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dinosaurtsukki · 4 years ago

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haikyuu!! music idol au (nekoma and fukurodani vers.)

i haven’t actually posted some hc’s in a while because i’ve been reading the manga but i hope you guys enjoy this surprise !! also check out the karasuno vers. and seijoh and shiratorizawa vers. for more music idol au’s

TOKYO IDOLS ENTERTAINMENT

(this may or may not be the last of this series, maybe I’ll make one for inarizaki and date tech who knows?)

Also I hope y’all are ready for me Badly Titling Things Again

Okay so they’re both under Tokyo Idols Entertainment

Hah that wasn’t so bad was it just wait for it

Stray Cats and OWL6

This blogger’s brain cells are so fried that they’ve now resorted to puns

sO THEY’RE BOTH UNDER TOKYO IDOLS AND THEY’RE REALLY AMAZING GROUPS AND THEIR TALENT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE SHITTY GROUP NAMES

anyway so it was set up by Nekomata and they’ve been pretty good at producing groups over the years but their biggest hits have been their two recent groups

both of them actually started at the same time but they work with quite different concepts and have different dynamics

but they tend to collab and interact with each other a lot which the fans love

so lets get into the groups

Stray Cats - Nekoma

their leader is Kuroo ofc and they work with a lot of bad boy/edgy concepts and their music is more on the hip-hop and R&B side

a lot of their music videos and outfits are in the black-and-white with pops of red, blue, and yellow

you think the fans would get tired of seeing them in matching suits and leather jackets but no

anyway, Kuroo’s they’re leader who’s also main rapper, dancer, and visuals

he actually started out as a vocalist but since Stray Cats was going to be more of a hip-hop group he eventually picked up rapping (although those who have Deeply Analyzed the backing vocals for some of their tracks claim that Kuroo’s vocals will save the world)

his dancing looks super fluid and natural because he also tried ballet dancing at one point

sometimes he films himself practicing and shows off by wearing stilettos and not once tripping over himself

kai and yaku were his fellow trainees and just like in the manga, kuroo and yaku did not get along and kai had to be there to make sure no one died

kuroo and yaku were quite competitive with their dancing but eventually they realized that the fans loved their dynamic during their dances and worked together for once

their choreos almost always involve someone carrying yaku on their shoulders

he’s also another main rapper and he’s really good at a variety of styles

he’s also the mom of the group and likes to check on everyone before going live

the one who trains the more inexperienced members with their choreography and while he’s very much a perfectionist, he’s also the one who reassures them when they make a mistake on a live stage

kai is actually the genius behind most of their songs because his producer skills are mad crazy he’s been invited to collab with so many other artists (including the wonderful Kiyoko-san)

kuroo and yaku have no idea what goes on in his head but it’s probably music

they always make sure that kai gets enough sleep and is eating right when he’s working on an album

his dancing is pretty solid but he’s more well-known for being a main rapper and his smooth, sultry voice during the chorus that gives everyone eargasms

next we have kenma who’s one of the few main vocalists of the group

his voice is a nice tenor and he can hit a good amount of the high notes

can harmonize like it’s nobody’s business

he and kuroo had been friends since they were practically born and while kuroo dreamed of becoming a music idol onstage, kenma was more interested in songwriting and producing music

he joined Tokyo Idols for the opportunity to be a producer but Nekomata was like ‘why not be an idol?’ and kenma was like ‘no, I’ll have to dance’

he was then persuaded by kuroo and kenma decided to do some vocal training to make up for not wanting to move around so much

so, most of the time, he’s in the back and during his turn in the chorus he’ll make a bit of an appearance

he has done a few live solo performances but he’s playing the piano in them so he doesn’t have to look at the audience so much

he loves working with kai in the studio more than anything

doesn’t have a social media account because he doesn’t want to see how the fans talk about him (they mostly say good stuff though!)

now we have taketora who’s the main rapper of the group as well

this guy is an expert beatboxer and he does a very good job of hyping up the crowd

his rap is the kind that even fires up his teammates and they always let him know that he did a good job after every performance

he actually has a good amount of tattoos on his arms and he used to cover them with long-sleeves but the fans love them arms and the tattoos even more so

#MakeTaketoraSleeveless movement on Twitter thus begins

Taketora was super flattered but okay with it

Fukunaga is another main vocalist and he has a very deep voice that blends really well with his fellow vocalists

His voice doesn’t stand out that much and he doesn’t have a lot of solos but Stray Cats’ specialty is really blending their vocals (aside from their rappers and dancers)

And you can also definitely notice a difference when Fukunaga isn’t singing a part

He’s also the kind of dancer who does a lot of cartwheel and flip-like stunts that come in during the dance breaks

Has this habit of staring blankly in the distance during group interviews and fans make memes using his face

He also likes messing with his senpai’s but they all blame lev and don’t suspect a thing with Fukunaga (well, that’s until he posts the video)

Lastly, we have lev who is the youngest among all of them and also main vocalist and visuals

He has a nice baritone voice and he does most of the singing in the chorus but tends to get a bit lost when Fukunaga and Kenma come in

A lot of his time is spent practicing how to not get lost when people are harmonizing with him, especially since that’s what Stray Cat’s known for

He actually came in a bit late, like after the group had its first debut since they felt like they needed another vocalist

Lev also has a natural talent when it comes to dancing so Nekomata added him to the group

It was a bit difficult integrating him into the group but he also added onto the overall chemistry as the baby of the group

As much as they know he makes mistakes, his senpais always congratulate Lev on how far he’s come

No one wants to admit that he gets handsomer by the day because it will add to his ego but the fans do enough of that

OWL6 - fukurodani

They only have four members (because idk a lot about all the members and I also wanted to have like a four-person group)

JUST BECAUSE THERE’S A NUMBER 6 IN THE NAME OF THE GROUP DOESN’T MEAN THAT’S HOW MANY MEMBERS THERE ARE *glares at SEVENTEEN* *also I ended up looking up how many members there are in Day6 and now I feel bad I’m sorry day6 fans*

aNYWAY

They’re a very small group since Tokyo Idol wanted to try out having a four-person group

They don’t really have a singular kind of aesthetic or style like Stray Cats does but work with a variety of them

They do a good number of lively pop songs as well as ballads for the b-side tracks

They’re also made up of four vocalists, two of which also know how to rap, and are overall pretty solid

Bokuto’s their leader (even though its mostly Akaashi who holds the group together) but he speaks a lot for the group during interviews

He’s main vocalist, main dancer, and also main visual

His stage presence is astounding especially with his natural talent for dancing and his stamina is endless

He can sing really well even busting out the hardest dance moves

Although he’s unquestionably talented, he does get hit hard by online haters and will shut himself in the dance studio to practice until everyone drags him out

He’s super endearing and sweet around his fans, he’ll remember a fan that he saw more than once and send letters in response to fanmail

Bokuto’s known for being super clumsy though and he has destroyed a mic or his clothes or someone else’s clothes more than once

Once tripped on the way when OWL6 was about to receive an award

Sarukui is another main vocalist and rapper

His voice is quite deep but it sounds really melodic and unique that anyone could tell when he’s singing

Also knows a thing or two about music production and has helped produce a few of their tracks

He’s the one assigned to saying ‘That’s our leader!’ to Bokuto when he’s feeling down

Also responsible for the ‘Bokuto and Akaashi are dating’ prank on Twitter that became a whole thing

A shitposter, basically

Konoha Akinori is once again our jack of all trades, especially since he’s rapper, dancer, vocalist, and visuals

I would say that his back hurts from carrying OWL6 but each member knows how to hold their own

His back just hurts from curling up like a shrimp when he’s asleep

He gets a lot of lines because of this and fans love it when he leads the dance breaks, that being said he’s also tired all the time

Konoha has fallen asleep in interviews more than once and Sarukui takes the pictures of him

Because of his jack of all trades nature he also has a lot of weird, random talents that he likes to showcase in variety shows

These weird talents range from being able to name all of the countries in Europe backwards to being able to make a slingshot using his feet and a rubber band

It’s always something new with him

Everyone cheers him on except for Akaashi who’s soul has left his body

And last but definitely not the least, we have the youngest in the group, Akaashi, who’s also main vocals and visual

Everyone in OWL6 agree that Akaashi is the prettiest among them

He also has such a sweet and beautiful voice that gives everyone eargasms

Sometimes everyone has to stop dancing during practice whenever they hear Akaashi sing

He also does a lot of vocal covers that he posts online and has released a few solo albums since he’s always working on making new music

Although everyone knows that he’d also do really well as a solo artist, Akaashi knows that his members were the reason why he wanted to debut in the first place and it just wouldn’t be the same without them

Extra HC’s for Stray Cats and OWL6

Kuroo and Bokuto have been friends since their trainee years and even though they were disappointed about not debuting in the same group they agreed to collab on a lot of things

During award shows they like to have a performance together, most often a dance cover, until Akaashi and Kenma decided to help out by writing a song for the two of them to perform

The members of both groups like to sneak into each other’s dorms because the more the merrier and they share and order food

Yaku and Kai actually like staying in the OWL6 dorms more because its quieter (since Lev and Tora aren’t there) but change their mind when they see Bokuto

Eventually they divided the dorms into ‘the quiet people’ and ‘the noisy people’

Both of the groups love doing those Halloween performances and dressing up really scary with the same level of production and everything

None of those cutesy costumes, Fukunaga will straight up come in a headless man costume and Sarukui brings a fake chainsaw with him

Some of them like to do really weird costumes though like Lev dressing up as a bottle of vodka and Konoha coming in dressed as Oscar the Grouch from Sesame Street

Sometimes the fans just don’t know what goes on in their heads

Kai tends to get a lot of awards for his producing skills but the first time he did Stray Cats came onstage with him and basically cried all around him while Kai tried to do his speech

They also like to mess around in the comments section when another group is doing a VLive

For example, Kuroo commented ‘send feet pics’ during one of OWL6’s lives and Bokuto retaliated by uploading the ugly selfies that Kuroo takes on his phone

They also either make up the fanchants or memorize each other’s fanchants for the songs

Yahaba, watching Stray Cats doing the fanchant for OWL6′s song: why can’t we be like that?

Iwaizumi: because we have Oikawa

Oikawa: IT’S NOT MY FAULT IT’S USHIWAKA

#haikyuu!! music idol au #nekoma #fukurodani #haikyuu!! music idol au (nekoma and fukurodani vers.)#ok here we go with the tags #kuroo tetsurou #kozume kenma #kai nobuyuki #yaku morisuke #fukunaga shouhei #yamamoto taketora #haiba lev #bokuto koutarou #akaashi keiji #sarukui yamato #konoha akinori #haikyuu!!#haikyuu headcanons

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roseprincesskristina · 4 years ago

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The Blue Pacifist's Delectable Dessert

((Heya guys. I have to upgrade a previous fanfic I made last year to make it a little more steamy than before. Changed a few sentences since they didn't come out right, fixed the title and such. But now, here's a better revamped version of everyone's favorite Maverick hunting duo enjoying their off duty vacation, or a private "meeting" away from their comrades at Hunter HQ. Before reading, you don't have to read or view this that involves yaoi, especially sexual stuff. However, for those of you who admire boy's love, then feel free to enjoy the fiction with your heart's content. Anywho, hope you guys enjoy reading! 😊✌))

Pairing: X/Zero

Rated: M

Franchise: Megaman X

Daytime at Maverick Hunter HQ, before the maverick crimes have occurred into the middle of the town on Abel City. Humans and Reploids still coexist as one into the similar society without restrictions. At Headquarters, the fearless hunting crusaders X and Zero, dueling against the king of all maverick monstrosity as well as former commander, Sigma. Right now, they are off duty to enjoy their lives together with no further disturbances from anyone. Especially the dual pistol wielding wild child, Axl.

The brunette is finally working onto the reports in peace, away from the devastating wars, genocide and such, just to clear his mind except one memory to be stored forever. The only person who truly looks up to him more than others and accepts him for who he really is that he cannot live without: Zero. A serious mentor who is no joke and meant business when it comes to criminals. Even blood thirsty irregulars. Elsewhere, he is practicing in the training simulator for a perfect score, no mistakes. Thinking about his partner while training fuels his stamina, speed, strength and mind to increase ten times faster than before, as well as running away from his nightmarish past. Slashing and hacking each and every one of them in one sweep of a broom or feather cleaner. His saber is the vacuum and mavericks are the dust that spread the mess across the carpet. All set and done, this session has been completed. Civilians saved, villains whacked. With nothing better to do, he returns to check on his friend for an “emergency meeting”.

“Yo, X.”

“Oh. Hey Zero. How are you?”

“Meh, training’s alright. But way too easy for yours truly.”

“He he he. As you always say.”

Both of them chuckled during a small conversation.

“So anyway, X. We’re gonna be attended on a serious meeting this afternoon about something important.”

“OK, Zero. I’ll be there shortly.”

He nodded as the rose red android walked off to his room. With a special plan he has in mind for his shy lover while rubbing his hands together, chuckling evilly.

“He he he he… Oh, I’ll give him a serious meeting alright. A very special one in store he’ll never forget for the rest of his life."

This afternoon passed, the forest pupil eyed peace lover has been reminded about this "meeting” that his buddy mentioned earlier to participate as he walked over to his room to tell him that it will began shortly. The red blonde is already ahead of him, all prepped for something sexually important. A perfect chance for some fun until the blue hunter begins to knock on his partner’s door, but it was opened automatically.

“Hello? Zero? Are you in here? I’m here to inform you about the starting of today's meeting. Are you ready?”

He went inside to pick him up for the meeting, but then, something around the room has changed quickly. Red all around him, completely established. Candles, roses, and more into a special decoration. Could this be some sort a trick or perhaps anything else?

“Yes, my little soft cupcake~. I’m ready~. And this time, there’s gonna be some changes around here~. We’re having our own private meeting together~. Alone~"

The deep soothing and calm voice was coming from the shadows echoing across the brunette when the door had suddenly closed behind him automatically. Then, a strange long haired silhouette proceeds slowly with one hand placed onto the hip exiting from the bathroom. Closer and closer to him with the pink reddish tongue rotating across his lips.

"Z...Zero?"

“Come over here, my cute little disciple~" Allured the sunshine headed superior with his finger moving, commanding the sea armored buster user to proceed at him. "And let me.......comfort you with my hospitality~"

"Well... Alright then." Responded the blueberry 17th commander, covered by his own shade of blushed scarlet while proceeding towards his hard yet sexy senpai.

It was Zero, who had faked the whole scheme about the serious meeting shtick all along by surprise, roping his arms around his cerulean lover's neck after approaching himself to him.

"So~ How about you, X~? You ready for our occasional meeting alone~? With your one and only senpai~?" Comely said the erotic crimson ex maverick, rubbing his bae's underchin.

"Uhh… Zero?” Flustered the shy Light bot.

“Shhhhh~…. No need to speak, little man~” The blond placed his finger onto his young lover’s lips to interrupt his question, placing him politely onto the bed to sit him down. "Just try to relax by taking a seat to forget about those dull reports all day long and enjoy a quality time of watching me perform for you~“

"O...OK..." He hardly gulped.

Before the start of this romantic business, the sapphire droid looked towards his lover for a moment. Seeing him in a different outfit. Meaning that he’s not wearing his inner suit underneath his armor, but it shows off half of his body and abs while wearing a sparkling knotted crop top sided with a long dancing dress knotted around his waist, the different kind with a slit design showing the left leg. Detailed with a non see through mask to cover the luscious lips for later, along with the initialed pierced Z shaped gem within his succulent navel. It was very hot for him to wear, so he strips from it to cool down. Golden hair fully tightened into a ponytail to make it doesn't blond his view from gazing towards his pure blue joy.

"Uhh… Uhhh…” The brunette was speechless after witnessing his mentor’s gorgeous abs, blushing nervously like a strawberry.

“Mmm, you like my flawless abs, X~? He he he he~... Then perhaps I might show it off to you, if you like~” He winked flirtatiously at the empathetic B class buster user, starting to do a lustful belly dance slowly for a pleasurable entrainment while moving his manly hips to spice up the entire mood, including his partner in crime. Blowing a kiss while performing to keep the commander of the 17th unit company. As he dances, the unique hips are starting to sway motionly, performing in front of the only person he knows and trust the most. Then, he began to stroke all over his entire body endlessly to throw the mild pleasure upon his partner, moaning in satisfaction.

“Z…Zero..? What is going on?” The bright sapphire shades gun bearer asked, dripping by the sweat of flush.

“He he he he he~ No need to ask such pointless questions, baby blue~ What you really need to do is focus on my delicious hot body, waiting for you to become its victim~.” Winked the previous irregular android, motioning his hands upon his iron well being seductively right in front of X.

Shaking his harden hips rapidly will shut away the boring stuff from his lover’s mind, wanting him to focus on what’s important, increasing the intensity of his energy. He slowly runs his entire body all over his abs and crotch to create an endless spell upon the shy brunette. To permanently spread around this room including him. Endlessly.

“Succumb to my glorious gem, X~ Try not to flee away from something impossible to resist so easily~” He compelled, pouring more of his charms on his tree bark haired boyfriend. “Obey my hard, ripped, succulent body~”

“Z...Zero…? Have you gone....insane all of a s-!”

Before he could even ended his sentence, the tall motivator in red jammed his lips into his shyly lover's, eating away the dreary worries right out of his body with a seductive force. But slowly while placing the hand onto his partner's cute little crotch.

"M...Mmmmph~?!"

"Mmmmmmmmmmm~"

"Mmmmph~! Mmmmmmmph~!"

"Mmmmmmm~ Mmmmmm~"

A few hours then, after for a longing spell of a smooch given by the upperclass crimson has forced the B class novice to wallow in a pool of desires, no hoping for exits or escape plans as an excuse to leave but to accept this love virus seeping down his core. Replacing the bad memories filled with conflict, into something more clear and important as in "staring at anything beautiful like my best friend" type memory.

"So baby~ What did ya think of my gift~?" He asked with awareness.

"It's beautiful, my master~...." Replied the blue sky themed android, compelled fully despite of the deep slurping kiss. "I will happily cherish your gift by placing my eyes onto you~...."

"Good boy~"

Perfectly hypnotized by the further kiss, the blond seductively dances his way to him with his hips rattling, bending over to make out with his friend’s lips deeply. Taking his hands and placed them on his buffed waists in the middle of dancing as he kisses the young blueberry, who started to caress his boyfriend’s legs non stop in a looping motion.

“Mmm~ I love it when you playfully massage my thighs, X~” He sighed in pleasure while kissing the honorable blue hunter some more. "Oh, your hands are so soft and yet also deliciously warm on my body~ Ohhh~ Unh~ U...Unh~..."

“Mmm…” The muffled moan during the mouth connection has drained the sadness out of the cerulean individual and filled his body with satisfaction.

Now his true focus is on the one person he knows and trust while circling his arms onto his golden haired lover’s hips. While dancing even more lustfully, he smoothly strokes his body all over once more until suddenly…..

“Oops~! He he he he~ Oh my~.... What an unfortunate accident I’ve done to myself~. Or is it~?” He giggled, pretended that one of his fingers have slipped into his innie of the stomach.

The accident that happened right now is that the former scarlet Wily bot have “accidentally” placed his finger inside his diamond shaped navel. One of the most flawless man cave to ever search into, or perhaps to play with it slow and hard.

The kind hearted gunner started to blush even darker when he first witness his red bae’s “accidental act” that he did. Almost fainted by chance, but unfortunately not. His pure little heart would began to pump a beat slowly and hastily at the same time.

“Z….Zero! What in God’s name are you doing?!” Blushed the B Class hunter, covering his nose to prevent the starting of the perverted bleeding. But it’s useless.

“He he he he~ Maybe I should.... play with my cave just to amuse you even more~” Said the A Class mentor with a seductive tone, rubbing his godly pit of the navel with his finger before shoving it inwards by a slow motion.

He does so right away by circling his finger inside the navel slowly before doing something hard and fun. Moaning softly and panting with pleasure and starting swirling his tongue upon his lips has made the peace loving android very love sick. Seeing his lover playing around with his beautiful navel, this is completely new to him. His perfect desire towards his lovable potential boyfriend has launched the rocket up to the stars for a special 4th of July. The blue hunter flustered in red, attempting to resist this dazzling beauty before him, trying to fight off the spell from possessing his mind. However, it is no use to defend himself from it.

“Mmmmmm~ It’s useless to resist, X~ Especially from my flawless charms~Just surrender to it and worship my treasure tomb~” He sexually compelled the young reploid, playing with his navel some more and licking his lips in sultry with a purr. Wiggling his entire hips to move his tiny tummy hole very closely to the sapphire droid. "Come on, boy~ I know you wanna taste this sweet dessert that you desperately desire~ Or are really you nervous~? He he he he~"

"G...Good God..." He gulped once again, fighting off his own inclination by attempt. Avoiding to break the code of the Maverick Hunters regulation that was promised not to disobey, but the irresistible charms caused by the blonde sword user would place a cage upon him to make it very impossible to ignore or to escape. With no choice but to suffer and witness the "poisonous" beauty before him.

"Oooooh~ My navel is so hot along with my body~ Don't you agree, my sweet little kohai~?" Flirted the flaming themed slasher, deepening his tasty treasure hole to force his blooming violet to submit. Stretching it wide by two fingers of the other hand should be able to create an irresistible trick to toss it across his face. Exiting the entire tongue right out of his mouth, preparing for a rocking party, running the lips into a slowly yet circular pose. "It feels so good when I pleasure it so passionately~ And yet so freaking hot from all the hard work under the summer evening~ Maybe I should fetch something cool to keep my hard sexy body fully hydrated~" With that said, he immediately swipe the bottle of clear water kept in his mini fridge and opened it by removing the cap. However, the idea in his head was right ahead of him when he started to pour the pure H2O all over his whole anatomy. Chest orbs, stomach, the works in order to ultimately arouse the blushing B Class warrior. And most importantly, his crispy navel until one of the drops have entered within it.

"Mmmmm~ That's much better~ So refreshing~" He moaned, while being all wet with more liquid splashed upon him. "I'm feeling so filthy when my body is still sweaty~ Guess I should clean myself up because I'm a dirty hunter~" Still moist into the raining drips of clean water, he commenced himself by caressing the crimson armored anatomy all day long. Sided with massaging the chest and crotch. Secondly, the rounded booty. Then last but not least, his treasured innie.

"Ahhh~ I can't stop polishing myself when I'm around you, baby~ Even my flavorable cavern is quite moist too, especially since I punish it~" He groaned in satisfaction, screwing with his irresistible abs and navel rapidly "without" ever to control himself or urges. Arousing his precious little pacifist by getting him to submit.

"Mmmm~ What a naughty little navel I have~ So soggy and yet irresistibly moist~ It even wants me to give a little punishment for being so wet from this cool water~"

"*gasps* M...My goodness... His gorgeous body.... Along with his navel... It's so... sexy.... No...! I must resist from this distraction.... I must..." He hyperventilates. Feeling of his core skipping a beat like a heart due to exercising for raising the blood level. He began to shield his eyes by looking away from the unavoidable charm, however, had almost peered at the handsome sun haired mentor's navel.

"Mmmmmm~ That's right, baby blue~ What you've seen before you is the most perfect jewel of all~ You see, my navel may be beautiful, but it's kinda dirty for me to clean it up~ If only there's someone with a tender heart that would do me a huge favor, I'll gladly give him a special reward for his hard work~" He roleplayed, staring the attention at the sky colored freedom fighter who is still struggling to battle against his urges.

The gorgeous red individual takes his other finger to allure the young reploid into a “comehere” position while the other hand seductively explores his man cave even deeper than ever before. He winked at him sexually along with a chuckle and purred into his earport as he tilted forward. h

"Oh X~" Singly spoken the A Class expert, sex talking towards the kind hearted blaster user by lifting his head gently and whispers in his ear. "Mmmm X~ You're even more handsome in that shy expression on your face, trying to look away from my warm, passionate, unyielding body that I'm gonna give you for being a good boy who obeys his master~ I love that in a reploid~ Which is why it makes my navel REALLY hot by your innocence~...." Licking across the listening port, the young commander of the 17th unit have flustered to the max.

"O...Oh d..d..dear...." He shooked with slight hesitation, trying to backward himself from this cornered "predicament".

"Mmmm, I wanna please you the living crap outta you so bad, boy~ Even to punish you all the way~"

"G...Gulp..." The nervousness effect had already gain this opportunity to take him as well as the body under his control to assist him by force, stretching his eyelids of prevention trying not to fall asleep in the center of the blonde beauty's impossible view of sexual performance grappling around him. On the other hand, the tall mentor in bright burgundy strolled forward to give his "more than a friend" boy toy a very longing purr into his ear port.

“Purrrrrrr~"He said into his lover's hearing port. "Just give yourself up, kid~ Like I said before, it's useless to escape from my powerful charms~ Look into my eyes and be mine~ You have no choice but to surrender my spell~ Look at me, X~ Become my slave~"

"U...Uhhh… I….I…. ” Until then, the endless spell has grasped him tightly at last. Showering all over his mind with both his belly dancing pleasure and some delicious navel punishing to erase away the unwanted views of wars and death. All of it will disappear from existence forever

“Yes, my senpai… I will focus upon your beautiful domain…” Said the hypnotized brunette, completely paralyzed by his lover’s consensual spell.

“Mmmm~ Much better~” The blond smiled seeing his lover finally succumbed to the spell as he dances his way to him. Shaking his delectable hips non stop along with the investigation going on inside his navel until he finally reaches towards to the shy reploid. Placing his other hand on his cheek, rubbing in circulation like the one with his bottomless pit on the right and then, he tilted once again towards his ear with a ravishing whisper.

“You’ve been a very good boy, X~ I'm so proud of you for paying attention~" Zero grinned with glad. "For doing such a wonderful job, I think it’s time for you to enjoy your well earned dessert~”

He revoke his finger from the navel, gesturing his lover closely with his other one once more as the sensitive hunter slowly advances towards his stomach, preparing for a taste of his scrumptious treat. With him completely under the desirable spell, he shall gain the honors of inserting his tongue into his mentor’s stomach hole while feeling the groping palm squeezing his tiny blue bottom along a little spanking, wanting his bae belching out a silent moan of enjoyment. Finally enjoying the hot meeting with him alone was the excellent plan. Continuously rubbing his senpai’s hips while licking his prized gem.

“Unh~ Uhh~ Oh yes~ Yes~ That’s it, my dear kohai~ Embrace my treasure closely as your life depends on it~" Panted the irregular hunting master, teasing his disciple's blueberry ass into a circular fashion.

"As you wish, my handsome senpai~” He muffled while licking non stop, blushing in pink shade due to the soft senses from his instructor's hand.

During the enjoyment of a private yet sensual meeting, both of them began to make out all the way upon the bed while the innocent android rubs the hips of his fellow dancer endlessly, while the pepper colored tutor continuously fingers his cave seductively. After that, he allows the emerald eyed hunter to lick inside of it with his tongue, swirling it around as he moaned passionately and permanently.

“Oh yes~ Yes~ Mmmm~ Worship my man cave, X~ It needs its nourishment and must be parched immediately~” He panted lustfully of commandment

Yes, my sexy mentor~.... I will polish your flawless pit with all my force~...." Replied the ocean colored apprentice, searching deeper within the body hole by tongue.

"Mmmmm~ Oh God~ Unh~ Unh~ Keep going, baby~ Oh, my body is really boiling hot right now~"

The indigo hunter kept going faster and faster than ever while the blond wraps his arms around his neck, holding it closer for a deeper search as well as nourishment. Both of them moaned back and forth, right, left, up, down, in, out, hot, cold, night, day. Things are getting even more intense yet somewhat pleasurable. This sexual meeting between the two hunters is the best important meeting than any other kind of hobby. The master expert purrs again with lust and enjoyment while his indigo student kept licking his favorable snack/dessert further and further.

“Oh X…. X…. X…. X…. X…. X…. X….X.... X.... X.... X.... X.... X..... X..... X..... X....X!!!!!!!!!

Several times of the red swordsman humming his lover’s name continuously until something inside him erupts with love juice. Panting even faster like he’s rushing to save someone from jeopardy as the sky painted gun fighter kept enjoying it harder and longer until the meeting has been concluded. All of the bad memories deep within the Class A mentor’s brain are finally replaced and done away with at last, storing a new one to help him remember someone close and trustworthy to him always. Finally, he can obtain the rest that he deserves, hugging his beloved blueberry with descending tears.

"Ahhhhh..... God.... That was extraordinary.... Thanks, babe~" He sighed, huffing with a thrill of sensation warming his frozen heart.

Nightfall arises as the beautiful moonlight appears above the skies, shining through the windows. Both hunters are cuddling each other closely, bodies pressed tightly and arms trapped around them in a loving sensual way.

“Oh Zero… This was the most romantic meeting I’ve ever attended to.” Smiled the innocent peace lover, intrigued by this new experience.

“Heh. Glad you think so, babe~ What’s really inspiring is that you really enjoyed the dessert I gave you~” He said.

“Y…Yeah. It really is delicious~” The brunette blushed as the blond kissed him on the forehead.

And so, both of them lean closer for a soft and deep kiss for an amazing day, hopefully it might get even beautiful next time when it’s nighttime. Saying “I love you” to each other before enjoying the comfort of each other within their bed. This has been the best vacation of their lives. No mavericks nor interruptions whatsoever to spoil their loving bonds. Just the two of them, all alone in this room. The blue monarch and the red hornet.

"I love you, my sexy red dragon~"

"I love you too, my beautiful blue unicorn~"

The End

#megaman #mmx #x #zero #zerox #yaoi #male belly dance #belly dancing #navel pleasuring #fanfic from last year #steamy

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nearly-theyre · 4 years ago

Text

haikyuu fic recs!!!!!!!!!!

hello friends! we are back at it again with another fic rec list ~

find me on twitter and ao3 (where you can see all the fics I didn’t get to put on this rec list! my bookmarks contain OVER 500 fics and this list is LESS than 100!) ~

also: check out this fic rec list for haikyuu multi-fic series recs! all of the fics in this list are one shots or single completed chaptered fics ~

LET’S BEGIN

FORMAT:

“title” (ratings) by author (a ✰ means the series is HIGHLY recommended!)

link

Warnings: as of 8/3/2020, although as always exercise caution!

Tagged Ships: the ships that the AUTHOR tagged! no ship hate here please!

Summary of the fic

MAKE SURE YOU ALWAYS READ WARNINGS/TAGS/SUMMARIES BEFORE READING!

“feel like gold” (T) by Heronfem ✰✰✰

https://archiveofourown.org/works/13320651/chapters/30487086

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou/Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou , Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou , Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou , Bokuto Koutarou/Kuroo Tetsurou , Akaashi Keiji/Kozume Kenma , Bokuto Koutarou/Kozume Kenma , Akaashi Keiji/Kuroo Tetsurou

In which Kenma is unapologetic and comfortable with who he is, Akaashi learns a lot about himself in a short period of time, Kuroo is wildly in love and an eternal survivor, and Bokuto remembers that love doesn't cure mental illness, but having a support system sure helps a lot.

Or, the one where 4 young men get together, and are helplessly, hopelessly, utterly in love despite everything.

“Three Times the Charm” (T) by todxrxki

https://archiveofourown.org/works/25662307

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou/Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou , Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou , Bokuto Koutarou/Kozume Kenma , Akaashi Keiji/Kozume Kenma

Kodzuken #1 Fan @Kodzuken1Fan 3h

hi all, has anyone noticed that kodzuken seems happier than usual in his recent videos?? it can’t just be me… do you think he’s had a change in his life recently?

Hina @kenmafan321 3h

@Kodzuken1Fan Honestly I agree with you!! I think that Kodzuken might have a girlfriend though… or a boyfriend!! <3 / In which Kenma's viewers try to figure out whether he's dating Kuroo, Bokuto, or Akaashi... but are completely approaching the problem the wrong way.

“Elements of Love” (T) by helloyesIamtrash, Nata1967

https://archiveofourown.org/works/11848392

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou/Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou

Kenma first heard the voices when he was in preschool, the three of them. They felt like the crackling warmth of a fire, a bolt of lightning, the cool breeze on a summer's day. He had never heard of them before. They sounded nice.

They said something about being soulmates.

“Leave A Light On” (M) by todxrxki ✰✰

https://archiveofourown.org/works/18670813/chapters/44278060

Warnings: Graphic Depictions of Violence

Tagged Ships: Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou

It is impossible, he knows. He is not human. It is only humans who experience such things, who are able to feel joy and happiness and sadness and grief. He is just a monster, a demon, a creature made from the leftovers.

But still, he wants to experience human things with a fervor he cannot describe.

In which a boy, raised inside of a highly unethical laboratory, comes to understand humanity through the love of the people who rescued him, but especially through his closest friend.

“i wanna see your face and know i’ve made it home” (G) by mukeandziamgotmelike ✰

https://archiveofourown.org/works/23654473

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou/Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou

Keiji had never thought that he would miss them this much.

Sure, the thought had been scary - terrifying, debilitating - at first, but Koutarou was right; they would only be a couple hours away. They would call as often as they could, they had said, and while Keiji knew how hard that would be (since their majors were going to be stressful and of course they would both want to join the volleyball team, and their new college friends, and parties, and, and, and) he had smiled understandingly, feeling Kenma’s hand squeeze around his tighter.

But he didn’t think it would hurt like it did.

“Village and a Crow” (T) by NeverNothing ✰

https://archiveofourown.org/works/16612745

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou , Akaashi Keiji & Kozume Kenma

Day 3 || 13th || Hurt/Comfort || Secret Agent/Assassins (AU)

The raven raised his eyebrow at the other man. He was staring at him, gaze hiding his thoughts well.

“Daishou Tetsurou,” he introduced himself anyway. It was the closest he had gotten to anyone near Akaashi the whole evening, seeing as the blond had not left the others side until now.

aka: In his cover identity as Daishou Tetsurou, Kuroo Tetsurou makes an intriguing aquaintance.

“Third Eye” (T) by Solovei, Yrindor

https://archiveofourown.org/works/7901137/chapters/18048394

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Sawamura Daichi/Sugawara Koushi

For as long as he could remember, Suga could see things when he looked at other people—shadows over their hearts that represented the roadblocks to their happiness. He became known as a problem-solver, a skilled mediator, and the person to come to with any matter of problems. While he used this ability to help his teammates and friends, over the years his own feelings were pushed aside.

He could see Asahi's fear of rejection, Hinata's need to be challenged, and Noya's desire for a person to accept him for who he was. But there was one shadow that never revealed itself to him—that belonging to Sawamura Daichi.

During the Tokyo Training camp, he's confronted by Nekoma's captain, who wants to know what it is that Suga himself is yearning for. Their conversation leads to some uncomfortable truths, and he's forced to admit that he may have been source of Daichi's growing shadow this whole time.

“Home is where the rest of you are” (T) by Kei (junjunkiiold) ✰

https://archiveofourown.org/works/6796540

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou/Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou , Kozume Kenma & Kuroo Tetsurou , other implied relationships

Angry tears track their way down their face as they stiffly pull on a pair of Keiji's sweats and one of Kuro's ridiculously oversized hoodies, pausing to bury their face in Bo's pillow, just to be fair. They miss their boyfriends so much. So much. It's a physical pain now, crackling just behind their ribs, and they know they'll have to try and rid their face of tearstains, otherwise Suga will worry. Suga has already been kind enough to offer them company, and in any case, Kenma doesn't deserve to be worried over. It isn't like it matters anyway.

They freeze.

Oh no.

Of all the days for the intrusive thoughts, the grey-tones jabs, the deathly sharp self-hatred to invade their mind, it just has to be when Bo and Kuro and Keiji were all gone halfway across the country.

This is shaping up to be the worst birthday Kenma has ever had.

“a brief study on a brief point in time” (G) by neatos_cheetos

https://archiveofourown.org/works/13981158

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Bokuto Koutarou & Kuroo Tetsurou , Akaashi Keiji & Kozume Kenma , Fukunaga Shouhei & Kozume Kenma & Yamamoto Taketora

“Kid,” rooster-head says to Fukunaga. “You play volleyball?”

[Alternatively: How Fukunaga Shouhei falls in love with the seasons.]

[Takes place one year before canon.]

“we know the game and we’re gonna play it” (T) by thelittlebirdthattoldyou ✰

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24460246

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru , Hanamaki Takahiro/Matsukawa Issei

Hanamaki cut in, “If we win, you have to promise to lighten up on the loving around us.”

“No more footsie under the table at team dinners,” Matsukawa said.

“No more weirdly sexual trash talk when you play on different sides.” Watari said.

“No more grabbing Iwaizumi-senpai’s ass ‘for good luck’ before practice games.” That was Kunimi, who shrugged placidly when everyone turned to stare at him.

“No more making out shirtless in supply closets,” Yahaba finished.

Hanamaki makes a bet, Mastukawa waits for him to get the hint, Oikawa's clinginess is surpassed only by his competitiveness, and Iwaizumi just wants to get through the next day so he can kiss his boyfriend again.

“doesn’t the rose always has its thorns sharpened before it pricks?” ✰

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24178558

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Tagged Ships: Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou , Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio (mentioned) , Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru (if you squint) , Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou

“How do you sleep at night, Akaashi?” Amused chuckle fills the room, a chilling contrast to the pooling blood staining the end of both their cloak. Akaashi smiles, beautiful, confident, and feral, “Peaceful and satisfied after being thoroughly ravished.”

“Papillon” (M) by the_madame21

https://archiveofourown.org/works/9962204

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Tagged Ships: Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru

"Father says I have to go meet new royals today.”

“Who?” The boy said it so easily. With a little bit of a bite. But Tooru wasn’t sure if that was because he was angry, or because he was an alpha.

“The…Iwaizumi family…”

“Safe practice” (G) by symphorine

https://archiveofourown.org/works/6220759

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: N/A

Yamaguchi gets bruises from wearing his binder for practice. Cue the team being worried, which he really didn't want happening, and Suga stepping in.

“Problematic” (T) by alpacameron

https://archiveofourown.org/works/6192133

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Tagged Ships: N/A

"When they finally arrived everyone stood up inside the Aoba Johsai bus to exit and greet the teams, but Oikawa clearly heard Bokuto yell “HEY, KUROO! SHITTYKAWA’S HERE!” from outside and decided he wasn’t going to."

Aoba Johsai used to attend the Tokyo Training Camp, but Oikawa never got along with Bokuto and Kuroo very well.

“your steady hands have pulled me through” (T) by winter_flowers ✰

https://archiveofourown.org/works/16712716/chapters/39198214

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru , Hanamaki Takahiro/Matsukawa Issei , Kuroo Tetsurou & Oikawa Tooru , Mentioned Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou

“How can he be so dense?” Tooru complained. “I’m not even trying to hide it. Scratch that, I’ve been practically flaunting it to him since I decided he should know and he still doesn’t believe me.”

Hanamaki shrugged. “It’s Iwaizumi, he literally has ‘rock’ in his name,” he pointed out.

“He thought my animal blood was wine—I’ve been drinking it around him for the last fifteen years! How does he still think it's whatever red beverage that's convenient for the occasion?”

“I mean, you do remember how he religiously bought you those vending machine tomato juice cans, right?”

Or: 5 times Hajime was too dense to realize Tooru was a vampire and one time he finally did (and happened to realize something else along the way).

“now and forever true” (G) by LugianBeforeSwine

https://archiveofourown.org/works/3797146

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru

The first time Iwaizumi Hajime sees Oikawa Tooru, he bursts into tears.

Hajime and Tooru, over the course of 18 years spent together (and their mothers, who knew everything from the very beginning.)

“rewrite the stars” (G) by astrid_fischer ✰

https://archiveofourown.org/works/17207171/chapters/40461332

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou

“You’re going to marry the prince of Karasuno,” Kenma’s father told him on the first day of midsummer.

King Kozume Takeshi did not so much as look up from the letter he was writing at his desk as he said it. His manner suggested he was advising that the evening meal would be held fifteen minutes late; the life-altering statement was that matter-of-fact, and carried the same expectation that he would not be questioned.

“Very well,” Kenma said, when the skritching of the quill stopped pointedly and he realized that some sort of answer was expected of him. He blinked. “Is that all?”

*****

or: an arranged marriage au where everyone is in love with the wrong person.

“can i be close to you” (T) by arcsec ✰

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24711793/chapters/59729524

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou

shouyou drags a sleep-deprived kenma to one of kuroo’s parties, only for kenma to escape upstairs and fall asleep in an unlocked bedroom.

or, 5 times kenma slept in kuroo's bed + 1 time kuroo slept over in kenma's.

“Show A Little Faith” (G) by minijhi

https://archiveofourown.org/works/4205613/chapters/9503331

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou

“Why are you sending me a singing Valentine telegram?" Kenma asks, mouth flattened. "It’s six months until Valentine’s Day.”

“I bought a dwarf over the summer to use as cupid.” Kuroo says. “I figured he could use some practice.”

Presenting Kenma as the Boy-Who-Lived, whose living becomes a lot more interesting when Ravenclaw Prince Kuroo Tetsurou starts sending him singing telegrams about defeating the Dark Lord.

“Blood” (T) by darkbluebox ✰

https://archiveofourown.org/works/4114318/chapters/9272470

Warnings: Graphic Depictions of Violence

Tagged Ships: Tsukishima Kei/Yamaguchi Tadashi , yamatsukki centered but p much everyone else is in the bg , Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio , Sawamura Daichi/Sugawara Koushi , Shimizu Kiyoko/Yachi Hitoka , Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou

Words like "Muggle-born" and "Pure-blood" don't mean a lot when you're still a child, but everyone has to grow up sooner or later.

“can i crash at your place tonight” (T) by puddingcatbeans

https://archiveofourown.org/works/4612110

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Sawamura Daichi/Sugawara Koushi

"Me and my buddies vandalized your backyard trampling your mini garden in the process. Now I feel really shitty cause you’re really upset about this. Look I’ll help fix it okay just stop with the sad faces." au

or, in which Daichi's not a bad person, he just has bad choices in friends, and Suga's got a little ceramic garden and the face of an angel.

“The Mother We Share” (T) by Avogara ✰

https://archiveofourown.org/works/22634923/chapters/54095674

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Kozume Kenma & Kuroo Tetsurou

“My life is ruined,” Kuroo stated blandly and muffled into the covers. He didn’t move. Kenma tapped him with his blanketed foot.

“Why’s that?”

“Because I can’t go to camp with you.”

Kenma frowned deeply at this and squinted his golden eyes.

“Why not?”

“Because I have to go stay with my mom…”

“You have a mom?”

—

How Kuroo became part of the Kozume family after one tragic summer vacation.

“Everything Is Debatable” (T) by todxrxki

https://archiveofourown.org/works/23321422

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou

In YouTuber Kozume Kenma's inbox, there's one email from fellow YouTuber Kuroo Tetsurou asking if he’d be interested in a collaboration. Kenma eyes it with disdain. Frowning, he types a response. "I appreciate you reaching out, he says. I understand that this is something the fans have encouraged. However, I’d like to make myself clear: I am not interested in a collaboration with you. Now, or ever." / In which gaming YouTuber Kenma learns a little bit about preconceived notions and romance through his reluctant friendship with prank YouTuber Kuroo.

“Superposition” (M) by todxrxki ✰

https://archiveofourown.org/works/22383487/chapters/53478259

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou , Minor or Background Relationship(s) , Sawamura Daichi/Sugawara Koushi , Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou

"Well, I bet I’ll be seeing more of you in the future then, huh? But hopefully soon it’ll be me watching you on stage," Tetsurou tells him.

Something flickers across Kenma’s face - something like bright, childlike hope. “D’you actually think so?"

“Call me crazy,” Tetsurou says, grinning a stupid grin that shows all his teeth, “but I’d be willing to bet on it." // Tetsurou Kuroo, the lead singer of alternative band Neko, meets Kenma Kozume, aspiring musician, at one of his shows, a meeting that sets into motion a series of events that change their lives - and the alternative music scene - forever. Or, the early 2000s pop punk band AU.

“Mini Volleyball Club” (G) by redriotoperator

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24483028

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru , Hanamaki Takahiro/Matsukawa Issei , Kyoutani Kentarou/Yahaba Shigeru

Aobajousai was signed up to teach five year olds how to play volleyball one Saturday morning.

Only issue being present is- what teenage boy is good with five year olds?

The Captain who can do it all- that's who.

“call me maybe” (T) by totooru ✰

https://archiveofourown.org/works/7168451/chapters/16273241

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Hanamaki Takahiro/Matsukawa Issei , Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru , Sawamura Daichi/Sugawara Koushi , Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou

Hanamaki texts the wrong number when trying to extort tips out of Oikawa in order to defeat Iwaizumi in arm wrestling, and then continues to text the witty stranger who had answered.

“Spellbound” (T) by isthisphantasy

https://archiveofourown.org/works/3656679/chapters/8080056

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Sawamura Daichi/Sugawara Koushi , mentions of , Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou , Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru

Out of all the people Daichi had to fall for, it had to be a Slytherin. Their two houses were supposed to hate each other.

To be fair, he was nothing like the stereotypes preached. He wasn’t snide, slimy or pompous. He was beautiful in an ethereal kind of way. He was almost ghostly pale, all innocent brown eyes and silvery-blonde hair. Sugawara Koushi, the boy who was even sweeter than his name suggested.

“Two Pillows” (G) by Dogsocks

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24893314

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Bokuto Koutarou/Kuroo Tetsurou , Bokuto Koutarou & Kuroo Tetsurou

Kuroo forgot his pillows.

Both of his pillows are at home, right by the fucking stairs, probably no more than four feet from the door. And now he’s stuck at a training camp for a week-- with no pillows, let alone his pillows-- and he still has to somehow get his neurotic ass to sleep. This is not good. This is so so so not good.

“It’ll be fine,” he mumbles. “I’m not seven anymore, Kenma. I’m probably just overreacting.”

Spoiler: It's not fine.

“Anything In Between” (T) by todxrxki

https://archiveofourown.org/works/21631504

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou

Kozume Kenma just wants to be a normal gaming YouTuber, but when his idiot boyfriend butts in and gets his fans speculating about their relationship, it seems that even that's impossible. / Post manga timeskip, told exclusively through social media and texting.

“The Thief and the Ningyou” by Heronfem ✰

https://archiveofourown.org/works/17161055

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Hanamaki Takahiro/Matsukawa Issei

There's a youkai that lives in the daimyo's estate, they say. They say he keeps a grand lake within the walls and a youkai lives within it. They say it's jealously guarded, the lake patrolled night and day by well trained guards that watch the lake to keep people away from it. They say only the daimyo is allowed near it.

Matsukawa Issei couldn't care less about a mad daimyo's obsession, but as a professional thief he's inclined to be very interested in the daimyo's wealth.

“Liked, Commented and Subscribed” (T) by Royal Society of Pandas (Abarcelos)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/7151264/chapters/16236896

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou , Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou , Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru

" 'Hey, Bokuto?' Kuroo interrupted his friend. They were both sitting on his couch, Bokuto telling some silly story that happened the previous weekend and Kuroo reading the comments on his latest video. He was quite happy with how it turned out – a lot of people seemed to enjoy it and he even saw a few memes on tumblr titled ‘The actual signs as Kuroo’s signs’. There was only one thing bothering him.

'Yeah, bro?' Bokuto answered, a little annoyed for having his great story be interrupted.

'Do you know who Kozume Kenma is?' "

Everyone is a youtuber and tumblr ships KuroKen. A lot.

“Don’t call me Lord, call me Love” (E) by Nimbus_Cloud ✰

https://archiveofourown.org/works/6159379/chapters/14112763

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou , Kozume Kenma & Kuroo Tetsurou , Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou , Haiba Lev & Yaku Morisuke

Based on Mookie000's Ruler AU artwork

---

The kingdom of Nekoma prepares a festival to celebrate the one year anniversary of Kenma's coronation. While his royal court and magisters and guardians look forward to the revelry, Kenma is himself plagued by doubts as to his ability to rule and his growing feelings for one of his sworn guardians. Everything on the surface appears as it should at first, but things get complicated when a kiss takes Kuroo by surprise and an attempted kidnapping goes awry.

“My Nameless World (I’ll Let You In)” (T) by ltgmars

https://archiveofourown.org/works/17430203

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio , Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou , Mentions of Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou

It’s a modest two-bedroom in the western suburbs, far enough from the bustling crowds to be affordable but still counting, technically, as Tokyo. They’re noisy before they sleep but quiet when they rise, shuffling mutedly out of the door for joint morning runs before bursting back into the apartment for joint morning showers. Shouyou cooks breakfast while Kageyama packs their lunch and gym bags, and they never share a goodbye kiss because they always leave together.

It’s warm and cozy and disgustingly domestic, and it’s probably everything Shouyou’s ever dreamed of.

Except, Kenma thinks irately, Kageyama doesn’t actually live here.

===

Shouyou moves in with Kenma when he ends up in Tokyo for college. Kenma subsequently realizes that half the things in Shouyou’s boxes are actually Kageyama’s because he should have fucking known.

“Swinging Doors and Wet Floors” (G) by Heronfem

https://archiveofourown.org/works/14015484

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Hanamaki Takahiro/Matsukawa Issei

At least once a week Matsukawa Issei cursed out whatever asshole had put swinging doors at the back of the Starbucks he was stuck selling his soul at. They were at exactly the wrong height for him, people constantly thought they were the place to go through for the bathrooms, and no one had put “Employees Only” signs on or around them.

Or, Matsukawa meets his soulmate.

“The Golden Chapel” (M) by Heronfem ✰

https://archiveofourown.org/works/14361861

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou , Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou

Arms and the man I sing,—not as of old

The Mantuan bard his mighty verse unrolled,

But in such humbler strains as may beseem

Light changes rung on a fantastic theme.

Or, a Knight comes in search of the Golden Chapel to finish his quest. The Chapel's guardians and trial makers finish theirs as well.

“Saturday 10:23AM” (G) by SoVeryAverageMe ✰

https://archiveofourown.org/works/22461436

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Iwaizumi Hajime & Sawamura Daichi , Sawamura Daichi/Sugawara Koushi , Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru

Miyagi Missed Connections:

Stressed Volleyball Captain > Sendai Sports Emporium

My boyfriend wants me to post about you on here. I told him that Missed Connections were supposed to be for romantic encounters but he didn’t care. He thinks that I need more friends. Like most things, he’s wrong. But whatever, he’ll keep bothering me until I do this.

Iwaizumi is forced to write a Missed Connections post by Oikawa. Elsewhere, Suga was scrolling through Craigslist when he sees a description that resembles his boyfriend. He made Daichi respond.

The rest, as they say, was history.

“Happiness Comes in Waves” (M) by mitigates

https://archiveofourown.org/works/25374712

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Tagged Ships: Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru , Sawamura Daichi/Sugawara Koushi , Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou , Azumane Asahi/Nishinoya Yuu

Akaashi filled the waffle cone in his hand with vanilla bean ice cream and doused it in peanut butter. He handed that one to Suga. “And Oikawa, you’re not even slick about it. It’s obvious what you’re doing-”

“Oh shut up, Akaashi! Can you blame us?” The glint in Oikawa’s eyes as he stared anxiously across the parking lot was brighter than ever. He started tugging on Suga’s board shorts and smacking the side of Akaashi’s truck. “Look, look- They’re here!”

Akaashi sighed and pushed Oikawa’s cup of cherry ice cream covered in an abhorrent amount of sprinkles toward him. He leaned over slightly so he could get a view as well. Akaashi positioned his truck for that view, sure, but he could also say out loud that he did it for the business. Yes, the business.

“bait and switch” (T) by Stylographic_Blue_Rhapsody

https://archiveofourown.org/works/19704886

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru , Oikawa Tooru & Sugawara Koushi

“You’re not serious?”

“Suga-chan, when am I not serious?” Oikawa cradled his mug in two hands to warm his fingers. “Besides, I’m not hurting anyone.”

“I think your teammates are going to lose their goddamn minds once they find out.”

...

Oikawa's university volleyball team knows he's in a long-distance relationship with someone from high school. They imagine a sweet-faced girl that matches his sarcasm with patience. They are so incredibly wrong.

“do tomatoes go in a fruit salad?” (T) by fliick

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24632026

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Oikawa Tooru & Sugawara Koushi , Sawamura Daichi/Sugawara Koushi , Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru

“We’re friends, Kou-chi! I’m not taking advantage of you. I wanna know about all the drama going on!”

“Like what?”

“Like whether or not Tobio’s getting crushed.”

“Oikawa-”

“And how long you and Sawamura are gonna pine until one of you cracks.”

“Oikawa.”

“i call it magic (when i’m with you)” (M) by cosmogony

https://archiveofourown.org/works/25551868

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou/Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou , Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou , Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou

As one of Tokyo's most established Potion Witches, Kozume Kenma's life was anything except ordinary. However, somehow his life takes an even stranger turn when his best friend, Kuroo Tetsurou, gets cursed and transformed into a cat.

Luckily for the two, they meet a Curse-Breaker and Animal Telepathy Specialist who are more than willing to assist them in turning Kuroo human again, though all four of them may end up with more than they'd originally bargained for.

Written for Kenma Ship Week 2020 Day 1 - Modern Magic

“Envy for Solid Ground” (M) by theglitterati ✰

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24832303/chapters/60067192

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru

There’s a sign taped to the door: "Sitting Volleyball sign ups - today!"

“No,” Tooru says. “No, Hajime, I can’t.”

“Just one practice,” Hajime replies. “Please. For me.”

Oikawa loses a leg. But he gains some things, too.

“Waiting On A Friend” (G) by MaxMattel666

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24221155

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Tendou Satori/Ushijima Wakatoshi

Shiratorizawa Academy is giving its students a long weekend and Tendou is excited to go home. But Goshiki? Not so much.

!!!Now featuring accompanying art!!!

“I Was Adopted?!” (G) by marsenthusiast

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24731935

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Tendou Satori/Ushijima Wakatoshi

Goshiki is probably more affected by Ushijima's and Tendou's recent fall out than he should be and he doesn't know why. All he knows is he's definitely not supposed to be crying about it. Right?

“i always wake up next to monsters” (NR) by irleggsy ✰

https://archiveofourown.org/works/25004146

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Goshiki Tsutomu & Tendou Satori , Tendou Satori & Ushijima Wakatoshi , UshiTen if you like. squint

Goshiki hasn't been able to sleep properly for days. The reasons might be worse than the team originally thought.

Tendou doesn't like using his magic, but there are exceptions. Like taking care of their youngest.

Shiratorizawa Fanweek 2020 Day 2: Cooking Together | Ring | Fantasy/Magic AU

“He’s Not Here” (T) by MaxMattel666

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24620779/chapters/59480443

Warnings: Major Character Death

Tagged Ships: Tendou Satori/Ushijima Wakatoshi

When Goshiki dies, he leaves an unfillable hole in his wake. His absence takes the form of an empty chair at the dining room table and uneaten ice cream. He leaves behind unfinished lists and shoes that he was supposed to fill.

A mafia AU where Shiratorizawa loses its youngest member.

!!!Now featuring accompanying art!!!

“reddit boyfriends” (T) by NeverNothing ✰

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24336256

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou

Lev goes on reddit to talk about his senpais and accidentally goes viral. Yaku helps.

“the q&a you’ve been waiting for | KODZUKEN” (T) by kzumeknma (born_to_fly)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24960325

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou , implied Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou - Relationship

In which Kodzuken reaches 500k subscribers, Kuroo Tetsurou is Little Bastard, and Akaashi helps Bokuto with his critical thinking skills in the comments.

(the youtube video you didn't want, but i wrote anyways)

“Blush Blush” (T) by NeverNothing

https://archiveofourown.org/works/25609810

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou

Kodzuken uploaded a new video : "i play Blush Blush but my boyfriend gets jealous (not family friendly)" (1:48:59)

16,945 comments sort by

or: my fill for KenmaShipWeek Day 4: Established Relationship

“ring pops” (G) by mukeandziamgotmelike

https://archiveofourown.org/works/8572807

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Ambiguous or Implied Relationship(s) , Oohira Reon/Semi Eita , Tendou Satori/Ushijima Wakatoshi

Semi Eita was a physically perfect human being.

It only makes sense that others notice.

“give them something to talk about” (G) by thelittlebirdthatttoldyou

https://archiveofourown.org/works/25426843

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru

“Huh. Oikawa is making his way over to the losing side of the court - is he planning to rub it in their faces? Maybe someone should stop him -”

“But he’s passing the players by entirely! And heading for -”

“Are we going to get a childhood besties reunion up in here?”

Iwaizumi and Oikawa's Olympics reunion, as told through the eyes of two excitable sportscasters.

“i’m gonna be the man who’s coming home to you” (T) by welcometothehumanrace ✰

https://archiveofourown.org/works/25689436

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou

“I looked into some places myself, and here are some of the ones I found,” Kuroo said as he looked over the top of the screen.

It took one second for Kenma to register that he was in fact looking at a page full of house listings. It took another second for him to register where exactly the listings were located.

Kenma snorted. “Kuro, why on earth would I move to Roppongi Hills?”

It takes one year for Kenma's success to explode and for him to outgrow the two-bedroom apartment he shares with his best friend Kuroo. It takes about a week after that for him to figure out why the thought of moving out bothers him so much.

“don’t bother checking my work (i’ve never cared for math anyway)” (T) by pseudoanalytics

https://archiveofourown.org/works/20808875

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Tendou Satori/Ushijima Wakatoshi , Kawanishi Taichi/Semi Eita (background) , Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru (implied)

It isn’t until Shirabu’s back at LOCCENT that it really sinks in. Forty-eight wins? An impressive number, true, and a definite sign of Ushijima’s strength, especially compared to Tendou. But in anyone else, an unbalanced score like that would indicate a depressingly low chance of drift compatibility.

Drifting with Ushijima was simple statistically, but potentially deadly realistically. And drifting with Tendou? A veritable nightmare. If not for Washijou’s insistence, Shirabu would have dropped him long ago.

Still, something is calling to him. Something beyond numbers and data projections.

Because Ushijima may have knocked Tendou down forty-eight times. But that means there were forty-nine times he got back up.

“Goshiki’s Lucky Hairpins” (NR) by laurent_exalted

https://archiveofourown.org/works/25541905

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Goshiki Tsutomu/Tendou Satori

(Based off of a cosplay tiktok myself and @/uyusodasu made :) , check out the original on my page @/bubble_cos, or the completed/duet version on Dex’s page!)

In which Goshiki likes pretty things, and other people don’t like it. Tendou is a good senpai and helps Goshiki feel better with a gift and maybe a kiss or two

“pretty girls make me nervous” (T) by ebenroot

https://archiveofourown.org/works/3509384

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou , with mentions of daisuga , kagehina , BokuAka

(Yaku had to wonder if his captain was listening to himself talk and could realize on his own how much he sounded in love with Kenma.)

"So, what is going to happen is this! Friday night, Kenma will be going to the mall with no video games around. His natural attractiveness will show, some love struck girl will ask him out and bam! Kenma isn't single anymore."

(Yaku supposed not.)

that fic where Kuroo does everything he can to get Kenma a significant other. Meanwhile, everyone bets how long it'll take before Kuroo realizes that Kenma's sorta already dating him.

“Noon, on a Thursday” (T) by lovelyleftovers

https://archiveofourown.org/works/6899797

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Tagged Ships: Kozume Kenma & Kuroo Tetsurou , Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou

He climbs the stairs, hands tightening unconsciously on the strap of his bag before he approaches Kuroo’s open door.

Kenma isn’t sure what he expected to find, but it wasn’t this.

“Must Be Love” (G) by todxrxki ✰

https://archiveofourown.org/works/22116652

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou

Interviewer: Anyone special in your life these days?

Kuroo: Hah. Well, yeah, I guess you could say that. H- she’s not exactly a fan of attention, so I think she’d kill me if I were to say anything about her publicly. But, well, she means everything to me. She’s the best thing that ever happened to me. I’m completely sure I wouldn’t be here without hi-her.

/ In which famous volleyball player Kuroo is obvious, Lev is oblivious, and Kenma just wants to mess with his fans. Social media; set post-time skip.

“the golden discourse of lovesickness” (G) by WatanabeMaya

https://archiveofourown.org/works/11489601

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou , Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou , mentions of , Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru , Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio , Haiba Lev/Yaku Morisuke

“Hey,” a voice blurts out, says to him one day. Kenma notes the way the boy stands out of the crowd, with his spiky bedhead hair and the brightest of brown eyes. “Can you read my mind?”

a kuroken telepathic!soulmates au

“four letter word” (T) by shizuoh

https://archiveofourown.org/works/6517462

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou , implied kuroken bc i hate myself

Bokuto pursed his lips. "It's just... ya know, Akaashi... Kuroo's my main!"

Akaashi blinked down at their textbook for a few moments before looking up at Bokuto. "Did you just call me a side hoe?"

“Ignoring the forest” (T) by NeverNothing ✰

https://archiveofourown.org/works/18382232

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou

Where the public collectively agrees to ignore the signs that actor Kuroo Tetsurou is dating his childhood friend.

Kuroo Tetsurou @therealtetsurou

Filming was fun, but I’m glad to be back to my fav pudding head <3 #noplacelikehome #KURASE #filming

[photo: a suitcase was in focus with another bag and a jacket thrown atop standing beside the back of a couch. A head of badly dyed hair can be seen, face turned away and rest of the body hidden by the couch.]

“Japan’s most subscribed” (T) by NeverNothing ✰

https://archiveofourown.org/works/21662782

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou

Kuroo Tetsurou @blacktetsurou changed his bio : volleyball player, co-owner of Bouncing Ball Corp. and so much more ;)

“Run to Me” (M) by shions_heart

https://archiveofourown.org/works/11097696/chapters/24760551

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Tagged Ships: Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou , Kuroo Tetsurou & Oikawa Tooru , Kozume Kenma & Yamamoto Taketora , Minor or Background Relationship(s)

When a homeless runaway named Kenma literally falls on Kuroo Tetsurou's head, he does the logical thing and offers his place to him. Despite the misgivings of Kuroo's best friends, he and Kenma grow closer as time passes . . .

But Kenma is hiding a painful secret, and one day it's going to come out.

“Cherry Pits and Cat Tattoos” (G) by strawberryriver ✰

https://archiveofourown.org/works/8759890

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou

Kuroo has been in communication with his soulmate ever since they were kids. They've known each other for so long that he never really worried about when or how he would meet them. At least, not until he meets the roommate of Bokuto's soulmate.

Soulmate AU in which things written on your skin show up on your soulmate. Companion piece/same AU as Serendipty

--------------------

Kuroo Tetsurou liked to write on his arms. Despite his mother's half-serious warnings about “ink poisoning” or staining his skin, he insisted on marking his arms and legs wherever he could. Not like his best-friend-since-always Bokuto Koutaro, who had to write on his arms or he’d forget to breathe, but artfully. He’d draw designs, animals, the occasional chemical compound. The whole idea behind soulmates fascinated him: how one person could mark their arm and someone potentially thousands of miles away, would have that same mark appear. The amount of articles, studies, and books he’d read about the topic, even at a young age, could put an undergrad researcher to shame.

“mr. steal yo man” (T) by saintjoy

https://archiveofourown.org/works/4409834

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou , One-sided Haiba Lev/Kozume Kenma

Lev's got it bad for Kenma. Unfortunately, he's already got one hell of a boyfriend.

“Step by Step” (M) by dgalerab

https://archiveofourown.org/works/7145255/chapters/16223309

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou , Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou , Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio

Everyone might think that Kenma is the one that is always following Kuroo, but it's Kuroo that's been trying to slip his life into Kenma's since he can remember. He might get a little scared by the idea of going off to college without Kenma. Kenma handles it.

“The Words I Can’t Say” (G) by orphan_account

https://archiveofourown.org/works/2345708

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou

Theres a short pause, the the tightness in Kenma’s throat only thickens when he realizes this is usually when he is supposed to answer with his name.

His mouth opens, then closes, then opens again. I’m Kenma, he thinks, trying to get his vocal cords to move, I’m Kenma.

“two cats” (T) by rideahorse

https://archiveofourown.org/works/5843116/chapters/13466860#workskin

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou

(12:01) From: Kenma :3

and why won’t you tell me what the secret is?

(12:02) To: Kenma :3

there r some things even i won’t say over txt

“Soggy Toast” (T) by brattybat

https://archiveofourown.org/works/11610213

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou , Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou , Akaashi Keiji/Kozume Kenma , Bokuto Koutarou/Kuroo Tetsurou , Bokuto Koutarou/Kozume Kenma , Akaashi Keiji/Kuroo Tetsurou , Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou/Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou

Kenma wakes up with the onslaught of a nasty stomach bug and refuses to let his roommates stay home and baby him. But with an empty house filled with a lack of all the warmth he had grown so accustomed to, all pride was thrown out the window.

“beyond castle walls” (E) by kiyala

https://archiveofourown.org/works/11884986

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou

Kenma doesn't realise that the guy he's brought home for the night is Kuroo Tetsurou, the crown prince of the kingdom, until there are photos posted online the next morning. The royal family has to save face by announcing a marriage, and Kenma's life is never going to be the same.

“Between the Silence and the Sound” (T) by todxrxki

https://archiveofourown.org/works/20269963

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou

Everyone seems to be under the impression that famous actor Kozume Kenma is dating his co-star, Lev Haiba. However, Kenma absolutely cannot stand the idea. In the heat of the moment, Kenma publicly blurts out that he's dating his childhood best friend, Kuroo Tetsurou, and they start a fake relationship for the benefit of the press. Soon, though, Kenma begins to realize that fake-dating his best friend might be more complicated than he'd originally planned. / Fake Dating AU, for Kuroken Week Day 7.

“The One With Dragons And Shit” (T) by helloyesIamtrash

https://archiveofourown.org/works/8737048/chapters/20030515

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Tagged Ships: Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou

Kenma stopped as he heard a deep rumble from inside the dark depths of the cave. He took a deep breath, mentally prepared for whatever came his way.

“Why would a human venture into the cave of a dragon? Turn back, little one.” A smooth, melodic voice warned, ensnaring Kenma’s attention. As he peered into the darkness, two golden pinpricks could be seen watching him.

The dragon was there.

“and i would have saved juliet” (M) by skittidyne ✰

https://archiveofourown.org/works/6904423#main

Warnings: Major Character Death

Tagged Ships: Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou , Implied/Unrequited Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou/Yaku Morisuke

“Did you know my family is cursed?” Tetsurou asks suddenly, because he does sometimes want Kenma’s attention, in spite of everything else.

He is rewarded by the smaller boy glancing up again and the stilling of his quill.

“My brother’s going to have to get married twice,” Tetsurou tells him, “and no one is sure who it’s gonna be. But he’s definitely getting married soon. I have to get all kinds of new clothes for it and the tailor always sticks me because he doesn’t like me.”

“Maybe that’s just because you squirm…”

“I’m a very well-behaved child. Everyone says so.”

“I don’t say that,” Kenma points out and resumes his writing practice.

(( or: tetsurou is a prince, and with that, comes certain expectations of his station, regardless of curses or who he falls in love with ))

“Red” (NR) by lunaloop

https://archiveofourown.org/works/10786023

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou/Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou , Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou , Akaashi Keiji/Kuroo Tetsurou , Bokuto Koutarou/Kuroo Tetsurou , Akaashi Keiji/Kozume Kenma , Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou , Bokuto Koutarou/Kozume Kenma

It's a bad day and Bokuto wishes he had a color system like Kenma so he could tell Kuroo what's wrong.

Or,

a Bokuakakuroken-fic inspired by the HQ!! OT3+ week prompt "Red".

“frilly pink apron” (T) by novrik

https://archiveofourown.org/works/21925030

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou

kuroo loves to be embarrassing. there's literally no other reason why he'd walk onto stream wearing nothing but a fucking frilly pink apron and sweats where you can see all of his goddamn upper body.

“There’s No Tutorial for This” (T) by sinata (karasinovolleyball)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/4702733

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou , Hinata Shouyou & Kozume Kenma , Bokuto Koutarou & Kuroo Tetsurou , implied bokuaka - Relationship , implied yakulev , Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio

“I think maybe Kuroo-senpai likes him, and that’s why it was hard for him to tell us.”

“On the fucking nose, Lev.”

Kuroo likes Kenma, but he can't figure that out for himself. Kenma likes Kuroo, except he's never had a crush on anyone before and has no idea how to cope. Hopefully they can both figure it out by the time their summer vacation ends.

"...I swear to god I’m going to die Bokuto, he’s so cute and I’m so fucked.”

“national hot dad alliance is now calling…” (T) by dicaeopolis, owlinaminor ✰

https://archiveofourown.org/works/5663683/chapters/13045579

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Bokuto Koutarou & Kuroo Tetsurou , Bokuto Koutarou & Kuroo Tetsurou & Sawamura Daichi , Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou(queerplatonic) , Sawamura Daichi/Sugawara Koushi , Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou , Bokuto Koutarou & Hinata Shouyou , Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru , Bokuto Koutarou & Kuroo Tetsurou & Oikawa Tooru , Tendou Satori/Ushijima Wakatoshi , Bokuto Koutarou & Ushijima Wakatoshi , Oikawa Tooru & Ushijima Wakatoshi , Sawamura Daichi & Ushijima Wakatoshi , Bokuto Koutarou & Sawamura Daichi , Bokuto Koutarou & Oikawa Tooru , Kuroo Tetsurou & Oikawa Tooru , Kuroo Tetsurou & Sawamura Daichi , Kuroo Tetsurou & Ushijima Wakatoshi , Oikawa Tooru & Sawamura Daichi

Sawamura Daichi: What the fuck.

(Or, the captains' squad interactions that definitely happen outside of canon, presented in Skype chat form.)

“quiet company” (G) by doxian

https://archiveofourown.org/works/6434422#main

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Tagged Ships: Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou , Minor or Background Relationship(s)

Like Kuroo does every morning, he senses Kenma before he sees him. Kenma isn’t awake yet - he’s toying with the idea of total wakefulness, his flickering consciousness brushing against the back of Kuroo’s brain.

Kuroo has started his day like this almost every day for the last 15 years of his life, and he hasn’t tired of it yet. He doubts he ever will.

“as blood returns and returns to the heart” (T) by isaksara ✰

https://archiveofourown.org/works/23239519

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Tagged Ships: Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou , Hinata Shouyou & Kozume Kenma , Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio

“Kuro, you’re in need of medical attention,” Kenma tells him as he approaches. In front of him, Kuroo kneels. Kenma has the completely illogical thought that if he just reached out to touch each of them, he could soothe the wounds and stop the flow of blood. As always, he refrains.

“I know.” Kuroo looks up at him with clear eyes unbothered by blood loss. “But won’t you say the words?”

“Inked Skin” (G) by HoneyWhisky

https://archiveofourown.org/works/22239958/chapters/53103634

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Tagged Ships: Akaashi Keji/Bokuto Koutarou , Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou

A haikyuu au where whatever your soulmate writes or draws on their skin, shows up on yours as well. A bokuaka fic with tension, confusion, fluff and more. Kuroken on the side.

“What do I even write though?” Bokuto tapped his chin.

“Tell him you're the best spiker in the prefecture”.

“Think I should!?” Bokutos eyes gleamed with excitement.

“No, I don't think the first thing you should tell your soulmate is a lie” Kuroo snorted.

“Where the Love Light Gleams” (M) by nargles_exist

https://archiveofourown.org/works/21976513

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou , Akaashi Keiji/Kozume Kenma , Bokuto Koutarou/Kozume Kenma , Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou/Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou , Akaashi Keiji/Kuroo Tetsurou , Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou , Bokuto Koutarou/Kuroo Tetsurou

A peek into Kenma's household, as he and his three boyfriends prepare for the holiday season. Koutarou wants snow and decorations everywhere. Keiji wants to be a good host for their holiday party. Kenma just wants everyone to be happy and enjoy themselves. And Tetsurou… is strangely absent a lot.

“sad walk” (G) by taccoans ✰

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24182098

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Tagged Ships: Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou

rip kuro he dead

med school sucks kenma!!!! im gonna quit and become ur kept man

who tf is kodzuken

kuro uve said this 3 times this week alone

“Contract Clauses” (T) by setosdarkness ✰

https://archiveofourown.org/works/6266962

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou , Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou , Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru , Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio

Kuroshitsuji AU.

The continent is a powerful mass moving along in a waltz towards impending doom, starting when a certain person from the concrete, Hinata Shoyou, sells his soul to a genius-level demon.

(ft. drug lord Kuroo & his kitten-cosplay bodyguard Kenma; genius swordsman Bokuto & his impassive sidekick; Shinigami partners Iwaizumi & Oikawa)

“I think I kind of want you” (T) by gummyconcrete

https://archiveofourown.org/works/22253311

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou

— ft. gatorade bottles, volleyball and video games.

“You’re so uninterested,” their newest member, Lev comments��it's more of an observation, really—as he picks up one of the Gatorade bottles on the rack.

“Senpai is always like that,” one of the first-years remark.

“Not true,” Kuroo says, and he offers a bottle to Kenma. “You just got to get to know the guy, yeah?”

“You’d fit my lonely arms so perfectly” (G) by boxofwonder ✰

https://archiveofourown.org/works/2628422/chapters/5864243

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tagged Ships: Sawamura Daichi/Sugawara Koushi

“Oh. You're. Not Asahi.”

Calmed down enough that he can speak again, Daichi takes a deep breath, his smile settling on his face easily and wide.

“Not as far as I know, no.”

Suga accidentally calls a stranger instead of his best friend, tells him all about his burned batch of cookies before realising, and that particular mistake might turn out the best one he ever made.

“The Shallow End” (T) by bluphacelia ✰

https://archiveofourown.org/works/8173219

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Tagged Ships: Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru , Kuroo Tetsurou/Kozume Kenma , Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou

"Welcome to cellblock 1" -- Oikawa is sent to jail for a crime he allegedly didn't commit. The Nekoma-tachi is a well known cat burglar gang. The Fukurodani syndicate is a notorious underground group. And the Academy-trained magic cadets hold order over all.

and thats all for this one folks! Slide into my DMs here or on my twitter if you wanna talk haikyuu, fics, or if you want some help going through this monster of a rec list - I don’t blame you and I’m happy to help you find the perfect fic!!

As well, please check out these authors AMAZING fics and comment, kudos, and tell them on their socials how much you appreciate their works!

Take your meds, drink water, eat some food, get plenty of sleep, and tell your favorite fan artist that you appreciate them!

I love you and you got this!

#haikyuu fic recs #fic recs #fic rec list #haikyuu #fanfiction #writing #reading #archive of our own #ao3

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fanfic-hoe · 4 years ago

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Team Mom(s)

summary: y/n and suga make up the cutest couple at karasuno and fulfill the duties of team mom, y/n spends the night with him (wholesome-ly don’t worry) while they’re in tokyo for nationals and idk just wait i think it’s rly cute

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3rd Person POV

Tired, sore, and sweaty, the Karasuno boys slowly make their way into the hotel they’re staying at, Y/n, Suga’s lovely girlfriend and second half to the title ‘Team Mom’, was among them. After having their team meeting in preparation for tomorrow’s match, eating, and bathing it is finally time for them to get as much rest as possible. They’ll definitely need it.

As they get into bed the gentle chatter they had going, save for the few exceptions that were still hyper (we all know who they are), finally started to die down and they were all slowly falling asleep. To each their own of course except for Y/n who had tucked herself neatly into Suga’s bed, her back to his chest and his arms loosely around her waist. Comfortably the couple fell asleep. Undoubtedly photos were taken of the pair to capture the innocence and care, lol sike Noya just thought Suga’s hair looked a lil funny.

Alas a calm silence fell over the room, this of course was a rarity considering the members of the team, but nonetheless the room was comfortably silent, all of them asleep.

Save for a certain redhead who unfortunately was tossing and turning, unable to peacefully rest like his teammates. After what felt like hours, but were really minutes, Hinata threw his blanket to the side with a huff and stood up. Carefully and as silently as the boy could manage, he made his way around the others, and over to the couple that share the title of ‘Team Mom.’

He squats down next to them and gently pokes Y/n’s arm, “Y/n senpai, are you asleep.” His whisper louder than he intended, woke up both moms in the bed.

Groggily Y/n looks up at him, “Yeah uh, what’s wrong Hinata?” He looks down and, even in the dark, the pair can see a light pink cover his face,

“I uh, I-i had a nightmare and I was wondering if maybe, and you can say no of course, obviously you can say no it’s your bed and i don’t wanna intrude or anything-”

While the baby crow quietly babbles on, Y/n turns her head to Suga, he smiles shaking his head but mumbles a soft, “sure,” before dropping his head back down to the pillow, always willing to comfort and support his teammates.

“Yes you can get in Hinata,” Y/n murmurs, cutting off the little ball of nerves in front of her. He pauses before looking between her and Suga-senpai,

“Are you sure?” Y/n lifts up the blanket a bit,

“Knock yourself out,” she says with a gentle smile.

Hesitantly Hinata climbs in with his two upperclassmen, though he keeps his distance in the name of respect; he doesn’t want to cross any more boundaries than he thinks he already has.

“Oh just come here you goof,” Y/n mumbles as she places her arm around the boy’s torso in efforts to bring him closer so she can actually provide him with some comfort.

He blushes for a moment then smiles in appreciation, “Thank you Y/n senpai.”

“No problem Hinata, good night.”

“Good night.” :)

Time Skip

As the sun rose over the horizon the crows all begin to wake. As last night’s trio is mostly comprised of heavy sleepers they are the last to rise, and the last to know about the numerous pictures that were taken of the mother crows who had taken the baby crow under their wing. The teasing that ensued from the team was unrelenting but neither Y/n nor Suga payed it much thought becuase as long as they’re baby crow got some good sleep last night it was more than worth it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

lol i have know idea why i wrote it they way i did, but it just happened that way and i think it’s still kinda cute and wholesome but uh yeah anyways i hope you liked it ! please feel free to send in requests and check out my other stuff :)

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thefinalcinderella · 5 years ago

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Tsurune Book 2 Chapter 6-Door (Part 2)

It’s the Inter-High finals! Who will win, who will lose? Read on to find out! Also some really weird shit happens and by that point I was just like “...yeah okay”

This part took forever, but I hope it isn’t so tedious to read

Glossary here

Full list of translations here

Translation Notes

1. Heki-ryu Insai-ha is one of the styles still active today

2. Sakae Urakami was a 10-dan hanshi rank archer who was very well known in the kyudo world. He shot in the Heki-ryu Insai-ha style

3. Mato-tsuki means pointing the arrow at the target and teki-wari literally means dividing the target, which means turning the bow with the arm outstretched apparently. I could only find one English source for this the rest was in German hahahahahaha

4. Meigen is the ceremonial plucking of the bowstring. It is primarily done for the Imperial family. It’s believed that the tsurune helps drive away evil spirits

5. Fudou Myouou or Acala is a Buddhist deity who is a Wisdom King. He usually looks angry, carries a sword in the right hand, and has flames at his back

6. This isn’t the first time I came across wabi-sabi, and you’ve probably heard of the term before, but it’s a “world view centered on the acceptance of transience and imperfection

7. The “Bow Saint” is a title given to Awa-hanshi

Previous | Afterword

At the moment one step foot in that place, one was invited into another world.

A tsurune, a matooto that pierced through the chest.

The shouts of "Alright!"

Bows and arrows came into this world as tools to sever the lives of others, but archers used them to sever their own lives.

And then, be born again.

Minato slept like a log after he returned from the hospital, and the next morning, his fever had completely receded. Even though there was still some pain left, his body felt lighter than he expected.

The fourth day of Inter-High, the last day.

The venue was wrapped in a tingling atmosphere. The number of spectators was also the most on this day out of all the days. There were many famous schools that had won, and their bow covers and bags with their schools’ name on them let their tradition and self-confidence peek through.

Next to Seiya, who was stretching, Ryouhei and Nanao were having the mysterious conversation of "Did you gooshura last night?” “Of course I did.” It was somewhat comforting. Here was the same scenery as when they were at Kazemai High School.

Kaito, with a sullen look, suddenly struck Minato’s back.

“Ow!”

“Yesterday you seemed to be gasping for breath, but since you’re able to cry out that loudly, you’re fine.”

“Your way of making seems a bit rough, Onogi.”

“Whatever. Right, we going soon?”

Prompted by Kaito, the five bumped their yugake-covered right fists.

Their opponent in the quarterfinals was the winning school the year before last. Kazemai won with seventeen hits against fifteen.

After the deciding matches for fifth to eighth place were finished, the semi-finals began. They won and advanced, but it was hard to listen to the sobbing from the people crouching behind the venue or from the washroom stalls. This was the path that they had taken, and for this tournament as well, there was the bitterness everyone except for the winning school tasted equally. The insides of their mouths felt coarse and rough.

Kazemai’s opponent in the semi-finals was Tsujimine High School.

In the hallway before the waiting rooms, Nikaidou had an amiable smile on his face. His large eyes were so full of vigor and spirit that one wondered if his panicked self from yesterday was an illusion.

He approached Minato, who was swinging his white headband.

"Why, if it isn’t Minato-chan. We were both miserable yesterday, weren’t we?”

"No, it was a good experience for me.”

"Heh…what a mature way to handle it.”

Behind Nikaidou, Fuwa was standing at a distance. He did not like to get friendly with others, so this sense of distance felt comfortable to him.

In the extreme cases of Ootaguro, Higuchi and Aragaki, they did not belong to any group from the start, because they had the air of people marching to the beats of their own drums. They were neither ashamed nor proud to be minorities—they had a natural attitude towards it. They wouldn’t feel insecure or worried even if they weren’t connected to large number of people.

Minato fixed his gaze on Nikaidou.

“Nikaidou-senpai. I’ve been recalling a lot of Saionji-sensei’s words since then. Because of that, I am convinced of this. Even if Saionji-sensei opened his door wider, your uncle would never be his disciple.”

"I’m shocked. Minato-chan, the always good boy, is provoking me? Do you feel like doing whatever it takes for the sake of winning? You sure have grown, Senpai is so proud of you.”

“Your uncle shoots in the shamen uchiokoshi style of the Heki-ryuu Insai-ha, correct? (1) Also, taking the ‘sanbun no ni’ is from the Urakami school, isn’t it? (2) Saionji-sensei talked about it. He said that since nowadays most people did shoumen uchiokoshi, he didn’t want the number of shamen archers to decrease. He also said that since he could only teach shoumen uchiokoshi, if we ever wanted to try shooting in shamen style in the future, that we shouldn’t hesitate to seek other teachers.”

“What?”

"I think Saionji-sensei knew the difference between who each archer wanted to be, and where they are aiming for. He wasn’t amazing because he hit a hundred targets. Hitting a hundred targets doesn’t have that much meaning, but the figure of someone shooting a bow is cool.”

"Heh…Thank you so very much for your valuable opinion. You must have an awful lot of free time to think about things like that the day before the competition.”

“I loved seeing you shoot, Nikaidou-senpai. The Heki-ryuu taihai you showed us several times: mato-tsuki, teki-wari and the yudaoshi towards the front of target—it was all truly cool. Yeah, you really love kyudo, Senpai.” (3)

“…I’m doing kyudo out of a force of habit. It’s just that since I’m doing it, I don’t wanna lose, and when I need to, I can use it for university referrals. It’s only insurance for broadening my future course.”

"Even so, I looked up to you when you were holding a bow. Those kinds of sharp movements could only be done by someone who trained a lot, and even now, you don’t seem like you’re doing kyudo out of a force of habit at all.”

"Hah…you two really are alike. Just as I thought."

"Huh? What do you mean ‘alike’?”

“You and your master.”

A corner of Nikaidou’s mouth lifted, and he left while fluttering his hand at him.

At the convocation call, they went on towards the third waiting room and passed through the door.

In the space enclosed by white cloth, there were also five to six staff members in addition to the competitors and managers from the two schools. Minato’s team placed their bows and arrows in the designated place and sat down in their seats with Tommy-sensei, their manager, at the end. To verify the identities of the competitors and manager, they underwent inspection of their equipment and numbers, as well as their attire, hands, and other body inspections. The staff told them that even if they lost, the deciding matches for third and fourth places would begin immediately, so they would need to come back there again.

Tommy-sensei collected the ID cards hanging from their necks, and took with him a small basket containing things like reserve arrows stuck in palm-sized, three sun (9.1cm) targets and spare bowstring reels, then they moved to the second waiting room. The competitors put down their bows and arrows again and sat down.

They would be entering the shajo once they left there. Tsujimine’s Ootaguro was cramming his left hand into a flat can filled with fudeko powder, and next to him, Seiya was doing things like rotating his shoulders.

At the signal, the ten competitors took their bows and arrows in hand and lined up in one single line.

When they entered the kyudojo, Tsujimine and Kazemai entered the first and second shajo respectively and sat down—it was finally time.

“Rise, begin!”

They did their yuu bows simultaneously, advanced to the shooting line and nocked their arrows.

First to shoot was Tsujimine’s oomae, Nikaidou.

A yugamae done in the shamen style involved making the tenouchi small to make it look like red leaves piling up, and pushing open the bow diagonally to the left at a third of one’s yazuka. Keeping that form, one raised their bow, and then at hikiwake, the right hand passed over the ear, and the arrow stops at a height that is almost level with it, which is the “sanbun no ni” position. After doing kakehodoki—making a grinding noise with the yugake at kai—he flicked his thumb, and the sharp flight of his arrow invited a matooto.

Next was the second archer, Fuwa.

His hoozuke was slightly higher than those for shoumen uchiokoshi, and his arrow was placed in between his cheekbone and the corner of his mouth (kuchiwari). He continued to stretch his arms as though they were holding the ends of a piece of string and he was extending it evenly to the left and right. He waited for the "yagoro"—the moment that led to the perfect opportunity for hanare. He also hit the target.

The third archer, Ootaguro, was very conspicuous due to his bamboo bow that was unusual for a student, the huge size of that bow, and not to mention his massive and bulky body. His amber bow bended so much that it seemed to engulf other people, and his arrow pierced the target with such a force that it made the azuchi cave in.

Conversely, the fourth archer, Higuchi, slowly lifted his bow. He drew his bow so gently that it verged on being too careful, and even if one thought that he finally reached kai, he took a considerable amount of time to release his arrow. After the spectators, wondering what was going to happen, were kept in suspense, finally at last, his arrow drew a parabola and fell to the target.

The ochi was Aragaki the maskman. Of course, he took off his mask in the shajo. Since he was narcissistic about his profile, he was extremely particular about the angle of his face. He fixed his gaze on the target to ascertain it, as though his name was being called from the target. He did not blink even once since he started uchiokoshi. He performed nobiai at kai as though to thoroughly worship his own profile.

The five got a kaichuu, and there was applause from the stands.

Kazemai did not succumb to them.

Elderly people, even if they were great archers, could never imitate the lively and youthful shooting they performed one after the other. They captured their targets in succession, and heated shouts of “Alright!” flew from the stands. The frog fans were shaking faintly.

In the second round of shooting as well, neither school missed.

Aggressive Kaito, cheerful Ryouhei, intelligent Seiya, sparkling Nanao, and cool and clear Minato――.

They increased the freshness of the colours each of them possessed, and painted a picture rich with those five colours.

Suppose that the settings book for the story called life had been written in one’s genes before one was born. Inevitable large events were prepared at each important point. However, it was up to the person themselves to write a heavy and dark story or a fun and bright story. Even if the plot was the same, it would become something else depending on the episodes one chose, and even for the same episode, just changing its arrangement would change the implications and meaning of it. There were endless ways to write, and each person had their own impressions and feelings.

Just as everyone’s faces and voices were different, no one had the exact same shooting form. No one could always shoot with the exact same form. Humans were creatures who kept on changing moment by moment. What one ate became flesh and blood, the information that entered from the eyes and ears was processed and stored by the brain, and skin cells were reborn in two weeks. One’s faces yesterday and today were similar but different. Even if one came to a stop, hung one’s head, bent over, crouched down, or shed tears of blood, a wind would still blow somewhere.

A new wind blew.

Supple limbs danced.

The color of evergreen.

Let’s etch these moments that would never fade into our memories.

The third shooting round. Seiya missed.

In the fourth shooting round, Nanao also missed, and Kazemai had the result of four, four, three, three, and four for a total of eighteen hits.

For Tsujimine as well, Fuwa and Aragaki both missed one shot each, and the results of four, three, four, four, and three—a tie.

For the tiebreaking match, each archer would shoot one arrow, and the school with the most hits won. Each person received a spare arrow from their manager, who acted as the kaizoe and sat in a reserved chair, and steadied their breathing. Even though it was just one arrow, it felt heavier than the four arrows they always had, and it was slippery in their hands from all the sweat.

“Begin!”

After finishing yugamae, both schools’ oomae raised their bows grandly. Both were marked with circles.

The second archers hit. The third archers hit.

And then, the fourth archer. The ochimae.

Tsujimine’s Higuchi missed, and Kazemai’s Nanao hit.

In the stands, the spectating Hanazawa, Shiragiku, and Seo shouted while holding each other’s hands.

The last was the ochi.

As Aragaki’s matooto sounded, Minato was inserting himself into the centre of his bow. He performed nobiai in all directions, and waited for the moment of release. After he let go of his arrow, a circle was displayed on the scoreboard.

In the midst of the applause, they exited the shajo, and Minato’s team clapped each other on their shoulders. Ryouhei carried Nanao on his shoulder and they were shouting joyfully as though the championships were already decided for them.

Kaito, overcame with emotion, covered his mouth with his hand.

“…Did we just break through the semifinals?”

Seiya answered him.

“Yeah. We defeated Tsujimine.”

“Crap, my stomach kinda hurts.”

“Again?”

While Kazemai was shouting for joy, the competitors from Tsujimine were silent. They walked as though they were heading towards the practice venue.

Nikaidou and Fuwa looked at their two senpai.

“Higuchi-senpai, Aragaki-senpai. We should hurry on back to the waiting room.”

“I’m sorry for missing…”

“It’s fine, Higuchi-senpai. That’s just how kyudo is.”

Aragaki also nodded deeply.

Nikaidou turned his back on Minato’s team and started walking. His eyes were tinged with a quiet heat.

Damn it, damn it, damn it.

So frustrated, so frustrated, so frustrated, so frustrated…

I will not be finished. This isn’t over――.

Fuwa laughed scornfully.

“It still ain’t over yet. Let’s go take third place. Then, after the closing ceremony, we’ll have a strategy meeting. When we win third, I’ll turn the information I learned into a souvenir, we’ll snatch permission to use the gym, and then we’ll reassemble a practice regimen for next year’s Inter-High.”

“…You serious?”

“If you don’t wanna, then I don’t really care.”

“…You’re still a crafty bastard, as ever.”

“Aren’t you the same?”

Nikaidou gave Fuwa a good punch in the stomach.

Tsujimine High School won third place.

The finals match.

The school that lasted to the end was, as expected, Kirisaki High School. It was a match between schools in the same prefecture.

The five Kirisaki team members were face-to-face, and Motomura gave them his final words.

“Let’s make this our greatest stage. There is nothing that can frighten us. Let’s show everyone the shooting of the powerhouse, Kirisaki!”

Shuu and the others got goosebumps at strong and confident Motomura’s words. No, they were trembling with the excitement of warriors. It felt like a burning in the pits of their stomachs. An impulse only understood by archers were in love with the bow, who were at the mercy of the bow.

Bargaining with the target.

One must not let it know that you wanted to shoot through its heart.

The five light bumped their yugake-right fists together.

Meanwhile, Kazemai was also gathered around Tommy-sensei. Masa-san spoke.

“Forget everything I’ve said up to now. You should shoot as you want, as though this is the first time that you are holding a bow.”

Tommy-sensei spoke after him.

“I feel the same way as Takigawa-san. All of you are plenty cool as you are. The best archers. This is today’s final mission. Now, let’s go.”

“Yes!”

Tommy-sensei put out his hand, and Kaito, Ryouhei, Seiya, Nanao, Minato, and Masa-san placed their hands over it.

After they entered the second waiting room, the two schools sat next to each other.

Kirisaki High School—Motomura, Senichi, Manji, Sase, Shuu.

Kazemai High School—Kaito, Ryouhei, Seiya, Nanao, Minato.

There had never been a scene that was so tense. The prefectural finals felt like it had happened a long, long time ago.

Shuu was on Minato’s left side. Even at this tournament, he got a continuous kaichuu and accomplished a monster-like act, but didn’t that put more pressure on him instead? You couldn’t keep on hitting forever. No matter how masterful an archer was, the moment when they missed would inevitably come.

However, Shuu was indifferent to Minato’s worries; he seemed happy. When he met Minato’s eyes, he smiled gently. It was like the time when they played with Souta at Saionji-sensei’s house, like even now he was planning a trick. Seeing him like that, Minato unintentionally guarded his left flank. He was far from his persona of being the “Young Prince Shuu” who many archers knew him as. He was just like a child.

Where did that calmness come from? He said that he would embody “one shot and expire,” but Minato didn’t even know what that meant.

What he did know was that his heart was pounding, and that he was excited.

The joy from being able to shoot on the same stage as Shuu.

At the signal, they stood up, and Kazemai and Kirisaki faced each other and bowed, saying, “We look forward to competing against you.”

It was the start of nyuujou. The five sat down simultaneously in the chairs of the first waiting room in front of honza. Tommy-sensei also sat down behind the competitors. The arena was different from the kyudojo they had always shot in, and even the smallest sound was picked up. It felt like everyone could even hear the sound that persisted in Minato’s chest.

His exposed heart.

The immovable target.

At the order to “begin,” the two schools went towards the shooting line, their yellow-green and purple headbands swaying above their shoulders. Masa-san, holding his breath as he watched over the group with the same-color headbands, was also at the very end of the shajo.

The oomaes began to raise their bows.

Motomura had the face of a young family head, and his true form was that of an extraordinary exorcist. When admonished by his gentle face, one would forget suspicious things and uncanniness. There were “sounds” and “words” that made people uncomfortable and those that soothed them, and seeing miracles on the bow since ancient times was because of the beauty of its form and shape. Before true beauty, people lost their wickedness, and a beautiful tsurune possessed the wavelength to heal people.

Meigen—the sound of joy. (4)

A sound that reset everything, returning them back to zero.

Kaito did not hide the heat that slept within him, and suppressed the demon with his look of anger. Like Fudou Myouou (5), he held a sword in his hands and carried flames on his back, waiting for sprouts of new life in a burnt field.

The second archers after them were Senichi and Ryouhei.

For both of them, their ideal archer was Shuu. His shooting that surpassed those of the same generation as him always captivated those who saw it. They groped for how close they could get to him, how it could superimposed over them, and how to recreate it. It was fascinating how even if they copied him, it wouldn’t be exactly the same as the original, but another way of shooting was born, mixed with their own colors. Senichi was delicate, and Ryouhei was bold and heroic. They both hit their targets.

The third archers were Senichi’s younger brother Manji and Seiya. They painted layers of muddy paint and hid their own inborn colors.

Manji had sealed up his fast shooting and kept on practicing to shoot carefully and without rushing in order to not have hayake. Just like how Senichi chased after Shuu, Manji chased after Senichi. The two of them absolutely couldn’t stand was being left behind or surpassed. A circle was shown on the scoreboard.

Rather than imitating someone, Seiya pictured his ideal image of what he wanted to do in his head and simulated it. He repeated that until he tricked his brain into believing that was truer, so even he himself completely forgot who he was originally, but from Kaito’s point of view, he didn’t seem to be able to change completely. His intricately calculated hanare induced a matooto.

Sase was an idol lover, and he himself had the talent of an idol. Like a refreshing and easygoing sportsman, he was not bashful at all, and was always in the center of a circle of strangers. He started talking to Motomura, who was brimming with wabi-sabi (6) even when he was young, not because he worried that he felt out of place in class, but because he wanted to talk to him and so he did. He also started doing kyudo because he wanted to try doing it. That was all it was.

Nanao was actually quite straightforward. He knew very well that his popularity with girls would make him the enemy of some boys, and that was exactly why he spread love. He couldn’t keep his overflowing feelings in his chest. I smile because you smile. I’m happy when you’re happy. Your angry faces, your troubled faces, I want to see lots of you.

After he snatched a magnificent hit, the yellow-green frogs in the stands swayed.

The ochi were Shuu and Minato.

When Shuu raised his bow, the world changed completely. One got lost in a shining golden land. Before that divine and beautiful archer, everything that had life stopped breathing. The fire he released from the depths of his body created an updraft, which started up and quickened. He slowly raised his two wings and spread his white feathers.

Sound was what fell.

A sound that stole away people’s memories.

When the watchers recovered their senses, the area was engulfed in the echoes from shouts of "Alright!" It gently rained with the sound that made their skin tremble and scorched their chests.

At the same moment, Minato raised his bow up high. He held his bow at kyuuha, with a strength like he was playing with it—not too strongly, not too weakly. The beautiful tsurune he heard when he was young. When that sound rang, Minato’s world changed. On the other side of the rain that fell beside him, a rainbow from thick clouds spread.

Even if he tried to not recall what was taught to him, his body remembered it all perfectly. The disciple inherited the master’s colors. Kazemai had Kazemai’s colors, and Kirisaki had Kirisaki’s colors. Even from among the many archers, when told, "You are from Kazemai High School Kyudo Club, aren’t you," he could continue hitting.

In the silence that made one even hesitate to move, the shouts of "Alright" bounced off the surrounding walls, continually going back and forth.

From right to left.

From left to right.

Thud, thud.

The sound, similar to fireworks, echoed.

The instrumental trio of tsurune, matooto, and shouts.

In the second shooting round also, tsurune were played in succession. It was all hits. Two five-person kaichuu were carried out, and there was applause.

When they entered the third shooting round, A bead of sweat ran down Minato’s cheek. His hearing wasn’t working normally, as the way he heard things was somewhat strange. A sensation of having dozed off, like he was being talked to in his head, like he was talking to someone in his dreams. Where was he right now? What was he doing? Even the act of drawing his bow felt like he was doing it in a dream-like state and lacked a sense of reality.

In the stands, Hanazawa, Shiragiku, and Seo whispered to each other.

"They are so good it’s kinda scary…"

"I agree. I feel chills, even though it is the middle of summer."

"――This is divine possession."

Seo’s words made their surroundings more and more frozen.

In the fourth—final—shooting round, the oomae Kaito missed. At someone’s sigh, the tension in the shajo was broken for a moment. Perhaps overwhelmed by the change in the flow of that wind, the arrow the second archer Senichi released also pierced the azuchi. Since it was an indoor azuchi that didn’t use soil, a tap sound, similar to a matooto, resounded.

With that, both schools had one miss――. Once more, it became a one-on-one battle between the two ochi.

The spectator’s gazes were fixed on Shuu and Minato.

When Minato raised his bow, Shuu also raised his to follow him. They parted their bows grandly and inserted their bodies into the middle of them. They slowly released their breaths from their filled and content dantian. Upon doing that, the target itself approached the archer and assimilated into him.

The target is me, and I am the target. The great I, whose boundaries as an individual had blurred, will draw my bow.

They extended in all directions and formed crosses.

Nikaidou had asked Minato, "For what reason do you shoot a bow?", but that question didn’t make sense to him. He didn’t draw the bow to win or to train his body; he faced the target to breathe. Breathing was the proof of living. Therefore, on the days when he wasn’t holding a bow, he felt like he was dead.

It wasn’t "correct shooting makes for true hitting," but "correct questions make for correct answers." A good answer was born from a good question. If one were to ask Minato a question, it should not be "for what reason," but "How do you shoot a bow?" He embodied the answer to that question every single day.

Minato and Shuu were no longer thinking anything.

They didn’t hear anything.

They returned to the time when they met, losing themselves in drawing their bows.

For honing one’s body and entering a state of absolute concentration, it was annoying and hindering to have words inside one’s head. Thinking interfered with physical activity. Therefore, deep breathing was what helped empty one’s head. Along with breath, one would make "thought" get out of one’s body.

The one who shaded the event of an arrow hitting a target with good or bad, or emotions, was the "self," and the opposite of hayake and Yips was the state of "selflessness", or the zone. Being unconscious, in a sense, was like being someone who had expired. Dead people had no consciousness, and babies played innocently and without thought. Words did not intervene there.

――One shot and expire.

The archer dying at kai and being born again at hanare was the greatest shooting technique in the ultimate secret techniques left behind by the one who was called the Bow Saint. (7) The two were making use of that technique—Shuu intentionally, Minato unintentionally.

They cried their yagoe in their hearts.

Fly, yagoe.

Clear your path.

Run, yagoe.

Today’s a day of beginnings.

The two arrows were sucked into the bull’s-eye.

Amidst thunderous applause, the bell signalling seven-and-a-half minutes sounded. Minato and Shuu turned to face their targets and moved backed towards honza, and then sat down in their chairs.

Nineteen hits to nineteen hits. It was a tie.

The two schools’ managers handed their archers one backup arrow each. Each team shot a total of five shots, and if it couldn’t be decided in one set, then they would repeat the process. It was like an izume match for group competitions.

"Rise, begin!"

The Kazemai and Kirisaki archers nocked their arrows. With a single arrow, victory or defeat was decided. An arrow that was too heavy.

My chest hurts. My chest hurts. My center of my head feels hazy, and my fingertips are getting really numb. The insides of my ears sting. To get away from this choking feeling, I’ll breathe slowly, slowly.

The first shooting round. Both schools got hits.

Next was the second round.

Ryouhei’s arrow landed to the right of the target. Sighs overlapped with shouts of "Alright" from the stands.

Third round, hits.

Fourth round, hits.

And finally, the fifth round.

Minato and Shuu made beautiful tsurune ――.

After they exited the shajo, Kazemai and Kirisaki bowed to each other. Kaito and Motomura, feeling just like Ryouhei and Senichi, mutually smashed their yugake together. Minato and Shuu also bumped the backs of their yugake.

When they passed through the exit, the press gathered to interview the winning school. Minato and the others passed by them. On the return path, there was the staff room partitioned off with white cloth, and large windows on the left side. It was dazzlingly bright outside the windows, the trees swaying in the breeze.

Ryouhei came to a stop in front of the wall between the windows, and collapsed on the spot. He pressed his head against the wall hard, and his shoulders were shaking. He got on his knees temporarily, then he couldn’t stand up anymore.

"If I…If I hadn’t missed… I wanted to shoot more, and more… It’s my fault we lost…”

Minato put his arm around Ryouhei’s shoulders from behind.

He couldn’t say anything. That regret he himself had also tasted. That intense anger and sadness towards himself.

If one was experiencing such painful emotions, then they shouldn’t be doing things like kyudo.

I’m so frustrated, I’m so frustrated, I can’t forgive myself――.

Seiya also bent down in that spot and placed his hands on the two boys’ shoulders.

"Me, Kaito, Nanao and Minato—we’ve all missed before. We’re all the same. Someone who never missed before doesn’t exist."

"Uugh…ah…"

Kaito was watching over shoulder at Nanao folding Ryouhei, Minato, and Seiya together into a big hug. Kirisaki, having finished their interviews, passed by them there, and Shuu remained behind as the other members continued on.

When Nanao and the others noticed him, they removed themselves from Ryouhei, and Shuu knelt down before him.

"Ryouhei, Sae wants to meet you. Summer vacation is still long, so would you come and play with us, if you like? It seems Toujou would also like another bout with you."

"…Alright. I won’t lose, after all."

Ryouhei had his hands taken by Seiya and Minato and stood up. He then smiled.

Shuu left them.

In the hall, competitors could be seen chatting with their families. The accompanying children, perhaps bored, ran around in their slippers while making pitter-patter sounds.

Suddenly, Shuu remembered that it was the day of Sae’s violin lesson today. He turned his face towards where the sun was shining and narrowed his eyes. He could see an illusion.

"…Sae? Why are you here?"

“Shuu-niisama, congratulations. We came here to support you, of course. We thought we would make you nervous if you saw our faces, so we made sure to not be seen. It was hard.”

Next to her, Shuu’s mother was also smiling.

“Congratulations, Shuu. You were wonderful.”

Unexpected words, from an unexpected person.

As Shuu was at a loss for words, a man appeared from behind. Without needing to cross swords with anyone, he gave off the air of someone who made others lose their will to fight—someone who had the nickname of “Samurai.”

“Father…”

“Congratulations. Your shooting closely resembled that of Saionji-sensei’s in the past. I can see that you trained a lot, Shuu.”

“…Thank you very much. I am truly sorry that you had to come all the way here while you were the one who was busy, Father.”

“To tell you the truth, I received many phone calls at my company. From Sugawara Senichi-kun and Manji-kun, Motomura-kun and Sase-kun, as well as Narumiya-kun and Yamanouchi-kun. All asking me to please come and see Shuu shoot. It seems that my son has some good friends. I am looking forward to seeing the growth of all of you from now on.”

Shuu wanted to respond, but couldn’t make words come out of his mouth no matter how hard he tried.

The unseen words written on that Tanabata paper strip were, “From your son, Shuu.”

To be able to heard the word “son” come from you--.

When the wind came dancing in from the doors, the light that reflected off the windows hid Shuu’s face.

Meanwhile, Minato and the others exited the hall to find Masa-san waiting for them.

He smiled, and while saying things like “Alright!” “Okay!” and “Let’s go and eat something tasty”, he roughly tousled the five boys’ hair. Tommy-sensei also patted their backs.

Even though Minato had been holding it back for a long time, it was at that moment that his tear glands loosened. Seiya, Ryouhei, Nanao, and Kaito were the same.

Masa-san, Tommy-sensei, you’re both awful.

Even though the closing ceremony is going to take place after this, isn’t it super uncool to mess up our hair like this…

The five boys formed a circle.

And then, they shouted that they would stand on this stage again.

At dusk, the train carrying five boys departed.

On the screen of Ryouhei’s phone, there was a picture sent by his sister.

It was a picture of overpowering mountains and a tall sky.

The first star of the evening, which couldn’t be seen from the windows of their rooms, shone.

Fragrant ears of rice and the sound of cicadas.

Before he knew it, Minato dozed off, and leaned on his teacher beside him.

Previous | Afterword

#tsurune #tsurune translation

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jacksgreysays · 5 years ago

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Viridescent: Or, Tetsuki Goes Under New Management, (2020-04-27)

Related to this, but not required reading

Tetsuki is sent on a mission to yet another dimension with yet another group of people who she could help, but only if they pay an equivalent price in whatever the Shopkeeper has sent her to retrieve. It's a standard mission, all told, fairly straightforward for all that she's dealing in mercenary work exchanged for what should be intangible concepts. It doesn't even take that long. Only six days--not the shortest she's ever been on, that had been only six hours, and far from the longest--before she's ready to return to the Shop

(Then again, what with the different dimensions and all, six days for her does not guarantee six days at the Shop.)

So she returns--with a bottled curse and a beloved keychain weighted with cherished childhood memories she had Assessed to be the equivalent exchange--and is only mildly surprised that on the other side of the Dimension Doors is an entirely different Shopkeeper than the one she left behind.

For a moment, Watanuki-kun doesn't look it. Startled and staring--as bewildered as the teenager she first met, tempered with a yearning grief--but that is quickly and carefully shuttered beneath the neutral guise of the Shopkeeper.

"Ah, you've inherited..." she says mildly, giving him time to compose himself, "... my condolences for your loss."

He nods his head, but doesn't say thank you, because he knows words have power, especially his own, now. But perhaps his education was not so thorough, because then he asks, "My loss, but not yours, senpai?"

Tetsuki blinks, but only because her eyes require it. "You're the Shopkeeper, I am no longer your senpai," she corrects, "And your loss, yes, not mine. Don't get me wrong, I liked Yuuko-san, but to me she was my employer, the Shopkeeper first and foremost and, well..." she does not gesture around her, because that would be unnecessary.

"The Shopkeeper is dead. Long live the Shopkeeper."

Watanuki-kun's face doesn't even twitch, stays placid even under the wave of emotional turmoil she can feel off him. Good, he's a fast learner.

Now, the real question is, "Did you also inherit the title of Dimension Witch?"

---

The longest mission Tetsuki had ever been sent on lasted for six years: a grueling, grudging thing which was largely set in, of all places, Scotland.

The client was foolish, mismanaging his resources, and somehow both frustratingly vague and tediously inefficient with his Wish, besides. She even offered suggestions that she Assessed would suit the situation: it certainly wouldn't be the first time she bodyguarded someone from a villain obsessed with immortality or, alternatively, assassinate said villain.

(Yes, even including the whole magical soul container bit. Although, to be fair, most liches only bothered with the single phylactery.)

But Dumbledore only wanted her to observe and teach and no more.

And so for six years Tetsuki was Professor Babbling's apprentice and teaching assistant. Almost literally as far away from the important events of the mission as she could get while still being in the same castle. She never even had the Chosen One in any of her classes!

She did get close in her third year, when the staff were deciding how to schedule around Professor Lupin's lycanthropy. Briefly they considered having her substitute for him--he would assign reading or have open study, so she didn't really need to be a master in the subject--except then Professor Snape swooped in, eager for his opportunity to sabotage, and made the matter unnecessarily complicated: she ended up covering the first and second year classes for both Defense and Potions so that Snape could go and torment the upper years.

Though at least Dumbledore paid his share of the price for the utter waste of her time, expensive as it was. Truly, it would have cost less if he had chosen to put a hit out on Voldemort. As if she didn't know how to extract a soul shard from a living vessel without harming said vessel--and that even before she learned magic.

At the end of six years, she returned to the Shop, having never spoken to either Harry James Potter or Tom Marvolo Riddle, but getting their payments, nonetheless.

And Yuuko-san--for who, it seemed, only six weeks had passed--raised an eyebrow, smirked, and asked, "Did you have fun?"

Tetsuki, irritated, refused to answer.

At least she was able to actually learn Ancient Runes, for all that it seemed less effective and more volatile than the various fuinjutsu, ofuda, and mahoujin she had picked up over her existence. Then again, that seemed to be the way of that particular dimension:

A whole lot of adversity for an unequal amount of payoff.

---

The first few missions Watanuki-kun sent her on were largely... local... as far as other dimensions went. Only dimensions he or either of the Mokona Modoki had already been to. Which, to be fair wasn't exactly a small list--Soel's journeys nearly too numerous to count. But it was a far cry from the literal infinity Tetsuki was used to.

"I've seen eight versions of the same person in the past ten missions, and six of them Wished for romantic help," she complains as she steps through the Dimension Doors, a clumsily made but charmingly heartfelt necklace in hand. She passes it on to Moro, to be placed in the store room, and takes a place at the table where Watanuki-kun is beginning to serve tea for three. Him, her, and a Doumeki-kun.

(She can never be sure which Doumeki it is--and it's not just her being unsure of the flow of time. They all physically look and magically feel identical--so it's best to just refer to them the same way)

"If I have to do one more mission involving playing messenger or clearing up misunderstandings for star crossed lovers, I'm going on strike," she says, once Watanuki-kun has taken his seat. The corner of this particular Doumeki-kun's mouth twitches up, even as he hides it by taking a drink--so not the most stoic of Doumeki, but certainly not the least either.

Watanuki-kun glances sharply at her, the Shopkeeper recognizing the wording of a transaction, informal as it was. "Is that--" he stops, hesitant, then reconsiders, "Does it feel equivalent to you?"

Tetsuki takes a moment to drink her own tea and Assess, the ability vital to her missions, something she had purchased from Yuuko-san at the very beginning of her employment at the Shop.

Truthfully, it would be more useful to Watanuki-kun now. He still struggles sometimes to make equivalent exchanges--generally skewing too much in the favor of his clients, and ending up paying the remaining price. But it's something he'll develop naturally as he gains experience as the Shopkeeper--to deprive him of that growth would be equally harmful.

"Well, it's not the most specific contract, though that works in our favor," Tetsuki begins, patient in her explanation. She understands why Yuuko-san was as hands off as she was, but it certainly hasn't helped the new Shopkeeper embrace his role, "Your Premonition ability isn't quite at the level it needs to be to know what the missions you send me on entail and so it's not as if you can screen which missions I do or don't go on at this time. It would be harsh to punish you for something you aren't doing purposefully. Luckily, I didn't say how long the strike would be for, nor did I define what concessions I would want to end said strike."

She shrugs, "I may just take a nap and request a specific dish for dinner, and if you cook it then we can either consider the exchange complete or renew the contract entirely."

Watanuki-kun splutters, "That's it?" he asks, more apprentice than employer. This particular Doumeki-kun barely bats an eye at this behavior, so either he's one of the earlier Doumeki or he is actually one of the more stoic ones.

"Sometimes specificity helps--it guides you in the right direction and prevents imbalance--but too much and it can make the prices too steep or inhibit the exchange entirely," Tetsuki shrugs again, "A lenient interpretation will serve you well until you are able to Assess for yourself."

A/N: I was briefly considering the idea that Tetsuki unknowingly inherited the title of Dimension Witch while Watanuki only got the Shopkeeper, but I didn’t like locking her in this limbo when, ostensibly, she started working for Yuuko because she Wished to go home (although, which home is the part where a lack of specificity will bite her in the ass). In a way, her training Watanuki to be an effective Dimension Witch/Shopkeeper is kind of her last mission before she finally completes her payment for her Wish.

#jacksgreyson #writing #fanfiction #viridescent #tetsuki kaiza #xxxholic #harry potter #kimihiro watanuki #yuuko ichihara #albus dumbledore

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recentanimenews · 4 years ago

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Bookshelf Briefs 5/28/20

Dr. STONE, Vol. 11 | By Riichiro Inagaki and Boichi | Viz Media – Balloons! Yes, Dr. STONE is taking it upon itself to do something it does best, which is show off the gorgeous vistas of this not-really-that-explored future Japan it takes place in. And that means hot air balloons. It also means speedboats! But alas, just because Senku is a scientist does not mean he can cook. So they use some of the last remaining fluid to un-stone a butler-cum-chef-cum-everything, Francois, who is flamboyant and also a lot of fun. There’s actually some really good humor in this volume as well, be it the reporter getting her camera and its undercutting right afterwards, or Senku’s Einstein impersonation. This remains one of the essential Jump titles. – Sean Gaffney

Dungeon Builder: The Demon King’s Labyrinth Is a Modern City!, Vol. 2 | By Rui Tsukiyo and Hideaki Yoshikawa | Seven Seas – After wrapping up the cliffhanger from the first volume (he names his first monster girl, which gives her the power-up (and bust expansion) she needs to win), the cast gets down to the nitty-gritty of what he wants to do: build a city, not a dungeon, which feeds on positive emotions. Of course, there are a few problems. Location, labor costs, the neighboring demon lords, and of course Marcho’s impending death, which she seems to have accepted more than Procel has. This remains sort of mid-tier manga—not interesting enough to stand out, but the pages turn easily, and you could do worse. Also, brilliant pun for the back-cover blurb. – Sean Gaffney

Éclair Blanche: A Girls’ Love Anthology That Resonates in Your Heart | By Various Artists | Yen Press – The second of the Éclair anthologies to come out over here, this one seems to focus more attention on love that is already in bloom when the story begins than love that we see the start of. There’s a nice mix of funny, heartwarming, sad, and generally melancholic. Some highlights are “Azalea Corner,” about a minion’s crush on the arrogant ojou she follows; “The Unemployed Woman and the High School Girl,” which should be awful but is by Canno so is cute instead; and “That Summer Won’t Come Again,” about a girl trapped in her sister’s past who bonds with a senpai and learns to swim again. There’s good and not-so-good here, but overall well worth buying. – Sean Gaffney

Éclair Blanche: A Girls’ Love Anthology That Resonates in Your Heart | By Various Artists | Yen Press – This is the second Éclair anthology, but aside from two continuations, all the stories here are new. The quality varies, and it seems the better stories are in the front. The first story, Fly’s “Flowers in a Storm,” sets the tone for bittersweet, ambiguous endings with the tale of a first kiss that comes too late. There are also several stories about unrequited love for a friend who loves someone else, be it another girl, an idol, or a guy. Kabocha’s “Though Summer Won’t Come Again” is a standout, about a girl who assumes the senpai she’s developed feelings for prefers her older sister, as everyone else seems to. Unfortunately, I found the stories toward the end of the volume to be less enjoyable, particularly the final one, which includes the most awkward teacher-student embrace I have ever seen. Still, I will read the next installment when it comes out! – Michelle Smith

I Didn’t Mean to Fall in Love | By Minta Suzumaru | Futekiya (digital only) – Yoshino Kiritani is a beautiful 30-year-old salaryman who happens to be both gay and a virgin. With no relationship prospects on the horizon and wanting to finally have sex, he goes to a gay bar, meets a charismatic college student named Rou, and sleeps with him. The back-and-forth that follows between these two guys is so well done. Rou is a notorious playboy with a hot-and-cold routine he has employed many times to manipulate his conquests into falling for him and confessing their feelings. He tries this on Yoshino, even though he’s actually serious about him, but it doesn’t work. Self-effacing Yoshino genuinely thinks Rou wants nothing more to do with him, forcing Rou to face the seriously scary prospect of rejection by declaring his feelings first. There are a few explicit scenes, but they serve the characters and story well. Highly recommended! – Michelle Smith

Love Me, Love Me Not, Vol. 2 | By Io Sakisaka | Viz Media – First of all, a word of advice to the author: don’t sink people’s ships in your author’s notes, OK? Secondly, this continues to have the strengths of Io Sakisaka titles—it gets teenage love in a good way, has characters who are likeable but clearly flawed, shows gradual character growth, and has clean, easy-to-follow art. She’s still trying to balance out the idealistic girl with the realistic girl, though it may be leaning towards the former. Sadly, it also contains what’s always been one of this author’s big weaknesses to me—I like her series but never love them. Each volume is fun to read and I’d call it good, but it’s never going to be tops in my favorite shoujo manga lists. It’s not life-changing the way a Yona of the Dawn is. – Sean Gaffney

Ping Pong, Vol. 1 | By Taiyo Matsumoto | Viz Media – Ever since Matsumoto was a guest at TCAF in 2013 and spoke in depth about the series, its development, and how it fit into his overall career, I’ve been desperately wanting to read Ping Pong in English. When the excellent anime adaptation came and went soon after and the original manga still hadn’t been licensed, I didn’t expect that we’d ever see it translated. But it is actually here! The first of two beautifully designed omnibus volumes. And I am absolutely in love with Matsumoto’s Ping Pong. Ostensibly a high school sports manga, Ping Pong spends very little time explaining the ins and outs of the game even though table tennis is essentially omnipresent; instead, the series devotes its attention almost entirely to the characters themselves. With strong psychological elements, in part the work’s themes explore talent, motivation, and self-determination, all supported by Matsumoto’s distinctive and spectacularly dynamic and expressive artwork. – Ash Brown

Prince Freya, Vol. 1 | By Keiko Ishihara | VIZ Media – The land of Tyr is threatened by Sigurd, the empire to the north. Our “wimpy and weak” heroine, Freya, happens to be the spitting image of Prince Edvard, who’s just been poisoned by Sigurd, and so takes on the role of impersonating him to protect her country. Alas, Freya’s performance as Edvard (and characterization in general) is inconsistent and in a way that doesn’t seem intentional on the mangaka’s part. Sometimes she boldly and capably takes action, sometimes she just cries. In my notes I wrote, “This ain’t no Basara,” prompted by a panel in which Freya is making an extremely insipid face because of something sappy her love interest has just said, but then something super dramatic and unexpected occurs and… well, now I’m cautiously on board. It may turn out to be fluffier than I would like, but I will at least give it a couple more volumes. – Michelle Smith

The Quintessential Quintuplets, Vol. 9 | By Negi Haruba | Kodansha Comics – There’s less swapping in this one, but the one time there is a swap it blows the reader out of the water. I suspect Ichika’s popularity took a nosedive after this volume, as her ideal of “all’s fair in love and war” is taken to a somewhat cruel conclusion. She’s not even the thirstiest of the quints, as both Nino and Miku are trying to make their feelings for Futaro as clear to him as possible. Meanwhile, Yotsuba is trying the opposite tactic, saying that she’ll support whichever sister that isn’t her he picks, showing off a core of self-deprecation that we’ve seen before, but never to this level. And then there’s Itsuki, who seems to have forgotten she was supposed to be first girl. Great harem antics. – Sean Gaffney

Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts, Vol. 9 | By Yu Tomofuji | Yen Press – I missed reviewing the eighth volume of this, for some reason; I’m not sure why. It continues to be quietly sweet, with a heroine who perhaps leans a little too much towards “can save everyone by the sheer power of being really nice.” That said, nice can only go so far, and when she discovers a country that’s being blackmailed into slavery, nice becomes determined and fierce. There’s also some tortured romance at the start—the king’s chief bodyguard and the princess’s attendant clearly are headed towards each other, but there are a few steps back here before we can move forward once more. I admit that I’d likely enjoy this more without its central conceit of animal people, but oh well. – Sean Gaffney

Snow White with the Red Hair, Vol. 7 | By Sorata Akiduki | Viz Media – I admit I was a bit more surprised than Shirayuki was at the identity of the leader of the Lions of the Mountain. That said, it does remind us that Shirayuki is another one of those great “shoujo heroines who underreacts to everything,” which can be quite amusing when done right. That said, this volume is when the series transitioned from the quarterly DX to the main LaLa magazine, and as such much of the middle part is taken up with introducing new readers to the main cast and the situation. This includes an amusing “personality reversal” chapter where Mitsuhide starts acting like a chivalrous knight. the book ends with the implication that their love is going public. How will that go? Great shoujo. – Sean Gaffney

Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina, Vol. 1 | By Jougi Shiraishi, Itsuki Nanao, and Azure | Square Enix – This is a manga adaptation of the first fourth or so of the light novel, and it’s a very good adaptation. I will admit that Elaina is a lot more expressive than I was expecting… her delivery in the novels is somewhat cool… but it makes sense given the manga’s visual medium, and she’s cute. This volume shows off what we’re going to get from now on: some cute fluffy stories, some melancholic stories with deaths, some stories of Elaina having to extricate herself from a situation, and some backstory showing how she came to be wandering. The final story was one of my favorites in the book, and it’s the best one here too. A nice adaptation. – Sean Gaffney

By: Ash Brown

#Anime #News #Manga Bookshelf

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kanasmusings · 6 years ago

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[Translation] StarMyu Third STAGE Drama CD - Track 3

Okay, LMAO. Tengenji’s as wild as ever~ The track starts out with him just babying Tavian again (≧◡≦) And then Inumine arrives and everything goes wilder XD Still, a sort of meaningful conversation happens afterwards ^^

※ Please don’t re-post the English translations without permission. Please just like/reblog them instead ^^

Under the cut, enjoy~!

Track 03: [第2幕:月皇と空閑の部屋にて] “Chapter 2: Inside Tsukigami and Kuga’s Room”

[0:00]

TENGENJI: Chapter 2: Inside Tsukigami and Kuga’s Room.

TENGENJI: Geez… Why are you always so wild~?

TENGENJI: (whispering) My really cute… (he suddenly raises his voice) Tavian~!

(Tavian meows)

TENGENJI: (gasps excitedly) Hey, look at this, Tsukigami. My angel’s sleeping face is the cutest~

KAITO: Tengenji, how many times should I tell you? This is my and Kuga’s room, not yours.

KAITO: It’s also not a place for you to play around with Tavian.

KAITO: Don’t just use our room as if it’s yours.

TENGENJI: Cats have a strong sense of territory.

TENGENJI: It’s not like I came here on my own. I have no choice because Tavian wants to be here, you boor.

TENGENJI: (to Tavian, sweetly) Right~?

KAITO: Good grief. If someone catches you doing that here, I’ll end up getting lectured for breaking the rules, too.

(banging on door)

TENGENJI/KAITO: …!

INUMINE: Tsukigami, you there?!

KAITO: Hm? This voice is—

TENGENJI: Team Hiragi’s big dog.

INUMINE: HEY! (banging on door) TSUKIGAMI! (more banging on the door)

INUMINE: (still banging on the door) HEY!! HE~Y!

KAITO: Ah! Wait, Inumine, don’t break the door!

KAITO: (whispering) Tengenji, hide Tavian.

TENGENJI: Y-yeah, got it…!

TENGENJI: (whispering to Tavian) I’ll cover you with a blanket for a bit, okay~?

(Kaito opens the door)

KAITO: What’s wrong? Is there something you need from me?

INUMINE: Yeah! Do you have that rolly thing? If you have, can you lend it to me?

KAITO: … Rolly thing…?

TENGENJI: The one used for cleaning carpets?

INUMINE: Nope, the one you take when going on a trip.

KAITO: Ah, a suitcase with caster wheels? I don’t have any but… Tengenji, do you have one?

TENGENJI: Don’t have any.

KAITO: You heard him.

INUMINE: I see.

KAITO: What do you need a suitcase for? If you’re only going home then, the usual bag you have is okay, isn’t it?

INUMINE: You see, my family decided to go on a trip for spring break! It’s a long vacation so I need to bring a lot of things, y’know?

KAITO: Hm?

TENGENJI: Then, it shouldn’t be a problem, right? You have a suitcase back at your house, don’t you?

TENGENJI: You should have one, right?

INUMINE: That was supposed to be the plan but, I made a mistake with the date so, everyone already left~! Tee-hee~

TENGENJI/KAITO: Huh?! / What!?

KAITO: They left you…!?

TENGENJI: What are you gonna do then…?

INUMINE: I’ll go tomorrow and meet them all there~ I’ll go straight from the dorms so I’m looking for a rolly thing~

KAITO: Good grief… You’re so tiring.

INUMINE: Ehehe~

KAITO: In the meantime, just bring the things you think are necessary and then just buy what you need when you get there. How about that?

KAITO: I don’t know where you’re going but that seems the most logical. It’ll work out somehow, right?

INUMINE: Yup! I’ll do that! See ya!

KAITO: Ah, wait.

INUMINE: Hm?

KAITO: I have a travelling bag so I’ll lend it to you.

INUMINE: Oh~ Thank you, Tsukigami!

KAITO: Come in and wait a bit.

INUMINE: Sure! Pardon the intrusion~ Yoohoo, Tengenji!

TENGENJI: Yeah.

(Kaito closes the door)

[02:51]

INUMINE: Hm? (sniffing) Huh? (sniffing)

INUMINE: I knew Tengenji’s room had it but, Tsukigami’s room smells like a cat, too, huh.

TENGENJI: …! Wh-wh-wh-what are you talking about?

TENGENJI: Is your nose broken or something, you boorish dog?

INUMINE: Really? Yeah, it may be~!

TENGENJI/KAITO: Phew…

INUMINE: You guys aren’t going back home?

TENGENJI: Hm? Ah, I’ll be going home next week. What about you, Tsukigami?

KAITO: I’ll stay in the dorm for spring break. Both my parents are busy with work currently.

KAITO: I’d rather laze about in the dorms instead of watching over the house.

KAITO: Since Kuga said he’d be going home tomorrow too, so I’ll get to enjoy the room for myself after a while.

INUMINE: Then, you’re the same as Sawatari and Tatsumi, huh~!

KAITO: Ah… Oh yeah, they did say that they’ll stay in the dorms.

TENGENJI: Heh~

INUMINE: You’re gonna be pretty sad being away from Tsukigami and the others, huh, Tengenji~

INUMINE: You get along well with them after all~

TENGENJI: I-it’s not like I’ll be lonely. Don’t just start assuming!

INUMINE: But, everyone will be in the same class, right~? Isn’t that great, Tengenji!

KAITO: Oh, I found it, Inumine. Here.

INUMINE: (singing) Thank you~! Whoo!

TENGENJI: Listen to what I’m saying, hey!

KAITO: Putting that aside. Inumine, you said that you go on trips during spring break a lot but, have you prepared accordingly for after that?

INUMINE: Hm?

KAITO: You’re pretty similar to our Hoshitani after all. I’m worried about you even though you’re from a different team.

INUMINE: Hm~? What do I need to prepare?

KAITO: Ah… (sighs)

TENGENJI: This guy’s hopeless.

KAITO: You do know the curriculum for our second year, right?

INUMINE: Yup! We’ll be helping with preparing for Hiragi-senpai and the others’ graduation ceremony, right!?

INUMINE: Shadow & Lights~!

TENGENJI: Oh, what’s this~? So you do know the name.

INUMINE: Ehehe~ Sawatari taught me about it.

KAITO: Musical: Shadow & Lights.

KAITO: It is a performance done as part of a tradition for Ayanagi Academy’s Musical Department.

KAITO: The story is a classic but the setting is a bit unique on its own. On top of that, the cast of characters and the prgramme change completely for every year it’s performed.

KAITO: I guess you can call it something very appropriate to test our abilities as 2nd years to support the graduating cast.

TENGENJI: As expected from a graduate of Ayanagi Academy’s middle school~

TENGENJI: You’re very knowledgeable.

INUMINE: It seems interesting~! Hey, hey, what kinda story is it?!

TENGENJI: You’re not interested in anything except for plays, huh.

INUMINE: I end up forgetting anything after I’ve been told it anyway~

TENGENJI/KAITO: (sighs)

[05:32]

KAITO: The story basically goes like this.

KAITO: The setting is London. It was an age where the musical industry was booming in West End.

KAITO: Lambert, an actor’s son and Alexis, a stage owner’s son, have been friends from when they were young and aimed to become actors together.

KAITO: However, Alexis covered for Lambert in a freak accident and his face gets scarred.

KAITO: Alexis, who lost his dreams of becoming an actor, shut his heart from society and his best friend Lambert.

KAITO: He ended up living as a recluse in the theater’s attic.

KAITO: The main story begins several years after, when they’ve become adults.

KAITO: Lambert became an actor unable to get roles and Alexis lived as an unsuccessful playwright.

KAITO: The kind-hearted Lambert couldn’t leave Alexis who shared the same dream as he.

KAITO: Every day, he would go to the attic and try to talk to Alexis through the door. He talks to him without any hint of ill-will.

KAITO: Though Alexis doesn’t answer, he listens to Lambert’s complaints sometimes and he hands him a “treasure” from a small opening in the door.

INUMINE: A treasure?

KAITO: Yeah. It’s sort of a thing they did when they were kids that they’ve continued on with.

KAITO: Sometimes it’s a broken fountain pen, other times it’s a button that fell off [a shirt].

KAITO: Though they may seem like junk, to Lambert, it was a source of comfort together with Alexis’ words of consoling. “I’ll give you my treasure,” he says.

KAITO: The both of them continued with that sort of awkward friendship.

KAITO: One day, Lambert got a chance to play a really huge leading role.

KAITO: On the other side, Alexis got his break as well.

KAITO: A patron named Lucas came from Broadway and took a liking to his work and tried to invite him to go with him.

KAITO: But Alexis had no intention of leaving his best friend Lambert behind in London.

KAITO: Lucas, who planned to use Alexis’s skills to rise to fame, decided to let Lambert fall into darkness.

INUMINE: What?!

KAITO: Lambert gets injured seriously and lost his chance to play the role.

INUMINE: That sounds like a sad story…

TENGENJI: That’s not where it ends though, is it?

KAITO: Yeah.

KAITO: Lambert and Alexis are cornered by a deep sadness.

KAITO: But, that’s exactly what they notice. Even in the deepest of darkness, there’s always one light that supports them.

KAITO: That light that keeps close to them were in fact, an embodiment of each other.

INUMINE: Yup, yup~! (singing) The things we treasure are really closer than we originally thought, huh~!

INUMINE: (singing) As long as I’m with you, I’m sure that we’ll be able to achieve our dreams someday~! Or something!

KAITO: Well, in a way, I guess it is. The two of them sing when their hearts connect again.

KAITO: The duet song titled “Shadow & Lights” is truly one written for the two main characters.

KAITO: And then the curtain closes on the performance.

TENGENJI: It’s a classic just as you said.

KAITO: Yeah. But one of this performance’s characteristic are the two “shadows” present with the main characters.

INUMINE: Shadow? By shadow, you mean that kind of shadow?

KAITO: Exactly. They’re the personifications of Alexis and Lambert’s hearts respectively.

KAITO: They exist on stage as Lambert’s Shadow and as Alexis’s Shadow.

KAITO: The Shadows can’t be seen by the people, they don’t talk, and they don’t interact with anyone else.

KAITO: But, they’re very important roles that are constantly on stage.

KAITO: I guess you could say, it’s one part of the process for Ayanagi Academy’s graduation ceremony.

TENGENJI: The 2nd year training roles, huh.

INUMINE: The… 2nd year… training roles?????

TENGENJI: Inumine… Don’t tell me that you don’t know about that.

INUMINE: Hm???

TENGENJI: Geez… You’ve got guts not knowing anything about that when we’ll be able to get the chance to stand with our senpai on stage if we get chosen for the training role.

KAITO: It’s as Tengenji says. It’s a special role where we can stand on stage together with our mentors.

KAITO: As 2nd years, we have a chance to not only be the support but be a co-actor as well.

KAITO: To us 2nd years, it’s our chance to be able to stand on a huge stage.

KAITO: Students who want to get experience on stage even in school, students who set their sights on being a member of the Kao Council aim for these training roles.

KAITO: Of course, us, too.

TENGENJI: Obviously.

KAITO: Even if you’re in a Star Team, if you let your guard down, you’ll fall behind, Inumine.

[10:34]

INUMINE: OoooooooooOOOOOHhHHHHH!!! YOU TWO ARE SO COOL!

INUMINE: I’m pretty sure you two will land a training role! DEFINITELY!

TENGENJI/KAITO: …

TENGENJI: (whispering) He’s so exhausting… This guy definitely doesn’t understand the training roles system…

KAITO: (whispering) Probably.

INUMINE: Ah, but, but! Being the support is fun too but, I kinda want to stand on stage, too~

INUMINE: Hey, Tsukigami. Can the training roles become ours if we’re good?

KAITO: Ah… I think you can say so, yeah.

INUMINE: I see~! Then, I think it’s okay~! I’m good after all!

TENGENJI/KAITO: …!

INUMINE: (humming) I’m looking forward to it~!

TENGENJI: (scoffs) This guy…

KAITO: He’s clumsy with anything aside from musicals, huh… I think I need to re-think exactly what those words mean.

(knocking on door)

ALL: Hm?

NAYUKI: Tsukigami-kun, Tengenji-kun! Oh, Inumine-kun’s here, too.

KAITO: Nayuki?

INUMINE: Yoohoo, Nayuki-cchi!

TENGENJI: What’s up? You need something?

NAYUKI: Yeah. I made too much curry so it turned into a conversation of inviting everyone for dinner and then…

NAYUKI: Hoshitani-kun suggested that we should invite the members of the other teams and have a social gathering.

TENGENJI: A social gathering?!

KAITO: An informal one, huh.

NAYUKI: (chuckles) Will you be able to come? Inumine-kun, too.

INUMINE: Yes, yes!

KAITO: Yeah. I don’t know how many will join but, Team Otori and Team Hiragi will be there, right?

TENGENJI: (clears throat) I’ll… come along with you.

NAYUKI: Really~? Then, we’ll be waiting at the cafeteria. See you there!

KAITO: Yeah.

TENGENJI: (happy but holding back his excitement) S-see you later!

INUMINE: Bye-bye~!

(Nayuki leaves and closes the door behind him)

[12:27]

TENGENJI: Really… Hoshitani would probably be the same as always even in a new class.

TENGENJI: I don’t know if I should praise him for having a strong heart or if I should get mad about his naivety.

KAITO: I agree.

KAITO: Putting that aside for now… I got worried extensively about Inumine while we were talking but…

KAITO: That Hoshitani’s at least a little bit aware of the graduation ceremony and the training roles, right…?

KAITO: I did tell him and warn him about it before but…

KAITO: I don’t feel like he’s looking more into it…!

TENGENJI: Ah…

INUMINE: It’s okay, Tsukigami, Tengenji!

INUMINE: If you don’t think too deep into it, life will work out for you with a bang just fine~!

INUMINE: Sparkles~!

TENGENJI/KAITO: I feel so uneasy…

==END==

※ Please don’t re-post the English translations without permission.

If you enjoyed this, please consider buying me a ko-fi here to support my work if you want. (o^▽^o)Thank you!!

#starmyu #high school star musical #drama cd #starmyu translations #my translations #tengenji kakeru #tsukigami kaito #inumine seishiro #nayuki tooru #lmao i would be super scared if inumine started knocking on my door #he knocks on doors so loudly it feels like the door would fly off from the hinge XD #and tengenji's really such a tsundere OMG #i love him so much #my children~

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teddystrap · 5 years ago

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[神なる君と] Osananajimi Duo - Narumi

This game is like a time capsule from back in the pre-2012 days, before the do-S trend took hold and every playable guy became an abusive asshole. Our heroine has a feisty personality and witty comebacks, and the whole story is packed with funny moments - which just goes to show, Otomate can put out quality stuff... when they want to.

Incidentally I also really love the Shinto theme and the familiarity of rural small-town Japan, which actually makes me a bit nostalgic for the time I spent there.

[Synopsis] 17-year-old Kamiki Sakuya is helping out at her friend’s shrine, when suddenly some strange dude in wasou cosplay appeared under a *magical tree* and started babbling something about a 1000-year promise. When she came to, she had been made the Goddess of the shrine, to replace the current God - the aforementioned strange dude, Mikoto - for a short while until the hoshimatsuri (lit. ‘start festival’), an annual tradition of the town. The main routes take place within this time frame.

-Sakaki Narumi-

Narumi is Sakuya’s classmate, childhood best friend, and heir to the Kunihoshi Shrine. From a young age, he has able to see supernatural things, which made everyone think he's a freak and caused his parents to abandon him. His grandfather, the shrine owner, took him in and raised him as his successor. For a while he was bullied by the kids at school due to his abilities, and thus he developed a lone-wolf, withdrawn, thorny personality. Sakuya was the only person who genuinely accepted him unconditionally, and he pretty much fell in love with her at first sight.

Narumi's route basically runs on two ideas:

1. The social position difference, between him (religious minister/'servant') and Sakuya (Goddess). This idea was leveraged in one of his ema minigames, and in the beginning he sort of uses this as a cover up for the real reason they're forbidden to date:

2. It turns out, there’s a 1000-year curse that runs in his family:

1000 years ago, the Sakaki family were well-to-do religious ministers, and the town was protected under a shield by the gods. The family had a daughter, who fell in love with a demon. She let the demon into the town, and he ended up causing great destruction. As punishment, the gods stripped her family of their title and assets, placed a curse on her, and used her as bait to kill the demon.

Despite all this, however, she refused to lift her curse by renouncing her love for the demon and erasing all their shared memories. A certain god (ahem *Mikoto*) took pity on her and erased all her memories anyway #forherowngood, and she spent her last days roaming the land as an amnesiac, trying to reclaim something important that she couldn’t remember.

This curse forbids anyone in the Sakaki family from falling in love with a God or a demon. If they do, they will be gradually deprived of their five senses, until they finally become entirely cut off from the outside world. And for 1000 years everybody has abided by this rule... until Narumi. After Sakuya realised her feelings for him, she tried to confess to him, but got cockblocked left and right by Yakumo (who was probably used by Fate to stop her). Then she wrote him a love letter with hilarious spelling errors, and after he read it, he told her he felt the same way, but they could never be together. ;_;

‘Please be my weirdo.’

Narumi actually thought (mistakenly) that the curse will hurt her, but when Mikoto clarified that it will only affect him, he was immediately like, "LET'S FALL IN LOVE." XD ...It didn't take long for symptoms of the curse to manifest in him. He looked for ways to overcome it, and came to the hypothesis that the hoshimatsuri may be a test of the strength of their #lovebond vs #damnedcurse.

Near the end of the hoshimatsuri he was almost completely senile. So then Sakuya, who had been plotting her own #evilmasterplan all this time, couldn't take it anymore. She took him under the *magical tree* and planned to break their bond right there and then. But then Narumi was like STOP, WOMAN. At which point you have a choice whether to (a) accept his opinion or (b) ignore him because at this rate he's gonna turn into Ronald Reagan.

It sounds almost like she wants to challenge him to a bare-knuckle fistfight under this tree.

a. Good End: Well it turns out Sakuya didn't have to make this choice. While she's hesitating, Narumi kisses her to shut her mouth, and their love successfully overcomes the curse. One year later, Sakuya is being inducted into their shrine as a minister. They plan to go to religious university together to get their religious certification (can you tell I don't really know much about this lol),... and Narumi suddenly drops down one knee and asks for her hand.ヾ(｡>﹏<｡)ﾉﾞ✧*

b. Tragic End: Through a blizzard of... uhh... white light, Sakuya thanks him for the good times, before their memories are erased. A year later, she visits the shrine and sees him there doing chores. They don't recognise each other at all, but she suddenly gets a momentary flashback of their time together, and starts crying without knowing why. They part ways after exchanging some pleasantries. - This must be one of Otomate's favourite motifs, because it's a sad ending but still makes you feel warm and fuzzy, knowing that they are better off than the actual curse ending.

I feel this way about Life sometimes.

[Thoughts] Ugh, I cried so many times throughout the overall story/this route that I lost count (TдT). There's too many events to mention here, but the curse and its aftermath obvsly caused some kind of time warp, which transported Yorihito Jr. to the future to be mentored by Yorihito Sr. (the mascot statue of the shrine, who was actually modelled after Jr.'s likeness).

Also it's almost certain that Mikoto made Sakuya a Goddess to protect her and/or other people from something related to the curse, and it's just a matter of the rest of the routes enlightening us as to the links between the main characters and the past - who is a descendant of whom, and so on.

I like Narumi as a character, but the route felt like it dragged on needlessly, when he was trying to hide first the details about the curse and then his symptoms from Sakuya. Those things are pretty obvious to us (the player), so I couldn't help feeling a bit emotionally constipated impatient with him at times.

He does have his surprisingly candid moments, too, though. Like when Fuu-san teased them about being on a date and he just smoothly rolled with it (maybe because he thought at that time that they will never be together). And after he read Sakuya's letter, he told her he's always loved her, but they can't be together and he wouldn't tell her why. I can see why Sakuya got frustrated and went into WHYWHYWHYWHY mode after that. Guess it shows that, despite his usual maturity and poise, he's still only 17 and doesn't have the ability to manage both his own feelings and someone else's at the same time.

(On that count I think Yakumo actually manages things in a more adult way, even though he can appear rather mentally deficient at times.)

I wanna have ‘secret muscle training’ session with Yakumo-nii-san... if you get my meaning ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

I also love the way that Narumi and Sakuya support each other. She comforts him after he failed at making takoyaki, and in turn he consoles and encourages her about the future goals form. They really feel like equals, it's not all one-sided 'big-brotherly duties' like her relationship with Yakumo. (I can't help talking about Yakumo here because I just love him (ノ｡・﹏・｡)ノ❤. But anyway, he'll get my special attention in a later post.)

One sweet discovery here is that Yuzuru(-senpai) might be a secret romantic. Just as Mikoto was about to repeat what he did 1000 years ago on Narumi and Sakuya, Yuzuru jumps in and is all like: STAHP, shouldn't you let these two choose for themselves? Aww. Assholes with a heart of gold are my favourite assholes in the world. (^o^)丿

#kami naru kimi to #otome #otome game #visual novel #idea factory #otomate #psp #sakurai takahiro

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hoodlessmads · 5 years ago

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Bloom Into You Chapter 41

…is maybe the literal cutest thing I’ve ever read.

I love how that teacher’s like, “What the hell were you doing in the student council room this late?” and they’re like, “Sorry, we just needed this key so we could go have our soapy love confession scene in there but you can have it back now.”

And they’re not quite full-on holding hands on the way home, but they’re just kinda

Just

Just kinda

Screaming.

The panel layout on the page where they’re both laying in bed awake thinking about each other is so lovely. How Yuu looks like she’s looking at Touko but she’s actually not because they’re in their own rooms but she actually is because they’re on the same page literally. And Touko’s adorable “that all just happened” expression as she’s holding her hand.

I find it interesting that as the manga has gone on and as the anime has gone into production and aired, the manga itself has begun to embrace those water themes more and more. Like, I don’t remember water being such a huge deal at the beginning of the manga, but it’s a highly prevalent visual motif in the anime. We see Yuu underwater when she feels distanced from her friends in the classroom, there’s underwater lighting at some points in the opening iirc, and this all comes to a head beautifully in the actual aquarium scene where they are underwater, with Touko looking up at the fish and stuff above them and Yuu leading Touko by the hand into the light, which she had previously felt so distant from. Anyway, it’s just nice how several of the past few chapter covers have featured Yuu underwater reaching toward the surface/the light, and this title talking about sea charts reminded me of that. I guess it’s meant to be like, she’s above water now. On the ocean, which is this whole new thing to navigate.

I love how Yuu comes skipping into school all pumped about her friends’ lives and literally anything at all because she’s in such a good mood and how shy she gets when asked if anything good happened, and the fact that she immediately took that charm out of the drawer and put it on her bag. Like, Yuu in this whole chapter is a whole ass “FINALLY” mood.

I love how the panel layout and our sense of time almost makes it look like Touko has been standing at the door to the classroom for a minute trying to gather the courage to face Sayaka the same way, as though things haven’t changed between them, or at least to face her at all. She goes in looking all determined, like she’s decided she’s going to say something to Sayaka because Sayaka deserves it and it’s only right, but then stops at “Good morning,” and doesn’t end up saying anything else, kind of chickens out, just looks over pensively wondering if she should say something, and if that’s not a Touko ass thing to do I don’t know what is lol. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if she’s still brooding about what to say after school, trying to be all responsible, determined to be the liaison between friend and girlfriend. And meanwhile Yuu and Sayaka are as functional as ever and come to an understanding and reaffirm that they are best friends for life in like two seconds before Touko can even finish thinking about it. God, I adore Yuu and Sayaka’s friendship so much.

But the main point that the classroom scene got across for me was that things aren’t the same between Touko and Sayaka now. It’s awkward. It’s different. There’s a distance between them now that wasn’t there before. And while they will still be friends after this (for a while, if we believe the second light novel to be canon), this is definitely the beginning of them slowly drifting apart. I think it’s a good thing. Sayaka especially could use the opportunity to move on. Staying as close of friends as they were just wouldn’t be a healthy scenario for either of them, especially now that so many things have come to light that they previously kept secret from each other. As much as she does know her weaknesses and still love her, it still feels like there’s a part of Touko that Sayaka never really knew. They have both changed and grown so much since the beginning of the series, and the people they are now just aren’t as compatible as they once were, as friends or otherwise. I hope Sayaka comes to realize this sooner rather than later so that it can start hurting less.

Honestly this chapter filled my heart with fluffy cuteness like a water tank about to bust from too much pressure and I almost died from it, but that ONE panel with Sayaka’s face after she sees Yuu’s charm broke me. Nakatani is a master. That facial expression was just so raw. I hate to see her hurting like that. Sayaka is truly too good for this world. God, please future girlfriend, please love her well.

But Yuu and Sayaka’s friendship waters my crops. That cheek slap and stretch routine is a blatant gesture of unbridled affection disguised as fake irritation and you cannot convince me otherwise. This whole scene. Ugh, she’s so…nice?

Touko’s flustered reaction at seeing Yuu and Sayaka being such legitimately chill friends and having worked out all their issues while she was brooding and being anxious will never cease to amuse me. I love her, I try to defend Touko so much, but it’s scenes like this that prove once again that she’s actually just the yuri equivalent of a fuckboy, god bless her heart. I do adore her.

It’s been quite a while since we’ve seen disaster gay Nanami Touko so I was quite glad to see her make several appearances this chapter. They’re both trying so hard to be chill during the student council meeting but they both helplessly look up at each other at the same time. Or perhaps Yuu looks up helplessly and Touko is just dead ass staring at her, smitten. And Touko is so determined to type very important things afterwards. How is Nakatani so good at drawing cute ass snapshots of cute ass people? And I love how they’re…are ya’ll holding hands with your feet now? It’s adorable. Keep doing it.

Maki is that audience insert.

Same.

Doujima’s still completely oblivious that there are lesbians in this show.

So Yuu. I am always a huge sucker for when characters who are traditionally pretty unemotional get to a point where they’re so emotional that they can’t help but display that emotion in a way that’s uncharacteristic of how they’ve been up to this point, but for that reason is so incredibly satisfying to watch. It is so satisfying to see this adorable person that we’ve come to know and love finally get to this point. Yuu is honestly the best part of all of this fluff, by far. Talk about acting experience. This whole time, she’s worn the world’s greatest poker face, and now that she can finally let herself be the absolute gay mess she actually is, she’s just barely keeping it all in and it’s so adorable and gratifying. You wouldn’t have known this girl could get so red and flustered but damn if she isn’t and it is so fucking cute.

She’s so eager to finally say Touko’s name (with senpai), and in spite of how flustered and head over heels she is, she’s still the same functional and straightforward Yuu we’ve always known. She comes right out and tries to DTR within like an hour of having the initial thought. The response: “Girlfriends? I haven’t thought about it. I guess we are.” Touko, this is why you’re a meme.

And on the flip side of Yuu being so embarrassed, Touko’s all, “Stand aside, I’m Character Development Touko now. I’m not the flustered disaster lesbian you once knew. I’m Smooth Touko now. I’m the new and improved Kiss Your Tears Touko. I troll Yuu about saying my name and not the other way around. I’m smooth as hell now.” But then as soon as “Touko-senpai” comes out she’s just like “fuck.”

Their conversation about happiness at the end is really moving to me, because they’ve moved past the “ureshii” happiness they were talking about last chapter and they’re now talking “shiawase,” which specifically refers to lasting happiness. If that isn’t the deepest most romantic shit. I also feel like bringing up the way Yuu casually mentioned the idea of girlfriends living together at some point in the future and it was just kind of glossed over as if this girl is not already playing the long game with Touko and I’m crying inside. Because I genuinely believe they’ll get there and I always thought so, but this nod from canon is glorious. (You’ve been dating for one day, Yuu, chill.) But in all seriousness, Yuu, you absolute head over heels in love sap. This talk of girlfriends living together and this repeated mention of lasting happiness (has me feeling all types of ways) tells me where Yuu’s head is at. How serious her feelings actually are. Like, that’s marriage material, bitch. She’s that happy. I’m just…so happy for her.

I find it interesting that we haven’t really been in Touko’s head since she texted Yuu on the train in chapter whatever, and not since the confession scene last chapter. We’ve mostly been with Yuu ever since. Even that one classroom scene I would argue is more from Sayaka’s point of view. I hope next chapter we get a little more from Touko’s side. I have a feeling we’ll get something like a Touko-centric chapter at some point, as I feel her personal character arc and the whole thing with her sister still need some polishing off before we can bring the story to a close. But that’s just me.

In some ways, it’s a shame that there’s so few pages left before the end of the story. Yuu and Touko’s new relationship is completely uncharted territory for them now (not to unintentionally make a pun on the chapter title). That period of excitement and uncertainty at the beginning of a new relationship is always one of the most gratifying things to explore in a story for me, so I wish we had more time. There are so many interesting things to explore with this entire cast of characters that just won’t get explored, simply because of time constraints. Still, the flip side is that ending it here in volume 8 will give Bloom Into You the succinct, satisfying conclusion it deserves to a well-structured, well-paced arc, with absolutely no excess anywhere in sight. Bloom Into You is such a brilliant exercise in telling a complete, engaging story while trimming all the fat. Some romance stories can end up feeling bloated in terms of pacing and structure, but I have a feeling this is going to be just perfect. (Unless Nakatani Nio, actual manga genius and icon, somehow manages to fuck it up. Not likely.)

Once again, I’m excited to see where Nakatani takes us and the characters next. I can’t wait to see certain characters’ reactions to the new relationship, like Akari, Koyomi, and Rei. And god, I would love to see more of Yuu and Touko navigating this new relationship, what it means, what the rules are, how they define it to themselves and others. Basically, I just want to know what happens next. Is that too much to ask? Can’t I just know what happens next? God damn it.

#bloom into you #yagate kimi ni naru #yagakimi #i like talking about yagakimi #like a lot #it got progressively later at night/early morning as i wrote this so i dont even know whats happening anymore

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tobimikesan · 6 years ago

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The Cats' and The Owls' Day Before the Tournament - Haikyuu!! Light Novel Vol. 9: Spring High Inside Story

So I’ve wanted to try doing a proper translation as a practice for quite some time, and I finally made myself work on another chapter. Man, what an experience.

The title is self-explanatory. The story is about the cats’ and the owls’ antics. Translation under the cut.

Toothbrush, towel, I guess I should bring one more T shirt... As Yamamoto Taketora confirms his packed items, the door to his room bursts open. "Not fair, not fair, not fair! I want to stay in a hotel too!" He turns around and his sister Akane is at the corridor with her hands on her hips. "Hey, don't open the door without knocking!" "It's a hotel at the city center, right? It's unfair that only onii-chan will stay there. Unfair onii! Aahhh, I want to stay there too... Luxurious 5 star hotel! Suite room! Bar with a night view!" "Y, you sure barge in with a lot of questions... I'm not staying at such a place, though!" It's true that he won't spend the night at home for the next few nights, but he'll only be staying at a lodging near the venue for Spring High in order to prepare for it. That's it. There's no such thing as a bar with a night view. But his sister doesn't listen and keeps on grumbling, earning a shout from their mom, "Hey, so noisy!", and his sister gets all gloomy. Your brother has a national tournament tomorrow, don't you care about that at all... Taketora is slightly upset and scowls at his sister. "Anyway, what bar are you talking about, you middle schooler. You'll be kicked out straight away." "Hmph, I will be with Alisa-chan, so there shouldn't be a problem." She answers without missing a beat as she enters his room. "Wh, what..." He would love it if she doesn't look around his room as she pleases, but if he words it poorly she'll just say things like, "Is there something that you don't want me to find?” and look around even more, so he doesn't say anything. Lately it seems like his words and his sister doesn't get along well. "Well, if it's Lev's sister I think she'll blend in just fine..." If he scolds her directly, he'll just end up being disliked, so he just halfheartedly replies and shows her the website of a high class hotel. "Alright, but here, look at the reality. This is the cost for a suite room." "Eh, where, where?" ".... 131,652 yen, tax included? What's this, the cost for 1 month?" "Get real! Listen, this is the cost for one night." "Eh!? For one night it's 131,652 yen with tax!? 130,000 yen... How many megaphones can I buy with that..." She makes a girly gesture of covering her mouth with her tiny hand, but the things she wants is weird. Why does she want megaphones? And anyway isn't one megaphone already enough? Well, but Taketora also thinks that in all of Japan his sister would be the middle school girl that suits a megaphone the most. Akane continues stroking her chin. "I could buy a camera too to analyze the opponents’ play... The one with image stabilization..." "Wish for something more middle school girl-like. Why are you like a middle-aged man. See, put your hand away from your chin, put it away!" Akane gasps and her expression changes. "Girl..." she murmurs. Her eyes that looked like those of an old man's just a moment ago glisten, and her hands, one of which was stroking her chin, clasp in front of her as if doing a prayer. "I want to have girls hangout with Alisa-chan in a high class hotel! I want to eat lots of cute, little cakes! It's so unfair that only onii-chan gets to stay there!" "Sh, she suddenly acts like a girl again.... Like I said, the place where we'll be staying is Matatabi Manor! We'll sleep in a large room together like canned sardines, where it'll only cost each of us less than 4,000 yen per night!" "Sardines...? " At Akane's doubtful expression, Yamamoto shows her the website to the hotel Matatabi. "Here" "..... Eh" The aura of Showa era can be felt from the dimly lit picture of the entrance of Matatabi Manor. As she sees that, Akane falls silent and stands up. Without a word, she briskly exits her brother's room. As he faces the door that closes quietly, Taketora murmurs, "At least say something. Your brother feels lonely, you know...”

"Lyovochka ❤️" Haiba Lev who's just about to leave his home stops when someone calls him.

"Hm?" When he turns around, his sister Alisa stands at the entryway while hugging a pillow for God knows what reason. There's no way she only woke up just now, so why, what on earth is she doing, and so he asks. "What's that?" "You won't be staying home tonight, right? Isn't it better if you bring a pillow? People say that you won't be able to sleep if your pillow changes. Right?" His sister pushes the pillow towards him, but he thinks, I don’t need it. There's no way I need it. Why is there a need for me to bring my own pillow!? In the midst of his confusion, he is forced to hold the pillow. "Eh? Wait... Why? Eh!?" "Of course you need our family photo and mug cup as well, right? Hm, what else... Ah, that's right... " She puts the photo down and skillfully places the mug cup on top of the pillow, then she turns and heads into the living room to get some other stuffs. What, what on earth. On top of all these, she plans to bring more. "Wa, wait, nee-chan! I'm not bringing any of these!" "Eh?" Her long hair swings when Alisa stands up and stops. She looks in wonder as she tilts her head and asks, "Why? When you're on a trip, you will feel more at ease if you have stuffs from home with you, right?" "It's not a trip, and I don't need those." "Then at least bring this. Think of it as me... ", as she says that, she holds out a teddy bear. Lev gets crestfallen and his shoulder slumps. "There's no way I could bring such thing. If the senpais found out what will they say... " "Wh, what!" Alisa staggers and powerlessly tumbles down while holding the teddy bear. "To call it 'such thing'... No way... How cruel... To call my dear Misha 'such thing'.... " Looking down at his sister with her trembling shoulders, Lev can't help but thinks, How troublesome. But even if he thinks of that, if he says unnecessary stuffs it will be even more troublesome. If I’m held to stay back any longer than this, I will be late to practice. And if I’m late, I'll get scolded by Yaku-san... "Ah, my bad, my bad! But I really couldn't bring it. Anyway you'll come and see the match tomorrow, right? See you tomorrow, then!" He puts down the things given to him and rushes out. From behind, he heard his sister wails as if it's their last goodbye, "Lyovochkaaaaa!" How troublesome. Lev lets out a deep sigh and heads to school.

Kozume Kenma glances up from his game and asks, "Why are these two already looking so tired..."

Lev and Taketora who barely make it in time for the practice already look as if they have just finished a match. "Shut up, you won't get it, Kenma! Damn you only child" "That’s right! Kenma-san who's an only child won't get it!" Kenma quickly puts some distance from those two who are upset for some reason and turns his head back to his game. "... Not like I want to know," he murmurs as he thinks How troublesome. Just then shouts can be heard from Taketora and Lev, and he knits his brows. "From tonight onward we'll be living the ryokan life. Isn't it great, Lev?" "Yes, Taketora-san. Sleeping out is the best!"

For those two, who competes for the ace title and rivals based on Lev’s one-sided claim, to get along like this is unusual. Could life with sisters be really that tough...

From behind the excited Lev, Yaku Morisuke peeks out.

“You! Are you still complaining even though you have such a beautiful sister? How conceited!” Yaku’s low kick lands squarely in Lev’s shin.

“Ouch!”

“I’m so jealous about Lev’s sister!”

“Wai... It hurts! Yaku-san, you’re not making sense!”

Towards Lev who’s running around the small room, Kai Nobuyuki calmly says, “Lev, unexpectedly you bring a lot of stuffs, huh.”

“Eh, is that so? But it’s only this...”, as he checks his bag while avoiding Yaku, his face pales.

“.... There’s a pillow! Since when!?”

Looking at that, Kuroo Tetsurou bursts out laughing, “Bahahahaha! Lace! It has lace pillowcase!”

“That’s not it! My sister just... Ah, it’s not her! This is my mom’s doing. There’s also a letter from her....” With the laced pillow and letter from his mom in his hands, Lev freezes.

“A laced pillow at the national tournament! Bahahahaha!”

“Wait! Please listen to what I say!”

“Oi, Lev! Your mom is a beauty as well, huh!”

“Ah, that’s right! Once we arrive at the ryokan, let’s have a pillow fight!”

“You guys are so loud...”

Nekoma High School who features flexible and tenacious play style with its setter who acts as the brain at its center. In Interhigh, they managed to last until the Top 8. With the arrival of a 194.5 cm large rookie, could they go further in Spring High? The expectation rises.

Around the same time in Fukuroudani High School gym...

“The first match... It will be in court E, huh? E? .... Court E means... sub-arena?” Bokuto Koutarou flumps cross-legged on the floor as he looks at tomorrow’s schedule. At the same time, he grasps some vague feeling.

“......?”

There’s no way he can actually grasps it with his hand. It’s something that he feels, after all.

When he sees the schedule, some vague feeling starts to loom in his chest, that’s what it feels like. His metaphorical hand quickly grasps it to find out what it is, but he still doesn’t know what it is.

Is it excitement from Spring High which begins tomorrow? Or is it because his physique is off somewhere? Or is it just hunger? ...

Before he could put a name to this slight vague feeling, Konoha Akinori and Sarukui Yamato pop up and take a look at the schedule.

“Sub-arena means it won’t be so noisy, isn’t that great!”

“Eh?” eased by Konoha’s word, his grip is starting to loosen up on the thing he’s been holding.

“Look, there are a lot of people in the main arena, right? Especially on the first day!”

“Eh? Yeah, that’s right!” As Bokuto absentmindedly replies, the metaphorical hand opens completely. Just like a balloon which string has been released from his grip, slowly floating up then disappears, the thing that he tried so hard to grasp is now gone.

If he were to let go of a balloon inside the gymnasium it would surely be stuck on the ceiling, but if it’s a feeling that he lets go then it would just completely disappear.

It was an unease that comes from within Bokuto himself. "Main arena is better...", a childish thing like that. Once he’s caught by such childish thoughts, he even forgets himself.

Somehow, Bokuto himself is not aware of the complexity of how his feeling works, but his teammates are.

Konoha and the others quickly change the conversation topic.

“Anyway, what do you think we’ll have for dinner?”

“Ah, that’s right. Starting tonight we’ll eat at the inn...”

Refreshed that the thing that’s been bothering him is now gone, Bokuto is back to his usual excited self and says, “I wanna eat yakiniku!”

But his teammates are cold.

“If such thing exists I’d want it too.”

“There’s no way we’ll get yakiniku at the inn.”

“We don’t know yet, right?”

“No, it’s obvious!”

“Common sense is important, you know.”

Looking at the senpais who starts bickering while still sitting on the floor, Akaashi Keiji raises his voice, “Practice is starting.”

But his voice goes ignored and Bokuto and the others continue their chat on yakiniku.

“Then let’s just go eat yakiniku first before going to the inn! Problem solved!”

“You sure do things as you please. What are you, a selfish king?”

“When making the inn reservation the dinner would have been included, so you can’t just make changes like that.”

As Akaashi looks at the 3rd years that continue their bickering, he thinks, For Konoha-san and Sarukui-san to ignore it too....

But he doesn’t let it show on his face.

To honestly display one’s displeasure when things do not work out is the trademark of the great ace Bokuto, so he won’t just give up here. This is all still within the range of his expectation.

“.........” Akaashi quietly observes his senpais.

It seems like this yakiniku talk will continue for a while.

The potential held by yakiniku is huge. Yakiniku is like a bundle of possibility. That’s right, this is not a topic that can be ended easily. “Eh, yakiniku? Yakiniku?” the other 3rd years join the conversation. Of course, this is also within his expectation.

As more people gets in the conversation, Bokuto continues to ramble about his theory. “You might say that, but listen! If we eat at the yakiniku place, then eat the meal at the inn, there would be no problem, right?”

“Can you really eat that much?”

“Is your stomach stupid too?”

“That’s why, listen to me!”

Akaashi has already takes into consideration that Bokuto will get heated up, but what he says next is out of his expectation.

“Listen, okay? ‘Meat, meat, rice, meat, meat, rice’, that’s the order when you eat, right? So if you eat the ‘meat, meat’ part at the yakiniku place, then eat the ‘rice’ at the inn, you’ll be able to eat them all, right?”

“..... Wait, I don’t even get what you’re talking about.”

“What kind of mysterious reasoning is that!”

Out of nowhere a figure smoothly approaches the excited 3rd years who are now surrounding Bokuto. It’s their manager, Shirofuku Yukie.

She calmly smiles and says, “I guess I somewhat understand what Bokuto said...”

“.... Seriously?!”

Except for Bokuto, all the guys are taken aback.

Akaashi’s eyes glint, This is it!

Shirofuku-san’s word must have made Bokuto-san feels content. Conversely, the other senpais who are taken aback by her words must now want to end the topic. I have to make use of this distortion.

If I miss this timing, the topic of yakiniku will continue until who knows when. I must end it here...

This thought process takes 0.2 second.

Immediately Akaashi raises his voice to the senpais facing away from him, “Shall we begin practice soon?”

How is it? Is it heard this time?

Behind his poker face, Akaashi explores the possibilities for his next moves and the following ones. He waits for his senpais reaction.

Will they get up....

“Yeaah!” Bokuto slaps his knees. “Let’s eat yakiniku once we’re hungry!”

He got up!

Following Bokuto, the other senpais get up as well.

“Not going.”

“Go eat on your own.”

Following the cold treatment from his teammates, Bokuto shouts, “What! Once we get our energy back, let’s have a pillow fight tonight! Pillow fight!”

“Not doing it.”

“Do it on your own.”

The quarrel about pillow fight is starting to heat up, but this time all the 3rd years have stood up and is entering the court.

I won!

Without anyone noticing, Akaashi’s chest swells with a little sense of achievement as he quickly runs into the court.

Fukuroudani Academy High School with their national top 5 ace who is supported by the regular members who each has his own strength. How far can they go this year in their battle for the championship? One of the factors that affect their fate is the unpredictable mental condition of their ace.

The fated rival Nekoma High School. And the powerhouse Fukuroudani Academy High School.

They have both battled with Karasuno and are affected by them. Once again, they stand in the Spring High stage.

In their rivalry, their opponents are likely better than them. But Karasuno keep on fighting with all their might, and now here they are.

They both know each other’s strength and weaknesses in detail. Would the chance for this two school to battle it out in an official match, separated only by the net, come?

In the first round 40 schools in total will be sent home from the mens and womens side, and almost another 30 on the second round. How far will these 3 teams go? No one knows yet.

*Alisa’s bear is probably a reference to the 1980 Moscow Olympic mascot. Apparently there was an anime about the mascot.

PS. As always, thanks for reading! I’m still quite new to translating, so let me know if you notice any errors.

PPS. Support the official release! Here’s an Amazon link if you’re interested. I know it’s not translated yet, but the best way to get it licensed is to keep requesting it to the publisher (Viz). I’m so happy when I heard Heroaca light novels are getting licensed. We can get Haikyuu to be licensed too!

#haikyuu #hq #haikyuu light novel #hq light novel #translation

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dazaran · 7 years ago

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title: caffeine smokescreen ship: tsujimura mizuki/higuchi ichiyou ( ft background KyoAya ) rating: G AO3 link: here!

day four of rarepair week - prompt : coffee / masks.

Every day before work, Tsujimura buys herself some coffee in a coffee shop on route to Ayatsuji Yukito’s detective agency. What she gets depends on her mood, as she’s deemed that different drinks taste better in certain situations. When she’s bummed out, it’s a latte; when she’s irritated, it’s black coffee with two creams; when she’s happy, it’s a caramel mocha with whipped cream on top.

When it’s just an average day, her coffee is a french vanilla coffee with a shot of caramel - which is what it is today, as she wants to wish and hope it will be a good day despite how her week has been going so far.

Ayatsuji-sensei had snuck out the house 3 times this week, disappeared on his own once on a case... And yet, the request to execute him was still somehow denied. Tsujimura wasn't sure if that meant he was just that important or that the world itself decided he was nigh impossible to kill. Perhaps it was a bit of both.

A sigh slips her lips after she receives her coffee from the barista, offering a polite bow of her head as she turns to leave the coffee shop. Before she can reach for the handle, it swings open, knocking it out of her hand and causing it to spill at her feet. The suddenness of it makes her jump back with a small shout, half relieved that none of it had spilled onto her new heels.

Crap, her fresh coffee...

“Oh, I'm so so sorry-” a feminine voice says just as Tsujimura kneels down to pick up the Styrofoam cup and its plastic lid.

“No, it's alright, I wasn't watching where I was-” Tsujimura lifts her head then, as she notices the stranger has also knelt down in front of her to help with a collection of napkins in hand.

And then, she freezes - as if the beautiful sky blue eyes that stare back at her have paralyzed her from head to toe, she forgets how to speak. It's a woman with blonde hair tied up in a bun, dressed in a form fitting suit much like her own. She doesn’t wear any gloves, and Tsujimura feels a sliver of disappointment she can’t feel how soft her hand is when they touch momentarily. There’s a clear coat of nail polish on the woman’s nails - they’re clean and well taken care of.

“I was...” What was she saying again?

“... Going?” the blonde woman finishes, tilting her head innocently.

“Y-Yes! That! I’m sorry,” Internally, Tsujimura chides herself for how foolish she sounds. “None of it spilled on you, I hope? It was freshly made...”

“Oh, no, I’m fine.” the woman assures with a laugh as they both stand to their feet, rubbing at her neck. “Would it be alright if I bought you a new coffee? I feel a bit responsible for it, after all.”

“Eh? Are you certain? I mean it’s really alright-”

“Really, it’s okay! Actually, please let me. I’d feel awful if you were to start your day like this.”

She’s so beautiful and polite oh God-

Tsujimura quickly gathers herself, nodding with a gracious smile as she offers a hand to the woman. “Then, I suppose I’ll humbly accept your offer. Ah, my name is Tsujimura Mizuki... You are?”

The blonde woman smiles, accepting her hand and gripping it firmly. “Higuchi Ichiyou. It’s nice to meet you, Tsujimura-san.”

Tsujimura reaches the Ayatsuji Detective Office in a very obvious good mood to the point she’s glowing, and even Ayatsuji looks up from his newspaper when she walks in. Usually, this would be the part where she starts talking to him or he gives an order for his usual coffee, but the young woman instead immediately makes her way to the kitchen to start on her own accord. The detective tilts his head, folding his newspaper as he listens to the sound of cups clinking against the counter, water running, and most glaringly - Tsujimura was humming a tune while making his coffee.

It’s a strange situation when it’s Tsujimura of all people, who takes her job and it’s daily schedule very seriously. It’s enough to warrant the blonde to stand to his feet and make his way to the entrance of the kitchen where he leans against the door frame with his arms folded.

He says nothing, as if waiting for her to notice him, all the while studying her as she works the coffee machine. On the counter is a cup from the coffee shop she always visits before work, as it’s on the route she takes every so often. He leans just a little more to one side, noticing some writing on the side of the cup, as he can tell right away it’s certainly not her handwriting.

It’s a number, not her own. Someone else wrote it.

The rest of the puzzle is quickly put together, and soon the man makes his way across the kitchen to pick up the cup. Tsujimura doesn’t even notice until he starts to read off the name written there, “Higuchi Ichiyou, huh.”

Tsujimura reacts then, jumping a good inch into the air before spinning to face him. “S-Sensei! Don’t touch another’s things without permission!” she shouts, taking the cup out of his gloved hand and gripping it with both hands to cover the writing.

“Big words, coming from the woman in my house.” Ayatsuji counters flatly, unperturbed. “Congratulations on being courted.”

“I wasn’t...!”

“Weren’t you?”

Tsujimura’s face begins to heat, and quickly, she looks away. “I-If I was...” Was she? Is that why Higuchi had put her number on there? Well, she had asked to meet her for coffee again, but was that just as a friend or - Ahh, he wasn’t helping at all! “If I was, I - I mean -”

“As I said, congratulations. It’s high time you put some interest into something other than babysitting me.”

“I have other interests!”

“Excluding your fanaticism over spy memorabilia and being an amateur detective.”

... Other than that, she just had her ability to make good coffee, so naturally, Tsujimura has nothing to say to argue against him. Instead, she sighs, walking around him to head out the room. “Your coffee is on the counter, sensei.” she says, all the while holding her cup as if it's the most precious thing in the world.

Higuchi gives a stare down at her cellphone she’s clenching tightly in her hand, brows furrowed and lips puckered. She sighs, moving to tuck it back into her pocket, then seems to decide against doing so and paces around while holding it instead.

“Starin’ at the thing isn’t gonna make things go along any faster, Higuchi-san.”

Higuchi squeaks, turning her head to look at the person speaking to her - It’s Tachihara, giving her an innocent stare with his arms folded over his chest. “Tachihara... How long have you been watching?”

Tachihara waves a hand dismissively. “Long enough. Didja meet someone recently?” Though he doesn’t say it, the young man thinks that it’s probably a good thing she’s finally started to move on from her hyper-infatuation on Akutagawa of all people.

“Oh, well...” Higuchi blushes, busying herself by tucking some hair behind her ear. “Something... like that.”

Her company raises a brow, studying her curiously for a moment before he closes in and presses uncomfortably close to her face. Higuchi can’t help but lean back a bit, unsure of how to react. Just what was he doing...?

Tachihara eventually snaps his fingers, pointing a finger at her. “You made the first move, eh? That’s why you’re pacing around with your phone.”

“Is it that obvious...?!”

“A little,” the brunet grins pridefully and rests his hands on his hips. “The Black Lizard has worked with ya long enough to know how you act, Higuchi-san. Anyway, that’s pretty bold of ya! Who knew Higuchi Ichiyou had it in her to make the first move.”

“I am perfectly capable!” the blonde counters, offended.

Silence ensues. Tachihara stares at her, and something on his face seems to scream ‘then why didn’t you approach Akutagawa?’. She eventually looks away, clearing her throat in some attempt to regain her composure.

“Akutagawa-senpai... isn’t interested in me in that manner. I’ve known for a long time. Somewhere along the line, my feelings became more admiration than anything. We’re... better off that way.”

“Well... It’s good that ya realized it. We were starting to worry you were seriously fucked in the head or something, to like a rude ass like him.”

“Just because I’m not interested in him anymore doesn’t mean you should insult him like that.” Dedicated to a fault, as always.

“Ahh. Right, my bad.” Even though he says this, Tachihara still rolls his eyes briefly. “In any case, who’s the lucky person?”

Higuchi presses her phone to her chest, and Tachihara swears he sees stars in her eyes. “Tsujimura Mizuki-san... She's so awfully pretty, we knocked right into each other. I bought her a new coffee and wrote my number on the cup - was it too much? Do you think she dislikes it? Is she not interested in women? I never thought of that, a-ahhhh...!!”

Tachihara inches back, lifting a hand meekly to try and calm her down. (Geez, this lady thinks too much.) “Look, don't go overthinkin’ or anything. I'm sure if she wasn't, she would’ve made it obvious when you wrote on her cup.”

“Really?”

“... Uh. Yeah - probably? I mean I don't have any girl friends aside from you but y’know.”

Right, he doesn’t know Gin is a girl yet. Well, she’s just going to let that be for now -

Just when she wants to say something else, Higuchi’s phone rings, and she squeezes it so hard that it pops out of her hand. She squeaks, fumbling to catch it before it hits the ground and exhaling when it’s secure. There’s a brief nervous stare exchanged between them before the blonde woman struts off a few feet away, taking in a deep breath before answering the phone.

“This is Higuchi.”

Tachihara watches from afar in mild interest, arms crossed over his chest. Higuchi has always been an expressive one, now that he thinks about it. Though the worst actor he’s ever seen, her transparency can be pretty endearing when their lives aren’t on the line for once.

“Oh, yes! Of course! I would love that!” Happiness is nearly dripping off every word Higuchi speaks, a smile spreading across her face to the point it hurts. “This Sunday at 1 - at the same place? I'm looking forward to it, Tsujimura-san!”

After about another minute, Higuchi hangs up, and spins around to face her company with glittering eyes. “She asked me out for coffee! This is great, isn't it?!”

Tachihara laughs. “It sure is! I'm happy for ya, Higuchi-san.” he says, turning with a friendly wave. “Though, we both oughta get back to -”

His words are cut off when the young woman grips at his jacket, suddenly giving a pleading look. Oh, what now?

“Tachihara-san... I haven't been on a date before.”

“... Eh?”

Was this girl really going to be alright?

A high pitched, embarrassed whine slips Tsujimura’s lips as she sinks into the diner booth she’s sitting in, pressing both hands against her face. Across from her, Ayatsuji is casually cutting into a stack of fresh pancakes as if he doesn’t have a care in the world - or more accurately, he couldn’t even find the ability to care to begin with.

“I really did it... I really called and asked her out, ahhh...”

“Congratulations. You’re moving up in the world as a human being.”

Tsujimura lowers her hands onto the table, huffing at her teacher. She contemplates giving a snarky remark, but decides against it, instead wrapping her gloves hands around the coffee she had ordered. Her brows furrow, expression troubled. “Er... Sensei?”

Ayatsuji grunts in acknowledgment while chewing on his pancakes.

“Do you have any tips on going on a date? I - I’ve never been on one...” She’s a bit embarrassed to admit it, but during college, Tsujimura was the studious type. While she certainly had friends and went out every so often, no one had approached her about going on a date of all things. Her former reserved self had come back to haunt her after all, huh?

“Why are you asking me? You’ve read my file and have it memorized by heart.” Ayatsuji sets down his fork to pick up his own cup of coffee, taking a sip. He scrunches his nose, no doubt seeming to be dissatisfied with coffee that isn’t his assistant’s. “No family, no friends, no significant relationships to be had.”

“And - what about Kyogoku-san?”

Ayatsuji freezes after stabbing a piece of pancake. “... What we have would not be considered a normal relationship to someone like you.”

Tsujimura frowns. “Don't you love him?”

“Unfortunately. But equally so, I desire to kill him. That emotion is not fabricated, nor his desire to torment and agitate me. I love him, I cannot be without him, but we are destined to fight and go against each other be it out of our own stubbornness or occupation.” the blonde exhales, lifting his fork. “Such a thing is strenuous on the heart. If that sort of thing ever happens for you, I would suggest you run in the other direction. That is my advice to you. Other than that, merely do what you feel is right.”

“I-I see...”

He's cryptic and ominous as usual. Tsujimura exhales, lifting her cup to drink her coffee. Oh well - she doesn’t need to worry. That sort of thing won't happen with her and Higuchi, she's sure.

Sunday comes, and Tsujimura is an hour early completely out of anxiety and nervousness. She’s standing outside on the sidewalk under the forest green veranda, fixing her bangs while staring into her reflection of the cafe’s window. She’s not wearing her usual suit because it’s her day off, so she’s wearing a teal blouse to match the scarf around her neck and white dress pants. Her heels are pastel pink, to accent the subtle pink outlining the sleeves and neck of her shirt.

Is she overdressed? What if Higuchi didn’t like her sense of style? Urgh, she wishes that Ayatsuji was more help than telling her to do what she felt was right! She was second guessing absolutely everything in this moment! Maybe she should just call this whole thing off, apologize for being so selfish and -

“Tsujimura... san?”

Tsujimura’s racing thoughts are interrupted by a familiar voice, and she pivots on a heel faster than she can even think. “Higuchi-san!”

Higuchi blinks owlishly, tilting her head to one side. She’s wearing a ruffled hem dress shirt that is wine red - it matches seamlessly with her eyes, Tsujimura thinks - with black capris and black heels. Her bangs are kept out of her face with endearingly child-like berets, plastic cherries attached to them. “Did I get the time wrong?”

She’s so cute - She’s so awfully cute, as if she’s the personification of sunshine -

“Tsujimura-san?”

“Oh! No no no!” the agent waves her hands, smiling nervously. “No, I actually wanted to be here early... I guess we had the same thing in mind.” Honestly, that makes her a little relieved when she thinks about it that way.

“It seems that way.” Higuchi gives a small smile, and soon lowers her gaze to the sidewalk while she tucks a stray strand of blonde hair behind her ear. “Uhm, I’m sorry if I look strange... I’ve never been on a date before, so my little sister and a friend helped me with my wardrobe...”

Huh? She’s never been on a date either? Someone as pretty and polite as her?

Tsujimura is genuinely taken aback, but when Higuchi hesitantly lifts her gaze to meet the agent’s, she’s quick to react and grasp one of Higuchi’s hands and cover it with both of her own with a bit too much eagerness. “No, it’s alright! Very alright! I’ve actually never been on one either!”

“Eh? But you’re so beautiful, I would have thought...”

Then, silence. Both of them freeze up, blushing a vibrant red and avoiding each other’s gaze, yet neither of them pull away from where Tsujimura is still holding Higuchi’s hand. (She’s learned her lesson from before, so today, she’s not wearing her gloves. Higuchi’s hands are just as soft as she expected, warm to the touch.)

Not wanting to make things awkward, Tsujimura quickly pulls her hands away from Higuchi’s and begins to laugh nervously. “Uh - anyway...! So, coffee?”

“Oh - yes! Coffee, right...”

The two of then turn to head towards the entrance of the cafe. Tsujimura holds the door for Higuchi who bows her head in thanks, and the agent feels as if her heart is soaring past the clouds above as they both order their favorite coffee and find an unoccupied booth near a window.

They never even glance outside, completely swallowed by each other’s gaze as they talk.

Tsujimura doesn't know if there's a right way to be in love, but she knows that what she grows to feel for Higuchi is certainly that. Every time a date comes to an end, they're both eager to plan the next one together. She doesn't know if they’re going too fast as weeks, then months pass, but she can't deny the rapid beat of her heart and the way her face heats at the thought of being near Higuchi Ichiyou.

She wants to learn more about Higuchi - everything about her.

In the weeks that have passed, Tsujimura has learned a lot: Higuchi lives alone with a responsible little sister, and Higuchi is a businesswoman dealing in Yokohama’s shipping industry. When Higuchi is embarrassed, she turns her head away, then glances back at you through the curtain she's made of blonde hair. She's considerate, someone who loves to listen, and seems to forget to respond until you gesture for her to. She's everything Tsujimura didn't know she wanted in a person, and the agent didn't want to lose it.

Inexperienced as she is, she knows that she’s in love with Higuchi. That’s why the drive back to the blonde’s apartment to drop her off after their most recent date makes her so anxious, causing her hands to grip at her steering wheel a bit too tightly. She doesn’t want to seem any different than usual, as if she’s out of sorts or she didn’t enjoy their time together - because she did, she always does - but the thoughts on her mind are slowly but surely leaking out into her bodily expression.

“I didn’t know they had a museum for that sort of thing.” Higuchi says, breaking the silence between them. She turns to look at Tsujimura, smiling warmly. “You really like spy memorabilia, don’t you, Tsujimura?”

Tsujimura is glad she’s at a red light right now, because her instinctive response is to turn her head to face her company with a broad smile. “It was cool, wasn’t it?! I’ve always wanted to go see the North Korean spy ship Yokohama’s Coast Guard Museum has on display! Work keeps me so busy, but I convinced senpai to give me the day off so I could see it with you!” She freezes, realizing how emphatic her response was and looking back at the road with an embarrassed clear of her throat. “A-And my car is the same model as James Bond’s in a recent film...”

Higuchi covers her mouth with a giggle. “It’s not a bad thing - I’m just saying that I think it’s good you’re so passionate about something.”

“Ah... haha...” Tsujimura grips harder at the steering wheel as the light turns green, and she presses down on the gas to continue down the road. “You think so...?”

“I’m a bit envious, really. I don’t think I have any worthwhile hobbies outside of my work...”

“... Is that so...”

“Oh - but it doesn’t bother me. I like being able to help my coworkers and senpai. I like to be useful.”

Tsujimura understands the sentiment completely. The feeling of wanting to be useful to your superiors and show your skill to those you admire was something she beared as well, always doing her hardest to impress Ayatsuji, always doing her best so Sakaguchi-senpai would commend her efforts. She wonders who it is that Higuchi tries to impress...

Higuchi hadn’t said much about her job outside of the fact she had a senpai she admired, and her boss was an extremely strict yet seemingly innocent man. It didn’t give much insight into her life or what it was like, but learning such a thing when Tsujimura could not talk about her own private life either - Well, it’d be a hypocritical thing to do, so she never felt it would have been polite to ask.

When they finally get to Higuchi’s apartment complex, Tsujimura walks Higuchi up to her door. It’s late at night, and she’s a worrier. Higuchi luckily doesn’t mind, and seems to even enjoy the last few minutes spent together before she goes into her apartment.

“Tonight was really fun, Tsujimura.” Higuchi says when they reach her apartment door. She turns to face the agent, smiling politely, nervously. “Thank you... for inviting me out.”

She’s beautiful, really.

“Oh - it’s okay - t-thank you for agreeing to come with me...” I asked for the time off just for you, after all.

The blonde grabs the handle of her door and opens it. The smell of what Tsujimura assumes to be curry wafts into the hall, no doubt having been made by the younger sister Higuchi tells her about. She says nothing, staring at Higuchi’s back -

And before she knows it, she’s grabbing at the other woman’s wrist, pulling her back into the hallway.

“Eh - Tsujimura-sa-”

Higuchi can’t finish her words before she feels Tsujimura’s lips press against hers. They’re soft and warm, and she can feel a small chill against her lips when Tsujimura pulls away, no doubt from her lipgloss. Absolute shock finds its way onto Higuchi’s face, eyes blinking widely into Tsujimura’s burning red face.

“Ichiyou, I love you.” Despite the pounding of her heart, the redness of her face, and the nervous grip on Higuchi’s hand, she manages to say it without stumbling over her words. “I love you, so I... I want to be with you. Can I be with you, as your girlfriend?”

Ahhhh, she said it! She really said it - the ‘g’ word!

For a few agonizing seconds, there’s nothing but silence. Higuchi is still staring in shock, but soon, her expression relaxes into embarrassment - then, a smile so happy it’s as if the sun itself dulls in comparison. “I’ve been hoping for you to ask that, Mizuki... I want to be with you too.”

When the next day comes and she has to get ready for work, Tsujimura has to look at her cellphone to make sure the night before wasn’t a dream. When she sees Higuchi’s number - her name having been changed to ‘Ichiyou’ with a heart next to it - and a text message before bed saying ‘I love you’, her heart is fluttering all over again as she puts a familiar cherry barrette in her hair. It was real. It happened. She and Higuchi Ichiyou were really dating!!

She’s humming all the way to the coffee shop to buy her coffee, all the way to Ayatsuji’s office as she steps inside without even remembering to use her catchphrase at the door beforehand. Ayatsuji isn’t in his office this time, but the smell of lavender in the air is enough to give his presence away - he’s in the kitchen.

She sees Ayatsuji first with one leg crossed over the other and a teacup from his china cabinet. When she gets to the doorway, she notices an older man with grey hair wearing a tattered kimono, holding a matching cup in a gloved hand.

“Good morning, sensei! Kyogoku-san! It’s a great day today!”

“Ah, Tsujimura-kun. My report is already finished and on my desk.”

“Understood, I’ll proofread it and send it to Sakaguchi-senpai!”

And then, her head disappears out of the door. The sound of her heels against the wooden floor echoes as she goes into Ayatsuji’s office where her laptop is usually always sitting, waiting to be used.

Ayatsuji is silent, staring at the doorway. He arches a brow minutely, then sets his tea down with a scoff. “... She acknowledges your presence, but is too blinded by the stars in her eyes to actually realize the gravity of it. Honestly, that foolish girl.”

Kyogoku laughs heartily, smiling delicately over the rim of his tea. “Young ones in love are so endearing. To have the ability to put all your love and dedication into another person - that is what we call ‘hope for humanity’. Why, I certainly remember a time when you acted such a way towards me-”

“Be quiet. I can remember no such thing.”

“Well, we were both more carefree then. We don't have such a luxury anymore. That is the fate of any human, haha.”

The words make Ayatsuji fall into pensive silence, tracing the edge if his cup’s matching plate. He has a feeling - and his feelings are unfortunately accurate - that Tsujimura’s happiness may be given its fair share of hardship.

“In any case,” Kyogoku continues, quickly bored with the silence. “Her scarf is missing.”

“She's also wearing a childish barrette. Most likely from the woman she’s seeing. Couples do that nowadays - trading clothing and accessories.”

An amused hum ensues. “Shall I give you my scarf?”

“Choke yourself with it instead, fool.”

There’s a small bounce in Higuchi’s step as she walks through the office room, setting down a book full of files on a nearby desk. Phew... the last of the paperwork. It’s her least favorite thing about her job, but the rest of those she worked with were always out in the field, and she... Well, she knew she wasn’t suited for this job, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to work as hard as possible at it either.

She feels that maybe, just maybe, she’s gained some sudden enthusiasm for her work through Tsujimura’s love for her job, no matter how difficult.

At the thought, the blonde lifts a hand, touching the scarf around her neck with a smile. The warmth of the fabric makes her heart beat just a bit faster, feeling as if her girlfriend is right there next to her. (Girlfriend - she loves that word.) With a small giggle to herself, Higuchi leaves the room and begins to walk back the way she had came.

Further down the hall, there’s the familiar silhouette of Chuuya. His hands are in his pockets, and he gives out a bored yawn as the distance between them grows smaller and smaller. When they get within a few feet of each other, Chuuya stops, giving a raise of his brows at his coworker.

“Higuchi, that scarf you're wearing...”

Higuchi stops when her name is spoken, then lights up at the mention, pinching at the fabric of the item. “Oh! It's cute, isn't it? My girlfriend let me wear her favorite scarf, hehe~”

“Girlfriend?”

“Yes! Well, as of last night... We thought it’d be fun to give each other one of our own accessories to celebrate today.”

Chuuya is oddly unresponsive, staring at her scarf. There's a strange seriousness in his gaze that makes Higuchi pause and tilt her head.

“Is there something wrong, Chuuya-san...?”

There's a moment of hesitation, as if the executive contemplates saying something, but he doesn't. Instead, he turns his head away. “... No. I was just thinking it's a high class brand. Just make sure you give it back in one piece - I’m happy for you, Higuchi.”

He walks off, but Higuchi can’t help but give a confused stare at his back.

Just what was the reason for that stare, she wonders...

It’s dark and the ground is wet with puddles from the evening rain. Overhead, the moon is shining down on the city of Yokohama, and the distant sound of traffic can be heard. Tsujimura sits in the shadows of some storage boxes at the port, feels comfort and at home in them, if only because she knows her ability is related to controlling shadows.

From the earpiece she’s wearing, Ango’s voice buzzes to life. “Tsujimura-kun, be careful. My subordinates just informed me some of the targets are coming in your director.”

Tsujimura grips tighter at the gun in her hand, shaking away her nerves. I’ll be alright, I’m an agent, after all. “Understood. What are your orders, senpai?”

It wasn’t often that Tsujimura was brought into the field in such a manner with Ango. Usually, she was doing her usual job, which was watching over Ayatsuji and making sure he was kept on a leash - however long it was, as he did whatever he wanted... It was fun being a detective’s assistant, but the work that came with following Ango’s orders in the dark had a certain thrill to it she both loved and feared.

She wanted to be an agent worth her salt and could hold her own against allies and enemies alike. This was her chance to prove herself - to Ango, and herself.

“Do not engage unless they notice you. This is their territory, after all.”

Yes. That’s right. This was the Port Mafia’s territory, the night was their time to shine like the moon in the sky overhead. Taking a step into the moonlight just out of reach in front of her was the same as asking for a death sentence, delivered by a rain of bullets that would make her body dance like a puppet on strings until she was nothing but a pile of flesh at their feet.

That’s what the Port Mafia is like, they are people who live in a world of blood and darkness.

Even to this day, years after having met that informant from the Port Mafia, she remembered how he smelt of blood - he was a true mafia, straight down to his brand name clothes. His red hair blending in with the sunset is still burned into her mind, and the words she said to him that day. If she could have even an ounce of that power and confidence, then surely...

The sound of footsteps nearing her pulls Tsujimura out of her thoughts. From the sound of it, they’re heels... A woman member of the Port Mafia?

There’s a moment of silence. The footsteps cease, too close for comfort. Tsujimura purses her lips, holding her breath while slowly but surely lifting her gun from where it was pointed down at the ground. Instinct tells her she’s already been found, they’re just trying to gain the element of surprise - she has no choice but to engage. With a final breathe, she jumps out of the shadows, arms lifting to point her gun in the direction of her hunter, and in turn she hears the same familiar click of a gun.

However, when their eyes meet, something in the depths of Tsujimura’s soul seems to shatter from the shock at the sight before her.

“... Eh...?”

A woman with blonde hair. Red eyes. Around her neck, there’s a familiar teal scarf. No no no, this can’t be happening - She hopes this is one hilarious prank, some nightmare from the depths of her heart, but when the woman speaks, there’s no denying who she is.

“Mizuki...”

“Ichi...you...”

The agent’s grip on her gun tightens to the point her knuckles are surely white underneath her gloves. It takes every inch of willpower in her body not to start shaking in front of Higuchi. She can’t show any weakness, not to... a Port Mafia...

The thought in itself makes her inhale sharply, painfully. “Ichiyou - why...?”

Higuchi seems equally stunned and speechless, only opening her mouth and closing it like a fish out of water.

Were you lying to me this entire time? Were you only getting close to me because of who I work for? We’re both liars. We were both wearing masks the entire time. How much of it was real?

Higuchi lowers her gun first, holding out her free hand. “Mizuki -”

Before she can finish her sentence, men from Tsujimura’s right yell out something incoherent, beginning to fire away using a machine gun in the agent's direction. Tsujimura quickly dodges, firing a few shots in their direction to send them hiding behind the nearest cover, the shadows directly behind her seeming to shudder to life.

“Mizuki! Wait!”

Tsujimura doesn’t listen. She blocks out the familiar voice saying her given name, pointing a gloved hand in the direction of her attackers. Special ability ----- “Yesterday’s Shadow Tag!”

Out the corner of her eye, some shadows move, fly past her and cause a gust of air that makes her ponytail sway. She doesn’t wait to watch, already spinning on her heels to run away. She hears the shouts of men shouting, more bullets, but none of them reach her as she disappears into the darkness.

She feels no comfort in the shadows this time when they consume her.

She feels no comfort in anything at all.

Tsujimura doesn’t sleep that night, nor does she remember much of it after meeting up again with Ango and his subordinates. It’s all a complete blur, her whole body felt numb to the point that words didn’t completely reach her. Ango seemed to tell something was off and told her just to forget about it and allow them to deal with the rest, so she just went home.

She went home to her empty apartment, and screamed at the top of her lungs into the nearest pillow on her bed. She cried, yelled, sobbed. There was no hand atop her head to comfort her, and it’s in times like then she wishes her mother was still alive to run her fingers through Tsujimura’s hair and give her the motherly advice she could so desperately need.

The advice she had actually been given by someone, it could be used now.

It weighs down on her mind the entire night that she barely sleeps, coming to Ayatsuji Yukito’s detective office a bit too early with the most depressing look on her face and bags under her eyes. She doesn’t even greet the detective when she enters the front door and takes a seat on the couch near his desk. She can feel Ayatsuji eyeing her from where he’s standing on the other side of the room, returning a book he had been reading.

His gaze is too heavy. She feels as if his eyes in itself are saying ‘I told you so, I warned you’ - so she breaks.

Her face falls into her hands and she sobs.

“Sensei... sometimes I wish you were wrong with your deductions.”

Ayatsuji does not answer. The only sound in the room is Tsujimura’s crying, which attractions the attention of his two cats that near her and jump onto the couch next to her. She doesn’t move her hands away from her face to pay attention to them, merely sniffling and crying into her hands.

Finally, she hears footsteps nearing her, and soon enough she can see the tips of Ayatsuji’s boots from where he’s standing before her. “Raise your head, Agent Tsujimura.”

The seriousness in his voice makes her wince, but the way he refers to her compels her to listen - as if not doing so would be denying her occupation as a special agent of the government. There are tear stains against her cheeks, and she’s sure that if she had found the energy to put on her make-up, it would be in absolute shambles. Ayatsuji kneels down in front of her, taking a handkerchief from the inside of his vest and pressing it against her cheek hard enough for her to get the message and take it into her hand herself.

“Calm down. Wipe your tears, blow your nose, then talk to me.”

Somehow... his indifference is calming. Tsujimura merely nods in silence, wiping her eyes with the handkerchief and blowing her nose loudly into the fabric. It takes her about a minute to clean herself up, and she takes a deep breath before speaking, “Ichiyou... is a member of the Port Mafia.” she says, voice cracking on the final word. “I- I don’t... What should I be feeling, sensei? I feel like I suddenly don’t know what to do, or if the past few months of us being together have meant really anything...”

“I can’t tell you how to feel. Quite the contrary, you’re already feeling what is appropriate for such a situation.” Ayatsuji answers coolly. “But, I doubt you’re the only one feeling this way right now. After all, both of you hid something from each other. An agent for the government and a member of the Port Mafia both have masks they’re required to wear. If you want my assessment, then I’ll give it - that woman was not under orders to be with you. Quite frankly, you and I hold no importance or significance to the Port Mafia. We hold the same significance a pebble would on the side of the road.”

He’s pessimistic as always, doesn’t mince his words, and attacks the heart of the matter from the very beginning. The layer of coolness that exudes from his voice settles on her skin, and somehow, it’s calming. It settles her heart just a bit.

“As for what to do... Well, you already know, deep down.”

If that sort of thing ever happens for you, I would suggest you run in the other direction.

... Is that what he’s trying to tell her? To run away? To let everything die away because of how things had changed, without speaking of it with Higuchi or saying a word to each other ever again? That hurt more than the idea of having to face the blonde woman face to face again. She couldn’t - she just couldn’t do it.

Her brows furrow slightly, thinking on their conversation months back, when she had just met the Port Mafia member in question. She remembers bringing up Kyogoku, how Ayatsuji had said that their relationship was not ‘normal’ - they loved each other, but they were enemies who fought to the death at every opportunity. It wasn’t normal because they were enemies...How was this any different?

“I...I’m not going to.”

Ayatsuji arches a brow. “Speak up, I can’t hear what you’re saying.”

“I said -” Tsujimura stands to her feet, curling both her hands into fists while gripping the handkerchief tightly. “I’m not going to run away! Even if it ended up like this, even if I’m scared to know the truth, I still love her! It doesn’t matter where she works! I want to protect her! I don’t want to take your advice - e-even if I admire you a lot!”

“Fool. That’s what you’re focusing on from my advice?”

“E-Eh?”

Ayatsuji crosses his arms over his chest. “I said ‘merely do what you feel is right’.”

Lavender eyes blink once, twice. It’s as if all the tension in her body has left suddenly. “What I feel is right...?”

“Yes. Right for you, not right as in what is the ‘just’ course of action.” the man scoffs, waving a gloved hand dismissively. “After all, someone like me has no right to talk about what is just or isn’t - but it’s completely my right to decide what I feel is best for me. For me, that is my exhausting relationship with Kyogoku. For you, whatever it is depends completely on your actions and choices.”

“Sensei...”

Ayatsuji gives the smallest of smiles, nodding towards the door. “You have something to be doing, don’t you?”

“But work...”

“I’m not going to be pulling a disappearing act any time soon. Just go.”

Tsujimura stares up at her teacher for a moment, then inhales to steel herself. With only a determined nod, she quickly makes her way out the front door.

In the distance, the sun is on the horizon. The night sky is slowly but surely being burned away by the rays of sunshine, leaving a distinct mix of red and lavender. Red, like Higuchi’s eyes. Lavender, like Tsujimura’s - hah, how picturesque such a comparison is. The thought makes the blonde laugh bitterly, painfully, while staring out across Yokohama bay. The Mafia had successfully driven off the government lackies attempting to interrupt their trade deal with some new allies overseas, but she wonders... At what cost?

“Yesterday’s Shadow Tag!”

She even used her ability against me... I didn’t even know she had one.

Higuchi unties the scarf around her neck, holding it out in front of her. Just looking at it and thinking of Tsujimura makes her want to start crying, but a voice from behind calling out to her is the only thing that keeps it at bay.

“Higuchi.”

Higuchi blinks away the stinging sensation in her eyes as she turns around, watching as her superior, Chuuya, approaches her.

“Chuuya-san... You’re here to check the supplies and report back to the boss, aren’t you?”

“I’ve got my subordinates working on the first part. Word from some of the lackies is that you froze up against an agent last night.”

Higuchi lowers her head to look down at her scarf, gripping it tightly. “Ah, that is...”

Her sentence goes absolutely nowhere, swallowed up by the waves in the background. Chuuya stares at her for a moment, then soon releases a heavy sigh. “That girl probably doesn’t hate you, Higuchi. She’s got a good heart - probably too good to be working for those rats in the government.”

The young woman blinks in surprise, gawking at Chuuya. “You knew-? How?”

Chuuya pulls a gloved hand out of a pocket to point at the scarf in her hand. “Some time ago, the boss had me as an informant for the government. The person waiting for me was that girl, and she was wearing that same scarf. It’s a rare brand ‘cause she’s got high class taste, so I wouldn’t forget it.”

Somehow, all of a sudden, Higuchi feels smaller. “You didn’t tell the boss despite knowing...?”

“That girl isn’t high up enough on the food chain to gain anything from. She’s not even suited for her job with a heart like that - a lot like you. But she stays anyway, stubborn as all hell.”

That is truly Tsujimura Mizuki in a nutshell, Higuchi thinks. She’s the most stubborn person in the world, empathetic, and always looking forward towards her goals. That was one of the many things she loved about her girlfriend... if she could still call the agent that, at least.

Chuuya shifts his weight onto a foot, then glances off to his left. He breathes out an amused scoff. “I’ve gotta get going and finish up, but I’ll leave you to tend to your business. I’ll only say this once, so don’t forget it: love who you love while you can. Who gives a shit if your lives are different as all hell? That’s what pulls people to each other.”

Well, that was a sudden, heartfelt piece of advice.

“I... Thank you, but where is that coming from...?”

The executive points. Higuchi’s eyes follow, and down the long, empty pier, she sees a familiar head of teal green hair running towards her.

Mizuki...?

“I’m off now. Take care, Higuchi. Give super spy my regards too.” Chuuya says, turning as he begins to walk off.

Higuchi doesn’t give him an answer, instead taking off into a run down the empty pier towards the agent. It feels as if it takes forever, but at the same time it’s so worth it when she and Tsujimura nearly tackle each other while hugging each other on the pier and stumble in the process. The agent has her in a vicegrip, and Higuchi has fingers twisted into the fabric of Tsujimura’s shirt. The two of them seem to relax in each other’s arms after a few moments, inhaling the remnants of each other’s perfume, then pulling away while holding onto the other’s hands.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t tell you things about me because I’m a special agent.” I’m your enemy.

Higuchi shakes her head, tearing up with a smile. “It’s fine. I’m sorry too. I didn’t tell you things about me because I work for a criminal organization.” You're my enemy .

“Even so, I still love you.” Tsujimura brings Higuchi’s hand to her lips, kissing the blonde’s palm softly. “I love you, I want to know about the rest of you, no matter the cost... No matter what happens. I-I want to make this work, however dysfunctional, and be with you.”

The honesty in her words makes Higuchi tremble. She inhales, cupping Tsujimura’s face to bring her closer into a kiss - chaste, yet meaningful. Their noses are touching, both of them are smiling.

“It’s early. Come back home with me to my place to get some sleep. I want to tell you everything this time. Though it’s probably ugly... at the end of it all, I hope you’ll still love me, Mizuki.”

Tsujimura smiles. Higuchi still reminds her of sunshine - that’s how the agent knows that what she feels is love, that despite the differences in their lives, that love won’t change. “I know without a doubt in my mind I will, Ichiyou. My job isn't exactly normal either, so it might seem very funny to you... but I hope you'll love me all the same.”

#bsd rarepairweek #day4 #tsujimura mizuki #higuchi ichiyou #tsujihigu #I WAS UP UNTIL 8AM WRITING THIS

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silvergalaxyx7 · 3 years ago

Text

Friday Night Funkin Original Story (Corrupta Nigrum) [Part 3: Resistant Heart]

Part 3: Resistant Heart

“I will never get your obsession with these things,” Boyfriend commented, looking down at the olive covered pizza that lay in front of both he and Girlfriend in the local pizzeria they decided to visit after much hesitation by Boyfriend himself after the “Tabi Incident” that had occured in another restaurant a few weeks ago.

“Hmm, what do you mean?” Girlfriend responded, an entire slice of olive pizza immediately being consumed as if it were a mere crumb, the girl’s jaw opened wider than any average human.

The very sight of such a thing caused the Boyfriend to momentarily look away before taking his own pepperoni slice from the second half of the pie they ordered.

“Nothing…” Boyfriend responded, clearing his throat, the ability to speak still being something rather strange to the boy as he looked around the establishment.

The pizzeria was one of the most recently opened places in Melo Dee City and that fact alone made Boyfriend rather anxious to continue this “date” any further, too tired and rather irritated if they had to encounter yet another stranger who either did not like him dating Girlfriend, were sent by Daddy Dearest to end his path in a happy life with his beloved, did not like Girlfriend herself for strange reasons he couldn’t wrap his head around, or most likely hated Daddy Dearest himself and wanted to take their anger out on the ex-rockstar and his daughter which meant he would be included into the mix of blame for an unfair reason, though he couldn’t turn down a rap battle.

“Hey, is everything okay?” Girlfriend asked as the boy jolted to attention, a large slab of tomato sauce stuck to the girl’s face as Boyfriend couldn’t help but to give a small smile and clean it off with his napkin.

“No, everything’s fine,” Boyfriend responded before sitting back down in his seat, the busy sound of everyone around them talking easing his nerves a little bit, as much as having Girlfriend with him had also done.

Then he looked down.

On his slice of pizza, the pepperoni slices looked up at him, almost as if they were reddened eyes like those of Senpai in what he believed to be a dream or hallucination, and it seemed as if he was the same instance as he had previously thought of being.

“Leave….her….” it whispered in a raspy voice that was reminiscent of the spirit trapped within the husk of Senpai’s body.

“Waaaaah!” Boyfriend slapped the slice away, the pizza falling on the floor with a squelch before the pizzeria turned silent for a moment, the boy responded with a nervous laugh before picking up the mess he had made and placing the slice back onto his plate, looking up, only to be met with a equally concerned and skeptical expression from Girlfriend, “Um, what?”

“Something’s going on with you,” Girlfriend grabbed another slice, pointing it at the boy, “And I think I know what…?”

“You do?” Boyfriend titled his head in confusion, unsure of what she meant, seeing as he was merely tired.

“Yeah…..you’re still thinking about what Geovanni told us, aren’t you?” Girlfriend said slowly, beginning to eat her food at an equally slower rate.

“U-Umm….” was all Boyfriend could mutter, rubbing his arm which signaled that he had been thinking about it at least once.

“Just forget what you heard-”

“It’s kind of hard to do that, you know?” Boyfriend interrupted the girl, his tone a bit more bitter than he would’ve liked.

“What are you talking about?” Girlfriend asked, placing down her slice.

“You know very well what I’m talking about!” Boyfriend exclaimed, trying his best to keep his voice down so that they didn’t draw any unwanted attention, “Geovanni’s whole spiel about you having something inside you?”

“He’s crazy, don’t listen to him.”

“But this isn’t the first time something like this has happened, y'know?” Boyfriend continued, “Remember Tabi?”

The name of her ex hit Girlfriend hard, the girl wincing at the mention of the man before continuing to chew what remained of her food in her mouth, her expression now more irritated than surprised.

“What about him?” she asked.

“He said that you were the reason why he looked the way he did, why he couldn’t go back to a normal life, and that you used him in order to get what you wanted before throwing him away!” Boyfriend continued, “At first I thought that he was exaggerating, that it was your pops that could’ve been the cause behind all of this, but after encountering dangerous people these last few months, and seeing how you deal with our battles, I’m starting to….”

With those words, Boyfriend fell silent, only now noticing Girlfriend’s widened gaze as the girl slowly narrowed her eyes once again.

“You’re starting to what, Boyfriend?” Girlfriend asked slowly.

“I….I’m just scared,” Boyfriend retraced back on his seat, leaning backwards with a sigh as he gripped the table, Girlfriend’s expression now shifting to that of concern.

“Of me…?” his beloved asked, nearing the verge of tears.

“Of this, our relationship!” Boyfriend leaned forward once again, “How is it going to work if you don’t tell me things like this, about what’s going on in your past?”

“Those things are private and personal for a reason, Boyfriend…” Girlfriend said in a somber tone.

“Don’t you at least trust me to understand?” Boyfriend continued.

“Of course I trust you, but this is different….” Girlfriend explained.

“How?”

“My life before I met you, hell, before I met Tabi, it’s been bits and blurs that I can’t really remember, but I don’t want to remember them if it means that others are going to get hurt,” Girlfriend’s eyes quivered as the girl hugged herself, “When I was little, daddy told me that I didn’t have to worry about my past, that I was just a demon and that that’s what mattered in my life, helping them bring music to the world while remaining as happy as I could possibly be, but things got a lot harder when I fell in love with guys or became friends with other people.

Sooner or later I would get upset, even if it was for a little bit, and things never turned out good for either of us, so I decided to not go after people by myself, to not get me or anybody else in danger, and to just let daddy figure out what to do with the people that I was upset with.

I mean, I was “daddy’s little girl,” right?” Girlfriend tried and momentarily failed to hold back her tears, choking her words through them.

“I get it, you know?” Boyfriend admitted with a sigh, “It’s hard being different, getting treated like a weirdo because you’re not like anybody else, so you try and get into a relationship but things don’t turn out well because the one you love is dangerous and you’re afraid of them or they’re afraid of you…...but, that doesn’t make it right to hurt them or for them to hurt you.

Trust me, a good relationship requires good communication and understanding with one another.

And that’s all I’m asking you for, that you communicate with me, just a little bit more.”

Girlfriend looked at Boyfriend with hesitant but understanding eyes as she gave a shaky nod, dabbing her eyes with her napkin before taking a sip from her glass of wine to the side as Boyfriend drank from his soda can, mostly to ease the tension between the two.

“Alright, alright, I’ll try to control myself, and I’ll understand you just a bit more, but please, don’t rush me,” Girlfriend gave her beloved a small smile, placing her hand on top of his, “I want to take some time to know me a little more before I can give you all my secrets, kay?”

“Absolutely, take all the time you need,” Boyfriend gave a determined smile as the two continued on.

While the boy did indeed trust his girlfriend, a small spark of concern and hesitation lay on his chest, though whether that had been due to the guilt of straying away from his promise of freeing the spirit from Senpai and their virtual prison or from the fact that he was still somewhat afraid of her after all the demons and abominations they faced was something he was still incredible unsure of.

Though perhaps that sorcerer could help him understand.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Not long had truly passed, perhaps four days to a week, before one of the first Blacyx were encountered by Sarv as she contacted Geovanni, the sorcerer’s phone picking up as the sorcerer struggled to take another step, the location he had gotten in the morning from the nun being quite a ways away from the main city, more so into the rural outskirts of the country, a trip which had taken him nearly five hours, including having to pay for a bus ticket and walking most of the way, though he had prepared for the trip with a few granola bars and and water bottles.

Sarv had actually called him at around 6:00 AM and it was currently 10:27 AM, meaning that afternoon was approaching fast, so he had better find the solution to their problems quickly.

Bzzt!

Geovanni went into his pocket, taking out his phone as Sarv’s number appeared on screen with of course her icon of a cross, the sorcerer placing close to his ear as he continued, now walking on a sandy terrain that felt more so like the middle of nowhere rather than a location an individual would go to in the first place.

A Blacyx wouldn’t need to worry about these factors by their own definition however, so it was more understandable as to the environment.

However, from the look of the place and overall form that the the girl had taken Boyfriend and Girlfriend during his observation, a barren field of sand and sunbeams never really seemed like the type of place she would ever go to in the first place, especially when Boyfriend was deeper inside the city.

“Hello?” he finally called into the phone.

“Greetings, Geovanni!” Sarv’s cheery voice called through the phone, though the nun’s voice was far deeper and distorted, meaning that she was currently in her demonic form, “Have you found the Blacyx as of yet?”

“No, though it does seem quite unusual that she would be out here of all places,” Geovanni responded, looking around the peachy landscape with a few tumbleweeds passing along his trail, “Are we sure she isn’t in some area of containment? There are other organizations and parties besides ourselves that feel the need to act in a more aggressive and organized manner than we could ever could, whether it’s for “the greater good” or more malevolent options of containment, though I don’t believe they understand what a Blacyx even is in the first place.”

“Well then, we’re lucky we get to do their job for them, huh?” Sarv responded with a giggle as Geovanni simply gave a tired chuckle, the sorcerer hearing a grunt from the phone’s background, presumingly Ruv hearing in on their conversation.

“I suppose we are, though I would assume getting them to listen to us would be rather pointless, so I am still thankful that you decided to assist me,” the sorcerer continued walking, kicking a small pebble that stood in front of him, “There are many magical users within our world, though you are one of the more powerful ones I have found, though I hope you don’t envy any others I happen to find on our mission, heh?”

“Hey, envy is a sin!” Sarv huffed, the sorcerer giving a small laugh before continuing forward, a minute or two of silence passing by before Sarv spoke out, “Geovanni, you said you knew this girl, right?”

“Not personally, no, but I have observed her interactions with Boyfriend and Girlfriend in the past, though her cooperation is far easier said than done considering how their last interaction had resulted in, but I believe I can manage getting through to her…...I tend to mostly be good for emotional connections believe it or not,” the sorcerer continued on.

“I see…..well, I have full confidence in your intentions, though whether that was a mistake or not is yet to be seen,” Sarv explained as the sorcerer simply gave a slight nod, though the nun couldn’t see.

Narrowing his eyes, up ahead there seemed to be multiple large columns of smoke rising into the air, large walls appearing where the road had ended, definitely not in any legal manner either, though the location and smoke began to make sense to Geovanni who gave a sigh as soon as he heard gunshots firing from inside the structure.

“Oh you’ve got to be kidding me…” the sorcerer groaned.

“What, what is it?” Sarv called out as Geovanni once again brought his necklace out from under his vest, flicking on it as the metallic eye opened once more, magical circles surrounding his body like armor before he stuffed itr back underneath his collar.

The sorcerer continued walking before stopping in front of the wall’s entrance which merely had a flimsy gate standing between him and his targeted individual, and from the top of the walls lay two outposts with two figures standing within each one respectively, immediately drawing sniper rifles from the shadows cast inside the posts themselves, sunlight entering the structure as Geovanni got a good look at average height men with black armor surrounding their bodies and boots, white visors in front of their eyes, a pointed spike on their inky black helmets, and large smug grins across their face.

“Ugh, tankmen…” was all the sorcerer said before closing the phone and placing it in his pocket, looking up at the soldiers with a irritated but respectful glare, “Greetings gentlemen, I was wondering if you can help me with-”

“Now I’m gonna have to stop you right there pal,” the left tankman had interjected, “This area is off limits to punks like you.”

“Punks like…..you know what, nevermind. I’m sorry, but I believe you must have misunderstood my intentions,” the sorcerer gave a nervous laugh, though he knew that it wouldn’t be easy to get through to people like these men, not like it ever was in the first place, “I’m looking for-”

“Rex, I don’t think this man was listening to you,” the right tankman responded, once again interrupting Geovanni who responded with a groan.

“Listen, I’m looking for-”

“You know what Mike, I think you’re right!” the left tankman, apparently named Rex, had agreed, cocking his rifle before leaning it against the surrounding walls around the outpost, readying it to fire at the sorcerer, “I don’t think this guy is getting the memo, so why don’t we show him what happens to punks like him?”

“I love how you think!” the right tankman, Mike, agreed eagerly, imitating the movement, though the hammer of the man’s rifle was stuck for a moment, “Aw, you’ve got to be shittin me!”

“What’s wrong?” Rex asked.

“Goddamn thing’s stuck again!” Mike responded, pulling on the gun part, only for it to remain static.

“Did you eat that PB&J again?!” Rex exclaimed, “I told you that peanut butter would stick to your goddamn gun!”

“Hey, my mom made it for me!” Mike protested, still trying, and failing, to pull back the hammer.

“Mike, you mom’s dead, all ours are!” Rex yelled back as Mike stopped for a moment.

“Crap, you’re right, then who….?” Mike stopped for a moment as Rex facepalmed, Geovanni simply tapping his foot against the sandy ground, rolling his eyes.

“It was that girl, you know, the new one?” Rex explained, “Blue hair, crazy eyes?”

“Right, right, but I still stand by what I said!” Mike announced, pulling on the trigger with a grunt.

“Fine, just hurry up!” Rex mumbled, placing his gun to his side.

“Hang on, are you both going to shoot me?!” Geovanni exclaimed, now finally having a chance to speak, “I just want to see someone. Actually, it’s that girl you both were mentioning.”

“Wait your turn, houdinne!” Rex called out before turning back to Mike impatiently, “Oh my loving lord, hurry the hell up!”

“I can’t do it if you keep yelling at me!” Mike cried out, tears somehow falling out of his visor.

“Oh….um…..you’re right, sorry man,” Rex quickly apologized.

“It’s just that I’m always under pressure and finally having someone to shoot up with you makes me feel nervous sometimes, you know?” Mike continued.

“Yeah, I get it, but just take your time alright?” Rex added with a smile.

“Thanks man…” Mike smiled back, wiping the tears from his face.

“What in the world is going on?” Geovanni mumbled to himself, shaking his head as he looked ahead of him, finding that there was nothing actually blocking the entrance to the decrepit city remains of this military battlezone, so he could just walk in.

“Hey, how about we play Yahtzee after this?” Rex suggested.

“R-Really dude?” Mike once again began crying, “Damn, you’re the best!”

“No dude, you’re the best….” Rex gave a confident nod.

“Dude…” Mike gasped.

“Alright, I suppose I’ll just make my way inside,” Geovanni announced walking toward the entrance when, by the holy power of bromance, Mike pulled back on the hammer with a click, his rifle ready to be fired.

“Aha! You’re not going anywhere!” Mike exclaimed as Rex too pointed his gun at the sorcerer who simply gave an unamused expression, continuing to walk, “H-Hey, don’t ignore us! Rex, let’s take this guy out together!”

And with that, both tankmen began firing at Geovanni, loud blasts and shots being heard throughout the military zone.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Deeper inside the battleground however, the gunshots of Rex and Mike couldn’t be heard over the dozens of other gunshots as tankmen were battling their adversaries and enemies from the secondary commander, nemis and ex-friend of Corporal John Captain himself, as tanks rolled on the earth and fights ensued every corner of the rubble within the city.

John Captain however, has better things to do rather than dealing with the remnants of the Thugmen who he had believed were all killed, though it seemed they rebuilt their army once again, his own rousing and charismatic speech allowing his Tankmen team to deal with those brutes easily without him leading charge.

No, to the northeastern portion of the battlefield is where his whereabouts truly lied as the captain was busy in front of a shooting range with his four week long newest recruit, a teenage girl with long, now desaturated, blue hue for hair color, ripped jean shorts, similarly desaturated lavender eyes, a black hoodie with three Xs vertically aligned down the sleeves of the clothing with a depiction of a broken heart at its center, black sneakers, a small pistol in her right hand, and a somewhat apathetic attitude toward everything in the life.

“Come on Blue, you just gotta shoot the target!” John instructed, wrapping the girl’s hand around the pistol before motioning it towards the center of a dart board that was merely ten feet from them.

“Yeah, you’ve been telling me to do that FOR THE LAST TWENTY MINUTES!” the girl yelled as the captain simply scoffed, grabbing a pistol that he had kept behind his back, despite having no apparent holster to hold the weapon.

In a sudden and quick motion, the captain fired his weapon towards the array of targets in front of them without even looking and, in a stroke of pure and utter skill…...missed every single one of them entirely.

“And that’s how it’s done!” John finished with a smug smile, one that the girl knew all too well, an unfortunate fact.

“You….missed,” the girl raised a brow, pointing at the holes the bullets had riddled on the large piles of debris and boulders that lay behind the targets.

“Nah, that’s all subjective!” the captain gave a prideful laugh before placing his gun back and walking next to the girl.

“Wha-no, no it really isn’t!” the girl once again exclaimed, “I mean, that didn’t even hel-”

“Come on shrimp, let’s get started on training, though after your moves a few weeks ago, I don’t think we have too much to worry about, though I’m not too into letting outsiders join our army,” John pointed to a tankman that sat on an ice cooler underneath a tattered tent a few feet away from this, this one wearing a circular vision more akin to goggles while eating one of the girl’s PB&J sandwiches that she had prepared in the morning, this man being Steve, John Captain's best friend and trusted “advisor” at times, “You can thank Steve for not kicking you out.”

“Love the sandwiches, Blue!” Steve called out with a small wave as the girl simply returned with a smile and the same gesture.

“Look, that was just an accident!” the girl returned her attention back to John, keeping her voice down, “I was just trying to pass through here because the mall is on the other side and I needed to buy more hair dye, which in hindsight was a pretty dumb decision seeing as how I could’ve taken another path instead of going through here.

Anyway, you guys just handed me a gun just because I happened to pick up one of your helmets and that made me one of you guys apparently, but I didn’t know how to use a gun.”

“Ah, don’t cut yourself short kid, you took down five Thugmen on your first try,” John recalled the event, “And then you took out an entire dozen of them including a tank! Ha, we needed you on our team after that show of genocide!”

“Okay, one, you slapped my back and I accidentally shot the Thugmen who just happened to be standing at the wrong spot at the wrong time and two, I dropped my gun after realizing I literally killed people and that somehow caused it to fire on impact, shooting flaming barrels that were on their side, which was a pretty dumb thing to have anyway, and it ended up toppling the tank over an entire group of them!” the girl tried to reason with the captain, but as she once again turned her attention to him, he had been eating her sandwiches with Steve.

“What’d you say, kid?” John called out, mouth full of the food.

“Argh, nothing!” the girl turned around, pointing the gun to the target before focusing the rear sight of the weapon at the center of the bullseye before closing her eyes and firing, the gunshot startling her, “EEEP!”

The girl had fallen on the floor, cowering in justifiable fear for a kid who just fired a gun intentionally for the first time, though all that she had heard was the sound of John and Steve clapping with a few other tankmen in the area whistling a congratulatory melody.

“W-Wha…?” the girl opened one eye before looking around her, seeing all her “teammates” giving her thumbs up as she looked ahead of her to find that she had, by all accounts of skill, actually landed and hit the bullseye, “O-Oh!”

“Yeah, that’s my girl!” John stood up, clapping quickly before realizing the fatherly comment he just said and giving a small cough to readjust his words, “I-I mean good job rookie!”

“Ha!” the girl stood up, the rush of adrenaline after firing what she believes to simply be a weapon for destruction filling her with an increased level of excitement that she hadn’t felt since…..since…..but that didn’t matter now.

Perhaps she could stay here a bit longer, help the Tankmen out every so often, and killing the bad guys isn’t bad, right?

“See, I told ya you could do it!” John gave her a pat on the back, lifting her arm in the air, pistol in hand.

“Yeah, I didn’t think I could….” the girl looked down at the gun, her reflection staring back off the glassy surface, her tired eyes and desaturated colors staring back at her, but her usual scowl was suddenly replaced with a hopeful smile, “I could get used to th-”

“Corporal!” a voice came from a broken pathway that led to the entrance of the abandoned city’s borders, and from behind the rubble came a tankman, frantic and worried, “Corporal John Captain!”

“What is it, soldier?” John responded as the tankman tripped on a rock, face planting himself on the ground as the girl went up to the man, helping him up, “Can you see me and Blue here are having a bonding moment?”

“S-Sorry, sir but someone….he….ah….and Yahtzee….” the man spouted out, catching his breath.

“Easy there soldier, who are you talking about?” the tankman looked around, only seeing the typical rubble and destruction laid upon a battleground of a city.

“Some guy, Rex and Mike tried to shoot him down since he was trying to enter this place, but the bullets, they just won’t knock him down, like they’re reflecting off of him,” the man continued, looking around in a terrified state, “Said he was looking for some Sky chick. What do we do sir?”

“Sky….?” John contemplated the name, “Who the hell….?”

The girl looked at the captain with an expression of disbelief, offense, and utter bewilderment.

“You’ve got to be kidding me-that’s my name!” the girl, now known as Sky by the others, exclaimed.

“Wait, that’s you?” John pointed as all the other tankmen murmured to each other in similar confusion.

“You’ve been seeing me for FOUR WEEKS, how don’t you…..you know what, nevermind,” Sky rubbed her temples before looking over at the frantic tankman, “Where is he?”

“He should be-”

“Hello, is anyone there?” a voice called out from the same path the tankman had come from as everyone turned to look, guns ready, as Sky looked down at her pistol with some form of uncertainty, though she still pointed the gun in the same direction as everyone else.

From the rubble however, came a neatly dressed and dark skinned man in a cinnamon colored tuxedo, wearing fancy clothes with a similar colored vest as well as glasses, who looked around the area before he had landed his eyes on the group next to the shooting range, only he wasn’t staring at Steve or John Captain, but rather Sky.

“Hey, the hell you think you’re doing here?” John broke the rather awkward silence that was only momentarily broken by the gunshots in the distance between the Tankmen and Thugmen.

“I’ve come to speak to Miss Sky,” Geovanni immediately responded, stepping forward as his eyes narrowed in observation, seeing the appearance of the girl, the previously happy-go-lucky, cheerful, awed, and in love girl with bright colors that reflected Boyfriend’s own clothing and appearance now reduced to a desaturated shell of a girl who seemed rather tired than loving at the moment, pointing her pistol at the sorcerer as the man looked around, only now realizing that the rest of the Tankmen were also aiming for him, “Oh, would you all grow up?!”

“Why do you want to speak with her?” John had stated, Sky’s eyes widening in surprise at the fact that the captain hadn’t simply begun shooting at the man like he did for everyone else.

“It is of important matters that are dire to the safety of our world, though I don’t assume you would understand or care much about that, would you?” Geovanni gave a nasty glare at the captain who simply scoffed with his signature grin before the rest of the Tankmen cocked their guns.

“Buddy, I think you better choose your next words rather carefully…” John said slowly, “Cause we’re about to blow you sky high!”

Sky hadn’t spoken to the man as of yet, simply hiding her confused and uncertain eyes behind her weapon, Geovanni’s eyes meeting her own, the sorcerer’s expression reflecting that of pity and a hint of what seemed to be disappointment, though not to her, but rather this entire situation he was in, Sky simply sighing before lowering her weapon.

“Wait…” she announced as the rest of the Tankmen looked over at the girl, “Don’t fire.”

“Excuse me?” John responded with a laugh, “Rookie, I don’t think that’s up for you to decide, so just let me do my job and-”

“He wants me, doesn’t he?” Sky snapped back, “So let him speak.”

“.....oh, it looks like we’re at a standstill, kid,” John turned around with a smile, “Guess we’ll have to figure this thing out using our new way of fighting, make this day a bit more interesting than it’s already been.”

“Want me to get the speaker John?” Steve asked, hesitant to lower his own gun down from the man’s direction.

“Fucking god Steve, yes, how the hell are we supposed to do this?” John sighed as the captain’s friend simply walked a couple feet forward before pulling off a tarp that lay on top of something big, revealing an old set of speakers identical to those that Girlfriend was on previously, only now with scratches and a small flame in its corner, the man tossing two microphones, one to Geovanni and the other towards the captain, “Nah, you what Steve, pass one for Blue here, see if she got the pipes to keep up.”

“W-What?!” Sky exclaimed, shaking her head and hanks in disagreement, “N-No, I haven’t sung since….since…..I just don’t think it’s that good of an idea!”

“Ah, come on, you’ll be fine,” John gestured for an additional microphone as Steve threw one at Sky who fiddled with it, juggling both it and her gun in her hand before deciding to hold each one in an individual hand, “Alright old man, rap battle to see who gets the girl!”

“H-hey, don’t treat me like a prize!” Sky protested from the background.

“Old man?” Geovanni sighed, though he was slightly hurt.

“Let’s see what you got!” John shouted as Steve sat on the speaker for some odd reason, somehow able to turn the broken musical instrument on.

And with no further protest, the first battle of part three has begun, guns cocked and snarky comments made!

[Hello once again esteemed reader!

So, this battle is rather interesting, especially with a newer, more edgy depiction of Sky because why not?

Alright, so here’s how I imagine the song/movements going:

Battle Title - “Ugh Forever” (This song would be “Ugh” from Week 7 of the original FNF with the only exception being

that we now have Sky who remains with her original vocals and small sections where the notes from Sky would sound like certain pieces from the “Sky” song from the respective character’s mod, with the small “ugh” being replaced with Sky’s own grunts and angry noises from her own mod.)

Character Movements - While Tankman’s and Geovanni’s remain the same, Sky’s is now different with her new character design except her her non-singing animation in which she has the same movement as her original form, only having her hands in her hoodie’s pockets and swaying side to side like her normal animation, an apathetic expression on her face:

Up (Sky holds her mic close to her head as her entire body kinda shrug’s upward, holding her gun in a similar way to Pico.)

Down (Sky brings her body low in a similar manner to Sarvente’s downward position, mouth in an “o” shape and everything, so nothing really special.)

Left (Same movements will be in the right position. In this case, Sky would kinda bob her head to whichever direction the arrow key in her side hits, this being in about five or four frames rather than the one or two frames for her other movements, her mouth also moving to whichever direction the arrow key hits.)

Right (^^)

Background - Same as Week 7 for all three battles in this part, only instead of Girlfriend on the speakers, it’s Steve holding a PB&J.

And so, with some stubborn determination, Geovanni somehow manages to be a duet against his own voice, quite tired with all the trouble he has been put through, though Corporal John Captain isn’t quite pleased with the result.]

“God fucking dammit….” John sighed, facepalming, “Kid, we’ve got to work on that war cry of yours.”

“That wasn’t a war cry, I was literally pissed that you would get me to fight a battle I was trying to avoid!” Sky protested before the captain simply looked over at Geovanni and scowled.

“Are we done here?” the sorcerer asked.

“Ah, go to hell!” John simply pointed a gun at him before immediately firing.

The bullet, when reaching the sorcerer, was instantly reflected off a ornate magical circle protecting Geovanni’s body which had appeared at lighting speed, the bullet hitting one of the tankmen as he fell to the ground, face bleeding as Sky simply shuddered, still not quite used to the amount of death and pain there was in this place.

“Captain, I would recommend you cease fire….” Geovanni warned, not really as a threat since the sorcerer wouldn’t hurt these foolish war fighters, but rather so that they didn’t waste their time trying to shoot him.

“Men, prepare to fire!” John commanded as all his troops readied their aim before all firing at once.

“Or simply ignore me, sure,” the sorcerer rolled his eyes, crossing his arms as bullets bounced off of him, Sky jumping behind John who was completely unimpressed, but more so annoyed at the fruitless result of simply shooting his problem away, something he hadn’t felt since dealing with Boyfriend, his ex gun wielding maniac, and that literal satanic hand me down wearing Girlfriend.

Whether it was due to his extreme luck or somewhat high intelligence in standing at the right place, not a single bullet hitting the captain.

“Ah, you’re no fun!” John placed his hand up to signal everyone to stop firing as the lasting sounds of gunshots were heard echoing through the battlefield, his additional armies firing at the enemy in the distance, “Rookie, just deal with this guy for me, will ya?”

“I was literally trying to explain that to you-”

“Kay, thanks!” John quickly interrupted before walking back towards the tent he and Steve had been eating their sandwiches within, leaving Sky and Geovanni to their own conversations as the remaining tankmen returned back to their battle.

“Sorry about that…” Sky apologized to the sorcerer who simply gave a sheepish smile, waving his hand in dismissal.

“Oh, don’t apologize, they always act like this, especially when it all comes down to an idiotic reason like retrieving the disk for a film or simply assisting a friend,” Geovanni rolled his eyes, “And here I am wondering how are they trained soldiers.”

“Yeah, sorry,” Sky responded, quickly realizing that she apologized once again, before simply changing the subject, “Um, so what do you want in the first place?”

“Oh, right!” Geovanni gave a nervous laugh, clasping his hands together in front of him, though the sorcerer remained silent, a large amount of sweat beading on his brow, his nervousness in needing the girl’s ability to defeat an extra dimensional entity being something that was difficult to put into words.

“So…..are you gonna tell me or?” Sky tapped her foot against the ground impatiently.

“Well, it’s a bit difficult to describe,” Geovanni explained, “Though to begin, I suppose you first wish to understand how I was able to gain knowledge of your name, don’t you?”

“That would be a nice start,” Sky’s eyes narrowed with skepticism before she stopped for a moment, the girl’s expression slowly becoming more somber and small as she crossed her arms, microphone still in hand, “But I think I know the answer to that….”

“You do…?” Geovanni responded with confusion.

Sky gave a small nod, her eyes staring at the ground as the girl’s expression softened, though the sorcerer could notice a tinge of guilt within her eyes and overall position, her legs overlapping over one another as she fiddled with the drawstrings on her hoodie as Geovanni was able to see past the zipper on said clothing, viewing a fairly dirty white shirt with a red check at its center.

Right, when she had met Boyfriend and he…...chose Girlfriend over her.

That event, in viewing for himself, was a bit of a confliction as he didn’t know which side he had rooted for the most, a small bit upset at Boyfriend for simply leaving her behind in her own void, the reason he was after her right now, instead of consoling her or trying to help her through her obsessive tendencies, but also understandable upset at Sky for taking her actions to an unhealthy level which ended up harming those who had nothing against her, pushing away those who she was after in the first place.

Well, he couldn’t ask her to come with her in this condition and state of mind.

“Want to talk about it?” Geovanni asked as the girl looked up at him with a surprised look before slowly piecing the pieces together, figuring out that he knew exactly what she had done through the sorcerer's look of recognition and remembrance on his face.

“I-I don’t know…” the girl placed her hands back in her pockets, looking to the side in shame.

“I know that my reason for coming to ask for your help is important, but as a sorcerer, as a friend, I simply wish to keep you all save, be it from literal demons, or your inner ones,” Geovanni extended his hand with a warm smile, “So, what do you say?”

“I don’t think I wanna remember that…..not again,” Sky mumbled, though Geovanni could catch wind of the girl’s words.

“Hmm... “ the sorcerer thought to himself, only now realizing that his hand was still wrapped around his microphone as he gestured it at the girl with a small smile, “Then how about we have a little wager? Nothing harmful, I assure you.”

“A what?” Sky responded, now locking eyes with Geovanni as she noticed what he was referring to, “You wanna rap battle me?”

“I never quite understood why every type of song is described as a rap battle, but sure,” Geovanni smiled, “U-Unless you don’t want to of course!”

“No, no, it’s fine, but….” Sky stopped, thinking of some excuse, though she couldn’t come up with any.

“Are you alright?” Geovanni leaned in slightly.

“.....alright, let’s do it,” Sky gave a determined nod.

“Great, and I hope you don’t mind if I pick a song,” Geovanni turned towards the speakers, waving his hand as a magical circle appeared in front of his fingertips, this one having a musical symbol in its center, before the sorcerer turned it slightly, heavy feedback emanating from the speakers before the melody of “Wife Forever” began to play.

Sky’s eyes widened at the recognition of her own song of all things.

“Wait, what?” the girl turned over to Geovanni who had already flipped on the mic.

“Oh, don't worry, I’m not the best singer, but from what I’ve heard, you have a wonderful voice,” the sorcerer grinned.

“R-Really?” Sky’s eyes widened with an embarrassed blush before the girl shook her head, “No, wait, I don’t-”

“Let’s begin,” Geovanni continued.

And with that, the second battle had commenced.

[Alright, an easy one to say the least:

Battle Title - “Wife Never More” (This song is just “Wife Forever” but Sky sings her parts a lot slower, almost like a slowed reverb version of the song itself while Geovanni simply sings it normally and fast.)

Battle Movements - Geovanni’s remain the same while Sky’s are also the same with the slight difference of a anime styled water droplet on her forehead to represent embarrassment and confusion, the girl's eyes now open in every one of her movements, her mouth like a squiggle to also represent nervousness. ]

As always, the battle had ended, Geovanni victorious on his side of the outcome, unaware as to the frightened and shaken Sky who was standing only a couple feet away from him.

“What an excellent…...song,” the sorcerer stopped, noticing that Sky was beginning to tear up, bringing her hands to her head, almost as if the girl wanted to stop the tears from coming out, to little success, “Miss Sky, are you alr-”

“Why….?” Sky asked under her breath.

“What?” Geovanni replied.

“Why did you use that song?” the girl reiterated.

“I-I thought you would be pleased to sing your own song again, but I-”

“I hate my songs,” Sky clarified, bringing her head up as the sorcerer noticed her eyes were a bit red, tears running down her cheeks, “I just wanted to stay here with Corporal and the others, forget about my past, but you didn’t let me even try and explain what’s going on.”

“I swear, that wasn’t my attention at all!” Geovanni tried to explain, “I just wanted to make you feel more confident in yourself and-”

“Hey, the hell do you think you’re doing?!” John’s voice interrupted the sorcerer who found the end of a barrel pointed a foot from his head.

“Sky, are you alright?” Steve walked over to console the girl who was beginning to wipe away her tears.

“Y-Yeah, I’m fine,” the girl gave a shaky nod before taking a deep breath, her expression returning to its more stern and neutral form as the girl glared at Geovanni, “Alright, enough games, what do you want?”

“I-I, um, I wanted-”

“I think she asked you a question, you merlin washout!” John spat at the sorcerer who had finally snapped with his nervousness, whirling around to place his eyes towards the end of the gun, his magical barrier laying right at its head.

“Do you idiots even know how hard this is, telling a heartbroken girl that I need her manifestation abilities in order to save the world?!” he shouted at John who simply glared back, the sorcerer placing his hands on his mouth, what he wanted to lay on Sky bit by bit coming out all at once, as he turned to witness Sky’s eyes widening.

“W-What?” the girl’s grip on her microphone tightened to the point where a few cracks began outlining around her palm.

“Wait, that’s not what I meant!” Geovanni reassured her, though Sky simply dropped her head.

“Heh, and I thought you actually cared about me,” the girl responded with a small laugh that slowly increased, “But that’s never the case, is it?!”

“I do care about you, but--”

“You just wanted to connect with me, to make me feel better, and for what, my dumb powers that got me into this mess in the first place?” Sky questioned, even more tears beginning to come out of her eyes as the ground underneath everyone began to shake.

No, not shake, but rather ripple, small waves coming from Sky’s own position.

“Please, just listen-”

“I’m just Sky, the crazy weirdo who no one ever wants to talk to, right?!” the girl’s eyes widened as she laughed once again.

“You’re much more than that, I promise,” Geovanni reached his hand out before dropping it back down, gripping onto his vest with contempt, “Maybe it’s better that I go-”

“No.”

“What?” the sorcerer looked up as the girl gripped even harder on the microphone until the entire tool broke into pieces, falling on the floor as a splash of more feedback echoed through the battlefield.

“You heard the lady, you’re not going anywhere,” John pointed the gun at Geovanni’s even harder, although this proved pointless.

Geovanni was concerned however, not towards the captain’s idiotic endeavor to harm him, but rather towards Sky anger, a black, vicous liquid begining to envelope her hand and travel up to the girl’s elbow as seen through her hoodie’s sleeve which had dampened as well, the liquid also travelling up to her thighs, a looming reddish pink glow coming from behind the small layer of hair in front of the girl whose head was still lowered.

This was it…...manifest.

“You wanted to see my manifest, didn’t you?” Sky asked, her voice far deeper and distorted than her previous form, similar to Girlfriend’s and Sarvente’s in their demon form, “Well, I’ll let you in on a little secret. I’m not from this world, even though I go to a school in Melo Dee City and I live here in the battlefield, but I’m actually from somewhere that is much more real than your world…..actually, your world is just a little game to me and people like me from where I come from, and I could simply just wish you away if I was there, but my manifest allows me to stay in this world, though I don’t like using it at all, especially when I can hurt others.”

“Then stop, please,” Geovanni begged.

“And yet you still wanted it, right, you jerk?” the girl continued bitterly.

“I don’t want you to hurt yourself,” the sorcerer held onto his microphone, “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Yeah right,” Sky retorted.

“It’s true!”

“You want my manifest?” Sky asked, lifting her head to reveal pure mixture of red and pink eyes, her fingers forming into black claws before placing them in a position where one of her hands was in front of her chest while the other in front of her stomach, lifting her middle and index finger up, shaking violently, “THEN HERE IT IS!”

With those words, the girl screamed, a distorted and echoed scream filling the battlefield following a large blast of white which covered everything around the girl, including the sorcerer who yelled, covering his eyes against the blinding lights around him.

Opening his eyes after a few moments of silence and accustomization to the ash colored environment around him, Geovanni stood up, finding himself in an infinite black void, the speakers, Steve, and John also within it with him, though he had to focus on the men’s visors due to them already wearing black suits.

“The hell is going on captain?!” Steve exclaimed, pulling out his pistol.

“Steve don’t you think I would fucking tell you if I knew?!” John snapped back at his friend, also taking out his pistol as he stood in front of him.

“Sky….” Geovanni called out in a calm and slow manner, looking over at the girl who was rapidly shaking, gritting her now sharpened teeth with fury.

“SSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP!” the girl yelled, the entire void flashing red for a moment before returning to its onyx hue.

The sorcerer knew he couldn’t get through with words, holding his microphone close to his mouth as he looked over at the tankmen for assistance.

“What?” John glared back before looking over at the speakers, “Ah, fine, but just because I don’t feel like doing anything today. Shouldn't even have been here in the first place.”

And with that the final battle commences.

[Ah, if only I could design all of this into a game, or at least get some form of music, but maybe if I learn how to do so, though until then, here we go:

Battle Title - “Manifested Weapon” (Simply put, it’s just the “Manifest” song from the Sky mod and “Guns” from FNF Week 7, this song taking notes from both, but into a remixed version.)

Battle Movements - Geovanni uses his nervous movements in “Dark Resistance” while Sky simply uses her animations from her manifest from in her original mod with just her new design from this story included.

Battle Environment - The black void from the “Manifest” song from the Sky mod with now John Captain and Steve simply sitting on top of the speakers.

And so, with enough flashing lights to give a small child a stroke, the sorcerer managed to wear the girl down for the moment, Sky simply falling to her knees with heavy pants.]

“W-Why…..?” Sky asked, her voice choked in tears though still demonic in sound, before slamming her fists onto what could be considered as ground repeatedly, “Whywhywhywhywhy!”

“Sky….” Geovanni called out to the girl, tossing aside the microphone before taking towards the girl as Steve tried and failed to catch the object, positioned to run after the sorcerer before being pulled back by his arm by John who gave a slow nod.

“Let him go, soldier,” the captain instructed.

“But captain, he’ll-”

“Let’s just see what happens,” John gave a large smile, “I mean, we can’t even shoot him down if we wanted to.”

“I can’t take it anymore….” Sky shook her head slowly, looking down at her blackened hands, red tears staining her palm with droplets, “What am I even doing anymore?”

“You’re being selfish,” Geovanni knelt down in front of the girl, “But who said that being selfish is a bad thing?”

Sky remained quiet, her desaturated blue ponytail splintered at its ends, a sense of confliction looming over the both of them.

“Look, I am truly sorry if my initial intentions came off as being too…..enforced in nature, though I do want you to know that I still care about your troubles, whatever they may be,” Geovanni gave a caring yet hesitant smile, though Sky didn’t bother to look up to him, the sorcerer sighing and remaining quiet for a moment or two before looking down at his chest and giving a look of nervousness but necessary determination, “Very well, if you won’t look at me, then listen to this.”

Without a word, Geovanni grabbed onto his necklace from beneath his shirt and removed it, the magical circles that surrounded him dissipating one by one as both John and Steve looked on in bewilderment and surprise, instinctually aiming their guns at the sorcerer who didn’t even flinch, nor give either of them any mind, tossing the necklace in front of Sky who jolted, not expecting such an action, before looking up at the sorcerer with a look of concern.

“I am Geovanni Gouge, guardian of prosperity and peace, sorcerer of the arcane arts, son of God the Allfather, and wise scholar of this world,” Geovanni placed his hand on his heart with a respectful expression.

“Geova-” but before Sky could finish the sorcerer’s name, he immediately embraced the girl in his arms, a moment of peace racing through both of them.

“But before all the titles of the world, I am your friend, listener to all your problems, honest fixer of half as many, tender and caretaker of all individuals, no matter how undeserving they may be, and the giver of secondary chances in every person’s life,” Geovanni finished, hugging an already astonished Sky with a sincere gesture.

The girl remained static for a moment before tears began forming in her eyes once more, Sky huggin the sorcerer tightly, her claws still ever present, meaning that they were digging into his back, though he did not mind, especially since he wanted the girl to trust him, not only for the mission, but as friends.

“I-I’m….I-I-”

“Shhh, it’s alright…” Geovanni gently stroked the girl’s back.

Sky simply closed her eyes as the ripples escaped her once more, racing through the ground out into the abyss of darkness before the world compacted once again, white walls crashing into all four of them before the group found themselves back in the military zone, the black liquid retreating back into Sky’s fingertips as she slowly let the sorcerer go, wiping some tears from her face.

“I’m sorry for that….” Sky quickly apologized once again, “I always lose control over things like these, like a stupid kid.”

“Sky, you’re not stupid,” Geovanni shook her head, “You’re different, and that’s not a bad thing.”

“Yeah, you’re alright, kid,” John admitted, “I mean, not as good as me, but you’ll get there.”

“And you’re a really good person too, making all those PB&Js for our men,” Steve added, “You’re amazing!”

“They’re the only thing I know how to make…” Sky rubbed her arm in embarrassment.

“And that’s fine,” Geovanni consoled the girl, “No one ever asks you to be perfect.”

Sky remained silent with a heavy sigh, all her anger, her guilt, and her shame melting through this tranquil yet melancholy moment.

“Someone does…” she responded, not even waiting for the sorcerer to answer before slowly pointing to her head, “Me.”

“You shouldn’t be so hard on yourself, especially when you’re helping other people by doing good things as a good person,” the sorcerer placed his hand on her shoulder with a confident nod.

“.......back in New Jersey, my New Jersey from the real world outside of this one, I’m just a normal girl going to high school, but the real world is just so mean and boring, so I decided to watch videos of luckier people who get to do exciting things, and something that made everyone happy was playing this game, Friday Night Funkin,” Sky explained, Geovanni listening in with intent, trying fairly hard not to break into the existential crisis Sky was perhaps expecting him to, “So, I bought the game and started playing it, and when I first saw Boyfriend, he was the most adorable and funniest person I’ve ever seen, and I could even somewhat understand what he was saying most of the time.

He was the key that I needed to change my life around.

I wanted to be with him…..I needed to be with him.

I never wanted anyone else but me to win over his heart.

So I did what everybody was doing at school…...mystical and mysterious spells that kinda knew weren’t even real in the first place, but I was so desperate and obsessed that I didn’t even care, so I hoped and prayed that it would work.

I got the candles, the red paint, whatever I needed, and I even cut my palms and legs in order to get the blood that I needed, all under the lie of a “school project” that my parents had no idea was fake.

I guess if you want something hard enough, you get it, huh?

The spell worked and I was transported here, but it still wasn’t enough, I wasn’t enough for Boyfriend yet.

I dyed my hair, got a shirt like him, did everything to be like him so that he would see that I was just more than one of the hundreds of fans he had gotten in this world…..and that’s when I learned about my manifest.

It helps me create these pocket realities and within them, I could trap anything I wanted and create anything I hoped or dreamed of from thin air, and there was this voice every time I transformed, a thousand whispers that would tell me that I was going to be perfect, that I would get the boy of my dreams, as long as I did what they said.

Guess I let them get into my head too.

Boyfriend beat me through his rap skills, and I was alone again with the voices who also went silent.

So I decided to keep a closer eye on him, to win him next time.

I decided to enroll in a school near Daddy Dearest's home since Boyfriend constantly passed by to show his skills against some of the best musicians in that building, and he always won, so I tried and failed to get his attention because of his Girlfriend.

All of the friends I made got news of this, and they got back at me, constantly bullying me and calling me a weirdo, so I snapped back at them, telling them that I could just delete them if I wanted to, but they just laughed, called me crazy and saying things like “if that’s true, then it's even sadder that you need a computer to make friends that aren’t even real” the whole day long.

I was done with everything and everyone, but this world was still better than going back to a boring old one, so I stayed and looked around, trying to find a purpose that would help me know what to do next.

Desperate to try again, but knowing I would fail in being Boyfriend’s wife, I came here, trying to go to the next town since Melo Dee ran out of hair dye, and I didn’t want him to see me with my ugly brown hair, so I walked and found these guys who took care of me and helped me.

I found my place here strangely, so I never went to search for my hair dye and Corporal John Captain told me I could stay with them if I wanted, so I did.

And you know the rest.”

“Oh Sky…..I’m so sorry you had to experience such terrible events,” Geovanni couldn’t quite place his sympathy into the right words, though he could see that the girl was still thankful for them, “I know how it feels to be different, to have all of your dreams crushed under a false sense of hope, feeling useless and without a clear path in life, but…...no, nevermind.”

“You don’t have to lie if you still need me,” Sky stood up, pulling the sorcerer up as well, the man giving a nervous smile.

“Apologies, but I’ve tried this once already, and it didn’t go too well,” Geovanni laughed.

“Now look who’s apologizing,” Sky placed her hands in her pocket before sighing and giving a small shrug, “Alright, what do you need me for?”

“Are you sure you wish to know?” Geovanni asked, his hesitation more extreme than her’s.

“3...2...1..” Sky counted before the sorcerer frantically waved his arms for her to stop.

“Alright, alright, I’ll tell you!” he took a deep breath before continuing, “There is a primordial entity of disharmony, chaos, and destruction called the Corrupta Nigrum that aims to destroy our entire reality, the being itself being large enough that even the smallest section of it is enough to combine and corrupt an entire universe, ours being one of the next to fall, and a piece of it lies within you, giving you abilities.”

“That seems to check out,” Sky responded nonchalantly with a shrug, “And where do I come in?”

“That is a bit more complicated, a plan in the works,” Geovanni scratched his head bashfully, “Though what I can tell you, and this may change your mind of assisting us, if you haven’t already, this being the fact that the monster lays dormant, waiting for the one true gateway that allows itself to bring its biggest piece to our world and destroy all of reality…….and that gateway is Girlfriend.”

He could see the small twitch in Sky’s eye, though the girl hid her anger underneath a fake smile.

“Well, that makes a lot of sense, considering she’s the special child and all,” the girl rolled her eyes, “But that won’t change my mind, if that’s what you’re thinking.

I’ll help you since you’ve done so to help me, and in the span of about two hours which is pretty impressive.”

“Thank you, truly,” Geovanni gave a small bow, a gesture which simply caused Sky to burst out in laughter.

“You’re still very weird though,” the girl wiped her tears, these of happiness, from her face, looking over at John and Steve, the former of whom was nowhere to be seen as always, “Yo, Steve, tell Corporal I’ll be taking that two week vacation notice in order to to save the world.”

“I don’t think he ever gave you vacation,” Steve replied, “We don’t even get paid!”

“Yeah, but I’m the one who makes your sandwiches, so I’m leaving for now,” Sky waved the tankman goodbye, Steve being left to ponder about their pay raise in this apocalyptic setting of a duty.

Geovanni and Sky made their way back towards the entrance of the battlefield, the former getting shot at every so often, but having already put back his necklace, he was completely invulnerable to the men’s bullets, those who did shoot simply receiving a glare from Sky, passing by Rex and Mike who were indeed playing Yatzee, though only one of them had a pair of dice, so each would have to throw each die at each other, hoping it wouldn’t fall off, this being a understandably terrible process.

“So, where am I staying?” Sky asked.

“At the local city church where a nice nun will get you accommodated and we’ll get started with our plan,” Geovanni explained, Sky blinking fast in confusion.

“I’m sorry, that place is actually running?” the girl asked.

Almost as if right on cue. The sorcerer’s phone began ringing as he picked it up, Sarv’s voice being on the other end.

“Hello Miss Sarvente, I’m accompanying Sky back to the church now,” Geovanni explained.

“Oh, that’s wonderful!” he could hear the nun’s happy voice speak through the device, though her demonic tone made it nearly impossible to understand what she was saying, “Though it is weird. I called due to the fact that I sensed an individual was speaking ill of my church…..crazy, right?”

“Absolutely,” Geovanni looked over at Sky, both giving small snickers, “Alright, I’ll see you later then?”

“See you soon!” Sarv finished, Ruv giving a groan in the background before the phone was hung up.

And so, the sorcerer’s hand on Sky’s shoulder, both continued walking, the small silence between the two being a welcome change from the contrast gunshots from the battlefield, a nice time for quiet reflection and contemplation on one’s own purpose in life, something that changes as much as a person can change, and switch their past self into a new form.

“Wait, so I actually get to kill Girlfriend?” Sky asked out of the blue.

“Sky!” Geovanni scolded as the girl simply giggled.

“Kidding, kidding!” she replied.

Well, at times, little steps are also an option.

- End Of Part 3 -

Friday Night Funkin’ is an open-source donationware rhythm game developed by Cameron “ninjamuffin99” Taylor, David “PhantomArcade” Brown, Isaac “kawaisprite” Garcia, and evilsk8r.

Mid-Fight Masses is a Friday Night Funkin’ Game Mod by Dokki.doodlez and all respective characters associated with it are also owned by said creator.

Sky was a mod made by bbpanzu and character inspired by bfswifeforever.

#friday night funkin #original story #Corrupta Nigrum

0 notes

engekihaikyuu · 7 years ago

Photo

Suga Kenta x Kageyama Tatsuya, on constructing a new combination for Engeki Haikyuu!!

Livedoor Interview Translation by @nimbus-cloud

Full interview continues under the Read More.

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Thus far, Livedoor news has covered Engeki Haikyuu for the re-run show: “View from the Top,” “Karasuno, Revival!,” and “Winners and Losers.” On September 8, the curtain will rise on the long-awaited new production, “Summer of Evolution.” In it, we will welcome Kageyama Tatsuya as the new Kageyama Tobio, and a new Hinata & Kageyama duo will be born.

Suga: For me, for everyone on the Karasuno High School Volleyball Team, and for everyone in the entire company, changing the actor for Kageyama is definitely a big deal. I think there’s no way that the relationship between Hinata and Kageyama won’t change, or that the company as a whole won’t change. Kageyama: For me… in any case, I just want to do my best. I want to adapt to the atmosphere that’s in the company already, and as for the play… I just have no choice but to give it my all.

Kageyama-san, when you found out that you were chosen to play Kageyama Tobio, how did you feel?

Kageyama: I was so surprised, I thought they were lying at first. Suga: Ah ha ha!! Really? Your manager must be so encouraging (laughs).

Have you seen any of the Engeki Haikyuu shows up to now?

Kageyama: The first time I saw it was the dress rehearsal for the first run! Suga: Really?! So from the beginning! Kageyama: The way they presented the flow of the ball and the match with the use of real volleyballs, and the way the slanted stage* would turn around and around was really innovative. I love the Haikyuu manga and I’ve been reading since the first volume, and I was really impressed by the way the world of the manga filled that stage. My eyes were glued to the show. I was also able to see the opening night of Winners and Losers. And I could really feel the passion, the teamwork that they’d built, and the strength of the company from my seat in the audience. Suga: He was really paying attention! (laughs)

Through the three stories there have been so far, if we compare Hinata and Kageyama’s relationship from the beginning to now, they’ve gone through a lot of development. Given that, and given the parts that have been shown regarding their progress, are there any difficulties in building this new relationship?

Suga: I think so. Well, we haven’t done any plays together, and there are some things that we aren’t allowed to say… (Note: this interview took place at the end of June) Kageyama: That’s true. Suga: Up to this point, Hinata and Kageyama have butted heads on various things and fought a lot… there really was a lot of that, and in this production too, there will be scenes like that. But, if we show any of our (personal) difficulties in those, that’ll translate to a sense of unease to the audience, so I want those particular scenes to go as smoothly as possible. Kageyama: This show will mainly focus on the training camp, and I think there will be a lot of scenes were Hinata and Kageyama are together outside of a match, and I want to work very carefully on that sense of distance between us. Suga: Those two do nothing but fight, but it doesn’t mean that they don’t get along. Hinata has said that Kageyama is the first person he could call a “partner” and not just a “friend.” Kageyama: -nods in agreement- Suga: When we were working on the first show, I was told by our director, Worry Kinoshita-san, to not be too friendly with Tatsunari. But I think that was because of how Hinata and Kageyama’s initial meeting is depicted.

I see.

Suga: But this time, Hinata and Kageyama’s relationship is already so deep, so I think I want us to very quickly develop our relationship with each other and develop our daily life as the Karasuno High School Volleyball Team. …do you wanna go out to eat? Kageyama: I do! Suga: All right! Kageyama: I really think we have to challenge ourselves to the end. There are no shortcuts, we just have to steadily go forward, step by step. Suga: Can I get credit for what Kageyama-kun just said? (laughs) Kageyama: Ehh!? Hang on! (laughs)

Kageyama-san, you will be playing a character named Kageyama, so exactly what do the two of you call each other?

Suga: That’s the thing! Since his name is Kageyama, I’ve been wondering what to call him, and actually I was worrying about that just now. But I had thought that we were maybe only a year apart, so when I heard that he was 25, I thought, “Oh, he’s my senpai…!” Kageyama: No no no no!! The amount of experience we have is totally different...!!** But, I’ve also been thinking about what to call you. Suga: Then, let’s decide what we’ll call each other right now.

Ohh! A great idea!

Kageyama: Eh… What should I call you? (He looks at Suga-san, considering) Suga: Honestly, anything is fine. Kenta even. Kageyama: Hmm… I think there are a lot of “Kenta”s and “Ken-chan”s, and, well, I’ve been calling you “Suga-chan” in my head… Suga: Eh?! Why?! (laughs) Kageyama: Just because. (laughs) Suga: I am definitely not used to being called that, so I’m not at all prepared to just suddenly accept that and go, “Ahh, let’s go with Suga-chan then.”! (laughs) Kageyama: Ah ha ha! Suga: Well… but… if Suga-chan is okay with you, then it’s totally fine. Normally what do people call you? Kageyama: Usually Kage-chan, or Kage-kun, or Kage-san… Suga: Ahh, a lot of variations of your family name. Kageyama: Absolutely. It definitely seems to have a little more impact. But, there are some weirdos who call me “Chan-man.” Suga: Chan-man? Where did that come from? Kageyama: From Kage-chan-man. Although that’s my Twitter account name. Suga: No but, where did the Kage- go! (laughs) Kageyama: (laughs) Suga: Okay. Since you’re going with Suga-chan, it’s all right if I stick -chan onto your name and make it cute, right? Kageyama: In that case, what about… Tacchan? Suga: Ahh, Tacchan is pretty cute. Especially since I’ve never once called Tatsunari, ‘Tacchan.’ (laughs) Given that, I think it’ll it be easy to call you that!

So the atmosphere of the entire cast changes when cast members change?

Suga: It definitely changes. …the most recent change was honestly huge. Kageyama: I can see that. Suga: Yeah. During the re-run, even for returning cast members it was pretty tough. That’s why it was probably even more difficult for the newly added cast members. Kageyama: I see… Suga: But at that time, I think it was just because we were doing the same story with different members. This time it’ll be a new story with the change in cast, so it’s still unknown what kind of team we’ll become. Kageyama: I’m sure there will be many things we won’t know until we at least try. Suga: Exactly. Since we already have a method to how we run Engeki Haikyuu, and in addition to that, we’re given a lot of liberties… even for the returning cast members, if we can change up how we do things, I think that would be really good too.

And as the Engeki Haikyuu cast leader?

Suga: When it comes to that, honestly every time we do this the atmosphere changes exactly like a school, so to be honest I don’t really give too much thought to that title… It’s just that, with the new cast members we’ve added, there’s no way things won’t change. So I think what we need to do is build the company up from square one with everyone all together, in the same way we built the first show.

Kageyama-san, as an actor, is there anything you want to learn or steal from your Engeki Haikyuu senpai, Suga-san?

Suga: (laughs) Nothing, right? Kageyama: Of course there are! First off, I want to see how he behaves at rehearsals. Then I want to steal his presence or something. Suga: Ah ha ha! Kageyama: I’m interested to see how he is normally, and then how he flips the switch on. Suga: Ehh, even I don’t know that. I really just go about rehearsals naturally. Kageyama: And not just that. Like today when he was showing such consideration for the camera-man during the photoshoot, or his demeanor and the way he speaks to the staff around us, the way he greets people… Suga: I’m being seriously analyzed here! (laughs) Kageyama: I just thought that he was amazing, so first off, I’ll start studying from there… Suga: Enough, enough! (laughs) Kageyama: Since Hinata and Kageyama are a pair, I think it’s best that I get to know all kinds of things about my partner. Since I’ve seen the play several times, that’s something I already want to tackle at full strength. I think there’ll be a lot of tackling and being tackled, but I feel like there will be a lot of things I can absorb from that. Suga: Honestly, I think being a new cast member and joining everyone else is really tough. On top of that, especially with Kageyama, he has to create a relationship not just with Hinata but with all the other characters too. I think he’ll have to put in a substantial amount of effort. Kageyama: I want to face rehearsals with a completely open mind!

Since we’re doing this interview with just the two of you, Kageyama-san, do you have anything you’d like to ask Suga-san about the things that go on at the actual scene of Engeki Haikyuu?

Kageyama: I do! I want to ask about rehearsals! Suga: Like, things that happen? (thinking) Kageyama: To start, since I don’t know anything about the general atmosphere of the company, maybe something about how rehearsals tend to proceed… or something. Or how you build the show together. Suga: Ahh, I see. Rehearsals are… I think they’re more difficult than you’d expect. (laughs) We work all day from morning until night. Kageyama: In a single match, there are a lot of things to remember about movement and group formations and stuff, right? Suga: Absolutely. But since Karasuno always has matches against various schools, there are times at rehearsals when we go, “Wait, when did we use this spike? Which match against which school?!” Kageyama: Ahh… Suga: After that, we naturally move on to points of presentation. There are plenty of opportunities when you can submit to Worry-san anything you’ve been thinking about and discuss it with him. If it works, then those suggestions will gradually be used. Engeki Haikyuu is that kind of place. Kageyama: And are there times when Karasuno comes together as a whole team to discuss things? Suga: With the Karasuno cast, we probably have gathered the most independent-artist-type actors more than any of the other schools. (laughs) Even though the other teams practice together tons and discuss together things they can’t do…

And Karasuno…?

Suga: We never do that. (laughs) Kageyama: Eh!? Really?! Suga: We all go eat out together normally and make a ruckus, and that’s really the feel of Karasuno. Despite that, when we say, “Let’s do it!” we really do come together as a team. That’s been the way Karasuno has done things up till now, but since the ambience is going to change with this production, we may become a much more serious team. (laughs)

And of course there’s volleyball practice as well?

Suga: Yes, there’s that too. Before rehearsals we warm up and play a rally with everyone that feels like just playing around.

Kageyama-san, do you have any volleyball experience?

Kageyama: Actually, my only experience with it is from school P.E. classes. I was on the soccer team the entire time… Suga: Oh, is that right?

In that case, will Suga-san be teaching Kageyama-san volleyball maybe…?

Suga: I’d be no good. Kageyama: Ehh! (laughs) Suga: I’m not a volleyball player either, so I wouldn’t be able to teach him…

Is there someone on Karasuno who could teach him with confidence?

Suga: On Karasuno we don’t have any volleyball players really. Ken-chan says he used to play, but it really doesn’t feel like he has that experience. (laughs) But for Nekoma High School, Kuroo’s actor Kondou Shouri is a really dedicated player! Kageyama: That’s right! If I need to know something about volleyball, it’ll be fine if I just ask Kondou-san. Suga: Exactly. But since you’re going to be a setter, that’s a little bit different so that’ll be difficult too.

The secondary title of this production is “Summer of Evolution,” so what is something the two of you would like to do this summer?

Suga: This summer, huh! Kageyama: This summer… maybe a barbeque… Except everyone already did that didn’t they. Suga: That’s right~. We did that on a TV program. Yep… since I’ve already done a barbeque, I wanna go on a drive and feel the ocean. Kageyama: That’s nice! Suga: Before this, I went to Kamakura with some friends. We ate seafood donburi and soba, and lots of other things… it was a lot of fun! Kageyama: I also went on vacation to Kamakura just before this. Suga: Eh! Really? Kageyama: Yes. I went to Enoshima and wandered around various temples! Suga: Even though we both went to Kamakura, the things we did don’t overlap at all. (laughs) One on a trip for food, the other on a trip for wandering around temples. (laughs)

Please tell us if there’s anything recently that you’ve newly gotten into.

Kageyama: Lately I’ve really gotten into fishing. Suga: Ooh! Kageyama: So at the same time that I go on a drive, I’ll go all the way to the ocean, go fishing, then take the fish I catch, cut it into sashimi, and eat it there. Suga: You know how to handle fish? That’s amazing! Kageyama: I know more or less how to prepare fish! Suga: That’s great! That’s really intense. I just go home and watch movies. The super indoors-type. (laughs) Kageyama: Going home and relaxing while watching a movie is good too!

Suga-san is the indoor type, and Kageyama-san is the outdoorsy type. Even the way the two of you spend your private life is on both ends of the spectrum, and I wonder if maybe we might see this come through in the relationship between Hinata and Kageyama. Lastly, if you could please give a message to everyone who’s looking forward to this play.

Suga: To live up to the secondary title, “Summer of Evolution,” I think it’s time for Engeki Haikyuu to enter a new stage of evolution. I think we’ve established our own unique genre with the 4 productions of Engeki Haikyuu so far, and it is a production that will continue to expand that world. I want us to proceed in our unique Engeki Haikyuu style so that it’ll leave the audience going, “That was something really amazing!”

Kageyama: I really love the Haikyuu manga, and I never thought that I’d be able to become involved with the series in this way. When I got this role, I was shocked, but now I’m full of nothing but happiness… As a fan and as an athlete, I can’t mess this up. In any case, I think I have to do my absolute best so that the audience will be able to have fun. Since this will be my first Haikyuu show, I think I’ll end up dragging everyone on the cast into a lot of things, but if we build this up from square one… no, from square zero, then I think we’ll be able to show the audience some really fun stuff. I’m going to do my best!!

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*The term Kageyama uses for the slanted stage in Japanese essentially translates to “Produce-stand Stage” or a “Greengrocer Stage,” because it resembles the way a fruit stand appears tilted toward the viewer to display everything on the stand. As a term used in theater circles, the interviewer had included a parenthesis after Kageyama’s use of the word to explain its meaning. I opted to remove the parenthetical note and Kageyama’s use of terminology for a smoother sentence.

**Kageyama is of course referring to the fact that since Kenta has been acting since he was a child, he has a much more expansive portfolio than himself. If anyone would be the senpai between them, it would be Kenta.

***Kenta is talking about the special TBS program they ran on June 18th: Projection Engeki Haikyuu, part 2: Karasuno versus Aoba Johsai versus Nekoma BBQ Battle?! (x)

Original Livedoor Interview is here: (x)

If you enjoy the work I do on this blog and the translations I provide, please consider buying me a coffee on Ko-Fi! (x)

#suga kenta #engeki haikyuu #hq stage #hyper projection engeki haikyuu #rehearsal #Summer of Evolution #interview #press #translation #kageyama tatsuya #kagehina #oh my god this might be the longest interview I've ever translated #also please don't reblog this with any negative commentary about Tacchan #interview translation

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