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sage-nebula · 6 years ago

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Scrawlers! Is there anything your hoping to see with the new Evil Team in gen 8? (Besides a big bad lady team lead who is allowed to be awful come'on gamefreak PLEASE) I'm really hoping we see them used like plasma in gen 5 (I.E. Their plot and goal actually coincide with with the player character's journey) since we haven't gotten that in the last 2 gens now.

Hmm, I would say that all of the evil organizations have coincided with the player character’s journey, since you usually have to beat them in order to progress the story. I think what set Team Plasma apart in Gen V is that this was a crisis that involved the entire region. We had people on the streets talking and worrying about Team Plasma, and when Team Plasma raised their castle where the League used to be, the Gym Leaders themselves took to the front lines in order to defend Unova. (Which in turn makes Gen VI look so much worse, because that was the generation wherein the evil team wanted to commit mass genocide, and announced this in a region-wide broadcast, and no one—not the Champion, not the Elite Four, not the Gym Leaders—felt like getting involved. Amazing.) There was a real sense of urgency and stakes with what Team Plasma was doing. It didn’t feel like something we were doing on the side, something that was secondary to the goal of collecting badges and becoming the Champion; instead, it was something that put the entire region at stake, and near the end, you felt like you were collecting badges and facing the Elite Four not to become Champion yourself, but to stop N from accomplishing his goal. (Which made the realization that he beat you to it an even harder kick in the teeth. You raced there, out of breath, got through everything as fast as you could, and Team Plasma won anyway. Damn.) Like you, I would love to have that sense of urgency, those stakes, again. It’s part of what made Gen V’s story so memorable.

So to that end, if I had my way:

A female Big Bad who, yes, is allowed to be awful and is in this for her own ends. Lusamine was incredibly disappointing in so many ways, but the primary ways she was disappointing is the way she was “redeemed” by having her abused children look after and forgive her (taken to extremes in USUM when she was shown to be a Well-Intentioned Extremist, like what), and the fact that her role in the story essentially relied on male characters. We learn through NPC chatter that the Aether Foundation was actually founded by either her father or her grandfather (can’t remember which), and that the experiments and research were originally started by her husband, and that she became obsessed with Ultra Beasts as way to get him back. Lusamine had no accomplishments or motivations that didn’t rely on male characters in some way or another. While all the other Big Bads before her created their own organizations and had their own primary drives and goals, Lusamine didn’t. It was wholly disappointing, and since she’s the only female Big Bad the series has right now (if you can even call her that after what USUM and the anime did), it smacks of sexism.But this can be rectified by giving us a female Big Bad who’s allowed to be every bit of a villain as the male Big Bads before her were. Give us a woman who is arrogant, who is intelligent, who is dangerous. Give us a woman who is not sorry for the things she does, no matter how terrible. Give us a woman who built her organization from the ground up, who is respected by those beneath her, who presents a real threat and who isn’t interested in being a wife or mother, because she’d much rather be a queen. She can be a Well-Intentioned Extremist to a degree (such as, maybe she wants to rule the world because in her mind that’s the only way to curb crime and other dangers, and if she has to crack a few skulls to get to the top to make life better for everyone after that, so be it), but I want her to be on the same level as the male villains before her, rather than someone who is reduced to being a damsel in in distress at the hands of those same villains. If we had a female villain like that, it would make what was done with Lusamine feel less sexist, and more like just a story choice that was made with her character.

I want the whole region involved again. Like I mentioned in the first paragraph, I want stakes and danger. I want to see the Gym Leaders, Elite Four, and Champion doing their jobs. (Or maybe the Champion turns out to be the Big Bad, and we’re overthrowing a corrupt government … oooooh, that’d be pretty cool.) I want people on the streets to be concerned and nervous, and actually affected by what is going on. One of the easiest ways to raise stakes in a story is to show people (and pokémon, in this case) actually being affected. We saw that in Gen V with Team Plasma stealing people’s pokémon, the castle being raised, and the Gym Leaders getting involved to fight the threat. I’d love to see something on that scale again.

That said, I’d also like some moral ambiguity, too. The one area in which Gen V’s story fails is the fact that the very obvious grey area wasn’t addressed. N wants to separate people and pokémon because he believes that humans abuse pokémon. At the end of the story, he’s made to realize that he was wrong, and thus abandons his ideals wholesale. But the thing is, he’s not completely wrong. There are people who abuse pokémon. That doesn’t mean that people and pokémon should be wholly separated, but it also doesn’t mean that N’s cause is an unjustified one. What needed to happen (and what I was going to show in my novelization that I never finished) was N and the protagonist reaching a middle ground of understanding. Maybe there is no ideal solution, but neither side is wholly wrong (which also means that neither side is wholly right). There are people who abuse pokémon, just as there are people who love and cherish their pokémon. There is both good and bad in the world, and the important thing is to recognize that and work toward reducing the bad and increasing the good as much as you can, doing as little harm as possible.That said, I know why Game Freak stayed away from the middle ground in this case. Admitting that there were trainers—perfectly ordinary trainers—who do abuse their pokémon would put a dark cloud over the series and could potentially hurt sales if parents didn’t want their kids interacting with media like that. (Then again, the anime had no problem showing a trainer abusing his pokémon in the previous region (Paul), so who knows.) But even so, I’d like to see something like that in the upcoming story. Obviously the villainous organization is, well, villainous, and I do want the Big Bad to be allowed to be awful (particularly if she’s female), but at the same time I’d like to see, say, NPCs debating whether or not the villainous organization has a point. If there is a friendly rival (and I hope to god we still get a jerkass one if there is a friendly one again), maybe the friendly rival is tempted by the villainous organization’s ways and temporarily joins them. (While the jerkass rival stays adamantly opposed. Wouldn’t that be a twist.) Things like that would add depth to the story and, again, make things more interesting.

Branching story paths. I know we won’t get this, but it’d be so cool if we could have branching story paths and multiple endings. (And maybe multiple save files to go with those multiple endings, please, Game Freak, it’s 2019.) Maybe you’re given the option to join the villainous organization, and you can actually take that option and agree to join them, and so you get an ending suited for that. You also get an ending for refusing to join them, one for joining and then betraying them later, and so on. This is more of a wide-scale game idea than anything else, but along with the moral ambiguity (however much there can be), I’d like it if we were actually given multiple endings, and that those endings did tie into the villains somehow. They’ve been asking us if we want to join Team Rocket since 1996 and they’ve never let us do it. Come on, Game Freak. Even if it’s not Team Rocket specifically, it’s still time.

So yeah, those are my wishes. I don’t expect to get any of them, but it would be nice, haha. I just wish the story could match the calibre of Gen V again. Gen V wasn’t perfect (the lack of moral ambiguity and Bianca’s treatment being the most glaring flaws), but it was damn well near. I’d love to meet that calibre again … here’s hoping that Gen VIII delivers. :)

#pokemon #tailsimp

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otnesse · 4 years ago

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Been banned by ****IrisHatersSay simply for disagreeing with her on May and Misty, but will still reply to her points anyways, merely out of obligation.

“Oh my God. You really don’t know when to stop talking, do you?”

Well, gee, considering the entire point of a discussion is to continue talking, yeah, I don’t know WHEN to stop.

“Okay, I guess we’re back to equating skill development with character development. And the Johto stretch just wasn’t good.”

The Johto stretch may have been excessive, but at least THAT had actual lasting results that carried over into the next saga, such as Ash beating Gary, not to mention advancing to top 8, which even if we don’t count his win at the Orange Islands is still a major improvement compared to in Kanto where he barely made Top 16 (and for circumstances beyond his control, namely Team Rocket abducting him). AG, on the other hand, literally had by its end May being replaced with a girl who shared the EXACT same goal as her, rendering her arc pointless in the end, had Ash winning Top 8 AGAIN, and even when Ash did end up gaining the one actual accomplishment for that saga, beating the Frontier Brains, not to mention beating Brandon’s Regice with Pikachu single-handedly, the whole accomplishment got treated as a joke by Gary (who beat Pikachu with Electivire despite Gary pretty much being retired from training by that point), not to mention Paul twice (and both times with explicitly rookie Pokemon).

“Nah, the kindergarten teacher argument is still dumb. Pokémon trainers are more like parents to their Pokémon. They raise Pokémon. And May was still not an abuser.”

If a parent outright ends up HATING the profession of child-raising and child-rearing, they aren’t fit to be a parent, period. Doesn’t matter if they’re abusers or not. Though that being said, it does tend to outright lead into abuse if they hate the child. Just look at Lois Griffin, hated Meg her eldest daughter, and was very abusive towards her.

“Okay, so you didn’t watch AG. Let me pull out my meme.”

Just because I didn’t watch AG doesn’t mean I didn’t look up various stuff like episode summaries/synopses and getting a gauge on the episodes via trivia sections and or other things. I usually use those as compensation for when I don’t watch a series myself. Second-hand knowledge, if you will. Besides, just because you’ve watched something directly doesn’t mean you’re actually right. Thomas Jefferson personally witnessed the events of what would become known later on as Bastille Day while acting as the American Ambassador to France, and he ended up being completely wrong in his assessment of the French Revolution, singing praises for the Jacobin murderers (ironically, John Adams, who never actually set foot in France at all during that time, had a far more accurate assessment of what that event would result in, being ahead of the curve compared to even his fellow Founding Fathers’ assessments, let alone Jefferson).

“Also, reacting differently to stressors in your environment is true. Everyone does not have the same DNA code. I’m pretty sure psychologists are aware of this, genius.”

Of course people don’t have the same DNA code (well, barring maybe identical siblings, but even there, there’s slight variances), but that doesn’t mean people can’t have similar reactions. As far as psychologists, considering psychologists literally convinced my cousin that she was gay just because she had slight trouble with men (something which my mom, who actually HAD psychologist training from trying to train for nursing, was aghast at), I have zero reason to trust them at their word regarding that bit. Besides, even if that were true, it doesn’t change the fact that she outright hated the Pokemon Training profession at the start, which is STILL inexcusable.

“Suffering is not a competition. This is not the Suffering Olympics. And for the record, May and Norman’s relationship did appear to have quite a bit of emotional distance and strain in it. If you actually watched AG, you’d probably know that.”

At least Norman’s actually IN her life, and not as a deadbeat dad, and at least she HAS an actual loving family to go to, unlike Misty and Brock, who were abandoned by their parents and in the case of Brock pretty much was forced to act as the closest thing they had to a parent until Flint came home, and had to endure fairly abusive siblings in Misty’s case. No matter how much emotional strain there might have been between May and Norman, it’s still nothing compared to outright abandonment (and not even “abandonment to protect your child and/or not deal with bad memories of a rape” kind of abandonment, but more “screw you kid, I’m not dealing with you anymore” kind of abandonment due to Misty and Brock regarding the Gym’s difficulties), to say little about outright abuse, and you know it. Now, if Norman and Caroline treated her like Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia Dursley did to Harry Potter by barely feeding scraps from the table, forcing him to sleep in a cupboard under the stairs up until his first year in Hogwarts (and even THEN, only out of a failed attempt at preventing the Owls from delivering Harry’s acceptance letter), and even doing stuff like outright starving him or locking him up for various reasons, heck, even deeply considering feeding him to Dementors, THEN you might have a point regarding how May’s interactions with her parents were a lot worse than Misty and Brock’s were, not to mention actually warranted.

“Liking a certain type of female character does not mean you are not a misogynist. A lot of sexist dude bros like certain female characters. Doesn’t mean they’re not misogynists.”

The literal definition of misogyny is “hatred of women”. I’m pretty sure true misogynists would outright HATE a woman simply for BEING a woman at all, not caring about her personality or character. Want a real misogynist? Look at General Blue from Dragon Ball: https://youtu.be/_wyt1Aq6hm8 Also Chi Fu from Mulan. THAT’S what an actual misogynist acts like, where they can’t so much as even STOMACH being six feet from a girl, being revulsed by them (not fearful of them, just disgusted with them).

“And May did receive good development. A narrative direction you don’t like ≠ bad writing.”

Actually, it is bad writing, and I would have said it was bad writing even if I DID like the narrative direction/character. I said the same thing about Disney’s Beauty and the Beast and Beast’s development earlier, and in case you’ve forgotten, unlike May, I actually LIKED Beast as a character.

“Nope, the Bible was still written by men. God was not sitting up in Heaven with a typewriter and poof it down to Earth. And yeah, let’s glorify how Christians committed genocide in order to convert people.”

We didn’t commit genocide in order to convert people. As far as the Bible, it was written by God, and handed down to us. It was certainly not written by men. Use your head, if it were written by men, and had biases from fallable people like men, don’t you think Jesus Christ, the Son of God, would have made sure to, I don’t know, outright destroy any passages that tarnish God’s view on things, and do so in a very public manner I ought to add?

“Also, Sodom and Gomorrah is NOT about homosexuality. It’s about hospitality. If you weren’t an awful person, you’d know that. And while we’re on this topic, homosexuality is not a sin. Comparing references to homosexuality in the Bible and what we think of being LGBT in modern times is like comparing apples and oranges. First of all, you are blatantly ignoring historical context. The homosexuality referenced in the Bible is outlawed because of its connection to pagan rituals. There is nothing to even suggest that two people of the same gender who happen to be in love is bad. Being trans is also fine. Trans men are men, and trans women are women.”

1. Regarding the first part, those mob of men who came over to Lot’s house to interact with the two men who arrived (actually angels of God) certainly were acting very “hospitable” to them, considering they were trying to make them sleep with them. Or maybe I should quote the specific passage for you just so you realize that hospitality was far from the reason for its destruction: “The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When he saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. 2 “My lords,” he said, “please turn aside to your servant’s house. You can wash your feet and spend the night and then go on your way early in the morning.”“No,” they answered, “we will spend the night in the square.”3 But he insisted so strongly that they did go with him and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, baking bread without yeast, and they ate. 4 Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom—both young and old—surrounded the house. 5 They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.”6 Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him 7 and said, “No, my friends. Don’t do this wicked thing. 8 Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.”9 “Get out of our way,” they replied. “This fellow came here as a foreigner, and now he wants to play the judge! We’ll treat you worse than them.” They kept bringing pressure on Lot and moved forward to break down the door.10 But the men inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house and shut the door. 11 Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, young and old, with blindness so that they could not find the door.12 The two men said to Lot, “Do you have anyone else here—sons-in-law, sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here, 13 because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the Lord against its people is so great that he has sent us to destroy it.”14 So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry[a] his daughters. He said, “Hurry and get out of this place, because the Lord is about to destroy the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.” Genesis 19:1-14. Does that REALLY sound like they were inhospitable to you?

2. Homosexuality IS a sin, actually. Aside from Sodom and Gomorrah as listed above, not to mention Leviticus 18:22, even the likes of Jesus’ apostles, with Jesus’s own blessing mind you, outright said that homosexuals are among those who are barred from heaven. And what’s in the past affects the present, since God’s law does NOT change (well, save for maybe dietary restrictions and/or mixed fabrics).

3. Actually, being trans IS bad. In fact, Deuteronomy 22:5 even explicitly states it’s outlawed to a man to wear a woman’s outfit and a woman to wear a man’s outfit.

“Also, there’s plenty of misogyny in the Bible. And the Bible condones slavery, too. Do you think that’s alright, too?”

The Bible’s reference to slavery actually referred to indentured servants or, you know, people holding jobs. If anything, God also didn’t like the kind of slavery you alluded to since... well, the Book of Exodus made that much very clear.

“Homosexuality is not a choice. This has been proven before, you’re just a bigot.”

Homosexuality IS a choice, and even if it wasn’t, it’s a mental disorder, which means it needs to be cured. And that “proof” was homosexuals outright intimidating the APA into removing it from the list of disorders. It’s like saying psychopathy is not a problem just because it got removed from the DSM book while disregarding that it only got removed because psychopaths actually intimidated the guys writing the book into removing it. There’s even a term for it, “zapping the shrinks”, and in fact, the guy most instrumental in getting it removed, Frank Kameny, outright admitted they got it removed due to outright intimidating them, or to quote him, “ At that point they were afraid to say no to us. So they said yes. “.

“Also, people often later discover they’re not the gender or sexuality they thought they were, so jot that down. That’s not “choosing”, that’s self-discovery. And please, characters are hardly ever confirmed as straight. You just think they are because it’s the norm.”

When previous seasons or comics or what have you depicted the characters as actually dating, heck, even marrying the opposite sex without any indication of NOT being attracted to them, it’s pretty obvious they were in fact straight. “Self-discovery” is a stupid excuse to force a character to change. And for the record, the only reason my cousin became a lesbian was because a psychologist outright said that she was that just because she had some trouble with dating men, and my own mom was upset at the whole thing when she learned of it. And just as an FYI, it’s actually pretty common for homosexuals to become homosexual due to being molested by a sexual predator. It happened with George Takei, and it happened with the guy who founded the so-called “LGBT rights”, Karl Ulrichs. They even admit it, though aren’t willing to confront that they were in fact molested.

“And “ex-homosexuals”??? Either a) they found out they weren’t gay, or b) were victim to conversion therapy. For the record, conversion therapy is abhorrent and should be outlawed.”

I am of the opposite view, that homoseuxality needs to ultimately be cured. Besides, considering the lifestyle has several maladies associated with it, not just STDs, but even being more prone to infections, it’s pretty clear it’s ultimately for their sake to do conversion therapy on them. Besides, what makes you think that the gay person DOESN’T want conversion therapy? What if said gay person actually REQUESTS conversion therapy? Should you refuse him?

“As for that CDC bullshit, homophobic studies don’t count. And it’s literally well-documented that the healthcare issues LGBTQ people face is because of homophobia and transphobia. You can even google this.”

Considering Google has been busted for trying to manipulate search results recently, I don’t think that telling me to do so is really good enough proof. Besides, I’m going by actual medical statistics posted by the CDC.

“Also, you can’t use the d slur if you are not a lesbian yourself. If you do, you’re a lesbophobe.”

N-word priviledges, eh? Well, I never bought that. My idea is, if it’s bad for one to use that word, it’s bad for ALL people to use it, yes, even lesbians. And quite frankly, God already made it clear that homosexuality is a sin, multiple times, including in the New Testament, so whether I am a lesbophobe (that’s a new one) or not is ultimately irrelevant.

“And for the record, I’m not left-wing, and I certainly don’t support communism.”

Really? Because you sure are sounding like you do. And for the record, most leftists DO support homosexuality. Just ask Sartre and Foucault.

"You realize there are other choices between communism and capitalism, right?”

No, actually, there are not. Even Socialism is the same as Communism.

“And I don’t support misogynists, even if they aren’t conservative.”

It’s pointless since you probably won’t read this anyways, but prove it. Walk the walk instead of just talk the talk, to borrow an old cliche. Actually condemn the examples I listed of leftists doing that.

“And Pro-Life does NOT mean you’re not a misogynist. You literally don’t think women can do what they want with their own bodies. And you apparently think a women should have to carry her rapist’s baby, so yeah, you’re a misogynist.”

First of all, Pro-life means defending the baby’s life, which is the most defenseless individual out there. When you’re literally advocating for abortion, you’re advocating for child murder, and what does that make you? Besides, rapists also can demand an abortion just to get rid of any evidence to their rape, so it’s actually disingenous to claim that rapists would want to keep the baby alive. Besides, there’s a little thing called “adoption”. Just because the baby is carried to term doesn’t mean the mother must raise that baby if it was conceived by rape. If she doesn’t want to deal with the fact that she was raped, she can always place the baby into adoption. In fact, NCIS actually dealt with that bit with the character Jack Sloane (and despite the name, Jack’s a woman, a biological woman at that. Jack stands for Jacqueline in this case.). She was raped in college while drunk, yet she still carried the baby to term, and despite clearly loving her newborn daughter, nevertheless put her into adoption largely because she really couldn’t deal with the painful memories of the rape. Ayame from Dead or Alive was a similar case, genuinely loving her daughter Ayane, despite the fact that she existed because Raidou raped her one night. Didn’t have an abortion, but put her into adoption largely thanks to her husband Shiden. And what if the woman DOESN’T want the abortion at all? Besides, the Suffragettes such as Susan B. Anthony were also against abortions, and if anything, they specifically stated that men would use abortions to keep women dependent on men.

“And “let autism define you”…I’m autistic. And upapologetically so. So, apparently you just have some internalized ableism.”

Yeah, I have autism as well, and unapologetically as well. But I don’t use it as a crutch (in fact, rarely see the need to reference it specifically to avoid using it as an excuse), so no, I don’t have internalized ableism.

“That’s not what a Pokémon Stylist is. Serena was a Pokémon Performer. Pokémon Stylists got their own episode in DP. See, this is why you shouldn’t try to complain about shows you don’t watch.”

Fine, I stand corrected there. However, after looking it up on Bulbapedia after you mentioned that it’s not the same as Pokemon Performers, it nevertheless made it VERY clear from various characters such as Paris and Hermione that they were similar to Pokemon Coordinators, and in fact, Paris even specifically stated it was a subset of Pokemon Coordinators, so my point about their similarities still stands right there.

“Lmfao, did you really just play the whole “you’re the real bigot” card??? I’m not a bigot for having no tolerance for intolerance. There is NO REASON I should tolerate intolerance. YOU are still the bigot. A bigot is someone who holds prejudice against other groups, such as LGBTQ people, women, people of color, people with disabilities, etc. YOU fit that bill, especially considering your hatred of LGBTQ people.”

Oh really? Because you seem to be intolerant towards straight people, christians, and all of those types of people, or any traditionally minded women as well. Like an SJW in other words. And for the record, it doesn’t matter what I myself think, what matters is what God thinks since He is in charge of everything. Besides, according to the dictionary, a Bigot is “obstinate and unreasoning attachment to one’s own beliefs and opinions, with intolerance of beliefs opposed to them; also acts or beliefs ensuing from such a condition”, which if anything describes you to a T. At least I make sure to take into account any mistakes I made and admit I’ve made some mistakes in my prior analysis when you point them out (case in point, the bit about Serena having a Stylist goal).

“And people can learn things from another person in ways that don’t involve giving pointers, genius.”

The entire POINT of learning involves being given pointers. That’s even why School exists, not to mention why parents tend to teach their kids life skills.

“I really hope you wake up someday and become a better person, but I doubt you will.”

What you’re acting like is not what God defines as a better person.

“Have fun being an awful and hate-filled person.”

Seriously? I’m the one who at least gave you a chance to talk, and even corrected bits of my analysis that were mistaken. You refused to correct yourself for anything like that. Not to mention you tended to rely on insults and SJW talking points. If anything, you’re the awful and hate-filled person. Nice projection, BTW. And fine, was getting tired of you anyway.

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youngmrkusuma · 8 years ago

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The Naekawa Project - Part 6: Genocider Syo’s Excellent Adventure

Link to AO3: http://archiveofourown.org/works/11529537

Summary: For everyone who wanted a story for Syo. Takes place a year or so after ‘Why the Streams Are Bitter’

Right! Some quick admin before we begin; Earlier this year, I mentioned in this

post

that I was working on a fic that would involve more of the DR cast members. Unfortunately, this isn’t it (although there are a couple of guest appearances here). I decided to push that one back because I wasn’t getting anywhere with it, and because I had a new idea that I was itching to get on paper.

And so here we are.

Now, it should be noted that even though this story does involve Syo, it’s fairly light-hearted and silly. Hope that’s alright. I was getting a bit weary of writing angst and needed a break.

“Compromise” was not an unfamiliar term for Fukawa; living with shitty parents and going to school with shitty classmates had taught her early on that you can’t always have what you want in life. At least, not without giving something up first. She had learnt that sometimes, for the sake of keeping things civil, it was better to just calm down and let things go. To let others have their way. Sometimes, as her boyfriend was wont to do, it was better to just smile and take your problems in stride.

This, was not one of those times.

Even after her other half had agreed to stop killing people, dealing with Syo was still a complete and utter nightmare. Yet Fukawa did her best to be patient. She tried to forgive occasionally opening her closet to find stacks of those vile, X-rated BL doujins that Syo liked to read so much spilling out from a corner. She didn’t mind having her laptop’s hard disk space be taken up by gigabyte after gigabyte of shameless yaoi porn, as long as they were stored somewhere she couldn’t see. She ignored the fact that her internet browser history and favourites bar was full of links to dubious and crassly named websites.

But Fukawa had to draw a line somewhere. And she decided yesterday that she knew right where to put it.

Naegi, who was lending her a sympathetic ear, asked “What did she do this time?”

Fukawa’s cheeks went scarlet. “It’s… um… better if I showed you.”

She went over to her desk and turned on her laptop. As soon as the Desktop wallpaper loaded, Naegi understood. A strangled ‘Oh!’ escaped him and he started blushing as well.

Several youthful individuals. All males. Expressions of pure ecstasy. Naked, alabaster skin. And seed. Everywhere. Lots of it.

A swatch of memory came to him unbidden; the voice of a screeching young man in a youtube video imploring his audience to please “Don’t watch an anime called Boku”. Fukawa slammed the screen shut once Naegi comprehended what he was seeing. His face would stay red throughout their conversation.

“…Well,” he managed, after a moment. “That’s extreme.”

"It-It’s horrible!“ She pulled at her hair. “I-Imagine w-waking up one morning to find that waiting for you!”

As soon as she had seen what Syo had done, Fukawa had grabbed her smartphone and navigated straight to the voice recorder app – the primary mode of communication between the two personalities – and left a heated message on it, about the importance of boundaries and not overstepping them. Then she stuck a post-it note that read 'For Syo’ to the phone and made herself sneeze.

When Fukawa regained consciousness some fifteen minutes later, she found an equally heated message waiting for her.

“You never let me have any fun!” Syo shrieked. “Do you have any idea how hard it is, denying my true nature?? I’m already laying off the real pretty boys for your sake; can’t you just let me have some fictional ones? Besides, I don’t see what the big deal is. You’re a romance author, right? That picture is the purest expression of love there is! Gyahahahaha!!!”

“Purest e-expression of love,” Fukawa seethed, her fingers curling into claws. “What does th-that uncultured swine know about love??”

After some back and forth that lasted for three hours, with some recordings consisting solely of the words “Fuck you”, the two of them eventually came to an understanding. Syo was willing to be a bit more cooperative, even willing to remove the smut from Fukawa’s computer, if four conditions were met.

“Conditions?” Naegi asked. He had a bad feeling about this.

“Y-yeah,” Fukawa pulled out a slip of paper from her pocket. “She made a list.”

The first condition, in Syo’s own words: “I want my own laptop. No cheap shit! It’s gotta be fast and it’s gotta be spacey! Them yaoi vids take up a lot of room. Actually, while I’m at it, make it a Macbook Pro! Hahaha, get it??” (Fukawa shuddered at the stupidity of her joke)

The second condition: She wanted a private place to stash her doujins. More specifically, she wanted her own cabinet, with a lock and key. (“Your closet’s running out of room, Miss Gloomy!”) Since Fukawa had moved out of her parents’ home and into her own apartment, this was easily accomplished.

The third condition: She wanted an allowance. A 'Fujoshi Fund’, as she put it, so she could buy all the merch she wanted without having to steal from Fukawa’s wallet. 80 000 yen a month (haggled down from 100 000).

“Did… Did she just casually admit to stealing from you?”

Fukawa bristled with annoyance. “L-let’s just leave that aside for now.”

“Ohhkkaayy… What about the fourth condition?”

She bit her lip. “That’s w-what I called you here for, a-actually.”

The fourth condition: Syo wanted to go to Comiket. Not just this year, but every year. For the whole three days. “And I mean both NatsuComi and FuyuComi! I want to be with my people!”

“S-She wants to be with her people.” Fukawa rolled her eyes. Then turned to her boyfriend. “NatsuComi starts t-this Saturday. I need you to go with her and make sure she doesn’t get into t-trouble.”

Naegi rubbed his chin, musing. He supposed he should have expected this. “Saturday, huh. Didn’t we have a date planned?”

“We’ll have to c-cancel,” she said, looking guilty. “Sorry a-about this… making you go along with that awful, awful woman. You’re the only o-one I can trust with this…”

“That’s okay,” he smiled at her. Then put his arms around her shoulders. “I don’t mind.”

She leaned against him and smiled back. “Thanks.”

“We’ll need to take some precautions, though. Maybe a disguise.”

“Disguise?”

“Yeah,” he said. “Just in case anyone we know recognises her face… your secret might get out, you know?”

“Oh. R-right.” She was unnerved. “I d-didn’t even think about that… Any ideas?”

“Well, it’s an anime convention, right?” Naegi grinned. “We can have her cosplay as someone who looks nothing like you.”

“Syo.”

“Yes…?” She trilled playfully at him.

“I thought we agreed that you should cosplay as someone who looks nothing like you.”

Syo had done the complete opposite of that. Naegi wasn’t sure who she was supposed to be cosplaying, but all she did was change her hairstyle somewhat, replace her glasses with green contacts and put on some sort of school uniform.

And she had her scissors out. Many of them. Proudly displayed on pouches slung around her waist. It was making him very nervous.

“Oh relax, Macoco! No one’s gonna recognise me.” She waved her hand dismissively.

“Yes, they are!!” He said, exasperated. “You hardly look any different from before! Who are you supposed to be anyway?”

She let out an offended gasp. “You don’t know? I’m Otoya Takechi! From Akuma no Riddle? My poor, misunderstood angel…” She started hugging herself, a disturbingly lewd smile on her lips. “Thrust into the world of assassins, cursed with an insatiable desire to kill, and every bit as beautiful as I am… It’s like her character was just made for me! Kyah, I want Serial Killer insurance, too! Nyahhahahaha!!”

Naegi just stared. He had no idea what she was talking about, and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to know.

“Besides, I’ve been in the business for a long time. Don’t you think I’d know how to keep a low profile? Trust me, Mahkyutie, no one’s gonna know.”

He sighed. “Fine, if you say so.” He didn’t believe her in the slightest – he had been expecting her to don something far more elaborate and transformative – but honestly, he’d rather not argue with her anymore. Talking to her could be… frustrating. It was a bit of a risk, leaving things as they were, but truth be told, he didn’t think it was that likely that they’d bump into anyone they knew here anyway. Comiket was a big event, with thousands of others attending. What were the odds of meeting an acquaintance in this mob? His good luck ought to count for something.

They began making their way to the main convention hall. Might as well enjoy my time here, he thought. Fukawa might have disdained anime and everything related to it, but Naegi himself had always liked it. He had only been to Comiket once before with his sister Komaru, many years ago, just for the first day. He would have come back, except life kept getting in the way.

Well, now you get to come back twice a year, he thought. With Syo.

Attending a convention with a former serial killer. Who he was kinda sorta in a relationship with. Somehow, he didn’t find the idea as objectionable as he thought he would. Without thinking too much about it, he reached out and held Syo’s hand as they walked.

“Oh?” She turned to him, pleasantly surprised. “This is new.”

“Yeah, well,” his cheeks grew a light pink. “We’re technically dating, right? Objectively speaking, you’re still a part of my girlfriend.”

She giggled and suddenly wrapped her arm around his bicep, startling him a little. For several moments, he wasn’t sure how to respond.

“Syo…” he said.

“We share feelings, remember?” She said, sounding unusually lovey-dovey. “Me and Little Miss Gloomy, that is.” In her usual carefree tone: “So, what do you have to say about all this?”

“NatsuComi?” He looked around him, taking in the dozens upon dozens of cosplayers, and the sheer size of the convention building. “I think it’s great, honestly!” Already, he had seen some characters he recognised. Maka Albarn, Kamina and Yoko, Eren Yeager… “There’s so much to see and-”

“No no no, not that!” She cut him off, amused. “I meant about us! You, me and your Emo girlfriend! This love triangle, this Ménage à Trois! Ohohoho,” she started hugging herself again, “dating two girls at once! And here I thought I was bad. Ma-kun, you naughty boy!”

He breathed out through his teeth. Silly him, he actually thought they were having a moment.

Around them, people were starting to stare. “I’m going to pretend you didn’t say anything.” He tried to change the subject immediately. “How’d you get that costume done so quickly anyway? Doesn’t it take most people at least two weeks to have everything ready?” Naegi himself wasn’t able to do much on his end; with only a few days to prep, all he could put together for a costume was a red hoodie and a child’s Kamen Rider mask.

Which made him feel pretty lame, he had to admit, but at least it got the job of hiding his identity done.

She shrugged. “I bought it a couple of months ago. Was planning to come here, whether Gloomy would let me or not. Shit’s pretty expensive, but hey,” she ran her fingers through her hair, “take one good look at me and tell me it isn’t worth it, eh?” She grinned and winked at him.

“Expensive? Didn’t you steal the money for that from Touko?”

Her mouth dropped open. “I didn’t steal it!”

He raised an eyebrow. And though she couldn’t see it through the mask he wore, she got the message.

“Whatever! It’s not stealing if you both share the same body.”

A short laugh escaped him, mainly because he didn’t know how else to react. “What the hell kind of logic is that?”

“It’s called sharing! We’re already sharing a body, and we’re already sharing you! What’s the harm of sharing some other things too?”

He didn’t say anything. Don’t bother arguing, Makoto, he told himself, you’re never going to talk sense to her.

They managed to beat the long queue to enter Comiket by arriving a bit later than most everyone else. Syo had protested wildly against this decision, (“all of the good stuff would be sold out by then!”) but she relented when Naegi pointed out that standing in line under the punishing summer sun was a good way to take the fun right out of anything. The second they stepped into the convention hall, she began taking longer strides and running her tongue over her lips. Predictably, she was leading them right towards the Adult Doujin booths. She took in a deep whiff of cool, conditioned air.

“Aaahhhh, ambrosia!” She shivered, barely able to contain her excitement. “Can you smell it, Ma-kun?”

“Smell?” He sniffed around him. “I don’t smell anything.”

“No…” she intoned dramatically. “Not with your nose, young grasshopper. With your heart… Can’t you tell? It’s the smell… of adventure!! Haha!”

“If you say so.”

She tutted. “Party pooper. No wonder Miss Gloomy likes you so much; you’re as boring as she is!”

No response. Naegi didn’t want to dignify the jab, especially since it was also aimed at Fukawa.

“Just remember to behave yourself,” was all he cared to say. “That was what we agreed on.”

“Ooh, aren’t we snippy! Did I strike a nerve?”

“Syo.” He shot her a look. He was starting to lose his patience.

“Hmph! Well, if you’re going to be that way, I might as well enjoy the festivities by myself!”

With that, she dashed off into the crowd, apropos of nothing and with shocking speed. It took Naegi several seconds to even process what just happened.

“Wah! Syo, wait!” He chased after her.

Having a known murderer disappear from sight and into a mass of potential victims was bad for obvious reasons, even if said murderer had sworn off of killing people. If Naegi was being truthful, he didn’t yet fully believe it was safe to trust Syo’s word. Especially when she had so many pairs of her scissors on her. Who knows what she would get up to while he wasn’t watching?

Damn it, Makoto, you had one job, he cursed himself. How did you manage to screw that up?

After combing through the sea of unfamiliar faces for at least ten minutes, he did manage to find his girlfriend at one of the booths. He nearly had a panic attack the moment he saw who was manning it. Surrounded by mountainous piles of Heretical ☆ Angel Super Squishy Princess doujins, with the aura of a grand and magnanimous king, was their old classmate Hifumi Yamada.

“Gentlemen, gentlemen, please!” he was saying, to the impressively large mob of customers at his booth clamouring for his attention. “Calm down! There’s plenty of Byuuko to go around! No shoving!”

Syo was standing by the side of the booth, thumbing through the pages of one of his creations. Her expression quickly became one of displeasure and she threw it back at Yamada.

“Hetero Lolicon trash!!” She yelled. “I thought you were a connoisseur!”

“Oho!” Yamada didn’t seem the least bit insulted by her actions. He readjusted his glasses. “I see we have a young lady of particular taste! Fret not, Fujoshi-dono, I do believe I have something more suited for you.” He reached under the booth and pulled out another doujinshi, handing it to Syo. Astoundingly, he didn’t seem to recognise who she was, much to Naegi’s relief.

She scanned through the book with scepticism at first, then her eyes became starry. She held it close to her chest.

“Forgive my earlier rudeness, kind sir,” she said coquettishly, “do you have any more just like this?”

(Naegi, who was observing this exchange from afar, was aghast. He had never seen her act like that before)

Yamada’s grin was smug and satisfied. He reached under the booth again, and emerged with a variety of BL doujins. “Take your pick, Fujoshi-dono,” he said. She slammed down a 5000 yen note onto his table immediately.

“One copy of each!” She declared shrilly. “Keep the change!”

Syo was giddy with delight when she returned to Naegi’s side, hugging her new acquisitions tightly. “Mako-chan, look!” She was practically singing. “Isn’t it wonderful?” She shoved an open doujinshi into his face. The image made him yelp and blush an even deeper red than when he saw Fukawa’s desktop. “It was worth coming here just for these! Gyahahahaha!”

He took a moment to recollect his scattered thoughts. He never knew that Yamada was into this sort of thing.

“Don’t run off like that! You had me worried sick!”

“Oh please,” she made a flippant gesture. “I’m a grown serial killer! Don’t you think I can take care of myself?”

“That’s not the point! You were supposed to be careful! What if Yamada had recognised you??”

She made a raspberry. “I don’t a babysitter!” And took off again.

“Ah! No, come back!” But she was already gone, bending into the crowd once more.

Naegi let out a heavy sigh. This was going to be a very long day.

If Syo could describe the experience of coming to Comiket, she would have likened it to being a caterpillar emerging from its cocoon as a beautiful butterfly, finally free after months of captivity to spread its wings across the endless azure and see the world. Sure, she couldn’t kill anymore – what with that promise she made and everything – but freedom was freedom. Mako-chii was such a sweet boy, but she couldn’t allow him to spoil her fun with his bad vibes and slow her down. Not when there was so much to see! So much to buy and consume!

She spied another booth that looked promising. And another. And another. She’d visit them all, of course, in due time. But she couldn’t decide who first.

She settled for the nearest one. Began perusing all they had to offer hungrily. Within a half hour, she had purchased another twenty books of lovely, gratuitous smut. Costly, yes, but she wasn’t the one paying for it. Her other half was more than capable of bearing the expense; as part of the deal with Miss Gloomy, a tidy sum was set aside for her to play around with. Besides, she’d have an eternity to fill before FuyuComi. She had to make the best of this opportunity.

And God knows she hadn’t done a bad job of it so far, oh yes. It hadn’t mattered what genre or fandom they were from; as long as they were hot, she bought what she could. Her precious darlings. Mmm-mmm. Cloud X Sephiroth, Rikku X Sora, some ship from another one of those sports animes, she didn’t care. She now had two carrier bags worth of doujins, and it was all delicious.

Shame there wasn’t any guro around here, though. Oh well.

“Maybe I’ll make some of my own,” she said aloud, and cackled.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the convention hall, Naegi kept up his search. He didn’t understand how Syo could be so quick, or how she could so efficiently disappear from view. Twice now, he had spotted her from a distance but lost track of her within the space of a few seconds, while trying to navigate through the crowd. And the one time he did catch up to her, she vanished like before without so much as a warning. This was not how he envisioned spending the day.

He should have been having fun. He should have been taking pictures and trying out fan-made games and buying posters and keychains and figurines. Not dealing with this insanity.

At least he could be sure (somewhat) that Syo hadn’t hurt anyone yet. No one was screaming or calling security. So maybe she was keeping her promise and he was just being paranoid. Still, there was another concern; if she bumped into anyone else they knew ̶ someone much sharper than Yamada-kun, say ̶ it could mean trouble for-

“Oh my,” said a familiar voice. “This is unexpected,”

“It’s Naegi-kun.” said another.

So much for my good luck, he cursed inwardly as he turned to face the speakers. He did a double take when he saw who they were.

“…Celes-san? Kirigiri-san?”

Both were dressed in their usual attire, eyeing him curiously, standing arm in arm. That last detail recalled to mind the rumours Naegi heard about the two when they were still in school. He had erroneously dismissed it as just bitter spiteful diatribe from the boys who tried asking them out and failed. Guess they really were dating…

“Um… How did you know it was me?”

Celestia rolled her eyes. Her girlfriend crossed her arms.

“You’re speaking to the Queen of Liars, Naegi-kun.”

“And I work for a detective agency,” Kirigiri said. “You’re not fooling either of us in that silly getup.”

Heat rushed to his face. Now he felt even more lame than before.

“I didn’t know you were into conventions,” he said, addressing them both.

“Why not?” Celestia smiled. She lifted a paper bag full of soft-pastel coloured garments that bore the words Angelic Pretty in pink cursive letters (The Ariake branch was doing some kind of promotion here, it seemed). “They have such lovely dresses for sale. Exactly my style.” Behind her, Kirigiri was smiling at her date affectionately.

“I’m just tagging along,” she said.

A plethora of questions formed on the tip of Naegi’s tongue, but before he could ask any of them, he spotted a swish of dusky purple hair, from a long way off. That had to be Syo. He needed to get a move on fast.

“Sorry, I’d really love to catch up, but I was here with a friend, and I’ve lost them.”

“Oh? Maybe we could help,” Kirigiri offered.

“Um, that’s okay!” If they could see through the mask and hoodie, Naegi had doubts that Syo’s disguise would have lasted very long under their scrutiny. Best not to get them involved. “Talk to you later, bye guys!”

They watched as he rushed off, awkward and graceless as a bull in a china shop. “A friend, huh.” Celes remarked.

Kirigiri cocked her head. “Was he talking about that girl with the scissors?”

“I believe so.”

“Any clue who she is?” Kirigiri asked.

She pondered for a moment, then shrugged. “Haven’t the foggiest,” she said, having already lost interest. “Come on, my dear.” She beamed at Kirigiri. “We’ve got more shopping to do.”

Kirigiri chuckled. “Yes, ma'am.”

“…and that’s why I prefer Kanehide,” Syo was saying, to a fellow NatsuComi attendee in plain clothes who had asked for a photograph. She took a swig from a bottle of cherry cola, washing the dryness from her tongue.

“Right??” The girl chirruped excitedly. “They went through hell and back for each other! There’s no way they’re 'just friends’. The haters don’t know what they’re talking about!”

Three and a half hours had passed since she first stepped into Comiket. Running around sampling comics while lugging two heavy bags of booty was hard work, so she was taking a break. The day’s events had already taken out quite a bit from her.

“And that damn ending,” the girl continued. “I wanted to cry! The anime can’t hold a candle to the manga, though. There were so many things they had to cut out.”

Syo nodded at all this, taking another pull from her drink. It had been awhile since she had anyone to talk to about her passions. Naegi, sweet boy, would have made a willing enough audience for her discussions, but he wouldn’t have been able to relate; he didn’t just share her interest.

“Anyway, speaking of anime, have you seen Owari No Seraph?”

“I haven’t.” She leaned forward. In conspiratorial whisper: “But I’ve heard some ̶ ah, interesting things about it. Is it any good?”

The girl grinned. “It’s the best. The series flagship is to die for. And there’s this shota cutie who you could just-”

"Mariko-chan!“ A young man called out to her. "We’re going for ice cream! You coming?”

“Ah, that’s my cue.” She gave Syo an apologetic smile. “Sorry, I’ve gotta go now. Bye.” And made to leave. “Wait for me, please!!”

Owari No Seraph, eh? She snickered. She was definitely going to check that one out. Downing the rest of her cola in one long, refreshing gulp, Syo hefted her bags and got back to prowling. Those doujins weren’t going to buy themselves.

But two things slowed her advance. First, the bags were getting a little too heavy. One of the numerous downsides to sharing a body with Tou-chan was that she was almost criminally unfit; years of sitting on her ass, writing those sappy, stuffy novels had not done her physique any favours.

But second, and most importantly, she was starting to get worried about Mako-chii. It had been quite some time since she last saw him. Where the hell was he? He should have caught up to her by now, yammering on about how Syo, you can’t do this, or Syo, you can’t do that. Did he get lost? Maybe she should slow it down so he could catch up. Enough torturing for the poor boy.

Gloomy’s gonna be pissed if you let anything happen to him. Hell, she’d be pissed with herself if she let anything happen to him. Good-natured little shit. Lacking as he was in the looks and the height department, she understood why Tou-chan liked him so much, she really did. Even if she did a lousy job of showing it.

She sighed. “Guess I should go look for him.” Her darlings could wait a little while longer. There was always Days Two and Three anyway.

“The fuck didn’t you watch where you were going, bastard!?”

Naegi’s horrendous form of luck had once again landed him into hot soup. Having spotted a glimpse of what might have been his girlfriend in the distance, he had broken into a sprint. A particularly beefy-looking cosplayer with a spiky blue wig and a massive black Styrofoam sword had chosen the wrong moment to set his prop down so he could tie his shoe, inadvertently placing it in the perfect position for Naegi to run into and trip, snapping it in several places.

“Took me three fucking weeks to put this thing together, asshole,” the cosplayer was saying. “And I’ve got a photoshoot tomorrow. The fuck am I supposed to do now?”

Naegi put his hands up defensively. This was bad. Very bad.

“I-I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to, I was just… in a rush…” he pulled out his wallet. “I… I’ll pay for it. How much did it cost?”

“Pay for it? Pay for it??” The young man seemed outraged by the very notion. “Goddamn right, you’ll pay for it. C'mere.” And grabbed him by the collar with one very large hand. Around them, people were watching. No one seemed to want to do anything to help. Naegi was on his own.

This was definitely not how he envisioned spending the day.

He tried to put up a struggle, tried to reason with his aggressor, but that didn’t amount to much. Soon, Naegi found himself in an unfamiliar corridor, away from the rest of the convention. Some kind of fire exit perhaps? A hard shove sent him sprawling backwards into a white wall.

“Please, calm down,” he managed, weakly. “You don’t need to-”

He was cut off by a sudden and powerful uppercut to the belly. The pain drove the wind out of him and brought tears to his eyes. He heard the sound of knuckles cracking.

“That’s just the start, asshole.”

Naegi hadn’t realised he had gone to his knees until he looked up. Another punch dented the cheap, paper-thin plastic of his Kamen Rider mask. “Teach you to ruin my day.”

He didn’t yet know this – and wouldn’t have grasped it until he thought back to this some weeks later – but at that moment, Naegi’s own twisted serendipity had landed him right where he needed to be, just as it always did. Unfortunately for him, he’d have to deal with this unpleasantness first. It should have come as no surprise that out of everyone he could have ran into in NatsuComi, it had to be some jumped-up musclehead stereotype with a chip on his shoulder, before things would start working themselves out; he’d been dealing with crap like this since middle school.

How’d it come to this? He remembered asking himself. How’d go from spend the day having fun to making sure Syo didn’t murder somebody to get beat up in a corridor because of something you didn’t mean to-

“Oi.”

That voice. It wasn’t from the young man. It was softer. Feminine. And infinitely more terrifying. Through the watery haze of his tears, he could make out another figure, against the backdrop of painted concrete. A wave of fear and dread overtook him when he realised who it was.

“Syo…”

He wasn’t afraid for himself. Syo wouldn’t have harmed him. This young man, however…

“Mmm, aren’t you a cutie.” She smiled, and her fingertips danced over the handles of her scissors. “Handsome, hunky… Been awhile since I’ve done anyone. Now, just what do you think you’re doing to my man?”

She was met with a stare. “Who the fuck are you?”

“Syo,” Naegi called out from where he knelt. “Don’t hurt him, please…”

Horrible images came to him. Blood. Sharpened steel glistening under fluorescent lights. Arms impaled against a wall, next to a message in sticky dripping red. Whatever this young man did to him, he didn’t deserve to end up another scar on Fukawa’s thigh.

But Syo gave Naegi a look that was surprisingly tender.

“Don’t you worry, Ma-kun,” she assured. “I won’t hurt him. Much.”

Between them, the young man’s expression became one of outrage. “You? Hurt me?” He took a step towards her. “Is this supposed to be some kind of joke, bitch?”

She licked her lips languorously. “Oh, I’m gonna enjoy this.”

Raw panic had compelled Naegi to try and stand. The pain in his belly was subsiding, but it was still enough to hinder him considerably. It was a good thing he hadn’t had a bite to eat since breakfast; he felt ready to dry heave all over the floor.

Gotta stop her, he said to himself. But Syo’s scissors were already out, tearing through the air with frightening speed. The cosplayer hadn’t thought twice about taking a swing at her before she started slashing. There was the sound of ripping fabric and a cry of shock by the time Naegi got to his feet. She must have cut the young man at least a dozen times in the space of those few seconds. He feared the worst; was he going to look up and find another victim of hers?

He did not.

All the same, however, he did regret looking up.

All across the floor were the tattered remains of the young man’s clothes. For what must have been the third time this week, Naegi found himself staring at naked, alabaster skin. Lord have mercy… he blushed again. This young man was a lot more well-built than he thought.

Syo’s bladework had been precise. Surgical. She hadn’t drawn a single drop of blood, yet damage had been done anyway. You could see it on the young man’s face.

“Aaahh!?” was all that escaped him. He didn’t seem to comprehend how he could have ended up like this.

“Well now!” She giggled. “I guess it really is true, what they say about men with big swords!” She wagged her pinkie at him, then howled with laughter.

The young man let out a shriek and ran straight for a corner, attempting to preserve what remained of his modesty.

“You b-b-bitch!!” He screeched at her, from a huddled position. “I-I’ll get e-even for t-this, yo-”

“No,” she interrupted, hurling one of her weapons at his direction, where it buried itself into the wall inches from his head. “You won’t.” He whimpered and fell silent.

“You okay?” She turned her attention to Naegi, sounding genuinely concerned. “Hold still now, let me see.” She lifted the Kamen Rider mask gingerly from his face. An enormous goose egg of a bruise was rising majestically from under his right eye. He had his hand over his stomach where the cosplayer had struck him, but he was okay. Mostly. “I… I’m alright,” he said. “Just a little shaken up, is all. I-”

She put her arms around him and pulled him close, letting out what might have been a sigh of relief, squeezing him tight. Neither of them said anything for awhile.

“Come on, Makoto,” she smiled at him. “Let’s get out of here.

The rest of Comiket went by that afternoon without a hitch. Syo was back to her usual self once they rejoined the convention.

"But did you see the guns on that fuckboy? Woowie!” She fanned herself with an open hand. “He was hot, hot, hot!! I wouldn’t mind never killing again if I could do that to some cutie every once in a while! Gyahahahaha!!”

Following close behind her, with one of her carrier bags on his shoulder, Naegi winced. “Please don’t. You really shouldn’t be doing that to people.”

“Yeah, and he shouldn’t be beating the crap out of someone for no good goddamn reason,” she said offhandedly, unconsciously tightening her grip around his hand. She’d been holding it ever since they walked out of that fire escape.

“Um, about that,” Naegi said, with what might have been guilt. “Thank you.”

She turned to him and cocked her head. “What for?”

“For not killing that guy,” he spoke softly, in case anyone heard. “And for saving me.”

“D'aww, you’re such a sweetheart! You’re welcome!” She coiled her arm around his bicep once more. It made his heart race. “Wouldn’t have been a good idea to do him anyway,” she continued. “Too many witnesses, hahahaha!”

In all seriousness, Naegi had been wrong not to trust her. And he couldn’t be happier to be proven wrong. He owed her an apology.

“I owe you an apology,” he said. “I didn’t think you’d keep your word. I should have trusted you more. I’m sorry.”

“Hmm? Oh. Yeah, sure.” She wasn’t even paying attention. “I forgive you, I guess.” Her focus was more directed towards another booth, this one proudly displaying Daimakuras with some very under-dressed pretty boys. “Hey, Ma-kun, could you lend me some cash? I’m almost out.”

Naegi blinked twice, certain he had misheard her. “What? How??” He was incredulous. “Touko gave you like 150 000 yen for the whole three days!” He started rummaging through the bag he carried. “How many of these things did you buy??”

“I don’t know, I lost count after… uh, fifty?”

“Fifty?”

“Fifty.”

Naegi shook his head in utter disbelief, his earlier guilt already forgotten. “Syo, I think you have a problem.”

“Oh, whatever! You gonna lend me the money or not?”

Soon enough, two bags became three. Naegi couldn’t remember the last time his wallet felt this light (or his shoulders so heavy). Yet it hadn’t been a bad day, even with all the running around, the excessive expenditure and that scuffle in the fire escape. When he was spending time with Syo rather than chasing her around, things were… pleasant. Much more than he expected. It was actually making him look forward to Days Two and Three.

As long as Syo didn’t start speeding off again.

Which he doubted she would, anyway. She was keeping him very close to her now, hovering over him protectively. Even as she sampled more doujins from booth after booth, she kept one eye on him. It stayed that way even as Day One of Comiket drew to a close and the crowds thinned in the convention hall. It stayed that way as they started making their way out of there.

“That bag giving you any trouble?” She asked.

He shook his head, touched by her concern. “No, I’m good.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah.” Then he smiled. “You know, that sounds so strange, coming from you.”

“Tch, rude!” She grinned. “Maybe I shouldn’t have been bothered after all.” But she moved in a little nearer so they were almost shoulder to shoulder, keeping him there beside her for most of the trip home.

She wasn’t about to let Mako-pyon out of her sight for a while, oh no.

“Ah! Y-Your face! What happened??”

Fukawa’s reaction was both expected and immediate; as soon as Syo made herself sneeze and Touko turned her eyes to Naegi, she saw the bruise and the ice pack he was holding up to it.

“H-hey, come on, let me s-see…” She sounded almost exactly like Syo had that afternoon, lifting the pack away and cupping his cheek tenderly. They were far more alike than they knew, Naegi thought, as he spent the next three minutes or so with her fussing over him, in spite of repeated assurances that - Yes, he was fine, and No, it didn’t hurt anymore.

“Ngghh!! She did this, didn’t she!?” Fukawa hissed, hands bunching into fists. “I knew it! I k-knew we couldn’t t-trust that ridiculous harlot! She’s gone too f-far this time! Daring to lay a hand on you…” She made as if to wring her fingers into Syo’s neck.

“No, no! That’s not what happened at all!” He explained the day’s events to her, calming her down a little.

“Hmph! Well, you still got hurt b-because of her.” She mumbled, folding her arms crossly. “If she had just behaved herself, this would never have happened…”

“You’re being too hard on her.” He said, patiently. “She did help me out, after all. And she’s still keeping her promise about not killing anymore. I think we should cut her some slack.”

“F-fine, if you say so.” She sounded unconvinced. “But if you get h-hurt again, the deal’s off. I don’t care w-what she does.” Her shoulders slumped as she allowed herself to relax, before they suddenly tensed again when she looked down.

“Ugh, what did she m-make me wear? What is all this crap??”

Syo hadn’t bothered changing out of her clothes before surrendering control back to Fukawa. As soon as they were done packing her new doujins somewhere inconspicuous, she smiled at Naegi and said “Alright, you can have Tou-chan back now.”

“She was supposed to be cosplaying as someone named Otoya… or something,” he said, scratching the back of his head. What was it that Syo was going on about again? Akuma no… Rhythm? River? He already forgot. Oh well. He didn’t think Fukawa cared about that in the least.

“Anyway, she told me to tell you that she’s going to be wearing that tomorrow, so don’t put it in the wash yet,” he said, moving to sit on her couch. “Just fold it and leave it somewhere she can see.”

“Fine, fine.” She made a dismissive gesture. “Honestly. That woman…” One of her hands brushed against the handles of Syo’s homemade scissors and recoiled from them as if she had touched something filthy. “This a-arrangement is going to be more trouble than it’s worth.”

Fatigue was starting to set in for her. She was feeling the full weight of Syo’s physical actions for the whole day on her body. Unceremoniously, she collapsed into the couch next to Naegi and lay her head onto his lap, startling him. This was a first.

She didn’t object when he placed a hand on her arm. She nuzzled against him and sighed.

“S-so, what else did she say?”

“She’s asking for more money,” he said, feeling bad for dropping this on her now, when she was so exhausted. “She’s already spent what you gave her.”

“Geh!” Fukawa went rigid. “O-of course she did.” Then relaxed once more. In a softer tone: “A-anything else?”

“No. Not that I remember, anyway.”

“And what about you?” She turned to face him, concerned. “There’s still two more days of this a-absurdity. Are you going to be okay?”

He considered.

“I’ll be fine,” he said, after awhile. “She’ll make sure of it. I think.”

“She damn well better,” Fukawa seethed, thinking about her smartphone, the massive dent in her chequebook, and the harm that had already befallen poor Naegi because of Syo. To hell with what he said; as soon as her boyfriend went home and she had taken all this cosplay garbage off of her person, she and that diseased lunatic were going to have a very long talk.

End Notes: In order to better understand Syo as a character, I decided to re-read two of my favourite stories involving her as inspiration. These stories are “Burning Down Love” by thereisafire and “why stand on formalities when we’re already so close” by suitablyskippy. I highly recommend checking them out. (Fair warning, though; these stories are much darker and more violent. Proceed at your own discretion) Also, I have never been to Comiket in my life. Most of what’s described here is based on things I’ve heard from others. Please pardon any factual inaccuracies.

#dangan ronpa #naekawa #makosyo #celegiri #fukaegi #naefuka #naegi x fukawa #fluff #rarepair #i'm gonna make this ship sail if it's the last thing i do #naesyo

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