#*kyubey voice*

[dittydipity]

going INSANE. what is he thinking. why did he say this. why does he do all of this. i am thinking so hard.

we know he's seeking arceus to recreate the world bc in his eyes the world is cruel and unjust and it needs to be destroyed and remade. he's set himself on a mission to create the better reality he's envisioned for his whole life.

but everything else he does. the way he spends his time on pasio making people smile with togepi. even if he justifies it as something purely transactional to get more customers, we know he doesn't really take his merchant job seriously. the way he loves his pokemon so much that they will pop out of their pokeball to excitedly tell whoever will listen how much they love volo back. him trying to capture these moments of happiness tangibly because they never last long and can be wiped away any second.

he still hangs onto hope so much despite what's implied to have happened to him. in spite of all the anger and bitterness that's festered in him, he doesn't really want to destroy everything as he says.

it all started with a wish for the world to be a better place, for the good in the world to outweigh all the cruelty. he's still trying to spread what happiness he can.

but at the same time his past drags behind him and reminds him that he can't afford to trust in the goodness of the world.

that self-assigned mission to usurp arceus's power and rewrite everything.. to him, it's his duty now. he has to do it for himself and, as he rationalizes to himself, for the world.

so he ignores the flaws and holes he finds in his own reasoning. he can't help but seek out the brightness and happiness and goodness that does exist in the world, yet he has to dismiss it to justify his goals.

... all this to try and explain to myself why volo's asking all these questions and making all these comments that seem to go against what we'd expect given his ulterior motive and plans. and it's like he's asking the few friends he has to remember him as the one who seeks joy, even when he does the worst to fulfill his dreams

[katsivoice]

Hi, Lesbians Madoka Magica fandom, I hope you accept my offering! I am also a fan (⸝⸝ᵕᴗᵕ⸝⸝)

I was requested to voice this by someone I know, I hope I did well. This is my first voice-acting post on Tumblr, I apologise for any issues with audio as I did this on CapCut

[whosyourfavevoicedby-polls]

[songweaver]

The moment when you realize Best Dog

is also Worst Cat

[bluecube92]

Same Voice Actor #9

[princescar]

I KNOW Morgana isn't evil and hes the deuteragonist of P5, but he has the same English va as Kyubey, so he is evil to me

[linettefox]

So cute!!

friendship is magica

[strawberry-seal77]

ohh my days I just realized I never changed my default canvas size back from minecraft painting proportions....

[himehomu]

One of my favorite madohomu scenes of all time takes place in the anime, episode 8 at the 17:50 mark to be exact. After Homura kills Kyubey before Madoka can make a contract with him, she approaches Madoka and asks why she's so self-sacrificial, tells her to stop demeaning herself by thinking so lowly of herself, begs her to think of the people who think the world of her, those who'd be mournful if, god forbid, anything were to happen to her, to please think of those trying to keep her safe. From Madoka's perspective, this is the first time the usually stoic, cold, and standoffish Homura is being vulnerable, open, and emotional. From Madoka's perspective, this is the first time she's seen someone so seemingly brave as Homura cry. The first time she's ever heard her voice above her usual calm and collected tone. This is the first time Madoka sees Homura so upset, so frustrated, so afraid.

Madoka, whom has never met this girl aside from seeing her in a strange dream, sees Homura fall to her knees and cry and, as if on instinct, Madoka stands up to comfort her.

And, in this moment, Madoka has some moment of clarity, recognition, familiarity. It goes by pretty fast, but if you capture this moment frame by frame, you can tell in the way her face changes and she stares at seemingly nothing. She goes from staring down at Homura worriedly to getting caught off guard by something. It kind of looks like she's looking at something off screen until a black void of static accompanied by a low buzzing plays for a brief second before Madoka, out of nowhere, asks "Have we met before?" Then you realize she was experiencing that feeling of familiarity from seeing Homura so upset. "Wait, have I done this before. Have I comforted this girl before? Have I seen her cry before?"

This scene is so powerful to me, because this Madoka doesn't know Homura. Or, at least, she shouldn't. Yet, when she sees this girl fall to her knees crying, when she sees this seemingly emotionless girl so broken and fragile, and more importantly as soon as Madoka stands to comfort her, she has this sense of "Have we met before? Have we done this before? Have I seen you like this before?"

Even in her "dream," she wanted to protect Homura, wanted to stop what was happening in front of her: Homura giving up her life to defeat Walpurgisnacht and failing. That's the reason why she agreed to become a Magical Girl in the "dream"; she wanted to change the outcome of Homura's fate. In the first timeline, she saved Homura from a Witch. Despite Homura wishing to be the one protecting Madoka, the moment Homura lets her brave facade down, shows vulnerability, is afraid and frustrated and upset, Madoka stands up to do what comes naturally to her: comforting and protecting Homura. And that's what sparks her recognition. She stands to comfort her because deep down she feels like she knows her from somewhere, that they've met somewhere, sometime before. Throughout the anime, when Sayaka and Mami were antagonistic towards Homura, Madoka kept saying "Is she really that bad?" and "I feel like we could all be friends" and "What if she's telling the truth?" Because she's known her throughout 100 time loops, she's protected her throughout 100 time loops, she's loved her throughout 100 time loops. This is kind of an underrated madohomu moment yet it's one of the most solidifying on Madoka's end.

[yurimother]

'Puella Magi Madoka Magica -Walpurgisnacht: Rising-' Announces Winter 2024 Debut

On Sunday, at Aniplex Online Fest 2023, Aniplex revealed a new teaser trailer for Puella Magi Madoka Magica The Movie: -Walpurgisnacht Rising- (Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica: Walpurgis no Kaiten).

The trailer revealed that the anime film, which continues the Puella Magi Madoka Magica main timeline after the events of the 2013 film Rebellion, will debut theatrically in Japan in Winter 2024.

Aniplex also revealed a new key visual for the film and announced that director Yukihiro Miyamoto, who directed the original 2011 television anime series, its two film adaptation, Rebellion, and spin-off Magia Record is returning for Walpurgisnacht: Rising at SHAFT.

He is joined by the previously revealed staff, including the original creators Magica Quartet, chief director Akiyuki Simbou, writer Gen Urobuchi (Nitroplus), and character designer Aokiume. Additional returning staff includes character animation designer Junichiro Taniguchi, who served as Chief Animation Director on previous projects, parallel world designer Gekidan InuCurry (Doroinu), who created the iconic, unique looks of the Witches Labyrinths, and composer Yuki Kajiura.

All of the original Japanese main voice cast from the series and Rebellion are set to reprise their roles:

Aoi Yuki as Madoka Kaname

Chiwa Saito as Homura Akemi

Kaori Mizuhashi as Mami Tomoe

Eri Kitamura as Sayaka Miki

Ai Nonaka as Kyouko Sakura

Kana Asumi as Nagisa Momoe

Emiri Kato as Kyubey

The anime was originally announced back in 2021, but in 2019 at Anime Expo, Homura's voice actress, Chiwa Saito, foreshadowed the sequel, saying that "the actual series has not ended yet" and that she was looking forward to everyone seeing Devil Homura, a reference to the ending of Rebellion, again.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica aired in 2011 to critical and audience acclaim. It became a cultural phenomenon and spawned two movie adaptations, Beginnings and Eternal, the sequel film Rebellion, and multiple manga and video game spin-offs. It is credited with popularizing mixing dark, postmodern tropes with the magical girl genre.

Source: Aniplex Online Fest 2023, Press Release

[burnorgetburned]

okay. OKAY. I JUST WANT TO SAY.

NEW MUSIC STYLE. NEW ART STYLE. NEW MAGIC SYSTEM, NEW GIRLS, MORE CLARA DOLLS, MORE HOMURA OUTFITS, MORE EVERYONE OUTFITS, and AAHAHAHAHSGH.

Homura wins by style points alone.

Anyway. Choice screenshots and my thoughts on them. Plus a few wild theories. Replies, tags, and your own reactions are VERY welcome.

(You're doing great, sweetie!)

First of all, I’ve already said this, but Homura has usurped Kyubey. She is the contractor in this new system. She calls magical girls and asks them if they can bear the responsibility of fighting (LEAGUES better than Kyubey's misleading BE A HERO language), using a magical lizard phone. She knows better than anyone else how heavy this is.

And she looks amazing while doing it. Look at that outfit! Look at her steampunk-esque aesthetic! Her throne. Which, notably, has glowing magenta eyes and her wings as a backrest.

The moon is either actually, physically repurposed, or she’s made something that looks like it. Not only that, but the pins going into the moon are exactly like the pins that went into her soul gem when she was being experimented upon in Rebellion. Those pins, according to the artbook, are for draining her gem of grief to keep her just before the point of witching.

Well, here’s my first wild speculation: Homura has not only taken over Kyubey’s job as a contractor but also its job of disposing of grief. That moon steampunk device is maybe for collecting, concentrating, and distilling grief into energy - hence the strange tesla coils connected to red liquid in the second screenshot above. She's doing what Kyubey says it's doing - turning the grief of people into energy to prolong the universe's lifespan.

I for one support her reality-warping shenanigans.

Here are some voices over a phone, sometimes speaking over each other, sometimes together. They call Homura “Akuma-sama” (!!!) which is a distinct upgrade from calling her Good-For-Nothing. They say “Just bring hope” like a mission statement. Are these her contracted girls? Or her Clara Dolls? They seem to show her a lot of respect.

I’ve also said this, but I strongly feel that this and the girl shown later are some of Homura’s new contractees. Their magic is darker. It warps the world around them, even. Their outfits incorporate black a lot more, too, though that might be the lighting.

Look at the little sigil on the top left-middle! Looks a lot like Homura’s lizard sigil shown when she was consuming the universe, just with a longer lizard.

And, of course, the image of Madoka throwing herself off of a building. “Wraith” and “Legend of Bestie” (lmao) show up here. I’ve actually been really looking forward to seeing what they’ll do with Madoka’s… self-sacrificial tendencies, so this might be part of that. Or, because of “Wraith”, it’s… well, I’ll get to that later.

On the other hand, it might not be Madoka. It might be the girl who the speaker in the phone call calls her "best friend", jumping to her death because of a wraith, and Homura saving her to fulfill a wish.

So glad that the insane architecture from Rebellion is making a comeback. Love what you’ve done with the place, Homura. Look at all those cranes!

The outfit changes are very cool to me. I honestly don’t have speculation for why Sayaka is covered in bandages, but I do have speculation for the changes!: they’re older. Years have passed. Since they’ve changed and grown, their outfits have changed, too. I don't have proof of this - I just like the idea.

Light shines down on Madoka. Petals fall towards her as flowers bloom above. Behold, Homura's extremely subtle and inscrutable feelings. (Sorry for the blurry Madoka, but I am not going through the ordeal of uploading screenshots to my computer again because Tumblr does not like mobile users).

Homura is apparently waiting for Madoka here. She's standing right in the fountain's water and holding a Victorian umbrella like a vampire. Right now we can see that the visuals of this movie will not miss.

Is this a routine thing for them or is Homura just showing up to greet them this one time, for some reason? No clue. Madoka's expression as she notices Homura could indicate either.

Eagle-eyed people on Twitter noticed this, but in these shots, Sayaka already has her bandages.

Aside from the multiple and/or teleporting Homuras, there's also a Clara Doll in a ballerina dress and a cute Clara Doll peering over the side of the tower like a little kid.

The tower is interesting. It appears to be made of books or pages, and there's chains throughout it. More notably, it's in the shape of a helix - infinity symbols on top of each other.

Please appreciate these Clara Dolls. I'm sure they're working hard.

But seriously, those Clara Dolls' details. One has a witch's hat. One has an apple on its head. And the one with a teacup appears to have not only a lizard's tail but a replica of Homura's Devil outfit. Appreciate them!

Here is Homura(?), lounging or trapped on a chair filled with even more of those pins. Look at her closely. She's wearing a strange combination of her magical girl outfit and her Devil outfit - her shoulders are bare, and she has... feathers? She's sitting on a bunch of nails. But she also has two soul gems - one in her hand, and one hanging from her neck.

Is she cleansing them? Eating them? Holding people hostage? I don't know, but I support her completely.

She looks so tired.

So: here's some of what I think might be going on.

Homura is using wraiths to repress her worst memories. We know already that wraiths take memories and emotions from their victims. Well, there's no reason it can't be used as extremely terrible coping! Homura actually does this in the Wraith Arc, too - she lets a wraith take her feelings for Madoka.

If it is Madoka, it explains the shot with Madoka throwing herself off a builing - what if Homura has seen this happen in the loops, and out of pain lets a wraith pull it right out of her? The shot says "WRAITH" and billows with smoke. A wraith could have taken Madoka's form to act out this memory. And it doesn't need to be a memory - it could also represent Madoka's self-sacrifice and almost suicidal tendencies. This, too, would explain the multiple Homuras. All wraiths using her form.

This puts forward powerful enemies for the plot, as well as an interesting point of literally fighting Homura's demons. Most importantly, this lets everyone see Homura's pain.

Other wild dartboard speculations:

Homura will try and present herself as a villain. This is, honestly, kind of guaranteed, but it bears mentioning that her magical girls will be very likely to try to defend her.

Kyubey may appear to try and turn the girls against Homura.

Homura made the new magical girl who is drawing a bow. She has a lot of design choices from the Quintet, and people have already noticed how much she looks like Madoka. This new girl plays a role of the hero to Homura's pretend-villain, eliminating the risk that her friends will get seriously hurt.

The new magical girl is actually Madoka. Or the Law of Cycles. Or Kriemhild Gretchen.

The girl who jumps from the tower is a contractee being asked to take a leap of faith. She does so, and Homura rewards her with magic.

[glitchyko]

These all originated because of a goofy interaction on discord and I don’t regret doing them, its funny djdjdjdh I’m not gonna do anything with this, they’re just silly magical girl joke doodles

I was originally just gonna draw only the mayor as kyubey cause I thought it’d be funny, but then @skellebonez decided to tell me MK’s Japanese voice actor voices Kyubey, and I immediately scrambled to make a design for an MK kyubey cause I could stop thinking of that, so now we got Mayorbey and MKyubey

[eternalfarnham]

i'm not sure if this will make sense or if it's even supposed to intended characterization, but im partway through questing beast and i absolutely adore how you've made the cabbits relatable *before miss kyubey ever even becomes a proper social sophont*.

like pmmm canon makes the (correct imo) choice not to assign any interesting interiority to the antagonists abusing young girls, or to unduly anthropomorphize an alien race. but your incubators are really well rendered with their own kind of aesthetics of maximization and minimization, of abstraction and pattern-seeking, in a way that both makes a thematic motif out of a gag inciting incident (verbalizing shape rotation makes it moe) and seems xenopsychologically realistic to the kinds of minds you would expect to be able to fill an incubator's ecological niche. critical support to miss kyubey as she builds the torture nexus in pursuit of grand unification in fundamental physics

I think this may be my favorite compliment I've received about Questing Beast! My goal, basically since the beginning of the project, has been to write compelling, persuasive xenofiction, and building out the Incubators from Space Mara/Space Mephisto to something slightly more realized and complex has been both fascinating, as an exercise, and fun. I have an entire document just for puns I might get to use later. Miss Kyubey's just as much a vehicle to explore the Incubators' default as her own steady divergence from it, and the ambiguity of where she has or hasn't diverged, and what's projection versus genuine care, has been a sometimes-harrowing needle to thread. (God I hope I'm still threading it.)

That is to say, thank you so much. It's enormously cheering to hear someone tell me how much they like specifically the part that I've been hoping I've been doing right. I wrote this response with a big goofy smile on my face, for context. Miss Kyubey appreciates your critical support and will be counting on your voice, vote or soul at her next budgetary hearing.

[muffinrecord]

I've been pretty positive about Yuu so far, but watching her magical girl story... hmm.

Basically I like everything about Yuu, but man that serial killer bit is the only thing that really sticks out as an overt bad choice. Having Nagisa stand around and watch Yuu kill people is such a weird choice, it feels more like fanfic than actual canon. Like this doesn't feel like something that could happen in Magia Record-- or hell, even in Madoka Magica either.

For example, Sayaka has a scene on a train where some dudes are being sexist assholes and it's left up to the viewer to decide if she kills them or not. It doesn't go: Sayaka killed them and also they were calling out for help the entire time while Madoka watched you know?

That said, this is something I can see in a bunch of the spinoffs (Kazumi, Oriko, Suzune), but I think everyone agrees that the spinoffs are of dubious quality. I love me the spinoffs but they're a hot mess.

I dunno. It's one thing to know that Yuu is a serial killer, it's another thing to have a character watch her go around and kill people and not intervene in any way. Especially in a story that goes out of its way to not do that. Walpy hitting Kamihama is noted to have no causalities at all (which goes a little too far in the other direction imo but it is what it is), Suzune isn't able to kill anyone in Kamihama and is dealt with by kicking her out (and not killing her), the deaths in arc 2 are mostly accidental and have massive consequences, everyone is forgiven in the end-- this isn't a story that really has "watch someone kill people and do nothing" in it's cards, you know?

I actually liked Nagisa's Wish for a lot of things. For example, I like that Nagisa didn't think she could be a magical girl until she saw Yuu, because she assumed that magical girls had to be good people-- aka, Nagisa did not think she was good. But that's not because Nagisa is a bad person. Nagisa is just unloved, and since she's a young kid, she's internalized that to mean that something is wrong with her, not that something is wrong with her mom. It's heartbreaking to see her go from "I can't be a magical girl," to seeing Yuu the murderer, to then going "oh okay if she can be a magical girl then so can I." Like sweet pea, your mother not loving you is not the same as being a killer. You've done nothing wrong. You are not a bad person for having Feelings and Emotions about the neglect you are experiencing.

However the serial killer/organ seller bit just goes too far for me and it kind of overshadows a lot of the better ideas present in Nagisa's Wish. Like how can you focus on the interesting ideas about justice or self worth when there is a serial killer/organ stealer walking around.

I think that the best qualities of Yuu are her design and how creepy she is-- having her actually go all the way and be a serial killer/organ seller actually makes her less creepy in my opinion. Yada yada, less is more, leave it up to the viewer's imagination. If she was just off, if we just knew that something was wrong with her and that people are disappearing but it's not outright stated what she's doing... I dunno. That would make her a lot more scary to me. A lot of fear can be found in apprehension and outright telling all the details will fill in too many gaps.

Like, the things that we all like about Yuu would be her voice direction, her memory issues, the way her Live2D is designed to be slightly off kilter from everyone else, the gap between her attitude and the darkness she engages in, the weird weaponry she uses and how it changes the way she walks/moves-- all of this is effective because it is offputting and different, not because the narrative is telling us "hey she kills people and sells their organs."

Basically I really love Yuu, but I do have some criticisms for her character and I understand why some folks don't like her.

That said, it did lead to this fantastic line from Kyubey so like,

You take some, you lose some.

[cirilla-fiona-riannon]

Mitsuhide Akechi Sequel

Translations may not always capture the exact nuances or tone of the original text. Expect grammatical errors and inaccuracies.

Not a full translation. Not proofread.

Mitsuhide: "Let me hear that story as well."

Sasuke: "!"

(Mitsuhide!)

The moment I saw his face, my chest instinctively swelled, and a smile spread across my face.

Mitsuhide & Sasuke: "............"

(Wait, this isn't the time to be smiling!)

Mai: "Um, Mitsuhide, this person is my friend, and—"

Mitsuhide: "His name is Sasuke, and like you, he came from the future, correct?"

Mai: "Eh?"

Mitsuhide: "Apologies, but I overheard your conversation."

Without the slightest hint of guilt, he sat down beside me.

Mitsuhide: "Wearing such attire and sneaking into the castle must mean you're a member of a faction opposing the Oda forces."

(How could he deduce so much in an instant?!)

Sasuke: "Yes. I apologize for trespassing."

Sasuke: "Allow me to introduce myself properly. My name is Sasuke Sarutobi."

Sasuke: "And you are Lord Mitsuhide Akechi, correct?"

Mitsuhide: "Oh? You know my name, and you're still this calm?"

He narrowed his eyes, and the atmosphere suddenly grew tense.

Sasuke: "I understand I'm in a position where I can offer no excuses, but please allow me to say this one thing."

Sasuke: "Mai is my friend."

(Sasuke...)

Mitsuhide: "From the beginning, I had no intention of killing you."

Sasuke: "Huh?"

Mitsuhide: "Amidst a castle brimming with hostility, you risked your life to infiltrate enemy territory and rush to Mai's side."

Mitsuhide: "It would be foolish of me to use my sword against her beloved friend."

Mitsuhide smiled faintly and drew me closer.

Mitsuhide: "Thank you, Mai's friend."

(He seems to be stressing the word 'friend' a bit too much.)

Sasuke: "Being patronized by the famous Akechi Mitsuhide is one of the top five most miraculous experiences I've had since coming to the Sengoku period."

(Is Sasuke touched?)

Mitsuhide: "You seem like an interesting man, Sasuke."

After murmuring that with a laugh, his eyes sharpened once again.

Mitsuhide: "Mai, I learned about your condition from a letter from Kyubei."

Mitsuhide: "I'm sorry. I must have made you feel anxious."

Mai: "No, I'm just glad you came back."

(He must have returned to Azuchi immediately after reading the letter.)

Being this close made me realize how anxious I was when he was gone.

Mitsuhide: "Sasuke, would you mind continuing where you left off?"

Sasuke: "............"

Mitsuhide: "............"

(The atmosphere suddenly became heavy.)

As I watched them exchange wordless glances, my chest began to stir.

Sasuke: "From the looks of it, you may have reached the same hypothesis as I have."

Mai: "The same hypothesis?"

Mitsuhide: "............"

Mitsuhide fixed Sasuke with a piercing gaze.

Sasuke, accepting it head-on, nodded.

Sasuke: "First, I'd like to confirm the situation."

Mai: "Okay."

Sasuke: "The phenomena happening to you can be summarized in three points:"

Sasuke: "You're becoming invisible to others, your voice isn't reaching them, and the others can't touch you. Is that right?"

Mai: "Yeah, that's correct."

Sasuke: "However, you can still see others, hear their voices, and perceive them normally."

Mai: "Yeah."

(Hearing it laid out like this feels so surreal.)

Sasuke: "I believe these anomalies can be rephrased as follows: Mai, you are gradually losing the ability to interact with people living in this era."

(Losing the ability to interact...?)

Mai: "Does that mean I won't be able to connect with anyone around me anymore?"

Sasuke: "Yeah."

Mitsuhide: "............"

(That's almost like I'm a...)

Mai: "Ghost."

Sasuke: "............."

Mitsuhide: "Continue, Sasuke."

Mitsuhide, maintaining his composure, urged Sasuke to proceed.

Sasuke nodded and handed Mitsuhide the Travel Guide.

Sasuke: "Lord Mitsuhide, are you familiar with this book?"

Mitsuhide: "Mai has told me about it. It's a history book from five hundred years into the future."

Sasuke: "That's right. This book, however, has a peculiar flaw—the section following the Incident at Honnoji is completely blank."

Sasuke: "What happened that night was significantly different from the events recorded five hundred years later."

Sasuke: "The most crucial difference is..."

Mai: "That I saved Lord Nobunaga?"

Sasuke: "Yeah."

Sasuke: "That said, the cause of the historical alteration lies in the time slip itself. Mai, you're not at fault for anything."

Sasuke: "But if there's a significant difference between the original history and the current one, that would be it."

(He's right. Sasuke's explanation makes sense.)

Sasuke: "This might be an unscientific and utterly speculative hypothesis, but perhaps Mai is being rejected by this world as divine punishment for altering history."

(Divine punishment...)

Mitsuhide: "............"

[ikeromantic]

Candles

Ikemen Advent prompt featuring Kyubei! approx. 1600 words.

Kyubei stifled a sigh. Today’s lesson was not going well. Mai was staring out the window again, oblivious to the documents on the table. “Hey. Let’s take a break. Get something to drink.”

“What?” She turned her head toward him and then shook it. “No. I don’t need anything. We can keep going.” Her hand settled on the top page. “What was this again? The um, shipment records for, for . . .” 

“No. We talked about that yesterday. Today we were looking at regional treaties.” Kyubei smiled. “It’s ok to take a break. We have time to get back to this.”

Mai looked like she might argue but then her shoulders sagged. “Alright. Yeah. I guess I need a minute.” 

Kyubei stood. “I’ll bring some tea.” He left her there to gather her thoughts. She was so unfocused to day that even he could tell something was bothering her. Lord Akechi, would have known right away, and probably even figured out what it was. Kyubei had no idea. He searched his mind for some clue, but came up empty. 

When he returned with the tea, she was wiping furiously at her cheeks, eyes red rimmed and damp. He set down the tea and then sat beside her. “Mai.”

Just her name was enough to set off a new round of tears. She turned her head away from him, trying to hide them. “S-sorry. Just. I can’t seem to - to -”

“What’s wrong? Did something happen?” Kyubei felt as if he might start crying too. He couldn’t stand to see Mai sad. If someone upset her, he thought grimly, he’d teach them how to properly treat an Oda princess.

Mai shook her head, sniffling. “No. Nothing happened. It’s this time of year. Christmas. I - I miss my family.” Her breath caught on the words and she stifled a sound of distress.

Kyubei carefully slipped an arm over her shoulder. After a moment, she leaned into him and buried her face against his shoulder. He went very still, unsure what to do now that he held her. It wasn’t the first time they’d been so close, but perhaps the first time she’d felt so vulnerable, so fragile. “Tell me about it.”

She was quiet for a long moment, just breathing, getting ahold of her tears. When she spoke, her voice was near a whisper and thick with emotion. “Me and dad would put up the tree. And m-mom would make hot cocoa.” 

He wasn’t sure what she was talking about. Getting a tree. Cocoa. But these things were meaningful to her, and so he wanted to understand. “It sounds like you were very close with your family.”

“Yeah.” She gave a choked laugh. “We made a special holiday shrine for my grandma. She loved Christmas. Especially the food.” He could feel Mai smile against his shoulder. “My obaasan had a sweet tooth. So every year we’d get a candle that smelled like gingerbread or sugar cookie or apple pie. And we’d light it for her. And put ornaments around it.”

Kyubei smiled, his fingers lightly stroking her arm in what he hoped was a reassuring manner. He wanted to ease her heart, but wasn’t sure how. There was no way to give her back the things she’d lost coming to the Sengoku. 

Mai took a shaky breath. “I don’t know why it’s bothering me so much today. I guess because this would be when we celebrate. And here it’s just . . .”

“Another day.” 

“Yeah.” She wasn’t crying now, but still rested against him. “I guess I just miss those special moments. Celebrating. Remembering. Not that I don’t love the celebrations we have here. I do. But I miss my old life too. Homesick, I suppose.” She sniffed. “Sorry to be such a bummer. You aren’t my therapist. Probably just want to get back to the lesson, huh?”

Kyubei shook his head, something in his chest clenching. Did she really think he was just here as a tutor? “No. I - I -” The confession caught in his throat and for a moment, he was paralyzed. Then, “You won’t be able to focus on anything if you can’t share what you feel with me.”

Mai gave another soft, breathy laugh. Her face was turned up toward him and the feel of her warm breath against his neck sent a shiver through him. “True. Well, thank you for listening anyway.”

He nodded, not trusting himself to speak. 

She sat up and rubbed her face. “Is it ok if we’re done for today?”

Kyubei forced a smile. “Sure. I won’t tell Lord Akechi if you don’t.”

“Thanks. I think I’m going to take a walk. Just get some air. I’ll be back in a few, ok?” Mai stood and smoothed out her clothes.

“Sure. Take your time.” He watched her leave, his thoughts snared in a tangle of conflicted emotions. A vassal had no business feeling this way about a princess, but he could no more force his heart to be still than he could stop the sun from rising. And appropriate or not, he couldn’t simply return to his duties without at least trying to cheer her up.

It took some time to put together, especially with the little Kyubei had to go on, but he was a resourceful man. Everything was ready before she got back from her walk.

Mai stepped into her room and gasped. She nearly fell to her knees, but he was standing by the door and caught her arm. “What . . . Kyubei?”

A small bonsai tree sat on her table, draped with some ribbons and beads. Three candles sat beside it, along with some sweets from the kitchen. He didn’t know what apple pie or sugar cookies were, but he’d rounded up some wagashi shaped like camellias, and manju stuffed with fruit jelly.  

“I thought it might cheer you up.” Kyubei felt a nervous tension in his gut as she turned her wide eyed gaze on him. “If - if not, I can clean it up. Or . . . is it . . . are you -” He was going to say ok, but his breath escaped in one wordless exhalation as she threw her arms around him in a ferocious hug.

Her arms tightened on him, her face tilted up toward his. “This is the sweetest thing anyone has done for me.”

Kyubei felt his face go hot at the unexpected display of affection. “G-good? I’m glad.” He awkwardly patted her back, unsure how far he could or should reciprocate. For a moment, he struggled to navigate his emotions, then his arms closed around her and he hugged her tightly. “I’m really glad,” he said again before letting her go.

It took Mai a little longer to let go of him. Her hand lingered on his shoulder as she looked up at him, an unreadable expression crossing her features before she tucked it away behind a smile. “This really is so nice of you. Giving me a little celebration. Would you . . . would you share it with me?”

He blinked, the request catching him by surprise. Somehow, in all the effort to put it together, he hadn’t considered that she would want him to be part of her little celebration. “Of course.”

The two of them sat at the table. Mai picked up one of the camellias. “These are almost too pretty to eat. Where did you get them?”

“I made them.” At her look of surprise he added, “I worked making wagashi for a few months, infiltrating a smuggling organization for Lord Akechi. They were using the shop as a front.”

Mai laughed. “You are a man of many surprises, Kyubei. I wonder what else your hiding behind that cute face of yours.”

“C-cute?” His heart stuttered in his chest and heat suffused him. Not just his face but his entire head, neck, and shoulders. 

She looked away from him and back at the table. “Shall we light the candles?”

He cleared his throat, trying to calm the sudden pounding pulse in his ears. “Y-yeah. I thought it could be a way for you to remember the family you’re missing here. So you don’t feel alone.”

Mai reached over and squeezed his hand. Then she reached for the thin, wood taper Kyubei had set out, and caught it on fire in the lamp’s flame. She lit the first candle, and then the second. “For mom and dad. I hope they have a merry Christmas.”

“I hope so too.” Kyubei gazed at the small, flickering flames, lost in his own thoughts for a moment. He didn’t know what a Christmas was, still didn’t really understand what Mai was missing. But he hoped more than anything that she could find joy here, and that those she loved were happy as well. 

She blew out the candle, and then leaned close to him and with unexpected quickness, pressed a kiss to his cheek. “Thank you Kyubei.”

He froze, holding his breath, body rigid. The spot on his cheeks her lips touched felt like a flame, pleasant heat that sent waves of warmth across his skin. He was caught between disbelief and shock, his heart galloping in his chest. 

Mai leaned into his side. “I don’t feel alone when you’re with me. I hope that’s ok.” Her fingertips traced the edge of his jaw. “I know you’re just my tutor but . . . I think of you as my - my friend.”

Kyubei mustered the breath to rasp a reply. “It’s more than ok. Much more.”

“Good.” She smiled. “That means a lot to me.” Her thumb brushed his chin just under his lips, and then dropped away. “Let’s share some sweets then. Our own little secret celebration. Just me and you.” 

He smiled back at her, feeling overwhelmed with emotions he couldn’t express. Mai would never know, he thought, that she’d already given him something far sweeter than anything he’d brought to eat. “Me and you,” he echoed.

@candied-boys @queengiuliettafirstlady