#...Which COULD tie into the aforementioned 'way to solve his crime'

[astro-b-o-y-d]

Also Roman showed some blurbs of his old Bill But A Cat AUs last night so now guess what's on my mind

[siswritesyanderes]

This is a series of asks bc, while I do LIKE all the charas of Fantastic Beasts individually, much of the romantic pairings dont sit well with me. By that mean the messy love polygon w Newt & I think I finally figured out why & I'd like another's opinion on it. For starters, Newt's attraction with Tina is too fast for me considering he was friends w Leta, got expelled out of Hogwarts for Leta, carried Leta's photo in his case, & basically loved her for YEARS. But this is all undone by a [1]

jaunt in NY having met a woman, who he admittedly went on a huge adventure w, over the course of maybe a few weeks. He's so taken w her she replaces Leta's photo w her own &, after refusing to go to Paris for Dumbledore, leaves immediately once he finds out she's there. I just find this unbelievable. I can rationalize it from Newt's perspective where Tina is a fresh breeze sweeping into his life on (percieved) unrequited pining, but this is my conjecture based on my understanding of Newt. [2]

The audience shouldnt be left to rationalize endgame couple of the mc on their own. & the whole thing w Leta is so messily handled I dont think they can save it even if they bring her back in FB3. How she feels for Newt vs Theseus & unresolved lingering affection, etc. She & Newt were SO important to each other & we SEE that & they dont HAVE to get together, but they need proper resolution bc they have actual history between them. God Leta in general deserved so much better. [3]

But my main gripe is that this love polygon serves no purpose to what I believe is the main selling point of FB: the world. HP having love stories makes sense bc we're following the story of a boy as he goes through adolescence & his journey through that via school is part of that, which is why the romance feels fitting. It's a very personal story. FB on the otherhand is the best peak we have at the wider wizarding world beyond school. HP introduces the world of magic, but FB rlly expands it [4]

To that end Jakob & Queenie's relationship is the only one I find myself liking, bc it's deeply tied to the world setting, the series' biggest selling point (in my opinion, should have said this earlier). It underscores the attitudes of the period & the conflict they face feels suitably substantial & not like filler. There's a moral question between them of are they worth it? And how far should they go to be together?

Imma be real hear & say FB2 was rlly Queenie's movie & they should have been ballsy & just make Queenie the mc for FB2, bc her story was actually considerably more important to the overall development of the story than Newt's, which mostly came off as a rushed & a tad clichè soap drama. & making it about Queenie I think builds more room for good conflict & independent narrative for Tina that would serve her chara better. [5? 6?]

If I bad to be REAL ballsy, I'd say my big issue w/ the relationships in the FB series & how it enhances or impedes the main story & what I believe to be it's biggest attracter (the setting) could have been solved if they made Newt's romantic interest a muggle. It attaches a deeper meaning & relevance to them & the story so it felt more deeply that they truly moved WITH the narrative rather than beside it but I guess Im just picky. Thx for putting up w this! [Final]

(My response below the cut.)

Yeah, pretty much all of this is right.

Regarding the Tina thing, it was definitely rushed, especially since there was literally nothing romantic between them in the whole first movie, except maybe the end part where they're stumbling over their words. Despite knowing how movies work and knowing that they were the male and female lead, I still found that completely out of left field, because they don't really share any interests and I didn't feel like they felt anything in particular for each other before that. She really wants to be an auror and feels really intensely about it; he just wants to travel the world and write about magical creatures and take care of them. I don't see a lot of compatibility there, and the movie didn't really do anything to reconcile that gap.

Jacob and Queenie made sense, because they actually sowed some seeds for it. It's not even about the fact that they both like to cook; they showed an interest in each other throughout. They noticeably like each other. Newt and Tina never really had that, to me, so it was bizarre for her to become his primary motivation in the second movie.

Queenie's trajectory in movie 2 overall bothers me, so while I agree it would have been better if they'd centered it more around her, I definitely think they needed to drastically rewrite pretty much everything she did. Enchanting Jacob at the beginning never sat well with me; I usually only have to say this in the Descendants fandom, but if one half of the ship is magical and the other half isn't, we can't have the magical one enchanting the non-magical one for romantic reasons without addressing what a violation of trust that is. Like, Jacob would be justified for never trusting her again, over that. Also, the fact that she apparently holds it against people if they think bad things about her is not something I would expect from someone who has been a Legilimens as long as she has, and not a detail I like, at all. Especially since it was used to give her justification to be mad at Jacob after she enchanted him in the first place. I find it sad, because Queenie was definitely my favorite character in the first movie. (Also, joining Grindelwald was a nonsensical thing to do. I can only assume she's there to spy on him or something, because it makes literally no sense.)

As for Leta, I really don't like how that was approached. First of all, I don't like how their mention of her in the first movie was "She was a taker; you need a giver," because once we actually met the character, that only made me resent Queenie for representing her that way. Leta deserved better in pretty much every way, and they definitely shouldn't have killed her off like that. I find the whole situation really iffy from a racial standpoint. The first black character to be written three-dimensionally in all of HP lore, and they make sure to preemptively tell the audience that she's a "taker", kill her in the same movie we meet her, and manage to trivialize her death by turning it into a little "Who was she saying 'I love you' to?" mystery. I like her relationship with Newt and Theseus, and I'd definitely want to see more of it.

Yes, it definitely would have been better, thematically, if they'd made the love interest a Muggle. (I'd honestly say they should've paired Newt with Jacob, but I know they're unwilling to do that. That would be kind of cool, though, to see the movie shaping up with two male characters and two female characters and have the men end up with each other and the women just live their lives as humans.)

With the story they ended up telling, though, I don't think that is needed; since Queenie is already dealing with the wizard/Muggle storyline, Newt could have a different conflict. Maybe his love interest should be a werewolf or something, to tie in the wizarding world's unresolved dislike for "half-breeds". And if he were in a relationship with someone already regarded as a creature, the wider wizarding world might take a different view to his studies and look down on him a lot more. Idk, a thought.

And then, with Leta/Theseus and Grindelwald/Dumbledore (if they were willing to actually deal with that), they'd pretty much hit every controversial beat they've got: wizard/Muggle, wizard/"half-breed", interracial, homosexual. Credence and Nagini are both creatures, kind of, but I still like them together, so their relationship doesn't have to tie into any theme; it just has to be developed way more.

On the whole, Crimes of Grindelwald felt like they skipped a movie. It feels like they needed a middle installment to make these relationships happen, instead of jumping from "Do Newt and Tina maybe have feelings for each other?" to "Newt loves Tina and Tina is possessive enough of Newt to be outwardly upset with him when she thinks he's engaged to someone else," and creating a whole relationship between Credence and Nagini that we see none of.

The fact that Queenie and Jacob were done well in the first movie gives me a fair amount of goodwill for them, but that goodwill only offers enough cushioning from the botching that movie 2 did that I'm near-indifferent to the ship, now, instead of actively opposed. I'd like to see things improved, but as it currently stands, I'd be just as happy seeing them end up not together as together. The fact that Leta's relationships with Newt and Theseus were more interesting than any of the aforementioned makes it that much more ridiculous that they killed her. What ship am I supposed to care about how? If I can't go into the next movie delusionally hoping Newt and Leta will get some moments, or enjoying the Theseus and Leta content, then I'll just be sitting there waiting for Credence and Nagini to share a screen, and who knows when that'll happen?

[saiki-kusuhoee]

Are they a Shaniac or a Boogara?

A/N: Hey! Two posts today :) I just wanted to say that whether you’re a skeptic of the extra-terrestrial or supernatural, or a believer of it, your opinion is valid. However, if you believe that the earth is flat or that vaccines are fake, then you’re blatantly denying science which is very harmful and I recommend not having kids.

What are Shaniacs & Boogaras?

Shaniacs and Boogaras are what fans of the show (airs only on yt hahahaha) Buzzfeed Unsolved are called. Shaniacs have the views of Shane Madej, the show’s skeptic. They don’t believe in ghosts, ghouls and aliens, and most likely are demons. Boogaras have the views of Ryan Bergara, the show’s believer in the supernatural/Extraterrestrial. Though Shane and Ryan’s views conflict each other, they have really good chemistry. In the show, Buzzfeed Unsolved True Crime, they talk about (you guessed it) True crime. In Buzzfeed Unsolved Supernatural, they talk about 😱😱😱 the supernatural. Anyways, enjoy!

Shinsou Hitoshi- Shaniac/Skeptic He’s definitely not one to believe in crazy explanations like aliens or ghosts. He’s usually cut and dry with his theories, not letting his imagination get in the way of detective work. Y’know that show Ancient Aliens (my father is addicted, whenever I talk to him over the phone it's always ‘the pyramids this’ and ‘the Greys that’.)? If he even catches a glimpse of the travesties they call theories, he cringes. I’ve seen a lot of people say that he likes true crime, and what's a better binging source than Buzzfeed Unsolved True Crime? He likes Shane's sense of humour, and finds their similarities in beliefs amusing, too.

Izuku Midoriya‐ Boogara/believer

 Such a cutie scaredy cat. He prefers solved mysteries, because he WILL come up with some implausible theories. Anything to tie up loose ends. If you watch the supernatural episodes with him, expect him to be clinging to you, slightly shaking. In the Waverly Hills Hospital episode (I think, I could be wrong) when they throw the ball or whatever and the little ghost boy supposedly puts it under graffiti of Ryan’s name? Yeah, that’s hard evidence of ghosts for Izuku. Not only does he have notes on heroes, he has notebooks dedicated to aliens and ghosts, too. He’s not too insane with it, like blaming everything on the supernatural or extraterrestrial, but he can come up with some wild explanations, he will pitch all of which to you.

Denki Kaminari‐ Boogara/believer

He’s a real clown, taking crazy approaches to unsolved mysteries seriously. I headcanon that he’s an atheist, and watches the aforementioned Ancient Aliens. He’s constantly going on about the show, and the concepts of aliens to all his friends. But when Sero and him are stoned, they go off of each other's crazy ideas, claiming that they’ve ‘cracked the case’. One thing he likes to talk about is crop circles. The intricate, clean cut designs could only be done by other worldly beings. They're a topic of debate and intrigue, for sure. Denki has said multiple times that intellects don’t believe in god, and that aliens are a scientific fact. While Fermi’s Paradox (The theory that within the huge, ever‐expanding universe, there has to be some other planet with the same conditions and regulations that can sustain life, even if its billions of lightyears away.) is as likely as cold canadian weather, I don’t think that aliens were responsible for Denki’s homework going missing. His rationales are very… questionable, but it’s cute, the way that he’s so funny about it. If he ever goes missing, it's the aliens.

He’s onto them.

Keigo Takami/Hawks‐ Who’s to say, really/Asshole

Keigo is SO confusing. You asked him if he was a skeptic or not, and he looked deep in thought, but only answered with a shrug and a sly smile. He’ll go on for an hour about ghosts n shit, and make a whole case as to why they’re real. It’s convincing, really, really convincing, but he always ends with ‘but they’re not real, so it's whatever’. It’s gotta be a gag, right? He’ll do the opposite, too, going on about why aliens aren't real, or at least aren’t living among us, but then go back on it, saying something like ‘the Roanoke Colony is indisputable evidence, though’. If you ask him which it is, he’ll give you that fucking smile, with that stupid shrug. One of his many, MANY loveable quirks.

Mirai Sasaki/Sir Nighteye‐ Shaniac/skeptic

   Aliens? Cryptids? Ghosts or demons? Yeah, no. He won’t give it a second thought. He believes in Fermi’s Paradox (I talked about it with denki, but it’s summarized here: The theory that within the huge, ever‐expanding universe, there has to be some other planet with the same conditions and regulations that can sustain life, even if its billions of lightyears away.), because he’s a man of science™ (Nighteye the Science guy). But he does not believe that they helped with the pyramids, or any other theories of the like. As we know, he’s all work and no play (openly). He doesn’t like to call himself a skeptic, because he’s firm in his beliefs. Who better than him to know what happens after we die, amiright :)))))

[mayasha-chan]

Music, Hats and Panta (Shoumade Collection) #2

Collection Summary: A collection of stories for the pairing Kaede x Kokichi x Shuichi (Or as I’ve dubbed their ship name, Shoumade)

Some are set in the canon story. Some are AU. And some are in Modern AU.

I’m more than happy if someone wants to make any of these oneshots a full length fic. Just message me which one you’d like to adopt and you will most likely get my permission.

Title: Hope’s Egg

Fandom: Danganronpa V3

Crossover AU - Shugo Chara AU

Rating: K

Written by Mayasha-Chan (Can also be found on AO3 - HERE)

                                       All kids hold an egg in their soul.

                             The egg of our hearts, our would-be selves.

                                                    Yet, unseen…

“So Shuichi, my boy, what is it you want to be grow up?”

Shuichi froze, his fork still half way to his mouth, as he glanced at his parents each in turn. It shouldn’t have been surprising that they’d ask him a question like that. Especially since, he’d just recently started his 5th year at Hope’s Peak Elementary Division.

In fact, the question itself wasn’t even that difficult to answer. But… Shuichi knew he couldn’t tell them his dream. They’d never accept it. Only one person would support his dream, and he’s not here right now to save him from his parents peering gaze.

Swallowing nervously, Shuichi lowered fork back down to his plate and tried to rack his brain for an excuse. “W-Well, um… I d-don’t think I have anything at the m-moment.”

What followed was a few tense seconds of silence – that felt like eons in Shuichi’s opinion – before his father nodded with a calm expression. “That’s understandable. You’ve still got a while before who have to decide anything.”

Shuichi breathed a sigh of relief and picked up his plate, “Thank you for the food. Goodnight.”

With a few quick ‘Goodnights’ from his mother and father, it didn’t take long for Shuichi to enter his bedroom, shut the door and flop on his bed in exhaustion.

“That was a close one. I don’t know what would of happened if they found out.” That was a lie. He knew exactly how they’d react; Shock and horror.

Shuichi didn’t want to upset his parents. But he couldn’t help it. He wanted to be a detective. Just like his uncle. He wanted to help people find those that they’d lost and help the police capture those who are evil.

Raising his hand to fiddle with the rim of cap – the very same cap his uncle had gifted to him when Shuichi had told him that he wanted to be just like him – and made himself a promise.

“One day, I will be a detective. I’ll be the best the detective the world has ever seen!”

Smiling to himself at his rather uncharacteristic confidence, Shuichi turned his bedside lamp off and snuggled under the bed covers. Dreams of a bright future and crime-solving, lulling him into a happy slumber.

Completely unware of the gentle white light, glowing on his chest.

                                                ----------------------

As the bright rays of sunlight broke through the gaps in his curtains, signifying the start of a brand new day, it would have been the same as any other morning.

Except…

There was an egg in his bed.

There was an egg. In his bed.

Shuichi stared at it, utterly unable to think of a logical reason as to why there was an EGG resting in the very bed he’d been sleeping in just last night. This had to be a dream, right? After all, there’s no he could of—I mean there’s no way he could have—

Shuichi shook his head. Nope. Don’t even think about that. Focus on the… egg.

The aforementioned egg was far different than any egg Shuichi had ever seen. It’s shell was a deep blue with white thin stripes running down it. Across the middle of the egg, was a black band – that in its centre – held the image of a magnifying glass.

Shuichi couldn’t help but be fascinated by the egg’s design. So much so, that he raised a shaking hand and tentatively touched the decorated shell. As soon as his skin made contact with the hard shell, Shuichi gasped.

It was warm.

The egg was warm.

‘I-Is… Is something actually alive in there?’ Shuichi pondered in wonder.

Throwing caution to the wind, Shuichi gently cupped the egg in his hands and brought it closer. It really was warm. Maybe—Maybe there really was something growing inside-

“SHUICHI! You need to get up sweetheart; otherwise you’re going to be late for school!”

“A-Ah! I’m on my way!” He shouted back, scrambling around to for his school stuff and stuffing them in his backpack before pulling on his school uniform. The boy’s school uniform for Hope’s Peak Elementary division was a fairly simple one; a plain white, short-sleeved shirt with the school’s logo embroiled on the breast pocket. This was accompanied with a small black tie and a black blazer that also had the school’s crest on the front blazer pocket. The trousers he wore had a checkered black and white pattern on them, whereas the socks and shoes were once again, a plain black colour.

Grabbing his backpack, Shuichi started to head towards the door when his eyes drifted over to the unusual egg sitting on his desk. If there really was some form of life growing in that fragile shell – that might be born at any moment – he couldn’t very much leave it here. Could he?

                                                     ------------------

‘I can’t believe I brought it with me!’ Shuichi thought as he walked down through the gate into Hope’s Peak Elementary Division. He looked around at the other students walking by briefly, before opening the top of his backpack and smiling. There, resting on a soft fluffy yellow towel was his strangely patterned blue egg. ‘Good. It’s still ok. I need to be careful that I don’t crush it.’

“How are you doing little guy?” Shuichi murmured under his breath, knowing he wouldn’t get an answer. But, almost as if the egg had heard him somehow, it started to shake all on its own.

Shocked, Shuichi continued to stare at the moving object. Completely unaware that he was about to bump into someone, until it was too late. Shuichi immediately held his backpack to his chest to make sure the egg didn’t receive any of the brunt from the fall. Though, it didn’t make the fall any less painful.

“Ow…”

“Oh gosh! I’m so sorry! Are you okay?”

“Wooooow! That was quite some landing there, but it could use some work. Hmm… I think I’ll give it a 6 out of 10.”

After opening his eyes – he hadn’t even realised he’d shut – Shuichi looked up and felt his breath catch in his throat. Of all the people he had to bump into it had to be Kaede Akamatsu and Kokichi Ouma, two of the most popular people in his class.

Honestly, you’d have to be living under a rock to not know about those two. Kaede was the beautiful, social butterfly that could motivate anyone with her positive attitude, whereas Kokichi was an infamous liar and masterful prankster – Though he wouldn’t spare you the time of day unless you interested him, which so far was Kaede and Kaede alone.  Even a social introvert such as himself knew who they were. But that wasn’t the only thing that made his heart stop for but a moment. Floating by each of their heads were two tiny fairy-like creatures! And they were staring at him!

How was no one else seeing this?!

“Talk about clumsy! This guy is a grade A klutz! Hahaha!”

“Don’t laugh at him Dice! The boy could be really hurt.”

And they could talk too!

Had he hit his head when he fell over?!

Suddenly, Shuichi felt his backpack start shaking violently and noticed that his egg was trying to wriggle its way out of one of the gaps on the side. Oh no! Not good!

“Hey, do you need a hand there?” Shuichi snapped his head up to see Kaede offering her hand in help with a sweet smile on her face. As much as he would have loved to take her hand, he had to find somewhere private to check on the suddenly active egg.

He stood up quickly and waved off her hand as all too familiar nerves began to rack his body, “N-No it’s okay. I’m fine. S-Sorry for bumping into you! Um… bye!”

Not even waiting for a response, Shuichi pulled the brim of his cap down further to hide his embarrassment and then dashed off past the other students, until he found himself in the Glass Garden at the back of the school.

‘T-That was just too embarrassing…’ Shuichi groan in his mind, as he let himself slide down the brick school wall. ‘I don’t even want to think about the weird rumours that will spread after that. As if they weren’t bad enough already…’

Shuichi let the backpack roll out of his arms onto the ground and pulled his knees up to his chest, his mind sinking further and further into a pit of negativity.

“Some future detective. I could barely hold eye contact with them, let alone a conversation. Why do I have to be so nervous all the time?”

“If that’s all that’s wrong, we can fix that easily!”

Alarmed, Shuichi pressed his back further against the wall and wildly looked around to see where that new voice had come from. “W-Who said that?! Where are you?”

“Geez! I’m down here junior!”

Darting his gaze to his backpack that he’d left on the ground, Shuichi watched in awe as the mysterious egg wiggled out of its hiding place and flew up into the air, before gently floating down until it was eye level with him. But that wasn’t all. The egg was still for but a moment as a bright light enveloped it and a loud cracking sound resonated in Shuichi’s ears.

As the light died down, in place of the egg was another one of those tiny fairy people from before. This one had long black hair and large, golden eyes. Despite this, the fairy seemed to be a male with its sharp features and piercing gaze. It also appeared that the tiny person was dressed like one of those ‘private eye’ investigators Shuichi saw on TV. He wore a light brown trench coat over a cheap brown suit. On his head was a brown flat cap and he held – what Shuichi could only deduce was – a tiny magnifying glass in his right hand and a small wooden pipe in his mouth that seemed to be producing bubbles with every puff he took.

Overall, this little guy looked like a tiny detective.

Shuichi couldn’t believe his eyes.

The tiny fairy man shot him a smirk and placed both his hands on his hips, “Nice to meet ya kid! My name is Kojak, famous detective of the bureau and your Guardian Character – or Chara for short!”

“W-What…?” Shuichi couldn’t think, heck he could barely breathe. That strange egg he’d found in his bed just this morning had now hatched into some kind of miniature crime show detective. It was all… Too much.

“Woah! Don’t freak out on me just yet, Shuichi!” Kojak tutted, taking another deep puff of his pipe causing more bubbles to form. “I need you to calm down so I can explain it all to ya”

“H-How do you know my name?” Shuichi gasped, forcing himself to take deep breathes in and out.

Kojak smiled, “That’s because I’m a part of you, kid. I was born from your heart! Cool, huh?”

B-Born from his heart? That’s impossible. That doesn’t make any sense.

“I-I don’t understand. What do you mean you were born from my ‘heart’?” Shuichi asked.

Heaving a sigh, Kojak crossed his arms and fixed Shuichi with a sharp stare. “Okay, listen up pal. ‘Cause I’m only going to explain this once. You have a dream, don’t cha? To become the greatest detective ever? That’s all stored in the Heart’s Egg, something all children hold in their hearts. Well, your feelings of hope and passion for your dream were so strong… They gave birth to me! And I’m going to help you make your dreams come true!”

Shuichi grasped his head, trying to make sense of all this new, bizarre information. He felt like his head was going to explode. “So… Because of my dream to be a detective, you were born as my Guardian Chara?”

Kojak snapped his fingers. “That’s it in a nutshell kid!”

Shuichi chuckled. Kojak certainly knew some strange phrases. Still, Shuichi couldn’t help but feel a bit excited. This special creature was born from his dream? His hope? That was enough to bring a wide smile to his face. Unfortunately that smile quickly morphed into a scream at the sudden arrival of two very familiar people.

“See! See! I told you Kaede! I told you I saw a Guardian Egg on him!” Kokichi cheered, pointing at Kojak with a rather surprising, genuine look of excitement on his face. In turn, Kaede seemed mildly surprised as she looked between Shuichi and his Guardian Chara.

Shuichi stared at them both, wide-eyed. “W-Wait! You can see him?”

“Nishishi! Of course we can! I have the power of the all seeing eye!” Kokichi laughed, scaring Shuichi who suddenly realised that Kokichi was now sitting right next to him. When the heck did he get there?!

“Kokichi…” Kaede sighed and decided to sit on Shuichi’s other side. Once comfortable, she offered Shuichi a friendly smile, “Sorry about that, Shuichi. You see, we are just like you. Are dreams gave birth to our own Guardian Charas.”

Shuichi blinked. They had Guardian Charas too? That’s when it hit him. The tiny fairies he’d seen earlier, hovering by their heads. That had been their Charas!

Kokichi pulled on Shuichi’s sleeve to get his attention and grinned as his Guardian Chara hopped onto his shoulder, “Shuichi! Shuichi! You should meet my Guardian Chara! His name is Dice!”

Said Chara, jumped down onto Kokichi’s knee with a childish giggle of glee. This little Chara was very different from Kojak. He had large violet eyes that were filled with mischief, along with a thick mane of messy hair and a fringe where each lock was a different, vibrant colour of the rainbow. His clothing was fairly childish too, comprising of a black and white checkered hoodie, and red and yellow coloured shorts. Tied to the side of his head was a theatre mask split between a happy and sad expression. A rather fascinating feature about this Chara were the tiny black devil horns and tail, attached to his head and backside.

“Hey, hey! The name is Dice, and you better think twice before you mess with me!”

Shuichi chuckled nervously and gave the little Chara a small wave in greeting. He then felt a light tap on his shoulder, causing him to turn his head and come face-to-face with another new Chara that could only be Kaede’s.

This Guardian Chara was definitely a girl. She had delicate feminine features; soft skin, rounded cheeks and warm, friendly emerald green eyes. She had long, silky pale pink hair that rest over her shoulder in a loose plait, tied off with a silver music note. Her clothing was simple but still quite pretty. She wore a single long, flowing dress with a fascinating colour scheme that starts a creamy white at the top and gently fades to a delicate purple the further down you go. The bottom of the dress was decorated with a black music score that seemed to flutter and flow with each swish of the dress. Across the rest of the dress were small, silver music notes that appeared to dance over the fabric. For footwear, she had purple ballet shoes and to top her outfit off she had a silver conductor’s baton charm attached to a necklace that hung around her neck.

“Hello there Shuichi, my name is Viola. It is a pleasure to meet you.” Viola did an elegant curtsy in greeting and then gently held her hands in front of her.

“It’s nice to meet you too.” Shuichi nodded in return, feeling a need to match her polite tone.

At this moment Kojak chose to fly over and sit on Shuichi’s shoulder, happily blowing bubbles as Dice tried to pop them. The whole situation created a soothing atmosphere. Each of them enjoying a good laugh as Dice leapt for a big bubble and ended up ultimately missing his target and falling into the grass.

“Say Shuichi, you should come and hang with us more often” Kaede said with a smile.

“E-Eh?”

Kokichi nodded his head rapidly in agreement, “Yeah! Yeah! Shuichi is always so quiet in class, so we all kind of pinned you as a lonely loser. But now it turns out that Shuichi was hiding this exciting side of himself all this time! That’s totally not boring!”

‘Lonely loser?’ Shuichi cringed at the apparent nickname his class had given him. He couldn’t exactly deny it, but still. “A-Are you guys sure about this? Are you sure I won’t be a nuisance?”  

Kaede frowned and shook her head, “Of course not! There are very few people in this world that still dare to dream about their future and try to strive for it no matter what. As people grow up, most people lose their Heart’s Egg and succumb to the mundane despair of those who have given up.”

She reached for his hand, gently grasping it in her own, “The world needs dreamers like us, to fight for those dreams and help kids like us not lose sight of those feelings of hope in their hearts.”

Shuichi didn’t know what to say. As he opened his mouth, Kokichi grabbed Shuichi’s other hand, “Shuichi should fight with us! It’ll be lots and lots of fun!”

Both of them were staring at him with pleading eyes. He’d never had someone look at him like that before. It made him feel… wanted. Needed. And dare he say, happy.

Shuichi made his body relax and then smiled, and gave his classmates a small smile, “O-Ok!”

Kokichi cheered and Kaede clapped her hands in delight, both of them quick to envelop him in a big hug.

Shuichi didn’t know what this would lead to. But what he did know is that a future with these two seemed a lot brighter than one on his own.

He will learn to be confident, and he feels like these two will show him the way.