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mystical-flute · 3 months ago

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Checkered: Chapter 5

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Sometimes, it felt like she couldn’t tell the Big Five anything without it turning into an ordeal. Case in point, the Big and Young Fives being gathered after an offhand comment Reika made to Lector about meeting Margareta Liebehenschel. It was the middle of the evening, but she really just wanted to go home - she’d driven to the Manor on her own for a reason.

“SchroderCorp is going into gaming too?” Lector asked, raising a brow at Reika later that night. “What an… interesting development. We already have quite the relationship with them, and here they are again, like an annoying mosquito that won’t seem to quit.”

“You’d know all about those wouldn’t you, Alden? Given those mosquitos in Louisiana you always talk about,” Crump snorted, a nauseating sound that made Reika question when the last time he’d blown his nose was. “Miss Liebehenschel is the daughter of SchroderCorp’s CFO. I have spoken with him multiple times. He is a very serious man, but one who likes to talk, and it’s rather difficult to get him to stop when alcohol is involved. I think I can get some good information out of him about this new turnover.”

“See to it that you do, Crump,” Gansley said. “We need to know if we need to remind SchroderCorp why it has always been second place, and why it will remain so even as the changeovers continue.”

Johnson adjusted his glasses. “The good news, at least, is that both of the Kaibas have already made waves with other major companies. We won’t be seeing Mister von Schroder making a deal with Pegasus for holographic gaming technology, for example. But yes… it is always so much fun to put them in their place.”

There was danger in his tone, and it sent a shiver down Reika’s spine, concealed by her turning away briefly to grab her alcoholic drink off the table next to her, sending a silent apology to Margareta in the process. She may have done the right thing for KaibaCorp as a whole, but what was the personal cost? Margareta hadn’t done anything but talk to her - she hadn’t threatened KaibaCorp, she hadn’t forced Reika to spill any secrets… why did SchroderCorp need any sort of reminder of their place in the world?

To her right, she saw Hideo frown into his own drink. Was she not the only one who thought the Big Five went too far sometimes?

“Good work, Reika. You’ve given us something else to work on besides that stupid amusement park,” Nezbit said, his face barely concealing rage before he took a long drink of his Manhattan.

“Yes, very well done. SchroderCorp won’t know what hit it,” Gansley agreed. “But we must be patient, and striking so quickly will backfire on us. Waiting until they manage to accomplish something is in our best interest.”

They were patient men, which worried her. As she’d gotten older, and with Gozaburo’s death, she had really been soured on the brutality of the business world, to the point where she wasn’t sure if she wanted to stick around. Maybe she should look more seriously at Tokyo, instead of Kyoto. A little distance might be for the best…

“Hey guys! C’mon, let’s go dance!” Noah said, peering into the room. “They finished the silent auction and now the orchestra’s playing. No one seems to want to dance though, so I figured we should start it off, right?”

“A marvelous idea, Master Noah,” Lector said, his lips curling into a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes and had another spike of worry streak down her spine. Had Seto weakening their power started to make them crack?

Still, she followed the others out of the room.

“Shall we?” Seto asked. “The others have already paired up, and Katsuo already found his girlfriend.”

She smiled softly. “Well then, I suppose we shall.”

His touch was featherlight as they moved through the crowd, just two people (not a couple) following the rules of ballroom dancing. He led, she followed, and after a few moments of KaibaCorp’s next generation leading the way, the floor filled with other couples joining in on the fun.

But while Seto and Reika were fooling the adults and other guests in the room, there was one person that could see right through the charade:

Mokuba Kaiba.

“Have you been practicing Canon in D?” Reika asked a few weeks later, her school bag on her shoulders as she swept into Kaiba Manor’s large music room. The room only seemed to get bigger as she got older - maybe it was a reminder that she was planning to make a career out of music?

Mokuba nodded and grinned. “Yeah, I sure have! Do you want to listen to it?”

“Well, as your teacher, I think that’s rather important,” she said with a grin, taking a seat on the bench next to him. “Whenever you’re ready.”

Mokuba might not have been as outwardly passionate as Seto and Noah when it came to science and computers, but he loved the lessons with her, which made her incredibly happy. The whole reason she’d asked Gozaburo for the chance to teach him piano was because she’d seen the way Gozaburo ignored him in favor of the elder Kaiba brothers. She hadn’t been able to stand it.

Gozaburo had simply seen it as Reika paying a debt to him; one she hadn’t realized she’d even had. He had paid for the music lessons the Young Five had received as children, but she hadn’t anticipated being in debt to him. As much as she’d enjoyed teaching Mokuba, it had been nice to know the weight of Gozaburo Kaiba was off her shoulders. Now, she and Mokuba could simply enjoy themselves, which was what Reika always felt music should be.

“I think you’re going to be a really good music teacher in the future, Reika,” Mokuba said, which broke her out of her thoughts. “Do you know what you’re going to play for your university auditions?”

“Something from Bach, I think, but I don’t want to even think about that until I sit my exams and have my results back. Your brothers are lucky they don’t have to worry about this sort of thing.”

Mokuba laughed. “High school sucks, huh?”

“You can say that again. At least I can try and keep an eye on Yugi this year. Make sure no one bothers him.”

“Oh yeah? How are you doing that?”

She pretended to be fascinated with dirt under her nails. “I just reminded a new classmate of his what happens when he messes with someone with ties to KaibaCorp, that’s all.”

“That’s awesome! I bet he learned his lesson!”

Reika gave him a gentle smile as Canon in D began to fill the room. “I sure hope so. Elbows in, Mokuba.”

Mokuba shifted, adjusting his posture. “I watched some videos of this song last night. It’s used a lot in Western weddings.”

Reika hummed. “So I’ve heard.”

“Do you want to get married?”

Reika furrowed her brow and shrugged. What a strange conversation to be having with a thirteen year old boy. “I don’t know. Maybe one day.”

“To Seto?”

That got her attention, and her eyes widened. Mokuba didn’t notice her surprise, and instead kept his eyes on the sheet music in front of him.

“What are you talking about, Mokuba?”

“I saw you and Seto in the garden the night of the silent auction. Don’t worry - Noah and the Big Five didn’t see. I made sure of it.”

It was better knowing the Big Five hadn’t seen them, but knowing Mokuba had, well, it still left her a little uneasy as she tried to think of what to say to him.

“Everything regarding our relationship is too new. I don’t know if we even put a name on it yet,” she said. “There is more to your brother than he lets on, but still, it’s only been a couple of weeks. And besides, technically my school frowns upon relationships. Neither of us are ready for anything to be public.”

Mokuba frowned. “That’s a stupid rule.”

She smiled weakly. “Very much so. Now come on, finish Canon in D and I’ll let you read a new piece of music. This time it’s from one of your favorite video games.”

And that was all Mokuba needed to straighten his posture again, the conversation dropped, and hopefully, for good.

-----

Yugi was scared.

One moment, he was writhing on the ground in pain, listening to Ushio start another round of violence against Joey and Honda, and the next, he was standing upright, clutching the completed Millennium Puzzle and watching Ushio play in a pile of leaves and dirt and seemingly completely oblivious to what he was doing. His body still ached, but he wasn’t bleeding anymore which he supposed was a good thing.

“Wha - what happened?” he whispered, looking at Joey and Honda with wide eyes. He didn’t trust his voice right now, didn’t trust that the bile in his throat wouldn’t swallow him whole.

“Dunno. There was a flash of gold light when you finished that puzzle, and then all of a sudden Ushio was like that. Maybe you were right about that puzzle being magical,” Joey said with a shrug and a wince.

“We can talk about it later. Right now, we need to get out of here,” Honda said, hissing in pain as he clutched at his shoulder. “Ah man, my parents aren’t gonna like this.”

Nor would his, Yugi realized. He didn’t know how he was supposed to explain the scrapes and bruises on his body to his mom and grandpa…

Unless he called in backup.

Yugi staggered to his phone and quickly dialed Reika’s number. Her parents were out of town this weekend - maybe the three of them could crash with her until Sunday, when their wounds were, hopefully, a little less noticeable?

“Hello?”

“R-Reika? It’s Yugi. Can you come and get my friends and I from school?”

He heard a sigh on her end of the line. “It’s seven o’clock, Yugi. What are you and your friends still doing at school?”

“I lost one of my textbooks and I need it for my homework. They came to help me look for it. Just… please can you come get us?”

“Okay, okay. I’m about five minutes away. Wait for me by the gates.”

“My cousin is coming to pick us up,” Yugi said, sliding his phone into his pocket and grabbing his bag. “She’ll be here in five minutes.”

Joey looked at Ushio for just a brief moment before following Yugi to the gates. “Hey Yuge, uh, it ain’t Reika that’s comin’ to get us right? I don’t wanna be put on KaibaCorp’s shit list or something.”

Yugi stared at him in confusion. “Why would Reika be upset with you? It wasn’t you that beat me up. I would be more worried about Ushio.”

Ordinarily, Yugi would be concerned with what the power of the Big Five might do to someone like Ushio, but given what had happened, how he’d completely and utterly disregarded what Yugi had said to him about Honda and Joey, well, Yugi was rather curious… providing anything could happen to Ushio after he suddenly decided he wanted to play in the leaves thinking it was money.

Reika’s dark red sedan hurtled itself around a corner and came to a stop in front of them, the doors unlocking with a click.

“Hi Reika! Thanks for coming to get us!” Yugi said, trying to stop the scrape on his forehead from being too obvious.

“I’m surprised you called anyway, or is this more about your friends?” she asked, brown eyes sharpening as she noticed Joey get into the back seat. “Hello again, Mister Wheeler.”

She was using her Young Five voice. Yugi didn’t hear it often, usually not involved with KaibaCorp or the program, but he’d heard her use it before. A sharp, clipped tone, a look up and down whoever she was speaking to, and her posture perfectly straight. A warning for one to choose their words carefully.

It worked, and Yugi could see worry in Joey’s eyes. “Uhh, hey, nice ta see ya again Reika.”

Reika’s sharp look turned to confusion when a trickle of blood slid down Joey’s forehead “Whoa, okay, what happened here? I thought you guys were just picking up a book Yugi left?”

“Ushio. There was a misunderstanding that Joey and Honda were messing with me, so Ushio… took care of business after school. He demanded payment, twenty-thousand yen, to be brought to him. I didn’t know what to do so I was working on the puzzle and… there was a piece missing so I went back to the school and Ushio ambushed me instead,” Yugi explained.

Reika’s eyes narrowed. “Uh-huh…”

“And… I finished the puzzle and made a wish! For friends! And that’s when Joey and Honda jumped in to try and stop Ushio, but… he got the upper hand, and then… I don’t really know what happened after that. All I know is he’s running around the lot thinking the leaves on the ground is money. That’s why we called you. I was… sort of hoping we could crash at your apartment this weekend? So that way some of the bruises and cuts will start looking better? Please?”

She sighed. “Alright, alright. But I’m going to need you to get permission from all your parents. Yes, Yugi, that includes you. I’ll stop off at your places so each of you can grab an overnight bag.”

“You’d do that? Why?” Joey asked.

Reika shrugged. “I’m gonna be super bored this weekend anyway. Might as well harbor some teens who are trying to avoid telling their parents they got their asses kicked.”

“Hey that’s not fair I got one hit on Ushio!” Joey protested.

Yugi laughed a little. “It was a good hit, from how it sounded.”

Stopping at Honda’s was easy, with both of his parents working late all he needed to do was go inside, feed his dog, pack a bag, and leave.

Joey’s apartment, on the other hand, was a bit strange. He went in the front door, which was normal, but when he came back out, his knuckles were bleeding again, and he left down the fire escape instead of the front door.

“Ah man, Joey’s dad was home,” Honda said with a frown. “The only reason he even got a job was to be able to afford more booze. He’s supposed to be a janitor at KaibaCorp but… I don’t know if he actually does anything. Don’t… tell Joey I said that.”

Yugi saw Reika’s eyes sharpen again, but he shook his head quickly to try and dissuade her from doing anything rash.

Reika relented and poked her head out her window as Joey moved to put his bag in the trunk. “Joey. Open the black box to the left. There’s a first aid kit in there. You can clean up your hand on the way to the game shop.”

“Oh - thanks Reika.”

Looking down at his phone, he let out a small breath of relief. “Gramps is going to be the only one home when we get there. Mom’s at dinner with some friends of hers.” While it was difficult to sneak past Gramps, knowing he had Reika with him made Yugi feel a little more confident in him never finding out about what happened.

“So we go in, I distract him with a conversation, and we leave. Sounds simple enough to me,” Reika said as the car turned onto his street and came to a stop in front of the shop.

“Why Reika! I didn’t expect to see you today!” grandpa said in surprise when they entered the shop, Joey and Honda trailing in behind them. Gramps was closing up the shop as they walked in, the register was empty and most of the overhead shop lights were dark.

Yugi took that opportunity to sneak upstairs to get a bag packed, though he could still hear the conversation as he went.

“Hey gramps, uh, I ran into Yugi as I was driving home from Kaiba Manor. I was giving a lesson to Mokuba. He’s gotten so good!”

Kaiba Manor had always given Yugi a sense of unease. Gozaburo’s eyes had never seemed human, had been felt in every corner of the place, and Noah had only ever come across as a puppet to Yugi. It seemed to be changing now, with Gozaburo gone and Noah using his intellect for a better purpose, but Yugi didn’t know how she managed to still be involved after everything that had come to light, and everything that had yet to. The Young FIve were certainly more brave than he was.

Zipping his overnight bag up, Yugi also grabbed his backpack and put it on his shoulders before going downstairs to join the others, laughter erupting from the quartet he’d left behind just as he entered the room.

“Alright, I’ll see you Sunday night, gramps!”

“You be careful and make sure your homework is done!” Gramps replied, eying the backpack on Yugi’s shoulders.

“I will, I will!” he laughed, following the others out of the shop, the door locking shut behind him.

“There, see? Easy,” Reika said with a grin. “Now, who wants dinner? I can call Hashimoto’s when we get to my place.”

“Hashimoto’s? I ain’t never been there,” Joey said.

“Oh it’s great. They’re mostly known for ramen, but they also sell bowls and soup. Mister Hashimoto has been a family friend since before we were born. He went to the same university as Reika’s dad,” Yugi explained. “And the restaurant isn’t too far from Reika’s apartment, so it shouldn’t take too long for delivery.”

“Sounds good to me! I could go for some ramen!” Honda said. “Don’t worry Joey, we’ll find something you like there.”

“Sure, yeah, uh - alright.”

He could see something change again in Reika’s gaze, but no one said anything, and the trip back to the apartment was quiet, only the radio producing any noise.

After they settled into the apartment and dinner was ordered, Yugi took the puzzle out of his bag and stared at it. Was Honda right? Was the puzzle actually cursed with ancient Egyptian dark magic? Gramps had always said all the Millennium Items were, but Yugi had always written it off as a scary story told to children - Gramps had wasted no time in telling those stories to he and Reika when she’d spent the night at the game shop as a kid. It had been one of the reasons why she’d refused to wear the item gramps had brought back for her, a golden bracelet with the same symbol the puzzle had on it. Yugi couldn’t blame her for not wanting to wear hers seeing that now he had a blank spot in his memory.

“Yugi,” Reika said, sitting down next to him. “Do you remember that promise I made you when we were kids?”

Yugi nodded. “That you didn’t want to wear your bracelet until I solved the puzzle, so we could show them off together.”

She nodded in return and opened her folded hands, revealing the bracelet in her palm. “I’m making you a new promise now. Whatever happened with your puzzle, whatever might happen in the future, we are going to figure it out together. This is not something you have to do alone.”

He smiled and nodded, taking a moment to look at Joey and Honda (and Anzu would be there too, he knew), and felt his heart swell with relief, knowing Reika was right, and he wasn’t alone, not anymore.

Reika took a deep breath and secured the bracelet on her wrist.

Yugi looked at her with bated breath. “So…? Do you feel any different?”

“No… I don’t think so,” Reika replied, looking down at herself and flexing her hands like she’d suddenly start shooting out lasers. “Everything seems normal here.”

He sighed in relief. “Thank goodness. Maybe your bracelet has something different from the puzzle then.”

Reika shrugged. “Maybe.”

----

“Osiris, it is time. A mortal has solved the puzzle and the bracelet is in place.”

Osiris looked at Anubis and nodded solemnly. The Field of Reeds was missing a king, and now, it seemed, it was finally time to right that wrong.

“Fetch Azila then. She knows what must be done.”

Anubis nodded and swept from the room.

#checkered #yugioh #fanfiction

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pain-suffering-even · 2 years ago

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headcanons: Sugimoto Reiji

content warning for murder and mentions of manipulation

Quick headcanons -

Name: Sugimoto Reiji

Age: 31

Gender: Male

DOB/Place: October 28th, 2029 in Sendai, Japan

Rank/Type: S Rank Assassin

Guild/Occupation: Draw Sword Guild Vice Leader

Past Occupation(s): Student at Tokyo university

Skills:

Weapons: Dagger

Family: Kato Miyoko (mom) (alive)

Sugimoto Jiro (dad) (alive)

Core headcanons -

Hidden talent: Good with the cello, guitar, and ukulele

Favorite food: Coconut cream cake

What motivates them: Feeling responsible for the guild and the team, wanting to please Matsumoto, his internal feelings of right and wrong which are questionable sometimes,

Treasured possession: The guitar he bought for himself when he was still in highschool

Deepest secret: Matsumoto asks him to kill members from other guilds if he worries they’re gaining too much power, and Reiji is too scared of him to say no

Best/Worst thing to happen to them: Learning the guitar/Literally his entire hunter career save for the special S rank team he made

Random memories: Studying german, french, chinese, russian, and korean throughout college and annoying the shit out of his roommates when he’d stay up all night, riding his bike without hands down a hill one night and getting fucked up, stealing some money from the register to add to his paycheck so he could buy himself a guitar, getting a crush on the orchestra teacher when he was in middle school, sneaking off to the club in his emo phase and sticking out like a sore thumb but having the best day of his life as he got all sorts of drunk and high,

Best friend/Worst enemy: Goto Ryuji/Goto Ryuji

Good/Bad traits: Responsible, thoughtful, sensitive, polite, /Emotional, spiteful

Things they’ve done/like to do: Get up early and practice the guitar as his coffee is made, doing covers of the songs the team will listen to whenever they have to drive somewhere, visiting his old neighborhood, ride his bike at night, visit the music and instrument store near his neighborhood,

Personality type: “Consul” ESFJ-A (64% extraverted, 36% introverted; 36% intuitive, 64% observant; 22% thinking, 78% feeling; 93% judging, 7% prospecting; 71% assertive, 29% turbulent)

Nervous habit: Fiddling with his hair, chewing the inside of his cheek/lip,

Things they’re afraid of: Heights,

Things they want to accomplish: Getting Ryuji to open up about the red gate, training Ippei and Minoru to be better assassins, figure out where Ryuji stays when not at the dorms, figure out how to play chop suey on the piano or if it's even possible,

Additional headcanons -

He's terrible at baking since he doesn't follow the instructions

He really likes opals

Extremely emotional about a lot of things, but due to his position and job, he bottles it up inside - he's prone to bouts of irrationality because of this, but its rare and contained

He has a tattoo underneath his left ear of a Molotov cocktail - it was an impulse decision when he was younger, and he regrets it horribly. It's mostly hidden when his hair is down

Matsumoto has asked him to... take care of other guild members sometimes. Since he's an assassin and all. No one else in the guild knows, and Reiji would like to keep it that way

He wonders if he should’ve pursued his dream of being a singer rather than settling for hunter

Their Timeline -

Age 18: Reiji leaves for college (his emo phase begins)

3 years pass

Age 21: Reiji is confirmed S rank + joins the draw sword guild

Age 22: Reiji is upgraded to group leader

Age 23: Ryuji joins the guild

4 years pass

Age 27: Tokyo's Red Gate incident + Nishimura Oniyuri (the previous Draw Sword Guild leader) dies + Reiji becomes vice (Reiji’s emo phase comes to a forceful stop)

Age 28: Reiji creates the S rank team (Kenzo, Kanae, Tatsumi, Mari, and later, Akari)

Age 29: Atsushi, Kei, and Ippei join the S rank team

Age 30: Minoru joins the Draw Sword Guild

Age 31: now

#tw // murder #head canons #reiji sugimoto #character: reiji sugimoto #mentions of other characters #minoru hoshino #goto ryuji #original characters #solo leveling #fandom: solo leveling #only i level up #long post

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theweirdspacejellyfish · 3 months ago

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Complete shoujo mangas

Grand guignol orchestra- Yuki kaori - 18 chapters

Summary: the beautiful singer Lucille and his orchestra invite you to the city of fear where puppets hunt down humans. The puppets are playing an oratorio of magic and illusions

Clover - ohkawa ageha - 20 chapters

Summary: clover follows sue and kazuhiko to the isolated of fairy park. It is a journey into a futuristic world in which the government seeks to control - special children with amazing children. As sue learns more about herself, she comes to find she is unique even among clovers and with kazuhiko’s help strives to find out what parliament’s intentions got her are

princess tutu - shinonome mizuo - 2 volumes

summary: ahiru was a regular student at kinkan academy. till one day she sees a new shop that has a pretty tutu in the window and the woman who owns the shop miss edel gives ahiru a pendant. later she sees a boy from school whom she thinks of as a prince named myth

romeo x juliet - gonzo - 2 volumes

summary: neo verona. a land floating high in the sky ruled by the capulet family. that is until one night, when the long time rivals of the capulets, the montagues, storm the palace, killing the duke, his wife, and his men. all are killed but juliet, a young daughter of the capulets who is rescued and spirited away to safety before she could be killed. fourteen years later, juliet remembers nothing of her gruesome past, and lives with the small band who had rescued her, the only family she has. it is not safe for juliet to go out undisguised, however, as a search for the capulet heiress is still underway. so in public, she dresses as a boy, a young man named odin, at the request of her "family". though she is technically not allowed to, juliet has another secret identity: the red whirlwind, the daring and righteous hero of neo verona, famous for saving any in danger with his (or rather, her) sword and advanced combat skills without killing anyone. it is on one of these "rescue missions" that she first meets romeo, heir of the montague house. by chance, they fall in love- a forbidden love that neither side will allow. things get even more complicated, however, when juliet finally learns of her true identity and is told that she must kill the current duke- romeo's father

tokyo mew mew - yoshida reiko - 33 chapters

summary: ichigo is out on a date with her crush when suddenly shes involved in an odd incident in which her DNA is merged with the DNA of an almost extinct wildcat. when four other girls' DNA is merged with the DNA of four other almost extinct animals, its apparent that theyre part of a much bigger plan. ichigo and her friends have been chosen to become a part of a secret project called the "mew project". their mission: to protect the planet from aliens who are using the planets animals to attack humans

rose of versailles - ikeda riyoko - 12 volumes

summary: oscar, the storys central character and a creation of ikeda, is a girl raised by her father as a man, who commands the palace guards at versailles. her beauty, ambiguous sexuality, and noble spirit makes her a shining figure in the eyes of both men and woman, but herself is often torn between her chosen life of service and duty to her and country, and her own heart and desires. she lives a splendid life as a noble among the opulence of versailles and as a close confident of the queen. but this cannot blind her keen senses and compassion to the appalling poverty endured by the french people. oscars struggle with this duality in her world and within herself is the center about which the story turns

angel diary - lee yun hee - 13 volumes

summary: chun yoo nim is the one and only princess of heavens. she ran away from her arranged betrothed with the king of hell. now missing for a few years (give or take 2-5 years). she is hiding in the human world as dong young a boy with a perverted best friend that likes to grope him, bi wal. the four guardians of the heavens are ordered to find the angel princess. with some twist and turns, a crossdressing angel, overly protective and super powered chaperons, and to top it all off- a molesting best friend!? hilarity ensues as chun yoo/dong young struggles to keep her endangered identity a secret

#shoujo manga #manga recommendation

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hunting-songs · 3 months ago

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❝ Oh no, thank you but I do not partake in such gambles myself. ❞ The curse user dismisses an offered wager with a wave — affiliative smile unfaltering all throughout this secret meating. The restaurant around them is dimly lit. Crowded just enough to throw off any final suspicions Senritsu may have had before taking up his offer, but not to overshadow their hushed conversation.

❝ Call it a superstition, if you like. Besides, you are here to investigate the topic yourself, correct? ❞ Of course, lesser minds see the tree but not the forest; the curse that transfigured her. While the ambassador accompanying her tonight has mysteriously gotten stuck in a conveniently placed traffic jam after a fire broke out ( ah, Jogo gladly lent them a hand for tonight ) Kenjaku leans a little closer, his head tipping just enough for violet eyes to burrow into the intricacies of her form.

❝ I hear you are interested in a certain curse that has surfaced. ❞

She could hear the cooks in the restaurants kitchen yell. She could hear every single clicking of chopsticks in the restaurant. She could hear the dust carried in by the visitors shoes swirl up loud like a sandstorm whenever a waiter walked over it. Behind Senritsus forehead was a headache throbbing harder at every whisper of a sound around her and she felt herself flinch just so slightly when the curse-user waved a hand with so very charming smile: "Ah did you heard that? Interesting, I could have sworn that hearing about something is usually my metier." She had sat seven hours in a car from Pellworm to Berlin, had sat three hours in Berlin a at the airport waiting for her flight, she had sat fifteen hours in a plane to Tokyo and now she sat here with her back feeling as if her bones had grown spikes. Uncomfortably Senritsu adjusted her position on the chair just so little, even if it did not gave any balm to the ache throbbing in every part of her skeleton. She grimaced quietly, just for a sweet smile to shoo away that grimace. Her short fingers tapped against her ear knowingly.

"Like I am hearing you now sitting beside me, your clothes rustling animando at every breath because you happen to be curious and attentive and keenly focused as anyone with a scientific mind would be when meeting something they are curious about, yet-" She lifted a finger like a teacher and than carefully let that finger dance through the air to a melody in her much too keen ears: "-there is a tension in your muscles hearable in the way your cloth rustle at every move. As if there is a mhmmmmm...." grieved, distressed, desperate. The words lay on her tounge like stones, unable to be spoken, pressing down her tounge. The lines where her skull had been crushed like glass and wrongly mended back together throbbed. Senritsus hestiated only for one second, barely noticeable at all: "- appenato resistance of your body to what you want it to do. As if the body tries to work against you just so little. Almost estinto, but still there."

"You heard that little thing about me and yet you are here singing me such a mhmmm" the stones were there again, the words were stuck in her throat like a clot making it hard to breath. There was a frustrated line appearing between the womans big eyes, but it was only there for a second and eventually she only shaked her head slowly over her own frustration when she should already know better: "...fortissimo and telling orchestra. Maybe you let me hear first what your name is, mhmmmmmm?", Senrisus smile was as innocently as she was not: "Your true name, of course. Lies are very loud and you would not want to be loud in a restaurant, yes? That would not be polite." [ @saiakv ]

#saiakv #V: Krabats Songcycle #this had been in my drafts for months #and I swore I had posted it #only to find it saved AT THE VERY END OF Y DRAFTS #wtf #if you are wondering: Pellworm is a iseland in the northsea to which ( as the fairytale says) Rungholt had belonged to #in the second great mandränke rungholt was than swallowed by the northsea #and nowdays the legend say that one can still hear the bells of rungholts church beneath the water #funily rungholt does existed and there are many findings in the northsea but it was not one town but many small harbors #that were than destroyed during that stormflood that reshaped the coast in the 17th centruy #so senritsu traveled from one legend-heavy place to japan to sit infront of a legend-formed person #aka the first grote männdränke and the second grote mändrönke (great mendrowning literally in lowgerman)

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thanksforthedinosaur · 3 months ago

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october 2024

julia wolf - in my room

soccer mommy - driver

sydney sprague - hello cruel world

nilüfer yanya - like i say (i runaway)

siobhán winifred - stay for good

porches - itch

mila cargo - tasty

holly hebe - bottle blonde

michelle - mentos and coke

ally evenson - one trick pony

kennedy mann - lucky star

rocco! - as you please

britta raci - pete rose

silvie - big dreamy head

mercer henderson - lock me up

worrystone - soft light

lunar vacation - tom

wendy wang - maple tears

josie dunne - place to be

daisy the great - butterfly, stay dry

mxmtoon - the situation

nelly furtado - floodgate

tasha - love's changing

hinds - coffee

abigail osborn - the sweater song

meg smith - poltergeist

carol ades - everything else is just noise

marian carmel - take what i can get

being there - i just think we got too close

okay kaya - the groke

willow - b i g f e e l i n g s

frex - who's who

charlie houston - slut for excel

alemeda - below the belt

linying - donovan

lolo zouaï - unhhh

lavie - toxic beliefs

chloe adams - barbie doll

cherry swim club - what's your sign

trella - taxi driver

mount eerie - broom of wind

haley heynderickx - foxglove

teen jesus and the jean teasers - never saw it coming

luna shadows - little rituals (end of summer version)

da flyy hooligan - xylo

wale the sage - running up the hill

fashawn - bad bitches love this song

talib kweli - to the ghetto

nuglife - illegal muny

harve - like that

jazzgroupiez - pastels

kris the $pirit - 24 hours

tunde olaniran - good time

terrace martin - read the room

miles from kinshasa - no return

jaz karis - sims castaway

orion sun - twilight zone

justin nozuka - chlorine

lee darom - what is my color? (feat. perc%nt)

han all - i don't care (sped up) - bonus track

park bird - tokyo

galileo galilei - オフィーリア

bump of chicken - sleep walking orchestra

4s4ki - ねえ聞いて

ihasamic! - crossing border lines in budget airlines

aya a.k.a panda - beyond

mori calliope - end of a life

mori calliope - reunion

takanashi kiara - chimera

luss - lonely (extrovert?)

key - pleasure shop

429 - resukyumi-!

jihoon - desire

kira - hit me up

room306 - 5

kira - nice type

9lana - never give up

pia mia - nice and slow

so much light - mom, please pick me up

katy perry - gorgeous (feat. kim petras)

paris hilton - i'm free (feat. rina sawayama)

louis the child - believe it

dora jar - behind the curtain

biig piig - 4am

tiffany day - always fun

wilo wilde - feeling this way

piri & tommy - dog

vitesse x - eternal

white chorus - mystery, pt. 2

francisco victoria - te quiero tanto

vava - intersection

gaburyu - vraveater - hirihiri remix

lucy rose - light as grass - logic remix

toro y moi - reseda

8485 - goreblog

hippo campus - corduroy

meishi smile - stay like this forever

briana marela - horizon

yvette young - always

film school - tape rewind

slowdive - kisses

pale waves - imagination

the rare occasions - floating

letters from my garden - sensitive eyes

delta sleep - figure in the dark

wild pink - dulling the horns

balance and composure - with you in spirit

cursive - the avalanche of our demise

touché amoré - nobody’s

magnolia park - i2i

blink-182 - can't go back

hot mulligan - stickers of brian

what gives - the great divide

pony - every little crumb

rosie tucker - all i want is utopia now!

allie - from the dead

the rocket summer - way out

nada surf - give me the sun

bedchamber - the bigfoot trademark logo

goldmyth - chlorine

boyscott - rocky road

mallcops - marceline

runaway brother - secret technique

lakes - stitches

ethel cain - for sure

#mae makes playlists #Spotify

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techhy-simpson · 6 months ago

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How Staff Augmentation Can Help Scale Your Tech Team Quickly

Picture this: You're the conductor of a tech orchestra, and suddenly, you're tasked with performing a complex symphony… with half the musicians you need. Panic mode, activated! But wait, what if I told you there's a way to amplify your team's capabilities faster than you can say "Silicon Valley"? Enter the world of staff augmentation – your express ticket to scaling your tech team at lightning speed.

The Tech Talent Crunch: A Modern-Day Gold Rush

Let's face it, finding tech talent these days is about as easy as finding a needle in a haystack… while blindfolded… and the haystack is on fire. The demand for skilled tech professionals has skyrocketed, leaving many companies feeling like they're panning for gold in a desert.

But here's the kicker: while you're busy trying to lure that elusive full-stack developer or AI specialist to join your permanent team, your competitors are zooming past you, launching products and snagging market share. It's like watching the tortoise and the hare, except in this version, the hare has rocket boosters.

So, how can staff augmentation help you not just catch up, but leap ahead? Let's dive in!

Speed: From Zero to Hero in Record Time

Remember when you were a kid, and you'd add those clip-on extensions to your bike to make it "go faster"? Staff augmentation is like that, but for your tech team. It allows you to add skilled professionals to your team almost instantly.

Think about it: no lengthy recruitment processes, no weeks (or months) of onboarding. You get pre-vetted, skilled professionals ready to hit the ground running. It's like ordering a pizza versus growing the wheat to make the dough – you get what you need, pronto!

Flexibility: The Human Swiss Army Knife

In the tech world, today's hot skill could be tomorrow's old news. Remember when everyone was scrambling for Flash developers? (If you're too young to remember Flash, just nod and smile.)

Staff augmentation gives you the flexibility to bring in the exact skills you need, when you need them. Need a blockchain expert for three months? Done. A team of QA specialists for a big release? You got it. It's like having a magic wand that conjures up the perfect team member for each project.

Cost-Effectiveness: More Bang for Your Buck

Let's talk money, honey. Hiring full-time employees is expensive rather than hire a remote developer. There's the salary, sure, but don't forget about benefits, equipment, training, and the cost of that fancy ergonomic chair they requested.

With staff augmentation, you're paying for pure skill and time. No frills, no long-term commitments. It's like leasing a sports car instead of buying one – you get all the performance without the ongoing costs.

Access to a Global Talent Pool: The World is Your Oyster

Why limit yourself to local talent when you can tap into a global pool of rock stars? Staff augmentation often means access to international talent, bringing diverse perspectives and experiences to your team.

Imagine having a UI expert from Tokyo, a back-end guru from Berlin, and a machine learning whiz from Bangalore all collaborating on your project. It's like assembling the Avengers of tech, but without the inter-galactic threats.

Focus on Core Competencies: Let the Experts Handle It

Here's a truth bomb: your in-house team can't be experts at everything. Nor should they be. Staff augmentation allows your core team to focus on what they do best, while bringing in specialists for specific needs.

It's like being a chef in a busy kitchen. You wouldn't stop cooking to fix the plumbing, would you? You'd call in a plumber. Same principle here – let your team focus on your product's secret sauce while augmented staff handle specialized tasks.

Scalability on Demand: Elastic Tech Teams

In the tech world, scalability isn't just for software – it's for teams too. Staff augmentation allows you to scale your team up or down based on project needs, market demands, or even that wild idea your CEO had at 3 AM.

Think of it as having a rubber band for a team. Need to stretch to accommodate a big project? No problem. Need to contract when things slow down? Easy peasy. It's the ultimate in team elasticity.

Knowledge Transfer: Learn from the Best

Here's a hidden gem of staff augmentation: knowledge transfer. When you bring in experts, your in-house team gets to work alongside them, learning new skills and best practices.

It's like having a rotating cast of tech mentors, each bringing their unique expertise to your team. Before you know it, your permanent staff are leveling up their skills, making your whole team stronger.

Reduced Time-to-Market: Speed is the Name of the Game

In the tech world, being first to market can make or break your product. Staff augmentation can significantly reduce your time-to-market by allowing you to quickly onboard the skills you need to accelerate development.

It's like adding a nitro boost to your product development cycle. While your competitors are still putting together their team, you're cutting the ribbon at your product launch.

Risk Mitigation: Try Before You Buy

Not sure if you need a certain skill set long-term? Staff augmentation lets you "try before you buy". You can bring in professionals for a project or time period, assess the impact, and then decide if you need that role permanently.

It's like test-driving a car before making a purchase. You get to see how that new skill set fits into your team dynamics and contributes to your goals before making a long-term commitment.

Innovation Boost: Fresh Perspectives, Fresh Ideas

Last but not least, staff augmentation can give your team a much-needed shot of innovation. New team members bring fresh perspectives, different experiences, and novel problem-solving approaches.

It's like adding a dash of hot sauce to your tech team's recipe – it spices things up and might just lead to some unexpectedly delicious results!

The Bottom Line: Augment to Accelerate

In the race to build, scale, and innovate, staff augmentation can be your nitro boost. It's not just about filling gaps; it's about strategically expanding your team's capabilities to meet the ever-changing demands of the tech world.

So, tech leaders, are you ready to put your team into overdrive? With staff augmentation, you're not just scaling your team – you're scaling your possibilities. It's time to turn your tech orchestra into a symphony of innovation, agility, and growth.

After all, in the world of tech, it's not just about keeping up with the tempo – it's about setting it. And with the right augmented team, you'll be conducting a masterpiece in no time. Let the scaling begin!

#hire remote developer #offshore developer #remote developer #staff augmentation

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iowadream · 1 year ago

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ykw fuck it. im gonna do the same thing. here's a bunch of live shows i went to that i really liked:

(limiting myself to 2 fruitleather performances otherwise this list would be 1/4th fruitleather. also only putting down one performance i was involved in bc anything more than that feels narcissistic)

The Courts & Oruã @ Reggie's

Machinedrum, RP Boo, Bianca Oblivion, Craze, and DJ Earl @ Joe's on Weed

DJ Sara Gossett, Brain Waver, Plastic Crimewave (feat. Bil Vermette), and Jeff Parker (feat. Joshua Abrams) @ Hideout

Unknown Mortal Orchestra @ Radius

Astrobrite, The Courts, and Cairo Jag @ Sleeping Village

Todd Terje @ Smartbar

RP Boo @ Smartbar

Godcaster and Neptune's Core @ Cactus Club ( + whoever tha FUVCK was playing heavy shit across the street)

Sunglow @ Archie's

Indie Dance Night @ Schuba's

Ariel Zetina @ Hideout

Morinda @ Record Breakers

Fruitleather & Jeezel Petes @ Empty Bottle

Tokyo Disco Night @ Sleeping Village

Phantom Broadcast @ Beat Kitchen

UDABABY and Radical Night @ Golden Dagger

Fruitleather, BRIAN!, and Heuristic @ Golden Dagger

Francisco Mela @ Experimental Sound Studio

Rai Omri @ Steve's Guitars

Joyfriend (ft. Chaepter) and Creaturefight @ Empty Bottle

Soft and Dumb @ Golden Dagger

Blinker and Faced out @ Fallen Log

Friko @ Empty Bottle

Plastic @ Hideout

Kafiza @ Golden Dagger

Friko solo set @ Beat Kitchen

Nüde, Joshua Virtue, and Ivy Hollivana @ Martyr's

Serengeti and Deerhoof @ Lincoln Hall

Stems @ Cafe Bourbon Street

Lou Phelps, KAYTRANADA, and Amine @ Salt Shed

North by North @ my boyfriend's brother's friend's apartment rooftop

Fever Ray @ Salt Shed

Tuvergen Band @ Square Roots Festival

Owney @ Fallen Log

Plastic Crimewave, Los Dug-Dugs, and Sunburned Hand of the Man @ Sleeping Village

DJ PJs, D Jean-Baptiste, Moshun B2B Tango, Sunglow, Chaepter, and Nisi Pulsewidth (🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂) @ Secret NYE Location

Pitchfork performances I really liked:

Jlin (oh my fucking god)

Leikeli47

Perfume Genius

The Smile

Rachika Nayar

Soul Glo

Jockstrap (oh my fucking GODDDDDDDD)

Killer Mike

Mdou Moctar

Kelela

a couple of my friends made a big post on their band website about their favorite shows that they went to this year and it really warms my heart just how many of them i got to go to with them. There's SO much good music being made in this city and i feel so lucky that i get to experience it with my friends :^)

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mikeysbabygirl · 2 years ago

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𝘿𝙀𝘼𝘿 𝙂𝙄𝙍𝙇𝙎 𝙏𝙀𝙇𝙇 𝙉𝙊 𝙏𝘼𝙇𝙀𝙎

MASTERLIST-

PREVIOUS CHAPTER-

NEXT CHAPTER-

PAIRING : Bonten! Rindou Haitani x reader / Bonten! Ran Haitani x reader.

SYNOPSIS : " 'cause two can keep a secret if one of them is dead ".

" Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, nor hell a fury like a woman scorned. "

" What if their first love came back ? What if everything they thought had happened that night was a lie ?"

WARNING : 18+, Minors DNI. Violence, murder, sex work, sex trafficking.

Tag-list : @mydream-synopsis @rans-baby @trashmemebitch @inuiskitten @bontensbabygirl @crown5 @youdidntseemehere21 @redhood278 @glxar @owensuitcase @bontenswh0re @qualitygiantshoepsychic

Please let me know if you want to be added to the tag-list.

Network : @tokyo-ballroom @downtown-roponggi

( what is written in bold and italics are flashbacks)

Chapter 04 :

The orchestra began to play the next symphony, Kokonoi watched the dancers gradually disperse from the observation balcony, he swore he had spotted Rindou's hair somewhere in the middle of the dancing room, but he was too focused in his conversation to even care about that one.

A champagne glass in hand, he was standing there with both Takeomi and Benjiro Ito, who happened to be a bank manager secretly involved in La Compagnie's money laundering. Very few people knew about his involvement in there, though most of the people in that ballroom knew about Hiroto Mori's secret.

In the middle of his conversation with the shady bank manager, Kokonoi felt the skin of his back growing colder, a familiar uncomfortable feeling settled on his shoulders, his throat felt dry, something was definitely odd. He turned his head to the left, eyeing the observation balcony just next to him and his gaze fell on his boss, Sano Manjiro, in a deep discussion with La Compagnie's vice president. Indeed, Mikey was there to warn them about not stepping on Bonten's toes, in other words, to stop prostituting their girls on their territory. When Mikey discusses, he actually threatens, which he could clearly tell from the face the vice president was making, how uncomfortable he was, but that was not the thing that was bothering Hajime.

Turning his head toward many directions, he finally spotted what was making him that uncomfortable, and Hajime's back straightened immediately. There, in the corner of a room, a masked woman and a man were standing next to a pillar, and Koko could easily tell they were staring at him and not even trying to hide it. The woman was leaning against the pillar, a champagne glass on hand, the man was facing her and had his back to Koko, yet he could feel his eyes looking at him from the corner, from time to time.

Now he was used to people's admiration's glances toward him, he was used to women and even men staring at him, who wouldn't anyway ? The famous money genius, yet, he had a bad feeling about it, and If Kokonoi trusted something in this world, it was his intuition.

Quickly putting an end to his conversation with Benjiro Ito, nodding faintly toward that one who made his way across the room, he hurried to turn toward Takeomi who was leaning against the balcony railing, eyes roaming around the room since he was too bored to listen to their discussion.

- " That woman " Takeomi's attention was brought to Kokonoi when that one spoke, he quickly followed his gaze and his eyes fell on what he found a sexy woman on a designer dress.

-" She gives me the creeps".

The corner of the Akashi's lips raised slightly, mischievous eyes sliding toward his co-worker.

-" Man, worry 'bout your sex life if that vigilante scared you of every woman ".

Dramatically rolling his eyes, his co-worker cursed mentally at how his friends did not took him seriously.

-" I'm fucking serious, old fart. She and her man have been staring here "

Takeomi scoffed and straightened himself, turning to completely face his friend.

-" Maybe she found you attractive?"

-" what about her husband?" The other wearily inquired.

- " well maybe both of them found you attractive? "

- " God-"

-" What ?" That one rapidly took a look at whoever was around him before slyly taking a cigarette from his pocket and lightening it up. " A lot of married couples like to make it spicy".

Hajime took a step back, wincing because of the cigarette smoke and hoping it would not stick on his so precious suit.

-" you seem to know what you're talking about".

Takeomi who was about to take a new drag of his cigarette stopped right away and made a half weary half offended face, peering at Kokonoi.

- " I don't need to make it spicy. I am myself spicy ".

His face turned even more offended when that one scoffed.

-" Yeah yeah, Tell it t-" Kokonoi's words were cut off when he glanced once again at the spot where both of the woman and the man were standing, only to find it empty now. The man frowned immediately and his body stiffened, his reaction alerted his co-worker who followed his gaze again.

-" Where the hell are they ?" He asked, Takeomi approached the railing and started to look around the room, but as he was doing so, they both were startled by a familiar voice behind them.

-" Have you two seen Ran ?"

A startled Kokonoi and a disturbed Takeomi turned to curse Rindou, but they both frowned again when they saw his state. He was breathing hardly, as if he just ran a marathon, his cheeks were red, his tie was undone, but most importantly, his eyes. His eyes were... Different, both of them couldn't tell what changed in some minutes on their friend's gaze, but it was definitely not the same. More urgent, more full, almost... more alive.

-" Fuckers I'm talkin' to ya " he snapped them both out of their thoughts, they stared at him questioningly. " Where the hell is Ran ?"

Takeomi expeditiously looked at Hajime, sharing a conniving look before answering.

-" Last time I saw him, him and Sanzu were raiding the buffet ".

-" Yeah " Koko nodded. " They were devouring all the petit fours ".

They watched as that one muttered incomprehensible words, turned around and started heading to the stairs again. Both of them peered at each other, one raising his eyebrows and the other drinking from his glass.

-" I think Hajime Kokonoi spotted us " Conor muttered, leaning against the corridor's wall. Just in front of him, you leaned against the other and looked inside your pouch for all that you needed.

-" I don't fucking care, all he had to do was to not speak to that scum".

As soon as the symphony you danced on finished, you had to collect yourself as hard as it was and both of you and Conor disappeared in the crowd, avoiding Rindou who has been searching for you since then. Your hands were shaking around your weapon, your heart was still thumping in your chest but for the sake of the mission you had to push it aside for now.

You viciously slipped out of the room, out of sight of all the guests and hid in a corner of the hallway. Now it was time to put your plan into action, Conor was just as necessary as you since you had to act at the same time.

Because of the recent events, your father hired more security personnel to guard the hotel, which was just as expected, although they might give you a hard time you hoped to be prepared.

-" Okay" he put his gun back to his hostler. " Be careful to not be seen, be careful with the plates, and-"

-" And be quick, I know Connie " you rolled your eyes, straightening your back. He sighed and made a step toward you.

-" I need you to understand that this is more dangerous than any of your previous missions, we could get caught at any moment".

-" I do know that !" You declared reassuringly. " You just need to trust me there. And you also need to be careful, I'll join you as soon as I'm done, in the meantime try not getting knocked out " you ended up saying with a slight mockery in your voice, the man rolled his eyes and turned around to start making his way to the elevator, followed by you.

-" I wonder who taught you all that you know"

-" sometimes the student exceeds the master " you smiled and didn't had the time to hear what he answered, since you took the stairs down.

As you quickly descended the stairs to the kitchen, you suppressed the feeling of unease that came over you. You never were a regular at your father's hotel, and the last time you'd been there, that's where the downward spiral had begun. Sometimes you couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if you had chosen to keep it a secret, to keep quiet like everyone else, but now it was too late.

Moving quickly to the reception floor, you were relieved to see that the receptionist was not there, although you would have to deal with him later as well. Ignoring the marble counter, you headed for the next stairs at the corner of the large room again and started descending them, quickly finding yourself in front of large double doors.

Anxiety began to crawl inside you, you could hear through the door the last chef present there working hard . You had exactly five minutes to act before the waiters started to show up in the kitchen to serve the food. Taking a deep breath, you furtively closed your eyes, gathering all your courage before kicking the double doors open with a bang.

•••

The receptionist returned to his post after being called to the main room, his feet numb from walking so much all day.

The bald-headed man turned around the reception counter and took the door behind it, leading to his office where he hoped to have five minutes of respite from the madness of the masquerade ball organized by his boss.

All these rich men and women were unbearable, they had looked at him like a nobody during all the evening, he was longing for a moment far from them, in the soft comfort of his office.

He closed the wood door behind him once he was inside, paying no attention to the black desk or the rolling chair facing the wall, he moved to the cabinet in the corner of the room to pour himself a glass of bourbon.

-" I've always dreamed of doing this" You spun on the swivel chair that was facing the wall so now you could watch the frozen man from behind his desk, a large smile on your face.

Happy to have reproduced a movie scene by your oh so dramatic action, you watched with a grin as Oda slowly turned his body toward you, hand clenched around the glass. His face was pale, he has been startled by a woman voice and when he turned around, he caught a glimpse of a woman in a black gown sitting in his previously turned over chair.

-" M-miss, you can't be here this is the staff's room " he managed to stop his hands from shaking before putting the glass back on the cabinet and making few steps toward the desk, watching the masked woman who didn't moved an inche. " Would you like me to walk you to the ballroom? They must be serving dinner."

He watched as your smile grew wider, white teeth contrasting with the black mask covering half of your face.

-" Oh, the show will start soon then. "

He frowned even more, making another step to turn around the desk, getting closer to you. Your words didn't made any sense for him, he tried looking for any sign of intoxication or drunkenness that could possibly push this woman to act this way but you looked perfectly fine, Oda closed the distance between both of you and gently offered you his hand, which you looked at with cold eyes and an everlasting grin.

-" Let me guide you there, my lady. "

You rolled your eyes dramatically at his gracious language, ignoring his statement and bringing your eyes to his desk. Oda's brows furrowed when you lifted your head and with your chin, gestured to the frame placed on the dark desk, a family picture of him with a woman probably his age and two young children.

-" Cute family, do they know ?" You inquired, tilting your head to the side so you could stare at his face growing impatient. " 'f course they don't, as long as the fridge's full, no one cares".

-" Excuse me but who are you ? And please leave my office immediately before i call the security " joining his words, his hand wrapped around your forearm to yank you up from the swivel chair.

A very bad idea, since as soon as your first foot touched the ground, the second flew high to his crotch, in an agonizing scream he fell on his knees, hands around the latter.

-" The fuck ? Security!" He screamed, face clearly in pain as he tried to get up, only to be thrown to the ground again by another kick to his face.

His nose started bleeding, eyes watering and widened, eyebrows furrowed. He was trying to get up, elbows pressed against the floor while you made a step toward him, eyeing him as if he was nothing but scum under your shoes.

-" Get up and fight, man. " You commanded, getting closer and before he could do anything, kicking his ribcage so hard that your toes hurt inside your shoes. Another bloodcurdling scream left the man's mouth, as well as a small blood spit. His hands left his crotch to rest on his sides, turning on the safe side, he fell completely limp on the floor, dragging his body as far as possible across the floor as you walked towards him slowly.

-" Security!" He kept on screaming, attempting to reach for the bourbon bottle on the cabinet and aiming it at your face, which you avoided by a graceful spun, your dress flowing around you. " Who the fuck are you ? Security! "

-" I'd say they are quite busy for now " you faked a wince, clicking your heels on the parquet when you made another step and he tried getting away from you by dragging himself further away.

-" You're gonna regret this ! Fucking slut you are-"

- " bla-bla tell me something I don't know ".

You threw your foot once again to his side, making him cry out another scream coming out as a sob before placing both of your feet at each side of his body, having him on the ground between your legs now. Through his agonizing pain, the man started pulling at your dress with one hand, trying to make you fall on the ground, your eye color darkened when you saw how his bloody hands stained your perfect dark gown, your blood boiling in your veins at the sight.

Out of you and of a firm gesture, the edge of your pumps settled on his trachea, turning his body on his back and pressing hard on his air duct.

The receptionist's eyes widened, his hands left your dress to settle on your ankle now, scratching it and hitting your leg as much as he could so you would let go.

-" S-Stop... C-can't breathe... ! "

-" Maily the point of choking someone" you sarcastically uttered, dark eyes burning holes in his face while your shoe was still pressed on his windpipe. You were not doing him wrong, you were convinced of it. He was well aware of what was happening inside this hotel, in the dreamhouse. No one but him knew about the girls being abused in the secret floor , no one but him provided the rooms, and you swore to kill anyone who has a hand in this organization.

His face got more and more blue as the time passed, he struggled like hell under your foot, moving to his side, scratching you, groaning and crying but nothing would ever make you let go.

-" Why-... Who the hell are you ?" He managed to ask with a strangled voice, eyes starting to lose focus around him because of the hypoxia.

Limb numb, stern face, you pressed your shoe harder, letting all the murderous instinct you struggled with since years take control of you.

-" I am... what happens to the princess when there's no prince to save her. I am the dragon ".

But he was way too far gone to even focus on your words, you weren't even sure he heard them before his hands slowly left your ankle to fall over his body, his tongue rolled outside his mouth slightly, and his head fell to the side.

Suffocated, he died where he killed the dreams of so many young girls.

Lucid dreams.

Where someone knows they are dreaming, where they somehow have control on their character.

That was the exact way Rindou was feeling. Stuck in that ballroom as if stuck in a lucid dream, except he did felt no control over himself, or over anything else. The figures around him were moving too fast, talking too far, he felt robbed from reality, as if he was too detached from everything around him, being everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

Sitting at one of the tables at the dinner for Hiroto Mori's birthday, all his friends and co-workers were there yet he was alone in the crowd, surrounded by thoughts and not souls. Surrounded by just one single soul.

Was it intuition or overthinking?

Was he hallucinating?

It was a dream, it had to be.

In no way his intuition would have turned real, it had to be about him overthinking. But god, it felt real. Every dead part of his soul ignited when he touched her, and when she looked at his eyes, he was back in the past, right before all of this madness happened, and when he heard her voice...

That wasn't exactly how you sounded, years ago. But now that he thought about it, it was exactly how you would've sounded, if nothing happened. If they confessed earlier, if you stayed the night, if you grew old together.

Some few years would weight on your vocal cords, and your voice would have turned a little more mature, exactly how it sounded now.

He ran a shaky hand through his hair, under his friend's odd looks. He has been numb to any feeling for so long, and now everything he suppressed fell on him in one night, and he had to undo his tie because he was internally suffocating.

His thoughts were too slow, so much slower than anything around. While conversations went by around him at an incredible speed, he was stuck knee deep in that one single thought. You, You, You...

Was it real ? Were you real ?

It had to be, it was your eyes that he saw, their color, their shape. He would have recognized them everywhere, for it was the face that haunted his heart and dreams for years.

But it couldn't... ? You were gone, six feet under with a non-beating heart, they buried you...

Yet he didn't get to see your body... ?

He was turning crazy, he knew it. The headache he was aching could be nothing else than his neurons exploding inside his head. If he hadn't learned years ago, thanks to you, how to control his breathing, he would be having a panic attack, there, in a table with all his co-workers and La Compagnie's money launderer and their vice president as well.

Ran's hand on his shoulder didn't helped to release him from his thoughts.

-" You good ?" His brother had a worried look on his face, his usual smile gone. Rindou forced himself to gaze at the latter and his breath got caught in his throat.

His mind raced and he stumbled on the thoughts, what could he be saying ?

She's alive, our fucking angel is alive, I saw her, I promise.

Ran would rip his throat open, as cruel and detached as they were, everyone knew the one boundary of the Haitani brothers, you. All their friends or co-workers who knew about you know how dangerous it could be to talk or joke about you, let alone telling Ran something like that. Something he wasn't even sure about, moreover.

It was her, I'm sure. The voice in his head echoed. He couldn't be mistaken when it came to you, it had to be.

- " Rin, I'm talking t'ya " his brother moved his hand in front of his face, and Rindou's eyes focused finally on that one.

-" We'll need to talk, later."

Ran looked at him suspiciously yet Rindou just ignored him, this way he would have time to think about it and to figure out a way before the end of the night, but for now, he had to find that damn woman.

After they danced together, she disappeared from the crowd as well as her "man" , he shivered to the spine when he thought it might have been you with another guy. He searched for her everywhere, but she was no where to be seen, as if everything was just a fucking dream.

Every one was gathered in the dinning room of the hotel but that woman was not. Where did she suddenly go and why did she disappeared right after showing her face and saying something like that ?

He couldn't even tell if what she said was ironic or not, dressed to kill, could it be the woman vigilante ? Could you be the vigilante?

And he was panicking, again. Overthinking, he always had a good intuition, but this was just crazy. It made sense but it didn't at the same time.

He has been so lost in his thoughts that he didn't even noticed that the waiters were done serving the dinner, the hors d'oeuvre and the frog legs.

Ew, he winces, he hates those, as well as most of the french food, therefore he just pushed slightly the plate in front of him and kept looking around the room, just in case he spotted her again. There was a lot of people, laughing and talking in the background, he searched and eyed everywhere, yet he was stolen from his thoughts and startled when a scream pierced the joyful atmosphere around.

Cutlery falling to the ground, glasses crashing, women screams, people suddenly getting up from their tables, Rindou looked at Ran but that one had his eyes widened and stared in front of him, he followed his gaze and it fell on Benjiro Ito, La Compagnie's money launderer, coughing blood, turning blue, hands gripping the table.

The sight before them was macabre, so much so that even those who were used to inflicting death found it disturbing. Everyone stood up from their tables, everything was messy therefore none of them could have figured out how many people were in that state. Dying, dying, literally dying.

Benjiro Ito was dying in front of them, as well as some men here and there, and they knew they were parts of La Compagnie. Waiters hurried their way, calling for help but it was too late, they already started to have arrhythmias, some men had their head already falling on the table.

Women started crying, men yelling and grabbing the waiters by the collar to know about what was in those damn plates, which plates were " infected" and which were not, the hotel staff came running their way, starting to evacuate people, though the staff was strangely less than before ?

It was essential to evacuate the whole hotel now, there was general panic, Hiroto Mori's bodyguards were escorting him out while some waiters were checking his dishes, Ran was starting to push Rindou forward to get out, but he only had one thing in head.

Dressed to kill.

•••

Everything hurt.

His nose was bleeding, his mask was long gone now, and the stab he received from one of the security guards burned like hell. Every breath he tried to take burned like hell, and soon, all he could think about were the guard's hands around his throat, pinning him to the wall and strangling him to death.

How did all of this happen ? Well, he had thought he could manage to knock down six guards on his own, and he almost did, but some were just stronger than the others, carrying knifes and backstabbers, one thing led to another and he was literally suffocating under that stranger's grip.

Where were you ? You should already be done with the poison and the receptionist, what was taking you so long ? He scratched and kicked the man in front of him but nothing helped, that one got an angry grip on him, cursing things he couldn't really tell what.

Now Conor worked as an agent for years, he already found himself in more dangerous situations than this and made it all alone, but this time, he could have sworn it was the time.

He was beginning to see black dots obstructing his vision, his chest no longer hurt now, his fingers felt cold and numb at the same time. And he could have sworn he saw her face.

His beautiful little girl, the same green eyes she got from him, the same blonde hair, except this time, she wasn't smiling, she didn't seemed happy.

She was talking, what was he doing ? She was saying it was too soon, to hold on.

But he loves her.

And she loves him, she assured. But she said he still had things to do, that he couldn't let you down, that he couldn't let her down, what was he supposed to do ?

He kicked like he just has been possessed by a demon, he reached for the guard's tie and pulled at it, fought with the last oxygen particles in his body, and suddenly, the guard's hands were not on him anymore.

Conor fell to the ground, eyes watering, hands against the floor while he filled his burning lungs with air.

Through his confusion, he lifted his head and saw you staring down at him, a worried look behind your mask, he saw you gripping a taser you probably used on the man's body lying down, and caught a glimpse of how your knuckles turned white while you gripped it tighter.

His daughter was right, you needed him.

-" Y-You saved me " he panted through his burning throat, you offered him your hand that he gladly took and helped him on his feet.

-" Yeah, saw you dying and I was like, why not ?" You joked, Conor rolled his eyes and regained his balance, ignoring your bad sense of humor during serious situations.

-" Is he dead ?" He gestured toward the guard lying down. You shrugged, yourself didn't knew how to use a taser or at what voltage was the electroshock, you stepped over the body and turned to look at Conor who had a raised eyebrow.

-" What am I supposed to do ? Tickle him ?" You inquired, he snorted and did the same as you, following you through the corridors that you only saw once in your life.

But you would never forget.

That day, that damn day. You just came there because you couldn't reach your father's phone, and decided to pass by his hotel since you needed him. Ran and Rindou got in trouble again, a fight where the cops ended up coming and arresting everyone, you remembered how desperate you were when you learnt about it.

Those guys never learn.

You went to his office but he wasn't there, none of the staff saw him neither, you decided you might find him at home for dinner, hopefully and got inside the elevator.

You remembered the doors were about to close, and that a girl was running toward them in a tiny little red dress, you frowned at her unusual outfit and stopped the doors so she could come in, and she thanked you with a smile before she stepped inside.

Something was off about her smile, it was dull and forced, and what was she even doing there alone ? She had barely your age, you could tell.

Observing her a little more, you caught a glimpse of something at the end of her skinny arms, around her wrists were a round red mark, as if something did cut her endlessly. You used to see those ones, and you quickly figured out it was the same ones you saw after freeing Rindou and Ran from incarceration by bailing them out.

Handcuffs, you gulped down and peered at her face again, she was biting her lower lip, eyes stuck somewhere on the closed door, yet she seemed too far gone already, and you frowned. Your eyes trailed down from her eyes to her nose, then back at her eyes.

She strangely had... Something familiar, an odd feeling assaulted you, where did you see her ?

Was it even her ? Maybe it was just some kind of a déjà-vu ?

The doors opened for her and she walked out the elevator, only then you figured out.

This looked nothing like the other floors ?

You would always remember the day you found out about the secret floor, what they called the dreamhouse. After many research and investigations, you understood they kept the girls they couldn't sell to worldwide ships and secret auctions there.

You indeed found out you knew the girl, or at least already saw her. Her face and name has been everywhere on TV for weeks, her mother crying for anyone who saw her daughter to call the police, she was fifteen when she was last spotted.

Inhaling sharply, you gulped down the knot in your throat. This place was a nightmare, the downfall. Everything started here, all of your trauma. But hopefully, and what kept you walking around those corridors with Conor was the hope.

That tonight would be the last breath of the dreamhouse.

You and Conor stopped at the end of one corridor, hiding behind the wall since you saw two big guys guarding a giant double door.

The gates of hell.

- " God, a lion would take a year to devour them " you eased the stress of the situation while eyeing the two giant guards, Conor winced. " Think you can fight with this ?" You gestured to the injury on his sides.

-" I can. It's not bleeding anymore, just a scratch."

You nodded, and started planning how you two would attack. For now, there were only those two, but you doubted they would leave even if the hotel were to be evacuated after Benjiro Ito's death, they have orders not to leave this floor under any circumstances.

Probably to avoid repeating what happened with you. To prevent anyone from seeing what you did.

-" one of us must-"

You two were startled as well as the two guards, screams started to echo between the walls, sounds of glass crashing and footsteps hurrying above your heads, your lips curled in a smile while Conor closed his eyes in relief.

-" It worked " you whispered as you were eyeing the two giants having an argument about whether they should check what happened or not.

-" You always make it work " he smiled at you, you squeezed his hand slightly. " We gotta be quick now, the girls can't be spotted in the middle of the crowd hurrying outside".

You nodded, he straightened and you rapidly threw your high heels away from your feet, gaining the men's attention.

-" The fuck you two doing here ?" One of them shouted while the other walked toward you, you peered at Conor who nodded, then looked back at the man and started running faster in his direction, which got him confused for a second just for you to jump and kick his face as strong as you could, landing a little further away from his body now stunned and lying on the ground.

-" You're gonna regret this " the other ran toward you, the one you kicked got up and faced Conor.

He kicked his foot in the air, aiming at your stomach but you easily avoided it, sliding to his side and gripping his arm that you locked behind his back. He couldn't make out anything before a bloodcurdling scream left his mouth with how you broke his arm with a swift movement.

- " How's it going Conny ? " You inquired while looking at him over the guy's shoulder.

-" walking on sunshine " he grunt and grabbed a vase on a piece of furniture next to him and aimed it at the guard's head, making him scream in pain.

Your minute of inattention was enough for the one you were holding to pull out his taser and you were forced to drop his arm when an electric current ran through your body, making you fall to the ground, shaking.

Your heart was now racing, you were no longer under the grip of the shock but you could still feel its effects in your burning limbs.

-" that was dirty " you squatted hardly and helped yourself up with your hands on the ground, while making some steps back. The man smiled devilishly and made a step toward you.

-" lemme guess, vigilante ?" Your smile grew wider, you straightened your body and peered over his shoulder at Conor who seemed to be having some trouble, the footsteps and the cacophony on the floor above hadn't stopped, which meant you still got some minutes.

-" I have fans, I see. "

He walked toward you again, aiming his taser back at you but this time you avoided it and found yourself behind him, you two turning around each other like animals in a cage.

-" gotta admit I didn't believe you were a bitch " you ignored his words and focused on his body gestures, making sure to not miss any of his attempts while holding your hands in fists in front of your face. " indeed you fight like a man ".

Rapidly and taking him aback, your leg flew to his knee's joint, stronger than any of your other kicks. He fell to the ground in a scream, holding his probably broken joint since it made a horrible cracking sound, his fist crashed against your stomach, making you curl slightly before you grabbed his hair and crushed him against the ground.

-" I fight like a girl " you proudly smirked, placing your foot on his neck and kicking him in a last bloodcurdling scream, his limbs finally relaxed, neck twisted under your blood stained feet.

-" b-behind you !"

Your joy was short lived, you turned around as fast as you could under Conor's command but unfortunately, you already felt hands tugging at your hair and in no time at all, a stabbing pain ran through your head to your neck.

Your vision became blurry, bloody tears staining it, your head grew heavier and your eyelids tend to close on their own, you really didn't understood what happened until you caught a glimpse of the bloody piece of furniture under you just before he smashed your head against it once again.

You winced in pain and started scratching his hand that held your hair, almost screaming at how painful your head already was without your hair being tugged that way. Conor manged to get up from the ground, his sides starting to bleed again and made his way toward you two, yet before he could do anything, you elbowed the guard's diaphragm and he fell to the ground holding his lungs and having trouble to breathe.

-" motherfucker" Conor squatted next to him, avoided his upcoming kick and grabbed his hair to twist his neck just the same way you did with his friend, ending his life here and now.

He then let it fall limp and got up, running toward you and grabbing your arms to steady you.

-" Fuck, your head's bleeding " he remarked then placed his hand on your injury, you sobbed in a breath and pushed his hand away. The pain was unbearable, even if you were standing up, your eyes were watering way too much and the world around you was spinning, you shook your head from left to right slightly to chase the dizziness and breathed heavily as the ache increased.

-" Wow wow , you should rest for a minute " he stopped you with a hand on your shoulder that you shoved again, starting to walk clumsily toward the double doors.

You grabbed the handle and opened it, revealing a long corridor with many opened room doors, some scared girls peering over them at you two. You turned toward Conor, smiled as best as you could and stepped in the corridor.

-" ain't got time to bleed ".

It happened all too fast, just like you have planned it though the guards gave you a hard time, the girl did not. They accepted to follow you both out of the dreamhouse oddly quick, they probably heard about " the hunter" everywhere in the news, and to be honest, they couldn't think someone could take them in a worse place than the one they have been for years.

You preferred to avoid the elevators, hinting that it would be crowded and you were right, all the elevators were full of worried and panicked people, the stairs however were not empty but at least you didn't crossed way with any of La Compagnie's members who would recognize the girls, and that was great since the last thing you needed was to be spotted.

On the other hand what was not great was running down all those stairs, panting from the fight you had and hearing endlessly the sound of screaming, your heart was beating incredibly faster every step you made, you were the first of you to show in the middle of the crowded reception room, you fisted your dress and eye scanned every face around, but no one of La Compagnie members seemed to be around, they must have been evacuated before anyone else, you deduced.

You turned around and looked at the girls panicked faces, some of them were holding their chest from how much they ran, others were standing a little further away, terrified that anyone would recognize them. You ignored the pain you felt while seeing their fear and locked eyes with Conor, he nodded and started making the girls move down the stairs to the reception where you started to walk.

No one really paid attention to all of you, most of the waiters and the staff were asking people to stand in the line in order to exit, but no one listened. Those rich and " well mannered" people were fighting like animals to get out of the hotel, almost breaking the doors by the same time, you could almost have laughed to this.

-" take the lead" you asked Conor once he's made his way to you. " I'mma stand behind and make sure no one's left. "

-" Okay but don't be late, once I start the van-"

-" I know, Connie. Take them out, now. "

He nodded, then both of you started to push the girls out, helping them while pushing away women or men who were fighting for the doors. You watched carefully as every girl stepped out of this hell, then you stiffened, your heart missed a beat when you heard your name.

And his voice, again.

Now isn't human's brain strange ? You knew it was his voice the second you heard it but there has been nothing you could have done to prevent your body from turning around and peering at him, feeling as if the sky fell on you when his amethyst eyes met yours.

Shit, you cursed and digged your nails in your palms when you figured out you had reacted to your name. Later, you would probably regret acting so dumb, but now, you had no time for this.

-" I know it's you ! " Rindou from upstairs shouted, trying to make his way to you by pushing the people out of his way. You rapidly turned toward the doors and sighed when you saw that Conor managed to get all the girls out. You start to pick up the pace, but so does he. His heart was pounding, he was pushing people out of his way a little too hard, his body was burning but it didn't matter.

The woman turned, the woman reacted to your name.

-" Fuck, stay, please ! "

Your heart squeezed in your chest, he was getting closer and through the mayhem around you still could hear the way his voice got suddenly huskier, you bit your lower lip and turned to look at him, and everything seemed to disappear for a second.

Everything got muffled, voices. Everybody disappeared, you weren't even in this hell of a place. For a minute, there has only been you and him, his face and your masked one, his burning gaze on you, gripping the railing hard until his knuckles turned white. His breath got caught in his throat, now he was sure, only you were in his mind, in his heart, and in front of him. No matter how many women were around the room, only you, he only had eyes for you.

He was closer to where you were standing now, and made another step, speaking to you while standing next to the railing and avoiding to get pushed by the crowd behind him.

-" jus' a minute, I- I'm fucking begging. Don't...don't leave me again ".

Hearts beating, hearts breaking.

Your heart was aching so much in your chest, manifesting its need to be close to him, crying blood that boiled inside your veins, yet you knew It was too soon, and with teary eyes, you whispered a " sorry " you knew he could read on your lips, through his eyes passed a flash of hurt, as if something broke inside him just before they widened, and he picked up the pace as if he has been possessed.

-" No no no shit, wait !" He shouted, but you were so damn good at disappearing...

You managed to slip between the multiple bodies, through the exit, and Rindou had to watch the love of his life disappear again, he had to feel his heart breaking again, had to feel his hands shaking again.

But now he knew.

You have always been there.

His breathing became a mess the minute he found himself outside, it seemed as if he was in the middle of an earthquake field with all the chaos around him and inside him. Left, right, behind then right again, he checked everywhere, but no sign of even a black gown.

His chest grew tighter, he pulled angrily at his hair and cursed, he could feel his eyes watering and he hated it, he hated how betrayed he felt, the weight of realization was now finally falling on his shoulders and he started to figure out you gave up on him, you left him behind, it was you, the same you, the same him, yet years passed by and you ran away from him now.

-" The hell you doin'? Everyone's waiting in the car ! "

Once again, Ran has been the one to snap him out of his thoughts with a hand on his shoulder. A strong, solid hand that would always be there, and when he looked into his brother's hues, so similar to him and filled with worry, he couldn't help but let the words spill out from his mouth in a broken voice.

And he saw it, the pain, the anger, the disbelief, the denial, he saw a nightmare going through those eyes.

-" She was here, Ran. "

Just how many heart beats and parts of them would you steal ?

-" Our baby was here, and she was alive. "

•••

-" Do you want a herbal tea maybe ?" He tried, he was shivering, the man in front of him didn't even grant him a look, he could feel the anger radiating from him through heat waves and he was afraid if he came any closer, he might seriously explode.

- " Fucking leave. "

No sooner said than done, the assistant left his boss's place with a knot in his stomach, leaving him alone in his office with his vice-president, his nephew, and the one he knew as doctor Endo.

The three of them looked at each other curiously from time to time, gauging the silence of their superior. He was not a very talkative person by nature, but this time it was close to mutism. His face was so red that the doctor was sure his blood pressure must be at its highest.

That one cleared his throat, earning a death glare from the raging boss.

-" I think it's not that bad " he started, then startled when the latter immediately pulled out his gun and pointed it at him.

-" I think you wouldn't be that bad either, with a bullet in your damn brain. "

The doctor gulped down, then peered at his co-workers, silently asking them for help. The vice president sighed and as he was standing up next to Hiroto Mori's who was sitting behind his desk, he calmly pushed down the gun, earning himself another death glare.

-" That's exactly what she wants, the chaos. Let's not allow the pressure to mess with our heads".

-" He's right, Don. " The nephew agreed, sitting in front of the boss. " It's not that bad, you denied knowing about the dreamhouse-"

-" And who said the fucking media believes us ?" He slammed his fist against the table, making his nephew shiver. He always admired his boss and uncle, but he never saw him this angry and that was literally frightening.

-" you put it all on Oda's back, and he had been killed. I think they would believe you " doctor Endo added, making the nephew, Ichiro Mori, nod in response.

-" it's not all about the media, bitch killed Benjiro ! She took the whores, she destroyed my fucking empire ! " His voice could have made the walls around them tremble, and if they had to be honest they could only understand his wrath.

The vigilante hit even harder this time, a bold move, again. Not only have you managed to get inside his own hotel and kill the one who supervised the dreamhouse, you made him lose billions in a night by stealing the girls that worked for him, killing the one who made his money laundering, and had the authorities closing his hotel for sanitary problems.

In one night, La Compagnie has lost billion yens, Hiroto Mori had his reputation stained, and his money launderer killed. He couldn't do anything with his organization now, you froze it.

-" Nevertheless, the fact that she used batrachotoxin on frogs' legs to make it look like sanitary incompetence and not poisoning is surprising. "

You did. The main reason why you used a poison that could come from frogs was to make the authorities close the hotel, to gain more time, and it worked.

It put Hiroto Mori in more than a tricky situation, he was forced to sit and watch his main sources of income be taken from him, you wrecked him.

-" I'm gonna fucking rip her throat open. " He promised in a cold tone despite burning from inside. The men all nodded, they all agreed that this woman must be stopped as soon as possible, she turned out to be way more dangerous than what they initially thought.

Still, one thing struck the doctor's brilliant mind, and he couldn't help but to tell it, watching his boss' face turn even scarier.

-" I can't help but to think... Only one outsider knew about the dreamhouse, a girl-"

-" another word and I'll blow your brain out. "

His blood ran cold, the doctor licked his lips and lowered his head, he couldn't even sustain what was inside Hiroto's eyes, the rage, the hatred.

Hiroto understood immediately what he was implying, he made it clear years ago that he didn't wanted to hear about that girl anymore, his daughter.

The minute you thought about betraying him, he kicked you out of the family and punished you, made you a lesson for all his men that no one should play games with a man like him. He knew you hadn't told anyone about the dreamhouse, they didn't even gave you the time to do it, therefore he couldn't even think about his man's suggestion.

-" all I was saying is, her tongue might have slipped-"

-" Endo" the vice president warned, making a step toward him but the latter didn't listened.

-" only her knew about the secret "

-" and she took it to the grave. " Hiroto's voice cut like a knife, making the doctor startle. " Dead girls can't speak, doc. Dead girls tell no tales. "

His men went silent, noticing how dull and firm his voice turned. Since that day, no one talked about you, Mori made it clear for his men, he never had a heir, his only one being his nephew. Your name became a sin in that house, and they knew if the doctor wasn't that useful for him, he probably wouldn't be breathing by now.

-" Fine, what can we do now ?"

He took some minutes to think about the question.

-" I might have an idea. "

•••

Triggered.

A wounded animal, he acted just as. The only way Ran Haitani coped with the emotions that wouldn't stop coming was violence.

That was what got him pinning his brother against the wall, hand around his throat while both of them had been trying to punch the other since the minute they got home.

With that simple sentence, it seemed like Rindou pulled his trigger off on Ran. This got him going silent the entire way home, listening to whatever Rindou was blabbering with a distracted ear.

The minute they got inside Rindou's apartment, he couldn't take it anymore. He was talking about that other woman as if she was you. He felt insulted, his fist flew to his brother's jaw by its own, and soon they found themselves in this position.

He didn't even thought about believing him, beating the shit out of him for drinking or taking whatever shit that got him saying such bullshits. Damn, he was saying he saw you, he talked to you, didn't he knew he was stirring a knife in a damn old unhealed wound ?

His head felt dizzy, his blood was boiling and he really caught himself thinking about killing his own family because that one wouldn't just shut up.

-" The hell's wrong with you ?" Rindou grunt and moved like a beast under his grip, he grew older now, it wasn't as easy as it was to keep him still.

-" You're the one asking ? D'ya hear yourself talking you bastard ?"

Rindou squinted his eyes, he ignored how insulted he felt when he understood his brother didn't believed him and took that one by the collar.

-" I'm telling you. It's her. I know it's her".

-" Careful Rin, I've never wanted to fucking kill you this mu-"

-" The fuck asshole ? Think I'm a dam' kid ?" He pushed himself off of the wall and switched the positions, having his elder pinned against the wall now.

-" They could rip my fucking eyes that I'd still recognize our princess ".

He couldn't, no, he couldn't take it anymore. His breathes were harder to take, and it was all because of the honesty he could read in his brother's eyes.

You, their princess.

He was saying you were alive, he was implying you left them purposely, you would never have done that.

He was meaning you were the one who killed so many people, you wouldn't even hurt a mosquito?

He was in a raging anger, he felt guilty but the idea did crossed his mind, that Rindou lied about it only because Ran talked about moving on the last time. Rindou was his only family, his most trusted friend and the one he would give his life for, he shouldn't even consider thinking about something like that.

But he just couldn't, when it was about you, they would go off the deep end, and it was not the first time they did.

Years ago, right after their hearts have been ripped out of their chests. After days and nights being so high and drunk until they forgot about their own names, after creating fights with anyone they could just to get their anger out, after losing pounds, losing money, friends just because your loss turned them into an unbearable mess, not knowing made them this way.

Just as everyone started wondering why the assault of the daughter of such an influential man as Hiroto Mori was tuning into a cold case, the police and media claimed everywhere that they found the one who did this.

Families were relieved such a dangerous person couldn't harm anyone anymore, your father seemed to be finally coming to term with your loss, but not them.

It had to be one of their Roppongi acquaintance, a delinquent, just like them. Ran took the chance to pay him a visit in prison, scaring the shit out of him even from outside. He had many friends in prison, he knew they wouldn't hesitate to take care of the asshole for him if he asked to, but what he said to him, how he said it, he would never forget.

-" Ran, fuck. I'm not as dumb as to do this. "

Sure , he didn't thought about believing him.

-" She was yours, everyone 'round there knew she was under Haitani's protection".

But he had his intuitions too, and it felt odd, after all, how quickly it turned from a cold case to finding the criminal so easily. He told Rindou about it, and he remembered his brother had him in the exact same position as Ran was doing for him now, punching him for even thinking that this " motherfucker " could be innocent.

You always has been the only one to be able to make the Haitani's fight, but strangely, they only fought when you weren't there anymore, as if you were the one who maintained them together, their strength, and their kryptonite.

He asked Rindou to talk to him during his next visit to the prison, that way maybe that one too would see what he did see.

But.

Suicide, they said.

He couldn't handle prison, they said.

He got himself a razor blade, they said.

That was the only thing Rindou needed to understand the things were deeper than what they tried to make them believe. As luck would have it, he took his own life after talking with Ran.

an odd feeling of guilt assaulted the elder, Rindou had believed him, he accepted to give him a chance and he was right, your death was nothing but planned.

Yet he couldn't bring himself to think you were still there, not when you could have came back years ago.

God, if he truly listened to what Rindou was saying, you ran away from him. You would never have done that, you would never have tortured them this way and this long if you were still alive, nothing in the world would have stopped you from coming back to them.

-" If I hear this shit again-"

-" the fuck's going on here ?"

Hearing Kakucho's voice echoing through the room, Ran stopped talking, Rindou rolled his eyes and let go of his brother's collar, not shifting his eyes away from his, nevertheless.

Kakucho eyed both the men with a suspicious eye, they rarely fought and when they did, it never went that far. He hasn't been there all along but he could clearly see the blood on Rindou's lip, and Ran's eyebrow being slightly cut.

-" you're telling me we could've died in that damn hotel and the first thing you do coming back here is to fight ? Damn glad ain't got a brother ".

-" it's just a harmless argument" Ran turned toward that one and sighed when he saw him raising an eyebrow at him. Ran respected Kakucho a lot, he was the one he would go to everytime Rindou wasn't there, a true brother, but he couldn't just trust him with what Rindou was assuming, you being the vigilante means that Mikey would finally be able to put a name of the one he has been searching for, he couldn't allow something like that, even if it was false.

-" you know it wouldn't have been the same if Mikey was the one to come here, Ran ".

-" what is it about anyway ?" Rindou switched the conversation, making a step toward Kakucho who was holding his laptop, the man rolled his eyes and decided to ignore both of them, they were grown-up adults and knew how to deal with their own problems anyway.

What he was about to say was more important, something none of them would have predicted.

-" Mikey wants us all to see this. "

The Haitani's walked toward Kakucho and stood behind him, peering over his shoulder at the laptop, and stiffening when they heard his words.

-" it's about her, guys, you have to see this. "

#tokyo rev x you #tokyo revengers angst #tokyo revengers smut #bonten rindou #haitani rindou #ran haitani #ran haitani x reader #tokyo rev fluff #tokyo revengers spoilers #bonten trio #bonten smut #bonten x reader #bonten ran #ran haitani smut #ran x reader #bonten rindou x reader #bonten ran x reader

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cleaetpauline60 · 2 years ago

Photo

These are all of my Heroine Otome Game posts. If he misses a heroine please let me know in PM. ;) Thanks ! List #2 here : https://cleaetpauline60.tumblr.com/post/692736430000291840/these-are-all-of-my-heroine-otome-game-posts-if

A-

Abe Kaguya [ Furue Yurayura to ]

Aigasaki Kohana [ Magic Kyun! Renaissance ]

Aika [ RE:VICE[D] ]

Aikawa Chihiro [ Clover Toshokan no Juunin-tachi ]

Aileen Olazabal [ Arabians Lost ]

Airei [ Souten no Kanata ]

Airi [ Kami-sama to Koigokoro ]

Airi [ Shiro to Kuro no Alice ]

Airis Riedel [ Lost Alice ]

Aizaki Koi [ Himehibi -Princess Days- ]

Akagami Mashiro [ Kyoukai no Shirayuki ]

Akane Rin [ Ayakashi Gohan ]

Akazawa Karen [ Mashou Megane ]

Aki Miyazu [ Kanuchi ]

Akino Minori [ Step -Futari no Kankei wa Ippo Zutsu- ]

Akitsu Shino [ Dairoku: Ayakashimori ]

Alice [ Ikemen Kakumei ]

Alice Liddell [ Heart no Kuni no Alice ]

Alicia Hildegarde [ Mahoutsukai to Goshujin-sama ]

Amagi Asumi [ Little Anchor ]

Amahashi Miku [ Garnet Cradle ]

Amami Chitose [ Meshimase Rouman Sabou ]

Amamine Mika [ DesperaDrops ]

Amane Aika [ I DOLL U ]

Amano Hina [ Blackish House ]

Amano Nagisa [ Honey Vibes ]

Amano Nanao [ Harukanaru Toki no Naka De 7 ]

Amasawa Akari [ Sympathy Kiss ]

Amelia [ Death Connection ]

Anastasia Lynzel [ even if TEMPEST ]

Andou Serika [ Last Escort 2 ]

Anesaki Nozomi [ Watashi no Real wa Juujitsu Shisugiteiru ]

Ange [ Angelique Etoile ]

Ange [ Angelique Luminarise ]

Angelique Collete [ Angelique Special 2 ]

Angelique [ Angelique Retour ]

Angelique [ Neo Angelique ]

Ani Inaco [ Dame x Prince ]

Anna Hiiragi [ Lucian Bee’s ]

Anzaki Kaoru [ Tsumikui ]

Applause E Randolph [ Mistonia no Kibou ]

Aqua [ Fantastic Fortune 2 ]

Arashiyama Mari [ Storm Lover 2nd ]

Aria [ Ephemeral -Miniature Garden- ]

Aria Austin [ Vinculum Hearts ]

Arisu Yurika [ Taishou x Alice ]

Aru [ Princess Arthur ]

Asagi Akira [ Scared Rider Xechs ]

Asagi Haru [ Hanayaka Nari, Waga Ichizoku ]

Asagiri Kanna [ Hanaoni ]

Asahina Yui [ Kiniro no Corda Starlight Orchestra ]

Asakura Akino [ Jiritsu Kidou Sensha Izuna ]

Asanaga Miku [ Spiral Memoria ~Watashi to Deau Natsu~ ]

Ashanty Ris [ Albaria no Otome ]

Ashe [ Under the Moon ]

Ashihara Chihiro [ Harukanaru Toki no Naka De 4 ]

Aspashia [ Desert Kingdom ]

Atano Rio [ Dynamic Chord ]

Awaki Kotone [ Gensou Kissa Enchanté ]

Ayase Yuki [ Sachi no Tenbin ]

Ayashi no Miya [ Ayashi no Miya ]

Ayazuki Mei [ Meiji Tokyo Renka ]

Azumi Ritsu [ Tengai ni Mau, Iki na Hana ]

B-

Bambi [ Tokimeki Memorial Girl’s Side 3rd Story ]

C-

Canaria [ Hime no Rakuen ]

Canna [ Arcana Famiglia Collezione! Piccola Amore ]

Cardia Beckford [ Code: Realize ]

Catarina Claes [ Otome Game no Hametsu Flag ]

Cecilia Falias Temirana [ Temirana Koku no Tsuiteru Hime to Tsuitenai Kishi Dan ]

Ceres [ Shuuen no Virche ]

Charlotte [ Zettai Meikyuu Himitsu no Oyayubi-hime ]

Chihiro [ Tokyo Yamanote Boys ]

Chika [ Secret Crush -Kataomoi- ]

Chikage [ Genji Koi Emaki ]

Chloe Sheffield [ Princess Britania ]

Chloe [ EPHEMERAL ]

Chocolat Meilleure [ Sugar Sugar Rune: Koi mo Oshare mo Pick-Up! ]

Christina Ranzaad [ The Second Reproduction ]

Christine Daaé [ PersonA ~Opera Za no Kaijin~ ]

Claire Eithéa [ Orfleurs ]

Cocoro [ Re: BIRTHDAY SONG ]

Collete [ Riddle Garden ]

Crim [ Ripple no Tamago ]

Cyrus Tistella [ Steam Prison ]

D-

D'Artagnan [ Musketeer: Le Sang des Chevaliers ]

Daisy [ Tokimeki Memorial Girl’s Side 2nd Kiss ]

Diana el Circled [ Fantastic Fortune ]

E-

Eleanor Vert [ Ai no Uta ]

Elise Scarlet [ 0 Ji no Kane to Cinderella ]

Ellie [ Gothic Murder -Unmei o Kaeru Adventure- ]

Emily [ Eikoku Tantei Mysteria ]

Emma [ Genso Manège ]

Emma [ Ikemen Ouji ]

Enma Rin [ Tengoku Struggle ]

Eri [ Nameless ~Dangsin-i Gieoghaeya Hal Dan Hangajiui Geos~ ]

Erica Fleur [ Mother Goose no Himitsu no Yakata ]

Erika [ Eldarya ]

Erika Arenia [ Kazeiro Surf ]

Erika Klause [ Tanbi Musou Meine Liebe ]

Evangeline Lilith [ Nero E Rosso ~Kane no Tame ni Kane wa Naru 2 ]

Eve [ Clepsydra ]

Eve [ Yuukyuu no Tierblade ]

Éloïse [ Moonlight Lovers ]

F-

Felicità [ Arcana Famiglia ]

Filia [ Palais de Reine ]

Fiona Galland [ Black Wolves Saga ]

Fraulein Gilbell [ Meine Liebe II ~Hokori to Seigi to Ai~ ]

Fujieda Neri [ Zettai Kaikyuu Gakuen ]

Fujii Kanako [ Torikago no Marriage ]

Fujimori Saya [ Hiiro no Kakera - Shin Tamayorihime Denshou ]

Fujioka Haruhi [ Ouran Koukou Host Club ]

Fujisaki Futaba [ Fortissimo ]

Fujishima Nanako [ Shinobazu Seven ]

Fujishiro Mao [ Cafe Cuillere ]

Fujiwara Mei [ Fantastic Fortune ]

Fujiwara Miki [ Tsuki no Hikari, Taiyou no Kage ]

Fuka [ Ozmafia!! ]

Futaai Akane [ Toiro Komachi ]

Futaba Chitose [ Seishun Hajimemashita ]

Futaba Yuuka [ Pet Tantei Y’s ]

Futami Nina [ Dynamic Chord ]

Fuuka [ Dual Colors ]

Fuyuura Megumi [ Getsuei no Kusari ]

G-

Genjou [ S.Y.K ]

Gerda [ Snow Bound Land ]

Gojou Saki [ Sakuragatari ]

H-

Hairi Lalique [ Cendrillon palikA ]

Hanamaki Ichiko [ 7′scarlet ]

Hanamiya Kazuha [ Period Cube ]

Hanasaka Airi [ Star's Lover "ReaKoi" Datte, Ii Janai! ]

Hanna Ellington [ Will o’ Wisp ]

Haruhime [ Toukakijin ]

Haruno Sayuri [ Bonjour♪ Koiaji Pâtisserie ]

Hasekura Akane [ Hoshi no Furu Toki ]

Hasumi Yuki [ Harukanaru Toki no Naka De 5 ]

Hatanaka Tomoe [ Money Parasite ]

Hayama Haruho [ Photograph Journey ]

Hayama Tsubasa [ Kaleido-Eve ]

Hayami Rui [ Mermaid Prism ]

Hayasaka Satsuki [ Sumire no Tsubomi ]

Henrietta Grimm [ Zettai Meikyuu Grimm ]

Heroine [ Amnesia ]

Heroine [ Doubt ~Usotsuki Otoko wa Dare?~ ]

Heroine [ Guang Yu Ye Zhi Lian ]

Heroine [ Ikemen Bakumatsu ◆ Unmei no Koi ]

Heroine [ Ikemen Genjiden ]

Heroine [ Ikemen Live: Koi no Uta o Kimi ni ]

Heroine [ Ikemen Oukoku◆Joou to Shinjitsu no Kiss ]

Heroine [ Lian Yu Shen Kong ]

Heroine [ Mystic Messenger ]

Heroine [ Princess Closet ]

Heroine [ RearPheles ]

Heroine [ Ren'ai Banchou 2 ]

Heroine [ Ren'ai Banchou! ]

Heroine [ Saikin Koi Shiteru? ]

Heroine [ Shoujo Kakumei Utena ~Itsuka Kakumeisareru Monogatari~]

Heroine [ Tokimeki Memorial Girl’s Side 1st Love ]

Heroine [ Tokimeki Restaurant ☆☆☆ ]

Hibiki Karin [ Last Bullet ]

Hibiki Ruka [ Houkago no Love Beat ]

Hidetomi Misawo [ Gyakuten Yoshiwara ]

Higuchi Yumi [ memories ]

Hiiragi Fuuka [ Kami-sama Nante Yondenai! ]

Hiiragi Miu [ Dynamic Chord ]

Hiiragi Noriko [ KoiGIG ]

Hijiri Futaba [ Bloody Call ]

Himeko [ Kannou Mukashibanashi ]

Himemiya Nagisa [ Royals ~Itoshi no Ouji-sama~ ]

Himemiya Yukari [ Hakarena Heart ]

Himeno Kyouko [ Glass Heart Princess ]

Himeoka Kokoro [ Miss Princess Miss Pri! ]

Hinagiku [ Utakata no Uchronia ]

Hinamori Amu [ Shugo Chara! Mittsu no Tamago to Koisuru Joker ]

Hinata Ema [ Brothers Conflict ]

Hino Kahoko [ Kin'iro no Corda ]

Hinohira Aoi [ Fantastic Fortune 2 ]

Hinokami Chie [ Hitofuta Kitan ]

Horikita Yuki [ Harajuku Tantei Gakuen Steel Wood ]

Hoshino Ichika [ Collar x Malice ]

Hotaru [ Geten no Hana ]

Hotaru [ Monomagia Cantabile ]

I-

Ichi [ Hana Oboro ]

Ichigo [ Koroshiya to Strawberry ]

Ichijou Shiori [ School Wars ]

Ichikawa Tsuyuha [ Shiratsuyu no Kai ]

Igarashi Yuna [ Storm Lover ]

Ilza [ Yoiyo Mori no Hime ]

Inafune Saki [ Bakudan★Handan ]

Inori [ Side Kicks! ]

Inuzuka Shino [ Satomi Hakkenden ]

Iori Saya [ Asaki, Yumemishi ]

Isshiki Misa [ 9 R.I.P. ]

Ira [ Evergreen Avenue ]

Iris [ Eternal Wish ]

Itou Aki [ Panic Palette ]

Itou Ayako [ Diary ]

Izumi Sakurako [ Reijou Tantei ~Office Love Jikenbo~ ]

Izumi Shio [ Walpurgis no Uta ]

Izumo [ Hyakka Yakou ]

J-

Jed [ Haitaka no Psychedelica ]

Julia [ Moujuu-tachi to Ohime-sama ]

Juliet Capulet [ Romeo vs Juliet ]

K-

Kagami Azuma [ Tennis no Ouji-sama: Doubles no Ouji-sama ]

Kagurazaka Kaname [ Houkago wa Gin no Shirabe ]

Kaguya [ Jooubachi no Oubou ]

Kamikawa Nanami [ Himehibi -New Princess Days- ]

Kamiki Sakuya [ Kaminaru Kimi to ]

Kan'u [ Jyuzaengi ]

Kanna Isora [ Pandora ~Kimi no Namae o Boku wa Shiru~ ]

Kanno Hotori [ Un: BIRTHDAY SONG ]

Kanome Chisato [ Byakko Tai ]

Kanzaki Asuna [ Rakuen Danshi ~Dare mo Shiranai Mou Hitotsu no Rakuen~ ]

Kanzaki Hina [ Butterfly Lip ]

Kanzaki Mei [ Petit Four ]

Kase Aiha [ Orange♥Honey ~Boku wa Kimi ni Koishiteru~ ]

Kashino Zakuro [ Sweet Clown ]

Kashiwagi Kira [ Mizu no Senritsu 2 ]

Kasuga Hinata [ Hoshi no Oujo: Hikari no Tsubasa ]

Kasuga Miyu [ Pretty Flap ]

Kasuga Nozomi [ Harukanaru Toki no Naka De 3 ]

Kasuga Tamaki [ Hiiro no Kakera ]

Katagiri Kaede [ Shinobi, Koi Utsutsu ]

Katagiri Kanade [ Kuro to Kin no Akanai Kagi ]

Kataoka Yue [ Marginal #4 ]

Katsuki Sayu [ Enkan no Memoria ]

Kawai Marika [ Ohime-sama datte XXX Shitai!! ]

Kawana Hina [ Bad Medicine ]

Kayana Takamahara [ Kanuchi ]

Kayano Yuuna [ Arcobaleno! ]

Kayo [ Ken ga Kimi ]

Keika [ Kimi ga Tame, Koishi Midareshi Tsuki no Hana ]

Kidou Saya [ Sengoku Himeuta ]

Kim Heejung [ Dandelion ~Neoege Buneun Baram~ ]

Kinami Mizuki [ Kannagi no Mori ]

Kinoshita Tomoe [ Sangoku Rensenki Sakigake ]

Kirihara Tamami [ Hanayoi Romanesque ]

Kirisawa Yuna [ Tensei Hakkenshi Fuumaroku ]

Kirishima Kozue [ Urakata Hakuouki ]

Kirishima Maya [ Ouma no Mori ]

Kirishita Konoha [ Dynamic Chord ]

Kisakino Emi [ Himehibi Another Princess Days ]

Kitamori Manami [ Vitamin Z ]

Kobayashi Mariko [ Fushigi Yuugi Genbu Kaiden Gaiden: Kagami no Miko ]

Koharu [ NORN9 ]

Kohinata Kanade [ Kin'iro no Corda 3 ]

Kohinata Tsugumi [ Tennis no Ouji-sama Dokidoki Survival Series ]

Koihana Sora [ Koi no Hanasaku Hyakkaen ]

Koizumi Akane [ Gakuen Club ]

Koizumi Saki [ Jingi Naki Otome ]

Kojou Shio [ D.C. Girl’s Symphony ]

Kokura An [ Otome Ken Musashi ]

Komori Yui [ Diabolik Lovers ]

Konohana Saya [ Gakuen K ]

Kouda Saya [ Custom Drive ]

Kousaka Amane [ Teikoku Kaleido ]

Kozuki Erena [ Chouchou Jiken Rhapsodic ]

Kuga Mikoto [ NORN9 ]

Kurihara Airi [ Hoshizora no Comic Garden ]

Kurihara Misako [ Purelover Flavor ]

Kuromon Sumi [ Shinigami Kagyou ]

Kuronuma Sawako [ Kimi ni Todoke ~Sodateru Omoi~ ]

Kurou Nadeshiko [ Clock Zero ]

Kurumi Haruka [ Moshi, Kono Sekai ni Kami-sama ga Iru to suru Naraba ]

Kusanagi Yui [ Kamigami no Asobi ]

Kuze Tsugumi [ Nil Admirari no Tenbin ]

#Heroine Otome Game #tag list #otome #otome heroine

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myelocin · 5 years ago

Text

Redefining You | Kuroo T. , Miya A.

Summary: The three times you realize you love Tetsurou, and the fourth where you finally say it. A redefinition of the love that came to you, unanswered.

Characters/Pairings: Kuroo Tetsurou, You, (Miya Atsumu comes on ch 2)

Warnings/ Genre: Mentions of alcohol (beer?), tattooed!Kuroo, Angst, Unrequited Love, Healing, Slice of Life

Word Count: 3.2k

a/n: I felt some things last night and thought about some songs, so therefore here is an angst that is near and dear to my heart.

[Part 1] | Part 2 | Epilogue | Bonus

The first time the thought came to you was at age 13. You didn’t know what love was, never really felt it before, but as you stared at the way he hid behind his bangs and shuffled closer to his black jacket- you felt it. The first tap on your heart, first flutter of the butterflies, and the first kisses of an oncoming blush blooming onto the apples of your cheeks.

At thirteen, Kuroo Tetsurou said his hellos through cheeky smiles and light laughter. When he didn’t have volleyball, he’d be seated next to you in your orchestra class sharing a music stand, and engaging in small talk. He scoffed at your weird jokes, but he looked straight at you when you talked about your day.

You remember thinking about him in the school bus on the way home.

In him, you saw happiness; felt it even. During movie “dates” where the two of you watched Bridge to Terabithia while video calling at one in the morning because actual dates at the movie theater weren’t allowed by your mom just yet. Now, in your older years, you still often think back to those moments and laugh to yourself at how you turned beet red at Tetsurou typing ‘ur cute.’ on the chat box.

And so at thirteen years old, though still innocent towards the idea of love, through your own definitions you decided that the only explanation was that you loved him. And so love him you did.

The second time was four years later. You had moved abroad after your mother’s passing, and hadn’t really thought about the boy with the seemingly eternal bedhead. You flowed into your new routine quite easily despite the stark difference in culture and environment. At this point, though you still had moments where your thoughts ghosted over Tetsurou, you concluded it to be the stage where it had become just a funny memory.

Except, of course, there was that one vacation your dad forced you to go on (it being his hometown), the one where you literally knew nobody and didn’t speak a word of the dialect, in some weird turn of event you found yourself pressing the call button next to his name. Long story short, there was a really awkward conversation about why you were calling him at five in the morning but he eventually cracked a joke that was so like him, that the conversation with him just flowed naturally afterwards.

A call turned into two, and then before you knew it, despite on standing in the opposite sides of the world, a deeper friendship between the two of you grew.

Phone calls between the two of you became a regular fixture of your day, something that you eventually looked forward to. Still keeping in contact with the same group of friends you and Tetsurou grew up with, sometimes it felt like you never left at all. You found out that he eventually left orchestra and instead devoted his time to the volleyball team in his highschool along with Kenma. It seemed like a natural choice for him to leave. After all, you saw him often scowl at the orchestra teacher during breaks.

At seventeen, you had that feeling again. You felt the familiar flutter during every goodnight and good morning call Tetsurou slipped within your day. Snapshots within your day included a random selfie Tetsurou had sent you and various other text messages that updated you about his day. For almost three years, you saw him through a screen. You saw Tetsurou falling asleep while flipping through an algebra textbook, yelling with or at Kenma with a game controller, or just laying back in his bed tossing and catching a volleyball while you flipped through your own notes. The distance didn’t mean much to you because despite being thousands of miles apart, it felt like Tetsurou was right there.

Your favorite moments had to be the summer of your final year in highschool.

It became a routine where Tetsurou, knowing that you completely trashed your sleeping schedule, you were more than awake at three in the morning for him to call. That summer he finally got his license and developed the habit of driving around with you, plastered on the screen of his phone, your voice blasted on the speaker instead of playing the music you knew he liked driving to.

He’d stop by a convenience store to buy ice cream and eat it with you (having your own midnight snack) at a quiet parking lot some distance from the city. And the two of you would stay like that for hours. You’d muse about the three a.m. thoughts swimming around your head that night and he’d listen, with the occasional snarky comment (that became endearing to you over the years), and he’d talk about the three p.m. thoughts swimming in his.

And despite being on opposite sides of the world, you managed to watch the sun together. Though, the only difference was that as it rose on your corner of the world, he sat and watched it set in his.

“We’re watching the same sun, though,” he’d say, and in a way, it made the distance feel a little absent.

So your heart decided to beat again, during a Saturday evening that autumn: when you accepted the skype call at seven p.m. and waved a good morning to a sleepy Tetsurou. He replied with a good evening before settling back into his bed with a mug of coffee and his fleece blanket wrapped up to his head.

“If you were here we could have actually gone on a date instead of that shitty video call, you know.”

You looked at him, pouting into his mug of coffee, eyes still a little bleary from sleep and figure enveloped in a giant blanket. “I know.”

“I bet we’d look cute together, (y/n).”

You pressed your face into the heels of your hands and scrunched your nose towards the screen. “Tetsu, I would look cute. You’d look slightly cuter next to me.”

He scrunched his nose and retaliated with an equally snarky comment, but you didn’t mind. The same flutter in your stomach told you that you didn’t mind. The way your heart pounded a little faster as you looked at your best friend bathed in the morning light, hit the final nail in the coffin with the assurance that you absolutely did not mind.

The third came in scattered moments.

For a while you had kept it as a secret for yourself, but eventually coming clean to Kenma one night as he drawled about how annoying Tetsurou had gotten over his new girlfriend. The blonde gave you a look through the screen before groaning, “My God, (y/n). I was rooting for you two.”

You couldn’t find it in yourself to hate the girl. Next to Tetsurou, she seemed like sunshine and you could see it. In the way his smile tilted a little higher and the way his eyes shone when she spoke. He often replied to her with a voice as soft as hers, so you yielded. “He’s happy, Kenma.”

Kenma looked at you with a flat look, so you took his silence as his response. Huffing out an exhale and pushing the controller to the camera’s line of vision, you met Kenma’s stare. “Another round?”

The realization didn’t come as a completed that came to you at once.

Slowly, even as you told yourself that you were okay, and whatever this was is okay, you knew convincing yourself was another story. The dynamic between the two of you didn’t change, or at least on Tetsurou’s part he genuinely thought that it didn’t.

The mornings and evening calls were still constant even though the duration had become shorter. Gone were the nights you’d idly sit and watch Tetsurou fight sleep during homework. But it was fine. You knew she must have kept him awake enough to finish the worksheets.

Jealously was an ugly emotion, you thought.

You knew it didn’t suit you, but you couldn’t help but feel it bubbling during that one Sunday night he’d rang you up at five thirty in the morning, because he knew you wouldn’t hesitate to answer (you didn’t), and waved a hello before flipping the camera and showing his girlfriend shyly waving at you from the passenger seat of his car.

Your throat tightened when you looked at the watch, then looked at the screen where he forgot to flip the screen, showing the setting sun’s light cast on the two.

You laughed out your excuse of needing to catch up on a little more sleep before you clicked your phone off and turned towards the window.

The sun had risen, and your heart may have clenched a little at the thought that he was watching the same sun set with someone who wasn’t you, but Tetsurou smiled in that special way with the twinkle in his eyes, so even as you watched the sky light up from the first peaks of the sun’s rays, you decided that because you loved him—you didn’t mind.

The next year continued like that. The friendship stayed although the dynamic you two shared changed. As the year progressed, you took note of the dwindling calls, and hasty text messages. You didn’t bother to keep up with how their relationship deepened, but still had the heart to like every Instagram post either of them posted during anniversaries. You held on to the birthday messages or songs he randomly sent you and listened to the words that you sometimes imagined were what he meant for you. Once in a while the conversation would last longer than the occasional greetings and things felt like they clicked back into place again. But the next day, there never came the nostalgic good morning, or the sight of him with bleary eyes in the morning light, so you tucked that little piece of memory and listened to the same three songs you imagined were for you.

And because you loved him—for that time it was enough.

Before the autumn of the following year began, you found yourself seated on a twelve hour flight back to Tokyo where for the first time, in over seven years, you stood in front of him. Tetsurou was beaming, and you felt choked up.

Tetsurou’s hello was made known through a tight hug and a, “Glad you’re home.” So for that short while, you wrapped your arms around him and breathed the scent of his jacket, because for the first time in seven years, in a way he felt a little like home.

So as he sat across from you and said, “You would’ve loved her! She had to go somewhere that’s why she can’t come. But maybe you can meet another time!” you didn’t have it in you to let your smile crack and instead reached forward to clap him on the shoulder.

“Tetsu, you’re whipped.”

He laughed but nodded at your comment, but again, you took note of his happy smile so you let yourself try to mirror the emotion he held in his. And because you loved him, you thought of the tunes of the songs you imagined were for you and searched for the momentary peace in that.

That one time where you finally broke your silence was when he walked into your apartment with a chipped smile.

Another two years had passed where you watched Tetsurou grow into a new identity. He still cracked the same jokes from years ago, that you remembered, but his change was first subtle with the way he liked his coffee made to the resolve hardening in his eyes, and to the ink that wrapped around his arms. But he still had moments that made him reach out to you, and in those times you’d catch him animated about the most mundane things in early sunlight— you allowed yourself to love him quietly in silence.

“I have beer,” he said as he shrugged off his coat and rolled his sleeves up.

From your spot standing in the kitchen, you eyed the fresh ink on his arms. “New ink?”

Tetsurou placed the pack of beer in the middle of your table before taking a seat in the couch. He threw his head back and looked at you. “Yup. Got it earlier. Come sit,” he patted the empty space next to him with a little extra emphasis, “I really need a hug.”

Grabbing the bowl of chips from the counter, you made your way to where he was and sat at the empty space next to him. Automatically he slumped against your form and began picking at the chips.

Your hands patted the spikes in his hair and you leaned back, Tetsurou warm against your side.

“I feel like I’m dying,” he mumbled in your side.

“You’re not dying, Tetsu. Your heart just hurts.”

“I really love her,” his voice didn’t crack like you expected it to but his hand fisted the hem of your sweater a little tighter, so you sunk your hands into his hair and began smoothing out the wilder pieces. This had always distracted him, so you hoped it worked this time around.

You gestured for him to sit up and follow you as you grabbed a can of beer as you sat up. “Let’s get you some fresh air.”

Tetsurou grumbled a little before grabbing his own can and following you to the balcony. You leaned against the railing, cracked the tab open and took a swig. Tetsurou joined you by the railings and clinked his beer against yours before taking his own sip.

Tokyo’s skyline looked beautiful in the night. You peered at the man standing next to you, his own can pressing against his lips. “What made you get a new tattoo?”

He shrugs. “Don’t know.”

He paused to sigh. “Just felt like it.”

“You know you’re a good person right?” you ask.

“I’m not as much of a saint as I wish I was.”

“None of us are saints.”

He tipped tipped the can back and gulped down the remainder of his beer. “Not many people have broken a person either.”

And after a little pause in silence, you reassured him, “You’re gonna be okay, Tetsu. In time.”

“I don’t think I’m in that mindset yet.”

“Yet.”

He looked at you and sighed again. You thought even with tired eyes he looked beautiful. “Yet,” he repeated back.

And somehow along that night, the hours stretched into a comfortable silence.

This felt a little like déjà vu. With Tetsurou settled behind you, chin on top of your head as he enveloped your form in his, the both of you facing the east. Little specks of yellow lights began to dance around the sky.

Tetsurou’s voice broke through the silence as he said, “Have you ever loved someone?”

You closed your eyes and leaned into his warmth, already rehearsing the tunes of the song that brought you a false blanket of serenity over the years. “I have.”

“You did?” he asks, and his is tone sounded a little shocked, but you felt it in you that deep down he must have known, or suspected something even.

“Yeah. Eight years. I saw him in everything.”

“How,” his tone was a little more tentative his time, considering he was now dancing on unfamiliar territory, “how did you let go?”

“I haven’t yet.”

He stayed silent but he squeezed you a little tighter.

And then the two of you watched as the yellow of the sun finally broke through.

Slowly, the morning light illuminated the outline of Tokyo. You truly felt like you were in some sort of déjà vu as you looked at Tetsurou, for the first time, bathing in the same light, from the same sun, where you fell in love with him all those years ago.

You thought back to when your friend had told you that experiencing déjà vu meant that it was the universe’s own way of telling you that you’re going down the right path. And looking up Tetsurou, who felt the warmth of the sun with his head tilted back and eyes fluttered close, you knew you were right where you’re supposed to be.

Which was why you traced the ink on the side of your wrist and in a steady voice spoke, “I love you.”

He stepped back and looked at you. “What?”

His expression looked a little confused and you smiled. Holding out your wrist to him, you spoke again, “I began to tell myself that every day.”

“I realized because he made up such a big part of my life, when he moved on I felt missing and stuck. Kind of like being in a loop.” You giggled and willed yourself to remember the meaning of déjà vu again before continuing, “So like, the times where he’d be gone, I just decided to replace them by telling myself that I love me. I told myself good morning, and goodnight, and kept snapshots of my day to remind myself that I’m living this life and moving forward.”

Tetsurou looked beautiful in the morning light. Confused, but still beautiful.

“I realized in those eight years, I lost so much of myself. And he looked so happy. His eyes were literally sparkling, Tetsu! I thought that shit only happened in anime. But that kind of love happened to him so I thought I deserved that too.”

“I got this tattoo a few weeks ago, see?”

You turned your wrist to the side and watched as he traced over the inked bundle of baby’s breath. “I read somewhere that it meant everlasting love. I was in the middle of another sad girl hour moment so I thought why not give it to myself? It’s a start, right?”

Tetsurou’s lips quirked up at your words before he looked at you. “I’m proud of you.”

You looked back and met his gaze. It didn’t hold the same sparkle that it did for her but you didn’t mind. The feeling of déjà vu never went away so you inhaled a sharp breath. Tetsurou truly did look beautiful in the morning light, more so as he stands in front of you with a gentle look in his eyes. More than five of the eight years that you knew him had you spent dreaming about the morning like this where you’d stand with your hands in his own, eye to eye in the same side of the world looking at the same sun that lay witness to your growth.

You took him into his arms and buried your face in his chest, inhaling his scent. He smelt as familiar as he felt. And the moment still feels like déjà vu you feel like you could cry. Your heart constricts in the way that kind of hurts but also kind of doesn’t, and you feel his hand rub circles on your back, so you speak, “You’ll find peace, Tetsu. We’ll get there.”

His cheek presses against the crown of your head as he murmurs, “In time.”

And in that moment you realize that even though you love him, first you tell yourself a silent ‘I love you’ , and then echo, “In time.”

proceed to part 2 here!

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alicemitch09writes · 3 years ago

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valentines has passed and i am fully aware of that buttttt!!!!! small, cute, special moments (it doesn’t have to be elaborate or anything) with suna/reader and samu/reader ???? i need it for research ✍️✍️✍️

um, actually i have some nsfw stuff in mind ehehehehe i'll just mix it up~

suna/reader

every year, suna would gift her sunflowers, because they're her absolute favorites. and if valentine's falls on a weekend, they'd go on a date somewhere within or outside hiroshima.

one valentine's date was of them driving off to a hillside view, eating the bentos they made earlier that day.

another time, the two had a date at the salon (to get nails done bc yes hygiene), and later went out to a pretty classy dinner.

for their first valentine's date, suna surprised reader at her university gate with a sunflower bouquet in hand, phone out to record her walking towards him, realizing it's him in front of her, the bouquet, and eventually her face turning red. they later had dinner at a nearby food stall.

(suna makes sure to send his mom, airi, reader's mom, and her sister, mika, flowers for valentine's, too)

suna's socials would sometimes be filled with reader ALL DAY with some kind of valentine's filter. he just loves showing her off.

because valentine's falls on winter season, the two would always drive to work via suna's car, and without fail, reader would be surprised by the bouquet each and every time.

on their 5th valentine's, reader gave suna a heartfelt letter, which he kept to this day.

suna HATES romance movies, but thanks to reader, he found that he's an absolute sucker for wong kar-wai films and before trilogy. so every year, they'd tune in to any of those films with some wine and chocolates.

komori, being the menace that he is, gifted reader some valentine's lingerie to suna but decided to directly give it to reader. she was so mortified when she realized his gift. however, she did want to spice things up ifywim ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°).

morning after valentine's would be the worst for reader because of how much concealer she'd have to use to cover up all the marks suna would leave behind. also, she'd be limping because the man goes hard on her (especially seeing her in that lingerie komori gifted her hekhek).

suna may or may not have a secret folder in his phone, password encrypted, full of videos and pictures of them having sex ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

osamu/reader

almost every year, without fail she would sneak in some chocolates in osamu's bag to surprise him.

but ha, two can play at that game, and he'd also surprise her with a delivery of flowers later that day at her work (she works for an orchestra that's often hired to make game soundtracks).

dinner dates would usually be at onigiri miya, and the two wouldn't mind! actually, that's also how their first valentine's went and osamu was super insecure that he couldn't take her somewhere special. reader would kiss his cheek and assure him that it was okay.

the two would bake treats for valentine's, which would be a special at onigiri miya for the first 100 customers (reader tends to make a lot).

they once went to tokyo disneyland, too!

in some occasion, they'd have a double date with suna/reader. they went to tokyo disneyland, disneysea, sanrio puroland, to name a few.

bait, their chihuahua, would be with reader's friends or dads. osamu or her would try to dress him up as their little cupid.

i see them as the type of couple to wear couple shirts (osamu has no shame. any way to prove and show his love)

osamu would coax his love to serenade him for valentine's, and he just swoons each and every time.

for some reason, the two almost always celebrate valentines having sex. and then the morning after they'd realize, 'oh, it's valentine's day!'

reader would try to buy some lingerie herself, complete with bunny ears ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

one time, they were at hyogo for valentine's, and with osamu's parents away, they did it in his old bedroom. atsumu was mortified when he heard about this, begging his parents to cleanse his childhood room.

#alicemitch09 answers #outsider looking in drabble #most unlikely drabble #fluff #smut #smuff #maybe

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bongaboi · 4 years ago

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2021 Grammy Awards: The List.

New age

Best New Age Album