#ayakashi - dawn faction

[lost-khione]

Some Halloween headcanons for ARR

Dawn Faction

Koga

Gets invited to Halloween parties

Likes that he can attend them without having to wear a suit

He dresses up and covers his face with a mask so people don't recognize him easily

To his annoyance, Toichiro can still recognize him

Asks his maid to pack some candies for the kids who would swing by his house

Kuya

Lets his wings out on full display since people would just think it's his costume

People stare because it looks so realistic (it is real *wink wink*)

Kids would ask to touch it to which he promptly replies, "No"

Kids have to shout to wake him up since he is usually found sleeping on the veranda instead of handing out the treats at Koga's house

Aoi

Goes all out with his cooking to make sure there are a variety of sweets they can hand out

He tries to make Western sweets since it is a Western holiday - he also puts his art skills to use by designing them

Asks Yura to taste test for him. He is grateful to Yura despite his grumbling when Yura asks for more

Also decorates Raccord to give it the Halloween vibe

"Oji-san, lend me a hand!"

Ginnojo

Also packs candies at his shop

Kuro helps him out with the packing

He displays books with spooky stories since they seem to be popular during this time

"Do I really have to wear this?"

Gets this soft look on his face when he hands out treats

Yura

Volunteers to help with packing candies at Raccord since he's got nothing better to do.

Works as the taste tester when Aoi tries to recreate Western sweets.

"Pray, Sir Aoi, this "cookie" tastes good! Can I have some more?"

Eats more than the candies that he packed.

On Halloween, he takes on his child form, dresses up and lines up with the kids to ask for treats.

Twilight Faction

Toichiro

Also gets invited to Halloween parties

Dresses up like a prince

Likes to annoy Koga since he can easily recognize him

Sticks to Koga since these types of parties do not require them to make their rounds

Still as polite as he can usually be when people approach him

Shizuki

Babysits Kogare since Kogare visits on Halloween

Packs candies with Kogare

"Kogare, hide your ears and tail." To which Kogare replies, "But why is Kuya-san allowed to show his wings?!"

The one who hands out the treats at Toichiro's manor since Kogare also makes his rounds to other houses

Kuro

Helps out at Raccord and Kusanagi Books during candy packing

Also joins in on the fun when Aoi has new sweet samples

Performs in front of Raccord and Kusanagi Books on Halloween

He does it for the promotion of their Halloween show later that night

"If you like what you see, watch the show of Lorenzi Circus Troupe tonight and be whisked away to a night filled with mystery!"

Oji

Always seems to be busy 'entertaining' his customers so he barely helps Aoi with packing candies

He thought he could get away with not wearing a costume so the Raccord gang had to force him to wear something for Halloween

"Aoi-chan, 1 pack of candy for the young lady here"

Gaku

Also helps out at Raccord since Yura is there

Makes tiny trinkets like jack-in-the-box and Chinese finger trap and drops them randomly inside the candy packs

Heaps wasabi on top of the sweets so he can eat the same thing as Yura

Holds back his laughter when he sees the children find themselves trapped in the Chinese finger trap.

"Do you need help with that?"

[garden-of-omegas]

⚜ FIRST MEETING [AYAKASHI - DAWN FACTION] ⚜

┌── ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ ••✎•• ──────────

characters: koga kitamikado | kuya | ginnojo | aoi | yura summary: the details of your first meeting with your future mate. warnings: referenced death (this will become a theme), talk of eating habits rating: sfw a/n: ah, my dear secretive babies are here~ you have no idea how much i've spent raging over the lack of communication in this game, but i still love these idiots. expect some of that lack of communication in later parts for them.

~🎕

└── ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ ••✎•• ──────────

≿━━━━༺❀ koga kitamikado ❀༻━━━━≾

✿ you were the only child of a famous art-dealer and an ushi-oni. living life as a half-ayakashi has been hard, especially as one so volatile. you're often found at the piers alone, with a scowl on your face. recently, strange things began to happen around you.

✿ you were 22, while koga was 24. it'd been 8 years since your mother died, and 8 years since koga's parents died. neither of you had quite been the same since, just in different ways.

✿ you'd been out, brooding at the piers, staring at the comings and goings of the ships. your father was... around, somewhere, waiting on an another shipment that was coming in. that was probably why koga was there, to buy whatever was coming in. and via whatever link that you shared, he noticed you and was drawn to talk to you. though you weren't particularly enthused about this fact.

✿ koga didn't really mean to keep showing up in your day-to-day life, but he was a client of your father's and a well-known figure around the capital. and every time your paths crossed he attempted to hold a conversation, which you eventually got tired of rebuking. it didn't take long after that for your onmyoji powers to manifest and his true nature to be revealed.

✿ koga thought you most interesting. something about him was drawn to you, not only due to how lonely you seemed. he didn't like seeing people be lonely in the first place, but you especially he never wanted to see unhappy. to his unfortune, you seemed to always be that. you, admittedly, found koga to be compelling. or at least your soul did. you on the other hand mostly found him increasingly annoying with his attempts to talk to you. that, added with the constant strangeness surrounding you... well, it made you a bit grumpy about him to say the least.

≿━━━━༺❀ kuya ❀༻━━━━≾

✿ you were the only child of a famous art-dealer and a futakuchi-onna. your mother had incited a deep seated love for food in you (despite your "small" appetite) which lead to you apprenticing at many restaurants around the capital.

✿ you were 22, as was kuya. you'd been apprenticing at various restaurants around the city for six years, two years prior to that your mother had died. kuya was freeloading at koga's, as expected.

✿ kuya and koga had reservations at a restaurant you were apprenticing at. you were assigned as their chef, which was a problem as you'd recently begun to feel hungry, which is when your ayakashi-form is the most prone to appearing. after several incidents of almost getting caught (and having to stuff your second mouth with a tablecloth), kuya spared you by insisting that they leave.

✿ you weren't actually certain if kuya had picked up on your... strangeness, but when he came by a second time (alone) and asked for you to serve him again you were fairly certain he had. he didn't pry into it though, and simply became a regular at the place and a couple of others you often worked at.

✿ kuya found you weird, mostly. but fascinating for the bits he was actually awake for. you were quiet, didn't try and disturb him, and besides your sometimes odd behaviour you were cute. and maybe he was inexplicably drawn to you, but who's to say to that. kuya was so so nice. you didn't know if he meant to be, but he was. his visits often allowed you to calm down your more base urges in privacy, as he spent most of his time sleeping while visiting, which made your life far more easier than it'd ever been. he truly entered your life at a perfect time.

≿━━━━༺❀ ginnojo ❀༻━━━━≾

✿ you were the only child of a famous art-dealer and a nure-onna. you were often found around the city helping around children and animals. you're pretty known around the capital for watching over all the children and protecting them.

✿ you were 26, around the same age as ginnojo would be if he was human. dragon's age so strangely. it'd been over two decades since your mother died.

✿ you'd been organizing a little reading nook in the park, where you would be reading for the younger kids and the older kids could find books that they liked. so, you were scouring every bookstore in the city until eventually you ended up at ginnojo's. it was a very strange visit, as ginnojo was far too nervous to actually talk to you the whole time, but you found the best books there so your search ended in success.

✿ after the first time, you started frequenting his shop as it had the best collection of books you'd come across. that, and they all seemed oddly impervious to all the rain that happened when you happened upon a bad mood. ginnojo however did not get any better at actually talking to you.

✿ ginnojo found you attractive. it was as simple as that. you were an attractive alpha, and he had no idea how to interact with any part of that. not to mention, something about you seemed familiar. he couldn't place it, but he was sure that it was important. that you were important. ginnojo was very cute. he barely said a word to you, but you could tell that at least. and he felt like a kindred spirit in some sense. you couldn't really put your finger on it, so you mostly dismissed it as a crush on a cute omega. but it did nag you a little bit.

≿━━━━༺❀ aoi ❀༻━━━━≾

✿ you were the only child of a famous art-dealer and a baku. after your mother's death, you were tasked with her duties to look after the city and their dreams, which made you appear rather lazy, though endearing to the general population.

✿ you were 17 at the time, a year older than aoi. your mother had died exactly a decade prior, while aoi had been in the capital for almost two years.

✿ you were sleeping at the river bank, though really you were "working". aoi came to the same river bank to sketch, noticed you, and decided to sketch you. that night, while you were working again, you happened upon a dream that featured... you. that's how the two of you became aware of each other, but it wasn't until the next day that the two of you actually met at the river bank.

✿ the two of you would often "meet up" at the river, where you would get on with your individual work. the two of you rarely talked, but seeing as you were sleeping most of the time it wasn't a surprise. but it was a nice routine, that neither of you wanted to break.

✿ aoi found you very vexing. but also pretty, which made you a rather effective muse for his work. but you were still asleep almost every time he saw you, which he absolutely hated. at first anyways. weirdly enough, after a while he didn't much mind anymore. something about aoi made his dreams in particular very appealing to you. after the first night, you realized you'd visited his dreams plenty of times before, even for non-nightmare purposes. his subconsciousness drew you to him for some reason.

≿━━━━༺❀ yura ❀༻━━━━≾

✿ you were the only child of a famous art-dealer and an akurojin-no-hi. you were most known for your habit of walking around the city on rainy nights, something you inherited from your mother. you think so, anyways.

✿ you were a mere 20 years old, though often you felt like you were far older. being basically just a living soul, you were extremely close to your past lives. yura was over a thousand, though technically to him you'd already met a long time ago.

✿ you were on one of your usual walks, it was a night and it was raining. everyone who knew you was expecting it. what no one expected, not even you, was the compulsion to head for the mountains. there, you ended up at a temple, and the two twins there saw you and invited you inside. something made you take that offer, even though similar ones had been made a million times before and you'd accepted none.

✿ after that you often ended up at the shrine, sometimes unintentionally, sometimes not. sometimes it wasn't even during a rainy night. regardless, you ever only accepted yura's offers to come inside from the rain.

✿ yura realized right away who you were, someone he had loved so dearly in the past had come back to him. his dear alpha. you didn't recognize him, but just being near you was enough for him, feeling your warm flames. yura felt like home, strangely enough. you felt like you knew him, like you should know him. you concluded that it was your soul who knew him, and that was why you let him invite you inside. so, you let your soul guide you back to him whenever it desired.

[quietbooklion]

Thoughts on: The Dawn Faction

Here it is, my overall thoughts on the Dawn Faction. It's taken me a while to gather my thoughts but here I am.

The Dawn Faction was a good story with a straightforward plot along with some side-plots for each character that gives each character their moment to shine in their own respective stories and even in other stories.

I think the common route for the Dawn faction created a good build-up to whichever story you plan on reading. Like with many common routes, it gives more insight to each character and I think that it did a great job at introducing us to each character as well as the main conflict.

If you want to know my full thoughts on each character, here are the links. Keep in mind they have major spoilers: Koga Kuya Ginnojo Aoi Yura

Out of all of them, Kuya, Aoi, and Yura were my favorites. Mainly because each story, to me, had a lot of character development as well as the story being the forefront of each of the character's driving goals and fears. But if I had to pick one as my all time favorite, it would be...

*drum roll*

Kuya

He is by far my favorite of the Dawn faction because of how multilayered his story is. Who would've guessed that the most apathetic character would end up being one of the most thought out and interesting one out of the five. But really, I appreciated how he isn't afraid to be blunt sometimes and how he handles things through his words and actions.

Next is a tie between Aoi and Yura. Like with Kuya, I enjoyed their stories as well as their character growth. Aoi may be the tsundere of the group but my god, was he so funny sometimes when calling the others out on their behavior. Plus his story probably had the most romance out of all the guys and was very cute. Yura's story was quite dark when you get to know the story behind his curse and that's what drew me in to liking him. As dark as it could be sometimes, the story does create a balance with some heartwarming moments.

Koga comes next and while I do think his story was good, the later half of it kind of ruined it for me with how abrupt the plot changed near the end. I still think his story was good and would still recommend it.

Lastly, Ginnojo's story was disappointing. I had expected more from him because of how much his background played an important role in his story but it left me feeling somewhat bored. The bond they were supposed to share wasn't something I saw form naturally and felt forced. Sadly, his story was my least favorite.

Overall, I think that the Dawn Faction was great. As I said earlier, the overarching plot is pretty straightforward and each character has their role to play in it. I would definitely recommend playing the Dawn Faction first if you plan on playing ayakoi on either mobile or Switch.

[just-somehuman]

Here they all are!!

Nahhh Night Faction is owning it AGAIN this year 😭

[annicaax]

all three factions!

2nd anniversary special homescreens

[missjaceofalltrades]

Kuya, 3rd Anniversary 2022 💙🎉

(has spoilers for Kuya's Book II)

AAAAGGGGHHHHH His 3rd anniv story was so good! 😍😍😍💙💙💙

These are my favorite quotes that I just couldn't resist sharing. The last two lines had me swooning (=´ ꒳ `=)♡

I love that all the 3rd anniv stories show the guys' POV's in their routes 🥺💖

[clutterfile]

今日は ホワイトデー ♪

[moonstruck-writing]

[Contains spoilers for the dawn faction]

How do the different books/routes work in Ayakoi? I understand that each one centres around a different boy, but the "secondary" characters that are common to every route (Akiyasu and Aizen) act really differently in different routes. I get that different plot points trigger different actions from them, but in Koga's route Aizen seems worse that Akiyasu, while in Ginnojo's route Aizen is super respectful and sweet. I was really confused when I read the different routes because I didn't know what to think anymore.

Akiyasu is fairly consistent even if he is less "bad" in Aoi's route compared to the others, but I just don't know what to think about Aizen. His different decisions (to apologise versus to threaten Futaba) are too opposite for me to see the reasons behind them, other than to make his character do different things in different routes. But that prevents me from understanding who he truly is as a character.

What do other people think of this?

Am I the only one who found Aizen was almost like two different people throughout the dawn faction's books? I'm used to having other routes give more info on the characters and reveal things, but not confuse me like this...

[necroyasha]

✹~Happy Birthday! - From Dawn Faction~✹

[oribv1175]

I really want more information of them!!!

[wizardess-seele]

Dawn Faction ☀

Twilight Faction 🌕

[lost-khione]

The cheer story from the presents event is so cute 🥺🥺

Also, I get what you mean, Gin-gin, but sometimes when I dive into another world I just wanna stay there 😭

Can't wait to read the twilight faction episode!

[garden-of-omegas]

Hello! I just want to say that I like reading your writing so much! Especially your recent works. I don't want to admit it, but I forgot ayakashi existed until I read the first meeting with dawn faction. Your work makes me want to play that game again.

Anyway, have a nice day/night💕

aww! thanks! i'll admit that ayakashi is a bit hard to remember, i've had like four breaks from the game just cause i forgot to continue playing x>

have a nice day/night too <3

[quietbooklion]

Thoughts on: Oji

Finally. It's finally time to talk about my #1 favorite character in all of Ayakashi Romance Reborn. This man captured my heart the moment I saw him. He is handsome, he is beautiful, he is perfection, he is talented, he is amazing, he is everything.

I may sound like a complete simp for Oji but I can't help it. I absolutely love everything about this man, what he represents, and how much of a daddy/zaddy he is. That being said, as much as I love him, the same can't be said for his story, unfortunately. I still thought it was decent but I had lots of issues with it.

*This review will contain spoilers, you have been warned*

To start off with the positives, I think that Oji's story tackles grief and blame in such a great and almost painful way. When it comes to grief, it can take the form of many different emotions and actions. In the case of Oji, he puts a lot of unnecessary blame on himself because he feels responsible for what happened to the lover of his past life. I think that we as people sometimes blame ourselves for no reason when something bad happens because a part of us doesn't want to deal with it and when we do, it's painful to acknowledge it. Oji encapsulates that, it's very heart wrenching to see him take the burden and responsibility of something he didn't even really do. He is a different person than his past incarnation, but it was so ingrained in him, he can't help but feel responsible. He even believes he doesn't deserve to be happy. Grief doesn't always make sense. It makes people do and say things they wouldn't otherwise agree with.

My heart ached for his man. I wanted so much to just hug him. He truly believes things would've been better had he not gotten involved with Asa to the point where his current incarnation still holds those feelings a thousand years later. Which is why it's so uplifting to see him coming to terms with his grief. To see him grow from being pessimistic about his own happiness to understanding that he's not alone and deserves happiness was so satisfying.

As much as I do love Oji and how the story talked about grief, I think that this story has a lot of issues. Torn isn't exactly how I feel but it's close enough because for all the things I liked, there are plenty of thing I didn't like.

To start off with my dislikes, I did not like Futaba in this story. When it comes to MCs, they vary from route to route and for the most part I do like Futaba as an MC. She's someone who was pretty much thrown into a world that was unknown to her and she must not only fight spirits but also people whose very ideals are different from hers. She isn't perfect but she's also a compassionate person who can be selfless in her goals of not only helping her friends, but the Capital. However, in Oji's route, she really got on my nerves. She made so many, many bad decision that not only got her in trouble, but those around her as well. One of the main conflicts of the story is Akiyasu trying to complete the ritual that was seen in the Dawn faction. He discovers that a group of Wraiths is harboring Asa, the spirit and lover of Oji's past incarnation. Akiyasu notices how Futaba wants to free her and offers her a doll that will separate Asa from the Wraiths but it comes at a cost. She takes it anyway but when she's asked by Oji and the others where she got the doll, she doesn't say.

Excuse me, what? Why would she knowingly hide information like that? Especially when she knows she can't trust Akiyasu! And when markings appear on her arm, she hides it despite the others knowing something is up. There's stubborn and there's being stupid and I'm sorry if I sound mean but Futaba was being so ridiculous about hiding crucial information about an enemy and hiding a potential threat to her life. She claims she doesn't want to burden the others with her problems but even so, she was being absolutely stubborn for no reason. She kept making so many bad decisions, I'm surprised she's still alive. Plot armor was literally carrying her throughout most of the story.

And as much as I do love Oji, he's also at fault here because like Futaba, he was being so darned stubborn. I understand why he thinks he can't rely on others and why he keeps his secrets, but he could've solved so many things if he had been upfront about how he feels in regards to Asa, Futaba's safety, and Akiyasu. He and Futaba need to get their priorities in check because they were nowhere to be found.

My second issue is basically a repeat of the previous stories where the 'romance' was non-existent. Except this time, it was somehow worse. Like with Shizuki, this romance felt forced because out of nowhere the MC develops a crush on Oji even though it feels misplaced. I say this because Futaba sees how Oji is a caring guy who is suffering from guilt at thinking his past incarnation was responsible for Asa's death. It's palpable enough that it causes Futaba's heart to ache from sympathy. But then out of nowhere she says this:

Repeating what I said earlier: Excuse me, what? You're telling me she fell in love with Oji was because she wants what he and Asa have. She wanted to be like Asa. What??? This doesn't make sense. I get that she feels envious of seeing such a loving relationship, but this just feels totally misplaced on her part. She sympathizes with Oji and wants to help him with his grief, but her feelings for him don't feel genuine based solely on the fact that she's somewhat envious of Asa. It's all misplaced. If this was supposed to make me feel the budding love she has for him, it was done badly.

My last issue is with the story direction. As mentioned earlier, this story in particular completely veered off from the Senkitai plot and went right back to Akiyasu basically doing what he did in the Dawn faction. If it weren't for the fact that Oji was the central character, I would've thought I was playing the Dawn faction again. I don't know why this kind of decision was made because it makes no sense why Akiyasu wanted to carry out the exact same plan but in the Twilight faction. One main thing about the Twilight faction that is different from the Dawn faction is the Stone of Destruction. That stone is not only an important item but it's powerful. Why was such an important item left out and replaced with Dawn faction story 2.0? It makes absolutely no sense why the Senkitai was not involved when they are the main focal point of the story. This was so disappointing on so many levels.

I wasn't really looking forward to writing this review. I think the way Oji's story tackled themes of grief, guilt, and even a bit of self-hatred was done excellently. It showed a vulnerable side to an otherwise unflappable man. I love how lazy he is, I love how caring and protective he is over Aoi, I love everything about this man. But so much of his story was bogged down with Futaba making bad decisions, the forced and misplaced romance, and the lackluster story.

Oji and Futaba deserved a better story than this.

3/5 stars.

[pixiielated]

POT MEET KETTLE (˘･_･˘)

[latte-creppe]

Dawn, Twilight, Night & Kyo.

Not the best but i have fun making these collages :3