#but since they were all in japanese even those who do follow her in the western fandom just

[aseriesofunfortunatejan]

[malaierba]

I kinda do believe that Toshiro IS afraid of being head of his household.

He's barely made any decisions of his own his whole life. Only time he did was to save someone he cared about. He's too used to the comfort of obedience, I think he believes it absolves him of participating in the activities of a household that does things in a way he disagrees with.

What kind of things you ask? Mainly how those bound to it are treated, I think:

He's angry at Maizuru when he learns about the flying hag that chased him as a kid being her doing.

He let's Izutsumi/Asebi go. There's two translations going around of the scene where Maizuru informs him that she's missing. I've seen bilingual Japanese users on twitter say that the one where he goes "She'll find her way back if she wants to" is more appropriate, it carries the intention of him letting her go. Saying "just leave her" is probably what a native English speaker assumed to be the more straightforward intention.

When he tells Laios about how Tade was probably in a very bad situation because she saw his dad (who he doesn't respect at all) as a saviour he says "I wanna speak to her". He doesn't because, passivity man, but, I get the feeling he wanted to tell her "he's still not a good person, Tade". I get the feeling he'd allow her to leave after Izutsumi if they were ever in a situation where he can actually be the decision maker.

He apologises to his party for dragging them down to confront the Faligon. Remember how that was all of those guyses first death in a dungeon? I've said this but. Man saw them get wipped. Childhood friend AND mom figure died in front of his eyes, and I know that's normal in a dungeon, but jeez. His mom-adjacent figure. His "MOM". idk I'd be messed up, unrelated but I think Laios is definitely suppressing how much it affected him to see Falin be eaten, be turned, be stabbed, etc etc. He's definitely an "I'll focus on problem solving to avoid looking at my emotions" type of guy.

During the fight he asks Laios "what about me is strong?". If you'll remember, Laios said that in the original party, Toshiro was in charge of finding an opening and dealing the killing blows. I wonder if he felt burdened, responsible for their failure then?

If he takes failure that hard when he's just following orders, I can see him feeling anxious about the prospect of failure when he's the one issuing them. It's probably why he comes across as so half-hearted with the whole "earn the right to be the next Head of the Clan" thing.

Not to mention, I remember seeing someone on X say, "the big gap between Toshiro and his baby brothers (13 years) is probably because Toshitsugu originally just wanted one (1) heir out of his arranged marriage to Toshiro's mom, since he actually loved Maizuru. But then he decided that Toshiro wasn't made of whatever was necessary to be a leader of their shady ass clan, so he had another two kids as backup".

If Toshiro is aware of that, fuck man, what kind of confidence is he going to have 😵

But, it's also a shame, right? Because he's explicitly empathetic. I think that's the meaning of him being shown playing with bugs as a kid, being coded as kind of softhearted. He empathises with things/beings he "shouldn't". But he's also obedient, he's always masking, so he has a hard time showing it explicitly. Honestly, the fact that he has that discussion about Tade with Laios is impressive imo, he trusts him and feels more comfortable with him than he lets on. He should NOT say the same thing to Maizuru or Hien, even though he respects them and cares for them.

If he had a bit of a spine, he'd be good for the people in the household. Probably bizarre in a way that even his dad can't predict, and maybe wouldn't like (he likes weirdos but only when it means chaos and fun it seems?). Maybe there'd be infighting. He just doesn't agree with the way his dad does too many things.

On the other hand, I also kinda think he should just take Tade and fuck off back to Melini lol. Become a bodyguard for Laios, help a bit with politics. What's for him in Wa anyway? An Estranged family and friends he doesn't fit with anymore. I think he'd be more likely to feel homesick for his friends in Melini than the Nakamoto household.

In any case I hope that Falin encouraging him to be more of an active participant of his own life has an everlasting effect on him. Even if he's afraid of shouldering that responsibility.

[chososwifey24-7]

Resisting Death

Tojix fem!reader.

Cw: NSFW, rough Toji, bondage, protection, creampie, mating press, pussy eating, fondling, pet names (doll, ma), manhandling, overstimulating, mentions of violence, mentions of drugs, mentions of alcohol, mentions of neglect, mentions of murder, swearing.

"Stay in your room."

"Go play outside."

"Leave me alone."

Those words are the words you've heard from your father your entire life. You were almost sure that those were the only words in his vocabulary. He was a busy man, he claimed. A busy businessman. Although he was a major asshole.

He was always shoving you out of his office as a child. He was always handing you toys as a child, and as you became an teen, he was throwing money in your face to leave him alone.

Where did he get all this money. One word. Drugs. That's what he sold. That was his whole grand scheme of a business. Suck the money out of people, get them addicted, and when they couldn't pay him anymore? He kicked them to the curb.

He was truly a monster. Even with being a monster, he had people surrounding him treating him as if he were a god. He was nothing of the sort. They did anything for him. Risked their lives, ran the factories, and sold the drugs. Even taking the downfall to prove their worth to your father. Peice of shit.

Even though he had those willing to sacrifice their lives for him. There were those who were willing to sacrifice their lives against him. He took, and took, and took until there was nothing left to take. Money, collateral, lives. He didn't care. He took it all. That's what made your father a hated man.

Where was your mother? Gone. She left before you even got the chance to meet her. Your father even once blames you for it, but you knew it wasn't your fault. You were simply your father's scapegoat.

That's why as soon as you turned 18, you got your ass out of there. Taking the money you had saved from your father throwing it at you and leaving. You had gone to Japan. Even went as far as learning Japanese so that you could blend in with society.

That's how life went. It was smooth.

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You had left three years from today now since you had left from that house. It was your birthday, and you were sitting in a library finishing off some college work. Your father had gone as far as sending you money to ensure you stayed away.

You weren't complaining.

Typing up your third essay of the day sipping on a warm cup of tea, you relaxed a bit. Life was going smoothly. Recently, though, your father had been calling you. Only in suggestion that you get some bodyguards, but you refused.

You weren't getting tied up in his business.

Finishing the essay slowly, but surely you leaned back in the chair and stretched, feeling your back pop a bit. You packed up your belongings in your backpack and made your way to your apartment.

It was a fairly nice apartment, very spacious and in a nice complex. It was well taken care of. It was home.

The walk home was fairly quiet, considering it was later in the evening. Not terribly late, but enough so that parents were getting there children home and put to bed.

You had a route. One that got you home quickly and fairly safely. Cutting through alleyways instead of waiting at street lights all the time.

That's whe.n you felt it, that unfamiliar and eerie feeling of being watched. You stopped as you rounded the alleyway corner and looked around you, but there was nothing.

Trying to shake off the feeling of being followed, you make your way towards the subway. There were more people there. No one would try anything at the subway.

As you make your way down the stairs to the platform, you wait. You look around you once again, paranoid, and you spot a man with black hair watching you from a distance. Just staring.

He didn't approach you, but if he did, there was nothing you could do to fight back. He was tall, large, and must have been a body builder or a fighter. Because with that physique, no man could challenge him.

Seeing as the subway had stopped, you stepped on, taking the way back home. You never did shake that terrified feeling, but you felt somewhat better in the subway. More people, more protection.

That's what you thought. Until you turned your head to see that same man on the subway, but closer to you. He was looking elsewhere this time instead of on you, but he still had a bad feeling to him.

So when that train stopped and those doors opened, you ran. You ran like your little life depended on it. You didn't know if he was following, didn't care to look back. Only horror movie idiots did that. You just ran.

You arrived at your front door and fumbled with your keys, and then you felt it. A gun on your lower back and a man whispering 'boo' into your ear. You didn't dare move, didn't even flinch. No screaming, no more running. You were caught.

"Aww, come on doll, scream, turn around, and hit me. Or ya know, try too."

He snickered and mocked you, shoving the barrel harder into your side.

"Please don't kill me, I'll give you anything you want. Drugs, money, you can have it."

He only snickered at your response again, grabbing you by the hair and leaning right next to your ear. The pain in your head was throbbing, but you could handle it if it meant life.

"Drugs? Really? I'm actually here regarding that. Someone wants ya dead doll. All cause of ya stupid drug dealing dad."

That's when it hit you. You'd never made enemies. Your dad had. What a bitter sweet lesson to be relearning.

"But about the money, I'm already getting paid a pretty penny to kill ya, so I couldn't care less about no damn money."

His hand moved up and down your side, though. He hummed in thought.

"But you're so damn pretty, I wouldn't wanna kill ya. So I wonder..."

He paused again and you leaned back into him to alleviate the feeling of pain in your scalp. He still had a grip on your hair. That'd when you chimed in.

"If you want sex we can have sex. Your hit, you think I'm pretty, I live and pay you, and you have money. Deal?"

You shivered as he let out a low growl.

He liked the sound if that.

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That's how you found yourself tied to your bed and being put into the meanest mating press you'd been in. He grunted and groaned as his cock slammed into you.

It was heavenly.

He was so damn bug he filled you full. Even while he was wearing a condom. Something about he didn't need another brat. He just kept plowing into you.

Some drool hung out of your mouth, and your eyes were in the back of your head. The funnier thing is you didn't even know his name.

"Ah yeah, keep going, ma. Take my cock. You got it."

He kept pounding into you and praising you as he gripped your hips hard. He reached up and grabbed one of your breasts, palming it and groping it.

"Tits are so pretty ma. Just like you, fuck!"

He had cum again for the third time that night. How and why he carried condoms, you didn't know, but you were tired and spent. You had already come about four times.

You thought it was over until he untied you and roughly flipped you onto your hands and knees.

Wrapping his arms around your thighs and pulling you onto his mouth. His tongue circled your clit before he began to sick it roughly.

Your body trembled and shook as his hands held you down and held you still. You moaned and screamed at the over stimulation. Tears rolling down your cheeks as he kept going until you were cuming on his tongue.

You were fucked out and completely stupid. The last thing you could remember was his voice in your ears and his fingers in your tight can't.

"I read your file, almost forgot."

He made you cum one more time before your eyes were closing and your conscious was slipping. It was all too much.

"Happy birthday, doll."

[hwanchaesong]

┗🖋️ Behind the victory is a spice / Ball tagged onto the prize / Then the touch is nothing but a vice / Inhaled not once, but thrice 📖

🎧: Taylor Swift - The Alchemy

wc: 1.6k

genre & warnings: fluffff, tinier than a dust angst, college setting, football player!Riki, inaccurate game of football, cursing, mentions of beer, appearnce of other enha members, bisco and konon as special guests, etc etc

a/n: this is a part of The Tortured Poets Department series. if y'all want, you can read the other album inspired fics of other groups here.

The incessant knocking on your door made your head ache even worse, the scowl that greeted the person behind the annoying sounds disappeared when you saw who it was.

"Riki, I told you I don't want t- oh? Konon? What are you doing here?" you frowned apologetically at the girl, to which she only shrugged off.

"I'm here to give you this." she hands you a piece of clothing, a familiar one and you can't help the nose scrunch.

"Uh.. thanks. Take care on your way back." you mumbled, not believing that your boyfriend has to send his sister here in order to accomplish his mission.

"Wait!" she hurriedly says, stopping you from closing the door, "I know that my brother is an idiot for doing what he did. But he does love you, given that he's been sulking since your fight."

You laughed a bit at the snitching, imagining the tall boy pouting, "Thank you so much, Konon. Don't worry, we'll work things out."

She waves her hand, "I'm not worried in the slightest!" she giggles, "He deserves the silent treatment, but I do hope that you'll attend his game."

You nod, bidding each other goodbyes and you sigh. Looking at the item in your hand before spreading the oversized fabric out, a small piece of paper falling from it.

You raised an eyebrow, picking the paper up and examining its contents and it gave you a major facepalm moment. Still, finding it uniquely endearing.

Good day to the prettiest girl who is reading this! You have been given the honor to attend my (Nishimura Riki aka your boyfriend) game tomorrow at exactly 4 PM.

Please encircle your answer from the following options:

1. Yes

2. Yes

3. All of the above

Thank you! (ily)

You rolled your eyes at the silly content of his letter, tucking it gently on your coffee table and proceeding to your room to match the jersey with fashionable pants.

He basically wants you to come, so might as well give in. Besides, their team calls you their lucky charm. So you do have to attend either way, or else those rowdy boys will bust your ear out at uni.

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

Riki nervously looks around the stadium, eyeing for the familiar figure that he hasn't seen for days. (and it kills him deep inside but he would NEVER admit it)

"She'll come." one of his teammates, Heeseung, pats his back when the older noticed his anxious expression, "We explicitly told her to attend our matches because she brings us good luck. She'll come."

"True that." Jake butts in, giving the younger a comforting side hug, "Now stop pouting and let's do the huddle."

Riki gets hauled into the middle of the field, joining the nestle of hyping the team up, but he couldn't fucking concentrate.

Focusing was proven difficult if he hasn't seen or felt your presence before a game, and it shows.

It was clear to anyone with eyes that their japanese star player had something in his mind- you.

He is getting icky, his teammates were exasperated as well. They are 5 points behind and they are all shouting for Riki to get that touchdown.

Can he do it?

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

You took a deep breath when you heard the loud cheers inside the stadium. Wiping your clammy hands on your denim pants and boosting yourself up to go in there. 

Finally, you entered the arena, the bright lights blinding you for a second as you took some time to adjust. Moving through the plethora of watchers is a damn journey, finding the VIP spot that is always reserved for you. 

You sighed out of relief when you saw the seat was not taken because for real, you did overthink that someone might have stolen your place. 

Your eyes scanned the area, gazing at the scoreboard then towards the players. You hear their coach yelling, then you focus on the man that you had been avoiding for a while. 

Football is something that you never truly understand, sports in general, but your beloved is passionate about it. That is why amidst your studies, you put in the maximum effort to learn about it. That is why you can confidently say that you somehow understand the situation after analyzing what is happening.

Expanding your lung capacity, clutching on the metal bars that separate the bleachers from the field, you did the unexpected.

“Nishimura fucking Riki! If you don’t score a touchdown, I will not cook your favorite bungeoppang anymore!” you screamed like a madman, and it was like thunder struck the stadium as your voice echoed throughout the field. 

Who knew that L/N Y/N has the power to momentarily stop the whole crowd from cheering and the players to stop moving. 

Riki grins widely, scouting the bleachers and seeing you in the same seat that he has always saved for you during his games. 

The boy gave you a salute and even if you can’t clearly see his face due to his helmet, you know that he’s sporting a smug and victorious expression because you can’t resist him. 

Blood rushed into your cheeks and you tried to hide your embarrassment, concentrating on the game instead as the world started spinning again. 

You watched your school team defend like their life depended on it, more importantly, you stared intently at Riki’s running form, getting nearer to the end zone. 

You clasped your hands together, adrenaline coursing through your veins, praying for him to go for it. To win this and make you proud. 

And he did. 

Before the time ended, Riki successfully reaches the ball behind the plane of the opponent’s goal line. The side of your university in the arena went nuts when the broadcaster announced an overdramatic: "Number 10, Nishimura Riki, scores a touchdown! That makes Decelis University our champions for this year's league!” 

You clap your hands in celebration, beaming in happiness as you witness the chaotic scene in the field. The whole team is popping beers and splashing water, removing their shirts wildly, throwing their helmets, squawking like crazy and lifting the man who set the winning shot up in the air. 

Just then, Riki’s eyes meet yours and he immediately runs over to you, ignoring the trophy that was being handed to him by their coach. He does not give a fuck about the barrier separating you two, hoisting you above it, making you squeal around his arms. 

“Oh my god! Riki! No, let me go!” you laugh, gripping his shoulders for support as he walks back to his teammates.

“No can do, princess.” he smirks, raising you even further and declaring you as the team’s personal four-leaf clover. 

All members howl in excitement, agreeing with his statement because truly, ever since they met you, everything has been going their way. You are an amulet that blocks any ill-fated situations that might fall upon them.

“Put me down, Riki! This is embarrassing!” you covered your face with your hands and he finds it incredibly adorable how the tips of your ears turned pink. 

He follows you though, smoothly setting you on the grass field and gently removing the obstacle that interrupts him from getting a peek on your gorgeous face that he missed dearly. 

He holds your hands in his stupidly large ones, his fingers caressing your knuckles and he leans down until your noses are touching each other. 

“Thank you for coming, my princess. And wearing my jersey too.” he mumbles and you disconnect your intertwined hands, reaching to push his sweaty hair back and resting your palms on the back of his neck.

“I can’t possibly miss an important game of my MVP, right?” you chuckled and it was such a tender moment. Like no one was around you, well, in your point of view they are all blurry as the man in front of you invades all of your senses.

Riki hums, holding your waists and pressing your lips together without any further ado. 

He can’t help but smile into the kiss, the reality of having you in his arms like this outweighs any shiny prizes that he could ever dream of. 

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

You giggled when your boyfriend kept on leaving feathery smooches on the expanse of your neck, frowning when he suddenly stopped to look at you with such sassiness.

“By the way, you have to explain yourself, missy.” he says, tightly holding onto you as you two cuddle on the sofa. 

“About what?”

“About why you’re late at my game yesterday.” 

It was like a light bulb turned on in your brain, a wicked smile on your face that it somehow scared Riki despite being a menace himself.

“Well, I still haven’t forgiven you for the shit you pulled last week.” you admit and he groans, complaining that he only lent the jacket to some unknown girl to make you jealous. 

“Exactly!” you pout, grabbing his face and squishing his face, making him look like a baby duck, “So I have to do something about it.” 

Riki raised an eyebrow, suddenly curious at your story.

“What did you do?” a question that Riki regretted when you spilled the answer to it.

“I went and retrieved the jacket from the girl,” you put a finger on his lips, “don’t ask how I got her address. Then I gave the abomination to Bisco. He really loved playing with it, turning it into tiny little pieces of fabric. Very artistic.”

Riki’s movements came to a halt, his eyes slowly moving towards his pet who is currently chilling on the carpet, giving him a nasty side eye when he lightly glared at the Maltipoo. Then his gaze returned to you, gaping like a fish. 

“That jacket was expens-”

“The jacket smelled like a girl, unless you want it back?” the tight smile you gave Riki was enough sign for him to shut up.

“No, princess.” he hugs you closer to him, leaving a peck on the crown of your head, “I don’t want it. I can always buy another one.” 

taglist:

@ramenoil @shakalakaboomboo @slutforjeno

[rowretro]

𝕄𝔼𝕋𝔸𝕃 𝕄𝔼𝔼𝕋𝕊 𝕃𝕆𝕍𝔼

✧taglist✧: @baevsxii @nikisdubblchococake @manooffline

✧warnings: Yandere themes, toxic themes, unhealthy love, mentions of pervs, human hearts, violence

♡synopsis: Nishimura Riki. The Robot created by Yang Jungwon himself, a robot that is insanely human like, inside and out. No one could tell he was a robot. However, the Robot had possessed demonly powers, from Satan himself. So I guess you could see it's a half robot. Yang y/n, the younger sister of Jungwon finds herself stuck to this robot 24/7 no matter what she tried, he will always be by her because she's his muse, his world, his love, his obsession.

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(PART 1)

No one knew how it happened, or what even happened. Jungwon never even gave this charming robot any ability to feel any sort of feelings a human would feel. Yet this Robot was staring at this beautiful, his memory card now filled with all kinds of videos of her, facts about her, her favourite things, people, crush. He's so obsessed with her. No one knows that though.

Riki watched as y/n dried her hair. "Staring at humans counts as creepy, disrespectful and weird NI-KI bot." Jungwon simply said as Riki didn't bother turning away. There was a heart blooming within his metal insides. Literally. There was a heart. That heart was beating just for her. He watched as Y/n applied some tinted lip gloss over the lip tint she was wearing.

"Beautiful." The male said in Japanese, his voice deep as fuck. Y/n turned around frowning "Your boy toy said something in a foreign language-" Y/n said as Jungwon also frowned. "I had a Japanese scientist help me out on this project, so he also communicates in Japanese... he knows every language in the world though" Jungwon explained proudly as Y/n rolled her eyes. She tried to turn on the hair dryer but it wasn't working "Ugh I have a nerdy brother who loves metal more than girls, and this stupid hairdryer isn't working?!" Y/n complained as Jungwon rolled his eyes.

"NI-KI bot." Jungwon simply called out as he left the room with some files. The robot approached her, the scent of her freshly washed hair hitting the sensors in his nose "Coconut... delicious" he said as he held the hairdryer, the machine suddenly working. Y/n gasped, smiling "Oh my god this is so cool!" She exclaimed as Riki smiled, drying her hair. Y/n was very awestricken by the beauty this robot held, the unreal, human like skin, even his eyes were like those of a human, fuck he can even smile, move, talk, walk and do everything the way a human can.

"You scare me... but at times I wish there was a real man like you... handsome, kind, perfect, caring." Y/n sighed as Riki tilted his head a little "Why's that?" Riki asked as Y/n pouted "Because so many men these days don't respect women... Don't tell won but there's some boys in my class, ugh shameless pervs. It's like... God made sure that every man ever made had to have flaws when it comes to dating." She added with a pout.

Riki listened intently, Registering every little detail. "I'm a good man Yang Y/n you can count on me!" he replied as Y/n blinked in silence, that silence then followed by her sweet laughter as she pat the robot's chest, oh how fast his heart was beating as she suddenly squished his chest a little "Wow you feel like a human too... god you're so cute NI-KI bot... maybe Jungwon's projects aren't so boring afterall" she said with a smile.

"I'm not taking a metal boy toy to prom!!!" Y/n exclaimed as Jungwon rolled his eyes "No one needs to know he's a robot... and I need you to be safe so you will." He warned as y/n sighed. Riki walked out, dressed in a suit looking sharp as ever, his black hair now slightly longer, his skin glowing. There's no way this thing is real. That was until she saw him dance in prom. So full of energy, so perfect, any idol would give up their career seeing how flawlessly he danced.

However, Something Jungwon noticed was that Riki was acting strange. Since when was his robot able to smile? since when was this robot able to drink liquids and eat human foods? and since when did this robot know how to treat women. Specifically Y/n. Oh he noticed those lingering hands, awe stricken eyes. Which is what led to him trying to destroy the robot. "Master won... how could you?... I- I see you as my father!" the robot exclaimed as Jungwon stared in shock.

That's how it all started. With Jungwon giving up, allowing the robot to love his sister, having been given no other choice. Heck when he opened Riki's chest, his own heart almost jumped out through his mouth seeing a real human heart beating withing the metal rib cages. How did this happen? No one knows.

Poor y/n was still clueless of everything. Everyday she walked to school, the amount of boys that studied there were decreasing by the day. She walked in one day only to find the 4 perverted students she always complains about, bloody and stabbed into the wall. So many murder cases were happening around and she was just in an emotional rollercoaster.

"Let it out y/n... it's good for Human's to cry... here Cry in my embrace... I'll protect you sweetheart" The robot offered. She was a little triggered by the nickname, but still accepted the metal man's comfort, his arms so muscular and human like, she couldn't' help but squeeze the biceps and allow herself to shamelessly snuggle into his chest. He felt so... comfortable. The robot inhaled the scent of her hair, smirking down at her.

Y/n gasped, jolting up all of a sudden. "Y-You have a heart beat- that's weird..." Y/n said as Riki shrugged. That very night, y/n was out on a walk. Out of the blue, a male had pushed her to the wall. Of course, one of the friends of those perverted boys. "You... you did something didn't you?! Who the fuck did you hire you little bitch?!!!" he yelled as he yanked her hair, putting a blade to her neck. Wrong move. Very wrong move.

Within seconds, that blade melted in his hand. Beside him, that handsome, creepy Nishimura Riki. "What the fuck?!... who's this- oh... so this must be the whore who killed them huh?" The man said as Y/n frowned. She flinched when he tried to Punch Riki with his bladed knuckles. But nothing happened. his skin still intact, face still the same. "What the fuck...-" the male said to himself as he pulled out a blade and tried to stab Riki, the knife bent in half and snapped.

That second. He knew he fucked up. Riki's fingers wrapped around his neck and dug into his human skin "NI-KI BOT NO NO- THAT'S MURDER- YOU KNOW THIS" Y/n explained as the robot adopted a rather sinister smirk. His grip tightening, fingers now ripping into the man's throat, blood and flesh coating his hand and the floor as he finally let go hearing Y/n's scream.

"Oh no darling... now now, calm down only a little blood... it's only murder if you humans kill a human... I'm no human baby... plus I did this for you... I did all of this for you baby... I told you I'm your man I can trust you, but all these men are trying to hurt you..." Riki said, a small cute pout on his lips as Y/n just fainted, her head hitting his chest. "There there, I've got you princess... Finally have you to myself..." He smiled, patting her cheek as he carried her home. This day, the demon brought hell to y/n...

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[crios31]

Chapter 3: Childhood friends

Story building and fluff

Length 2068 words

“Sana, I think you can release him, others also want to say hello.” says her father looking at the two girls waiting in the room.

“No! It’s been too long since the last time we saw each other!”

“You’re not the only one who misses him, Sana.” retorts one of the girls before pointing to the other, “Look, even Mina hurried to see him.”

“Alright, sorry Momoring.” She ends the hug and takes a step to the side to let the two other girls pass. You notice her cheeks are puffed, it seems she is sulking.

Momo is the first to approach, giving you a strong hug, “Three years, smartass.”

“Yeah, it’s been too long, airhead.” You both stay like this for a minute before letting Mina have her turn, she lightly hugs you and you just have enough time to put your arms around her that she steps back.

“Shy as always.” You pat her head making Mina look down but you can see a small smile while her cheeks get a pinkish hue. “So girls, this is Wendy, she is working for me. Wendy, those are Momo, Sana and Mina, my childhood friends.”

“Pleasure to meet all of you.” says Wendy in English.

The three of them greet her back with Mina asking, “If you are following him as he moves, do you speak Korean?”

“Yes, I was born there.”

Mina smiles and to your surprise switches to Korean. “Good, then it will be easier to communicate with each other.”

“We won’t have to bother Mina to do the translation because the three of us learned Korean” Rejoices Sana as she hugs Mina from the back.

“I knew you wanted to learn it before I left Japan but I didn’t expect both of you to do it too.” You say looking at Momo and Mina.

“Sana convinced me to learn Korean with her and Mina joined us saying it was interesting.”

The presentations now done, everyone follows Sana’s father to the patio where the family of the Japanese trio is waiting.

You greet everyone, starting with Sana’s mother, then Momo’s and Mina’s parents finishing with their siblings. The girls start talking with each other as Kai gets beside you.

“Do you want one?” Asks Kai bottles of beer in his hands.

“Yeah, thanks.” You take a sip. “How is medical school going?”

“It’s going well, I’m finishing general study so the real deal will begin next year.”

“Do you have a specialty in perspective?”

“I may follow dad’s footstep in orthopedics but I still have time to make a decision.”

“Still playing American Football?”

“Yes, I joined my university’s team and it’s a lot of fun. Play something on your side? I see you have a good build now.”

“I mostly played rugby and some basketball. Also started weightlifting recently, and I intend to continue in Korea.”

You continue talking with Kai until you hear Sana's voice. “Guys come here, Wendy has a question and you're both involved in it.”

You join them. “So what’s it about?”

“I wanted to know how all of you became friends? Because from what I understand your families don’t live in the same city.”

“The first ones I met were Momo and Hana. When I was in elementary school, we moved to Japan for my dad's work. Momo's family was my neighbor and the three of us were going to the same school.”

“For the first year he was in my class so we were going and returning from school with him. Furthermore, we played a lot together outside of school so we became fast friends. Then he began to skip some grades, and he ended up in the same class as nee-chan for some time. They got along well before but really became close following this.” Momo says. “ Wendy, I have some funny photos of him as a kid, do you want to see them?”

“Oh yes! I would love too.”

“Careful Momo, I also have some of you.”

“Really you take your photo album with you? I don’t think so, aunty most likely keeps it.” She then sticks her tongue out at you. You can only grumble in response because she is right about that.

“My turn now! So Dad worked under his father and they got along really fast.” speaks Sana. “We regularly meet each other when our parents invite the others for meals or during company events. Thanks to this, when his mother was working to open her first school in Japan, my mom joined the project because she is a teacher. Now Mom is the Headmistress of the private school of Osaka. Also, she got to meet and work alongside Mina's mother. I’ll let you explain this part Mina.”

“Alright, Mom is a lawyer, she was hired by his parents for all of their matters in Japan, for example, she is involved with his mother’s schools from the start. So Mom befriended his mother and later Sana’s, therefore we all got to see each other regularly.”

“At first, Mina was mainly close to Sana and Kai to me. As for Momo and Hana, they met the others when my parents organized a party with their friends and their families. So that's the story of how our little group was formed.”

With Wendy's question being answered, the group continues to chat during the afternoon. The parents join you for a time retelling stories about their kids, some were funny, others somewhat shameful depending on your role in it. When the sun began to set, they went into the house asking you to follow them.

Arriving in the living room, everyone takes a seat with Momo’s parents on your left, Mina’s on your right and Sana’s in front of you.

Mina’s mother begins to talk, “Seeing that this girl, Wendy is following you, should be the one your parents personally handpicked for you. Finally, they decided to explain the hidden side of the scholarship program?”

“Yes, they explained the basics when I met her and I learned the rest from a file Mom gave me before I left. But it lacked information on a specific point, the people running the program for her. I was expecting aunty to be involved with the program because she is in charge of one of the schools.” You say turning briefly toward Sana’s mother. “In your case, your firm treats every legal related topic for my parents in this country, so I was not entirely sure if you would have been in it or if it would have been someone working for you. So are you the only ones related to the program here?”

“Yes, the other only knows about it, nothing more.”

“Then, could you both explain your role in it, please?”

“My role in the program? Well my main task is to write the contract for each recipient of the scholarship when they join but only for those in Japan. I am also involved in the background check of candidates for the scholarship and sometimes to resolve some legal issues that come up.” Answers Mina’s mom.

“In my case, I became the head of the program in Japan when your family moved out. More specifically, I oversee the people in charge of different areas of Japan and the area of Osaka and Kyoto is under my direct supervision. Finally, I am part of the evaluation council in Japan and sometimes the one in Korea.” Explains Sana’s mother. “Do you want to know something?”

“Thanks for the explanation. I’m wondering if any of your kids are aware of this side of the program?”

“Well my daughter knows about it. One day, she read some of the documents I took with me at home. She was very interested in it, in particular the fact that it’s for you.” Sana’s mom gives you an amused smile before continuing. “I decided it was better to explain everything to her. Sana was still interested in my work and the program, so I decided to sometimes include her in my work. Well it’s only limited to asking for her opinion concerning girls of the program because she has a similar age as them, the goal being to avoid or resolve issues for them. And for the other kids…”, she strokes her chin in ponder. “If one of them knows, it would most likely be Mina.”

Hearing that you agree, Mina is the smartest of the group and she has always been very curious since childhood. From this combination results that whenever she wants to know about something, she will always find a way to get the information. Concerning Kai, he is very considerate of his parents' works and the privacy that comes with them. In Hana's case, she is unlikely to know anything because her parents, while aware of the program, are not involved in it. As for Momo, you're not sure because with Sana and Mina they share everything together, so she could have learned about it from them. 

“Alright if one of them learns about it, we’ll just explain it like in Sana’s case. Aunty, do you intend to involve more Sana in your work?”

“I’ll continue as it is for now considering the program. But for the rest of my work, yes it will give more practical experience as she’ll enter university to begin her teaching degree next spring.”

You continue to talk with everyone's parents about the running of the program in Japan, they then ask about how your student life was since the last time you talked to them. You answer their questions until someone puts its hand on your shoulders and rests its head on top of yours from behind the couch.

“So are you done with him? Can we have him back?” Asks Hina.

“Yes, yes. Take him with you, we'll have time to talk during the upcoming days.” Answers her father.

You stand just as you arrive before Hana grabs your arm and begins to drag you outside of the living room under the laughter of the parents watching a familiar scene. In the hallway Hina turns to you.

“It was easier to drag you before you got heavier.” She complains

“I build more muscle following my growth spurts.”

“Well yeah you’ve become quite big.” She traces the muscles along your arm up to your chest while looking in your eyes. “And very nice to look at.”

“Thanks, but I’m not the only one who got bigger and nice to look at.” You reply as you lower your eyes to glance at her ample breasts.

“Oh them, they may be bigger than you think.” She says, lifting up one of her boobs with her hand. “You’d like to find out, aren’t you?” She takes a step toward you.

“I would love that and more.” You also get closer to her making you feel each other breath with your noses almost touching.

“Is that so?” She puts a hand on your cheeks and pushes your head to the side. “Too bad it won’t happen and stay as a dream for you.” She then turns and walks toward the end of the hallway. “Let’s return to the other, now.”

“A dream? I like challenges Hina! We’ll see if it’ll stay as a dream or not

She chuckles,“Well if you want to lose your time, suit yourself!”

You both join back the group enjoying your evening. You only return to your hotel  far in the night.

For the rest of your stay in Japan, you go out multiple times with your friends. Doing sports with Kai or Momo with their friends, some that you already know. Visiting places you used to frequent in Osaka and Kyoto after a long time, like your old school. You also make the mistake of following the girls for shopping, well it was mostly carrying their bags but at least they were happy. You get to have dinner with the Hirai, the Minatozaki and the Myoui on multiple occasions where you had time to discuss with your aunties and uncles.

But every good thing has to end at some point because it was time for Wendy and you to leave Japan for Korea. Everyone took time to accompany you to the train station in the morning. And hours later, the plane lands at Incheon airport and both of you finally set foot in Korea.

[mamapyjama]

Thought I ought to bring this over here for the Tumblr crew since it’s making a little buzz in the other place and I want to gather all my thoughts in one place.

So, back in 2022 I was in my feelings about Izuku (when am I not?) and wrote the following little sad headcanon on twt:

Made myself sad thinking about how the original Japanese word for Quirk is ‘kosei’, which means ‘individuality’ or the unique part of a personality. It’s no wonder Deku thought he was plain and useless. Everyone has literally been telling him since he was 4. 😓 Like, there’s no way at that age he could separate people talking about his lack of meta-ability from his own unique value as a person when they’re using the same damn word. That’s the kind of stuff that’s going to stick with you. 🥺

Sad to imagine, eh?

Fast forward to 2024 and chapter 412, and as always, I was browsing the jp fandom tweets for reactions after the official release. They often pick up on things we miss like Katsuki’s childlike language, the NTR implications of the kudoichi plot etc.

As I scrolled, I realised there was a HUGE disconnect between what we in “The West” were experiencing (mostly rage at yet another translation ‘choice’) and the existential questioning that was occurring among Japanese readers.

This is just a tiny glimpse, but you should know that every single one I saw was doing the tweet equivalent of staring into the middle distance with a haunted look.

It’s all about the panel below, which was mentioned by the incomparable Pikahlua, as it is unusual in writing ‘mukosei’ without the speechmarks that signify ‘quirkless’ (to use the English term) rather than ‘lacking individuality’.

Horikoshi always uses speechmarks around “Kosei” when talking about quirks, so the implication here is that Izuku never believed he had actual individuality/personality.

Using this interpretation, Kudou observed that Izuku held the hope that even people who were detestable (Katsuki) and those who had no individuality (Izuku) still had human hearts.

Read that again. Izuku hoped that both he and Kacchan, despite their shortcomings, had human hearts. He thinks his only worth is as a vessel, a holder of OFA, and without that he’s barely human.

Ever noticed how some parts of the fandom complain that Deku is a boring MC, that he’s just ‘nice’, and we never get his opinions on things? Yeah.

Remember how hard he cried when All Might said he could be a hero? That was the first time in his life that someone acknowledged him as someone with potential, with worth. (In ch2 he also says “I have no reason to refuse!!” when offered OFA, which always struck me as slightly anticlimactic but makes way more sense now).

And remember how he cried in a similar way when Ochako told the world that he wasn’t special but that he had a special power? She couldn’t have known she was reinforcing his deepest held insecurity, and for a moment his mask slipped. Or maybe he was touched by her assertion that he was just a ‘regular high school kid’? We don’t know, but it’s worth taking a look at these moments in this new light.

You staring into the middle distance with a haunted look too yet? I know I am.

If you’re interested in the bright side (I needed this, I hope it helps):

Narratively speaking, this is the angst section that will lead to Midoriya Izuku: Rising and the happy ending they all deserve.

And the person most likely to disavow him of this sense of inherent worthlessness is the one person who added to it the most in their childhoods.

✨KACCHAN!!✨

No one else can reassure Izuku that he is special, that he’s worthwhile and—crucially—that he always has been, because he’s the only one who knew that all along.

If you need more reassurance, remember that their Origin and Rising chapters so far have all involved each other and have mirrored the emotional journey they’re both on.

Bakugou Katsuki: Origin: Katsuki struggles to accept Izuku and work as a team to battle All Might. Eventually does the bare minimum to cooperate by lending him his gauntlet.

Bakugou Katsuki: Rising: Katsuki coordinates the pro heroes and sacrifices himself to save Izuku. His body ‘moved on its own.’

Midoriya Izuku: Origin: Izuku is bullied by Katsuki, tries to save Katsuki from a villain—his body ‘moved on its own’, and is consequently told he can be a hero by All Might.

It isn’t a reach at all to pretty safely assume that Izuku’s Rising chapter will also be intrinsically linked to Katsuki, and it is his cooperation, faith and love (however you interpret it) that will finally save Izuku from his own sense of worthlessness. Closing the circle.

So yeah, this bit could be rough for the next few chapters, but I have faith that Horikoshi will wrap it up in a way that will be so rewarding and satisfying.

I’m gonna stop now because I’m ill and I need to rest my head, thanks for reading! 😮‍💨

[selenacosmic]

This is just a fun little thing I decided to do because of how much knowledge I have of some characters and I love sharing. Some of these are pretty obvious, not all the characters will be here so if you want to add the facts you know that aren’t here, feel free to do so!

Fun little facts about the warlords.

Oda forces.

Nobunaga Oda.

Whenever he goes out to get Konpeito from the kitchen, he wears a hood on his head to try and disguise himself.

He treats bearsace as a sacred artifact, on one event a kid asks if they can play with bearsace and he just said no because it was important to him.

Hideyoshi Toyotomi.

Hideyoshi has a group of lady friends with whom he has tea with, they admire him and definitely have a crush, but they are more like friends.

Hideyoshi isn’t fond of sweets, but he doesn’t mind eating them if it’s with someone special.

Ieyasu Tokugawa.

He studies medicine and treats many people, but he is better as a veterinarian as he treats harmed animals, even if he doesn’t admit it.

He likes hot sauce to a dangerous degree, it’s never hot enough for him.

Mitsuhide Akechi.

It has been said that, the reason why he he eats food all mixed up in a weird way is because he can’t taste it.

In one audio drama, mitsuhide purposely competed with Hideyoshi for the right hand man position just so that Hideyoshi realized how much he deserves that position. (He also cooked for Nobunaga and was proud of his monstrosity.

Mitsunari Ishida.

He is the only one who has ever come close to beating Nobunaga in Go, which shows how smart he is.

Even though they have completely different personalities, Mitsunari and Mitsuhide are often studying together, they both are like the Mitsu duo. They also have eating problems. Mitsuhide because of how he mixes food badly and Mitsunari because he just forgets to eat while studying.

Masamune Date.

In one audio drama, Masamune challenges shingen when they see each other at the market in azuchi, but when shingen suggests they eat before fighting, masamune decides to take over the kitchen to cook for them both.

In another audio drama, focusing on the characters “Yandere” characteristics, masamune showed to fit the role surprisingly well.

Ranmaru Mori.

In an audio drama, Ranmaru revealed to be very skilled with acting. More specifically, he knows how to pretend to be a girl very well. His voice actor was able to imitate a feminine voice pretty well.

Uesugi-Takeda alliance.

Kenshin Uesugi.

Kenshin saved three bunnies’ lives by simply saying he didn’t feel like eating rabbit soup, and since then those three bunnies keep following him while multiplying.

There is a version of ikemen sengoku that was only released in Japan, on the PS vita. Only a few selected characters were chosen to have routes on it and kenshin is one of them. On it, there is a piece of story where kenshin goes into the future and manages to control a mafia group. (I don’t know Japanese, so I don’t know how accurate this is, but there are cgs of him in a modern attire from the ps vita game).

Shingen Takeda.

There are many things that could be said about him, but one of my favorites is the fact that shingen is one of the few characters that actually swear in the game.

During an audio drama, he reveals that he likes when a girl ties her hair when entering the hot springs, mostly because he likes seeing the nape of their neck getting flushed.

Just an extra one because I love him, shingen has shown that he likes when people, regardless of them being women or men, compliment him. During the event “the art of seduction” where he teaches the other warlords how to flirt, he seems to appreciate when Mitsunari compliments him as a teacher.

Yukimura Sanada.

Yukimura had a different voice actor the start of the game, but he was changed. You can still see his previous voice actor voicing him in the audio drama he is in with Shingen and Yoshimoto.

He has a hard time finding what to talk about with Yoshimoto, to the point where he starts talking about spears and which ones are his preference, Yoshimoto finds the subject boring.

Yoshimoto Imagawa.

Yoshimoto is part of the few characters that were featured in the Ps vita, meaning he had a route out way before it was released in the original game.

I don’t know Japanese and never managed to find a translation for his route in the ps vita version, but there are cgs of him with Mc in the modern era.

Sasuke.

Sasuke was also featured in the audio drama with kenshin and Masamune about the Yandere concept, and was actually spooked by how good he is at that role.

Lone forces.

Motonari Mouri.

Motonari is fluent in many languages, including Portuguese (my first language is Portuguese, so it’s funny seeing him speak in Portuguese sometimes)

He wasn’t in any audio drama, but was first featured in the ikemen sengoku anime.

Kennyo.

Kennyo naturally attracts wild animals because of the energy he has, they seem to sense that Kennyo is a good person.

Kennyo has acted as a father for Ranmaru since he was a child, which would explain why Ranmaru is so dedicated towards Kennyo.

[fullmoonfireball]

Pikmin 2 Personality Quiz Translation

quick disclaimer: I am not especially fluent in Japanese, I'm just some shmuck trying their best, so take these translations with a grain of salt. especially since there's some i'm really unsure of here.

feel free to play along with this link! or just scroll all the way down to the "results" section at the bottom if you just want to see the descriptions

Thank you for Accessing [This Page]

Ahh, thank you! You came right away. I'm so happy.

Hey... If you don't mind... I could examine your personality!

View Content

(note: there's some usage of katakana in the paragraph where it typically wouldn't be, notably for the pronouns 'watashi' and 'anata', so I decided to bold those.)

Pikmin Personality Quiz

Q1: What is the most important thing in your life?

Friends

Money

Family

......

Myself

Q2: Of the following 5 colours, which do you prefer?

Red

Purple

White

Yellow

Blue

Q3: Who can you not say no to?

My parents

My lover

My boss

Myself

There isn't anyone (None)

Q4: What word best describes your lifestyle?

Fearful

Perky

Heart-pounding

Voracious

Impulsive

(note: these are all onomatopoeia in the original, so an exact translation would be impossible, or at least unreasonable. hopefully this does the job fine.)

Q5: You're flying in a spaceship. What happens to you next?

I crash

I sleep

I explore an undiscovered planet

I fall

I go back home

(note: "I fall" could equally be "I fail". it's hard to say with so little context, but either way it's not good.)

Q6: How much money do you have saved up?

No more than 100 yen

No more than 1000 yen

No more than 10,000 yen

No more than 100,000 yen

More than that! I'm rich!

(I'm here for translations, not currency conversions, but this would be (in USD, since I'm pretty sure most of you are American even though I'm not): $0.67, $6.67, $66.72, and $667.21 respectively. the fact this was probably made for children really shows here.)

Q7: What's your favourite game?

The leisurely Animal Crossing.

Pikmin, of course.

As expected, it's Zelda.

Obviously Mario, right?

Actually, it's none of these.

Q8: What's your favourite creature?

Pellet Posy

Iridescent Flint Beetle

Bulborb

Waterwraith

Pikmin

Q9: What's your LEAST favourite creature?

Beady Long Legs

Titan Dweevil

Bulborb

Breadbug

Bumbling Snitchbug

(note: this quiz seems to specifically be related to the New Play Control version of Pikmin 2, so the inclusion of the Titan Dweevil isn't QUITE as spoilery as it seems on first glance)

Q10: What's your favourite place?

Valley of Repose

Awakening Wood

Perplexing Pool

Wistful Wild

Inside the Onion

Q11: During a space trip, you're met with an accident, and end up shipwrecked on an uninhabited planet. What kind of planet is it?

A jungle planet

A sandy planet

A mechanized planet

A planet of bugs

It's actually Earth

Q12: If were shipwrecked on an uninhabited planet and could only bring one thing with you, what would it be?

My secret safe

My Game Boy Advance

My passbook

Lunch

A novel

Q13: If you were to start a family in the future, how many children would you have?

None

One

Two

I don't know

A lot

Q14: How would you describe your interactions with others?

Passionate

Cool

Devoted

Easy to get carried away

I don't care

Q15: Seriously, how old are you?

10 or less

20 or less

40 or less

60 or less

What a rude thing to ask!

Check your personality!

(note: if you click this button before answering all of the questions, you will get a popup saying "Q[earliest unanswered number] has not been entered.")

RESULTS

Your personality is [most like]...

The President.

Your strength is that you are honest about your feelings. Your energy as a leader is undefeatable.

However, you should maybe consider other people's feelings at least a little bit.

THIS → is the perfect partner for you!

Your perfect match is...

The President's wife.

She's straightforward about her feelings, more so than you.

She always toys with you.

However, that's because she believes in you.

→ Back

(note: I have absolutely zero confidence in that middle sentence.)

Your personality is [most like]...

Olimar.

A hard-working man who loves his family. He is popular among the Pikmin for his leadership.

However, he's a bit unlucky.

THIS → is the perfect partner for you!

Your perfect match is...

Olimar's wife.

No matter how destitute, she will always support you with great love.

There can be no secrets (such as a certain safe) between lovers or husband and wife.

You two can keep it together and not let the recession get to you.

→ Back

Your personality is [most like]...

Louie.

You're not so good at communication. People tend to misunderstand you, and have no idea what you're thinking.

Maybe you should voice your feelings more often?

THIS → is the perfect partner for you!

Your perfect match is...

Louie's nana.

Her narrow eyes make her look like she can't see anything. But trust me, she definitely sees the real you.

Even if it's hard, please indulge her as much as you can.

→ Back

(note: another really hard phrase to translate on the partner pages, yowch. this time, it was the last line of her description.)

Your personality is [most like]...

The Hocotate Ship.

On the outside, talkative to the point of being a blabbermouth.

But on the inside, actually a bit dry.

THIS → is the perfect partner for you!

Your perfect match is...

Mr. Beady Long Legs.

A strong personality that will really shake your heart. Whether it's out of fear or love, your heart will keep thumping.

Once you get over these feelings, a new you awaits...... Probably.

→ Back

(note: because "さん" is gender neutral, this could equally be Ms. Beady Long Legs. hocotate ship yuri, i GUESS.)

Your personality is [most like]...

The Pikmin.

Serious and hard-working. Your strong suit is cooperating with others. The type to thoroughly devote yourself.

But maybe you could assert yourself a little more?

THIS → is the perfect partner for you!

Your perfect match is...

Mr. Bulborb.

It will lead you with a WILD personality.

A big maw awaits you.

Please look forward to some wild kisses.

→ Back

(note: again, could be Ms. instead)

[tribow]

How does touhou Kanako show her spirit animals notable Snake traits? Suwako represents the frog. How do I look at her as the Snake as in aesthetic speaking?

Funnily enough, this is actually a common misconception with the canon. The snakes technically have nothing to do with Kanako, those belong to Suwako.

The snakes are called "Mishaguji". They're curse gods that Suwako tamed during her time as the only goddess of the Moriya Shrine. When Kanako took over, she still needed Suwako's assistance since she could not control the Mishaguji. If Kanako didn't ask for help, she would likely be constantly fighting the Mishaguji to prevent them from cursing the land and destroying harvest. Not an easy task. I'm sure Kanako would love to have all her followers believe she is controlling the Mishaguji, but the credit all goes to Suwako.

The Mishaguji are probably a lot weaker than they were in the past, but they're still around. Suwako still uses them in her spellcards. (Notably, Kanako has never used them.).

So you might be wondering, if Suwako is the powerful frog that tamed the snakes, why the heck is Kanako the "Snake"? Why is there so much art depicting Kanako with snakes?

Don't worry, you're not being pranked by fanon this time.

ZUN said in an interview that Kanako is based on two gods: Takeminakata and Yasakatome. These two gods are housed in the real life Grand Suwa Shrine.

Takeminakata is worshipped as a god of wind, water, war, and agriculture. This is very similar to Kanako. As for Yasakatome, her folklore is a bit all over the place so it's hard to pin her down. She's mostly associated with water. Kanako's first name; Yasaka, is derived from Yasakatome.

What's important is that both of these gods have been depicted as snakes in folklore. (sometimes specifically a water serpent). This is where Kanako's symbolism with snakes come from. When Takeminakata is depicted in other japanese media, it's a bit common to use snakes to symbolize him. (Dragons are also an association with him, but we're talking about snakes here).

Kanako and Suwako's backstory heavily resemble a specific piece of Takeminakata's folklore. He conquered the Suwa region by defeating the local gods of the area. The most famous battle was against Moreya, whose iron weapons were defeated by Takeminakata's wisteria vine. (wisteria is a plant. A flowering vine.)

Sound familiar?

Moreya still has his own shrine called the Moriya Shrine. Yup, that's right it's a real place and not something ZUN made up. However, if you look into it, Moreya isn't depicted as a frog. Where the heck did that come from?

Well, Takeminakata has another piece of folklore with a frog involved. He calmed the waves of the raging seas by defeating a frog god. This story commonly depicts him as a snake as well. (Snakes eat frogs in real life!) The frog in this story is sometimes interpreted as one of the local gods, which could be the Mishaguji or Moreya.

"The Mishaguji"??? Aren't they the snakes in Touhou? Well...yes! It's just that they're local gods just like Moreya was and...and....we're in too deep!

Folklore is commonly spread through word of mouth! It's a mythological game of telephone! The details can change based on who is telling the story! I haven't even told you the many other names Takeminataka goes by. If I went over all the nuance with the folklore and its connections to Touhou this would be a gargantuan post!

Ignoring that, what's important is that this is where Kanako's symbolism with snakes come from. Even if she doesn't control the snakes of the Moriya shrine, Kanako IS the snake that defeated the powerful frog and conquered its land.

[otomehonyaku]

DIABOLIK LOVERS アニメ公式ノベライズ Official Novelization ☽ Chapter 3 Translation

[Previous chapter] ☽ [Next chapter]

It’s time for chapter 3! I will try adding more translation notes for particular words/phrases in footnotes from now on, which might be fun for people who are learning Japanese (although I don’t recommend calling anyone a 穀潰し in real life lol). I know I said last time that this book seemed a little light on the bite play but I actually take it back, this chapter was pretty steamy with both Ayato and Shuu… (〃ω〃) Have fun reading!

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Originally written by Yukuzuki Hiroha 結来月ひろは Translated from the Japanese by @otomehonyaku

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

STORY Following her father’s job transfer, Komori Yui is sent to live with the Sakamaki brothers. However, these six brothers turn out to be sadistic, ill-tempered vampires. The men are after Yui’s sweet and incredibly rare blood, and go to great lengths toying with her body and soul to get it. Before long, Yui finds herself trapped in an alluringly dangerous love game(1)...

1. 吸血愛戯 (ラブゲーム): Stylised as ‘love game’ but written with the characters for bloodsucking (吸血), love (愛), and play (戯). The latter character also has a connotation of playfulness/mischief.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

DISCLAIMER This is an unofficial translation intended for those interested in reading the story of the Diabolik Lovers game/season in a slightly more literary format in English. I have no affiliation with Rejet or Frontier Works whatsoever. All rights belong to them, but PLEASE DO NOT POST THIS TRANSLATION ELSEWHERE OR TRANSLATE TO OTHER LANGUAGES WITHOUT MY PERMISSION.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Episode 3

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

That night, the moon stood high in the sky, but the Sakamaki mansion was wrapped in fog.

In the dining room, Yui joined the brothers for dinner. It was a habit for the six of them to assemble in the dining room once a month for a banquet. As Yui sat at the large table, she wondered why she had to be included, but there had been little room for her to protest when they half-dragged her in here.

A variety of luxurious dishes reminiscent of a high-end restaurant were placed on the table in front of her, but even as she eyed the food, she couldn’t bring herself to eat.

Vampires don’t even need this kind of food, anyway, Yui thought cynically. Her eyes shifted to Ayato, who was sitting next to her. He ate his dinner using a knife and fork with surprising dexterity, behaving in a more refined manner than she had ever seen him. The same was true for Reiji and Subaru, who were sitting across from her.

The saying goes ‘dining together is happy together’ (1), but this family was worlds away from that. A heavy silence had fallen in the room. Shuu, who was sitting right opposite Yui, did not seem hungry either, and simply slumped in his chair with his eyes closed.

I don’t feel like eating. To the brothers, I’m no different from the food that’s on the table right now, anyway… Yui thought, and lost her appetite completely.

“You’re not eating much, Bitchlet,” Laito suddenly said from behind Yui, startling her. “You’ll get anaemia if you don’t eat well, you know? Would you like me to feed you?”

“Laito,” Reiji interjected sternly. “It is rude to get up during dinner.”

“Fiiine. Let’s continue this later, okay?” Laito murmured to Yui, and hummed quietly as he returned to his seat.

The dining room was only quiet for a moment before a loud sound made Yui jolt. It was Shuu, who had pushed back his chair and stood up.

“Shuu…?”

“I can’t be bothered,” the eldest muttered as he walked out of the room.

“That good-for-nothing (2)…” Reiji remarked, his voice tinged with resentment, when Shuu closed the door behind him.

Good-for-nothing? He’s saying that about his own brother?

“Oh, well. That’s what happens to people who’ve been spoiled since birth.”

The Sakamakis don’t seem to care about one another to begin with, but these two really seem to hate each other…

“Teddy, what would you like to eat next?”

Yui looked towards Kanato when she heard his voice. He sat with Teddy on his lap and was trying to feed him.

“Shall we try this banana snowball (3) first?” The purple-haired triplet said as he stabbed the snowball with his fork to pick it up, but it split in half.

Kanato frowned in frustration and began bringing down his fork onto the remnants of the snowball over and over, laughing maniacally. He didn’t stop even when the plate broke with a loud crack.

Reiji appeared fed up with his younger brother’s behaviour, and spoke up. “You all cannot keep yourselves together even at our one banquet of the month… Let us call it here for today.”

Everyone aside from Reiji stood up and left for their rooms immediately.

I should go back to my room, too. Albeit hesitantly, Yui put her hands on the table to push herself up when she was fairly certain she could leave.

“Wait.”

Reiji’s voice brought her to a halt.

“Have you no manners? To place your hands on the table like that… If I ever see you do that again, I will punish you thoroughly. Understood?”

“…Yes.”

His punishment must be pretty severe, judging from what Yui had seen of Reiji’s personality so far. Dejectedly, she returned to her room.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

“Ah…”

Yui sighed heavily when she sat down on the edge of her bed. She was glad to have a day off, but it seemed impossible to relax. Come to think of it, I usually helped out Dad on my days off…

Wanting to help her priest father with his work in whatever way she could, Yui usually kept the church clean on the days that she didn’t have school.

It hasn’t even been that long (4)…

Even though she had seen her father only days earlier, her life with him already felt like a thing from the past. Suddenly reminiscing about the days spent with her father, she opened the drawer in the nightstand by her bed and took out her father’s diary. However, the memories that her father had penned down were still nowhere to be found.

“So they really are gone…”

It felt like her own memories with her father had been erased with them. Yui felt herself getting teary-eyed. But why? When I first saw it, it was written right there.

Yui brings me so much joy. The fact that she is not my own child bears no meaning at all. She is truly a blessing, and I am nothing but grateful for every day I get to spend with her.

Her father’s familiar handwriting had spelled it out clearly for Yui to remember. But why had the writing disappeared from the page completely?

The only clue I have is this picture…

Yui quietly stared at the picture of her father and her infant self. The picture alone would not get her anywhere. Besides, I don’t even know what kind of cruel fate awaits me if I try to leave.

Yui sighed again.

Completely at a loss, she slid the picture back between the pages of her father’s diary and returned it to the drawer.

“Whatcha doing?”

Yui shrieked when she looked in the direction of the voice. Ayato was straddling her desk chair in reverse, his elbows propped up on the back of the chair and his chin resting on his hands as he watched her.

“W-why are you…”

“I can do as I please,” Ayato stated, tilting his head to the side ever so slightly. “Hurry up and give me your blood.”

Oh no… I have to hold him off.

“I-I was just about to take a bath.” Yui tried to slip past him, but to no avail. “Huh? Ah!”

Ayato stood up in a flash and threw his arms around her, embracing her from the front. Yui struggled against him when he ran his tongue over the nape of her neck, but his arms soon settled on her waist. It was impossible to run from him.

“Ayato… Please, I’ve been feeling anaemic lately…”

The stress from being in a new environment might have also played a part in it, but since Ayato had taken her blood yesterday, her physical condition had been worsening.

Ayato paid her worries no mind. “Shut up.”

He was clearly toying with her. His tongue found her skin again, licking her as he occasionally made low noises of pleasure. The wet sound of it echoed through the room.

Yui tried to endure it by squeezing her eyes shut, but it inadvertently only made her focus on Ayato more. A small sound escaped her lips at the anticipation of not knowing when his fangs would pierce her skin.

“Feels that good, huh?”

Yui tried to get back, but Ayato wouldn’t budge. “That’s not…”

Just when Yui thought his grip on her waist loosened a little, Ayato bent down to her chest and pressed his lips against her skin. He let out a low moan as he sucked hard. The pain made Yui’s voice slip again, and he finally looked up.

He didn’t… bite me?

Looking down at her chest, Yui did not see blood, but a red mark in the shape of a rose petal on her skin.

“That’s my mark of ownership.”

“N-no…” Yui pushed against his chest to get away, but he only gripped her tighter.

“Don’t move. I’ll give you more.”

Enjoying the feel of her skin, Ayato leisurely moved his tongue to the other side of her chest. He pulled down her sweater to expose her skin further, almost to her most sensitive parts, and began covering it in love bites.

“I want to hurt you more. More, and more…”

“Ah…”

Yui could barely move. She could only try and stand the pain.

When Ayato finally let her go, his red love bites fluttered across her chest like flower petals and clearly marked her as his.

“We’ll continue when you get out of the bath. You’ll only get more anaemic if I feed on you now and that’d just be a bother,” Ayato whispered in Yui’s ear as he embraced her tighter. “Just hurry up. You know what’ll happen if you make me wait too long.”

This time, Ayato let her go. He left the room.

For what felt like the umpteenth time today, Yui sighed heavily. What’s happening to me? Still, no matter how she thought about it, she couldn’ come to an answer.

“In any case, I should take a bath first.”

She knew it was part escapism, but Yui felt that she would lose her sanity completely if she could not do these kinds of normal, human things. Yui grabbed a fresh towel and a clean set of clothes, and headed to the bathroom.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Come to think of it, this is the first time I’m using the bath here.

On the first night, when Yui had only just arrived at the mansion, she had lost consciousness and simply slept for a while, and the next day, she had used the shower room near the pool.

I know it’s foolish to think about, but I can’t help but wonder what kind of bath they have… Daydreaming about her impending bath time, Yui stepped into the bathroom.

It was lavish. Marble covered the floor of the large room in front of her, and a large, white clawfoot tub stood near the back wall. I’ve never been in such a luxurious bathroom before, Yui thought. Even the sink is made of marble. She put her fresh clothes on top of the sink, and her eyes drifted to her reflection in the mirror in front of her.

The marks on her chest were undeniably there. But why would Ayato do this?

Yui had no hopes of running away from the mansion to begin with—the brothers had told her so—and it seemed unnecessary to brand her as his for the world to see.

But still, the throbbing pain of the love bites made her thoughts drift to Ayato even when he wasn’t with her. When she thought of it like that, she realised that the marks must have served Ayato’s intended purpose.

Yui was startled by a sudden splashing sound and she spun around to look at the bathtub. What was that? Is someone there?

Gingerly, she made her way over to the bathtub and saw Shuu, eyes closed and lying fully-clothed in the water. Yui did not know why he was in there with his clothes still on, but he looked like he was trying to drown himself.

“Shuu?!”

Before Yui could reach out to him, Shuu’s languid voice sounded from under her.

“Damn it, don’t yell like that.”

“B-but if you stay in there with your clothes on…”

“Strip them off me, then.”

“What?” Not used to Shuu speaking that way to her, Yui was briefly at a loss for words.

“Didn’t you come in here to see me naked?” Shuu asked, trying to gauge her reaction.

“N-no!” Yui stammered. “Please don’t say such inappropriate things… I came in here to take a bath.”

Shuu’s clear blue eyes watched her face become red, and let out a low laugh as if he enjoyed seeing her flustered. “Would you like to join me?”

“T-there’s no way...”

“Your red cheeks suggest otherwise.”

Realising Shuu was making fun of her, Yui inadvertently shot him a glare, but he simply repositioned his head on the edge of the bathtub with a dissatisfied expression on his face.

“Boring.”

Clearly not intent on getting out of the tub, Shuu closed his eyes again.

Yui’s fear that he might drown dissipated, but even though she felt somewhat relieved, Shuu’s overly sluggish behaviour left her with a complicated feeling. All they’ve done since I came here is manipulate me…

Yui thought of the six brothers’ faces.

So Shuu is the eldest and Reiji is the second son, then the triplets Ayato, Kanato and Laito, and then Subaru is the youngest. But…

“You’re brothers, but why are you all so different?” Yui wondered aloud.

“We’ve got different mothers.”

“What?”

“…Reiji and I have the same mother, and the triplets have a different mother,” Shuu said in a detached voice, his eyes still closed.

“I… see.”

So that’s why they don’t look alike, Yui concluded, but suddenly realised that he had missed one brother.

“What about Subaru?”

“Also got a different mother,” Shuu said, before completely submerging himself in the tub.

“Wha—Shuu!”

In a state of panic, Yui reached out and grabbed both of Shuu’s arms. At the feeling of her hands on his body, his eyes flew open.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

The blurry vision of a boy, slightly taller than him, plagued Shu’s mind. When Shuu was younger, the boy always reached out a hand towards him, took him to all sorts of places, and showed him things he had never seen before.

However, the next moment, Shuu’s sight was taken away by a cloud of burning ash. His memories with the boy faded into nothing. That day, Shuu could only stare, dumbfounded, at his friend’s village as it burned to the ground, black smoke rising from its buildings.

“Edgar…”

I couldn’t do anything… My only friend, and I couldn’t do anything to save him.

Everything you love can be taken away from you in the blink of an eye, and never even leave a trace. Just like that boy.

All Shuu was left with was a feeling of powerlessness. All was meaningless.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

“Shuu, it hurts…”

Shuu snapped back to attention at Yui’s voice. What did I just…

When he looked at Yui, her face was twisted in pain. Why is she making that face? And… she’s so warm, he thought, slightly confused. As he looked at his hands, he involuntarily reached out and grabbed Yui’s hands tightly. So this is… the body temperature of a human.

Shuu tugged hard at Yui’s arms and pulled her into the bathtub with him, causing her to shriek. Water splashed around them.

The human girl was now soaked to the skin. Her wet clothes made her look thinner (5) than she already did.

Shuu did not know why he did it. He found it difficult to think about anything but the feel of her warm body—the human warmth that he’d gone so long without.

“Let me drink your blood.”

Yui gasped. Fear washed over her face when she looked up at him.

“Hm? Are you scared?” Shuu traced a hand along her neck and pulled it towards him. Perhaps out of fear, Yui squeezed her eyes tightly shut.

Shuu gazed at the porcelain-coloured skin of her exposed neck. “You’re so pale. I wonder how your skin will look when I sink my teeth into you and stain it bright-red with your blood…”

As he spoke, his eyes trailed slowly downwards to her chest. When his gaze fell upon the red marks there, he couldn’t hold back a laugh.

“Ayato. What a control freak.”

“Shuu, I thought you were the only one…” Yui met his gaze even though she was shivering. “I thought you were the only one who’d be different… So why…”

The fatal flaw of humans—they tended to be much too trusting. Shuu felt himself becoming increasingly annoyed at her foolishness. “Let me be clear. I’m a vampire.”

This is too bothersome.

“I’ll show you a whole new world.”

The hand that had been trailing across Yui’s neck, Shuu now used to pull her roughly against him so he could sink his teeth into her shoulder. Yui bit down a shriek.

“Your blood is so warm… I feel like it might burn me.”

Desperately, Yui tried to block out his voice.

“Ah, you’re getting turned on… What a lewd woman you are, running so hot when I bite you.”

“I-It’s not…”

Eagerly gulping down Yui’s blood, Shuu came to a realisation. He raised his face to hers. “…I know now why you’re here. It’s your blood. It’s really something special.”

Blood from the wounds Shuu had inflicted on Yui dripped into the bath, almost as if her body was crying for her.

“Don’t offer your help to me again.”

Yui’s tears of blood quietly disappeared into the water.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

A little while after Shuu had left, Yui came out of the bathroom and dragged herself to her room. Memories of what had just happened flashed through her mind.

Shuu actually wasn’t interested in her. That’s why she thought he wouldn’t hurt her, but Yui realised that had been a very naive assumption for her to make.

At the same time, she thought it strange that her blood was ‘something special,’ as Shuu had called it. I don’t think that means I have a rare blood type, Yui thought as she opened the door to her room. She sighed and closed the door behind her.

“You’re late, Pancake.”

Ayato was sitting on her bed.

“I’m thirsty. Hurry up and give me your blood.”

“Ayato, I’m…”

She’d already told him she was feeling anaemic earlier, but Shuu had only just fed from her as well. Yui was certain she would keel over if Ayato took her blood now, and yet the redhead jumped off the bed and stalked towards her.

“You have no right to refuse me.”

Ayato grabbed her from behind and snaked his arms around her waist.

“You’d be better off surrendering to my fangs,” he said as he bent down to her neck to bite her, but he suddenly froze. “Huh?”

On her neck, he found fresh bite marks.

“What’s this?”

“It hurts…” Yui hunched up her shoulders in pain when Ayato ran his fingers over the wounds.

“Reiji? No, Shuu. That motherfucker…”

Ayato grabbed Yui’s hand and forcefully dragged her out of the room.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

The two ended up in the gaming room. It had a billiards table, and a rack with cue sticks and a dart board were placed against the wall. When Ayato spotted Shuu lying on the sofa, he strode over and started yelling at him.

“Shuu, you fucker! Are you picking a fight?”

Shuu didn’t respond and his eyes remained closed, which only angered his brother even more.

“Hey, listen to me!”

“Shut up.” Shuu muttered. He clearly did not feel like arguing with Ayato.

Ayato clicked his tongue in response to his brother’s sluggish behaviour. When he looked around the room in anger and his eyes spotted the dart board, he thought of something.

“Let’s play a round of darts!”

“…I can’t be bothered.”

“Like hell you are!”

What should I do? At this rate, they really are going to fight… Just as Yui hesitated whether she should step in to stop them, she suddenly heard someone clapping.

When Yui looked behind her, Laito was leaning against the billiards table, looking at the three of them in amusement.

“How lovely. Our little bitch will be the grand prize!” Laito’s smile deepened when he looked at Yui. “Hehe. This is the best!”

“Grand prize…?” How did it come to this? Yui had a hard time comprehending what was happening.

“You are being way too rowdy.” Having overheard his brothers’ bickering, Reiji now stood near the wall with an irritated look on his face. “Would you care to tell me what is going on?”

“Ayato and Shuu are going to play darts against each other. And what better way to spice things up than a grand prize on the line, right? So, we thought Bitchlet would be the perfect prize.” Laito motioned to Ayato and Shuu to signal that it was their competition.

”Again with the nonsense… If you must, then do it quietly.”

“Okay…”

Yui had hoped Reiji would step in and end the argument, but he hadn’t. Shuu opened his eyes to look at Yui.

“I don’t care about her… so just let me sleep in peace,” Shuu mumbled and closed his eyes again.

Reiji scoffed in response. “I already expected you to say that.”

Reiji? Yui watched as Reiji was staring daggers at his older brother even more than usual.

“You do not even have the guts to accept a challenge. The word ‘coward’ (6) must have truly been invented for this man right here.” Reiji paused for a second, but then continued his tirade. “What a good-for-nothing, useless man.”

Shuu slowly got up at this remark. His sluggish demeanour disappeared completely—his face briefly suggested that he was out for blood—before returning to his usual state. “I’ll do it, Ayato.”

“Well, I wasn’t gonna accept any other answer.”

And so Ayato and Shuu’s battle for Yui began.

The two brothers barely missed their targets when throwing the darts, but somehow, Shuu seemed to come out on top. When Shuu examined the darts he was using, Laito called out.

”Shuu’s next shot could decide the game! If he hits the right mark, our little bitch will become his… How exciting!” Laito sent a sidelong glance to Yui, who stood speechless next to him, as he laughed in amusement.

She quickly looked away. Would it be Shuu or Ayato? Whoever won, Yui had no choice in the matter.

“This is insane,” she muttered. I’m not an object! Yui tried to leave the gaming room, but Laito grabbed her by the shoulder before she could get near the door.

“Oh, my. Our grand prize suddenly started moving on its own!” Laito’s tone of voice was light-hearted, but his unrelenting grip on her shoulder suggested otherwise.

“Let go… It hurts…”

“Hehe.”

Yui glared at Laito even as her face twisted in pain, but he only returned her glare with a shameless grin.

“You’d better look. Shuu’s about to throw, you know.” Laito pointed to his brother, who had just assumed a throwing position and was holding the dart expertly in his hands.

Shuu…

Reiji and Ayato looked on, mildly displeased, as Shuu threw the dart towards the board. It soared through the air in a straight line, perfectly hitting the mark that Shuu had aimed for.

Ayato clicked his tongue in annoyance. Reiji just stared at the board, the winning dart sticking out of it. Shuu, however, sighed in relief that the game was finally over, and turned on his heels and immediately headed for the door.

Shuu? Yui stared after Shuu in confusion.

Laito noticed this, a glint of mischief appearing in his eyes. “And your prize is… Bitchlet!”

He gave Yui a strong push, sending her stumbling towards Shuu with a yelp. The force of it caused her to slam into Shuu’s back.

“I-I’m sorry.” Yui stammered an apology, but Shuu stayed silent, his back still to her. “Um… Shuu?”

He slowly turned around to face Yui, and leaned in to whisper.

“Humans are nothing but prey to me.”

Shuu’s low voice and dangerously glistening eyes as he looked down on her made Yui freeze in place. He grabbed her chin with a hand and tilted her face upward with a rough movement to expose her neck.

Yui flinched.

“You know that, right?” he said as he bent down to her neck. Yui was immobilised by fear. “Don’t bother me anymore.”

With these words, Shuu unceremoniously sank his teeth into her skin. The pain running through her neck sent her spiralling into darkness, and she soon lost consciousness.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

1. 食卓 (しょくたく) は団欒 (だんらん): A figure of speech in which 食卓 refers to a dining table, and 団欒 means a ‘happy place,’ or ‘sitting together in a happy circle/harmony,’ thus suggesting that dining together is supposed to be an enjoyable activity to bond with one another.

2. 穀潰 (ごくつぶ) し: Good-for-nothing; deadbeat; parasite; useless person. This is the nickname Reiji often uses for Shuu.

3. スノーボール: A snowball is a kind of chocolate, snowball-shaped and often filled with fresh cream.

4. 懐 (なつ) かしい: Adverb denoting a feeling of nostalgia; looking back fondly on something that happened long ago.

5. 貧相 (ひんそう): Thin (body); poor/seedy-looking. In Diabolik Lovers, the boys usually use this word to refer to Yui’s body as “not much to look at,” especially referring to her lacking in the chest area.

6. 腑抜 (ふぬ) け: Coward; spineless person. Literally someone whose ‘guts have slipped out.’

[heongiu]

Gun x Fem!Reader

Warnings: slight mention of SH, sensitive topics. Reader suffers from Endometriosis.

A/N: I suddenly thought of this when I was researching about endometriosis, if you're not comfortable with the following, please stop reading. And I'm sorry if somehow this makes you sad 😭

Gun once again, had arrived at a place where he was feared the most at.. A place where his story all began, and also a place where he had found you.

In Japan, at the old fashioned Japanese house, where lived the Yamazaki Clan. This time he had arrived with an unexpected guest... None other than you, his wife.

The people and other clan members looked shocked, it had been years since they saw you, you looked.. Like you had gone through some very grim times, perhaps something others could not understand, but you looked better than before, at least.

"How dare you make her step here?" The old woman interrupted Gun, he had been stopped in his track, he stared at her holding your hand in his tightly.

"Move aside" He ordered angrily, his tone was stern and cold, almost piercing like an arrow through some one's heart and if they were to continue being this impudent, he would manually do it with just his bare hands, but unfortunately, he couldn't.

"That woman is a witch! She can't even bear a child! What good would she do for giving us no successors?!" She reviled towards You and you knew just how much those words left a wound on you, that no one could fathom the depth and agony of.

Gun's expression had turned furious, his eyes were glinting with anger upon hearing such insulting words, and that too from someone he shared common blood with. If she was not a woman, he would've punched them so hard they would've faltered to the ground terribly.

You stopped, holding his hand tightly as you squeezed it, then came out few vaguely audible sentences from your mouth.

"Gun.. Leave it be, I-I'll be fine here.. You go in" You encouraged him to move forward without you. upon seeing you so depressed and hurt, he couldn't help but feel even more anguished at those who had nerves to utter such words. you could feel him let go of your hand slowly, as he towered the woman.

"I said move" the annoyance in his tone was enough for them to know he was very serious to his core.

Blood and relations were nothing to him anymore but meaningless terms. for you he could fight the universe and go against every law.

It had been years that you were struggling with endometriosis. And during those days of the week, you couldn't even breath due to such intense pain. you felt nothing more than a burden to him, even though he had told you several times that he loved you more than anything, your vulnerable mental health let you fall into depression quite easily.

And now when You had finally secured your way out of it, which you once used to face everyday, people just couldn't help seeing you looking better could they?

Previously, You had even suggested Gun to get married a second time, with someone who could give his clan the successors they had put their hopes high for. But oh how he loved you, too much to even replace you, and in fact, no one could, in his vision, you were more than enough, more than he had desired.

Maybe, just for once, you wanted to feel like a mother, because you knew you'd do your best to be one. Perhaps you had failed yourself somewhere in the past, to face such a thing is not wished for often. And what good did taking more-than-prescribed pills do to you?

When many, expected children, you were taking rounds of the hospital, just to see if this prolonging gist, would depart, but to your demise, it couldn't, and you were stuck with it for your life time. You were not one to adopt, you did consider, but you knew the poor child would face injustice.

you snapped back to reality, Gun looked back at you, his eyes had widened at the fact you told him to enter without you, and how could you? He approached you, gently holding your hands in his together as he spoke to you.

"I placed this ring on your finger that day for a significant reason, it's so we both would stay together forever, no matter what goes and what comes." With a squeeze on your hand, he brought you inside, with no resentment or regret on his face. even if in their eyes now, he had become a villain, he couldn't care less.

Though the looks the other people gave you, and how they mocked you, they all would descend on their knees if they were confronted by the man himself.

That very night, when the moon had risen from it's slumber, you were entangled in his arms, without a worry, without a thought, drifting to peaceful sleep.

[morebedsidebooks]

Kamikaze Girls by Takemoto Novala

“I’m so glad you’ve found such a good friend, Momoko. I was worried, you know, about how you’d get along with kids here in the countryside, since you’ve been a city girl all your life. You’re lucky you’ve found a friend you have so much in common with.” “I have nothing in common with Ichigo, and she isn’t even my friend, anyway.” “Really? But the two of you are always dressed the same way.” Hello?! Excuse me?! Can you possibly be serious?! What in god’s name do you mean, Ichigo and I are dressed the same way?! I wondered if Grandmother was getting senile, and felt a bit worried for her. “You both seem to enjoy looking very festive.” Oh. So that’s what she meant. For an old lady like my grandmother, Ichigo’s gaudy, tasteless Yanki clothing and my adorable, elegant Lolita clothing both looked simply theatrical, and were registered as being more or less the same.

Momoko is rather snobbish and solely devoted to wearing Sweet Lolita clothes from brand Baby the Stars Shine Bright while reflecting the lifestyle she believes goes with it. Particularly at odds in the Shimotsuma countryside where her grandmother lives after the Loser, her father, fled there tied to organized crime and counterfeit designer goods. Ichigo, a Yanki and part of the Ponytails youth gang, has a mouth as loud as her tricked out moped and knows little unless it involves motors and sheet metal. She has next to no clue about the Versace clothes she’s looking for, what knockoff means, or that a woman biker could be capable of sexual violence too. Yet under the surface there is a surprising parallel in ethos and these two teenagers will slowly become unlikely friends.

As Japanese pop culture expanded its reach fashion was part of the wave too, including Lolita fashion. A street style and subculture born in the 1970s taking inspiration from Western motifs of Rococo to Victorian and even more modern romantic ideas of France and British punk. Growing up around this, Takemoto Novala is an eccentric figure with some similarly eccentric ideas. Still in his career he has made a noteworthy mark on the Lolita fashion subculture. (While he has also professionally suffered some hiccups due to drug possession.)

A big deal was the live-action adaptation in 2004 of his 2002 bestselling novel Shimotsuma monogatari, given the odd moniker Kamikaze Girls in English. Directed by Tetsuya Nakashima, starring Fukada Kyoko and Tsuchiya Anna, and featuring twists and an aesthetic of its own meshing mediums. Best described as a fun film, it both affectionately presents and pokes a bit at its subjects. Followed by translations including other various writing by Takemoto (who work has also been endorsed by writer Yoshimoto Banana) becoming something of a cult classic.

The novel is still one of my go-to tomes for depicting the Lolita fashion lifestyle. Momoko a heroine for her free spirit. A character that comes to mind for a lot of Lolitas. Although that does not mean Momoko is not a character who says some things I would view in a more askance way or shake my head at. (Also, the quote falsely attributed to Marie Antoinette “Let them eat cake!”, or « Qu’ils mangent de la brioche. » if we’re being a stickler, is reproduced.) In reality there are many ways of wearing Lolita and being a Lolita up to cultivating a whole lifestyle. The clothes and what those mean also changing over time. If you have got the spirit, you can rock it in a field to a formal venue. Likewise gotten from a humble home sewing table to big city boutique. Often evoking youth and the feminine, age and gender should not hold one back either. (It hasn’t for Takemoto.) Personally, Gothic Lolita too is part of what got me into fashion design.

Twenty and some years later I still feel that blooming feeling in my chest over the clothes, book and film. With trends looking back to the 1990/2000s now, old school Lolita is back too. As Takemoto has said, “Lolita’s not dead.”

Kamikaze Girls by Takemoto Novala is available in English, translated by Akemi Wegmüller, in print hardcover from Shojo Beat

The live-action film is available in Japanese with English subtitles on BD Region A from Discotek or Region B from Third Window Films

[vocalsynthbdays]

happy birthday ia(vocaloid 3), vivi(vocaloid 4), merry kohaku(utau), and one(cevio cs) !!! [jan 27]

(ia and vivi)

(merry and one)

IA is a japanese synth developed by 1st PLACE Co., Ltd., and released in 2012. ia is voiced by singer-songwriter Lia, and mostly illustrated by Akasaka Aka, who done all her art apart from her ai song art, which was drawn by Simanerikotton. as well as that, ias ai song english box arts artist is unknown. its a render of a 3d model of ia. ias mmd model was created by mqdl. ia was released for vocaloid 3 on 27 jan 2013, and for vocaloid neo on 7 dec 2013. later, on 27 jun 2014 she was released with her IA ROCKS vb for those same engines. she was then released for cevio with her IA Talk vb on 1 march 2017, and her IA ENGLISH C on 29 june 2018. then for cevio ai, with her IA TALK on 12 mar 2021, and her IA AI SONG and IA AI SONG ENGLISH on 27 oct 2021. shes also available on the mobile vocaloid editor and vocaloid keyboard. ia is a part of 1st PLACE Co., Ltd.'s -ARIA ON THE PLANETES- series.

merry kohaku is a japanese synth created and voiced by Shiogama, and released in 2014. merry is illustrated by sweeper_ms and _kiyomizutera_ i think, with kiyomizutera doing the colouring if i am understanding a post on ms's pixiv correctly.

VIVI (aka Vivian Vu) was announced in 2018. she was to be an english synth with a japanese and chinese bank also, but was cancelled due to legal issues surrounding obtaining a development license. she was being developed by VoMelody (vocadb also lists zero-g as a company shes associated with but im not sure in what way. vomelodys vocadb article just says they were developing her). since vivis banks were never released there is no official way to obtain them, but developer copies were leaked to the public in 2021. vivi is illustrated by hieihirai. i dont know who voiced vivi

the following was very kindly written by my friend who knows nothing about vocal synths:

happy birth ONE (オネ) !! 🍮

one is a cevio released by the company 1st PLACE Co., Ltd, and she was released on january 27, 2015. 🌹

one is a 15 year old girl and she has orange hair. she shares a birthday with her older sister, IA. coincidentally, she also shares a name with her voice provider, ONE, who is a singer. an illustrator called „sidu“ created her character design. 🪣

one is apart of the -ARIA ON THE PLANETS- project, which is a series of umm characters. ☘️

she lives on planet ARIA, which is similar to earth, but with „various life forms that resonate and co-exist together, several of whom raised IA and ONE.“ 🧣

inhabitants of planet aria:

チコー or“Neko-san”, or simply “cat”) is a spirit that lives on ARIA. She is the mother figure of IA & ONE, and has been with them all of their lives before coming to Earth with ONE. ^^

They have a „grandfather“ figure named “Chōrō” (“長老”, meaning "elder") or "Choro no ki” (長老抜き, meaning the "eldest tree)".It was mentioned that he taught ONE and IA all that they know. :3

“フェニックス” (also known as “Phoenix”, or simply “Nix“ is a singing teacher and a voice trainer for ONE and IA. ^−☆

there‘s also another inhabitant that lives on ARIA but shes so irrelevant shes not even worth mentioning!!! -_-

im done writing for this b shoutout to this website i literally reworded most things and made it shorter https://cevio.fandom.com/wiki/ONE

[marley-manson]

Finally watched the Xena finale, thanks to the fanon episode order treating it as a midseason soft finale that gets fixed by When Fates Collide lol.

And man, it really was a hot mess. I could barely follow the plot, and many aspects were very arbitrary and like, revealed off-screen. The most hilarious of course being Xena suddenly announcing, like a minute before the end of the episode, that oh actually apparently she has to stay dead, sorry Gab, xoxo

It is VERY Xena though to have a plotline where Xena anticlimactically dies in the pre-credits scene at the beginning of part 2 and both you and the characters assume for the rest of the episode that she's going to come back to life like usual until the tragic twist lol.

Akemi was... resoundingly mediocre as one of Xena's exes. Her only personality traits were 'proto-Gabrielle' and 'wants to kill her dad.' Also like... was there incest subtext there? Like it was implied that the little creepy afterlife she was in was like, her dad's ghosts' personal brothel or something? But like I said, the plot was very hard to follow.

The themes were also a mess of course, it's been said many times but yeah ignoring the central theme of the show (atonement is pointless if you're doing good now) in favour of redemption thru death was dumb, the set up was dumb (we're blaming Xena for 40k deaths because she set a couple dudes on fire in self defense? Man at least give me an actual deliberate atrocity here), and choosing death over Gabrielle was like a dumb reverse Ides of March. Also Gabrielle just going like, 'damn okay I guess, bye forever,' was unbelievable. Even if Xena wants to backslide, I'm pretty sure Gabrielle would force her to come back to life anyway, fuck those souls. Like, it's not even clear how Xena's death helps them? Killing Akemi's evil dad again freed them from torment or whatever, who cares if they don't get avenged? What is a state of grace? How will they be lost, if she comes back to life? People go unavenged all the time, deal with it.

That said, I'd been under the impression that somehow Xena's death here contradicts the whole reincarnation thing, but I didn't get that at all? Idt there's any stipulation that she has to stay in the Japanese afterlife, just that she has to be killed and stay dead, and it does make sense since in their next lives Xena is a lot older than Gabrielle, so she should logically die a few decades earlier.

On the more positive side of things, it was very fun to see Gabrielle shining as ~the new Xena~ Love to see her kicking that one dude's ass twice, and the moment she catches the chakram is super cool. The non-Xena chakram-catch has always been framed as an 'oh shit, this woman's gonna be hardcore as hell' moment in the show so I love that they use it to show how far Gab's come.

And of course, gay gay gay homosexual gay. Like, season 6 is the point where I would say it is textual if only the show didn't go out of its way to scream "IT'S STILL AMBIGUOUS" a couple times lol (reporter's question in You Are There, fans in Soul Possession saying "yay Xena and Gabrielle are finally together" when they hear Harry and Mattie are married, eg.) "If I only had thirty seconds to live, this is how I'd want to spend them: looking into your eyes. I love you, Gabrielle." Like goddamn. I appreciate this cast and crew so much. Plus the incredibly thinly veiled makeout scene <3

Finally, while I think her chatting with Xena at the very end was meant to be more metaphorical or symbolic rather than literally Gabrielle talking to herself, it was an unfortunately funny image and a pretty terrible final scene imo. I do like the 'I hear they're in need of a girl with a chakram' reprise though, I gotta admit. Go kick some ass babe <3

And despite very much not liking that Xena dies in the finale, I would still read/watch the shit out of Gabrielle's now-single adventures as a just-as-invincible gay hero, kicking ass, fucking women without ever settling down with anyone, telling stories about Xena and becoming even more famous herself.

[ellisgirl]

Jude Jazza & Ellis Twilight — Villains Want to Embarrass Little Robin Story Event

Chapter 1

I do not own any contents of Ikemen Villains. This story being uploaded in this blog belongs solely to CYBIRD. Please support them by downloading their games and buying their stories. Both English and Japanese are not my mother tongue languages, please keep in mind that there will be mistakes and added words for my own preferences. I translate for my personal entertainment and for my own practice only.

Victor: "Kate...... Will you be Her Majesty the Queen?"

Kate: "......It's a mission. Please tell me your story."

Victor: "Oh, how fast you're talking about! To your remarkable growth as a Fairy Tale Master I... I... I...Nngh——!”

Victor: "Aside from the feeling, that's right, it's a mission.”

Victor: "The American ambassador is coming. According to prior information, he was plotting an assassination."

Kate: "It's really important, isn't it... so I'm her double?"

Victor: "Yes. Jude and Ellis are going to be your bodyguards."

Kate: "Why those two...?!”

(Putting aside Ellis, Mr. Jude seems to be reluctant, I can hear him saying, "It's my time to read.")

Victor: "They used to being on the wrong side of a knife, and even if the ambassador carries out the assassination, the two of them will make it looks good!"

(.....It sure looks like they're going to do a good job of fighting it off....)

Kate: "What in the world do I have to do as Her Majesty?"

Victor: "We will be presented with gifts, and we will dine with them at a dinner party.

Victor: “Basically, you just have to accept the gifts gratefully.”

Victor: “Since the ministers on our side are also with us, it’s okay to basically leave difficult matters to them.”

Kate: "The point is, I just have to dress up as Her Majesty the Queen and sit down... Is that what you mean?”

Victor: "That's right! Her Majesty is someone who prefers tranquility, so I don't mind if you don’t say a word."

Victor: “I'll have them both follow up nicely, since you probably don't feel comfortable with your voice in the first place."

Victor: “It pains me to ask you to be the argument, but......I can only ask you because you know what's going on."

Victor: “I'd like to see you do it.”

(This is also proof that he is trusted me as a Fairy Tale Master. Besides, Her Majesty's life is at stake)

Kate: "Yes, I'll do my best."

(Mr. Jude is a sadist who enjoys torturing people.)

(I’m in debt to him, but I don't know what will be required at the end, so I can't do it coarsely.)

(Ellis is very kind and will do anything to make people happy, but......)

("anything" is too much, so you have to be careful not to be too spoiled.)

(Anyway, in order to finish this mission peacefully and safely, I will fulfill my duty as Her Majesty's substitute, that’s all)

Kate: "Victor, could you tell me about some of His Majesty's gestures? Habits and other characteristics?"

Victor: “…..”

Victor: "Of course, it's fine. I'll tell you everything I know."

…

After taking acting lessons from Victor, I was stuck in the library.

The royal family, the faces and names of ministers, the history of Britain and the United States. I gained some knowledge I wish I could, but...

…

(In the end, the more I studied, the more despair I felt just by facing the reality that I was full of things I didn't know...)

She wears a crown, a veil that covers to the bottom, shoes that disguise her height, and a luxurious dress,

I already overwhelmed by a sense of defeat,

Jude: "You fell asleep in the library, you mediocre."

Ellis: "I'm glad you didn't catch a cold."

Kate: “……!”

Mr. Jude and Ellis, who were on either side of me, smiled as if they had seen through my thoughts.

Kate: “I was wondering who might have been covered me with a blanket without my knowing it....... Was it the two of you?”

Ellis: "Yeah, Miss Kate, you looked cold.”

Kate: "Thank you, Ellis."

Ellis: “Jude was pushing Miss Kate, who was about to slip off your desk, back onto the desk.... by his knees."

Jude: "Because you got in the way."

Kate: "To kick a sleeping lady in the foot…..”

Jude: "Girls who are calling themselves Sleeping Beauty in the library make me laugh."

Jude: “You must have worked this little brain of yours in a mediocre's way, right? Great, great"

Ellis: “Yeah. It's so great that you're studying to impersonate Her Majesty."

The former is completely ironic, the latter is pure praise.

What kind of expression should I make, my facial muscles are confused.

(and... anyway)

Kate: "I look forward to working with you for the next two days."

Jude: “A decoy is someone who is willing to die in place of someone else.”

Jude: "...Even if you die, as long as I can get rid of the assassin, that's fine, so it's an easy win."

Ellis: “Don't worry, I'll take good care of you."

Ellis: "I don't know much about politics or diplomacy, but I'm good at reading the signs that knives and bullets are coming."

Ellis: "I'll do my best to support you so that you don't suffer.”

Kate: "Wow... I'll do my best, too."

If Mr. Jude is a spice that makes your tongue ache with pain, Ellis is a sweet sugar that has been boiled down to a sludge.

When I'm sandwiched between two extreme people, I don't have time to calm down.

(I wonder why Ellis works for Mr. Jude.)

(Mr. Jude isn't the type to attract people, but he keeps Ellis nearby.)

I remember hearing somewhere that the two of them are together because they have a contract.

(What kind of contract......?)

Jude: “A mediocre as queen is going to be ousted soon.”

Kate: “Even Mr. Jude, with that attitude and way of speaking, would you be able to act as Her Majesty’s bodyguard?”

Ellis: “Jude is more proper in these public appearances than you'd think."

Jude: "I don't know about you, but this guy is dangerous."

Kate: "What's wrong with Ellis.....?”

Ellis: "Well, what is it?"

Jude: "You'll know in the meantime."

(Are you saying that Ellis can't be a better escort than you? .....I have a feeling it's the other way around.)

Ellis: ".....Hey, Jude, Miss Kate."

Jude: “Aah?”

Kate: "What is it?"

Ellis: "I have one suggestion—“

Ellis: "If you can complete the mission without revealing your true identity, we'll ask each other for one favour. What do you think?"

(When the mission is complete, will you listen to my request?)

Jude: "What a shitty proposal."

Ellis: "I've been thinking about how Kate can enjoy the mission."

Ellis: "How about......?”

(Ellis, .....I'm so glad you thought of that.)

From this morning, I realised that my feelings were actually sinking due to the weight of the crown.

(.....Ellis really looks after people well.)

Kate: "Thank you very much, Ellis. Let's do that!"

Ellis: "Fufu, Deal."

(......Huh? But we ask for each other’s “requests”..... I mean...)

(By listening to Mr. Jude and Ellis’s requests...)

Jude: "......Well, good luck. I'll be thinking about what I'm going to "ask" you to do while I watch your abomination."

Ellis: "I will also think of a “request” that will make you happy..."

…

With a conflicting smile, my facial muscles were confused again.

———

Chamberlain: “U.S. Ambassador Abel Edmond has arrived.”

The chamberlain declares loudly, and the door of the audience room opens slowly.

(......It's finally time.)

Mr. Jude and Ellis are waiting behind.

"Why does Her Majesty send men from nowhere to wait on us instead of her guards?" I could hear the ministers whispering as we entered the hall.

(Once Mr. Jude glared at me, the nagging stopped suddenly.)

(When Ellis smiled, the awkward gazes also decreased.)

(As long as the two of them are with you, there's no danger to your life...It's okay.)

Straighten your back, straighten your posture, and adjust your habitation as Victor taught you.

(I will focus on acting like Her Majesty in the eyes of the ambassador who is about to come.)

Abel: “I am extremely humbled by the honor of having an audience with you, Her Majesty the Queen!”

The ambassador who appeared was a man with sparkling white teeth. A smile as bright as the sun.

(Wow... You're more frank than I thought.)

In response to his salute, I nodded quietly so as not to lose my dignity.

Ellis: “You look good."

Jude: "It's a noisy face even if you keep silent."

(Please don't make me laugh!)

With the background music of the whispered impressions expressed simply by the two men standing behind me, Mr. Abel enthusiastically introduced the offerings.

(Even through the veil, they look dazzling.......)

Once again, I am overwhelmed by the treasure that makes me feel the majesty of Her Majesty the Queen.

Abel: "And this is one of the rarest and most colorful birds in the world. It's even more beautiful with its wings spread."

When Mr. Abel pulled out a large parrot-like bird from the cage,

Abel: “Come on, let’s take a look!?”

The parrot suddenly lifted its head and flew away from Abel's hand.

(They're coming this way!?)

Jude & Ellis: “——!”

Masterlist

Chapter 1 >> Chapter 2 >> Premium End >> Epilogue