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tired-reader-writer · 1 month ago

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Because the AO3 author's note box has a character limit and my author's note was way too long even when I split it into two (honestly crying right now like literally I'm legitimately distressed), here's the full fucking thing in all its glory.

This is the fic it was supposed to be attached to.

Sooooo, yeah! This is the first chapter of what will be a longfic following Hoshiori— it's functionally a prologue I realize but I didn't want to name it a prologue because I didn't want to deal with the thing where it turns out like “Chapter 2: Chapter 1” because it hurts my delicate sensibilities, LOL.

Many, MANY thanks to my dear friend wolfghost who kindly agreed to beta this fic… *checks time-stamp* six entire months ago! Oh wow I really took forever in actually delivering the chapter to you, my fucking god.

First things first, I would like to say that the worldbuilding here might be very unfamiliar to y'all because of how much it departs from other fics— heavily inspired by wolfghost's Drag My Dark Into The Dawn series (please do check it out, it's very good, realistic exploration of war and trauma) the dynamics between civilian and shinobi are… well. It'll get explored in more detail in the future, please look forward to it! I will note that this isn't supposed to bash civilians. I know they're causing problems right now and will continue to, at least some of them (a specific subset of civilians), but I want to give the civilians a proper chance in this fic because they rarely do ever get the chance to shine! In a similar vein, I seek to not bash any character in this fic (well I think it's impossible to truly bash Hiruzen because man's just That Bad from the outset but I digress), not Hashirama, not Tobirama, not Madara, not even Jiraiya, no one, even as they have caused problems and will continue to cause problems down the line (particularly with Jiraiya). The choices they make will inevitably impact someone in a negative manner. The narrators will end up disliking one person or another. It will happen. I just hope y'all enjoy this absolute hot mess of a web.

Marigolds symbolize… a whole lot of things, both positive and negative. I felt that they were a fitting flower for many reasons which I won't state here because I want to hear you guy's thoughts! I will give you a hint in that “万寿菊” consisting of kanji for thousand, longevity, and chrysanthemum respectively, means marigold. Let me know what you think they represent here!

As for the name Uzunoshima… well, the island had to have a name before it became Uzushiogakure, before the Hidden Village system was established here, and I decided on this name to imitate Japan's island names such as Tokunoshima, Tanegashima, Kagoshima, Hikoshima, Kamishima, Tomogashima, almost said Hitogashima before realizing that's a fictional island but it *is* based on a real island, specifically Tomogashima, so yeah! Funnily enough, I originally wanted to name it Zokunoshima meaning “island of thieves” because the Uzumaki were originally pirates and that just sounded like a name the rest of the world would give them and the Uzumaki would have their own endonym for it but I feared it might've gotten too confusing for my readers, so I decided against it.

Toyonabe and Niezaki are, of course, not names or places found in canon because I guess I have to do all the work establishing place names here. The name Toyonabe consists of the kanji 豊 (abundant, lush, bountiful, plenty) and 鍋 (pot), because it's a bit of a melting pot port city situation, and the region it's in, Niezaki, consists of kanji 沸 (to boil, to cook) and 崎 (peninsula). It was originally part of Yu no Kuni who trades openly with Uzunoshima despite everybody else being afraid of the Uzumaki, before Hi no Kuni would eventually annex the area. They still bear the name. I also like to think that the region has volcanoes and the hot currents from the region meet the colder waters from other places and the temperature shenanigans gave the Sanzu strait its signature whirlpools along with some quirks on the ocean floor probably, but it's not important so I didn't mention it. Just a fun thought.

My sincerest thanks for my good friend reipastuminen on ao3 for helping me name Niezaki and Toyonabe. Truly, you were a godsend.

As for the Sanzu strait, it's named for the Sanzu river in Japanese Buddhist belief, one that souls of the dead must cross to get to the “far shore” (Higan) aka the afterlife. Why do you think I named it Sanzu strait? Tell me about it!

Imo-mochi is a type of mochi made of potatoes.

I headcanon that Tobirama is an albino man rather than it being just Anime Logic™, and so I ended up incorporating that headcanon into the fic. Yes, his eyelashes are black, but everyone has black eyelashes in Naruto, I think it's just the artstyle. It's a bit of an unusual headcanon, I know, but please don't try to pick a fight with me over it. I've already seen people try to discredit the headcanon and it's exhausting.

The Natsuboshi festival is… about four celebrations rolled into one. The Tanabata festival, of course, and the Bon Odori festival, also the celebration of the ocean, and the Shichi-go-san celebration. Shichi-go-san because it just felt appropriate to smudge it a little for the seventh year ceremony for children here, and ocean day because it happened to be in the same month as Tanabata (July), and Bon Odori because… Actually, it's interesting how Bon Odori and Tanabata were originally the same celebration historically in Japan, held in the seventh month of the traditional Japanese calendar, but eventually drifted apart because Tanabata moved to the western calendar's July, and Bon Odori stayed in its original month which was the seventh month in the Japanese calendar but fell on August. Some places in Japan do celebrate it in August still, though. And since I decided well there's no reason for there to be two calendars I just smushed the two festivals back into one. I've already cried bitter tears wrangling calendars in my other fic, Winds of Wolfsong, if I have to do it for this fic too I will start to cry. The name of this festival consists of the kanji 夏 “summer” and 星 “star”.

The tale of Orihime and Hikoboshi will be symbolically important for Hoshiori!

Uzunoshima has two time systems, the 24-hour system for everything else, and the traditional Japanese time system (which has varying hour lengths according to season) for the shrine, just like how many cultures today have a western calendar and a traditional calendar, just on a smaller scale. The hours were counted from nine to four, backwards from noon until midnight, and the numbers one, two, and three were not used because those were the times used for Buddhist monks to call to prayer. Uzunoshima is primarily Shinto though, but I wanted to keep this irl Japanese tradition. Dawn and dusk are marked as the sixth hour in this time system. Each hour is assigned an animal from the Japanese zodiac as it is irl, and I won't go into detail but the two hours mentioned in this chapter were: usagi-ji (hour of the rabbit, dawn, six strikes), and tatsu-ji (hour of the dragon, five strikes). Now I have no proof the hours were called like that irl, I just wanted to do this because I found it neat.

The bell strikes would come from the island's shrine here, and Kazuma compares the prayer voices to the tremor of the tsurigane, which are also called oogane irl but I realized, hey, the “tsuri/釣” in the word means “to strung up/to fish” and Uzunoshima is an island, it felt fitting so I went with the term tsurigane.

The gods Fuchi-no-Kami and Uzu-no-Mikoto aren't irl Shinto deities, obviously, I found that the gods from the usual pantheon didn't click with me, and in Shintoism which is an offspring of animism, a mountain can be a kami, a tree can be a kami, a rock can be a kami, almost anything can be a kami, really, so I felt comfortable in just making new gods up. Fuchi-no-Kami is the goddess of the sea (only to the Uzumaki though, Susanoo fills that role for others which makes up for funny religious conflict as the Uzumaki insist Susanoo and other such ocean deities are actually Fuchi-no-Kami's children LMAO) and Uzu-no-Mikoto are her daughters, representing the whirlpools. Uzu-no-Mikoto's name is pretty self-explanatory, but the word “fuchi/淵” means abyss/depth/deep pool/deep waters and I thought it was appropriate for both the sea between the Kiri archipelago and the Continent. Also yeah the archipelago is named Kiri for the mist that envelopes all its islands, Mizu no Kuni as a collective has not been properly established at this point in time though it will start to do so eventually.

The Shinigami… actually, it's quite the interesting case. I always did think the term Shinigami sounded odd for a single deity, it sounded plural, so I looked into it and… yeah! Shintoism does not have a singular death deity, and historically, Shinigami were depicted as many death gods or as youkai-like vengeful spirits who possess people and drive them to suicide. Obviously, the Naruto world seem to have a singular death god, so I kept it that way, but made a small nod to the historical portrayal of Shinigami as vengeful spirits via the detail of ayakashi (phantoms) serving him. And since the Shinigami mask came from the Uzumaki in canon, I thought why not, and made him the consort of Fuchi-no-Kami. The ayakashi… their name can be translated as “strange phenomenon of the sea” and they're said to be phantoms who appear on the water's surface, and there are many types. Though interestingly, the ayakashi in Noh theater where their name is written in kanji (the non-Noh ones are written entirely in hiragana, I know, it's confusing) 怪士 meaning “strange warrior”. I decided to stick with the sea phantoms interpretation for my sanity's sake.

Though a lot of the Uzumaki's faith is a certified me-original (as is their matriarchy, I know canon featured a dude next to Hashirama, shush, if Kishimoto can retcon his own stuff I can retcon his stuff as well), the belief that a child is not fully human until the age of 7 and “belongs to the gods” is not! It's a belief found in Japan's history, where they had a practice called “mabiki/間引き” meaning “thinning out an overgrown garden” which is slang for… infanticide. Yeah. It was such a common practice, too. I'm not putting it in the story, though. Other such beliefs will be making an appearance in the future as well, particularly with the Hyuuga. Do look forward to it!

Both miko and kannushi are women here, they can marry, miko can become kannushi on Uzunoshima. No, it is not how it works irl, but I'm doing this to simplify it and keep my sanity. The prayer chanted during the ceremony is based on what little I could find of Shinto prayers called “norito/祝詞”, also the beginning of one of the poems “divine gods noble and fearsome” is also based on my feeble attempt at translating the beginning of a norito addressing the gods. AGH! I'm not gonna go into the kagura dance because this author's note is unmanageably long already.

Chitose-ame (千歳飴, thousand-year candy) is given out to children at the shichi-go-san celebration, meant to symbolize healthy growth and a long life. The bags typically have cranes and turtles on them, two animals which will be important to Hoshiori. The lines “A thousand years for the graceful cranes, ten thousand for the gliding turtles” are based on a saying “鶴は千年、亀は万年” (cranes live for a thousand years, turtles live for ten thousand years).

The civilian-shinobi relations on Uzunoshima are decidedly less well-defined and distant compared to their mainland counterparts, mainly because the Uzumaki did not regard themselves as shinobi in the first place and did not see fit to adopt those labels before the reforms, but also because they are a small island nation and so relations are gonna be more intimate whether Kokuen likes it or not. Mainland relations will take on a slightly different flavor. You'll see.

The fuuinjutsu rankings are based on the Japanese martial arts “dan/段” ranking system, going from shodan (first dan, lowest) to juudan (tenth dan, highest), and the Uzumaki wear these waist sash tassels to signify what rank they are. The ornaments are jinbu, an actual accessory seen with Chinese hanfu garments.

I am aware hanafuda refers to the cards and not the game, you can play many games with those cards, I just didn't feel like specifying a particular game. Also, the symbolism in those cards… yum.

I ended up inserting little poem snippets between scenes, this is my first real attempt at poetry, and I do not think I can keep it up for other chapters, so it'll have to be a prologue-exclusive! They're not based on any Japanese poetic structure, as I am not learned in that area (my Japanese is barely N4! I can't even keigo! 😭) The first one and the last are based on Japanese songs I've heard, though! Keep an eye on the mention of yorimashi, human vessels that attract the kami and allow the kami to dwell in them for rituals and ceremonies. Doesn't it remind you of… jinchuuriki? 👀

And, yeah, this fic is absolutely infested with OCs, and that's a feature not a bug because Kishimoto did not see fit to give us Uzumaki characters and so I have to fill in the space myself. Let's talk about their names!

Hoshiori: 星織, “star-weaver” or “to weave the stars”, a direct reference to the folktale figure Orihime

(Senju) Kazuma: 和守, 和 meaning “harmony, peace, concord, sum/add” and 守 meaning “protect, defend, obey, guardian”, together it can mean something like “to protect peace”. It just sounded like something Hashirama would name his child.

Tsurue: 鶴衣, 鶴 meaning “crane” and 衣 meaning “clothing, garment”, and so her name is a reference to The Crane Wife folktale

Tsurue and Kazuma's names represent… aspects of their daughter.

Kiho: 祈帆, 祈 meaning “prayer” and “帆” meaning sail, so her name would mean “prayer to sail”

Haine: 波音, meaning “the sound of waves”, it's a Summertime Render reference

Kofune: 小船, meaning “small ship/boat”, also a Summertime Render reference

Kokuen: 黒炎, meaning “black flames”, a recycled Magi OC LOL

Gyokuen: 玉炎, 玉 meaning “ball, sphere, jewel, gem” and 炎 meaning “flames”

Mana and Shinpei's names don't have kanji, sorry kids I kinda gave up (Shinpei's name is a reference to Summertime Render. Again.)

Unusual though the worldbuilding choices may be, I *am* basing them on the little snippets we got in the Chuunin exam arc, such as: this, this, this, this, this, this, this and this

Also recommended is The Weaver by concernedbrownbread! The politics in that fic takes a very different flavor from mine and wolfghost's, but captivating nonetheless! Please give both a try, I promise you it is very worth it.

#foxes pillars and sea-salt rust #naruto #naruto shippuden #Naruto au #naruto fic #naruto fanfiction #naruto oc #I hate my life #fuck ao3 fuck everything

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writingonthewalls1832 · 6 months ago

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omg i thought about this once but Young! red team (chigiri kunigami and reo) interacting one day (like they randomly met one day in their childhood and started talking and stuff)

Yesss this is so cool! Chigiri-Reo-Kunigami is actually one of the best trios of the show imo, they had such a good skill combination and a great dynamic.

Here you go, Houdie!

For reference, in this fic, Chigiri is six years old and Kunigami and Reo are seven years old. I also didn't proofread it so if there are some typos it was an artistic choice.

Word count: 1,566

TWs: N/A!

It was hot outside, hot enough that after fifteen minutes racing around the football field, Chigiri felt his hair start to stick to the back of his neck. With one final huff, he kicked the red ball into a soaring arc that landed it into the back of a net.

"Yeah!" He cheered, jumping into the air with a pump of his fist.

"Hyoma, do you want some water? It's so hot!" His mother called from where she was sitting next to his sister on a steel bench at the edge of the field.

Chigiri nodded and jogged over to them, boosting himself up with small hands to sit next to his mother. He took a long drink from his water bottle.

"You know," his mother said with a good-natured smile, "We're on vacation. You don't have to practice football."

Chigiri wiped his mouth on his sleeve, smiling. "I want to, though! I want to get better!"

"How are you going to get better if you don't have anyone to play with?" His sister asked.

Chigiri frowned at her and opened his mouth to answer.

"Why don't you go ask that boy over there to play?" His mother offered before Chigiri could speak.

Chigiri followed his mother's gaze across the field to near the far corner flag. There, a boy with orange hair was kicking around a gray soccer ball.

Chigiri watched the boy dribble clumsily and then shoot the ball into the net. He shrugged. "Eh. I'll just go play on the other side of the field."

"He's all by himself," his mother cooed with pity. "Go talk to him. Hopefully his parents are around somewhere."

Chigiri slid off the bench and walked over to the strange boy, careful to not sneak up on him.

"Hey," he called when he was close enough to not need to yell.

The boy turned, surprised, trapping the ball beneath his foot. "Hey," he said evenly. "What's up?"

"My name's Hyoma Chigiri."

"Rensuke Kunigami."

There was a moment of awkward silence where Chigiri looked Kunigami up and down. Kunigami was a little older than him, if he could guess, and he was certainly taller and stronger.

"Do you...want to play together?"

Kunigami smiled, an honest, open smile that made Chigiri feel a bit like they were friends already. "Yeah!"

After a few moments of passing the ball around and taking shots on goal, it became apparent that Kunigami wasn't super experienced. He had an odd talent though; his left leg shot was powerful enough that when he accidentally shot the ball over the crossbar, it nearly ended up in the playground on the other side of the park.

"Whoops, sorry," Kunigami said awkwardly when Chigiri retrieved the ball. "Thanks for getting that."

Chigiri dropped the ball back into the grass. "It's no problem. So, you haven't been playing for very long, have you?"

"No," Kunigami admitted, looking slightly embarrassed. "Only a few months."

"Are you from Tokyo?"

"No, Akita. My dad's here for work and I came with him. You?"

Chigiri passed him the ball and they started a passing drill, the ball swishing rhythmically over the grass. "I'm from Kagoshima. We're here for vacation. Where's your dad?"

"At the hotel across the street. He knows I'm here, don't worry."

Chigiri nodded, eyes narrowing to focus on the ball between Kunigami's feet. When he received the pass, forceful enough to sting his unprotected calf, he trapped the ball under his foot.

"Want some advice, then?"

Kunigami, who had been moving towards the goal for the next pass, straightened and blinked. "Sure."

"You've got power, but you don't have to use it all the time," Chigiri began. "We're close enough to talk normally to each other; that means you don't have to pass it like you're shooting. Hit it with the side of your foot, like this."

Chigiri gave Kunigami an easy pass. Kunigami considered the ball, then the inside of his foot, and then tapped a hesitant, slow pass back. "Better?"

"Better."

"Hey, you two over there!" Someone called from close by.

Chigiri and Kunigami both turned. The voice belonged to a boy with purple hair who was running away from his obviously disgruntled parents with a wide smile on his face.

"Do you play soccer?" He asked, practically skidding to a stop in the grass in front of them.

"Uh, yeah," Kunigami responded, confused.

"I'm Reo Mikage. Let me play with you."

Kunigami looked at Chigiri as if it was his decision. Chigiri glanced back towards his mother, who was talking to his sister and didn't seem in a hurry to leave.

"Sure," Chigiri told Reo. "Why don't you and Kunigami go on one team, and I'll go on the other. You two try to score on me."

"Okay!" Reo said confidently, and then, just as confidently: "Where do I stand?"

Chigiri blinked at him. "You don't play?"

"Nope, but I want to! Someday I'm gonna win the world cup! So where do I stand?"

"Just follow my lead," Kunigami told him.

Chigiri passed him the ball and then backed up towards the penalty area to defend. Kunigami's control was good, though not graceful. Reo was too close to him to be useful, purple eyes trained on the ball as if he was itching to get a touch on it.

Kunigami dashed forwards, but Chigiri blocked his path to the goal. Kunigami dribbled for a moment, did a poor feint, and then tried to shoot. Chigiri stole the ball easily, wishing that Kunigami's leg wasn't so powerful.

"Sorry," Kunigami said with a wince. "I booted it again. I thought maybe it would get past you."

"It's fine."

"Can I try?" Reo asked.

"Sure." Kunigami passed him the ball, and Chigiri was back on the defensive.

Reo kicked the ball in between his feet once or twice, feeling the weight and considering the way it moved. "This is good," he said. "I like it!"

Chigiri moved a bit closer, starting the game. First, Reo tried to take the ball up the side of the field. When he quickly found himself trapped, he reversed direction, but Chigiri knew he was looking for a pass, and he dashed to block his way.

"Ooh, you're fast!" Reo exclaimed.

"Reo!" Kunigami called.

"Right!"

Reo tried to get around Chigiri again and failed. He was losing confidence quickly. Kunigami moved far up, towards the midfield and out of danger, so Chigiri let Reo pass it to him. Reo said something to Kunigami, then walked over to him. Kunigami put the ball between his feet and they stopped for a moment to chat. Chigiri couldn't hear what they were saying, so he readied himself for a new play.

Kunigami and Reo both started rushing forwards towards the goal at the same time. Chigiri panicked for a moment at the sudden movement, then decided that he should obviously go for Kunigami since he had the ball. He confronted him at the edge of the penalty box, ready to block an opportunity to pass.

Kunigami kicked the ball to the left and Chigiri moved with it, expecting Kunigami was trying to create an opening for a shot. When Chigiri turned his shoulder to block Kunigami, Kunigami extended an arm, and Chigiri felt himself blocked more forcefully.

He tried to push back, but Kunigami was bigger than him and his efforts were in vain. Kunigami passed the ball across the goal to Reo, who tapped it in easily and then ran over to join them.

"Nice job!" Reo exclaimed, breathing hard. "Man, that was so cool!"

"Thanks," Kunigami answered with a smile.

"That was nice, yeah," Chigiri agreed. "That fake shot and physical press back on me wasn't a strategy I expected."

"It was Reo's idea, actually."

"Really?"

"Yeah!" Reo nodded. "I figured since he's bigger than you, he could push you out of the way instead of trying to outrun you. I would get open in the meantime and be ready for a pass."

"Good thinking," Chigiri acknowledged, honestly impressed. For someone who had never played before, Reo could think tactically.

"You know, we make a great team," Kunigami said. "We should play together again sometime." He turned to Chigiri. "The three of us on a team would be super cool. With your speed, we could make amazing plays."

Chigiri chuckled. "Yeah, that would be nice."

"What if--" Reo began.

"Reo!"

He stopped mid-sentence and looked over his shoulder, face falling into something like disappointment. "Sorry. Those are my folks, I've gotta go. It was nice playing with you!"

"I should go, too," Kunigami added apologetically. "My dad'll be expecting me for lunch. See you, Chigiri."

"Yeah, see you both."

Reo and Kunigami both turned and walked away. Chigiri frowned at their retreating backs, then turned and jogged back to his mother and sister.

"How was it?" Chigiri's mother asked him. "It looked like you were having fun!"

Chigiri thought for a moment: Kunigami's generosity and power, Reo's enthusiasm and play-making mind...

"It was fun, actually," he said. "Neither of them have played for very long, but I think they have potential. I'd like to play with them again someday, but Kunigami lives in Akira and I think Reo lives here..."

"Well, if it's meant to be, it'll be!" His mother offered cheerfully. "And I'm sure if you're great teammates, you'll se each other again one day."

#blue lock #mkwrites #chigiri hyoma #kunigami rensuke #reo mikage #girlfriend fc

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ddelline · 9 months ago

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friday fic f*ckery (wip wednesday 2 days late)

blurb | she returns! with updates! later than promised! new cv/sm snippet, after ..... six months :,) well, work kicked my ass, ch236 certainly didn't do any of us any favors, and then I f*cked off to latam for a month of vacation. but I'm back!!! rested, tan (for ca the 2nd time in my life) and freshly (re)inspired. so we can have some cv/sm ch2 snippet, as a treat ;a;

premise | we're entering culling game territory. that's all imma say for now. well ok, not much happens here, I mostly just wanted to show signs of life lol

Satoru is falling.

He’s falling, rapidly dropping from at least half a kilometer skywards. Cursing the inherent capricious fickleness of Prison Realm—Prison Realm, Buddha, Hell incarnate, whom- slash whatever has stuck him in this never ending loop—he rights himself midair, fumbling his graceless way through multi-seals of Red and Blue until he’s maneuvered himself from horizontal to upright. He cushions a dense amount of amplification/reversal beneath the soles of his feet, puffs an audible breath, and looks down.

Beneath his feet stretches a silver-black, opaque barrier. By cursory glance he estimates its radius to at least a handful miles. The skies above are overcast, though bright; the light spearing through the banks of cloud bounces off the barrier, giving its matte gray hull a sheen which flickers and wobbles in stretches of paces and tracts.

The barrier is an obvious giveaway: this is a Culling Game colony. Satoru’s well enough familiar; remembers a stretch of eight sleepless hours in which he’d devoured dossier after dossier of news clippings, incident reports, stat compendiums and autopsies, two weeks into the Culling Games, and a scant forty eight hours post-unsealing. He remembers boring naked eyes into a painstakingly noted, three-dimensional map-cum-graph of the Culling Game territory; affected regions: Tohoku, Kanto, Chūbu, Kansai, Chugoku and Kyushu; confirmed colonies: Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi, Saitama, Chiba, Tokyo, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Yamamashi, Aichi, Shiga, Kyoto, Hyogo, Osaka, Hiroshima and Kagoshima.

Satoru has taken in the broad sweeps of Tokyo’s metropolis from far above one too many times to mistake wherever he is for anywhere closeby. What he chances: a large city along the coast; given his current proximity to an Eastbound shoreline, as well as a considerable expanse of forested areas and roiling, yellow fields eating into the scenery, he’s going to assume he’s either a few hundred kilometers North or South of Tokyo. Maybe Miyagi. Or Chūbu.

The barrier is too dense and too cleverly constructed to allow Satoru to peek through and glean more than the most base information: cityscape and skyline are barely visible, the shapes and contours which oscillate beneath the ripples of the sky-in-the-barrier appear like a mirage out of focus. There is vague movement far below, tiny prickles of dots which move every which way. Every few intervalled seconds reveal noiseless, sepia-tinted flashes. Explosions.

Well. There’s only one way in which he can proceed, unless he’d planned on hightailing it out of there. Which he hadn’t. Satoru, at this point past the point of expecting the worst—and somehow, cyclically, living (dying, really) through it—makes his way downwards warily.

He doesn’t know what to expect, in truth; twenty nine years, an indeterminate number of days, weeks or years inside Prison Realm, plus an unknown bout of days cycling through iterations of timelines which may or may not have actually occurred—he’s been exposed to shoddy veils cracking around the density of his own cursed energy; written tests covering the cursed fundamentals of purification barriers; barrier techniques specifically tailored to keep him excluded from what’s outside, safely contained within.

He doesn’t know what to expect here.

Satoru touches down on the barrier.

“Yo! I’m Kogane!”

If he weren’t blasé about the most outlandish of jujutsu techniques being shoved in his face by now, Satoru wonders if he wouldn’t have reared back into guard. He squints at the cursed spirit which has materialised in his face out of thin air. He’s read himself to the basics of this, but it’s his first time seeing it.

He’s about to reply ad hoc when it continues, voice tinny and clearly electronically scrambled. “The death matches known as the Culling Game are underway inside of this barrier!! Once you step in, you’re a player too!!”

“I—”

“Knowing that, will you go inside anyway!?”

“That’s morbid,” huffs Satoru.

The cursed spirit, Kogane—its structural composition isn’t all curse, atom constellations mashed down somewhere halfway between cursed spirit and inanimate object—undulates and flicks its tail. It doesn’t go on, seemingly content to wait for his reply. It’ll have to be in the affirmative or negative, Satoru guesses. A game interface, then. Curse based, but all in all a tool.

“Sure, I’ll tap in.” What’s adding some more death, decay and public property destruction to his already considerable tally?

Kogane’s tail whips twice, ceasing when it’s a perfunctory line, its arrow-like tip pointing straight into the glassy dome beneath. Beware, ye who enter—but here’s a map, lest you get lost en route to the deathmatch arenas. “Tch, sick bastards,” he mutters.

When it next speaks, its delivery is robotic, flat: “Gojō Satoru has joined the Culling Game. Would you like to review the rules?”

Satoru has already reviewed the rules. Most cold, factual data obtained and recorded on the Culling Game had been cursory at best—and guess work and estimates at worst—Ijichi plus Nitta times two had managed to patchwork sorcerer’s statements, CCTV and aerial scans, and classified government reports into a general debrief: the (probable) how’s, when’s and why’s of the game.

“I’m good,” he says.

Kogane tuts. Mechanical and rote though it may be, it sounds chiding. Then it disappears, flickering twice, its shape disrupted by something static-adjacent until it bleeds out of sight and mind.

“Huh.” Satoru waits on the spot for a few seconds—parses out a few seconds, in case there’s more incoming.

Nothing else happens. He rights himself, and sinks a foot through the barrier.

#work: fic #wip wednesday #current wip #fic: cv/sm #goyuu #we back baby!!!!#jjk

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charmwisp · 1 year ago

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miyawaki sakura. cis woman. she/her. bisexual. ⇝ hey, isn’t that hoshino rika? i think that the twenty-six year old from minamisatsuma, kagoshima, japan works as the psychic at the raven house, but outside of that people describe them as moons and stars and celestial lights against a night sky, fairy lights strewn across the wall, windchimes twinkling in the breeze, vague silhouettes and shadows glimpsed between the curtains. i hear they are evasive & an overthinker, but they are also known to be curious & hardworking. consider giving them a visit at their home in seal harbor apartments and get to know why they’re called the secret charm.

the names above are written according to their native japanese format (surname, first name). to clarify, this character's given name is rika!

IMPORTANT LINKS: pinterest.

BASICS

The Kanji for her full name is 星野梨華 and I deliberately incorporated 星 into her name as it means star! Usually surnames don't need to have a meaning so i'm only pointing this out bc it was a creative choice. (btw i know there's a popular anime rn where the protags have the same surname, with the same kanji, but that's a coincidence; i haven't watched the show and i made rika before the manga was even published.)

She grew up in a small city called Minamisatsuma, located in the southernmost region of mainland Japan (Kagoshima), and was always surrounded by the ocean. Alaska's proximity to the coast puts her at ease for this reason, even if the difference in climate has been a big change.

She has a pet cat; a little black cat with with big round eyes and she's called Charmy. She's kind of silly and a bit of a menace. Because Rika doesn't feel safe letting her roam but knows that her apartment isn't quite big enough to expend Charmy's excess energy, she has been known to take her cat on walks with a harness.

Rika lives in the Seal Harbor apartment complex but she rarely tells people that fact. Having worked in Kabukicho (a relatively seedy area) for a couple years, she always tries to err on the side of caution. As a young woman doing work that might spark unpleasant emotion reactions, she finds it safer to claim that she lives in Delilah's Den instead. That, and it fits the witchy character she's taken to playing at work much better.

She's a bit of a bookworm. A total bookworm, actually. She spent most of her childhood with her nose in a book, mostly stories and fiction but she has been known to spend hours researching topics that interest her. She's got a quick mind and loves to learn. All this extra information has proven quite useful in her cold readings.

Ever the overthinker, Rika has some concerns about the general ethics of her work, especially when it comes to the matter of lying to people (she tries to keep to vague embellishments as best as she can) but it helps to think of herself as a performer. It's all an act and people are encouraged to take from it what they will.

Rika loves horror and all things spooky. Because of her reserved nature, people might expect her to be quite squeamish but she's braver than she looks! That said, she likes cute-spooky best of all. Halloween is easily her favourite time of year and she's been known to go all out when buying decorations; for Rika, it's one of the biggest positives about moving to the States.

In the kitchen space of her apartment, you'll find a corkboard covered with notes and photos and mementos. You'll also find a photograph of a young man (he's Sho, you'll learn about him later!) whose face has been drawn on. Devil horns, angry eyebrows, stink lines. The works. If you ask Rika about it, she'll just tell you it's 'some useless asshole'. Do not assume that's her ex.

BACKGROUND

please note that this backstory makes references to a few named characters besides rika. they will not be opened as wanted connections, as these are all existing ocs of mine (they're mostly npcs but sho is specifically a character i have actively written).

MINAMISATSUMA, KAGOSHIMA

Rika had always considered her childhood to be a fairly ordinary one; she had two parents and three siblings (one older sister and two younger brothers, a pair of twins), and rode her bike to school every day like any other kid. Everything was always normal, simple, uneventful and maybe even a little boring. But, as the years went on, Rika started to find that she was more spiritually inclined than other children her age and her intuition was so sharp that it sometimes frightened her. (Those around her had started to joke that she could predict the weather better than the official forecast.) Never one to rock the boat, she tried not to bring it up too often and nobody ever seemed to mind but, in her own time, she grew to harbour an interest in the mysterious and unusual.

When she was thirteen, her dad was given a promotion that saw the whole family packing up and moving to Tokyo. The shift was staggering, it seemed to Rika like an entirely different world. Suddenly, she wasn't normal anymore. Overnight, she'd become the quiet new girl with weird interests. She was eventually able to make friends but only after months of sideways glances and whispers. Junior High had not been gentle on Rika.

By the time she got to high school though, things had changed. People had gotten used to Rika's sharp instincts and even started to take interest. Girls would hover outside her classroom, peering through the windows as they waited for her to come out and let them test her. Cold readings based on gut instinct, answers to questions like 'what number am I thinking of?', so on and so forth. She didn't get it right every time but it was enough for people to be impressed. After months of students begging her insight on to their entrance exam performance, Rika was worn out. Graduation was a blessing.

Shortly after graduation, Rika's family ended up moving back to Kagoshima. However, having already gotten into a good University to study Japanese Literature, Rika stayed behind and got her own tiny apartment in Tokyo.

SHINJUKU, TOKYO

Rika was quick to find work to support herself while she worked on her studies; she got a job as a cashier in a little bookstore that specialised in the occult. Although her experiences growing up kept her from telling anybody about her talents, she had never let go of that interest in all things strange and unexplained. It was a perfect job for her and she continued to work there for the entirety of her academic career. Her coworkers were Hayato, the nephew of the shop's owner and son of a television illusionist, and Sumire, the daughter of a wealthy family whose idea of rebellion was getting into retail work.

About two years into working there, a new regular started showing his face. Rika quickly learned that he was a good friend of Hayato's and had previously worked at the bookshop, having been replaced by Rika almost as soon as he had left. His name was Tsukidate Sho and he was...an interesting character; he'd quit his bookstore job at twenty-two, head filled with haphazard dreams of becoming an unlicensed private detective. (Hayato had ensured her that Sho had a real and valid motive but it too sensitive a subject to share with her, despite Sho's own claims that he wanted to get paid for being nosy.) Regardless, it didn't take Rika very long to get used to his bewildering presence and she even soon befriended him.

Eventually, Rika grew to trust this ragtag team of friends enough to tell them about her apparent gifts. She admitted she wasn't really sure if it was anything special at all, that she was sure it was probably just good judgement. Sumire told her, 'You've either got freaky powers or you're just freaky smart. Either way, it's freaky.' And yet, for the first time, nobody cared all that much. To them, she was still just Rika.

By the time Rika had graduated from University, it seemed like Sho had grown disillusioned with life as a private detective. Week after week, she'd hear him complain that all he ever had to work on were adultery cases. One day, Sho pulled Rika aside and proclaimed he had a plan, a great plan, and he needed her help. Sho's was from Kawagoe, a city in Saitama known for having maintained it's Edo-era architecture and, as it turned, his family had upheld a tradition of fortune telling for generations. The plan was as follows— they'd set up their own fortune telling and psychic reading business, with Rika as the face of it, using her talents wherever possible, while Sho used his skills to hunt out information on the customers. A mix of cold and hot reading at once. He would teach her the skills he'd gained growing up, things like showmanship and similar little flourishes. Rika had her doubts at first, not wanting to scam or fraud anybody, but Sho insisted that most people didn't believe this stuff, that they were selling an experience. She recalled her experiences at school and how much trouble people had caused her just for that same experience. She agreed to his plan.

Setting up shop in Sho's office in Kabukicho, Tokyo's answer to a red light district, the two would work together for a couple of years, with Rika juggling the scheme with her bookstore job, and they made a surprisingly good team. Eventually, they got close enough for Sho to explain himself, why he'd gotten into the business of being a private detective. When he was just a kid, maybe about fourteen years old, his best friend had gone missing. Sho was the last person to see him but there was a big dark gap in his memory between that last sighting and Sho coming to his senses. Despite his best efforts, he'd never been able to find any answers and the only appeasement he'd ever found was looking into the problems of others.

At some point, Sho had developed a fascination with the mysteries surrounding Anchorage and became fixated on the idea of hunting for answers himself. Before long, he'd become set on moving over there and he swore that, if Rika came with him, they could continue to work together. Rika paid out of her own pocket for English lessons and studied as hard as she could. Before long, they were ready to leave. Rika would go on ahead first, as Sho had a case to finish up, and they would reunite later. They never reunited.

ANCHORAGE, ALASKA

At first, Rika had feared for the worst. Sho's job was hardly free of danger. The only way she could contact Sho was by email and it took her a couple of weeks to get decent access to her inbox. When she finally got access to everything, there was nothing. Another month passed before she finally heard from Sho. In his email, he explained that he'd gotten caught up with a new, interesting case and that the scope of meant he wouldn't be making it to Anchorage after all but he was sure she'd do great on her own. Needless to say, Rika was pissed.

Thankfully, she was still able to do exactly what she set out to do. She had been worried about finding work with her degree but she'd quickly come upon the Raven House. Seeing that they didn't appear to have anybody working as psychic, Rika immediately put herself forward. At this point, it was all she really knew how to do.

Only months after Rika arrived, Monique Jackson's body was discovered. So, she had thought, this is Anchorage.

#« 𝗿𝗶𝗸𝗮。 » / 「 intro. 」#anchorintro #i'm not proud of how long it took for me to finally get around to this :|#but i'm v happy with the graphic i made for this hehe i think it's cute #i might edit this later if i read over it but rn i just kind of want to get it posted x___x sorry if there are any mistakes

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lgcasami · 1 year ago

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It has been years since she became a trainee, so being acquainted with the camera isn't the problem, but Asami can't shake off the weird feeling she gets whenever she's requested to film vlogs. Even if it's a reflection on how the past few days were during the cruise, and she doesn't have to show anyone anything besides exposing her impressions of this event, it felt awkward.

That doesn't stop her from pressing the recording button after some moments of careful consideration. What was she even supposed to talk about? Everything she did during the cruise, despite being spectacular, also felt extremely ordinary. They had class after class about many things, and yet, Asami struggled to put it into words in a way that didn't feel boring.

She could either keep postponing or do something about it and, at this point, she might as well get it done. "Hi. I'm Asami, and well, what else can I say besides Wow," Asami chuckles sheepishly and runs her hand through her hair. "There was so much that has happened in the last few days that I'm not sure where to start, or if I even have anything to share, to be honest," good, since Asami already has no idea of what to say, she might as well make the audience aware that they are going in for a bunch of nonsense with no cohesive ideas to string them together.

"I've done a lot on the cruise. I tried at least one different thing every time I had a meal because who knows when I'll get the chance again. I was also part of a J-pop workshop the other day, and you might be thinking Asami, shouldn't you know a lot about that since you were born and raised in Japan, I have to be honest and say no because I was silly when I was younger and never paid too much attention to that at that time. I also went to the Senganen Garden in Kagoshima, and it was gorgeous. I took many pictures there, so I hope to post them soon for everyone to see." Asami counts on her fingers every activity she has been part of since the beginning of it all. The Chinese traditional dance workshop, the Nagasaki Prefectural Art Museum, how she learned more about the Traditional Tea Ceremony, her trip to Shanghai's Disney Park, everything, enough that by the end of her already fifteen minutes long video, Asami talked a lot more excitedly about the activities, and her shyness and awkwardness were nowhere to be seen.

"I had a very good time, but I think I've talked way too much about it already. Either way, it was lovely to share this experience here, so I hope that can happen more often in the future. Thank you for watching. Bye-bye."

#lgc:traineemission #flash forward ( *• queue •* )#burn the bridge ( *• solo •* )

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demonsfate · 1 year ago

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Something that crossed my mind recently is the fact that, despite coming from Yakushima, Jin and Jun still speak standard Japanese somehow, and I find that weird. Shouldn't they naturally speak the Kagoshima dialect of Japanese, as that's the only logical way they speak when they are spontaneous or alone with each other? I wish we could get just a glimpse of that, because it would make them more realistic and interesting, but then again I guess that's just fighting games logic.

A lot of times, games and stuff that requires voice acting doesn't always consider the region the character's in, and just select a voice actor based on if they like that voice for the character regardless of accent. For example, in Batman, Gotham is typically supposed to be set in New Jersey - yet we've never really heard any of the Batman characters have an accent in anything.

BUT if we're speaking in terms of realism, we coooooould say they don't speak with that dialect because Jun moved to the city long before Jin was born. We don't know how long she was there, but she was there long enough to lose her connection to the spiritual world and ghosts, and she had even forgotten she had that until she saw her father's ghost, and she moved back to Yakushima to reconnect with her spiritual side. So, it could be possible that Jun lived in the city long enough that she picked up a different dialect. And since she raised Jin, Jin just talks the way she does. Which... he kinda does. Especially since (prior Tek8) - Jin speaks softly like Jun does.

#✏️ - ᴛʜᴇ ʜᴏsᴛ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴏsᴛ // (ooc)#✏️ - ᴡʜᴀᴛ ᴅᴏ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ? // (inbox)

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chuck-clenney · 2 years ago

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Kumaso no Ana cave in the mountains of Kirishima, (Kagoshima Prefecture) was home to an ancient tribe of people called the Kumaso. Sometime around 100 AD, while these people were living in southern Kyushu, they neglected to send the rice tribute to Emperor Keiko, who was living in modern-day Nara Prefecture (Yamato). Whether it was because they couldn't grow enough or because the trip to deliver it was too arduous, it didn't happen and the disgraced emperor sent his son, Ousu, to get revenge. When Ousu arrived, 55 tribes of southern Kyushu were meeting in this cave and having a banquet, so he decided to dress up like a woman and lure their leader, Kawakami Takeru, to a private cavern. That he did and, in private, Ousu stabbed him and told him who he was. When the tribal leaders rushed in to attack Ousu, Kawakami told them to not attack, that it was righteous for him to come kill him, and to make sure that he returns safely to his father. He also gave Ousu his name (he became Yamato Takeru)and, as he was dying, proclaimed that the Kumaso tribe was dissolved. Only part of the cave is accessible after a rockfall nowadays and the inside was painted in 1990 by Sakurajima artist Hagihara Sadayuki. Modern-day Kumamoto Prefecture is also named after this tribe. #鹿児島 #古代 #日本 #九州 #歴史 #霧島 #山 #洞窟 #風穴 #熊蘇の穴 #kagoshima #kagofan #kumaso #japan #japantravel #ancient #japanese #tribe #kirishima #cave #熊襲の穴 #アート #ヤマトタケル #art #kyushu #visitjapan #dondonkagoshima (at 熊襲の穴) https://www.instagram.com/p/CpNboI3J1sP/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

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warningsine · 3 months ago

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https://www.reuters.com/world/japan/japan-braces-typhoon-shanshan-heavy-rain-strong-winds-forecast-2024-08-28/

TOKYO, Aug 28 (Reuters) - Southwestern Japan braced on Wednesday for what officials say could be one of the strongest storms to ever hit the region, as some residents in the path of Typhoon Shanshan were ordered to evacuate and major firms like Toyota (7203.T), opens new tab closed factories.

Airlines and rail operators cancelled some services for the coming days as the typhoon, categorised as "very strong", barrelled towards the main southwestern island of Kyushu with gusts of up to 70 metres per second (252 km per hour/157 mph).

The meteorological agency issued an emergency warning saying the typhoon could bring flooding, landslides and wind strong enough to knock down some houses.

"Maximum caution is required given that forecasts are for strong winds, high waves and high tides that have not been seen thus far," Satoshi Sugimoto, the agency's chief forecaster, told a news conference.

After striking Kyushu over the next few days the storm is expected to approach central and eastern regions, including the capital Tokyo, around the weekend, the agency said.

Authorities issued evacuation orders for more than 800,000 residents in Kagoshima prefecture in southern Kyushu and central Japan's Aichi and Shizuoka prefectures.

In Aichi, home to Toyota's headquarters, two people believed to be residents of a house that collapsed in a landslide during heavy rains were unaccounted for. Three residents of the house had been pulled out, according to public broadcaster NHK.

Toyota will suspend operations at all 14 of its plants in Japan from Wednesday evening through Thursday morning, it said. Nissan (7201.T), opens new tab said it would suspend operations at its Kyushu plant on Thursday and Friday morning, while Honda (7267.T), opens new tab will also temporarily close its factory in Kumamoto in southwestern Kyushu.

Also, Mazda Motor (7261.T), opens new tab plans to suspend operations at its Hiroshima and Hofu plants, both in western Japan, from Thursday evening through Friday, the automaker said.

Shanshan is the latest harsh weather system to hit Japan following last week's Typhoon Ampil, which also led to blackouts and evacuations.

ANA Holdings (9202.T), opens new tab said it would cancel more than 210 domestic flights in total between Wednesday and Friday slated to leave or arrive in southwestern Japan, affecting about 18,400 passengers.

Japan Airlines (9201.T), opens new tab said it would cancel 402 domestic flights over the same three-day period. A total of 10 international flights operated by both airlines will also be suspended.

#japan #typhoon shanshan #news tag

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jasmineway · 1 year ago

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Melisse // 7-15-23

A photo story, with minimal comments. This was after the rebranding from white-linened old-guard into the 5-table private dining room adjoined to the kitchen it is now. There was a man whose task was to change vinyl every course. A sommelier. A dozen chefs and servers. And despite electing for a mocktail pairing (a mistake, too much sugar, trust me), an opening beverage made with such a hidden, heavy pour that it legitimately made us both unwell. This is the story of Melisse, 2023.

Course 1: Caviar and Hamachi "Tartart" Salmon, Seaweed & Sake "Vichyssoise" Tart Thirty-Month Comte Gougeres

Course 2: Summer Beans, Apricots, Almond, Mustard Sawara, Rhubarb Condiment, Nettles, Hay Corn Custard, Coconut, Corndipa

Course 3: Santa Barbara Uni Cromesquis Fermented Bergamot Honey

Course 4: Royal Osetra Caviar "Deviled Egg" Whipped Onion, Meyer Lemon

Course 5: Mushroom Broth, Girolles, Pine Milkbread, Hot Honey, Blossom Butter

Course 6: Red Bream & Scallop "Farci" Vin Jaune, Artichoke Barigoule

Course 7: Kagoshima A5 Wagyu Beef Morel, Ramp Mustard

Course 8: Liberty Farm's Duck "ROuennaise" Cherry Condiment

Course 9: Cherry and Creamed Rice Tart, White Chocolate, Kirsch Cherry Sorbet

Course 10: "Strawberries and Cream" "PB & J" Mango and Passionfruit Pate du Fruit Chartruse Gummies

Supplements: + Black Truffle Supplement + 0-Proof Pairing

Zero-Proof Beverages:

Cucumber, Orange Meyer Lemon & Yuzu

Strawberry Kombucha

Raspberry, Lime Agave & Grapefruit

Pomegranate, Pumpkin Pineapple & Angostura

Pineapple, Lemon Grenadine & Root Beer

Overall Impression:

The service was spectacular, and the meal would have been really special for the right audience. The hybrid between a Chef's Counter and Fine Dining Room experience suffered from not fully committing to either, but also added an elevation and intimacy to a meal best enjoyed by a more eclectic and bold diner than my friend and I.

Honestly, the accidental mutual wrecking via welcome cocktail marred much of the experience, especially since my friend is far from a lightweight. Our poor choice to get a mocktail filled our bellies with sweetness and volume that precluded much of the meal. It seems, upon reflection, much of my complaints were at the ends of beverages, so perhaps the solution is just to avoid them altogether.

I do not think it was a bad time but it was not good enough to warrant a revisit from myself personally. I would love to hear others' thoughts, especially if they went for a more fitting pairing or found themselves better prepared for the demands of the welcome cocktail.

#jasmineway #finedining #michelinstar #twostar #Melisse #SantaMonica #LosAngeles #foodblog

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allovertheworldblog · 10 months ago

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Gone to hell! - with music in the streets

The ferry I took was bound for the Beppu, a wonder of Japan, home to geothermal pools and onsen.

The hells, there was more than one, are thermal pools of different colours, blues and reds, that are naturally occurring.

They’re not designed for bathing because they’re so hot but are a weird natural phenomenon to witness.

In Beppu I got my haircut as well. I made the motion of a razor with sound effects to the barber and said ‘2’, as in blade 2.

He thought for a moment and said 'skin head’, I thought for a moment and said 'yes’.

Another phenomenon that I witness in Beppu is 'music in the streets’, or in the gutter to be more specific.

One day walking along minding my own business I hear music.

I look around to see if a new business has opened or who is playing the music and where it’s coming from.

Down in the gutter the city has installed speakers to play classical music for the masses. Only in Japan!

The following day, Friday 13th, I take a nightbus to the southern city of Kagoshima.

From there I take another ferry to the island of Yakushima, which is famous for it’s copious rainfall.

They joke that it rains '35 days a month’.

I got some sleep on the bus the night before but maybe not enough.

I’m seeing things in the water under the bow of the ferry as we travel on our 4 hour crossing to the island.

I see birds that fly along just above the water level then they dive into the water, but they don’t come up again.

It’s flying fish not birds that I’m seeing. Well, I never.

The island is also famous for being home to ancient forests of cedar trees.

There are trees on the island that are 2,000 and 3,000 years old.

In the guesthouse were I’m staying there is a couple staying who got married in Tokyo a few days before.

They’ve come to Yakushima for their honeymoon. I’m invited to join in the celebrations.

Yakushima is such a very different part of Japan, no trains, plenty of cars though.

It feels relaxed, less hurried.

The green hills and forests give it a tropical feel, not quite Okinawa, but close enough.

I ask some of the other guests at the party for the honeymooners if they feel Yakushima is a full part of Japan.

They tell me it’s a full part of Japan, maybe we don’t quite understand each other.

At the celebrations I’m introduced to Shochu, a Japanese drink distilled from sweet potatoes.

I’m well enough though after imbibing a few glasses of it to catch the lunchtime ferry back to Kagoshima the following day.

#travel #culture #photography

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odessasilver · 1 year ago

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How I pick my story locations

Story locations are always a tricky part of story idea forming, especially when you are based in the real world. Japan is a country with many different sceneries from warm beaches to mountains to snow. Many of my stories are located up and down the country but how do I choose where each one will be? Are there places I won’t go at all?

There are two ways I approach a story idea, one is that something in particular inspires me, and I build around it, and the location is a part of that. The other is I find an idea and location can almost be anywhere, so I’m free to mentally wander up and down the country until it feels right. However, I know that none of my stories will be located in the far south islands of Japan, such as Okinawa. I know there is a different dialect this far south, even with different words such as haisai for hello instead of konnichiwa. These words ground characters into their surroundings, and I don’t know enough about them, or the difference in Okinawan culture to do it justice.

The same goes for Hokkaido, which is where the indigenous Ainu people of Japan live. During the 1800s (the end of the timeframe I am writing in) there were many atrocities against these people, including forced assimilation with Japanese people and cultural genocide. This sort of topic would require a lot of research and knowledge I might not be able to find, and feels out of the scope of what I can do. It would be lovely to write about the Ainu people sometime in the future, however, if I’m able to learn enough.

So, when choosing a location, I stay within the bulk of Japan, from Aomori prefecture in the north, to Kagoshima prefecture in the south.

With many of my stories, I have a vague idea of the scenery around. Such as with The Cry of the Raijuu, I placed it in a village in the forest. I knew the city wasn’t too far away and that it was a moderately warm climate. So I looked on Japan’s map and searched for a similar area, and realised that Hirotoshi’s village was somewhere in Nara prefecture.

For One, Two, Three I realised that the town was quite prosperous and I looked into towns which bloomed along the five routes (gokaido), that linked cities together. Many used it to travel, and rested at towns along the way, and many towns grew from the wealth.

The same went for any stories where farming was mentioned, I researched into which prefectures did the most farming, even down to what they farmed, and tried to get it as accurate as possible.

When it came to writing Tanuki Troubles, I could have located it anywhere, as tanuki are known throughout the whole country, however I picked Nigata prefecture as it is where the most tanuki lore is from. I initially wanted to locate them on Sado Island (which is off the coast of Nigata prefecture) where a tanuki shrine can be found, but I found it limiting for my characters exploration. Sado Island is known for the tanuki lore of Danzaburou, a very mischievous tanuki who controlled hundreds of tanuki which ganged up to play with humans. However, Danzaburou was also kind and lent out money to those in need interest-free. With such a huge character already known on the island, I felt like I couldn’t not have him in the story, but he also didn’t fit in mine. So the easiest thing to do was relocate to mainland Nigata instead.

Of all my locations, the one which has surprised me the most is that Broken Waves is set in Kanagawa prefecture. I was looking at all the things I mentioned in my first draft, the sea, the fields, the mountain, and matched it up to farming prefectures. And then I realised Kanagawa fit perfectly. Which would make the mountain in my story Mount Fuji. As soon as I realised this, I loved it so much, as my favourite piece of artwork is Hokusai’s The Great Wave off Kanagawa, and laughed at the possibility in my alternate world that Susnaoo’s wave could have inspired it.

Three of my stories had a more concrete location which I had to build on; Beneath Tsukuyomi, Survival, and Lonely Waters. The former came about while I wrote a short piece about where Hotaka was before the events, and researched into the prefectures where the Takeda clan inhabited. After that, it was easier to figure out where the location was.

For Survival, I was inspired by the Akita and Gifu festival and chose the latter area to locate the story, as it wasn’t too far from where Beneath Tsukuyomi was. For this story, the location didn’t matter as much as trying to keep the festival accurate, as different prefectures have different festivals.

Most recently I wrote Lonely Waters which includes kappa. They are water yokai known for loving rivers and lakes, so for this story I started with the location as my research. I chose Lake Inawashiro which is the fourth largest lake in Japan, and easily home to many kappa without detection, and then built the town around the information I found.

Of the two types, I prefer to find the story then work out where in Japan it is located as I find it fun. I like to compare the feel of my story in my head with ones I have written and what I know, and slowly home in on the rough area where you’d find my characters, living their lives. One day I’ll have a map of all the locations and you can see how well I’ve done.

#indie author #writing community #historical fantasy #japan #original writing #japanese culture #writers of tumblr #writer life #writer things #creative writing #writeblr

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soupiyamashuu · 2 years ago

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oc lang registry

long dweeb post incoming

this one talks about the languages my ocs use :) yippee

current oc number: 22 [Spring 2023]

a guide to how this all works

native speaker - self explanatory

advanced: not native but learned fluently as a second language

intermediate/advanced: straddling the 'fluency' line (C1?)

intermediate: B2 -- kind of just in the middle

beginner/intermediate: A2, B1 -- capable of Enough

beginning / learning: either currently learning it in classes at a lower level or currently at a low (~A1) level in general

[If you don’t know what the CEFR guidelines are, it goes A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2 and is a common fluency guide for european languages (languages like korean, japanese, and chinese have their own things like topik, jlpt, and hsk but you can use CEFR for them too if u want).] more info

other info on reading this guide

notes added at the bottom gives more clarification/additional info relevant to the lang.

this set up (#/26) refers to how many people are involved with the language including native/fluent speakers and people at lower levels

★・・・・・・★ ★・・・・・・★ ★・・・・・・★

Spoken Languages with Two or More Speakers

English 🇬🇧 / 🇺🇸 (26/26; 100%)

native/advanced fluency: all OCs except...

intermediate: Yuki & Megumi

[* typically since a majority of my OCs are non-Americans they write with the British standard English spellings]

Japanese 🇯🇵 (17/26; 65%)

native speakers: Elena, Akihito, Yuki, Megumi, Markus, Makoto, Seiji, Sayuri, Shizumi, Rin, Mikiko, Shin, Haruka

Makoto, Seiji, Sayuri, Shizumi, Rin, Mikiko, Shin, and Haruka have regional dialects: Hokkaido, Fukuoka, Himeji, Kagoshima, Akita, general Kansai-ben, Tokushima, and Okinawa respectively

beginning / learning: Cecil, Toby, Nikolai, Bliss

French 🇨🇭 / 🇫🇷 (7/26; 26.9%)

native speakers: Akihito, Yuki, Megumi, Carmen [all speak the Swiss-French dialect]

intermediate / advanced: Markus

beginning / learning: Marina, Makoto

all non-natives are learning the standard french dialect [i.e., France french]

German 🇩🇪 / 🇨🇭 (6/26; 23.1%)

native speakers: Toby

advanced: Sofie, Carmen, Nikolai

Carmen speaks Swiss German which is vastly different from standard German

beginning/learning: Akihito, Dimitri

Akihito can comprehend very very basic Swiss German since his mom is from Switzerland

Russian 🇷🇺 (4/26; 15.4%)

native speakers: Dimitri

advanced: Nikolai, Elena

Nikolai in particular theoretically speaks a Latvian-based dialect of Russian

beginning / learning: Sofie

Korean 🇰🇷 (4/26; 15.4%)

Native speakers: Ha-Yun, Luna

Advanced: Akihito

Intermediate: Shin

Mandarin 🇨🇳 (3/26; 11.5%)

Native Speakers: Chun

chun speaks Singaporean-Mandarin

Advanced: Megumi

Beginner/Intermediate: Akihito [speaking, intermediate ... reading/writing, beginner for sure]

Norwegian 🇳🇴 (2/26; 7.7%)

Native Speakers: Elena & Markus

Italian 🇮🇹 / 🇨🇭 (2/26; 7.7%)

Native Speakers: Gianni & Carmen

Carmen speaks Swiss-Italian

(Spoken) Languages with a singular speaker

Assume all people listed speak it at either an advanced or native level of fluency unless otherwise noted.

🇺🇦 Ukrainian: Dimitri

🇱🇻 Latvian: Nikolai

🇳🇱 Dutch: Luna

🇳🇿 Maori: Chun [there is no official maori emoji so i had to make do with nz </3] (A2)

🇻🇦 Latin: Seiji [... i just used the vatican city flag idk]

also Tbh upon googling idrk if u can become fully fluent in latin but its an oc and hes not real so its ok

🇩🇰 Danish*: Sofie

* you can argue that technically elena and markus comprehend danish fairly well after exposure to it but they don’t consider themselves fluent in it

🇻🇳 Vietnamese: Bliss

🇮🇩 Indonesian, Balinese, Javanese: Melati [javanese, B1]

🇵🇱 Polish: Cecil (Barely anything, probably like. A0.10 AKLHSDGHKSD)

🇪🇸 Spanish: Gianni (Spain Spanish)

🇯🇵 Okinawan*, 🇹🇼 (Taiwanese) Hokkien: Haruka

okinawan is a separate language from okinawan-japanese; its a member of the ryukyuan language family

🇮🇸 Icelandic: Mikiko

Sign Languages in use

🇯🇵 JSL: Akihito, Megumi, Yuki, Elena

elena knows jsl at a conversational level from the harami fam. ... not much beyond that

🇦🇺 Auslan (Australian Sign Language): Bliss

#fibbs oc lore #my first lore post in EONS #apparently my last oc lore post was in 2018 i cry #and its outdated af too AKSHDGHKSDGKH #the squad

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ask-the-shorty-squad · 2 years ago

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I think it's best if we get out of here. Wouldn't want to get hurt.

*Kirumi was right.... It's finally over. This killing game has ended. Our future is ours to decide. And nobody is gonna get in the way of that.*

. . . . . .

Reycho's right. We better get going back to Kagoshima.

*Srsly how tf do you know what hes saying-*

. . . . . . .

*If you can talk then talk.*

Bit offensive but fair enough.

*AH.*

Oh! I cant wait to be back home! And see everyone!

Were all excited to reunite with our loved ones.

Awh! Poor Teruteru. He has nobody waiting for him out here!

*Teruteru finally had enough and vines started chasing away the Grape liar.*

I cant wait to eat more yummy foods!

*Teruterus food IS yummy- Actually no its not JUST yummy its fuckin delicious.*

I mean I'm getting some good ol' Mcdonalds. I've been eating Teruterus food for weeks. Time I had some real food.

*AKANE YOU DID NOT JUST GO THERE. INFRONT OF THE ULTIMATE CHEF.*

DO YA WANNA GITCHA ASS BEAT LIKE KOKICHI!?!?!? I FOUGHT YA ONCE I DO IT AGAIN!!!!

#teruteru hanamura #sdr2 goodbye despair #danganronpa 2 #danganronpa

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wintergojo · 3 years ago

Text

sweet like cinnamon (dad!gojo x mom!reader)

Synopsis: you spend the valentine’s away from your husband and son, and they bake you a cake.

Tags: fluff, slice of life, domesticity, married couple, baking, bby gojo is a messy baby, mostly just shenanigans, it also gets kinda emotional at the end lol

Word count: 3.5k

navi

Note: I finally got this done ㅠㅡㅠ i’m sorry for not posting anything for almost oh my god 3 weeks. our health break ended :’) but pls enjoy this late valentine fic 😙😙

valentine's with gojo during the early years of your non-existent relationship consisted mostly of him, dragging you around on random places for so-called “dates” and you, letting yourself be dragged because you have nothing to do aside from watch couples and curse the higher-ups for not giving you any missions on the godforsaken day.

the two of you never went on official dates—namely dates wherein the both of you would really make yourself presentable because you’d be going to a nice, romantic restaurant that does not accept guests without reservations—because your exact relationship with each other never became clear until he asked you if you wanted to get married.

and when you did get married, the old hags started making sure either one of you or both you had missions that would get you occupied for the whole third week of february, making you unable to spend time nor see each other for the 14th.

you feel terrible, honestly. you’re not a big fan of valentine’s, but your husband seems to really enjoy being with you in taking advantage of every pastry shop’s couple promo he comes across.

it's honestly not a big deal, but you tell yourself you’d try to at least return him the favor of initiating your valentine’s date, since never once in your marriage have you had the chance to.

sure, you’ve given him some homemade chocolates along with some overly cheesy letter you cannot believe you yourself managed to easily write (“i didn’t know you were this sappy, babe. you really love me, don’t you?”) but it’s not enough.

that opportunity you never got the chance to have just got farther and farther when you unexpectedly got pregnant and gave birth to a 6.7 lbs. healthy snowball twenty-seven months ago (who—now that you think about it—was made in the same month too).

which is why on this mission, you’re cursing the old farts a lot more than usual—not only is this the fifth time in a row you’ve missed the occasion with your husband, this is also your first time being away from your little boy on the same day.

it’s february 14th, yet you’re only on the second day of the four days five nights grade 1 curse hunt the elders made you play—on kagoshima, nonetheless.

while you’re being miserable on your mission, your husband is in the kitchen standing proudly in front of his son sitting on his high chair. seishiro just finished eating his breakfast, staring questioningly at his father with blue, wide doe eyes and food smeared all over his face.

the older man places his hands on his hips, beaming down at his child as he talks, “it’s valentine’s day, dumpling! do you wanna bake mama a cake?”

the toddler squeals, raising his messy hands up. “cake! cake!”

satoru grins, lifting the boy off his chair before carrying him in one arm.

“okay! what kind of cake should we give mama?”

seishiro stops moving as he puckers his lips in a pout and scrunches his eyebrows. satoru softly smiles at the gesture, proceeding to walk towards the bathroom as he lets his son think.

the walk wasn’t long, what with his long legs, so he arrived in a short time. he puts the boy down and lets him stand on the floor, crouching down as he starts undressing the toddler.

“what a dirty little dumpling you are!” satoru jokingly says as he unbuttons seishiro’s white silk pajamas, now stained with red from the bread and jam he ate. the toddler sheepishly snickers, holding onto his father’s shoulder as he raises his one foot up to help satoru get rid of the pants.

“dada… stwobeyi cake!" he exclaims when the taller man gets on his other leg, making satoru look back at him and grin, ”you wanna bake mama a strawberry cake, dumpling?”

the toddler nods and cheers, “heawt cake!!”

your husband laughs, “strawberry heart cake?”

seishiro, now in his diapers, starts stomping his foot and raising his hands alternatively while slowly turning around, “heawt! cakee! heawt! cakee!”

after the bath, your husband and son are back at the kitchen, the latter now freshly dressed in a long-sleeved pink shirt with cartoony tomato and matching pajama pants. he’s sitting on the tabletop, playing with a whisk and a glass bowl. satoru gave it to him first because he knows his little dumpling’s going to get bored waiting for him to finish gathering the ingredients and equipment.

aside from his personality, gojo satoru is absolutely perfect, so of course he’d know how to bake. he only learned it from you when the two of you started spending more time with each other, then found out he was extremely good at it on the first try—just like at everything else he does.

he smiles as he remembers how he’d always make you cakes when you were pregnant, always making sure he refrains himself from pouring in too much sugar despite your requests to make it extra sweet (and laughs every time he remembers how you developed a sweet tooth during your pregnancy then came back to hating sweets after giving birth).

although he’s extremely good at what he’s about to do, this is the first time he would be doing it with his one and only ball of energy, but he’s pretty sure how this is gonna go (so it makes him all the more excited).

he glances at said son while getting the heart-shaped cake pan from the cupboard, warmth filling his chest as he sees seishiro humming a mysterious song while whisking an imaginary batter in the bowl. your husband smiles as he starts picking his pace up, now teleporting around to get everything he needs. (he didn’t mean to do it, but it made seishiro start giggling as he watched the white-haired shaman change positions in the kitchen).

satoru decided to make you a strawberry mousse cake with chocolate moist cake at the bottom, hence the pack of strawberries sitting beside his son who is now happily munching on the fruit—bowl and whisk disregarded. the father leans in before opening his mouth and lets out a "dumpling, ahhh" while looking at seishiro, whose face is once again smeared with juices (so much for giving him a bath less than 20 minutes ago).

the toddler stops eating and slowly looks at the man, before looking back at the half-eaten strawberry in his chubby little hand.

he thinks for a while, and was about to resume shoving the berry in his mouth but giggled and raised the fruit to satoru’s mouth. “dada, eat!”

your husband smiles, leaning in to eat the strawberry when your son suddenly retracts his hand and places the fruit inside his mouth instead. the toddler’s reaction was instantaneous—face adorably scrunching up, eyes closing, and body shivering from the combined sourness and sweetness of the strawberry. he opens his eyes and gives his father a hehe right after, before resuming his meal.

satoru opens his mouth in an exaggerated manner, before leaning further in and kissing his son’s nose. “dada will let you off because you’re cute! but don’t finish the strawberries, okay?”

seishiro nods guiltily as he acts in a cutesy manner, grabbing one more strawberry before answering, “yees. i wove you, dada!”

“go mix it, dumpling!” your husband cheers, holding the glass bowl steady as your toddler uses his strength to stir all the dry ingredients together. it’s messy, really messy.

it’s probably been only 15 minutes or so since satoru and seishiro started working on the base. yet the child is already covered in flour and egg yellows despite his black 'dada’s little sous chef' apron, while the man’s 'wifey’s force labored sous chef' apron is rigged with small white handprints.

satoru anticipated it wouldn't be peaceful trying to bake with his spawn, but he didn't think it would be that chaotic. he failed to account for his son's short attention span, which ended up in seishiro messing with everything he could touch.

it probably would've been fine if the ingredients were in unsealed bags, but everything was in glass containers which could be opened by either twisting the lid or straight up using force to unlock them.

and your son is strong, not to mention smart. which is why even though he encountered some containers for the first time, he managed to open them with ease whenever his father wasn't looking and started spreading them on his hands and face, exclaiming "seishi's baby powder, dada!" with eyes absolutely gleaming with innocence and lips turned into a wide smile.

as for the eggs, seishiro assumed they were hard-boiled eggs and wanted to eat one so he proceeded to use brute force in smashing them against the counter, probably hoping to create a crack on it.

the baby is strong, but he doesn't know how to control his strength yet, causing the poor eggs to splatter undefended all over the tabletop and his clothes and apron.

even now, with seishiro whisking the flour, salt, baking powder and soda, cocoa, and sugar, the force is not consistent and there are a lot of spills on the edge of the bowl going to the shaman’s hands and to the counter. he’s sure all the powder would go all over the place if he wasn’t holding the glass so he’s gripping onto it tight (he actually wouldn’t normally mind, but he doesn’t want his son’s effort go into waste).

the toddler is sitting in a seiza position on the tabletop (because he’s too short to reach for the bowl if he stands at the floor) and is using his two little hands to hold the handle, almost as if he’s mixing some witch’s concoction.

his father continues cheering him on, but the toddler looks at him with sad eyes and scrunched eyebrows after a while.

“dada… arms… huuurt.” he whines while still slowly whisking the bowl.

satoru coos as he tells his son to stop, gently grabbing his two short arms and kissing them all over, making his son giggle.

your husband presses a kiss on your son’s sticky cheeks, before ruffling the toddler’s snow-white hair and staining it brown in the process. he beams, “good job, dumpling! you mixed it well!”

the older man helped seishiro in doing the next steps—namely adding canola oil, brewed coffee, and milk into the bowl his dumpling massacred. the child made sure to dip his fingers in every bowl he pours (spills), before putting it into his mouth.

he gave no reaction when he tasted the oil, but winced and stuck his tongue out when he tasted the coffee, squealing “sour!” (he liked the milk though and pouted when satoru didn’t let him drink it).

when everything was properly blended with the hand mixer and eggs were added, your husband asked his son to give him the heart-shaped baking pan. seishiro complied, but not before tracing the pan's edges with his finger while saying “heawt for mama!” and “want to see mama.”

satoru watches the corner of his son’s mouth turn down, clearly getting sad that you’re not with them in doing this activity. something about seeing seishiro upset always ignites something within the father, especially now since the reason for the boy’s emotion is due to the higher-ups’ meddling. damn those old fools and their sad love lives.

“do you wanna brush the oil into the heart, dumpling?” he asks instead, holding the pastry brush on his right hand and the baking pan on his left.

seishiro immediately lightens up, making grabby motions at the man. your husband sets the pan back into the counter before proceeding to hand his son the brush. the toddler enthusiastically takes it from him with his sticky hand and brushes the pan without dipping it into the small bowl of canola oil. so now he’s just happily smearing air into the cake pan.

satoru laughs as he watches your baby before showing him what to do using his fingers. seishiro ooohs the entire time, then proceeded to do what he saw. he ignores the pastry brush and dips his whole hand into the oil and he wipes it into the pan.

your husband defeatedly lets him, sardonically admitting to himself that it’s his own fault for not using the tool in the first place for the demonstration. the toddler needs another bath anyway.

it’s almost dinnertime, but you’re too tired to go out of the door and eat in one of the hotel’s restaurants or buffet, so you opted for room service. you spent your lunch and afternoon traveling from one cemetery to another, as well as abandoned schools, exorcising curses.

you only got the chance to talk to your boys right after you plopped down to your comfy 4-star hotel bed, when you texted your husband that you’re officially done for the day. he called you immediately with seishiro at his side, who kept shoving his face into the phone and attempting to grab it from his father.

you don’t know why, but when you told satoru you’re about to call for room service he told you to order food for them too, not to order any dessert, and to call him back if your food already arrived.

you’re just assuming all of his demands are because he wants to watch you eat, feel like he’s dining with you, and not be jealous of anything sweet you’d consume. nevertheless, you acquiesce.

when the room service attendant arrived, you made sure to dial satoru as soon as they left (but not without glancing one last time inside your room probably due to the amount of food that is definitely not for one person). your husband answered the call, looked at the screen, and said “oh! the food’s there!” before calling for his dumpling and ending the video chat, leaving you confused (but not surprised) over his behavior.

just when you were about to open the cloche of your food, you felt an alarming surge of cursed energy filling the room that quickly alerted you. you scanned the area. was there a curse in the hotel? how come you never saw nor felt it? you’ve been here for two days, is it a spe—

“surprise!!” a highly familiar voice called out from your behind, followed by a squeal of “suwpwise, mama!!”

you slowly turned around, staring dumbfoundedly at your husband and son on your bed with the former holding... is that a cake? and the latter wobbly standing up as he hands you a bouquet of origami flowers?

you comically accepted the flowers seishiro is handing you, still in shock over their sudden appearance.

“mamaaaaa, carry!” your son whines, raising his arms up at you.

you recover from the shock, instantly scooping the toddler in your arms and smothering his soft face with kisses and some nibbles. you hear his delightful giggles and suddenly every irritation and frustration you felt from your curse hunting earlier disappears. you thank him for the flowers, making sure to praise its appearance.

you then looked at your husband holding the cake, who you see is expectedly gazing at you with a pout. you kneel into the mattress and set the boy in your arms into the bed (who climbed down and started exploring the hotel room) before crawling in front of satoru.

you greet your husband first, pressing a kiss on his lips and whispering “happy valentine’s day, ‘toru,” before inspecting the cake. it’s a whole heart-shaped strawberry cake—you assume from the color—perched on a low, white cake stand you got as a wedding gift. it contains some sort of scribble from the top that you can’t make sense of, and a message written so small at the right upper half saying ‘happy birth’, nothing else follows.

you laughed at the unfinished, seemingly wrong message before beaming over the gesture. you take the cake from your husband’s hands and give him another long kiss on his lips (god you missed him so much).

satoru grins as he teleports (again) beside the trolley and starts removing the cloche, exclaiming “i’m so hungry!” as he sets the plates into the bed. so that’s why the manchild asked you to order more food. you make sure to put the cake in the middle before calling seishiro, who you saw was pressing his whole face and body into the floor to ceiling window at the foot of your bed.

you then proceeded to inspect the bouquet your baby boy gave you. it’s wrapped in a yellow washi, and inside is three origami roses in colors blue, red, and purple. they all have some type of torn and crumple in them, but still absolutely beautiful and you’re pretty sure you’re going to keep it for the rest of your life.

while eating dinner with satoru (seishiro already ate his one and a half hour ago, his bedtime is in 30 minutes), you later find out that the messy cake scribbles were made by your son who wanted to write i love mama in his own way, and the writing on the top was messed up by satoru who meant to write happy valentine’s! but was thinking of ‘happy birthday!’ instead.

you also find out that it was baked by your husband and son, so you made sure to praise and thank seishiro, even more so your husband. it tasted exactly like one of your cake cravings when you were pregnant upon tasting, not to mention your son helped make it, and your husband simply has a sweet tooth, so it was no wonder the cake was gone in less than 10 minutes (you were honestly impressed the two managed not to eat half of it at home, though little did you know they made two whole cakes and ate the other one).

when there was absolutely no food left and the two of you parents felt like your bellies would explode and seishiro is once again a messy baby with strawberry mousse and chocolate crumbs all over his face, you decide it was time for a short bath for the baby (after resting for a few minutes).

when the three of you were settled onto the king-sized hotel bed and your son is asleep on your chest, you turn to your husband who’s lying on his side with his right elbow propped on the mattress and cheek resting against his knuckles.

“your surprise was really sudden and out of the blue, but thank you, ‘toru. i’m really happy.”

he gives you a wide smile. “that’s why it’s called a surprise, baby—” you roll your eyes “—and i’m glad you liked it!”

you smile back as you think how convenient his ability sometimes is. from tokyo to kagoshima, it’s 16 hours by car, 6 hours by train, and 2 hours by plane. but they were done within seconds of teleportation. and not to mention he made the effort to bake a cake and teach a 27-month-old origami in order to make you happy when in japan, valentine’s are supposed to be for males.

“stop thinking about that, honey. you know i would’ve done this even without the occasion.” satoru’s voice snaps you out of your thoughts, and you’re mildly shocked with what he said when you did not tell him anything.

you sigh. oh well, no point in not being honest.

“i just… i don’t think i’m making enough effort in doing the same for you, ‘toru. i mean, when was the last time i initiated a date between the two of us? i don’t even think i’ve ever done it!” you whisper-shout, making sure not to wake the sleeping snowball on your chest.

your husband flashes you a soft smile, one that you see whenever he’s feeling particularly sentimental or vulnerable. “babyyy, you’re already doing so much for me. you’re taking care of our overly energetic son 24/7, cooking us food, cleaning the house even though i told you i’d hire a housekeeper, while i’m mostly at work and hardly help you with anything.”

you were about to reiterate and say what he’s doing is far more important than helping you with some household chores, but he cuts you off with his index finger on your lips.

“ep ep ep, don’t say what i’m doing is for humanity or some other stuff. i’m saying this as your husband and the father of our child.”

you, once again, sighed. you don’t know why you’re making such a big deal out of this. it’s not like satoru ever once told you he finds you lacking or pragmatic. in fact, he teases you about how much you’re such a sap for him in every little gesture you do to and for him.

you then feel his big, warm, strong hand touch your left cheek, gently stroking it and making you lean into that touch. that smile is still on his face, except this time his gorgeous ocean irises hold a certain warmth.

“besides, you love me. that alone is more than enough.”

Ps. I’ve only baked once, and they’re cookies for our home economics class, so i’m really sorry if some processes weren’t accurate. i love watching baking & cooking shows though! :DD

Thank you so much for reading! 🤍 Feedbacks and reblogs are appreciated! And happy valentine's day! <33

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