#minekura kazuya

[sakuplumeria]

To all Saiyuki fans, Mods and some friends have been hosting some Saiyuki events and we want to know your opinion for future events...

If you would kindly fill this short interest check survey~

THANK YOU! Reblogs are very appreciated

[monthlyminekura]

Prompt list is here!!!

Fanarts, fanfics, covers, mood boards, and everything else. We'll be glad to celebrate Christmas with any of your work around Minekura's works! Not only limited to Saiyuki, but also Araiso, Wild Adapter, Bus Gamer, and any of her works are welcomed.

Remember to use the hashtags #monthlyminekura and #minekura kazuya

Also a big THANK YOU to @adagiospace for making the promotion art!

[tofueggnoodles]

Saiyuki Novel by Minekura Kazuya/Misagi Hijiri (published by G-Fantasy / Square Enix in 1999): Introductions and links to translations of the Drama CDs

This post was inspired by @miss-fiery’s musing on Sanzo’s seemingly unlimited supply of bullets. 😁

As stated on the Saiyuki fandom wiki page, the novel consisted of three volumes. Interestingly, I have always thought of each volume as a separate novel.

Why? The plots are independent of each other. To understand and enjoy the stories, you do not need to read the novels (or volumes) or listen to the Drama CDs in order.

Now, on to the introductions and my brief thoughts on each volume.

Volume 1: Kaen no Zanmu

Goku rescued a baby in a wooden crate floating down the river (sounds familiar, right). Hakkai got rid of a salamander youkai who turned up to claim the baby as his prize. On closer examination, the Ikkou discovered that the baby possessed red eyes and hair.

They entered a nearby town, only to be greeted with hostility by the townspeople. It turned out that the town had a pact with a youkai, a different one from the youkai that Hakkai had killed. Each household were to send a member as a sacrifice to this youkai. Otherwise, the town would be attacked by the youkai.

The Ikkou met the baby’s young aunt, Rikei, who told them that she intended to send her nephew to the youkai again. The penalty for not sending a sacrifice was a wholesale massacre of the household. Moreover, since the baby’s parents were dead and she was his sole surviving relative, she reasoned that the baby would not survive anyway if she were to offer herself as the sacrifice.

The Ikkou, or rather, Goku, came up with a ‘brilliant’ plan to save both the baby and the town.

The hanyou baby served as a plot device and to highlight Gojyo’s and to a lesser extent, Sanzo’s pasts.

Translation of the Drama CD by KonnyakuHonyaku can be found here.

Bonus: Horiuchi Ken'yū played the unfortunate salamander youkai who met his end at Hakkai’s hands.

Volume 2: Kyouka Suigetsu

A bloodthirsty mass-murderer seemed to be making their way toward Chang’an. Several nearby villages had already been wiped out at the start of the story. Because of the gruesome way the victims were killed (torn apart as if by a youkai’s claws) and Hakkai’s past, the monk-enforcers tasked with investigating the murders considered him the prime suspect.

Goku befriended the sole witness to one of the mass murders, a boy called Yoku, who seemed to still be in shock. Yoku had no idea how the murderer looked like. He only remembered hearing the unseen murderer utter the word ‘Kanan’....

Meanwhile, Gojyo had to deal with a hostile new housemate whom Hakkai had brought home one rainy night. Sanzo was away on a mystery mission from the Three Aspects, a mission apparently unconnected to the case of the mass murders.

Hakkai’s past is the focus of this volume, which also explained how he met Hakuryuu/Jeep and why our lovable little dragon seemed to have two names.

Translation of the Drama CD by Anthey Oom can be found here.

Note about this translation: There are places that did not make sense to me until I listened to the corresponding sections in the Drama CD and realized that those translations were technically correct, if one were to substitute the phrases with their homonyms. My guess is that the translator did their best in a pre-jisho.com era. Although their grasp of Japanese did not seem to be as good as KonnyakuHonyaku’s. the mistakes are understandable, since Japanese is rife with homonyms.

[As an aside, virtually all subtitling projects of Japanese (TV) Dramas today employ Japanese subtitles, which can be machine-translated to English and then checked manually. One has to be very brave and foolish (or a die-hard fan) to translate by ear these days. I am still looking for a machine-translator that can handle Drama CDs and do not require installations on a Linux/Unix machine or expertise in Python. DeepL and Google Translate might work with short sentences but not an hour worth of dialogues. Until then, I am slowly translating some favorite BL Drama CDs in my free time, averaging 1-2 minutes worth of dialogues each night....]

Volume 3: Rasen No Koyomi

Having run out of bullets, Sanzo asked Hakkai to make a detour to a small town, where an old blacksmith acquaintance lived.

During the drive to the town, we hear a juicy tidbit from Hakkai about how Gojyo narrowly escaped a forced marriage. Later, we get more insight into why it is a bad idea for Gojyo and Goku to room together, at least, bad for the proprietor of the inn.

The flashbacks reveal an adventure of Kouryuu’s not long after he left the Kinzan temple. Wounded after an encounter with some youkai and having lost his consciousness, he woke up in the dwelling of a strange man, who sardonically replied to Kouryuu’s curt question of “You are?” with: “What do you want to know about me? Age? Name? Or my type when it comes to the ladies? My three sizes?” 🤣

Back to the present, after an apparently humdrum walk, Gojyo returned to the inn with a guest. The problem is, only Hakkai and Sanzo were able to see the guest, at least in the beginning....

The focus of this volume is obviously on Sanzo, but 39/93 fans will enjoy the tender moment between Sanzo and Goku near the end.

Translation of the Drama CD by KonnyakuHonyaku can be found here.

You can download the Drama CDs here, courtesy of @seiten-taisei.

[saiyukiitaliaandinternational]

Month of Saiyuki (day 22)

What is your favourite piece of art done by Minekura Sensei?

Actually I have several pieces I love to death (enjoy):

[ratty000]

A Night With Just the Two of Us by Marlboro

Hello I decided to bite the bullet and get photoshop to practice cleaning and typesetting. I translated a goku x sanzo comic from pixiv. Please like and favorite the original if you have a pixiv account. Link in Japanese title below. Full comic under the keep reading.

二人きりの夜 by マルボロ

[oratokyosaigunda]

Monthly Comic ZERO-SUM cover 2024年11月 issue

[saiyuki-ing]

Monthly Minekura Christmas Edition

Day 3 - Stockings

Featuring: a cozy lil' guy

[saykamachuhirik]

day 12 | free |

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!🎄🎄

[bijectiveandinvertible]

Goujun/Elf

The Dragon King of the West glowered at the General and the Marshall of the Western Army. 

“Explain—” he demanded, “How exactly did you both manage to destroy an entire hectare of the Jade Empresses’s Garden when you were supposed to be escorting the Goddess Freyja around the palace.”

“Well—“ Marshall Tenpou started explain. But he was interrupted by General Kenren, “See we may have angered the God Óðr by comparing the Goddess with Konzen.”

“Konzen? Konzen Douji?” Goujun’s eyes bugged out.

“We were just making conversation.” Kenren defended himself.

“We merely told the Goddess that she and Konzen had the same hair colour,” Tenpou explained.

“And when the Goddess asked about Konzen—“

“One of the guards may have made regrettable comments about Konzen—“

“— and Óðr may have overheard.”

“And when the God of Frenzy hears something that might sound like an insult towards his wife—“

Goujun glared harder, his spiked ears flicking in anger.

Kenren brightened before commenting, “You know… Goujun, you have the same ears as the Goddess Freyja. Are you also a Vanir?”

——————

A few hours later

“Explain—” Konzen demanded, aghast at the amount of paperwork in front of him, “How exactly did you both manage to destroy an entire building by angering the Dragon King of the West into reverting to his true form!”

----------

Written for @monthlyminekura Christmas Edition. Day 11: Elf

A/N: The Vanir's are basically elves in Norse Mythology from what I understand. Or rather Tolkein took the concept from here.... Look not a lot is known about norse Mythos in general as little records exist. But google tells me that Óðr is the God of Madness/Violent Anger (?) maybe.

[cawcawkarasu]

The first white snow fell on his cigarette as Jikaku walked on the garden of the temple.

“Ah, is it that time of the year already?” He exhaled a lungful of smoke into the air. His mind went back to the past when he trained eleven young monks to become a Sanzo priest. One of them ever dared to pull him into the freezing water, that young student barely did it.

The old man chuckled as he reminisced, “Time sure flies…”

His eyes then looked far into the distance. “I'm still waiting for that baby that you picked up, brat.”

Written for @monthlyminekura 's Christmas Edition 2023 - "Snow"

[sakuplumeria]

My submission for @monthlyminekura this month!

I did choose the prompt Steampunk because I like the style, I’m just grateful I managed to finish this. So hard but I also very enjoyable ❤️💛💜💚

[kkaras-sk]

Happy Valentine's Day!   Dear @luciusaelius I wish you a nice day and a life full of joy and laughs! An AU world were Homura is a sensei teaching “special” kids to be in a harmony with their "spirits".

[tofueggnoodles]

They’re Back! Araiso Private High School Student Council Executive Committee Vol. 2 Scene 5: Showdown! The Snow Queen

Click here to listen to the track on youtube.

Summary: In the finale of the play, Tokito rescued Kubota from the clutches of the Snow Queen.

--------

Ainoura: How many countries had he traversed? How many mountains had he crossed over? He had lost count of them all. At long last, Tokito arrived in the bitterly cold Ice Country.

Tokito (trudging through the snow): It’s so cold! But, I’ll only have to put up with it for just a bit longer. I can see a building over there – there’s no mistaking it – that must be the Ice Castle.

--------

Kubota: Mmm?

Fujiwara: What’s the matter, Kubota-san?

Kubota: I have no idea what’s going on, but it feels as if something is oozing from my heart.

Fujiwara: I can’t allow that to happen! Your heart is already frozen into ice. It’d be disastrous if it were to melt. I’ll have to increase the snowfall and lower the temperature!

--------

(The blizzard grows stronger.)

Tokito: Damn it! I won’t give in! If I clear my mind of all worldly thoughts, even fire will feel cool, you bastard!

Matsubara: That’s not the right proverb to use. The image it conveys is opposite to the situation.

(Tokito screams in determination as he rushes toward the Ice Castle.)

Tokito (enters the castle): Is he upstairs? (runs up the stairs)

--------

Kubota: Ah, he’s here.

Fujiwara: Eh?

(Tokito pushes the door open and pants heavily.)

Tokito: Hey!

Fujiwara: You? Why are you here?

Tokito: I’ve come to take you home, Kubo-chan. Let’s go.

Fujiwara: Get real! Kubota-san’s already mine!

Kubota: I’m sorry, Tokito, but it seems I can no longer go home.

Tokito (approaches Kubota): Kubo-chan... your body....

Ainoura: Completely frozen into ice and covered with frost, Kubota’s body was pure white and resembled an ice sculpture.

Kubota: I can neither touch you nor stay by your side. Therefore –

(Tokito gasps.)

Kubota: – I must already be dead.

Tokito: Damn it...! Damn it!

Fujiwara: What’s that? A sword of flame has just materialized in Tokito’s right hand?

Tokito: Is this the magic sword that granny gave me? I see.... This must be how it’s meant to be used!

Fujiwara: A flame like that – my blizzard will snuff it out in no time! (aims a gust of icy wind at Tokito)

Fujiwara: Impossible! The snow was melted by the edge of the sword?

(Tokito shouts as he brandishes his sword against the blizzard and moves forward.)

Fujiwara: Don’t come any closer!

(Tokito’s sword slashes through something.)

Kubota: Mmm?

(The children in the audience scream in horror.)

Fujiwara: Eh? Why did you go for Kubota-san’s heart instead of mine? Have you lost your mind, Tokito?

(The sword emits a loud hum, which fades into a hiss after a while.)

Tokito: I’m very much in my usual state of mind. Right, Kubo-chan?

Kubota: Yes, you are, indeed. You always know what I want you to do the most.

(The sword blazes once more with a loud hum.)

Tokito: Wait for me in the next world, Kubo-chan!

Kubota: I’ll do that at leisure.

(Tokito pushes his sword deeper into Kubota’s chest. A smash is heard, followed by a tingling sound effect.)

Tokito: E–eh?

Kubota: Hmm?

Fujiwara: What? The splinter of the mirror stuck in Kubota-san’s heart has been shattered to pieces...? How could such a miracle be possible?

(The sword of flame vanishes.)

Kubota (sneezes): Huh?

Tokito: Kubo-chan?

Kubota (sniffs): Say.... I’m feeling rather cold.

Tokito (approaches Kubota): Your hand feels warm, Kubo-chan.

Kubota: Yeah. So does yours.

Tokito: We’re alive.... we’re still alive, aren’t we?

Kubota: Better late than never, so –

Tokito: Eh?

Kubota: – Merry Christmas, Tokito.

Tokito (momentarily lost for words): .... You’re really late!

Kubota: I’ll make it up to you by treating you to a meal of roast turkey.

Tokito: I want a cake too.

Kubota: Sure.

Tokito: And not just any cake. I want the one shaped like a chopped-off tree trunk.

Kubota: Isn’t that the one called ‘bûche de Noël?’ [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yule_log_(cake)]

Ainoura: Thus, having been happily reunited, Kubota and Tokito were able to return safely to the village they once lived in.

Fujiwara (wails sadly): Kubota-senpai...!

Ainoura: Meanwhile, Murota, who had resigned from his post as the commanding officer of Prince Osamu’s guards, became friends with the grandmotherly witch through his new-found hobby of gardening. In addition, a few years later, the prince ascended to the throne and was crowned king. At his sides were Shuuji the Crow and the current commanding officer of his guards, a young former bandit called Ryuunosuke. However, that is a tale for another time.

(The audience erupts into applause.)

Katsuragi: It’s over.... Ah, I’m so glad!

Murota: It’s been a long fortnight, hasn’t it?

Katsuragi: You did a good job too, Fujiwara. Much appreciated.

(Fujiwara sobs and mumbles incoherently.)

Matsubara: How wonderful! We received a standing ovation!

Katsuragi: Oh no, what are you guys doing there? It’s time to take a curtain call. Go now!

(The applause grows louder as joyful music plays.)

Ryuunosuke: Huh? Where’s Toki-yan-senpai? [Toki-yan is his nickname for Tokito.]

Shuuji: Ah, there he is!

Tokito: Just you wait, Ootsuka!

(Ootsuka screams as he runs away from Tokito.)

Tokito: How dare you! You were clearly enjoying yourself as you gave me a hard time in that scene just now!

Ootsuka: I was just giving the role my all in order to put on a lively show!

Tokito: Then, I’ll send you flying with this lively kick!

(The children in the audience laugh.)

Ainoura: Ah.... Er, now that we’ve come to the end of the show.... One, two–

The entire cast: Araiso Private High School Student Council Executive Committee thanks you for watching!

Kubota: See you.

Tokito: I’ll be back!

--------

(Round brackets): actions and sound effects. [Square brackets]: translator’s notes or clarifications. Suggestions for improvements and corrections are more than welcome.

[saiyukiitaliaandinternational]

Monthly Minekura Christmas edition

Day 5 “Snow”

Feel free to interpret it they way you like the most. I had fun experimenting with a different shading this time. I've noticed it's the third drawing where I draw multiples characters XD it's fun but challenging.

Credits:

Saiyuki Reload Blast © Kazuya Minekura, Platinum Vision, 2017-present

[ratty000]

Hello my beautiful babes last chapter of wild adapter volume 7 i love u kisses u. There are no more chapter after this as sensei is still recuperating. Thank you to @blazardragon for the cleaning and typesetting go check out their stuff.

[honmyoseagull]

(My shoulder is still killing me when I type, so, late and probably only offer for the Monthly Minekura Christmas challenge. Too bad, Seemed like such a nice challenge @monthlyminekura was offering. I loved when it crossed my dash.)

Obviously late for Day 1: Bells

Fanfic - Saiyuki Gaiden.

Jingle in Paradise

Sekai, down below, is a messy place, a chaotic place. This is why dreams exist, some divinities surmise, to allow the pathetic creatures living there to try and make sense of their absurd world and meaningless lives in their sleep…

Whereas Tenkai? Beautiful. Quiet. Orderly and perfect. Souls are blessed and untroubled, there.

Therefore, kamis don’t dream.

(Usually.)

For a while, Kenren-taishou hadn’t even had the words for this fake reality invading his sleep and leaving behind a strange taste to his waking hours…

Always the same images.

The overpowering sound of the falling rain, its cold hitting his bare shoulders as he walks. Darkness, the road, the man on the ground. Lying there, face down. Bleeding. He knows who it is. At once. Kenren just… knows. And when the wounded man reveals his face, and smiles… It’s even worse to be proven right.

Waking up, heart pounding, breathing hard. Reaching for the pack of cigarettes to chase the smell of wet earth and metallic blood still very present in his nostrils… It’s his morning routine, now…

Yume. He’s found the word in one of Tenpou’s beloved books. Dream.

But having a name to put on the phenomena doesn’t really help. So he distracts himself some other ways, accepts to run ridiculous errands for Tenpou on Earth below to fill his days between military missions and duties. So he forgets to sleep. (After all, kamis don’t really need to.)

That day, when he comes back home, with a small stock of Tenpou’s favourite cigarette’s brand, he’s in a reasonably high mood. Doesn’t even knock before making his way into Tenpou’s library. Still stops dead, though.

Obviously a tree standing in Tenpou’s office is not the weirdest thing Kenren-taishou has seen in his superior officer’s place. Plus he’s the one who got ropped into dragging it in here a few days ago, so, there’s that. (Yes, Tenpou had tried to explain. No, Kenren is still not sure he gets this Sekai “Chrissmass” thing and the point of it. Though he kinda liked the way the word had curled the marshal’s lips, so unfamiliar on his tongue, and the twinkle of delight it created in the man’s green eyes.) What’s more incongruous is the treatment Goku is inflicting on it. He must have zoned out when Tenpou explained, because he can’t fathom why the gaki is basically dressing the poor piece of vegetation in tinsel and adorning it with shiny stuff…

While the kid, back to him and still unaware of his presence, chatters his heart out to his Ten-chaaaaan!, asking of him his thoughts on his efforts, Tenpou stands right there, a faint contented smile floating on his lips and curling around an unlit cigarette.

Kenren sighs indulgently (he sometimes suspects Tenpou would forget his head weren’t it attached to his body), drops his package on a low table and draws closer to his superior officer in order to offer him his lighter.

Tenpou, after bending his neck a little to meet the flame, smiles his thanks, expression for once uncomplicated and somewhat almost blinding for it.

Kenren reflexively smiles back.

“Tadaima,” the general says, a tad too soft.

“Okaeri,” Tenpou replies, oddly solemn, and oh-so warm…

And sometimes, they just don’t need more words. Both lapse into silence, watching Goku have his fun.

There’s a soft sound, then, that comes from a corner of the room. The one of a page turned.

Oh, the blond grouch his there, too.

Curled on Tenpou’s office chair, his long legs tucked under him in a slightly bizarre way, at Tenpou’s desk, nose deep in one of Tenpou’s books. Kenren can’t help but think he’s out of place here. But where would Konzen-douji be if not far from his little charge, right?

Must have felt the weight of the general’s gaze, too, because the blond sourpuss raises his eyes after a few seconds.

His nose does this frowning thing, and Konzen glares a bit, too, as if he objected to the just lit cigarettes: he has a vague gesture of the hand as if to chase the delicate smoke that hasn’t even reached him yet, Kenren is sure.

Heaven forbid Konzen would look like he was enjoying himself being here, right, once he’d noticed he was watched…

But Kenren had seen.

For once there’d been this inabitual bubble of calm around Kanzeon-bosatsu’s nephew, very unlike this ever present buzz of irritation surrounding the man at any given time that often gets under Kenren’s skin.

The general could go at it, needle the man a bit. Changes his mind, though, and turns his attention back to Tenpou.

“Hey,” he simply calls, reaching for something tiny in his leather coat’s pocket and throwing it in the marshal’s direction.

He brings back little odd things from down below Tenpou hasn’t asked for, sometimes. Can’t help it, the marshal is so easily delighted…

The marshal snatches it from mid-air without much effort, in spite of his sloppy appearance. People forget, sometimes, that Tenpou is a soldier, a very good fighter at that, with the good reflexes it entails.

In his palm, a little sphere, something golden and delicately inlaid, with only a tiny slit on the metal and a tiny little ring to hang it, probably. Tenpou grabs it with two fingers to raise it closer to his eyes.

And they have drawn the kid’s attention too, now :

“A new christmas ornament? How did you know!” Goku exclaims, already reaching for the little thing.

But Kenren grabs him by the scruff of his scrawny neck. He loves the kid. To pieces. Still… and it feels ridiculous to say it out loud, but :

“It was for you,” he tells the marshal who was about to let the itan child have the gift. “It sings,” he awkwardly adds, then.

With his chibi saru-free hand, the general sends a finger nudge the thing in Tenpou’s grasp, and as he knew it would, the little ball hidden inside the golden shell moves, eliciting a delicate little sound.

“Yes, it would be wasted, just hanging still on a branch,” the marshal eventually acquiesces, brows already furrowed in reflexion, eyes invisible behind the harsh reflexion off his glasses. And without warning, he’s a flurry of activity. In three strides, he’s near a startled Konzen, reaching over him for a drawer, fishing into it, of all things, for a little ball of thin but solid wire and a little pincer.

It takes him hardly three seconds to figure out a way to fasten the sphere on the wire and create a little hook at the other end. Then, the marshal’s hands fly to the side of his head.

Not even a hint of hesitation, and he’s piercing skin and flesh pushing the metal through the little round part, till the gold orb hangs at his ear.

Kenren stays stunned for a full second. He hadn’t seen this one coming. But in the little things like the big, Tenpou is sometimes reckless to a point that could scare a lesser man than the general. (Who he is he kidding? Totally and indubitably scares him when he ventures to think about it.)

“What do you think? You said it was for me, right?” Tenpou says, smiling a bit like a proud loon around this cigarette he has managed to keep between his lips all along. He turns his head a little on his slender neck to show off, and a little ringing sound comes out the little sphere as if to gently underline the gesture.

It allows for Kenren’s hand to find the side of this face, on the pretence of angling it for a better sight.

A pearl of redness gathers at the puncture wound and collapses on itself, truly miniscule rivulet down the abused lobe.

It’s  nothing, but it’s like a jolt to Kenren…

And the familiar images come, unbidden, while he’s still wide awake this time.

The overpowering sound of the falling rain, its cold hitting his bare shoulders—

Gravity makes its office, and the scarlet drop hits the shoulder of Tenpou’s labcoat. (Shocking) little flower.

“Chi.” Goku says, his little face raised to them. Tone odd.

There’s something in the way the kid’s nostril flare. Something flinty, for a second, obscures his golden gaze, suddenly metallic instead of warm. He’s like a different being for a second, one who could could inspire terror.

But the flash on the gaki’s features is so brief it feels like Kenren has just imagined this, that he can blame his already frayed nerves…

And the general doesn’t know what takes over him. He gathers the marshal to him by way of grabbing his labcoat, and leans in, on an impulse, towards the man. Till his lips are on Tenpou’s earlobe. The iron-y salt of blood and the tiniest hint of a real metal’s taste mingle on his tongue. He feels his officer still. And tense. Tenpou’s hand is suddenly on his arm, its message unclear. Stop. Or… Don’t you dare stop. Kenren wouldn’t know. Maybe Tenpou doesn’t either.

Goku, oblivious anew, saves them from public awkwardness, dragging his Ten-chan back to their tree… Since they are not conversing anymore, it must be alright for him to get back his friend to keep him to himself.

Kenren decides not to acknowledge how suddenly bereft he feels.

Also, now it’s on his tongue that the taste of blood lingers.

The overpowering sound of the falling rain, its cold hitting his bare shoulders, the darkness the road and the dying man, bleeding and smi—

Stop, the general tells himself, feeling uneasy. Now the dark thoughts hunt him even awake… What the hell is happening to him?

He feels a gaze on him and, whip-sharp, his head turns on his neck, catching Konzen’s eyes.

It’s a frown subtly different from the usual scowl, on the blond’s face. More considering. Almost… worried. And directed at him.

How odd, Kenren thinks.

But already the divine bureaucrat is averting his eyes. He has surprised Konzen’s eyes on him, and the blond god is probably as embarrassed at having been caught looking as Kenren himself is by his own lapse of attention, by how he has let his own discomfort show…

But he’s a soldier. He knows tactics. He knows… diversion.

He pastes his patented shit-eating grin on his face, and with a jerk of his chin, indicates Tenpou.

“Ever told you how I met him, Goldie?” And Konzen frowns a little, not entirely duped but curious nonetheless. “Came into his office and found him buried under piles of his own books.”

The great Konzen-douji can’t help a particularly unelegant snort.

“That would have been such a stupid way to lose him,” Konzen manages to offer. His book is definitively forgotten on his crossed legs.

“Heh. There an intelligent way?” Kenren needles.

It’s a just glance, that’s thrown his way. A flash of violet. But with a might and a steel you wouldn’t be used to, thinking of the spoiled nephew of the great Kanzeon-bosatsu. Surpringly, it cows Kenren the tiniest little bit.

“Yeah, no way we’re losing Tenpou,” the general weakly agrees, hardly above a whisper. Because the alternative is unthinkable. “Not that this itan kid of yours is better anyway at staying out of trouble,” he still feels the need to retaliate.

Over there near the tree, the marshal is giving a boost to the heretic child in question so he can reach the higher branches. Tenpou’s move makes the little sphere at his ear tinkle again.

It derails them both a little:

“Like a bell on a cat,” Konzen unexpectedly comments, and there’s something speculative in his gaze as it then flies to his charge, like it gives him an idea, and in a way, Kenren gets why. How tempting it would be to be able to always know where the kid is, be sure to be able not to lose him.

Kenren has spoken about this with Tenpou more than once. They’re just like Konzen. The three of them feel it, that unclear menace gathering around this kid. Even in this perfect place Heaven is supposed to be.

When has Paradise stopped being Paradise?

But then Goku says something that unexpectedly wrenches a surprised laugh out of Tenpou, and as the marshal’s body shakes in delighted mirth and he throws his head back, the little bell once again jingles.

And for a second, Kenren is able to forget the disturbing thoughts. He just drinks the sight.

Tenkai is paradise once again. A place where souls are supposed to be blessed and untroubled.

The End