#That just sounds like a lot of pressure ya know? Either expectations or judgement?

[galactic-feelins]

I couldn't help but notice the lack of heartless sora posts. The tag is, frankly, abandoned. I have a feeling a majority of the posts with that tag are gonna be from me within a few months, and that feels ominous somehow?

Either the tag is dead for a reason and not many people are interested, or I'm single handedly keeping its pulse going at this point. Or both! Both are scary!

[c4-weeb]

Obey me boy head cannons!

Skater!Mc x the demon boys + undateables!

Alright so background! Human mc had invited one of the boys to go to a skating rink with her in the human world, since she is one of the main racers and a very frequent attendee at the place since she was 10. She knows the regular skaters and owners pretty well. Shes held with high respect there and is pretty talented. She has skate races and a whole team of great skaters, so what happens when one day she invites one of the boys to go on a date/ support her during a competitive roller derby? Also please do keep in mind I'm taking inspiration off the monster high roller derby cause that race was pretty cool and difficult to do so make it more modernized and human. You know... no swinging axes or kraken's trying to grab you as you skate. Though in reality that sounds like something Diavolo would put together for devildom roller derby's...

Lucifer

When he heard you beg him to come support you for your first race back in the human world he was a little taken aback. A roller derby? Him? I mean he wasn't going to be the loudest but he did find the thought of watching them succeed and wanting his praise amusing nonetheless....

....in reality he missed the Mc dearly and would appreciate the time with them, but he'd never say so out loud.

When you looked up to him from the stands he smirked at you, the pressure was on... that smirk was the one of judgement and "let's see how you do" which wracked your nerves with enough anxiety that it helped fuel the fire to make sure you succeeded.

When the Mc took off, being shoved by people bigger than her on each side, he was surprised when you fell back and the two idiots collided and she hopped over with ease and sped towards the front with amazing speed.

When The Mc and their team won, she came speeding to him and hugged him from behind and thanked him.

Later he took you out to eat in congratulations, the smile on your face from getting praise and food? All the stress from the day was relieved by that small gesture.

"I dont know why I thought I had finally found out everything I could about you, yet you just keep surprising me...."

Mammon

When the you asked for his support during a casual race at your local skating rink, with just your team mates going against eachother in a regular speed skate with a few obstacles, he wasnt so interested, saying he wants money in return for his support, when in reality he would have went anyways. But when you told him that since it was a casual race, people could bet on the racers, he agreed so fast and even begged to be summoned right then and there.

Expect him to be screaming at the top of his lungs for you to win

Isnt against calling you baby this loud in public

May or may not have tried climbing the fence when you got pushed

Definitely bet on you, and a huge sum of money too. So much faith 😭❤

Once you've won expect him to come flying at you, poor baby forgot you where on skates tho so you'd end up falling backwards to your friends amusement of your cuddly demon.

Tried threatening the owners to do another race so he could get money and failed

Sulked till you dragged him by the hand to skate in the neon lights since most people left it was just you two

Later he would drag you to either go to bet on races with him to gain more money or go to shower you in gifts, really depended on how well you could convince him to not go gambling, which had a 50/50 success rate.

"If I'm not going to get more money I might as well shower you in what I have, make you the prettiest gem for the whole world to see!" "Mammon you only won 200 dollars not a mil-" "sh, sh, shhhhh, shhh, no arguing! The Great Mammon is going to treat his treasure right tonight, ya' hear!?"

Leviathan

Now getting this otaku outta his room was an absolute struggle. So like a cat trapping their preh, you had to summon him to your house and put a blindfold on him for a special surprise.

Dragged his unsocial ass to the car and road down to the skate rink and took off his blind fold once you both got inside.

It took a lot of coaxing, but you finally got him to calm down enough to get a pair of skates.

If your skater friends said hi to him he'd hide by your arm like a scared 5 year old

The jealousy he felt of everyone in the room was unbelievable, because the poor boy has no balance for skating. On wheels or ice, his body just refuses.

You offered to help him learn and the poor boys face was fuming red, thankfully the neon lights and darkness hid it well.

He held onto your hand for balance throughout the whole date, only stopping to eat some pizza and play some arcade games.

After a few hours you headed back to your house to binge some Starwars, wanting to watch something different with him.....which eventually led to the both of you getting bored and going back to the new ruri-chan movie you guys binged countless amount of times on the phone together.

"H-hey! Hold on you're going t-too fast! No now you're so close I-....um... ack everyone can see us...so many people... but its worth it to show that your mine!"

Satan

Now Satan isnt much of a skater, nor a loud supporter, but with enough coaxing you finally got him to at least try and relax with you, doing a nice small couple's night at the skate rink

Really wanted to try human customs with you so there was little resistance

He would hold their hand as you'd skate

Even think of skating away from him and he will chase after you

This man's rage in his bones makes him a natural speed skater

Will tickle you when he catches you, starts a very one sided tickle war tho

If you wanna sit down, it's going to be in his lap, no rejections.

Will find it adorable if your friends make fun of how blushy you're getting as you hide in his chest

"Come now kitten, dont run away or I'm going to tickle you so hard that your face will hurt too much to smile at anyone else but me"

Asmodeus

This sweet baby was already dragging you to your room to glamor you up before the race.

Honey no need to say anything, he will make you the most gorgeous skater just tell him the vibes you wanna give off and he will hit the nail straight on the head and match your aesthetic.

Best expect victory photos.

Will record your victory and show it off to the group chat with the brothers.

Absolutely head over heels for you, hanging off your body in a hug and then going for a really close skate together

Might try to convince you to have some celebratory seggs but will 100% be making it known how much you excited him.

"Sweetheart look at all the likes our photos are getting! Everyone's congratulating you! Awe look at how viral my baby is! That was a VERY thrilling experience watching you, and you do need to take care of that body....shall we take this home and undress you so I can congratulate you the right way~♡?"

Beezlebub

Immediately agreed when you brought it up that you wanted to bring him to the skate rink, someplace you enjoyed going.

He knew skating was like a work out but was worried about finding skates his size there so he brought his own customized skates.

You better have snacks cause baby is gonna be starving.

Thankfully since you also work there and know the owners, you where allowed to hop over and take his order, putting it on your tab. 4 pizzas 2 Turkey legs 7 hotdogs and a pint of water (remember to stay hydrated)

If you bumped into a few of your friends and he WILL get along with them. He wants to be apart of your life, all of it, so he'll make it a point to get along with everyone in it for your sake.

If you ever look like you're going to fall he will be so close behind you it would be like slipping and falling back onto a brick wall who grabs you before you hit the floor.

If you fall forward he will grab your shirt but try not to choke you in the process

(If you do choke poor baby with be hugging you apologizing profusely)

You two try racing eachother but no matter what you dont win cause hes just too fast

Finds you challenging him over and over endearing and adorable.

"You're so adorable when you're chasing after me trying to win, but I'm hungry now...can we go eat again?"

Belphegor

Will complain once you ask him to go skating for date night in the human world

Wont stop till he finds out it has a sunroof along with the neon lights so he can look at the stars while skating with you.

Will only skate for an hour or two then passes out on your lap

Will not help at all when you fall, just laughs cause he is probably the reason you fell in the first place.

When hes skating he will take your hand in his the whole time and sorta lean on your shoulder while skating from behind you.

You two will stop periodically to sit at the small felt covered benches in the rink to look up at the stars (may or may not fall asleep on your shoulder so you're stuck there with him sleeping for 20 minutes)

You will be the last ones out

Must grab some food for Beel cause belphie promised to bring him home food.

Skating (more like you dragging him by the hand while hes in skates)back to your place and looking at the stars together at like 3am

Wont go back till he can officially cuddle you till the morning and leaves at 11am

"Hey look...theres Ursa major...*yawn* come on let's sit down again, I'm tired..."

Luke (only as siblings you take him skating)

Doesnt know how to skate

You end up teaching him and hes the happiest little boy ever.

If you take him to a race he'll be all worried that you got a scratch and starts to get protective over you when the person who pushed you comes near

Definitely eating cotton candy

Playing claw machines and you win him a stuffed piggy and he holds it near and dear to his heart cause it's from you

"Mc! Mc! Look I'm doing it! I'm skating! Sir oinkers and me are skating together! Thank you so much haha!"

Simeon

Happily joins to cheer you on during your races everytime. Got a race? Simeon will be there.

If you dont win he will comfort you and make the best of the situation by taking you to the food bar till it turns to a free skate again.

If you're injured he will pamper you and be ready with his first aid. Little angel kisses on every scrap and bruise.

So many forehead kisses of encouragement and praise 🥺😭

Can speed skate, so if you want to practice he'll help but if you want to relax he'll do that too.

Inlines? Regular skates? No matter what hes great at them.

Somehow he has great luck and every stuffie you showed interest in or every candy or prize there was that you would even look at, he would win on the first try.

"Dont worry! I'll carry it all. You just relax alright? You got pretty bruised from that fall."

Barbatos

Getting this man to stop working and go on a date will need a ton of patience, even Lord Diavolo has to convince him the little d's will do their jobs right while hes away.

Will take care of every scrape and bruise you get.

Man has glowsticks prepared to cheer you on

When it turns back to a free skate he will try his best to impress you and teach you little tricks he's picked up in his many years.

You try to convince him to eat some of the food there and he will politely decline and proceed to take you out to a nice fancy, but quaint restaurant.

"You were really quick to dodge them back there, yet you still got a few bruises, truly amazing for humans to get to that speed and dodge so fast. You're really a fascinating one arent you?"

Lord Diavolo

This man.... he made SIGNS

WILL be hollering when you win

The loudest in the stands

Glowsticks, glowing necklaces, bracelets, man is even wearing a glowing necklace around his head for you, glowing head to toe

So happy and proud 🥺😭❤

Definitely brought barbatos to help hold up the glittery signs him and the little d's made

Barbatos will leave with the signs after congratulating you and leaving you two to your date.

He will be a little off balanced when first skating cause the man went straight for the inlines 😂

Will be smiling the whole time, nothing can or will ruin it.

Absolutely in love with the skate rink because of you and even wants to add a few to the devildom so they can hold tournaments like the one you where in

Can get sad if he cant get you a stuffed animal while you're in the bathroom so he summons Barbatos again to help him while you're away.

Sends Barbatos away so you wont know he helped him get the prizes

Ends up getting you 6 stuffies and a phone case that doesnt fit your phone but it's the thought that counts right?

You win him a medium sized dragon from the claw machine and he sleeps with it every night and loves it like it's your guy's kid.

If he meets your friends he will find out just how much you've missed him as you get embarrassed, makes a mental note to see you once a week after that encounter.

Will eat 2 Turkey legs as you eat a slice of pizza and share a pitcher of soda with him

(He makes a mess of his face so you clean it off for him)

Will not want to leave and go back to the devildom so he'll insist on staying the rest of the night and walks you home

Will. NOT. LEAVEEEE! Master of excuses for why he should stay.

"But I dont want to leave! Theres still so much to do!" "Can I at least see your house?" "I wont leave until I see you're safe at home!" "Please can I stay the night, I miss having you wake up in my arms." "I want to see the morning sun rise with you before I go back"

[theonetheycallhannah]

The Treatment of Captain Syverson-Chapter Six: Sensory Integration 2

Pairing: Captain “Sy” Syverson x OFC (Shane Benton)

Summary: It’s a fine night for a walk by the water with a handsome vet holding your hand. I think that says it all.

Behind on your sessions? Want more from the author? Click Me

Word Count: Almost 1.9k (a bit shorter, hopefully y’all don’t mind by the end!)

Warnings: Basically still fluff, but also some saucy morsels near the end…not full on smut, though, so don’t get too excited. We aren’t there yet, my little lovelies. Soon, though…soon.

Author’s Note: As I said before, this date totally got away from me, nearing a whopping 6k in total. Thanks again for all the love. And in other news, I told a couple of my PT friends about this story, and one of them agreed to be my official technical consultant on the project for future chapters and even if I wanna flesh it out, modify it to include strictly “original” characters, and eventually take it to a publisher! I sent what I’ve done so far to her just before I started drafting this post, so hopefully she’ll have good insight for me! She said it was about time someone wrote a story like that! Lol! (She reads  a lot, so I guess people really don’t think of PTs as the heroines of love stories. Sad, really! Most of the ones I know are lovely and loving people!) The other was just instantly excited and can’t wait to read it.

Disclaimer: Unfortunately for me, Henry is not mine, le sigh, and all mention of him, his characters, any characters from his films, or his precious doggy, Kal, are strictly for transformative and recreational use. I neither ask for, nor accept payment for the work I post on Tumblr or AO3. Unbeta’d because this is for fun and escapism.

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Hope I’m not forgetting anyone! If you want to be notified when I post a new chapter or work, I’ll be happy to add you to my tag list! Stricken blogs are getting personal messages from me when a new chapter is uploaded because Tumblr’s faulty tagging system will not stand in the way of me delivering what the people want!(?) lol! (Although...their lackadaisical notification system might...sorry for that. I have no control. lol!)

The lake was fairly near her clinic, not two blocks away. He wasn't wrong about her feeling up to a walk when the time came. She was looking forward to the fresh night air near the lake. It was a deep-seated part of who she was to love the water.

He'd pulled into the small, empty gravel lot at the head of the paved walking trail. It was well dark since it had just turned 10:00, and the moonlight danced off the water, calm, but with a faint shimmer from the light breeze. The stars danced, winking at them as if they knew the romance that surged between the couple was burgeoning right here below them.

"Now, last time I walked this trail, I'll warn you…I got approached by a gang. And they were…pretty vicious. I had to resort to some guerilla tactics that I'm not too proud of to fend 'em off."

"Oh no!" she wasn't aware of any gang crime in their fairly peaceful city! "What kind of gang?"

"A goose gang." He looked at her gravely. Before they both burst out laughing in hysterics.

"I thought you were serious!" she wiped tears carefully from her eyes with the back of her hand.

"I was! They are stupid territorial! I had several of them tryin'a bite at my legs at once. It was quite the ordeal, I assure you!" he said, serious, but still laughing.

"Well, you'll save me if the Ya-Gooz-ah descend on us tonight, wont you?" she teased, clutching at his arm in mock fright at the thought of a band of Yakuza Geese being an actual thing, but thinking it was a great way to keep him touching her.

"As long as you stay real close to me, sunshine. I'll protect you from the devil himself." He kissed her on the top of the head, sealing the promise and warming her from the point of contact all the way to her toes.

As they traipsed along the pavement path, they talked about everything and nothing, the gentle night wind a whisper against their skin, which had been made slightly dewy from the walk and the humidity. They had made two laps around the small body of water when they came back around to one of several benches placed at intervals on the trail running its perimeter. Without breaking their conversation, she pointed to the nearest one, indicating her desire to sit, which he understood and lead them there.

“See, the problem I have with sports at that level, especially football is the harm I’ve witnessed it do to a kid’s body. We’ve treated athletes in high school and as early as 7th and 8th grade that the coaches are completely obsessed with getting them out on the field or court again. These kids are taking more impact than their bodies are ready for. They can’t miss a game, or even practice for therapy even if they’re just riding pine. And the parents are so laser focused on that potential college scholarship for that sport that they can’t see that if their child doesn’t get better, no scout is gonna want to dole out a free ride. Not to a broken-down athlete. Did you feel that kind of pressure when you were playing football? Because I don’t remember it at my school.” She went off a on bit of a tangent because she’d just been told by Heather before she left that her torn meniscus, Jason couldn’t get in for several weeks because of his practice and game schedule limiting his availability.  

“I mean, I felt pressure, I guess, but not outside of practice or the games. I’d hurt my knee my junior year early, same one we been workin’ on, and they just had me sit out a few weeks and work with a PT, but I don’t remember it being a problem to miss out on anything related to football if it was because of my health.” He sat down next to her on the fiberglass bench, which was molded to have the look of fine blonde wood, and put his arm around her shoulder. No pretense of the reach, no awkwardly sitting for a while beforehand, just continuing to touch her as he had been their whole walk.

She leaned into his shoulder, comfortably, as if they’d done this a thousand times and this wasn’t their first date. And continued their discussion.

“What has gotten into people these days? It’s like they’re not satisfied with anything. Nothing is ever enough for a single person on this good earth!” She sighed, frustrated by the neediness of people that seemed to come with her own job and projecting that on to the world…not that there wasn’t at least a measure of truth in it.

“Personally speaking, I think you’re wrong.”

“You don’t think that the world is full of dissatisfied Karens?” She laughed.

“Oh I do. But it’s not every person. You’re sitting next to one very content man right here.”

“Yeah?”

“Mmhmm.” He confirmed.

“Was it the steak, or the lobster mac?” She’d be fantasizing about them both until the next time they went there. Yeah, she was already thinking about “next time” and “they.” She was in trouble.

“Not to knock either, but I’m a hun’ert percent sure it was the company.” He pressed a kiss to her temple.

She smiled, nuzzling into him, feeling the downy softness of his shirt again and smelling his intoxicating cologne. She suddenly remembered a promise from their session.

“Oh, hey. I was gonna have a response for you…to your 'question' from earlier.” She said, mischief burning in her eyes. She kneeled up on the bench and turned his face to hers, brushing a hand against his impossibly soft beard before descending slowly in for a kiss.

It started sweet, a few languid, full pecks, then she parted her lips barely enough for her tongue to venture out to explore his full mouth. They were met after several attempts with a reciprocal openness from him. She dared, then to search him with her tongue. It was simply browsing now. Feeling no rush to complete its quest. Only a sense of the need for due diligence. She was surprised at the flavor she'd encountered. She hadn't seen him pop a mint, and she hadn't left his side all evening. He was sly. It was a sweet and strong taste. Wintergreen on steroids, with the mildest hint of vanilla. She wanted more. Of the flavor. Of him.

She let her tongue find his, knowing what would happen, somehow, even though they had never kissed like this before. Never when it wasn't rushed and needing to be…PG. Here in the dark of night, with no one but the celestial bodies as witnesses, they didn't have to worry about her job, or the public. The judgement of the outsider's gaze.

She knew, by instinct alone, that this would spark him into more than latent participation. And that's exactly why she did it. As previously stated, she was definitely an intentional beast when the occasion called and mood struck.

He did as she'd expected, his own tongue waking, beginning a playful dance with hers, exploring her mouth with more urgency and desire, pulling a ragged gasp from her lungs. She broke away to give some attention to his neck. She held him by the base of his head, thumb playfully brushing into his thick facial hair. A breathy moan that sounded very much like her name escaped his lips. This was the reaction she had been dying to get from him for so long. A surrendering bliss that only came from this kind of personal, intimate, and one-one connection. She'd gotten hints of it when she'd helped him stretch, when she heard those stifled groans he felt at the good hurt she brought him with her expert touch.

She bit his earlobe, and sealed her fate. He growled and pulled her up to his lap in an immodest straddle. Not that she cared in the empty dark. He seemed to need her lips back on his, desperate to find a purchase that would never present itself. The paradox of a kiss.

His hands roved over the back of her from neck to behind, very much favoring the latter. It was an odd sensation. Most of her experience with ass-grabbing had been less than pleasant. Either dirty old men had touched her without consent, or boyfriends had done essentially the same thing as a show of their dominance over her, also without her strictest consent. The way Sy held her was tender, exploratory, and…she couldn't help but think the word loving. "Love" wasn't a word they were ready to even bring up. But she thought he was showing it in his feather touch and hungry kiss.

The breeze was cool, and felt extra cold where she seemed to be warmest. Her position had her…very exposed to the elements, covered only by the fine layers of her underwear at some angles. She was suddenly very aware that they were on a precipice here. If they carried on much longer like this, she wasn't going to want to stop. She already didn't. And she was just out of practice enough to be unsure of where her point of no return was. Dammit. She broke away, in agony from it.

"Sy, I…I think …you should take me back." she stuttered.

"Okay." he pulled her back in for another kiss, pretending to misinterpret,which she indulged a moment but quickly escaped.

"No, sweetie." she chuckled. "You know what I mean."

"Or…I could bring you home with me." It was only a suggestion, but there was a plea in his eyes that pulled at her guts. He wanted her. And she wanted him. With every single cell in her body, she wanted every singe cell of his. But she truly felt that taking things slowly was the best option given the complexities of their situation.

"You don't know how badly I want to accept that invite, Sy." she rested her forehead on his. They were both breathless.

"It's just two little letters, sunshine. O. K. Easy as granny's peach pie."

"I'm terrible at pie crust." they laughed.

"Let's go." he said, helping her off his lap, and preparing to stand, but sitting back down immediately.

"What's wrong?" she asked, concerned. "Is it the knee? Did I hurt it?" she was already mad at herself, and at him a bit, if this indiscretion had caused him a setback…how ironic it would be!

"Nope, knee's great. Dandy."

"Did you get lightheaded?"

"No, but uhh…it's definitely SOME sort of blood flow issue. Gonna need a minute." he explained without explaining with a sheepish expression on his face…it hit her like a speeding bus.

"Ope." she looked to his lap without thinking, and immediately averted to the water again, as she sat beside him, hands clasped over the seat of the bench. His hand found hers, and covered it, asking to hold it, and getting its way.

"I had…the best time tonight, Shane." he told her, staring at the opposite bank where the maple, oak, and sycamore trees swayed to the tune of the gentle night's breeze.

"So did I, Sy."

"You free tomorrow?" he asked, hopefully.

"You tell me!" she replied…hopefully.

Up Next: Chapter Seven: Non-Productive Time

[commentaryvorg]

Danganronpa V3 Commentary: Part 3.8

Be aware that this is not a blind playthrough! This will contain spoilers for the entire game, regardless of the part of the game I’m commenting on. A major focus of this commentary is to talk about all of the hints and foreshadowing of events that are going to happen and facts that are going to be revealed in the future of the story. It is emphatically not intended for someone experiencing the game for their first time.

Last time in chapter 3, Maki started to realise how her talent could be used for good as she helped Shuichi through the investigation, Kiyo was the worst and murdered Tenko as well, causing something of a setback in the fact that she’d just begun to get through to Himiko, the writers might still be trying to get us to think Kaito is expendable, Kaito’s illness took over as the most pressing issue on his mind, and he completely accidentally brought up the mastermind’s intent to nerf him with his phobia.

This time, the trial begins.

Kaito:  “Sorry everyone, but I don’t think I’m gonna be much help this time. Because of Monokuma’s… disruptions, I couldn’t do a thorough investigation.”

Kaito is still clinging to his unintentionally-completely-correct excuse to save face. It’s interesting to note how he apparently wants everybody to think that the way in which he’s useful and therefore needed to be nerfed is because he’s a good investigator, when he’s decidedly not. His real value – and presumably the reason the in-universe writers wanted to nerf him in this chapter – comes from being able to be there for and encourage Shuichi, and everyone else too. He should know this himself, but he doesn’t seem to want to frame things that way.

(And he’s still apologising even as he is arguing that it is supposedly not his fault.)

Kokichi:  “I can tell Monokuma is overcompensating to hide his self-consciousness.”

And obviously here Kokichi’s actually talking about Kaito. Which, to be fair, is correct, because Kaito doesn’t really believe his excuse is true.

Monokuma:  “Next time, spend less time fixing your hair and more time investigating, spaceman!”

It’s interesting that Monokuma comments on this too. I have to wonder whether or not he knew about the decision to nerf Kaito in this chapter – it’s not like he necessarily needs to know everything about what the writers have planned to manipulate the way the story goes, only the stuff directly related to the motives.

Kiyo:  “Do not let your emotions hasten your judgement. There may be two killers.”

Tsumugi:  “So… our other culprit… might nooot be one of us heeere…”

Tsumugi, you know full well that does not logically follow from what Kiyo just said. The possibility that the culprit is a spirit has nothing to do with the possibility that there are two killers. If you’re accepting that a ghost murderer is an option, then both victims could have been killed by a spirit, and it could have been the same one or two different ones. And if you’re trying to present a legitimate theory, you could try saying it like a normal person instead of putting on that spooky voice.

What I’m saying is, leave Kaito the fuck alone already, you know he’s not going to make a huge amount of difference in this trial either way. At this point you’re not even manipulating the story; you’re just being an unnecessary dick.

Maki:  “Say something, Shuichi. It’ll be a mess if this keeps going on.”

Maki is still frustrated at Kaito’s inability to be his usual self while this ghost stuff is going on and wants it to stop being a thing already. I don’t know why she can’t say something herself, though; she also read the Necronomicon.

Shuichi:  (Well, in the interest of being thorough, I should clear things up here.)

More like in the interest of keeping Kaito functional.

Gonta:  “So ritual did work!?”

“C-Come on…”

“I said stop…”

“Resurrected!?”

“Y-You gotta be kidding me!”

…

Miu:  “Angie did say she was gonna bring Rantaro back!”

“Guys?”

“Come on, be serious…”

“This can’t be happening!”

“So stop it, stop it!”

This is the kind of thing that white noise is really fun for.

Kaito:  “PLEASE! STOP IT!!!!”

“Shuichi, say something.”

…I still think loud outbursts like this aren’t quite in character for Kaito, though. At least we get some fun white noise from Maki here too.

Monokuma goes on to insist that the Necronomicon would have worked if it’d been used. So even though it was the cubs who made that claim to begin with, it is also backed up by Monokuma himself, and, well… he never usually lies about motives. Which is what led me to think up my Flashback-Light-and-clone theory I proposed earlier. That said, it is pretty awkward writing that they leave open this insistence that resurrection would have been possible but then never properly explain how at any point. They don’t even hint at it in a way that lets you figure it out on a replay if you’re paying attention (like how they hint at the reason for Kaito’s totally extraneous phobia). I only thought of my theory because I wanted to come up with something that worked, and this was all I could think of, not because I’m certain that it’s what the writers intended to be the truth.

Tsumugi:  “Oooh? So resurrecting the dead was actually possible this whole time?”

Leave him alone, for goodness’ sake! Just drop this lazily-written phobia plotline already and let Kaito move on to freaking out about the other thing you gave him to deal with, which is an infinitely better story than this. Not that I think that’s why you gave him that to deal with, but still.

Okay, wow, complete tangent here: I took a break here while writing the commentary and came back to it after booting the game up at this point in the trial, and… the screen was completely black, except for the textboxes and other UI stuff. The game still played, but I couldn’t see any of the text in the Nonstop Debate, so actually proceeding would have been nigh-impossible. I had to restart the class trial from the main menu to fix it and then fast-forward back to here. Is this a known glitch? Maybe it’s because I saved while a line was still in the middle of being read? Because that was a thing.

Kiyo:  “I did not care about some katana…”

He totally did, though; he was threatening to tear out Kokichi’s nerves if he touched it earlier in the chapter. It amuses me that the game acts as though you can try and prove that, too.

Kiyo:  “I had no desire to kill her in the first place.”

Yeah, of course not, it’s not like you’re a serial killer who targets girls or anything.

Kokichi:  “Well, it can’t be Himiko. She was besties with Angie. I trust their friendship! You guys do too, riiiight?”

Sure you do, Kokichi. Yet again, this is him trying to make a point of how foolishly naïve everyone else sounds for talking about friendship and trust in a killing game.

Keebo:  “…Can we trust their friendship so readily?”

Kokichi:  “Obviously! Let’s believe in them!”

Kokichi’s got this really mocking tone to his voice as he says this. He is really transparently just trying to make his own words about belief sound empty and hollow, to make people think that everyone else’s words about belief are just as hollow too.

Kiyo:  “And do you have an alibi for last night?”

Gonta:  “Gonta in room, talking to bug friends. Much better than being out too late at night. Ask bug friends if Kiyo doubt Gonta!”

Aww, Gonta. He doesn’t realise that other people don’t speak bug and so can’t question his bug friends, so obviously this makes a perfectly good alibi, right?

Kokichi:  “Yeah, I did it. I killed Angie.”

Shuichi:  (…Hm.)

I love how Shuichi’s immediate reaction to this is one of utmost scepticism.

Kiyo:  “What are you saying? Is this some kind of joke?”

Kiyo looks more flustered than you’d expect him to be about this if he weren’t the murderer. He is so confused as to why the fuck Kokichi would confess to something he knows he didn’t do.

Shuichi:  “The gold leaf on that katana did peel rather easily.”

Monokuma:  “Hmmm… That evidence rings a bell. Specifically, a school bell…”

Yeah, because everyone in the audience is a big Danganronpa genwunner and you put that here to pander to them, apparently.

(Like, seriously. Fifty-two past seasons. People should not be so fixated on season 1 any more.)

Ugh, these Psyche Taxi segments. Practically every time, the first two or three questions are things that have already been clearly established and only the last question has you actually figure out something new, this time that the whole katana-effigy-rope setup was used to lock the door by being spun around. Why the heck not just take that last question and make it a regular multiple choice question.

Kokichi claimed earlier during his confession that he locked the room by picking the lock closed, so this gets him to admit he didn’t actually do it after all.

Maki:  “Why did you say you were the culprit?”

Kokichi:  “…I wanted to lure the culprit out. If I claimed to be the culprit, then the *real* culprit would agree as well, ya get me?”

Yeah, except that the real culprit did not jump on the opportunity to save himself by condemning Kokichi (and why would he even try to, since Kokichi was already busy condemning himself with his confession). What Kokichi’s confession actually achieved in terms of smoking out the culprit was having Kiyo be subtly the most bewildered out of anyone by it. But Kokichi didn’t pick up on that subtlety, apparently (or if he did he’s still keeping it to himself, thanks a lot Kokichi), so fat lot of good his whole ploy was.

Kokichi:  “And if they pressured me to confess, then that would have looked mighty suspicious. Sheesh! Darn it! It didn’t go my way because Shuichi butted in on my plan.”

You were already confessing. Obviously the culprit wouldn’t have needed to pressure you to confess any more. Your plan was already failing before Shuichi came along and put the lid on it. You are not as clever as you think.

Kaito:  “That leaves us with four suspects… Tsumugi, Gonta, Keebo… and Kokichi.”

Kokichi:  “Don’t forget Himiko. She’s also a part of the student council. Doesn’t matter if she was besties with Angie, she’s still a suspect.”

And here’s Kokichi proving just how transparently manipulative and two-faced he was being a few minutes ago. (Look at Kaito low-key running with the “it wasn’t Himiko because they were friends” argument, though. Of course he would.)

Himiko:  “Me? A suspect? I’d… never kill Angie!”

Himiko is having emotions!

Kokichi asks all of the “Suspect Rangers” what they think they could say to clear their names. Everyone is understandably unsure (what can they say; obviously no-one has alibis), then…

Himiko:  “Why… did Tenko have to die?”

Kaito:  “Huh?”

Aww, Himiko. And I like Kaito being the one to react to that, because of course he cares about her suffering and wants to help if he can.

Himiko:  “Can we talk about Tenko’s case now and not just Angie’s—”

Kokichi:  “Mwah-hahahaha! I got ya exactly where I wanted, Himiko!”

…And Kokichi was apparently trying to bait someone into changing the topic to Tenko’s murder, under the assumption that whoever does so is Angie’s killer trying to misdirect everyone.

But no, Kokichi, Himiko doing this doesn’t prove she killed Angie. It just proves that she’s a person who’s having emotions about the fact that the two people who cared about her most are now dead.

Kokichi:  “Until we solve Angie’s case, Tenko’s case is meaningless! Did you suggest that to waste our ti—”

Himiko:  “It’s not meaningless!”

Shuichi:  (Himiko?)

Himiko:  “Tenko’s death was meaningless? How dare you! Poor Tenko… How could you do this to her!?”

Look at Himiko go! Look at her getting genuinely fired up and emotional because Kokichi is being a dick about the fact that her would-have-been friend is dead!

Kokichi:  “Himiko, stop it with your crappy lies.”

Himiko:  “Lies…?”

Kokichi:  “Everything you said is total BS. You didn’t give two shits about Tenko when she was alive… But now you’re like, ‘Oh no! Poor Tenko!’ after she’s dead. C’mon, really?”

And again we have an example of Kokichi projecting his own manipulative assholery onto someone else because he can’t comprehend the notion that other people don’t think like he does. If he were in Himiko’s shoes and had not cared about Tenko while she was alive but was claiming to care now, obviously that’d be him lying to try and get sympathy and misdirect everyone, so that’s definitely what Himiko’s doing too, right? It couldn’t possibly be that she’s realised she was unfairly cold towards Tenko and regrets it now that it’s too late or anything.

Like, seriously, Kokichi, you were there in the seance room when Tenko gave her final speech to Himiko. Have some fucking empathy, dude, instead of trying to make everything about you.

(There could be an argument made here that Kokichi is being a dick about this on purpose to push Himiko into admitting to her feelings and showing them. But this started as Kokichi making an attempt to bait out the killer and wasn’t specifically about Himiko until she spoke up, and she was already having emotions at that point. For Kokichi to then continue to be even more of a dick, even after she’d started getting really riled up and passionate, would not be at all necessary if he were secretly trying to help her. So that’s not what he’s doing. He’s just projecting and genuinely believes she doesn’t care.)

Himiko:  “I know I ignored Tenko before… That’s why… I’m so upset now… I should’ve faced Tenko… worked things out with her while she was still alive. But now… it’s too late. I can’t complain to her… or thank her…”

Poor Himiko is finally accepting that Tenko was always trying to help her and that all she was doing was running away from the advice Tenko was giving. It’s just a shame it took Tenko’s death for it to fully sink in.

Himiko:  “It’s… too la—”

Kaito:  “Yeah, seriously! It’s way too late to realize that now.”

And here comes Kaito, doing what he can to help! This is essentially an application of his philosophy that simply moping around lamenting bad things isn’t going to get you anywhere.

Kaito:  “Our only option is to face her death head-on!”

Himiko:  “…Nyeh? Face her death?”

Kaito:  “Himiko… I understand what you’re going through.”

It’s a little oddly specific of Kaito to say that he understands what Himiko’s going through when he hasn’t personally lost anyone he was especially close to so far in this killing game. Yet, I really, really don’t think that Kaito would lie or exaggerate about something this serious and personal. He wouldn’t try and artificially make things about himself when this is 100% about Himiko right now. So… more fuel for the “Kaito’s parents died” train? I really think it is. Him having dealt with his parents’ death by trying his best to face it head-on definitely sounds like the kind of thing Kaito would have done that would have helped shape him into the person he is today.

(Also, assuming that Kaito did lose his parents, it’s still notable that he’s not explicitly mentioning this as his reason for why he cares so much about helping Himiko, because this still isn’t about him and as much as possible he wants to avoid making it so.)

Kaito:  “So I’m gonna help you out! Let’s work together to find the truth! I’m not gonna let anyone say her death didn’t matter!”

Himiko:  “K-Kaito…!”

Aww, Himiko being appreciative of Kaito’s support. After losing the two people she was closest to, she must be feeling completely alone and like nobody’s on her side, but here’s Kaito showing that he is on her side. That has to really help.

Kaito:  “Abandoning someone who died and only thinking about your own survival… That’s just as bad as a hit-and-run! I won’t forgive something so messed up!”

…Did Kaito’s parents die in a hit-and-run.

It is just like Kaito to be furious at any hypothetical person who commits a hit-and-run regardless of who the victims were, just for running away from what they did rather than owning up to it and facing the pain they inadvertently caused. But even so, this is a strangely specific thing for him to bring up in this particular situation, unless he has some personal investment in hit-and-runs that has made him think about this before and is at the front of his mind because he was already thinking about his parents.

I am like 90% certain this is something the writers deliberately intended to imply here, and again I love that there are subtle details about Kaito like this that don’t need to be outright stated because that doesn’t stop them being true.

Kokichi:  “I already told you, that’s sooo unnecessary. We’re getting sidetracked here.”

Kaito:  “No, even if it was a different culprit, we need to know how Tenko died. If we don’t find out who killed her, we won’t be able to work together. Not now, not ever.”

He’s so right! If they come out of this trial only knowing who killed Angie and not who killed Tenko, then there will always be the looming possibility that one of the remaining survivors killed Tenko and is still hiding that fact. It would be impossible to truly trust each other with that hanging over everyone. And of course Kaito would have already considered the risk of that happening, because he’s always thinking about everyone’s co-operation. Kaito is so good.

(And look, Kokichi is still arguing that Tenko’s death is meaningless even when this is no longer so much about Himiko’s feelings, so that was never why he was saying that.)

Kokichi:  “Finally, you noticed! Geez, you’re so slow.”

Yeah, sure, Kokichi, you just try and save face and pretend that you were aware of that all along and that Kaito’s the one who’s slow on the uptake, not you. I totally believe that you were already aware of this notion which centres around the concepts of co-operation and trust; it’s not like you have trouble even comprehending those ideas or anything. God, Kokichi is so incapable of ever admitting when he’s wrong.

Shuichi:  (I don’t mind going over Tenko’s case… But that was an abrupt change of topic. Was that… intentional…?)

Shuichi, don’t tell me you’re actually being fooled by Kokichi’s attempt to imply that Himiko only changed the topic to draw attention away from the fact that she supposedly killed Angie.

Miu:  “So those four are the culprits!”

Gonta:  “Oh… Himiko still culprit?”

Why are we still using the words “culprit” and “suspect” interchangeably. Gonta I can understand, but come on, Miu.

Kiyo:  “True, I may have suggested it. But I explained the procedure beforehand, yes? If we all knew of it before the murder then we are all equally suspicious.”

Not really, though. That makes it possible that the others could have done it, but Kiyo is still clearly more suspicious than anyone else because he’s the one who wouldn’t shut up about this seance for the past several days and definitely knew every single detail of it.

Kiyo argues that Keebo did it by using his flashlight to sneak in under the floor. He’s later going to try and claim Himiko did it because she picked the room. He has absolutely no game plan for this, does he. Most killers usually at least try to pin it on one specific person and make all the facts seem to point to them.

Miu is also totally on board with claiming Keebo did it. So much for her caring about him, then.

Keebo:  “My status as a robot does not mean I am capable of performing superhuman feats!”

I mean… you are, Keebo. Nobody else here can shine light from their eyes or replay recordings of conversations they were witness to without additional equipment.

Kaito:  “Enough with the flashlight! It’s way too bright!”

Kaito being specifically the one to complain here makes me wonder if his illness is making him more sensitive to bright lights than usual.

Tsumugi:  “Maybe they marked Tenko with glowing paint and looked for that? That’d let the culprit find her. Then they could stab her through the floorboards…”

Monokuma:  “Boy, that sounds really familiar too! But I’m just gonna ignore it!”

…Yeah. On a first time through, this would just seem like a fun little continuity nod that Tsumugi just unintentionally happened to make. But really, it’s a pretty clever subtle hint towards the mastermind’s identity. Less subtle of a hint for people who know what’s truly going on here, though – by which I mean the in-universe audience. You’d think this would have basically told them who it is.

Kokichi:  “Nee-heehee… What if Angie’s spirit killed Tenko?”

I’m going to assume that Kokichi doesn’t really think spirits are a thing and is just suggesting this because it gives him an opportunity to be a huge dick to Kaito again.

Kokichi:  “See? You can’t explain, can you? Only a spirit could have done th—”

Kaito:  “W-Wait, I know! What if the culprit was hiding inside the cage!? If they were in there, they coulda stabbed Tenko during the seance!”

I am amused by Kaito proposing something way stupider than he usually would in his desperation to move the topic away from spirits.

Maki:  “I agree with Kaito. The culprit could have been inside the cage.”

And then Maki going along with that seemingly ridiculous theory for a much more sensible reason.

Maki:  “Maybe the culprit wouldn’t need to hide in the first place.”

Kiyo:  “What?”

Maki:  “Also, the culprit could’ve killed her in the cage at any time. I think you know what I’m getting at, right?”

This, however, is a frustrating example of someone acting uncharacteristically vague just so that the player controlling Shuichi can have a game to play and figure it out themselves. Maki would not usually beat around the bush like this.

Kiyo:  “After stabbing herself with the sickle, she threw it underneath the floor.”

Still pretty difficult to buy that the sickle ended up in the corner of the room from that, though.

Himiko:  “W-Well it doesn’t make sense to me! There’s no reason for Tenko to commit suicide!”

Damn right it doesn’t make any sense! Look at Himiko understanding and believing in Tenko at last.

Of course Kokichi is the one to make the argument that Tenko killed Angie and then killed herself out of guilt and hid her suicide in an attempt to take Himiko with her, because that kind of selfish, underhanded assholery makes perfect sense in his mind as something that someone who liked Himiko would do.

Kokichi:  “Himiko, you said that Tenko would never do anything like that… But how can you be so sure? Did you guys *actually* know each other? People keep all sorts of secrets, like Maki. She hid the fact that she’s a cold-blooded killer. Is it wise of us to trust people wholeheartedly in this kind of situation?”

Kokichi is so utterly, unshakably convinced that trusting anyone ever, and especially in a killing game, is completely illogical no matter how they might have acted towards you.

Kaito:  “Geez… you’re such a naive dude.”

Kokichi:  “…Naive?”

Kaito:  “We’re all just people, y’know? Of course we’re gonna have some secrets. What matters is whether there’s any malice behind ‘em.”

Kaito continues to have the best philosophy, yet again. He knows that people are complicated and therefore that doing a bad thing doesn’t necessarily make someone a bad person. The simple act of hiding something from others is not inherently malicious. Maki was hiding something bad about herself, but it wasn’t for a malicious reason! It was to protect herself, not to hurt everyone.

And this is delightfully relevant to the main theme of this game, that lies can sometimes be used for good. While Kokichi is usually the person one would think of as advocating that idea the most, maybe Kaito actually believes that more than Kokichi does.

Kokichi:  “People can lie about how malicious their hidden secrets really are.”

…Because Kokichi is irrationally convinced that if someone is hiding something, it’s always for malicious reasons. That’s why he was so terrified of Maki. That’s why he continued to try and push the idea that Maki was a terrible person even once she’d explained her non-malicious reasons for hiding her talent and everyone else had more or less accepted it.

Kaito was not wrong to call Kokichi naïve. Think about how Gonta is naïve: he always assumes the best of everyone when there’s no evidence either way, and even sometimes when there is circumstantial evidence indicating that they’re not such a good person. Kokichi is exactly like that, but in the opposite direction: when things are ambiguous, he always assumes the worst of everyone, even to the point of selectively ignoring circumstantial evidence that indicates they might not be so bad after all. It’s an unusual use of the word “naïve”, but not an inaccurate one. While Gonta is childishly convinced that everyone is always good and wants to help each other, Kokichi is childishly convinced that everyone is always bad and out to get each other.

Kaito:  “Well duh. It’s impossible to know for sure what others are thinking. That’s why it all comes down to whether or not you believe in yourself!”

Kaito isn’t doing a great job of explaining exactly what he means here – one would have expected his sentence to end with “believe in them” – but there is a logic to this that makes sense to him. It still is about whether you believe in that person, but Kaito extends this to then also be about whether you believe that your own judgement of that person is correct, despite not being able to know for sure what’s going on in their head. And of course Kaito can believe in himself in this way – as I have pointed out time and again, he has an incredibly keen intuition when it comes to other people and has literally never been wrong so far and never will in future. Kaito has full confidence in how good his intuition is (his “official Luminary of the Stars hunches”!), which is why he’s able to believe in other people as strongly as he does.

(Okay, technically Kaito’s intuition has been wrong so far about one person: Ryoma. Which is to say that Kaito’s intuition is only ever wrong when his issues about heroism get in the way and cloud his judgement. He’s going to be wrong in future for that reason, too – but only for that reason. When that’s not a factor, which is most of the time, his intuition is and will always be correct.)

Kaito:  “If you get betrayed, it’s not their fault! It’s your fault for believing in them! That’s why I believed in Maki Roll! Because I wanted to believe in her!”

Kaito is not like Gonta in this regard. He does not just blindly believe that everyone is good without proof. His proof is his judgement – which isn’t completely concrete evidence, but it’s more than enough for him to be willing to take that risk. And again, he knows he’s taking a risk by doing this. He’s fully accepting of the possibility that he might be wrong. But if he turns out to be, then that’s the fault of his judgement being wrong, not of the person in question for being who they always were in the first place. It’s a really great philosophy that would help anyone avoid becoming paranoid, because it puts any problems down to misunderstandings between people, rather than the other person having been deliberately out to get you.

Maki:  “Just because you’re acting all cool doesn’t mean you get to skip training.”

Pfft. But also, this is Maki not quite getting Kaito once again. He’s not saying this to try and make himself look good! He’s doing it because this is what he believes, and it’s relevant to the discussion, so why wouldn’t he say it? He’s just being Kaito.

Kaito:  “H-Hey, c’mon… Don’tcha think you’re being a little too strict?”

…Although it seems like Kaito might want an excuse to skip training, you know, because of the whole dying thing. Still, I don’t for a second believe that’s the reason he gave this speech.

Kokichi:  “Well, we come from different backgrounds. So for now, let’s agree to disagree.”

You want to tell us what it is about your “background” that gives you such ridiculously massive trust issues, Kokichi? No? No, of course not.

Like, I understand why Kokichi would never want to talk about the reason why he’s like this. Even so, it frustrates me to no end that the writing never even tries to hint at what it is. I would like him so much more as a character if I could get a proper, cohesive picture of why he is this way and not just that he is this way! I’d be able to really empathise with him and feel his fear of betrayal instead of just intellectually knowing that he must have it. But that picture just isn’t there. (And it’s not like it couldn’t be there even without Kokichi directly talking about it. Look at how many things about Kaito I’ve been able to point out and be almost completely certain are true even though they’re only subtly hinted at.)

Kokichi:  “No one’s ever called me naive before. And from Kaito? Seriously?”

Haha, Kokichi is so mad at the notion that Kaito’s the rational one while he’s not. Of course he’d want to insist that it’s Kaito who’s naïve for buying into all this nonsense about belief. But no, in reality, Kaito’s philosophy about believing in people isn’t naïve at all. It’s not for everyone, sure, but it has great internal consistency and logic to it. Kokichi constantly tries to insist that his own philosophy is the sensiblest most rationalest in order to protect himself from any notion that he might be in the wrong by being an untrusting lying asshole, but really, the logic of his philosophy falls apart as soon as you get to the “everyone must be a bad person no matter what because I’m terrified of thinking otherwise and then turning out to be mistaken”.

Himiko:  “My heart… can’t reach Tenko anymore… But I wanna believe in her… She wouldn’t commit suicide! She wouldn’t try to take us down! That’s what I want to believe!”

Yay, Himiko buying into Kaito’s philosophy!

Gonta:  “Me too. Gonta no can believe Tenko commit suicide.”

And of course Gonta would believe in her too.

Kiyo:  “If you insist we believe in Tenko, then provide a reason to do so.”

Shuichi:  (A proper reason…) “Alright… I’ll give you a reason.”

There is no evidence-based reason to believe that Tenko didn’t commit suicide. Shuichi believes in her as a person, just like Himiko does and just like Kaito was encouraging them to do, but in order to get the others who don’t believe in her to buy that she didn’t kill herself, there needs to be evidence. So Shuichi is planning to lie.

Maki:  “…Is there a reason?”

Shuichi: “Yes, there is. Will you trust me, Maki? If it turns out I’m wrong, you can blame me all you like. But for now… I need you to trust in my detective work.”

He’s not really asking Maki trust his detective skills; he’s asking her to trust his judgement of Tenko’s personality and play along with his lie. It’s exactly like Kaito was saying: you have to believe that your own judgement of that person is accurate – and if you can believe in someone else’s judgement too, that works the same way. (That’s also why Shuichi started believing in Maki in the previous trial – because Kaito did, and Shuichi decided to trust his judgement.)

Tsumugi:  “But if Tenko did commit suicide… It would explain why she died during the seance.”

“Makes sense to Gonta…”

What do you mean it makes sense to you, Gonta? You were just saying how you believed that Tenko would never kill herself!

Maki:  “…You’re right. I completely forgot about that important detail. Tenko died instantly…”

Yay for Maki believing in Shuichi’s judgement and lying with him! Even though she has to make herself seem careless in order to do so.

Kokichi:  “Nee-heehee… Words of a true killer. Pretty sure we can believe everything she said.”

Yeah, Kokichi’s pretty sure she just lied, isn’t he. Look at him still trying to imply that everyone should doubt her just because she’s an assassin, without actually calling out her lie and dragging the trial back to a halt.

Kaito:  “How could you forget that, Maki Roll? You better apologize to Shuichi!”

Maki:  “…Excuse me?”

Shuichi:  “I-It’s okay, Kaito, really. No apology necessary…”

And I love how Kaito is completely oblivious to the fact that they both just lied.

(Again, reminder: Kaito advocates apologising when you’ve genuinely made a mistake.)

Himiko:  “Just like I thought… Tenko wouldn’t commit suicide…”

Gonta:  “…Thank goodness, Himiko.”

Aww, Himiko looks to relieved to hear proof that she’s right to believe in Tenko, having no idea that the “proof” is a lie. And Gonta is so happy, all for her sake. What a good.

---

[Next post]

[exidtotheleft]

The Devil’s Trill | 10

Pairing: Yoongi x Reader

Genre: Musician AU/Fluff

Summary: Min Yoongi is a harsh music critic and judge known for his brutally honest input. When it comes your time to face his judgement, things go down different than you expected. The judge may end up becoming more than just a person to be feared to you.

Chapters: Intro 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Epilogue

"I'm glad that's over with." You commented while stepping out of Yoongi's car and stretching. Because of the time you two ended up hitting the road for Nationals, there had been an extra hour of traffic. You both were glad to finally be out of it. Yoongi popped open his trunk and you followed him, standing behind him before be handed you your small suitcase and violin case. "Thank you sir." You joked, putting the wheels of your luggage on the ground.

"No problem." He responded while closing the trunk. "Let's check in." You followed him as you both walked to the front lobby of the hotel. The side of town you were in was very high class. The hotel you had decided on just fell short of 5 stars and that was evident when you walked through the glass front of the building. Everything was pristine and made out of regal canvasses. Just as you had expected.

You looked around the lobby, taking in the waterfall feature that was against one wall, and the glass chandelier that lit up the couches below it. The marble floors and counter tops made you feel unworthy to even breath this air. You were brought back down to earth when you saw the woman behind the desk hand Yoongi two room keys from the corner of your eye. Yoongi looked at you before heading towards the elevators. "What floor are we on?"

"The fifth." You looked at the buttons on the elevator wall once he had answered your question. There were 7 total floors so you would be pretty close to the top. "We have a balcony right?" You asked, looking at him as he pushed the button with a "5" printed on it. "Yep." "Good. I like having a balcony when you're that high up." The elevator stopped and the doors opened. You both walked down the carpeted hall and stopped at your door that was mid-hallway. Yoongi slid the card into the lock and looked at you before opening it. "Here we are. Is it every thing you ever dreamed of?" Yoongi asked once you were passed the entrance into the well sized room.

"If by that you mean 'was it worth the eighty dollars I had to pay to get it,' then yes. I would pay it again." You said while leaving your small suitcase next to Yoongi's in the corner of the room. "I call this bed." You declared before throwing yourself on the queen sized bed closest to the balcony. 

"You can have it." Yoongi agreed before sitting on the bed beside it that was separated by a nightstand. "I'll gladly take this one." You laid on your newly selected bed and looked at the white ceiling above you.

"What time is it?" You asked, turning your head to look at him. It couldn't have been too late. "It's..." Yoongi looked at the electronic watch on his wrist. "It's only 4:37. We've got some time to kill. What time do you normally sleep?" "It depends on the night, honestly. But I normally doze off after ten." "We've got a lot of time then." "Did you want to walk around town or something then? We still have day light." "I actually had something in mind." Yoongi said while standing up. You sat up as well. "What is it?" "There's an art museum that I want to go to that's not far from here. It has a lot of Monet's work."

"Really?!" You mused, practically jumping to your feet. "I love Monet. He's definitely my favorite classical artist." "You want to go?" "Of course." You agreed.

Both of you wasted no time to get to Yoongi's car. You just let him lead you to his car, and open the passenger door for you. You chuckled at that. "You don't need to be so classy." "It's just polite." He corrected before you stepped into the car and sat before he shut the door behind you. You smiled as he crossed in front of the car. He really was adorable.

Yoongi sat next to you and started his car, backing out of the parking spot and driving out onto the main road. "I'm surprised you didn't offer to take me to a symphony or something."  "I wouldn't take you to a symphony." "Why not?" "Aren't you a little tired of music right now? It's been your entire life for a while now. Also, Symphonies with me are no fun, I just comment on everything. The judge in me never rests." "Well, yeah, I didn't think about that. I probably still wouldn't have cared too much though. I like hearing your input. Even if it's not directed towards me. I can still learn from it." "God...you're so humble. Show a little pride sometime would ya'?"

"Sorry." You laughed quietly. "I just, I really hated it growing up when musicians I would compete against were prideful, like Stacy was. Even if i only beat her once, there was always others that I could beat in every division and they would still think they were the best, you know? I never wanted to end up like that. So I take every chance I can to learn from someone else."

"I never knew that about you." He admitted, veering off at the end of his sentence for a moment. "That's just how the music industry is. Pride gets you places. That's how I got where I am." You sighed softly, you knew he was right. As disappointing as it was.

"Yeah. I've noticed that. But, it's easy to do what everyone else does, and I like a challenge. If getting to the top of something or becoming the best means being a complete asshole then, I don't want to be the best. I'll find my own way, climb my own latter." You rambled while leaning your elbow on the window seal, staring at the the scenery that passed by before adding onto what you had just admitted. "You know, you had me pissed after that first playing test." You lifted your head up a bit, looking at him as he drove. He smiled.

"I know. I got that feeling." "I wanted to hear so much from you! I was ready to go in there and get my ass handed to me by the one and only Min Yoongi but instead, I impressed him." "You sure did." "I thought I was gonna learn so much about my playing that day." "Have I not taught you a lot?" "I mean, yeah you have but. Not the way I had hoped." "Oh so you didn't want me as your teacher." "Oh shut up! You know what I mean."

Yoongi laughed. "Yeah, yeah. I just gotta give you a hard time." You sucked in one of your cheeks and looked away back out your window. A beat of silence passed by before you added one more thing.

"I still don't think I rushed."

"Ahh." Yoongi yelled playfully, as if he had been waiting for that comment. "I knew you would say that again!" "I know I didn't rush!" "Yeah. You're right." "What?!" You yelled. He had lied?

"Calm down I'm trying to drive!" He yelled back as a joke. "You didn't rush. I just wanted to see how you handled pressure. That's why I liked you so much. People say I'm never wrong and that I'm some music god you can never talk back to. I hear it all the time. But you did anyway and that's why I liked you. You're gutsy, but you don't bite off more than you can chew or whatever. Hell, at this point I'm convinced you could chew anything if that's the case." You giggled. You couldn't believe he had lied and never told you until now, months after the whole thing passed. You realized now that, he wasn't always right. Sometimes he was purposely wrong.

You watched in silence out the window again, a small smile on your lips. You rode in silence the rest of the way, just observing the buildings and scenery as it passed by. It wasn't an awkward silence either. It was comfortable. There was no unsaid words between the two of you, both happy with the silence. You looked up from your window when you felt him stop the car to turn, looking to where he was turning into. "Is this it?" You asked, sitting up.

"Yep." Yoongi confirmed while pulling into a parking place and turning off the engine if his vehicle. You stepped out and looked at the building. There were various statues around the lawn, and the building was a dreamy cream hue. The exterior itself was a work of art.

You walked with him toward the white building and up the marble staircase that lead to the front entrance. There were security guards standing at the base of the stair case and at the front door. You knew a museum was good when security was high, so seeing this just made you more excited. "How much does this cost?" You asked, a bit concerned. How much more was he about to spend on you? "Don't worry about that." He said simply before opening the door for you. You looked at him before stepping past the glass door and immediately looking up. The ceilings were higher than any building you had ever been in before. Yoongi followed in behind you and went to pay for admission while you just looked around the front room. There wasn't any art in this room, but to the left and right of you were long hallways, the walls littered with history and different masterpieces. You could see huge works at the end of each hall on the facing wall. The amount of art was incredible. You had a feeling you wouldn't be leaving for a long time if you got to see every piece here.

As you stared down one hallway, Yoongi came into your field of vision, your eyes focused on him as he stood next to you. "Where to first? Did you want to see Monet?" "I want to see that last." You corrected quickly. "Best for last?" "Grand finale." Yoongi looked down and smiled. "Alright," He nodded. "I asked where the Monet room was and its the last room down there." He pointed to the hall on the right. "So, let's start at the end of the other hall and work our way down." "Sounds good." You agreed before both of you walked down the left hallway, heading toward the art work that seemed to take up the entire wall.

You looked at smaller pieces as you passed by, not focusing on them yet. But your sights were mostly set on the piece that took up the whole wall at the end of the hallway. It was beautiful, and you were watching the detail form on it as you got closer. "It's always amazed me that a piece of art could be so big. How can you plan something out that big, and keep it proportional. It's amazing." Yoongi didn't say anything in response, but he agreed internally before the two of you stopped before the piece on the wall. You recognized it as a part of a large fresco. Imported from Italy.

"You know art is funner to look at if you don't take it totally serious." You looked at him with raised eyebrows, that wasn't a comment you expected from him. "What do you mean?" "Come on, don't tell me you never looked at classical art and laughed at it." You looked away from him and shrugged. "Yeah. You're right." "Don't worry about being totally serious around me all the time. I'm not your teacher or pianist today. I'm just—" "Yeah, you're my date." You joked cutting him off. He glanced up at you with his eyes for a moment before crossing his arms with a sigh and tilting his head, nodding once. Like he had been caught thinking that, but it wasn't what he was going to say.

"Yeah. Exactly." You laughed a bit more at his reaction and pushed his shoulder lightly before walking off to a much smaller painting. He watched you walk away before he went to the opposite wall. You both took your time looking at whatever had caught your eye and flagging each other over when you wanted the other to see something. There wasn't too many people there at the moment, so you weren't too worried about disturbing others as you two did your own thing, not watching the volume of your voice unless someone would walk into the room you were in.

You continued doing this for all the rooms and hallways you entered. Sometimes staying next to each other and looking at the same things, but not always. You were starting to realize that the two of you had different taste in artists. You liked the more scenic art from the impressionism era. Like Monet and Degas. While Yoongi seemed to like more abstract works, like Picasso's. When you both walked into the room with abstract paintings and really odd sculptures, Yoongi seemed content. But to you, you were getting a headache. "Why do you like abstract so much?" "Its really incredible once you can come to terms with it. Look." Yoongi lead you over to a painting. To you it just looked like a bunch of over lapping squares and lines with splashed of color. But to Yoongi, not so much. "Look, the title tells you what its supposed to be. It says here its named 'The work of the Devil,' which is pretty dark but, look closer." Yoongi went quiet for a moment and focused on the canvas before him. You watched him as he took in the details of the painting. He always looked so serious when he focused. It was almost like his profile become stronger when he was zoning in on something. You had noticed that he often tilts his back and to the side a bit when he was thinking. It was a cute little habit that he had, you could always tell when he was considering doing or saying something.

He looked at you for a moment, catching your stare. You looked away from him and smiled, letting out a small laugh. He really was adorable. "Look here," He started. "This is a pitch fork." He pointed toward a box towards the top of a canvas that had three dark red lines down the center. "And this is the staff that holds the fork." He pointed to a skinny box that colored black and was off set from the three lines above it. He continued to point out more thing, like the pigs and goats that were scattered about and the parts of the devil that were separated. "Are you seeing it now?"

"I guess. I think this is more of your thing, not mine. I think you're just a bit crazy." "Well then, what's this?" He asked before pointing to something that looked like the side of a familiar instrument. "It looks like the side of a violin, or a viola." "It probably is, here's the scroll." He pointed to the corner of the canvas. "Okay but why can't the scroll just be on the violin." "That's just what the artist wanted." You sighed and shook your head slowly. "I still am not sure how you got all of that from this." "Well I can tell you that I know it's a Violin because the Violin is the devil's instrument." "Oh, I guess I didn't think about that." "People think Paganini wrote his Caprices while possessed." "I know that story. I don't think he was possessed though. I just think the devil may have given him the ability to play them. I mean we know there was something wrong with his hands. I think that was the work of the devil."

"Yeah I could see that." The two of you stopped and just looked for the painting silently again before you both turned to look at something else. "I'm gonna go to the next room." You announced while wondering off. Yoongi stayed behind, looking at other pieces in that room quickly before catching up with you.

You had covered a lot of ground at this point, you were only a few rooms away from the Monet room. You and him stayed next to one another for the rest of the time. Not going your own ways to look at what caught your attention, your eyes looked at the same things.

When you walked through the final hallway to the Monet room, you couldn't help the smile that pulled at your lips. "I'm excited for this." You informed, looking at him. "I can tell." When you walked into the large room through the archway, you looked around, not at one thing in particular but at everything before starting at the painting closest to your right. Yoongi stood next to you again as you stepped closer to it. "I've always wanted to see these." You whispered to yourself. Yoongi stepped to the side to look at the painting next to you, you joined him a moment after. The both of you continued to chase each other like this until you got to the center of the room. There was a piece larger than the others. It was a garden painting, which was not unusual for Monet. It was a really busy painting, the flowers were very colorful and seemed mushed together. It didn't seem very detailed. As if the size of it had taken away from the precision of his work.

"You know what I like most about Monet?" "What?" You asked, looking up at him. "It reminds me of music." You scoffed playfully. He always had to relate the situation to something.

"How?" "Well when you get the sheet music for the first time, it's pretty rough, trying to figure things out. And the way you play it at first isn't always what you end with. It's like, if you take a step back," he said before stepping back a few steps. "And really listen, look at the music a new way. It all comes together." You watched him stepped back as he explained himself. "C'mere." He said in a low tone, waving you over with his finger as he said so. You moved to where he was slowly, then turned around. Looking at the piece from further back. He was right.

When you step back and look at it from a distance, the things that looked without detail aligned, and the colors begin to compliment more so. The whole thing falls into place, where it should be. You turned your head slowly, looking at all the pieces from where you stood in the room. They really did look more complete when you were farther away. When your eyes finished scanning the room, you looked back to what was in front of you. And it was in that moment, something happened you never would have anticipated. It seemed like a lot of unexpected things were happening today, but this was different.

As you looked ahead, you felt a familiar hand in yours. You turned your eyes to look down at your hand, seeing Yoongi awkwardly fitting his palm in yours. It wasn't a very romantic way he gone about it. He didn't intertwine your fingers, he grabbed your hand the way he had the other day to calm you down during awards, like he didn't know what else to do. Without looking at him, you slowly went the extra bit. Turning your hand and intertwining your fingers with his. He didn't resist at all, his fingers melted into yours.

"I was afraid that might be too much." He admitted innocently, turning his head and looking at you. You looked over at him as well. "No. Not at all." You replied in a hushed tone to match his. You locked eyes for a moment before he looked away and started walking toward the next painting. You followed closely, keeping your two hands laced together. Neither of you wanted to let go of each other. Being by one another like this took the pressure off of both of you. It brought you back to what he had said to you last night, about how even if you didn't win, that you had already won him. Also all the compliments he showered you with and just over all everything he does for you. Everything Namjoon said came back you too.

You had told Namjoon that you didn't know if you liked him or not and you were telling the truth. But this was the moment when that all changed. This was the first time you saw him as something more than just a mentor or a friend. In that moment, he become your romantic interest. "I think we've seen it all." Yoongi concluded, looking down at you as you walked out of the Monet section of the museum and back down the long hallway. "Ready to go back?" He asked, keeping his eyes on you. You looked up at him and nodded, your hands still locked together.

Once you walked out of the building, you mentally came to the conclusion that you both just didn't know when to let go, in fear that it may be awkward after. "When do we let go?" You asked innocently, making Yoongi chuckle. "Whenever you want to. I do have to drive though, and we both kind have to let go to get in the car." "That is true." You said, reluctantly and slowly sliding your hand out from under his grasp. It felt kind of nice if you were honest. You're palms had gotten sweaty from the contact and the air hitting them was a refreshing feeling.

You opened the door to Yoongi's car and slid into the front seat, glancing up at him as he closed the door and turned on the engine. "Did you enjoy that?" He asked before backing out of his parking spot. “Yeah. I had never been to an art museum before. I had always been interested though." "I've been to a few. I'm glad I got to this one though." "Yeah..." You agreed, another silence following.

Yoongi decided he would take a different way back to the hotel. Driving up and down different streets so you could both get a look at the town you were in to kill more time. It was a really scenic area. You couldn't wait to see it from your balcony once you got back to your hotel room. You kept that in the front of your mind as Yoongi drive back into the hotel parking lot.

Once you were both out of the car and were on your way to the room, you were excited to step onto the balcony. There is nothing wrong with living for and finding joy in the small things. The feeling you got from standing on a balcony at sunset was one of those small things.

As soon as the door to the room was open, you headed straight for the balcony door. The sun was just about to dip below the horizon and you didn't want to miss it. You put your hand on the handle and turned to look at Yoongi before you opened it. "Did you want to come too?" You offered. He shrugged.

"I'll meet you out there in a minute." You turned around again and stepped down onto the floor of the balcony. You leaned your forearms on the ledge of the railing and rested your chin on top of them. Smiling to yourself and squinting as you looked at the colors that filled the sky over the view of the city. For a moment, you forgot why you were even there. You forgot about the competition and lived in the moment until the sun was almost entirely gone.

You heard the door behind you open with a click. You turned your head to see the man you came with step next to you. "I know I told you yesterday that you were beautiful, but that's even more true when you're watching the sky like this." "What's with you and all the flattery lately?" You asked, looking up at him.  "'Just a compliment." He replied smartly. You rolled your eyes and took a step back, sitting on an iron chair that was placed on the balcony.

Yoongi looked up for a moment at the stars that were gradually forming before doing what you did and sitting on the second chair that was on the balcony. They were only separated by a small iron table.

"Are the nerves getting to you yet?" He asked, not looking at you. You were looking up at the dimly lit stars as well. "I'm not nervous anymore." You admitted, looking away from the sky and at him. "Why?" You hesitated for a moment to answer. Butterflies hitting your stomach when Yoongi looked at you. "Because of, what you said last night. About how I already won you." "Is that all you wanted?" "Not all. I still want to win. I really want to win. But if I don't, I still have you, and to me that feels like the thing I needed out of this whole thing." You admitted, looking away. You didn't want to look at him as you admitted all of this. "Damn." You heard him whisper. "I didn't think this would have happened like this." "What would happen like this?" "Just, us." Yoongi shrugged. "When I first picked you up, I just wanted to teach you that piece and be done. I didn't think I would get this...involved."  "I didn't think so either..." You both admitted, a beat of silenced passed before he spoke again.

"You really are amazing. I'm glad I met you the way I did." "Me too..." You looked at him again. You couldn't see each other well because of the dim setting of night. Which took the nerves off of you a bit.

"Hey Yoongi?" You asked, taking a breath. "Was I all you wanted?" You repeated the question he asked you before. You saw him swallow and look away before he nodded. "You're, all I want now. I don't care if we win tomorrow or not. You've given me what I wanted. You're more important than any award or amount of money they can give us."

You stayed facing him, but looked down with your eyes. "I don't know what to say to that, I—" "You don't have to say anything to that. Just know that it's true." You looked up again as he spoke, meeting eyes again. Yoongi's normal stoic expression was on his face, but it faded into a small smile and he looked away before speaking again. "I didn't want to do this. But you're making it way too hard for me not to." He said in a low voice before looking back at you and slipped a hand behind your neck, moving his face closer to yours. You looked down at his lips and up into his eyes again. Your own lips were parted from surprise. "Do you mind?" He asked quietly, respecting what you may have to say. You shook your a small amount.

"Not at all." You allowed, and he slowly but firmly planted his lips on top of your own. It was a sweet kiss, neither of you rushing anything and had no intention of taking anything further at the moment. Your hand met his own that was on the table separating you. You gently slide your fingers between his as his hand remained flat. He pulled away for a short moment, only to kiss you again just at more of an angle. He pulled away after a few seconds, but kept his face close.

"I wasn't gonna do this until after the competition so I didn't distract you." He admitted, both of your eyes were still shut as you hovered close to each other's faces. "You had been planning this?" You asked. "Not planning, but, I've wanted to do this for a while now."

You chuckled a bit. "I know." You admitted, knowing it would confuse him. "What do you mean?" "Namjoon told me." You said before leaning forward and kissing his bottom lip, quickly pulling back. "Is that what was going on at the party?" "Yep." Yoongi sighed through his nose. "I never even told any of them because I didn't want to hear them tease me about it. I swear, some of them know me better than I know myself."

"I'm glad he told me though, because it got me thinking. At the party he asked me if I liked you or not and I told him that I didn't know because I really didn't. I thought I felt something for you, but I denied it because I was scared of what you would think. But, after he told me that he thought you liked me, I started to realize that he was probably right. Then today at the museum, was when I stopped denying myself." "So this isn't unrequited?" "No. I like you too." "Oh miss me with that 'I like you,' talk, this isn't junior high. Do you love me?" "...yes." You confessed. Yoongi smiled for a small second before leaning in even closer than he already was.

"Then we both won already. I love you too." He declared before kissing you kindly again. You pulled away after a few seconds. "Hold on." You said before standing up. Yoongi took his hand off the back of your neck and watched you as you stepped closer to him and sat on the iron table that had been between you. It was a bit uncomfortable having to lean over to each other the way you were.

Without another word, you slid your arms around his neck and his hands went gently around your waist to hold you closer before tilting his head and kissing you deeper than the last few times. There was more force coming from him, which you returned by slipping your hand into his hair to hold him to you.

After a few minutes of this and things were beginning to get pretty heated. Yoongi's hand traveled down slowly from your waist and landed on your thigh. You had been wearing a skirt so you found the contact with your bare skin (and the easy access) a little alarming. Your hand slid quickly from around his neck and onto the hand that was on your thigh. You pulled back, stopping things from going any further. "We should probably go back inside..." You ended, your hand letting go of his hair.

"Sorry." Yoongi apologized while taking his hand off your thigh and the other off your waist. "I wasn't thinking straight." "It's alright." You assured while standing. Yoongi followed you as you turned to to the door to the balcony and stepped inside.

[iguana012]

Japanese Nats: The Aftermath

This recap is almost 3 weeks late but fwiw I judged the event on The Judges’ Table. If you’re interested in my (serious) opinions about the competition, you can read them there. If you’re interested in my less censored opinions, I will include as much as I can in this post. 

So what happened is that Japan crowned their tiniest champions ever, Satoko Miyahara (her 3rd title) and Shoma Uno (his 1st title). But some people were less interested in that and more interested in receiving updates on Yuzuru Hanyu’s recovery after he decided to withdraw from the competition in order to prioritize his health, thus generating earthquakes among his sensitive fans. Other people (those who attended the competition) went just to see Mao Asada but they were polite enough not to get up and empty the arena while Mao wasn’t skating unlike what happened at the Sochi Olympics when Evgeni Plushenko withdrew from the men’s event. 

Now I’m not pretending to be some advocate of justice and I’m not intending to preach. But I believe this is a good opportunity to highlight frequent problems in the skating fandom so you won’t be tempted to fall into their traps. 

DISCLAIMER: I do realize I’m already in a very high risk of getting attacked by some Yuzu fans via anon asks or salty replies/reblogs but I’m gonna say this again: it’s okay if you’re not into my kind of “��””humor”””. You can ignore me and I promise I won’t get a boo-boo. GETTING TO THE SUBJECT NOW!

THE LADIES EVENT aka Game Of Thrones

Satoko Miyahara waltzed into this event giving negative fucks and the results showed: when she gives negative fucks, that 3Lz-3T combo in the second half of her SP is miraculously rotated. As a consequence she got 76 for her program and further established her new position as one of the most overscored skaters currently competing (don’t believe me? Ask the Russian ubers and Mao ubers). I also thought “damn, this empty program actually looks nice when neither she nor I have to worry about rotations”. But the key here is to make the program look like that when you give a lot of fucks as opposed to negative fucks, and Mie Hamada knew that. So the next day before Satoko skated her FS, Hamada annoyed the crap out of her and pressured her as a strategy to make her get used to skating clean when she gives a lot of fucks, such as when she’s thinking she’s gotta get a medal in a relevant event, including the Olympics. For now, Satoko is still failing that test because she had a step-out on the 3Lz-3T combo and a couple of carrots. 

Wakaba Higuchi finally - I repeat - FINALLY skated a clean short program and it was so adorable to see her get all excited and happy about it. Except it wasn’t a squeaky-clean program because she got a wrong edge call on her flip. What can ya do, if ya got a good lutz ya gotta lip and when ya got a good flip ya gotta flutz. She’s gonna have to follow Satoko’s example and replace that lip with a loop and be done with it. Other than that, damn this girl got huge jumps. Everyone loves some huge jumps. However, the disadvantage of huge jumps is that you gotta have very good control of the landing and you have to know how to manage your speed, when to speed up, when to slow down, otherwise you’re doomed to pull a Midori Ito and land your jumps over the cameraman outside the boards. (Have you imagined Evgenia Medvedeva landing one of her 3-3-3 combos on Tarasova’s table cause I did and I cracked myself up really). 

Another skater who is fast as crap and has great technique on top of that is Mai Mihara who won the bronze medal and got herself a ticket to Worlds. Just a year ago around this time she was watching Nationals on TV from a hospital bed having been diagnosed with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. Doesn’t that make a great Cinderella story? She is, actually, skating to Cinderella but her style is still stuck somewhere on the road between junior and senior (she was pretty good as a junior but I didn’t like her skating then and I’m not necessarily warming up now) but she seems like a very sweet girl and if there’s anyone who deserved going to Worlds aside from Satoko and Wakaba, it’s this young lady. 

Marin Honda is another skater who finally - I repeat - FINALLY skated a clean short program after burying herself in competitions right from the start. The poor girl has been under so much constant pressure this season I feel like she’s always on the verge of having an emotional breakdown. It’s not only the fact that she’s cried a number of times after her performances, but this season she always looked like she was terrified of her results no matter how she skated. I’m not a fan of either of her programs this season (SP is similar to last season’s and the FS is a hot mess combo of Yuzuru’s Romeo & Juliet 1 and 2) but she has excellent skating skills, musicality, expression, projection to the audience for her age. She doesn’t have the best jump technique but she is one of the few lucky ones with a clean lutz AND flip. After a smooth short program, a popped jump in the free prevented her from stepping onto the podium but that’s how it is in competition; it’s not about what you’re able to do, it’s about what you end up doing when it counts. 

Rika Hongo has been in serious trouble ever since the beginning of this season - or maybe as far as the previous Nationals - and the worst case scenario happened. She finished 5th and now the juniors ahead of her are old enough to go to Worlds in her place. While she was 2nd in the SP with the best performance of the season, she went down to 6th in the FS and finished 5th overall despite bringing back Riverdance, a program that worked for her last year. Unfortunately the spark, the freedom and the joy that was present last season was absent in this competition as she was very nervous even before she took the ice. 

Yuna Shiraiwa on the other hand... I’m only going to say this. Clean 3Lz-3T and (second half) 3F-3T combos in the FS. No UR calls. Highest TES (71.74) of the evening. She’s the real MVP in Hamada’s team. 

THE OLD(ER) GENERATION

This was Mao Asada’s worst result at Nationals but instead of having retirement thoughts (like she had last season at Nationals even though she skated better), she’s still determined to come back stronger next season. An old knee injury prevented her from landing the 3A and rotating a lot of her jumps but at this point she’s obviously not skating for the medals as much as she’s skating for herself. No skater wants to leave the competitive world with regrets so who are we to judge Mao’s decision to continue in spite of physical difficulties? With Yuzuru absent due to influenza, most fans attended the competition to see Mao and it was obvious just counting the number of flowers that were thrown on the ice for her compared to the other skaters. 

Redemption from Kanako Murakami, who is also nearing the end of her career but managed to deliver the first clean FS she’s skated in ages. That’s all she wanted from this competition, she got it, and she awarded the audience with her signature Kanako Smile.

Painful competition for Haruka Imai, former Japanese Jr National Champion and 4th at the 2014 4CC. No GP assignments this season, she was plagued by inflammation of her hips and knees but she fought to land the 3Lz and 3F. This was also the first time we got to see one of her new programs (the FS, which is Primavera by Einaudi) and she’s still beautiful to watch. 

SHOMA UNO & CO.

It was kind of depressing to watch the men’s event this year because only a couple of years ago it was the fiercest event at Nationals. Keiji Tanaka seized his chance to grab onto the silver medal while Takahito Mura’s bronze was (once again) useless - as harsh as it sounds. Shoma wasn’t at his best here but he showed that he learned a new lesson (tag a 3T to a different jump if you screw up one of your planned combos!!) and he came out of this alive and well. The added pressure of having to “live up to expectations” in the absence of Olympic King Zuzu was another thing he suddenly had to put up with (good job Fuji). But there’s an old saying; “better here than at Worlds”. 

CONTROVERSIES 

While Satoko and Shoma are the tiniest champions Japan has ever had, they’re also the most criticized. They both have to skate under the shadows of two skating giants, Mao and Yuzuru, who have hoards of fans. Among those hoards of fans there are ubers, people who have made a habit out of bashing their favorite skaters’ successors. In Japan there already are Mao ubers whose jobs are to tear Satoko apart and the disease has long spread worldwide. You can see it on forums, you can see it on comment sections of YouTube videos, you can even hear it on television (looking at you Simon Reed). People who write passive-aggressive, sarcastic remarks, calling Satoko names and whatnot. Shoma gets similar (though mellower) treatment from overseas fans, but not from Japanese fans, possibly due to the fact that he’s a Daisuke Takahashi fan so most of Dai’s fans are now supporting him. 

These two young skaters (and not only) deserve all the support in the world. It’s not easy to become Japan’s supporting pillar and leading lady after the great Mao Asada, but Satoko is doing an incredible job. Appreciate more, bash less. Don’t let the judges cloud your judgement. There’s also a massive amount of PR in figure skating; Mao has so many sponsors you can see her in commercials, you can see fluff videos about her because that’s what the general audience wants. She’s been advertised as a child prodigy (which she was) and people consider her part of their family. Satoko doesn’t benefit from that kind of treatment so people tend to be cold and judgmental towards her because she’s nothing compared to Mao-chan (oh dear those jumps, oh dear the way she bends her knee, oh dear her face). 

Recently Marin Honda has been getting the “heir of Mao” treatment, getting sponsorship from JAL, shooting CMs for Ghana and stuff. I feel like I have to point out the fact that all of her siblings, including herself, are managed by a hugely influential management company. If you’re into Japanese entertainment, you might have heard of it. It’s called Oscar Promotion and it’s a talent agency whose famous names include actresses Emi Takei, Aya Ueto and Ayame Gouriki. She’s been promoted and modeled by a talent agency since she was a young child so she’s an expert at working with the camera, the audience and the reporters. As a result she’s also been gathering - well, pretty scary fans who are downright infatuated with her and will start arguments if you dare criticize her. Similar to idol group fans, I’d say. 

But this is figure skating and crack commentaries aside we’re talking about real, young people with feelings who are training every day from dawn till dusk, who get injured, who sacrifice their childhood and adolescence. We’re also talking about real fans behind the computer screen who like who they like and no one person is entitled to criticize or ridicule the things that make them happy. At the same time, no one is entitled to attack fans who criticize your favorite skater(s) as long as they bring valid arguments and they’re polite about it. And no one is entitled to attack another fan whose way of seeing or perceiving things is either more or less intense than yours. Be nice to each other. #PEACE