had a few eyes trained on them.

“They seem to be hitting it off well Nobara, yeah you were right, take a picture are you insane?” Megumi whispered, his voice as hushed as he could possibly make it.

After slight back and forth he gave into Nobara’s request quickly snapping a picture of the two walking. The two girls laughed slightly, while Megumi just shot them a glance.

“I’ll bring her with me next time, I think you three would get along well,” Megumi said and they nodded. 

Soon the pair arrived at the section of shelves Suguru was looking for, he hummed quietly as his eyes roamed. Satoru watched in silence as his hand stopped pulling out a book, handing it to Satoru with a smile. Suguru’s hands felt warm as they brushed against Satoru cold ones, as it was nearly freezing outside. The book was titled the Martian Chronicles, and Satoru quickly flipped it over, scanning the brief summary in the back before looking back up with a smile.

“Well, thank you, I have to go find Megumi, I came in with him,” Satoru said and Suguru nodded slowly.

“When you go to check out, request Suguru and I will ring you up, give you a discount as well,” Suguru said and Satoru nodded, turning away quickly texting Megumi to meet him at the cash register.  

Megumi replied with a brief okay and Satoru stood waiting patiently for Megumi to show up. Once he did they both went up to pay the girl they greeted them earlier was going to check them out.

“It’s okay Nana, I can check them out,” Suguru said from behind her with a soft smile.

Megumi put his two books on the counter accompanied by Satoru’s, who began to take out his wallet to pay. Suguru wrote down something on a piece of paper, slipping it in with Satoru’s change. 

“Those are some more suggestions if you come back,” Suguru said blushing while rubbing the back of his neck with a smile.

Satoru nodded before heading back over to the shop with Megumi, slipping his change into his pocket. Satoru flipped the note over and saw that Suguru had written down his number on the back with a simple call me when you’re done. Satoru’s face flushed, which Megumi noted but decided to stay silent about it, opting to tell Nobara and Yuji when he got them alone. The bakery seemed to be buzzing, people were sitting down and chatting about the holidays while Nobara and Yuji worked to dish out orders, accompanied by another presence, Tsumiki. Megumi’s eyes widened at seeing his sister home so early, but Satoru beat him to her. He went over hugging her tightly, ruffling her hair after with a smile.

“You’re home early, sorry we weren’t here to greet you, you should have said something,” Gojo said and she smiled softly.

“It was meant to be a surprise, it’s nice to see everyone again,” She said softly, her eyes glancing over to Megumi who was behind Gojo. 

“It’s nice to see you Tsumiki,” Megumi said quietly with a nod before putting his books away. 

Gojo sighed as Megumi was always like this when his sister came back, granted the two of them had a rocky relationship after she left for college. Tsumiki just smiled softly, while asking Satoru what he needed help with within the bakery. After a few more hours of the shop being busy they soon closed, Satoru making sure to drop off Nobara and Yuji this time, as he opted to come in early in the morning to set up. The drive was silent on their way home, tension between Tsumiki and Megumi a bit higher than anticipated. Satoru knew it would be like this for the first two days and then things would be fine after so he didn’t worry much. He quickly showered when he got home, and then sat down on his bed pulling out the book he got earlier. His phone rang, he looked at the contact name, it was Shoko calling him how odd.

“Hey, everything alright?” Satoru asked, obviously surprised.

“Yeah yeah, now… WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME YOU HAD A CRUSH?” Shoko yelled in the phone as Satoru held it away from his ear. 

Satoru was a bit confused as to what she was on about until he looked down at the paper slip he was holding in his hand, everything clicking.

“Shoko, who told you? And anyways it’s not a crush he’s just kind of handsome, you’re always pressing the gas with these things,” Satoru said with a soft sigh. 

Pressed up against his door was Tsumiki and Megumi, who had Yuji and Nobara on the line listening in on Shoko and Gojo’s conversation. 

“See I told you Goomi, it was a good idea to tell Shoko,” Yuji said with a triumphant smile.

“Alright alright, let’s all calm down so we don’t get busted,” Megumi said with a sigh.

Tsumiki had an all knowing smile on her face as she looked at the way they interacted, Satoru definitely would owe her money by the end of the holiday big time. She heard Satoru stop talking and grabbed Megumi, quickly pulling him into the kitchen. The two of them quickly began to talk, while Satoru walked into the kitchen making himself a cup of hot chocolate. 

“Don’t stay up too late, tomorrow is Saturday and you know how crazy the shop gets, off to bed c’mon,” Gojo said and the two nodded while going off into their rooms.

“Do you think they’ll go on a date soon?” Nobara asked, a hopeful tone to her voice. 

“They seem to be hitting it off well, so far so I think so yeah,” Yuji said and Megumi nodded.

“Have you two been on dates before?” Nobara asked while yawning after it was getting late.

“I’ve only been on one,” Yuji said with a sigh holding onto his pillow tighter.

“I’ve been on none, the three of us should go on one sometime,” Megumi suggested with a small blush.

“Yeah that’d be nice, well you heard Gojo, we better get to bed,” Nobara said.

With that the three of them hung, letting themselves fall asleep peacefully.

[lils-of-the-valley]

Summer Time (Family) Madness

What’s up! I finally wrote something and didn’t post it at 1 am! That doesn’t mean I proofread it though (RIP I'm so tired I posted it to the wrong blog so I had to redo it)

First | < Previous | Chapter 8 | Next >

AO3

Apologizing to Emily was a lot harder than Langa had anticipated. He knew he could be stubborn, but Emily was worse. She did everything in her power to avoid him: locking herself in Nanako’s room as soon as he left his, turning away from him if she had the misfortune of being in the living room when he got back from work or the skatepark, eating at a different time from Langa and his mother. No matter what Langa tried, she refused to acknowledge him. He didn’t exist anymore to her.

And Langa had tried reaching out to her, both physically and metaphorically. He had tried grabbing her arm, forcing her to acknowledge him, but he was just shaken off the same way he had shaken her off three days prior. He had tried being gentler, calling her name the few times he did see her leave the room to get food, but he had been ignored. Langa had even tried texting her an apology, but the text had never been opened, the little checkmark never appearing next to his text. Emily was rightfully pissed, Langa understood that, but after 72 hours, he was starting to get annoyed again. She could have at least given him a chance! It had been three days, for crying out loud!

“Seem familiar?” Nanako asked over her cup of tea. Langa didn’t miss the amused smile on his mother’s face or the way her brown eyes were staring straight through him. Recently, she was really starting to pick up on whatever Langa was feeling, which he wasn’t sure if he was grateful for or absolutely mortified about.

“I-!” Langa bit the inside of his cheek as he pushed his pancake around his plate. “Okay, fair.”

“Look, I talked to Emily this morning. She’s still pretty mad at you for snapping at her and refusing to tell her why, but she seems ready to talk about it. It wasn’t my place to explain your actions, but I did encourage her to give you a chance to apologize. Which,” Langa shrunk in his seat the way his mother was looking at him, “I really shouldn’t have had to do, Langa. You’re an adult now; you shouldn’t need to have your mother fixing your problems anymore.” Nanako sighed, a small smile tugging at the corner of her mouth as she took a long sip of her tea. “But, here we are. I don’t even want to imagine the chaos that would have been if your father and I had decided to give you a little brother or sister. I don’t think I would have survived those fights if I’m struggling with just you and your cousin.”

Langa had asked a few times for a baby brother or sister when he had been younger. He had been in kindergarten and watching the children arrive with siblings made him envy them. The closest thing he had to a sibling was Emily, and he only say her during the summer. But those kids, they had a friend all year long. And they didn’t have to meet anyone new because siblings were family and family wasn’t scary. Not like all the kids whose faces were starting to blur together.

As he got older, he grew to be content with being an only child. He didn’t have to share at home. Everything at home was his: his toys, his parents, his room. As he grew older, he heard the other kids complain about their siblings, how they were hogging the tv or finished the last of the cereal without telling anyone. So Langa was happy with being alone. It was perhaps selfish of him, but he was glad he just had to deal with another kid just during the summer. Playing with Emily in the summer was more than enough.

But as he got older, Langa also wondered what it would have been like to have a real sibling, someone constantly buzzing around him. Would they have snowboarded with him? Would they have looked up at him? Would they have played with him? Would they have fought a lot? And would Langa have been a good brother, like Reki was? Would he have been able to help his sibling with their homework or their daily problems? Would he have been able to give and give and give so much like Reki did? Would have been as kind as Reki when-

Langa shook his head, shaking away the thought of Reki. He had to stop thinking of Reki all the damn time.

“Maybe it would have been better if I had a sibling. Maybe I would actually know how to say sorry?”

A light chuckle shook the teacup his mother was holding to her lips. “Maybe. But it’s never too late to start learning! I really think you should go see Emily. Oh! And bring her breakfast while you’re at it! It’ll be bonus points for you!”

Langa gave his mother a curt nod before moving to the kitchen counter to prepare a plate of pancakes for Emily. If there was one thing Langa knew, it was that food always cheers people up. Food was a universal peace offering that no one could refuse. Nobody could refuse a good plate of fluffy pancakes drowned in maple syrup. Or at least, Langa wouldn’t have been able to refuse. Hopefully, Emily wouldn’t refuse.

The confidence that Langa had built up lasted a grand total of three minutes, just enough time to assemble the plate and make his way to his mother’s room. Everything had been clear in his head: he would knock and apologize to Emily, offering him the pancakes. It was a simple plan, but when it came time to execute it, Langa froze. The words jumbled in his head and his hands refused to cooperate. He had to knock. Form a fist, lightly tap the door, that was all. Yet it felt like the most difficult thing to do. His fingers only tightened around the plate, not wanting to let go of it.

What was he supposed to do? What was he supposed to say? If, a big if, Emily opened the door after he finally fessed up the courage to knock, then he would have to say something. He’d have to say sorry. He would have to say sorry, but for what? For being cold and distant and…. Like himself? No. That was making excuses. It was a bad habit of his, apologizing and making excuses for himself. Like when he had that big fight with Reki- No! He was not thinking of Reki. He was thinking of Emily and how he was going to say sorry for shouting at her. He was thinking of Emily and how he was going to apologize for being inconsiderate and too in his own head to realize that he was hurting her and straight-up selfish. He was going to apologize instead of ignoring the situation until it went away.

With a deep breath, Langa raised his first. One knock. Silence. Two knocks. Movement in the room. Three knocks. The door creaking open.

Emily stood in the doorway, staring up at Langa, her eyes devoid of their usual warmth. Her eyes flickered between his face and the plate he was holding up for her, a peace offering. There was no sign of cheeriness in her face, only a deep frown. She was small, but she seemed so big. Small, but intimidating.

Langa shifted from foot to foot, pushing the plate into her hands. “It’s, it’s for you. Mom made it. Thought you’d like some.”

Finally! Finally, she took the plate, though she didn’t seem any closer to wanting to listen to Langa. But she didn’t turn away. She just stood there in the doorway, plate in hand.

“And I- I just…” Langa inhaled sharply. He could do this. He could fix this. “I’m sorry.”

It was stupid. It was so stupid. He felt like a little kid on the playground, small and childish, sent off to apologize for breaking the other kid’s plastic shovel. He felt like a child who had no clue how to apologize. Sorry. I’m sorry. It was all he knew how to say. He didn’t know how to truly, properly apologize. He had never cared enough about people to feel the need to say more than just sorry.

“Did your mom send you to apologize or is this really from you?”

“Me! I’m sorry, I mean it.” Langa did mean it, but Emily didn’t seem completely convinced yet. “I… shouldn’t have snapped at you like that. I’m sorry.”

“Alright, alright,” she shifted her weight onto one foot, leaning into the doorframe, “don’t need to overuse it. I know we’re known for constantly apologizing, but you know damn well that that’s just a stereotype. You don’t actually have to say sorry every other word.”

“But I feel like I should.”

Emily sighed. “Alright. Don’t overdo it either. But,” she glanced towards the kitchen behind Langa, right where Nanako was sitting, sipping her tea and finishing her breakfast, “can we talk in your room? Like, don’t get me wrong, I love Auntie Nanako, but it’s just… feels weird doing this in front of her. Like we’re back at the grandparents and we have to apologize for breaking whatever before going home and the parents want to make sure we’ve properly apologized? Yeah, it’s… it’s really weird. No offense to your mom or anything.”

“I get it, no worries. Reki’s the same way.”

Emily raised an eyebrow, an amused smile playing on her lips. “You really never stop thinking of him, do you?”

“I-!” He didn’t. He had to stop, but somehow Reki always found his way back into Langa’s head. “He’s my best friend. And the only one of my friends who’s come over. So it’s just, it’s a coincidence.”

“Uh-huh, sure, sure.” Emily brushed past Langa, making her way to his room with her breakfast. “You keep telling yourself that, buddy.”

“I’m serious!” Langa huffed, stuffing his hands in his pockets and refusing to acknowledge the heat forming in his cheeks as he followed his cousin. “You know, for someone who’s pissed at me, you sure are in a good mood.”

“Oh.” Emily stopped in front of his closed-door before turning to him with a grin. “I stopped being mad at you like two days ago.”

Two days ago. That was impossible. Just last night she was leaving the kitchen as soon as Langa was coming in, kicking his shoes off. Just last night she was locking herself in his mother’s room, refusing to even look at him. It was impossible that she wasn’t still mad at him. It didn’t make sense.

“Yeah, I’m just really petty.”

It was the way she was saying it, just shrugging as she pushed the door open. It was how nonchalant she was about it, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

“You…” Langa sighed. Reasoning was impossible. “You made me suffer for three days, brushing me off, refusing to eat at the same time as me, basically telling me to go fuck myself for… for what reason?”

“You were insufferable for three days, so it was only fair that I made you suffer the same amount.”

“You,” Langa said with a huff and entering his room right behind his cousin, “are impossible.”

“Thanks!”

As Emily got comfortable on the floor, her back pressed against the closet door as she got ready to eat, Langa let his whole body flop onto his bed. It had gone better than he had anticipated, but it had still been exhausting. The spiraling insecurities always took a lot out of him. But as soon as his body sank into his mattress, his face hitting his pillow, everything melted away. Everything felt better, the weight of his mistakes lifted from his shoulders. And the sound of Emily struggling to cut her pancakes with her fork reminded him that things would be okay. He hadn’t broken everything important to him.

Langa shifted on his bed, folding his arms and tucking them under his chin as he looked over at Emily.

“I’m serious though. I am sorry about being insufferable and all. Just…”

“It’s fine, really. Apology accepted, Langa. Just,” Emily stopped picking at her plate, her brown eyes falling onto Langa instead, “can I finally know why you were acting all shitty and whatever?”

Why had he acted the way he did? The answer was terribly obvious, but it was also stupid. Terribly stupid.

“Reki?”

Silence emptied the room completely. Emile blinked at Langa, a forkful of pancakes hanging between her mouth and her plate as she gapped at him. It was stupid. So stupid. Langa should have lied. He should have found another reason. Now he seemed stupid because he was and this whole situation was stupid because of Langa’s stupid heart that was constantly beating in his chest at a speed that was probably alarming and-

“You…” Emily inhaled sharply, putting her plate and fork down onto her lap and brought her hands together to her mouth. Then her hands were pointed in Langa’s direction and he sank into his pillow. “You were an asshole to me for three days because of your boyfriend?”

Heat raced through his body as Langa jolted up. “He’s not-!”

“Fine! Your ‘best friend’ or whatever you wanna call it! What- What the actual fuck, Langa?”

“I don’t know! I don’t…”

Langa shouldn’t have been laughing. He should have been serious, trying to explain his mess. But Emily was laughing, her hands in her face as she wiped away tears, and it was hard to not laugh with her. Maybe she had also realized that everything was ridiculous. Maybe she had finally realized that Langa was absolutely ridiculous.

“I don’t know, Emmy. I really- It made sense, or maybe it never really did?”

“No, it does not make any sense. You do not make any sense, you twig!”

“I just… I was mad, okay? I don’t know who I was mad at – probably myself most of all – but it was just easier to take it out on you since, since, you know, you kinda, I mean, if you hadn’t come to DopeSketch then maybe?”

“You were pissed at me because your not-boyfriend suggested teaching me how to skate? You… what the fuck?”

Langa dropped back into his pillow, resisting the urge to scream. It sounded so much worse when said like that. It sounded so much worse when talking about it. If only he could disappear forever and avoid the absolute humiliation of having Emily half-screaming at him, half-laughing at him. It was worse than… than anything, really. Langa was ready to dig his own hole to hide in.

He peered over his pillow, not ready to let go of it quite yet. It was a rather effective shield.

“Yes? I mean… It’s not the skating part that bothered me. It’s the-”

“Part where it sounded like he was asking me out?”

Langa chewed on the inside of his cheek, nodding hesitantly into his pillow. He was aware that he was acting like a child who was caught doing something wrong. He was aware that he looked stupid and foolish. He was aware that he was supposed to be able to handle himself just a little better than that, but what was he to do? The pillow was the only thing keeping him safe.

“Langa! You useless-!”

Langa almost missed Emily pinching the bridge of her nose, looking more exasperated than he had ever seen her.

“You… Look, first off, he wasn’t asking me out. And second of all, if you had stuck around an extra 20 seconds, you would have known I turned him down.”

Emily had turned Reki down. She had refused him. What kind of monster refuses anything from Reki?

“What? Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why’d you turn him down?”

Emily clicked her tongue as she stared up at the ceiling. “Well, it’s pretty simple, really. Your ‘friend’ there,” Langa cringed at the air quotes, “really did sound like he was asking me out, which apparently actually wasn’t his intention. But even if it had been his intention, he’s basically a kid. He’s not even 18, is he?”

“Next week.”

“So he’s not even 18, which is… weird? I don’t know, even if he was 18, it would still be weird for me. Not that was the main point of this. The most important part of this,” Emily straightened out, leaning closer to Langa, “I know you like him. Hell, I think everyone knows that you’re basically head over heels for him.”

“Everyone but him,” Langa mumbled into his pillow, completely defeated. There was no point in moving out of the fluff.

“I… I don’t think you’re giving the kid enough credit, Langa. I don’t think he’s as dense as you paint him to be.”

“Oh great. Yay for me. I get to fuck up yet another friendship.”

“I… also don’t think you’re messing up your friendship.” Langa could hear Emily shuffle on her side of the room, the fork clanking against the ceramic plate. She was probably starting to feel sore from the hardwood floor. “Look, I don’t know shit. The only news I’ve gotten of you in the past three years has been from your mom talking to grandma who would then tell my mom. And from the time I’ve been here, well, I’m just your dumb, airhead cousin. My opinion isn’t worth shit, but it kinda looks like it might be reciprocated?”

Langa propped up onto his elbows, huffing as he stared at Emily. “It’s not. And all you’re achieving right now is giving me false hope.”

“No! That’s not-! I didn’t mean… I was talking to Reki, after you stormed off like a big baby.”

“Gee, thanks. False hope and making fun of me.”

“And like, I was telling him that I was flattered and all, but that I had to turn down his offer since, you know, I’m heading back home in a couple of weeks. It wouldn’t be fair to anyone to try something with an expiration date and he doesn’t seem to be the type to just wanna hook up or whatever.”

Langa buried his face in his pillow again, hands over his ears. “I don’t wanna think about it, I don’t wanna hear about it. I don’t wanna think about it, I don’t wanna hear about it. I don’t wanna think about it, I don’t wanna hear about it. I don’t-”

“I didn’t say that to him, you twig! Now listen to me! I don’t wanna talk about sex with you, anyway!”

Langa’s face was flushed and panicked as he lifted it from his pillow for what felt like the thousandth time in a very little amount of time. His voice was high-pitched, only accentuating his horror. “I don’t wanna talk about sex with anyone! Especially not- No!”

“Aw, it’s okay, little baby Langa. I won’t disgust you with that. But I will tell you that Reki is so cute when he’s flustered. Like, he’s adorable, isn’t he?”

“I… will not answer that.”

Emily raised an eyebrow, a smile stretching across her face.

“Right. I forgot, you probably find him cute even when he’s passed out cold, snoring and drooling into his pillow.” Langa stayed quiet, chewing at his lip. “But yeah, turns out that it was just genuine desire to get me to try something new that would keep me busy? He was so embarrassed at the whole miscommunication thing and thinking he was asking me out. But so very cute. Just wanted to pinch his cheeks and squish his little face! Ah! I can’t wait for you to ask him out! Like, it’ll be so cute! And dumb! Because look at you!”

Embarrassed didn’t even begin to describe whatever it was that was twisting in Langa’s body. There was the heat of embarrassment, the desire for Emily to just shut the fuck up, but there was also the lightness of familiarity and fun. Falling back into the easy banter was nice. It was much better than being mad or being ignored. It was… comforting to know that there was someone he could talk to like this.

“This feels homophobic.”

Emily stared at him with a deadpan expression which made him snicker.

“When’s the last time you made that joke?”

“Whenever the last time you spoke to me and forced my hand.”

“I did not- Go to Hell!”

Oh, she was making this just too easy for him.

“But,” Langa cocked his head to the side, not bothering to hide his amused smile, “isn’t that where all the gays go?”

Exasperation stained Emily’s face as she reached out to him, her hands making a choking motion. Oh, how he had missed the jokes. How he had missed being annoying and obnoxious.

“How? How have you not outed yourself yet?”

Langa shrugged. “Simple. I don’t know how to say half of this shit in Japanese, so I can’t say it. Plus, new place, new life. Only you get the privilege of dealing with how I was back in Canada. But you bet your ass that I’m thinking it, even if I’m not saying it.”

“I’m sure you’re also thinking of someone’s ass-!”

It was a reflex, throwing the pillow at Emily. It was the only thing Langa could think of to get her to shut up. But the moment the pillow collided with the girl, her whole body curling to defend herself from the attack, Langa knew he had fucked up. Metal and ceramic clattered across his floor, half-eaten pancakes and an ungodly amount of smuggled maple syrup pooling on Emily’s lap and at her feet. Both froze, staring at the white pillow soaking in the sticky mess they had created.

“Damn, all this because you can’t take an ass joke.”

“I will choke you.”

“Kinky. Keep it for your boyfriend.”

So Emily was even worse than him. At least, when it came to obnoxiously dumb jokes. When it came to cleaning, both sucked, just staring at the floor instead of doing anything. At this rate, Langa would be better off just buying himself a new pillow; there was no way he would manage to get all that syrup out of it. But moving meant acknowledging the problem, and Langa was not ready for that. Or maybe he just didn’t like cleaning up messes.

“If my pillow is trash, I will murder you.”

Reluctantly, Emily picked up the pillow, holding it far from herself. A large stain had formed on the pillowcase, having probably seeped through the fabric and into the pillow’s fluff. Her face twisted in disgust. She also didn’t seem keen on cleaning and laundry.

“I invite you to try, but people have been trying and failing for the past 20 years.”

Langa sighed, finally pulling his legs off his bed and crouching down in from of the flipped plate. How was he supposed to clean this up? Where did he even start?

“Just help me clean your mess.”

“My mess? Excuse me? You’re the one who hit me with a pillow and caused this!”

The fork. He would start by picking up the fork. And maybe the plate. Leaving it on the floor was just risking breaking it. Hopefully, it wasn’t chipped.

“Go get the cleaning products. I think mom keeps them under the sink in the bathroom. And throw my pillow into a bag or something. We’ll have to go to the laundromat later.”

Emily sighed, finally pushing herself off the ground. She still held the pillow with the tip of her fingers, very far from her body.

“Fine! I’ll keep you company later, but you’re cleaning your floor! I’m not touching anything sticky and gross.”

“It’s maple syrup. How is that gross?”

“Just saying that I don’t know what trash you’ve put on your floor and I am not scrubbing it.”

“Just go get the stuff before this leaks through the floorboard.”

Emily huffed one last time before exiting the room. While he waited, Langa could hear his mother questioning Emily. “What was that noise?” “What are you looking for?” “Did you and Langa make up?” A smile pulled on the corner of Langa’s mouth. He knew his mother would ask questions and that was the only reason he had sent Emily to fetch the cleaning products. He knew if he had gone himself, then he would have had a thousand questions to answer which he absolutely did not want to do.

[msiopao]

The One With Koo Koo’s Little Munchkin

pairing: jungkook x nobi (ft. uncle bangtan)

summary: nobi’s brother lets her babysit her niece but her and jungkook don’t really know how to take care of a baby

if she was warned of the disaster and the regret that would happen later, nobi would’ve never let that baby enter her home.

it all started when kazuki, her older brother, needed someone to look after his daughter since him and his wife were going overseas for a week-long medical conference. unfortunately, the grandparents were also out of the country since the youngest child, maiya, had a chess tournament in China and needed her guardians.

that only left him with his other sister, sakura, or most commonly known to the world as Nobi of BTS.

with the ring of cellphone and the familiar ringtone dedicated just for her oldest sibling, nobi placed the washing gloves down and retrieved the phone that was on the counter to squish it between her ear and shoulder. 

“welcome to chili’s, how may I help you?” 

a burst of laughter from the other side caused a smile on her face. “table for 4, please!”

she froze, “WHAT!? HANA IS PREGNANT!? AGAIN!?”

“WHAT!? NO! IT’S FOR THE DOG! WOONGIE THE DOGGIE!”

a relieved sigh passed through her, “dear asahi, please don’t scare me like that again.”

“i mean... my favor might?”

with that sentence, nobi should’ve declined and hung up without a second thought. but as the loving and dependable little sister she was, she pressed farther and asked what for.

“you see... hana and i need to go to germany for some conference and we can’t take nanako since we’ll be in workshops all day. ma and pa are with maiya in China for chess so it only leaves you.”

“wOW, i’M the lAST rESoRt?!” An outraged yell from her caught the attention of jin, jungkook, and jimin, who were lounging in the living room.

“please, kura,” he begged and she sighed. “you love nanako, don’t you? besides! jungkook’s there and i trust him, so you have someone for help!”

“i haven’t even seen the kid since she was born not even a year ago. and jungkook’s a man-child.”

“but you still like her. and him.”

“eh, if she’s 50% of you then maybe i don’t. and he’s a handful already so adding an actual baby will be a pain.”

“kura! please!” 

the loud voice from her sister-in-law made her cringe and back her ear away. jungkook is familiar with the voices in her phone since he roomed with her and she called her brother and his wife often. 

“please take care of nanako!” she yelled and hung up, not even giving nobi time to protest.

nobi cursed under her breath and finished putting the last plate on the rack before wiping her hands and walking over to join the rest. jungkook scooted to the side so she could sit next to him and she curled up on his side since he opened up his right arm.

“what’s up?” jin asked as he placed an UNO wild card on the table during the heated match the boys had.

“kazuki wants me to take care of his brat,” she complained. “didn’t even give me any say in it.”

“ah, it’s okay! jin-hyung knows how to take care of them!” jimin reassured, not looking up from his 5 cards.

“um, not really?” the oldest asked unsurely.

“how old is the kid?”

“she’s turning one in 5 months.”

“aren’t you happy kazuki finally settled down, though?” hobi’s question made her shrug.

“i mean, the parents have been bugging him since he turned 23 to find a girlfriend. the guy married his first ever girlfriend and had a kid with her!” she exclaimed. “to be honest, i really thought he was paying her to act as his lover but apparently not!”

“can you imagine being so desperate to buy a fake girlfriend?” yoongi mumbled making her laugh.

“use that one,” nobi nudged yoongi with her toe pointing to the card. “also, jin-hyung didn’t change any of our diapers.”

“but wouldn’t a baby be easier than raising 4 teenagers?” namjoon said and nobi looked up from jungkook’s chest.

“well, i guess it won’t be that bad if i have help.”

“speak for yourself,” yoongi mumbled to which she playfully jabbed his side.

 “anyways. if their kid goes missing, it’s not my fault because i was forced in this situation.”

jungkook tightened his arm around her. “think of this as a trial-run, bub. since you never took care of your sister, you don’t really know if you’re good with kids or not. maybe you’re like the ultimate mother master.”

she giggled, “nah. suffering 9 months for a demon and being responsible for it for 18 more years? can’t even handle myself.”

...

true to her word, nobi really can’t look after herself, much less with a kid. the doorbell rang meaning they were outside and had the little demon to take care of waiting. she tripped over some of kook’s shoes on the floor and she stubbed her toe against the door frame in a hurry to answer the door.

when kazuki dropped off his baby girl, nobi begrudgingly took the carrier from hana’s hands and snarled when kazuki sent an victorious smile.

“it’s only for 7 days, kura.”

“you know what could happen in those 7 days?! anything can happen in that time period! i wrote an entire album in a week! what’s to say i won’t do something to the brat!” her whines made kazuki roll his eyes before thumping her on the forehead.

“you big dummy,” he mused. “it’ll be fine. besides, hana put in about 7 pages of instructions there for you just in case.” she followed his finger that was pointing to the bag on her arm.

“honestly, are you my brother?” she asked, irritated. “since when do you see me reading instructions?”

“when you’re handling a tiny human and you won’t have anyone there to help you. that’s when.”

the boys were huddled around the carrier in the middle of the parlor, absolutely smitten with chubby cheeks of the baby and the little puffs of air she let out. sleep was heavy on her and her tiny fist clenched the baby blue blanket that her mother knitted her.

nobi was sorting out the baby powder and the nappies at the kitchen while jungkook squeezed some of the milk on his arm to test the temperature. he had assembled a crib in their room earlier and she placed all of the clothes into an emptied drawer that used to house her socks.

“sakura! how could you hate this little angel?!” jin squealed. 

“hyung! too loud!” jungkook chided and nobi laughed.

“she looks too much like maiya.” her answer didn’t reach the others ears since no one reacted. she leaned her hip against the island and crossed her arm, amused and watching the boys get hypnotized by nanako.

“can you believe a little munchkin, not even a year old, has all the members of bangtan wrapped around her tiny finger?” jungkook asked from behind her, resting his chin on her shoulder.

nobi leaned against his chest, “well, the guys love kids in general. even she has yoongi-hyung’s attention, the attention that is reserved only for his baby Holly.”

jimin saw nanako flutter her tiny eyes open and watched it widen at the sight of 6 unfamiliar faces. she must’ve been frightened at the foreign surrounding and the lack of her mother and father only added to the fear. soon, her wails filled the previously quiet dorm and the boys panicked.

“oi! eomma! appa! your baby is crying!” tae shouted and nobi rushed over from the nappies, kneeling quickly and hovering over the carrier.

“hello, darling,” she cooed. “have a nice nap?” nanako didn’t respond but her cries did quiet down a bit, blinking up at the familiar-looking person. nobi picked her up and placed her on her arms, fingers gently touching her cheeks.

jungkook came over with the ready bottle of milk and handed it to her so she could feed the baby. “here.”

the boys watched the 2 peer down at the suckling baby and they snapped up when someone’s camera shutter and camera flash went off. taehyung had his old camera, jin had his polaroid, while namjoon had his phone up, all with wide eyes as if they were just caught.

“oi! nanako is feeding!” jungkook scolded causing nobi and the others to laugh.

“wah, it’s like we’re looking into the future!” hobi whispered, shocked at the sight in front of him.

“joonie, look! our babies with their baby!”

nanako continued to feed, eventually finishing her entire bottle, and nobi passed her off to jungkook so he could burp her while she washes the bottle for the next feed. 

the guys shared a look and they grinned, relieved that taking care of this baby wasn’t going to be as bad as they thought.

...

eyebags and wrinkles were making their home in the faces of nobi and jungkook, victims of her irregular sleeping schedule. it was only the third day and her second night with them was the roughest time they’ve went through in a while. 

jungkook was slumped over at the dining table, sleeping and breakfast shoved to the side, and nobi was clutching her coffee cup and seemed to be sleeping with her eyes wide open. 

jin and namjoon were observing them with concern since they too were woken up by the loud cries of the child and they know the maknaes haven’t had a good sleep since the first night.

“kura?” jin poked her at the shoulder but received no response. “sakura?”

she jolted, wildly looking around as if she didn’t know where she was. “huh?”

her sudden movement woke jungkook up and he also looked out of sorts, eyes suddenly going wide. “the baby!”

“the baby!” nobi echoed before shooting up to stand but a hand stopped her.

“sshh,” namjoon soothed. “taehyung and jimin washed her already and are changing her right now. don’t worry, hoseok’s there with them.”

similar fatigue-laced eyes settled on the oldest and the leader as they sat back down, confusion and alarm slowly disappearing. jungkook groaned and started to slump over to go back to sleep but shot up when he heard the giggles from the devil herself.

“appa! nanako is here!” tae said in a child-like voice, carrying nanako with jimin and hobi trailing behind him.. “nanako is clean!” nanako saw jungkook and nobi and immediately wiggled to go to her temporary parents.

���nanako wants to see eomma!” jimin followed but nobi immediately shook her head.

“no!” she expressed, back away from the baby.

“aw, why?” tae pouted but smiled again when jungkook outstretched his arms.

“come here, my little munchkin,” he grunted. nanako found solace in his arms and she laid her head on his chest, as if she was listening to his steady heartbeat with her eyes closed.

nobi observed the girl’s calm behavior, slightly leaning forward to get a better look. “if only she was this peaceful last night.”

“hm, this is what parenthood is like, kids.” yoongi’s comment made the rest shiver.

“when was the last time you both slept longer than 3 hours?” jin asked as the amount of times he heard walking in their room was concerning.

“the night before she got here,” jungkook answered. 

“well, you’re lucky she’s only here for a week. next week, we have a meeting with Bang and we might start choreography classes then. it’s good that we won’t have a baby in tow.” 

everyone nodded at namjoon and at the mention of the meeting, hobi and yoongi dispersed to leave to their studios while the 95-liners were leaving to go to the gym to prepare their bodies for the grueling dances. namjoon was accompanying jin to the grocery store so it left the maknaes and the baby at home with no one else.

thankfully, the child was starting to fall asleep and nobi noticed jungkook fighting to keep his eyes open.

“come on, let’s go to bed.” her suggestion sparked a little life in jungkook and he carefully carried nanako to their bedroom where they could all get comfortable.

within seconds, nanako fell asleep and with the rise and fall of jungkook’s chest combined with his heartbeat made her slip into dreamworld quickly. jungkook was already snoring by the time nobi laid next to him and she hummed in content, happy that she was able to finally sleep.

...

their days continued on like that.

being fortunate enough to be on break, jungkook and nobi were able to sleep whenever they wanted since they were usually kept up by the energy that nanako only released at nighttime. 

but they weren’t the only ones suffering.

it was now clear that the lungs that sakura had was genetic as it also transferred over to her niece by the way she belted her cries, the boys jokingly singing along to it (cue bretman rock). at night, they have created ways to block out her cries like sleeping with airpods plugged in or on jimin and hoseok’s case, leaving for 3 nights to sleep in a hotel since their room was right next door.

however, tonight was especially bad.

nanako refused to drink her milk, instead crying and screaming the entire time she was awake. when she did sleep, she would eventually wake herself up and start the entire cycle again. nobi was getting worried because she only had 1 bottle of milk today and she didn’t want to be held or touched by anyone.

combined with the worry and the sleep deprivation, nobi was in tears, sobbing on the floor next to nanako’s crib, who was also crying, so together they had a crying session. everyone else was busy, even jungkook since he joined the others in the gym, so she was left to fend for herself and the baby wasn’t helping by refusing to take in any milk.

“nanako, please,” she begged. “one bottle, hm? just one bottle.”

nanako shook her head and cried louder making sakura wail more. maybe it wasn’t the ideal situation or the ideal move but nobi didn’t know what to do because she’s never taken cared of a baby before. initially, she called her brother to figure out how to solve the problem but neither of them were answering and the booklet had nothing on there on how to get her to drink.

honestly, of all things, that should be in there.

the two girls were so busy having their sobbing match that they completely missed the front door and jungkook’s greeting. the boy was in shock at the sight of nobi clutching the crib with nanako inside while they both cried their eyes out.

“bub,” he whispered before grabbing her to his arms.

“i don’t know why she won’t drink, kook. and i’m so tired,” she wailed and cried harder.

jungkook racked his brain on what to do until settling on a decision. “tell you what. go to bed and plug your airpods in so you could sleep while i take care of nanako.”

nobi started to protest because she knew he needed sleep too but he waved her off. the feeling of the plushness of her bed was so foreign to her now since she rarely had time to sleep on it and relish in the comfort. the loud lo-fi music drowned out the screams and wails of the baby, allowing her to finally slip into her own dreamland.

it was only about 2 hours that she woke up and she cursed, fearing that she has so suddenly created a new maternal sense in a span of 5 days.quickly sitting up, the panic in her chest soothed when she saw an empty bottle on the dresser and jungkook swaying with nanako cradled on his arms, sleeping. she gently pried the earbuds out of her ears and smiled softly at jungkook’s quiet singing, feeling relaxed herself.

“go to sleep, my little munchkin,” he whispered. “koo koo will be here when you wake up. i promise.”

nobi closed her eyes in gratitude and forced down a scream of gratitude to the lord and savior, god almighty, that nanako has eaten and finally fallen asleep. and jungkook was here.

jungkook noticed her rising figure and he sat down next to her, still cradling the baby.

“morning,” she grinned to which he returned. “how was she?”

“well, took a while to convince her to eat but she did and she just fell asleep.”

“you’ll be a great father someday, koo koo.” jungkook bashfully looked away to hide the smile that threatened to escape.

“nah, i just communicate with children better.”

“do you want a baby girl? or a baby boy?” 

a moment of thinking caused silence until he answered, “doesn’t matter. as long as i have my family.”

if she didn’t grow up with jungkook and didn’t see through his puberty and awkward and ugly moments, nobi might’ve just busted out a ring and married him then and there.

...

kazuki and hana were amused at the smiling face of the usually shy jungkook and the anger and irritation that radiated off of the girl beside him. the father gently took hold of his daughter from jungkook’s arms and she giggled, seemingly happy to see her father again.

hana placed a hand on nobi’s arm and squeezed in gratitude. “thank you so much, kura.”

nobi had no energy left in her to lie a smile so she sighed. “you’re really welcome. but she’s a handful. she kinda reminds me of maiya.”

kazuki laughed at the mention of their youngest sister. “you stayed with grandmother for a year because you hated her crying.”

“exactly.”

“she was really nice, hyung.” jungkook reassured the man. “loud, but sweet.”

“then she should be over any time, right?”

“during the day, yes.” but she made a cross with her arms. “but nighttime, is no no.”

“either way, thank you so much, sakura, jungkook-ssi.” hana gratefully said and the family finally moved to leave.

nanako, who had her head on her father’s shoulder, turned to peak at the two who were slowly getting farther away and raised a wobbly hand as if saying her good-byes.

“bye bye, my little munchkin!” jungkook yelled and she giggled, flapping her arms.

when they were out of sight, nobi sighed and felt the relief flowing through her veins.

“she’s an absolute adorable little baby. but if i have to spend another night with her, i will lose it.”

jungkook laughed and wrapped an arm around her shoulders to pull her closer.

“again, it’s to prepare for the future, right? because i really want a munchkin of my own.”

a/n: don’t be silly, wrap your willy

[snowpeawritings]

14. Everyday’s Great...

Philemon seems to enjoy seeing his Wild Cards live on with their lives…

insp.

Persona 4 Golden X FeMC!Reader

05/03/TUE-Daytime | Junes Foodcourt

“If the killer was trying to silence her, there might’ve been something at the scene only she would have understood. Which would mean that the culprit may be someone close to Ms. Konishi.”

The words of Adachi still rang fresh in your mind. Yesterday, you and Yosuke offered to treat Chie and Yukiko Junes’s steak meal as compensation for your Personas practically eating all of the instant noodles. When your group had given them the steaks, Adachi had came by and began rambling his mouth over precious information. The evidence that’s been compiled from the police has been keeping you awake at night. Even Izanami had caught on with your overthinking, her trying to shake you out of it last night and before you were meeting with the others plus Nanako.

Speaking of Nanako, she was having the time of her life being at the food court despite it being, well, just a food court. You wish you could share her happiness but with how those words ring in your mind, you just couldn’t share her sentiment.

“So you’re the family cook, huh? Pretty impressive ‘Big Sis’!”

You blinked out from your thoughts, looking at Chie for a moment before shrugging. “You have to do what you have to do.”

You tried to ignore the sharp, side-eye glance from your Persona as you fiddled with the hem of your coat.

“As expected from our Leader! You’re pretty good with your hands when you made me that pork cutlet the other day!” Yosuke said, giving you a thumbs up.

Jiraiya, who was being held by the scarf by Tomoe, piped up. “’Good with your hands’...? Really, man?”

Yosuke choked, cheeks flushing red. “D-Don’t take words out of my mouth!”

You were thankful for the distraction as Izanami shook her head at the Wind-attuned Persona. “I blame the both of you for that.”

Beside her, the shivering pink Persona looked at Jiraiya and Tomoe. The muscled Persona still had Jiraiya in a strong, leash-like grip. “They’re quite close, aren’t they?”

From that comment, Tomoe sneered but held no ill will against Konohana. “As if I would be close to scum like this idiot.”

“Hey, that’s like two insults already!” Jiraiya yelled at her. “Besides, it’s not like I bug you all the time and the rest of the ladies don’t realize I exist!”

“In case you haven’t noticed, we have a new ally on our cause that I’d rather not corrupt so soon.”

Beside Yukiko, Konohana Sakuya was busy trying to catch a butterfly between her hands. It would’ve been adorable if the butterfly phased through her hands like they were nothing before she sadly sighed. She may not have realized that she was able to physically grasp things at her will but you’ll put your faith in Izanami that she’ll teach her... Even though you don’t know how they do it themselves.

Jiraiya clicked his tongue in disdain before moving his head towards Yukiko. “Hey, Amagi, was it?”

The girl in red jumped up in surprise, not expecting to be under fire. “Um, yes?”

He cocked his head (as much as he could) to your direction. “You sure you don’t have any closeted feelings for ____ here? Because I’m pretty sure Sakuya here says otherwise.”

“Dude!”

“Anyway!” Chie exclaimed before patting her hand behind Nanako’s chair loudly: A sign that there was a child in the group and, most importantly, she can’t see or hear your Personas. “I can consider myself a pretty good cook too!”

Yosuke scoffed. “You? Cook? Hard pass.”

“What, you wanna cook-off?!”

From her battle cry, Tomoe let go of Jiraiya’s scarf and raised her fist at Yosuke. “Bring it on! Chie will not be defeated by the likes of you!”

Jiraiya flexed his shoulders even though you knew that he was joking about this. “Don’t cry when you lose, woman.”

“Children, behave.” Izanami said, but not making a move to stop them at all.

Now that it sunk in, you looked back at her on why she wasn't stopping them. In fact, she was leaning on her left leg and her arms crossed like she's watching actual children fight. All you could think about was since when was Izanami so laid-back? She wasn't like this before and you didn't even know Izanami could take a joke.

As if wanting to further spiral your mind into disarray, she joined in on the festivities. "If we're speaking about culinary talents, it is my own master who will reign supreme."

Good god, since when can she gloat?

Soon, everyone has the same aghast expression on their face. With everyone looking at Izanami like she told them that your hand would be fine if you dunk it in scalding hot water, it was a wonder how Izanami wasn't buckling down from the attention. Even Yosuke, Chie, and Yukiko are looking at her like she was the goddess that she's supposed to be.

Nanako, who finished her snack with a smile, looked up to see all of you staring at something with a funny expression on your faces. She looked to where you all were staring at only to find nothing but a cat with its paws outstretched towards a fish decoration. It was clearly fake and sloppily done-the white of the paper peeking through the mismatched crayons-but the cat deemed it was tasty enough for it to try and eat it.

But the girl thinks that it was funny enough, so she copied your expressions with glee.

Eventually, Izanami noticed their staring and shrugged. "Jiraiya must be rubbing off on me."

Like a gust of wind, the frog immediately slid next to her like in those cartoons before wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "Oh, Izanami! You sly woman, how adorable that you're taking my mannerisms!"

As if to add more to the fire, his voice dipped lower, a tone that you never heard him or even Yosuke since they sound remotely the same, made you shiver. "You trying to turn me on?"

Before Izanami could say anything, a sharp spear was hooked under his scarf and yanked him away. It wasn't long before a smack was heard.

“Um… Anyway…” Yosuke steered back the conversation to them. “So Nanako-chan! With all these contenders in our group, I bet we can make something that could top your mom’s cooking!”

You and Izanami winced.

Nanako answered without flinching. “I don’t have a mom. She died in an accident.”

Everyone besides you and Izanami eyes widened at the statement. Tomoe stood even more rigid than usual, Jiraiya actually paused in his floating for once, and Konohana stopped fiddling with her petals.

It took a while but Chie nudged Yosuke with her hand. “Hey, Yosuke…”

He fumbled with his words, trying to come up with something to try and clear the awkward air, but all he could muster was the usual ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t know’ phrase.

Luckily, Nanako took it in stride. “It’s okay. Even if I don’t have a mom, I have Dad with me.”

And to put the final nail in the coffin for being how cute she was, she turned to you, a happy blush on her cheeks. “And now I have a big sister, too!”

And now to bury the coffin, she turned to everyone. “And I’m having a lot of fun today! I love Junes!”

"... I will die for this child." Jiraiya said seriously. "I will."

"For once, I agree with you frog." Tomoe said.

Even Konohana, the most emotional Persona, started bawling. "Sh-She's the sweetest!"

Izanami tried to comfort Konohana but that even croaked another cry from the pink Persona as her petals fluttered from her shaking.

Looking at your friends, you see that they also share the same sentiment, albeit not as extreme as their Personas. You were pretty sure Yosuke was about to straight up cry though.

Chie smiled at her. "We'll play with you all that you want, Nanako! Just say the word!"

Yukiko piped in. "Yeah, we should hang out more often."

"Nanako-chan!" Yosuke said to her with an easy-going smile. "How about I buy you a drink?"

She nodded gleefully at Yosuke before following him to the drinks stand. It wasn't long before Jiraiya followed them, wanting to watch over Nanako like his life depended on it. The rest of you watched them go away.

"She's a strong girl." Yukiko said after they were out of hearing range.

"Yeah," Chie replied to her, "she makes me feel like I'm the little kid."

"She'll grow up to be a strong woman. I just know it." Tomoe said softly and you couldn't help but linger for a second that Tomoe let her guard down.

Konohana looked at Tomoe then to the direction where Yosuke, Nanako and Jiraiya went. "Do you think Jiraiya may be talking Yosuke's ear off?"

A momentary silence ensued before Tomoe sighed sharply and went to the drinks stand. Konohana soon followed, at least wanting to try and calm down Tomoe. It wasn't long before Yukiko and Chie followed them, not to stop them but to buy something for Nanako.

You have a feeling your friends won't stop spoiling Nanako anytime soon.

"Nanako has them wrapped around her fingers." Izanami said.

You were sure it was a joke. It has to, with how laid-back she is right now.

"You're not going with them?" You asked her.

She paused before she turned to you with her golden eyes. "Not after you tell me what's been bothering you."

You flinched under her gaze, looking away from her piercing stare as you fiddled with your hands. "What do you mean?"

"Do not try and dissuade me. You've been silent ever since you came here with Nanako. Even you aren't immune to her charms."

You struggled to formulate a response. You weren't as eloquent like the books you've read so you can't weasel your way out of her interrogation.

With a sigh, you resigned yourself to your fate as you looked at your Persona. "I'm just… thinking about the case."

She tilted her head. "We think about it all the time."

"No, like-" You said, the temporary flare of frustration creeping up but you held it down. "I just… want to solve this case as soon as possible."

"Hasty decisions lead to dire consequences." She quoted. "We have time to figure out the truth."

"I get that, but like…" You trailed off. You suck in a breath before continuing. "I don't want this team to worry even more. We're supposed to be worrying about midterms, for god's sake. Not finding some serial killer on the loose!"

Izanami sharply said your name, reminding you that you were technically by your lonesome in the eyes of others. "I understand how you feel. You are still a child, wrapped up in responsibilities that shouldn't even be on your shoulders."

She then looked down, looking like she was mulling over on what else to say before staring at you straight in the eyes. "But you have friends that care for you, even a family to care for you. And you still have me."

For what felt like hours, you stared back into those golden eyes. They seemed to shine even brighter than before and you don't know if that was the watery sensation you're getting in your eyes.

"You still have us," She continued, "you're not alone in this."

You blinked away, trying to fight back the tears before nodding at her. "... Thanks."

She let out an amused huff before turning her head to hear footsteps coming towards your table. Nanako came back with a carefree smile on her face.

"Do you want something too?"

Thou art I… And I am thou…

Thou hast established a new bond…

It brings thee closer to the truth…

Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Justice Arcana… 

Persona Time

After bidding goodbye to your friends, you, Izanami, and Nanako went back home. The little girl now has a little baggie full of snacks provided by all of your friends. You wondered briefly if her teeth would be alright with all of the sweets they bought for her but she comforted your fears by saying she won’t eat them all the time.

That being said, that didn’t stop her from eating a choco cornet. The chocolatey filling made her squeal in happiness as she savored the pastry. You two went around the shopping district, not quite ready to go home yet when the sun is still high. You thought about attempting the Mega Beef Bowl Challenge again but it wouldn’t be worth it when it wasn’t raining.

Right now, you looked at the shops, eyes lingering on an old textile shop. Recalling the news last time, there was a brawl that happened in front of the store because some punks were causing a ruckus. It was at that moment when…

“Hey,” Nanako said softly, “there’s a funny-looking guy at that shop.”

The lady’s son stood in front of the textile shop like he was protecting it from anything harmful. His bleached hair made him stand-out from the passersby as his daunting stature made him look like he was a part of a syndicate. If the news didn’t slip that he was a year under you, you would’ve kept your guard up.

You tugged on Nanako’s hand. “Let’s steer clear from that guy, okay?”

She muttered an ‘okay’ before following you. Izanami stepped ahead of you two, cleaver in her hands in case of anything that could happen. You and Nanako hurried to the nearest bus stop, trying to avoid any eye contact from him as Izanami stood guard.

For a moment, you were about to be away from the first-year before somebody stopped you. An arm darted out in front of you, belonging to an older man that you’ve no doubt want to punch his teeth in if not for a child in the vicinity.

“What’s the rush?” He slurred and you recoiled back from his breath. You quickly placed Nanako behind you as Izanami raised her cleaver.

“Leave us alone.” You spat, not bothering to give him the time of day. You tried to dodge him but that led to him sidestepping back in front of your vision. You felt Nanako shiver from behind you as you glared at the man. Izanami swung her cleaver back, ready to maim.

"No need to be afraid! I'm gonna take real good care of you two--"

Before he could even finish his sentence, a fist came and clocked him clean in the jaw. Nanako gasped, you pulled her closer as you followed the fist to see the bleach-haired first year staring down at the pervert like he was scum.

"How many times do I gotta tell ya?!" The first-year spat, kicking his foot towards the man's chest as he doubled-over in pain. "If I see ya here one more time, it won't be just your face that's gonna get a beat-down!"

The man couldn't even respond, seeing from the odd angle of his jaw. He hurried to his feet and ran away from you, not even looking back.

Beside you, Izanami lowered her cleaver. "That was… an event."

You nodded at her before looking down at Nanako. She was still shaking but not as much as before. She didn't even realize her choco cornet had been squeezed too much, the chocolate filling already staining her clothes.

But it looked like she didn't mind. Instead, she looked at the first-year with a wide-eyed smile. "Thanks mister for beating him up!"

Like a lightswitch, he immediately turned into a blushing mess. He stumbled with his words, looking away from Nanako as he stuffed his hands into his pants pockets.

"Sh-Shut up! I didn't do it for you!"

Ah, so he's that type.

"Thanks still, for chasing him away." You said to him, smiling softly. "We owe you one."

He choked. "You ain't owin' me nothin'!"

Your lips quirked upwards at his real demeanor, wanting to tease him even more but he was still a punk that socked someone without hesitation. You still had Nanako behind you and a pile of books that you need to study for midterms.

“Thanks anyway. Stay safe.” You said to him earnestly before walking to the bus stop. Nanako lagged behind a bit, looking back at the bleached boy with a smile.

“Goodbye, strong man!”

Izanami was the only fortunate soul to witness a boy combust to the ground.