#I should study some Japanese lol this ask reminded me

[adhd-languages]

how to keep motivation when language learning? i always lose interest a couple weeks after picking up a new language and i feel that starting to happen with my current one too

I try and find low-key ways to keep up the language until I’m feeling more motivated, and also try to incorporate my interests into the language learning.

For example, I’ve not been very motivated with Japanese recently. But I listen to a Japanese podcast to fall asleep, and I’ve been really into Sky : Children of the Light, so I’ve been looking for videos in Japanese about the game. I’ve also been playing stardew valley in Japanese.

I’ve kind of just accepted my interest in actively studying will ebb and flow, and it’s fine if I just learn a bit slower (taking breaks and then coming back to it).

I also find following lots of langblrs or studyblrs can help. Its a pretty supportive community and seeing other peoples excitement makes me more motivated.

Sorry if the answer isn’t super helpful 🙏 it’s super difficult to keep motivated studying for me as well.

[dearlyjun]

— CHERRY BLOSSOMS & 7/11 ☆ CSB

summary: soobin is on a break from tour, so you both escape to japan for a few days.

pairing: idol!soobin x gn!reader

genre: fluff

word count: 1.6k

warnings: ehhh none. they are just tooth numbingly sweet.

authors note: can you tell that I’m reeeeeally pushing the soobin sweetheart boyfriend agenda lol. this was kind of inspired by his japan vlog, and I added my own twist with some of my own knowledge of Japan. this reminded me that my Japanese isn’t going to study itself, and soobin if you see this and think you’re slacking, I’m probably slacking harder.

quick links: masterlist | taglist | send a request

–

“I think I’m going to do some things on my iPad. Maybe draw.” You spoke, reaching for your bag that you set onto the floor.

“I might read.” Soobin answered. “I bought a new book a few days ago to read on this flight.”

Soobin was on a break from tour right now, and you both decided it was a perfect time to take a trip to Japan for a few days for some alone time.

The flight wasn’t very long; only two and a half hours. It was roughly an hour in, both you and Soobin keeping yourselves occupied. you were listening to music and doodling on your iPad while soobin was reading his book.

You drew a cute little doodle of Soobin’s hedgehog, Odi as well as a bunny with a carrot. Smiling to yourself at how cute it was, you turned to show Soobin, but realized that he was fast asleep.

His arms were crossed in his lap and his head tilted to the side. You always thought it was cute how his nose sometimes whistled when he was asleep.

“Soob.” You quietly spoke, picking up his book and bookmarking the spot he left off on.

He hummed without opening his eyes, and shifted in the seat.

“You almost lost your spot in your book.” That made him open his eyes, and pick it up.

“I got so tired all of a sudden.” Soobin laughed at himself. “I didn’t sleep good last night. I was too excited.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever slept on a plane.” You answered. “It’s hard for me to get comfortable.”

Soobin tousled his blonde hair, fixing his glasses on the bridge of his nose. He leaned over to look at your iPad. “What are you drawing?”

“Just random things. Look I was going to show you this, but you were asleep.” You pointed to the doodles of Odi and the little bunny.

Soobin’s smile was so big. “Aw, you drew my Odi! I miss him.”

He swiped through your other drawings. One of a plant, two cats, but then he stopped on one that was a cartoonish drawing of a boy with blonde hair.

“Is that supposed to be me?” Soobin questioned.

“Yes.” You responded, smirking. “You weren’t supposed to see that one.”

Soobin was smiling. “No no no it’s cute. You’re cute.” He kissed your temple, making you giggle.

It wasn’t long after that, the plane arrived, and you both got off, and found your bags.

“Should we get a taxi or take the train?” Soobin asked you as you walked away from baggage claim.

“A taxi will be too expensive from the airport. we can just buy train tickets.” You answered, making him nod; his blonde hair bouncing as he did so.

“Plus, it will give you a chance to practice your Japanese.”

A blush formed on Soobin’s cheeks. “Hey, don’t do that to me. That makes me so nervous.”

“Soobin, you are a lot better at Japanese than you claim you are. I’ve seen your notebook.” You we’re right, Soobin was pretty good at learning Japanese. He always carried his flash cards with him, and you helped him study any chance you got.

You both bought your train tickets, and within an hour or so, you finally arrived at your hotel room.

The second you both walked into the room, you immediately took off your shoes and coats, and relaxed onto the bed.

You moved closer to Soobin, nuzzling into him; making him giggle. “Are you tired?”

You nodded, and Soobins hands smoothed over your hair. “We can take a nap if you want. We’ll just have a chill night tonight while we plan the next couple of days.”

“Okay.” You answered, your eyes already closed as Soobin pulled you closer to him. At this point he was becoming your human body pillow. Soobin always smelled so good; like a mix of vanilla and fresh laundry. Pretty soon you were both fast asleep.

Within about two hours later, you both woke back up. You took a shower while Soobin watched an anime on the television, and then once you were finished; Soobin took a shower. Soobin took longer showers, so by the time he was out, your hair was already blowdried and you were in your hotel robe sitting on the bed doing your make up.

“You don’t need makeup.” Soobin spoke cutely to you. You looked up at him, he was wearing nothing but a pair of grey sweatpants while drying off his damp hair with a crisp white towel. “You always look nice.”

“Soob, you don’t have to say that. I just like to wear some of it.” He sat near you on the bed, picking up some of your products and examining them.

“This is cute.” He had a peachy toned eyeshadow palette in his hand.

“I’ll wear it.” You smiled at him watching you. “I’m almost done, then I just have to get dressed.”

Soobin was still looking at your makeup products, then looked at his phone for the time. “It’s like 7pm. If you want we could just walk around and go to the convenience store.”

“Yeah, that’s fine.” You answered, putting your makeup away.

“There’s a 7-11 like ten minutes away that we can walk to.”

You stood up from the bed to get dressed. “I’m gonna change. What are you wearing?”

Soobin looked up from his phone at you. “Im just going to wear these.” He rubbed his sweat-pant clad thighs. “And like a hoodie or something. Don’t forget about a coat, it’s cold outside.”

You smiled at him before going through your suitcase to find clothes. “Soobin, I know.”

You threw on a simple outfit of some jeans and a sweatshirt.

You both were standing in front of the mirror, and you spritzed some perfume on.

“We look cute.” Soobin spoke, looking at you through the mirror.

You smiled. “I know, I want to kiss you all over.”You turned to face him, standing on your toes to kiss him. “You ready to go?”

Soobin nodded, his fluffy hair bouncing. “Let me get my scarf and my bag.”

Soobin grabbed his bag before wrapping his scarf around his neck, then both of you headed out of the hotel and onto the street.

“The 7-11 is this way.” Soobin spoke, grabbing your hand and starting to walk in that direction. You had to admit that Soobin looked so cute all bundled up in the cold.

“The streets look so cool.” You spoke out loud to yourself, looking around.

“I know. It has a Japan vibe.” Soobin answered.

“Soobin, that’s where we are!” You laughed, making him smile.

“Oh, you know what I mean.” He couldn’t help but laugh at himself too.

You eventually came to an intersection, and stopped for the okay to cross the street.

You were standing next to Soobin, still holding his hand, and felt a chill.

“I’m kind of cold.” You said quietly.

Soobin looked down at you. “Your coats not even zipped all of the way!” He let go of your hand, zipping your coat up. “No wonder you’re cold.”

You eventually crossed the street, and entered the 7-11 shortly after. Soobin opened the door for you and let you walk in ahead of him.

“Do you want ramen?” Soobin asked you.

“Ooh yes please.” You answered, making him smile. “I want natto too.”

You found the ramen section, picking out flavors that you think you’d enjoy.

Both of you strayed off on your own for a little bit, but eventually Soobin found you with some things in your hands.

“Did you find anything good?” He held out his hand basket to you to put your things in.

“Yes!” The excitement was prevalent in your voice. “cheddar aerial chips, natto, and some hand rolls.” You placed each item in the basket as you named it.

“Those chips sound good.” Soobin added.

“Oh my gosh I could eat the whole bag. Which I’ve definitely done before. I can’t ever find them at home.” You noticed he had picked out a few things. “What do you have?”

“I know you like the pocari sweat in the can.” He pointed to it in his basket. “and I found apple hi chews.” He had about eight sticks of them.

You laughed. “Soob, I know that’s your favorite flavor but I hope you left some for somebody else.”

He laughed, smiling. “Hey, I did.”

You guys soon checked out your items, and went to sit down in front of the window to enjoy your snacks.

“I kind of panicked when she asked if I wanted a bag or not” Soobin said as he sat down next to you.

“But you did great.” You opened up your hand roll, wrapping the nori seaweed around it. “Want a bite?”

Soobin nodded, leaning in to take a bite.

“It’s good.” He grabbed the two bowls of ramen. “I’ll go put hot water in these.”

He came back, setting both bowls down for the noodles to soften. You opened your can of pocari sweat, taking a sip.

“It’s just superior in the can.” You commented, making Soobin laugh.

“So what do you want to do tomorrow?” You asked Soobin, opening up your styrofoam container of natto.

“I want to find a bookstore hopefully, and maybe we can go to the countryside. like maybe shirakawa.” Soobin answered.

“Yeah we can do that. I wanted to see the cherry blossoms. I think they should have bloomed in some places. I know it’s kind of touristy and it will probably be so busy, but we can take some cute pictures.”

Soobin peeled the lid off of his ramen. “Yeah, probably, but we can figure it out.”

“Yeah, I’m so excited for these next few days.”

–

tags: @dearlyjoonie @mhasimp666

[alwaysabeautifullife]

How did you learn so many languages. Do you have any tips?

Yes!!!! Yes I do!!!

Everything I wish I could tell myself before starting my language “journey” lol:

🦩Dont be intimidated

Don’t be intimidated, specifically by doing listening or speaking practice. I know in the US (or for most English speakers), when we hear someone that speaks perfect English but merely has an accent we think “they don’t speak English”, but from experience this mentality is not shared with other languages. When you know even a little bit of a language or can’t speak it very well, natives speakers are really really encouraging. I think since we view not being 100% fluent without so much as an accent, as “not knowing any of a language” we are hard on ourselves and give up pretty easily.

🦩Listening practice is as important as studying vocabulary and grammar

When you listen to native speakers talk, you are training your ear even though you don’t understand it. Listen and listen, eventually your brain stops picking out English words that aren’t even there, but rather, starts to catch patterns in the language (for example, the same words sticks out to you over and over).

🦩Set realistic and doable goals or you’ll get discouraged and quit

If you are a busy person, make small goals to fit language study in. Don’t tell yourself that you need to master _____ within a week. Instead give yourself 15 mins of reading in the evening, and 25 mins of language listening in the morning. It’s also easier to add the language into stuff you do on a daily basis anyway. For example if you are religious, find your prayers you pray daily in the language you are learning.

🦩learn to read the language first (obviously this tip might not be applicable for character based languages like Chinese)

I know everyone says “immersion is the best and most important part of language” but honestly, a lot of our native speaking knowledge comes from our literacy education. When we are taught how to read, it’s through reading we can discover new words through context. It’s also easy to pick up new language reading since it’s available anywhere, where immersion is only available when you are surrounded by native speakers. The first thing I do is learn how to read and write the language, then the entire language becomes accessible to me.

🦩Spend time perfecting the sounds of the language that are most difficult for you

The vocal sounds of a language is the foundation of a language. I know we are all impatient and want to simply learn as many phrases as possible as fast as possible, but if you get down the unfamiliar sounds of a language that don’t exist in English, you’ll have a better foundation of the language and your speaking and listening will be better from the very beginning. So take the time to practice those weird sounds by looking into the position of the tongue and where the sound comes from, from the chest to the lips. Look into how tense the mouth is, how much air comes from the lips, what the sound is like next to other sounds. When you master this speaking becomes more instinctual and it’s easier to pick up the language.

🦩Search YouTube, google, Instagram IN THE LANGUAGE YOU ARE STUDYING.

Don’t search “korean music” or “korean kids tv” or even “korean vegetables” in google. Just translate how to say them in a translator app, then copy and paste them into the search bar. This way native korean information, videos, posts will come up. For example, if you’re in the mood for some horror comics, and want to read/watch them in the language you are learning, go to the translator app, and figure out how to say them, then search it. It works way better, even if the translation isn’t correct or more natural, you’ll still get the information, posts, and videos you want to see.

🦩Find ways to practice speaking the language (I use HiNative) and don’t be discouraged by corrections.

Getting corrected does not mean you’re wrong, corrections are the most useful part of learning a language. If you are the type of person who is sensitive to criticism, you need to remind yourself corrections are NOT criticism. They are NOT a reflection of your progress, they are NOT you failing! You will always be corrected as a language learner and the sooner you are gentle with yourself in learning the sooner you will learn more. Get those first corrections out of the way, allow yourself to butcher pronunciation, get corrected for the first 10 times, let it sting a little and move on. Eventually you will be begging native speakers to tell you every little detail in where you went wrong!

🦩Tv and Books seems to be more useful for immersion and listening practice then music does

So far in my experience music is its very weird and abstract, and the things said in music aren’t really useful in speaking? It’s good for gathering vocab, but if you want music listening practice that’s music based try searching for rap in that language, although obviously you’ll be picking up a lot of informal language in music/rap. Tv shows however are typically how people really do talk, so turn off English subs and just listen! Books are really useful for learning new vocabulary, but sometimes written language is different than spoken (often), although when you speak it the way you’ve learned from a book the worst you’ll sound is “formal and poetic”.

🦩Look up “insert language you are learning phrases and words that aren’t useful or correct”

There so many programs and books that teach you phrases you’ll never use or that are only appropriate in very specific situations. I don’t know why language programs do this, but learning which ones are weird or only in specific settings before you start learning really helps. Chinese Especially does this...like I learned so many phrases and words that natives will never use and have no purpose???

🦩Know the different subjects of learning a language and which apps to use for that

Everyone uses Duolingo, but this app alone won’t make you speak a language. Duolingo and Memrise are great for memorizing vocab, but, is it vocab that in the context of your reading and listening practice? Are you learning words you are hearing and reading all the time? Duolingo is a lot of fun but I feel like the vocab is so broad and it doesn’t go deep enough into the language. Feel free to use it at first to get used to the sounds of the language, but try using flash card apps like quizlet or Anki instead where you can write down and study words you are hearing constantly. Memrise does have actually study sets for many language books and lessons! So you can study words you are hearing in specific programs and books which is pretty useful in regards to vocab.

There obviously is more than just learning vocab. What about grammar, listening practice, speaking practice and reading? If you are wanting to use primarily apps find out which apps are available for your language. Here is an example of the apps I use for each subject. Be aware some languages are not available on them.

Vocab: quizlet, anki

Grammar: books (printed or kindle), YouTube grammar lessons, websites

Reading: books (printed or kindle), beelinguapp, instagram (posts that have text), Netflix/YouTube with both subtitles in the language you are learning and spoken in language you are learning, epic app

Writing: just use paper and pencil/pen

Listening: audio books (beelinguapp/epic/kindle/YouTube), tv and movies (Netflix/YouTube etc with no English subs), conversations on YouTube (search in language you are studying, don’t search “Spanish conversations” or “Japanese conversations”)

Speaking: HiNative (pretty much all I use since it’s all languages, quick, and you get immediately answered and corrected by native speakers), get friends in language you are learning through lots of apps

Translator: it’s really hard to find a good one, most of them are really weird so only use them for words and the most basic or simple phrases and sentences, otherwise use HiNative to ask native speakers directly, or ask people on the apps that connect you to native speakers

🌱I should note that for talking to native speakers I only like HiNative, since it’s built to NOT be a form of social networking at all. It’s not personal in anyway, and there’s no way to private message or speak to other users outside a asking questions publicly. The people on there are only about learning or teaching a language, not usually making friends. I’ve found the sites that are built to make native speaking friends aren’t useful to me personally, as most of the native speakers are either dudes looking for a woman to date or people wanting to only practice English with you, so they wasted a lot of my study time. People who are willing to help you learn are there, but it takes time to filter everything else out. If you would find it helpful to make friends by all means use them but I don’t really use it myself.🌱

You don’t want to really study EVERY SUBJECT every single day (unless you have the time). It can get really overwhelming, and you don’t really absorb information that if you are just cramming. While I would say it’s good to read and listen daily, spread subjects out over the week. Grammar on Monday and Friday, vocab on Tuesday and Thursday. Take one day to review all of what you’ve learned all week. Pick a day you have the largest block of free time. Bi-weekly works fine too.

I have an old post on how I organize my study time for multiple languages: https://alwaysabeautifullife.tumblr.com/post/182817883372/what-do-you-use-to-learn-your-languages-im

🦩Write sentences daily of everything you’ve learned (no THIS I RECOMMEND DAILY)

Write as many as you can. Use all the grammar you’ve learned, the words you’ve learned, everything! Write them in your notes and submit them to be corrected in HiNative. The sentences they correct, put them in flash cards!

🦩It’s ok to abandon languages you aren’t passionate in

So you’ve learned to read the language, and you know basic phrases, and now you just don’t want to do it anymore. If you can’t think of any reason to maintain it and don’t know why you are studying it, learning some of the language is good! Fluency does NOT need to be everyone’s goal. You can hold a conversation, and that’s good enough for you. Feel free to try out various languages, there will be one or some that really are your passion, it’s fine to have the goal of fluency in those and conversational in others.

Don’t abandon languages however because you feel discouraged. Discouragement is just a bump to get over, when you train your brain to maintain study habits through the days you feel discouraged, you make it habitual. Habits are harder to break and abandon! Evaluate your reasonings for wanting to speak a language, and your reasons for abandoning them if you want. Don’t let difficulty, disorganized, discouragement, or poor time management get in your way!!

🦩With all that said it’s ok to take breaks

It’s ok to get overwhelmed and take breaks from language learning. If you can still maintain what you’ve learned by listening to music in your language or staying connected in some way that’s good, but the “you’ll loose a language” isn’t entirely true. I’ve taken year long breaks and refreshing what I learned previously is pretty easy! Your brain really does go “oh yeah I do remember this!” when you’re studying information you studied years ago.

🦩Be gentle with yourself

Be gentle with yourself. People that claim to be fluent in 6 months are selling something or want to be an influencer. Don’t compare yourself to them. Language learning even for natives is a lifetime education. It’s not something you do for 6 months then stop. It’s continual and that looks different for everyone (yes native speakers included). Don’t bother watching YouTube videos on how to learn in 10 mins or 3 months, you’ll only get discouraged about your own amazing progress and all the work you’ve done.

🦩Plan your “can you say something in it” phrase now

This one is just for fun but after hearing you are learning a language the first thing you’ll get asked is “oh cool you speak (insert target language here)? Can you say something in (insert target language here)?” It does not matter what level of fluency you are at, you will absolutely forget the entire language and your own native language when you are asked this because it sends your brain to another dimension. So think of some funny phrases to say to people who ask, master them, then when they ask what they mean you can have a laugh. Other wise you will say something stupid of jumbled words (my go to was ‘we women are fruit’ for some reason thanks brain you’re incredible) you’ve learned that don’t belong in a sentence, or even worse you’ll run a blank and you’ll just look at them like:

🍳👄🍳

So think of inside jokes to tell your friends, funny phrases, even goofy insults! Memorize them and tell them at your friends and family to torture them because they can’t escape sound waves! It’s a good way to memorize the language but also to become confortable speaking it!

Please excuse any errors I don’t wanna go over my mistakes so pretend u can’t see them 🙈

[ideks-on-mars]

Half-Brothers?

The Taichi-Naoyasu Situation

Taichi and Naoyasu are half-brothers and here's how lol

Taichi's mother and father had both met in their birth country of Germany. However, his grandparents on his mother's side hadn't approved of his father. The two had then decided to study a good amount of Japanese before saving up for plane tickets and running off to Japan. They changed their last names and had a completely fresh start. The two were madly in love, or at least that's what Taichi's mother thought. She had figured out she was pregnant, with who we know as Taichi, and she was ecstatic. She quickly told Taichi's father and his reaction was the exact opposite of what she expected. The man was furious and didn't want anything to do with the woman or baby. After hours of begging and yelling the man had left the German woman to fend for herself and her unborn baby. She picked up a few different jobs at small stores, extra shifts and she would make good friends that were more than happy to help her, two of those friends being the Shirabu's who also had a baby on the way. Her life in Japan was getting better. And on April 15, 1995, her baby Taichi, was born. She had changed her name after the "Love of her life" had left. Her last name was Kawanishi. And now, all she had was her, her friends, and her beloved baby.

Meanwhile, almost exactly 4 months before Taichi was born. A small, fragile, pale woman, had been another victim of the man. She had found out she was pregnant by him during January 1996. The woman was, just like the last, left soon after. The woman was young and hadn't even been in Japan for too long. She had came to Japan from her home country of Finland due to that fact that it had always been a dream of hers to move in with her grandmother, who moved to Japan when she was two. She was intelligent though, and knew languages like Finnish, Slovak, German, and Japanese. She could also keep up a normal conversation in English and Danish. She was confident in her ability to take care of a baby and she studied extra hard, wanting to be able to get a decent job for her and her baby.

After graduating from college, she was now about seven months pregnant. She lived with her grandma and she was working as a translator for people visiting Japan. She had, who we know as, Naoyasu Kuguri, not long after. However, the older he had gotten, his mother had taught him more Finnish, Slovak, and German than Japanese. He knew some Japanese, of course, they lived in Japan. However his mother thought that all he needed was her and the only person he should feel the absolute need to talk to was her.

TIME SKIP

Multiple years later and Taichi is now seventeen with Naoyasu being sixteen. STZ was having a practice match against Nohebi and they were having a small break between the first and second set.

"Kawanishi-Kun~...doesn't number twelve over there remind you of yourself~ hehe~"

Kawanishi turned to the place his upperclassmen, Tendō Satori, was pointing towards, curious as to what he was talking about.

Taichi scanned the other team until his eyes landed on number twelve. The boy had a lean, yet muscular build, his height similar to Semi's. He had a bored expression on his face and a water bottle in hand. His eyes were pointed at the end, very similar to Taichi's. The only difference was that number twelve's eyes rounded into the point. Taichi's were more of a obtuse angle that lead to the point. Their eyelids were both very pointy. His eyebrows were thicker than Taichi's and his pupils were a lot bigger and more circle shaped, compared to Taichi's oval shaped pupils. Taichi's eyes were silver gray, number twelve's eyes seemed to be green with a hint of grey. Taichi's hair was a darker ginger, thick, and messy. Yet number twelve's hair was...interesting. His hair was a blonde mixed with brunette, leaving him with a very light brown bedhead. However his eyebrows were darker.

"He does look...kind of like me..."

"Kind of", was a bit of an understatement, Taichi could go around telling his team that they were related and they'd most likely believe it, except for Kenjirō of course, who knew the whole situation with Taichi's family.

"You should talk to him! You two seem equally as uninterested."

Some of his teammates laughed at Yamagata's joke but Taichi, for once in his life, actually considered going up to the boy and talking to him.

As if God himself had granted him an opportunity, Nohebi's captain walked up to the team, his hand placed on the back of the stoic winged spiker.

"Hey, sorry if I'm interrupting anything, but would any of you mind helping Kuguri-Kun here find the restroom?"

The captain, who they knew was called Daishō, patted the boy's, now known as Kuguri, back twice. Kuguri didn't react though, he stood there beside his captain quietly, slouched and staring at the ground blankly, his hands stuffed into his volleyball jacket pockets. Before anyone could speak, Tendō, not surprisingly, did.

"Oh! Well our dear Kawanishi-Kun would love to escort Kuguri-Kun! Right Kiwi?"

Kawanishi looked at Tendō with an expression that said "are you serious?" but Taichi wasn't one to go against an upperclassmen's wishes, especially Tendō's. Taichi sighed.

"Yes, Tendō-San."

Daishō smiled a snake-like smile, however Taichi didn't think he could help it, and walked away leaving his teammate with the monsters known as Shiratorizawa. Taichi could tell he was uncomfortable so he quickly walked past him towards the exit.

"C'mon, Kuguri-Kun."

He said, his German accent slipping a little. He glanced behind him and saw that Kuguri was sauntering behind him. Taichi stopped, waiting for the slightly shorter male to catch up with him and began to walk at the other's pace.

Taichi got to the door first and held it open for the brunette. He glanced up at Taichi and nodded. However Taichi could've swore he saw the other's eyes widen for point two seconds before he looked back down and walked through the door way. Taichi, even though it was barely audible, heard Kuguri speak.

"Thank you, Kawanishi-San."

The thick, obviously European, accent was clear in his words. Taichi could tell that it was slightly German, but it just had to be another Northern European accent. Taichi quickly shook it off and nodded. They silently headed down the hall, the occasional Shiratorizawa student walking past them. Suddenly, and surprisingly, Kuguri spoke.

"So...where are you from?"

Taichi was taken aback, the other's accent was thicker now. Taichi seemed confused but figured the the other thought he was from somewhere else due to his accent.

"Oh, um, I'm from Japan. It's just that my mother is German and...I knew how to speak German before Japanese."

Kuguri nodded.

"Oh. I was just asking. I spoke Finnish, Slovak and German before I spoke Japanese. I'm still not as good as I should be at it."

Taichi understood. Japanese was no joke, and neither was Finnish, Slovak, and German.

"Well, if speaking in German makes it easier for you, then I don't mind."

(Bold + Red = Speaking in German)

Kuguri smiled happily. It wasn't the biggest smile, more of just the sides of his lips curling upward, but still, a smile.

"Thank you...Naoyasu Kuguri."

Taichi smiled back, a similar smile to the one Naoyasu had shown him before.

"Nice to meet you...I'm Taichi Kawanishi."

The two smiled, happy that they had someone that they could relate to.

"Anyways, I didn't see you on Nohebi last year, are you new?"

"Yeah, I'm a first year..."

TIME SKIP

It was now the end of the match and Nohebi was about to get on their long trip back to Tokyo.

(I looked it up and from Miyagi to Tokyo is 4-6 hours 👀)

The two teams thanked each other for the practice game, all waving as they piled into the bus. Naoyasu was the last one to get on. He turned around and waved at Taichi one more time. Taichi waved back and watched happily as his new friend had drove off. He was glad they had exchanged numbers.

"So you really did make friends with him?"

Taichi looked over at his teammates.

"Yeah. He was pretty chill."

They nodded.

"Did you catch his name?"

"Yeah. Naoyasu Kuguri."

TIME SKIP

The two boys ended up being good friends. They didn't get to hang out as much as they wanted but it was good enough for them due to the fact that they weren't very social people anyway. Though, when they found out that they both got to go to the same training camp, they were excited. In the training camp you actually got time to lay back and chat with people from other teams, giving them the chance to hangout with each other.

The thing was, at this training camp they allowed parents and/or siblings to come. The parents would come watch their children play, help with lunch and dinner, and help with other fun drills and activities, and if they had younger children they were allowed to bring them. That's how a lot of the parents and siblings made good friends with the others. Taichi's mom, Annike, had always come, due to the fact that, 1) she loves and wants to support her son, and 2) she was great friends with most of the moms of his teammates and other teams. She would always bring Taichi's little six-year-old half sister, Takara, who enjoyed playing with the other little ones. She was the result of of Taichi's old stepfather. He was a cool guy and him and his mom were on good terms. Taichi never really gave him a chance though. However, Taichi would never deny the fact that he adored his little sister.

Once they arrived, Taichi quickly scoped out his teammates and joined them whilst his mother conversated with the other parents.

The coaches informed everyone that they would take the first day to let everyone get settled in, eat, and conversate.

Earlier into the day, Taichi heard his name being called.

"Kawanishi-San. Hello."

Taichi turned around, already having an idea of who it was.

"Hi Kuguri-Kun, how've you been?"

"Alright. You?"

"Fine, thanks."

"Naoyasu! Don't run off like that."

(Bold + Blue = Speaking in Finnish)

"Sorry ma."

Taichi looked a little behind Naoyasu and saw a short, pale woman with blonde hair that fell beautifully over her shoulders, he could've swore she was made of glass. She had on light blue jeans and a grey shirt on. Her eyes were the same color as Naoyasu's.

"Who's this?"

Taichi had no clue what she was saying, considering she was speaking in Finnish. Suddenly Naoyasu moved to the side, so that he wasn't between the two and they could meet eyes and Taichi didn't only see one half of her.

"Ma, this is Taichi Kawanishi, a friend of mine. Kawanishi-San, this is my mother."

Taichi remembered that Naoyasu only had his mother and knew that she knew and taught him German, plus Naoyase was just speaking to her in German so he responded in German.

"It's nice to meet you Kuguri-San. I'm good friends with Naoyasu-Kun."

Taichi stuck his hand out. The woman grabbed it, firmly shaking his hand.

"Nice to meet you Taichi-Kun. You can call me Aino."

"Taichi!"

Taichi looked behind him to see that his mother had come up behind him. She walked up beside him, a smile on her face, Takara beside her. Taichi's mom had curly, long, ginger hair that was pulled into a ponytail. She had on jeans and a t-shirt just like Miss Aino. She turned over to Aino and now the womans' jaws dropped.

Taichi and Naoyasu looked confused while Takara didn't seem to care all the much, only hugging her big brother's leg. Taichi patted her head, still not taking his eyes off of the two women.

"Aino?"

"Annike?"

Now the boys were beyond confused. They knew each other. Both the women nodded to each other and began to walk away. Taichi tried to call out to his mother.

"Mom-"

"Watch your sister Taichi. I'll be back soon."

Naoyasu tried too.

"Mom where are you-"

"Stay with Taichi, help watch the girl."

"Hi!"

Taichi and Naoyasu both looked at each other, shrugged, and looked down at the little girl, who was now looking up at Naoyasu.

WITH THE WOMEN

The two were behind the building now, staring at each other.

"It's been a while."

"It has."

They both were quiet for a few seconds.

"Is that...his son?"

Aino nodded.

"Yeah...it is. Naoyasu is his. I'm sure Taichi is his, correct?"

"Yeah, he is."

The two women chuckled.

"They're half-brothers."

"Yeah they are. They deserve to know."

Annike nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, I can't lie to Taichi any longer."

The two talked more. Catching up with each other and talking about their respective sons. They were nervous to tell their sons, yet excited and happy that they at least had met and are good friends.

AFTER THEY HAD SAT THE TWO BOYS DOWN

Both Taichi and Naoyasu were now sat down on the curb of the parking lot near the building where the training camp was being held. The women were leaning against the Kawanishi's car, both smoking a cigarette. Takara was being watched by some of the Shiratorizawa moms.

Annike dropped the cigarette onto the asphalt and stepped on it, putting it out.

"We have to tell you something important."

The two boys nodded.

"I don't think you both realize how much this will affect you both. This will shock you both tremendously."

The two were hesitant, but nodded. The two women looked at each other and Aino gestured for the other to go ahead and tell the two.

"You two are half-brothers."

The two brothers paused completely. That was until Taichi slapped his thigh and stood up.

"I knew we looked alike!"

He didn't say it in German, causing some other people to look at the usually quiet boy out of curiosity. Taichi bowed towards them apologetically before returning to the situation at hand.

Naoyasu was in shock. Half-brothers? He was just being told now? He assumed that they had the same dad. He wasn't stupid. He put two and two together.

Naoyasu stood up beside Taichi. The two looked at each other not exactly knowing what to do. However, Taichi, who was already a big brother, now of two, had his instincts kick in. Whenever his little sister was confused and was completely lost on what to do, he comforted her, so that's what he did to his new, well new in his life, little brother.

Taichi wrapped his arms around Naoyasu tightly. Naoyasu seemed genuinely scared at first but calmed down quickly. He hesitantly wrapped his arms around Taichi, resting his head on Taichi's shoulder.

The two women smiled gently at their sons, both extremely pleased that the two seemed happy. Taichi pulled away and patted both Naoyasu's shoulders.

"Let's go introduce you to your new little sister too."

Naoyasu looked confused.

"But...I'm not related to her."

"You're part of the family now. No escaping."

Taichi and Naoyasu both laughed and began to make their way to the little girl. The moms watched before Annike started walking too. She noticed that Aino wasn't following her and turned around.

"You too, Aino. You're part of the family too."

Aino couldn't even fight the smile creeping onto her face and dropped her cigarette, stepping on it. Annike reached her hand out and Aino grabbed it.

They both rounded the corner and smiled widely when they saw Takara walking between her two big brothers, holding both theirs hands and talking about something with a big smile on her face.

[moonlit-manifesto]

Heartbreak Red Takeover 2021

Heartbreak Red’s “Delayed April Fools” 2021! This year the Heartbreak Red twitter Q&A session happened on April 3 instead of April 1. (Probably because Tsukino Productions dropped that huge 20 minute April Fools video instead lol). Heartbreak Red answers people’s tweets that have the hashtag #失恋ポスト (#heartbreak post) and are categorized as Advice, Message, Request, and Other.

Sometimes other characters from Tsukiuta or Tsukipro make an appearance too! Reminder that Heartbreak Red is Arata’s alter ego, so he’ll never refer to himself as Arata when he’s in character as Red. Since there are so many tweets, I’ll only be translating the interesting or funny ones. Read below the cut!

[MESSAGE] Heartbreak Red-san, it’s been a while! The weather was nice today so I went to an event at the Tobu zoo!! The cherry blossoms were beautiful too, and I had fun *sparkle sparkle*. I made some great memories. Thanks so much  ( ´ ` *) 

Heartbreak Red: “Whoa, thanks! Cherry blossoms, aaaaah I want to go see them too!”

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[REQUEST] I love Arata-kun and Aoi-kun as the childhood friend pair, so can you each tell us something that you did recently?!!

Heartbreak Red: “Eh~ Well, I’m not Uduki-san so here’s Aoi-kun!”

Aoi: “My childhood friend is too busy having fun playing a superhero right now (lol). Recently, Haru-san was telling me about that kaiju film he made [for April Fool’s Day].”

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[ADVICE] I’ve been wanting to feel some springtime refreshment as a break to my daily work grind. Eichi-kun, what kinds of things remind you of spring? I’d like your advice!

Heartbreak Red: “Eichi-saaaaaaan~~!”

Eichi (from QUELL): “Hello! I like cherry blossom viewing, but since we can’t gather this year I’ve been taking a lot of walks by the riverbank where they’re in bloom ♪ “

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[ADVICE] Hello! Right now I’m holding down two jobs and it’s hard to take days off... Please give me some encouraging cheers!

Heartbreak Red: “The force that keeps the economy going is: you----!!!! You’re a force to be reckoned with----!!!! Amazing---!!! But be sure not to overwork yourself, okay?”

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[ADVICE] I’m in love with Okui Tsubasa-kun from SolidS and I have a broken heart. But Tsubasa-kun is so cool, I can’t help but be in love again. What should I do? P.S. I look forward to this day every year, Heartbreak Red.

Heartbreak Red: “Gah~! Hmph!”

Tsubasa (from SolidS): “Hey, what was that, just call for me lololol. Anyways, to the you who is beyond my reach: we may be apart, but I will always love you. I put a lot of feeling into my songs, be sure to listen to them a lot ♪ xoxo”

Heartbreak Red: “As expected from Tsukipro’s best reader of women’s hearts...!! And thank you for supporting my activities!”

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[REQUEST] Yoru-kun! Tell us what you’re making for dinner today.

Heartbreak Red: “Yorurun~! What’s on the menu tonight~!?”

Yoru: “We’re having mapo tofu!!! Sorry it’s not anything super exciting to talk about!!!”

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[REQUEST] Please call Kisaragi Koi over (｡>_<｡)♡

Heartbreak Red: “Pink.”

Koi: “What’s with the lack of enthusiasm!? Anyways - hi there!  ٩(ˊᗜˋ*)و I’m Koi-kun!! Thanks for calling for me! I hope you have a fun weekend!!”

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[MESSAGE] I really like Issei-kun and Ichiru-kun’s costumes from the Sweets Kingdom theme...!

Heartbreak Red: “Same~ It’s a double whammy of beauty and coolness.”

Issei (from QUELL): “Thank you so much!”

Ichiru (from QUELL): “I didn’t think the frills suited me, but when I heard everyone’s compliments I started to think they weren’t so bad (haha). Thanks!”

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[OTHER] That April Fools video was funny! By the way, how did Haru-san come up with the idea in the first place......?

Heartbreak Red: “The day after he slept a lot he proposed the idea for the video with a refreshed look on his face.”

Haru: “Yeah, I had slept well-!”

Kakeru: “It’s a given you'd ask about Haru-san’s peculiar sense of movie direction.”

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[MESSAGE] Whenever I’m feeling anxious or sad and I listen to Growth’s music, it always turns my mood around. I love the music that Mamoru composes and Growth puts out!!

Mamoru (from Growth): “On behalf of Growth, thank you very much! These feelings are like nourishment for the pachira of my soul!”

Heartbreak Red: “We’re looking forward to more amazing music!”

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[REQUEST] I’m not feeling confident in myself, and I’m worried about my future. I’d like to hear some words from Shun-sama so that I can live with my head held high!!

Shun: “Be proud that you were able to catch my eye with your request. Someone that is proud no matter their appearance, upbringing, or place is strong and beautiful.”

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[REQUEST] I’m worried about entering high school. I want to be encouraged by youthful SOARA!

Heartbreak Red: “Hey! SOARA!”

Sora (from SOARA): “Okay everyone, let’s go! Bursting~!!”

SOARA: “Youth!!!”

Morihito (from SOARA): “Be sure to make a lot of memories in high school!”

Heartbreak Red: “So refreshing!!”

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[ADVICE] Good evening, Red-san~ I’m a third year student at an overseas college. I study Japanese for six hours each day in addition to studying for my actual major, but I don’t think it’s a very efficient way to learn Japanese. I’d like to ask the two Six Gravity seniors if they know of a more effective study method.

Heartbreak Red: “Come on out, you two!”

Haru: “Six hours is a lot! Japanese seems like a difficult language to learn, but it makes me happy seeing you put so much passion info it♪"

Hajime: "I think you should study while having fun and use media you're interested in to help learn. Why not try watching movies with Japanese subtitles or reading manga as a study method? It will hold your interest and allow you to take a breather from regular studying."

Heartbreak Red: "Good luck with your studies!"

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[MESSAGE] Shou-san, every time I see you, your hair looks so fluffy! Do you have a shampoo recommendation?

Shou (from ROCK DOWN): "Thanks for your kind words. The shampoo I use is... whatever Haruto picked out... What was it called again...?"

Heartbreak Red: "Are all the white-haired people like this???"

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[ADVICE] I love Sakuraba Ryota-kun too much~ Help me, Heartbreak Red and Pool of Blood Red!! [Pool of Blood Red is Ryota's red alter ego] Ryota (from Growth): "I don't know anything about pools of blood, but if you're mind's made up about submitting your entire being to that deep sea I wouldn't mind."

Heartbreak Red: "So aloof, Pool of Blood R-"

Ryota: "That's not me!!!!"

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[OTHER] Good evening, Heartbreak Red-san! I've been waiting for this year's April Fool's Day! I noticed a lot of Uduki-san's visuals last year had his tongue showing, so I was wondering if this trend will continue? If Red-san were to do that too, it would be super cute~ Looking forward to supporting you in the future.

Heartbreak Red: "(´ڡ`)＜So you like me like this, do you?"

--

Heartbreak Red: "Ah, I'm not Uduki-san though."

You: "This is confusing."

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[REQUEST] Heartbreak Red-san! I want to ask what Dai-chan's favorite dessert he's had recently is!

Heartbreak Red: "Dai-chan-san!"

Dai (from SolidS): "Recently... Shiki brought back some souvenir snacks. It had cream cheese in it and since then I've been addicted to them. So those are probably my recent favorite."

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[OTHER] Roa-kun! Rei-kun! Let's have a remote flower viewing drinking party together!

Roa (from Infinit0): "Do you have any drinks on hand?"

Rei (from Infinit0): "While looking at the cherry blossoms..."

Heartbreak Red: "Cheers!"

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

[REQUEST] I'm finally a college student~! Registering for classes is so difficult, but I'll try to fit in all my credits! I'd like to hear some encouragement from people who've already survived college!

Survivor Shiki (from SolidS): "College life aged me."

Heartbreak Red: "Please say something more supportive lololol."

Shiki: "The possibilities are endless. Make sure to enjoy the experience."

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[REQUEST] Good evening, Gaku-san! What's something that made you happy recently?

Gaku (from ROCK DOWN): "I went into this random restaurant on a whim yesterday and the pasta was really good... (beams). And the cherry blossoms I saw around town were pretty. It's those little things that I enjoy~♪"

Heartbreak Red: "Now I'm hungry..."

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[MESSAGE] To Hokekyo-kun: Thanks for healing me all the time with your cuteness! I love you! - From A Hokekyo-kun Fan

Heartbreak Red: "What an amazing fan mail!!"

Hokekyo (Haru's pet bird): "Ho~~~~Hokekyo!!!" [the bird is named after the sound it makes]

Haru: "That chirp was more perky than usual♪"

Hokekyo: "Hoo~ ❤️"

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(@tsukiuta1)

[kazuharem]

“Out About on the Town” - HC [FLUFF]

Thanks so much to @in-a-world-of-my-own-invention for my first ever request! (So sorry this took so long to complete!) This was so much fun to brainstorm 💖💖

A/N: Basically these HCs each have 3 events. 1 is described in little detail, another is described in moderate detail, and the last one is described in great detail.I did try to make each guy about the same length. If I wrote all three events in great detail, I’d be writing fics lol (brace yourselves,-these are long) Also sorry if the last lines sound like karma lines RIP

Here are the boys being dragged around by MC~

≿━━━━༺❀༻━━━━≾

Gavin: "Memory Lane of the Youth”

(Ngl, this was the hardest for me to write for some reason, but I’m very satisfied with the results I think; thanks so much to @stehkotori for all the info/ideas on our favorite Birdcop ♡)

💫 The “Letters Through Time” segment that you did became a huge hit and Loveland TV want you to do a part two on favorite haunts of people from when they were young

💫 You finish your interviews and find that the favorite memories happen to be an old timey arcade in the middle of the city, an amusement park that had been open for several decades, and a cliff side park where people particularly enjoy stargazing

💫 You want to call Gavin to come with you, but hesitate, is he still on mission?

💫 Just when you make the decision to call him anyway, your phone rings. It’s Gavin and you almost hang up on him in surprise

💫 “Gavin! Are you back from your mission? You didn’t get hurt, did you?”

💫 You hear Gavin laugh and your heart just swells “I just got back,” he tells you, his voice light, “It was a pretty easy mission this time. What’s up?”

💫 You tell Gavin about the show you’re shooting for “Do you have any free time? I’d like to ask you on a date for you to come with me. You were such a big help to me last time, and this excursion sounds like fun. If you’re not too tired, of course”

💫 He’s already in even before you asked “I’m free, where should I meet you?”

💫 You tell him the address of the arcade, intending to meet him there. Not even 5 minutes later, you hear the familiar roar of Sparky outside your apartment window. You run downstairs to meet him. “Gavin! Wha-”

💫 “Need a ride?” Gavin asks, leaning against Sparky. You eye him carefully and he smiles “I didn’t get hurt, I promise” You don’t believe him and inspect him carefully

💫 The two of you head to the arcade, your arms are wrapped around Gavin’s waist. It’s the first time in a while since you’ve felt free

💫 You arrive at the arcade and you gaze at the building, amazed. Despite its age, bright neon lights flashed continuously across its walls exactly how it did five years ago. Immediately, you pull out your camera and start snapping away. “It’s just like I remembered,” you say aloud, “I came here once with my friends.” Then you grab Gavin’s arm and pull him towards the entrance, “Come on! Might as well play some games”

💫 You go inside and an elderly man greets the two of you warmly “You’re welcome to play any of the games, just ask me for the tokens.” You look at the surroundings. There was Pac-Man, Galaga, Pinball, (wow hahaha I am old) and many more games of the past. Then you see a basketball machine and you spot a glint in Gavin’s eyes

💫 “Let’s go play basketball!” You suggest, remembering that Gavin loved to play basketball. You pass some bills to the elderly man and he gives you a handful of tokens. “Come on!” You hand Gavin some of the tokens, “I want to see you play”

💫 Gavin’s skills are unmatched, and you watch in admiration as he shoots ball after ball into the hoop. You snap a few pictures and the machine dinged

💫 “Young man,” the elderly owner says, awestruck, “You just beat the high score that no one has been able to in years”

💫 Gavin rubs his neck, a little embarrassed, “I just like it, that’s all” NAW homeboi was trying to impress you but also he is really good

💫 “Well you have some talent,” the old man says as you drop your unused tokens into a bowl, “Come back and play anytime”

💫 “Thank you so much!” You thank the owner for the interview and the two of you were on your way to the amusement park

💫 “I can’t believe this has been here all there years,” you marvel at the spinning rides, the Ferris wheel, and the carousel. “Now I can understand why this made it into the top spot for favorite haunts”

💫 For the rest of the day, you drag Gavin from ride to ride, taking pictures every chance you get

💫 It was twilight when the two of you get done with the amusement park. “What’s next?” Gavin asks

💫 You grin, “Our favorite pastime,” you blush a little at the word ‘our.’ Before he could ask, you blurt out the answer in excitement, “We’re going stargazing! And tonight’s perfect! Come on!”

💫 It’s quite a trek up to the cliff-side park, but Gavin is here and he has an arm around you, supporting you. The two of you hike up the mountain and the trail ends in a grassy meadow. Your mouth drop open, “It’s beautiful up here!” You exclaim, the tiny lights of the city seem so far way

💫 Luckily, there doesn’t seem to be anyone around so you and Gavin have the area to yourselves. Gavin settles himself on the grass and extends a hand towards you, “Come here”

💫 You sit and suddenly Gavin tugs on your hand, sending you flying into his chest. Your face flush instantly, “Gavin!”

💫 He laughs and you feel the sound rumble through his chest, warm and comforting, “We’re stargazing,” he reminds you and positions you so that you could comfortably look up at the sky. Your face turns a even brighter red, if possible

💫 You soon fall into a comfortable silence as the sky darkened to a inky black and slowly, twinkling stars start to appear

💫 “It really is beautiful,” you break the silence softly, wonder lacing your voice. Gavin makes a noise of agreement and he pulls you closer to him. “Gavin, I want to know about the constellations” you gently request

💫 And in his sure, soft voice, Gavin starts to name the constellations in the sky, pointing them out and telling you random facts

💫 You stretch your hand out towards the glittering background, “Don’t you ever wish you can just...reach out and grab them?” You ask softly, “Something about it makes me feel safe, like someone is watching over me”

💫 A calloused hand covers yours, the touch gentle, but you can feel the firm strength that you always associate with Gavin coursing through

💫 “The stars and I will always be there to protect you, no matter what”

Kiro: Night Market Expedition

(This isn’t exactly across the city, but MC does drag Kiro around. I thought it would be cute! This was loosely modeled after the Japanese Fireworks Festival, hanabi. This one is a little short - sorry!)

🎆 It’s summer and that means festivals galore! One of the key parts of the festival is the night market, full of food and quaint handicrafts. After the night market, there will be a fireworks show

🎆 You invite Kiro out since the two of you love to chow down his album recording wrapped and you thought he deserved a break. DON’T TELL SAVIN ABOUT THE FOOD

🎆 Kiro is super excited at the prospect of all that food getting the opportunity to spend time with you as well as being able to see the fireworks

🎆 He meets you at the bustling square in his typical disguise, a hat and black frames. The various vendors are already making food and delicious smells fill the air. Kiro is practically bouncing as you make your way to him. “Miss Chips! Are you ready for our food expedition tonight?”

🎆 “Yes!” You say as Kiro cheerfully wraps you in a hug as way of greeting

🎆 “What’s our plan of attack?” He ask as he surveys the sprawling vendors, cerulean eyes twinkling with anticipation

🎆 “I did some research,” you say as you pull out your phone, “I’ve narrowed it down to ‘Foods We Have to Try,’ and ‘Viral Foods.’ Where do you want to start?”

🎆 Kiro studies your list with intense concentration, “The King Takoyaki first,” he says finally

🎆 “That’s exactly what I was thinking!” You exclaim and Kiro sends a million-watt smile your way

🎆 “Just as I thought, Miss Chips and I are really connected!”

🎆 You pull out a map that you procured earlier and study it. “Let’s go!” You grab Kiro’s hand and pull him along to the vendor

🎆 Along the way, you can’t help but snap pictures of the various handicrafts that people are selling. Kiro asks if you want to stop and check some of these out

🎆 “Later! We’re here to eat first,” you pull Kiro along, with nothing but your destination in mind. You arrive in front of the “King Takoyaki” stand. You and Kiro share a gleam with excitement and order 2 takoyaki

🎆 Kiro is about to take a bite when you stop him, “I need to take pictures first!” He laughs and grabs your phone

🎆 “Miss Chips, let’s take one together!” He pulls you closer to him and holds up his takoyaki, grinning at the camera

🎆 He takes a picture of you two, grinning goofily with your takoyaki

🎆 “Ready? On 3, 2,1!” The two of you bite into the savory ball. 

🎆 “Mmm!” Kiro wriggles with delight. You laugh and sneak a picture of him when he’s not looking. “Oh this is so good! Good call, Miss Chips!” He high fives you, “What’s next?

🎆 You look at each other, “Ringo-Ame!” [apple coated in crunchy sugar candy] Both of you say in unison and the two of you break out into a fit of merry laughter

🎆 “Come on!” You say, tugging on Kiro’s arm. “I think I saw it earlier.” You lead the way amidst the bustling vendors and stop in front of a little cart filled with bright red glossy apples on sticks

🎆 You pause to take some pictures. “Here!” You turn towards Kiro’s voice and suddenly your mouth is filled with a sweet tanginess

🎆 Kiro grins, “Is it good?” You nod as you chew and Kiro laughs aloud. His laugh is bright and carefree; it makes you smile as well

🎆 “We’re supposed to eat it together,” you mumble when you finally finish chewing

🎆 Kiro hands you an apple on a stick, “Then it’s your turn to feed me!” He opens his mouth wide and you stick the apple in his mouth. “Just as I predicted, whatever Miss Chips feed me is unbelievably delicious!” His voice is a little muffled

🎆 You put your hands on your waist and pretend to glare, “Of course! I only introduce you to good food, you know!”

🎆 Kiro smiles and it’s infectious. Your lips tug up in an answering grin

🎆 The two of you go from stall to stall, sampling various foods when suddenly you hear a commotion near the river

🎆 “The fireworks!” You exclaim, “They must be starting! Let’s go!” You grab Kiro’s hand and pull him towards the crowd. Everyone is congregating on the banks of the river, getting ready for the fireworks show

🎆 You manage to find an empty spot a little ways from the crowd. After all, you didn’t want Kiro to be mobbed

🎆 The two of you sit and wait. Kiro pulls you close and there is a thunderous BOOM!

🎆 The sky bursts into dazzling colors and the crowd oohs

🎆 “So pretty!” you shout to Kiro over the noise. He nods, staring at the colorful bursts. You steal a glance at him. The various colors and flashes from the fireworks throws different colors across his face, and you forget to breathe for a moment. Kiro looks ethereal

🎆 Kiro glances at you and your eyes meet. You can feel the ever present warmth emanating from his bright blue eyes and it warms you all over. He pulls you even closer to him. “What are you looking at?” He asks loudly

🎆 You smile and press your lips against his ear, “I was just thinking, that just now you looked like you do on stage. With the lights flashing, only right now the stage lights are replaced with fireworks. A true idol, bringing light to his fans,” you say, speaking from the heart

🎆 He gazes tenderly at you for a moment and then leans down to whisper in your ear, just like you had with him, breath ghosting over your ear,

🎆 “But to me, Miss Chips is my light, she outshines even the most beautiful of fireworks”

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Lucien + Victor under the cut

Lucien: Cherry Blossom Tour

(FYI contains traces of Blossom Date-my Lucien creative juices has been used up by writing my other fic lol. NOTE: What I tried to write here is basically hanami aka a Japanese tradition of viewing cherry blossoms and eating/drinking. Also, this might be a bit biased oops)

🌸 It’s springtime and cherry blossoms are finally in season! 

🌸 Cherry blossom themed everything have been popping up everywhere. Cafés, bakeries, ice cream shops, you name it. It’s the perfect time for couples to go out and enjoy spring under the cover of pink and white

🌸 You have been working nonstop for days and you were getting a little jealous at all the cute desserts that your coworkers posted on their social medias. This weekend, you finally have the day off and you want to go see the cherry blossoms before they’re all gone

🌸 You invite Lucien, and he readily agrees. He has been waiting for your invitation

🌸 He shows up in front of your door at 10am on the dot, dressed in a cozy white sweater with a black overcoat. “What’s the itinerary for today?”

🌸 You grab his hand and excitedly show him pictures on your phone. “So Kiki recommended this café and she said that the sakura latte is a must try! Also, afterwards, maybe we can go to this bakery! The mochi there looks so cute! And then after the bakery, we can go to this spot. I heard it’s the best place in the city for cherry blossom viewing!”

🌸 Lucien smiles as he lets you pull him along and ramble about all the places you want to see. “Slow down, silly girl, we have all the time in the world to see everything you’re interested in”

🌸 The two of you get to the café and settle down in a booth near the window. You eagerly order the sakura latte, Lucien orders the cherry blossom tea. As you wait for your drinks, the two of you chat casually about work. With Lucien around, the conversation is never dry, no matter how boring the topic

🌸 Your drinks arrive and Lucien waits expectantly, knowing that you wanted to take pictures. You quickly snap a few pictures of the pretty drinks and upload them onto your social media with the caption “Trying this for the first time!”

🌸 You take a sip carefully and Lucien watches with amusement. “Is it sweet?” You nod happily. Lucien chuckles, “Silly girl, you got foam all over your mouth”

🌸 Before you can grab a napkin, Lucien tenderly swipes his thumb across your lips. In the blink of an eye, his tongue darts out, catlike, to taste the foam on his finger. “You’re right, it is sweet,” he grins at your shell shocked face

🌸 LUCIEN CAn YoU nOT

🌸 After you recover from ProfessorSmooth Lucien’s antics, you finish your drinks and head over to the bakery to try the special sakura mochi

🌸 “Welcome! For today, we are having a lovers’ special! For every couple, we are giving them 2 free sakura mochi with the purchase of the special couple cherry blossom waffle set!” The cashier greets you cheerfully

🌸 “Er...” You are flustered

🌸 “We’ll take it,” Lucien answers for you as he wraps a arm around you, smiling politely at the cashier

🌸 Smooooooooooth

🌸 You collect your food and you once again take pictures of the delicate desserts

🌸 Lucien waits patiently until you’ve set your phone down and offers you a bite of the mochi. You close your eyes in delight as the fragrant taste spreads through your mouth and Lucien chuckles. “Good?”

🌸 You nod as you open your eyes to find Lucien gazing at you in adoration. Blushing, you move to return the favor and his grin widens

🌸 After finishing the desserts, you bring Lucien to the park where you can see couples setting up blankets underneath the pink blooms

🌸 “Careful,” Lucien warns as the two of you navigate through the crowd

🌸 You sigh, “I didn’t expect there to be this many people. There aren’t any open spots!”

🌸 “Look over there,” Lucien directs your attention to a little grove hidden a ways from the bustling crowd, “I think there might be some cherry blossom trees in there, would you like to check it out?”

🌸 You walk towards the grove and glance at the crowds behind you. They didn’t seem to be interested. The trees part to reveal a little clearing in which five cherry blossom trees sat undisturbed, branches laden with faint pink blossoms. You gasp in delight. “Lucien, how did you know these were here?”

🌸 He shakes his head, smiling, “I didn’t. I think we just happened to be lucky” WhAt a CoINcIdEnCe

🌸 You run up to the gently swaying trees, eagerly taking pictures. “It’s really so beautiful!” You gush

🌸 “Yes,” Lucien murmurs, but he’s gazing at you, “Truly beautiful” You don’t notice RIP

🌸 “Did you know that cherry blossoms are the embodiment of mortality?” He suddenly inquires after a moment. You look at him, a little startled by the topic. Oops here comes a lecture by Professor Lucien. He smiles as to reassure you and continues, “The Japanese Samurai believed in this principle to appreciate the inevitability of death without fearing it. This was carried over by the Japanese pilots during World War II who painted their kamikaze warplanes with cherry blossoms before embarking on suicide missions to ‘die like beautiful falling cherry petals for the emperor.’ It’s a beautiful contrast, isn’t it?”

🌸 You look at the delicate blossoms thoughtfully, “Yes, but you forget that cherry blossoms also embody spring,” you say quietly. “Spring and rebirth goes synchronously with cherry blossoms. The Japanese also worshipped these cherry blossom trees in the spring to grant them a bountiful harvest. So even though they are fleeting, they teach us to appreciate the fleeting moments in life and admire their beauty”

🌸 Lucien stills, “Indeed,” his dark eyes are on you, ever so unreadable, but you detect a faint fondness within those violet pupils

LOL this was my attempt to write a scholarly scene like the one they exchanged during the Blossom Date in the Chinese server EPIC FAIL RIP

🌸 You smile at him, “So instead being sad about these fleeting moments, shouldn’t we be happy that we get to see such beautiful blooms?”

🌸 “Yes,” he answers and his voice is a little thick with emotion

🌸 “These moments spent with you, no matter how fleeting, will always be beautiful”

Victor: Hidden and Exotic Foodie Gems Across Town

(Count how many times Victor calls you “Idiot” or “Dummy”)

🍽 You’re doing a segment on undiscovered food joints around town

🍽 You ask Victor to join you since he’s a chef he owns Souvenir (one of the original hidden gems)

🍽 Doesn’t want to (“Dummy, just interview Mr. Mills and film it at Souvenir”)

🍽 You explain that since you already covered Souvenir, people want to see new content and new restaurants

🍽 Dummy “I’m busy”

🍽 A little disappointed, you say you’ll go invite Lucien someone else

🍽 Are you an idiot “Goldman, cancel all my appointments for today” (GiVe GoLdMaN a RaIsE) “Which restaurants are we going to?”

🍽 You excitedly show him a list of restaurants which includes a restaurant that has a soup dumpling recipe spanning over five generations, another which all their ingredients come from their home farm, and another restaurant which promises a unique sensory experience like no other. “So I was thinking having soup dumplings for breakfast, then the farm-to-table place for lunch, and then finally the multi-sensory restaurant wrapping it up for dinner!” You ramble, not noticing Victor sitting at his desk watching you, a small smile playing around his lips

🍽 “Dummy, so are we going to get going or not?” He interrupts you, “I do have a company to run, you know”

🍽 “Let’s go!” You cheer, pulling Victor from his desk. He refuses to admit that your enthusiasm is infectious

🍽 The soup dumpling place is located in the older part of the city and you’re entranced by the architecture of the buildings and quaint cobblestone streets. You take pictures of everything. Victor rolls his eyes, but secretly he’s smiling on the inside. Seeing you excited, he couldn’t help but feel the tingle of excitement as well

🍽 The dumplings were delicious and you captured everything with your camera, even stopping Victor from eating in order to take that perfect shot

🍽 Dummy “You’re not running a food blog”

🍽 After breakfast, you inform Victor that the next restaurant is up in the mountains. His brows crease. “Are you going to drag me all over the city?” Yup

🍽 “These are the restaurants the viewers want to see most,” you tell him as you trek up the picturesque trail through the woods

🍽 Dummy “Watch where you’re going”

🍽 You don’t listen to him as you continue yammering away and taking pictures. You don’t notice how Victor is watching you intently to make sure you don’t trip over a tree root or smack into a branch

🍽 Suddenly your foot misses a step and Victor grabs your arm before you could fall. Your momentum propels you into his hard chest. You hear a sigh above your head, “Didn’t I just say to watch your step?”

🍽 “My oh my, what a lovely couple!” You hear a cheerful voice say before you can retort. Victor lets you go carefully, still holding onto your arm. You both turn to find a little old lady smiling at you

🍽 “Hi!” You break away from Victor, a little flustered. You introduce yourself to the woman and your reason for coming. She warmly welcomes you guys into the restaurant

🍽 “Would you like to see the farm first?” She asks and your eyes light up. You look at Victor. He coughs

🍽 “You know, you don’t need to ask for my permission,” he says, rolling his eyes

🍽 “The two of you are so sweet,” the lady coos as she leads you guys to the farm 

🍽 The two of you spend a lovely afternoon, eating the freshest ingredients. You ask the lady many questions about her restaurant until you feel like you got enough material. There were many pictures taken

🍽 By the time you guys leave the farm, the sun is just starting to set. “Perfect timing!” You beam up at Victor, “I can’t wait for the multi-sensory experience”

🍽 Idiot “You’ve done nothing except eat all day. How can food excite you to this extent?”

🍽 “It’s the experience, not the food,” you tell him, waiting as the two of you arrive before a nondescript steel door. “And...it’s who I’m with,” you add, more softly as your cheeks redden. The door swings open then, saving you the embarrassment

🍽 The two of you are blindfolded, with earplugs in. You hold on tight to Victor’s hand as a server leads you two inside. You are gently directed to sit down and a hand removes your blindfold. You blink, eyes adjusting to the light and then you gasp. Multiple lights in a wide array of colors are projecting lazily onto the walls and table. Soft music play in time to the revolving lights. “Wow!” You exclaim in delight

🍽 “I see that it doesn’t take much to impress you,” Victor says quietly and you turn your head just in time to see a soft smile across his lips

🍽 You stare at him because did Victor just smile? And he sighs, “If you keep ogling at me, you’re going to miss the show”

🍽 Show? You’re about to ask when suddenly the music stops and the room darkens. There is a blast of fanfare and lights explode. You smell something absolutely fragrant and your server enters the room. 

🍽 For the rest of your meal, every course is paired with a matching scent as the lights dance to the music. Your senses are completely assaulted. You miss Victor smiling at the way you eagerly scarf everything down

🍽 At the end, the music quietens and the lights dim. You put down your utensils and turn to Victor happily. He’s looking at you with something inexplicably soft in his eyes. You blush, feeling self-conscious. “Wh-why are you looking at me?”

🍽 “You have sauce on your face, dummy,” he says without skipping a beat. VICTOR, CAN YOU NOT

🍽 You pout at him, after wiping your mouth. “So...you didn’t enjoy it?” You ask quietly. You can’t help but feel hurt, and you wonder if you had wasted an entire day of Victor’s busy schedule

🍽 There is a sigh and Victor reaches for you, pulling you close and you tumble into his lap. GUYS, YOU ARE STILL IN A RESTAURANT

🍽 “That’s not it, dummy,” You hear him sigh and then-

🍽 “I’ll always enjoy the time spent with you. That time is never wasted, as long as it’s with you” 

≿━━━━༺❀༻━━━━≾

See I can write fluff sometimes, it’s not just angst all the time and not smut 😅 Wow this ended up being longer than I had previously planned to be. They turned out to be like minifics whatttt rip i’m sorry (Also there were some technical issues-forgot to save) 😓 But I hope that this was what you had in mind! Hopefully I got the characterizations of the boys right!💖

Requests are open!

For more of my work: 📖

[sugarcomatosed]

i love your stories so much!! and was wondering if you can give some writing tips perhaps? 🥺👉🏻👈🏻

Breaking this up into sections for you + putting it under a cut cause I went overboard. 😅

General Writing Tips

These work for both academic and creative writing.

Make an outline.

It doesn't have to be a formal one, but having at least a general idea of the scenes you want to include is helpful. If I know my fic is going to be a longer one (like Don't Hesitate was and my current WIP is), I break down the larger story beats i want to hit on a piece of paper or my iPad.

It's good to know what you're planning to do, in a any piece I usually have a single specific scene I want to do and depending on what it is, I might either just do the scene I want to or turn into something longer.

Draft, draft, draft.

I cannot stress the importance of going through and reviewing your work. This is a big part of any sort of writing.

Your first idea isn't always your best idea. As you work on a piece you might find your original idea is holding you back, focus shifts! Don't be afraid to let your work change as you go. It's not always easy to let go of your original idea but if you find it's not working, you have to let it change. Sections will need to be rewritten, things have to be readjusted to fit with later sections. Reread for clarity while you're drafting and look to see if this makes sense to you, or reads well to you. If you can't follow it and you wrote it, chances are your reader can't either. Did you use the same phrase again and again? Find and search it on your doc to double check.

Sometimes you have to cut things you really like because they just don't contribute to the fic anymore. Save those bits and use them somewhere else!In a lot of my longer pieces I will write a paragraph, realize that's not where it should go and cut/paste it into another part of the doc because the pacing/scene doesn't make sense where I had it originally, but it works somewhere else.

If you're stuck, skip around, come back and then stitch the bits you have written together.

Don't Focus on a Word Count

This might be controversial, but I'm of the opinion just because something is longer does not make it better. Some works are short, and that's okay! I very rarely try to aim for a specific count of words unless it's for a prompt exchange or a personal challenge. I write till I feel the piece is done. Some stories require more words, some require less.

Don't Hesitate is a great example of this again, because all I wanted to do was a bittersweet first kiss fic, but jumping write into the kiss wouldn't get the full effect I wanted. Meanwhile, with Old Habits all I wanted to do was write dumb comedic kisses, we didn't need a 2k preamble.

Get Someone You Trust to Edit

My go to editor for the past six years or so is one of my good friends. She has edited everything from college papers to my fics for me before I post them to read for clarity, find any funky phrases or misspelled words I missed, and I do the same for her when she asks! A fresh set of eyes makes a world of a difference. Find someone to trade fics with or ask a friend! They might have good suggestions you never thought of, or be able to tell what you were going for when you don't even know yourself.

I also rely on my friends a lot to brainstorm and talk my ideas out before I start because it helps me think and figure out what I need. It's super common for me to text someone and say "im gonna spitball at you, that okay?" and then spend twenty minutes chatting through my ideas.

Have Reference Material

For my 13sar fics, I regularly go back and review/screenshot videos of the dialogue to make sure I am staying consistent with story events, character nuance and small details. You don't have to go crazy, but it is really helpful to have your source material to go back to and check yourself against. In non creative writing I always had a pile of papers highlighted with my own notes on the margins.

Take Breaks/Pace Yourself

Know your own limits, and if you are working and working on something and it's not coming out leave it alone and come back to it. I'm really bad at this personally because when I get an idea in my head I want to see it through but sometimes you gotta step back! It's not healthy to keep working on things and overwork yourself. Stretch, get up go for a walk.

Write What You Want to Write

Don't focus on what people want to read. Focus on what you like. Find a topic, a scene, anything that you are passionate about and the rest will follow. The only time I write fic for other people is when I am writing for a friend. Even prompt requests I only take open ended ones, if I am not interested in writing it it's not gonna happen. I know it's super hard and I get really anxious sometimes about letting people down now, or worrying people won't like something but then I step back and remind myself this is a hobby and I'm doing it for fun.

Play to Your Strengths

You shouldn't try to write like me, you should try to write like yourself. Find what skills you have and use them to your advantage!

I can't give you a step by step list to write like me, because nobody in the world has my background! We're all unique. Everything I've listed so far I know because I'm not a beginner anymore! I'm in my twenties and have come from a strong academic writing background.

I took on an intensive course load in high school, and then went onto college for a sociology degree. I very rarely had test based finals and at the end of each semester would have five 10-15 page papers to submit. Straight up some of my skills come from having read and studied the works of anthropologist Clifford Geertz. I am not saying you should read anthropology/sociology texts. Unless you like that sort of thing lol

I also have 6+ years of theater experience (acting & directing), I use this all the time for my writing. When I think about a scene, I think about how I would work through it as an actor, how the character would move, and how would things read to an audience. The GOTE ("Goal, Obstacle, Tactics, and Expectation") method of acting by Robert Cohen is really useful hear if you want a more technical breakdown of what I mean by that.

This leads to a lot of what we called "business" in acting, doing small tiny things while you talk or move around on stage to give the sense you're a real human. I don't have to think or try on these sort of things because they're in my skill set already!

Things I do Personally

As in, these are not transferable skills this is just the stuff I do while working on projects.

Find a Vibe™️

I come into any fic with usually a goal I want to hit, a line of dialogue or something I want to capture. Just like, the general idea of a feeling a song even if the lyrics don't match up. Make a mood-board, a playlist, just find something you wanna do. It's less about the actual words on the page and what you're aiming to do.

Look to things that inspire you

Don't Hesitate got written because I wanted to write a fic that captured the same vibe as a scene in Macross Frontier, where two characters have a bittersweet kiss before the final battle and that scene still has me fucked up six years after watching it.

My current WIP is doing the same thing but with the song All I've Ever Known from Hadestown. Two characters working through loneliness, the sudden feeling of falling in love and the frustration that feeling can bring on sometime.

I don't plagiarize them word for word, but these are scenes that inspire me! I also patchwork quilt ideas together. Using Don't Hesitate again, I also ended up pulling from a bunch of shoujo anime, Toradora, Sailor Moon, Yona of the Dawn, Princess Tutu...specific scenes I enjoy to blend and create something new.

Goof Off While You Write

I name my documents stupid things, I write dumb placeholder dialogue or vague sentiments like "insert better word here", I make memes when I'm struggling and roast myself and my predictable tastes.

I spent twenty minutes texting a friend Juro's name with different letters spelt out and then the "fuck your chickenstrips" vine saying it was Juro during destruction. Just have fun with it!

Listen to J-POP On Loop for Hours at a Time

i am not kidding I do this all the time. Perfume, AKB48, anime idol osts, Sailor Moon's OPs/ED, vocaloid songs. I like technopop and Japanese is good because it usually doesn't distract my brain since I only know random phrases, but still know what the meaning og the song is.

I love music, it helps me vibe out.

Thank you so much for enjoying my work ;o;

I hope this is useful to you in some way! I'm so sorry it's so long winded but I am overly thorough and love to teach people ;w;

[fizzingwizard]

Ep 38 is another good one! We are on a roll. I have some thoughts on why and whether I could still end up whining in future episodes again... but for now let’s just enjoy the moment.

We are finally catching up with Yamato (and Jou) who has the sort of episode you’d expect from the brooding lone wolf of the group. I wish they’d pushed it just a liiiittle further than they did and I’ll tell you why below. Still, the point is we learned some things we needed to about Yamato, and with some higher than usual stakes (for a side plot) than usual.

Pic of the day, though, is all about his highness, our lord and savior, JOOOOOOOOO.

You will bow before him, peasant!

More below.

Like I said, the stakes are a bit high this week:

Right off the bat, Gabumon’s been beaten, captured, and tied to a cross...

... where Mephismon (this guy) is apparently planning to kill him in ritual sacrifice.

In other words, this episode is: Yamato and Gabumon Go To Digimon Hell

:P

I mean... Mephismon even looks scary. Very Satanic. Gives me chill, lol. Probably not as scary for kids who didn’t grow up being hit over the head with a Bible every day by evangelicals, though. Sometimes I look back on my childhood and just think “wtf?”

That being said, Mephismon is the sort of lackey you’d expect Millenniumon to have, much more in the vein of Devimon or DarkKnightmon. Aka, pretty darn scary. I was so frustrated for so long by all the small fry Digimon Taichi “struggled” with by himself for no apparent reason - they felt like filler episodes, tbh - filler for a show that has no reason to have filler!

And I STILL do NOT understand why we got WarGreymon’s evolution over a totally forgettable nobody Digimon, but these recent episodes with Koushirou, Mimi, and Yamato have all been serious crises where the characters put everything on the line, and yet nobody evolves. It’s not that I think they HAD to evolve here - I can see they’re leading up to it and since that guarantees more focus on them in the future, I’m totally down for that. What I don’t understand is why Taichi DIDN’T get that. Why play WarGreymon so early? The episode itself did involve Taichi challenging himself, but it all felt so setup. And so unmemorable that it’s just hard to care.

Anyway... I’m ranting about things that didn’t happen in this episode. Rant over xD Back to Yamato.

His desperate play to rescue Gabumon by himself goes as well as you’d expect.

Yamato: I’m too cool for this shit

He is chased by those gas mask-wearing Digimon whose name I forget. But they are conveniently blown back by the gush of a timely geyser. Geyser, you say? That means hot springs must be nearby. If hot springs are nearby...

Jou: Now I know what it feels like to be Team Rocket!

Jou falls out of the sky and right into Yamato’s path. Dressed in nothig but a towel, he looks to Yamato like a scrawny, nerdy, guardian angel.

Yamato: You’ve gotta help me, Clarence. Fly me to the top of the mountain.

Jou: I can’t, I haven’t got my wings.

Yamato: Yeah, you’re about what I’d expect my guardian angel to be like...

So, Jou immediately starts to chatter at Yamato, and it looked to me like Yamato might be getting annoyed. If this were 99 Adventure, he’d had snapped and said something like, “Can’t you see Gabumon’s gone? Aren’t you even going to ask about that or do you only think about yourself?”

But this is 2020 Yamato, and 2020 Digimon Adventure, where the kids are all Very Nice and don’t have much in the way of flaws. That’s my number one complaint about this show so far. So Yamato just waits for the moment where Jou needs to take a breath to break and ask for his help rescuing Gabumon.

(Gomamon reminds Jou to get dressed first, thankfully.)

Up on the mountain peak, Mephismon sacrifices the Data of poor blue!Elecmon to the fragment of Millenniumon he is guarding.

At first I was like, why do Yamato and Jou know about these crystals?? But then they’re like, we heard from Taichi over the digivice. Ah, of course. I kind of miss the old digivices that pre-date smartphones :P

Yamato explains how they ended up in this situation, and I REALLY like this. They came across Mephismon sacrificing innocent Digimon on their journey to reunite with the rest of the team, and it was Gabumon who insisted they had to stay and save them. Gabumon!

So this is not the first time we’ve seen the Digimon partners take initiative this season. The lack of personal flaws and personality clashes are my least favorite part of the reboot, but the increased agency of the Digimon themselves is probably my favorite. When DanDevimon swallowed Taichi, it was Agumon’s pain that caused his warp evolution. Not saying Taichi had nothing to do with it, but the focus was certainly way more on how losing his partner sent Agumon over the edge. Now we’ve got Yamato actually arguing with Yamato because he feels so passionate about rescuing the captured Digimon.

Yamato’s not heartless, of course - he just prioritizes the people closest to him first. And I have no idea if we’ll see much more of this sort of willpower from Gabumon - it’s partly there for convenience, since no one else is around. (Last time, it was Sora who wanted to help others at their own risk and Yamato clashed with her over the same thing.) The other reason is, this is the episode where we find out how Yamato and Gabumon became friends - which is especially important for the guy who gets the Crest of Friendship - so they needed something a bit more meaty than “the proof of our friendship is I follow you wherever you go and do whatever you want.”

But I love it because it really makes them feel like partners.

Of course, Yamato can’t say no in the end, so he and Gabumon go to save the Digimon. But they’re overwhelmed.

The vision of his partner’s bony ass shrinking into the distance as bullets fly overhead will haunt his dreams always ;^;

Yamato: Once a psychic read my palm and said I have an unusually short life line. I guess she was right. But she also said I’d marry Emma Stone and have eight children.

Jou: are you sure she wasn’t just playing a game of MASH?

While Yamato and Jou plan their strategy, we switch back to the rest of the team, where the girls are having tea time.

I know I complain about this every time but WHO DA HECK decided Sora and Mimi should wear the same color scheme look what you did now they both blend into the couch

The boys talk a bit of shop, then Takeru reveals that he and Yamato don’t live together because their parents fight and don’t get to see each other because they both work so much. He doesn’t really come out and say “they’re divorced” but he says he and his brother are separated. Even though Yamato calls Takeru to talk a lot, Takeru still feels sad that there are things he misses since they live so far apart.

Taichi assures Takeru that Yamato will be fine, pointing out that Yamato had already been adventuring in the digital world for an unknown amount of time before Taichi’s group ever got there. Wow, haven’t referenced that in literally ages. I’m glad these things are finally relevant again. Also like how it seems to confirm Taichi still kinda holds special admiration for Yamato. That seemed like the route they were going way back when Yamato joined the group in episode 8, but then it wasn’t touched on till now.

Then we get the long-awaited Yamato & Gabumon origin story! Yamato appears to have arrived in the digital world in a similar way that Taichi did. He looks the same, so probably it wasn’t a huge time difference (in human world time anyway).

At first, Yamato’s like, “leave me alone. I don’t have any interest in the digital world. Where’s the exit?” And Tsunomon says, “Fine, then I will just protect you whether you want me to or not.”

Yamato: Reeeeeally wishing Ikkakumon could fly, lol

Yamato recalls how, despite his chilly behavior, Tsunomon still jumped to his rescue.

(The rescue involved Ikkakumon shooting torpedoes up the mountainside so Yamato can grab them and climb to the top. What I don’t get is why this didn’t draw Mephismon’s attention :P I guess he figured his gas mask lackeys would handle it but uh.)

Past!Yamato rescues Tsunomon, who is so touched that he is able to evolve. Yamato makes an attempt to remain aloof...

... but in the end he turns into Taichi :P

So that’s the origin story! It’s more or less what I figured. Kind of surprised we didn’t get any scenes of them in the digital world proper, since I got the impression Yamato was familiar with that world as well as this plane that seems to be a sort of interface between worlds. But maybe not, who knows.

What they try to do here is set up that Yamato is an aloof type who tries to avoid relationships. But he snaps out of it and warms up to people so fast that it’s hard to really appreciate it. Plus he doesn’t really do much to push them away other than say “leave me alone.” Eh.

Lol it’s funny because he’s strapped to the cross but because his leg fur hangs like that, from behind it looks like he’s just standing there....

Mephismon starts to sacrifice Gabumon!

A power blast of dark energy starts to pulse from the mountain, sending everyone to their knees. Jou thinks fast and hides inside his bag. Nylon is good at blocking out satanic chanting after all.

His eyes fall on... his textbooks! Social studies, chemistry, the periodic table, Japanese history memorization textbook... these useless books! Could they actually be useful?!?!?!

no.

no they couldn’t

Yamato: Ahh! That’s it, I have got to start lifting more.

But wait - Jou gets an idea. There’s something that calms him when he’s stressed and that’s... chanting passages from his rote memorization technique books x’D So he sits down and... it’s basically a throw back to the Bakemon episode in 99. I believe he’s chanting things from the Japanese history book, but as I’ve never been a Japanese kid, I’d have to do more research than I want to to figure out for sure.

He then switches to chanting the numerals of pi! He has pi memorized! x’D I don’t know why that should surprise me. He soon begins to glow with the Zen energy of a cram school trance.

Jou: 3.14159265359... 3.14159265359...

Gas mask Digimon: 3.14159265359.... 3.14159265359...

These bright ripples emanate from Jou, counteracting the evil ripples coming from Mephismon’s mountain. It soon pulls the gas mask Digimon into the trance as well.

Ikkakumon: ... I have no effing idea what is going in this episode on anymore

Jou comes out of the trance to discover the gas mask Digimon ARE NOW HIS OBEDIENT SUBJECTS. WHAT.

(see I told you you’d bow)

seriously what just happened! XD is this Jou’s mutant power

or is this something all Japanese children who survive juku can do as a result of spending so much time memorizing shit

Ikkakumon then is able to shoot a bunch better pathway of torpedoes for Yamato to climb and MEPHISMON STILL DOESN’T NOTICE

Yamato finally makes it to the peak!

Mephismon’s like, “nice try, but what were you planning to do now? You left your friend at the bottom of the mountain and I’ve got your partner. And I doubt you’ve memorized all the numerals of pi.”

He kindly creates an evil burning vortex to increased the hellishness of the landscape. He understands that a Yamato episode needs the proper ambience.

Gabumon’s about to be sacrificed to Digi-Satan lmao

Yamato steps into the pentagram and get shocked. But he presses on despite the difficulty (and the hellfire), thinking about how much his partner means to him.

He drops to his knees while Gabumon begs him to save himself.

Yamato: “You’re my... friend!”

The power of friendship destroys the pentragram and also frees Gabumon from the cross.

The Crest of Friendship glows...

Gabumon is strengthened and becomes... WereGarurumon.

:P

Yeah... seemed like a good time for MetalGarurumon but whatever.

After a cool but brief fight, Mephismon is defeated.

He appears frozen? Can Gabumon freeze stuff? Whatev. Anyway he’s frozen and then disintegrates.

Gabumon is tired but happy. Their bond is now even stronger.

Cute Takeru on Pegasusmon flies down to his brother at last.

And the others wave up to them from Komondomon. Aw. So finally the team is back together! ;__; Please let it last this time, please please please....

Kay so, overall... I liked this episode. The whole “You’re my friend!” bit would have been stronger if we’d seen more of Yamato resisting that though. I don’t really know why but the reboot seems to pull its punches a lot. I really wish they’d let the kids be mean to each other like 99 Adventure did sometimes. Being mean doesn’t mean you’re a bad person and a terrible influence on children watching your show. It just means you are human and your viewers can learn from watching your mistakes and seeing your growth. Try to understand that, showrunners :P

A missed opportunity in this episode: Yamato and Jou. I was excited that they were gonna be together because they often clashed in 99. And in the reboot as well, it was established that Yamato is annoyed by Jou, although he’s much more polite and hadn’t said anything about it till now (just stayed away from wherever Jou was until he fell asleep lol). So I thought, in this ep, we’d see them butt heads and learn to work together, something like that. But aside from the very first moment where Yamato might look a teensy bit annoyed, they just get alone fine. Idk. Not interesting.

In the end, though, the ep was clearly meant to be Yamato only and Jou was just there as a matter of convenience so the whole group would be together at the end. Since the team is finally reunited, I hope we do start to see all of them interacting in different ways that show their personalities more. Might not be the same as 99 (or, I should say definitely won’t be, at this point), but just something more than “look how well we all get along.”

Next week...

Looks to be a light and funny episode. The Burgermon were one of my fav bits of Frontier. But I’m a little nervous about this being a Jou epiosde. It’s his turn, I know, but everyone else got something meaningful. Even Mimi - though there was lots of humor in her episode, she was also major league cool the entire time. Maybe that will be the case with Jou here, but I’m not sure because 2020 Jou is a little different - more scatterbrained, more open, more talkative, less serious, less likely to act sullen... he’s quite different, now that I think about it. So I’m actually having difficulty imagining what his personal test will be in this episode. Guess we’ll have to wait and find out. Maybe it won’t even be that kind of episode anyway.

Also, just a guess, but next week is ep 39. So ep 40 maybe will be the start of something big again. It would be good timing: the team’s together and everyone’s had a chance recently for an episode to themselves...

See y’all next week! As usual didn’t check for typos :P

[derireo]

be mine, valentine! (all troupes)

ok but fr this took me way too long to finish lol. sorry for being super extra duper slow! happy late valentines day bbs!

With Valentine's Day coming up, the boys from the Spring Troupe were getting restless with excitement, save for Itaru and Tsuzuru. Despite Masumi being excited to give Izumi chocolates for the romantic holiday, Sakuya was practically vibrating.

Valentine's Day was such a sweet holiday, and he loved seeing couples walk around during this time of year. Citron was merely excited to experience Japanese Valentine's Day for the first time.

"What are you planning on doing this holiday, Izumi?" Citron had asked curiously as the director was putting a small stack of papers into a file at the dinner table. Unknowingly, Citron had piqued the interest of Sakuya and Masumi who were studying together in the lounge room, and even Tsuzuru who was reading over his most recent script to see if there was any changes he needed to make.

When reminded of the upcoming holiday, Izumi pinched the bridge of her nose between her index finger and thumb as a habit of stress and held her head in her free hand, sighing in defeat.

She'd been single ever since she was born, never experienced a happy Valentine's day full of chocolates or laughter, and was too cowardly to ever give any of her past crushes a gift or even a letter.

She's probably planning on doing nothing this year too.

"Think I'm just gonna work. There's no reason for me to do anything for Valentine's Day." She comforted herself by patting her cheek then leaned back into her chair to smile at Citron who was frowning at her from the kitchen counter.

"Well ain't that sad." Itaru yawned lazily when he popped out of nowhere, effectively startling Izumi who was silently sulking. The business man rummaged through the fridge until he found a water bottle and shut the door, leaning against the kitchen appliance to stare at Izumi, a bored expression on his face.

"I'm getting the holiday off. I hate bringing gifts home from work," Itaru sighed and shrugged a shoulder. "My room's open if you need company that day."

Masumi quickly protested. "I should be the one saying that."

"Uhm, no." Tsuzuru shut down Masumi before the teenager could continue to be possessive over Izumi and held an arm over his chest to prevent him from standing up from the chair, his face slightly worried.

Citron pursed his lips as he leaned against the counter and watched as Izumi put her attention back on him, his hands excitedly clapping together when an idea popped in his head.

"I shall personally take you to the Cherry Blossom Festival!" He exclaimed.

A frown made its way onto Sakuya's features and he couldn't help but shake his head at Citron, who was understandably happy for the great idea, and had to regrettably break the news to him.

"The Cherry Blossom Festival is in the Spring. Valentine's Day is in the Winter."

Citron slumped and held his cheek in his hand, the frown coming back to decorate his face. "That is too bad."

Sakuya suddenly jumped up to his feet right then and ended up startling both Tsuzuru and Masumi who were huffing and puffing at each other. The sweet redhead reached out for Izumi's hands and stared at her with bright eyes, his teeth showing as he smiled.

"Why not bring the whole Spring Troupe out on an excursion?" The young boy bounced on his feet as Izumi looked at him with an unsure expression, her smile turning into a grimace.

"Depends on what kind of excursion we're talking about."

"A picnic!" Sakuya quickly exclaimed, this time startling Izumi while she was in the middle of releasing his hands, her eyes blinking rapidly when her body unwillingly jolted while sitting in her chair.

Itaru groaned and hit his head against the fridge door. "My games."

Izumi scoffed at the grown man amongst the younger members of the group and crossed her arms over her chest with a reprimanding glare, standing up from her chair to wrap an arm around Sakuya's shoulders.

"It's only a few hours outside, Itaru. I'm sure it'll be just like how you don't play video games at work."

His bright eyes glowered right back at Izumi when he pushed himself off of the fridge and trudged to where she stood, looking down at her as he squinted while she stared right back with a challenging look in her eyes.

When she wouldn't look away, Itaru sighed and ran his fingers through his hair before reaching out to hold the back of Izumi's head, fingers tangled in her messy hair. He leaned down to press a gentle kiss to her forehead to soothe the furrow there and deliberately ignored the betrayed sound Masumi made from the couch.

"Whatever. I'll think about it the day of." He murmured and ruffled Izumi's hair before moving to go back to his room, playfully sticking his tongue out at the student who was staring at him with evil intent.

Sakuya was already excited as Izumi rested her cheek against his and he curled his arm around her waist to squeeze her close to him.

"Awesome! I don't think any of the others are against this idea so let's start planning now!"

Citron nodded enthusiastically in agreement while Masumi pouted as Tsuzuru scolded him for being so hostile towards Itaru who had already gone into his room, Izumi also managing to get a small word in while she patted Masumi's head when her and Sakuya moved to the living room.

"Spending Valentine's with the director is a dream come true." Sakuya sighed dreamily to Citron as they both watched Izumi laugh at Tsuzuru and Masumi who were arguing over something and leaned against Citron who made a noise of agreement.

"Most definitely. I am sure Itaru wouldn't miss the picnic!"

On the day of, Izumi was pretty sure Itaru was the most clingiest to her out of all troupe members. Despite turning his phone on and off multiple times during the outing, he would only curl himself against Izumi and bury his face into her neck like a sulking child; itching to do something he's not supposed to do.

Masumi was irked that she fed that old, grown man his lunch while she didn't do the same to him, but he has to be understanding. Izumi is the nurturer.

Sakuya, Tsuzuru, and Citron were just happy to have a successful excursion with everyone, and the chocolates that Izumi surprised all of them with definitely made them glad that they planned this whole thing.

"Don't make me go to school today, I beg of you." Tenma pleaded with Izumi as she stared down at the young boy who was kneeling down in front of her in the living room. The boy was obviously dishevelled, with his uniform shirt buttoned incorrectly and pants wrinkled.

Tenma did not want to go to school.

"Yeah, me too." Yuki said impassively as he walked past Tenma and into the kitchen to grab a water bottle from the fridge, still in his pajamas. He plopped onto a chair at the dinner table and let out a sigh, slumping in the uncomfortable wooden seat.

Muku ran into the living room with wide eyes and tripped onto the couch with a surprised shout, already managing to crumple up his middle school uniform.

"It's Valentine's Day, Yuki! We have to go!"

The other middle school student grimaced and waved his hand at Muku who was pouting and whining like a puppy as Tenma continued to beg for Izumi's lenience just this once.

"Whoa, the gang's all here!" Kazunari cheered gleefully and plopped onto the other couch that wasn't taken up by Muku, with Misumi clattering against the walls as he scaled them excitedly.

Izumi internally groaned at the sudden commotion that the Summer Troupe brought along with them as they gathered in the commons, and she placed her hands on her hips to calm herself down.

"Kazu said it was Yummy Triangle Day!" Misumi hollered happily as he tackled Izumi's side and didn't let go, his eyes sparkling with excitement as the promise of triangles from Kazunari had him buzzing with joy.

The director quickly whipped her head to stare at Kazunari who playfully poked his tongue out at her, his smile unashamed as he rubbed the back of his head to say 'oopsie!'.

Inhaling, Izumi plastered on a sweet smile and curled an arm around Misumi's shoulders to make sure he had his attention on her, his eyes still wide as he looked down at her with a tilted head. She raised a hand to pet his cheek and couldn't help but laugh when the young man leaned into her touch, letting her know that she had his attention now.

"It is. Why don't you sit down with Kazunari and I'll give you something to eat after I've dealt with Tenma and Yuki?"

Yuki scoffed while Misumi listened and plopped down beside Kazunari who was scrolling through something on his phone.

"Me?"

"Yes, you too." Izumi groaned and crouched down on the floor to stop Tenma from kneeling down, gently chiding him by slapping the back of his hands with light palms.

"I get it, you don't want to go to school," she rubbed her forehead, making a disgusted sound when she saw the fat, fake tears that were rolling down Tenma's face (crying was his strength, of course). She gently pushed Tenma away with a hand on his chest and scooted backwards on her knees. "But I don't think any of your parents would like it if they heard I let you skip."

It was Tenma's turn to groan and as dramatic as he could, flopped onto the floor in front of Izumi.

"My parents won't even bat an eyelash." He reasoned with the director who wasn't even looking at him anymore. Izumi was busy telling Kazunari that there was still some leftover triangle onigiri left in the fridge that she managed to hide from Masumi, and told him to feed Misumi that for breakfast.

Immediately after, she turned back to Tenma with a deadpan look and harmlessly snarled at him.

"Doesn't mean you should skip school just because you hate getting chocolates from girls. If anything, give them to Juza; last year all he got was dark chocolate and he looked like he was going to break something in the dorm.

And you, Yuki. Just because you hate seeing your classmates do 'dumb things' like handing each other love confessions doesn't give you enough of a valid reason to skip."

"Plus, I think it's really sweet when they do those things!" Muku chimed in, making Izumi nod in approval as she stood up from the floor to let Tenma roll around in his fake tears, walking over to the pink haired St. Flora High student to run her fingers through his hair.

"Muku's a good boy." The director spoke in an endearing tone and smiled down at the young teenager when he turned around with glittering eyes. She carefully fixed his uniform and did the tie that was loosely wrapped around his neck with skilled fingers, squishing Muku's cheeks when she was done.

The young boy stood up tall from the couch and put on his backpack that he had dropped earlier when he was stumbling into the living room. Izumi did a few final checks of his uniform and made sure he had everything he needed for school, including a small chocolate treat that he was going to give to a friend today.

"Alright, come home safe." She cooed and slightly dipped her head down to place a light good luck kiss to the boy's forehead, causing Muku to flush at the action that he should be getting used to by now. He quickly bowed to Tenma and waved at Izumi and the rest of the boys in the kitchen before scurrying down the stairs to get to school.

"Tenma, please get off of the ground." Izumi sighed in exasperation and went back to crouching, her hands gently tugging at the crinkled uniform shirt that belonged to Ouka Public High. The young boy let his body go ragdoll like, and by the time Izumi managed to get a strong hold on him, he lay lifeless in her arms.

The director groaned in annoyance and sat down on the floor instead with Tenma's head resting comfortably in her lap. The Ouka High student managed to keep a smile from showing on his face when she combed her fingers through his bedhead, and Izumi started pointing at the boys who were in the kitchen.

"Kazunari! Don't you have a festival at school today?" She questioned when the young man popped his head out from behind the fridge door with a small piece of onigiri hanging from his mouth, Misumi already at the dinner table with his own plate in front of him.

"I do, but I've got no date." He pouted. "Can you be mine for the day?"

Yuki gagged at how casual Kazunari managed to say that line and threw his now empty water bottle at the university student who was giggling to himself. Misumi was happily jittering as he handed Yuki some of his onigiri to make the student feel better, and he took it with a low grumble under his breath.

Izumi grimaced at the greasy line that was delivered towards her and sighed as she watched Kazunari playfully wave his hand at her to tell her that he was joking. The university student skipped towards where both Tenma and the director sat and patted her head.

"I was joking, but the offer still stands! I gotta get ready now!" He shouted after squishing Izumi's cheek between his fingers and scurried to his room with excited footsteps pounding on the floor.

Tenma groaned next and the director quickly redirected her attention to him, her fingers gently slapping at his cheek to reprimand him.

"Still not gonna go to school, huh?" She taunted him as he whined when she continued to pester him with little slaps to his face, his hands coming up to protect himself from the assault. Izumi did her best to make the teenage celebrity get up from her lap by bouncing her legs next.

Yuki stood up from his chair after he helped Misumi finish his breakfast and began to stride back in the direction of his room with Izumi calling after him with a pout.

"I know you're not gonna go to school, Yuki!" She started desperately, "But I'll at least take you shopping after I'm done helping Kazunari out."

"Whatever. Come by my room when you get home." Yuki sighed and entered his shared room with Tenma, shutting the door closed so that he could go back to sleep.

Izumi pinched Tenma's nose much to his dismay.

"And as for you, you don't want to go out because you'll attract attention everywhere." She gritted out while Tenma whined and swatted at her hand, wriggling around in her lap as he got his uniform shirt even more wrinkled.

"I can't bring you to Kazunari's festival, nor can I bring you to the mall with Yuki." Izumi frowned and gave Tenma a break, her hands coming up to hold his face in her palms as he stared up at her, upside down, with squinted eyes. His lips were pouted because he knew she wouldn't be able to hang out with him in public due to his status as a celebrity, but he still wanted to do something fun with Izumi!

The director glared right back at him and rubbed the spot between his eyebrows to remove the furrow there, her mouth twitching as she tried not to smile.

"We can go somewhere late at night and eat a snack? Food tastes better when you're not supposed to be eating."

Tenma frowned. "Clearly, that's a bad idea "

Then he smiled. "I'm in."

"Thank goodness." With a big sigh of relief Izumi finally pushed Tenma's head off her lap causing the student to groan when his head met the rug on the floor. Standing up from the floor, Izumi smoothed down her pants and motioned to Misumi who was doing whatever in the kitchen.

"Come, Misumi. You have to change clothes if you want to see some triangles at the Valentine's Festival today!"

Cutlery began clattering where the young man was before Izumi saw him begin to bound towards her, his body agile as he jumped over the sofas and the coffee table until he collided with the director. He laughed happily when she let out an oof! and dragged her down the hall.

Kazunari left his room first once he was ready, and both Tenma and the university student whistled; impressed when Izumi left her room with Misumi in tow.

She wore a simple pale blue sundress that flowed prettily at mid-thigh while Misumi wore a subtle triangle patterned button down with his usual pair of jeans.

"You guys are looking totally awesome! I can't wait until we can take photos at the fest!" He cheered and threw a casual arm around Izumi's shoulders as the director firmly held Misumi's hand in hers to keep him from wandering away.

Before they descended the stairs, Izumi turned her head to look at Tenma who was waving goodbye.

"Make sure you're ready for tonight!"

"I can't wait for Valentine's Day tomorrow!" Taichi all of a sudden crowed once the Autumn Troupe's session in the practice room was over. His booming voice startled Izumi, who was going over a few things on a camera with Sakyo listening to her concerns.

She nearly dropped the device when Taichi jumped on his feet, but the camera was quickly caught by Juza who was sitting down on the floor beside her with a towel wrapped around his neck. She crouched beside the high schooler and thanked him in a flustered panic, already feeling the judgemental gaze of Sakyo burning into the back of her head.

"Keep your voice down, Taichi." Omi gently scolded the boy beside him and aggressively ruffled his hair to make him apologise.

Juza stared unblinkingly at Izumi who was still fumbling around with her camera while all of this was happening, but merely went to drying his hair with his towel as Sakyo lifted their director back up to her feet with his hands on her waist.

"Dummy." He grumbled and knocked his knuckles gently against her temple to reprimand her clumsiness.

Banri could only yawn in mock boredom.

"Valentine's Day sucks. I hate being nice to girls when they give me their crappy chocolates." He sighed, pulling his hair tie from it's place in his hair to let the sweaty locks dry.

"Same." Juza mumbled sadly. Whenever he received gifts from girls, the chocolates wouldn't be sweet enough, and most of the time they'd always assume that he was a dark chocolate kind of guy. The gifts always somehow ruined his mood and he'd always have an uneaten pile of sweets spilling from his locker and shoe cubby.

"Oh, shut it. As if a girl would give you chocolate." Banri waved his hand at Juza dismissively, causing the latter's eyebrow to twitch in annoyance.

Taichi quickly cut in after Omi released his unrelenting grip on his head, invisible tail wagging.

"So lucky! The girls always give me pity chocolates, but I bet you guys get the real deal!"

Just the slightest bit agitated, Sakyo lifted an arm to rest heavily on Izumi's head causing the woman to falter for a brief second before she curled an arm around his waist to keep herself up, the pout on her face charming the boys and men in the room.

"I'm sure you guys have better things to do than worry about a holiday that only makes you complain."

Omi nodded in agreement and pushed over Taichi who was sulking to the side. "And anyways, I can make sweets for you guys at home."

"It's not the same!" Taichi wailed once he hit the floor, and Banri rolled his eyes, gently kicking the boy in the side to keep him quiet.

"A lil' weird getting chocolate from you on Valentine's Day, Omi, but sure."

Juza stayed silent, but somewhat agreed with Banri.

Izumi frowned alongside Sakyo when the conversation about Valentine's Day continued and she sighed, shaking her childhood friend (or babysitter?) off of her to fix her messy hair. Sakyo was only a little disappointed when she removed her arm from his waist, but covered it up by crossing his own pair over his chest.

"I can make sweets for Juza. Last year, he looked so pissed off when all he received were boxes of dark chocolate." Izumi quietly mused to herself and ruffled the top of the boy's head as if to coddle him, and only smiled cutely when Juza wrinkled his nose at her touch but leaned into her hand nonetheless.

Last Valentine's Day, Izumi was greeted with a sulking Juza who had an extra bag on his shoulder that held all of the chocolates he was given for the holiday. His expression was cranky, and Izumi did her best not set him off by greeting him normally, and didn't bother saying anything when he dumped the chocolate filled bag on the floor with a glare.

He had plopped onto the couch beside Izumi while she took a peek inside, and was delighted to see the bundles of chocolate he had brought home. None of them seemed to be touched, and with Juza's current attitude, it looked to Izumi that he wasn't going to eat those anytime soon.

She pursed her lips and looked at the coffee table where her untouched piece of cake lay, then looked back at Juza who was staring up at the ceiling; slightly dazed.

"Hey, Kid." Juza turned his head.

"You can have my cake. You look like you had an awful day." Izumi cooed and reached out to pet the boy's messy hair, causing him to nod stiffly in agreement and scoot closer to where the director sat, politely waiting to be handed the plate.

"If you want, I can give these chocolates to the adults." She offered, only to be met with a mumbling Juza who was already eating the cake she gave him. By the time Izumi was finishing whatever she was reading, Juza had finished eating and was napping on the sofa with his head in her lap.

Banri had bumbled into the dorm not too long after and when he witnessed a knocked out Juza on Izumi's lap, he almost screamed in shock.

"Um! Talk about unfair?" He whisper shouted as he dropped his own bag full of candies and sweets onto the floor, not so surprisingly shocking the director and causing her to drop a few papers on Juza's sleeping face. He did not wake up.

"You playin' favourites, Izumi?" Banri had accused the director all of a sudden and didn't even wait for an answer before he had snatched up the spot beside her that wasn't occupied by Juza, his arm casually wrapping around her shoulders. She grimaced at the sudden addition of body heat that Banri shared with her and couldn't reprimand him when the boy happily cuddled himself into her side.

"Brats, both of you." Izumi complained when Banri hummed a jovial tune into the cut of her jaw, his nose lightly pressed to her cheek as he decided to be a bit risqué and pulled one of her legs over his knee to curl his hand around, almost bursting into a fit of giggles when she punched him in the chest.

"Sakyo's gonna kill me." She weeped when Banri wouldn't let her go.

And she was somewhat correct, because Izumi fell asleep a few minutes after Banri coaxed her into resting her eyes and when Sakyo came home to the sight of two young boys sandwiching their precious, sleeping director, he had automatically slapped the back of Banri's head and lifted Juza's upper half from her lap with just a fist holding onto the boy's shirt.

The trio were startled awake by the threatening voice that whispered creepily into their ears, and Izumi almost cried when Sakyo gently scolded her for not being stricter with the boys; still half asleep.

The man quickly shut up when sleepy tears welled in the young woman's eyes, and with a cutting glare that was directed to both a groggy Banri and Juza, Sakyo had carried Izumi back to her room to give her some more time to sleep until dinner.

Omi frowned once the director was done recounting the story of last year's Valentine's Day and leaned back against the wall with a pondering expression, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Wish I had come home earlier that day. Would've been cute to see a weepy, lil' Izumi. Sakyo probably didn't even kiss her tears away."

An offended gasp escaped her when Omi suddenly winked, silently suggesting that he would have done so instead.

"What were you doing that kept you so busy?" Taichi asked from the floor he was still lying on, causing Omi and Banri to look down at him with squinted eyes. With the towel that was wrapped around his neck, Omi blinded Taichi by dropping the soft fabric on his face, sighing.

"I was helping out at a Valentine's party. Took photos and all." He shrugged.

"I was really hoping it would end sooner, though. I wanted to make something special for Izumi, considering she told me earlier that morning that she had no plans." Omi pouted, and Sakyo couldn't help but scoff as he unconsciously wrapped a protective arm around the director.

"At least I got my goodnight kiss." He casually tacked on.

Every other troupe members in the room sputtered in surprise, their eyes wide as they all looked between Izumi and the university student.

"Excuse me?" Taichi shouted, sitting up from the floor.

"It was a kiss on the cheek to keep his nightmares away! Goodness gracious." Izumi groaned when Sakyo glared at her for the unsatisfactory explanation while Omi smiled behind his water bottle, watching as Taichi and Juza fell into a silent frenzy.

"That's it," Banri dropped his towel on the floor. "I got dibs on her bed then."

"I don't think that's how it works, Kid." Sakyo quickly interjected and glowered at Banri who was snarling right back at him. Izumi had to hold Sakyo back by his wrist while pushing away Banri by the chest when he tried to square up; the two men sandwiching her body in an uncomfortable position. They towered over her as she tried to keep them apart with an annoyed groan escaping her lips, and the other boys in the room only reacted to keep the situation from escalating when she clumsily stumbled into Banri's chest from a loss of balance.

Juza silently pulled Sakyo back as Omi tried to laugh the tension off while roughly smacking Sakyo between the shoulders, his eye smile slightly threatening to make the older man back off and cool down.

Taichi made sure to get Izumi away from Banri to keep the young man from tightening his hold on her and stuck his tongue out when the Hanasaki student barked at him.

"How about we all have a sleepover on the living room floor tonight? Just me and the Autumn Troupe." Izumi begged while she ignored how Taichi protectively curled his arms around his waist, his chin resting on her shoulder as he looked wide eyed at everyone in the room.

Somehow, that offer got everyone to calm down and the boys and men were nodding their heads in silent agreement.

And the next morning on Valentine's Day, Izumi woke up with her head in a dozing Sakyo's lap while Banri and Juza were on either side of her. The former's hand was mischievously placed underneath her sleep shirt with his fingertips just barely grazing her bra while Juza's head rested on her splayed out arm.

Taichi was plastered to her side as his arms were wound tight around her waist, his nose pressed into her ribcage while Omi on the opposite side had his own head comfortably resting on the spot where her hip and thigh met, his nose dangerously pressing into the waistband of her shorts while he cradled her leg between his arms.

Sakyo may or may not have kicked everyone in the stomach (save for Izumi) once he awoke.

It was Valentine's Day.

Izumi had a cup of black, bitter coffee in her hand.

Homare was somewhere in the courtyard spewing whatever romantic ridiculousness he had conjured from the top of his head while the director was aimlessly stirring her coffee with a spoon, the silence of having no students in the dorm a bit too lonely for her.

"It's odd, seeing you awake so early." A voice came from behind where she was standing at the kitchen counter, barely startling her as she was still half asleep and in a daze when the deep voice addressed her.

Izumi turned her head to see who was talking and was met with a sweaty Tasuku who was holding a cold water bottle in his hand, having just come back from his morning run. He must've left the dorm in the early morning if he had come back in a sweat.

The director shrugged her shoulders lazily and went back to staring at the centre of her cup of coffee, her body sulking as if she was going to melt and fuse with the counter she was leaning against.

"I know. My body automatically woke up today." She murmured before taking a sip of her acrid beverage, her face not even moving an inch as the disgusting taste of bitterness swept through her mouth.

Tasuku let out a 'hm' and greeted Tsumugi who seemed to be wide awake and happy. The young man walked into the kitchen with a curious smile and thanked his friend when he was given a cold water bottle of his own.

"Mornin', you two." The troupe leader chirped after he took a refreshing swig of water, not minding that Izumi only responded with a wave of her hand as Tasuku went to make a plate of toast for the three of them.

"Not happy it's Valentine's, huh?" Tsumugi gently teased Izumi who was chugging her coffee down like it was juice, and much to his amusement, Tasuku was heard making a confused noise.

"Totally forgot about that." He murmured in the midst of slicing bananas onto a plate.

"Wouldn't put it past you, Tachan." Tsumugi rolled his eyes and sidled up to Izumi with a kind smile, his hand coming up to soothe the pouting woman by combing her hair with his fingers and giggling when she responded by leaning into his side with her eyes falling shut.

"Tasuku, come join." Izumi waved her free hand at the man who was sliding plates of honeyed toast with bananas across the counter and hummed a faint sound of approval when her own plate was presented to her. She bumped her shoulder against Tasuku's when he sidled up to the spot that wasn't occupied and lifted an arm to wrap around her shoulders while Tsumugi lifted a piece of toast to her mouth.

She gratefully chomped at the toast she was being fed and slumped against the counter again, feeling a little better about the day as she was squished between the best friend duo, their warmth gradually seeping into her bones and making he toes feel tingly.

Azuma strode into the kitchen next, looking lovely as always as the sun rays filtering in through the blinds made him look like he was glowing. His long hair was silky and shiny in the sunlight, and Izumi couldn't help but stare in amazement with how ethereal he managed to look so early in the morning.

"Good morning, Honeypie." The older man cooed from the other side of the counter and held out a hand to brush his fingers through Izumi's already messy hair, leaning over to press a chaste kiss to her forehead with a sweet smile. The director let out a small sigh and let herself be pampered this quiet morning, her eyes falling shut once more when a comforting arm slung itself around her waist.

"Any idea if Hisoka's awake yet?" Izumi murmured with sleep still riddling her voice, and finished the last bite of her toast that Tsumugi offered to her, his cheek gently pressed to the side of her head as it seemed it was his arm around her midriff.

Azuma chuckled faintly and took Izumi's plate to eat the bananas she wasn't touching, nodding as he motioned towards the sofa.

"He followed me down the hall and fell asleep in the living room. Homare is still reciting his poems in the courtyard."

Tasuku scoffed at the mention of the word poem and rolled his eyes, popping a piece of sliced banana into his mouth as Azuma took a high stool and sat on it comfortably, the man of the night resting his cheek in his palm as he adoringly watched Izumi get cuddled by the duo.

"I need to feed Hisoka." She murmured, but was quickly caught by Tasuku when she slipped away from Tsumugi's casual grip on her waist, the former God Troupe member staring down at her with sharp, but curious eyes.

"What are you planning on making for him?"

"The omelette soufflé Omi always cooks." She pouted when she was crowded back into the counter by Tasuku, the edge gently digging into her spine as he uncharacteristically kissed her temple, Tsumugi already moving around the stove to get the pan and bowl ready.

"How about you just stick to your curry while one of us makes breakfast for Hisoka?" Azuma kindly offered Izumi, but the director knew deep down that with the tone he was using, they were not going to let her cook such a difficult meal and ruin it for one of the pickiest eaters in the dorm.

"Now up you go." Tasuku crooned and held Izumi's hips with firm hands, effortlessly lifting her up onto the counter without so much of a grunt as the sound of eggs cracking distracted her. With a pout, Izumi pushed Tasuku away while she set down her empty coffee mug and turned her body slightly to face Azuma, the man already gazing at her with warm eyes as he held out the last piece of banana for her to take from his fingers.

A small ah left her when she leaned in, picking off the banana from Azuma with a thankful grin. Almost as fast as it came, Izumi's grin fell in shock when the former professional cuddler proceeded to lick the fingertips that her lips touched to get the honey off his skin.

He winked.

"Azuma! Oh Go–" She gasped, but was interrupted by a half asleep Hisoka who was tightly wounding his arms around her waist to snuggle up against her, his body sulking as he rest his head against her chest.

"So warm.." Hisoka sighed when Izumi immediately responded by wrapping a comforting arm around his shoulders, her free hand coming up to brush through his bedhead as he decided to go back to snoozing.

The sound of Tsumugi and Tasuku quietly bickering over how to properly flip the omelette was background noise to Izumi as she pet Hisoka's head, the gentle lull of his calm breathing slowly seeping into her body as she relaxed again in the sweet embrace of a friend, her legs curled around his torso to make sure he wouldn't fall to the floor in his sleep.

Just then, Homare came back inside the dorm, but was quiet as he tiptoed back up the stairs. He curiously looked around the corner when he reached the top, and was relieved to see that everyone else in the troupe was awake.

He was reciting his poems out loud in the courtyard rather than in his room because he finally understood why Hisoka always had a difficult time sleeping in there. Plus, it was best to not disturb the other members in the dorm as well.

"Good morning, everyone." He greeted jovially and somewhat skipped towards the kitchen where everyone was with his indoor slippers sliding across the floor, a small bundle of light red and pink carnations in his hands.

He handed the flowers to Izumi who was still holding Hisoka as he slept, but didn't seem to care as he lifted his hand to hold the back of her head and carefully pull her a few centimetres down to print a kiss to her forehead, his smile near blinding when he ruffled her hair and kissed her cheek next.

"And Happy Valentine's to you, Izumi."

"Thanks, Homare." She laughed bashfully and removed her hand from Hisoka's hair to affectionately rub her palm against the poet's cheek in gratitude.

Tsumugi turned around after giving up arguing with Tasuku and let the fitness junkie do whatever he wanted with the omelette. He was surprised to see the flowers that were held in Izumi's hand and looked up at the director who seemed to be happy to be surrounded by his troupe members.

His heart slightly swelled at the smile she so shyly hid by ducking her head and sighed, his shoulders loosening up as he reached out for the carnations that were cradled by shaking, caffeinated fingers.

"Great choice, Homare." He complimented the poet who was now sitting at the dinner table with Azuma. Homare smiled proudly before going back to explaining his latest unpublished work to Azuma, who was nodding along with half lidded eyes.

Tsumugi took the carnations from Izumi so she could go back to holding Hisoka and went to find a vase in one of the low cabinets in the kitchen, a nostalgic melody escaping him as he found a little pot for the flowers to sit in.

He filled the glass with a bit of water then gently sunk the flowers' thin stems into the vase, pushing it into the corner of a separate counter that had the most sunlight.

The carnations wouldn't last very long, but they still deserved the utmost care.

"I think dark red carnations would've been a nice addition." Tsumugi commented as Tasuku helped Hisoka sit down on a chair so that he could eat his breakfast. Izumi turned to look at the troupe leader with a curious gaze, but the man could only laugh and shake his head to dismiss the thought, only making Izumi more curious to know why.

"You can find out on your own when you're feeling better." He spoke ominously, but with a gentle expression as he brushed a strand of hair behind her ear, his warm fingertips lightly tickling her skin while she pouted.

Tsumugi brushed his knuckles against her cheek and grinned.

"Happy Valentine's Day."

[our-heroes-rise]

slip of the tongue

pairing: todoroki x bilingual! reader

request:  Hi, I want to request a scenario for Todoroki. It’s about a reader who is actually his gf, but she talks portuguese as maternal language. When she got nervous, she start to panic in Portuguese, and she’s nervous to meet Shoto’s mom. How he will help her( something like that). I hope you like this idea. 🇧🇷🇧🇷✌🏻✌🏻

hero name: @todoroki-vivian

a/n: hi, lovely! omg yes, you can aboslutely have a todoroki request, i adore this boy. and i loved this idea so much! it was so darn cute. as someone of mixed race who grew up with a heavily hispanic family i think it’s always fun to imagine bringing home one of the bnha boys/girls. seeing how they’d react to be introduced to the sort of music, food, and p a r t i e s that i grew up with. i’d be completely useless teaching them any g o o d spanish though cause my mother never taught me when i was a kid :’). i only know a couple of phrases and the bad words lol. i don’t touch on any of that here because i’m not too familiar with portuguese culture and i don’t want to offend anyone by getting something wrong because i am uneducated on the subjectttt. there’s only like two words of real portuguese in here and they are from google translate because i wasn’t sure what the difference was between the spanish pronunciation and the portuguese pronunciation. OKAY after that whole thing i hope you enjoy this little scenario, i had a lot of fun writing it and it was super duper cute. thanks for requesting baby hero!

word count: 1,717

warnings: none! this is all fluff :)

Your knee bounced with the subtle rocking of the train cart, heel occasionally tapping against the floor when the wheels ran over a bump in the tracks. No matter how hard you tried, no amount of slow deep breaths or mental reminders that everything would be fine, it would go well, would calm the ever growing bundle of nerves buzzing within the pit of your stomach. It crawled beneath your skin, flinching at the tips of your fingers which picked at the worn plastic seal of your seat, pinched at your bottom lip.

You watched the blur of winter barren trees whirl past the window, not really watching at all, thinking of every way not to mess up this very important day. This very, very important day on which absolutely nothing could go wrong because this was - it was his -

A comforting warmth pressed into your shoulder, calloused fingers wiggling their way through the gaps between yours, bringing a halt to your incessant fidgeting. Striking blue and grey find your gaze, softened by the unspoken question of concern knotting his brows.

What’s wrong?

“I’m just - It’s dumb, really,” you laugh softly, able to recognize how terribly ridiculous you would sound now that the words sit at the front of your mind. “I’m just overthinking things. I’m okay.” For extra reassurance, you give his hand a small squeeze, offering a smile.

Your boyfriend doesn’t seem to buy it.

“You’re not okay if something’s worrying you,” Todoroki says, head dipping to catch your eyes as you try to look away to hide your apprehension. “It might help if you talk about it.”

Bottom lip caught between your teeth once again, a soft sigh blows through nose, and you lean further into his shoulder, grateful for the gentle heat that bleeds through your jacket sleeve, soothing your nerves. You drop your attention to the spot where your fingers are now intertwined sitting atop his thigh, his thumb tracing over the ridges of your knuckles, saying he’s content to wait for as long as you need.

Well, at least until the arrival of your last stop where you would inevitably have to step off the train and face the anxiety tearing through your head.

It’ll be fine, stop worrying so much. It’ll be fine, it will be fine, it will be -

“What if she doesn’t like me?” You blurt suddenly, cheeks flushing in embarrassment as the eyes of a few curious strangers flicker over to you. Your face sinks further into the protective cocoon of your scarf.

His thumb pauses briefly before picking up its mindless pattern again. “What do you - ?”

“I - I mean, what if I say something wrong and end up sounding really stupid in front of her.” And the dam came crumbling down. “Your mother. The - like - the most important person in your life! I’d end up making a fool of myself in front of the most important person in your life. Then she might think ‘what’s Shoto even see in her? he could do so much better’. Which, you could, by the way. You could do worlds better but you’ve settled for me and sometimes I don’t really get it because - well - I’m me - “

“I don’t see a problem with that. I like you for you and if you are what settling is then I will gladly never settle anywhere else.”

“But what if she - “ your fingers tighten around him at the thought “- what if she doesn’t think I’m good enough for you? What if she thinks we should break up because she thinks I’m rude and annoying and uneducated?”

“Uhm. . . Y/n.”

“What if she thinks I’m a bad influence on you? I don’t want to make her hate me forever, that would be the worst feeling ever because I know she means so much to you.”

“Y/n. . .”

“That would just put so much strain on our relationship and I wouldn’t want you to feel guilty about what happened, ever. You don’t deserve that. You deserve so much better than that, Sho. I just - “

“Meu Amor.”

The name strikes a chord in your throat, catching you breathless, butterflies swooping in to replace the recoiling knot in your stomach. You whip your head around to find the corners of Todoroki’s lips pulling up in a small fond smile, eyes light with amusement. To begin with, Todoroki wasn’t big on pet names, preferring to use your given name, claiming it was sweeter than any silly nickname could be. Though throughout the seven and a half months you two had been together, he had referred to you with the occasional ‘love’ or ‘hon’. However, the number of times he had used that name could be counted on one hand.

Three. It was three times including right now.

He asked you how to say it while you were teaching him random phrases, goofing around in the middle of what was supposed to be a study session, the question being enough to make your face burn. His pronunciation had been rocky the first time, mouth working awkwardly around the words, throwing you into a fit of flustered giggles that had him pouting adorably at you, mumbling not to make fun of him for trying. But, now? Now his near perfect pronunciation left you wondering how many times he had practiced by himself. 

Meu Amor was the Portuguese phrase for My Love. His love. His love. 

“Y-Yeah?” It’s at that very moment that realize you have slipped out of your usual Japanese tongue, rolling through the tumbling hill syllables of your maternal language. “Oh, s-sorry. I. . . I did the thing again,” you mutter, flipping back to Japanese.

Todoroki huffs a short laugh that makes your heart flutter pleasantly as the sound reverberates through your own chest. “It’s okay, I think I got the gist of what you were saying. It’s cute when you do that, anyway.” He says the last part softly, meant for himself. You press your cheeks further into your scarf, hiding your own shy smile.

Todoroki takes a minute to speak, gazing at the same window you were just a moment ago, lost in thought. 

“Y/n,” he finally says. “Meu Amor, -” four times “- frankly, my mother could care less about who you are. I think you could introduce yourself as a high school drop out with a criminal record and her main concern would still be; do we make each other happy? Do you make me happy.”

You allow yourself to absorb the impact of his words.

“And. . . I make you happy?”

He shoots you an incredulous glance, then snorts when he sees you peaking earnestly above the edge of your scarf. “Irrevocably so. Do I make you happy?”

“It’s impossible for me to think about you without smiling.” You give him a bright cheeky grin when his cheeks flare with a noticeable shade of scarlet that crawls all the way up his neck to the tips of his ears.

“Good. Then that’s more than enough.” He squeezes your hand, pulling you closer into his side. “There isn’t a doubt in my mind that she won’t absolutely adore you the same way I do once she meets you. If she doesn’t already, of course.”

The statement piques your curiosity and you arch one brow at him. “What do you mean if she doesn’t already? Have you. . . Told her about me already -- In your letters to her?”

“I thought you already knew that,” Todoroki says, frowning in confusion. “She’s always asking about you and how you’re doing. I was pretty sure I mentioned it before.”

“What the heck? Shoto you’ve never told me that!”

“Oh.”

“So - So then she’s okay with us being together?”

“I think she’s more than okay with it,” he replies, his quiet smile returning. “It’s possible that she’s more excited than I am for you to meet her, which would be saying something.”

“That would have been nice to know before I rambled off the entire Portuguese dictionary to the whole train,” you grumble, rolling your eyes.

“Sorry,” he says, but it sounds like he’s trying to suppress another laugh. And you really can’t stay upset with him for long.

Rough fingertips push gently at the tips of yours to splay your palm out over his, pressing them together. Lightly you run your nails down the long runs of his fingers, memorizing every bump, scratch, and scar, sweeping your forefinger along the wrinkle of his lifeline, then across his heart line. This - the way you were touching him - may not seem like much at all to anyone else, but it was worth worlds to you. It had taken Todoroki months to comfortably hold your hand, even longer while in public, then some to kiss you for the first time. PDA wasn’t what bothered him (not entirely, at least), it was the displays of affection part. Because of the way he grew up, physical affection was a foreign concept, often leaving him lost and a mess of rigid limbs and awkward apologies. But now, he could easily seek your hand in the middle of a crowded train, or wrap his arm around you in the common room, or press a kiss to the top of your head before the start of class. To know that he had made an effort to open himself up to you, allowing you to see this side of him, the side he had only shared with his mother before, made your heart melt and your eyes swim.

Shoto was right, this was more than enough.

A calm voice announces the arrival of your stop and you two stand as passengers begin to climb off the train. 

“Still nervous?” Todoroki asks, threading his fingers through yours once more now that you have both stepped into the morning rush, not wanting to lose you amongst the chaos.

Letting him guide you through the thick crowd, you smile softly, raising your conjoined hands to press your lips to the back of his.

This would always be more than enough.

“No, I think I’ll be okay now.”

[luvdsc]

(my wifi crashed and i am not sure if my ask sent or not so in case it did, feel free to delete this one!)

my best friend also collects jaehyun ☺️ and my gon gave me hyuck for my kihno it’s act so cute?! omg but unfortunately i do not collect him, so i hope i’m able to find him a more loving home 😭 and ahhh. that’s so exciting! i’m happy you were able to finish your doyoung collection 🥺 which one of his pcs was the most expensive for u to buy? and i’ve actually purchased a pc from hk before i was shocked it arrived fairly quick 😳

i do not have a photography portfolio anywhere haha it just lives in my camera roll and my friends’ :) as much as i enjoy taking photos, i don’t see myself majoring or even minoring in it in college. i am planning to major in economics though and study abroad my second year in hopefully japan 🌸

in my penpal letters, i typically include freebies, questions, a playlist, the letter ofc, and a little tiny gift like tea :) i wanna get back into drawing so maybe for my future letters i’ll draw something cute for my pe pals ☺️💗

SMSKDKKF CAT NO THOSE BOYS ARE THE WORST 😭😭😭😭 i swear i immediately thought of mr, big from sex and the city KSKSKFG and the way you describe renjun and jisung is actually how i feel about doyoung haha but for me, my wreckers are definitely haechan and jeno 🤧

i notice i’m very into misunderstood boys and like i feel it really describes hyuck omg like the fact a majority of ppl see him as super loud and i fucking hate this word but also a “brat” when he’s really not like that at all all the time?? like i notice he gets shy kinda easily sometimes and he’s also such a hopeless romantic it’s so cute like 🥺 like yes he’ll tease you a lot but it’s more of a joke than him actually meaning it and trying to purposefully hurt you i just wish more ppl were able to see and appreciate that side of him??!

(you don’t have to read this last part if this is something sensitive to you! TW; body image and weight)

and as for jeno, ohmygod he’s so thoughtful and talented but i hate that so many people just appreciate him for his body like please 😭😭 i see myself in him so much it’s insane i feel it definitely frustrates him and makes him uncomfy and i get that because i lost like 20 pounds last year and even til this day 99.9% of the compliments i get are on my body and it’s just so 😐 i just want to be appreciated for something else??? - 💐 anon

hi, sweetpea! 🌸 no worries, only this ask came through!! how have you been? how’s your week going so far? 💘

jaehyun’s pcs all look like 🙂🙂 djjddkddkdj like tbh I think only jaemin, jisung, and taeyong take decent pics for their pcs out of everyone in nct 🤧 but it’s ok because everyone has nice faces to look at anyway :’) omg hyuck’s kihnos are super cute!!!! 🥺💖 were you able to trade him for the one you want? :o and thank you so much!! 🥰 his superhuman kihno was definitely the most expensive rip and omg I thought I finished winwin’s collection too but now there’s the kick back album pcs PLUS their kihnos 😭😭 and omg ikr?? my taeyeon pcs came super fast from hk !!! 💓

oooo that’s just as nice !!!! 💗 having a creative hobby just for fun is always good and it never turns into work then :’) it’s like how writing is my fun creative hobby 💞 omg you wanna major in econ? :o wow, you’re so smart, honey bee!!!! 💛 econ was my worst business subject rip 🤧 I just took the mandatory general econ classes as fast as possible to get them out of the way and then never looked back LOL and omg studying in Japan sounds like a dream 🤩 do you know how to speak/read/write japanese or do you want to learn it? 🌷

Ooo same!! I put those in my letters too 💘 I also add in a little painting I make :’) maybe you can print some of your photography pictures and add them in 💓💓 and omg yes add in some drawings too!! What’s your favorite subject to draw, lovebug? 💝

NDJDKDKDKD LISTEN IM NOT PROUD OF IT EITHER, BUT GIVEN MY TRACK RECORD, THAT’S THE TYPE OF BOY I GO FOR 😭😭 and omg yeah like idk how to explain it because they’re not a bias but they’re not a bias wrecker either?? They’re just special to me ✨✨ omg haechan and jeno, you have god tier taste 🤩🤩

I really really like hyuck like his personality is super similar to mine, and I absolutely adore seeing him on variety shows and he’s so talented like !!!!! You know an nct song is A+++ when hyuck sings the bridge part 🤩🤩🤩🤩 but yeah, I’ve noticed that too and it makes me /: when they call him annoying or bratty and not in an affectionate way ): he has such a wonderful complex personality and he’s actually my favorite to write about or include in my fics 💗 (my other writing fave is jeno, so wey hey, I hope I’ve been doing justice for your bias wreckers, sweetpea 🤧💖)

jeno is really sweet, and i mentioned him as closest to my ideal type (like this is ideal ideal in my mind, not who I actually end up going out aka those fratboys rip) a while back, and yeah, I totally get it ): weight is definitely a struggle because mine has fluctuated up and down over the years depending on my mental health, and I love my body and myself, but I can definitely relate with hearing all the comments and it just gets so tiring /: like I guess thank you for complimenting my physical appearance but it kinda makes me think back to before when less people commented on it, and once in a while, I’m like wow did I not look as hot as I do now in the past or something ?? like oof I guess I was just hot cheetos back then and not xxtra flamin hot cheetos dbdjdjdjdj idk it messes with my head sometimes too, and yeah I can really relate with it, lovebug 🤍 I just have to remind myself sometimes that no matter what, I’m enough just the way I am, and I hope you know that about yourself, too, lovebug 💛💛 I hope you’re happy, doing good, thriving, and loving yourself as a goddess should be doing 🌷🌷🌷

[rigelmejo]

April Progress Update, and May Goals:

*bear with me this is gonna get long.

I’m going to first just look at April goals and see if I did them, then afterward summarize everything I did this month (cause it was a lot more than I planned ToT)

Chinese study plan from April:

1. Read anything 

Well, I did read. However my goal to read hanshe to chapter 80 and Zhenhun to the end of the sundial arc never happened. I did read a lot though. I ended up focusing mainly on extensive reading. 

Chinese chapters read: 62 (I counted graded readers/小王子 as 1 chapter for every two that I read, but this number is probably still inflated... compared to my normal 20-pleco page chapters I probably read 31-40 of those-kind-of-chapters length wise).

Chinese stories finished: 4 (Pleco Graded Reader Butterfly Lovers, Chinese Short Stories, Mandarin Companion Journey to the Center of the Earth, 小王子 - you can tell this is where my attention went this month).

Chinese Listening Reading Method chapters done: 14.5 (4.5 Silent Reading, 2 Chapters of A History of Humankind, 1 chapter hp, 1 chapter Alice in Wonderland, iffy but like 3 chapters 小王子, iffy but like 4 chapters of the Xiao Mao cat story - I should note that for Silent Reading, 小王子, Xiao Mao I only looked at the chinese mostly so more step 2, and for the others I did step 3 as recommended). Also I realize... I should probably count this with hours instead of chapters, because hours are where the original poster about LR mentioned when milestones are hit. However, being realistic, I do not do things in hour segments so I’m not sure any tracking will be as easy as this way...

A cool thing potentially about L R Method? I found some resources recently that will make this a lot easier (Bidiread is a site that can make parallel texts for you, which made silent reading MUCH easier since the audio doesn’t perfectly match so you NEED to see the chinese even if only doing step 3, to make sure you can keep track of where you are in the text when the audio skips paragraphs). I also found Francais Par Le Methode Nature as videos on youtube with audio and the text visible (is that not simply L R method step 2 but its all comprehensible, i love that book). And I found a few files on youtube of audiobooks with english audio and chinese/english parallel text on screen (a bit backwards in process but i’m curious to test it), one youtube channel who does chinese audio with parallel texts on screen (phenomenal!), and I remembered the site bilinguis exists which is excellent for French if you wanna try L R Method (it has a few french audios with the parallel texts). Also in the case of A History of Humankind - the audiobook for once is very closely synced to the actual chapter start/ends, so it was just easier to do L R Method with. 

2. Listen to Chinese Spoonfed Audio, shadowing when I can

YES I did this! I was on 11 last month, now I’m on 15. (so 4 audio this month) Yes I realize that wasn’t a lot of improvement T-T. What can I say I am not very good at being disciplined. However I did learn something interesting this month ABOUT listening to these so I think I might do it more - I listened to some in the background while playing games, then later listened to them again (also why I only got through 4 - I was replaying audios maybe 2 times). And when I listened the second time I could understand nearly all, whereas obviously when playing my game I only caught parts of it. So I suppose what this showed me is partially listening and partially focusing still may have some benefit in helping to learn the info - and well obviously its easier to make time to play audio when u don’t need to focus 100% on it.  

I also did some other misc listening to random stuff without any plan: 6? audio 1 of DeFrancis Beginner Chinese Reader, 1 audio of FSI Chinese, 2 condensed audios of Guardian (which was so cool?? also so cool i can follow along so well now??), 1 dracula chapter audio (don’t even ask i don’t know either), tian ya ke audio drama ep 1.

Chinese show episodes watched: 28 (You can see here is where my time went listening wise lol - Two Souls in One is GOOD u might wanna check it out, is all I’m saying, especially if the taiwan drama Bromance was ur thing, or the anime Ouran Host Club, or even Bureau of Transformer to a degree. I watched up to ep 25 and once its all aired to the finale I’m gonna finish it. 

Optional going through my hanzi book: I burned out on this, but it was a good use of my time when I felt like writing. I only wrote/studied maybe 30 hanzi, and maybe 50 hanzi+radicals in my Radical-Specific hanzi book. If I continue, I think my goal will be to just continue the Radical-book to completion. Realistically, longer term, I need to go through the freaking Alan Hoenig’s Chinese Character’s book just to get the hanzi and their rough meaning to stick in my head (and learn the pronunciations through well context and vocab how I normally do). Right now I just learn through reading, but its an issue of sometimes I just end up associating one hanzi with the new word I learned but then as soon as I see it in a new word I don’t even remember having seen it before. If I paid a bit more attention to distinguishing I might notice when I’ve seen them before or they’re new, and have more starting info to relate to the character to attach the word info onto. (its a convoluted way of me saying if I have things to connect to each other I remember better even if it makes little sense to connect them - if I know car and pet, carpet’s easier to remember even though it has nothing to do with cars, cry in french ‘pleurer’ was easier to remember once my brain thought ‘plume of tears’ even though that makes no sense. i just remember things better than seeing pleurer and having no idea what to attach it to at all - even if i heard it means cry, if i don’t have a thing to associate it with i’ll forget easier. or melancholy - i had to associate it with melons, and cholly - reminds me of words for sickness so heavy-sick +sad is how i started finally remembering that word cause wow did i look it up over and over as a kid).

---

Japanese study plan from April:

1. continue through nukemarine’s memrise courses. 

Okay I did do this!! Congrats! In March I had completed LLJ 3 - Kanji, 289/318 finished in LLJ 4 Tae Kim part 1. As of April, I have completed: LLJ 4 Part 1, LLJ 4 Part 2 51/365, LLJ 5  Core Vocabulary 420/1020. So yeah! Going quite well, in that I consistently did it - I realized for me the best time to do it is playing video games oddly enough, or watching youtube - just do it in between areas, or ep scenes/videos, as a short 5-10 minute break. Since I like taking breaks from things anyway. Like audio, its hard for me to find ways to get myself to do stuff like this (except worse cause I don’t vibe with flashcards).

My goal for May will probably be finish LLJ 4 Part 2, LLJ 5, and start LLJ 6? I can dream right...

Also, a cool note: I found audio-flashcard files that people made of the Japanese Core 2k vocabulary deck and sentences, with english-japanese audio. (If anyone wants a link just let me know). So now if I DO eventually get burned out on flashcards, I could switch to using those. They would work about as well as the Chinese Spoonfed Audio files I have (which work extremely well for me - audio flashcards I just listen to are so much more suited to how I study lol). However, I’d like to stick with Nukemarine’s decks as long as possible while I can focus - they cover grammar explicitly which helps me a lot, and the reading practice COMBINED with constant audio really helps me learn the readings of words. Which is something I need for japanese a LOT more than chinese.

2. continue reading Tae Kim’s grammar guide 

Ahahahahaaa hahaaa... did not do it. Nope.

What I did do that was grammar related:

Watched Cure Dolly lessons 1-5 (and will probably watch more as I seem to click well with those explanations)

Read 24 pages of Japanese in 30 Hours while transcribing actual japanese into it (and will probably continue to read it, its so short I should just DO IT in a couple days, it also fulfilled my desire to write stuff)

JapaneseAudioLessons.com - read the wa vs ga explanation, reading the portable japanese grammar notes document right now (its 11 pages I’ll finish it today). I’ve said it before but i really LOVE this resource, and they have so much for free. I absolutely recommend if a beginner wants Pimsleur or Michael Thomas or some other paid resource etc, to just go to this site, download their full lesson grammar guide (its like 311 pages like a real textbook) and go through all their free audio lessons. You will cover a lot of ground (more than Pimsleur or Michael Thomas), and all for free. In addition, I’ve bought some of their kanji teaching books and they’re overall my favorite for remembering kanji specifically (yes more than Heisig’s RTK by far, and more than KKLC - although the Kodanshi book is a good reference to have around). I’m not kidding at all when I say just try this site’s free resources if you’re trying to use free stuff, its the closest I’ve found to an audio only teaching method, or an audio/textbook-like combo, that’s this much stuff and free. (For non free, I actually liked Genki if you do everything in it).

Other misc things done in japanese:

Watched Dracula the Musical in japanese with no subs. It was super hard, but also not so hard. It changed my life. 1000/10 would recommend watching it if you even remotely like dracula OR vampires - featuring a lesbian Dracula/Mina, and more importantly a story change about who kills Dracula, and Dracula and Mina’s agency and choice being the driving force of the ending. These story changes I LOVE and I now want them in more adaptations moving forward, its what I always craved of the ending of Dracula and never got - Dracula as a person (not monster), Mina as a person (not prey), and their choices influencing how the story ends and by whom (versus Van Helsing/the establishment symbol regaining control through annihilation of the ‘threat’ to that norm). Also it gave me a new interest in Japanese plays which is cool. I did not expect to love them this much! Also gave me a boost in japanese confidence, in that I no longer feel as “scared” to try immersing in japanese or in some kinds of content that seemed ‘harder’ - and that was a big hurdle I was too afraid to do, in the past when I studied.

Watched a few more lets plays (lets guess maybe 3-5 sections of 20 minutes?). Persona 2 innocent sin (cool to see me follow along despite not knowing the game), Final Fantasy IX (this one I saved, and could definitely pick up words from since I know some of the story and the lets player read everything - I should look up FFX), random stuff. 

Tried to play some games in japanese! I’m going to go with this was about 3 hours. I tried crisis core’s opening to the first save point - it was playable (I can read most of the menus), and I can follow enough text to get the overall gist - however it was draining as so much is text only (I FORGOT how much reading is in this game). Great for reading practice I suppose. Also great in that it definitely reset my expectations about what is ‘doable’ for me - however I do think KH2 is probably still the easiest game i should start trying games with (since I have so many of the controls/menu memorized and can waste less time re-reading the tutorials), and since I know so many words by memory I’ll be able to focus more on grammar (whereas in CC I was glancing through kanji trying to keep up with the live action scenes). A bit too much reading for me to tackle again for a while, it was draining lol. Then I tried persona 3 for psp - first, i like the ps2/ps3 version better ToT. Second, also somehow I could read enough to survive - but the reading again took time, a lot isn’t voiced, and there are not frequent save points. So again I just played to the first save point. That one I may try again before CC though, because a lot more of the language is daily life stuff I could glance through and speed-read-guess lol, or could actually use if I learned it. Also occassionally p3 reads out loud which is nice. I suspect the Visual Novel I got will actually be best for practice (despite me not knowing the plot at all), because I’m guessing more of the lines will be voiced. All this reading would help me more if I could hear it voiced - and I may want to watch more Lets Plays, and Audiobooks on youtube, mainly for that fact: subtitles that i can read WITH audio so i can practice listening and reading together.

Tried reading a bit! First, some mangas I had (though I only read a page of each) - mainly it was just nice to see mangas are more accessible now. they’re about as readable to me rn as manhua were in chinese at 6-8 months in. I can just about follow the main gist, more if I use a dictionary for details. Also thanks to @yue-muffin​ telling me, learned I can look up words on iphone in the web browser just by highlighting words and clicking “look up.” Life changing. That in combination with me finding some japanese scripts of Final Fantasy games online (and I’ve always been curious what localizations changed), and this has been a little reading I found myself doing just because i felt like it. I didn’t read much - the equivalent of several dialogue boxes (the games i played made me read a LOT more lol). but I liked that i could see their kana when i looked them up, sound the sentences out to myself, contemplate them (so intensive read). Also if you have Speech tools enabled on your phone, you can swipe down with 2 fingers and it will read the page aloud - I used to do that a little with chinese on dual chinese-englist mtlnovel pages since it WILL read both, but Pleco reads chinese better so unless i’m only-listening i switched to pleco for that. But for these scripts it works great! (occasionally it will read all-kanji titles like chinese though lol - not once its into japanese sentences though). I thought it was really cool I could basically emulate what I do in Pleco for chinese, in a normal web browser for Japanese. (Also, for websites, Idiom app seems to work ok for reading Aloud as well - possibly better - but ios iphone “Look up” dictionaries are MUCH better than Idiom app’s).

In summary basically I surprisingly enjoyed reading and might keep trying to do it just because its interesting. However in general, first: I really want 2k words done in Nukemarine’s LLJ courses (LLJ 7 would put me at 1k common words, LLJ 12 would put me at 2k so...), and I’d really like a better grammar foundation (Cure Dolly, or japanese audio lessons grammar, Nukemarine LLJ also obviously fits that task with the grammar portions, really anything). While I want to play games, again I just really realize... how much easier my life will be with a better basis of knowledge first lol. Reading I can do in bite size if I want, but playing games is Draining in between saves right now lol. While i CAN do it right now, unless its a game i really can tune out with (like KH2 maybe) then its just too intensive right now for me to tolerate too much of.

Also, again, I think doing Nukemarine’s LLJ decks as breaks while playing games/watching stuff is working great, going to keep doing that. And listening to audio flashcard files while I have dead time (like level grinding). I have been listening to the Chinese Spoonfed audio, but other options could be: the english-japanese Core 2k audio files, the Japanese Audio Lessons files (which once years ago I’d listen to while excerising). For now I’ve focused on Chinese Spoonfed audio because I know I need to FINISH something before jumping to something else lol. 

---

French stuff I did in April:

Listened to 6 chapters of Francais Par Le Methode Nature (and read some of them - oh i missed this book its my fave way to learn and it finally has audio!!)

listened to some bits of audiobooks (i don’t even know why, i don’t know - dracula, frankenstein, carmilla, sherlock)

read a little of Le Petit Prince (idk 3 chapters? browsing my book after finishing in chinese and... ok my heart is still a bit ;-; ... i’m gonna need to recover from this story...)

read a bit of dracula (again... idk why... also it was kind of a L R Method step 2 attempt in that I listened to audio too, but really I mainly just... read)

L R Method: 2 Chapters of Alice in Wonderland (step 2, because I have not tried step 3 yet). 

What is funny as hell to me is both how many words I look up when I contemplate intensive reading (again life changed by the fact i can just highlight words and click “word lookup” on my phone). But also how I already... know I can thoroughly read without doing it. Like... yes I can look up a word I fuzzy-know to get clarification, but even my phone auto-gives me french-french dictionary first and sometimes only (is it because my google is in french), i’ve been used to french definitions only for years.. and also like... i know when i read a whole paragraph i get whatever words were fuzzy before? just read some of dracula again today and its fine. its fine. again informational texts are easier for me - but dracula being a lot of letters ‘describing what happened’ suits me quite easily (and somehow manages to be less annoying to me than the english version). like... alice in wonderland was probably the harder for all the quick adjectives/verbs used in just one or two paragraphs when i was still re-remembering vocabulary i used to know lol. Like... in a dream world i’d love to test L R Method and see HOW MUCH it can teach a person. But like... while french would be the easiest to test it with? I kind of realize i’m also at a point in french where i have more benefit just continuing to read in french and listen in french (to fix my poor listening skills). referencing the english is not really... particularly necessary, it just usually slows me down. while i’m missing a LOT of words for fluent speaking/grammatically ok speaking - i don’t think listening reading method would really help me with that, since reading sure hasn’t. if any readng material might it’s francais par le methode nature just because it drills simple correct grammar construction, and reinforces it, and teaches grammar through context. but all my other reading materials... are more comprehension... 

Anyway in SUMMARY wow i did a lot more than i expected this month!

---

Next months goals!

Chinese May Goals:

***Read anything. Great plan, has been working great. Ideally I would like to: finish Xiao Mao book one, and then either continue another Xiao Mao novel or start one of the other stories rated 2+ ease. I am considering  许三观卖血记 because its about as easy as the little prince, I’ve read an excerpt and its historical fiction so generally practical. Or  流星·蝴蝶·剑 by Gu Long if I want to work on a base in wuxia words from an easier novel. Or  他们的故事 by 一根黄瓜丝儿 if I’m ready to return to it - although this one is longer (the other stories being more like 12-20 chapters) so I’d prefer to save this for later. For any of these - look words up as desired since I’ll read them in Pleco. Ideally as my ‘harder’ reading I would like to either continue hanshe (intensive reading), or continue guardian (extensive reading) - so its a matter of if I want to look words up.

***Continue listening to Chinese Spoonfed Audio (please can i Finish it please ;-;)

Optional: experiment with Listening Reading Method. With the finding of those videos on youtube, I’d like to make my life literally as easy and streamlined as possible and literally just TEST L R Method by doing it with a few of the videos I found. It literally cannot get easier than premade videos with audio.

Other optional: listen to misc audio (I would love the time to watch the tian ya ke audiodrama WITH its subtitles then listen without again), watch shows, read Alan Hoenig’s Chinese Characters (i doubt this will happen), do some of my Radical-hanzi book. 

Japanese May Goals:

***Continue: Nukemarine’s LLJ courses - ideally finish LLJ 4 Part 2, LLJ 5, and start LLJ 6. (this truly can be basically my only study method if I can’t do more). THIS IS THE PRIORITY. The quicker I get ALL of this done, the more of a foundation I will have to do Anything else.

Hopefully: Continue some kind of grammar explanation beyond Nukemarine’s stuff - either Tae Kim (unlikely but i was at chapter 10 before), Cure Dolly (i’m on 6), Japanese Audio Lessons Grammar, Japanese in 30 Hours while writing japanese in (I’m on page 24). Again this is a higher priority as it will make anything else easier.

Optional: Reading in any form - so video game time, lets plays, audiobook youtube with captions, actual reading as desired (like scripts). Including this because I know I will eventually try again lol.

Optional: listening in any form - so another musical! maybe listen to japanese audio lessons, or the core 2k audio, or a lets play, etc. I find I’m probably less likely to listen to something but it might happen!

French May Goals*:

*aka if I feel like doing it because french has no real goals at the moment! -3-)/

***Continue watching Le Francais Par Le Methode Nature videos. (There’s only 33, they’re like 10 minutes long or less, its about basics, PLEASE). I remember this book took forever to read 1/3 of when i was an upper beginner, well now surely its less slow going? especially because read aloud its as fast as the speakers voice! so it is not time consuming and i’ve wanted to finish this book forever! i could at least finish it up to where the audio files match to!

Read???? Read??? Honestly I’ve just been wanting to read Dracula and Carmilla in French its a vibe I’ve been in. Its not high priority or anything but hey it might happen. If it does happen, ideally I’d like to listen to an audiobook too around the same time (maybe after, or have the page read, idk). Just because while reading refreshes my vocab, what I really want to build up is listening/pronunciation. To get to a point where I can listen and shadow would be nice. 

Tied to above, try L R Method? Not a high priority, though it would be super easy to test! Just because I already started testing it with Alice in Wonderland... but that basically amounts to just reading practice with audio again, for me.

I found Merlin in french so THAT is a thing.

Honestly the only thing I really want to do ‘study’ wise in french is finish that freaking book, especially now that I can listen to audio with it. It’s a nice foundation and I’d really like a refresher/fill in any big gaps in my learning. Anything else about french written here is mostly a reminder to myself to LISTEN to audio when possible, and try and improve that skill a bit if I go and read. 

---

Real fast CORE SUMMARY:

Chinese: READ easier stories rated 2+ and keep getting through some, in combination with reading the harder hanshe and Guardian. Also listen to Chinese Spoonfed audio whenever u remember! Attempt some L-R method with the youtube videos you found. Immerse as desired.

Japanese: continue Nukemarine LLJ courses. Also do some grammar study somewhere, and immerse as desired.

French: listen/listen-read to Francais Par Le Methode Nature. Also read/listen as desired - ideally combining the activities.

*in all cases, where possible, combine listening-reading or try to practice both skills. (So reading in Pleco - play audio afterward to practice, play Guardian condensed audio in down time, with audiodramas follow subs when possible, when immersing with anything try L-R like strategies to add practice with both skills). 

[smartguyreviewed]

2x5 - Dumbstruck

Original air date:  October 8, 1997

Yay, an episode where TJ is actually acting like a kid! And also an excuse for me to rant about how much I despise group projects.

A very over it Lisa Simpson (played by Yeardley Smith) is handing back tests to her dumb ass students save for TJ and this annoying white kid named Clark that we’ll be introduced to briefly because Mackey ended up being the lead token white on this show, right next to Yvette’s cute friend Nina.

Clark asks how TJ did. He humble brags and Marcus snatches his test to gloat about his brother finally not doing well at something. Sike! TJ got a 110 on his assignment. Marcus is dumbfounded since he clearly doesn’t even put in the bare minimum. 

Lisa has to remind Marcus that demonstrating how you actually studied will get you more points. She gives her lazy, remedial students a chance to make up for their piteous attempts with a makeup assignment, an oral group report on WW2. Now everyone is mad at TJ because he fucked up the curve of the grading system, facilitating the need for a makeup assignment. Mackey is pissed.

Marcus and Mo of course decide to stick all the work on TJ while they go to Dawgburger. TJ, now wanting to fit in with his cool brother and bestie, agrees but is promptly thrown into a garbage can by Mackey and his 30 year old goon when they give him shit for being smart. Because the plot calls for it in this episode, TJ isn’t masterminding a plan to put fudged up charges on Mackey’s record or flunk him out of school forever. 

At the Henderson crib, TJ is attempting to do the assignment but the boys are watching The Three Stooges with non-copyright stock sound effects and can’t be bothered to lower the volume. Even Floyd stops scolding Marcus and Mo to join them. Apparently, TJ thinks being a genius and being entertained by slapstick are mutually exclusive.

Yvette is in the kitchen frowning at her fruitless yogurt when TJ comes in to whine about feeling left out. Yvette, as usual, is there to provide motherly advice and reassure TJ that he’s too brilliant to relate to simpleton humor. She even suggests that he’ll be the only non crooked black politician on the Supreme Court. Aww. TJ will revenge porn her in the future.

Just then, a truck pulls in with daddy Floyd’s wood--hehe--and the boys, including Mo, gather in the garage to bring in Floyd’s wood--last time, I promise--to wherever it needs to go.

Yvette comes in after the gang delegates how the work flow will commence and then commands the plot for the episode when she tells TJ his shoe is untied while Mo and Marcus are handing boards to each other. This ended well.

After passing out, Marcus, who is terrifyingly not alarmed, just calls for Floyd and then we end up at the hospital where it seems that TJ’s relatively light board smack has now rendered him dumb. Not only dumb but more childish than usual.

Marcus cares nothing about TJ’s prognosis, however, because he is a horny teenage boy and the doc is hot. Yvette has to literally drag him out of the room by his ear.

The doctor tells Floyd that this strange concussion could leave TJ acting like this for weeks. Of course Floyd is concerned since TJ is gifted. The next morning, TJ is so forgetful and delayed at breakfast that Floyd and Yvette have to play charades to help him navigate feeding himself.

Marcus comes in and asks if TJ is back to normal because he doesn’t want to do anything that makes him use his own damn brain for a change. After Flody sees this because Marcus did it right in the kitchen where he was about three feet away, he of course takes Marcus aside to tell him to quit badgering TJ to get well again.

At school, Mo thinks it’s a good idea to simply undo TJ’s problem by hitting him in the head again. Since we’re working off corny sitcom logic, he’s not exactly off base here. I mean, it did only take two light hits from a wooden board to turn TJ into an imbecile so why not do the same to get him back to normal, right?

During class, TJ is wowing everyone with his diminished IQ that was announced to everyone in the class for some reason. Eh, it’s Piedmont so I really shouldn’t be surprised that all of his business is out there.

Lisa is pissed because now that TJ is dumb and she hates Clark for some reason, teaching will be damn near impossible because nobody participates. I think I feel her pain because she asks a super easy question (what naval base did the Japanese attack) and nobody but annoying ass Clark answers. Poor thing. She probably came into this profession bright-eyed and bushy tailed, ready to change students’ lives and become the next Erin Gruwell but ended up becoming nothing more than a de facto babysitter.

TJ is taking advantage of being one of the guys by making fun of the more deadly effects of dropping bombs and says it led to radioactive monsters. The boys laugh but Lisa is aggy that nobody is taking this seriously. To spite her idiot students, she makes the reports worth half of their grade. Mackey blames Clark instead of the teacher who literally just assigned it. For some reason, this tickles Clark even though he’s going to end up in the garbage soon.

Since TJ is one of the guys again, he manages to tag along with the crew at Dawgburger, a place he wasn’t invited to earlier since he was going to do their group assignment all by himself. In hindsight, I hated group projects because I did all of the work anyways since my cohorts were dumb as rock boxes, so this wouldn’t have bothered me at all. Abolish group projects!

Post Dawgburger, TJ is in bed reading a comic and shooting the shit with Marcus. This is sweet. I like seeing siblings bond on TV shows because the regular narrative always seems to involve them all hating each other. Here, there’s no drama, just Marcus actually being responsible because he’s studying for the oral report and TJ, in what would be his natural state if he weren’t a genius. They even have a heart to heart when TJ asks if he’ll be okay and what would happen once he’s back to normal. Marcus says he’ll still stick up for him. Aww.

In geometry the next day, TJ’s intelligence just comes right back after he flawlessly recites the Pythagorean theorem when the dorky teacher asks. Once he realizes this, and after having probably the few easiest days in a while, TJ understandably commits to pretending to be a dolt. That is until pops sees TJ’s quantum physics magazine inside of a comic book!

Floyd traps TJ by making up a pretty damn good scenario in the Jughead comics but later confirms the lie by letting TJ know that wasn’t in the comic. He goes into how he likes being dumb with the guys because they like him more. Makes sense! TJ has nothing in common with them outside of attending their school but now he’s intellectually on their level. He knows this would change once he goes back to his regular self. Floyd should know this too but alas. I do love how he tells TJ he won’t rat on him. TJ returns the favor by telling his dad that he should write for the Jughead comics because that story he made up made him LOL super hard.

We cut to school where Mackey is just finishing up his group presentation about the X-Men invading Iwo Jima. Lisa Simpson isn’t impressed. Marcus and crew are up next and poor Marcus is struggling. I think it’s so funny that Marcus, a singer with a whole ass band, has stage fright upon trying to remember everything he studied for but just goes to show that music comes easier to him than school.

The internal monologues of everyone come up. Marcus is trying to remember what he studied. TJ contemplates bringing his brain back. Mo is...fucking beatboxing in his head. This shit had me dead when I first saw this episode. 

However, Lisa ain’t having it. She is two seconds away from using the dreaded red pen before TJ saves the day and begins talking about WW2. The boys are shocked but it helps trigger Marcus’s memory and then he’s able to spew out the facts. Mo doesn’t contribute but he will definitely take the credit! 

Later in the Henderson crib, Marcus is pissed because TJ almost let them fail. Although TJ is reminding Marcus that he put his effort into something and it paid off, Marcus is still annoyed leading TJ to think he doesn’t like him anymore.

Marcus explains that he enjoyed TJ’s company when he was dumb because he finally felt like what he is: his older brother. Kind of hard to feel that way when your younger brother is better at everything you do and a major know-it-all. He even admits that he can’t even pretend now that TJ is smart again because it won’t feel the same. I like when Marcus is doing more than chasing girls every episode because he shows maturity at times that is pleasing to watch.

He offers to instead be an older brother in other ways like threatening other people with violence if they make fun of TJ. Cute, but we all know Marcus is scary. Nice gesture though! Floyd comes in and tells the boys good night. At the end, we see Floyd took TJ up on his advice and is submitting an idea to the Jughead comics. Aww Floyd. I wish we’d gotten a subtle nod to if his idea was used because he seemed really happy with himself afterwards. Eh, whatever. Parents aren’t people so who cares.

Things I noticed:

- Clark being oddly satisfied that he knows Mackey and his fellow middle-aged adult friend are going to put him in the trash. Clark either has a crush on Mackey and didn’t like TJ for the attention he got from Mackey or he has some sort of a trash fetish. Or both. Maybe that’s why Lisa doesn’t fuck with him.

- “Okay students, now watch as I turn left to a right triangle.” I’m a dork and this actually made me laugh. Tough classroom, though.

[nanakibh]

I'm glad people enjoyed that last post. I've thought about Demyx a lot since KH3. I've got more where that came from!

I kinda forgot to mention Demyx's interaction with Vexen and Ienzo in my last post. It's pretty interesting, so I'll break down everything. (I recommend reading my previous post first.)

In Radiant Garden, Vexen presents the plan to Demyx. Just like how Demyx told Larxene and Marluxia that they had to "play it smart", he advises Vexen against staging a betrayal. However... Ever the opportunistic bastard, he asks what's in it for him. There’s always a catch.

Vexen offers him "forgiveness".

Demyx says, "For what?"

idk, man. Maybe for attacking a kid? Helping Xemnas? For joining the new Organization for unclear reasons?? Pick one.

As he talks about atonement, Demyx listens and looks at him very seriously as if he's interpreting his words in a personal way. Demyx doesn’t show his serious side for no reason. I don't believe he has his memories, but I think he’s definitely thinking about something here.

The thing that stands out to me the most in this scene is the way Vexen says "Men like us", referring to them both as scientists. That's kinda weird. You know Demyx. I know Demyx. And Vexen should know Demyx well enough to know that he's not a scientist... Right? What gave him that impression? As a man of science, can he smell a fellow scientist?? It seems too specific for me to accept it as just a presumptuous slip of the tongue. Given the research AtW performed on Subject X, I wouldn’t be surprised if he and Vexen knew something about the MoM and/or Demyx’s identity. That line sounds like bait. Maybe he really was trying to get through to the MoM, but it fell on deaf ears because the MoM’s not home right now. That’s kinda sad.

Demyx ignores the offer of forgiveness entirely. He avoids it by saying "I'm not a scientist." (And maybe he's not. For now.) One has to wonder why he seemed to be taking Vexen so seriously. When considering the things that he might require atonement for, what might he have been imagining...?

Now seems like a good time for me to mention that I think the Foretellers were an experiment.

Demyx Kingdom Hearts has committed crimes against humanity.

After he fails to appeal to Demyx's conscience, Vexen stumbles upon the magic words: "No one would suspect you." Demyx loves being a sneaky bitch. He loves it so much!! He literally cannot refuse now!! DEMYX TIME!!!

Now it's time for the scene with Ienzo!

As soon as he appears, Demyx looks around the lab/computer room with wide-eyed, childish delight. For what reason would this supposed idiot admire the lab equipment of Ansem the Wise? He’s like a kid in a candy store. He’s so distracted, he doesn’t even notice Ienzo until Ienzo says his name. Or maybe he found the lab more interesting than the person who was directly in front of him. (Yikes.)

Demyx tells Ienzo that he rejoined the Nobodies and says "I just can't shake the feeling I've been sweet talked." Hey. This tells us something important... Demyx wasn't forced. He willing rejoined them, and it sounds like he did so under a condition. There's Always A Catch. I wonder what convinced him that rejoining would be to his advantage. There’s gotta be a reason why this line wasn’t elaborated upon.

Now, there's a line here that’s different in the Japanese version. I suppose it’s not ESSENTIAL when we already have everything else, but I wanna talk about it anyway. lol It’s interesting!

What he says here is "Later, you’ll have to tell me which you prefer." (In English, this was the “We have sooo got to have a chat” line.)

He wants to pick Ienzo's brain to find out whether he prefers being a human or a Nobody. If you were wondering why Ienzo recoils and reacts as if Demyx said something inappropriate... It’s because that’s how it sounded. In Japanese, Ienzo responds with, “What’s this so suddenly?” to which Demyx says, “Sorry, sorry! I didn’t mean it like that.” It’s hard to say whether Ienzo really misunderstood or if that’s just how Demyx interpreted his reaction. .......You know what, maybe the suggestiveness of these lines is why it was changed. LOL

I’m suddenly remembering that part of Back Cover where the MoM leans over to stare at Ira’s ass while he isn’t looking... I don’t know why I ignored that before. Is he a pervert? Oh my god. Who knew that would become evidence...

Regardless, there is something strange about his question. I think it’s meant to sound kinda creepy. This changes the context of what he says. Demyx doesn't just want to have a "chat". He wants to study Ienzo. (I hope you don’t mind the prospect of a thousand-some-year-old scientist looking at Ienzo as a potential test subject. Cuz I think that’s what we’re looking at here.)

Wasn't the goal of all Nobodies to get their own hearts? Yet... Being a Nobody doesn’t seem to bother Demyx. His question is rude. It's like he's looking at it as a frivolous choice between one or the other, like being human isn't the obviously preferable choice.

Reminds me of how Xigbar didn't mind becoming half-Xehanort. Anything for the plan. If the MoM could give up his heart, his body, his memories, and disappear from the world, then being a Nobody really would seem like nothing for him to be distraught about. Does he have any sense of humanity? ...I know that sounds dark, but these are the kinds of assumptions I must consider in my pursuit of the truth!

Ienzo doesn't get many lines here besides a moment to express his confusion. Demyx can't shut up because he's just so proud of himself. He’s fooled everyone. His ego dominates the scene. I can't help but point out how animated his gestures are in this scene. "TADAAAA!!" It’s like as we move from one cutscene to the next, he’s getting more and more MoM-like. SOON... THE ATMOSPHERE IS CULMINATING...

Ienzo is reunited with Ansem the Wise. Dilan is moved to tears and comforted by Aeleus. And Demyx doesn't seem to feel anything about all these feelings. He interrupts to move things along.

If he weren't so cute, you'd notice how rude he is. lol

Anyway, if Demyx were meant to be the MoM, KH3 is where Nomura would plant the most hints. And they’re there, if you ask me. It feels like his character has been refined so that the similarity will be more apparent. Demyx’s lines feel very carefully-written. In the other games, there were lines that didn’t seem to serve a purpose, but every line involving Demyx in KH3 sounds like it’s meant to have a double meaning. I see what you did, Nomura. And I like it.

[syncopatedid]

Since the novel ended on Kakeru's 4th year what if you continued it? what would write about future lives of our kansei boys?

*whispers*  thank you for this ask! ヽ(＊>∇

I know this ended up being the tsunami wall of text that absolutely nobody asked for, but my feelings for the Aotake squad go really deep and I doubt I will ever get a Kazetsuyo ask as indulgent as this one again. It’ll make me very happy if someone enjoys all my headcanons (and then some).

Akihiro cleaned himself up and graduated properly by the following spring (he bowed out of the ekiden on his fourth year to concentrate on his finals). After graduation, he pursued a career at a non-profit organization as a software developer engineer. At the reunion timeline, Version 2.0 of his tracking software* has just been slated for an international release. Akihiro became an active member of Namban Rengo (Tokyo’s International Running Club), and continues to participate in various running activities across the country with like-minded fellows.

*I didn’t mention this in my Q&A, but in the novel, Nico actually came up with a running simulator software program (with Yuki’s assistance), that was supposedly able to track, compare and calculate each runner’s speed and final positions in the race. It didn’t work very well though, because it was running so slowly that the rest thought it’s just faster to calculate with pen and paper, lol!

Yohei was still out of work for a good six months after graduation, so he accepted a sales job at a Television network when it opened up. While it’s not his dream job, he did find that he was good at it so he stuck with it (he could keep a conversation going, and was good at making pitches to achieve a sale). Working at a TV station also has its perks, as it brought him closer to the variety shows that he enjoys watching. At the reunion timeline, he’s already at a senior rank where he gets to train new recruits. He still has difficulty connecting with people on an intimate level*, but recently, a new starry-eyed junior who just joined his team has showed interest in his favourite show, and his enthusiasm reminds Yohei of someone he knew back at Aotake…

*Yohei explained his thoughts a lot clearer to me in the novel than in the anime. Yohei sees the ekiden as also fulfilling his dream - to feel that intimate connection with others he never got in real life. And yes, even with the Aotake members, he has always felt left out until they started running together, and he admits that because of his pride and timidity, he’s not very likely to change, and he may never feel this closeness to others again when the ekiden ends (hence a dream he did not want to wake up from). But I wish for good things to happen to him, I really do. Don’t give up, Yohei!

Yukihiko reconciled with his family shortly after the ekiden (he called his mother after the race was over to talk), and by the time graduation rolled around, he had already secured a job as an intern at a respectable law firm located in Roppongi, and was confirmed as a graduate associate within a year. At the reunion timeline, he is still ambitiously working his way up the corporate ranks to make partner (which he aims to succeed within six years or less).

Yuki never moved back in with his step family and still prefers to live on his own (a guy needs his own space to invite dates home, so he says), but now he contacts his mother regularly, and dutifully visits his step family every New Year’s Day. He is also fairly over-protective of his step-sister (whom all her potential suitors get rigidly screened by him).

Takashi took over as captain of the Kansei U track and field team after Haiji left, and participated in the next ekiden running in the same section, where he ranked 6th. After graduation, he returned back to Yamagata to manage the family business, but still travelled regularly between Yamagata and Tokyo to visit his friends (he’s the one who diligently keeps in touch with everyone from Aotake). At the reunion timeline, his family has recently expanded into the sake export business, and Takashi is in talks with some of his dad’s partners to set up a business branch in Tokyo.

This year, instead of Musa coming to visit his hometown, it’ll be his turn visiting Musa’s family in Tanzania.

Musa stayed on in the Kansei U track and field team, and took part in the ekiden on his third and fourth year (he ran in Section 2 and Section 9 respectively, averaging 5th position for both). Since his first trip to Yamagata, he’s been visiting Shindo’s family back in his hometown every year, and has learnt to ski! At the reunion timeline, Musa is pursuing another year of studies at Kansei U. He then went and studied some more, and eventually obtained his PhD. He also became very fluent in Japanese*, and a position as adjunct professor in Kansei U happened to open up, which he applied for and got accepted.

He served as club advisor to the Kansei U Track and Field team after Mr. Tazaki retired, and remains as the oldest member of Aotake who is still affiliated with Kansei U.

*More as an additional headcanon than footnote, but I’ve always pegged Musa as being bi- or trilingual when he arrived at Aotake - being fluent in English, Swahili and a third dialect (since he’s from Africa), just that none of those were useful when he was in Japan!

Akane never participated in future ekiden races again, but remained in the Kansei U track and field team as a perfunctory member (so he could stay in Aotake till he graduated). He continued to dabble in all things manga for the rest of his uni years, but always made time to help out at the ekiden, mostly as Kakeru’s assistant in his section since he already has experience with it.

At the reunion timeline, he’s working as a Junior editor at the manga department of one of the top four publishing houses in Japan, where he handles shojo manga titles (he’s extremely popular among his female colleagues). Despite his constant complaints of tight deadlines and pressuring working conditions, he continues to remain in that industry, and in a couple of years he gets promoted to editor-in-chief and takes over managing the sports manga section.

Jojiro found his affinity with running after his first ekiden experience, and opted to stay on with the track and field team to continue to pursue running seriously. He took over as vice-captain after Kakeru was promoted, and can be credited for pulling in a record number of members that year. After graduation, he was recruited into a prestigious corporation along with his brother and joined their Running Club, and meets Kakeru and Haiji’s team regularly as friendly rivals in the races held in the Kanto region. Although he has yet to best Kakeru’s time in the races, there is one thing he did win over Kakeru, and that’s being the first to confess to Hana-chan after graduation. He also goes on to be the first among his same-age peers to get married, and Kakeru was his second best man together with his brother Jota.

Jotaro left the Kansei U track and field team* in his second year (with Kakeru and Joji’s blessings) and went back to his first love, soccer. He joined the Kansei U Football Club and earned his spot as a regular, and even got to play in the Kanto league. Since their “separation”, the Jo brothers were closer than ever, and they discovered something interesting that came out of them doing different things – that they’ve had even more successes pranking juniors in their clubs, most of whom had no idea they came as a set! After graduation, he joins his brother Joji in the same corporation, but doing work in a different department (and the pranking continues, lol). The brothers and Kakeru remain very close friends.

*My headcanon of Jota obviously diverts from anime canon where they’re both still in track and field, but I’ve always had a stronger impression that Jota never planned to stay on in running after the ekiden, from what I had interpreted from his thoughts about his brother, as well as his conversation with Yohei before the run. Also, in the novel’s epilogue, a junior from the Kansei track and field team had only mentioned about “Joji-senpai”, but not Jota. While it doesn’t prove anything, it really does make me wonder if perhaps it was because Jota had chosen to move on from running. I never believe it’s a sad thing for them to divert on different paths though, because siblings are like that and their bond is strong.

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YOU’D THINK I SHOULD BE DONE BUT WAIT I HAVE MORE. 

BONUS BITTERSWEET HEADCANONS!!!

Kakeru had been visiting Haiji in hospital daily after class since his operation, but by autumn, Haiji announced he was moving back to his hometown to recuperate, and his contact with Haiji naturally became less frequent. (Kakeru wondered if Haiji was deliberately avoiding him but he never asked. Knowing Haiji’s character, he’s not going to be honest about it anyway. Also, Kakeru was not good with texting or calling, a weakness he suspects Haiji knew and used it to put some distance between them). Kakeru felt hurt that there was nothing more he could do for Haiji, but chose to respect his decision for some space.

In response, Kakeru ran in Haiji’s section (Section 10) in the next ekiden, besting his own time from Section 9 and breaking records that were previously set. He believed that Haiji would not be able to resist watching the ekiden (because he knew Haiji’s weakness too), and that was his answer. His efforts to reach out finally paid off (Haiji sent him a very long text message scolding him for a minor flub he did in his run… but also “congratulations”.) Kakeru would continue to run in Section 10 for the remaining two ekidens, and on his final year, Haiji appeared out of the blue again, this time in person to recruit him into his running team.

Kakeru took over as vice-captain of the Kansei U track and field team from the second year, and later as captain after Shindo graduated. Since he’s been on the team, Kansei U has never failed to earn a seed in the ekiden for subsequent years, a legacy that would carry on long after Kakeru’s graduation.

Haiji had to be rushed to surgery after the ekiden, and as expected, his injury had been aggravated and the damage was severe. A knee replacement surgery had to be done, and the year would prove to be a painful time for Haiji, who had to re-learn to walk all over again. In autumn that same year, he decided to move back to his hometown, citing family reasons (in truth, it was also because Kakeru wouldn’t stop visiting him in hospital, and it really was harder to be around Kakeru at this point in time than his family, so he picked the lesser of two evils).

Haiji would spend the next few months coming to terms with his situation while thinking about where to go from there. There were days where his mind wandered a bit too dangerously far, but his determination not to go back down that same path before manages to pull him back. Between his physiotherapy sessions, Haiji would often stop by his alama mater and watch his dad at work, lost in his own thoughts. And when he saw Kakeru running in the ekiden on TV again, his heart began to stir, as if a gust of wind had lifted his spirit and was pushing him towards the answer he was looking for.

He had found his second wind.

Haiji talked his father into letting him go back to school…. this time to pursue a sports degree (while their father-son relationship remained fairly complicated, the dad was more receptive to Haiji’s request since it’s to do with running, and Haiji was smart enough to leverage on his dad’s knowledge and connections to his advantage). His dad managed to pull a few strings and got Haiji enrolled into Rikudo (!!!) for a post graduate course, and Haiji moved back to Tokyo and threw himself into studying while nursing himself back to health. At the reunion timeline, he is armed with a sports coaching master’s degree, and has joined a relatively new corporation that hired him to set up a new running team. And Haiji knows exactly who he plans to recruit as soon as that person graduates.

Thank you for reading all the way and may your day be filled with wonderful thoughts!

[muthaz-rapapa]

StarPre Ep 13: Culture Shock & “Fitting In”

Ok, I’ve only ever studied abroad for one summer semester so I can’t claim to know what it’s like to be a foreign exchange student.

But WOW did it not feel that this episode portrayed the realism of that experience in spades (for me, anyways).

Which is why in spite of it being another filler, ep 13 shot itself up the ladder to become, perhaps, one of the best episodes in the season so far.

But before we get into that, I just want to say this. Though we have four lovely protagonists to drive the plot forward, it’s pretty clear that the heart of StarPre’s overall story lies with Lala and not the lead Cure, Hikaru. Lala is the actual main character here (heck, even her personal motif is a heart so take that how you will).

Much like how MahoPre focused on Riko gradually letting go of her self-limitations and opening her mind to the world, Lala is slowly learning to release her constant grip on the AI and look for something that data cannot give her.

Hikaru and Mirai may be responsible for building the bridges, extending their hands and establishing the connections between the different worlds of their respective seasons (which is JUST AS IMPORTANT and don’t you let anyone else tell you otherwise!) but Riko and now, Lala, are the ones who demonstrate the necessity of meeting them halfway, however hard it may be at first, in order to gain true understanding.

So, with that said...

Lala’s first day at school. She’s very excited and of course she is!

Back on her home planet Saaman, she didn’t have school. The AI is the go-to for everything. So she’s never known what it’s like to interact with other kids her age, attend classes together, study together, etc.

It’s totally brand new to her and she wants that. She wants to know what life is like for Hikaru, Elena and Madoka. She wants to be a part of that life because that’s where her friends are.

And in their lives, they don’t have AIs to aid them throughout the day so Lala decides she wouldn’t need hers either.

Lala didn’t realize it at the time but the fact that she chose to leave her AI glove at home spoke volumes of her willingness to step outside her comfort zone.

Again, she’s relied on that AI for her entire life up till this point so if she brought it with her to school, just to have some sense of security while she adjusted to the setting around her, nobody would say anything about it. Yet she didn’t.

Lala really wanted to experience what it was like to be a normal kid on Earth. She didn’t want to be the old Lala who clutched to her AI like a lifeline. She wanted to become someone who could handle things without the AI.

The only reason why she brought AI-chan with her the second day was not because she grew afraid and backtracked on finding her new identity but because she underestimated the culture shock that would bowl her over.

And what a culture shock it was. Look, there are even lightning strikes for emphasis.

LOL, anyways...

Things on Earth are so different from things on Saaman that it physically drains Lala’s energy after she discovers just how different they are.

What’s more, for all of Saaman’s apparent “advancement”, it seems that its civilians can’t do much without AIs, which makes Lala feel ashamed when she compares herself to the Earthlings, who do make an effort to learn and understand what they learn.

Not just absorb details and retain them.

On Earth, they ask questions, they make theories, they perform tests and experiments and they repeat the process.

Lala, who’s always been told what the answers are, has never learned how to do that and she feels so lost because of it.

Then there was the ill-timed comment from Himenowhatsherface on her fluency in Japanese and therefore also, indirectly (and unbeknownst to mostly everyone), Lala practically been home schooled since forever so of course she wouldn’t know about the rule of no running in the halls.

It’s no wonder Lala’s become so depressed by lunchtime.

Poor girl. That’s a lot to take for just the first day.

What’s sad is that Lala’s misunderstanding the whole situation. She thinks that it’s her fault for not acting like the other kids when in reality, no one really expects that of her. 

She’s from a different country, speaks a different tongue, has different customs. They all know that. Nobody is asking her to change that, to be like everybody else.

But given Lala’s perfectionist nature, every “mistake” she makes only drives her desperation to “fix” it as fast as possible.

Remember beginning!Lala? How she closes people off when she’s frustrated nothing’s going her way? How the more she tries to make things right, it just becomes more of a mess?

Yea, Lala still doesn’t do well under stress.

But this time, the stress has lead her to making the wrong assumptions.

The next day, she’s got her glove on again and doing her best to talk to everyone in “lun”-unaccented Japanese.

All the way down to the keigo.

Considering that Lala was completely fine with not using honorifics or acknowledging seniority and the like before, it’s no surprise that this new development shocked her friends.

The issue is not Lala’s attempt to assimilate. The issue is that she’s trying to assimilate when there is absolutely no need to.

And I’ll say it again. If Lala brought AI-chan with her to feel more at ease in an unfamiliar environment, maybe to have AI-chan help her translate some things or explain some Earthling stuff, then that’s one thing.

However, Lala continuously referring back to AI-chan throughout her second day at school and asking it what she should do to appear more “Earthling” is counterproductive to her original objective (learning not to rely on the AI).

She’s taken the phrase “when in Rome, do what the Romans do” a little too much to the extreme.

She’s trying to erase what makes her unique so she can blend in with the people around her.

Which is so...awful to even say out loud but that’s just how badly Lala wants to fit in!

But even more than that, she’s so afraid that her being different will damage her friendship with the other girls.

She doesn’t want to be so “foreign” or “odd” to other people that it would affect how they look at Hikaru, Elena and Madoka as well. She doesn’t want to inconvenience her friends that it will change their relationship. She doesn’t want to be what breaks them apart.

After all, they’re the biggest reason why Lala’s going through all this trouble. They’re the reason why she wants to stay on Earth in the first place otherwise she wouldn’t have fought so hard in the last episode to stay together with them.

Lala’s willing to give up being herself just to stay with them (AWWW) and reassures Hikaru that she’ll do her best to get used to being “Earthling” (read: not Lala).

But Hikaru and the others, being the awesome friends they are, straight up tell her “No, Lala, you’re wrong” and set about reminding her why she wanted to go to school with them in the first place.

Yea.

They love Lala for who she is.

The would never demand Lala to act like them or speak like them or know every single Earth custom there is to know in order to hang out. Friends don’t give friends those sort of conditions (wow, that would be majorly screwed up).

They just wanted to spend time together with Lala and give her the experience she didn’t have on her home planet.

Lala never needed to worry about “fitting in” because she fits in with Hikaru, Elena and Madoka perfectly fine and she always had. Just because she goes to school with them now, nothing has changed.

Nothing that truly mattered had changed.

And they’re going to keep it that way.

had to correct it, not apologizing for anything except that text font, srslywtf “yeppers”?!

Finally, I think if this has taught Lulu anything (other than what’s already stated above), it’s that if she lets people to get to know her, including all her oddities and quirks and whatever makes her Lala, then they will surely respond to her sincerely and learn to appreciate her just as much as her own friends do.

It’s a scary thought, to face an unknown world where you might be rejected for who you are or what you are not.

But it’s not so bad when you do find someone who does understand and wholly accepts you.

That makes being different, being unique, everything worthwhile.