#expect more lwa sillies

[ghostinghome]

long time no post anywyas i rewatched all of little witch again so i have some doodles :33

[tonydaddingham]

Longwinded anon, having done more of the writing I need to be doing, back again in response to your post about the apology & the apology dance vs. forgiveness. Pratchett narratives in particular are not usually about forgiveness and redemption arcs; they're about choosing differently. At the airfield, Novel!Aziraphale doesn't ask Novel!Crowley to undergo some long penance and redemption, but just to acknowledge that they bear responsibility for having done their sides' work ("messing about," as Adam says) and now they need to stand up for the humans they've harmed. And that's it! In the series, Aziraphale's forgiveness comes in two brands: either it's cheap (he doesn't need Maggie's money, so what does it matter if she pays rent or not?) or, as you point out, it's a riposte to what he feels is an act of cruelty on Crowley's part. It's a performance of benevolence, not the thing itself! But he sincerely /apologizes/. He really does admit it when he understands that he has got something wrong, not necessarily by saying "sorry," but by naming and owning up to the mistake. We hear him do so three times in S1eps 5 and 6, and we find out in S2ep1 that he has admitted getting things wrong in 1650, 1793, and 1941 (and since Crowley cuts him off there, probably later as well).

The thing is, the silly apology dance is explicitly an act that Crowley expects Aziraphale to do. "I don't do the dance," he growls, when Aziraphale tells him it's his turn. And what's wrong here is that Crowley never apologizes for anything. He fauxpologizes when he tries to get Aziraphale to come with him after the bandstand argument (folks, "whatever I said I didn't mean it" is not an apology), and then he's doing it /again/ here (because he doesn't think Aziraphale is right! in fact, he's withholding crucial information that Aziraphale has a right to know!). Aziraphale uses forgiveness on Crowley as a means of displacing his own anger, while Crowley so far uses apologies on Aziraphale instrumentally, as a means of persuading him to do something Crowley's way. The implications of Crowley making Aziraphale perform a ridiculous and, quite frankly, somewhat humiliating dance whenever he admits he's in the wrong maybe need some more investigation?

LWA✨ alert!!! brings me such joy, i cannot tell you! congrats on achieving Jobs, far more than the GO brainrot has allowed me to do today

for anyone else - previous ask talking about I Forgive You.

thank you for highlighting aziraphale's concept of forgiveness in the example of forgiving the overdue rent, i had completely forgotten about that!!! i can see where it could be considered cheap, but i do think that whilst there is definitely an ulterior motive to it (by god does this angel love his shostakovich, and he's wealthy enough to boot), he does completely acknowledge that he did so out of purely selfish action (to crowley as they head back to the shop from the Naked Man Friend conversation).

the fact that it was a kind thing to do for maggie? yes, thats a byproduct, but i think aziraphale is so relatively kind by true nature that he doesn't even realise he's doing it, and the equal measure of kindness served alongside his self-interest is just a part of his personality... he doesn't seem to derive any self-important pride or conceit from being kind, it almost seems like it doesn't even register in the moment - so my conclusion from that is that his kindness isn't performative, it's largely sincere and natural.

so yes, this absolutely solidifies for me that aziraphale definitely knows and deliberately accentuates the difference between forgiveness, and I Forgive You. i thank you for your comment on my interpretation of I Forgive You (i truly crave validation) because as with anything analysis-wise, i wasn't entirely sure i had interpreted it well enough to have a valid conclusion on why aziraphale said this. imo, it is absolutely just benevolence; it's not kindness, not an offer of redemption, nor true forgiveness, but the only way that aziraphale can wound and hit back without sacrificing his perception of himself as an angel, or as a good person. it's easily deniable that he was hurting crowley, and only crowley knows what aziraphale was truly saying with those three words (in my eyes, putting it simply and bluntly, "fuck you, that hurt").

i talked a little in this post about how aziraphale seems to be able to learn from mistakes (granted, the post talks pretty exclusively about aziraphale learning from misplaced faith, but the principle remains). he essentially apologised to adam in crowley's time-hold (alternate plane? not sure) for assuming that adam would be inherently good or evil, rather than perhaps just human, and i think we can reliably interpret from this 'apology' (aziraphale doesn't say sorry, but instead acknowledges his short-sightedness which is just as valid, if not more) that aziraphale realises that he cannot go on seeing things in black and white; morality is not wholly binary.

whilst we haven't seen aziraphale do the apology dance, i think the delivery of his frustration and irritation when recounting how many times he did it for crowley really demonstrates how readily, without much question or hesitation, aziraphale must have performed it in the past when he felt he was in the wrong. by extension, it possibly calls into question how many times aziraphale may have done it when he wasn't in the wrong, but either did it to make crowley happy, or in order to keep the peace and ensure that they didn't fall out because of crowley's stubbornness to admit his faults.

obviously we don't know for sure that the 1793 and 1941 dances were in response to the events shown to us re; the Bastille or the Church scene/magician minisode respectively, but if they were, i can't quite see any instance where aziraphale would need to do the apology dance, and certainly don't see where crowley would be entirely blameless and merit receiving the dance himself. again, there may be other flashbacks from these years that we haven't seen, but i feel like the years were chosen specifically - and specifically to highlight that aziraphale may have done the dance but not actually been wholly at fault for anything.

which brings me to crowley. the concept of the apology dance and aziraphale (at least as far as known) being the only one to have done it indicates that the motif of crowley falling and him making various excuses for it carries all the way through to his inability to admit wrong. i realise thats fairly obvious, but stick with me because i think it goes hand in hand with crowley's ability to trust, and specifically trust aziraphale.

i think apologising for anything would indicate a vulnerability in crowley that he doesn't trust with anyone, and possibly doesn't even acknowledge himself. he breezes through his existence as if he is untouchable and unbothered, complete with matching swagger and barbed wire tongue, refusing to admit any kind of weakness. to be forgiven is to have apologised in the first place, and to have apologised is to admit wrong, and to admit wrong is to realise he may not be infallible. so his apologies, such as they are (which are mocking, perfunctory and sit precariously on the fence of being gaslighting), are shallow and skin-deep.

despite what others might like to believe about crowley, i firmly hold him as a master of manipulation, and getting the beholder to see whatever he wants them to see in order to satisfy his ulterior motive (however well-meaning that motive might be - ie. protecting aziraphale). the worst bit is that he is not even outright nasty and malicious about it by the point in the story that we see the dance; it's just simply ingrained in him that this is the best way to get aziraphale to do what he needs or wants... instead of, you know, communicating that aziraphale has been threatened and that is more important than crowley's hangup on gabriel... but of course that would be admitting that crowley may not be able to keep aziraphale from harm, and would actually allow aziraphale to have his own agency.

in terms of why crowley would force aziraphale into doing the dance is relatively unknown given that we haven't seen any context as to why aziraphale would 'need' to apologise in the first place (tone read: aziraphale probably doesn't at times). educated guess, however? i would hazard that there is an element of projection and resentment at work.

aziraphale, who is an angel with a bastard streak (that i think crowley does truly love, but also begrudges in equal measure), is able to be a bit of a bastard and largely get away with it without punishment, whereas crowley is a demon with 'a heart of gold' but is made to suffer for it pretty consistently. it would stand to reason that he'd force aziraphale to apologise needlessly, and in a humiliating manner, because ultimately it makes crowley feel good. there's also the element of superiority that crowley projects against aziraphale; to have him in subjugation and be vulnerable in admitting fault probably also feels to crowley like he still has status and worth.

the above makes it sound like i think crowley is a cruel piece of work, but i don't think that at all. he certainly has the ability and inclination to be cruel at times, but i don't think him an outright Bad person. but as ive remarked before, crowley has a very special ability to be brutal and vicious out of his own pain, and that's very, very understandable. unfortunately though, by nature of proximity, it seems that the main collateral damage always has to be, or at least linked to, aziraphale.

edit because further thought, especially in defence of crowley because balance: if we work with the emerging theory (putting 'theory' conservatively) that metatron is manipulating aziraphale, and also look at the fact that the archangels were manipulating aziraphale in s1 regarding the antichrist, we (see: me) actually need to let go of the notion that manipulation is an entirely hellish trait. it isn't - it's inherently neutral, but the motive for which you use it could taint it as good or evil.

crowley isn't, by large, manipulating out of maliciousness or twisted pleasure; we mostly see him do it in order to better protect aziraphale. that doesn't make the manipulation good per se, but it has good intentions (however much he may be tilting the scales by removing aziraphale's agency and keeping important information from him) and therefore is understandable.

it does however really highlight when he manipulates out of an almost - but not quite - sadistic pleasure or for no justifiable agenda at all. crowley is very much an end justifies the means kinda person, and doesn't care what he has to do, just that the job is done (a rhetoric that again is shared by both heaven and hell, and is more indicative of the import they both confer on having power than on efficiency).

but it would go some way to explaining why crowley does what he does re: manipulation; if the end result is what everyone wants and means everyone is safe, what does it matter if there is indeed collateral damage? that's pragmatism, and not the idealism of everything being perfect and happy and trauma-free every step of the way. and if we take into context crowley's experiences through the fall and what he has suffered by both the hands of heaven and hell, it's possible to empathise with why he will run full tilt towards a happy ending, no matter what destruction is left in his wake.

[jackntrade]

LWA rare pair week 2023 - Day 2: Sun and Moon

Here’s my contribution to this year’s rare pair week! Took me a while so I am maybe a bit late, but here’s a cute oneshot involving Hannah x Akko.

“You are like the sun to me.”

Akko was used to Hannah always being a bit rough around the edges. Not that she terribly minded, because she knew that deep inside there was a genuinely loving and tender side of Hannah that only a few were allowed to be seen.

And Akko was happy to be one of those few. On the one hand why wouldn’t she as Hannah’s girlfriend, though those who would know either Akko or Hannah for longer knew that a long time ago the two couldn’t stand each other. Barely even comprehend the idea of ever dating the other.

Nowadays Akko couldn’t help but find it funny to look back on. She’s long forgiven Hannah who despite her previously mentioned difficult attitude was the one to try to make amends first. Still, even as their relationship progressed and eventually turned into them realizing they had affection for each other Hannah always remained…distant? That’s the best way Akko could describe it. Because despite being in one Hannah seemed always very averse when it came to showing affection.

At first she thought it was because of Hannah still having some regrets about her previous actions against Akko. Or that the problem was in herself and that she was just a way more affectionate person than most. But luckily (or not so luckily) a visit to Hannah’s best friends Diana and Barbara cleared it up for Akko - because apparently Hannah was always reserved when it came to affection. Which was frankly to be expected with her usual behavior according to Diana.

Akko totally didn’t pout at the supposed obvious observation.

Though besides that she did pick up something interesting from Barbara. Hannah could show affection, and when she did? It meant a lot.

This was one of those moments, where Hannah compared Akko to the sun. The implications were almost as expansive as the sun itself. And how did Akko respond?

“What?” A dopey smile on her face.

A faint hint of a blush was on Hannah’s face as she quickly turned around. “No, it’s nothing.”

Akko realizing her mistake almost fell off the small stone wall they were sitting on. “W-Wait I didn’t mean it like that!” Some grass would be thrown into the air as Akko had to kick the ground to regain her balance, letting a hand rest on Hannah’s shoulder. “I was just surprised! I mean it’s not every day you are compared to the sun. Though does that mean I’m hard to look at for you?”

Her last words were obviously playful, yet still Hannah snapped back with notably bigger eyes. “N-No!” A sigh left her. “It means you are like…the light of my life to me.” She tried to turn away again. “It sounds silly, I kno-“

Akko scooted closer to Hannah as she guided the latter’s face to look back at her. “I don’t think it’s silly, do continue.”

Hannah’s faint blush became a little more prominent as she cleared her throat. “W-Well like I was saying. You are the sun to me because you are so…radiant. So bright and so beautiful. For someone to see you for the first time they would perhaps only note a few things about you before moving on. But that would be ignoring how great you truly were - how- how much there is and how the true fools are those who never look at you deeper.”

Listening attentively with a blush Akko would stroke Hannah’s back, helping the girl relax when it came to those times she wanted to say more yet had her inexperience in showing love sabotage her. Because to Akko it didn’t matter how Hannah showed her feelings, just that she did. And this was more than beautiful.

“It may seem strange to admit I was once a fool, one who shunned away your light and found it rather obnoxious. You already knew that after all.” A chuckle. “But I still do, because you showed me a world I may have never seen if I didn’t meet you. If you didn’t light my path in the darkness. And for that I’m happy to be your girlfriend. And just like the sun I hope you will be with me for a very long time.”

Hannah came closer to Akko, looking like she wanted to kiss her. As Akko was on the edge of her toes Hannah’s apprehensiveness just had to rear its ugly face, with Hannah’s body stopping as she slowly began to retreat from Akko.

Not if I have anything to say about that! Akko would think to herself as she hugged Hannah, making the latter freeze as the former pulled her closer. Their lips connected naturally and finally gave each other the kiss they both wanted. Hannah would soon hug back. The two for a moment in the bliss of each other’s love.

As they stopped the kiss and gave their respective space back both girls had crimson red blushes on their faces.

“That must’ve been totally sappy huh?” Hannah commented embarrassed.

“Well I love sappy, it’s sweet!” Akko exclaimed. “Really, I appreciate that you let your feelings out like this. I just wish you did it more.”

A small smile would form on Hannah’s face. “Thank you, Akko. I’ll try but you have to know I’ve always been difficult about showing my more tender side. Not to forget I’ve never been in a relationship before.”

“That’s okay, I totally understand.” More than Hannah knew Akko thought almost mischievously. “Don’t worry about it, this is my first time too after all.”

The two shared a laugh, when a realization came to Akko. “Say, if I’m your sun then you must be my moon!”

Now it was Hannah’s turn to show confusion. “What?”

“Well think about it.” Akko let her hands connect with Hannah’s. “At first I thought you were pretty mysterious, especially once I got to know you more. But the further I explored the more fascinated I was by you.”

“Blemishes and all?” Hannah quietly added, not used to such grand words being used for her.

“Blemishes and all! Because I learned to love you for what you are and what you are up close.” A giggle. “It’s ironic, just like the moon it looked like were so far apart. But in reality we are so much more closer.”

Hannah’s uncertainty of herself had turned to a small smile by the time Akko pecked a kiss on her cheek, listening with precision towards every word of Akko.

“And if we go back to my sun comparison I’m even happier to hear I can help you along the way. To show how great you can truly be, not to forget how much you shine when all the lights are down and my focus is on you.” Akko’s tone quieted. “You help me stay in balance too, I know I can be a bit zany so it’s good to have someone out there who helps me stay on the ground without holding me back from who I am. I really appreciate it.”

This time it was Akko’s turn to be surprised as Hannah pulled her into a hug. “No, we balance each other.” She rested her face on Akko’s shoulder, who soon did the same with Hannah’s as her smile became greater.

“So…what did you think of my little observation?” Akko laughed.

“It was sappy, but beautiful.” Hannah smiled cheekily. A laugh left her as Akko playfully hit her.

“Well hey, I was using you as inspiration!”

Almost suspiciously conveniently so the couple noticed sundown had begun while on the other side of the earth the moon slowly began to appear from under.

“Oh seriously?” Hannah commented with squinted eyes. “What is this, some fairy tale?”

Her slight annoyance disappeared as she felt Akko using her as support for her back, her eyes turned to the moon. A lovely sigh left Akko’s lips, like she took Hannah’s words completely seriously.

Hannah couldn’t help but mirror Akko, their backs soon holding the other up as one stared at the rising moon and one at the falling sun. Even if they had to look away or blink a few times. But that just meant they could look at the one right behind them.

A fairy tale come true. Hannah thought to herself with a smile. Sappy, but just like the sun, the moon and most important of all, her girlfriend - perfect.

[darthkvznblogs]

How did you like Revelation? And what about the other new He-Man show, have you checked that one out yet? Speaking of LWA, too bad that the magic system doesn’t really fit into the Kryptonverse, because that would be an interesting inclusion. Am I correct in assuming that you are a fan of a certain ship from that series, BTW?

I really liked it! I found it fascinating that they took this silly children's cartoon and made a sequel that took those ridiculous elements and played them straight by modern cartoon storytelling standards. What if those adventures had happened as they did? And what if one of them went terribly wrong? What if these colorful, silly characters were to be met with grief, death in battle, the consequences of failure, and the horrible truths of the universe?

It's kinda like Steven Universe Future in what it attempts, though while very good, I didn't enjoy SUF much. I think it's because I was so invested in SU's characters, and robbing them of their happy ending ultimately just made me too sad and bitter to fully appreciate it. I had no such attachment to the He-Man cast, so I had no problems there.

(I am attached now, though hahaha)

It wasn't perfect, but I thought it handled most of those topics very well, and the action ranged from pretty good to masterful. Really glad I finally watched through it! Also, Mark Hamill as Skeletor is perfection - he makes groan-worthy puns every two lines and kills people without a care and somehow he makes it work. Amazing.

I did watch a few episodes of the CGI He-Man show; I won't lie, I'm not really vibing with the look of it, but I did find it entertaining enough to keep watching later. I'll have more of an opinion to share when it really gets going, I'm sure.

I may or may not be rewatching LWA precisely to figure out if it can be adapted into the Kverse without losing too much of its identity. The unfortunate reality is that I'm not really comfortable writing HP content, for obvious reasons, so while I'm sticking with my decision not to go back and axe it outright (too many knots to untangle, not enough time), since I don't expect these circumstances to change in the foreseeable future, I likely won't be writing any more HP content in the Kverse. This means I have to look for an alternative magic school setting or something to that effect that can fill that niche.

I don't know if LWA is gonna be that "replacement", but it's a candidate, at least. I'd be willing to hear other suggestions, too - though bear in mind, I can't afford to read lengthy book series or watch huge shows with dozens of episodes.

(I mean, yeah, it's kinda hard not to. Blue/Red couple, big WhiteRose vibes, lots of good fics about them. I actually kind of like Akko with Andrew, too, but he and Diana hate each other's guts and Akko doesn't have the attention span for a poly relationship LOL)

[kayr0ss]

A Little Less Sixteen Candles

[LWA, Diakko, Fluff, Pre-Relationship, College AU] AO3 Link

Sumamry: Diana's standing at the threshold of Akko's doorway and she really, really wants to kiss her.

--

“I had fun.”

Akko was bouncing on her toes. She was grinning up at Diana and she’d be lying if she said it wasn’t the most precious thing she’d seen all day. She played with the hem of her shirt while they stood at the threshold of her dormitory building, not ready to let Diana go quite yet.

“I did too,” Diana replied with a smile. She leaned against the doorframe, reaching forward to straighten the collar of Akko’s letterman jacket.

“Ah. Yes. Must look presentable within the comforts of my dormitory.”

Diana flushed, “force of habit.”

“You’re in the habit of fixing people’s collars?”

“No,” she laughed. Tender and all. “Just yours.”

It made Akko giggle. Diana liked that.

“Thanks again for coming to the fair with me.”

“Thank you for inviting me,” Diana countered. “Otherwise, I’d have missed out on the—what did you call it? The best hotdog stand you could find in England?”

“So far.” Akko held a finger up to her face in correction. “I’m actually surprised at how many hotdog stands I’ve visited in two years.”

Diana’s response was to swat away her hand by catching it in her own, intertwining their fingers as their hands fell to hang in the space between them. It still made her nervous whenever she tried to reach for her hands, but oh the way it made her feel—like a jolt of electricity that ran from her fingertips to the back of her neck, leaving a trail of warmth in its wake. It was nice, given how cold she’s been feeling walking in the snow. “I’m not surprised at all.”

Akko dropped her gaze to look at their hands, giving Diana’s a squeeze. “So… I’m guessing you have to head back?”

“I have to go over my revisions tonight, so I probably should.”

“Alright,” Akko relented.

Despite the farewells, no one let go.

Diana didn’t even move to turn away.

There were crickets singing overhead, and the distant sound of evening rush hour traffic. There was an air of expectation between them—anticipation.

Akko was the first one to move, pulling her closer by the hand and getting back up on her tiptoes. Enthralled, Diana let the breath she was holding come loose, eyes closing while she waited, wondering if Akko was going to go for the move they had danced around for so long but never committed to. The one she hasn’t been brave enough to make herself—at least, not yet.

Oh.

She got a kiss on the cheek.

Not was she was expecting, but still enough to make her smile.

“Take care on the way home, okay?” Akko said softly.

“Yeah,” Diana hummed, finally stepping back out of the way of the door.

When she turned her back to face the street, she heard the ‘thud’ of the door closing behind her, but not click of the lock. She didn’t move. Instead, she slumped back to lean against the door, hand coming up to brush the spot where Akko had kissed. It wasn’t the first time. She doubted it would be the last. But she hoped for more. Wanted more. And every moment in that silly fair downtown felt like a build up to something… magical.

Yet here she was, out on the street with the door behind her. She loved every bit of affection that Akko would share with her, but something tells her she let ‘magical’ slip away.

She wanted to kiss her.

She wanted to kiss kiss her.

She blew it, and she was going to have to wait, and that’s fine.

Diana straightened her back, hiking the strap of her messenger bag up her shoulder, ready for the walk back home. She could try again. Next time. Next time, for sure, she wouldn’t chicken out and reallyshow Akko how she felt.

She took a step forward, snow crunching under her feet, and stopped.

“To hell with it,” she muttered to herself, turning a hundred and eighty degrees and reaching for the doorknob.

It swung out of her reach, much to her surprise, and she had nearly stumbled forward but caught the edge of the door frame to steady herself.

“Diana—!” Akko was in full view, ready to head back out into the street.

Diana had a quick recovery from her stumble, reaching forward to cup Akko’s cheeks. No more next times—no more trying again. She leaned closer, closer, and found that Akko had pulled her by the collar to meet her halfway for clumsy, hurried kiss.

“I’ve wanted to kiss you,” she finally managed to stutter out. “All this time.”

“You just did, silly.” Akko wrapped her arms around Diana’s neck, swaying them back outside into the cold, snowy night.

“Can I do it again?”

“I’d be upset if you didn—”

She did.

-

fin

-

A/N: A gift for @nosiidam because that door scene from the fic Looks Like Home is a favorite and inspired it LMAO. Here's a fic based on a prompt that's almost as cute as u

The title is from Fall Out Boy's 'A Little Less Sixteen Candles, A Little More Touch Me' because it goes sHE SAID WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? KISS HER! KISS HER!

[monkey-network]

Good Stuff: We Baby Bears

I came into 2022 with the highest hopes and expectations, then I saw that they changed the Cartoon Network logo and that made me mad. We Bare Bears wasn't as big a series in the online eye as the other CN shows, but I enjoyed it for what it was back when it aired and I'm glad it got to end right with the movie. But here we are in the future, and we have a prequel(?) spin-off with the trio as babies that's basically nothing like the flashback episodes the OG had. And, after seeing this new series, that is more than okay.

The New Year hype wasn't the same as Unikitty though

I will say if there's any real issue is that while it has the cute anime style, I wish it did more with it beyond kooky expressions and it feels like the opening is the most effort they'll put into this. Doesn't mean it's bad, but it's the one aspect that I'll say is unfortunately mediocre; "unfortunately" because I could definitely see them do wonders with this series visual wise.

I'm not looking for LWA level spectacle but y'know, surprise us

When you take into account though of going into this series, it does face the problem of being is what it is. Babies, BOOM! Bubbly art style, BOOM! Bright Colors, BOOM! Magical doodahs and Nipnorps, BOOM! Smartphone(?), BOOM though I wish it wasn't in this like why does a baby bear have an iphone 69?! Ir-re-ver-rent adventures, BOOM! It isn't like Centaurworld where there's clearly a dark looming twist broiling underneath. It's a simple, breezy tale of three cubs with a magic box traveling to mythical worlds for a new home. And you know what?

I call it a palette cleanser of a series

We Baby Bears gave me the nostalgia of going to my book shelf and seeing Goodnight Moon, Dr. Seuss, Harold and the Purple Crayon, Guess How Much I Love You, and yes, I am an alpha when it comes to storybooks. The simple feeling of traveling to a new world, meeting some interesting characters, and going on an adventure with your baby bros is something to appreciate as both a child and a 20-something adult. The more simplest usage of imagination should not be lost as you grow up. The trio here work like they did in the original show where you understand their kinship as well as their individual natures. I like that Demetri Martin's the narrator, offering that great deadpan charm while Baby Ice Bear's VA is doing just as well. I liked the worlds they go to even if they are basic like Veggietale world or a Ghost manor. It's not original, but it's definitely not soulless as it works perfectly as the imaginative jump from the more grounded slice of life OG series. It overall is just so cute and silly and something necessary to start the year right.

iWe all have our flails about what we want in the animation medium. The desire for more Owl House or Infinity Train, more "mature" entertainment for all ages, and I feel this show'll get thrown by the wayside because it looks like it's just for toddlers. But I welcome this series because it is fun and lovable, a show that balances out the more story heavy shows set to come out this year and those known before. This isn't for everyone, knowingly, but I wanna say this can be emblematic of a balance cartoon fans and enthusiasts should have. For me, this series helps fuel that optimism you might lose along the way.

4 out of 5. Ready for Adventure

[shintorikhazumi]

I Have Two Sisters?! Chapter 3: Three Sisters, Many Scars, and A Day Out

A/N: Warning! Long? Longer than usual? Chapter? I already split it into 2, mind you. Wasn’t able to hold back. Haha. Sorry bout that. Sorry if this took too long as well. Some of you may have seen my crazy activity in LWA recently. I also have college starting up again so… really, many apologies.

I like to think Claudine is very sweet and gentle with Diana, but very cheeky with Weiss. And Weiss is soft and awkward with Diana, and is almost always fondly annoyed with Claudine. And Diana just loves them both because her younger sisters are so pretty and nice to her and they make her breakfast, and they aren’t anything like the cold, abusive people her old family was like.

I don’t drink coffee so I had to google, “coffee maker parts” for this chapter, though I doubt I used that knowledge lmao.

Their house kind of has a kitchen connected to the living room. Kind of like… the Starlight dorm’s? Wait I don’t remember.

This also got  delayed coz my dog died a while ago during the time I wrote this, and I felt like shit. So. Yep. But it’s alright now!

Also, I know I said love interests maybe at chapter 3, but this was getting too long so I had to move it to the next chapter which is already half done and will be up shortly after this one! Maybe by tomorrow or within next week, hopefully, because a storm is coming to our area. Might have no power. But for sure the three silly (in their own way) brunettes will be there. Definitely!

NOT BETA’D AS ALWAYS! :> I’m… I’m shy about asking for betas.

Enjoy?

~Shintori Khazumi

School.

Right. That was a thing.

And it was going to start in about two to barely three weeks from now. It was enrollment season for many, and that did not exclude the university Claudine and Weiss were to attend soon. They had been discussing this in the kitchen as they prepared breakfast, Diana still deep in slumber. The girl seemed to sleep in often these days, but well… that was mostly the fault of the two younger sisters.

During one of their chats, they had learned that Diana had always been overworked as a child (just like a certain someone Claudine knew), and had rarely had the chance to rest. They took this opportunity of freedom to give her just that. Even if that freedom basically spelled out how little their father cared about them. So long as they were still alive, he’d have many cases lay off his back. Well, they didn’t care for him either, so it was more advantageous for them to have little to worry about with many things provided for them without strings attached. Being able to do what they wanted was a perk they were willing to make the most out of.

Still, it was nearing school time and they had realized that they were yet to hear of Diana’s plans in terms of studying. Weiss and Claudine had already been enrolled by their father in the aforementioned university which specialized in the arts; the man had done his research on Claudine, it seemed. But as for Diana, the pair had no clue of her status in terms of going to school again, nor could they recall her mentioning any course she was interested in- other than their limited knowledge of her relationship with medicine from articles they’d seen, and stories they’d heard from the girl herself. But was that still an option at this point? What did Diana want to do; she hadn’t mentioned any plans to continue pursuing it, had she?

Huh. That was odd. Considering all the talking they had done these past few days, attempts at getting to know each other better, it seems they had yet to know enough about their housemates.

As if summoned by their silent inquiries, Diana appeared on the threshold to the connected living room and kitchen, rubbing drowsiness away from her tired-looking eyes. On an odd sense of instinct, Claudine walked over to the sleep-addled woman still stuck by the doorway, blinking in confusion, as if wondering about where she was, what she was doing, and why there were two ladies cooking what looked to be breakfast for her.

“That’s because we are cooking breakfast for you. And for us too.” Claudine giggled softly at Diana speaking her thoughts out loud; taking the latter’s hand, she patted a few difficult strands of curly hair down with the other, and began righting Diana’s appearance- her shirt and cardigan slipping off her shoulder while her slippers were on the wrong feet- and the former heiress quite liked that, being pampered. She never really was despite having so many maids in her previous home. She also liked this person who was guiding her to take a seat at this nice wooden table, and this equally nice person had given her a cup of some very nice coffee. “I hope this will wake you up some. You truly are an odd child.”

Diana nodded her thanks, taking a sip from the mug that had her name on it (she really liked that) and a regal picture of a unicorn because Diana Cavendish was not that childish. It was a little sweet, and she liked that too. Very unlike all the bitterness she’d forced down her throat as she toiled nights away for the sake of her family. This was a nice change.

But who were these ladies?

“You know, you’ve asked us the same question almost every morning when you wake up.” Weiss sighed fondly, already accustomed to Diana’s odd habit of speaking her mind, as well as being so lost to the world in the mornings. The first time it had happened, Claudine and Weiss had thought that Diana was talking to them. Apparently, that was not the case. “At this point, we’ll have lived together for twenty or so years and you’d probably still ask.” The silver-haired girl made her way to the table, placing down some pancakes as Claudine followed suit with some eggs and bacon.

“Maybe there’s nothing quite memorable about you, then.” The golden-blonde teased, biting back a hiss as Weiss smacked her shoulder. “Brutal…”

“You’re brutal.” Weiss flipped her hair over her shoulder, before taking one of Diana and Claudine’s hands in each of her own. “The other day-”

“That was one time! And that man was committing theft. Were we supposed to let him run away?” Claudine defended, slightly offended.

“Well, I didn’t expect you to be capable of smashing through concrete-“ Weiss was cut off by the soft, sleepy voice that was Diana, along with a grumbling stomach from the now-blushing girl.

“G-grace…” She reminded, and the two halted their bickering, smiling at Diana while rolling their eyes at one another playfully.

After saying grace for their meal, they dug in, the younger sisters secretly enjoying the many emotions that passed through Diana’s face every meal. It reminded them of when they had gotten burgers for the first time. Weiss admitted she was the same before Winter had snuck in some of the world’s greatest (and unhealthiest) fast-food delicacies, but did she really look like this at the time? Diana never having tasted cheap bacon was preposterous!

But they reminded themselves not to go overboard with junk food and cheap meats. They had health to consider after all, as pleasant as it was to spoil their older sister.

The meal went on as it always did in this household, a few chats here and there, some random inquiries, Diana booting up her awareness as the sleepiness slowly faded away, remembering that she now had two siblings to live her life with each day until who knows when. A wonderful affair as always.

Finishing her breakfast first, Diana stood up to take her plate to the sink for washing. Still feeling slightly out of it, she spotted the coffee maker still half-full with coffee and thought it would probably do her some good to have another cup.

Placing her dishes in the sink, she reached over to grab the carafe, overhearing her sisters’ chatter and turning around to watch them as she poured the liquid into her mug, she felt familiar tremors in her right hand, a warning siren going off in her head as the pain that immediately shot through it caused her to hiss and drop both her mug and the glass jug containing relatively hot coffee, both items crashing into pieces against the kitchen isle floor. Such a loud racket alerted her siblings who rushed to her side in a split second.

“DIANA?!”

“Are you okay? What happened?”

Diana felt her whole body shake along with her hands, but mostly out of fear than anything else. She’d messed up again. She’d broken something that wasn’t hers, she’d made a mess on the floor, and she’d ruined the adorable pony slippers Claudine had been nice enough to secretly get her after she stared at them for nearly twenty minutes on a department store shelf. They were probably mad. Claudine and Weiss. They would no longer be kind to her after her mistake. And after a mistake… a punishment. That’s what was next. Always. Diana knew this in her very soul.

“S-s-sorry…” Stuttering out an apology, she bent down to pick up the broken shards, ready to clean up before she was beaten; maybe if she fixed her own messes and prostrate before them, she’d receive their mercy-

“DON’T TOUCH IT, YOU IDIOT!” She saw the hand come quick, her eyes bracing themselves shut, waiting for the hit to come…

…but it never did. Weiss held her hand up carefully, pulling her out of her slightly crouched position she had subconsciously gotten into.

“Claudine, could you like, take her to the sofa before she gets hurt even more? I’ll do the clearing.”

“Can a princess do something like that?” The youngest still teased, but worry was interlaced into her tone. Weiss scoffed at that.

“If you have time to entertain me with your jokes, make sure Diana is fine instead.” Weiss playfully kicked Claudine’s butt, getting her to move along, pushing Diana in front of her with careful guidance.

Once the trembling girl had been situated on their couch, Claudine began checking for any visible injuries on her elder sister’s hands and feet, sighing in relief when she had found none. “Are you okay? Does it hurt anywhere? Burns? Cuts?” She asked for good measure. Seeing Diana shake her head no, Claudine gave a sigh of relief, turning around to tell Weiss that all was well, and that she’d be going to draw a bath for Diana and get her a change of clothes and wash the soiled garments and slippers.

Before she could leave, a hand caught the edge of her shirt, still quivering lightly. Her heart clenched at the quiet, broken voice, and equally broken question. “You’re not going to hurt me?”

It looked like Weiss had heard the question too considering the sounds of running tap water from the kitchen suddenly stopped.

A frown came over the actress’ features, and that seemed to have scared Diana even more. Claudine immediately noticed, switching to a softer but still worried question as she crouched down in front of the sad girl, hands rubbing gently over her knees before taking shaky hands in hers.

“Why would we?” She asked in a whisper. Weiss may not have been able to hear them, but she continued to watch the exchange, leaning back against the sink, arms crossed, brows furrowed. If anything were to happen or she was needed, she’d rush right over. For now, she’d let her younger sibling deal with it as she seemed to be better at these things.

“Because… I made a mistake… I broke things… and the slippers…” Tears welled up in Diana’s eyes, and two hearts clenched in painful sympathy.

“No, no, no. Sweetheart. That was an accident, that wasn’t your fault.” Claudine frantically wiped away the running tears, signaling to Weiss for some tissues. “Okay? Okay? You can keep crying if it makes you feel better, but we’d rather you calm down and take a bath now so that you can relax and not have to think about any bad things, okay?”

The younger girls did not know what the hell Diana’s family had put her through, but they’d wreak havoc and bring that hell right back to them if they had to. This was outright abuse! For such a lovely lady like Diana to be scarred this deeply, both physically and psychologically, it was just so wrong in many ways.

Keeping their fury reigned in, they gently coaxed Diana into taking the much-needed bath, closing the door with a reminder to call for either one of them should anything come up. With the assurance that Diana could take care of herself for a few minutes, they made their way back to the kitchen to finish cleaning up.

“I swear, I’ll be put in prison for murder one of these days.” Weiss muttered, squeezing the sponge a bit too tightly, froth covering her hand.

“If you’re going to kill someone for Diana’s sake, at least don’t get caught.” Claudine shot back, though the nails digging into her palm spoke a lot about how much she agreed with Weiss’ sentiments.

With everything in place, and the accident laid to rest, the pair plopped on to the couch, sighing out their internal tension.

“I wonder… about what else happened with Diana… Now that I think about it, we never really got to know much about her.” Weiss mused, referring to the incident many nights ago, on their first day together, when Diana had that nightmare. “Cavendish…” Weiss recalled to the time when they had checked the woman’s identification after she’d fainted at their door. Really. All her first memories with Diana weren’t the greatest. Though she could probably say that it was the same for all of them towards one another.

“I did some research on that.” Claudine shared, pulling out her phone and showing it to the silver-haired woman. “Cavendish Medical. Diana did say that her family was of the elite type.” A short groan escaped before the woman continued. “But one of the largest medical chains internationally at that, somehow I can now see why Diana ended up like that. I also somehow get why her face isn’t so well-known despite this fact.”

Weiss moaned out her frustrated pain as well, understanding where this was getting at. “It’s that shitty old man, isn’t it? Because she’s an illegitimate child and all that jazz?” Slapping her knee, she stood up in irritation. “Couldn’t they have just, like, adopted her or something then? And she isn’t completely Unrelated to them. What the hell.”

“I can see that the two of you have certainly been through that. ‘Heiress’ stuff and all.” Claudine made a random circular motion in the air. “Schnee Digital Corporation.”

“Can we not talk about this?”

“Sure.”

“…”

“How rare of you not to continue your taunts.”

“I know how stressed one can get in the presence of an infuriating woman.”

Weiss laughed at that, not really getting it, but she felt like she would in the near future. It never hurt to ask anyway, though. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means that I know how to shut up when I have to.” Claudine laughed along, shaking her thoughts clear of a certain regular intruder in her mind.

As the two slumped against their couch in comfortable silence, they heard the muffled sound of a voice from behind a door interrupting their hush. “I… I think my hair got s-stuck.” And that was enough reason for them to get up and walk over to the bathroom, only to see Diana struggling with the shower head, hair tangled about it while she sat in the tub. How that happened, they had no clue.

“Just what are you up to?” Weiss muttered under her breath, moving towards Diana anyway, gently detaching light-green curls from metal.

“I’m sorry…”

With an affectionate sigh, Claudine sat herself on a stool by the tub, taking the showerhead from Weiss. “Come on, let us help you finish. We don’t want any more mishaps.”

“I- I can… bathe myself.”

“We know you can. But we want to help.”

“B-but!” And they felt the girl in their hands tense, curling into herself just as she did many times before, as if to hide herself. And as their sight registered why, with clarity, their hearts bled.

They hadn’t noticed it as clearly before, but now there was nothing to cover the many scars that littered over the surface of ivory skin. There were a few bruises that were beginning to heal, and they couldn’t help but wonder if those were inflicted right before Diana escaped to the peace they now lived in. With clenched teeth, Weiss grabbed a bottle of conditioner, channeling her anger to her fingers as she squeezed the bottles contents into her hand and tenderly ran her fingers through curled locks.

Diana’s hair smelled of the scent of the shampoo they bought from a local mart, but her hair, as nice as it was, didn’t have that certain slippery-smooth feel. So Weiss believed this was the next step the girl was about to do.

Claudine reached for the shower setting knob, spraying her hand with water as she adjusted the temperature to the perfect degree of comfort before rinsing the soap off her older sister’s back. She grimaced at the sight of more scars. They were a vast variety. Long, short, wide, thin… it made her sick to know that people truly could lack the heart to be able to inflict so much pain on an individual.

They worked in careful silence, the younger sisters working their hands gently and efficiently. Diana would occasionally jolt, wince, or whimper, and the pair would have to force their frowns away as to not cause the eldest further anxiety.

As the last drop of water fell into the tub, they stood Diana up and helped her dry off, covering her body with a bathrobe as they moved to the girl’s bedroom to get her hair dried completely, and get her changed into comfortable wear.

Diana was grateful for their help. Really she was, but as she changed, she could feel the two worried gazes scanning nearly every patch of skin visible to their eyes as she slowly covered it up with her attire for the day. It unnerved her, it felt like she was back to being strictly monitored.

They must have realized her discomfort as they eased off, Weiss picking a brush up by the vanity, and Claudine sitting her down in front of it. “How about we fix you up? We have plans to go out for today, so maybe you could join us?” The latter proposed as both grinned, Weiss looking up hairstyles that would suit Diana’s choice of clothing for today.

“I- um... okay.” At first hesitant, but eventually relenting, the white-haired heiress got to work, trying her best to mimic the guide on her phone.

It was a silent affair, almost torturous for the eldest as she dared not look into the mirror lest she meet Claudine’s eyes, ever observant and watching over her. Soon enough, however, the ticking of the clock and the feel of the brush smoothing over her waves soothed Diana little-by-little, her breathing slowing as if she were being lulled to sleep.

And then that silence broke.

“Diana… “ It was soft, nearly a whisper, but not quite that. It was a shy call, something rare from the ever-confident Claudine that Diana had come to know. Then again, this was also the incredibly tender blonde she’s lived with the past few days. In that sense, she was very familiar.

“Y-yes?”

Kneeling down next to her vanity’s stool, Diana held a hand, still looking at Diana through the mirror. There was a secret twitch of nervousness on her hand, then a barely audible deep breath, as if the youngest was preparing her heart for a deep confession. Diana felt herself tense. “Diana... Could you tell us about your family? About you?” A shaky breath. “...a-about... your scars.”

She must’ve reacted in a worrisome way, as there was an immediate follow-up to that.

“Oh! You don’t have to force yourself if you don’t want to! If it hurts to talk about it then we can drop this.” Claudine frantically spat out, the touch of her skin feeling a bit warmer. “You don’t have to do it against your will. We were just worried and... those kinds of.. marks are definitely not normal- oh but we’d understand if they are too traumatizing that you’d rather not even recall them, much less speak of them-” She rambled on.

They were kind. So kind. Weiss hadn’t said anything yet, but Diana just knew she was the same. It was warm. Maybe she could trust them. If it were them... surely...

“Diana?”

Shaking her head to ease their anxieties, she flipped her hand over, palm meeting Claudine’s as she clasped her hand tighter than she planned.

“It’s... I... I want to. I want to tell you... because maybe... maybe you can... assist me.”

Two heads nodded, indicating that they were all ears. Feeling their sincerity, a smile grew on Diana’s face. With a deep intake of air, she began her story.

She had been borne healthy and full of potential, an intelligent baby, it seemed. However, potential or talent did not matter. Not to a family as traditional and tight-laced as the renown Cavendish House. A pregnancy out of wedlock was shame to the family, regardless of who the opposite party was, how rich, or how powerfully influential they were.

Why would such large figures care about money and frivolous social stances when they had their own more-than-fair share? Not to mention, Jacques Schnee was infamous despite all accolades. He was never a pleasing prospect to their great family.

And then one day, he pulled away, severing all ties to Diana and her mother. This had complicated their relationship to the main family even more, and hence they were sent to the branch house in Japan, living the rest of their days there. Until now.

“Do you... know how your parents met?” Weiss asked. Diana shook her head, no. She had never had the chance to really ask her mother as she had died when she was quite young, young enough to not have sense of the world yet; too young to comprehend her unfavorable situation.

Claudine couldn’t imagine how Diana felt. Though on the brink of losing her, she still had her mother, and had had the pleasure of being raised by the wonderful woman that she was; nurtured into what she was today. But Diana... Oh, Diana.

“After my mother passed, my aunt and cousins moved into the same house. My aunt claimed that she had been sent by the main family to... ‘rear’ me into the Cavendish I was expected to become.” A flash of fear passed blue irises, the speaker’s breath hastening noticeably. “Then the... scars. Their story. She...”

Unable to handle it any longer, Claudine lunged forward, wrapping the trembling girl in her arms, shushing her and soothing her, telling her it was enough. That she could stop if it hurt too much. Still, Diana wanted to carry on. She had finally found her voice to speak. She did not want to lose this chance. She wanted these people, ones she’d known less than her own similar-named kin, to understand. Because she knew that they would. That they would try. She wanted to try as well.

“When I turned fourteen, I had a grown slightly aware of my situation. I overheard maids gossip that my aunt, she had loathed my mother for years as the latter was more favored as the next matriarchal head. When the whole fiasco happened, she jumped at the chance to attain her most desired wish. Unfortunately for her, she still was not deemed good enough. And I... I was.”

A pause.

“...She took it all out on me. She defended that it was simply discipline. She claimed that she was refining me through the harshest challenges so I would be prepared for how the world truly worked. But all of that was clearly masked-”

“Abuse.” The pair responded, hearts heavy.

“Yes. But I was so deep in submission and mindless obedience that I could do nothing.” Then her eyes went steely cold. “One night, she had gotten herself intoxicated. She had apparently gone back to the main manor to ask for their reconsideration, but was vehemently rejected. I had taken an important mock exam that day, but had one single mistake... She said it wasn’t good enough. She went mad. She said... she’d teach me that perfection-it was the only way I’d ever attain what I wanted the most.”

Diana frowned.

“I now know that she actually meant, what she wanted the most. I’d rather have no part in it. But it was too late.” Squeezing her eyes shut, Diana saw the vivid flames of the fireplace, the dark room; she could smell the awful stench of cheap wine and burning papers. Worst of all, she could almost feel it again. “The metal whip she would constantly beat me with... on that night, she had heated it in the coals... she was deeply lost. Dreadfully so. She took my hand and said...

‘I hope this mark haunts you ‘til the day you die. That you’ll never be what you were destined to be.’”

Diana’s eyes fluttered open, cold as they were when they closed, face hardened and emotionless. She was now numb. There was no longer any pain to hold her back from divulging her deep darkness within.

“Father...” The word was so distasteful, they all cringed deep down. So unfamiliar and... wrong. “He knew about my... condition.” Two pairs of eyes saw that scarred hand go knuckles-white with their grip. “He said so in the letter, and he told me that... there wasn’t much use in re-enrolling me in a medical school  if my own family threw me away after finding out.”

“Finding out?”

“As you saw earlier, my hands have the tendency to suddenly shake, and my right...” Diana stared into her open palm in depression, clenching it into a fist frustratedly. “-the doctors said that my aunt had destroyed nerves needed for the finer motor functions of my hand. The tremors are no good. My family wanted me to become a surgeon for whatever field. I... can’t do that.” She smiled through a grimace.

“Diana...”

“So he told me to do whatever I wanted. The money was... there and all.”

Weiss grit her teeth, fury stirring up within her at the man’s utter lack of delicacy and consideration. It was cruel, how he threw Diana’s pains right at her face, thinking it could be solved with money and she’d feel chipper about it right away. He was always like that.

It wasn’t because their father ever cared about Diana’s background or family affairs that he gave her the freedom of choice; so probably by hearing rumors about Diana and her hand, he couldn’t be bothered to even help her out, leaving her to decide in her lost, unknowing state. How could everyone leave her to choose for herself after controlling her every action, thought, and future? And all of a sudden, as she became useless to them, drop her like a rag doll to do what she wanted. She no longer even knew what she wanted, much less know how to desire something, most likely!

“That’s it.” Weiss bit. “That’s enough, Diana.” She placed the brush down with a light thud. The sound must have scared the poor girl as she apologized profusely right away.

“S-sorry! You must not have liked my story; it must have been burdensome to hear something as depressing as that. I won’t speak a word of it ever again!”

“Diana.” Claudine called, cradling scarred hands in her own. “I don’t believe Weiss meant that in any mean way towards you. She just can’t bear to hear how hurt you are anymore, not right now. But we promise, we will continue to listen to you if you want to open up.” She ran her thumbs gently over fading lines, studying them intensely, before looking up to meet Diana’s eyes. “But right now, we think you need a break. Some fresh air.”

Diana nodded, finally noticing the sweat trickling down her brow, how her breathing was a little labored, and how flushed she felt.

“You’re shaking. Diana.” Claudine said sadly, reaching up to brush stray strands of hair away from Diana’s forehead. “Let’s have a change of pace.” Claudine smiled. “Weiss?”

They heard an audible huff come from the girl, before she nodded. “Fifteen minutes, then we can go.”

Claudine nodded back in agreement, rising up and pulling Diana along with her, getting ready to lead her to the hall. “We’ll go get our shoes on.”

“Great, you do that while I call for a car.” Weiss responded with a wave of her hand, phone already to her ear.

“…”

“...car?”

//-//-//-//-//

Impressive. Weiss’ car was.

Diana wasn’t one to be interested in such things, but staring at the pristine silvery white with royal to dark blue accents, she would say it was beautiful. Did people call cars beautiful? Or was Diana just odd, as she always was?

She heard Claudine whistle appreciatively. Maybe it was normal.

“How did you even get this here?”

“Had a worker bring it over.”

“From where??? So fast?!”

“Look, I don’t know the details, but this is just another way our… dude… squanders his money. He wants his children to, at least, look the part of being supported publicly. Stupid, but I’m grateful I have a car. Not to him, but to the universe or whatever.”

Claudine chuckled. “You really hate him, don’t you.”

“Absolutely.”

“Same.”

They shared a grin, before the French guided the eldest into the back seat, closing the car door securely before riding shotgun next to a Weiss tinkering with the stereo. Just as she clicked the seatbelt lock in place, Weiss chose her song and the car revved to life.

“This one goes to that bastard old man!” She yelled out her window. “FUCK YOU!”

“Th-there was an existing song with a title such as that?” Diana muttered from the back.

“Is that an appropriate song in this context?” Claudine laughed harder, amused by how crazy a driver Weiss was.

“Who cares? I just wanna flip him off.”

“Totally understandable.”

And they were off.

//-//-//-//-//

Claudine and Weiss knew they were supposed to head off to school right away to finalize some enrollment details, and pick up a few things besides their uniforms, but with the topic floating around earlier, and with Diana not knowing what direction to take academic-wise, they decided they could spend a little bit of time at the mall to divert her attention from all the bad things, then maybe over lunch, attempt a more pleasant discussion regarding school plans.

Also, something had been bothering the pair after they’d gone through Diana’s closet earlier in search of her outfit for the day. While she certainly wasn’t lacking wardrobe, the variety of clothes she had left much to be desired.

They were mostly formal clothes- gowns and dresses, some sleeping wear, a few blouses and dress shirts that didn’t seem like they’d be very breathable on a regular day out,  and a few slacks and pants. A few meaning… two pairs each.

It was almost as if Diana only ever got dressed to meet important people, and to attend lavish events. Probably not too far from the truth. Thus, she might not have needed anything akin to ‘party’ or ‘casual’, or even ‘sporty’ wear. They had found a few jogging pants in the far back, but they seemed worse for wear and only to be used for exercising and/or sleeping.

They were lucky enough to get her dressed in a loose-fitting pale blue button up, sleeves rolled up, because, “No Diana, you will not be buttoning up your cuffs and choking yourself with a damn thick tie, and you don’t need to wear a suit everywhere you go. You’re not going out for an interview.” , paired with one of her two pairs of jeans- a dark denim.

That would have to do. To top it- or bottom? Or round it all off, They had her wear some open-toed shoes, sandals with a little wedged heel at the back.

She was pretty. It worked. Even a sack of rice would have worked for someone as beautiful as Diana.

They would never make her try that though.

So after Weiss had dragged a completely bewildered Diana through all twelve of her favorite shops, they were now sat in a small cafe on the second floor, enjoying their slightly-late lunch.

Diana sipped on her tea like the little miss that she was, delicately placing the cup back down before cutting into her meal with all the grace and poise of some great medieval aristocrat that probably ate up all the etiquette books. Her back was ramrod straight, but somehow managing to look relaxed. She was this picture of elegance, and Claudine had already ran out of fingers to count how many people had stopped and done a double-take as they passed by their group’s table.

Weiss, as fiery and at times uncouth as she was with her language, and some mannerisms, proved to have some semblance of the same type of upbringing. And while Claudine grew up learning all these manners as well, the knowledge of them important for events at Seishou, she could not deny how stifling it all felt.

Should she have ordered something more… ‘graceful’  than her tuna panini?

“Um…” Immediately, she caught both girl’s attention, their eyes focused on her. “So…”

“So?” Weiss parroted, placing her fork down.

‘Huh? Wait a second, Claudine Saijou, what were you supposed to be doing, again?’  What had she wanted to say again? Or did she not really want to say anything, and simply wanted to escape this awkward atmosphere? Why were they in this situation? Why were they having lunch at the mall? Why were they outside? Why…

“Ah-”

“Ah.” Diana repeated this time. “Ah?”

School. They were supposed to be out today to attend to matters for school. School that was starting very soon.

“School.”

“School.” The pair mimicked.

“School!” Claudine raised her hands up, fork still in one of them and dropping a portion of her pastry on the table.

Weiss was about to scold her, before her eyes widened in realization. “SCHOOL!”

“School?” Diana was still confused, but seeing her sisters hurriedly finish their lunch pressured her to do the same, even if she didn’t have much to finish.

“Oh my god, I got too carried away. What time is it, Claudine?” Weiss mumbled, polishing off her plate, and still dabbing her face with a napkin like the true lady she was.

Claudine took a peek at her wristwatch. “Eh, uh.. umm, huh? Wait… it’s almost three?! Weiss! Office hours end soon! And we still have to get to the school!”

“We’ll get there!” Weiss replied, calling for the check, and rummaging through her bag for her wallet. Placing just enough bills to cover their expenses and leaving the change as a tip, the three girls rushed to the car-or well, two girls rushed to a car, dragging a third, clueless one behind them.

Weiss got her engine roaring to life and speeding down the highway (at an acceptable pace, because they were in a rush, not criminals), and managed to get to their school supposedly twenty minutes away, in under fifteen.

Claudine thought she would die with how Weiss drove in their mad run to make it to the university.

“We… we-” She wheezed, hand clutching at her chest. “We could have… I thought I died.” She knelt on the ground, as if praying. “Devil driver.”

“Shut it! You try chasing after time while in that kind of traffic.”

Claudine just waved her off with a hand, breathing still labored. “N-Never again. Never get distracted again.”

“Agreed.” Weiss huffed, locking the car with a click.

Diana stood there, hair slightly frazzled, but still looking the picture of dignity and grace. Weiss had a few wrinkles in her blouse, but otherwise was sparkling perfect. Claudine wondered how the hell they managed that after such a wild ride, at the same time hoping she didn’t look like the mess she felt she was in comparison to the two’s appearances. Really, what was it with heiresses and their impossible-to-ruin looks.

“Okay, children, chop-chop. It’s just about three-fifteen, and we can only guess what kind of terrible lines enrollment season summons. I do not want to find myself standing for an hour amongst seas of people.”

“Chil-” Claudine was about to protest, but decided against wasting more time, getting up and grabbing Diana by the hand and leading her behind Weiss.

This day wasn’t turning out quite as they had planned. Or didn’t plan.

//-//-//-//-//

So they had forgotten one little detail. Well, not little. More like… universal.

“Sorry, li’l ladies; but offices are closed for today. It’s Sunday, my dears.” The old gatekeeper chuckled at the surprised faces of girls who looked like they were just told that all their efforts of rushing had been in vain because… all their efforts of rushing had been in vain. “I wouldn’t blame you, however. Y’all look like you aren’t from around here, fancy-looking hair colors and all. I don’t know if it works different from where you come from, but over here, we don’t usually come to the office on a Sunday.”

Claudine just panted, making an incoherent sound of surprise. Was there really such a thing? She’d always walked into Seishou any day of the week, without rest- ah. Maybe she was just a crazy workaholic, then.

“Well, some schools prob��ly allow students to pick things up, but as for transactions and in-person meet-ups, I don’t think you little ladies have much luck. The headmaster of this school, at least, made sure that workers get Sundays with their families. Policy thing and all. It’s on somethin’ called a ‘webpage’? My granddaughter showed me yesterday, most bizarre thing I’ve seen.”

“Ah, yes. Of course.” Weiss, ever the spokeswoman of the group, nodded, taking note to look up said school’s webpage. They should have done so sooner.

“Sorry, girls.”

“O-oh, no, not at all. We don’t mind. We were… we actually- we were supposed to know this, yes.” Weiss stammered out. “We simply forgot is all.”

“Haha! Well, that’s all right, happens. You’re free to come back tomorrow, though. Although I advise you to come at a time waaay earlier than right now.” He winked.

“Thank you. We’ll remember that.” Weiss replied with a professional smile in place to end the conversation, just like she’d been taught in interaction. It may have seemed a little cold, but that was just something she was used to doing. She did enjoy the man’s quirky sweetness, though she’d never let it show.

The three made their slow walk back to car, no longer rushing for anything in particular. It was the low one experienced after the adrenaline rush. Well, it was time to head home anyway. They could afford to be a little relaxed.

“Weiss?” Claudine called as the car beeped unlock.

“Hmm?”

“Can you drive better this time?”

“…”

“Now listen here-”

//-//-//-//-//

Home.

They were finally home.

Right away, Weiss had sunk into the welcoming softness of their couch, subsequently switching on the television once she’d found the remote. Laying on her back, with legs hanging over one of the armrests, she listened to- more than watched- the steady drone of some random channel while hearing Claudine chopping away in the kitchen in the background.

Diana had gone straight to the bedroom to drop off her ‘spoils of war’, as Weiss had put it. For a rich girl, she was good at talking down prices to a bargain. It was truly a horrific war that reoccurred in each shop they visited, Diana’s feet sore and tired, and all she’d done was walk after Weiss.

For a few hours.

Returning to the common room, Diana spotted Claudine stirring what appeared to be a soup. It smelled amazing, and Diana felt her mouth water. She’d never really been excited for food back at her old home- er… houses, regardless of how extravagant every meal was. Here, however, the simplest grilled cheese had her taste buds squealing in delight, pleasured by the flavors and sensations of even the simplest dish.

Dishes made with tenderness, love, and care.

While waiting, Diana decided to take a seat on the sofa, joining Weiss in her... staring at the TV. They weren’t viewing anything in particular, not really paying attention. Weiss had begun to flip through the channels, Diana listening to the audible clicks of remote buttons. Boring shows, corny jokes, generated laughter were presented in entertainment and comedy channels. They both jolted in their spots as Weiss had jumped to an action channel that had just had some loud explosion go off, the volume up high enough to feel that sound blast through their entire body.

A few more button clicks, many more channels browsed; Weiss and Diana were growing more and more bored. Was Claudine done with dinner yet? Nothing interesting was showing anymore-

[“KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”]

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!”

“A-A-AAAAHHHH!”

Three ear-shattering screeches filled the room in succession, making Claudine drop her ladel, whipping her head to check if all was alright. “Diana?! Weiss?!” She called, walking around the isle towards the couch. Then she saw two figures glued to one another in tight embrace, crouching into each other. That did not look comfortable. Turning her eyes to the TV playing some generic horror music of violin murder to accompany the scene of a bloodied, toothless woman, and it all clicked.

And she couldn’t help but laugh.

“Pfft-” She attempted to cover her mouth, but to no avail. “AHA-pfff- I- I know I shouldn’t laugh, but-ha...ha...HAHAHAHAHAHAHA, what are you two doing?!” Claudine wiped a tear from her eye, walking the last few steps to stand behind the couch, patting two shivering heads. “Got scared?” She grinned, voice teasing while waiting for that spiteful response from one Weiss Schnee.

“S-scared?! No! N-no, I’m not s-scared! Says who? Huh? Come fight me!”

She got exactly what she desired, giggling in amusement as she stared back in challenge, right into glaring icy blues that could cut. She was beginning to ask herself if this was how a certain partner of hers always felt when messing with her. It made a little more sense. Wasn’t any less infuriating, though.

They held their gazes for a time, before Weiss sighed, backing off as she felt the trembling bundle still in her arms. Claudine also turned her attention there, worried. She picked up the remote from its fallen spot on the floor, switching to a shopping channel with elevator music. Great. The most boring of all channels. Hopefully it would be calming and uneventful enough. They had had enough surprises for one night.

“I’ll get back to cooking. You got her?” Claudine asked softly. Weiss nodded in response, and the youngest went off to finish her task; hopefully dinner would shift their gears for the night.

While she did that, Weiss had settled her back against the couch, Diana still quivering in her hold. She opted to rub comforting circles onto the poor girl’s back, hoping she’d feel better soon.

“You okay?”

A nod.

“You sure?”

Another nod.

“Don’t deal well with horror?”

“...It’s not that.” Diana separated herself from Weiss, now leaning against the backrest as well, staring blankly at the glowing screen. Weiss took note of how Diana’s hand was tucked safely in hers, and felt her lips tip up in a smile. “There was just so much blood.”

“Hmm… but weren’t you going to be a surgeon?” Weiss regretted the reminder as she felt the hand in hers flinch, along with the next words that left Diana’s lips.

“The blood just… reminded me of my own…”

They could hear something metallic dropping on the floor from the kitchen, along with a soft mumbled apology.

Weiss didn’t want to dwell on this topic any longer, not wanting Diana to remember more hurtful memories, simply humming and ending that particular conversation right there. The pair ended up watching a salesman trying to convince them that brooms weren’t made for sweeping, only flying, and since no one could fly, brooms were irrelevant, thus one should buy a vacuum cleaner instead for the home.

“That logic is stupid!” Claudine yelled from the kitchen, revealing that she had been casually listening to all that was going on in the living room. It was her way of looking out for the two in case something happened. While she trusted them that they were no longer going to enter any screaming sessions, one could never be too careful.

Silence reigned over them once more as more products were revealed in the show. The occasional scoff would be heard from Weiss or Claudine about ridiculous prices, or fake specs, but other than those sounds there wasn’t much.

Eventually, Diana had taken control over the remote and flipped to a children’s cartoon; some low-budget show, maybe? ‘Shiny Chariot and The Mystical Bear’, the episode’s title flashed across the screen. Weiss was about to comment on how bad the show might turn out to be, but sealed her mouth shut as she noticed Diana’s eyes glued to the screen, almost sparkling. Did she like things like this?

Hmm…

Time ticked past bit by bit, the occasional flash from the television would throw splashes of the shows vibrant colors onto parts of the room, then fade. Each time, Diana would gasp, and her hands would move, almost as if she were about to clap. It was adorable, Weiss thought. But she was also thinking of something else. A thought that had never left her mind for even a single moment that day.

“Hey, Diana?”

“Yes?” The girl responded, eyes never leaving the screen.

“What about you?”

Diana stole her attention away from the blaring display, turning down the volume with the remote in her good hand, tilting her head to the side in confusion at the question. “What about me?”

“Well,” Weiss exchanged a glance with Claudine who was ever aware, and all-ears on this conversation. They had to ask eventually, right? Hopefully it wasn’t a bad time, nor a sensitive topic.

“Weiss?”

With a slow intake of air, Weiss met similar-colored eyes, trying to look as gentle as possible, voice equally soft. “School. Studies. What do you want to do about it?” Weiss asked. She didn’t know if it was something Diana wanted to be talking about, or if the topic would bring her hurt, trauma and all. Claudine and Weiss really wanted to be careful.

But they just wanted, needed to know. “We’re not pressuring or forcing you to attend school or anything, if you don’t want to.” Weiss clarified. “It’s just that… we don’t feel comfortable leaving you here on your own in the day, coming home at who knows what time at night. I think Claudine and I both agree that we’d feel a little more secure knowing that we can see you around during the daytime, and possibly be together when we can.”

It was almost as if they were talking about watching over a child, not that Diana was one in any way. There was just this sense of desire to protect her from any more agony than she’d already experienced. Everything the younger pair had learned about Diana so far was so sad and painful, it made them the slightest bit anxious that something may happen to add to that, and they wouldn’t be around to be able to help.

“It’s not that we don’t trust you or anything, by the way.” Claudine added, closing the lid on the pot, finally done with the soup. “We’re…” She looked to the side, searching for the right words to pull out of thin air, before meeting Diana’s eyes. “We’re just worried, is all.”

Weiss bit her lip in concern. Were they being too overbearing? Towards someone they’d only been housemates with for a few weeks, and not having known one another before then; were they too intrusive into Diana’s private life? There was a chance Diana would be scared off, but it felt... necessary. To be able to lay this out on the table. After all, weren’t they family now?

Contrary to Claudine and Weiss’s troubles, Diana had found herself speechlessly touched. She’d never really had anyone show her concern, not after her mother passed. Her own direct bloodline rejected her with so much disdain and contempt, she truly felt unworthy of any love for something she didn’t even do. But this... It made her feel all warm, and her heart light to know that such kind people were now a part of her family. A real one, this time around.

That brought a small smile to her lips, thinking of where they would go from now. Despite knowing them  for as short a time as she did, Diana admired and cherished her two new sisters with all heart. She vowed she’d do anything to do better for them, to help them up as much as they did for her, and more.

Her mind continued treading happy thoughts, completely forgetting about the conversation they were having, and unknowingly increasing the anxiety of her waiting companions.

“D-Diana? Um…”

Right. Weiss and Claudine. They asked her something, and were still anticipating her reply. What had they been talking about? Ah, school.

School… huh.

Diana turned back to the TV, leaning against the couch. Enrolling. School. Studying. Diana had been prepared to study medicine all her life, but now that she couldn’t become the surgeon her mother’s family wanted her to be, she didn’t…. quite know what to do.

Of course, there were other options in the medical field, but she didn’t fancy said options at the moment because it only served to feed her now-recognized trauma. Medicine, it reminded her. Reminded her of so many things, both pleasant and… not. She still liked growing herbs and medicinal plants in their little garden that Claudine had helped her set up. It reminded her of her mother. That thought was both a joy, and sadness in and of itself. She had enough medical knowledge to possibly become a different kind of doctor, not necessarily a surgeon; but the history behind how she accumulated all of it was not the best experience.

She realized now that maybe, just maybe, she wanted to take a rest from it. What her whole life had been built to be.

Regardless, this didn’t make her thoughts any clearer, or give her a definite direction for a decision. She sighed, finally easing the growing tension that had settled in the air from all the silence and waiting, the only thing breaking the stillness first being the padding of Claudine’s feet as she made her way to the sitting area, taking her place at the other end of the couch, opposite Weiss.

“I never thought of this until now.” Diana confessed after long moments of ponder, finally speaking her mind.

Weiss and Claudine listened with all attentiveness.

“My life had been planned out for me; from beginning to end. What I would do, where I would go, when I would do this, how I’d do that. I’ve never…” She closed her eyes, picturing herself back then, a simple puppet, stringed along to the will of her handler. “-I haven’t really thought of wanting to do much else than obey and survive… and hopefully gain the love of my family.” She lifted her knees onto the couch, hugging them close to her chest. “A foolish wish on my part.”

“It’s not foolish.” Claudine interjected quickly. “Wanting to be loved isn’t foolish. It’s natural. Everyone wants to be cherished, and supported, and seen as they are. Understood. It’s not foolish.” She move closer to Diana’s side, taking a hand. “Never think that it is.” She squeezed. “Okay?”

Diana felt tears welling up in her eyes; not trusting in her verbal ability to reply, she opted to just nod. Claudine noticed the emotion leaking from her eyes, wiping them away ever gently, as gentle as she always was.

Weiss watched over the interaction fondly, before eventually sighing. Diana’s reply was welcome and all, but it didn’t answer much of their original question of what she planned to do now.

“Diana, do you still want to study medicine?” Weiss asked the important question directly, gaining the attention of the pair beside her. She received a shake of the head, no. “Well, um… do you have any other options? Or something else you wished you could’ve done before you were told that you had to be a doctor?”

Another shake of the head.

“Hmm…” This only drew more of a blank than anything. “Ah.” Suddenly she had a thought.

“Weiss? Did you come up with anything?”

“Sort of.” She shrugged. “Well, what are your thoughts on a change of pace?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, Claudine and I go to the same school.” She pointed out, matter-of-factly. “If the worry was not being able to see Diana during the day, then wouldn’t it make sense to just… go to school together? All of us?” She directed the question more to Claudine.

“Weiss… we go to an arts school.” Claudine replied, confused. “That’s like… the furthest Diana could be from being a doctor.” As far as she knew her, Weiss wasn’t one for suggestions that were so left field, usually quite realistic, but maybe she was onto something.

“And? As someone who grew up in an environment quite like Diana’s, heiress things and all that,” She explained with a twirl of a finger through the air, “I can say that by experience, you’re made to learn all the most useless showy things.”

Claudine laughed at that. Well, maybe that was a valid point.

“I’ve known enough people to know that you have something like that up your sleeve.” She turned to Diana. “I’m sure you’ve had other interests besides studying medicine, right? Nothing like a job, or anything. A hobby?”

Diana thought long and hard. As she came into her last two years of high school, she had been made to focus completely on preparing to get into a good medicine-related program, and dropped anything unrelated to that goal. But before that, what had she been doing?

“Ah.”

“See? There is something.” Weiss smiled.

“Well… I remember my guardians signing me up to do painting and photography just as I entered my teen years. They even hired tutors and all.” Diana fished through her vague memories of the past, actually wondering if her camera from back then was alive and well. “It...was a hobby I actually grew to love. Possibly the first from all the other skills that had been pushed onto me.”

Diana continued to explain that as she was immersed deeper into the medium, the more she enjoyed. The Cavendish’s hadn’t minded it at the time as it brought some sort of prestige to their family. She also mentioned having played the piano since childhood to entertain guests in the event that she was invited by the main house to show off their genius charge, despite not finding use for her outside such functions.

“They had me stop eventually, however, as they weren’t the skills a doctor needed.”

Talk about tossing something away once it held no use or value anymore. It was really frustrating to know just how sad Diana’s background was before they’d met.

Weiss shook her head. This wasn’t the time for this. No more. They would be building a new present for Diana, and for themselves. Together. She wasn’t sure why she was so comfortable with the prospect of supporting one another with these people. Truly, it hadn’t been long since they’d met; and yet there was this sense of camaraderie and familiarity that they had possibly always wanted from a family that they’d found in each other. Maybe it was that.

Possibly the thought of starting with someone on a blank slate, with no preconceived expectations and assumptions despite knowing the terrors of their pasts. Or maybe it was because of that that they got along so well. Who knows.

What she did know was that she had the back of these people with her in this room, at this time, and she trusted that they’d have hers. They were family like that. Solving problems together. And speaking of problems, they just found out how to deal with their latest.

“Sounds like we can get you in.” Weiss nodded in assessment, taking in the latest information Diana had shared. This could work.

“Weiss,” Claudine turned to her, sighing. “Even so, this school is quite demanding. I’m not doubting our older sister’s abilities and-or experience, but…” As far as she knew, this was a special institute with students from all over the globe, coming to perfect years-worth of craft. Although their father had been the one to enroll them, Claudine knew from the letters and documents she’d received from him that her recommendations from high school played a huge roll in getting into a school that didn’t accept just anyone.

“Then we get a recommendation from her previous schools.” So Weiss could read minds now, apparently.

“That still isn’t a guarantee…” Claudine sighed again, but was slowly beginning to accept this inevitable plan of action. It seemed as though a motivated Weiss was an unstoppable Weiss. She should’ve taken the hint from the shopping and driving.

“Come on, Miss Actress. Where’s your thirst for flair? For adventure and beating the odds? Where’s the passion? On the stage? The world is your stage and all that jazz.” Weiss exclaimed dramatically, so unlike her. Almost as if she was playing a role.

Claudine rolled her eyes, smiling nonetheless. “This actress just got a reality check, thank you very much. And so many odds. I have enough to beat already.” She chuckled, thinking on everything that had occurred over the course of such a short time. Finding out who her true father was, hearing about her mother’s illness, discovering she shared the same blood in her veins as two equally unfortunate- or really, more unfortunate souls. “But I suppose, there’s always room for some excitement and a challenge.” She’d never let one bring her down. She always did love a good challenge.

“Perfect! So your on board.” Weiss cheered, turning to the most important piece of their plan. “And what about you Diana?” She asked, softer, kinder. “Do you want to maybe try this out? With us? We know we might not seem all that trustworthy, and you haven’t known us lo-”

“I trust you more than you know.” Diana cut her off with a smile. “Thank you. For all you’ve been doing for me. You truly have yet to understand the depth of my gratefulness towards you both. Thank you.”

Her sincerity pierced through their hearts, melting them as Diana always did. Weiss actually thought she’d cry. A time and place for everything, though.

“Well!” She exclaimed, getting up from the couch. With a shrug, she commented offhandedly, “If all else fails, guess old moneybags might just be good for something.”

“WEISS!” Claudine gasped. “Are you suggesting we bribe the school? This honorable institution?!” Despite her words, she was smiling, almost laughing. Whether Weiss was serious or joking, it was absurd… and incredibly plausible.

“I know they might not accept Cash, okay. Calm down.” Weiss flipped her hair over her shoulder. “That’s why I said, ‘if all else fails’.” She spoke with air quotes. “I’d rather not do it either, y’know? Dirty our hands like that old man. Though I would love to drag him through the mud with rumors since we will indeed use his oh-so-good name,” Diana actually giggled at that one. “I’d rather we not get the same backlash.”

Claudine folded her arms in front of her, processing it all. It sounded so unrealistic. School was going to begin in just about two weeks, need she remind them! Would they have enough time to get everything ready? But then, this was the same Weiss who had a luxury car delivered to their door in a mere fifteen minutes.

“Oh Claudine, Dear Claudine, why do you fret?” Weiss laughed, putting on an obnoxious facade in Claudine’s very honest opinion, like one of those irritating rich girls back in France. “Trust in me and the power of connections.”

“Thought you hated those connections.”

“They’re useful.” Weiss shrugged, confident in their plan. There was also Diana’s family name to consider. From what they’d known so far, they were quite famous and surely had a pull of power somehow. She was sure that it would be of value as well.

“Scary. You people are scary. Heiresses are scary.” Claudine muttered, resigning to this decision. “Whatever. I’ll help out with what I can.”

“Perfect!” Weiss clapped, hand already typing away on her phone.

“Guess this means we won’t be meeting that old man tomorrow, huh? Claudine mused, thinking back to the gatekeeper they’d met earlier in the day. After all, they needed to prepare for Diana’s enrollment. Their business was simple enough and could wait until the same day. “I wonder if he’ll actually remember us and wait for the three foolish little girls to come back earlier.” Claudine looked to her sisters for their thoughts.

Diana simply shrugged.

Weiss actually thought about it for a moment, pausing her actions, a finger tapping against her cheek.

“Nah.”

A/N: As always, I welcome any and all feedback! It really helps with the motivation and like… my personal growth. Thank you for reading and til next time!

~Shintori Khazumi

[dailydianakko]

Dreaming-LWA AU Oneshot

YOOOOO I’m back but not with more ink slinger :’) Please take this oneshot as a consolation prize. This is pretty much an unnamed au that wouldn’t leave me alone haha. Anyway, I have a trip in about a week (guess who is gonna see the lovely Mod Nightly), so I will try to crank out chapter three soon. Anyway, here is the au. Also on AO3 Here.

Diana let out a quiet inward sigh. The golden aura that emanated from the still butterfly cupped in her cold hands drifted towards her nostrils in a spiral with each breath she took. She gave one final sharp breath, and it disappeared. Blue eyes glowed as the Butterfly’s dream flashed through her mind. Darkness, struggling, light, an open meadow filled with flowers of all colors, a warm sun, a sparkling lake whose shores were scattered with white stones. Truly this dream was beautiful. Diana closed her eyes and savored the final taste of the dream. Then, she placed the sleeping butterfly back where it first lay, hidden under a leaf. Diana gazed up at the full moon. A cloud had covered it sometime during her meal. She could still feel the warm summer breeze on her skin, a quiet contrast to the slight chill of the summer night. 

 Quietly she stepped through the tall grass; her bare feet muffled the noise of her steps. The long green tendrils brushed the hem of her skirt and tickled her translucent feet. She paid the sensation no mind. Diana had a mission to fulfill. She may have eaten her fill of dreams tonight, but she wanted to collect more. The glittering jars of dream pearls she held at home didn’t satisfy her. Her kind was greedy and never satisfied. They could not dream, and so they stole from others. Sorrowful dreams in their dark blues, joyful dreams like small embers, even the ‘bad’ dreams; colored in their dark purples and blacks. All were beautiful as they were empty. Diana wanted them all. Diana paused as a quiet noise joined the night’s song. It did not belong in the serenade of chirping crickets and flapping bat wings. Diana cocked her head as the noise made itself known once more. Breathing. It was a human’s soft snores, coming from one of the tall maple trees in the glen. 

 Diana wouldn’t call it curiosity that made her seek out exactly who was making the noise, but rather it was the feeling of greed. For quiet snores meant sleeping and sleeping meant dreams. Hers was a selfish motive. Diana practically glided through the small glen towards the source of the snores. As she got closer, she identified the sleeping person as a human girl. The girl was in a ragged school uniform and was sleeping quite heavily; curled into the roots of the old maple. Her back was propped up by the trunk and her head was lolling to the side. Her brunette hair was tangled, and her small topknot was half undone and tangled with twigs. Diana let out a quiet haughty sniff at the sight of drool slowly dripping from the comatose girl’s mouth. Yet she ignored the disheveled look of her prey, simply because of the silver aura that had begun to rise. A dream was being born.

 Diana slowly bent down and reached out to smooth the girl’s hair. No movement other than the soft rise and fall of the girl’s chest. She truly was asleep.  Diana prided herself on being cautious, for during the witching hour, ayakashi and yokai like herself were visible to the more sensitive humans. She watched for a minute longer, and the silver aura began to show hues of gold. Ever so slowly, she reached out and grabbed the wrist of the sleeper next to her. It was time to collect this dream. Diana didn’t expect the girl’s eyes to open. Sharp blue met a dazed red. “Hello.”

 Diana dropped the now awake girl’s wrist like she had been burned. She nearly fell over from shock. Diana could have sworn that this human couldn’t possibly see her. The wind. The night wind had blown back the clouds, allowing the light to shine on her body. No longer was her form covered in the shadow. The light allowed even the dullest human to perceive her. Diana let out a quiet curse and turned to go. Humans were a vain race, one that withered shortly after being born. They were but a single breath during a yokai’s lifetime, and it wouldn’t do to mingle. A warm hand clasped her wrist. An echo from her own touch earlier.

 “Please wait. I’m a little lost” The brunette nervously ran a hand through her hair as she gripped Diana’s wrist. “I am Atsuko Kagari, do you know the way out of this forest? I was at the lodge with my uncle and I wandered off and got lost, I really need help.”

 Diana let out a sigh. Humans these days had no sense. Giving out a name without regards to the multitude of harmful spells that could be cast. No regard for any self-preservation whatsoever. How foolish could they be? Diana attempted to pry Akko’s hand from her wrist. “No. Wait here. I am sure a rescue will come for you soon.” Diana refused to meet those eyes again. It was a lie that a rescue would come. This glen was hidden well. A playground for spirits. Akko would either starve or some other yokai would come and finish her off.

 Diana freed herself with a twist, and Atsuko let out a cry of dismay. Diana took a step away from her, and Atsuko retaliated by flinging herself around Diana’s waist. Diana stood firm and let out a quiet sigh, one hand resting on the brown locks of hair. They were soft. She could feel Atsuko’s tears leaking through her shirt, and the quiet fearful shakes that ran through the brunette’s body. This was turning out to be quite bothersome. She might as well rid herself of Atsuko now, rather than resort to expending more effort on the human. Besides, if she learned of where the human lived, she could harvest dreams from her.  Once more she twisted herself from Atsuko’s iron grip.

 “Come.” Diana said as she held out a hand. Comfort was a human need, and it was more preferable to have the sobbing girl clinging to her hand than her whole body. Atsuko’s hand frantically clasped Diana’s. It seemed as if Atsuko didn’t notice the translucent state of Diana’s body. Diana gently tugged Atsuko forward, ignoring Atsuko’s frantic scrubbing of her face. It was a futile effort to wipe away tears and snot. Atsuko was merely spreading dirt around. Sighing heavily once more, Diana halted her steps. She reached into the breast pocket of her shirt and pulled out a handkerchief embroidered with lavender. “Here.”

 Atsuko took the handkerchief with a watery smile and a thank you. She carefully wiped away all the dirt on her face and offered it back to Diana. Why Atsuko thought she would want a filthy handkerchief back was beyond Diana’s reasoning. Diana let out a hum and pushed it back to Atsuko. “I have no use for it, Atsuko. Keep it or throw it away. I care not.”

 “Alright,” Akko said as she stowed it in her skirt pocket. “And, um, you can call me Akko. Atsuko feels sort of stiff.” Diana let out a noncommittal hum. It wouldn’t do to get attached to a human. Besides, this one was a rather filthy and silly one. It certainly did not cater to Diana’s refined taste.

 “I see nothing wrong with Atsuko. Therefore I shall call you what I wish, human.” Diana turned away and resumed her walk, practically tugging Atsuko off her feet in her haste. She frowned as she heard Atsuko giggle slightly. She picked up her pace. Humans were rather annoying, and she did not wish to be in Atsuko’s company any longer. Diana kept her quick walk until she heard Atsuko’s smooth breaths turn ragged. Humans tired so easily, and they were only halfway down the mountain. Diana slowed her steps, allowing Atsuko to regain her breath. Diana frowned as she realized Atsuko was still trailing behind and beginning to stumble. Humans may not be able to see well at night, but the moon was bright tonight. Surely Atsuko was just incapable. She stumbled again and Diana let out a quiet groan of annoyance. It couldn’t be helped. 

 “Here, Atsuko.” Diana released Atsuko’s and stepped in close. She placed one hand on Atsuko’s back and stooped down. She ignored the stutters of protest that flew from Atsuko’s mouth. She swept Atsuko’s legs out from under her and hoisted her up effortlessly. Once more she began her trek, ignoring the blubbering of the human in her arms. This certainly was faster. Diana glanced down at Atsuko. The brunette had taken on the color of a late autumn apple and was attempting to cover her face. Inwardly Diana smiled. Though they were ugly, humans were amusing. It made her want to play a trick or two. However, Diana ignored the impulse. She needed to collect more dreams after this, the moon would set soon. With the fading of the night, the higher quality dreams would fade as well.

 Diana began to slow as they approached the foot of the mountain. Human lodgings were usually around this area. They loved to live in clans, and would be searching for Atsuko without a doubt. Diana scanned the trees, searching for torch fire and the shine of flashlights. Diana spared a glance at Atsuko. It seemed like she had grown tired during the journey, and had been lulled to sleep in Diana’s arms. Diana’s eyes shot back to the tree line as she saw a harsh light cut through the shadows and heard the frantic deep calls of a male human. The call for Atsuko’s name assured Diana that this was indeed  the settlement Atsuko had come from. 

 She gently shook Atsuko awake. It wouldn’t do to get punched in the face by a startled human. It wouldn’t hurt, but it was annoying to have to deal with apologies. Atsuko let out a few sleepy mumbles, and Diana shook her slightly harder. Atsuko’s eyes slowly fluttered open “Whazzat?” Atsuko slurred as she rejoined the realm of wakefulness.

 “We have arrived; your Uncle is in the vicinity. I do not wish to be seen, and I have more tasks to complete tonight. Here is where we part” Diana gently slid Atsuko to her feet, keeping hold until she was steady.

 “Thanks, Diana! Will I see you again? My family will be staying here all month.” Atsuko asked as she rubbed at her sleepy eyes. Diana made a noncommittal noise, she would not bind her fate to this human’s. She would probably leave this mountain and stay in the world of ayakashi and yokai, pouring over her dreams until the mountain was empty once more. Getting tied up in the affairs of humans always left a bad taste in her mouth. They were naught but dust in the wind, and interactions with them were best kept short.

 “Go. Your Uncle is waiting.” Diana pointed over to the beam of light that began to head in the other direction. She was caught off guard when Atsuko darted forward and kissed her cheek.

“Thanks once more, Diana! I’ll see you tomorrow!” With that Diana watched Atsuko run after her Uncle. Diana smiled as she heard Atsuko get scolded for wandering off. She would never admit to following them to the edge of the forest, warding off wayward yokai with her presence.

 “Akko...how interesting.” Diana supposed it couldn’t be helped. Diana looked towards the sky. It was gaining light. Reds and purples were mixing with the inky black. Her hunting time was gone, and the pathway back home would surely be closed. It would be more beneficial to rest until the next night. She would make her way back to the glen and the maple tree. It had seemed like a comfortable place to rest, after all.

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

 The sun gently shone down through the leaves of the maple, gently dappling Diana with its warm light. The wind gently played with her hair, and carried the sweet smell of the wildflowers. Birds sang their songs, greeting the sun. Diana sat under the tree, dozing but not quite asleep. In the day hours no human could see her, but it wouldn’t hurt to be cautious. It would have been more worthwhile to have slept in the youkai world among the shadows, but she was curious. Akko had sparked something in her that she wanted to know more about. Diana would be content to watch from the shadows until her curiosity was fulfilled.

 The quiet snapping of undergrowth alerted Diana to another presence. She didn’t open her eyes, but cast out her senses. It wouldn’t do to get startled from a mere squirrel after all. As hidden as the youkai and ayakashi were, they still had their pride. Diana honed in on the presence she felt. Human, smelling of woodsmoke, soap, and ointment. They were young and female. Diana’s eyes quickly opened as she matched it up with the same presence from last night. It was Akko.

 She quietly watched as Akko bumbled her way through the clearing. Diana noticed that she had changed from her uniform to simple denim shorts and a red shirt. She watched as the brunette moved the brush and checked under stones as if she was looking for something. Diana continued her silent observation as Akko walked farther and farther into the glen. When Akko locked eyes with Diana, the youkai stiffened. Humans couldn’t see youkai during the day. The cover of the moon and shadows during the witching hours were the only time the two worlds met. Yet Akko’s eyes lit up as she bounded towards Diana. 

 “Diana!” Akko shouted as she tackled the poor yokai. Diana winced in response. How could Akko see her? During the day, no less? Humans these days were notoriously duller than their predecessors. They no longer noticed the ayakashi that roamed the earth, playing tricks and causing calamity. The fact that Akko could see her in broad daylight was disconcerting. Diana felt the back of her neck prickle in anxiety.

 “Atsuko,” Dinaa said with a slow nod, covering her anxiety. “I see you have returned.” Diana pried Akko off once more and ran a hand over her shirt to smooth the wrinkles. Akko smiled and gave a vigorous nod. Diana tried not to pinch the bridge of her nose. The oncoming headache she felt was surely caused by the human. She gave a small sigh and stood up. Diana offered her hand to Akko, and the brunette readily took it. With a small tug, Diana helped pull Akko up to her feet. 

 Diana released Akko’s hand and made a move to walk away, but Akko grabbed onto her sleeve. How a people could disregard manners without a care always surprised Diana. The sheer audacity of humanity was never ending. “Diana,” Akko said as she tugged Diana’s sleeve, pulling her out of her thoughts, “can you show me around the mountain?”

 Diana hummed in thought. On one hand, she’d be stuck playing guide to Akko. On the other, she could always attempt to ditch her. Diana frowned slightly at the thought. Akko getting lost again would be more of a hassle. Humans were fragile and the other Ayakashi were not as forgiving. Another search for Akko would lead to more humans crawling over the mountain. She would escort Akko, just so that Diana could enjoy peace. Diana had been planning to shadow the girl anyway. This was a minor deviation from the original plan.

 “I shall escort you, Atsuko, wherever you wish to go,” Diana said “as long as you give me payment.” Diana reached forward and picked up a lock of Akko’s hair. She felt her lips twist into a feral smile. She relished the power she felt coursing through her veins. It thrummed of a power old, of the forgotten days when youkai were feared and didn’t live in hiding from a world that had forgotten them. And yet, some part of her hated the way Akko’s eyes flashed with fear for a split second at her actions. The sharp tang of Akko’s fear that flooded her senses. Diana hated it. She pulled away quickly, turning away from those fearful eyes.

 “What would be the payment?” Diana heard Akko stutter. She heard the rustling of clothes. Akko must be shifting uncomfortably. Akko’s heartbeat thudded in Diana’s ears, hard and fast. Like prey. Diana closed her eyes and forced herself to block it out. She ate dreams, not flesh. She was not uncivilized. Only a fallen youkai consumed human flesh. She resided in light, not in the darkness of the fallen.

 Diana quickly spun on her heel to face Akko again. She held out her hands to the side, palms up. A gesture to help Akko feel at ease, ensure her that Diana meant no harm. “That, my dear Akko, would be a dream.”

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

 “I figured you weren’t human,” Diana heard Akko pant as she followed Diana up the steep rocky slope. “No normal person gets face tattoos like that.” 

 Diana chose not to comment, and instead grabbed Akko. Her facial stripes indicated that she was powerful. To call them ‘face tattoos’ were demeaning. She hoisted Akko effortlessly up the rocky slope, ignoring Akko’s squawks of indignation at suddenly being swung around. Akko was soft, Diana noticed as she set Akko down. She had to be careful. One wrong move and she could crush Akko. Diana loosened her grip slightly. She didn’t want to hurt her.

 “Look, Akko” Diana gestured to the horizon. The climb had been worth it. The foothills of the mountain rolled out before them. The tops of the trees were swaying slightly in the breeze; it looked like a distant green ocean sprawled before them. The setting sun’s light bathed the sky in a golden halo. It added an ethereal quality that made the view below seem like a painting. Diana looked over at Akko. The brunette had her mouth opened slightly and her eyes were filled with wonder. Diana felt a tug on her sleeve and smiled. She felt at peace. 

 “Diana,” Akko broke the silence between them “Why do you want my dreams?” Diana gave a small hum. She knew Akko had been curious this entire time. During the long climb, she had been fidgety and had constantly been looking over at Diana. As if Diana wouldn’t notice those glances. Akko had been quite obvious with them. Diana took a breath and thought over her answer.

 “Yokai and ayakashi from the moment of our birth never forget anything. We keep all our important memories. As such, no matter how much we sleep, we never dream.” Diana kept her eyes focused on the horizon. She could feel the pity in Akko’s gaze. She didn’t understand why. Dreams were inferior; an affliction to those who couldn’t remember. They teased others with memories that would never be recalled. Diana was free from such constraints, so why did she feel wronged when Akko looked at her. 

 “Is that why you want mine?” Akko’s voice was gentle. Diana felt a warm hand on hers. She continued to avoid Akko’s gaze, choosing to look at Akko’s hand instead. It was tanned, shades darker than her own skin. It also lacked the translucent quality of Diana’s. Akko was a being who belonged in this world, Diana wasn’t. It was reflected in how solid and warm Akko was, how real.

 “Somewhat. My clan lives off of dreams. It's our sustenance.” Diana moved her hand so that her fingers laced with Akko’s. The warmth was addicting. It was like she had a small fire cupped in her hands.

 “Are there more of you?” Akko sidled closer to Diana with this remark, resting her head on Diana’s shoulder. Diana stiffened, but she allowed it. Both of them looked out once more at the setting sun. Reds and indigoes streaked the horizon.

 “I am the last. We are an old and outdated race, much like other ayakashi.” Diana began to move her thumb across Akko’s hand, tracing gentle circles. She didn’t want to lose herself in the memories of old. Never forgetting was as much as a curse as a blessing.

 “I’m sorry.” Akko blurted out. Diana glanced at her out of the corner of her eye. The brunette looked near tears. Diana didn’t like it. Diana liked beautiful things, and Akko was most beautiful when she was smiling.

 “Whatever for? They were weak. It is the way of life. Ayakashi and Yokai live long, but not forever. We fade after a time.”

 “Hey Diana, do you only eat human dreams?”

 “No,” Diana paused and looked at the sunset. It had almost sunk under the horizon completely. “All life has dreams. Trees, butterflies, humans, all share the wonder of dreaming. Would you like to see one?” Diana could probably find a dream at this hour. She wanted Akko to experience other’s dreams. Life outside of humanity could be beautiful, if one had the chance to see it.

 ---------------------------

 Diana led Akko through the forest, quietly matching her pace with Akko’s. The last dregs of light were fading, and she wanted to make sure that Akko wouldn’t stumble and fall. Diana was eager to find a dream close to where Akko was lodging. It was best to avoid a repeat of the night before. Diana scanned the pathway as the two walked. Finally spotting the elusive golden mist, she paused. Akko stumbled into Diana’s back, jarred by the sudden stop.

 “Here.” Diana walked up towards a tree and gently placed a hand on the rough bark. It was old and twisted. Diana reached her hand towards Akko’s. The brunette clasped it, and Diana pulled her into an embrace. 

 “Be careful, and stay close to me.” Diana muttered into Akko’s ear as she began to activate the magic. Akko looked at her questioningly, but nodded. With that, Diana closed her eyes; and they both began to fall.

 Diana opened her eyes and surveyed the world around her. She was in the dream, and Akko was still in her arms. It looked like this was a peaceful dream, one of a calm day in the forest. Diana gently shook Akko to awareness. The brunette gave a small murmur and her eyes fluttered open. When she saw the scenery around her, Akko sat upright. Diana had to dodge before Akko’s forehead collided with hers. 

 “Is this the dream?” Akko said as she gazed around at the forest around her. Her eyes were full of wonder. What used to be an aged tree was now a younger sapling half its previous size. Sunlight dappled around them through the leaves, and a few yards away a doe and her fawn were grazing. Diana nodded and put a finger to her lips.

 “Though we are in a dream, creatures are aware of our presence. The deer will not linger if you continue to be excitable.” Diana said in a hushed whisper. Akko clapped a hand to her mouth and nodded vigorously. Together they watched the pair of deer quietly graze for a moment. Diana smiled at the peace she felt. Akko was nestled under her chin. The breeze was sweet and the sunlight gentle. Diana wouldn’t mind spending an eternity wrapped up in this dream.

 “It seems like a curse that you can’t experience this for yourself, Diana.” Akko whispered. Diana gave a startled blink. Akko’s sudden comment had pulled her from her sleepy reverie.

 “To you, it may seem awful, but for us it is merely the way of life. We never forget, so we cannot dream. However, I enjoy this experience, with you.” Diana avoided Akko’s eyes again as she spoke. It was somewhat embarrassing admitting that she did enjoy Akko’s presence. She wasn’t as much of a bother as Diana first assumed. She gave a startled cry as Akko twisted in her grip and threw her arms around Diana. “Diana, I’ll share my dreams with you!” Akko declared, her eyes lit with a fiery passion. “I want you to be happy!” Diana smiled at Akko’s antics. 

 “Very well, Akko. I look forward to the happiness you’ll bring.” Diana looked at Akko with gentle eyes. She didn’t want this moment to end. However, the crackling of undergrowth startled them both. Diana whipped around to see the deer had run off, thoroughly startled from Akko’s earlier declaration. Diana couldn’t hold it back anymore and began to laugh. She stood up and pulled Akko with her.

 “Akko, shall we give chase?” Diana said with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes and a smile on her lips. Akko just laughed and tugged Diana’s wrist, dragging Diana after the deer. Diana allowed Akko to tug her off her feet, stumbling after the brunette fully entranced. The undergrowth snapped under their feet as they gave gleeful chase.

 “You know Diana, you’ve been calling me Akko all day! And here I thought that you were stuck up!” Akko called over her shoulder. Diana just answered with a laugh. The brunette had brought light and warmth to her world of shadow. If the gods were real, Diana wanted to spend forever with Akko.

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

 Diana gently carried Akko back down the mountain. After the trip through the forest’s dream, Akko had fallen back asleep and Diana had opted to carry her once more. She ignored the golden aura around the brunette. Akko was too precious to be a mere food source. Diana wanted the memory of their fun to stay with Akko. She gently placed Akko on the ground; they were still in the tree line hidden from the view of the cabin.

 “Akko.” Diana softly called Akko’s name. The brunette rubbed the sleep from her eyes and propped herself up to look around. “I brought you home.”

 “Hey.” Akko said in a sleepy daze. She got up groggily and gave Diana a hug. “Can I see you again tomorrow?”

 “Of course.” Diana said as she brushed dirt from Akko’s shirt. “I will be waiting in the clearing.”

 “Did you take your payment?”

 Diana bit her lip. “Yes.” she lied smoothly. Akko nodded and began to tottle off to the house. 

 Diana made sure to watch until Akko had gotten inside safely. For a few more hours, she lingered. Listening to the song of the night, the whisper of the trees, and if she strained to hear it; Akko’s soft breaths. She wished that she could be there to guard Akko’s dreams. Instead, she contented herself with watching from afar. She stayed in the vicinity, devouring dreams from the nearby wildflowers. As she ate, she plucked a few and tucked them into her breast pocket. Akko would find them beautiful, and Diana wanted to share them.

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

 Every day that month, Diana would meet Akko at the glen. She’d tell Akko stories about other ayakashi and youkai. They’d hunt for wildflowers to press, and Akko would offer Diana shiny stones she’d find along the paths. Diana loved spending time with Akko; every day was a gift, with something new to appreciate. The way the cool mountain stream flowed over her feet, the smell of the flowers, the butterflies in the meadows, and the berries on the vine.

 Though Diana said she only ate dreams she had enjoyed sampling the human food Akko had brought. She had tempted Diana with wild berries and Japanese sweets, and Diana had learned she couldn’t say no to Akko’s face.  Diana’s favorite had been the Popsicle Akko had brought from the cabin’s freezer. The icy watermelon flavor had been sweet, yet not overbearing. The color also reminded her of Akko’s eyes. Yet another perk, not that she would admit it to the brunette. 

 All the while, Diana had a sense of foreboding. The summer couldn’t last forever, and Diana didn’t belong in this world. Akko was human, and she couldn’t join Diana in the realm of youkai. She’d either be eaten or pass away all too soon. Diana’s heart throbbed at the thought of Akko being ripped from her through death. Diana couldn’t bear the idea of watching Akko slowly age and wither. Yet there was no way to turn her into a youkai. 

 Besides, Diana was a being filled with power, and Akko was human. Over time, Diana’s aura would cause Akko to sicken and die. She had seen it happen before, with a nogitsune and her human lover. The gentle human had been crushed under the weight of being exposed to the dark kitsune's power after a year. If Diana was to preserve Akko, she would need to stay at a distance. Diana knew what needed to be done. The summer would end how it started, like a dream.

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

 The sun had once again begun to set; Akko had been laying in Diana’s lap playing with her hair. She had been trying to give Diana a small braid, but was failing miserably. Diana knew that Akko had picked up on her anxiety, and that she was hiding something.

 “Akko,” Diana tried to say without her voice cracking “I think you should take a nap.” Akko blinked at Diana and gave a smile. There was uncertainty in her eyes.

 “Okay!” Diana didn't look at Akko’s face as the brunette dropped the small braid she had been working on. Akko settled more comfortably into Diana’s lap. “Hey Diana,” Akko opened one eye and looked at her. “If I ever got the chance to be born again, I’d like to spend more time with you.”

 “I would like that very much too, Akko. So much.” Diana said softly, touching Akko’s face. She leaned over and kissed Akko’s forehead. Then, she cast a spell. 

 Akko had fallen asleep instantly. Diana wasn’t sure whether to be proud that her spell had worked, or distraught. All she had to do now, was wait. Wait for the moment when she would steal Akko’s dream, and memory, of herself. If they had to part, Diana didn’t want Akko to suffer. She was fairly certain that Akko knew what she had planned. The brunette had looked at her with such pity, much like on the second day they had met. Diana had felt it in her gaze, even if she didn't meet eyes with Akko. 

 When Diana saw the golden aura around Akko, she hesitated. Was this what was really best? Did Akko deserve this? Diana took a shaky breath. She was a heartless yokai. It didn’t matter what was best, or what Akko deserved. All that mattered was Diana’s will, and Diana’s will was to be forgotten. Akko deserved to find a normal human lover, and to live a normal life away from yokai and ayakashi. Away from the danger that Diana presented. Diana would fulfill the contract she had made with Akko at the beginning of summer. Steeling her resolve, Diana finally stole Akko’s dream.

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

 Akko walked along the road from school. Ever since the summer she had stayed at her Uncle’s cabin, she had felt empty. Like something was missing, but she didn’t know what. She wanted to chew at something with how frustrated she felt. She should have some gum in her pocket. Jamming her hand roughly into her pocket, Akko felt her hand brush against a wad of cloth. She pulled it out and looked at it. It was a handkerchief, embroidered with lavender. She didn’t know where it had come from, no one in her family used handkerchiefs. It felt so familiar though. 

 She stuffed the handkerchief back into her pocket and kept walking. As she walked, she tried to remember what she had done that summer. All she recalled was running through the mountains with someone. Who that someone was, she didn’t know. Perhaps it was someone from another family at a different campground. Lost in her thoughts, Akko accidentally bumped her shoulder into someone. 

 “I’m so sorry!” She blurted out frantically. The person she had bumped into looked to be someone her age. Blonde hair and a raggedy little braid. Clear blue eyes. A familiar white skirt. The gold pendant she wore made Akko’s heart twist. She looked painfully familiar, like someone from a painful memory she couldn’t recall. “Uh, do I know you?” The stranger smiled and shook her head. With a wave, she walked away. All Akko could do was watch, confused. Something urged her to chase after the stranger. Akko took a deep breath, and in a single moment, she made her choice.

[marshmallowgoop]

So have you watched the other stuff Studio Trigger has made (Little Witch Academia, Darling in the Franxx)? If so, what are your thoughts?

I try to watch Trigger’s original series at least! I got tags for Kiznaiver, Space Patrol Luluco, Little Witch Academia, SSSS. Gridman, and the A-1 Pictures/Trigger collab, DARLING in the FRANXX. For some of these shows, I’ve written about my thoughts fairly extensively:

DARLING in the FRANXX

Goop Watches: DARLING in the FRANXX

Episode 1: Alone and Lonesome, More

Episode 2: What It Means to Connect, More

Episode 3: Fighting Puppet

Episode 4: Flap, Flap, More

Episode 5: Your Thorn, My Badge

Episode 6: DARLING in the FRANXX (Outline Only)

Do You Think DARLING in the FRANXX Will Have Several Tone Shifts?, DARLING in the FRANXX Has a Lot of Heart

Do You Think the FRANXX Will Only Operate with Certain Pistils?

English Simuldub

Ending Thoughts, Thoughts on Endgame Couples, Thoughts on Hir02

Episode 1: “And you weren’t frightened by my horns.”

Episode 3: “The hand she held out and the smile she offered to me alone came at a price.”

Episode 12 Quick Thoughts, Responses

Episode 13: Amazing Piece of Animation

Episode 13: Does Zero Two Recognize Hiro?

Episode 13: Zero Two Biting Hiro (and Hiro’s Response)

Episode 14: Reaction

Episode 14: Thoughts on the Ichigo Hate Train?

Favorite Moment from Kill la Kill and DARLING in the FRANXX?

Human/Non-Human Romance

Third Ending Sequence: Lily Flower Symbolism and Ikuno

Why Watch DARLING in the FRANXX?, Would You Recommend DARLING in the FRANXX?, Would You Recommend DARLING in the FRANXX and Kill la Kill to Someone Who Dislikes Fanservice?

X Symbolism

Zero Two: Manic Pixie Dream Girl?

Kiznaiver

Flower Symbolism in Kiznaiver’s Ending Sequence, Revised

Kiznaiver Episodes 1 and 2: Thoughts and Impressions

What is Kiznaiver About, Exactly?

SSSS. Gridman

AX Premiere Thoughts

Space Patrol Luluco

Episode 7

Space Patrol Luluco and Kill la Kill Crossover Idea

Space Patrol Luluco’s Finale vs. Kill la Kill’s Finale ☂

Buuuut I know that’s a lot, so:

tl;dr?

Inferno Cop: Okay, I admit it. YouTube-Poop-styled humor is ridiculously amusing to me. (I once did a whole final project in college about YouTube Poop. Yes, really.) 

And the horrible cut-out animation will never fail to make me crack up. Inferno Cop is truly a masterpiece.

Space Patrol Luluco: Hey, I actually finally picked this one up at Comic Con about a month ago! While I wasn’t expecting to enjoy Luluco much, I think it’s actually my second-favorite Studio Trigger series after Kill la Kill. It’s just really cute and silly and fun. As I realized in excruciating detail at a Comic Con panel I went to, most anime humor honestly doesn’t do much for me, but when the panelists showed a clip from Luluco? That got me smiling. Things can get mean-spirited at times (which isn’t my cup of tea), but overall, I think Luluco has some real heart. And it’s adorable.

Kiznaiver: Oh, I was so excited to love this show! I was lucky enough to see an advanced screening of the first two episodes, and I was totally hooked. It was drop-dead gorgeous—and probably the prettiest series Trigger has ever put out—and I was very intrigued by the plot and characters. I remember just coming back to my hotel room at like 3:00 am after the premiere, utterly filled with excitement. I mean, Kiznaiver was directed by Hiroshi Kobayashi, the episode director behind the two episodes that got me hooked on Kill la Kill (episodes 5 and 18)!

But… my excitement quickly died. The story tried to develop way too many characters in way too little time, and I never enjoyed the romantic pairing of Katsuhira and Noriko, finding it shallow, undeveloped, and nonsensical (in a bad way), which… kind of ruins a lot of the series when that’s arguably the heart of the whole thing.

Kiznaiver is still super, super pretty, though. That last episode’s animation got me shook.

Little Witch Academia: I wish I loved this one more than I do. I really, really admire Yoh Yoshinari as an artist and director, and I know LWA is totally his baby, and the animation in both the series and shorts is so good, and I don’t know if I’ve ever related to any character ever as much as I relate to Akko Kagari, but… I just… don’t really have any strong feelings one way or another about the work on a whole.

Maybe my issue is that Little Witch Academia comes off as rather meandering to me. I’ve always felt (perhaps very wrongly!) that the focal point of the story is the relationship between Akko and Ursula/Chariot, but there’s just… so much else going on. 

I can relate, though. One of my babies is the first novel I ever wrote and completed back when I was 13. There are so many ideas I have for the story, and I’ve tried to stuff everything into my drafts. But you end up with an unfocused narrative without a solid core when you do that, and I sadly feel that that’s what happened with Little Witch Academia. There’s a lot of good stuff, but it’s just too much for one story!

I will say that I enjoyed both OVAs more than the series, though, and the first OVA is my favorite.

DARLING in the FRANXX: Oh, DARLING in the FRANXX. While I definitely had the obvious problems with this show when it started, the promise of a legitimate human/non-human romance was more than enough for me to keep watching anyway.

But after episode 15… everything fell apart. The romance I was there for became boring and bland, with the leads nauseatingly reiterating how in love they were instead of actually talking to each other or dealing with any of their problems. So much potential character depth got swept under the rug, and to make matters worse, the world building revealed itself to be even more ludicrous than imagined, there were some absolutely bizarre and potentially very hurtful messages about love and sexuality that I can’t even begin to make sense of, and the less I say about the ending, the better.

Of course, a poor conclusion doesn’t always spoil what I did like about a work; I still obviously adore Kill la Kill even though I despise the finale and the OVA legitimately makes me feel ill. But DARLING in the FRANXX is one of those stories where my disappointment is so great that I kind of… don’t even want anything to do with it anymore. The stuff I had loved is soured by how everything ended up.

I still have some great DARLING content in my queue that I definitely intend to post because it’s not the fault of any fan that the final product came out so lackluster. But I’m personally just pretty done with this one.

If there’s anything I’ve learned from DARLING in the FRANXX, though, it’s that I probably should hold off on buying merchandise until I’m sure I actually really like the thing. I certainly didn’t spend anywhere near as much on this show as I have for Kill la Kill, but I still dropped a fair amount on stuff that’s kind of wasted on me.

Live and learn…. 

SSSS. Gridman: I got the chance to see the premiere of the first episode at Anime Expo last year, but I unfortunately can’t say I was all too fond of what I saw. I’m slow to warm up to comedies, and while I love cliches and the series definitely acknowledges and has fun with its cliches, the characters didn’t stand out enough for me to find the cliches particularly endearing.

Also, there’s absolutely no deep or meaningful reason behind it or anything, but I do not like what I’ve seen about Akane. That kind of character archetype annoys the crap out of me.

But Gridman is really neat from a directorial and compositional point of view; I really liked, for example, how there weren’t just a bunch of boring shot-reverse-shot conversations, but conversations that spent time focusing on the backgrounds and scenery and environment instead. I also feel like I’ll really, really enjoy Gridman if I actually watch it past episode 1, but… I’m bad at doing things.

I think when I do watch it, though, I’ll do a livebloggy sort of deal?

Others: I haven’t seen anything else from the studio (unless you’re counting stuff animators from Trigger have worked on, like Takafumi Hori’s contribution to Steven Universe, which are always excellent, expressive, beautiful animations), but I’m moderately excited for the upcoming Promare. The fact that it’s apparently a family-friendly film has got my interest.

And I got a kool Promare sticker already from Kumoricon last year, too!

[miraimisu]

Closed Books & Money Bags

Rating: T+

This is my gift for @travia-shima​ as her Secret Santa! /santa laughs, merry christmas sweetie, sorry for the delay! I had actually planned myself so I could post this on Christmas, the 25th, but well.

I wanted to make this as best as possible but exams and life got in the way, I wish I had had more time so you got the work you deserved. You are an amazing friend and bean, I love you very much Travz. I hope you enjoy this and take this as a thanks for your help through these rough weeks. I love you <3 Also this was my first student/teacher AU i hope you can forgive me if it’s not what you wanted bless you ily

There was a cute guy on the queue.

 Uraraka was never one to go around spotting people. In fact, she was was more preserved than she once used to be, and she definitely wasn’t breaking character for that guy. Not that guy. Absolutely not. His hair was golden, his eyes somewhat blistering and audacious, his mouth curved into a grimace of displeasure when the waitress didn’t dare apply the proper amount of cream to his black, bitter coffee. Yeah, he somehow seemed like a black coffee type of guy and clearly Uraraka wasn’t staring at him.

 Not at all.

 Except that she was and she wanted to bang her head against the table.

 When was the last time she has lusted over a guy this badly? Judging by his appearance, he was not her type— scratch that, any guy with those arms was clearly her type but… when had she been so struck by a guy’s eyes so badly? Was it because hers were so classically brown? Was it because he seemed to give light to the dim cafeteria with his colorful speech? Somehow, he seemed so out of the ordinary he was… shining.

 Her chin rested on her palm, slipped, and headbutted the table loudly, being met with a tap from her friend. “Everything alright? You kinda spaced out a lil’ there, girl.”

 Uraraka craned her head to look at her friend, pouting as Mina flashed a teasing smile in her direction. “Whatever you are thinking, is wrong.”

 “Right.” Mina sighed contently, leaning back into her chair with a smile. One of her eyes opened a little to glance in the man’s direction. “It’s not my fault you are drooling over… is it the redhead? he’s kinda cute!”

 “For starters, I don’t drool, I was just—” her eyes peek over to the queue, where he is still scowling at the waitress. He must have had a rough day. “I was just trying to see if I spotted the others among the crowd. Nothing sinful like you are suggesting— stop it with that look!”

 “He is kinda hot, though.” Uraraka crossed her arms and looked down, ashamed and beet red as her friend shamelessly looked at the queue. It wouldn’t take her long to see him. “I got a knack for red, you know.”

 “It’s not…” she was going to deny everything, just hope to die of humiliation if Mina dared look too close into the case, but then just gave up. “It’s not the redhead one… it’s the blonde guy.”

 “Huh? what— oh.” Mina remained silent for the next minute, and Uraraka didn’t know what to make out of her mute observation. Then, the pink-headed girl spoke again. “His hair is a wreck.” The other almost choked on her coffee. “Are you kidding me!? Is that all you got to say about him?”

While the girl coughed some, the other looked at the blonde boy with a pensive gaze. “He is cute. Not my type, but I can understand anyone who digs that appeal.” her eyes trailed to her friend again. “Why don’t you go talk to him?”

 Uraraka’s eyes widened like saucers at the almost indecent proposal. In the way Mina put it, talk meant a lot more than just talk. “I cannot go over there like nothing and talk to him! Also, have you seen how angry he is over there? He will see me as an annoying brat!”

 Mina looked over her and sighed, and Uraraka already knew what she was thinking because she always pulled the same thing. Uraraka was a shy being by nature, used to gentle things and pastel colors, like some kind of princess that she insisted on not being, but all guys had treated her like one. She enjoyed being treated like a princess, who didn’t? But she was tired of being mistaken for a simple, little and cute girl when she thought she could be so much more.

 Perhaps that was why that man’s presence was so intriguing and fascinating to her. She hadn’t even gotten to know him and something within her told her he was just different. Something in the way he didn’t straightaway solve his disputes with punches and decided to just scowl, sulk and spit some insults at whoever brushed by was… interesting. Her eyes rolled over his figure a little before he barked something else at the waiter (the previous waitress had run away in fear) and dissolved into the crowd.

 Her eyes tried to follow him, but she couldn’t, and thus her expression shifted into one of boredom as she looked at her, again, teasing friend. “You never let up, do you?”

Turns out, Uraraka did end up meeting the mysterious man again— but not in the way she wished for. And trust her… she wanted to take back her words.

 Just a second after she had sat on her chair, the blonde man came barging through the door — literally, he kicked it open with a fearsome grimace as if it was a pitiful foe — and tossed his papers on the desk before her, jumping on her chair as the man hopped to the table and sat on it, peering over his classroom in a weird mixture of boredom and annoyance. She couldn’t tell if his eyes were always that blistering, but all she knew was that the angry spark hadn’t faded ever since he left the cafeteria.

 Maybe it hadn’t faded ever since he was born and the thought scared her somewhat, yet she listened to his words carefully. For what she could tell with a sole glance, he didn’t look much older than her, and was probably going to use that minimal age difference against her. Still, she looked up despite his intimidating glare.

 Probably a child genius who had gotten the job beforehand, too young to teach. Great.

 “Nerds, I’m not gonna explain this shit twice, so you better take notes or you are rotten meat.” he was almost barking at them, yet she felt that dreadful thrill of both intimidation and expectation run through her, urging her to jot all down quickly. “No need to give me your names, I ain’t gonna remember them anyway.”

 His name was Bakugou Katsuki and he was a jerk, she could tell from the first moment he walked into the class, but the way he handled himself and his words only made it more blaring. He was constantly moving, constantly looking around and snapping at the littlest of interruptions. Despite all that, he seemed to be rather lax on exams and assignments for what he had shown them, and unlike some teachers she had the disgrace to meet, he did seem passionate about what he would be teaching, yet his manners weren’t those of a lecturer-

 It sometimes made her wonder why he was even there. In that silent ponderation, Bakugou caught her staring and slammed a hand to her table. “What’s the problem, roundface? Like what you see?”

 Her cheeks turned pinkish the moment she snapped out of it, and shook her head, probably much to his dismay because he sounded like the greatest egomaniacs of the planet. Still, he did have a good body behind that black jacket of his, she could tell. Judging by the swooning gazes some other of her peers were throwing at him, she wasn’t the only one to notice— but he didn’t seem to give a crap about that.

 When she finally got over that first impression, she started seeing things she lwas surprised with— not because they made him even worse, but because they were things she didn’t see in people all the time and… she was a curious girl. There was this moment when one of his papers slipped and fell that he cursed loudly, yet collected it with care and dusted it off. Maybe he wasn’t as careless as she thought and… actually cared more than he let on. And the way he spoke was kind of collected as well, assertive and to the point— he knew his stuff.

 He was a strange, uncanny man. Uraraka didn’t care about that, but actually felt excited to have more classes with him later on. She wanted to know this man.

 So, when the lecture, presentation or whatever it was ended, after he threatened them all to punish them with lesson if they didn’t get the shit out of there, Uraraka slowly packed her things to let everyone get out of the classroom, and walked to the unsuspecting man slowly. “Hey, uhm…”

 He almost choked with his own air when she tried to greet him. What a man of words. “What the fuck? You gave me a damn scare there, roundface!”

 At his outburst, Uraraka felt the urge to scurry away, yet didn’t. He didn’t seem that annoyed with her presence, if only burdened by whatever she would have to say next. The brunette sighed with a clumsy smile. “I just wanted to apologize for earlier! I didn’t mean to stare at you, I was just thinking about stuff and—”

 “First, stop fucking fidgeting, this ain’t high school.” at that, she stilled in her place. “Second, what the hell you apologizing for? I had already forgotten about it.”

 She felt stupid. Maybe ashamed, even. Her hands came up to fiddle with her hair as he started packing things again, only glancing back at her once or twice. “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable in your first day… That’s what I’m apologizing for.”

 Bakugou zipped his hand suitcase — why did everyone have those? — and placed it on his chair before looking at her with a pensive, yet clearly piercing glare. It was as if he was hesitating between beheading her or poisoning her, teeth gritted and he would probably start barking for all she cared— she just wanted to make nice for being a freak earlier. While she withstood his knit eyebrows and fangs, her eyes settled for just a outcome for the situation.

 Seeing she wouldn’t let go of such silly issue, he sighed, and dismissed her with a wave of his hand. It was as if he was treating her like a child and she wasn’t going to let him get away with that. “I don’t give a crap about earlier, just make yourself useful and let me go home already.”

 Uraraka hadn’t noticed that she was actually annoying him, not only personality-wise, but also because he was losing his time with her, wasting it when wh knows? perhaps he had to take a train or something. “Ah! I’m sorry for—!”

 He swung his suitcase to his hand and looked at her from the corner of his eyes, not even turning to look at her. He mumbled his next words. “Stop apologizing already.” her mouth clamped shut, watching him turn heel to walk to the exit of the classroom, leaving her in a golden room full of sunset beams. “See ya.”

 Her cheeks puffed, determined to be in good terms with him even if it costed her her sanity. But man, wasn’t he a damn jerk…

Bakugou hated life sometimes.

 Just as he stared at the big screen at the entrance of the station, he realized he was fucked. He let out a deep sigh, a grimace painting his expression in the dim light of the cold station as he saw the blatant news. His train wouldn’t be arriving anytime soon due to bad weather and he just hated life sometimes.

 So he decided to make something out of it, and turned heel in direction to the center of the town. He would probably stay around a bar or some shit until he wanted to get a hotel, but knew he couldn’t delay it much more or else he’d end up being late for his meeting with the docent staff the following day. Needless to say, Bakugou was kind of screwed, but he couldn’t dwell much into it without wanting to punch something and, if possible, somebody.

 One thought teaching would appease his violent vibe, well they were dead wrong. If anything, it makes him more stressed, ergo, more prone to violent sprouts.

He kicked the door to the bar open, letting the winter mist roll into the place with a puff of air into his red scarf. He tugged it a bit off, the change of temperatures creeping through his skin and starting to make his hands kind of sweaty. His grumpy steps echoed as he stomped to a stool on the bar, sitting down with a gruff and leaning onto the wooden surface. He ran a hand through his golden locks, breathing heavily as a clock hitting late hours greeted his scarlet glare.

 He tugged on his scarf a bit further. He wasn’t that used to going to bars, preferring quieter places where no one would bother him— but hell, it had been a while since he had a drink, and after a first week of classes, he needed something to get stress off. With such fucked up weather, no jogging would do, neither would walking around. And he couldn’t get home, and he couldn’t help but frown because he needed his bed real quick.

 He wasn’t even that old, for fuck’s sake, why was he so tired? He had graduated last year, teaching now a class that was barely two years behind him. An interesting class, he couldn’t lie, but… so fucking tiring. He had better places to be yet his mind had somehow dragged him to that damned university.

 A bartender came to see him, a question lingering in his eyes he knew very well. “Hibiki whiskey.” his voice was hoarse and somewhat urgent, because while he never drank in favor of a good health — he was damn healthy, he could swear his name on that — but his parents, work and just damn paperwork were getting the worst of him. He waved him away and focused on the clock on the wall. He could take out his phone and search for some stuff, but he had ran out of battery a long time ago.

 Jesus fucking christ could this day get any worse?

 He heard the door open a crack and heard it close again slowly, and light feet tapping behind his stool until they pulled a chair out and sat by him, and he could recognize that damn cologne everywhere now, having had her swarming his ass to ‘make nice for what happened the other day’.

 He glared at her pointedly. Of course it was fucking her, of all people. His night could indeed get worse. “What the hell’re you doing here so late, roundface?”

 At the sound of his voice, Uraraka turned, the sound of her anorak shuffling in the rattle of the bar. Upon seeing him, her cheeks turned scarlet and her hands trembled a little, confused to see him out of all people, there. “Oh, Bakugo—”

 “Tch.” the bartender dropped by and swung the glass to his hand, the ice clanking against the glass as Bakugou threw a nasty glare at his student. “Don’t fucking talk or else.”

 Her hands slanted on her thighs, she looked down as the bartender looked at both with an amused look in his eyes, one replaced with question as Uraraka raised her head afterwards. “The usual, please.”

 The usual? His shoulders perked up as he scanned her figure, her little button nose, and the innocent shine to her eyes as an appeased smile appeared to grace her features. Yeah, she was damn cute, he couldn’t deny it, but she was a damn pain. He didn’t do that sparkly shit she seemed to carry with her. Never did, never will.

 Sighing, he took a sip of his glass.

 “So, what are you doing here?”

 And almost choked.

 Bakugou slammed the glass on the counter and looked at her with a severe frown. “Oi, shouldn’t I be fucking asking you that? Shouldn’t you be studying or some shit?”

 The roasty smell of coffee wafted under their noses, making them breathe sharply, and Uraraka frowned a little with a mean pout. “I hope you don’t think I spend my nights studying. I have other stuff to take care of. Besides, I live nearby.” she grabbed a little packet of sugar. “I’m here rather often. And I had never seen you here. That’s why I’m asking.”

 She made a good point there, and when her coffee finally came and she sipped on it in silence, it seemed like she wasn’t going to wait for him to answer, it probably didn’t matter to her. But she had asked, so he’d at least make a good excuse to explain why he was there. Not like he gave a shit about what she, of all people thought, but she was still a student. And he was a teacher.

 He took another long sip. “I needed some air.” which was true— misleading, but true. And she seemed to believe it, nodding to herself and humming as the coffee drowned her inner stress away. It had been a rather busy night handling stuff at home, she also needed the air.

 Her eyes trailed from his pale hand to his pale throat, then to his eyes, mesmerized by how red and burning they were. It was so amazing to have such… interesting man at her disclosure as a teacher. “You look pissed.”

 His lips were drawn into a sardonic smile, looking at her with a laugh pulling at his heartstrings. “What a damn Sherlock.” muttered he, making the ice cubes dance in the glass. “I got stuff on my mind, none of your fucking business.”

 Uraraka arched an eyebrow at him, making his own eyes widen at how bold this skank could be. Hell, most people would have already taken the hint and left, mostly cursing after his existence or dedicating him a soundful glare at his neck— but all she did was stay in silence, sometimes lie her eyes on him as he lay his on her, but that was it mostly.

 Until she decided to speak and he knew she wasn’t going to give up. He sighed loudly. “Are you always so rude?”

 “Are you always so damn nosy?”

 At this, her mouth frowned into a tight line as she scooted her coffee closer, letting the steam hit her skin. There was a mildly sweet aroma lingering around them as the hard whiskey and the soft foamy coffee melted into the other, his hard eyes staring at those hands he saw scribble daily with such diligence and skill. He had seen her grades this far — not because he was interested, hell no, but just because he wanted to know what students he had — and frankly, he was surprised to see such little girl handle so many side-classes and her career so balancedly.

 At this, he eyed a little scar o the bridge of her thumb and index, musing over how fresh it was. “So, martial-combat, huh?”

 Uraraka jumped on her seat to look at her teacher, shock swimming in her eyes. “How did—?”

 He made the chips dance in his grasp. “I am your goddamn teacher, did you think I wouldn’t look over your expedients? Above all being in front of a top tier class like yours.”

 She didn’t know how to take that because the cold stare he threw her at the end made her want to scurry out the door. Frankly, he was quite the dick, but this was her place and she refused to move out of his space when this was hers in the first place. She pouted at him. “Well, yeah. I enjoy fighting some.” judging by how incredulous his eyes were, despite being the one to actually bring up the topic, he wasn’t believing her. “Hey, I know some tricks!”

 His brows knit down in disdain, grimacing at her overly sensitive demeanor. “Stop fretting about it. Are you gonna make such a big deal out of whatever I say?” he cautiously shook his head and took a sip of his glass as she took one of hers. “No wonder you’re a fucking good student.”

 Uraraka coughed some of her hot coffee out, only for him to realize the fatal mistake he had done at complimenting her. But instead of getting the over the top reaction he had expected, she only brushed some bangs aside and smiled cheekily. How old was she again? “Well, it’s good to get a green light from such a strict teacher, thanks.”

 He blinked at her in silence as she kept to herself and set her mug on the table with an enigmatic hum of her voice. Now, she was kind of mysterious. Looking at the small scar on her hand again, so recklessly near a scorching hot beverage, he felt the urge to know more, which he drowned out with a hard chug on his glass. This was going to be a long night. “Another shot.”

 Uraraka’s ears twitched as he ordered again, looking at him in wonder. Turns out he wasn’t going to move any time soon— he was in her territory to stay. When he felt her blatant stare on him, his eyes tilted to meet hers as she rushed to look at the display of bottles behind the bar. “Oi, what’s your goddamn problem with staring at people?”

 “A-Ah!” the mug danced on her hands as she went to pick it up again, and drew strength from it’s steamy liquid. She put it on her lips. “I was just wondering… you don’t really seem like a hard drinker.”

 “What’s with this fucking bluntness you got going on, huh?

 Uraraka narrowed her eyes, unfazed and blunt again. “Do you want me to call you Bakugou-sama or something?” when he only kept his eyes on her, not speaking a word, she thought he had taking her seriously. “God, you don’t really seem to be exactly humble.”

 It was a second later when Uraraka actually remembered that this man, this rude man, was actually her teacher, the man who would be grading her exams and assignments for at least a year, who would be giving her classes and somebody she would have to live with despite her not wanting to. Seriously, he was such a good-looking man, but his personality didn’t even it all out. Regardless, she had gone over the limit, and there was this strange tension in the noisy air that proved this further.

 After letting her cup sit on the small plate under it, she sighed and looked at him in embarrassment. “I’m-”

 “I got many damn reasons to be proud of and hoist myself like a damn flag. Don’t go around telling me how I should behave.” it felt like a cut to make her feel awkward, but it was pretty much the opposite, what he did. When he looked back at her to take in her destroyed image, all he found was a soft smile. “What the fuck!”

 She closed her eyes. “I just wonder… you are not much older than me. How intelligent must you be to be teaching so soon in your life?” he held her glance, impatient but interested on being complimented. Kind of. “And don’t get me wrong, but you seem to enjoy the subject, but teaching? Not that much. Why are you here?”

 As if that wasn’t the damn question of the year. Still, he drank some whiskey and contemplated answering her, only to end up deciding against it. “I am intelligent, thank you very much.” somehow, the thought of somebody so… weird like her giving him credit for his traits seemed appealing. He was probably too intoxicated at this point to even notice. Too long since he had had a drink. “It’s a humble profession for an egomaniac, like you put it.”

 That was not an answer. If anything, it seemed like a way to rub on her face that she had judged him. Not gonna say if she was right or wrong. It made her sigh impatiently. “Yeah, I get the point.”

 After that, Uraraka simply gave up, almost bored at how incredibly tiring this man was to handle. She was almost regretting having fawned over him so hard the first day. Now, looking at him from a closer distance, he wasn’t even that attractive— screw it, he was. His hands were elegant, his skin pale and his hair completely messy like a bouquet of fresh lilies and sunflowers. Some days, when the sun filtered through the windows hard enough, his spikes made beautiful reflections.

 Not like she drooled over it or anything. It was just… some kind of hinder that wouldn’t let her go of how magnetic he was in class, and how interesting he was and spoke about things. In such detailed inspection, he looked like an ass, but something told her he was way more than just a rude teacher. She just hoped she was right.

 There was a moment when the clock hit midnight, and Uraraka found herself staring at her steamy mug of coffee, unraveled, aware of the fact that her curiosity for this man had forced her to go through several rounds of coffee, thus rendering her future night restless. But still, eyeing at how uneasy he seemed despite how long he had been there, questions started rising up again.

 Maybe it was time to ask again. Maybe it wasn’t. She certainly hoped he wasn’t this worked up because he minded her presence. “Seriously, what are you doing here?”

 He started tapping his fingers against the wooden bar, and looked away into the clock on the wall, above some shelves full of old fashioned bottles, one of which his beverage had surely come from. His eyebrow twitched as he felt her stare on his neck, never leaving his tousled hair or the bead of sweat that ran down his neck. It was infuriating. But the small swell to his ego as she stared at him had never felt this interesting before.

 But it was over soon, and Uraraka sighed in annoyance and regret. She probably had spent too much time there, trying to bond uselessly. She had to leave. “Well, I tried, I guess.” her tone had a hint of disappointment he hadn’t heard ever. And trust him, he had heard her speak a lot over his hoarse lectures and furious rambles. “You do you, I guess.”

 Uraraka planted her hands on the bar and hopped off the stool, dropping some money on the counter before sighing again with a foreign look of distraughtness in her eyes he could tell right off the bat from the corner of his crimson eyes. Why did this perky student mind him so much and why in hell did she wanna be friends with a teacher like him, of all people? He was a lone wolf, he didn’t need fucking friends, above all not a student, of all people. What was she even thinking?

 However, when she turned heel and stepped away, he grunted with a frown and let the slight effect of the alcohol waft over his system, blurring the lines of what was right in his set-on-stone morals.

 Uraraka halted her steps at that. She swore she had heard something from him, yet didn’t hear correctly as he was, most probably, talking to his neck as he usually did when he said things he didn’t want to say. She had seen him put this in practice many times during spare classes, when he was tired or just wanting to murder anyone. She craned her head to look at him from her shoulder. “Come again?”

 Bakugou grit his teeth. “I lost my fucking ride home, okay?” hadn’t it been for the slow jazz floating around them and he would have screamed louder. He only fisted his fingers, too tired to fight it back now. The doe of her pretty eyes was too mesmerizing for his liking and he wanted to smack himself for being so vulnerable and being affected by a little girl. “I got late to the station and my train had already left. There. Are you f-”

 “So you got nowhere to sleep? Is that why you are here?”

 He slammed his glass on the counter, pointing a finger to her as she walked to his side once more as a thread of courses fell off his mouth. “I swear to fucking god! Isn’t that obvious by now? And don’t give me that fucking look.” he turned away from it, because despite how beautiful it was, she was throwing so much pity at him he wanted to gag. He knew she was the kind of girl to do stuff too kindly, but this was too much for him. “Disgusting.”

 She pouted stubbornly and stomped to the stool beside him, dragging it so their knees were touching in a gesture all too private for the teacher. He had to remind himself over and over that being this close to a student so pretty like her, with a cup of whiskey on his hand was wrong in many levels… yet he felt just as drawn to her like she seemed to him, somehow. He wondered how much he could take from her before she left, eventually.

 “Don’t be so mean… I am not laughing at you or anything.” her elbows banged the counter as she stared at him, curious. His blistering gaze dropped on her like a blanket, smoothly, and it was ever so magnificent. So pleasing. He was pleasing. She tilted her head to a side. “So you’ve been here just… spending your free time?”

 His brow twitched, for she wasn’t wrong. He had been trying to distract himself with something to only find himself in a bigger mess than before — that mess being her. “Yeah. Not my favourite hobbies as I fucking rarely drink but… whatever. I don’t need to give you explanations.”

 He told himself to stop talking but she was being so invasive and he was too tired to think straight anymore. He needed to get out of there. A hand of hers dipped into one of the pockets of her sweater, and he heard the tingling of something he recognized as keys, and she smiled brightly— No.

 “No.”

 Her eyes escalated his neck to meet his eyes, and leant in expectantly. “Yes! Think about it—”

 “No because this is fucking wrong, angel face. Get off my hair already.” but he knew there was no way a kind soul like hers would let a stray acquaintance roam around the rainy streets without aim, nor was he really in the mood to pay for a hotel. “I’ll sort this out myself. Stop fretting over my shit and stop giving me that look—”

 She leaned a bit closer, knowing he wouldn’t pull away as long as she had control and knowing he had no other option than hers. “It would be just for a night! We don’t have to sleep tog- in the same bed or anything! It’s just sharing a ceiling. Nothing preposterous about that.”

 Maybe the concept had sounded bad at first but… sharing a ceiling sounded much more comfortable and spacey than it had looked like at first. And how much money did he have left? Those drinks he had gotten were damn expensive, no wonder his wallet felt so thin now. He sighed impatiently, too sleepy and hungry to care about it. “You are my student.”

 “And you are my teacher! I’m helping you out!”

 Bakugou briskly got up from his stool and slammed a bunch of coins on the counter, only stopping to look at her dead in the eye for a split second. Then, he dug his hands into his trench coat’s pockets and grunted a curt but rude “Move your ass.” before he kicked the door open, and heard Uraraka following with skipped steps before walking into the rain.

He barely remembered anything from the day before and it was eating him alive.

 He had woken up in a bed that wasn’t his, he was sure of that. Beige walls, pink streaks on a window and unfamiliar sun streaming from the window, hitting on his stabbed eyes as he picked up the smell of forest detergent wafting in the sheets draped on his body. He had palmed the bed in search for anything resembling his bleak yet fierce apartment and decor, but all he received was a painful reminder that he had given in to the kind wishes of his student.

 He had crashed real bad judging by how he was still on his shoes, how he had barely bothered to remove his coat. He could bravely guess she had been the one to cover him, and as he had discovered while tiptoeing out of the apartment, she had given up her bed as well. Her body was curled on a corner of the couch, books of his very own subject among others laying on the table — was it this important that she had read his books? a part of him considered the thought — and her head was slouched on the armrest of the sofa.

 He didn’t consider her much, he truly didn’t want to consider her much, so he left as soon as he saw it fit. Picked his own things from the entrance, glanced over her with a scoff at the excess in her kindness, and vowed to himself that he would never ever mention this to anyone.

 But the lapse between him entering her building and him waking up remained blank despite how much he glared at her as she did the homework he had put on his class — because he, of course, didn’t do this to specifically punish her for making him do something this regrettable. Letting his guard down, be vulnerable to no other than such a cheery, social and pretty student like her. And the fact that he couldn’t remember much from the day before was killing him.

 Had she taken him in because she saw how vulnerable he was to alcohol? Was it pity because he had nowhere to sleep for the night? Who knows. While grading exams as they did their own tasks, Bakugou briefly considered his student with a quick glance. By the crouch to her posture and the slight dull to her eyes, that couch wasn’t very comfortable to sleep on — her back must be sore and her brain, tired. That much he could tell, at least. And he wanted to laugh at his own uncanny attention on somebody other than himself, but a part of him wanted to be charmed by her sweet gesture.

 No fiber of him could see this as anything else other than either a offense to his strength or just her being stupid. Knowing how high she seemed to regard him whenever they interacted, he could tell it was the latter and Bakugou just didn’t know what he had done to deserve this pain in the ass. Why was she so fucking hellbent on being so generous when he hadn’t asked for this? He absolutely didn’t deserve being weak for whatever was her business.

 He didn’t care.

 “Uraraka,” the brunette snapped from her homework to look at her side as Bakugou went back to his task, and looked at her friend as she spoke in a hushed tone. “are you feeling alright? You are practically limping on the sheet.”

 At this, the girl immediately straightened her posture and laughed it off like probably everyone knew she would do. Some people like her friend Midoriya turned to look at her after Mina’s question, worried for a moment. “Ah, I’m fine.” her eyes drifted to her teacher for a moment, then she sighed. She shouldn’t have expected much from last night, yet she found herself to be disappointed at their remaining distance. “I just didn’t sleep much last night.”

 She heard a snapping noise coming from Bakugou’s direction, probably another broken pencil. He did that an awful lot lately. “You gotta take better care of yourself. I don’t want you going around like a zombie next time we go out!”

 “Which will probably be never considering the amount of work we have.”

 Mina rolled her eyes at Uraraka’s pointed look of exasperation, and focused on her work again. “Whatever. Just sleep properly for once.”

 Uraraka stuck out her tongue, and remained in a good posture for a minute before slumping over again, her writing becoming scribbled as minutes passed, the clock ticked, and before she could register it, everyone was gone and a hand slammed the desk around her, snapping her out of her awake sleep to look at the burning glare of her teacher.

 “I fucking hope you got somebody to take notes for you or else you are gonna fail the next exam.” she blinked at him, trying to focus as her back throbbed on the chair behind her. Uraraka tried to stretch it to make it feel better, aware of the fact that he knew what she was going through, but it only made it wince and bend over in pain. He crossed his arms. “Tch. I fucking told you I didn’t need your damn help. What the hell was this for?”

 Uraraka, seeing where his words were going, stood up to get her stuff, stiff as a plank to not overwork her back. Bakugou just observed her. “You needed my help for something. I just gave you a bed to sleep on. I can’t say you’d do the same, but…” she hung her backpack over her shoulder, offering him a smile. “I’m sure you are thankful for that, deep inside your frozen cold heart. Besides, it’s not like I would have been able to sleep knowing you were out there.”

 He seriously pondered the thought of telling her off for being such a damn dumbass, yet bit his words back like she should have. That girl was too fucking blunt and he didn’t know what to make of it, other than look away with a bashful expression. “Just don’t fucking go around thinking I’m a damn wimp or that I need your shitty help. I didn’t ask for it.”

 Why did he even care, again? He could see that very same question cross her eyes as she looked to a side for a moment, then looked up again with a reformed set of eyes charged with determination and unmovable kindness. The unstoppable force of her eyes and beautiful heart met the unmovable object of his stronghold heart.

 And then, something beautiful happened.

 “I don’t care what you say. I know you needed a bed, and I gave it to you. I don’t care you are my teacher, you were a person in need. We are not reduced to what we are in this university.” his eyes widened, a window slamming open to sway their hair along with the wind. “Just accept the gesture and do whatever you want with it.” with a frown to gather strength, she walked past his motionless towering posture. “I don’t care.”

 Her hand grabbed the handle to leave the room.

 “Say,” his voice came out gruff, and his expression was unreadable when he turned to look at her back facing him. Her hand gripped the handle harder. “do you still like coffee? I fucking need some explanations and you need to ginger up real bad.”

 “That’s…” her eyes looked over at him packing his stuff, and she was sure he had taken her answer for granted. What a fucking jerk. “a good idea.”

 But she accepted anyway, and boundless and free, accepted his request.

They sat down to coffee and cookies, but Uraraka felt like she was facing a final grudge.

 Sun filtered from the window as people passed past them on the street, making her aware of how thin his skin was, the paleness of it, and how thick his spirit was to fluster her so, making her shrink on her seat with her hands on her lap, looking down as the sounds of conflagration between people and mugs crashing met her ears— and suddenly, she was looking at his fierce glare again.

 “You are seriously spacing out today. I fucking hope you don’t show this demeanor in my class.”

 Great. The situation wasn’t weird enough, he had to make it worse. She looked at him with puffed cheeks, and took her mug of hot coffee. “You were the one who missed a train yesterday. Be on time next time.”

 He grunted at her, getting his own half-empty mug to sip from it. He needed the patience to deal with this. Bakugou didn’t usually go out of his way to thank someone like this, but no one had ever done something like this for him either. The whole situation was surreal and foreign to him, and he truly didn’t know what to do with his new information, or how she seemed to be smiling all the damn time.

 He was damn sure he could push her into an abyss and she’d manage to glitch back to his side, just in the same way that she thought there would never be a simple complacent smile on his handsome features. They were both possible realities, yet so intangible and complicated they could only wish it would happen once, someday.

 Man, how could their wishes be so different? She could see the burden she represented in his eyes, blatantly red and just too red, reminding her of blood and for a moment, she wondered if he had ever had blood splattered on his hands. Then, he spoke up. “You sure are sassy out of class.”

 Uraraka lay her cheek on her palm, stirring the creamy beverage without losing sight of his eyes. “I gotta be a bit more respectful to my sensei in the classroom, otherwise I guess I’d sound too familiar.” a hesitant grimace crossed his face. “Which we aren’t, are we?”

 “Of course fucking not.”

 Of course damn yes. And both knew it, that they were somehow closer — just a little, but that was enough — than they would wish, for good and for worse. He hated being so drawn to her when all she brought along was a headache. He needed to get this over with so they wouldn’t cross paths ever again— at least, out of the classroom.

 Her lips curled into a grin. “Then we are good.” Uraraka took a sip from her now half-full coffee, her nails grazing the china mug. “I’m sorry you felt somewhat indebted to make it up to me because I have a very weak back—”

 The blonde slammed a hand on the table, frowning at her. “I wasn’t fucking worried!” some people turned to look at him, preoccupied by the little girl’s sake if he was so near her. “I am just trying to be a bit nice. As you said, you gave me a bed— and I ain’t the jerk you take me for.”

 She ignored this and stirred her beverage again, grimacing a little because she was, again being a little too overbearing. “But thanks for this. It shows you have a bit of a heart, too.”

 He observed how the shadows of the passing people blended with her eyes, yet she seemed unfazed, like with the rest of the world. Their bizarre relationship didn’t burden her, nor did his heavy personality, or how fast they had seemed to crash into the other and grow this annoyingly close. A meeting, an earful, the sparkle of her eyes, her kindness meeting his animal manners and there she went, destroying his peaceful routine and paying for her coffee.

 This was stupid.

 As she kept her silence, Bakugou looked at her open bag — he couldn’t quite recall why it wasn’t closed, but it had something to do with her wanting to pay — and squinted his eyes to look at a huge book she had inside. It seemed to have something to do with his subject, but he couldn’t recall even recommending that certain read. “Roundface, what’s that book for?”

 She blinked once, twice, then looked at him with a cocked head. “Eh?” Bakugou pointed at the book, seemingly interested, and realization dawned on her when she saw the thick cover. “Oh, it’s just a complimentary book I took at the library.”

 “Complimentary? That damn thing must have my whole subject in it.” after a clap of silence, he leaned over the table to reach for it — meeting little resistance from her — and took it out of the bag to read it on his side of the table. His arms were strong and muscular, but even he could see that this book was way too thick for somebody like her to carry, despite the muscle that showed through the thin sleeves of her shirt. His eyes scanned the content. “Oi, what the fuck are you doing reading something this complicated?”

 The girl was back to fidgeting when he looked up, this time visibly annoyed to see that she was reading something as repetitive when she already had his lessons to learn from. Was she that stupid to not follow his classes? He hoped that was not the case. “I just want the extra support from other books so I get the best grades possible!”

 “So you just use this shit because you want to do your best?” she nodded eagerly. “You just want the extra support? Why the hell are you so eager for this?”

 Uraraka pursed her lips, thoughtful. There was no need for her to spill the beans this soon, or even give him a reason to pity her. Her reasons were strong, her resolve even stronger than whatever brash, snarky remarks he had in store for her. But something was preventing her from being open, it was maybe the impatience in his eyes for answers or the utter inner fear she held for his response.

 Uraraka gulped.

 “None of your business.” answered she, clear and serious, pretending to not hide anything while Bakugou knew she was hiding something, but he wasn’t interested enough to pry, and looked at the book again, half annoyed by her stupidity but amazed that she could understand its contents. He could remember having read some quotes from there in her exams. “I just want to do my best. Anything wrong with that?”

 It took him a moment to answer. “Not really. I’m just stunned you are so fucking hellbent on this. Don’t you have enough subjects to study?”

 “Nothing I can’t handle.” that was a smaller lie he didn’t need to know or care about. “I only give my all in things I’m interested in.”

 When Bakugou raised his eyes to meet hers again, there was a change in her expression. Her wide, big eyes were open to his red, raw irises were looking at him— not smiling, not fidgeting, just looking at him with no animosity, just staring like he had done many times before, and this time around, it made him consider the little girl in front of him. Then, he looked at the book, at her coffee, and the ghost of bags under her eyes.

 “You don’t need to lose your time with this bullshit.” Bakugou closed the book with a slam, refusing to look at her again, or else he’d lose his shit. “You can come to tutoring.”

 Her following reaction wasn’t what he had expected. Instead of a minor tease, a dashing smile of hers or a giggle, he got a blank, curious and confused stare, one he knew very well. He somehow knew her like the back of his hand, her being so simple, and it terrified him— that much so, he could tell what she would say next. “But you hate tutorings.”

 True. He had gone on and on to his pupils about how “they better not show up to private class, or else he’d beat their ass”, yet here he was, offering one of his best students his personal help. Let’s be frank, he at least had a reason to be interested given how implicated she was with his subject. If no one would prize her for such effort, he would sure do so, and with a certain amount of pleasure.

 “If you are gonna be cooperative and stop being a pain in the ass, I’m willing to help out. You could spend some time doing something else rather than be a fucking bookworm.” he drank from her surprised reaction, and smirked at how affected she looked for once, despite it being a good kind of surprise. Admittedly, he was surprised as well. “Just this once, to make sure you don’t have to repeat my classes next year and I gotta see your face again.”

 Then, she sighed, her shoulders dropped — just now did she realize they had been awfully tense all along — and she chuckled as her smile went back into place. “I’m glad you offered…” her smile evolved into a grin he wasn’t so displeased with. “I was so tired of carrying that book along, you got no idea.” sip of her coffee. “I didn’t know how to ask for help on the matter.”

 “I am your fucking teacher — if I don’t help you, who else will?”

 Her head tilted to a side, and after their beating hearts died down a little, for once, they took their coffees in unison.

Tutoring was somewhat easier than they had both expected, and what had began as initial banters and tension as she struggled through some units, they fell into a steady rhythm that no rain or storm could break. No matter the weather, no matter their busy schedules, and no matter what happened, somehow, they’d always meet at six o’clock at the gates to head to his office.

 It was weird, his office. Small, a desk at the back with a computer, shelves with tons of books, and a table on the centre of the room with comfy chairs. That was at least the most important things she could pick up from the get go, but she would surely see more as stuff got more boring. Something that, unbeknownst to her, would never happen.

 One afternoon, many weeks into their tutoring sessions, Uraraka had woken up from her nap damn in cold sweat, rapidly checking for her clock before dashing out, still weary and bags adorning her eyes, too tired for what she thought she could handle, and sped through town to reach the gates of her university, finding her brash yet most probably favourite teacher already waiting for her. Seeing Bakugou in such elegant clothes only reminded her of the professional gap between them, and it burnt within her in an annoyingly confusing way. Why did she feel so misplaced about this hinder in their relationship? Why should she when it didn’t seem to affect their current status?

 She couldn’t put her finger on it, but each time she thought about it, it irritated her and brought her down the wrong lane. It somehow made him feel out of reach, but why would she even consider that thought when there was nothing between them? Why would she feel so lonely with the mere thought of him being so far away? In fact, as she saw him rearrange the buttons of his shirt — why, she wondered, when he was askew in himself by nature — her mind spaced out right away.

 Fingers snapped in front of her. “Wake up already, we don’t have the whole day.”

 From closer inspection now, his eyes were somewhat weaker than usual, something akin to bags also looping under his eyes in dark rings. While falling into pace as they withdrew their eyes from the other, the image still churned in her like some kind of jinx cast on her focus, almost tripping on a step to the main doors— a mistake he obviously called out, but weaker than usual.

 He seemed pretty dim for the general roughness he displayed in his lectures. Regardless, Uraraka pretended not to care, ascending up the stairs to his office and skipping their usual small chat: chats she missed, chats on the weather, assignments, or him commenting on how stupid she was for her to respond with a snarky remark. It was always like that. Why wasn’t it now?

 He kicked the door to his office open with an ungentlemanly gesture, tossing his own bag to the nearest corner and throwing his weight on his usual chair. She joined soon after, rejoicing on the healing lights of golden sunlight streaming from the windows. “Let’s get this shit over with.” for once, he spoke up first, yet his voice was off, hoarse. She had never seen it like this.

 “Bakugou… is everything okay?” she asked, brow knit in worry, reaching out with a hand to his shoulder, only to have it swatted off in disdain, which made her flinch and look at him. He wasn’t one to be that reactive with her anymore, maybe sometimes snap verbally or bear with her for a second— he didn’t seem to have that patience today. “You look… tired.”

 He met her eyes in a sideways glare, then turning on his seat to look at her and speak with the quietest deadpan ever. “You are pale as fuck.”

 That was the understatement of the year. Her skin was pale by nature as she was usually covered in thick clothes whenever the sun shone in winter, and it was rarely hot and sunny in this town anyway. There didn’t seem to be anything wrong with her skin color. “What about that?”

 He cocked his head to a side like she was being bluntly oblivious to his point, reminding her again that he was a stage above her, a teacher used to scrutinizing all details he could in particular occasions. Or maybe it was Bakugou being the usual smartass as usual, but that was not the point.

 “You’re paler than usual.” grunted he, tapping his fingers against the mahogany table. “You’ve been the whole week and I can’t fucking stand it. I’m tired as hell, yeah, but I have shit to grade and therefore, a reason to be tired.” Uraraka could see where this was going, and knew she was somehow in trouble. “What the fuck has been holding you up from sleeping this time?”

 Uraraka narrowed her eyes at him, laying her cheek on her palm with a bored expression, trying to read through him but miserably failing to do so. “You’re not my fath—”

 Returning to his old self to some degree, he slammed a hand on the desk and, as concise and angry as ever, started letting the swears and profanity roll off his tongue. “You are my fucking student and that’s fucking enough, so shut up and answer me!” when she gave no answer to his earful and only looked to a side, gingerly playing with the hem of her shirt, he quickly got up from his chair and pulled out a book from his shelf, tossing it to the table and letting it slide next to her. “Where you up reading shit like this again?”

 Watching her face scrunch up to a pout, he knew what her answer was going to be and, once again, he was mortified at the thought that he could read her so well, but he wanted to blame that on her being too fucking expressive and dumb. He had seen her sprawled on a couch that morning, seen her doze off at the cafeteria, seen her fucking walk like a zombie past him, and he wasn’t going to have that in his tutoring hour.

 With a finger to her lip, she seemed to be lookin for a excuse, but he thought of her better to expect one. “I simply can’t sleep. Sometimes work does keep me up a blink more than necessary, but I can still pull it off.”

 “Pull it off my ass.” grunted he, sitting down again and staring at her for an answer, allowing her to look at the book in wonder. “I just don’t fucking understand what kind of fucking powerful drive you got to waste nights on top grades you don’t fucking need.”

 Uraraka reached to open the book and peek at it, only to be stopped by her teacher, as if the sole action of touching it would obliterate her. Uraraka tried again, but this time he pushed the book to a side and grabbed his chair to flip it and place it an inch away from hers, purposefully making her uncomfortable so she would speak up already. Seeing his best student in such condition upset him in a weird way. He crossed his arms on the back of the seat and leaned in, scowling.

 Some minutes ticked by with her not looking anywhere else but her thighs, and Bakugou letting his eyes roam around every inch of her china doll skin. Despite how ragged she looked that day, her beauty still remained there and it was driving him up the damn wall of his office. His gravelly voice could push her as much as he wanted and spit on her awful looks, but she was still too pretty for him to handle, above all when she turned like she was doing and parted her lips to—

 “My parents have a business… a pretty unsuccessful one.” mumbled she, and judging by the little hints he had seen around her — her quaint apartment, her clothes, and even her behavior sometimes, for all that he knew she wasn’t the richest person in town. And somehow, it hadn’t occurred to him that she was actually poor, despite all signs around him, until now— as if he lived by her words only. “Their style is pretty unique and… it doesn’t fit the style and needs of this city, especially after all storms that have been around lately.”

 Alright, that sounded like a valid story, a very moving plot and all, but the question still prevailed. He tapped the book before him with an arched eyebrow, glancing at her. “Still doesn’t explain what this all is about.”

 Uraraka gulped. “R-right. So,” she took a deep breath, and continued. “my parents may probably need some help sorting out the money business of the company, or I may actually start a company of my own in the future, or maybe support them economically with a job of my own…” then, she started doing that silly thing she did whenever grades were handed, or she just grew anxious, and tangled her fingers through her back hair to comb through it hurriedly. “So since I have very few options around here… this was the best I could take.”

 At the sudden influx of information, Bakugou blinked at her once, then twice, and then looked out at the window with an impassive expression that reflected on his thoughtful stance, making her grow tense. She knew he was a harsh man, full of swear words and high expectations for anyone around him to be the best they can be — as soon as they don’t meddle with his ambitions and personal life — so what if she wasn’t good enough now that she was so exposed? Maybe he found her to be pitiful, perhaps boring or just a sad, bleak—?

 “I get it, then.”

 Huh?

 “I mean,” Bakugou let his guard down somewhat, and groaned while rubbing his eyes open with a grimace of distaste. “it’s not that much of a great drive but… it’s a valid one. I can understand your case— not relate to it because my parents aren’t fucking humble, but it’s your parents, so I guess I can see why.”

 At his understandment and somehow seeing progress between them, Uraraka dared to share the start of a grin. “I’m so glad you—”

 And the grin was gone as soon as he jabbed her on the forehead, making her hiss as he shook his head in disapproval. “That ain’t mean you can fucking work yourself to death for that. You will get a good job and formation with the little effort you put at the start of the semester, so just rest for some time and don’t let it get to you so fucking badly, got it?”

 Seeing through his words to find a compliment, Uraraka smiled as she rubbed the spot on her forehead. “Thank you so much, I guess… but I don’t need the rest!” the girl eagerly started getting her stuff out of her bag. “Above all now that I’m here, we can—”

 Bakugou forcefully grabbed her bag and started stuffing all her materials inside, zipping it up again before grabbing her jacket and bending it on the table. He pointed at the make-shift pillow matter-o’-factly. “Sleep.”

 The thought of sleeping in a relatively public area seemed preposterous to her no matter how many times she had been close to doing so. “What?”

 “I said you fucking sleep.” Bakugou had been in her stressful spot of non-sleeping days not that long ago, and he knew he would have been thankful as shit for the gesture he was now offering her. “I am not in the mood to put up with you dozing off on me, so either you sleep here, or I’m sending you home.”

 The brunette gave it two seconds of thinking before giving up all too easy for what he was used to, and she crossed her arms on the pillow before leaning into it. “You can be so violent sometimes, Bakugou…” her eyelids dropped close with such ease that Bakugou was left thinking he wished she was so easy when it came to pushing her away— but it seemed pointless now. “It makes me wonder…”

 He words trailed off as she slowly fell asleep, making him feel drowsy at the thought of being in the same spot as her. He glanced up at the clock: in two hours, his train would be leaving the station, so he had quite some time to spare before she woke up, and he was tired too. Many assignments that were all copy-paste, lots of meetings and too many paperwork nights spent in insomnia later, he bent his own coat on his side of the desk and placed his head on it.

 He only became wary of how close they were when her eyes opened an inch, fluttering for a few seconds in which he reflected how it seemed like the light filled them like stars, or how tousled her hair was and the dark rings under her eyes. No matter how tired or drained she was, somehow, she always managed to look beautiful and smile again, didn’t she? Why was it that he liked it more the more often he saw her around him?

 And… why wasn’t he pulling away from her now? Why hadn’t he sent her home like he should have in the first place? Why wasn’t she pulling away either?

 Maybe, thought he as their eyes drifted close, he was too selfish to let her go, no matter how wrong it was.

 Maybe, they were too selfish to let go of this messy arrangement and relationship, the hope for company, no matter how wrong it was or how tragically it was bound to end.

 An hour later, Bakugou woke up to see Uraraka was not there.

Actually, the following day, she wasn’t there either. Her seat was vacant, people peering over her empty seat as some kind of hole knit itself to his heart, feeling like suddenly, there was no way she could be alright if she was skipping class.

 However, maybe he wouldn’t see her in class in the morning, but he sure as hell would see her at tutoring. Just as he started scripting his earful for that afternoon, the voices of that pink haired girl called Mina came to his ears.

 “She told me yesterday she wasn’t feeling well… but I bet she is skipping sleep again. She must be recovering from her illness from last week.” there was an audible sigh, then her glancing up at Bakugou in a way that made him knew she knew more than she should. “She is pushing herself too hard again.”

 And that was the last nail on the coffin for him.

Bakugou, strangely enough, wasn’t at the gates when she appeared. Admittedly, she was ten minutes late, and was deadly aware of how nitpicky he could be when it came to meetings and tutoring. That man… he didn’t enjoy wasting time, did he? Well, Uraraka had some explanations to give for her delay, and hurried to the building to fly upstairs, run across the corridors until she was face to face with his office’s door.

 A part of her felt like an intruder when he wasn’t there to walk her. Somehow, the familiarity of the situation was lost without him grunting by her side— and the sole thought made her need him again. Hesitant, Uraraka knocked on the door twice, and allowed herself in without further ado.

 “Sorry for being late!” she grinned toothly at him — trying to hide that her knees were buckling, that she was too tired for this, that she needed to lay down fast to have some sleep, and closed the door behind her. “I know you hate people being late and all but…”

 Uraraka trailed off when she saw him sitting on the other side of the room, glaring daggers at her as a shadow was cast on his handsome features— a sight that made her shudder for the fierceness it oozed, but didn’t let herself be intimidated. He was probably upset because she was late, and just as the student took in his expression and opened her mouth to explain, the teacher was already up and walking to her side with hunched shoulders. It was gestures like these that made her remember he was older than her, a teacher, yet he looked so young and carefree.

 She hated that tugging twitch at her heart whenever he stepped close. Just like the day before when they had slept awfully close and she had panicked, fleeing the scene with a mad blush across her cheeks. It was disgusting to feel this twisted feeling, and not be able to sleep because of it— because of him. She despised it.

 Bakugou stood before her for a minute, as if analyzing her sweaty temple and the mess that was her hair before taking a step closer to the table and pushing everything on it to a side, almost throwing it all away altogether, and pointed at the now clean surface. “Sit.”

 Taken aback, she looked at the very comfy chair and wasted no time on replying. “But the—”

 “I told you to fucking sit, Uraraka.” grunted he hurriedly, watching her fidget. “I’m not gonna repeat myself.”

 Torn yet curious, the brunette hopped on the mahogany table and placed her bag on the chair, kicking her feet as she waited for something else to come. His eye was twitching in impatience at the image, because he just didn’t know what the fuck he was doing. Some kind of instinct had kicked in the instant she walked through the door, and all he knew now was that he needed her to be idle, to not have control over him and just fucking listen.

 He stepped close to her again, and slanted a hand on the table, by her side. All with a very raging, angry and fed up attitude. He wasn’t good news. “You overdid it again.”

 Another set of shivers ran down her back as his hoarse words sunk in, his eyes red like fresh coal digging through her as if to get an expression out of her too still frame, that started shrinking until her hands were bunching the fabric of her skirt. “I was—”

 “Running on a damn fever.” Uraraka’s eyes snapped to meet his deep scowl, made her grimace and suddenly she didn’t know how to react to his blazing anger: should she stay silent, should she apologize for wasting his time, or maybe talk back? Honestly, she didn’t know — but one thing she knew was that he was a bit too close to her liking. “And you still came to tutoring when I clearly told you that I was sick of you overdoing it.”

 The girl blinked once, then twice, thinking her answer through whereas Bakugou was just sick of having such reckless student. Things needed to change is she really wanted the grades she needed, otherwise she would drain herself out until she couldn’t think straight and that was the last thing he needed, having a student on a catatonic state, limping in his class.

 But even while he was right and just stubborn to make her change, she had the half mind to answer back. “I already explained you the situation! It’s not like I want to stay up studying, it’s not that—”

 “I already fucking told you that you don’t need that! Can you even listen to me when I speak or are you just letting butterflies cloud your brains? Just—” he shook his head to collect his thoughts, too stressed and confused to actually think straight, letting his train of thought scatter into her parted lips and the scent of her soap hair. This was going to get dangerous soon, she was intoxicating and too damn stubborn and stupid. “Just fucking listen to me for once! I’m not gonna keep on tutoring you if you are gonna keep working even while sick!”

 “This is ridiculous— you are my teacher!” Bakugou’s eyes widened at this, as did hers at the words that had flown out of her mouth mindlessly. Nevertheless, the pushed forward. “What is it to you that I work myself to death if my grades satisfy you? What the hell am I to you to be so worked up about this!?”

 A second passed with them staring silently at the other, her eyes even wider at the words she had spluttered so carelessly and his… what was that in his eyes? Why did he seem so torn, so tormented— why wasn’t he angry at her for being so disrespectful? Why wasn’t he acting like a damn teacher and stopping this— stopping her from being so sassy!? Why wasn’t he treating her like another student, why had he always been so damn careful? Why didn’t he get angry at her like he used to, or even slap her, so something to stop the feelings that surged through her, the confusion, the anger, but the desperate sudden need to know what she was to him?

 Why couldn’t he, the powerful one, stop whatever was going on through them that was so damn wrong!? She couldn’t understand, and screwing her eyes shut in confusion and fear, she just didn’t seem to be able to put the pieces together. Why was he being so adamant on her health, why did he pretend to care or pretend to be someone else when he was no more than her fucking teacher?

 She couldn’t understand — Uraraka shook her head, and something touched her jaw — she just couldn’t—

 She didn’t even have time to realize it, because as soon as he seized her jaw with his powerful hands, his lips were pressed tightly against hers— and she couldn’t figure out what was going on, her whole world spinning before stopping on its tracks as she realized.

 Bakugou Katsuki, her teacher, the heartless bastard of the department— he was kissing her.

 What?

 Uraraka’s first instinct of course, was to melt into it— but confusion was seeping into her and her dominant fiber needed to know what was this that was happening, and she fought him back. The brunette pressed her hands against his chest to push him away with strong tugs, and though he did hesitate once, his touch faltering, he only came back stronger, and didn’t budge again. Grunting against his mouth, Uraraka continued pushing him away, shaking in his arms, kicking her feet—

 But his touch softened, somewhat. His hold became gentler, his lips angled in a much more comfortable fashion, as if letting her choose and letting her move… and her fighting stopped, it weakened until the hands on his chest weren’t pushing him away, but grabbing the collar of his shirt and pushing him closer to her, earning a hum of approval from him and suddenly, no matter how wrong this was, she was kissing him back.

 The gentleness of his touch despite how aggressive and hungry his kiss was made her swoon and let her hands creep to his neck to push him down on her, and his eyes widened because she was too sweet, her lips glossy and her skin just as smooth as he had imagined so many sinful nights ago— how long had they wanted this? Maybe for too long. Maybe she had wanted him ever since she first saw him, maybe he had, too.

 But all the hate she had felt for him and the exhaustion she had poured in him had flipped into an euphorical sensation of need and hunger, making his kiss turn into something more heated, more intimate, dipping his fingers under the fabric of her shirt to hold onto her waist as her legs curled around his hips, and he knew he was a defeated man right then. Too bad. Uraraka was no longer the good student she had intended to be, she was now making out with her too attractive teacher in his office.

 Too bad that her heart was beating this fast, too, her feelings suddenly coming clean and she knew that there was something deeper to the way they held each other, to how his lips were so tender but violent against hers. When he bit on her lower lip, she opened her mouth gladly and allowed him to slip in, toy with her until she was a shivering mess in his arms, winding her fingers into his blonde hair as he dipped her head down, drinking from her as if he was dying and she was his salvation.

 When his tongue flicked the ceiling of her mouth, a loud moan of surprise escaped her pink, bitten lips, and when he growled a curse against her, Uraraka ran her hands down his chest through his thin shirt. He allowed her touch him so, just as she let him undo a few buttons of her shirt as he ravished her for a better view. Her mind was foggy when he broke away to look at her, a thumb to her bottom glistening lip as he gazed down.

 They didn’t last like that for too long. Two seconds later, Uraraka was curling her arms around his neck as he took over her hips, tangling their lips together into another sloppy kiss to unwind all anger and frustration with bites, grunts and touches that were all but innocent. Panting, exploring each other’s mouths as they curled around one another, brushing and scratching, groaning into the other in the intimacy of the teacher’s office.

 His lips found purchase on her jaw, sucking and nibbling there and making Uraraka wipe some clammy strands from her forehead as his cologne burst through her nostrils. The kiss alone felt too good to not be wrong and sinful, and his touching wasn’t making it any better. This could only go downhill from there.

 “Bakugou…” breathed she, him sucking on her pulse and she wanted to push him away, but only ended snaking her legs around him harder. Almost thoughtlessly, Uraraka curiously dipped a hand under his shirt, gasping at how warm he was and spreading her fingers to feel his skin, one so calloused and hard it was no wonder he looked so good on shirts like these. But she had the primal instinct to tear it off, maybe just like he was attempting to do right now, biting on her buttons. “Bakugou… this is…”

 Knowing what she was going to say, he silenced her with a bite to her neck, and as her head was thrown back with a gasp, he travelled north to kiss the skin under her ear, leaving them both in a panting mess. It was getting too hot in there, he knew— and honestly, he wasn’t exactly sure of what made him become such a damn wuss when it came to her, but he couldn’t help himself any longer. The mistake was already done and sinning this bad had never felt near this good.

 This was better than he had ever imagined. Bakugou had acted on pure instinct, letting this hidden desire take over and man, it had been a pretty wrong small, hidden fantasy to have, getting it on with Uraraka in his office — emphasis: not any student, but student Uraraka Ochako — but when he saw the opening and the opportunity, he let it bloom. The question is… when had this started, why now of all times and would kissing ever stop feeling this fucking good?

 After they spent nearly another minute lip-locking and moaning into the other, they broke away, hands tangled in each other’s clothing as a ravenous blush splashed their pale cheeks, a bead of sweat running down his brow as he looked down at her with an unreadable expression of raw desire and remains of anger from… minutes? hours ago? She couldn’t remember, or care at this point.

 Uraraka tried to talk again, breathing ragged.

 “This is…” she let go of his shirt to run a hand down her face, realizing the match they had so dangerously lighted. “this is wrong…”

 He knew. A student and a teacher, making out when there wasn’t even any attraction between them— except that maybe, perhaps, only possibly, there had always been this annoying yet so tempting attraction between them without their consent, rising and  sparking so hard and suddenly that they were overcome with the feeling to kiss each other again, and it was so damn obvious there was no room to deny it anymore.

 And suddenly, he realized he couldn’t back away any longer, and groaned in disagreement. “I know.” but he brought her closer. “But I disagree.”

 She disagreed, too. Pursing her lips and blushing even harder if possible, Uraraka fought the mortification down and brought her hands to his hair, looking at him in doubt. “Then kiss me again, will you?”

 He had only needed that lead to take over, and kissed her to his heart’s content until the lines between them were blurry enough to skip over.

Uraraka Ochako had a crush on her teacher.

 Uraraka Ochako had a crush on her teacher. Of all people in this forsaken world, she had a crush on Bakugou Katsuki. And ever since that fateful day in his office, it had without a doubt turned into an awkward messy relationship.

 Or boundless friendship, companionship or whatever.

 And it mattered a lot because things had changed, maybe for the worse, she couldn’t tell. Everytime they crossed paths on the corridors or locked eyes during class, she would turn into the worst case of crush embarrassment of the century.  Her cheeks would heat up and turn steamy, her hands would be sweaty and it was just too damn awful that their previous camaraderie and companionship had evolved into her being a blushy mess and he… well…

 Bakugou couldn’t look at her without remembering what had happened and, now with his head clear, he realized it had been a horrendous mistake. Just as soon as he had come home from their heated day, he remembered so many things that he had pushed aside lately: this was a temporary job, he had a office and a salary waiting for him out of this university once the semester ended, he couldn’t afford ties with anyone here.

 Except that he had now established ties with her and his heart couldn’t bear losing their routines of tutoring, sometimes having coffee together with her teasings and her stupid butterfly laughs. It was something he had gotten used to somehow, and all he knew was that he hated her— only to realize it was all crap and had a crush on her, too.

 And it was not like she was making his job any goddamn easier, always being so close and always being… her, in every way. As days passed and final exams came to view, their tutoring sessions became scarcer and scarcer until Uraraka was sitting on a desk, finishing her exam with a smile and handling it to him in a fashion he saw too informal, so wrong.

 By the way she grimaced as she exited the room, he knew she was aware of this too. Their newfound feelings for the other were obvious, yet unspoken and only making his job harder. Their minds would go back to each other, to what happened in his office, and praying destiny would forgive this mistake.

 And Bakugou knew how to make it heal, how to set the record right again. He wouldn’t be able to stand idle and see time destroy someone he had come to treasure— not when he could avoid it.

 As soon as the classes for the semester were over, he sent over a letter to his secretary, explaining that she had to send an email to all his students to cancel all tutorings from that day onward. An hour later, when he came to his office, he was informed that all had been done as asked, but this didn’t calm him the slightest.

 He had cut one chord now. He had to walk the path and destroy the others, too.

 That afternoon, Bakugou waited for her to appear at their tutoring hour, expecting Uraraka to come with tearful eyes, printed email bunched in her trembling hands to ask for explanations— but that was nothing else than a mirage, blended with the sunset that streamed down his office.

 She never came. But somehow, he could hear her crying in the distance— maybe because he felt like crying as well, and maybe would have if he felt he had a reason to. He had a bright future ahead of him, new things awaited after this, this he was going through was supposed to be a distraction, just an economist teaching something he was passionate about.

 She wasn’t supposed to come around. But he was the one waiting for her until the gates closed, holding on for now.

He cancelled his class the following day, the last day of the semester before winter break. Everyone had been somewhat rejoiced over being able to go home earlier and meet their families— all but someone, a certain brunette who had stared at the paper on the door, checked the news on her phone and breathed deep, tears gathering in her eyes as she tore the notice from the door, alone in the corridor.

 Uraraka staggered back, tears prickling anew before flying upstairs to his office, knocking and knocking as all the time she had allowed to pass between them crumbled to nothing, feeling air leave her lungs. This was what he wanted, putting space between them so they could both figure what they wanted— but no one told her he would end up leaving her alone.

 He was her teacher. But was it that wrong to have feelings for him?

 She wanted to think it wasn’t. So she dashed down the stairs to search for him, to confront him with all she knew, all she had been told, and as Uraraka gathered all words she had to say, a mane of golden strands and pale skin crossed her vision as he walked down to the gates of the university.

 Uraraka had never ran this fast in her life, chasing after a man that was probably never meant to be hers. Her heart couldn’t bear the thought, yet punished her with the ultimate truth: he was leaving, he wasn’t looking back, he hadn’t looked for her to say goodbye.

 She needed to know.

 “I have talked with the head of your department!” exclaimed she from the middle of the path, closing her eyes as she bunched the paper in her fists. “I know everything, Bakugou!”

 That made him stop in his tracks, and stiffen. It dawned on her that he still looked as radiant as the day she had seen him for the first time, that nothing had probably changed ever since then— but she needed to know what his heart hid from her, she needed to hear the truth from his own lips.

 Between staggered breaths, Uraraka found the courage to speak again.

 “You are leaving— you aren’t coming back.”

 Two seconds of silence passed between them as they stood too far away in the empty garden of the university. Would he crumble if he looked back? Would she see how much it bothered him to leave? Would he see how much it hurt her that they had had so little time together?

 How could them being together be so wrong if they were hurting like this?

 “You… you aren’t coming back.” when he heard her voice tremble, Bakugou craned his head to look at her briefly, his scarlet eyes flashing in the same violent and hypnotizing way as before. But his brows weren’t creased, he wasn’t angry— he was tired of this. “You didn’t even have the guts to- to say goodbye to me.”

 He was a damn bastard for wanting to put space between him someone that loved him this much. He truly didn’t deserve anything good from her. And she was too stupid to not realize where she was getting into. Bakugou’s jaw clenched as a small, almost unnoticable sob escaped her bruised lips.

 Make it stop. “You never even told me what you felt… you just wanted me to leave you alone, didn’t you!?” Make it stop. “You aren’t enough of a fucking man to tell me you didn’t want me for anything else than that, huh!?”

 Bakugou let her go on, bunched the fabric of his pockets, and just kept his distance again. Like he always did and… how it was meant to be. He mumbled her name, his voice shaking, but there was no way for her to hear him considering the shivering, sobbing mess she was.

 The woman who always smiled had been dragged to her knees by the person she loved. It was… ironic, cruel, and Bakugou hated it. He didn’t want any of this. He couldn’t have any of this. She was still speaking, still blaming him— but he couldn’t listen, only hear to protect his breaking heart.

 After a minute, Uraraka didn’t see him even flinch— as if he was confirming the very truth she was spilling, and growled audibly in frustration. “That’s what you want, right? Me being gone.”

 He wanted to say no, he wanted her to run into his arms and ask for her forgiveness for misleading her— but he truly hadn’t, had he? He loved her, he wanted her by his side and he had behaved to push her along. If his future hadn’t come in between them, perhaps he would have given her the happy ending she deserved.

 His silence, somehow, was enough of an answer to her. Uraraka laughed bitterly. “I see… you do have a future in a good business, right? Y-Your parents business… you aren’t suited to be a teacher anyway.”

 Yes, he wasn’t. She knew too, right? She also thought this was the right thing to do— no matter how much it hurt. Bakugou nodded, his eyes fixated on the gate before him. In a few steps’ time, he would be gone from her life. They would be over. He wouldn’t see her ever again.

 He couldn’t fathom seeing her one last time— not like this. This wasn’t his Uraraka.

 “Y-Yeah… it’s the best for you, right?” she wanted him to answer it wasn’t, it was terrible to lie this badly. But this would be the last time she would have to. “It’s been a pleasure to be your student, s-sensei.” Don’t do that. “I hope your life is full of the happiness I didn’t have time or… power to give you.”

Bakugou screwed his eyes shut, his hands trembling. Don’t do it!

 “I’m glad I got to meet you.” a gravelly, meek sob escaped her lips, so pitiful this was when he wanted to cry for breaking her heart like this. For their future’s sake. “I’m sorry I caused all this trouble...”

 Gathering all her final strength, Uraraka threw the tear stained paper to the ground, rolling to his feet before turning heel towards the building.

 “Goodbye.”

 Bakugou probably stood for several minutes there, processing so many thoughts at once that when he turned with an urgent expression of regret in his face, ready to confess to her after months of being oblivious— she was gone.

 Her hurried steps to the building were tempting to follow, yet he couldn’t bring himself to drag this any further. All he did was gulp with a grim grunt of frustration, drowning in the many mistakes that had followed their downfall, and walked away from it all into his future.

Days were gray, nights were black, and sunshine was white. The intense vibrant color of his eyes was washed away by tedious, boring routines, the uncomfortable feel of his shirt against his skin. The world looked like a heavy, dreary place to live in that day. Everything was annoying, boring and empty for him.

 His feet stepped on the pavement seeking comfort from the rain. Perhaps he would have saved himself this trouble if he was emotionally sober enough, as this numbness in his heart was possibly the worst of illnesses he had gone through.

 He wanted to wonder, did she feel this too? No part of him had space to wonder, satisfied and busy with his own life, but he hoped she didn’t. The date flashed in front of him on a digital screen, one he recognized immediately to be the end of the last semester, in an strangely rainy summer day.

 Bakugou was a successful manager at his parents’ design company, endless tasks cluttering his head to keep him busy and away from disturbing thoughts. In the end, the job of his dreams had turned out to be no more than a placebo for the pain it had costed. It had been a heavy price, one he was still paying for.

 A price he sometimes felt to be too much of a burden considering how numb, unhappy, frustrated and messy he had become. It was a satisfying job, with a good paycheck where he did things he enjoyed — namely, bossing his secretaries around — but he missed that one feeling.

 And Bakugou couldn’t help but miss her, too, sometimes.

 Sighing, the blonde entered the crowded cafeteria and shook the water off his hair. The bell chimed animatedly as the door closed behind him, and the man glanced around the room to search for a place to sit until the rain passed.

 Then, as if the skies had opened and a crack of sunlight had broken into his life, he heard a voice.

 It was quiet, almost too quiet for what he had gotten used to back then, but it was her voice and he couldn’t help but look around, searching for her head in the mass of people that sat and queued in the cafeteria. Cinnamon and vanilla wafted in the air, making it all more familiar and blatant to him.

 Bakugou considered it to be no more than his imagination, and let it be for two seconds before he saw orange, then brown and pale skin that swirled in front of him. He wanted to reach out and touch her, make sure this was real and that after those many months of waiting and dreaming, she was before him again— and not forbidden, anymore.

 When the sound of the bells stopped ringing, she eventually looked back too, eyes widening and only confirming that this was no illusion, all feelings crossing their eyes before Bakugou was able to draw a gentle intake of air, breathe deeply, and sigh.

 There was a cute girl on the queue.

 And needless to say, Bakugou walked to her with a smile he only drew once in a lifetime, and his world exploded into technicolor again.

[tipsygnostalgix]

Lwa Hogwarts AU headcanons ideas:

Okay so ive been thinking about this a Lot so heres what ive got so far:

Akko is a muggleborn who wants to get into Gryffindor because chariot, her quidditch idol, was the star of the Gryffindor quidditch team when she was at Hogwarts

Akko also wants to be a seeker like chariot

Sucy and Lotte are gryffindors as well bc red team and Lotte is a Weasley

Blue team is Ravenclaw bc blue and Green team is Slytherin bc Green... (I really cant see them with other colors but sorting them in other houses could be fun)

Amanda, akko and Diana are the seekers of their quidditch teams and Amanda and akko fight a lot in and out of the field bc Gryffindor vs Slytherin rivality but when top of the class Diana Cavendish becomes a seeker as well they both feel threaten and align forces

Diana ignores their attempts to trick her into picking fights with them

Diana is the heir of Rowena Ravenclaw and so much is expected from her she gets #stressed but she wont let it show, she loves quidditch bc of chariot as well as akko and secretly wants to be a pro player but she says quidditch is just a hobby, that she wants to have a serious important job

Chariot is the transfigurations professor and just like the anime she guides akko but this time buying her a broom and giving her sick secret advice for quidditch and helping her with studying

Akko gets a licence for animagus!!! Yay, shes a mouse obvz

Diana is the Ravenclaw prefect, Lotte is the Gryffindor prefect and oh god poor Lotte, she has to keep up with sucy and akko aka the Gryffindor messes that get in trouble all the time! Sucy goes to the prohibit section at the library for books and to the prohibit forest for ingidients, while akko gets in all kinds of troubles, Lotte surfers cause she has to either let it slide or turn them to justice

In the quidditch finals Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw (Slytherin got discualified bc Amanda cheated) akko and Diana CATCH THE SNITCH TOGETHER (okay i have no idea how yet but they DO) and after that they share and awkward moment of 'this has never happened before in the history of ever and now we are famous outside of school bc of it but i didnt want to be famous bc of this' well.. akko thinks like this. Diana admires akkos passion for quidditch and how serious she is about being a pro player.

Diana has too much extra classes and Homework and quidditch practice seems impossible so she decides to quit quidditch for the season but akko is outraged by this decision, if Diana likes quidditch and shes one of the best at it she should keep playing and become a pro! But Diana tells her that being a pro player is dangerous and a silly childhood dream, that shes the heir of Ravenclaw and she has to restore her family honor or whatever

Akko totally tries to convince her to keep playing despite what people would think, Diana finally feels listened to and cared for since her parents died and bonds with akko who stops seeing Diana as miss perfect everything and starts realizing that she actually likes her and admires her a lot

In the triwizard tournament Diana gets selected as Hogwarts champion but Guess who gets selected as well. Yes. Akko. They again have to face the press about how they did something that was never done together, and to everyone surprise they win the tournament together as well.

In between hard trials at the tournament they get together when they tought one of them might be in danger and bc of the adrenaline of the moment they realize how much they mean to each other and start officially dating after said trial.

Feel free to add stuff i sure will when i think of more i just needed to write all this down

[anime-scarves]

First Impressions This Season

So it’s a week into this season and every show has had at least one episode now (I think). I’ll go through what I’ve watched and say what I think so far. I guess spoilers for episode 1, but are those really spoilers?

Gabriel Dropout

The premise is that after graduating angel or demon school said angels or demons go to earth and go to school there so that they can learn to be proper angels or proper demons. The main character is a decidedly unangelic angle that gets hooked on online games and becomes a shut in, while the rest of the cast is filled in with characters equally ill suited to their roles. This looks pretty entertaining and it’s basically Doga Kobo doing what they do best. It doesn’t seem like a show that I’m going to remember down the road, but it’s a nice moe SoL to watch. The humor has been pretty good too, so I’ve got decent expectations from it. 

Little Witch Academia

I’m super excited for LWA and the first episode was great. The original OVA that was kick started was fantastic and set this all in motion, so that alone is kind of cool to see. I’d call the show a moe SoL, but it’s really a Trigger SoL with moe elements. Is it moe? I don’t even know lol, but I’ve got high expectations for it and I don’t think Trigger is going to let me down. They are good at the over the top crazy, and I think that they can do a great over the top wacky magical shenanigans show. Definitely high hopes for this show. 

Kono Subarashii no Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! 2 (Konosuba s2)

That mouthful of a title aside, it’s more konosuba. The animation seems like it’s even more “quality” than last season, but that doesn’t bother me too much. The kinda cobbled together sometimes almost bad animation kinda adds to the show. But there is probably a limit to that and I hope they don’t find it lol. The Star Wars credits were a hilarious way to start off this season, and I hope that it continues to amuse me as much as it has already. I’ve got decent expectations of this show, but I’m not holding out for it to be incredible. 

Demi-chan wa Katatirai 

The premise of this show is that there are demi humans in the world and the teacher of this school is interested in learning more about them by interviewing them. Naturally a bunch of them end up at his school so this gets to happen. I was a little concerned about the possible weird teacher-student relationships that this sort of show can get into, but after two episodes I don’t think it will be like that at all. The cast seems pretty alright, with Hikari and the teacher being great characters. I’ll watch this show just for Hikari’s antics even if it somehow gets worse. I don’t think this will be an amazing show, but once again a nice cute SoL to fill the time. 

Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon

Sort of an unexpected title for Kyoani to be adapting, but it seems to be working so far. The premise is that Tohru (the dragon) becomes Kobayashi’s maid because on a drunken adventure Kobayashi pulled a holy sword out of her and then said she could stay with her. I picked up the first volume of the manga awhile back because buy two get one free sales make me do silly things and I really enjoyed it. There is a nice amount of good jokes and then some just funny moments with Tohru being a dragon and doing dragon things. I expect this to keep me thoroughly entertained, but it probably won’t be one of Kyoani’s truly marvelous show. Gonna be hard to follow Hibike S2 lol. 

So ya, that’s what I’ve watched for this season. I don’t know if I’ll really get around to anything else this season, but these at least all look like they’ll be fine watches. I have the most hope and expectations from Little Witch Academia, and I’m particularly excited that it is 2 cour. 

[recentanimenews]

Little Witch Academia – 18

Miracle Magical Shining Tornado Punch!

The Gist: Constanze is the side character of choice this week and the setup is a popular ghost hunting event called Wild Hunt, which Croix has somehow gotten Constanze permission to participate in. Akko wouldn’t have any role to play at all, were it not for her ability to cause havoc (she destroys one of Constanze’s mech helpers) and her neurotic urge to ‘help’ (she feels righteously driven to make up for destroying the mech, no matter how much additional damage she causes and how many times Constanze chases her away)

There’s a lot of legacy Gianax/Trigger going on here, with TTGL-style mecha fights — pushing to the limit — as well as Space Patrol Luluco style anachronistic aesthetic blends. (Rocket Powered Pirate Ship) While these nods are executed very well, with all the tongue and cheek over the top delivery you would expect, they are transparent call backs to better series from the companies past, and that ultimately points out how not-glory-days LWA is itself at present.

As to Constanze herself… there isn’t a lick of dialog. Nor, really, is background provided. She’s this generation’s only technomage, but she doesn’t have a strong connection with Croix (they are never in the same scene together) and that tech/magic blending doesn’t even draw comment from the other students or teachers. That’s stuff we already knew of course and the only additions are the implication that she is a deeply unhappy girl, a loner, who’s parents took a family photo in front of a swedish tall ship once… yeah, not much there?

You could probably argue that Constanze experienced character development this week. Slowly accepting Akko, even seeing value in Akko’s silly mech-drawing, and ending on a smile… but who cares? Constanze has existed as little more than background art for seventeen episodes so far. Again, who cares?

So we have another generic Croix-villain plot, featuring another B-cast member tagging along with Akko, that ends with Croix closer to whatever her villainy is but Akko gaining another friend, which will probably be necessary to unlock the final word or words. No word was unlocked this week and nothing consequential about the plot was revealed to the characters. Sucy and Lotte aren’t even in the story, save some background elements. Diana isn’t in the episode at all.

So why do am giving this week a higher rating than last? For all its negatives, in a vacuum, this episode just had more charm — and a heck of a lot more creative visuals too. Yes, it was completely generic by Trigger’s elite standards but those standards provide powerful emotional anchors and excitement all the same.

The Verdict: as a series, LWA is profoundly ill constructed. Gradually introducing more classmates as part of Akko’s world is fine but giving them stand alone episodes in the last act of a second season is idiotic. Even more so when it cuts the main cast out of the story. (I guess Diana’s research into Ursula’s true identity is just gonna… wait a bit) Beating the villains doesn’t feel earned and the world-building-elements just come out of nowhere. (For a show so full of details, I kinda wish we’d had more build up for the wild hunt… or a pay off)

But as a self contained episode it was fun and, if it had happened 10 episodes ago, it would have done wonders to round out the classmates. That said, if the pattern holds, next week will feature the girl who’s always eating… and I can not imagine that being remotely as interesting.

By: oigakkosan