#excuse me while I go back to drawing Karamatsu

[deadmothsketches]

He's our It Girl.

Costume found here.

[whumpmatsus]

Heyo! 👋 hope you're doing well! If you are taking requests right now, maybe some Ichi hurt/comfort? Like maybe he's having a depressive episode one day (me? Projecting? It's more likely than you think 😂) unlike any he's ever had before, and he just doesn't have the strength to do anything, even make snippy remarks at any of his brothers. One (or all, you can pick!) of them notices this odd behavior, and makes it their mission to help him feel a little more like his old self, even if that just means "riding out the storm" with him.

Oof this was really long, lol sorry 😂 but thanks for taking the time to read, I love your writing style! Take care! 👋

eyyy don't be sorry! God I REALLY enjoyed writing this... I love how it turned out

sometimes these guys can be jerks, for sure, even when one of their own is in pain

but... when it's serious... THIS BEAUTIFUL SHIT HAPPENS

please enjoy Ichi being spoiled and surrounded by love from all his brothers because HE DESERVES IT and I love how this turned out <3

-

Ichimatsu’s first (and maybe only) mistake is that he assumes his brothers don’t pay that much attention to him one way or the other unless he speaks up.

Or, maybe it’s that he often hopes they don’t.

Because he knows they care; there are little things they all do that remind him that no matter what, they love him. But they all have their own things to do, and most of the time he finds that best. They should be able to do whatever they like instead of wasting their lives making him feel better. He has a bad day or hates himself so much of the time, if they paid him attention whenever he wasn’t doing well, they’d never get to enjoy themselves with other things.

He cares about them, too. So usually he’d rather they occupy themselves with their own interests whenever he’s not feeling well. He can bury things deep inside and pretend those shitty feelings don’t exist and act almost normal. As normal as someone like him can act, anyway. For their sake. They don’t deserve to worry about him.

Today, he’s too tired for whatever reason. His scathing barbs and negative attitude on most days aren’t really fake… on the bad days, though, he can force his typical demeanor so nobody suspects he’s not fine. All they see is sour-faced, ill-tempered fourth brother Ichimatsu.

He can’t even do that much right now. It’s as if the weight of existence and his own mind is pulling him down, further and further, until he’s drowning in his thoughts. Horrible thoughts. Things telling him he’s worthless, a failure, a burden, good for nothing, should probably be dead… too many things to keep track of.

If he were trying not to get his brothers’ attention by being quiet and listless, it isn’t working. In fact, his current behavior has actually done the opposite.

While he’s lying in the corner of the room, curled around himself and wishing he could fall asleep to avoid dealing with these thoughts and feelings, the others are around their table muttering among themselves.

“You guys noticed he barely touched breakfast, right?” Osomatsu is the first to speak up, and he’s doing his best not to look at Ichimatsu too much, simply because he doesn’t want his younger brother to feel everyone’s eyes on him. He’s pretty sure that would just make matters worse.

Choromatsu hums in agreement. “Yeah, no, he just kind of stared into his tea… he might have taken a sip or two, but that’s about it. I don’t think he even ate any rice.”

“Did he even brush his teeth this morning?” Totty speaks up. “Or his hair? It looks messier than usual, and I was the last one in the bathroom before breakfast, and it didn’t look like his toothbrush had been used.”

“Also,” Karamatsu chimes in, “I believe that is the same outfit he wore yesterday. He didn’t sleep in it, but he put it back on when he got up even though it hasn’t been washed.”

Choromatsu frowns and steals a quick glance at the fourth eldest. “Like he… didn’t wanna think about picking something different out, huh? And… it’s kind of worrying that he didn’t brush his teeth or hair. I mean, that’s basic hygiene. It’s like he’s depressed or… some… thing…”

Suddenly a light bulb goes off, and the rest of the brothers exchange a concerned look with each other.

“Oh,” is all Osomatsu says for a moment. Then, “Fuck.”

Before anyone else can breathe a word, Jyushimatsu leans back away from the table and collapses with his head in Ichimatsu’s lap. “Aaaah, Ichimatsu-nii-chan! Baseball practice today? We can do it at the beach!”

Ichimatsu hardly flinches at the abrupt contact, but really it’s because he doesn’t even have the strength to be startled. He doesn’t move to push Jyushimatsu off or bounce his leg to dissuade the him from staying or anything. It’s a moment until he actually says anything, like a delayed reaction from a computer. “Uh. Not today, Jyushi. I’m probably gonna take a nap.”

“Hmmmmmmm… oh, I know! I’ll nap with you! Maybe we’ll dream about baseball!”

All the others watch closely, waiting to see if he gives an average Ichimatsu reaction. Instead, he doesn’t even shrug. “Yeah, if you want.”

Obviously, that’s not what they would be expecting from any other day. They all look at each other again, minus Jyushimatsu who just curls up against his big brother’s side.

Ichimatsu, on the other hand, is so out of it in his own head that he doesn’t realize that he’s done anything to worry his brothers. They should all be paying attention to their own shit, right?

He just feels so exhausted despite that he knows he slept okay last night. All he did this morning was wake up and get out of bed and already he’s… drained.

You’re so lazy. You can’t even put together the energy it takes to read a fucking magazine or something? To do nothing like you usually do? What kind of loser doesn’t have enough energy to do something like watch TV?

What the hell is wrong with you?

He cringes at the sound of his own inner voice berating him, and ducks his head down between his knees. Shit. Everything hurts. Isn’t that right, though? He’s useless. It doesn’t take any effort to just sit somewhere watching TV or reading and yet he’s not even willing to do something like that.

Even though he expects that Jyushimatsu might want to hang out with him, because the two of them are close, he doesn’t anticipate it when Osomatsu comes over and sits himself down across from Ichimatsu. At least, he thinks it’s Osomatsu. He doesn’t really feel like lifting his head fully; it looks like a red hoodie, though.

“Uh, hey, Ichimacchan.” Osomatsu feels a little awkward at first, mainly due to the fact that he’s never sure what to do when Ichimatsu is in one of ‘these’ moods. What works on one day might not work the next time. Previous experience is all he has to draw on, though.

“I noticed you didn’t eat too much at breakfast… you in the mood for something sweet?” Tempting him with one of their favorite treats might put him in better spirits, at least for a minute. “There’s a box of imagawayaki on the counter… there’s three in there, so we can split ‘em. Mom said these ones have chocolate cream in them.”

Everyone else lets out a blissful sigh as they all think about how delicious that’s going to be. Bean paste or custard or even regular cream is always good, but chocolate cream? If they had to fight over those, someone might end up dead.

Ichimatsu offers a shrug in his brother’s direction. “Sure, if you guys want. I’m just not that hungry.”

Osomatsu frowns, and looks over toward Choromatsu who’s thankfully recovered from the imagawayaki imagine spot. None of the brothers would ever turn that down. Even if they weren’t necessarily hungry, they’d make room for something that good. Moreover, given that Ichimatsu didn’t eat anything at breakfast, he should be starving,especially for sweets.

Choromatsu makes his way over, setting a careful hand on Ichimatsu’s shoulder. He doesn’t have any more of a clue what to do than their eldest, so he’s flying by the seat of his pants just as much. Something has to be done… they can’t just let poor Ichimatsu suffer. “Ichimacchan? It’s pretty cold today. How about I turn on the kotatsu, and if you’re gonna nap, you can sleep with your legs under it? That might feel nice.”

Well. That does sound nice, Ichimatsu thinks, because curling up under the heat of the kotatsu is always nice in the winter. But… he’s pretty sure he doesn’t have the energy to even move from this spot. “Oh, yeah… I’ll probably just nap here, though. Don’t really feel like moving.”

“Aaah, but you are cold, aren’t you? I can hear your teeth chattering from all the way over here!” Karamatsu is up in an instant, tugging his leather jacket off his shoulders. Although it leaves him in nothing but a tank top ― and a horribly plain grey one, at that ― it’s a necessary sacrifice for his little brother’s comfort.

He hurries over to where everyone else is gathering and gently drapes the jacket over Ichimatsu’s shoulders. “Hmph… Karamatsu to the rescue as usual! You’re looking cozier already.”

Man,Ichimatsu’s mind comes up with, I try on Shittymatsu’s dumbass jacket one time and suddenly he’s coming up with any excuse to put the stupid thing over me. Do I really want him freezing instead of me? Why don’t I just move my ass over to the kotatsu? He’s gonna catch a cold and it’ll be all my fault because my stubborn ass didn’t move and he took pity on me.

God, I wanna die. They’re all falling all over themselves to do shit to cheer me up when they should be focusing on themselves. I’m fucking trash, making my brothers waste all their damn time on me. Why couldn’t I just do stuff and not make them worry?

“… Ichimatsu-nii-san?” Totty has plopped himself down in front of Ichimatsu, staring in concern at his big brother. Fuck. He’s using that eye voodoo of his, and if he says anything, if he asks Ichimatsu a question, he’s gonna get an honest answer despite the fact that Ichimatsu doesn’t want to admit anything.

He can’t help it, though. Totty’s hand is soft as he reaches up toward Ichimatsu’s face, thumbing away tears that Ichimatsu didn’t even realize he’d started to cry. But his youngest brother is delicate in the way he brushes them, so caring and tender that any little bit of strength Ichimatsu had to keep things hidden away crumbles quickly.

“Hehe,” Totty chuckles, though there isn’t a genuine mirth behind it, “you’re not having a good day, Ichimatsu-nii-san… are you?”

He blinks, and more tears start to drip down his cheeks. This time Totty doesn’t make a move to wipe them away, instead staring at his brother with those big, sad doe eyes, glittering with sympathy.

Ichimatsu lets his head drop again, eyes pressing against his arm and tears soaking into his sleeve. “N-no,” he manages to say in a quiet, insecure, small voice. He hates it. He hates making this stupid confession, because he should be able to take care of himself. His brothers don’t need to be huddled around him, pissing their days down the drain. “I’m… I’m having a bad day.”

With that, it’s like all five of them attach themselves to him all at once. There’s a brief cacophony of worry and reassurances, and a hug Ichimatsu almost loses himself inside of.

“Alright, you hear that, guys?” Osomatsu announces, maybe a bit louder than he really needs to. “Ichimatsu’s having a bad day! Woohoo!”

Choromatsu scoffs. “Ah, ‘woohoo’?? Osomatsu, you idiot! This isn’t a good thing!”

Osomatsu pulls away to rub a finger under his nose with a grin. “Hey, sure it is! He said it, didn’t he? Good for you, Ichimacchan! You’re having a bad day and you said so! Remember what happened when Totty kept junk from us? We need to know this shit! I’m glad you said something!”

Karamatsu’s hand tousles Ichimatsu’s hair as he pulls his brother into a hug. “Yes, Osomatsu is right. You’re having a bad day, Ichimatsu, and that’s just fine. It takes a lot of bravery to admit it, so we’re proud of you.”

“Plus, we’re gonna make this the best bad day ever!” Totty hums. He’s whipped his phone out before anyone can so much as blink, typing away on it. “It’s just about lunch time, so I’m gonna order some takeout! Ichimatsu-nii-san, what sounds good? Curry? Sushi? Ooh… maybe fried chicken? We don’t do that too often… might be a nice treat! Oh, it’s your call, though.”

Osomatsu gives Ichimatsu a tiny bump on the shoulder with his fist. “You and Totty figure that out while I go cut that imagawayaki for us. Be right back, guys.”

… Am I in the fucking Twilight Zone or something? What the hell???

Ichimatsu lifts his head just a little, looking at all his brothers. Totty’s on his phone looking at delivery options, Osomatsu is headed to the kitchen, Jyushimatsu is nuzzled against his side…

None of them are leaving him by himself. They all still want to be here even when his mood sucks ass. Even when he can’t really do anything for himself. Even when he’s being a huge fucking pain and a thorn in their sides and doing literally nothing to contribute to the day.

What the hell are they all doing? Why are they all fine with wasting their day taking care of him?

When Karamatsu presses a couple of tissues into his hand, Ichimatsu somehow finds the energy to use them to wipe his face. Fuck, he hates crying, and he hates people seeing him cry. “Don’t do this,” he mumbles. “You’re fucking morons. You have better shit to do than…”

“No way!” Jyushimatsu aggressively snuggles against the side of Ichimatsu’s stomach, circling his arms around his brother’s waist. “What better shit could weeeee have to do? We’re shitty NEETs!”

Choromatsu chuckles. “Besides, there’s literally nothing more important than taking care of each other, especially when one of us is down and out. Ichimatsu, you… know none of us are shy when it comes to being honest. So, just… try to believe us when we say there’s nothing we’d rather be doing than being with you right now.”

He straightens up, then gingerly taps Jyushimatsu with his foot. “Hey, Jyushi, how about you scoot yourself and Ichimatsu over to the kotatsu? And Totty, are you really gonna make a delivery driver come out in this weather? It’s almost below freezing! Why don’t you go get it yourself?”

“Excuse you, but if they haven’t shut down the delivery option, why shouldn’t I take advantage of it? I don’t wanna leave Ichimatsu-nii-san!”

“Okay, okay… I guess that’s fair. What are you ordering, again?”

“Aaaah, I dunno! I was waiting for Ichimatsu-nii-san to say what he feels like.”

Meanwhile, Jyushimatsu has somehow gotten himself and Ichimatsu over to the kotatsu, and is currently shoving his big brother’s legs under it while Choromatsu moves to plug it in. “Home run, YEAH! Your tootsies will be toasty in no time, Ichimatsu-nii-san!”

“O-oh… thanks, Jyushi…” That’s about all he can say, really. He’s slumped over the table in a matter of seconds, and although there’s no way it can support the weight of everything he feels like he’s being crushed under, feels a little more relaxing than holding himself in a tight ball in the corner.

He’s going to cry again. He’s pretty sure he’s going to cry again. His brothers, his selfish, douche-a-holic, demon brothers… would rather be taking care of him on a bad day than out doing their own things, not touching him or his shitty mood with a ten-foot pole.

Jyushimatsu is cuddled up on one side, and he can feel Karamatsu settling in on the other with an arm around Ichimatsu’s shoulders. That’s it. He’s surrounded by brothers and their warm, selfless-for-once-in-their-lives affection. He has to surrender. He doesn’t stand a chance.

His mind drifts back to the others. “Oh… Totty…”

“Oh! Yeah, mhm?”

“Um… curry sounds good, I guess.”

The impossibly huge smile on his youngest brother’s face comes through even when he speaks. “Oh, great! Curry it is! Okaaaay, I’m gonna get it from that nice place in town. You want it with rice or udon? Or do you want curry bread?”

“Uhh… just with rice.”

“Rice, okay, sounds good! Beef, chicken, or pork?”

“Huh… you mentioned fried chicken, now that sounds good. Does that place do curry rice with tonkatsu on top?”

“Oooh… that does sound good. Yeah, I think there’s an option for that. Chicken tonkatsu with curry rice, then?”

“Yeah.”

“Gotcha. Is that what everybody wants?”

“Yeah, Totty,” Choromatsu injects, “just order the same thing for everybody. We’ll all eat that.”

“Okay, what about sides? Does anyone want fukujinzuke or rakkyō?”

“Geez, just… just get half of each and we can divide it up if anyone wants any.”

“Okaaay! I’m not ordering drinks from there, though… too expensive. We have tea here. Oh, I’ll get a few orders of pork curry bread, too, in case we want a snack later.”

“Well, make sure you get either three or six.”

“Yeahhhh, Cherrymatsu, I’m not stupid! I’ll just get three; I’m fine buying some, but I’m not trying to go broke! Does that sound okay, Ichimatsu-nii-san? The curry bread for later?”

It takes a moment, but finally Ichimatsu lets out a breathy, almost tearful laugh as he leans against Karamatsu’s shoulder. “Totty… you’re trying to fatten me up… you witch… you’re gonna cook me and eat me… that’s your plan, huh?…”

The whole room erupts into a small fit of laughter, even Totty who’s blushing at being teased. Ichimatsu feels Karamatsu press a kiss to his head, and he sighs. Usually he wouldn’t be able to take all of this… the attention, and Totty blabbering away, and Choromatsu trying to be responsible, and… everything.

At the moment, it feels right. Like things are supposed to be this way. Like he’s supposed to be having a bad day so his brothers can all gather around him and remind him that regardless of anything else, when one of them needs their brothers, everyone is going to be there.

Maybe he needed that reminder.

Maybe they all did.

[imaginesixguys]

Matsuno has been kissed on his cheek, by his crush. Reaction?

 A cute, simple one to start off with! Thanks anon!

Osomatsu

If Osomatsu got kissed on the cheek by his crush he’d be over the moon basically. I mean we’ve seen how he reacts in canon even getting a super short hug from someone he likes and it was essentially the equivalent of flustered keysmashing. He’d get a really deep blush, his eyes would turn into hearts or spirals and he’d start stammering and grinning like an idiot, scratching the back of his head sheepishly, all that stuff. Honestly I think he’d be pretty sweet about it. The boy is all talk so when it comes to someone actually showing him physical affection, he’d be super flustered. I don’t think he’d fluster quite as bad as Choromatsu or Ichimatsu though, but he’d definitely get butterflies. He’d probably be tempted to hug them but decide against it if he’s still in the crush stages. I honestly believe that when Oso genuinely cares about someone, he does take measures to try not to be too forward aside from like “haha what if we put our minecraft beds together lol” jokes.

I think once he managed to calm down from the kiss, he’d try and play it off casually or make a joke about the situation to try and make his crush less obvious. He’d definitely be thinking about that cheek kiss the rest of the month though.

Karamatsu

Karamatsu can be difficult to get a read on sometimes but I think if he were kissed on the cheek by a crush he’d be very, very internally flustered but remain rather “unchanged” on the surface. However, unlike Jyushimatsu and Todomatsu who would be good at not drawing too much attention to it, Kara’s a different story. There’d be an obvious blush and some sweating, as is the case with all of them, but he would immediately use the opportunity to draw a ton of attention to the fact you just kissed his cheek, even with a crush. He’d be absolutely ELATED that someone took time to show him physical affection and make a huge deal about it. He’d give a “Heh”, push his sunglasses up and then immediately say something like, “It seems as though my Karamatsu [blank] is quite affectionate today!~ How lucky for me... Heh...”

While I do think Karamatsu is actually pretty easy to fluster, I also think he’s just gotten so good at masking how he actually feels that he’d be able to hold a pretty good poker face, even around a crush. Like he would obviously be flustered and would probably later sigh to himself and clutch his chest and romantically yearn and pine and be all cute and lovey dovey once he was alone, but in public or around someone he’s really trying to impress, he’s going to keep his Dreamworks or “Bishie” face on... Or at the very least try his damndest to. If you noticed, he doesn’t change his expression very often when he’s trying to come across as “cool” or “likeable”, again, unless it’s to give himself shiny bishie eyes.

Choromatsu

Choromatsu is very easily flustered, if he got a kiss on the cheek from a crush he’d be a complete wreck. He’d be blushing, heart eyes, sweaty, the works, totally frozen, totally shocked. I mean he’d react pretty much the same to how he reacts to cute people in the show, minus the fanboying. I guess how he acted with Iyako is a good basis really. He’d probably gasp and like freeze up, have no idea what to say but look completely flustered and shocked, deep blush, super wide eyes. It’s probably not something he was expecting at all, even if you are his crush. If you tried to question him about his behavior, all he’d be able to do is stammer and stutter... You’d probably have to wait a couple of minutes before he’d be able to form actual sentences.

If he was talking a lot earlier, he’d probably be much quieter afterwards too once he calmed down, getting caught up in his own thoughts about you. If you tried to question him about it once he had calmed down he’d probably still stutter but at least be able to explain that he isn’t used to physical signs of affection. He’d probably be very apologetic.

Ichimatsu

Oh poor Ichimatsu... Like Choro he would also be a wreck, except even worse. Out of all of the Matsus, I feel like Ichimatsu definitely flusters not only the most easily but the most violently as well (and no I don’t mean him being violent, I mean like... He’d foam at the mouth or pass out or catch fire... Something like that). Aside from the blushing, there’d probably end up being some gag where he just... Dies. He’s so overwhelmed, he just dies. It’s okay though because he’d be alive again almost immediately after. If he got kissed on the cheek by his crush, he’d be absolutely shocked and in complete disbelief... In fact it might take him a bit to register that it happened at all and assume it was just some super lifelike daydream. If it did register though, he’d be a complete mess the rest of the day, and extra scatterbrained for the rest of the week. Since he’s someone that thinks so little of himself on top of being touch-starved and inexperienced with anything dating-related, he’d probably still have some trouble believing it happened even if it obviously did. He wouldn’t bring it up again or acknowledge it unless you started kissing him on the cheek consistently.

He’d definitely react to it the most overtly, but at the same time he’d also be the most likely to be in denial that it actually happened. Ichi is someone who takes a lot of convincing in the early stages.

Jyushimatsu

Jyushimatsu is an interesting case. He’s one of the few Matsus where we sort of have an idea how he acts in a romantic relationship, but of course there’s still inquiries to be made. If he got a kiss on the cheek from a crush, I think he’d react comically, like think blowing steam out of his ears or getting those cat eyes he does. Still, even with the comical response, I don’t think he’d actually fluster quite that badly. He’d do a “WOOO FLUSTERED” sight gag to make you laugh, but Jyushimatsu seems surprisingly calm and well-adjusted when it comes to interacting with potential love interests. Yes, there’s the “HARDTY” joke and his penchant for yelling inappropriate things carelessly, but for the most part (especially with someone he’s interested in), he’d be pretty civil.

Aside from the comical reaction, I don’t think he’d mention it or acknowledge it afterwards for fear of seeming like a “creep” or something. He’s surprisingly respectful with potential love interests, though if he's known said crush since childhood he’d be more apt to make dirty jokes or say stupid things since his guard would be a little more down.

Todomatsu

Todomatsu, per usual, would react to it the most “normally” at first glance. He’d play it off very casually and maybe even turn it into an attempt to flirt back, kissing your cheek and saying something like, “Now we’re even!~” He’d try to be cute about it of course and on the surface he would seem very calm and collected about the situation, but internally... 

Internally he is still a Matsu, and thus at some point would politely excuse himself to use the bathroom only to go in there and lose his absolute mind. It’d be very similar to the scene in the Sutaba job ep where he goes into the employee background and does his whole “BINGO!” shtick. As much as he likes to act calm and collected for the sake of not coming across as socially inept, he still can’t help but get excited by the rare chance at physical affection. He’s just as strange and hilarious as the rest of his brothers but is admittedly a lot better at seeming collected on the surface. 

[oh-god-theres-6]

The Matsu's female friend getting really jealous whenever they start talking about Totoko or ranting on about how great she is and once they ask if they're 'jealous' the friend just bursts out saying stuff like, Of course wasn't that obvious also maybe admitting that they like the Matsu? Aaa sorry if that's a bit confusing??

Ahh jealousy~ We’ve all felt it and boy! It’s a bitch! Have some cute scenarios to cure that!

————“Of course I am! I’ve been jealous this whole time that all you do is rant about her!” The girl’s face fell as she faltered back onto the barstool, eyes draining in anger in her slouched state,” Im jealous because I wish it was me… because I want it to be me you’re talking about because I…” The sentence was left unfinished, hanging limply in the air for Oso to decipher on his own.Carefully he set down his glass, letting it tink against the counter as a laugh left him slowly.” Really?” He could barely believe he was asking this, another laugh escaping him at the realization,” wait so you— you? You, you’re jealous of Totoko?” At her annoyed and curt nod he took a slow sip of his beer, shaking his head and spinning the barstool to face her.” Why? Who the hell do you think I rant about when you’re not around? Not fucking her,” the small little sly grin slipped up his lips as she looked to him in confusion,” I mean, what kinds idiot is going to talk about the chick he digs, in front of the chick he digs? Totoko’s a cover up,” he punched her arm lightly.” I thought someone as smart as you would’ve caught on by now,” she had half a mind to punch him in the fucking face.

“Totoko this, Totoko that, everything is always about Totoko! For once can we talk about something else! Anything else!” The woman huffed our a sigh, arms crossed defensively over her chest as Kara watched in slight fear of what she’d do next.” Seriously, I wonder why I ever liked you when all you do is—““You… like me?” The crack in his voice was cute, innocent in nature as he sat up from the grassy floor, glasses being fixated back on his nose. The way she turned away with a mumbled curse only made his smile spark,” oh my darling, Karamatsu Girl~” his fear was shifted to delight as he hopped up from the ground, reaching out his hand and beckoning her towards him, even though she stayed put,” I know not why you have fallen for a sinful man like me, but I can tell you that my heart beats only for you as well, yet,” he sighed, too dramatic for the moment when he looked away shamefully,” alas I haven been using a cover up to try and prevent you from knowing so, if you still will take me, I will gladly be yours!” The loser. The adorable, overly romantic, loser.

“What did you say?”Her eyes flared angrily, causing Choro to scoot a bit away out of fear of being hit.” I said,” she started, standing up from the café table to lean over it and closer to him,” that I don’t want to hear about Totoko anymore. I don’t want to hear how great she is, I don’t want to hear about her fishy princess vibes, any of that!” Her finger jabbed at him, and the response he came up with was one that could have killed him,“Are you jealous or something?” That’s when the fire spread to her voice, the sound hissing into a neat silence;“You, idiot! Of course I am it’s all you ever talk about! When someone invites you on a date you don’t fawn over another girl—““This is a date?” He sounded as surprised as she was angry.“Yes! Why do you think I asked you to go ‘out’ with me to this place?”“I… don’t know,” he paused, face flushing when he realized his fault,” I thought you were just settling me in the ‘Freindzone’ so I was getting over it by talking about Totoko,” Choro admitted, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head and letting out a laugh,” so, would that mean we’re dating?”“I…” She took a moment to think, eyebrows furrowing together as her brain tried to process this information,” do you want to?”“I guess.”“Then yeah.”“Yeah?”“Yeah, Choro,” she fell back into her seat, eyes rolling as she let a small smile slip onto her lips,” Yeah.”

“Yes! Yes I’m jealous! I thought I was being obvious about it at this point!” A anguished cry was let out into her hands to muffle the sounds, her face burying into the skin as her head hit the couch head on almost synchronized repeat. Ichi just… watched, eyes wide and breath shallow while he tried to come up with an answer, a response a, well, an anything to do after this whole situation. Forlorn and silent he stared off into the distance, watching the world outside his window with nervous thumbs twiddling to calm their anxiety.“I—“ he cursed himself for the break in his unsteady voice, eyes defying his want for calm by drifting around the room with haphazard stillness. They flickered, darted, until they landed on her; she seemed defeated, hunched over in stance and hiding in her hands while her breathing evened out. He’d fucked up this time.Slowly he scooted over, inch by inch until his hip touched hers and he was able to carefully wrap his arms around her, only to freeze once more,” Im jealous because I like you, dammit… and it fucking hurts that all you talk about is her…”His hold tightened slowly, butterfly’s rising in the back of his throat and making him feel sick, but in a good way.” You do…?”“Yes. Yes I do…” She could hear him breath, then laugh a bit, and she almost yelled again before he started to speak;“I guess I was shit at hiding it by using Totoko… but I… like you too… fuck, I really am trashy for making you think that… huh?”Try yelling at that face I dare you.

The baseball almost knocked him to the ground, hitting his hand with a harsh slap when he caught it and sending the boy reeling back in mock surprise at how hard she could throw when pissed off. All Jyushi could get out was a confused,” Ahh?” While his head fell to the side.“I’m jealous okay? Don’t you get it! Talking about her to me fucking sucks! It’s obvious you guys like her, but can you at least spare me the soliloquies about how great she is?”“But I—““It’s bad enough I’m forced to watch you flirt, but now we’re alone and I can at least parented it’s a date and yet you still talk about her!”“A date..? this is—““Can you spare me just for a moment? Just a single moment? It sucks liking a guy when he likes someone else but this is just—“ now it was her turn to get cut off, a strong pair of arms being wrapped around her body as she was tackled to the floor by the sunny boy, his eyes wide and happy as he nuzzled her cheek sweetly.“If this is a date then we should date! Totoko isn’t someone I actually want to be with, that’s you, Sunshine!” He laughed joyously, pushing of the ground to hover above her with a bright smile,” I just use Totoko as an excuse to talk about you without you knowing I’m talking about you! Pretty smart huh?”All the girl did was stare, blink, and then start to laugh.

‘Stop.’ The text bubble popped up green on his phone, a soft ding alerting him to its presence. With a strange look Totty pressed open the chat, glancing at the name and only growing more confused,” you’re… sitting right next to me… you know that right…?” His eyebrow quirked up slowly, lips faltering from their giddy smile as she simply nodded. Another bubble appeared; ‘This was the only way I could get your attention.’ This game was gettin annoying, and usually he’d find it cute, but since the texts were rather passive aggressive and her focus was on anything but him, it was getting irritating.” What are you talking about?” Another text came, the same single word as before,” stop what?!” He squeaked out, slamming his phone face down and glaring at the other person, watching her gaze lift from the phone she now set delicately on the bar counter before turning to face him.“Talking about her. It’s annoying,”“Her—“ he processed for a moment, then blinked,” Totoko?”“Yeah… it’s getting annoying, Totty.” She sighed, picking up the sparkling pink drink and taking a slow sip,” Can’t I get one moment to pretend that it’s me you like and not her…? It’s bad enough I’m jealous of her…” The girl’s eyes sat still, placated in the salt-rimmed glass as she took another slow sip and breathed out carefully.On the other hand, Totty was quiet, eyes wide and his lips parted in disbelief. Then he began to giggle, drawing her attention back to him as he shook his head,” You’re an idiot of you think I actually like her, damn, I thought someone as smart as you would catch on by now~” When she gave a weird look he simply added,” why would I ask you out on a date if I liked her? Does that really make any sense?” With a feigned sigh he took a sip of his own drink, looking off to the side dramatically,” had to hide my feelings somehow, guess I won’t be doing that anymore though, right, hunny?”

[ihatemakingart]

“I’m only human can’t you see,

I made-I made a mistake,

Please just look me in my face,

Tell me everything’s okay”

I forgot ugly flower fairy was a character that exists but then I remembered and it made me so mad so now you have to remember too

(oh look, lore↓!)

“Are you seriously going to start wearing those dumb sunglasses inside, nii-san?” Todomatsu whined, brows pinching together as he stared at Karamatsu. The second born glanced at him, pushing the sunglasses up further against his face before smirking.

“Heh, to protect one’s eyes from the harshness of man-made light is nothing to scoff at, buraza!” He informed, earning an eye roll from everyone in the room.

“It’s a lot to scoff at, actually.” Todomatsu huffed, picking up his phone. “Why don’t you at least go sit outside with Osomatsu-niisan? Bug him with your painfulness as punishment for trying to smoke in the house.”

Karamatsu put a hand to his chin, thinking about the suggestion seriously for a moment. “While I would never wish to cause any of my brothers pain, I suppose it would be less of you to join Osomatsu,” he reasoned, pulling his hand from his chin and snapping his fingers. “Not to mention we will likely be out during the sunset! What a fabulous idea, Todomatsu!”

“How do you always manage to twist this stuff so you feel like it’s in your favor? This is for our sakes.” Choromatsu chided as Karamatsu stood, watching the second born head for the door.

“Of course, Choromatsu! I was merely finding the joys in the venture.“ The second born hummed, leaving without room for another word. He headed down the stairs and out the back door, sitting himself to Osomatsu’s left.

“Ah, hey.” The eldest greeted at the sudden presence, scooting over a bit to make sure there was a comfortable amount of room. “They kick you out too?”

“Basically,” Karamatsu hummed, crossing his legs and leaning his chin into his hand. He scanned the small garden from behind his sunglasses, allowing silence to fall over them for a while as Osomatsu finished off the cigarette he held. After snuffing it out, the first born leaned back on both hands, watching the clouds.

“Hey,” Osomatsu suddenly broke the comfortable quiet. “About that girl, the florist?” He hummed curiously, glancing at Karamatsu when a wave of stiffness filled the air between them.

“Dobusu-chan?” The second born clarified, not taking his eyes off the sky.

Wasn’t that her last name? If they were dating, shouldn’t it be a first-name-basis? “Have you noticed anything... off, about her?” Osomatsu questioned, beginning to pay closer attention to Karamatsu’s body language. His shoulders had already slumped some since the start of the conversation, and he was turned away from Osomatsu ever so slightly, his face even following the subconscious movement.

“Whatever do you mean, buraza?” Was Karamatsu’s slightly lack-luster response, prompting Osomatsu to sigh.

“I mean, she’s an asshole. Even more than most of us are. And a different kind of asshole, too.” The eldest informed as eloquently as he could, and Karamatsu pursed his lips, facing further from his brother. Osomatsu furrowed his brows a tad, dropping the relaxed facade and inching closer. “I’m not trying to be a dick here, but-”

“I know,” Karamatsu cut off in a low tone, face finally lowering as he forced his eyes from the clouds. “You don’t mean any harm by it.”

“Yeah,” Osomatsu nodded, “but I think she does.”

“Eh?” Karamatsu’s eyebrows netted with confusion, looking at Osomatsu from the corner of his eye.

“Ah-Karamatsu, look at me.” The eldest gestured, and Karamatsu’s shoulders twisted a little, but he didn’t quite listen.

“I am looking at you.” The second born insisted, glancing Osomatsu up and down. Osomatsu sighed again, sliding even closer and gripping Karamatsu’s forearms.

“No, I mean look at me.” The eldest reiterated, sliding Karamatsu’s glasses down before the second born even knew what was happening. Karamatsu flinched to grab Osomatsu’s hand in an attempt to stop it, but it had already paused on its own as Osomatsu stared at the deep red, swollen left eye and cheek that had been hiding from him. Karamatsu slid his hand to Osomatsu’s, forcing the sunglasses from loose fingers and yanking them away.

He tried to turn away again, but Osomatsu’s free hand went back to his shoulder, forcing him to face the eldest as the bruise was carefully scrutinized. “How’d you get a black eye?” Osomatsu asked in a calm tone, his expression non-existent as he tried to make contact with Karamatsu’s shifting eyes.

“I was pitching for Jyushimatsu, and he hit it right towards me on one. Didn’t quite catch the ball,” Karamatsu gave a pitiful excuse of a chuckle to try and lighten things up, toying with the glasses. However, he kept making and breaking eye contact with Osomatsu, who still had that all knowing neutral expression. “Aniki, it’s fine, it was my own doing anyways. You know how clumsy I am.”

“You’re lying.” Osomatsu called out flatly, and Karamatsu’s shoulders lifted, his actions only serving to confirm the suspicions.

“H-heh, of course not! I would never lie to my one and only older brother, especially about something of such triviality!”

“Tell me the truth,” Osomatsu demanded, not breaking his attempts at eye contact, and taking the sunglasses once more. Karamatsu only tensed further, unsteady gaze trying to find anywhere else to land. Osomatsu braced himself to have to start working on some little lecture to Ichimatsu about not popping Karamatsu’s eye out of its socket-because it really did look like if it had been hit any harder it would have, with how bloodshot it was and the way it stayed half closed no matter what-but he couldn’t have braced himself for the sharp ‘no’ that flew out of his younger brother’s mouth.

“No,” Karamatsu said again, shaking his head. He began to pull away, and Osomatsu’s grip tightened firmly. “Aniki, it’s not-”

“It is important-” Osomatsu couldn’t stop the snap in his tone- “tell me.” He said more softly at Karamatsu’s faint flinch. “Whatever you think I’m gonna do, laugh at you, or yell at you, or yell at someone else, I won’t. Not if you don’t want me to. Just tell me what happened.”

“I...I,” Karamatsu paused, finally looking Osomatsu in the eye for a while before turning his face towards the garden grass. “Uhm, I was with Dobusu-chan, and uh, she was simply...very upset. But, but it’s okay! It doesn’t hurt.” Karamatsu claimed, although he twitched when Osomatsu reached to rub his cheek under the bruise.

“Karamatsu...” Osomatsu furrowed his brows, scanning the younger’s expression. “It’s-no, this isn’t okay. If she did it once, she’s gonna do it again. She means fucking business.” He assured when Karamatsu’s eyes shifted along the wood paneling in thought. “These kinds of people don’t just suddenly start caring about you.”

“She needs me,” Karamatsu said in a raw tone, leaning closer and tilting his head down a little as his eyes turned to Osomatsu. The submissive angle coupled with his black eye made Osomatsu almost cringe.

“What she wants is to have control over you like a fucking puppet. Everything else is an excuse to do it.” There was silence for a few moments, and Osomatsu ran his thumb gently over Karamatsu’s cheek one more time, lips pursed. “Do you want an ice pack or something? That really looks sore.”

Karamatsu glanced away to the door, then out to the garden as he mulled it over. When the second born let out a low sigh, body relaxing some in resignation, Osomatsu stood, taking the sunglasses with him, and went to put some ice in a zip lock. He returned with that and a clean dishrag, wrapping the makeshift ice pack in it and sitting back down in his spot.

He put the ice to Karamatsu’s face before the second born could take it from him, sitting in silence and occasionally lifting or shifting the bag around to see if the swelling had gone down any. “You shouldn’t be with her,” Osomatsu suddenly said in a flat tone, drawing Karamatsu’s attention.

“It was my own fault,” he said without meeting the eldest’s eyes, hand reaching up to touch Osomatsu’s over the ice pack. Osomatsu growled to himself.

“Like shit it is. I’ll believe that when hell freezes over,” he pulled the ice up again, lowering it to Karamatsu’s cheek to give the eye a rest.

“It is!” Karamatsu insisted, shoulders lifting and expression tightening. “But it won’t happen again, alright? I’m going to be better.” He breathed, both leaving something unsaid in the air.

It happened again.

(P.S. do not take this as saying that physical abuse trumps/is always led to by emotional abuse or that physical abuse is the only kind, and if you say that women can’t be abusive or emotional abuse isn’t real I will personally track you down and shove your head in a toilet)

[mikhailsbluecarnation-blog]

Weird crack story of Osomatsu san and Hetalia

Read on your own risk! This is a joke story! Special tribute for @ask-karamemetsu-memetsuno @thefruitdragon @hetaliatime @aquamoon33

One day there is huge incident in Hetalia world, it is like alien invasion but the the alien is replaced with matsunos with abrupt quantity of hesokuri wars sets of Matsuno family that want to conquer the earth.

The world ahold a meeting and make agreement about to use everything in order to avoid all of them have same faces which means identity mixed up and have hard time to regain identity.

“Beside! We don’t want to have noppera incident happen again!” Italy waved his hand and smiled.

Aph England stood up then called all of his eyebrows brothers to make good combos attack with their ~curses~.

Germany sighed and tell further plan, it is the NA bros twins and Italian triplets(Romano, Italy and Seborga!) must be evacuated because those twins sets are a bit fragile to fight against sextuplets (yea i make twin joke right there). Who knows if they will gladly embraced the sextuplets anyway.

Italy shook head and feeling scared of economy collaps due too much neets in this world, he wanted to fight. “Germany…I want to fight with you!”

Germany shook head and ruffled his hair, “they are too dangerous”. Italy hugged him and let go while hoping for the best.

Aph England, Australia, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Northern Ireland kinda make emergency team to protect some land from Karamatsu aka the thick eyebrows brother. So their fight is an intense fight between eyebrows dudes. “Excuse! It is because I want to protect myself. ~England~ we are brothers but I will kick your ass later” Scotland pouted and arrowed enemies. England sighed, “alright” he casted curses everywhere. Karamatsu squads who is already immune to death because he got killed a lot in season 1 just ressurected himself lots of time and fight back.

“No way” Australia whom came from nowhere backed off. “Big brother England~ Can I hit them? I bring sheeps~” New zealand smiled and run with so much sheeps. “Guh! That cat-mouth! A bit remind me of Todomatsu!” Spy Karamatsu retreated because he just remember he got burned by todomatsu. New Zealand sighed and shook head, “who is Todomatsu”

Suddenly,

“No! I want to fight!” America yelled to England, “Idiot!! What about Canada?” England frowned and felt a bit worried, he held America’s shoulder and looked straight to his eyes. “I am the hero! I trust him to protect himself” He whined and took out big ass gun from his pocket from Hetalia fantasia game. Everyone stunned and confused at him. “It is Anime! We can do what we want!” He pouted and waved his gun.

“Yo! I am okay mm yeah?? England I am here dude!” Canada wear all flashy outfit with his flag on and styled his hair like America. “Don’t forget power of twin look alike!”

“Idiot!! Don’t make joke like that now!!” England nearly fainted if India did not sneaked in and shoved his mouth with herbs then gone like a ninja. “Namaste and goodbye!” He danced his way out.

Greece and Estonia come with hot cats and distract half of Ichimatsu troops. His mochis was too fluffy to be avoided and too weird to be unseen, it bring some guard down from the opposition team.

Now move to Asia, China took Panda!oso and give the most intense scold to Chinese New year Matsunos set about manners and how increasing NEETS population will destroy nation economy a bit. They feel guilty and go back home.

Panda!oso whined and insisted to stay, “Why I should leave with them, altho they left me alone and I have to turned my back away to avoid my pain when they leave me? My otaku idol brother leave me first” He teared up and held China’s hand and somewhat loosened a bit, they are big brother with red color of fate. China got a bit sad and remembered about Japan leave him and grow into closet otaku that suggest England to satisfied himself with 2D girls.

“I know. It is sad..” China replied and carried him on his back like how he carried his panda. “Look. A big moon.”

Oso remembered the big moon when he saw it alone with nobody else and sulked slightly, China remember his memories about Japan under big beautiful moon and just sighed and smile.

China will take care of him for a while. Atleast until he is willing to leave. Everyone eventually leave, That is the way it should be.

In high class casino, Macau and Monaco teamed up together to have intense fight in casinos against Matsunos Casino Set with their unique skills.

“Weak!” Monaco chuckled and beat them with jackpots together with Macau. They looked stunningly well together. Queen and King of Casinos. Both of them use maximum strength of economy.

“We are not lose yet! We will be back! It is because I am the oldest who give orders!” Osomatsu who got his clothes ripped due attack give order to retreat.(Why ripped clothes? Because the game draw it like that.)

Japan looked rather calm and seemed unbothered.

Japan smiled with a maliceful intent and whispered before leave the battle area

“You have no idea what is up on my sleeve. Multiple AUs and copyright breaker…”

“Where is France and Russia anyway? Is Italy and Romano okay?” Germany squinted his eyes, “i am so tired. They are all too much”.

“Ve~ Big brother France is with a man named Karamatsu. He dressed naked in a moving glass filled with dessert!” Feliciano ate ice cream. France and Karamatsu chilling with floating roses on air also sparkles. Mafia!Ichimatsu sleep next to him after eating. Germany could not help but let a sheepishly smile. “Italy. You are actually strong”

“Somewhat looking at them makes me feels so irritated” England and Ichimatsu sucessfully get up like zombie after cat fight, they are just too tired. They looked at each other a bit suprised.

“Do you hate a man that overly ‘fashionable’ and somewhat has sparkles around him?” Ichimatsu looked at England, expecting good answer. “Uh Yeah. He is my neighborhood and somewhat his presence disturb me a lot” England shrugged off.

“Want to beat them? I will beat the blue cape guy named France. This is slapstick comedy, people will understand it” England massaged his shoulder and hold two rocket. “Let us make a short Alliance. It will be okay. We all stressed anyway” England handed one to him. Ichimatsu grinned and hold the rocket. “To think make alliance with a trash like me. Am I going to die soon?” Ichimatsu make a sheepish smile.

“EHHH WHY MEE??? NON NON!!!” Karamatsu and France yelled together and blown up so high they reached end of rainbow. Roses grown on path until they fall down. Burnt naked. Just the way it should be.

“What a fantastic weather! The sky feels so clear!” England laughed like there is tomorrow. “Don’t feel like trash! I feel like wanting to die too after I drunk and complained a lot” England held Ichimatsu’s shoulder. “You are mortal and won’t live forever. Cheer up okay? I live forever with my negative nature” England gave a reassuring smile. Ichimatsu just gave a silent nod and slowly smile. ESP nyan jumped on Ichimatsu’s arm.

“I feel like this because I have no friends” the cat talked, England suprised and ruffled Ichimatsu. They have melanchonic moments due suffer of felt being isolationed by their own difficulties.

“I-I have to find Todomatsu! It is night soon and he will get scared!” Ichimatsu broke the negativity. “I can find him by myself” he nodded and runned away.

“Actually nevermind. I see something scary” Ichimatsu runned back. Todomatsu and Russia walked together and make bloody path while smiling and showing unexplainable brutality and duality of cutest men alive.

“This cold aura….Russia?” America dropped his weapon. “So scary..and General Winter is here too” he cold sweated. “Dude. This is so dangerous”

“This undying thirst feeling of dry heart. Must be totty” Choromatsu gasped and hugged Oso, Oso hug others to make chain hug.

“Osomatsu nii san~ why so scared?~” Todomatsu smiled and held a similar looking pipe with Russia’s. “I just learned a lot of things! I met a man whose heart oftenly fall off! Maybe dry heart is not that bad?~” Todomatsu faced Osomatsu closer and moved backward. “Choromatsu nii san is horrible tho” he sighed. The sky start snowing, it is nearly June.

“Todomatsu who is that old gramp on the sky?” Choromatsu looked up. “It is General winter!” Todomatsu sat on the snow and sighed. “I am still mad about kerosene. You hate cold, so I bring you cold ”. He pouted and make heart shaped drawing on snow then stomp on it.

“Russia. What do you teach to him?” America put some distance due heavy tensed atmosphere. Russia smiled, “Nothing. Just retell how I failed gained friends because of you. Amerika. He have same problem, altho it is caused by his brothers. We share similarities too. Like being called heartless or monster” Russia’s scarf drag America away from the place.

“Kol kol kol. Want me to make your gum bleed if you still talking?”

[torinomonty]

Saga on Ice - Yuri on Ice Karatsu Tourism Collaboration

Saga on Ice is a special tourism collaboration held by the city of Karatsu in Saga Prefecture, as Karatsu was used as the model for Hasetsu, Yuri’s home town in Yuri on Ice. Saga prefecture is right next to me(I live in northern Fukuoka), and although I’ve been to Saga city I’ve never been to Karatsu. I’ve always been meaning to explore Kyushu some more given how much time I’ve spent living here, and given that this event was going on over Golden Week and @hideoutfromreality​ was visiting I figured it was a good chance. 

What I knew: The Karatsu tourism organization are really excited about Karatsu being featured in an anime and want to take advantage of it with some limited merch. What I didn’t know: The Karatsu tourism organisation are really, really excited about this and kinda went all out lmao. I was surprised at how much they did to attract YOI fans to the place.

Anyway, I bought a little Viktor with me, so here’s my photo report of the things we saw.

First here are some pics of the pretty scenery on the way to Karatsu from Fukuoka. The train runs along the Kyushu coast and is extremely beautiful.

Hey, what’s that in the distance?

It’s kinda hard to make out here, but its in the middle. We’ll see it again later.. Anyway, the train soon pulls into Karatsu station and when we walk down the steps this is the first thing we see.

They also had this poster up, the one used in-show to advertise ‘’Onsen on Ice’, the Yuri/Yuri showdown. I thought it was just in the station but it was actually all over the town, stuck on multiple buildings and store windows, in much the same way it probably was in the show itself. It made me laugh every time I saw it.

When you go through the gates you are greeted by these three in front of the Tourist Information Centre.

Um excuse me? Where’s the best boy?

It’s okay guys I found him.  All this art was specially drawn for the tourism collab. Makkachin is wearing the same helmet that the actual Karatsu mascot wears.

These flags were used out the front of restaurants/cafes/businesses that were participating in the campaign. there were...a lot of these.

(yurio never looks like he wants to be there lol)

Some merch/ You might notice Choromatsu is there. This is because a while ago Karatsu also had an Osomatsu-san tourism collab, and I have no idea why. I assume that it’s a mix of a) Karatsu sounding similar to Karamatsu and b) Osomatsu-san is apparently required by law to be everywhere in Japan at once c)Karatsu’s tourism agency will take what they can get to attract tourists. Anyway, there’s still left over merch from that, and most of it is Choromatsu, so every now and then I’d see him looking all sad and miserable next to the YOI stuff, and it made me laugh.

(The YOI merch above are tea cakes I believe) More merch;

I thought it was funny that they included those generic poodle plushies despite them not being official merch. The sign even says ‘Makkachin-ish plush”.

Heading outside the station, here’s the statue Yurio found so creepy.

And here’s the shopping arcade Yurio pitched a fit in.

They really want you to know that, too.

Here’s one of the participating cafes, you can see the flag out the front. All the participating eateries (and again there were HEAPS) had just one YOI-themed menu item. Most didn’t have a lot to do with the characters they were attributed to, but the point was to promote Karatsu specialities. We didn’t want to even bother trying to go to every cafe, just as long as we got katsudon and piroshki. (unfortunately the cafe doing the piroshki had completely sold out of their batch when we visited and weren’t due to restock for hours) Anyway, I can’t remember what this place had, I think it might have been the JJ baked curry. 

Karatsu is a really pretty seaside town - the air is really salty and smelled nice, and it reminded me somewhat of Coffs Harbour in NSW.

What’s that in the distance #2

Here’s the beach! Viktor and Yuri had a heart-to-heart here.

What’s that in the distance #3? I’m sure it’s obvious now, and that’s where we headed next.

But to get there we have to get up the hill. You can walk up the steps, or you can get the elevator here.

The elevator moved diagonally, and Skins found this so incredible she took a video of it. Here’s the amazing view from the top!

These guys are enjoying the view too.

“hey guys its your pal Karawan-kun, you know, the actual mascot of Karatsu, please dont forget me’‘

Karawan-kun is beckoning us into the gift store, which contained a lot of Karatsu souvenirs and also more of the YOI merch. Plus!

A signed poster! Photos were invited.

Apparently one of Karatsu’s products is colourful gum molded into animals and various other things, and they were selling a Makkachin version.

I wanted to get at least one of the collab items to commemorate the experience so I got a lil Makkachin keyring. They only had the one size bag though, which was kinda funny...

Anyway, if you haven’t figured out what’s up on this hill yet...

viktor voice: HASETSU CASTLE!!!

HASHTAG: NINJA!!!

“REALLY!? NINJA!?’‘ Anyway I’m not sure if you’re able to go into the castle but it didn’t seem you could at the moment. It looks like there are actually repairs being done there. This is also where the stairs Yuri does training on are. (They’re also the stairs we could have taken up instead of getting the elevator. We took the stairs on the way down though.)

These people here were also here for the event. I could tell because they were carrying maps, had merch with them and I also heard them talking about Yuri’s training montages. Actually, a good deal of the people here were YOI fans, they weren’t exactly hard to spot. Anyway before we go down, the wisteria.

Looking up the staircase from below:

We decided to catch the bus here cos it was getting really hot, but we got to see a lot of the town from the window. Here is the bridge that Yuri flails across on multiple occasions.

Fun fact: I missed getting a photo but a group of three girls, one of whom was carrying the Makkachin-shaped plushie tissue holder that Viktor has, were trying to imitate Yuri’s run when we went past...

(I took that pic earlier, but that’s the bridge from the castle)

Our next stop was a little harder to get to as it was outside the main town centre, but it was one of the most interesting. Kagamiyama Onsen!

Yep! It’s an onsen inn. Whether it’s the actual inn that inspired Yuri’s family’s ‘’Yutopia’’, I dont know, but it was the place serving katsudon for the collab.

A signed pic from Kubo at the counter.

Unfortunately, it turns out that the onsen restaurant had set times for lunch and dinner, and lunch was already over when we got there. Dinner wasn’t going to start for another few hours, and given that we didn’t get to eat anything else that day (due to the piroshki being sold out), we didn’t really wanna wait around for it due to being starving so decided to go somewhere else. It was kinda sad to not be able to have the katsudon, but it wasn’t a waste of time to visit the inn. Because..

There were cosplayers hanging out there! They were very very excited about us being fans and very very happy that we recognised them.

We decided to find somewhere else to eat before we died of hunger and it turned out there was a Hamakatsu right near the inn anyway. It’s not katsudon that comes with a YOI postcard but who cares it’s katsudon, and it was still damn good, and a nice way to end the tour.

aaaaaay And now for something kinda funny. When I realised that the inn was called Kagamiyama onsen, I was like “huh, that’s weird! So Saga has a Kagami Mountain too!” I’ve been to Kagami Mountain both as a field trip back in 2009 and again with my dad/sister when we went driving around Kyushu once. And for some reason I thought it was in Fukuoka, but...it’s the same damn mountain. I’d already been to Karatsu twice before and had no idea! Kagami mountain is a sacred mountain with a famous shrine (Kagami shrine) up the top, and thus the entrance to the road that leads up the mountain has this giant impressive gate you can see here.

Anyway, the tourism collab event was a lot of fun and it was a nice excuse to get to see Karatsu (or at least, more of Karatsu, seeing as I’d only seen Kagami Mountain and the beach near it before). The scenic train trip there alone was worth the price, and I’m looking forward to going again (which will be in another 3 weeks). Saga on Ice won’t be running anymore then but I’d still really love to try out some of the cute cafes we passed.

I really like when anime goes out of its way to draw attention to lesser known parts of Japan instead of just setting it in anywheretown, Tokyo. YOI has always been extra special to me for that Kyushu flair.