#muse: kyouko sakura

[dropletsofmuses]

“Man, I think Mami incited a category 10 cunt incident in the kitchen and invented a new flavor called ‘Cuntnami.’”

“…Genuinely what are you talking about. Do you mean ‘the food was good?’”

[magicaldogtoto]

Parallel Worlds Record Chapter Twenty-Three: She's an Irregularity, That's For Sure

Rating: Teen

Genre: Fantasy, Magical Girl

Word Count: Approx. 7,200 words

Summary: Mifuyu and her new friends try to find Homura and get some answers out of her.

Author's Notes: Special thanks to @celesticnova and @evatriceakiyama for beta-reading for me!

[MIFUYU]

Mifuyu and the others got up early that morning and headed out of Mami’s apartment, up the tree-lined pathway cutting through Mitakihara City, and eventually ended up in front of Mitakihara Middle School. Mifuyu wasn’t sure how to feel about standing outside of a middle school–if anything, she felt awkward. A university-aged girl waiting with a couple of middle schoolers probably looked weird to people on the outside. At least they had managed to find some casual clothes for her to wear.

By now hundreds of students had begun to file into the main entrance, but there was no sign of Homura's familiar long, wavy dark hair.

“She usually comes around this time,” Mami said. She was wearing her school uniform. Next to her, Kyouko was wearing a matching one. The only thing, Mifuyu mused, that made it clear that Kyouko was the same girl she had met last night was the girl’s long red hair that was tied into an unkempt ponytail.

Mifuyu looked Kyouko over. “I have to ask… Do you even go here?”

Kyouko made a face. “No… but I figured if we’re going to be around here, I should blend in.”

“Where did you get that uniform?” Yachiyo asked.

“I borrowed it.”

“... I see.”

Kyouko slung her school bag (which Mifuyu assumed she also borrowed) and looked around. “Maybe Homura’s running late?” Kyouko asked finally.

“Or… she’s already here,” Mami said, looking around. Yachiyo and Tsuruno simply looked at all the students filing in.

As the group quietly thought to themselves, a gentle voice came to their attention.

“Tomoe-san, Sakura-san… good morning.”

Mifuyu turned to where the voice had come from, as did the others. It was Kyouko who spoke first. “Shizuki-san.”

The girl standing near them looked around Kyouko and Mami’s age, give or take a year. She had long, wavy green hair and matching green eyes. She wore the same uniform that the other girls wore, and was carrying a school bag. There was something about the way she carried herself that Mifuyu felt was particularly more feminine than the Magical Girls gathered around.

“What are you all doing out here?” the green-haired girl asked, clutching her chest with her free hand. “Who are these people?” she asked afterwards, looking at the Kamihama girls.

“We’re looking for Homura Akemi,” Mifuyu answered. “Who are you?”

The new girl blinked. “Oh… it’s Shizuki. Hitomi Shizuki.”

“Got it. Have you seen her, Shizuki-san?”

Hitomi shook her head slowly. “I just got here. There’s still a few minutes until class starts. She might show up any minute now. Have you tried calling her?”

“We would if we could,” Kyouko said. “But Homura is a little out of reach, it seems.”

A tension seemed to form in the air. Hitomi stepped closer and lowered her voice.

“Is… is this related to… you know?” she asked.

Mifuyu paused. She narrowed her eyes at Hitomi. “You… what do you know about…?”

Hitomi looked at Mifuyu, before nodding. “I… know a little. Sakura-san told me.” Hitomi glanced at Kyouko, who was still chewing on her Rocky.

Tsuruno spoke next. “Are you… are you a Magical Girl?”

“Me? Oh, goodness, no.” Hitomi shook her head. “I… after hearing about what happened to Sayaka-chan, I don’t know if I could.”

“You knew Sayaka Miki?” Yachiyo asked.

Hitomi suddenly looked really uncomfortable. “She… she was my best friend.”

There was a stillness in the air after Hitomi spoke. Mifuyu thought about what Kyouko had said the night before–about Sayaka and a boy she liked. Mifuyu had been a middle school girl once. She had also read a boatload of romance novels where two girls liked the same boy. She looked at Hitomi; in the back of her head, she thought about the kind of love triangle that must have happened.

“I… I see.” Mifuyu frowned. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

“... Thanks.” Hitomi sighed. “If I see Akemi-san, I’ll tell her you’re looking for her. My schedule’s pretty packed today, but I can do that much.”

“Lots of classes?” Yachiyo asked.

“That and tea ceremony practice,” HItomi said, sighing again. “It’s such a bother, but my mom insists.”

“This is why I’m happy I never grew up rich,” Kyouko muttered. Mifuyu for her part found herself remembering her own mom, and what it was like growing up in a rich family. She looked at the weary look on Hitomi’s face; it wasn’t too different from what Mifuyu herself saw in the mirror back when she was in middle school.

“I’ll see you all around,” Hitomi said. She waved at them and made her way towards the school entrance, leaving them by themselves.

Around them, the school bell rang, announcing the beginning of class. Mami looked at the main building.

“School’s starting,” she said. “I was hoping to introduce Akemi-san to you, but I guess that’s not happening.”

“Where else would Akemi-san be if she’s not here?” Yachiyo asked.

Mami thought to herself. “She’d probably be at home, I guess.”

“Then that’s where we’d have to go,” Yachiyo said. “Where does she live?”

Mami and Kyouko looked at each other.

“She’s not too far,” Mami said. “It’s just…”

Here she dropped off.

Mifuyu stepped forward. “It’s just what?”

“We’ve never been there before,” Mami said. “Akemi-san was never the kind to invite people over. And I didn’t want to press her on the matter.”

Yachiyo raised an eyebrow. “Do you think there’s a reason she doesn’t let anyone over?”

Mami shook her head. “I never really thought about it. But given what Azusa-san has told us, and factoring in the stuff about your Madoka Kaname… I don’t really know what to expect anymore.”

Mifuyu frowned. It was true, even in her world, she never went to Homura’s house.

“Then what do you suggest?” Mifuyu asked.

“I think you should still go and check out Akemi-san’s house,” Mami said. “But I can’t go with you.”

“What?” Yachiyo asked. “Why?”

Mami looked at the main entrance to the school. “I’ve already missed a few days because of being tired from fighting Wraiths. I don’t want to get in trouble… or worse.” She turned back to the group. “Kyouko will go with you, so you should be fine at least.”

“Thank you,” Mifuyu said, nodding. “We can handle things from here.”

“If anything goes wrong, just let me know, okay?” Mami turned to Kyouko. Kyouko nodded.

With that, they parted ways, Mami walking to the school, the others away from it.

“Think we’ll be okay without her?” Mifuyu asked.

Kyouko walked beside her. “Mami’s a veteran of these parts,” she said. “But I’m a veteran, too. If anything gets in our way, I can kick its ass easily.”

Mifuyu quietly nodded as they headed into the city. She was a veteran, too, of course. But having someone else who knew how to fight would be a good thing.

***

Mifuyu had grown up in the city all her life, but Kamihama had never felt as big as Mitakihara did now. There were a lot of similarities between it and Kamihama–the steel and glass skyscrapers, the train running to and fro, and noise of traffic–she considered herself a city girl in many ways. If anything unsettled her, it would be the lack of sound in the countryside.

But now they needed to find one girl in this whole place, and that made Mitakihara seem even bigger. Mifuyu mused to herself whether or not this was how Yachiyo felt when she spent all that time trying to find her. Thinking about that made her reflect on Campanella–how the actions of the Mifuyu in her world led to her becoming who she was.

For every good choice I make, another me somewhere makes a bad one… Her thoughts from her first night in this world floated around in her head. The more she thought about it, the more it made her head hurt. If she did something here, did that mean another Mifuyu somewhere else did the opposite? If another Mifuyu did something good, was it inevitable that Mifuyu herself would do something awful? Was reality really nothing more than opposites spiraling out of incremental moments?

“Mifuyu?”

Yachiyo was walking beside her. “Something on your mind?”

Mifuyu turned away. “I-it’s nothing. Just thinking about… things.”

“... What kind of things?”

Mifuyu tensed up, before calming herself down. “... There’s no need for me to answer that.”

Yachiyo frowned. “Hey, that’s what I’m supposed to say.”

“Sorry…” Mifuyu covered her mouth and yawned as they walked through Mitakihara City, on their way to Homura’s.

“Not enough sleep?” Yachiyo asked.

Mifuyu blinked back her tiredness. “I had a… strange dream again–two or three, really–and couldn’t sleep for a while afterwards. Her cheeks felt warm as she remembered exactly what had gone on in that dream.

Yachiyo frowned. “A dream? What kind of dream?”

Mifuyu blushed slightly. She was with that girl, Meela, again. Not just her; there were other girls with them. Mifuyu had had dreams before–influenced by her constant reading of romance novels–but she’d never had one that felt this real. All those pretty faces, all that bared skin, and everything else that came after that… there was no way she could explain all that to Yachiyo or Tsuruno, let alone a younger girl like Kyouko.

The other me is clearly having a good time, she thought to herself. Out loud she just said. “I… I think I saw Yacchan. My Yacchan.”

“... Is this really something we need to hear?” Kyouko asked, before biting into some Rocky.

Mifuyu felt her face turn redder, this time from embarrassment. “I-it wasn’t like that! I… I can’t really explain it, but I think it really was my Yacchan. As in, I was seeing something really going on… somewhere else?” She gestured aimlessly with her hands. “Like… I was seeing into another world. Or something.”

That seemed to get everyone’s attention. “Another world? Really?” Yachiyo asked. “But how?”

Mifuyu shrugged. “I don’t know, but ever since I ended up here, I’ve been having dreams like that. I look different in them, too… My hair's long, like I used to keep it when I was younger. I don’t know…” She almost instinctively held her hand close to her own short, white hair. Imagined what it was like to maintain hair that long in her current age.

“But if that’s really another world,” Mifuyu went on, “then somehow the Yachiyo of my world ended up there. That must be why she went missing!”

“Do you think Akemi-san had anything to do with her disappearance, then?” Tsuruno asked her. A gentle breeze caused her blonde curls to sway as she spoke.

Mifuyu shook her head. “I don’t know. The other Homura I met the night I ended up here seemed to know about other worlds. Maybe whatever she was trying to stop had something to do with this.” She thought about that Witch she saw–or More-Than-A-Witch, the thing that tore through the night sky over Kamihama. She remembered that face–disturbing not in his monstrosity but in its cold familiarity. She couldn’t shake how she had seen that face before…

Mifuyu looked behind her, at Tsuruno. The Mightiest Magical Girl was looking at the cars passing by, but didn’t seem to be really registering them.

“Tsuruno?” Mifuyu asked, wanting to change the subject as fast as she could. “What’s wrong?”

“Huh?” Tsuruno looked back at them. “Nothing, just… keeping an eye out for… that girl again.”

“Think she’ll try to attack us in broad daylight?” Kyouko asked, walking next to Tsuruno.

“That would be something,” Yachiyo said. “Most of the time, Magical Girls fight Wraiths during the night, when they come out.”

“You mean Magical Girls never fight each other during the day?” Mifuyu asked. “Or at all?”

Yachiyo shook her head. “No… why would we? We’re all supposed to be fighting Wraiths.”

“... Of course.” Mifuyu looked aside. “That’s a lot better than my world, anyway.”

Yachiyo looked at her. “What’s it like in your world?”

Mifuyu hesitated.

“Mifuyu…?” Tsuruno asked.

“... In my world, Magical Girls… often fight each other.”

All the girls stopped walking at the moment and looked at her.

“Really?” Tsuruno asked. “Why?”

Mifuyu looked down. “In my world, Magical Girls fight Witches. Witches leave rewards like Wraiths do, but… there aren’t enough rewards to go around.”

“Do Witches leave Grief Cubes like Wraiths?” Yachiyo asked.

Mifuyu shook her head. “No… they leave Grief Seeds. And Witches don’t attack in groups like Wraiths do, so… there’s only one Grief Seed per battle.”

The others remained silent. Mifuyu figured they were going through the same thing she felt while trying to understand this world.

“We use our Grief Seeds to heal our Soul Gems,” Mifuyu went on. “So they don’t get tainted…”

“There’s no Law of Cycles in your world,” Yachiyo commented. “What happens if your Soul Gems don’t get purified…?”

Mifuyu tensed up again. She felt her tongue go dry.

“What happens, Mifuyu?” Tsuruno asked.

Mifuyu was so busy trying to think up an excuse that it took a while for her to notice the shift in the air. The others, however, immediately stopped.

Mifuyu looked around at everyone. “Something wrong…?”

Yachiyo clenched her fists and looked around at the city street before them. She had a look on her face like someone who smelled something foul. “It… it can’t be…”

Tsuruno looked fired up and was scanning the street, too. Kyouko was also looking around.

“What’s going on…?” Mifuyu glanced at a nearby signpost. Before her eyes, the metal pole began to oxidize, rusting in a matter of seconds. The stoplights in the street were suddenly blinking on and off, before cutting out completely. Mifuyu’s skin suddenly felt coarse and dry, like she was in need of some lotion.

That’s when she felt it. A sense of magic that was like what she felt the night she had arrived on this world. “Wait… is this…?”

The groaning sound that reached her ear answered the question for her. In broad daylight, in the middle of the street, five Wraiths materialized. Their gaunt arms reached out with their bony fingers, and all around the street passersby began to stagger in their steps, the Wraiths feasting on their emotions.

Immediately Mifuyu transformed and held her chakram in her black-gloved hand. “Wraiths… in broad daylight?!”

Yachiyo transformed and threw a few halberds at the incoming horde. They were stunned in place. She grimaced as she summoned another halberd in her hand.

“I thought they only attacked at night!” Mifuyu said, glancing at Yachiyo.

Yachiyo gripped her halberd. “They do… but this… this is different!”

Mifuyu threw her chakram at a Wraith, landing a direct blow. Fortunately these were the basic kind of Wraiths. If any of the other kinds showed up…

“What… what changed, though?” Mifuyu asked.

“Who cares?” Tsuruno had already transformed herself, her orange fans alight with flames. “Day or night, the Mightiest Magical Girl is ready to battle evil Wraiths!” With that said, she leapt across the street, striking the Wraiths with her fans. They went down easily, only for three more to appear from thin air.

“She’s eager, that one.” Kyouko stepped forward, already transformed and in her red outfit. She held her own spear in her hand, the last bits of Rocky disappearing into her mouth. “But she can’t fight on her own.”

Mifuyu glanced around at the street. “But what about the people…?” She thought about the woman she had come across her first night here; how she had fallen to the Wraiths. The thought of more people like that sent a chill down her spine.

Kyouko got into a battle-ready position. “We’ll do what we can to stop them from getting caught by the Wraiths. But the more we talk, the less likely we’ll be able to do that!” With that, Kyouko leaped into the air and swung her spear at the incoming Wraiths.

“Sakura-san is right,” Yachiyo said. “We’re wasting time just standing around here and talking.”

Mifuyu knew she was right. She just hoped she didn’t slow anyone down.

“Let’s go,” she said, running after Yachiyo to join the battle.

Immediately the Wraiths opened fire at them, laserbeams firing from their bony hands. Mifuyu dodged the beams as much as she could, before swinging her chakram at the nearest ones. Her weapon spun in an arc through the Wraiths, cutting them down. As they fell, their skull-like faces barely showed any emotion.

Mifuyu caught the chakram in her hand, before jumping a bit as a stray beam streaked past her. Only after a few seconds did she realize that a bit of her hair accessories were singed from the shot. If it had been a little closer…

She shook her head, gripping her chakram. Now wasn’t the time to dwell on that. She had to help the others. Up ahead of her, Yachiyo fired multiple halberds at a few Wraiths, holding them back from encroaching on some stunned civilians. Kyouko swung and thrusted her spear at another batch. Tsuruno was the wildest, moving frantically from Wraith to Wraith and giving each one a mighty whack with her flaming fans.

More Wraiths poured into the street. They all had the same skull faces. It unnerved MIfuyu, yet as she launched herself back into the fray, she found that the more she saw the Wraiths, the less bothered she was by them.

At the very least, she mused to herself as she kept attacking them with her chakram, the Wraiths in this world all seemed to look exactly the same. Unlike the Witches in her world, which always looked different from each other. Mifuyu thought back to how she had once seen a scary movie when she was in high school. The monster in it had given her nightmares after her first viewing. Yet she found that, the more she saw its face (online, when the movie was airing on TV, and other ways), the less frightened she was of it. It was the same now as she mowed down the Wraiths one by one. Soon they were nothing more than phantasmal skeletons in monk’s robes that easily went down with each and every swing of her weapon.

Mifuyu reflected a laserbeam with the blade of her chakram, causing it to fire back at the Wraith. The Wraith seemed stunned, enough for Yachiyo to fire three halberds at it and destroy it.

Yachiyo landed next to her. “That should stop them from getting closer to anyone.”

Mifuyu looked around. The street was now empty; the few people who collapsed had managed to get carried away by other civilians. No one seemed to notice the four of them fighting Wraiths in their Magical Girl outfits. Maybe part of the rules of this world was no one noticing them when they transformed. After all, no one in her world ever noticed Witches if they weren’t contracted… or until it was too late.

“Is that everyone…?” MIfuyu scanned the area. It was too easy to think that everyone was no longer in range of a Wraith attack. She looked past the few new Wraiths who were spawning before them. She froze.

“Yacchan!” Mifuyu pointed a gloved finger at two figures lying on the sidewalk a short distance behind the Wraiths. One seemed to be an adult woman, while the other…

“We have to save them!” Mifuyu stepped forward, only for something to strike the ground in front of her, causing her to yelp and jump back.

“What was that?!” Mifuyu exclaimed, before seeing the new Wraith that had entered the battle. It resembled an armless, headless chest with no stomach or legs to speak of. Around it were geometric shapes, and multiple blocks floating in the air.

Mifuyu couldn’t take her eyes off of it. “What… what kind of Wraith is this…?”

Instead of an answer, another block–it was the size of a van–was flung at Mifuyu. She yelped, jumping out of the way. She did a couple flips before skidding to a halt on her feet.

“Mifuyu!” Tsuruno rushed to her side with a grace that a normal girl probably wouldn’t have been able to do in the platform boots she was wearing. Her fans were still ablazing.

“Tsuruno…” Mifuyu turned to her, before looking at the Wraith. It used its blocks to attack, and there were still many floating around it.

“I’ve heard of this Wraith,” Tsuruno said, looking up at it with her brown eyes. “But I’ve never seen it in person before.”

Before them, the two figures on the ground were inert. The new Wraith was already trying to eat their emotions.

“Those people,” Mifuyu said, horror in her voice. “They need our help!”

Tsuruno nodded, a determined look in her eyes. “Don’t worry, the Mightiest Magical Girl won’t fall so easily!”

More blocks flew at them. Mifuyu tried slicing through some and dodging others. Tsuruno, meanwhile, used a few as steps to get closer to the Wraith.

Mifuyu watched as she dodged more attacks. She’s close enough, she thought to herself. She can save them…!

Suddenly five blocks converged on Tsuruno in increasing speed, pushing and slamming her onto the ground. Cement cracked on impact.

“Tsuruno!” Mifuyu ran over to her, finding the Mightiest Magical Girl lying on the ground. Her arms and legs were sprawled out, her brown ponytail disheveled.

Mifuyu knelt down and helped her up. “Are you okay?!”

“I-I am…” Tsuruno got on one knee. “That thing… it cheated…!” She struggled to stand up, only to wince.

Mifuyu held onto her, looking back to see how the others were doing. Yachiyo and Kyouko were pinned down by a swarm of Wraiths. She could hear the sounds of their weapons, but with the amount that was there, it would take a while for them to get out.

“I can still take him,” Tsuruno said. She grabbed her fans and stared the Wraith down (or would have, if it had a head).

Mifuyu grabbed her arm. “Tsuruno…”

Tsuruno grinned at her. “I’m the best and the strongest. I’m not going to let some Wraith beat me! And after how poorly I did last night, I need to prove how mighty I am!”

Somehow those words of confidence simply left a sense of dread in Mifuyu’s chest.

Before Mifuyu could say more, Tsuruno leaped into the air, letting out a mighty battle cry. She was aiming straight for the new Wraith’s chest when six other regular Wraiths sprung up from the ground. Before Tsuruno could reach her target, a cube of light formed around her, trapping her inside.

“W-what…?” Mifuyu looked on as Tsuruno kept trying to strike the walls of the transparent cube, to no avail. Wisps of energy like vapors leaked out of the cube, going into the slack jaws of the surrounding Wraiths, and the chest of the bigger, more powerful one. Tsuruno’s struggles slowed down, and her movements became more strained. Soon she fell to her knees, struggling to get up.

Wraiths don’t just eat the emotions of non-magical people, Mifuyu realized.

“Tsuruno!” Mifuyu stepped forward, then paused. She was all alone here, the others pinned down by the Wraiths, and Tsuruno…

She shook her head. I have to stop that Wraith somehow… but how…?!

Before her eyes, Tsuruno fell on her face, struggling again to get up. Mifuyu fearfully clutched her chest, her gloved hand brushing against her collar.

Against her Soul Gem.

Mifuyu looked down. She remembered how, in the past, she had summoned enough energy by using her illusion magic on herself. She was able to deal her opponent massive damage in the process–and it nearly cost her life.

Can I really pull that off again? Mifuyu thought. Campanella’s words came back to her–was she willing to risk her life, her new happiness, on an attack that could potentially kill her? There was no Iroha in this world–at least, not one that she was familiar with. Who would heal her in time if her Soul Gem was damaged?

And what about what Kyubey had told her? If she did something here, would a MIfuyu somewhere else do something that would end in her death? Would she be making the bad choice to another Mifuyu’s good choice? The thought alone made her cringe.

The Wraiths continued to feast on Tsuruno’s emotions. The Mightiest Magical Girl was no longer moving.

MIfuyu clutched her Soul Gem. I can’t let them hurt Tsuruno! She closed her eyes and focused on her magic. She tried to feel for the same energy that she felt the last time she did this.

Voice came into her head–telling her she was weak, that she couldn’t do anything. Some of those voices sounded like Campanella, others like her own.

She ignored them and kept feeling for her magic. You’re wrong about me, she thought to herself. She felt the energy surge in her. It traveled down from her arm, to her hand, to her chakram. It felt like she was holding a newborn star in her hand.

She opened her eyes, facing down the Wraiths before her. She took aim with her chakram, taking in where every one of them was. Where Tsuruno was.

Then, she threw her weapon. It swirled around the Wraiths, striking them. Each strike caused them to burst into a flurry of energy, the vapor of emotions they were eating fading. One by one they fell to her magic.

Mifuyu caught her chakram in her hand. She stared at the bigger Wraith. It was the only one left.

Several blocks flew at Mifuyu. She jumped up, using one of them as a stepping stone, before flinging herself at the Wraith.

“Leave my friend alone!” Mifuyu flew at the Wraith’s chest, swinging hard. She struck it.

Mifuyu skidded to a landing on the street, the sound of the Wraith exploding reaching her ears from behind. She turned around, her hair decorations waving in the force of the blast.

It was gone. She’d destroyed it.

Mifuyu staggered to her feet, feeling like she had just spent a whole day walking or running. The cube in the air vanished, and Tsuruno fell.

Without hesitation, Mifuyu leaped up and caught Tsuruno in her arms, landing on the ground safely. She wobbled a bit, but stood firm.

Yachiyo and Kyouko had defeated the horde of Wraiths that were bearing down on them. Both looked a little worn out, but still stood.

“Mifuyu…?” Tsuruno blinked, opening her eyes.

Mifuyu sighed in relief. “You’re okay!” She held the Mightiest Magical Girl in her not-as-mighty arms.

“Did the Wraith…?” Tsuruno asked weakly.

“I defeated it,” Mifuyu said excitedly. “I charged up my magic and took them all out!”

“Is everything okay?” Yachiyo ran up to them. “Mifuyu, did you just…?”

Mifuyu nodded. “I did! I destroyed that big Wraith!”

Tsuruno craned her neck and looked around. “That woman and her daughter…”

Mifuyu looked back. They were still on the ground.

Tsuruno immediately got out of Mifuyu’s arms and ran towards them, detransforming in the process. Mifuyu followed her example.

The woman and her child were awake now, though groggy. Tsuruno helped the woman up, holding her by the arm.

“Are you okay?” Tsuruno asked, looking at the woman. She appeared to be in her early forties.

The woman rubbed her head. “I think so… what happened?”

“You passed out on the road suddenly. Fortunately there weren’t any cars coming by.”

The woman looked around, blinking. Suddenly she became alert. “Ichigo…!”

“Mommy?” The young girl stepped closer to her. Tsuruno and MIfuyu watched as the woman took her daughter in her arms.

“Are you okay?” Are you hurt?” The woman looked her daughter over.

“I’m fine, Mommy.” The girl smiled at her. Mifuyu absentmindedly looked at Tsuruno, who seemed lost in thought.

The woman turned to Tsuruno and Mifuyu. “Thank you…” she said, “I’m not entirely clear on what just happened, but… it feels right to do so.”

Mifuyu smiled. “It was no problem. Right, Tsuruno?”

“Huh?” Tsuruno blinked. “Oh… yeah…”

The woman and her daughter said goodbye to the two Magical Girls, walking off. Mifuyu and Tsuruno went to rejoin Yachiyo and Kyouko.

The group reconvened at a corner to the side of the street, no longer transformed.

Yachiyo held out her hands. “Here,” she said. “We managed to get some Grief Cubes. You two could probably use them right now.”

Mifuyu nodded and took a couple of the black cubes in her hand. She took out her Soul Gem; it was murky, alright, but at least it was in one piece. She held the Grief Cubes to her Gem, and it cleared up right away.

Mifuyu offered the cubes to Tsuruno. “Here, Tsuruno, you can use them.”

Tsuruno was staring off into space. MIfuyu nudged her.

“Tsuruno?” she asked.

“Oh, sure. I’ll take some.” Tsuruno pocketed three, not taking her Soul Gem out just yet.

“Now that that’s over,” Kyouko said. “We can think more clearly. First off, what was going on with those Wraiths? They were attacking in broad daylight!”

“Does that really not happen usually?” Mifuyu asked.

Yachiyo shook her head. “Normally Wraiths attack at night. Seeing a group active during the day… that’s unusual.”

Mifuyu crossed her arms. “What could that mean, then…?”

“It can only mean one thing,” a chipper voice from out of thin air jumped in, “something in how the Wraiths function–maybe even how the universe works–has been altered.”

Mifuyu suddenly became alert. She looked left and right, before seeing the wagging of a familiar, white tail.

“Kyubey…” she said.

Everyone turned and faced Kyubey, who was currently standing on a wall beside them. Its red eyes looked at them.

“Hello again, Mifuyu Azusa,” Kyubey said, eyes unblinking. “I see you’re still holding together physically.”

Mifuyu frowned. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

Kyubey tilted its head. “Just speculation on my part. You being alive in this world is an aberration, after all.”

“Well, I’m not planning on staying here long,” Mifuyu said. “I’m working on getting back home.”

“Trying to talk to Homura Akemi, are you?”

“... What do you know about that?” Mifuyu asked.

“Only that Homura’s house is in this area, and that she’s the only one in this world other than you to mention Madoka Kaname.”

Mifuyu kept her mouth shut. She didn’t want to have the Incubator more involved in this. Who knew what it would do with knowledge of another world? Even more so, its words about the universe changing was also troubling.

Instead, she asked another question. “What do you know about Homura Akemi’s house?”

Kyubey rolled a bit on his back, soaking up the sun. “Just that she keeps it under lock and key. She’s a… very private Magical Girl.”

“Tell us something we don’t know,” Kyouko muttered, a stick of Rocky in her mouth.

Seemingly taking that as a sincere comment, Kyubey spoke again. “Her home has heavy security, as well.”

“Heavy security?” Mifuyu asked.

Kyubey nodded, its ears flopping along with its bouncing head. “She’s done everything she can to keep the inside of her home away from prying eyes. Even I can’t breach it.”

Kyouko munched on her stick, and looked at Kyubey. “So you’re saying you’ve tried to break into her home.”

Kyubey was unfazed, as always. “I’m able to go wherever I wish. We Incubators can walk through walls with ease, as you’ve all seen. But Homura Akemi’s house is… an irregularity.”

“You’re saying that Homura somehow has a way to block you from entering her home?” Mifuyu asked.

“I’m saying that whatever she's using to keep me out, it isn’t something you’d find in this world. You humans may have advanced considerably, but you’re still nowhere near the technology that could keep us out.”

Mifuyu let out a small chuckle. Everyone turned to her.

“Something funny, Mifuyu?” Yachiyo asked.

Mifuyu shook her head. “Nothing, don’t worry about it.” Still, if Homura somehow had access to the ability to keep Kyubey out of her home…

“There’s also something else about Homura Akemi,” Kyubey added. “Her magic, specifically.”

Mifuyu paused. “What about her magic?”

“I noticed it while observing her. She… has the ability to manipulate memories.”

That was new to Mifuyu. “She… does?”

Kyubey nodded. “I’m not sure how; we have no record of making a contract with her. So we don’t even know what led to her having that ability. She’s an irregularity, that’s for sure.”

Homura manipulating memories… Mifuyu only knew Homura for a few months, but as far as she knew, the Homura of her world could only stop time. What was going on here…?

Another thought occurred to Mifuyu. “What about that sample of the Desolator from our battle last night?”

“That was an interesting find,” Kyubey said. “It’s almost exactly like an Incubator from this world. But its mind has been corrupted.”

“Corrupted…?” Tsuruno asked.

“Completely wiped of any sense of being an Incubator in the past, and now just a mindless husk controlled by something else. What that something is, we don’t know. Although…” Here Kyubey trailed off.

“Kyubey…?” Mifuyu asked.

“... there were some faint traces of magic. The same kind of magic that can be sensed in a Magical Girl.”

Everyone was silent for a moment. Mifuyu was the first to speak up, the gnawing feeling in her gut too much to bear.

“Which… Magical Girl…?”

Kyubey looked down at its paws. “It’s hard to say,” it said. “Whatever magic was originally the Magical Girl’s has been corrupted by so much despair, it’s impossible to make an accurate identification.”

“I… I see.” Mifuyu didn’t know what else to say at the moment.

“I don’t get it,” Kyouko said. “Why would there be traces of a Magical Girl in those Incubators?”

“Maybe what’s controlling them ate a Magical Girl at one point,” Tsuruno chimed in.

“M-maybe…” Mifuyu said, holding her tongue so she wouldn’t say more.

“Hopefully Homura knows more about this,” Yachiyo said.

“Perhaps,” Kyubey added. “Maybe if I accompanied you all to her house…”

“I think we’ll be fine on our own.” Mifuyu answered as quickly as she could. No matter how ominous things were, she absolutely refused to let Kyubey get even a chance to learn about Witches, or anything else.

Kyubey looked at her. She didn’t like how unchanging his expression was–she preferred to know what something as alien as Kyubey was thinking. The fact that it never changed expressions or moved his mouth to speak only made it seem more unknown. Its face alone often felt like a mask that the Incubator wore.

Kyubey closed its eyes and sighed. “I see. Well, then. I’ll leave you to talk to Homura on your own. Let me know what you learn, okay?”

“... Sure,” Mifuyu said. Like hell I will.

Kyubey turned around with a swish of its tail. It slowly walked away from the group.

“Mifuyu,” Yachiyo said after a while.

“Yes, Yacchan?”

“Why did you tell Kyubey not to come with us?”

Mifuyu flinched. “I… I didn’t think Homura would appreciate him being with us, considering that her house seems to be designed to keep him out.”

“Why would she do that, though?” Tsuruno asked. “Kyubey’s the one who grants our wishes and helps us in our fight with the Wraiths!”

Mifuyu clenched her fist. “I’m… I’m sure Homura has a reason to keep things to herself.”

“She sure seems paranoid,” Kyouko said.

“Come on,” Mifuyu said, wanting to change subjects, “let’s keep walking.”

They continued down the street for a few more minutes. Mifuyu glanced back at Tsuruno, and saw that she was looking around and over her shoulder again.

“Tsuruno?” Mifuyu asked. “Are you sure everything is okay?”

“Of course!” Tsuruno said, smiling. “Why wouldn’t they be?”

“You know,” Yachiyo added, “if something’s bothering you, you can tell us about it.”

Tsuruno shook her head eagerly. “I’m the Mightiest Magical Girl, remember? I’ll be fine!” Saying this, she skipped ahead of them and continued walking a short distance away. “I’m going to go ahead and check to make sure more Wraiths don’t appear!”

She was far ahead before Mifuyu could say anything else.

“Is she always like this?” Kyouko asked.

Yachiyo looked at Tsuruno. “She wants to be the best Magical Girl there is.”

“But she’s been a bit strange recently,” MIfuyu said quietly.

“If I were you,” Kyouko said, “I’d try to get her to open up fast.”

Mifuyu looked at Kyouko. “Really?”

Kyouko nodded. “The way you describe her, she sounds almost like Sayaka…” A look of regret flashed across Kyouko’s face. “I’d talk to her before she does something reckless.”

Mifuyu looked back at where Tsuruno had run off to. “I’m going to go and find her.” Homura could wait. “Wait for me here.”

She took off running down the street, going as fast as she could.

She found Tsuruno in an alley, just staring listlessly at a corner full of old trash cans.

Mifuyu approached her. “Tsuruno… there you are.”

Tsuruno turned to her. “Oh, Mifuyu,” she said. Her face brightened up. “Did you see how fast I ran? I think I broke my own personal record!”

Mifuyu stepped closer. “Tsuruno, are you… okay?”

Tsuruno laughed awkwardly. “Why wouldn’t I be? I’m the Mightiest Magical Girl! It’ll take a lot to knock me down!”

Mifuyu looked at her, before turning aside “... You’re putting on an act. I know you are.”

Tsuruno’s smile faltered for a moment, before being replaced with a more neutral expression. “W-what do you mean…?”

“You’ve seemed out of it since we rescued that woman and her daughter,” Mifuyu said. A breeze tossed some debris along the side of the alley. “What’s going on?”

Tsururno glanced at the street, before turning back to Mifuyu. She didn’t offer any answer.

Mifuyu stepped closer. “In my world,” she began, “Tsuruno made a wish for her family to win the lottery, to help their restaurant. The same restaurant I met you in.”

That made Tsuruno flinch. “I-is that so…?”

Mifuyu went on. “Tsuruno never told us, but we later learned that her mom and grandmother took the money she won and ran off. She did her best to hide it.”

A pained expression appeared on Tsuruno’s face.

Mifuyu looked at the Mightiest Magical Girl. “The same thing happened to you… didn’t it?”

Tsuruno seemed to be contemplating how to respond. For the first time since she’d arrived on this world, MIfuyu felt that Tsuruno seemed a little less mighty than she usually did.

“... Didn’t think I’d have to go up against someone from a parallel world.”

“Tsuruno?” Mifuyu asked.

Tsuruno’s shoulders sagged. “It’s true… that’s what also happened to me. I guess that’s what happens to a lot of Tsuruno Yuis, huh?”

Mifuyu thought about Kyubey’s words. “Maybe just the ones who make the same wish as you…” she said finally. “There was something about that woman and her daughter that got to you… what was it?”

The pained expression returned to Tsuruno’s face once again. “For a moment,” she began to say, “it made me think… about how I wish my relationship with my own mom was… good.”

Mifuyu suddenly felt uncomfortable with bringing the subject up. “Sorry,” she said. “It’s just… the Tsuruno in my world went through a lot because of what happened to her. She tried to hide it, but it only made things worse for her.” And I only added to the problems, she thought to herself.

Tsuruno didn’t say anything, but it was clear that Mifuyu had her full attention.

Tsuruno looked down. “The… Tsuruno Yui in your world… did she open up to you about all of this?”

Mifuyu hesitated. “In a way.” She didn’t want to bring up the whole incident with Chelation Land. That was a horrible situation, but looking back on it, it was what caused Tsuruno to open up about her problems. What caused the rest of Mikazuki to finally understand her.

But there were no Uwasa, or Wings of the Magius, here, Mifuyu thought. Tsuruno never had to go through that, or open up to her friends about what was bothering her. Kyubey said that for every good choice that someone made, there’s another universe where the same person made a bad decision. But which of the two versions of Tsuruno was the good choice or the bad choice?

“The point I’m trying to say,” Mifuyu said, “is that I know you’re going through things. They sound like the same things my Tsuruno went though. Which is why I want to say that I’m here for you.”

Tsuruno had relaxed by now, and there was a pleading look in her eyes. “Mifuyu…” she began to say.

Mifuyu didn’t respond. Instead, she just hugged Tsuruno tightly.

Tsuruno was caught off guard by the gesture, not even returning the hug. She was as still as a statue.

“It’s okay,” Mifuyu said, holding tightly. “You can be honest with me.”

A few seconds seemed like minutes. When Tsuruno spoke, it seemed like the wind had been knocked out of her.

“I guess I’m not really good at being the Mightiest Magical Girl, am I?”

Mifuyu grimaced. “It’s not that, Tsuruno. People experience these feelings all the time. Sakura-san was just mentioning how her friend who was taken by the Law of Cycles went through the same things. Lots of people do.”

Tsuruno still seemed frozen. “It’s just that, if I try to be mighty, I don’t have to feel this way… I don’t have to feel anything.”

The thought of not feeling anything startled Mifuyu. “But Tsuruno,” she said, “it’s not good to avoid what’s bothering you. If you do that… it won’t end well.”

Tsuruno flinched at Mifuyu’s last words. “So what do I do?”

Mifuyu loosened her grip. She slumped. “I don’t know. But I do know that we need you right now. We could use a Mighty Magical Girl by our side.”

That seemed to cheer Tsuruno up just a bit. “I… okay.” She looked around. “Let’s keep going; the sooner we find this Homura Akemi, the sooner we can figure out what’s going on.”

Mifuyu nodded. “The others are just behind us.”

Placing her hand on Tsuruno’s shoulder, Mifuyu led her down the street, back to where Yachiyo and Kyouko were.

“By the way,” Mifuyu said as they neared an alley, “have you used any Grief Cubes on yourself? You must need some after that fight…”

Tsuruno looked at the Soul Gem ring on her hand. “I haven’t, actually. But given how I’ve been feeling…”

Her words were cut off when a body fell on the concrete in front of them.

Mifuyu nearly jumped out of her skin. She inspected the figure sprawled on the concrete before them.

“No…”

Kyouko was lying on her back, the impact making a small crater on the concrete beneath her. She had transformed into her Magical Girl form, her red dress covered in dust from the impact. Next to her was a golden spear, and she groaned in pain as she struggled to sit back up.

Tsuruno kneeled beside her. “What happened?!”

Kyouko let out another groan. “Didn’t see her coming… Nanami-san… ah, damn it!”

Mifuyu’s face turned pale. “Didn’t see who was coming? What’s going on?!”

Before Kyouko could answer, another figure landed a few paces away from them. They jammed their own spear onto the ground. Mifuyu looked closely at them. A mist had settled around the alley, blocking out a lot of the surrounding buildings.

In the mist, Mifuyu could make out the sight of a long, red ponytail.

Her jaw dropped. Was she seeing double?

“S-Sakura-san?!”

[brokenblueazure]

🔞 from Kyouko Sakura

Send 🔞 for my muse to tell yours a sexual thought that they’ve had about them

@sinningzone

"Fine fine, I can leave your turf, no need to point the damn spear at me." Talk about fiery, but if she was going to be like that? Then he'd give her the same amount of trouble back.

"If you're going to be so fesity, I'll make it easy, not going to let it go your way." He was essentially challenging her instead of simply doing as she said and preferred to, "...Spread those nice legs of yours and sit somewhere high. You spurt in less than ten minutes and I'll come back to visit you more often, after I enjoy taking that attitude out of yours, one slam at a time."

Nothing to lose, everything to gain. Except her sense of self after his seed hits her deep~

[absolut-blue]

3 & 9 !

3. Do you regret writing any of your past muses?

One of my very first serious blogs was a multimuse for the Holy Quintet from Madoka Magica. It was so much fun it made me love writing here and I made so many really good friends who followed me from blog to blog for years, so regret is definitely too strong of a word, because I wouldn't trade the good parts for anything.

But specifically my Kyouko Sakura got a lot of really uncomfortable suggestive interactions and I was so new it just didn't really ever occur to me to block people or delete asks or anything like that? It was a large contributing factor in me abandoning and eventually deleting that blog.

Otherwise I've started a handful of blogs over the years for characters I ended up not really caring about writing for later. But no strong regrets come to mind.

9. Has your muse taught you anything about yourself and/or the world?

I wrote out my answer to this and it became 8 paragraphs of late night rambling so here's the short version.

People change. Seems like common sense. But bitter 18 year old me had a difficult time with that idea.

My intent honestly was for Blue to just be awful. Like the worst character I could write without him being an actual murderer or major criminal. But between me and some friends we wrote him like the most beautiful recovery arc?? It was supposed to be an AU but it was lovely.

Specifically because Blue started out very personal to me it just kinda put things into a perspective I could understand more than when I was trying to wrap my head around it irl?? People sometimes do bad things and sometimes they are bad people but it doesn't mean they cant become better people.

Kinda dark and vague idk if that makes sense but it was about as short and as lighthearted as I could keep it I'm SORRY.

[squadronofnerds]

Jiiiiii.

“...Is she always like this? And I thought Vergil was grumpy.”

“Yeah, girl’s stone cold. Don’t even bother trying to get a reaction out of her, she’s physically incapable of smiling.” WOW!

“She’s clashing with the aesthetic of this place. I don’t like it.” Too bad.

[fairymint]

Rules | Muse List |  Verses | RP/Personal Discord server! | F/Os | twitch channel | youtube channel

My Voice (in reference to Felix’s voice!) | Felix’s Bio (pokemon)| Felix the Villager (Animal Crossing/Smash)

 Public vs Private Knowledge for Felix Fae

RP Help Blog | Personal blog Mun |

Personals/etc.: Please don’t reblog my posts without commentary! Writing content produced here is Art. RP blogs please use your usual headcanon tag. RP blogs please tag my URL in replies.

Full mobile/shortcut rules here:

Hello, and welcome to my multimuse, featuring my self-insert, Felix! All hopes to have fun here, but a few boundaries and guidelines are here to make things easier and smoother!

Please be patient! Especially on the weekends for the time being, but I really write best when not under pressure. 

Be Nice, OOC. Mostly, be civil- this means not talking shit about others because you’ve blocked them, they’ve blocked you, different headcanons, and of course different identities and such; I will not be writing a specific DNI for the illusion of being exhaustive- I expect you to try to be decent regardless of situation.

I am not comfortable writing active depictions of rape, pedophilia/ephebephila, sexual myths, and zoophilia. That said, I don’t have any triggers on the internet per se, and am not easily spooked at all, so I ask that you please respect that in a sense; I do not owe you personal sensitivity or outrage, ever.

There will be zero tolerance for rage-filled IMs on discord or otherwise; Asks follow a similar policy on OOC level.

Please give me a similar effort on thread level, but particularly when it comes to shipping and smut; believe it or not, I enjoy writing those two things, in detail! I want character-based replies with description- please do not shorten replies to hurry things along to some goal that you have.

I, and therefore Felix, have chronic pain, and will not be writing cures to such; temporary relief only. It’s really just not something that I can properly fathom.

Your rules are law, as are others; Don’t send asks on my behalf to other blogs that break their rules; and please try to assume that I don’t mean to break yours.

I write in third person, which means that my muses’s pronouns are literally right there in the writing, use them. Check bios if you really need, but I will not be tolerating degendering/misgendering based on things like genitals or icon aesthetics; They are their gender, not what gender you think they are. For similar reasons, I list things like orientation, preference, outness status, and surgery status in bios; feel free to ask more anytime.

Don’t be a shithead about me writing a self-insert in general; I have a happy and fulfilling offline life, and made this blog via popular demand for fun!

This blog is multiship, poly, multiverse, duplicate, LGBTQIA+, NSFW, and generally friendly! Intersectional safe space is the name of the game here.

Credits:

Felix’s main faceclaims (which I’ve iconed myself): Hiura Mihate from ‘I Turned My Childhood Friend (♂) Into A Girl’ [not transphobic despite the awkward title] Yuu Koito from Bloom Into You (anthology included) Nandeshiko Kamigahara from Yuru Camp Yuuki Maisaka from Otome Danshi Kohane from Anima Yell Botan Kurashiki from Ookami Shounen wa Kyou mo Uso wo Kasaneru

Pokemon icons are likely from nationalicondex or trainersearchsystem! Those have the distinctive red pokéball border.

Umaru Doma from dresspheres

Kyouko Hori icons are from dresspheres, as well as Komari&Natsumi Koshigaya icons

Miraidon/Koraidon icons are by wishfxljikan!

Akari’s faceclaim comes from bladeworksicons, Sakura Adachi.

Other icons that aren’t my own can be found in the ‘icons.’ tag,  I don’t crop new fanart by the by- all fanart used is from sets that’re already on tumblr- I use official art or resort to faceclaims.

[loliitacomplex]

alright ,　i cut my muse list down significantly .　 we now have :

primary :

himiko toga　( my hero academia )

kotoko utsugi　( danganronpa )

rin kokonoe　( kodomo no jikan )

secondary :

abigail willaims　( fate/grand order )

chloe von einzbern 　( fate/kaleid liner )

kyouko sakura　( madoka magica )

rachel gardner　( angels of death )

shiro nai　( no game no life )

request :

hanako ikezawa　( katawa shoujo )

meari saotome　( kakegurui )

taiga aisaka　( toradora! )

yuzu aihara　( citrus )

please click here to fill out my interest tracker to let me know who you are and are not interested in !

[hopes-archives]

Updates and Casting Call!

Hello! Us over at the Hope’s Archives Mod Team come to you with a few updates on what’s happening in the server, and how to apply! First, we would like to say a warm thank you to our mods who have just stepped down due to other obligations, Mod Harlow/Mukuro and Mod Nar/Kyoko. We thank them for the time they spent as mods, and for their contributions to the server! Both have stepped down to spectator, thus their muses are now available to apply for. Secondly, we’d like to welcome our new mods Mod Ari/Ishimaru, Chat Mod Ky/Koizumi, and Mod Victor/Rantaro! They will work hard and do their best to make Hope’s Archives a welcoming and inclusive place for all! Now to get to the muse updates! Recently taken muses include:

Celestia Ludenberg

Peko Pekoyama

Ibuki Mioda (Reserved, application currently under review)

Hiyoko Saionji (Reserve)

Our current available muses include: DR THH:

Kyouko Kirigiri

Mukuro Ikusaba

Sakura Oogami

Yasuhiro Hagakure

SDR2:

Mikan Tsumiki

Ultimate Imposter

DR3/OTHER PROPERTIES:

Aiko Umesawa

Asukasei Hino

Daiki Kubo

Isshiki Madarai

Karen Kisaragi

Kiriko Nishisawa

Komaru Naegi

Kotomi Ituka

Ruruko Andou

Ryota Someya

Santa Shikiba

Seiko Kimura

Shinobu Togami

Shoji Yoko

Shoshun Murasame

Sonosuke Izayoi

Sosuke Ichono

Suzoko Kashiki

Taro Kurosaki

Tomohiko Goryoku

Tsubasa Kamii

Yuto Kamishiro

DRV3:

Angie Yonaga

Himiko Yumeno

Kaede Akamatsu

Kirumi Toujo

Korekiyo Shinguji

Please check out our ABOUT page for more information! We hope to see you soon!

[mistbornthefinal]

Madoka Magica Aniversary Analysis: Part 7

Facing Your Pain

We find Sayaka returning to her home presumably just after the events of the last episode. She tosses down her Soul Gem onto the desk surprisingly carelessly given that she just learned that it’s literally her soul. As she addresses Kyubey he’s just there despite not being in any of the establishing shots.

“You tricked us, didn’t you?”

Kyubey’s response is complete bullshit because, yes he did. Kyubey reveals or conceals information according to his own interests in order to manufacture consent. Even if he never outright lies in the process it’s still blatant trickery and deception. 

(pictured bunnycat being a dick)

Of course if anyone still didn’t get the memo he then places his paw on Sayaka’s Gem and makes her experience the unfiltered pain of being stabbed. In light of this scene it’s hard to believe that Kyubey is some kind of dispassionate utility maximizer. Regardless of what he might later claim about not having emotions it’s clear there’s some degree of sadism at work here and later on when he shows up to Homura’s house to gloat after getting Kyouko killed. 

In particular his deployment of violence as an “educative” tool when his logic is questioned by those it exploits is all to human despite Kyubey’s claims of being beyond humanity. 

He then tells Sayaka that it’s possible to completely shut out pain though he dose not recommend doing so. Which is clearly just him trying to push Sayaka into a worse place in order to put more pressure on Madoka to contract. What a dick.

(cue connect)

At school we see Sayaka’s desk has been folded into the floor of the school indicating her absence. We get a brief cut to Sayaka at home staring into her Soul Gem. Then we’re back on the #aesthetic rooftop with Madoka and Homura. Madoka askes if Homura knew about the lich thing and why she didn’t say anything before if she did. Homura says that no one she has told in the past believed her. Madoka then wonders how Kyubey can be so cruel.

Homura outlines Kyubey’s philosophy as she understands it. Kyubey does not share human values and as horrible as his price is it’s still small one for miracle. Even if Sayaka had dedicated every waking hour of her life to caring for Kyousuke he wouldn’t have gotten better. Yet still the cost of curing him was only Sayaka’s life. 

Homrua tell Madoka again to give up on Sayaka. Madoka reminds us that Sayaka saved Madoka and Hitomi’s life back in episode 4, it’s not in Madoka to abandon a friend especially one who put her own life on the line to protect her. Homura tells her not to confuse gratitude for responsibility (you’re one to talk Homura-chan) and again asserts that Sayaka is beyond saving.

Madoka asks how Homura can be so cold to which she muses 

(don’t cut yourself on that edge)

Meanwhile Sayaka is still lying in bed when Kyouko calls out to her telepathically. As they walk together Kyouko says she’s mostly gotten over the existential panic of “everything that makes you you is in this fragile Gem”. Having magic powers and being able to live as she likes is enough to satisfy her even considering the price (though she is still unaware of the true price of course). She restates her philosophy of living only for herself. 

The two of them arrive at their destination the ruins of the Sakura family church, the ideal setting for Kyouko to relate her backstory. But first she offers Sayaka an apple, because symbolism. Sayaka tosses the apple away and an enraged Kyouko lifts her up by the collar and threatens to kill her. Kyouko doesn’t like it when people waste food for reasons that will soon be obvious.

Kyouko sets Sayaka down, picks the apple up, dusts it off, and returns it to the bag. Then she starts her story which is show to us through a filter of non-diagetic puppets. He father was a preacher, a kind soul who only wanted the best for people. However his desire to do the right thing let to him preaching an unorthodox dogma. He was excommunicated and his family fell onto hard times. A young Kyouko couldn’t stand how know no one would listen to him (though current Kyouko admits that from the outside it must have seemed like he was trying to start a cult.)

(this is what scientologists actually believe)

So Kyouko made her contract and the next morning their church was filled with believers, and the world gained another Puella Magi. For a time Kyouko considered her and her father as two sides of the same coin, each working to save the world in their own ways. Of course then her father found out.

Learning that his new followers were there not by his words but his daughters magic broke his spirt and caused him to turn against his daughter calling her a witch. He turned to drink and ultimately killed both himself and Kyouko’s mother and younger sister. Her wish destroyed her family, because she made that wish without knowing what the person she made it on behalf of truly wanted. So from that day onward Kyouko resolved to only user magic for herself. 

Kyouko the asserts that hope and despair have to ultimately have to balance out. Something other characters will repeat even though it’s kind of dubious. Sayaka points out a hole in Kyouko’s logic if Kyouko is preaching pure selfishness then why worry over her. It’s clear that Kyouko sees her younger self in Sayaka and thus want’s to both save her and have her to validate how she has spent her life since she lost her family. 

(insert Always Sunny style title card reading: “Sayaka regrets her actions”)

Sayaka isn’t interested in validating Kyouko. Instead while she admits that she had the wrong idea about Kyouko she reiterates her decision to never regret her actions. Sayaka then asks how Kyouko got those apples, when Kyouko is unable to answer Sayaka says that if she can’t say than there’s no way that she can partake. She turns to leave, she’ll continue to fight in her own way if that inconveniences Kyouko she’s welcome to try to kill her again. Sayaka no longer bares the other Puella Magi any ill will but neither is she willing to lose to her.

As Sayaka leaves Kyouko goes back to her old habit, attempting to fill the void of lost social connection with food. It doesn’t seem very effective.

The next day Sayaka returns to school and tries to play off her absence, but when she spots Kyousuke she is still unable to approach him. After school Hitomi calls Sayaka for a one on one meeting at the cafe. There she lays down her ultimatum. Hitomi also has romantic feelings for Kyousuke but in honor of their friendship and Sayaka’s longer relationship she will allow her to make the first move. However Sayaka only get’s 24 hours after which Hitomi will confess her feelings.

That night once again Madoka is waiting for Sayaka as she heads out on patrol. Sayaka asks why Madoka is so kind to her as her own opinion of her self has recently plummeted. She “almost” regretted something today, when Hitomi gave her that ultimatum she considered what would have happened if she hadn’t saved her. She’s already given up on being with Kyousuke as since she is a “zombie” having a romantic relationship is impossible. 

This isn’t rational so to speak, rather Sayaka’s depression about not being able to live up to her ideals is effecting how she processes the revelation about what has been done to her body. To a certain extent she would rather call herself a monster than admit that she doesn’t have the courage to confess to her crush or that the idealized standard she set for herself is unachievable. Despite her low spirits she resolves to go kill a witch.

We then cut to the outside of a labyrinth presumably the one Sayaka is fighting in as Kyouko looks on. Homura joins her shortly and Kyouko says she isn’t going to interfere with his hunt, this is a Witch and fighting it is not a waste by her measure. She then notes that Sayaka is having trouble.

Then we cut to inside the barrier, and some of the most beautiful animation that Madoka Magica has to offer. Elsa Maria’s barrier is a world of monochrome with both the humans and the witch rendered as black silhouettes. This witch extends the religious imagery we had earlier with the only color (beyond touches of the girls image color on their outline) is the orange monstrance before which the witch prays.  

Sayaka cuts her way through the witches familiars, animal heads on ribbons of shadow but when she reaches the witch proper an entire tree erupts from it’s body to engulf her. Kyouko comes to her aid cutting her free and offering to take over the fight. 

Sayaka refuses and charges at witch again. This time she is heedless of her own injuries hacking away at the witch with savage abandon. 

It’s true.

If I just detach myself...

it doesn’t hurt at all.

Madoka begs her to stop (cue magia)

Welp that was EP 7. Extrapolating backwards a bit we can sort of see how for the past few three episodes how Sayaka and Kyouko have arcs that are sort of inverse of each other. In EP 5 both of them them aspire to fill the narrative and physical space that was left when Mami died. Kyouko at first sells herself as the veteran magical showing the newbies the ropes while Sayaka swears herself to upholding the image that Mami projected to cover her loneliness. The two move to clash in ep 6 but the revelation of a part of Kyubeys system that neither of them (or Mami) was aware of shocked both to their core. 

With their foundations shaken Kyouko attempts to reach to the girl she tried to kill who reminds her so much of her old self, opening up and sharing her trauma in the hopes that Sayaka can validate her philosophy. To hope the two of them can find some mutual solace in their failure of their old dreams. It’s not to be however as though Sayaka gives up her anger at Kyouko she rejects the possibility of connection. Instead she chooses to accelerate her downward spiral by doubling down on her desire to live up to her idealized image. Now Sayaka is in freefall and next episode we find out what happens when a Puella Magi hits rock bottom.

[dropletsofmuses]

-Muse List-

-OCs-

Ceara, the Self-Insert

Samantha the Hex Maniac

Emily Keile, the Ace Trainer

Himiko Kaetsu

Koyuki Shiyo

Fuyu Erita

-Canon Muses-

Squid Girl (Shinryaku! Ika Musume)

Ilulu (Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid)

Chi-Chan (PriPri Chi-Chan)

Luna (Mighty Milky Way)

Miss Monochrome (Miss Monochrome)

Yoshiko Hanabatake (Aho-Girl)

Oishi Kawaii (Oishi High School Battle)

Kanna (Blaster Master Zero)

Madoka Kaname (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)

Homura Akemi (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)

Sayaka Miki (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)

Kyouko Sakura (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)

Mami Tomoe (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)

Nagisa Momoe (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)

Natsuki (Doki Doki Literature Club)

Hanako-san (Hanako-san Ga Kita!!)

Misha (Pita-Ten)

Shia (Pita-Ten)

Sasha (Pita-Ten)

Mimi (Super Paper Mario)

Nastasia (Super Paper Mario)

Luvbi (Super Paper Mario)

Vibri (Vib-Ribbon)

Mojibri (Mojib-Ribbon)

Mojiko (Mojib-Ribbon)

Osorezan 1999 (Mojib-Ribbon)

Taokaka (Blazblue)

Annie (Splatoon)

Ribbon (Kirby)

Ripple Queen (Kirby)

Shantae (Shantae)

Squid Baron (Shantae)

Satoko Houjou (Higurashi)

Hanyuu (Higurashi)

Rena Ryuugu (Higurashi)

Rika Furude (Higurashi)

Mion Sonozaki (Higurashi)

Tron Bonne (Mega Man Legends)

Mega Man Volnutt (Mega Man Legends)

Ashley (WarioWare)

Mona (WarioWare)

Mint (Threads of Fate)

Ciel (Mega Man Zero)

Stocking Anarchy (Panty and Stocking)

Sylphynford Tachibana (Himouto! Umaru-Chan)

Aoi Mukou (YOU and ME and HER: A Love Story)

Erika Kurumi / Cure Marine (Heartcatch PreCure)

Princess Daisy (Mario)

Princess Peach (Mario)

[ziodie]

heya! i’m late but call me carol. i’m 23 and she/her is cool but i’m honestly good with any pronouns. i’m a panro demi so we a loving fam over here.

an aspiring narrative designer, cosplayer, animal lover, and snack enthusiast. 

started rping in 2012 but took a break because of university. i’ve been back since a year ago -- isola being my reintroduction! 

leader of isola’s unofficial best blond boi brigade (bbbb) featuring yours truly, kanji tatsumi @ziodie and sun wukong @sunips. 

if i‘m not here or on sun, i’m most likely on kyouko sakura @heretiscorn​ or my twitter. message me if you’d like my discord though!

always down to plot or freak out about muses/series so hmu. 

you also might know me as that violet parr roleplayer.

anyways ilyall and thanks for having me.

[silenthillmutual]

i know i talked about this with Cosmo before but I think I lost it?

anyway. I didn’t think Rage as an aspect description fit Mondo very well so...

classes are harder for me to figure out so i’m not gonna finish those and i’m not doing them along gender lines because fuck that noise.

i don’t hate anyone enough to give them bard clothes.

Trigger Happy Havoc:

Space - Kyouko (seer)

Time - Taka (mage)

Mind - Mukuro (prince)

Heart - Leon

Hope - Makoto (muse)

Rage - Byakuya (witch), Celes (page) 

Breath - Mondo

Blood - Chihiro (heir), Sakura (knight)

Life - Hiro, Sayaka (sylph), Hina

Doom - Junko (lord), Toko

Void - Hifumi (maid)

Goodbye Despair:

Space - Souda

Time - Fuyuhiko

Mind - Imposter (maid)

Heart - Hajime (heir), Teruteru

Hope - Komaeda (thief, thinks he’s a rogue) 

Rage - Mikan (knight), Gundham, Akane (prince)

Blood - Sonia, Nekomaru (seer)

Life - Ibuki (page), Chiaki (mage)

Doom - Hiyoko (thief)

Light - Mahiru (sylph)

Void - Peko (witch)

[zenonaa]

“Fira-sensei doesn’t look it, but she’s a romantic,” said Junko. “Well, judging by the manga that she reads. If you cosplay her favourite couple, that will be sure to up your chances.”

Summary: The class takes part in a costume contest for Halloween. Togami reluctantly goes along with it. Pairings: TogaFuka (Byakuya Togami x Touko Fukawa) Word Count: 8604 Comments: This was written for the Halloween Tofu thing. Sorry it’s late!

***

Today was a rare day when Kiyotaka didn’t have to round up certain members of their class so everyone was in full attendance. Despite lessons being optional, some people usually attended anyway, such as Makoto, Aoi and Byakuya, but the likes of Leon, Yasuhiro and the twins sauntered into the room on this particular morning without Kiyotaka having to run out ten minutes before their homeroom teacher was due to arrive.

Byakuya narrowed his eyes at Junko as she sat at her desk. He couldn’t feel Touko’s gaze drilling into the back of his head, and she was there, right behind him like everyday, so she must have been observing how lively the classroom was today too.

Something had to be up.

“Wow, everyone’s actually here,” commented Makoto, pointing out the obvious.

“Didn’t you hear, Naegi-chi?” asked Yasuhiro as he slid onto his chair from the side, two desks to the right of Makoto.

“Hear what?” Makoto asked back.

Yasuhiro looked past Sayaka and gave a small wave. “Fira-sensei is going to make some sort of announcement for Halloween, ‘right?”

Makoto offered a blank stare. Byakuya rolled his eyes and adjusted his hold on his book. He skimmed through to find his place again, and then resumed reading it.

“Nobody told you?” said Yasuhiro incredulously.

The book was in the detective genre.

Aoi, seated in front of Sayaka, twisted around in her chair and slapped herself on the forehead.

“I knew I left someone out!” she said, though if that was her reaction to forgetting one person, she needed to do it again because Byakuya hadn’t been informed. However, she might not have forgotten in Byakuya’s case.

Anyway, they had just discovered the victim’s body, in his book.

“Geez, Naegi, you need to wear something distinguishable, like a hoodie,” said Aoi. “Yesterday, I was helping Fira-sensei put away the cones after track, and she was saying how she wishes that we got involved in stuff outside of classes more, and I said people usually like to do stuff if there are prizes, and then she said she had an idea for us for nearer Halloween but she wouldn’t say what until homeroom today.”

When Byakuya glanced up, Aoi had lifted her chin and held out her fists in front of her. Eyes merely obeyed orders and reflected light, but somehow, hers bore a sparkle like the beam of light on the ceiling flickered, faulty.

“Afterwards, I tried to tell everyone, because it has to be something cool,” added Aoi. “Like... maybe it’s a group project, or a festival, or a party where we bring in awesome delicacies like frosted donuts.”

Everyone else seemed to have come to a similar conclusion. Mondo, Junko and Leon checked their phones, only letting the screens fade to black for a few seconds at a time, for once impatient for their teacher to arrive. Yasuhiro leaned back in his chair, feet on the desk, and tracked the thinnest hand on the analog clock on the wall be jerked around in a rotation. Makoto scrutinised it as well, and Byakuya didn’t realise that he had zoned out on it too until a perky voice piped up.

“The more you stare, the longer it’ll feel like it takes for a minute to pass,” Sayaka said, sat behind Aoi and between Makoto and Yasuhiro.

Makoto twitched and then stroked the back of his neck. Byakuya blinked and settled on a grimace.

Sayaka grinned, verging on a giggle, and tapped herself on the chin. Seconds later, her expression sobered. “I wonder what it could be?” she mused.

Fortunately, they didn’t have to wait long. Fira-sensei strode into the room with her head held high and with her brunette bob carrying a recently washed sheen. She had barely been standing by her desk, setting down a folder, when voices bombarded her, talking over one another.

“One at a time, please,” she said, looking around and patting the air like extinguishing a small fire.

Kiyotaka fell silent first. His hand shot up, arm straight.

Fira-sensei pointed at him. “Ishimaru-kun?”

He stood up.

“I don’t want to indulge in rumours, but Asahina-kun,” right away with the name drop, “informed me that you had a special announcement to give today.”

“Huh?”

“You mentioned it yesterday,” Aoi clarified, dispelling the haze of confusion in Fira-sensei’s eyes.

“Oh, right!” Fira-sensei’s face lit up and she snapped her fingers. “Yes. Okay, so I thought that we could have a party on Halloween to celebrate how hard you’ve all been working, and maybe help me get to know a side of you that my teaching plan doesn’t get to show off.”

Some people in the class most likely didn’t deserve to be rewarded for the effort, or lack of, put out so far. Leon cupped his hands behind his head with a bored frown.

The fourth chapter of Byakuya’s book started on the next page.

“It will be fancy dress too,” Fira-sensei said while Kyouko’s shoulders slumped and Celes fished out a textbook from her bag. “You’ve all got two weeks to come up with a costume and whoever, or whichever group, has the one I end up liking the most will win a prize.”

Kyouko lifted her head by a fraction. “What’s the prize?”

Not many prizes would satisfy everyone. Some would appeal to many, like a cash prize would work for Celes and Yasuhiro but not for Byakuya and Touko, and a trophy might catch the attention of Aoi and Kiyotaka while Leon and Kyouko could have taken it or left it with the same feeling for both results.

However, Fira-sensei tapped her nose and said, “It’s a surprise,” and that stayed in their minds, like a fly trapped in an empty classroom.

Four days after the announcement, Byakuya went to the library once his final class of the day had come to an end. After claiming an unoccupied table, he had got to work answering some practice questions on an old English novel borrowed from the library, and roughly an hour after he arrived, he happened to look up while prodding his glasses in the same direction.

Makoto blighted his vision, growing larger as he approached Byakuya’s table.

Byakuya’s jaw clenched and he assumed Makoto had come to spend time with him, so he braced himself, but halfway there, Makoto diverted his path and instead wandered over to a bookcase that Sayaka was crouched next to, and he walked up to her with a dopey smile that brought out a scoff from Byakuya that went unnoticed.

Sayaka didn’t raise her head but hearing him, or maybe just sensing his presence, she chirped, “Hi, Naegi-kun.”

She continued skimming a manicured finger across book spines.

“It’s ‘The Wind in The Willows’,” she said before the question probably even popped into Makoto’s head. For a few more seconds, she continued searching the row, and then she straightened up, lowered her hand to her thigh, turned away from the bookcase and shrugged. “Oh, well, I can just ask to borrow someone else’s copy. Fukawa-san might own one, so when she is done at her book club, I’ll ask.”

“Y-Yeah,” said Makoto, rubbing the back of his neck.

“It’s intuition, not mind-reading, so don’t look so scared,” she said with the closest to a smirk as someone like her could get. “What’s up?”

He moved his hand away from his neck and dropped it to his side.

“Um... It’s nothing urgent. I was just wondering, Maizono-san, if you decided what you’re going to dress up as for Fira-sensei’s party.”

The party. Try as Byakuya might, and believe him, he did try, he couldn’t avoid hearing about it. Byakuya already knew too much about it, like Mondo, Kiyotaka, Hifumi and Chihiro were going as some mutated terrapin teenagers, and Junko had bragged about how she and Mukuro would wear something that would set a standard for all future parties, and Aoi and Sakura had spilled glitter over Sakura’s desk on one occasion, nearly twice.

Usually, Byakuya expressed distaste at Touko’s presence in his corner of the classroom, but at least she didn’t mention the party, and so, he had not felt as annoyed by it as he normally would. Her heavy breathing and frog-like eyes were almost welcomed. Encouraged.

Unaware of Byakuya’s thoughts, Makoto said to Sayaka, “I was thinking about being Izuku Midoriya.”

Her vacant stare induced a nervous laugh and a self-imposed head scratch.

“It’s from an anime,” he explained. “If you don’t have anything planned, I thought, maybe, you could go as someone from the same anime? There’s a girl in it called Ochako Uraraka who I think you’d be great as.”

“I don’t watch much anime,” admitted Sayaka. She placed a hand close to her chin and curled her fingers, creating a fist. “And... I would love to, but I’m already set for what I’m going as. I was going to keep it secret, but you told me what you were going as, so it’s only fair that I tell you. And we’re friends, so that’s okay? Right?”

Makoto pressed his lips together and nodded. Byakuya returned to his book a lot later than he ought to have done.

“Well, yesterday, I asked Kirigiri-san about what she had planned, and she said she had no interest in taking part... so we agreed to go as Sherlock and Watson. You know...” Sayaka paused, and Byakuya’s eyes darted up to see why. She tilted her head to one side. “From the TV show? There are some books on it too.”

“... Yeah, I know,” said Makoto. He hitched up his fallen shoulders. “That sounds neat, Maizono-san. I’m glad you could get Kirigiri-san motivated too.”

Byakuya clicked his tongue. They turned their heads toward him. There was no point pretending that the noise hadn’t come from him, and he felt no shame in making it, so he reciprocated eye contact.

“Hi, Togami-kun,” said Sayaka. She wiggled her fingers in his direction. “We were just discussing what we were going to wear at Fira-sensei’s party on Halloween.”

“I heard,” said Byakuya.

“What are you going as, Togami-kun?” asked Makoto.

“Are you just performing pleasantries or is that a serious question?” Byakuya narrowed his eyes. Makoto didn’t answer fast enough, so almost immediately after, Byakuya added, “Obviously, I’m not going.”

Sayaka’s brow creased. “Oh? Why not?”

“Why not?” Byakuya repeated with none of the good intentions that Sayaka had. He put down his book and rose to his feet. “Let’s see, shall we? Whatever the prize is, I can obtain ten of them, and Halloween is for Americans, children and otakus. I refuse to take part.”

“It’ll be fun,” Makoto promised with unwarranted authority, but he didn’t sound too convinced. It seemed he knew Byakuya on some level, then, at least.

Byakuya didn’t walk over to them, exactly, but in order to leave the library, he strode past them, and he tucked the book that Sayaka had been searching for into the bookcase.

“Please, Togami-kun,” said Makoto, but Byakuya silenced him before he said anything else by showing Makoto the palm of his hand.

“I’m not stopping either of you from going, so stop your bleating,” Byakuya said. After that, he left them in a silent conversation carried out by large eyes and closed mouths that drooped at the ends, which he glimpsed as he turned into the corridor outside.

His satchel bounced against his leg in accompaniment to his brisk footfalls. Other students passed Byakuya, but they might as well have had blue skin and no eyes or teeth for all the attention he paid them.

A Halloween party... how childish.

At least, Byakuya assumed. He hadn’t been allowed to be a child for very long.

During homeroom the next day, Fira-sensei sashayed over to everyone’s desks one at a time, her loafers meeting the floor quieter than the rain that drummed outside. Each time, she asked the same question.

“Have you made good progress on your costume?”

The answers she received varied more, from affirmatives to shrugs to gestures toward fabric laid out in front. Byakuya’s desk was by the window, and Fira-sensei started on the other side of the room, and as he was near the back, him and Touko were at the end of her winding path.

“Have you made good progress on your costume?” she asked Byakuya once she stationed herself next to his desk.

“I don’t need a costume,” he said, facing forward.

Fira-sensei pressed a row of knuckles against her hip and quirked her brow. “Why not?”

He kept his gaze straight ahead. “I have little to gain from participating. I don’t enjoy dressing up in childish costumes, I don’t enjoy the atmosphere and whatever you intend to be a prize is something I can obtain by my own hand.”

“Y-Yeah,” Touko dared say now. “We’re not children. I would much rather spend my time on other things, l-like planning my next chapter or my future with Byakuya-sama.”

“Those would have to be the same thing, as that’s the only way it could happen,” said Byakuya.

Fira-sensei’s mouth pinched, but not for the same reason as Byakuya’s mouth had, even if they both were expressing disapproval.

“Oh yeah?” said Fira-sensei. She parked her other hand against her hip, pushed back her shoulders and raised her voice. “Attention, everyone!”

There was still chatter.

“In regards to the party...”

Voices died out quickly.

“... some of you don’t seem enthusiastic, so I’m going to reveal what one of the prizes is.” She brandished a finger. “Yes, I said one, because I’m going to be adding some more prizes than originally planned. Everyone who participates will receive extra credit, but the winner... or winners... will be allowed to excuse themselves from the winter run.”

As if this was all happening in a story, lightning struck outside.

The class had only heard of the winter run from other students. Every winter, apparently, Fira-sensei and Yukizome-sensei would take their classes on a brutal run sometime in winter. It was how they made the class sizes smaller, was what some students claimed without proof, but Hope’s Peak was very good at keeping secrets, so it could have been true.

For example, there was the murderous alter that resided in the student behind Byakuya. Still. Who attended their class. Still.

Celes raised a hand. “Pardon me, but aren’t lessons optional? What stops us from opting out of the winter run regardless?”

“Lessons are optional, but tests and exams aren’t,” Fira-sensei countered. “The winter run counts as an exam, and the winner of this contest will be rewarded a top grade without having to do the run. The higher ups require us to make sure you’re all in fit condition and they want to study your endurance. Some of the reserve course guys do it too, and we compare the results.”

She bowed.

“That’s all,” she said. “Please prepare for your first lesson.”

After that development, the room buzzed.

“I can’t do it,” said Kiyotaka, face crumpled. “To enable my classmates to receive a grade that they did not work for... would be a disservice to the educational system and for what I stand for. It would damage their morale if they won...”

“... It really wouldn’t,” said Mondo.

“Therefore,” Kiyotaka bobbed his head, “I resign from my spot.”

“But you can’t!” Hifumi spluttered. “W-Who’ll be Leonardo?”

Meanwhile, Byakuya stared at his reflection and tapped his fingers against his desk, joining the rain in its percussion.

On a grey, Saturday afternoon, Byakuya pressed his finger against the button on the intercom beside Junko’s door and waited for it to open. When it was pulled to, it wasn’t Junko’s face that popped out but one similar, with a rash of freckles and eyes more washed out. If this had been their first time meeting each other, and if she had been wearing a wig, Byakuya might have mistaken Mukuro for her twin sister.

“Ikusaba,” he hailed.

“Can I help you?” asked Mukuro in a mumble more delicate than one would expect from someone bearing the title of ‘soldier’. Even if ‘Super High School Level’ preceded it.

“I doubt you would be of any help in this instance,” he said. “I want to speak to your sister.”

Mukuro breathed in.

“Who’s there?” Instead of Mukuro, Junko called out, and some heavy footsteps later, she appeared next to Mukuro. She slung an arm over Mukuro’s shoulders. “Oh, it’s you! What can I do for ya?”

Byakuya began to explain. “The Halloween party is next week and - ”

Junko clutched herself and burst out laughing. “Were you seriously going to answer? I know why you’re here.” She shut up and narrowed one eye, grinning. “Let me guess, you bet one of the other prizes is going to be a date with Fira-sensei, or a pair of her panties. Don’t get your hopes up - she’s not into your type. Or should I say, your kind.”

He scowled.

“I’m only interested in skipping the winter run,” he said with as much coldness as would be experienced on the run. “I want to know what sorts of costumes you have in your possession.”

“Beg,” she said huskily.

Not much surprised Byakuya, and he wouldn’t have said this surprised him, but he did hesitate. “What?”

She raised her chin, not breaking eye contact. “Beg.”

His nostrils flared. He remained silent.

“Don’t you know what begging is?” asked Junko. Still receiving no response, she said, “Big Sis, show him.”

Junko slapped Mukuro on the back. Hard. Mukuro’s upper body lurched forward like she was about to perform a forward roll, but her feet remained rooted to the spot, and she straightened up soon enough.

“W-What?” said Mukuro.

“Can’t you hear me? Your Dumbo ears should catch more sound than the average human’s.” Junko gestured to Byakuya, who observed the two of them with his arms folded over his chest. “Show Togami-kun how to beg.”

Showing all of her teeth in a cross between a grin and a predator intimidating its prey, Junko grabbed Mukuro by the top of her head and pushed down, forcing Mukuro to her knees.

“J-Junko-chan,” Mukuro whimpered, humiliated pink. It seemed to be that colour - it might have been a different shade, one that Byakuya stuck his nose up at, that crawled underneath his skin.

“Bark,” said Junko, savouring the word on her pointy tongue.

Mukuro hunched her shoulders. “Bark... bark...”

“That’s enough!” That came out louder than Byakuya intended. “I thought you would be able to help me, but you’re just an airheaded ditz, after all. Bye.”

Junko let go of Mukuro’s head and reached toward him. “I was just teasing you both. Geez!“

Byakuya spun on his heel and started to walk.

“I have wigs, and contacts, both for the eyes and people who could get you what you need for your costume,” Junko called after him, but that didn’t sway him. Right, left, right, left. “And if you want to win Fira-sensei over, you’ll want to do a couple cosplay.”

Against his better judgment, he stopped.

“Why?” he asked.

“Fira-sensei doesn’t look it, but she’s a romantic,” said Junko. “Well, judging by the manga that she reads. If you cosplay her favourite couple, that will be sure to up your chances.”

Byakuya peered at her from over his shoulder. She was smiling with her eyes and her lips. Mukuro dusted her skirt, still flushed in the face but her expression blank. What Junko said made sense, but...

He pushed up his glasses.

“Why should I believe you?” he asked. “Don’t you want to win?”

Junko prodded herself in the chin and screwed her finger against it, pouting, and put on a sickly sweet voice, softening any hard syllables. “My costume is weally good and I’m goin’ to win anyway, so I might as well help! I’m the bestest helperer in the whole, whole class.”

Chalking up her behaviour to a life of being pampered for just looking pretty and to growing up without a stern, no nonsense role model, he turned his head forward again.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Byakuya said, and he overheard them as he strode away.

“... Why did you help him?” asked Mukuro.

“Sorry,” said Junko. “I don’t speak fat, stupid or ugly.”

Rather than have lunch in the cafeteria or in his room, Byakuya remained at his desk. In less than a week, the costume competition would start. Before, between and after classes, many of the students worked on their costumes, trying to do so especially when Fira-sensei was present to show how much work they had put into their craft. At Makoto’s desk, Sayaka compared different blue swatches while Makoto, Mondo, Hifumi and Chihiro crowded around, hanging onto her every word, and Aoi and Sakura tried to cram Yasuhiro’s hair into a purple cap with an upside down ‘L’ on a patch on the front.

The only person other than Byakuya not working on their costume sat behind Byakuya. Touko hadn’t brought her costume in at any point so far, and he didn’t know if she had even started it yet, assuming one existed. Earlier in the competition, he overheard Aoi ask if she wanted to join their group, and Touko had snarled her reply, and since then, no one had either bothered or dared try again.

Byakuya held no reservations. He knew what he wanted to say, and what needed to be done, and he didn’t feel shy or scared or other weak emotions. When he turned his head, he saw Touko absorbed in her notebook, writing like the friction of pen and paper charged a generator that kept her afloat. Never in his life had he felt shy or scared or other weak emotions, yet his tongue caught on his teeth for a poignant fraction of a second as he uttered a particular name.

“Fukawa,” he said.

She didn’t answer. Her aubergine braids coiled on the desk, dormant, asleep, even with the charm of his voice. With her head bent forward, he couldn’t see her eyes, couldn’t see if they were glazed over or raging with fervour. Couldn’t see if her lips were parted or chewed or if the tip of her tongue peeked out. Otherwise predictable, at least to him, she could contort her features into a range of expressions, without the heed and control that others had.

“Fukawa,” he said again.

A spasm danced in Touko’s hand. She jerked her head up. “Byakuya-sama?”

“What costume do you intend to wear for the competition?” he asked, but he knew what he was going to say regardless of her answer. It was the same thing.

Touko’s clammy fingers fiddled with her pen.

“I’m just going for the extra credit... as Medusa,” she said. Her eyes flickered. “She fell in love with a god, and was punished by Athena... made hideously ugly...”

“She fell in love with Poseidon. Yes, I am aware of Greek mythology,” he replied. He rested his arm on the back of his chair and faced her slightly more full on. “Fukawa... How would you like to team up with me instead?”

“T-Team...?” Touko’s eyes went wide before narrowing and a smile spread over her face. She cupped her cheeks that flooded with a pink that flipped in his stomach.

“Yes,” he said, grimacing. “Me and...”

“H-Hold on... Let’s not rush. I don’t want to wake up yet...”

“This isn’t a dream,” he said. He flicked his head. “Now, will you combine forces with me or not?”

“Combine!” she squeaked.

Byakuya’s jaw tightened. “Yes, then.”

As expected, Hifumi was in the art room like many other evenings, and less expected but not surprising, he was joined by Celes. Prior to Touko’s and Byakuya’s arrival, the only other person there apart from them was a girl, sculpting rather than sketching. She didn’t acknowledge either of them, carving wrinkles into a head sculpture.

Touko followed Byakuya to the table that Hifumi was hunched over at. Celes turned her gaze to them but it bounced off Byakuya, while Hifumi continued sketching with thick fingers that fumbled with most other tasks, like brewing tea to Celes’s exact demands. She sipped as she spectated.

“Oi,” greeted Byakuya. “Yamada.”

Hifumi twitched as the line that he was drawing came to an abrupt end.

“Togami Byakuya-dono!” said Hifumi with a jolt. Despite his jump, he didn’t straighten, and he adjusted his glasses so they didn’t sit askew on his flat nose. “Have you unlocked this interaction with me, or is it the other way around?”

Someone needed to learn their place, but that would have to wait for another time. Byakuya set his hand flat against the table and applied a bit of weight to it.

“You are knowledgeable in different genres of manga,” he said. “You know what sort of manga Fira-sensei reads, yes?”

“... I do,” said Hifumi, and he put down his pencil. “Sometimes, I give her recommendations... I like to use my expertise to help those in need.”

“For this competition that Fira-sensei is running, I wish to dress in a couple costume with Fukawa,” Byakuya explained. “You need to tell me which pairing we should go as to appeal to her tastes.”

Hifumi held up an index finger and angled his head in a way that hid his beetle eyes from view, behind lenses reflecting white.

“My time has finally come,” he said in a hushed tone. “I have longed for this day that could only exist in fanfiction...”

His fingertips pattered together with glee. Then he kept them still and squinted.

“But why should I help you?” asked Hifumi. “I would like to get out of the winter run as much as you would. Us three are not unalike in that regard. As meganes, we exist for the arts, for the knowledge, not for exercise.”

Byakuya’s nose wrinkled. “Don’t compare us.”

“Y-Yeah,” Touko snapped. “You’re just a sweaty pig whose only exercise is your right hand under the sheets your mother just cleaned. Don’t align yourself with Byakuya-sama and I, you filthy otaku...”

Hifumi clenched his hands into fists, teeth pressed tightly together.

A sigh escaped Byakuya. With reluctance, he touched his fingers against the bridge of his glasses and said, “If you help us, I will permit you to be in our group.”

“Huh?” Touko’s anger popped. She looked frantically between the two, several times, but found no smirk of a punchline. “W-We’re involving other people?”

“Shut up, Fukawa,” said Byakuya, too impatient for his usual venom. “What do you say, Yamada?”

“My happiness comes from the kindness around me and unfortunately for you, I am already in a group, one that does not make such crass insults toward me,” said Hifumi. He jiggled his glasses. “We already had Ishimaru Kiyotaka-dono drop out and had to replace him with Naegi Makoto-dono. I can’t let my friends down too. Friendship is a more reliable tool than a knife. Therefore, you will need to bribe me with something else.”

Hifumi stroked himself on the chin and when he stopped, he had a grin that any bigger, any sharper, it would have punctured his cheeks.

“Be prepared for a trading quest that would tire even the most determined of hylians,” he warned them.

Celes set her cup down onto her saucer. It clinked.

“Or I could be of help,” she piped up, and she didn’t ask if Byakuya was interested. “Have you heard of a franchise called Magical Girl Raising Project?”

“No,” said Byakuya.

Her eyes twinkled as she pressed her fist against her lips. Byakuya did not like this.

“Well, if you want to appeal to Fira-sensei’s interests, then I recommend you do something from that,” said Celes.

He twitched his head back, eyeing her with suspicion. “And why would you want to help me?”

Celes raised her eyebrows. “Can’t it be because we’re friends?”

“No.”

She laughed delicately behind her hand, each note well-chosen, before lowering her hand to her lap. Her lashes fluttered. “You know, Togami-kun, you’re not as different to Fukawa-san as you believe.”

He clucked but didn’t object out loud, and he certainly didn’t care to hear about what assumptions Celes had made. Touko wrung her hands together.

“Your idea of kindness is really like that of a business, isn’t it?” said Celes, moving on. “If you must know, on the off-chance that you win, you will think of me, won’t you? That would sweeten my loss as it would sour yours, and I can be content with that. However, I doubt that you would win, even with your shadow behind you.”

“B-Bitch,” muttered Touko.

Celes didn’t stop smiling, though it faded slightly, and picked up her cup, nearly empty by then. “Yamada-kun will even make your costumes.”

“I have staff for that,” said Byakuya. He could design outfits, but he couldn’t sew them, and the outfits that he designed were for formal occasions. Not for high school parties.

“And I have a deadline,” Hifumi cut in.

A cold smile from Celes froze the rest of Hifumi’s objections. They fragmented in his mouth, shards that stabbed as he tried to talk so he fell silent.

“But are they Super High School Level?” she asked Byakuya, like Hifumi never spoke.

She let a beat pass.

“Yamada-kun is actually rather good at making clothes from scratch, and until our school enrolls a Super High School Level Cosplayer, he’s the best you’re going to get, particularly at short notice. He will make your costumes, and as a reward, I will let him have a couple cosplay with me,” she said.

“B-But... my friends,” said Hifumi weakly.

Celes’s chilling smile was enough to turn his skin blue.

“R-Right!” Hifumi said. “What should I wear, Mistress?”

Byakuya rolled his eyes.

So much for friendship.

A few hours before the party was due to start, someone rang the intercom by Byakuya’s door. When he pulled the door open, not only was Hifumi there but Touko too, a pair that though people might associate them with the other, if they could help it, would have nothing to do with each other.

In Hifumi’s arms was a large box that Byakuya snatched from him. He poked out his head and investigated the corridor. Everyone in the class had a room on the same floor, and currently, the coast was clear.

“Finally,” said Byakuya. “And it’s totally finished?”

Hifumi bowed his head. “I promise you, Togami Byakuya-dono, that you will find it to a more than satisfactory standard.”

Byakuya turned his attention to Touko, who aimed to reassure him with a nod of her own.

“I did just as you asked, Byakuya-sama,” she told him. “The only rags in it are intentional... One outfit is based on Cinderella, and the other, Prince Charming.”

Hifumi puffed out his chest. “It’s important to know about the characters too, and I’m not talking about just going to their fanmade wikia page. Sonia’s magical ability is that whatever she touches turns into black ash, while Pukin’s sword will brainwash whoever it damages...”

He continued rambling while Byakuya closed the door.

“Good riddance,” said Touko, and she followed up her statement with sniffs as she savoured the scent of white tea, wood cedar and vanilla.

Byakuya furrowed his brow. Somehow, Touko had slipped into the room before he shut the door. He glared but decided to let her stay, and he put the box down on his bed. It saved him a trip to her room, anyway.

“Scissors, please,” he said, and he stretched out an arm.

Though he couldn’t see her face behind him, he imagined Touko scrunching it as she hitched up her skirt. After the rustling, he felt the cool metal of a pair of scissors against his palm, pulled out from from the ugly leather pouch on her leg. Years ago, he had tried to purchase a pair of her scissors online, only for them to turn out to be counterfeit. Now, he was using them to open a box containing a cosplay, so different to what they were usually used for - murder.

He slit the tape on top of the box, careful not to tear anything inside, and with his fingers hooked through the loops of the scissors, he peeled the box flaps outward. Inside were two clear bags, each containing parts of one costume, and he opened the one at the top.

Celes hadn’t lied about Hifumi’s craftsmanship. Byakuya extracted a silky, white frill collar, then a blue tabard bordered with white lace, then a red cape trimmed with a generous amount of fur and a pair of orange short shorts. The pair of earrings that he extracted next, shaped like pumpkins, must have been handmade but were fit to be sold at a store or at least at a con. After Byakuya satisfied himself with rolling them between two fingers, he progressed through the rest of the bag. Out came a short, red wig with a snowy feather on the top, and a white bra, to be worn under the tabard. It was more revealing than anything he had seen Touko in, for he guessed that this was meant to be Touko’s outfit. He put it aside and took out the other bag.

Only, the other costume was a patchwork dress, with a few loose threads that better have been intentional. Most of the patches were pastel, fabric, but the rest were pieces of fabric designed to appear to be cuttings from a newspaper. This dress came with a white bonnet, soft and dotted once with a pink bow at the front, that was to be worn over a platinum blonde wig that Byakuya could easily have retrieved by himself.

“This must be yours,” he said, pinching the shoulders of the tatty dress. “There’s no way I’ll fit into this. But that would mean...”

... the first outfit was meant for him. He flung his gaze onto the tabard, the short shorts and the bra.

“I t-thought he finished the rest while I slept! That cow did this to humiliate you!” Touko squawked. She waved her fists. “Don’t worry, Byakuya-sama, I will... I will...”

“Wearing this won’t humiliate me,” he said coolly, and her rage dampened, sizzling to a crispy silent. He set down the dress and reaches for the other costume, the one with the cape and the tabard. “Turn around and don’t move.”

Touko hung her her head but twirled on her heel. Byakuya watched her back for a few seconds before loosening his tie. Even though she couldn’t see him, and he had told her not to move, the back of his neck prickled, like she could and did see him, so he hurriedly donned the costume.

Though snug, the shorts and bra didn’t dig into him. Foregoing the earrings but putting on the red wig, he walked over to his wardrobe and opened it. A full length mirror inside gave him a clear view of this figure. His high heeled boots, lined with fur, ended below the knees, and the tabard barely passed his shorts. He adjusted the frill collar, frowning, before picking at one of his black gloves that matched the boots, flaring at the top.

“B-Beautiful...” Touko’s voice floated over.

Byakuya narrowed his eyes and craned his neck around. She had disobeyed his order and faced him with a quivering smile, hands squeezing the other like they caged something precious, like a secret or her racing heart.

A muscle twitched in his cheek. “I said not to move,” he reminded her.

Touko lost her composure and squeaked. Her arms flapped a few times despite her not seeming to be on the verge of toppling over, and soon she smacked her hands together, hips wiggling but both of her feet safely on flat flooring.

“Sorry. I couldn’t help myself...” She gripped the root of her braids, one in each fist. “I’m... a bad girl who needs to be disciplined. S-Shall I... bend over? Would you rather stand or have me over your lap?”

“You may bend over,” he said. Touko ogled him. He quickly added, “But not for the reason you think. I wish to see what you look like in your costume.”

She stared at him.

“What?” he asked.

“What?” she said back.

Byakuya massaged his temples for a few seconds.

“I’m not going to repeat myself. Put on your costume right now.”

“N-Now?”

“Yes?” He turned up his nose. “Is there some issue?”

She bit her lip and shook her head.

Byakuya pointed at her. “So get on with it right this second.”

Blushing, Touko slowly grabbed the lapel of her blazer and removed the article of clothing. It thumped at her feet.

The dress would hide the scars on her left thigh, which she showed him when she confessed her secret to him several months after they had been acquainted with each other. Even if the puffy skirt didn’t go down that far, the patchwork tights would hide the scars anyway. He remembered staring at them, pink, carved into pale flesh, and his first thoughts hadn’t been that they were ugly. There hadn’t been many thoughts, any thoughts, just a fascination, a constant drip of blood on a patio tile outside as a puzzle came together in the warmth within him.

Touko met his eyes briefly but couldn’t even chip his flinty pair, glazed in thought, so she averted her gaze and carried on stripping.

Her hair would have to be tucked away under the blond wig, styled with curly twintails. Personally, he preferred her braids, dark and longer. They suited her image of literacy girl, along with her owl-eye glasses and the small mole by one corner of her chapped lips.

As she undressed, she kept hesitating, as she slipped out of her shoes, as she pulled off her socks, and her gaze lingered longest on him as she reached for the hem of her skirt.

For the makeup, Touko wouldn’t need a great deal. Foundation, some lip gloss and blush, although she often bloomed with colour when around him.

None of her glances penetrated - he still didn’t respond to the questions in her eyes, lost in thought and passively aware of his surroundings. She bit her lip, her thighs trembled, and with a tug, her skirt slid into a pile of folds by her feet. Byakuya’s eyes instinctively darted from her feet to the little black bow on her panties.

Panties.

Realisation fell on him in an avalanche. He spun on his heel so he had his back to her, burning, and splayed his hand over the bottom half of his face.

“Byakuya-sama?” she called, and he did not want to answer her. “Are you... okay?”

“Just...” Oh, God. That came out as a croak. He cleared his throat. “Get on with it.”

Clothing whispered judgmentally behind him and despite what he said, he hoped that she wouldn’t be too quick, because his face needed some time to cool. They were just panties. A piece of clothing. Sexualised by society. Though her panties weren’t sexy. Hers were cute, perhaps, but not... sexy...

Cute.

He shook his head.

“You can watch if you want,” she simpered.

Touko had to be doing this on purpose.

Byakuya adjusted his glasses, if only to give his hand something to do. “I’m losing patience,” he said.

She yelped and rustled more. There were soft thuds too, and hissing breathless zips, and swishing, and then, finally, she said, “I’m ready.”

He turned around slowly and from a distance, inspected Touko. In a gloved hand, she held her glasses. Touko blinked, bare without her eyewear, and the blond wig contrasted with her natural darker hair colour. A wisp fell between her eyes, squirming as she fidgeted with the wig. Shabby though the outfit was, she did look like a princess, even if her presence didn’t commandeer people’s attention like an actual princess at their school did.

Still. She had his. Byakuya tilted his head to one side.

Initially, Touko smirked, but the silence grew more discouraging. “Byakuya-sama...?”

He parted his lips, staring. She wringed the bottom of her skirt.

“It looks like... I’m the one who they wanted to humiliate...” Her voice cracked and she shifted her weight between feet in white doll shoes. “They wanted to embarrass me in front of you... in front of everyone...”

Touko closed her eyes, held onto her head and shook it. The rest of her body shook too as she teetered on a sob.

“Oi, stop that,” he said, and she hugged herself. “What you’re doing now is pitiful, but how you look...”

His tongue was reluctant to cooperate.

“... isn’t too bad,” he finished.

She shivered before tensing, and she opened her eyes, put her glasses back on and peered at him curiously. They met each other’s gaze briefly, but then he averted his eyes away quickly.

“Beauty is only skindeep,” he said stiffly. “Now, don’t move.”

As he strode past her, she only followed him with her eyes. Byakuya walked over to the light switch and flicked it so the only light in the room came from the window, seeping in between the blinds. Despite the limited lighting, he could distinguish Touko, stood statue-like in a spotlight that gaped floating dust particles, and he positioned himself in front of her.

“In the dark, appearance matters even less,” he told her. He bent his legs to reduce the height difference between him and her, and then he took her glasses off. Touko’s face seemed to have frozen over, and not putting much thought into it, he cupped her cheek. Why, he didn’t know, and he probably doesn’t know, even now. Maybe it was so she knew he was there, because without her glasses, her eyesight was limited. Maybe.

Her breathing hitched and her legs buckled, but she didn’t collapse, too strong for that despite her weaknesses, like how she loved, and her cheek stuck to his hand like he smeared it in glue before touching her.

“It doesn’t matter,” he told himself in a murmur, “what you...”

She nodded, and at the same time, they leaned inward. Shadows played tricks with the light, that was what he told himself, all the way up to them inching to a breath width away.

He refused to be the victim to their prank, however, so he gave her glasses back to her, removed his hand and added, “Therefore, I don’t want to hear you complain.”

Byakuya dusted his hand on his thigh.

“I won’t,” she promised, shoulders sinking. She put her glasses on. His lips pressed together at one end.

“Don’t just do it for my sake.” He wagged a finger at her, hating how his heart skipped while he said that. “Do it for your own sake too. You’re giving people ideas they wouldn’t otherwise have. It is one of your talents... a dangerous one that you use to benefit you in your writing, but is detrimental how you utilise it in person.”

It was a skill that he admired. That could almost wind its way around him as he skimmed through her books, written with strength gained by pain not always from heartbreak, that not many could endure, let alone weaponise themselves with. But she could, and she did. Just with words.

If she wanted to, she could be terrifyingly brilliant.

Touko nodded, but he didn’t know how closely she was listening. That nauseating smile of hers crawled back onto her face.

“All that’s left to do now is makeup,” he said, and he walked quickly back to the light switch and flicked it, restoring full light to the room.

“What I’ve got is clumped together and old, b-because I only use it to hide blemishes... and besides, I don’t know how to apply makeup,” she apologised. She clutched her head. “Argh... I’ve failed... as a woman...”

“You did fail,” he said, no more, no less, never to mince words. He swept some red hair away from his eyes. “Fortunately for you, however, I can do it for the both of us.”

“... Huh?”

Byakuya looked over his shoulder. “I won’t clean the gunk in your ears, but I’ll do our makeup.”

“Y-You know how?”

“I know many things.” He marched over to his vanity, custom-designed by a company well-known to the elite. Wood, frosty white, an intricate pattern of leaves, bordered the square frame of its mirror. “We’ll use mine. Come.”

The ends of her lips peaked. “I need a bit more foreplay for that.”

It took him a moment. Then he shuddered. As submissive as she appeared, she was one of the few who could strike back with a comeback in her next breath, and in his distaste lay some regard.

“To the vanity,” he clarified. He pointed to the plum cushion seat on the stool beside it and sternly, he said, “I’ll change my mind in five seconds. Five... Four...”

Touko bounded over to the vanity and sat down obediently. She rested her glasses on the vanity before cupping her hands over her knees. The rest of the countdown fizzled out.

“Don’t move,” he said, and he opened the first drawer.

Neither spoke as he went through the necessary steps. Wipe. Foundation. Lipgloss. Eyeliner. Her eyes twitched as he tried to draw in black with a fine brush across her lids.

Byakuya’s lips smacked in annoyance and he withdrew the brush from her eyes.

“I can’t apply it properly if you keep fluttering your lashes,” he said.

“I’m trying not to,” she said. She took her hands off her knees and clasped her hands together. “Is it distracting you?”

“Yes. But it’s physically hindering me as well,” he replied with a huff.

Byakuya blotted around her eyes with a cotton bud and tended to them some more. After some adjustments, her eyes matched, and he placed the eyeliner on the vanity. He retrieved his mascara from the drawer and leaned in close again.

“I didn’t know you had expertise in makeup,” she murmured.

“I experimented with it when I was younger,” he replied, lying with past tense. “There are a lot of things you don’t know about me.”

“Likewise,” she said.

“Oh?” He sought her gaze. “Like what? Like you share a body with a serial killer?”

His remark creased her face.

“I’m full of surprises too,” she said, her eyes playing tricks with the light. Shining, gleaming, radiating. Pulling him into orbit. They were a pale, pleasant violet.

“You say that,” he said, “but what could you possibly do to take me by surp-?”

Touko didn’t need to close much distance to kiss him. His glasses bumped against her. She kissed him, to his surprise. Or he kissed her first. One of the two.

And he kissed her back.

Maybe that was more surprising.

Or maybe,

as he took off his glasses, as she draped her arms over his shoulders and his hands cupped her cheeks,

Maybe it wasn’t as surprising as it seemed.

Byakuya assessed his competition from the back of the classroom after he dealt with everyone’s comments and smirks, underneath a banner that Hifumi illustrated with ghouls and Yasuhiro blessed with his calligraphy. Touko stood beside him, resting her tongue and cradling a glass of punch, enrapt by its smooth surface and content just being with him and their secret. Some of the costumes, he rolled his eyes at, like three humanoid turtles, painted green, wearing baggy clothes sloppily painted and wearing different coloured eye masks. Mondo in red, Makoto in blue and Chihiro in purple.

He changed his gaze to a different target.

Nearby, Aoi danced with Sakura, but she had to keep glancing back at her mermaid tail that she dragged behind her, leaving a trail of glitter, in case someone seemed about to step on it, and Sakura, dressed in a regal dark blazer with red shorts, a crown on her head to suggest royalty, also kept an eye on Aoi’s tail.

“Has anyone seen Ikusaba-san and Enoshima-san?” asked Sayaka, fanning herself with a drab bowler hat.

Kyouko twiddled her smoking pipe. “I haven’t seen them at all today.”

“It better be good,” said Leon, caked in white makeup and blue eyeshadow and dressed as Marilyn Manson. Byakuya only knew who he was meant to be because Leon had shouted it after Yasuhiro asked if he was a clown from a Stephen King Novel.

Celes nodded. “Indeed... Enoshima-san has been bragging about it all week.”

Her twin drill tails had been exchanged for pigtails tied with red ribbon, to match her lipstick, and her dress, though as gothic as what she usually wore, lacked white, and around her neck hung a cross necklace. Next to Celes, only recognisable due to his physique, was Hifumi, his face white and snake-like with blue markings under his chin and across his cheeks, and on the end of his dyed pale ahoge. Below the shoulders, he wore a suit made to look like a skeleton, like the portable radiators around them room, and sweat patches could be seen below his arms.

At least Byakuya’s skimpy outfit stopped him from getting too hot.

“Yoo-hoo!” came Junko’s voice.

Everyone turned. Junko and Mukuro had to squeeze in through the door sideways, and only when they faced the rest of the class did it become apparent why. The two wore a costume together, each with a beachball stored under a white top, connected by a large, red bra, its straps over the outmost shoulder of both twins.

“I told you that we’d have the best costume,” said Junko, beaming, while Mukuro looked like she wouldn’t mind if the ceiling came down on her or several spears appeared out of nowhere to skewer her.

Byakuya turned his head away. Victory would be his. He met Touko’s eyes and she smiled, and he gave a small one back.

“Thank you for all coming,” said Fira-sensei from a podium brought into the classroom for the party. She swept the floor with shining eyes, over sixteen students and fifteen costumes. “You’ve all worked so hard, that I’m going to have to give you all extra credit. However, only one person can win, and I’ve taken a lot of things into account, such as how appropriate it is, how much work was put into it, overall appearance and the effect. And the winner is...”

No one breathed.

“...Darth Vader!”

The person in question ambled over to the podium, which Fira-sensei stepped away from to give them room. Their costume was high quality but still made rather than bought - the cape was made from a black bin bag, and the control panel on the chest painted. They stood perfectly still for a good ten seconds, and then they slowly lifted their helmet off.

“Ishimaru!” Mondo yelled above a splattering of gasps. “You traitor!”

“Congratulations,” said Fira-sensei. “As the winner, Ishimaru-kun, you will get a bag of candy, a trophy, and you may be excused from the winter run.”

“Thank you, Fira-sensei, but while I accept the last prize, I will not use it,” he said, face red and sweaty from being stuck in his helmet for so long. He allowed a pause for everyone to blanch in. “I simply did not want anyone to miss out on the run, so I took it upon myself to enter and win. It’s a bonding exercise. You may thank me now.”

No one said anything, but their eyes spoke, shouted themselves raw.

Kiyotaka’s smile strained.

“You like runs?” said Mondo. He cracked his knuckles. “Then today is your lucky day. You’ve got a ten second head start.”

[suzuisora]

✨ Muses ✨

Primary Muses:

➢ Prushka, from Made in Abyss.

➢ Komano Aunn, from Touhou.

➢ Ema, from Yakusoku no Neverland.

➢ Suzuya, from Tokyo Ghoul and a Blue Phobia AU. //about under construction//

Secondary muses:

Aka those I don’t use as often, but don’t wanna quit.

➢ Shinsha, from Houseki no Kuni.

➢ Sakura Kyouko, from Madoka Magica. *Self insert. (Tsuyonee’s ID)

➢ Nico, from Nanbaka. *Self insert (Niko’s ID)

➢ Felicia Mitsuki, from Magireco.

➢ Kiruko, from Shinmai Fukei Kiruko-san.

[bats-art-cave]

Danganronpa Role Play Server

Hey, hey! Okay, so I know I’m not the only one who has this floating around Tumblr, but why not create my own? 

Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc

Makoto Naegi - Open

Aoi Asahina - Open

Byakuya Togami - Open

Celestia Ludenburg - Open

Chihiro Fujisaki - Open 

Hifumi Yamada - Open

Junko Enoshima - Open

Kiyotaka Ishimaru - Open

Kyouko Kirigiri - Open

Leon Kuwata - Open

Mondo Oowada - Open

Monokuma - Open

Sakura Oogami - Open

Sayaka Maizono - Open

Touko Fukawa - Open

Yasuhiro Hagakure - Open

Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair

Hajime Hinata - Open

Usami/Manomi - Open

Akane Owari - Open

The Imposter - Open

Chiaki Nanami - Open

Fuyukiko Kuzuryu - Open

Gundham Tanaka - Taken

Hiyoko Saionji - Open

Ibuki Mioda - Open

Kazuichi Soda - Open

Mahiru Koizumi - Open

Mikan Tsumiki - Open

Nagito Komaeda - Open

Nekomaru Nidai - Open

Peko Pekoyama - Open

Sonia Nevermind - Open

Teruteru Hanamura - Open

Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls

Shirokuma - Open

Kurokuma - Open

Komaru Naegi - Open

Toko Fukawa - Open

Jataro Kemuri - Open

Kotoko Utsugi - Open

Masaru Daimon - Open

Monaca Towa - Open

Nagisa Shingetsu - Open

Haiji Towa - Open

Hiroko Hagakure - Open

Izuru Kamukura - Open

Taichi Fujisaki - Open

Yuta Asahina - Open

Danganronpa v3: Killing Harmony 

Kokichi Oma - Taken

Kaede Akamatsu - Open

Rantaro Amami - Open

Shuichi Saihara - Open

Tsumugi Shirogane - Open

Miu Iruma - Open

Korekiyo Shinguji - Open

Maki Harukawa - Open

Kaito Momota - Open

K1-B0 - Open

Himiko Yumeno - Open

Tenko Chabashira - Open

Angie Yonaga - Open

Gonta Gokuhara - Open

Kirumi Tojo - Open

Rules!

Each person will be allowed 1 character

No godmodding 

Be as descriptive as you can

No lewd (However, that will be discussed further at a later date)

Please respect myself, and others within the server

If you’re interested, please message me or @multiple-muses. 

(Rules will most likely be updated when need be)

[convxction]

post ten characters you’d like to roleplay as, have roleplayed as and might bring back, then tag ten people to do the same. aside from that, please repost instead of reblogging.

Currently Roleplaying:

Chrom | Fire Emble.m Awakening

Have Played:

A long assy list. Honorable mention to who I used frequently on my MM blog/or single ones.

Leanne & Zephyr (Resonance Of Fate) | Eight (Final Fantas.y Type 0) | Akihik.o Sanada (Persona 3) | Syaora.n Li & Clone Syraoran (CardCaptor Sakura / TRC) | Apollo Justi.ce (Ace Attorn.ey) | Senel Coolidg.e (Tales Of Legend.ia) | Balan & Cline Sharil & Nova & Ludger(Tales of Xilli.a) | Rokurou Rangets.u (Tales of Berseri.a) | Guy Cecil (Tales of the Abys.s) | Isaac (Golden Sun) | Kula Diamond (KOF) | Trowa Barton (Gundam Wings) | Toma (Amnesia) | Guren Ichinos.e (Owari no serap.h) | Junpei Tenmiyuji (Zero Escape 999/VLR/ZTD) | Matthew (Fire Emble.m Rekka No Ken) | Chie Satonak.a (Person.a 4) | Hori Kyouko (Horimiya manga)

who else..there are more but wheezes...i was muses ho back then..and more ocs ofc (i am working on that m to revive my ocs back i swear, stop kicking my butt einar i love you baby.)

Would like to Play:

..boi. idk. my brain go from 0 to 10 LIKE COME ON GET TO THAT MUSE AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!

Ituski Aoi ( Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE ) since no one enables me mi.rage chro/m XD

also maybe stahl...sweats.

Tagged by: fam @wayward-sword | @umbrascelerata | @monarchfled

Tagging: Anyone who did not do it. and YOU!