#it looks fine in the manga when its all in black and white but once the anime has to color it theyre fucked

[electricpurrs]

falin looks so fucked up in the anime to me. her chest and arms just having a sort of gradient into white makes it so not look like feathers LOL. its like she has really weird shirt tan marks. and her bellybutton is still visible in the white feathered part of her tummy i just noticed.i guess they really got fucked up by having to figure out an anima-table design for a person thats partially covered in feathers thats like undrawable. many such cases

[so-bitya]

Whitewashing in Anime - Agni ft. Cithis

Browns of the Same Shade

Hello again! I decided to revisit this topic again now that we have Agni's official appearance in the anime. I also wanted to go over some aspects that I did not get to include in my first post.

In the end, Agni also got lightened! His skin tone was always somewhat darker than Soma's in both the anime and manga appearances. Yana does describe his appearance as a "dark-skinned woman" in her genderbend sketches. So, for the anime to lighten him this much to such an degree is disappointing.

The skin diversity in the anime has been pretty lacking so far. Once again, A1 studios was not perfect, but they did manage to give all three Indian characters different dark skin tones, while this anime has every Indian generally the same lightened shade.

(every indian character in the anime are the same skin tone... cloverworks stand up, you can't let a-1 studios beat you like this)

Personal opinion of mine, I feel like animation studios aren't willing to play with skin color values as much anymore. I remember even seeing white characters being various shades of brown, especially under certain lighting and environments. Unlike now, when every character looks bleached the second they hit the sun.

I also wanted to review what I think of Soma's appearance. Soma's skin tone isn't any darker than it was in the teaser shot sadly, so we can't blame the lighting. I already was expecting it, but it's still a shame.

One positive feature I'll give to the anime is that Soma's nose isn't pronounced all the time. In certain scenes, his nose isn't as sharp as it would be for other characters. I believe that's just the style for the anime and its dependent on the shot.

Anyway, I felt this image was pretty on topic with Soma and Agni's situation and just anime remakes/reboots in general lately:

Brown ≠ Grey

Something I'm embarrassed I forgot in my last post is saturation! I mentioned often how darker skin tones tend to be neglected, but not only that, but the color! The vibrancy in the skin, the life!

A common feature I noticed, especially in East Asian media, is how they avoid the "brown" in dark-skinned characters, by constantly making their skin tone duller, ending up with more grey-toned skin.

I often see art advice for digital artists that they should pick desaturated colors or colors in the "grey zone" as to not overwhelm the art piece. Which is fine most of the time! But when you apply that advice for brown skin, what you get are mostly grey tones, and end up having your character look like a zombie.

Here are some colors I randomly picked. The colors on the left are those sandy, dull grey tones I was talking about. If you want to get those richer, deeper-toned browns, you need to pick colors with more saturation like the ones on the right.

Now of course, color is relative and you can't just color pick your way around without considering how it fits in with the rest of the piece. You can even end up washing out your brown character despite choosing a strong brown color. You have to consider the background, lighting, undertones, the environment, and how they'll affect your character. There may even be times desaturated colors work better, but you have to at least consider why it works "better".

Let's take a look at everyone's favorite manga artist right now, Ryoko Rui! Ryoko Rui is praised often for her diverse character roster and creature design, however I always found her darker skin tones rather... lacking, as such for the elf Cithis.

(I color picked her skin tone and it matched my light grey shades above lol)

Her skin tone is very washed out and grey. She not nearly as dark as she appears in the manga. Once again, there's that dissonance between skin tones. Now take a look at the manga's grey tones.

When you see this, what skin tone do you imagine for her? Do you imagine the greyish, washed out tones from above or do you imagine something more akin to these black fae models I found?

(credit: @jaharajayde on twitter and @glassmarigolds on pinterest)

I'll give Rui credit that her color illustrations of Cithis improved and she's gotten better giving Cithis stronger undertones. I really like how the fandom has been illustrating her too, there's been some amazing fanart of Cithis such as these (the lighting in the last one is lovely).

Just adding saturation helps so much with skin tone. I even found an fan edit of Soma that added more color back into his skin, and he looks so much better for it.

One might say, "Oh what's wrong with having grey skin tones in a fantasy story!" Well... nothing really! You can have green or purple or blue characters if you like. But when there's already a startlingly lack of brown characters in a fantasy story, it can get awfully uncomfortable seeing the story portray different fantasy "races" with obviously non white racial features... but don't want to include any black/brown skin tones.

(fantasy artists would sooner give an orc dreads than a human, forget a "noble" creature like an elf... such decisions only reveals the artists' viewpoints)

It all just comes back down to avoiding that dreaded "brown". When it comes to these "reasons", we have to question whether they aren't just more excuses to not include black and brown people in stories, which makes me come to my next point:

Essence of Brown

There's some severe misinformation I want to address about Soma. I saw a fan a while ago say that Soma has a white mother which explains why he has light skin.

Firstly, that information is false. It was a concept Yana had for Soma, but quickly decided to drop it. Soma is not half white.

In the early drafts of the series, Soma had a white mother and, thus, white skin. However, this was later omitted in final revisions.

(quoted from the official kuroshitsuji wiki as an excerpt from the character guide)

Yes, you can have mixed parents and any kind of skin tone really! But it feels... dishonest to create "reasons" why the manga's first major Indian character, joining a cast of white people in a European country, should have white skin as well. Especially considering Yana's artstyle, without Soma's skin tone and Indian wardrobe, is his physical characteristics like his face even distinguishable enough for him not to be mistaken as white?

Imagine I wrote a story set in France, and teased an appearance of an African character in story that only had white characters until now, only for him to be completely white in appearance, and identical to every other white man, except for the occasionally exotic dress and other drab stereotypes.

What would you think? That his race is only a dressing to fulfill an exotic need at times? That he's a supposed homage to another culture, but it's wrong to have him actually look like the majority of people who made said culture? Why is he even this way?

Did he have a white parent? A white upbringing? Lived in a white culture, lived a white life? Maybe he was separated from birth! From his hometown, his country, his people, anything to justify why my "brown" character is so divorced from that part of his identity, from that side of the family whose skin tone runs a little too dark.

And I think that's why Yana decided to drop the concept of giving him a white mother. Why go through all those loopholes and explanations? Why all that justification for him to have white skin?

It's just another way to avoid the "browness" again for a character, what makes them brown in the first place and related to black/brown cultures. It's what we should consider in the future when we find ourselves coming up with "reasons" why black/brown characters should be anything but themselves.

Whitewashing in Anime - Soma ft. Usopp

[sawturn77]

𝑶𝑪𝑬𝑨𝑵 𝑬𝒀𝑬𝑺 (𝒇𝒖𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒈𝒖𝒓𝒐 𝒎𝒆𝒈𝒖𝒎𝒊 𝒙 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓)

MASTERLIST.

04: take me out, and take me home.

january 7th, 2018.

my stomach began to swirl. disgust? no. nausea? no. i was nervous to the bone, nearly shaking. today was the day i promise nobara and yuji i’d go to the arcade with them, but i know they’d just drag megumi along to. they’d leave us together, alone, by ourselves, away from them..ugh! what was the point of being nervous?? i’ve got to woman up! what could go wrong? actually, i take that back. sooo many things could go wrong. i jinx myself every time with that. i heard suguru in the kitchen, probably making breakfast. satoru left last night, a little earlier than usual. i reach for my phone, turning it over and reading the time. “ 7:17am” i might as well get up now. after washing my face and brushing my teeth, i put on some clothes and did my hair. i’d be back in time to change my outfit and re-do my hair.

——

i make my way downstairs, the aroma of pancakes filling the air. “morning, sugu.” he turned to smile at me when i greeted him. “good morning, y/n. you got time for breakfast today?” i nod eagerly, watching him place the pancakes on the plate and drizzle syrup on them. he sprinkles sugar on them, adding a side of assorted fruit on the side. (if you don’t like pancakes, just imagine its your fav breakfast food) suguru smiles at me, handing me the plate. i stuff my face, smiling so hard my cheeks start to hurt. “where are you headed? you’re not usually up so early.” i swallow before answering. “just a quick run to the cafe. want me to bring you something back?” “no, its fine. thanks for asking though.” i just nod. im gonna get him something anyway. i finish eating and wash my dish. “oh, i almost forgot. im going to the arcade with nobara and yuji later.” suguru nodded, patting my head. “alright. will you be home before dinner?” i hummed. moments like these made me remember how good of an older brother suguru is. just when my hand reached the front door, i turned around to hug him. “w-woah, are you okay?” i nod. “thank you, sugu.” he chuckles, patting my back. “aww, n/n, you’re such a sap.” “shut up!!”

——

once i arrived at the cafe, i had to stand in line for a few minutes. i was lucky today, though. normally, the lines are huge, but today, i was only 12th in line.

before i could make a snarky comment, i noticed someone get in front of me. it was a totally random guy! what the hell? how was i gonna confront him? surely someone entitled enough to jump in front of someone in line would not be easy to deal with. he’d probably cause a scene. y’know what, whatever. i’ll just keep my mouth shut. im not in a rush-

“hey, she was next in line.”

all the blood in my body rushes to my face, was that..? the guy in front of me turns around, the same entitled smirk i thought he’d have on his face. but, that wasn’t the point. i turn my head stiffly to look over my shoulder. there he was. megumi fushiguro himself. white button up shirt, rolled up sleeves-he dresses like satoru? “what are you gonna do about it? tell your girlfriend to wait in line like everyone else.” megumi’s face remains indifferent, and his tone only get harsher. “you should do the same. scram, you idiot.” straight out of a shoujo manga, i thought. caught in my own thoughts, i almost miss the part where megumi pulls out a familiar card, a black one with silver lining, the initials “S.G” were engraved on it. satoru’s card? the guy’s eyes go wide with regret, like a deer in headlights. “im deeply sorry!” he yelps before scurrying to the back of the line. i stood there for a few seconds. turning to megumi, i spoke. “m-megumi! you really didn’t have to!” he just shrugs, putting the card away. “it was the right thing to do.” i smile. “i appreciate it. can i buy you a drink?” he shakes his head at my offer. “its fine, really.” such a gentleman. “well, surely you’ll let me repay you in some way?” “you can let me pay for your stuff.” i froze for a moment. he..he wants to pay for me? “n-no..i cant ask you to do that..”

in the end, he ended up convincing me to let him pay. even though im sure he was using one of satoru’s many cards, the gesture was nice. my face felt hot the entire time. “uhm, thank you again, megumi. i really appreciate it.” he nods. “its nothing.” god, he was humble too? how perfect could he possibly be? im was somewhat surprised that someone who grew up with satoru could be at least half decent. but then again, its megumi im talking about. he was always this way, maybe a bit more sour as a kid though. i glanced over at him. i found out that he drinks black coffee straight. im not shocked at that.

he gave me his number!! my hearts pumping fast! maybe i am oblivious. surely someone like megumi wouldn’t just give anyone his number. or maybe nobara’s delusions are rubbing off on me. he offered to walk me home, but even if i wanted to take his offer, he’d already done a lot for me. im not gonna ask him to do more.

——

by the time i got back, it was 9:15. suguru was doing laundry. “sugu, im home.” i announced, leaving my shoes at the front door. i placed his drink and the croissant i bought him on the counter. he peaked his head out from around the corner. “y/n, i told you that you didnt have to get me anything. he smiles, patting my head. “well, too bad. you shouldve known i was gonna get you something anyway.” i shrug and he just chuckles. “youre too much. thanks.” he pats my head, going back to finish doing laundry. i make my way upstairs, plopping on my bed and remembering what happened at the cafe. he can’t possibly like me like that. megumi would probably like a quiet and reserved girl. i mean, i can be like that, but is that who i really am? and why do i feel the need to be someone worthy of his romantic interest? weird. my phone dings.

an: srry its saturday and i said u was gonna post on friday😞anyways i was thinking if starting a gojo x reader series but idk i might do it after i finish this series.

TAGLIST: @kasumitenbaz @morgyyyyyyy @fillmeup6969 @maya-maya-56 @sad-darksoul (OPEN)

[gachagon]

Haru, Legoshi, and Louis are all the same

(spoilers for beastars manga)

Legoshi, Haru, and Louis all get along and work so well together because they're all fundamentally people who try their hardest to change the way they naturally are in order to "fit in" with the rest of society. They all do things that go against their "true nature" just so other people will hold a different opinion of them when they first see them.

And the main reason they ALL do this is because they are also all people who are immediately judged harshly just by the way they look from other people. Yes, the other animals in Beastars all have to deal with this as well, but with these three it's inherently different because the stereotypes that are being pushed onto them are unique to just their specific appearances.

People are afraid of Legoshi not because he's just a predator but because he's specifically a grey wolf. We notice that while there are other wolves in the school, none of them are really the same kind as Legoshi. He even pointedly sticks out when he's with them.

And Haru is a Dwarf rabbit but her white fur makes other animals think of her as some extra innocent small creature that needs to be protected by default. She's the only white dwarf rabbit, and multiple times throughout the manga when she's with men the one thing they comment on is her fur and how it's "spotless", how small she is etc, her black eyes. Features that are noticeably absent from the other dwarf rabbit girls. (and yes I am aware the others aren't rabbits)

And Louis is a stag deer, the literal embodiment of a "prey" animal that tries it's hardest to be tougher than the things trying to eat it. Louis has the advantages of being a deer with antlers, but just like real deer in the wild, he is defenseless without them. He loses whatever confident exterior that people presume him to have when he sheds the antlers every so often. People will always view him not just as a prey animal, but a deer. Animals known for the docile and weak nature, animals that will run off of cliffs if they're scared slightly. He can't let anyone ever think he's afraid, not even once, because once they see that he fears anything its a wrap. People will just go "well that makes sense he is a deer". And any accomplishments he's made thus far is just thrown out the window, it'll be obvious to everyone he was "always" faking it. (It's why he's so adamant about the play still going on despite his injury.)

All three of them do things entirely against their nature just so others can look at them in a different light. Legoshi purposefully makes himself seem small and as nonthreatening as possible to prey animals because he knows that just from the way he looks, they won't want to be his friend and will be wary of him right off the bat.

Haru sleeps around with the men who chase after her because when she's doing something that's not "innocent" she's not being looked down upon as some defenseless small creature that needs saving. No one will take her experience in life seriously, unless it comes to something like actual sexual intercourse. (She's even the one who 'takes charge' when she first meets Legoshi and tells him she's fine with being the one on top the girl knows to do okay.)

And Louis pushes down any fear he feels in favor of unwavering confidence and bravado. If he's afraid he just pushes through anyways and fakes it in front of everyone. He would rather die than admit he's even a little bit worried or even anxious in a situation. Louis ate meat in the company of lions because he didn't want them to think he was just some stag deer like his father, but something even above that.

And this is why they all have such a close relationship with each other. They may not know it, but they're all doing the same thing and can relate to the pains of having to change yourself not just because of what you are, but because of what you look like in relation to other people in your species.

[mnanami]

Joro at home. 3 a.m.

Pairing: Draken x Mikey of Tokyo Revengers

Summary: Three o’clock in the morning. Dark clouds hung over Tokyo. Unfriendly weather forced Joro to break into the sleeping blond’s room through a slightly open window.

Word count: 3.8k

---

Knowledge of Tokyo Revengers manga/anime is not necessary. Draken/Ken-chin are one and the same person.

~*~

Today was a good day for Joro. In the morning he was awakened by the rays of the rising sun, which after a rather chilly night, were like a remedy for his slightly chilled body. Breakfast was no problem for him, literally materializing right in front of his eyes, and lunchtime meal he intended to eat out this time. So it seemed that the day would be much more gracious than the past, not fully slept night.

Taking advantage of the beautiful weather, full and rested after his morning nap, he spent most of this sunny day outside. The cloudless, starry sky spreading over Tokyo convinced Joro to spend the night outside this time, too.

After all, nothing foreshadowed what was about to happen around 3 a.m.

Huge raindrops hit the ground. Strong gusts of wind knocked Joro off on his feet, who almost immediately took the necessary steps to reach a dry, safe place. Using an open window in one of the ground-floor apartments, slipped inside unnoticed and breathed a sigh of relief when he found that the room had ideal conditions for a frozen and drenched „guest".

The only source of light in this relatively small room was a street lamp, whose bright stream coming from behind slightly soiled lampshade, cast an eye-pleasing orange glow, scattering across the wooden panels. Joro moved nimbly across the room. Living figure sleeping on the bed moved, forcing him to immediately flee to the farthest corner of the room. Stuck in stillnes, he waited for more clues that would help him decide his next steps.

Long, bright hair spread out in a wide fan on the snow-white pillow as the boy lying on it moved, laying his body on his back. Raising his eyelids slowly, he turned his sleepy gaze toward the potential source of the sound, and his heart nearly stopped when he saw the shining, coal-black eyes staring at him.

But that wasn't the worst part, it wasn't the eyes that made him panic.

Desperate, he grabbed the phone lying on the nightstand and with a trembling hand launched Line, where from his favorites list he selected the most appropriate contact in such a situation and immediately started the call.

– Ken-chin! – Mikey called out in a whisper as soon as a distinctive sound on the other end suggested answering the call.

On the phone receiver, he heard the rustling that would accompany the turning of his still sluggish body on the bed and waited impatiently for any sign of awareness from his friend.

– What's up Mikey? Do you realize what time it is? – The timbre of his voice betrayed that he was in the first phase of a slow awakening.

– You have to come here – he said, still whispering and not taking his eyes off the intruder in his room.

– Here...? It means where? – Mikey heard a vague question.

Mikey could have sworn that Ken-chin yawned.

– My place – he replied impatiently. – You must come here, Ken-chin – he repeated once again, almost pleadingly saying his name.

– You're starting to scare me. What's going on? – he asked much more counsciously.

– There's no time to explain. I don't know how long it'll stay in one place. What if it moves?

– ...Mikey...

– Just come, please – interrupted him, slowly losing his temper.

Every second counted and Ken-chin didn't seem to understand it. Isn't it obvious that if he didn't need him immediately, he'd wait until morning?

– ...Ok, I'll be there in 10 minutes.

– 5 – Mikey corrected him, not taking his eyes off the intruder still stuck in stillness.

– Fine.

Mikey didn't dare look away. The smartphone screen lit up the room, showing more clearly the vivid reason for his behavior, a behavior far different from the one known to all for its steadfastness and tenacity. He put the switched–on phone back on the bedside table and leaned his back against a soft pillow. His head touched the cool wall, obviously not allowing his gaze to wander anywhere else, to let a distant corner of the room go unattended by his watchful eyes.

Every few seconds he glanced nervously at the phone's display to see if maybe this time the passing time took pity on him and the last digit jumped up a level, heralding the ever–closer appearance of Ken-chin. But no matter what the indications were, he felt disappointed in every case. And so the next very long seconds passed, creating another very long minutes.

So until he heard the click of a lock turning and familiar footsteps in the short corridor, all that existed was him in a state at least close to hysteria, an intruder who Mikey could swear was challenging him with his attitude, and time that seemed to defy the laws of physics. The door to the room opened, and a tall figure of a blond–haired boy appeared. His hair was shaved about halfway down, from which this time he formed something like a messy bun. It was a rather surprising sight, considering that a long carefully braided hairstyle was a characteristic part of his appearance.

– You're late – Mikey greeted him with a reproachful look, remembering perfectly the clock's indication from a second ago.

– One minute – he said unmoved, closing the door. – Now tell me why you brought me here – he added, looking suspiciously around the room.

He saw no threat. Hadn't he made it? But in that case, where is the body?

– You have to get rid of it – Mikey demanded, pointing to a spot on Ken-chin's right.

Draken's gaze went in that direction. At the same moment, as if miraculously recovered, Joro shuddered, setting his until recently paralyzed body in motion. Moving his eight legs quickly, he ducked to the side, hiding behind a wooden cabinet.

– ...Seriously? – Draken looked deadly at his friend sitting on the bed and sighed when he stubbornly didn't react.

Two pairs of dark eyes stared at each other in silence. What Draken saw in Mikey's, what he hadn't seen before, was fear. It was completely unlike him, almost comical. That's why when he heard his breaking voice, the words he addressed to him – he almost laughed.

– I won't sleep as long as this thing is in my room – Mikey said, staring at him with his big black eyes.

– You made me leave my warm bed and fight my way through a wall of rain in the middle of the night. How are you going to repent?

Serious situation, serious reaction. Draken was proud of himself.

– First... get rid of it. I can't concentrate when I know it's around.

– And what am I supposed to do with it? I'm not going to put it outside in this weather.

– What?! I don't expect you to put it anywhere. You have to kill him – he blurted out, not believing that he had to explain it at all.

– I won't do it. If you want to have an innocent creature on your conscience so much, go ahead – he announced, making his friend even more shocked. – Now move over and make me a place.

Mikey got the impression that time stood still and the whole room was spinning, looping Ken-chin's words: I won't do it...I won't do it....

– ...No... if you won't kill him, what was the point of bringing you here?

He felt panic take over his stressed body again.

– None – he replied, unzipping his pants.

– Ken-chin, I'm begging you!

He tried to convince him in another way. He hoped that the pleading tone would soften his heart, which at the moment seemed to be made of stone. His fingers tightened on the material of his t-shirt, and he located his widened eyes in those of Ken-chin, equally dark, but still impassive.

– Move – he said, not commenting on his behavior in any way.

– No – Mikey countered, pulling him by his shirt.

Mikey's voice and behavior reminded Draken of an insufferable child he passed on the street yesterday, who terrorized more than one passerby with his screaming. Taking a different tactic, he grabbed him by both hands and forcibly placed him on a soft mattress, so that this one-person surface could also accommodate his exhausted body.

Probably he couldn't make it under different circumstances. Mikey's current condition was working against him, depriving him of that almost inhuman strength, the one that was hidden in his only seemingly innocent body.

– I should have called Baji – he muttered, turning his back on him like an offended child.

– But you didn't. Swallow it and go to sleep – Draken said, slipping the rubber band from his long hair, placing it on the nightstand next to him and closing his eyes.

– ...What if it comes here? – Mikey asked after a while, bringing a wide smile to the face of his friend lying next to him.

– In this last moment of your life, remember that you were my best friend and I will miss you – he replied, giving his tone of voice a serious tone.

– Not helping, Ken-chin – he said quietly, curling his body like a hurt, frightened creature.

Mikey's quiet and soft voice caused Draken's gaze to wander to his curled body. Moved by the sight, so unusual and surprising, he felt the need to speak up in a different way.

– I'll protect you... It won't even touch you – he assured, irresponsibly touching his arm.

– Promise?

– I promise – he said, slowly moving his hand.

– Thank you – Mikey whispered, tightening his fingers on Ken-chin's warm hand.

– Besides, its venom fangs cannot pierce the skin, you would only feel a slight pinch.

Along with his last word, he felt Mikey's body tighten and his fingers strengthen their grip.

– Ken-chin... knowing that it could touch me in any way makes me panic. I don't even want to think...

– Ok, I got it. I promised that he won't come near you.

– Then why you...

– Forget the fangs talk.

A quiet murmur was all Draken heard in response. Taking his hand from Mikey's shoulder, he intertwined both hands behind his head and closed his eyes.

It was better this way. He couldn't afford to make another mistake.

– When you came here... you had something strange on your head – Mikey's voice echoed through the dark room, shattering Draken's futile attempts to fall asleep.

– Why did it sound like a reproach? – he asked amused, without opening his eyes.

– Because it was.

– I had only 5 minutes, don't be picky.

Mikey turned his body to the other side. His eyes almost immediately located his friend's face. Draken's head rested on the shared pillow, and his calm breathing brought him slowly into a well-deserved, though nonetheless distant sleep. Mikey's hand unconsciously went to his long blond hair and touched its smooth surface with his fingertips.

– What are you doing?

Draken watched his silent friend, whose action shattered the recent apparent calm.

– I was checking to see if it was still there – he explained, without withdrawing his hand.

– You didn't like it that much?

– You looked... different.

– In a bad way?

– Not sure. I don't have enough data.

And once again aware of the mistake he was making, Draken could not suppress the strong urge to touch him as well. Following his answer-seeking friend, Draken moved his hand and sank his long, slender fingers into Mikey's soft hair.

– What are you doing? – Mikey repeated the question that came from Ken-chin's mouth just a moment ago.

– Checking how it is – Draken explained rather laconically.

Mikey's eyes hid behind the soft skin of his eyelids as Draken's fingertips sunk deeper, boldly touching his skin.

– Has anyone... touched your hair before? – Mikey asked, without opening his eyes.

– Yes.

The answer stirred unpleasant emotions in him. Stronger than he expected to feel.

– Who?

– Sachiko.

– Who is she?

And more importantly – why did you let her touch your hair?! The second question didn't come up. Mikey's mind didn't allow it to reach Ken-chin.

– The hairdresser I've been going to for many years – he replied, forcing himself to be serious.

Mikey's moody voice made him incredibly happy.

When, once again, a quiet murmur was all he heard from him, this time it was he who asked.

– Has anyone touched your hair before?

– Shin.

– ...And ...who is Shin? – the tone of his voice sounded similar to Mikey's.

Although, he guessed under what circumstances the whole procedure with touching took place, he felt a strange urge to destroy something in his tightly clenched fingers of his right hand.

– Does it matter?

Draken refrained from asking further questions. Instead, he steered the conversation onto a slightly different track.

– ...Does this mean that no girl has done t h e s e? – he asked, running his fingers through Mikey's hair.

– No and I don't care. – He spoke the second part of his answer in a much quieter tone.

– Interesting.

So did he hear it after all?

Mikey tensed, tensing his muscles unnaturally. Averting his gaze, Mikey withdrew his still unsatisfied fingers. Draken's hand froze, letting his fingers rest freely on his friend's head. He didn't want to lose contact with him. Not yet.

– Are you bored? – asked Draken, extremely curious about the answer.

Mikey's disobedient body brought him another wave of heat. However, this time its source was not hidden in a monster on frail legs. The source had a completely different form, it was much closer, dangerously close.

– I wouldn't fall asleep that way – he replied evasively.

Draken smiled slightly upon hearing this forced comment, and ready to do the same, his hand returned to its original position, just behind his head.

Mikey understood perfectly what was happening. He understood, and at the same time tried with all his might to deny it. He told himself that the reason was the strange atmosphere, full of irrational mystery, the darkness in the room and this almost unbearable negligible distance between them. He told himself that under different circumstances his thoughts would not have wandered into such distant and unknown corners of his mind. Under normal circumstances, he would never have allowed himself such a scenario.

But is it really true?

After all, this isn't the first time Ken-chin's presence has simultaneously calmed and stimulated him. In that case, is there any point in denying it? Isn't it better to accept defeat and move on? Isn't it better to get honest and simply try to forget?

Aware that this was probably the last time Ken-chin would allow him to be this close, Mikey moved closer and grasped the material of his shirt in his fingers. Stimulated by his more intense scent, he closed his eyes, letting the pleasant scent fill his senses.

– I didn't know you were afraid of spiders – Draken said quietly.

The sound of his voice didn't betray one bit of what was going on inside him. Of how Mikey's unexpected gesture, affected his already rebellious heart.

– This is new to me – he added, but this time with the last word, he allowed himself something more.

He slowly raised his right hand, rested it on the mattress just behind Mikey's back, and, hesitating for a moment more, finally dared to touch them. Mikey shuddered. The warmth of Ken-chin's fingers felt behind the thin material of his t-shirt penetrated this fragile barrier and sank deeper, amazingly stimulating the receptors on his skin.

– Only you know about it – he said, struggling to control the tone, volume and speed of his voice. – If you tell anyone, I'll know it's you.

– It would be unwise to betray your only weakness.

– The only one you know – he corrected him quietly.

– There are more?

– Yes, but don't ask. I won't tell you anyway.

– ...What if I promised you that I'd get rid of Joro? – Draken asked, moving his hand a little higher.

Mikey's body tensed, which was easily sensed by Ken-chin's fingers touching him.

– ...Who?

– The spider from behind the closet. Although, in fact, it could be anywhere now.

– You're not playing fair – Mikey muttered, not daring to open his eyes.

He saw the impenetrable darkness that spread out right in front of him as a safe space where the word 'failure' did not exist. He wanted to believe that just behind the delicate skin of his eyelids there was nothing worth taking the risk to open his eyes and see if the illusory world in his head really existed.

– By the way, it doesn't have to be a spider. – Draken's voice rang out again. – Did you know that there is a yōkai named Jorōgumo who can take the form of a beautiful woman or a large spider?

When no response from his friend lying right next to him came, and the only reaction to his words was a stronger grip of Mikey's fingers on the cotton material of his t-shirt, Draken decided to continue.

– And did you know that these yōkai feed on young men?

– If so, shouldn't you also feel threatened?

– Good point.

– ...Since you know my weakness, it would be fair if you tell me yours – Mikey stated, remaining in the safe bubble of his own imagination.

– Yes, it would. But I'm afraid that would be the last thing you'd hear from me.

The illusory bubble burst, shattering irretrievably. Dark eyes met the other's, staring at him with utmost attention and a kind of sadness.

– I don't understand... – he said, getting the impression that the meaning of Ken-chin's next words would change everything.

– I don't want to lose you Mikey, so it's better if I don't dispel your doubts.

The chaos in his mind made it difficult to focus. Looping thoughts, at times absurd, forced him to speak back to Ken-chin in a way that would leave him no choice but to give in and confess the truth.

– Explain it to me – Mikey demanded, feeling his heart speed up, reaching unnatural speeds – and let me decide if you deserve to lose me.

A thought flashed through Draken's mind that although the chances were small, they were not really zero, that he had the right to hope. Fighting an internal battle, he didn't expect that the outcome would be decided by this seemingly small gesture from the boy staring at him.

Once again, Mikey's hand boldly moved toward Ken-chin's face, but this time it stopped captured by his strong fingers.

– You do realize that this is not able to stop me, right? – Mikey said without taking his eyes off him.

– Yes, although I'm not sure why.... What you were trying to do.

– Let me go, I'll show you.

– ...Isn't it strange? – Draken asked quietly.

His fingers still clenched tightly in Mikey's warm palm.

– What?

– The way we behave.

– Damn strange – Mikey admitted, causing Ken-chin's quiet laughter to reach his ears.

– If so, I think I'll take my chance – he said, pressing his hand against his warm cheek.

Mikey's eyes widened and his anxious heart sped up its work. Is it right to take his behavior in this way? Is it responsible to trust his own intuition? An intuition disturbed by the emotions bubbling up inside him?

– You're stronger than me, so stop me if I cross the line – Ken-chin spoke softly, giving him time to understand what was going on.

Very slowly and with hesitation noticeable in his movements, Draken brought him even closer to himself and held him close enough that he could feel his warm breath on his skin.

– Is it normal? – Mikey's voice was filled with emotion.

– What do you mean? – Draken asked, trying to trust his own senses, what he sees, hears and feels.

– That I don't mind...

– No, but...

– But?

– I'm not sure if I want to be normal... or if I want you to be.

– What's holding you back?

– It's hard to explain.

– You're scared – Mikey said, almost accusingly.

– Yes. I'm afraid that my action will destroy what is between us, and at the same time I'm afraid that if I don't take the risk, I'll lose the chance to see how close you would let me get to you.

– ...You're not a coward, Ken-chin. It's in your nature to take risks.

Provoked by his words, Ken-chin stopped analyzing his every potential move. Loosening the grip around his hand, he felt Mikey's fingers adjust to the shape of his cheek and slowly move higher, weaving their way into his long hair, which fell loosely around his neck and shoulders. His own hand found a rest on Mikey's face, slowly and carefully exploring every inch with his fingertips. Stopping near the lips, he ran his fingers over it and parting it gently, got close enough to taste it.

– It took an awfully long time – he heard Mikey's quiet whisper.

– They say mood is important – he replied with a slight amusement.

– Apparently so – Mikey agreed, expecting that this was not all they had experienced, that the tension between them would lead them in only one right direction.

As expected and as their needs grew stronger, their lips found each other again, and impatient hands made the space between them stop existing. The two moved independently, yet in remarkable synchronization, pushing against each other even more, so that the sensation of closeness reached another, higher level. The subtle kisses they shared gradually gained pace, significantly changing their character. Deeper and deeper, longer and longer, and more and more addictive, they deprived them of the ability to consciously control themselves, to return to a place that at the moment their flustered minds perceived as something irrelevant, something that never existed. That's why when Ken-chin moved, laying his body on top of the other one, the one belonging to the blond-haired, shorter boy staring at him with his shining black eyes, they both realized that returning to the life before that moment, was impossible. Ken-chin's kindness and unusual understanding of the surrounding world, not once suprised Mikey and made him feel safe. Knowing that he was next to him, that he could always count on him, gave him courage and faith that if he ever got lost, he would find him. Ken-chin will do anything to bring him back.

– Have I reached the limit? – heard his quiet question, snapping him out of his momentary daze.

– Limit? – Mikey repeated, not understanding.

– Have I gone too far? – he asked in a different way.

– I don't think there is any limit – Mikey replied, creating a unique confusion in Ken-chin's mind as well as his own.

– Impossible.

Mikey smiled, moving his hand to the spot where Ken-chin's smooth scalp was marked with a black tattoo under his hairline, and trailing his fingers along the sunken ink, forced his way closer to him. Their faces were almost touched each other, their breaths mingled with each other, and their gazes clearly betrayed what was to come next.

– In that case... let's find out which one of us is right – Mikey whispered against his lips.

...

„There are times when you can't give up." Draken, Tokyo Revengers

[silvers-d-me]

Where Has My Underwear Gone? OP Men Edition: Portgas D. Ace

Date Night with Ace and Marco! Reader is AFAB and a Devil Fruit user. Reader is in a poly relationship with Marco and Ace. Probably swearing, definitely smut, female body parts, male body parts, so much dick. Explicit language. Minors DNI!

Date night! This was something special, something you and your boyfriends didn't often manage with the responsibilities of two Division Commanders, plus Marco being the Moby Dick's ship doctor, plus the trips Ace took on behalf of Whitebeard, and now, your promotion to Maintenance Division Commander. That was one of the reasons for the celebration. More responsibility, yes, but given the fact you were the user of the Mend Mend no Mi, it only made sense. You'd learned enough about repair and maintaining the gigantic vessel with your hands as well as your Devil Fruit to take over from Blenheim and allow him to move to other duties.

So here you were in a fancy ass hotel lobby with Marco, both of you wearing your best fancy ass attire, at Ace's direction. Marco was looking absolutely delectable in his dark charcoal suit with a burgundy dress shirt, for once button closed and not displaying his very admirable torso, pants cut to fit almost too well, shiny black shoes a distracting contrast to the sandals he usually wore. He'd even slicked his blond sprout of hair back somehow and with his heavy lidded eyes he looked very much like the image of some gangster boss in a manga. He was a doctor, but even dressed up to the hit, he couldn't shake that aura of I AM A PIRATE. Said pirate glanced down and you and smiled. “Like what you see? You're looking even more lovely than usual, yoi.”

Marco took your hand in his, stepping back a pace to appreciate your own fancied-up appearance. Your hair was combed and sleek and piled up, adorned with glimmering combs of gold and diamond and pearl, The dress was a honey colored satin that went beautifully with your skin, one shoulder left bare, the other graced with a strap set with matching diamonds and pearls. The lights of the lobby gleamed down the satin that hugged your form just right, the sweep of it adding to the overall image of luxury and opulence. You wore actual heels for once, strappy things that peeked out from the satin with an echo of pearl and glint of white diamond fire. Your wrist and ears were adorned with the same metal and gems: diamonds of varying size set in lush gold with pearls gleaming in the settings. You were also a pirate, after all, and enjoyed the chance to show off some of your plunder. At your throat was a fine chain of gold, nearly invisible, holding the most precious piece of jewelry you owned.

The pendant was of a gold nearly orange color holding three gems: a bright blue sapphire, a deep red ruby, and a pearl of twilight purple between them. It had take Ace and Marco a long time to find that pearl even with access to the chests of them Pops collected. It was, they had decided, a perfect color for you, rare and exotic and carrying shades of both the other jewels in its luster. You only wore it on the most special of occasions and time when you felt sure it was in no danger or harm nor pillage, though really, on Marco's arm, there weren't many safer places to be. He drew you in and kissed the back of your hand fondly, then turned it over to press warm lips to your pulse point. He knew very well how to get that pulse moving and you grinned up at him, other hand smoothing over his lapel.

“Behave yourself, Commander. We're supposed to be somewhere in just a few minutes. I still wonder what our Ace has gotten up to this time. Not that I'm complaining, you understand.” You let your arm be tucked into Marco's as he led you towards the sweep of elegant stairs, lit by a ridiculously intricate crystal chandelier. “I wonder how much he paid for this, or if he just threatened to burn it to the ground if they didn't give him a suite?” Even with the Phoenix's support you were having to be careful to negotiate the stairs in heels with the dress clinging to your legs too closely.

“I hope he just paid since I don't want to be interrupted and have to fight off the constabulary yoi.” Marco's hand "accidentally" slipped down the pretty satin from your hip to your butt. "Why, Y/N, I'm shocked yoi. Are you bare under that scandalous gown?!" He sounded just shocked beyond all propriety.. but his voice had dropped and his hand was nearly radiating heat. The glance you shot up at the handsome doctor through your lashes was amused and irritated. You had to pause as he reluctantly left the supple curve of your butt to produce a key from his pocket and open the closed door that faced you. A dark glossy wood, brass fittings and an elegant letter A.

"I think you know very well why I'm not wearing anything under my dress, Marco. It's all gone. Every stitch! All of my pretty underwear is missing.  Everything else is there! Garters, stockings, bras, corsets, every other piece that either you or Ace has given me is gone. I'm not wearing my business underpants with this dress, Birdie." You gestured up and down yourself, directing his attention to the dress and the shoes and the stockings and the hair and the makeup and the jewelry and the everything. Even the perfume, as you drew your wrist slowly under his sensitive Zoan nose. You smirked as his bright blue eyes dilated under his heavy lids. Zoan users were so easy to tease. You twirled away from his grabby hand by opening the door and stepping into.. wow.

[To Be Continued!]

[splitontendo]

pairing: osamu miya x f!reader

synopsis: in honor of your friends birthday your friends and you all decided to get high. buying the drugs from no other than osamu miya. the most attractive dealer you’ve ever laid eyes on.

20 | a fucking daydream

warnings: drugs (weed) and alcohol, minor manga spoilers, violence, blood, use of the word druggie (once), and slut shaming. lmk if i missed anything.

masterlist | previous | next

as if on cue, ric flair drip began playing when you threw the bathroom door open. mumbling a quick apology to the person at the front of the line.

moving swiftly between the heated bodies that danced in the hot boxed and cramped living room—you made your way into the kitchen. the room was lit by blue led lights that were placed under the cupboard.

“y/n!” alisa spilled some of the liquor onto the table top waving over to you.

you waved back, and at yaku and akaashi who stood next to her.

“here,” she handed you one of the three red solo cups that were placed on the table—the other two for yaku and her.

“surprise seeing you here.” you teased akaashi as his eyes rather study the soda can in his hands than meet your own.

“it’s bokuto’s party,” he licked his lips before meeting your eyes. “i’m sorry, if i had been aware of your plans tonight i would’ve stopped-”

you placed your hand on his shoulder and squeezed lightly, catching him off guard. “it’s fine.”

“let’s drink to y/n and her new boyfriend then!” alisa interrupted upon hearing you accept the apology.

you four raised your drinks cheering for the fun of it, throwing your heads back to chug your drinks.

wincing when you felt the familiar burn in your throat, you turned your head in shocked when you felt a hand on your shoulder.

suna couldn’t hold back a smile seeing the look on your face.

“you came!” you shouted wrapping your arms around him, and he hugged you back with an arm around your waist. it was crazy to think about the night you two first met and how close you two have gotten now.

pulling away you caught the very new but familiar smell. “you getting high without me?” you joked as he moved his arm around your shoulder now.

“your boyfriends got the rest on him.” he took the cup alisa was handing him, greeting all your friends. “he’s out back, let’s go.” he predicted your next words.

if the front of kuroo and kenma’s house was alluring then the back was captivating. in the center was a pool where the water glowed different shades of colors due to the underwater lights, and off the side was a one room guest house.

when you walked outside you stepped on a concrete patio with a gable roof. below the structure your friends stood on opposite sides of a table. taking your eyes from kuroo and bokuto on the left side to kenma and osamu on the right.

you paid close attention to how the latters muscles clenched under the black shirt he wore—moving his forearm back before extending it forward to throw the plastic white ball.

it made its way into the single red cup in front of the other pair. with a tsk kuroo picked the ball out of the cup, tossing it back to a smug kenma, then downing the liquid in the cup.

suna and you both cheered making your way to the winning team. osamu smiled at you two as kenma handed him the blunt and half the money the teams were betting.

“let me get some of that!” you heard someone call out, turning your head and seeing your boyfriends clone walking up to you two.

you did a double take. maybe you were drinking too much.

osamu groaned as he exhaled the smoke, “didn’t i tell you to wait in the car?”

“so rude osamu,” the blond reached you two resting his arm on osamu’s shoulder. “is that anyway to treat your older brother?” looking past his twins eye roll atsumu meet your eyes.

“you must be y/n,” he extended his hand, “i’m miya atsumu, but you can call me whatever you like, gorgeous.” smirking when you shook his hand.

“no.” was the only thing osamu said before moving his hand to your lower back and directing you to the patio furniture your friends had put in the corner of the gated yard.

the two of you sat on an outdoor couch. you couldn’t help but giggle at his pout and furrowed brows. which he glared at you for, reaching into his pocket to pull out a new blunt, handing you the lighter to light it for him.

as you did so, both your group of friends began walking over. filling up the empty seat around you two. you looked over and saw how they were all getting along—passing two blunts around.

“highschool volleyball huh?” kenma asked, voice husky due to the smoke in his mouth.

“yup,” osamu popped the p, taking the blunt kenma handed him.

kenma faintly smiled at you and you returned it. melting into osamu’s side, happy to finally have your final friends approval.

“don’t forget the most important part,” a very intoxicated atsumu spoke up, snatching the blunt from osamu as soon as it left his mouth, “i was captain!”

“that was two years ago!” suna whined, making the group laugh. his reaction made it clear that this wasn’t the blonds first time to emphasize that fact.

“hold up, you were captain?” kuroo shot up, his silver haired friend followed suit. your friends and you groaned knowing what’s next to come. atsumu just nodded passing the blunt.

“we were our teams captains too!” bokuto exclaimed.

the three all shook up with one another, their laughs blocking out the groups complains and scoffs.

finally receiving the blunt you brought it to your lips, allowing osamu light it for you. he examined your features, watching as your cheeks hallowed out when you took a drag, and how your long lashes fluttered when you looked up at him.

playfully rolling your eyes at him, you turned your head to exhale the smoke. it had nothing to do with how small you felt under his eyes. “you’re staring.”

“can you blame me?” he moved to whisper into your ear, “you look amazing tonight.” he said before placing an innocent kiss to your temple. you laughed as your friends faked gagged and teased you two.

“wasn’t aware the party was back here!” you froze at the voice. konoha coming into view shortly after.

the group fell dead silent—and either konoha played it off well, or was just really bad at reading a crowd.

“you little shit!”

the words came from ginjima, he moved alisa carefully off his lap before standing to his feet. he wasn’t even able to get close to konoha, suna grabbed him by the collar, mumbling something into his ear. the anger in his eyes simmered but was still evident.

alisa noticed your uneasy and was quick to walk over to you. “let’s go dance!” she pulled you from your seat.

“i’ll take that,” konoha took the blunt from your fingers as well as your seat next to osamu. throwing his arm on the couch behind osamu.

“go have fun pretty girl,” osamu reassured you when he saw your mouth opened to say something.

watching you nod your head alisa pulled you to the group of people who were dancing to the song that began playing—ayy ladies.

“sorry i just wanted to get out of there.” alisa spoke over the music, her hands placed gently on your hips.

“don’t apologize,” you smiled and shook your head agreeing, “i didn’t want to be there either.” not with konoha there anyways.

“remember have fun pretty girl.” she whispers into your ear. your blood running cold as she teases you with osamu’s words.

when the first beat hits she turns you around, bending you over. both her hands on your hips, moving you against herself, to the music.

it doesn’t take long for you to get use to the position. it was nothing new for the two of you. laughing you glance over at your friends, their faces either smug or shocked—but never the less delighted.

finding the gray eyes among the pairs that were on you two. you felt your face heat up, with osamu’s eyes roaming up your body. he didn’t even try to hide how much he was enjoying the sight of you.

you saw how his smirk dropped when konoha whispered something into his ear.

“she’s a fucking daydream huh?”

osamu’s eyes darted to the dirty blond next to him, he just wanted to sla—

“don’t be weird!” kenma overheard what the blond boy said, throwing the blunt at him.

konoha hissed watching the ash fall off onto his shirt, picking up the blunt and smoking what he could get out of it before it burned out.

the comment was left ignored by osamu, but before he could go back to enjoying the night the boy next to him spoke.

“oh here,” he pulled out a stack of hundreds, handing osamu the money he owed him. “and some words of advice, from an ex to a boyfriend.”

osamu already didn’t like where this was going.

“break up with her,” konoha smirked at the look on osamu’s face, “before she realizes what a mistake she’s doing with someone like you.”

everything was muffled for a minute, even as yaku shouted at konoha to stop hogging the blunt and pass it. osamu throat felt dry and his fits clenched on top of his legs, this didn’t go unnoticed by your ex.

not wanting to cause a scene he stood up, beginning to walk away. he overheard how the group began to scold konoha for making him uncomfortable.

“osamu!”

for fucks sake, leave me alone.

“i didn’t mean to offend you,” the blond caught up with him, “she’s just a tease,” there it went again, static.

“seriously…she leads you on…a slut to put it in simpler words.. leaving her now—“

we’re the last words konoha got out before osamu threw a punch. his fist hitting konoha right in the nose.

the large gasps from the crowd that was now forming covered the blonds wince.

“you fucking druggie!” konoha shouted, whiping the blood coming out his nose.

kuroo and bokuto were quick to hold him back from lunging at osamu—who suna and atsumu held back.

alisa and you ran towards the small mob that was forming around your friends. you began pushing your way to the front when you heard how stern kuroo’s voice was.

“i’m leaving,” you heard osamu tell his friends, not even sparing a glance at you when you asked what had happened.

“osamu you don’t need to leave.” kuroo called after him, but he continued walking away.

about to ask again you see konoha’s bloody nose and put the pieces together.

you turn on your heel about to walk off when you feel someone grab your wrist.

your breath catches in your throat at the sight of konoha. “y/n-“

“konoha if you don’t let go of her, i swear to fucking god.” with that kenma took a sip of the solo cup in his hands, his calm demeanor fading due to the sharp glare in his eyes.

as soon as his grip loosen you ran to the side of the house, hoping to catch up to osamu.

you smiled seeing him about to reach the houses driveway.

“‘samu!”

your heart dropped when you saw him keep walking. did he not hear you?

“i know you hear me!” you tried again. your words more breathy trying to catch up with him.

“can you slow dow-“

“leave me alone y/n.” his voice was rough and he didn’t even turn his head to tell you off.

“what?”

“i’m telling you to go back to your friends.” hearing no response from you he kept walking.

“so what,” you felt weird, and your hands were now shaking, “you’re gonna ghost me again?”

“w—we’re going in circles osamu,” you bit your tongue at how thick your voice came off.

he couldn’t face you, now more than ever. he refused to see the pain he was bringing you.

“osamu if you walk away right now,” you stopped hoping to calm your emotions from spilling, “we’re over.”

maybe because it felt as if you knew him for a longer time, but you were able to picture what his face looked like in that moment. the low and shaky breath that left him proved your imagination right.

“i won’t take you back after this,” you inhaled sharply, choosing your words carefully, “not this time.”

fun facts!🍃

there’s a lot to unpack here osamu and his friends always smoke before functions just in case they’re not allowed to do so when they get there.

kuroo always puts ayy ladies in the party playlist because he knows it’s your’s and alisa’s song, call him a perv he’ll gladly admit it’s only on there for that reason.

konoha thought his nose broke for a second so did everyone else tho.

osamu hates when people associate him with only drugs.

taglist <3 can’t tag bold :(

@kaleidoscopekai @shiraboobie @90s-belladonna @p0nponpurin @its-the-aerieljeane @liliesloves @tetsuswhore @tanakasimpcorner @lilith412426 @sunababiee @jewlmin @rinvtaro @kokogxddess @tsukkisboo @sammcaav222 @sunarinnies @bakugouswh0r3 @gosteponlegoo @nerdynstoned @dabidoki @neologyro @rinschuupet @m1lfluv3r @criesinpisces @sunahyejin @annoyingfestivalbuscuitnerd @eveyams @inusdoll @melancoliie @darlingkuroo @peachyaeger @mariachiii @teenydancer @aaniyahz @sugabeaniee @saltishima-rex @riceballsandanime @erinoikawa @vinjayeet @sirachano0dles @encrytpta

[secondhand-trash]

aka lets try to live in the world of a sports anime like its a shoujo manga

(as inspired by those teeth rottingly cliche romance tropes, once again)

A/N: hello hello hello uwu this is yet another round of romance cliches but with our lovely vball boyos because we can all use a bit of dokidoki in our lives

Word count: 5743

Warning: brace yourself for secondhand embarrassment because what’s youth without a bit of embarrassment

Characters: Bokuto Koutarou, Yaku Morisuke, Tsukishima Kei, Kita Shinsuke, Sugawara Koushi, Nishinoya Yuu, Iwaizumi Hajime, Miya Atsumu

-

Bokuto Koutarou

You had been praying and praying that the heavy downpour would have stopped by the time you had to leave the safety of the school grounds, but it seemed like nature was determined to give you a stone cold lesson about how you should always be prepared for the worst.

The fact that you always had your umbrella with you at all times except the one day when you needed it was a joke. You grimaced when you thought of how you had taken it out yesterday because of how heavy your bag was, thinking that it would be fine since the weather forecast clearly said it would be sunny today.

Lies. All lies.

You shivered at the loud roar of thunder that echoed from the sky, covering the sound of the school bell ringing at the back of your head. Rain drops slid down from the window, blurring the view like a running veil of stream. You had been dreading this moment, but it seemed like the rain showed no sign of stopping or even getting lighter at any given point and staying behind until the school closed was probably an even worse option.

Standing under the last bit of cover you had at the front door, you watched as everyone walked past you and opened up their umbrellas one by one.

You could already imagine how embarrassing it would be to run into the rain like a wet chicken.

Fine. Whatever. You shut your eyes tight as you prepared yourself to sprint with all your might out the school gate. 

Oh boy. Oh boy, here goes nothing...

“Heh~ The rain is so heavy today!” 

You were taken back when you heard the sudden voice. Bokuto was standing next to you, his hand holding his chin and the other at his waist like he was thinking about something serious. Tilting his head to the side, he hummed as he stared at the heavy downpour.

Wait, how long has he been here?

“Bokuto kun?”

“Ah! It’s (y/l/n)!” he beamed as he turned to look at you, “Are you about to leave too? Rainy days are so annoying!”

You sighed, “It really is...”

“Oh?” his round eyes fixed on your empty hand, “Do you not have an umbrella with you?”

“Yeah...”

“Well that sucks, which direction are you going?”

You replied and watched as he tilted his head to the other side while looking at the umbrella he was holding. “Ah, we are going the opposite ways then. But I only have one umbrella. Hm...”

“No it’s fine-”

“Ah!” his sudden yell startled you as he looked back up, clasping his hands together as if the light bulb in his head suddenly lit up, “I can just give you mine!”

“No really-”

“Ok, then that’s solved!”

You didn’t have the time to react as Bokuto threw his umbrella into your arms before he lunged himself into the rain and started running towards the gate.

“Wait Bokuto-”

But he was too fast and as you called out for him in panic, he turned around to wave at you. Rain drenched his shirt and his spikey hair was matted onto his face but his grin didn’t even falter.

“Be safe on your way home!”

You could barely register what just happened as your eyes flicked between the gate where the tall frame of Bokuto disappeared into and the black umbrella that was sitting soundly in your arms. 

You did not understand him. You did not understand him at all. But as the warmth that was left on the metal handle slowly became the ones from the center of your palm, you felt your face heating up too.

Yaku Morisuke

Normally, you avoided the area right outside the school gymnasium at all cost. Balls didn’t have eyes and getting hit by a hard-shelled leather object that flew towards you in full force was just way too much of a damage for a normal person like you to take.

So to say you were on high alert as you stood outside of the court where the volleyball club was practicing in would be an understatement.

Oh, the things you do for friendship. You sighed as you hold the water bottle Inuoka left on his desk before he rushed out of the classroom the moment the bell rang.

Tentatively pushing the door open, you could hear the loud screeches of sports shoes against the polished wooden floor and the yells from the members who were practicing.

Alright, you would just wait at the side until they had a break so you could give the water bottle back to Inuoka and then leave...

“Watch out!”

Your head was empty when you caught the blurry shadow that was flying across the court towards your way. You should move out of its track, or at least shield your head with your arms but in a state of shock, your brain was completely blank and it felt like your feet were planted onto the ground. It almost felt like it happened in slow motion as the yell reached into your ear, and you braced yourself for the pain that was bound to come as your body refused to listen the the screaming from inside your head to just do something.

Your eyes were shut in reflex as you waited for the eventual hit, but it never came.

A loud bang brought you out of your trance and you snapped your eyes opened just in time to see someone slipping in front of you before swinging the ball away from you. You were still drowning in the sudden rush of adrenaline as your chest heaved. Slowly regaining your vision as the white cast of your shock faded, your heart was still pounding when you saw that it was one of the third years that shielded you from the hit.

As he turned around, you recognised him as “the short senpai with ridiculous caliber” from the videos your friend had shown you of his team’s matches. But as he let out a heavy breath and brushed away the drop of sweat from his forehead, for some reason you felt like he stood just as tall as his other teammates.

“Are you alright?”

“Y- yeah...”

“That’s good,” he smiled but the smile was quickly gone when he snapped his head towards where the ball came from, “L E V, did you even look at where you were serving towards?”

“I’m sorry!” The tall boy bowed dramatically towards your direction and you hastily bowed back.

“Sorry about that, he is still getting the hang of things,” Yaku shot you an apologetic look, “are you here for someone.”

“Oh, I’m just here to give this to Inuoka,” you lifted up the bottle in your hand.

“Ah, I’ll give it to him then,” he extended his hand towards you and you thanked him as he took the bottle, brushing off your formality with a chuckle.

Your heart nearly stopped when he gave you a quick pat on the head before turning around, “Thank you for looking out for our ruckus gouhais.”

You could still feel the soft touch on your head as you paced away from the gymnasium. Pressing your hand against your chest, you let out a heavy breath when you felt how fast your heart was still beating.

Tsukishima Kei

Libraries were not short people friendly and it was a fact you had to learn the hard way.

You cursed under your breath as your fingertips brushed past the spine of the book you had been reaching for once again. Taking in a deep breath, you were already starting to feel tired from all the stretching and jumping you had been doing.

You weren’t even that short, alright? You clicked your tongue at the book that was still sitting soundly at the top column of the shelf. You could understand making use of precious urban space, but why wouldn’t the school at least provide students with something to step on if they decided to put essential reference books so far up the shelves?

Leaning out of the aisle to see if there was anyone around who could give you a helping hand, your eyes immediately picked up on the bit of blonde hair that was moving from behind one of the shelves. If the person was even taller than the shelf, then it would be no trouble at all for them to reach the book for you. Right?

You were disappointed when the person walked out from behind the shelf and you immediately realised that as feasible as the option was, you did not have the nerve to even talk let alone ask for help from the tall boy who exuded a strong “do not talk to me” aura with his uninterested gaze and pursed lips.

You could not move quicker when he turned towards your direction, your back straightening up as you pretended to be staring at the lined up row of books in front of you so no one, especially not him, would be suspicious that you were doing anything but that.

So you were on your own in this.

You sighed, slumping down your shoulders as you collected yourself before reaching up for the shelves once again. It felt like your joints were about to be ripped off with how much might you put into extending your arm upward but there was still a good amount of distance between the tip of your fingers and the heavy text book. 

Just a little more... 

You gave a light jump as you got on the very tip of your toes.

Just a little... so close-

“Um...”

You nearly lost balance on your feet when you heard the sudden sound behind you. Turning around abruptly, words could not begin to described how embarrassed you felt when you saw a rather annoyed Tsukishima standing right there.

Perhaps it was your fried brain overthinking after being witnessed you jumping like a seal out of the water or perhaps it was the optimal angle in which he looked down at you that made you feel that way, but at that moment, you were pretty sure he was rolling his eyes at you a million times from where you could not see.

“Oh, sorry.”

He gave you a barely visible nod as you stepped aside, looking basically effortless as he reached for the same shelf that you had been struggling to even see for the past moments and hooked his finger to the spine of the book right next to the one you were trying to get.

His ease only made your earlier situation look even more ridiculous.

You waited until you were certain that he was out of your sight before you returned to your task of defying gravity. You were tired and feeling very defeated but if you give up now, wouldn’t that wash all the time you wasted here in this exact spot gone to complete waste?

You were about to bend your knees down to jump up again when you felt the presence of another person being right behind you.

“Don’t move.”

All you could hear was your own heartbeat tapping at your eardrums as you held your breath, freezing in place when you spotted the slender arm reaching up from the side of your head. You were trapped between the shelf and the tall boy that was towering over you and your head was fried at the realisation of how you would bump into his chest if you do so little as flinch.

You wished you could see his face right now.

“Here,” he said as he held the book in front of you, his other hand pushing his glasses up towards the bridge of his nose.

You regained your senses quickly, taking the book from his hand and gave a slight bow of appreciation.

You did not let out the breath you were holding in until you heard the sound of the library door closing, your heart beating a rapid rhythm as you tried to stablise your breathing.

You could not brush away the feeling of the distant warm of his body right against yours for the rest of the day.

Kita Shinsuke

When stepped down from the lights of the court, the foxes of Inaizaki volleyball club were just regular teenage boys who does regular teenage boy things.

Like getting way too heated in a round of king’s game.

When Atsumu very excitedly suggested that every member of the club should come around to do something on the last night of the summer training camp, you knew that it was not going to end well. You had planned to refuse with the excuse that as their manager, you had to tidy up the data of today’s training but your excuse was quickly debunked when the twins looked at each other then to the side where the boys were slowly sitting down in a circle one by one.

“But even Kita san is playing with us though?”

Ah. Ah... Kita san, the one man at the top of the Inarizaki apex. The true god to rule them all. The man of schedule and reason, had also agreed to going along with their games.

Your right to refuse was immediately revoked. If even Kita had decided to join, then no on, and you meant literally no one, had a reason to stay away anymore.

The group groaned when Suna flipped over his card to show the king printed on top and you palmed your face when you heard his snicker, “Number 7 needs to spike towards number 8 in full force.”

Demons, every single one of them. 

Sitting by the sidelines all through out the game, you sighed as you witnessed the ruckus nonsense of your fellow club members. You were lucky enough to not be picked for any of the penalties, basically drifting off to a faraway land as the chaos unfolded. Your captain was sitting next to you, equally uninvolved as the yells from the other boys got louder and louder.

You silently wished whoever it was with the number 8 card good luck as the blonde fox cockily held his card out in display, the number 7 visible to everyone.

You did not pay much attention to the conversation between Atsumu and his brother who was leaning over his shoulder until Atsumu suddenly yanked Osamu down by his collar. How the hell did they manage to get into a fight in the matter of seconds? You sighed as the other boys tried to pull the two apart.

“What are they fighting over?” you leaned towards Kita’s side slightly and asked.

“They are fighting because Atsumu thinks Osamu got the 8 but refused to show it.” he replied nonchalantly.

You froze. The card hadn’t appear yet but as dumb and reckless as they could be, it wasn’t likely that any of these people would cheat in a game like that. Especially not Osamu, given there was no way he would just give his brother the chance to undermine him like that.

Unless...

Lifting your card up by the corner, blood retreated from your face when you spotted the 8 on the surface. 

Oh fuck. Oh fuck... 

Kita glanced at you when you fell into silence, his golden eyes trailing down your wrist to see the two curls linking together to form the one number everyone was looking for on your card.

Shivers rose on your skin when you felt nimble fingers gently holding onto your wrist. Kita turned your hand so that the card was now clear in front of his eyes, his expression still holds the same degree of calmness as he did before.

You could barely react when he pulled the card out of your hand with a swift flick of his wrist, holding it between his fingers as he stood up and walked towards the fighting boys.

“It’s me.”

Sugawara Koushi

Home economics was the one and only valid subject. No objections would be accepted, thank you very much.

Cooking lessons were always the most fun. There was literally no way you could mess up the almost too simple recipes provided by the school. Everyone was chatting with their friends while prepping the ingredients and you could walk away from the class with warm food in your hands. What’s not to love?

The warm sun illuminated the large kitchen through the many windows by the side, the large fans spinning slowly on the ceiling as the many students paced around the benches. The smell of sugar and butter filled the air together with the laughter from each corner. This was what heaven feels like, you sighed in content as you plopped down the steel mixing bowl onto your counter, already feeling a dash of delight rising in your heart as you think of how this mess would become something delicious in less than an hour.

Your group mate had went to go check on the oven and left the task of preparing the batter all to you. Pushing the sleeves of your uniform and the sweater on top back until it was resting against your elbows, you picked up the whisk and started mixing away. Holding the rim of the bowl in one hand, you hummed as the metal gauze swirled along the smooth curve of the bowl and beating the ingredients together. The flour melted into the yellow curd of the eggs and sugar bit by bit and you could start to smell the buttery sweetness of the batter.

This was nice, very nice.

With your large movements, the fabric that was bunched up hastily on your arms were starting to slide down. Not being able to fold it up yourself with the bit of flour and grease on your hand, you clumsily pushed it back up with your wrist before getting back to mixing.

“(y/l/n) san, your sleeves are about to get into the batter!”

Sugawara who was doing his own thing at the bench next to yours rushed to your side when he saw the fabric inching down towards your wrist again. The crisp white sleeves of his own uniform was rolled up neatly by his forearm, showing off the line that snaked from his wrist all the way until it disappeared into the sleeves of his shirt. He had a bit of flour on his face, strands of grey baby hair falling onto his forehead as he whipped away the bit of power with the back of his hand. With the apron given out by the school hanging loosely on his waist, he looked every part of the sweet boy next door.

“Here, let me help you.”

“Oh no, it’s alright...” you did not even finish speaking when he walked behind you, his arms reaching from behind to carefully rolled up the cuff of your sleeves.

He was so close to you and you prayed that the burning on your face was just an illusion as your eyes fixed on his fingers that was skillfully folding up your sleeve until it sat right on your elbow. The tip of his fingers barely dragged past the sin of your arm as he pulled it up. You were always aware that he took good care of his hands because of the sport he played but it was only now that you had the chance to see it up close. Each knuckle was permanent on the hand that now went to your other arm. His fingers long and slim, calloused from his training but still delicate enough to hooked under the edge of your cuff and fold it up neatly.

“There,” he backed away from you, his hands on either side of his waist as he smiled at you, “now you won’t get your shirt dirty.”

There was a slight tingle that lingered on your forearm and you felt the sudden weight that was forming at the pit of your stomach that tied your thoughts into countless knots. You stared at the boy in front of you, the tiny mole under his eyes looking like it was winking at you as he grinned. 

Suddenly, the batter in your hand lost all its sweetness in comparison.

Nishinoya Yuu

You cursed at yourself when you felt the sharp ache that was shooting from your wrists all the way up to your shoulder.

You still had no idea why there were people who would fight to be the class rep. You had used all your might to refuse it when your friend half-jokingly nominated you at the start of the school year and here you were, holding a tall stack of workbooks as you wobbly made your way to the staircase at the end of the hallway. 

Did all the people that went along with the nomination and voted for you just collectively wanted to see your suffer? Well, you gritted your teeth as the books in your arm felt heavier and heavier with each step, they got what they want if that was their purpose.

The second year classrooms were a good floor above the staffroom and nothing could stop the whine from slipping out from the back of your throat when you were right at the first step of the staircase that looked way longer and steeper than it usually did. With the weight on your arms, your body was not balancing well at all yet you did not have the spare hand to steady yourself on the handle. You could only imagine how nasty the bruise would be if you took an inform step at any given point.

You could not even see where your foot was landing as you gingerly took a step down the stairs. This was going to take you forever but still, better than tripping with a whole stack of books in hand. You walked down with caution and it was a frustrating mix of wanting to get there faster so you could relieve your arms of the tension and also a fear of rolling down the staircase as your pace slowly picked up.

With the weight pulling your body downwards, it almost felt like you were stumbling down the stairs as you reached the final section before you were finally back on flat ground. Your jaw was clenched tight out of reflex, your teeth almost hurting with how hard you were biting down.

You were just a few steps away from the ground when you stepped onto a whole lot of nothing on your heel and suddenly lost all orientation. The books in your hand crashed down with a loud bang, littering all over the ground with your body that was out of balance following behind.

You were prepared to land on your face when you felt a sudden yank from the back of your collar, pulling you back onto your stumbling foot before a strong arm hooked around your waist to catch you as you fell backwards. Your mind was in a whirlwind of flurry as you collided onto whoever it was that came to your rescue, gripping on whatever your flailing hands could reach to steady yourself.

“Why, that was close...” you were still collecting your thoughts when the person who you were holding onto spoke up, a breathy chuckle followed as he panted. 

Your eyes were still wide from the earlier shock when you looked up, immediately faced with the boyish grin of Nishinoya. You remembered that he was called to report to the staffroom during break because he was caught sleeping in class just in the morning, no wonder why he was here. 

“You need to be more careful, class rep!” it was when you felt the vibration from his chest against your hand that you realised what a compromising position you were in. He had his arm around your waist as you bent backwards from the sudden fall and the white shirt he wore under the black uniform jacket was all bunched up with the way you clutched onto him for dear life.

Quickly getting back on your feet, you smoothed out your uniform as you hastily thanked him to which the boy replied with a cheerful “don’t mind” and a thumbs up to go with his toothy grin. 

It must be the shock, you thought to yourself as your heart continued to pound in your chest rapidly while you kneeled down to pick up the workbooks that was everywhere. Nishinoya also helped you with the task, not without whining about how he tried to finish his own assignment last night but ended up falling asleep with his nose buried in books. You pretended that you didn’t hear the part about him copying the answer this morning as he took the larger half of the stack in his hand and walked with you to the staffroom.

You must have hit your head somewhere when you fell down the stairs, because you swore your face heats up every time Nishinoya talked to you from that day onwards.

Iwaizumi Hajime

The first thing you saw when you walked into the classroom that day was your surname written out with bright white chalk against the blackboard on the column for students on duty. 

It wasn’t like you were particularly resistant towards staying after class to clean up the classroom. It was a common practice in many schools to train student’s sense of responsibility towards the facilities they use, apparently. But what aught your eyes was the name that was next to yours. You stole a glance towards the famed volleyball team vice captain when you read his name written neatly on the board.

You did not really recall much interaction you have had with Iwaizumi, to be completely honest. Maybe a few polite nods or a few academic-related conversations here and there but nothing actually personal. If anything, you would have to admit that you were slightly intimidated by the guy. From his built to his sharp stare, and the way you could hear him yelling at Oikawa even though the gym was a good distance away from the main campus. 

You did not talk much to him even after it was just the two of you left in the classroom, as expected. He was quick to suggest that he would do all the work that requires carrying things around which you could appreciate. It was only the sound of the air conditioning and chairs being pulled against the floor as you cleaned each surface with a damped towel. There were instances when you contemplated if you should try and start a conversation but decided against it ultimately. It was better to work in a comfortable silence than with forced conversations.

Things were being cleaned up fast, especially since moving the desks around didn’t take much time with his efficiency. He had already finished up with his share of the work when you were reaching to put the towels back into the cabinet at the back of the classroom.

It was a long, slender locker sitting at the very back of the classroom. There was a bit of space between the top of the locker and the ceiling so people often pile up things they did not know where to put on top.  The locker had a bit of history, you could tell by the way there was a dark red rust on the corners and when you closed the door, the whole clinking of the doors just made it look so flimsy.

Getting on the tip of your toes, you gave the folded towel a light shove to put it into its designated space. Perhaps the last person who tried to sneak things into the card box on top of the locker did it rather hastily. As you closed the locker with what you thought was a reasonable amount of force, the locker shook and the brown box on top fell down with a thump.

You arms were fast to raise up and shield your head from it but not faster than the loud bang against the locker from your sides. Your eyes widened when you looked out from the gap of your arms to see that Iwaizumi had reacted faster than you and towered over your frame, his palms pressing flat against the locker door as he crouched over your head. Your eyes were right at the level of his chest but you could hear the sound of the box and the contents inside crashing down on his back before falling onto the floor. 

He did not move away even after the noise has ceased and from the position you were at, you could hear his pants from above. Gingerly looking up, your heart skipped a beat when you saw his eyebrows locking together.

“Are you ok?” he asked, as if he wasn’t the one that just got hit with a card box with sharp corners directly on his back.

“Yeah,” you said, pressing your voice down. He was so close that you were almost self-conscious about the way you talked. “did that hurt?”

“No.”

That had to be a lie, not when his jaw was still clenched and his eyes struggled to stay open. 

As if he suddenly took note that he trapped you between his arms, Iwaizumi took a stumbled step back and pressed the back of his hand against his lip before diverting his gaze away from you. 

You took a deep breath as he disappeared from the classroom after throwing down that he needed to get to training, pressing your palm flat against your chest to feel the beating from inside.

What you didn’t know, was that Iwaizumi rushed out from your sight with his face firing up and the redness did not cease from his face for the rest of the day.

Miya Atsumu

“The required probability is the factorial of 7 over the combination of..”

The sound of your teacher explaining yet another hypothetical crisis that would only occur in the wonderous world of maths was but a background music for your hour long meditation. Everyone around you was either laying on their desk, secretly doing something else in their drawer or having a soul out of body experience. You looked around to see that no one, literally no one was listening to the lecture. 

Poor man, it must take a really strong mind to keep talking to yourself with a hld-dead audience. You sighed as you tapped your finger against the cold surface of your table, counting how much time you had left until the bell rings. 

Slowly sliding down so that more of your body was hidden under your table, you gave another quick glance to your surroundings before quietly placing your thumb at bottom of your phone that was shoved to the back of your drawer.

It wasn’t like you were gonna understand what was going on if you tried to pay attention anyways. You justified to yourself once again as you flicked through your home screen to find something you could do. Your eyes stopped at the red dot above the icon of one of the games you had been wasting your time on lately. 

Ah yes, it was the time of the day when they gave you a free draw at the in-game shop. It wasn’t long until class ends, just enough time for you to do some daily missions or even clear out some levels on pilot mode. 

Your finger hovered above the icon before you tapped in, waiting for the game to load. No one was looking at you anyways, you were sure that even the blonde fox that was dosing off with his chin on his palm didn’t notice that your drawer was glowing.

Your plan was perfect, except for the fact that you forgot about how there was a loud explosive sound effect at the title card right after the game loaded.

Everyone, including you, were startled by the sudden noise that ripped through the silence that had been lingering in the classroom. Your hand fumbled to turn off your phone but it was already too late, the man who was standing in front of the black board snapped towards where the sound came from, your direction, and asked as his face twitched.

“Who was it?”

You gulped, your face already burning up in shame.

Seeing as no one responded, your teacher looked even more irritated. “I’m going to ask one more time before I put the entire class under penalty, who was it?”

He was being serious, and you knew that hiding would get you into even more trouble than admitting it now. You were about to stand up when you heard a loud bang from next to you. Turning to your side, your mouth hung open when you saw Atsumu giving his table a kick to push it out of his way before standing up. He stared right at the man who visibly got more annoyed seeing, his posture exuding his usual lack of care and general cockiness.

“Miya Atsumu kun,” the teacher gritted. The boy was no where near being his favorite student, and the fact that he looked so at ease even when he supposedly was getting scolded only made the man fume even more, “stay there, and don’t sit down until the bell rang.”

Your classmates all looked significantly more attentive now after the sudden tension and even though you did not dare to make it too obvious, you could not help but glancing at the boy who just took the blame for you.

You thought he would look at least a bit discontent, or that he would make a clear appeal to you with his usual cocky grin that he had done something for you, but he did not. He did not even look at you, only stared straight ahead with both hands behind the back of his neck like it really was him who got into trouble.

You looked away before he could even sense that you were staring at him, scribbling furiously on the notebook in front of you even though you didn’t have a clue what you were supposed to note down.

Fuck, you tried to focus on the lead that got shorter and shorter to distract yourself from the incoherent thoughts that was running through your head because of Atsumu’s earlier display, it wasn’t fair for him to just act so cool like it was nothing all of a sudden...

[kuromantic]

Tales of Zombish: Haikyuu Light Novel Translation

*This is my translation of the Zombie Knight Zombish snippets from the light novel. It’s split into 5 parts, and inserted between each chapter of the light novel. Don’t copy this to another site. The translation is under the cut!

Zombie Knight Zombish

 1: Zombish is Born!!

Nightfall. A lone swordsman wakes up. A swordsman that does not know of true death, because of experiencing a false death. 

“...Wait, it’s still evening, you stupid crow!” 

The man yells at the small crow beside him, having just woken up by a thin bush. The man’s body was wrapped up in an old, tattered cloth—which must have been a cloak some time ago—which covered his entire body. 

“I could have gotten burned by the setting sun…” The man blocks out the sunlight with the tattered cloth, and the crow caws apologetically. 

“Well, it’s okay. I don’t even have a body that can be burned.” 

The man laughs, and the crow flaps its black wings, flying ahead up into the sky. The man follows it with his gaze, squinting at the brightness. He stands up. 

“Oh, well. Guess I’ll go.” 

The man starts to walk. His frame was thin and delicate, which could be seen even when it was covered with the tattered cloth. And on his back, was a sword. 

The sword, which is large enough to not be recognized as one at first glance, does not suit the lean man. 

“Man, I wonder if a car will pass by… Eh, I guess no sane person would have gasoline now.” 

There’s no road where the man looks ahead. 

In the dead world where smokey, dried up wastelands stretch out for seemingly forever, the man continues to walk alone today.

“Yeah, isn’t this good? Isn’t this good? It sounds like the story’s just begun, right?” 

The rookie mangaka, Udai Tenma, stands up with an excited face and gets another drink from the self-service fountains. He returns to his table with a glass of cola in his hand. He continues working on his storyboard. 

The only equipment on the table is a notebook, a pencil and an eraser. On the open page, there are scribbles that nobody else could decipher. It’s the storyboard Udai made with all his effort. 

I wanna try and make a manga. I like it. With that, Udai had drawn a manga during his college years. And it had won an honourable mention in the rookie awards. He had gotten an editor and debuted as a mangaka. But the reality was, he wasn’t quite reaching serialization. 

But now, “Zombie Knight Zombish”, is being created in the restaurant. And there’s a confidence that hasn’t been there before. 

“‘Everything but death is nothing but a scratch’? He needs to get over himself… No, maybe ‘Mortal bodies, they make me jealous.’...” 

Udai mumbles dialogues to himself, changing his expressions to suit the main character’s. The other customers at the restaurant glance at him. 

But he can’t afford to care about those gazes.

Zombish needs to help the heroine attacked by the enemy, in an extremely cool and overdramatic manner. 

And the enemy has to be a fated opponent that Zombish has known before turning into a zombie. The heroine needs to be a key person, for Zombish to return from zombie to human. And of course, she needs to be cute, a little strong-willed, who tries to join in on the fighting sometimes. But also a girl who you just want to protect…

A flash. 

The girl’s eyes can only capture the white hand, emerging from the tattered cloth and gripping the sword on his back. 

She feels wind brush past her cheeks, and closes her eyes. She opens them again, and the bandits have already collapsed onto the dry ground. 

“Huh? What…?” 

As the girl struggles to comprehend what had happened, Zombish is already starting to walk away. 

“Hey, don’t leave me behind!” 

She grabs the knight. At that moment, the tattered cloth on him rips and falls to the ground. 

What appears is not the handsome knight she expected. Nor a fighter that’s big and well-muscled. It’s a skeleton. 

“...Wait, bone?! Why bone! Bone? Wait, do bones even talk?!” 

“Yeah, I’m bone! So sorry I’m bone, sue me!” 

The knight picks up the truly tattered piece of rag, and hides his body. It truly looks like a skeletal model. He turns his back to the girl. 

“Anyway, I’m bone. So I can’t go with you. Protect yourself, you’re on your own.” 

The “bone”, that had slain a crowd of bandits instantly, tries to walk away from one single girl, as if to escape from her. 

Staring at Zombish’s lanky, weak-looking back and the huge sword on it, the girl shouts over at him. 

“Hey, bone! Can you eat?” 

Zombish turns around, lifts the tattered cloth, and points around his stomach with a laugh. 

“You wanna see me eat? It’s hilarious.” 

“If you don’t eat… That means I don’t have to share my food or water with you, right?”

“Huh?” 

“It doesn’t matter if you’re bone or not, if you can defeat these guys. You’re pretty strong.” The girl points to the iron-clad, muscular bandit with a mohawk. “And I should sew that cloth I ripped back together…” 

Zombish laughs, his hard skull distorting a little. “I’m not strong. Those guys are just small fries. But I guess I’ll have you fix this cloth for me.” 

At those words, the girl runs up to him. 

In the dried-up world of death, two footsteps mark their paths. Up above in the sky, a crow flies around in circles. As if to watch over them. 

Zombish’s journey has just started!! 

“I wonder what my editor will say…” 

 The man, once the “Little Giant”, leaves the restaurant and returns home. And without changing his clothes, collapses into his futon for the first time in a while.

2. VS Editor A!! 

“Zombies aren’t usually skeletons, right?” Akaashi Keiji opens his heavy mouth, holding his coffee in one hand. It makes Akaashi heavy-hearted to meddle with a work an author brought to him. 

Kanda, Chiyoda City, Tokyo. 

In the editorial department of Weekly Shonen Vie, there’s an extreme lack of people in the afternoon. 

The rookie mangaka, Udai Tenma, freezes momentarily in the meeting space. And he attempts to brush it off with a laugh. 

“Yeah, I thought, ‘Is a skeleton okay?’ for a bit. But maybe a Japanese-style zombie would be new, and I thought I could pull it off. We all get cremated in Japan, too. Hahaha.” 

“I see.” 

Akaashi looks at the copy of “Zombie Knight Zombish” on the table, and Udai laughing in front of him. And he says one more time, with force behind his words. That this is the last time he’ll say this, and he won’t say the same thing again. 

“Zombies aren’t usually skeletons, right.” 

The question mark had disappeared. 

It’s not a question, but a confirmation of fact. 

“...Yeah.” Udai replies weakly. He drops his shoulders, and bites the straw of his cola. 

 It’s tough. 

It had been his best work. He had a confidence in it, that he hadn’t before with his other works. But his concept had been fundamentally criticized. 

The editor continues talking to the crestfallen Udai. 

“And one more thing.” 

“...What is it?” 

Udai hunches his shoulders, looking up at Akaashi like a scolded child. Akaashi sips his coffee, adjusts his glasses and lets out a breath. He opens his mouth slowly. 

“We’ve established that a skeleton is not a zombie. But I think this skeleton’s design is a little lacking, in the first place. It’s no different to any old skeleton. For the main character, I want a quirk that will tell you it’s Zombish with just one look.” 

“Any old skeleton?” Udai says, and draws a normal-looking skeleton into his notebook. 

“Yes. For example, he could be wearing glasses, or he could have a large scar. I want a unique design. Even if you draw him simply, you would know it’s him. If I were to ask for more, I’d even say make his silhouette recognizable. That’s how strong his design should be.” 

Udai adds a scar to his skeleton, and mumbles, “I guess it can’t be a scar, if his silhouette has to be recognizable.” 

“The scar is just one example.” 

“I’m sorry…” 

Udai slurps the cola at the bottom of the glass, which is pretty much melted ice. He laughs disappointedly. 

“I thought the skeleton was fine, since he was cremated. Like a Japanese-style zombie. Well, there’s no zombie-ness, I guess…” 

At those words, Akaashi’s glasses shine. 

“Then… How about you make Zombish look more Japanese? It could link with his sword, too.” 

“What?” 

“Well, this is just one what-if scenario.” 

“...No, I think it could work. I’ll think about it! Then maybe he can look different from any old zombie!” Udai grabs his pen, and draws a Japanese-style zombie in his notebook. “If it’s Japanese clothes and a sword, he’d just be a samurai… How do I give him the zombie knight feeling…”

Watching the pen move busily and create many versions of Zombish, Akaashi feels a weight lift from his heart. 

It makes him heavy-hearted to meddle with other people’s works. But sometimes, his words make the author take a step in a good direction. That must be why he can continue with this job. 

“So now, please brush up on the work. And, depending on the edited manuscript, I may bring it up during the serialization meeting.” 

Udai’s pen stops moving. “Wait, why?! You’ve been talking about my work so harshly and tearing into it this whole time!” 

“...I haven’t been tearing into it. It’s entertaining, so I just want to make the story even more entertaining.” 

Udai’s face crumples, as he looks up at Akaashi. “Akaashi-san, you weren’t just an unpleasant person, after all!” 

“I’m an unpleasant person…?” 

“Oh, sorry! I didn’t mean it that way! I meant it in an um, good way!” 

Akaashi doesn’t ask what exactly he means by that, and organizes the manuscript. “Zombish is very entertaining, compared to the works you have brought me so far. I think you have a chance.” 

“Thank you!” 

“Oh, and lastly…” 

“There’s… still more?” Udai tenses. 

 Akaashi chuckles, before talking. “I’ve been thinking for a while, but this bit on the edge of the page, saying ‘Zombish’s journey has only just begun!’. You don’t need to write that. It’s the editor’s job.” 

“...!!”

4. Get Serialized!! 

It’s just past noon. Noticing that the phone is ringing, Udai reaches out from under the futon. He checks, and realizes it’s Akaashi. He gets out of the futon in a hurry, and answers. 

“You were asleep.” Akaashi says, in the same straightforward tone. 

“...I’m sorry.” 

“No, I’m sorry too. I’m going to get into it. Your one-shot is well-received.” 

At those words, Udai’s hand begins to sweat. He had been told to make a one-shot for the extra issue, and had made “Zombie Knight Zombish” with everything he’d got. 

He had changed Zombish’s design into a young man with patchwork skin, after Akaashi’s critique. He likes the way the bandages show around his collar. It can’t have been a skeleton, he thinks. It’s hard to relate to a skeleton. 

The “recognizable by silhouette” task had been cleared with the axe on his head. The zombie knight element was incorporated, by making him detach his left arm to wield his sword. Maybe they’ll make a movable figure out of the character. 

Above all, it was a work he’d been confident in. If it had still been absolutely hopeless, Udai wouldn’t have been able to recover from it. 

“Thank god…” Udai feels the tension drain out of him, and Akaashi continues. 

“And now, I would like to brush up Zombish to prepare for serialization.” 

“Of course! With pleasure!” Udai answers with gusto, almost like an izakaya employee. 

“Firstly, your heroine.” 

“Yes!” 

I should probably fix up the heroine a bit more, Udai thinks. Make her cuter, better… But Akaashi doesn’t steer the conversation in that direction. 

“In the one-shot, Zombish saves her, and they decide to go on a journey together, and it ends there.” 

“Huh? Oh, yes.” 

“If the one-shot will be chapter one, are they going to be travelling together in chapter two and beyond?” 

It’s not anything fun, like about making the heroine have a good figure or about how revealing her clothes should be. 

And really, Udai hadn’t been thinking what would happen once it got serialized. Well, he supposes it would be like what Akaashi just said. 

“Wouldn’t the readers grow bored of that?” As if to read Udai’s mind, Akaashi says. 

“What?” 

“The main character and the heroine go on a journey together the whole time, an enemy appears, he saves her, he defeats the enemy, and then moves on. And they continue like that until the final boss.” 

“Yeah…” 

“Wouldn’t that bore people?” 

Wait, am I getting given out to? 

No, he’d only been thinking of the one-shot as a base, so he hadn’t set anything beyond that in stone. He had only thought that leaving the readers hoping for more would be enough. 

“...Um, if it’s possible, I’d like to talk about this in person.” Udai says, wiping the sweat off his palms with his t-shirt. 

“All right. When are you free?” 

And so, in the editorial department the day after, the brainstorming session in the meeting space had continued for more than two hours. 

“So then, instead of a heroine that just keeps getting saved…” 

“She’d be like a buddy that also gives witty comebacks.” 

Udai draws a bunch of expressions for the female character. Flustered, angry, glaring… He stops his pen, and looks at Akaashi. 

“Then maybe Zombish will have a goofy side, instead of just being cool?” 

“But please don’t make it into a gag manga. Looking at the survey results, there are a lot of people saying that the manga is interesting because Zombish is cool.” Akaashi answers, looking at the survey chart. 

“I see… Balancing it out is hard.” Udai draws out a bunch of Zombish’s expressions in his notebook, and laughs. “But it’s fun. It feels like I’m making a manga.” 

“It’s good to hear that.” Akaashi smiles for a moment, and continues. “And also, about the enemy. Instead of them being a group of bandits in the harsh world, making them an organization would add depth to the story.” 

“Oh, maybe they’re the reason Zombish turned into a zombie?” 

“Sounds good.” 

Udai’s mood lifts from Akaashi’s acknowledgement, and opens up a page earlier on in his notebook. 

“Look here! The final boss is a fated opponent from before Zombish turned into a zombie. And the heroine is a key person for Zombish to turn back into a human. So I thought right now, maybe the heroine is the daughter of the final boss.” 

In contrast to the excited Udai, Akaashi lets out a low groan of uncertainty. 

“...So what, exactly, is Zombish fighting for?” 

“You always ask questions that can make the whole thing fall apart, Akaashi-san.” 

“Well, isn’t that the most important part?” 

Expanding ideas simple-mindedly is fun. The more he expands, picking up the pieces and making the story coherent will be hell, though. But knowing that, talking about final bosses and rivals is genuinely fun. 

“Secret hideouts are great, aren’t they?” 

“If they’ve taken over this world, isn’t there no need to keep it a secret? Something that would display their power…” 

“A castle!”

7. Secret Technique: Bolster Up! 

Just after serialization, the response had been very good. It had been. Udai had been in a good mood, asking “This will definitely be turned into an anime, right?” 

But now, it had gotten to a point where they couldn’t let it get any lower on the survey rankings. 

“........” 

“Are you okay?” Akaashi’s senior sees him with his head in his hands, and speaks to him. 

“...Oh, yes.” 

“It’s about Zombish, right? You should bolster it up with something. Like, with a pretty girl or a handsome guy,” the senior says. “Well, I don’t know.” He returns to his seat, after saying his part. 

“Bolster it up…” 

Akaashi’s brows knit together. 

Would that be enough? Could such a hasty, superficial solution entertain the readers? Well, the current results point to the fact that they’re not entertained. But even so, shouldn’t they be charming the audience with the protagonist’s appeal, or how interesting the story is? 

“The protagonist’s appeal, huh…” 

But what are the features of a protagonist that will be loved? 

What kind of story makes the readers want to come back for more? 

“.....” 

It would be the anticipation the readers have for the main character. What will happen next week? What will he show us next? Expectations as such. There must have been a lack of absolute protagonist strength, if he thinks about it. 

But that was the result of trying to create a dark fantasy, painting a delicate picture of emotions. Precisely because it was an absurd world with a zombie knight appearing in it. Was that what they had done wrong? Was it impossible for his literature department-aspiring self to make an entertaining manga, after all…?

After pondering for a long time, Akaashi lifts his head with a start. 

“....!” 

Wait a minute. 

Am I making the same mistake again? 

Am I thinking I could control the author and the readers? 

“...No. Pour your spirit into each ball, pour your spirit into each ball…” 

Yes. Focus on the next point, the next ball. Focus on this week’s story, the obstacle the protagonist must overcome. 

His desk becomes messier each day, as if to reflect inside his heart. Akaashi closes his eyes, and focuses his mental state. 

“Don’t think about what’s easy, think about what’s fun. What’s fun…” 

The survey rankings going down, getting discontinued isn’t fun. Then what is he meant to do…?

“Give feedback… Connect it to the next step… The next…” 

The seniors look at Akaashi worriedly, in front of the printer. 

“Akaashi is muttering to himself again, is he okay? He won’t quit, will he?” 

“He always comes back to life afterwards, you can leave him alone.” 

“Yep.”

“I want an absolute, strong main character.” Akaashi says to Udai, during their meeting. 

“Absolute?” 

“Yes. Like a star that hits any ball with his utmost ability.” 

“Am I going to get discontinued?!” 

Udai stands up with a clatter, face growing pale. Akaashi shakes his head quietly. 

“...Please calm down. It’s not getting discontinued, yet.” 

“...Yet…” Udai shrinks, and sits back down. 

“It’s a tough situation, but let’s turn things around.” 

They’re burning their bridges behind them. 

On the walls around the meeting space, there are many posters of works that had been turned into anime and movies. And the cardboard boxes blocking the corridor are packed with samples of goods. 

They have to join the ranks of those popular works, at all cost…!

Akaashi brings his gaze back to Udai, and starts to summarize the things he had thought about for the past week. 

“The main character… Zombish is a ‘star’. The readers have expectations for the star. What will he do next? What awesome moves will he show us? What kind of crazy risks will he take?

“We want the main character to amaze us with unexpected, yet charming actions. Whether Zombish sinks or swims will depend on how he overcomes next week’s desperate situation.” 

Akaashi lifts the paper bag on the floor. “And there’s a favour I want to ask from you.” 

“What’s this? I was wondering about it for a while.” The paper bag handed to him is unexpectedly heavy. Udai glances inside. “A blu-ray?” 

“Yes. I picked out swashbuckler films of all types, that have useful scenes for composition and pose references. At this point, we should take in anything cool and flashy.” 

“Thank you!”

“Also, it will be hard for you to watch it all, so I wrote the times for scenes I want you to watch.” Akaashi gives him a note. 

“I’ll definitely watch it! I’ll use them as references!” 

“I’ll do anything I can as well. Let’s both try our best.” 

There’s no way Akaashi can control what story the author will bring to him, what the other works will be like, how the readers will react. 

So, he should think about what he can do, what he should do. 

Avoiding discontinuation— it’s hard, but it shouldn’t be impossible.

10. Our fight has only just begun! 

“Zombish is getting discontinued… You have seven chapters left…” 

After getting the phone call informing him of the discontinuation, Udai had gone outside. Staying in his room felt too painful. But why, and how he’d come to the editing department, he doesn’t remember. 

Akaashi had been taken aback, after Udai had come without contacting him. But one look at his face, and he knew he couldn’t leave him by himself. And so he had taken him to a nearby coffee shop to talk to him. It was just his luck that he hadn’t gone outside the company. 

“Please order anything you like.” 

Akaashi gives the menu to Udai sitting opposite to him, but Udai drops it onto the table, not having enough energy to hold it. 

Akaashi pulls the menu closer to himself, trying not to show his shock. “Is coffee all right, then?” 

“........” 

There’s no answer, but Akaashi asks for two cups of coffee from the waiter. He chooses his words carefully, and begins to speak. 

“We had unfortunate results this time, but…” Akaashi continues, to the dejected Udai. “And as a suggestion from me…”

“........”

“I would like to get a fresh start with a new work. We should solidify the concept more for your next work, and compete with a work only you can make.” 

“Next…?” Udai raises his head at last, only to slam it back into the table. “There’s nothing! There’s no such thing that only I can make!” He lifts his crumpled face, and yells. 

“That’s not true. There must be something…”

“It is too! There’s nothing!”

Akaashi can only bite his lip, while his assigned author descends into total panic. 

What should he do…

He can’t just say “Bye, then,” and leave him feeling downcast. He had wanted to part ways with him in a positive manner, connecting him to the next step. That might just be his own ego talking, though.

“...I’m sure there’s a good theme for you. Is there anything you liked as a child, or something you put your heart into?” 

“I’m just a jack-of-all-trades, average guy. I’ve just gotten by in regards to study, sports, art and music…” 

When Udai had been in good form, he had preened about it, saying “I can do pretty much anything!”, but now he’s totally dejected. Well, that can’t be helped. He’s getting discontinued, after all. 

The only thing Akaashi can do, is to tell him his completely honest thoughts. 

“I don’t think a serialized author is just a jack-of-all-trades, average person.” 

“I’m not a serialized author anymore, I’m a discontinued author…”

At that moment, the waiter arrives. He shows a slightly intrigued face at Udai’s words, but immediately puts on his professional face and turns on his heels. 

Akaashi takes the cup, and inhales the aroma of coffee to calm himself down. He thinks. Maybe he should make some small talk, and change the mood. 

What should he talk about? Not about his work, or about what lays ahead. Then, about Udai himself? He wonders what he had talked about with him recently. What club had he joined in college? Where was he from? 

And he remembers. 

“Udai-san, you told me before that you’re from Tohoku. Were there any unusual traditions there? That you can write a manga about.” 

“...Yeah, I’m from Miyagi. But I lived in a normal estate, it was all pretty normal.” 

Udai says with a hoarse voice, and absentmindedly puts sugar cubes into his coffee. Many, many sugar cubes. Akaashi thinks he’s adding a bit too much, but there’s an atmosphere around them that makes him unable to say that. 

“Well, maybe where I live is in the middle of nowhere in the countryside, to you. You’re from Tokyo, after all.” 

“That’s not…”

Akaashi thinks that Udai is getting a little too dejected with him, but he can’t be blamed. “Zombie Knight Zombish” is Udai’s first serialization, and his first discontinuation. 

Food, sleep… Udai had sacrificed such human necessities, and yet his work had not been well-received. Of course he would be dejected. 

And as a new employee, “Zombie Knight Zombish” was Akaashi’s first work that he had launched from nothing. Due to being emotionally invested in it, Akaashi had felt deeply disappointed about the decision made for Zombish. 

Which is exactly why he had wanted to end it on a positive note. Surely there’s something in common with them, that they can talk about…

Akaashi, feeling cornered, opens his mouth. And starts to talk about something unexpected, even to himself.

“...Actually, I have someone I know in Miyagi. It was in relation to the club I was in during high school.” 

“I see.” 

Udai stirs his coffee with lifeless eyes, not picking up the conversation at all. He doesn’t even drink the coffee that is surely too sweet. 

“........” 

Of course. Someone else’s high school years is the most irrelevant subject to Udai right now. But really, what should he do? Telling someone they’re being discontinued, and thinking of what happens afterwards, is a first for Akaashi. And it’s a big job. He isn’t sure what the correct thing to do is. 

Akaashi falls silent, and Udai opens his mouth. “...What club were you in, during high school?”  He asks, not sounding that interested. It feels more like he asked out of obligation, because there was a break in the conversation. 

Akaashi feels regret, after realizing he’s made Udai read the room for him. But at the same time, he feels relieved that some of Udai’s energy has come back. 

“Volleyball.” 

“I see. I did volleyball, too.” Udai says. “During my years, we went to the Spring High nationals, too.” 

At those words, Akaashi places the coffee he had lifted back onto the table. 

“Oh, me… too.” 

“Really?! That’s amazing, Akaashi-san!” 

“No, you too.” 

And with a light premonition, Akaashi asks. “...Which school did you attend in Miyagi?” 

“It’s not a powerhouse, so I don’t know if you’d know…” Udai laughs, before answering. “It’s called Karasuno.”

Please look forward to Udai-sensei’s next work, “Meteo Attack”! 

[zeezelweazel]

Attack on Titan| Reader dies|

____________________________________________________

I just woke up but I have sad vibes so I made this.

Also there will be spoilers for the Manga so if you haven't read it please look out for the warning so you won't get spoiled.

Characters included : Mikasa Ackerman, Annie Leonhard, Pieck Finger

____________________________________________________

• Mikasa •

| Spoilers for season 2 |

You and Mikasa are already on your horses. You're looking at the huge gate in front of you and you can't help but feel sad.

This sadness always came to you randomly but, how can you not feel sad at a time like this?

You were going on your first expedition with the Servey Crops. You were a part of the top 10 soldiers of the 104th cadet squad. You threw away the chance of living a peaceful life in Wall Sina because you wanted your life and your death to have a meaning.

Before you could start doubting yourself your thoughts were cut through from the sound of the gate opening revealing the outside world.

Mikasa gave you one last look that held all her love, a look that is only ment for you to see, before Erwin gave the signal and so many men and women started riding towards their death.

You were placed in the same squad as Armin, it was refreshing to know that you had one of the smartest people on your squad.

The expedition was going quite smoothly but you felt a really wierd feeling. Was it worry ? Were you scared for Mikasa's safety? Or yours ? You didn't know.

A few minutes after that you heard a familiar ramble shake the earth.

' A Titan ' You thought quickly and got your gun out ready to shoot a flare, but you didn't expect to see a 14 metre tall abnormal Titan running towards the field.

' This isn't like the others. It looks like a woman. Where is it running to ? '

While you were lost in thought you caught a glimpse of black roar through the sky.

Armin shot the flare.

' Wasn't I supposed to do that. I'm getting lost in my head again aren't I ? Wake up Y/N ! It's not time for daydream now. '

That's the last think you remember before all you could see was white and red.

The abnormal Titan started attacking. So many of your friends, people you knew, died in front of your eyes.

You were knocked off your horse and your left leg hurt a lot. You looked around you and felt happy when you saw that Armin, Jean and Reiner were fine.

When you looked at their faces you could tell that they were screaming something at you.

You can't remember what. You couldn't hear them.

They all watched in terror as the Female Titan knelt next to you and reached its hand to grab you.

You thought that this were your last moments but then she flashed through your mind.

Mikasa.....

You remembered all the happy moments you lived with her. The nights you sat on the roof and looked at the stars. The times you trained together. Then a certain day came through your mind.

That day at wall Rose. When hell broke loose. When the Colossal Titan made it's appearance once again.

Eren was supposed to be dead. Mikasa thought that there wasn't anything left for her in the world.

But then you remembered that she didn't give up. She fought till the very end even when everything seemed helpless. You weren't going to die like a coward, screaming in pain as this stupid Titan ends your life. No, you're going to fight.

' Because this world is cruel but also beautiful ' .

With the strength left in your body you sliced the Titan's hand and propelled your self in the sky.

You though you heard Armin tell you ' Y/N leave it alone come on! ' or something like that. While flying in the sky you caught his eye. You gave him a look that said ' Goodbye Armin, take care of Mika for me 'kay ? '

After that you charged towards the Titan but it just slapped you away like you were a bug.

Hitting the solid ground didn't hurt as much as you thought it would. Maybe because you're already dead..... You don't care.

You only cared about Mikasa right now.

' I know you're going to be okay and when you have lived your life we're going to meet again, my love. '

This whole expedition was worse than anything else Mikasa has ever seen. So much death and sadness. Even after the expedition ended there's still so much pain and sorrow in the air. The one's that survived are now crying over their dead friends.

All she wants right now is to be in your arms. Just like you did every time she was feeling sad.

But now she can't anymore.

Armin found the courage to tell her. Anyone who doesn't know her would say that she didn't care but Armin knew, it was just like that day when he told her about Eren. He was feeling relieved when he realised that there wasn't anything reckless she can do this time. He knew Mikasa would be sad after you left but he can't let her drown in her sorrow.

He gave a promise to you, that he'll protect her and he isn't going to brake his promise now or ever.

It has been several days after the expedition.

The world is moving on as if nothing happened.

Amd it's cruel and it hurts her.

But once again there's nothing she can do to stop it.

She fought again and again with all the power in her body and soul but she still lost everything she ever cared for.

'Is the world going to take everything from me? Will everything I touch turn to ashes and blood? Who's next, Armin or prehaps Eren?'

Those thoughts still cloud her mind. She can feel them eating her insides.

She looks up in the stary night sky.

"What am I supposed to do without you my love? Why was such a young and sweet girl taken from this workd again?"

She can imagine your answer, almost hearing your voice.

'There are people you can talk to. Friends and family. Trust them, let them help you. You might bave lost me but there are still so much you have in this world. Don't let the darkness in your head tell you otherwise and don't let your grief blind your decisions Mikasa. Besides even if I'm gone I'll always be in your heart. I'm a part of you now, always haw been. We'll stay together forever no matter what. That's the promise we made right?'

Mikasa smiled and felt a lonely tear slide down her cheek.

"I love you, now and forever."

• Annie •

| Spoilers for season 3 |

You were both excited and scared to be were you are right now.

Standing at the top of wall Rose looking in the sea of green in front of you.

You wanted this to be over so you can join the servey corps, even though your girlfriend Annie will join the military police.

You love her with your whole heart and you know she feels the same but you can't give up on your dreams so easily.

Unlike the infamous trio from Shingashina, you wanted the servay crops to feel free. You wanted to fly.

You didn't know why Annie wanted to join the military police. You remember when you asked yesterday, her hand was on top of yours and her head was resting on your shoulder. She didn't look at you. She only said 'it's for my father'

Your thoughts were interrupted by a huge gash of heated steam.

You easily dodged the flying debris frim the wall and landed on the top of a roof.

All hell broke loose that day.

You were trying to find Annie, her safety being your first priority, while killing some titans along the way.

Instead of Annie you saw Reiner and Bearhtold.

There's no way I wrote his name right but bare with me

They're good friends with Annie so you decide d to approach them.

You climbed up the roof and saw them wishpering about something.

What you heard next made your heart stop. You felt cold sweat run down your temple as you tried to collect your thoughts.

'Her friends. Her goddamn friends betrayed her. They betrayed us.'

You couldn't think clearly.

You charged at them swinging your dabble blades over their heads.

They were faster than you thought.

Rainer pushed you on a small balcony and pressed you against the cold ground.

Bearhtold came after a few seconds and staryed removing your ODM gear.

"I'll kill you, you bastards! You hear me?! You're dead!"

That's all you could think about, even when a titan grabed you, you kept screaming those words at them.

Soon enough your screams died down and Reiner looked at his friend with a horrified expression.

"Hey Bearhtold, why is Y/N getting eaten?"

Bearhtold didn't answer his question, he jsut kept looking forward.

Reiner followed his gaze.

She was standing there, on her knees mouth open on a silent scream.

Tears were running down her bruised cheeks.

'Why do I feel so sad? Why does it hurt so bad? She was one of the strongest soldiers therefore a threat to the mission. I got close to her just because it would make it easier for me to kill her. So why? I didn't love her. No, this just perfect. As soon as I'm done with this I'll go back to my father.'

She closed her eyes but what she saw only made her hate her self more.

All of the memories she made with you.

Your beautiful laugh, your E/C eyes shining with determination.

You always felt warm. You gave the best hugs ever, maybe that's because she hasn't been hugged by many people but when your hands were running down her back and she felt at ease.

You kissed a few times. Your lips were so soft. She felt like she was kissing the warm blanket she used to have back home.

The last thing she saw was you flying in a forest with huge trees. You always had this weird dream about flying. You said it made you feel free. Even though Annie couldn't see your face she new that damn smile was on your face.

"You're finally free Y/N."

• Pieck •

| Spoilers for season 4 |

You are one of Marley's greatest lieutenants. Your mother was from Marley but you father was an Eldian. Something you fortunately managed to keep a secret.

This way you climbed up the rankings way faster than anyone else.

That's how you met her.

You, a prodigy in the Marleyan army and she one of the children that would inherit the powers of the titans.

Even though you grew up in Marley and you are supposed to hate the people of that island you just want this to stop.

Eldians never actually bothered you. Everyone seemed so stupid for fearing them. Especially when Marley is the one constantly attacking them.

Now though, the war between the two nations, the war between the whole world, has started.

Eren Yeager and his friends attacked Liberio. You're hometown. The hometown of numerous people who have now lost either their homes or their loved ones. The hometown of people who couldn't walk in it's streets anymore, or make new memories or even live their own lives.

And you are furious about it.

You want to laugh for being so naive. For thinking that this conflict could just magically disappear.

You wanted to scream and kill all the Eldians that disturbed your peace.

But you didn't.

Because you were frozen from fear.

You just realized that you've never seen a titan before.

You've been dating a titan shifter for 2 years and the others were basically your family.

You knew they would be big, they're called titans for a reason.

But you never knew they would be so........... Terrifying.

Somehow you managed to move your legs and finally do something.

'Pieck I must find her. She's one of the shifters so they're most likely targeting her. Thankfully they're least likely to know her strategies and her potential because she wasn't in the front lines of the mission. She still had to jump in to save Zeke. The only one that saw her, is Levi Ackerman, that's what she said his name was. I don't know him anyway.'

As you were running you saw Pieck already in her titan form her gear in place, the soldiers inside shooting at the Eldians.

'That's some fancy ass gear.'

You had to walk while those people were flying. And Marley was supposed to be the technologically advanced nation. Bullshit.

'This is taking to long. Damnit! I have to find a way to get to her faster. She's going to be surrounded in a few minutes and the soldiers in the tank will be in a tough spot. Even though I don't think anything can reach them in there.'

The moment this though left your brain you heard a gun shot. You looked towards the target and saw that one of the soldiers in Pieck's tank was dead.

You recognized one of the recruits that's in the area as well as two gate guards. Gabi, Reiner's relative.

"Braun! What are you doing here?! Take cover and get out of the-"

Another gun shot rung through the air and then another one. Both guards were shot dead.

You finally looked at the attacker. A girl with brown hair and brown eyes. You didn't know her name. Reiner haven't mentioned her, or has he?

After the gun shots a huge mass crashed down on the pavement next to you. You realized that this mass was actually Pieck's titan form.

You sprinted towards her and tried to separate her from the titan corpse.

"Y/N?" Pieck said with her,as usual, calm voice.

"Yeah, it's me. I'm here babe, I'll get you to safety. Commander Magath is waiting for you and Galliard."

"Lieutenant Y/L/N! Watch out!"

When you heard Gabi's voice you turned around a saw an Eldian flying towards you with a weird looking spear at hand.

"Jean! Shoot! It's our only chance to take the Jaw down!" You heard one of the other Eldians, one with a shaved head, say.

He hesitated. You could see it in his eyes.

That's why another Eldian decided to do it for him.

It all happened so fast, the gun shot, Pieck's scream, the blood gushing out of your body.

Right on the heart. Bull's eye.

'It's probably that girl again. Damn, she's good. Heh, what the hell am I even thinking? I'm dying right now.'

"Y/N, hold on! I'll save you! Where's the commander? I'll take you to him and then we can-"

"I-I...... I love you."

You can feel her tears on your cheek. You want to wipe them away so bad.

You can't.

"I'm sorry I'm leaving so early Pieck."

"It's ok. I...... I love you too."

That was the last thing you heard, before the world turned black.

"I swear, I will never forget you Y/N"

[writing-fanics]

[ Mamoru x Fem!Reader ]

Legend of the Forgotten Moon Princess

[Part II] [Part II.5]

a/n; im following both the anime and the manga, i have hulu and the sailor moon viz dub [aka the better dub] on dvd. so i have a lot of material to get inspo from. this chapter is following the first chapter of sailor moon manga and a bit of the second..] 

so i made a mistake its 'Lunar Prism Power make up!' 

[ Y/n ] gasped, looking at herself in the outfit. "Wha! What just happened?" She shouted, looking at the outfit in shock. 

"This must be some dream." She says, as she looks down at the sailor outfit. A cat appears at her doorway, looking at her. "I finally found you!" The cat says, causing the girl to yelp and fall to the ground. 

"W-who's there!?" She shouts, looking around and gasps. Seeing a black cat, with white spots covering its fur. She backs away. 

"D-Did you just speak?" She asks, looking at the cat who simply nods, and jumps onto the counter beside her. The cat smiles at her, 

"My name is, Atlas. And I've been searching far and wide for you." He says, and [Y/n] looks at him in shock. THis was too weird, to be happening this must be a dream. 

"You have been chosen as a guardian, you have a duty! To gather, your allies and defeat your enemies. Also, you must discover the location of our Princesses." He says, and she bites her lip looking at him. 

"P-Princesses? Enemies? Guardian!? What on earth is happening!?" She cries, looking down into her hands. This was too crazy, to bizarre. 

Atlas sighs,  "Let me see that necklace." He asks, and she looks up at him. And takes it off, and places it in front of him. She watches, as the crescent moon shape on his forehead began to glow. And it touches, the necklace. Turning it into a brooch, she gasps looking at it. 

"Wow!" She says, in amazement looking at it. She takes it, and sticks it on. "Now call out the words; Lunar Prism Power Make-Up!" He says, and she looks at him thinking for a moment. And nods, she takes a deep breath in and says, 

"Lunar Prism Power Make-Up."  She shouts, and is developed by a light emitting from the brooch that was once her necklace. As she transforms, into Sailor Luna. 

"You're the Sailor Guardian, Sailor Luna. Your mission is to find the other Sailor Guardians alongside Sailor Moon, and find our lost princesses." He says, and she looks at him. She jumps, as she heard screams. 

"Quick, Sailor Moon needs your help!" He says, and she looks at him nervously. And nods, as she run out of her apartment, going to the source of the screams. 

"Waa~ I can't take this, I'm going home!" Sailor Moon shouted, as the monster attacks her. It was about to strike her, when. 

'Lunar Beam!'  She heard, someone shout. A bright beam attacks the monster,  it becomes dazed for a bit. 

"What was that!" The monster, growls looking around. 

"It's wrong to attack girls, now you have to deal with me." [Y/n] says, jumping down in between Sailor Moon and the monster. 

"And who are you?" The monster growls, and [Y/n] smiles, 

"I'm the Sailor Guardian, Sailor Luna. Who fights for the moon and the stars." She says, and the monster laughs. 

"Well die!" The monster shouts, attacking [Y/n] who dodges, Sailor Moon still on the ground crying. [Y/n] sees this, 

"Could, use a little help here!" She shouts, at her and Sailor Moon looks up at her scared. 

"B-But.." Sailor Moon whimpers, scared shaking. And she burst into tears, causing [Y/n] to groan, she gasps as the monster grabs her by the neck. She groans, as she tries to pull the monster's hands off of her neck. [Y/n] groaned, 

'Waxing Crescent!'  [Y/n] shouted, as she attacked the monster she falls to the ground gasping for air. She sighs, she stands up quickly. it grabs her, by the leg and throws her at the wall. She groans in pain, and gasps seeing that it was about to attack Sailor Moon. 

"Sailor Moon, look out!" [Y/n] shouted, then a rose came down in front of Sailor Moon and a figure appeared at the windshield. 

"Quit crying, It's your time to act! Now, Sailor Moon." Tuxedo Mask, said to her and She looks at him, and [Y/n] looks at him in shock. 

"Now! Sailor Moon shout. Moon Tiara Action!" Luna shouts, at her and Sailor Moon now with new found confidence grabs the tiara at the top of her head, and shouts.  

'Moon Tiara Action!'  she shouts, it attacks the monster. And the monster fades away. 

[Y/n] stands up, groaning in pain. Wrapping her arm around her waist, she stands up and walks towards Sailor Moon.

"Good job!" [Y/n] says, to her but Sailor Moon wasn't listening she was more focused on Tuxedo Mask. As he leaves out the window, he looks back at the girls. As she looked at him,  it felt so familiar he seemed so familiar. She watches as he leaves, and looks down. She leaves, leaving Sailor Moon there looking around for her. 

Once she got further away, she hid behind a building and turned back into her normal clothes. And walked into her apartment complex, she made her way up to her apartment wincing every now and then at her now bruised side. 

As she walks towards her apartment, she trips and, and Mamoru who by coincidence, catches her in his arms. She groans, and looks up and gasps. Seeing Mamoru, she blushes, quickly pulls away embarrassed. She bows at him, "S-Sorry." She says, then walks pass him and towards her apartment. 

She enters, her apartment. And falls onto her couch she groans in pain, at the pain in her side. She lifts her shirt, and sees a bruise. She sighs, Atlas walks over towards her. 

"Why didn't you stay!? You and Sailor Moon need to work together." Atlas says, to her and she groans in annoyance. She looks, at him. 

"Ugh, give me a break. My life has changed forever. And, I can't just work with a girl who I don't know." She says, falling back onto the couch. She groans, in pain once more. 

"Eventually, don't worry I'll work with her just give me sometime to wrap my head around this." She says, yawning. As her eyelids, become heavier until they close. And she falls asleep, Atlas jumps up onto the couch. 

"Fine, but tomorrow we need to find out who she is." He says, as he lays next to her on the couch falling asleep as well. 

[ Flashback ] ' 

"M-Mommy?" [Y/n] cried, sniffling holding; her now destroyed Prince Endymion plush. [M/n] came around the corner, and gasped seeing her daughter standing there. With mud all over her face, and clothes. Her Endymion plush, ripped to shreds. 

"Oh, sweetie what happened?" She asked, walking over towards her daughter bending down to her level. Her daughter looked up at her, and whimpered. 

"T-they bullied me, they said that Y/n and Endymion aren't real. And that it's just some stupid story.." She cried, tears running down her cheeks. 

"I-I told them; That it is real, and Endymion and Y/n are real. And I was gonna prove it, a-and so they pushed me and called me a baby. A-and." She whimpered, showing her mother the destroyed plush.

"T-they hurt him! Mommy they hurt Endymion!" She sobbed, her mother wrapped her arms around her daughter picking her up not caring about getting mud on the floor, or getting mud on herself. She carried her up the stairs, and into the bathroom. 

"It's okay sweetie, those people are just jealous that they don't know the story. And for Endymion, don't worry I'll fix him up good as new." [M/n] says, taking Endymion from her daughter and placing him by the sink. She takes off her daughters clothes, and begins to wash her. 

"Mommy?'" {y/n] says, looking up at her mother, her face red and puffy. 

"Yes sweetie?" [M/n] says, and [Y/n] looks up at him.

[Y/n] looks down blushing, he mother chuckled. "Was there someone, who stood up for you?" She asks, and [Y/n] looks at her mother and blushes. 

"N-No.." [Y/n] says, nervously. Her mother giggles, as she scrubs her back. 

"What's their name?" She asks, [Y/n] looks up at her and looks down.

"M-Mamoru.." {y/n} says, blushing looking down making a pouty face. 

"Oh, Mamoru.. Maybe we should invite his family over for dinner." [m/n] says, causing y/n to shake her head. 

"Ah, but I'm sure the two of you would be cute." she says, and y/n splashed water in her mothers face causing her to stop talking she, looks at y/n. 

Who yelps, [M/n] then splashes water into her daughter's face, causing her to giggle and laugh. That was the day before, Mamoru lost his parents losing his memories in the process. 

[Y/n] never saw him, again after that. 

[ ended ] ......

[Y/n] sighed, as she ate breakfast, she sits at her table drinking some coffee. Atlas, walks over towards her and jumps up onto the table, 

"Today, we must find out the identity of Sailor Moon and work with her." He says, and she groans and rolls her eyes, setting her coffee back onto the table. 

"Atlas, listen to me. I still have things I need to do in the morning like today, I have to go to my university for school. Since I called off for today, being an assistant teacher. And I need to go grocery shopping, I'll try to fit in in okay." She says, taking a sip of her coffee.

She stands up, and yelps in pain as her side accidentally hits the table. She places her hand, on her side. And groans, Atlas looks at her worried. "Are you okay?" He asks, and she simply nods. 

"Yeah, just a bit scuffed up from last night." She says, looking down grabbing the dishes off the table and, putting on her shoes. And was about to leave her apartment, she hears that voice again. 

'You're the only one for me, my star.'  

She sighs, leaving the apartment leaving Atlas there alone. She walks down the hallway to the elevator, and sighs 

[Y/n} smiles, as she looks at Mamoru, "Yeah, my day to day life is always busy." She says, looking down, groaning a bit. She looks back up at him, "But, I do my best to work hard." She says, taking a sip of her drink. 

"I actually graduated high school, when I was 14."  She says, looking down nervously. 

"Wow really?" He asks, and she looks up at him and nods. 

"Yeah, a-after I lost my mom. I was a complete wreck, I was depressed. I was in an accident later, and lost most of my memory. I barely remembered my mom, and when I do remember her its, all false and jumbled up. So to not be a burden, I wanted to be left alone, so instead of talking to anyone. I dedicated myself to studying, I worked my butt off." She says,  looking down. 

"I'm sorry to hear that." He says, looking at her sadly and, she shakes her head. 

"N-No it's okay. I happened so long ago I really try not to remember much, about her cause.... When I do, I just.." She shakes her head, and smiles at Mamoru. 

"Nevermind." She says, sighing looking down at the ground, she then looks up and sees a crumpled up piece of paper hit Mamoru on the head. 

He grabs it, and looks up and sees Usagi. "Hey! You, Bun-head! i'm not a trash can you know." He says, to her and [Y/n] just stands there, trying to hold back her laughter.

"Ah! Ohh, you're that guy from before." Usagi says, in shock looking at him.

"Hello, Ms.Tsukino." [Y/n] says, to Usagi, who was holding a black cat, Luna. Who looked at the girl curiously, Usagi looks at [Y/n].

"O-oh, Ms.Y/n! I-I didn't see you at school today." Usagi says, to her. And [Y/n] simply smiles,

"Yeah, I-I wasn't feeling well, and I-I had personal issues to attend to but. But don't worry I'll be back tomorrow." [Y/n] says, smiling at her. 

"Wait, the two of you know each-other." Mamoru asks, and [Y/n] nods at him.

"Yep, I'm an assistant teacher in her class." She says, to him.  

"oh, that's good. Then Bun-head can get more help." He says, and  Usagi growls. [Y/n] chuckles, a bit at this. 

"My name! isn't bun-head." Usagi shouts, walking away mumbling to herself while holding onto Luna. 

"Usagi? Who was that girl?" Luna asks, looking up at her. Usagi looks down, at Luna. 

"Oh, that's the assistant teacher in my class. Her name is Y/n L/n." She says, as she walks towards the Crystal Seminar to investigate more about Ami. 

"Thanks for today, Mamoru I enjoyed talking to you." [Y/n] says, bowing at him. 

"your welcome, I'm happy I got to know a bit more about you." He says, causing her to look down and blush. She looks back towards her, university gate. 

"W-Well see you later." She says, as she walks into her university campus. 

[Time Skip] brought to you by laziness/ and sailor moon already finding sailor mercury cause my dumbass is too lazy to write it.... 

[Y/n] sighs, as she makes her way back home to her apartment. As she did, she felt as if someone was following her. So she turned around, and saw Usagi's cat following her. 

"Aren't you, Usagi's cat." She says, looking at it curiously she sees the crescent moon shape on its forehead as well. 

"Hmm, you have the same crescent moon shape that Atlas does." She says, curiously. She bends down, and gets a closer look at it. 

"If your Usagi's cat, and you have a crescent moon shape on your head. Then..." She gasps, thinking about it and putting two and two together. She looks down at the cat, 

"She must be Sailor Moon." She says, quietly. The cat looks at her in shock, and speaks. 

"You're smarter than I thought.." Luna says, and [Y/n] smiles at her and shrugs her shoulders. 

"Well, I guessed it wasn't that hard. To think about-..Wait..what is that supposed to mean!" She shouts, looking down at Luna. 

"Listen, we've already found Sailor Mercury, Ami Mizuno. And no we found you, Sailor Luna.. We must find the other Sailor Guardians and our lost princesses." Luna says, to Y/n who sighs and rolls her eyes. 

"I know, I know." She says, looking down. 

"We need all the help we can get." Luna says, to her and [Y/n] nods, sighing. 

"Alright, I'll help find the Sailor Guardians. After school tomorrow." She says, and Luna nods. Making her way, back to Usagi's house. [Y/n] sighs, and makes her way back home to her apartment. As she walks into the elevator, and bumps into the side bars. 

She yelps, in pain. "D-damn it, I forgot about that." She says, groaning placing her hand on her side. She pushes, the button for her level. And stands there, waiting for it to go up. Once she arrives, on her floor she steps off. And walks towards her apartment, but not of course before bumping into Mamoru. 

Causing her to groan, holding onto her still bruised side, He turns around and sees her holding her side. 

"Whoa, are you okay?" He asks, her and she looks up at him and nods. 

"Y-Yeah, I bumped into a corner in my apartment and it gave me a bruise. Don't worry I'm fine." She says, lying. It hurt like hell, she wasn't fine everytime she moved it hurt so much. She moves passed him, and towards her apartment. 

She walks in and throws, her bag onto the counter and sits on her couch. And groans, she looks down at the wound, that seemed to be getting worse and worse. It was never going to heal, if she kept bumping into people. As she looked at the bruise a memory came back, one she wanted to forget. 

She was adopted into a family, who were abusive really abusive. She doesn't talk to them anymore, but the memories of them still haunt her to this very day. She made her way to her bedroom, and laid down on her bed tired and exhausted. She yawns,  as she closes her eyes and falls asleep. 

'Please you, must keep it a secret.' 

'I love him so much, and I know it's forbidden.' 

'What if he's using you?' 

The faceless girl shakes her head, and looks at the girl in front of her. 

'That's not like him, he'd never do anything like that. He loves me, I can see it in his eyes.' 

'But...I'm worried about you. I don't want to see you hurt.' 

The girl takes, the other girls hands into hers and smiles.

'You won't he promises to protect me.' 

'He asked me to be his princess.' 

'What?!' 

The girl nods, smiling excitedly. 

'I said yes!" 

"I love him so much.' the girl sighs, looking up at the stars. 

"My...''

[Y/n] wakes up and, groans. She sits up in her bed and, looks out the window. She sighs and, stands up. Walking towards the bathroom, she takes off her clothes and, gets into the shower. As she washes, she looks down and, notices that the bruise is gone. 

"What!" She shouts, in shock looking down at her side. Seeing that it was gone...

[Time-Skip] after finding Sailor Mars Rei im a lazy ass bitch bitch bitch and to the ball for princess D

{Y/n's Ball Dress] 

[Y/n] gasps, as someone bumps into her spilling wine all over it. 

"Oh, excuse me." The lady says, and [Y/n] looks at the dress. She quickly tries to find the nearest bathroom,  but she couldn't find one. She looks down, at the dress her mother left her. The one time she wears it, it gets ruined. 

"My pretty young princess." She heard a voice say, then she was suddenly pulled into someone embrace, it was Tuxedo Mask. She gasped, in shock as the two began to dance, 

"would you honor me with one dance?" He says, she looks at him in shock. No way Tuxedo Mask could be here, this must be some dream. She smiles at him, and stares into his eyes. 

[secretpeachtea]

Onigiri Miya Tidbits Ch 8

Title: the oh-no-giri miya

Genre: gen fic, reader insert

Word Count: 5.5k (but are we really surprised)

Summary: Onigiri Miya is now hiring and you just happen to be the right person for the job. The business has been gaining popularity since its grand opening, and many customers travel from different cities just to have a bite of Miya Osamu’s delicious recipes. You did expect some craziness from working in food services, but what you didn’t expect was to be bombarded with frequent tomfoolery from a bunch of attractive volleyball players during your shifts.

disclaimer: manga spoilers

A/N: yeeeeehaw another chatper update! there's a lot going on this chapter, but i just hope everything makes sense. thanks for all the support so far! im thinking this series might come to an end soon, but i will keep you all updated!

Previous///Next

You yawn for the fourth time after clocking into work today and rub your tired eyes. Your exhaustion does not go unnoticed by your boss.

“Long night?” Osamu asks as he finishes restocking the fridge.

“More like long week.” Another yawn threatens to leave your lips and you have to force yourself to stop. “There’s been construction going on near my apartment and the elderly couple next door seems to be having some sort of argument for the past few nights. If they don’t figure their issues out by tomorrow, I’m gonna have to have a talk with my landlord.”

Osamu gives you a sympathetic glance and pats your shoulder. “I hope they do. Can’t have my favorite employee walking around like a zombie every day.”

“I’m your only employee, Osamu-san.”

The man just shrugs his shoulders before giving you a more serious look. “You sure you’ll be okay though? I wouldn't mind if you left early today.”

You waved off his suggestion. “No, I’ll be fine. Plus, we have a lot going on today. I’d rather not leave you to deal with that on your own, especially since the entire team is coming to help out.”

There were only a few weeks before the V. League Championships, so the starting players of MSBY were coming in to volunteer and advertise their big match against the Schweiden Adlers. Atsumu was the one to suggest having this event and his coach seemed to like the idea. It did take a while to convince Osamu to allow anybody to work at his precious restaurant but gave in after his brother promised to wear a giant onigiri costume during the entire event and buy him some Wagyu beef after his next paycheck.

Before Osamu could ask you anything else, the front door to Onigiri Miya was roughly opened and the seven MSBY starting players sauntered inside. Everyone greeted each other briefly and Osamu was just about to get them set up in their spots, but MSBY’s setter had other plans.

Atsumu placed a large bag on top of the counter and took out what looked like picture frames along with a power drill.

Osamu raised an eyebrow. “What are you doing, you scrub?”

“What should’ve been done a long time ago!” Without hesitation, Atsumu approached the wall with all of the autographs from previous customers and began to put up seven other frames. He was clearly still upset about the fact that his brother had autographs of the rival team in his shop, so the blonde decided to take matters into his own hands and hang up signed portraits of himself and his teammates. There were shouts of displeasure from your boss and you’d normally be the mediator between the twins, but you felt too tired at the moment to care.

Meian Shugo, the captain of MSBY, approached the spot next to you and gave you a kind smile. “Hey, (Surname)-san.”

“Hello, Meian-san.” You returned the smile with a small wave.

Your boss wanted to meet up with all the volunteers a week prior to the event in order to teach them what they were responsible for, especially those who were helping with the cooking. Since he had asked you to help out, you were able to meet the three remaining MSBY players for the first time last week as well.

“(Surname)-chan, do you need any help with anything before customers start rolling in?” Inunaki Shion questioned as he skipped over to where you were with his teammate, Adriah Thomas, following behind.

“Actually, we need to set up a few tables outside in case it gets a little packed indoors during the lunch rush. Do you guys mind bringing the tables and chairs outside with me?” You pointed towards the plastic tables that were leaning against the wall.

“Sure thing!” Inunaki briefly translated what you had said to Thomas in English and the latter simply nodded his head in understanding. As Thomas was walking past you to grab one of the tables, he lifted his hands in front of you. You haven’t really been able to speak with him since you weren’t very fluent in English, but he has always tried to be as friendly as possible around everyone and seems to love giving high-fives. You thought his actions were endearing, so you gave him a high-five with an equal amount of enthusiasm.

After grabbing what you needed and stepping outside, you spent a couple minutes directing each of them to where everything was supposed to be set up. Once that was done, you ushered them back inside. “Thanks guys! We’re opening soon, so let me know if you have any questions on what you’ll be doing.”

Unsurprisingly, Atsumu and Osamu were still bickering, but now Atsumu had a large black and white onigiri costume in his arms. “How the hell am I supposed to wear this all day, ‘Samu?”

“Easy. Just put it on and keep it on.” The onigiri chef explained. “Bokuto-san, do you mind helping him put it on?”

“Sure thing, Myaa-san!”

Everyone spent the next few minutes decorating the room with MSBY merchandise or helping Atsumu put on his costume and before you knew it, the first customer had arrived. Multiple voices rang throughout the shop, “Welcome to Onigiri Miya!”

Thankfully, the first couple of hours went by without any issues. You were surprised at how all of the guys were able to adapt to their jobs so quickly.

Normally, the customers take their food from the counter themselves, but for the event, Bokuto and Inunaki served as waiters. They seem to be doing a pretty good job so far and the customers love their amiable personalities.

Atsumu was sent outside to give out fliers and keep watch of the people eating outdoors. He would come back inside every so often to refill on fliers or complain about the onigiri suit, and it usually ended up with him being chased out by Sakusa who was on cleaning duty (“Omi-kun why do you keep hitting me with the broom?!”/”I was told to clean any trash on the ground.”). Sakusa was a bit reluctant to be put strictly on cleaning duty but voiced no complaints when you told him that this job requires the least amount of human interaction.

Hinata and Thomas stayed in the kitchen to assist Osamu with cooking. The three worked quite well together and Hinata would translate anything for Thomas if need be.

You and Meian stood next to each other comfortably. You were doing what you normally did at the register except Meian took over all the phone orders.

Even with fewer responsibilities than usual, waves of exhaustion seeped into your bones throughout the morning. There would be the occasional superfan that would walk in and ask for a picture with all the players while squealing in a pitch that could outmatch a dolphin. Just the thought of it gave you a bigger migraine.

“-san…-rname)-san?...(Surname)-san!”

Your eyes shoot up to Meian who has been calling your name for who knows how long. Apparently, your fatigue was also affecting your reaction time. “Ah! Sorry, Meian-san. Did you need something?”

The tall man eyes you with worry. “Are you okay? You seem distracted.”

“Yeah, I’m okay. Just a bit tired.” You brush off his concern.

He looks like he wants to say more but is interrupted by Hinata who had popped his head in your periphery. “Hey, (Name)-san. Do you know where Osamu-san keeps the olive oil? He stepped away for a moment to check on something and I can’t find it.”

“Oh, yeah. I can get that for-!”

As you turn around from your spot, your vision blurs and you feel your knees give out from the sudden lightheadedness. There are several alarmed voices around you, but you don’t think you can react fast enough to stop yourself from falling over. You prepare for any pain, but before your head could hit the counter, strong arms wrap around your waist.

“(Name)-san!”

Hinata’s voice is right next to you, so you can assume that he is the one who caught you. The poor man looks like he’s about to call an ambulance in panic, so you place a hand on his forearm to let him know you’re still awake.

It seems like all the noise also caused your boss to rush back from whatever he was doing because his figure is suddenly crouched down in front of you. Without warning, Osamu places a gentle hand on your forehead and you involuntarily blush. “Your face is a little red, but it doesn’t seem like you have a fever. You said you weren’t getting enough sleep lately, right?”

“I-I think I just turned around too fast. I’m fine.” You tap Hinata’s arm to get him to let you go and make the effort to stand up on your own to show that you didn’t need help.

Osamu stood up and crossed his arms, his gaze focused on the dark circles under your eyes. “No, you are not. Go to the back room and take a break.”

“I’m seriously okay. Lunch rush is almost here and I don’t want to make things difficult for the other guys,” you argue back.

Osamu doesn’t seem like he wants to back down either. “Would you rather I tell you to leave early? It’s either take a break now or go home.”

After watching you and Osamu go back and forth, Meian felt the need to intervene. “Don’t worry, (Surname)-san. I’ve been with you all morning, so I have a pretty good idea of what I need to do. We’ve got more than enough hands to help out.”

There’s a brief silence as everyone waits for you to say something. You finally let out a defeated sigh. “Alright. I’ll take a break.”

The guys around you feel the tension leave from their shoulders at your compliance.

“But,” you lift up a finger to get their attention, “you have to call me if there are any issues or if you need help with the register.”

“Got it, got it. Now go, (Name)-san.” Osamu walks around you and places his hands on your shoulders as he pushes you towards the back room.

When the door closed behind you, there was an unfamiliar silence permeating the room. You’ve never taken a break by yourself, so you felt slightly uncomfortable. Deciding to just lay on the small couch at the corner of the room, you looked up at the ceiling not exactly knowing what to do during your ‘break’. You didn’t even realize your eyes started to droop until they were fully closed and you entered a deep sleep.

You stretch your arms as you walk back to the register feeling much more refreshed than you were before and mentally thanked your boss for convincing you to take a break.

There’s a small skip to your step as you get closer to where Meian is, but his strange posture makes you halt. When you look around the counter, there are multiple customers waiting in line and all of them seem to have irritated expressions. Meian has the phone up to his ears and he’s stuttering so much that you can’t even make out what he’s trying to say.

You’re about to reach out to help him, but the front entrance suddenly opens and you can’t help but gape at the sight. Standing in nothing but pants and an apron, Atsumu runs a hand through his blonde locks while sweat runs down his skin. You’re not sure why he’s shirtless or how he got away with taking off the costume, but your focus is once again taken away by another volleyball player.

Bokuto grabs a tray of food that Osamu left out and rushes to one of the tables. In his haste, he accidentally trips over his own feet and everything on the tray is sent flying. Your eyes widen when you witness the owlish man produce an entire front flip in the middle of the tiny restaurant and land it successfully. Although, the food didn’t survive and proceeded to fall right on top of Sakusa’s head with a resounding plop.

“Wow! Bokuto, when did you learn to do that?” Inunaki asks excitedly.

“I’ve been practicing so that I can have a grand entrance at the game!” Bokuto stands proudly, completely oblivious to his seething teammate. Sakusa is absolutely furious and looks like he’s about to blow a fuse.

Atsumu chooses to step in and make an attempt at calming his friend lightheartedly. “Hey, Omi-Omi! You’re overreacting. Just wash it off and call it a day. No need to get so mad at your friend.”

Atsumu’s words only seem to infuriate the dark haired male even more. “Get out of the fucking way, Miya. I don’t need your dumb excuses of friendship. I’m sick and tired of your shit.”

You could almost see the poison being spit out of Sakusa’s mouth as he directed his harsh words at Atsumu. The blonde seemed to have finally snapped as well as he alarmingly lifted one of his fists. Before Atsumu could cause any harm, Osamu grabbed his brother’s arm. You didn’t even notice your boss approach the two.

“‘Tsumu! What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Osamu kept a tight grip on Atsumu as he glared. “Stop being an idiot and calm down.”

Atsumu roughly grabbed onto his brother’s collar with both of his hands. “You expect me to stay calm after hearing that? And, calling me an idiot doesn’t help, ‘Samu!”

You’ve finally had enough of being just a bystander, so you quickly ran around the counter and put a hand on each of the twins’ shoulders trying to lightly tug them away from each other. “Guys, you need to stop. Fighting in the middle of the shop is not going to solve anything.”

You knew that your words alone wouldn’t be enough to relieve their anger, but what you didn’t expect was the arm that harshly swung out in your direction, pushing you into the nearest table. If it weren’t for Bokuto and Inunaki steadying your balance, you could’ve been seriously injured.

“Stay out of this, (Name)-san.” Anger seems to have blinded Osamu and he doesn’t look even the least bit guilty for pushing you. “You’re being annoying. I don’t need you.”

If you could describe the way your heart felt after hearing those words, you would compare it to shattering glass. You knew you shouldn’t allow his words to affect you this much, but your emotions had failed you and all you could do was look down with tears in your eyes. Maybe this wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t taken that break.

Unfortunately, the universe didn’t seem to want you to even contemplate on your decision when a loud scream was heard from the kitchen area. Everyone in the room watched as Hinata, Thomas, and Meian collectively yelled the one word that could’ve made this situation worse.

“FIRE!!”

Your body aggressively shot up into a sitting position with your arms outstretched as you let out a startled gasp. A bead of sweat ran down your face and you took a second to take some deep breaths. Once you felt like your heart wasn’t going to jump out of your chest, you took in your surroundings.

You were alone in the back room of Onigiri Miya sitting on the same couch that you must have fallen asleep on when you first walked in. There was a thin blanket on top of your body that you don’t remember having before losing consciousness, but you didn’t wait to dwell on it as you tossed it aside and stood up to go back outside.

Throwing the door open, you steeled your nerves at the potential chaos that you might have to confront after your terrible, anxiety-provoking dream. However, the sight in front of you was... completely normal.

Your boss, being the closest one to the door, was the first person to notice your presence and smiled as you walked up to him. “Hey, (Name)-san. How are you feeling?”

“Uh...better? How’s everything out here?” Your eyes shift around the room to see if anything was unusual. “No raging fire or um...missing shirts?”

Osamu looked at you with confusion. “Not that I know of? It was a bit rocky after you left, but after about an hour everyone adjusted pretty well.”

Your shoulders released their tension at the fact that there weren’t any issues in your absence but immediately tensed back up when you realized what Osamu had just implied. “An hour?! How long was I asleep for?”

“Maybe about four hours?”

“Four-!” Almost choking on your words, you pulled out your phone to check the time and it has indeed been four hours since you started your break. “Why didn’t anyone wake me up?”

“I came in to check on you after about half an hour, but you seem really tired, and as your boss, I need to make sure you’re not overworked or sick.” Osamu brought up an arm to rub his neck sheepishly. “I know how you feel about me being concerned about your health, but I’d rather have you upset at me than risk you ending up in a hospital.”

A pout makes its way onto your face. How were you supposed to be upset if he gave you a reasoning like that?

Taking your silence as a sign to keep talking, Osamu brings his arm down and places his hand on your head comfortingly. “We’re not closing just yet, so you can still help out. I know you don’t like missing out on work, so there’s still some things to get done, if you’re good with that?”

You nod your head eagerly. “Yeah, sounds good. I’ll try to make up for what I missed.”

When you returned to the register, some of the MSBY players welcomed you back happily. Hinata and Meian gave you worried looks but felt reassured when you gave them a cheerful thumbs up. The only person you haven’t seen in a while was Atsumu, so you assumed he was still working outside.

Since holding the MSBY event for an entire normal work day might tire out the players, Osamu had planned to close earlier than usual, which meant that there was only about an hour left before closing. You tried your best to do as much as you could during that hour, even checking up on everyone every once in a while.

Ten minutes before closing, a woman walked in with two young boys by her side. You could make the assumption that they might be twins based on the uncanny similarities between them. Although, one of them seemed much more outgoing than the other based on their mannerisms and the two reminded you of another set of twins. The kids must’ve been playing outdoors before walking in since their hands were covered in dirt.

The mother lightly pushed her sons towards the back of the room. “Why don’t you two go wash your hands in the bathroom, while I order the food?”

“Okay!” The more extroverted twin answered back and ran towards the bathroom after grabbing his brother’s hand.

The woman asks for a to-go order and strikes up a conversation with Bokuto and Inunaki while she waits. After a couple of minutes, there are strange noises and laughter coming from the bathroom. When you looked up, the mother was still standing with the two men, so her sons must still be in the bathroom.

Tapping Meian on the shoulder, you point to the back when he has his attention on you. “Meian-san, could you watch the register real quick? I’m gonna go check what’s going on in the bathroom.”

He gives you a slight nod and you make your way to where all the noise is. The bathroom door is slightly ajar and when you peek in, you see the two boys standing in front of the sink blowing bubbles with their fingers. There was soap and water everywhere. You silently thank the universe for not having you on cleaning duty today.

Not wanting to startle the children, you knock on the door before opening it all the way. You expected the boys to be terrified at getting caught, but when they make eye contact with you over the mirror, their grins widen.

“Pretty cashier lady! Look what I can do!”

The talkative twin plunged his hand in the sink and viciously started blowing bubbles everywhere after taking his hand out. The quieter of the two started running around to avoid getting hit by the bubbles, but miscalculated how slippery the floor had gotten from all the soap and water.

“AH!”

As soon as you saw the boy’s feet slip from under him, you rushed forward and caught him with your own body, saving him from potentially breaking his nose. “Are you okay?”

The young boy turned red at the close proximity and shyly nodded his head while avoiding your eyes.

The ruckus had caused a couple people to check up on what was going on and were surprised to see the state of the bathroom as well as the boy that was tightly gripping onto your shirt. The boys’ mother was also part of the group as she had realized that her sons were taking quite a long time to simply wash their hands.

Rest assured, you explained what had happened and the woman scolded her children before making them apologize for causing such a disruption. The boy you had saved from slipping kept shifting his body weight from one foot to another when a sudden idea popped into his head. He quickly ran out of his mother’s hold and slid open the front door to go outside.

Before anyone could run after him, the boy came back inside just as quickly with a small white flower in his hand. He shuffled over to stand in front of you and held out the flower. “I’m sorry.”

You thought your heart would burst at the cute gesture and knelt down to gladly accept the flower with a warm smile. “Thank you.”

All of the guys around were watching the scene with a smile of their own. Someone quietly leaned over to an unsuspecting Osamu and whispered into his ear, “You’ve got some tough competition, Myaa-san.”

“Bokuto-san?!”

With that, the mother left with her sons after grabbing their food and the day was officially over. All of the MSBY players, excluding Sakusa and Atsumu, sat down at a table together to take a quick break before getting back up to clean. Sakusa begrudgingly went to get rid of the mess in the bathroom and Atsumu was still nowhere to be seen, but no one really seemed to notice at the moment.

Even though you were out cold for a couple hours, it still felt like an hectic day.

“Looks like you just can't get away from ruining your uniform, huh.”

Turning to the side, Osamu walks up to where you are and a smirk is plastered onto his features. True to his words, your uniform was once again soaked with water, but this time, there are remnants of soap as well.

You let out a sigh. “It seems so.”

Osamu nervously looks to the side and shoves his hands into his pockets. “Do you, uh, need something to cover up?”

“Nah, it’s all good. I actually brought an extra uniform shirt just in case anything happened during the event today. Luckily, I thought ahead!” You mentally pat yourself on the back.

“Yeah...lucky.”

“I’m gonna go change in the back room now. I’ll come out to help with cleaning afterwards!” You don’t wait to hear a response and disappear into the back room for the second time today.

At the same time, the entrance slides open and Atsumu, still in his onigiri costume, strolls into the shop. There’s an empty bag of chips hanging loosely from his hands, which he throws away to the nearest trash can.

“Atsumu-san! Where have you been?” Hinata stands up from his chair to walk up to the blonde in curiosity. “And, where did you get those chips?”

“There weren’t any customers outside and I wanted a snack so I went to the nearby convenience store,” Atsumu replies.

Osamu scoffs. “You skipped out on work and went to the convenience store in that?”

“Everyone and their moms in the next 10 mile radius has seen me in this, so what’s the point of getting embarrassed over wearing this down the block?” Atsumu attempts to shrug his shoulders but the suit is too large to make it obvious. “We’re done right? I wanna get out of this thing as soon as possible. You left my shirt in the back, right Shoyo-kun?”

Atsumu began speed walking towards the back room to change and Hinata realized a second too late that his teammate had no idea that you were still inside. The younger male jumped in place and tried to stop Atsumu. “Atsumu-san, wait! Don’t-!”

Unfortunately, Atsumu’s ears didn’t register what Hinata was trying to say in time and he swung open the door. He froze completely when he saw the bare skin of your back before sliding up his gaze to lock eyes with you. You were in the middle of putting on your extra uniform but froze in shock from the sudden entry with only your arms through the shirt, leaving the top half of your body only clad in a bra.

Hinata, who was only able to grab onto his teammate’s arm a second too late, also had a clear view. To make the situation even worse, Sakusa had just finished cleaning the bathroom and had walked out at the same time of the fiasco making him the third person to see you shirtless.

All four of you stare at one another for a second before you snap out of it. A menacing aura seeps out of your figure as your expression darkens. “Close the door.”

“SHIT! SORRY!” Atsumu regains function in his limbs at your tone and slams the door shut.

Hinata covers his fiery cheeks and squeezes his eyes shut but then immediately opens them when the image of you becomes too clear in his mind. He’s muttering incoherent apologies under his breath as if you could sense his remorse through the walls. Sakusa looks down at his mop and remains silent, his own cheeks tinted pink under his face mask.

“What the fuck did you do, Atsumu?”

Atsumu flinches at the coldness of Osamu’s words from behind him. He slowly turns around and meets his brother’s gaze. Osamu was mad.

Not even a second later Osamu’s kicking around Atsumu across the floor in anger. Atsumu opted to pull his arms and legs inside the suit to avoid any injuries. Hinata and Sakusa can only watch from the side. Out of curiosity, even Bokuto joined in on spectating. If this was any other situation, one might even laugh at the somewhat comical sight.

You step out of the back room a minute later fully dressed. No one has noticed you yet, so you just make your way to where the three less problematic MSBY players were sitting. They all watch you with mixed expressions as you sit down on one of the chairs wearily.

“You just can’t seem to catch a break. You good?” Inunaki peers at you with sympathy in his eyes. Thomas lifts up a hand for you to take and gives you a comforting squeeze before letting go.

“Yeah. I’m fine, really. Can’t even say I’m surprised that nothing seems to be calm when I’m around all you volleyball players. I’ve already gotten used to it, though.” You sigh exasperatedly but you can’t stop the small upward curve of your lips as you glance behind you at the chaos.

Meian chuckles. “You know, you’re pretty good at handling their shenanigans. Even with all the work you did today, you still made time to check on everyone. I’d say you’ve got some good managing skills.”

You give Meian a grateful smile at his kind words. He then seems lost in thought for a moment before beaming at you. “Hey, we have a manager position that’s open right now. Would you consider working along with all of us?”

The suggestion caught you completely off guard. You working with MSBY? You can’t deny that the idea makes you curious.

As you open your mouth to respond, an arm is suddenly slung over your shoulders silencing you.

“Sorry, Meian-san. She’s too good of a worker to give up.” At some point, your boss had gotten behind you and eavesdropped on your conversation. He tugs your body a bit closer to his own possessively and looks at Meian straight in the eye. “She’s mine.”

You’re surprised how you haven’t ended up in the hospital with how many times your heart has gone out of control in the last 8 hours. Except this time, a blush accompanies your irregular heart rate.

To save yourself from any potential embarrassment, you shrug off Osamu and cross your arms. “Um, no. I don’t belong to anyone.”

A flash of anxiety runs across Osamu’s eyes. He worries that he might have offended you or pushed you to take Meian’s offer.

Ignoring your boss, you send a small apologetic smile to the older man.” Sorry, Meian-san. I’m pretty happy working here, and I don’t know if I can really commit to a manager position at this time. Thanks for considering me though!”

“No worries, (Surname)-san. Feel free to let us know if you ever do change your mind.” The captain nods his head in understanding and accepts the rejection coolly.

A pained groan echoes through the shop and you turn to the noise. Atsumu is still on the ground looking absolutely drained of energy while Bokuto pokes at his costume with a single metal chopstick. Hinata and Sakusa are still in the same spot from before and make no effort to help Atsumu up.

Meian claps his hands once next to you and his chair screeches against the floor as he stands. “Alright, guys! Break’s over! Our job isn’t done just yet. Let’s get to cleaning!”

Leftovers

You’re just about ready to pass out as you lay in your bed with the lights off. Despite the four hour nap you had today, you still feel drowsy and can’t wait to get some sleep. Luckily, the neighbors seem to have calmed down for the night, so sleep should come easily. As you feel your consciousness slipping from you, you’re suddenly jolted awake by the shrill ringtone of your phone.

Letting out an annoyed groan, you pick up your phone to check who would be calling you so late. However, your irritation dissipates as soon as you read Shirabu’s name on the screen. He isn’t the type of person to call for no reason, so you immediately answer with a bit of a concerned tone, “Hey, Shirabu-san! What’s up?”

“Hello, (Surname)-san. Sorry for calling you so late. My shift just ended and I came across some information you might be interested in.” His words catch you by surprise and you force your body to sit up. “I just spoke to a colleague of mine and they informed me that there’s a program you might be interested in. They’re accepting new applicants at her university.”

“What?! That’s great! Could you tell me more about it?” It’s difficult to keep your voice down with all your anticipation.

Shirabu relays all of the information that his colleague had told him and you quickly shuffle over to your desk and turn on your mini lamp to write down both the website and email needed for the application. He stays silent as you finish writing down everything. You’re about to thank your friend, but he speaks up once again. “Oh, but I think it would be good to mention that the application is due in two days.”

You let out a panicked gasp. Two days?!

“Sorry about letting you know so late. I only found out about this today.” Shirabu’s tone is uncharacteristically apologetic, so you know he’s being genuine about his words. “I wouldn’t have told you about it, if I didn’t think you were capable of finishing it on time.”

After taking a deep breath, your face breaks out into a small smile at Shirabu’s blunt display of kindness. “It’s okay. You don’t have to apologize. I really do appreciate you even letting me know about this at all. Thanks, Shirabu-san.”

Your ears pick up a car door slam, so you assume Shirabu must have gotten in his car to go home. After some shuffling, Shirabu responds back to your gratitude. “No problem. I’m going to assume that you’ll probably want to get started on your application as soon as possible, so I’ll hang up now. Good luck with everything and let me know if you have any other questions.”

Once you’ve both said your goodbyes, the line goes silent. A spark lights in your eyes and all of your previous drowsiness has disappeared. You turn on your laptop and spend the majority of your night working on the application with motivation that you haven’t had in a while.

A/N: it took everything in my soul to not write ‘Inumaki’ instead of Inunaki. Inumaki supremacy (i love me my onigiri boys).

did i write the scene with the baby twins just for the whole scandalous back room exchange. yes. yes i did.

if the bubble blowing bathroom scene reminded you of that one scene in the spongebob movie, you’re on the VIP list

taglist: @kiyoo-omi, @tris-does-stuff, @livshotel, @bokuatsubro, @akkeyomi, @kaleidoscopekai @hirugachan

[manifestoonmoralmanlove]

What will be in my bag? Pre-ordered Manga. Straight and Lez edition.

Here’s a list of English-released manga I’ve currently got on pre-order, and manga series I ordered before but won’t be continuing with the series.

As a note: Some of these titles have been released but I have not received them yet due to a issues with covid backlog effected how things are released.  I personally find that if you pre-order it tends to get you manga quicker.  It seems there is more pressure to keep up with the new release schedule than chip away at the backlog.

I’m starting with the stuff I’ve already read some of and confirmed enjoyment, then stuff I’m shooting in the dark for, and finally series I have tried recently and have discontinued.

Heteros

My Androgynous Boyfriend

Story & Art by: Tamekou      Publisher: Seven Seas

It is rare for straight shit to end up in my library but My Androgynous boyfriend is an exception that will surprise no-one since it’s pretty queer adjacent.  This story is mostly a couple being lovey-dovey between jokes about sexuality and gender but (so far) isn’t problematic at all.  The female lead is quite enjoyable as she’s well-balanced and has agency throughout. There’s even ace representation! It’s very low-stakes, wholesome, and sweet so far. (Volume 3 is set to release in November.)

My Excitement Level: The gentle about to sink into a bubble bath variety

Yuri/Lesbian

Even Though We’re Adults

Story & Art by: Takako Shimura  Publisher: Seven Seas

Takako is also the creator of Sweet Blue Flowers and Wandering son.  I have dipped by toe in to both those series.  I overall find their writing kinda meandering and tepid (might just be me) but technically pretty solid.  I am hopeful for this series since it features adults....if the title didn’t make it obvious.  I was intrigued by the one character being married but the man finding out about the affair quickly and reacting more realistically and interestingly than the average male love interest in a Yuri.  I also found myself relating at bit to Akari’s angst about being unlucky with relationships with women.  I also do enjoy the artwork! This one is the most likely of my followed series to be dropped at some point. (Volume 2 of this manga was set to release in June this year.)

My Excitement Level: Cautious Optimism

For more click the jump!

Kase-san and Yamada

Story & Art by: Hiromi Takashima  Publisher: Seven Seas

This is a series I keep going back to.  While it is the very typical low-stakes bubbly, cutesy School age Yuri...it is a very good version of that.  Just warm bubble bath vibes. (Volume 7 is set to release in February of next year.  I think it was originally supposed to be released this May but was bumped back.)

My Excitement Level: The gentle about to sink into a bubble bath variety

NOW ONTO THE SERIES I HAVEN’T READ BUT I’M TAKING A CHANCE ON!

Adachi and Shimaura

Art: Moke Yuzuhara Story: Hitoma Iruma  Publisher: Yen Press

This, as I understand it, is a slow-burn romance about two delinquent girls.  I have heard good things about the novel and the anime series!  However I prefer manga to novels and don’t have a funimation account so I went to snag it in manga form. (Volume 1 was set to release in February this year and 2 in September)

My Excitement Level: Cautious Optimism

The Girl I want is so handsome!

Story & Art by:Yuama     Publisher: Seven Seas

The premise is a young lady has a crush on a handsome older girl who’s oblivious to her advances.  When she tries to confess she instead gets roped into being the club manager of the basketball team that her crush is a part of.  So it feels like it may end up cycling through 2 jokes and be so deep in the stereotypical manga bullshit you can easily-predict its beats volumes in advance. HOWEVER that is also a premise that is similar to Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun which is legitimately a hilarious series. Also I fucking love butch/stud/masc-presenting women/AFAB people.  So I’m willing to risk “The same Anime bullshit” for good jokes and a cute lezzy romance with a beautiful butch.  (Volume 1 is set to release of December of this year.)

My Excitement Level: Pretty nervous actually.  I hope it works out!

Monologue Woven for You

Story & Art by: Syu Yasaka     Publisher: Seven Seas

A woman gives up on a career in theater gets tangled in a relationship with a woman passionately pursuing theater.  Since it is set between college age women, and appears to be about more personal and mature themes I am interested. (Volume 1 I BELIEVE is supposed to be released in February of next year.)

My Excitement Level: Cautious Optimism

Mizuno and Chayama (No page yet so far as I can tell.)

Story & Art by: Yuhta Nishio     Publisher: Yen Press

Two daughters of feuding families meet in secret.  This is by the same author of After Hours.  I read a bit of After Hours and found it fine but boring since it seemed without conflict.  Conflict doesn’t seem to be in short supply with a story like this!  While I enjoy the sugary-sweet high school lesbian romances...those are not in short-supply. So I am always hungry for something darker, meatier, more mature. (Volume 1 is set to release next February) 

My Excitement Level: Cautious Optimism

5 Seconds Before The Witch Falls In Love

Story & Art by:  Zeniko Sumiya     Publisher: Seven Seas

It appears to be a playful fantasy about a Witch and Witch-hunter who’s antagonism turns romantic.  This may end up one note and stupid...but I’m always hear for queer romances set in high-fantasy and I haven’t read a Yuri where rivals turns to lovers. (Volume 1 is set to release next February)  

My Excitement Level: Low-key

Catch These Hands! (No page yet so far as I can tell.)

Story & Art by: Murata     Publisher: Yen Press 

A former delinquent runs into her high school rival.  After losing a fight to her she agrees to her terms...her terms being to go out on a date with her.  I mean the title alone makes me want to pick it up!  It may run afoul of bad anime humor, but I’m hoping with the fact that it’s full of gay adult delinquents that it’ll be a little different.  (Volume 1 is set to release next February)  

My Excitement Level: Medium-key

Series I have discontinued:

I’m in love with the Villainess

Art by: Aonoshimo  Story by:  Inori   Publisher: Seven Seas

A woman gets reborn into her favorite Otome game but she wants to romance the villiain!  I had heard a ton of great things about the novel but I picked up the manga version. (If the novel is totally different I can’t speak to it.)  For me, the writing is ham-handed, the jokes flop 90% of the time, and the fact the lead’s only personality trait seems to be ~obsessed with a bully~ really dampens this title.  Her advances are so aggressive and unwanted I honestly started feeling bad for a spoiled rich bully.  I will say it’s saving grace is the fact that the lead is masochistically into the villainess’ tsundere abusiveness. For me I hate tsundere romances if framed like, “I like you DESPITE your insults.” It is only tolerable if it’s instead, “I like you cause you tell it like it is. I’m a dirty little pig. Please step on this bad little piggy!”

Our Teachers are Dating

Story & Art by: Pikachi Ohi      Publisher: Seven Seas

Well one reason I stopped the series is that cover you see up there.  The sex in this series is fade to black but FOR SOME REASON the 3rd cover has them both butt naked.  But on a less superficial note, the story is about two teachers who start dating.  And while cute at points, I was just underwhelmed.  I think a part of it, is the fact that this behaves like a stereotypical high school romance...and while set in a high school...these are grown ass women not 15 year olds.  So I have less patience with the, “Gosh when will I get to kiss my girlfriend?” bullshit.  I mean, I would hesitate to call it bad...but it’s just not a good version of it’s brand of bullshit.

Breath of Flowers

Story & Art by: Caly                       Publisher: Tokyopop

Absolute train-wreck, this is hands down the worst Yuri I have ever bought.  The story is nonsensical and all over the place.  There is a love rival who’s trying to break the two of them up so she can get with Gwyn...but then switches mid-gear to put in a lot of effort to bring them together intentionally...but she also still wants to hook up with Gwyn...it’s very ????????????  The main conflict of Gwyn is hiding their gender so they can play basketball on the boy’s team (not well explained) is built up hugely and resolved with a hand flick.  There is a melodramatic moment where a school nurse says more or less, “GIVE IT UP YOU’LL NEVER BE A BOY!” And it’s like “OH SHIT! The fact that Gwyn is on the basketball team is cause he’s a transboy trying to live life as a boy! Oh gosh it makes so much more sense now!”  But the author seems to not even know that trans people exist cause the story bumbles along as if that scene never happened.  The closest we get is at the end Gwyn is like, “Look I’m learning to do make-up on myself to make you happy lawl!” Which is I GUESS supposed to be, “NO NO DON’T WORRY ALL OF GWYN’S GENDER STUFF WAS JUST THERE TO MAKE THE MAIN CHARACTER SEXUALLY CONFUSED WHEN SHE DISCOVERS GWYN’S TRUE GENDER!  HER TRUE GENDER IS 100% CIS WOMAN CAUSE SHE DID MAKE-UP ONCE! IT’S FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINE!” Like whaaaaaaaaat?  And it ends on a very random scene which doesn’t really fit in with the rest of the story.  Ugh just very bad do not interact!

A White Rose in Bloom

Story & Art by: Asumiko Nakamura    Publisher: Seven Seas

At an all girls catholic school a young woman falls for a mysterious foreign student.  I grabbed this cause it’s gay and I overall like Asumiko Nakamura’s work (she also does Doukyusei, double mints, and others.)  However I was just not grabbed with this title.  I just felt like I wasn’t getting what was making the MC pants on head obsessed with Steph.  Also the lead’s mother tells her that she’s getting divorced and therefore will no longer have money to pay for the university and she’s framed like a super bad person for this.  Like I get why the MC (a teenager) would think that something like that is THE END OF THE WORLD! But I remember them really framing the mom like a selfish bitch for this...when like...it’s well established that her mom and dad’s relationship has been toxic for YEARS and that they TRIED SO HARD to fix it.  OH WELL!  This might be good but it just didn’t grab me in the 1st volume.

I’ll make a post on the BL titles later! Take care and Stay Rotten!

[pocketramblr]

how his hair do that, 5 options

the following is a crack fanfic in five parts, each section on the same premise but not same continuity. also, very spoilerish

bnha manga spoilers below! very recent leaks below! very spoilery!

Better than a charcoal milkshake v 1

--------

When the heroes first attacked, alarms blaring, compound up in chaos, Dabi snuck away. He let the others pour out of the doors and down the stairs, and crept backwards, turning and running once he was certain no one would notice him.

Not that it would matter much if he did, but why waste the energy on killing them too? He’d need all his firepower today.

Dabi tore through the halls to his room, making it there and slapping his card against the scanner. No time to lose, not when he knew he needed to take care of a few more things before locating where Endeavor was in this heroes’ mission.

He kicked open his bathroom door, hands occupied with carefully pulling the black wig off his head- snagging that on his staples was just the worst, and he couldn’t have blood messing this up today.

Not yet, at least.

Under the bathroom cabinet he grabbed the bag of powery charcoal. It was supposed to be used for some beauty purpose or another, something about enriching hair that didn’t even work- but it would work to darken his white locks.

He poured it on, barely bothering to lean over the sink and keep it from going everywhere. As a final test, he once more wet a bit of it, the color seeping from the hair as it dripped.

He already knew it would work, that’s why he had intercepted so much of it before the quirk cultists could offer it to Toga or Hawks or whoever, but his heart was racing with both nerves and pure excitement.

Finally. The day he’d burn it all down, and make them see why.

He left his door open as he ran back out into the hallway, making a beeline for where he left Hawks. First things first, take care of that, then find Endeavor.

--------

Better than a charcoal milkshake v 2

--------

“Hey, put me down by that camping supplies store. And Skeptic too.” Dabi ordered, surveying the carnage of Jakku and glancing over at the man hunched over his laptop.

Said man looped up sharply at that, frowning and spitting that he wasn’t going to do that or something.

Dabi didn’t really pay attention to that.

“Where?” Gigantomachia asked, still rumbling forward towards whatever he smelled. Two masters or something.

Compress cleared his throat and translated for the currently blinded giant. “It’s at 4:05 o’clock, I’d say thirty feet forward.” He then looked over at Dabi, mask as unsettling as any of them. “You’ll be carefull too, on your personal mission?”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” Dabi waved him off, snagging Skeptic by the back of his shirt and tugging as Machia scooped them up and placed them on the pavement.

He ran inside the evacuated store, mercifully empty and not decayed, and started looking for the bags of charcoal.

When he found one, he tore it open. Charcoal fell to the floor, and he ground his boot down into it.

“What…” Skeptic seemed without words, for once. Good.

Dabi tore off his black wig, tossing it aside. He wouldn’t need it anymore.

“You wear a wig??”

“Yeah.” He started to scoop up handfuls of the charcoal, rubbing it into his hair. “Hey, go grab me some water, and then go set up the cameras. We got a show to put on.”

--------

Stinky dumpster boy

--------

“But my good name?” He sneered the word and all it implied in the world of false heroes, “is Todoroki Touya.”

With that, he dumped the water over his head, and it streamed down over his face, filthy.

The dirty water, practically mud, stung the places on his face where his skin was barely stapled together, and Dabi was reminded of why he didn’t bother with showers anymore- the pain.

But now his true colors- literally- were revealed and it was all worth it. All the truth was out, and the truth had always hurt him.

Shoto, who seemed to be trying to juggle first aid on like, five different people with two random heroes he didn’t know next to him, gaped.

“Come on, I know my face has changed, but my own family should still be able to recognize me, yeah? But you never did. You never did, Todoroki Shoto.”

Dabi suddenly found himself encased in ice.

Ah, this again.

“Yumi’s is colder.”

Shoto’s jaw dropped, then he glared. “Stand back.” He said as he stood up. “He just dunked water on his head, to cool him off I bet. If he is Touya, his body never could handle his own heat. If he’s not… those burns come from somewhere at least.”

Ok, now Dabi was offended.

“What do you mean, ‘if I’m not’?” he demanded. “I just revealed my white hair? I know that’s what the picture on my shrine looks like, you never even looked at that?”

“How do you even know what your shrine looks like?” Shoto sounded dangerously close to judgmental for a little brother who was probably as emo as Dabi had been at his age. “And wait, that cup of water was supposed to wash out your hair? What, do you never bathe or something?”

Ok, now Dabi was really offended.

“Of course I bathe! I just have to sponge bath, because I don’t know if you’ve noticed from having your own scars, but when they take up most of your body and are killing you they end up controlling a lot of your life!”

Ugh, asking him if he didn’t bathe. He’d understand that asked of Shigaraki, sure, but him? Shoto had gotten close enough to smell him, at least.

“Um, sorry to interrupt,” the hero in blue, the one that was tending to Eraserhead, raised his hands. “But uh… do you want some help with that?”

“I’m fine, don’t want to cool him off too much so he can fight longer.” Shoto shook his head.

“I was talking to him.”

“Oh.”

“What?”

The hero waved his hand, bubble of water pulling up from the ground. Then he pointed to his own head. “I can take care of that? At the very least it’ll be cleaned out and um, whatever color it should be?”

Dabi stared at him. Shoto stared at him. The other hero in green stared at him, and the one who’d offered help started to sweat noticebly.

“Eh, sure, whatever.”

The hero nodded, and the bubble of water floated over to him, disappearing in his hair.

The bubble floated out a couple of time, murky brown and black with ash, dirt, oil, blood, anything else he’d never thought about too much. It would wring itself thin, much dropping, and return to cleaning.

Finally, his hair was mostly white and thoroughly soaked.

“Thanks.” He called over.

“Yeah.” The hero answered, still frantically trying to help Eraserhead with his free hand, which he’d gone back too as soon as he thought Dabi was distracted. Buying time.

The other hero was on his fourth facepalm.

Shoto just looked contemplative.

Endeavor, one of the ones receiving treatment, sat up but looked like he was going to pass out.

Well all right then. Time to really start- the hair snafu didn’t matter. They were all going to die that day anyway.

--------

Weirdest commercial I’ve ever been in.

--------

“We’ll be dancing in hell together, Todoroki Enji.” Dabi finished his speech with a sneer.

The watching heroes were all stunned silent, mouths open, eyes wide. The revelation must be sending them, like it would all who were watching Skeptic’s broadcast. This would burn it all down, perfect.

“I don’t understand…” Enji managed to say, spitting out a bit of blood.

“What, you don’t understand how I survived, or how I hate you so much I’d hurt innocent people over it? Because that second part is exactly what you did, take out all that self-loathing and insecurity, rage at your shortcomings and condemn children not born yet to them. Guess it’s a family trait.”

“No, not that,” He waved a hand. “I mean, I totally get how you’re a wreck, even if all of your other siblings managed to not become mass murders, I mean- I don’t understand, how did that pint of water wash out all of your hair dye? Aren’t you better funded after the Deika merger, can’t you afford proper hair coloring?”

“I was also wondering that.” Shoto admitted.

“Same.” The hero in blue nodded. The hero in green facepalmed.

“Water?” Dabi repeated, then looked at the can he’d tossed aside. “Oh, no. This isn’t water- it’s a momento of the only true hero.” He bent down, picking up the can and studying the image on it.

“Stain was right, you know.” He mused. “About hero society being rotten. So rotton, so full of fakes, that there was only one that deserved the title. He just got the wrong hero, guessing All Might.” Dabi snorted at the very idea. “No, the only real one, the pure one, the one that defines heroism, the only one with a kill count higher than me- for all the dear old man and his biggest fan Hawks tried, of course- is Wash.”

“… Wash?” Shoto cocked his head. “Wait, like, Wash, Wash?”

“The one and only. That’s how this Official Wash’s Hair Washing Serum, the only product that can wash out all dirt, dye, and any other kind of grime, in just one go.” He shook the can around so they could see. “What, you all thought I could just magically lighten my hair from black to white in the space of one fight?”

“No,” Shoto said, like a liar, and then he threw a glacier at Dabi, and the fight was on in earnest.

--------

Old news

--------

“And now you’ll see who I really am, who you’ve created.” Dabi poured the bleach over his head, giving it a moment to sink into the hair before he shook it out, grinning wide enough to tear his staples.

The heroes on the ground and the few tending to them stared in shock.

Then Shoto gasped.

“Hawks?”

“What? Where?” Dabi whirled around, looked up, because he was really sure he had managed to make sure that pest wouldn’t be flying or fighting again, but well… he’d thought that once before and been wrong then.

“No, you- you’re Hawks, you dye your hair black when its in Dabi mode, and its that beachy yellow blond in Hawks mode.” Shoto nodded to himself.

Blond? Dabi tugged at a lock of hair, and huh. It did seem more yellow than white.

“How could he be Hawks?” The hero in green demanded incredulously, before the hero in blue grabbed his arm and pulled it back to holding down Eraserhead for bandaging.

“The burns and staples are part of the disguise,” Shoto explained. “Fake, and misdirection. You were trained from young childhood to be a hero, sent to join AfO and the league as a spy, where you gained a fire quirk and decided to switch to the villains’ side because you hated the life you were forced into.”

Dabi stared at him.

Shoto stared back.

Enji stared at both of them.

“How are you so smart and so stupid at the same time?” Slipped from chapped, burnt lips.

Shoto looked offended at that.

“I mean, you’re half right, yes that’s what up with Hawks, yes he was sent as a spy, but I knew and I killed him at the compound. And not, like, in a metaphorical way.” He added when he saw something spark in Shoto’s eyes. “Literally. I’m not him. He is completely separate person and body than me and I totally literally killed him.” Or like. Close enough. “And like, thirty other people who were completely innocent.”

Or close enough, he really didn’t bother to keep track, but thirty sounded like a big number. Especially of murders.

“So then who are you?” Shoto asked.

“What, you don’t recognize me, little brother?” He almost growled it, feeling very tired of this all of a sudden.

“Little brother?” Shoto repeated, eyes wide, then narrowing. “Wait, how…”

“Oh not again.” Enji muttered.

“Not again?” Dabi asked. “Wait, you actually managed to drive one of the others to this too? And cover it up? Man, Enji, you’re more rotten than even I knew then!”

“One of the others?” Shoto looked around wildly. “What are you talking about?”

“I was talking about how Shigaraki also randomly showed up and called a first year student “little brother”.” Enji looked back over at Dabi. “What were you talking about?”

“Shigaraki did what?” The pyro looked over his shoulder, finding the villain looking absolutely stoned on the ground, almost as vacant as some of the unconscious heroes, with a curly haired student laying bloodied nearby, staring up at him. “Wait, which student is his little brother?”

“Midoriya, apparently.” Shoto shrugged.

“Midoriya?” Dabi almost choked on the name. “As in, the green bone-breaking kid? Isn’t he like All Might’s lovechild or something?”

“That’s what I said too!”

“I mean, his hair was also lighter when he showed up today.” The hero in blue pointed out to his fellow in a voice that would have been too quiet for Dabi to hear had everyone else not gone silent as well.

“And bleach boy tried to do the same thing with the bleach, yeah. Here, I’ll tie this off, you go take care of Bakugo.”

“I’m Todoroki Touya!” Dabi snapped. “Or I used to be called by that name, anyway, before you nearly killed me, Enji. Let’s just- get back to fighting, yeah, I’m going to kill you.”

[yandere-daydreams]

Title: Awaited Reunions.

Commissioned by the lovely @99shadowcat99.

Word Count: 1.6k.

Pairing: Yandere!Dabi/Hawks.

Synopsis: Keigo’s never been the paranoid type, but when he’s ingrained with the League of Villains, acting as a double-spy too distant from both fronts to count on either’s supports, it’s difficult not to imagine all the grisly ends he could meet, if he’s ever found out. But, when it finally comes time to bite the bullet, Keigo finds out there are things much worse than death.

TW: Alternative Timeline, Kidnapping, Imprisonment, Smoking, Possessive Mindsets, Non-Consensual Touching, and Explicit Language. 

**Disclaimer: I don’t read the manga, so if some minor details are incorrect or misinterpreted, I apologize in advance. This piece deviates from the canon early enough for Keigo not to have completely earned the League’s trust, yet, but late enough for much of his behavior to be considered incriminating to the general public.

Keigo couldn’t remember the last time his wings felt heavy.

Or, this heavy, at least. He could always feel them, he was always aware of the breeze on his feathers, the pull on his shoulder blades, the way his spine began to ache whenever he’d overworked himself, but that was different, it was presence, tense and rigid and stiff but alive, nonetheless. This was different. It was dead, alien, wrong, as if someone had taken two metal rods and driven them into his back where his wings were supposed to be. As if he was being dragged down, and there was nothing he could do but fall.

Weakly, he tried to unfold his wings. He couldn’t remember the last time he had to think about something so simple, the last time he had to genuinely try, but he still did, he still put every ounce of concentration into one motion, one twitch, one sign that there was still something attached to him, something he could use. He tried, and he tried, and he tried, and...

And, nothing happened. Keigo slumped against the bare wall in defeat, letting his hand curl around the collar resting around the base of his neck, the metallic source of his current problem.

A quirk-cancelling collar. It was almost ironic, in a way.

There was a chain connected to it, the links bulky, leading back to a radiator that, thankfully, didn’t work. There were shackles on his wrists, too, and his ankles, but he’d already given up on prying them off. It was a futile effort, anyway. It was an old-fashioned method, but an effective one, too tight and too straight-forward not to be effective. Clunky, but not clumsy. Ugly, but purposefully so.

Then again, he wasn’t sure what else he could expect from Dabi. Bruised, battered Dabi. Simpering, smirking Dabi.

Dabi, who hadn’t said a damn word since Keigo woke up on the floor of this shitty, empty basement, the back of his head throbbing and his wings frozen to his back, despite his best efforts to thaw them out.

For the first time in the handful of hours he’s been conscious, Keigo let his attention drift to his silent companion. He’d changed since the last time Keigo saw him, put on a thinner coat, one without the fine layer of ash that turned a pitch-black to a muddy, distorted grey. He hadn’t combed his hair, but Keigo might’ve been more surprised if he had. The same went for the cigarette caught between his pointer and middle fingers, a new facet, but one that felt right, one that filled the air with a cloudy, darkened smoke that made Keigo squint and frown, despite knowing he should be doing his best to stay neutral in every capacity, right now, expressions included. If Dabi noticed the slip, though, he didn’t bother with a verbal critic. His eyes were the only thing that moved, flickering in Keigo’s direction from where he leaned against the furthest wall.

For a moment, neither of them spoke, waiting for the other to cave under the pressure. Keigo was the first to relent. He could take the hit to his pride, as long as it meant finding out what was going on. “Those things can kill you, y’know.”

Another drag, slow and careless. When he exhaled, the smoke was black, sooty. As if Dabi’s lungs were just as burnt as his skin. “If they want to get the job done, they’ll have to work a little faster,” He muttered, his voice so low, Keigo wasn’t sure whether or not he was supposed to overhear. “It’s a steep competition. I’ve got other ‘suitors to entertain’, and all that bullshit. But you know all about that, don’t you?”

“If you want me to know about anything, you’re gonna have to stop talking in fucking riddles,” Keigo groaned, letting his head fall back against the bare wall. There was a jolt of pain through his skull, the ghost of something hot and thick dripping down the back of his neck, but Keigo elected to ignore the bolts of reflexive panic that shot up, in response. “This is a joke, right? The last thing I remember is you storming into the bar, hitting me over the head with a pint I wasn’t finished with, and the next thing I know, I’m tied up in some dark basement, listening to you rant about ‘suitors’ and ‘competition’. If either of us should be asking questions, it’s me.”

Now, that got Dabi to laugh, a deep chuckle that, for whatever reason, did little to ease Keigo’s nerves. He almost regretted trying to keep the tone so light. “That’s cute,” He said, letting his heel knock against the skirting as he pushed himself away from the wall. “I thought spies were supposed to be good at sweet-talkin’.”

Keigo felt his heart drop.

It wasn’t an unfamiliar sort of dread, all hollow fear and sore tightness, the same thing he felt every time someone mentioned lying, or how close he seemed with the Heroes he supposedly hated, or stared too long or failed to smile or made a comment that just wasn’t trusting enough, for Keigo’s sense of skepticism. If he’d been able to use his wings, he might’ve taken his chances, running Dabi through like an especially hostile pin-cushion or going on the defensive and hoping most of him wasn’t burnt away in the process, but he didn’t. He couldn’t. He couldn’t do anything, and fuck, he was starting to get sick of it.

He couldn’t do anything, so he didn’t try to. For a long, calculated second, he held Dabi’s gaze, his expression shocked and confused, and then, he cracked a smile, bowed his head, and forced himself to laugh.

“You’re fucking with me.” Blatant, simple, vulgar. He spoke Dabi’s language, spoke like his friend. Like he was one of them, really one of them, rather than a poorly-crafted imitation. “You have to be fucking with me. A spy? Really? If you wanted to scare me, you could’ve just--”

“The League already knows,” Dabi cut in, not bothering to indulge Keigo’s attempts to backtrack. “Took a while, but no one was that surprised to find out the hero might not be on our side. Funny how quickly all that hard work goes to waste, right?” The cigarette fell from his hand, soon caught under the toe of Dabi’s boot. “Don’t worry about the Hero Commission comin’ for their golden boy, either, I’ll make sure no one puts you over daddy’s knee. The news about our dissatisfied, glory-speaking hero should start spreading in three... four hours? Just the part about you working with us, obviously. If the rest of your valiant friends want to save face in front of their adoring fans, they’ll drop the case quickly.”

In his defense, Keigo didn’t break down. He didn’t scream, he didn’t cry, he didn’t do much of anything, not as Dabi laughed, not as he stretched, and not as slow, careless footsteps made their way across the otherwise empty room, only stopping once he reached Keigo’s kneeling form. Keigo didn’t look up. He kept his eyes fixed on the floor, concentrated on one particular crack in the concrete as Dabi lowered himself to one knee, taking his time to settle into the position. He didn’t want to look up, but he didn’t have a choice, not after Dabi’s hand clamped around his jaw, his thumb just digging into Keigo’s cheek and forcing his head back. Forcing him to take in the glint of silver staples, those hooded eyes. That smile, crooked and sharpened and so, so satisfied.

Keio felt sick.

“The guys wanted your head on a platter for it, but let that scare ya’. Took a while to calm ‘em down, but your new jewelry helped, and no one hated the idea of seeing you placed in my loving care.” There was a slight squeeze, a sudden jerk that left Keigo scrambling to catch himself and Dabi releasing an amused huff, one seemingly unaffected by his hostage’s silence. “Think of this as a favor. A gift from an old friend, an act of mercy from the only person who’s ever going to care about you, going forward.”

It was an instinctive reaction, one Keigo didn’t have to think about. Not anymore. “You’re not my friend.”

“This again,” Dabi sighed, his tone anything but sympathetic. “Need another hint, Takami?”

Keigo opened his mouth, but he didn’t get the chance to answer. Dabi was already wrenching him forward, chapped lips soon pressed against his own. The kiss was harsh, sudden and forceful enough to be bruising and thankfully, thankfully cut short as Keigo shoved at Dabi’s chest, forcing him to draw back with a throaty laugh. It only lasted a second, less than that, but it lasted long enough for Keigo to remember the last time someone kissed him like that, long enough to remember his training, the cramped rooms and thin mattresses and the tiny cots that only seemed smaller when another warm body found its way onto his. To remember a boy with white hair and smoke on his breath, a boy who died, a boy who was still dead. A boy who Keigo had to tell himself time and time again couldn’t be in front of him, couldn’t be alive, couldn’t be Dabi.

A boy with a cracked smile, one that never seemed genuine, whose touch was too harsh and whose kiss was too hard and who thought he loved Keigo, who thought he could love Keigo.

Who thought Keigo could love him back, if he didn’t have another option.

“Touya.”

Dabi only let go of his jaw, taking Keigo by his collar, instead. Keigo didn’t look at him. He couldn’t look at Dabi, but he didn’t have to. He could feel the tug forward, the smile as a soft, chaste kiss was pressed into the top of his head. “I thought you’d never come around,” Dabi, no, Touya whispered, his teeth ghosting over Keigo’s skin.

“Miss me, sweetheart?”

[flclarchives]

Amusing Himself to Death, an Akadot.com interview with Kazuya Tsurumaki (director of FLCL and assistant director of Evangelion) from around December 2001. In the article, Tsurumaki explains a few things about Evangelion, his mentality behind FLCL as a whole, and the meaning of the name ‘FLCL’.

Full article text is under the cut, or read the article in its original form [here].

Kazuya Tsurumaki was a relatively little-known animator when Hideki Anno selected him to work as the assistant director on Neon Genesis Evangelion. For the TV series, which became a smash hit in Japan and one of the touchstones of the current surge of interest in anime in the US, Tsuramaki served as the main storyboard artist as well as assistant director, and when Studio Gainax began production on a trio of Evangelion films Tsurumaki got his first directorial assignment.

As he tells the story, Anno came to him after Eva and announced that he was out of ideas and that it was up to Tsurumaki to dream up the next project because, "you are next." Tsurumaki let his imagination run wild, but by the time he had written a script, Anno - despite his declaration that he had no stories left to tell - was already several steps ahead of Tsurumaki and in pre-production for his next series, Kareshi Kanojo no Jijo, leaving Tsurumaki a chance to have complete and unsupervised creative control of his own series FLCL.

FLCL, referred to as "Fooly Cooly" (or "Furikuri" by its American fans), is unlike any anime series to come before it. Wild, maniacally fast-paced physical comedy; exaggerated, exuberant animation alternately pushing towards surrealist- as when mecha exuviate from a bump on young Naota's head - and deconstructionist - as when the animation literally stops and the story is told by a camera bouncing across a page of black and white manga art panels; and obsessively, often irrelevantly, referential to obscure Tokyo-pop bands and anime insider trivia; FLCL was hyperkinetic and disorienting, yet mesmerizing, almost transgressive, and undeniably original. It inspired enthusiastic admiration for Tsurumaki as a creator, even amongst the perhaps 90% of the series' fans who were absolutely baffled by much of it. One is tempted to refer to it as announcing the arrival of full blown post-modernism in animation, or perhaps as the Exploding Plastic Inevitable of the anime industry.

When Tsurumaki visited Baltimore to speak to American fans at the recent Otokon Convention, predictably, many of the questions were along the lines of, "Hi, I really loved FLCL [or Evangelion], but could you please explain this part of it to me?"

Tsurumaki answered all questions genially with a self-deprecating and often mischievous sense of humor. For example:

Why does Haruko hit Naota over the head with her guitar?

Kazuya Tsurumaki: Naota is trying to be a normal adult and she belts him to make him rethink his decision.

Why does Evangelion end violently, and somewhat unhappily?

KT: People are accustomed to sweet, contrived, happy endings. We wanted to broaden the genre, and show people an ugly, unhappy ending.

Why is the character of Shinji portrayed as he is?

KT: Shinji was modeled on director Hideki Anno. Shinji was summoned by his father to ride a robot, Anno was summoned by Gainax to direct an animation. Working on Nadia [Nadia: Secret of the Blue Water, one of Anno and Tsurumaki's earlier projects] he wondered if he still wanted to work like this. He thought that working on Eva could help him to change.

Is there any particular reason why so many Gainax series feature very anxious, unhappy young male protagonists with no parents?

KT: Yes, the directors at Gainax are all basically weak, insecure, bitter, young men. So are many anime fans. Many Japanese families, including my own, have workaholic fathers whose kids never get to see them. That may influence the shows I create.

Could you explain the mecha bursting from Naota's head in FLCL?

KT: I use a giant robot being created from the brain to represent FLCL coming from my brain. The robot ravages the town around him, and the more intensely I worked on FLCL the more I destroyed the peaceful atmosphere of Gainax.

Why doesn't FLCL follow one story?

KT: In the third episode Ninamori was almost a main character, a kid who, like Naota, has to act like an adult.  After episode three her problem was solved so we wrote her out.  She has many fans in Japan and we got plenty of letters about that decision.  For FLCL I wanted to portray the entire history of Gainax, and each episode has symbols of what happened behind the scenes on each of Gainax's shows.   Episode one has many elements of Karekano; episode two, a lot of Evangelion references, etc.

Where does the title FLCL come from?

KT: I got the idea from a CD in a music magazine with the title Fooly-Cooly.  I like the idea of titles that are shortened long English words. Pokémon for "Pocket-Monsters" for instance, and an old J-pop band called Brilliant Green that was known as "Brilly-Grilly."

Is there any reason why the extra scenes added to Eva for the video release were cut in the first place?  Did you think the story would mean something different with them intact?

KT: The scenes that were added to Eva for its video release aren't that important.  We added them as an apology for taking so long to get the video out.  Maybe they'll help people understand things, because the episodes were done under tough deadlines the first time around.

Can you explain the symbolism of the cross in Evangelion?

KT: There are a lot of giant robot shows in Japan, and we did want our story to have a religious theme to help distinguish us.   Because Christianity is an uncommon religion in Japan we thought it would be mysterious.  None of the staff who worked on Eva are Christians.  There is no actual Christian meaning to the show, we just thought the visual symbols of Christianity look cool.  If we had known the show would get distributed in the US and Europe we might have rethought that choice.

After the panel, Mr. Tsurumaki sat down to speak with Akadot.

Do you enjoy confusing people?

KT: I have a twisted sense of humor.  I'm an Omanu Jacku, a contrarian.  [Writer's note- Omanu Jacku is a folk character a bit like Puck, a mischief maker]

What do you see differently now that you're working as a director rather than only as a visual artist?

KT: As an animator I have only the art; as a director story is really big.  I still feel as an animator and I often have trouble putting the needs of the story first.

Did you intend from the start for FLCL to be as bizarre as it wound up?

KT: From the very start I wanted a different flavor.  To achieve this I had to re-train the animators to be as stylized as I wanted them to be because I wasn't drawing it.  I knew that not everyone would get it.  I deliberately selected very obscure J-pop culture and anime sub-culture jokes and references.  Because Eva was so somber I always intended to make FLCL outrageous and wacky.

Why the choice to break out of conventional animation and use manga pages? Was it at all a response to how many anime are using computers to achieve smoother and more realistic visuals?  Were you trying to go the opposite direction?

KT: I like manga, not only to read, but the visuals.  The pen drawings, the frame breakdowns and layouts . . . This is the first time I have used digital animation, and those bouncing manga shots wouldn't have been possible with cel animation.   Personally I'm not interested at all in using computers for realistic animation.  I'm impressed by it sometimes, but I'm interested in using computers to do what was once impossible, not to do smoother versions of what has already been done.  I want to be less realistic.

Has using digital animation techniques changed the way you work, or the way you feel about your work when you see it?  Does it still feel like it's yours if a computer did much of it?

KT: Before I got into digital animation I saw other shows that were using it and I felt that there was no feeling, it was empty.   As an animator, there's a sense of release when you draw a cel.  There's something there.  Working on FLCL, though, I learned that computers can do more, and, most of all, that they allow room for trial and error and revising, more freedom to experiment.  That is why I now feel that cel art cannot win against computers.  For actual animation everything is still drawn on paper.  That work hasn't changed.  It's the other stuff, the touchups, and coloring.  If we didn't use paper, maybe the feeling would change.

Earlier today you said that you were trying to broaden the genre by giving Eva a sad ending.  Does the sameness of much of today's anime bore you?

KT: First of all we didn't use a sad ending to annoy fans.  When they're upset, that really bothers us.  Personally, I think a happy ending is fine, but not if it is achieved too easily.  That's no good.

For all the fans that are confused at all, if you had to define in one sentence what FLCL is about, what would you say?

KT: FLCL is the story of boy meets girl.  For me it is also about how it's ok to feel stupid.  With Evangelion there was this feeling that you had better be smart to understand it, or even just to work on it. With FLCL I want to say that it's okay to feel stupid.

Even though it may be strange to us, do you have in your head a logic behind it?  Are you trying to portray a story that follows the logic of dreams, or is it supposed to make sense symbolically?

KT: I'd like you to think of FLCL as imagination being made physical and tangible, just as it is for me when I take whatever is in my head and draw it.

So what are you working on next?

KT: Right now Gainax has told me that they'll support anything I choose to create, but I'm having trouble coming up with any ideas.

Why is that?

KT: Releasing titles for market, I know I have to make something to please fans, but I'm not a mature enough person to accept that fact.  If I'm not amusing myself I can't do it.  I feel bad that fans have to put up with such behavior from me.  I apologize.