#Japan book hunter

[ironsaguaro]

This Art Book from Japan is out of this world

[vampiriical]

being a big fan of the vampire hunter d bloodlust movie, then deciding to read the original novels has got to be one of my worst decisions yet

[feitanluver]

hello feitan nation

[bobauthorman]

On TV Tropes, we call this the "Rage Breaking Point". But who could inspire such frothing fury from this samurai wabbit?

[evilhorse]

Slimy bounty hunter! I’ll kill you!

(Classic Usagi Yojimbo #2)

[spdk1]

Introducing: Vampire Hunter D Week!

To help celebrate the 40th anniversary of the popular Japanese vampire series, Vampire Hunter D, Arcadia Pod has teamed up with Fanatical to bring everyone a full week packed with deals, giveaways, and reviews specifically for anyone that reads this humble little blog. That’s seven days of content (assuming I don’t get too busy at my day job) for you all to sink your teeth into! My history with…

[osoanimation]

Anime Figures, Super Mario Brothers, Masterlise Mechanics Gundam, Video ...

[xoxochb]

⋆·˚ ༘ * please, please, please

warnings: set during that one scene from ttc, reader is a minor goddess of music/singing (to fit the sabrina carpenter vibe ykwim?), a bunch of quotes are not mine they are direct from the book so credits to uncle rick!! there’s also a lorelai gilmore reference at the end

pairing: apollo x goddess! daughter of aphrodite and ares

“absolutely not”

you give the sun god a look of pleading and he laughs at your desperation

“I don’t know what you’re talking about”

you hit his head “yes you do”

“she’s my dear old sister-” apollo begins

“exactly. along with her hunters and others”

“I don’t see the problem”

“the problem is that you can’t control yourself”

“well when I’m around you…”

“oh my gods!” you hit him twice this time “this is what I’m talking about. you’re an idiot”

apollo ignores your comment and drives (??) the sun chariot to the snowy ground

“I beg you do not embarrass motherfucker” you warn

when you step out onto the wet grass and before you have the chance to greet everyone apollo speaks,

"little sister!" he calls "what's up? you never call. you never write. I was getting worried!"

artemis sighs "I'm fine, apollo. and I am not your little sister"

"hey, I was born first."

"we're twins! how many millennia do we have to argue?"

"so what's up?" he interrupted. "got the girls with you, I see. you all need some tips on archery?”

“I need a favor. I have some hunting to do, alone. I need you to take my companions to camp half-blood”

"sure, sis" he then raised his hands in a stop everything gesture “I feel a haiku coming”

the hunters groaned but nonetheless he held up a dramatic hand and began to speak,

‘green grass breaks through snow

artemis pleads for my help

I am so cool’

he grinned waiting for an applause

“last line was four syllables” you point out

apollo frowns "was it?"

"yes” artemis agrees “what about I am so big-headed?"

"no, no, that's six syllables” he starts to mutter to himself but you ignore it, you could be here for days

one of the hunters, zoe you recognized turned to the demigods and explained how apollo had been into haikus since he got back from japan, and said god interrupted her soon after

"I've got it!" he announced "I am so awesome. that's five syllables!" he bowed feeling pleased with himself

"and now, sis” he continues “transportation for the hunters, you say? good timing. I was just about ready to roll”

"these demigods will also need a ride," artemis points to them

"no problem!" apollo checked them out "let's see... thalia, right? I've heard all about you."

thalia blushes "hi, lord apollo"

‘isn’t that his sister?’ you think

"zeus's girl, yes? makes you my half sister. used to be a tree, didn't you? glad you're back. I hate it when pretty girls turn into trees. man, I remember one time-”

you cut him off with an elbow to his stomach, he winces in pain. a black haired demigod- with sea green eyes to differentiate him from the others, he must be poseidon’s- eyes you before asking,

“are you a goddess? how come I don’t recognize you?”

“minor goddess” you confirm “of music. my parents are ares and aphrodite, and unfortunately I am married to this idiot” you give apollo an angry look but he throws an arm around your shoulder

the daughter of zeus chokes on nearly nothing “married?!”

you nod “twelve years”

artemis speaks again “how she can put up with him is a mystery”

“well we should get going” apollo interrupts

“yes, I agree” you say and pull the sun god’s arm off of you, he frowns at the loss of contact

the hunters and demigods pack up their belongings and you pull apollo to the side, he prepares himself for whatever you’re going to say, which he’s sure will be a scolding because he ignored the one thing you asked of him

“listen-” he starts

“how about I talk you listen?” you cross your arms

this was going to be a long scolding…

[lyraanova]

♡ Yui Childhood HC ♡

(Btw I did not make Seiji a creep in this, 'cause what on earth was that LE ending...)

And sorry for any mistake

♡ Yui's biological parents were Romanian. 

♡ She was born on the summer of June 21, 1995.

♡ Her father worked as a construction laborer. He had a stubborn and hardworking personality.

♡ Yui’s mother was what we call a book smart person. She graduated as a veterinarian years before Yui’s birth and moved with her partner to a small but comfortable house near some farm towns. She helped treat the pets of the local people. 

♡ Yui was a precious newborn baby with rosy cheeks; curly, delicate blonde hair; big pink eyes, and soft blonde eyebrows. She looked just like her mother. Honestly, the father was just there. Yui is 100% like her mama.

♡ Yui lived with her biological family only for the first year of her life.

♡ She was kidnapped while in the care of her grandmother while her parents were at work, never to be seen again...

♡ When Richter found Cordelia's dying body he knew he had to act fast. The heart of his love needed a vessel and he opted for a human child. 

♡ The exchange of hearts left the little girl's body so weakened that she didn't wake up for a couple of days.  

♡ Richter knew he couldn't keep the child with him for the time being. If the viboras smelled a part of Cordelia in the baby, they would definitely take her away.  

♡ And he wouldn't let that happen.  

♡ Instead, he decided to give the girl to the only person he knew would keep her away from the Viboras: a demon hunter.  

♡ Richter tricked a famous Japanese hunter (who at the time was visiting some priests in Romania) into taking care of the child.  

♡ The hunter, Komori Seiji, believed that the little girl was being targeted by vampires who had killed her parents. So, not trusting Richter, Seiji adopted the girl instead of staying in Romania as the vampire had ordered, baptizing her as Komori Yui. Then, he returned to Japan.

♡ Let me talk about Seiji: he wasn’t raised in a religious environment, but since he grew up in a neglectful house, he always felt like something was missing in his life. He ended up in the custody of his uncle, a devout Catholic, and Seiji quickly found a sense of security within the religion.

♡ After learning of the existence of vampire hunters, instead of continuing with his college studies, he began training to become one of them.

♡ He spent almost three decades of his life as a hunter. 

♡ It wasn't until his mid 40s that he longed again for a religious life, and started studying theology and philosophy with the hope of rising as a priest in his local parish.

♡ Shortly before Yui's second birthday, Seiji became the new priest of the only parish in Kaminashi City, the Parish of Blessed Thomas Tzugi.

♡ With this position, he also inherited the treaties that the former priest had maintained with the Bishop of Japan. These pertained to the agreements that the Church had with Karlheinz: sacrifices in exchange for the demons refraining from invading the human world.

♡ Seiji was already aware of certain treaties between powerful people and demons, but he never imagined that his own church was involved in human trafficking. At first, he refused to accept the idea, so his colleagues convinced him that they didn’t have another choice: that humans just couldn’t withstand an invasion.

♡ His parish was connected to a nearby orphanage run by nuns. In it, whenever one of the girls reached adulthood without getting adopted (between 15 and 18 years old) they would be turned into a sacrificial bride. 

♡ But returning to Yui…  Since Seiji was usually busy with the administration of the parish and his life as a hunter, the little girl was cared for by the nuns from the orphanage.

♡ Yui adored her father; just seeing him come home would always make her happy.

♡ That's why between the ages of four and six, taking care of Yui was a difficult task. When she started missing her dad, she would cry and ignore anything the nuns said, staying by the door until Seiji returned.

♡ Her father was a kind man, but he was also reserved and strict. In an effort to protect her, Seiji never shared even his smallest concerns with her. However, he expected his daughter to not keep any secrets from him. 

♡ As for his discipline, he was intimidating. Seiji only needed to raise his voice for his daughter to stop protesting, and if things got out of control, he would resort to physical punishments, such as pulling her hair or striking Yui's hands with a ruler. 

♡ Because of this upbringing, Yui went from being a rebellious and sometimes bossy child to becoming submissive in the presence of authority figures.

♡ Seiji didn't like wasting money on things he considered unnecessary for a peaceful religious life, so Yui  grew up without television.  He considered all the cartoons on TV to be violent and with inappropriate teachings for children (he hated Crayon Shin Chan with a passion lol).

♡ Their home was simple, small and somewhat rustic, with walls that let every sound filter through and made the rooms cold even during hot summers. Seiji always let Yui put up her drawings on the walls so she would never feel scared.

♡ However, that wasn't enough to stop Yui from developing a fear of loud noises, like storms, because of how much they echoed through the house and the fact that she often had to endure them alone.

♡ It never crossed Seiji's mind to tell his daughter that she was adopted, not even later on, because he was afraid of losing her somehow if she discovered the truth.

♡ And although Yui felt curious to know why she didn't have her mother in her life, she never truly missed her absence because the nuns at the orphanage already filled the role of her maternal figures.

♡ She was especially close to the director: Mother Makiko. 

♡ Makiko was actually the one who taught her how to cook. 

♡ In the orphanage, only girls who had been abandoned were accepted, meaning there was no record of their parents. The common number ranged from twenty-five to forty girls.

♡ Since Yui could remember, that orphanage had been her second home. 

♡ It wasn’t a very big place, but it had enough space for the five nuns and the girls who lived there. Machiyad-inspired, it was silent because that’s how the nuns demanded it. The books were so old that some were made of wood.

♡ It was expected for her to use her free time studying, doing chores, or helping at the church.

♡ As a little girl Yui already was a compassionate person, she didn’t like seeing any of the other kids cry or play alone, so she would go to them to make them company.

♡ Yui was a very silly child. The kind of child that liked covering her body with stickers first and ask herself if it was gonna hurt taking them off later. 

♡ She also loved, LOVED, aquabeads.

♡ She would make animal figures all the time ‘cause she had a little obsession with them. 

♡ Like, she could tell you the most random animal facts as soon as you fell silent. Were you in the middle of eating? Did you know that hippos' sweat is red?

♡ But the closest thing she ever had to a pet was the orphanage director’s parrot, which screamed whenever she got close. When she tried to win its affection with food, the fluffy thing would accept the treat only to start screaming again.

♡ Oh, she hated him. 

♡ What she always dreamed of having instead was a turtle. In the Mizube Park, where her father took her most of the time, there were many red-eared turtles, and Yui often put flower hats on them ‘cause it was cute. Sometimes she even made the hats herself. 

♡ I think that in elementary school, Yui probably had a larger group of friends because she liked talking to everyone, but this group was less intimate compared to when she was a teenager, as they were just classmates.

♡ She never had a good ear, so the subjects that were most difficult for her were music and languages. On the other hand, she was quite good at social studies. 

♡ Yui was described by her teachers as a sweet, cheerful, persistent girl, and very talkative.

♡ Honestly, I can’t see Yui as an introverted person. I think she’s shy and easily embarrassed, but she definitely likes being able to open up to others.

♡ Once she entered adolescence, in junior high school, she began to drift away from her father a little. She still adored him, but Seiji was incapable of opening up emotionally to her. Yui didn’t understand why he would get upset when she asked him about his past or his travels, and didn’t like it when he responded poorly, so their only connection ended up being through religion.

♡ And speaking of religion, her faith was what influenced Yui’s life from a very young age, especially during the moments when she felt vulnerable.

♡ I mean, is there another reason she has such an optimistic personality? She always had faith that God would make things turn fine in the end.

♡ She had her first crush at thirteen. She developed an almost obsessive interest in a boy from another class—not necessarily because of him, but because of how he made her feel. He was a teacher’s favorite, just like her, so they would often run into each other while doing tasks, and Yui became fascinated by the way he spoke and acted (which helped him stand out in school). He was incredibly intelligent and charismatic. There came a point when she wasn’t sure if she wanted to be with him or just be him. That first crush didn’t last too long, though, because all that perfection started to annoy her. Maybe it was the first time she ever felt that way. The first but unfortunately not the last.

♡ (Ryoutei Academy was hell).

♡ Leaving that incident behind, Yui actually enjoyed junior high school. She began to take the initiative to hang out with other girls her age. Her group of friends was smaller than in elementary school, but much closer.

♡ After school, they would often go to fairs or the arcade. Seiji was actually happy about this because it was the moment when Yui showed him that she was responsible enough to go out and still maintain good grades. That’s when he started to be less controlling with her routine.

♡ It’s canon that Yui wasn’t really into the idol world, but I can see her being a fan of two or three 90s/2000s singers, mostly influenced by her friends liking of them

♡ I think of artists like MISIA or Miliyah.

♡ As for her future, I don’t think she thought too much about what she wanted, or at least she wasn’t someone to make big plans about it. She liked the idea of a peaceful life (oh my sweet summer child), and that’s why becoming a nun always was her number one plan. She wouldn’t mind whatever happened as long as she could feel content with what she had, as her father taught her.

♡ A final addition: I firmly believe that the gorgeous pink  flip phone was her 17th birthday gift, so god dammit Subaru! 

[schwarz-san]

Danny is a normal fourteen year old boy in a household in a normal family.

His parents are doctor and engineers and has a smart older sister who likes psychology. He has a goth and a technerd as bestfriends in a normal highschool.

Then all of a sudden he's been kidnapped to be used as a sacrificed to a Eldritch Death God from beyond by some cult that literally came out of nowhere—

---

Danny is a normal kid.

Well, as normal as a kid of a couple with triple doctorates in Chemistry, Engineering and Demonology as well as black belt in multiple martial arts could be anyway .

He has a older sister that is interested in Psychology and proficient with Matial arts.

He's friends with a rich rebellious goth girl who likes plants and a tech genius boy who could probably hack pentagon if wanted that likes meat.

Life is fine.

Then he got interested in demonology and started reading his parents books.

(Maddie and Jack is so proud, their boy is following their footsteps!)

He then read something about a High Ghost King of The Infinite Realm from one of their ancestral books from his dads side. Way back when the Fentons was still called Fentonightingale's and still worked as the greatest and most infamous supernatural hunters around in the olden days.

He got hooked very quickly.

He studied and research more and more about the Ghost King, learning that its existence could be seen through out multiple civilization and mythology all across the globe and has been around way, way back to ancient greece, china, japan, egypt and so on.

He learned that it was considered as a Death God, Eldritch in nature in some cases. That its also represent life and death, balance, Stars, Planets, space and the entire cosmos itself as well as the sea of possibilities, that is simply known as the multiverse in modern culture.

It was known through various titles such as The Balance between Realms, The Absence of Heat, The Protector, The Great One, Halfa and many more with the title High Ghost King of the Infinite Realms being his most notable one.

Danny loves learning about the ghost king and the infinite realms.

On how it was the afterlife, and how it hold all other afterlife with itself. Its pantheon, its customs and its king.

Life is fine.

He graduate highschool with honors and recently got accepted in college, aiming for Engineering.

(He may love studying the supernatural but he still loves space and still defenitely aim to be an astronaut.)

Life is fine.

Then it reality came crashing down all in a blink of an eye.

His family got caught in a rouge accident while visiting gotham, only danny survived.

People who wants his parents tech and research are all hounding danny for their patents, for their tech, their researchs.

And they never stop.

Time passess and Danny is just tired of everything.

He dropped college.

He's pennyless.

Jobless.

His friends are out of reach.

(He heard rumors about the government and high standing people hounding them as well due to their connection with him)

And pretty much after that, he loss just about everything he has.

All except his fenton family heirloom books and his parents researchs.

So he lays on the floor of his crappy rundown apartment, disheveled, thick dark lines under his eyes, and unshaven face. His books, his parents research scattered and discarded around him on the floor along with numerous empty bottles and cans of beer and alcohol. Some bottles were even broken.

Danny is drowning and life is not fine.

Despair clawed deep in his chest as he continue to drowned in just about everything.

Despair

Sadness

Anger

Hate

Loneliness.

So on, so forth.

It was too much. Too much for a simple man like him too bear alone.

Until one day, he just can't anymore.

Broken shard from empty bottle of beer fall on his hand and his mind swirls. Every emotions, every suffering and all of his despair cultivating in to a potent, potent poison like poisonous critters fighting inside a poison jar.

He raised the broken shard in his hand before his bloodshot eyes fell on a discarded open book on the floor.

The Fenton family heirloom.

One that mentions the King of the Infinite Realms.

Then all of a sudden, memories rush back to Danny like water from a broken dam.

His childhood.

His parents.

His sister.

His friends.

His dreams of flying out of the planet.

His obsession with the ghostking and the ghost zone as his family labeled it.

His happy memories.

The accident that take everything away from him.

On how he loss everything.

On how… he doesn't have anything else to lose.

The fact that he doesn't have anything else to lose.

Tired, resigned and resolved, danny made his decision and blood fell to the floor.

--

Danny is an engineer.

A very smart one infact that he was often compared to the likes of Tony Stark and Reed Richards.

CEO of Fenton Works and formerly, Dalv co. (His Godfather insisted of making Danny inherit everything and Danny doesn't have the heart to refuse a dying man) , which he merged with his parents small company with the same name Fenton Works.

They are advance compared to other tech companies and could keep up to Stark's tech (probably one of the very very few that could keep them on their toes) that continue to ridiculously advance at a terrifying pace due to continuous study of alien tech that Stark manage to observe and get his hands on due to his superhero stint.

(No. Danny isn't jealous. Not by the fact that Stark could go in and out of space at his leasure. Not by the fact that he could go to other planets or the fact that he could meet real life aliens. No, shut up Tuck. Seriously dude, stop laughing–!)

Life is fine, he's engage and happy with his life and his family.

Then he got on a accident.

Sam is in coma, with no concrete time on when she'll wake up.

Her parents were angry of course but relented when they saw that state danny was in.

His arms were crushed and he cant feel anything from them.

The vary same hands that he use to craft. The very same hands that sam compliments whenever he made a new invention that made that hammer dude green with envy and made stark speechless.

Fenton work is declining. It wasn't obvious yet but they are slowly losing footing in the industry. All because he couldn't make anything new.

His parents helped, and the only reason that the company isn't crashing and burning to the ground yet. But even they could not totally prevent the company's slow and steady decline.

They then tried to find a way restore his hands.

They tried a lot of things, cybernetics to medical operations and medication, so on, so forth. They worked. But only by little as everything felt horryfyingly wrong whenever he tried any of his options, but for the sake of the fenton works, danny endured. Everything to ensure sam that everthing is alright the moment she woke up from her com.

It's been half a year since then.

Danny was in his office, typing on his computer with the Fenton Ghost Gloves on his hands that let him do work despite the condition of his hands when Wes suddenly barged to his office holding a flyer, yelling something about a way to permanently heal his hands and a possible way to wake up Sam from her coma.

That immediately got Danny's attention.

With hope in his eye and determination burning in his chest, Danny take the flyer and went to the place right of the bat. Lets just say that it wasn't what he was expecting at all.

Danny new of the supernatural. Kind of hard not to when your family have a been written in history books a the worlds greatest and infamous Supernatural Hunter bearing the Fentonightingale name and with Gods and all the magical shenanigans that keeps happening left and right that the Avengers have to deal with.

Which means that he shouldn't have been surprised that magic is involved with the flyer promising miraculous healing.

It's also strange (hah) to meet Stephen Strange again.

He knew the man, a little arrogant but definitely have the skills and talent to back it up. He also heared that he had an accident similar to his that led him to give up his medical career entirely unlike danny who make do with his fenton gloves.

Now he's a sorcerer, not just any sorcerer but The Supreme Sorcerer and may have been a Avenger now for all he knew. Doctor Strange, then gave him the option to either help him heal his hands or learn magic.

Danny chose magic of course.

(Sam would be so mad the he went on and learn magic on his own without her and Tucker)

Now, he just need to learn the magic to wake her up safely.

A year pass and Danny is a full bown sorcerer.

It baffled everyone how fast he learned that he's already nearing the Supreme Sorcerers level with only just a year. Definitely faster than the progress that Doctor Strange himself shown.

They all shuddered in horror once they heared his family name though, and Danny understand their reaction. A descendant of Fentonightingale himself, the greatest Witch Hunter, having magic is a image that they never would have imagine.

That said, it's also been a month since Sam woke up ( there was so much crying involve) and has been in rehab ever since.

She's mad that he learned magic own his own as expected and demanded that she and tucker learn it as well.

(He couldn't say no to her)

It also a shock to learn about Tuckers potential with magic, something about having Egyptian roots. Sam is jealous. Well, that was until she obtain some form of plant magic and make herself a walking terror to everyone.

(The illegal loggers and companies were not ready)

Meanwhile, Danny's specialty is tapping and looking through diferent dimentions, secretly of course, and space magic as well as exorcism related magic in honor of the Fentonnightingale name.

Life is well.

Until one day when he was scrying through other dimension, he encounter a very very large, endless dimension consisted of green skies. It's a dimension that Danny doesn't recognise so he got intrigue and he knew he should have told Doctor Strange immediately but well… his curiosity get the better of him and he take a peak. Just a little wee bit of peek and—

A massive Eldritch Eye looms and stare back at him.

"Uhhhhh—GAAAAAAAAAAHHHH—!"

-

It's been Eons and Danny has been The High Ghost King for quite a time.

Probably more considering that time in the Realms never really flows in a linear Fashion.

(He could tell, with all the time he spent at Clockwork's Lair, his position as the High King, dominion over Space and the fact that Time and Space are always intertwined and are lowkey perpendicular to one another so it's nly natural for him to do so)

Danny just got back from his vacation to another universe and may or may not have traumatize a lot of people (Arceus still won't remove the barricade he put at the Hall of Origins, Giratina may be traumatize as well but enjoys watching Arceus suffer so its worth it. Revenge for being lock away in his own lair. Hah!) And is feeling great! Sure Tuck and Sam were mad that he leave them with his own paperworks but can you say no to this adorable face? (Sam and Tuck grumbled as Danny make the Ookemon team he got from vacation to do puppy eyes with him and aim it to Sam and Tucker, like seriously, its not fair! Hes thousand years old how can he stay adorable after all that years!)

They forgave him but demand that they be included along when Danny decide to have another vacation. Though not before stealing his Pokemons and dumping athe backlogged paperworks on his desk.

Great…

So there he is, doing work like he hadn't taken a vacation and a Mt. Everest worth of paperworks.

(Danny doesn't know what he'll do with out his duplicates)

He's done about half of them (what can he say, hes fast and just want to go to bed) when he felt something.

He could feel it. The ripples from countless universes hapening everywhere all at once, they touched the surface of the Infinite Realms and made themselves known. Normally, ripples isn't something to be worried about. There will be people, gods, cosmic beings and such that will always deal with them one way or another so beings from the realms rarely bothered. This one though is different. Because it messes with the realms, something that almost never happened before.

Further more, he could feel something tugging at his core, which only happens when he was being summoned most of the time.

Putting his paperwork aside (oh yes, finally a valid excuse), Danny take a look to the one he could feel is scrying throigh the realms with magic.

He tuen Eldritch and peak back to the rude person peaking without permission.

Danny wasn't expecting to see a version of him scrying through the realms with sorcery of all things.

He shut his Sorcerer version's spell as he heard the man scream in terror.

(Danny snorted, for some reason, he found it hilarious)

Welp, I guess it's about time to visit Clockwork.

[ironsaguaro]

The BEST Yokai Books in Japan?!

[neil-gaiman]

Hi Mr. Gaiman, could you possibly share some more information about the book "Fairy tales of old japan" by B.W. Ashton? Is there an ISBN number? More information on the author? Where does one get this? Years of sporadic looking and I've had no luck, which is odd. Thanks and cheers!

Oh, I'm sorry. It doesn't exist. I made everything in the back of Sandman: The Dream Hunters up.

[eliavraay]

"The Suit Episode" - Part 4

~~~

A glimpse of Crawna's backstory and some of kyrian culture through her dress. It's a futuristic feudal japan, but heavily influenced by a hunter-culture (inspired by the yautja or the predators, from books). So, many golden skull and trophy imagery, combined with dragonlike creatures and fire.

~~~

I am sorry for not drawing for a long time.

I wish everyone a happy, good New Year!

[ohanny]

my take on what happened to kenta after canon and how he grew to love himself (and kim)

after it’s all over, kenta gets into some legal trouble. pete, of course, bails him out of it and gives him a job in his company but it very quickly becomes evident neither one of them is doing well. they have this weird dynamic where there is just too much water under the bridge for a fresh start. pete is way too distracted with his own angst to accommodate all of kenta’s needs and kenta is walking a tight-rope of needing to be good and useful to pete but not wanting to turn pete into another tony-figure.

they’re too awkward and can't communicate properly and one evening pete just pulls out a bottle of whiskey and they sit down and drink. they both get shit wasted and neither one of them knows who leans in first but then they're kissing. it’s… bad. neither one of them truly wants it and when pete pulls back, kenta gets up and walks away.

if they were struggling to work together before, they start downright avoiding each other after. one day, in an effort to get kenta out of the office, pete sends him over to the x-hunter garage to bring alan some papers to sign and that’s when kenta runs into kim again. their eyes meet and that familiar tension is back but this time kenta breaks first, looking down at his feet. “not gonna lie, i thought i would feel some kind of way about this,” kim says, “but man… you look like shit.” kenta huffs out a laugh and looks at kim out from under his bangs and okay, kim thinks, he is kind of cute. and he did finally shish kebab the right person.

so kim agrees to show kenta where alan is working and their stilted attempt at small talk goes a little like:

kim: so you work for pete now?

kenta: yes.

kim: you don’t sound too happy about it.

kenta: it’s something to do.

kim: some friendly, unsolicited advice? You look like you need a break. and like you need to figure yourself out.

kim walks away but what he said sticks with kenta even after he's handed alan the papers and gotten the signatures he needs. he is tired. him and pete can barely look each other in the eye and every time it happens, he gets this familiar sense of doom and anxiety in the pit of his stomach, feeling like he's done something wrong and is about to get punished for it. so when he returns to the office, the first thing he does is ask pete for a leave of absence.

pete agrees immediately, handing kenta a credit card and telling him to take as long as he needs. so in the first selfish act in possibly forever, kenta packs his meager belongings and books a one way ticket to japan for the very next morning. he lands in tokyo and spends the first few days walking around but leaves the city pretty quick, taking a train and then a bus to a village he has no memory of but was listed on his birth certificate.

he works on his rusty japanese. he eats the food. he rents a small bungalow from an elderly lady and settles in. then one evening as he's watching the sun set on his back porch, he texts pete asking for kim’s number and after receiving it (with a question mark he does not answer), sends kim a picture of the said sunset with a simple “thanks for the advice.”

kenta doesn't mean for it to lead anywhere but they start texting. it starts out slow but as the days pass, the messages increase in number. kenta mostly sends pictures of his every day life with short captions because he still struggles with expressing himself. kim tells him about the new racing season and the ongoing saga of north and sonic dancing around each other, about how they’re finally getting their acts together but are so uncertain and awkward about it that both of them constantly keep asking him to third wheel.

and it's easy and safe and kenta never feels pressured so when at the end of the season kim mentions having some time off to travel, kenta doesn't hesitate to offer his services as a tour guide. they meet again at the airport where kenta drove to pick kim up and yes, it is a bit weird at first but then kim rolls his eyes and asks “so are we going to kiss or not?” and kenta laughs. kim’s never heard him do that before and he sounds so happy and looks so pretty that kim doesn't eve wait for an answer and dives in because they only have ten days and he is not going to northsonic this. (yes, kim would use that as a verb.)

they spend their time glued to each other, living in this happy bubble, but all good things must come to an end. kim is flying back and on the final day before his departure, he asks kenta to return with him. “if only for a visit. people care about you, you know? you’re still family to them.” when kenta says he doesn't know if he'd like to stay kim says it doesn't matter. “you don't have to. but you can't hide here forever either.”

and that's how kim ends up coming home from his hush-hush vacation with kenta in tow. this kenta is different than the one that left bangkok nearly a year ago. he looks healthier, has some color to his skin and walks with his back straight and head held high. still, he's nervous as hell as he walks into the x-hunter garage.

he's barely set a foot inside when jeff steps up and pulls him into a hug, telling him how happy he is to see kenta doing so well. babe is the next one up, looking kenta up and down and going “if this is what taking a break does, i might need one too.” (meanwhile sonic approaches kim, wiggles his eyebrows at kenta and goes “... nice,” offering a totally unsubtle high five that kim gladly accepts.)

kenta knows eventually he’ll need to go see pete as well and kim offers to go with him but he knows it's something he has to do alone. so he shows up at the office, near closing time, and knocks on pete’s door with a “you have some time for your brother or do i need to make an appointment?”

pete looks up from his paperwork and sees kenta. and fuck if he doesn't feel an enormous amount of relief? because kenta looks good. because kenta called him his brother. because in that moment he feels like he can have his old friend back without the baggage of the muddled feelings of adolescent love and sense of betrayal. pete needs that desperately. ever since way, he's buried himself i work to cope and he'd be lying if he said he wasn't close to his breaking point. 

kenta: you know, a smart man once told me i needed to take a break and go figure myself out.

pete: and is the smart man in the room with us?

kenta: no. but he’s probably bothering your secretary downstairs even though i clearly instructed him to wait in the car.

kenta sounds so stupidly fond when he says this and it's very clear to pete exactly why he was asked for kim’s number all those months ago. but after that brief moment of kenta letting the simp shine through, he does get back into pointing out how pete looks pretty ragged and should rest, if only for a week. pete asks him if kenta would be willing to hold down the fort for that week but kenta just laughs, telling him he's shit out of luck. “i think i’m done doing business with you. or anyone for that matter.”

he explains how, while staying in japan, he started teaching basic martial arts and kendo to the neighborhood kids and he really likes it. that he's good at it and it makes him sleep better at night, knowing he’s helping kids defend themselves. he also hands pete his credit card back with a sly little “i don't think kim and his sponsor money approve me having two sugar daddies” and then says he really should go, that he has plans for the evening.

“are you free tomorrow?” pete asks as they stand up to say their goodbyes. “we could get dinner. as old friends.” “sounds good. i’ll call you?” and this time when kenta walks out of the office, he does it with the final weight off his shoulders. he goes downstairs where kim is, in fact, bothering the secretary, fingers nervously tapping against the counter. he looks so pretty in the late afternoon sun and kenta is struck by the sudden joy of just… being alive to experience this.

he takes kim’s hand in his and walks them out, knowing he’s going to be okay.

-

do i want to write this out as a proper fic? yes. is it likely i will create something i feel confident posting? no. so take this extremely self indulgent offering in the meantime?

[queereads-bracket]

Queer Fantasy Books Bracket: Round 1

Book summaries below:

The Dreamer Trilogy (Call Down the Hawk, Mister Impossible, Greywaren) by Maggie Stiefvater

The dreamers walk among us . . . and so do the dreamed. Those who dream cannot stop dreaming – they can only try to control it. Those who are dreamed cannot have their own lives – they will sleep forever if their dreamers die. And then there are those who are drawn to the dreamers. To use them. To trap them. To kill them before their dreams destroy us all. Ronan Lynch is a dreamer. He can pull both curiosities and catastrophes out of his dreams and into his compromised reality. Jordan Hennessy is a thief. The closer she comes to the dream object she is after, the more inextricably she becomes tied to it. Carmen Farooq-Lane is a hunter. Her brother was a dreamer . . . and a killer. She has seen what dreaming can do to a person. And she has seen the damage that dreamers can do. But that is nothing compared to the destruction that is about to be unleashed. . . . Fantasy, young adult, mystery, urban fantasy, paranormal, series

The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley

1883. Thaniel Steepleton returns home to his tiny London apartment to find a gold pocket watch on his pillow. Six months later, the mysterious timepiece saves his life, drawing him away from a blast that destroys Scotland Yard. At last, he goes in search of its maker, Keita Mori, a kind, lonely immigrant from Japan. Although Mori seems harmless, a chain of unexplainable events soon suggests he must be hiding something. When Grace Carrow, an Oxford physicist, unwittingly interferes, Thaniel is torn between opposing loyalties. The Watchmaker of Filigree Street is a sweeping, atmospheric narrative that takes the reader on an unexpected journey through Victorian London, Japan as its civil war crumbles long-standing traditions, and beyond. Blending historical events with dazzling flights of fancy, it opens doors to a strange and magical past. Fantasy, historical fiction, mystery, science fiction, adult