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yuusa · 4 years ago

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𝐌𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐆𝐨𝐝 𝟏𝟑

𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 𝟔𝟐𝟒𝟒

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞

𝐌𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝟏𝟑:

You pressed your lips together, staring at the board with a look of boredom and displeasure. There was an itchy feeling in your chest, it made you feel deeply uncomfortable. It’s almost as if today was going to be one of misery, you couldn’t tell if it’s just some sort of psychic reading or it’s because you have a test soon, it may even be both. You sighed and resisted the urge to lean your chair back to stretch, but the teacher was going over something important about the test.

You turned to the side, seeing Tohru fidget with one of her pencils to calm herself about the upcoming tests. She was wearing a new ribbon today. It was a soft shade of blue that had bits of lace on its edges, did she recently buy that? You wondered if she would get tutored by Yuki like he said they do, the upcoming test would be for math. It must be nice to have someone constantly tutor you and helping, but you quickly tried to dismiss this idea as a selfish need. Yuki was kind enough to help you with math the other day and you didn’t want to take advantage of his skills or generosity.

You didn’t need anyone or anything in this life if it meant making others happy.

You were better off alone and that is the truth, you thought. If you were God’s Messenger, perhaps your first message should be to announce the disbandment of the Zodiacs, maybe that would give equal freedom to everyone but yourself. You didn’t know exactly what the Zodiacs were going to do when they were free, but they could live their lives as regular animals with a stronger sense of friendship. You really didn’t know exactly what would happen, but it was simply a thought.

You yawned into your hand, feeling small droplets of tears forming at the corner of your eyes. You eyed Yuki silently, noticing the way he continued to tap the tip of his pencil against his paper as he rested his chin on the palm of his hand. He was extremely hardworking despite not wanting to clean his room. He is really cool, you thought. He smiles so often to the other girls in the class and can interact with them at a certain distance, whenever he was in a good mood he would shine even brighter than he already is, it was almost blinding, to say the least.

His eyes were a nice shade of grayish blue as well. They rarely ever looked strange underneath the light and they expressed so much of himself that you felt a bit envious. You nibbled on the bottom of your lip, you were starting to feel bad about yourself in class just because your eyes weren’t as good or pretty like Yuki’s.

You sighed and tried to write in your journal to keep your mind away from it. You noticed the small crease in one of the older pages, knowing that you rarely ever fold the paper or damage it, it was slightly suspicious. It seemed to be on the page when you came over to the Sohma household, did someone go through your journal? If so, when did this happen? Before you could explore this thought the sound of the bell rang echoed in the room, dismissing all of the students at once.

You almost forgot that you had to do your rounds today around the school for the committee, luckily you went through your previous pages to see that you had written yourself a reminder. As you were packing up your belongings, Yuki came to your side, already finished with his own things. You suppose that he wanted to do the rounds around the school with you this time instead of usually splitting up.

“You look better today, (L/n)-san, just a bit tired though.” He commented, your face turning away from him as you quickly packed your things into your bag.

“I suppose so. Where would you like to go first?” You asked, already knowing that the two of you needed to make your rounds at school.

“We could try the first couple of floors together and make our way up.” He responded, giving you a smile with his familiar grey eyes shining underneath the classroom lights.

You pressed your lips together in slight jealousy but nodded, “sure. We can go now.”

Yuki noticed the small pout on your lips during class but decided not to comment on it, finding the situation strange to explain if he were to talk about it. You were looking much calmer on the outside today, but he thought that you might have a whirlwind of thoughts by the way you continuously wrote in your journal. He wondered if what he said yesterday was affecting your mood.

“(L/n)-san, something is still bothering you despite our conversation yesterday.” He commented, “do you. . . Feel like I’m not really your friend?”

You halted your steps, the two of you standing in the hallway only a few steps away from the classroom you exited. You didn’t know exactly how to respond to his comment, there was not much to say and you didn’t want to bother him with something dull like your problems.

“It’s not that. . . I don’t want to raise concerns, I’m fine.” Before you could continue walking he tugged on your wrist, keeping you there.

Before he could say another word, you silently ‘booped’ his nose with your index finger. His cheeks turned a bright shade of red as you turned away from him.

“Relax Sohma-san. I’m fine.” You gave him a teasing smile before continuing to walk down the hallway.

Yuki sighed in response as he held his hand up towards his face, the unexpected gesture from you being unfamiliar as his cheeks slowly calmed down. He quickly walked to catch up to you, choosing to trust in your word that everything was alright.

While you still felt the ominous telling of the future, you thought to be on edge. You hoped that Yuki hadn’t noticed it but it seems as if he really wanted to be your actual friend. You tightened your grip around your journal as you both walked around the school in relative silence.

You didn’t know exactly why being real friends mattered to him, he could easily make other friends that were much better than you, much easier to manage and easier to talk to. You dolefully stared at each of the classrooms and halls, doing your duty while minding your own thoughts.

You were so gloomy.

You frowned in response to your own comments before turning to look at Yuki. His beautiful eyes and soft hair, those fluttering long eyelashes, it was hard to deny that you were envious to the bone. You constantly compared yourself to him, the thought making you feel worse by the second. You grit your teeth, the action going unnoticed by Yuki as you both walked up the flight of stairs.

Was it truly worth worrying about something you couldn’t change?

You spent so much time worrying about yourself instead of actually wanting to protect others. . . You were. . . Too selfish. No matter how beautiful the outside of Yuki’s eyes were, there was always this hint of sorrow hidden beneath the color. You connected with him in a way, a subtle feeling but it still existed like a small string looped around your fingers.

Perhaps he could be the Rat to the Eagle’s destiny.

Maybe he already is.

You should try to open up to him, you thought. Instead of constantly worrying and thinking about the problems you may never fix or find resolve in, you could help someone else and see them smile as brightly as you wanted to shine. To erase the sadness that burdens the rat. . . That’s the job of God’s Messenger.

There was this feeling of hope blooming within your chest.

You are the Eagle in the story.

The two of you finally approached the other floor, noticing Tohru being surrounded by a familiar group of boys from the Sohma family. While Kyo stood by her side while scolding at Momiji for his poor taste in clothing, Haru was standing there casually, his choice of wardrobe being nearly as bad as Momiji’s. You wondered if it was an inherited trait in the Sohma family to have poor taste in clothing or they were rebellious children who wanted to wear their own clothing. Everyone other than Yuki had a strange sense of fashion, but it wasn’t far fetched to say his choices are not weird as well.

Haru quickly notices Yuki coming up the steps, ignoring your presence as he went up to grip at Yuki’s sides. You wondered why he and the rest of the family constantly ignore you but you chose to believe that it was because you were an outsider.

“Sheesh, I can’t believe you’re wearing that Momiji. Haru, you too.” Yuki said, the white-haired male staring at him, clearly tuning him out for a moment.

“Yuki-kun, (Y/n)-kun, are you both done with committee work?” You raised your eyebrow, noticing the sudden change in the way Tohru addressed Yuki. She was actually calling him bt his given name for once. Perhaps they really did get much closer in the past couple of days.

The tinge of sadness poked at your heart, but you couldn’t understand why.

“No, not yet. We were doing our rounds at school and just happened to come across the two of you.” He responded, referring to the two rule-breaking students that couldn’t follow the dress code properly.

“Hey, Tohru! Guess what? I got told not to run around or horseplay at school because I might crash into a girl! So while I’m at school, I’m gonna play it cool!" Momiji added, gathering the rest of the groups' attention onto you, the outsider who heard this suspicious line.

“Cool?! Is that outfit cool?!” Kyo shouted back.

You stood there blank, not really knowing what to say. It seems as if they weren’t allowed to physically hug any girls at school, which does correlate to Yuki’s strange habit of pushing other girls away.

Are the Sohma family. . . Allergic to girls?

You deadpanned.

“Your dubiousness is justified, Sohma Kyo of Class 2-D! Your orange hair bothers me, but a boy wearing a girl’s uniform is unprecedented! Brazen! Shameless!” The brown-haired upperclassman with his other council members stood beside him, all three of them wore classes, which you thought was an interesting thing to point out. “The teachers may allow it, but I will not! For I am student council president Takei Makoto!“

Crap. . . You thought, it’s Takei Makoto.

You and Yuki facepalmed, trying not to get involved in this strange situation you were both tangled up in. More specifically, Yuki, as this was his entire family being criticized underneath the student council president.

“Another idiot appears,” Haru comments.

Takei raised his voice, stepping just a few feet away from Haru’s face, “just what do you think you’re doing, Sohma Hatsuharu? Your hair is white! And you’re practically jangling with jewelry. The audacity!”

“President Takei, that’s his natural hair.” Yuki clarified, holding up his hand to create distance between him and his cousin.

“Oh, Yuki-kun! (L/n)-san! How nice to see you both! But more important, natural?! Part of it is black!” Takei’s eyes seemed to have grown into hearts as he looked at both of you, finally acknowledging your presence.

“Even so. . .” Yuki continued.

You almost forgot that this student council was also highly infatuated with Yuki, similar to the way everyone else is also into him. You wanted to massage your head as you felt a migraine growing at the sound of his loud voice.

“I don’t believe it! It goes against common sense!” He retorted, getting even closer to Haru’s face to examine his features. “Now what’s the meaning of your appearance? Is that your natural self, eh, Sohma Momiji?! Have you no male pride? If you’re like this at your age, your life is on the fast track to failure!”

“But. . . But this uniform looks better on me!” Momiji’s eyes began to tear up as you pressed your lips together into a frown.

You quickly stepped between both of them, stopping Tohru in her path and pushing Takei back a few centimeters from Momiji.

“That should be enough from you, President Takei.”

Momiji’s eyes widened, seeing your intimidating presence being officially recognized to the entire group, your cold, harsh glare staring straight into Takei’s lens covered eyes. Takei seemed flustered at the sudden intrusion but he quickly adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose. Your eyes sharpened slightly as you focused your attention on the upperclassman in front of you, you certainly didn’t want to hear him degrade another student’s future.

He began to grit his teeth as he adjusted his glasses frames once more, trying too hard to look cool, “with all respect (L/n)-san, how could you stand by this rule-breaker?! Don’t you think he has no sense of pride?!”

“I don’t think it’s much of an issue. If he feels the most comfortable, then that is what matters,” You addressed, crossing your arms across your chest, “our job here at school is to make the students feel safe and welcome, I doubt giving them an earful would help them.”

“That is true! But we have specific rules that we all need to follow! I respect your opinion here (L/n)-san, but-”

“Shut up. Quit playing king of the hill, you human trash.” Haru interrupted.

“Wh-wh-wh-what” Takei stuttered as Haru grabbed him by the collar of his shirt.

“Oi, Haru!” Kyo shouted, trying to pull him away from Takei.

“Fine, let me ask you: are guys wearing neckties never muggers? Are guys without piercings never bullies? Do guys with black hair never murder people?!” Haru violently shook the poor man around, his brain easily turning to mush as if it was being stirred around like a smoothie, “who do you think you are, eh? God? Well, ain’t that something! Give us a few words! God! Go on!”

You could see Takei’s soul slipping away from his body as Haru continued to shake him.

Kyo gripped onto Haru’s shoulder, stopping him from turning Takei into some sort of drink by the excessive amount of shaking, “oi, cut it out! He’s got no training!”

“Butt out you stupid cat!”

“Don’t call me stupid you damn brat!”

“Oh? Don’t act like you’re so great! You ran from our last fight with your tail between your legs!” The two of them crashed against each other, their forehead grinding against one another as they stared at each other with a heated gaze.

“You’re the one who called that fight off!”

“What are you on his side?! You think he’s right!?”

You clicked your tongue before shoving the two of them apart, “what are you two? Children? Knock it off.” You glared at them, causing both of them to cower down and turn their heads away from you, the argument settling down as quickly as it started.

It was odd to see Haru not comment against you, but it seemed like even your gaze affected him. He quickly made his way to the other council members who were trying to bring Takei back to life, his body dangling lifelessly in their arms.

“Hey, ladies,” Haru greeted.

“Don’t drag them into it. . .” Kyo said, his hand on his forehead as his brain started to ache at Haru’s nonsense.

“What do you think? Take Momiji there—don’t you think he’s fine in that uniform? He’ll grow eventually. What’s the harm in waiting to dress like a man until then? He’ll be a real looker, trust me.” The other girls turned their heads to see Momiji happily enjoying the candy lollipop he had in his hands.

They quickly imagined a much older boy, his curly blond hair, and eyes becoming more mature as he gave the girls an imaginary wink. “He’s fine.” The girls responded, holding out their hands to worship the shorter boy.

“Don’t let him brainwash you!” Takei quickly stood up, still trying to defend his own point of view against someone as stubborn as Haru. “Wh-Wh-What’s the matter with you?! This is unheard of!”

“It’s always best to wear what looks good on you, huh? It’s like (L/n)-san said, whatever makes you comfortable!” Haru patted the top of Momiji’s head, the smaller boy feeling content as he continued to suck on the lollipop that he pulled out from his pocket.

You raised your eyebrows once again, you didn’t quite understand Haru’s behavior. There were moments where he would become calmer and then go back to being heated the next second. You were more surprised to hear that he actually addressed you by name this time.

“Unacceptable! That’s pure selfishness, and unfair to the other students—“

“You just won’t quit. Okay, then, what if Yuki wore a girl’s uniform?” Haru suggested.

Takei went through a moment of shocking realization, his mind immediately picturing Yuki in the girl’s uniform, calling out his name in his girlish voice.

“It’s fine.” He responded, tears streaming down his eyes as he pictured such a glorious image.

You visibly cringed, “what? That’s disgusting.”

The rest of the group stared at you in shock, not knowing that you felt such strong revulsion against the idea of Yuki wearing feminine clothing. Yuki felt the most surprised, hearing you voice your own objection regarding his outer appearance.

Could you really blame yourself for disliking the idea of forcing Yuki into girly clothing? It looked greatly uncomfortable and it made you sick seeing him constantly put up with the school for his image.

“Wh-Wh-What?! (L/n)-san, are you saying that Yuki-kun would look disgusting?!” Takei shouted, holding up his hand in a tightened fist, trying to preserve the image of Yuki in a girls' uniform in his head.

“It’s gross. Could you stop making him uncomfortable by putting him in girl’s clothing?” You stared at him, disinterested in hearing the rest of his opinions, “don’t you ever think about what he has to say? Sorry President Takei, but it’s disgusting to even see.”

Yuki clutched onto the sleeve of his uniform, feeling a sense of warmth eluding in his body as he heard you continue to bicker with Takei about him in a girls' uniform. At first, he thought you had called him disgusting but it seems much clearer that you acknowledge Yuki’s discomfort in being misgendered. Despite your harsh tone, it sounds as if you genuinely cared about his wellbeing more than he actually knew. His cheeks felt slightly hot as he watched you continue to tell Takei to quit harassing the students.

He had his doubts earlier when the two of you were walking together around the school. He often wondered if he was the one being the horrible friend by constantly putting you off, or even hiding things that put pressure on your relationship.

You tilted your head over your shoulder, giving Yuki a look of understanding and a small, subtle smile. You watched as his cheeks heated up before you turned away.

You made him felt as if there was someone who understood him.

Your cheeks felt hot to the touch. You didn’t know the exact reason why you blurted out such things, but it felt. . . Relieving? It felt nice being able to express your true thoughts and finally relieving Yuki of his image of “princess”. While Takei and Haru argued about the decision of clothes, it made you wonder about the way Yuki felt being forced into girlish clothing. You had already known from the start, based on the doleful look in his eyes that he never enjoyed any part of the school festival when dressed as a girl.

You could understand that feeling. You didn’t like the idea of being forced into clothing that didn’t represent who you were. You felt much better voicing your objections. It’s a nice feeling, it was as if heavyweights were lifted off of you when you were finally able to say something for the sake of someone else.

Perhaps there is more to this than you realized.

“O-Oh, dear. I seem to have gotten carried away!” Takei turned around and adjusted his glasses with his finger.

“You’re a formidable opponent, Sohma Hatsuharu and (L/n) (Y/n),” You restrained a yawn as Takei spun around and pointed towards Haru, “can you prove that’s your natural color, then?!”

Haru held up his arms as he relaxed his head against them, his laid-back personality starting to frustrate Takei, “sure can.”

“Oho, you have proof? Hard evidence that—“ Before he could even continue his sentence, Takei was forcefully dragged into the nearest boy’s restroom, “um. . . excuse me. . .?” He stumbled on his feet, his sense of balance warped as Haru tugged on his clothing.

The two of them disappeared into the bathroom. There was a short period of silence before the echoed screams of Takei bounced off of the walls and into your ears. Tohru squeaked in surprise while everyone seemed unaffected by the turn of events. In a few minutes, Takei stepped out, taking off his glasses as his face was pale with shock.

“Incontrovertible proof. I see I still have much to learn about the world,” He commented.

Haru shortly followed after, his face showing a smug and cocky smile.

Did he show him? Kyo thought.

He showed him, Yuki responded, almost as if they both had telepathic minds to read each other’s thoughts.

Pervert. You stared at the two of them with a confused look.

“You win this time! But I’ll get you all next time!” The student council members quickly fled from the scene while Haru stayed smirking, the feeling of pride and victory flowing through his veins.

“Did you actually show yo—“ Kyo wrapped his hand around your mouth, quickly silencing you. Your voice became muffled underneath his hand.

“D-Don’t say it! Moron!” You resisted the urge to punch him but he removed his hand before you could even raise yours.

“Um. . . How did you prove that was your natural hair color?” Tohru asked, staring at Haru with a puzzled look in her eyes.

Yuki and Kyo went pale as Tohru asked such a strange question in her aloof personality. You wondered how dense Tohru was to not know how to prove one’s natural hair color, it was already suspicious enough considering that Haru dragged Takei into the bathroom.

“Wanna do it and find out? I’m in if you are.” Haru pulled Tohru close to him, his hand gently caressing her cheek, “it’s fine, we don’t have to be hugging each other to—“

Before he could even get another word into the explanation, Yuki and Kyo punched him to the ground, the two of them huffing either in anger or tiredness.

“Dark is the one guy I can’t handle. . .” Kyo scoffed.

“Never mind. Don’t worry about it, Honda-san.” Yuki responded.

You wondered why they referred to Haru as “dark”, maybe it was simply because of how easily his personality changed to someone casual to serious. He was quite odd, to say the least.

“I’m kinda tired now,” Haru responded, his hand gripping onto the sore spot of his head. He seemed to have calmed down and his voice sounded emotionless.

“Oh, yeah? You’re tired, huh?” Kyo groaned.

The sound of the school bell ringing caught all of your attention, you now realized that you and Yuki actually didn’t finish your rounds around the school as you spent most of your time here.

“Ah! That's the bell!” Momiji called out.

“Would you be willing to meet my friends before you go home today?” Tohru asked, wanting to invite Momiji and Haru into a game of badminton after school with Uotani and Hanajima.

“Your friends? Sure, of course!” He responded happily, lifting his arms as he expressed his joy in full. “That reminds me—Hey, Yuki, and Kyo!”

“Could you stay behind? I need to tell you something.” He added. The two boys turned their attention towards Momiji.

“Then, (Y/n)-kun and I will go on ahead then,” Tohru responded.

“Sorry, Tohru.” Momiji apologized, only to be met with her shaking her head as she told him that it would be fine.

You nodded before leaving with Tohru, the two of you silently walking down the stairs, leaving the Sohma family to deal with whatever conflict that may have arisen.

“Ah, sorry for disturbing your duties (Y/n)-kun!” Tohru apologized, bringing her hands to her chest as she clasped them.

You shook your head, “it’s okay. I could always do them later today.”

You both finally approached the bottom floor as you continued walking down the path to your classroom. You noticed that the cherry blossom trees were in full bloom today, you silently admired them while Tohru continued to think about the Sohma family.

“You both look like you’re having fun.” A familiar voice called out, you and Tohru slowly turned to face the unknown person.

His dark hair flowed with the wind, the cherry blossom tree’s petals falling from the sky like snow.

“A. . . Akito-san. . .?” You muttered, your eyes widening at the sight of him at the school, his wardrobe still as plain as you last saw him on Valentine's Day.

Tohru flinched at your reaction, unsure about what to say or feel.

“It’s nice to see you again, (L/n)-san. . .” Akito said, slowly approaching you and Tohru. “It feels like I haven’t seen you in forever.”

You’ve only seen him last time on Valentine's Day, which wasn’t even that long ago. Despite the dullness and emotionless look in his eyes, he stared down at Tohru with a focused gaze. The shorter girl panicked on the inside but tried to remain calm.

“Are you. . . Akito-san?” Tohru asked.

“That’s right. . . Honda Tohru.” He responded, his voice much dryer compared to when he was talking to you.

Tohru felt a jolt in her body as she quickly bowed down in front of him, “I’m very pleased to meet you!”

Tohru looked intimidated by him. Your eyes turned towards Akito who was still looming above her figure, watching and studying each of the muscles that she moved. You didn’t understand whether or not Tohru had connections with Akito, her reaction to him seems as if she knows something.

“Well, you strike me as feminine and gentle.” Akito commented, referring to Tohru, “thank goodness you seem to be a good person. And most importantly, you’re quite cute.” He smiled.

Tohru straightened her back, flailing her arms around in embarrassment, “what? Oh, no, you flatter—“

Akito laughed, the familiar tune of his voice giving you slight shivers down your spine, there was something unsettling about his tone towards Tohru, “don’t get flustered. You really are cute. Sorry, it took me so long to introduce myself. I’m just rather shy of strangers.”

Thats odd. . . He was the one to talk to you first, even though you were a complete stranger to him. You pressed your lips into a thin line, was he lying?

“Akito-san. . . What are you doing here?” You asked, trying to piece together the situation in front of you. Akito looked back at you and smiled, reaching out to your cheek to stroke it slowly.

“I only wanted to see the two of you of course. I heard many great things about Honda-san.” Something about his tone didn’t seem right to you. It made you feel a bit strange on the inside. “I know I haven’t kept in touch with you in a while. . . I’ve been quite busy.”

Your eyes trembled underneath his gaze, the touch of his cold hand contrasting the warmth of your skin as you both stared at each other. You still didn’t understand why Akito would be here, none of what he is saying made any sense to you whatsoever.

Unbeknownst to the three of you, Yuki’s eyes widened at the sight of Akito holding onto you, his hand pressed against the window before he sprinted down the stairs.

“How are you doing (L/n)-san? We should communicate more often you know.” Akito asked.

“I’m. . . I’m doing fine.” You responded, pulling away from his grasps, “there isn’t much going on.”

Akito hummed in response, feeling unsatisfied by your words. He quickly stepped back a few feet, “well, let me formally introduce myself to both of you.”

“I’m Akito, the current Sohma family head. Pleased to meet you.” He introduced himself with a small bow.

Your heart dropped as you felt yourself almost losing your grip on your journal.

He‘s. . . Part of the Sohma family? Your blood felt as if it had been frozen over, the shock coursing through your veins as you looked at him in disbelief. He was related to Yuki all this time? When you first saw his appearance, it wasn’t just a coincidence then. . .

“I’d like for us to get along well. . . And please take care of Yuki and the others.” From the corner of Akito’s eyes, he could see the way you looked back at him in confusion, your brain trying to rack up any sort of information between your encounter to find a reasonable explanation for everything.

Such beautiful eyes. . . He thought, feeling the sense of joy and pleasure as he ravished the look in your eyes. There was something so satisfying seeing you make a similar face to Yuki, it might even be a better reaction than him.

“Akito!” The sound of Yuki’s voice interrupted the tense atmosphere.

“Ah, Yuki!” Akito called out, you spun around to see Yuki’s distraught expression, his eyes beginning to tremble at the sight of him. Akito opened his arms out, “I’ve missed you, Yuki! You know, it feels like it’s been forever since I last saw you. You’re looking grown-up and taller—“

“What did you do?” Yuki cut him off, “what did you say to them?!

“Nothing. I was just saying hello to an old friend and Tohru-san.” Akito turned around to face Tohru, “right, Tohru-san? Wasn’t I just saying hello?”

The tension in the air continued to grow as your nails dug into the material of the journal cover.

An old friend? Yuki thought, turning his attention onto your figure that Akito was associated with. When did the two of you meet. . . ?

“Um, yes!” Tohru responded, feeling unsure about what to say in the situation. She could feel the tension in the air, as Akito confronted Yuki while in your presence.

“More importantly, Yuki. . .” Akito went back to Yuki, stepping in front of him as Yuki tightened his fist, “. . . there’s something I really want to ask you.”

Akito reached out to caress his cheek, similar to the way he treated you as Yuki’s hair strands flowed over his knuckles like a stream of water. The look of fear and terror reflected in Yuki’s grayish orbs, the irises trembling as much as his body was.

“Why did you skip New Year’s? Why would you do that? And when I’ve become so generous lately, too. When you do things like that, it seriously hurts my feelings.” Akito stared at Yuki with a menacing glare.

New Year’s. . .? The time of the Zodiac banquet. . .? You didn’t understand why your brain made that connection, but there was something so frightening seeing Yuki stand there petrified.

You didn’t understand.

You clenched the area around your heart, the feeling becoming painful like thousands of spikes piercing through your organ.

“Do I have to reeducate you, I wonder?” The shine in Yuki’s eyes completely disappeared, leaving only a dark and dull look in them, “in your special room? Will I be forced to spend long days teaching you proper disposition again?”

Akito traced his finger against Yuki’s lips as Yuki tilted his eyes away from him, trying to avoid his deathly gaze. His body was violently trembling as Akito continued to press him further.

Special. . . Room?

“I hate you. . . I hate you!” She smacked you across the face before throwing the porcelain bowl against the floor, the material shattering in front of the altar of God. The bowl nearly missed your eyes, causing your mother to violently scream and tug at your hair.

“This is all your fault! I hope you rot in hell! Here, in this very room!” She pulled on your (h/c) strands with enough force to pull out the longer, looser strands. “You’ll disappear in this room! Just like God said you would!”

You tightened your fist and your body reacted unconsciously, ripping Akito’s hand away from Yuki as you stepped in between them. Your body snapped in reaction to the two words Akito mentioned. His eyes widened at your sudden objection, feeling betrayal and annoyance running through his body.

“That’s enough, Akito-san,” You grit your teeth, “stop it already.”

“Is something wrong (L/n)-san? I am merely talking to Yuki.” He asked, his smile still plastered on his face.

“He doesn’t want to talk right now, so. . . Drop it already.” Akito narrowed his eyes at you, this was not going as he expected, however, he was thoroughly enjoying the look in your eyes at this moment. The look of despair in your eyes giving him the same feeling of euphoria.

“Sorry, I’m going to take Sohma-san to the nurse. He said he was feeling sick earlier,” you lied before looking at Tohru, “go back to the classroom Tohru-kun.”

Your eyes were no longer the shade of (e/c) Tohru recognized. It was much colder, emotionless, and filled to the brim with hidden pain. They no longer held any semblance of humanity left in them, it was almost as dull as Yuki’s. She wondered how much suffering you endured to match the same intensity as Yuki.

You gave Akito one last glance before grabbing onto Yuki’s wrist and pulling him away from the scene.

“Yuki, I hope you have a fun school life here.” Akito called out, “it’d make me happy if you came to visit sometime soon.”

You only ignored his words and forcefully pull Yuki away. He let you freely drag his body towards the nearby secluded cherry blossom tree, his mind still not being able to rid itself of the painful memories that resurfaced as he remained unfocused of his surroundings. His eyes began to water as he tried to blink them away, trying desperately not to cry out in public. You gently pushed his body to lean against the tree, your form kneeling beside him as you slowly brushed back the strands of hair blocking his face.

You wondered what brought this feeling in your heart. There was something about the look in his eyes, your mind and heart screaming to reach out to him. They were pounding desperately against your door to rescue him from something you both wanted escape from. They wanted something you were destined to do.

Your hands were warm, Yuki thought. This was the first time you’ve shown an intimate gesture in front of him. Your body felt nicer against his skin than it was with Akito’s cold fingers, it was bringing him slowly back into reality as his eyes continued to fight against the growing tears. You were truly a warm person inside.

It was showing at this very moment almost as if the key had unlocked your doors.

You noticed the small droplets of tears on the corner of his eyes, his fists still tightly clenched together. He looked like a fragile animal, one which tugged at your own emotional strings. You reached out to wipe at them before standing up and pulling your sweater off of your body.

You placed the top of your sweater on his head, shielding him away from the rest of the world from his pitiful crying. You gripped the edge of your skirt, the fabric wrinkling underneath your fingers.

“I don’t know what your relationship is with them. . . I’m not the best at comforting other people either. . . But it’s okay,” You didn’t know if these were the right words to say, but you watched as he tightened his hold on your sweater, “It’ll be okay in the end.”

You gently patted the top of his head, the fabric of your sweater creating a barrier between your skin and the softness of his hair. He stayed silent, unresponsive to your words. Your heart yearned for freedom in the eyes of others.

“That room. . . You won’t go back there anymore.” You spoke gently, almost like a whisper, his body beginning to release the pent up tears that flowed down his cheek but were masked by your clothing. “I promise you that. . .”

“I won’t let you go back there anymore.”

Those were simple words that expressed the feeling in your heart.

You figured out what you wanted and needed to do in your life. It was to play the role of the Eagle you desperately wanted to be, one to fulfill and shoulder the burden of those you swore to protect, even if it meant promising your loyalty to God.

There was no more fretting about what you needed.

#fruits basket #fruits basket x reader #x reader #yuki sohma #yuki sohma x reader #yuki soma #yuki soma x reader

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papers4me · 4 years ago

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Fruits Basket, SE02, Ep20

This is a buildup ep for yuki’s confession, like most buildup eps in furuba they kinda seem awkward & a bit stretched, but overall this one is not bad.

-The theme of “ letting go” & tohru:

Tohru needs to Not only let go of her excessive attachment to her mom, but also, of treating yuki as needing of much help all the time. tohru’s is the mother friend for all, she tends to care for everybody, however, since she lives with yuki, this instinct fire up & she provides care, nurture, support & worry lots abt him since she knows the sohma’s abuse. Their dynamics need to change as yuki is starting to depend on himself as equal leaving tohu’s nest, tohru needs to accept his change & support him differently from before. The analogy of yuki leaving the nest is also fitting of tohru’s need to focus on herself since her nest is now empty. Tohru has also been using her motherly care for others to avoid working/focusing on herself. I find it ironic that Arisa’s “ tohru come convince kyo, he doesn’t wanna be a prince” comes as tohru & yuki acknowledge the need of a modified dynamics between them & she sends him off with her “ do your best” instead of her usual “don’t overwork yourself”. She leaves him to go to kyo/her own personal life that she needs to focus on.

-The Endless Parallels:

As yuki is starting to open his lid to his pal, the focus is shifted to machi! I’m happy she’s back. Similar to kyo’s apology into tohru’s ears in Se01, machi was given the questionable behavior without explanation treatment to hook viewers & I’m hooked! I know I’ll love this girl. It was pretty clear that her & kakeru are yuki exclusive characters & if he’s the best buddy, she’s the love interest. To connect her with yuki, certain good parallels were hinted at from the beginning:

She always leaves a mess behind, yuki lives in a messy room.

She has to have traumatizing background in order to make her need yuki in her life cuz part of yuki’s wishes is to provide for someone who needs him the way kyo provides for tohru. Yuki is ready to give back, now that he’s healing. Machi is yuki’s person.

Her coping mechanism is a bit similar to yuki in SE01, she shuts herself from others, doesn’t talk much & is withdrawn. I love that they both have somewhat similar coping mechanism regardless of the nature of heir trauma, it makes them both less ashamed of what they adopted to cope regardless if it’s wrong/harmful.

She has low self esteem & is shocked when someone notices her, very lonely which is why she noticed yuki’s loneliness since Day 1.

She saw through yuki’s resistance of his “prince” title. She’s perceptive in nature just like him.

She looks physically more similar to yuki than she’s to kakeru, her brother, (yuki’s family grayish hair/his mom’s /ayame’s long eyes). Not really fond of that, but no harm, I think it was done so she & yuki will have similar aesthetic & have similar color shades.

All these are amazing parallels above help connect characters together & build relationships. However, I’m kinda annoyed that the writer went over board with the parallels, to the point of semi-exact situation:

Machi & Kakeru are siblings who were not close at all due to abusive family attitude. Exactly Similar to: Ayame & Yuki.

Kakeru is the older brother & was able to stop his abuse cuz of his character or extreme behavior that saved him from being caged into the family’s grasp while machi, the younger, was unable to escape & isn’t free yet. Exactly Similar to: Ayame & Yuki.

Kakeru, the eldest, is trying hard to reach out to his sibling & aid her as much as he can but fails due to his insensitive character or his failure to see where she stands. Exactly Similar to: Ayame & Yuki.

In their relationship, kakeru is the extreme, bubbly & bigger than life character while machi is the vulnerable, silent, withdrawn one. Exactly Similar to: Ayame & Yuki.

This is a ton load of parallels that is not much needed to make machi suitable for yuki. I know that the writer is aware that machi is introduced late into the story, & is eager to flesh her out to be loved, but I don’t think that adding all these similarities to yuki’s life is the way to go. In the contrary, it makes her seem like a female version of him without the curse. Machi should be fascinating without yuki or kakeru. I guess making her kakeru’s sister helps create situations of yuki knowing more abt her without her talking & can be used to redeem kakeru’s character if he was ever harsh to her the way ayame was cuz you bet kakeru will play matchmaker. but overall, it takes uniqueness from machi’s situation herself & draws more attention towards yuki & kakeru. More focus on what will yuki & kakeru do. I really love her form the few things I saw abt her & her reactions, but yeah, don’t mind me~ it was a fleeting feeling of disappointment. Oh well, it is what it is. I hope her own perspective of her situation is rewarding.

-Machi is NO weak woman:

She really isn’t! She took control of the situation when she noticed it needed quick intervention. That’s why, the first set of 6 parallels mentioned above is important for machi! She saw through yuki without needing to know abt the exact similarities of their abusive homes. You don’t need all that to see through someone who was in the darkness for years, cuz she too, must’ve been in the darkness as well! So, in unique fashion, she comes & destroys yuki’s walls. Don’t worry, I’ll save you. I see you.

-Cinderella ( what??):

I didn’t expect elementary school fairly tale to be chosen & I sure didn’t see the cast choices coming! XD I’m sure sth will happen & they’ll change cast. but It’s 100% awesomely spot on in a reversed manner!! So Ironic!

Yuki godmother means yuki in female dress???? similar to SE01, Momiji ep! poor yuki! plus godmother is a nonhuman character that is superior & grants wishes & yuki is considered stronger than normal human without training & despite weak health, all his skills are always extraordinary. But maybe becuz he’s nearly done healing/opening the lid, he’ll help the others now, godmother style. XD

Tohru is evil stepsister?? Tohru is kindness reincarnated! but perhaps tohru needs a hint of evilness to wake up for herself & be more assertive! plus tohru is considered evil by yuki’s fan club (there’s an entire ep dedicated for that lol).

Hana Cinderella?? The queen of darkness & eerie wave reports who can see right through humans will play the weak, powerless Cinderella. XD. But it suits her cuz she was once called witch when in reality she’s kind.

Arisa a prince! the woman who wants to be a model & is desperate to turn kureno’s head with her womanly charms & is dying for a kiss from him in their first meeting! XD. but it suits her as she used to be a gangster? XD.

Kyo the prince?! the most un-princely prince! kyo’s kindness & warmth is exclusive to kazuma & tohru, the rest of the world sees him as the always annoyed, easily teased, harmless dude! Princes are diplomatic with their words! kyo’s life would be over in a second if it depended on his words! XD. He depends on his physical body & actions to show affection & love. You want him to be shower girls with compliments the way princes do?XD. but it suits him in a way, cuz he stole the main female protagonist’s heart like in all fairy tales & he’s genuine with his affection. XD.

I want Cinderella play NOW! plz don’t change the cast!!

Side Note:

The ep started with yuki’s statement abt what he wants from tohru, however, failed to deliver an answer by the end. It is obvious that (a) the answer will be given once yuki explains himself (b) a tease to hook the viewers into waiting for yuki’s answer. However, it was badly done. Rather than giving anticipation, it gave a disappointing feel. It dragged a genuine & vulnerable moment for the entire ep for cheap hook by the end. It can be completely avoided by not opening the ep with yuki’s lines. The thrill/anticipation would’ve come 10 times stronger with his closing lines leaving viewers with “OMG, he’ll say it next ep!! rather than “ what? i was waiting for that all ep? man~, next ep perhaps?”. I duno what is the nature of the manga chapters. but there are times when it’s so clear to me (an anime-only) when the show adapts things via direct cut & paste rather than working them to suit the ep format. Generally, the show doesn’t know how to implement cliffhangers, so I really wish they avoid them altogether.

From the way he handled machi’s apology to his firmness with the chibi member, to his elaborated speech with kakeru, to his calmness inside the locked room & how the flashback didn’t affect him as much as I thought it would! yuki’s growth is 90% complete! =D! You go boy!

I gotta confess..I’m slightly disappointed that kakeru turned out to be another abuse survival child. I was loving the idea that yuki is connecting with someone via their own character/personality not shared past of similar experiences cuz there are TONS of those in furuba. Kakeru’s character with (mix kyo-ayame) & virtues/vices is a good balance for yuki, adding the abusive past is hinting that broken kids only befriends broken kids which isn’t true. Plus this means that all young characters “with importance to the plot” must be abused one way or another... I know furuba has a theme..but you don’t have to make it part of every important character. I still love kakeru tho. but if kimi turned out to be ANOTHER abused child, I’m quitting furuba! XD..jokes..

#Fruits Basket #Anime Only #tired paper

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murasaki-murasame · 5 years ago

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Thoughts on Fruits Basket 2019 2nd Season Ep6: “Are You Stupid?”

In an extremely shocking turn of events, this episode adapts THREE chapters of the manga, instead of two!

Oh and also the beach arc started I guess lol

Thoughts under the cut.

I really have to stop trying to guess exactly how this show is going to translate things from the manga to the anime, but that’s not going to stop me, lol.

Anyway this episode adapted chapters 53, 54, and 55, and it ended up working way better than I expected. I think this is either the first or second time the show’s adapted more than two chapters in a single episode, so I was worried about if it’d feel rsuhed, but it really didn’t, since they cut out a lot of the more minor scenes, and rearranged the timeline of events to tie it all together more.

Basically, to start with, they got rid of the aspect of chapter 53 where Rin breaks Tohru’s window to distract everyone while she talks to Shigure, and everyone has to deal with fixing the window, and they replaced it with Rin just showing up to talk to Shigure right after Tohru and co leave for the beach, which I think was a really good change. I feel like everything to do with the window getting smashed would have felt really jarring with how the whole scene was paced, and it makes more sense that Rin would just wait until Shigure’s alone to talk to him, instead of doing something really dumb and reckless to try and make a distraction.

And on the note of that scene with her and Shigure, I think manga readers should remember that this is exactly how the scene plays out in the manga, and we don’t get a proper flashback to how their conversation went until a bit later in the story. So they didn’t cut anything out there.

They also rearranged the flow of events with the start of the beach arc itself to make it go by quicker, mainly by having Kisa and Hiro be there with everyone immediately, which helps condense a lot of scenes together. They also cut a whole scene related to everyone picking out their rooms once Kisa and Hiro showed up, and I think it was probably worth removing in order to make the episode go by faster.

As a consequence of bringing Kisa and Hiro into things earlier, the drama with Hiro being rude to Tohru and stirring up her deeply repressed trauma happens a bit earlier than it did in the manga.

They also spread out some of the content with Yuki across the episode to build up toward the episode’s climax being the scene with him and Tohru. Which included them holding back on the reveal of him being the boy Tohru got the hat from until the end of the episode, which I think was a good choice.

It’s kinda funny seeing so many anime-only people talking about how they don’t really get how this whole plot point could be that important in the long run, even after what this episode told us about it. I can’t really blame anyone for thinking that, since the anime hasn’t really gotten into it at all yet, but it’s definitely way more important than people would think, and for different reasons than they might expect. I think a lot of people will be surprised that it doesn’t actually have a whole lot to do with Tohru’s relationships with Yuki and Kyo, and is instead more about Yuki and Kyo’s backstories and their conflict with each other.

I can see why people might still think this episode is fast-paced, and it kinda was, but they cut out enough material that it didn’t end up feeling like they were fitting three whole chapters of content into one episode.

Anyway, this is where the beach arc officially kicks off, and it’s becoming pretty clear to everyone why this arc is a big deal, lol. There’s all sorts of relationship development going on, and everyone’s getting forced to acknowledge all the emotional baggage they’ve been repressing. And now Akito’s gonna come around just to stir shit up.

In particular it feels really exciting to see the anime finally get to the point where the story officially begins to really dig into Tohru’s backstory and her own emotional baggage. It’s been hinted at before, especially in this second season, but this is where the story spells out in bright neon letters that she has her own trauma she’s dealing with, and other characters are starting to notice.

In a lot of ways I really relate to the specific kind of trauma and baggage that Tohru’s dealing with in regards to both of her parents, and I really like the extremely slow-burn way the story builds it up. The scene with her sitting alone on the balcony and quietly reassuring herself that she’s fine and that she’ll always be with her mother is just really emotional, especially when you know her backstory.

But I won’t bother getting into that until the story decides to delve into it more later on.

We of course also got all sorts of stuff with Yuki in this episode that reinforces and continues to build up his own trauma that he’s still dealing with, and that’s definitely gonna come to a head sooner rather than later, lol. Everything with Tohru is sorta left on the backburner until much later in the story, but this arc really digs into Yuki and Kyo’s issues. Kyo hasn’t gotten a whole lot of focus yet in this arc, aside from him being super cute and us getting even more examples of how he’s slowly becoming more understanding and perceptive toward Tohru, but his time to shine will definitely come before this arc ends.

Also, one thing I wanna mention is that the bit where Momiji lists off all the people he invited to the beach trip seems to be anime original, which is interesting. For one thing it was there so they could include the scene with Kisa and Hiro getting their invitations earlier than the manga did, but more than that it sticks out to me that he included Ritsu in the list of people he invited. Which is interesting because in the manga Ritsu isn’t even mentioned in this arc at all. So I’m wondering if they might be planning to include him in this arc in the anime, though the fact that he wasn’t in this episode outside of that one line makes me unsure.

It’d be really nice if they included him, though. It’d at least help mitigate the fact that he gets like literally zero screen-time in the manga between his intro arc and the final volume or two. I’m pretty sure that Takaya’s said before that it wasn’t exactly an intentional choice on her part, and was more a mix of her just forgetting he existed, and her not really knowing how to fit him into the story. So it’d be nice if the anime could come up with it’s own ways to give him more screen-time instead of him just vanishing off the face of the earth, but we’ll see. I think Takaya would be on board with it, at least, since she seems to regret how little screen-time he got in the manga.

Anyway, the next episode title seems to imply that [for now] we’re skipping the chapters focused on Hatori and Mayu, and jumping straight to chapters 58 and 59. Which I’m happy with, since I’ve honestly been hoping they’d push that arc to later on, so it wouldn’t be a jarring diversion from the beach arc. After how much this episode set up, I think anime only people would have really disliked it if the next episode took a hard left turn into focusing 100% on Hatori and Mayu. I feel like the beach arc is where the manga really finds it’s groove in terms of pacing and things feel less erratic and episodic, but that whole arc always felt like it was awkwardly placed in the story. And honestly since it has barely anything to do with the beach arc aside from taking place in summer, I think it’d be really easy to just change the timing for it and have it happen later on. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if they push it all the way to season 3, lol. But we’ll see. At the very least if they’re not gonna adapt it in the next episode, I think it’s at least getting pushed back to after the beach arc’s done.

#murasaki rambles #fruits basket

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occasionaltouhou · 5 years ago

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finally i have an excuse to write about tengu

In Gensokyo’s tengu society, there were probably more bars than there were houses. Perhaps that was why it was rare for tengu to visit the same bar twice in a row; whether because of the different varieties of available drinks, the different gossip overheard, or simply the different atmospheres, it was an unspoken tradition that a tengu wouldn’t visit the same place twice in at least a month.

Himekaidou Hatate only left her small house once every few days, but she was no exception. Tonight, she was headed for a somewhat smaller place lower on the mountain; however, as she entered, she knew immediately that she’d made the wrong decision.

It was quiet, and almost empty, with the exception of a few scattered groups near the bar and a single occupied table, whose occupants were in the middle of a heated debate. Hatate recognised them immediately.

Aya noticed her first, and smiled. “Now, if you want a real slacker, that’s who you’d be looking out for. The stay-at-home who only goes out and follows me for her work.”

Even worse, it seemed like she’d been drawn into the argument now. That was the only explanation for Aya’s remark -- not that Aya was polite, but nor was it typical for her to be that rude.

“I didn’t say that you were slacking off,” replied Momiji, sparing her a glance. “It’s the entire information corps that’s slacking off.”

“I’m busier than you are, you shoji-playing slacker!” argued Aya. “Now that all the humans are down in the village, what do you so-called guardians of the Mountain do all day? Sit down and play board games! Whereas I’m going and investigating the truth, day in, day out!”

“Don’t talk yourself up so much,” said Momiji. “You’re just a gossip-monger, and none of the information that you gather is any good. That’s why you crow tengu just spend all your time having your newspaper competitions, because there’s no other reason to be gathering that information, hmm? Whereas even if we happen to be passing the time with shoji, we wolf tengu are still carefully observing all paths into the Mountain. I assure you, if there ever was an intruder, they wouldn’t slip through our grasp.”

Both of them stared at each other for a moment, knocked back their drinks, and then turned to face Hatate, who was frozen in place, hypnotised by the discussion taking place in front of her.

“I was just getting a drink,” started Hatate, but Aya, swift as ever, spun around her and steered her to the empty seat of their table.

“They’ll bring you the drinks, don’t worry,” said Aya. “More to the point, don’t you have something to say? Are you going to let her talk us down like this?”

“‘Us’?” repeated Hatate weakly.

“Yes, yes, us,” confirmed Aya. “We might be rivals, and your paper might be full of overwritten articles that no-one reads, but that doesn’t mean that you aren’t also part of the information corps. So, are you going to allow her to just say that all we do is-- what was it again, Inubashiri?”

“Have you no shame, Shameimaru?” asked Momiji. “You can’t win this argument on your own, so you’re dragging Himekaidou into this, too?”

“It’s because I’m right that I’m dragging her into this, Inubashiri,” replied Aya. “After all, you can’t dismiss both of us.”

“I think--” started Hatate.

“If you misunderstand the truth that badly, Shameimaru, then perhaps you shouldn’t even be in the information corps,” interrupted Momiji. “The truth is the truth, it’s not the opinion of whoever has the most votes.”

“I think you’ll find it’s a reporter’s job to bring the truth to people,” retorted Aya. “And if they’re doing their job right, like I am, then what most people think will, in fact, be the truth.”

“You think you’re doing your job right, flying down to the Shrine for parties every weekend?”

“I’m doing a better job than you are. Honestly, with the amount of threats you have to deal with these days, I’m sure I’ve had more practise than you. You weren’t much good against the Shrine Maiden, after all.”

“Nor were you. As we both know, my job was merely to investigate what she was doing. There’s no question of being out of practise.” Momiji’s scowl suddenly turned into a fierce smile, revealing sharp teeth. “Unless you’d like to give me a bit of practise right now?”

“Do you really think you could keep up with me, Inubashiri?” asked Aya, rising. “Still, I’m sure I can spare a couple of minutes to show you just how outdated--”

“SHUT UP!”

Aya and Momiji immediately went quiet at Hatate’s outburst, with Aya carefully returning back to her seat.

“I haven’t even gotten my drink yet because of this stupid argument,” continued Hatate. “All you’re doing is saying that you both have way too much free time on your hands!”

“She--” started Aya.

“Of course we’ve got too much free time on our hands!” interrupted Hatate. “Both of you are older than me, so you should both remember better than I do that it hasn’t always been like this! And instead of being grateful, you’re getting into stupid, pointless arguments! If any of us are slacking off, then we all are! So what’s the sense in arguing about who’s using their time better, when we should be happy we have that time at all!”

She began panting, out of breath. Aya and Momiji glanced at each other for a moment, and then Aya gestured towards the bar.

The three of them remained silent until the crow tengu serving brought over their drinks. Hatate drank hers in a single gulp and handed it back to the server wordlessly.

“Thank you,” the server whispered to Hatate, and around them, the other tengu in the bar began quietly talking again now that they were certain the argument wasn’t about to pick up again.

“Is that why you spend all your time looking over your articles?” asked Aya, after a moment.

“I do that because I want them to be accurate,” muttered Hatate, who was now deflating, laying her chin on the table. “You know that.”

“You know, if you two worked together, you’d almost have a complete article,” remarked Momiji.

“Maybe we should write it about you, then? ‘Wolf tengu loses argument to thoughtographer!’” declared Aya, spreading her hands in the air as if visualising the article. “My popularity would go through the roof!”

“You’re leaving out some of the truth, aren’t you?” replied Momiji. “It’d be something more like ‘Bunbunmaru News reporter disgraced in argument!’”

“You both suck at titles,” murmured Hatate, drinking from another cup the grateful server had brought over. “Especially you, Aya. I thought you’d be better at it.”

“Well, the titles aren’t that important,” replied Aya confidently. “It’s all about visual language! Getting good, eye-catching pictures!”

“You already missed a chance at getting a picture of your face after Hatate was done with you,” teased Momiji.

“Oh, and I missed the chance of getting one of yours, too…” sighed Aya. “That’s a shame, I’d have liked to frame that…”

The two began bickering again, and Hatate sighed. Whatever it was, Aya and Momiji seemed they’d never get along, but…

Well, perhaps they should be grateful that they have the free time to have these kinds of arguments, too.

#touhou #aya shameimaru #hatate himekaidou #momiji inubashiri #occasional prompts #occasional fics #hatate and momiji are more difficult to write than you'd expect... comes of having less appearances #though i suppose momiji should be lucky to have any dialogue at all #poor tojiko...

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okayto · 5 years ago

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Mini-Review: After School Dice Club

My impression after watching episode 1: this is an interesting premise I want to see more of, with the most annoying characters I would like to see all struck from the face of the earth.

My impression after watching episode 2: I will put up with obnoxious high school girls only so I can see more cool board games.

Premise is simple: two 10th graders discover their classmate works at a small board game store, she teaches them to play a game, and they are introduced to the amazing world of board games, which apparently are not super popular in Japan.

One of the first things you’ll notice when the game shop is shown for the first time is they’re not just drawing generic boxes. No, they’ve beautifully illustrated actual real-life games you could play right now.

A game gets played in every episode--I can honestly say I now want a chance to play Marrakech, a game in episode 1 that involves strategically moving a rug merchant around and trying to cover more of the board with your rugs than another player’s.

The games are the reason to watch. Each episode is a different game, and no game is played in more than one episode. Also going on my list of games to obtain is Kaker Laken Poker/Cockroach Poker, a card bluffing game, and I’m also interested in playing Incan Gold, a strategy game, and The Island/Survive: Escape from Atlantis, where players try to move pieces off a sinking island.

The games get a basic explanation--probably not enough that I could play right away, but enough that I think I got a a decent understanding of whether I’d enjoy the game, at least.

It was also fun spotting games in the shop and wondering if they’d make an appearance (after yelling “PLAY BLOKUS PLAY BLOKUS PLAY THE FRIKKIN BLOKUS” at the beginning of every episode, they did, in fact, finally play the Blokus game I’d seen sitting in the background at the beginning, in episode 10). I own Blokus. Good game.

The downside of the show is...the main characters. Blue-haired Miki is terminally shy and I just can’t like her as a character. Pigtailed Aya is a Manic Pixie [Childish] Girl. Rules-loving Midori is pretty inflexible, but is mostly a nice character, actually. But my gosh, are the first two annoying. Later, a part-German girl shows up and I was like is there an epidemic of bad German accents going around because FIRST MOMIJI SOHMA and NOW THIS but it turns out they’re voiced by the same American voice actress, so that explains it. But it certainly didn’t help. (Her dad also has a not-super-great German accent, so.)

Verdict

English dub? Yes, and it’s OK. Actually, most of the voices are fine, but blue-haired Miki has a thin, high-pitched voice (that fits her character, but her character is wimpy), and part-German Emmy has the same pseudo-German accent that drove me nuts with Momiji in Fruits Basket. (How nuts? I spent half an hour searching Youtube for actual Germans speaking English just to remind me what it actually sounds like.)

Visuals: Characters a fine, nothing flashy. But the backgrounds are beautiful, and show many real spots around Kyoto, where it’s set (Crunchyroll has a blog post HERE comparing the anime visuals with real spots), and as noted above, the games themselves get beautifully illustrated.

Worth watching? Yes if interested in board games and you can stand a really whiny, wimpy 10th grader. (Miki does improve for at least half the episodes, but she’s often plagued by self-doubt or bad memories that slow everything down.) Even with the obnoxious characters, I don’t regret watching. Plus, it’s only 12 episodes.

Where to watch (USA, as of April 2020): Hulu (dub and sub), Funimation (both)

Click my “reviews” tag below or search “mini review” on my blog to find more!

#reviews #it's like I WANT to like this bc the games are fun and I can put up with Manic Pixie Girl Aya and rules-loving Midori #but Miki's whiny and the boss is overbearing and just ugh I couldn't stand them #after school dice club #houkago saikoro club

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crossroadsimagine · 5 years ago

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🎭 Could I get a match up for fruits basket and noragami? Im collaborative and a team player. I'm socially flexable and a good communicator. I love investigating and I'm rule oriented, if I agree. I'm creative and live theater and writing. I can interact with people I don’t know on a personal level and find common topics to discuss or talk about topics i haven’t thought about. I'm emotionally distant but in observant of others! I have chin length pink hair and hazel eyes. I'm also 4'10! Thanks!

☰ Matched with Ayame

You will catch his eye almost immediately and he won’t waste much time at all in approaching you, while your appearance is what initially draws him to you, he will quickly fall in love with your personality and who you are as a whole. He can be pretty forward, suggestive and flirty with you rather early on, but he doesn’t over do it and will tone it down if he notices you pulling away or feeling uncomfortable by him.

Though he is pretty direct he won’t ask you out right away because he will want to get to know you better and on a deeper level first, rather then just jumping into a relationship without really knowing each other. When he does ask you out it will seem really random and out of the blue, but he will actually put quite a it of thought into when and how he should ask you out.

But he also won’t make a big ordeal out of asking you out or at least not in a public way like drawing a crowd or anything, instead he will take you somewhere the two of you can be fairly alone or a place where people won’t really be watching or paying attention to the two of you. Something surprisingly simple for him like taking you to a rooftop, park, botanical garden or even the zoo or a play. This way the two of you can spend time together and he will ask you out plain and simple towards the end of the evening, expressing his feelings for you as well for you can truly understand how he feels for you.

Once the two of you begin dating, he is very affectionate, caring and attentive though he may not always seem like the best listener but when it comes to you, he pays close attention to the things you say. Because he is so attentive, he can be very good when it come to making plans for dates together or when it comes to getting you presents particularly for special occasions. Of course, because he does make and design clothes, he can often times design clothing for you whether for gifts or just randomly because he had an idea for you.

He can make a point to design things he knows you with like whether it’s making a replica of a dress or outfit from one of your favorite plays or movies or just listening to things you didn’t like about your clothes like maybe wishing for better pockets or wishing clothing fit your body or curves better.

He can be kind of childish at times and even seem pretty impulsive and impatient particularly when he’s bored, but he also has a very patient and understand side to him when it comes to you. Though he can often nudge you out of your comfort zone he is very reassuring and loving, he won’t force you to open up to him or do things you aren’t ready to. You can be emotionally distant but he won’t mind and will just see it more of a trust issue, like you are afraid to show a vulnerable side because you’ve been hurt in the past.

He will work to prove himself to you and show you how you can trust him and depend on him in any circumstances, he’ll wait for you to open up and let him in on your own without him having to push you. He adores how creative you are because this means you are both creative and love the arts, he will love hearing your opinion on arts in general and takes a keen interest in what you like to write and will really show a curiosity in reading things you have written if you will let him. He will focus many dates on more artistic and creative ideas, going to the theater, museums, gardens, historical sites, sightseeing or hands on dates like taking dance lessons, pottery, art, paint classes and more.

He does adore how much of a team player you are and how flexible you can be, he tends to see you as the more level headed and reasonable one. Which makes him really value your thoughts and point of view on different matters especially when it comes to important decisions or problems.

When it comes to a holiday like Valentine’s Day, he can go a little bit over board unless you insist, he doesn’t, but even then, you are still going to be showered quite a bit with gifts. However, his gifts aren’t just the typical chocolates and stuffed animals that most people like to do for Valentine’s Day, instead he will plan a special get away perhaps a trip somewhere special or just to relax for the weekend. Along with this will come the meaningful gifts, things he knows you like and collect maybe it’s jewelry, books, art supplies.

There will also be a romantic dinner either out at a nice restaurant or at home which ever he thinks you will enjoy more, this will likely be before the two of you leave for the trip or while the two of you are away on the trip particularly if you would rather go out, this way he can take you out to a new fancy restaurant and really spoil you. Because he will plan a trip like this it won’t simply be a one-day occasion to celebrate the holiday which he takes as a holiday to show you just how much he loves you it’ll be a 2 to 3-day affair.

Over all he is very caring, considerate and completely loyal to you and will constantly show you his love for you, he isn’t overly protective of you and doesn’t get jealous easily because he has complete trust you and the relationship the two of you have. He can be a bit insecure at times worrying that you deserve better or he’s not good enough which is why he can go out of his way often to shower you with love and attention.

However, he rarely openly talks about his own insecurities because he doesn’t like to feel like he’s bringing you down and likes for you and the atmosphere to be cheerful. He does stand up for you and will always have your back no matter the situation and he really encourages you to do whatever you want to do in life and he will be behind you and support you the whole way.

☰ Headcanons Between you two

■ Ayame is very affectionate and loving with you and tends to even be quite romantic particularly when it comes to special occasions or holidays. But he can even randomly surprise you with gifts, from flowers, jewelry, things you collect etc.

■ Hates seeing you unhappy and can go quite out of his way to cheer you up, even if it’s just by doing simple things like going for a walk, taking you out to eat, stargazing, or even just talking or telling you stories to try and make you laugh.

■ He is affectionate and not afraid to be the dominant one and smother you with attention and affection, in fact, he can even be very smothering at times because he does genuinely adore your attention and being near you but none the less, he can come across as clingy.

■ Tends to go out of his way to try and impress you or when you over even after the two of you begin dating, he will like surprising you and seeing your eyes light up when he gets you something special or plans something special for the two of you.

☰ Other Possible Matches

● Yato

Yato absolutely adores you and makes it pretty obvious from the first time he meets you, he’s not afraid to point out how cute you are. He finds your appearance adorable because of your short stature and pink hair and will even flat out compliment your appearance, telling you how cute you are nearly every time he sees you. Though his attitude towards you may not initially seem like he’s interested in you romantically and chances are he probably won’t have romantic feelings for you right from the start and instead treats you as a good friend. Though he can be rather intrusive and clingy when it comes to getting to know you and even more so once he does begin developing feelings for you. He can be affectionate with you but can also be kind of awkward and shy at other times, but he really cares deeply for you once he does develop feelings for you which makes him very understanding and attentive with you.

● Momiji

Is very caring, friendly and attentive with you right from the start, though he does not show an immediate interest in you romantically. He just wants to get to know you and be friends with you at first, but it really doesn’t take very long for him to develop feelings for you. But at the same time he does not rush to turn things into a romantic relationship and instead will build a strong friendship with you first and kind of ask questions to see if you may be interested in him, but will not flat out ask you out or ask you directly if you like him in a romantic way. He will be very loving, encouraging and reassuring with you when the two of you are dating, he wants to bring out the best in you and help you with any and all problems and above all else cheer you up when you are down and constantly show you how much he loves you.

#Match up #Match ups #Valentine match up #Fruits basket #Noragami #Ayame match up #headcanons

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mamoretta · 5 years ago

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Autumn in Japan❤

In November 2019, I went on a full week trip to Japan with my two lovely cousins, Teh Epi and Teh Ami. The trip was on my bucketlist, but when we first planned this trip, we were reckless and kinda impulsive but I don’t regret it any single second. Luckily, we bought the ticket 9 months before departure, so we had enough time to prepare everything (money especially). Little did you know that Japan is the farthest I’ve ever been from home (for now), so I was extra excited and the fact that I can afford this trip alone (in +-9 months of saving!) was a proud moment for me.

Because my last vacation was a solo trip, the first thing I noticed about this trip was the differencies between when you go alone and when you go grouping. In my opinion, solo traveling is much closer to your heart, like there’s always that touching moment when you feel you can conquer anything (I wonder what would happened if I go to Japan alone!!). While group traveling is more refreshing, fun, and thrilling, but it really depends on whom you travel with. I think you have to go with someone that you really vibed with if you want to fully enjoy the trip with less drama. Lucky me, I have two wonderful companions that made my trip to Japan couldn’t been any better. Although there wasn’t always rainbow in Japan (literally), but t’was full of laugh and positivity. Super big love and thanks to Ami-chan and Epi-chan❤

The Trip

I only visited Osaka and Kyoto due to my short time and budget-friendly trip but it was all worth it.

Day-0: Depart & Transit

We flew to Japan with Singapore Airlines (the service and the food was superb! Plus they have Gentle Bones’ song on their entertainment board :p), so we had transit in Changi for a night long, yes 9-hour long. We landed in Changi at 23.00 and we wanted to visit Jewel for the sake of their indoor waterfall although the waterfall only operated until 23.30! We managed to lined up in immigration and jogged to Jewel but too bad the waterfall already turned off (we knew from the beginning we wouldn’t make it but at least we tried). We snapped some obscure photos as evidence that we were there. Then we went back to T2 Changi and strolled around finding a nice spot to spend the night, the snooze area and the long sofas was packed we ended up in some single sofas in front of the children playground, it was warm but we barely slept.

Day-1: Landed in Osaka

We had breakfast in-between airplane watching at Changi before our flight at 7 am, we bought butter toast and teh O’. The teh O was uniquely delicious, it was teh tarik with melted butter, warm sweet and savory at the same time. The teh O is worth a flight to Changi (hiperbolic but it was that great). Then we found an empty foot massage machine and tempted to try one because our (already) sore calf, and it was one our biggest mistake... the machine was badly stink (imagine million people from around the world using that same machine :)) and the stink sticked to our socks, then we putted the smelly socks into our shoes... imagine the rest. (In case you wondering, yes our shoes was smelly troughout our trip in Japan T_T). In the evening, finally we safely landed in KIX, we was welcomed with the beautiful autumn foliage outside the airport. It was our first time witnessing autumn foliage with our own eyes, we were so happy >_<

Then we rushed to ICOCA vending machine to bought our transportation card for our trip and looked for our train to our hotel in Osaka while carrying the heavy luggage. The first time we tried Japan train line was confusing... we entered the same train back and forth because we were not sure that was the right train and there was no one to asked. The cold air and strong wind started to stabbed me who only wore 2 thin layers of clothes. Freezing. Luckily we arrived at our hotel just in time, rested for a minute, then we went to Dotonbori to get dinner. During this trip, we stayed in Ookini Hotel Dotonbori, just 700 m walk from the buzzing Dotonbori. In Dotonbori, we had Kukuru Takoyaki, ¥800 for 10 pieces of the tastiest takoyaki I’ve ever tasted. Then we lined up for the famous Ichiran Ramen(!!!). Twisted part, later we realised that the Ichiran Ramen we visited was not the ‘no pork’ Ichiran branch we intended to visit... didn’t know if we were too hungry or too careless T_T anyway here’s the pic of the pork broth:

Day-2: Kyoto Part 1

We had breakfast at the nearest Family Mart to our hotel (it was like a little heaven for me, all the food, drinks, snack, and dessert were cheaply delicious). Then we headed to Kiyomizudera Temple in Kyoto by express train. To reach the temple, we had to walk about 20-30 mins but the walk was so pleasing because there were many cute cafe and souvenir shops along the walk. After we spent enough time and took enough memories at Kiyomizudera, we walked to Gion through Sannenzaka & Ninenzaka Street. The street was packed with tourist and full of vibrant touristy shops. We stopped by at Studio Ghibli Shop(!!!) and enjoyed a cup of gingerbread latte at the unique tatami-style Starbucks cafe, there’s a beautiful zen garden and all things beautiful <3 Before we arrived at the modern side of Gion, we passed through an old-style-long-charming alley, every path we took there was beautiful and reminded me so much to anime sceneries. Even when we arrived to the busy Gion, I feel like I was living in anime world.

Then we walked to Nishiki Market. It’s time for FOOD! The best part: super fresh seafood sashimi! I got to ate uni for the first time in my life and I tasted the most delicious salmon sashimi in the world. I cried. We lost count on the money we spent in this market because all things was very tempting. I wish I could go back to Nishiki Market. Then we had Ayam-ya Halal Ramen for dinner (finally real halal food here) and snacked on donuts and hojicha at Koe Donuts. We went back to Osaka and we stopped at the station a bit far away from our hotel to saw the illumination fulfilled the road, it was magical ✨ We walked far enough to made our stomach felt empty again, then we decided to had supper at 24-hour all ¥100 Kura Sushi. All the staffs spoke japanese and didn’t understand our english and all the instructions is in japanese, we waited 1 hour for our queue number to be called (also in japanese x_X), then a waitress came to us offering us (in japanese) the english menu (thank God).

Day-3: Universal Studio Japan

It is the happiest day in my life!!!!!!!! One day in USJ is never enough, but we already planned a strategy to fully maximized our time in USJ, so after a full day of adrenaline and happiness, we walked out from USJ (with very sore legs) feeling contented. The first ride we headed to was Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. They said this is the most wanted ride so the queue must be very long. But lucky us, we queued only about 30 mins long and there is one funny story. In the middle of the ride (we thought it was the middle because we hadn’t finished the ride yet), the machine stopped but we didn’t know any single thing about what happened because all we hear was japanese. Three of us were panicked at that 4-seated train, so we tried to ask what happened to one okasan beside me *me pulled out all my sumimasen-arigatou skill*. But all we got was silence and a blank stare from her that made us even more scared *laugh ih japanese*. Shortly afterward the ride was running again but when we reached the end of the ride, the train didn’t stop and we had 2 full rounds instead... okay the first round was anticlimax because of that technical problem and the second round was enough to made us had nausea 😂 nonetheless, the ride was amazing and very nostalgic (because it’s Harry Potter!!!).

My second favorite ride is Hollywood Dream. The track is terrific and every single seat has its own monitor and speaker to let us choose the song we want to hear during the ride. I chose Happy - Pharell Williams (by sentimental reason) and I was superrrr happy and carried away by the whoosh. And the most *EPIC* ride goes to THE FLYING DINOSAUR!!! I was speechlessly astonished by the ride, the ride continuously gave me palpitations. I felt like I was literally flying as a flying dinosaur. Last but not least, though it wasn’t a ride, the highest appreciation goes to Hogwarts Castle Light Show. There are no words can describe how magical it was. My jaw dropped throughout the show. I love itttt.

Day-4: Kyoto Part 2

And this is my favorite day in Japan afterall. We went to Fushimi Inari by train and the comute was somewhat confusing because we should’ve had transit in 2 stations, we ended up getting off in the wrong station, 2 times, like a donkey. We arrived at Fushimi Inari a bit late, then we took some photos and bought some food from the local market near the gate. I got one big skewer of beef wagyu for only ¥500 and I still remember how delicious it was. We also bought some souvenirs there, argh all the souvenir shops in Japan are very cute and tempting. Then we headed to Arashiyama Bambo Forest. The bamboo forest was so-so, but I was impressed by the neighborhood around Arashiyama. Though it is tourist area, but the environment was very soothing and authentic, the momiji just enhanced the warm atmosphere, and the people was sooooo nice i could’ve hugged all of them. There are one road full of nice souvenir shops (still), no car passed by, just a few traditional rickshaw called jinrikisha pulled passionately by local man. Then we strolled around and ended in the popular Arabica coffee shop in Kyoto. The coffee shop was packed and it located by the lake. After we got our latte, we enjoyed it while comtemplating by the lake surrounded with momiji under the beautiful sky. The latte was so good itself and I was covered in joy. We had spare time at Kyoto so we decided to went back to Gion area just because we love it a lot. Last thing I knew, I already left my heart in Kyoto.

Day-5: Osaka

We spent full day at Osaka. This is basically our last day we have because tomorrow morning we already had to leave and it was the most freezing and stormy day we had in Japan. Even Japan was sad because we were about to go home :( Anyway we had so much fun and impressed by all Osaka has to offer. We had Matsuya for breakfast and dinner because we wanted to try all the menu and it was very cheap but also delicious haha and I tried natto for the first time! In the morning we decided to went to Don Quijote first to bought some (no, a lot) of souvenirs, then we went back to hotel to dropped the purchases and continued the itinerary. We went shopping at Shinsaibashi, strolled around Amerikamura, went to Umeda for the ferris wheel but too bad the ferris wheel was closed (yes our bad didn’t check the schedule) but Umeda is nice so we walked around Umeda. The day was getting dark, we were a bit confused where to go next, and we decided to go to Osaka Castle with zero expectation because it was dark and the museum was already closed. Turned out Osaka Castle remains beautiful in the dark, and we still mesmerized by the castle and its surroundings. We felt like we were living in kingdom era. Then our last destination is Shinsekai. It’s an old district built in 1912 with New York and Paris as the model, then neglected in decades afterwards. We just strolled around the neighborhood, it was full of restaurant, bar, spa, and other nightlife. Little did we know that Shinsekai is the most seedy and dangerous area in Osaka lol. Gratefully we arrived at our hotel safe and sound.

Day-6 & 7: Back to reality

NOOO i didn’t want this to be over, but life goes on and we had to leave Japan. But first thing first, we had breakfast at Matsuya for countless times haha. We also spent all our coins we had. Bought the things that hadn’t been bought yet in the last minute. What else to say... we headed to KIX and said our hardest goodbye to Japan. Still we had a good time in KIX, Changi, and in the airplane before we had to face the reality. The saddest part is, right after we landed safely in CGK and activated our phone, I received message from my family told me that my grandpa passed away that morning. Oops I’m sorry for ruining the ending :p All in all, this whole trip was a blast worth a lifetime.

What I love about Japan:

The food! It was all beyond my tongue could expect.

The people was all friendly, kind, and *very* polite!!! *bowing sharply 90 degrees*

The vending machine you can find anything anywhere and the konbini store.

The technologies, facilities, transportation, cleanliness, they’re the best.

The balance coherence between the old and modern culture.

There are so many things Japan has to make you in love, but they say you don’t need a reason to love something (cringe).

Throughout my entire trip in Japan, it seemed like there was a balance between old and modern maintained by a strong appreciation of tradition from the times gone by. It’s something we’d never experienced in another country and made us instantly fall in love with Japan. It’s amazing to see two such extremes coexisting effortlessly and perfectly side by side. I was happy, delighted, amazed, surprised, and just plain impressed. I hope I can go back to Japan.

#Japan Osaka Kyoto

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