#but with japanese... at least for me i felt like you could get through 500 characters and still barely know whats going on

[itgirlification]

supermodel | jjk

the last three months have been hell for you, but Jungkook seemed to be living his best life.

pairing: ex-bf!jk x thick!reader

warnings: explicit mentions of body image and insecurities, infidelity, anal sex, oral (male receive), foul language (kinda), etc.

now playing: supermodel by sza

part two part three

Exactly three months ago, your and Jungkook’s 2 years relationship officially ended. Unofficially, it ended about 5 months ago. And for about one month now, Jungkook’s been seeing someone else.

Your heart and mind told you not to do it but you couldn’t help calculating. Three months ago, you were still dating, two months later, he started dating someone else. That must mean he’s known her for a while. Did he cheat on you with her? Well, it’s not like it matters now anyway, does it?

Her name was Yuki, an undeniable Japanese beauty. You were still in college, studying music and she was a famous model who appeared in internationally known magazines. You assumed she met Jungkook during a photoshoot since he was a professional photographer who often worked for companies like Vogue and Playboy. You couldn’t help but compare yourself to her.

It wasn’t the fact that he moved on so quickly that hurt you the most. It was the fact that he knew all about your low self-esteem and how you lack confidence. Especially about your body. And he still went and dated a model, of all professions in the world. He was definitely over you.

If you didn’t know any better, you’d think he did it on purpose. But thankfully, you knew better, he looked too happy for that to be even considered. He forgot about you.

You’re making yourself sadder by remembering all the times he assured you you were beautiful and your body was nothing to be ashamed of. The times he let his fingertips run over the lines of your stretch marks, whispering in your ear how much he loved them and how they reminded him of Tiger stripes. The times he caressed your jiggly thighs and told you how sexy he thought they were.

Then your mind would drift back to the phone in your hand, the Instagram page of Yuki Sakurai opened, careful not to accidentally like anything and expose yourself. Not that she’d notice anyway, she had 3.7 million followers, while you had a private one with 500 followers and no posts, and she gets around 300 to 700 thousand likes on each post, depending on whether she posts random photos or pretty pictures of herself. Or newly, your ex-boyfriend, Jungkook. Oh, how crazy everybody goes whenever she posts him. People love them together. You couldn’t blame them. Two attractive people? Of course, they’re gonna look great together.

Fucking great.

That the end of your relationship with Jungkook would look like this was semi-predictable from the beginning. He did admit to you that he never thought he’d date someone that looked like you when you first dated. And your heart broke a little. But he also made up for it in those two years, it was a beautiful relationship nonetheless.

While you weren’t exactly his ‘ideal’ type, he was definitely yours. You always heard from other women ‘when in a relationship, the man always has to love the woman more than she loves him. Otherwise, it won’t work.’ You never really got the saying until your breakup with Jungkook happened. It was the fact that you clearly loved Jungkook more than he loved you that lead to this.

“Oh my goodness!”, your roommate, Jane, dramatically exclaimed. “Will you stop feeling bad for yourself and do something? That’s not what hot girls do, sis.”

Jane was a lovely girl with a not so lovely temper. She always means well and you got along perfectly as soon as you met. Which was around 3 and a half years ago.

She looked over your shoulder to see what you were looking at. You obviously didn’t want her to see you snooping around your ex-boyfriend’s current girlfriend’s Instagram but it was too late.

“Seriously, yn?”, she took your phone in her hand and threw it on the bed. “Let’s go somewhere, you can’t do this to yourself anymore. I’m not letting you.”

Jane was clearly worried about you at this point. The only thing you did these last few weeks was eating, shower, cry, sleep and miss a whole bunch of classes. This wasn’t good at all.

“Where?”, your question was short.

“To the mall? Or the nail studio? Anything that’ll get you out of this fucking dormitory.”, Jane sighed, pulling the blanket off of you, making you whine a little. “C’mon, go put on some cute outfit and we’ll go.”

You felt bad since she was trying hard to make you feel better. But it didn’t really work.

You nodded, standing up from the bed, nonetheless. You picked out a cute two-piece dress, that brought back blurred memories of the time you went on a date with Jungkook, wearing the same two-piece. Bet Yuki would look cuter in this...

‘Shut your petty ass up, yn. It’s embarrassing, the way you’re stuck on a taken guy who wants nothing to do with you’

You wish you could change the way you think, even if it’s just for an hour or two. You wish you would stop imagining Jungkook judging you when he saw you naked or when you told him that you wished you could cut off some of your fat with a pair of scissors.

You were beyond ashamed of yourself. Why wasn’t it easy for you to just stay by yourself? why were you so desperately in need of Jungkook by your side to the point where you’d lock yourself in your room for a month just because he isn’t there?

You needed Jungkook. You became so attached to him in those two years, because you always saw him as a permanent, a forever. Not just a temporary, not just a distant memory. You already saw him as the father of your children, as the man you’re gonna marry.

You were so blinded by the fact that you had him, that you forgot you could lose him anytime.

“I’m done, let’s go.”, unenthusiastically, you announced to Jane, who was already waiting for you.

“Let’s get the fuck outta here!”, In contrast to your spirit, hers seemed to be all roses and daisies. “Lord knows you need it...”

__________

“Look at this cute ass skirt, girl”, Jane pointed at a chic, wine mini skirt she was holding. “You know, when I saw it back there I wanted to have it, but it’d look so much better on you”

You took a few seconds to admire Jane’s beauty. She was about 3 cm taller than you, had a great posture, and almond, dark brown eyes that suited her dark skin tone perfectly. Her body leaned more towards the slimmer side.

“Shut up! No, it would not”, you let out a small giggle. “It would look gorgeous on you, buy it.”

She smiled a little at your laughs. She was happy to see you at least a little cheerful again. “Yeah, but I think it’d look better on you. I’m entitled to my own opinion, am I not?”

You knew this debate was gonna go back and forth, because of her stubbornness. “Let’s both buy the skirt.”

You ended up doing so, added by a bunch of bags full of clothing. This may’ve turned into your new coping mechanism. Who needed therapy when you can go on a shopping spree?

Two hours were spent in boutiques and clothing stores and Jane decided she was tired, wanting to visit the local spa.

“No, seriously, these Riverdale seasons just keep on getting worse and worse. Netflix needs to step up their game ASAP”, Jane ranted, making you laugh at how serious she takes it. “It’s getting embarrassing. I’m being for real.”

The two of you were sitting in the whirlpool at the spa, relaxing your whole bodies a little.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever, I don’t watch these new Netflix shows anyways. Been stuck on the vampire diaries for the last 7 years”, you chuckled, knowing you hated trying new things. “Can you pass me one of those magazines?”

Jane nodded, grabbing a random one from the table next to her and handed it to you, without looking at it.

The cover of it caught your eyes immediately. How could it not, when your ex’s new girl looks absolutely dazzling on the front page of it.

‘Supermodel Yuki Sakurai talks summer fashion tips, struggle with self-love and most importantly, her hot, new boyfriend the media is going crazy over’ was the headline of the Harper’s Bazaar Magazine cover.

You felt your stomach getting sick and your breath getting heavier, but you still flipped the pages until you found the one with her interview. You began reading it, skipping the boring parts.

‘Int: so, we see you have a new boyfriend. Tell us, how did you guys meet?

Yuki: Yeah, he’s an amazing guy. We actually met about six or five months ago at one of my photoshoots, since he’s a photographer and we exchanged numbers and stuff, and then we made it official mid last month.’

About six or five months ago? You were with him back then, but her answer was too unclear to find out if he cheated or not.

“Woah, yn, you okay?”

You entirely forgot about the fact that you were with Jane, let alone somewhere other than your bed.

Before you could react, Jane snatched the magazine out of your hand.

“You really can’t escape them, huh?”, She sighs, taking you in her arm. “It’s gonna be okay, baby. In a few months, you’re gonna look back to this and think wow I really was stuck on a guy who’s scared of microwaves and cried like a bitch when Iron Man died.”

You laughed, punching her arm playfully. “You know, I actually love these things about him. Shows his sensitivity and the way he perceives things.”

Jane looked at you as if she didn’t believe you were actually saying that stuff. “Girl, you’re overanalyzing this. Let’s just throw this shit in the trash, okay?”

She put the magazine aside.

“I just don't know what I did wrong.”, You murmured. “I know we weren't the best, but we didn't even fight that much. We could’ve talked it through.”

Jane pursed her lips and cooed. “You know, relationships are complicated sometimes. The reason why he broke up, to begin with, is probably not your fault.”

“Well, what if it is? I mean what if I was too fat or too ugly for him?”, you asked. “If he wanted a skinny girl so bad, I could’ve lost weight for him, I don’t get it.”

Jane looked at you like you lost your mind entirely. “I can’t believe you just said that! Even if that was the reason, which it wasn’t, you shouldn’t make yourself suffer because of it. That’s his loss. You’re beyond gorgeous and you have an amazing body.”

“You’re just saying that.”, tears slowly started coming up in your eyes. “But the thing is Jungkook knows all about my insecurities. Why would he do that to me? I know he knows that I’m still not over him.”

You usually didn’t like crying in front of other people, but you didn’t really care at the moment, besides that was Jane. You trusted her with your life.

“Girl, men are trash, I can’t believe you’re crying over one right now, seriously.”, she wiped your tears and held your face between her hands. “You know, honestly, I’ve read so many articles about how models actually hate themselves and have like the lowest self-esteem so in conclusion, no matter how miserable you are, his new girl is even more miserable.”

You knew Jane didn’t mean it in a harmful way, but it sounded harsher than needed. “I don’t hate her, she probably doesn’t even know about me. I’m just really insecure. He upgraded from me. He’s dating a whole model now.”

The situation just felt like a deja vu of these last few weeks laying in your bed, even though you were at the spa with your friend. You were supposed to have fun, yet you didn’t feel like having any.

“Why would you feel insecure when all you’ve seen of her are Instagram posts and red carpet pictures? She’s supposed to look beautiful, it’s her job.”

To a certain extent, Jane was right, but that didn’t really help your situation, you still felt bad about yourself. You stayed silent.

“C’mon, this isn’t fun anymore. Let’s leave.”, Jane mumbled.

_______

it’s been two days since the incident at the spa and you felt a little bit better now.

Those days were spent reading the same three book series you’ve read your entire life, overthinking, hot Cheetos, Indian takeout, and Netflix. It really wasn’t as miserable as it sounded.

You were just taking a little rest before term break ends and you have to go back to the shithole college again.

Jane was using the time until college starts again, but in different ways than you were. She was planning on going to some frat party in an hour and forget about the world’ for a minute. Or till 4 in the morning, where she will most likely drunk call you and ask you for a ride back to the dorms, because the friends she went to the party with were shit-faced as well and were in no way capable of driving anywhere without the cops stopping them.

Going out partying on a Friday night was a Jane tradition. In the past, you’d sometimes go with her, but you mostly spent your time out with Jungkook doing something more fun than partying could ever be. Now you can’t do that anymore, but laying in bed is more ideal than a party for you at the moment.

“How do I look?”, Jane twirled around to show off her black cocktail dress. She looked beautiful.

“You look beautiful.”, you responded to her question. “Are you leaving now?”

“Hm”, she said, to which you nodded. “You sure you don’t wanna come with me? It’s gonna be really fun.”

You shook your head no.

“Alright”, she shrugged, making her way out of your bedroom. “But I told you, it’s gonna be fun.”

You chuckled, rolling your eyes. “I’ll stay here, I have shit to do.”

“Yeah, right, like binge-watching the vampire diaries and taking 5-hour naps”, she said in a sarcastic tone. “Anyway, bye-bye, Vic’s already waiting for me in the car.”

Victoria was perhaps one of the most obnoxious people you know, yet she was too much of a nice person for you to talk shit about her. The voice of your intrusive thoughts couldn’t help but to, though.

“Alright, bye, take care and say hi to Vic from me.”

After Jane left, an hour went by like it was just a couple of minutes. You were starting to get real bored and decided to watch some regular tv in hopes to find something you enjoy. You ended up not finding anything fun, but you still watched it, because you didn’t have anything else to do.

A few moments later, the doorbell rang and you were suddenly worried. Either this is a serial killer or Jane forgot something.

But to your surprise, it was neither, but it was none other than

“Jungkook?”, truly, those were the only words you were able to mutter out at your shocked state. “What are you do-“

At the speed of light, you were interrupted by your ex-boyfriend pressing his lips to yours. He didn’t say a word.

You weren’t expecting him. Not knowing how you were supposed to feel at the moment, you just let it happen. You were sure your mental state couldn’t get any worse than that, no matter how this will affect you in the end.

“Is Jane home?”, for the first time in 3 months, you’re hearing his silky voice again.

Jungkook knew Jane always had some type of special hatred for him with her killing stares and her bitter comments. You didn’t notice either though.

He also knew she must hate him even more after your breakup. Or maybe she liked him more now since she was able to get rid of him without killing anyone.

“No”, your answer was short and it made a weight fall from Jungkook’s shoulders before he continued kissing you.

It wasn’t anything you haven’t done before, yet it felt like it’s been ages since it last happened. Your mind drifted to the thought of Jungkook and his model girlfriend. You were asking yourself what their sex life was like, if she was tighter than you or if she had stretch marks and scars.

Jungkook’s lips were moving south, giving your neck wet kisses, while you were wondering why he broke up with his model girlfriend. Or if he even did. You felt selfish for not caring.

Removing your clothes one by one, you were left in your underwear, while Jungkook only had his boxers on.

This body was yours. You knew it inside out. Where he liked to get touched and where he preferred not to. You knew him better than anyone else. You were sure.

You already moved to your bedroom, since Jungkook effortlessly carried you there. You were sat on his lap, facing him and your hands were in his messy hair. His hands were around your waist, he was slightly smiling into the kiss, as you started grinding on him. He loved how easy it was for him to turn you on. You were still his.

Cutting off the kiss, he looked you in the eyes, while his hand was on your cheek. “Say aah.”, he said.

You widened your mouth obediently, which was followed by him collecting as much saliva as he could in his mouth and spitting it into your mouth.

“Swallow.”, demanding, he spit on your face, his eyes become darker with every passing moment. You did as he said.

You looked at him with big eyes. He knew you loved it. You’ve always had a thing for him degrading and humiliating you during sex.

He started grinding on you almost desperately. You knew exactly what he wanted.

Getting out of his grip, you dropped to your knees and freed his hard dick from his drawers. You reached for it and started pumping it, and licking it. Your spit was leaking down his dick as you used it for lubrication. Then you started sucking on it, just the way you used to.

Jungkook’s groans and satisfied sighs were enough to make you even wetter than before. You enjoyed giving more than receiving.

Your mouth was wet and warm around him, giving him a feeling of familiarity. You lick over the tip a few times, then proceed to fully take him into your mouth.

The bulge in your throat could be seen and the way your eyes were tearing up a little wasn’t bothering you at all. You loved giving.

Jungkook started thrusting in and out of your warm, welcoming mouth, his tip hitting the back of your throat multiple times.

“Fuck”, a throaty moan left Jungkook’s mouth, giving you hints that he was about to cum. And he did, releasing in your mouth before you swallowed it. “Shit, baby, that was so good.”

You felt your face heat up and a sheepish smile made its way to your face. Your throat was sore.

The two of you were on the bed again. To you, it felt like it was the times before your breakup again, when you’d purposely start an argument just for the makeup sex because Jungkook wasn’t giving you any anymore. It was like sex was the only thing to look forward to.

You felt attached to Jungkook to a point where it was dangerous. You weren’t okay when he wasn’t around. He affected every part of your life and God knew it wasn’t always a positive thing. Maybe it was the fact that he took your virginity. Maybe because he was your first boyfriend, the first guy that made you believe you were worthy of love and that someone was actually capable of loving you. One thing you knew was Jungkook had an expansive influence on your life.

While you were practically drowning in your own thoughts, Jungkook was busy taking off your underwear.

“You okay?”, Jungkook calmly asked you, looking at your riddled face.

“Huh? Yeah, I’m okay.”, you sounded distracted, Jungkook wasn’t sure about asking you what it is though. He didn’t feel like getting personal.

So he shrugged it off and started kissing you again, his dick was unsurprisingly hard again as he played with your tits. He drew lines over the stretch marks of your thighs and kissed them.

“Can I fuck your ass?”, Jungkook’s raspy, tired-sounding voice casually asked, to which you quickly nodded, knowing that Jungkook’s favorite position had always been anal. He was massaging and gripping your ass firmly.

“This is gonna hurt at first, but I promise it gets better.”, He warned calmly into your ear, while putting some lube on his dick and just went right into your ass, slowly thrusting so you don’t feel as much pain.

He was right, it did hurt a lot when he first put it in, but the pain just changed into pleasure in a matter of time and his slow-paced thrusts helped with the adjustment.

“Fuck, I missed this ass”, he practically growled into your ear, as he kept on thrusting in and out, steadily gripping your wide hips with his big, veiny hands. “It just doesn’t feel right when I’m inside her ass.”

You knew your confidence shouldn’t rely on Jungkook bringing his girlfriend down, but you couldn’t help but feel good about your body when he said that. It’s been a while since you felt even a tiny spark of confidence. You weren’t so fond of him mentioning her while he was inside of you.

Your soft moans rang through the whole room like sirens, while he watched your ass jiggle against his pelvis, thrusting in and out faster every second. He missed this.

You had always thought you were indecisive, but you knew exactly what you wanted. You just couldn’t have that, so you’d eventually have to settle for less.

Jungkook wasn’t to blame for it, you just couldn’t concede your shortcomings. The movie’s villain wasn’t always the real villain.

Your hands traveled to your pussy to make sure you’d orgasm as well, when you heard Jungkook’s breathing getting heavier and his thrusts getting gentler than before, indicating that he was gonna cum soon. You were certain he could make you cum with just anal, but you wanted to cum with him.

With furrowed eyebrows and drops of sweat dripping down his body, Jungkook looked down at your arched back. The whole scene was sticky, especially when Jungkook presses his upper body to your back, whispering sweet nothings into your ear and kissing the spot.

It was kinda odd, having sex with your ex-boyfriend you were crying over just a day ago. There was a certain intensity to it though. Like your long-lasting nostalgia was finally fulfilled.

You’ve realized you couldn’t imagine yourself being intimate with anybody else. Jungkook already knew your body, how it looked without the material protecting it, the strawberry skin, the slightly sagging breasts you swore you’d surgically remove once you had the chance to but didn’t. He knew where you liked being touched, he was the first one to even touch you in those places.

You were unsure what you’d do with yourself when he leaves.

Jungkook’s thrusts slowly started stopping and you too felt the familiar sensation in your stomach.

Suddenly, you two were nothing but desire, fear, and pleasure. And faster than you could process, you came together.

For minutes after your orgasm, you were just laying on the bed, thoughtless. Maybe a little regretful. Not you, but him.

You weren’t facing each other, but you could hear each other’s breathing. Your stomach was filled with something you’d describe as post-sex melancholia.

All of a sudden, Jungkook stood up from the bed, startling your resting self a little, but you decided to keep quiet, wanting to see what he was going to do.

He made his way to the door to leave what he thought was your sleeping body laying there. You couldn’t keep quiet anymore.

“Where are you going?”, your soft voice suddenly rang in his ears. “Don’t you wanna stay?”

He didn’t know how exactly to tell you. You’ve always been a gullible little girl, you were the type of girl to think fucking equals love. Little did you know that wasn’t the case at all.

“Yn.... you know I can’t”, Jungkook responded, you knew it wasn’t gonna be good when he said your name like that. “I got a girl at home and I don’t wanna mess shit up with her.”

There it was. Your suspicion was corroborated. He was still going out with the model and you were a certified home wrecker. Great.

You physically felt your heart breaking. “Bu- but why are you here then?”

You were incapable of being mad at him at the moment. It was your fault for letting him in, again. After breaking your trust and your heart.

“This was a mistake”, he declared, not looking into your eyes. “I’m sorry, yn...”

He’s moved past your room now, already at the exit of your dormitory. He was about to leave.

“You already ruined shit with her when you came here and fucked me.”, your voice was small, but your words were heard.

Without looking back, he left.

And you went back to your room, standing in the middle of it for a minute in silence before your brain fully processed what had happened and your tears started pouring.

[17wishbones]

Whew! It is now time to post the sequel for this little short series I made. Again, it’ll be no more than 7 chapters with the parts split if it’s a continuation. I’m super ecstatic to post this. I’ve been thinking, editing, and brainstorming ideas for this so I hope it reads well for you all. So please, come and enjoy KIMETSU DAIGAKU: SUNFLOWER’S BLESSING. The name may change in the future. Other than that, enjoy chapter 1! :> SN: All are welcome to read, but this is a POC reader insert, FYI. That is all! SN2: I studied Japanese for a time and studied abroad but that was years ago so excuse me if some of the written dialogue is rough. Wanted to show (reader) learning the language even if it’s real easy, conversational sentences. SN3: Rengoku in a button-up white shirt, khakis and a tie? *slams down credit card* - - - - - - - -                        Chapter I: RENGOKU-SENSEI, RENGOKU-SENSEI

Everyday, so far, was a surprise when it came to Rengoku.

You honestly didn’t know what to do with yourself. You had thought studying with Rengoku would be an after school sort of thing as you mingled in classes with other students but somehow, he was able to catch you from different periods for almost a whole week!

Mayamoto-sensei encouraged engagement with local students at the university so she allowed you to go with your new teacher everyday. Jealousy riled the others on how you were getting special treatment other than being the only brown-skinned girl on this trip. 

It bothered you sometimes, because it wasn’t anything like that! But every greeting from Rengoku was positive and enthusiastic. He greeted you kindly in both English and Japanese. He taught you well, proving that he can be strict, attentive, and instructive. Then, at the end, he’d engage you in short conversations to see how well he was doing teaching you the language and how well you were catching on.

“You did great today, _____! You’ve already made great strides on your flow!”

“That’s because you’re a great teacher, Rengoku-sensei. You did have me sweating bullets the first few days, though. I didn’t think I would catch up.” You closed and put your notebook in your bag. “I feel bad because the others don’t like that I get one-on-one time with you like this.”

“Ah, they’re jealous, I see!” He crossed his arms over his chest, his smile forever wide. It was this pose that had you thinking this was déjà vu, but you don’t know why. “Then it can’t be helped! Don’t worry yourself about what they think!”

“I shouldn’t?”

“Nn!” He locked eyes with you again and spoke proudly with his chest out. “Set your heart ablaze and move onward!” An explosive aura filled the room and warmed your body. “No matter what anyone else says, you do what you think in your heart is right!”

Your heart beat fast and your stomach fluttered with butterflies. ‘Why does he look at me like that? Why does he make me feel this way?’ His burning gaze made you feel like he only saw you in his world, but you shook the thought away.

“Is there something on your mind, _____?” 

Your eyes shifted, looking for anything else to say other than what was on your mind. It’d be weird to just be like, ‘hey, I like you and would jump your bones anytime!’ Instead, you found the clock and remembered. “I wanted to visit the flower shop, and see the flower arrangements. I saw one on my way to the girls’ dorm.”

“Let me accompany you!” Rengoku’s open offer made you blush. “I freed myself for the evening just in case!”

This shocked you. “W-what about your schoolwork?”

“I finished it all this morning before meeting with you!”

“And your… colorful friends??” You saw him speak with a few interesting people but he quickly came to you the moment you walked into the fray.

“I have already informed them of my plans this morning!” Your face cracked. He had an answer for everything! “I want to be a good teacher for you and help you as much as I can!”

“Why, Rengoku-sensei?” You asked, curious at what his reason could be.

“Because I like you, _____-chan!”

Your eyes almost popped out. ‘Like me? Like… ‘like me’ like me? Or just like being around me? Whew, boy, you need to stop playing with me because I don’t think my heart can take all of this!’

“Are you ready to go to the flower shop?”

“Y-Yes! Let me get my things, Rengoku-sensei.”

“Kyōjurō.” He corrected you.

“Oh! Kyōjurō…” you circled through the honorifics that he taught you, trying to remember which one was appropriate. “...-kun?”

“Hmm?” He sounded, wanting you to repeat yourself once more.

“Kyōjurō-kun, right?”

A small blush warmed his fair cheeks as he nodded in agreement. “Nn!” He hadn’t expected you to call him that fondly and it ignited his determination to get close to you. A month was not enough time, but he was going to make it work.

You both headed down the slope of the school, crossing a lone shop with beautiful arrangements set everywhere. You ‘ooh’ed and ‘awe’d at each flower that Rengoku named outloud. You repeated, of course. You felt like you were in your own heaven as you gazed at, touched, and smelled the flowers.

You were so happy.

What caught your eyes next were the large, golden blooms held high on long stalks. “Kyōjurō-kun,” he looked over and an overwhelming feeling washed over him when you stood next to the sunflowers, grinning from ear to ear as you asked him, “What’s a sunflower called?”

‘_____, if I could name them after you.’ He walked up next to you, bathing himself in your presence. “Himawari.”

“Himawari. Such a beautiful name for a beautiful flower.”

“I think so, too.” Rengoku wasn’t talking about the sunflower, however.

“Ah, konnichiwa,” you greeted the florist, “Kore wa ikura desu ka?” (How much is this?)

“Go-hyaku-jyuu yen desu.” (500 yen.)

“That’s like… 500 yen, yeah? I think I got it.” As you looked in your bag for the coins instead of breaking the 1000 yen bill.

“Arigatou gozaimasu!” (Thank you so much!) Rengoku bowed and received your wrapped sunflower before handing it to you. “Douzo, _____-chan!” (Here, _____!)

“Ah, Kyōjurō-kun, you didn’t have to buy it for me, but thank you so much!”

“Why wouldn’t I want to buy something for you?” He questioned as you both left the shop. “As I said, I like you, _____-chan! And I want to spend time with you outside of school.”

“Like… together?”

“Yes!”

“Oh, well, honestly, I’d be down for that! Since boys aren’t allowed in the girls dorm, where do you want to go? What do you want to do?”

“I want to kiss you,” he answered shamelessly, “Hold you, and never let you go!” You both made eye contact on the walk back. “Though, I have been holding myself back in case you didn’t like me.”

His words electrified you and he hadn’t even touched you yet in any way whatsoever. “It’s not like you’re handsome or anything…”

“You think I’m handsome?” He beamed suddenly.

You tried playing coy but this kind of mannerism didn’t work for you and, honestly, you liked Rengoku’s straightforwardness. “Yes, I do. When we first met, I liked you instantly. You made me feel so nervous and so excited at the same time.”

“Oh?” He thought for a moment. “Can I hold your hand?” He asked sweetly. “I don’t want you to feel nervous around me, only excited! Happy! Loved!”

“Are you sure that’s okay? Won’t people stare more than they already do at us?”

“I don’t care if they do or don’t! Let them stare! As long as I’m with you, I’m happy.” He gently linked his rough hands with your soft ones, locking them. “I feel I am the luckiest man alive right now because you’re here with me!”

“How many girls have you told that to?”

“Only you, my Sunflower!” 

You choked on your own spit. “Your Sunflower? You’re so sure I’m not taken?”

“Yes and yes! I hope to have you for myself as well.”

“For my short time here?”

Rengoku shook his head. “Forever.”

‘Oh my god. Did he just charm his way into my heart?’ You felt the sincerity in his words and saw the genuity in his owlish eyes. “This all really feels like déjà vu.”

“Déjà vu?”

“Like this happened before. It’s… familiar.”

“Nn! It’s fate that we met as we did!”

‘Fate, huh?’ You didn’t notice that you arrived at the girls’ dorm. “Oh, we’re here!” You thought to loosen your hand from his but your arm suddenly didn’t work with you. He wasn’t letting go either. “Our plans tonight are…?”

“Nani o shitai desu ka?” (What do you want to do?)

“Uh!” Always catching you off guard like that kept you on your toes. Besides, practice made perfect. “Karaoke… ni ikitai desu yo!” (I want to go to Karaoke!)

“Nanji ni ikitai desu ka?” (What time do you want to go?)

Your thinking of literally translating what you wanted to say from English to Japanese made each response a little slow. It took time to gain fluency. “Hachiji ii desu ka?” (8 o’clock okay?)

“Close! “Hachiji de ii desu ka” but you did a great job nonetheless! And yes, 8 is fine with me.”

“So…” you felt reluctant to leave him now even if for a few hours, “I’ll see you later?”

“I’ll wait for you to change and pack up some clothes!” You looked at him incredulously. “As I said, I want to kiss you, hold you, and never let you go! At least for a night!” Though he spoke his desire, ‘Am I asking too much from her all of a sudden? I can’t read the cute and twisted expressions on her face yet. It is her choice to—’

“Let’s do it!” Rengoku’s mouth dropped in surprise. “The dorm gates close at 9pm anyway, for whatever reason, while the boys are allowed to go out and do as they please with the gate open.” You huffed, annoyed. “Oh. Where do you live?” 

“I live in an apartment 20 minutes down the road.”

“All by yourself?”

“Mhm! I can’t wait to show you! So be quick, Sunflower!” He happily guided you across the gate by the small of your back.

You held in your panic as you got a set of clothes for tomorrow, gathering what you could quickly so you didn’t cross the other students and was out and about with Rengoku as soon as possible.

Honestly, you barely avoided them as you came outside, took him by the hand, and rushed off. They were sure to talk about you, or maybe not at all. You had an over friendly and trusting disposition to a fault, but you were adventurous and open minded. - - - - - - - - - - -  Chapters: 1 (Part 1)/ (Part 2)/ (Part 3) | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

[bukojuiice]

a love like the movies  — todoroki shoto

ೃ pairing: (new pro hero! shoto todoroki x female reader)

ೃ  warnings: none

ೃ genre: fluff overload

ೃ word count: 2,024 words

ೃ   𝐦𝐲 𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐚𝐤𝐮𝐠𝐨 𝐱 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐮 (𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐝𝐨 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞! 𝐮𝐰𝐮) 𝐦𝐲 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 (𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐦𝐞 𝐜:)

ೃ 𝐢 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐬𝐨 𝐬𝐨 𝐬𝐨 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐟𝐮𝐧 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬. 𝐢 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐮𝐲𝐬 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐲 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫!! 

ೃ 𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐨: 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐲 𝐛𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐱 𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐲

ೃ Shoto spends his only day of rest and relaxation by watching iconic tv shows with you 

Being one of the top pro-heroes of Japan, Shoto Todoroki always had a tight schedule. May it be fighting off villains, attending interviews from local and international news, managing his father's hero agency, or seeing through the internship of some aspiring heroes, he barely has enough time to be with his family and loved ones. Today, Shoto has one and a half days off before he has to go off to this big mission in the South of Japan.... and what better way would the Top No. 3 Hero do than spend it than with you? "Hey (Y/N)." Shoto calls out to you, in his usual monotonous voice that you know and love, holding a bag of popcorn. "What's up?" You look up to him, whilst propping the pillows on the couch and the table for your TV show marathon. "I got a joke.." He says monotonously, to the point you couldn't even tell if he was even about to say a joke or not. "Is your name Ariel?" "Why?" You ask, playing along with his joke. "Because I think we mermaid for each other." He stifles a laugh, trying his best not to laugh out loud (at a joke he apparently made on his own) as he jumps onto the couch. "Oh my goddd Shoto-kun." You groan loudly, shaking your head. "Since when were you one to make dad jokes? This is slightly out of character for you in all honesty." You cross your arms, still trying to process the fact that your boyfriend. The ever so proud and handsome, Todoroki Shoto, literally just said a dad joke right in front of your face. As in directly to you. Who knew this day would come? "Kaminari said that you'd fall even more head over heels in love with me if I told you a dad joke" He deadpans, cuddling up next to you. "I missed you too much." He pecks your cheek and you couldn't help but giggle. It was a pleasant surprise when your Half Cold-Half Hot boyfriend was in your doorstep this morning. You initially thought that he would be spending his whole day resting, but he did promise that he would at least have a movie or TV marathon with you before he had to go off in a important mission. You just felt guilty that he had to spend it on his only day of rest and relaxation for the month, and then he's back to work. "These are the shows that Izuku recommended." You show him DVDs of Friends, The Office and How I met your Mother. "After all, you do want to watch some old popular sit-coms right?" "Aside from that, Izuku might have slipped and confessed to me that you said that you've been dying to watch some of these." He looks at you and tilts his head, grabbing one of the DVDS. "Well then, let's get to it." "I have a list of some of the most recommended episodes of each show right here." You bring out a piece of paper, hundreds of words scribbled onto it. The love of your life couldn't help but laugh at your eagerness and your interest at the shows that you two were going to be watching. "I'll go cook up some Cold Soba for the two of us. Are you sure you're fine with setting up the TV?" "Yes... I mean Of course!" You nod profusely. "It'd be a huge mess if I was the one who cooked our food instead." Shoto smiles at you and ruffles your hair as he stands up from the couch and heads to the kitchen. After fixing everything up, You put in the 5th Season DVD of The Office (as Izuku had recommended it had one of the best episodes in the series) and you press on the remote control for it to skip to the 13th episode titled Stress Relief. Shoto comes back earlier than expected with two bowls of Cold Soba on both of his hands. "So...what did I miss?" "Gee. That was fast." You get one of the bowls and chopsticks from him and start munching on the noodles. "Not that I'm complaining though. Amazing as always Pee Pee guy." You giggle. "You're really bringing that back huh?" He smirks at you and puts down his bowl of soba. You wonder why until he scoots over to you and slides his hands on your waist. Now, you knew exactly why. "Hey! Stop it! You might think I'm All Might's love child!" You laugh, teasing him again, even though you were already being tickled mercilessly. Shoto stops for a second to give you an enticing glare and then tickles you again, only harder this time. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) The episode had started playing as the intro of the Office appeared in the screen. Shoto stops tickling you as he didn't want to waste more time than he already has, and the two of you start watching You take a deep breath, trying to recover from your endorphin rush. "You have to watch the intro to this episode! It's hilarious!" You nudge Shoto, wanting him to pay more attention. The two of you start snickering when one of the main characters, Dwight, as a way to teach fire safety, sets a fire in an office trash can with a cigarette, saying "Today smoking will save lives." with a straight face. Chaos then ensues in the episode. During the subsequent panic, the office's only copy machine was destroyed, one of them smashes a window to call for help, and an improv of one of the characters, taking advantage of the havoc by raiding the snack machine. One of the female worker characters even had a cat hidden in her file cabinet, and she had tossed it into the air vent so that it could escape. You were already laughing your heart out, looking at Shoto to see if he was laughing the same way as you were too, only for your glance at him to time perfectly, as he lets out a burst of laughter; one that you rarely see from him. Your eyes lit up and you feel your heart burst from seeing your usually so stoic and stern boyfriend, show such an array of positive emotions. "Why is this funnier than it should be?" His cute laugh echoes throughout your apartment. "I have to go do this with Izuku and the others some time." You laugh along with him, "Make sure to call me up if ever you guys ever end up making one!" You watch a few more episodes until you hear rain pouring outside. You pause the episode that the two of you were watching for a minute, and then stood up to look outside the window. "This is so cool! It really sets the mood!" You jump up and down as you couldn't contain your excitement and rush to your room. Your boyfriend looks at you puzzled, as he didn't know what you were being so happy about, until you came back from your room with a long and big fuzzy blanket. "It's cuddle weather!" You sit back on the couch and nuzzle next to Shoto, putting the blanket on top of the two of you. You rest your head on his shoulder and continue watching. You ended up watching all the episodes of season five of The Office for the whole morning. You took a look at the time. It was already the afternoon and you had several more hours to spare, so you then pop in a DVD of the 3rd season of Friends. "Rachel and Ross' relationship is really getting on my nerves." Shoto pouts in disappointment. You chuckle lightly because of how cute he looked and because of how interested he was. "There's so much drama in this series. How come Izuku considers this as one of his favorite shows?" He shakes his head yet continues watching. "They were on a break." You nudge his arm, referencing one of Ross' most iconic lines. "You know what? Speaking of breaks, I'm going on a bathroom break." He stands up from the couch and goes straight to the bathroom. You giggle at his sudden interest in the show, since he is now able to have his own criticisms and opinions on it. He comes back with a huge grin on his face. You look up at him. "Hm? Anything wrong?" "Hey, how you doin? "He says in a thick Japanese accent as he winks at you, trying to copy Joey's iconic pick-up line from the show. "Oh my goddddd Sho-kun." You groan at his antics again. "I can't even give you a pass for that. That was a really bad joke." On the inside however, you wanted to die of embarrassment and of giddiness. His sudden spike of confidence and how hot he looked whilst reciting one of the most iconic tv show lines of all time. You just wanted to tackle him down and cuddle all night, just from him saying that line alone. You were that aroused. "If Joey can get a girl to fall for him through that line, then why can't I do it on you?" "Because- I'm not like one of those girls... I'm one of a kind." You wink back at him. "Okay now that was a bad joke." "Yea yea I know... Let's just get back to watching Friends." The last episode of the season ended with the beach house, and you turned to look at Shoto for his comments. "Chandler really was the star of the show in this season. So was Phoebe. You know, I'll bet you 500 Million Yen that Chandler and Monica will end up together after that last episode." You were surprised at Shoto's attention to detail on the body languages of the characters. How'd he predict that the two would end up in one of the later seasons of the show "Wait til' Season Four." You boop his nose, keeping the spoilers for another future Friends marathon. The next show on your list was How I met Your Mother, though the show was quite similar to Friends, it did have a lot of good elements that the latter didn't have. Although the two of you just ended up watching the last few episodes of How I Met Your Mother since both of you were able to watch the previous seasons prior to your marathon. In the middle of one of the last episodes, Shoto gets comfortable and lays down on the sofa. He leaves a little space for you to sit on, though you didn't complain since you were too invested in the show. The last episode ends, and the credits start to roll. It was already the middle of the night and you were quite sleepy. You stretch your arms and lay down on his chest, Shoto brings you closer for warmth and whispers, "You know, I can't wait to tell our future kids our love story and tell them, "'And that kids is how I met your mother." You giggle and smile at his comment and slowly close your eyes, you hear the faint sound of the TV turning off and the rain still pouring outside, as you drift off to dreamland. "Midoriya. I'll probably be a bit late for our call time tomorrow." Shoto speaks in a soft voice on his phone, as a way to try and not to wake you up. "I just got into a little situation. Nothing big." Your boyfriend smiles, playing with your hair and looking at you with all the love he has to offer in this world. "Thanks. I'll see you tomorrow." Shoto whispers loudly and then ends the call. He turns off his phone and plants a kiss on your forehead. He closes his eyes, a contented smile on his face, as he also drifts off to sleep whilst you sleeping soundly on his chest. That night, both of you could not imagine spending an even better day with each other, but being in each other's arms. ♡ The End.

[chaletnz]

Furano Trip

To make the most of my two days off I decided to drive to Furano after finishing work, to ensure I would be able to see the lavender first thing in the morning. I packed up the car and had a shower, then headed off. About 5 minutes after leaving home, I approached a cat sitting calmly in the middle of my lane, I screeched to a stop and the cat didn’t run so I rolled over the top and then it must’ve slunk away. It was enough to give me a fright, I drove a little slower from that point on since I was still in town. Well, after clearing Kutchan town I was on a country road on the way towards the mountains and the second cat was not as lucky... He darted out from a farmhouse and I saw his little ginger face in the split second before he bounced into the right front tyre. There was a bit of a thud but no bump. He ran off into the bushes. Very shakily I pulled over and went to investigate, there was a woman there who could speak English and she said she had seen him run down into the bushes surrounding the farm. I left with an eerie feeling that maybe I should go back home and drive tomorrow, like these cats were meant to be a sign. I drove on for about an hour, my lights on highbeam and my eyes on high alert – I was more concerned about deer now. I pulled over after another hour or so and sent a message to my mum just in case the universe was conspiring, and then the spookiest part... As I was sitting in the car recording my message, a third cat came running towards me! In the middle of nowhere! Very carefully I drove around it and back on to the road and that was thankfully the last cat I saw on the drive. After that it was smooth, I stopped for a late night McDonald’s at Chitose and then drove on until I found a nice big parking lot with a 24 hour toilet. There were bugs everywhere in the heat of a warm summer’s night, flying around the lights of the toilet building. I slept quite well all things considered.

The next morning I woke up around 6am when the heat in the car simply became too much to bear. It was gearing up to be at least 30 degrees today. Somehow the exact time I wanted to use the bathroom there was a cleaning crew surrounding it and I could just quickly brush my teeth and wash my face before leaving. I started by visiting a large campground park that I had intended on staying at last night but didn’t quite reach there, and luckily I hadn’t because it was a crowded carpark with a far worse toilet! I drove up to the first lavender field of the day, Choei Lavender Farm. There was a winding road up the back to reach a mountaintop viewpoint overlooking the lavender and the Kamifurano township. I battled to take some videos with my GoPro that seemed to be struggling in the heat already – by 8am it was already 28 degrees. Japan doesn’t do daylight savings so it means that sunrise is about 3am in summer so the hottest part of the day is earlier in the morning than you would expect. I parked down at the bottom of this farm and took a few more photos although it wasn’t possible to get a good angle of the word “Kamifurano” spelled out in Hiragana in large lettering filled with colourful flowers. I decided to get some gas because Kimbo was already thirsty again, and then arrived at Farm Tomita just before 9am. As Google maps directed me there, she made sure to inform me “this destination will be closed when you arrive” but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to wait for 10 minutes in the carpark. Well it seemed that the Japanese had the same idea! The main parking lot was already full and the parking attendant waved his lightsaber to guide me right down to the back lot. Furano has great flower fields but not much shade so poor Kimbo had to suffer in the sun while I went for a walk around. By now it was 30 degrees and humid. Japanese people carried umbrellas and wore full length sleeves in the heat. Many people were dressed up in their Sunday best to take family photos in the lavender with a bouquet purchased from the gift shop for 500 yen. Dogs were posed for photos and then taken back into the shade where they could lie down. I took my photos and walked around the perimeter but it was far too hot for me so I had to browse in one of the air conditioned gift shops to cool down. I tried to walk up the side of one of the more shady lavender fields but it was deceivingly steep and I struggled to get halfway! It was time for an ice cream break by 9.30am, and of course I had to try the lavender ice cream again. It was a soft purple colour, with a mild taste and started dripping immediately. Luckily there was a shady seat to sit and eat it and appreciate the views of Kamifurano and the mountains in the distance. In winter Furano is also a hugely popular ski resort that is often paired with Niseko for longer snowsports trips. To distract my thoughts, a child squeaked in with those annoying shoes that sound like you’re standing on a plush toy squeaker with every step. All heads turned to look at the child, who promptly trips up and starts scream-crying uncontrollably. And now my relaxing ice cream break was ruined. I walked around a little bit more and bought a few postcards and lavender things to send home then sat down for a drink and a potato croquette for an early lunch. I had been waiting around for a bit because I wanted to visit a café nearby that opened only at 12pm. It was relaxing anyway to sit and watch Japanese people enjoying the lavender and trying to get the best photos when the entirety of the scene is purple!

I drove to Kamifurano town and parked at the post office as I couldn’t find any free parking lots near the Polar Coffee café, I withdrew some cash and then walked there as a loud alarm sounded through the city – presumably a test as no one seemed even mildly concerned. On Instagram yesterday I’d seen that my colleagues Tim and Nick had come to this café which is owned by a Taiwanese guy (they’re also Taiwanese) and it had a good vibe from their photos so I was determined to try! It was even better than expected, I ordered a flat white and it was not only very Instagrammable but also cheaper than anywhere in Niseko. Cooling down in the air conditioned café was also a highlight. After my coffee I made the long drive to Asahikawa to see a rice field. But not just any rice field, one planted very carefully with different varieties of rice that had coloured shoots. The reason I made this long drive just for a rice field is because the second half of July is the perfect time to view such rice fields - the rice shoots have grown in and are brightly coloured at this time. I was very proud of myself as I directed myself to the field. Although a lot of people online said it was so hard to find, I had no trouble at all. Actually my Google map would have led me exactly there but I followed some signposts instead that said “tanbo art” on them in Japanese, and the reason I was so proud – I could actually read what it said! I was the only person there so I parked where I pleased and climbed up the viewing platform to see the art. Unfortunately the field was so wide that it was hard to take a photo of the entire thing, even with panorama! The design changes each year and this time it was a couple of anime characters, there was also something written way off to the left that wasn’t really visible from the platform and I could only see “2021” and some squashed Japanese characters from the ground. Anyhow, it was a very unique attraction and I was glad I had made the trip to see it. My next destination was the Ningle Terrace; a series of log cabin-esque boutique shops arranged along a wooden walkway in the forest. If my phone wasn’t so terrible with capturing greenery then it would’ve been another Instagram-worthy place to see but other than a cool photos the souvenirs were quite expensive and many of the shops were closed anyway. I took a long drive from Furano to Obihiro for tomorrow’s adventure and stopped at a mall for a KFC dinner. Usually Japanese KFC is great, but this one had unfriendly staff and they gave me a half frozen burger which I had to send back for a fresh one. I bought a few supermarket supplies and then drove towards the small Obihiro airport once it was dark to find a suitable parking space for the night. I passed the airport parking lot as it there were too many floodlights which would make it hard to sleep, further up the road there was a small shoulder so I stayed there in the pitch black instead, with a nice forest on either side. I got out of the car to change into my shorts to sleep but I heard rustling in the bushes and freaked out! Instead I changed inside with the doors locked. I felt a little uneasy falling asleep as there had been searchlights beaming around the sky that I’d assumed were to find intruders sneaking into the abandoned Gluck Kingdom theme park and I worried someone would knock on my car window and tell me to move on. Of course I didn’t want to get caught on my urban exploring but I thought “you would have to be absolutely insane to venture in there at night”. As it turned out though, the lights were for the airport perimeter security and nothing to do with the theme park coincidentally located about a kilometre opposite.

[howwelldoyouknowyourmoon]

‘Ashamed to be Korean' extract — the Moon scam is paid for in blood, poverty, misery, sickness and death by a slave class of Japanese

September 30, 2012 This has been incredibly hard to do, but I have decided to sacrifice my national pride, personal interest and loyalties to start telling the truth about the complicated religious scams of the Moons and the so-called “Unification Movement”.

Why? Because I guess I discovered that I still had some conscience left alive somewhere inside of me, so I decided to come out and tell the truth, and before it shrivels up totally. Another reason for me to come out is the tragic and shameful truth that the Moon scam is paid for in blood, poverty, misery, sickness and death by a slave class of Japanese who have been, and continue to be, what must be the most hapless class of religious scam victims in history. This is worsened by the fact that the victims have been deliberately and cynically scammed by a group from another country.

I have no love or respect for the Japanese, and like most Koreans, I have rarely missed an opportunity to gloat at any Japanese misfortune with other Koreans but I guess I have to draw the line somewhere.

It is my intention to tell the truth about the Moons and the Korean feudal ‘aristocracy’ from the position of an insider in the hope that those members who still have enough of a vestigial conscience left functioning in themselves can know the unvarnished truth and fully understand the crimes that have been, and are still being, committed and either help stop the crimes from being committed, or at least walk away and not contribute even silently to these crimes. … It has been said that one of the problems with the Moon Church is that every country projects their own image of what they want the “Messiah” to be; The Japanese see an emperor to grovel to and worship, westerners saw Moon as the the second coming of Jesus, while for the Koreans a conquering King that will elevate Koreans above all other nations (you might as well know we think we are superior to the rest of the world physically, spiritually, intellectually, and culturally). Therein the problem starts, Moon’s genius was to able to manipulate facts and myths and lies to divide and conquer and get exactly what he wanted for him and his family and for Korea which has created the core culture and operating practice of the movement: Deception.

Some people may think that the Divine Principle is the religious doctrine of the ‘church’, but it is nothing more than a recruiting tool. The real ‘religion’ is like an onion, with separate layers of rules, requirements and benefits. The easiest way to understand the game is to realize that Moon wanted to set him and his family as a royal family governing as a theocracy from day one. His goal was to control all power, money, laws and rules, at least as much as he could get hold of.

The theocracy works by strict hierarchy with the Moons as the top royals, the Korean blood relatives as the minor royals, the rest of the Koreans as the aristocracy and top officials. The rest of the nations are all in the position of servants. The only absolute in the Moon church is the position of the Moons and the loyalty demanded from the members.

Have you wondered why all top posts involving power and money are controlled by Koreans?

Do not be fooled by the fact that we trust the Japanese more than our own and use then nominally to hold assets and the like – that is only because they are totally obedient.

What Moon and his family fear the most is meritocracy, God forbid if there was a level playing field, the whole game would be blown sky high. It is fantastic for us though, to have rules applied not only in a selective way but completely differently to always ensure the Moons and ourselves are on top.

My greatest personal amazement is how supposedly educated people in advanced countries have bought the enslaving myths of Moon that have in fact been precisely tailored for them without them realizing the utter insanity and nonsense of coexistence of completely contradicting realities and myths and rules, without even acknowledging the irony of it all! Maybe we are much cleverer than you.

The Japanese have bought the fantasy of ‘Eve Nation’, when in reality there never was and still is absolutely no intention to use them for any purpose other than for donations and slave labor. If and when they are no longer needed they will be dropped like a dirty habit in favor of another country (if one was available), this threat has been constantly drummed in to their heads to keep them desperate and obedient.

What they do not realize is that in private Sun Myung Moon, when he was alive, Hak Ja Han and all the Moon children and we 2nd gens in the inner circle not only have no respect for Japan and instead gloat at the way in which Korea has been taking over Japanese business, laugh at the Japanese members and refer to them in really raw, rude ways. We see it as a rightful revenge for what we think they did to us. On the other hand, we never fail to remind them of the indemnity they need to pay to us.

I have heard Japanese old members emotionally talk about how they will accept anything because they had felt loved by “Aboji” at some time. When they say this, they remind me of rabbits caught in the headlights, totally bamboozled by the Korean charismatic gift for delivering shameless emotional appeals at 1000 horsepower. The reason they were taken in is because they had only ever experienced emotion in Japan at 100 horsepower before meeting Moon, so they are convinced that 1000 horsepower emoting must be the real thing.

Given the Japanese unfortunate penchant for masochism, perhaps it is not surprising that they have been fooled, but I am truly amazed that more Westerners have not been able to see through this scam.

My jaw drops as members still refer to the Moons as “True”, as an unending string of evidence of their unbridled wickedness and hypocrisy appears on this and other sites, it makes me giggle involuntarily, as I watch Westerners falling over themselves to justify or deny their crimes contorting themselves to deny the truth.

My only explanation for it is commitment bias, nobody wants to admit they have been fooled. Please read the facts honestly and use your conscience to decide what to do. Remember the laws of physics and math, the laws of countries and most importantly of all the laws of morals and values either apply equally and universally or not at all.

Members have been trained like Pavlov’s dogs to do our (more accurately the Moons’) dirty work for us. Foreign members justify our crimes with that precise get-out-of-jail-free card that the whole Moon scam relies on.

Read more here: https://tragedyofthesixmarys.com/ashamed-to-be-korean/

___________________________________________

In 1965 Japan gave $800 million as reparations for their occupation of Korea

The Japanese government supported Korea with $800 million in 1965, $400m in 1983 and over $10 billion in 1997.

Sun Myung Moon Church used the Japanese members for profit, not religious purposes – the world’s greediest church

Suicide of Japanese ‘Moon money mule’ in Uruguay. Mother of three children

A huge Moon Church scam in Japan is revealed

Shocking video of UC of Japan demanding money – English transcript

Moon extracted $500 million from Japanese female members

Japanese woman recruited by the Unification Church and sold to an older Korean farmer

How Sun Myung Moon bought protection in Japan

The ‘True Father’ who could not forgive. Sun Myung Moon: “I haven’t been able to release my grudge towards Japanese people yet.” November 2011

[hi-dread]

Mirko x Reader

Foreword

This story is a fanfic of Boku no Hero Academia and the rabbit hero Mirko, also known as Rumi Usagiyama.

I chose to write it in first person, mostly because I want to add something to my life which I cannot get besides in my fantasy. I hope you enjoy reading this and do not find it cringe.

The following part of this, is just a bit backstory on me/the reader that will end up meeting Mirko. If you don’t care about the backstory (since it is pretty long) you can just skip it. Since my childhood, I always felt like that one kid in school that was always alone, even if they wanted to reach out for people. I did have a few friends that I hung out with at and after school. We usually played soccer whenever we had a lunchbreak or when we could do anything but assignments. I had a lot of fun (or so I thought), and when I had the time I would ask one of my “friends” if they wanted to play/hang out after school and most of the time they said yes. I preferred being at their house than at mine. I always felt awkward being home with a friend. Not that my mom or siblings were embarrassing in any way. I just didn’t have as many things as the friends I hung out with had. When we got to their house, we either played soccer in their backyard or played video games. Be it Call of Duty, Mario Kart or Sims. I was down for anything, even if I had to watch them play. I enjoyed my time being there. But as much fun as it seemed, I did not expect this to happen. I was persuaded into going to a soccer tournament since they lacked a few players, especially in the defense. I didn’t really have any high hopes for the tournament because I knew I would be lopped with the bad team and we lost 9 out of 10 games, if we were lucky  that is. As I expected, we got destroyed in the first match with a whopping score of 0-23. The second game wasn’t as bad, but still quite a bit, since we lost that with a score of 0-15. There was a third game, but I am unsure if there was a fourth game. Well, that doesn’t really matter in the end since we lost in the end. When the entire tournament was over, my birthday came up. It was all nice and good, but a few days after that, I suddenly felt a severe stinging pain in my left foot. I didn’t know what it was, all I could say is that I hurt so bad that I couldn’t walk, so I had to lend some crutches from my cousin. As usual when something is hurting and it won’t go away after a week, I went to the doctor, they touched my foot and I nearly cry in pain. They send me to get an x-ray scan of the foot. Nothing showed up, so they sent me to the HR, which for those who don’t know what that is, it’s just a huge machine, making a lot of noise which will show pictures of the scanned object in a more detailed way. As I hoped it would show something, they said there was not anything wrong with the foot. At this the doctors were quite annoyed with my presence and my persistence of the pain in my foot. So, after 4 months of agonizing pain and a very bad start of a new school year, I was referred to a new hospital where they saw the old x-scan of my foot and showed me it. I could clearly see my foot was broken. They wanted to do a rescan of my foot to see how much it was healed and then they wanted to put a cast on it. I was happy they figured what was wrong out and that they helped me, but what was missing was my absence in school. Most of my classmates knew as much as I did, maybe less, but they kept asking me if they could use my crutches. I gave them permission. But there was also those who felt as if I were getting too much attention and even said to me that there was nothing wrong with my foot and I should stop walking with the crutches. As many would have thought, I thought the same; “how rude”. I shrugged it off.

Eventually, the cast would  be taken off and I had to learn how to walk again. As I regained my mobility, I slowly lost my interest in other things. My social life slowly dwindled, and I stopped going to soccer since I felt it got too serious and I didn’t get anywhere (mostly because I was put on the losing team). One and a half year went by and I got into a new class. Everything seemed fine and I was in an association of runners and I ran a few times a week to keep up my physique. But as I was out running on a Sunday, my knee suddenly felt dull and painful. I must note I did not even run 500 meters. But as the pain grew, my mobility in my knee fell. It locked itself in place and I could barely bend it. I told the others I could not keep going and they should just go without me and I would go back to where we started. I limbed back, sat down, yet still having pain. A week went by, and I was forced back on crutches and I was unable to have anything on my knee because even that felt painful. Same deal as before, I went to the doctors, they scanned it. Both x-ray and HR, but nothing had any results. 6 months later my doctor referred me to a private hospital where the doctor, after a few ‘tests’ knew exactly who I should go to because he has dealt with patients with similar symptoms. After I met the new doctor, he gave me some meds and they worked for around 3 months. In the 3 months, I could wear normal jeans, walk, and run properly, but after those months went by, it was back to the crutches. I was hospitalized a month after the fallback and was in rehabilitation. I got some tasks I had to do to fix the pain, even though they didn’t make sense. They basically told me I had to rub my knee with a towel for 60 seconds 3 times with a 30-60 second interval. Long story short, it worked, and I didn’t have any pain after the 4 weeks at the hospital. Though, I was forced to take some medicine, but as long as I didn’t feel any pain and I could walk, I was happy. I finished school after one and a half years with decent grades. Nothing I could do much about since I am not the best at the oral exams, though I was happy with the results. I went to high school, hoping everything would turn out well, but the knee pain came back. I’d say I had a “great” start on high school if you ask me. Even though my mom was very concerned about my grades and how well it went at school, I somehow pulled through. Even the 3 years prior with an absence percentage of more than 50%. The only reason I could pull through these agonizing years was thanks  to anime and manga. Since my knee pain would pull me out of school and tear apart my social life, even if I didn’t even have any to begin with, I felt some kind of joy with reading manga and watch anime when I could. Even though the first 2 years of high school felt like hell, I finished a few classes and got a better exam grade than some of my other classmates. It went well and as I was frequently going to a psychologist, reason being my knee pain (it’s mostly mental (think of phantom pain, then you’d understand, I hope)), but also because they found out I had suicidal thoughts. Even though I had those thoughts, I didn’t try to do anything since I had grown an anxiety for pain. But as I was going back and forth at the psychologists, they managed to find out I had a severe depression and might’ve had it for more than 6 years (at that point, I already knew I had a depression, but didn’t have the diagnose) and they also found out I had autism, not much, but enough to give me the diagnose Asperger’s Syndrome. I was fine with it, yet they didn’t give me many tools to deal with my depression, but I had my anime and manga, so I still had some hope. 

Enjoy.

Chapter 1: What I desire

Well, now that we have that sappy story out of the way, we’re back to the present, where I am still dealing with a severe depression, not finding an end to it. Well, the pain I have in the knee has come back, but not as severe as it used to be. I go to the gym on a regular basis. It used to be 5 times a week, but my psychologist thought it would be best if I went there 3 times a week instead. Before the pandemic hit I would do a lot of stomach exercises and work with my knee, but after all the precautions, I can’t do many of them, so I chose to just run with a pace of 9 km/h or 6 mi/h for 20 minutes for the last 10, I’d increase it to 10 km/h. When I am done with that, I’d do some sit-ups and pull-ups for around 20 minutes. When I tell people that I go to the gym a few times a week, there’s always the follow up question “Then you must like it, right?”, but that’s actually not the case. I despise it, but I must do it, so I have been told, that is. The reason why I actually run for 30 minutes is because I watched the anime Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru (Run With the Wind). It seemed inspiring how they were running and the amount of fun they had with it, so I wanted that too. I envied the fun they had when they were running together. But thanks to the diagnosis – my  Asperger’s – I cannot feel any human emotions, such as happiness, sadness, or anger. For me, I am just confused. But now I have a new goal for my workout. I have been reading Boku no Hero Academia – almost from when it was released – and have enjoyed it ever since. But one day, a certain hero was introduced. Yes, Rumi Usagiyama, the rabbit hero: Mirko. When she first appeared in the hero ranking right after All Might’s fight vs AFO, she has been on my mind a lot. Her cocky line, her daring attitude, and her epic hero entrance when Endeavor beat the first HE Nomu, give me goosebumps. The way she fights and how she is as a hero, always working to fight villains and to protect civilians, is something I look up to. She is my hero, and maybe my waifu. So much as I want merch of her. But don’t get me wrong, I am well aware that she’s out of my league and I am just a very unlucky kid, plus I live in a world where quirks don’t exist. She’s a fictional character and I am a person who reads Japanese comics for fun. But I can at least try to do my best to look fit and be in shape and prepare myself for what will happen next.

To be continued.

[shazzeaslightnovels]

Tosho Meikyuu

Author: Sei Toaza

Illustrator: Shirabi

Label: MF Bunko J

Release Date: 25 October 2017

My Score: 3/5

Story & Characters:

Genre: Vampire, Mystery, Fantasy, Action, M/F Romance

Story Premise: Soushi watched his father get killed in front of him five years ago and has since set his sights on becoming someone who can help others and make a difference. To this end, he came to the Apothecary to become a first-rate doctor. On his first night there, he tries to save a girl and dies in the process. When he wakes up, he assumes that it was a dream... until he notices the girl on his bed. She explains to him that she turned him into a vampire as thanks for trying to save her, that he has a magical grimoire that holds a record of his memories and that, aside from the last 8 hours and few select things before that, he has lost his memory. Now, Soushi is determined to cure his curse and discover what really happened to his father 5 years ago, together with the vampire Arteria.

This one caught my eye due to the gorgeous cover but what really convinced me to read it was the fact that the story is told through 2nd person POV. 2nd person prose is rare enough in English-language books but this is the first time that I’ve come accross it in a light novel and I couldn’t help but be curious as to how the technique would work in a Japanese light novel. To be specific, the story is told from the POV of Soushi’s grimoire that records his memories so Soushi is always refered to as “you” in the narration. The grimoire had some pretty nice and charming narration that pulled me into the story and made the worse parts of the book more bearable. I feel like the grimoire was the most memorable character in the book and I think Toaza pulled off the technique well.

I saw some reviews that said that this book was hard to read and quite confusing and I assumed this was due to the 2nd person narration but, having read it, I’d say the narrration is the least of the volume issues. Due to Soushi’s memory loss, you spend a good part of the book with characters explaining things at Soushi in heavy info-dumps that are so painful to read through. Due to this, for the first half of the book, the characters feel more like tools to convey information rather than actual people so it’s hard to get invested in them when they don’t flourish until the second half of the volume. Even then, I wasn’t really invested in the characters as much as I was in the story. Soushi does become a fully-realised character by the end of the book but it takes so long that I feel like there was too much build-up and not enough pay-off.

The best thing about this light novel is probably the crazy twists. There were so many that I didn’t see coming! At one point, there were like 5 game-changing twists that came one after another in quick succession. I do feel like the twists could have been foreshadowed more but I was so shocked by them that I hardly noticed. The story is definitely interesting too, and even though the book was over 500 pages long, I didn’t really notice it so I’d say the pacing was pretty good too.

I ended up rating it 3 stars because it’s clear that Toaza had a lot that they wanted to do with this book and they managed to accomplish what they set out for but, as a result, the volume does feel like a mish-mash of ideas that don’t quite fit together as well as they want to. I also wasn’t too invested in the romance as it felt too quick to really root for. Still, not a bad debut novel in the least and it kept me interested throughout all of it’s 500 pages.

Recommended for:

People looking for a light novel that tries to do a lot of different things, as well as fans of 2nd person POV and stories with meta elements.

It’s a shame that this is the only thing Toaza has had published as I think they have a lot of potential. Hopefully we’ll see more from them in the future.

[ruddcatha]

Guardian Chapter 8

Inspired by @heavenin--hell​!

Guardian has been Nominated for the Feudal Connection  2020 3rd Quarterly Inuyasha Fandom Awards!  Thank you to all the supporters of this story!!  Voting will begin on July 29 and run through August 12, 2020.

Nominated for Best AU/AR

Wall of tags, if you would like to be added, please let me know!

@willowandfog​  @smmahamazing @clearwillow  @sticky-llama-perfection @alannada @shinidamachu @cstormsinukagblog @superpixie42 @nartista @neutronstarchild​ @i-dream-of-soup​ @hnnwnchstr

Found on Ao3: Here

Found on FFN: Here

Kagome felt breathless as she watched the… she could only describe it as magical… scene before her. She could feel the ebb and flow of the energy around the room like a heartbeat, the golden light pulsing through the two statues.  At least now she knew she wasn’t insane; this was the same golden light she had seen the first day she had worked in the main room when she touched the wall.  Now the light seemed to sink into the forms, and she swore she saw the red handprints on the chests pulsing before the marks faded. As one, the two forms took a breath and their eyes flashed the same bright gold as Inuyasha’s.  A deep chuckle was heard from the … man… being… god… by the alter of the shrine.

“You did well pup.”  

The deep voice was soft but carried an undeniable tone of command.  This was a being who was used to being in control and obeyed without question.  Both men stepped forward, away from their platforms, towards Inuyasha.    Sango and Kagome held each other’s hand for support, and they heard Miroku’s slight gasp from beside them.

“Kami Kagome” Sango whispered, staring at the three silver haired men standing in the center of the room “you woke up the sex gods.”

Kagome’s eyes went wide as she looked at her friend in mock horror, and she suddenly found herself fighting to hold back a giggle.  

“I’m serious Kagome, look at them.  They are gorgeous… scary but gorgeous.” Sango smirked, then her face turned to shock as three shades of golden eyes turned to them.

“Shit” Sango swore nervously.

Miroku took a steadying breath before bravely stepping forward, turning his left arm to show the glowing tattoo located near his elbow.  He bowed low a few feet away from the three Inu yokai.

“My name is Miroku, my Lords, an apprentice member of the Human/Yokai Council, it is a pleasure to welcome you and pledge the allegiance of the council to your cause.”  Miroku stated clearly in late middle Japanese, completing the formalities of the counsel for the Great General and his sons.  An almost feral smile curved the lips of the tallest man in the group, his silver hair secured at the top of his head cascading down his back.  

“The Inu No Taisho accepts your allegiance and assistance.” His deep voice reverberated through the chamber.  “You may address me as Taisho or Toga.

The figure with the purple crescent moon watched the humans with a cold curiosity.  Toga turned to the silent figure, and Kagome saw a single eyebrow raise.  With a sigh, the last man looked at them and said a single word.

“Sesshomaru.” His voice seemed as cold as his expression.

Sesshomaru turned and focused his attention on Kagome. He made her nervous.  She felt that he was assessing and judging her, and that she had somehow been found wanting in some capacity.  The look of disdain in his light golden eyes made one thing clear, he did not care one way or another that they were there.  As he turned his attention back to Toga and Inuyasha she could not help but shiver slightly.  

Inuyasha began speaking quietly, quickly describing to his father and brother what had happened since he had awoken.

“What is this council and why was there a human and not one of the yokai lords here to greet us?” Toga asked, the plan that he had worked out with the lords did not involve humans.

“From what I have been told, the yokai lords form their own council, Miroku is a member of a second council of humans and yokai alike, to oversee the integration of the two, and were charged by the yokai lords to help when we returned.  All the humans have spiritual powers and are trusted by the lords.”

Kagome watched Inuyasha speaking with the other two Inu’s, seeing his shoulders relax for the first time in the admittedly short time she had known him.  She presumed that he had completed his story when all three turned to face her with different levels of consideration.  Sesshomaru’s eyes narrowed as he began to walk towards her, his nose crinkling as if he smelled something distasteful. ‘Kami he can probably smell my fear.’ Kagome suddenly thought, clutching Sango’s hand tighter.  With a soft growl, Inuyasha was suddenly between her and Sesshomaru, and the later stopped.

“Brother” Kagome heard Sesshomaru say to Inuyasha before Sesshomaru turned and moved to the back of the room, away from the humans.  

Toga moved passed Kagome and Sango to move to the left wall, where he crouched down to look at the vessels and urns along the wall.

“Pup.” He growled.

“I know,” Inuyasha responded as he moved to stand next to his father “I saw.”

“What about the other seals?”

Inuyasha shook his head “Unknown.  I have not spoken with any of the keepers.”

“The Ookamis and Kitsunes would have been alerted the moment we were unsealed; I do not anticipate that it will take long for them to join us.” Toga said with confidence.

A shrill ringing sound echoed through the room, and all eyes turned to focus on Miroku.  With a sheepish grin Miroku pulled out his cell phone, making sure to keep it in sight of the two yokai in the room as he answered. After a moment he ended the call and looked to Kagome and Sango.

“Totosai.  He’s on his way with the second jeep.”

Miroku made his way towards Toga and Inuyasha, keenly aware that Sesshomaru was now slowly stalking in their direction.

“My lords” at the title Inuyasha let out a small growl and Toga’s lips quirked “That was Totosai, my mentor.  He will be arriving shortly with a second method of travel and asked me to inform you that the council will meet tomorrow.”

A short time later three silver-haired heads turned as one to the entrance of the shrine, alerting the humans to Totosai’s arrival. As Totosai descended the steps, Kagome, Sango and Miroku moved to meet him, with the Inu’s following slowly behind them.  Totosai paused as he saw the three guardian’s standing before him, Toga towering over his sons, though all three were an impressive height.  With all the courage he could muster, Totosai walked straight to the tallest figure, and gave a slight bow.  Toga looked down at the middle-aged man before him, taking in his balding head with white hair pulled behind him and white goatee.  Totosai’s eyes bugged out slightly at the perusal from the intimidating man before him.  

“Lord Toga” Totosai swallowed to calm his nerves “Please, allow us to escort you and your sons to a safe place to rest. The council will all be arriving tomorrow; I offer you a place to sleep and food to eat for as long as you desire it.”

Toga smiled broadly, the difference between his previous glower of intimidation and the smile was startling.  He threw back his head as he laughed.  Kagome saw Inuyasha watching his father with amusement and noticed that Sesshomaru had a look of pained embarrassment.  As he finished laughing, Toga reached out to clasp Totosai’s shoulder.  

“Thank you, after 500 years, I am starving.”  Toga strode up the stairs as he looked from side to side at the world around him. Inuyasha smirked at the dumbfounded look on the four humans before following Toga.  Sesshomaru was the only one who stayed downstairs, a low growl echoing through the entryway.

___________

It took close to an hour by Kagome’s estimate to get back to campus.  Sesshomaru had taken one look at the vehicles, raised an eyebrow and waited. Totosai quickly scrambled to open the back-seat door, and Sesshomaru lowered himself in the car.   Sango quickly chose to go with Totosai and Sesshomaru.

“I am not sitting in a car alone with that hentai.” She grumbled.

“Technically you wouldn’t be alone.” Kagome reminded her, earning herself a glare from her friend.

“Oh sure, except the ice man who would have no clue what was going on, that helps.”

Kagome just shook her head and moved towards Miroku’s vehicle.  Inuyasha was already sitting in the backseat of the jeep while Toga kept walking around it, his eyes shining like a young kid.  

“Remarkable.” He was amazed, he had anticipated that things would have changed, but not that much. To remove the horses from the carriage… Toga knew that he would enjoy learning more about this new world.    Miroku showed him how to open the doors, and Toga spent the next ten minutes opening and closing the door until Inuyasha growled.

“Kami, you are the parent, start acting like it.”

With a beleaguered sigh, Toga allowed Miroku to close the door.  Once everyone was securely in the jeeps, Totosai and Miroku made their way quickly back to Totosai’s office.  

Kagome learned more about her university on her way back than she had in all her research before joining the archaeology program.  Totosai told her that the university had been founded by one of the yokai lords, and he continued to subsidize it to that day.  The archaeology department was one of the pet projects, fully funded by the lords rather than having to seek grant funding or go through official state procedures for research approval.  That had allowed the archeology program to thrive, and members of the program were asked on every important excavation in Japan.  Totosai explained that it was how they made sure there was always at least one member of either council present on all archaeological projects just in case they came across the guardians.

Totosai’s office building had an underground apartment, one of several secured locations around town.  They did not appear on any maps and were not part of the official university plans or architectural records, and they were protected by complex wards that only allowed members of the councils or their guests through.  The archaeology program was very selective, applicants were screened for spiritual power during the interview process.  Kagome was surprised to learn that the only one in her program that did not have some latent spiritual power was Sango, however Sango was a descendant of what Totosai called the “slayers,” descendants of the original village, trained to fight and prepare to serve the lords who had once protected them.

When they arrived at the campus Totosai drove Kagome to her apartment complex.  She had insisted that she could walk back if he had wanted to get Inuyasha and his family prepared for the next day, but he would not hear of it. Inuyasha watched her silently from the backseat, his eyes never straying from her form as she moved towards the door. Kagome turned back as she reached the door, and she swore she could see the golden color of his eyes, even though she knew it was impossible at that distance.  With a sigh she made her way upstairs to her apartment, and Sango immediately pulled her into a tight hug as soon as the door closed.  The two friends stood there, their arms around each other in silence.

“Well today’s been a fucked-up day hasn’t it?”

Kagome burst out laughing at Sango’s statement, the humor breaking through the tension that she felt.

“Yeah, I say this ranks up there in the top 5 of fucked-up days.” Kagome agreed as she continued to chuckle.   She pulled away from Sango to move to the kitchen.  “And fucked-up days deserve wine.”

“Oh, you won’t get an objection from me on that!” At Sango’s response Kagome pulled down two glasses and took a bottle of white wine out of the fridge.  She poured two glasses and brought them back to hand one to Sango.

“To fucked-up days”

“To fucked-up days”

The girls clinked their glasses together and took the first sip of the wine.  Sango’s eyes took on a mischievous glint.

“To hot silver haired men.”

Kagome’s smile got dreamy as her thoughts went to Inuyasha. “To hot silver haired men and I will raise you with golden eyes that melt you.”

“Ooooh touché!” Sango giggled, drinking to the toast.

Kagome thought for a moment. “To… To dark haired men with blue eyes and a ponytail.”

“To dark haired men with blue eyes and…. Wait, what the fuck Kagome, I am NOT drinking a toast to hentai man!”

Kagome snickered at the indignation in Sango’s voice and on her face.  Sango continued to grumble “waste a perfectly good toast on that jerk.”

“Ah come on Sango, he wasn’t so bad, he’s been quite nice through everything today.  Besides, I saw the way you looked at him.”

Sango’s indignation turned into a blush.  “Shut up Kagome.”

Kagome just stared at her.

Sango sighed “… fine… to dark haired men with blue eyes who made a bad first impression but are still kinda hot anyway, there happy?”  Sango threw back the rest of her wine before glaring jokingly at Kagome.

“Yup.” Kagome smiled broadly as she snickered, the wine helping her to relax after the day.

Sango shook her head at Kagome.  “Alright girl, I’m heading to bed.  Thank god Totosai gave us tomorrow off.”

Kagome quickly finished her wine before taking the two glasses back to the sink to be rinsed and loaded into the dishwasher.  By the time she finished the door to Sango’s bedroom was closed.  Kagome made her way to her room; it was hard for her to believe that just a few hours earlier she had opened the door to find Inuyasha staring at her.  She quickly changed into her night clothes, exhaustion from the day and the wine both hit her at the same time.  Kagome fell against her bed, not even bothering to cover herself with her blanket.

Kagome turned to make herself comfortable, and her eyes passed the mirror on her dresser.  The mirror had taken on a hazy quality, and Kagome noticed that a fog seemed to be creeping through her vision.

‘I must be more tired than I thought.’  As her eyes closed and she began to drift off, she could swear she saw golden eyes in the haze.  A slight smile curved her lips ‘Inuyasha.’

As Kagome fell into a deep sleep, crimson eyes formed in the mirror, staring unblinkingly at her still figure.  Ghostly fingers formed in the mist and reached out towards Kagome.  As they drew nearer, Kagome’s face began show discomfort, and her body twisted, restless.  A golden aura formed around her form, the light blocking the fingers from reaching her body.  They withdrew with a hiss, and the crimson eyes narrowed in rage.  The mist began to swirl violently as the eyes brightened, anger making them burn like fire.  Shadowy shapes reached for Kagome time and time again, repelled each time by the golden glow.  Kagome jolted awake as the mirror cracked and shattered, shards flying through the room. A piece of glass flew past Kagome and cut open her arm.  She stared down with blurry eyes at her arm then turned back to the mirror.

“What... what just happened?”

[rigelmejo]

If you happen to learn like me (I guess try it out, see if it helps), then I cannot emphasize this enough: read.

Read early. Read immediately. Read when you know 10-50 words in the language, even that early. 

It will motivate you to learn more words - then read as you learn more words. And get you used to a few things immediately: you’ll see grammar immediately, often, and if you read a grammar guide then all those grammar points will be constantly reinforced as you read and see them again. And 2: you’ll be training the skill OF reading from the very beginning.

There’s multiple parts to reading. One part, is having the actual knowledge necessary to read something - do you even know the words in the text (or have the ability to look them up), do you even recognize the grammar enough to identify what it’s function is meant to be (or at least enough to look it up)? This is one part. 

The other part is how you parse through that information. How used you are to seeing the grammar - so that you can recognize what you’ve previously studied, so that you’re used to how it works and can read through it without pausing to think about it. So that you can recognize when words are being used as nouns or adjectives or verbs, recognize proper nouns, recognize what are key points versus details. Whether you need a dictionary for some words/a grammar reference, or you already ‘know’ enough to read without reference - the ability to process what you read will still be weak if you have not practiced it. But if you’ve been practicing it, then like everything else, it gradually gets better. 

When you do both parts at the same time - then when your knowledge of grammar/words is weak, you can rely on your ability to ‘process’ to help make the text easier to figure out. If your ability to process something is low (maybe its difficult), you can rely on your knowledge of grammar/words to help you figure out the text. If you work on both, then you can have them both supporting each other as you improve reading. 

---

In theory, maybe you could ‘only’ practice the processing, and rely on word/grammar lookups constantly until it got easier - a difficult road though, probably. Likewise, many people wait until they know X amount of words before trying to read - and as a result they have zero practice ‘processing’ this language reading material, and sentences they know every word for still don’t make sense and feel difficult. Doing both is difficult at first - just like doing one alone would be. But if they’re done together, then they also improve together, and so the middle stages of reading skill feel much easier than they might otherwise. 

If you know 2000 words but have no idea how to process text, even graded readers are going to feel painful at first. If you’ve been making yourself practice processing text, even back when you only knew 500 words? Then by the time you get to 2000, processing is also at a relative intermediate stage. And the biggest difficulty is generally just lack of vocabulary - which is easy to lookup with a dictionary. Whereas, you can’t ‘look up’ anything to improve processing skill. You can lookup knowledge you lack. But the only way to improve processing skill, is TO read, and to keep practicing reading. 

I remember how difficult reading used to be. It’s still not ‘easy’ like french is easy yet, but its happily following the same trajectory reading french (or I imagine even english when I was young) did. I rememeber the first few months, grammar absolutely anihilated me. Even though I’d ‘studied’ it recently. I sort of knew all these grammar points in theory, I just had no idea how to process them in practice. I could look up words all I wanted, to fill in my gaps in knowledge. But I couldn’t improve my processing except by reading. And just over time... grammar got so much easier. It just clicked, a few points making sense at a time. Then those points getting easier for me to recognize faster, then those points getting intuitively understood. Etc, as it happened with more.

Likewise - I could learn words, but it was hard to process all the ways they were used, until I practiced processing them more. Even if I looked words up, even in sentences with grammar I could process, some words just did not make sense to me in their context. Then just over time, more and more made sense. I used to be very confused by ‘weile’ and ‘zhexie/zhege/zheshi’ as some basic examples. Or later words like ‘kanqilai’ and ‘qilai’ and ‘yihou’ ‘yiqian’ ‘dao’ etc. Eventually they made more sense, and then more did in more context, etc. All just from reading practice. I couldn’t read a definition to get these words to make more sense, I just had to read more.

I’m still noticing these areas of processing getting better over time. But I do remember, back when I tried reading 3 paragraphs of the MoDaoZuShi intro in like month 5? I looked up all the words, recognized the grammar, and understood nothing. Then in like month 8? I read the prologue with no dictionary and guessed at the unknown words, and knew enough to understand the gist and most of the details. Mostly, because those things I knew before just ‘processed’ better in month 8.

over time, subtitles got easier to ‘process’ so now I don’t have to pause them as often to figure out what they mean (parse through the sentence for meaning).

Now most novels don’t hit me with any sentence that I can’t at least figure out with a dictionary. I’m still stumbling over some things, but now since I can process overall a lot of things better - I have more surrounding understanding to help me figure out the more confusing parts. Like right now, I’m really struggling with PRECISELY how ‘yu’ and ‘you’ get used. As in ‘yu’ by/with/at/for, ‘you’ - by/done by etc. I roughly understand these words - I know their definitions, and I can roughly guess their meaning in sentences and follow the plot. But because they do mean slightly different things in various contexts, I clearly just need to see them more and more in examples before they’ll ‘click’ and be easier to process too. I have to say though... its way easier to focus on these words/grammar points, since I have so much surrounding understanding. If I had just waited for X words learned before starting reading? Then I’d be learning ALL the processing skills from point 0. That would be... discouraging.

In a way, I already waited to long to start reading as much as I sort of WISH I had. I read about once every 2 weeks, until month 8. It was only in month 8, that I started reading roughly a few times a week - and reading full chapters per sitting, instead of just several paragraphs. As a result, it WAS brutal at first. Because my processing skills were clearly lower than my vocab. I tried graded readers, and even though I knew all the words, they were a struggle to read. So, as my typical silly self, I picked a webnovel instead - with even MORE unknown words, even Harder. I read 15 chapters of it. Which was hard... but clearly helped. Then I went back to the graded readers, and they were a breeze - so I’d clearly built up some processing skills.

After that, I again brutally myself, decided to try reading a harder print novel I owned. That was... again, brutal. Then I went back to the webnovel? And the webnovel was notably easier! Again, those processing skills had built up some more, and I’d probably picked up some more vocabulary as well. 

And its basically been repeating since then - a much quicker rate of progress, where it seems a significant amount easier every 2 months or so. I feel like I’m at like - the reading level I had in 4th grade in english? I was in one of those accelerated reading programs, so we’d read some middle-school level books by looking up like 20 words before each chapter and then having to read X amount a week. A bit challenging, definitely compared to whatever the 4th grade reading level was supposed to be (I remember liking Catwings and Bunnicula a lot which I think was my 4th grade level, and I feel like chinese graded readers I’ve been picking up feel like Bunnicula in difficulty). But also, back when I was that young sometimes I’d pick up my dad’s big huge Mitchner novels like ALASKA or his Sherlock books, and I’d read a few pages - they’d be super difficult to understand, a little painful, so I’d only read a few pages. But I’d usually understand the gist. And I’d pick up some of my moms books on Aliens and supernatural stuff, and mostly read the captions on the pictures, maybe a paragraph or two. I feel like my chinese reading level is around this right now. I can pick up adult novels and it hurts, but I can follow whats going on without a dictionary roughly. And with a dictionary, decently. I can pick up ‘teen’ level books and follow them easier, but need a dictionary for total understanding of all details. And I can pick up graded readers and they’re basically extended reading, if they’re at a low enough level (like HSK 4 vocabulary wise, to maybe 2000 words - after 2k words, I run into more and more I need a dictionary for if I want to follow details). 

---

anyway yeah. I remember in french I started reading at 50 words, then 100, then 500, and just kept reading. And it just ‘magically’ got easier. And I sort of did that with chinese, and am so glad I did. I wish i’d done it even more. I’m doing it more now. 

It felt so good last night, to be able to just binge a few chapters of a fanfic in chinese, without feeling drained. It felt so good to be at the reading level where I can look up words I need to fast enough to not slow me down enough that I lose interest. 

don’t wait until you’ve ‘prepared’ enough. don’t wait years. i waited years in japanese to read, and it was the biggest thing holding me back. i didn’t wait in chinese, and in part reading MOTIVATED me to study what i needed FASTER. It certainly helped my processing skills. And when processing skills are higher, reading overall is just less painful. A dictionary can lessen the pain of not knowing enough vocabulary. But only reading practice can lessen the pain of processing skills being weak. And - if you start to read later, it’s fine. Its okay if it seems ridiculously difficult at first, that will pass. Its just you working on the processing skills, and as those develop reading will go up to feeling mostly only as difficult as the vocabulary.

[mpregwrites]

Pop That Lock

rated: g/soft t for swearing words: 2302

@soukokuweek​ day one: “trial and error”

--

***

The only thing that kept Chuuya from launching his phone full-force against the nearest wall was the fact that he was a reasonable person who could control his temper when dealing with shithead Dazai and all of his stupid ass shit. Definitely not because he did that exact thing last week and had to make a very embarrassing trip to the service provider with the barely-recognizable smashed remains of an iPhone X that probably deserved better. He refused to go back for at least the next month or they were going to start worrying about him and his tendency to go through thousand dollar phones every couple of months at best.

There was still a pressing matter at hand: Kouyou’s birthday party. He had already requested leave for the rest of the day starting at noon but that didn’t do anything to mitigate the issue of Dazai most definitely showing up just to ruin it, and Kouyou deserved better. In the past year or so he had installed seven more deadbolts on his apartment door and started locking them at random in the vain hopes that it might deter Dazai from just breaking in whenever the hell he felt like it, but Dazai’s lockpicking abilities were second to none in the worst way. He could put up with having his furniture moved two inches to the left but he drew the line at crashing Kouyou’s birthday party.

He tapped his foot quickly on the ground, arms crossed over his chest. There had to be some way to keep Dazai from showing up uninvited and eating all the crab. It was rude to keep excusing himself from the festivities to re-lock the door every couple of minutes, not to mention how fucking annoying that would be. Sometimes it felt like Dazai hadn’t really outgrown all of his 16-year-old mischief.

Regrettably, though, Chuuya was far too mature these days to match all of Dazai’s nonsense blow-for-blow, and he was fresh out of teenagers to ask for tips and tricks. Maybe he could hire one for the night—

He smacked himself in the forehead. The answer was staring him in the face the whole time.

Fishing his phone out of his pocket, he opened his contact list and pressed ‘call’ on Mori’s contact info, not even bothering to hide the mania of the grin cracking across his face as it rang. Gin only raised an eyebrow at him before going back to sharpening her knife with extreme prejudice, because Gin only knew how to do things with extreme prejudice and Chuuya appreciated such an honest and straightforward approach to life.

Finally, Mori answered the phone. “Hello, Chuuya-kun. Did you need something?”

“Apologies for bothering you, Boss,” he replied, bowing slightly even though Mori couldn’t see it. “I have a, uh… peculiar request to make of you pertaining to the festivities tonight.”

“Oh? I’m intrigued.”

Chuuya shifted the phone from one ear to the other so he could grab his wallet out of his pocket and rifle through the bills in the fold. “In the interests of keeping unscrupulous characters from disturbing said festivities, I was wondering if it would be okay for me to borrow a certain asset for the night.”

Mori chuckled, amused. “They’ve been in a bit of a mood lately, you know. Are you sure you can handle that?”

“I’m sure.”

“Alright, then. I leave them in your capable hands.” And with that, Mori hung up, leaving Chuuya with a rising giddiness under his skin that thrummed warmly. Kouyou was going to have a fantastic birthday party because he was finally, finally going to be able to outsmart Dazai after ten years of knowing each other and a lot of mortifying losses taken.

Everything was going perfectly.

***

Q removed one earbud from their ear and looked Chuuya up and down from where they were perched on their bed. “I don’t want to, though.”

So things maybe weren’t going perfectly, but Chuuya wasn’t going to admit defeat to a fucking teenager. He ground his teeth together tightly and counted backwards from ten in Japanese, then French, then Russian, Italian, Spanish, and eventually English before he felt like he could open his mouth without screaming obscenities. “You will notice that it wasn’t a request and I specifically phrased it as such to avoid confusion, Kyuusaku.”

They rolled their eyes and a vein started throbbing in Chuuya’s forehead. After the heavy traumatization they received during the entire Guild bullshit three years prior it had been decided that maybe locking them up like an animal wasn’t exactly welcoming to the development of a healthy mental state, so Chuuya and Kouyou both lobbied for at least humane treatment. They were given their own room and the periodic ability to head out into the dregs of normal society, provided they behaved and were accompanied by several mafiosi.

Unfortunately, this also meant that they had the chance to develop a personality, and mixed in with the dangerous cocktail of hormones running through their pubescent veins, it meant they were kind of a snarky shithead. God, he hated dealing with teenagers.

“What do I even get out of this?” Q asked, reclining back onto their elbows and crossing their legs at their ankles. “It sounds boring with no payoff. No thanks! I’ll just read manga here instead.”

More than he hated dealing with teenagers, he hated dealing with mouthy teenagers with zero work ethic, and—holy fuck, 16-year-old Q was just a repackaged version of Dazai at 15. Chuuya wanted to scream.

“Look,” Chuuya said, trying to level with Q as best as he knew how. “I’ll give you $500 and a PS Vita with three games of your choice if you just sit by the front door and flip locks all night. A monkey could do this.”

“Then hire a monkey to do it.”

“I’m trying.”

Q frowned. “I said it sounds boring and I don’t want to do it. It’s not worth the effort.”

“I’ll give you an extra $100 for every time Dazai gets frustrated and swears.”

They sat up straight, pulling their legs in to sit cross-legged on the bed. “I guess… it doesn’t sound that bad when you put it like that.” Q tapped a finger on their chin thoughtfully, humming a long tone that only got longer the more Chuuya’s foot started involuntarily tapping out of irritation. “Okay, fine. I’ll do it. But I want one of the new Vita models. None of the crappy older ones. And let me use your Amazon Prime account to order figures.”

Chuuya sighed. “Deal.”

***

Dazai whistled a happy little tune to himself as he walked by the doorman and the person manning the front desk of Chuuya’s apartment building, waving at them. They waved back. All was right in the world.

The elevator ride was the longest part of the job every single time he came here, and he was running fashionably late to his already fashionably late lockpicking session. His lockpick set bounced against his leg in his jacket pocket as he shifted from side to side to stretch out his back for the crouching hell he was about to endure. Soon enough, the elevator slowed to a stop, dinged, and the doors opened.

Chuuya’s apartment was more than one apartment. The hat rack decided years ago that one apartment wasn’t enough for him, so he bought half a floor’s worth of apartments and had it remodeled into one massive living space, complete with multiple bedrooms for guests, an entertainment center, a full library, two different kitchens, more bathrooms than any person with one ass could ever need, and several other luxuries he definitely didn’t need. He liked to throw his fancy executive paycheck around as much as he could, and it was kind of cute.

He also refused to give Dazai a spare key to it, not that it ever stopped him. Eating all of his crackers and leaving crumbs on the couch was part of the experience of their relationship, after all.

The party was clearly a rager from what he could hear from behind the closed door. Surveying the eight deadbolts between him and Chuuya’s home cooking and absurdly expensive alcohol collection, he whipped out his lockpicking set and got to work.

The first bolt gave easily, and the next two weren’t locked. The third was, as was the fourth, but the fifth wasn’t set. The sixth and eighth were, the seventh not. It was easy enough to fiddle with the picks to get them open, and all in all it took less than ten minutes to get through all eight. He stood up, brushed himself off, and then grabbed the handle and turned it.

Or, well, he tried turning it. It didn’t budge.

He stared at his hand, still around the doorknob, and said, “What the fuck.”

***

Senbonzakura faded out and Fukagyaku Replace started up, but Q had their other ear trained on the door. Every time they heard a lock click out of place, they would either lock it back up or lock one of the ones that hadn’t been locked. It was mindless work, but at least they were going to get free food out of it once the party was over on top of the other agreed-upon spoils.

They heard Dazai swear again outside the door and added another tally to their list.

***

Three hours of hosting later, Kouyou was pleasantly tipsy and ready to go home. The consensus among the rest of the guests was much the same, and they all thanked Chuuya in turn as he escorted them to the door, undoing all the locks in one swift motion and letting them out. When the last of them had left, he stood in the threshold and looked down.

On the floor outside the apartment, Dazai sat with his knees to his chest and a pout on his face. It was equal parts hilarious and adorable. Chuuya kicked him with the toe of his house slipper. “Get up, asshole. There’s leftovers.”

“I think I’ll just sit out here until I die of starvation instead,” Dazai replied, the pout infecting even his voice. “Since you clearly don’t want me around. This is a pretty cruel method of torture, even for you.”

“In case you’ve forgotten, you were the torture specialist, Demon Prodigy,” Chuuya said back flatly, kicking Dazai again. “Stop pouting and get in here already and fucking eat something. I’ve gotta get Cinderella back before midnight.”

“I don’t want to now. McDonald’s wouldn’t treat me like this.”

Chuuya snorted, leaning back into the apartment to address Q from where they were still sitting on the stool they had been provided at the start of the party, one earbud in as they played Snake on the shitty Nokia flip phone Mori allowed them to have. “Honor system, but how much do I owe you for this one?”

Q pursed their lips and did some quick mental math. “Well, you said $100 every time he swore, so with the $500 you started with… $2000?”

“I’ll make it $3000 because he’s pouting like a goddamn child.” He pulled out his wallet and selected the appropriate amount of cash before handing it to Q. “Go ahead and grab some food before I take you back to headquarters. You’ve earned it.”

Almost immediately after the words came out of Chuuya’s mouth, Q vacated their seat with enviable speed and scurried over to the spread of leftovers on the dining room table, loading a plate up with everything they could see. With that problem out of the way, it was time to get his stupid manchild of an ex-partner to stop throwing a silent fit on the floor outside his apartment.

He put his hand on the top of Dazai’s hair and gave it an affectionate ruffle he would deny until his last breath. “I made crab. Just the way you like it.”

Dazai looked up at Chuuya, the angle accentuating the way his bottom lip was dramatically sticking out. He sniffed. “I guess if you make it up to me with a romantic dinner I can get over the pain you’ve caused my poor heart.”

“Yeah, yeah. Get in here, stupid.”

***

Q stuffed another bread roll into their mouth, glancing back and forth between Chuuya—his mouth so impressively turned down into a frown it was a wonder his lips hadn’t fallen off yet—and Dazai—currently holding his fork so tight it was threatening to bend in his hand—while chewing. They swallowed. “Are you guys gonna eat?”

“You know, Chuuya,” Dazai said, icicles forming on the words, “when I say ‘romantic dinner,’ it usually means just the two of us.”

“I don’t think they could pick up a hint if you dropped it right at their feet and literally fucking pointed at it, Dazai.”

They took another bite of the roll and chewed slower this time, more deliberately. They were pretty sure there was some kind of tension in the room over something, but knowing Dazai and Chuuya it could easily have been over just about anything under the sun. It wasn’t worth worrying about it, not when there was so much food ready to be eaten. And why would they eat in the living room when there was a perfectly good table begging to be dined on?

Chuuya put his face in his hands and sighed deeply. Dazai’s top lip twitched violently.

After about five minutes of that, Q swallowed, drank half a glass of water, and pointed at Dazai’s plate before saying, “Do you want that or not?”

The fork finally gave out.

[mamoretta]

Autumn in Japan❤

In November 2019, I went on a full week trip to Japan with my two lovely cousins, Teh Epi and Teh Ami. The trip was on my bucketlist, but when we first planned this trip, we were reckless and kinda impulsive but I don’t regret it any single second. Luckily, we bought the ticket 9 months before departure, so we had enough time to prepare everything (money especially). Little did you know that Japan is the farthest I’ve ever been from home (for now), so I was extra excited and the fact that I can afford this trip alone (in +-9 months of saving!) was a proud moment for me.

Because my last vacation was a solo trip, the first thing I noticed about this trip was the differencies between when you go alone and when you go grouping. In my opinion, solo traveling is much closer to your heart, like there’s always that touching moment when you feel you can conquer anything (I wonder what would happened if I go to Japan alone!!). While group traveling is more refreshing, fun, and thrilling, but it really depends on whom you travel with. I think you have to go with someone that you really vibed with if you want to fully enjoy the trip with less drama. Lucky me, I have two wonderful companions that made my trip to Japan couldn’t been any better. Although there wasn’t always rainbow in Japan (literally), but t’was full of laugh and positivity. Super big love and thanks to Ami-chan and Epi-chan❤

The Trip

I only visited Osaka and Kyoto due to my short time and budget-friendly trip but it was all worth it.

Day-0: Depart & Transit

We flew to Japan with Singapore Airlines (the service and the food was superb! Plus they have Gentle Bones’ song on their entertainment board :p), so we had transit in Changi for a night long, yes 9-hour long. We landed in Changi at 23.00 and we wanted to visit Jewel for the sake of their indoor waterfall although the waterfall only operated until 23.30! We managed to lined up in immigration and jogged to Jewel but too bad the waterfall already turned off (we knew from the beginning we wouldn’t make it but at least we tried). We snapped some obscure photos as evidence that we were there. Then we went back to T2 Changi and strolled around finding a nice spot to spend the night, the snooze area and the long sofas was packed we ended up in some single sofas in front of the children playground, it was warm but we barely slept. 

Day-1: Landed in Osaka

We had breakfast in-between airplane watching at Changi before our flight at 7 am, we bought butter toast and teh O’. The teh O was uniquely delicious, it was teh tarik with melted butter, warm sweet and savory at the same time. The teh O is worth a flight to Changi (hiperbolic but it was that great). Then we found an empty foot massage machine and tempted to try one because our (already) sore calf, and it was one our biggest mistake... the machine was badly stink (imagine million people from around the world using that same machine :)) and the stink sticked to our socks, then we putted the smelly socks into our shoes... imagine the rest. (In case you wondering, yes our shoes was smelly troughout our trip in Japan T_T). In the evening, finally we safely landed in KIX, we was welcomed with the beautiful autumn foliage outside the airport. It was our first time witnessing autumn foliage with our own eyes, we were so happy >_<

Then we rushed to ICOCA vending machine to bought our transportation card for our trip and looked for our train to our hotel in Osaka while carrying the heavy luggage. The first time we tried Japan train line was confusing... we entered the same train back and forth because we were not sure that was the right train and there was no one to asked. The cold air and strong wind started to stabbed me who only wore 2 thin layers of clothes. Freezing. Luckily we arrived at our hotel just in time, rested for a minute, then we went to Dotonbori to get dinner. During this trip, we stayed in Ookini Hotel Dotonbori, just 700 m walk from the buzzing Dotonbori. In Dotonbori, we had Kukuru Takoyaki, ¥800 for 10 pieces of the tastiest takoyaki I’ve ever tasted. Then we lined up for the famous Ichiran Ramen(!!!). Twisted part, later we realised that the Ichiran Ramen we visited was not the ‘no pork’ Ichiran branch we intended to visit... didn’t know if we were too hungry or too careless T_T anyway here’s the pic of the pork broth:

Day-2: Kyoto Part 1

We had breakfast at the nearest Family Mart to our hotel (it was like a little heaven for me, all the food, drinks, snack, and dessert were cheaply delicious). Then we headed to Kiyomizudera Temple in Kyoto by express train. To reach the temple, we had to walk about 20-30 mins but the walk was so pleasing because there were many cute cafe and souvenir shops along the walk. After we spent enough time and took enough memories at Kiyomizudera, we walked to Gion through Sannenzaka & Ninenzaka Street. The street was packed with tourist and full of vibrant touristy shops. We stopped by at Studio Ghibli Shop(!!!) and enjoyed a cup of gingerbread latte at the unique tatami-style Starbucks cafe, there’s a beautiful zen garden and all things beautiful <3 Before we arrived at the modern side of Gion, we passed through an old-style-long-charming alley, every path we took there was beautiful and reminded me so much to anime sceneries. Even when we arrived to the busy Gion, I feel like I was living in anime world.

Then we walked to Nishiki Market. It’s time for FOOD! The best part: super fresh seafood sashimi! I got to ate uni for the first time in my life and I tasted the most delicious salmon sashimi in the world. I cried. We lost count on the money we spent in this market because all things was very tempting. I wish I could go back to Nishiki Market. Then we had Ayam-ya Halal Ramen for dinner (finally real halal food here) and snacked on donuts and hojicha at Koe Donuts. We went back to Osaka and we stopped at the station a bit far away from our hotel to saw the illumination fulfilled the road, it was magical ✨ We walked far enough to made our stomach felt empty again, then we decided to had supper at 24-hour all ¥100 Kura Sushi. All the staffs spoke japanese and didn’t understand our english and all the instructions is in japanese, we waited 1 hour for our queue number to be called (also in japanese x_X), then a waitress came to us offering us (in japanese) the english menu (thank God). 

Day-3: Universal Studio Japan

It is the happiest day in my life!!!!!!!! One day in USJ is never enough, but we already planned a strategy to fully maximized our time in USJ, so after a full day of adrenaline and happiness, we walked out from USJ (with very sore legs) feeling contented. The first ride we headed to was Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. They said this is the most wanted ride so the queue must be very long. But lucky us, we queued only about 30 mins long and there is one funny story. In the middle of the ride (we thought it was the middle because we hadn’t finished the ride yet), the machine stopped but we didn’t know any single thing about what happened because all we hear was japanese. Three of us were panicked at that 4-seated train, so we tried to ask what happened to one okasan beside me *me pulled out all my sumimasen-arigatou skill*. But all we got was silence and a blank stare from her that made us even more scared *laugh ih japanese*. Shortly afterward the ride was running again but when we reached the end of the ride, the train didn’t stop and we had 2 full rounds instead... okay the first round was anticlimax because of that technical problem and the second round was enough to made us had nausea 😂 nonetheless, the ride was amazing and very nostalgic (because it’s Harry Potter!!!). 

My second favorite ride is Hollywood Dream. The track is terrific and every single seat has its own monitor and speaker to let us choose the song we want to hear during the ride. I chose Happy - Pharell Williams (by sentimental reason) and I was superrrr happy and carried away by the whoosh. And the most *EPIC* ride goes to THE FLYING DINOSAUR!!! I was speechlessly astonished by the ride, the ride continuously gave me palpitations. I felt like I was literally flying as a flying dinosaur. Last but not least, though it wasn’t a ride, the highest appreciation goes to Hogwarts Castle Light Show. There are no words can describe how magical it was. My jaw dropped throughout the show. I love itttt.

Day-4: Kyoto Part 2

And this is my favorite day in Japan afterall. We went to Fushimi Inari by train and the comute was somewhat confusing because we should’ve had transit in 2 stations, we ended up getting off in the wrong station, 2 times, like a donkey. We arrived at Fushimi Inari a bit late, then we took some photos and bought some food from the local market near the gate. I got one big skewer of beef wagyu for only ¥500 and I still remember how delicious it was. We also bought some souvenirs there, argh all the souvenir shops in Japan are very cute and tempting. Then we headed to Arashiyama Bambo Forest. The bamboo forest was so-so, but I was impressed by the neighborhood around Arashiyama. Though it is tourist area, but the environment was very soothing and authentic, the momiji just enhanced the warm atmosphere, and the people was sooooo nice i could’ve hugged all of them. There are one road full of nice souvenir shops (still), no car passed by, just a few traditional rickshaw called jinrikisha pulled passionately by local man. Then we strolled around and ended in the popular Arabica coffee shop in Kyoto. The coffee shop was packed and it located by the lake. After we got our latte, we enjoyed it while comtemplating by the lake surrounded with momiji under the beautiful sky. The latte was so good itself and I was covered in joy. We had spare time at Kyoto so we decided to went back to Gion area just because we love it a lot. Last thing I knew, I already left my heart in Kyoto.

Day-5: Osaka

We spent full day at Osaka. This is basically our last day we have because tomorrow morning we already had to leave and it was the most freezing and stormy day we had in Japan. Even Japan was sad because we were about to go home :( Anyway we had so much fun and impressed by all Osaka has to offer. We had Matsuya for breakfast and dinner because we wanted to try all the menu and it was very cheap but also delicious haha and I tried natto for the first time! In the morning we decided to went to Don Quijote first to bought some (no, a lot) of souvenirs, then we went back to hotel to dropped the purchases and continued the itinerary. We went shopping at Shinsaibashi, strolled around Amerikamura, went to Umeda for the ferris wheel but too bad the ferris wheel was closed (yes our bad didn’t check the schedule) but Umeda is nice so we walked around Umeda. The day was getting dark, we were a bit confused where to go next, and we decided to go to Osaka Castle with zero expectation because it was dark and the museum was already closed. Turned out Osaka Castle remains beautiful in the dark, and we still mesmerized by the castle and its surroundings. We felt like we were living in kingdom era. Then our last destination is Shinsekai. It’s an old district built in 1912 with New York and Paris as the model, then neglected in decades afterwards. We just strolled around the neighborhood, it was full of restaurant, bar, spa, and other nightlife. Little did we know that Shinsekai is the most seedy and dangerous area in Osaka lol. Gratefully we arrived at our hotel safe and sound.

Day-6 & 7: Back to reality

NOOO i didn’t want this to be over, but life goes on and we had to leave Japan. But first thing first, we had breakfast at Matsuya for countless times haha. We also spent all our coins we had. Bought the things that hadn’t been bought yet in the last minute. What else to say... we headed to KIX and said our hardest goodbye to Japan. Still we had a good time in KIX, Changi, and in the airplane before we had to face the reality. The saddest part is, right after we landed safely in CGK and activated our phone, I received message from my family told me that my grandpa passed away that morning. Oops I’m sorry for ruining the ending :p All in all, this whole trip was a blast worth a lifetime.

What I love about Japan:

The food! It was all beyond my tongue could expect. 

The people was all friendly, kind, and *very* polite!!! *bowing sharply 90 degrees*

The vending machine you can find anything anywhere and the konbini store.

The technologies, facilities, transportation, cleanliness, they’re the best.

The balance coherence between the old and modern culture.

There are so many things Japan has to make you in love, but they say you don’t need a reason to love something (cringe).

Throughout my entire trip in Japan, it seemed like there was a balance between old and modern maintained by a strong appreciation of tradition from the times gone by. It’s something we’d never experienced in another country and made us instantly fall in love with Japan. It’s amazing to see two such extremes coexisting effortlessly and perfectly side by side. I was happy, delighted, amazed, surprised, and just plain impressed. I hope I can go back to Japan.

[ayankun]

saying it confidently on tumblr is the first step to saying it confidently irl

Author’s note: the train of thought really jumped the rails on this one!!!  TL;DR is my natural state is passive-aggressive laziness which makes me constantly slangry (sleepy and angry) and incidentally I’m trans af.

I’ve reached that point where I am recalling with startling clarity why I usually put the pen down Dec 1 and walk away for a year.

A week or so ago, I was telling my mom that the first few days had been tough because I was rusty and panicked about the process of writing words, but that I got into the hang of it and the product was getting better.  My conclusion, at the time, was that I should try to keep going in December, maybe do 500 words a day, or shoot for 20k in the month, because I’d have busted through all the rust and my end-of-month content would be so sparkly and professional that it would be a shame to just drop off and let it get all creaky again.

Naw, mang.  I ain’t no marathon runner.  I ain’t got no stamina.  I ain’t somebody who works hard and likes it.

I’m somebody who watches Youtube for four hours straight and then comes to Tumblr to whine about being stressed out about a hobby.  I now have exactly as much time left in the day to bang out 1700 words at top speed before having to do the sleep thing, and that makes me feel bad to still have this “obligation” hanging over my head, which is now going to affect me at work tomorrow should I choose to fulfill it.

Oh it was/is shark week and my work schedule was wonked because of a class I attended and I haven’t been grocery shopping in a hundred years and I’m trying to find time to get out and play Pokemon Go and I want to keep up with the garbage on CW and I always leave my Japanese homework until the day before it’s due, and I have to go to my parents’ house on Fridays so every Sunday I have 3000 words to write just to stay on track, and I fritter away my workweek afternoons like I don’t have to invest the time into a 50k novel, like that time is free and I don’t have to budget for it.

I wrote a bunch of hands down garbage fire garBAGE yesterday, and that felt terrible.  I know it’s NaNo and NaNo words are supposed to be terrible and that that’s okay, but I know that I’m co-authoring this with Future Me, and Future Me is Already Upset and the extra time I’m expecting them to put in.  It’s fine that I wrote a garbage fire, because somewhere in the ashes is the bones of what that scene ought to be, but I’m super not excited about knowing the fact that I’m still on the hook for the 99% of the work required to finish it. 

And that’s just one scene.

I’m gonna finish it.  I’m just a little overwhelmed right now.  Future Me ... well, they’re going to be overwhelmed, too, but probably in very different ways that will be fun and exciting to experience.

The silver lining, er, a tangentially good thing about the garbage fire is that I ended up having my antagonist circuitously reiterate a thing to my protagonist that I personally needed to hear, so at least my subconscious found its platform.

Sometimes, when I’m being a whiny baby, about things not going my way, or unpleasant situations being what they are, it’s probably because I’m choosing to allow these external forces to drag me along while pretending that I have no choice to stop or change it.  But this is actually my choice.  I’m choosing to go with the flow to avoid consequences, real or imagined.  I get to keep my head down, put up with garbage to stay out of trouble, and feel righteously justified in complaining about it later.

What I could do, instead, is go after what I want and stop giving a damn about what anybody thinks.

Hello, my name is Daniel.  My pronouns are they/them.  I promise you and me that tomorrow I am going to call whoever it is I have to call in order to start going to counseling or therapy or whatever it is I have to go to in order to socially, legally, and medically transition. 

[dragongirl642]

Breakdown x reader x Wheeljack - intro

Author note:

This is kind of gender neutral as whenever see this → (looked down at me/looked up at me) the first option is female and the second option is male.

Otherwise they're just the first name, last name, eye colour, etc...tags.

This has been really cringey for me to write and I apologise for any unnecessary cringe or weirdness.

You are Silas's lost (daughter/son) because...why not ┐0_0┌

You have a sort of premonition/future sense power and other augmentations due to Silas being an a-hole father-to-be.

Have fun reading. ;)

First person pov:

I trudged up the steps to Jasper Nevada's only high school. Hoisting the strap on my guitar up higher on my shoulder. "New town, new school, new day, new life, new me." I chanted under my breath, eyes taking in every aspect of the school building. A Japanese girl with pink streaks in her hair was sat drawing on the stone guard barrier. A small boy in glasses and an orange jumper moved to join her after he was pushed to the floor by a tall ginger boy; 'Rude! Poor kid's much too young, what did he do...skip every grade?' The popular girls were gathered at the top of the steps with a group of boys; attention on the ginger boy. I raised a hand to adjust my cap and promptly stopped before I could walk into said boy who was laughing raucously with a couple of his mates. Unfortunately for him, he was blocking the door.

"Excuse me." I tried to start off with a friendly approach. My attempt at a positive mood instantly soured when he turned round and looked me up and down like I was some meat on display. He leaned close, too close. "Well what do we have here, a pirate?" I scoffed in disgust, "you're blocking the door." I didn't react to the pirate comment, most people freak when they see my eye patch. 'I have a reason for wearing it!' I was scarred across my eye and even though I can still see through it, people get freaked out by the blood red eye underneath. 'Burst blood vessels if you're wondering.'

He looked to be thinking for a moment when he said, "(I'll move for a kiss/I'll think about it)."

I was just about to give him a walloping when a voice cut in. "Leave (her/him) alone Vince!" We both turned to look at a dark haired teenage boy, who looked decidedly regretful on the fact that he had attracted what was obviously a bully's attention.

"Does Jackie boy have a voice now?" Vince's taunting voice fuelled the fire in my belly and I grabbed his shoulder, spinning him to face me. "You still haven't moved bud." I growled menacingly. Vince just laughed, his mates following suit; "and what are you going to do about it (girly/mate)?"

I smiled and threw my cap directly in the air before, placing a well-aimed kick to his shin. He hopped back and I unshouldered my guitar, holding it by the body I jabbed him with it, winding the male. Moving my hands to the neck of the guitar, I flicked it, catching his left hand in the strap and yanked, he promptly flew past me and landed sprawled at the top of the stairs. I caught my cap in one hand and placed it back on my head. Internally, snakes writhed in the pit of my stomach, 'I promised myself it would be different here.'

His mates cautiously sidled round me when I glared at them and ran to help Vince up. I looked at him, "You better not have broken my guitar and for the record, I don't like bullies."

I then addressed the boy who had tried to stand up for me, "mind showing me where the office is?" He nodded and gestured, "uh...this way." I followed him inside, not without noticing the pink haired girl having what looked like a fit of excitement behind me, and we walked down the school corridors. I looked over to see him staring at me. Attempting to break the silence I spoke.

"Name's (y/n)...what's yours."

"I'm Jack...Jack Darby."

"Well Jack, at least you made the effort to stand up for me, I respect that."

We shook hands at that and I faced forward again.

He kept staring at me, "So how did you get..." he gestured vaguely on his face. I huffed, "it's a long story." Eventually we reached the office and Jack left to go to his form room as the bell rang. I enrolled, picked up my map and class schedule and headed for my form room.

"6C, 6C, 6C..." I muttered under my breath as I looked for said room. I only had to check my map a total of twice before I finally found the room. Through the window in the door I could see the homeroom teacher sat at the front reading. From my small window I could see that g*t Vince sat with his gaggle of mates. 'Great...I've got to share form with that idiot.' Taking a breath to steady myself, I lifted a hand and knocked.

The teacher spotted me and motioned for me to enter; I did so.

"And who are you." They looked at me like I was going to attack her.

I met their questioning eyes. "I'm a new student, I enrolled today."

They nodded, expression becoming friendlier; "Well why don't you tell us your name and a bit about yourself."

I faced forward and gave my introduction. "My names is (y/n) (l/n), I'm 16 years old. I play guitar and piano. I'm a black belt in Tai kwon do, judo and I've trained in various other martial arts." Vince scoffed at that. "I like comic books and eating pizza. DON'T ask me about the eye patch because you won't get an answer." I looked at the teacher, "And that about covers me."

She nodded, "Why don't we find you somewhere to sit...there's a spare seat by Vince" I inwardly wince, "or by Jack." I look over to see Jack smiling encouragingly and gesturing to the seat by him.

I smiled and walked to my new seat, deftly dodging Vince's stuck out foot.

'Come on that's an old trick, he really expected me to fall for that?'

I sat and Jack smiled, "so we have the same form huh...can I see your classes." I wordlessly hand it to him and watch as he grins. "We have all our sciences and history together! I can show you where your next class is."

I nod, "Thanks Jack."

------------------------Time skip to lunch-----------------------

I sat at a vacant table, placing my guitar on the chair beside me. No sooner had I placed a bite of my pizza in my mouth a vibrant pink and black blur raced besides me and shot into the chair opposite me. I stared at the girl I'd seen earlier, she was staring at me intensely.

I looked at her and swallowed my food, "Can I help you?"

She grinned, "You...were...awesome!" She then proceeded to launch into an excited retelling of my earlier morning's exploits. I just ate my food very slowly while watching this girl. 'Is she on a sugar high?'

I felt relieved when Jack walked over and told her to calm down; not that it helped. The small boy in glasses had joined us too.

I looked at Jack, "Friends of yours?"

He nodded, "(Y/n)...this is Miko" I nodded at here and she grinned at me, "and this is Raf." The small boy adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose. "It's Rafael but most just call me Raf." I smiled encouragingly at him, "well it's nice to meet you."

Miko suddenly burst into questions, "How well can you play? What's your favourite music? Can you teach me a couple of those moves you used on Vince? What's your favourite colour? Ever been to a Slash monkey concert? Did you move here because you fell for the brochure too?" I held up a hand and she promptly fell silent, looking at me expectantly. 'Oh might as well.'

I grinned, took a large breath and said, as fast as I could, "I can play up to grade 8, I like all music, with your parent's permission I could maybe teach you a couple of moves, my favourite colour is (f/c), yes and this town has a brochure?" I took a gulp of air and looked mischievously over at the girl. "How was that for impressions?" The two boys at our table began chuckling in the background. Miko just flipped her hair and laughed, "You didn't get my voice right" she sang. I huffed and tried the squeakiest voice I could muster, "Is this right?"

Jack fell off his chair and Raf had started visibly shaking. Miko started laughing harder and I joined in.

'Maybe this town will be better than...hey at least I've made some friends already.'

---------------------------Time skip to end of school-----------------------

I walked down the school steps into the sunlight. Miko bouncing alongside Jack on my left and Raf on my right.

"Bye (y/n)!" "See ya." "Bye."

I waved as I watched them get into their respective vehicles. Jack clambered onto a blue motorcycle with pink accents, Raf got in the passenger side of a yellow and black Urbana 500 and Miko hopped into the passenger seat of a green 4x4. As for myself I walked a little further down the street before opening the door of my internally modified red Dodge challenger. Horn accents on the front gleaming in the afternoon sun. I'd fallen in love with the design a couple months ago when I passed a similar car when I'd come to look at flats in Jasper; when I was staying in a motel just outside Carson City. Some other students threw me shocked or jealous looks at my car. Just as I shut my door, Jack rolled up to my window; motorcycle growling loudly before quieting down.

I rolled down the tinted window to see what he wanted. He looked at me with a slightly panicked expression and gave a small kick to the side of his motorcycle, before squeaking out a quick, "nice car" and zooming off.

I furrowed my brows, "Weird". Both Miko and Raf's cars passed me really slowly before driving off as well.

I made sure my guitar was safely secure on the floor of the passenger side before stepping on the gas. I drove away from school, I decided to go for a drive to get to know my new neighbourhood.

Jasper is pleasant but boring. "Does anything happen here?" I muttered exasperatedly, before perking up. 'Though I loathe him, I heard Vince mention a race...and its location.' Smirking, I pulled a 180 and headed out of town.

Gas, Shift, Turn...I allowed my body to go into autopilot until I passed the 'Thank you for visiting Jasper, Nevada' sign. Then I perked up, trying to remember the map of the surrounding area I had memorised. 'There should be left somewhere past those rocks'. I thought, scouring the horizon for my turn off.

Out of the corner of my eye, a green flash caught my attention and I looked in my rear view mirror to see just empty road.

"Strange" I mumbled.

--------------------------Time skip to race-------------------

I'd finally found the place. There was a line of cars already forming. I could see some of the girls from school tittering on the side-lines. I pulled into place and a girl walked up to me and tapped on my window. I rolled my window down a centimetre and waited.

She looked nervous. "Um...I'm here to tell you the rules." I cut her off. "I already know the rules of these things, this isn't my first race...what's the prize?" She stopped stunned for a moment before saying, "100 dollars cash." I nodded, even though she couldn't see me and was about to roll up my window when who should turn up but the ginger haired tw@t himself.

Vince knocked on my window. "Hey new guy, you better watch yourself out there." I rolled my window down an inch so he could just about see my face. He looked at me, "Oh it's you...you better watch yourself." With that dark threat he turned to leave. "Let's hope you have better luck than this morning." I called after him. He shot me the dirtiest look before getting in his car.

I rolled up my window and faced forward, another flash catching the corner of my eye. I turned my head to see a red Aston Martin beside me, its side mirrors quickly moving so they were facing back and not towards me as they had been just a moment ago.

"Hmmmm...also strange" I mumbled.

A girl walked out and stood with a flag above her head, I tapped the gas and my engine purred. Intently watching the flag, the second it went down I gunned the engine and shot forward. I soon pulled ahead with only Vince and the red car posing any competition. I saw Vince swing my way and threw on the brakes. He shot past me and instead went into the red car.

"You scratched my paintjob" screeched an indignant voice from the vehicle. With the distraction I zoomed forward once more leaving Vince to the guy's mercy. I slowed when a scraping sound came from behind me. I looked in the rear view to see the red car's driver trying to ram Vince of the road. "You scratch my paint, I scratch yours!" Eyes wide I pulled my second 180 of the day and shot forward, heading for the red car.

We played a small game of chicken before he obviously decided it wasn't worth it and swerved off. He shot me an insult; the word Autobot featuring heavily. 'What the hell is that?' I shot through the empty space, turned and followed after Vince; who was now in the lead. We entered a long stretch and I could see the lights off the finish line ahead. To my side I saw the red car pass me. Not wanting to lose I saw the only option I had left.

"Here's one for victory" I whispered and pushed the turbo button on my dash. Flames spewed from the exhaust pipe as I was thrown back into my seat. My car leaping forward and passing the red car and Vince with no problem.

The finish line was closer than ever and I removed my finger from the button and threw my weight onto the brake. Skidding across the finish line, my car finally shuddered to a halt. 'Thank all that is good for the double suspension.'

A different girl from earlier ran up to me with a small bag, I rolled down the window slightly and accepted my prize. Rolling it back up, I counted my money whilst watching Vince and the other driver cross the line. To my surprise I spotted Jack in the crowd. He was looking at my car with something akin to shock. I debated going to talk to him when I saw Vince exit his car. Not wanting to talk to the boy, I drove off.

It wasn't till I was pretty far from the track that I noticed the Aston Martin was following me. I turned a corner round a large rocky outcrop and turned off my engine. Hand inching over to my guitar case. In my mirrors I saw a green flash round the corner, before both the red car and a larger blue 4x4 drove round the corner. A deep humming began in my spine.

"What the..."

They both skidded to a stop off either side of me. A disbelieving voice sounded from the blue one, "You're meant to be dead Autobot."

'What's an Autobot? Never mind...that voice! WAIT did they say Dead?!'

Before I could dispute this claim the red car spoke, "We'll make sure it's permanent this time."

'They obviously think I'm someone else...time to go!' Before they could come after me, I once more gunned the engine and drove of at high speed. Both cars following.

I headed for the road, making it onto the highway. I risked a glance in the mirror to see them gaining on me. Jasper's lights in the distance, I prayed I would make it. I reached for the turbo button once more.

My breath hitched, as with a jolt I was rammed by the blue one; flipping my car. I held on for dear life.

When it came to a stop I groaned. A pounding in my head alerting me to the fact that I might very well have hit it, very hard, on the dash. 'Hope that's not fatal.'

Hanging upside down I could feel the blood rushing to my head. The red beginning to drip into my vision not helping my new view of life. I looked around and could see the two cars circling mine. I curled up and hit my seatbelt.

#Thunk#

'Ow that hurt!' I readjusted myself so I as the right way up and reached over to unclip and grab my guitar case. Sounds of metal scraping metal sounded just outside my windows and I turned. Pulling the handle, the door opened an inch then stopped. Bracing myself I kicked with all my strength and the door swung open fully.

"Well that was easier than I thought...wait what's this?" That same voice from the red car spoke as I crawled out the door; but from above me. Confused, I looked up. 'Big mistake.'

Two searing red rings look down on me from a sea of black, set in the pale face of a giant red robot. "So it wasn't an Autobot that gave me these" he gestured to some scratches on his frame, "but a human."

"Easier to break than an Autobot." The voice from the blue car spoke up; emanating from the mouth of a hulking blue bruiser of a robot. Two glowing yellow, 'eyes?', looking at me intently. "What happened to its optic?" It began studying me intently.

I pulled my case from the car while thinking of how to buy time. "First off, you totalled my car," I took a shaky breath, "I'm pretty sure that makes us even."

I tried my best to look innocent as I held my guitar case, hand going to the second hidden catch on the side. They shared a look before the red one laughed. "Fleshy...that isn't how this works." The red one's right hand transformed into a circular saw and my eyes widened.

The blue one held out a hand, "Wait...maybe we could keep it." The red one looked at him incredulous.

"Um...its cute...I mean uh...as a pet?" The blue one tried to recover from his outburst, slight confusion on its face. I felt the intense urge to 'awww' at it.

The red one smiled deviously. "Well I've always wanted a human test-subject."

'Good feeling gone.'

#whoosh#

A swirling green vortex opened up beside us and the two vehicles I had seen Miko and Raf get into, came zooming through. I watched in astonishment as they transformed. Metal shifting and gears turning, they became humanoid robots like the first two.

Coming to my senses, I ran behind my upturned car; dragging my guitar case with me. I watched as my saviours leapt to my rescue. The bulky green one tackled the blue robot with the hammer, while the yellow robot attacked the red one. I ducked down, laying my guitar case down I flicked the second catch, opening the back compartment of the case.

Surveying the selection inside, I quickly thought of how to help my robot rescuers. I reached in and grabbed a grenade. Finger sliding through the loop, ready to pull when needed.

I looked over the edge and saw my chance. The red robot had knocked the yellow one back. He was screeching something about his paintjob but I interrupted him. Pulling the pin I yelled, "Hey Red!". He turned to see the grenade flying through the air towards him. He ducked to avoid it but unfortunately for him, it went off just behind him, flinging him forward. The blue robot, knocked the green one away and ran to his companion. He got up and the two said something to each other before transforming and zooming off.

I fished my 35mm calibre pistol out of my case, flicked the safety off and warily eyed the two robots left.

The yellow one took a step forward and I tensed. "We're not gonna hurt you." The green one said as the yellow one beeped soothingly. It sounded familiar and I recognised several different patterns in the beeps. It beeped some more and the green one spoke, "I'm Bulkhead and this is..."

"Bumblebee." I finished his sentence before he could speak. They both looked at me, evidently surprised.

I visibly relaxed at this show off friendliness. "I was a code breaker, I spot patterns in images and sounds. Give me an hour and I'll be speaking fluent beep." I explained jokingly.

Bumblebee beeped enthusiastically, "someone else...understa...yay...hip...ay."

I grinned at the childish display, flicked the safety back on my pistol and stowed it away in my case. I circled my car observing the damage as the two alien robots talked. 'Ooh that's a nasty dent. I'm gonna have ta hammer that out...at least the boot wasn't damaged.' My internal monologue was only interrupted by Bulkhead.

"So we need to take you back to our base for your own safety."

My gaze flicked up, "No can do buster. I need to fix this," I gestured to my car, "unless...I can bring it to this base of yours?"

They shared a look. "But...totalled" Bumblebee beeped, I only caught a few words but enough to get the gist of it. I wagged my finger at him, picking up my guitar case in my other hand. "It's a lot tougher than it looks...only looks bad cuz it's upside down. It'll still drive." Bulkhead spoke this time. "Well...uh...ok. You promise to follow us?" I nodded, "Of course, could you flip it for me though." Bulkhead complied and before I knew it I was driving my dented ride along a dusty, quiet road, heading to an intersection. Bumblebee was in front of me and Bulkhead was behind. When we reached the intersection, instead of turning, Bumblebee continued straight towards a rocky wall; speeding up. I hesitated, but then sped up too. Just as I thought he was going to crash, a giant, hidden door opened in the rock face. We drove into a lit tunnel and rounded the corner into an open space. An orange and white robot stood at a huge, green, glowing monitor, he turned and frowned as I drove in. A blue and pink skinny robot stood by a balcony and looked at my car with shock and sorrow, 'definitely female and definitely Jack's motorcycle'. I parked up besides some human sized stairs and stepped out my car.

"(Y/n)!"

I turned to see Miko come running down the stairs, followed closely by Jack and Raf. Jack looked me over. "Are you okay? I saw Knockout follow you and called the Autobots." I stepped back, hand clenching around my guitar case's handle. "Whoa calm down I'm fine. The red guy was called Knockout huh...what a name! What about the blue guy? And what's an Autobot?" The words came spewing out of my mouth as my brain finally succumbed to the weirdness of my situation.

"Maybe I can clear up any confusion." A deep resonant voice stated and I turned to see a blue and red robot, bigger than all the others, looking down on me. I looked up at him feeling both comforted and petrified off the aura he was giving off.

'This is someone I should respect.' I nodded my head. "Of course, it would be welcome."

He kneeled and looked me in the eye. "I am Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots!" With that he began to explain to me their history, how their planet was destroyed and how they now fight the Decepticons on Earth, who are led by Megatron. I learnt that the blue guy's name was Breakdown. He then began to introduce everyone.

"You have already met our three human charges, of whose ranks you have now joined." I grinned.

"This is Arcee" the female robot glared at me and I raised an eyebrow at her, smile falling slightly.

"Our medic Ratchet." He hmphed "Just what we need...another human." I grinned and cocked a hip, "I'm sure you'll grow to love me doc." He spluttered at that.

Optimus' mouth twitched and he blinked. "You have also already met Bulkhead and Bumblebee." Bumblebee perked up, "...understands me!" I grinned even wider, "I sure do."

Expressions of happiness to shock to resignation showed on all their faces, Raf suddenly stepped forward and gave me a hug. I stiffened momentarily before warily returning the hug. "It means a lot to him" he whispered before moving back.

I then looked at Optimus, "Allow me to introduce myself, I am (y/n) (l/n), it's an honour to meet you all."

Bulkhead and Bumblebee then began gesticulating wildly and explaining in great detail how when they were fighting Knockout and Breakdown, I threw a frickin' grenade strong enough to knock Knockout down.

Miko heard the word grenade and instantly perked up, "You have grenades!" I took an alarmed step back. The black and pink haired ball of energy looking to become a nuisance at any moment.

Turns out my worries weren't unfounded, as she practically leapt on me; legs curling around my waist and arms latching round my neck in a mockery of a chokehold. "Show me!"

I knew 15 different ways to get out of this, 7 of them being lethal to Miko and the rest would put her in a hospital; so instead I squeaked out a "help" while looking at Jack. The teen pulled the hyperactive girl off me and I got up. Unfortunately in the fall my guitar case had fallen to the side. Raf, both intelligent and curious, quickly found the hidden catch and opened the back compartment. My hand shot out, "Don't touch that!"

In his surprise he jolted backwards, knocking over the case so that it was open to the world.

The kids and the Autobots all stared at the contents of my case. Grenades, throwing daggers, duelling knives, my pistol and a silencer/sniper extension barrel for the pistol, were all neatly laid out and strapped in. I quickly stepped forward and moved to close it when Optimus spoke. "Wait."

I froze.

Arcee stepped in, "What would a teenager be doing with weapons?" the suspicion in her voice, clear for all to hear.

I mentally debated in my head. 'They're alien robots, who would they tell?' The urge to spill out my heart growing. 'It would be so good to finally trust someone...even if they are alien."'

I sighed, "Fine I'll tell you." I closed my case and moved to the boot of my car, "But you haven't seen it all." I opened the boot and lifted the entire bottom out, exposing another compartment containing a suitcase. I removed it, placed it on the floor and opened it to show its contents; it was full of weaponry. A sniper rifle, a pump action shotgun, two more pistols, another assortment of knives, two combat tactical swords, brass knuckles, a tactical war hammer and ammunition were all laid out and strapped down. On one side, a folded cloth package contained my Kevlar suit, some very faded dark stains showing exactly what it had been used for; a hi-tech black helmet with a tinted visor strapped beside it.

"By the allspark!" Ratchet's exclamation causing me to lower my head in shame; my brain going into overdrive.

I took a shuddering breath to calm myself. 'Showed them this...why not give 'em my life story too.'

"I was born into a...a bad crowd, you had to learn early on...heh, let's just say it wasn't for the squeamish. You were trained, given a purpose...I knew more than anyone else...before I even started school. Then one day..." My breath hitched and I felt choked up, I swallowed before continuing. "One day...there was a heist, it went south pretty quickly...I triggered the security override but there were guards...we didn't know...my mother was shot. She was the only reason some of them...didn't touch me." I lifted my head to see the implications of my words sinking in on all their faces. "So I ran...I took my share of all the profits and my weapons...and I ran. I have these, because I'm scared they'll find me. But when they do...I won't go back," my voice dropped, "...not without a fight."

Arcee knelt down, "So you have no-one else you can turn to?" The suspicion was still there, but fading.

"You didn't mention your creator...um male parental unit." I looked at the medic, confusion evident on my face. "Do you mean my father?" He gave an impatient nod.

A sad but angry look found its way upon my face. "I know my father by name only...and this picture." I reached into the case and took out the helmet; I flipped it and from the inside unstuck a photo. I held it up to the Autobots, who all reacted in surprise...and fear. "I see the resemblance," Ratchet muttered.

"My father's name was Leland Bishop...you've obviously met him, huh...my mother asked me to never try to find him...she said he was a monster...worse than the ones we dealt with every day. She told me she ran...after she saw him looking over her pregnancy scans and blueprints for...experiments...and found evidence."

Optimus looked at me worriedly, "Evidence of what exactly?"

I looked into his bright blue optics. "Evidence...that he'd been tampering with her medication...giving her injections in her sleep. She thought it was why...why...I was so good." I looked town, tears of frustration and self-loathing building in my eyes; I closed them. "Why I was so good at killing."

My eyes flew back open when I felt pressure on my sides. Jack, Miko and Raf were all hugging me. Jack looked sorrowfully at me, "We don't blame you for anything (y/n)." Bumblebee took the time to speak up, "where...you staying?" I looked at him, "I rented a room at a motel last night..." I trailed off.

I'd admitted my weakness and was ready to accept the consequences.

Optimus then spoke as well, "If you have nowhere else to go...you will be welcome here."

That was it...the floodgates opened. I began crying; my vision blurred and my chest became uncomfortably tight. My knees collapsed and I fell to the floor. Only held up by the comforting embraces of the 3 human children. I gulped the air as I tried to fight back the tears streaming down my face. For so long I'd been running. 'I haven't cried since...' I started weeping even harder.

One arm wound its way around Raf's small body, almost of their own accord; I just needed to cuddle something small. My other pulled Miko in close, the usually hyperactive girl not protesting at the restricting embrace. Thumps signalled Optimus moving to stand beside Ratchet and I wearily opened my eyes to see Bumblebee, Bulkhead and Arcee all hovering anxiously nearby.

I tried to pull myself together. Long forgotten screams echoing in my head. I shook my head and slowly disentangled myself from the others. Wiping my eyes to try and clear my vision. Finally, I felt like I could breathe again; but the screams wouldn't stop. I held my head, 'shut up, Shut Up, SHUT UP!'

I was descending into my own memories, I'd worked so hard to suppress them.

A voice calling "Prime!" and the sound of lift doors sent my mind into a panic. My eyes shot open and I rolled forward, ripping a pistol out of the case, flicking off the safety and firing a warning shot at the intruder.

"Woah...friendly!" Came a startled male voice. My vision cleared completely, to reveal a man duck behind the door. I blinked and lowered the muzzle of the pistol. He peeked round the corner, staring intently at me. I stared back, before flicking the safety off and emptying its ammunition chamber. He walked out onto the balcony and looked at Optimus whilst pointing at me.

"Prime, who is this?"

He was practically yelling and while the stoic Prime's expression remained neutral. I saw and heard both Ratchet and Arcee give exasperated sighs. Bumblebee beeped quietly into Bulkhead's audio receptor and he started chuckling quietly.

Optimus took a step towards the balcony. "Agent Fowler, this is (y/n) (l/n). We have offered them refuge here from their past and the Decepticon threat."

Whilst Optimus had been talking he had descended the stairs so he was stood at the foot of both flights, a meter in front of me and the other kids.

"Little young to be handling a gun. I'm Special Agent William Fowler but why would you need to run from your pa..." he then trailed off, eyes wide at the sight of the open cases of weaponry behind me.

While he stared, I racked my brains. 'That name...it's familiar.'

Optimus answered Fowler's question, "(She/He) is the (daughter/son) of Leland Bishop...Silas."

Realisation bloomed in my brain. "Fowler...you're the agent who helped us!...You kept our existence on that shipment a secret." Fowler's jaw dropped, before he nodded, dumbstruck. "She was pregnant? Hold up...Your mother told you about me?"

I smiled, for once a genuine smile, "Without you...she might not have gotten away." My smile fell, "not that it matters now."

Fowler placed a hand on my shoulder, "Her name was (mum's name) right?" I nodded. "Well it looks like she raised a mighty fine kid...though, what's with the eye-patch?"

Unwanted, a chuckle almost escaped me. I raised a hand to my eye-patch, 'this man saved my mum...he deserves to see what became of me.'

I closed both my eyes and removed my patch. Fowler gasped along with the others. I could just picture what they were seeing. The skin, flaky and dark. An unhealthy blue in patches, the rest a splotchy red. One jagged line of pale scarred skin running down from just under my eyebrow, over the eyelid to curl round below my eye. I opened my good eye, to gauge their reaction to this next reveal. I slowly teased open my 'damaged' eye. Wincing slightly as I adjusted to the light.

If I'd been in a better mood I would have laughed at seeing the blood practically drain from their faces. I could picture it perfectly. The iris had gone completely black, parts of it had also been removed in the operation, making it look like I had one huge pupil, swimming in a sea of red. There was no white in my eye anymore, just a blood red dome. Both my normal eye and my other one focused on Fowler. He took an involuntary step back.

An itchy pain was beginning to bother me, the glare of the lights blinding me; so I put the eye patch back on. Cool relief flooded the side of my face as my eye was once again plunged into darkness.

"It was a...job, gone wrong." After answering Fowler's unspoken question, I turned and deposited the gun back in the suitcase. I closed both that and the guitar case. Replacing the suitcase in the boot and closing the compartment. I closed and placed my guitar case in the boot before shutting it completely. My hands hadn't even left the metal when Jack spoke.

"If (she/he) is going to stay here...where will they sleep? What about school?"

I looked at him. "Honestly school skipped my mind."

I fought the urge to put Fowler in a headlock, when he suddenly laid a hand on my shoulder; "I can handle this."

-----------------------Time skip--------------------------

I opened my eyes to shreds of faint light streaming in through the curtains of the trailer Fowler had got for me. I stretched and yawned before rolling out of bed. 'Well really, it's more of a small bunk.' Trudging over to the small kitchen area, I made a bowl of (favourite cereal) and slowly wandered to the trailer door. Snatching a baseball cap off a nearby hook; I placed it on my head before kicking the door open. I hopped out to sit on the porch step. Bright sunlight and a warm breeze greeted me. Not caring if anyone saw me in my bright (favourite colour) pyjamas. 'I love weekends.'

I watched the small sliver of horizon I could see through the gap in between the large boulders that lined the edge of the base. Hiding my trailer from prying eyes but giving me a perfect view of any approaching vehicles. As the sun rose I watched the sky change from a deep purple, to a blush pink, to a light blue. Breathing deep, I savoured this new freedom.

I allowed my mind to wander. From darkness to light. From smog and the criminal under-city to a life of peace. Well...relative peace. I reflected on my conversation with Arcee a few nights before.

After Fowler had left to get the trailer I had asked the motorcycle bot why she looked like she simultaneously wanted to cry and tear me apart. Turns out that epic car I'd passed earlier was her dead friend. 'Yeesh'. She seemed grateful that I thought he was epic and cool and had said he would've liked the description. We seemed on slightly better terms now, but I can tell she doesn't trust me quite as much as she could.

After finishing my cereal, I stood and jumped back into the trailer. Dumping my bowl and spoon into the sink. I collected an outfit for the day and walked back outside. I turned away from the horizon and approached the rock face. The steel door's camouflage did nothing to hide it from my now practised eyes.

I keyed in the code in the hidden slide-back keypad and walked inside. Passing through the thick concrete tunnel, I opened another door to finally enter the base. The huge hallways were lit. "Ratchet's up" I muttered. 'When is he never up?'

Rolling my eyes, I crossed the hall and walked through another human sized door into a bathroom complex. I took a shower, dried my hair, got dressed and brushed my teeth. Nightclothes under one arm, I walked all the way back out to the trailer.

'One thing good about living here...I'll always stay fit.' I smiled sardonically at the thought. Putting my folded clothes on my bunk. I turned and regarded the bowl in the sink. "Ugh". With a huff, I washed and dried the remains of my breakfast.

"Not disturbing you am I?"

I jumped at the voice that suddenly issued behind me. Turning rapidly and throwing the spoon in my hand. It embedded itself in the trailer wall, inches from Jack's head. He had ducked, hands raised to protect his face, eyes wide at my now engorged pupils.

"Ahhh...STOP it's me."

I let out a breath I didn't know I'd been holding.

"Don't sneak up on me...you could've lost your head."

He slowly straightened with a sheepish look on his face. "Sorry about that."

I nodded and sent him a smile. Before walking over and pulling the spoon from the wall. With a nonchalant flip I tossed it over my shoulder; grinning inwardly as I heard it land in the wash rack. "You better."

He nodded and backed out the trailer door. After sending a cursory glance around the trailer, I shrugged, picked up my guitar case from its place leaning by the door, unhooked my key and followed him out. He was standing by the door into the base. I kicked the trailer door closed and jogged over. We punched in the code and went inside. Strolling down the corridor I glanced over at the dark haired male at my side.

"So...why're you here so early...it's Saturday!"

He looked at me, then quickly looked forward again after he almost tripped over his own feet. I held back a laugh.

"Um," oh the poor boy was blushing, "Arcee picked me up early cuz I booked off work and I'm spending the whole day here. Raf and Miko will turn up soon too."

We finally reached the main room of the base. Bulkhead and Bumblebee driving in right on time.

Miko bounded over and practically shrieked in my ear, "Let's have a jam session!"

I winced slightly but otherwise nodded in compliance. Bouncing enthusiastically, she practically skipped up the stairs to get her guitar and speaker from by the sofa.

An incessant beeping coming from the monitors broke through my Miko-aftershock. I turned round to see a cybertronian symbol flashing next to the communications window. I frowned.

"Aren't you gonna answer that Ratchet?"

The cybertronian merely grunted before mumbling, "He can wait." This caught Bulkhead's attention, who looked at the screen. His optics widened and he practically screamed, "It's Jackie!" before bounding over to the screen.

"Up up...you'll probably damage it." The medic waved away Bulkhead, who was now practically vibrating with excitement, before opening the channel with a huff. "Yes Wheeljack?" Ratchet tried and failed to conceal the resignation in his voice. The reply was instantaneous.

"Hey sunshine...didn't think you'd answer so quickly."

That sarcastic voice played havoc on my brain. I quickly turned back to Miko, seeking distraction, I froze in horror at the sight before me. She was vibrating, bouncing on the spot and grinning madly; her eyes were also fixated on the screen. She suddenly ran to Bulkhead, I turned tracking her progress. He picked her up and they both started excitedly chatting with the voice on the channel. Briefly glancing away to get my bearings, I walked backwards to stand beside the couch. Raf sat on it, laptop open on his lap and typing away furiously. 'Were those ear-defenders?'

I tapped his shoulder and he removed the protection gear, looking up at me expectantly. I leaned closer. "Who's Wheeljack? And do I need to tranquilise Miko?"

Raf smiled. "Wheeljack is a wrecker who likes to visit from time to time, the wreckers were an elite Autobot faction who specialised in 'wrecking' Decepticons and I don't think you need to tranquilise Miko."

Jack smiled as he sat down on the other side of Raf; picking up a controller of the floor as he did so. "He's right. You don't need to just tranquilise her...you need to chain her to the couch and tranquilise her." I smirked at the dark haired teen; leaning nonchalantly on the arm of the couch, I placed my guitar case on the floor beside it.

I threw Arcee a cautious smile when she approached to watch as Jack started up a video game. The voices excitedly chattering with the screen behind me, echoed in the concrete bunker. "See you in 5!" being one such loud proclamation from Miko. I glanced back over my shoulder to see the girl and her guardian chatting amicably as the transmission cut off; with a tired looking Ratchet beside them. I stood and walked over to the railing, waving an arm for his attention. He huffed, but stomped over anyway; leaving the pair by the monitor.

"What do you want?" He looked at me expectantly. I stared back.

"When was the last time you slept?" He groaned and brought a servo down his face.

"Look...I don't need you to tell me when to recharge I can look after myself." I continued to stare intently.

"Stop that!"

Still staring, brows furrowing slightly for added measure.

"I said stop!"

We stayed locked in deadlock before I spoke, in the most persuasive voice I could muster.

"You haven't had enough sleep and you obviously dread seeing this...Wheeljack," his optics narrowed, "So why don't you go catch up on recharge and I, along with Arcee and Optimus will keep an eye open."

He seemed to consider it for a moment before protesting, "My wor..." I raised a hand to cut him off, "Can be completed later...quality not quantity."

Ratchet rolled his optics and flapped his hand at me. "Fine I'll go recharge...but when he gets here, don't let him out of your site." He then walked down the corridor towards his berthroom.

I watched him go before turning and walking back to stand by the couch. I flicked a glance over at Arcee.

"You caught that, right?" She nods, "Already informed Optimus." I smiled, she sent me a tentative smile back. "Not many people can get Ratchet to take a break." I nodded humbly at the compliment.

I looked at the couch again, 'might as well sit down.' My muscles coiled in preparation to move but in that split second their direction was changed.

"Good ne..." The voice from right behind me was cut off, as I flipped the spry girl over my hip onto the couch. Raf and Jack having only just jumped off in time to avoid collision.

I stepped back, releasing my hold on the girl. "You lot have got to stop sneaking up on me."

Miko merely rolled off the sofa and bounced excitedly, "You have GOT to teach me how to do that!"

Seems nothing can deplete this girl's energy. I froze when the voice from the screen issued from behind me. "I'd like to see what you got too." I turned around and eyed the newcomer. Scars here and there testament to the many battles I could tell he'd been in, 'were those katanas.'

"Name's Wheeljack." He looked at me expectantly.

"I'm (l/n)...I mean (y/n), (l/n)'s my surname." He smirked at me. 'F*£k why did I mix them up?'

Bulkhead wrapped an arm round Wheeljack's shoulder. "Jackie here is the best, we fought together as part of the wreckers..." I quickly thought off a way to cover up my previous blunder.

"Could you tell me about some of your battles? I'm sure you have some awesome stories to tell." Bulkhead latched onto the new subject with glee and I allowed Miko to grab my hand and push me to sit down in preparation for story time. Wheeljack glanced fondly over at Bulkhead before turning back to us.

"Ok I'll tell ya'a story if you tell me one in return."

-------------------------Time skip-------------------------------

I'd spent most of the day listening to war stories from Wheeljack and Bulkhead with Miko before going to bed when she went home and he left in A SPACESHIP. 'I so wanted to take it apart.'

I'd told one story of my own. 'Only because Miko wouldn't stop it with the puppy eyes and pestering till I did.' It was a recount of one of the most successful jobs I'd been involved in.

I'd been "loaned" over to a mafia group. We broke into a rival Don's home and I disabled the security system. We successfully stole over $200 million. I'd gotten quite a large cut out of it too. Of course that had gone into keeping my mum and me off the street and in our "protectors" good books. I mentioned, in brief, the resistance we met; but skipped over the part where I killed a rival guard completely. I'd tried to gloss over that.

{Flashback:

I cast a concerned look at Miko, to see whether she picked up on the fact that I was a murderer.

Thankfully, she seemed to remain oblivious to the fact and excitedly chattered about how much money we'd scored and how I, "met a real mafia boss...like in the movies?"

I nod good naturedly, red staining my mind. "Yeah...just like in the movies." She bursts into questions and asks me whether I've got any more.

Shaking my head I reply, "Not one's I'd like to tell...maybe Bulkhead has some more."

She thinks for a moment, before asking Bulkhead whether he has any space battle stories. He happily said he does and starts recounting one such tale. Periodically asking for Wheeljack's input, who gives it.

All through the rest of the story, I notice Wheeljack keeps giving me these thoughtful looks.

I stared at him, waiting for him to look again. When he looked at me again he caught my eye contact...and held it. We entered a mini-staring competition; unnoticed by Bulkhead or Miko. I felt my cheeks begin to heat slightly, but not enough to reveal my blush fully. Wheeljack noticed anyway and smirked. We continued our contest until Bulkhead nudges Wheeljack for his input. He sways and we break eye contact.

Feeling strange, I refuse to meet it again...and so does he.

'Were his cheeks turning blue slightly or was that just me?'

Flashback end}

(Author note: The potential is there. Now I'm going to branch this off early. Your next adventure determines who you fall for. :)

Breakdown ending          Wheeljack Ending

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 142: HHAH!! *GRUNT* *PUNCHING NOISES*

Previously on BnHA: Tamaki faced off against three villains on his own. At first he managed to keep them at bay by generating a bunch of giant kraken arms, which was badass. But then it turned out one of the villains had an eating quirk and just kept eating the damn arms like fucking Gluttony or Monkey D. Luffy or something. The other two villains worked together to beat Tamaki up, but then Tamaki neutralized one of their quirks and fucking absorbed the other one’s quirk and used it against him. Needless to say, he beat them, and it was pretty cool, although I’m not quite sure it was cool enough to warrant an entire chapter being devoted to it, but what are you gonna do. We’re moving on now anyway, so that’s that.

Today on BnHA: Tamaki passes out after winning his fight. We cut back to the rest of the heroes as they make their way down the neverending corridor. Mimic starts messing with the walls again and tries to crush Aizawa, but Fat Gum knocks him out of the way and takes the hit for him. At this point things become very jumbled, but basically FG and Kirishima end up separated from the rest of the group, and find themselves in a pit somewhere with two new villains. One of the villains is a big guy who likes punching shit, and the other is a Buddhist monk who likes to stand around and do absolutely nothing at all. The punching guy punches FG and Kiri a bunch, and Kiri has trouble withstanding it even with his quirk. FG yells at him to not give up and to maintain his will to fight no matter what. He and Kiri face the bad guys in determination and are all “we’re gonna punch ‘em some more, goddammit.”

(As always, all comments not marked with an ETA are my unspoiled reactions from my first readthrough of this chapter. I’ve read up through chapter 175 now, so any ETAs will reflect that.)

all right kids. it’s been two weeks since I last read a chapter. I just did a quick refresher of the past dozen chapters or so, partly to remind myself of everything that was going on, and partly to remind myself of all the cool things that have happened in this arc. it kinda helped. somewhat

Tamaki’s fight didn’t really drag on that much. it was just two chapters. it felt like an eternity -- despite the fact that I actually like Tamaki a lot -- but it really wasn’t that long

and yeah, it’s been like four chapters since they started this raid, and all they’ve basically done so far is run down a few hallways. but I feel like things have to pick up soon, so we’re going to press on

BnHA got the Jump cover again! hopefully that means things are about to get exciting

ooh and there’s a color page too

basically, now that he’s finished beating these three assholes, he’s dosed them with a bit of poison to keep them in check, and now he is passing out. shit

also, “that was far more trouble than it should have been” is one of the more accurate summaries I’ve read in some time

so now we’re finally getting back to our badass 1-A boys! yesssss. I missed you lunkheads

I kinda just want the rest of the arc to be them busting through wall after wall of the labyrinth until they finally catch up to where Mirio is. then Aizawa neutralizes Overhaul’s quirk and they knock him out and rescue Eri and everything is happy and good again. and Nighteye announces that All Might is not going to die after all, and it turns out this whole time he was just misremembering an old cliffhanger episode of the canon All Might anime. and they all live happily ever after etc. etc.

(ETA: you know that anon ask about what I’d change about this arc? scratch everything I wrote in response to that. pencil this in. done and done)

but SOMETHING TELLS ME this is not going to happen

all right, so we’re back in the ol’ villain labyrinth

I’m having so much trouble spelling the word ‘labyrinth.’ I keep mixing up where the y and the i are supposed to go. stupid English language

what the fuck is this title

lol wtf

(ETA: now that I know the meaning of this title, I simultaneously have new respect for the title itself, and new exasperation towards Horikoshi for somehow still failing to see the problem with this extremely dull matchup. listen dude. no one fucking cares if “defense wins championships.” I’m just a poor soul trying to stay awake during panel after panel of blurry punching action. please never do this to us again)

Kirishima’s all “is senpai gonna be okay”, and no one fucking knows, Kiri

but no. he’s not. why on earth did you all leave him. whatever

FG is annoyed that they’re doubting Tamaki

um, no, this is the kind of stupid policy that this series has so far done its best to avoid. in fact, FG, I’ll see your point and raise you one “a true hero offers help even when it’s not asked for”, which is almost the exact opposite of what you’re saying. so WHAT IS THE TRUTH

oh my god Kirishima is immediately doing a 180 from being worried about Tamaki to being all “HE’LL BE FINE”

so am I to understand that you can get Kirishima to say or do anything just by implying that it is or isn’t manly

...actually, yeah, that checks out

so Kiri is fiercely saying that he’s still worried, but he has no choice but to believe in him

meanwhile Rock Lock, whose name was actually mentioned back in like chapter 138 but I missed it but I picked up on it when I went back to refresh my memory, is being annoyed by their enthusiasm. yet again

I feel like Rock Lock actually loves these kids now. right? they’re so fucking lovable. how can you not

(ETA: everyone gives in to class A’s charms eventually)

so now they’ve found some stairs and they’re all “let’s take these stairs”

but then they’re like “maybe we shouldn’t take these stairs”

this kind of indecisive bullshit is exactly why this arc has taken 500 chapters so far you guys. come the fuck on already

Aizawa is suspicious because wth happened to that guy who was manipulating the corridors before

well wasn’t he high af though? so maybe the quirk enhancing drug just wore off and he passed out?

Aizawa is speculating that his range might be limited and he can’t sense them all the way over here. or maybe he’s distracted by the other guys who were still fighting him earlier

I’m tired of trying to sum this all up so I’m just gonna post it

this is the room where Tamaki just finished kicking these guys’ asses. oh shit

now Irinaka’s eye is peeking out, and he’s all mad that the three of them lost to just one guy

and now for some reason we’re cutting back to where Bubble Girl and Captain Cockroach (I forget his name. but it was basically something like that) are restraining the villains who they previously stayed behind to battle

they’re questioning why the villains who were in hiding came out of the woodworks to attack them when they could have potentially gotten away if they’d just stayed put

but one of the villains says that if they’d done that, “Overhaul would have our heads”

this is why I don’t really understand villains like that last bunch who are so fucking loyal to a guy who clearly could not give less of a shit about them

and it seems like most of the current Eights are more loyal to the previous boss than to Overhaul

clearly the previous boss should have picked a 13-year-old peace-loving suburban Japanese kid to be his next heir rather than Chisaki. this is what happens when you don’t have Reborn around

anyway, even though these guys are all complaining about Overhaul, they’re all certain that the heroes aren’t going to succeed in capturing him

-- WHAT IN THE

DID A GIANT BATTERING RAM THING JUST EXPLODE OUT OF THE WALL AND SLAM INTO AIZAWA BECAUSE HOLY SHIT?!

AND NOW IT’S MAKING A HOLE IN THE WALL AND SHOVING AIZAWA INTO IT SHIIIIIT

LEAVE AIZAWA ALONE FOR ONCE, HE NEVER GETS TO DO ANYTHING IN THESE ARCS. LET HIM KICK SOME ASS

Fat Gum is tackling the giant wall hand and knocking Aizawa away from it!

so now Fat Gum has been punted through the hole in the wall instead

I’m relieved Aizawa is still with the kids, but we’re staying with FG, and I s2g if we have to spend another two chapters away from the protagonist watching characters who -- as lovable as they are -- we’d never even met before the start of this arc, I’m not gonna be super happy

-- OH MY GOD

KIRI YOU BLOCKHEAD WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE

motherfucker, he jumped in to take the hit for Aizawa too and then Fat Gum obliviously jumped in behind him and Kiri got sucked in and FG didn’t even realize

well this is just fucking great

so now some guy is emerging from the shadows ready to have fisticuffs!

and Kiri is going into Unbreakable mode again!

should you really be using your trump card right away like that. the trump card which you can only hold for a very short amount of time

um what in the

I’m not really enjoying how blurry and indistinct and difficult-to-follow these action panels have been getting as of late. it’s starting to feel like this series is finally entering a sophomore slump. get it together BnHA, c’mon

anyway, this guy looks to be punching Fat Gum really hard and possibly repeatedly. kind of like when All Might fought the Noumu at USJ

hmm

honestly it sounds like this guy was born to fight Kirishima in an epic showdown

“people oughta kill each other using just the power they got in their bodies” oh, you wacky Honorable Villains. you guys are always all over the place

FG’s turning to Kirishima, but OH SHIT

relax, I’m sure he’s fine though

ah, yes, good

this is probably gonna look really cool in the anime which will make up for this panel being something of a blurry mess right now

(ETA: just to clarify, when I originally read this chapter, I wound up with FA’s original scanlation which was significantly lower in quality. I’ve since found their version 2.0 which used cleaned-up scans which are very much improved.

here’s the original for comparison:

so yeah, the improved scans alone help to make this fight a significantly better read this time around. it’s still dull, but at least it’s readable now lol)

now FG is... trying to punch the other guy, but like. well, take a look

FG is very confused

and now another villain is there! were you there this whole time omg

okay so it must be his barrier then, right?

must... resist... urge to call him Chance the Rappa. no one else thinks it is funny. just you

but you know what. it’s my recap though. so

(ETA: honestly, this association is the only reason why he’s one of the few Eight Expendables whose names I actually recall)

so now Chance is punching FG again and it looks like it hurt him. damn

you know what I didn’t sign up for here. another fight with a tier 3 character where there is no plot advancement and where the villain’s quirk appears to just be “I punch stuff real hard.” wtf. goddammit BnHA, I’m rooting for you so get your shit in order already

so now the barrier villain is referring back to the title and clearing all of that up

actually, Kiri is spear and shield all in one. just saying. boy knows how to throw a damn good punch. who do you think was smashing through all your labyrinth walls earlier

so now Kiri is climbing back to his feet and thinking that the dude’s punches hurt him even in his Unbreakable mode

now there’s a single flashback panel of Bakugou, and my god. I’ll take it. where are you, son. how’ve you been. how’s my other son. I’ve been stuck in a villain labyrinth with side characters for the past half dozen chapters. I hope you’re off having a nice time somewhere

Kirishima is looking like he’s about to get all When The Going Gets Tough THE TOUGH GET GOING

oh! what’s this??

is this... flashback Kiri???

are you telling me he’s not a natural bright flaming redhead. what the hell. next you’re gonna tell me Mina’s not a natural pink and that Deku’s been dying his hair green since childhood

although in Kirishima’s case, he did look up to that Crimson Riot guy seemingly in the same way Deku, Shouto, and Kacchan admired All Might, didn’t he? so maybe it’s got something to do with that

FG is shouting at him not to let up his Unbreakable mode, and that if his spirit breaks that’s when he’ll really lose

and the last page is just Kiri and FG looking gritty and determined. but Kiri’s in his Ben Grimm mode so it looks weird lol

look, I’m hella down for some Kiri flashbacks. I just don’t want this fight to take longer than one and a half chapters. that’s it. that’s my limit. starting a timer... now

BONUS:

I think maybe this bonus page is supposed to go with chapter 143, but eh. it works here too

so Rappa’s quirk is explained in another omake, and basically it’s something that allows him to rotate his shoulders really fast so he can punch a lot. to think, he could have been the next Michael Phelps, but instead he wound up being a third-rate villain in the most boring arc. such a waste

Tengai’s whole character just makes no sense to me whatsoever. why are you a villain. you’re so boring. nothing in your personality or backstory offers up any type of explanation for why you would be working for a murderous crime syndicate. it’s a complete mystery, but not in a cool way, more of a “none of this adds up in the slightest” type of way. just because you never open your eyes when you talk doesn’t make you cool you asshole

[howwelldoyouknowyourmoon]

Letter from a disenchanted student of the Divine Principle

Many Unification Church members seem to think people who left the organization are like some kind of lapsed Catholics, but most of those people just recognized Moon’s absurd and contradictory rhetoric had absolutely no relationship to reality – I pointed out many of those obvious contradictions in my previous letter to Rev Moon. Even the vaunted Divine Principle was not his own teaching. Much of it came from a woman called Seong-do Kim whose revelations began in 1923. She stated that Jesus did not come to die (not new because other Christians had taught this previously), she also taught that the fall was a sexual sin (again not new because Jewish scholars suggested this long ago and anyone can recognize the association, even sex shops use a bitten apple to advertise their wares). She also taught about the change of blood lineage through the messiah – thus justifying all the deviant sexual activity involved in the pikareum rituals. Another source was a woman called Chong Deuk-eun who dictated a book called the Principle of Life in 1946-47. It was published in 1958.

The history parallels were taken straight from the teachings of Baek-moon Kim’s Israel Monastery – being the reason they finish in 1917, which was Baek-moon’s birth date rather than 1920 when Moon was born. The final Divine Principle book was composed by a committee guided by Hyo-won Eu with input from Young Oon Kim and various professors. So rather than being a direct revelation, the DP is actually an interesting amalgam of Christian theology, nineteenth century science, Oriental philosophy and shamanism – added to the insights and teachings that were taken from various Korean spiritual groups.



This was why I felt free to approach much of the DP as almost allegorical because the main thing to emphasize was personal spiritual maturity – the development of a loving parental heart. (The real meaning of ‘perfection’.) I never believed that absolute Cain/Abel rubbish spouted by Moon and Japanese leaders. I remember one itinerant worker saying, ‘If my central figure tells me this red dress is blue then it’s blue.’ Absolutely insane – but this is exactly the kind of thing that has been propagated by the Moon family and their minions, especially in Japan, and it leads to all kinds of abuses.



In addition to the DP we also have Rev. Moon’s great blessing theory, whereby through downing a glass of holy wine and being engrafted to his lineage we become capable of conceiving pure offspring, free from original sin. These ‘blessed’ children can then form the core of the heavenly kingdom on earth, of course with the ‘True Parents’ and their children at the absolute center. However, the proof of any pudding is in the eating – regardless of how good the recipe might sound. So let us look at the results, the fruits of the messiah and his teaching.

We can start with some of his own blessed children:   Ye Jin – (Divorced.) Hyo Jin – was a drug addict, I saw him give a sermon one time when he was so stoned he had to hold on to the podium in order to stand up. He punched and kicked his wife, Nansook Hong, watched pornography, walked around with a gun in his pocket and beat up church members. (Divorced.) In Jin – was forced to resign her position because it became public knowledge about her affairs with two married members and the illegitimate child she had with one of them. (Divorced.) Un Jin – said clearly on TV that her father was not the messiah, and that the church was just about power and money. (Divorced.)

 Hyun Jin, the kind-hearted business expert who wanted to cut the salaries of our church’s jewelry workers by a third – I saw a video of him calling a church leader an arrogant bastard and kicking him as the man knelt before him. No matter what the guy was guilty of, this was just one more example of the violence perpetrated by the Moon family. Which of course was epitomized by Cleopas, the black Zimbabwean supposedly embodying the spirit of Heung Jin, who went around the world viciously beating up men and women, putting some in hospital. He even threatened church members with a pistol. (All of it approved by Rev Moon who laughed at the beatings and had himself used a baseball bat on members.)



Kook Jin – an arms dealer who said Abel wouldn’t have been killed if he’d had a gun. Divorced his wife and had himself re-blessed with a Korean beauty queen. He now has his own group of armed ‘knights’ willing to do whatever he orders. (Divorced.)

 Hyung Jin, the heir apparent (according to him), lied about getting a BA from Harvard when he actually attained a lower qualification – and if he thinks the parable of the sower is referring to ‘absolute sex’ I think he needs to go back to Divinity School. His Sanctuary Church now promotes the owning of AR-15 semi-automatic assault rifles, and has ceremonies with participants carrying these lethal weapons while wearing bizarre crowns of bullets. According to one of his recent speeches, all the women of the world are ‘Brides of Christ,’ and he of course is now in that Christ position.

Don’t want to go into details about some of the others as I feel sorry for them.



So this so-called true family demonstrates clearly that there is no difference between blessed children and any others. Rev. Moon said as much in Korea when he was talking about Sammy Park, his illegitimate son. He said, ‘The sons from the concubine are better because there is more passion involved in their conception.’ So much for the value of the blessing. 



(Of course Mrs Moon blames the bad behavior of her adult, absolute ruler children on the poor church members, as though they could do anything to control it.)



So now lets look at the practical results of all the members’ sacrifice and offerings:

 This Parc One court case (the conflict that began between Kook Jin and Hyun Jin) resulted in at least 700 million dollars of church money going to lawyers and outside companies. This is at a time when Japanese church members were being bled dry; many could not even afford to go to the dentist. (They were commonly referred to as ‘the toothless ones’ in Japan.)



Cheongpyeong – you couldn’t make it up – they were selling apartments in the spirit world! People have to be completely away with the fairies to buy into that. Mrs Hyo Nam Kim (Dae Mo Nim or Hoon Mo Nim) after being denounced as a fraud, walked away with assets worth more than 230 million dollars (including one of the top golf courses in South Korea), so her spiritual real estate business must have been doing very well. It’s as crazy as charging money so that your ancestors can attend workshops with the spirit of Heung Jin, or paying thirty dollars for two bottles of Danjobi shampoo to get evil spirits out of your hair. (This all of course also being done with the consent of Rev Moon.)

Mrs Kim was supposedly channeling Dae Mo Nim, the mother of Hak Ja Han, which was actually a strange choice because Dae Mo Nim and another woman had spent two years in jail for beating a mentally ill youth to death in one of these frenzied ansu sessions (where they beat bad spirits out of people).

That whole Cheongpyeong providence is merely old Korean shamanism, and just because people have spiritual experiences there doesn’t validate what is going on. Something many members don’t realize is that God works to educate and reach people regardless of what religion they are following.



Rev. Moon often praised Korean culture but Korea was a slave society for most of its history. Although the number of slaves had declined during the nineteenth century the institution was not legally banned until 1894, and the system survived in practice until the 1920s. At least one third of the population were slaves in the past, and the children of slaves automatically belonged to their masters – with most wealthy men keeping concubines. The Koreans always had that tradition of the Yangban, or aristocrats, being served by everybody else, even having a caste of sex slaves for that purpose.



Another tradition was idol worship and shamanism. All this drumming and beating at Cheongpyeong is actually for drawing spirits into people, not driving them out. The disgusting business of putting Moon’s semen and blood into the holy wine is more shamanism. Shamans believe if you can get someone to imbibe your bodily fluids they will come under your control. By the way, Rev Moon’s children used to refer to Mrs Kim and her people as ‘the witches of Cheongpyeong.’ To put this in perspective there are still over 300,000 shamans or ‘mudangs’ plying their trade in Korea. 



Conferences. After working on some of them I was shown very clearly that all those big science, arts and other conferences actually had no purpose other than glorifying Rev Moon. He wasn’t at all interested in any results from those meetings, only in how many famous people attended.



About 500 million dollars is donated each year by the Japanese church, but where does it all go? What great world-changing projects do you see it used for? Of what use are all these glorious palaces? The one at Cheongpyeong cost over a thousand million dollars. Just think what good could have been done in the world with such funds. This particular palace is now adorned with giant statues of Hak Ja Han with Jesus kneeling before her and a much diminished figure of Sun Myung Moon in obedient attendance. She has effectively created a new religion centered on herself by changing the basic teachings and proclaiming herself as the Only Begotten Daughter of God, the wife of God, the mother of God and God himself/herself. (What kind of mental gymnastics the present members are doing to believe this utter nonsense is beyond me.)



I know each national church lives in its own little bubble, in effect creating its own version of the Unification society and cherry picking which headquarters’ directions to implement. Each country also seems to hold onto its own view of the ‘messiah,’ effectively editing out anything that does not conform to this ideal. However, with the advent of the Internet this can thankfully no longer be the case.

It is the very core of the Unification Church that needs to be examined. The whole church has been built on lies. Even Rev Moon’s life story is full of falsehoods. Remember that picture of him carrying the man on his back; he let it be known for years that it was him before finally admitting it wasn’t.

The stories about Heungnam – I heard a testimony from one of those early disciples where she went to visit him and found him drinking tea in a nearby village! Chung-hwa Pak had been an officer in the military and was put in charge of the prisoners. He designated which tasks the prisoners should do. He was able to give Moon time off so they could talk together about his beliefs. Moon was not always being worked to death as he later stated.


He said he graduated in electrical engineering at Waseda University in Tokyo, but he actually only attended night classes at a technical high school.


The Church made out that Moon was arrested in North Korea for preaching against communism, but the charges were really for bigamy and adultery. Chong-hwa Kim, the married woman involved, was also jailed. His anti-communist stance came much later.



The story about him meeting Jesus on the mountainside is also untrue. It was Seong-do Kim who first told people she’d had these Easter revelations, then Baek-moon Kim claimed them as his, and finally Rev Moon – whose lies gave him away as Easter did not fall on the date he gave for that year. In his most recent account of that meeting he calls Jesus a bastard, and originally taught that Jesus should have had sex with his mother to restore the fall. He also claimed to have met and talked with Buddha, but until his first visit to India he thought Buddha was Chinese. 



The Tragedy of the Six Marys. This book described the pikareum, or womb-cleansing, ceremonies conducted during the early years of the Unification Church. For years we were told it was untrue, but before the book came out in Japan they started giving lectures explaining the providential reasons why Moon had to have sex not only with the Six Marys, but also with all the wives of the 36, 72 and even the 124 couples. Some of the members listening to those lectures left the church afterwards so they stopped giving them, but they started them again in Korea from what I heard.

The Israel Monastery was a pikareum church with Baek-moon Kim doing the womb cleansing by having sex with the female members. Another similar one was the Olive Tree Movement started by Tae-Seon Park. This had 300,000 members and the churches had special rooms to practice the pikareum rituals. So there were plenty of examples of this grotesque idea for Rev Moon to draw on.



The holy wine ceremony is a symbolic sexual act, but for the first years of the church Rev Moon actually had sex with the female members. This is the core of the church and it is both vile and ludicrous.



I don’t say these things lightly because I needed plenty of evidence before I believed them, but I know people in both Japan and Korea who attended lectures where this behavior was justified. In America Hyung Jin and Kook Jin have admitted such things happened. It was admitted by Young Oon Kim, Papasan Choi, Chung-Hwa Pak, President Eu’s cousin (Shin-hee Eu), Annie Choi (the mother of Sam Park), Deok-jin Kim and many others. Rev Yong also went around the world giving lectures explaining the dispensational necessity of such sex practices.



God of Day and God of Night. There used to be a shrine to this primitive Korean god to the east of Seoul. (Moon was incorporating any kind of rubbish into his mythology by the end of his life.)

I could report on even worse activities and crimes but I think this is enough for now. The Divine Principle itself is a wonderful construct, (Hyo-won Eu being something of a genius) the only problem being that it isn’t true. So much of the numerology, four position foundations, triple objective purposes and so on, is actually meaningless. There was no sexual fall and inherited original sin and Satan are non-existent. The history parallels are extremely contrived, and although interesting, prove nothing at all. There are many more aspects of the book that don’t make sense. Some parts of course are helpful, Jesus not coming to die and so on, but none of these are original ideas, so the book certainly doesn’t prove that Moon is the Second Advent.

▲ Baek-moon Kim was born in 1917. He devised the parallels of history.



As predicted nothing happened on Foundation Day apart from a few pointless ceremonies. The church leadership knew this would be the case, which is why they were already telling people to prepare for 2020, the 100th anniversary of Moon’s birth. Mrs Moon is emphasizing witnessing now. (Because tithes are an ongoing source of revenue.) She recently told the Japanese wives in Korea that if they don’t do well then their descendants will pay lots of indemnity. She seems to have forgotten what her husband said on October 27, 1999, ‘No more indemnity is needed. The providence of restoration is completed.’



I personally think anyone still teaching the Divine Principle has to examine all of the above, and then ask themselves if they are just helping to propagate a gigantic destructive fraud? Thousands of people have gone through real suffering to enrich Moon and his family. Many of them had their lives ruined by being matched and married to people they could not relate to. It’s hard to believe but Moon’s church even advertised for any Korean men who wanted wives to come to one of those big blessings – just to make the numbers up, although he charged them between two and ten thousand dollars for each purchased bride. He then matched dedicated Japanese sisters to men who weren’t even church members – some of whom were unemployed drunkards or worse. (One of these wives eventually killed her Korean husband after suffering years of abuse.) Again, ask yourself whether these matchings were the action of a loving father, or an evil despot with no concern at all for the happiness and well-being of others?



If members were matched with someone they could love and be happy with, then they were in the minority, as it was mostly a matter of luck. Remember he matched physical brothers and sisters on at least four occasions that I know of, then changed the matching when he was told about it, so it certainly wasn’t God guiding him.



If people want God in their lives all they have to do is invite him in. Knock and the door will be opened. You don’t need to go to God through Moon or anyone else, and heaven is a place for heavenly people, so if you aren’t heavenly then no blessing, white robe or inseminated wine is going to get you in there.

And just to be clear, arrogance and avarice are not heavenly attributes.



I believe anyone who has sincerely tried to serve God and create a better world has certainly not wasted their time, because God will remember their efforts whatever religion they followed, but the Unification Church, FFWPU, or Hak Ja Han’s new name for it ‘Heavenly Parent’s Holy Community,’ is nothing but a despotic money-making, power-seeking, destructive scam that should not be supported in any way.



My apologies people, no jokes this time, I’m too disgusted by the whole sorry mess.



Sloe Gin

______________________________________________

Newsweek on the many Korean messiahs of the 1970s

Hwang Gook-joo and his orgies

The Divine Principle is constructed to control members

Sun Myung Moon’s Theology of the Fall, Tamar, Jesus and Mary

Sun Myung Moon – Restoration through Incest

Shamanism is at the heart of Sun Myung Moon’s church

Japanese member, Ms. K, was forced to marry Korean man she did not like

Sun Myung Moon makes me feel ashamed to be Korean

The Fall of the House of Moon – New Republic

Sun Myung Moon’s secret love child – Mother Jones

Cult Indoctrination – and the Road to Recovery

[ridiasfangirlings]

So I've seen all the LSW movie now and I have Thoughts and it's been a while since I did any kind of anime review so I just had to type this up.

(Note 1: No, I'm not sharing any links to where to find it. I know there's a less-than-legal link floating around that you can find on Tumblr in the tag if you look around. I actually used Google Chrome and a VPN to rent LSW for 500 yen for two days from the official Bandai Channel site linked here.)

(Note 2: The entire thing has not been subbed yet as far as I know. My knowledge of Japanese is spotty at best especially when it comes to listening rather than reading, but I've read the novel translations and the manga enough that even without subs I have a pretty good idea of what's going on.)

-We open on Fushimi's rainy Scepter 4 induction ceremony that was shown in the trailer. I suddenly remember how in the novel it's mentioned that the raindrops don't hit Munakata because of his King powers and it makes the part in MK where he has Awashima holding an umbrella for him while everyone else gets soaked that much more peak troll.

-There's this weird computer-y thing as Fushimi closes his eyes and I don't know if it quite works for me? This isn't jungle guys, the Blues can just be fancy in the rain, it's cool.

-Fushimi takes the sword and they totally cut out Saru snarking back at Munakata about the whole 'pride and pledge and such isn't really necessary.' I wanted to see Fushimi being a little shit why do you deny me.

-They also cut out Fushimi seeing Yata's hand reaching for the sword, instead we only have Fushimi taking it as he voiceovers the whole 'The first King said take this hand. The second King said take this sword.' The background also gets all computer-y again and it looks a little cheap and weird? This is not the first strange decision this movie will be making.

-Then that weird kid from the sixth movie promo material who looks like he escaped from Handshakers and has pokeballs for eyes says something profound-ish, etc etc TIME FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL BABIES.

-We cut to Yata on the toilet. Not what it sounds like I swear.

-Middle school Misaki so cute and dissatisfied as he hides in the bathroom. He spots something in the next stall and climbs up to look, like Romeo ascending Juliet's toilet balcony or somesuch.

-Fushimi is also on the toilet. Also not what it sounds like.

-Flirting ensues, with Yata being cute and enthusiastic and Fushimi playing hard to get by yelling at him to go away. Ah, young love.

-Yata mentions his phone has been getting weird messages due to jungle. That's called spam, Yata-chan, and you're probably too young to be reading anything that has a lot of xs in the subject line.

-Triumphant video game music plays as Fushimi's voice gets all excited and he lets Yata come over to watch him, which is when we see poor baby has a bruise from being beaten up by upperclassmen. (I'd say that's what happens without Yata there to save him but he probably ended up getting beaten less in the movie than the novel precisely because of that XD)

-They've known each other for like two minutes and already Yata wants to beat people up to defend Fushimi's honor.

-Fushimi proceeds to beat his opponent in jcube while Yata yells about how amazing it is and we get that 'this guy is scary...but amazing' moment, aka the actual exact moment where Yata falls totally in love.

-Fushimi's triumphant smile gives me life.

-Cue Yata walking to school. We don't really get any exact passage of time indications here but I like to assume this was at least a few days later – Fushimi's still a bit standoffish but Yata has clearly already officially adopted him as New Best Friend.

-Yata gets Aya's letter in his locker and proceeds to show us all that yes, he can get even cuter than he already was.

-He goes running after Fushimi and there's this weird slo-mo thing for a moment? I feel like if we're going for that there should be like romantic music playing or something.

-Other students stare at them, wondering if these two are really going continue to be this gay in public. (Spoiler alert: yes. Yes they are.)

-And then Aya tackle-hugs Yata. I really like her voice, it sounds super cutesy in just the right affected way, and even the big anime eyes work well for her character (since I get the impression from the novel she's supposed to look young). Also that 'Mi-sa-ki-pyuun!' is so cute.

-'You know what would be completely gratuitous?' 'What?' 'If instead of Aya wearing pumpkin pants like she explicitly says she is in the novel, we put in a middle schooler pantyshot.' 'Great idea!' -Gora, probably.

-Yata hides behind Fushimi because he too has had enough of this fanservice.

-Yata tries to use Fushimi as his totally heterosexual excuse to get away from the scary girl and Aya's voice becomes noticeably less high pitched and cutesy as she talks to Fushimi. I think they did a good job with showing the shift in the way she talks to Fushimi versus how she speaks to Yata.

-Aya tells Yata about the jungle mission and then shows him all the hateful messages she received. Yata looks away and we see his own phone, with the mean chat messages his 'friends' exchanged about him. The former Yata team still sucks and are not even worthy of showing up in this movie.

-Yata adorably clings to Fushimi and have I mentioned he is adorable because I'm dying here.

-So our trio heads out to summon the airship. Aya shows Yata the program she created to decode jungle's hints and Fushimi noticeably sighs and walks away when Yata calls it 'cool.' Someone's jealous~

-Aya's mom calls and Yata takes the opportunity to go talk with Fushimi. This part is really abbreviated from the novel, with Fushimi only confirming that Aya's his cousin before Aya breaks in to ask Yata to talk to her mom, so we don't get any of the family talk between them. I get that there was no way the movie could fit everything in but I think it's an unfortunate loss that will pretty much continue throughout the movie – Yata's backstory gets really shafted here, continuing the trend of LSW tending to be more about Fushimi than about both Fushimi and Yata as it should be.

-Yata's face as he starts his girl impersonation, I can't. Fukujun's female voice sounds like an old woman, Aya is cracking up and so am I, this is beautiful.

-And Fushimi laughs. I think I like how the manga did this one better, in the movie it seems more like mocking laughter than real happy laughter that I think it's supposed to be, and it felt more like he was trying to suppress it. Basically even though Aya's like 'Fushimi's laughing?' I don't get the impression that this is supposed to be a rare event, which I think the novel was intending and which for me the manga managed to convey.

-They spot the airship in the distance and Fushimi starts recalculating the position as Yata stares in awe and Aya gets annoyed. No smiley face like in the novel though, alas.

-Fushimi's ready to give up on chasing the airship but of course Yata's fired up now, and the bicycle built for three kicks off in hot pursuit. Yata strains to peddle even though you know Aya and Fushimi combined probably weigh like barely anything.

-Of course they still can't catch up and we get that 'If we'd gotten on...would anything change?' I feel like the visuals let this moment down a little – the manga was more dynamic here – but Mamoru Miyano's voice acting almost makes up for it, with just a slight undercurrent of longing underneath the tone.

-'A different world?' Yes Yata, you would have seen a different world where an immortal man has an airship complete with its own Real Doll or whatever that thing Colorless was dancing with in S1 was. Maybe it's better they missed the airship.

-Another cut straight to Yata in front of Fushimi's house. Again this makes sense to cut everything before it to streamline things, but I'm sad to lose Aya's comments on Fushimi's family and the mention of him being home when the house got robbed.

-Precious sick baby Saru coughing as he works on what is clearly meant to be Yata's watch. Someone's already got a crush.

-We get the whole 'Yata taking care of sick Fushimi' part and I love everything this scene chooses to be, Fushimi is just so precious and confused as to why Yata's there taking care of him. Also huge props to Mamoru Miyano because the voice acting in this scene is adorable, every little 'Yataaa' makes my heart go doki doki.

-The last time Yata goes back to check on him and Fushimi is sitting up and looking so shocked and amazed because Yata came when he called and he's being loved and taken care of and no one has ever done that before someone hold me my heart can't take this.

-Yata makes Fushimi food and then falls asleep and it's all so wonderful and sweet gosh I hope a raging asshole doesn't show up to ruin it all.

-'Who are you?' One raging asshole, right on time.

-Niki's voice...isn't really what I was expecting? It's a bit deep in a way that I'm not sure works for me... I mean, he does sound like he needs to be punched in the face so that's spot on. As far as Nikis go though I think I give stage play Niki the edge as far as how I imagined him sounding.

-Niki threatens to stuff a mantis in Yata's mouth and we hear the sounds of poor sick baby Fushimi stumbling his way through the giant house as fast as he can go, likely falling over things and breathing hard and just terrified because he needs to get Yata away from his asshole trash king father now.

-And Fushimi absolutely screams at Niki to shut up and it's beautiful and painful and this entire scene just makes me want to kidnap him and save him from his terrible dad.

-Niki's laugh is just kinda there too, like anime!Niki doesn't quite manage that distinctive 'gyahaha' that stage play Niki did so well.

-Fushimi outside with Yata and again the voice acting is so good, that desperate little 'Yata!' and then the hesitant, stumbling attempts at thanking Yata when Fushimi's never thanked anyone before. My heart.

-Yata says he'll see Fushimi at school and Fushimi smiles and I just...precious baby. Must protect.

-Of course this beauty couldn't last forever and Fushimi's face falls as he has to go back inside to face the piece of unburnable trash sitting on the stairs. This is the one place Niki's voice 100% worked for me – that 'Saruhiko! Asoboze~' was just chilling.

-And we begin part two, with Yata and Fushimi hanging out on the street where they'll shortly meet Mikoto. Yata mom gets cheated out of not just a name but a cameo animated appearance too, why this Gora.

-They use a mix of old and new animation for this part – Yata drinking and then throwing the drink is clearly the exact animation from S1 but Mikoto catching it has been newly animated. That's probably for the best – the bigger eyes work well enough with Fushimi and Yata, since they're supposed to be kids, but there would be a pretty obvious difference between the old and new styles with Mikoto. (I think Mikoto looking back at them might be from S1 though...honestly this just makes me miss the S1 animation style again.)

-Cut to Fushimi getting yelled at for having his phone out in class. Fushimi of course gives no fucks and walks right out, and Yata runs after him while their teacher is completely done with this level of gay.

-I don't really like how those last two scenes went flow-wise, it feels kinda abrupt? The scene with Sarumi meeting Homra continues to feel shoved in and awkwardly out of place even in its own movie, and having nothing to really indicate the passing of time between Yata visiting Fushimi at his home to the two of them on the street and then back to class makes things feel choppy to me here. I assume they rearranged things from the novel for time reasons but it definitely feels shuffled around.

-Yata asks if Fushimi's going home and says he'll go too, and Fushimi has this little '...sorry' moment that's adorable, especially when Yata proceeds to put a hand on his shoulder and smiles and I think this movie is as in love with Yata as Fushimi is, every scene of him smiling is so bright.

-Yata mentions that they're third years already, finally giving some indication of how time moves in this movie thank you Yata.

-Fushimi pulls up jungle, showing Yata pictures that jungle's managed to take of various Homra members as part of a mission. I'm just concerned that someone is stalking Kusanagi.

-They discuss the rumors of the 'Red Monster' as images of Mikoto looking scary cross the screen. My favorite part of this is when they show Mikoto and the Homra members in silhouette with glowing red eyes looking all ominous, except one of the silhouettes is clearly Totsuka and I'm pretty sure the worst he's gonna do to you guys is ask if you want to help him with a hobby.

-We also get a close up of glowing eyes Fujishima. Did someone kick a dog in his presence, or...?

-Yata proposes to Fushimi talks about how they should get a place together and we get a quick flash of Niki looking like an asshole, which is his specialty. 'You don't need a home like that.'

-Yata says their place should have a helicopter pad and suddenly we're in Yata vision with an adorable cartoony plane rising up from a hidden door and just when you thought Yata couldn't be cuter.

-...Followed by Fushimi vision which is basically a mad science lab featuring human-like organisms in glowing pods. The chuunibyou is strong.

-The two of them walk off discussing plans and being in love as Aya stares down from the window, wondering why she's even in this movie again.

-Back to the Fushimi House of Shitty Parents, with Kisa making her cameo. Her character design is just way too....soft, I think, for my tastes. I feel like the manga did the better job of portraying a beautiful but cold and professional woman. Also she's got a hedgehog on her shoulder (or it's some kind of fluffy necklace thing, idk, it's weird why is it there why isn't she in her party dress like she should be).

-Her voice feels a little too pleasant for me too, though it does shift slightly colder when she gets off the phone and starts talking to Fushimi.

-Also while on the one hand the front of the house being wide and empty fits, since we know they don't keep anything valuable where people can see, the background here feels a bit...off? Like at one point we see these huge open doorways behind Fushimi and Kisa and it looks like they live in a fucking museum or something, like there's 'rich person's house' and 'no one actually has a house that looks like this.'

-Kisa tells Fushimi his dad is in the hospital and leaves, her cameo appearance over for the day. She still got more screentime than Yata's mom.

-Fushimi thinks about Niki's illness and then smiles and laughs, as we all should.

-Back to school, and Aya is pissed at Fushimi only being in 45th place in exams and that he isn't competing with her, because once again Fushimi gives no fucks he's moving in with his boyfriend and doesn't need no education.

-Aya mentions getting into Tsubakigahara high school and Fushimi cleans his glasses, reminding me that I wish we'd gotten to see Aya in her glasses animated.

-'Have you ever listened to me with your eyes sparkling and saying 'amazing'?' And Fushimi walks right past her because he doesn't want a rival, he wants someone who will look at him as he is and think that he's worth something, that he's amazing from the point of view beyond just what society expects.

-And Aya scores a direct hit with her backpack! Throwing things at people must run in the Fushimi family.

-Fushimi says he doesn't hate Aya and for a moment she stares at him with romance in her eyes....and then he kicks her backpack right back in her face. Such a smooth talker. At least they resisted the urge to put in another pantyshot there.

-Cut to the Sarumi Apartment of Love. The quick pan up the building makes it feel like they should be on the top floor even though we know from the novel it's a first floor apartment. Also the building looks a bit too fancy for me, considering their apartment's supposed to be cheap and purchased via an underworld-type realtor.

-Yata shows off his skateboard tricks and Fushimi is not interested. He's just playing hard to get again.

-Yata and Fushimi plan their attack on the surprise party and are so cute and hopeful and it's depressing knowing this is really the beginning of the end of their sense of invincibility.

-KNUCKLE BUMP!

-Also please note Fushimi's loft is big enough that Yata can like climb right up there with him and there's plenty of room for things like for example making out if the two of them wanted to do such things you know just saying.

-The night of the surprise party. Dewa and Chitose get to make appearances trying to disperse the crowd as Yata waits on top of the roof and Fushimi runs the computers while wearing a cute stripey blanket.

-They discuss the plan as tiny CGI people hang out around Homra. It looks like the bar is being attacked by rogue escapees from a Sims game (new plan: Yata leads them to the nearest pool and Fushimi removes the ladder).

-Fushimi is still wearing a stripey blanket on his head, and he is adorable. Just to make note of the important things.

-Fushimi begins the hacking mission as everyone puts on freaky-ass masks. Did Hisui have a coupon for the local freaky mask shop or something? Was this a wholesale deal?

-The jungle kids start shooting off party poppers. Sensing a threat to his bar counter, Kusanagi finally makes an appearance.

-Fushimi sends out a fake mail to indicate jungle's having server issues and we see Aya in the crowd, which makes you think her presence here is going to be important. Spoiler alert: unlike in the novel, her presence has no payoff and means nothing.

-Yata dons his own freaky mask and skateboards into the fray. His acting is slightly less bad than I expected it to be but Fushimi still facepalms over it.

-Fushimi's terminal sparks green and a tiny avatar appears in the corner. I think I liked the manga interpretation of Hisui's avatar guy better, there he was just a faceless completely unassuming avatar and here it's a little guy in a suit and glasses who looks more distinctive. I do like the way his voice is computerized but still obviously Hisui under it, which gets more pronounced the more he talks.

-At the end when the avatar goes all demony, I think this is another point for the manga which actually looked scary, businessman-avatar looks a bit more on the silly side. Though for Fushimi it was probably creepy either way (also it makes me wonder about Hisui on the other end of that transmission turning his avatar into a scary demon while his parrot eats his hair).

-Fushimi pulls the plug on his computer and then is off and running, yelling Yata's name over and over again, just so desperate to be sure Yata's all right.

-”Saruhiko!” “Misaki!” My heart.

-Yata drags Fushimi into a corner and Fushimi has that 'it's our—my loss' moment before they suddenly get attacked by party poppers again. One hits close to Fushimi's eye but it's just a random hit, which makes me wonder why they bothered even showing Aya before.

-I love Fushimi dragging Yata away here – he sounds just so harried, like here he's lost and he wasn't superior at all, and even worse he's put Misaki in danger and he just has no idea what to do.

-More fireworks come flying at them as Mikoto makes his grand appearance at last, in a giant ball of flame.

-I feel like the blocking of this scene was really weird, it seems like Fushimi and Yata should have been being swarmed by masked people but in order to save animation budget they just had random firecrackers flying around and then all of a sudden Saru's being dragged off by fangirls enemies. I wish it had been a little more frantic.

-Yata running towards Mikoto while yelling at him to save Saruhiko was perfect though, he's just so terrified for Fushimi's sake.

-I really loved the whole scene of Mikoto saving Fushimi, the way Fushimi looks up as the fire rains down and then Totsuka coming up behind him and holding him as lovely music plays, the atmosphere was so lovely (….though it kinda made me suddenly want some TotsuFushi. Just a little).

-Totsuka keeps hugging Fushimi, doing what we all wish we could.

-And we finally get a proper Sarumi hug! If nothing else at least the anime didn't punk out with a leg hug, we got a real hug this time.

-Fushimi and Yata head home in failure. Fushimi clenches his fist and you can see bruises on his fingers, my poor child.

-Back to the hospital where ding dong the dick is dead. The manga only implied that Kisa was a terrible mother who made her middle school age son collect his dead dad's body, the anime nicely confirms it by having her call Fushimi and tell him to do it.

-The manga was a little more abrupt and creepy with this scene, where Fushimi briefly sees Niki sitting up and mocking him. Even dead Niki is punchable.

-Also I like how even dead Niki's hair is perfectly styled. Are those bangs natural or what?

-Fushimi loses it and starts yelling at a corpse. It's almost like making your traumatized and abused middle schooler son retrieve his dad's dead body was a bad idea or something.

-A rubix cube falls from Niki's hand and--

-And--

-H E L P M E

-HE'S SO CUTE

-L O O K A T H I M

-HE HAS A TINY BOWTIE AND LITTLE NERD GLASSES LOOK AT HIS SMOL HANDS I LOVE HIM

-Only a true piece of utter trash could upset such a pure baby

-D I E

-Okay, things that aren't baby Saru, right, there's still movie left.

-Yata and Aya talk in the rain, I'm mostly distracted by how cute Yata looks in a poncho.

-It feels a little depressing that the last we see of Aya is her sobbing in the rain. I don't think the novel's resolution for her was the best either but at least there was something like closure.

-'The first King said take this hand. The second King said take this sword.' Fushimi voiceovers once again as Yata and Fushimi stand side by side in front of Mikoto at Bar Homra. They reach for Mikoto's flaming hands and...roll credits. Wait, roll credits?

-So yeah the entire back half of the novel isn't in the movie, it ends with Sarumi joining Homra. I wonder how this plays to people who haven't read the novel, because to me it very much feels like this is a narrative without an actual ending. I think they tried to make a parallel with the 'take this hand/take this sword' part but without the latter half of the novel the opening scene actually feels somewhat out of place to me, like it has no real relation to the rest of the movie (I almost feel like since they were messing with the novel anyway they should have started the movie with Yata and Fushimi reaching for Mikoto's hand, then backtracking to how we got to this point and finally jumping forward just as Fushimi's hand is about to take Mikoto's and suddenly have him reaching for the sword instead, looking to the side as Yata's phantom hand next to him fades away).

-I think they were in somewhat of a difficult position with LSW because the novel's too long for the movie they were making so some things had to be cut – and to be fair I have no idea how I would get the whole novel into a movie of this length either – but I can't deny it doesn't suffer for losing that back half. LSW is the story of how Yata and Fushimi met and then how they broke apart, and the movie to me feels like it's building towards a resolution that doesn't happen. In that sense starting the movie with the Homra installation rather than S4 might have worked better, restructuring the source material so it's more focused around how the two of them became friends and joined Homra with only the hovering specter of future betrayal at the end.

-Similarly, as far as dropped plot threads go, I liked seeing Aya animated but she feels somewhat... extraneous in the movie as it is. Her presence is mainly necessary for kickstarting the airship plot but as the movie stands that's it, and her arc feels rushed with a lot of pointless moments – having her be at the surprise party, for example, but not having her attack Fushimi and then cutting out the two of them speaking at Niki's funeral and Aya talking about being Fushimi's enemy, all of which ultimately makes her appearance there in the movie be without any real payoff. It also means her final interaction in the movie is with Yata rather than Fushimi, even though her character is more of a foil for Fushimi than Yata and her relationship with him more complex.

-Other things they cut I didn't like: no anthill? Seeing babu Saru with the rubix cube was fine enough and I do think the movie made it pretty clear that Fushimi was being abused, but the anthill is so essential to Fushimi's worldview that I feel losing it downplays some of his trauma a bit. As sad as poor upset Fushimi's face was when Niki destroyed the rubix cube it really doesn't carry the punch that this image does:

-Also this was a weakness in the novel too but once again, Yata gets really shafted by LSW. In the novel he at least has some presence in the first part of the novel but the movie completely removes everything about feeling left out of his family and even the part where he finds out his 'friends' hate him is a lot more downplayed than in the novel. A lot of what we see of Yata feels like it's from Fushimi's view, all those dazzling smiles, and it's wonderful from that perspective but I wish we'd gotten a little more of Yata's inner life here.

-On the good end, I am glad we at least got what we did of animated LSW. Middle school Yata is an utter gem of adorableness and I am so thankful to have him. The voice acting was also really great, Fukujun and Mamo knocked it out of the part (best in show probably goes to Mamo's 'Yataaa' during the scene where he's sick in bed, that was absolutely precious). Niki was complete trash in just the right way and I think the movie did a good job in conveying the dread and fear Fushimi feels towards him. If I had to rank adaptations I would probably put the anime last after the manga and the stage play but it's still a good watch and I'm looking forward to actually being able to, y'know, watch a nice legal stream with subs and then actually be able to buy it on disc some time in the next decade whenever Viz finally stops being jerks and give people who can't go running across the country to random cons on half a week's notice a chance to watch.