#its matsumoto's fault

[nightfal1n]

Maybe I should do ch112 countdown on the top of usual coping...

[chloeunit6]

Japan's Rivers:

Japan is an archipelagic country made up of four big islands: Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu, as well as around 6,800 smaller islands. Mountains and valleys dominate the topography, accounting for more than three-quarters of the total land area. Ice and snow from these mountains have formed several rivers, which are vital to the country's transportation, agriculture, and energy generation. Japan's rivers are often short, steep, and fast-flowing. This makes them great hydropower generators, but it also increases the chance of floods. Despite the hazards of flooding, Japanese communities have built near rivers since ancient times. Many of these rivers have been altered, some dramatically, to compensate for this. Under the River Law of 1967, Japan's streams and rivers are classed as Class A or Class B systems. The majority of Japan's most well-known rivers are classified as Class A, indicating that they are economically or ecologically important to the country.

-Waterfall in Yamanashi prefecture, east-central Honshu, Japan.

The growing need for freshwater for paddy (wet-rice) production, industry, and home consumption poses a severe concern. The scarcity of natural water reservoirs, the rapid flow of rivers, and the engineering difficulties of building large-scale dams in the rocky highlands all contribute to supply challenges.

-Ishikari River, western Hokkaido, Japan

Ishikari River in western Hokkaido, Japan. Japan's rivers are usually short and rapid, fed by tiny drainage basins. The major rivers are the Teshio and Ishikari rivers in Hokkaido, the Kitakami, Tone, Shinano, Kiso, and Tenryū rivers on Honshu, and the Chikugo River in Kyushu. Honshu rivers include Tone, Shinano, Kiso, and Tenryū, as well as Kyushu's Chikugo River. Some rivers from northern Honshu's volcanic zones are acidic, rendering them worthless for irrigation and other reasons.

-Ukimi Temple, Lake Biwa, Shiga prefecture, central Honshu, Japan.

Lake Biwa, Japan's biggest, measures 259 square miles (670 square kilometres) in central Honshu. All other large lakes are to the northeast. The majority of coastal lakes, including Honshu's Lakes Kasumi and Hamana, are drowned former valleys with sandbars damming the bay entrances. Honshu's inland lakes, including Biwa, Suwa, and Inawashiro, are located in tectonic depressions formed by geologically recent faults. Volcanic lakes (such as Kutcharo in Hokkaido and Towada and Ashi in Honshu) dominate all others.

The Shinano River, also known as "Shinanogawa" on the island of Honshu, is the longest river in Japan. The river travels north for about 228 miles, from its source at Mount Kobushi in the Japanese Alps to its mouth in the Sea of Japan. The Shinano River flows through some of the country's most populous areas and major cities, including Matsumoto, Nagano, and Niigata. The Shinano River has played an essential role in Japanese life for millennia. It has functioned as a source of drinking water, a transit route, and a recreational and leisure area. Perhaps its most well-known application is to generate hydroelectric power. Actually, the country's first such power plant, the Miyashiro No. 1 power plant, was built along the river in 1904 and is still operational today. The river supports a rich range of plant and animal species, as well as fish, including Cherry Salmon. The Shinano River is a popular swimming and fishing area in the summer, and an ice skating and fishing destination in the winter. There are also several popular Onsen, or hot springs, along the river.

The Tone, or "Tonegawa" River, is one of Japan's most important rivers. This is partly because to its position, running across the densely populated Kanto Plain. The river originates in the mountains of central Japan and flows for approximately 200 miles to the Pacific Ocean. The river's basin, which is the biggest in Japan at 6,540 square miles, is home to nearly 40 million people. This is not just in the country's heart, but also on its greatest plain, which is home to the capital, Tokyo. Tonegawa was formerly a wild and untamed watercourse, but it is now widely regarded as the most intentionally changed of all Japanese rivers. The contemporary path has little similarity to the historic one. Tonegawa now features multiple dams, which serve as reservoirs for the Kanto region's residential and agricultural water needs. The largest of these is the Yagisawa Dam. The river is also utilised for transportation and pleasure, and it is surrounded by Japan's longest car-free cycling trail.

The Teshio, also known as "Teshigahara" in Hokkaido, is Japan's northernmost significant river. It runs for around 159 miles and has a basin area of about 2,160 square miles. The river has an average discharge of around 9,000 cubic feet per second. The Teshio River has been a major commerce and transit waterway since ancient times, and the indigenous Ainu people still utilise it now. The river is an important source of irrigation and hydroelectric power generation.

The Kitakami River, which was an important transit route during the Edo era, is the longest river in the Tohoku area, measuring around 155 miles. It is regarded as one of Japan's most picturesque rivers, with an abundance of cherry blossoms in the spring. The Kitakami is also home to a diverse range of fish and is a popular fishing destination.

Located on the island of Shikoku in Kōchi Prefecture, the Niyodo River is famed for its extraordinary turquoise waters. Its source is Mount Ishizuchi and it flows for just 77 miles.

Japan's Rivers:

Havard references:

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. (1998). Japan's Rivers [Online]. britannica. Last Updated: 27 October 2023.. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/place/Japan/Soils [Accessed 19 February 2024].

discovery uk. (2023). The Best Known Rivers in Japan. [Online]. discovery uk. Last Updated: 12 January 2023. Available at: https://www.discoveryuk.com/travel-and-exploration/the-best-known-rivers-in-japan/ [Accessed 19 February 2024].

[sciencespies]

A New Puzzle Turns Earth Into a Rubik’s Cube, but More Complex

https://sciencespies.com/news/a-new-puzzle-turns-earth-into-a-rubiks-cube-but-more-complex/

A New Puzzle Turns Earth Into a Rubik’s Cube, but More Complex

Another orbit around the sun and here we are again: back where we started but spun about — changed, perhaps deranged.

Henry Segerman, a British American mathematician and mathematical artist at Oklahoma State University, has invented just the puzzle for this disorienting annual event: Continental Drift, a 3-D sliding puzzle that made its debut earlier this year. The underlying geometric concept is holonomy: When you travel a loop on a curved surface and return to the starting point, you arrive somewhat turned around, rotated, perhaps by 180 degrees.

“Take a mathematical idea, can you make it real?” — this question, Dr. Segerman said, is what motivates his inventions.

He is keen on visualizing mathematics, whether with 3-D printing (he has written a book on the subject) or through non-Euclidean virtual reality experiences. But Dr. Segerman has aphantasia, an inability to construct mental pictures, or “visually hallucinate images at will,” as he puts it. This might explain his passion for making concrete pictures, especially the impressive collection he produced in 2022.

Continental Drift is Earth in miniature, mapped onto a truncated icosahedron — a soccer ball — with its regular patchwork of 12 pentagonal faces and 20 hexagonal faces.

Continental Drift puzzle.Brett Deering for The New York Times

The conceptual inspiration was a Victorian craze: the classic 15 Puzzle, wherein square tiles numbered 1 to 15 are scrambled on a 4-by-4 grid, with one square left empty; you solve the puzzle by sliding tiles around into numerical order.

In Continental Drift, a spherical version of the 15 Puzzle, it’s the hexagonal tiles that are scrambled. (The pentagons are recessed and remain stationary.) “One of the hexagons, this one in the South Pacific, comes out,” Dr. Segerman explains on his YouTube channel. “We can then activate the San Andreas fault and slide California south into the ocean. And we can keep going, mixing up all of the continents.”

Holonomy happens when a tile travels a full loop along the curved surface of the puzzle: Slide the tile featuring, say, Greenland all the way around the perimeter of a single pentagonal tile — perhaps the tile featuring the North Atlantic. After a complete loop, the Greenlanders return to their starting position rotated by 60 degrees. If the loop encompasses two adjacent pentagons, then the tile returns to the starting point rotated 120 degrees. And so on.

Maker math

Dr. Segerman’s more formal investigations are in topology, the study of geometric objects without regard for lengths or angles. “All you have left is how things are connected together — how many holes a thing has, and so on,” he said. As an old topology joke goes: “A topologist is somebody who can’t tell the difference between a coffee mug and a doughnut.”

“Henry is a mathematician who also likes making,” said his younger brother and sometime collaborator, Will Segerman. Mr. Segerman, who lives in Manchester, England, is a maker who likes mathematical shapes; he studied fine art and now designs and manufactures escape-room puzzles. Together, the brothers’ creative process is to ask of everything, “But what if…?” Whenever Dr. Segerman mentions a new project, it is invariably “very, very clever,” said Mr. Segerman, who nonetheless looks to poke holes.

Dr. Segerman’s extensor.Brett Deering for The New York Times

A few years ago, Dr. Segerman demonstrated Extensors: a construction kit for making extending mechanisms from scissor-like hinged parts. “Not stupid enough,” said his brother, who wanted more silliness. They added an activator handle on one end and a four-pronged claw on the other. The result, which made its debut in April, was the Grabber Mechanism — the patent is pending.

Sabetta Matsumoto, an applied mathematician at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Dr. Segerman’s partner, gave input into the contraption’s development and came up with the name Extensor. Between them, math is “a pretty common conversation,” Dr. Matsumoto said.

Idea collider

In a variation on the scissor theme, Dr. Segerman and Kyle VanDeventer, a former student, presented Kinetic Cyclic Scissors this summer.

This invention was the answer to a problem: Given a tile pattern of “self-similar” quadrilaterals — the same shape but rotated, translated, scaled — can the tiles be replaced with scissor linkages (like a scissor lift), and can the structure then be made to move?

Two classes of shapes work, they proved: “boring parallelograms” and “surprising cyclic quadrilaterals,” cyclic meaning that all vertexes of a quadrilateral lie on a circle. Mr. VanDeventer, now an aerospace engineer at Aurora Flight Sciences in Manassas, Va., sees potential applications in the aerospace industry; for proprietary reasons, he declined to elaborate. Scissor systems have been used in architecture, space technologies and satellite panels. In a YouTube comment, a viewer suggested that this mechanism would serve as “one hell of a back-scratcher.”

Kinetic Cyclic Scissors.Brett Deering for The New York Times

Also consider the Countdown d24, a 24-sided die that is the latest invention to emerge from the Dice Lab, a business partnership with Robert Fathauer, a mathematical artist and puzzle designer in Apache Junction, Ariz. The Countdown d24 is used to keep track of points, such as in the card game Magic: The Gathering.

One problem with some countdown dice, which often are the shape of an icosahedron with 20 triangular sides, is that the numerical path around the shape doesn’t follow a consistent pattern, which leaves you fumbling around to find the number you want.

The Countdown d24 overcomes this problem by instead being a sphericon, fashioned from a triple-cone shape, like an awkwardly shaped football, which is then cut up, twisted about and glued back together.

This invention resulted from a “collision of ideas,” as do many of Dr. Segerman’s creations. He had previously collaborated on making a rolling circus acrobatics apparatus based on a two-cone sphericon.

For the countdown die, two cones didn’t solve that fumbling problem, but three cones did. The result displays a clear path, zigzagging up and down around the die, counting down from 24 to one, making it a cinch to rotate the die to the number you want.

And as it turned out, the die can “roll along its path,” Dr. Segerman noted. Given the right slope, gravity and a nudge, the die wiggles along a perfect chronological countdown. “That was a surprise,” Dr. Segerman said. “Reality does tend to bite back.”

Fight or flight

Dr. Segerman demonstrating holonomy with his own arm.

Continental Drift is not Dr. Segerman’s first time around the holonomy block. Last year, he made the dodecahedral holonomy maze and more recently the Helix Cube Puzzle. His holonomy craze started with riffs on the 15 Puzzle that predated Continental Drift. He added hinges so the tiles can rotate as they slide, producing the 15+4 Puzzle and then the Hyperbolic 29 Puzzle.

“Just looking at this puzzle activates my fight-or-flight response,” a YouTube commenter wrote of the Hyperbolic 29 Puzzle. Dr. Segerman’s friend Rick Rubenstein, a former professional juggler and a semiretired software engineer in Sunnyvale, Calif., followed with: “Henry Segerman, Mad Genius.”

Mr. Rubenstein got to know Dr. Segerman as a fellow recreational juggler at Stanford. Dr. Segerman can stably juggle five balls, and he often takes 100-catch work breaks.

“He’s actually a very sensible guy with a slightly non-Euclidean sense of humor,” Mr. Rubenstein said.

Indeed, while Dr. Segerman knows that his puzzles are solvable, he doesn’t trouble himself with the task of finding the solutions.

Nonetheless, for a rough measure of Continental Drift’s complexity, he calculated that it has 7 × 10³¹ states, or possible configurations. (The Rubik’s Cube, with roughly as many moving parts, has only around 4 × 10¹⁹ states.) A YouTube viewer calculated that exactly half of Continental Drift’s states are attainable.

To Dr. Segerman’s knowledge, only one person has solved Continental Drift so far. “I solve it by unscrewing the removable part of the frame that lets you take the tiles out,” he said. Then he reorients himself and the tiles, and screws the puzzle back together.

#News

[twilighthomunculusart]

White Comet V The Grim Reaper

After two years, it was finally time to face it. There's no turning back now, you have no excuse. This is the one obstacle that is preventing your brother from reaching his goals and you have to face it, alone. The black behemoth looms before your silver star. An immovable force that's been causing pain for those around it and it was your fault. You should've been there in it's darkest hour as it cried out in anguish for the bodies that were lost that day. Instead you ran, unwilling to face the consequences of the mistake you made in the design plan. And now you're both here, both tired of the pain the past has given and finally ready to face what lies ahead.

As you move forward you can already feel the changes Matsumoto made to your machine. The weight is lighter, the bones more flexible, and the new blades made its arms move in ways it couldn't before. All meticulously crafted to match the raw strength and power of the titan.

As you approach closer into the ring, you silently adjust the frequency of the intercom to match the wavelength of your opponent. There is no response. The air is unnaturally still, even though the airflow of your cockpit has not changed since the time you fought against Sudo. You move into a fighting position, your opponent does not move a muscle. Everything is quiet.

You barely have time to notice your own silent, shallow breathing before the start bell rings, and barely evade the wall shattering impact your opponent makes against the arena, mere centimeters away from your machine's face. You split your legs, land your hands and slip between your opponents legs as another thundering punch nearly misses you again. You use your new speed to dash to the other side of the arena. The black goliath slowly pulls its arms out of the wall.

You hear a slight murmur from your radio as it turns to face you, Takahashi Ryosuke, how I have waited years for this moment." The rage coming from the beast thickens the air. All of it centered on your machine.

You stand, waiting for the Grim Reaper to slowly approach you, plotting every possible escape route before it's fist looms over your head. The pure murderous intent makes the air difficult to breath.

The wall cracks behind you as you slip underneath it's arm not saying a word, scanning your opponents armor for any cracks or weak points. You have studied it endlessly before this fight but now that you're up close and personal everything feels alien.

Despite the silence between the two of you, you understand the intent behind each harrowing blow. A mutual grief for a loved one lost during a battle in the machine you designed. The behemoth slams another fist that you feel scraping against your armor.

You do your best to ignore the unyielding pressure to find miniscule gaps in it's slow moving leg and torso joints. Briefly recalling what brought you to this fight, your design. The dual cockpit was structurally unstable and the extra power flow to the engine that was right above it was bound to overload at any moment. And you ignored the problems until it was too late.

You find gaps in the titans slow moving leg and torso joints just thick enough to fit your blades. You just have to tire him out enough so you have enough time to demobilize him. There was only one problem.

There was no holding back those memories any longer. The screams of both pilots coming through the intercom as you watched their machine crumble and burn. Only one body was recovered from the wreckage. The memory fades as another fist flies towards your body.

The goliath's fist finally manages to land against one of your legs. It was time to see if the changes stood up to what they were built for. You can hear the armor plating bow and flex against the giant fist and the newly reinforced joints of your machine bend just enough to slip out from under your opponent. You feign a hit against the pinned arm but as soon as you make contact you use the momentum to push you through back to the side of the arena you started in.

It kneels in its isolated corner for a moment and you can feel its depressive hesitation in its crumpled form. He’s exhausted, you both are, from the claustrophobic loneliness you left each other with for two years. It turns at you as if to look you in the eye. The noxious exhaustion continuing to add fuel to the burning rage. While you may have eventually found a support group of wonderful people who you can reliably lean on through your grief, he has not. It is neither yours or his fault, just a matter of circumstance and a matter of how hard you can fight to better your futures.

The rage refills the air in the arena, and you let it take you on with full force. The palm of the beast slams full force into your machine’s face, bashing you into the concrete wall behind you. It begins to repeatedly force your machine against the wall. With every blow, your armor screams, refusing submission.

With all this malice behind the beatings, it's a surprise that your machine’s diagnostics only bring back a few warnings of various miniscule cracks forming in the structural integrity. You don’t completely deny the intensity of the mech as you would not deny the artisanal craftsmanship of your number one mechanic. But with the strength you’ve seen it use to vaporize other machines and crumble them like paper you expected more.

“Is this really the best you got?”

It continues to pound on you. You take that moment to continue to observe cracks in your opponents armor, more easily noticeable now that you’ve allowed yourself to become this close. You aim for the crack between its wrist, destroying the hydraulics with your arm blade. Its grip loosens, you slip through using the oils to hasten your speed, arm blade breaking in the armor in the process. You roll against the ground avoiding a kick that swings past your arms. It is incapable to make more attacks in the time it takes you to slip further away from its reach. You notice more openings.

It runs at you again, lifting its leg for another kick. Through the sole of his foot, you shove a fist tearing through the rubber track that assists the mech in walking at the speeds it reaches. The Grim Reaper loses balance giving you time to pull away before it comes crashing back down to the floor.

The black mech puts its broken hand against the wall to regain balance, then sweeps towards you.

You jump towards the arm that is rushing towards you. It manages to hit against your right shoulder, knocking off it's armor plating. However it still gave you the gap to shove the second of your blades between the gap behind your opponent's left knee.

The mech staggers as both of it's legs begin to bow from the interior damage. You allow the other blade to break and avoid a fist flying at you, who was aiming not only to destroy the pest that continues to avoid it's attacks, but also to be used to rebalance the rest of its body and stand up again. You rush to the other end of the arena. Pulling the two blades from the extra storage in your legs. These were your last ones, the two chances to completely immobilize your opponent, win this battle and clear the path for your champions to number one.

The Grim Reaper struggles to get up and you watch unmoving as your opening to attack closes. The fuel for the rage slowly diminishing with the body of the mech. You could kick him down where he stands now, but no, this isn’t the time for foul play. That wouldn't have been what she wanted.

The mech that has been spending the years in grief taking from those what he had lost, was finally showing signs of submission. But, it still manages to find more fuel for the fire that drives it.

The mech rushingly limps it's way over you. It flies it's arm at yours grabbing onto it, throwing your weight full force into the ground. Alarms scream over the loss of connection and pins and needles from the syncronitive microchips shoot down your arm as the shoulder joint completely snaps. It then uses your lost arm to pin you in place.

When you were once a team, you both had vowed to make it your goal to never use your raw strength to utterly annihilate opponents the way others in your league had. Vowing to protect the artistry that went behind every aspect of the machines that captivated your hearts. “Have you really forgotten that promise?”

It scrambles to get on top of you and you push your treads to slide you further underneath its body. It drops all of its weight against yours as you shove your final blade through the cracks between it's breastplate and it's abdomen.

"Is this really what she would have wanted?" You feel the body go limp. You are pinned to the ground. The purple lights used to decorate its body begin to flicker. There is silence.

You hold your breath, watching for any movement your opponent might make against you. Nothing. You release your controls as your White Comet succumbs to the weight of the Grim Reaper on top of it. Not a word. The looming rage you felt permeating the arena is replaced with a sigh of surrender.

"Are you really going to let her legacy live on as someone who awakened the wrath of the city's most unforgivable fighter?" No response. Everything is silent, including the one spectator that came to proctor this private fight.

"WARN~NG~ENG~N~~FA~L~~RE-5~M~N~~TES OF~~~~ATTERY~LIF~~LEFT"

Through the walls of your armor you can barely make out the screeches of the 3200’s warning alarm. You jump to your feet. There is no audio from the other cockpit but you can tell something's wrong.

"WARN~NG~ENG~N~~FA~L~~RE-5~M~N~~TES OF~~~~ATTERY~LIF~~LEFT"

"Fuck" you scramble out of your cockpit. You giggle the jammed door to the outside before realizing it's stuck against something. You slam your whole body against it, managing to open it enough to squeeze through. You ignore the cool night air piercing through your skin tight piloting suit as you navigate the twisted black and white maze to find the entry point of the other machine.

At the heart of it's back you find a human sized panel. Next to it a hand sized panel. The door to the inside is electrical.

"Fuck me!! You run your fingers through your already tired hair. You slam everything you got into opening the panel but it won't budge.

"Hold on! I’ve got tools to help!" Ikeda, the man who agreed to privately referee the fight, scrambles to where you’re standing with an emergency tool kit on hand.

He pulls out a crowbar from the tool kit and you both shove your entire weight into opening the cockpit door. The thick black metal takes multiple pulls and every bit of strength you have to create an opening large enough to pull out what’s inside.

Inside you see the cyborg body of the man you once called your closest friend. Attached to almost every inch of his body are cords and wires of various sizes which feed into the inner body of his machine, some of which are indistinguishable with his knee length, curly, black hair. His eyes are open but he gives no response, he isn’t breathing either but you can’t recall if he was built to respirate. You and Ikeda reach to pull him out.

"W~ait, don't pull him out yet!!" You hear a familiar voice. A voice that once came through the receivers held by the proctors who watched your every move of preparation during your final 20 fights. The 100th floor champion’s voice softly comes through the receiver you connected to his brother's mech,"it's a full consciousness system, if you pull him out now we will lose him in the dying engine."

You give a slight glare to the black behemoth. ’I thought we were done with OS designs doomed to fail,’ but the self-destructive nature of your fight clearly indicated that we weren’t done flirting with danger. You then dart around for a solution to the problem at hand.

"WARNING ENGINE FAILURE 2 MINUTES OF BATTERY LIFE REMAINING PLEASE DISCONNECT NOW"

"You're gonna have to reconnect consciousness manually."

"I'm an organics doctor! I don't specialize in biomechanics!!" Your focus starts to muddle through the noises from the breaking down machine.

"That's fine I'll just walk you through it, Ikeda can help too. First connect your interface to the receiver underneath the bio lock." Ikeda hooks up a diagnostics reader into the cockpit. As the champion feeds you instructions, you focus your attention to everything he says, blocking out any extra noise. Every so often you see movement from the other man as he finds his own ways to help draw the consciousness of the other pilot from the beast into his own body.

"Okay once you're inside enter the following code" with each line you type you see the cords attached to Rin slowly light up one by one.

"The next line is-"you see his eyes begin to glow purple. Ikeda rushes to his side with the tool and medical kit as he begins to stir.

"WARNING ENGINE FAILURE 1 MINUTE OF BATTERY LIFE REMAINING PLEASE DISCONNECT NOW"

"And finally the last line should be-'' you meticulously type, making sure every letter is in the right order. You press enter. There’s no response from the other pilot other than minute flickers from the LEDs aligning his body. The whirs from Grim Reaper’s interior whistle to a stop and the cockpit’s lights fade to black. Did you fail? You rush to the cockpit to observe for any signs of life, outside of the breaths of you, your mech, and Ikeda, the whole stadium is eerily silent.

Rin's body stirs. He blinks and his striking purple eyes adjust to the new variations of input from their surroundings.

“Kaori, I am sorry,” his face contorts to a grimace, the oils from the torn hydraulics leaking into his compartment reflecting the harsh stadium lights, as if tears ran down his face.

All tension in the air unleashes its grasp and tears from the stress of the battle flow from your face as well. You reach into the cockpit for his hand without asking if he needs help. He doesn’t protest. Most of the cords detach with ease as his heavy body reluctantly rises from the inside. Some stay attached, possibly damaged from the fight, but they never take more than an extra pair of hands to remove. Rin's body stumbles and you hoist him over your shoulder. The other man gives in to your grasp and lets you carry him towards the nearest emergency facility. “You don’t have to be alone anymore.”

[unohanadaydreams]

I would kill for some awkward sex headcanons with your faves. Who has trouble getting it up? Who applies the condom on wrong? Who yells out the wrong name in the heat of things? Also, who cums in your eye and y’all have to come knocking on 4th division, blinded as you are by the wet ass money shot 👁👁

I can not express how much I fucking love this ask. Here are your unfortunately spicy takes below. @tater-tati come get your juice. please don’t get it in your eye. <3

Features: smut. not the fun kind but the funny kind. sometimes the sad kind.

Who has trouble getting it up?

1. As Nodt. Not only is he scared of death, but of ‘the little death’. He fucks like its the last thing he’s gonna do and will probably not have the courage to go all the way anyhow. RIP to anyone who wants to get nutted in. Your man gets soft the moment you ask him to cum.

2. Mayuri Kurotsuchi. It is truly painful how much this man wants to be above sex. He takes anti-depressants just to flaccid and Logical when you won’t leave him in peace. He’d be first place, but he refuses to permanently fuck with his huge wrinkly brain (tm).

3. Jushiro Ukitake. Poor guy just gets really worn out some days and either can’t start or fizzles out before he can finish. Just reassure him it’s fine and allow him to finish through with his fingers and mouth so he can salvage his dignity and it should be alright.

4. Ulquiorra Cifer. It’s not something with a firm explanation or cause. Sometimes he just can’t keep in the moment or the bodily feelings he has will just...leave. There’s really no tell or situation that keeps these bouts of numbness from happening, so sex can be a real roll of the dice. He’ll shrug it off and continue on without his third leg (wing?) though.

5. Ryuken Ishida. He’s become very adept at shoving the majority of bad thoughts and feelings down with keeping his mind on work. Unfortunately, this means sex can be a struggle when visualizing how busy he is gets in the way of visualizing you on top of him. Isn’t usually a problem since sexual escapades with him don’t usually involve his dick. (Kink master works around emotional and bodily problems: more at 5.)

Who applies the condom on wrong?

1. Byakuya Kuchiki. He isn’t ignorant about sex per se, just the particulars of casual sex, since he was groomed to be a squeaky clean figurehead. And you can’t really produce an heir while using a condom, can you? He doesn’t even know to where begin. He takes the unopened condom with absolute confidence despite his ignorance and pointedly does not look at you when you fix his handy work, which is so heinous you have to use another one. (He fucking bunched the extra latex at the base for some reason, leaving the head of dick no breathing room and it ripped.)

2. Keigo Asano. He’s just extremely nervous and keeps putting it on too quick, catching it with his nails, and ripping it each time. He makes a joke about how his cock is just ‘sort of a monster hahaha’, but he is getting sweatier and more desperate and oh no, oh no, he is getting soft.

3. Gin Ichimaru. Absolutely is on purpose. He knows how to put on a condom thanks to being forcibly detained by Unohana and given a menacing demonstration on a banana after pressuring a 4th division woman to fuck raw. Purely scumbag tactics.

4. Riruka Dokugamine. What, like she’s supposed to know? What’s she supposed to do? Watch porn or something? Disgusting. Learn how to do it yourself. She screams into her pillow later because she absolutely googled how to put on a condom and just fucked it up.

5. Like, every Arrancar. Szayelaporro is the only exception. Ulquiorra commits to learning after the first fumble. Grimmjow doubles down and insists its fucking dumb in the first place. Luppi refuses to wear one unless it’s an appealing color and probably flavored.  Nnoitra hates it on principle--its like you’re trying to oppress his dick or something?? Harribel says--with a completely straight face--that the pull out method will be fine.

Who yells out the wrong name in the heat of things?

1. Momo Hinamori. She apologizes the moment she realizes and is fucking horrified. Really, she has no feelings for [redacted] anymore. She doesn’t know what happened. If she could, she’d go into witness protection.

2. Shunsui Kyoraku. Especially if you’re not romancing something heavy and are a one night stand. He tries to laugh it off, rubbing the back of neck and shrugging like it’s a ‘what can you do?’ moment. If you are romantically involved he will get drunk and depressed about it later on--just another reason he doesn’t deserve you.

3. Shuhei Hisagi. He might be thinking about the Seireitei Bulletin or about that party later tonight that you were both invited to and blurt out a name. Like, ‘holy shit titstitstitstits also the captain invited me to drinks later holy FUCK wow that feels soooo good -chan you fucking goddess fuckfuck oh right Captain--’, kind of train of thought. He boards the apology train and makes all the stops--flowers, heartfelt words, physical affection, an alright song cover with his guitar.

4. Uryu Ishida. In his defense, you were roleplaying and he simply called out your character’s name. This will happen a lot. It’s pretty hot, actually.

5. Isshin Kurosaki. It doesn’t happen a lot but sometimes he calls out his first wife’s name and it’s just something you have to live with. Just sad and unfunny and horrifying.

Who sends you to the 4th division via indecent blinding?

1. Renji Abarai. King of awkward good intentions, he leads your blind ass to the 4th division and waits by your side like a puppy waiting for punishment. He just gets really excited and forgot aiming was important. You insist it wasn’t as bad as the time he shot his load up your nose, though.

2. Akon. In his defense, you were playing with VR headsets and he shot his load in good faith while getting an imaginary face full of 3D anime waifu titties. He can’t imagine taking this to his captain and rushes you to the 4th division before anyone in the 12th can spot him.

3. Nanao Ise. She holds a lot of stress, so when she lets go, the result is usually a ridiculous amount of squirting. She leads you down deserted streets and disappears when anyone shows up, leaving you standing while blinded for like minutes at a time. She would rather die than have her peers find out and leaves you at the 4th division the moment they’ve written you down for intake.

4. Rangiku Matsumoto. She really likes to ride your face and it is simply not her fault that you aid and abet her. Of course if you’re going to play slip’n’slide so often, something is bound to go wrong. She leads you down to the 4th and if she sees someone she knows she’ll call out like ‘haha, guess what?’. It is the second time this month.

5. Shukuro Tsukishima + Gin Ichimaru. They didn’t do it on accident. Gin probably did it out of boredom, just to see you squirm and try to make your way to the 4th with him assisting....barely. Shukuro does it because you tried to tease him about his cooking or something and this is revenge. Have fun finding your way to the 4th by your own power.

[mashounen2003]

Voice claims for Sonic characters

If I could hire voice actors/actresses to play the characters in my Sonic fanfics, these are the ones I’d choose.

Okay, not exactly, since some of the VAs I’m going to mention have already died or just wouldn’t be able to play these roles for some other reason. In those cases, I'd mention them just to give some rough idea of what I imagine the Sonic characters would sound like.

Sonic:

Jason Griffith (Sonic on Sonic & the Black Knight and Sonic & the Secret Rings, both in English): the way Sonic was portrayed there was great and truly novel, Griffith's work was good, he totally nailed it in both games, and his work elsewhere wasn't too bad actually.

Jun'ichi Kanemaru (Sonic on the entire Sonic series in Japanese): something striking about Japanese Sonic is that he sounds “cool”, bold and cheeky but at the same time calm and relaxed, as if he didn't need to make an extra effort to look and sound “cool”, as if it really came naturally to him and wasn’t a mask; besides, his Engrish is wonderfully hilarious.

Masami Kikuchi (Sonic on the 1996 Sonic OVA in Japanese).

Martin Burke (Sonic on the 1996 Sonic OVA in English): he sounds great when acting more eccentric, like when he says that famous line to Metal Sonic: “You might know everything I’m going to do, but that’s not going to help you since I know everything you’re going to do! Strange, isn’t it?”.

Ryan Drummond (Sonic on the Adventure saga in English): his performance seems to be quite divisive in the fandom, but I personally never had much of a problem with how he played Sonic; at worst, if Sonic in English sounded so bad in the Adventure saga, it was the voice directors' fault.

Tomokazu Suigata (young Joseph Joestar on the anime of JoJo Part 2 in Japanese): his voice would sound a little deeper sometimes but would still have its own charm, and he could also make Sonic speak Kanemaru's Engrish; Burke’s English Sonic sounds pretty similar to Japanese young Joseph, too.

Benjamin Diskin (young Joseph Joestar on the anime of JoJo Part 2 in English): he’d make for a more cheeky Sonic, and it might sound a little deeper than usual but would still sound great and also smooth.

Yasunori Matsumoto (Knuckles on the 1996 Sonic OVA in Japanese): for a more serious Sonic, someone who doesn’t try so hard to be a walking advertising slogan.

Nobutoshi Canna (Knuckles on the Adventure saga in Japanese): a similar case to that of Matsumoto.

“Otaku.D Furiku”, aka “2GS”, aka “Slick Goku” (Slick Goku on his videos and on Dragon Ball Gohanverse by “Daitomodachi”): for Sonic’s “Werehog” form, but with more control over himself and a more “gangstah” style.

Tails:

Daiki Yamashita (Izuku Midoriya on Boku no Hero Academia & Narancia Ghirga on the anime of JoJo Part 5, both in Japanese): he'd be great to give Tails that "best boy" vibe that is usually attributed to him in official media; Yamashita also makes his characters sound badass and adorable at the same time when they get pissed off and start swearing.

Yūki Kaji (Kōichi Hirose on the anime of JoJo Part 4 in Japanese): a case similar to that of Yamashita.

Lawrence Simpson, aka "MasakoX" (kid & pre-teen Gohan on Dragon Ball Z Abridged): I tend to think that, after the events of Sonic SatAM (for example, in Archie-Sonic), Tails should have been portrayed as someone slightly more serious, hardened from having grown up in the middle of a war, with some suppressed rage originating from some experiences both during and after the war against the original Robotnik, and usually a bit reserved, except when he explodes and becomes uncontrollable, a situation in which he also reveals great potential untapped until then; Gohan is quite similar -at least in Abridged-, and I know it's partly a parody but still I love how the Gohan of “MasakoX” in the final battle against Cell sounds so serious, even a little scary at times, while still sounding like a child.

Colleen Clinkenbeard (kid & pre-teen Gohan on Dragon Ball Z Kai in English, Funimation dub, and on the videogames Kakarot and FighterZ, also in English).

Ai Orikasa (Rock/Mega Man on Rockman 8/Mega Man 8 in Japanese).

Ayaka Fukuhara (Rock/Mega Man on Rockman 11/Mega Man 11 in Japanese).

Minami Takayama (Conan Edogawa on Detective Conan, Kitarō on the 2007 anime of GeGeGe no Kitarō, and Knuckle Joe on Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, all three of them in Japanese).

Kate Higgins (Tails on Sonic Colors, Lost World & Generations in English): I really like how she makes Tails sound truly like a pre-teen or an early teenager, with a voice naturally high-pitched but a bit raspy due to the changes in his age; that's also why, among the VAs who have played Tails before and are able to do it again, Colleen O'Shaughnessey (Tails on the entire Sonic Boom spin-off in English) is a close second.

Giorgia Venditti (kid & pre-teen Gohan on Dragon Ball Z Abridged, Italian dub by “ZeroMic”).

Connor & Corey Bringas (Tails on the Adventure saga in English): of all the official VAs for Tails, they sounded the best, but that's to be expected if you hire pre-teens (something problematic by itself) to play a pre-teen character, and now it'd no longer be possible to make any of them reprise their role.

Natsumi Takamori (kid Jotaro on the anime of JoJo Part 3 in Japanese): for when kid Tails goes edgy.

Marina Inoue (Wataru Tachibana on Hayate no Gotoku! in Japanese): for when kid Tails gets a bit moody or sullen.

Miyuki Sawashiro (Kitarō on the 2018 anime of GeGeGe no Kitarō in Japanese): when Tails is still heroic and deeply cares about others deep down, despite being easily consumed by anger, but is also usually rather aloof and blunt.

Megumi Ogata (Yūgi Mutō on the 1998 anime of Yu-Gi-Oh! made by Toei -often called “Season Zero”- in Japanese): for the Tails from Sonic Heroes, supposedly 8 years old, but as badass as the Adventure saga’s Tails.

Masako Nozawa (kid Goku on the original Dragon Ball anime and Kitarō in the 1968 & 1971 animes of GeGeGe no Kitarō, both in Japanese): a case similar to that of Megumi Ogata.

Yumiko Kobayashi (Rock/Mega Man on Rockman Rockman/Mega Man Powered Up in Japanese): sounds really similar to Masako Nozawa's kid Goku.

Stephanie Nadolny (kid Goku on the original Dragon Ball anime in English, Funimation dub): better suited to voice a 12-year-old Tails; after all, the Goku whom she played in his fight against Krillin was already supposed to be 15 years old.

Saffron Henderson & Jillian Michaels (kid & pre-teen Gohan respectively on Dragon Ball Z in English, Ocean dub).

Older Tails:

Yūki Ono (Josuke Higashikata on the anime of JoJo Part 4 in Japanese): for a Tails older (16 to 18 years old) but still cheerful and with some remaining "best boy" vibes.

Mayumi Tanaka (Krillin on the entire Dragon Ball franchise in Japanese): a case similar to that of Yūki Ono, but for a Tails only a few years older (let's say, about 14 or 15 years old).

Megumi Ogata (Yami Yūgi on the 1998 anime of Yu-Gi-Oh! made by Toei -often called “Season Zero”- in Japanese): for when Tails, either as a teenager or as a kid, starts acting more sinister but still fights on the good guys’ side.

Matthew Erickson (Trunks on Dragon Ball GT in English, Blue Water dub).

Kenshō Ono (Giorno Giovanna on the anime of JoJo Part 5 in Japanese).

Sean Chiplock (Subaru Natsuki on Re:ZERO in English): for a more nervous, somewhat less mentally stable, mid-teen Tails.

Patrick Seymour (Commander Torque on Freedom Planet).

"Jinxd4Ev3r": there's a Sonic fan-game in development, Tails Adventure: Armada, of which a demo prototype was recently released for the SAGExpo 2020; Twitter user "Jinxd4Ev3r" is in charge of writing the script, but for that demo, he did Tails's voice too and it came out pretty well in my opinion (his voice lines are among the prototype’s files and he also played Tails on a pretty short video); I don't know if he plans to play Tails again, either in later demos or in the final release.

Matthew Mercer (Jotaro Kujo on the anime of JoJo Parts 3 to 5 in English): for when grown-up Tails goes edgy.

Shannon McCormick (Washington on Red vs. Blue): for a more stable, judicious and already grown-up adult Tails.

Lodovico Zago (Emo Gohan on Dragon Ball Gohanverse by “Daitomodachi”, Italian dub by “ZeroMic”): for an already grown-up adult Tails who, on the other hand, hasn’t healed from past trauma.

Sally Acorn:

Elsa Covián (Sally on the Latin-American Spanish dub of Sonic SatAM).

Dawn M. Bennett (Sash Lilac on Freedom Planet).

Kara Eberle (Weiss Schnee on RWBY): on the Rooster Teeth podcasts, I've heard her speak “normally” when she's being herself; if there was some way to mix that with her portrayal of Weiss, she'd be perfect for playing Sally.

Jen Brown (Carolina on Red vs. Blue).

Miyuki Sawashiro (Jolyne Cujoh on the game JoJo: Eyes of Heaven): for a more irreverent, less "princess" Sally.

Jennifer Bain (Android 18 on Dragon Ball GT in English, Blue Water dub).

Tamara Ryan (Android 18 on Dragon Ball Super in English, Bang Zoom! dub).

Nicole the Lynx:

Ruth Toscano (Nicole on the Latin-American Spanish dub of Sonic SatAM): recommended for when Nicole was just a handheld computer.

Victoria Vitti (Syntax & Pangu on Freedom Planet): just like with Ruth Toscano.

Taylor McNee (Penny Polendina on RWBY).

Yomary Cruz (Sheila on Red vs. Blue).

“Ashie-Kins”: this Twitter user made a good Nicole voice on some animations made by “Chauvels”.

Shard the Metal Sonic:

Andrew Boa, aka "TheMajinV": made a good Shard voice on some animations made by Chauvels.

Bunnie Rabbot:

Barbara Dunkelman (Yang Xiao-Long on RWBY).

Corinne Sudberg, aka "Megami33" (Bulma on Dragon Ball Z Abridged).

Wendee Lee (Bulma on Dragon Ball Super in English, Bang Zoom! dub).

Irma Carmona (Bunnie on the Latin-American Spanish dub of Sonic SatAM).

Antoine D’Coolette:

Geoff Ramsey (Grif on Red vs. Blue): for a less serious Antoine but without turning into comedy relief again.

Shigeru Nakahara (Android 17 on the entire Dragon Ball franchise in Japanese): for when Antoine is much more serious but sounds a bit distracted.

Hiro Shimono (Zenitsu Agatsuma on Kimetsu no Yaiba in Japanese): for when he’s more visibly nervous.

SungWon Cho, aka "ProZD" (Whis on some short videos of Dragon Ball Z Abridged): for an Antoine slightly more cheerful, still mannered and rather calm but without being a total coward or becoming comedy relief again.

Michael T. Coleman & Shinji Kawada (Tundra Man on Rockman 11/Mega Man 11 in English & Japanese respectively): for a rather flamboyant Antoine.

Rotor Walrus:

Gus Sorola (Simmons on Red vs. Blue).

Wataru Takagi (lots and lots of different, varied roles in Japanese).

Ben Creighton, aka "Hbi2k" (Nail on Dragon Ball Z Abridged).

"lizardman234": this DeviantArt user made a good Rotor voice on some animations made by Chauvels.

Joshua Tomar, aka "Tomamoto" (Beerus on some short videos of Dragon Ball Z Abridged): for a more grumpy Rotor.

Charles Hedgehog, aka "Uncle Chuck":

Shōzō Iizuka (Doctor Light on Super Adventure Rockman & Rockman 8/Mega Man 8 in Japanese).

Unshō Ishizuka (old Joseph Joestar on the anime of JoJo Part 3 in Japanese).

Knuckles:

Nobutoshi Canna (Knuckles on the Adventure saga in Japanese).

Yasunori Matsumoto (Knuckles on the 1996 Sonic OVA in Japanese).

Scott Dreier (Knuckles on Sonic Adventure 2 in English): he's my favourite English official voice actor for Knuckles; Michael McGaharn from Adventure 1 is a close second, specifically for his Knuckles voice on the trial demo of Adventure 1 for the 1999 E3 expo; Canna is still better than both of them, though.

Takeshi Kuzao (Future Trunks on the entire Dragon Ball franchise in Japanese).

Ryō Horikawa (Vegeta on the entire Dragon Ball franchise in Japanese).

Nobuyuki Hiyama (Forte/Bass on Rockman 8/Mega Man 8 in Japanese): Bass really is Mega Man's Vegeta, and Hiyama truly made him sound like that.

Shadow:

Kōji Yusa (Shadow on the entire Sonic series in Japanese).

Toshio Furukawa (Piccolo on the entire Dragon Ball franchise in Japanese).

David Humphrey (Shadow on Sonic Adventure 2 in English).

Katsuyuki Konishi (Captain Ginyu on Dragon Ball Z Kai & Super in Japanese).

Daniel Woren (Piccolo on the game Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout in English).

Sean Chiplock (Spade on Freedom Planet).

Riccardo Ricobello (Tien Shin Han on Dragon Ball Z Abridged, Italian dub by “ZeroMic”): for when Shadow isn't grumpy.

Nick Landis, aka "Lanipator" (Vegeta on Dragon Ball Z Abridged): for a more emotional -I mean, more visibly angry- version of Shadow.

Hideyuki Tanaka (Jonathan Joestar on the Play Station 2 game of JoJo Part 1 in Japanese): for Shadow when he was living with Maria, before being put in stasis.

Ryōtarō Okiayu (Blues/Proto Man on Super Adventure Rockman & Rockman 8/Mega Man 8 and Zero on the Rockman X/Mega Man X games, both in Japanese): for a Shadow who's already opening to his friends.

Amy Rose:

Samantha Ireland (Nora Valkyrie on RWBY).

Jeannie Tirado (Android 21 (Good) on Dragon Ball FighterZ in English): for an Amy Rose a little more different from the videogames’ version (after having overcome her crush on Sonic, for example).

Hiromi Tsuru & Aya Hisakawa (Bulma on the entire Dragon Ball franchise in Japanese).

Julie-Su:

Kei Shindō (Kyōka Jirō on Boku no Hero Academia in Japanese).

Colleen Clinkenbeard (Momo Yaoyorozu on Boku no Hero Academia in English).

Trina Nishimura (Kyōka Jirō on Boku no Hero Academia in English).

Vector:

The YouTuber “DevilArtemis” (Captain Ginyu on his videos).

Chris Hackney (Blast Man on Rockman 11/Mega Man 11 in English).

Robert Bruce Elliot (Captain Ginyu on Dragon Ball Z Kai & Super in English, Funimation dub).

Curtis Arnott, aka “Takahata101” (Nappa on Dragon Ball Z Abridged).

Yukimasa Kishino (Burter on Dragon Ball Z in Japanese).

Hideyuki Hori (Captain Ginyu on Dragon Ball Z in Japanese).

Espio:

Sho Hayami & Hiroaki Miura (Zarbon on Dragon Ball Z & Z Kai respectively, both in Japanese): please don’t confuse Japanese Zarbon with Abridged Zarbon, they’re totally different (both are good, though).

Hikaru Midorikawa (Tien Shin Han on Dragon Ball Z Kai & Super in Japanese).

Charmy:

Daiki Yamashita (Izuku Midoriya on Boku no Hero Academia & Narancia Ghirga on the anime of JoJo Part 5, both in Japanese): imagine Yamashita’s Midoriya or Narancia with Abridged Vegeta’s personality, mannerisms, pride and anger management problems, and you’ll know how I’d prefer Charmy to sound.

Kazumi Tanaka & Daisuke Kishio (Jeice on Dragon Ball Z & Dragon Ball Z Kai respectively in Japanese): a case similar to Yamashita's, but with an older Charmy.

Minami Takayama (Knuckle Joe on Kirby: Right Back at Ya! in Japanese).

Chika Sakamoto (Clown Man on Rockman 8/Mega Man 8 in Japanese): the videogames' Charmy, but a bit less annoying.

Mighty the Armadillo:

Marc Soskin, aka "GanXingba" (Tien Shin Han on Dragon Ball Z Abridged).

Chris Cason (Tien Shin Han on Dragon Ball Z -until the end of the Ginyu saga- in English, Funimation dub).

Hirokata Suzuoki (Tien Shin Han on every Dragon Ball series -minus Z Kai & Super- in Japanese).

The YouTuber “Prince Vegeta” (Gohan Absalon on Dragon Ball Gohanverse de “Daitomodachi”).

Mattia Giardinello (Gohan Absalon on Dragon Ball Gohanverse de “Daitomodachi”, Italian dub by “ZeroMic”).

Ray the Flying Squirrel:

Cathy Weseluck (Chiaotzu on Dragon Ball Z in English, Ocean dub).

Fiona Fox:

Monica Rial (Bulma on Dragon Ball Z Kai & Super in English, Funimation dub): for a more cheerful Fiona (for example, before meeting Scourge).

Marina Inoue (Yoko Littner on Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann on Japanese): for the aforementioned “happy Fiona” but in Japanese.

Arryn Zech (Blake Belladonna on RWBY): for a more serious Fiona (for example, after having escaped out of Scourge's abuse).

Kathleen Zuelch (Tex on Red vs. Blue): for a rather serious Fiona, too.

The YouTuber "Bulma Bunny" (Caulifla & Kefla in the videos made by "DevilArtemis"): for when Fiona unleashes her sassy and brash side.

Yuka Komatsu (Caulifla on Dragon Ball Super in Japanese): for when Fiona unleashes her Japanese sassy and brash side.

Yukana Nogami (Kale on Dragon Ball Super in Japanese): if Fiona escapes from Scourge's abuse and also gains powers of her own, a good parallel could be drawn between her and Kale, this version of Fiona being someone with a good heart and concerned about her friends but also rather insecure, with trouble managing emotions and specifically with pent-up anger due to all the pain Robotnik and Scourge inflicted on her in the past.

Rouge:

Rumi Ochiai (Rouge on the entire Sonic series in Japanese).

Amber Lee Connors, aka "Shudo Ranmaru" (Android 18 on Dragon Ball Z Abridged).

Elizabeth Maxwell (Caulifla on Dragon Ball Super in English, Funimation dub): for a not-so-seductive, maybe a bit angrier Rouge.

Blaze:

Nao Takamori (Blaze on the entire Sonic series in Japanese).

Erica Schroeder, aka “Bella Hudson” (Blaze on the Sonic Rush saga in English).

Serena Bellussi (Android 18 on Dragon Ball Z Abridged, Italian dub by “ZeroMic”).

Silver:

Scott Frerichs, aka "KaiserNeko" (Future Trunks on Dragon Ball Z Abridged).

Eric Vale (Future Trunks on the entire Dragon Ball franchise in English, Funimation dub).

Kazuyuki Okitsu (Jonathan Joestar on the anime of JoJo Part 1 in Japanese).

Giovanni Pizzigoni (Future Trunks on Dragon Ball Z Abridged, Italian dub by “ZeroMic”).

Tasuku Hatanaka (Blast Man on Rockman 11/Mega Man 11 in Japanese).

Pete Capella (Silver on the Sonic videogames since Sonic 2006 until Sonic & the Black Knight (as Sir Galahad) included, all in English).

Daisuke Ono (Silver on the entire Sonic series in Japanese): Japanese Silver doesn't sound at all like the English dubs' Silver many of us are used to, but on second thought, Daisuke Ono would be the best fit to play someone from a post-apocalyptic future (Pete Capella's Silver is still good, but as a different variant of the same character archetype).

Amadeus Prower:

Yuichi Nakamura (Bruno Bucciarati on the anime of JoJo Part 5 in Japanese).

Hikaru Midorikawa (Tien Shin Han on Dragon Ball Z Kai & Super in Japanese).

Riccardo D’Aquino (Piccolo on Dragon Ball Gohanverse by “Daitomodachi”, Italian dub by “ZeroMic”).

Rosemary Prower:

Kate Higgins: for a Rosemary who, despite having one or two major flaws, is actually well-meaning, courageous and loves his son.

Masako Nozawa: for the Japanese version of the “good Rosemary” I described above.

Kathleen Zuelch (Glynda Goodwitch on RWBY): for a more serious, calm, level-headed and less openly affectionate version of the “good Rosemary”.

Kathleen Delaney (Rouge on Sonic X in English): for the "alpha b**** Rosemary" from the official Archie-Sonic comics; Delaney would sound better if she played a villain (albeit a quite secondary one in this case), to be honest.

Geoffrey Saint-John (Chauvels’s version of Geoff, somewhat flawed but overall more tolerable and genuinely good):

Takashi Nagasako (Tengu Man on Rockman 8/Mega Man 8 in Japanese).

Marc Soskin, aka "GanXingba" (Jeice on Dragon Ball Z Abridged): excellent for parodying his Australian accent.

Chuck Huber (Android 17 on the entire Dragon Ball franchise in English, Funimation dub).

Jason Douglas (Beerus on Dragon Ball Super in English, Funimation dub).

King Acorn (the SatAM version and Nigel Acorn from post-reboot Archie-Sonic):

Remix (Kami after being resurrected on Dragon Ball Z Abridged).

Nobuo Tobita (Doctor Light on Rockman 11/Mega Man 11 in Japanese).

King Acorn (Maximillian Acorn from pre-reboot Archie-Sonic):

Jason Douglas (Jacques Schnee on RWBY).

Kōji Yada (Doctor Gero, aka “Android 20”, on the entire Dragon Ball franchise in Japanese).

Kent Williams (Doctor Gero, aka “Android 20”, on the entire Dragon Ball franchise in English, Funimation dub).

Gerardo Reyero (Frieza -except on his 3rd form- on the entire Dragon Ball franchise -minus Dragon Ball Z Kai- in Latin-American Spanish).

IXIS Naugus:

Nobuo Tanaka (Dio Brando on the 1993 OVA of JoJo Part 3 in Japanese): on the old JoJo OVA, he sounded too old for a character like Dio, but would be ideal to play an experienced sorcerer like Naugus.

James Marsters (Zamasu on Dragon Ball Super in English, Funimation dub): either for a younger Naugus or for the current old Naugus pretending to be younger and more polite.

The same ones as for King Max.

Doctor Finitevus:

Norio Wakamoto (Perfect Cell on the entire Dragon Ball franchise in Japanese).

Ryūsei Nakao (Frieza on the entire Dragon Ball franchise in Japanese).

Curtis Arnott, aka "Takahata101" (Perfect Cell on Dragon Ball Z Abridged): for a more eloquent, elegant, charismatic Finitevus who doesn't make his genocidal intentions so obvious (until he finally loses his cool, obviously).

Masako Nozawa (Goku Black on Dragon Ball Super in Japanese): for a Finitevus similar to Arnott's Cell, but colder and calmer (until he finally also loses his cool, obviously).

Shin-Ichiro Miki (Zamasu on Dragon Ball Super in Japanese): also for a calmer and colder Finitevus, either when he pretends to be sane or before the accident that turned him into the villain he currently is.

José Gilberto Vilchis (Zamasu on Dragon Ball Super in Latin-American Spanish).

Anti-Sonic, aka “Scourge”:

Andrew Chaikin, aka "Kid Beyond" (Dio Brando on the 1993 OVA of JoJo Part 3 in English).

Brian Drummond (Vegeta on Dragon Ball Z in English, Ocean dub).

D. C. Douglas (Yoshikage Kira on the anime of JoJo Part 4 in English): for a calmer Scourge, more convincing as a villain.

Patrick Seitz (Endeavor on Boku no Hero Academia & Dio Brando on the anime of JoJo Parts 1 & 3, both in English): for a more monstrous, "unleashed" Scourge.

Nobuyuki Hiyama (Forte/Bass on Rockman 8/Mega Man 8 in Japanese).

Ethan Cole (Android 17 on Dragon Ball GT in English, Blue Water dub).

Isshin Chiba (Dio Brando on the arcade game JoJo: Heritage for the Future).

Shin-Ichiro Miki (Fused Zamasu on Dragon Ball Super in Japanese): for the theoretical D. C. Douglas's Scourge, but once he's become much more powerful (by going Super, for example) and indulges some kind of God Complex.

Takehito Koyasu (Dio Brando on the anime of JoJo Parts 1 & 3 in Japanese): actually, Scourge would have to be an even more compelling villain -let's say, a more "majestic" one- to be worthy of such a voice actor.

Miles Prower of Moebius, aka “Anti-Tails”:

Sean Chiplock (Prince Dail on Freedom Planet).

“KALSKingdom” (Gohan Black on Dragon Ball Gohanverse by “Daitomodachi”).

Giorgia Venditti (Gohan Black on Dragon Ball Gohanverse by “Daitomodachi”, Italian dub by “ZeroMic”).

Nobuhiko Okamoto (Katsuki Bakugō on Boku no Hero Academia & Ghiaccio on the anime of JoJo Part 5, both in Japanese): for a more irate, short-tempered Anti-Tails.

Johnny Yong Bosch (Jonathan Joestar on the anime of JoJo Part 1 in English): for his really few moments of selflessness.

Alicia Acorn of Moebius, aka “Anti-Sally”:

Ashlyn Selich (Neera-Li on Freedom Planet).

Meredith McCoy & Enuka Okuma (Android 18 on every Dragon Ball TV series -minus Z Kai- in English, Funimation and Ocean dubs respectively).

Miki Itō (Android 18 on the entire Dragon Ball franchise in Japanese).

Robotnik/Eggman:

Jim Cummings (Robotnik on Sonic SatAM in English).

Maynardo Zavala (Robotnik on the Latin-American Spanish dub of Sonic SatAM).

Deem Bristow (Eggman on the Adventure saga in English): he sounds quite sinister in some scenes, which reminds me a lot of Jim Cummings' version.

Takeshi Aono (Doctor Wily on Super Adventure Rockman & Rockman 8/Mega Man 8 in Japanese): his version of Wily is pretty much Bristow's Eggman in Japanese, and it sounds awesome, especially when he laughs.

Mike Pollock (Eggman on Emi Jones's web-audio-series Sonic & Tails R): I usually disliked his work on the videogames, but Sonic & Tails R made me change my mind; Pollock managed to sound a lot like Bristow's Eggman sometimes.

Chris Guerrero, aka "General-Ivan" (Doctor Gero, aka “Android 20”, on Dragon Ball Z Abridged).

Brian Dobson (Doctor Gero, aka “Android 20”, on Dragon Ball Z in English, Ocean dub).

Chikao Ōtsuka (Eggman on the Adventure saga in Japanese): only for the videogames' Eggman.

Hideyuki Umezu (Doctor Wily on Rockman 11/Mega Man 11 in Japanese): could have been perfect to replace Ōtsuka.

Snively:

Daman Mills & Chris Ayres (Frieza on Dragon Ball Super in English, Funimation dub).

Martin Piers Billany, aka “Little Kuriboh” (Frieza on Dragon Ball Z Abridged).

Keith Silverstein (Doctor Wily on Rockman 11/Mega Man 11 in English).

Marc Soskin, aka "GanXingba" (Android 17 on Dragon Ball Z Abridged): it might seem odd to pick A-17 as an example of what someone like Snively should sound like, given that he's almost totally bald and his voice in Sonic SatAM didn't make him look very young, while A-17 was most likely a teenager or in his early 20s when Doctor Gero turned him into a cyborg; however, canonically Snively is quite young, roughly the same age as A-17.

Riccardo Ricobello (Android 17 on Dragon Ball Z Abridged, Italian dub by “ZeroMic”).

Ted Cole (Android 17 on Dragon Ball Z in English, Ocean dub).

Mammoth Mogul:

Norio Wakamoto (Perfect Cell on the entire Dragon Ball franchise in Japanese).

Toshiyuki Morikawa (Yoshikage Kira on the anime of JoJo Part 4 in Japanese).

Katsuyuki Konishi (Diavolo on the anime of JoJo Part 5 in Japanese).

Hikaru Midorikawa (Dio Brando on the Play Station 2 game and the 2007 lost movie of JoJo Part 1, both in Japanese).

Kōichi Yamadera (Beerus on Dragon Ball Super in Japanese).

James Marsters (Fused Zamasu on Dragon Ball Super in English, Funimation dub): if Mogul tries to achieve divinity, I think it’s very likely that sooner or later he'll use his powers to regain his lost youth à la King Piccolo or even create a totally different, brand new body to transfer his consciousness to it; in any of those cases, the English voice of Fused Zamasu may be the fittest.

José Gilberto Vilchis (Fused Zamasu on Dragon Ball Super in Latin-American Spanish): the same as Marsters's Fused Zamasu.

Ivan Anoè (Perfect Cell on Dragon Ball Z Abridged, Italian dub by “ZeroMic”): a case similar to that of Marsters.

Regina Ferrum, the Iron Queen:

Kathleen Delaney (Rouge on Sonic X in English): as I already said, Delaney would sound better if she played a villain.

[windstormwielding]

Drabble: New Orders

The wounded officer assumed the Sternritter who shot him would give chase to stop his attempted escape, but his heart dropped when he felt their attention shift to the reiatsu of nearby shinigami in his stead. It sank further when he then felt his kind’s presences getting wiped out as fast as he could blink while he flash-stepped from the scene, as more innocents have paid the price of their predecessors’ hubris in wiping out the Quincy in centuries past.

Grim thoughts supposed any target in a shihakushō would’ve done if it meant culling more of their number, and though ensured he was no longer being followed, cruel terror continued to overwhelm his being with the harrowing realization that he could’ve just as easily joined the fallen mere moments ago.

Still mid-stride, he felt the frosty reiatsu of the Bankai-less 10th Division Captain and the shinigami spiritual pressure of who he assumed to be his second-in-command cutting off that Quincy’s warpath. There was relief in that the Sternritter of fire definitely would not be pursuing him anymore, but how for long could Captain Hitsugaya and Lieutenant Matsumoto put up an actual fight against these honest-to-god monsters?

If there was any opportunity to seek respite and escape from the pending horror of his own mortality getting snuffed, now was the time to do it. With the last of his shunpō and feeling no Quincy spiritual pressure in the immediate vicinity, his hand still firmly pressed against his gut to quell bleeding over seared open wounds, the soul reaper left luck to fate as he spotted an open window six stories up.

He guided his flash steps up the smaller two-story building next to it, then launched himself from its roof through the open window he spotted. Unfortunately, it was then his strength gave out to the heat of his pierced liver and torso as he staggered mid-step at last. The silver-haired shinigami crashed shoulder-first onto the floor with a pained groan as momentum caused him to slide until his back harshly met the wood of a crate.

Despite the noise his intrusion made, there were no signs of nearby Quincy encroaching on his position to finish the job. Held breath turned strained yet relieved as the 13th Division’s 4th Seat found sanctuary amidst the chaos of the Wandenreich’s second invasion. Kōtarō Ryōhei finally had time to think.

He rolled onto his back with teeth grit as he tried to keep his thoughts off of his injury. The hand against his abdomen began to glow with the relieving light of Kaidō to mend the partially cauterized perforation through his body – though he’s no expert, Kōta was glad that he thought to take up the healing arts in hindsight, but lamented that this will be a slow recovery for him. It would be one thing if he ran into somebody from the 4th Division, with two wells of reiatsu to pull from to facilitate the healing process, but having to use his own energy alone to fix up his body will take him some time.

It would only amount to a patch job, but right now that was better than nothing. Once done, it should be enough to last him until he returns to the barracks... or where the barracks last stood.

His emerald gaze sharpened to scrutinize this unfamiliar room, walls a perfect marble white with hints of ice clinging to their surface. Head turned from one side to the other as he took note of old boxes and sealed barrels. Kōta reasoned he was in a storage room of some kind – supplies gathered from the Wandenreich empire’s thousand years of hiding in the Seireitei’s shadows, perhaps.

Before he could think on his surroundings more, Kōtarō found his thoughts drifting to his superiors. What he would do for their counsel right now...

Captain Ukitake was outside of the Seireitei when the Quincy got the drop on them all yet again. Ryōhei knew his Captain had begun his own ritual to prepare for the conflict, far outside of the Sekkiseki walls and deep into the Rukon districts, but that brought no comfort when it mattered most. There was no Captain at the helm to come to their defence thanks to the Sternritter’s surprise attack. Not even Kotsubaki and Kotetsu were around right now, shadowing Ukitake as they often do to best tend to his good health and safety.

Lieutenant Kuchiki was also indisposed. Suffering mortal wounds from the first invasion that already decimated the Gotei 13, Rukia’s frail form frightened him all the more when there was nothing more the 4th Division could do. She was taken to the Soul King Palace to make a full recovery not long ago, and Ukitake assured him she would be alright, but how long would it take for her to heal up and come back? Would he really die down here before he could reunite with her again? Was back at the 4th Division the last he would ever see his friend?

Without them, there was no one else left who could come to the 13th Division’s rescue. With no Captain, Lieutenant, or 3rd Seats standing by to lead and give out orders, there was no other guidance for him to lean on.

He was alone. Marooned. Without direction... and so were the rest of his men.

“...I’m still here.”

All it took to tether the storm of panic that overtook his composure earlier was those three little words of dawning realization. They may be gone, but the 4th Seat still remained as the highest-in-command officer of their Division within the Seireitei’s walls. Captain Ukitake, Rukia, Sentarō, and Kiyone – he’s still here for his superiors, to act in their stead until they return.

“I’m... still breathing... for fuck’s sake...!”

Pushing one foot after another to crawl against the ground, he fought against the body-wracking bouts of pain streaking up his nerves urging him to lie back down and relax, all while a streak of red followed his path. He’s still here to look after his juniors, who need some direction if they have any shot of surviving this war – that’s what he’s here for, isn’t he?

“I’m... still... ALIVE!”

With spiteful determination flooding his being, and a hand pressed against the floor for support, he shuffled back some more until he managed to sit upright against one of the crates. He’s still here to protect as many from his squadron as possible, to ensure they’re not abandoned and alone.

They needed orders. That much was clear. As he wracked in his mind to strategize, he figured there was one way to reach out to them in immediacy, but he could not think of a method to execute it.

What Kōtarō would do for some powder right about now. He didn’t even have it in him to open and inspect every odd container on the off-chance the Quincy stored something he could use here. Time was of the essence, but if not ink, then...

...the 4th Seat’s eyes trailed down to his crimson-stained hands.

“That’ll work,” he huffed, nodding to no one in particular. He can finish healing himself when he’s done. His colleagues and subordinates—whoever was still standing—need him.

“Black and white net.”

Arms shot up so that his sleeves may fall. Bloody palms then clapped together to share in makeshift red ink, and his arms became his canvas to draw lines and symbols along their length, as well as runes on the floor—careful not to draw where his life force had already been smeared.

“Twenty-two bridges... sixty-six crowns and belts.”

Beads of sweat dripped from his brow as his mind focused with renewed resolve to generate the white rectangle coming aglow before his eyes.

“Footprints, distant thunder... sharp peak, engulfing land, hidden in the night... sea of clouds, blue line.”

Though stilted, his hands moved like a conductor’s guiding baton, channeling his power into roots of spirit energy encroaching from the box of white light. His mind reached out to every one of his squad who he knew survived the first wave as he mentally reached out in the direction of the 13th Division grounds.

“Form a circle... and fly through the heavens."

Before their numbers could dwindle more and more, until there wouldn’t be a division left to save, he can still try and make a difference among those who remain.

“Bakudō #77... Tenteikūra.”

Relief flooded Kōtarō’s soul as he could now clearly sense the familiar auras of the handful of seated officers lingering in the area. Among the unseated, less than half their total number from before this sickening war started still stood.

Time to do his job.

–

Attention, officers of the 13th Division. This is your 4th Seat, Kōtarō Ryōhei, speaking.

Today... is no doubt the darkest time any of us have ever faced as shinigami. War has come to our doorstep with retribution and violence the likes of which we have never seen. The Quincy intend to wipe us all out, for our forefathers attempting to do the same to them a long time ago.

This battle, though we in the present never noticed the shadow of its approach... was a long time coming for all of us.

I... I know things look bleak right now. They have the advantage in information. They have the advantage in number. They have the advantage in military tactics, in home territory, and in sheer power. There... really is no easy way to say this, but we may very well be staring down our last days... not just as individuals, but as a collective. I won’t fault any of you for feeling helpless and outmatched, or having lost the will to fight, because for a minute there... I did too-

—

A harsh grunt cut him off as pain flared in his gut. It was tempting to bring a hand back down to resume self-treatment, but he could not end the transmission now. Not yet!

—

-but... our Captain—our Division—lives by a creed, in that there are two types of fights: fights where we protect honour, and fights where we protect life. We may not fight for the honour of the Gotei 13 or the division right now... hell, I don’t know if either will still exist when this battle is over, yet... we can still—and absolutely must—fight to protect life.

We have lost too many among us already. Close allies. Loved ones. Lifelong friends in the 13th and out. But though there is no bringing htem back from the dead... they still live on through you. Their hopes, their dreams, their memories... their hearts. You die here... then that’s it, they will all die for good, along with you. If the Quincy take that from you, then there really will be no Gotei 13 left to return to-!

—

Breathing turned laboured as he felt his mouth go dry. He needed to lie down and rest. No, he needed to be seen to. But that hardly mattered to him now. He couldn’t count on the 4th Division this minute. He had to stick to what he can do and see it through to the bitter end, if that is what it will come to!

—

So... it comes down to this, in what could be our final hour: the fight to protect life—your own... and that of the soul reaper standing next to you. Until further notice... until Captain Ukitake or Lieutenant Kuchiki return to issue new orders, then follow this one single command... by any means necessary: survive.

Whether you regroup, run fast, watch your surroundings, hide, or even strike them from behind... just survive. If all else fails... then stand your ground, give the Quincy hell, and make sure their job is not an easy one.

I... I will try my hardest to return to you all, but... in the event that... this is the last you hear from me... just know that...

—

“...it’s been a privilege... and an honour... for me to have served and fought alongside you all these many years. Ryōhei out.”

The moment connection terminated, his bloodied arms slackened, but he made sure his palm fell back over his wound to pick up where he left off. In his self-imposed strain, some of the work he already put in towards healing came undone, so it was back to doing it all again from scratch. Fantastic.

As his body slid so he may lie down fully once again, bleary sights looked up to the dimly lit ceiling in worry for the immediate future. Eyelids grew heavy, and the urge to sleep grew ever tempting, but Kōtarō feared that the time he closed his eyes again would be his last if he drifted off right away. He did not want to die yet. This war had only just begun in earnest, and he would be damned if he allowed himself to be done in by a single attack.

Once he finished patching himself up, rested, and got back on his feet, then it would be time to face the Quincy properly. For now, however...

“Captain Ukitake... I... hope I did the right thing.”

[blisslilywrites]

Hi! Can I ask fluff about Kirisaki Daichi? Their girl doesn't sleep for several nights because of a school project. Please.

A/N: Hii, sorry this took so long 😅it was actually a little difficult to write too cuz we aren’t really familiar with the kirisaki daiichi boys BUT we tried so we hope you like it UwU

HANAMIYA MAKOTO

You stretched in your seat, letting a yawn escape you. 24 hours until the due date. You groaned as you looked at your laptop. This research project was a disaster and you knew it. But you’ve spent the last few nights working on it, so you couldn’t exactly give up now.

Your boyfriend had offered you some help when you first told him about the project. 

“I just so happen to be an expert at [subject name]”

You refused though. You wanted to finish this project and prove to him you were good enough to do it on your own.

“Just let me help you y/n.” 

“No, it’s fine,” you protested with a yawn. “I’m almost done anyway.”

“Yeah almost done being alive.”

You stifled a yawn and blinked at your computer screen before yawning yet again.

Hanamiya sighed. It was honestly cute to see you try so hard. It stopped being cute when you looked like you were going to collapse from exhaustion. 

Deciding he wasn’t just gonna sit back anymore, he took a blanket from the bed and walked over to you. 

“Mako-chan? What--” before you could finish, he wrapped the blanket around your body.

You protested but could slowly feel your body lean into the warmth and comfort of the blanket. Your eyes snapped shut and you drifted off as Hanamiya picked you up off the chair you were in and carried you to the bed. He gently set you down and gave you a soft smile, one he'd never admit to giving. 

“Don't overwork yourself again, OK?” he mumbled, patting your hair. 

HARA KAZUYA

As every second passed by, you felt somnolence slowly conquering you. You felt lifeless as you forced your eyes wide awake but your body tells otherwise. Beside you in your work station was Kazuya who had just finished the boss battle of a super mario video game, seeing your boyfriend in a carefree state made you feel envious, more stressed and insulted for an unknown reason. You wanted to cry, but your eyes were too tired to even comprehend your surroundings. 

"Okay, 10 down. 15 more." You let out an exhausted sigh. 

"Y/N," You heard Kazuya calling you, but you couldn't just get your attention off your work. You had been working for 8 hours straight, and Hara had called you many times but you just couldn't risk your time for a "meaningless" conversation. 

You heard a sound of applause, knowing that your boyfriend had already defeated another boss level. With him who was finished with his game, went to your side. 

"Y/N, you're already too tired. You should rest." He advised, yet you ignored. 

"Heyyy, let's sleep first. It's bad for your health." You maintained your silence. 

"Y/N, please." And for the last time you just wished he would shut up. You slammed your palm against the lumbers of your work station, turned to him with wobbly eyes and well, cracked. 

"It's easy for you to say! Well, I wish I could also defeat the final level of this project. You were just playing there being carefree while me?! I just want to pass, that's all. So please Kazuya.. just.. just.." Your face shimmered with tears rolling down your cheeks. Your voice desired one thing: to get your project over with. You wiped your tears away with shaky hands whilst your tears kept on flowing.

Hara didn't reply. In fact, he turned and walked away then you heard the sound of a door being shut.

You ate your tears and enervation and continued to do your work.

Hara didn't do anything wrong. In fact, he never did. 

Five minutes had passed and you barely progressed. But also within five minutes, Hara came back. He took a seat then placed it next to you with your work station. He brought your favorite food, his own laptop and a pillow neck. 

"Y/N.. so I'm sorry for earlier.. I know you are stressed and all but your assignment would lose its point if you die. So please, tell me anything you need to do and I'll help."

FURUHASHI KOJIRO

You were sitting in bed next to your boyfriend. A pencil in hand, a notebook on your lap, and a pile of papers scattered around you. It wasn’t exactly your fault your teacher decided to make your week hell by giving you a nearly impossible assignment to complete by Friday. You were extremely annoyed and upset and angry and mad and tired and sleepy.

You shook your head in an attempt to drive the sleepiness away.

“Y/n. Why can’t you forget about your homework and go to sleep?”

“Koji, it’s not just some homework. It’s a quarterly project that’s not supposed to be this hard,” you groaned.

He gave you a small look. You knew what he was trying to say though. And you’re just gonna work yourself to the brink of death over some project?

“Look I need to pass this class ok? So just let me work on this for a few more hours.”

You weren’t sure if you could last a few more hours though. Your eyelids have been heavy all day, and you’ve been yawning non-stop.

Guess there’s no choice but to muscle through, you thought to yourself.

At that moment, you felt his arms wrap around your waist, softly pulling you towards him.

“Y/n”

“I told you just let me work on this for a bit more,” you protested, trying to sound angry.

“We both know you’re not gonna last, so do yourself a favor and get some rest for now. You can continue it in the morning.”

He pulled you closer.

You tried to find an excuse to stay up but your brain was beyond exhausted.

“Ok,” you replied softly.

With that, he wrapped his arms fully around you and hugged you tight to his chest. You fell asleep within minutes. Once he made sure you were asleep, he quietly cleaned up and organized all your work before climbing back into bed with you.

SETO KENTARO

Seto Kentaro always liked your intelligence and the stubbornness that came with it. However, he wasn't liking it very much now when he came over to your house in the morning to find you buried in a pile of papers and notebooks. You had bags under your eyes and a huge thermos of coffee beside you. In all honesty, he could only sit and stare at you in disbelief.

‘No, you did not just spend the entire night working on that stupid project,’ he thought to himself.

“Y/N?”

“Huh? Ken-chan?” you said in a soft voice. You could barely keep your eyes open. “What time is it?”

He let out a deep sigh.

“It's time for you to go to sleep babe.”

“But...I’m not yet done,” you protested weakly. 

“Then I’ll finish it for you.”

“But--”

He lifted you up from the chair and carried a protesting-you over to the bed.

“But what? You already wrote out everything in your notebook right? I just have to type it up for you that’s all.”

He plopped you down and you looked at him with tired eyes.

“I won’t even change that terrible grammar of yours,” he added with a wink.

“Excuse me?”

“Look here, you’re extremely tired and I know how much your studies mean to you. So here I am telling you to shut up and go sleep while I help you finish it. Don’t look at me like that, I’m actually a really nice and helpful guy.”

You snickered. “Yeah right. Go tell that to the guys you play basketball against.”

“Are you gonna accept my help or not?” he said with a serious face.

You sighed in defeat, fatigue and exhaustion slowly taking over your body.

“Thank you Ken-chan,” you muttered, pulling the blanket over your body.

He let out a small smile.

“Goodnight y/n”

YAMAZAKI HIROSHI

You slapped yourself awake for the millionth time. It was well past midnight but you still had a lot to do. That essay wasn’t going to write itself and you weren’t resting until it was finished.

But I guess it's fine if I just close my eyes for one second…

SLAP. Nope I gotta finish this. Just a few paragraphs left.

You stared at your notes thoughtlessly and took another sip of coffee before starting to type. The bedroom door creaked open and you heard the soft footsteps of your boyfriend walking in.

“Still not done?”

You shook your head and continued typing.

What felt like an eternity had passed and you had finished about three-quarters of the paper.

“Y/n,” Yamazaki said in a soft voice.

You hadn’t really been paying much attention to your surroundings and was a little startled by him. You turned around to look at him and saw him holding out a metal flask towards you.

“Some more coffee.”

When he saw the confusion on your face, he added, “This one’s pretty strong. It should keep you up until morning.”

You took it from him with a small smile and quickly went back to work.

After a few more hours, you finally finished it, submitted it, and crawled into bed to get whatever little sleep you could before school started.

When you woke up you realized two things. First, your boyfriend had already left. Second, you were extremely late for school.

You quickly got ready and rushed to school.

In between one of your classes, you ran into Yamazaki in the hallway.

“Hiro-chan, thanks for that coffee last night, but you know, you didn’t have to stay up.”

“Don’t worry about it. I took that class last year so you could say I’ve been through it too...” You could tell he was trying his best to play it off cool. But instead of saying anything, you just gave him a big smile and a quick peck on the cheek before running off to your next class.

MATSUMOTO ITSUKI

The sun had already set when you and Matsumoto left the library. It had been one long afternoon of tedious researching, but now you were confident that you could finish the assignment by tomorrow.

“Y/N, it's getting a little late. Wanna grab something to eat before we go home?” 

“Hmm sure,” you replied absentmindedly, too focused on the notes on your phone.

Once you two were finished eating and arrived home, you immediately went back to work putting your 100% into finishing this assignment. 

About a few hours later, you realized you had left your bag with a lot of important information in the library. You started panicking slightly. There was still so much to do. You couldn't afford to waste time by going all the way back to the library.

Some things can't be helped I guess…

You quickly grabbed a coat and rushed to the front door. Before you reached it though, you felt a strong hand grab your arm.

“Woah y/n, where are you going?”

“The library. I left my bag there and I really need it…”

“Oh, well it's not safe for you to go alone. I'll go with you.”

“OK…” you said hesitantly.

“What? Is there something wrong?” he asked with concerned eyes.

“No, it's just that I still have a lot left to finish and I'm not sure if I can make it through tonight that's all,” you answered softly.

Truth is this assignment has drained you both physically and mentally. At this point, you weren't sure how much longer you would last.

Matsumoto suddenly engulfed you in a tight hug.

“Y/N, if you're feeling too stressed you can just go to sleep. I'll go talk to your teacher tomorrow. Maybe ask if you could submit it later instead.”

You smiled at his words. He really was too sweet. Knowing how much he cared kind of re-lit that drive to finish this project.

“It's fine Tsuki-chan. You don't have to do that for me. I'll finish it.”

He looked at you skeptically. “Then I'll go get your bag and you stay here and continue whatever part of the project you can. Is that OK?”

Your tired eyes met his and you gave him a small smile and a nod.

“Thank you, Tsuki-chan.”

[tayman001]

GrimmIchi (post epilogue): Includes some Anime characters and an original character of mine also using Anime terms. 2

Taylor: The maximum amount of kids a man can give birth at one time is 10 and the number in general is random each time so...

Grimmjow (visibly scared): shaking uncontrollably Ichigo: Great Tay now you've freaked out Grimm... tries to comfort Grimmjow Taylor: ...you have to wait another month until we know for sure how many at once you'll be having but I will say this 10 is the rarest amount and only a lucky few ever get only that amount. Grimmjow: Then I hope I'm not lucky because I don't think I'd survive that... Kazui: Awesome so if it is 10 I'd have 10 younger half brothers! Ichigo: Kazui don't you see your Dadjow is freaking out. Kazui: Isn't he an Arrancar? If so than shouldn't his Hierro protect him from harm? Grimmjow (visibly panicked): Ichigo: Please go to your room Kazui because you aren't helping. Kazui goes to his room Uryū: If you want I can be his personal Doctor to make sure he doesn't suffer any injuries during his pregnancy, Ichigo. Ichigo: Sure, Uryū. Taylor: You'll probably say no but I can inject something into him specifically designed to allow him to survive just in case it turns out he is to have 10 kids. Ichigo: You sound like Mayuri with his experiments so no. Taylor: If you think its an experiment you are wrong so no I'm not mimicking Captain Kurotsuchi since I actually test my experiments on clones of volunteers that are specifically designed to run tests on so that actual people aren't harmed so no the substance has already been tested and is unharmful in fact it actually will make him live longer but if you truly don't trust me or my science then fine, if Grimmjow does and 10 kids and ends up dying you'll have no one to blame but yourself. proceeds to walk away Ichigo: Wait... Fine inject him with it. BUT IF HE ENDS UP DEAD YOU'LL BE DEAD BECAUSE I'LL KILL YOU IN COLD BLOOD! Taylor: If I wanted him dead I'd never have said anything. injects the formula into Grimmjow Grimmjow (feeling drunk): his words are slurd and are not understandable Ichigo: What the fuck have you done to him! I TRUSTED YOU! Taylor: That is supposed to happen idiot and its only temporary it does that so he doesn't feel any pain during the procedure. Grimmjow (still feeling drunk): changes are happening inside him that aren't affecting his pregnancy *moments later* Grimmjow (is an immobile slob): What happened and why can't I move? Ichigo: What the fuck have you done to him Taylor! Taylor: He needs that wait to survive the 10 kids since the pregnancy needs blood to give birth and as a result of the pregnancy any fat he has is measured in blood for the pregnancy so each pound of fat is equal to a liter of blood and each child needs 100 liters of blood to be used to successfully be born and for the pregnant man to survive with 100 extra liters per child just in case the procedure takes longer than the estimated time so in total for 10 kids he needs to weigh 2000 pounds which he now weighs well plus the weight he had prior and if you are worried about his weight the formula makes it so he never suffers health problems again and I even have a formula solely for the no health problems just in cause you were worried about your gluttonous appetite might lead to those and I have another formula solely for always being mobile. Ichigo: Yes inject both of those sole formulas into me then inject the mobile one into Grimmjow. Taylor: does just that Ichigo: Now leave... I wanna go order 50 boxes of Pizza. Taylor leaves and so does Uryū A month later Ichigo (pigging out on some pizza): moans and chumping Grimmjow (feels 10 things kicking inside him as they form): moans in pain Ichigo: Grimm what's wrong? Grimmjow: moans in pain Ichigo: Grimm please say something! Grimmjow: moans in pain call... moans in pain ...everyone. moans in pain Ichigo: calls everyone An hour later Taylor, Kazui, Uryū, Brandan, Rukia, Renji, Ichika, Chad, Noba, Orihime, Nozomi, Karin, Yuzu and Riruka show up Karin and Nozomi: Ichigo why'd you call us like I don't see why... Karin: ...Nozy and me... Nozomi: ...Kary and me... Karin and Nozomi: ...had to come.

Yuzu: Karin you do realize I was called to so don't go assuming Ichigo called you and your girlfriend on a whim since he probably has a reason for calling all of us. Chad and Noba: silence Rukia and Renji: Why did you call all of us? Riruka: I bet something stupid. Orihime: Maybe it has something to do with Grimmjow's pregnancy? Uryū and Brandan: Probably. Kazui and Ichika: But why were we called aren't we still too young to hear where babies come from? Taylor: I doubt that is why we were called here since if that were the case they would have only called the two of you not all of us. Shinji, Shunsui, Nanao, Momo, Suì-Fēng, Nelliel, Marechiyo, Kensei, Shūhei, Kisuke, Yoruichi, Rose, Izuru, Isane, Kiyone, Byakuya, Tetsuzaemon, Atau, Lisa, Yuyu, Mashiro, Tōshirō, Rangiku, Kenpachi, Ikkaku, Yumichika, Mayuri, Akon, Sentarō, Tatsuki, Keigo, Mizuiro and Chizuru show up Taylor: Hi, Captain Hirako, Head Captain Shunsui, Lieutenant Ise, Lieutenant Hinamori, Captain Suì-Fēng, Nel, Lieutenant Omaeda, Captain Muguruma, Lieutenant Hisagi, Kisuke, Yoruichi, Captain Ōtoribashi, Lieutenant Kira, Captain Kotetsu, Lieutenant Kotetsu, Captain B Kuchiki, Captain Iba, Lieutenant Rindō, Captain Yadōmaru, Lieutenant Yayahara, Lieutenant Kuna, Captain Hitsugaya, Lieutenant Matsumoto, Captain Zaraki, Lieutenant Madarame, 3rd Seat Ayasegawa, Captain Kurotsuchi, Lieutenant Akon, Lieutenant Sentarō, Tatsuki, Keigo, Mizuiro and Chizuru. Shinji: ...Taylor I told you, you can call me Shinji I don't care much about formalities. Shunsui: Hey Taylor. Nanao: You'll never get promoted Taylor if you slack off and don't do what your ordered to do! Taylor: Lieutenant Ise who said I wanted a promotion? Since I'm perfectly fine staying unseated even if I have the strength of a Captain. Momo: Nanao why not just let it go? Nanao: I might as well since he seems to have his mind set. Suì-Fēng (focused on Yoruichi and not realizing she is talking out loud): I wanna marry Lady Yoruichi! Yoruichi (hearing Suì-Fēng say that): flash steps over to her So its a promise then? Suì-Fēng (shocked and embarrassed): I, uh... Yoruichi: kisses Suì-Fēng Suì-Fēng and Yoruichi leave to spend some alone time Taylor: Well that was kinda unexpected but I had a feeling that info would soon come out. Nel: I fell on my face when I arrived since I keep tripping out of the sky Garganta. Taylor: If you don't look wounded than its clear that your Hierro is strong enough to protect you from the impact. Nel: True. Marechiyo: I kinda knew Captain Suì-Fēng was a Lesbian all along! Suì-Fēng returns and kicks Marechiyo so hard he passes out and needs medical attention Taylor: I would have told him to shut up but it was already too late since as soon as he opened his mouth I knew it was only a matter of time before this happened. Kensei and Shūhei: Yeah he can be a idiot sometimes. Taylor: Say how is your lives treating you after the two of you tied the knot? Kensei and Shūhei: Pretty good. Shūhei: And I'm Pregnant and he is due next month. Kensei: I'm still kinda scared to be a father. Since the last time I tried to handle crying all I could come up with was "Laugh or else!!!!" Shūhei: Yeah and that was 100 years ago when you were yelling that to me when I was a kid. Kensei: Yeah but I'm still confused on why you stopped crying? Shūhei: I saw your chest and 69. Kensei: Oh come here. Kensei and Shūhei make out Kisuke: I wish Tessai could have been here... Taylor: Why where is he? Kisuke: Hospital... Someone ran him over in a hate crime. starts crying Taylor: He is gonna be ok, Kisuke after all he is your husband and you know how strong he is. Kisuke (stops crying): Yeah you're right. Rose: playing his guitar Izuru: guarding the perimeter Isane: gets bumped into I'm sorry that was my fault. Kiyone: Isane its not your fault you were the one bumped into not him since he bumped into you. Byakuya: Ichigo Kurosaki why the fuck did you ask all of us here like really. Taylor: Captain B Kuchiki, I think it has to do with his husband Grimmjow's pregnancy.

Byakuya: ...wasn't he married to Orihime Inoue? Orihime: He was but I divorced him once he told me the truth so that he could marry the one he loves. Tetsuzaemon: Atau I'm gonna go take Sajin for a since he is is bugging me to walk him. Atau: does ok in sign language Taylor: Let me guess Captain Iba, you are taking care of Sajin Komamura who was your captain back when you were the Lieutenant of Squad 7 but who was turned into a wolf after using the Humanization Technique back during the war with the Quincy. Tetsuzaemon (ashamed): Yeah... Taylor: There is no reason to feel ashamed after all he was your captain for a long time and you still care for him and its not in your nature to leave anyone behind, now is it. Tetsuzaemon: That is true. Taylor: I can look at ways to reverse his condition if you want I just need to clone him genetically so he doesn't end up dying in case a formula doesn't work. Tetsuzaemon: I'll have to ask him. Taylor: If he is in the form a normal wolf he can't speak in any language that we as humanoids can understand so how can you understand his wolf speak? Tetsuzaemon: He taught me it when he was still a werewolf. Taylor: Oh. Lisa: Hey Taylor. question do you have Line? Taylor: Uh no but I have Facebook. Lisa: You should get Line! Yuyu: Yeah get line!~ Taylor: How about stop asking! Mashiro (using her Hollow mask): Mashiro Super Cero! Taylor: jumps out of his body, puts on his hollow mask and blocks the cero with his hand Mashiro: Big deal so you countered it... Here it goes Mashiro Drop Kick. Taylor: grabs her foot and throws her across the room Mashiro (dizzy): I was just getting started... passes out Kensei and Shūhei: She deserved that. Tōshirō: Why is it that everyone is so manic today? Rangiku: Relax Captain. Kenpachi: attempts to attack Taylor Taylor: cuts Kenpachi's arm off Kenpachi: Asshole! Taylor: I warned you never to attack me. Ikkaku and Yumichika: Well it looks like we need to take the Captain to Orihime again... Mayuri: I would like to test a new drug on you Taylor. Taylor: Too late you are already testing new drug of mine. Mayuri: Huh? Akon: Captain... Get off me your crushing me. Mayuri: Well now look what your drug did Taylor, I can't move and if I don't get off of Akon quickly I'm gonna end up killing him. Taylor: checking Akon's vital signs Nope he is lying in fact he is too ashamed to admit it that he is actually aroused by all of this and is in fact not being crushed to death. Akon: blushing Mayuri: blushing Oh so he likes this huh? Maybe this isn't so bad after all. Sentarō: I'm gonna go fight with Kiyone for old time sake. goes over to where Kiyone is to pick a fight Tatsuki and Chizuru: making out Keigo and Mizuiro: making out Taylor: Ichigo please tell me you didn't invite anybody else. Since I doubt this place can handle anymore people. Ichigo: Nope this is everyone. Kazui: Dad I'm sleepy can I rest on your belly until I can reach my room? Ichigo: Sure Kazui. Kazui: climbs onto Ichigo's fat belly and falls to sleep Ichigo: starts eating more pizza Hours later Ichigo (looking like a immobile blob): I think I ate too much pizza. Kazui: still sleeping Taylor: Well you aren't immobile even though you look like it. Rukia: GET THE FUCK UP ICHIGO! Taylor: Captain R Kuchiki there is no need to yell like do you wanna wake Kazui? Rukia: Oops sorry. Kazui: still sleeping so... comfy... love... dad's... fatness.... so.... soft...... Ichigo: Please tell me he'll wake up eventually since I don't intend to have him sleep only on my belly. Taylor: Depends on his actions. everyone eventually clears out except for Taylor, Rukia, Renji, Ichika, Orihime, Riruka, Chad, Noba, Karin, Nozomi, Yuzu, Uryū and Brandan Kazui: still sleeping Ichigo: Why has he still not woken up like did he fall in love with my belly or something? Taylor: That is a likely reason. Grimmjow: If he loves it why not teleport him in and have him stay there until I give birth to his half brothers. Ichigo: Yeah I'm not gonna risk digesting Kazui, Grimm.

Noba: I have that risk when I do my job as a living Taxi. So I release my passengers as soon as I start burping just so I don't digest them and they never reach their destination because of it. Rukia and Renji: Yuck. Chad: What's so yuck about it, its hot. Karin and Nozomi: We have to agree with Rukia and Renji since YUCKY! Yuzu: I agree with Mr. Giant since if my Future Husband went around and did that I'd be turned on by it. Uryū and Brandan: We are agreeing with Chad and Yuzu. Taylor: I like it as well. Orihime: Of course you would after all you made this Gigai for Noba since Kisuke decided against making them any new Gigai for the three of them... speaking of which where is Ririn and Kurōdo? Riruka: I wouldn't know since I have never met them. Meanwhile Ririn: showing off her new sexy look which she's been doing for years Kurōdo: showing off his new handsome look which he's been doing for years Meanwhile Taylor: I have a feeling they haven't stop doing what they said they were gonna do when I made and gave the three of them their new Gigai. Sometimes I wish that I didn't ask them what they wanted and just remade their original Gigai and only asked Noba what he wanted. Meanwhile Gō Koga returns to Karakura Town for the first time in years Koga: I really hope those kids don't assume I'm here for revenge. Meanwhile Noba: A Bount! Meanwhile Ririn and Kurōdo: BOUNT! Meanwhile Ichigo: But the only Bount left would be the one with the Doll known as Dalk the one who Yoruichi said Thanks me for defeating Kariya. Uryū: You think he is here for revenge. Taylor: Doubt it since I can sense him and based on his Spirit Energy he isn't here to fight in fact he is here for peace. Rukia, Renji, Chad, Noba, Ichigo, Grimmjow, Orihime, Riruka, Uryū, Brandan and Ichika: HUH? Kazui: still sleeping gay Taylor: Um.... where'd Kazui decide to say that out of the blue sure he is sleeping but still it must have been a reason. Rukia, Renji, Chad, Noba, Ichigo, Grimmjow, Orihime, Riruka, Uryū, Brandan and Ichika: Beats us. Gō Koga shows up in the house Koga: Sorry to barge in uninvited but I wanted to say sorry for my actions years ago... wait... I must have the wrong house since none of you look familiar. Taylor: The ones who you've never seen before are myself, Grimmjow the blue haired guy, Kazui the little orange haired guy who is sleeping, Ichika the red haired little girl with violet eyes, Brandan the auburn hair guy and Riruka the magenta haired lady with the magenta eyes. I'm pretty sure you remember Ichigo, points to Ichigo Uryū, points to Uryū Rukia, points to Rukia Renji, points to Renji Orihime, points to Orihime Chad, points to Chad and Noba. points to Noba Koga: WAIT HOW LONG HAS IT BEEN? Taylor: 10 years and 20 months since you and the other Bounts showed up about 3 months before the fight with Aizen took place and its been 10 years and 17 months since that fight with Aizen. Koga: ...I might as well leave since it seems I waited to long to apologize. proceeds to leave Ichigo, Rukia, Orihime, Chad, Uryū, Renji and Noba: There is no need to leave. Koga: OK if you... Ririn and Kurōdo show up Ririn: Stop there this is no place for someone of your kind Bount. Kurōdo: If you don't leave we will have to destroy you. Taylor: Ririn and Kurōdo back down he isn't an enemy any longer. To Be Continued

[jaquesofdragons]

Chapters: 8/75 Fandom: Bleach Rating: Mature Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Ichimaru Gin & Matsumoto Rangiku, Kyouraku Shunsui/Ukitake Juushirou, Ichimaru Gin & Kyouraku Shunsui & Ukitake Juuishirou, Shihouin Yoruichi & Urahara Kisuke, Kyouraku Shunsui & Yadoumaru Lisa, Ichimaru Gin & OC Characters: Ichimaru Gin, Kyouraku Shunsui, Ukitake Jyuuishiro, Yadoumaru Lisa, Hirako Shinji, Shihouin Yoruichi, Urahara Kisuke, Saigo (OC) Additional Tags: Canon-Typical Violence, Time Travel, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, POV Multiple, etc...

Look! it’s a new Summary:

Nothing goes as planned leading up to the invasion of Karakura Town—not for Aizen, Urahara, the Gotei 13—or for Gin.

In the wake, Gin is alive, but so is Aizen; his goal remains unaccomplished; his crimes revealed; and Rangiku is Very Upset that any of it could have possibly been 'for her.'

Stuck between a rock and a hard place, the only way is forward—even though it means abandoning tempting chances of redemption and Family.

But through a twisted chance of fate, Gin gets a chance in another life, back before he even knew who Aizen was. Ran at his side, he does his best to honor Ran's wishes, to be Family, to have nothing to do with Aizen ever again. But his goal is still unaccomplished and he has a hell of a lot more to lose when Aizen insists on becoming an obstacle once more.

Feeling weaker than ever, he can chart a new path, one Ran would approve of, not knowing how much of this new life it might cost him; if it might cost him her.

Or he can fall back on the method he knows will work—will work now, even if it hadn’t in another life—at the small price of damning his soul once more.

--> Rambling under the line:

So I’ve finally posted another chapter! I gave into a depressive dip and used the excuse of my betas being busy not to work on this...   But I just got a comment on the fic which gave me a bit of kick in the pants - so! here’s chapter 8 in all its unedited glory!!!

Any typos are the fault of my new kitty.

[yukizakii]

finale

He hates him. He should hate him, but he doesn't. Because this is Kondou’s Shinsengumi that he entrusted to Hijikata, he must protect Hijikata. It has to end this way.

Souji's final moments, and his relationship with Death.

It has to end this way, is what he thinks as he tightens the ripped, dirty strips of cloth around his hand. He bites down on the cloth to hold it in place as he wraps it again around the hilt of his sword, tasting the dirt and blood from the road and battles fought before. It’s unpleasant, and for a moment his stomach seems to want to lurch and cough, but he pushes it down and clenches his teeth to pull the cloth tighter. It doesn’t matter anymore.

All that’s left is for him to die.

Souji isn’t afraid of death, hasn’t been for years. As a child, he had been afraid. He feared the death that had taken away his parents, and forced his sister, Mitsu, to grow up faster than she should have. After his parents’ passing, he had cried for months on end out of fear of Enma, the god of the afterlife, who would surely spirit him away as well. Yet as he had listened to the whispers behind closed doors in his home, his fear had been replaced with guilt. Souji had been young, but he was old enough to be able to draw his conclusions when he heard the tone of voice that came with the words burden and a waste of space. Afterwards, Souji simply felt nothing towards death other than acceptance that he too would meet that same fate someday, and perhaps for the better.

How wrong he had been.

Death was a blessing to him, a fortune. Death had stolen away his parents, but instead it bequeathed meaning into his life: to protect those who he cared the most. What a far cry he was from the hopeless child that had first arrived at the doorstep of the Shieikan, holding his wooden sword devoid of passion. Death was what had led him to Kondou, to begin training at the Shieikan as a live-in student and to find his purpose: To live to kill and be the Shinsengumi’s sword. The more that he wielded his sword and swore to follow the path of a warrior, the more that he realized how much death seemed to intertwine itself in every aspect of his life.

Perhaps Death was a blessing, but it certainly was not kind. When Souji had heard the word tuberculosis escape Dr. Matsumoto’s mouth, his first reaction was to laugh. He had been unable to stop, despite knowing how crazy he must have looked from an outside perspective. Surely this was karma, for the dozens of men he had killed on the battlefield without remorse. How especially thoughtful of Death to try and send him off by withering off his life force with each bloody cough. What mockery it was that the men Souji had killed would live vicariously until the last moment, but Death would not allow him the same grace.

Well, Death could try to take him down like that, but he wasn’t going to win. Death could go fuck itself if it thought it could make him go quietly. To live as a warrior was to walk the line of life and death every day, not knowing what would come next. Souji had embraced the adrenaline that came with the thought of potentially dying every time he raised his sword against another man. He loved the rush he got every time a blade got dangerously close to his face, or the feeling of his lungs heaving as he desperately tried to catch his breath in-between skirmishes. To die as a warrior would be an honor, and wouldn’t it be the most fitting for him to die on the battlefield, just as he had killed so many others?

Mitsu, he thinks, would be disappointed in him. Sad, even. But she will never know, and for the better; he knows that she has her own life and family to worry about during the war. She never did, and never will understand the lifestyle that her young brother chose to live. Souji had kept in touch with his sister sparingly throughout the years, but eventually he had stopped writing truths to her. His last letter a month ago indicated that he was fine, healthy, and participating in the Koyo Chinbutai with the remaining members of the Shinsengumi. He hopes that she will be happy with her life.

Kondou had written a letter to Mitsu as soon as he learned of Souji’s diagnosis, but Souji had been clever enough to have Chizuru intercept it for him. Chizuru-chan, can you offer to take Kondou-san and Hijikata-san’s mail today? Just say that you’re going on rounds with Sano. But give me Kondou-san’s mail. If you don’t do it, I’ll kill you. He remembers her round face staring back at him with confusion, before her features settled into one of sadness and understanding. Within a few hours the letter had been tossed into the fire as its final recipient, Chizuru watching him in silence.

Oh, little Chizuru. Frankly, she shocked him with her kind and selfless demeanor, even in the face of tragedy and death. He had expected her to instantly crumble like a child after witnessing what would be a series of nightmares to any other person, but it seemed that she stood with her back straighter with every harrowing adventure they went through. She was certainly one of, if not the strongest women that Souji had ever met. He thinks ruefully of the day they had first met—that innocent expression on her face had been unforgettable. He remembers the satisfying clink of the weight of his sword shifting as he had pointed it straight at her, and her eyes that seemed almost too large for her face fixating on the sharp tip. What a pity that I might have to kill such a cute little woman, he remembered thinking. But the last time Souji had seen her, he had been shocked by how much she had changed. She had chased after him with a stubbornness and determination that could have only grown out of pain and suffering. Her face had thinned as she had matured and grown, and he noticed that her eyes no longer had the innocent gleam from years before. Gone was that timid girl from that snowy night in Kyoto, replaced by a woman who had seen hurt and death and yet still raised her sword against enemies with them with unwavering loyalty.

That person is lucky to have her by his side.

Being in the Shinsengumi had changed them all more than they could have ever imagined. Souji and the Shieikan crew had always dreamed of being real warriors, but dreams could not have prepared them for reality. Kenjutsu practices turned to fights to the death, and bruises from wooden swords turned into nasty wounds that required stitches. Rumors, petty fights, and politics became daily roadblocks that they were forced to become accustomed to. The introduction of the Ochmizu and Rasetsu was perhaps the worst of all. But no matter how difficult things became, Kondou had remained kind and soft with every man and soldier, just as he had treated Souji as a student at the Shieikan. It was Kondou’s kindness, heart and unrivaled warrior spirit that made him a fitting leader of the Shinsengumi. Unlike that man.

That man, Souji thinks. That man’s name makes his blood want to boil, and when he thinks of his name now he subconsciously clenches his fist. Selfish, bilious, rude, and a man who had left Kondou to die.

But if Kondou had been the head of the Shinsengumi, Hijikata was the backbone and the spine that held it together. Kondou was a skilled orator and had the charisma and presence of a leader, but he was a gentle romanticist who liked to consult the books. On the other hand, Hijikata was all sharp edges and pragmatic, and a genius when it came to creating strategies that were critical to success. Even in the early days of the Shieikan, Hijikata had always been unyielding and harsh, allowing no one to talk down his dreams of hanging up his medicine box and taking a sword. When the opportunity had come to leave Edo and journey to Kyoto to join the Roshigumi, Hijikata had been the first to pull together the crew to plan their departure and involvement.

The Shieikan was where he grew up, but it was the Shinsengumi that became his home. When Souji thinks of the words family, he thinks of the Shinsengumi—and it is a family built by Kondou. For that reason alone, the Shinsengumi had been worth laying down his life for, all of these years. Souji thought himself as nothing more than a sword, and it was an honor to kill and bring death upon those that threatened the Shinsengumi’s progress. But beyond the skirmishes and public work associated to their name, there was a man who had shouldered burden after burden and rallied day and night for their success. The Shinsengumi and Kondou only rose to where it was today, because of Hijikata’s drive and leadership.

Souji knows that without Hijikata, there is no Shinsengumi. And because this is Kondou’s Shinsengumi that he entrusted to Hijikata, he must protect Hijikata. It has to end this way.

I heard that Hijikata Toshizou is staying in the inn in the next town over. Looks like he’s injured and only has one other companion with him. This will be an easy kill.

He hates him. It’s his fault that Kondou died, so he should hate him. He hates him, but he doesn’t. He doesn’t hate him. Though he would never admit it out loud, Hijikata has always been like a brother to him. A bitter and sour one for sure, but like a brother nonetheless. When Souji had fallen ill, Hijikata had somehow always been the first one to scold him to go back to bed and to order Chizuru to make him medicine or soup. Souji had teased him—What are you, a mother bird hovering over her hatchlings? Really, you don’t have to seem so worried about me, Hijikata-san. Despite their constant bickering and harsh words throughout the years, Souji knows that he is a gentle, caring man beneath the demon-like exterior. But more than that, he knows that Hijikata loves the Shinsengumi more than anyone else.

Souji does not have much time left to give to the Shinsengumi, but Hijikata does. Souji cannot allow him to die. It has to end this way.

The lamps go off from the enemy, and he is alerted back to the present from his thoughts. He lets go of the cloth from his teeth, and drops his arms to his side. His right hand is now his sword—fitting now, that his body is now one with his sword. He closes his eyes, and breathes in the fresh night air. He lets his mind go blank, and draws on the power stored within his body to turn him into a Rasetsu. For the first time in months, he feels the air and power rush through his lungs and fill every space in his body with unbound strength; tuberculosis suddenly feels like nothing but a distant memory.

In the face of Death, he feels more alive than ever.

He steps into the moonlight, and hears murmurs from the men as they look at him. Gunshots whiz through the air, but he sidesteps them so easily. He hears the familiar Who the hell are you being shouted into the night, and his lips curl into a smile. Would these be his last words? How fitting, because he would absolutely love nothing more.

“My name is Okita Souji, the 1st captain of the Shinsengumi!”

Tonight, for the last time, he will be the Shinsengumi’s sword. Okita Souji smiles, and allows himself to fall into the familiar embrace of the battlefield.

Goodbye, Hijikata-san.

[nightfal1n]

Been awhile since the last time I read Spy x Family but the moment I saw this from chapter 99....

It reminds me of this scene from chapter 1

...And I really have a bad feeling about this ; w ; send help

[ryusxnka]

Standing still—and yet, quite proudly—on the captain’s desk was a gift box, barely twice the size of his palm; emerald in color to match his eyes and adorned with a golden ribbon in a form resembling that of a daffodil atop of its lid. Inside, a small, silver snowflake-shaped brooch lied next to a folded strand of ten hand-made coupons for five different favors that he could ask of her for the next 365 days—each one of them appearing twice, namely: 1) To go to the world of the living to get souvenirs of his choice with her money, 2) To clean up any mess within the area of their main office, 3) To help him with a quarter of his paperwork within a period of 24-hours, 4) To buy him one round of meal with her money, and 5) To give him a 20-minutes session of neck, shoulder, and upper back massage.

Meanwhile, attached to its side, leaning securely against the cardboard surface was a small piece of paper with the lieutenant’s distinctive writing on it alongside the red stain in the bottom corner that was her signature kiss mark.

“  To my adorable genius of a Taichou ♥ 

Now that you’re getting older, I think it’s time to spice up that beautiful scarf of yours with a bit of ornament representing the very core of your soul :D And I’m sorry that I can’t get you much this time around, either—it’s not my fault your birthday is so close to the holiday season that I always end up spending all my money on the crazy sales before it starts to register that I have to buy you something, as well >:l Though I sure hope at the very least you do enjoy/can make use of whatever little thoughtful present I managed to afford here, tee-hee~

All jokes aside, I do wish upon you another year of growth, health, and happiness. Lots of love and respect from your friends and colleagues. For your thoughts to be at ease and your body to get the rest it deserves.

Hugs and pinches on the cheeks, Matsumoto Rangiku 💋 ”

[hitsuhinalover]

Hitsuhina day 2020

A/N: A word ‘challenge’ was mentioned so I had to write a fic where I used all of the prompts ‘:D Actually it wasn’t using all of the prompts that was difficult (just my perfectionism) but I don’t know how it seems to a reader. I especially want to note that I didn’t write both angels and shrines in the same story out of disrespect to any existing religion. Also, the ending was supposed to be happier (I got bad news and then didn’t feel like writing something very happy), sorry about it. I hope you’re all well and able to be where you want to be.

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“Matsumoto will be up and about in no time and then you’ll be transferred back to the healing wards,” Hitsugaya announced, marching along empty streets without even looking if his partner was following him or not – which, judging by the echo of rapid steps and slightly labored breathing behind him, she was doing. Streets lights were far and few between, coloring his hair and wings with warm yellow hue only for moments before he dived back into darkness, yet she knew where he was going. Whether he wanted or not, they had a bond – a bond that made them too good a battle pair for higher-ups to pass the opportunity to put them on patrol together. And maybe there was also a fact that he wouldn’t leave her alone, not in proximity of a possible enemy, no matter how pissed off he was.

“Hey, don’t make it sound like I should be on a hospital bed right now,” Hinamori huffed. “First of all, I didn’t get so hurt as badly as you two because I arrived later. Second, I’m a field healer, which means I work more outside of the healing wards than there, as you already know.”

As Hinamori said that, she had almost reached him, for which she had to stumble a step backward when he suddenly twirled around, a frown furrowing his eyebrows. Automatically, Hinamori’s wings fluttered to balance her, the fact that certainly didn’t pass by Hitsugaya’s sharp gaze, like neither did a deep blush that her cheeks acquired.

Why was it nowadays so difficult to be around him? It wasn’t his fault, she knew it, for he continued being the same person as always, worried about her well-being. If there was someone at fault, it was her. His proximity had begun to produce physical reactions in her she didn’t know how to interpret, how to deal with. Was it fine her cheeks flushed red when he looked at her, or was there a medical condition involved that had nothing do with him? Why would she stumble when he walked too close if there was nothing else than plain ground? Deep down, she feared she knew why. But if a realization were a person, she was continuously turning around when they came from the opposite direction, taking stairs instead of lift, blocking their number.

Because their bond was worth fostering, and not only because they fought well together. Despite difficult moments, for most of time their friendship was so easy. A wave of warmth washed over her when her mind transported her back to a moment a week ago, to the night neither of them had had to patrol, their laugh still ringing in her ears. In her company his usual frown disappeared (or at least very often), substituted by a slight smile, a teasing smirk or a small chuckle.

They had walked through the part of the town that was almost void of demonic and thus angelic activity too, hardly passing by any patrols, talking or just enjoying a silence they wasn’t used to associating with nights, stars usually witnessing a clash of blades instead of their casual hanging out. In outskirts of the town, moments before they had been about to turn and return, they had stumbled upon a shrine. In contrast to other shrines that worked as outposts to angels and helped to keep demons at bay, the shrine’s once bright colors had been dimmed, the same way its magical protection. When demonic activity had reduced in that part of the town and soared in others, there hadn’t been time or resources to take care of that particular shrine. Once it had served well, then discharged and forgotten.

Up until the moment Hinamori and Hitsugaya had found it.

Since it was a beginning of the spring, they hadn’t had fresh lavender, the flower that worked against devil, to recreate the protection the shrine had had, but they had planted seeds in the soil around the shrine and decorated it with dry lavender as a temporary protection until the plants would have grown. If Matsumoto had been there, she would have scolded them for using their night off for doing something that they could do in working hours without no one being able to say anything, instead of – well, it was better ignore Matsumoto’s suggestions what to do in their free time, she sometimes had funny ideas about Hitsugaya and Hinamori’s friendship.

Yet in their opinion – Hinamori voicing her thought aloud and a corner of Hitsugaya’s lip rising in agreement –, it had been the best use of their time because the company had changed everything. Though Hinamori had somehow managed to bang her head, scratching the same area on her forehead that a demon would injury the following day, they had had fun.

His fingers brushing the injury, almost faded into a sole memory, brought her out of her thoughts, sadness in his gaze trapping her and crushing her heart. Then he dropped his hand and turned to look at the same shrine they had visited a week ago, when it still had been in an area ignored both by angels and demons, before they had noticed a great amount of demonic activity there and sent Hitsuagya’s patrol into trap. Some parts of the shrine were burnt, tips of lavenders black, still reflecting the aftermath of the battle.

It could have been worse. Still, Hinamori didn’t like the tightness in Hitsugaya’s shoulders, the way he suddenly seemed to dodge her gaze.

When Hitsugaya finally talked, she almost felt a need to pinch herself to make sure she was dreaming – or having a nightmare, to be precise. “Do you ever feel that everything you do is in vain?”

No, Hinamori wouldn’t have given Hitsugaya the prize of the most optimist person, but asking questions like that, sounding like he was giving up, it wasn’t something he used to do. No matter how many times he fell, the Hitsugaya she knew stood up time after time. But everyone had moments of weakness sometimes, like when Hinamori had run to help wounded Hitsugaya ignoring a high presence of demonic activity near, in contrast to all the training she had had.

“Hitsugaya,” Hinamori said carefully, her eyes fixed on him to observe the tiniest change in his posture, “it wasn’t your fault.”

If possible, his posture tightened even more. “No? I couldn’t protect you.” His voice was composed by shards that tore Hinamori’s heart, shards of self-loathing, anger, sadness. She took a step forward, reaching out with her hand, almost dropping it but finally taking hold of his sleeve and leaning her head against his shoulder, feelings his tense muscles. “You’ve protected me many times in past,” she comforted him, “and I can protect myself, too. But sometimes we commit errors and luck isn’t on our side,” her lips tried to form a smile even though his desperate gaze were still on the half-destroyed shrine.

“I know,” Hitsugaya whispered. “Matsumoto and I would have died if you hadn’t come, but...I just...when I saw you...”

“I know,” said Hinamori this time, a tremble cursing through her body as an imagine of Hitsugaya on the ground flashed in her mind, his blood bright red on his wings and hair, his grip of his sword’s halt loosened. The anger and fear – love – that moved her before her mind had time to evaluate the situation. The understanding of their feelings for each other as she listened to his words and wrapped her arms around his waist, supporting him the way he always supported her. “I know.”

[dessiekarma]

My Harem is Entirely Bad Boy Types (Kirisaki Daiichi x Reader) Pt. 3

Chapter Three: Get That Girl a Megane!

 “No no no. You seem scared of the ball. Remember follow through with your wrist. Okay better, now try again.”

 Hara was surprised at the voice coming out of the gym. The team never practiced during study period but the instruction as well as the sound of sneakers squeaking was undeniable. Peaking his head into gym he squinted to see (Y/N) and Matsumoto assisting the rest of the second-string players.

Matsumoto had a weird place with the team, he was in the first string but not part of their web. He was down for their rough plays but also usually wanted nothing to do with them outside of basketball and well that worked out just fine for everyone.

 It was, however, a shock to see (Y/N) here helping him out. Hara and the others for that matter tended to forget that Kirisaki Daiichi had over twenty players total.

 “Hey girl!” Hara whistled for (Y/N), knowing it would annoy her. Sure enough she turned her head slowly to cast him a frustrated look before sighing and walking over.

 “Whadya want Hara? I told you not to call me girl.”

 “And I told you not to call me Hara, we should be on first name basis by now.”

 “Kazu-chan.”

 “Not that either! Whatever! What are you doing in here anyway?”

 “Managing the team. What else?”

 “You know this isn’t really the team right?” Hara whispered cattily. “I mean most of them aren’t bad but they’ll only ever get to play an actual game once all of us graduate.”

 “I know you guys are the main players but there’s a lot of first years on the team. They’ll inherit it, and don’t you think its better to leave a legacy as opposed to just graduating and letting the team crumble.”

 “I don’t really think about that sort of thing and I don’t think Hanamiya cares. Come on, you’re supposed to being doing stuff for us. Besides what do you even know about basketball?”

 “I did date a basketball player, ya know? I mean I would never be able to play an actual game but I’m pretty good at shooting. That’s a foundational skill so I might as well teach these guys, right?”

 “I guess, hey where’s Mako?” Hara said as if the thought suddenly popped into his mind.

 “Umm right here.” (Y/N) said with a quirked brow, pointing to the baby sling around her torso. “Did you not see him?”

 “Oh I guess I just didn’t notice. Good job finding a way to carry him around while you’re busy.”

 “Well yeah I needed to, since you suck so badly at taking care of him.” (Y/N) said poking Hara’s side.

 The male was about to retort before a ding on his phone caught his attention. Opening the text, he was greeted with an image of a scantily clad girl. Without thinking about it (Y/N) tiptoed to see his phone and whistled.

 “She’s hot! Is she your girlfriend?”

 “No, she’s not and don’t nonchalantly call other girls hot!”

 “Why not?”

 “Because you aren’t a lesbian!”

 “Says who?”

 “W-what? You had a boyfriend!”

 “Hmm I guess I did. You’re so funny to tease Kazu-chan!” The girl exclaimed with a laugh before giving him a wave and heading back to practice.

 Hara frowned as his manager blurred back into the background of players. Blinking his eyes hard a few times he sighed and closed the door to the gym.

 ‘So can you come over tonight?’

 The lavender haired male looked down at the text message from the girl in the picture and mulled it over. Scrolling through his camera reel he sized up his options.

 ‘My parents are overseas on a business trip, so we have the place to ourselves.’

 Welp that was good enough for him. She wasn’t his first choice but she’d responded the quickest with the least hassle.

 Typing out a quick response, he shoved his phone back into his pocket and made his way out the gym.

~~~~~

 “What’s with all this?” Seto asked motioning to the dozen new charms and button dangling from (Y/N)’s backpack.

 She looked up from her phone quickly to see what her friend was pointing at before quickly returning back to her screen.

 “My new obsession! He’s a character from Paranormal Payphone. Basically, it’s a new game where these boys call me from a payphone at certain times of the day and he’s my favourite!”

 “What’s so great about this character in particular?” Hara asked grabbing at the small figure on the zipper.

 “Besides the fact that he looks like Imayoshi.” Furuhashi retorted tiredly, before his own comment snapped him out of it.

 Everyone including (Y/N) was looking at him in disbelief. It was an unspoken rule that they avoid mentioning him around the girl, unless she brought him up first. They’d learned the hard way that when mentioning anything to do with Tōō there was a 50/50 chance she would cry.

 Surprisingly no tears came to (Y/N)’s eyes, instead she wrinkled her nose and let out a scoff.

 “I don’t see it! And I will not let that deter me from loving my best boy!”

 “Well clearly you have a type.” Hanamiya said sizing up the buttons. He’d never played the game nor even heard of it before now but with otaku shit…you could kind of tell which characters were assholes or not.

 “Hmm? I just think he’s cute is all! Like those glasses for instance! I always end up falling for the megane characters. Kyoya Ootori, Rei Ryugazaki, Austria, Tenya Iida!”

 The guys listened to her ramble off a long list of glasses characters.

 “She talking so fast, I didn’t understand half of what she just said.” Seto remarked as the girl slowed down to think of more characters.

 “I’m pretty sure she named a whole ass country in there.” Hara laughed blowing a large bubble.

 The guys were almost amused by the girl’s stupid antics and none of them noticed the sudden milk carton that came flying towards their table. It was only after they noticed their manager tense up from the sudden impact on her head that they all, without thought, got up from the table threateningly.

 “Who the fuck threw that!?” Hara snapped out casting a glance to (Y/N) who looked stunned as milk dripped off her forehead and down her back.

 Only after their initial defensive move did they notice a girl on her knees not to far behind where (Y/N) was sitting. Her tray was splayed on the ground, after having apparently tripped.

 “Sorry! I should have watched where I was going!”

 “That’s okay!” (Y/N) said wiping the liquid off her face. “No use crying over spilt milk after al-”

 She stopped midsentence as she turned to the girl who had not gotten up off the ground. The boys all noticed an unspoken exchange between the two. Yamazaki watched the situation like a hawk not prepared to let the girl take a step closer to (Y/N).

 “Hopefully you get yourself cleaned up, I’m sure you hate being…dirty.” The girl said with a smiling face but snark laced in her voice. With that she walked away and the guys looked back and forth between the two.

 “There’s no damn way she tripped, you know that right?” Seto asked finally taking a seat along with the rest.

 “Yeah I know but it’s not surprising.”

 “Because she’s Y-”

 “I went to middle school with her. We had some bad blood between us and I thought she’d gotten over it. I didn’t even know she went here. I didn’t think anyone I used to know before came to this school.” (Y/N) said looking more and more concerned as she spoke.

 “Before what?” Hanamiya asked analyzing the girl’s face.

 “Before highschool! I was so cringey in middle school!” (Y/N) said now back to her normally cheerful self. “But I’ve been here for a few months now, I wonder what triggered her to suddenly lash out on me.”

 “Probably because she’s Yam- oww! Fuck!” Hara called out rubbing his shin from under the table, clearly having been kicked.

 “It doesn’t matter. I just… Oh no! My plush got all wet.” (Y/N) said lifting a sopping wet miniature plush of the character she’d just been fangirling over.

 All of the guys suddenly felt a pang through their chests at just how sad her voice had sounded.

 Getting up from the table, Furuhashi walked over to the girl’s side of the table and extended his hand to her.

 “Come on, let’s go wash your clothes and your Jaeyoung plush. We have a washer and dryer in the gym.” He said smiling at her, hoping to get her sad face a little brighter.

 Sure, enough she grinned back at him before taking his hand and disappearing out of the lunch room.

 “How did he know the character’s name!? Why didn’t I think to take her to wash her clothes?” Yamazaki cried out as the two disappeared from sight.

 “He probably goggled it while she was fangirling. Clever bastard.” Hara said kind of impressed with Furuhashi.

 “You do know this is your fault, right?” Hanamiya asked Yamazaki who looked completely offended. “Don’t act so shocked. You know the real reason Mai went after (Y/N) and then you didn’t even stand up for her.”

 “I didn’t do anything!”

 “Exactly. Don’t wear your heart on your sleeve and then be surprised when certain people notice.”

 “Whatever, I’m gonna go take care of this.” Yamazaki said storming off from the table in the direction of the girl who left earlier.

~~~~~

 “What the hell is she wearing?” Hanamiya asked trying not to look at the girl sitting on the bleachers.

 “The back of her skirt had gotten wet too. She needed to put something on while it was in the wash.” Furuhashi explained.

 The flustered male glanced over to where (Y/N) was swinging her legs with the number 4 Kirisaki Daiichi jersey on.

 “Why’d you have to use mine?!”

 “You’re the shortest.”

 “I’m only one inch shorter than Yamazaki!”

 “Yeah but you’re thinner and a whole size smaller. This was the only thing that came closest to fitting her.”

 (Y/N) was leaning back on her elbows, her eyes not leaving her phone and Hara’s eyes not leaving her. After a few minutes she turned to him with a quirked brow.

 “What?”

 “You’re not wearing a bra.”

 “I was but the milk soaked all the way through. What’s it to ya?”

 “I can see a lot through the sleeves of the jersey. I can also see that you must be pretty cold in here after your shower. You look good.” Hara said with a teasingly seductive voice.

 “Yeah? Push that dry over processed hair out your face and you could probably enjoy the view even more.”

 “Bitch.” Hara grumbled as he patted the baby sling around his chest. Smirking he thought he’d try again. “So, no bra huh? Do you have any panties on underneath those basketball shorts?”

 “Why don’t you check for yourself? Maybe we’re wearing a matching set.” The girl deadpanned back, this time not even tearing her attention away from her phone.

 Hara grew red in the face and began to sputter.

 “Stop teasing him (Y/N), you know you have your anti-pervert shorts on under that.” Furuhashi said coming up to pat the top of her damp hair.

 “Damn, how does it feel to have a girl as quick and snarky as you?” Seto asked Hara with a laugh.

 “It’s cause she’s a otaku! All of those types are huge perverts!”

 “You’re hardly fit to be calling someone a pervert.” Hanamiya spoke up, finally able to gain his composure over the manager wearing his jersey.

 “I’m not a pervert. All you guys wish you could pull a different girl a week like I do.”

 “More like you can’t keep a girl for more than a week.” Seto chuckled tossing a basketball up in the air.

 “Why are you guys always picking on me! We’re supposed to be a team!”

 “Speaking of teams. Hey stupid, you’re coming with us to the Seirin vs Rakuzan game next week.” Hanamiya said to the girl.

 “What why would we go to that?”

 “Because Caps is obsessed with Kiyoshi.” Hara remarked only to receive a hard fist in his ribs.

 “Fuck off! It’s because I want to see just how well a team that beat us does.”

 “That’s understandable. I guess I can have my driver take me to the-”

 An obnoxious ringtone cut the girl off from her thoughts. Pulling her phone out she looked at the name and groaned. She appeared to be hyping herself up before hitting talk.

 “Hey Shoi-chan.”

 All the guys suddenly snapped their heads up at the cutesy nickname. Shoi-chan as in Imayoshi Shoichi?

 “I’m ummm with my team.”

 The reprimanding on the other end of the phone was hard to make out but clearly a voice of disapproval.

 “Did you just call me to bitch at me or did you actually need something!?” (Y/N) said with a scowl, startling the guys who had never really heard that tone from her.

 “Umm that’s fine, I guess. When? Okay. At the usual place? Sure, I’ll see you then. Bye Shoi-chan.”

 “Do you actually still talk to that guy?!” Hara exclaimed barely waiting for her finger to lift of the end call button.

 “Well yeah. I was a part of his team for a year and regardless of anything, he’s still really important to me.” (Y/N)’s voice sounded gravely serious and held a deeply sad tone. The brimming of tears in her eyes got blinked away quickly but it was clear to see their shared past was hurting her.

 “He doesn’t like us.” Seto responded glancing down at the manager.

 “I know. But…it wasn’t just my ex ya know? My entire team at Tōō didn’t agree with me coming here and definitely didn’t agree with me joining the team. After the breakup, nearly all of them called or found me to try and talk some sense into me.”

 “And Imayoshi asked you to meet with him, right?” Hanamiya asked.

 “Yeah he says he wants to talk. All this time has gone by and he’s never tried to come find me to talk to me face to face just over the phone. I need to see him. I…miss him.”

 “Then you should go. It’s not like we’re gonna try to stop you. We’re a bunch of cheating, violent bastards but we aren’t going to tell you who you can and cant talk to.” Hanamiya said with a shrug. “Just think for yourself. You’re an idiot but you’re not clueless, so don’t let him think for you got it?”

 “Yeah I know you’re right.”

 “So where are you guys gonna meet up?” Furuhashi asked as nonchalantly as possible.

 “Juniper café, why?”

 “Just curious.”

~~~~~

 ‘Why are we even here?!’ Hara text the group message before slamming his head on the table.

 ‘Because I want to know what exactly Imayoshi is gonna tell her. Nobody asked you to come you know?’ Furuhashi responded quickly

 ‘What’s with you guys and the huge spike in interest over (Y/N) recently? I thought it would die out eventually but you guys are falling for her hard!’

 “Well I liked her from the start!” Yamazaki joined in, sipping a cold tea.

 ‘I just think she’s cute, never gonna have a chance with her but I had nothing better to do today.’ Seto finally typed out, drinking a cup of what was probably just 15 espresso shots.

 ‘She could make an interesting self-selected candidate for me.’ Furuhashi added in.

 ‘Candidate for what?’ Yamazaki asked, much more chill after accepting the fact that he was not alone in his pursuit of (Y/N).

 ‘I don’t want to say until I know for sure.’

 ‘What about you Hanamiya? You’re being awfully silent on why you’re here.’ The orange-haired male typed out quickly.

 ‘Not for that idiot, that’s for damn sure. I’m here to make sure Imayoshi doesn’t put shit in her head that will cause problems for ME. Besides I want to know who she really is when she doesn’t know we’re around.’

 ‘Why is she running so late?’ Seto asked before peeping over the bench, where Imayoshi had been waiting for about ten minutes now. His back was to the team and they figured if they stayed down and quiet (Y/N) wouldn’t notice they were there.

 “Sorry I’m late! There was a sale on manga at the bookstore down the block!” A familiar voice called out as she burst into the room.

 ‘That explains it.’ Nearly all the boys text at the same time.

 “It’s no worries. I got you, your usual. Did you find anything good?”

 “Thanks. I was able to find a few things…umm why are you staring at me?”

 “You’ve gotten so much more beautiful in the few months I hadn’t seen you.”

 Seto pretended to gag as the rest of the team rolled their eyes.

 “Stop it, I look the same.”

 “No, you look happier…and that isn’t easy for me to admit. Ohh what’s this?”

 “Oh umm this is Mako.”

 “My my I leave you alone for a few months and you’re already a teenage mother, so soon after a breakup. Were you cheating?” Imayoshi said in a teasing voice. “Mako. I’ll assume my sweet little kouhai is the father?”

 Hanamiya made a move to stand up and fight when the other guys grabbed his limbs to drag him back down to seating position.

 “It’s a project I’m doing with Hara Kazuya.”

 “The gum munching kid with the hair in his eyes?”

 “Yeah…”

 There was a silence that washed over the table and the guys held their breaths wondering who would speak next. Surprisingly it was Imayoshi.

 “Look, I’ll get right to the point of why I came here. I want you to come back to Tōō with me. The team misses our little cheerleader, even Aomine asked about you the other day.”

 “I do miss you guys but I won’t leave them.”

 “The bad boys of KiriDai? Why exactly are you so stuck to them? Hmm? You detested them as much as the rest of us when you saw the Seirin game. What changed? Don’t tell me its simple physical attraction, you’re much smarter than that.”

 “I guess when I first saw that game…I thought they were bad people. But now I think…I know…sometimes good people do bad things. I think that deep down they’re good people. They’ve done horrible, really horrible things but they’ve also been really good to me.”

 The team was more or less stunned by (Y/N)’s honest answer.

 “‘Deep down they are good people?’ You sweet girl, I’ve told you a million times over that there’s no such thing as a good person.”

 Hanamiya felt the same chill run down his spine as the one he had when he first met Imayoshi. He’s said that very phrase to him as well.

 “I don’t believe that Shoi-chan.”

 “Because you’ll take it personally. You desperately need to think that you’re a good person and that your m-”

 “I don’t need to think anything. I know who I am, and I’ve made peace with that.”

 “But you haven’t made peace with the other half, have you? Ahh its to be expected, you’re young after all and with the life you’ve had you need to cling onto something. I came to you because I really am worried about you. Your insistence on staying with this team is self-destructive, I would go as far to call it self-harm. You know they’ll hurt you…haven’t you been hurt enough?”

 “I have but not by them. Not yet.”

 “Then don’t give them that chance. You know our fears aren’t unprecedented. Think about it, since going to that school and associating yourself with them, has anyone tried befriending you? Does anyone try talking to you when they don’t have to? You’re alienating yourself. You’re giving yourself a reputation and isn’t that the exact reason you left Tōō?”

 “I left Tōō because I have a goal and to make it happen, I need connections.”

 “I see, you’ve told yourself that enough times to actually believe that’s the reason. Stop punishing yourself, stop trying to fix broken people, and stop letting others hurt you.”

 “But Shoi-chan…YOU hurt me. All of Tōō did. You guys saw what was happening to me there and nobody said anything. You were all afraid to get involved, all too worried about yourselves. You told me to ignore what the people said but you never tried to make them stop.” The guys heard (Y/N) take in a shaking breath and couldn’t figure if she was crying or just about to.

 “Someone threw milk on my head yesterday and every single one of the KiriDai boys got up ready to fight someone. One of them even helped me get cleaned up.”

 “They all have you tangled deep in the spider’s web, don’t they? Once you realize that, you’ll never get out. They can predict exactly how you’ll react and change their personalities to be exactly what you want them to be. It’s not just a basketball technique, it’s a manipulation technique. You really think you’re something special to them? Think they’ll hurt anyone who crosses them but not you?”

 The boys could hear the whirl of the coffee machine and the chatter of other patrons. They could hear the cars outside and even (Y/N)’s shallow breathing before a sudden sharp intake.

 “I’m not anything special…but they wouldn’t hurt me unprovoked. Because I’m not trapped in their web, I’m part of it!” The boys felt the movement of (Y/N) push up out of her seat.

 “KiriDai is everything you say they are but they’re also a team. They may not give a fuck about anyone else, but they at least give half a fuck about each other and that’s already more than you can say for Tōō. They won’t hurt me, because I’m one of them and if anyone from Tōō is not okay with that…then I’m not okay with anyone from Tōō. Thanks for the coffee Shoi-chan.”

 The guys ducked their heads a bit as the girl stormed out of the café. They heard a deep sigh followed by some chuckling from Imayoshi’s table.

 “She’s hard-headed. I’m surprised you stubborn bunch have been able to handle her for as long as you have.”

 Most of the boys bristled, save for Seto and Hanamiya who had long since figured Imayoshi knew they were there. Standing up from their seats they turned to glare down Imayoshi who was giving them his signature creepy smirk.

 “How could you sit there across from her and tell her how shitty we were when you wouldn’t even defend your own girlfriend. You give her your emotionally abusive ‘leave your friends or I’ll break up with you.’ bullshit and yet you think she’s better off going back to school with you? Her shitty ex who wants to control her?” Yamazaki ranted out, saying everything he was gonna dream of saying later.

 “‘Shitty ex?’ Such a foul mouth with so much anger behind those words. Don’t tell me you’ve already developed an attraction to her? Is that why you’re keeping her around? To use her?”

 “I would never do that!” Yamazaki belted out.

 “No, I suppose even (Y/N) wouldn’t give you the time of day. None of you are really her type, after all. But I don’t blame you for falling for her, she is quite the catch. Not that any of it matters, she’ll come back to me and Tōō soon. It’s only a matter of time you see.”

 “And why exactly would you believe that?” Hanamiya asked with a deep scowl.

 “If I’m not mistaken, in a few months you’ll have a scrimmage with Yosen. It’s in your very nature to go about your usual rough play. (Y/N) isn’t a ref, she will be able to see every despicable and clever trick you pull. I wonder if she’ll still think you’re good people then?”

 Imayoshi slipped through the group and made his way to the exit before turning around with that smirk.

 “Do remember that she was mine first and I will get her back.” With that Imayoshi was out of the building and turning the corner as the Kirisaki Daiichi team stared after him.

 “How did he and (Y/N) actually date? What does she see in him?” Seto asked wondering how that couple could have ever worked out.

 “It’s because he’s a megane.” Furuhashi commented flatly.

~~~~~

 “Wow Furu you look so good!” (Y/N) exclaimed while burping the baby on her shoulder.

 Furuhashi gave her a small smile as he adjusted his glasses. They were the first two to make it to the game and were waiting outside for the others.

 “What the hell?!” Yamazaki exclaimed as he saw Furu.

 He and Hanamiya made their way towards them, both donning a pair of glasses. (Y/N) stopped patting Mako’s back to gawk at the three bespeckled males. Covering her mouth with her hand she left out a soft snort.

 “Did I miss a team memo? Why are all you guys wearing glasses?”

 Furuhashi and Yamazaki glared at each other, neither having anticipated the other to pull the same stunt. Hanamiya rolled his eyes and cursed his fate for the suspicious situation.

 “Since the game was gonna be crowded, we figured we would have to sit pretty far. The guys needed the glasses, so they wouldn’t miss anything.” Seto said, stepping out of a pretty nice car and waving to the driver to take off. He didn’t seem to have had the same idea as the others.

 “Ahh that makes sense! Hara should be in there already, holding out seats for u-” The girl didn’t get to finish her sentence as purposeful shoulder came and crashed into her own. Whipping her head around the girl snapped her tongue.

 Tōō stood not more than a few feet from her and Imayoshi had a teasing grin on his face. The rest of the team looked like they couldn’t actually believe (Y/N) was even standing next to the KiriDai team. Not turning her head, (Y/N) shot a hand out to grab Furuhashi as he had already taken a threatening step towards Imayoshi.

 Her hand delicately wrapped around the male’s wrist didn’t go unnoticed by the members of Tōō. Imayoshi sighed before chuckling his mean-spirited laugh that (Y/N) always hated.

 “That’s kind of cute, isn’t it? You’ve got your pet tarantula on a leash. To think you changed pets from an obedient puppy to this creature.”

 “Is he referring to himself?” Seto mumbled with a grimace. “More like a feral cat.”

 “Is that a baby?!” Wakamatsu suddenly bust out, taking notice of what (Y/N) was holding. The whole team snapped their eyes to her arms. Some looked baffled while certain people looked genuinely concerned. “No way, is that the real reason you went to Kirisaki Daiichi!?”

 (Y/N)’s face held no emotion and she gave no comment before charging past the team knocking her own shoulders with Imayoshi and a nervous looking brown-haired kid who had been avoiding eye contact with KiriDai the entire time.

 “Ehh my sweet little (Y/N), that was rude. Not even a word to poor Ryo. Looks like you boys are reverting her faster than I expected.” Imayoshi teased looking at her walk into the stadium.’’

 “What the hell does that mean!?” Yamazaki spit out.

 “I just mean that perhaps you’ll find how quickly you’ll rub off on her.”

 “Well then I guess that means you’d all better watch your backs.” Hanamiya said pushing through the team as well and following after their manager. “After all the female spider is more venomous than her counterpart.”

 With that the team walked inside leaving behind a slightly shaken Tōō and a particularly impressed former Miracle.

~~~~~

 “They were amazing!” (Y/N) exclaimed walking out into the cold with her team. “Their teamwork and skills were beyond belief! That’s true basketball!”

 “It was really great game. You guys wanna go grab ramen or something?” Seto asked with a yawn.

 “Ehh I’m not hungry.” Hanamiya responded quickly.

 “I don’t want to spend too much. How about we go to Maji Burger instead? It’s really close by.” (Y/N) suggested scrolling through her phone.

 “Yeah, that’s fine.” Seto said looking to the other guys who nodded except for Hanamiya who sighed heavily.

 “Ya’ll go, but I’m heading home.”

 “What no come on! We can’t go as a team if we don’t have our captain!” (Y/N) exclaimed reaching for his hand only for him to jerk it away quickly.

 “What the hell does it matter? I’m not even that hungry!”

 “Please please please please please! Go with us! I’ll pay!”

 “….Ugh fine!”

 (Y/N) let out a small whoop before snatching Hanamiya’s hand and giving it a small squeeze. Once again, he jerked out of her touch but the girl was content.

 “Alright so Maji Burger it is.” Seto said as the team began walking in the right direction. There was a question on everyone’s minds and surprisingly it was Seto who had the gall to ask (Y/N). “Hey so out of curiosity are you tight on money right now?”

 The team looked to her. If there was one thing KiriDai girls weren’t worried about it was spending money. Hanamiya was the first to turn away, figuring it was probably a personal matter for her. The others didn’t have as much tact and pressed on.

 “Oh don’t worry about me. My financial situation is…comfortable. But I don’t like asking for things and want to pay for stuff on my own. Right now I have saved a good amount of my money for a trip back home during winter break.”

 “Back home?” Yamazaki asked, slowing down to walk beside her.

 “To America! That’s where I’m from. I’ve been living in Japan since I was about 8 but I go and visit often”

 The guys took in that information pretty easily. They’d figured as much based on her appearance as well as the accent she spoke in.

 “Well I hope your trip goes well and…what is that!?” Yamazaki asked pointing an accusing finger at the girl’s phone charm.

 “Hmm a phone charm? It’s Zun from Paranormal Payphone.”

 “I thought you liked Jaeyoung?!”

 “Well I did but then I played Zun’s route and he was soooo cute!”

 “But he’s not a megane!”

 “Hmm? Megane are cute but that isn’t all I look for in my type!”

 “Ahhh!” Yamazaki let out a sound of frustration before taking the fake glasses off his face.

 Furuhashi had long since removed his, as they only got in the way during the game. Both of them turned to Hanamiya, waiting for him to remove them as well.

 The raven-haired male looked away from his team before pushing his glasses higher up on his nose.

 “Fuck off! Unlike you two I need these! My contacts tore!”

 (Y/N) tried to suppress a laugh but a giggle escaped her lips.

 “Cute!” She mumbled much to her captain’s displeasure.

 “Fuck off fuck off fuck off!”

[parentsnevertoldus]

little-t trauma

CW// health issues, death, suicide, homophobia, racism

When I was little, I thought that “drama” and “trauma” were the same thing. Middle school drama consisted of which popular long-haired sk8er boy was scooping the boobs of which popular pubescent girl; whose secrets were exposed when someone was ousted from their friend group; which 8th graders were dating high school seniors. While, in my experience, these words can often describe each other--drama can be traumatic and vice versa--they mean two different things. However, looking back on my childhood as I got older, I realized the way I had used them interchangeably was, well, correct. 

Whether it’s “Big-T Trauma” or “little-t trauma,” the psychological and physiological responses are the same. Big-T Trauma is an event that happens once but is extremely impactful all at one time, for example, death, assault, and attack, or witnessing an attack. These instances are often more accepted by wider society as stressful. Little-t trauma is by no means less traumatic. However, these recurring events are often invalidated and normalized by society; the burden is often shifted to the victim with the expectation that one should just “get over it.”  Examples of these include chronic bullying, racism, body-shaming, sexism, and other forms of everyday violence and discrimination. What determines whether we call it trauma in the first place is how we feel after the experience. The more frightened or helpless you feel, the more likely that this is trauma. 

Having to let boys playfully “scoop” your boobs every day at school or risk social ostracization? Trauma. Having your deepest darkest secrets exposed at school? Trauma. Being ousted from your friend group? Trauma. Dating someone way too old for you? Trauma. Being the only Black kid at your school? Trauma. Trying to pass for straight? Trauma. Hiding your gender identity from everyone you know? Trauma. No one deserves that.

Minority Stress is a little-t trauma (in contrast to the big-T Trauma of a hate crime).  The term minority stress refers to the excess recurring stress to which individuals from stigmatized social categories are exposed as a result of their position as a social minority. This stress from alienation accumulates over time and results in both physiological and mental health issues.

How Trauma Affects the Body

Increased blood pressure: have you ever heard the expression “higher than a Black man’s blood pressure?” Some epidemiological studies have found that exposure to racial discrimination was positively related to elevated levels of blood pressure in Black people (1). Experiencing discrimination in a broad range of contexts can induce considerable stress. 

Higher rates of chronic disease: Everyday discrimination is positively associated with coronary artery calcification (9),  diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, depression, cancer, and early death (12). Because of this, not only do POC (specifically Black people) experience worse health earlier, but this deterioration accumulates giving rise to higher cortisol levels and inflammation in racial, sexual, and gender minorities alike (13).

Poor sleep:  Black people are less likely than white people to have a decline in blood pressure during sleep, which is associated with increased risk for mortality and traumatic cardiovascular events like heart attacks (11).

Birthing mortality: The weathering hypothesis proposes that the health of Black women may begin to deteriorate in early adulthood as a physical consequence of cumulative socioeconomic disadvantage. This age the body via an increase in allostatic load, the physiological burden imposed by stress: norepinephrine, epinephrine, cortisol, and DHEA-S which gives rise to elevated blood pressure & cholesterol (14). During childbirth, these problems are correlated with higher rates of fetal/neonatal death and death of the birthing person as well as low birth weights and prematurely born babies.

Mental health and physical health are inextricably linked. 

How Trauma Affects Us Socially & Emotionally

Psychological distress: Perceptions of discrimination are related to high levels of psychological distress, low levels of life satisfaction & happiness, depressive symptoms, poorer physical health (2), & cognitive impairment (10). Internalized racism is correlated with higher levels of alcohol use (3) while internalized homophobia correlates to higher levels of illicit drug use.

Fatalism:  Understanding one's position as a victim of oppression, rather than lessening the degree of personal responsibility, diminishes feelings of self-efficacy. This leads to a fatalistic attitude that reduces coping effort in the face of adversity (4,5) and, in gay men, is correlated to increased risk of death by suicide. 

Stereotype threat:  When someone is aware of the negative stereotypes that are applied to them, this creates expectations, anxieties, and reactions that can adversely affect social & psychological functioning (6). When a stigma of inferiority is activated for Black people in experimental conditions, exam performance worsens. Similarly, women who were told that they perform worse than men had lower exam scores than control groups (7). Stereotype threat can increase anxiety, reduce self-regulation, & impair decision-making processes and communication abilities (8).

Trauma makes it hard to trust others; it makes us want to self-isolate from friends and family, snap at loved ones more frequently, makes us more susceptible to disease and chronic flare-ups, and startle more easily. Traumatic experiences, especially ones we face daily and have little control over (microaggressions, anyone?), can lead to hopelessness and chronic mental illness. And while white cisgender heterosexuals have problems too, the problems that oppressed minority groups face have a much larger effect on their cardiovascular systems and overall health.

Discrimination and oppression are literally killing people. In a capitalist society where you are only as valuable as your economic or reproductive output (#tbt to the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade), where women and minorities are barred access to equal healthcare, thus decreasing their values as workers, the cycle of poverty continues.

Ever wonder where the Angry Black Woman stereotype came from? Ever think that maybe her anger was justified?

While this article focuses on Black people and cishet white gay men, let's remember the overall message: experiencing oppression (external and internalized) causes mental and physical health problems that are NOT YOUR FAULT. These experiences are compounded at the intersections of our marginalized identities which further aggravates the tangible effects of systemic oppression. And guess what? You deserve fucking better.

Click here for some self-care ideas and techniques!

Sources

1.  Krieger N. & Sidney S. Racial and discrimination: risk factors for high blood pressure? Social Science & Medicine. 1990; 30 (12): 1273-81.

2. Williams & Chung, in press (NSBA)

3. Taylor, R. J., & Chatters, L. M. (1991). Nonorganizational religious participation among elderly black adults. Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 46(2), S103-111.

4. Jones, E., & Matsumoto, D. (1982). Psychotherapy with the underserved: Recent developments. In L. Snowden (Ed.), Reaching the underserved: Mental health needs of neglected populations. Beverly Hills: Sage Publications.

5. Neighbors, H. W., Jackson, J. S., Broman, C. L., & Thompson, E. (1996). Racism and the mental health of African Americans: The role of self and system blame. Ethnicity and Disease, 6(1-2), 167-175.

6. Fischer, C. S., Hout, M., Jankowski, M. S., Lucas, S. R., Swidler, A., Voss, K. (1996). Inequality by design: Cracking the bell curve myth Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press

7. Steele, C. M. (1997). A threat in the air: How stereotypes shape intellectual identity and performance. American Psychologist, 52(6), 613-629.

8. Inzlicht, M., Kang, S. K. (2010). Stereotype threat spillover: How coping with threats to social identity affects aggression, eating, decision making, and attention. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 99(3), 467-481.

9. Lewis, T. T., Barnes, L. L., Bienias, J. L., Lackland, D. T., Evans, D. A., Mendes de Leon, C. F.(2009). Perceived discrimination and blood pressure in older African American and White adults. Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, 64A(9), 1002-1008.

10. Barnes, L. L., Lewis, T. T., Begeny, C. T., Yu, L., Bennett, D. A., Wilson, R. S. (2012). Perceived discrimination and cognition in older African Americans. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 18(5), 856-865.

11. Profant, J., Dimsdale, J. E. (1999). Race and diurnal blood pressure patterns: A review and meta-analysis. Hypertension, 33(5), 1099-1104.

12. National Research Council (US) Panel on Race, Ethnicity, and Health in Later Life; Anderson NB, Bulatao RA, Cohen B, editors. Critical Perspectives on Racial and Ethnic Differences in Health in Late Life. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 2004. 14, Significance of Perceived Racism: Toward Understanding Ethnic Group Disparities in Health, the Later Years. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK25531/

13. Gender differences in age-related changes in HPA axis reactivity.

Seeman TE, Singer B, Wilkinson CW, McEwen B

Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2001 Apr; 26(3):225-40.

14. Price of adaptation--allostatic load and its health consequences. MacArthur studies of successful aging.

Seeman TE, Singer BH, Rowe JW, Horwitz RI, McEwen BS

Arch Intern Med. 1997 Oct 27; 157(19):2259-68.