#I’ve been drawing Sora and Riku a bit more recently because I got my friends into KH and they

[cq-studios]

It’s Pride Month and I haven’t really had time or energy to draw any KH Pride stuff (at least not yet) so instead have some drawings of my favourite disaster gays I forgot to post when I finished drawing them lol

(KH4 Sea Monster Sora is here because I need a Luca world in KH4. Please Nomura, the possible Pre-KH1/KH1 parallels drive me insane. And also because Sea Monsters are ever so very fun to draw lol)

Also the Sea Monster Sora is kinda a redraw/design of this old drawing I did when I watched Luca the first time, so here’s a comparison

[bee-not-afraid]

okay take 2 since tumblr mobile fucked up the first post! i wrote the forbidden sora/vanitas content based off of this post here since it got a bit of attention

chapter 1 is below the cut, or you can read here on ao3. please comment/reblog and let me know what you think!

They were in the middle of a volleyball match, keyblade wielders (minus Lea) versus former Organization XIII members (minus Roxas and Xion), when the first Flood popped out of the sand and made a beeline for Tidus, the match referee.

“Wha-?!” Tidus sputtered, jumping back amid a flurry of sand.

“Unversed!” Ventus was first to react, keyblade materializing in a flash of light. The others soon followed suit, an array of weapons appearing in concert with a flood of Floods popping out of the shadows.

“Hey!” Lea complained, twirling his keyblade behind his head. “I totally just scored a point! Tidus! You better get that memorized! I expect to see that point on the board after we finish off these guys.”

“Ugh,” Sora agreed. “Couldn’t they have waited until after the match? Wait, doesn’t this mean Vanitas is here?” He swung his keyblade in an arc, dispatching four Floods at once.

“Probably here for Ventus,” Riku remarked from over Sora’s shoulder, casting a Thundaga. “It’s getting kind of annoying.”

“He can try as much as he wants,” Aqua spat, freezing a large group with a well-placed Blizzaga, “and we’ll beat him every time.”

It didn’t take very long for the Floods to be dispatched, the beach once again free of any threats. Ventus dematerialized his keyblade first with a drawn-out sigh. “I’ll go find him,” he said. “No need for anyone else to get involved. You guys continue the game without me!” he called out, already halfway down the beach.

“Hey, wait!” Sora called, jogging to catch up. “It’s dangerous to go alone! You should really have some kind of backup.”

“Yes, you should,” Aqua agreed as she and Terra caught up to them. “We can stay out of the way if you want, but we should at least be nearby.”

“Fine,” Ventus acquiesced. “More people will probably just piss him off, though.”

“He’s nothing we can’t handle,” Aqua remarked.

“True enough,” Ventus agreed. “He’s mostly just a nuisance at this point. Either join us or leave us alone, you know? Xehanort’s gone, the war is over.”

“And good riddance,” Terra muttered.

“Why do you think he keeps attacking you?” Sora asked, folding his hands behind his head. “He’s not still trying to fuse with you, is he? There’s no real reason to try to forge the χ-blade anymore.”

“No, I don’t think he cares about that anymore.” Ventus frowned. “I suppose he’s trying to prove himself over me. Or maybe he does want to fuse, but only to get a better body?”

“But you don’t want to fuse?” Sora asked.

“No. I’m fine without him. And he just wants to control me, anyway,” Ventus answered.

“Well, you can always ask for Vanitas’s side once we meet him,” Terra said.

“Yeah, but don’t expect him to give you a decent answer,” Ventus shot back.

The four of them walked farther along the beach of Destiny Islands, the sounds of the resumed volleyball game gradually fading behind them.

***

They found Vanitas on one of the smaller islands inaccessible from the main area, Terra somehow managing to row them all there in the tiny, rickety wooden rowboat on the pier. The sun shone down mercilessly on the smaller island, which was mostly sand with one tall outcropping of rock in the center. Predictably, Vanitas sat on the top of the outcrop, helmeted head cradled in his hand and reflecting the ground below.

“Hello, brother,” he sang out. “Brought your little friends along? Too scared to face me by yourself?”

Ventus rolled his eyes. “I can take you myself. They’re just spectating.”

“Oh, I think I can help keep them occupied.” Vanitas jumped down from the rock, darkness consuming the sand around him as the Unversed clawed their way into the sunlight.

Keyblades flashed into being as everyone dropped into battle-ready stances. “Vanitas! We don’t have to do this!” Ventus called.

“We will always have to do this Ventus, for as long as we both exist. I can’t let my worse half start getting complacent now, can I?” Vanitas crooned back, smirk audible in his voice.

“Okay,” Ventus muttered. “I tried. Alright, let’s get this over with, Vanitas. I’ve got a volleyball match to get back to.”

“Oh, look at you!” Vanitas yelled. “Think you’re so much better than me, huh?!” His keyblade appeared in a flash of fire, more Unversed springing forth from the sand.

Rather than reply, Ventus sprang forward, keyblade whirling out for a strike.

***

“Well, that’s that?” Terra said, banishing his keyblade after one last look around the small island. “Back to the others, then!”

“Yeah,” Ventus sighed as Aqua’s Curaga washed over him, mending his cuts and bruises. “Hope we’re still winning.”

“They’ve probably finished the match by now,” Aqua said.

“Awww,” Sora whined. “I didn’t get to show off that secret move I’ve been practicing!” He kicked up a spray of sand with his foot.

Terra chuckled. “If it’s the move that involves using your keyblade, I’m pretty sure that’s illegal.”

“Hey! It’s still cool!” Sora puffed out his cheeks in indignation.

Together, the four of them began to head back to their little boat and then to the main island. The fight had taken a while, but they had all faced worse – Vanitas’s current power was only of fraction of what he had wielded previously. His taunts now rang empty and were easily ignored, and it didn’t take too much for Ventus to beat him back up the rock, where he quickly opened a Corridor of Darkness and made his exit before he could actually lose the fight. That was a recurring theme, now – Vanitas would show up with his Unversed, hoping to draw out Ventus to some remote location where they would fight. When Ventus inevitably began to gain the upper hand, Vanitas would slink off, reappearing a few weeks later for a reprise. Sora frowned as he turned it over in his mind. From what he knew of Vanitas’s history, he hadn’t really been the type to cut and run before – he would at least see battles out to their conclusion first. Maybe he was just toying with them, trying to lull them into a sense of complacency or enact some equally dastardly scheme. Or maybe he was just desperate and trying to keep up appearances.

“Hey, Ventus?” Sora asked, stopping just behind the other boy. They were close enough to hear the others, now.

“Yeah?” Ventus stopped and turned to look at him.

“I know we’ve talked about this before, but Vanitas is weaker now than he used to be, right?”

“Yeah,” Ventus sighed. “Beating him now isn’t exactly easy, but it’s nothing compared to our fights in the past.”

“He’s definitely much weaker,” Aqua added. “Although his opinion of himself hasn’t seemed to change much.”

“And… that’s because…” Sora started.

“Probably because he’s had to reform so much recently,” Ventus continued for him. “He was trapped inside you for a while, Sora. Then we beat him again at the Keyblade Graveyard and he had to reform himself once more. It makes sense he wouldn’t be quite as strong as before.” Ventus shrugged. “That’s probably why he’s attacking so much, if that’s why you’re asking. He’s trying to rebuild his strength.”

“Probably why we keep having to fight so many Unversed, too,” Terra said. “He’s using them to gather negative energy, or something.”

“Right,” Sora sighed. “I guess I knew all that, huh?”

“It’s definitely frustrating,” Ventus said. “I wish he would just listen to me. There’s no point in all this fighting. He could still join us.”

“I agree, but complaining about it here isn’t going to get us anywhere,” Aqua said gently, laying a hand on Ventus’s shoulder. “Let’s get back to the others.”

“Huh, looks like the match is actually still going on,” Terra commented.

“What, really? I can still show Riku my cool new move!” Sora dashed off, thoughts of Vanitas banished at the prospect of showing off for his best friend.

“No, Sora! I told you there’s no keyblades in volleyball!” Terra shouted, running after him.

Ventus and Aqua shared a glance, then burst into giggles.

***

The match ended in a sound defeat for the keyblade wielders, due in part to Sora’s use of illegal moves on the court. Sora pouted as he thought about it, lying on his bed staring up at the dark ceiling. The moon had risen above the waves some time ago, but Sora found himself still awake, pondering a potential ruleset for his new, better game, Keyblade Volleyball. He supposed he’d need to make the game possible for any weapon type, in order for the former Organization XIII to play, but that would complicate the types of moves that could be allowed…

A faint scuffling from outside drew Sora out of his thoughts. He rolled himself out of bed and towards his open window (he slept better at night, being able to hear the waves and know that he was home and Riku was home and Kairi was home and they were all going to stay that way) to investigate. Leaning his elbows on the wooden windowsill, he scanned the empty beach. Nothing. He found his eyes wandering over to the ocean instead, the blue waves turned black in the dark of night. Somehow it didn’t seem quite as vast and impenetrable a barrier as it had seemed so long ago, when he and Riku and Kairi talked of nothing but rafts and adventure and escape.

The scuffling sound came again and drew Sora’s attention back to the beach. He frowned and scanned the beach once more, straining his eyes and looking more carefully this time. The moon was almost full, so the beach was mostly visible. But again, Sora could find nothing…

Wait. His eyes stopped by the palm tree. The scuffling sound played once more, and this time Sora thought he saw a shadow move by the base of the tree. He leaned further out the window, squinting, and made out a pair slit red eyes. An Unversed! Sora awkwardly climbed up on the windowsill before dropping down into the sand below and dashing for the tree.

He defeated the Unversed with a few swings of the keyblade, then drove the tip into the sand as he inspected the base of the tree to see if there were any more. Had they missed these earlier? Had Vanitas left a few behind before he disappeared?

“Oh, it’s you,” a voice sneered from behind him.

Sora spun around to find Vanitas standing a few feet away, helmet reflecting the moonlit waves. He reached for his keyblade, dropping into his battle stance. “Vanitas! Back for more?”

Vanitas scoffed. “As if you could be any challenge, loser. You aren’t even a keyblade master.” Yet he summoned his own keyblade and shot off a fireball.

Sora dodged to the side, and the fireball went hurtling out over sea. “Wait, we don’t need to fight! Isn’t once enough for today?” he called.

“So you say, but who reached for their keyblade first?” Vanitas shot back.

“Fine!” Sora banished his keyblade, then quickly jumped out the way of an attack. “Hey! No keyblade, see? We don’t have to fight!”

Vanitas swung his keyblade again. “Quit mocking me!” he hissed. “You better call that keyblade back if you want to live, Sora.”

“I won’t!” Sora said. “Why do you insist on fighting us, Vanitas? None of us want to, you know.”

Vanitas laughed. “As if I care what any of you want.”

“Are you just trying to fuse back with Ventus?” Sora pressed. “Why can’t you just talk to him?”

“None of your business,” Vanitas snarled, driving his keyblade forward and plunging it into the side of the palm tree when Sora rolled away. “That’s between me and Ventus.”

“But you aren’t talking to him, either!” Sora exclaimed.

“What, do you want me to tell you all about my feelings?” Vanitas sneered, ripping his keyblade out and sending small slivers of tree flying. “You want to be my friend? Teach me the power of light and goodness?” He sent off another fireball.

Sora jumped up onto the tree. “Yes! Is that so bad? We don’t have to be against each other! If not me, at least talk to Ventus!”

“I am really sick of sharing a face with someone like you,” Vanitas ground out, anger palpable in his voice.

“At least tell us why! Give us some reason for this!” This was going nowhere. And really, why would it? Vanitas had said next to nothing on his own behalf in the months of his random attacks, only spouting his lines about wanting to fight and mocking the others until they were mad enough to do so, then leaving with some quick, parting insult. Sora mentally readied himself to call back his keyblade.

“Fine,” Vanitas said, to Sora’s surprise. “Here’s a reason: I’m going fuse back with Ventus and take over his body. My body. And then I can really be me, and everything will be better. For me, of course. But who cares about him?”

“Really be you…?” Sora frowned. And then flipped out the way of an incoming fireball, landing hard in the sand. “Hey, you’re already your own person. You don’t need Ventus for that.”

Vanitas lunged for him, keyblade swinging. “Ha! You think this body can get me anywhere? You think I want to live like this?”

“Like what?” Sora couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something he was missing here. He was quickly starting to feel out of his depth.

“Like this,” Vanitas hissed, and darkness enveloped the ground around them. A lone Unversed clawed its way up to the light, but before Sora could react, Vanitas ran forward and cut it down. Sora’s eyes widened as he watched it fade away and absorb back into Vanitas, who shuddered noticeably. “I will make myself whole again, whether Ventus wants it or not.”

“That’s not right!” Sora protested weakly. The feeling of there is something here you are not understanding had lodged itself uncomfortably in his stomach.

“I’ve had enough of this,” Vanitas replied. “Fight me.”

Sora planted his feet and shook his head. “No.”

Vanitas fixed the blank stare of his helmet on Sora for a long moment. Finally, he deflated, lowering his arms back to his side. “Fine. There’s nothing here for me, then.” A Corridor of Darkness opened behind him, and before Sora could say anything he had stepped through it and vanished.

***

“Vanitas? Hmm. I can’t say I know too much about him off of the top of my head, but perhaps there is some data on him here I could dig up for you?” Ienzo said, stroking his chin thoughtfully.

“Thanks, Ienzo!” Sora smiled up at him. He’d come to visit Radiant Garden, hoping to find something here that might explain what Vanitas didn’t. He’d been turning over their encounter all night and morning, trying to uncover whatever it was he seemed to be missing. He’d asked Ventus, but all he knew was that Vanitas’s existence was unstable in some way. That was probably part of Vanitas’s desire to fuse, but after last night Sora was sure some reason was running deeper than that. So he’d taken the Gummi Ship out to Radiant Garden right after breakfast, to pick the brains of his favorite researchers.

“Vanitas, is it? He was created by Xehanort out of Ventus, correct?” Ansem the Wise asked. “We unfortunately cannot ask Xehanort anything, but perhaps looking at Ventus could teach us something?”

“I will search through our systems to see if Xehanort has left any research notes that might be of use. But if I may Sora, why do you want to know?” Ienzo asked.

Sora frowned as he thought it over. “It was something he said to me… I ran into him last night, and asked him why he was insisting on fighting us. He started talking about the usual stuff, wanting to fuse with Ventus, be whole… but he said something else about how he wanted to ‘make everything better’ and ‘stop feeling like this.’ And he cut down one of his own Unversed…”

“He attacked an Unversed?” Ienzo asked, surprise feuding with curiosity in his tone.

“Yeah. He called it out, but then he just beat it back before I could do anything. He absorbed it back into himself, but there was something weird about that too… The whole thing just bugged me. Like there’s something here I don’t know. So I thought I’d come here and ask you guys about it.”

“Can you describe what was weird about him absorbing the Unversed, Sora?” Ansem questioned.

“Umm, I dunno, it was just kind of unexpected? And he kind of… shuddered, when he absorbed it back. I guess he could feel it, somehow?” Sora mused.

“I see,” Ansem said. “If the Unversed are formed from negative emotions, and they return to their master upon being defeated, then it is likely the negative emotions he felt that made the Unversed in the first place return to him as well. I imagine it would be an unpleasant sensation.”

“That’s true,” Ienzo added. “And if the Unversed are part of him, is it possible harming the Unversed might harm him as well?”

“So… every time we defeat an Unversed, the negative emotions return to Vanitas, and it hurts him? That’s… awful.” Sora’s frown deepened.

“Well, this is all simply conjecture,” Ienzo said. “I’ll go see if I can dig up any data now. I’ll call you if I find anything, okay? Try not to worry about this too much.”

“Bring Ventus here sometime, Sora,” Ansem said. “We may be able to learn something from him as well.”

“Alright. Thanks, guys! You’re a big help.” Sora flashed them both a bright grin and walked back to the Gummi Ship, a slight bounce returning to his step.

***

“Alright, alright, so… Bed, wed, behead: Naminé, Maleficent, and Selphie.”

Kairi wrinkled her nose. “Sora, what kind of group is that?”

“Just tell us your answers already,” Riku laughed.

“Fine, fine. Uh… Behead Maleficent, wed Naminé, and bed Selphie.”

“Really? You’d marry your own Nobody?” Sora questioned, raising his eyebrows. “Isn’t that a little weird?”

“Maybe,” Kairi shrugged. “But we’ve definitely seen and done way weirder.”

“True enough,” Riku said. “My turn.”

They were hanging out in Sora’s bedroom, just the three of them. Riku had declared it too hot for any outdoor activities (“You’re just saying that because you got a sunburn yesterday,” Kairi had teased) so they’d all decided to lay on a pile of Sora’s blankets with the window open and the fan on full blast. A pitcher of ice-cold water rested within arm’s reach, but so far they’d mostly used it to pour water on each other for coming up with disgusting “bed, wed, behead” combinations.

“Okay, Sora, bed, wed, behead: Xemnas, Ansem, and Ansem the Wise,” Riku said.

“Yuck!” Sora stuck his tongue out. “I really have to choose from those guys?”

“You really do,” Riku grinned. “C’mon, let’s hear it.” He dug an elbow into Sora’s side.

“Ugh,” Sora groaned as dramatically as he could. “Then… wed Ansem the Wise.”

“Interesting choice,” Riku commented.

“Shut up. Bed… Ansem.”

“Ha. I’d bed him, too,” Kairi remarked.

“Gross, Kairi,” Riku said.

“What? He’s the best looking of the three!” she insisted.

“Which leaves behead Xemnas,” Sora finished. “Ugh, that was awful.”

“My turn!” Kairi sang. “Riku, bed, wed, behead: Xion, Aqua, and Naminé.”

“Hmm…” Riku thought it over. “Wed Naminé, bed Aqua, behead Xion? I feel awful doing that to Xion, though.”

“I’m noticing a pattern with everyone wanting to wed Naminé,” Sora said.

“She’s sweet.” Kairi shrugged. “I have one for you, too, Sora.”

“Oh, okay. Bring it on,” Sora grinned.

“Bed, wed, behead: Riku Replica, Naminé, and Vanitas.”

“…Okay,” Sora said, “I’m gonna have to wed Naminé.”

“See?” Riku laughed. “Naminé’s just the best choice.”

“And then… B-bed Riku Replica.”

“Wow, Sora, very forward of you,” Kairi teased.

“Quiet!” Sora groaned. “There is no good option here! I can’t win with this group!” Out of the corner of his eye, Sora noticed Riku was slightly flushed.

“So you’d behead Vanitas, then?” Kairi prompted.

“Yeah, I guess.” Sora frowned. “I mean, wedding him would be awful and bedding him would just be weird. He looks just like me.”

“So you’re saying you wouldn’t have sex with your clone, then? Interesting,” Riku said.

“What, and you would?” Sora asked.

“Sure. It could be fun,” Riku replied with a nonchalant shrug.

“I would too!” Kairi chimed in. “It’s just like masturbating, right? Nothing wrong with that.”

“It’s different!” Sora insisted. “It’s like a whole other person. It’s weird!”

“Only if you make it weird,” Riku said.

“So then, you would bed Riku Replica, too?” Sora challenged.

Riku considered. “Yeah,” he decided. “My answer is exactly the same as yours. Sorry I don’t want to fuck your clone, Sora,” he apologized. “But he’s kind of an asshole.”

“He’s not my clone! Apologize to Ventus if you’re going to apologize to someone.”

“Ooh, Sora!” Kairi clapped her hands. “Bed, wed, behead: Ventus, Roxas, and Vanitas.”

“There’s a group,” Riku laughed. “Well, Sora?”

“Shouldn’t it be someone else’s turn?” Sora whined. “I’ve already-” He was cut off by a loud chime. He sat up and crawled over to the bed, snatching the Gummiphone from off its surface and taking the call. “Hello?”

“Hello!” Ienzo smiled back on the screen. “Just thought I’d update you on my progress! I’ve found some interesting notes from Xehanort, during his time as an apprentice here. It concerns the nature of darkness… some of it may apply to Vanitas.”

“That’s great!” Sora beamed. “Read anything interesting?”

“Vanitas?” Riku muttered, moving next to Sora to look at Ienzo. “Speak of the devil.”

“What’s this about Vanitas?” Kairi asked, moving to Sora’s other side.

“Er, hello,” Ienzo said. “Sora asked me to look into anything concerning Vanitas… As far as these notes I found, the most interesting thing I’ve read so far is concerning the nature of pure darkness. These notes seem to insinuate that any being of pure darkness would be filled with negative emotions, and that such emotions would cause pain and drive the being to lash out at others… although these notes appear to be mostly conjecture. At this point Xehanort would have had no means of testing any of this. Still, it matches up with what Ansem and I both suspected, so I’d say there’s likely some truth to this. Nevertheless, I will continue searching for anything that might be more relevant.”

“Um, so what you’re saying is that… Vanitas attacks people… because…” Sora trailed off, face scrunched up in thought.

“Because he’s in pain?” Riku finished.

“That’s awful,” Kairi said. “But it’s no excuse to hurt others.”

“Indeed,” Ienzo agreed. “Still, after reading this, I feel it is fairly safe to assume that defeating the Unversed probably hurts Vanitas as well. If what you saw is typical, Sora, and Vanitas frequently fights the Unversed himself, he’s likely usually in a fair bit of a pain.”

“Why would he do that to himself?” Sora asked.

“That, I do not know.” Ienzo shook his head. “I’ll keep digging over here. You should bring Ventus by sometime, as we may discover more. But that’s all I have for now.” And with that, the call disconnected.

Riku turned to Sora and raised an eyebrow. “So why are you looking into Vanitas?”

“Well…” As Sora launched into his recollection of his fight with Vanitas the night before, he found his mind wandering back to what Ienzo had said. Was that the real reason? Vanitas was hurting, and he thought fusing with Ventus would stop it?

“Hm… I agree that that’s a little strange,” Kairi said. “So you think he’s really hurting?”

“Yeah… I’m starting to,” Sora said. “I mean, you guys heard what Ienzo said. What do you think?”

“I think it would make sense,” Riku said. “The longer you’re in pain, the more desperate you’d become to get it to stop. If he thinks fusing with Ventus is the solution, it could explain why he keeps trying even though we beat him at every turn. But then again, it could be something completely else. We could be way off here.”

“I don’t think so,” Kairi mused. “I think what Vanitas said to Sora matches up with this theory. Saying he wants to get better and doesn’t want to live like this? That sounds like it could be a chronic pain thing to me.”

“That’s terrible, though,” Sora said, voice quiet. “No one deserves to feel like that.”

“It is,” Kairi agreed. “Maybe you should try talking to him again sometime.”

“I doubt you’d get anywhere,” Riku said. “And anyway, as terrible as it is, it still doesn’t excuse his actions.”

“I guess not,” Sora sighed. “Still. I want to help him if I can. I can’t just stand by if I know someone’s hurting. I have to help. I have to do something.”

Riku sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “I know better than to try to discourage you from something like this,” he said wryly. “Just be careful, okay? He’s not our friend. He could hurt you.”

“I’ll support you, Sora,” Kairi said, lightly gripping his arm. “Let me know if I can do anything to help.”

“Thanks, Kairi.” Sora flashed her a brilliant smile. “Riku, I’ll be careful.” He had no idea what, exactly, he should do, but it would definitely have to involve seeing a lot more of Vanitas. Getting him to actually talk instead of just taunt and fight would be a good staring place, he supposed. He sort of managed it last time, so maybe he could do it again? If he could get Vanitas to open up, he could get a better idea of how to help him. And then they wouldn’t have to fight anymore. This could benefit all of his friends, and maybe he could even make a new one! Sora’s head spun with newfound possibilities.

“Soo…” Kairi started after the silence had stretched into several minutes. “Does this change your answer at all, Sora?”

“Huh? What answer?” Sora blinked.

Kairi giggled. “Bed, wed, behead: Ventus, Roxas, and Vanitas.”

“Oh, yeah,” Riku snickered. “I’m still very interested in your answer.”

“Oh,” Sora flushed. “Well, let’s see…”

[lombax-lombardi]

Reflections~

Summary: Being a spirit of some kind was tough. Sure you can manifest a physical form whenever you wish but sometimes you run into a reflection of yourself. And the real feelings come out.

Genre: Angst, Fluff

Characters: Direheart.

Note: Well thanks to @rii--flect I have caught the feels. Now time to write the feels asdfghjkl!

She was in love once.

Once being the keyword.

Now that was she connected with so many others, even her alternate selves, feeling all the feel made her jealous.

She wish she didn’t feel this way but she did! She didn’t deserve what happened to her if she knew it was going to make her this way!

Most of the residents of Radiant Garden, which it was now called thanks to Sora and friends, were upset at her presence. Not her presence entirely but the fact she was so sad was affecting the others.

Even the mopiest person, Cloud Strife, was starting to feel how heavy her emotions were taking a toll on the residents. The ghost had become close with the Restoration Committee during her much allotted time there.

 Yuffie, the young ninja, was laying on the floorboards of Merlin’s house while Aerith, the charming brunette in pink, sat nearby. “Something seems to be troubling you?” her voice alerted Yuffie who looked up at the brunette.

“Kinda. It’s Direheart.” Upon the mention of the spirit’s name, the brunette seemed to nod in understanding. “She looks so miserable....It’s cause...I think I heard Merlin correctly....” she sat up trying hard to remember what the old wizard had told them when another voice spoke up.

“It’s because of what type of creature she is” The girls look up to see another brunette, clad in leather. “According to him because of a lack of a heart, that red ruby on her chest acts a substitute”

“But how can it act like that Leon?” Yuffie queried, the male folded his arms across his chest. “Even Marlin doesn’t know the whole story, Direheart is very quiet about her past. All we have to go on is that she has been around for a very long time”

Aerith takes a moment to speak up. “Not to mention she is probably worried for her friend Rii”

“Yeah. Sora and Riku did NOT look pleased at all that she got taken. But it’s like her whole demeanour affects everyone-” Yuffie was about to continue on when the stuffy old wizard himself decided to poof himself right in the middle of the conversation.

“Well my dear as Leon was saying it has to do with that jewel carved into her chest. It allows her to maintain a stronger connection to others she has become rather close too. Even across worlds” the old wizard stroked his beard.

“Because when she feels miserable, the rest of you do because you are close to her. You believe you are friends yes?”

They nod in response to his question. “Good. Now according to what I have managed to learn, with what she has been able to tell me...” he pulled over a piece of parchment from his robe. “This is what she used to be like before her transformation”

The trio approached to stare at the piece of paper. It seemed to be a drawing, in colour of their ghostly friend. She had long brown hair with eyes to match and she...was smiling.

Yuffie stared wide eyed at the picture, Aerith seemed to stare in wonder and as for Leon well he was shocked to say the least. She used to look like that?

Then what in the hell happened to her to make her look like she does now?

“Now. From what I know about how she was before, she was very much like Sora. Kind, caring and all that and from what we were told by our robot visitor...” Merlin mumbles. They knew who he was referring to. 

Seven.

“She sacrificed herself to save her friends. And with being a spirit now, her connections with others are magnified on such a scale that she feels what they do”

Aerith lifts her head. “Everything? Every emotion? Thought?”

The old wizard gives the young woman a nod. “Why yes. Every single minuet thing she feels on a scale larger then normal my dear. The poor soul.”

The trio fall silent. Poor Direheart. What a miserable life she leads now.

Speaking of, said spirit was floating around the marketplace waiting for news or waiting for her friend to summon her again. Or to be called off to a different place yet again as is her wont in life now.

Well if you could call this a life. 

In her time here she had become close with Scrooge McDuck and his nephews, Huey, Dewey and Louie. Mostly because she had a fondness for children in general and the boys were always polite to her and always asked her questions. In fact she had become close with all the people here, even Cloud with all his moping.

As she floated around she saw something, no, someone motioning for her to follow. She did so, taking a moment to land. She was greeted with bright blue eyes and a smile.

“Oh...Sora...hello..” she sounded so indifferent. “Aww come on Direheart, I can’t a smile from you?”

That sounded familiar to her. Ah right...Ven. It was hard to forget that a part of him was hold up inside the Keyblade holders heart. It was hard to not smile at him.

“There she is~”

“Why are you here Sora. You didn’t make a trip this long to come see little old me..” she said, face returning to its stone cold coverage, Sora placed his hands on his hips. “Look Direheart we are still looking for Rii but this has to do with something else....I got a strange message from a friend of yours...”

He began describing the person who delivered the message. Seven. She seemed to be popping up a lot more recently, trying her best to help.

Help huh? More like nuisance...No don’t think like that! The last time something like that happened the evil I’ve buried came out!

“What did she want?” Direheart spoke, glossy blue eyes. 

“Well what she basically said is that you really need to get over your losses and move forward. You are...kind of bringing everyone down.” He felt her eyes narrow, looking right through him. “Oh really? Kind of difficult when everything you loved and cared for vanished when you woke up after so long”

He seemed to have struck a nerve. Which wasn’t his intention he said it as nicely as he could. But several people did warn him that the spirit was a bit of a firecracker.

She turned her head away from. “Just find Rii...and keep the last part of my friend safe. I need to be alone” she flew off with Sora reaching out to stop her, but he was a tad too late. Damn it.

The spirit found herself in a quiet corner of Radiant Garden, sitting on the railing. “Get over it huh? Get over it? How would SHE know ANYTHING about getting over it!!” Her anger grew, loose strands of white hair covered her vision as she gripped her head. “If I didn’t save those fools I’d still be normal! But no here I am with nothing! With no one! The person I loved is now just a derelict suit of armour and I can’t bring myself to love another because I feel I don’t deserve such happiness!!” 

Her ministrations had caused the environment around her to twist and turn, moulding into new terrifying shapes. This wasn’t just anger, this was sadness.

“I see their smiling faces, going about their lives while I’m stuck in a sort of limbo with nothing and not a soul to call my own...all I wanted...all I want...” Tears fell from her eyes, wetting spots of concrete. Seeing the remnants of Terra that day really shook her core. Even she didn’t know it. It was hidden upon layers and layers of bile, hatred, jealousy.

“I don’t want to be alone anymore....can’t I just have that....” she asked to the silence.

No response.

Typical.

She was alone.

Always.

She wasn’t even aware of the ghostly visage standing in front of her. “Oh come on now me. Moping isn’t going to help you...”

She looked up in pure shock. Standing in front of her...was herself!

Well what she looked like before she removed her heart from her body.

“Come to berate me have you?” Her reflection shook her head. 

“No I’m here to tell you to stop moping and get up!”

The one in white scoffed. “As if. You’re me, like you can tell me what to do...”

Her reflection growled in protest, lifted up the spirit by the scuff of her dress, fists clenching ever tighter around the slightly visible fabric. Brown eyes stared in cloudy blue ones, the red markings around her eyes glowed somewhat amidst the darkness.

“Now you listen here, Me. Sure you lost me when you lost your heart. Sure you got forced out of two vessels when you weren’t ready! Sure it sucks that you have this fate thrust upon you and that guy you...no we fell in love with is now so separated it may take a long time to make him whole again...”

She felt her reflection tremble slightly. “But you cannot sit here and think you aren’t worthy of feeling that way again! You may have lost me somewhere beneath all the emotions of our alternates but enough is enough!”

The white haired female stared in shock at her reflection. This what was buried underneath it all? Some shred of her original persona left?

“I can’t come back. It’s far too late for me. You’ve become something completely new....Well...we have I guess...”

“But-”

“No buts Direheart! We both know that if you are gonna stave the darkness from you, you HAVE to get over the things in the past. We need to do this Direheart. So stop sitting there thinking that Terra is your one and only and you have lost the ability to love forever.” she motions a hand to a shining portal in the distance.

“You still have your memories right?”

“Yes I do but...”

“I’m not going to say lose yourself in them. There may be new loves in your life as you hop between worlds and help our alternates. Just stop beating yourself up over it...” She shakes her head. 

“Look you have people who care about you...” Visions of the people she had grown to care for started to fill the empty void, glowing brightly.

“Not to mention our alternates”

Yes. The others who share her name.

“Now look it will be tough but he did say he will come back...not today not tomorrow, not next month but he will” She released her from her grip. She noticed something her other half didn’t.

Not until she felt a hand on her shoulder. Direheart flinched.

She turned on her heel to meet those familiar brown eyes that she fell in love with so long ago. It was him, or what she remembered of him anyway.

“It’s you...a-are you...” It was hard to get the words out. Laughter. That same laugh she heard all the time.

“Let’s just say I’m right here..” he pressed a finger against the ruby. She looked confused. She didn’t have a heart.

“But I do not-”

“Yes you do. Listen..Madilyn...” This had to be an illusion. Unless she was in the darkness. It is said that you can sometimes see your loved ones in such a place.

But this darkness wasn’t malevolent.

It was kind.

“I...may not be here with you like I used too....and even if I am...brought back to normal who knows how you’ll feel then. But perhaps one day we could but...for now I just want you to be happy”

This had to be fake.

But she didn’t care.

The tears started rolling down her cheeks faster now. “You promise?” he asked her.

She nods.

“O-Okay..I-I promise...”

He gave her a smile. “That’s the woman I remember...” It was only for a moment but she swore she felt something press against her head, when she opened her eyes again, the visions were gone.

She ended up on her back, staring up at the clouds when a bob of black hair appeared in her vision. “Direheart?”

“ACK!” It seems Yuffie had found her, as she scrambled to her feet. “You startled me!”

“Well you startled us” The ninja said, earning a raised brow from the ghost. “Merlin could see a strange light all the way from his house. We thought you were in trouble”

“We?”

Yuffie nods as she turned her head at the sound of feet coming toward them. It was Aerith and Leon. The one in the pink dress, her face lit up at the sight of her friend safe, rushing over to grab her hands.

Though still see through they felt warm. “You are alright. When that strange light appeared we all felt something was wrong...”

Oh right. That was the ruby’s power, it allowed Direheart when she met people to become attune to their hearts and their minds, which allowed her easy access to their memories and feelings for information.

“You really were worried? About me...I’m just a spirit I am not worth-” The look the brunette was giving her said it all.

“i wouldn’t say anymore if I were you”  came the voice of Leon, who was leaning against the railing. “Once she gets that face she means business. Come on let’s take you to see Merlin, with magic like he saw he wants to make sure you can properly contain it”

Direheart sighs.

How foolish she was to think about how no one really cared. Her vision showed that.

Yes what she saw was just a vision, caused by the ruby’s power. but it was what she needed the most.

Now the important question was...

What was this fuzzy feeling she felt at the sound of peoples voices?

[khremixed]

Part 13:  From Hell’s Heart I Stab at Thee

We’ve waited long and hard for this people and we are finally here.  The world where we finally, finally get high jump.

Also there is some shit about Pinocchio and Riku does unambiguously evil shit and the nature of the soul is discussed.  So let’s do this!

Before we get there, though, we need to go back to Traverse Town and actually meet Pinocchio.  Once you get the green trinity and can unlock the moogle shop, head to the Accessory Shop.  Pinocchio is chilling on the ground and talking to him unlocks a cutscene.  Jiminy and Pinocchio have a whole conversation about lying.  Both of them seem to have assumed that Geppetto was with the other.  

With that out of the way, try to fly somewhere on the right side of the map past Agrabah.  Unfortunately we aren’t getting there anytime soon, because right the fuck out of nowhere Monstro comes and swallows the gummi ship.  (Also, in my most recent play through, I realized I’d never met Pinocchio after Agrabah and I decided to just go back to my last save to meet him, only to find I never saved following beating Jafar and had to go through those fights again.  Whoops!)

This leads into a flashback I’m pretty sure is a Final Mix addition with Sora and Riku when they were roughly five and six respectively.  Sora tries to convince Riku that there is a monster in the secret place on Destiny Islands, but the exploration there shows it was just the wind howling through the hole in the roof of the cave. One thing I noticed is that the walls don’t have all the graffiti on them, so I guess my assumption that generations of kids were drawing there was wrong.  Riku notices the very obvious door, but since it won’t open, he quickly deems it boring.  Riku then makes Sora promise that when they are older, they are going to leave the Destiny Islands and go exploring places that aren’t so dull.  That’s cool with Sora, but for now they are going to have to settle for going to see the new girl at the mayor’s house.

Sora wakes up inside the mouth of the whale and it is clear that the whale has been swallowing a lot of ships, but they are all wooden.  Who the fuck is using wooden ships to fly around space?  Like, that can’t be airtight?  I mean, I guess this universe has an atmosphere in outer space because that’s the only way Monstro makes sense.  Probably is oxygen rich too, judging by his size.

Anyway, Donald and Goofy are pissed because someone keeps throwing items at them from on top of a woodpile, and wouldn’t you know, it’s Pinocchio!  This is somewhat worrying because he was last seen in Traverse Town.  Pinocchio grabs a thing and heads back to the only intact boat in the whale’s mouth.

When you catch up to Pinocchio, Sora asked how he got there.  GOOD FUCKING QUESTION.  We never get an answer, by the way.  Geppetto introduces himself as Pinocchio’s father instead.  

Gepetto apparently never bothered to instill his child with a fear of strangers, because Pinocchio goes wandering off after Riku. ��How long does everyone think Pinocchio is going to last as a real boy before he gets himself killed through negligence?  Yeah Blue Fairy, giving him a sense of honesty was a way more important priority that teaching the kid common sense.

It’s pretty gross that this level is the literal belly of a whale.  Walking around makes all these little squishing noises.  But it does mean I’m singing the Decemberists to myself the whole time.  I also wish the heartless in here were more themed after bacteria like the boss.  I’ve never gotten the ghosts either here or in Atlantica.  Never.

A bigger issue with the level design is that all of the chambers basically look the same and they all seem to cross back into each other.  It makes navigating around confusing as all hell.  There are also sections that are easy to fall off and you have to start completely over.  

Anyway, you run after Pinocchio.  Sora tells the puppet that now is not the time to be playing games, but a voice behind says “But I thought you liked playing games, Sora.”  Riku follows up with asking if maybe Sora’s too cool for that now that he’s the keyblade wielder.  Riku grabs Pinocchio and drags him off.  

After going through the awful maze that is the inside of Monstro, Sora and co. manage to catch up.  Before they do, we do get a little scene with Riku and Maleficent.  She wants to know if he still cares about Sora.  Riku brushes that off, saying he’s just messing with his ex-bff, and Maleficent gives some of her usual “beware the darkness in your heart” advice, which Riku does not appreciate.  When Sora gets there, we get a fight.  Sora wants to know what’s up with Riku and Riku retorts that all Sora seems to do now is “run around and show off that keyblade”.  He frames it as “Do you even want to save Kairi?”  Their fight is derailed by Pinocchio screaming in the next room.

Heading to the bowels (ew), we find that Pinocchio’s managed to get himself trapped by the Parasite Cage.  Riku is more than happy to jump into battle with Sora and company, and for a moment, we get what should have been if Riku hadn’t ended up at Hollow Bastion.  They work well together.  Too bad it won’t last.

Parasite Cage coughs out Pinocchio and Riku immediately follows the pupped down the hole.  When Sora goes to, he finds Geppetto pleading with Riku to return Pinocchio.  Riku refuses.  See he’s there because Pinocchio is a puppet with a heart and he gives us our first hint that Kairi has lost hers.  However, he’s not going to elaborate.

The fight with Parasite Cage disturbed Monstro enough that the water in his mouth has gone down, allowing more areas to be accessed.  Even better, there’s a new chest on Geppetto’s boat that gives us the best gift of all.  Oh high jump, how I’ve missed thee.

Heading to the stomach by way of the throat (again, ew, and also does the internal anatomy of this whale make any sense?) we find Riku and a non-responsive Pinocchio.  Riku hopes that “a puppet that’s lost its heart to the heartless” is the key to saving Kairi.  He tries to convince Sora to join him but Sora isn’t having it.  This isn’t right.  Riku is angered that Sora would choose a puppet over him and Kairi.  Sora’s retort, “Heart or no heart, at least he still has a conscious” is great from both a comeback point of view and also because said conscious runs over to beg Pinocchio to wake up.  For probably the first time, Jiminy is thrilled when Pinocchio lies, saying he isn’t going to make it, so it turns out that Pinocchio is actually totally fine.  Sora and Riku gear up to fight when Parasite Cage shows up again to crash the party.  Riku teleports away and we get a reprise of the previous fight, now with acid!  After killing the Parasite Cage, Sora tries to find Riku, having not seen him leave.

Monstro sneezes you out and everything’s okay!  The team do go “hm, I’m sure Pinocchio and Geppetto are fine” which is kind of a dick move.  I would be way more concerned considering that they are traveling space in a wooden boat.  Which for the record they didn’t even take, it is still in Monstro on subsequent visits.

The last bit we get is Riku and Maleficent on Hook’s ship.  Riku has indeed managed to find Kairi, but her heart is gone.  Maleficent says it was the heartless’s doing and that the only way to find out how to save her is to open the door to Kingdom Hearts with the seven princesses of heart.  I think that this is the first title drop, by the by.  Riku agrees to help, because he’s gone too far down this road to stop now, and Maleficent gives him the power to control the heartless.  This will end well.

I’m torn about how I feel about Monstro.  The level design is, as I said before, terrible.  But storywise, this stuff is great.  The contrast between the technically not alive Pinocchio with a heart and the real girl Kairi without one is fantastic.  Honestly it might be the best use of a Disney character within the first game.  Pinocchio having a heart is also somewhat retroactively foreshadowing for Dream Drop Distance, so put a pin in that.  We will be revisiting this idea.

Riku’s arc also gets a lot of development here.  Earlier I said that I believed Riku is mainly jealous that Sora is special now but I’m revising that theory a bit.  Don’t get me wrong, jealousy is still a big component of this fall to the dark side (especially considering his “too cool now that you’ve got a keyblade” comments), but I think that Riku ultimately is more upset about Sora having new friends than I originally gave him credit for.  Riku strikes me as the kind of person that makes friends with a lot of effort, unlike Sora who is your friend if you are within each other’s general proximity and you aren’t actively evil.  Even worse, while Sora has trusted companions, Riku is surrounded by the villains who he knows better than to trust completely.  I think that Riku is also refusing to acknowledge the jealousy that is going on by convincing himself that Sora really never cared about him or Kairi.  To Riku, he’s the one that’s actually doing something to help her.  And Maleficent is fueling these thoughts for her own gain.  But she hasn’t been totally successful and knows it.  Riku’s attempts to convince Sora to help him at the end are definitely from a place of wanting them to go back to their previous dynamic.  But it’s too late.

Speaking of Maleficent, I honestly couldn’t remember if she already knows that Kairi is one of the princesses of heart or not.  The more I think about it, the more I want to say no, she thinks Wendy is the last one.  Right?  We’ll see, I guess.  

[recentanimenews]

Off the Shelf: Cautiously Optimistic

MELINDA: Well, hello, Michelle! Can you believe we’re back again in just two weeks? I hope you’ve had time to come up with a new joke.

MICHELLE: That last one I made was so very bad, I’m starting to feel remorse for inflicting terrible dad jokes on people at the start of these columns. So, you get a reprieve, everybody!

MELINDA: I dunno, I think you may be disappointing more people than you know!

MICHELLE: If you actually miss the terrible jokes, leave a comment and I’ll do better next time. How about that?

MELINDA: Fair enough! Well, if we’re not telling dad jokes, I suppose we’d better talk about some manga. What have you been reading this week, Michelle?

MICHELLE: I finally took the plunge and read the first two volumes of Fruits Basket Another, the three-volume Fruits Basket sequel by Natsuki Takaya. I was wary about this one, but though it has some significant flaws, I liked it more than I expected to.

In volume one, we’re introduced to Sawa Mitoma, an exceptionally meek girl who spends so much time thinking things like “Why do I always irritate others without even realizing it?” and being perhaps the most passive protagonist I’ve ever seen that she actually becomes irritating to the reader. She has just started her first year at Kaibara High School, and soon encounters “an incredibly sparkly boy” when she drops her student ID. This boy looks a lot like Yuki Sohma and, surprise, it’s his and Machi’s son, Mutsuki. Be prepared for a bunch of this sort of thing, because in short order we learn that Hanajima’s little brother is Sawa’s homeroom teacher and that Makoto Takei (remember that overzealous student council guy?) is a teacher whose obsession with Yuki has now transferred to Mutsuki. (He’s really creepy about it, too, and desperately needs to be fired.)

Sawa next meets Hajime, the son of Kyo and Tohru, who is serving as student council president. Mutsuki is the vice-president, and soon Sawa’s been drafted to be the first-year member. Over time, she meets more Sohmas, including Riku and Sora, the twin children of Hatsuharu and Rin. She gains confidence by being useful to the council and Riku helps her realize that by always keeping her head down, she’s missing opportunities available to her, like the nice girls in class who want to ask her to have lunch with them.

By the end of the second volume, Sawa has become a much more sympathetic character. Not just because she finally starts taking the initiative and actually engaging with life, but because readers can finally see what Takaya-sensei was doing. It turns out that all of Sawa’s issues stem from her abusive mother, who doesn’t come home for long periods of time, and when she does deign to appear, demands gratitude and apologies from the daughter she viciously belittles. No wonder Sawa got warped into thinking everything she does is wrong and that she’s a useless lump who causes trouble for others!

In the end, the not-very-subtle premise of the series seems to be “this generation of the Sohmas all love their parents very much, so this time they’re going to be the ones to save and accept a girl cursed with a shitty home life.” The execution is rather clumsy, however, as the Sohma offspring talk about their parents way too much for normal teenagers. I did like that Ayame’s son, Chizuru, struggles because he’s the normal one in his eccentric family, and that Mutsuki’s love for his parents is partly due to realizing not everyone has it so good. There’s one worrisome panel that suggests young Mutsuki witnessed Akito protecting her and Shigure’s son, Shiki, from Ren wielding a butcher knife! I hope that’s explained in the third and final volume, as well as whether Shiki was responsible for getting Mutsuki to help out Sawa in the first place.

In any case, I liked it enough to finish out the story, and that’s more than I expected.

MELINDA: Okay, so I’ll admit that the parade of Sohma children just reminds me how irritated I was by the neat pairing-off of everyone that happened at the end of the original series (Ayame, seriously??) so it’s probably getting off on the wrong foot with me from the start. But more than that, I’m struck with your description of the kids talking soooo much about their parents… like, some kind of weird collision of “let’s make more money off of Fruits Basket” and “let’s assume that nobody actually read Fruits Basket and we have so much explaining to do!” Or maybe it’s just “let’s make more money off of Fruits Basket, but in only a few volumes, so DUMP THAT INFO.”

Honestly, the only thing that gives me hope is that butcher knife. Akito with a butcher knife is keeping me alive here. I might read it just for that.

Do we have to have the creepy teacher-student obsession, though? I let that stuff go with older manga, but seriously. It’s 2019.

Or wait. Is it Ren with the butcher knife? I think I added a comma in my mind to draw my attention. Without the comma, I’m suddenly less interested.

MICHELLE: Yeah, it was Ren with the knife. She didn’t go away just ‘cos the curse was lifted, so she’s still around being horrible, apparently.

And yes, after everyone paired off neatly at the end of the main series, all of the couples seem to have stayed together for the next twenty years, judging from the age of Hatori’s daughter. At least Hanajima didn’t marry Kazuma! The parent talk isn’t as bad as recapping the events of the original series, at least, but there is a little bit of explanation when introducing new Sohmas to Sawa. Like, no one says Momiji’s name or what particular business he’s doing, but we know he’s extremely successful at it, which is kind of nice.

It’s more like someone saying, “I want to be like them,” which is still more than teenagers generally say, in my experience.

MELINDA: So, okay, you’re enjoying this more than you expected and you’ll likely read to the end. Should I be following your lead, or should I just reread Fruits Basket? I do suddenly have an urge to reread, especially since I recently lent out the first few volumes to one of my teen students!

MICHELLE: I honestly don’t know. I think it might bug you somewhat more than it did me. Maybe wait until volume three comes out and I can give a definitive answer as to whether this series adds anything to the Fruits Basket experience.

What have you been reading this week?

MELINDA: This week, I dug into the debut volume of For the Kid I Saw in my Dreams, a new series from the creator of Erased, Kei Sanbe. Like Erased, it was originally serialized in Kadokawa Shoten’s Young Ace and is being published in English by Yen Press.

Senri Nakajou had a twin brother, Kazuto, with whom his connection was so strong, they experienced shared vision and literally felt each other’s pain when one was beaten by their abusive, alcoholic father. As the older of the twins, Kazuto was intensely protective of Senri, and would manipulate his way into taking the beating for both of them, to spare them “double the pain.” He’d also insert himself between their parents when they were fighting, to spare their mother from the father’s abuse. On those nights, Senri, hidden in the cupboard under the stairs, would experience Kazuto’s pain as he took their mother’s beating on himself, until one night, when the beating never came. Instead, Senri emerged from his cupboard to find both his parents murdered and his twin missing. Based on the two brief visions he shared with his twin afterwards, Senri is certain that his brother was kidnapped and murdered as well. Now, Senri is a high school delinquent, still searching for the man who murdered his brother.

It takes a chapter or two for Sanbe-sensei to introduce Senri’s twin into the story—a choice that pays off, I suppose, by denying us full insight into Senri’s state of mind, which makes his morally-gray existence hit a bit harder in the beginning. The first things we find out about him are that he was discovered sitting in a pool of his parents’ blood as a child and that he now helps run an ongoing con in which his partners steal someone’s money and then Senri gets paid to pretend to recover it for the victim. He’s so cold and remorseless, we’d wonder if he might have murdered his parents himself if we weren’t also looking at his terrifying childhood drawings in which he repeatedly depicts the murderer (whose head he eventually lops off with a pair of scissors). Then the twin revelation transforms him from typical anti-hero into a scarier but more sympathetic anti-hero, which works much better, for me anyway.

While Senri and Kazuto’s extreme twin connection doesn’t so far reach the supernatural heights of the protagonist’s time-traveling in Erased, there is a bit of a similar feel in this series that I admit I’m hoping might pan out into something just as fantastical, because an average tale of vengeance isn’t all that interesting to me. That said, there’s a lot going on here, and I am not at all sure where it’s leading. There is quite a bit of mystery introduced in this volume, beyond the identity of the murderer, and there are some supporting characters I’m already very fond of, including Senri’s grandparents, who raised him after he was orphaned, and his childhood friend, Enan, whose backstory is nearly as tragic as his own.

MICHELLE: Aside from an aborted attempt to read volume one, I haven’t read any of Erased, which I’m hoping to rectify this year. And this certainly sounds a worthy successor! I’m a little concerned I’ll have trouble getting into it, as I generally don’t love narratives that focus on remorseless anti-heroes, but it seems like the mystery of what happened to his parents will compel me forward. I confess that, even with this brief synopsis, I’m already expecting kind of a Loveless outcome with the older brother.

MELINDA: Well, maybe I’m overstating the antihero-ness? He’s got a lot of compassion in him (he’s the one who reached out to Enan when they were young and accepted her when nobody else would). He’s just very much intent on being the one to kill his brother’s murderer and it’s what drives his whole narrative at this point. He also tends to inflict physical pain on himself a lot, and I don’t know whether it’s an attempt to recreate the shared pain he no longer can with his brother or a survivor’s guilt thing, but he’s definitely a sympathetic character.

You’re not the only one thinking Loveless here, though. I’m also absolutely expecting that the brother is alive.

MICHELLE: Alive and potentially culpable! This really does sound pretty neat, though. I do like a good mystery.

MELINDA: I’m certainly intrigued! So would you like to talk a bit about our mutual read this week?

MICHELLE: Sure!

Ran and the Gray World is a seven-volume seinen series by Aki Irie. In this first volume, we’re introduced to Ran, a headstrong fourth-grader, who lives with her father and older brother, Jin. Ran and Jin’s mother, Shizuka, doesn’t live with them because her presence is required elsewhere to keep a pair of mysterious giant doors from opening. She’s a Grand Sorceress and it soon becomes apparent that Ran, at least, has inherited her mother’s abilities (and impulsivity). I’m assuming Shizuka also gave her the sneakers, currently far too large, which allow her to transform into a teenage version of herself. For his part, Jin has a magic coat that allows him to transform into a wolf, perfect for tracking Ran when she goes off on ill-advised adventures.

Insisting she’s already grown-up, Ran dons the shoes and hitches a ride with strangers to go visit her mother and, inspired by a special lesson from her kindly science teacher, attempts to fly from the school roof. She has some success at the latter and winds up in the garden of a rich guy named Otaro, who doesn’t endear himself to me when he returns to his apartment building naked, exposing himself to a couple of kids in the lobby in the process. Jin rightly pegs him as fishy, and it’s clear by the end of the volume that he’s become obsessed with Ran. Despite declaring he’d never touch a kid—she’s in teenage form for the entirety of their acquaintance—he soon suggests they become more than friends. He’s a creep, and I’m so glad Ran whisks herself off when he embraces her (“I’m outta here!”) but I do worry about what lies ahead.

MELINDA: I love a lot of things about the premise, and the art is freaking gorgeous, which is what drew me to the book in the first place. I’m also pretty into what’s going on with Ran’s family dynamic, MAGIC (always a winner), and wow, her mom and brother are both absolutely fascinating characters with so much going on. But I am super creeped out by Otaro and worried about what’s going to happen there. It’s funny as someone from the Big generation, I suppose, that I’m so disturbed by a story in which a young girl is inhabiting a much older body. But at least in Big (and I suppose also in something like 13 Going On 30), the young character is at least at an age where they are already experiencing sexual attraction and an interest in romance, so it somehow didn’t feel quite so incredibly wrong as this does. So I’m worried about where this story is going to take Ran in that regard, but trying to be optimistic, I guess?

MICHELLE: Yeah. At the very least, she’s able to extricate herself from these kinds of situations when they arise, but I can’t say I have any faith that she’s going to get any more savvy any time soon.

Jin is hands-down my favorite character in the series. He’s like a Doumeki type or something. Knows that magic exists, but sensible. Looks dour, but actually kind. And so, I side with him where Shizuka is concerned, finding her to be profligate with her magic when she comes to their house. I mean, it looked like people genuinely had car accidents when she rained giant desserts down upon the town!

MELINDA: You have hit the nail on the head with Jin as the Doumeki type! And that explains why I like him so much, too. I always identify with the Watanuki characters, but I adore and crave a Doumeki for reasons that are probably obvious. Kind of ironic, isn’t it, that the loose canon character here shares her name with him. Shizuka is a terrifying mess and her power lets her get away with it, so I feel that we can count on her to provide plenty of conflict here. We don’t need the creepy dude!

MICHELLE: Definitely not. Perhaps she’ll do us all a favor and turn him into a turnip.

MELINDA: I could get behind that!

Despite my reservations about Otaro and where that storyline might lead, I am probably more excited and intrigued about this series than anything else we’ve discussed here today. It’s whimsical, original, filled with mysterious potential (what’s behind those doors??), and I can’t overstate how beautifully drawn it is. With the artwork alone, I’m besotted.

MICHELLE: I failed to say this the first time you mentioned the art, but I absolutely agree. There’s a certain retro, Moto Hagio-ish quality to it that’s very appealing.

MELINDA: Yes, it’s sort of Heart of Thomas meets Bride of the Water God, art wise—detailed and ornate, but also flowing, always in motion, like Ran’s personality. I’m definitely looking forward to more!

By: Melinda Beasi