#Miya Does Old Reviews

[lale-txt]

𝐒𝐎𝐅𝐓 𝐋𝐀𝐔𝐍𝐂𝐇 (𝐎𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐮 𝐱 𝐟!𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫) ❦ 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟎𝟒: 𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐞

♫ Adrienne Lenker - Angels

I don't really like you, I just wanna kiss you I don't know how to love you, but somedays, I miss you Oh I just wanna see you there, sleeping on my floor With the ache inside to ride the mighty wind and nothing more

✰ 𝐜𝐰: discovering more y/n lore in this one. implied child neglect (no detailed description), brief death mention but in a more lighthearted way (if that still squicks you skip the 8th slide of the convo between Makki & y/n) written part between the handwritten collage and SMAU parts.

⭅ back to m.list

Another sold out night. The lively sea of voices is slowly quieting down, familiar and new faces going either home or out dancing for the night. Onigiri Miya attracts all kinds of people, there’s a plate for everyone. He wouldn’t want it any other way. At the end of day, everyone needs to eat, no matter their background or story. And if they all collide in the tiny universe of his shop, even better.

There’s only around a handful people left when Osamu starts his nightly routine of cleaning and preparing for tomorrow. Ever since he opened his own shop, he understands his old captain a little better. Repetition, perseverance, and diligence–it does feel good. Helps him to unwind after a long day of shaping rice balls, mincing ingredients and ringing up orders. Wherever a hand is needed, he is there.

“It’s on the house,” Osamu says smiling, placing two cold bottles of ramune on the counter where Bokuto and Akaashi are sitting, huddled together like two lovebirds.

It’s the same spot where he saw her crying, her hands jittery when she wiped her cheeks, obviously flustered but unable to stop the tears from falling either. He could see how hard she tried to hold them back, the small wobble of her bottom lip, the clenching and unclenching of her fists. How she still took photos of her plate, clearly knowing which angle and lightning was best, practiced. The small gleam of excitement despite everything in her glassy eyes. Her palms pressed together in a silent gesture of appreciation after she finished her meal. Osamu couldn’t help but think that this wasn’t her first time holding her crown up like this, when everything inside of her was cracking. 

He hasn’t stopped thinking about her ever since. 

Not when he ran after her to find her on the empty playground, dimly lit by the light of the vending machine. Not when she hesitantly accepted the brown paper bag he shoved into her still trembling hands. Not when she kind of magically pulled out a box of the tastiest sweet treat he ever had in his entire life, her voice suddenly more calm once she started rambling about the process of making it.

Osamu felt drawn to her in a way he couldn’t fathom in words, like an invisible pull inside of him.

Had he been upset over her bad review? Maybe a little. But whatever hint of annoyance he felt when reading it over his morning tea quickly vanished once he dove deeper into her blog. There was so much love between every line she wrote. She was witty and smart and always a little hungry; for life and the next plate in front of her. He found himself nodding along when she shared about her experience in culinary school and he couldn’t help but feel a sense of deep admiration for her openness about mental health and the cruel sides of working in food service. Osamu knew best how grueling it can be, striving to do better. 

Three whole days. That’s how long it took him to read through her entire blog, more than ten years of her life. He read it over breakfast, in between short breaks at work, leaning against the backdoor while waiting for the daily delivery, at night when he brushed his teeth. Several times he told himself that he should just close the damn tab, that it was just a drunk and petty review and that they’ll never cross paths again.

Here lay the problem though–he wanted to see her again. 

Preferably when she was not upset over something (or worse: him), but honestly any scenario would do. The cap she forgot at his shop is now hanging from his coat rack at home, silently greeting him every night after work. He can’t help but wonder if she’ll really come around again one day to pick it up. Osamu was no dick, just a little petty himself, and he'd send the cap off with her roommate Akaashi if there was no way in hell that she’d ever return to Osaka again. But when she unblocked and followed him on Twitter the other night, that must have been a glimmer of hope, right? Even though she’s been mostly hostile so far in her replies.

But they’d get there. 

Some day.

Probably.

“Samu? Saaamuuuu?” 

Osamu blinks out of his daze and realizes that not only has he been polishing the same glass for five minutes straight now, but Bokuto is also leaning over the counter, shoving a phone under Osamu’s nose for him to see. He throws the kitchen towel over his shoulder and takes it, eyes on the bright screen. 

“Look, look,” Bokuto urges him with a grin while Akaashi next to him smiles a bit more subtle, but knowingly. “Keiji just talked about how they were having a barbeque a few days ago on their rooftop. Y/N prepared a feast for them, see?”

The photo is bright and colorful, a whole arrangement of various small plates assembled on the table, each holding some delicacy. Dips, grilled veggies, pita (which looks like it was handmade), olives, stuffed peppers, a small cheese platter, cut fruit, pastel purple drinks (lavender syrup, Osamu remembers)... but what Osamu ends up zooming in is not the food but her, sitting at the table with the sleeves of her oversized shirt rolled up casually and smiling brighter than the late summer sun–wearing his cap.

No. No, no, no. 

His heart did not just skip a beat, no fucking way. 

Oh, he was in deep. 

“She won’t admit it, but she likes it,” Akaashi says as if he read Osamu’s thoughts. He hands the phone back to him and a small voice in the back of his head is tempted to ask for the photo, just so he can stare at it a little longer (for the food, he lies to himself), but he knows she wouldn’t want that. Osamu is not sure if he wants it, either. It doesn’t feel right. Maybe he can get her an Onigiri Miya shirt as well as a matching apron and snap his own photo one day, and then… 

Fuck.

What was he even thinking?

But the stupid, wide smile on his face just won’t falter.

✽ 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐲 𝐰𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫…

like i said, this chapter is a love letter to Makki in disguise

y/n would spend all big holidays at the Hanamaki family home, even her own birthday would be celebrated there lovingly

she has gone no contact with her birth family after she graduated from high school

the cooking TV show has been one of the most stressful events in her entire life and she still can't watch clips from it without wanting to die from cringe (she did really great though)

her approach to anything in life is a constant "oh shit oh no oh bad bad bad" and "fuck it we ball" and it amazingly works for her. most of the time.

y/n always leaves some money on the table when she's gone for longer than 24h because she is afraid the food in the fridge might not be enough (it's always enough)

no one of the roommates knows where the Hello Kitty condoms came from but they've been a staple in this household ever since

also a first Osamu POV!! i was waiting to finally write this

Akaashi is PLOTTING isn't he

y/n was very tempted to deep fry the cap but then came to the conclusion that it would be a waste of oil probably

or maybe she's just lying to herself. we'll get more into this later

✰ 𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓:

@brithedemonspawn @gigiiiiislife @yuminako @notverymarley @krissiekris

@wyrcan @kentocalls @simp-simp-no-mi @uncovered-mad-man @honey-deku

@yukichan67 @dailyakira @nu-suave @zq13 @morgan-lowell

@ellouisa17 @toges-cough-syrup

send me an ask or dm to be added (or removed, no hard feelings ♡)! minors DNI!

[occupyhades]

Operation Phobos

Targets the Denizens of Zophos: The Violators of Children.

The eyes of the LORD are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good. Proverbs 15:3 (ESV)

What sorrow awaits those who try to hide their plans from the LORD, who do their evil deeds in the dark! “The LORD can’t see us,” they say. “He doesn’t know what’s going on!” Isaiah 29:15 (NLT)

Each of you must know how to control his own body in holiness and in honor. 1 Thessalonians 4:4 (BSB)

“You have heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.’ Matthew 5:21 (NLT)

Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God. 3 John 1:11 (NIV)

The iniquities of a wicked man entrap him; the cords of his sin entangle him. Proverbs 5:22 (BSB) 

There is no darkness or deep shadow where the workers of iniquity can hide. Job 34:22 (BSB)

The Righteous One knows what is going on in the homes of the wicked; he will bring disaster on them. Proverbs 21:12 (NLT)

[wttcsms]

old fic concept from my old blog but i am also thinking many thoughts abt a public relations intern!reader who’s so excited to get out of your small town and finally bask in the big city life. you secured an internship and are now working under one of the best pr agents in the business and she deals with a lot of big time athletes. you get sent to go on site to take notes for the agent while her clients get photographed for a sports magazine. and ohohohoh, who would’ve guess it!!! right now, they’re featuring the msby black jackals!!! 🫣🫣 the only issue is that bokuto and hinata thought it would be a really funny prank to slip libido enhancing supplements into atsumu’s bottle. atsumu is stuck inside his dressing room, debating if he can just laugh off the massive bulge he’s sporting in his volleyball shorts and your agent is calling you, wondering why one of the main players isn’t coming out to get his photos taken.

now, you have to head up to his dressing room to come and collect him. you don’t expect to be greeted by a flushed face atsumu who just so happens to think that you’re the prettiest girl he’s ever seen. things progress a little bit but when it looks like things are abt to get far, you blurt out “wait! can we slow down? this is my first time.” and he just freezes. you ask him what’s wrong and he takes a long look at you before saying, “i can’t do this with you. sorry, you’re just not my type.” and then he basically bolts out the fucking room, leaving you confused and honestly feeling kinda shitty. you’re not his type? ouch. asshole.

buuuuttttt, mr. miya. the one who’s made the list for top 10 hottest pro athletes. the one who all models and influencers call their celeb crush. the one who everyone thirsts over on twitter. atsumu miya. him. he has a secret! he’s not this hotshot bachelor that gives crazy good dick like everyone assumes. as a matter of fact, atsumu miya is a VIRGIN. which is exactly why he started panicking the moment you admitted your own virginity to him because shit, fuck, he doesn’t want to ruin your experience too.

luckily enough for him, that isn’t the last he sees of you. he’s always talking to his publicist and you’re always at the agency or coming down to speak and watch his teammates and so one day, after practice, he apologizes and then asks for a second chance. he wants to take you out on a date.

you smile brightly at him before loudly exclaiming, “sorry. you’re just not my type.”

ego crushing. but for some odd reason, atsumu’s kinda into it. he likes a good challenge and well, he’s everyone’s type. so he devises a bunch of schemes to get you to realize what great dating material he is BUT everything goes comically wrong. he dedicates a serve to you, it doesn’t even go over the net. he cooks you dinner, his kitchen catches on fire and you two have to evacuate. he plays it safe and buys you onigiri from his brother’s place for lunch and you get food poisoning (it was a new employee handling it, but osamu still got chewed out by atsumu). at this point, it feels almost like atsumu has it out for you.

but you finally give him a chance and eventually he does tell you the full truth, before adding “don’t worry. my coaches tell me i only need to be shown something once before i master it.” and it’s just!!! i also wanna think abt the cute aspects of your relationship. like, in sports, they review his plays and give him a performance rating and so after sex, atsumu is like “performance rating?” and won’t let you leave til you give him a perfect 10/10 and at the end, he dedicates yet another serve to you, only this time, it’s a perfect service ace.

[ahtsumu]

long shots ; miya osamu

pairing: miya osamu x f!reader

synopsis: miya osamu is the teacher’s assistant for food chemistry i. you can’t stop thinking about him.

tag(s): college!au, slow burn, TA!miya osamu, grad student!reader, fluff, reader is a go-getter!! ; warning(s): profanity, suggestive themes, talk of insecurities and imposter syndrome ; wc: 5.6k

a/n: happy birthday to @starrysamu​! i love u. pls excuse any errors. i’ll weed them out later! btw this fic is not a sugar daddy au LOL

HIS NAME IS Miya Osamu and he always looks like he has it all figured out. Comes in every class with his black hair perfectly tousled, the sleeves of his dark button-up rolled to his elbows, a cup of coffee in one hand and the strap of that black messenger bag in another.

“He drives a BMW, did ya know?” Isla says in your ear one morning. Your only friend in Food Chemistry I gives you a pointed look before sitting back in her chair in the lecture hall with a smirk on her face. “Saw it this morning. Bet he’s loaded.” The two of you watch the subject in question walk across the classroom and settle in his seat at the table in the corner.

“Shut up,” you whisper with wide eyes. A grin–– far from innocent–– makes its way onto your face. “Imagine being Miya Osamu’s sugar baby.”

“He’s not old enough to be a sugar daddy.” Isla looks at her nails disinterestedly. “And that’s too many AUs in one. He’s already the TA, for god’s sake. This isn’t some shitty Wattpad novel.”

A light giggle slips out of your lips. “I can see the title already. My Sugar Daddy is the TA?!”

Now, if anyone had been listening in on your conversation, they would’ve assumed many things about you. The first being that you’re both gold-diggers. This is untrue–– at least, in your case. Isla, you’re not so sure about, given how your friendship only goes back about one month. But she tags you in memes on Instagram so maybe it’s as real as real gets. Their second assumption would be that you have a big fat crush on your TA. That one’s complicated, mostly because it’s true, but only kinda. It all started in the second week of school when Isla caught you staring at Osamu and slipped you a post-it note with both your initials encircled in a heart. And, because you’re shameless with a good sense of humour, you made a show of kissing it while she was looking. And thus began your meaningless but incredibly entertaining, satirical, co-written fantasy about Miya Osamu.

It also didn’t help that on the first essay you got back, Isla’s paper had been marked up with “are you sure?”s and “this is a jump”s, while yours had “excellent reasoning” and “insightful analysis”. You’d even gotten a little comment at the bottom: y/n, fantastic work. you should speak up in class more often. –– OM

But Miya Osamu doesn’t play favourites because the next week you’d gotten another essay back, this time with another comment at the bottom: y/n, not your best work. you could’ve done better by connecting your first paragraph with the second using grant’s reading. conclusion lacked punch, too. all the best. –– OM

Every time you’d read the words scrawled in blue ink, you’d felt a pair of eyes on you. But you chalk it up to Osamu being a careful grader. A good TA. Someone who cares about his students.

Isla calls bullshit on that. You’re not really sure how to feel about her stance.

The classroom door opens and shuts again. You don’t have to look at your phone to know that it’s nine on the dot. Instead, you and Isla straighten your backs, pull out your notebooks, and focus. Your no-nonsense professor says “good morning” in her usual perky manner before jumping right into her keynote presentation.

“Did you all find the reading okay?” Professor Lee asks an hour into the lecture.

A chorus of “yes”s fill the air. You bite your lip, wondering if revealing that you didn’t understand shit will out you as the class idiot. Or maybe your silence is telling enough–– maybe the people in the seats beside you have noticed the grimace on your face and are having thoughts like ‘gee whiz, am I glad I’m not dumb like her’. Heat rushes to your cheeks. Sometimes you really wonder if you’re smart enough to be here. Occurrences like these do nothing to dispel your insecurities.

You vaguely hear her ask something like, “Any thoughts about the reading?” It’s not that you’re actually dumb. It’s just that this class is ridiculously hard for an introductory course, even for a graduate programme. From the start of the semester til now, fifteen people have dropped the class. There’s just twenty of you left. Guess a ridiculously hot TA can’t save a course’s drop-rate.

Before you can make your mind up on what to say, your professor moves on from her question.

As you look off to the side of the room for a break from your thoughts, you find a pair of blue-grey eyes pointed in your direction.

Everything about you, from the expression on your face to the way your muscles tense, makes you look like a deer caught in headlights–– even though he was the one caught staring in the first place. So maybe your shamelessness works on a scale.

Miya Osamu lifts one corner of his mouth.

And as if the exchange hadn’t happened at all, he looks back down at his laptop and continues typing.

The rest of the lecture goes through one ear and out the other.

“Everyone, I believe Osamu has something he wants to say,” Professor Lee says as everyone begins packing their bags.

The raven-haired TA slides out of his seat and sits on top of his desk. “Yeah.” Osamu clears his throat and crosses his arms over his chest. You notice how the muscles in his arms bulge from the movement.

“Whipped,” Isla mutters, grinning mischievously.

“Him for me,” you whisper back, though your eyes do travel back to his face where they should’ve been all along. Osamu catches your gaze and holds it. And then he looks away again.

“Now, I know you’re all Nobel prizewinners in the making,” he begins, garnering a round of snickers and giggles from your classmates. Most people say that cliques dissolve in college. That there’s no such thing as popularity amongst graduate students. That much, you agree with. But no one ever said anything about popular teacher’s assistants. Especially smart, attractive, witty teacher’s assistants like Miya Osamu. “But in case you didn’t understand the reading or would like to develop a deeper understanding of it, don’t hesitate to email me. I’ll try to host a review session all of us can attend.”

Professor Lee smiles appreciatively at Osamu, adding, “That’s a wonderful idea, Osamu. Guys, please take this opportunity if you struggled with the reading. I know eighty pages is a lot, but our next three classes are structured around the concepts in the reading and the mid-term next week will almost exclusively be about it, too.”

Well, shit.

To: m.osamu@hqu.edu

Hi Osamu,

I was wondering if I could get some help with the reading from last class. To be frank, I couldn’t make it past page 15 and I’m lost like a snot-faced five-year-old in a shopping mall on Black Friday. Sorry. Thanks in advance!

Regretfully,

Y/N

MS Candidate

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Haikyuu University

From: m.osamu@hqu.edu

no problem. is 5 pm tomorrow at jack’s okay? we start on the concepts from the reading next class so i want to get you up to speed asap. let me know. thanks.

OM

PhD Candidate

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Haikyuu University

It’s five minutes to five when you pull into the parking lot of Jack’s Diner. The shiny, retrofuturistic eatery is a university favourite but the empty parking lot tells you it’s completely deserted right now (and rightfully so–– who eats dinner before six?). The black BMW parked a few spots from your car, however, says that you’re not alone.

Osamu’s figure comes into view as you reach for the handle to the front door of Jack’s. The twenty-six-year-old sits by himself at one of the bright red tables in the back, typing away on his dark grey laptop.

His head lifts up at the sound of the opening door. Osamu calls out your name and waves you over.

“Hi,” you greet with a smile, sitting down across from him.

“Hey.”

You look around before leaning forward on the table. “Is anyone else coming?”

“No.” Osamu sits back in his seat. “I thought about hosting one big group, but then I realised that it’d probably be stressful for the staff here.” He nods his head in the direction of the kitchen. “And I had a hunch that everyone would have different questions. Forcing everyone to review concepts they already know is a waste of time.”

At first, you nod. That makes sense. But then you furrow your brows. “So how long have you been here?”

Osamu blinks. He hadn’t expected you to ask about him. “Hmm? Oh.” He taps his phone to check the time. “Just a while.”

Quirking a brow, you ask, “And how long is ‘a while’ to you?”

“Seven hours,” he admits, chuckling lightly when he sees your jaw drop. “A lot of people had questions. They just don’t act like they do. Anyway, time flies. Really, it does.” Quickly, he clears his throat and sits forward. “So, about your email.” He grins. “Not sure if you meant it to be funny, but it was.”

“I’m glad my distress was entertaining for you. Do you TA just to watch grad students suffer?”

“Perks of the job,” Osamu says. His grin widens when you giggle. He’s never heard you laugh before and he realises at that moment that it’s really nice. And then that same grin falters. Gracefully, of course, and imperceptibly to you. But not to him. Is it okay for him to be… thinking things like that? About a student? But you’re not really his student since he’s just the TA. Right? Osamu ignores the weird feeling that comes over him and clasps his hands together at the edge of his laptop. “Back to your email. Can ya tell me what you’re confused about?”

Three hours and two Impossible Burgers later, you suddenly understand everything about food molecules so well that you wonder why you’d even been confused in the first place. But besides that, you’ve also picked up things about Osamu. As a person and not an idea. Not that you’d been actively searching for fun facts about your TA. But they’d stuck to your brain like gum at the bottom of a desk. He likes to slip sarcastic quips into a conversation every now and then. Eats burgers upside down (“The right way,” as he’d said, smirking). Is friendlier than he looks.

“You’re really good at explaining things,” you comment as Osamu shuts his laptop closed.

“Well, I kinda have to be,” he says. And maybe it’s the mental fatigue catching up on him or the fact that he’s real fond of the reason why he can break big concepts down into morsels but suddenly, the rest of his thoughts spill out his mouth like wine. “I have a twin brother with potato salad for brains.”

“Oh?”

And before he can stop himself, he tells you about Miya Atsumu, the pro-athlete you’ve definitely heard of but never gave too much thought. And then you hold onto the fact that they were both on the volleyball team and you ask of which school, so then he tells you about Inarizaki, the high school he attended, and then his decision not to go pro to go to college, and then––

“Sorry,” he laughs, cheeks turning pink. “You probably didn’t need to hear all that.”

“No, it’s fine,” you say–– and you mean it. “Your life is interesting.”

Osamu leans back in his chair. “Well, I’m sure yours is, too.” He holds your gaze like it’s the key to your presence. It’s an invitation. The kind that comes from people who don’t really know if they want you around but also don’t want you gone.

You take it.

Osamu shouldn’t–– he really shouldn’t–– but he wonders about the things you didn’t tell him the entire drive home.

Isla laughs when you tell her about what happened at Jack’s. You lay in bed with your phone next to you on speaker, your face turned on your pillow so that you’re staring out the window at the city below.

“He wants you,” she sings.

“Or he was just being nice.”

“Methinks not!” Isla giggles. “He’s intrigued, girl! You’re like that cute little new mystery in his life and he just wants to get to know you.”

“I think he was just being polite.”

“Or he’s crushing on you!”

“In your dreams.”

“You mean yours? Boo, you’re no fun today. Usually, you go along with the jokes.” Isla’s tone is playful on the surface but full of implications.

A few silent seconds pass. Yeah, you think, agreeing. I do.

“Girl,” Isla drags out the word in a high pitch, saying it like a scientist says ‘eureka’. “You’re not playing along anymore because it’s real now. You're actually catching feelings!”

“Am not!” you laugh.

“The Y/N I knew would’ve said ‘nah, bitch, he’s catching feelings’ and I think that says all there is to say.”

“Okay, I think he’s cute but it’s not a crush,” you concede, grinning. “And he’s the TA, Isles. It’d never happen.”

“Not while he’s still a TA in a class you take.”

“Isla.”

“Ask him out once this semester ends! Unless you’re chicken.”

“I’m not asking him out.”

“Knew you were––”

“Have you seen me? He’s asking me out.”

Miya Osamu walks through the door at eight-fifty as usual that next morning, dressed in his usual button-up, holding his usual cup of coffee. But this time, as the rest of his tall frame passes through the doorway, Osamu’s eyes subtly scan the faces in the lecture hall, lingering for just a while over yours. The corners of your lips turn up. You hope he saw that.

“Bitch!” Isla whisper-screams. The students sitting around you turn around at the noise and grin at each other when they realise it’s just Isla being… well, Isla. She shoos them away jokingly.

“What?” you whisper back.

“Care to explain why our TA was literally eye-fucking you?”

“That was hardly eye-fucking,” you retort. “Maybe like an eye-handshake.”

“Yeah, a naked eye-handshake where his thang is handshaking your––”

He does it again the next class.

And the next.

And then he doesn’t. Miya Osamu walks through the door to Food Chemistry I at eight-fifty in the morning in a navy blue button-up with a cup of coffee in his hand and looks through the rows of seats in the lecture hall for your face, only to find it missing.

He debates pressing the matter.

To: m.osamu@hqu.edu

hey osamu,

i wasn’t in class today because i’ve been sick with the flu (no big deal, just feel like i’m dying). a classmate sent me pictures of the slides from today so i think i should be fine, but is it okay if i email you with any questions? thank you very much!

miserably,

Y/N

MS Candidate

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Haikyuu University

From: m.osamu@hqu.edu

y/n,

of course. sorry to hear that you’re sick. let me know if i can do anything to help you. the midterm is next week. get well soon.

OM

PhD Candidate

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Haikyuu University

“You writing that the midterm is next week did not offer me any peace of mind, by the way,” you say, spinning around in your chair as Miya Osamu enters your pod in the library.

He offers you a wry grin. “Hello to ya, too.”

“Was that an accent?” You thought you’d heard one at Jack’s, but you couldn’t be sure because it’d been so spotty.

Osamu slips into the seat beside yours and pulls out the laptop in his messenger bag. You catch a whiff of his cologne–– something spicy and woody, but clean. It suits him. “Nice catch. Yeah, I speak a regional dialect. Took me a while to smooth it over but it still resurfaces every now and then.”

“Why?”

“It just didn’t seem fitting for a PhD candidate, I guess,” Osamu explains, opening the slides from the class you missed. A day after your initial exchange, you’d emailed him again (with a much clearer mind) and asked if he could go over the slides with you in person.

i literally feel like i’ve been given the homework from russian lit, you’d written. except the russian has been translated to hieroglyphs and my task is to choreograph an interpretive dance based on the hieroglyphs.

Osamu had snickered when he saw your email. that doesn’t even make sense. must be the fever talking, he’d been tempted to write. But that strange feeling had come over him again, the one that’d screamed at him to keep it professional, goddamnit, so he’d played it safe instead and sent is eight pm at the main library okay? He hates that you’re getting a watered-down version of his personality. Osamu swears he’s a lot more interesting when he’s not, well, a TA.

“I think it’s fine,” you say, smiling. “I like it. It’s you.” And suddenly, you’re wondering if it’s okay to be complimenting your TA. If it’s okay to say that you like things about him, or if that crosses some grey, unclear line. Is it weird to treat your TAs like they’re your friends? It’s not like TAs are real teachers. Right?

A grin–– wide and genuine and almost excited–– grows on Osamu’s face. He rubs the back of his neck as his eyes flit over to the laptop screen. “Thanks. Really.”

You nod. But you feel like there’s more that he might want to say, so you wait.

“I got a lot of shit for it when I came here for my master’s, y’know. Not to my face, of course, but people would refer to me as ‘the guy with the accent’. A professor once said it made me seem crass. Said it’d hold me back in my career.”

“So you changed.”

“Adapted,” Osamu corrects. “It’s hard to admit but conforming is sometimes all you can do when you don’t have the power to change the system. Can’t really make everyone suddenly respect a dialect.”

“And after you’re finished with your PhD, you’ll go back to speaking in that dialect?”

Osamu looks out the window and smiles, probably imagining the plans he’s already made about the future. “Yeah.”

“What if you have to speak the standard language at your job? Like, your boss is all, ‘hey man, if you don’t speak––”’

“I’ll be the boss.”

“Oh?”

And with a little more prodding, Miya Osamu tells you about the restaurant chain he plans on opening after graduation, the slides about food additives left completely untouched.

The librarian knocks on your pod a few minutes before eleven to tell you they’re closing.

“Shit,” Osamu murmurs, running his hands through his hair. You’re still laughing about something he’d said before the librarian interrupted him–– one of his stories from high school–– and he thinks that you’ve completely forgotten that the reason you came to the library was to catch up on the material you were already behind on. And now you’re behind on that. But you look so carefree right now and, actually, you’re very pretty and you’ve got such a good heart and it’s a lot for him to process but he knows he just wants to see you happy a while longer. So Osamu just slumps back in his chair and laughs along with you.

He says your name as his chuckles grow softer. “It’s pretty late. How’re you getting home?”

“I’ve a bike,” you reply. It’s good for the environment and is a pretty solid form of exercise if you do say so yourself. Sometimes you just don’t feel like driving. 

Osamu presses his lips in a thin line. Would it be too much to offer you a ride? “I can drive you home. It’s really not safe for you to be alone outside, especially near midnight. You can get your bike tomorrow. Or I’ll get it for you.”

He drives fast. Not the unsafe fast that speed demons drive at, but the kind of fast where you know he’s got some edge to his character. You bring it up to him–– especially since it’s nighttime, for god’s sake, he could hit something–– and all he does is remind you how there are lamps as bright as the sun lining the entire road to your dorm. And the fact that you live in the least accessible dorm on campus.

“A twenty-minute drive?” he’d exclaimed when he saw the GPS monitor.

“A bunch of roads are closed for construction. It’s a ten-minute bike-ride because I can cut through campus.” And suddenly feeling a little burdensome, you’d added, “Sorry. I can still bike––”

“No.” He’d held his hand out in front of you, gesturing for you to stay in the passenger’s seat. “It’s not a bother at all.” Because it wasn’t. Osamu was… happy. Not that he’d admit that.

“So this BMW,” you start in a teasing tone.

Osamu smirks. “A gift.”

“Can I guess from who?”

“Sure.”

“Atsumu.”

His brows rise. “Colour me impressed.” He hadn’t expected you to remember anything he’d said about Atsumu. Or maybe he had but told himself otherwise to lower his hopes.

“I’m smart like that.”

He snorts. “Not if you keep distracting me and using your review time to…” hang out with me, get to know me, tell me things about you… “…goof off.”

You grimace. “Yeah. Sorry about that.”

Osamu makes a turn down a familiar street. It dawns upon you that you're ten minutes away from your dorm and suddenly you wish he’d just make the wrong turn at the next intersection so that you could talk to him some more. It can even be about the health benefits of fish or the molecular makeup of kale–– you don’t mind. You just want to be around him longer.

“I think you’re really smart,” Osamu says quietly. “I think you’re not processing the readings because you’re distracted, or just not fully applying yourself. Obviously, last class’s slides are a different thing, since you were absent. But you really are smart. I’ve seen your papers.”

You bite your lip to hide your grin, feeling heat rush to your cheeks. “Thank you.” You look out the window, too jacked on dopamine to think straight. “I think I still need you, though.”

And that innocuous little sentence floats right out your mouth into the air, settling between you like a little wedge before either of you even realise it. Neither of you says anything. You marinate in the awkwardness before stuttering out a clarification. “To, um, to explain things. Y’know, since you’re, uh, so good at… explaining things.”

Osamu clears his throat and chuckles stiffly. There’s a slightly pink tinge to his cheeks. “Thanks,” he says, looking straight ahead. He can’t even look at you. Fuck. It’s so awkward. “I’ll try to keep… explaining things.” Fuck. What does that even mean?

A few uncomfortable minutes pass in silence. The night can’t end like this, you think. It can’t when everything else had gone so well. You still have to see him for a few more months. “Did you know,” you start, catching Osamu’s attention, “that Jack’s Diner has a location in Italy?”

“Oh?” he asks, making the final turn to the street where your dorm is. He actually hadn’t.

“Yeah. I asked the owner about the chain a while back. Have you ever been to Italy?”

Osamu shakes his head. “I’ve been to Paris, though. To see a friend. He’s a chocolatier.”

Now, if Osamu had been your friend, you would’ve said something like well, let’s go to Italy together, except he’s not. He’s your TA and you’ve been reminded that enough tonight. So instead, you say, “When you open that restaurant of yours in Italy, let me know.”

“That’s gonna take a while,” he laughs. He appreciates how you said ‘when’, though. And he tucks that little bit of confidence you have in him somewhere deep in his mind so that it doesn’t get lost.

“Isn’t that just seven hours?” you shrug, grinning. Osamu’s BMW pulls up outside your dorm and parks as he marvels at what you just said. You’re amazing. You unbuckle your seatbelt and turn to face your driver.

“Thank you for driving me,” you say, offering him a smile.

“Yeah,” he replies.

You stretch out your hand. With a puzzled look on his face, Osamu grabs it and shakes it. Firmly. You can’t help but notice how nice his hands are. Calloused for sure, but they feel nice.

“Goodnight, Osamu.”

“Goodnight, Y/N.”

He watches you jog into the building before driving away. And it’s like you’ve possessed his car or something because the smell of your shampoo and perfume is everywhere and it’s too much but it’s also not enough at the same time and he can feel your palm against his as he spins the steering wheel to make a turn and for the first time in his life he doesn’t turn on the radio to fill the silence in his car. Osamu replays everything you said in his head.

But he especially thinks about that part where you said you need him.

Weeks melt into months. You turn in essays after essays for Food Chemistry I, each coming back with detailed commentary in an all-too-familiar blue scrawl. All your other classes go well–– extremely well, actually. You might just end the semester with a 4.0 if Food Chem doesn’t fuck you over. Isla still tags you in memes on Instagram. You still tell her about everything that happens with Osamu.

Speaking of.

“That’s the wrong equation,” he says behind your ear as he settles in the seat beside you. The sound of his low voice so close to your ear sends a small shiver down your spine. “You gotta switch the hydrogens.” Osamu knocks on your skull lightly. “What’s goin’ on up in there? Ya got somethin’ on your mind?”

You laugh and elbow him in the side. “Shut up, ‘Samu.” He’d told you during one of his office hours that he’d gone by that nickname because he had a teammate with a foreign name in high school. It sounded so cool, he’d said, grinning.

I think Osamu sounds pretty cool already, you’d teased.

And he’d replied, Let’s trade. I like yours, you like mine, why not share?

You teeter on the line between friends and less-than-friends and, oddly enough, more-than-friends. Sometimes you still play it safe. Sometimes he pauses between texts and real-time conversations, no doubt to scrap an instinctive reply for something more “professional”. Sometimes you say things that make him look at you with the ghost of a smile at the corners of his lips. Sometimes he calls Atsumu to scream about you.

“S’not a no,” Osamu points out. He’s dressed in a black sweater and grey trousers today. You’re suddenly reminded of how the weather’s been getting colder when someone opens the door to the university café and lets in a gust of chilly autumn air.

“Okay,” you admit, setting down the pencil. “I just… don’t really feel prepared for this next test.”

Osamu frowns and looks down at your worksheet. “Your process is correct, though.”

“Right, but… I don’t know. I’ve just not been feeling great about myself lately,” you laugh, looking down at your feet. “Food Chem’s the toughest class I’ve ever taken. And remember how I completely embarrassed myself in that class discussion last week? It’s not really making me feel like I belong here.”

“Imposter syndrome,” Osamu remarks.

“Correct-o.”

He says your name softly and puts a gentle hand on your shoulder. “Maybe you’re not the smartest, but you’re definitely smart. And you belong here. I’ve seen your papers. They’re just as great as anyone else’s and I don’t hand out compliments for nothin’. You’re gonna do some great things but ya can’t improve if you ever give up.” Osamu searches your eyes for a sign of your understanding.

There’re a lot of things you want to say but you don’t know how to put them into words. “Can I hug you?” you finally ask.

Osamu doesn’t even think about it. “Of course.”

He feels you smile against his chest and wonders if you can feel his heart beat faster.

Isla camps out in your dorm as finals come around the corner.

“I don’t understand shit!” she wails, throwing her notebook into the air.

“Isles, it’s okay,” you laugh, slipping out of your chair and walking over to her nest in the corner. “You gotta chill, dude.”

“Not fair! I didn’t have a hunk holding my hand through this course all semester,” she retorts, humour glittering in her dark eyes. “I had the Organic Chemistry Tutor and his accent’s cute enough but, girl, you had Miya Fucking Osamu!”

“You’re literally the worst.” You giggle and sit down beside her. “Tell me what you’re confused about. I’ll try to explain it to you.” The way Osamu does.

You text him that you’d channelled his brains later that night.

His reply comes seconds later. all you, einstein.

From: osamu

good luck on the exam

you’re going to kill it

To: osamu

would u like to divulge any… information about it? 😏 😏 😏

From: osamu

bye

To: osamu

i was kidding :(

From: osamu

fine. tip #1: write your name

To: osamu

not very helpful. 0/10

From: osamu

keep running your mouth and 0/10 is what your score’s going to be

i’m kidding

you got this, y/n

“Holy fuck,” Isla groans as you cross the street to head to lunch at Jack’s. “If you don’t see me next semester it’s because I’ve gotten my grade back and decided to drop out.”

“What would you do?” you ask, amused.

“Maybe move to New Zealand. Raise some sheep. Marry a hot, blond shepherd and fuck off to a cliffside cottage.”

“Solid plan.”

“What about you?” she asks.

“What about me?”

“Remember that conversation we had at the start of the year? About your man?” The two of you reach another red light for pedestrians.

“We’re friends. He’s not my man,” you laugh. Though it pains you to. Something about being Miya Osamu’s friend doesn’t really sit right with you, but you don’t know how to not be his friend. You don’t know how to move out of the corner you’ve backed yourself into.

“But you wish he were! And now you can finally hit him with that ‘Hey, Osamu, I’ve been madly in love with you since the start of the semester, wanna fuck like rabbits and then open that store in Italy?’ and he’ll be all––”

A throat clears behind you. With wide eyes, the two of you turn around.

Holy fuck.

Miya Osamu stands behind you with his hands in his pockets and an enormous smirk on his face.

“He’ll be all what?” he asks, eyes fixed on you.

Isla murmurs an excuse and starts walking on her own to Jack’s.

“Um.” You swallow nervously and shrink in your coat. “You heard all of that, right?”

“Yep.” Osamu grins. He grins. He’s grinning. He’s smiling like he’s won the fucking lottery and you honestly don’t know what to do with that information.

“So, like,” you look down at the sidewalk and kick at a pebble, “what are your thoughts about that?” God, you could die. “‘Cause I know you’re a TA and it’d probably look pretty bad and I don’t want anything bad to happen to you because I like you and it’s cool if we just…”

Osamu interrupts you with a laugh. “My thoughts,” he says, “are that I want to kiss you.” His fingers lift your chin up. “What are your thoughts about that?”

Well, shit. “I think that’s pretty cool, yeah,” you breathe, eyelids fluttering shut as his face comes closer to yours.

He tastes like mint. And his lips move softly, slowly against yours like he’s savouring the moment. And then you feel his hands snake around your waist to pull you closer–– closer because you both are tired of forcing the distance between bodies that want to be near each other, closer because he’s thought about kissing you just like this for so long, closer because you remember the last time he’d touched you was three days ago and it was just a brush of his fingers against your arm and that feeling of wanting more haunted you for the entire night. But holy shit, Miya Osamu is kissing you. He’s kissing you.

And then he pulls away. His dark eyes flit over yours. “I,” he breathes, “I need your course load next semester.”

“What?” you ask, disbelief written all over your features, chest rising and falling as you try to steady your breathing. You just kissed, for God's sake, and he's––

“I need to know which courses not to apply to TA for,” he grins, cupping your face in his hands. “Can’t be teachin’ in a class with my girlfriend as a student.”

“So we’re official?” you ask, beaming.

“If you want,” Osamu replies with a smirk.

You grab the front of his coat and tug him down for another kiss. “Hell yeah, I want to be official.”

[the-black-birb]

Bet? [Miya Atsumu x Reader]

Summary: Miya Atsumu never losses a bet. Or: At first he was in it for the sex until he found himself honestly falling for you.

Warnings: smut, virginity loss, plenty of plot to go along with it

A/N: since this is my first nsfw piece, I’m writing about times. Haha. Get it? Anyways. Here we go!

Miya Atsumu, with his suave smile and screaming fangirls, was the last person you’d think to be a college virgin. 

His ego was large enough to make up for any of his other shortcomings, boasting the pride of prepping to be a professional athlete as well as a full-time college student. No one doubted that he’d snogged countless fans or taken especially eager girls to back closets for fun, but what seemed to have slipped past them was his dedication to volleyball, always.

So dedicated, he didn’t even have the time for a serious girlfriend.

Miya Atsumu, playboy of the year, was a virgin. But he’d raise all hell if he let anyone around him find out. So when his team went out for dinner after a particularly brutal victory, Atsumu was happy to get in on all the locker room talk. He was sure he could keep up this facade.

Yet somehow, it spiraled into a competition. Although Atsumu had never been one to be invited to sleepovers or highschool parties, far too busy practicing with his team, he imagined it felt something like this.

“So,” one of the wing spikers started. “How old were you all when you lost your virginity?” The men around him laughed it off, ready to tell stories of their (awkward) first times. Each took their turn, wanting to be the youngest or the one with the best tale to tale. And then, all eyes fell on Atsumu.

Atsumu was a great liar, really. But the bar was loud and he felt the eyes of his teammates like ants on his skin and while he was confident in volleyball there was little he knew about this and Atsumu could not bring himself to do anything but sit there and stare aimlessly. The team waited for an answer.

Finally, their starting setter, who had undoubtedly been chosen based on seniority alone, broke out into laughter. “He’s a virgin!” he realized. “Miya Atsumu is a virgin!” The whole table broke out into rancorous laughter. There wasn’t truly anything bad about being a college virgin, a few on the team had admitted to it before Atsumu. But his attitude of control and snarky attitude on the court had everyone waiting to find something just one thing they could tease Miya Atsumu about. 

“I could fuck anyone if I wanted to!” was his quick reply, thinking back to all the girls cheering his names in the stands (and the boys who’d give him a slap on the ass to say “good job”). Surely, he could give up his virginity in an instant, if he put his mind to it.

“Oh, yeah?” It was a middle blocker speaking now, one who Atsumu had the (dis)pleasure of sharing a few classes with. “Even that girl in calc...the one who does all the group projects on her own and everything…”

Atsumu knew immediately who he was talking about. Y/N L/N. You were basically a genius, always getting the highest marks and never taking a moment to wait for those around you to catch up. He’d never even spoken to you. But right now, his pride was on the line.

“Pfft,” he forced a chuckle. “Easy.”

The table erupted into booming laughter again, at Atsumu’s declaration, but quickly quieted down as the senior setter leaned forward with a wager. “Then have sex with her,” he smirks. “Before the next game.”

Atsumu raised an eyebrow. “What do I get out of it?” Aside from the loss of his v-card, of course.

“I’ll ask coach to make you the starting setter.” A hush fell on the table as if a ghost had passed through. “But if you lose, you join as a wing spiker.”

Atsumu gulped down his fears. He was never one to back down on a bet. Besides, the only reason he was a virgin still was because of volleyball. Might as well gain something from it.

He pushed his hand forward, shaking the senior setter’s firmly.

“Deal.”

***

“Could you tutor me?”

Miya Atsumu wasn’t stupid. He’d never been in a serious relationship, but he knew if he asked one of his fangirls to sneak off with him they’d do it in a heartbeat. He knew he could probably find at least one girl within a mile radius who wanted to have sex with him and flirt his way to her bed.

But you weren’t just any girl.

As much as he dreaded school, Atsumu was painfully observant of the people around him. He’d noticed you before, in class and occasionally at games. You kept to yourself without anyone to talk to you, but on the occasion, he’d seen you with friends you shined brighter than any of them. It made him breathless.

Still, he knew you wouldn’t be easy. In group projects, you’d always been devilish with your expectations, dishing out jobs to everyone in an instant and critiquing their work for the best results (this quality shamefully reminded Atsumu of himself, but he’d never mentioned it).

Frankly, he was at a loss of how to get to your bed. But he knew he needed to start by talking to you, and that you’d shut down any friendly flirtation he started with. So he did something more direct. He theorized even if you weren’t keen, you were kind enough not to shut him down completely and hopefully that’d be his chance to talk with you more. But what he hadn’t calculated was your response.

“Atsumu, right? What do you need help with?”

Huh?

You hadn’t even hesitated to agree, looking up at him expectantly.

“Uh...deriving complex functions?” He thinks that’s what they’re doing in class.

You place a hand to your chin, nodding as if you were deep in thought. “Yeah, that’s pretty tough,” you agree, thinking. “I’m free after six tonight, meet me at the library?” you ask him directly.

For once in his life, Miya Atsumu is frozen. “Uh, sure?”

“Cool, give me your number in case something comes up,” you said nonchalantly, grabbing your phone. Before he could even process what was happening, he’d put his number in your phone and you were walking away from him, bidding him a friendly “see you later.”

As he watched your figure get smaller, he was reminded of all the cold comments he’d heard about how difficult you were to approach and the nicknames people said behind your back. He stifled a laugh.

Atsumu wondered if they’d even spoke to you.

***

You here?

It was the first thing Atsumu had texted you once he got your number. He didn’t come to the library often, far more concerned with practice than studying, but as he sat to get out his work from earlier he realized it was actually quite calming. Compared to the loud and irritating bar from days earlier, Atsumu was certain he preferred this.

Sorry, was out with friends. Be there in a few!

He grumbled when he saw his phone. Maybe it couldn’t be helped, but you could’ve at least had the decency to text him earlier, right? Slowly Atsumu felt himself spiraling, his bad habit of finding the negative in just about everything sneaking up his back.

But all his qualms were forgotten when you walked through the doors.

He supposed he’d only ever seen you in class and at a few volleyball games. He quicked up quickly that you were a creature of comfort, preferring a pair of loose sweatpants to anything else. Yet you walked through the door fresh from a night out with friends with your hair done up and a pair of flattering slacks clinging to your waist (and a bit further south as well but Atsumu wasn’t ready to mention that, yet).

“Miya?” He was broken from his trance by your voice, which had a playful lilt to it he’d never quite noticed before.

“Just call me Atsumu,” he heard himself saying out of habit. Even without Osamu at his side in college, Atsumu was never really comfortable being called by his family name. It just wasn’t normal. Still, his cheeks flared up as he worried you’d see it as flirtations instead and be scared off.

“I-”

“Sure thing, Atsumu,” you agreed without hesitation. Oh. All of Atsumu’s nerves were on edge. Nothing to worry about, huh? He quite liked how his name sounded on your lips. He could listen to it on repeat for days, probably.

Snapping him out of his trance, you were quick to get to business. Although Atsumu came with ulterior motives, you were an incredible help. Your notes were neat and easy to understand, but whatever he stumbled on you still found ways to re-word so they’d make sense. He could practically feel all the wheels in his head turning when you spoke like he was in the middle of an intense volley trying to figure out what came next.

Actually, you made it kind of fun.

Before he realized, an hour had elapsed and he felt his eyelids drooping. It wasn’t often that Atsumu used his brain that intensely without break, and he could feel his focus starting to waver. But you’d made it so easy to focus, he’d easily lost track of time.

You let out a sigh next to him. “That’s enough for today,” you determined, shutting your notebook. “Seeing as we have a quiz next class, I can meet again to tutor the night before if you’d like? Just keep doing the practice I showed you and we can do some review.” You had everything planned out in your mind already.

Atsumu let his head hit the table in exhaustion. Although normally he’d have a snarky comment for anyone who dared tease him, he let your laughter ease over him like a blanket. It was music to his ears.

“Get better and it won’t be so tiring,” you assured him, patting his shoulder. Before he could agree or disagree with anything you’d asked him, you had one foot out the door. “See you Wednesday at six,” you bid him goodbye (though Atsumu swore it sounded more like an order).

He grumbled against the table once again, quick to back up his notebook. There was still practice, after all.

While Atsumu found himself more tired than usual at practice, having already used his mind plenty, it was enthralling. The quips of his teammates, asking if it was some hot banging that had tired him out, fell on deaf ears. He could only think about how you’d managed to make calculus of all things sound interesting and the smell of your perfume whenever you bent close to him. Sure, your expectations for him were evident but he wouldn’t have it any other way. He wondered how anyone could have called you ‘cold.’

***

Your next tutoring session went fairly standard. True to your word, you checked over the review and prepped for your exam the next day. While you harshly pointed out Atsumu’s repeated mistakes, you gave him insightful tips and tricks to help him fix them in the same breath. You were definitely a genius, he determined.

But he’d also realized he was getting nowhere with these tutoring sessions. Your company was surprisingly relaxing in the midst of his long days and he was delighted at the playful jokes you always managed to slip in, but there were no sparks and his next game was drawing nearer. The word wing spiker loomed over his head like a curse.

He had to do something to change this.

“Would you want to grab coffee with me?” he found himself asking as you packed your bag. For a moment you looked at him dumbfounded, trying to figure out if he was serious.

“Are you asking me on a date?” you tease, no fear of misunderstanding the situation. As usual, Atsumu was shaken to his core by your forwardness. He thought he was honest. But he was certain now was the time to back down.

“If I am, would you say yes?” he flirts back, praying you can’t see the sweat dripping down his neck. There was something electric and unnerving about your smile, seemingly unhindered.

“The Miya Atsumu…” you put on a face like you’re deep in thought, but you’re already sure of your answer. “Sure,” you grin. “Text me the details.” Before he even has the chance to celebrate, you’re gone.

The next day, Atsumu got his highest grade on a quiz since grade school (he wasn’t stupid, really, just very average with school). Even when he got stuck on questions, he’d visualize your mechanical pencil (you’d covered it in stickers) gliding across his page and the sound of your voice, explaining each problem patiently and easily. Then, he’d know what to do.

He texted you a thank you with a flurry of emojis, supremely grateful for your help. Soon, he’s pulling on his nicest pair of jeans for his casual date with you, brimming with energy. Atsumu was so excited he could just kiss you.

That is until he was sitting in front of you in the cafe, realizing he’d never talked to you about anything but calculus. And now that he had his breakthrough and secured a date, he was hopeless. He had no idea where to start. So, always quite shallow, he broke the ice by saying what was on his mind.

“Why’d you agree to tutor me?” For a moment, he wonders if you’ll get offended by the question before he’s reminded of all your rude comments about his mathematical prowess. He was certain you had tougher skin than that. “I mean, I sort of asked you out of the blue. Don’t you want money? Food?”

He expects you to take a while to answer since you seem like the person to have calculated reasons behind all your actions, but your answer is almost immediate.

“Is it not enough to just want company?” you wonder, completely unabashed. Atsumu almost blushes for you, before you think for a moment and find you stumbling over your words. It’s the first time he’s heard you sound unsure of yourself and he ingrains the moment of vulnerability into his mind like a movie he’ll play one day. He never wants to forget the sight of your lightly flushed cheeks, eyes scattering to break contact with him.

“W-What I mean is,” you interrupt yourself. “I hear people talk and I know my reputation. I get focused on work and people get scared away...” Atsumu knows that feeling. “I guess I was just over eager that someone would approach me. Is that weird?”

Ah. Atsumu thinks. This is my chance.

He bends forward, his hand brushing against yours, and greets you with a practiced smile. It’s the sort of smirk that is sneaky enough to have any girl squealing, but sincere enough not to scare you away. “Not at all, doll,” he promises, voice like honey.

Mentally, Atsumu congratulates himself for the smooth delivery, sure that he’ll have you in his arms in no time. Instead, you start laughing at him.

“Do not call me that!” you exclaim, tears bursting from the corners of your eyes. “What do you think this is, the 1950s? [Y/N] will do, yeah?” Your hands reach up to wipe your eyes and the entire atmosphere Atsumu worked to create is lost (although secretly, he prefers that honest and straightforward attitude you replace it with) and he’s left staring at you blankly.

“Why’d you ask in the first place?” you wonder, looking sufficiently amused.

Because I want to have sex with you.

Atsumu finds himself attacked by his own thoughts. It’s not that he wants to, of course. It’s just that he was dared to and he can’t lose the bet. But, wouldn’t it be more enjoyable if he wanted to? Of course, he could want to. But he thinks to get there he’d need to be terribly emotionally invested and he’s barely even had a girlfriend and you’re definitely too perfect for him and-

“Atsumu?” You’re smiling up at him, eyebrows raised. “Did I manage to leave you, who never shuts up,” He wants to tell you that you’re wrong but he knows you’re not and you won’t hesitate to remind him of that. “Speechless?”

He can’t let you catch on, Atsumu tells himself. “I’m bad at calculus and you’re good,” he decides is a good lie. Straightforward and true, just like you. “Is that not enough?” You huff, leaning back in your seat.

“Touche.”

Although your date had started off awkward and tense, Atsumu felt the relief of being entirely comfortable talking to you. He got lost in your quick wit and electric eyes, losing track of the conversation and letting himself get immersed entirely in you. Before he knew it, your phone was going off.

“Shit!” you rushed to turn it off. “I’ve got class in ten.” You were quick to grab your bag and head out, and Atsumu felt his stomach drop, wishing he’d said something. Yet just as quickly you were turning on your heal, an unfamiliar shakiness in your voice, as you bent down to plant on Atsumu’s cheek.

“Same time next week?” you asked, eyes sparkling.

Atsumu felt an unfamiliar tightness in his chest as he smiled back at you. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

***

In the blink of an eye, you became a surprisingly regular part of Miya Atsumu’s daily life. He’d sit next to you in calculus and on days you didn’t have calculus he’ get coffee with you. Every day you were there next to him, smiling fearlessly. He wasn’t entirely sure what had happened to your untouchable reputation, but he’d never hesitated to be beside you.

For two weeks this had gone on, your strange friendship that sprung up out of nowhere raging strong. But Atsumu’s next game was soon and he felt the pressure. Yet he knew, no matter what, he didn’t want to ruin what he had going with you. Maybe, it was even worth being wing spiker for a season.

“Could I come to the match tomorrow?” you asked as you were getting ready to leave one day. Atsumu almost choked on his coffee, not prepared for such a bold question. He wanted to ask you who you were asking him as: a volleyball fan, a friend or… a partner?

He shooed the thought from his head. Although both of you called these coffee outings “dates,” they’d never ended with anything more than him walking you him and a kiss on the cheek outside the door to your apartment. You were far from dating.

“Sure, why not?” he responded, pretending to keep his cool. But would you like him less when you realized he was benched? Why did you even want to go?

“It’s raining,” you moaned, distracted from Atsumu’s response. He looked to your (lovely) legs to see you were wearing shorts and converse, definitely not ideal for this weather.

“I’ll drive you home,” he offered, keen on showing off his new car. He’d already sent you a photo of it, of course (a selfie, actually. He looked quite stunning) but he still wanted to show you in person. Soon, you were next to him in the passenger seat, looking at the road ahead.

You made normal small talk, but Atsumu noticed your hand seemed to be wondering closer to the area between you two. He ignored it.

When you reached your apartment, he walked you in like normal. He waved hello to the person at the security desk, they were familiar with him at this point. Finally, the two of you reached the doormat. It always felt to him like a save point in a game before a boss. He just couldn’t seem to get past it and into your apartment.

But when he noticed you wore a different lip gloss than usual and a new perfume, he thought maybe today could be the day. He swallowed, rolling his shoulders back. He’d make his move for sure. Breathing in, he readied his mind for what he’d say to you, wondering what kind of flirting could make you break.

“Kiss me.”

Huh.

“Atsumu,” you looked up at him, eyes demanding. “Kiss me.”

When he first started talking to you, occasionally you’d say something that caught him so off guard he’d freeze up and have no idea what to do. But kissing wasn’t sex, and Atsumu knew he could win in a battle of the lips. Before you could even fully open your door, he’d close the space between you two.

He didn’t take a moment to question why you asked him, instead silently praying you felt the same pull to him that he did to you. The kiss was desperate and long-awaited. As soon as he was in the apartment you were closing the door behind him and letting him press you up against him.

Desperately, Atsumu wanted to feel all of you. He gripped his hands around your waist and sucked at your lips, begging to be closer to you. It was intense and passionate and everything he’d ever dreamed of.

The two of you were a mess of sweat and pent up tension, but somehow you made it to your bedroom. Your hands searched over Atsumu, wanting to feel the expanse of his toned body and broad shoulders. You could feel him getting excited against you, edging him on by grind against him. More you called out. You wanted to feel more of him, all of him.

And then he froze.

You looked up to him, confused. “Are you okay, Atsumu?” you pulled away from him immediately, scared that you’d set something off. Instead, you reached out to grab his hand in yours, squeezing it gently. “We can stop if this is too fast,” you assured him. While you’d been getting impatient waiting for him to make a move, the last thing you wanted was for him to be uncomfortable with you.

“I’m fine,” he promised you, but his eyes said differently. His pupils were blown out and his eyes wide but he looked downright scared. You breathed out, not yet sure how to comfort him. Instead, you took in all the things you knew about him, coolly trying to wonder what could be bothering him.

“Is this going to lead to sex?” he asked you, sitting on your bed with his clothes riled up and his face looking very thoroughly kissed. You wanted to laugh, looking at his swollen red lips and the clueless expression on his face because the answer would be clear to anyone else, but Atsumu kept surprising you. Still, you knew better than to make fun of him. It was very clear he was trusting himself to you.

“If you want it to you,” you answer, squeezing his hand reassuringly. “But it doesn’t have to.”

There’s a nervousness in Atsumu’s eyes that you were unfamiliar with. It was different than the frustration that built up when he didn’t understand math, or the shyness he tried to hide whenever he’d flirt with you. It was the realization that if he wanted whatever was between the two of you to go anywhere, he had to come clean now.

“I asked you to tutor me because my seniors on the volleyball team dared me to have sex with you!” he burst, folding in on himself.

For a moment you thought you could feel your heartbreaking because you couldn’t believe you’d let yourself get tricked. But naively, you prayed that maybe his feelings still rang true, reminding yourself of all the coffee dates and late nights studying. That worth more than just a dare, you hoped.

“But I asked you on the coffee date because I like you! I sat next to you in calculus because I like you and I don’t care what people say about you!” Atsumu declared, face burning red.

You knew there was a lot that could get under Miya Atsumu’s skin. You’d been to a few practice volleyball games where he played and seen his short fuse first hand, but still, you found yourself surprised and relieved by his words. Atsumu was, if nothing else, straight forward. Even though he’d had different motives, you knew he still worked hard to get better at calculus. You knew how his face lit up whenever you walked into the cafe and the most common emojis he used when he texted. You had no doubt behind his words now.

“So,” you start teasingly, tracing circles around his shoulder. “Does that make you a virgin?” The way your voice dropped, eyes looking promisingly at Atsumu like he was about to be devoured, had him straining against his pants.

“Yeah,” he admitted, pupils blown out for a whole new reason.

You slid yourself over him, letting your self straddle his hips. Your fingers continued to trace his chest, appreciating all the time he spent training. Excruciatingly slowly, you bent forward to whisper against his ear. “Let’s change that tonight, yeah?”

That was enough for Atsumu.

For a virgin, he was surprisingly dominating while you made out. Atsumu brought his mouth to yours once again, quick to bite at your lips. His hands came up to knead your ass, large and strong. I’ve been waiting to do that, Atsumu thought, picturing your slacks from the first time you tutored him. He always did love to see you walk away.

Soon, he got bored with your lips and found himself peppering kissing across your jawline and traveling across your neck. As he got to the crook between your should and neck he heard your breath hitch. Perfect. 

Mercilessly, he nipped and sucked at the spot. As much as you tried to keep down your moans, you felt them bubbling up in your chest.

“You know…” you told him breathlessly. “For someone who’s never had sex you’re awfully good at this.”

Atsumu scoffed in response. “I’m a virgin, not a celibate,” he explained, before going after your neck again. You threw your head back in pleasure, giving him easier access. You wondered what else he could do with his mouth.

His pursuit of learning about your entire body continued, one hand leaving your ass to grope your breasts. He reached his hand up and under your shirt, sending shocks straight to your core as his calloused fingers brushed over your skin. Finally, palm landed on your breast, feeling it enthusiastically. You could hear him sigh as he did it, surely having played this moment over in his mind time after time.

You wanted to enjoy it, really, but there was only so much you could handle. “It’s not a balloon!” you laughed, swatting his hand away.

“Hey, I was busy with that,” Atsumu teased but brought his hand away regardless. He held onto your hips, instead, watching as you rid yourself of your shirt and bra. He watched you with a calculating eye, trying to learn more, to be better.

“Like this,” you told him, dragging his hand to your breast again. You had him pressing feather-light touches to you. “Gentle,” you whispered, letting yourself get lost in the sensation. He took your directions carefully, bringing both of his hands up to take in your chest. He was more careful now, experimenting. He ghosted his thumb over your nipple, watching how your body shivered in response.

Atsumu was completely in tune with your every reaction and quickly understood how sensitive you’d become from this slow grueling pace. All he’d done was play with your nipples, switching between light ghosts of touches and rougher swipes with the pads of his fingers, but he could already feel you grinding against him.

Unable to hold back, he finally broke his concentrated silence, letting a groan out into your shoulder.

“Right,” you noticed, looking down. “You probably want to take care of that?” As if teasing him, you rolled your hips against his bulge again. His grip around your waist tightened.

Atsumu started to protest. “But-”

“No buts!” you cut him off. “I’m gonna make you feel good, okay?” you promised, eyes unwavering.

This was even better than his dreams.

“Whatever you say, [Y/N],” he breathed out, letting you get up so your hands could work at his belt.

“Call me doll,” you muttered, unzipping his jeans and pulling them down. Although he was still in his boxers, you went to your own shorts first, pulling them down eagerly.

Atsumu twitched. “What is this,” he drawled. “The 1950s?” It felt good to have the upper hand for once.

“Throw me a bone here, you won’t even take your own clothes off,” you whined, pulling at his shirt. He helped you along the way, getting it over his head. Finally, you pulled his boxers off, letting his erection stand tall and proud for all to see.

You gulped at the sight of it. His length was average, but it was quite girthy with an intimidating tilt to it. How many fingers is that? You wondered.

“Impressive?” Atsumu asked when he noticed your wide eyes. The only people he’d ever really compared himself to were porn stars and his brother so truly he had no idea if he was packing, but he’d let you do the talking tomorrow.

But you were quick to wipe the wonderous expression of your face. “In your dreams,” you bit back, going to grab a condom.

“In your nightstand?” Atsumu said incredulously. You rolled your eyes.

“Where else?”

Touche.

You started to unpack the condom and roll it over his member, eager to get the show on the road, but Atsumu found himself grabbing your wrists. “What about you?” he asked. “I mean…” Atsumu was never one to admit to his shortcomings, but there was something pretty clear here. You had more experience than him. “Don’t you want to feel good, too?”

If your pace was too fast, you’d probably get left high and dry while Atsumu chased his orgasm. “Couldn’t I…” he gestured with his hands, pushing two fingers forward. “Help you out?”

You chuckled. “Love if you’ve never fingered a girl before I’m not becoming your test subject,” you quipped, Atsumu grumbling below you. What was the point if you didn’t both enjoy yourselves? “But…” you traced his jawline. “I can show you how I do it next time. Teach you how I like it?”

Atsumu smirked, pulling you down to the bed with him and rolling over you so he could linger over you. He pressed a chaste kiss to your lips, sweet and so unlike him. “Sounds perfect, doll,” he whispered against your lips.

You gulped. For someone so inexperienced, there was an intensity to his eyes that went unmatched by anyone else. Even when you had been the one guiding him along, you felt his eyes drinking all of you up. He was truly beautiful, leaning over you in all his glory. You could get used to that sight.

“Is…” he cleared his throat. “Is it okay if I put it in?” he asked, reminding you both that he was still unsure of himself.

“Yeah,” you assured, reaching up to grab his hand. “Take it slow.”

He did, Excruciatingly. You felt his tip enter you curiously, already stretching you out so well. Atsumu entered you in a way that you felt every single millimeter. You yearned for him to get closer, to fill you better.

“More,” you whined out.

Atsumu smirked at you, his face screaming I win. “What’s that, doll?” You groaned, rolling your head back. “You wanted me to take it slow?” he taunted.

“Fuck me like you mean it, Atsumu!” you snapped, pushing your hips up to meet his. You sighed at the feeling as he finally bottomed out. But Atsumu didn’t take your challenge lightly, not letting up. He pulled back out of you, only to snap his hips back. You had no time to get used to his size, not with the brutal pace he was setting.

Soon, you were a mess. While you were fairly sure Atsumu was simply his own release, he made you feel so damn good while doing it. His strong hips pushed back into you ruthlessly, hitting you deep and well. Your arms wrapped around his back, nails pressing into his shoulders.

“You like that, doll?” he asked through his own groans. He’d done his best to hold them back, but the feeling of you surrounding every single inch of him was simply too much. You felt too good.

“Yeah baby,” you urged him on. “You’re doing so well. You’re fucking me so well.” Your nails gripped into him, scratching at his back. But it only had him pushing harder into you, feeding into your praise. He was the one wrecking you like this.

Yet Atsumu lost track of his inhibitions and quickly found himself feeling a familiar coil in his stomach. He didn’t want this to end yet. He wanted to feel more of you, all of you. He let out a loud moan, trying to hold back.

“It’s alright,” you assured him. “There’ll be time to do more. Let go.” It angered him that you had the energy to soothe him while he was trying to fuck you silly, but that only encouraged him to push harder. Through your own moans, you found it in you to whisper to him. “Please, Atsumu. Cum for me.”

He couldn’t hold back anymore. His hands grabbed your hips, surely tight enough to leave bruises, and snapped forward, pushing all of himself into you. He came into the condom in hot streams, breathing heavily.

“I’ve never orgasmed like that,” he admitted, finally slipping out of you. You whimpered a bit at the feeling of being empty, before taking the semen-filled condom out of you.

“Ew,” the two of you said in unison, before laughing at one another.

Even though you’d just been thoroughly fucked and he felt like he’d ran a marathon, Atsumu bathed in the feeling of complete trust he had when he was beside you. It was incredible.

“I could sleep for days,” Atsumu sighed, collapsing on your bed. You laughed at him, pulling on a nightshirt.

“Hey, don’t cover the view!” he teased, wrapping an arm around your waist as you joined him. As if he didn’t stare at it long enough to etch it into his mind.

“You have a match tomorrow,” you reminded him. “Gotta laugh in your teammates’ face for that dumbass dare, so you can only sleep for one night.” You snuggled up against Atsumu, letting his warmth wash over the best of you.

You were too tired to really process the surprised in Atsumu’s voice when he agreed with you, too busy drifting off to sleep.

***

The match came without fail. Atsumu didn’t mention anything to his teammates as you gave him a kiss good luck before he entered the gym. You had proudly donned his jersey, ready to support him from the stands. But if that wasn’t enough, the scratch marks all across Atsumu’s back were enough to thoroughly shut up any doubts his teammates had about the night prior.

Atsumu was the setter for the whole game.

[saundraswriting]

Missed Signals Chapter 1

SUMMARY: Reki might have a problem. He gets hyperfixated. He is too loud. He has a delayed sleep schedule. He forgets to eat and drink sometimes. He zones out a lot, and even more when he tries to pay attention. He fidgets with his hair and his clothes and his skin to the point of injury. His brain works, sometimes. Other times he has to fight it. He has learned to cope enough over the years but just like everything else, some days are better than others.

WARNINGS: Nothing too grand, descriptions of ADHD symptoms,

NOTES: I am trying to cope with what I am thinking is undiagnosed ADHD by projecting onto my favorite characters. I mean no harm and no offense.

Ao3 // Missed Signals Masterlist // Main Masterlist

Next Chapter

With the sound of the last bell, Reki and Langa tore off to the skate park. They had just finished mid terms. Both boys were lookin forward to the three day weekend. They both missed going to 'S' and the skate park and even Joe's place, trying to studying as much as possible. Langa was still terrible with his Japanese and Math even though he was getting better. Reki's English and Biology scores were dismal, but he seemed to be scoring consistently well on his other tests.

"Hey, Langa, Reki! Over here!" Joe called. "Long time no see." The four other skaters were standing near a bench in the skate park all seeming to wait for the two high schoolers.

"Joe! Cherry!" Reki's bright grin was visible to them from the entrance.

"Shadow! Miya!" Langa was a little more subdued in his greater but no less enthusiastic.

Both boys felt a weight shift off their shoulders at the presence of their friends. They were really finished with midterms, they had three days to hang out and skate with each other. Their week of hard work seemed to finally pay off.

"Hello there, boys. How did midterms go?" Cherry asked. He was dressed in his robes but had his hair up.

"I think we did okay. It helps that we struggle in different subjects. I am glad we decided to take the days to review things." Reki said.

"It was a smart idea to use past test to study off of, instead of just notes. Your notes are also so lacking but you do so well on the tests." Langa commented absently as he bent to retie his shoe.

"What do you mean?"' Joe asked Langa. They all watched as Langa fiddled with his shoelaces.

"Oh. Um. Reki often forgets his homework or his notes are very scattered. Rarely does he remember his homework and take good notes. But he scores high on his tests. I even overheard the teachers discussing that if he applied himself and did his homework and took better notes Reki easily could be a top student." At the second mention of his name, Reki stopped looking at his phone and came back to the conversation, glancing at Langa who was sighing at his shoe.

"Langa, your aglet is broken. You'll need new laces. but for now I think some tape will do." Reki said. Everyone looked at him confused. "What? The thing on the end of your laces is called an aglet. It is derived from old French meaning 'needle' or 'pin' designed for lacing shoes or bags easier. Originally they were for ornamental reasons." Reki rattled off unprompted into the silence. His face grew pink at the attention of the others.

"Reki, why do you know that?" Miya asked.

"I had a period of time where I customized shoes for people. I liked how different it was from doing a board. I could show off my art skills better and helped steady my hand a bit more." Reki shrugged, not seeing the big deal.

"You know the old French origins of a part of a shoe no one cares about but you can't be bothered to learn English?" Cherry demanded.

Reki shrugged again, rubbing the back of his neck, embarrassment evident. "I don't mean to not do it. I sit down and I get ready to do it but then my mind blanks. Sometimes I can force myself but then I am frustrated quickly and easily irritated. Sometimes I work on it at school but then my notes are shitty." Reki rubbed his forehead, voice hard. "Sometimes the lights are too bright. Sometimes my brain says no to English but yes to physics and even sometimes my brain says no to everything and I just sit there telling myself all the things I need to do but it is all too much and not enough." Reki's hands begin to shake, while Joe and Cherry share a look over his head.

"Skating is the only thin that helps. But when I skate I give up time that I could be studying or working on the homework. I don't mean to be bad at school, just sometimes I can't help it." Reki seemed to curl in on himself, drawing his shoulders up and ducking his head down. His voice grew small and weak.

"Reki we didn't mean to make you upset. We were just curious. You aren't the only person that has issues organizing their thoughts or staying focused. Has this been an issue for a while?" Cherry gently asked. Reki seemed to relax when the group stayed quiet, seeming to expect derogatory comments.

"I think I began noticing in my second year of middle school." Reki spoke to the ground, unable to look at anyone in the eye. Langa could see his muscles tensing, sensing Reki's desire to bolt.

"That is enough of that. We came here to skate. Let's skate." Joe broke the tension seeming to sense Reki's urge to flee.

"Yes! I have something I want to show you slimes." Miya skated off after joe towards the halfpipe, throwing taunts over his shoulder as he went. Reki and Lana flew after him, throwing their own teasing comments at Shadow, who deemed himself the adult supervisor of the rowdy children.

Cherry and Joe hung back a bit, watching them all tear off. The previous conversation still lingering in the air. Both adults tracking a brightly laughing Reki as he skated around Miya and Langa.

"Poor kid. That must be so frustrating. He tried to make it out like it was no big deal but even if he learned some coping mechanisms, they won't work all the time if he doesn't know what the source of the problem is." Cherry said.

"He won't. He isn't self aware enough to know that he even has symptoms. He seems to have an executive dysfunction though." Joe said, thinking back to his high school days, where everything was too much and not enough, the days of skating until the small hours to hopefully be able to focus, the cooking and baking he did to keep from tearing things apart.

"Maybe we can help him? Maybe if we play our cards right he will even let us. He is so smart, it must be terrible to be stuck in your own head like that." Cherry said, finally picking up his board. Joe followed suit.

"The hardest part is the executive dysfunction. You need and want to do the thing but because you're frontal cortex didn't develop fully you completely freeze and your brain checks out and you are worthless all day. No one else can really get it unless they know. It is hard to explain it to neurotypicals." Joe tried to explain to the best of his abilities. Cherry nodded and made a mental note to research neurotypicals and neurodevelopment disorders.

The two adults finally made it over to see everyone was in the middle of a trick imitating game. Miya was keeping the tricks to a lower difficulty than normal so Reki wouldn't get to disheartened Joe noticed. Langa was doing pretty well, some of the more subtle footwork tripping him up since he wasn't a long term veteran. They skated for a few more hours before finally taking a water break. They were leaning against the fence or the bench or even each other in Reki and Langa's case. Langa had his full attention on Reki as he lectured on another topic, Cherry wasn't sure but it seemed to be about the manhole covers in the streets.

"They have to be round cause any other shape will fall in when turned upright. It is to save the people who are in the pipe below it." Reki was saying. Langa soaked up every word, and Cherry almost felt sorry for how gone the kid was for Reki.

"Honestly kid, why do you know that?' Joe said, looking just as interested. Cherry could only sigh and hope he wasn't as readable on how gone for his idiot gorilla.

"I collect interesting facts. I like to keep them in my brain, never know when you need them." Reki said. Joe just smiled down at the young man, fondly.

"Of course you do, kid. Of course you do."

[recentanimenews]

Ascendance of a Bookworm: I’ll Do Anything to Become a Librarian!, Part 3: Adopted Daughter of an Archduke, Vol. 5

By Miya Kazuki and You Shiina. Released in Japan as “Honzuki no Gekokujou: Shisho ni Naru Tame ni wa Shudan wo Erandeiraremasen” by TO Books. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by quof.

Word of warning: this review is filled with spoilers. If you do not want to be spoiled, you should only read everything above the cover image.

The final volume of this particular arc sees Rozemyne finally managing to achieve everything she needs in order to fix her mana and her body. Given that we’d previously seen the expedition to get the ruelle ingredient, and saw it fail, it should not be surprising that we see it succeed here. The main new plot point is the introduction of the Archduke’s daughter Charlotte, who adores Rozemyne and sees her as a big sister, something that absolutely fills Rozemyne (and, let’s be frank here, Myne) with delight. She is therefore determined to give Charlotte the best possible baptism before she takes her potion, which we are told will require her to sleep for about six months. Unfortunately, things are (again) sent into turmoil by Wilfried being unable to think politically. And then, well… everything turns terrible.

Even with the hint that Rozemyne would be out cold for six months as seen earlier in the volume, I don’t think any of us expected the time skip to actually be TWO YEARS. The fact that it doesn’t even fully heal her (though she is allegedly much healthier now) and also still looks like a seven-year-old makes it extremely easy to understand her stunned reaction at the “end” of the book. Except, given this is a Bookworm novel, we have a bunch of stories from other perspectives at the end, and this time they take up almost half the entire volume. The stories serve to tell us two things: first, that everything Rozemyne does and accomplishes is truly stunning and irreplaceable… and second, that she’;s also set everything up so well that it can run pretty well without her. Indeed, Benno states that this is a good thing in some ways, as having no new innovations for the next while will let the innovations she’s already come up with take hold.

While this book revolves around a serious event, it is not without its humor. Angelica manages to even inject the best joke in the volume into the middle of the tense midair rescue of Charlotte. It is also not without its romance, though surprisingly – though it shouldn’t be – the pairing its’ been teasing for the last few books is the one that doesn’t work out. Bookworm is walking a fine balancing act between showing off the problems with a very class-based system while also showing that this is not something that can be changed overnight by one girl and her books, and The non-marriage of Damuel and Brigitte is an excellent example of this, as it forces them to think harder in order to give the reader more immersion into this very political, very difficult country. On the lighter side, Tulli is suddenly becoming a hot commodity… am I the only one seeing her and Lutz as a pairing? If only as Lutz and Myne was pretty thoroughly torpedoed several books ago.

The next arc has the exhausting subtitle “Founder of the Royal Academy’s So-Called Library Committee”, and is apparently “The Great Brain at the Academy – The Rozemyne Variations”. We’ll see how she copes with her miniature Rip Van Winkle timeskip next time. Till then, this is another volume that reminds you why this series is one of the most popular light novels of the last few years.

By: Sean Gaffney

[cynthiaandsamus]

Custom Toonami Block Valentine’s Day Marathon Rundown!

Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid: The Valentine’s Day/Hotspring episode was perfect for this weekend of course. As always Dragon Maid offers up great lewd comedy with some heartwarming interactions between Shouta and Takiya and a good finale with Tohru and Kobayashi to get us warmed up for the start of Dragon Maid S hopefully soon.

The Helpful Fox Senko-san: As far as I remember this anime doesn’t have a Valentine’s episode so I just went with the one  where they play around in the snow since it’s really cold here. Of course cute, fluffy, semi-incest-coded antics ensue and then Sora shows up to tease Nakano with her breasts but he’s a man of culture and just wants the fox tails.

Miss Caretaker of Sunohara-sou: Aki gets left out of the Student Council girls’ trip and so he spends the day with Ayaka and Nana making toasted yams which I’ve never had but always look really good in anime. Then Nana teases Ayaka about getting fat even though neither of them have a spec of fat on them so Ayaka works out in the room behind the house and catches a cold and Aki has to take care of her and wipe the sweat off her naked body and I’m pretty sure the kid can’t be considered a virgin anymore at this point.

Do You Love Your Mom and Her Two-Hit Multi-Target Attacks?: My god every time I have to type that full name I feel like I’m going to have a stroke. I didn’t get too far into watching this the first time so I just picked up on episode 3 which just so happened to be the slutty armor/hot spring episode so I guess that’s lucky. Also Wise’s mom watched too much Ouran Host Club and wants to use muscle men as furniture and that’ll probably cause problems later and Mamako uses her motherly lack of wisdom to teach Wise that only her mom is her mom and she should try to make up with her if she can (which may not be the best idea because she sounds abusive but I get the idea)

KEIJO!!!!: So I left this one about halfway through and oh my god coming back to it suddenly being dubbed and talking about using their butts properly with the straight-faced intensity of a shonen anime training arc was a trip. Nozomi has to pluck turnips with her butt (NOT LIKE THAT BUT NOT ENTIRELY DISSIMILAR FROM THAT) because her butt has gone Ultra Super Saiyan and has too much muscle to actually hit anyone now so she has to figure out how to upgrade her butt to Super Saiyan 2 instead, and she does because Butt Physics that I don’t fully understand just like regular physics.

MM!: I’ve seen this whole anime like twice so I just picked my favorite episode and it’s where Miya wants to take Arashiko to an all girl’s school so she doesn’t have to deal with her fear of men. I like the little dialogue here between Miya and Mio where Miya just wants Arashiko to not have to suffer with her phobia but Mio tells her just avoiding the problem won’t fix it and she’s going to have to learn to not have an irrational fear of all men that makes her start decking everyone she sees sooner or later. This all gets worse when Arashiko’s abuser who caused her fear comes back into the picture and Taro finds her depressed and helpless. Taro stands up to this jerk and tells him to stay away from her but unfortunately for him he’s in the boxing club and Taro’s just some dude that likes getting hit by girls. Luckily though since he’s a mascohist this gives him an excuse to have a Shonen Protagonist level pain tolerance and with a little divine intervention from Mio at the end he manages to deck the guy out and get him to stay away from his friends. Arashiko comes back and says she doesn’t want to hide from her problems and wants to stay in the place where she’s getting to know her friends better so Miya just decides to transfer to their school instead.

Interspecies Reviewers: I left off on episode 2 of this one so it was a good place to pick up for today. Turns out Astolfo isn’t the only girly guy packing a Monster Energy Drink sized dick when the Reviewers go to the Fairy Brothel. Also Piccolo wants them to go fuck demons but they go fuck cowgirls instead because “Gravity Bro”

Thanks for joining me for the Valentine’s Custom Toonami Block Marathon! I’ll be doing Weathering With You tommorrow for actual Valentine’s Day but this was a lot of fun, tons of anime that just give me the warm fuzzies on a holiday weekend off, I’ve been doing this for a few years now where I try to do something new every Valentine’s Day and make it a nice self-care day but I think this might be my favorite one yet, it was lots of fun going through tons of sexy sappy anime both new and old and all of these titles are sweet and ridiculous in their own way. If any of them seem interesting to you I encourage you to check them out! Dragon Maid, Senko-san, Miss Caretaker, Do you love your Mom?, and Keijo are all on Funimation and some are also on Crunchyroll, MM! is on VRV and probably anywhere that does Sentai Filmworks. Interspecies Reviewers is in horny jail so idk where it is, probably pornhub or some shit I just have it on DVD. But until next time...

[engekihaikyuu]

Fly High - Review

Check out the Read More if you’d like to hear about this show!  Askbox is open as well if you’d like me to elaborate on anything out of this.

I saw it twice today for both the matinee and soiree performances, so I can remember pretty much all of it.  The sequence of events in the play happen as follows:

New Year’s celebrations with Karasuno, the third years visit a temple and pray for good luck at Nationals....

Karasuno make the journey to Tokyo for Nationals, check into their old, run-down inn, third years reminisce, Hinata and Kageyama go for a night run with Tsukki following on a bike...

The next day they go to Nationals to check in and to do the opening ceremony, Hinata runs into Hoshiumi, Kageyama runs into Sakusa and Miya...

And then Kiyoko leads us into the flashback of how they got to the orange court.  She’s basically the narrator for this play in the same way Yachi was for Summer of Evolution.  

The flashback then takes us to Kageyama being called away to the National youth training camp and Tsukishima being called to the Miyagi First Years’ training camp, and Hinata sneaking his way in.  

Act 2 is when we get into the practice match with Datekou, Kageyama slipping into his old “King of the Court” tendencies, and Hinata re-crowning him.  

Then we slip back into the “present” where Karasuno is headed to their first match, Hinata forgot his shoes because he grabbed the wrong bag, and we get to see Kiyoko run to get it and do the hurdle jumping as she narrates her own journey as well as the team’s journey.  

This brings it back around to the beginning of the play where the team is gathered and Hinata and Kageyama are really excited to start their first match of Nationals, so the story winds back around in a circular fashion.

So now with the format of the storytelling, I’ll go into more detail: 

We no longer have the usual Engeki Haikyuu opening sequence that we’re used to, and this is in large part due to the fact that we had very few projections overall.  The play has a new choreographer now, and I feel like this may be the main reason for the shift.  They have 6 giant moving LED screens on-stage that they use heavily for background images, impact animation, showing us the text for what they’re saying, live video footage, but there just really aren’t projections anymore.  In place of an opening sequence, we pretty much just dive right into the story.  

Surprisingly, they begin the play with Hinata and Kageyama center-stage, with the screens on both sides projecting footage of THE PREVIOUS CAST.  Which was basically just a straight up, let’s-just-acknowledge-the-elephant-in-the-room-this-is-a-new-cast sequence, and then the screens show silhouettes of the new cast.  These screens do move up and down and when they move down, they reveal a raised platform behind them.  

So as the screens move down they reveal our new cast members behind them, and then they gather together on the center of the stage to get worked up and ready for their first match at Nationals.  We still do get the usual chorus speech of: Volleyball, Haikyuu, a game where two teams etc... 

After that we fade to black and move to the New Year’s sequence, which opens with New Year’s dreams.  Kiyoko’s dream includes her running as a voice calls out to her, and this is actually fairly elaborate because she’s lifted into the air by the entire cast and she does a horizontal run in the air as she narrates.  Daichi’s hilariously weird New Year’s Dream where Asahi becomes a zombie and infects everyone.  He meets up with Suga and Asahi at the temple for hatsumode, Kiyoko meets them too, and they pray for good luck at Nationals and also pull omikuji and things.  Supporting cast members have little New Year’s stalls and it’s a really cute set.  I really love the chemistry of our new third years, especially because Kiyoko is included in their unit.  The four of them together seem like a close group of friends and the way they joke around together was really cute.  With Satomi, Kiyoko no longer feels quite so removed from the other third-years. 

After the third-years finish their prayers, we see Datekou arrive to do the same thing, and Aone is in that lovely traditional black kimono, with Futakuchi and Sakunami in regular clothes in tow.  When Sakunami asked what Aone prayed for, assuming some volleyball-related answer, Aone replies that he prayed for world peace. Lol.  Later Koganegawa charges onto the stage and tackles into them with candied apples.  In the afternoon show, the other three had been lined up really close together, so when Koganegawa tackled them, only Futakuchi went flying because he was on the other end of the line.  In the evening show, I think he ran a little too hard into them so they just all went falling to the ground lol.  

We get to see the others of the team goofing around playing hanetsuki with the little wooden paddles (minus Tsukishima) and this is sort of where we get to see the first bit of Noya and Tanaka’s athleticism.  I can tell that they’ve got acrobatic ability, but the rest of the choreography in the show doesn’t really let them show it off yet.  When Yachi asked Yamaguchi why Tsukishima wasn’t with him, we got to see Tsukki in pajamas and slippers walk across the stage grumbling about how much he didn’t want to wake up early on one of his precious few vacation days just to spend time with the two idiots, grumble grumble as he shuffled across stage lol.

And then Hinata challenges Kageyama to their first contest of the New Year, and this is one of the ad-lib parts.  In the afternoon show, they get ready to race, and Hinata goes, “Look, a UFO!” and when Kageyama gets distracted, he breaks for a head start.  But in the evening show, Hinata goes, “Look—!” but Kageyama cuts him off going, “I’M NOT GONNA FALL FOR THAT!” and he makes a break for it instead lol.  

Pause in the review just so I can say: WINTER CLOTHES!!! CUUUUUTE!!!

Then we see Karasuno headed off to Tokyo in their bus which is just all of them shuffling together in a box formation on-stage with Kiyoko narrating at the start, Asahi throwing up into a bag, Daichi yelling at everyone to calm down, etc… and then they arrive!

There’s the funny little bit where they all think they’re staying at the nice big fancy hotel but then Ukai tells them they’re staying at the scary-looking, run-down inn instead.  Takeda-sensei cries that it was because they didn’t have enough money and crumples backward onto the ground by just like, bending his knees and then falling backward.  Very flexible, very funny.  The little hanging sign for the inn that was on the back of the stage tilts and stuff too to add to the effect.  

Then a bus arrives that has the Niiyama girls and here we see Tanaka being really cute with Kanokaaaaaa~ Oh my god they were so cute.  They had this secret handshake thing that was super cute and at one point, Tanaka crouches down on the ground to tell her, “You’re still super tall!” and she laughs and offers him a hand to help him up, and he stumbles forward into her and everyone on Karasuno is just watching like !!!!!  

Their first night at the inn was a really fun sequence, with it going back and forth between third-years reminiscing on the balcony, to Kiyoko and Yachi taking a bath together and chatting… to the obviously hilarious moment of Ennoshita sending Tsukishima after Kageyama and Hinata’s nighttime run on a bike.  The old lady who gives him the bike runs off the stage quietly adding, “The brakes are broken tho… but it works fiiiiine.”  So then later, we see Hinata and Kageyama sprint across the stage and then Tsukishima is following while riding the bike and he suddenly goes, “Brake… brake? Brake!!!”  

In the afternoon show, the next time we see them, Hinata and Kageyama have stolen the bike somehow lolololol.  So Kageyama’s driving it, Hinata is riding right behind him in the child’s seat and whining and Tsukishima is tiredly running after them. In the evening show we just see Hinata and Kageyama starting to tire as they run and Tsukishima is still riding the bike behind them.  

Tanaka sneaks out with a ball to practice and for some reason Yamaguchi follows him.  So then when he meets up with Kanoka outside by chance, Yamaguchi hides and watches everything unfold.  Tanaka and Kanoka sit together, Tanaka scoots away nervously… Kanoka seems on the verge of confessing something, Tanaka suddenly shouts that his heart’s already spoken for and then her cousin shows up and Tanaka thinks he’s misunderstood the entire situation and runs off screaming about that Ennoshita’s an idiot. Yamaguchi springs up because he’s shocked too, and Kanoka and her cousin are weirded out by Yamaguchi’s random presence on top of that lol.  In the afternoon show, Yamaguchi just kind of awkwardly apologized before running after Tanaka, in the evening show, he just awkwardly whistled a tune while slowly meandering off stage.  That super casual, not casual whistling lol.  

The next day we see them line up for opening ceremony with their little Karasuno sign and then Kiyoko starts narrating us into the flashbacks. They do a little rewind sequence, aka, let’s everyone walk backwards all jittery to reset the scene.  

Takeda-sensei enters screaming BIG NEWS BIG NEWS in English and Ukai tries to calm him down usually with a little ad-libbed joke.  We hear about Kageyama and Tsukishima being called away to their separate training camps, etc…

They integrated the Miyagi and Tokyo camps pretty heavily together on-stage because they wanted to keep Hinata and Kageyama’s stories together while they were apart.  So for example, when Hinata shows up suddenly at the Miyagi camp even without being invited and Tsukishima is pretending like he doesn’t know him while yelling at him that he’s an idiot, Kageyama is on the other side of the stage, getting lost in a station because he can’t read the instructions he has.  So Tsukishima screaming out ‘idiot’ really applies to both Hinata and Kageyama.  

Little side snippet for Ukai and Takeda co-parenting really well lololol. When Hinata has to call Coach Ukai because he did a bad by barging into the training camp he wasn’t invited to, Ukai is yelling at him on the other line.  But he only gets to yell about two things before Takeda-sensei quietly sidles up beside him and just wordlessly holds out his hand for the phone.  Ukai quietly obeys, because it’s CLEAR Takeda-sensei is the stricter parent in this situation and ooooooh Hinata’s in troublllleeeee lol. 

And when Hinata is struggling at the camp, so is Kageyama but for different reasons obviously.  Hinata is trying to figure out what he needs to do, how he needs to think while being ball boy, and Kageyama is trying to figure out why Miya would call him a goody-two-shoes…

They have a little sequence where Kageyama’s confused and goes out for a run at dinnertime to try and clear his head, and Hinata is going home from the Miyagi camp for the night (because he’s not allowed to stay in the dorm while being ball boy), and they both end up running next to each other on-stage, getting exhausted, and leaning into each other, supporting each other, helping each other up, so like… they’re apart in the story, but they’re still somehow there for each other.  

Eventually the rest of the team appear on stage together behind them, with every one of them getting a little monologue to show what they’re hoping to improve upon and then everyone is running frantically and stumbling together.

After they fall, we fade to black and that’s the end of Act 1.   Act 2 closes out both camps simultaneously, and Hinata and Kageyama race to school when they meet up again and also immediately almost fight again because that’s their routine.  Mostly because Kageyama is saying Hinata’s jumps are too light (after seeing Hoshiumi’s).  I have to say that Daigo and Akana have a lot of great chemistry on-stage and they play off of each other really well in their choreography.  

Then we get the Datekou match and obviously the big emotional moment in that involves Kageyama slipping into his King of the Court habits after having spent time at the Tokyo camp with a lot of high-caliber players.  I feel like the build-up to that was done really well with all the little stressors in the game, and adding in some of his frustrations from the Tokyo youth camp.  Akana plays Kageyama’s frustration really well, and because it’s Engeki, we get to re-crown him using the same cape and crown set that we’ve been using from the very first show lol.  Only this time, Hinata’s reframing it in a positive light, and of course because he has the support of everyone else on Karasuno too.  So at this point, Tatsunari, Kage-chan, and Akana have all done the rip-away-cape sequence lololol.  

I wish I had more to say about the match but we didn’t get much of it because of the focus given to Kageyama’s little breakdown.  Datekou’s dance choreography involves a lot of boxing other people in, arms wide out and stomping, and we got a little bit of explanation about Datekou’s blocking technique, Koganegawa’s high tosses, but that was about it.  I mean, at no point did they bring out a net, there’s not even really much room on that stage for a net, and we didn’t keep.... a score count.  Only at the end of the set did we see a scoreboard on the screens.

Kiyoko then narrates us back to the ‘present’ where Karasuno has to navigate public transit to get to the gym.  This involved almost losing Asahi to a crowd, and Hinata accidentally swapping his bag with someone else’s (which leads to the shoe problem).  

Back at the main gym venue, Noya runs into someone and falls into Kanoka, and we get the follow-up scene for her and Tanaka.  Because Yamaguchi saw what had happened at the inn, he basically shoves the other second years off-stage so that they can have a private moment, although he still stays behind to eavesdrop.  

After Kanoka tells Tanaka to watch her because she’s gotten better, Tanaka also runs off with some renewed conviction and a sense of not wanting to lose either.  Yamaguchi puts his hands to his heart going, “I feel like I just watched a romance drama.” AND HE’S NOT WRONG.

Then Hinata realizes he doesn’t have his shoes and we get to have Kiyoko running to get them.  She monologues and narrates the entire time she’s running and they have these moving frames for her to run through almost like the hurdling she used to do, and at the end, they actually tear away her clothes and she’s got her hurdling uniform on underneath!  

A lot of Kiyoko’s narration centers around the themes of finding one’s role in the team (she says that she still has things she can do for the team even if she doesn’t wear a uniform with them), remaking and reinventing yourself (cough* cast change), and Karasuno always being the underdogs and to remember that.

Overall, I enjoyed the show and I really love the new cast.  They’re great on-stage together, some core groups have really great chemistry, and some of them got a chance to really shine individually.  I have no criticisms about the cast, but I do have criticisms about the complete lack of projections.  It’s in the name of the show, and the projections have always been something very unique to Haikyuu and was its special trademark among other 2.5D productions.  They were always fun and colorful and very well-designed and choreographed, and they don’t go unnoticed.  I don’t know if it’s because we have a new choreographer, I haven’t checked my pamphlets to see what other major staff changes there have been.  I think that their use of the LED screens is creative and well-executed especially because they can move, but they just can’t completely replace the appeal of the projections for me.  So I hope that future shows bring those back and either do away with the screens or minimize how many big screens are used.  The closing sequence and bows are really plain visually when it’s just the black screens with their names in plain white font.  

And as much as I’ve loved Wada-san’s music for previous shows, it’s a little harder to work with in this play.  Very little of it is as energetic as we’re used to, and the opening and closing music just isn’t the adrenaline rush that the previous ones have been. Due to lack of music and visual cues, the audience got confused too; we weren’t sure when and where to clap because it’s not explicitly clear when they’re done.   I’m sure choreography will get more polished as the tour goes on, I’ve seen how much it can improve from the first show to the last in previous tours too.  

But I want to end on a high note (ha ha, get it) and say that it’s still a fun and great show and that I’ve fallen in love with all of the new actors immensely~ <3

I’ll be seeing it once again tomorrow evening, keeping my eye out for additional details... feel free to ask me questions!

[mediaeval-muse]

Book Review

Butterfly Swords. By Jeannie Lin. Toronto and New York: Harlequin, 2010.

Rating: 2.5/5 stars

Genre: historical romance

Part of a Series? Yes, Tang Dynasty #1

Summary: During China's infamous Tang Dynasty, a time awash with luxury yet littered with deadly intrigues and fallen royalty, betrayed Princess Ai Li flees before her wedding. Miles from home, with only her delicate butterfly swords for defense, she enlists the reluctant protection of a blue-eyed warrior. Battle-scarred, embittered Ryam has always held his own life at cheap value. Ai Li's innocent trust in him and honorable, stubborn nature make him desperate to protect her which means not seducing the first woman he has ever truly wanted.

***Full review under the cut.***

Content Warnings: violence, sexual content

**DISCLAIMER: I’m not an expert on Chinese history or the Tang Dynasty, so I can’t speak to the book’s historical accuracy. If you’ve read this and have any thoughts, feel free to reach out! I’d love to learn!***

Overview: I decided to give this book a try after seeing praise for the author on Courtney Milan’s website. I’m always in the mood for some non-European historical fiction, and the romance aspect just made this book even more appealing. While there were some things I liked about Butterfly Swords, there were also some things that irritated me, such as the protagonists’ relationship and the focus on traveling. As a result, this book was a middling read for me, but I would be interesting in seeing if (and how) the author improves, as this is, to my understanding, a debut novel.

Writing: Lin’s prose is somewhat matter-of-fact, relating events and emotions in a plain, straight-forward style. At first, I thought the prose rather sparse, but as I progressed through the novel, it became more descriptive, especially once our two protagonists finally admitted (to themselves?) that they had feelings for one another and wanted to engage in a relationship. Because this book takes place in what Lin calls a “sensuous” era (as she discusses in her author’s note), I do wish more of that sensuality came through in her writing style. Because the Tang Dynasty is so temporally removed from our current time, it would have been fun to bring the setting to life more vividly. I would have loved more lush descriptions of what the world and culture was like, and since this book is only 282 pages long, I think there was definitely some room to add more detail.

Plot: The majority of the plot involves Ai Li, our heroine, fleeing from her marriage to a warlord who has betrayed her family. She chances upon Ryam, our hero and lone wandering “barbarian,” and convinces him to act as a kind of bodyguard and escort her back to her father. This premise lasts for maybe half the book, switching to focus on what to do once Ai Li has a falling out with her family (for lack of a better term, without spoiling anything) and how she and Ryam can be together. I found the first half of the book to be a little rocky; the lack of detail about the politics driving this situation made for some confusion, and the looming threat of the warlord’s forces was less suspenseful and more convenient.

The majority of the plot also revolves around Ai Li and Ryam traveling, and personally, I think these kinds of narratives are difficult to do well. Traveling or journeys provide an easy narrative structure, but they lack suspense. Events don’t really build on one another as much as they just happen - characters encounter this village where this event happens, then they continue to this part of the forest, where this happens, and so on. This isn’t necessarily Lin’s fault - it’s a problem I see throughout fiction that structures narrative this way. The threat of the being detected isn’t really felt or, if it is, it can feel repetitive.

I much preferred the moments when Ai Li interacts with her family. Family and honor are priorities for her, and the politics of the book were woven in well with Ai Li’s  personal stakes. Ai Li risks losing her family in multiple ways: by bringing shame to them through her disobedience, by refusing to marry her fiance and creating peace in the empire, by disapproving of her father’s plans regarding her mother, etc. It created interesting tension at both micro and macro levels, and I was pleased that the personal-political conflicts neither framed family and honor as “old fashioned” or necessarily repressive, nor did the story as whole advocate for a complete break from values and traditions. Instead, it explored the delicate balance of obligation vs selfishness, considering the value of honor in a world devoid of it.

Characters: Ai Li, our heroine, is a sword-wielding princess who flees an arranged marriage to a traitorous warlord. She’s impulsive and reckless without being irritating - she acts without thinking mainly when it comes to her desires, and while it does sometimes get her in trouble, I don’t think there were any moments when she did something genuinely stupid to make plot happen. I also liked that she valued honor and her family but not to the extent that she would tolerate immorality from those closest to her. She is somewhat naive in that she had never been in an actual fight and doesn’t quite know how to survive on her own - her disguise is obvious, she can’t concoct convincing lies, and she trusts a bit too easily (hence the need for Ryam), but she’s unafraid to trek out on her own, if she has to.

Ryam, our hero, is a “foreigner” who roams throughout the empire after a disastrous military encounter leaves him on his own. His self-loathing through repeated references to how he was a “barbarian” and not a good person got a little repetitive after a while, and aside from his ability to fight, he didn’t have much going for him. He doesn’t seem to have clear goals or motivations, which made it hard to see why Ai Li was drawn to him until the author tells us that he listens to her and considers what she wants. I wish some more effort was made to make him more interesting, not just a gruff warrior who makes excuses about not being good enough for his love interest.

Supporting characters were more or less fine, playing the role they are meant to play. I really liked the kindness of Ai Li’s grandmother, Ryam’s commander (Adrian), and the former princess Miya. All of them seemed to genuinely care about the people around them, and it was wonderful to see them interact with and offer guidance to the protagonists, who were struggling with sorting out what they wanted.

I didn’t much care for our antagonist, a warlord named Li Tao. He’s somewhat of a boogeyman in that he doesn’t show up in person until the end of the book, making his looming threat somewhat toothless.

Other: I personally found the romance between Ai Li and Ryam to be up and down. While I did like that Ai Li felt that Ryam valued her voice and desires more than anyone else in her life (which Lin definitely should have leaned into more), I ultimately thought the foundation of their relationship was a little weak. From their first meeting, Ai Li and Ryam are physically attracted to one another, which is fine, but Ryam’s constant thinking of how he had to keep his masculine impulses in check was annoying. In addition to Ai Li deciding to trust a man she’s only just met (which seems foolish to me), the two kiss after knowing each other for one day, and only as a reward for Ryam winning a sparring contest. It felt too physical and because their relationship starts out this way, I had a hard time seeing what each character saw and wanted in the other, other than physical attraction. When they started to open up to one another, things got a little better, but the entire book takes place over something like a month, making their eventual union and declaration of love feel rushed. Moreover, even after things got a little more emotional, I still wanted more exploration of how the two enriched each other’s lives. There was a great foundation in that Ryam listened to Ai Li and took her desires (romantic or otherwise) seriously, but Ai Li’s role in making Ryam less self-loathing and more honorable wasn’t quite as interesting or empowering.

The repetitive nature of their budding relationship also made their romance hard to get excited about until the middle/end, when things got more complex. Ryam would constantly work on suppressing his sexual feelings, while Ai Li would talk about her family and her brothers. Then, the two would kiss or do something somewhat sexual, then back off while making excuses about how they could’t be together. Their interactions cycled through this script a few times, which ensured that their relationship didn’t progress as much as it followed a predictable pattern.

Recommendations: I would recommend this book if you’re interested in historical romance, the Tang Dynasty, political conflict, sword-wielding heroines, and romances not set in Europe.

[hoshigomi]

Kurenai-ing! a (not) review~

This is NOT a review, but it IS all my thoughts on Kurenai Yuzuru’s first concert as an OG, Kurenai-ing!! in chronological order as they happened in the show. These thoughts are:

Biased

All over the place

Unfiltered

Honest

Every single one of them is loving and positive

Without further ado!

To start off, from the day this was announced, there was absolutely No Way In Hell I was going to miss this show. They found a way to cast all my favorite OGs, somehow including Uzuki Hayate who wasn’t even ever IN Hoshigumi, (save for Airi and Kai, F, but I see Kai like every day). Today was emotionally weird and I felt off heading to the theatre but honestly, before the lights even went down, when BENIKO began her preshow speech over the intercom? Any bad thing that’s ever been in my life just MELTED away.

The evening started off with “紅 in Male Role” which was just her as you’re used her her in otokoyaku mode. The whole cast got introduced. My love, Ichijou Azusa was the first onstage which rocked. Everyone did Killer Rouge. There was something REALLY sweet about seeing like a bunch of people who Were in Killer Rouge vs. a bunch of people who Weren’t In Killer Rouge all slaying it. Watching Toshi do this number made me daydream about a universe where she was in Hoshigumi and also a universe where I’m married to her. This daydream repeated itself multiple times throughout the evening so I’m gonna denote those moments with a (**). Whenever you see (**) know I was thinking about being probably married to Uzuki Hayate. This was the only point in the show in which I was skeptical of the men being there. I don’t LIKE men, period, but I especially don’t need them in my Takarazuka- adjacent material. (They quickly changed my mind in the next bit of the show.) After the men and Beni all dipped offstage, our Lovely Flawless Incredible OGs (Ichijou Azusa, Kisaragi Ren, Uzuki Hayate, Toa Reiya, Katori Reira, and Umesaki Eve, sang Sayonara Minasama (yeah like... the song they play when people retire or when QR is closing or when they need you to Get Out Of The Theatre.) No one could hear it because everyone was busy laughing. Renta was, as expected, completely unhinged, Shiiran was fake crying, it was a disaster because honestly, I don’t know who looked at these women and was like ‘yeah let’s give them free reign of the stage what’s the worst that could happen?’ It was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen, and then, the curtain just straight up went down as if the show ended.

Of course it DIDN’T. NEXT UP?

BENIKO! She’s back in all her long haired leopard print glory, strutting through the audience through the stage- this time waiting for her? two pieces of mancandy (Kominami Ryuhei and Tagoku Tsubasa) at her beck and call in the ??? PALACE OF VERSAILLES, I GUESS? This was, as all Beniko bits, an improv standup show with a more than a touch of drag sensibility. There was some booty shaking, some fake muscle suits on the slender men, and a lot of laughter. I had tears in my eyes and I have NEVER heard a Japanese audience make this much noise. One of the guys made Beni break when he laughed in the middle of his line, causing Beni to buckle over and snort into her water, it was just.. a treat. These men were NOT equipped to handle Beniko- but then, without practice, who is?

When this all ended, there was a BURST of flame on the screen and standing, sihouetted in backlight, was Toshi(**), looking like (**) I dunno like the worlds hottest woman rockstar (**) and if that wasn’t enough (**) then she STARTED SINGING AND YOU GUYS?

WHAT THE FUCK?

I feel like a lot of things that have happened in Takarazuka are unjust, including several Top Star Careers That Never Were, but as of tonight, the TOP OF THAT LIST is that Toshi never MADE IT. Also that like I never made it to her ochakai. There is another world out there where Toshi has been My Person since day one and I am still in her fanclub to this day. I’d be lying if I told you I wasn’t like  searching her name on Twitter as we speak trying to find out what Her OG club deal right now is, not that I need to be in ANOTHER OG club, (long story,), but GOD. Holy hell. Her voice is absolutely TOP notch and she was (**) BELTING out this introductory piece and I don’t think I breathed during the whole thing. It was HARD ROCK (**) you guys. (**) (**) (***********************************************************************************************)

From there we had a Takarazuka Medley (labeled in the program as “紅 in neutral”- sense a theme here?)

The medley featured bits from:

Lucky Star!

Gemini (Beni’s infamous girl/boy number from Etoile)

Bouquet de Takarazuka

Stuck Together from Catch Me If You Can, (featuring Renta as Kai’s part, which, oof, I can not wait for Kai to get to see.)

Estrellas

The theme song from Kamatari

Another World (just the first bars of this backing music got laughs)

Om Shanti Om

the God of Stars prologue (and you guys? I would have NEVER expected it but both me and the lady next to me just started CRYING once Beni kicked in with the 今！始まる！素敵な冒険！ bit. We shared a look and like laughed at ourselves. I did NOT see that coming but... more thoughts on Benigumi later. Just know that Dear Reader, I cried.)

Eclair Brillant

Bolero

A Piece of Courage

A song that the program cites as Quimbara which I actually didn’t recognize but (NSFW BELOW, DON’T LOOK IF YOU’RE UNDERAGE, DON’T LOOK IF YOU’RE HANKYU, DON’T LOOK IF YOU’RE GONNA SLIDE INTO MY DMS ABOUT ME NEEDING TO HONOR THE SUMIRE CODE OR WHATEVER because shut UP we all have DESIRES, MA’AM,) I spent the whole time with my eyes fucking transfixed on Shiiran out of everyone in the cast because between her time on the ground and her time idk standing and flirting and making bedroom eyes and like touching people with the tips of her fingers she was just in general doing some NASTY shit with her mouth and pulling girls around and I don’t know if she was playing aggressor or hard to get (or BOTH???? AT THE SAME TIME????) but she sure was grinding on Umesaki Eve and I guess what I’m trying to say is I could physically not breathe. I could say more about what she was getting up to but for like, frankly, my own dignity in this Starbucks I’m gonna leave that memory where it belongs.... in the confessional booth at church.

The medley ended with Beni doing a song from Mozart (but like, not the Mozart that Hoshigumi just did.)

I can not make this up but the program calls the next section of the show “紅 in the Flashy.”

This is where one of Tokyo’s special guests, Miya Rurika, pops up in the same rockstar style as Toshi(**) and I admit I actually thought she was Renta until the audience lost their shit. Guys, Miya looks BEAUTIFUL right now. Her and Beni both seem to be growing their hair out but right now Miya especially has this gorgeous blonde like wavy thing going on and really? Feminine makeup and honestly I was kind of transfixed by her. She sang her song and then was around forrrrrrr

All the Kurenai 5 material! Kurenai 5 (or 4, minus Tenju Mitsuki who is very much currently Acting In A Takarauka show) took over the next bit of the show was and it was every bit as precious as you’d hope. First of all, the way they play off each other is SURREAL and like nothing has changed between them. While I’m sure stuff HAS CHANGED, the love and the fun they have for and with each other has not. They encored some of their old songs, and you’ll be pleased to know that Tenju Mitsuki was present in cardboard cutout form, pushed around on a tiny wheeled platform by Katori Reira (who may I just add, along with Umesaki Eve, made every song they were in sound like there was a whole troupe worth of musumeyaku onstage. Girl can SING.) Beni turned to sneeze at one point and sneezed directly into Miya’s mic on accident.  They also played a video message from Mikkii. It still took a while for the cardboard cutout to stop being funny. My favorite part of this segment was when Beni cracked Renta up and kept giving her shit until she was on the floor laughing and unable to say what she had been trying to say and then Shiiran straight up took the mic out of Renta’s hands and spoke for her. さすが、Shiiran. 

The show was winding down at this point, but Beniko made a reappearance (”BENIKO in DELUSION”, according to the program). We transitioned out of that ad lib with a number for the ladies, Reira and Eve. It was boppy and jazzy and idolly and I got the idea into my head somewhere in here that Katori Reira HAS to play either Velma or Roxie in Chicago before either of us die and if I have to personally fund that happening, well, help me find my wallet because I’m off to the bank.

During this Beni changed into... not her otokoyaku clothes again but not BENIKO, just, herself, but girly. (Program calls this: 紅 in Feminine).  She does a speech about herself and what she wants out of the future and whether she wants to be called a 女優 (explicitly FEMALE actress) or not post-TKZ, and somewhere in here she had a talk with Utahiroba Jun, another man who is completely and utterly obsessed with her, and rightfully so. He was a guest but didn’t actually perform aside from with EVERYONE in one song.) Beni rounds out the concert in a beautiful dress singing her heart out and I’m truly really touched by how far she’s come and how beautifully she performs.

There were, as there tend to be, like 83746958 encores(**) and people running on and off stage. 

This was without a doubt one of the best nights of my life. I laughed until I cried, I straight up Normal Cried, I couldn’t Breathe for my like, unsumire thoughts, I was touched, and I was so so happy. Beni is my all-time favorite top star and probably always will be, and more than a singer or actress or dancer or comedian, Beni I think embodies the title of “entertainer” better than anyone I’ve ever personally had the pleasure to watch onstage or off. Watching her has made ME want to take more risks in performance and in life and to just do my best with everything life throws at me. Tonight she was so much of the Beni we all got to know and love in Takarazuka, but like, unleashed and able to be her truest, funniest, biggest, most loving self. Her ability to talk to the audience and everyone onstage and keep character and keep her humor and balance without missing a beat is unparalleled.  I really, truly love this woman, and I am so so so happy I got to see this incredible kickoff of her OG career. 

If I think of more, I’ll add it, but for now, as Beni hersef finished off the night by saying: Go your own way!!

[kaye-scheidsblogs]

Ascendance of a Bookworm Review

  Ascendance of a Bookworm is an isekai light novel written by Miya Kazuki and illustrated by Yu Shiina. It follows Urano Motosu, or rather Myne as she is known in her new world, as she pursues her one true passion: books. In her past life, Myne had just graduated college and was set to start her dream job as a librarian until an earthquake hit while she was in her book-filled bedroom and she was crushed to death by her massive book collection. As her consciousness fades, she wakes up as the 5 year old sickly Myne in a world where paper is made of parchment too expensive for anyone but nobles to buy and use.

  It's anime adaptation has two 14 episode seasons. The first season aired in Fall of 2019 with the second closely following up in Spring of this year. Both the anime and light novels are incredibly enjoyable, but I will actually be focusing this review on the light novel series as I found that I prefer it over the anime. That's not to say that the anime is bad. The light novels simply offer a lot more detail and depth to the already detailed world building that appears in the anime.

    As you can see, the anime adaptation’s animation and art style is not much to look at. It certainly is not a sakuga filled series, but it does have its charm. Personally, it reminds me a lot of late 2000s series and fills me with a sense of nostalgia whenever I watch it. The art style is quite cute and simple. The light novel’s illustrations are similar, but have a bit more detail and shine to them. As is also true for the characters, world-building, and writing in general. 

    Given how detailed and intricate everything about Bookworm’s writing is, you may be surprised to know that the series is heavily character-driven rather than plot-driven. With a world as detailed as this, one might expect it to be filled with political intrigue and plot-driven drama. However, our main character, Myne, is so incredibly defined by her straightforward desire to have and read as many books as possible that there’s simply no time for the writing to expand on plot-driven story beats. As proven by when some volumes add more plot-driven story beats and end up being longer than usual.

    With all that said, Ascendance of a Bookworm is very slow paced. In a series about making books, the anime doesn’t even give Myne paper until episode seven and proper books aren’t produced until later in the second season! That may make some people turn away. If you like your fantasies to be action packed, then Bookworm may not be for you. Even so, I implore all of you to give this series a shot. The slow-pacing does have its pros for readers looking for that sweet sweet cathartic feeling. Miya Kazuki has a talent for knowing the exact time and place for when certain things about her world should be revealed. And as such, she has developed a writing technique that reaps all the benefits of an isekai story while also not making it jarring for the reader.

    By that, I am referring to exposition. Isekai stories have protagonists that know nothing about the fantasy worlds they live in, but with all the knowledge of their previous world. This gives authors the excuse to have the main character ask questions that the world’s inhabitants know as common sense, but still have things explained to the audience. If authors aren’t careful, these exposition dumps can be boring at best and immersion-breaking at worse. But Miya Kazuki has created characters and a world that creates perfect circumstances for seamless exposition.

    First, we have Myne or Urano Motosu. A bookworm among bookworms. With a one-track and somewhat forgetful mind, all she knows and loves is books. She is an absolute delight of a character and while her development is just as slow as the story’s pacing, it is a wonderful experience to read it all unfold. Her desire for books leaves her selfish and uninterested in everything else, which does her no favors. Myne is a low-class peasant. Born the daughter of a soldier and seamstress, she already shouldn’t know much about the world outside her lot in life. But to make things worse, Myne’s body is very sickly. Racked by a mysterious fever that has forced her to practically spend all her time inside and thus, doesn’t even have the knowledge of most kids in the same class. 

    Her first real source of knowledge about the world she’s been reborn into is Lutz. A neighbor and youngest son of four, whose perpetual hunger and desire to eat the tasty food that Myne makes leads to him becoming close friends with Myne. Lutz is with Myne throughout her entire journey and learns just as much as she does about the world they live in. Afterall, Lutz is also just the kid of a low-income family. The life Myne was born into not only serves as a fantastic way to immerse the reader into world-building, but also ends being a great vehicle for exploring the issues of a heavily class-based society. Even in this world completely separate from our own, somehow Miya Kazuki manages to make some pretty bold commentary on class-based society as a whole.

    Most light novels use fairly simple language, but even knowing that I think Miya Kazuki's writing style is even on the simple side of that. I don't blame her for that though, since her world and characters are so incredibly detailed that if she used flowery prose, her series would probably be the biggest and longest light novel series ever made. Some may not like how her style leans more toward "tell don't show" but it is still an incredibly well-written story with very compelling characters. Not to mention that this simpler writing style lends itself to some really great comedy.

That being said, Miya Kazuki’s writing often does that weird thing that happens in anime where something happens on screen and then the characters say out loud what just happened, except in written form. Which sounds terrible, but actually works a lot better in practice. It allows character interactions to flow a lot more freely and the simplistic writing allows for a lot more detail to be added. And due to Miya Kazuki writing the characters the way she does, there’s no boring or immersion-breaking exposition. 

    This writing style is not a product of the translation either. I have had the absolute pleasure of picking up (searching up) the web novel and experiencing Bookworm in Japanese as well. And as a side note; if any of you are upper-intermediate Japanese learners and are looking for Japanese reading material that’s simple enough for you to understand most of it (not mention fun to read), but also offers a bit of a challenge then check out Ascendance of a Bookworm’s web novel here: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n4830bu/. Bonus tip: Download the yomichan and/or rikaikun extensions on your browser for optimal reading time. Anyway, I can assure you that the translator behind Ascendance of a Bookworm is not muddling the writing style or the reading experience in the slightest. Miya Kazuki’s story and writing style comes through very nicely in the official releases.

    Ascendance of a Bookworm is one of the most thoroughly realized stories I have had the pleasure of reading and watching. The anime is, of course, quite good, but I also highly recommend the light novel series even if you’ve seen the anime three times over. Miya Kazuki is an amazing writer and the official translations are quite good. If you’re like me though and like to binge series as quickly as possible, you might find yourself waiting aimlessly for more when you finish the anime and current English light novels. If you’re of intermediate or higher Japanese level, you can always read ahead in the Japanese web novels. Or you could seek out similar series. I recommend everything written by Nahoko Uehashi. Her novels are similarly well-realized fantasy stories with anime adaptations. Or, more obscurely, check out the fantasy series, Saiunkoku Monogatari. Its animation and art style gives me a similar sense of nostalgia and also has a great story with compelling characters. Anyway, I hope this review helped to convince you to give Ascendance of a Bookworm a shot, whether that be the anime or light novels. 

[shazzeaslightnovels]

Honzuki no Gekokujou 1 Review

Author: Miya Kazuki

Illustrator: You Shiina

Label: TO Books

Release Date: 25 January 2015

An interesting first volume that fell a bit flat at times for me. I didn’t care for the parts that were about the Myne’s adventures in cooking but I did enjoy the parts about attempting to make books and there were a lot of little things that I found interesting, like how the protagonist sees herself as seperate from the “Myne” that came before her. Myne’s a relatable protagonist and the other characters are pretty good too. I do worry that future volumes will make the scale of the story larger than I want it to be but, for now, I enjoy reading about Myne’s adventures in book-making and I look forward to reading more of it in the future.

English Release:

J-Novel Club is currently releasing this series in English as Ascendance of a Bookworm so please pick it up if the series interests you.

Story:

Genre: isekai, books, fantasy setting

The story is about a girl who loved books who reincarnates into a world where books are rare and only the rich have access to them. Missing her precious books, she makes up her mind to obtain books at any cost, even if she has to make them herself.

I don’t particularly care for the isekai genre as a whole. I have my personal favorites, of course (Isekai Goumon Hime and Bakarina come to mind) but I find that they often end up not living up to their potential. Despite this, I was kind of excited to finally read Honzuki no Gekokujou due to it’s good reputation and the interesting premise. And it was a pretty good read overall. I did find some of the stuff boring, like all of the cooking stuff which felt really needless and I wish it explored the language aspect more but the book making itself was interesting and I enjoyed Myne’s relationship with her new family. I do find myself worrying about how things will progress in future volumes. I don’t really want the story to start involving things like war or anything like that. I enjoy that the story so far a relatively small scale one and I hope that it continues to focus on the book part of the story.

Character:

Myne’s a protagonist that will be relatable for most light novel fans and she’s also pretty interesting. I really liked that there were small touches to make her feel more human, like in the beginning how she thinks about her old mother who she’ll never see again or how she can’t do everything perfectly. As much as I didn’t like the cooking parts of the volume, I did like that she couldn’t cook by herself and had to get help a lot of the time. Myne’s narration is really fun to read as well. It’s got a lot of personality that makes it a joy to read. I also enjoyed her relationship with her new family. In particular, her relationship with Turi was sweet and I hope that her family does continue to make appearances in the later volumes of the series. As for the other side characters, they’re all fairly likeable and memorable in their own way but I have to say that I’m a bit worried about the potential for Myne to develop a romantic relationship with Lutz in future volumes. For now, she doesn’t have any romantic interest in him and I hope it stays that way.

Adaptation Notes:

The series has a few manga adaptations and each covers a different arc from the light novel. The one to adapt this volume is illustrated by Suzuka and is complete at 7 volumes. It’s pretty good and is faithful to the source material but it cuts out some of the narration and scenes which is a shame but it’s an understandable decision in a visual medium. I really appreciated the details added to the language of the world and there a lot of details in the backgrounds and the props in the story that really make the world feel alive. I really liked it.

An anime adaptation is currently airing. I haven’t seen it yet myself so I can’t comment on it.

Recommended for:

Fans of isekai series who are looking for something a little bit different, especially if you want to read something with a female protagonist.

I do plan to read the second volume eventually but the series is a bit on the expensive side so it’ll have to wait for a little bit. Next up is Tsundere Akuyaku Reijou Liselotte 2

[justselfloathingthings-blog]

Bloom Into You: The Beginning of a Goodbye

There’s a lot I didn’t touch on in this episode, partially because I’ll hit on a lot of it later, partially because I need a break from screencapping, and partially because I wasn’t sure what to say. The episode was in many ways simply mesmerizing. I’m glad that instead of the stage show, what we ended with what just the two of them on a date. 

I think in itself that says a lot; it shows their growth and struggles and triumphs without even bothering to have to inject a bunch of drama into the whole process. It was just watching two people have fun, and being able to have fun too. It was, in many ways, the core of the earlier episodes of the series, prior to 4 when the pot truly started. 

And just through a words, just through touch, just through smiles and laughter and all those little moments you forget and yet also mean everything, you really do see the love the two have for each other.

Bloom Into You is a story. It’s a story about how as the result of a chance meeting, the lives of several people are changed, and two fall in love. That’s not a complex story, but it’s told well with great characters, visuals, sound design. 

It’s also a story about love, and struggle, and pain and how they all mix and intertwine in a mess. It’s a story about how people can lose track of who they can be, but yet have more than one person that love them for who they are. It’s a story about sadness and loathing, but about healing and comfort. It’s about overcoming as much as it is succumbing. 

It’s a story about ups and downs. About turmoil. About how we all try to get by the best we can, until we have nothing left, and how that can make us crash. About how, at times, we all want to give up, and need to push forward, even if we don’t know where we’re pushing forward to. 

It’s a story about jealousy, and learning that maybe that person isn’t as bad as you think they are. It’s about learning to adapt, and trying your best to be the person that the person you love needs, even if you don’t succeed.

It’s a story about how everyone, young and old, can have someone they hold deal, regardless of gender. Or maybe you have no one. And you know, that’s fine too. It’s a story about friendship, about even older connections tying together and reminding people of old times. It’s a story of forgiveness and compassion, more compassion than anyone could ever deal with. 

It’s a story about overcoming bigotry, about accepting who you are. It’s a story about maybe thinking you’re something you’re not, and figuring this out at least a little along the way. 

It’s a story about death. It’s a story about grief. It’s a story about so many things I haven’t listed here, some in second long scenes, some the point of episodes.

It’s a story about life. And as a story about life, it’s tragic and happy and anger-inducing and rejuvinating and beautiful. Because all life is beautiful, in both the snapshot moments you may have at the aquarium, and the ones waiting on a passing train that will probably last your whole life.

It’s a wonderful story with wonderful characters. I love Kiyomi and Akari and Maki and Rei and Miya and Riko and Sayaka and Touko and Yuu. They’re all wonderful people, that feel like they could step out of the screen, and I’d give each of them a hug. 

This is a powerful story, one that genuinely can touch hearts. Can make you cry, but can make you grin too. It can do so many things, and it does them all right. I was late on this one, but I’m glad I watched it at all. Thank you Bloom Into You.

Personally, I don’t see how you can end the story here. Vaguely you have a full narrative, but Touko’s arc is barely half-finished, and Sayaka’s isn’t much better. There’s characters with no arc at all, or barely had any screen time. This is such a great story, but to be considered complete, it does truly need another season, maybe more.

But if, in a year, I’m sitting here with only one season of Bloom, I will still be grateful. Because the show asks what makes people unique, what makes people people, what makes us human, and one thing is memories. Memories that help us grow and learn and just smile and even cry. And these won’t be going away.

That said, I’m not quite done with Bloom. I have a character analysis, a long one, planned for Touko, Yuu, and Sayaka. Sayaka will definitely be first- I’m around halfway done with her’s, but I have a good amount to still do, and Touko and Yuu’s will require a lot of legwork, especially getting a lot of caps from 13. So it’ll be a couple days at least. I also do want to, after that, close it out with a short review. And then I can say farewell for now.

If you made it this far, if you actually read all my dumb jokes, the stuff I got completely wrong, the handful of things I actually got right, and just my laughter and smiles and tears and those little moments of life I’m so glad that I got to share with anyone reading, thank you.

Everyone, one last thing. Be who you are. Remember, no matter how somebody might try they will never be like you. So make that count. And never lose sight of the fact that you are yourself, and that you’re brave and strong enough to be yourself. And that is among the most beautiful and important things of all.

Cheers. 

[zuka-themed-username]

zuka-themed-review: Elisabeth 2018 chapigumi

This trip has been an absolute whirlwind - I cannot believe that I saw Elisabeth only last week! But, with my hastily scribbled notes in hand I present an out of order bullet point list of things I thought were interesting, what worked for me and what didn’t, and some rhetorical questions.

- Manaki Reika (Chapi) and Tsukishiro Kanato (Reiko) were AMAZING. Voices were on point, Reiko had fantastic riffs and vibrato

- I know that Lucheni is a bit of a standout role by design but I am so looking forward to what Reiko does next

- I am late to the Chapi stan party but with this performance and BADDY boy do I STAN now

- The orchestra live is so powerful and complex. There is a bell line in the duet after Franz and Sissi’s first meeting that I swear is new. I am going to listen back to old recordings and check

- Never paid attention to the dad character but Kizuki Yuuma was so stylish I was like ‘oh hello sir’. She took the role and made it fashion. 

- Are people actually in the dressers in the beginning that get lifted up or do they wait behind them? Because that lift looked terrifying.

- There are far more raised arm salutes out of range of the recording angles and it honestly threw me for a loop.

- There’s a bass clarinet or bari sax doing the real work in certain scenes that does not come through on recordings. If I didn’t play bass myself I would almost say it was too powerful, but then again there’s no such thing as too much bass. 

- Watashi Dake Ni (Elisabeth’s big ol’ solo) finally makes sense seeing it live. Ngl I usually skip pieces of it but here I was captivated. 

- With Watashi Dake Ni in mind I was actually upset I couldn’t clap longer, and that Tod literally steps in front of her for a solo. Slow your roll Tod it’s only Act 1.

- Friendly shout out from a distance to Sophie’s maid squad / Elisabeth’s travel team. I wouldn’t want to get to close and risk Touka Yurino’s smooth wrath lol. They’re in such sync I though the Revue finally got some good projectors going (jk looking at you Castle of the White Heron)

- Everything is much more colorful live. Reiko’s pink jacket for Kitsch was legitimately blinding.

- Seeing the full stage for the wedding / reception scene makes Tod’s final flourish and glass crashing sound at the end of Last Dance make sense. The walls literally rotate, throwing the pair of them into a mirror world that I didn’t before in recordings. Props to everyone for standing behind those walls to keep up the appearance that they are still on the other side instead of just exiting. 

- The black angels are doing so much in the background I want a star angle for them. I think legitimately one of them hit themselves in the face they kicked so high.

- Shout out to the musumeyaku that slipped and ate it center stage as the “Elisabeth reveals her Hungary dress” scene was setting up. The recovery was as effortless as it could be, I hope you’re ok! 

- The woman who sat on my right promptly fell asleep but rocketed awake in time for the finale of Watashi Dake Ni. Ma’am I’m sure you’ve seen the show 10+ times but I have no idea how you fall asleep when the music is so loud. I salute you.

- I guess I should mention Tamaki and Miya at this point huh? :D 

- Tamaki’s costuming was really cool to see live. The wig was blond with a dark teal top that looked great with the finale costumes. The Last Dance military look was especially striking. 

- She made Tod a soft and sympathetic force of nature, one that really reflected what Chapi was desiring at different times - love, peace, a respite from the world, etc. I genuinely appreciated the take on the character but it leads to my #1 complaint with the show:

- The stage direction needs to change. Tamaki’s interpretation of Tod did not match the staging she had to hit, which came across in the way she sang the line “ai to shi no rondo” soooooo sweetly, but then she still had to have the “shineba ii” scene be creepy and aggressive. I would have liked to see a sweet, more nurturing/supportive take on that line so that Elisabeth would be more wholly tempted to go through with it.

- I also would have liked to have heard Tod’s songs in a different key. While I fully understand that there are a plethora of reasons for why Elisabeth’s direction does not change, Tamaki was struggling with intervals and certain high notes (though not all of them, which I thought was interesting.) It’s nearing the end of the Tokyo run and she is giving it 150%, but I would have loved to see what this Tod could have been like with some altered staging and 100% security in the vocal performance. 

- That being said, the way Tamaki sang “ai to shi no rondo” made me sigh and think, ‘tbh I’d trade places with Elisabeth’. Then I thought about Sophie and I very quickly backpedaled. 

- There was also an amazing effect when Tod is leaving Elisabeth as she wakes up where the center state is covered in fog and rotating extremely fast, and Tamaki has her left foot lifted and angled slightly such that from my seat it looked like she was floating away. I was floored. 

- Justice for folks playing Franz! It’s a brutal role designed to be disliked and potentially sympathized with but I forgot that Miya was playing it. She did a great job, sounded great, etc. But boy is Franz not all that present. The Madame scene was fun but again, not a whole lot to do. I was so glad to see her in the finale crushing it like the badass she is. 

- As I was on the first floor I didn’t see the disco ball starting up so I legitimately jumped when the kickline started. It was straight fire though. 

- The duet dance between Tamaki and Chapi was GORGEOUS. That one dance put tons of context and emotion into their relationship as Tod and Elisabeth. I would have liked to have seen it in the main show. 

- I need to see a Moon Troupe show live now with a full revue, as that snippet of a finale really blew me away.

All in all, mad props to Moon Troupe and this production of Elisabeth. Chapi is a true tour de force and I look forward to seeing what she does after her taidan. I also cannot wait to see where Moon Troupe goes from here - I think Anna Karenina and On The Town will both be fantastic.   

If you liked this scattershot format look forward to reviews of My Fair Lady, Castle of the White Heron, Thunderbolt Fantasy and Phantom soon! 

[orbemnews]

Murder suspect seen with tiger in west Houston arrested on evading charges HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Authorities have arrested the man who was seen taking in a tiger that was spotted roaming loose in a Houston neighborhood on Sunday. That tiger has yet to be located. Multiple police sources identified the man as 28-year-old Victor Cuevas. Cuevas, who is currently out on bond on an unrelated murder charge, is known to possess several exotic animals. The search for Cuevas began Sunday after he evaded police. But on Monday, he was taken into custody to the Fort Bend County jail. He was supposed to turn himself in at 8:15 p.m. at the Harris County jail. Instead, Cuevas’ lawyer said Houston police picked him up at his mother’s house in Richmond and took him to the Fort Bend County jail. UPDATE #2: Victor Hugo Cuevas is in custody. The whereabouts of the tiger are not yet known. Anyone with information on the tiger is urged to contact HPD Major Offenders at 713-308-3100.#hounews https://t.co/TkaAtK45MC — Houston Police (@houstonpolice) May 11, 2021 Cuevas is charged with felony evading arrest after allegedly fleeing from HPD Monday. Cuevas’ lawyer, Michael Elliott, was furious as he talked to the media Monday night. “Fifteen minutes before he leaves to surrender, (HPD) go and arrest him, and the result is they get to keep him there for 10 days now,” said Elliott. Elliott said the tiger is not his client’s but that he knows the owner. He added that he and his client were apparently working with authorities to locate the tiger and the owner. WATCH: ‘It’s not his tiger’ Attorney of alleged tiger owner says “There’s a lot of misunderstandings and miscommunications and a lot of things put out there falsely that’s very troubling,” Elliott said. “First off, The Houston Police Department here. I know they’re trying to do their job. Everyone wants to know about the tiger and their safety. Make no mistake, there’s no crime of having a tiger in the state of Texas.” In the City of Houston, there is an ordinance that says you can’t have a tiger. But, as Elliott points out, it is a civil matter, not a criminal matter. On Sunday, Houston police responded to a call about a tiger in a neighbor’s front yard on Ivy Wall Drive, in the Highway 6 and Memorial area. When officers arrived, the alleged owner was loading up the tiger in his Jeep. “The owner put the tiger in a white SUV and drove off from the scene, there was a brief pursuit, and the man got away with the tiger,” said HPD Commander Ron Borza, who focuses on animal abuse cases for the department. “My main concern right now is focused on finding him, and finding the tiger, because what I don’t want him to do is harm the tiger. We have plenty of places where we can take the tiger and he can spend the rest of his life.” Video of the incident shows off-duty Waller County Sheriff’s Sergeant Wes Manion coming to the aid of his neighbors, and trying to keep the tiger at bay. Moments later, a man in a white shirt emerges from his house and grabs the tiger by what appears to be a collar. “An individual came out and said, ‘Don’t kill it, don’t kill it,'” recalled Manion, who also lives in the area. “I didn’t know who this individual was, told him to get in the house. He stated that was his tiger, and I instructed him to take his tiger back inside, which he did.” HPD believes the man in the white shirt was Cuevas, who later put the tiger in his white Jeep Cherokee and fled from the home at a high rate of speed. Our Animal Cruelty Unit, along with @BARC_Houston are currently investigating the incident in which a tiger was seen at 1103 Ivy Wall Drive about 8 p.m. on Sunday (May 9). The male owner was seen escorting the tiger to the residence then putting it into his vehicle. 1/3 — Houston Police (@houstonpolice) May 10, 2021 Monday morning, both HPD’s Animal Cruelty Unit and Houston’s Bureau of Animal Regulation and Care (BARC) were investigating the incident. A sweep of the house yielded no additional animals. However, ABC13 reviewed multiple Instagram videos and pictures on Cuevas’ account which indicated he is no stranger to exotic animals. The videos show him playing with a baby bear, feeding it with a bottle, and giving the bear kisses in his home. There are also videos of at least two monkeys. Cuevas is seen taking one monkey with him while he was having dental work done, and taking another monkey to a convenience store, where the clerk was not pleased. In addition, several videos show Cuevas cuddling with a young tiger. Police say even though it is against city regulation to keep a tiger, this particular tiger does appear well fed. WATCH: HPD reveals the tiger’s owner has been out on bond in a murder case The murder charge tied to Cuevas involves an alleged shooting at a strip shopping center in Fort Bend County. According to records, Cuevas is accused of shooting and killing a man in July 2017 and is out on a $125,000 bond. ABC13 spoke with Cuevas’ attorney on the matter. He said his client is up to date on all court appearances as it relates to the murder charge. Meanwhile, back in the west Houston neighborhood, Cuevas and his girlfriend are described as living a quiet, fairly secluded life. “They didn’t bother anybody,” neighbor Jorge Ramos said. “They are very private, I have to say.” He said this is not the first time he’s seen a wild animal at the residence. WATCH: Neighbor once saw monkey at home where tiger was seen roaming “I did notice one time, and this is something interesting, that I was walking by my driveway. There was a capuchin monkey that showed up in the window,” Ramos recalled. “I figured, ‘OK, this is a small animal. It could be domesticated.’ But I never thought they would hold a tiger in their house.” Previous wild encounters in Houston While Houston for the most part may be a sprawling cosmopolitan city, we’ve had our fair share of tiger instances. In May 2019, a tiger was found caged in a southwest Houston garage. Houston police arrested the former owner, Brittany Garza, who at the time faced animal cruelty charges. She told ABC13 at the time that she had raised the tiger, whom she called “Rajah,” since he was a cub. But once Rajah started getting big, she knew it was time to find him a new place to live. Garza claimed two years ago that she had made arrangements with a sanctuary in College Station and put the animal inside a friend’s home until the transfer could be made. But someone else found the tiger in the garage before he could be moved. The tiger was eventually taken to Cleveland Amory Black Beauty Ranch in Murchison, Texas, where he is said to be living the rest of his life. FROM MAY 2019: Tiger owner arrested for leaving wild cat caged at vacant Houston house Can you even own exotic animals in Texas or Houston city limits? We looked at this back in 2019 as well and found that, in Texas, owners of “dangerous wild animals” must register with their municipality or county animal office or sheriff. A dangerous animal includes a lion, tiger, ocelot, cougar, leopard, cheetah, jaguar, bobcat, lynx, serval, caracal, hyena, bear, coyote, jackal, baboon, chimpanzee, orangutan and gorilla. SEE ALSO: How did a cow end up on the East Freeway? However, municipalities can also ban ownership of these animals. And for anyone hoping to own a dangerous wild animal in Houston city limits, no can do. It is illegal. Violations are misdemeanors punishable by fines of $500 to $2,000. Texas’ exotic pet laws: The furry friends you can’t have in Houston You can read more about the laws pertaining to wild animals in Section IV of this website. You can also find more on dangerous wild animals from the Texas State Law Library. TIMELINE: Houston area exotic pet incidents since 1998 Animal encounters: That time a gator was on the Fred Hartman bridge Follow Courtney Fischer on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Follow Miya Shay on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Copyright © 2021 KTRK-TV. 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