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drshebloggo · 4 years ago

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Ask box: JUSTICE FOR LANE KIM, a breakdown.

Anonymous asked: Do you know why Lane disappeared from the show as Rory's best friend over time? She appeared every now and then, yeah, but it has always bothered me that she slowly faded from being Rory's best friend to nobody... am I remembering things wrong?

I do not know! The Palladinos make decisions that sometimes are simply beyond my comprehension.

It’s been awhile since I watched Gilmore Girls in its entirety (and I kind of selectively ignore a lot in the last two, three seasons) but I don’t think you’re remembering things wrong. I will say, though, that the show faced a challenge with all of the Stars Hollow supporting ensemble when Rory went off to college. It’s these kind of problem-making focus shifts that I find really interesting, and they are UBIQUITOUS across teen/high school shows when a character or ensemble graduates.

Most of them that I can think of are done poorly, maybe with the exception of Friday Night Lights. But in defense of these shows, it’s HARD. How do you embrace a fundamental shift in the entire premise of your show? How do you deal with the new geographies of this shift, and the way they ripple into beloved character dynamics? How do you evolve a character through an engaging and meaningful arc without abandoning the foundation on which they were built? And how do you still capture your audience’s attention when there’s a risk that you’re leaving behind the magic that captivated them in the first place? IT’S HARD.

So in the case of Gilmore Girls, Rory at Yale is the shift that moves the show into a new paradigm, and it’s a big one. She’s separated from Stars Hollow and slowly beginning her emancipation from Lorelai, which is, on principle, painful for the audience because it’s directly against the show’s premise. (It’s no coincidence that the Palladinos starts seriously building the Luke-and-Lorelai-of-it-all once Rory’s away at college. Give that empty-nester some new story!)

Of course, Lane is right behind Lorelai in the list of People in Stars Hollow that Rory is Leaving Behind. How is Lane supposed to stay a part of Rory’s story when Rory is in a new context, and Lane is not? But, truth be told, Lane was ALREADY in this role. In seasons 1-3, LANE, not Lorelai, was #1 on the list of People in Stars Hollow that Rory is Leaving Behind. Ultimately Gilmore Girls is a story of two worlds, and Rory going to Chilton begins her passage across the into the New (Old, with Baggage) World. Lane is already being left behind, to some degree, and in seasons 1-3, there’s still room in the show’s universe to address those issues and give Lane some good storylines of her own, especially in conjunction with Rory.

So it’s possible that the issue is not necessarily one of screentime or setting. Whenever I hear the rebel cry of JUSTICE FOR LANE KIM resound in my heart chambers, I mostly think of the kinds of storylines that befell her in the later seasons, not simply in their detachment from Rory. Heeding her mom’s insistence that she attend Seventh Day Adventist college. Fracturing her relationship with her mom in order to pursue her dreams. Getting kicked out of her home. Living with her two boy bandmates who are very stupid and very messy. Never really getting the band off the ground. Her first sexual experience being terrible. Her first sexual experience being terrible AND yielding a pregnancy with TWINS. Why do the Palladinos hate Lane Kim!!! The only thing I wholeheartedly love about Lane’s later storylines is Luke hiring her to work at the diner and then being completely overwhelmed by her sheer competence.

It’s probably important to note that the mere construction of Lane Kim’s character is a bit tragic. The Palladinos are VERY good at building conflict and tension into what seems like simple character descriptions. Here’s this girl that loves rock music to an obsessive, encyclopedic level, wants to play drums in a band, and she’s from a strict religious household where she can’t express any of that. The description itself inherently means that things are going to blow up for Lane at some point. That’s okay, to some degree - that’s conflict, that’s drama, that’s good story.

So if we look at Lane’s arc pre-blow-up, and post-blow-up, the satisfying thing would be for Lane to experience some kind of happiness or success living unstifled in her dreams, to offset the trauma that her family relationships are ruined (at least for the time being). But the Palladinos don’t even do that! It’s encapsulated in the incident that tears apart Lane’s relationship with her mom: she goes to play at CBGB, her mom finds out and kicks her out, and the band doesn’t even get to go on!! The Palladinos love PAIN.

And okay, fine, there’s still some defense that that is well-designed drama and story. (And Lane and her mom do reconcile eventually, and it was at least very affecting, from my memory.) I guess you could argue that Lane IS happy with how things turned out after the lifelong lie she’s lived completely unravels and she’s able to just exist, unguarded. But also... the Palladinos wrote her that way??? And regardless, for me, the issues arise more down the line with Lane essentially staying in Stars Hollow. Wouldn’t unshackling herself from the yoke of her mother mean that she’s free to pursue her dreams? And wouldn’t pursuing her dreams necessitate her to ALSO leave Stars Hollow, like Rory herself? Would she not try to scrape together money to move with the band to New York City and hit the big time? (Bear in mind, I have no idea how the music industry works.)

Ultimately, Lane’s story in the later seasons puts the writers in a Catch-22. If she leaves Stars Hollow and goes somewhere else to pursue her dreams, she’s almost certainly written off the show. She’s a supporting character, and they can’t open up a new world beyond Stars Hollow and New Haven, just for her. On the other hand, if she stays in Stars Hollow, in keeping with the geographies of the universe, she stays on the show, and just... gets really disappointing storylines. I’d be inclined to keep giving Keiko Agena a paycheck.

(Now, the fact that WB threw money at a backdoor pilot for Jess Mariano to go to California and open up a new world for a weakly-premised spin-off, and did no such thing for Lane Kim, is some bullshit. Literally “moving to the big city to live a dream” is SUCH a well-worn trope that all the storylines are essentially handed to them, and it’s almost inherently refreshed because Lane is a Korean-American woman and not a brooding white guy or a quirky white lady. You FOOLS, you could’ve made that show with your EYES CLOSED.)

Anyways.

I’m going to meander my way further off the main point for a moment to kick up some dust on JUSTICE FOR RORY GILMORE as well. When you write ten paragraphs lamenting Lane Kim’s eternal relegation to supporting role, it’s hard not to be cranky about affording world-opening and story-building for a main character instead. (Spin-off Jess very much deserves the crank, though.) But, frankly, the unyielding walls that the Palladinos built to construct their very effective Two-World Universe don’t do a lot of favors for Rory Gilmore either, in the end.

Basically, this construct of Stars Hollow ensemble and New Haven future means that Rory is the only one who will “get out” of Stars Hollow, because she is structurally decreed to do so. It’s the massive conflict that the Palladinos smartly built into their little generational premise: Lorelai fled her parents’ world, and Rory will slowly be lured back into it. Pain ensues. This is good drama. This is good story. This is story that will last seven seasons and six-hour revival.

But it also inadvertently makes Rory the Chosen One, in a story that doesn’t need one. This is not Joseph Campbell’s Hero with a Thousand Faces, and I’d like to believe that even Paris and Rory wouldn’t want it to be, much as they love the Power of Myth. Lorelai divests her entire life into Rory’s success; the town of Stars Hollow wants Rory to spirit out of their small town and Be Great; Rory’s grandparents expect her to follow in Richard’s footsteps and also carry out their orphaned dreams for Lorelai. And then the Palladinos choose little things that further this: Lane doesn’t ever leave Stars Hollow; Paris doesn’t get into Harvard but Rory does; Luke interrogates any boy that comes near Rory because no one is good enough. (I confess, I’m charmed into forgiving the last one.)

It’s much too much to put onto one character and leave unaddressed!!! It’s also why some audience members just really hate Rory, in a really unfortunate knife-twist on an otherwise-winsome main character. They hate the unwillingness of the narrative to acknowledge this very obvious dark and specific underside to Rory’s specialness, and the unwillingness of people within the narrative to name this very obvious dark and specific underside about Rory. But to paraphrase Jessica Rabbit: she’s just DRAWN THAT WAY!

Rory’s storylines never really confront the idea that she has had FAR too many unrealistic expectations put on her by literally everyone that’s ever existed in her life, and what it might mean if she doesn’t live up to them. What does it mean if she’s not Christiane Amanpour? What does it mean if she’s scared of disappointing people? What does it mean if she’s trying to live up to other people’s standards rather than examining what she really wants?

The Palladinos completely ignore this, and simultaneously give Rory multiple meltdowns (cheating with Dean, being cowed by Mitchum Huntzberger, stealing a boat, quitting Yale, an aimless/struggling career) and they never QUITE dig into the complete dark and specific issue at the core of Rory’s character construction... which just exacerbates the Rory hate. Rory has no self-awareness; the writers give her no self-awareness; we go in circles, and every few years there’s a slew of thinkpieces about how selfish and awful Rory is.

What makes it worse is that those questions outlined above are essentially applicable for two other women on the show: Lane Kim, and Lorelai Gilmore II, herself. Lane, like Rory, doesn’t quite bust through and answer them wholly. Lorelai, however, comes into the show having already answered them, years before, when she was a headstrong and tenacious teenager. The idea that neither Rory, her actual daughter, nor Lane, her spiritual inheritor of Parental Disapproval, are ever able to grapple with those concepts in a real way, and blossom into self-defined adulthood the way that Lorelai did is maybe the bottom line on where Gilmore Girls went “wrong.” Lorelai’s legacy is not that she’s hyperverbal, loves junk food, and got pregnant young. It’s that she rejected the expectations of her forebearers and carved out a place in the world for herself by her own definition, for better or for worse. It’s why Lorelai comes out of the narrative like a Super Mom, when in fact she’s still just as deeply flawed as Emily or Rory, and why Stars Hollow is overall magical and cherished despite it serving as a small-town hometown for Rory to leave behind. And it’s why A Year in the Life was SO satisfying for Emily Gilmore, because she proved it’s never too late to answer those questions and break through to the other side. Perhaps we’ll get enough revivals to see the same happen for Rory, and for Lane.

But enough dust about Rory. I think, after all this nitpicking, there were two options for the best way to have handled Lane Kim after Rory went off to college:

1. Give her a backdoor pilot and spinoff to Band Dreams NYC. Which, of course, was not in the Palladinos’ control, so, y’know, fine.

2. Keep Lane in Stars Hollow and give her a chance to answer those questions about self-definition and live out a few years of Lorelai-like hard-but-happy independence (and better sex) before saddling her with Zach and two babies (if you MUST). Bonus points if she moves in with Lorelai and they bond over being fundamentally disappointing to your parents and also missing Rory. A very good obvious choice.

Secret option 3. Just let Lane move to New Haven and live with Rory and Paris off-campus, and give me the goddamn roommate comedy of my dreams. Honestly this is what they should’ve done. Forget everything I said. This is my answer.

Tiny footnote: I cannot BELIEVE, that after twenty years, I am just now realizing how on-the-nose it is that Lorelai escaped from the clutches of New Haven and started a new life for herself at a place called INDEPENDENCE INN. Truly, it was right there in front of me and I didn’t even notice. This oversight might weaken the integrity of the thousand-paragraph essay I rattled off above...

#long post #ask box #JUSTICE FOR LANE KIM #there's also justice for Rory Gilmore in here too #I haven't done this in ages and it's... long.#I am watching approximately zero new television but I'd love to relitigate TV from the early 00s and 10s #Gilmore Girls

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autisticburnham · 4 years ago

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Fascination

Lwaxana!!!!!!!!

I don't remember if I said this on the last Lwaxana episode or not, but I do want to clarify that I do recognize her relentless pursuit of men who have clearly said no is absolutely disgusting, and I understand people who are turned off by her character. But I don't think the writers were going for creepy when they wrote her, I think they were just trying to make an older lady be confident in herself and her sexuality, and that's actually really rare and cool to see on tv. Unfortunately, the only way they could think to depict that was to have her harrass people. She's definitely a mixed bag of a character, but I settle on the side of liking her

That's a fucking thick earring. Do Bajorans wear gauges?

Also, she's an adult, Jake, you shouldn't have been dating her in the first place

"I'm a poor substitute for your wife," well, obviously, Julian. That's why he's with both of you instead of just you

Nerys' smile 🥺😍

Keiko, you can't just sit in the walkway

"Are you ready to have a fun time with your dad?" "No." Fuck him up, Molly!

"I usually try to stop by Quark's three or four times a day at random intervals, just to let him know I'm thinking about him." And this episode really wants us to think it's about kiraodo, huh?

This Starfleet security officer is just staring like "I didn't know Odo fucked"

Jesus, being on ds9 makes Lwaxana even hornier than usual

They comb Kira's hair differently everytime Bariel shows up. They're desperately begging the audience to believe she's not a lesbian

Bariel, don't be jealous of Jadzia, you're the one who decided to date a lesbian

Miles, Keiko is obviously exhausted. Why don't you put Molly to bed instead of just sitting there drinking?

Miles, she's exhausted and aggravated, do you really think this is the time to try to start sexy stuff?

The slutty bi shirt!!!!!!

And the purple dress made out of the same gross looking fabric as the slutty bi shirt! I love ds9 fashion

I do appreciate that when the Orville did their version of this episode, they acknowledged that there's no reason horniness disease would be exclusively heterosexual, but that's pretty much the only thing that episode did better than this one. The Orville's one is even worse about consent

Writers, please stop pairing Jake with adults

Morn!

I'm surprised Jadzia didn't deck Bariel

Love Odo spinning offscreen

Quark's wearing the trans outfit!!!! The fashion in this episode!!!!!

While I know Quark is just wearing the earring to try to manipulate customers, but I would have liked to see Rom convert and start genuinely wearing an earring after marrying Leeta

Yo, the O'Briens are really bad at long distance. It's making their communication even worse

Mardah was too young???? Writers, what the fuck?

Bold words from a bottom, Quark

Also, what the fuck do you mean there's no divorce??? Rom and Nog's mother are divorced

Dax/Sisko is Bad

God, I love Julian's stupid shirt

Molly's Toby Targ!!!!!

I love Molly

Miles being willing to quit Starfleet for Keiko... he's valid sometimes

There's a ds9 fanvid on youtube set to Katy Perry's Friday Night and one of the menage a trois lines has this shot of Lwaxana with her arms looped between Odo and Julian and it's so Cursed

Honestly, I'd wear Julian's shirt

I'm assuming it's just that they're both good actors that Sid and Nana manage to have absolutely no chemistry despite the fact that they were married

POV: you've been pining for a woman for years, but you're willing to put her happiness above your own and accept that she's in love with her boring boyfriend. You hate it, but at least she's happy. Then you walk in on her cheating on said boyfriend with Julian fucking Bashir

I love Jadzia's little finger wag from behind Benjamin

I know they don't get paid, but Sisko deserves a raise for putting up with all this shit

I don't understand Keiko's attraction to Miles, but I'm happy she seems to be happy

Jadzia should have decked Bariel bc she's into Kira

Julian, don't be a dick about her age. Just say "Betazoids"

Lwaxana, that kiss managed to be more awkward than Nerys/Julian

That said, I stick by my assessment that Lwaxanaodo is better than kiraodo

Guys, don't talk about having sex in front of your daughter

Julian immediately meeting up wit Miles after Keiko leaves? O'Brien polycule rights

Consent issues, obviously, but manages to be fun despite that. 6/10

#ds9 #ds9 rewatch #my post

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lynneshobbydomain · 5 years ago

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Vengeance Chapter 10

((Thank you so much @sinfulwonders for betaing this chapter for me. You’re always so kind. Also thank you all for the reblogs and for the likes. Just a heads up, not only is this chapter long, but it does contain two deaths that may be disturbing to you. Please be advised.))

Rating: M (Violence)

Summary: Amateur Detective Shuichi Saihara knew that searching for the "Usual 16" wasn't going to get him anywhere. The disappearances weren't being tracked in any news outlet, and very few families even tried to come forward to ask for help, let alone to report them missing. Yet, Shuichi can't shake off the feeling that there's a reason behind the disappearances, and he's close to the answer. He just didn't realize that the answer was going to hit close to home, in more ways than one.

Previous Next

You can read this underneath the cut or at my A03

Shuichi knew that the tranquility wasn’t going to last, but he did his best to milk it anyway. He let Kokichi drag him out of the house, in clothes that would make anyone do a double-take. They hung at the ice cream parlor for a little bit, Kokichi smearing a bit of his ice cream on Shuichi's cheek when Shuichi sniped at him too much and didn’t let him get away with any of his lies. He let Kokichi sneak him into a movie theatre without paying, trying to ignore how his hands sweat with nerves and how his heart continued to pound and race even though he knew that there was little to no chance that they were going to be caught when the movie started. He let Kokichi drag him all over the city, trying to find an arcade that Trick wasn’t at so that they could have some fun.

Shuichi played Yu-Gi-Oh at home, and bartered with Kokichi to go up against him with Smash. Kokichi bantered with Koji, with Keiko, and tried to fill as much light and laughter in the living room as he possibly could. For the first time in a long time, Shuichi had forgotten about the case that he was working on.

It really didn’t surprise him when they were in his room, sitting on the floor, playing slap jack when his phone went off. It wasn’t just his phone either, Kokichi’s phone also went off at the same time. Both of them looked at each other and they both dived for their respective cellular devices. Shuichi half-expected it to be D.I.C.E. He thought that Shuffle might’ve already found a building to hop into, and was going to send the GPS coordinates with a “don’t be late”. He would’ve preferred it honestly to the Danganronpa email that was staring at his face. It’s Voting Time!!!!

Shuichi felt his stomach twist and the room spin uncomfortably. His throat squeezed tightly as he opened the email.

Pick a Death!

Falling?

Drowning?

It was...vague. Shuichi pursed his lips together as he read the question again. Both of them sounded painful, and neither of them sounded quick. Shuichi could imagine the fear and panic from both of the deaths. He knew from his time at the agency that both of those were common suicides. Most of the time those who decided to jump usually picked to jump into rivers, or off of buildings so that there was little to no chance of second-guesses or take backs. The worst suicides were those who decided that it was best to jump in front of a train. Plenty of people went into Aokiagahara Forest because it was quieter, secluded, and less people around to try to talk them out of it. Of course Shuichi knew there were people who constantly wandered the forest to see if they could offer their assistance, their shoulders and ears.

This didn’t sound like a suicide however. Shuichi was certain that the death was going to have to do with a murder of some sort. Falling would be the quickest, but the luring would be hard to do. That person would have to trust the other a lot, especially if they were being coaxed to the edge. Shuichi doubted anyone in that group could call themselves that close. Yuya might fall for it, because she was hyperactive and friendly. Shirogane might, just because she would want to fit in. If Aki wanted to exploit her friendship or if Kokai thought that he could kill Aki or Rantaro, he might be able to convince them to get close and personal with the edge of a building.

He was very certain that Oda would laugh in someone’s face if they tried. Everyone else was too paranoid and not willing to trust anyone with a ten foot pool.

That meant that the most likely way to die was to drown. Shuichi didn’t recall anyone mentioning a pool or a body of water that was nearby the school. The courtyard had a fountain, but...the water would be too shallow for a proper drowning. Shuichi pursed his lips together. It meant a stronger chance of survival. At the same time, Shuichi could easily be misjudging how deep the fountain was.

He didn’t want anyone to die. He didn’t want anyone to suffer. He looked over at Kokichi who was staring at his phone, his thumbnail being bitten between his teeth. His eyes were focused on the small screen, and his brows were furrowed. He was distressed and Shuichi worried for a moment that something happened at home. Kokichi’s parents rarely ever reached out to him in worry or in care. They pretended that he didn’t exist, and Kokichi...well...he tended to like the idea that he didn’t exist. It meant less problems for the three of them, even if Shuichi wished otherwise.

It didn’t mean that his parents didn’t surprise him. Sometimes, Shuichi knew that they’d reach out, only if they thought they could manipulate him to go back home for whatever reason. He sincerely hoped that wasn’t the case. He looked back at the email, and his heart stuttered. How was he going to watch this when Kokcihi was with him? He couldn’t. He couldn’t risk Kokichi looking at it either. No it was best to vote and it was best to delete the email. It was best to pretend that the episode wasn’t happening…

He wasn’t sure he could watch it, knowing that it could be Aki’s murder that he was actively voting for. He wasn’t sure he could watch it thinking that Aki actively murdered someone. He doubted both of those routes, but they were in a killing game. The two day deadline was up.

Someone was dead and he knew it.

Someone was going to pay for it, and he knew that too.

“Shuichi-chan?” Shuichi jumped as he felt a hand on his shoulder and he looked up, trying to hide his phone away from Kokichi’s gaze. He knew that outed him as suspicious immediately. Kokcihi’s gaze flicked, Shuichi wondered what exactly crossed his mind, before a smile played at his lips. “You spaced out there for a minute, beloved~. Did something happen?”

Shuichi had his suspicions on Loki being Kokichi, but he wasn’t sure if he wanted to go down that rabbit hole yet. Especially since the voting was actively trying to goad people into picking someone’s demise. There was no right way to respond to the email. Someone was going to die in whatever the majority decided on, and as much as Shuichi loved and wanted to protect his cousin, he wasn’t sure he could vote for someone else’s death too.

Aki wouldn’t want him to. Shuichi knew that this could bite him in the ass later, but...Aki wouldn’t want him to vote. Not this. Motives? Probably a way to help. Murder? He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t find a reason. Danganronpa wanted him to be an accomplice. He wasn’t going to push someone into hell. He wasn’t going to do that to the victims or their families. With that firm resolve in mind, he gave Kokichi a slight smile. “Danganronpa.” He admitted. “It uh...it was a weird email.”

“I bet...you okay?” Kokcihi pursed his lips tightly. “What did they want?”

“Something I couldn’t give.” Shuichi wished that he had more confidence in his words. He knew that sounded shaky and false, even to him. “It’s okay. I just...it was...a lot.”

“Okay.” Kokichi murmured quietly. “Let’s forget about it for now then. Come on beloved!” He suddenly grabbed Shuichi’s arm and started to pull on him. “Let’s go annoy Keiko-chan in the kitchen.”

“She’s going to hit you with a spoon if you annoy her while she’s cooking, Kokichi-kun.” Shuichi admonished as he let himself be tugged out of his room and out towards the kitchen.

“Then it’s all in good fun!”

Later that night, Shuichi woke up. Being a light sleeper that he was, he was used to being woken up at strange times in the middle of the night. Sometimes, Aki couldn’t sleep and suddenly would start playing music as softly as she could in her room. Sometimes, Kokichi would have nights where he tossed and turned and would accidentally kick him awake. Sometimes, Shuichi’s brain just decided to randomly go on high alert and remind him that he was alone in his room and that for whatever reason something was amiss. Shuichi glanced over to the side to see if it was the Kokichi situation when he registered that the boy wasn’t even in his bed.

He reached over to the side and felt the sheets. They were slightly warm, which meant that Kokichi had left and his side was starting to become cold. He must’ve been up for a while. Shuichi carefully pushed himself up into a sitting position and reached over to his bedside table to turn the lap on. The room immediately flicked into soft yellows and irritated Shuichi’s eyes and head as he rubbed the sleep away from the corners of his eyes. Kokichi wasn’t anywhere in his room. Did he think he would be too much of a disturbance and decided to go out into the living room?

Shuichi looked over at his desk and noticed that his laptop was missing. Shuffle mentioned last night that Kokichi would take his laptop and would drag it down to the living room and watch it. Feeling as though he was about to step in on some private mystery, Shuichi walked out of his room with his heart pounding in his ears. This could be his chance to figure out once and for all if Kokichi actually watched the show. He had his suspicions, he had some of the evidence to back up his claims, but nothing would be as concrete as this. He kept his footsteps light and attentive, making sure to keep his back against the walls and keeping note where the shadows are. It was easy to slink into detective tracking mode, even in his own home.

He could strain to hear the little things that the house hid when no one was paying attention. Keiko was asleep down the hall. The small creaks and groans the house made as it settled down into the earth. The small noises that were made outside, the humming of faraway traffic. He noticed that the living room light was on. The table side of it anyway, since the glow didn’t reach too far towards the hallways or the kitchen. Shuichi peered over the corner, and saw Kokichi on the ground cross legged, his laptop up.

There was an investigation that was happening. Shuichi’s eyebrows furrowed as he decided to let his presence be known. “Danganronpa?”

Kokichi jumped six feet in the air and he scrambled to find some way to save his face, despite that there was no way he could recover from the jumpscare. “Shuichi-chan!” He hissed, pulling his headphones off. Shuichi hadn’t noticed that they were missing or that Kokichi was wearing them. He was still a little shell-shocked that Kokichi was watching the show. “What are you doing?” He whispered. “Go back to sleep, beloved. I’ll-”

“You watch Danganronpa.” It wasn’t meant to sound like an accusation. He didn’t want Kokichi to look at him like that. His neutral expression was just breaking enough that there was a hint of fear that was in his eyes. He was thinking that this was going to be a showdown of some sort. Shuichi didn’t want a fight. He didn’t want a confrontation that didn’t mean anything. “I do too.”

“I know you do, beloved.” Kokichi sighed, his shoulders relaxing only a fraction. “I see you in the chat logs.” He looked at Shuichi and Shuichi could see the anxiousness. The fear. He was just as afraid of this game as Shuichi was. Yet he was watching it by his lonesome. Shuichi wondered if it was because Kokichi thought he needed the sleep, or if he was worried about the same thing he had been worried about previously. About whether or not Aki was the murderer or the victim. “Aki-chan’s still alive.” He paused the recording and stood up, taking the laptop with him. “We should move this into your room. We can talk there.”

Shuichi nodded and they headed back into his room. They got comfortable on his bed, Kokichi placing the laptop between them and tossing the headphones to the side. Shuichi gave him a small glare for it, those were his good noise-cancelling headphones but Kokichi wasn’t paying attention or caring. He quickly adjusted the volume so that it was comfortable before hitting play. “Should I go back to the beginning?” He asked, hovering his mouse over to the replay button.

Shuichi shook his head and Kokichi took his hands off of the computer, and instead found Shuichi’s under the covers. Rantaro was looking around the crime scene and Shuichi’s throat bobbed when he saw the body of the mangaka on the floor. A scalpel lodged deep into her throat. It looked like someone had tried to slit her throat, but either changed their mind last second, or didn’t realize there was a proper way to do it without getting the weapon caught.

“So Shinigami-san was wrong in thinking the chemist was the murderer.” Kokichi mused softly. “I don’t think this would be her thing.”

“Could be the doctor since I’m sure that’s one of his supplies.” Shuichi mused thoughtfully. “Oh they found the bottle of the chemicals used to knock someone out...or kill them.”

“I think it was a knockout. If it was a killing proportion, then why get stabbed in the neck?” Kokichi theorized as Rantaro started to badger his classmates about alibis and where they were. Shuichi noticed that Aki was looking around the room too, casually going over to Rantaro when she found something to help move the case along.

The scene of the crime was interesting too. It was in an abandoned classroom. If the mangaka was going to die somewhere, Shuichi would’ve thought that her lab would’ve been the prime spot. Someone wanted to have a chat. “Did they figure out the time of death or anything?”

“So far, we don’t know much.” Kokichi murmured. “Apparently this is something new they're trying out.”

“What do you mean?”

“According to some of the backlogs that I was reading before the recording showed up,” Kokichi gestured vaguely to the screen. “Monokuma used to tell the students the time of death, type of death, and little other factoids. This time, Monokuma is giving students free reign. I suppose it’s because they have a doctor on their talent team.”

“How do you feel about the talents?” Shuichi asked softly.

“Hmm...nothing really. It’s just a gimmick isn’t it? I bet that’s why Monokuma isn’t exactly being helpful. If the doctor does a botched up job, well...that means that everyone gets killed besides the blackened riiight?” Kokichi drawled softly. The violinist, Akamatsu if Shuichi remembered her name right, came back with Yadori and gave Rantaro a slip of paper that merely said the words midnight on it.

“So they were meeting up in the classroom.” Shuichi concluded. “To talk probably.”

“About what? Did someone know something? Kind of pointless to start having secret meetings now.” Kokichi scoffed a little. “Honestly some of these kids have no clue what they’re doing.”

“You don’t either, Kokichi-kun.” Shuichi winced a little as Kokichi gave him a mock offended look.

Bing. Bong. Bong. Bing sounded through the computer’s speakers and both of the boys’ shut their mouths as Monokuma appeared in the monitor, looking pleased as the cat that got the cream. “It’s now time for the class trial!” He sounded overly gleeful, like this was the best part of the game. The murder was just the cherry on top of it all. He directed the students towards the elevator, and Shuichi watched as fifteen students climbed into the cage like device and go down deep into the underground.

The trial room wasn’t like anything Shuichi had seen before, and he and Kokichi both had been in court rooms. The podiums were like witness stands, all in a circle facing each other so that there was no way to try to hide anyone’s expression or their actions. Everything was for everyone to see. There was one podium in particular that had Chatani’s death portrait, a large X painted in a bright red substance that looked suspiciously like blood.

The room itself was a little insane looking too. Black and white tile reflected a blue light that came from the ceiling, bouncing off of stained glass windows and mosaiced down to the ground. On a red and gold chair sat Monokuma and down in front of him like jury members waiting to hear the deceivsiness of the trial were the loudmouth Monokubs that Shuichi rarely paid attention to.

The rules were simple. Discuss until there was nothing left to discuss. Vote and pray that it was the right answer. If it was wrong, everyone but the blackened would die. Vote correctly and the blackened would die and everyone else would live.

“Usually in trials everyone’s on the witness stand has to say their name and their ultimate.” Aki suddenly spoke up. “And since we know that this is being recorded, we may want to do that just for it to be on the record.”

“Didn’t realize you were the Ultimate Lawyer, Mayumi-chan.” Oda teased.

Aki paused. “My name is Mayumi. I don’t have a last name. I’m the Ultimate Guitarist. I’ll also be bold enough to say that I’m pleading innocent too.”

Everyone in the trial froze. Kokichi let out a high pitched noise that sounded like he was trying to hold back a snicker or a laugh. Shuichi watched as everyone looked at each other, a little nervous. A little less thrilled with the idea that they might be recorded, that someone could actually use this in an actual trial.

“My name is Maeji Sena. I’m the Ultimate Cheerleader.” Shuichi remembered her credits being fun. Her background was usually a gym of some sort with a bunch of people in the stands. He knew about the cheerleader part though mostly because her yellow and blue pom poms that she carried with her gave her away. She was a nice looking girl too. With a side ponytail and a couple of the same colored ribbons. Her uniform supported the color theme. “I’ll also be bold and say that I’m pleading not guilty.”

“Wow. This trial is going to go by so fast.” Shimahara stated, looking completely bored out of his mind. The sparkles of his shirt caught the light of the stained glass, making it shimmer brilliantly. The looks that his classmates were giving him however, were enough to make him shrink. “Fine, fine. My name is Shimahara Yuji. Ultimate Dancer. Ultimate bored out of my fucking mind. I’m not a part of this. Can we move on?”

“Dick.” Yuya grumbled, flapping her sweater sleeves nervously around her body. “Heyo. I’m Yuya Chika and I burn things for fun!”

“Innocent.” Everyone said together at the same time.

“Yuya-chan can’t be a murderer because we’d have a burnt body instead.” Yadori giggled, though there was something off in her posture. Shuichi noticed that she was too tense for that to be genuine. The laugh also sounded shrill, like a panic. “Okay, okay. I’m Yadori Miki. I’m the Ultimate Figure Skater. I’m pleading not guilty.”

“Yeah maybe we should all just agree that we’re all going to say not guilty and maybe not do that.” Oda sighed, taking out a monocoin and flipped it. He watched it fall down to the ground and bent to pick it up. “So you all know me-”

“Pretend we don’t.” Aki cut through quickly.

Oda gave her a small look. “Okay I’ll humor you. Oda Touru. Ultimate Thief. I’ll steal anything so long as it benefits me somehow.”

“Annnd there’s our jackass.” Yuya happily gestured.

“Maybe not everyone’s not guilty after all.” Ajishi gritted her teeth. “Ah, right. Forgive me.” She cleared her throat and adjusted herself and her posture. Shuichi had to admire how quickly she threw on her persona. “My name is Ajishi Misa and I’m a chemist.”

“Ougai Eiji.” The doctor quietly murmured next to her. “I’m a doctor. We should try to remain objective while we’re on trial.”

“We’re not...always going to go around the circle introducing ourselves right?” A boy asked. He wore the same sort of uniform the thief did, but his had a bit more of a flair to it. It was fitted loose on him and Shuichi felt like all he was missing was the cape. “I’m only stalling, I'm sorry. My name is Nakaji Katsuji. I’m the Ultimate Actor.”

“Ultimate could be murderer got it.” Shimahara deadpanned.

“Now, now.” Rantaro quickly held his hands up. “Let’s not get into a fight. We’re all in the same boat here. My name is Amami Rantaro. I’m the Ultimate Adventurer.” He looked over at Kokai. “Your turn.”

“I’m Kokai Seijo. I’m a falconer.” Kokai nervously adjusted his gloves. “I’m na a murderer eider.”

“So now it’s my turn right?!” Shirogane asked. “My name is Shirogane Tsumugi. My talent is being the Ultimate Cosplayer. I’m not surprised if no one remembers me.”

“You’re right. No idea who you are.” Shimahara deadpanned.

“Well you didn’t have to be so mean about it...but I get it.” Shirogane winced.

“Why didn’t anyone think to kill you off is a mystery.” A girl with blonde hair spoke up. Shuichi really did try to rack his brians, the familiarity of her just bothered him sometimes. “My name is Akamatsu Kazue. I’m the Ultimate Violinist. Let’s solve this mystery together.”

“Horrible catch phrase.” It was a teasing tone and a gentle smile that graced that sentence. The boy had on a heavy utility belt and it was full of different kinds of equipment. His hair was all over the place, and he looked to be in the same boat as Yuya when it came to burns. “So formally I’m Gonoji Yoshitaka, but you guys can call me Yoshi-kun. I don’t care.”

“That leaves me. I’m Kai Yako. I’m the Ultimate Singer.” Kai mused, shifting on his feet.

“Oh. Right I was supposed to say that I was the Ultimate Electrician. Sorry.” Yoshi rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

“Now that we got that all squared away, and it’s on record.” Rantaro spoke up, “We should start by talking about the obvious.”

Ougai straightened his tie. “To slit someone’s throat effectively, you would go from ear to ear with the head tilted downwards to expose more veins. Tilting it up, you expose the knife to different obsticals and instead of making a fast clean death, you made the victim suffer and you fuck up the kill. You don’t look dramatic. You look like an amateur. We can rule out myself and Ajishi automatically for it if that’s the case.” Ougai paused. “Also there were some defensive wounds that were on Chatani-san’s body. Indicating that there was a struggle.”

“Okay so we’re dissing the culprit before we even start, cool.” Oda drawled. “But sorry doctor and chemistry teacher, but I think you two shouldn’t count yourselves out just yet. We know the murder weapon was a scapal. Therefore it was one of yours. I’m thinking the doctor did it. Anyone else?”

“What would the motive be? The flashback light?” Yuya tugged on her sleeves nervously, winging and flapping them around, nearly hitting her peers that were next to her. “I mean, we don’t even know if it’s real or not. Monokuma could’ve just said to throw all of us off.”

“Yes, but that does not mean that someone else would believe the lie.” Ajishi adjusted her goggles over her eyes. “Let’s hypothesize that someone’s motive is the flashback light. Let’s hypothesize that they believed that there was a memory in there that they wanted back.”

“If we’re accusing me first, I can easily say three things. One, I have an alibi. Two, if I’m going to murder someone why would I pick the most obvious weapon that can be pointed out to me? I know more ways to murder someone and get away with it than to do a botched job and leave my own work too behind. Three, I don’t care about the flashback light. I don’t care about my lost memory. If anyone should be worried about their memories, it’s Mayumi-san who doesn’t have a single thing to her name.” Ougai gestured over towards Aki, who was mindless chewing on her finger.

She froze like a deer in headlights, and bit at her nail a little harder, but otherwise stayed silent.

“Why woul’ she go af’er Chadani dough?” Kokai frowned, tugging on his gloves and keeping his gaze down. “We dun dalk da her much.”

“If she was going to go after anyone, it’d be Oda-kun you’re right.” Akamatsu said, as she held her pointer finger up in the air. She had another hand on her hip and she immediately turned the conversation. “So we need to start looking at people who are close to Chatani-chan and who would want to hurt her.”

“So basically all of us and none of all all at the same time.” Oda rolled his eyes as dramatically as he could. “Because none of us are really all that chummy with each other, violin.”

“She’s the weakest member here though, isn’t she?” Yadori asked as she was redoing her hair, trying to pull it back into a nicer looking bun. Her hands were trembling, Shuichi noticed. She wasn’t trying to meet anyone’s gaze. If anything, she was trying to distract, but why? Shuichi covered his mouth with his hand, gazing on Yadori as though she could hold all of the answers. Maybe he was wrong, but...she was acting not herself for certain.

“Where was she during the investigation?” Kokichi murmured and Shuichi felt his heart plummet down into his stomach, icing his veins in the cold realization that Yadori was a suspect. She had acted weird when Ajishi confronted her classmates about her missing things too. Too stiff. Too afraid. Oda was too calm, too certain. He didn’t care that he was an accomplice. Only the murderer was going to get punished. He could do whatever he wanted and help whoever he pleased.

It made Shuichi wonder if Oda had a bigger part to play than the “Ultimate Thief”.

“Wow.” Tsumugi drawled, looking insulted. “That’s just plain rude right there. Chatani-senpai’s a strong person. Both inside and out. You didn’t know this, but when Chatani-senpai writes any kind of manga, she does her research. From experimenting with eating disorders to actually going to the gym and working out to be as buff as she can as a female, and asking male bodybuilders to pose for her to practice the anatomy. She isn’t someone that’d just lay down and take a hit.”

“Eating disorders aren’t exactly what you’d consider strength here.” Shuichi muttered, mostly to himself. He heard Kokichi snort beside him and he felt his cheeks flush. He was used to being by himself while he watched the show. He forgot that sometimes he mumbled to himself to get the gears rolling in his mind. That being said though, Tsumugi had a bit of a point. Her determination and perseverance would be considered a strength. If she hadn’t died, she would’ve made it a lot longer than she had, that was for certain.

“Is anyone else disturbed that she actually goes that far for her writing or is that just me?” Oda asked, looking around at the trial circle.

“I mean, I’m a performer.” Nakajima said, picking against his tie as he undid it and was re-doing it. “I also have to determine what weight I have to be if I’m going to be an accurate representation of my character. I destroyed my body in many ways and I recovered it in many ways.”

“I’m not much but a singer, but even my appearance gets me a side-eye every now and then.” Kai rubbed his neck.

Maeji shifted in her stand, “I mean, I was once told to lose some weight if I wanted to be caught easier during the pyramids or any of the tosses, but I never took them into too much consideration. It was a...thought though I’ll...admit that.”

Shimahara just sighed, “Yeah. All of us have body issues. I did the same. It’s stupid. Can we press on now?”

“Dear god, please get therapy, all of you.” Oda’s complexation paled.

“One of us cannot, she’s dead.” Ajishi frowned at Oda. “And also please stop being so insensitive.”

“We’re getting off topic.” Rantaro quickly intervened. “We’re not getting anywhere if we get sidetracked. So we know that whoever killed Chatani-san didn’t know how to slit a throat. We know that they managed to get into Ougai-kun’s lab and get the weapon. We also found a bottle of the mixture Ajishi-san told us would make a knockout gas rather than a poisonous one.

“To be on the safe side,” Ougai commented, “My lab is never locked.”

Everyone stared at him. Rantaro folded his arms and gave him a small look. “You mean to tell me that anyone can go in and grab what they can from your lab?”

“My lab is a medical facility. For me to close it could be hazardous to anyone. I want there to be free reign in case someone gets hurt or needs something and I’m not awake to provide. That being said, I do normally keep my door unlocked too.” Ougai explained. “So that if someone does have a need for me, they can get me as fast as possible. I’m used to not sleeping a lot, so I’m easy to alert.”

“Do we know when Chatani-chan died?” Aki asked, her voice wavering as she tore another piece of skin from her nails. Shuichi watched in muted horror as blood dripped down between her fingertips.

Ougai also looked pained, “Please stop chewing your nails, Mayumi-san, you can’t play guitar like that. Also...I can only give an estimate. I’m no way a coroner. My theory is that Chatani-san met her demise around twelve ten or twelve thirty.”

“So a thirty minute chat.” Oda mused, “What would they be talking about that could take so long?”

“Girls are like gossips. They never shut up.” Shimahara shrugged.

“I knew Oda-kun was a dick, but you, sir, are an asshole.” Yuya frowned, putting her hands on her hips. “Maybe you two should go find a room after this is over and get some of that aggression out.”

“Fucking ex-”

“We’re getting sidetracked again!” Rantaro snapped. “Will you guys cut it out, this is serious. If we don’t figure it out, all of us are dead.”

“Is that really a bad thing though?” Yadori asked, looking apprehensive. “I mean…we’re forced to die anyway. Isn’t this...quicker?”

“Wow.” Yuya stared at Yadori. “You have no balls.”

Yadori spluttered.

“I’m kinda sad really. I thought we were friends.” Yuya pouted, kicking at the stand and placing her hands behind her back. Her eyes looking downcast and her expression clearly betrayed. “I thought that you liked hanging out with me.”

“O-of course I do! I just…”

“Would rather want us dead than alive is all.” Aki muttered. Her finger was bleeding profusely now and she was already going on to the next one.

Shuichi couldn’t remember a time where Aki actively bit her nails. She was always so careful to make sure that they were short, but...had that been to resist the temptation of biting them? He was going to have to figure out how to ask about that habit to his uncle and his aunt. He couldn’t imagine Danganronpa being able to implement new habits, but at the same time, he wasn’t sure what this game was capable of.

They stole everyone’s memory and forcibly removed Aki’s for everything including her name. He couldn’t imagine it just stopped there either.

“Da no’ said dat dey were gonna mee’ up a’ midnigh’.” Kokai broke the conversation, his voice a slow thoughtful drawl. “We know dat dey had da abli-lie da use da chemical da knock ou’ Chadani-san.” He pulled the gloves. “We know dat dey dun kno how da kill eider.”

“You know I don’t know if this would help but here’s my theory.” Ougai suddenly snapped his fingers. “The culprit and Chatani-san both agreed to meet up at the classroom at midnight. The culprit already knew that Chatani only had few friends and therefore wouldn’t be missed. They used the knockout chemical mixture to make the death painless as possible, only misjudged on how to properly slit a throat. The throat is slit and the dead is done.”

“So we’re thinking the chemical was used on Chatani-san. Okay so we’re thinking that this was a mercy killing.” Akamatsu mused, coming back some of her hair as she looked to the side. “God, my sister’s much better at figuring out mysteries like this. I just can’t come up with anyone that’d go out of their way to hurt her.”

“Alibis then.” Rantaro nodded, “We should get those cleared out so that we can figure out who we need to start looking at.”

“Hold on a second.” Oda broke the conversation, looking at Rantaro with a deep frown on his face. “Why aren’t we questioning Mayumi-chan?”

“What do you mean?” Rantaro deadpanned.

“She’s the one with the lost memory, right?” Oda gestured. “We know that the flashback light would be the motive. Why are we ruling her out?”

“I never said that she was ruled out.” Rantaro frowned at Oda, his arms tightly folded against his chest. “What I can determine though is that Mayumi-chan wouldn’t go after Chatani on the mere fact that neither of them are close.”

“We’re stuck in a killing game. Should closeness really be a reason here?” Yadori frowned.

“Then why hasn’t anyone gone after Kokai-kun? Shirogane-san? Mayumi-chan if she’s such an easy target.” Rantaro gestured. “It’s because they’re all connected to someone yeah? A little bit of a threat. Shirogane-san and Chatani-san were probably the only friends that actively hung out all the time.”

“I don’t recall anyone asking me to hang out as of late besides Amami-kun, Mayumi-chan, and Kokai-kun.” Shirogane nodded. “As plain as I am, I’m not surprised that I’d be ignored in the background, but it was nice to see that Chatani-senpai saw a fellow fan and was willing to let me pick her brain so to speak.”

Kokichi let out a suffering sigh, “They’re going around in circles.”

“Yadori-san isn't helping that fact and neither is Oda-kun.” Shuichi murmured, watching the trial dissolve back into disaster. “Amami-kun’s on the right track though. Killers aren’t likely to kill strangers. They’ll kill people they’re familiar with because it’s easier to figure out routine. Getting trust means it’s easy to get them to do what you want them to do.”

“What’s your big detective brain thinking then?” Kokichi asked and Shuichi could feel Kokichi’s gaze on him.

“I think that it’s weird that Oda-kun stole the chemicals. I think it’s weird that Yadori acted strangely in the breakfast hall.” Shuichi murmured. “I wonder...Chatani-san had the chemicals in her possession. She had it there that night when she met up with her killer. I bet it was a struggle and a fight to get both murder weapons away from each other. Chatani-san isn’t strong physically and was most likely overpowered. She was easy to knock out and kill after that.”

“Psychology says that memory and personality are one in the same. If the brain is tempered with in any direction, the personality can change with it.” Aki agreed, speaking around a bleeding middle finger. Shuichi and Kokichi both stared at the screen as everyone else looked over at her. She continued to chew as she spoke, her words muffled against skin and blood. “Closeness isn’t a factor, I agree with Yadori-chan. We can’t rule any one of us out. If we were out in the real world then yeah, it’d be weird for a stranger to go up and murder someone, but that’s not what’s happening here.” She took her finger out of her mouth, blood lingered on her lips as she looked at everyone. “So here’s my thought. I find it weird and strange that Chatani-chan’s body has defensive wounds. While I know some of us are performers and have skills in makeup, I think that we should all offer our own bodies to show whether or not we have the bruises or scratches. Of course, I can always out you now if you’d prefer.”

“What do you mean “out”?” Oda asked, folding his arms.

“We know that Chatani-chan wasn’t late for the meeting, she was right on time because the murder took place around twelve ten to twelve thirty. Without an actual coroner to say anything about it, we can only go by a guess or two. I’m sure Shirogane-san can confirm that Chatani-chan wouldn’t be late to any kind of meeting because mangaka’s are always under strict schedules. Right?”

“That is right!” Shirogane proclaimed, looking excited. “Mangaka authors are used to working towards extreme deadlines, very rarely do they miss. Therefore, the meeting went exactly as planned.”

“What does this have to do...with anything?” Kai asked, looking perplexed. He wasn’t the only one that was lost. Even Rantaro was giving her a mild look.

“Because if the murder was about the flashback light, we would’ve found it in either Chatani-chan’s lab or her room. Both were negative.” Aki explained, looking at Yako. “Which means that’s not the motive. But...if I recall from all the meetings we had. Chatani-chan would always mention that a murder could happen. In particular, the conversation about the chemicals.”

“Now that you mention it,” Rantaro placed his hands on his hips, looking peeved. “I do recall Oda-kun getting upset with you about calling him out for stealing it.”

“Now wait just a-”

Aki barreled on, ignoring Oda’s protests. “Who else acted weird during that conversation, Amami-kun?”

“Yadori-san.” Shuichi breathed just as Rantaro spoke the name. The figure skater was always antsy around the mangaka. Especially when Chatani would mention that there was a method of killing, or that the chemicals and the imbalance of them would be a waste to use. “That makes sense.”

“You and Aki-chan go like seven different hoops and I feel like I’m stuck on level one world one.” Kokichi pouted a little. “How did you get Yadori from all of that?! There’s literally no proof unless…”

“Kokai-kun probably has it. Either that or Aki-chan is hiding her own piece of evidence. This isn’t a real court. Not everyone is going to want to show things off. They’re going to want to put the killer to the back of the wall and force them to see the truth of their crimes.” Shuichi gripped Kokichi’s hand. “This isn’t a game of who's going to go to jail. This is whether or not they survive for the next several hours.”

“But I never really spoke to Chatani-chan so...why would it be me?” Yadori frowned. “How was I acting strange to get the suspicion?”

“Because every time Chatani-san mentioned the flashback light or the chemicals, you tensed up as though you were waiting for her to act on it.” Rantaro continued. “You also keep looking away from us. I mean all of us aren’t exactly thrilled at looking at each other in the eye and accusing each other of killing one of our classmates, but you also said something that threw all of us for a loop. You thought it was a good idea for all of us to suffer and die.”

“I...I was only thinking-”

“That’s some balls right there. Really big cajones.” Shimahara narrowed his eyes at Yadori, and Shuichi watched her cower. “Because if it was the other way around and someone else had said that would you agree?”

“I just…”

“So we weren’t friends.” Yuya sounded tearful. “You wanted us dead so that you could go and get the flashback light, is that what you were after?”

“Chika-chan no, please.” Yadori begged, looking at her friend, tears springing to the corner of her eyes. “That’s not true. None of what they’re saying is true. I have an alibi. I was asleep like everyone else, I promise. I promise. I didn’t hurt anyone. I didn’t want to hurt anyone. I was just trying to protect you. I swear.”

“So you did hurt someone.” Rantaro watched Yadori freeze on the stand. Horror started to carve itself around her face as she realized that she dug her own hole trying to assure Yuya that she wouldn’t go out of her way to hurt someone.

“You don’t get it.” Yadori whispered. “You don’t understand. You guys don’t…” She took a deep breath. “If you think you’re so clever, then come out and accuse me. You don’t have any proof. Everything you're saying is speculation. THIS IS BULLSHIT!” She suddenly screamed, gripping onto the stand like a lifeline. Shuichi felt himself back up a little away from the laptop, staring at her in surprise. The composure that she was was breaking at the seams. “I’D NEVER HURT CHATANI-CHAN. NEVER EVER. Yes I was worried about her being a murderer. Yes I went to check on her to make sure that never happened. BUT DIDN’T DO A DAMN THING TO HER! IF ANYONE SHOULD BE WORRIED, IT WOULD BE WHOEVER CHATANI-CHAN WAS GOING TO GO AFTER! SHE HAD THE BOTTLE OF THE MIXTURE IN HER POSSESSION!”

“But how do you know that?” Rantaro demanded, not daring to let Yadori escape his gaze. “None of us knew who had the chemicals in whose possession. You were there that night.”

“IF I WAS THERE THAT NIGHT THEN WOULDN’T MY CLOTHES BE BLOODIED?” Yadori shrieked. “HOW ABOUT YOU ACTUALLY GIVE ME SOME PROOF BEFORE YOU START COMING AFTER ME?!”

“Oh is that it?” Oda asked casually as he decided to fling a piece of fabric into the middle of the circle. Said fabric, Shuichi noticed, was one of Yadori’s leotards. The bright blue soaked in red. “Oops. My bad. I guess I should’ve been a little nicer and handed it over to everyone before this whole trial.”

“Where did you get that?” Yadori hissed. “You’re trying to set me up you-”

“I don’t like it when people try to toss me under buses. I don’t particularly care that you went off and killed Chatani-chan, but I thought it was cute you decided to try to assure us that you wouldn’t “hurt” anyone at the time very clearly admitting that you did. Also, I thought it’d be fun to watch you sweat a little. You almost got away too. Shame.” Oda taunted, looking completely smug. “Maybe next time I’ll team up with the investigator squad. They make things so much more interesting than you trying to act innocent.”

Shuichi watched Yadori’s expression break, and he knew there was no way for her to recover from this. Rantaro took a deep breath in and let it out slowly, “Here’s how this all went down.” Rantaro mused. “Yadori-san got concernend after the fifth or so time Chatani-san mentioned a murder happening or taking place or even hinting that a murder could have occured. She decided to ask Chatani-san to come meet her in the classroom at midnight. Yadori-san knew she might be dealing with an unstable individual so she snuck into Ougai-kun’s infirmary lab and stole a scalpel from his place. Considering that Ougai-kun does plenty of patrols around the campus, it wasn’t hard. She waited until midnight and at first tried to resolve things peacefully.”

Rantaro looked each of his classmates in the eye as he tried to sum up the case. “But Chatani-san was prepared too. She was paranoid that she might be the next victim or that someone would find her as an easy target. Using the chemicals that she asked Oda-kun to steal, and listened to Ajishi-san’s advice, she was going to knock out her supposed culprit and get help. Somehow someway, it became a struggle. Whether Chatai-san saw the scalpel or had an idea that Yadori-san might be her culprit, or that Yadori-san assumed the bottle and the cloth held the lethal amount of chemicals inside, we don’t know for sure and maybe won’t ever know.”

He folded his arms tightly as he stared right at Yadori. “But it became a struggle, didn’t it? You guys fought and you managed to get the cloth first. You could have left her there, and continued on, but no. You used the scalpel, and tried to slit her throat. Either you were too overzealous, or you really had no idea what to do. You ran off after the deed was done. You weren’t at breakfast this morning because you were trying to find a way to discard the bloodied clothes. However, while everyone was trying to find Chatani-san, Oda-kun came across your dumping grounds and decided to hold onto it for whatever reason. You joined up later and helped us find Chatani-san. All in all, the clues point to you, Yadori Miki, the Ultimate Figure Skater.”

“Was that….accurate?” Kokichi whispered breathlessly.

“More accurate than I can say.” Shuichi agreed. “Yadori-san was the murderer.”

“Jesus.”

“You were the murderer of Chatani Shinko, the Ulitmate Mangaka.” Rantaro concluded. “It was...you this entire time.”

“.....I thought she was going to kill me.” Yadori sobbed quietly, falling apart in the witness stand. “I didn’t know what to do, I panicked. I thought about getting help, but I was afraid to turn my back. What if she was faking. What if, what if…” She trailed off. “You guys wouldn’t get it. I have so much waiting for me at home. I...I was going to be in the Olympics. I was….I was going to be someone. Someone famous. Someone that no one could look down upon ever again! I worked so hard...I worked so hard…”

“Yadori-san…” Yuya whispered.

“I killed her. I stabbed her in the throat and then realized I could have slit it and I was trying to fix that mistake only it was too late.” Yadori whimpered, covering her eyes in shame, still sobbing. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.”

Monokuma cackled from his stand. “Well now it’s voting time! Don’t go picking the wrong one now!”

Shuichi held his breath as he watched the votes get counted. He looked over at the chat log, seeing how many people were commenting about how they were kind of disappointed that Yadori didn’t make it through. Many of them were poking holes in the discussion that was happening, making fun of everyone for one mistake or another. Yet that wasn’t why most of the people in the chat were there. The trials were just like popcorn. A small snack to the bigger finale.

Monokuma hit a red button with a small hammer and everyone paused with a breath as an old fashioned 8-bit screen appeared. A small miniature Yadori standing in the middle of Monokuma’s path before being dragged off. The loading screen disappeared just as a metal grip attached itself to Yadori’s neck and physically hauled her onto a skating rink.

Everyone stared in shock as Yadori was in the middle of an ice rink. A spotlight flashed on top of her in a darkened room. At first it was peaceful. Yadori skated as fast as she could towards the exit door and yanked it open. At first she was greeted with a dark hallway that was still covered in ice. She was just about to move when she was suddenly shoved to the side and a bunch of monokuma bears appeared onto the rink, skating and recreating some of the twirls and catches.

She was about to try to skate through the herd of many Monokuma cubs, but she lost her footing and slipped onto the ice rink. Everyone watched in muted shock as she was being run over and sliced by ice skates. Her screams were muted, but if they were anything like the one she let out in the trial, Shuichi didn’t have to use his imagination. While the monokuma bears were busy tearing her body apart by thinking she was part of the ice rink, the camera momentarily disappeared and showed the real Monokuma at a thermostat, turning the heat up so that the ice rink would start to melt.

Soon enough the monokuma bears got bored and disappeared back into the hallway. She was left on the rink, bloodied and cut. She slowly got herself up on her knees, blood splattered onto the ice as she started to get up onto her feet. Her clothes were torn in a way that looked a bit fanservicey for Shucihi to be comfortable with. She was holding herself up as blood continued to spill down her body. She wobbled and tried to skate towards a different area, trying to keep towards the wall of the rink, a trail of blood following her wake. Whatever she was holding must have had an electrical current going through it, because she was zapped and was forced to let go.

Uncertain where to go, and thinking the other side might be safer, Yadori slowly started to skate her way painfully towards the otherside.

“Oh no.” Kokichi whispered.

She got to the middle of the rink. The ice was thin enough that it cracked ominously underneath her weight. She was in too much pain to try to skate faster and she fell into the water. Monokuma quickly turned the thermostat down…

All anyone could see was red blood going to the surface of the ice, and a small fist banging at the bottom of the ice for a while before sinking downwards.

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a-stitch-in-time-and-space · 5 years ago

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Happy Julian Bashir ficlet 5 of 10: parent

1: fixation

2: body

3: hobby

4: scars

6: love

7: stim

8: books

9: childhood

10: righteous

(this is what happens when you’re just doing speed-writing and the goal is to let whatever happens, happen...)

It began to happen the day after he accidentally over-shared with Captain Sisko. Or perhaps Sisko had purposefully lured the information out of him by using his Understanding Voice. Maybe this had all been a trap. Nevertheless, he noticed how certain people started treating him... differently.

Sisko himself, for one, started inviting him in for motivational talks. Nothing to do with his work suffering, which was what he'd first feared, oh no, but questions: Who was he seeing these days? How was Garak doing? Was he getting some downtime in the holodecks or would he perhaps like to take a spin with him across a couple of nearby planets with interesting plant-life?

It was disturbing.

Then Worf offered to teach him to fight with the Bat'leth. He was actually not bad due to his augmentations, but he couldn't feel his arms after. Worf gruffly told him they would continue the following day. He didn't know how to get out of it, so his arms reached a permanently deadened state, which made lifting vials difficult.

Then the O'Briens kept bringing the kids to him to babysit. He didn't have the time, no, thank you Keiko, surgeries to do, things to... discover. And Quark of all people... Quark gave him a free drink and offered to give him an apprenticeship at the bar. Same wages as the rest if he accepted, but a worthwhile occupation. Julian reminded him that he was one of the most successful doctors in starfleet history. Yes, but not valedictorian, not that it matters, Quark hurried to add. Not if you're working in the bar.

Rom pointed out that Doctor Julian Bashir was allowed to live his own life, prompting an angry discussion between the two, which allowed Julian to exit without being noticed.

It came to a head when Lwaxana Troi came onto the station. She cornered him and for a moment he was terrified that he was about to be her next pursuit, but instead she simply hugged him close to her bossom and said: “There, there,” before leaving him, for once speechless, in his office.

He stormed up to Sisko, the seeming source of the strangeness, and bumped into the Major, who awkwardly began... “if you ever want to talk...”

“About what? What is going on?”

“Oh. Nothing, nothing, just, Benjamin told us you were having a rough time, so we should distract you.”

“Did he say why I was having a rough time?”

“No. Aren't you?”

He thought about that one for a moment. “Excuse me Major, I believe the captain and I have an unfinished conversation.”

He marched the last of the way and opened the door with the kind of panache he'd been learning whilst playing secret agent, finger pointed in accusation. He wished he'd prepared a speech though, because what came out was: “Look, it really wasn't as bad as I made it seem. Lots of children were lonely growing up.” Sisko looked up at him from his chair, patient and placid. “And,” continued Bashir, with less force, “you can't just tell people to be nice to me. Lwaxana Troi?” The wind went out of his sails then and he dropped his finger.

“I never said anything to the Ambassador,” said Sisko. “I assume she could sense something. Or Odo told her. Either way, I'm sure whatever she did, she meant well.”

“She hugged me.”

Sisko nodded slowly. “Did your mother ever hug you?”

“Wha- th- besides the point, but yes, actually, if you must know. When I did well in an achievement. And when I got into starfleet medical school. I didn't like it, it felt like she was either showing me off or giving me a treat for being good.” Blast, he was talking again! “That isn't the point-”

“Julian,” said Sisko, calmly, and it was the use of his first name that stopped him. That and Sisko's ever-soothing voice. “I've met your parents. Perhaps I should have offered then, but there was a lot going on at the time. The point is, not everyone has the parents they deserve, so others might step in to give some of the support they should have been getting growing up, to remind them they have a new family now that values them. They don't have to be lonely any more.”

Bashir stared at him. “Are you... offering to be...” he stopped himself.

Sisko laughed. “Worf says the Bat'leth lessons are going well, but you can just let him know that it's not the sport for you. He won't be offended.”

“Right. Yes. Thanks dad- uh Benja- Captain Da- Sisko. Captain Sisko.” He fled before he could open his mouth again.

In the afternoon he bounced Molly on his knee while eating dinner with the O'Briens, realising that Sisko had been right. He wasn't lonely anymore.

#julian bashir #benjamin sisko #fanfic #ds9 #st: ds9 #star trek #benjamin sisko is dad #i don't know what this is but #probably a mix of having watch b99 and realising jake and holt have this dynamic and i want it on ds9 and #just a want to see benjamin be the dad everyone deserves #halfway there folks!

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unlockthelore · 5 years ago

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It Just Couldn’t Wait

Keiko was used to waking up alone on some nights with the cry of her child ringing out in the halls. Some nights, Yusuke would be the one to kiss her on the cheek then assure her that he could handle Masaki’s needs. It was the nights that he wasn’t there that Keiko would rise and go to tend to her darling little girl. Masaki was as fussy as any other child though because of her demon blood, she tended to be harder to get back to sleep once she woke. Her crying dying down when Keiko stepped into the room and she glimpsed her from where she stood in her crib. Fat tears rolled down her cheeks and every one served to break Keiko’s heart as she walked over and eased her out of the crib, hugging her close to her chest.

“There, there…”

Masaki nuzzled her face against her shoulder and her hiccuping sobs eventually stilled into shaky breaths, a tiny yet powerful fist curled in Keiko’s t-shirt. Rocking her from one side to the other, Keiko rested her cheek against Masaki’s head and glanced outside. The sun was slowly rising and the sky was lightening. Yusuke said that he would be back before first light and he was never one to break his promises without needing to. Panic would have overcome her years ago but she had no doubt that Yusuke would return to her now.

And if not to her, then definitely to the little girl cuddled close to her chest.

“Why don’t we go see where daddy is, hm?” Keiko pressed a kiss to Masaki’s head and walked out of the room. She knew that her daughter would appreciate the change in scenery and the movements along with the steady rocking would hopefully be enough to lull her to sleep.

Peeking into their bedroom, Keiko glanced around and Masaki rocked backward as if trying to mimic her mother’s movements. Keiko smiled and pressed a kiss to the crown of her head.

“Not in bed,” Keiko said in a sing-song voice, Masaki’s wide eyes focusing on her again then back to the bedroom.

Turning on her heel, Keiko waked down the short hall that led to the family’s living room. It wasn’t much. They lived out the second floor of their shop after all, but it was enough for the three of them. Pictures of Team Urameshi on the walls and tables, a television that didn’t see much use outside of Yusuke’s video games, toys littering the ground and the table from all of Yusuke’s time playing with Masaki. Keiko shook her head as she shifted her daughter to her hip, bending down to pick up her husband’s controllers and setting them on the table. His game systems were one of the few things that he played fairly often. Sometimes with Kuwabara who came over to hang out, occasionally Hiei and Kurama, though most times with Keiko and Masaki. Keiko was even proud enough to admit that she bested her husband more than once on his fighting games. Something that he was quick to brag about to others but easily denied when she brought it up to him.

“Not in the living room,” Keiko said in the same tone, Masaki laughing when she pressed a noisy kiss to her cheek.

Wandering to the upstairs kitchen, Keiko made a show of looking around and even did a few spins on her foot. Masaki squealing with laughter and smiling at her widely when Keiko dipped low, cradling the back of Masaki’s head and smiling down at her.

“Not here either!”

Standing up, Masaki rocked back and forth, laying her head on Keiko’s shoulder and Keiko smiled down at her.

“I wonder where he could be.”

And truly, she did. No matter how often he left, no matter how much she believed he would return, Keiko missed her husband and wanted to know he was safe. Yusuke was her friend long before they even started liking one another or married or had a child. And as his friend, she wanted nothing more than his safety and happiness. Heading downstairs to the shop, Masaki’s soft cooing and the creaking steps were all that she could hear. Though when she wandered to the front, soft snores caught her attention and she tilted her head, looking over the counter.

“Yusuke?”

It sounded like him and when she peered closer, the sight of her husband curled up on the cushions of one of the booths made her sigh and bury her face in her hand. Of course he was sleeping down here. Rounding the counter, Keiko ignored the chill from the cold on her bare legs and reached out to pat Yusuke’s shoulder. When he didn’t wake or even stir, she shook his shoulder and that did nothing either. Eyebrow raised, she glanced at Masaki who stared down at her father with a confused tilt of the head. Holding her daughter out, Keiko reared her knee back and gave Yusuke’s foot a swift kick. He startled, eyes shooting open and turned on his back with a low groan.

“Yusuke,” Keiko repeated, trying to add an echo to her tone.

Yusuke blinked slowly, staring up at Masaki, the little girl reaching out to take his face in her hands and giggling.

“Masaki?” he muttered, reaching out to hold her and Keiko let her fingers slip away once he had a grasp on her. “How’re you talking?”

Keiko tried not to laugh and put on her sternest expression, hands resting on her hips.

“And why do you sound like—“

“Yusuke.”

Yusuke bolted upright and it was by a hairs breadth that he didn’t clip his forehead on the window sill. Masaki laughed at the jolt and waved her hands up to Yusuke. He gave her a slight smile and let her hold his face in her hands, glancing up at Keiko with wide brown eyes and an apologetic lopsided smile.

“Hey Keiko.”

“What are you doing down here?”

Yusuke had the decency to look a bit apologetic, glancing down at Masaki as she giggled. “I didn’t want to wake you so I slept down here for the night.”

Keiko’s eyes softened and she eased her hands from her hips. Over the years, she’d come to understand that Yusuke often thought about others even when it seemed like he didn’t. He tried not to be too much of an inconvenience and paid back his debts when they were due. But she never wanted to make him feel that he was unwelcome in his own home or that he was any less valued than her or Masaki. Marriage was about compromises after all, and though she picked up after him at times and scolded him when he came home late, Yusuke did the same for her when she overworked herself and fell asleep in random places.

With a soft huff, Keiko stepped forward and ran her fingers through his messy hair. “You don’t have to worry about that, you’re home and the bed is warmer with you in it anyway.”

Yusuke looked up at her and she loved those eyes. Although Yusuke could look incredibly mean and dangerous when he wanted, when he was home, those eyes were filled with light, warmth and love. Even now, as she knew he was going to say something silly, he stared u pat her with adoration. It made her wonder how she couldn’t see it before.

“I knew it, you’re just using me to warm your bed.” Yusuke teased, hugging their daughter closer to him.

Keiko chuckled and leant down to kiss his forehead, muttering against his skin. “Well, that’s part of it.”

She pulled away and waited as the emotions flickered across Yusuke’s face rapidly. Adoration, love, recognition then confusion.

“Wh—“ Yusuke started, squinting at Keiko as she walked around the counter again. “What’s the other part?”

Before she disappeared into the back, she glanced over her shoulder and grinned at him, taking off.

“Hey!”

Her laughter echoed off the walls and Yusuke scrambled to pick up Masaki who was giggling, happy enough to be dragged along for the ride.

“What’s the other part?!” Yusuke shouted, smiling despite himself as he chased after her. “Keiko!”

#yusuke x keiko #yusuke urameshi #keiko yukimura #yu yu hakusho #fanfiction #my fanfiction #daydream generation

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dak-legacy · 7 years ago

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Visit to Universe 3.

High above the bustling planet surface, in the cloud filled sky, the three hovered. The Supreme Kai and a robotic God of Destruction had arrived to investigate a temporal disturbance in their universe, and they had found it. Both wore the traditional getups for their respective roles, outfits Keiko was used to seeing on Lord Beerus and Shin whenever they had popped up in the Time Nest.

But these weren’t Beerus and Shin.

“What is this…thing doing in our universe?” the bespectacled Kai exclaimed, pointing at the orange skinned Majin who hung with them in the upper atmosphere. He spoke in a refined accent, not unlike Shin, but he seemed a few years older. Not that she could tell, the only elderly looking Kai she had ever seen was the Elder Kai, and he was supposedly only a few years older than the Supreme Kai of Time.

A series of beeps and whirrs came from his mechanical God of Destruction counterpart, though Keiko couldn’t understand what he had just said. She merely pointed at herself, confused at the first question.

“Ah, that’s right Lord Mosco.” The Kai responded, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “She doesn’t appear to be from here.”

Keiko was still puzzled at this interaction. She knew she wasn’t wearing the most fashionable clothes, the dark purple jacket and black chest coverings weren’t listed in Capsule Corp’s style magazine. Even when the voice rang out from her communicator on loudspeaker she still seemed confused.

“My apologies.” The Surpreme Kai of Time begged through the comm unit. “Lord Mosco, Lord Ea, I’m aware my operative doesn’t belong in Universe 3, but we’re tracking dangerous criminals who we now can confirm have the ability to shift between universes. We have to be extra careful.”

Another series of whirrs and mechanical sounds played from the vocal processors of Mosco.

“That’s right, I recognize that voice too. Universe 7s Supreme Kai of Time.” Ea continued staring directly at Keiko as he spoke. “You should know that travelling between universes is a grave violation of the heavenly terms. Even if you are pursuing a criminal, you should have informed our Time Patrol before doing so.” He talked with a degree of smugness to his voice.

“Well,” he continued. “I’d be inclined to let this violation slide if you do one thing for me.” His spectacles caught the sun, gleaming a little as he pointed a finger back at Keiko. “Allow one of our champions to battle your agent. I’ve not seen one of her before, she would be an excellent specimen to study.”

The look of dumbfounded confusion on Keiko’s face hadn’t shifted since this conversation began.

“What?” he asked, shrugging his shoulders. “If you’re worried about her safety I promise our agent won’t kill her, a dead subject doesn’t yield any significant results after all. Participate in this match and we’ll allow you to carry out your business in conjunction with Universe 3s Time Patrol agents.”

Back in the Time Nest Chronoa listened intently to the proposition. She gritted her teeth, this was a level of danger she hadn’t wanted to put her agents in. She knew all about the major threats in Universe 7, Universe 3 was a completely different story.

Switching the comm mode to personal she spoke directly to Keiko. “Do you think you can handle it?” she whispered, nervously awaiting the answer.

“Do I get to fight the wind up toy or the Shin cosplayer?” Keiko asked loudly and innocently.

“I’M NOT A COSPLAYER!” screamed Ea, shaking his fist in rage.

Mosco meanwhile let out a few more beeps and boops in some kind of incomprehensible response to her.

“I’ll take that as an acceptance to my challenge.” Ea scoffed, rolling up his sleeve and revealing a rather hi-tech looking watch on his wrist. Pressing a combination of buttons he smiled watching the space in front of him. “Then behold, our champion, improvised for combatting unknown threats. Special Unit Eisol.”

In a flash of light, a warrior appeared before Keiko. This avian looking fighter sported metallic silver wings and sharpened talons on both his hands and his feet. While mostly organic he did appear to have some cybernetic components. Part of his left shoulder appeared to be reinforced with some kind of metal, and his left eye had been replaced with a red optical sensor of sorts. He let out a mighty screech from his beak and locked focus on Keiko.

“Eisol. Test this warrior, I want as much data as you can gather.” Ea ordered confidently.

“Yea, Lord Ea.” Eisol said bluntly, nodding and readying himself.

Keiko’s eyes widened and sparkled. She’d seen a bird man before, especially not one with robot parts on them.

“I WANNA HUG IT!” she screamed happily, rushing forward.

With a flap of his wings Eisol sent out a harsh gust, seemingly knocking the plucky Majin back.

“Not getting out of hugs that easily.” A happy voice exclaimed from behind Eisol.

Turning too late he felt a tight grip come over him as Keiko wrapped her stretchy arms around this strange warrior and hugged hard.

“Impossible!” Ea shouted. “How could she move so fast, she was blasted back by his Gamma Wind!”

Mosco let out a series of beeps and whirrs again. Whatever he said seemed to have worked as Ea regained his composure.

“You’re right, forgive me Lord Mosco. One strike a battle does not decide, and we designed Eisol for much more…”

As the grip tightened Eisol let out another eagle like screech, releasing a powerful green shockwave from the cybernetic component in his chest forcing Keiko to let go and pushing her back a few feet.

She continued to smile.

“Hi, I’m Keiko. You hug better than Saiyans do.” She said cheerfully.

“I don’t know what a Saiyan is, or what you are.” Eisol spoke in a deep and stoic tone. “But I have been told to test you, and so I will. Prepare yourself, Keiko.” He roared again, tucking his wings in and rushing towards her.

“Well it’s actually Keiko Buu, I would accept Miss Buu, since we’re not on a first name basis yet. Mrs Bulma said…” before Keiko could finish her long winded sentence she felt a powerful claw smash into her face, sending her flying back behind Mocso and Ea.

Pursuing fast Eisol tore through the sky, delivering a downward strike sending her toward the ground below.

“Eisol!” Ea shouted after him. “Do not disturb the mortals! They mustn’t know of this fight.”

Eisol quickly realized his mistake, dashing beneath the falling Keiko and kicking her hard in the back to send her skyward again.

Now rocketing upward Keiko quickly opened her eyes.

“Stars are pretty.” She thought to herself, seeing open space stretching out before her. “I wonder what they taste like….Oh right, fighting.”

Regaining her composure she stopped herself in the air and began to plummet back toward Eisol who shot towards her.

The two clashed repeatedly in mid air, with neither side giving an inch. Each clash created powerful impact waves that seemed to part the very skies themselves. Thunderous crashes could be heard with each impact as if a storm had formed this high up in the clouds.

“This is incredible.” Ea mumbled consulting his wrist watch. “Eisol is performing better than we expected. Impacts show this being is composed of…inconclusive…what is she?”

Back at the fight Eisol went to strike her face again with his left talon, only to find it caught by the Majin’s tight grip.

“Mine now! Let’s play tornado!” she playfully chanted before beginning to spin violently around. Her velocity continued to increase as Eisol got dizzier by the second. The two were almost like an upper atmosphere tornado, sucking in the surrounding clouds into a white funnel of fluff before she released him, sending him shooting across the sky.

This time it was Keiko’s turn to pursue, effortlessly keeping pace with the flying birdman and hovering just above him as they rocketed along.

“So,whatcha do for fun around here?” she asked.

Regaining focus Eisol saw her hanging above him and angrily took a swipe at her. “Take this seriously!” he demanded before swiping again.

Keiko seemed saddened by his request. “Gee, I’m not supposed to do that.” She said sadly. “Miss Satsu and Miss Sasha said last time I really hurt someone…but if you promise to be friends I can show you a little bit I guess. They don’t need to know.” She beamed down at him.

Eisol gritted the teeth in his beak, he knew more swipes would be futile. He wanted a challenge, not a playmate. But for this he’d be willing to lie.

Extending his wings and coming to a stop in the air he stared down the innocent Majin. “Fine, get serious with me for a bit and we’ll be friends…” He took a defensive stance and grinned. This would be his time.

Keiko seemed overjoyed at his acceptance and bounced around a little. “YAY!” she screamed. “Alright, but remember don’t tell Miss Sasha and Satsu!”

Eisol’s grin barely left his face when he felt an almighty impact in his stomach. Before he could even react to the first attack a second attack crashed into the right side of his face, sending him flying back across the sky again.

He attempted to regain control but felt another powerful strike in his back. He let out an expression of anguish, turning to try and see the face of his attacker. The smiling face he had conversed with had given way to one of a neutral expression. Now Keiko was giving off an aura of maliciousness. She looked upon him with contempt, a contempt that made him shiver to his very core.

Shooting downward he could hardly keep control of his descent. His eyes darted around looking for his assailant. Had she left him in freefall?

The question was answered as he looked down. His eyes widened at the sight below him. Charging some kind of energy in cupped hands at her side Keiko waited beneath him. Eisol tried to move, but found his limbs unwilling to respond.

“Ka…me…ha….me…” Keiko mumbled, her eyes rising to meet directly with his. This was it.

“HA!” Keiko unleashed a blinding flash of pink light. Everything faded into whiteness for Eisol.

Back at the high altitude Ea continued to read his watch with horror while Mosco remained silent, almost as if he were in standby mode.

“This..this can’t be. Eisol’s readings they…” Ea began before a beep from Mosco interrupted him.

Standing before them, carrying to beaten body of their birdman warrior cradled in her arms was the orange skinned Majin.

“Hi, I think he’s tired. You should probably let him rest a bit.” She smiled, holding onto him tightly.

“EISOL!” Ea shouted, unsure how to process what he was seeing. She barely had a scratch on her, and yet she was carrying the unconscious body of his warrior adapted specifically for fighting unknown threats.

She threw Eisol back over to Ea, who fumbled to quickly activate a switch on his watch, catching the body in a stasis bubble for transport.

“His vitals are stable, he just needs some rest. The data he gathered…” Ea looked at the unconscious Eisol before looking back to Keiko and huffing. “Well we had a deal, didn’t we, Chronoa. Your agent is free to come and go as she pleases. Just run all activities by our Time Patrol before you go blowing up any of our planets.” His tone had drastically changed, now he sounded annoyed and frustrated with himself for making such a deal.

Mosco let out another series of beeps and whirrs before the two disappeared in a flash of light, leaving Keiko hanging above the sky.

“Well, that was…different.” Keiko heard the Supreme Kai of Time in her ear again. “Why don’t you come back, and we’ll get in contact with Universe 3s patrol. Turles and Mira couldn’t have gotten far.”

#Dragonball #Dragon Ball #Xenoverse 2 #Dragonball Xenoverse 2 writing #Keiko Buu #Keiko #my writing #Nathans story #Eisol the Cybernetic Birdman from Universe 3

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sebastianstanrps-moved · 7 years ago

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undress - bryce/keiko

Send me a pairing and a prompt:“Undress” and I’ll write a drabble about one character watching the other get naked

Everything she did was a show, from the way her heels clicked to the floor, to the risque lingerie that she wore underneath. An actress starring in her own noir film, Keiko set herself on his desk, legs spread just enough to tease with her fingers toying with the first button to her shirt. “Take it off —- “ His voice was hoarse, commanding and received only a smirk in return as the button came undone with a pop , exposing the tip of the bright red, lace bra she wore underneath, perfectly matched to the pain on her lips. “You could at least say please.” Eyes fluttering, she looked back up to him slowly undoing the next of three buttons, her focus wide on him, lips formed in a perfect pout.Slip — the third and final button came undone, her mouth forming a tempted ‘o’ shape as she slowly – as if a dancer trying to reel in her audience (of one) lifted the blouse over her head and used it as a lever to pull him closer, sliding from the desk to his lap where she slipped herself over him. “Better?” she questioned, pulling him closer into her cleavage, shamelessly her hips rubbing against the already hardening cock between his legs. “All of it — “ He commanded her again, a tone in his voice that made every bone in Keiko’s body turn to do whatever it was he wanted. With a drop of the thin fabric shirt to the ground she slipped off of his lap turning her back away from him as she took a couple of steps away.“All of it?” she teased him, glancing over her shoulder as her manicured finger tipped at the zipper on the back of her skirt, tugging gently so she could arch just enough to give him the best view in the house, revealing the matching red thong underneath. She didn’t need a nod of encouragement, she could see it in his eyes as they scaled down her thin frame, she could feel the way he had already undressed her the moment that she stepped into the office. “ Make sure the curtains are closed, baby, you don’t want the whole world to see, right? I wore this for you.” It was with a small spin that she faced him again, the skirt kicked off to the side, her stride long and intentional as she made her way back to him. The game that she played for him, the submissive tone it always took was their own pleasure, the entertainment that would happen soon after wouldn’t forget. For the moment it was a dance between the snake and her charmer and she was quick to slip her way back onto his desk with nothing but a thin layer of lace to protect between them and his view of all he would want access to. “How about this?” She questioned his prying eyes, a finger pulling his chin upwards so that he could look at her. She knew the answer, he wanted more, almost always wanted more and with the building empty, the shades closed it was with little difficulty for her to strip her lace thong down to her ankles, allowing it to rest on her foot to take and do as he chose while her fingers unhinged the snap in the front of her bra, the final piece to the puzzle he had been waiting for as her legs slipped apart spreading for him with her head tilted back and leaving rainbow waves to fall back to the desk top. It was almost like a finale to the show he’d been watching, her body moving for his as a signet, a trophy before laying herself back further, tossing their favored baggie of white powder in his direction with a slow coo in her tone while she spoke, “Come on baby, you know now’s as good a time as any.” @onehopthistime

#onehopthistime #| keiko x bryce |#| meme:keiko |#answered.#keiko sakura.

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rainbowrites · 7 years ago

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Deep Space Mutant

hi @ihamtmus!!

OKAY, I'm super late but let's do this thing!! Thanks to @wellntruly, who is a GEM and helped come up with a ton of these and was just super fun to scream about this with

little background: most everyone has powers, it's very House of M although since this is a Star Trek universe they make a BIG DEAL out of ~equality~ between powered and non-powered people. Still, life is harder for you if you're non-powered or have weak powers, especially in terms of employment. Would you hire a non-powered bodyguard if you could get one that could shoot fire? I didn’t think so. It’s one of those undercurrents of society that DS9 addresses, and everyone else pretends doesn’t exist. Unsurprisingly, most colonists (and Maquis) are non-powered or have weak/not ‘useful’ powers as they willingly risk that danger to create a world for themselves where they’re not the ‘lesser’.

And not every planet/species has the same style of powers that we're used to in our mutant comics, where everyone has different powers. Some are like Changelings, where everyone has the same powers. Some have symbiotic powers, like the Trill who have individual powers and then the symbiont all have the same power - which is the ability to retain and pass on memories and powers from previous hosts.

ANYONE ON TO THE GOOD STUFF (readmore below!)

Sisko has The Voice. When he speaks, everyone listens. It's more of a telepathic power, that compels everyone within hearing distance to listen to him. It doesn't force them to actually do what he says, but they have to at least listen to what he says. It's near impossible to interrupt him, and even a whisper is enough to get everyone around him craning to listen. He mostly finds this embarrassing or annoying at first, since it means no muttering under his breath and his superiors are always a little pissed since whenever he says anything everyone stops listening to them and tunes in exclusively to channel Sisko. The Bajorans are ALL OVER IT though. For so long, they were kept oppressed and silent by the Cardassians. Now the Prophets have sent them an Emissary that CANNOT be ignored - the Bajorans will be listened to at last! This power is definitely not inspired by the beautiful chocolate velvet that is Avery Brook's voice, what voice fetish, I don't have a voice fetish, YOU HAVE A THING FOR HIS VOICE DON'T LIE WE ALL DO.

Kira has flame powers, connected to her body. She literally has sparks flying from her eyes when she's enraged, and can punch a flaming fist into your stomach. She can't really spread the fire outside of her body, but that's what a blaster is for. She doesn't need to use her powers to kick your ass. When she was young, she thought that if she got fatally shot she would use the last of her strength to self-immolate in the hopes of burning some Cardassians to death. She has some control issues, but over the course of the series learns to be gentle with herself and her powers - lighting candles with the tips of her fingers and turning herself into a glowing pillar of warmth.

Miles tells everyone that he can talk to machines, but it's no big deal. He doesn't do anything that any good engineer couldn't do. In reality, he connects with systems like no one else can dream of. It's more than just communication, the machines themselves fall in love with him and jump to his every word to try to make him happy. It gets very boring though, every problem bending over backwards to fix themselves. It's why DS9 is so interesting, it's the first time that machines have fought back against him, argued and dragged their feet rather than eagerly work with him. Of course he doesn't realize that this is because Cardassian computer systems are justlike Cardassians themselves, and show their love via intense argument. He doesn't realize for a LONG time that all that petulant breaking and constant backtalk is really just Cardassian for TAKE ME NOW YOU HOT PIECE OF ENGINEER.

Here is a story about Julian: when he was 6 years old, he still wasn't showing any sign of powers. He couldn't read, he could barely write his name, but his parents clung to the idea that his powers would elevate him beyond needing those things. They worried constantly that their own weak powers (she glows very slightly in the dark, he has enough heat powers to fry an egg on his chest if he concentrates) might have doomed their son to mediocrity. Then the doctors tell them, very gently, that their son was among the tiny percentage born without an x-gene. The next day, they start looking into augmentation. If genetics couldn't make their son great as their dreams, then they would use science to do the job instead.

So Julian has super-smarts, and incredibly reflexes to go along with them. But somehow they are always...incomplete, in some weird way. Because they are artificial. He doesn't understand them innately, like a native speaker. He's FLUENT, because he's STUDIED, but there's always something just a little off. However he's CONSTANTLY talking up his smarts and Miles wants to fucking kill him at first because 'yeah okay GOD super smarts are a good power to have, shut UP about them you fucking show off I'm not constantly talking to your tricorder am I?'not realizing that Julian is hella over compensating and also would LOVE Miles to talk to his tricorder all the time. His brain is so weird, sliced and diced and reconnected until the wave length it sends out gives every telepath a headache which Miles thinks is HILARIOUS. 'your real mutant power is ANNOYING EVERYONE.'

It is not lost on Julian that he immediately attaches to Miles, rather than any other officer on the station. Keiko jokes that all machines fall in love with him, and Julian just gives her a very strained smile and agrees softly. When he tells Miles what he is, that he's unnatural, he says that of course Miles is his best friend - Miles has plenty of practice speaking to machines. And Miles is just like 'listen buddy even the cardassian machines aren't as annoying as you are, only a REAL PERSON could be as much a pain in my ass as you are. and that's from the HEART'

Garak keeps his powers a secret. Also a secret? Whether or not he even HAS them. Julian is absolutely FASCINATED, and adores hearing all the stories Garak spins about them using his, quote. 'rare gift for obfuscation':

my powers stimulate nerve endings. I could make Bajorans scream with pain without ever touching them

when I was young I discovered I could disappear into the shadows. Elim had the same type of power, which is why we were known as the sons of Tain, who could disappear in plain sight

haven't you noticed my clothes are exceptional? cloth listens to me as raptly as you do

oh my dear Doctor, my power? I told you everything. It was all true. especially the lies.

It;'s a different power every time and we never ever find out what his real powers are, or if he even HAS ANY. He might be baseline, for all anyone of them know

Jadzia is, to quote Tarra, "the actual cool version of Apocalypse". As I said earlier, Trills are born with a vast array of potential powers (plus a small percentage with none just like on Earth) and the symbionts are much the same as they are in the show, except they don't just pass down memories/personality but also the powers of their previous hosts - though the powers are weakened in transition. The Trills chosen for joining though are only chosen by those with really strong powers and incredible control though, since if those powers are gonna be saved forever through the symbiont you want them to be GOOD ones and if they're gonna be weakened you want them to be as strong as possible to start out with. For example, Curzon had super strength that he used to impress the Klingons and gain their respect; it's something Jadzia uses frequently to help her withstand some incredibly violent Klingon sex. Emony controlled water with incredible precision, able to control each drop just as she controlled her gymnast muscles, and used them often in her routines as water whips in rhythmic gymnastic style; Jadzia mostly uses it to flick water in people's faces when she's feeling mischievous, which is most of the time. Audrid was famous for her amazing flying powers, able to zoom around like a rocket, which is actually why Tobin, adrenaline junkie and first Trill to join Starfleet, joined the program: to get those flight powers and zoom around without a shuttle. He ends up disappointed at their weakness, though he still loves flying without a shuttle, and it's what pushes him to test drive new experimental engines - he will fly like he an remember!! - and what eventually kills him. CAN YOU TELL I'VE THOUGHT WAY TOO MUCH ABOUT THIS???

Jadzia herself had touch telepathy, able to know everyone with a hug. She has a ton of control though, and usually just skims the surface of people's thoughts. It's one reason she's super good at flirting - she knows IMMEDIATELY if someone's attracted to her. It's a rough power on DS9 though; that station saw a lot of misery and pain, and it shares that pain with her every chance it gets.

Ezri had very very weak powers, which is one reason she never even considered trying to get joined. She can technically smell emotions, but she has a really bad sense of smell. She would have to get REALLY close to smell something, and she's not alway gauranteed to recognize it. Like, do you realize how many emotions people generally feel?? It makes for a very weird, confusing blend! Fear is of course, the easiest to smell. She can smell fear!! Kinda. If she's close to you. And you're not wearing perfume. It's a pretty terrible power, and one that she really doesn't use very often. Fun fact: Garak liberally douses himself in cologne every time he might run into her. Un-fun fact: when she's trying to treat him he calls her 'a poor imitation of a betazoid, trying to be a poor imitation of Jadzia'

The Dax powers are technically weakened, but since she had such shit powers in the first place it's yet another thing to get totally overwhelmed by. like oH MAN NOW I SUDDENLY KNOW JUST HOW MUCH THAT THE GUY I BRUSHED IN THE HALLWAY NEEDS TO POOP, THANKS JADZIA'S TOUCH TELEPATHY. OH SHIT THERE GOES THE TABLE EDGE DAMMIT IT CURZON'S SUPER STRENGTH. WELP NOW I'M FLOATING HOW DO I TURN OFF AUDRID'S FLIGHT POWERS

Worf is basically the living embodiment of no. Non-physical powers don't work on him, he can't be affected by telepathy or illusions or anything like that. If someone has super-strength or stretchy powers they can use them against him, but whenever anyone tries to trick him he can just be like 'I see you giggling and waving your fingers. You look ridiculous and are doing nothing.' He's too straight forward to be tricked! It's the first thing that really intrigues Jadzia, he's the first person she can't just know with a touch. She has to work hard to get to know him, work doubly hard because his personality can be just as closed off as his powers, and eventually that desire to know him develops into love. He's the one person who could keep a secret from her if she wanted to know it, but he never would. THEY'RE REALLY CUTE.

Rom has magnetic powers, but really really shitty ones. He mostly just accidentally gets cutlery stuck to him. He does use his powers sometime to turn little bits of machinery that can't normally be reached - something he thinks of as pretty whatever but is actually SUPER USEFUL. Miles gives him a big clap on the shoulder and is super proud of him when he finds out, and Rom nearly dies of joy right then and there.

Quark IS Drinks Space Nine. He can look at you and tell exactly what your blood alcohol content is and how alcohol would affect you. It means that he can keep his patrons at a pleasant buzz all night, or can tip someone into sloppy drunk if they're winning too much at tongo. Despite how much shit the bar goes through, it almost never has to deal with rowdy drunks, and that's because of Quark's ability to keep everyone at that pleasantly tipsy state all night.

Nog is an awkward tree fog, with literal sticky fingers. It's very useful for stealing little things when he's young, but becomes HORRIFICALLY EMBARRASSING when he grows up and joins Starfleet, especially at first. Some people get sweaty hands when they get nervous but he just gets EXTRA STICKY HANDS. Like, picture him frantically trying to shake off the PADD he was just handed with his first assignment while Sisko's back is turned and then being like EVERYTHING IS FINE SIR AHAHAHA I JUST.... REALLY LIKE THIS PADD when he turns back

Jake has stretchy powers because come on have you SEEN Cirroc Lofton??? I almost can't believe that guy DIDN'T have stretchy powers. He's no Mr. Fantastic, but he can drape himself across all the furniture in the room in Peak Teen fashion. It also makes for some baseball shenanigans. He uses it a lot to tease his dad by being taller than him, at least until he ACTUALLY GETS THERE. It's a bit tiring for him to hold a stretch though, which is why when he first hits his growth spurt his dad is like 'hey watch out son, you'll strain something keeping yourself so tall for so long.' Jake tries to tell him that no, he's just naturally growing, and Ben is just like 'LALALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU, I KNOW YOU'RE JUST USING YOUR POWERS, YOU'RE NOT ACTUALLY TALLER THAN ME, YOU'RE STILL MY BABY'

Keiko has growing powers. She's heard all the jokes, a botanist with growing powers? How obvious. It's mostly really annoying though, since when she discovers something new and gets excited she can accidentally spark some intense growth spurts and totally mess up her data. She loves making flowers bloom for Molly and Kirayoshi.

#star trek #DS9 #ihamtmus #X-men #wellntruly #Headcanon #rainbowrites fic #kinda?

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lisatelramor · 8 years ago

Text

A Summer’s Day

I never seem to be able to write femslash pairings for February, but this at least I finally got something out. I’ve been wanting to write more ladies. <3 I pulled random names for the heck of it a while back for characters to kiss, so expect some really random fics from me for a while. Aoko/ Ran – Summer

Cloudless blue sky was met by a long stretch of turquoise waves and a stretch of golden sand. People and towels dotted the beach already despite it still being early in the morning. Aoko didn’t care about them though, not when there was warm sand and cool water to be enjoyed.

“The beach!” she yelled, dropping her things at a free spot above tide level and running for the surf.

She laughed wildly as water surged around her toes, spinning to embrace the whole picture. I’ve been waiting all summer!”

“Having fun already?” Ran called from further up the sand. She and Akako picked their way closer.

“Yes!” Aoko had wanted to go so much, but you couldn’t take Kaito to the beach and expect him to swim. He was too likely to run into a fish and panic. Keiko didn’t like sand and burned easily. Thankfully Akako liked the excuse to wear a bikini and Ran was more than happy to tag along to play in the water with Aoko. Yet another reason Aoko was glad they’d become friends. About the only good thing to come out of Kid heists in her opinion.

Aoko left the water and charged back to where Ran was carefully laying out towels. Akako surveyed the beach behind oversized sunglasses, a satisfied smirk on her face. With reason; she had a great body and her bikini was just the right shade of red to compliment her hair.

“I’m so glad you could come!” Aoko said to her friends. They couldn’t ask for a better day with the bright sun and a breeze coming off the water to keep them from overheating.

“It’s our pleasure, Nakamori-chan,” Akako said. She adjusted her sun hat and put her hands on her hips. “You can leave your stuff with me. I think this is the perfect spot.” She was already eying some of the boys glancing in her direction. Aoko bet she’d have them at her beck and call within the hour. So long as she was having fun though.

“Thanks, Akako-chan.” Aoko stripped off her jacket, embracing the sunlight against her skin.

“Don’t you look nice,” Akako said, still smirking. She poked Aoko’s bare midriff. “Aren’t you unusually bold. And Kuroba isn’t here to see it.”

Aoko crossed her arms over her belly, blushing. “If he was coming I wouldn’t wear it,” she retorted. Kaito teased her enough as it was. He’d probably annoy her half to death over showing a bit of skin.

“It’s nice,” Ran said. “The ruffles are cute and the blue suits you.”

Aoko blushed harder. Ran was just so...nice. Akako had a sharp tongue and Kaito could be a total jerk, and while Keiko was nice, she was a bit spacey sometimes. Ran was nice and down to earth and just... Mature and pretty. Aoko wasn’t quite sure what she felt when Ran complimented her. “You look nice too,” she said. Ran had a one piece suit that suited her well. It was red like Akako’s but a less eye catching shade.

“Thanks,” Ran said with a dazzling smile.

Akako snorted. She sat on one of the beach towels with far more fluidity than such a simple motion should have had. “You two have fun in the water.”

“You too!” Aoko said. She bounced on the balls of her feet as Ran took the time to put some sunblock on, offering the tube. Aoko shook her head. She didn’t burn, just got tan all over. “Water?” Aoko asked as Ran finally tucked her things in a neat pile.

“Yup!” Ran said.

Aoko grinned and caught her hand, pulling her toward the water. Ran laughed, letting herself be pulled.

“You sure like the beach,” she said.

“Of course! It’s the best part of summer. I used to go all the time as a little kid, but most of my friends these days aren’t beach people.” And there were reasons why there weren’t family trips anymore. With her mom gone and her dad always busy....well, she was glad that she had some new friends to go with. Aoko splashed straight into the waves.

Ran yelped as cold water splashed up her legs, letting go of Aoko’s hand as her arms went up to protect her middle. “Cold!”

“Not that cold,” Aoko said. She was up to her shoulders now. “You just have to go right in. It’s easier than wading in.”

Ran looked at the water, then screwed up her face. She ran forward and all but dived into the next wave. She came up sputtering and shaking water out of her hair. Aoko laughed at her.

“Was that so bad?” Aoko teased. She floated closer.

Ran scrunched her nose. “Yes. It’s cold!”

“That’s the point!” Aoko laughed. Hot sun, cold water, the perfect summer combination.

Ran stuck out her tongue and sent a splash in Aoko’s direction.

Aoko grinned. It was so on. Ran shrieked as Aoko sent a much bigger splash back. In minutes they were laughing and splashing salt water everywhere.

“I surrender!” Ran said after Aoko escalated to dunking her with an enthusiastic tackle. She was warm in the cold of the ocean. Aoko was overly aware of where their bare skin slid against each other as they treaded water. “You’re good at that,” Ran said.

“I usually have splash fights against Kaito at the pool,” Aoko said. She was more out of breath than the splash fight should have merited. “Kaito likes to play dirty so I had to be better.”

Ran giggled. “We should team up some time and catch him off guard.” Maybe it was light reflecting off the water but her eyes seemed to sparkle more than usual. “We should take Shinichi too and dunk him. He always tries to act like he’s too old for that kind of thing.”

“I should introduce him to Kaito. Kaito’s like a little kid so maybe they’d balance each other out.” Or Shinichi would snap and try to kill Kaito, but that would hardly be the first time someone lost their patience with Kaito. Aoko did on a daily basis after all. And if Kaito had gotten Hakuba to lighten up, he could get anyone to.

Ran giggled again. “It’s a plan.”

Aoko’s stomach fluttered at the conspiratorial smile on her face. They were still too close after that last tackle. Aoko swum backward and pointed at a random rock a bit away. “Race you?”

“Go!” Ran said.

The swim helped settle the fluttering feeling in Aoko’s stomach, replacing it with the adrenaline rush of a challenge and a good workout. Still, Ran reached the rock a few seconds before Aoko and is too nice to even gloat like Kaito always did. She even offered a rematch later.

For a bit, Aoko just floated, letting Ran swim where she wanted. The sky was so big and open here. No city skyscrapers or smog in sight, just blue expanse with wisps of fluffy white cloud and seagulls riding the air here and there. With her ears underwater everything was so peaceful. She could just drift here like this forever.

She had to move eventually though, and when her stomach started to rumble, Aoko made her way back toward Ran and the shore. “Time for a picnic?” Aoko offered.

Ran nodded. Back with their things, Akako had gathered a half a dozen hangar-ons and was sipping a fruit juice drink of some sort through a straw.

“Does she do that sort of thing a lot?” Ran asked as they got out of the water.

“Yeah.” It was one of those things that either bothered people or they accepted it and moved on. “I think she just likes the attention honestly. The only person she’s ever seemed actually interested in is Kaito and he doesn’t like her back.”

“Huh.”

“She’s not mean about it though. Akako-chan is just...different.”

“I’d like to get to know her better,” Ran said. “Since she’s your friend.”

Aoko smiled. “She’s a lot nicer than she seems at first,” she said.

Akako waved away her admirers as Ran and Aoko came over, sending them off with a wink and an implied promise to chat more later. “I saved you both some cold waters,” she said, pointing to two drinks set under Akako’s beach umbrella alongside her fruit juice. “The boys insisted I keep hydrated.”

“Thanks, Akako-chan!” Aoko chirped.

Akako eyed the sand clinging to their wet feet and legs. “You might not want to step on your towels. Until you dry off a bit more.”

“Good point.” They could still sit at the edge of the towel to eat lunch though.

Ran picked up the small cooler she’d brought along and pulled out three stacked bentou boxes. “Lunch?”

“She even cooks,” Akako said with a grin. “How nice.”

“It’s just a bentou,” Ran said, handing out the boxes. “Nothing special.”

Aoko begged to differ. There were four different dishes and a little salad in each box and a serving of rice on the side. It all looked delicious. “Thank you so much for making these.”

“No problem. I like to cook.”

“Even nicer,” Akako said under her breath. Aoko poked her with a sandy toe and got an eye roll in return. “Thank you, Mouri-chan, it looks delicious.”

Aoko gave thanks for the meal and dug in. It was just as good as it looked and she could picture Ran standing over the stove to get the chicken bites fried to perfection and cutting the cucumber into thin slices for the fresh pickles on the side. So good. She didn’t even care that Akako was laughing at her again. “I can’t cook even half as good as this.”

“I’m sure you can cook well,” Ran demurred, eating at a much slower pace. How did she make eating pickles look good? Even Akako’s dainty eating methods didn’t look that graceful. Aoko slowed down, aware that she probably looked childish in comparison.

“She can cook,” Akako said, “but it’s not going to have pretty results and it’s probably going to be too salty.”

“Tou-san likes salty foods,” Aoko muttered.

“You might want to cut back on the salt. It can’t be good for his blood pressure.”

Aoko winced. Kid wasn’t good on her father’s blood pressure.

“We should cook something together sometime,” Ran said, smoothing everything over. “I can share one of my favorite recipes and you can show me one of yours.”

Aoko smiled into her rice. “Yeah. That’d be nice.” This time it was Akako’s foot poking her. She tilted her head questioningly. Akako raised an eyebrow in return, but Aoko wasn’t sure what she was getting at. Akako rolled her eyes and went back to her food.

She was done eating a lot sooner than everyone else. She drank the water Akako got them, letting her mind wander. Maybe they should swim more? Or play beach volleyball—people always played that in manga, right? Only there was really only Aoko and Ran to play because there was no way Akako would ever dive for a ball, and they didn’t bring a ball in the first place. They hadn’t brought a melon, though they did bring sparklers. Sparklers were better at night though, and Aoko wasn’t sure if they could actually light them on the beach in the first place. Her eyes lingered on sand stuck to Ran’s ankles... and her calves. Which were attached to her knee, which led to thigh, which—

Aoko swallowed too big a mouthful of water and slammed the bottle back to her beach towel. “Sand!” she declared as both Ran and Akako looked in her direction. “I am going to go build a sandcastle! Ran-chan, thank you for the meal!”

“You’re welcome?”

Aoko hoped her face wasn’t as red as it felt. Maybe she could pretend it was the start of sunburn—only no, that would mean she’d have to have sun screen and maybe Ran would offer to help put it on her back—! Aaaah.

This had not been why she invited Ran to the beach. This was not how a person interacted with friends either. Aoko splashed into the ocean just to let the cold water shock her. It helped, but not much. She crouched, staring at sand and tiny pebbles and bits of shells. It figured she’d mostly worked past her crush on Kaito only to latch onto the first new friend she made. And she couldn’t think of anyone more different than Kaito in all ways. How even?? No. she pushed all of it back down and away, determined that it wasn’t going to get in the way of the fun day. Besides, it wasn’t like Aoko liked any other girl before. It was probably just. Admiration. Or a healthy amount of respect. Because Ran was an amazing person.

Blah.

Aoko scooped up handfuls of wet sand and pulled it back away from the water so she could use it to build a castle. She did mean to build one. It was a bit of a pity that she hadn’t thought to bring a shovel or bucket though. That would have made it easier.

A lumpy square shape built up from the sand, then a sort of dome on top of that. It wasn’t very castle like, but Aoko supposed that it would do. Artistry was more Kaito’s thing. She wasn’t surprised when Ran joined her. She didn’t say a word, just scooted over so that Ran could have access to wetter sand as Aoko tried to hunt down different sizes of smooth rocks and pebbles.

She found ten ragged feathers, some driftwood sticks, a half of a shell and a handful of smooth rocks ranging from almost the size of her palm to barely bigger than her thumb nail. Ran, it seemed, did have artistry. She took the lumpy shape and smoothed the edges into something more square and added dribbled towers of sand. There were little indents for windows and Ran had started in on what might be a moat.

“You’re good at this, Aoko said.

“Sand used to be my favorite part of the beach,” Ran said as her hands scooped damp sand into valleys and hills. “You can make things in it or you can look for things. Like searching for buried treasure.” She grinned up at Aoko. “One time I spent the whole day digging holes because I’d watched Treasure Island and I was convinced that there had to be something hidden in the sand.”

“Did you find anything?” Aoko put feathers into the top of each tower like some sort of flag.

“I found two five yen coins, rocks, and half of a dead fish.”

Aoko wrinkled her nose. “Eew.”

Ran giggled. “The coins were a bit like finding treasure. I scraped my hands raw though.”

Aoko, who had only dug a bit of sand, could understand why. Digging into damp sand felt a bit like digging into fluffy sandpaper. If she kept digging where the sand was more compressed, it would probably feel like scraping against a rock.

Ran used Aoko’s driftwood to make a bridge over the moat and they both took turns placing smooth stones in a circle around the dome of the sand castle. By the time they were done, it vaguely resembled a building. They were also completely covered in sand.

Ran retrieved her cell phone and took a picture of it. “To keep the memory,” she said. Aoko knew that with or without a photo, she wasn’t going to forget this beach day.

After rinsing off the sand, the rested in the shade of Akako’s parasol for a while. There were too many people at the beach coming and going for it to be truly peaceful, but Aoko felt relaxed all the same.

Akako hummed beside them. “We should get ice cream.”

“Ice cream?”

“Unless you planned on swimming more?” Akako’s eyebrow peeked past the rim of her sunglasses.

Part of Aoko wanted to go swim more and just float in the swell of the waves. The rest of her didn’t want to move, too content to bask on a warm beach towel. She rolled to look at Ran. Ran looked just as content to lay there as Aoko. She had a bit of pink across her nose, just the hint of sun.

“Ice cream sounds nice,” Ran said. A good way to round out the day since they couldn’t stay forever.

They shook sand out of their belongings and packed them back up to go stand in line for ice cream. In a moment of impulsiveness, Aoko hooked arms with Ran and Akako. “We should do this again,” she said. Again this summer. Again next summer. Just again, to have more moments of fun and taking pleasure in companionship. She wanted more of Akako’s teasing and comfort in her own skin, more of Ran’s warmth and playfulness.

“We should.” It was Akako that said it, surprising since Akako wasn’t really social the way most people were. She didn’t spend time with people, people spent time on her, but she was a friend now and Aoko knew it wasn’t just humoring Aoko these days when she agreed to come along. Aoko leaned against Akako for a brief second in thanks, then against Ran just because she could.

“To the beach,” Ran agreed, “and doing other things. There’s a festival coming up. Let’s meet up for that.”

“You can bring Shinichi and I’ll bring Kaito,” Aoko said, “and we can see if they balance each other out or not.”

“I vote we invite Hakuba-kun too,” Akako said. “I’m sure it would make an interesting evening.”

Aoko nodded with a few reservations on the idea. She liked Hakuba. But Hakuba and Kaito got along about as well as oil and water mixed sometimes.

“Hakuba Saguru?” Ran asked. “The detective?”

“Yes. A gentleman,” Akako said with her usual smirk. “He’s make a lovely escort for an evening.”

“We’ve met. I think Shinichi would probably get along with him. We could let the boys talk and go do festival games.”

Aoko smiled. “I call goldfish scoop.”

Akako laughed. Their arms stayed linked right up to reaching the ice cream stand.

Aoko got a strawberry cone, all creamy and sweet as it melted fast in the summer heat. Akako—getting a popsicle instead—stood with them eating for a handful of minutes before meeting the eye of one of the boys from earlier. Aoko saw the spark of intent in her eyes before she opened her mouth.

“I’ll be back in a few minutes. Watch my stuff?”

“Of course, Koizumi-san,” Ran said.

Aoko hadn’t really thought about how close they were standing off to the side of the ice cream vendor until Akako wasn’t there to balance the scene out. Strawberry ice cream dribbled down her knuckles and Aoko chased it with her tongue. Ran ate her ice cream with a spoon, no drips at all with the little plastic dish holding it all in. Aoko opened her mouth but words didn’t come. She filled it with ice cream instead.

“Thanks for inviting me,” Ran said, filling the silence.

“Any time.” Aoko licked strawberry from her lips. “I mean it. You can visit whenever. Call whenever. I like spending time with you and you’re a good friend and I’d love to spend more time.” Aoko cut herself off.

Ran was smiling at her when she got the courage to glance up. “I like spending time with you too,” she said.

If Aoko didn’t do something she was going to combust. Or die of complicated emotions and objectless embarrassment. She shoved her cone in Ran’s direction. “Bite?”

Ran didn’t even look surprised as she took a bite. “It’s good.” She offered a spoonful of her matcha ice cream back and Aoko’s teeth scraped against the plastic spoon, chilled by the cold ice cream. It barely registered, her mind too preoccupied by the fact that Ran had had the same spoon in her mouth moments ago.

“Yum,” she said. She couldn’t even taste the flavor over the pounding of her heart. Could she...? Did she dare...? “Ran...”

“Mm?” She had the spoon hanging from her lips and her hair was mussed from the breeze and drying with salt water in it and there was still that pink strip of sunburn across her face. The ice cream in Aoko’s hand was dripping down her wrist, but she barely noticed it. Ran’s tongue licked ice cream residue off her lips and Aoko found her own tongue mimicking the action, the flowery-green aftertaste of matcha ice cream lingering on her taste buds.

“Ran-chan I...I am really glad to have you as a friend,” Aoko said, chickening out last moment.

Ran blinked at her. Her head tilted to the side, something contemplative crossing her face. Aoko couldn’t quite look at her face for more than a moment. Aoko didn’t want to ruin it all. Not their friendship or the day.

“Aoko-chan.” Ran’s fingers, cold and a bit damp from the ice cream container, touched Aoko’s cheek. She jumped, looking up. Ran had a smile on her face, but her eyes were serious. “I like you too.”

Ice cream dribbled down Aoko’s elbow as she gaped. “What?”

“I’m glad to have you as a friend and,” Ran leaned in. Aoko’s eyes couldn’t get any wider. Her heart felt like it was going to burst out of her ribs with how fast it was beating. Ran’s lips pressed hers, damp and just a bit sticky and shockingly cold from ice cream. It was chaste, a there and gone brush of lip on lip, but it was enough for Aoko’s knees to wobble and her face to burn. “And I like you too,” Ran finished, a blush blending with her sunburn.

Aoko licked her lips. Matcha and bitter sweet. “Oh.”

“Oh finally,” Akako said.

Ran and Aoko jumped apart. Aoko hadn’t even realized they’d been gravitating closer and closer until that moment. Her brain felt like it had fled with the kiss. It couldn’t be healthy for her heart to beat so fast or for her breath to keep catching in her chest. “What?”

“You are both sickeningly obvious,” Akako said. She grinned and bit into her popsicle. “I thought you were both going to be idiots about it,” she said after swallowing the bite. “I underestimated you Mouri-chan.”

“Akako-chan!” Aoko squeaked.

Akako rolled her eyes. “You have no idea how much of a third wheel I felt watching you stare at each other when the other wasn’t looking. By the way, your ice cream is turning into soup.” She nodded at Aoko’s cone.

Aoko shoved the sticky mess into her mouth like it could stop her face from burning. Ran held out a handful of napkins as Aoko struggled between too big of a bite, brain freeze, and trying not to choke on melted ice cream and waffle cone bits. She looked about as embarrassed as Aoko though she was handling it with more composure.

“I hadn’t realized you were paying that much attention,” Ran murmured. She helped wipe ice cream residue off Aoko’s arm.

Akako snorted. “I have eyes. And flirting doesn’t take that much of my attention.” She tossed her hair over her shoulder. “I’m glad for you two. You’re cute together. In a cloying overly sweet way.”

Ran raised an eyebrow. “Thanks. I think.”

“I think I’m going to go back into the ocean and drown,” Aoko mumbled, finally swallowing the last of her cone.

“It’s not that embarrassing,” Akako dismissed. “Kuroba-kun has flashed your panties to the whole class. Objectively speaking, that is far more embarrassing.”

“Has he now?” Ran asked, getting a strange look in her eye that reminded Aoko of the time Ran literally kicked the butt of someone that tried to steal Aoko’s purse.

“Kaito’s an idiot,” Aoko said. “Idiots get whacked with mops.”

“Hm.” The look didn’t leave Ran’s face.

“Are we about ready to go?” Akako asked. “The next bus is leaving in fifteen minutes. By the time we get back to Ekoda, it will be almost dark enough to pull out those sparklers.”

“Ran-chan?” Aoko asked.

“If you’re both ready, I am,” Ran said. She had finished her ice cream, the container tossed into the nearby garbage can like the considerate person she was.

“Lovely.” Akako finished her treat and tossed the stick toward the garbage can. It went in by a narrow margin. She strode forward, passing people parting for her like she was a queen as she led the way. “Let’s go so we don’t miss that bus.”

Aoko laughed softly, still off kilter. Ran shook her head. Neither of their blushes had quite faded. Ran held out her free hand. “Shall we?” she asked.

Aoko looked at the hand for a moment before smiling so hard her cheeks hurt. “Yeah!” All the back and forth nerves of the day seemed to transform into a giddy rush of energy. Ran liked her! Her! Liked Aoko! She took Ran’s hand and twined their fingers together, so wonderfully aware that she could and didn’t have to wonder if it was crossing a boundary.

This was the best day ever.

#magic kaito #detective conan #fanfiction #aoko/ran #ran/aoko #my writing #aoko came out so gay #how...?#let's be real #we're all this awkward when we have a crush #this made me want to go to a beach #and dig holes #because i am one of those people who prefers the sand to the water

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