#Souko

[akabloom]

🌸🪻

[overwatchfanskinarchive]

Baseball Tracer (and Winston), and Baseball Genji (and Zenyatta) by @o6Jj934A3QrJq0f (2) / eokibamorimori/souko

[lunacias]

I wish you could see it, too

[courtesanofdeath]

There's a clearing here in the forest where pretty flowers bloom. Someday...

[masodemic]

Destroyed, I am destroyed. Midorikawa why don't you just gut me and step on my heart?

We finally get the origin of the Book of Friends and it's 100 times sadder than one can imagine. It wasn't born purely out of Reiko's desire to play around like little kid. It was Reiko's response to feeling abandoned and resigning herself to loneliness. When she retreats back to her safe space: being alone.

Now we know why she never called upon or came back to hang out with ayakashi whose names she took. Fear of vulnerability. Fear of abandonment. Acceptance of grief.

When she said: "It doesn't matter who I'm with because a pretty thing is pretty whether you are alone or with someone" 🥹🥹🥹

Maybe she did consider them friends. And maybe that's just how she thinks friends are.

[undistortedworld]

happy souko day!!!!! come and cry forever with me over the girls :')))

ID in alt text :)

[shisasan]

Manga Souko マンガ倉庫 Okinawa [沖縄], Japan

Aleksandra Alba   IG: tanzdreamer

[sakurafigures]

♡ Warehouse Souko (Free Style) - GOLDENHEAD PLUS

[ladyloveandjustice]

Of course Natsume cries over the doomed yuri, just like I want to. But what he says to Nyanko-sensei also shows how he's different from Reiko--rather than pretending it doesn't matter who you see beautiful things with, that it's the same whether you're alone or not, he's open about the fact his loved ones being there matters. He directly tells Nyanko-sensei he wants him to be here and see the flowers with him. He voices the thought Reiko never could for Souko, that she buried deep inside.

Reiko's always been positioned as the person Natsume could have become. The path he could have continued down if the Fujiwaras hadn't found him.

What if Natsume had missed out on his relationship with Tanuma because of a misunderstanding? With Taki? With Nishimura and Kitamoto and Sasada? He might have given up just like Reiko did in the early days/ But he was lucky, and that didn't happen. And now he's the kind of person who doesn't assume he's better off alone, who fights for every connection he has.

He was able to change because of the Fujiwaras...but also, a large part of why Natsume turned differently from Reiko is the Book of Friends itself. The Book of Friends is a product of an unfulfilled relationship, of heartbreak. But it was never that to Natsume. It was a way to connect with his grandmother, and a way to pick up where she left off. He meets so many of his friends and loved ones because of her, because of the book, and he maintains those relationships in the way she never could. He wouldn't have met Nyanko sensei if not for Reiko, and he might have never stuck around if not for his initial interest in the Book. And he forms a much deeper relationship.

(It's still unclear how lasting Reiko and Nyanko-sensei's relationship was either, and if it was a result of something to do with the book. He certainly doesn't talk about it, and it's clear he doesn't know all that much about her and that he wasn't as close to her as he now is to Natsume, but there is an implication he really cared about her.)

Natsume takes over for Reiko in protecting Shigeru from the yokai that still haunts them, uses her knowledge to do it, but doesn't run away afterwards, even if he's afraid of getting hurt. Then there's Hinoe, Misuzu, the way the Book was a way he connected with Taki.. the book is how things begin for him, not end, it's a way to release someone and let them choose to stay. The Book is dangerous, and it turns Natsume's life into a constant stream of near death encounters, but it's also given him so much, so many bonds he's treasured.

And now he's discovered it would have never existed if it weren't for Souko. He hasn't just been carrying around a fragment of his grandmother, but the girl who almost became her first friend, the girl who loved her. Just like for Reiko, Souko is a part of him now.

Doomed yuri is fine for what it is, but I can't help but hope Souko and Reiko ran into each other, however briefly, before she died. That they were able to at least clear the air and have a sloppy makeout session.

Because isn't that what Natsume has been struggling to find for Reiko? He holds onto hope she was able to change. That she was able to find the joy and love and fulfillment he has.

Another interesting way things could come full circle is if Natsume ran into the present-day Souko. Reiko died young so there's a good chance Souko's still alive. What if she ran into Natsume and he was finally able to tell her that Reiko was waiting for her. In fact, I've literally already started writing that fic. So prepare for that in the future, I guess.

When it inspires you to write a fanfic, you know an episode's good, and this one was excellent. I'm sad we only have one episode left. At least there's the special in the spring.

[reittu]

"It's probably the path Natori-san gave up on. The one Reiko-san wanted to follow, but couldn't."

Ever since the Omibashira arc I've wanted to know what those turning points were for Natori and Reiko that made them abandon attempts to connect with others. It's great to finally see what must be that for Reiko. (Will we ever get Natori's?)

The whole thing with Souko must've made Reiko ultimately close up. (She did meet Natsume's grandpa, but were they close? Was there love? Reiko died alone anyway.)

The first time, probably, that Reiko had something akin to a friend, the first time she allowed herself a sliver of trust and hope that maybe, just maybe, someone could like her the way she was. And, because of all that, it couldn't have been anything but the last, after Souko didn't show up again. It didn't have to take much at all to convince Reiko that she was unwanted, and that any hope was vain.

Another insight gently pointed out by Midorikawa - how people traumatised by isolation and ostracism, people with trust issues, are quick to make conclusions in favour of their mistrust, creating self-fulfilling prophecies. Had Reiko waited just a little longer, she would've met Souko again...

Not to give up on friends so easily; to give them second chances; not to leave without hearing each other out.

Reiko left, and chased the phantom warmth of her playtime with Souko by duelling with youkai.

(Now I see a parallel with Natori there, who cut others off and became an actor for the cheap thrill of adoration.)

[bee-calm]

Then; Natsume Reiko. Then; this fierce, unexplainable urge to earn the right of knowing her. To look her in the eye and say if I win this duel then you’ll tell me why you’re alone, to throw that stone and succeed.

cried over reiko and souko, finished the fic I’ve been working on for almost three years, cried a bit more. please enjoy!

[yurimultiship]

Natsume Yuujinchou Shichi - episode 11 - Tell Me Your Name

[flaminhotllama]

[vice-like]

also anime team chose violence starting the ep with the classic soundtrack in a piano version, that alone made me want to cry

[nyanko-sensei-tte-yonde]

also this part was rly funny