#got one last train jumpscare because i was just shocked at what was happening . no one died . i love shields

[cent-scratchnsniff]

yeah. finally did day 50. my god .

[centrifugal-apotheosis]

Dr Wily's World Domination FINALE: Part 1

//transcript of a Discord RP with a lot of people. List:

@rogue-nebula (Quasar), @freeroaming-curiosity (Oppy), @ripper-the-indoraptor ("Ripper" and Courier), @that-one-poison-trainer (Viper), @averagedualies (Dualie and Byte)

@mirror-buster-pkmn (Enker, Ballade, and Mega Man), @the-poke-virus (Virus) @beepboopstarman (Vasilyev)

@moonlit-faller (Kaladin, Sylphrena), @shallahi-and-snowflake (Shallahi), @mercury-retrogay (Mercury), @rock-bird-go-brr (Notos) @nebula-incursionists-official (Baron Twyst Von Jokewyld)

(dear arc that's a lot hope I got everyone)

After 1 week of training, practicing, and going over the plan, at last the Incursionists were ready to attack the Hoenn Battle Frontier! It was fortunate that Quasar had given his team a week to prepare, because on day 6 of said week he found exactly the Nexus Door he was looking for: at 14 deep, 37 right, and 1 down, the Door led to an outcropping of land right in front of the cave Ballade had pointed out. So, for those who couldn't otherwise access the island he led them to that Door Ripper and the Courier follow immediately behind Quasar, knowing he'd know where to go. A brisk ocean wind greets the Incursionists as they step onto the outcropping that leads to the cave. Viper and Virus then arrive. Viper is dragged out of seemingly nowhere by Virus, looking dazed and confused

I can't stand that

it's cheeper than [DELTA AIRLINES]

notos approaches on the back of battery, their vikavolt. it’s glowing slightly. Dualie and Byte run in, fashionably late as usual. Notos holds up a gauntleted hand in greeting

“Sorry! Got uh- held up by something”

alright so now what?

Like we said, this cave leads to the main island, we just don't know exactly where

And there will be some light resistance, but nothing major if intel is to be believed

So let's get going!

the cave is fairly straightforward, and to everyone's relief, there aren't any Wily bots here. after a while it turns, and slopes up fairly quickly. It's a huge hill, but aside from a few depowered mining bots no hostile forces

oh arceus we're gonna have to climb that

”Eugh. That’s- yikes. Is there another route?”

unless we wanna get spotted, probably not

Byte grumbled something under his breath, stepping towards the hill. Vasilyev slowly steps up to the hill as well, attempting to be as quiet as possible.

‘Pologies for any delay.

if anyone needs help getting up, battery should be able to carry someone

I'm fine

you sure? I can carry you (-w-)

NO I CAN DO THIS

You're gonna need that strength for when we get jumpscared by spooky robots or something

Hm... Top Man do you know if Wily has any like minecarts or construction pulleys in his bases usually?

Sometimes... if there is one it'll be around here. Look around a bit

Well, as it happens, I found something He points to what looks like a horizontal elevator with a power box next to it. Now a question: If we want to use this thing, we'll have to power it, which might power everything else in here as well

oh, then no elevator

Not necessarily. We can use it, we just might also have to be ready for Wily bots to come at us

a bright flash of light shines put of Virus' pocket and lands on the generator. It's Popcorn the Joltik here to ruin everything by shocking the generator and turning it on

[POPCORN]?!

the room comes alive as lights turn on, and a few bat-like robots on the walls activate and fly towards them. Notos grumbles, ready to attack the bats. Ballade shot a Ballade Cracker at the group of bats, exploding on contact.

Everyone onto the elevator! With the room active we might as well use it!

Notos slashes the air in front of them, firing a beam at the bat that tried to swoop at them and backing towards the elevator. Viper and Virus run onto the elevator, but not before Virus returns Popcorn to his pokeball. With everyone on the elevator Top Man hits the button, only to rapidly discover 2 things: 1. the elevator is a lot faster than it looks. 2. The elevator is wheeled and not attached to anything beyond the first dock - it appeared to have just been launched from its dock and is flying up the passage in an uncontrolled ascent. Notos proceeds to hit the fucking deck. whether this is of their own volition or the sudden increase of gravity is unclear. Kaladin flew next to the minecart, deciding that getting on that deathtrap was a bad idea. Vasilyev braces, flipping some switches on his mech and powering up a large pack attached to the back. Viper is scared shitless and is really trying to hide that

"Yeah, this is par for the course for Wily's defenses." weeeee Don’t stand too close to me - not sure how hard a fall would be and this thing’s heavy.

As Quasar scrambles to find any way to stop this thing, Shield Attackers fly past, Mets blast at them, and Moles (little drill robots) drop on them. None of these do major damage, but they are a distracting shock

WHY IS EVERYTHING WILY MAKES SO MEAN?! WHY CAN'T HE JUST MAKE NICE THINGS FOR ONCE?! TnT

HES A WORLD HOPPING TYRANNICAL CORPORATE PRICK, I DONT THINK HES EVER MADE ANYTHING NICE IN HIS L I F E

LOOK SHARP EVERYONE!

the elevator in its uncontrolled ascent careens off an edge at the end of the room, falling and splashing down into ominous green liquid. As for the Incursionists, Quasar brought out Vizier, and the Magnezone magnetized everyone with metal on their person to them, and those without metal were grabbed by the people with (or Kaladin, who was flying and so was not flung) and hovered up to safety. Virus in an uncharacteristic act of selflessness grabbed onto Viper and saved her life

...Virus?

yah well I wouldn't hear the end of it from [DAD] if I let you die so whatever （−＿−；）

Oppy sent out Genesis and put some people on the Red Gyarados's back (Gyarados can fly I'm pretty sure) then shifted wings herself and took a few more, making Vizier's job easier. They then came to land on some (secure, thankfully) metal scaffolding nearby

…is everyone ok?

hhhhhhhhhhggggggg

"All systems functional." "Can we do it again? That was probably the best thing Wily's made in a while."

Anyway... looks like the only way forward now is gonna be up those ladders on the ends of the scaffolds. We'll have to be careful since there's a few Mets and Shield Attackers

Then let's get moving. I don't like how that liquid down there looks

"I'll take point against the Mets. Ballade can handle the Shield Attackers." "We're probably the best suited for those specific ones."

Enker held his spear, and Ballade patted his arm cannon. as they climb, Notos looks down and... that's odd. They could've sworn that green liquid was lower when they came in here, so it should be getting smaller as it gets farther, not bigger... right? They blink. stop moving. yEP OKAY THATS DEFINITELY RISING

EVERYONE MOVE IT THE GREEN GOOP IS RISING

FRAG! EVERYONE HAUL EXHAUST UP THOSE LADDERS!

I'M TRYING

they eventually make it to a room with a floor below them and Quasar helps the last few stragglers into the room. Kaladin flew a few of the slower people up the ladder, resting on the top floor once everything was alright. Looking around the room, it looks like they're in the Battle Pike, only gutted of the teleports and with a can Dr. Wily evil paint thrown on everything.

I saw this place on TV, the frontier brain mostly uses serpentine pokemon

My ace is a Serperior so I bet I would've loved this place without all the... Wily everything everywhere

yah I can say the same as a Serperior owner myself

”Wait, didn’t someone have Search Snake? Wily, the theming needs some work, this is where you put Snake Man.”

Oh yeah! The og got kinda wrecked, but Top Man built his own copy and gave it to me! ^u^

With the goop a safe distance beneath them, Notos fishes a pen out of their pocket and drops it in the goop. for science. It dissolves like a fizzy tablet in water, hissing and steaming. Yep that is acid. Very strong acid.

...yikes...

The door out onto the island's open! ^u^

Isn't there usually a robot or a trap guarding the way forward?

Maybe that acid room was the trap and we're already past it? Think on the bright side friend! ^u^

iiii dont trust this guys. its doctor wiley. he’s gotta have a backup plan also this room looks concerningly like a boss fight arena and i dont like it

erm so where's the boss?

…Should be here somewhere…

Oppy cautiously approaches the exit and nothing happens, so she starts leading her friends through. Right about when about half of the group is through the jaws of the Battle Pike snap shut, trapping the rest inside

FRAG!

OPPY!

QUASAR!

the Battle Pike is designed to look like a giant Seviper, and with Wily's modifications, the building comes to life, red eyes glaring at the group below. Inside the snake, 4 lights on the ceiling light up, and robots resembling Snakeys power on beneath them. Evil laughter rings out, and the floor begins to retract, revealing the acid chasm from earlier. Notos already looks like theyre 110% DONE with today

okay. the building’s a massive mech. because why WOULDNT IT BE??

Wily Fortress Boss 1: BATTLE PIKE OF TERROR

The BPOT immediately starts by firing lasers from its eyes. The eyes look at one peron and glow for a bit before firing, but are still hard to dodge. Inside the BPOT things weren't much better as now the only ground to stand on was the snakeys, and they were moving like snakeys usually do - flailing like mad on the portions across the acid chasm that could be stood on. Back outside, Enker did his best to keep himself in the lasers line of fire, reflecting the attacks back at the eyes with the Mirror Buster. Viper frantically doges out of the way of the Lazers

Ingrid! Help! Fire Spin!

Ingrid the Chandeleur escapes her ball and levitates near Viper, firing off a Fire Spin. While the Fire Spin might not be supereffective (guess fire isn't this thing's weakness) damage is damage. The downside to this is now the snake is targeting Viper. Virus reaches into her hat and pulls out a military gunman shield. Vasilyev whirrs up his mech’s engine, keeping on the move.

Careful, if that thing’s anything like a hullbreaker it’ll hurt!

Viper played enough video games to understand that you need to wait a little bit and then doge to avoid the lasers. Which she surprisingly does successfully. The snake still keeps targeting her, until Oppy whacks it with a shifted mallet arm. It then goes for Oppy, who also dodges around trying not to get hit, but she's nicked a few times trying to protect friends it randomly goes for. It's Virus' turn! She wacks the Serviper with a mallet of her own

"Oppy! Let me take the fire!"

Thanks! she hides behind Enker as it blasts at her before turning to Virus Plus you do that cool thing with your spear that shoots the bullets back

Notos sprints around, looking for a potential weak point. Notos sees one, but hitting it won't be easy - it's the thing's eyes. In order to have its powerful weapons unobstructed shielding on that area is minimal

GUYS! THE EYES ARE THE WEAK POINT! IF YOU HAVE RANGE AIM FOR THAT!

Most of us do! Those weapons remember?

Ingrid! Ember in their eyes!

CELSIUS! FLASH CANNON!

Ingrid does just that as Viper straps on her quick boomerang and aims a shot at the Seviper's eyes. Virus pulls out a gun, just a straight up gun, snd shoots the serviper in the eyes. Notos stops running for just a moment to slash at the air again, sending 2 beams directly at the massive snake’s eyes. The Cryogonal's Flash Cannon, and the gun Virus pulled, all do really good damage to the BPOT. Looks like we've found a weakness - Steel type!

so it's weak to steel? Maybe that means it's probably poison type! Ingrid! Psychic!

The Psychic doesn't seem as effective, but still more than the Ember from earlier. Vasilyev winds up both the Power Stone and his mech’s plasma cutter, firing them at the BPOT’s eyes. The Power Stone hits both eyes at once, causing huge damage

meanwhile, inside the BPOT, Quasar had resorted to lifting Top Man with Convetezynce and dropping him onto the Snakeys to Top Spin. This worked a few times, but Quasar stopped doing that after Top almost fell in the acid. The Battle Pike itself being a Wily Bot explained why Megaman was still getting enemy readings despite it being mostly clear. Thankfully, having weapons like Air Shooter and Mirror Buster helped hitting the harder to reach Snakeys. Kaladin had stuck himself to the wall, slashing at snakeys there to avoid the risk of falling into the acid. No longer lifting Top Man, Quasar instead opts to hit the Snakeys with successive Blow Triangles instead. Top Man switches to Noise Crush and opens fire. Shallahi slashes at a few of them with Shard-Snowy in a shortsword form.

Judging by how much damage we're doing with our respective techniques... i think I've figured a weakness for these snakes! Try using Flying-type or Wind-related attacks!

”BYTE, CATCH!”

Byte grabbed the thing Dualie threw, using the weapon she’d been tossed to fire off a round of ink-missiles at the dammed thing. The ink gums up one of the Snakey's cannons, leaving Quasar the perfect opening to scrap it. Top Man then junks another one with Noise Crusher, leaving just two, both on their last bolts.

Meanwhile, the others outside had worked out a solid strategy: hit the snake's eyes with Steel-type moves (or similar). Ingrid didn't have any steel type moves so she's just spamming psychic. For Virus's neutral special she wields a gun. Notos was perched on the battery’s back again, the vikavolt firing off flash cannon after flash cannon as the hybrid sent beams into the snake’s eyes. Against the onslaught, the snake's exterior soon overloads and powers down, the eyes erupting into sparks. The snake seems lifeless after that

that's a good thing right?

id sure hope so! …but i wouldnt put it past that old prick to make it self destruct upon being defeated. he seems like the type

Looks like we beat it! But it still hasn't opened its mouth…

“I’ll cut our way out, then.”

Only two Snakeys left... Wind attacks do the most to these

“Don’t think I have any, unfortunately.”

"I do!"

Mega Man swapped to Air Shooter and fired tornadoes at the Snakeys. The Snakeys were on their last anyways, so Rock is quickly able to destroy both. With that done, the floor returns and the snake's mouth opens. Mega Man looked to the others, sighing with relief. Everyone seemed alright.

We're not done yet. Let's press on

We should take at least a moment to regroup, heal our pokemon and such

...yeah. Good call actually.

I brought potions for everyone! ^u^

thanks Oppy

[soft-boi-eli]

Hello Hello!

I just wanted to say I love your fics!

ALSO!

Could I request a CC!SBI X Gn! Insomniac Reader! Where the reader is an insomniac (Obviously-) but is somehow a pro at MC!

Like they are basically god at the game! They also REALLY enjoy horror games! They don’t get scared easily and LOVE horror movies! They basically love anything horror/creepy-

ANYWAYS!!

The reader lives off of ramen and Monster energy drinks (For fun-)! They have a Twitch (Which has about 18 mil followers and 14 mil subs!) and a YouTube channel (Which has 20 mil followers!)

They mainly play horror games (Obviously-) and MC!

You can do headcanons or scenarios/images with the SBI! Maybe like playing a horror game together or MC? OR! Maybe some things they do together? Or when they meet up? Or-to many ideas Nightmare-

ANYWAYS!

I don’t really care! And don’t worry about taking too long on it!

ALSO!

Maybe we could be friends? Only if you want too!

Remember to eat, drink, and get enough sleep!

<3

Yes. I lovesthese ideas and I'm gonna choose headcannons due to they are a bit easierfor me to write.

And yes I'm perfectly fine with being your friend! I'm actually happy to make friends on this app so yeah!

Pronouns:nonbinary

Tw: cussing. Insomia, mentions of horror movies. Mention of horror games. Fluff.

SBI with a horror streamer friend head cannons.

*Ahem* tommy wanted to paly a game with you so you choose a game that didn't look like horror until the middle. He screamed at the jump scare and it made both of your chats so happy.

When phil decides to play with you there is literally a silence after a jump scare. Everyone thought he had a heart attack and honestly so did you until he spoke up about accidently hitting his mute button when he jumped.

Wilbur. He's a bit better then tommy but more scared then phil would be. Any little noise won't get him but when it starts to get noticeable the noiseless to him. The jump scare, he'd fall out of his seat and stay on the ground for a bit. You ask if he's good and he literally doesn't answer. He's dead. You killed him. Congrats.

Techno. He'd handle them a bit better then everyone else. Not as good as you but heisnt very paranoid. He literally runs at the noises trying to get jumpscared. While you run after him telling him to stop because if he doesn't then you'd lose and die. And technoblade never dies.

If you all play together both tommy and wilbur pussy out. Techno last the longest and phil the second longest. While you remain the ruler of horror games.

Now how you all met was dream invited you to the dream smp to add to the chaos. Needless to say it got extremely chaotic due to you being on almost 24 hours. You first ran into techno. He seemed confused and skeptical.

You both found eachothers love for potatoes. You set up camp quote close to techno but not too close.

Phil popped in when he needed something for a build and noticed a new name. Talked to you in chat and asked to join your VC. You both found each other talking for a bit.

Wilbur was next. Wilbur got curious over the new person and just hoppedinto the same VC as you techno and phil. He was quick to realize that you were a famous youtuber. Mainly for your horror videos and your extreme Parkcore skills.

In minecraft that is.

Tommy noticing that all of you were in the same VC joined in with shouting. He was low key jealous that everyone was obsessed with you. Then he saw why.

You literally cracked jokes at his shouting.

"Is that an angry pomeranian? Nah nah. It's an angry child. Even better an angry blonde!" - you.

He was shocked and immediately started joking and laughing with you. He wasn't fully angry for long.

Now about your diet. When they heard that you had only eaten ramen and drank angry drinks they were concerned. You lived quite close to techno so when you guys met up he was shocked that you looked as healthy as you did.

He hated the fact that you literally didn't eat anything else.

You told him occasionally you have something other then ramen but you were just too lazy to really cook anything and that you didn't feel like burning the house down.

One month phil, tommy, wilbur, and techno decided to organize a month long sleep over so that they could celebrate your birthday. Phil being quote the father figure cooked different, but easy dinners every night just so you didn't eat only ramen that day.

When they actually arrived though you got a text from Phil asking about your address in your dms. Not think much of it you just sent him your location.

You were going to take a small nap. Just to bost your energy before you went and streamed later that night.

As you were sleeping there was a car heading to your house.

Phil, wilbur, tommy, and techno were all just existing in the car. And when they arrived to your house they didn't expect to actually see a clean house.

You woke to a loud knock.

When you opened the door in your half dazed state you expected a package. But to see four people standing on your porch.

You nearly jumped out of your skin.

You were stuck there blinking at them.

Finally snapping out of it you let them in. Confused on why in the ever loving fuck they were here.

Phil explained they were here to celebrate your 21st birthday and they were here for a month.

You stared at them for a while. Confused on what to do since you haven't had people over in almost 2 years.

But you got use to it.

So when you got done streaming and smelled something other then ramen you were thrown off guard. Like what was that. I haven't smelled that in years.

But after the second day you got use to it too.

For your birthday phil literally made a feast.

Like he found your favorite food other then ramen and cooked it. With that he prepared everything you could dream of.

Your sleeping habits. Let's dig into those.

I'm in no place to talk as right now it's 3:05 in the morning. And here I am.

But when they are over they don't let you stay up till no 3-4 in the morning. They all know the importance of sleep.

But there are those nights where no once can sleep and it results in a late night stream. And streaming for hours none the less.

The amount of accidental all nighters everyone has pulled was immense. But that's what happens with jet lag, adhd, and insomnia.

Literally you get tired randomly. Sleep for only 3 hours. Wake up. Drink coffee, energy drinks, highly caffeinated tea. And don't sleep till late at night.

Pillow forts.

It's a must and it happens. Horror movies, pillow forts, and snacks. Like you all are in this massive fort, watching horror movies, one by one you all are falling asleep. You and techno were the last up due to technos active mind and your body not letting you sleep.

You two literally just vide there, changing the movies from horror to some silly animated movies, like how to train your dragon, frozen, Luca, and many others.

You two pull an all nighter and it's actually a bet to see how long anyone else takes to notice.

You bet an hour. Techno says all day.

You won. Philza notices the worse eye bags under both you and technos eyes and immediately starts scolding.

He is papa bird and he won't let anyone of his children neglect their needs.

"Did you even drink water at all? You guys should of been sleeping not binge watching horror movies all night!" -philza

You could only offer a smirk, along with a laugh.

"I think we did I just can't fully remember. Also we were watching animated films. Not horror. Surprised you didn't wake up to let it go." - you.

You turn to techno.

"You owe me 15 bucks pig boy!"-you again.

Handing you the money he rolls his eyes. "Yeha yeah. Rub it in." -techno.

Ah yeah they found a horror game that you were scared of surprisingly. It was actually surprisingly you hadn't played it yet.

Outlast.

You had been holding off that game until you finished your other one but here you were. Bored out of your mind.

So you decided fuck it.

That game teriffed the shit out of you. It was so good though.

When you screamed they all came rushing up due to the fact that you never scream.

They say you out of your chair, on the floor, blinking. They thought you were hurt.

But you sat up and looked at your computer.

"Damn. That was actually really good." When you looked behind you and found the boys all staring you smiled and waved.

"You need something?"-you

"You screamed. We heard a thud. We thought you fuckin died!" -tommy.

"No I'm alive. My soul almost divorced my body but it's still quite here."-you

That day made highlights.

The popular y/n actually got jump scared. The one person who never screamed at horror games screamed.

When they left you were sad yes but they were still your best friends. Ready to talk when ever you want.

Sometimes I think that you guys talk all through out the night. Them forgetting that you were actually in a different time zone.

Sometimes they pop into your streams, be it MC, horror, you just talking to your fans, or even the once in the blue moon, cheerful games.

They just pop in and start talking to you. And you talk back like they were there since the beginning.

Phil is now one of your moderators too. Along with tommy, wilbur, and techno. When they pop in they make sure no one picks on you.

And since you are now close to the SBI. You are now part of it.

You didn't choose the fans did. But they are your new family. No matter what.

Even if they disagree with your eating habit.

Or energy drink addiction.

Or insomnia.

Or you mainly playing horror games.

Or you basically living in your streaming room.

Or even the nearly 24 hour streams.

I could go on but I'm not gonna.

I'm tired. But I can sleep. 2 days and I get to have a tour of my new school.

And it took so long to finally get into it.

We have been going through a huge hassle even before school started to get me enrolled.

And then we had to get me into this program.

But now on Monday I get to go in. Get a tour. Then start either Tuesday or Wednesday.

Anyway hope you liked. It's now 3:50 and it's no proof read I'm sorry

[heyitsyn]

HALLOKNEE

Manager!Seijoh

a/n: a halloween special with our boys and the mess it is

summary: lets just say,, things get weird during halloween

okay so first of

halloween isnt a favorite holiday of most of the boys

like they all ltr are towers and skyscrapers but these kids are absolutely terrified of it all

but you just really like the holiday bc of yanno, candy, scary stuff, and omg costumes!

so you were basically very hyped and excited about it and you were excitedly humming to yourself as the date grew closer

the boys were confused as to why you were actually happy and in a good mood but they didnt complain bc they love seeing you happy

the flowery aura makes them heart eyes

HEART GOES DOKIDOKI

oikawa ran over and he stood behind you as you were distractedly humming to your clipboard

‘watcha doing, y/n-chan?’

he whispered to your ear

normally, you would shriek or flinch but you didnt and instead, turned and flashed him a grin

‘checking our schedule! i have a surprise for you all and i want to make sure theres nothing happening to stop it from happening!’

the boys grimaced and held a hand to their heart at your joy and they didnt even question what was going on or why you were so excited

all they know is you were happy

lmao oikawa got the hardest shot to it

he was front seat and his eyes widened and he froze

then he pulled you to his chest and nuzzled his face into your neck

‘aawwww~~!!!! youre so cute y/n-chan!!’

these idiots are so whipped and simp for you so hard that they completely forgot everything

your happiness continued for another week and my god that was probably the best week of their life bc you were just fluttering and giggling and skfjdslkjfdlflfkjs

to be fair though, you mentioned halloween being close and you were looking forward to a family night of watching scary movies in tv and duh these boys were already arguing with each other on who would protect you

‘I WANNA SIT NEXT TO  Y/N-CHAN!’

‘WHY?! SO YOU CAN HAVE AN EXCUSE TO HOLD HER?! YOURE A PERVERT SHITTYKAWA!’

‘AS IF YOURE NOT ANY BETTER IWAIZUMI!’

‘HANAMAKI STAY OUT OF THIS!’

ltr its just a big warcry between the third years while the second and first years already were getting head pats from you for being brave boys and were comfy right next to you

‘my boys are so cute~’

ITS A LOVE SHOT! NAAA NANANANANANANAANANAAAAAA

by then, the surprise was getting closer and you were already jumping in your toes

the night before, you texted the group chat to meet you at the school by 8 pm tomorrow

they all sent replies saying okay with no questions

‘okay love you y/n-chan! <3′

‘got it! good night!’

‘sweet dreams darling!’

at around 7:30, you were standing by the school bus since coach mizoguchi omg bless his heart was going to drive you all

the boys were all dressed in warm clothing and my gosh they all looked like models what the heck

we’re just going to ignore and forget that hideous infamous oikawa outfit

but you didnt focus on that and instead waved at them happily

‘you guys!’

oikawa jumped joyfully at your voice before naruto running over to you and scooping you in his arms

‘y/n-chan!’

he shouted and you didnt mind being twirled around since you were giggling and laughing

after iwa punched his head, oikawa had to let you down and they continued bickering so you took this chance to go over to the others by the side

‘are you all excited?’

you asked and they smiled softly

kunimi ruffled your hair and you grabbed his hand

‘it’s really sweet you planned something for us, y/n’

watari reached over to pat your head and you wholeheartedly accepted the affection

‘oi, just tell us’

kyotani grumbled but you cutely smiled and held a peace sign

‘nooo~~!’

you checked your watch and you jumped

‘oh my! we need to hurry on the bus now!’

you herded everyone to sit in their seats and oikawa raised an eyebrow at the driver

‘oh? why is-’

‘your dear manager wanted to have a bonding exercise for the team. how could we refuse? oh, coach irihata said to make sure you know how to breathe and calm down’

the last sentence made question marks appear on everyone’s heads but you waved it off

‘oh come on, mizoguchi-san! dont ruin the surprise!’

you whined from your seat and the elder caught your eye at the rearview

‘just making sure to warn them, especially oikawa’

‘me?’

but he went unanswered 

the team gave up trying to ask you bc you would just mischieviously smile and shake your head cutely

‘nope~! not tellingggg~!’

but oh my they were answered

mizoguchi dropped everyone off in front of a building where there was also other people at

owo the people just simply stared bc omg like 12 boys? thats freaking great and i have finally lived and can die peacefully now

the team blinked as they got off the shuttle bus and they were so confused that you waved mizoguchi off to make sure the boys wouldn’t run back to the bus if they figure it out

ofc our ever smart baby kunimi was the first to figure it out and his mouth opened

‘why,,, do you hate us, y/n-chan?’

slowly the light bulbs turned on in everyone’s heads and they all had the same shocked look

DKFLSJDKFJLDKFLJ LIKE IN OHSHC WHEN THEY FIGURED OUT HARUHI’S A GIRL OMG I MISS THAT SHOW

‘nope! im going home!’

kindaichi started to walk but you hurriedly grabbed his arm

‘nooo yuu-kun!!! noo!! please stay!! i worked so hard!!!’

you looked up with your puppy dog eyes and kindaichi scrunched his face up

no no no fight it kindaichi

but ofc hes weak to you so he sighed and went back with the group

‘oi, are you insane or what?’

kyotani, despite his tough facade, wasnt exactly the greatest with any jumpscares in movies so having a jumpscare in real life wouldn’t exaclty be,,,, not violent

but you trust he can handle it and leave the place without a charge for assault

it was clear the others were already regretting it and you got sad bc you did work hard on getting a reservation since this haunted house was the most haunted in this part of japan

your figure in front of them made them tear their eyes away from the scary windows which they swore had someone staring at them

‘come on, you guys! we’ll have fun! i promise! its not that scary!’

you assured but they still didnt look convinced

‘you know, i just,,, i wanted everyone to,, bond and,,, have fun,,,,,, and because halloween is my favorite holiday,, i thought i could share it with you all. but im sorry that i was selfish and,,,, did it even though you guys dont like it’

not at y/n being totally manipulative and using their affections and attraction to her to help her case

your downcast expression and sad eyes snapped them out of it and they just sucked it up and they all shared a look that practically meant

‘suck it up, and make sure y/n is having fun. forget about us, its her time right now’

this led to you guys standing in front of the door guy and he cracked up at the sight of this cute little girl bouncing in her shoes with a group of guys who looked pale and nauseous

‘reservation name?’

‘seijoh!’

you exclaimed and he looked in the list before nodding

‘okay. so first, the rope is what guides you all. make sure, whatever you do, never lose grip on it bc you might get lost. keep in mind, this is an actual abandoned hospital and is known to actually be haunted so unless you want to go ghost-hunting and meet unknown people or spirits, dont stray off’

that warning should’ve scared you like the boys but you just agreed with a bright grin

‘yep!’

the doorguy chuckled before reaching into the box beside him

ngl oikawa was already so scared that he flinched, not knowing what was inside of it

‘a flashlight to help you guide yourselves’

you held it tight and yahaba was already holding on to your jacket sleeve

‘also, phones in the bin, please’

‘hah?!’

iwaizumi started but you placed a hand on his chest

‘its to make sure no one films anything and ruins the surprise’

you assured and he stopped but continued glaring

everyone hesitantly placed their phones into the bin where they saw it being locked into a locker and the key was given to you

‘you can get it back when you exit so dont worry’

you nodded and the team rolled their eyes but nodded anyways

brats

‘all set? okay! go on in! happy hunting!’

omg you were slightly regretting it already

kyotani refused to not be away from you so he was holding your hand while yahaba remained clutching you

the third years wanted to appear all tough so they took the lead but oikawa was screeching and screaming at the littlest things which caused makki to scream and mattsun to also scream and then iwa and everyone else

it was like a screaming train

you even heard kyo gasp multiple times and you tightened your grip on his hand to assure him he was okay and you were right there

everything was going smoothly excused the screaming and everyone was actually having a little bit of fun since it was funny watching everyone scream at the littlest things

‘NOOO!!!!!!’

‘WAAAAHHHH!!!!!!’

the many rooms had the actors and dear god they should be emmy winning by how they just stared at you all and still sent shivers down your spines

then the unthinkable happened

the flashlight that iwaizumi was holding started to flicker and eventually died, leaving you all stranded in the pitch-dark

there wasnt even any light above you so everything was just black

everyone stopped, your breathing being paused and no one made a sound

‘RAAAA!’

someone from beside you shouted in your ear and you screamed so loudly and in instinct, everyone bolted forward with no direction on where to go

kunimi and kindaichi were holding each others hands and ran also dragging along watari since he was holding kunimi’s sleeve and also yahaba and you and kyo

‘IWA-CHAN!!!’

oikawa instinctively shouted and they all held on to each other

mattsun expected to catch ahold of watari’s hoodie since he was behind him but there was nothing but air

‘uh, you guys?’

he wished and prayed and hoped your voice would answer back but there was silence

‘oi! l/n y/n!’

he shouted and makki trembled in fear

‘iwaizumi? oikawa?’

‘h-huh!’

iwaizumi grunted and my goodness was this really happening

everything was going too smoothly that something bad happening shouldve been seen from the get-go!

the 4 third years were thankfully with each other since they were already huddled up at the front but their kouhais were nowhere near them

‘iwa-chan! what do we do!’

oikawa cried and iwaizumi hit him to keep him quiet

‘shut up shittykawa!’

‘oi! stop fighting and think about this!’

mattsun quieted them down into shaking forms

‘the team is gone. theyre somewhere in this hospital and there’s a chance theyve strayed off the path’

makki shakily breathed

‘so what should we do?’

iwaizumi bit his lip to think of a plan

‘should we just go around and shout and scream for them?’

oikawa suggested but makki turned it down

‘no. that would ruin it for everyone else. we’re not the only ones in here’

oikawa blanched

‘i dont care about the other people! who knows what happened to y/n! i give no fck about strangers when she could be lost somewhere in this big ass hospital!’

they were stumped with no solutions so they just agreed to iwa’s suggestion

‘lets just hurry and get this over with and meet the people outside and get their help’

‘or! we can ask the staff in here, the actors, to help us! this is an accident’

‘you stupid or dumb? you think they would help us? its an us problem, not theirs, so theyre not going to abandon their post and look for them’

ltr maybe its the panic thats making them all crazy but they just settledon hurrying up and finishing the maze so they could get help

but the moment they turned to what seems to be a corner, they already managed to get themselves lost

iwaizumi felt around for the familiar texture of the rope which is supposed to be at his right but in the end, his hand reached nothing

‘fck!’

he shouted and scared the other 3

‘WHAT?!’

makki yelled

‘the rope. the rope’s not here anymore’

silence

then oikawa sobbed

‘oh my god im going to die’

he whimpered and makki sniffled

‘i wanna go home’

mattsun and iwa were the only at least stable ones and they finally resigned to defeat and grabbed their friends and walked to nowhere

on to your side!!

you and the others finally stopped running but the beating of your hearts still pumped at a fast speed

‘are we safe now?!’

kindaichi shouted and there was a chorus of confusion amongst the others

‘iwa-san?’

you checked and usually he would grunt but there was just silence

it was quiet and the familiar voice of oikawa was nowhere in sight

‘i dont know about you guys but my oikawa sensors just shut off’

yahaba pointed out and you gasped

‘where are they?’

kyotani refused to let go so you felt around with your left hand for the rope

to your relief, it was still there but the feeling of the missing boys outweighed it and made your anxiety levels spike up

‘should we call them? lets call them’

yahaba started but kyotani bonked his head

‘baka. they took our phones earlier’

the reminder of the confiscated form of communication meant that there was no other way you could contact the others

panic bubbled over kindaichi watari and yahaba while you kunimi and kyotani were busy thinking of something

‘i think theyve strayed off. if they didn’t, they wouldve heard us from up there’

kunimi mumbled

‘but where else could they have gone to?’

you asked and kyotani huffed beside you

‘we cant see anything. hell, i cant even see you. obviously theres probably a hallway they ran down to without even knowing they went there’

‘so youre saying theyre lost? without any way to contact us? what do we do?’

you whimpered, finally realizing and the idea of the others being gone settling in

‘this is all my fault. i shouldnt have dragged you here. i made a mistake-’

‘hey, dont freak out. im right here’

even though you couldnt see him, kenta maneuvered his way to cup your face and you felt his forehead press against yours and his nose nuzzling your cheek

the smell of cherry blossoms and vanilla with the slightest hint of sandalwood

kyotani’s scent comforted you and you were able to calm down 

‘we’ll figure this out. its okay, you got me’

he whispered and you nodded 

‘youre right here. we’ll be okay, okay?’

you giggled a little bit at the repitition of the word but smiled when he pulled you close to his chest

ugh i mightve already written a kyo route but that doesnt stop me from putting in kyo moments :”)

the other 4 were figuring out a plan that was eerily similar to the 3rd years

‘lets just finish this and ask the staff for help later’

they all agreed to kunimi’s idea and hurriedly gripped the rope to start going back to the path

you were in between kindaichi and kyotani with the former in front and the latter behind you

‘im right here. you got this’

kyotani would occasionally whisper and you were so grateful to have someone to be there

then the lights flickered and your eyes caught sight of something down the hallway to your left and you noticed a shadow 

a shadow of a tall figure that was kinda familiar

‘y/n-chan~’

you flinched and the voice of your blocker filled your ears

‘mattsun-san?’

you were too focused on the voice to hear the others questions of what was happening

‘over here, y/n-chan~’

there it was again

‘mattsun-san!’

you shouted and bolted to the hallway where you were sure the voice was at and you were ignoring the shouts of the others and kyotani hurriedly ran after you

‘mattsun-san!’

you shouted again and you ended up at the hallway, with the lights still flickering but there was no one

kyotani panted as he caught up to you before snatching your hand

‘oi! dont run off like that!’

it seems the others were too scared to let go of the rope that they were fine if kyotani went after you bc he was strong so he could protect you both if needed

right?

kyotani is a bark bark woof woof boy not a priest

you felt his warm hand grip your again as if to signal that you werent running off alone again

‘i heard him i swea-’

‘to your left, y/n-chan~’

ok ngl im getting chills writing this

the flickering lights allowed you to see the shadow again and yep there it was

it was at the end of the hallway to your left and once you turned and saw it, it ran to the right

‘mattsun-san! wait!’

as you were going to run, kyotani refused to let you go

he placed strong hands to your shoulders and you looked up at him, your eyes manic

‘listen to me, y/n. youre hearing things’

he firmly said

‘i dont hear matsukawa or anyone’

you started breathing heavily, the air seemingly getting colder and thinner

‘you dont understand! he was right there! his shadow-!’

‘let her play a game, boy!’

matsukawa’s voice this time took a harsh tone and even kyotani jumped, holding you to his chest protectively

‘oi! matsukawa! its not funny anymore!’

your eyes looked over kyo’s shoulder and you saw the shadow again from behind him

‘please trust me, kyo! hm?’

you begged and he sighed

‘im holding on to you. im not letting you go again’

this wouldve been romantic if you werent in an actual paranormal story

you chased after the ghost and it would occasionally whisper in your ear to keep your attention until you ran into a pitch-black hallway

‘what do we do now, y/n?’

kyo whispered and you trembled

‘mattsun-san!’

you weakly cried, knowing there was a strong possibility he wouldnt answer back

but a loud screech from the far right brought hope into you

‘Y/N-CHAN!’

is that-

‘oikawa-san?!’

you shrieked and there was a trample of footsteps running over to you and naturally, kyotani pulled you behind him

then a hand made you shriek 

‘relax. its just me, y/n-chan’

mattsun’s voice sounded clearer this time since he was right beside you and you hugged him

‘come on. everyone hold hands so that no one will get lost. we’ll take about this later’

iwa commanded and as the true leader of the gang, everyone followed his lead

there was a red sign with the most amazing word on top of it

‘EXIT’

it looked like a door that was only meant for staff but at this point, you all were desperate to just leave

as you reached the handle, the voice came back

‘aw~ leaving so soon?’

you turned around, halting mattsun and kyotani as they held your hands and felt you stop

‘show yourself. i know you’re not mattsun-san so stop using his voice’

you demanded and you turned, feeling a chilly air rush behind you

‘boo~’

it whispered to your ear and you eyes widened at the sight from further down the hallway

you could make out a mass of a body and at the top, there was bright red eyes and white teeth smiling menacingly

‘oh my god’

you whispered and the boys saw exactly what you were seeing

‘what is that’

oikawa whimpered

its mouth obviously moved as it spoke

‘are you leaving me, y/n-chan? so cruel~’

its voice was sickly sweet and sounded like a teenage boy’s but was so mean and hate-filled

you started sobbing and oikawa turned the door to run but it stayed put and didnt budge

‘you were so fun to play with~ are your friends fun too~?’

it looked like it was coming closer with a hand outstretched and you started shivering and your voice ripped into a scream

‘stop! go away!’

iwa mustered all his strength and ran against the metal door but it opened on its own, leaving the boy to land on the grass from outside

you were pulled by the others before it could touch you and you were already hysterically crying before the first and second years ran over and engulfed you to a hug

you were being hushed by the them and you tightly held on to someone’s arms

‘sshhh its okay, we’re right here’

you reduced to hiccups before looking around

‘w-where’s the other people?’

you asked, taking notice of the empty field

‘are we at the back?’

the boys shared a confused look

‘huh? what are you talking about, y/n?’

you looked at yahaba like he was crazy

‘the other people! the other people wanting to go in! and the doorguy! the haunted event! the haunted house!’

their eyes flickered everywhere to try and make sense of what you were saying but in the end resulted to just pure confusion and fear

‘y/n, we’re not at some event’

iwa started and your eyes widened

‘w-what?’

makki shakingly placed a hand on your shoulder

‘y/n, you dragged us here to go ghost-hunting. and there’s no doorguy’

your eyes flickered down as your mind tried to wrap itself with what was going on

‘what do you mean? i took you here for a haunted attraction! the doorguy took our phones and locked them in a locker, remember?’

you wildly waved your arms around but they still didnt understand

‘and the flashlight! and the rope! w-we had to hold on to the rope! the rope made sure we didnt stray off the path! bu-but the flashlight! the flashlight died!’

kunimi noticed the beginning of a panic attack so he pulled you close to him and made sure you could feel his heartbeat

‘listen to me, y/n. you took us here because we all lost a bet with you and this was what you wanted since its halloween and we trespassed to go here and there was no doorguy who took our phones because all our phones died the moment we got here and we saw a rope hanging from the ceiling and we had no flashlight in the first place’

he whispered to your ear and you pushed away from him, curling your arms around yourself

‘no! what bet?! i took you here for bonding time for our volleyball team! you were getting busy for inter high so i figured this could help you have fun!’

now that took the cake

‘what volleyball team?’

your eyes finally settled on your ‘captain’

‘what do you mean, ‘what volleyball team’, oikawa-san?’

totally disregarding the fact that you just called him by his last name instead of his first, he focused on what you were talking about

‘if you wanted to bond with the volleyball team, then you brought the wrong sport team over then’

oikawa scoffed, feeling rage bubbling inside him at the familiar players of the volleyball team

‘you shouldve brought over nagisa and rin and them, then, y/n’

makki bitterly mumbled and you were just so exhausted and tired and confused

‘WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT’

you bursted and started crying which ofc prompted the others to calm down and focus on you

‘y/n, love, we’re the swimming team, not the little ball playing game’

mattsun reminded and you shook your head, disbelief and utter fear present in your face

‘then-then! oikawa-san! give me your right knee!’

you ran over and he questioningly raised his leg

‘uhh,, what are you doing, y/n?’

kunimi asked but you waved him off, determination in your eyes

‘this should prove hes a volleyball player’

then you punched it really hard which resulted with a sickening pop

oikawa screamed

a/n: idk if the concept is clear enough but uwu send in a guess and ill answer if you got it right

[sepublic]

Halloween Special: The Shut-In!

           So, this episode is SUPPOSED to be canon, I believe? Or the idea is that within the episode itself, the events take place after the Plantars return to Wartwood, but otherwise it isn’t canon? I’m not sure, I’ll have to go check. Either way…

           This was a REALLY fun, and surprisingly freaky episode, especially towards the end! I love the darker, pragmatic take on Halloween for Amphibia, and how the holiday is interpreted in this world as more of a doomsday preparation sort of thing, this show’s worldbuilding is always so fun. Let me tell you, I lost my mind when I saw human Sprig, Polly, Maddie, and Toadie! Is the implication that Toadie is actually, like, around the kids’ ages this entire time? That makes people shipping him and Mayor Toadstool, uh… VERY, er… But at the same time, I can see why everyone thought he was an adult- So an honest mistake and thus no harm done! And come to think of it, Polly seems to be about the same age as Sprig here. So, the ages may not necessarily match… But then come to think of it, it IS weird that the writers/animators chose to give Toadie a humansona, and not say, Ivy! Actually, Toadie is rather minor and feels oddly specific considering who else was excluded, so I have to wonder if there was some particular reason for this, of if the writers just felt like it?

           Anyhow, the humanized versions of our frog friends are adorable, Sprig and Polly are gingers, no surprise there, and the bucket over Polly’s foot is so cute! I love how Anne didn’t even TRY to change who she was, she legit just tied up her hair and that’s it. Her story was a fun premise, and I expected the video to actually be a jumpscare that pulls in its victims at the last moment. And I mean, sort of? It definitely takes a while for that Video Cat demon thing to arrive… But I loved Anne in this bit, how she’s so smug and proud of herself and really doesn’t want to care what others say about her skills, you go girl! You go write dialogue! And I just realized, but this is possibly the closest look we have to Anne’s actual home and bedroom, assuming things haven’t been changed up all that much in the ‘bootleg’ translation… So F-Annes, analyze!

           That Video Cat being unable to take criticism and literally dying to it is a mood. Also, either its eggs ARE boba, and/or they just taste like it… Either way, keep in mind that Molly legit took a huge bite out of one. Then again, more feral things have happened in Amphibia and ESPECIALLY with Polly, so I guess I’m not too shocked- Look at Anne, she wanted to eat that monster crab that almost killed Sylvia way back when! Are those cats invincible because they’re bound to no videos, or are they subject to regular criticism in general… Can they also be physically killed as well?

           WHY am I even asking, when we know this isn’t canon whatsoever and is never going to come up again!? Anne insists that this happened to her phone specifically, so I guess the gag is that the phone had a previous owner named Anna, etc…. Still, while it’s funny how Anne just gets away with completely making up a story, I do have to wonder if it’s like. Allegorical to a real-life experience. Probably not, given the presence of humanized Sprig, Polly, Maddie, and Toadie… Unless Anne is recounting something that happened in Amphibia, but then Sprig and Polly would’ve recognized what Anne is alluding to, given how they remembered those other past adventures (which was a hilarious gag that I felt nostalgic to recognize). I’m probably just overthinking it.

           Then, we’ve got Hop Pop’s story! He had LUSCIOUS locks, and he met the Grim Reaper- Again, allegedly. Not gonna lie I assumed that dude was Frog Lucifer or something, but this is kind of better? Either way that was pretty dark, and I love the implication that the Grim Reaper legit went out of his way to steal some rando’s hair. Poor Hop Pop, he never got his hair back! Are we going to call this canon? Does this confirm the presence of a Frog Grim Reaper?

           (Side-note, I feel bad for Wally! Imagine being born on a day where everyone has to be holed up lest they turn into Were-Amphibians! That must’ve been quite the scandal for the Ribbiton family, I have to wonder if this influenced his decision to go out and live his own life with how lonely Wally was…)

           Then we have Sprig’s story! I’m so happy to see Ivy again, I never realized how much I missed her and her adorable design, and her hair is so cute! Kind of reminds me of Anne with how wild it is, I want to see a one-shot of Anne bonding with Ivy over their messy hair now. I really appreciate that gag of Sprig realizing what Ivy’s about to say, about how everyone has knitting needles, and Ivy breaking down that door without remorse. This story was my favorite, not just for the comedy, but also…

           DANG, that was legitimately terrifying?!When I saw those slimy frog skins, knowing those were actual people, with Hop Pop even suggesting one of them could’ve been Gary… and YIKES, what happens to the flayed bodies?!? Legit I freaked out when I saw the Seamstress, this was straight-up Leather Face, the show wasn’t even trying to be subtleor dodge around it, those were actual people skins! This was some Wartwood Chainsaw Massacre…! Seeing all of those hanging skins and faces gave me the heebie-jeebies, I didn’t expect the show to go THIS far, and while I’m impressed and glad it managed to freak me out, still! That build up to the reveal of Ivy literally ripping off that ‘face’, us seeing a glimpse of the Seamstress before her skins fall off, and it looks like she lacks any skin entirely, and that’s why she wears others’!

           Only, she DOES have skin, it’s just clear- Fun fact, I watched this with my brother and he immediately recognized the Seamstress as a Glass Frog, by name, before Sprig did! I think it was a neat gag how for Sprig, he immediately calms down because for Amphibians, Glass Frogs are a somewhat normal and non-supernatural facet of life, relatively speaking. For us humans, well, it reminds me of this one myth about a woman whose head can rise from her body, unveiling her organs…

           I THOUGHT the episode was going to go the sweet route, even as I joked that the Seamstress still, y’know, KILLED people. And like Apothecary Gary, the show remembered this and we legit had the Seamstress burn to death in a classic horror movie finale, and I yelled when she made one last stand to grab Ivy by the leg and bite her! I get that there’s meant to be an allegory between Ivy not appreciating her own hair, and the Seamstress not appreciating her own skin, body positivity and all that- But mostly I was too freaked out to appreciate it. Ivy waddling around blindly in present-time was adorable, though.

           And, Polly! I LOVE the sort of lesson, the realization that her being gone was scarier than ANY story they’d heard that night (probably because this was real, at least I assume the other stories were fake but regardless). We get our twist of Polly turning into a Were-Tadpole, and then anticlimactically reacting while the others lose their minds as noises of ruckus are heard, implying that Polly immediately went feral afterwards, or the others just made a mess as they freaked out! Also, love the twist on the ending credits, that’s delightfully morbid…

           All in all, this was a great episode! Surprisingly scary, and definitely hilarious- It’s a much-needed break from this Amphibia hiatus, especially now that I’m also dealing with the hiatus for The Owl House and Infinity Train (the latter of whom may be permanent PLEASE watch the show on HBO Max), and Kipo’s ending. I do have Carmen Sandiego’s third season to watch, though. I wonder if there’s any speculation to be gleaned from the Blue Moon turning people into monsters, and how that can connect to Blue Energy for the Calamity Box relating to the virtue of Heart. Does the Blue Moon turn people into a monstrous form that reflects the darker sides/fears of their heart? I’m probably overthinking it. Either way, I’m really glad we got a classic Holiday Episode for this show- I always love those, ESPECIALLY Halloween ones!

[uwua3]

hi! first off, congrats on the new blog!! i read that misumi piece and i really enjoyed it hehe,, if it's alright, may i request some domestic fluff with kazunari? mayb looking over old photo albums of each other from when they were kids and laughing and telling stories about what happened in the photos? thank you very much and i hope u have a nice day :D

hi!!! this made me so happy 🥺 thank you so much, i hope to keep this blog running for a long time! also, i saw your reblog of my jealousy hcs and i wanted to say thank you for your sweet comments!!! i go back to it whenever i need motivation, you inspire me to keep writing ♡ thank you! i hope to continue making you proud as a writer :D <3

summary: kazunari had to stop living in the past and make new memories outside of his yearbooks with you

author’s note: this is definitely a much happier piece than my others! this was refreshing to write and i treasure it dearly, it’s definitely much more on the humorous side! no angst today, folks!!! (ok just a little, but it’s barely noticeable!)

this is just a little look into a hoarder named kazunari and his sentimental, nostalgic personality ♡ i, myself, am a marie kondo supporter so i love decluttering! if you are a hoarder like kazunari, honestly go you! you keep those knick knacks that remind you of memories! do whatever makes you the happiest :D

word count: 2,151

music: make you mine – public, tongue tied – grouplove (this song is so Kazunari !!!)

nostalgia.

🌻🎨 miyoshi kazunari

it was that time of year again

kazunari hated spring cleaning with a passion. so what if his art supplies were all over the dorms? he knew where everything was! uh, mostly...

(if you ignore his daily panicked house searches which kept everyone up way too late if he couldn’t locate a very specific paint shade for a big project he definitely procrastinated)

so, it took, so much bribery to get kazunari to even consider cleaning out his entire dorm room

(muku was a very Good Boy and already had his side of the room perfectly dusted and organized)

yes, you had to promise to pose as a model for one of his paintings one day (hopefully, not the type of class you were thinking) (kazunari’s suggestive wink didn’t help)

the thing about kazunari was he was somewhat of a, putting it politely, hoarder

as an extremely sentimental person, it would take the whole mankai company to even force him to throw something away

(“no! it has a special meaning to me! i remember what happened when i got this~” kazunari would whine, holding the useless item between his hands with no intentions to ever look at it again)

so the boys employed you to be kazunari’s rational judgement when cleaning that day

(“please actually make him do something.” sakyo looked like he was on the border of begging; kazunari’s abundance of random knick knacks and shopaholic addiction problem was becoming an issue that affected everyone)

rule #1 of cleaning kazunari’s storage room: don’t open anything because kazunari will become very sentimental and nothing will get gone

so therefore, as a team, you two tackled the rather spotless room. the interior was minimal and modern, just like kazunari liked it with pops of color here and there

(he had one blank white wall and you realized it was the backdrop he used to film all his social media posts [dancing tik toks, fashion #ootds on instagram, daily vlogs on his growing youtube channel])

at first, you were confused where all his stuff went until you opened a closet against his terrible and unconvincing distractions

without time to react, you found yourself buried in tens of books you couldn’t even fathom how it all fit

(“i’ve played way too much tetris.” kazunari would admit later on when asked about his immaculate stacking)

“you’ve got to be kidding me!” you groaned, pushing your head above the surface of book covers that have either never been opened or were way too old to even be functionable

“i’m sorry~ please, forgive me!” kazunari pleaded, immediately pulling you out of his own mess and using all his cuteness to make you roll your eyes fondly at your best friend

you almost started ranting at him about the dangers of taking up too much closet space with useless items before you realized:

wait! stop! he’s trying to get you to forget about throwing these books out! you thought suddenly, crossing your arms as you stared at the pile, trying to figure out how to approach the situation

“you cannot distract me. we are going through this mound and you will be getting rid of something today.” you ordered, seeing his shoulders drop in defeat as he nodded solemnly, but accepting his fate without any arguments. thank god for that

you two bent down and organized all the books into categories. popular photography instruction guides, creative advice columns, and all his past art textbooks kazunari couldn’t sell were put into a seperate group because luckily, they were relevant to his art school

things like old newspapers with funny comics were recycled (you refused to let kazunari read them in fear of invoking some form of nostalgia) (also because he had the whackiest sense of humor ever and would die laughing)

it was going well, until you reached the thickest photo books of them all (you had almost forgotten what you and kazunari’s school mascot was)

but unsurprisingly, kazunari had every single yearbook from each year of his education all the way until his last year in high school piled high to his chest

even he looked somewhat shocked from his mass accumulation from his teen years

“ah! i’m so old now~ look at all this! what else can i do except die?!” kazunari dramatically flopped onto his bed, tired of lifting so much weight. hey! his arms weren’t meant for exercise, he was a painter!

lifting his head to see you were distracted from alphabetically sorting the first section lovingly dubbed, “art shit”, kazunari mischeviously grinned as he leaned down to snatch a random yearbook

flipping to a random page, kazunari smiled as he realized it was the first time he ever met you back in elementary

kazunari sang your name as he sat upwards, having a shit–eating look on his face as he started swinging his legs back and forth

oh no, he was up to something no good, you knew it but humored him anyways

“yes, kazu?” you turned your line of sight to the most horrible picture possible: you with the ugliest haircut in the entire world with kazunari’s black hair taking up the entire photo as you two sheepishly smiled for the camera. it was not a proud moment

okay, maybe it wasn’t that bad, you just couldn’t help but shriek at the sight of your hair

“oh my god! you can’t just jumpscare me like that!” you laughed despite yourself. you knew you had to be serious and focused on decluttering, but one look at your past made you remember all the good times before so–called “adulthood”

“look at your hair!” you cackled, reaching up to playfully yank at his mullet as he yelped and lightly smacked your hand away. rubbing the back of his neck, kazunari huffed childishly and pouted like he was back in his youth

“come on! this was the pinnacle moment i realized, i should not be a hair dresser.” kazunari commented, making you remember how you just let a random 8–year–old boy waddle up to you with safety scissors and advertise his salon business like a professional

(yes, you bought into it right away. your teacher had a heart attack when she saw you with a majority of your hair on the floor and kazunari keeping small talk like an actual hair stylist)

thinking back after the haircut incident, you weren’t allowed to chat with the funny class clown anymore as you were forced to wear a hat every day

(it was either that or go completely bald to fix the job kazunari did to your head)

it wasn’t until you received a very creative and colorful apology letter with tons of sad faces drawn with waxy crayons that you snuck out to play with him on the swings in recess

“i can’t believe we became friends because i wanted free hair cuts for the rest of my life.” you added, staring at the picture with a sense of nostalgia. you kinda got where kazunari was coming from, memories were fun to look at every once and a while

at least, eleven years worth of memories after being inseperable from that moment forward

(maybe, you should’ve held onto it, you thought, not knowing that would be the first of many art pieces you would be gifted by him)

kazunari knew he won. excited, he dropped down to lay on his stomach as you leaned against the bed, watching as he thumbed through the pages with ease, leaning his head on yours comfortably

it was rare to find kazunari quiet, he must’ve been like this all the time when going through his stuff, you thought, at peace for once

lazily smiling, kazunari put his finger against your yearbook pictures as he reminisced on the past. something about everyone ever in your grade, how kazunari knew everyone and had a special memory with each person, no matter how big or small

“—and here, the teacher somehow caught a pic of us swinging wayyy too high for kids our age!” kazunari laughed, breaking your train of thought as you snickered at the absolute joy radiating from both your faces as you two competed to see who could reach the clouds

(kazu won. you fell off right after and had to get picked up from your parents after badly scraping your knee. it took another sorry letter and art of you two holding hands with a heart for your parents to forgive kazunari)

“let’s go back.” you interrupted him, making him sit up confused as you swung your keys out from your back pocket. it didn’t take any convincing for kazunari to nod right away and took the elementary yearbook into his arm

you two only had to exchange a secret look before formulating a plan to sneak out, leaving music on from kazunari’s speakers to act like kazunari was still cleaning

you two giggled amongst yourselves before clambering into your car, speeding off and laughing loudly from your successful getaway. the manager was none the wiser!

during the short car ride, you and kazunari played your favorite mixtape of all time

(“you kept this?!” kazunari yelled, giddily bouncing up and down from excitement when he discovered the mixtape stash)

he slipped the disc in as you two yelled along to childhood favorites with the windows rolled down, letting the entire neighborhood know the best duo were back in town

(seriously, there were so many you stashed away in your glove department. all labeled in sharpie with compelling titles connected to the inside jokes only you two found funny)

arriving at the destination, you two exited the vehicle to see the play pen was abandoned as the teaching staff went home for the day

the sun was setting and it felt like the playground was in another rift of time as you approached it, hearing the weak movement of the swings going back and forth on their own. you sat down, holding onto the chains. you hadn’t been back ever since you graduated. it hadn’t changed at all

kazunari opened the elementary yearbook back to the original page, pulling out his tripod and phone he always had on hand in his backpack as he set it up right across the swing set

“what are you doing?” you inquired, tilting your head as he fumbled around pressing different buttons and filters too complex for you to remember

looking up, kazunari grinned as he set a timer for 10 seconds before sprinting back to the swing next to you

“swing contest right now! i bet i could swing higher than you ever could!” kazunari challenged childishly, quickly kicking his legs for the momentum. you narrowed your eyes, refusing to lose as you two laughed over the sound of his phone taking a burst of photos

you realized what he was doing. he was re–creating your memories together

but you turned to look at him and your heart skipped a beat. you never remembered him looking this, different, in the purple lighting. for a flashing moment, you swore you saw the silhoutte of his black–haired, child self sit next to you before you blinked and saw him. kazunari was the same, just older now

you slowed down your swing by dragging your sneakers against the wood chipped ground. you grabbed both the swings’ chains to hold them together

you didn’t want to live in the past anymore. you wanted to grow up with him, too

“what—” kazunari started, matching your pace before being cut off by your lips against his, the phone going off for one last time

you pulled yourself in close enough just to smile. he smelled the exact same as he did when he discovered cologne for the first time. he never changed

you pulled away first even if he tried leaning forward for more, like he was waiting all these years just for that one moment. like he saw you in the same light, too

“i wanted to do that for years.” you confessed, watching as he took your hand carefully, like he was afraid you were going to leave. for once, he didn’t know what to do, which face to show

“me too...” kazunari agreed, seemingly speechless before straightening his back, like he was about to run away. the hair on your neck stood up, what was he about to do?

“i promise i won’t cut your hair anymore, unless?” kazunari winked dramatically, mimicking the shape of scissors with his fingers as he tried snipping at your hair

he laughed as you shoved him with all your might, hopping off the swing to chase him throughout the school parking lot

now this was a memory kazunari would never throw away, no matter what

(no one thought the two of you escaped until kazunari posted the pics on his instagram, both of you getting a scolding from sakyo this time)

(busted!)

[trashy-croud]

Home Sweet Home 🏠

So this is it, the final level. I adored this level as a child - well, watching my dad play it at least. It was always stuck in the back of my head that this level was a “bonus” level for getting all of the secrets, it was what I used to think constantly and I continued to think that to this day. So you can possibly guess my surprise when this level popped up all of a sudden because I knew for a fact I missed a few secrets. But this was a nice level, it truly added to the story.

We begin in Lara’s house with her admiring her newest addition to the collection. She’s sat on her bed by (what I suspect to be) a nice toasty fire and then the nice times are ruined. Even from beyond the grave, Bartoli seems to follow us everywhere as his men have broken onto the estate, their cars pulling up in the long driveway. I thought the instant this happened, I could perhaps use the dagger, I mean, it seems like a wild chance but a great opportunity, a bit sad we didn’t see a Croft Dragon, but nonetheless, we would try to get rid of the last few who continued to pursue to treasure.

Before we did so though, I went downstairs to the main hall, which was at one point the training room, and would press the button for some music. Oh, how I have missed this music. It was from the Venice levels, oh Venice Violins, it was absolutely perfect for taking down some people and drowning out the eerie silence. It did make the task of finding people more difficult, sure, because now I had to really listen for the footsteps, but I will not deny that I enjoyed the music. I don’t honestly understand how I found it, I was literally just running around the house to try and find some people as they had scattered absolutely everywhere when I came across the button. And I’m ever so happy that I did!

It was a pretty easy level overall, wasn’t too bad at all to deal with, though me using a shotgun? That had to be the worst part purely because I am useless with the shotgun in these games. My aim with them are shocking and it always will be. There was a lot of darkness, purely because it was night time and we managed to get some outdoors-time with this level. This was pretty much the only level where I had flares, or at least enough flares to survive. I kid you not, I was so happy when I picked them up in the weaponry cupboard. I managed to survive the darkness outside with the help of some flares and with the help of my mum pointing out the enemies that I couldn’t see. Then we were up against the last guy, the one whom we have met before in the opera house and he had unfinished business with us. Either that or it’s his twin brother. Either way, it was take two on the fight and I have never cheered so much when I have beaten an enemy. He wasn’t difficult to deal with, it just felt like the perfect wrap-up. The last grunt to finish the job that his boss had left him to do, and we foiled it yet again. Ah, the joys.

After it all, it was the final cutscene, or better yet, the famous cutscene. We all know this cutscene too well as it was one that broke the third wall. After you have been shot for being a nosy pervert, in roll the final credits and oh my god, I never fell in love more with a game. It had been a long journey and terribly long from the looks of the final stats. Oh, how @jaybird1306​ would be ashamed of me for not collecting them all! But I am happy with all of this, I wasn’t aiming for a full secrets run or anything, this was more of a trip down memory lane game for me and I have fallen in love with every minute of it.

Final Overview

This game is my childhood, and coming back to it was an absolute pleasure. It really sparked some memories for me of times when I would watch my dad play it in my childhood home. He would sit at the computer and I would watch in awe, sometimes running around and unable to sit still, sometimes even copying some of the moves Lara did in-game because I just adored her. This was the game which started my absolute adoration for such a video game icon and Queen. I have absolutely fallen in love again and I highly doubt it will stop any time soon. Now, for some of the features I loves the most.

The use of darkness. It was absolutely phenomenal, especially in the later levels such as the China levels and some of the underwater levels, as much as I don’t want to remember them ones specifically. But that draw distance truly made each level seem much bigger than it was, it also made you wary of what could be in front of you and to think before you act, something I rarely did to be honest. But as I mentioned before, the way they used it in levels such as China, more specifically the Floating Islands, was incredible. I was basically wary of every step and it made you fear the darkness all around you. It gave you a sense of the void and the unknown, a constant theme which I enjoyed greatly.

The use of sound. Oh god the sound and the music, I could honestly gush over it all day. Music truly makes the game and although all games have music, none have struck me as hard as this game did. Right from the menu screen alone, it struck a cord with me. It was beautiful and I almost found myself humming just the menu tune by itself just whilst I was at work or doing chores around the house. They have always impressed me with their timing for sounds or music. The use of silence was just as good as well as they keep you on end when there is utter silence. And then, all of a sudden, BAM, you are hit with some intense music and you have no idea why or what because whatever it is is still in that darkness! It’s just great, it even makes these games seem very thriller-esque with the jumpscares (at least in my eyes) that the music produces.

The graphics and colour palettes. Bring it all back in because I’m about to gush some more. I adore colour palettes and the contrasts they used in the levels, more specifically, as everyone may know, I adored the colours they used in the Temple of Xian, the Tibet levels and lastly, the underwater levels. Although I did not like the underwater levels, the colours used absolutely caught my heart, the contrasting colours made my heart leap a little. The bright colours of the Temple of Xian level was beautiful as well, they were so fancy and beautiful, much like the colours used in the Barkhang Monastery and they started to introduce to us in the Ice Palace and the Catacombs of the Talion. The snowy peaks of the Foothills though were just as nice, although bright on the eyes, they certainly used it as a way to hinder your view of particular enemies or even rolling boulders. Although the graphics, as some would say, are quite outdated, I enjoyed the blocky graphics. They helped to give me a better idea of what to do and where to go, to become more calculated with my jumps and actions to take. It may also just be me having a moment and being a bit biased, but I adore these graphics. They are perfect to me. Although I do enjoy a lot more realistic graphics for games, the ones for these games were just perfect to me. The graphics suited the game itself and I understand they will change over time the more I progress, but I believe I will still fall in love with these graphics time and time again.

Lastly is the story. As a child, I took not much notice to the story, but replaying it now, I have started to understand the story a bit more. It is beautifully written and is clear, so long as you pay attention to cutscenes or any sort of dialogue, which I made the mistake of missing during the diving area, but nonetheless, I watched back the scene and was able to catch up to understand properly what was happening and why we were collecting particular relics and items. The enemy himself, Marco Bartoli, was a formidable foe, continuously sending enemies to cover his tracks but sadly, he made it too obvious for us to follow after and foil his plans. He was a very interesting villain, and he got his wish in the end, to become the dragon of his dreams. Just bad timing on his part that we were also aiming for the dagger at the same time. But the story was fun to watch unfold and was, in all honesty, quite new to me, bearing in mind, I thought it all as just a “shoot-em-up”, adventure game. How naive I was as a child, but at least now, I properly understand it all.

This game has certainly left its mark on me and I’m glad it did. It got my mum more involved as she told me what she thought I'd need to do whenever I was stuck. My dad, on the other hand, would only chip in with comments such as "that's not how you do that" and then would quickly try to go back to his little cat nap afterwards. Two completely different types of help, one more so than the other. But overall, I have enjoyed this game and I hope you guys have enjoyed watching me play it as well, or at least have enjoyed hearing my thoughts, opinions and what I encountered. This has been Tomb Raider 2, and this ends the chapter on my favourite Tomb Raider game, whether that changes though is another story. But we’ll have to see. I will now begin playing the third instalment and boy, we are starting with a clean slate this time because I barely know anything on this game, save for the first level (which I never finished) and a couple of cutscenes. Otherwise, we are about to trek into new territory and I hope to write about the next game to come. Now I leave you all with a song and want to thank you all for joining me on this bumpy ride! See you all on the next one!

[notcatherinemorland]

ok i Had a bit of Fancy UpMyArse Analysis about ‘emotional horor’ as a (sub)genre but i then saw a fire emblem post so naturally ive forgotten every other thought in my head. 

i absolutely sound like an asshole, and i know nothing about any of this. but i have a lot of emotions and i like gothic novels so therefore im absolutely 110% qualified to wax lyrical on the failings of modern horror as a genre.

the book i read that had ‘emotional horror’ as a tag-along line was devil rock by paul tremblay (which, wonderful book but i preferred his other two) where the pivot of the fear element, if u like, was the fear of a mother who’s child had gone missing. 

every time i talk about horror genre i Have to do the thing where i define things for the imaginary reader bc when i talk about horror and terror, i fully subscribe to ann radcliffe’s definition. i’m sure ive mentioned it time and time again here BUT because i enjoy talking about it. Terror is ~ the feelings of fear and dread, the suspense of the horror, capitalising on the anxiety, .. the gothic liminal space effect, if ur me, where you Know you’re not safe, but you’re not face to face with the danger. the space in between. Horror is ~ confrontation with the monster itself, fits alongside sublime and grotesque, its shock and repulsion and the immediate threat, the adrenaline rush that comes with experiencing the horror element. 

i don’t say that to be condescending or to mansplain.. i say that so a) any poor soul who reads things i say (future me) knows what the fuck im on about when i talk about it & b) . i just really enjoy chatting about that. i just. like talking about the difference between horror and terror . idk why. i just dig it.  also here down ‘horror’ equals radcliffe horror, ‘horror genre’ = .. the genre of horror. horror as the noun.

anyway. ‘emotional horror.’ i remember it struck me at first because i thought huh isn’t horror as a genre based in emotion? - but with pure regard to modern horror, emotional horror seems to mean the provocation of empathy for the characters, or that the ‘horrific element’ stems from an emotional source - grief, mental health, a missing child from a mother’s perspective. 

i fully admit i haven’t watched/read enough what i could annoyingly call ‘horror-horror’ content, ie films that rely a lot of physical action and reaction to be horror - the shining with physical safety, that one film about the deaf woman being hunted in her cabin in the woods (great film, i hated the experience of watching it.) uhh. i’m a philistine so i’d shove literally any standard horror film under this banner. friday 13th, chucky, that kinda thing. i’m sure there’s really nuanced analysis of them about the themes they explore like omnipresence of religion and how god doesn’t matter in a world with free will and that kind of thing . but the annoying bottom line for me is that if it’s got jumpscares and gore, it gets shoved into ‘this is a film with emphasis on radcliffe horror and i will Suffer.’ so. i don’t watch them. i fucking HATE jumpscares. I am abolutely passing judgement on a genre i have no taste for or care to experience, and tho i therefore should not talk about it . this will not stop me . 

sorry, it’s 1am. where was i. emotional horror. 

modern horror is a very foreign ground to me, because i just. entrenched myself in a little pit of gothic lit for 3 years, discovered that ‘woah! this is a contemporary genre too!’ and then read 5 chapters of stephen king and lost my faith in humanity hjgfhhhj. but emotional horror? that’s a fucking fascinating catagory. but i really bloody wonder why it’s been segregated from pure horror genre. because imo. they Should be one in the same. whats the point in horror genre content if it’s not digging claws into proper emotional fears and making a story out of that. OH one book i loved reading was ‘the wrong train’ by . someone. where the fear is typical and very abstract until the very last lines (spoilers.. where the protagonist is set up to die offscreen) and it’s a Beautiful twist. it’s very strange because the kicker of the book was the very last part and left largely unexplored. but at the same time if a story was to start there and follow onwards.. i’d be likely to shove it in my ‘horror-horror’ catagory. depending on if it explored the emotional effects on the characters in a way that was more than physical. 

films - especially films, because unless the writer is doing a dickhead move and eliminating the character’s emotional depth from the narrative, tend to have superficial displays of terror, horror and overwhelming emotion. by limitation of the medium alone . it’s the show not tell thing all over again. film a woman screaming and crying in fear of the ghost hunting her.. or have the camera circle her, blur all the shot but her, make the shot of her as intense as the emotion the actress portrays. i absolutely sound like an asshole, and i know nothing about this. but i have a lot of emotions and i like gothic novels so therefore im absolutely 110% qualified to wax lyrical on the failings of modern horror FHIGBKEFH. 

it’s one thirty am and i need to STOP oh my god how did i write this much about fucking horror genre but i can’t write 4000 characters of a ucas statement. many reasons, mostly that a ucas statement is zero wasted space and this ramble is 90% dead air. 

anyway. emotional horror. im fucking fascinated . im appreciative of the segregation so i can find things i’ll enjoy. but. why push it into a niche when it’s fucking integral to what makes horror .. good/worthwhile (to be an asshole)/what i personally enjoy lmao

edit: i didn;t actually,, fuckign say this,, when i say ‘exploring horror thru physical means’ like the asshat i am, i mean hack and slash film, gore, onscreen bodily trauma. that kinda content. the things out find in season 4 of supernatural. where the film is very concerned with exploring the boundaries of the physical body ie . get grusomely dismembered. as opposed to ‘emotional horror’ .. like the babadook honestly. where the boundaries crossed are very mental and emotional. 

that.. that’s a whole different post and the one i was actually trying to make. fuck. 

also. i’m just a picky bitch. one kind of horror is not necessarily better or worse than the other, and we choose where we place our value in media. personal taste is paramount and im not here to shit on what other people enjoy. i just happen to be annoying about what i do. 

[rkdaehwi]

TEAM ROYAL GROUP FINALS PERFORMANCE PART I : PERFORMANCE MGA5 contestant #5042 Sohn Youngjae ROYAL FLUSH Performing All Night - Astro {{ Lyric distribution }} & Luv - She’z {{ Lyric distribution }} Partner: Do Kyungsoo { @rkkyungsoo​ } & Lee Suwoong { @rksuwoong​ } & Jeon Heejin { @rkheejin​ } Coaches: Cheri { @rkcheri​ } & Ella { @rkella​ } & Jeon Wonwoo { @rkwon​ } Outfit: All Night & Luv ( pastel yellow instead of pink )

“ At the end of the road is the beginning of a new future ”

Finals. A word Eric would usually associate in a negative way with school and the end of the year, but while this certainly was the end of a road it was not loaded with negative emotions; rather those of excitement and anticipation. When he had signed up again his only goal had been to get further than he had last year: never in his wildest imagination had he imagined that he would actually stand here today, hearing the announcement of his victory -- his group’s victory -- and almost all of them having secured a spot in the finals. He was sad about Hyojin, much more than he had anticipated he would be, because after their little talk he had actually come to appreciate the other much more. And he wondered -- was he being one big hypocrite? Had him forcing Hyojin to practice for a different song on top of everything else caused the guy to lose focus on what mattered and face his elimination? Eric couldn’t help but feel at fault.

There was no time to feel sad about what was lost though, for come Friday it was already time to prepare again, this time for not only one but two big performances in the span of one week. It was going to be intense, he already knew that, but fortunately for him Eric was a guy who was ready to give his all as long as it was something he liked doing (had it been studying for an exam he might not have approached it with the same gung-ho attitude).

It was time again to sit down and talk, and while everyone was gathered the coaches came in with a surprise ice cream cake. Eric could feel his love for the Luxe girls rise (those kinds of cakes weren’t exactly cheap were they?) and he supposed Wonwoo hyung wasn’t all that bad either even if he was a bit reserved. The moment they took the first few steps into the room however, it was as though time ran in slow motion: a small awkward hand movement resulted in the cake flying a very smooth path towards the floor, and Eric could do nothing but watch in horror, almost feeling the tears press in the corners of his eyes. Not that he was a big fan of all the calories he was going to take in through it, but this had been a special present, and he had intended to cherish it to the last bite. Now it was just there: ruined.

Disappointment was a very accurate word to describe what he was feeling, but upon looking up at the coaches something seemed off, and soon enough he came to realise why: there was a second cake. They had been pranked. The shock was still so strong in Eric’s body that he couldn’t focus on anything but feeling embarrassed that he almost cried in front of the others over something so stupid. He wasn’t a little kid anymore after all, but that certainly did make him seem like one. But he was also relieved that he would get to accept the offering from Cheri and Ella (and Wonwoo too he supposed) after all, although he wondered if spending so much money on a prank had really been necessary. But that was that, and it was time to sit down and enjoy the cake without thinking too much about his calorie intake.

Suddenly Eric had got an idea and had taken out his phone. “Hey guys! Let’s call Hyo hyung!” he had said enthusiastically, already pressing in the number. It was early -- heck, the guy might even be occupied by any number of things -- but Eric had no such considerations in his mind as he connected the call. “Hyung~!” he called out into the phone that showed the older male’s face, and he tried to fit everyone into the small frame the camera provided. “Look what you’re missing out on!” Perhaps it was cruel, but Eric had no such intentions when he had got the idea -- in fact not even when Hyojin was whining about how he wanted cake too did he realise that he was probably flaunting his luck. Suwoong took a bit of cake and held it out to Hyojin (or rather Eric’s phone) and Eric started cackling loudly until the cake was so close to the screen that it almost hit. “Wah! Don’t kill my phone!” he exclaimed in horror. Their little tomfoolery soon came to an end and it was time to move on to more serious matters.

As it had been the week before quite a few song titles had been tossed out into suggestion and while they had pretty quickly settled on their Royal performance, their Sphere one ended up in split opinions between two songs. A consultation with the coaches -- “have you considered a girl group song maybe?”, “I was praised for my feminine movements back in my own performance.”, “I’d like to suggest She’z!” -- had led to them taking the discussion a whole other way, perhaps also out of consideration for Heejin, the sole girl on the team. Honestly Eric preferred it this way. He was after all a girl group enthusiast by heart, and while he certainly had got to show a lot more masculine charms this time around, he definitely still appreciated the more graceful movements. They just made him feel more in his element.

Songs decided upon they already faced their next problem: All Night was a choreography that required strong leg muscles, and while Eric himself didn’t have any particular problems (as a gymnast he was surprisingly muscular) the same didn’t apply for all of them. He wanted to whine about it, say that he could already pull it off just fine, but since it had been Ella who said that they needed to work on their glutes he wasn’t about to disregard her, and instead figuratively wagged his tail like a little puppy as he (more or less) happily joined the others in their squatting exercises.

Coming in the next day Eric never realised that his heart would jump out of his chest first thing in the morning until he walked into the room and was met with a loud “boo” that sent him shrieking and retreating to the other end of the room. “Don’t do that!” he whined and hit Suwoong’s chest a couple of times with light fists, but was pulled in to join the surprise lineup after they managed to calm him down again. The idea was fun enough as long as it wasn’t directed at him Eric supposed, and once his heart had settled he also supposed that it had been a bit fun. Just a bit though.

Soon came the second round of the jumpscare and the moment they jumped out Cheri was sent to the floor in shock much like Eric himself had been. Immediately he felt bad (he should have seen this kind of reaction come and opposed it shouldn’t he?) and he was going to rush to Ella’s side to comfort her and apologise, but Kyungsoo was faster. Eric stood behind watching the older crouch down by her and in his silent mind he cursed him for taking advantage of a vulnerable girl (not minding the fact that he had fully intended to do so himself). Curse you, ghost hyung. Curse you.

Training resumed as normal after their little mishap and continued long into the evening and started early the next day. Breaks were taken at irregular intervals whenever people felt like them, and it was after one such that Eric noticed Kyungsoo behaving suspiciously. Perhaps it was just in his mind, but something about the guy’s aura screamed that he was up to something, and naturally the young teen got the brilliant idea that he had to see what it was. Almost as if in a spy movie Eric followed close behind, scooting from one light pole to the next, hiding conspicuously behind trees and light poles until they eventually reached their destination. Eric firmly believed that he had to be some kind of genius at tailing people: perhaps he should become a detective instead of an idol?

Trying to mingle in with the crowd, his eyes were locked on the older male as he set himself up and began his little street performance. Eric watched in awe throughout the entire thing and found himself with more respect for Kyungsoo who was really trying his best to succeed in this whole thing. Even if he had completely murdered Toxic and everything Britney Spears stood for, Eric supposed that the older wasn’t all that bad after all. He cheered vigorously as the performance came to a close and hurried away before the older could come to see him. The rest of the day he spent looking at Kyungsoo with a cocky smile whenever he thought the other wasn’t looking.

It was Tuesday when Kyungsoo came into the room after excusing himself early the previous day and presented them all with small snacks and sticky notes of encouragement and yet again Eric felt bad that he had taken up so much of Hyojin’s time that could have been spent on practicing instead. He felt awful for how upset he had been with the older boy last week: after all he must have felt just as guilty as Eric did now after everything that happened. But there was nothing to do than put everything behind him and just wait for Hyojin to join him later (he had to or Eric would be upset).

Later in the evening Suwoong suggested that they pranked the coaches again to which Eric immediately opposed. “Didn’t you see how shocked they were last time?!” he had reminded the rest, hands in his sides and a frown on his face. “I swear Cheri noona and Ella noona looked like they were about to pass out! I’m gonna tell them if you pull anything like last time.” Immediately Suwoong tried to assure him that this time it was a harmless prank, and although skeptical at first, Eric eventually agreed to join in when he heard about the details: he had to admit it sounded kind of fun. And thus they spent a bit practicing for this new little prank -- if nothing else at least their enthusiasm was near the top.

When everyone came in the next day they excitedly announced that they had changed their second song choice -- they had found one that fit Sphere’s playful and upbeat image much better -- after which Eric took out his otamatone and played the beginning notes of PPAP. Heejin and Kyungsoo were singing sensually and himself and Suwoong were dancing with all their might (at least as best he could while playing the instrument) and they tried their best to hold a serious expression, but eventually cracked up in laughter upon seeing the disbelief and horror radiating from their coaches. Though his own laughter Eric apologised and promised that he would spend the last time practicing extra hard to make up for tricking them again.

Come Friday the mood felt incredibly weird compared to the high spirits that had driven them all throughout the week: probably because everyone knew this was the end of the road and that tomorrow they would know the results of their upcoming fate. It was kind of overwhelming to the young boy and he spent most of the day in a crestfallen manner that was uncharacteristic to his otherwise high spirits. When they were done with their last training together (although hopefully only for now) Eric stood a bit and pulled at the hem of his shirt before he opened up his arms. “Can we... do a group hug?” he asked, and not opposing him the others accepted his embrace. Immediately Eric could feel the tears form in his eyes and soon he buried his face in someone’s shoulder (he wasn’t entirely sure who in the mass of bodies and with his own emotional status) as he started hiccuping to hold back the tears.

When asked what was wrong he sniffled and looked up at the others. It was probably stupid reasons, but he couldn’t help getting so emotional now that it was finally nearing the end and that they were standing here together. “It’s just...” he began in between sobs. “I never expected to get this far. My goal was really just to get further than last year, but here we are and it’s the finals! And I get to represent Royal and everything, it’s my dream company and I’m just... I’m just so happy.” The one who came to cheer him up was, much to his surprise, Kyungsoo. The analogy was kind of macabre, but he supposed it did the job and he ended up cracking into a laughter in between his tears. “Thank you ghost hyung-- I mean Kyungsoo hyung. Really, thank you. Let’s smash it tomorrow!” Suwoong had pushed his cousin aside and assured Eric that his tears were all fine to which the young teen had given a firm nod and a big smile in between the sobs.

And thus, before he even knew it, Saturday had come. The past week had gone by so fast that Eric could only wonder where it had gone. Had they done enough? Could they have done more? Or something different? Were their song choices okay? There were so many questions running around his head and so many concerns that he wasn’t used to. Eric was very much a ‘just get it over and done with and then regret afterwards’ type, but now the fate of three other people was also dependent on how well he did so it put a whole other stress on him that he wasn’t used to. Throughout the performances he could barely focus, just sitting to himself and running everything over in his mind. It felt like time went far too fast when it was time for their first performance. Giving a deep exhale Eric jumped a bit on the spot to loosen his body and shot a firm nod to his team mates to let them know that he was ready.

“Hello, we are Royal Flush!” they introduced themselves when standing upon the stage, and from Kyungsoo to Suwoong and Heejin everyone addressed themselves as respectively the ace, king and queen of hearts until it was Eric’s turn. “And I’m the jack of hearts, ya boy Eric in the house!” Finishing off the introduction they got into position. He had to admit he was really impressed with what they could do with stage decorations this time. Not only did they have the big screen that was going to play the video of blowing flower petals throughout their performance, they also had the standing and hanging plants as decorations.They definitely intended to put on an impressive show, that much was for sure.

Starting on the floor the first beats of All Night sounded within the set and soon after their tough glutes training was put to use as they had to rise up. For a nice change Eric felt grateful to Ella and Cheri for drilling them through those squats so religiously, for he didn’t feel any issues getting up at all. Kyungsoo had started them off followed by Kyungsoo and Heejin and for a bit it was only the three of them singing. When it was time for the chorus they had decided to drop the spinning jump from the original choreography mainly to put focus on the difficult floor parts and the practice for them out of consideration of their non-dancers. Straight after the chorus came Eric’s part.

밤새 전화하자 한날 고민하다 부지런하지 못한 날 좀 일어나라고 전화해준 너라 마지못해 통화하다 내가 live it up, live it up 벌써 time to pick it up, pick it up woo Ooh 우리 빼고 일어나는 시간이야 다시 한번 good morning

도통 모르겠어 내가 맞는지 솔직히 나는 관심이 없어라고 했던 것들은 다 거짓이야 뭐긴 eh 널 찾고 있는 거지 습관처럼 내 손이 기억해 너의 전화번호

Much like last week Eric was in charge of rapping as the only one in the group who actually even remotely knew how to rap. He wasn’t even that good a singer in the first place so it wasn’t like it bothered him too much that he didn’t get to show (and quite possibly butcher) high notes and fancy vocal techniques, but instead could show the versatility he possessed. And in some way he supposed that even though he only had the rap parts for this song, he still had more parts overall than the rest of them, purely because he took over the rap for two original members. It was hard as he was the only one who knew how to rap both in the group and amongst the coaches so he was very much on his own in his practice. But taking inspiration from real rappers, he had practiced while biting a pen to practice his diction.

오늘은 무슨 일 있었어 그래서 어떻게 했었어 그래서 그렇게 했었어 그 순간 말이 끊기더니

시간 날 때 전화해 어디 갈 때 전화해 자기 전에 전화해 일어나서 전화해 내 통화 기록 보면 너로 꽉 차있지만 그래도 니 목소리 듣고 얘기하고 싶었어

Immediately after his rap Heejin followed up with a high note and walked across the stage where Suwoong was waiting for her. Together they did the killing part -- although it would have been simpler to follow the original choreography and have Suwoong pick up Eric, the youngest member of the group had insisted that their king and queen did it this time considering himself and Kyungsoo had done the killing part last week. It was only fair to switch things up a bit and let everyone have a chance to shine.

Soon the song came to an end and Eric was sitting with his back against Suwoong looking for the camera that filmed them -- look for the red light, Wonwoo had told him -- and gave a wink once he found it. It was a serious performance, so he had to hold back the big smile that threatened to make its way upon his face. There would be plenty of time for that later on. Now that the first performance was over and he had been eased a bit into the whole thing, Eric felt himself calm down quite a bit. This was no different from every other time and he simply had to enjoy it all the same as he had every other time. He even had time to pay attention to the other performances this time instead of just sitting to himself and not being able to look past his own nose out of nerves.

It felt like no time at all had passed until it was their time again and for the second time that evening team Royal made it onto the stage this time after undergoing a wardrobe change. Their pastel yellow clothes had been carefully selected by Heejin and Suwoong keeping Sphere’s colour scheme in mind and it was honestly kind of fun to see the dark and mysterious Do Kyungsoo donning an outfit with such a cutesy feeling to it. Yet again they introduced themselves as Royal Flush upon making it onto the stage and this time Suwoong started explaining how this song was something they had picked for the audience as a thanks for supporting them throughout everything.

Beginning the cutesy song and dance Eric felt entirely in his element as he knew nothing better than swinging his hips in pretty girl group movements. On the internet he had always received quite a few nasty comments when uploading his covers, but that had never stopped him -- why should he stop doing something he enjoyed just because he didn’t conform with someone’s idea of masculinity? No, it was much more fun to just do as he pleased: and the good comments were also enough to make up for it so it was okay in the end.

유난히 지치고 길었었던 하루에 내 편은 하나도 없죠

너 하나 너만 내 옆에 있어주면 아무것도 필요 없던 그날을

To make matters even better, this song was fully vocal. Admittedly Eric had neglected his singing practice in favour of being more up to par with his rapping for the sake of the team, but it wasn’t like he was a bad singer in the first place. Perhaps he could have done with practicing some more, but done was done and furthermore they had made sure that all the technically difficult parts actually went to people who could pull them off. Meanwhile Eric’s purpose was to shine through as a triple threat, something he didn’t get to do properly back in the contest hosted by TRC. He still regretted that. Had he known that other companies would be signing people too, he would have done much more than just participate for the sake of participating. This was his time to turn everything around and do everything he possibly could and in his favourite genre nevertheless.

믿을 수가 없어 한참 지나버린 우리 얘기

When he had made the lyrics distribution he had tried to take everyone’s strength into consideration while at the same time paying attention to making sure everyone got to shine equally. In All Night he would have preferred at least some vocal lines too, but the rap parts had given him so many lines that he would completely overtake the song if he did any more. He didn’t want to make it seem like ‘Sohn Youngjae and company’ either. This was their stage all together, and he had wanted to show it off as such.

너 하나 너만 나를 믿어 준다면 세상 가장 힘이 됐던 그대가 날

The second chorus came about and they performed the characteristic hand movements again. Eric was mouthing along to the ‘L.O.V.E LUV’ parts without even realising it. This moment was everything he craved for. Standing on a stage with people he cared for while fans were cheering from down below. He really wanted this he realised, and not just as an extension of Dowoon’s dream, but because he himself, Eric Sohn, wanted to be an idol. That realisation almost made him cry again, but he bit down on his lip to not burst out into tears through the performance. Instead he swiped the emotions away with a bright and heartfelt smile. He really was his own person wasn’t he? With his own free will, his own dreams and his own purpose in life.

Harmonising with Suwoong in the bridge it was almost time for the end of the performance and after Heejin threw her flower and the last chorus hit, the older male yelled to the audience and urged them to do the dance moves alongside the team on the stage. Even if they didn’t know the song and dance beforehand, the move was so simple  that anyone should be able to keep up with it. That was also something they had taken into account when picking songs -- All Night was a tough choreography so they wanted something lighter and easier for the second or they were just going to burn themselves out. It was better to do one advanced and one simple dance right than attempt and botcher two advanced ones.

믿을 수가 없어 한참 지나버린 우리 얘기

With his last line and the rest of the team joining in halfway through they brought an end to this year’s MGA performances all together. Eric’s expression was bright and he hoped that he radiated how much he really enjoyed this for there was no lie to those emotions. In a sense it was kind of bittersweet, because no matter what the result was going to be from here on out, there was no denying the fact that he wouldn’t be standing on a stage this big for a long while. But there was nothing to do than indulge in the moment and enjoy what he had got throughout the show. Especially for the sake of his friends who didn’t make it this far.

As the very last performance of the year had come to a close Eric bowed to the audience and waved enthusiastically as he walked backwards all the way backstage again. Would they win? There was no way of telling right now. But he had to believe in himself. Had to believe in them. And he was going to.