#happy birthday ichigo :b

[gutros]

Day 6. Bravery [before despair]

[lielove]

dairy entry ; hoshino ai's twelfth birthday.

the caretaker read off the names of all the children who had a birthday this week. it was so monotone and boring, i could tell that she didn't care at all... some of the other kids smiled and clapped when they heard their names... or a friends. but nobody did that for me.

but that's fine, i wasn't expecting them to anyway.

there was a small, round chocolate cake this time. the caretaker said to make sure all the birthday kids got a slice but, as usual, the kids just run up and take it. she doesn't do anything to actually make sure that the birthday kids get anything, and the cake is too small.

i didn't get my slice again this year. but that's fine, too. : )

dairy entry ; hoshino ai's thirteenth birthday.

it's my first birthday working under strawberry productions as an idol. there's only four of us in b-komachi right now; watanabe, nino, takamine and myself. nino seemed a bit annoyed at the whole thing, but the other girls were nice.

director ichigo bought a big cake... it said "happy birthday ai" in big letters.

this is the first time i've had a cake just for me.

i split it with the girls, but i was able to take the rest home with me. it was shaped like a strawberry, and tasted like it too.

after we ate cake the girls gave me some presents, watanabe's gift was my favorite. ✰

diary entry ; hoshino ai's fourteenth birthday.

b-komachi had a mini concert today, so i spent my birthday performing with the girls. director ichigo still brought a cake, he sliced it and let us have some after the meet and greet.

so many of my fans brought me gifts and wrote letters... i've never had so many people care about my birthday... care about me. i'm going to take the time to read them all when i have some time off.

these people... they really love me. i'll have to keep lying to them so they'll always see me as their picture perfect star. ♡

maybe a day will come where i can shout "i love you" out into the crowd and mean it, that'd be nice.

diary entry ; hoshino ai's fifteenth birthday.

the people at lala lai are nice.

they were just as... no, maybe they were even more enthusiastic about throwing a party for me than director ichigo was. is this how life at the theater always is ?? i'm still pretty new here but everyone is treating me like i've been there for years already. it'll take some getting used to... but i can just lie my way through it so nobody realizes, eheh.

i had to step away from the party for a bit.

i found a boy standing outside when i did, he was smoking a cigarette and looking up at the sky. i think his name was hikaru ?? i've met so many people since i came here... it's hard to remember everyone... and i've never really been good with names.

he's got a memorable face, though. so i don't think i'll forget him.

i don't even think the rest of the theater group realized that i spent the rest of the party out there with him. ✨

diary entry ; hoshino ai's sixteenth birthday.

i'm staying the night at hikaru-kun's tonight.

spending the entire day with him... feels kinda romantic, aha... ♡

i was able to get a reservation at that nice restaurant, we've got a private place tucked away for ourselves there, no one should bother us at all, and it's all thanks to that director for helping me find restaurants and places where we could keep meeting in secret.

i haven't been able to tell him i love him and mean it, but i do like him a lot... it sounds kinda silly when i write it out like that.

but being his girlfriend, and calling him my boyfriend. it's nice.

i think today is going to be a really fun day.

diary entry ; hoshino ai's seventeenth birthday.

it's my first birthday since the twins were both... now that they're here i don't think i could ask for a better gift. they're so small and cute... just looking at them makes me so, so happy.

miyako and director ichigo stopped by with a small cake and a few necessities, he gave me a small bonus as a birthday gift... he didn't have to, but i think he did it so i could have more to put towards my kids.

i've gotta do even better as an idol so i can keep seeing their cute smiling faces, i want to give them the best life that i can... as their mother... i'm all they have, and i have to give it all i've got.

diary entry ; hoshino ai's eighteenth birthday.

i think miyako tried to help the kids make a birthday card for me, it was the first thing i saw when i woke up this morning. it's a little hard to make out but it's cute... i'm going to put it up on the fridge anyway. i'll have to thank her later for that.

today i have a photoshoot at nine, an interview at noon, and i'm going to be a guest star for a radio station from three to five. that's how most days have been recently, though.

i'll probably ask director ichigo if he can pick up a cake that we can all share once i'm home, the kids probably shouldn't have sugar so late at night but... it's a special occasion so i think it'll be okay, just this once.

diary entry ; hoshino ai's nineteenth birthday.

the filming for that was the start is still ongoing, but i think it might wrap up soon ?? the cast and crew threw a little party for me for my birthday. it was sweet of them. i had fun, but i was really looking forward to getting home... i picked up some board games to play with ruby and aqua the other day... spending some time with my family is all i want for my birthday this year.

i've been so busy that i've spent more time out of the house than in, i know miyako is taking care of the kids but... as their mother, i should still make sure to spend time with them, too.

diary entry ; hoshino ai's twentieth birthday.

b-komachi is going to be performing at the dome today. director ichigo talks so highly of it... i wonder what it'll be like. there'll probably be a lot of people.

he said he was going to get some of the nicest champagne he could find and we'd have a toast once we gets me back home after the show. does alcohol taste good ?? i don't really see the appeal but... i'll still try it. he seems to really like it, at least.

there's front row tickets for ruby, aqua and miyako. as long as i can see my kids in the crowd then i'm sure i'll be shining just as bright -- no, i'll shine even brighter than usual.

[weird-dere-fics]

HAPPY BIRF MY LOVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE TELL ME TELL ME WHAT ARE THE BLORBITOS DOING FOR YOU TODAY !!!! ILY !!!!!!!!<3333

CHEWWWIIIIIIII MI AMOR, MI ESTRELLITA, HEWWOOO AND FANK YOOOUUUUUUUUU. TE AMO MUCHO :3 <3. Ay mi blorbitos favoritos🥺🥺🥺. The holy trinity, if u will <333. They are bein so absolutely sweet to me on this day. Each of them telling me how beautiful and precious I am from the very first moment I woke up all scrumkly in bed 🥹💖. Each of them in their own words telling me how lucky they are to have stumbled across me and fell for me; how much I and my love means to them. When I tell you my little heart was just about burst out my chest. Could not resist crying and hugging the life out of them. Wanted to cuddle for hours 😩. (and maybe escalate into other things ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) 🍆🍑💦)

Ichigo absolutely poured his entire heart into a little something he wrote especially for me that had me on my knees 🧎🏾‍♀️💜. Had outifts prepared for a date he'd set up for us. Pls the way he made me feel so absolutely gorgeous was just *chefs kiss*. Then he proceeded to take me out to have some of the most delicious food, all on him. He got me flowers. He took me to see some stunning views together. He took so many pictures of me. All in all, I melted. He was so romantic, it was like Valentine's Day on my birthday (which is funny since my b-day is the day right after LMAO). The plan is to get intimate tonight to the playlist I made uwuwuwuwuwuwu. Katsuki opted for spending the day in with me, but it was no less sweet. Made me breakfast in bed and sang me happy birthday :3. We spent all day comfy and cozy in our sleeping clothes/lounging clothes. Lots of cuddling n soft kisses. Mans got me a cheesecake and some chocolate covered strawberries that we shared together <3. We played games, watched shows, took naps. He lit a good smelling candle, put on some lofi, and gave me massage too uwu. He was just so gentle with me and i love him sm 🧡. All in all, I was at peace. He knew how to make my mind stop running and helped me to just relax (and not feel bad about it) on my special day. Wanna give him sloppy SO BAD, but he insists he'll be doing the eating, so ☺️.

Soma decided to take me on a whole vacation this year. Mans had two plane tickets booked for somewhere tropical and so many plans for us. I got to see and experience some beautiful beautiful places with him. We got to try new and exotic foods together. We spent so much time walking through different stores, windowshopping and stocking up on things we couldn't get normally where we live. It was all so so much fun! And through it all, he never stopped telling me how much I deserved all this, and how seeing my smile and my joy was what was making this entire trip for him 🥲💗. All in all he made me feel so valuable and special. I am going to love him and love on him (in all of the ways 😏) forever n ever 🥰.

They are absolutely everything to me 💞💞💞💞💞.

[oh-no-its-bird]

Thank u sm for ur nice tags @ohai-there they were the funniest shit ever and also allowed me to make this, which I also think is the funniest shit ever but I am a) incredibly biased and b) really fucking tired from drawing this all night instead of going to bed

IM SO GLAD U LIKE HARUKA THO !!! She has that unstoppable bisexual older woman riz fr, I'm so happy knowing u like her dicbsofbdkf

It's actually a good thing that Ichigo died at 15, the world wouldn't be able to handle the weight of her ego at literally any age 16 and up. If Ichigo managed to reach her 18th birthday all of Konoha would probably immediatley catch fire.

Trying to get back into animation but also oh my god my attention span can not handle this.

Take a silly little Haruka and Ichigo animation I did, I'm actually especially proud of Ichigo tbh— I think her simple shapes make her a lot easier to animate than the hell that is Haruka's everything

Who knows what crimes Ichigo has been committing while Haruka was distracted. Whatever it was, Haruka probably approves, so it was most likley at someone else's expense

[thehealerhairpin]

Full name : Orihime Inoue Race : Human Ethnicity : Japanese Birthday : September 3rd Age : verse dependent (main verse 15-17. will only RP as adult Orihime if requested but will NOT age her up for shipping purposes) Height : 157cm/5'2 Weight : 45kg/99Ibs - 49kg/108Ibs Blood type : B Sexuality : Omniromantic with lean towards man Gender : CIS female

BACKSTORY (COPY AND PASTE FROM WIKI)

Orihime and her brother, Sora Inoue, were raised by a drunken father and a prostitute mother, who always argued and beat their children. Fearing that their parents would kill Orihime, in the March that Sora turned eighteen, he ran away with Orihime, who was three years old, and raised her on his own from then on. For nine years, Orihime and Sora lived in harmony despite the fact that Orihime was bullied in school because of her unusual hair color. One day, Sora gave Orihime a pair of hairpins. However, Orihime refused to wear them because she said they were childish. That day, Sora died, and Orihime began wearing the hairpins every day since. After Sora's death, Orihime prayed for him every day. A year after Sora died, Orihime met Tatsuki Arisawa and befriended her and the amount of days she prayed for him diminished. After entering Karakura High School, she stopped praying for him and instead talked about Ichigo before she left and when she returned from school. She wanted to show Sora that she was happy and that he did not have to worry about her.

Since Sora's death, Orihime has lived by herself in Karakura Town, receiving financial support from a distantly related aunt living elsewhere.

PERSONALITIES

a sweet smart yet naive girl, neurodivergent with ADHD. really hyper and likes to talk about things she likes. likes to cook up weird food with weird combination making her food looks not very edible, but nevertheless all of them taste good, it just looks really unappetizing. she's not very good with social cues and tends to misunderstood other points or sometimes she tends to take things as jokes too literally or too seriously. heavily insecure about herself due to her past. she tends to zone out everyday and likes to stare at a wall. she stims by flapping her hands and jumping or overall just walking around, one of her stims is also really hurtful because at times when she gets too excited but couldn't expressed it she'll starts hitting her legs or arms.

STATISTIC (COPIED FROM @/HALFAFISHANDAWHOLEHUMAN)

Strength: 🎔 🎔 🎔

Stamina: 🎔 🎔

Durability: 🎔 🎔 🎔

Intelligence: 🎔 🎔 🎔 🎔 🎔

Magic: 🎔 🎔 🎔 🎔

ABILITIES

Shun Shun Rikka (盾舜六花, Six Flowers of the Hibiscus Shield; Viz "Six Princess Shielding Flowers"): Orihime's spirit energy is harbored in the pair of six-petal flower-shaped hairpins that her brother gave her. Shun Shun Rikka is composed of six spirits that reside within the hairpins, each of which is two petals on the clip when inactive. Only spiritually aware beings can see them. They reside in her hair-clips, which are shaped like six-petaled flowers. Through various combinations of the six fairies, Orihime has the power to reject phenomena by denying or undoing events in various forms. This power can be used for attack, defense, or healing (depending on the combination).

Santen Kesshun (三天結盾, Three Sacred Links Shield): is Orihime's defensive technique. It repels attacks by placing a shield between the enemy and target. The incantation arranges Hinagiku, Lily, and Baigon into a triangle which has the ability to repel the "outer shield". Because the barrier rejects negative events, it can also function as an airbag of sorts, allowing Orihime and anyone else nearby to survive a potentially lethal fall unharmed. Orihime is later able to shape Santen Kesshun into a dome-shaped barrier large enough to easily hold herself and other individuals

Sōten Kisshun (双天帰盾, Twin Sacred Return Shield): is Orihime's "healing" technique. It surrounds something to return it to its former, complete state. It rejects, reverses, and reconstructs phenomena that have occurred, even phenomena that Orihime hasn't witnessed. The incantation summons Ayame and Shun'ō to form a half-oval barrier around whatever or whomever Orihime wishes. Their ability is to repel the "inner shield." The shield placed inside means that they repel the damage within a limited area. In other words, they return a subject covered by the shield to the state that they were in before taking damage. Orihime fully restored Grimmjow's destroyed arm from nothing. Sōsuke Aizen describes this as "The Rejection of Events". Her ability is to limit, reject, and negate any kind of event that has happened to her target. Yasochika Iemura comments that the technique's healing speed is potentially faster than Isane Kotetsu's and his own. Far more powerful than "Temporal Regression" or "Spatial Regression", it is a power that trespasses into God's territory. Originally, Orihime wasn't able to restore a destroyed Tsubaki, but Hachigen Ushōda states that since she has powers very close to his own, she should be able to restore him to his original form, even without a shattered fragment. Later, she can fully resurrect the dead. While Orihime can heal wounds quickly, it takes longer for her to replenish the patient's Reiatsu. Large amounts of foreign spiritual pressure around a wound makes her power to reject ineffective

Koten Zanshun (孤天斬盾, Solitary Sacred Cutting Shield): is Orihime's offensive technique. It rejects the fusion of matter and splits it. The incantation summons Tsubaki, who has the ability to repel "both sides of the shield." He breaks through the enemy, puts up a shield inside, and repels the combined substance, splitting the enemy in two. While Tsubaki can cut through basically anything, Orihime's general dislike of combat and hesitance to use lethal force degrades the effectiveness of the technique, making him easy to counter and equally easy to injure

Shiten Kōshun (四天抗盾, Shield of Four Heavens' Resistance): is one of Orihime's techniques. It combines Shun Shun Rikka's offensive and defensive properties. The incantation integrates Tsubaki into the center of her Santen Kesshun ability, creating a triangular shield which, at the very instant of receiving an attack, disperses the resultant force as a concentrated explosion which is automatically returned along the attack's opposing trajectory

[sanny-chan5]

Happy B-day!! 15/03 - Idus de marzo

Miyu, from Daa! Daa! Daa! UFO Baby; Ichigo, from Tokyo Mew Mew; Kirie, from Himouto! Umaru-chan

[bleachbleachbleach]

The Happy Birthday Chappy Cafe!

Set A: Curry Rice with pickles and wakame cucumber salad (498 kan)

Set B: Bunny Chow with pickles and wakame cucumber salad (448 kan)

Happy birthday, Rukia! Some post-series January, Rukia mentions that she really misses getting food at dives in the Living World. She’d have Ichigo take her places, and since Ichigo has the disposable income of a 15-year old, they were always dives, and she loved them. So for her birthday--leaning on talents gained while living with/working for the Urahara Shouten--Renji decides to recreate the experience in Soul Society. After interrogating Ichigo, he lands on curry rice. Chappy curry rice.

Here’s everyone he gets to help:

Hinamori writes the logo for Renji’s birthday menu, even though she’s still mildly traumatized by Hisagi’s Birthday SC. (She agrees to logo only, so Renji just handwrites the rest.)

Having also consulted with Chad while he was “on an intel-gathering mission” in the Living Realm, Renji adds a B-side to his menu. Chad had just returned from an overseas bout in South Africa, where a local dish from Durban is called “bunny chow.” Curry in a bread loaf. Inspired!

Byakuya suggests a side of wakame salad, for balance of flavor and  plating. Renji adds cucumber, because they’re Rukia’s favorite. 

Ichigo agrees to taste-test Renji’s prepwork for this. This is a bigger favor that it sounds. (Bonus: Tutorials from Yuzu.)

When I when Renji forgets to add the potatoes, Orihime saves the day by telling him she does that all the time, and that she always just adds MASHED potatoes instead! Renji takes this to mean “cut them smaller.” It works.

Hisagi points out a concern he has: Renji’s two menu items are... basically the same thing, aren’t they? But Renji says, “Trust me, that’s exactly what Rukia wants out of a menu--a second course that’s simply ‘more.’”

Yes, there are prices listed on this menu, but birthday girls eat free. The prices are for all these other assholes flocking around who gotta pony up if they want a bite. (For Renji did not cook a serving or two of curry, noooooo. There is a vat.) 

I considered making rabbit curry! After all, rabbits are currently in season and there are a few Meat Stores around here, so I was like... maybe? But ultimately that got too involved so I just gave up. My neighbor is more of a squirrel/deer guy. (I refuse to call Meat Stores butchershops when the sign from the road just says MEAT, lol. MEAT STORE.) 

In any case, that Rukia would happily eat a rabbit as wild game is a headcanon I will take to my grave. She sees a distinction between rabbits that can be pets/mascots and rabbits that can be eaten, and loves them both!

[magicbench]

~★A birthday and a contest!★~

★ ! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, RYU ! ★ Yup ! Today’s our local flashy macot boy special day and I succeed (almost) not to screw up the time ! *thinking of all the other chracters’ B-Day that I missed...* He’s currently having fun with Aya and the gang, whoohoo !

Oh but the party isn’t done yet, because... TADAAAAAH ! Today’s also the day of the very first Fujiwara’s Event with a contest ! YES YES ! LET’S BE HYPED FOR A...

Let’s not waste time and go directly to the point, shall we ? (^ w ^)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------- FUJIWARA HALLOWEEN EVENT 2020 --------------------------------------------------------------------------

*[Contest is in english only]*

Ghosts, witches, vampires and whatnot, Halloween is a great source of inspiration for a number of strange stories and folklore. So tell me... How about we held a contest during this spooky yet intriguing period ? Yes, yes ! You heard right ! Today is the day of the very first Fujiwara Contest, woohoo ! *clap clap clap* And who's better than our dear Kenji and Ryu to be the actors of this event ? I know at least one of these boys will be extactic to be part of it ! -THEME- ★ A spooky soirée at the school event ★

°GENERAL RULES -The contest will be split into two parts : part 1 will be the drawing contest, then right after will start the writing contest. -The entries should be safe for work/all age, and shouldn't spoil the characters and their backstories (meaning, it has to be set before anything is revealed about the characters in the original Fujiwara's project). -You can't participate in both contests, you'll have to choose between one or another. -The drawing and writer winners work will be united by me some times after the dealine, to make it into a mini playable story and be released for Halloween on itchio ~

-------------------------------------------------------------------------- DRAWING CONTEST -------------------------------------------------------------------------- °DEADLINE  : September 15 to September 30 midnight

°WHAT TO DO : In this contest, the participants will have to draw a Halloween costume for Aya. You can also draw one costume for Kenji and/or Ryu, but it's not an obligation as long as at least Aya has a costume (only one costume for each character will be accepted, if you decide to draw for the two or three of them). The amount of costumes you will draw will not influence the final decision.

°RULES : You are free to draw pretty much whatever costume you want, design-wise. Detailed costumes are allowed, but they have to be originals (no fanarts or OCs costumes from other people will be accepted) and not too gory.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------- WRITING CONTEST -------------------------------------------------------------------------- °DEADLINE : October 1 to October 15 midnight

°WHAT TO DO : "The Fujiwara's school is holding an event for Halloween and Aya decides  to go and enjoy the event, as Minami and Ichigo suggested her. How will she spend her soirée ? Fun, romance, fright or maybe all the above, it's up to you to decide how her evening will be spent ~" In this contest, you'll have to write a little story about Aya spenfing a few hours at the school Halloween event.

°RULES : You are free to write anything about how Aya is spending her evening at the event, as long as it is safe for work/all age. - Should not exceed 2K words - Aya has to be the main character - Only Aya and/or Kenji and Ryu should physically appear in the story. Other chracters might be mentioned, but they should not make an actual appearance during the scenes - You must write as if the event takes place before any major reveal in the actual Fujiwara's project, as to not spoil people who might not have played the game yet - You must check on the winner's costume as reference to be accurate in your writing, if you decide to describe them at some point - Only one entry by participants - Please note that the only backgrounds used in the story will only be the school's corridor, the school gymnasium, the school entrance and/or the Occult Club's room

-------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOW TO APPLY -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please send your entry (either the writing or drawing contest) to the following mail : magicbench.events@gmail.com You must send your mail within the following form: - Object of the mail : Fujiwara Halloween contest 2020 Then fill your mail like the sample below :

[The contest you're participating in] [Your preferred nickname or name for you to be credited] [Your social media if you want it to be promoted] [Attaching your entry in a text document or .pdf for your writing, and .png or .pdf for your drawing] ------------------------ The names of the winners will be announced October 17 and the playable story will be released on October 30. I wish you all good luck and can't wait to see your entries ~

[cheshirecaine]

Amor fati (AO3 link here)

The one time running an errand for Ran worked out for Gin. Who'd have guessed? // Mundane/Modern AU

*

Bleach GinIchi oneshot under 1k. No warnings, just fluff. Enjoy!

Full fic below~

Gin parted two ornate hardbacks. He blinked at the shadowed chasm behind them, void of the prize he knew they guarded. He fished an arm in behind the row of books, rummaging till flesh hit hard cloth. He tugged free his elusive catch and flipped through, enjoying a private smile while nobody could see, before he strode off gamely.

Students had littered the desks earlier but the herd thinned when the sun dropped. Lacking its warmth, the indoor lights were a nuisance too, blinking enough they gave Gin a headache. He was only here for Ran’s scarf – (“Please, I forgot it after Shuuhei came to study.” “Do the kids call snog fests study seshes now?” “Ah, fuck off.”) – while she headed into town for her date. No student of sound mind condemned themselves to wasting an eleven on a Friday here willingly.

Except for that one, crammed into a booth. A classic meal deal of frenziedly scrawled notes, laptop and bouncing skinny-jeaned legs. A redhead poured into a slim, grey V-neck jumper and armed with a viciously stern glare. He scribbled on a post-it, stuck his biro between his teeth and battered away at the text brick on his screen with the kind of ferocity you reserved for fighting God.

Gin slowed to a stop at his shoulder, overly conscious of his shadow cascading across the desk. Awkward seconds crawled by but he went unnoticed. So he dropped the book on a heap of paper and strolled away.

“Oh fu-!” The pen clattered as it hit the laptop keys and its owner scrambled. “Hey. Hey, excuse me!”

He bolted after Gin, who had done a shit job at escaping. “How did you-? I mean, Ichigo. Wait, no.” He squeezed the ridge between his eyes and sighed. “Clearly, I’ve been staring at my essay too long. I meant to say, I’ve been looking for that book for ages. I have no clue how you found it, but thank you. I’m Ichigo by the way.”

“. . . Gin.”

“Gin.” His name spilling from those lips set Gin’s knees trembling. “Thank you again, Gin.”

“It wasn’t a hassle.”

“Wasn’t a-!” Ichigo paused to slowly breathe in. “You don’t understand. I’ve been looking for this book for three days! Criticising it is the bulk of my argument. There are no digital copies and nobody ever took it out until this week. You’re missing how much you’ve saved me! And my essay. And maybe my degree, but definitely my dignity.”

(Ichigo was, tragically, not kidding about that last part. If he couldn’t trounce Uryuu this year, he took the baton of a dinner out for Ryuuken’s birthday. Christ knew the Ishidas needed some chill. Otherwise, plan B: tricking his dad into going instead.)

“I didn’t quote a line I needed and I cut those paragraphs, but now, I can stick them back in. I’m done. So I can’t let you go without thanking you.”

Ran always told Gin he was allergic to sincerity. (It was why her every Christmas gift came with a dollop of teasing.) Gin couldn’t process a happy . . . really hot guy clasping at his wrists like they were a lifering. There was only one thing he could do – emote nothing.

“It was behind some . . . books I was looking at. I saw you searching the shelves the other day and took a guess.”

Only a slight lie. Gin had been an aisle down and heard talking:

“Shove it somewhere and let’s go! I’ve got a party to crash and I won’t let him get away with pawing at Nel again.”

“Did she tell you that was a problem or are you just jealous?”

“Can it, Tesla! We gotta move.”

And later, he meandered by right as Ichigo’s knees crumpled to the floor, letting him peer under the shelves with his head against the carpet. The plastic dust jackets squealed as Ichigo took a final stab and checked behind a row of books, but he walked away while Gin travelled down the narrow aisle. Gin only realised the connection after seeing him again.

And now with Ichigo’s item returned to him, the universe was in balance or something.

“Sorry, this is probably a lot right now. I’m just really, really tired. I’ll buy you a coffee. Tomorrow.” Ichigo looked at his watch, looked at Gin, looked back at his watch again. “Uh, I mean the other tomorrow?”

“Because you’ll be dead in the morning.” Ran was going to check Gin over for signs he’d been bodysnatched. But with how heavy Ichigo’s eyes were, it was easier to side-step time with a guy that actually appealed to him. “You should finish your essay and go to sleep. It’ll be Saturday soon anyway.”

“True. But I still wanna ask you out.”

Gin’s slow blink failed to express the stampeding of his heart towards a fierce crescendo.

“Coffee’s a good start- Way? No.” He chuckled at himself endearingly. “A good way to get to know someone you might like. And I think I like you already. So, it’s coffee. Sunday?” He was lurching backwards before Gin could muster his thoughts – his presence was so commanding, Gin forgot he was clinging to consciousness with a fusion of effort and deadline pressure.

“If you’re done by midnight, I’ll take you to my regular. In the afternoon. They have comfy sofa chairs to slump on.”

“Marry me.”

“I only marry finishers.” Gin swept Ran’s scarf around his shoulders and strutted for a seat by the entrance.

Ichigo grinned, keen and tigerish. “Give me twenty minutes.”

*

fin

[karasunocurry]

Sakiyama Tsubasa 30th bday event: report

Hey I’m alive and still stanning sakitsuba and toumyu and getting my ass back into Haikyuu. Look at my avatar, Akiteru forever crying, that’s me. I went to the first shift of the Tokyo events (each is a little different from the other, including the outfits he wears), Sakiyama was wearing a black suit with slightly (YuHaku style) oversized pants and a really long ass decorative pin on his blazer. His shirt, he said, had a hint of green but it was kinda hard to tell tbh xD MC was, again, his kouhai from Spacecraft company, Nagamatsu Bunta. He did a really good job! Go Bun-chan.  Since the event now was on his actual birthday, november 3rd, Bunta asked how Sakiyama felt about it, but he said that since he’d already had his birthday events in Osaka, and celebrations with the toumyu cast and others, he felt like he’d been having a birthday week rather than a birthday, and he enjoyed it very much. Then how about today, Bunta asked. Sakiyama was like... well, I woke up being 30 years old (he was born at 7 in the morning), did my first toilet visit... (etc.) Everyone laughed so much xD The first part included showing three pictures of Sakiyama at various ages. 1st was as toddler, which was a set of 3 pictures of him eating a snack while falling asleep. Bunta compared baby Sakiyama’s closed eyes to Pokémon’s Brock xD Sakiyama explained it as, I was sleepy but also wanted to eat. Cute! Second picture is when he was 9 or so, apparently  he played soccer then? Kid Sakiyama looked a little defiant. Third one was from when he was 20, at his coming of age ceremony, holding a dog (same breed as chako but I’m pretty sure chako is younger?? idk he didn’t name it). They talked about the suit and Bunta asked what kind of tie he wore, and Sakiyama said, the dog is the tie.  The second part was Sakiyama answering questions from the quention box in which fans had been putting questions before the show. I’m fairly sure they were selected by staff and then put into another box to be actually picke out and used. I don’t remember all questions, except I think what he gets for oden (a typical dish of ingredients in broth) is daikon, egg and shirataki with yuzu spice. Next they played a set of games and if Sakiyama failed at 2 out of 3 he’d have to do a punishment. First challenge was to introduce himself in exactly 30 seconds. His introduction was really basic and funny because of how he said things. He was fairly close to 30 seconds when he said (I like curry. I like strawberries, which he said like, karee suki... ichigo suki..., so cute), and then he dragged on and everyone was laughing already and he said that again and finished at 45 seconds, so he totally failed xDD Second challenge was to build a tower of 10 empty cans in 30 seconds, he did pretty well and got to 6 when it collapsed - and then pretended to build more, holding the ‘7th’ can and putting one on top. Another failure, but Bunta said it was hard because the cans were not all the same. Third was gestures - and the audience had to guess what he was portraying. That one worked out okay (I don’t really remember what he was portraying except when he did ‘drunk businessman’, someone commented ‘the power of poop’ and everyone, especially Bunta, was dying). But he still failed 2/3 so there was a punishment game. Staff brought 3 cups of tea, and 2/3 were supposed to be extremely bitter. Bunta joined in and he and Sakiyama took a cup and drank. Bunta had bitter tea and he REALLY didn’t like it xDD He asked for water immediately... and Sakiyama was like, this is ok. This tastes good. And Bunta was confused like? wait, staff how many are bitter? He tried Sakiyama’s tea, and it was bitter! And then he tried the remaining one... which was also bitter! So in the end it wasn’t really punishment for Sakiyama... experienced tea drinker xD After that, they would ask give statements about Sakiyama and the audience had a sheet with right and wrong signs on them to use to answer. I also don’t remember all of these, except he tends to buy dango at the conbini register even when he shouldn’t. You know, like when you get sweets because they’re there and you know you shouldn’t but.... You buy the anyway. Another question was about what Sakiyama wanted to be when he was a kid (a policeman - like what he wore at the Osaka event so it was kind of a trick question??), and I remembered reading he wanted to be a pro baseball player, which was indeed correct. Bunta wanted to become b-daman xD There was also something about  muscle training and about which muscles are difficult to train. I can’t be more supportive of controlled training because, he works so hard but I definitely want him to eat and be healthy and happy.  Last, they showed  video of Sakiyama doing some handmade pottery (and screwing up), it was very cute and he succeeded in making some real cups too xD Then there was a lottery for 2 people to win something he’d made (one failure which was actually cute and a real cup).  At the end they showed the visual for ‘wake atte, kasei ni sumimashita - erabaresh 4nin’ (For reasons we lived on Mars - the chosen 4) and Bunta asked where on the posters (which one of the people in space suits) Sakiyama was, and he pointed at Mars. xD And then there was cake - as in it was brought on stage, and shown to us, with Sakiyama going like ‘which strawberry should I eat first’ xD Laaaastly I wasn’t aware we were getting a clear file tokuten given by the man himself (thank you spacecraft I love you), so I had my 3 seconds face to face again and HIS SMILE OK it’s the best. I’m also fairly sure that after all other 3 seconds face to face he recognizes me now, which is more than I could ask for xD <3 In short, Sakiyama seemed to have fun, He’s happy to be where he is now, he gained a lot of confidence and feels like it’s totally ok to act like the boke idiot that he really is. I remember when I first got interested in him, that I thought he seemed quite serious but no xD  

[raggedyespada]

A - You’re adorable~~

@emptyespada​ (and everyone else at the party!!)

Of course, Ulquiorra did not like attention to himself- but Nelliel wanted everyone to know it was his birthday. She had bought a sash for him to wear (well, more like customised it with pages from her precious books)- but she knew he would refuse that. And even then, she had roped him into wearing it.

Dondochakka and Pesche had presented him with a  ‘birthday’ crown and they were dearly hoping he would wear it as they and their Nelliel-Sama had set up the scene in Las Noches.

Nelliel had pulled up loud and colourful decorations outside and around some parts of the castle with colourful bunting, loud spray-painted flowers (and some random crude drawings of bats) before lining the meeting room with confetti filled balloons bobbing around inside. Outside Ulquiorra’s room would be a birthday wreath.

The balloons were a particular nuisance because even if a hollow or arrancar were to pop it, they would be covered in layers and layers of glitter. The human world was filled with so much unusual and fun things. Naturally, all the things that Ulquiorra found useless were now lining in and around his room.

Frivolous little banners, loud music playing everywhere and the smell of heavenly chocolate in the air. Who had supposed that chocolate was Ulquiorra’s favourite had probably not hit the mark.

Either way, all his BEST FRIENDS were invited- including, but not limited to, Grimmjow, Starrk, Lilynette (who had helped in making placemats with each Espada’s face), Gin, Tousen, Aizen (of course via a satellite feed in muken since he couldn’t make it to the party- no bail was granted), Orihime and Ichigo (who didn’t know how the heck he got roped into these things???) and of course, everyone else that wanted to wander in. A party in Las Noches was an incredible thing.

In fact, Bawabawa, one of Dondochakka’s spirit monsters was warbling various Spanish songs all about parties.

Eventually, when the guest of honour arrived- Ulquiorra- the music was silenced.

Pesche, Dondochakka and Nelliel were currently welcoming him as the guest of honour.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAAYYY!! WE HAVE A SONG FOR YOUU!”

Pesche and Dondochakka began with microphones in their hands, held to their mouths as they began the song that they had been practicing for months. Several arrancar ladies (all selected by Pesche for their ample leg revelation) started dancing behind them.

“Right—hit it! Nelliel-Sama taught us this song as we were trying to learn how to read. And we have not forgotten. And so, this is a song we would like to sing to Nelliel-Sama’s special fourthpada ~~ ULQUIORRA-SAMAAA! This is the alphabet SONNNNNNNNGGG!!”

Polite applause.

Dondochakka was hoping they could even get past the letter ‘C’ without being ceroed in the face, but Nelliel was there and she was usually very good at swallowing cero and deflecting it back.

It would be… ok.

Jaunty piano music was playing and Pesche bravely began - -

“A you’re adorable – “ “B- You’re so beautiful…?” Dondochakka added almost unsurely, but once they started singing, it became easier.

And eventually, Nelliel joined them as well at the end. 

“It’s fun to wander through... the alphabet with you, to tell you what you mean to mee~”

She was laughing and clapping and then presented Ulquiorra with a cake at the end.

“Waaah, you’re stunned, right? Moved? Don’t worry- this was nothing! Happy birthday!”

[sesamerolls]

DAY TWO [19th August]:  Sea Salt (IchiHime)

DAY TWO [19th August]:  Sea Salt Pairings: Ichigo/Orihime Word Count: 2200+ Rating: T in general

Home was dancing by the river with Sora. Home was the sweetness that came from biting into watermelons, takoyaki and mochi as Sora attracted fireflies with the wave of his finger. 

***

By the sparkling and clear seaside, she began to understand.

***

It wasn't long before Ichigo got lost.

This was to be expected. It had been ten years since he was last in Karakura City, and the entire low rise structures that had littered through the town years before had been replaced by high new multiplexes which were dotted around the landscape, making the place unfamiliar.

That’s the power of new money huh….

Cursing, he reached into his bag and fished out his phone.

“Pick up,” he hissed as it began to ring “Dammit, you better pick up….”  

The ringing from the other line was halted be a new voice.

“Ahh, is this Kurosaki-sannnnn?”

“Dammit Hirako where is this place?” shouted Ichigo. He turned to the main road impatiently “This better not be another one of your jokes.”

The man on the other end of the phone sighed.

“You sound sceptical as usual.” He said “Don’t you think that its rather unnecessary given the circumstance?”

“Oh, you mean blackmail?” Ichigo retorted harshly “Tell Hiyori I don’t appreciate being manhandled at the airport,”

“We needed you on that plane. Your dad was worried you’d chicken out.”

“This is hardly something I can chicken out of, given the circumstances.”

“Damn you are touchy today,” said Hirako amusedly “Oh well, can’t be helped. Based on the noise in the background, you are probably on the Yama Ward. Walk two roads back and take your first left. The building you are looking for is right next to the supermarket.”

Ichigo frowned. “How do you know that’s right?”

“Are you close to a river?”

Ichigo took a quick glance around him, noting the bridge ahead and the water underneath.

He could practically hear the smirk.

“Then trust me.”

---

She bowed deeply from where she stood.

“It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance,” she said quietly “I am in your care,”

She dared not look at his eyes nor take in the glares of their surrounding representatives.

The senior executives from her side were already talking, the room soon overtaken by corporate chatter and merger details. She rose, feeling awkward in her furisode, daring to steal a glance from her suitor and was met by a pair of steady brown eyes.

“Pleased to make your acquaintance,” said Ichigo “Inoue.”

---

“She’s cute right?”

Ichigo avoided his gaze.

The skyline bar was packed, the local salary men joyous and boisterous as the lull of another weekend drew near.

The pair sat near the window, away from the fray of happiness of the other patrons within, facing the darkened skyline of the sleeping city of Karakura.

Ichigo took another swing of his drink.

“She’s nice enough,” he admitted “There is something about her that seems familiar though…”

Hirako looked at the young man knowingly before taking another sip of scotch.

“Whatever the case, seems the merger is going full steam ahead,” Hirako smirked at his glass “When’s the wedding coming along?”

Ichigo paused, gazing down at the city below.

“Two months from now.”

---

The apartment was slick and very modern.

“The bedroom is on the top floor,” said Ichigo “The bathroom is to your right,”

Orihime clung to her bag feeling her heart hammer harder at each step she took.

The ceremony had been quick and formal. She could hardly remember the rest of the day, how many well wishers she had greeted nor the way she had introduced herself to Ichigo’s sisters.

Her uncle and Kurosaki Isshin had remained deep in conversation throughout the reception and even as the newlyweds were waved off in a blacked out limo to their suite at the Ritz-Carlton.

“I’ll be leaving for Singapore tonight,” Ichigo had said casually “I’ll be back in town within a fortnight, this Tuesday.”

Orihime dared not raise her head. Ichigo coughed, staring out the window.

“Take your time to rest at the hotel,” he said softly “I will meet you back at home.”

Orihime shuddered at the memory.

Is this home?

It didn’t feel like home. Home tasted of spring, scented candles and fresh laundry. Home was dancing by the river with Sora. Home was the sweetness that came from biting into watermelons, takoyaki and mochi as Sora attracted fireflies with the wave of his finger.

This place felt nothing like that home...                                                          

She retreated up the stairs.

…and she feared it never will.

***

“I made a promise to a friend so, you better take care of her.”

***

Autumn swept by quickly.

“So?”

Orihime reddened into her cup and avoided the troubled stare of her companion.      

“It’s peaceful,” she admitted softly “Quiet but peaceful,”

One week away. One week back. Two weeks away. Three nights back.

It was a standard pattern she was now used to.

She had barely seen Ichigo since that late Spring. Often on call to a Kurosaki Holdings outreach project, he seemed more of a stranger than the time they made their vows earlier that year.

She had seen the collage of orphans on his work laptop often. She knew all their names, he often visited, the orphans and responded to thankful patrons from offshore charity centres across the globe.

She marvelled at strong connection he seemed to interwoven beyond the gilded cage that was their house.

Heir, philanthropist, friend…

She grasped her fingers tighter.

Would you have liked him Sora?

Tatsuki’s face was etched with worry.

“He’s not a bad guy you know,” she said, playing with the straw from her drink “He’s just been a bit distant ever since…”

She bit her lip. Orihime nodded in acknowledgment.

She knew all about the accident. Kurosaki Masaki had been in the backseat of the car with Ichigo when a drunken motorist swung out of nowhere. She died instantly.

She clasped her ring.

And Ichigo could barely step foot in this town…

All these initiatives seemed to be a way of running from the trauma of Karakura. That was what Tatsuki had said. The memories. The guilt. Surviving. It was painful and wretched through him often.

Orihime had bit away the tears.

She knew that feeling too well.

It took a moment before she could speak again.

“He came back,” said Orihime “For the memorial I mean.”

Tatsuki stared at her “Did he take you?”

Orihime shook her head, tracing the golden band on her finger.

“I-It was so personal, and he looked so sad.”

She raised her head and smiled.

“I-I’m sure in time when we’re settled…”

Her words drifted to nowhere. Tatsuki managed to nod in acknowledgement facing away.

When we’re settled…

Orihime despaired into her drink

When will that be?

****

One day he presents her with chocolate.

“Its organic,” he said softly “I thought you may like it.”

Orihime stared at the carefully wrapped bar of chocolate. After a momentary hesitation, she took it from his fingers.

“Thank you…”

Ichigo watched her as she carefully opened the wrapping, broke a piece of cocoa and popping it into her mouth.

Soon, Orihime’s eyes widened.

“This is…”

Ichigo smiled.

“Its different huh?” he scratched his head “It’s among one of my favourites,”

Orihime savoured the combined taste of cocoa and sea salt on her tongue, eagerly biting in to the rest of the bar.

Ichigo continued to watch her, transfixed as she made her way through the confectionary with enthusiasm. He couldn’t suppress the smile on the lips as she hummed, marvelled at the deliciousness and continued her assault on the bar.

He broke his gawping soon afterwards, coughing before looking back guiltily.

“So it was your birthday last week wasn’t it?”

Orihime paused from her bites, looking up at him sheepishly.

“I’m sorry,” Ichigo said sorrowfully “I know it’s been a hard year for you,”                  

He tightened a fist into a ball.

“It’s just…this city is…”

Orihime bit her lip. Her mind flashed back to Sora’s funeral in January, her uncle’s harsh words late that winter and her tears staining Tatsuki’s shirt as she read out Sora’s last letter.

It seemed the last fragments of home were slipping away between her fingers.

She nearly leapt out of her skin when Ichigo bowed.

“This is…” she began to wave her hands in protest “There’s no need.”

“Orihime…”

She froze, staring down at determined brown eyes.

“Let me make it up to you…”

***

She could taste the sea on her lips.

“Karakura Harbor,” whispered Ichigo breathlessly.

Orihime nodded, tugging down her full length skirts as they walked amongst the docks.

“I used to come here every summer with Sora,” she said brightly “There wasn’t a day we weren’t by the docks or on the boat, or taking a trail into the beach. Oh and we also liked swimming!”

Ichigo looked at her incredulously.

“We?”

She blushed in return.

“Am I talking too much?”

“A bit,” he admitted “But that’s not a bad thing, its just you being you right?”

Orihime’s blush deepened as Ichigo stared beyond the horizon.

“I haven’t been here since I was a kid,” he admitted sheepishly “Then I was afraid of everything,”

Orihime beamed at him.

“I haven’t been here since the summer two years ago.” she whispered “That was the last time Sora was allowed out of the hospital."

Ichigo was looking at her then. She could feel the stinging now, recalling how hard it was for her brother to walk beyond this point.

“Sometimes its really painful,” she admitted shakily “And I didn’t want to get up after he died because all I could do was remember all the good things.”

It was then she tried to smile, wiping her eyes with determination.

“B-but I knew Sora would want me try,” she said, smiling “He’d want me to live a full life and do as much as I can,”

She looked at the blue skies in wonder.

“S-so I’m going to try a little bit. Just until I….”

The words scattered in the wind. They both stood sombrely, feeling the light breeze pepper their skin.

Ichigo was looking at her, taking in her face, the way her eyes lit up and the soft flow of her hair in the wind.

It was like he was seeing her for the very first time.

“Orihime."

She looked up at him.

“I like it here,”

Something within Orihime coiled and uncoiled in a matter of moments. Fixing her eyes at the path ahead, they made their way to the dock was the Kurosaki Yacht , not knowing what would come before them.

But knowing something had changed.

***

“My new home?”

“Yes. You just have to believe.”

“Believe? Believe in what?”

There was a soft smile

“That you deserve happiness.”

***

Things began to uncoil.

The trips would become fortnightly, no more than a few days before he came back to Karakura.

In a move that surprised everyone, he become more willing to accept invitations to social functions, looked into reconnecting with several high school friends and had shifted his work activities to Japan.

The most change happened at home. Their home. It didn’t seem impersonal anymore. She saw more of his books, his guitars, several old copies of Shakespeare playbooks and worn out covers of Al Pacino films.

And there were the trips, the short intimate café visits and several trips to the local park, hands entwined.

She remembered the colours, the full blue of the seaside that autumn and his soft breathe on her neck. She remembered the shared albums, the flickers of home videos, faded images of Sora’s which made tears flow down her face.

Most of all she remembered the chocolate.

Ichigo had brought several packs with him that December. They were curled up; feeling the warmth of the fire as she tucked into another bite of the sweet confectionary.

Ichigo was staring at her.

“You really are a messy eater,” he sighed swiping at her cheek gently.

She stilled, watching as his finger dipped into his mouth with satisfaction.

“Y-you’re teasing me again,” she said puffing her cheeks.

Ichigo smirked “No, I’m not. And besides…”

He pulled her close.

“You don’t half make me worry,”

Orihime felt her cheeks burn at that statement, burying her head on his cardigan.

Home….

She felt a stray kiss on her shoulder.

Is something I can definitely build….

***

“You don’t have to worry anymore, she’s doing fine…”

He touched the slab of stone.

“She’s stronger than she looks.”

***

It was months later when he gave her the gift.

“May I come in?”

It was midnight, and Orihime had just finished the latest entry in her journal, as she saw Ichigo clasp the entrance of the bedroom door.

“Is everything okay?”

She could see he was bright red, even in the dimness of the room. Stepping closer to her position near the dresser, Ichigo took in the sight of her in her long dressing gown, her pillowed hair around her shoulders and the softness of her eyes.

He paused.

“I was wanted to wait until tomorrow,” he said “But I couldn’t wait,”

A smartly decorated blue box was pressed on her open lap.

“Happy Anniversary,” Ichigo whispered quietly “Please take care of me.”

With that statement, she managed to smile.

***

He took her to his mothers’ grave side that summer.

***

END

[i0990]

Koroshiya to Strawberry Review

I bought Koroshiya to Strawberry (Killer and Strawberry) because I enjoyed Kamiaso and the character designs are by Kazuki Yone. The killer and underworld setting also looked promising.

Should take this chance to point out, Kazuki Yone only did the character designs, and stuff like cover art and promo images etc. The actual CGs are not done by her. It was already mentioned before the game came out.

In any case, the problem with this game is not with the art at all, but with the writing. I don’t know how they managed to mess it up so bad but they did. It’s not like the game has no plus points. The character interactions are fun, the bgm is good, and the art is actually still quite nice for the most part.

I think it has to do with the expectation from it being a mafia game. I was expecting something more gritty and action packed, and what I played instead was more of a cafe game with lots of talk about food and only a bit of action. It all adds up to a fairly disappointing experience tbh. I’m actually quite annoyed I gave up Piofiore to play this.

For the first time ever in a review I’m just going to outright say I do not recommend this game. More details below but of course there will be spoilers. To sum up the game: too much time wasted, not enough drama.

There is a lot of complaining and ranting in this review.

*spoilers after the cut*

Plot: Outright the weakest part of this game. There is a common route at first, after which you’ll be asked to choose which guy’s route you want to play. Noin is locked until you complete the other guys. So a game with only 6 routes, all of which are fairly short, and yet, they all share the same generic route. Once you pick a route the key story progression is pretty much:

Incident A => Outing => Present => Incident B => Conflict => Ending

Maybe they wanted to be consistent in their story writing but it ends up being really dull. I don’t want to plan the same assassination over and over again 6 times. Kamiaso InFinite had the same problem where the routes share the same generic pattern (let’s just do everyone’s birthdays yeah), but that’s a fandisc. This kind of copy pasta is just annoying in a main game, especially when it’s not a long game. On hindsight, it makes me glad it’s not a long game. Hasegawa and Noin are the only routes that felt less repetitive, although they still follow the same progression.

The game starts with Ichigo being delivered to Tsukikage, where she’s told she’ll be under their protection. He gives her a smartphone to type on because she can’t speak. Ichigo wonders if this is part of further experiments on her and we see her feeling uneasy whenever someone is nice to her because it all seems like a dream that can be easily destroyed. She’s obviously broken in some way and the guys are killers. So the start of the game was actually quite promising, then as I played it all just fell apart.

The pacing is terrible. Most of the game is just fluff, then suddenly all the conflict is squeezed into the end and feels really rushed. Any tension that occurs in the middle of the route is usually non plot relevant. Like Izuna’s traffic accident, or the locked door in Amon’s route. There’s too much talk about food and coffee. They do discuss assassin stuff like guns and gear etc, but these are not things that are particularly interesting just being talked about. Basically there’s too much time wasted with close to zero plot progression. It’s a game where the guys are hire killers. Where’s the drama? Where’s the angst? >:(

There’s fighting but it’s not well written. For instance in Tsukimi’s sniping scene, the screen blacks out when he takes the shot, after that it’s already them at the bottom of the building. Matsuri then shows up to say she’s taking Ichigo because she thinks Ichigo won’t be happy with Tsukimi, then relents when Ichigo insists she’s happy with Tsukimi. Like ????? The conflict just seems really pointless. After playing the other routes it makes some of the characters’ previous actions more understandable, but if they want to hint at a deeper connection between two chars they shouldn’t do it in a way that ruins the route.

Ichigo does not get her voice or name back in all routes except one. This is a bit of a downer tbh. The romance isn’t very well written, and Ichigo gets attached to the guy very quickly after they are nice to her. It was nice seeing Ichigo get more expressive over the course of the story. Noin’s route, being the final one, is the most informative and has more closure, although the reveal that he’s the boss of Tsukikage wasn’t very surprising. It explain’s Ichigo’s origins. After playing through everything, some of the stuff that previously made no sense is sort of explained, but overall I still don’t like the writing.

Characters: The saving grace that made this game enjoyable. I had the most fun with the character interactions. The guys, despite being killers, have rather colourful personalities. Tsukimi likes making sweets and is terrible at reading the mood. Izuna is like the only sane man in the shop raging at the others, and likes making food with gourmet ingredients. Kurama is a doctor who charges exorbitant prices and isn’t good with socializing. Amon is super exuberant. Noin is a cranky shota and a bit of a tsundere. Hasegawa seems stoic but is actually really sweet. It was funny seeing them make jokes at each other or scolding each other.

The side characters aren’t too bad, but there aren’t many of them. Matsuri is a cool big sis character who looks out for Ichigo in her way. Shirakawa was funny in Hasegawa’s route. Rakia doesn’t show up much.

Ichigo, despite having a blank personality and no voice, was surprisingly likeable. She starts out as this doll-like girl and slowly regains her emotions and starts doing things out of her own initiative more. Some of her responses are also funny, like the time Shirakawa was like ‘Let’s be friends :)’ but Ichigo just went ‘Sorry that will be difficult. Age gap too big.’ Of course her personality is still pretty blank for the most part but for a girl who’s been a lab rat and hasn't been outside for over a year what would you expect. Ichigo is cute XD

System/Interface: This game loses lots of points for having a main feature that as of now, two weeks after release, still doesn’t work -- the broken music player. Broccoli must know about the bug by now, so I can only assume they aren’t fixing it either because they don’t know how to or they can’t be bothered. Or maybe they think if they leave it as it is it’ll force players to buy the ost.

Aside from that the loading time is bad, just like the Kenka Bancho Otome fd. Every time Ichigo recalls something the screen flashes white, then flashes white again when transitioning back to the present. Okay if it’s once off, very irritating when she’s recalling multiple things back to back. Long loading time also means there’s a part of Hasegawa’s route where you will stare at a black screen for a while before hearing a loud sound from the game suddenly. 

Don’t think you can toggle skip mode without accessing the settings menu. I found the font a bit small when I started playing but this isn’t a big issue and I got used to it. Instead of Ichigo’s sprite they put a smartphone at the lower left corner. You would think with a heroine that can’t speak a sprite would be good since we at least see her expressions, but nope. Broccoli thinks players would rather stare at a blank phone screen. The only plus feature is the ‘skip to next option’.

Trophy collection is straightforward in general. If you are missing a CG for full complete try replaying the scene where Hasegawa and Ichigo are in the car on their way to buy stuff and select the other options.

Art/Music: The music for this game is really nice. I like it a lot. But I won’t buy the soundtrack because I don’t want to throw money at Broccoli >_> The OP grew on me heh.

The art isn’t bad, despite it not being actual Kazuki Yone CGs. Most of them look pretty good. A few of the sprites are used in the CGs (Tsukimi’s back-facing sprite being the most common) but this isn’t a huge issue. There are so many CGs of Ichigo in various outfits and expressions lol. During one of the fight scenes they used this one:

which was funny because that is totally not the expression of someone freaking out and trying to stop a fight. 

Ichigo’s smartphone does make some of the CGs look a bit silly imo but that can’t really be helped.

Look at the poor girl frantically trying to get Matsuri to look at her phone :/

In the end I would say the most frustrating thing about the game is how much promise it had, and how good it could have been. Certain things like Ichigo and Matsuri’s connection could have been explored more. Or a bit more about how the guys got into their profession. Giving the antagonistic organization a bigger presence would have been good too, instead of them being a sort of vaguely mentioned and never seen organisation. If only they had taken the time to smooth everything out nicely and not rush things. It feels like a game that didn’t have enough effort put into it by the company, trying to make up for it with nice packaging.

This is the most disappointing vita game I’ve bought to date and unless you are the sort who doesn’t care about shoddy writing, really, save yourself the pain of playing Korosuto.

[seraphshot]

» character development meme

REPOST, DON’T REBLOG

TAGGED BY: stolen from @frozenparadigm​ 

B A S I C S

FULL NAME: Uryū Ishida NICKNAME: None AGE: 15 - 18 BIRTHDAY: November 6 ETHNICITY: Japanese / German GENDER: Male SEXUAL ORIENTATION: Bisexual

R E L A T I O N S H I P S

PARENTS: Kanae Katagiri ( deceased ) Ryūken Ishida ( regrettably not deceased )  SIBLINGS: None SIGNIFICANT OTHER: Sado Yasutora CHILDREN: None

P H Y S I C AL  T R A I T S

HAIR: Black and kept short save for asymmetrical bangs EYES: Black HEIGHT: 5'7" WEIGHT: 127 lbs. BODY BUILD: Ectomorph

Q U E S T I O N  T I M E

WHAT WOULD YOU SAY ARE YOUR CHARACTER’S STRONGEST TRAITS?

Ultimately he is mind over heart, even his own heart if he believes he’s taking the best course of action. He’s able to take himself out of a situation and look at it through an analytical lens to determine what moves to make, what the best outcome will be, regardless if it’s a battle or every day life. In battle he has a strong sense of justice and along with looking for the best way to win he will do everything in his power to spare lives, unless absolutely necessary. He doesn’t procrastinate and puts a great effort forward to succeed in everything he does, overall.

WHAT WOULD YOU SAY ARE YOUR CHARACTER’S WEAKEST TRAITS?

Uryuu struggles with trusting others and allowing them into his life at any more than a surface level. It doesn’t help that he’s introverted to a fault and tends not to reach out for help from others, even if he needs it and he’s aware that he does. The pressure of perfectionism put on him by his father also left him with an at best faulty self-worth that’s easily broken down. Similarly he holds onto negative comments he gets, whether they’re intended to hurt his feelings or not, and lets that negativity fester without trying to talk about whats bothering him. All of these things combined lead to frequent self-isolation. 

WHAT IS YOUR CHARACTER LIKE WHEN THEY’RE IN LOVE?

Mostly.....embarrassing, at least in the crush stage. He likes to put on a show of confidence and ego so he tries in his own ways to get their attention, through gifts/showing off/etc, but at no point does he actually make his intentions clear so it would taking knowing him well to understand that he’s trying to accomplish something. Best case scenario he’s interested in someone who does know him well and who is fine with making an effort to ask him out because that’s the only way things will get done in a timely manner. 

As a boyfriend Uryuu is chivalrous and generally just loves to do things for his s/o. Making dinners, buying gifts, sewing things for them, things like that. They would be one of the few people he could relax around and not be so high strung, ideally someone he trusted enough to confide in about how he felt rather than keeping it all to himself. 

WHAT KIND OF UPBRINGING DID YOUR CHARACTER HAVE, AND HOW DID THIS AFFECT THEM NOW

He doesn’t remember much of his mother and what he does recall as an early child is mostly dodging around his dad to spend time with his grandfather, learning about Quincies and their culture from him. They were extremely close and after dying to a staged hollow attack, Uryuu was left with his, honestly, kind of verbally abusive father who more often than not left him to fend for himself and seemed to never run out of things to criticize him for. 

As a teen this left him very much reclusive and closed off with the only form of parent he has being not someone he trusts, but a huge source of anxiety and self-doubt. He’s constantly torn between loathing his father but being too afraid to openly defy him, and also still pining for his approval in anything. Once again all of this has lead to Uryuu often doubting himself and also putting a tremendous amount of pressure on himself to succeed in school and anything he attempts to do really, so any time he does fail it’s catastrophic in his mind. Besides that, the values his grandfather instilled in him and what he has learned about Quincies are still very much present and important in his life, but with it being a sore subject with his father he tries to keep it away from him.

WHAT IS THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH THEIR FAMILY LIKE?

Very very terrible, it’s just Ryuuken. At best his relationship with his father is strained because Ryuuken has never allowed himself to be relaxed and emotionally vulnerable in any way around Uryuu, even if it’s just to have a genuine conversation about how he’s doing or if everything is alright. In return Uryuu remains very close off from him and at this stage in his life probably wouldn’t open up to him even if he did ask because he’s too worried of just being criticized or having his emotions invalidated. 

IS YOUR CHARACTER RELIGIOUS? WHAT RELIGION DO THEY PRACTICE, IF SO?

Kubo was never very clear about the connection between Quincies and religion so?????

HOW DOES YOUR CHARACTER DEAL WITH MISTAKES?

Badly. He berates himself internally and hammers in what he did wrong, how to improve in the future so he doesn’t repeat the mistake. Even then it stays with him for days or even weeks depending on how grave it was, usually weeks when it was something in battle that lead to him or even worse, someone else to get hurt. 

WHAT KIND OF FRIENDSHIPS DOES YOUR CHARACTER HAVE?

Uryuu is a difficult friend to make but once you do he’s. definitely there. He’s best for one-on-one conversations and hanging out like that, as he tends to be quieter in groups. But overall he’s happy to help his friends out if they need someone to vent to, need somewhere to stay, and in those more intimate scenarios he is much more relaxed and its the best time to get him to actually talk about himself. He’s also the kind of person who won’t hesitate to buy his friends things/make them food/etc. (unless it’s Ichigo in which case he’ll pretend he’s not going to but. Still would.)

DOES YOUR CHARACTER FORGIVE AND FORGET OR DO THEY HOLD A GRUDGE? WHY?

It really depends, he tends to be forgive and forget if it’s a one time offense, like a poorly made comment or something, he’ll eventually get over it. But when it comes to shinigami especially he’s very much inclined to hold a grudge over the slightest thing. In his mind he needs to be wary of what they say, though, as with them it’s very easily less of a thoughtless comment and more of a look at how they might actually feel about him. The only other different case is his father, as the strain between them has lasted as long as Uryuu has been alive. 

HOW DO THEY VIEW THE WORLD THEY LIVE IN?

At least in the human world he views it as at worst lonely, at best just the place he..lives in basically. No matter what he spouts off to try and sound cool, he’s not really a philosophical type. The only significant observations he has are about Soul Society, and to summarize he views it as an extremely dangerous place, just for him. He avoids visiting at all costs and is constantly on guard for fear of Mayuri or someone else deciding to act on their hatred towards him for his Quincy title. 

DOES YOUR CHARACTER THINK WITH THEIR HEAD OR WITH THEIR HEART?

I mentioned above so this will probably be brief, but head 100%. He tries to ignore his heart even if he hurts himself in the process, as long as it is for the greater good. 

IS YOUR CHARACTER WELL-SCHOOLED? WHAT SORT OF EDUCATION DID THEY HAVE?

At least in my main verses he just has a high school education and I assume is a junior or senior? He’s top of his class and in “””canon””” becomes some kind of doctor or practitioner, and I believe that he would excel in medical school despite, you know, hating it. In my post-war verse he goes on to attend design school and pursues fashion instead, something he actually enjoys. 

TAGGING: @fatedefies @fornicaras uhh anyone else 

[namikala]

★HAPPY BIRTHDAY★ 27 November is Seia Saotome’s birthday! He’s received congratulatory messages from Shirokita-kun, a member of his unit, and Yagasaki-kun, his classmate hamu ☆彡 You can feel what his personality is like from these messages hamu! Happy birthday hamu! 

Noel Shirokita: Happy birthday this year as well. It makes me happy that I’m able to keep saying this to you.

Akira Yagasaki: Happy B-day-! I’ve always felt that Seia’s appearance will never change even when he’s a grandpa. 

So, I haven’t read 4+U’s story yet, but Noel, why are you making it sound like Seia doesn’t have long to live...?? And Akira’s message made me think: Seia = Ichigo + Mikazuki?? It’s the mention of ‘jiji’! I’m very fine with that! XD 

Sources: Here & here

[jokerxtreme36]

drew these out of boredom

This is ,Xiran, a character I thought up for a random fighting game idea. He is a Cybernetic invader who plans to bring destruction to many worlds once he obtains a powerful gem that is hidden somewhere on Earth. Being a cyborg, he can scan his opponents to counter their moves and study them for weaknesses.

This is Mia Kuro, one of the villains from that old ‘Heroes in High school’ idea. As mentioned before, she is a warrior from planet Jukai who can transform into a Kaiju-like being and is mostly destructive, though she becomes good friends with Viola Spectre and even team up with her occasionally.

This is Desmodus, one of the three generals from my old Dino Knight Sauru idea. He and the others serve their mysterious master in their mission to claim the Earth as their own. He is designed after a bat and can even turn into a giant bat if things go wild.

This is Desirahs, a Kaiju fusion between Destoroyah and Iris, it was an idea I had in my head and decided to draw it.

This is Nero Shingetsu redesigned, he was an old RWBY oc I thought of long ago, though for a while I redesigned the others when Volume 4 was airing. His redesign includes, some new armor, a new left hand (which he got from saving his partner from getting poisoned) which can connect with his modified sword and shield/gun.

This is my attempt at giving Igura a Kaijin form. The Ichigo movie was sadly a disappointment since it had major issues in it’s story, such as Nova Shocker, though they sounded interesting on paper. they’re motivation makes them feel more incompetent than regular Shocker. Another issue was only Igura was the only one that didn’t get a Kaijin form for some reason. Some say she could’ve been a homage to Bee Woman, so I went with that idea when making her design, even giving her the rapier she used in the film.

This is my attempt at giving Amazon an upgrade, funny how the others got upgrades while Alpha only got blindness (though Amazons has way more issues than just that). did my best with what I could do, but I don’t like how the head turned out.

This is Rika, a fusion between Rian and Rekka from the Garo franchise, it was something that came to mind out of nowhere and decided it’d be fun cause why not? They’re two awesome female characters from different timelines.

Here’s something I drew for Halloween, Kougami wishing a happy birthday to Ruby and Tsurugi since they’re B-day’s are on the 31′st of October.

Here’s my attempt at designing the Dragonzord if it were in the 2017 reboot film, while I’m still hoping that it does get a sequel, I decided to try making a fan favorite zord in how I felt it would look in the film’s setting. I took creative liberties, such as making it able to transform to it’s battle mode on it’s own and giving it a tail/drill arm (which is inspired by mechs like Abarenoh and Goujyujin)