#because akira knew sensei

[xthunderbolt]

Me, after we had Kuro's human name: omg im gonna write a little oneshot where mahiru and adam lived in the same era as best friends!! 🥰💕😍❤️💞

Me, after 5k words: omg what if then adam dies and the town fills with rumors of a monster locked in the tower who drinks blood and kills people and mahiru grows up with them UNTIL gear and youtarou throw mahiru in there as a plan they had for years and mahiru meets Kuro.

Me, after 20k+ words that barely covered half of that and new ideas:

[tanzalatazaa]

I'm really sorry for any mistake, English is not my first language. I hope you enjoy it.

Summary: Bakugou overheard you (oc: Akira) defending him.

Maybe

Akira has been sitting on her bed for quite some time, feeling sick to her stomach. The memories vivid on her head, repeating over and over again.

It is almost midnight. The Sport Festival ended hours ago, and nobody seemed bothered, but for some reason she cannot stop thinking about Bakugou.

Every time she closes her eyes, all she can see is Bakugou's terrified look as he is tied to a post, with a fucking muzzle on top of him. She remembers looking around in horror, he was scared and humiliated, forced to be in the public eye of millions of people, and all they all did was laugh. How is it possible that no one can help him, how can no teacher do anything?! He's a 16 year old kid treated like a fucking animal in the middle of a full stadium, and no one does anything.

Bakugou has always been a tough guy, Akira didn't know him very well, but everyone noticed from the first day of class. He behaved with superiority and rudeness, and as the weeks went by, everyone realized that Bakugou was not an easy person to deal with. He showed no signs of weakness, and it was clear that he didn't want friends, Akira knew this since she tried and failed in the attempt, with only Kirishima being able to break through his walls and consider himself something close to a friend. But Akira knew that was a facade, Bakugou couldn't be that tough, no one can. She was sure there was something else under that mask. 

At some point people gave up, 'if he wants to be alone, let him be alone', that's what they said. So she knew their classmates didn't like him very much, but she never thought they could laugh at him, at this vulnerable and bound Bakugou, who was clearly asking for help.

When she looked up at him from her spot, she could have sworn she saw a single, thin tear roll down his cheek, and felt many more roll down her own. She couldn't take it anymore and ran out of the stadium, feeling like she was going to throw up. 

She locked herself in her dorm room at the academy. She was mad, mad at whoever thought it was a good idea to do that; mad at every person, every pro-hero teacher, who did nothing; she was mad at her classmates for enjoying that, and laughing; she was mad at every person in the stadium; and fuck! She was mad at herself for just running, she was studying to be a hero, and she couldn't do anything to even try to save him.

Those are the thoughts that run through her mind, still sitting on her bed. She wipes a last tear while she stands up, she won’t stand idly by. She will step up for him, even if he doesn’t like her, she will.

Akira rides the elevator down to the kitchen, she knows she can't do anything at the moment, because it's after midnight. She just wanted to make herself a cup of tea before going to sleep, while she thinks about exactly what she will do or say in the morning. With the cup in her hand she goes to sit on a sofa in the living room. Akira stands there quietly, alone with her thoughts and enjoying her tea, until she hears someone outside. Curiosity gets the better of her and she goes out to see who is sitting on the bench just outside the dormitories, to her surprise, she can see Aizawa sensei.

She doesn't know if it's instinct or the rage still coursing through her veins, but before she can think twice about it, her body heads over to speak. "Aizawa sensei" her tone is neutral. The pro hero looks at her with confusion written all over his face. "Nishimura, what are you doing up so late?". Akira sits down next to him without even asking. "I couldn't sleep" That's all she can answer as she takes a sip of her tea. "And why is that?" Akira can't contain the wry laugh that comes out of her mouth. "And why is that?" she repeats sarcastically, and before Aizawa can say anything, she speaks again "Maybe because I can't believe in this institution" Akira looks at him for the first time.

Aizawa doesn't seem to follow her "What exactly do you mean?" Akira sighs "Bakugou" she explains herself. "What happened to him?" he has the audacity to ask, Akira thinks. "What happened?" Akira is now furious, how is it possible that no one can see what's wrong. "What happened Mr. Aizawa is that you 'pro-heroes' thought it was a good idea to treat a 16 years old boy like a wild animal, that's what happened" 

The impassive look on Aizawa's face only makes her angrier "They tied him up, and gagged him in the middle of an event that is televised for all of Japan. Yeah, I know Bakugou can be difficult to handle, but that's not a valid reason to humiliate him in front of the whole world" She hates that her voice is shaking "If you feel you have the power to do that, then you are no better than the villains"

Akira is screwing up, she knows it from the blank stare Aizawa gives her, but now she can't stop, it's like her mouth is running on its own.

"I don't really know him, I'm not his friend, and even I could feel his fear, even if he never admits it, he was terrified. Being exposed and ridiculed by thousands of people, and not being able to do anything to escape, must be terrifying" Aizawa now seems to understand Akira's point, but she doesn't give him a chance to speak before continuing.

"His emotions are valid, no matter if they are wild, or if he doesn't know how to handle them. He was frustrated, and what he needed was support, good advice from the people he admires, not to be mocked by them. Because if it had been anyone else, everyone would be there helping and supporting, and saying how shitty it was, but because it was Bakugou, then all of a sudden it's funny..." 

Akira is now standing in front of Aizawa "No it's not, it's not funny, he deserves as much respect as anyone else, and the fact that none of you realize that, makes me doubt if you all deserve your title of ' pro hero'" Aizawa stands there speechless, he knows she's right, and now he feels embarrassed that his student is teaching him such a lesson. 

Akira doesn't give him room to say anything before going back inside. Only when she closes the door does she realize what she has just done.

Oh. My. God.

Fuck.

Fuck!

FUCK!

Has she gone too far? Now she's going to be expelled, and all her dreams will come crashing down, and her mother, what's she going to say when...?

"Hey" A voice interrupts her thoughts. She freezes, because it's not just any voice, it's...

Bakugou.

“Oh- ah, hey” She manages to say “Shouldn’t you be sleeping? it is way out of your usual bedtime” Akira tries to act normal, maybe he didn’t hear anything, right? “I woke up thirsty, I came here for a glass of water, but then I heard my name” He explains himself.

 Fuck, she thinks. 

“I- uh I’m-” Akira doesn't even know what to say.

She looks up at Bakugou, and he turns his head in an attempt to hide the tint of red that’s painting his cheeks. As he scratches the back of his neck he faces her again, his cheeks still a little rosy, now as he stares at Akira, struggling to find the words that could express what he wants “That was… wow” It's all he can come up with. Akira now feels her face burn “I just..” She’s been interrupted “What you said was… just wow” He waves his hands as he speaks.

"No, it was just something that needed to be said. It was terrible what they did to you, I couldn't just stand idly by" Bakugou is quiet, processing her words. He feels a small pressure in his chest, almost as if his lungs are having a hard time breathing. He wants to say something, anything, but he can't. Never in his life has anyone ever done what she just did, no one has ever defended him, not once. He knows how he is, so he never really expected anyone to care enough about him to stand up for him, and the way Akira just did, without hesitation, and despite his attitude towards everyone. She didn't care, and did it anyway. 

He knew what they had done to him was wrong, and she was right, he did feel scared, embarrassed, frustrated and unseen. But that's how he always feels, that's how it is to be Bakugou Katsuki. It's not new to him, he's used to it, to being alone and misunderstood, he doesn't mind it anymore, now he actually likes it, it's better this way. But what he's not used to, is to be seen by someone, and not only that, but also understood, and if that wasn't enough, he certainly wasn't used to being cared for, sort of.

As he overheard the conversation, for the first time he felt like he deserved it. Like anyone else, he deserved to be treated well. Ever since he was little he had been treated like a little monster that no one was allowed to be around, so he ended up believing it and making it his own. If they said he was a monster, then he would show them how much of a monster he could be. That followed him so far into his high school days, so it was no surprise to him to be treated like a wild animal at The Sports Festival, it sucked, but that's what he deserved, he thought. Well, that was until he heard her say ''His emotions are valid, it doesn't matter if they're wild, or if he doesn't know how to handle them'' and ''he deserves as much respect as anyone else'. Hearing that made his heart flutter and, even if he didn't realize it, made him truly smile for the first time in a long time. Someone was standing up for him.

“Uh, well I think I’m- I think I’m going back to my dorm” Akira speaks, waking him from his daydream. “No, wait” Bakugou says “Thank you” And that’s the first time Akira hears him so sincere, and genuine “Your welcome, Bakug-” 

"Katsuki" He interrupts "Call me Katsuki, please. You've earned it" They clash their gazes. As they say, the eyes are the gates to the soul, and for the first time Akira thinks she can see through him, she even thinks he looks vulnerable. Right there, she knows she's been right all along. Bakugou Katsuki is not what he shows people, he is more, and she is more than happy to find out who he really is.

"You're welcome, Katsuki" Akira gives her one last smile, before leaving to her bedroom, with a new feeling growing inside her, without even knowing it.

That left a lonely Katsuki lying on the couch thinking that maybe, he wasn't a monster; and just maybe, he didn't have to push people away; because maybe, not everyone wanted to hurt him; and in fact maybe it wasn't so bad to take the risk of getting hurt if it meant getting to know someone who could see him for who he really is, and not what he shows people to protect himself.

Who would've thought that a simple interaction would do so much for the two teenagers who had trouble falling asleep that night, because maybe there was a person on their minds.

And maybe this is not the end of this story. 

[brilliant-red-eternity]

Psycho-Pass Providence:

my attempt to write a movie review.

I finally went to the movies and watched Psycho-Pass Providence with a friend last Tuesday. I knew the film would be packed with plot and action so we decided to see the German dubbed version. We just wanted to have a good time, and some nachos with cheese dip and beer. The cinema was maybe a quarter full which I don’t think is too bad for a weekday. There even was a girl cosplaying as Akane. I was pretty nervous the whole day. After reading so many negative reviews on Tumblr over the past few months, I prepared myself for the worst. Will Providence ruin this series for me? Is Shinkane dead? My friend encouraged me by saying, “watch the movie and form your own opinion”, and that’s what I did!

Providence is a diffuse colossus of a story but I liked it much better than PP3. The story is very action-heavy and plot-driven. You can feel the absence of Urobuchi’s writing because relatively little emphasis is placed on the emotions of the characters or their development. The dialogues are rather short and the action scenes quite long. Explosions and battles largely replace social criticism. Precious moments are few and far between. I think Ubukata came up with a really cool and offbeat plot, it’s just way too big for one movie. He should have made Providence into a series with many episodes, but that’s just my opinion. I can’t shake the feeling that he simply placed the characters into his massive plot as if they were chess pieces. Everyone does their job. They rush from one action to the next. Saiga is dead. On it goes. Akira is dead. There are no breaks. The ending is also very rushed and if I hadn’t already known why Akane shoots chief Kasei, I probably would have left the cinema with a massive question mark.

The Shinkane content in Providence is quite nice. And to say it right away: yes, I saw their hands touch in that bridal carry scene. It was very clear and less rushed than I thought. I’m just not sure if their fingers were intertwined or if Kogami had his fingers around Akane’s hand squeezing it. The phone call was also funny. My friend just sighed in her seat next to me and said a little too loudly: “I can’t believe Akane is in love with this clumsy idiot! Why can’t he just apologize?” Yeah, why? Akane hung up the phone and her face was so adorable. The romantic comedy was only perfect when Saiga cheered Kogami on in the elevator afterwards (“Come on, make an effort!”) and Ko acted like a petulant child (“I don’t know what you mean!”). Really, Ko? You were playing dumb in front of sensei? Was Kogami embarrassed that his former teacher was interfering in their relationship? However, these two were in dire need of counselling that’s why I found the idea of Saiga acting as their therapist quite entertaining.

I still don’t know what to make of Shinkane in Providence. I have too many thoughts and feelings, that’s why I’d like to deal with this topic separately in another post. Shinkane is not dead at all, but it hasn’t evolved either. Each of them basically does their own thing when it comes to work and I can’t shake the impression that Akane would have found Kogami rather unsexy if she had met him for the first time in PPP. I love Kogami, but he doesn’t contribute much to the story except that he saves Akane’s life in the end.

Now that I’ve seen the film, it sounds more than absurd to claim that they have no other relationship than a collegial working relationship. I mean, it’s obviously not work or a shared conviction that ties them together and makes Akane answer the phone late at night, but their old acquaintance. They have an unresolved personal conflict between them, and a wide range of unexplored emotions. All the social awkwardness fits in with that. And the creators even went one step further with the romantic scenes:

I already knew about the scene in which Kogami jumps on top of Akane (and between her legs) to protect her from an explosion but I didn’t expect the whole thing to play out in slow motion. Holy shit! My heart leapt. I mean, what am I looking at here if not a romantic subplot? You can see every detail crisp and clear: how his hands are embracing and protecting her head from the impact, how their bodies stick together rather indecently. And Akane and Ko don’t immediately get up and run, no. They stay put for the time being looking at each other and then Ko states the obvious like a brain dead fool: “It’s a dangerous place, we should retreat.”

Yeah, well… who would have thought that explosions and shootings would be dangerous? Kogami’s blood must have gone from his brain to some other part of his body, there’s no other way to explain this level of silliness. We’ve already seen Kogami protecting Akane from an explosion before. He threw her like a sack of potatoes in the movie but THIS is something else entirely. THIS is screaming “You’re the most precious person on earth to me”. Same goes for the bridal carry. The scene isn’t as rushed as their encounter in the wheat field, no. The animators kind of savour their last scene in Providence and you have to be wilfully blind to not notice Kogami’s affection for Akane or their touching hands.

I can understand the widespread criticism of Kogami’s strange behaviour in PPP. It’s not quite what I expected either, but I didn’t expect anything else. Sounds crazy, huh? I know. I don’t know if Ubukata’s writing style is to blame for Ko’s derailment. I guess the writers deliberately wanted to create some tension in the form of personal conflict which is a common and cheap trick that can also be found in romantic YA literature.

It is nevertheless credible to a certain extend. Kogami has returned to a world with a wall between latent criminals and citizens with healthy Psycho-Passes. Social conventions are a corset. They make us act differently. The fact that he doesn’t hit on Akane actually says a lot of good things about his character. He knows nothing about her life, except that it hasn’t gone down the drain yet. What role does he still play in Akane’s life? Does she even need his help? When you look at Kogami’s issue with addressing Akane properly, it becomes clear that he’s uncertain: kanshikan, omae, anta, yo. Akane has already gathered a team around her and Kogami is standing outside the door. He’s the odd man out. He’s also an incorrigible idiot who doesn’t have it in him to apologize.

They give each other nothing at first. That’s why I like the scene in the hospital so much because it changes their relationship for good. Akane’s visit is proof to Kogami that he is important to her. She cares about his health and she even takes the cigarette from his mouth. Akane also invites him to join her team (“We’re a team, right?”) and you can see the relief on Kogami’s face. After that, their interactions become lighter and more honest. Team PSB and Team SAD no longer go separate ways.

I really like the camaraderie between Kogami and Frederika. I found them both very independent in their work, which led me to ask whether Frederika is his boss at all. I read somewhere that they both have the same rank of “special investigator” which also fits in well with the way they talk to each other. I remember Akane asking Kogami during their phone call what Yabuki thought of his past actions. I guess that makes Shogo Yabuki his boss and Frederika his senpai? There was one thing that annoyed me, though, and that was that Frederika did everything her boss Yabuki told her to do. She even kept it a secret from Kogami that they were using Saiga as bait. Why didn’t she say “no” for once?

Providence has a few highlights that I just can’t leave unmentioned. It isn’t the best film, but it’s also not as bad as many have made it out to be. The scene in which Gino grabs Kogami by the collar, calls him an asshole and pushes him roughly against the glass pane of the office was quite the cliché. It could have come straight from a fan fic. Kogami remains calm and I don’t find him arrogant. Sugo tries to intervene, but I had the impression that it’s primarily Akane’s staged indifference towards Kogami that keeps Gino from exploding with rage. Gino pulls himself together the moment he sees Akane entering the office. If there’s one thing I love about their dynamics, it’s how they always try to protect each other in the most subtle but effective way. Gino is like the big brother we all want to have. He is by Akane’s side after Saiga dies and he reminds Kogami of the duty to not let Akane become a latent criminal. I can’t say often enough how much I adore Ginoza and his loyalty to Akane.

But Gino does not only protect Akane, he also saves Frederika’s life twice. These two have a little scene in Providence that I find cute. Standing amidst the ruins of the building after the battle, Gino asks Frederika how she is. She says “not too bad” while stroking her hair almost sheepishly like a schoolgirl. Is it the first time that a colleague asks Frederika about her well-being? Is this how things are at the SAD? I never saw Kogami turn around to look at her, even though she always saves his stupid ass from getting kicked. And her boss Yabuki only ever entrusted her with the most dangerous missions (aka “dirty work in the name of justice”). It really sucks to be a strong woman sometimes. It sucks when performance is always expected without complaint. That’s why it’s all the more refreshing when a hot guy like Gino asks if you’re still alive, right Frederika?

Overall, it was very cool to see Frederika on the battlefield since she’s quite capable and knows how to handle weapons. I didn’t like her passive role in PP3, where she just sat in her neat little office and gave orders. PP is kind of understaffed in terms of female characters so it was good to see Frederika having a more active role this time. I hope that in the future they will give her a backstory. It’s more the personal things that make a character interesting for me. I mean, what was her relationship with Yabuki? She shed a tear after his death, or was this just an optical illusion?

There was nothing to complain about the quality of the animation in Providence. It was first class. The wedding was beautiful and I really liked the colours and fireworks of the Chinese New Year festival in the streets of Dejima. It made a nice contrast to the gloomy dark dystopian world of Sibyl. The Chinese New Year also brings me directly to the scene that, oddly enough, touched me the most: Akira’s death. Atsushi Shindou shoots him on the roof of the MoFA as the fireworks go off and with his last words Akira says, “Take care of Kei, I want him to have a different life than mine.” It was a beautiful but also very sad moment. There were many deaths in the film but the pace of the story was way too fast for me to mourn them properly. It’s a shame, especially since most of the time was spent on action scenes. I don’t know how many minutes I watched Sugo trying to shoot a satellite out of the sky with his drone.

Saiga’s death is tragic but it has great influence on Akane. In the end, his last words (“justice and truth are multifaceted”) encourage her to stand up for her convictions and turn against Sibyl in order to uphold the law. I noticed that Saiga is already very tired at the beginning of Providence, as if he no longer expects anything great from life and prefers to pass the baton to the younger generation. Perhaps that is also why he tries to persuade Kogami to bury the hatchet with Akane. “You should apologize to her. Take this advice from an old man like me.” It seems that he wanted to leave the world in peace, knowing that he has given his students all he could give. So from that point of view, his passing is dignified. His hands are even folded and placed on top of his chest after he dies. I couldn’t help but think that it is meant as a religious gesture: that he will be accepted by God if not by Sibyl.

Sibyl is as disgusting as ever and that’s all there is to say. Their hypocrisy is simply unbearable. And then no one has the courage to stand up for the preservation of the rule of law – least of all the Ministry of Justice. What a joke! We also learn that it’s totally fine for Sibyl to give absolution and sovereignty to a group of criminals (the Peacebreakers) as long as they come from their own criminal ranks. Well, one crow does not peck out another crow’s eye, right? I don’t know whether Atsushi Shindou could be trusted or not, although he has pulled some important strings in the background. The old man seemed weary just like Saiga, but he thought very highly of Akane and campaigned for her in front of Sibyl which made him likeable in my eyes. He was also a good mentor.

I must not forget to mention the true antagonists of the story, first and foremost Tonami the White. He is the leader of the Peacebreakers, a group of former soldiers and mercenaries of Sibyl who see themselves in the tradition of a cult. They worship a similar AI like Sibyl that also has wired brains in boxes and they see it as their God and commander. The cult did seem rather bizarre and fantastic sometimes, but I got the impression that this is exactly Ubukata’s style.

Tonami is a despicable man. He tells Akane that despite his old age, he can still take on a young girl like her, then he draws a gun and starts to shoot her. Congratulations, man! She’s unarmed, and pulling a trigger is really not much of a feat. Asshole! He was clearly afraid that Akane would be superior in a fistfight.

I remember a heated debate on social media about whether Kogami should have killed Tonami or not. Well, I would argue that he had no choice but to shoot this man if he wanted to make sure Akane got out of there alive (“Protect Tsunemori!”). Akane looks relieved when she sees Kogami. She smiles at him as if she knows that her life is safe from now on. But then she continues to provoke Tonami with her words. The man points a damn gun to her head and she has already been shot twice and lies bleeding on the floor in handcuffs. Should Kogami twiddle his thumbs and wait to see what happens? Well, he does. But only for a moment.

Kogami’s face is empty while Akane is being tortured. It’s devoid of emotion, not even anger shows on his face. I was like: huh? I first thought it was bad animation or some artificial intervention to evade romance and keep the Kouakas from losing their minds, but in retrospect, it occurred to me that perhaps… Kogami is simply listening to the conversation in front of him? Akane and Tonami are talking about the Sibyl System and it’s true nature. They are talking about AI vs. humanity. They are talking about integrating this other AI into Sibyl and the boxes with the brains are standing just a few meters away from them. Snippets and fragments, but Kogami isn’t stupid. It was him who found a decapitated professor Stronskaya on the ship. Her head was taken away by the Peacebreakers and we later learn that her brain was put into a box for their AI. Kogami has been wondering for a while what kind of influence Akane has on the system. And even Tonami (who calls her “a witch that disturbs the social order”) is kind of astounded at what Akane knows and what she is capable of.

Kogami agrees with Tonami and then shoots him in the head. I really don’t know which part he agrees with. I can only explain it by saying that, unlike Akane, Kogami has lost faith in humanity. Kogami knows what humans are capable of and that they are easily corrupted. But he believes in Akane, so there’s that. It’s only natural that he would save her at any cost.

I didn’t perceive Akane as angry though. She knows Kogami well enough and wanted him to come with her on the mission. Kogami “breaking the law again” certainly saddens and disappoints her, but I don’t think she necessarily wants to enforce him. Atsushi Shindou shot Akira in front of Akane and she didn’t arrest him. If she were now to arrest Kogami, she would have double standards. I remember director Shiotani saying in an interview that Kogami voluntarily let Akane arrest him. Well, that actually sounds quite logical to me because I honestly don’t see Akane taking the initiative. But Kogami acting like a repentant little puppy in front of Akane, the “goddess and bodhisattva” he expects to make the world a better place? Yes, I can very well imagine that – only that at this point she is just a bleeding human being in his arms.

Akane’s incident was… wow. I knew what she was up to beforehand, but I still found the whole thing quite mind-boggling. Where did Akane get the gun she shot chief Kasei with? Everyone was looking forward to her inauguration. Gino, Sugo, Shion and Yayoi… they were watching it on TV. What has my girl done?

I wouldn’t go so far as to blame Kogami. There is a trend right now to make him the scapegoat for everything that happens to Akane, but somehow that is not right and would completely undermine Akane’s independence. There is no guarantee that the arrest and prosecution of Tonami would have worked. Sibyl is not a reliable negotiating partner. I think Akane chose a more effective way by immediately involving the public and getting them to discuss the preservation of the law. At least, it worked. But why the letter to Kogami? It wasn’t a tit-for-tat response. I think Akane wanted to say goodbye. She didn’t know what would happen to her or whether they would see each other again. These two threw their lives away and stood up for their beliefs in justice. Was it brave or was it foolish? Who knows. But the closing of a circle was pretty well executed by the creators of the series in my opinion.

I still have no clue why Kogami was released from confinement. I can only speculate that MoFA has negotiated a deal. I also remember that his Psycho-Pass was encrypted in PP3 and no longer accessible via Sibyl’s dominator. There is a strong competition between the ministries and certainly no help can be expected from Sibyl. Mika had to literally beg chief Kasei to allow her to send out a rescue mission for Akane who was already classified as a traitor because she went to take on the Peacebreakers on her own. Why would they let Kogami go, the traitor who killed a criminal pardoned by Sibyl in order to rescue the traitor Akane? No. He was released at the behest of MoFA. It is therefore not surprising that Akane has arranged the transfer of Gino and Sugo to MoFA. Nothing bothers Sibyl more than loyal dogs and I’m certain that these two would have been thrown into the isolation facility the moment Akane lost her position as inspector.

Okay, I’ll stop rambling now. I’d like to end this post with a quote from the friend who went with me to the movies. We saw Psycho-Pass together five years ago and I was very curious to hear her opinion. We both agreed that Akane's performance in Providence is once again superb. She’s a queen. One of the best female characters of all time. What she said about Kogami may irritate some but I can only agree: “It wasn’t his most mature performance, but in the end he could be relied upon!”

Providence was fun. It was okay. It wasn’t Psycho-Pass at its best but at least, it answered the question that has been on my mind for almost four years: what did Akane do that landed her in prison?

[hyenahunt]

Saga: Rivals - 28

Writer: Akira

Season: Winter

Characters: Seiya, Hokuto, Jun, Jin

Proofreading: 310mc (JP) & hyenahunt (ENG)

Translation: kotofucius

Seiya: Hokuto. For a long time, I’ve lived like a machine who never knew of love.

[Read on my blog for the best viewing experience with Oi~ssu ♪]

Location: Reverse Live Stage

Time: Rain-bows vs Lilith, after two songs

Seiya: “~…♪”

“Now then, after two songs, we have one victory and one defeat. I’m sure you’re all anticipating the decisive showdown.”

“But would you please give me a moment?”

“It won’t take up any longer than the time already intended for free talk and such. I’ll wrap it up in a minute, so I ask for your understanding.”

Hokuto: …Oi, Father, what are you trying to pull?

Since we’re making the audience listen to the same few songs over and over in Reverse Live, free talk is vital for changing up the mood and setting their impression of us.

Don't tell me this is your ploy to destroy all our chances of victory by taking that important time for yourse— mgggh!?

Seiya: “Now, Hocchan seems to be grumbling something, but I’ll have him quiet down as we’re short on time.”

(whispers) I'm not playing dirty, so please be good just this one time. Please? Consider this a favor for our Jun-kun.

Hokuto: …Sazanami?

Jun: ? What’s going on, Sensei? This wasn’t in the plan, was it~?

Seiya: Oh dear, I’m very sorry. It seems to have slipped my mind.

— Well, anyone would know that's a lie, but I'll gloss over it with that to swiftly stream a video on this massive screen.

I’m sure you have questions, but the answers are all there if you'll watch it.

Jun: What…?

Hokuto: Oh? What's this? A video's started to play…?

(What in the world? Just what are you scheming, Father?)

(The very act of playing a video on stage reminds me of the whole SS mess. I've got a bad feeling about this…)

(Is he trying to expose our scandals and slander us, just like what happened back then?)

(It won’t work on me — There’s nothing worthy of scorn in my way of life! I’m a serious honor student through and through!)

Jin: ......

Hokuto: (Mmm? What's happening? Sagami-sensei seems to have gone pale…)

(Oh shoot, that man’s a walking collection of scandalous rumours!)

(Just exposing even a tiny fragment of his debauched lifestyle would be a fatal blow to his idol career! What do we do? What are we even supposed to do?)

(Ooh? That’s… Anzu’s standing by the audiovisual equipment!)

(She’s doing backstage work again despite being so busy… She truly works so hard!)

(Anzu! Stop the video! This is a trap! Come on, we can understand each other through gaze alone, right? Surely you can get what I'm trying to tell you!?)

(? Anzu, why are you happily waving at me? No, that’s not what I’m trying to say! I mean, of course I’m also delighted to lock eyes with you, but…!)

Seiya: Ahaha. Is she your girlfriend, Hocchan? Introduce her to your dad some time ♪

Hokuto: !? N-No, she isn't! Well, of course I love Anzu with all my heart, but that’s because I consider her a precious comrade joined at the soul… That’s all it is!

Seiya: Ahaha. Don’t you understand panicking only makes you more suspicious? That naive side of yours is very unlike me or my wife…

While walking your life, I’m sure you’ve gained many things on your own.

You should cherish every last one of them, Hokuto. I don’t want to be all overbearing and lecture you just because I’m your parent, but I truly want to pass on just this one thing to you.

Even if you can't stand it, this is the one lesson I want to teach you.

Hokuto: ……

Seiya: Hokuto. For a long time, I’ve lived like a machine who never knew of love. Perhaps phrasing it that way may make me out into some tragic hero, but —

We machines have our own forms of happiness. I've perfectly performed all the functions expected of me, in carrying out my role and becoming of use to others. For someone like me, I believed that was fulfillment enough.

You called me a workaholic, didn't you? Yes, that is very much true. But to me, that is hardly an insult.

It won't ever hurt me, as I don’t think I'm anything to be pitied.

I have a family who loved and wanted me, work partners who commended and respected me—

And most of all, fans who cherished and followed me.

Because I was a perfect machine, I never failed once. I did not have emotions to sway me, so I never went berserk, either.

There were a few close calls, but strangely enough, I was never held responsible.

I was like a weapon; I only moved the way I was operated.

So, all responsibilities lie with my user. And for the sake of protecting myself, I've personally done what I can to enforce this impression as well.

That’s why I’m still alive now, just like this. All the while being called a legendary idol and such — it's a title far greater than I deserve.

[ ☆ ]

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[youkaigakkou-tl]

Chapter 102 Translator's Notes Thoughts

You know what, I sort of thought I wouldn’t have much to say about this chapter, considering I’d already pored over all the details from Makuragaeshi arc and Yoseito, and in comes Tanaka Mai with a metal bat!

Summary:

Stuff about the color page

Actual translation note about the divine magic stuff

Stuff about the time travel

That theory I have about Haruaki’s exorcism power

(future op after writing the whole thing: jesus christ this is 3000 words. somebody stop me before i come out with a 70 page peer reviewed thesis one of these days)

Color page

The one with purple hair is Akira LOL I think everyone got got by it for at least a second because we’ve been seeing Douman so much, especially with that half the face blacked out, but look at the hair part. Also I only realised because of this art that Kurai and Akira have a mole by the mouth in the exact same spot, makes sense why he wants to cover it up now. (Irrelevant but I also have a mole in that same spot)

Also, the red string of fate…

Hey remember what happens in Makuragaeshi arc. yeahhhhh hahaha just stab that knife right into me hahaha sensei you would do this to them? to me?

A lot of the original folklore for the red string of fate is pretty mean, but the important common thread (heh) is that the two people meet long ago briefly and part ways, until they eventually get married while not remembering that first encounter, then they find out they knew each other from that first encounter. (Hey why does this sound like almost all the things that happen pre-main story in yohaji. Who is making spiderwebs with the threads of fate up there.)

Red string… Hatanaka’s red scarf, which Ibara knitted for him… His scarf, which isn’t present in the Makuragaeshi world… Tanaka Mai you are fucked up and evil for this. I am going to lie in the sand now.

The scarf… which she knitted for him maybe because she saw him with it 100 years ago…

Divine Magic

Ok I’ll be real I hate translating it as “divine magic” because it’s so vague but translating it as the actual Buddhism term is too specific and technical, when the word in Japanese and Chinese uses very common characters so it’s vague enough while still being the actual Buddhism term.

This chapter specifically calls back to chapter 22, and I totally didn’t recall any mention of anything divine so I had to double check with the JP. Sure enough, it’s used here, translated as “divine youkai magic”. But the thing is, in this situation “divine” just sounded like an adjective for “youkai magic”, rather than the whole phrase being a proper noun which is obvious in JP. (This is sort of why I’m going with “divine magic” instead, and that there’s nothing in the JP word that says “youkai” anyway) (By the way, it’s also on the blackboard in Miki’s class in chapter 96. I translated it as “divine power” then because there was no context)

The word is “神通力 jin-tsuu-riki”, and the Buddhism concept it’s referring to is Abhijñā, or the “six types of higher knowledge”.

Breaking down the word,

神 jin: god/divine

通 tsuu: connection/understanding/knowledge

力 riki: power

Exactly as Hatanaka explains it, in the most literal sense, it means “power that has connection to the gods”. “Jintsuuriki” is also another word for psychic powers in general, but it’s definitely this Buddhism concept because of the names of the six types.

Hatanaka just summarized it, so I think it’s safe to assume there’s more to all of them, and also I want to explain what each of them does anyway, even if they definitely won’t end up being the exact same in the manga.

^ Putting this here so it’s easy to refer to.

1. 神足通 Jin-soku-tsuu (Divine step)

Literally translated, it is “god step connection” (all of them end in “tsuu”). The specific name for it is Iddhi, and is generally called “higher powers”, or “powers of transformation”? I went with a name that’s almost a literal translation of the JP.

The specific abilities attributed to it include:

Replicating and projecting images of oneself

Becoming invisible

Passing through solid objects

Going through solid ground

Walking on water

Flying

Touching the sun and moon

Chinese and Japanese descriptions of it also mention “teleportation” or “being anywhere at will”, though strangely English descriptions of it almost never have this part.

The principal uses this one, and Hatanaka thinks Tamao used it (spoiler: he was wrong).

2. 天耳通 Ten-ni-tsuu (Clairaudience)

Literally translated, it is “divine ear connection”. Fairly self explanatory. Also described as “god-like hearing”, it’s the ability to “hear gods or humans, near or far”.

Interestingly, Hatanaka uses “地獄耳 jigoku-mimi” to describe “having sharp ears”, which itself is a fun phrase. It means “hell’s ears”, referring to King Enma, who hears of everything you’ve done in life and judges you accordingly. Though, in everyday speech it just means “someone who hears all the gossip”, but rarely it also means “someone who remembers everything they’ve heard”.

3. 他心通 Ta-shin-tsuu (Telepathy)

Literally translated, it is “others’ hearts connection”. Also fairly straightforward. The concept of “reading minds” in English is “reading hearts” in Japanese and Chinese. There’s probably a separate essay here about the West’s scientific and medical advancements and how with it, the core of what defined a human was shifted from the heart to the brain, changing the sort of words people use with it. Oh hey wait there IS a video essay about this. (ah shit this is getting off topic)

Anyway. It’s also described as being able to “understand others’ minds/hearts as if they were your own”. I feel this is the one the karasu tengu troupe used in chapter 21/22 to conjure up the illusions of Miki, Sano and Haru’s fears. (But the “conjuring illusions” part could also be the first one.)

4. 宿命通 Shuku-myou-tsuu (Memory of abodes)

Literally translated, it is “abode lives connection”, which… means what exactly? So, “宿命 shuku-mei” together means “karma” or “fate”, and it’s described as the “knowledge of oneself and others’ past existence”, referring to memory of past lives, but also refers to knowledge of karma, cause and effect and the past in general.

(Honestly I don’t like my name for it, but every other name for it I’ve seen is too long and unrepresentative, I’ll probably come up with a new translation if it comes up again and there’s more info given about it. Also I almost went with “remembrance”, which tbh is a better sounding name but I would be exposing that I’ve been playing too much honkai star rail)

I think this is the one Tamao actually used, and I’ve seen some CN comments come to the same conclusion. By the way, remember Yoseito chapter 1?

Unbelievable! Everything really is “haha jk…unless” with this manga!

5. 天眼通 Ten-gen-tsuu (Clairvoyance)

Literally translated, it is “divine eye connection”. Also pretty self explanatory. It is described as seeing the karmic destinations of others, and knowing how they’ll be reborn. It’s also called “死生通”, or “knowledge of life and death”. Sort of a set with the previous one, knowing cause vs knowing effect.

This is the one Haruaki thinks Seimei has, and he’s probably right (somewhat). I’ll elaborate in a sec.

6. 漏尽通 Ro-jin-tsuu (Affliction riddance)

Literally translated, it is… honestly idk this name itself means nothing. But translations have put it as “extinction of mental intoxicants” or “knowing the end of suffering”. Tbh this is also one that I’m not super happy with and would retranslate if it comes up again. Hatanaka couldn’t be bothered to actually summarize it LMAO it’s probably because this is a very VERY Buddhist concept. It’s described as “knowing the four truths; suffering, the cause of suffering, the end of suffering, and the way to end suffering”.

The thing you have to know about Buddhism is it’s really obsessed with suffering, the idea of reincarnation and that it comes from worldly impurities (including suffering), and getting out of the cycle of reincarnation by getting rid of worldly impurities. Like, that’s the thesis statement of Buddhism. Reincarnation exists but the world sucks so you want to get out of it. (gets torn to shreds by my Buddhist relatives for badmouthing it) (so far from all my reading and personal experience with my Buddhist grandparents there is nothing forbidding you from tearing someone to shreds) Anyway. This has been my bitching about Buddhism tangent.

These last three are sometimes considered as a set, and collectively called the “three wisdoms/knowledges”

Hey did you fall asleep (throws chalk at you) wake up!

If you’ve been paying attention to both this essay and the manga itself, you may have noticed that Seimei has demonstrated almost all of these to some degree. Whether this is intentionally something the story is implying and wants the reader to figure out or if it’s pure coincidence, I’m not sure, but it’s something to think about. Also, the “seeing the future” one could totally be applied to Kurahashi. Eyebrow raise?

Also, here’s this ask I answered about the ramifications of Seimei having divine magic.

Intermission

This is something I’ve only come to realise with Yohaji, it’s really so fascinating to see the author in a work (in moderation of course). When viewing a piece of work, especially something framed as lighthearted like a manga, it’s so easy to forget the author behind it and treat the work as if it came into existence by itself. Perhaps because Yohaji contains so many references to real-life mythologies and stories, or perhaps because I’ve been poring over every detail, reading about every reference, reading sensei’s tweets and experiences, that what sorts of topics Tanaka Mai is interested in has become apparent and Yohaji is all the more fascinating for it.

Every one of her previous oneshot/short-serialization works before Yohaji has either made mention of Buddhist terms, or is entirely based on it.

Karma Karma, a 3-shot from 2014 (a year before the start of Yohaji), is about the Buddhist concept of hell and a king of hell who accidentally brought sinners from hell back to the living world.

Gokuraku Joudou no Hotoke-san, a oneshot from 2013, besides obviously referencing the Buddhist pure land in the title has wisdom king Acala and Yakushi Nyorai be its protagonists.

Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll ever get to read any of these, since they’re from 10 years ago and I’d have to contact a collector about it or something.

In any case, this is clearly something she’s interested in and knows a lot about, and it’s always so interesting to see. It’s always been present in Yohaji too, from the early drafts being more Buddhism-themed, to Sano’s magic circles featuring sanskrit and resembling a mandala in early chapters, to busting out a sutra excerpt in chapter 85.

Maybe it’s a fiction faux pas to pull back the curtain and look at the inner workings of a work like this, but I think I get to decide how I interact with a work.

Time Travel

YEAHHHH I CALLED IT IVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS!! ITS SO OBVIOUS IT WOULD HAPPEN ITS BEEN SO OBVIOUS FOR A YEAR I SHOULDN’T HAVE LET PEOPLE TALK AUGUST 2022 ME INTO THINKING ITS STUPID!! ITS SO REAL!!! IM A GENIUSSS yeah anyway had to get that out of my system

First of all, we get a good look at the schoolhouse. This is probably the old schoolhouse, or at least in the location of the old schoolhouse. Architecturally it does look different from both times we’ve seen it, in volume 5 and Yoseito’s Izuna flashback arc. It’s entirely possible that the principal had it rebuilt and more floors added in the 100 years he was using it. By the way, based on the turtle map and being able to see the mountain behind the school, it’s likely that this is where it is.

The beam of light on the mountain opposite the school is almost certainly because the gang ended up at the location of the current schoolhouse, which is still just forest at that point. And there is not a single doubt in my mind that the teacher is Ranmaru.

Ok tbh I don’t have that much to say about the time travel half of the chapter mostly because it was just establishing the premise for what’s about to happen for the rest of the arc, so here’s some disjointed thoughts.

First off, even if it’s not obvious, Haruaki does indirectly cause this to happen. Besides nudging the world into the situation at the start of the chapter in a million cumulative little ways, he’s the one who brings up whether Tamao can use any other type of magic.

Also, this chapter made me realise something about Yoseito chapter 28. It makes sense that Yamazaki wouldn’t have recognized Hatanaka before that moment when he made the connection, because for all intents and purposes he knew Hatanaka as just this delinquent kid who even dyed his hair. Even the name “Hatanaka” doesn’t help, mind you, since he’s got dozens of siblings and extended family whose surnames are all “Hatanaka”. Unless they specifically told the Meiji trio the exact situation, and even then, this is probably just “that weird story from when we were in school” to Takahashi and Yamazaki. (a la teacher trio not making the connection that they met years ago until it was specifically pointed out) It was only at that moment that he started to resemble the version of him a year from then, when the time travel would happen.

Anyway, what in the world could possibly happen to Takahashi that he ends up like he does on the color page and looking so shaken in chapter 98… I sure hope the stuff on his face is actually just shading and not blood…. We do have precedent of that half of the face being covered in blood….

And one last thing that might be addressed, something in this arc will probably cause Ranmaru to quit being a teacher (based on makuragaeshi arc), though like the Takahashi thing, I couldn’t even begin to guess what. I can’t see the future, after all! (I feel like I've made this joke before)

The True Nature of Haruaki/Seimei’s Exorcism Power

(sounds like a clickbait title lol)

This is something I realised while answering this ask, but it’s a realisation that could have come way sooner because it doesn’t really hinge on info from chapter 102.

Here’s the parts to this theory: (anything that’s directly quoted has been double checked against the Japanese in case the nuance is slightly different)

Youkai magic is powered by spirit energy (no shit sherlock)

Clarification addendum: spirit energy is called “you-ryoku 妖力” and youkai magic is “you-jutsu 妖術”. both use the same “you” as in “youkai”, and the word on its own kinda means magic-y creature-y things (its usually used with another word to clarify what exactly is magic-y). Literally translated, “you-ryoku” is “youkai energy/power”, and “you-jutsu” is “youkai technique”. its very no shit sherlock.

This exorcism power exorcises spirit energy, and also works on gods to a lesser degree.

This implies the exorcism power has broader spanning effects than is stated, or “spirit energy” isn’t as specific of a concept as previously thought.

Spirit energy is basically interchangeable with “human life force” which is also interchangeable with “human souls”

In chapter 76, Takahashi reveals that if the mother is human, the spirit energy a half-youkai baby needs will be substituted by her life force. Also of note, he reveals that youkai can produce spirit energy and humans can’t.

When talking about youkai that eat spirit energy, “souls” are almost always brought up alongside it. Miki’s mom is said to eat both spirit energy and souls, the makuragaeshi eats both spirit energy and souls. The kasha did throw out the pure youkai Takahashi, Hatanaka and Marshmallow to leave only those with non-youkai blood or souls, but it also didn’t seem to be against attacking them.

In chapter 74, Takahashi says he sensed spirit energy in the hospital, but he examines the gashadokuro and finds it’s formed from human souls. Also in chapter 70, the ability to see spirit energy and souls is lumped together.

And now, one of the loose ends from Kyoto arc: Suzaku saying that “humans shouldn’t overuse powers like that” and was about to say something about life force.

Do you see what I’m getting at here? It sounds likely that “spirit energy” and “life force” are the same thing but in different forms, and assuming there’s not an entirely separate power system that has nothing to do with spirit energy, there’s a possibility that Haruaki/Seimei’s exorcism power runs off life force instead.

This has a few fucked up implications, namely there’s a possibility that Seimei was going to die anyway even without being (debatably) murdered, and also obviously Haruaki… um….

“Souls are equivalent to life force” and “exorcism power runs off life force” would also help explain why his intelligence soul piece could also use it: it just happened to be the biggest piece of his soul (also explaining why it’s physically bigger than the other 4), and it could be that all the pieces had the ability, just that the biggest piece had the “battery” to actually use it.

(I have Many Thoughts about the soul pieces btw, that may never get elaborated on in the story. No not just that white hair Haru is hot! I feel like there’s something more to it than just being 5 parts of his personality. Like, they say there’s a piece that’s the manifestation of his desires, but the athletic piece is into sailor uniforms too? That’s a conclusion the students came up with, after all, and it’s not like anyone present was an expert on this stuff, and anyone who might have known more aren’t saying anything (Ranmaru, Douman, SEIMEI???). Do you get this feeling? That there’s something purposely left unexplained there…)

He also calls out the similarity between his powers and the students’ powers often (off the top of my head, there’s at least a few times with Sano, also with Nyuudou, and now with Tamao). It’s probably his efforts to show he relates to them, but also… yknow…

Of course, there’s details that this theory doesn’t fully address. Both times Miki’s mom ate Haruaki’s soul, she immediately noted it tasted bad, so it’s probably not because of Seimei taking control and actively fighting his way out, rather something inherent about his soul that makes it different from regular human souls or even youkai souls.

This is all pretty fucked up and I don’t necessarily think Tanaka Mai would actually go this route….? I hope…..? But there’s nothing definitive right now that says it DOESN’T work like this, and there’s enough of these little details littered throughout the whole series that if it’s true, this would be the biggest long con sensei has pulled yet.

Haruaki’s exorcism power could also be one of those “lol he can just do this, don’t question it” things, but that’s also what I thought about Seimei’s ability to see the future, and GUESS WHAT.

Anyway that’s all, I think I haven’t forgotten anything I wanted to talk about (probably did though, this took an entire day and thats WITH having taken notes while I was translating), gonna spend a couple days combing through all the previous mentions of the time travel to see if the new concrete details about it would surface any new info.

[jokertrap-ran]

[スタオケ] La Corda d'Oro Starlight Orchestra Main Story Chapter 2-5 Translation

*Starlight Orchestra Masterlist *Spoiler free: Translations will remain under cut *Main story tag will be #Main Starlight

Yasu: Huh?

☆ ━━━━━━━ ∘◦♬◦∘ ━━━━━━━ ☆

⊳ Choice: You’re Kirigaya’s friend aren’t you…? / You were at Ouroboros…

Yasu: Ohh! You’re the leader of the Orchestra that came down from Yokohama, right?

Yasu: I heard about it from Kirigaya-san! You came to recruit both him and the Student Council President, yeah? You have guts!

Yasu: Kirigaya-san’s an amazin’ person! With him, you’ll definitely be able to reach the top of the world!

Yasu: And you set your eye on him, so you’re not bad yourself either.

Yasu: Because he’s a legend! A true legend!

Yasu: What? You invited him to join you without knowing anything about that?

Yasu: Seriously? You people of Southern Kanto are really unbothered by your own lack of common knowledge, huh.

Yasu: Joyo Technical High School was nothing but just a bunch of good-for-nothings gathered together in a school a couple of years back.

Yasu: And the one person responsible for making our school as ballsy as we are now, is the “Yaksha of Route 6”— and that’s Kirigaya-san!

Yasu: He had a reputation! Everyone out there had heard of him around the time he was in middle school.

Yasu: Teamed with the speedily swift Captain “Rasetsu of Route 6”, they managed to quash 3 large teams!

Yasu: The “Rasetsu of Route 6”  always wore a full-face helmet, brandishing an iron pipe. Those were his items of office and he was a right mystery!

Yasu: *sigh* I should have joined them back then. I even got their signature!

Yasu: Well, he was THAT notorious back then, so I s’pose there was no helpin’ it when our Student Council President made it a point to keep an eye on him. 

Yasu: Huh? What if we changed the Gyojo?

Yasu: I don't know what that is. Gyojo might be Gyoza's cousin or something or whatever, but I'm vehemently against that!

Yasu: If we do things half-heartedly, we might end up backtracking and reverting to the old Joyo where everyone was half-assed at everything!

Yasu: I heard that in the past, Joyo was a school that was looked down upon, and no one could do anything to help it.

Yasu: I mean, I'm only the way I am right not because I don't want to be belittled by the Student Council either.

Yasu: Huh?

Tomoeda: It's a bag check. Open your bags so that I can see the items within.

Tomoeda: Magazines are prohibited. I'll be confiscating this.

Joyo Male Student: I only brought that here because I was going to return it to a friend.

Tomoeda: No exceptions.

Yasu: They're going around doing that again?

Tomoeda: Hm? You, over there. Yasuda from 2nd year, correct? Open your bag too.

Yasu: Hah? Thanks, but no thanks. I'll have to decline.

Tomoeda: Wait… You're being undeniably suspicious. We'll open your bag.

Tomoeda: I knew it. Why do you have so many snacks on you? What are you, an elementary schooler? We'll be confiscating these.

Yasu: Ahh! That's enough, don'cha think!? Give it back!

Tomoeda: What's with that attitude? Don't tell me you're still hiding something else in here.

Yasu: I'm not hidin' anythin'!

Tomoeda: And that's what everyone who breaks the rules says. Hmm, and what do we have here? What's this scrap of paper?

Tomoeda: "I've always adored you. I've never had the chance to say it, but I love you."

Yasu: G-Gi-Give it back!

Tomoeda: "I only started liking Japanese after meeting you, Sakuma-sensei."

Tomoeda: Hahaha! This is addressed to the Japanese Language Teacher, Sakuma-sensei? Well, she's beautiful, no doubt~ But, to write a love letter to your teacher?

Tomoeda: Plus, you even spelled "meet" wrongly. What a dumb fool.

Yasu: Shut up! Give it back!! *sobs*

☆ ━━━━━━━ ∘◦♬◦∘ ━━━━━━━ ☆

⊳ Choice: You're going too far!

Tomoeda: What's it to you?

⊳ Choice: You should return it.

Yasu: You're… for me…

☆ ━━━━━━━ ∘◦♬◦∘ ━━━━━━━ ☆

Tomoeda: This shouldn't have anything to do with students from other schools.

Akira: Enough.

☆ ━━━━━━━ ∘◦♬◦∘ ━━━━━━━ ☆

Akira: Stop being so lame. Don't tell me you're even going to confiscate that one little, harmless, letter? 

Tomoeda: …Kirigaya…

Akira: Here you go, Yasu. Take this, tuck it away in your bag, and get inside the school.

Yasu: Kirigaya-san… T-Thank you!

Tomoeda: What do you think you're doing? You should open your bag too, senpai.

Akira: Huh? You for real?

Tomoeda: ……

Seiji: Enough, Tomoeda.

Seiji: Please excuse us. I believe we've overstepped our boundaries this time.

☆ ━━━━━━━ ∘◦♬◦∘ ━━━━━━━ ☆

Akira: If you can't discipline your underlings, then maybe you should let them out without a leash, Student Council President.

Seiji: Never thought that the leader of a pack of wild dogs would be giving me a piece of his mind either.

Joyo Male Student 1: Yikes! They're terrifying…

Joyo Male Student 2: Our Student Council President really doesn't get along well with the leader of the delinquents…

☆ ━━━━━━━ ∘◦♬◦∘ ━━━━━━━ ☆

Seiji: Now, now, this isn't a show either, you lot. Scram.

☆ ━━━━━━━ ∘◦♬Main Starlight♬◦∘ ━━━━━━━ ☆

Previous Part: (Chapter 2-4) Next Part: (Chapter 2-6)

[dajaregambler]

HeliosR - Sing in the darkness - Chapter 3 - Part 4

Translation of Sing in the darkness from ‘Helios Rising Heroes’, a new side arc alongside the current main story arc Like the dawning light.

Sage: On the last day we gathered at Sensei’s house… It wasn’t too obvious but something was strange about Sensei at that time too

Nico: Ah, on the day of the Loup En Croûte?

Bianchi: He was acting like he usually does as far as I remember… 

Sage: I talked with him for a little while before dinner. When I entered his room, he put his tablet down on the desk and turned it face down… 

Sage: The way he acted was nothing out of the ordinary, yet… somehow it felt as if he was telling me how he doesn’t want anyone to touch it… 

Bianchi: Did you not ask him anything at the time?

Sage: Only if something had happened. But he dodged the question like he normally does… 

Nico: A tablet.. 

Nico: …Huh, Sage?

Sage: Hm?

Nico: Your wrist, it’s the rosary

Sage: Uh-huh…

Bianchi: You took it off within your psychological world, but that’s only relevant there

Bianchi:  In reality, it stayed on Sei-chan’s wrist. 

Nico: ----Licht

Nico: Is that boy an acquaintance of yours?

Sage: No, as far as I know. I met him for the first time there

Bianchi: Oh dear, is that so? I thought he appeared because it was someone you knew. Like in the way Akira-chan and Brad-san did… 

Nico: Someone Bianchi or Jude-kun knows then?

Bianchi: I have no idea

Jude: Also drawing a complete blank here

Nico: …Strange

Sage: Speaking of it… When that boy got swallowed up by the blackhole, it felt extremely realistic. 

Sage: It was as if the scene of Sensei getting swallowed up played over again, I remember how terrified I got… 

Sage: I’m getting kind of worried suddenly… I wonder if he’s okay, Licht-kun… 

Jude: All of that happened in your mind. Which means he’s fine, yeah? Besides he could be some made up character in your head, and not even exist in reality to begin with. 

Jude: That blackhole did stay in the sky the entire time, but there were also a lot of moments that differ with reality. 

Sage: T-true…

Bianchi: Robin wasn’t there at the time, right? 

Nico: Yeah, he didn’t appear in Sage’s world

Bianchi: But, that blackhole world was made by Robin in the real world, no? 

Sage: That’s right…

Bianchi: Robin isn’t there, yet the blackhole is, and instead of Robin, Licht-kun got swallowed up by it… 

Bianchi: I can’t believe he only exists over there when laying it out like this… 

Sage: …..

-

Sage: Here, you can have it

Licht: Ah…

Sage: I’m not sure if it will work for you too, but it might give you a piece of mind instead, no?

Sage: C’mon, gimme your hand

Licht: …. Don't you need it anymore?

Sage: Eh…?

Licht: Without it, you’ll see these ghosts again…

-

Sage: I agree with Bianchi-san, I have a gut feeling that Licht-kun must be someone who exists in reality too. 

Sage: It’d be good if he wasn’t caught up in any kind of trouble though… 

Bianchi: Right

Nico: Sage. Tell us now if there was anything else that you noticed

Sage: Ah, yeah…

Nico: You won’t be able to move freely for a while, we’ll do the investigating instead

Nico: If possible, until we get to the bottom of it

Sage: I’m already okay though! I’d feel bad to leave it all up to you guys--- 

Nico: You’re not that “free”

Bianchi: As he says, Sei-chan. The research department is a given, but there’s a chance the higher-ups will come to ask all sorts of things too

Sage: Ugh….

Jude: Gonna put on a little play each time for them, like you did earlier? Haha, good luck there, Sage

Sage: Uuuugh…

Nico: Telling us all the information only you knew, is more than enough.

Nico: That’s something only you could do

Nico: What we can do, is follow up on what you can’t do

Sage: Nico….

Sage: I understand. Thanks, everyone

Sage: Alright….. We’ll put all our strengths together and uncover the truth!

[aspenforest732]

Bello Licentiae Chapter 10: Quirks and Quirks

Summary:

tw: panic attack, emotional abuse/manipulation, blood, fight, assault, audism Akira finally confronts Midoriya, and the canon starts to diverge 'text' JSL Text thoughts

Akira grinned as Aizawa confirmed they were considering making work studies available for first years. Even if he was against the idea. 1-A had run into enough villains and dangerous situations for their first two years combined. It'll be good to work with Amajiki and Taishiro again, though. Excitement bubbled up in the room to a hushed murmur, mindful as they'd learned to be of Aizawa's long night patrols.

When Yamada pranced into the room, Akira also found themself looking forward to having classes with him in the morning this term. Since they were already fluent in English, they requested Anii to interpret Yamada's teaching to help them learn ASL through immersion in addition to the old textbook Yamada gave them.

Yamada handed out the syllabus for Yaoyorozu and Ida to distribute as he verbally went over it. Akira scanned through what was mostly the same structure as their first term. Halfway through, their heart picked up at the essay assignment. Subtly glancing about, only Midoriya and Katsuki seemed interested in the document at all.

When no one raised their hand for questions, Akira cautiously raised theirs. He's safe. We're safe. Focus on the question not them staring. Dark Shadow settled on their lap with a soft purr, letting their heart slow a bit as they committed to the action.

Surprise flitted across Yamada's face before he grinned and enthusiastically asked, "Yes, Mori?"

' Are there any constraints on the subject of the essay? And is there an upper page limit? ' Akira signed in JSL.

"Keep it school appropriate, yeah?" Yamada beamed, bouncing slightly in excitement. "And no, just make sure it's at least two pages. Also, if any of you get worried about taking on too much, I'd be happy to go over your topic and help narrow it down." He added with a twinkle in his eye, "For the record, the fall of Rome is usually a bit much."

That night, Akira approached Midoriya after dinner. ' It's time to talk. Where would you be most comfortable? '

"Uh," Midoriya stuttered, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "Is the roof okay? It's almost curfew."

Akira shrugged indifferently, glad he at lesat understood the conversation was private. ' Sure, I'll let sensei know so he doesn't worry. ' At his confusion, they added, ' He gets notified when the roof is accessed for safety reasons. '

"O-oh, right," Midoriya flushed with embarrassment as they rode the elevator up. He shifted from foot to foot, wringing his hands while his gaze kept darting between them and the doors. Occasional tiny flashes of green sparked across his skin but immediately faded.

When they finally reached the top, Akira double-checked that Aizawa had seen the message before waving at the security camera and opening the door. They let out a slow breath as they ran through what they wanted to say again. ' First off, I should recognize that I did assume you went through forced quirk manifestation. '

Midoriya frantically shook his head, opening his mouth but snapped it shut at a glance. 'It lined up with what I could see, but that was technically an assumption on my part. Up until now, you haven't directly lied to me, so I ask that you don't try to now. '

Midoriya opened and closed his mouth a few times before descending into a mutter storm. Akira could only catch a few words here and there about what they might know.

When he started tapering off after a few minutes, Akira gave a small wave to catch his attention. ' All for One told me about the history of One for All and how All Might passed it to you. '

"I... he... what?" Midoriya stammered as the color drained from his face.

' I was angry before because I thought you understood, ' Akira explained. ' I thought you knew what the torture was like and how the feeling of otherness only intensified when you finally triggered a quirk. Our bodies aren't built to house quirks, so the drawbacks tend to be more severe. '

"Have you told anyone else?" Midoriya asked, eyes frantically searching the darkness.

' Not really, Sparkles already figured you were Quirkless growing up, but he was, too. I needed an example that wasn't me. About One for All? No, it's not my secret to share. ' Akira hesitated, not sure if it was their place. ' You should really tell sensei, though. You need someone on your side, and All Might is the one who placed such a terrible burden on a fourteen-year-old. '

"But I wasn't even supposed to tell Kacchan, and now you know, and oh kami," Midoriya started hyperventilating as tears welled up. "He's going to kill me. What if he demands it back? What if he..."

Akira gently pulled Midoriya into a hug as he broke down, putting one of his hands on their sternum so he could try to match their breathing. They lowered the overwhelmed kid to the rough floor as he tried to calm down. Helplessness washed over them, unable to talk through sensory grounding as he broke down. Forcing themself to focus on what they could do, Akira gently pulled his other hand away from tugging at his hair and rubbed small circles on it. Shudders wracked his frame as his eyes glazed over.

' You with me, Broccoli? ' Akira asked after a while when Midoriya's breathing started to even out and his eyes refocused some. They slowly let go as Midoriya focused on his hands and his cheeks flushed in embarrassment. ' You don't have to tell sensei, but he genuinely wants to help. ' They huffed and ducked their head slightly, ' He's actually worried about you. '

Midoriya's eyes went wide and started to glisten again. "He shouldn't be, I'm fine!" He gave one of his trademark sunshine smiles, but Akira just gave him a flat look and looked pointedly at where they were sitting. Midoriya wilted and fiddled with the hem of his t-shirt. "All Might said not to tell anyone. It'll put them in danger."

Akira snorted, ' Trust me, any danger that would be added from that knowledge is a drop in a lake compared to what he faces on a daily basis. Not to mention the danger from multiple long-term operations. ' Their expression softened as Midoriya frown deepened, expression still worried. ' You'd be surprised how much he can help. He'd want to know. '

Midoriya nodded slowly but still hesitated, "But All Might..."

Fuck All Might. Akira took a deep breath and just managed to keep their expression neutral. 'If you're that worried about his reaction, you need another adult to know. If you'd rather tell another adult, that's fine, but you need a support system beyond other students. That's not fair for anyone, especially you, and this is a massive responsibility.'

"What if he hates me?" Midoriya muttered, barely loud enough for Akira to catch.

' He didn't hate me, ' Akira signed gently but firmly.

"That's different, you didn't lie to him for months," he protested, hands gesturing widely as doubt swam in his eyes.

Right, he doesn't know. Akira looked away for a moment, worrying their bottom lip as they searched for the right words. Shoving aside their discomfort, they met Midoriya's gaze with a guarded one, ' There's a lot you don't know about me. If he didn't hate me after what he found out, he won't hate you. '

The next day when class broke for lunch, Akira paused as Mad Banquet was walking out, feeling eyes on them from behind. They turned around to see Aoyama trailing a few paces behind the group. He was usually one of the first out of the room, so Akira cocked their head and asked, ' Is something wrong? '

Aoyama looked around then brightened. "Can I sit with your group today?" The sparkles around his head flashed brightly, but his eyes held a hint of desperation as he shifted from foot to foot.

Akira looked to the group, who shrugged. ' Sure, we usually sit outside when the weather's not unbearable. ' Once Aoyama caught up to the group, they continued to the cafeteria. Akira skirted along the edge to wait outside as the others grabbed food, one of the campus strays keeping them company in exchange for pets and morsels of the group's lunches.

"I thought I—"

Akira warped away as they slashed shallowly towards the wall, capture scarf rising and heart hammering in their chest. They blinked rapidly at the lack of people and scanned the area, eyes darting back and forth as their clone remained in a defensive stance. Moments later, they sharply turned to the cafeteria door, only to relax and drop their clone as Togata sheepishly walked out.

"Sorry to startle you," Togata smiled sheepishly. "Tamaki wanted to know if you're still planning on doing your work study with Fat Gum."

' Of course, ' Akira signed as they sheathed their knife and commanded their capture scarf to settle back into looking like a scarf. They scanned his face for cuts, fortunately finding none as they assumed he phased in time.

"Well, I should go let him know," Togata smiled brightly before jogging away past Mad Banquet.

"What was that about?" Aoyama asked, looking over his shoulder at the older boy disappearing into the crowd.

' Work study. ' They focused on evening out their breathing, and after handing them their food, Dark Shadow wrapped around them. They started purring, which brought a small smile to Akira's face.

The group started talking about where they'd be going, Fumikage surprising the rest by continuing with Hawks. Dark Shadow insisted the hero would start working with them now that they'd proven themselves. Akira wasn't so sure about that but knew they would stand up for themselves at least.

Aoyama quietly added he'd stay with Yoroi Musha. The quiet hero was generally considered stoic by the general populace, but he could be almost negligent at times in his complacence and pursuit of peaceful resolutions. But a less chaotic environment would probably do Aoyama some good.

Hitoshi obviously stayed with his dad, but Koji and Shoto were considering other options.

' Wash was great, but I want to learn more about the intelligence field, ' Koji explained. ' It's so small, though, and I need to figure out whether any of them would take first years. '

Hitoshi nodded thoughtfully, "Eraser often works with the Nighteye agency, and I've seen Togata there a few times. That might be a good starting point."

' He's got a good track record, and Yellow Sun could get you a foot in the door, ' Akira added. ' Peppermint, Present Mic could be good for learning control over your fire side. He helped Electric Rat a lot, and his own quirk requires a lot of control. '

"Perhaps. I'm changing my hero name," Shoto said.

"Oh?" Aoyama piped up after being mostly quiet. "What are you considering?"

"Mercury."

Akira immediately perked up, eyes sparkling as they cocked their head. ' Like the Roman god? '

Confusion crossed Shoto's face as he frowned, "No, like the metal." Akira deflated but nodded. "What is Mercury the deity of?"

Akira immediately launched into an explanation of the god as Hitoshi tried to keep up with interpreting. The bell for lunch ending startled them out of the rant as they abruptly stopped signing, clamping down harshly on their lip. ' Sorry, ' they signed before quickly downing the rest of their rice.

"If you can indulge our interests, we can indulge yours," Fumikage said, an amused undertone turning into a soft trilling hum at the end.

With Midoriya back in class, Aizawa went over some of the details for work studies. He brought in the Big Three to introduce themselves, and Akira noticed Midoriya tense as Togata stepped in. Maybe they've met before? He was difficult to read from behind, and Midoriya wasn't muttering for once.

Akira winced sympathetically when Aizawa asked Amajiki to start the introductions. They leaned slightly into the aisle to catch his eye and sign, ' Talk to just me? ' Akira gave a slight smile, but after fixing the class with a hard stare, Amajiki turned into the wall and let Hado take over introductions.

"This is the flea, Tamaki Amajiki," Nejire lightly teased. "And then, I'm Nejire Hado."

Akira sighed and looked to Aizawa as she quickly got side-tracked asking rapid-fire personal questions about several students without waiting for them to answer. Activating Erasure, Aizawa turned to Togata and ground out, "Isn't this lacking rationality?"

Akira let their head drop into their hand as they stared up in disbelief at the complete lack of stage presence between the three as Togata tried to wrap up the presentation with jokes that fell flat. Aizawa also seemed mystified by the confused tilt to his head and subtle tension in his shoulders.

"...Why don't you all fight me at once?" Mirio finished as Amajiki lifted slightly off the wall in thinly-veiled confusion. Hado finally stood up from next to Ojiro's desk.

Aizawa's hair shifted to cover the side of his face towards the classroom as his posture slightly opened into almost curiosity. "Do what you want."

While the Big Three walked with the class to one of the gyms, Akira drifted closer to them. ' Yellow Sun, where's your hero costume? '

"Oh, I didn't want to give myself an advantage," Togata beamed with a twinkle in his eye.

Akira stared in disbelief. They glanced at Amajiki, who just shrunk in on himself with a small shrug. ' So... you're going to expose yourself instead? ' Akira hesitantly signed. Sure, he was Amajiki's friend, but his idealism kept him from seeing the corruption in limelights... ' Your costume's primary function is phasing with you, so what's the advantage? You are technically an adult. '

"It provides some protection, but you do make a good point," Togata's smile turned a bit sheepish. "Aizawa-sensei, I'm going to grab my costume but will be back shortly."

While they waited for Togata's return at the gym, Midoriya called a huddle. "Against an upperclassman, we should try to strategize. Is anyone familiar with his quirk?"

Akira offered, ' Sort of, it seems to be a Breaker or Changer quirk that allows the user to phase through substances. He also uses mixed martial arts during his first two sports festivals. It was unclear whether his quirk allows all material or just inorganic to pass through while active. '

"That's what I was thinking, too," Midoriya grinned. "I haven't reviewed this year's footage yet, though, so does anyone have an update on his progress?" He was greeted with silence, and Akira shook their head. Between, well everything, it was pretty understandable. "Melee fighters should swarm him, go for quirk- and organic-based attacks first to identify weak points. Ranged, do short bursts of your quirk since longer activations might obscure the area as they hit the concrete behind Togata-senpai.

Mori, do you have your speaker on you to call out observations?"

Akira nodded with a grimace, ' Still working on speed and accuracy, but it's an option if visibility is low or if I'm invisible. '

"I won't be joining," Shoto announced. At Akira's confused look, he continued, "I don't have my Provisional License, so don't deserve the opportunity."

Midoriya jumped in before Mad Banquet could, "That's ridiculous, this would be great practice for you. Especially since your quirk is so versatile!"

Akira added, ' If you're worried about spacing, you can focus on creating taller areas like the concrete pillars for our ranged fighters. '

As Le Million strolled in, Mercury nodded. Amajiki turned slightly to follow Le Million with his eyes as he lamented how they could have just described their work studies. "We can't end up with kids who are unable to recover after this."

Mortis heard Alien Queen's discomfort as they turned towards Hado's voice and immediately warped to their sides, pulling Alien Queen to her feet away from the enthusiastic girl. ' Refrain from touching people without their permission, ' Mortis sharply signed as Alien Queen shuddered.

As the two walked back to the group, Hado stood and continued, "If you don't think things through properly, this'll be rough. Really rough."

"There's a handicap in place, but we've fought pros before," Tsukuyomi said, eyes widened slightly.

"And we've fought with villains before, too," Red Riot added eagerly. "Do we look like such weak small fry to you that you need to worry about us?"

Unphased, Le Million asked who would be first. Aizawa called out before they could start moving, "This is a good chance for all of you. Make sure you get the most out of this experience!"

With a nod to Mercury, Mortis activated their coms and warped, multiplying their clones forward to create a barrier of organic material. Mercury quickly raised several pillars of ice of varying heights, each carrying a few of their ranged fighters as well as stairs and slides for mobility.

Amajiki abruptly turned from the wall with a frown at the numerous clones, watching them with open concern. Now that their first task was in progress, Mortis padded over and pressed a note into his hand reading "found a workaround, don't worry about it." He frowned, reading the note a few times before slowly nodding.

With that, Mortis warped onto the nearest ice pillar and noted Le Million's disappearance. "He warped?" they heard from their left as Creati screamed from between pillars. Mortis looked over just in time to see Le Million land a hard hit on her back, incapacitating her.

Dark Shadow shot forward, and Mortis just barely saw their target slipping into the ground. They swarmed their clones around Tsukuyomi and called out "Hover!" at the same time as Deku did. A moment later, one of their clones was dispelled from the force of Le Million shooting through it. The upperclassman stumbled slightly in surprise, buying Tsukuyomi enough time to get off the ground with Dark Shadow.

It looked like Le Million said something to one of the clones, but Mortis couldn't quite catch it from their distance. In response, they pressed their clones forward while calling out, "Off ground! Cloud formation."

Mercury added disk extensions to each platform, and Uravity dashed toward the groups. A few more clones down, Mortis searched the area for Le Million's next attack as Deku charged toward Uravity with Ingenium hot on his heels. They sent half of their clones towards Uravity while the others spread out again, multiplying a few more times from the first two levels to reduce the area Le Million could reliably emerge from.

Just as Uravity floated herself and Deku, Le Million surged out of the ground and snatched the latter's foot. He had to quickly let go, though as Uravity released and Deku swung a kick at his arm. Le Million retaliated with a punch to his gut, slamming him winded to the ground. Level with the platforms, Uravity waited for Mercury to melt the first disk's connection to the pillar before floating it and moving it away just as Le Million shot up the middle one.

"Middle!" Ingenium called out. Mortis warped onto the now free-floating disk with Twinkling, Alien Queen, and Earphone Jack. Mortis threw their clones at Le Million, letting them fall when they phased through. He caught one of them, which Mortis quickly took direct control of to shoot out their capture weapon. Le Million yelped and quickly phased through it, buying Uravity and Mercury enough time to break the second platform away with Siren and Cellophane.

Pulling out of their clone, Mortis let it be dispelled by the capture weapon. They heard a soft, pained "Mirio?" and immediately whipped around to look at Amajiki, who just looked confused.

"Tama-" Le Million started to say, also turning before going slack.

Siren grinned and lowered their voice modulator. He grimaced and quickly said, "Surrender."

Everyone let out a breath, and Hitoshi released Togata as Shoto made ramps for those on the two free-floating platforms. Hitoshi coiled tightly, ready to move as Togata blinked back to awareness in confusion. He broke into a wide grin, "That was clever, Shinso! Good fight, everyone."

Hitoshi visibly relaxed, Sero clapping their shoulder in a hearty congratulations. Akira dispelled the rest of their clones as they warped next to a beet red Amajiki. ' Sorry, probably should have said something before we started, ' they signed sheepishly.

"It's alright," Amajiki murmured, blushing harder as Togata emerged next to them.

"That's such a powerful quirk!" Kirishima called out as the class approached and Akira backed off to stand with them.

"You're strong enough to slip through things and can even warp?" Uraraka asked in awe.

"Yeah, are you a hybrid like Shoto?" Ashido added excitedly.

Akira and Deku shook their heads, ready to correct them when Togata took over. "No, just one! What you guys called a warp was an application of Permeation." He went on to explain how he gave the appearance of warping.

"So you're able to avoid all attacks and move wherever you like in an instant. It really is a strong quirk," Tsu remarked. "It's similar in application to Mori's, isn't it?"

"No, I made it into a strong quirk," Togata corrected as he explained the difficult drawback.

Akira's hand twitched, and they looked to Amajiki questioningly. They didn't have much in their entry for Togata since he didn't stand out enough for there to be many videos. He nodded with a small smile, so Akira made a few additions to his entry, including confirmation of the DNA-infused costume and the applications he mentioned.

"It's disrespectful to be doodling while Togata-senpai is presenting!" Ida harshly said from their side.

Akira barely spared him a glance, gesturing him off with their head while they finished an additional question to ask Togata. Tucking the journal back into their pack, they turned to the class president with a flat stare. ' It's code, not doodles. I analyze quirks like Broccoli. Pay attention. '

That evening, Akira was getting ready for bed when they saw a shimmer of purple on the ground outside their window. Stepping onto the balcony, they saw a brown package on the porch and warped down. Seeing their name on it, Akira shrugged and warped back up, dispelling both clones. They opened it on the balcony just in case and grinned at the book inside, Complete works of Catullus (Illustrated) . Tucked into the first page lay a frenzied, blood-stained note. Akira went rigid, dropping the book as they stared in shock. "Met with Shie Hassaiki went sideways. Payment. Details tomorrow."

Notes:

What's been your favorite moment in this fic series? What's been your least favorite? At the time of writing this, my favorite is really any scene with Dadgum. My least favorite to write is scenes with the League (it's just so many goddamn people) and in general the provisional exam. Just wish there was a better way to showcase Akira in those moments, but they're too efficient for the first half and discriminated against in the second. There are also a couple scenes in Libertias aut Mortis that were really rough to write, I actually physically can't read part of one because of my protectors. So third years... 17-18 right? Mirio's 18 when Unrivaled happens. Yeah no, I decided to fix that whole issue. Also, I rewatch scenes while writing them to make sure I'm capturing the important bits and the right undertones for scenes. Mina's blushing while Hado plays with her horns. That makes me wonder if her horns are like Twi'lek head tails and bird wings. Did she not know before then? Also why do the horns move?? Unless they're an attachment, they shouldn't be that easily moved back and forth. For any curious, I'm using a reddit thread titled An Unofficial Timeline of BNHA for order of events. Catullus is my friend's favorite Roman poet, and he has some hilarious poetry. Most of it is not meant for minors, but it is funny. The illustrations in the book mentioned are not explicit as far as I'm aware.

Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

[not-some-background-noise]

A FEELING WARMER THAN SUN IN JULY (mid-quel of Boys Don’t Cry) - OUR OCs

KIRISHIMA HOSHIKO (Eijirou’s mom)

quirk: triple resistance, her muscles are three times stronger than average

she is around 185 cm/6’1 tall

she is 32 years old

she studied in a dance school and then in a ballet academy, she managed to get into a ballet company but she had to leave to raise her children, Eijirou, Akira and Akiko

now she teaches ballet in her old school

her children like to call her sensei when she scolds them, because her ballet teacher persona shows up

when she was 20 and she was working in a cat café and almost had a thing with a pro-hero… but she doesn’t know he was a pro (yet)

now, after being single for many years, she’s in a happy (secret) relationship with a colleague, Saito Hinata

They had been friends for years, their children (Eijirou and Hiroshi) kept trying to set them up together but they kept saying that they were just friends

Hinata was the one who confessed first, like the hopeless romantic that he is

They got together the day Eijirou had a crisis in middle school (you know the one) so she didn’t feel like telling him then

She wanted to wait for the right moment, but the right moment never came

Until a couple of months later, she was in the shower and Eijirou heard her phone’s notification sound and went to check

only to find a text from “Hinata ❤️” with the cheesiest and sweetest words ever

she tried to come up with excuses but Eijirou didn’t care, he was too happy for her

now Eijirou is the only one who knows in the family, she is still waiting for the right moment to tell the twins

to know more about her backstory with Eijirou’s father, check out chapter 12 of Boys Don’t Cry!!!

KIRISHIMA AKIRA(left picture) & AKIKO(right picture) (Eijirou’s sisters)

quirk: quirkless

not a big deal, they don’t care about that

they’re twins, they are 13 years old (but to their brother and mother they’re still little)

they’re around 160 cm/ 5’2 tall

they’re a package deal. you’re friends with akira? you’re also friends with akiko (and viceversa)

you know what they say, prepare for trouble and make it double

they love to tease their brother but they love him

they don’t consider Hiroto their father, just the man who got their mom pregnant with them

and that’s why they have really high standards in men

Akiko had a crush on Kaminari, but since he kept mistaking one for the other, the crush ended pretty soon

they still consider Kaminari their second big brother, and usually call him by his first name

during the sports festival they rooted for Mina (obviously, she’s their senpai at their mom’s dance school)

but then Akira developed a crush for Todoroki and Akiko for Midoriya

Eijirou won’t tell Katsuki about this, he doesn’t want to see his reaction

they promised Eijirou they will plan his wedding

at first they didn’t like Tomo that much, they didn’t feel like he was 100% trustworthy (they later realized he was)

between their brother’s two boyfriends they prefer Katsuki, though, they immediately knew he was the one for Eijirou (they already have a few ideas for their wedding and secretly can’t wait for them to get engaged to start planning the whole thing)

[meatymidnightmultiverse]

Kawkami sighed as she looked towards the home she was assigned to. She had given up being a maid a long time ago, she only did it for Akira and his weird sister? She wasn’t really sure what that relationship was but when he asked her to go to this house she knew it couldn’t be good. She took a deep breath and opened the door, “hello master? Your maid is here to help you with whatever you need~”

It was a rather upscale apartment, one of those types that upper middle class types might reside in. Whoever it was, hopefully they could at least help pay up whatever he might not cover.

The door was only unlocked because Makoto was told to expect a maid service to stop by, her old friend mentioned as much as a little present to her... And after seeing her room... She could use it. Hearing that sickly sweet voice, she would turn her chair around and get up to properly greet the maid... Only to be floored by who it was.

"Ka... Kawakami-sensei?" The rather disheveled neet of a woman Makoto was now was caught very off guard.

[lossie92]

Heartstrings - Snippet no. 2

Yes, I couldn’t stop myself. No, I have absolutely no regrets. If you want, blame @alyuchiha913 for enabling me 🙈

FYI: this is a scene that just about murdered me emotionally. You have been warned lol.

I would highly recommend listening to Arvo Pärt’s Fratres Encore for violin and piano before you read this. Or, you know, you can listen while reading. Whichever you prefer. I would’ve linked it, but Tumblr hides my posts if I add external links. The version played by Anne Akiko Meyers and Akira Eguchi is my fave if you want a rec.

Also, fratres and kyoudai both mean ‘brothers’. It is important to remember for the end of the snippet.

Oh, and if you haven’t read the previous snippet, here it is 😉

-

Warning: angst, all the feels

-

The final note echoed in the otherwise silent room, its heavy weight seeming to resonate in Madara’s bones, to thrum in his veins, to play in sync with the beat of his heart. He let out a breath he didn’t remember holding and then slowly lifted his hands from the keys. He was vaguely aware that they were shaking a bit, something that hasn’t happened to him in years, not since his first recital.

He has heard this piece already so many times during practice, he thought almost dazedly; had dissected it note for note until it almost seemed as if it wasn’t music anymore, until it almost lost meaning. By rights, it shouldn’t feel as if his entire world has shifted and realigned, but somehow it did and Madara was hard pressed to find the words to explain it, because hearing Tobirama perform just now, listening to every passage as it seemed to tear itself out right from the younger man’s heart...

It was magic, plain and simple. There was no other way to describe it.

Someone in the audience shifted. The silence broke at last and the room erupted in noise as people rose from their seats and clapped so loudly Madara’s ears rang with it.

He stood up without conscious though and stepped next to Tobirama. They bowed together and then glanced at each other. Madara’s eyes widened. There was something in Tobirama’s eyes, something wild and vulnerable; something that felt like sorrow so deep it couldn’t be properly expressed. Even though they have only known each other for a month, Madara could read him like a book now; could feel the pull of Tobirama’s emotions like a slow careful bow stroke on the strings of his heart. And just like that he also knew that he had to get the Senju away from the stage, from all these prying eyes, as soon as possible.

They were ushered out by Professor Chen. The man looked a mixture of shocked and elated, and Madara had a feeling that if he let him speak, they wouldn’t be able to get away in time.

“Haru-sensei, my apologies. You’ll have to excuse us, sir,” he said quickly. “We will be back shortly, I promise.”

Without waiting for a response, he grabbed Tobirama by the elbow and tugged him to the back room. He watched as the younger man put away his violin and bow, his hands trembling as he wiped away the rosin from the strings and the box, and snapped off a few loose bow hairs.

There were no people milling about. The rest of the graduating class with their accompanists were seated in the gallery to enjoy the show and the last performer has been waiting for their turn near the stage when they were leaving. In a way, Madara actually felt bad for that kid. Whatever spell Tobirama managed to cast over the audience within the ten infinitely long minutes of his performance would be a tough act to follow.

When the instrument was safely tucked away in its case, Madara reached out and gently clasped one of Tobirama’s hands in his, their fingers intertwining on their own volition. The Senju stared at their hands for a few seconds, the look of incomprehension on his face temporarily displacing that horrible lost expression Madara already hated with a passion. “Come on,” he whispered and Tobirama followed him without question or hesitation.

It was a wonder that even though Madara hasn’t set foot in this building in four years, he could still recall where everything was with astounding clarity. Then again, it wasn’t as if the Konoha Academy of Fine Arts had the funds to remodel, so maybe it wasn’t exactly strange that he could trace his steps back to that one practice room nobody seemed particularly fond of using for some reason, even though it was probably the least used and the best ventilated one out of the bunch.

The door closed behind them with a soft click. Madara flicked the lights on, wincing a bit at the sudden brightness, and then turned to look at Tobirama. He felt as if someone has sucker punched him in the gut when he saw the tears trailing silently down the other man’s face. There was no sound to accompany them, only a faint shake of those slim shoulders and the persistent tremor in Tobirama’s pale hands.

“Hey, what’s going on?” Madara murmured, stepping a bit closer, but not making any further move to touch the other man. “Tobirama? What’s wrong?”

A hitch of breath, red eyes squeezing shut. A barely audible gasp followed immediately by another, as if Tobirama was trying to force them down without much success. A sob finally tearing itself out of his throat and making the man shake all over. A hand raised to cover quivering lips, to muffle the sound of heartache so profound that it couldn’t be held back any longer.

Watching all of this unfold tore at Madara’s heart. He still couldn’t understand what has triggered such a volatile emotional response, especially in Tobirama who had only ever showed glimpses of feelings before, letting them flicker across his face so fast if one blinked they would have missed them completely. Madara was familiar with the man’s tentative joy and cold anger, his quiet pleased smiles and that annoyed pout he wasn’t always able to hide, but not this soul-deep despair, not the tears, not this sadness.

He was about to ask again, desperate for answers as he was, when Tobirama finally spoke, his voice so broken it cut him like shattered glass.

“T-they’ll... They n-n’v’r...” He hiccupped on a sob, looking into Madara’s eyes. “I-I... I wrote i-it... It’s f-for... It’s for them... A-and, and, they’ll n-never, have never... It’s-s b-been years, s-so many, a-and I s-still... I-it never, never... W-why does it h-hurt s-so much?”

Madara had no idea how he managed to make his limbs move as he finally understood, finally realized the truth, but he was somehow able to draw Tobirama into his arms, hugging him as tightly as he could, lips pressed against his temple so he could mumble whatever nonsense came to mind. Everything and anything just to stop the crying; to make all that pain go away; to never have to hear that desperate pleading tone of voice.

Kyoudai.

Brothers.

How could he have been so blind?

[gravityunforgiven]

Right Where You Left Me (Kakashi x OC)

Pairings: Kakashi x OC, Jiraiya x Tsunade, Dan Kato x Tsunade

Synopsis:

She was the daughter of a Legendary Sannin, He, a son of a disgraced shinobi. Fate brought them together but life tore them apart. Will they be able to take control of their destinies and find their way back to each other?

...Or will they be another victim of the cruel shinobi world they are both a part of?

Chapter Two

In the next few years, Akira proved herself to be a little firecracker. She had captured the hearts of those who surrounded her almost immediately. Tsunade’s days became a little brighter due to the presence of her little one, she became her world. But still, Dan’s death loomed over her like a shadow. She couldn’t stop thinking about how he was supposed to be here, how they should be raising their child together instead of on her own. She could see him in their child every single day especially in her eyes, the eyes that Dan gave her. It was so much like his that she could almost imagine Dan staring right back at her.

And even in her disposition she could see bits of Dan mixed with her own. Akira’s character was what a person could call a perfect combination of her parents. She was normally a calm and laidback personality and even as a child she was selfless and kind to others but she could also be impatient at times and prone to rule-breaking a little more than Tsunade wanted to admit.

Everyday Akira radiated happiness to the people around her. Tsunade had hoped that her daughter would remain a civillian. That she would have a normal life inside the walls of the village, never having to know the cruelness of the shinobi world. She wanted her daughter to be protected more than anything in the world. Even Jiraiya who remained put for the first year of Akira’s life, shared Tsunade’s wishes but their hopes were all too soon shattered.

Even at only a few months old, Akira’s abilities were already starting to show itself. At first, both Tsunade and Jiraiya were in denial. It was unheard to have a child of such age show that much capabilities. They shoved it at the back of their minds for the time being but when Akira’s first birthday neared, refusing the truth was no longer an option. When Tsunade entered Akira’s room full of daisies, the truth dawned on them like a bucket full of ice cold water.

She had inherited her great-grandfather’s kekkei genkai.

The Wood Release.

She was the first since the Shodai Hokage’s time to have this nature transformation and to think that when everyone finally came into terms that this Release was extinct, Akira came along, having acquired it naturally, after it skipped two full generations of her family and more than seventy years since her great-grandfather was born.

This brought fear in Tsunade’s mind. The safety of her daughter could be at risk after this discovery. It was not a secret that the Wood Release was one, if not the most, sought after kekkei genkai in the world. Not just because of its rarity but also the power and versatility it gives its wielder.

And the destruction it may cause once fallen in the wrong hands.

If that wasn’t already bad enough as it is, a shocking discovery from the Third Hokage’s wife became the final nail in the box that sealed Akira’s fate as a protector of the Village Hidden in the Leaves.

“ What is that?” Biwako asked looking at Akira’s right feet as Jiraiya lulled her for afternoon nap. The child was just about to turn one and after Tsunade’s distressed conversations with Hiruzen about the safety of her child, the Hokage together with his wife, decided to pay the child a visit.

“ It showed up a few days after she was born.” Tsunade answered. She caught the startled look that passed Biwako’s face from across the chubadai as the older woman looked at her husband.

“What?” Tsunade asked, looking at the two. She knew immediately that something was going on and if it had anything to do with her daughter then needed to know. She had to.

“ Could it be possible?” Biwako’s eyes remained fixated on the Hokage.

“It makes a lot of sense.” Hiruzen recalled how Tsunade came into his office a few months after Akira’s birth. He had never seen him so frantic as she told him ever growing abilities of Akira. She said it was just a couple of flowers in the beginning and how she thought they were just reacting to her chakra but then the incident with the daisies happened and she was so sure that there was something wrong with her. Most children do not show their affiliated chakra natures until well into their childhoods when they’ve mastered their chakra control. He did his best to calm the new mother that day and assured her that it was probably because of Akira’s genetics and heritage but it never truly left his mind. Yes, it was possible that it was because she was the great-grand daughter of the First Hokage and the daughter of the two of the most skilled shinobis that the Leaf Village had come across but he always suspected that there was more behind what was seen. Biwako’s suspicions was entirely plausible given the facts.

“Shut the doors.” He instructed in a manner he was the only one who was allowed to do so.

“Have you ever heard of The Okami?” Biwako asked as soon as the doors were closed shut and they were completely alone.

“The Wolf Spirit? Yeah, from the folktales and myths.” Jiraiya’s voice had a hint of apprehensiveness, he had a feeling that he won’t like what they were about to imply. He looked at the innocent child in his arms. It’s impossible.

“Not exactly.” And so, Biwako told the tale of the Okami to the two Sannin. She told how the wolf, believed to be once a human, protected the people in the shadows. It was known for its benevolence and truthfulness and was well-respected and honored during it’s time. And when it’s time came, the Okami vowed to its descendants that when the humankind is in dire need of protection, it will once again return to the world. Up until now, it is believed that the descendants of the Okami still remains in the heart of the Kiyoiyuki Mountains.

Biwako told them that there only has been two other people recorded in recent history to be believed as the reincarnation of the wolf. The latest was during the beginning of the Warring States Period nearly two centuries ago. They all had the same mark Akira now possessed.

“You’re saying she’s a reincarnation of this wolf-spirit that hasn’t been seen in decades?”

It was the Lord Third who answered the clearly terrified mother. “We can’t be sure for now, Tsuna. We’ll have to wait until she’s older but it would explain why she developed such abilities this early. She isn’t like the other children.”

Tsunade felt like she was going to puke. Not only were her dreams of Akira living as a simple civillian were shattered but her fate to die for the village seemed inevitable.

“So she’s like a jinchūriki?” Jiraiya’s question sounded more like a statement.

“Similar, but no. Jinchūrikis have a spirit of a tailed beast living inside of them, like a seperate being. She doesn’t have that because she the Okami is inside her very core. They are one.” Biwako explained.

In the end, the four of them decided that Akira’s true nature would remain as a secret. There will be no papers linking to her true nature, only that she is a prodigy if her own right which can be easily explained by her origins. This was necessary to ensure that she would remain safe until she was ready to defend herself from those who would want to use her for their own gain.

In the following years, she would be trained rigorously to prepare her for her role as a protector of Konohagakure. A number of both current and non-Jonin-senseis were handpicked by the Hokage together with her mother and godfather were chosen to be her teachers and senseis in the upcoming years.

Tsunade was against the idea at first. She wanted to give her daughter a normal childhood like everyone else but knowing that training her is the only way to protect her, she agreed to the plan with a heavy heart.

It wasn’t easy to raise Akira on her own especially with her still not being able to really move on with Dan’s death knowing that they should be raising Akira together and her depression that was constantly making her day even harder but she did her best, the best she could manage. She thought her medical ninjutsu for the next nine years and just as she expected, she was a natural at it. That made Tsunade smile.

Much to their relief, Akira had a somewhat normal childhood, at least for the first nine years. She trained with her sensei’s on the weekends, attended the academy (sometimes) on weekdays and played with the other kids during the afternoon. Her skills were already advanced for her rank as an academy student when she was five. It was already comparable with a newly promoted chūnin and sometimes she would even spar with kids in the higher ranks.

She wasn’t always compliant though. She would skip sessions with her senseis from time to time and would play with the other kid instead, her taijutsu needed some work and her kenjutsu could still be improved. The adults took that as a good sign. They didn’t want to take her personality away and turn her into some sort of killing machine just because her destiny demanded her to.

It was during her training with Inoichi Yamanaka, a former student of her father, Dan Katō, when her nature as the reincarnation of The Okami was once and for all, confirmed. Her eyes had turned a into a bright shade of yellow, her pupils constricted to a tiny speck in the sea of yellow and her chakra that was usually associated with the color blue, became white as a snow. It was neutral. And deadly. Akira fainted after the incident and Inoichi decided to volunteer as her future master.

She was nine when her mother left. Tsunade had taught her everything she could in terms of medical ninjutsu. The top medical-nins will supervise Akira’s training from then on.

It was just supposed to be a few months of sabbatical. She just wanted some time alone to deal with her grief and depression. She wanted to be better mother for her daughter. Tsunade even asked Akira if she wanted to come travel with her and she actually hope that she would agree. She hoped that she could just whisk Akira away from her responsibilities from this damned shinobi world, she would have done so of she said yes. But like any other nine year old kid, she didn’t want to leave the place she had called home or fall behind her friends. Akira refused and instead asked her mother to bring her a gift from every town she would come and visit until her return.

And Akira didn’t realize her childhood would soon come to an end soon after her mother crossed the front gates of Konohagakure and onto the world outside.

Next up: Lots of Kakashi and Akira history.

Ask or Reblog for a tag!

[hopeatersponsorssmash]

ARC 2: Chapter 3

Byleth and Robin give a class on dimensions and their workings.

Previous-Next

Wordcount: 1066 words

Ao3

Akira stayed close to the bookcase as he entered the classroom, doing his best to avoid being the center of attention for once. “Joker.” He winced, stopping dead in his tracks. Mission: failed. “You’re late again.”

He hesitantly turned toward Byleth, who was looking at him with his usual dead eyes. “Sorry, Byleth-sensei?” He offered as he sat down at the back of the room. The classroom was less of a classroom, and more of a corner of the Mansion’s library that had been converted for makeshift classes. The younger fighters usually came there to keep up on their lessons- or learn new things- with either Robin or Byleth acting as teachers.

“It’s alright, Byleth. Let it go.” Robin told him, before turning their head toward Akira. “Are you there for the class on inter-dimensions relationships, or do you just need a spot to study?” They then asked, a pleasant smile on their face.

“... I originally came here to study for my entrance exam for college, but now I’m really interested in whatever you guys are talking about.” Akira admitted, putting his bag to the side as he leaned back on his chair.

“You’ve got experience with parallel dimensions, right?” Robin asked, smiling when Akira nodded. They turned toward Byleth. “His input could be useful for the class.”

The professor sighed. “Alright. So, as I was saying before Joker decided to barge in-”

“We’re not fighting right now. Just Akira will do.”

“-the world we’re currently in sits at the Nexus, or center, of multiple dimensions.” Byleth explained, pointing toward the blackboard that had multiple circles with lines connecting them drawn on it. “Master Hand was able to collect most of us through this Nexus. Some of our worlds are more connected than others, to the point that they could be considered to be from the same dimension. For example, someone from the Lylat system could, in theory, reach planet Popstar.”

“We’re saying in theory, because Popstar is located in a very dangerous galaxy that tends to kill anyone that’s not from it.” Robin added. “Can any of you think of an example of worlds close to one another? Bowser Jr?”

The young Koopa put his hand down. “I’ve met mister Eggman at the Olympics before! That means my world is close to his, right?”

“Yes! That’s an excellent example!” Robin exclaimed, Bowser Jr beaming at the flattery. “In this case, it’s because the ‘wall’ that separates the Mushroom Kingdom’s world from Mobius is very thin.”

“This said, the world of Smash does not sit at the Nexus of the multiverse. Merely a cluster of worlds that Master Hand has access to.” Byleth started as he took a chalk to start drawing more circles, those ones more spaced out. “That cluster resides inside a bigger chunk of the multiverse, which is, in itself, big to a level that none of us can hope to comprehend, which probably explains why Crazy Hand doesn’t seem to be all quite there. That chunk itself is mostly self-contained, with some intersections here and there. Sora’s world, for example, is a gateway to another cluster in another chunk.” His eyes gained a spark of fear. “A cluster that, according to Crazy Hand, usually devours everything it touches.”

“It’s not that bad.” Sora tried to reassure, which didn’t seem to reassure the professor. “I’m… actually a bit curious about what Galeem and Dharkon’s roles are in this? Where are they from?”

“If we knew, we’d tell you.” Robin told Sora, who slumped down in his seat. “All we know is that they’re primordial manifestations of light and darkness, and that they’ve been around for a long time.”

“What about worlds that, like, overlap with others?” Akira asked. “Because according to the sous-chef and the night guard, mine’s got three of those if we count Mementos.”

“Those are World Layers, not separate entities.” Byleth told him. “They’re part of your world. It’s just that most people can’t perceive them in an effective manner.” A tiny hand rose. “Yes, Ness?”

“Are world layers like how we can only perceive three dimensions?” Ness asked, putting his hand back down.

Byleth blinked. “Well- we can actually perceive four dimensions in total- time is one of them- but yes. More or less. It’s much more complicated and I’m still trying to figure that one out, but- yes, Pit?”

“Can Mr Game&Watch perceive the third dimension!?” Pit exclaimed, slamming his hands on the table. “I mean, he’s 2-D, right? And so is his homeworld! What if he can’t perceive depth!?”

“... Alright, Pit? Let me stop you right there.” Byleth started. “Game&Watch can perceive depth. It’s just that he’s two dimensional instead of three dimensional like us.”

“He’s like a paper doll in a dollhouse.” Robin offered as a comparison.

“A what? Dolls aren’t made of paper.” Dark Pit scoffed. “If they were, they’d just get ripped apart.”

“... Alright then…” Byleth muttered under his breath, visibly looking around to find a solution. He found it in the way of a newcomer passing by the entrance of the classroom. “Excuse me, sir? I’m trying to explain how a two-dimensional being can navigate in a three-dimensional space, and your assistance would be greatly appreciated. Would you mind if…?”

Paper Mario nodded in agreement, walking into the class to stand next to the two teachers. Robin smiled. “Thank you, Mr. Paper Mario. So, as you can all see, Paper Mario is two-dimensional. Well, he’s actually three dimensional like us, but he has the depth of paper, so he might as well be. But he still moves around in the Mansion like us without any problems.” A pause. “Do you have problems navigating the Mansion?”

Paper Mario shook his head, signing something. “He’s saying that he’s got no problem, and that his home world is already three-dimensional.” Akira translated.

“Thank you, Akira.” Byleth started before turning toward the rest of the class. “So, as you can all see, Paper Mario can exist in a three-dimensional space, despite being two-dimensional himself. Thank you, sir.” Paper Mario nodded, before signing something. “Akira?”

“He’s saying that it was no problem, and asking if he can go now because he has a match in a few minutes.”

“Oh! Who is your opponent?” Robin asked. A pause as Akira deciphered the signs, before he snorted. “Well?”

“It’s Mr. Game&Watch.” The class promptly lost its mind.

[kawaiichan67]

WIP Bonded Since Birth

So, I wrote this about a year ago because, well, COVID. It’s ridiculously fluffy. Like rot your teeth cute.  context: modern AU. The Takahashi family and the Higurashi family are good friends and the Higurashi family are bringing their first-born over to meet the Inu Youkai.  beware: Fluff and a pretty OOC Sesshomaru 

“She’s here,” Izayoi practically sang as she bustled around the living room, her black hair moving softly and Touga chuckled and walked to the front door. 

“Relax,” he said to his mate, nodding to Sesshomaru as he came down the stairs. “This is an important meeting today, Sesh. I expect you to be very careful with the Higurashi baby.” Sesshomaru nodded seriously. He moved closer to the newly arrived family as they entered his home. Human babies were fragile and this little child had parents who were very important to his parents. He stared for a moment, comparing his father to Higurashi-san, then focused on joining the adults in the living room.

“Oh! She’s so cute, Touga! Akira, Megumi, she’s just too precious!” Izayoi gushed while peeking at the small squirmy bundle that Higurashi Megumi had just slipped out of a baby carrier. Dark black hair topped a small head and tiny fists moved a bit.

Touga slapped Higurashi Akira on the back fondly. “What’s her name, Akira?” 

The proud father beamed at the girl now cradled in Izayoi’s arms. “We named her Kagome. Isn’t she just the prettiest?” Akira finished with a sigh.

Although he was tall for his age, Sesshomaru still moved closer to his step-mother and stood tall to see the baby over her shoulder.“Oh! would you like to hold her, Sesh?” Izayoi asked, slowly shifting the baby in her arms.

“Put your hands out, Sesh,” Megumi said with a soft smile. Sesshomaru was nervous and smelled a similar nervous energy coming from Akira. “It’s ok,” Megumi said, and readjusted his arms as Izayoi handed the baby to him. “Make sure you support her head.”

Love. Purity. Peace. Sesshomaru had felt these waves of emotions only once before, when he had held his half-brother, Inu Yasha. Vaguely, he heard the adults murmuring at him, but he glanced briefly at his father before he sniffed Kagome’s head. He smiled in bliss. Her scent was...amazing. His father smiled at him and wuffed softly. Sesshomaru wuffed back and slowly walked away with Kagome. Her little face scrunched up and her beautiful eyes opened. He was lost. Those deep chocolate eyes stared into his very soul and her little mouth started to move. Behind him, he heard a little voice, “wuzzat?” and he turned to see his little brother, rubbing his golden eyes. His brother’s chubby fist dropped to his side and he started to sniff the air. A silly grin appeared on the toddler’s face and he moved closer to his aniki. 

“Hello, Inu Yasha,” Megumi greeted the toddler as Izayoi walked over to her hanyou son but the toddler ignored her, his golden eyes locked on whatever was in Sesshomaru’s arms.“Yashie, you’re awake. Do you want to meet Higurashi-san’s baby?”

Sesshomaru smirked, but was surprised as Inu Yasha rubbed his chubby fists against his eyes again and his grin grew. Izayoi lead Inu Yasha to the couch and motioned a surprised Sesshomaru over. He stood still as Megumi positioned Inu Yasha’s arms and then asked Sesshomaru to place Kagome into his brother’s arms. Sesshomaru was surprised at how interested Inu Yasha seemed to be in holding the baby. His golden eyes were so focused on the baby, he didn’t even seem to see anyone else or pay any attention to his toys.

Sesshomaru noticed the men move towards his father’s study. ‘Probably business,’ he thought. His father really needed to stop doing that at home. At least that’s what Izayoi kept saying. He agreed. It would be nice to spend more time learning to fight with his father instead of his crazy sensei. Sesshomaru turned sharply and stared at Inu Yasha. What was that?

 "Sesh, we’ll be in the kitchen. Please keep an eye on Yashie and Kagome, ok?” Izayoi asked, as she steered a slightly nervous Megumi into the kitchen. “Don’t worry. Sesshomaru is very responsible and we’ll only be gone for a moment.”

Was Inu Yasha wuffing at the baby? Like she was pack? He knew that Inu Yasha had pretty strong Inu instincts, but this surprised Sesshomaru. He sat carefully next to Inu Yasha on the couch, smiling briefly at the baby. She seemed determined to speak, moving her little mouth, regardless of the fact that she was only 4 months old.

It took Sesshomaru a moment, but he realized that his little brother was making the same motions with his mouth, mimicking the baby and even making tiny vocalizations at her. Sesshomaru smiled. His brother really was too much sometimes, especially when he wasn’t being a total brat! As if the baby could talk to him or even understand him!? 

Kagome squirmed and smiled briefly at Inu Yasha, then seemed to reach for his little face. Inu Yasha laughed at the baby and smelled her head, his face transforming into sheer bliss. Sesshomaru smiled briefly as his little brother turned to him and grinned. “Kawaii!” he announced proudly to Sesshomaru and rubbed his nose against Kagome’s. She blinked in surprise, but then he wuffed at her and she smiled back at him. They really were too cute.  Disgusting. Sort of. Sesshomaru watched as Kagome kept making little baby noises at Inu Yasha and he, in turn, gave her little yips and short barks.

‘It’s so strange,’ Sesshomaru thought, ‘they almost sound like the words for family, pack, child, and mate? That can’t be right,’ he thought. ‘How would Inu Yasha know the word for mate?’ Kagome began squirming more and more, her blankets starting to come loose, so Sesshomaru moved to fix them.  Inu Yasha moved suddenly, jumping off the couch and growling.

“Inu Yasha,” he said, in his most adult voice, “give her back.” Inu Yasha just growled again and Sesshomaru finally noticed his eyes had turned red and he had jagged purple stripes on his face. “Inu Yasha?” he asked, moving slowly towards the toddler.

“Mine,” the toddler growled and clutched Kagome closer. “No, mine,” he said again. Fearing for the baby, Sesshomaru called for his father, who was already walking back towards the living room. Touga and Akira hurried in, sensing the fear and worry swirling around Sesshomaru. Touga barked briefly at Sesshomaru and then turned to Inu Yasha, who sat sweetly on the floor, rocking Kagome and talking to her in a mixture of gibberish and Inu.

Sesshomaru was stunned. Where had his brother’s red eyes and purple stripes gone? The two men looked at the boys as the women moved calmly into the living room, still chatting about the upcoming baby shower.

Akira smiled softly and approached InuYasha, who smiled widely at him and then again at Kagome. Sesshomaru braced himself, knowing there wasn’t much he could do at 7, but he would try nonetheless. To his surprise, Inu Yasha carefully handed Kagome to Akira, his golden eyes twinkling at the baby.

“Care full,” Inu Yasha said to Akira, his little face serious. Akira smiled briefly and reassured him. Inu Yasha reached his hand out to Akira as he placed Kagome in her carrier. “No, weely,” he said again, “Care full wif my K’gome.” 

Akira patted Inu Yasha on the head, ruffling his silky silver hair, as he and Megumi walked out. Sesshomaru grabbed his father quickly. “Chichi-ue, Inu Yasha turned full demon. His youkai came out.” 

Touga shook his head and gave a short chuckle. “I heard him talking to her in Inu, Sesh, but he didn’t turn full demon. I know you two don’t always get along, but this seems silly.” The two moved to the door to finish their goodbyes to the Higurashi family.

Waving so hard he almost fell over, Inu Yasha kept calling, “Bye, K’gome,” until the Higurashi family was safely in their car and driving to their house. 

“Megumi and Akira were so happy!” Izayoi said, and wrapped her arms around Touga as she pulled him away. “I hope you think some more about putting Sesshomaru with Kagome when they’re older! He’s already so good with her.”

Touga just chuckled as they walked back into the living room, looking once over his shoulder at his sons.

“Bye, bye, little mate,” Inu Yasha said softly. In shock, both Sesshomaru and Touga stared at each other and then back at Inu Yasha, who toddled off to go play with his toys. Sesshomaru just raised his eyebrow at his chichi-ue. 

With a rueful grin, Touga shrugged at his son and turned to his lovely mate. “Maybe we shouldn’t set those two up yet. Don’t you think Inu Yasha and Kagome are closer in age?

[yuzusorbet]

Kikuchi-san’s book, partial translations

Akira Kikuchi is the trainer who accompanied Yuzu to many competitions in the past.  Since elementary school days, Yuzu has gone to his clinic in Sendai for therapy sessions after skate practice.  Last year (2019), Kikuchi-san published a book titled 'Strongly, beautifully, 30 Methods to train' (my translation from the Japanese title).   I read a Chinese translation of some parts.  Very interesting to see things from his perspective, and quite touching too, so I decided to translate them to share.  Not ideal to translate from another translation but I don't have the book, and usually Chinese fans' translations are pretty reliable. 

  *paraphrased means I summarised a few lines there.   *more info means I added notes for myself, and it's not from the book.

Chapter 1, part 5.  The muscles that were forged after the earthquake.

He became the World Junior champion, and also started school at Tohoku High School,  and at the age of 15, Yuzuru made his debut in senior level competition.  His 1st competition was Season 2010-11 NHK Trophy in Oct where he landed his 1st quad jump in competition and was in 4th place.   2010 Nov was Cup of Russia in Moscow, where he placed 7th. (more info: Japan nationals in Dec, he placed 4th.  Then 4CC in Feb 2011, he placed 2nd.)

At the end of his first senior season, the Great East Japan Earthquake happened.  (March 2011)

When the earthquake occurred, I was working, seeing 4 patients.  My home and clinic felt the shaking but were not damaged due to being on higher ground.  But very quickly, the electricity, water and gas were cut off.

[paraphrased:  Everyone was worried but preferred to stay on.]   I continued treating the 4 patients.  When they left, I closed the clinic temporarily.

Soon, people whose homes were washed away in the tsunami or destroyed by the quake took refuge in nearby sports halls.  When I heard about this, I brought a simple bed into the sports halls and did massages for the  people there.  That was how I spent each day.

The reason I did this was because I thought of my father that night after the earthquake.  He was a policeman and was very strict with himself.   He was upright and always thinking of the safety of others.  He lived his life for others and he is the man that I most respect.  If father was here, he would definitely go to the evacuation centres to do his best to help......

Giving a massage to people at the centre, I was just doing the only thing I could do.

Yuzuru also went through some hard days.

On the day of the earthquake, he went to his usual training rink 'Ice Rink Sendai' after school.   It was at the rink that he experienced the "shindo 6"  earthquake.  (More info: shindo 7 is the highest.  See this: robintlewis/what-is-the-japanese-seismic-intensity-shindo-scale.   On the Richter scale, this is a magnitude 9 earthquake.)

That child felt the strong shaking and I heard that he rushed out of the building wearing his skate boots.  Next to life itself, the most precious thing is his skates.  Figure skaters always put skate guards on the blades when they leave the ice, they would never let the blades be exposed.  Rushing out without his skate guards, he must have been very scared.

Staying 4 days in the gym of a school which served as an evacuation centre, he seriously thought about whether he should give up figure skating.

It was also figure skating that made him pull himself together.

His home rink was damaged in the quake and he lost his usual training place. His coach during elementary school days, Tsuzuki Shoichiro, inquired about him.  Tsuzuki-sensei is the one who gave Yuzuru his foundation in figure skating.  Before the quake, he was coaching at a rink in Yokohama.

Subsequently, Yuzuru went to Tsuzuki-sensei's rink to train.

About half a year after the quake, around October, Yuzuru who had returned to Sendai came to my clinic.  He told me about what he had been doing.

During that period, he was participating in commercial ice shows and earthquake charity ice shows all over Japan;  I knew about this.  "For the people affected by the disaster, I want to give them some encouragement," I had read his interviews in the newspapers.  In the 5 months after the earthquake, he skated in 60 ice shows throughout the  country.  "I hope that my activities can become strength for the victims"-- to have this thought, he must have pulled himself together.

"When I participated in ice shows, I could do some training if I arrived early at the venue, and the intervals between shows also became my own training time," said Yuzuru, looking straight into my eyes.  (more info: usually there are a few shows at one venue, eg. 3 shows spread over the weekend)

After such an unprecedented earthquake disaster, what had Yuzuru learned, mentally how had he changed, all these I was not sure.  But the moment I touched his leg muscles, I immediately felt his efforts and I almost cried.

Since elementary school, I had been seeing him almost everyday.  Even a small change in his body I would know.

The muscles forged after the earthquake told of days filled with harsh figure skate training, day after day.

Skating in ice shows "for the disaster areas", and practising fervently in between shows.  During the performances, he must have also put in all his efforts so as to "convey something to the people".

Moreover, the muscles developed after the quake were not only those used for jumping, they were also those for bearing the impact of landing.

Landing on the ice after a jump, the impact on the body can be a few hundred times the skater's weight.  To withstand such an impact, the muscles around the knees, the gastrocnemius muscles in the calf and the tibialis anterior muscles must be sufficiently trained.  If these parts are not strengthened, injury will happen easily.

In a short period of half a year, those muscles grew to such an extent.   How much jump practice did he do after the earthquake.  Falling down countless times and getting up again.  How on earth did he train to develop muscles like that.

Yuzuru's leg muscles are different from other athletes that come to my clinic. His muscles were not developed by specialised muscle training but were formed naturally though figure skating practice.  In other words, they are muscles that grew only for figure skating.

Until now, that child still mentions that he "does not know how to ride a bicycle".  In my opinion, I think it is because he does not want to develop muscles except those needed for figure skating.

The muscles used for cycling are the same as those for speed skating.  Speed skaters have cycling in summer training;  bulging leg muscles are necessary for them.For figure skaters, if muscles become big and bulging, the weight can be a hindrance to jumping.  But still, strong muscles are needed to do quad jumps and to bear the impact of landing. [paraphrased]

Yuzuru overcame the earthquake disaster and developed muscles for jumping quads and for bearing the landing impact in a good balance.

Those well-trained leg muscles are the external manifestation of his experience of the Great East Japan Earthquake and his determination to fight as a top skater.

- translated by me from this Chinese translation: weibo

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Chapter 1, part 6. Overcoming pain in the hip joint

The first time I went along with Yuzuru in the team for a competition was in his 2nd year of senior level, the November 2011 Rostelecom Cup (Russia) in the Grand Prix series.  Traveling with a team to an international competition as a trainer, it was the first time for me.  Not only that, it was also my first time watching a figure skating competition up close.  What a disgraceful old man. Almost everyday I listened to Yuzuru talk about all things related to figure skating but I had never watched his competitions live at the venue.

I saw Yuzuru only at my clinic, diagnosing leg problems, applying tape to stabilise ankles, this kind of interactions, the relationship of a therapist and a patient, I felt this was enough.

I had the role of a 'sports trainer' before, but not for professional  athletes. Supporting local high school and junior high students, I was already very content.  I had served as 'team trainer' for the swimming, baseball, and track and field teams of Tohoku High and Junior High Schools where sports is very popular, and went with the athletes for competitions.

Once these children graduated, the relationship between trainer and athlete would end.  Those who wanted to continue their sports career, some would leave Sendai, some would get a professional trainer to guide them.

"Rostelecom Cup is going to start, Sensei, can you go together with me as my trainer?" Yuzuru asked me.  I answered in a relaxed manner, "Oh, alright."​

As an athlete, Yuzuru was steadily rising.

"Whether it's an international competition or the Olympics, let me be your trainer and take me along!"  This was what I said to him jokingly when he was in elementary school grade 4;  I don't know if he still remembers it.  But this kind of joke has really come true now, so I was actually feeling rather emotional.

This was also like a commendation from Yuzuru for the treatment he had received so far.  "Well, it's just doing the physiotherapy in Russia instead of the usual place in my clinic," this was how I thought at that time.

However, at that Rostelecom Cup, at the official practice, Yuzuru injured his hip joint (the joint between hip bone and thigh bone).

The injury was treated by a trainer sent specially by Japan Skate Federation.   I was just Yuzuru's private trainer.

I understood the situation fully when we were back in his hotel room.  The treatment for the injury had ended but the pain was still there.  I was very sure that it was not suitable for him to do more skating.  Even walking would be painful.

"In this situation, it's better to withdraw (from competition), isn't it?"   When he heard this, he said with absolute certainty, "Whatever happens, I will compete in Rostelecom Cup."  Actually for this competition, Yuzuru must win first place in order to qualify for the Grand Prix Final which is for only the top 6 skaters of the GP series.  He wanted to compete, no matter what.

From that moment, I felt for the first time that I have "joined forces with an extraordinary world".  Yuzuru was so focused on the competition, "want to compete", "want to win", these desires were way above any pain.  As a therapist, of course my advice was to withdraw.  But as a trainer, I had to respond to such intense wishes of the athlete.

All I could do was to take care of his hip joint.  I also taped his ankle, and then sent him off to compete.  I knew the pain of the injury was still there.

But, Yuzuru, he did it....... short programme and free skating both were ranked 2nd, but his total score of 241.66 was higher than other strong rivals like Javier Fernandez and Jeremy Abbott, and he achieved his first victory in the GP series.

At that moment, witnessing it with my own eyes, I was crying.  Even though he received treatment, his hip joint injury was quite serious.  Any jump would be very painful, especially when landing, he would feel severe  pain.  In spite of this, for the free skate, he made a mistake only for the quad jump, the other 7 jumps were all successful.

For the first time, I realised it was such a cruel world that Yuzuru was fighting in.​

In the spectator stands were many Japanese ladies and they were looking at me with a surprised expression "why is this old grandpa crying so much??"  But it did not matter anymore, I did not care how others were looking at me, I was crying my heart out.  I was so happy..... really so happy.

That Rostelecom Cup was my first experience as a trainer stepping into the figure skating world.

After this, I did not accompany Yuzuru to any more competitions.  I stayed in my clinic treating patients, and sometimes I would treat Yuzuru who came back from travels.

​After Rostelecom Cup, Yuzuru rose rapidly at an astonishing speed.

For the GP Final, he was 4th, then at 2011-12 World Championships, it was his first time at Worlds and he achieved 3rd place.  At the age of 17 years and 3 months, he broke the record for the youngest World Championship medalist in Japanese figure skating men's history and ascended to the podium.

Then, from April 2012, Yuzuru moved his training base from Sendai to Toronto, Canada.​

Before he had overseas competitions, I saw him almost everyday at my clinic.​ We had been together for the past 10 years.  So I would miss him quite a lot.

But it's for becoming stronger that he went to Canada.  For greater improvement in figure skating, he made the decision to move to Toronto.  He has already "graduated" from my place here.

"Sensei, I'm going off!"​

And just like each overseas trip, Yuzuru set off from Sendai, and started on another journey.

- translated by me from this Chinese translation: weibo

This is the book on Amazon Japan: https://www.amazon.co.jp/

(I will share parts from Chapter 2 soon.)

[perfeggso]

every fortress falls (AKIRA x NCT)

Please enjoy this anime-kpop crossover for the Lights, Camera, Fanfiction event hosted by @supermwritersnet​! I chose to write for Shotaro and one of my favorite fictional universes ever, Akira’s Neo-Tokyo. If you know Akira, my story will run parallel to the canon plot. If not, I hope you give this a try and enjoy anyway and I highly recommend the source material! <3

If you’re interested, here is my AKIRA playlist. 

Setting of Akira: It has been thirty years since the end of WWIII, begun due to the detonation of an unidentified superweapon known only as “Akira” over Tokyo. The incident and subsequent war decimated the city which was rebuilt into Neo-Tokyo, a corrupt and crime-ridden megalopolis centered on an artificial island in Tokyo Bay.

Characters: Shotaro, Sungchan, Yuta, Akira main characters, other NCT members upcoming. 

Genres: cyberpunk, sci-fi, action/adventure 

Warnings: drug use/abuse, gangs, some swearing, eventual graphic violence

Rating: mature but not explicit 

Chapter length: 1.3k

Chapter 1:

The capsule cradled in Shotaro’s palm is red and white and shiny, like the earrings that Noriko would wear and which, when Shotaro asked, he found out were supposed to look like “blood and come,” respectively. The drone of Tanaka-Sensei’s voice from the front of the classroom barely penetrates the cloak of sullen disruption shielding Shotaro’s wooden amphitheater seat in classroom 12 of the Eighth District Vocational Training School. Even though realistically no one is paying attention, Shotaro tries to hold the pill so that his hand is obscured by his row’s shared desk. He doesn’t know why he’s so nervous; Tanaka-Sensei is barely commanding control of the room as he attempts to explain how a carburetor works, the closest kid to Shotaro is reading a girly magazine, and everyone at the school is well aware that you can buy as many of these pills as any broke student could afford from the nurse’s office.

It’s just, Shotaro reasons as the patent-leather-like curves of the capsule glint in the jaundiced combination of natural and fluorescent light, he’s always been a good kid. He doesn’t do things like this – at least that’s what Yuta constantly tells him. He doesn’t buy drugs – no matter how cheap they are – from Kaneda’s girlfriend of all people, and he certainly doesn’t take them. Kaneda, Shotaro has always felt, is inextricably linked to him. For one, Shotaro Kaneda’s family name is the same as Shotaro’s given name (though they use slightly different kanji if anyone ever cared to notice). For another thing, the two boys have known of each other since early childhood, having come up in the same orphanage and school system for boys deemed by the state to be “lacking in future prospects.” (Shotaro doesn’t think this label really applies to him; it’s not his fault he doesn’t really like academics and the one activity he really enjoys – dancing – is far too expensive for him to pursue). For a final, crucial thing, Kaneda is the leader of the Capsules, the rival gang to Yuta’s Clowns. The fact that Kaneda could very literally kill Shotaro’s adoptive brother of sorts any day now understandably precludes him from feeling much of an affinity towards his classmate.

Shotaro has been taunted more times than he can remember for being the “boring” Shotaro. But if skating by under the radar to receive his vocational high school diploma, getting out, and not being sent to Jaws for discipline twice a week is boring to his classmates, Shotaro doesn’t really care.

Well, he didn’t care, until he had gotten to thinking one day last week. It started when he’d found Yuta’s stash of drugs. Yuta tries very hard to keep any evidence of his dependency from his little brother, but he’s not always great at it. Over the years, Shotaro couldn’t help but notice the blissful calm which comes over Yuta when Shotaro has caught him thinking he was taking the stuff in private. Nor could Shotaro help but register the ensuing boost in energy and motivation. It had always made him wonder even if Yuta categorically forbid it and he was good at smothering his curiosity. When Shotaro came to school the next day and mentioned finding Yuta’s pills offhand to Sungchan, the younger boy proved less adept at quashing his hunger for new experiences, and Shotaro had begun to truly let his imagination get the best of him.

“Hey!” The harsh whisper startles Shotaro out of his preoccupation with the look and feel of his capsule, to the extent that he almost blunders and drops it down the five graduated rows of seats below him. But fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, he holds on.

The voice is as familiar as the backseat of Yuta’s motorcycle and coming from the level of seats behind Shotaro, so he turns around. Class has devolved to the point that having a full conversation stage-whisper style is about the least disruptive thing occurring.

Sungchan’s oversized frame and comforting smile loom over Shotaro from above, like a benevolent version of the mechanical surveillance vultures Sungchan had once gushed in horror that the American government was trying to build.

“Did I scare you?” Sungchan asks.

Shotaro fakes a glare at his best friend, but only ends up chuckling.

“How could I be scared by a 185cm walking teddy-bear?”

Sungchan tries to look hurt but giggles right back.

“Did you get the stuff?”

Shotaro nods, angling his hand so Sungchan can see the pill.

“Why were you so late to class?” Shotaro asks, feeling irrational panic nipping at the edges of his mind for the first time all day to suggest that maybe Sungchan was held up because someone caught him with drugs. Shotaro wonders why this thought hadn’t occurred to him earlier, hoping that’s an indication of its ridiculousness.

“I got caught up talking to Sawako in the nurse’s office,” Sungchan explains, and Shotaro relaxes a little. “She was very chatty for some reason and I felt bad. I think she’s lonely. Did you know Kaneda got her pregnant?”

“No, what?” Shotaro makes a face as disapproving as he feels. “That asshole. Of course he wouldn’t use protection. Ugh, anyway. Did you get what you wanted? Everything go smoothly?”

Sungchan pulls a button-size plastic bag from his pocket and displays, not quite covertly enough for Shotaro’s liking but he’ll live, the identical red and white capsule within.

“Perfect.”

“I was thinking,” Sungchan continues, “Sawako said she thinks there’ll be a battle between the Capsules and the Clowns tonight. Should we try to catch some of it?”

Shotaro leans his elbows onto the desk in front of his friend and smiles, indulgent.

“While we’re high for the first time? Sounds like a shitty idea.” Sungchan pouts like Shotaro knew he would, so he adds a “we can feel it out in the moment, though,” because he is a weak man when it comes to Sungchan’s wants and needs. They are both that way towards each other, even when it gets them into trouble. But as Yuta always says, “memorable trouble is worth it”; i.e., if it makes a good story in the future, might as well go for it.

“Yuta would kill me if he found out though,” Shotaro wagers, “and I mean that literally.”

The last class of the day ends as he’s speaking and he and Sungchan make plans for meeting in the evening as they filter out of the musty, chipping paint, brutalist structure which is supposed to pass for a place of learning.

Shotaro finds Yuta where he always does after school: unsheathing his motorcycle in the back parking lot.

Yuta’s bike is a souped-up Honda painted to look like a 1940s bomber. Yuta wears a black leather biking suit he probably slipped on in the men’s room before heading out and pulls a helmet decorated with clown makeup over his black mullet as he greets his little brother, following the exchange by offering a similar helmet to Shotaro.

They hop on and head out onto the streets of Neo-Tokyo. Skyscrapers tower grey in the daytime light what feels like miles above the litter-strewn street and block out the sun. They’re so massive they could probably each hold an entire city’s worth of people, Shotaro reckons, and they move sluggishly in opposition to the trajectory of the bike, like cargo ships trudging against water.

“Good day?” Yuta asks when they stop at an intersection next to Flower Alley Mall.

“Yeah,” Shotaro assures. “Sungchan heard something about a battle tonight? What’s up with that?”

“I don’t want to get into it, but he’s right,” Yuta admits. “But don’t try to tag along or I’ll murder you.”

With that, the light turns and Shotaro grabs hold of Yuta, mumbling “I know” fondly into his shoulder. They zip away like that the rest of the way to their apartment, the capsule burning nuclear in Shotaro’s pocket as he’s left to ponder his next move.