#and end up happily with anyone but Yuuki

[sonitavalentine]

hi can i ask a question about kaname and yuki on vk? may i ask if yuki is kaname's one true/great love? the same for yuki because on vk there's so many things left unanswered especially with the hd woman i really aprreciate your answer thank you

Hi,

Yuuki IS Kaname’s truest love because she’s the main heroine. It’s as simple as that lol. With Hino it’s even simpler than with any other mangaka.

Yuuki is the centre of two main boys who were created to be HOT. And to me, and my opinion may sound very biased, but it looks to me that Hino made it pretty clear that she won’t allow such Hawt Bois to love anyone else but her Tender Princess.

Look, Kaname and Zero may be the opposites and the archenemies of each other, they may differ in every deed they do and every trait they have, but if there’s anything what they share it’s their way of accepting Yuuki’s behaviour towards each other. It’s unbelievable how much they both can forgive to her considering the way Yuuki treats them both. Like, Yuuki can literally sleep today with Kaname, tomorrow with Zero, the day after tomorrow with Kaname again and so on and none of them would wink once. They’re both ready to be martyrs for her no matter how many times she’s going to betray them. Hell, they both don’t even consider it a betrayal. Kaname is okay for Yuuki’s heart to be divided into two pieces for him and for Zero, and Zero is okay for Yuuki to ask Kaname’s half-dead body if he allows them to be together.

Hino goes as far as to declaring Kaname as Kuran’s ancestor but never ever even gives a hint how he became one. I mean for being an ancestor you have to have an ancestress at least to create kids that will continue the bloodline. But who’s the lady that took that place? Unknown. It might’ve been Hooded Woman, but Hino added her into the plot without caring to emphasize her real role in the Kuran bloodline. When you make a figure of the ancestor that important you have to deal with the fact that the ancestress should be revealed as well. But Hino never does that and never cares. Because it’s not important for her, the main deal is Kaname’s feelings for Yuuki, the rest can roast in hellfire.

So Yuuki is Kaname’s real love not only judging by his actions towards Yuuki from the context of the manga, but also from the subtext - Hino isn’t pleased with the idea that Yuuki isn’t the centre of the world of any of the main male leads. And so many things are left unanswered exactly because Hino doesn’t know how to answer them correctly without explaining how two such different personalities like Kaname and Zero can be so similar in only one thing which is their attitude towards Yuuki’s indecisiveness. If it was one of them, I’d believe it, it would pass as a character trait. But both? Not working.

My words probably sound toxic but that’s how I feel about this case at the moment.

[tanakavox]

A look into the multiverse chapter 5

Soooo. Due to post limit im gonna have to reblog this post with the rest. Just tell y'all when you wonder where the rest is lol. Anyways intro for Winter is done by ExiledDarkness. Everything else is all meeee! On with the post.

A flash of light blinds everyone in the room. As it dies down, Winter Schnee is shown to be standing in the middle of the room.

"Winter?!" Weiss exclaims in shock. The rest of the cast, except for Qrow who groans in annoyance, keeps silent as Weiss explains to Winter about the situation they're in.

Winter nods. "I see. How interesting. I usually wouldn't do something like this but it appears that I have been given no other choice."

"Yeah, that seems to be the case with everything going on in my life." Jaune says while scratching his head.

The screen's light flickers on again and shows a boy setting up his computer and putting a helmet on his head. The sound of the computer starting up is heard.

"Link start!" With those words a flash of light appears with lines of color streaking across the screen.

"That voice sounded familiar …" Winter muttered to herself

"What was that Winter? Weiss asked, turning to her sister.

"Ah. It's nothing"

"Ah. Sword art online." The boy thinks to himself, sighing wistfully. "It's been a while since the beta. Wonder if they change anything?

A man in his early 20s with white hair looks and sees that ads plague the area around him.

"Oh c'mon guys, really? That's just disgusting." The man said to no one, his disgust at the ads was apparent.

"Yeah, seriously. That's just annoying. Qrow said with a grimace.

"Active Adblocker" A screen appeared in front of the young saying it was 29.99 for the Adblocker DLC. The man chuckled darkly. "I'm gonna burn this F***r to the ground.

"Please do!" Nora said a manic grin on her face.

The scene cuts to Blond man with long hair being tackled by a pig, the man blonde groaning in pain.

"That's Sun." Blake said almost immediately.

"How can you tell? Yang asked.

"I just know."

"Well he just got his ass kicked by a pig." Jaune said, laughing a bit

"Wow, Congrats. You were defeated by a pig." The white hair man was there looking down at Blonde unimpressed.

"F**k you man, that's like a pig from hell! The blonde cried, looking at the boar in terror.

"Really?" The white hair man smirked, and picked up a rock and threw it at the boar's ass killing it. It exploded into shards and a screen showed the exp he had got from killing it.

"Wow. This either that blonde guy sucks that bad or the other guy just that good." Mercury said with a grin.

"My god." He gasped with a shit eating grin on his face. "I've stumbled across the most powerful weapon in the game"

"Stop" The blonde whimper.

"The Mithril Pebble of pig smithing!"

"Please stop."

The white hair man takes a deep breath of air as the Blonde groans.

"My god, this sounds like something Whitely would do." Weiss said with an annoyed look.

"For you see, long ago, this pebble was forged in the fiery pits of tartarus,by the grand blacksmith of Lucifer himself. In a time before the world began…

The blonde facepalm as his party member continued. The sun had started to fall when the white haired man was finishing up.

"And thus, Mardoza, Guardian of the pebble, fell to his knees, and passed from this world, leaving behind the mighty weapon. For he knew... that one day, it's power would be required once more.

"Are you done?" The blonde asked.

"Yes." But then he whispered: The legacy of the pebble lives on.

"I have a feeling you get beat up a lot in real life." The blonde snarked.

"And he's using it as some kinda power fantasy cause he can't be that cool in real life." Yang added.

"Shut up! Here I have power!"

"Right, anyways, I've got a pizza coming, and I'm gonna meet up with some friends later.

So thanks for the quick tutorial on pig slaying and the not so quick tutorials on…. rocks…Shirou Yuki?" The blonde slowly wording out the other's username.

"Hey,no problem. I had fun taunting you." Shirou said with a grin. "Ballsdeep69"

"Yeah that's Sun." Blake said, shaking her head. "Only he would come up with such a dumb name."

Meanwhile Winter had a good idea who Shirou Yuuki was, but didn't want to say anything until she was 100% sure.

Ballsdeep69 laughs a bit. "Yeah it's uh, it's just a joke name. Just a character to dick around with while I get a hang of the game. I'm gonna make my real character later."

"Yeah yeah. No, I get it."

Shirou and balls look at each other awkwardly for a while when Shirou breaks the silence. "So uh...your pizza?"

"Right,right logging out." Balls swipes the air with his right hand and goes to log out but notices something odd.

"Hey,Shirou?" Balls called out. "Um, Totally noob question, but how do I log out?

"Are you serious, man?" Shirou asked exasperated.

"Yeah, Really dude? How hard is it to logout?" Jaune asked just as exasperated.

"Hey this Nervegear man. I can't Alt-F4 this sh*t.

Shirou sighs. "Alright fine. It's right…" He looked at his menu screen in confusion. "Here?"

"Oh thanks, player's guide." Balls deadpan.

"No it's here. But it's just blank."

Balls turns back to his menu and something catches his eye. "Oh wait, something scrolling Across mine. HahahahahahahaHAHAha"

"I get it." Shirou said with a frown.

"Wait, Wait, there's more. Ha."

"Riveting."

"Wait so they can't log out? What happened?" Ruby asked the rest of the confused viewers

"Eh no worries I'll just take the nervegear off like SO!" Balls reaches around his head and tries to take it off to no effect.

"Hey, dumbass, It doesn't work like that." Shirou sheerned. "The Nervegear disables your motor function so you don't move around in the game. Don't you remember all those videos of the beta testers?

The clip on Dustube plays, A man walking around in nerve gear is marlouving at the tech is shown. Someone, a friend of his walks up and offers a greeting to the man and he mistakes his friend for a troll and goes to pummel his friend into the ground.

It goes back to Shirou and Balls.

"So many lawsuits." Shirou muttered.

A few of the viewers had a good laugh at that.

"Uh, Do you feel tingly?" Balls asked before the two were transferred from mellow they were in a city square.

"No. Why?" Shirou asked casually. The two looked around and it seemed that other players were being teleported into the city square.

"What the hell is that?" Balls asked, looking at the sky going red.

"Well, I believe some people call it a Hexagon? Ain't 100% on that, gonna have to check my sources." Shirou snarked.

"Man f*ck off."

"I like this guy." Mercury said with a grin

The sky started to seem like it was starting to bleed.

"And The sky's bleeding" Shirou observed, not seeming to really care."

"Yeah, they are really pushing for that M rating." Balls repsoned on caring as much as Shirou.

"Wow the sky bleeds and they don't even care." Winter said.

"Probably because they know it's a video game, Ice Queen." Qrow reposned

A hooded figure appears flooding in the air. A wave of dangers fills most of the players in the area.

"Oh it's a person." Expect for one player.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I am Jaune Arc, Head programmer!"The figure greeted."

"Jaune made this game?" Ruby asked, looking towards the blond.

"Nice Vomit boy." Yang said slapping Jaune on the back. Jaune grunted a bit but smiled towards Yang.

"Welcome to the unparalleled online Sword art onli-" Jaune was interrupted by the player being to talk frantically among themselves. Jaune tried to get them to focus their attention on him by muting them, but ended up muting himself.

"He knows he muted himself right?" Balls asked.

"Give him a minute." Shirou mutters. Jaune unmuted himself.

A few laugh at Jaune's mistake as the Blonde himself facepalms at his mistake.

"Alright. Just realized what happened there. It's very funny. But right now, serious time. How many of you have seen Tron?" He was met with complete and utter silence. Jaune looked over the crowd and was met with blank stares, not counting Shirou. "W-what seriously?! None of you have seen Tron?! " Jaune asked, completely baffled. "I was really banking on that."

"Seriously?! No one had seen Tron?" Jaune all but screamed.

A few viewers didn't want to admit to not seeing Tron either.

Jaune cleared his throat, and proceeded to wing the entire thing. "Much like the world of warcraft, none of you are here by choice anymore. Unlike WoW, however, your being held here by me, not by a need to escape your empty f*cking lives. There is no longer any way to log out of Sword art online. If someone on the outside attempts to log you by removing your Nerve gear, well… Has anyone seen scanners?

Jaune once again looked and was once again met with silence.

"Uh Scanners. It's a movie…. Seriously?! He grumbles to himself about how the people here had no class and pulled up a clip of a man's head exploding. "Okay. That was from Scanners… and basically that.

"First Tron, now Scanners?!" Jaune facepalm.

"You just trapped god knows how many people in a video game, and you're worried about what movie they haven't seen?! Weiss retorted. Jaune flinched and wisely kept quiet.

The crowd gasped in shock.

"Finally seeing some gears turning, making progress."

"Why would you do such a thing?!" One player cried out.

"Stephen? Stephen is that you?" Jaune asked happily "How are you enjoying that advance copy?"

"I'm playing it with my family!" Stephen repiled.

"Oh, that's right!" The hooded figure laughed. "Happy birthday Timmy!"

Little Timmy began to cry.

"Aw, They grow up so fast." He said, sighing. " Cherish these moments Stephen. Cherish these moments. So as I was saying, the only way to keep the nervegear from going Gallager on your grey matter, is to make your way through castle Aincrad and beat Sword Art Online!"

"So you want us to beat a MMO?" A random player asked.

"Essentially."

"F*CK YOU!"

"That is the correct response when someone says to beat a MMO" Ren said.

"Is it really that bad?" Oscar asked and he receive a loud

"YES!"

"WOAH! Getting a lot of hostility here. Do not appreciate it."

"Well honestly!" The same player began,"When was the last time you heard of someone beating Everquest?"

"When was the last time you heard of someone playing Everquest?" Jaune fired back. There was a slight pause.

"That's fair."

"Everquest…. That's a deep cut." Qrow said, sighing thinking back.

"Anywho, for all you guys that wanted to play as girls, and you know who you are," Despite not seeing his face they could tell Jaune had a huge grin. "I've got a surprise for you!"

A mirror appeared in everyone's hands and a light filled the city.

A young boy, no older than 14 was where Shirou was. He still had the white hair and was wearing the same clothes but was more lankey and shorter than the man who was once there.

"Shirou Yuuki?" The boy turned and a familiar face was shown.

"Whitely?!" Weiss cried out at the sight of her brother.

"I knew it was him." Winter said. The username gave him away, Not only is it the username for when he goes on forums, Shirou Yuuki has the same meaning as his real name.

"How do you know what username he uses when he's online? Weiss asked her sister, a question that went unanswered.

"You're not a girl!" A fat player cried out.

"And you're not 17!" Another skinner one also cried out."

"I'm okay with this!"

"Me too!"

"LOVE KNOWS NO GENDER!" Someone shouted out.

"A wise seminent. Ozpin said sipping his coffee."

[eternalpassions]

Couldn't there have been a way to bring back Kaname without adult!Yuuki sacrificing herself? If she was really tired of immortality, she could've just slumbered for a couple hundred years like what other pureblood vampires have canonically done. Did Kaname really need to be turned human without his memories?

Hey anon,

Yea I’ve wondered those things too. I can’t really explain the bad writing but I can offer possible explanations

She explains early on “I want to bring him back to life, I want him to devour my life and I want to return inside him”

This lets us know, she not only planned to give her life to Kaname since the beginning but, she also planned to return inside him. Even without knowing the furnace would make Kaname’s heart unreturnable, she already knew she wanted to be inside Kaname (hehe) This seems like a very vampiric side of her love that is only present with Kaname. It’s almost selfish and possessive I’d say lol

Also: We can infer that when she knew Kaname’s heart wouldn’t be returned to him, she would have to sacrrifce her heart. We were shown how the sacrifice spell works by how Juri used it on yuuki. This caused yuuki to get some of her memories. Knowing yuuki’s desire to return inside him and her knowledge of how the spell works, we can infer she didn’t want anyone else in Kaname’s heart lol. Because if someone else did the sacrifice that means someone else would have to return inside him, give their heart to his and that seems against what her desire is lol

Ofc another contributing factor is she knew if Kaname didn’t have this fresh start, he wouldn’t have the chance to be truly happy. She knew of the demons he faced, the pain and guilt he felt when losing the hooded women, his comrades. The guilt he felt for tainting himself to protect yuuki and humanity. So yuuki knew the best thing for him was to have a fresh start as a human free from these burdens. Sometimes to do what’s best for the person you love, you need to thing of what’s best for them rather than what you want

I know the story says she was scared of her immortal life. But that was not the reason she sacrificed her life to turn Kaname human. It was her own desire to give him her heart, to return inside him and be devoured by him which is why it had to be her life given to him.

She was going to turn him into a human from the beginning. It was her desire to be the one to do it so she could return to him. So she could be with him however she could when he was a human

If she sacrificed her life to turn him human that means she can have her desire fulfilled to be devoured by him, she could be with him, turn him human and give him a life free of his burdens

Kaname had to be turned into a human without memories because she knew this was what would give him the peace and happiness he couldn’t find in his long immortal life. The memories he had were too burdensome so he needed the chance to start over without those burdens

Now: I believe he is going to end up remembering one day. We’ll prolly be old by the time that happens because it’s Hino. But I would love it if that happened because that means Kaname got to be a human, know who yuuki was to him and her love for him. By this time I’m sure he’d be in a better place to know. What happens after he remembers is a mystery.

Ofc I wish Hino had ended things differently. Such as Yuuki making a definite decision, stopping Kaname. Them having Ai and living forever happily ever after. But I am also trying to see what the hell Hino was doing lol

Hope this provides some insight or perhaps I’m giving Hino too much credit we’ll see 🤷‍♀️

Thanks for the question

[adiabolikpastel]

Title: Nineteen Nuptials

Rating: PG

Word Count: 1,630

ღ Written for Yuuki’s birthday. Marking three years in the Sakamaki's care. Worried about the future, Yuuki tries to cope with the fears inside. While Kanato is never the most comforting, perhaps on this special night he can calm Yuuki's mind. ღ

Mun Yu: It may not be perfect, but I am so happy that I got this done in time! Please enjoy this turning point in the Kanuki ship!

☆+ ﾟ .+ .ﾟ.ﾟ｡ ﾟ ｡. +ﾟ ｡ﾟ.ﾟ｡☆*｡｡ . ｡ o .｡ﾟ｡.o｡* ｡ .｡

The night was cool and crisp. Somewhat reminiscent of an evening in autumn, even though it was only June. School had been finished for some months now. With this past graduation, there was no one left attending school. Despite this, the Sakamaki manor was still rather quiet. Without school to occupy their time, everyone simply found something else to do.

Reiji had taken to spending time in the Demon Realm. He wanted to further his understanding of life there, planning to make the move one day. Leaving Rika (@silencieux-aube) to pursue her own career goals, though it was not as though they were always apart. Shu would join him on occasion. Surprisingly enough, once the two of them had finished school, they started to interact more. Though it was mostly still arguing, there seem to be this understanding of the future between the two - everyone else did not understand.

Ayato had all but moved out. Most of his time was spent out with Yuko (@pureblood-prey), though that was not surprising. The two of them had been together for a long time as well, and it was only natural for thing to continue to progress. After all, Yuko had long since graduated and was on her way to becoming a respectable Police Officer – despite her delinquent lover.

Laito had moved out the moment he graduated high school, and had been out of the house for about four months now. Yuki went along with him, to everyone’s surprise. They hadn’t really been back to see anyone, but perhaps that is because Laito wanted a clean break from the family. Every now and then he would reach out via text or upload a photo on social media.

Subaru was still around, he and Akumu made their day to day routines quite known. With it not being too long after graduation, Subaru was getting used to living his life for his own reasons. This was a rough topic for the youngest Sakamaki, but thankfully he had Akumu to help. Since Shu no longer needed him, Akumu was able to strictly focus on Subaru.

Which left Kanato and Yuuki, who were taking total advantage of Yuuki’s freedom from school. Unbothered by the ideas of the future, the two of them spent their days enjoying themselves. For the past four months they had done nothing truly productive. Kanato had even refused to go to any further schooling until Yuuki was finished with high school. Even now the talks of what to do next never really came up for the two of them. Though, inside, Yuuki was curious about their future.

What was it that Kanato wanted with her? Was there even a possibility for them to have a real future? As her birthday approached, Yuuki felt herself worrying more about her increasing age. While she would continue to grow, Kanato would stay young. What if she grows too old and he leaves her? Would there be a time when he would want to change her? Does that mean that they would be married? What does it really mean to be long term dating an immortal creature?

On the night of her Birthday, Yuuki stood in the drawing room, looking out at the setting sun. It had been now three years since she first came to live here. On instinct she began to reach up to her neck, searching to the choker from her mother, but stopped as she remembered it was long gone. How could she be so okay with all of this? After all, her mother died the day she was taken. Her birthday was nothing but the anniversary of it, and yet… she couldn’t truly bring herself to be sad.

Her mother had been such a kind woman. Always telling Yuuki to find the good in other people, no matter how awful their actions. Though through the years, it was hard to recall just what her mother’s voice sounded like. Even her initial anger towards her murder had started to fade, at least for that reason. Just what was it about these years that caused her to change so much? There was now this, disconnect from the world, which she couldn’t quite explain. Past or Future. It didn’t seem to matter if it wasn’t about –

“What are you doing?” Kanato’s voice stirred her from thought. His sleepy form stood in the door way, Teddy clenched in his arms, as he wipes the sleep form his eyes.

Yuuki looked at her keeper. This monster, whom had captivated her life – her being – for the past three years. Her every thought and dream, were about him. There wasn’t a moment that passed where a vision on him did not cross her mind. “You’re awake, Kanato-san.” She smiles, abandoning her spot by the window to move towards him.

“It’s too early… why would you be… oh…” Kanato stops as something seemed to click in his mind. “It’s tonight right… you are expected me to have something prepared?” He glares at the girl, the nerve of her, to think that he would waste time.

Yuuki shakes her head and simply walks over, moving to take one of Kanato’s hands, “Of course not, Kanato-san. My greatest gift is you after all, right?”

Kanato is visibly thrown off by her answer, a deep blush spreading on his face. “… Cheeky… I suppose I could be persuaded to do something special for you. Ah, but nothing stupid like you did before.”

Yuuki thinks for a moment, “… Kanato-san… do you think we could… just talk for a while?”

He looks down at his human, annoyed, “Again with these stupid request.” He takes his hand from her grasp and turns in a huff. “If that is all you truly require of me, I can spoil you a little.”

Yuuki smile and thanks Kanato. The two go back to their room, where Yuuki proceeds to talk with Kanato about her recent fears. Of him growing tired of her. Of age continuing to separate them. Her desire to be with him for eternity. Kanato mostly allowed for her to talk, having little to say in response. When it felt like she was done, he simply sat for a moment.

“Um… Kanato-san…? I… sorry if this all is catching you off guard I just… we’re finally at this point and I…” Yuuki hadn’t meant to get emotional, but she could feel tears start to sting her eyes. “I just… I don’t want to be without you and if… you ever got tired of me … or if I got too old - I…”

Kanato allowed Yuuki to cry for a while on her own. These were all things he had never thought about, yet here she was worrying over it. To a vampire, the idea of time is lost. Kanato has no sense of urgency, no need to worry about growing too old. So of course he would never trouble himself thinking of them in the case of his doll, whom he simply assumed would always stay the same. However, that wasn’t the case. From when she arrived till now, Yuuki had already changed, while he stayed the same.

Yuuki cried softly for a while, and the more she did, the worse she felt. Didn’t Kanato even care? Was he just waiting for her to stop? Why wasn’t he saying anything? The fear of his rejection was swelling inside, and Yuuki couldn’t bare it any longer. “Please say something Kanato-san! If you hate me so much then-“

Before she could finish her outburst, Yuuki felt herself moving against her will. The room shifted as she felt the soft plush of the bed against her back. Her eyes searched the room to see what happened, but ended looking upward. Kanato was looming over her, his head down, hiding his eyes from hers. She looked up at him, wondering if this was it. This was the moment he decided to be finished with her. Too needy. Too old. Accepting her fate, Yuuki simply musters a smile. She loved Kanato with all her being, if this was to be the end, at least it would be by his hands.

However, Kanato made no moves to harm her. In fact, Yuuki could feel soft trembles on against her shoulder where Kanato held her. Then, sudden drops of water fell into her face. “… You just decide that on your own?” His voice was tumbling, “All of these thoughts… why is it that I must think them!?”

Yuuki still could not see Kanato’s eyes, but she could tell that he was crying. Not like the usually does for attention. “Kanato-san-“

“You are my doll! I decided what becomes of you! Why do you worry about these things!? I have chosen you! Your life is not something you get to decided anymore!” Kanato finally lifts his head to look down at her eyes. His tone was stern but his expression was full of sadness. “You cannot think of leaving me! Not even think of me leaving you! You are my doll!” He yells.

Yuuki looks up at him. The millions of thoughts that once raced through her mind, now fell silent. With the biggest smile she nods happily, “You’re right! Kanato-san… I’m yours forever.” She laughs a little, still feeling like she could cry, but for a different reason.

The future may not be spelled out, but it didn’t need to be. Yuuki would be able to live her life, how ever Kanato saw fit her to. There was no need to worry about aging, schooling, or anything a normal human would. She belonged to a vampire. Her future was in his hands, there was no need to worry about where that might lead. For every path, led directly to Kanato.

[lost-in-yujikiri]

My version of SAO "Everyone Lives" AU

I need to get out my ideas of what would happen if most of SAO's Major Character Deaths got averted before Lycoris is released (except the villains and Sachi & the Moonlit Black Cat guild's death, there is just no way to erase it without undoing Kirito's development in Aincrad). I know SAO Gameverse/ Lycoris wouldn't follow any of my ideas, so I just want to share my view. Who knows, maybe this will become a huge fanfic some day.

Note: This post is full of multishipping/ non-canon shipping pandering headcanons/implications (the biggest ones are Eugeo/Kirito/Asuna & Bercouli/Fanatio/Dakira), as well as obvious heavy Alicization WoU and Moon Cradle spoilers, please beware. I also lightly included some game-only Alicization characters (Eydis and Medina) because I like them.

1) Cardinal is alive and she has high authority enough to install kid Alice Zuberg into a free Cube to make her a living entity separate from Alice S30

In most recent live Q&A Reki said that while writing Alicization the first scene he wrote is the scene of Kirito and Alice S30 climbing back into Cathedral and Kirito convinced Alice S30 to his side, he mentioned Alice's Synthesis is an irreversible one and it aligns with my reasoning of how Zuberg & S30 are different Fluctlights so I'll keep the same settings in here. So how would this affect everyone's treatment to the 2 Alices?

- Kirito would be glad that he doesn't have to "kill" any Alice just to keep one;

- Selka would be extremely confused, but I think she would eventually accept happily that she has 2 sisters now;

- Eugeo... would have even more complicated emotions than anyone, even more than he imagined. From my own experience, during university period, I went to a class reunion full of friends from middle school, and I reunited with a classmate friend whom I used to like a lot as a person. But for some reason I couldn't like his adult self as much as his middle school self even if he still isn't a bad person. To me he changed way too much in how he behaves and how he presents himself that I can't like his adult self like his middle school self, and I was shocked that puberty could change a person that much. Same to myself, I have changed a lot in my puberty too, and he also said I'm not the same as before any more. Back to my AU, I feel like Eugeo and Zuberg might mirror what I felt when I reunited with my classmate. Eugeo used to describe Alice Zuberg like the sun on the blue sky and that image of her is his source of happiness whenever he's sad, while Alice S30 is so unapproachable and cold like ice. Eugeo being indifferent to S30 is one thing, but to Zuberg it's like reuniting with a friend in elementary school who stayed the same and both would be shocked as Eugeo's the one who changed so much due to puberty. In ARS game Zuberg even said that while being jailed in Cathedral's ceiling, Eugeo (and everyone else) grew so big while she stayed the same and she's upset.

So I think in the end Eugeo would still end up letting Zuberg go instead of forcing her into the fantasy he held up for so long. Interestingly Eugeo himself already muled over this in LN when he was reading books in Cardinal's library, that the best outcome they could hope for is to give Zuberg back to her body and send her back to her family happily while he continued his adventure with Kirito because they're being chased away by the Church.

2) (Super self-indulgent) Bercouli/Fanatio/Dakira

Dakira: "Fanatio-sama is so amazing and dazzling and I love her, but she has Commander Bercouli so I can only be her subordinate and admire her in silence..."

Fanatio: "Dakira is so hardworking and loyal, she has so much potential I love having her with me but then what would Commander think..."

Bercouli: "Don't worry I'm cool with it, take care of our Sub-Commander, Dakira. And it's not like I can stop my knights from flexing their gayness..." *eyeing Eydis Synthesis 10

Super spoilers: Even if Bercouli didn't die in the War I think he would eventually unfreeze his age and find an ending for himself when he thinks he's lived too long and done enough for the Knights many years later. He would entrust Fanatio and her son with him to Dakira before he passed away, and Dakira would become Berche's 2nd mother (instead of Fanatio taking care of the kid alone in canon).

3) (Super self-indulgent) Eydis S10 x Alice S30 and Medina x Sortiliena

I could never imagine I would like any gameverse girls before but ARS and Lycoris manga have sold me Eydis x Alice S30 and Medina x Sortiliena OMG so I ship them hard in my AU.

4) Super self-indulgent Eugeo/Kirito/Asuna

(You guys who have stayed with me for years should have known already ara ara)

I don't feel it would not be that different from this excerpt from HR manga (seriously this artist really vibes with me I wanna have a drink with him sometimes).

Everyone: "Don't you think they're just too close? Aren't you afraid Asuna?"

Asuna: "Yeah I should, should I? But like Kirito seems so happy with him around like no others could and I feel he's a good boy so I can let them be"

We also should have more Eugeo & Asuna's interactions of chewing on Kirito's bad habits XD. I also feel like they can find solace in each other being fellow victims of sexual exploits from adults, in some aspects that Kirito can't fully understand that only fellow victims can.

4) Yuuki is alive and comes into UW as Goddess Lunaria

Poor Moon Goddess Lunaria, she's the 4th God of the Human Empire but even Reki forgot her in WoU and only mentioned her more in Moon Cradle. Anime and games also made it worse for leaving her out completely :(. So I want her to get her role in my AU as the Goddess of Dreams. Yuuki extremely fits her role, not to mention she cosplayed the Moon Princess in MD before. More Stacia Asuna x Lunaria Yuuki interactions are here of course.

5) Eugeo and Lunaria Yuuki participate in WoU with everyone

- Lunaria would be an amazing fighter of course. I feel she would be even more deadly than normal now that she has to start fighting with human souls on the line, whether they're real or artificial.

- Eugeo would be a huge AoE Life Absorber and Healer and also becomes destructive sometimes borderline death. But fighting with others will help him start seeing his own values and gain his own will to survive for others. And he'll become the first proper Knight in UW without going through Synthesis.

6) WoU changes and outcome in my AU (huge spoilers)

- Kirito got unconscious and damaged for a while, but without self-destructing his own Fluctlight from guilt of Eugeo's and other comrades' deaths because Eugeo is still alive and took care of him, so he eventually healed, at least quicker than canon;

- Asuna, Sinon and Leafa came to UW at once to help heal Kirito. There is no facepalming Asuna vs Alice fights since Alice didn't develop some level of Florence Nightingale effect towards Kirito (according to Wikipedia: "The Florence Nightingale effect is a trope where a caregiver falls in love with their patient, even if very little communication or contact takes place outside of basic care. Feelings may fade once the patient is no longer in need of care.");

- Sinon won against Subtilizer instead of the anti-climatic outcome in canon;

- Kirito & Eugeo fought together to win against PoH while Asuna and other girls kicked ass to huge armies;

- When they won the War the acceleration ratio of UW was changed to 1:1, Human Empire and Dark Territory made peace with more trading, labor & technology exchange treaties that benefit both. Alice S30 & Eugeo came to real world through Ichiemon & Niemon robots and chilled in ALO while Kirito beat up Kikuoka for hiding from him the actual purpose of Alicization project, and thus Kirito forced him not to use his friends as war soldiers.

- Alice S30 chose to go back to UW in the end since she finds her most values as being a Knight, coming to events of farce in real world is not her thing, and she wants to spend time with her Zuberg family. Meanwhile Eugeo already parted with his family after dumping on them a big bag of his Knight's salary money, saying that they can live prosperously without him working his ass off for them now, and he never comes back. He still comes and goes from real world to UW to do duties as a Knight who helps connecting real world & virtual reality, and sometimes visits the Zubergs with Kirito & Asuna. In real world he lives as an all-purpose robot in Kirigaya resident, while ALO he lives in the log house and takes care of Yui whenever Kirito & Asuna are busy in real world.

THE END.

[therainroguefanfiction]

🎃 Frightful October Act VI, #16 ~ Black Cats (Sasuke Tsubaki)

📑 Table of Contents

Genre: Supernatural, Fluff, Crack, Romance

Word Count: 3,623

Pairing: Reader x Tsubaki

World: SKET Dance

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You kneeled down on the grass, sprinkling dry cat food on the ground in front of you. Three cats were gathered in front of you, happily munching on the food you provided them. This was a regular activity for you since your first year at Kaimei High. You had always had a deep love for cats, so when you noticed one stalking the grounds when you first came to the school, you immediately tried to befriend it.

The cat was skittish and kept its distance from you. You ended up missing three classes that day, getting scolded by both your teachers and the student council vice-president, who also happened to be a close friend of yours. The scolding was worth it, in your opinion, because you had gained his trust that day.

Since then, the cat would always wait patiently by the bushes for you to feed him and pay attention to him, but he never ate in front of you. He would pick up as much food as he could in his mouth before rushing off through the bushes. One day, you decided to follow him. Through the bushes was a small clearing, where you found two smaller cats eating the food he had dropped.

All three of them were black from the tip of their tail up to their nose, but each one had a unique patch of fur. The first cat had a blonde patch around his neck that looked like a pair of goggles, the second cat had a patch of blonde around his face that looked liked glasses, and the third, a female cat, had a tuft of blonde hair between her ears. The first two had brown eyes, while the female had beautiful blue ones.

These two new cats were far more trusting than the first and came prancing over as soon as they saw you, rubbing against your legs and eating from your hand. Realizing that the smaller cats were safe around you, the first brought them to the edge of the bushes to wait for you each day.

You never once noticed the glowing yellow eyes watching you.

───── ⋆⋅🎃⋅⋆ ─────

You stifled a yawn as you gathered your things, ready to head to the Sket Dan’s clubroom. You weren’t an official member, because Tsubaki refused to let you join, but the group welcomed you with open arms because you had been friends with Himeko since you were kids. This was yet another reason for the vice-president to scold you because he believed that the Sket Dan was just a waste of a clubroom.

As you headed down the hall, you felt as if eyes were staring holes into your body. The hair on the back of your neck stood on end as goosebumps erupted across your skin. You paused, glancing around the empty hallway, but you didn’t see anyone. You peered out the window and saw the three cats pacing in front of the bushes anxiously, but they weren’t looking at the school building.

You dug into your bag, pulling out the sealed baggie of dry cat food. ‘I’m sure the Sket Dan won’t mind if I’m a little late,’ you smiled, heading for the school exit. You made it halfway across the courtyard before the cats spotted you. They rushed toward you, but your excitement soon changed to confusion. Instead of rubbing against your ankles as they normally did, they tried to push your legs back with their heads. When that failed, they bit the back of your socks and tried to pull you back toward the school building.

You frowned at them. ‘Why are they acting so strange today?’

The bushes rustled to your left and all three cats stiffened, frozen in place. A gust of wind blew past you, leaves in shades of orange and yellow dancing around you as they were pulled from the branches above. A chill ran down your spine and the bushes shook again, more violently this time. Your mind was screaming at you to run, alarm bells screeching inside your head, but your legs wouldn’t budge. The cats jumped between you and the bush, fur standing on end as they hissed and growled.

Glowing yellow eyes pierced through the bushes, locking onto your own. Your body went rigid as a force slammed into you like a train. ‘What… is happening?’ A white-hot pain shot through your body as it fell backward, your eyes cast toward the overcast sky. You were out cold before your body even hit the ground.

───── ⋆⋅🎃⋅⋆ ─────

Tsubaki Sasuke, vice-president of the student council, walked down the empty hallway on the second floor. School had ended and he wanted to make sure no students were loitering about doing things they shouldn’t. He glanced out the window, observing the dark clouds that covered the sky.

He frowned.

He had checked the weather report that morning and the day was supposed to be sunny with a light breeze. Where had the clouds come from so suddenly? He had a bad feeling creeping up the back of his mind.

Something caught his eye and he moved his gaze down, amber eyes widening in shock. As soon as he saw your body falling to the ground, he took off for the stairs, taking them several steps at a time. He slammed his body into the door, nearly falling on his face.

Thunder roared overhead, drowning out his hurried footsteps. He stopped dead when he reached you, his eyes wide. Your body was gone, but your clothes remained on the ground where you had fallen. Was he mistaken about what he had seen?

The three cats were pawing and meowing at the clothes and, upon looking closer, he realized that the shirt was rising and falling in time with something’s breathing. Gulping down his nerves, he reached out to grasp the hem of the shirt, slowly peeling it back. Beneath it was a cat, its fur as black as a raven’s feathers.

Tsubaki didn’t know what to think. He was sure he had seen you falling and your clothes were there on the ground. Well, he assumed they were yours but there was nothing unique about the uniform to confirm it as belonging to you. He considered ignoring the animal and continuing his rounds, but something held him back.

He placed his hands under the front legs of the cat, gently lifting it from the ground and cradling it in his arms.

───── ⋆⋅🎃⋅⋆ ─────

You felt your body being lifted, rousing you from your slumber. Your eyes peeled open, meeting the confused amber eyes of your best friend. ‘What’s going on? Why does Tsubaki look so confused?’ you tried to voice your thoughts, but your words came out in a series of meows and mewls. ‘W-What the hell is this?!’

“He can’t understand you.”

You glanced down, seeing the three black cats sitting at Tsubaki’s feet. They were giving you sad looks. Certainly they hadn’t been the ones to speak… they were just cats!

As if sensing your thoughts, the female sat on her hind legs. “You’ve been turned into a cat like us!”

“H-How in the world…” ‘Am I dreaming?’

“Normally, it isn’t possible.” The second male cat spoke, his voice sounding almost synthetic. “However, the week leading up to Halloween is a strange time when the planets and stars align in a most magical way. During this week, the Nigrum Cattus Daemonium is able to enter the human world and collect souls for his army.”

“The… ni… nigrum? I’m so confused!” you wiggled in Tsubaki’s grip, holding your furry head between your paws. ‘Wait… paws?! I have paws?!’

Tsubaki watched in stunned silence as you seemed to converse with the three cats at his feet. He was confused as hell but he knew as soon as his eyes met yours that, somehow, you were the cat. But how was that even possible? He felt a headache beginning to form.

The second male cat went to repeat the name but stopped when Tsubaki stood up straight, taking you with him. You started to panic, claws digging into his chest from the sudden movement. He started toward the school and you scrambled to his shoulder, claws stuck in his shirt as you cried out, high pitched meows ringing in his ear. The three cats followed him quickly, each meowing over one another.

His eye twitched in annoyance at the noise and he paused, turning to glare at the three. “What?”

The three started to meow louder, gesturing wildly with their front paws. This only annoyed him further.

You facepalmed, hearing the three talking over one another until their words mixed into a jumbled mess. You tapped Tsubaki’s cheek with your paw and he turned his gaze down to you. You then pointed at the three before pointing to his other shoulder.

He frowned at you. “You want me to bring them with us?” you nodded and he turned his attention to the three before looking back at you and sighing deeply. “I’m going to regret this…” he adjusted you so he could wave at them. “Come.”

The three got angry, screaming in unison, “We’re not dogs!!”

But he ignored the furious meows and started toward the school again.

───── ⋆⋅🎃⋅⋆ ─────

Yuuki Reiko was a second year at Kaimei High and she had quite a reputation since her appearance closely resembled the girl from the ring. She prided herself on being a member of the Occult Research Club and having vast knowledge about the supernatural. She had never had a run-in with the student council before, so when the vice-president appeared at the clubroom door asking for her by name, she didn’t know how to feel.

More importantly, she couldn’t understand why he had a cat hanging from both shoulders, one on his head, and one cradled securely in his arms.

Tsubaki’s lips were set in a thin line as his eyes scanned the dark room. The only four members sat around a round table covered by a black cloth. Red candles had been lit, standing in the center. Three of the members wore black robes over their school uniforms and strange-looking masks. This was yet another club that the vice-president deemed to be a waste of space.

The disdain was clear as day on his face.

“Yuuki Reiko, come with me,” he ordered, not giving her a chance to reply as he turned and left the room.

She glanced at her clubmates before silently following, her eyes resting on the black cats that hung from his body. He led her to an empty classroom at the end of the hall, setting you down gently on one of the desks near the window. The three cats jumped, sticking their claws in him simultaneously before landing on the desk beside you. Yuuki tilted her head as she stared at you, the intensity of her gaze making you sweatdrop nervously.

Tsubaki was chewing on his bottom lip thoughtfully as he watched you, his arms tense as he crossed them over his chest. How could he possibly explain things without sounding like a complete lunatic? Would she even believe him? What if she told everyone about it? He could picture the student body laughing and making fun of him as he walked down the hall during a patrol and it pissed him off.

“Why is Y/N-san a cat?”

He snapped his gaze to her, eyes wide. “W-What?”

She pointed at you and you tilted your head. “This cat is Y/N-san,” her gaze moved to the vice-president. “What happened?”

“I… I don’t know. I found Y/N like this.”

‘I wonder, can Yuuki understand me?’ you greeted her, asking how her day went, but she just tilted her head, her expression remaining blank. You sweatdropped, ‘Well, it was worth a try…’

“Is there…” Tsubaki paused, feeling silly about what he was about to ask. “Is there a… spell or something that will let us communicate with them?”

Yuuki hummed thoughtfully. “There may be a way, but I will need a day to prepare.”

He scowled, putting his hand on his hip. “You have until tomorrow afternoon.”

She nodded and left the room.

Tsubaki looked down at you, catching your eyes. He wasn’t looking forward to bringing four cats into his home, but he couldn’t leave you alone at the school. He’d much prefer just bringing you and leaving the other three behind, but he had a strong feeling you wouldn’t allow it.

Your tail curled around your body, ears lowered as a small meow left you. He didn’t know what you had said, but he believed that you were trying to apologize to him for the trouble. He reached forward, gently rubbing your head. His hand was warm and comforting, and you started to purr, rubbing your head against his hand.

He quickly looked away to hide his burning face.

───── ⋆⋅🎃⋅⋆ ─────

Tsubaki slowly pushed his front door open, ears perked up for any sound. Hearing none, he quickly snuck into the house, rushing up the stairs to his room. He sighed as the cats wiggled around in his arms, hidden by his blazer. Before they could scatter, he addressed them sternly.

“Freeze!” the four of you stopped, turning to look at him. “If you’re going to stay here tonight, there are some rules that you must follow. Failure to do so will result in you spending the night outside.”

As if to reinforce his point, a frigid blast of air came through the open window above his desk, making the four of you shiver.

He continued. “Number 1 – keep your claws to yourself. My furniture is not a scratching post. Number 2 – no knocking things over or breaking my stuff. Number 3 – do not use the bathroom in the house. Number 4 – no howling or meowing. Number 5 – you’re not to leave this room under any circumstance. Number 6 -”

The four of you sweatdropped as he continued to rattle on the rules you were expected to follow.

“Man, this guy has a stick up his butt,” the first cat said, scratching his ear with his back leg.

“Oh, we never introduced ourselves!” the female cat approached you, holding out her paw. “My name is Himeow! This idiot -” she motioned towards the first cat. “- is Cattun. And this one -” she motioned towards the second male. “- is Chwitch.”

You placed your paw on hers. “My name is Y/N.”

“Oi! Are you even listening to me?!” Tsubaki cried, making all of you jump in surprise.

When Tsubaki settled down in his bed, the three cats tried to curl up around him but he yelled at them, making them get on the floor. Before turning back over to face the wall, he caught your eye. You were curled up on the desk, ready to get some sleep. He waved his hand, beckoning you over. You tilted your head and he did it again. You jumped from the edge of the desk to his bed. He picked you up and brought you into his arms, his face burning as you started to purr in content.

───── ⋆⋅🎃⋅⋆ ─────

The next afternoon, Tsubaki brought the four of you to the same classroom where Yuuki was waiting. On the desk she at lay a thick book, worn with age, a piece of the Larimar gem on a black rope, and a faded white cloth. Her hand was hovering over the gem as she read a passage aloud from the book, the words a language you had never heard before.

Tsubaki sat you on the desk beside her, the three cats jumping up next to you. He watched her unsurely, wondering how he had gotten himself into this mess.

Yuuki suddenly stopped, whipping her head in your direction. You jumped at the sudden attention and Himeow hid behind Cattun, muttering about how scary the girl was. Yuuki reached over, setting the crystal in front of you.

“Can you understand me?” she asked, waiting for your nod. “We must all touch the gem at the same time.” She placed her index finger on it and you followed suit with your paw. Cattun and Chwitch had to push Himeow forward because she was too scared to move.

Tsubaki’s eyes traveled across the group as you all gathered around the gem. ‘What the hell am I doing?’ his amber eyes met yours and he sighed, placing his finger beside your paw.

Yuuki nodded, glancing at the open book before reciting an incantation in the same strange language. You expected the gem to start glowing or make a sound, but nothing happened at all.

A moment of silence passed over the room.

“That’s it? How lame~” Cattun commented, closing his eyes and flicking his tail to show his displeasure.

Yuuki shrieked, eyes wide as she peddled backward. “I-I-It spoke!”

You blinked at her in surprise, looking between her and Cattun. “You can understand us?”

She nodded.

“It is you,” Tsubaki muttered under his breath as he stared at you. “What have you gotten yourself into, Y/N?”

You sat on your back legs, crossing your front ones with a huff. “I have no idea. It’s, um… Nigrum Cat?” you glanced at Chwitch for confirmation.

“Nigrum Cattus Daemonium,” he corrected.

“And what is that?” Tsubaki rested his hand on his hip.

“The black cat demon,” as Chwitch spoke these words, a crack of lightning split the sky, lighting up the room and making both Himeow and Cattun scream as they clutched onto each other. Thunder shook the windows as rain started to fall in large torrents from the sky.

“I’ve heard of that,” Yuuki commented. “A demon that seeks out humans to turn into cats to do his bidding.”

“Correct,” Chwitch said. “The gateway between this world and the demon world is opened during the week of Halloween. For seven days, he seeks out humans with an affinity for felines. If you meet his gaze, his power will turn you into a black cat, meant to spread bad luck and misfortune to all those you meet.”

Tsubaki’s eye twitched as he recalled the string of bad luck he had experienced since he had picked you up. His phone had cracked in his pocket; he dropped his knife during dinner and cut his finger; he slipped on a rag his mother had dropped in the bathroom, hitting his head on the counter; several of the keys on his laptop had broken off; he spilled his tea on his notebook; and finally, he broke his mom’s favorite antique china cup.

You glanced at him, feeling guilt settle in your gut. All of his bad luck had been caused by you.

“How do we fix it?” he asked.

“That is where the problem lies,” Chwitch responded. “Only true love’s first kiss can break the curse.”

“That’s too damn cliche!!” Himeow cried, gesturing wildly with her paws.

“Don’t panic!” Cattun yelled as he approached you, putting his paw over your shoulders. “Tell me, who are you in love with?!”

You were well aware of Tsubaki’s gaze on you and you shifted, pawing at the desk you sat on. “Umm… well…”

“Actually,” Chwitch interrupted. “That person has to be in love with Y/N, as well, or it won’t work.”

Cattun started to panic, running back and forth across the desk. “Crap! What do we do?!”

“But wait, there’s more!” Chwitch struck a pose, getting kicked my Himeow, who screamed, “This isn’t an ad, you idiot!”

“The curse becomes permanent at midnight on Halloween day.”

Tsubaki’s face drained of color as he looked at the clock hanging at the front of the class. “T-That’s in six hours!”

Himeow grabbed you, roughly shaking your body back and forth. “Who do you love?! Spit it out, Y/N!”

You pulled away from her, moving to sit on the edge of the desk as you looked up at Tsubaki, locking eyes with him. “I’m in love with you, Sasuke.”

His face burned bright red at the confession. Himeow and Cattun oohed and awwed from behind you, but when Tsubaki didn’t move, they started to panic again.

“He doesn’t love her back!”

“She’s gonna be a cat forever!”

Your gaze never wavered from his, not even when he stepped forward, his hands gently picking you up underneath your front legs. He hesitated, feeling his heart thumping loudly in his chest, before gently pressing his lips to your mouth. There was a loud pop as smoke engulfed your body.

A white-hot pain spread through your body.

The cats and Yuuki all leaned forward in anticipation as the smoke started to clear. Your body had returned to normal and you were straddling Tsubaki’s waist, your lips still connected. You smiled brightly when you pulled back, gently grasping his face.

Tsubaki’s eyes fluttered open, quickly widening as his face turned a bright red. A strangled noise caught in his throat as he slammed his eyes shut.

You tilted your head, confused. “What’s wrong?”

“Y/N-san, you’re naked,” Yuuki commented.

“Eh?” you glanced down, face turning red as you covered your body with your arms. You clambered off of him, watching as he stood up and left the room without a word.

The cats jumped down onto the floor in front of you.

“You’re back!” Cattun rubbed against your ankle.

“I’m so glad,” Himeow purred loudly, rubbing her head against your other ankle.

“Now you can feed us,” Chwitch commented before being smacked by the other two cats.

Tsubaki returned. Without looking at you, he handed you the uniform in his arms.

“Thank you,” you murmured softly, quickly getting dressed. When you were done, you approached him, arms wrapping around his waist as your head rested on his back. “Thank you for saving me, Sasuke.”

He turned in your grip, bringing you against his chest. ‘I’m so glad you’re back.’

───── ⋆⋅🎃⋅⋆ ─────

[entamewitchlulu]

lulu does flash reviews again

hey it’s been a while since i did one of these, anyway i just finished Princess Connect and I have some Thoughts so this is genuinely just me rambling about it

So, Princess Connect Re:Dive. It’s essentially a 12 episode long commercial for the associated role playing mobile game.  It follows the adventures of the Gourmet Guild, a group of four adventurers whose goal is to investigate and enjoy the various foods of their fantasy world. 

The Guild is made up of Yuuki, ostensibly our protagonist: a somewhat blank-slate sort of character who’s obviously supposed to be whoever your face character in the mobile game is, but who is actually, surprisingly, rather charming. He has lost his memories after some unknown battle he participated in with a bunch of former party members, and tends to respond to things in monosyllables, preferring instead to communicate with thumb’s ups and “mn!” in most cases. Despite this, he seems to be a very sweet boy who cares about his friends and is eager to do his best.  Personally, I found him to be kind of a breath of fresh air in terms of male protagonists of fantasy shows otherwise populated by women.  There’s not a single bit of “lucky pervert” tropes, he doesn’t seem at all interested in pursuing or flirting with any of the other girls, and only one of the girls is interested in him romantically. He’s generally pretty straightforward and good-hearted, so at worst I could call him boring - but even so, again, I found him charming.

Next is Kokkoro, an elf from a small village sent by someone who appears to be a goddess of some kind to find Yuuki and assist him as he recovers his memories. Kokkoro is, in a word, cute. She’s the only member of the cast who is interested in Yuuki romantically.  Despite this happening immediately after she meets him, it sort of makes some sense to me, since she’s clearly been taught that he’s a special and important person whom she is duty-bound to serve, so it makes sense to me that she would hold him in high regard - and since he’s just genuinely so...genuine, it makes sense that it wouldn’t take long for a more sheltered girl to develop feelings for him. And, happily, she has a personality outside of this attraction as well: she’s reliable, patient, and good at sewing, and she enjoys spending time with the rest of the guild.  Her silly faces she makes every time Yuuki gets chewed on by a wolf are hilarious, too.

Third up is Pecorine, who, while Yuuki is supposedly the protagonist, is pretty much set up to be the real protagonist of the show. Pecorine is not-so-subtly secretly the princess of this fantasy world, Landosol, however, it appears for some reason someone else is acting as ruler. Pecorine is ridiculously strong, ridiculously peppy, and always hungry. She’s literally made of nothing but love, joy, and excitement for whatever the next day will bring. She’s always helping people and seems to consider making others happy to be her life goal, alongside eating lots of yummy food. Everyone she encounters eventually becomes her best friend, even when they start off by trying to steal from her. She’s straightforward, doesn’t seem to notice when people don’t have her best interests in mind, and yet, beneath that, she is extremely lonely and vulnerable. If you couldn’t tell, she’s far and away my favorite character of the show.

And finally, there’s Karyl: a cat girl who is, in my opinion, the perfect example of a cat girl. She’s initially a loner who doesn’t see the need for friends, and is, apparently, supposed to assassinate Pecorine. As Pecorine doesn’t notice, she quickly inducts Karyl as her new girlfriend best friend, and Karyl, for all of her tsundere, don’t-touch-me cat vibes, absolutely starts falling for Pecorine’s kindness back.  While she’s the one to call out the guild’s stupid plans and ideas, she generally ends up joining in on the shenanigans, much to her eternal chagrin.

So, I don’t mean to make this just a description of the show, because I do have thoughts and opinions, but I felt like setting up my feelings on the main cast was important before I got into the details of the show itself.  From this point forward, there will be spoilers.

So, what this show does right:

As I mentioned in my talk about Yuuki, in terms of “1 male protagonist surrounded by girls”, it’s a relief to watch a show where the main cast is just all a bunch of good friends and they’re not just all hanging on the bland main character.  Each of the cast is given their own time to develop their own personalities both with each other and outside of each other, and they’re all, genuinely, rather endearing.  There are two characters who show up later who are a bit annoying about their care over Yuuki (calling themselves his big and little sister respectively), but since they aren’t main cast members and connect the show to a larger “what happened before this?” narrative, I didn’t mind it so much.  Plus, despite a cast of all girls in a mobile game, outside of a few skimpy outfits and Pecorine’s occasional boob jiggle, there wasn’t a SINGLE bit of fanservice, which shocked me for this genre. No upskirts, no accidental boob touches, no lewd comments or innuendos.  I was floored, and in a good way.

The character design really isn’t bad for a show based on a mobile game. Characters are distinct in design and personality. The best design is, of course, the girl who is Just a Llama. 

I actually really liked being thrown into this world where it was very obvious that something had already happened Before, but you were only given pieces of it.  It built a very intriguing premise by starting us off seemingly after the climactic battle goes wrong, and adds a sense of unease here or there about knowing that something is a little bit off, but you don’t quite know what.  Not getting all of the answers at the end of the show wasn’t a dealbreaker, either, because I knew I wouldn’t going in - it’s a mobile game show. The story is still going in the mobile game, so they won’t play all their cards in the adaptation.

Karyl and Pecorine are definitely the main characters of the show, and while I’m sure it wasn’t intentional, their story very much feels like a love story, and I just really, really enjoyed that for what I expected to see going in, I instead got two girls who were allowed to have a complicated and yet very sweet relationship that developed slowly over the series into a truly beautiful climax.  Speaking of Pecorine, as well, I have to give some props to the plot twist about her character. It was obvious to me for a while that she was the princess of Landosol, and I assumed that her parents were dead.  I kept wondering why she was leaving her people to the whims of her impersonator instead of taking back her throne, and it was something that sort of bothered me throughout her seemingly cheerfully ignoring what her usurper was doing to her kingdom.  Finding out that the fake princess had, in fact, simply replaced Pecorine with herself in everyone’s memories, leaving Pecorine with no idea what to do and deciding to disappear knowing that even her own parents didn’t remember her as their daughter was a shocking, and powerful, plot twist.

When it’s good, it’s really good.  There are some genuinely heartfelt and powerful moments.  The animation is surprisingly good, beautiful to watch especially during fight scenes.  The final scene especially with its emphasis on Karyl and Pecorine really touched me, as it was clear they put a lot of effort into just the last few frames to make it really touching.

And here’s what this show does wrong:

When I said that when it’s good, it’s really good, the same can be said that when it’s bad, it’s bad.  The main problem with this show is that it wants to be everything.  It wants to be a comedy.  It wants to be a drama.  It wants to have deep character drama and heartfelt moments.  It wants to have intense battles and evil villains alongside a story about four friends making sandwiches out of monster meat.  The comedy bits and drama bits are both solid enough on their own, but smushed together, it makes for a tonally dissonant show that cheapens some of the more heartfelt moments.

The show takes way too long to even get into its main conceit, too.  I think it wasn’t until episode 4 that they started their Gourmet Guild - and then even after that, the food hunting sort of disappeared in a lot of episodes so that you kind of forgot what their goals even were.�� And even when the food episodes happened, they almost felt like filler.  Because of the show’s lack of focus, it was hard to truly enjoy any part of it.

And I cannot forget to mention that though I praised the character design in the good stuff section, there were some...concerns.  Episode 3 introduces a fatphobic, borderline racist design. He is shown as cruel, violent, gleefully mean, and morbidly obese in a cast that is otherwise made up of skinny characters.  And worse, he’s the only brown character in a sea of pale, white-coded characters.  His appearance in episode 3 almost made me stop watching.  He showed up briefly in several more episodes after this, and it sucked every single time.  Despite a lot of the other things I loved about this show, I really cannot recommend it to anyone with a clean conscience just because of this character. He’s distressing and uncomfortable to me, so I can’t imagine how a POC might feel while watching it.

Genuinely, if even one or two of their “here’s a cute girl” designs had been Black or brown, I would have felt way better.  But the juxtaposition of this guy being the only dark skinned character in the show combined with his abhorrent personality just really, really distresses me, and I think it’s a warning that people should be aware of before giving it a try.

That being said, overall, I don’t think Princess Connect Re:Dive was a bad show.  As I said, there was a lot of elements I enjoyed, and I will probably go look and see if there’s any Karyl/Pecorine art out there, and since the app is Japanese only, I might even go and read the continued plot somewhere.

So this wasn’t much of a “flash review”, I had a lot to say, I guess lol.  Anyway, if anyone else watched it, please let me know what you thought~ I’d be interested to hear anyone else’s take.  For my part, I’ll give Princess Connect a solid 6/10.

[astharoshebarvon]

vampire knight

Will this be a rant? Of sorts, maybe.

It seems now there is another discourse in VK fandom, this time about whether Ren and Ai will be a romantic couple or not. Firstly, Hino is drawing them in a suggestive way, that’s true.

Do I care if they end up together or not? Not really. She has drawn Kaname and Zero in a suggestive way many times, hell, even in recent covers Zero is literally all over Kaname. Not to mention Zero/Kaname has way more fanfictions and incredible fanarts than either of the canon straight couples. It’s true, just check it.

Think what you want, above illustration is pure Zero/Kaname and Yume.

And, in the below one, Zero’s hand...Sorry, two rivals and enemies just don’t do that.

Look at the above illustration, that’s not how two guys stand if they are enemies, they just don’t.

Secondly, both Ai and Ren have an intense need of another’s blood. Now, many people say their relationship is creepy…

Sorry, but many shoujo mangas and mainstream novels have the same crap. The girl is obsessed with the boy and also ends up with him. Yikes. Gross.

And, those stories are celebrated. So, why be against these two? Oh, wait, it’s because they are not hetero.

Hino is not doing anything great even if they do come out as a couple, Clamp has done it many times and Clamp works are way more popular than Hino’s can ever be.

X, a shoujo genre manga has Kamui and Fuuma.

They loved each other, don’t even try to argue with me about it.

Seishirou and Subaru, the most tragic couple of manga and anime are also in it. CCS has Yue with Clow Reed, Yukito/Yue and Touya, Sakura and Tomoyo, some of these feelings are one sided, but none of them are hated.

These couples are way more popular than whole VK manga. Rg Veda, another shoujo has Amaterasu and Souma, Taishakuten and Ashura-ou, Yasha and Ashura can also be interpreted as an M/M couple. Oh, wait. That’s canon. They are together in Tsubasa.

And, don’t get me started on Fai and Kurogane. There you go people, these are shonen and shoujo mangas which have same sex couples.

And, the readers know there was something going on between Fai and Kurogane even if it’s not stated explicitly.

Clamp literally said,”do not call Fuuma and Kamui brothers”. They are soulmates. They don’t even mention the obsessed fangirl, kotori.

Arina Tanemura, whose stories are a perfect example of a  fangirl ending with the guy they were after, also has a single M/M couple in one of her works. Mostly in her stories, the main girl likes one guy, but in the end, that guy never ends up with her. He ends up with one of the obsessed fangirls.

Am I still bitter about how dirty the mangaka did Itsuki Otomiya? Yes. The sweetheart doesn’t even know Haine was his daughter, and the whole bloody cast had coloured illustrations, a freaking artbook is there for the series, but not a single illustration for him. Yikes.

I hope she redeems herself and makes Tokita and Chikage a couple in 31 Ai dreams. The only series of hers which didn’t have this cliché was Sakurahime Kaden and Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne.

And, let’s be honest, Eiichi would have have ended up with another fangirl if he wasn’t dead in Full moon. Thank god he was spared that bullshit. But, then again, he dies. That’s not good either.

Gentleman’s alliance cross, Nekota are just bad. Yes, the art is beautiful, but that doesn’t mean the males of her series deserved to end up with obsessive fangirls.

The one with underage relationship, Nekota or whatever [thank god that was never picked up by Viz.] In this, the blue haired dude, Serizawa, who the main girl liked from the beginning didn’t end up with her, he ended up with a fangirl. Ugh.

And, it is incestuous, the girl has feelings for her underage cousin.  Right.

Her art is beautiful, but damn it, her stories are so annoying.

For her only M/M couple in shinshi doumei cross, she had to make one half of the MM couple a cross dresser.

The guy, Maora was wearing woman’s clothing every time he and Maguri were shown together. He was never once shown as his real, tall self with Maguri.

And, she has said she isn’t comfortable with yaoi, but is okay with shonen ai.

Right.

But the point is, it’s been done many times.

In Hana Kimi, one of the protagonist’s elder brother is gay. He was the school’s physician if I am not wrong. So, Hino is not doing anything new.

Kyou Kara Maou is a shoujo manga, but it has Wulfrum and Yuri, two guys as a main couple. Granted, nothing happens, but they are engaged.

The manga was published in Asuka, a shoujo magazine.

Same goes for uraboku, Luka loves Yuki, regardless of the fact whether he is a female or a male. Senshirou and Kuroto were together, Hotsuma and Shusei were married in previous lives and they were very much together in the present as well.

Do I think Ren and Ai will end up together, I dunno. Maybe they will, maybe they won’t. But I don’t think she will show them as a couple. If she will, fine. If she doesn’t, then also fine. They have an intense desire to be with each other, and their relationship is not parallel to Kaname and Yuuki’s or Haruka and Juri’s.

One can say they are like Rido, Yuuki’s uncle, not like the above two couples.

There are many differences between them and the two couples.

And, let’s not forget the harem Sara created, in fact she even kissed one of the girls.

Do I care about Ren and Ai ? No.

My sole reason for reading this manga is: Yume. Just bring Yuuki back and show Yume happily ever after. I really don’t care who ends up with whom.

But some reasons regarding Renai are hypocritical. This manga has incest, why are you being bothered by it now? Hell, she drew Ichiru and Zero in suggestive way too, and Zero’s care for Ichiru could also be questioned in that case.

I am not sure if the above is Zero and Ichiru or Zero with another personality of his, I don’t want to see my artbook right now, but it can be seen as Zero and Ichiru.

We don’t like yuri and yaoi.

Well, in that case I really hope it happens so it’ll tick off the people who make this statement. Yes, it’s a derogatory statement.

If the mangaka wants to do it, she can, it’s her choice. Hate her for it, plenty do. Zekis and yumes do for their reasons. I dislike the way she does things too, I hate many things she has done. But, hey she still did them.

Read Yona of the dawn in that case, that’s the only series which isn’t “problematic”

But,  Kija and Jaeha can be shipped in that too. I do ship them. And, the author has drawn shonen ai doujinshi’s.

And, Yona was in love with Su-won in the beginning, who is her cousin. Incest is incest, whether it’s between siblings or cousins, they are family.

I really don’t think Hino will show Ren and Ai as a couple. Siblings who are weirdly close, yes. Romantic couple, I don’t think so. If I am wrong, fine.

Just give me my Yume happy ending, and Takuma and Seiren scenes. I literally don’t care about the kids relationship. I just don’t. First, I had to suffer through that traitor’s crap with the stupid bint, Sayori, now this.

Edit :  Finally I read this chapter…

I don’t understand how anyone can even compare whatever crap that is going on between Ai and Ren to Yume and Haruka / Juri. The Kuran couples never looked so fucking weird with each other.

I was absolutely right in thinking their feelings for each other are reminiscent of what Rido felt. Just because Ai is Yume’s daughter doesn’t mean she’s a perfect character. Give me a break. Then again she had a crush on Zero as well.

And, she was raised among people like Ruka and Aidou, traitors and obsessed idiots. It’s no wonder she turned out idiotic.

She looks weird when she says, “she had her sister with her” to Youko.

I am not going to post the image cause its just bad.

Yume and Haruka/Juri were never so fucking creepy. Never.

Ren is just so bland and sad in everything that I don’t know what to think. Youko was the only one who wasn’t weird in this Ch.

The author should just wrap this up, it’s neither interesting nor is evoking any feelings in readers. It’s as bad Sayori/Aidou crap. Just stop with the useless story arcs, show Kaname and Yuuki together and end this shit.

I really don’t think the two girls will end up together. Their scenes aren’t sweet, and if she wants to show them, just do it and move on. They are both boring and least interesting. They are so bad it will not matter whether are together or apart.

They are as bad as other creepily obsessed M/F couples in novels and shoujo manga where the obsessed fangirl ends with the boy. This trope itself is gross. Who even cares about them?

They are only being hyped because they are two girls. When people thought Ren was a boy there wasn’t much reaction. I know there wasn’t. But now that they are two girls…

Hate them because they are stupid, no point in saying we don’t like them because its FF relationship. That’s just bigotry. Or maybe the author should be honest and say I wanted Zero and Kaname to fuck but Yuuki kept on getting in the way. So, I decided to pair their daughters together. because according to the author incest is fine in VK.  Just drop this crap already Hino.

I mean what the hell is up with this boring arc ?

I don’t even understand why stupid shit like this is overlooked in MF couples but if same happens in same sex, everyone is like, looks its unhealthy.  Incest, age difference, obsessed idiots/ fangirls, they are all bad.

I love Clamp, but that Rika and Terada thing was just plain gross. Same goes for Rin and Sesshoumaru.

I kept on telling myself about the latter one, no they are a parent child relationship. But at one point, I had to accept it was anything but family love. I love Sesshoumaru and always will. But I can’t get behind Rin/Sessh or whatever nonsense it was. Sessrin is celebrated, it’s a fact. It’s creepy, don’t deny it.

I know some of their artists and Sesskag [yuck] kept on leaving rude comments on SessKik fanworks, my favourite ship.

And Terada/Rika thing is overlooked because, let’s be honest CCS is fucking awesome. I overlook it and concentrate on yue yukito/ touya, syaoran/sakura.

I just want this RenAi thing to go away. I can’t stand either of them. Just show Kaname and Yuuki together and end this series. Hino should wrap it up and start a new one. VK will not gain the popularity it had at one point no matter what. The author is just coming off as desperate.

[getoffthesoapbox]

[VKM Spec] Ridiculing VKM 18

As expected, Hino’s obsession with dreary funerals continues.

Obligatory disclaimer for my anti-fans: This post is zeki criticism, vkm criticism, hino criticism, and anti ky. Please blacklist those tags accordingly.

Scanlations can be found in the usual places.

The Good

Gotta give credit where credit is due!

Hallelujah! Kaien Cross bites the dust (literally) at last! Praise the heavens! At last, one of the cancers of this story has been eradicated! Screw you, Hino, for trying to make him more than oozing pustule he was. (And LOL @ that guy facepalming in front of his coffin, who the hell is that anyway, I want his autograph? XD)

Kaien’s melodramatic “woe is me, what a shitty way to die” and then his pathetic “oh a girl is finally crying for me after all this time!” dramatics were hilarious. Like...how sad of a person are you that you’re relieved any girl is crying for you at your death?

Ren is a girl. I repeat: Ren is a girl. At last we can put to bed all that nonsense.

Ren is null!Zero’s and Yuuki’s child. I repeat: Ren is null!Zero’s and Yuuki’s child. Farewell, fantasies of test tube babies and clones and in vitro. Not only that, Ren was clearly conceived in the usual fashion of conceptions, not via any Zeusian head-births or immaculate conceptions. 

Null!Zero lived to raise Ren. I repeat: null!Zero lived to raise Ren. At least the “null!Zero can’t have anything Kaname doesn’t get” rule no longer applies. 

Kaname is too much of a chicken to look at the photo album of a man who worshipped him. Methinks nu!Kaname has received some intimations about how much of a shithead he was in the past. Makes me think better of him.

Kaname is actually interested in someone from the past who isn’t Yuuki and what that person might think of him. Also that he actually genuinely seems interested in finding out how much Ai suffered from Kaien’s loss and is trying to empathize for the first time in his life. 

Ai finally showed up for a funeral. ‘Bout time, since she didn’t even bother to show up for Yori’s. 

The little girl the Prince was living with is not the mayor’s daughter, thank god. 

The mad scientist got a stylish cameo! 

And that’s about it!

The Bad

Perhaps I should rename this section to “The Stupid”? I’ll have to consider it.

Hino forgetting her own lore and that pureblood blood can cure wounds and illnesses--see Shizuka with Ichiru. Ai was right next to Kaien--she didn’t need to offer him vamprism, she could have just fed him her blood. For him to die in such a stupid fashion, despite how great it is, is positively mind boggling given the established vampire lore in this story. 

Hino retroactively trying to act like Kaien meant something to these characters when he’d routinely fucked them over in order to rescue his precious Kaname. 

Yuuki boo-hooing over Kaien dying when she didn’t bother to spend any time with him during the 100 years of life she had to enjoy his company.

Kaname’s unexplained “curse” on Touma that came out of the clear blue nowhere with no foreshadowing or set up in order to “justify” Touma’s insane behavior. Hino’s just phoning it in at this point. 

Touma is the Prince, snooze. Boring and obvious and a narrative dud. 

The “Mayor” is useless and already under arrest, and why the hell does anyone even still care about him?

Kaien’s funeral was a joke and got more panels than Yori’s, which is ridiculous.

The timeline is fucked. Ai was acting last chapter like a bunch of time had passed between the mad scientist kidnapping and the Ren pregnancy being discovered, yet the little girl is still the same age. Either she’s a vampire or Hino has no clue what the timeline is.

Instead of talking about how excited they are to meet Ren, Yuuki spends most of her pregnancy screentime rehashing bullshit about Ai’s childhood with Ai. We already spent 6 chapters on Ai’s childhood Hino, you might want to give us some time to enjoy Ren for once yeah? 

Yuuki whining about Kaien and Yori not being there is a complete joke. Bitch, please, you waiting seventy years to get in bed with your side piece is the reason they’re not there with you now. You have no right to complain because this is your own fault. You squandered the time you had with your precious people.

Null!Zero’s apparently barely there as a father figure since Hino didn’t care to show him in more than one panel with his child. 

The Ugly

All of the ugly this chapter was packed in at the end, appropriately.

Hino just completely excised null!Zero from the family. In the montage of raising Ai images, Zero doesn’t even get a panel with Ai or Yuuki--he’s separated in his own itty bitty panel as if he’s still an outsider in his own family.

No sex scene, no waiting for the baby scene, no naming Ren scene for Zeki. That’s a pretty low blow to make us wait all that time and then skip over everything, Hino. Fuck you, too.

Zero’s and Ai’s little argument at the end would be cute if we’d actually gotten some fucking answers as to why Zeki didn’t get together for an entire human lifetime, but no, Hino doesn’t care to tell us why, we can just make the answer up for ourselves!

Whether Hino intends to “make good” on this implication or not (and my bet, given how gross Ai and Ren act in the future, is that she’ll make good on it), it is utterly reprehensible that Hino made Ai have a sexual attraction to a fucking innocent baby. We all know the VK/VKM world has established that vampiric hunger the way Ai experiences it in VKM 18 is sexual in nature. Hino trying to act like it’s cute there at the end is not ever acceptable. It was not even remotely acceptable when Kaname did it, and it’s not at all acceptable now just because the girls are sisters. Just like slapping Aidou, child grooming is not appropriate or laudable behavior. Ai having a sexual interest in her baby sister is not okay.

And last, but certainly not least, null!Zero and Yuuki approving Ai’s interactions with Ren without having any concerns is deeply disturbing to me. Hino trying to play this off as a cute and normal happy family is even more troubling. I’m very concerned about how this all is going to play out in the future. 

General Aside

@vampireknightmeta brought up a few ways in which Hino might be able to salvage the story as it is now in our private conversations, but I will leave any public speculation on future positive developments to her should she choose to share them with the fandom at large. 

At this point in time, I myself have no interest in speculating about potential positive narrative developments because Hino has shown time and time again that she’s happy to sink lower than even the lowest bar I set for her. I’d rather be happily surprised by Hino saving this story on her own and just laugh at her bumbling in the meantime rather than investing my heart into trying to uncover the “secrets” of the story of a repugnant and morally bankrupt failure of a writer. From now on, I’ll only be speculating about worst case scenarios, the worst I can possibly imagine, and maybe Hino will do even worse than that just to prove to me that there’s no low she’s above sinking to. 

As such, if you’re looking for positive theorizing, you won’t find it here until I see some significant improvement in this sorry excuse for a story. Please look elsewhere for your hit of “positivity.” 

Crackpot Theory Corner

Can’t end this debacle without some crackpot theories. Here’s what could happen that could make this story sink even lower than it has already sunk!

Null!Zero might actually get suspicious of Ai’s “attentions” to Ren, but he’s going to die before he can stop anything. =P Null!Zero does still seem to have some fatherly instincts.

Null!Zero is up next for being killed, probably next volume. We’ll probably have a funeral or two every volume, because that’s totally what everyone’s reading for!

In the chapter where null!Zero dies, we’ll have Ren dying in the future while protecting Ai or Kaname! Gotta kill off dem pesky Kiryuus!

When Yuuki meant “short time after Zero” when he died in VKM 4, what she meant to say was “null!Zero died 20 years after I screwed him and I put myself to bed for 900 more.” Hence, “short time.” Time’s relative, doncha know.

After Ren dies, Kaname and Ai will mourn, then resurrect Yuuki to ease their sorrow and the Kurans will live happily ever after. 

Yuuki never intended to marry Zero, and that’s why she let Yori die before getting together with him officially so Yori wouldn’t have to know Yuuki loved Kaname and not Zero (why, only Hino knows). The wedding Yori and Aidou were waiting for will happen after they’re long dead with Kaname and Yuuki instead. 

The baby from Yuuki’s dream is her second kid with Kaname, a boy who she’ll name Zero. Ai will imprint on her new brother and the horror will start all over again with a new generation, this time blessedly free of Kiryuus, who are all dead.

Oh, and the Vampire King will never be found, because who cares. ;)

Until next time, see you later!

[eternalsshipsandfics]

In Cold Blood: Chapter 6

Summary: The illustrious Kuran family is thrown into disarray when the crown princess disappears under suspicious circumstances. Will she ever be found?

Yuuki ran a gentle hand through the silky strands of Yui's fringe as she listened to Zero explaining what had happened to Kaito. She could almost feel the suspicious glare on her back, but Yui's prone form was more important to her.

"Stop looking at her like that. She's been ruled out."

"By you, maybe."

"There shouldn't have been anyone in that town at all. It has been abandoned for a while." Zero sounded deep in thought.

"What about their familiars?"

"I've had no reports of odd animals in the colony."

"That doesn't mean it didn't happen."

"There wasn't enough time. She only knew about the outing a week in advance."

"She has you wrapped around her little finger."

Yuuki allowed the words to disappear into a vague drone behind her. Zero could try and convince his friend all he liked, but she was certain that he would never buy into it. Any words from her would only hinder his attempts, though she knew best that she was innocent.

"Use my blood." The drone behind her stopped, and she turned to the two males behind her. She was greeted with silence, prompting her to continue directly to Zero. "He'll die if we don't do anything. It's too late to use medicine. Giving him my blood is the only way."

Kaito looked like he was about to say something nasty, but Zero got there first. "You're right. We'll use your blood."

Her heart lifted a little. She was grateful that he was trusting her enough to help now. She wasn't so sure that he'd accept her blood for the other, less life threatening cases, but this was a good start.

"He can't swallow, so we'll need to inject it. How are you with needles?"

"They can't be any worse than fangs, right?" She, being a pampered pureblood princess, had never actually seen a needle before. That was something that the servants… slaves had, not the higher classes. They didn't have to dirty themselves with such objects. But from what she had heard, they were thinner than her brother's fangs.

"I don't know, a lot of people don't just don't like needles."

"Of course, you're not a person." Came the mumbled slur from Kaito, who looked like he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Kaito, don't you have duties to attend to?" Zero asked him as he waved over the medic who was tending to another patient on the other end of the room. "Go and see to Shinmei."

"Shinmei? Why?"

"I'll explain later." With one final shrug, Kaito left the medical wing. "Get a needle. We're drawing her blood."

She had heard that name before. As the medic easily slid the newly acquired needle into her arm, she focused her gaze on Zero.

"Shinmei… Is that the name of the man who guarded me?"

"Yes. That's the one. He's also the man who brought you to me when you regained consciousness."

"Oh." She had been closer to his man than she had realised. She wondered what Zero wanted with him. She wouldn't pry this time, however.

"Why did you come back? You didn't answer me." She chewed the inside of her cheek as she thought about how much she should tell him. Not all of her reasons needed to be out there. "You knew that we'd be able to take care of the other hunters. You didn't know just how badly Yui was injured."

"I couldn't abandon them. I… really don't like that vampires could do such awful things to people." She considered further. "I guess I don't want them to think that all vampires are the same."

He gave a thoughtful nod at her response. She wondered if he was thinking about the reasons for her not mentioning the vampires who had attacked her. Who had to have known that she was a vampire, at the very least. If he was, he chose not to ask about it. "What about your family?"

She felt a painful clench in her chest.

"Of course, I miss them. I miss them a lot. But I can do good here. These people…they need me."

She expected some sort of rebuke, but none came.

"Yes… If you don't mind, is your offer to use your blood for the injured still on the table?"

"You want to do that?"

"You have a good heart, Yuuki." A playful smirk appeared on his face. "It's just a shame that you're a vampire."

Yuuki felt her heart speed up. This was the first time he had called her by her name, not just Kuran. Coupled with that was the confirmation that he both trusted and liked her. She covered her face for a second, trying to play it off as just wiping her face. She turned to Yui, whose breathing had begun to lose the terrifying bubble effect.

"Yes. I want to help in any way that I can." She hadn't realised that Zero had sat with her until she saw him rise out of the corner of her eye. She caught a vibrant flash of red, and realised that she had been smelling his blood for a while. Had that wound on his arm been bleeding for the past few hours? How did he even have the strength to stand?

She got to her feet with him, grabbing hold of his arm and bringing it to her mouth. As soon as his blood touched her tongue, she noticed the distinct difference between his blood and that of the injured. It was a powerful, satisfying taste that caused her to unconsciously close her eyes in pleasure. She felt a tingle in her fangs that she hadn't felt before, and she prepared herself to bite…

Until she remembered just what she was doing and jerked back.

"I'm so sorry!"

"No, it's fine." He glanced over his arm. "It feels a lot better."

"That's good." She wasn't sure how to act now. Though he didn't seem bothered by it, she had almost lost control. She wasn't exactly thirsty; Zero had been supplying her with blood in the form of blood bags. So why had she felt such a strong urge to drink from him?

"I trust you'll watch over Yui? I have something I need to do."

"Yes. I want to make sure he gets better."

"We'll take some blood tomorrow." Yuuki nodded, before she sat herself back at Yui's bedside.

"See you later."

"Yeah." And then he was gone. Yuuki returned to stroking the boy's hair, the motion a soothing distraction from the thoughts swirling through her head.

~Z~

Supplied with Yuuki's healing blood, Yui began to recover rapidly. His breathing returned to normal and the external bruising on his body had dimmed to nothing. However, he still hadn't regained consciousness. The medics had reassured Yuuki that he was out of the danger zone and that he would wake up any day now.

She spent most of her days effectively glued to Yui's bedside. The familiar sense of responsibility was with her every moment. He would have died if she had not set him loose, but would he die here anyway? She knew what the medics were telling her, but she couldn't feel it. He was still only a human. They were weaker than vampires.

The medics had repeatedly told her to sleep in her room, but she was steadily ignoring them. She was going to be here when Yui finally woke up; he would know that she had worried about him enough to stay with him. If they had a genuine complaint about her hanging around, they would have to take it to Zero.

He did encourage her to eat, bathe and sleep. Occasionally, he would put forward the suggestion that she sleep somewhere more comfortable but that was simply a suggestion. She knew that he understood her anxiety. As such, he would try and make her awkward sleeping positions at the side of the bed as comfortable as he could for her. It didn't necessarily work, but she was grateful for his efforts, either way.

~Z~

Yuuki was dreaming. She was six years old again, and she was struggling to fall asleep. Her big brother was there, gently stroking her hair as he had done until Yuuki was able to fall asleep on her own. There was a warm and comforting aura around her vibrant pink room.

Dream Yuuki secured a sleepy gaze on her older brother's face, whose hand moved fluidly with her change of direction.

"You're going to be king one day, right?" Dream Kaname tilted his head at her sudden question.

"One day, yes. Not for a long time."

"What about daddy?"

"I'll only be king if daddy is gone. That's why it'll be a long time."

"Then, what about Uncle Rido?" The room had been steadily getting colder; Kaname's breath now coming out in white, wispy puffs. The vibrant pin had become a dull grey. The dreaming Yuuki could see a dark presence in the corner of the room that Kaname also appeared to be unaware of. The present Yuuki longed to call out and warn him.

"Uncle Rido won't be king." The darkness took a single step forward, ignored by both of the younger Kurans. Dream Yuuki took on a confused look.

"But why not?" Another step. Present Yuuki's unease grew.

"He can't be, because of you and me." He paused stroking her hair to affectionately boop her on the nose.

"You and me?"

"Because daddy has us, Uncle Rido won't get a chance."

"That doesn't seem fair." The dark presence was directly behind the oblivious Kaname now. Present Yuuki was screaming for him to run; to take her younger self and go. Now.

"That's how it's always been. So, I will be the next king and Rido won't."

The darkness took its final step and enshrouded Kaname in an angry embrace. The younger Yuuki continued talking to the empty air in front of her. The present Yuuki screamed.

~Z~

Yuuki jerked awake. She took in the familiar, boring brown and grey of the rock walls captured behind the simple bars of the bed frame. There was a familiar sensation on her head as she came fully back to consciousness. Was someone stroking her hair?

She pulled her heavy head up, and was happily surprised by what she saw. An excited squeal escaped her mouth before she flung her arms around the now conscious Yui.

"You're awake! Thank goodness!"

"Almost good as new!" She squeezed him tightly, drawing a small pained sound from him, before she pulled back. Something rolled down her back as she moved, landing on the ground with a soft flump sound.

She lifted the light grey jacket that had apparently been put over her as she slept. She brought it to her nose, inhaling the heady scent of home that she recognised as Zero's. A flush of happiness that was different from the happiness of finding Yui awake brought a hint of red to her face. She took another breath, subconsciously bringing the jacket close to her body for a second as she sniffed.

"You look better too. You were making some weird noises in your sleep. Were you having a nightmare?" Yui's voice brought her back to the present and she gingerly placed the jacket at the foot of the bed.

"I wonder. I don't remember." A hazy fog seemed to replace the images that had played out in her subconscious. "It probably doesn't matter."

"You've cut your hair." Yuuki blinked at the sudden change of subject. She herself still tried to twirl her once long strands around her fingers on occasion. The reminder of their failed outing caused a new thought to blink to life in her. As she had spent her days intensively in the medical wing, she had heard many interesting tidbits.

One such tidbit had been the fact that Zero's birthday was coming up soon. And what better excuse was there to throw a celebration party? This could be just what the downtrodden humans needed to get them back in the right frame of mind. There seemed to be a perpetual mist of despair over the colony that needed to be lifted. It was Yuuki's turn to surprise Yui with a change of subject.

"Say… I heard the medics say that it's Zero's birthday soon."

"Yeah?"

"I was thinking that we could have a party. Lift everyone's spirits!"

Yui's eyes lit up at the thought of a party. These were things that he had only heard about, and as a curious youngster, he was interested in experiencing such a wonderful thing. And then a look of doubt followed.

"I don't know. Zero doesn't like his birthday. It's when the attack started."

"Even more of a reason to do it! We just need to make it a positive experience for him!"

Yui seemed to agree with her logic, even though the look of doubt remained. In fact, his answer had made her more determined to throw the party. Zero deserved better than to have such an awful experience tar such a positive day. She wanted him to be able to look to the future, not the past. Maybe she could even change his mind about his planned suicide. She wondered if he had trusted anyone in the colony enough to tell them his plan? She was quick to discard this thought. He wouldn't want to let them down; he worked hard to keep up the image of the brave, strong leader for their sake.

"I think I can get people to help us." Yui confirmed to her.

"Thank you! Oh, we don't have to start right away. You should rest more."

"But I want to get up!"

"You can walk around a little bit, but you have to get your strength back! We still have time."

Yui pouted. She understood his need for activity. Her months of inactivity had almost shattered her sanity, and she was considered an adult now. She couldn't even imagine how maddening it would be if she had been his age.

"Yui! You're awake. I'm glad." Yuuki jumped as the object of their conversation materialised beside her. She was beginning to wonder if she had lost her abilities as a pureblood. She was being snuck up on a lot lately; a problem she hadn't had back home.

"Zero!" Zero ruffled the child's hair. Yui shrank back as he caught sight of the disappointed look that crossed Zero's face as he pulled back from the affectionate action. Yuuki had been expecting something like this. She had held back, knowing that Zero would get the message home.

"I'm very disappointed in you, Yui. You knew you weren't allowed to come, but you snuck along anyway. You were very nearly killed. If we hadn't seen you, you would be dead now."

Yui squirmed uncomfortably. Zero gave Yuuki a quick look, which she took as a request to move out of the way. She gave up her seat.

"Look at me." It took a moment before Yui could keep his eyes locked with Zero's concerned ones. "I care about you. That is why I want you to stay here, where it is safe. You can't defend yourself yet. Promise me that you won't do anything so reckless again."

"I'm sorry. I promise." Yuuki could see tears pricking the corner of his eyes. Zero sighed.

"Come here." Yui shuffled forward into Zero's embrace. "You do understand, don't you?"

"Yes. I'm sorry I made you worry." His small hands fisted in the back of Zero's shirt. Yuuki briefly wondered how Zero would act to his own child, if this was how he acted towards Yui. She could see why he cared about him so much. He probably hadn't been told that he was cared about so much while he was with the Kurans, she thought to herself.

Zero returned to his feet, aiming a sidelong look at Yuuki.

"You're done with my jacket?"

"Oh yeah! Thank you for that!"

"She was sniffing it!" Yui jumped in, the scolding already in the past. Yuuki admired his resilience.

"I was not!"

"Oh, sorry. I thought I washed that."

"It's clean." Her voice shrunk. "It just smells nice, is all."

"See? She was sniffing it!"

"Stop it!" She cried exasperatedly. Zero chuckled.

"You can have it, if you want."

"No, that's fine." She crossed her arms in a huff. This wasn't fair, these two boys ganging up on her. It was just a dumb jacket. She couldn't deny a modicum of disappointment as Zero slipped it over his arm.

"You just rest, Yui. I'll see both of you later." Yuuki raised an arm in acknowledgement, before she turned to give Yui a scolding of her own.

~Z~

Yori hesitated around the living area a little longer than she needed to. She had taken on the role of a Kuran household servant while her master was with them; Hanabusa had remained for moral support after the traumatic time the Kuran family had been going through in the recent months. She mistrusted most of the Kuran family, if she was honest, but it did seem like Kaname was taking it particularly hard. Hanabusa was also in the room with them; she could have heard about the conversation taking place from him later, but she wanted to hear it first-hand.

"We have witness reports that state that they have seen Yuuki in a town a few miles from here. Shouldn't we ask around that town for more information?"

"We have enough information. The witness reports also said that she was being held hostage by the silver wolf. Who conveniently enough, happens to be a match to the hair we found with dear Haruka."

"It does appear that this 'silver wolf' is the one behind all this."

"Well, I think it's time to make an address to the people. We know the general vicinity of their base. We know that they have Yuuki. We can't keep it a secret that she isn't here anymore. They don't believe it. And they will be baying for blood."

"You're saying that you'll give them that blood?"

"Of course, dear nephew. What better way to sate their bloodlust than to let them see the destruction of the cause for that bloodlust? Or did you want a riot?"

"No one wants that."

"So sit tight and let me deal with this. We'll have our dear princess back in no time."

Yori hurried to look busy once more as Rido Kuran passed her. The dust that had dared settle on the glossy furniture didn't know what had hit it. She felt uneasy when he stopped behind her for a moment before she heard the soft click of his heels on the floor.

His similar looking nephew passed a minute later, and she was left alone with Hanabusa. He still carried that troubled look that he had adopted since Yuuki had vanished. It was like he had aged ten years in the past few months.

"Yuuki's still alive. That's good." She spoke softly to him. The worry that Yuuki would be in harm's way must have been weighing heavily on him, especially after the assassination.

"Yeah." He responded in a distracted manner. She sighed softly. It was almost like Hanabusa wasn't here; he seemed to have been drifting away from her recently. She had tried hard to bury the unwanted hurt she felt at this. "I have something I need to do. You okay here?"

Yori merely nodded in response as he hurried away. She wished that he would talk to her; they were likely harbouring the same fears and worries. If he would only talk to her, then maybe they could comfort each other. A problem shared is a problem halved, after all.

She thought back to the implications of Rido's words, and she hoped that the 'silver wolf' would be able to escape.

[sabineelectricheart]

Absent-Minded Hair Brushing

Summary: Yuuki tries to brush Mihaya’s hair, but ends up distracted with something else.

Rating: M - Not suitable for children or teens below the age of 16 with non-explicit suggestive adult themes, references to some violence, or coarse language.

Words: 1000

Notes: Didn’t love Paradigm Paradox, but didn’t hate it either. I wish writting about it was easier, though.

In the quiet of the evening and the confines of her dorm, both Yuuki and Mihaya lay atop her bed in comfortable silence. There is nothing to immediately worry about, the Vectors are gone and there is no school in the morning.

For as long as she can remember, she was always assigned a private room, which was reasonably rare in the academy due to the demand over the available spots. Her boyfriend, himself, had to share, so they usually spent time at hers. Luckily, the professors and handlers were also quite lax about visiting hours, and so it was rarely troublesome to sneak in and out from the boys’ dorm building and into the girls’.

The green-haired teen was lying between her legs, his head resting comfortably between her chest and stomach listening to the sound of her soft breathing. He found his fingertips moving mindlessly up and down her arm that lay over his shoulder in rhythm with her breaths.

Her free hand tried to rake through his hair softly, wanting to feel the silky strands melt through her fingers, but, as he had let it grow out almost to his shoulders, there seemed to be tangles impeding the effort. While he braided it to keep it off his eyes, straightening it with cream, it still tangled as he laid down his head in the pillow.

Her hairbrush rested undisturbed on her bedside table, and the sight of it kickstarted an impulse Yuuki could not control. Retrieving the objecting by reaching her hand over, she asked for his permission, which he happily granted, enjoying the feeling of her care on his scalp. As gently as she could, the teen girl slid the brush and her fingers through his hair, ridding it of knots and tangles. His eyes closed from the charming sensation, focussing only on her hands.

“Are you done already?” He asked when she stopped, turning in her embrace to face her straight. “Can’t you keep going?”

She laughed, taking up the brush again. “I’m done with the knots, but I can keep going if that’s what you really want.”

When the brush reached his head again, Mihaya let his eyes softly close, and his countenance relaxed enough for his hands to fall to her legs. While on one side, his fingertips mostly grazed across her knee, his other hand ghosted lightly over her thigh.

Yuuki does not mind the caress, in fact she welcomes it. She has missed his physical presence lately. His absentminded touches were the main occupant of her thoughts, so much so that the same section of his hair was being brushed over and over again without her realising.

It took Mihaya a good while to notice her distraction, but once he became aware of it, he began to laugh lightly. Again, he turned around slowly, admiring her face for the first time in nearly half an hour. It was more beautiful than he remembered it, despite only the short time he had been in its absence. No matter what anyone else may think, those amber eyes blinking slowly at him were the most beautiful sight he would ever see.

“Was I distracting you?” He smirked, casting a teasing look as he lifted himself closer to her lips.

The girl laughed, wrapping her arms around him. “You only wish that I could be so easily distracted.”

“Are you saying that I’m wrong?” He asked, cupping her face and jaw, moving ever closer to her lips.

“Yeah, I think. Maybe.” She breathed out, heart hammering loudly against her chest. “You’re too confident to think that I’d get so affected by your hair.”

Yuuki tries to get her heart rate under some sort of control to keep the shenanigan going, but she is sure that he could at least feel it, if not hear it. Not that she is in any way embarrassed by it, properly speaking, as he already knew it beat only for him and there is no point in hiding, but she knows that he also like to tease her, and she is not about to just let him.

“Well…” The green-haired teen began, moving his hand to caress her neck where his cool fingertips pressed into her heated skin, leaning closer to whisper huskily at the curve of her ears. “I think I’m right. In fact, I know for a fact that I’m right.”

“What’s my giveaway, if it’s that’s easy?” She asked, knowing she could do nothing to deny it, try as she may.

“You have several, actually.” He said, kissing her neck, his breath tickling the sensitive skin there. “The biggest one would probably be your raised pulse. Your face grows flushed and your heart sounds as if it would explode.”

As Mihaya explains, she suddenly became aware of his hand wrapped firmly around her thin wrist. She could feel him smirk against her neck, as he knows that he caught her in a bind.

“Though the first one was you getting lost in a trance and brushing the same part of my hair for at least two minutes. You tend to get lost in thought when you’re happy.” He points out, very amused with her idiosyncrasies. “Another, you smiled when I turned around.”

He knows that he is slightly hypocritical as he points out her distracted demeanour, as his attention is soon taken away from the discussion at hand and into another sort of amusement, as the curve of her shoulder seems to be calling his name. His lips on her neck almost left his words lost in the air of her room only to be carried out of her open window with the breeze, as both of them get lost on it, but there were still some wits about her as she tried to focus on his voice.

“Guilty as charged.” She confessed, lifting his head to meet her lips.

Mihaya laughed only for a moment before getting as lost in Yuuki as she had in him.

*_*_*_*_*

Paradigm Paradox Masterlist

[zerolover66]

I am making a separate post because I don’t want to reblog someone else’s post that is already pretty long and then add to it. So please don’t think that this post is passive aggressive. 

First let me start by saying that everyone and every couple in VK has at times paralleled in some way or another. So as I said before parallels abound in VK. They are all over the place. But the question is who is meant to parallel who the most? How are we meant to see it? How does Hino want us to see it?

There are some things that I personally think are obvious. But like I said there are still times when even Zero and Kaname have paralleled each other. So Hino has a thing for parallels in order to show how actions and beliefs change your outcome depending on how you deal with your lot in life.

Now to get to it.

Juuri and Yuuki represent light in VK. Their light was not able to save Rido or Kaname. But their light was special to Haruka and Zero.

Haruka and Zero both really did die. They both died smiling at the woman they spent their entire life with. They both told their loved one how happy they had been. Kaname did not die. He was a pureblood and was preserved in ice by Aidou. So Kaname has yet to actually truly die. Both Zero and Haruka’s deaths seemed more tragic simply because they both evaporated. One into dust because he was a regular vampire and one into glass shards because he was a pureblood. That is completely a parallel there. They both LEFT this earth. They both loved one woman all of their lives. They both stood by that said woman for all of their lives. They both found happiness through the only woman they ever loved. They both smiled and said calming things to the one they loved at the end of their lives. They didn’t have to use that time to try to set their loved one free from the emotional pain they had caused them. They didn’t need to explain their actions or try to atone for sins that they had committed. 

Haruka and Zero both had to wait for quite sometime to have their love fully returned. Haruka and Juuri and Yuuki and Zero had the same kind of friendly combative relationship. It was not the same for Yuuki towards Kaname. She worshiped him and rarely stood up to him.

Haruka and Juuri started the initial pacifism cause and may I say that Zero and Yuuki finished it. Kaname was the one who truly hated his own kind. He actually was not for pacifism. He went around trying to kill his own kind which in turn caused a small war between vampires and humans. That is not pacifism. Zero’s hatred was only born out of what Kaname set in motion to try to get Zero to become his weapon and kill all vampires but Zero was too kind and would never do such a thing. When we use the word kind, who else comes to mind? Haruka!!

Both Haruka and Zero tell their loved one that they were happy before they die. Haruka died knowing that Juuri would sacrifice her life shortly after to make their loved one, Yuuki, human. Zero died knowing that Yuuki would use her life shortly after to make her loved one, Kaname, human.

Haruka had one child of his own and raised Kaname, the ancestor, who was not his child and may I add was also the cause of the death of his real son. Although it was not ancestor Kaname’s fault, but still it took a whole lot of kindness to raise a child who was indirectly responsible for your loved one’s death. Zero had one child of his own and raised Ai, the daughter of the man who intentionally set out to ruin his life and turn him into a weapon and was directly related to not only his parents’ deaths but also Ichiru’s. That takes a whole lot of kindness, on a whole other level, to raise the child of the man responsible for your family’s deaths and your own suffering.

Kaname had hatred for his own kind and tried so very hard to get Zero to feel that way but in the end what Yuuki’s light couldn’t do for Kaname it did for Zero. Zero never hated vampires or purebloods until Kaname released Shizuka and Shizuka killed Zero’s family. So I would argue that the very light Kaname saw in Yuuki should have saved him from his hatred of vampires and purebloods but it didn’t. The same way Juuri’s light could not have saved Rido.

I always find it pretty funny when one of the main characters, in more ways than one, is compared to another dark character and yet people refuse to acknowledge that. Kaname himself realizes who he is most like and it’s NOT Haruka. Haruka did NOT have darkness in his soul. Rido did and so did Kaname.

We can’t use the Zero and Kaien because their both hunters parallel, simply because Zero is a special case. He is not only a hunter but also a real vampire at the same time. Kaien is not a vampire even if he has higher levels of the hooded woman’s genes. Kaien has never craved blood nor drank blood ever. He is totally human with more of the hooded woman’s genes than most hunters. Zero actually has fangs and drinks blood and is a vampire.

Both Zero and Haruka fell in love first. They had to wait for quite sometime for the object of their affection to look their way. That can not be said about Yuuki towards Kaname as she was quite smitten with him right from the start. Kaname never had to work at it for Yuuki’s love. 

Also may I add that by the time Kaien met Juuri she was already married to Haruka so we really can’t call it a love triangle, can we?!! Unless we think that Kaien would make a move on a married woman and that Juuri would even look that way. The answer is no. Juuri was already Happily married to Haruka when her and Kaien met. There was not an LT. It was Kaien being smitten by Juuri’s warmth, like the burning rays of the sun and also by seeing Haruka and Juuri together loving and laughing just like humans. He came to realize that vampires had feelings just like humans. Zero already knew this from the day he was born. Why do you think he tried to save Yagari’s fiance who was level e. Zero never was born hating anyone or anything. Zero and Yuuki and Haruka and Juuri represent pacifism. 

It always amazes me when people forget that Zero was kind by nature. That he never would have had any hatred at all to overcome had it not been for Kaname!!! Hino clearly showed us that Kaname hated himself and all of his kind. He wanted to rid the world of his kind and turn Yuuki human therefore ending his own life. He went against everything that Juuri and Haruka stood for. Kaname held hatred in his heart for his race. People overlook what Hino tried to show and that is sad. 

When Hino had Shizuka tell Kaname that by killing her and drinking her blood he had chosen darkness and would walk that path, what do you think that was for. It was to show that he had chosen not to follow the light. He had chosen to fall into darkness with no chance for a good outcome. That does not parallel Haruka but it does parallel Rido.

Kaien was left with both Yuuki and Zero. Kaname is left with both Ai and Ren. Yuuki and Zero gave a different type of meaning to Kaien’s life. Ren and Ai will do the same for Kaname. Yuuki and Zero were Kaien’s light. Ren and Ai are Kanme’s light.

Kaname and Rido both had an obsessive love that caused them to do horrible things to try to acquire that love for themselves. They could not escape the darkness that dwelled within them. Haruka and Zero had patience, kindness, and waited for their loved one to finally look their way. They were light.

Even though both Haruka and Zero had to wait for their love to be returned they both were always there beside the one they loved. Zero and Yuuki grew up together. Haruka and Juuri grew up together. They were always together until the very end of their lives.

I could go on but I am pressed for time right now. But I think the fact that Zeki parallels Haruka and Juuri can be summed up in Yuuki’s own words;

No matter how difficult a thing may be, they can surpass it for sure if they are together....these couples are nice. 

This statement fits Senri and Rima, Kain and Ruka, Aidou and Yori, the Kiryuus, Haruka and Juuri, and Zeki. Zeki parallels Haruka and Juuri most closely and all other couples in the story parallel zeki in one way or another. The only couple who when they were together could NOT overcome anything was yume. That is canon. That is the absolute truth. They could not possibly parallel Haruka and Juuri.

Haruka and Juuri is Hino’s gold standard for what couples are supposed to be like in VK. Who did Hino have parallel them in so many ways as well as some of her art work? Only zeki. 

Of course everyone is entitled to see the story as they choose to. But there are still some facts that are simply undeniable. 

Well that was my two cents worth :)

[sadakagane]

世界で一番孤独なLover - Chapter 1

Fukagawa Mai, a girl who looks rather more mature than most girls her age, didn’t get much sleep last night. Her sister who was studying at a branch of the rival school, had fever last night and thus, she stayed up all night caring for her. She was running to catch the morning train, trying to get in school early. As the doors were closing, she managed to jump inside the train car before it closed. She then sat on a free seat nearest to the doors, not caring about the world. She was feeling dizzy, her head was faltering left and right. She then fell asleep, her head resting on a male student’s shoulder. 

The male student in question was Hashimoto Naoki. He was reading a History Book he borrowed from the Library yesterday. Marukyu stopped reading then glanced at the sleeping Maimai on his shoulder, a faint smile forming on his lips. He then continued reading the book. Everything continued to be this way until they were nearing their stop. Marukyu then looked at Maimai. “Fukagawa-san, we’re nearing the Nogizaka Station. Please wake up.” Marukyu said with his usual stoic voice. 

Maimai then slowly opened her eyes then saw that her head was resting on his shoulder. Shocked, she then rose from her seat then bowed at him twice. “I’m really sorry! I thought my head was resting at the glass!”

Marukyu rose from his seat. “It’s alright. Did you get enough sleep last night?” He asked, looking at her face, paler than usual.

“Not much. I had to take care of my sister. She was sick last night.” She rose from her bowing position, looking at Marukyu.

A slight frown could be seen on Marukyu’s lips. “You should go to the Infirmary later. I’ll go with you.”

Maimai shook her head politely. “It’s okay. I can handle myself.”

“NOGIZAKA STATION. NOGIZAKA STATION. PASSENGERS WHO ARE TRAVELLING TOWARDS NOGIZAKA PRIVATE HIGH SCHOOL, PLEASE ALIGHT AT THIS STATION.” The automated announcer sounded. The doors then opened.

Maimai walked out of the Train Car then tapped out her Train Card at the Terminal Exit. Marukyu followed her to make sure she doesn’t faint anywhere along the way.

Meanwhile in Shiraishi’s Apartment, he was woken up by his sister. “Ma~i! Wake up! You’re gonna be late again- Wait… WE’RE GONNA BE LATE AGAIN!” his sister said, panicking.

He opened his eyes slowly, then closed again, and then it opened in shock. “Oh geez! You should’ve woken me up earlier, Sayuri!”

“I have been trying to for the last 45 minutes. I was even thinking of performing an Apocalypto by slitting your throat and sacrificing it to Hatsune Miku!” Sayuri, or Matsumura Sayuri, Shiraishi Mai’s fraternal twin, answered. Their parents had been divorced since Middle School and their parents decided to let them stay together after Middle School because they’re really close to the point where some teachers think they were on the border of being close siblings and incest. However, it was clear between the two that they were just siblings. Sayuri, the younger twin, belongs to the Top 10 students of their section while Shiraishi belonged to top 10 flunkers of the section.

“Oh come on. You love me too much to do that, Sayuri.” he said then dashed to the lavatory, showered for 5 minutes, grabbed some bread in the fridge then went back to his room.

Sayuri, who was already dressed up and ready to go, was still waiting for his brother to get ready. Her uniform, a white blouse with a violet lace, tied into a ribbon under a grey-colored vest, the skirt is the same color as her vest. Shiraishi finally went out of his room. The boy's uniform consists of a Grey Blazer with white lines on the ends, a standard long sleeve shirt, a grey vest matching the color of their blazer, and a pair of grey trousers. Unlike normal students however, he seldom wears his long sleeve shirt and vest, and normally goes to school wearing a white t-shirt inside his blazer.

* * *

Inside the room, the class is further divided into 3 social classes. The Top notchers, the middle rankers, and the flunkers. The Top notchers are composed of their Class Valedictorian, Nakada Kana, the Class Salutatorian, Akimoto Manatsu, the geeky Ito Kai, the idolish Nakamoto Himeka, the extremely silent Suzuki Akira, the oh-so-perfect Hashimoto Naoki, the unfashionable Sasaki Kotoko, the normal-looking Higuchi Hina, the Student Council Vice President Ikuta Eric, and the happy-go-lucky Matsumura Sayuri. They were busy reading books for today’s lecture at the front seats.

The middle-rankers, Takarazuka Club’s Saito Chiharu, the parttime Office lady Shinuchi Mai, Archery club’s Matsui Ren, the overly serious Wakatsuki Yuuki, Softball Captain Eto Misa, the Cheerleader, Ito Nene, the motherly Fukagawa Mai, the perverted Saito Yuuri, the Student Council President Sakurai Reika, Otaku Club’s Ikoma Reito, the loud Nagashima Seiryuu, the wicked tongued Kawago Hiro, Otaku Club’s Nishino Nanase, Otaku Club’s Inoue Sayuri, and the singer of the class, Kawamura Mahiro. This group was concentrated on chatting with their friends and doing their various hobbies, with the exception of Ren because firing arrows inside the classroom is now a serious offense after he inadvertently hit a teacher squarely in the buttocks. That teacher in question was Himura Yuki-sensei, their teacher in Japanese Literature. He has been in the hospital for about a month now. They are positioned at the middle seats.

The Flunkers; Shiraishi Mai, Hori Mio, Ito Marika, Hoshino Minami, Saito Asuka, Yamato Rina, Kitano Hinako, Nojo Ami, Hatanaka Seira, and of course, the Queen of the flunkers, Wada Maaya. This group is busy checking their phones, doodling on the tables, and even sleeping. They are found sitting at the back of the class.

Okada-sensei then went inside the room. He then looked at the students at the front seat and at the students at the back seats. “Okay, everyone! Let’s start the homeroom! I’d like to discuss about the Flunkers’ Tutorial System!” Okada-sensei joyfully announced. This earned a unanimous sigh from the Flunkers. “Now, now… It’s not the usual Tutorial class wherein you’re all being taught by a Cram School teacher at the same time. I know you got sick of Osamu-sensei’s lectures, Wada-kun!” he added.

“Good! Now who’s going to be the tutor?” Wada asked.

“Good question, Wada-kun! You’re all going to be taught by the Top notchers of the section! Clap your hands, everyone!” Okada-sensei happily replied. There was an uncomfortable amount of silence in the whole class room. “Now, pair yourselves up!” Okada said then watched what happened.

Wada immediately went to Nakada, Nojo begged Hashimoto Naoki in dogeza form. As Maiyan was going to his sister, Sayurin was immediately hugged by the innocent Hoshino MInami from the back. Sayurin then pinched her cheeks and yelled, “Of course I’d be your tutor, you cute lil’ thing!” Hatanaka went to Higuchi Hina and begged for her help. Ito Kai approached his friend Hori. Kitano approached Suzuki in his seat and asked him to be his tutor. Suzuki replied with a nod. Ito Marika obviously paired up with Nakamoto Himeka. Yamato approached Ikuta, who was more than happy to help her. Sasaki, trying to find the last female who hasn’t found a partner yet, ended up with Saito Asuka. Thinking that the whole flunkers had paired up with the members of the Top notchers, told them to write their names on the list. After the pairs had signed in. Okada counted the list. “Hey! This is only 9! I’m missing a pair-“ he then saw that Shiraishi and Akimoto hadn’t paired up with anyone. “Harvard-kun, you wouldn’t mind pairing up with Shiraishi-kun, right?”

Akimoto, also known as Harvard, who was calculating the angle of the her next physics experiment from her laptop, looked at Okada-sensei, nodded, then went back to what she was doing.

“Well then! Please start your tutorials today, students!” Okada then ended the homeroom and started his class, Trigonometry. The Classes went on smoothly.

* * *

The classes had already ended. Hashimoto went to the Student Council for their weekly meetings. The moment he entered, he saw Nanamaru sobbing. He went to her side and asked her what happened.

She then showed her left hand’s index finger. “I accidentally stapled myself, Hashimoto-kun.” Nishino answered, gently wiping the tears from her right eye. Hashimoto then checked his pockets for a bandaid he had been saving for baseball practice. “Nishino-san, please endure this for a bit.” He then removed the staple and placed the bandaid over the wound. He then patted her head. “There, there.” Unlike the usual frown he shows everyone, a gentle smile could be seen on his face.

Nishino then beamed at him. “Thank you, Hashimoto-kun.” She then remembered something. "By the way, you’re not teaching Nojo-san today?” She asked.

Hashimoto then checked the books for something he could read. “She told me she had plans today so I’m attending the meeting.” He then sat down on the chair near him.

Ikuta then entered the room. He just looked at the two then did his signature move, the Ikutarian wave. “Ikuta~ria-“ Hashimoto then threw the book at him which hit his head. “Oww! Hashimoto-kun, I was just kidding!” he answered while touching the lump on his head. This made Nishino chuckle.

“Is Wakatsuki not attending today? What about Sakurai-san? What about Harvard?” asked Ikuta.

Wakatsuki then entered the room with Reika. Hashimoto then replied, “Two down, one to go.”

“Let’s start the meeting, guys. Harvard said she’ll be teaching her dunce today.” Reika said then sat on her usual seat in the room. The table was rectangular, Reika taking the center-most seat due to her status as the President. On her right, was Ikuta's, Nishino's, and Hashimoto’s seats. On her left, was Wakatsuki's and Akimoto’s seats. The meeting commenced without problems. Meanwhile, at the library, Shiraishi was walking to a vacant seat when he saw his tutor carrying mountains of studying materials. He sighed and then grabbed more than half of what Akimoto was carrying. “If you need help, don’t be silent. We wouldn’t know you’re suffering if you just keep quiet, y’know?” He said as he continued walking.

“According to Statistics, 80% wouldn’t help anyway so I wouldn’t bother to try doing that…” Akimoto muttered. Akimoto Manatsu is the Class Salutatorian of their batch. She excels highly in branch of Mathematics. It is said that the school is planning to send her to Harvard and would back up most of her expenses if she passes the Entrance Examinations. Hence, she is most commonly known as Harvard in the whole school.

“Did you say something?”

“…”

“I’ll take that as a no.”

They then laid the books on the nearby table.

“So I’ll introduce myself just for formality. I’m Shiraishi Ma-“ before he could finish his sentence, Akimoto butted in with a monotonous voice.

“Shiraishi Mai. 17 years old. Birthdate: August 20. Belongs to Baseball Club as its Ace Pitcher. Has a crush on-“ Shiraishi butted in before she could finish saying her data.

“STOP! STOP! STOP! STOOOOOP!”

The librarian then looked at them.

“You didn’t have to shout. Sit down. My name is Akimoto Manatsu. Let’s finish this quickly.” Akimoto then opened the closest book to her.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you too!” Shiraishi replied.

“So where are you most vulnerable in the subjects?”

“Erm… I wouldn’t say I’m vulnerable at any subject. I just commit the tiniest of mistakes.”

“I’ve checked your papers. Grades like those aren’t caused by such petty mistakes, to be frank.”

Shiraishi’s face was then filled with rage.

“Just to tell you, a Closed Circuit Television Camera is recording us right now and its operators might be judging you right now. So don’t even attempt on hitting me.” Akimoto added.

Shiraishi’s gritting teeth then turned to a smile. He then lazily offered his right hand in front of her. “Anyway, let’s have a good time in this tutorial thing. Nice to meet you again.” He said, flashing his 100-kilowatt smile that will sure capture the hearts of the ladies everywhere.

Akimoto just looked at him and then looked back at his test results. "I suggest we start at Mathematics. 1/100 sounds like a lot of work.” She said then handed him some handouts. “Try studying these for a day.”

Shiraishi removed his hand in disappointment then took a look on the handouts. But it’s not just some handouts. It was a 400 page handout. “ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME!? I CANNOT LEARN THIS IN A DAY!”

The librarian then looked at them again.

Akimoto then sighed and picked up the study materials. “Let’s go to my house instead. Your preposterous bickering is not allowed in the library and you might even end up dragging me to being banned inside this area.”

Akimoto who was trying to carry all the materials was stopped by Shiraishi. Shiraishi carried all of her things until they arrived in their house.

At the doorway, Shiraishi’s eyes wandered and investigated the area. “You live alone?” He asked.

“That’s none of your business. Stay in the living room. Don’t ever venture to the second floor.” Manatsu answered then opened the door.

Shiraishi frowned in irritation. ‘Why must she become my tutor? I mean she’s smart but her tongue is so judgemental. I would’ve become friends with her if she wasn’t so arrogant.’ He then entered the house. He then put down the studying materials on the table in Akimoto’s living room. Her house was quite modern. The second floor’s veranda on the rightmost part and the doors to the rooms in the second floor are all visible in the ground floor’s living room. One door had a pink-colored plate with the words “Manatsu’s bedroom” and the other door had the word “Library”. The door on the leftmost side’s door had the word “Closet” on it. There was another room without a Nameplate on it but it was a soundproof room judging from the exterior. Shiraishi started wondering if the girl was rich enough to have tons of clothes but he dismissed the idea because her house was too small for his standards.

Akimoto went upstairs to get her Math books. She then went out of her library with another mountain of books. Shiraishi’s jaw dropped because he hasn’t seen somebody reading those books. Let alone touch them. He saw a 5-inch thick Geometry book, a 6-inch thick Pre-Calculus and Calculus book. It’s as if his language wasn’t even his tutor’s language. He then looked at his frail-looking tutor who was trying her best not to drop a book.

“Whoa! Whoa! Lemme help you with those! You could’ve just told me!” He ran to the stairs but was stopped by Manatsu’s annoyed voice.

“Stay there! I told you not to go to the second floor! I can bring all of-“ The 5-inch Geometry book dropped on her toe, making her drop all her books.

Shiraishi just glared at the now embarrassed Akimoto. “I told you to just ask me for help. You didn’t. Do you now need help?” Shiraishi said as Akimoto was trying to arrange the books.

“I don’t need your help.” Akimoto then brought down the books one after another, avoiding eye contact with Shiraishi.

Shiraishi hissed then went back to the living room. Their tutorial then started but later escalated into a heated argument.

“I thought Geometry was all about measurements! Why the bloody hell do we have algebra mixed in here!?” Shiraishi, enraged, slammed his hands on the table then gritted his teeth in front of Akimoto.

Akimoto sighed, looked down on floor. “I’ll get my whiteboard. Just wait here.” She then stood up, went to the her bedroom in the second floor and then carried out a small whiteboard. She returned to the living room then put down the whiteboard on the chair in front of Shiraishi. Akimoto explained as thoroughly as she could the solution for the problems in Shiraishi’s test paper and gave him the important Formulas to jot down as well. After nearly 2 hours of lecture, Shiraishi yawned in exhaustion.

“I never knew these were so easy! You’re a genius, Akimoto!” Shiraishi held both of her hands in delight.

Akimoto coughed then nonchalantly removed her hands from Shiraishi’s.

“Well, enough of the Academic Subjects. Say… Do you have someone you like?” Grinning widely, Shiraishi looked excitedly at Akimoto who was fixing her glasses.

“Why would I tell you that?” Akimoto answered him with another question. Shiraishi hissed. “Oh come on! I know you wouldn’t do this bloody things for free! Just tell me who and I’ll push you guys to each other!” Shiraishi smiled at Akimoto who was starting to blush a little.

“Y-you don’t need to know. I know he wouldn’t notice me anyway…” “Is it Ikuta? Suzuki? Matsui? Wakatsuki? Ikoma? Nagashima? Hori?” Seeing no reaction from her, he then muttered silently without breaking eye contact. “Hashimoto?”

She blushed as red as a tomato.

“I knew it! You’re another one of the Hashimoto Fags in the school!” Shiraishi snickered. “So what did you like about him? His perfection? Or his arrogance?” He added.

“That’s not nice... He might look arrogant but he’s secretly kind and nice to people. I think he might just be shy to show his kindness but… That’s what I like more about him. I wanted him to see me at least once though…” She answered. “Not nice? Up until now, you weren’t being nice to me, stubborn couch potato.” Shiraishi preached. He then grabbed both of her hands which confused Akimoto. “Don’t worry. I’ll make sure he notices you. Oh, I know! Start by cooking him food tomorrow!” Shiraishi added then grinned widely.

“Why would he eat it?” Akimoto asked then pouted.

“Trust me. He’ll have no choice but to EAT it.” Shiraishi answered again with his 100-kilowatt grin.

Somehow, behind Shiraishi’s 100-kilowatt smile, Akimoto could see a really dark aura. But she dismissed it and then asked him back. “S-since you know who I have a crush on now… What’re you going to do about your Crush? She might be a little hard for you to reach though."

“Oh yeah, you did mention earlier in the library that you know who my Crush is. Say, who do you think she is?” Shiraishi’s excitement just rose from one level to another.

“Yeah, Eto Misa.” Akimoto answered without blinking.

“EHH!? How did you know!?” Shiraishi asked, shyly blushing.

"It was obvious to be very honest. It’s like… Everybody in the Student Council knows.” While saying these words, she remembered a certain Airhead in the Student Council. “Or do they?” She continued.

“EHH!? Hashimoto and Ikuta knew!? Even Sakurai and Wakatsuki!?” Shiraishi, still in a shocked state, asked.

“Yes. Student Council has an underground network of Students who gather information for them. One of us however, is pure enough not to check the affairs of other students. Well, I don’t really think she cares enough. Or maybe she just doesn’t know how to use it.” She answered while thinking of Nishino Nanase, the airhead of the Student Council.

“I don’t really care about the Student Council’s affairs but… How much do you actually know? How did you come to that conclusion that she’s a little hard for me to reach?” Shiraishi asked curiously.

“We don’t just ‘know’. We have had photographs and other evidences to support our claims. That’s why nobody has enough guts to stand up to the Student Council. Anyway, based on the information we have about her, she’s really hard to reach for people like you.”

“For real?”

She nodded.

“Even if we studied in the same Middle School?”

She nodded again.

“Even if we meet in the Coach’s office to discuss strategies a lot?"

She sighed and nodded once more.

“And why is that?”

“You’ll find out. In due course.” She then started cleaning up the studying materials. “Now go home. Tomorrow we’ll be tackling Social Studies. 4/100 is a bit funny for rich people like you.”

“Sheesh. Smartypants.”

“Mai-HiME.”

“Shut up. It wasn’t my fault that I was named like this. They were expecting a girl, not a boy.” He then grabbed his bag then walked towards the doorway with Akimoto. “By the way…”

Akimoto looked at him tiredly.

“You may call me Maiyan if you want.”

“Sure. Call me Ha-“

“I’ll just call you Hazard like everyone calls you.” Shiraishi replied with a smile then walked out of her house.

“It’s Harvard, idiot.” She silently answered then closed the door.

つづく

[rieshon]

Fall 2017 Preview

Another season, another... season.

1 Houseki no Kuni: This might be one that looks silly in three months but it's definitely the show I'm most excited for right now. 3D anime has been nothing but good to me for the past few years and has proven to me that both cute girls and the spirit of Japanese anime can be preserved in 3D. This one has got an out-there concept and aesthetic and I can't wait to see what they do with it. Add to that the best voice cast of the season and you've got yourself a hype.

2 Blend S: This is going to be amazing. Just look at what it says under the title in the logo. [x]SADISTIC [x]TSUNDERE [x]IMOUTO [x]ONEESAN [x]IDOL. It's got all the ingredients: adorable character design, a blondenblu, and a cafe theme which automatically makes me think it's better because of subconscious influence from Gochiusa. It can't miss!

3 Konohana Kitan: Cute shrine shenanigans! Blend S is my pick for cute girls doing cute things this season but this show doesn't look like it's going to lag very far behind. The director is the guy responsible for a couple of criminally underrated classics: Ebiten and Nagasarete Airantou.

4 Shoujo Shuumatsu Ryokou: This looks like it could be what I really wanted out of Made in Abyss: cute girls having slow adventures at the end of the world. The ever-masterful Fudeyasu Kazuyuki is penning the adaptation, so it's got everything going for it. A definite AOTS contender.

5 Mahoutsukai no Yome: This looks like one of the most... serious? shows of next season? I'm not really sure how to put it. It actually looks like it has an interesting plot and setting and stuff? Anime has broken my brain's ability to think about fiction outside of the frame of cute girls. Girls do look cute though!

6 Kino no Tabi: Kino is one of those things I've always heard about being really good but never had anything to do with. Never saw the old anime (it was already old when I started watching anime in 2004) or read any of the novel, but by all accounts it's one of the best LNs out there. Kuroboshi Kouhaku's stock couldn't be higher right now, so it's as good a time as any to do a new adaptation of it. Ao-chan and Ayaneru is a power duo in the cast department so I have high hopes for this one.

7 Imouto Sae Ireba Ii: I recently read the first volume of the LN this is based on, and honestly, I thought it was kind of bad. But if there's one thought I had while reading it, it was "this should really be an anime and not a book." There's literally no plot to speak of, it's just sequential vignettes of characters doing random things like playing a tabletop RPG or going to Okinawa because reasons. That makes for a shitty novel, but sounds like it'll be right up my alley for an anime. Plus Oonuma Shin is directing, and you know he's one of my all-time favorites.

8 Boku no Kanojo ga Majimesugiru Shobicchi na Ken: Now this, lads, is anime. It's an anime about dirty jokes starring Yuuki Aoi, how can it NOT be good?

9 Himouto! Umaru-chan R: I keep forgetting this is coming next season entirely. Umaru is one of those shows that firmly occupies a distinct "second tier" of cute girl doing cute thing shows. Not bad by any stretch of the imagination, and I have fond memories of the first season, but just lacking that je nais sais quoi that your Gochiusas and Hidamaris have. Looking forward to more Kirie-chan, who is best girl.

10 Two Car: When I see the title of this show (it's つうかあ in Japanese) I just hear the train driver from Densha de Go announcing that he's passing through a station. Everyone thinks of the same thing when you mention an all-girl sports anime based on an obscure or fictionalized concept; I don't think I even need to mention it by name. That's right, but I don't think this will be nearly as lewd as Keijo! No but in all seriousness, it's gonna be Garupan but with sidecars. I just wish the girls wore lewd outfits or something instead of race suits. What can I say, I am simple man.

11 Kujira no Ko-ra wa Sunajou ni Utau: Looks fantasy as fuck. Ishiguro Kyouhei is directing his first anime since the best show of last year, Occultic;Nine, and the usually capable Yokote Michiko is on the script (although I haven't actually liked anything she's written since uh, I guess Sekkou Boys would be the last one...) Still, this kind of artsy-fartsy show looks like a good followup to O;9 for Ishiguro so I'm interested in how it turns out.

12 Dies irae: Everyone says the game this is based on is a masterpiece, or whatever, but all anyone is going to talk about with this show is it's that one crowdfunded show. If it turns out to be bad everyone is going to feel real stupid. The character designs look pretty ugly to my taste, although Nabatame Hitomi's character is pretty cute. Man, when was the last time Naba-nee played a major heroine?

13 Ousama Game The Animation: Ah yes the Osama Game. Death game stories are always way too far up their own ass; I think the only good one I've seen was Akuma no Riddle and that was solely good because the entire cast was cute girls. There's some pretty cute girls in this one too but it looks like most of the main cast is dudes. Nice to see Pine Jam continue to raise their profile though.

14 URAHARA: The joshiryoku is takai with this one. The art looks aesthetic but the PV makes it look kind of cheap and doesn't inspire confidence. I'm not sure if Takahashi Natsuko has ever written an original anime of note so it's up in the air how this one turns out.

15 Wake Up, Girls! Shinshou: Ah WUG, or as it's known in the business, Yamakan's Folly. Funnily enough, Yamakan isn't even bothering to direct this one and I'm really interested to see if that's a good or a bad thing. WUG is definitely at the bottom of the tier ranking for idol anime but it's kind of taken on a life of its own, with the 3D version of the Wake Up Girls being pretty successful. The first anime was just okay; it'll be cool if they could pull an actually good one out of their hats.

16 Lovelive! Sunshine!!: Why do I continue to subject myself to aidorus. The first season of Sunshine was garbo and I hated it for just being the exact same thing as the original but worse. And yet I'm going to happily watch the second season because it's gonna have more Yohane in it, and Yohane is love, Yohane is life.

17 Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru -Washio Sumi no Shou-/-Yuusha no Shou-: Yuyuyu may have left a sour taste in a lot of mouths with the way it ended, but it was a complete story that actually, you know, ended. I'm really not sure we actually need more stories in this world, much less a prequel. We all already know what the twists are now so I'm not sure how they'll make it compelling. The second part of this weird production actually is a sequel but I think I want that even less than I do a prequel. Just leave the memories alone! At least it's got Hanabee.

18 Netojuu no Susume: Dork romance. Almost certainly a short, but Fudeyasu is writing it so it'll surely be good for a laugh.

19 UQ HOLDER! Mahou Sensei Negima 2: HIKARU KAZE WO OIKOSHITARA NANI GA MATTEIRU NO KANA AMEFURI DEMO HEIKI NIJI NI NARU YOOOO KARAFURU HAPPY MATERIARU GO!! KIMI NI KITTO AERU NE CHIISANA YUUKI WO SAKASEYOUUUUUUUUUU

20 Omiai Aite wa Oshiego, Tsuyoki na, Mondaiji: This is clearly shoujo bait but I'm a total sucker for cute teacher chan-nees and this one looks cute as hell. It's the first show that airs in the season so I'll probably end up checking it out just because of that, but I don't expect to finish it. It's probbaly going to end up being a weird abusive relationship because shoujo.

21 Shokugeki no Souma San no Sara: Unfortunately I won't be watching this since Tane-chan's role was recast. Nothing against Rierie but da Tane was literally half the reason I even watched this series (the other half being Alice who never gets enough screentime anyway).

[stillinaincrad]

Day 6

A slice of life anime

Slice of Life is kind of new territory for me in a way. Suzuka was the first non-magic/mecha/blood ‘n guts/sci-fi anime that I had ever really liked, and that was not quite 2yrs ago. I watched it on a complete whim, and it really took me in because the conflicts and the situations were very… well, human. Like, they could actually happen. It wasn’t that I had never seen that in anime before, it’s just that it almost always bored the hell out me before and I went out of my way to avoid those titles. But, that one really opened my eyes to the idea of your run-of-the-mill high school dramas that didn’t involve soul reapers or space folds or aliens or whatnot. And now I have quite a few titles about just normal people that I really like.

K-On! would probably be my favorite, just because it’s always so fun, and I still like Suzuka - though after watching it through a second time, I got nowhere near the same feels as when it was new to me, but the one I always remember is Isshuukan Friends (One Week Friends). Let’s go ahead and say that the science is a little off, and it’s odd that the memory lapse takes place at the exact same time every week, but aside from that? Pretty much everything else is totally feasible. I mean, they’re kids, so of course they’re going to say things they don’t really mean, they’re going to sit on their feelings, and they’re not going to know exactly what to do and when to do it. So many of these SoL titles are either just pure goofball fun, or they’re so afternoon soap opera that they’re plain annoying. Golden Time is a very similar premise, but just look at the ending - it’s so Disney meets Judd Apatow that it pisses me off, it was way too far of a stretch for me to even remotely believe. I’m not saying that One Week Friends isn’t yet another full-circle, highly predictable, archetype show with relatively rounded teeth, because it totally is.

But with Yuuki and Kaori, they feel like everyday, unremarkable school kids to me. There was no fanservice to speak of, if I remember correctly - even when the staple and seemingly necessary ‘beach episode’ happened, it happened like it would to actual, real teenagers and not genetically engineered size 0s with basketball-sized breasts falling out of skimpy, laced bikinis that they were all wearing but somehow embarrassed to be seen in. They were just good kids, nothing special or amazing, just people. The teachers were not particular friends or even that memorable at all, they were just teachers. I remember worrying as it was winding up for the ending that it was going to be so over the top with Shougo and Saki ending up as star-crossed lovers at the end, second only to the greatest love story ever told by anyone who ever lived in the history of ever that was these two, but it didn’t. It ended very much so like a normal high schooler’s story would - very awkwardly lol Like seriously, how is it that after all of that, neither of them had the guts to sack up and confess to the other, or even manage a kiss? Well, that was the high school I remember, not the happily ever afters with peppy music overlays as the credits roll, so I always liked it. And, with all the anything-but-normal endings to so many SoL anime out there, this is the one I always think of when I hear “slice of life”, because it could easily be a slice of someone’s actual life in real life.

[korakhanfanfics-blog]

Lost Love. Chapter One

Trigger warning : Mentions and graphic descriptions on self harm in later chapters.  This is also posted on wattpad and asianfanfics by Kora_Khan

It was the first day back after the accident, it happened so fast and she didn't know what had happened or what was going on, how could she? She was only 16. Her parents had been on their way to pick her up from her grandmother’s house after winter break, she had spent the last leg of her free time up at the cottage that her grandmother had bought a few winters ago. It was a beautiful cottage, like one you would see in movies. When the phone rang she expected it to be her parents, so she happily answered before dropping the phone and bursting out in tears just moments later. “I'm sorry miss but there has been an accident, no survivors were found. This was the only number that had an emergency connection. We are sorry for your loss.”

She had her grandmother take her to the hospital back in seoul that night, meeting up with some detectives as soon as they had arrived. They told her that a drunk driver had hit her parents while they were turning onto the highway, the crash had sent their car flying into oncoming traffic, where a semi truck had t-boned them.

For months after the accident Jieun suffered from severe nightmares, she started eating less, keeping to herself, even away from her friends. She didn't go to school that semester, only staying at home. Mourning the loss of her parents. Every morning she would wake up extra early to go check the mail, finding gifts on her doorstep as a ‘sorry for your loss’ from people she knew. Her parents death had been all over the news, the suspect that they believe had caused their deaths had not yet been caught.

No one knew what had gone on inside of their car before the crash, or why they hadn’t seen the car swerving on the highway before they began to merge onto the first lane of traffic. Only they would be able to tell what happened, no evidence was found inside that showed that they were anyway under the influence of anything. It's like they drove into the car on purpose. After spring break Jieun was forced to go back to school, her grandmother even bought her new uniform and drove her to school. Jieun didn't want to leave home, didn't want to be at school and didn't want to see her friends. Her life had been a living hell since the day of the accident, her sleep was plagued with nightmares, she woke up with bruises on her body from tossing and turning. Her throat was always sore from screaming in her sleep, crying for her mom and dad to come back. She knew they wouldn’t hear here, they were long gone by now.

 “Jieun sweetie you have to get out now.” She didn't hear her, she didn't want to hear her. She just wanted to stay in the car. She could see the people from her school looking at their car, she ducked her head and pulled the hood over her head as she sighed heavily. “Okay..” She mumbled as she looked at her grandmother and reached into the backseat to get her bag. “Don't forget to talk to the principle about make up work Jieun.” Her grandmother reminded her as she got out of the car. Jieun waved at her grandmother slightly as she turned to look up at the school, biting her lip as she tugged at her sleeves, her heart pounding as she made her way into the building, ignoring the whispers that were directed at her. She knew that people talked about her, she had skipped an entire semester. Who wouldn’t talk about that. She stopped when someone bumped into her and she bowed a bit. “I-I'm so sorry.” She said and then looked up and froze “ Y-Yuuki…” She said and looked at the girl infront of her with wide eyes. Yuuki stared at Jieun with worried eyes and held onto her shoulders. “Jieun where the hell have you been? Everyone thought you had moved away because of-” She cut herself off and bit her lip. “Are you okay?” She asked, genuine worry laced in her voice. “You dissapeared right after winter break and when we heard the news we thought you..” “Killed myself?” Jieun asked softly and looked at Yuuki with dull eyes.”If you know knew.” She mumbled as she rubbed Yuuki’s arm. “I don't want to talk about it right now Yuuki, i don't ever want to talk about it.” She said softly and sighed heavily when Yuuki nodded and let go of her. She gave her friend a weak smile as she walked away towards the principal's office. She sighed as she tugged down her sleeves once more before knocking on the door, waiting for the secretary to let her in. “Come in!” She slipped into the office and looked at the secretary. “Hello miss kim.. I'm here to pick up my makeup work.” She said softly, not noticing the male that was in the room. She pulled her sleeve up slightly and scratched at the scars on her wrists, they were getting itchy again and she couldn’t stand it when they got as itchy as they were. It meant that the urges were coming back. She had to force them down as much as she could now that she was forced to go back to school. She bowed slightly and took the box from Miss Kim and then smiled slightly as she turned to look around and froze when she finally noticed the male sitting on the couch just behind her. She gulped slightly and hung her head as she adjusted the box in her grip. “May i use the empty classroom to work on my stuff? I can do this semester’s work during the summer if that would be alright.” She said meekly and then let out a small sigh of relief as she scurried out of the room and headed towards the second floor were the empty classrooms were.

The male looked away from the door once the girl had left, turning his head back to the woman behind the desk. “Was that her mom?” He asked her curiously and she nodded. “So she’s the one.. Are you ever going to tell her?” He asked and stretched his hands above his head, his joints popping as he sighed. His mother knew exactly what he was talking about, over winter break they had lost a family member as well, his father had left in a fit of rage after getting into a verbal and physical fight with his mother, he had gone to the nearest bar and got drunk off his ass.

 His father wasn’t dead, he was just missing, they hadn’t seen him since that night, they knew what he had done. They knew that he knew what he had done. With the threat to turn him him they made him stay away, his mother had issued a warrant for his arrest and filed divorce papers on him. Their life wasn’t too great from the time he was born up until that day. His father being an alcoholic and his mother being the brunt end of the man’s abuse. “I can't Yug, you know it would devastate her even more.” She said softly and then sighed as she ran her fingers through her hair. “I want you to keep an eye on her this school year alright? Make sure she doesn't get into any trouble.” She told Yugyeom and then pulled a file out of her desk and placed it onto her desk. “This is everything we have on record for her. I know you have a busy year this year but i need your help. She isnt like she used to be, last year she was the life of this academy.” She said softly and then gave her son a pleading look.

 Yugyeom nodded and sighed as he stood up and took the file off his mom’s desk and went back to sit down on the couch. He flipped through the file and hummed softly. “Yoo Jieun. Age 16, she’s 4’9? Wow she’s short, why didn’t I realise that?” He asked and then laughed slightly before his face fell once he got to her medical record. “Oh god.. Mom you're making me look after a basket case?” He asked as he ran his fingers through his hair gently. “Alright, just give me a while before i start on this, i really hate it when you give me these kinds of projects. He said as he got up and put the file back on his mother's desk.

 He sighed as his mother nodded, leaving the room so he could head out of the building to get some air. He was going to need to mentally and possibly physically prepare himself for looking after Jieun. He sighed as he pulled his phone out and sent a text to one of his friends on the dance team, telling him to meet him out back.

 “I really hate when she does this to me.. I'm not a fucking charity worker. He grunted out as he pushed open the door to the back of the school. He sighed as he pulled his bag off his shoulder and dug around in it, glancing up at the closed windows as he slipped around to the covered hallway and pulled out a pack of cigarettes.

 “Yo Gyeom!” Yugyeom almost jumped out of his skin as a hand clapped down on his back, he turned and instantly slapped the tan male on his arm. “Jongin you asshole don't fucking scare me!” He hissed as he pulled a cigarette out and patted around on Jongin’s pockets. “Where's your lighter?” he asked as he looked at the elder.

 Jongin rolled his eyes as he pulled his lighter out of his back pocket. “Here Gyeom. What’s got you so stressed that you’re actually smoking at school?” He asked as he waited for Yugyeom to take a hit from the cigarette before he snatched it from the younger and took a drag off it with a hum. “My mom stuck me with another charity case.” Jongin choked on the smoke as he was inhaling it and then started to cough, keeling over to hold his knees. “W-What do you mean another charity case? She’s doing it to you again? I thought we got past that whole having you fix other people to fix yourself phase.” He said and then hit his chest a few times to regain control of his breathing. Yugyeom nodded and laughed as he took the cigarette back and flicked the ash off it. “Yeah, that girl that lost her parents a while back, my mom wants me to look after her, i read her file. Don't tell anyone that i told you this but.. After her parents died she was found in her bedroom almost bled out.” Jongin stared wide eyed at Yugyeom at the gossip that he was being told and his jaw dropped. He knew Jieun personally, they had drifted apart after her parents had passed, he knew her as a spunk, rainbow of a child, he never thought that he would ever hear that she had tried to kill herself. “Wow…” He muttered and looked down at the ground. “Last year she was like, a fresh breath of air, you wouldn’t know that since you just moved here at the end of that year but.. She was really crazy, we made out once at a party.” He said and then watched as Yugyeom face turned sour. “So she had a drastic change? Shit.. This is going to be worse than I thought..”