#nanami in case that’s unclear

[cheriecoke]

how am i supposed to watch the rest of the shibuya arc when i feel sick to my stomach before every episode

[imsofthelp]

Category: smut, angst

Warnings: smoking, sort of jjk spoilers but not really stated clearly, angsty, cursing, gojo being smitten is a warning of it’s own

Summary: Your ability allows you to see visions of the future. Once you see your lover dead, you can’t help but want to pull away and keep him safe

***

Satoru awakes when the sun is about to rise and colour the world in molten gold. It’s not a peaceful awakening, not the usual smell of coffee you brewed after slipping out of his grasp in the early hours of the morning and not the sound of you humming a melody only known to you.

Your screams tug at the strings of his heart in a way he didn’t even think was possible and before he’s even fully awake, his muscular arms reach out to wrap themselves around you, their goal to comfort and to ground you. He was still here and you were still safe.

Your eyes flutter open and closed like the wings of a butterfly, breathing erratic and uneven.

Gojo was always a selfish man and how could he not be if almost everyone worshipped not only him but the ground he walked on. A god amongst mortals, an angel meant to erase the sins of the humanity. Right now, he would do anything to take your pain away, to ease the trembling of your cold hands and calm down the way your heart is beating too fast.

A worse side of your technique, being able to summon anything you dreamed of last night, were the obscure visions of the future.

He’s learned not to ask right after, to allow you time to calm down and get your voice back. He’s more worried about you than curious about the future. A fleeting thought that this would never be the case for anyone else but you comes and goes.

When you do finally speak, your voice is croaky and barely audible, muttered into his dark shirt.

“You were dead.”

Three short words and his hands that have been stroking your back softly, freeze. Satoru thinks he misheard you. The idea of him dying is simply ridiculous. Who would be able to kill the strongest sorcerer alive? Sure, he’s had his doubts about Sukuna, but he’s certain he’d win if it came down to it.

“Darling, are you sure that it was me? Your visions are often unclear.”

Is all he thinks to say and his hands come back to your back, motions slow and comforting. Satoru doesn’t want you to know that his heart skipped a beat, that he’s a tad bit worried, ever since your visions about Nanami came true. Ever since all your interferences with the future proved to be fruitless. Ever since they had no body to bury.

Your face finally lifts up, chin resting on his chest, eyes red-rimmed and tearful. His hand touches your cheek and it’s hot to the touch.

“It was the clearest one I’ve ever had, Satoru.” you take a moment to gather your thoughts, to take a deep breath. The vision is engrained into your mind, playing over and over like a broken record. “I tr- fuck, tried to save you and it didn’t work. Nothing worked, I couldn’t- I was too weak to save you.”

And you burst into tears again, soft, heaving sobs slipping past your soft lips. If Satoru thought that it had hurt before, he doesn’t know what to compare this to. He briefly thinks of Suguru, but ultimately brushes it off.

He mumbles your name and kisses your forehead as softly as he can manage. All he knows is violence and fighting and surviving, but with you, he manages to hide all the ragged edges just enough.

“Ah.” Is all Satoru says for a moment, a hum of acknowledgement. He’s speechless for a moment as his worst suspicions are suddenly confirmed. Satoru doesn’t have to dwell on the thought that he cares more about what happens to you than to him. “What happens to you… In this vision?”

You slowly blink up at him, eyes glazed for a moment. He recognises that expression as you trying to recall every single detail of the vision. It’s so bittersweet, Satoru thinks, that you don’t even remember seeing yourself in that vision, only caring about him.

Soon, you come back to him, brows furrowed and expression drowned in worry.

“I try to heal you and… And I don’t even notice Sukuna coming back behind me. It hurts, for a bit, and then it’s dark. The vision ends.”

Gojo swallows and closes his eyes for a moment. What is he supposed to say? His jaw is tense, and when his eyes open again, he finds you even more worried than before.

“Love… Listen, that’s not going to happen, alright? I’ll make sure of it.”

He rewards you with one more kiss on your forehead as if that would help. He’d like to think that, but he finds himself horribly mistaken when you slip out of his grasp. You’re still only in your shirt and underwear, the only accessories being the bruises left on your hips that are now covered.

You rummage through the drawers and he sits up to observe. Your still trembling hands reach for a pack of cigarettes and a baby pink lighter. Gojo never liked you doing that. He never cared for alcohol and nicotine, choosing to see his body as a temple.

He worshipped you a lot, whispering prayers of your name a lot more than prayers he would in a temple, but clearly not enough.

“You really think death isn’t coming to us? Even after Shibuya?”

You shook your head and slipped out to the large balcony attached to the bedroom. Everything in his apartment was expensive and you often complained about feeling out of place. Of course, Satoru thought that you were right where you’re supposed to be.

When he climbs out of bed, he doesn’t need to shake away the sleep. It’s like a second nature to follow you out, the cold air of the early morning biting at his skin. He always has his infinity off when with you. Satoru doesn’t want you to feel like you could ever be denied the comfort of his touch.

He finds you smoking. The white trails leave your lips and disappear into the air as if they were never there. He finds himself at a loss of words once again. A strange and foreign feeling.

Satoru’s arms wrap around your waist and he slumps his large body over you like an oversized heated blanket. For you, he can ignore the smell of the cigarettes.

“Darling, please, listen. There’s nothing that could stop me from protecting you. I won’t let anyone harm you, ever.”

Satoru is careful not to say ‘as long as I’m alive’, bites his tongue to not let it slip. If this vision proves to be as truthful as your prior ones, he might have to reconsider the promises before making them.

You take another long drag before sighing softly. He doesn’t know that you’re also reconsidering your words.

“I don’t care about what happens to me, Satoru. You die.”

And your words hurt, he can feel the physical pain in his chest, his heart clenching. How could you ever say that? How could you put his life above yours? So many would, so many would disregard another sorcerer’s life for his, but never you. At the start of the relationship, he had made it clear that you were equals. Everything was back to base one.

“Please.” he’s used to people begging him, worshipping him, not the other way around. Once again, he is reminded, that for you he can be mortal, ordinary and nothing special. A normal person without the weight of the whole sorcerer society depending on him. “I’m begging you to not say such things. How can you disregard your life just like that?”

You stay quiet for a while and then put out your cigarette, turning to him. He notices the tears in your eyes and his immediate instinct is to wipe them off. He wants to give you space, though so he stays glued to the floor.

“I think my visions are not a warning. A warning would mean that the future could be changed, for better or for worse, anyway. We have tried so many times.” the words are quiet and your tone utterly defeated. You’re similar to a kicked dog right now. Yet, your eyes rise up and you come back to the hand that feeds. “We’ve tried so many times and It has never suceeded. Nanamin is still dead, Sukuna is still alive. It’s a curse more than a gift.”

Gojo wants to wish it all away. Your pain and your sorrows, your worries and your decreasing self-worth. He knows that there is nothing he can do to stop your mind from spiralling.

He whispers your name but you don’t allow him to speak, your hands raised.

“I think it’s just like… Someone saying to me ‘here is your future, take it and deal with it’ and…”

This time, Satoru is the one not allowing you to finish your words. He can’t listen to this anymore, can’t listen to this unchangable future shit. The future is always shifting, things are always happening and transforming the events, preventing them from happening and creating new ones.

“So that’s it? You’re accepting your fate and not trying to change it? And you’re fine with that?”

He can’t keep his voice from rising in volume, pretty, perfect face scrunched up. Satoru doesn’t know how to shake sense into you, how to make you see that you both can still change the future, prevent your deaths.

“I am fine.”

Is all you say, before putting the cigarette out and slipping back inside. Your skin is covered in goosebumps. His feet follow you before his mind can catch up.

“You clearly are not.” Satoru says as you pace around the room, not knowing what to do with yourself. He’s right behind you. It’s an instinct to try to calm you down. “Will you just listen to me? Nothing’s happening to me, or you. Fuck the future, fuck everything.”

You finally fall into his arms, but Satoru doesn’t dare sigh in relief. You’re about to say something again, and he’s about to give you more logical arguments. A cursed circle that never stops running. What can he even do to stop it?

“I think… I think that you’re a god, and I’m your dog.” you say and Satoru’s voice hitches in his throat. What was going on in your head right now, to make you say something like that, to even think something like that. “You tell me to stop worrying and I do, you demand me to calm down and I listen. Ultimately, you tell me to jump and I ask you ‘how high?’.”

Satoru freezes, the hands that held you limp by his sides as he pulls away. It was so completely unlike you, so unnatural. The visions have completely broken you and he doesn’t know how to bring you back, he really doesn’t, god he doesn’t know what to do.

“You are my dog?” he repeats, his tone harsher than before as he fails to wrap his head around the idea that you could say such a thing. “Are you still dizzy from your visions or are you taking a shot at making me upset?”

He shakes his head and pulls away from you, his large hands on your shoulders.

“It’s the truth.” you respond, avoiding his harsh gaze, pretending not to notice the weight of his hands on your shoulders.

“Well, I think your truth is stupid.” he retorts, hands shaking as he pulls them away from you, as if your skin burned him.

“And I think you should leave me.”

The words leave you and it’s like the time stops for Satoru. It’s a punch to his ego. Does he not love you enough? Not cherish you enough? Do you see him as the kind of man that would leave as soon as things got hard? How foolish, how utterly stupid.

“What are you saying now?” he all but yells, his temper no longer controlled as you look up at him with those teary eyes. What can he even do? What is he supposed to do?

Your whole body is shaking as you turn away from him. “In my vision, you died saving me. Leaving me can change the future.”

And suddenly, it all clicks for him. Why you were so insistant to push him away, why you seemed so hopeless. Protecting him by hurting yourself. How completely selfless, how utterly stupid.

“Oh, honey that’s…” he pulls you to him, wrapping his body around you until there’s nothing but him. His pretty girl is in tears. his pretty, perfect girl hurting. “I would never leave you, my love. Never once in a million lifetimes. I’m yours, darling, and you’re mine. We talked about the red string theory once and I’m afraid that I’m tied to you, hm?”

It’s not a question and he’s trailing kisses down your exposed neck. Your arms raise up on instinct and Satoru slips your, well, his shirt off of you. He knows you need him right now, to bring you back, to assure you, once again, that he’s yours, that he’ll stay despite everything.

Satoru lays you down on the bed as if you’re the most precious treasure and you look up at him, with those wide eyes, handing him your trust along with your heart.

“My pretty girl, my perfect girl.” he drawls, pressing kisses along your exposed chest and down your belly, until he reaches your underwear, playfully biting the little bow on them. “Can I take these off?”

You nod, but that’s not enough for him and he nips at the skin of your thigh, causing you to yelp. “Words, pretty girl.”

“Yes.” you answer, after a beat of silence.

And he’s granted heaven. Satoru slides off your underwear and tosses them somewhere into the room. More soft kisses follow and your breath hitches when his lips kiss where you need him most.

His skilled tongue flicks over your clit and your back immediately arches off of the bed. Coming down from so many emotions and reaching so many new ones left you more sensitive than ever.

Gojo chuckles and repeats the motion, before obliging your quiet whine with a practiced clockwise motion. He repeats the motion a few more times, revelling at the taste of you and the sound of your whines and soft moans. His pretty pretty girl.

He carefully enters one finger into you and immediately finds the spot that has you gasping. With each motion, he brings you back to himself, back to being completely his, none of that silly nonsense you were spewing before. He adds another, when he deems you wet enough.

Two of his fingers are already so much more than yours could ever be and the way his tongue keeps flicking over your clit in all the right ways has you moaning his name like a prayer. Truly, he’s the one praying to you.

“Ngh- Sa-Satoru, I-“

You don’t need to finish your sentence in order for him to know what you’ll say next. The flutter of your eyelashes and the way you squeeze his fingers so hard that he’s barely able to move them in and out is a telltale sign.

“You can cum, pretty girl. Mm, my pretty girl.”

He mumbles and then his tongue gets back to it’s former movements. You come with a high-pitched whine and he’s glad to finally taste you. Ambrosia couldn’t compare.

You come back down from your high and he’s already hovering over you, mouth wiped clean as he presses a bunch of butterfly kisses over your skin, anything he can touch.

He’s content with just pleasing you, with having you even a step closer to him. Back to where you are supposed to be. What a silly thought, that he’d ever consider leaving you when he looked at you like you hung the stars in the sky, the way he has never looked at anyone else.

Your eyes open and focus on him as you kiss him back, as soft as you can manage. Your hands bury into his hair and you have the adoring look back in your gaze. Even if it’s for a little while, before your worries start up again, he’s content.

“Want more, Toru, want you.”

Satoru swears that his eyes light up once he hears your words. You’re taking another step towards him, you’re almost back to him. “Are you sure, my love?”

You nod eagerly and it’s enough for him to take his clothes off. Your eyes are focused on his strong body, the sculpted muscles, the light hair that trails from his bellybutton right to his length.

He lays over you, careful not to let his weight fall onto you, always so careful with you. He rubs his cock over your pussy, covering it with your slick, attentive to make the intrusion as easy and pleasurable as possible.

He’s careful when he slides the tip in yet you still let out a soft whine. Satoru is a big man, towering over everyone no matter what room he’s in, it only makes sense that his cock is big, too. Doesn’t really help that he’s quite gifted on top of that.

“I know, I know, yeah. Hold onto me, darling. Mm, my love is doing so well.”

He feeds inch after inch of his large cock into you, watching your reactions deliberately, making sure not to hurt you.

Both you and Satoru moan when his pelvis meets yours, the sensation euphoric. His thrusts start out slow. He pulls almost all the way out before thrusting back in. Your head falls back onto the pillow as your moans get louder. He’s the only man who’s able to fuck you like this, to reach all the spots inside of you that make your eyes water.

“Do you feel good, darling? Am I making my perfect girl feel good.”

Your hands go over to cover your face and he tuts, pulling them away and gathering your wrists in one of his hands. It never fails to surprise you on how big they are. He, however, wants to see every reaction and hear every sound leaving you.

“Y-Yes, so good, feels so good.” You manage between loud moans. Screw the neighbours, Satoru thinks, screw everyone who isn’t you and him.

“Yeah? I feel good, too. So good, baby, so good. You’re perfect for me, the gods created you for me, yeah? So no more nonsense about me leaving.”

Your face heats up and back arches. His words reach you and then float around your otherwise empty mind.

His thrusts get quicker and less calculated as his head is thrown back. A quiet sigh of contentment leaves his pretty, glossy lips.

“Yeah, that’s right. No one. But us. Exists. Right now.” Satoru punctuates each little word with a deep thrust, breaths uneven, eyes closed in pleasure. “And we’ll overwrite the future if need be. If it means I get to stay. Then so be it.”

Another long, languid thrust and you come, nails dragging over his back as he spills into you, filling you with warmth.

You both take a moment to catch your breaths and soon, Satoru rolls off of you, his softened dick slipping out. He pulls you close to himself and presses a kiss to your forehead as you’re dozing off.

“Meant what I said. I’m staying and you won’t get rid off me, yeah? I love you more than I love anyone else, would die for you, kill for you… Perfect girl, my perfect girl.”

Satoru is not sure if you hear him before falling asleep, but he’ll be sure to remind you, should you ever forget again.

[fairy-writes]

fairy's fics for gaza

hello everyone! i'm not sure anyone would even be interested or care about this but i'm OPENING REQUESTS for @ficsforgaza !! by tossing my hat into the ring, i hope to help raise money and interest for this cause!

keep in mind i'll maybe close my requests if i get overwhelmed or can't fulfill a request. i am setting the donation limit for $5 for 500 words. ofc this is subject to change (e.g. you want a shorter or longer request)

how this works!

you (the reader): send me A DIRECT MESSAGE (not an ask pls, those are reserved for regular requests) asking for a request. i will start working on your request once you've provided proof to me (with any personal info removed) of your donation to a VETTED FUNDRAISER. DO NOT SEND ME THE MONEY

me (the writer): once i have vetted the fundraiser (there is a list to choose from HERE), i will begin work on your request. keep in mind i have other projects to get done (e.g. original stories, other requests still in my inbox, etc.) so it won't be published right away.

LIST OF FANDOMS/PEOPLE I'LL WRITE FOR (these are all x reader):

Arcane: League of Legends: Viktor, Silco, Jayce Talis, Vi, Vander, Caitlyn Kiramman, Mel Medarda

Bungou Stray Dogs: Nakajima Atsushi, Nakahara Chuuya, Dazai Osamu, Kunikida Doppo, Fukuzawa Yukichi, Saigiku Jouno, Suehiro Tecchou

The Case Study of Vanitas: Vanitas, Noé Archiviste, Roland Fortis, Dominique de Sade

Demon Slayer: All the Hashira, Akaza, Kokushibo, Douma, Kibutsuji Muzan, Kamado Tanjiro (aged up), Agatsuma Zenitsu (aged up), Hashibira Inosuke (aged up)

Doctor Who: The Doctor (9th, 10th, 11th, 12th), Jack Harkness, River Song

Fullmetal Alchemist: Roy Mustang, Greed, Riza Hawkeye, Jean Havoc, Envy, Alex Louis Armstrong, Olivier Armstrong, Edward Elric (post-FMAB), Alphonse Elric (post-FMAB), Ling Yao (post-FMAB)

Grimm (NBC): Nick Burkhardt, Hank Griffin, Sean Renard, Drew Wu, Monroe

Jujutsu Kaisen: Gojo Satoru, Fushiguro Toji, Geto Suguru, Nanami Kento, Itadori Yuuji (aged up), Fushiguro Megumi (aged up)

Moriarty the Patriot: William James Moriarty, Albert James Moriarty, Louis James Moriarty, Sherlock Holmes, Mycroft Holmes, Fred Porlock, Sebastian Moran, James Bonde

Tokyo Ghoul: Uta, Kaneki Ken, Kirishima Touka, Kirishima Ayato (re: age), Nishio Nishiki, Tsukiyama Shuu

GENERAL RULES

i write specifically SFW. no NSFW or dark content here folks. though there are plenty of participating authors who write either dark content or NSFW!

all writing is gender neutral but can be customized to a female!reader

absolutely no exclusionists welcome. that includes anyone who is or condones racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, aphobia, ableism, islamophobia, antisemitism, or anything similar.

things that WON'T be written: nsfw/smut/spice (implied or otherwise), abusive relationships, yandere, self-harm, suicide, eating disorders, mental disorders, incest, character x character, character x oc

if you have any further questions please let me know!! i've never done something like this and it's very probable i've left something unclear lol.

feel free to check out the BLOG for more information! they also have a FAQ here!

[arscorpii]

About your poison essay, that scene really intrigued me because along with the bodyswap episode and wakaba flourishing episode, this is one of the only times (that i can remember) that the outside world is depicted outside of things like flashbacks. The streets have a rather “cyberpunk” kinda vibe to them, which contrasts with the rest of the show’s fancy fantasy-inspired aesthetics (barring the back half of the movie).

thank you for sharing your ideas. you have good points!! i agree with you!! your ask also got me thinking about this. throughout the series, several characters were shown to have been able to leave ohtori on their own terms. however, each time, these characters returned to ohtori once again. we saw nanami, shiori, wakaba, tokiko, ruka, and utena leave ohtori, often in relation to other characters, and return due to those specific characters, too. nanami left ohtori grounds a few times due to touga, but in her final attempt at leaving ohtori for good via transfer, she was stopped by touga. shiori left ohtori for unclear reasons, but it's plausible to consider it's due to the complications with herself, juri, and the guy from the past. her return could also possibly be related to juri. wakaba was shown to leave ohtori and go into town twice, and both times were in relation to saionji. tokiko left ohtori after mikage burnt down the research efforts she relied on in hopes of curing mamiya, her ill younger brother. mamiya died and was buried in ohtori. she returned to visit his grave and subsequently, akio. ruka was the only person to have stayed out of ohtori due to illness and not because of anyone in particular. but his return could be due to either being called back by end of the world or due to juri. utena left ohtori several times with akio. anthy never really left ohtori grounds, at least not as herself, as she was at kaoru twins' father's house as the rose bride. it's arguable if that's actually her or if it's a projection of some kind from miki's side. the suicide attempt took place at a location within ohtori, but as you pointed out, we got a look at the outside world beyond ohtori. i think, from my perception and reading, ohtori can be regarded as the general paradigm of a sunlit garden, inside which the people are bound to it by their specifically curated sunlit gardens. it's all-encompassing, a mirror that reflected and amplified the projected sunlit gardens of the beholders; it could be an egg or a coffin, depending on the character itself. connecting this point to the visual themes ascribed to the characters by the narrative in the context of venturing to the outside world beyond ohtori, i think it may allude to the possibility that nanami, wakaba, utena, and anthy had the most viable capability to leave ohtori, that ohotori was an eggshell that they can break out of. we saw that the outside world can be wide and colourful, unrestrained, when these particular characters were narratively placed in it, despite their respective adversities at those moments. this suggestion is supported by the fact that in the movie, utena and anthy managed to escape ohtori, nanami was a cow and thus, was never in ohtori in the first place, and wabaka was the mobile that carried the student council members to eventually escape ohtori. shiori became the vermin-esque mobile, but her focus was on on-upping anthy and utena, she can also turn into a car like utena, and she must be the first to leave ohtori. in any case, shiori struggled to leave ohtori, most likely due to her relationship with juri. but juri was planning on leaving and seemed determined to do so in the movie. looking back to the series, in episode 37, juri, nanami, and miki seemed to have been able to take a step toward moving forward from their own sunlit gardens; and in episode 39, they seemed to have achieved their own revolutions. shiori was in the background for both episodes; she may need a longer time to leave ohtori. ruka died in the series and wasn't present in the movie. safe to say ohtori became his coffin. tokiko was able to move away from ohtori, but she was somewhat bound to it by akio. finally, both utena and anthy were able to leave ohtori both in the series and in the movie :)

[melon-fodder]

MELON’S REQUESTS ✧˖*°࿐

It’s been a hot minute since I’ve taken requests, so bear with me. Please remember I have the right to refuse a prompt if it doesn’t spark inspiration. However, with permission I’ll still post the ask in case anyone else takes interest in it!

I ask you to be polite when requesting. If it feels like a demand to me, I will likely get pouty and ignore it (just being honest here).

All that being said, request away! Feel free to DM or shoot an ask if anything is unclear 💚

WHAT I WRITE:

sfw

not sfw

dark content

headcanons

blurbs

one-shots

most kinks

multiple partners

WHAT I DON’T:

underage

pregnancy

scat

sh/emergency comfort

age play

age regression

specific reader traits

˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚ CHARACTERS

*all characters are aged up to at least 25yrs

Attack on Titan

༯ Eren, Erwin, Levi✰, Miche, Reiner✰, Porco, Zeke✰

Demon Slayer

༯ Genya✰, Tanjirou, Sanemi

Haikyuu!

༯ Akaashi✰, Asahi, Bokuto, Kita, Kuroo, Tsukishima✰, Ukai, Yamaguchi

Jujutsu Kaisen

༯ Getou, Gojo, Nanami, Sukuna, Toji, Yuuta

My Hero Academia

༯ Aizawa✰, Bakugou, Dabi, Endeavor, Hawks, Mirio✰, Overhaul✰, Sero, Shinsou✰, Shigaraki, S. Todoroki

Tokyo Revengers

༯ Baji, Draken, Hakkai, Mitsuya✰, Takemichi

Wind Breaker

༯ Endo, Hiragi✰, Kaji, Kiryu, Sakura, Suo, Takiishi, Togame✰, Umemiya

[polysyndetonaddictsupportgroup]

Poor Nanami. Hes got all problems rn (one kid uncondcious, two kids really really insisting they did the grand theft auto, one going throufh the most insane emotional journey possible)

I keep thinking about how in the same conversation Yuuta both asked Nanami to neglect him more (insanely concerning) and then also said hed kill himself in front of him (also insanely concerning) after like 5 hours ago going youre *not* my dad. Parenthood is tough.

Nanami, going onto r/Parenting for help with this shit:

I (27M) am the father of three. My eldest (16M) was recently introduced to my two younger children (15F & 14M) under less than ideal circumstances. They all seem to be getting along well—my eldest son and daughter already appear to be friends. My youngest son had to be hospitalized, and the eldest has developed a very protective bond with him. This is one of the issues—I’m harboring some concerns that he may kill the people who hurt my youngest in his defense.

I have a series of other problems that have arisen in the last twelve hour span:

First, my daughter recently stole a car to transport her brother to medical attention after discovering his injuries. My youngest now insists that he was the one who stole it, despite being blind and bleeding out at the time of the theft. How do I convince him that it was okay that the car was stolen and to stop distressing himself with trying to take the blame?

Second, my eldest went through a medical issue recently that destabilized his emotional control, likely contributing to his strong bond with my youngest and the homicidal thoughts. I'm attempting to get him to rest; however, this makes him feel like he's failing to protect my youngest. How do I convince him to rest and take care of his own needs?

Third, the same eldest told me that I’m not his father, asked me to neglect him more, and told me that he’d kill himself in front of me if I tried to discuss puberty with him. Our relationship is very new, and I believe he was being hyperbolic in many of his statements, but I want to communicate to him that he can safely come to me with any issues he may face. How can I best do this?

Fourth, I have recently uncovered reason to believe that my daughter is harboring an active fear that we may one day cut her off from her younger brother permanently. We are currently parenting them through a non-sexual, platonic polycule, and I decided that I was obligated to share this information with the others so that we may address it as a family. Now, however, she has been avoiding me, and I fear she may trust me less. How do I address both the breach in trust and the likely fears of abandonment? I only want her to be happy.

Fifth, my eldest appears to have a relationship of indeterminate nature with his four closest friends. They were all found sleeping in the same bed together, are rarely apart, and he spends most of his time with his best friend/possible romantic partner (15F), though they have gotten in several physical confrontations in the twelve hours I have known them. It is unclear whether their relationship is platonic, romantic, or queerplatonic in nature, though his best friend does appear to be making romantic overtures to my daughter. I obviously support whatever their nature may take (both due to my pre-existing personal opinions and the obviously unique nature of the relationship I have with my coparenting polycule), but I do believe that the answers may affect what topics should be covered in any discussion we may have on puberty and sexual wellbeing. Obviously, this talk is not happening any time soon, due to the aforementioned threat to kill himself in front of me if I attempted to discuss such topics, but I’d like to be prepared should the need arise. Does anyone have any recommendations on how to casually communicate that I support him in whatever form of relationship he finds himself in? Should I cover all of the bases when I give him the talk just in case?

I consider myself somewhat of a veteran parent (I have been raising children for more than a decade now), but these last twelve hours have surprised me with how taxing they've been. Has anyone encountered anything like this? Any advice will be appreciated.

Edit: My youngest had to be hospitalized because his extended family, who is not allowed any contact with him, kidnapped him and injured him to the point of hospitalization. This is not what I'm seeking advice on. We are more than capable of formulating our plans for revenge without the aid of strangers on the internet.

Second Edit: Please stop asking how I'm able to be the father of three teenagers at the age of 27. All of my children were adopted. No one needs to call the police.

Third Edit: My eldest had not yet met his younger siblings because he was only recently adopted under rather dire circumstances. The ex-boyfriend of a member of our coparenting group recently attempted to murder him (for reasons unrelated to the group), and then in the aftermath a different group attempted to force him into indentured servitude. We were looking to allow him time to adjust to his new circumstances before introducing him to his siblings.

Fourth Edit: Yes, I adopted my first two children when I was sixteen. This was not so much allowed as no one could stop us. I fail to see the relevance in this to the problem at hand; however, due to the influx of questions I have decided to provide the information anyway.

Fifth Edit: Yes, I was the poster who sought advice all those years ago regarding the young children that my upperclassman had somehow acquired. No, I still do not know where he got them from. It no longer matters, because we ended up keeping them and are raising them ourselves. Please direct all further comments to the actual questions asked.

[rainboneish]

more general Nobara thoughts (no recent manga spoilers, just a general character analysis post based on information we got up to the end of season 2 with some bonus backstory spoiler bits for some characters)

at the beginning of of the story, Nobara is the only one of the Tokyo students who technically has the option to quit being a sorcerer after graduation without major complications (which is emphasized during her introduction with the multiple mentions of being scouted by an agency, as well as her motivation of moving to Tokyo/out of the village not being inherently tied to being a sorcerer, as long as she can find a different way to support herself. This is further emphasized by the fact that her backstory itself isn’t really influenced by her being a sorcerer. Her story with Fumi and Saori makes no mention of her abilities, and while the negative feelings the villagers had about Saori can be connected to cursed energy, it’s a backstory that would fit into the real world with zero alteration. Nobara does come from a sorcerer family, but it’s not one of the major clan and as far as we know her Grandmother keeps her distance from the rest of the community and we don’t have any indication that she would pressure Nobara into taking up the family business.

While Yuji did grow up as a “normie”, his options were literally presented to him as “die now or be a sorcerer and die at an unspecified point in time in the future” (plus, unbeknownst to him and us at the time, he already had a finger inside of him and Kenjaku would have most likely helped things along if he hadn’t eaten that finger willingly

Megumi is tied to the Jujutsu world through his birthright and technique, as well as through the deal Toji and later Gojo made with the Zenin clan, as well as Tsumiki’s fate in general. Yes Gojo might have been able to get him an out (since the condition stoping his sale to the Zenin is just him being there and sound of mind, Megumi being a sorcerer is to pay off his debt to the school)

Panda is a Panda (cursed corpse edition)

Inumaki’s family situation isn’t clear enough to know if they would be an obstacle to a change in profession but the nature of his cursed technique complicates his situation, he could live as a mute person but we know how easy (/s) society likes to make things for people with disabilities

Maki might have been able to quit being a sorcerer, but it is unclear if the zenin clan lets their children go to a normal school (we never see her or mai wearing middle school uniforms and i feel like it is at least heavily implied that the clans homeschool their kids) and i doubt the zenin clan would make it easy for her to get any kind of official documentation. She could have probably become a mercenary like Toji, but as we saw in his case, even he couldn’t fully shake that world, to the point where it killed him.

(I’m not including Yuta here because he wasn’t present at the beginning of the story (outside of jjk0), he probably could have left jujutsu society after graduation in theory but his obstacle was his power being too strong (leading to political pressure) He also tied to jujutsu society through his bonds, as is made very clear in jjk 0, which is something he and Nobara have in common (like a certain other thing (a crush on maki sorry i couldn’t help myself ))

(this is just the situation at the beginning of the story, a lot has changed since then rendering a lot of these points moot)

so yeah, Nobara is the only one who is technically free to leave at any time, as long as she can secure a job (which is a pretty normal hurdle that anyone who isn’t born with inherited wealth would face). She has had a normal schooling before going to jujutsu high and judging by Nanami’s story, the school probably has the authority to give graduates the necessary paperwork to get into normal higher education or get a job that isn’t necessary for (idk jack shit about the education system in japan and i’m not going to research it for a sentence in a tumblr post)

Which makes it even more of a statement to her character that she actually sticks around and gives it her all.

Nobara is a character who can seem abrasive at first. She seems vain and immediately belittles Yuji and Megumi upon introduction. Then the scene with the kid happens and you start to glimpse that she is kinder than she seems. Through her backstory and her relationship with Yuji and Maki especially, as well as her relationship with Fumi and Saori, it becomes evident that despite initial impressions, she is a character who cares, deeply.

And while she later claims that she can only care for so many people (which is true to a certain extent), she shows a willingness to sacrifice herself for a little boy she never met and immediately agrees with Itadori that they need to help the people in the juvenile detention center (even if she isn’t as absolute as Yuji about it). As she says herself, she does not have Yuji’s compulsion to save everyone, but she isn’t selective to the degree Megumi is either.

She willingly goes back into Shibuya station, despite the fact that she has been told that she is outmatched in skill and seeing the devastation that has occurred while she was outside the veil, because she knows that Yuji, Gojo and other people she knows are still in there, something the others around her were unwilling to do at that point. As i said, she is brave, and she cares so so deeply!

When she is taken down by Mahito her last thoughts are dedicated to both her sorcerer friends AND her non-sorcerer friends. Nobara, despite what she said after Yuji’s “death” at the detention center connects with people fast (one could say that, like Yuji and his ability to touch the soul, she too represents her powers in that way, resonating with the people around her) That’s something we’re allowed to see about her early, her lip wobbling in spite of what she said, her dedication to Maki, her outrage at how other people treated Fumi and Saori.

I believe that Nobara is the person who had the best chance to leave Jujutsu society behind her if she hadn’t built meaningful relationships with her schoolmates… but i also believe that similarly to Nanami, she would have inevitably returned to it because she couldn’t watch people getting hurt and not do anything about it.

[nanami-says]

Part V (2/3): chapters 58~60

Chapter 58

[About Sukuna’s fingers resonating with one another]

"The ones that possess an immense presence. The ones that are hiding. The ones that are already taken in by cursed spirits."

⇒ "1) The ones with too big presences. 2) The ones holding their breath. 3) The ones already absorbed by cursed spirits."

I added the numbers for explanation purposes, see below. 

"One of Sukuna's fingers was hidden by a cursed spirit. When Itadori consumed the finger in June, it released its cursed energy"

⇒ "The Sukuna fingers that had been absorbed were holding back their power [while] inside cursed spirits. Then they unleashed their cursed energy with Itadori's incarnation [of Sukuna] in June serving as a trigger."

Whelp. On top of extremely simplifying the explanation, they mixed up the kind of Sukuna finger involved here - it was very explicitly stated in the text that it was number 3) "absorbed" (assimilated) fingers, and not 2) "hiding" fingers. 

I guess saying that Itadori consumed the finger isn't wrong plot wise but it's actually referred to (here and many times more in the manga) as "incarnation"! The same word also gets used for the death painting brothers.

[Megumi remembering a conversation with Gojou] 

"I was surprised you asked me to train you"

⇒ "It's rare for you to ask me for a practice, Megumi"

"To train you" wasn't wrong but Gojou saying "it's rare" here points to it either happening occasionally or having happened in the past and I'm not sure "I was surprised" quite conveys that. 

"Are you feeling pressure because of Yuji's growth?"

⇒ "Did you get impatient after getting surpassed by Yuuji?"

Gojou actually says that Yuuji has surpassed Megumi here! Quite a different nuance from just "Yuji's growth".

"Megumi, your skill and potential are probably higher than Yuji's. All that’s left is the mental aspect"

⇒ “You know, Megumi, I think that both your real ability and potential are in no way inferior to Yuuji's. (...)"

Emphasis mine because pray tell, how does one reach the conclusion that "don't lose out to"/"aren't inferior to" equals to "are probably higher". “Skill” was fine btw but I’d probably go with “mindset” for the last line, personally.

[Gojou explaining why he thinks Megumi doesn’t know how to make a serious effort giving the baseball game as an example]

“Why did you bunt? You sacrificed yourself so that Nobara could advance. Well, good for you"

⇒ "Why did you make a sacrifice bunt? Did you want to advance Nobara to the next base even if it meant you'd be out yourself? That's commendable"

The nuance for the last line was just different - the word used there usually is just used as praise, either genuine or ironic but imo “good for you” has a different meaning. Also he says “out”  but it’s written as “death” (although that is sometimes the case in baseball as well.)

“But no matter how many allies you have around you, you'll always die alone"

⇒ “(...) when you die, you’re alone”

I tried to phrase it a bit closer to the original because I feel like the nuance may just be different for this line but can’t quite put a finger on the how.

[Gojou to Megumi]

"To die and then win, and dying victoriously are two completely different things, Megumi"

⇒ "To win by dying and to win even if you die are completely different, Megumi"

Emphasis by Gege. Ngl, I had no clue what the English was trying to say here… This is most likely what the line actually meant.

[Megumi regaining his consciousness after he blacked out from getting hit] 

 "How long was I out? Was my divine dog destroyed? No, my technique's finished"

Actually "my technique got undone". Putting it as "has finished" is imo both unclear and misleading. Similar situation as in ch. 1 (refer to part I).

[Lead-up to Megumi using a domain expansion for the first time]

"A jujutsu sorcerer's growth never comes easy"

⇒ "The growth curve of a sorcerer isn’t always gentle"

Mostly, the line was more intricate in the original but also the grammatical construction used here that they mistranslated as "never" actually means "not always [necessarily]” instead.

"Here we go!!"

Not really incorrect but it's kinda generic and I guess something like "I'm gonna do it!" is closer nuance wise. 

"With a firm base, skill and imagination, a person can change thanks to the slightest of events"

⇒ "A firm foundation, a handful of sense, and imagination. Then, [even] with a most insignificant opportunity, a person will change"

A pity they simplified "a handful of sense" into just "skill" here. Overall not really incorrect but I wanted to propose something that imo better conveys the original wording and vibe.

“Area expansion”

…”area”? What? Obviously this is actually “domain expansion”. I just don’t have words.

“Think bigger! My technique’s interpretation!”

First sentence actually referred to the second one, so it’s actually something like “Expand it!! The technique’s interpretation!!”

[Megumi to the cursed spirit after his shikigami deals it a finishing blow]

"Divine dog's claws even hurt it...You were no match!"

"(...) So something like piercing through you when you're not even paying attention was easy"

Less excitement, more dismissiveness, I’d say? Also, for the divine dog it’s actually specified that it’s “divine dog (totality)” and not just simply “divine dog”. The term appeared before in ch. 47.

Chapter 59

[Megumi talking about what he considers the basic rule for human interactions in a flashback to his middle school years]

"Basically, you shouldn't cross any line that violates another person's dignity. You should acknowledge each other's mutual existence. That's the rule. You ignored it and fed your stupid ego"

⇒ "In short, it's drawing a line in order not to jeopardise one another's dignity; [it’s] a process through which both parties can coexist. That's what the "rule" is”. You broke it, throwing your weight around and forcing everyone to walk on eggshells around you”

For the first sentence, Megumi says “it’s drawing a line”, so the nuance here was probably closer to “creating boundaries” rather than “crossing boundaries” like in the official English release. For the second sentence, the original literally says “the process through which one another’s existence is achieved”, so rather than acknowledging each other’s existence the sentiment is probably closer to live and let live? For the last sentence, they once again simplified it to the barest bones.

"I'll definitely tell Ikezawa and everyone today that we're not their lapdogs"

“You got this, Aida!”

"But we might be the next punching bags, so don't go overboard!"

Should be “Ikezawa and others'' and definitely “that I’m not their errand boy” for the smallest boy’s first line. If all of them were already being treated as errand boys like the way using the plural form here implies, the other student’s reply wouldn’t make sense.

[After Tsumiki sees Megumi has beaten up delinquents once again]

“You said you wouldn’t pick fights anymore”

“You’re not my mom”

⇒ (...) “Don’t act like you’re my guardian”

Imo the distinction is significant because there’s a possibility that Tsumiki as the older of the two probably did feel responsible for Megumi to an extent and acted accordingly, as if she was his guardian. 

Also, he doesn’t actually say “mom” - this is not the first time where the official English release opts for a gendered phrase where the original uses a neutral form. (Like making Yuuji say his grandpa was like a dad to him when he actually said parent all the way back in ch. 2.) 

[Megumi’s thoughts from back in the middle school]

"I hate bad guys with no brains and zero emotional capability. Walking around feeling proud. Disgusting."

⇒ "I hate bad people. The way they act like they’re superior, with their complete lack of imagination or sensitivity. Disgusting”

I guess I really dislike the way they worded it here, especially the “no brains” part since Megumi wasn’t really talking about intellect or smarts here but about imagination (and sensitivity), which he literally describes as being akin to "vacant lot", "empty lot", "raw land”, which is much more evocative.

"I hate goody-goodies forgiving bad people, justifying mercy. Makes me wanna puke"

⇒ "I hate good people. The way they forgive such bad people and perceive that act of forgiveness as something noble. They make me sick"

Mhm, way to just simplify the heck out of the whole line. I’m extra bothered by their use of “goody-goodies” here since this is yet another appearance of a rather formal word for “good person” (善人/zennin) in the original and which I’ve observed to be a very important part of the world-building in jjk. I discuss it at length in various previous installments, with notable examples including: ch. 9 (Megumi about Yuuji and about the kind of people he wants to save - part I), ch. 31 (Nanami and Yuuji’s conversation in the aftermath of the Junpei incident - part III 2/2), ch. 36 (Panda about Yuuji - part IV 2/5).

“Tsumiki, you’re a perfect example of a good person.”

See, the word he uses here to describe Tsumiki is the same as in the line above (善人) but because back then it got translated as “goody-goodies”, you’d never guess it since the vibes are just that different.

[Megumi reminiscing about meeting Gojou for the first time]

"In the first grade, my dad and Tsumiki's mom got married and separated just as quickly"

⇒ "When I was in the first grade of elementary school my father and Tsumiki’s mother, our respective single parents, got together and disappeared into thin air"

The original doesn’t mention marriage OR separation. Heck, especially for the second one, it doesn’t even come close to mentioning it?? I have no clue where they got this from. 

What I put as “got together” can also be translated as “to have a liaison with (a man or a woman)” (among others). Since Tsumiki’s surname is also “Fushiguro” in middle school, it’s possible that they were actually married and many Japanese fans seem to think that as well but it’s not explicitly stated, at least not here, so those are most likely speculations. 

As for mysterious “separation”, the word used here actually means "disappearance (of people intentionally concealing their whereabouts); unexplained disappearance", so imo the whole section means their parents got together and at some point both disappeared. As we learn at one point in the manga Touji first and Tsumiki’s mum sometime later. 

(Btw, one fan scanlation used “evaporation” here instead and while this is another possible translation of the word in question, imo from the context it’s clear that the intended meaning was the “unexplained disappearance” instead.)

Lastly, Megumi uses kind of formal expressions when referring to both his own dad and Tsumiki’s mum, which imo is indicative of the emotional distance.

[Tiny Megumi about teenager Gojou]

"A weirdo with white hair said"

⇒ "A suspicious man with white hair"

Needless to say, he doesn't actually call Gojou a weirdo.

[Gojou about Touji] 

"But he's a loser that just works for me. He left the family and had you."

⇒ "He's enough of a good-for-nothing to take aback even me. Basically, he left home and then had you."

Emphasis mine. Again, I literally have no clue where they got the translation they went with for this. “Works for me” - just what?? (Btw, one of the fan scans available for this had the latter part of this line mistakenly imply that Gojou had Megumi leave his house. The bit definitely referred to Touji leaving the Zen’in family.)

"You're something your dad used against the Zen'in family. His trump card"

⇒ “You’re something your father kept as his strongest card against the Zen’in family”

A bit of a different nuance than “your dad used” suggests.

"The divorce money makes sense now. I was sold to this Zen'in family"

⇒ "The mystery behind the funds for their disappearance got solved. Apparently, I was sold to this Zen’in family or something"

Again, the word for “divorce” doesn’t make an appearance ANYWHERE in this chapter, least of all this page. ...How. 

Once again - fan scans had this as money that also evaporated but neither it nor the official English release make sense, considering the line is followed up by “I was sold” as the explanation. So yeah, imo the first sentence definitely referred to the money Megumi considered necessary for Touji (and co’s) disappearance.

[Gojou referring to Touji basically selling Megumi off]

"Sucks, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, it's annoying. Especially your attitude."

⇒ “It pisses you off, doesn’t it”

“Yeah, it does piss me off. Especially that lack of delicacy of yours”

I mentioned it multiple times but imo repetition in the original text tends to be done on purpose and as a device and imo this was another example where this was the case. Megumi borrows Gojou’s words here. (Which mean “to be irritated, “to be angry” and not “it sucks”.)

[Megumi continuing about Gojou]

"But that annoying guy wrote off the situation with the Zen'in family. He made a promise that we would work as sorcerers in the future. We would be collateral and receive financial support from Jujutsu High in exchange."

⇒"This man pisses me off, but it was him who cancelled the deal with the Zen'in family, and made it so we would receive financial support from the technical college with me working as a sorcerer in the future [serving] as collateral for it”

I don’t know why they’d translate it as “we would work” here since who the “we” would be supposed to even entail other than Megumi himself? Surely not Tsumiki. Or Gojou. Also, putting the next bit as “we would be collateral” makes it sound kind of dehumanising to me, ngl, whereas Megumi was talking about his labour here.

Also, the same phrase for “pisses off” as above got used once again, which makes it three times in a row, so imo that was definitely a deliberate stylistic choice on Gege’s part.

“Jujutsu sorcerers. How stupid.

⇒ "Sorcerers, what even. How nonsensical"

Just proposing an alternate wording.

[Megumi about the curse Tsumiki got hit by]

"All we knew was that we didn't know anything. Tsumiki still sleeps."

The word used to describe Tsumiki’s state literally means “became bedridden”, which imo heavily implies she fell into a coma. “Still sleeps” is most likely a misunderstanding on the translator’s part since the word sounds like it’d mean that (but it doesn’t.)

[Megumi about Tsumiki]

"Always smiling and saying nice things"

⇒ “Always smiling and spouting lip service”

Another case where the translator seems to have translated the word based on the way it’s written as opposed to checking the actual meaning. (The “nice things” phrase.)

"It's not a bad thing to not forgive people. Megumi, that's your way of showing kindness."

⇒ “Not being able to forgive people isn’t a bad thing. That’s your kindness, Megumi”

It wasn’t just “not to forgive” but “not being able to forgive”! Which imo would imply the next line’s nuance was something similar to Tsumiki considering Megumi’s inability to forgive people to be something that stems from his kindness (e.g. because he can’t stand seeing injustice).

"Even spinning my short-comings in a positive light."

⇒ “She would affirm even my nature"

Imo this line was more of Tsumiki accepting Megumi as he is or at least that’s what the line says - makes sense with what I proposed for the line above too. Translating it the way they did in the official release kind of feels like overinterpreting.

"But even she would get upset when I hurt somebody. I was annoyed by the hypocrisy"

⇒ "But even such Tsumiki would get genuinely angry (...). I would get annoyed thinking she was a stickler to the rules and a hypocrite"

Emphasis mine. The phrase that the translators seem to have skipped here and I translated as "stickler to the rules" literally means "to play it safe", "to avoid trouble at all cost". 

"Yeah, I know. I was immature. I'm sorry so please wake up already"

“I’m sorry, I was a brat. I’ll apologise so just wake up already, stupid older sister”

Just a different nuance and tone for the whole line.

"All I did was get rid of the Yasohachi bridge curse. My sister's sleeping curse is a separate matter."

⇒ "This Yasohachi bridge curse was probably only overlapping with it, and the curse that caused Tsumiki to fall into a coma probably hasn't been lifted"

The official English release makes it sound like sleeping (or more correctly, the coma) was the nature of the curse that Tsumiki was put under, whereas imo the original indicates it just as its effect, which is an important distinction.

“As for the finger and Itadori…”

⇒ “What should I tell Itadori about the finger...”

The “tell”, “say” is only implied here but it’s pretty clear from the context that was the meaning. Also, he explicitly says “to Itadori” here.

[After the Yasohachi bridge curse got defeated by Megumi who then retrieved the Sukuna finger from it] 

"All of sudden I feel a presence. Did the finger get out of the barrier? Whoever took out the finger bearer is quite formidable."

⇒ “The huge presence that appeared all of sudden... Did Sukuna's finger get out of the barrier? If it was a sorcerer that exorcised the finger's host, they must be quite good......."

Emphasis mine on bits that got cut out in the official release. Because Esou was facing off Nobara, he probably assumed it’s likely there may be other sorcerers present and imo that’s what this line also suggests.

"Even so... The finger... Even if they fought against a special-grade and won, They more than likely didn't come out of it unscathed. I hope they're okay."

Just to clarify that the word used for “they” in the original indicates the speaker knows the people in question, so those were Nobara’s thoughts here.

 Chapter 60

[Esou to Yuuji and Nobara after he activates his wing king technique]

“Start running and turn your backs to me”

“Run. With your backs turned to me” would fit better nuance and mood wise. (Esou didn’t want to show his back to anyone so now he’s’ forcing them to show theirs.)

[Nobara to Yuuji after he scooped her up because she couldn’t run as fast as he could]

“I got your back”

“Okay”

“Okay” isn’t incorrect per se but the word has the nuance of “I’m counting on you”.

[Nobara to Yuuji after he speeded through the forest while carrying her, allowing them to escape from Esou's technique]

"Well done, you deserve some praise"

“Yeah, yeah”

“Just kidding. Thanks!”

⇒ "You have my praise." (...)

Actually a set phrase! Spoken from a rather elevated/superior POV, which is why Nobara later reiterates that she’s genuinely thankful. Also, I probably would just go with a period for “Thanks”, imo nuance wise it didn’t require an exclamation mark and it’s not there in the original either.

[Esou after Yuuji gets splashed with Kechizu’s blood]

"There's no need to worry. My younger brother's blood isn't the same quality as mine"

Actually "doesn't have the same properties like mine”.

"You wouldn't even die from mine unless you were drowned in it."

Much closer to something like "unless you were to bathe your whole body in it".

"But it does hurt like hell"

⇒ "But it does hurt to death"

Not really wrong meaning wise but in the original it was “to death” instead of “like hell”, which combined with a previous line was probably a wordplay. "You won't die but it does hurt to death"

[Esou explaining how his and Kechizu’s shared technique works]

"If you take in one of our brother's blood and if one brother activates a technique"

Idk if it's clear here but it most likely doesn't matter which brother does which (could even be the same one). Also, definitely should’ve been “the” or “this” for technique, since Esou has just stated on the same page he’s now going to start laying out how a specific technique of he and his brother’s functions.  

[Esou replying to Yuuji]

"Yes, the result is essentially poison. Our technique is 'decomposition'"

Should be “but what our technique is, is actually ‘decomposition’” nuance wise.

"It's activated now. In reality they'll be dead faster than that”

⇒ “Done with technique disclosure, so in reality (...)”

Emphasis mine. You know, the rule in jujutsu where if you explain your technique to your opponent, it gets a buff? “Activation” is just wrong here. 

While it’s not phrased as such, the phenomenon is first explained in ch. 20 during Nanami’s explanation to Yuuji (refer to part II 2/2). It also gets mentioned by name later in the manga but oftentimes the official release would either skip it or word it completely differently so it’s hard to tell, like in ch. 51, when Hanami realises Toudou has lied to him (part IV 5/5). 

[The history of how cursed wombs came to be]

"[In the beginning of the Meiji era] there was a girl with special genetic makeup who bore a cursed-spirit child"

Actually “with an idiosyncrasy that allowed her to get pregnant with the child of a cursed spirit”! Imo an important distinction since it’s not certain whether her first child that gets discussed here was born prematurely or not and the following pregnancies were all aborted.

"A child born of mixed blood - both cursed spirit and human.”

Skipped “grotesque child” at the end.

“It was a mysterious pregnancy. She would be ostracized by family and friends.”

⇒ "Starting from a pregnancy she had no recollection of, [followed by] the oppression from her kith and kin, it made her go insane"

This latter part of this section is filled to the brim with complicated language so I’m not entirely sure but I think this might’ve been the intended meaning of the line. The official translators were probably struggling with the vocabulary too, so they cut out some stuff entirely, to be precise - the go insane part. It’s the bit I’m not certain about myself but I scoured Japanese dictionaries and that’s the meaning that seemed to be the best fit among the options.  

Anyway, to reiterate - the bit about the pregnancy actually says that the girl herself didn’t even know (couldn’t remember) how it came to be. The part about the relatives doesn’t mention friends, it’s actually a set phrase that means “one's relatives by blood and marriage (in blood and law); one's kith and kin” - I went here with the latter since it’s shorter and fits the overall vibe of the line.

“She would hold the corpse of the child and flee to a temple in the mountains. The temple was run by jujutsu sorcerers. However, her luck had run out."

⇒ “(...) However, this was when her luck run out”

Other than the nuance in the last line, this isn’t mistranslated but the whole section just flowed differently in the original and felt less disjointed.

Also! One of the scanlations I’ve seen had it misspelled as “Noshitori” but the evil sorcerer’s name is actually “Kamo Noritoshi” (and yes, it’s the same as the young Kamo but the “toshi” is written with different characters).

"The child born from a cursed spirit and human would become a prisoner of intellectual curiosity"

⇒ "His [Kamo Noritoshi's] intellectual curiosity would be taken captive by children born between a cursed spirit and a human"

Very much the other way around. It's very clear in the original that the subject of the sentence was Kamo's intellectual curiosity and not the child.

"Death painting wombs: numbers 1-3. Cursed objects worthy of special grade."

Closer to "cursed objects powerful enough to be classified as special grade"

"Did cursed energy originate from a mother's hatred? No..."

It's specified here as "did their cursed energy" instead (emphasis mine), and the question is actually left unanswered......................................................... So yeah, congrats on getting rid of this very intended ambiguity. It's something like "or was it maybe--"

[About cursed wombs]

"For 150 years, with only the notion of one another's existence, they would survive, sealed away"

⇒ "For 150 years, they endured the seal, relying only on one another's existence"

"The notion" just doesn't capture the sentiment of the line at all, which imo is most likely the follow-up to the narrator's musings about the origin of the death painting's immense cursed energy. (See above.)

"We're siding with that cursed spirit."

Actually "siding with them", read as "them" but written as "the cursed spirits" - probably plural as the original literally says "the side of the cursed spirits", so it possibly means cursed spirits as a whole as well, aside of Mahito and co specifically. Remember, the brothers are actually half-humans too. I explain in depth the “written as but read as” device in part IV 4/5 (ch. 48, Toudou’s “my friend” phenomenon).

"The future that the cursed spirits have painted is more suited for us. But that's it. Forget about what we owe for our freedom"

Not incorrect per se but Chousou actually says “forget the debt we owe them of our incarnation”, which would make it yet another instance where the official English release has cut out the term entirely. (Emphasis mine.)

[Nobara after stating that a technique that assures a win as long as it hits an opponent is indeed powerful]

"I'm a bad match for you!!"

Actually “the worst match [possible]” - more confidence in the line! 

[Nobara to the death painting brothers after using Resonance on herself thus redirecting their attack back at them]

"Let's play a game of chicken, shall we?"

The actual wording is “contest of endurance”, I’m not entirely sure if the two have the same connotation.

[part v (3/3)]

[thoughtfullyluckyperson]

Oh wow. I thought everyone forgot about VK completely nowadays and there was not enough kaze amvs to start with but suddenly I stumbled onto this. Another beloved ship of past resurfacing is just what I need lol

(this one is old but great too, and these)

UPD Now I’m overcome with an urge to spill my kaze feelings, lol. I’ll do it under the cut in the same post just in case.

So, I remember first watching VK when 1st season of anime was aired. I have a soft spot for shoujo so I sometimes watch new arrivals. Honestly, it was not great. I liked the aesthetics, the music, creepy Alice ending, the vampire lore was pretty neat. Love Hino’s style too, her art is pretty. But the main conflict, oh god. A girl can’t decide if she wants the brunet or the blond, the mysterious and mighty one or the rebellious and tragic one. Her kinda-brother or her adoptive brother. Both are fixated on her and jealous of each other and she just can’t make up her mind. The brunet is better, he saved her! Or no, she can’t let the blond go, too! Or no, the brunet it is! No, the blond! Oh man, such intrigue, such complexity, much wow. Color me interested (not). 

It doesn’t help that the girl is completely dull, spineless and lacks personality. She is almost a reader’s placeholder, some “y/n” like in these character/reader ficlets. I like her design tho, especially when her eyes are not the size of half of her face. But it’s really unclear what these two guys even see in her to obsess over her so much. She’s not the most beautiful, not the most spirited and certainly not the most intelligent. It just looks like a standard “this badass hero was once a poor lonely kicked puppy and the heroine petted him at the right moment, so now he’s in love with her forever” trope with both of them. Boring. Now, I don’t hate her too and actually dislike it when kaze fics start painting her as cruel and bitchy. She’s a (mostly) nice girl, just weak and uninteresting heroine. I have lots of shoujo heroines I like, like Ouran’s Haruhi or Kamisama’s Nanami or Skip Beat’s Kyoko or Yamato Nadeshiko’s Sunako. Nevermind their guys, I would marry them myself lol. But Yuuki... Only heroines of anime-made-after-otome-games like various Amnesias and Diabolic Lovers actually manage to be more bland. (Though I must admit, the harem ending was pretty bold of her, ahaha. Not every day you see a shoujo heroine fucking all of her love interests and even birthing kids for them all. But why half measures, the real threesome would be even bolder!) And with that, both male leads actually have personality and are vivid and unique enough to be recognizable.

So I was watching don’t-remember-which-episode and then Kaname suddenly decided to feed Zero his blood while Zero was in chains and suffering and both were professing their eternal mutual hatred and “it’s only for her”s and Zero was making these faces and erotic feeding noises. I laughed almost to the point of falling out of my chair and predicted lots of m/m fics for this one (I was not wrong). It’s pretty rare for shoujo with a female lead, actually, to have the most popular ship made of male leads. Love triangles are present in a lot of shoujo mangas. Like, Skip Beat has Ren and Sho rivaling for Kyoko, or Hana Yori Dango has Tsukasa and Rui. But Vampire Knight is literally the only shoujo I can remind where there are actually tons of fics, arts, doujinshis for the ship of two rivaling male leads (it’s actually the most popular ship in terms of fan content). Typically shoujo fandoms tend to leave one of the leads for the heroine and then pair the spares. But not here. That’s the combination of weak heroine and interesting heroes and lots of contact and tension between said heroes at work, I guess. 

When you look at it from Yuuki’s shipping point, it’s mostly annoying - she’s a damsel in distress, they’re her defenders, she does whatever useless stuff and pines after them in turns, they’re there for her to choose from and show off their attractiveness to the audience, also for the audience to quarrel about who’s the best hasbando and should get the main prize. When you see it from kaze shipping point, it’s a powerhouse of delicious conflicts, tensions and kinks. It’s, ofc, totally non-canon but all the better for it. They’re the opposites in almost everything, coloring, tempers, upbringing, social stances. Both have tragic past. Kaname is on the top of the vampire world yet utterly alone, both adored and hated for his power and never, never on equal footing with anyone. Zero is an outcast, a pariah of both vampire and vampire hunter worlds, the last heir of great hunter dynasty turned into a mockery of his kind, self-hating and dishonored and slowly falling into bloodlust madness. Kaname is almost immortal and Zero’s days are so very numbered. 

Kaname considers Zero an eyesore and Zero considers Kaname a monster. Kaname is the chess master and Zero is his chess piece (a knight, ofc). Kaname as pureblood has almost thrall-like influence over vampires but it doesn’t work on Zero, he’s the only one who has the gall to constantly spite him and talk to him without any regard for his superior stance. Both are kinda free of society though - Kaname because he’s royalty and Zero because he couldn’t give less fucks. Kaname played a role in Zero’s family demise. Zero tried to kill Kaname with a table knife as a ten-years-old or so during their first meeting. Zero’s beloved weapon is actually Kaname’s (but he doesn’t know). They have their sights set on one girl and are both despising and tolerating each other because of her and doing it with sparkling passion. Kaname’s pure blood is precious yet he gives it to the lowest of low of vampire hierarchy and his rival with that. Zero can either drink the blood of enemy and be indebted to him or forfeit his sanity. Kaname is 80 lvl master manipulator but Zero is not weak and can stand his ground, and there is a certain mutual respect underneath all that antagonism. Both tend to be martyrs, both can be savage. Oh, and (deep into later spoilers which aren’t known in the anime and missing in old fics) Kaname is a thousands years old vampire who went into eternal slumber after seeing his first-great-love kill herself - guess what, she killed herself to create vampire hunters, Kiryuus are her kinda-descendants and Zero looks pretty similar to her. And Kaname in turn looks like, well, male version of Yuuki lol.

Not a cute wholesome casual ship but hella intense one. Add all the erotic blood sucking, “I’m in love with her, I’m sure, but why do I feel so strongly around him of all people” tropes and 100500 blood bond fanons to the mix and you’re set, welcome aboard! Such a pity that the fandom is half-dead, really, but it produced some pretty good fics when it was alive. (If you don’t know where to start, start with “Crimson Door” by Blackened Wing, that’s a first fic of long series and the series are fandom classics, it’s on ao3 and ffnet; beware that it begins as a m-f-m threesome but it’s kaze at heart anyway from the start. And here i have a few more recs)

[mist-chance]

JJK Chapter 137

This is going up a bit late, but I wanted to post my thoughts on Chapter 137 before I get around to reading Chapter 138.

This chapter, which reads as Part 1 of the Shibuya Incident Aftermath, is really interesting because it shows what the state of the jujutsu world – and the non-jujutsu world of Japan – is outside of Shibuya. When there’s a lot of action going on, like the kind that’s been happening for the past year or so worth of chapters, it’s easy to get tunnel vision and focus only on the main cast. So it’s nice that we get some context as to what’s happening outside of Shibuya.

1) Dystopia abound.

We already got a hint of how the non-jujutsu world is affected by an influx of cursed spirits during the action part of the Shibuya Incident, within the contained space of the curtain surrounding Shibuya. Now we learn that other locations in Japan are being affected as well: the state of the government is unknown, there are concerns of how Japan’s political and commercial infrastructure will hold up to this massive shift in reality (and how other countries will view and react to these changes), people are evacuating affected cities, and an important question has arisen as a result of the Shibuya Incident – should the non-jujutsu world, the normal world, become aware of the existence of curses?

This question is important, because it seems Fake-Geto (I know the curse user possessing Geto’s body is Kamo Noritoshi the ancestor, but Fake-Geto is easier to use) is dead set on bringing back a world where powerful cursed spirits held the most influence in the world. It’ll be interesting to see whether or not cursed spirits and the jujutsu world at large become common knowledge to non-jujutsu sorcerers, and how the world will change as a result of either one of these decisions.

2) Yuta appears!

This is his first appearance since Volume 0 (the prequel volume). He pretty much looks the same to me, though his face looks a bit more mature and his hair is longer. He’s still awkward around others – even children – though he looks pretty confident when dealing with the elders at Jujutsu Headquarters. 

Here, Yuta seems to be gearing up for a rampage/epic beatdown similar to the one in Volume 0, after Geto took down his friends. Yuta’s pretty similar to Gojo in that he has the capability to pull of a deus ex machina during a time of crisis; he can evolve at an extraordinary rate and pull off impossible feats. (Gojo himself has mentioned that Yuta has the potential to become just as strong as him.)

So in JJK there are two god-like characters: Gojo Satoru, the self-proclaimed but probably-really-is the strongest sorcerer in the world, and Okkotsu Yuta, who’s on his way to being as strong as Gojo. The reason the Shibuya Incident had such devastating consequences is because Gojo was sealed away early on, and Yuta was supposedly still out of the country. Making these two god-like characters unavailable allowed for the struggles and losses in this arc to happen, and gave characters like our main trio the opportunity to grow.

What’s interesting in the aftermath of the Shibuya Incident is that we’re still down Gojo, but we’ve gained Yuta. And Yuta seems to be currently under the influence of the elders at Jujutsu Headquarters – or rather, they’re taking advantage of his need for vengeance and Yuta’s letting them manipulate him – whereas Gojo has always opposed their authority. (When Gojo killed Geto, I doubt he did it because the elders issued a kill-order on Geto. He most likely did it because Geto was dangerous, and Gojo knew the only way to stop him was to kill him.)

As of this chapter, the elders seem reluctant to trust Yuta. But for now, they have a Special Grade Sorcerer to do their bidding.

3) The elders at Jujutsu Headquarters and their plan of action.

This chapter again shows how black and white the current authority of the jujutsu world – the elders at Jujutsu Headquarters (I believe they’re all unidentified except for Gakuganji Yoshinobu) – are, and how desperate they are to maintain their conservative, straightforward vision of how the jujutsu world and the non-jujutsu worlds should be.

It’s hard to tell how much information Jujutsu Headquarters is operating on, based on the orders they’ve issues.

Order 1: We know the elders know that Geto is “alive.” However, it’s unclear whether or not they know that Geto isn’t the real Geto, but a curse user possessing his body. In any case, they want him killed again.

Order 2: We know the elders know Gojo is sealed, since originally, during the Shibuya Incident, the order was to free Gojo Satoru. (This may not have been an official Headquarters order; both the College and Kyoto group may’ve only been acting on Mechamaru’s info.)

This new order calls for Gojo’s continued imprisonment. It’s reasonable for the elders to be suspicious of Gojo (someone who’s always opposing their authority) to be Geto’s accomplice – especially since they were best friends  – so this order is understandable. 

But there’s a fine line between the elders wanting to keep Gojo sealed because they believe he’s a traitor, and wanting to keep him sealed away because it keeps him from interfering with their agenda.

Order 3: This order is absolutely ridiculous, on par with the idea of Absolute Justice in One Piece – the idea or reasoning that, because Geto and Gojo were his students, Yaga is responsible for the decisions they made and continue to make as adults. 

The elders didn’t hold this against Yaga when Geto (real Geto) defected and became a curse user. The difference between then and now is that Gojo is being treated as an accomplice to a curse user. So the goal of this order might be to punish Yaga for producing two traitorous students, or his execution is a way to justify Gojo’s continued imprisonment. The reasoning for the latter option, if we consider the dark, manipulative elders route instead of the ignorant, misinformed one, could be that, to justify that Gojo’s crime is bad enough to warrant being sealed for eternity, his former teacher is also culpable, and the only punishment worthy of his crime is death.

Order 4: Reinstating Yuji’s execution order is expected, given Gakuganji’s previous manipulations during the Kyoto Exchange Arc. 

Order 5: This order, for Yuta to be Yuji’s executioner, is also expected. Yuta is currently the only Special Grade (who hasn’t gone rogue) to not have a relationship or any interaction with Yuji; and, given Yuta’s desire to keep his friends safe, Yuji already has a point against him for what he did to Inumaki – even if it was technically Sukuna’s fault.

What might happen next?

There are two ways of thinking the elders could be operating under. One, they’re operating on incomplete information (mainly, not knowing Kamo Noritoshi the ancestor is possessing Geto’s body, which could potentially make Orders 2 and 3 void); or two, the elders do have all the information, and they’re trying to keep Gojo sealed away for their own benefit. With Gojo out of the way, the elders have no one (powerful enough, anyways) to oppose their authority, and they can shape both the jujutsu world and the non-jujutsu world as they please.

[Their order of keeping Gojo sealed is probably the one they’ll regret the earliest. It’s stated in one of the earlier chapters that curses grew in strength because a being of Gojo Satoru’s strength was born into the world. Cursed spirits grew stronger simply as a matter of evolution, the prey evolving to better counter the predator that would hunt them down. 

And while there are several talented sorcerers still active to fight the sudden influx of powerful cursed spirits, and several sorcerers-in-training who can step up to joint the fight, the Shibuya Incident also took talented sorcerers like Nanami. Gojo was very much a large-scale, heavy-hitter fighter, capable of taking down several curses at once with little effort. Without him around, it’ll  be harder for sorcerers to operate. It’ll definitely give Fake-Geto all the time he needs to enact his plans, since the sorcerers will be too busy fighting curses to figure out his endgame.]

Then there’s the question of how much Yuta knows about each order. Like the elders, Yuta is either ignorant of one or more of the orders (as in, he doesn’t know that Gojo is supposed to stay sealed, or that unsealing him is a criminal act; or that Yaga, Panda’s creator/guardian, is slated for execution), or he knows all of the orders and is choosing to ignore the ones that don’t give him permission to take out Yuji. Either mindset could lead to interesting future conflicts, but I think it’s more likely that Yuta doesn’t know all of the orders. Based on my read of him from Volume 0, he isn’t the type to go for extreme measures unless his friends are hurt.

It also looks like Yuta’s goal of executing Yuji can go two ways. Either he tries killing Yuji and ends up fighting Sukuna, or he tries killing Yuji and his friends (mainly Maki and Panda, if Inumaki’s still out of commission) stop him and beat some sense into him. It’s possible, of course, that the feelings of Yuji’s previous allies/friends may have changed over the course of the Shibuya Incident, because of the damage Sukuna caused while fighting Jogo (e.g. Kusakabe. The difference with Kusakabe, though, is that he was indifferent to Yuji’s existence as Sukuna’s host until the mass destruction in Shibuya. He also, to my knowledge, has never met Yuji.)

But that seems doubtful for the second years, since Panda still seems fine with Yuji, and I can’t see Inumaki and Maki disagreeing with him. And even if they aren’t, Yaga’s technically in the same boat as Yuji, and it’s unlikely Panda, Inumaki, and Maki would act against him. If Yaga continues to stick up for Yuji, they would most likely follow his lead. Megumi I’m sure will still be on Yuji’s side, as will Nobara (please, please let her be okay.). 

As for Yuji and Yaga... I can’t imagine Yaga trying to run off to avoid execution. He’s more of the type to make a stand. I could see him encouraging Yuji to escape though, and serving as a distraction until Yuji’s escaped far enough.

I’m really excited to see where Chapter 138 will take us!

[Source of all screenshots: VIZ Media]

[iztarshi]

Nanami, Touga, and all the girls of the world

Touga is decidedly not saving all the girls of the world — except maybe in the “oh help, I’m alone on Christmas” sense — but he does sometimes seem to be sleeping with them. Like Dios he’s perpetually available to everyone except his own sister. Unlike Dios, he’s a real person. He’s every girl’s wish fulfilment fantasy, hardly ever turning them down and never dumping them, but in practice that means he’s in the arms of one while on the phone with another and constantly stringing along a crowd of girls who haven’t quite been dumped.

It’s not altruism, either, Touga’s doing this to stroke his own ego and fulfil his constant need for attention. He may well believe he gives them something in return for what he gets. The shadow girls mock him as a “nice guy Casanova” and, while that’s not the western use of “nice guy”, it’s similar, isn’t it? Touga thinks girls owe him sex because he treats them nicely — at least in comparison to someone like Saionji.

Nanami, for her part, spends a lot of time trying to locate a rival for Touga’s attention. He’s interested in Anthy, he’s interested in Utena, if she can just get rid of whoever it is he’ll notice her again. When she sees him on the phone with one girl while with another in the greenhouse her reaction is jealousy, but also a sort of horror. She doesn’t want to face the fact she doesn’t have a single rival she can fight because Touga doesn’t care about any of those other girls either. How do you fight indifference?

Nanami’s attempts to locate a rival in some ways play into Touga’s promiscuity. Both in that he does seem to know she might kill anyone who gets too close to him as she did the kitten — he’s not surprised when she pulls the dagger on Utena — and in that he can rely on Nanami to drive off any girl who’s been hanging around him too long without him ever having to be the bad guy and say “no” to them. His use of her as a scapegoat is one of the ways they echo Akio and Anthy; the little sister keeps the prince away from the world and takes the resentment that should be Touga’s for encouraging expectations he can’t possibly fulfil.

Stealing Touga’s mobile phone is rooted in Nanami’s realisation there is no single rival. She’s not trying to threaten a specific girl into staying away from Touga now, she’s trying to cut him off from all his admirers at once. It’s unclear whether Touga was trying to bait her into doing that specifically. He doesn’t mention the mobile phone before he goes to have a shower and isn’t using it, but the way he looks up as she leaves means he immediately knows what she’s done. This is probably the moment Nanami gets closest to actually taking Touga away from all the girls of the world, attempting to literally steal his connection to them.

It doesn’t work. Nanami can stand at the window holding the mobile phone and yelling at every girl who calls it, Touga will still stand below her at the centre of a crowd of girls. All she’s doing is telling off girls he’d already moved on from.

Utena’s appearance, and the fact that Touga does seem to have at least some kind of feelings for her, gives Nanami a focus for her anger. It probably comes as a relief to have someone she can fight. But there’s too much going on here, she and Utena can’t understand each other, and then Anthy and Akio step in to get Nanami back to the tower and play perfect siblings for her.

Nanami’s realisation that Touga might not be her brother is punctuated by the mobile phone ringing, confronting her with someone else living what she fears most herself — Touga’s indifference after apparent closeness.

While she’s trying to sort out her feelings, Touga arrives wrapped in a bathrobe, ostensibly looking for his phone. This is almost certainly an excuse since he knows perfectly well Nanami has it and doesn’t push the issue. Normally it’s Touga who says “we’re not kids” and pulls away when things get weird between them (even if he set up the weirdness) this time it’s Nanami and he doesn’t like it at all. He backs off for about ten seconds, comes back with an offer of a kiss and then walks out.

I applaud Nanami realising that Touga is never going to give her the space she needs to figure this out and just getting away from him for a bit. I also think it’s easy to miss that she’s stayed with Miki and Juri already before moving into the tower, which means Touga has spent three days not knowing where the hell his sister is. He’s off balance when he arrives at the tower and I’m pretty sure he has no clue what’s going on. He starts out with “you have no reason to move into a dorm” before realising that cold and disapproving isn’t the way to go and course correcting to “I mean, you’re the only sister I’ve got”. Which is also the wrong move, considering what Nanami currently believes.

I’m not entirely sure why Touga goes along with the fiction they’re not siblings, especially since he seems actually sad about it. At a guess it’s half “Akio clearly wants her to believe this and he’s right here” and half “this might actually play into my plans, better think it over rather than clearing it up on impulse”.

At this point Nanami sees Akio and Anthy. That’s not what she wanted. Is that what Touga wanted? Is that where romanticising her brother could have led?

It’s worth noting that while we know Akio will force Anthy if she resists, and that Anthy’s consent in this situation with her older brother is dubious, rape is not really part of the horror here. Anthy not only takes an active role but almost a dominant one, rising up over Akio at the end. Nanami’s not seeing the possibility that her brother might force her, but the possibility that her consent to his advances might lead to something this devoid of any love or tenderness, something this warped. The question of what Touga wants this episode is one I can’t help coming back to, but it’s not his episode. The important thing here is what Nanami wants.

The next morning she’s no longer answering the mobile phone, but still listening to its messages. It’s become almost a talisman to her now. Horrifying, because she can hear the echo of herself in the girls calling, but also a part of Touga that she can still hold onto.

The scene in the greenhouse echoes the disconnection of the previous scene that took place there. Touga doesn’t have his phone now, but he’s still with one girl while talking to another — all his words are meant for Nanami, who he’s seen outside. When Nanami runs in to plead with him Touga pretty much sets an ultimatum. If she wants to keep him away from other girls, she’ll have to claim him herself. Is he deliberately trying to follow in Akio and Anthy’s footsteps, here? It’s one of those moments where the Kiryuus seem to muddy the roles of Prince and Bride and in doing so raise some questions about what they actually are. If Touga sets himself up as a desirable object Nanami has to fight to own, is he setting himself up as Rose Bride? Is this the case even if he’s modelling their situation on Anthy’s claim to own Dios in order to protect him? Does the Prince protect the Bride or does the Bride protect the Prince, and is the answer to this question different depending on whether the Bride is a princess or a witch?

When the phone rings after Nanami’s left alone she realises she’s just like the girl on the other end and throws it in reaction. This is probably when she decides to transfer. She doesn’t want what Touga seems to be offering, but he also won’t let her alone if they’re in close quarters. So she decides, in a surprisingly mature move, the best and healthiest thing to do is just to leave.

When the phone rings at night Chu-Chu answers it, which may just be a gag or an indication that Anthy is in on this. It sounds like a girl on the phone, but then when Nanami asks who it is it’s Akio saying that Kiryuu Touga is waiting.

I do wonder whether Nanami thinks Touga might be Ends of the World at this point. She goes to confront him, to tell him she’s leaving and to demand to know who her brother really is. He’s the one who gave her her ring and permission to duel, so it’s not an unreasonable conclusion to come to.

It’s not him, though, it’s Akio. Who turns up on a mobile phone, shattering the window of the mansion. Connecting to Nanami only through the mobile phone, which is intimately connected with Touga. Shattering the home she thought she had.

Touga is once again pretty damn opaque. He seems surprised when Nanami rejects him, which means that he was fully prepared to go through with it if she didn’t reject him. What he doesn’t seem, though, is particularly unhappy about being rejected. He moves on very quickly to “if that’s not what you want, what do you want?” rather than arguing the point. Does Touga even know what he wants? Maybe it’s not important, the important thing here is that this is Nanami’s decision.

Nanami’s answer to what she does want ultimately seems to be that she wants to surpass Touga. This makes sense when you consider how much she’s clung to him for her sense of specialness. If she’s more special than Touga, all by herself, she won’t need him. She’ll be able to find the confidence to leave.

Utena seems to recognise how much Nanami has been manipulated into this situation, but not the agency she had in its final outcome. She correctly blames Touga for setting up the situation, but tries to talk him out of going through with the duel rather than Nanami. Touga has a lot of power over Nanami even when he’s presenting himself as her Bride, but Nanami isn’t irrelevant here and Utena’s sort of treating her as if she is.

Touga and Anthy’s expressions during the duel are… identical. Neither of them does anything at all. It’s Anthy’s least active duel in this arc and Touga neither talks to Nanami nor gets in the car. Both of them look utterly blank and somewhat as if they regret that this is happening despite how huge a part they’ve both had in bringing it about.

Touga’s practically been Nanami’s Bride before — he was allowed on the arena in the first arc, and Utena and Nanami were fighting over him far more than over Anthy. There, he was calculating, letting things play out exactly as far as he wanted them to and then calling for Nanami to stop and comforting her to both impress Utena and bring Nanami back to heel. Now, he does nothing to stop or affect the duel and, after it’s over, seems to vanish from the scene entirely. Nanami is crying, but Touga isn’t even on screen.

Instead he’s in bed with Akio. This is similar to the aftermath of Saionji’s duel, where we see Touga and Akio discussing it while having sex. But there both of them were sighing and posing as they talked, before ending with the act of intercourse. Here, Akio sighs and poses, but Touga remains half-curled against the end of the bed, looking away as he tries to decide what to do about Nanami now. He tells Akio that he intends to seduce her, that a brother and sister not bound by blood is “more romantic”, and Akio seems to approve, scolding him for being a “bad brother” in the same way he told him to “be nice to your friend” as they have sex.

Touga never follows through on this, though. For the rest of the anime he and Nanami are presumably living in the same house — at least, Nanami is neither in the tower nor begging for houseroom elsewhere — but we never see them talk again until after the revolution. Touga instead seeks Saionji out more and tries to figure out, and act on, his feelings for Utena. During the badminton game Shiori and Kozue watch resentfully, but Touga isn’t there to mind that Nanami is moving on.

The last shot of Romance of the Dancing Girls is Touga’s phone lying on Akio’s couch, abandoned and disconnected. Touga’s never seen using it again, either, so while it’s not far from the balcony it does seem as if he never picks it up.

In a way it feels like Nanami frees them both, not by sacrificing herself as Anthy did, but by refusing to. Touga can, and must, decide for himself what he wants without his sister driving away anyone too persistent, and try to rebuild an emotional connection with someone who isn’t bound to always return to him by shared blood. Nanami can figure out who she is outside her brother’s shadow, connect to people instead of holding herself above them as Touga’s sister, and apply her protective streak and ability to care to people who deserve it.

Rather than retreating into the intense incestuous dyad Akio and Anthy share, where they have feelings only for each other and everyone else is set dressing, Nanami has forced them both out into the world.

[catboyebooks]

i'll do bullet points for the investigation as is tradition, at least until something happens that i need to write paragraphs about. and it will! but in the meantime:

nidai's cause of death is the severe damage to his head, rendering him beyond repair. he's also partially dismembered, but the file notes that these limbs were designed to be detachable and were separated by a "severe impact." the file also vaguely notes damage to "several other areas of his body" and that this has shut down many of his functions.

there is a huge hammer lying on the floor by nidai's body. since the damage to nidai's body looks like it could have been caused by repeated blunt force injuries with a heavy object, sonia suggests this was the murder weapon, but hinata feels it's all a bit too convenient and suspicious and notes that the hammer looks brand new. also, where the hell did this hammer come from? no one's seen it in here before, and they can't leave the funhouse.

not a whole lot to note about nidai's body initially. the damage to his head is indeed severe, it looks almost caved in. in addition to the detached limbs and head, there's also some more superficial denting and scuffing on his body. dude got severely roughed up. this shows use of force well beyond what's typical for a murder, and well beyond what you'd expect anyone here to be even physically capable of. who would have been able to beat nidai, especially post-robotic transformation, in a fight? even owari, the only other athlete here, couldn't win against him.

looking at the body a little more closely, hinata spots the button on the back of nidai's neck that he said could be pressed to activate his sleep mode. he wonders if maybe nidai was ambushed and the killer pressed this button, but that'd probably still be pretty tough to do. the panel on nidai's chest (which i think his built-in clock is behind) is slightly open, but bent in such a way that it's stuck. souda could probably open it, but he's not here yet. he's also bound with what looks to be sturdy metal wire, and one end is tied in a loop for unclear reasons.

one of the two pillars by the strawberry house door is tipped over and broken, and the top of the pillar has a large oil stain. owari thinks maybe this was the murder weapon (she's not entirely off the mark, iirc) and tries to get hinata to help her pick it up to prove that it could have been moved by one of them, but it appears to be real stone and extremely heavy and they're unable to get it to budge. the only one who might have been able to lift this is nidai himself.

when hinata talks to owari, she mentions having also heard a strange rumbling noise during the night. this i had counted on, she was also sleeping in one of the "crappy rooms" which aren't soundproofed. owari says that when she heard the noise she actually got up and ran out of her room to see what was happening, but no one else seemed to have heard or reacted to the noise (the other girls were in deluxe rooms and wouldn't have been able to hear anything) so she went back to bed. she did get a look at the clock, though. this was early morning, 5:30 am.

nanami points out that there are fragments of the pillar under nidai's body, but none on top of it.

sonia notes that they didn't get a time of death in the monokuma file. this happened last time too, and in that case it was because the time of death was key to solving the mystery. is that the case here too? she also asks hinata if he thinks they can be sure that strawberry tower and grape tower are the same tower (he does, they tested it) and seems to think this has some bearing on nidai's death, though hinata isn't following.

the strawberry tower doors are chained and padlocked shut. hinata and sonia figure that by doing this the killer meant to prevent anyone from entering from the strawberry tower side, but they can't figure out why this would have been done.

as hinata's wrapping up his observations, nanami suggests that perhaps the items present here that they haven't seen before (the hammer, the wire, the chain and padlock) came from the final dead room. she thinks the "octagon" with the "ultimate weapon" monokuma talked about might basically be an armory, and thinks they should investigate. hinata's reluctant and points out they were told it's dangerous and she's like, it's fine, i'll do it. before hinata gets a chance to try and talk her out of it owari interrupts and says that noise is still driving her crazy, it's like a high pitched alarm clock noise, she thinks maybe it's coming from upstairs. she's clearly reluctant to leave nidai's side and sonia opts to stay with her, so hinata and nanami leave on their own.

[nanamicide]

Red Butterflies - Chapter 5

Mandatory comment about how no one is reading this on Tumblr but I’m updating it here nonetheless. 

Read on AO3

Izuru remembered. Well, he wasn’t entirely sure he remembered, but it felt as though memories were coming back to him. And it was quite confusing, especially for someone with his level of knowledge and talent. He rested his chin in the palm and tried to mentally relive everything that had happened to him today, hoping that this would help him think more clearly.

Munakata-sensei walks into my room and tells me he wants me to play video games again. I expected him to say that, but I still refuse. I know it’s pointless but I can’t help doing it, as if someone else had taken control of my body for a few seconds. Munakata-sensei asks me why, but I can’t answer. I don’t know why I don’t want to play these games anymore. As Gekkogahara-san pointed out during this morning’s checkup, everything bores me. Video games are no different. And yet, I don’t want to play them. Since I can’t come up with an explanation, I just tell Munakata-sensei that I’m tired; I didn’t sleep well, and he would be able to confirm this by looking at the EEG graph. I bring it up because I know Gekkogahara-san told him about it. She told me she had to. However, and I had already predicted this when giving the explanation, Munakata-sensei tells me being tired is no excuse; that with my level of talent, fatigue should be no issue. He’s right. Protesting further would be pointless. Even if I wanted to be honest with him, I couldn’t. Because I, myself, have no idea what’s happening to me. So I grab the gaming console and turn it on. And I see it again. The spaceship from my dream. My heartbeat gets faster, as if I were excited for something. This makes no sense. I’m able to brush it all off after a few seconds. Then, as instructed by Munakata-sensei, I check if Nanami is online. She isn’t. I get… Upset? Mad? Sad? I’m not sure. But I know I’m experiencing something negative. Munakata-sensei tells me to wait. I do. But she never comes online. Thirty minutes pass, then an hour, and I turn off the console. I was feeling on edge the entire time, and I didn’t know what to do about it. I had no clue what was happening to me. And I disliked it more than I disliked boredom. Munakata-sensei tries to scold me, but I ignore him. I don’t care what he has to say about this. I know his threat to terminate me like he’d terminated Enoshima is a lie. He wouldn’t be able to cover up my death. He may have a lot of influence, but he’s not as influent as Tengan or the steering committee were. Besides, the people he surrounds himself with, and involved in my surveillance, are genuinely good people who would not let him get away with it. I would also have the ability to run away from the academy if he tried anything. So I lie down on my bed and pretend like I’m asleep. He knows I’m not really sleeping. I don’t think he cares that much about it. He just tells me that if I do this again tomorrow, I’ll end up like Enoshima. He leaves.

Izuru sighed. He hated to admit it but he couldn’t figure it out. And if he couldn’t, nobody else could. This only meant one thing: it was time for him to leave the tiny space he had been confined to since they got rid of Enoshima; time for him to act and take control over his existence. He was aware of the security cameras in his room, and in the rest of the building they were hiding him in, but with all the abilities they’d given him, bypassing them shouldn’t be too complicated. His main worry was Munakata-sensei himself. He knew that after what he had done today, he would be keeping his eye on him. He also knew that being the natural-born leader he was, he would have no issue sending people after him if he tried anything too reckless. Izuru needed a solid plan. Despite everything, was aware of the huge advantage had had in the situation. He was talented at everything. Everyone else here only excelled in one particular field.

He opened his laptop and positioned it in a way that made it impossible for whoever was watching the security footage to see the screen. They could very well pick up on this detail and find it odd, but he had done it enough times before that it wouldn’t be too suspicious. He then paused for a few seconds, thinking about what the next step was. He had to hack into the building’s security system to get out of his room. This would cause a certain amount of panic among the people aware of his existence, which would make them less organized than usual, thus way easier to work his way around. But then what?

I want to see Nanami again. The words that had just popped up in his head left him puzzled. He wasn’t sure where they even came from. Granted, this was all related to how he had been feeling since Munakata-sensei had had him play video games with her, but he had never thought about her as anything of importance in his reaction. And yet, she was the first thing that had come to his mind when he was figuring out how to get the answers he was seeking.

No, that doesn’t make any sense. I may want to see her, but I’ve never met her before. It’s impossible that I would want to see her ‘again.’ I need to slow down and think about this more clearly. He wasn’t in denial about wanting to see her. He was good at everything one could be good at, after all. It would have been stupid to assume what his gut was telling him would be wrong. It could be illogical, just like it had been just then, but it couldn’t be wrong. In combination with his analytical abilities, he knew it would never fail him. That was why he would see Nanami. Where he would go from there was still unclear to him, but he would see her. And he would do it tonight so he wouldn’t have to worry about where to hide in the academy without Munakata-sensei, Sakakura or Gekkogahara finding him before he’d reach his goal. Yes, this will be just fine. Nanami may not have the answers herself, but seeing her should be enough. I’ll only have to stay mindful and pay close attention to my reactions. I will be okay.

Having most of his plan figured out, Izuru got to work. He had never done any hacking before, but the academy’s security didn’t seem to be a problem to him. He focused on his screen, typing as fast as he could. If anyone had been watching him at that moment, they would have thought the scene was straight out of a movie. But this was what Izuru truly was. A being so talented that anything he did looked unreal, as if he were mere fiction. Any regular person would envy him and want to at least spend a day in his shoes. He truly understood why the person his body had once belonged to had decided to go through with the project, even if it meant that he had to give up on his normal life, his friends, his family, and anything else he may have grown attached to through the years. After all, someone as normal as him could not have predicted how boring it would be to know everything. If it hadn’t all been so predictable, Izuru would have found the situation ironic. The person he used to be had been bored of their regular life, and had given their body to Hope’s Peak academy with great hope that it would change everything for him. Instead, he’d only been turned into someone who was even more bored of everything, which made his vessel’s sacrifice meaningless. It could have sounded tragic to someone else, but to Izuru, that was boring, too.

Although his thoughts seemed to be straying from what he was originally focusing on, Izuru managed to deactivate the cameras in the building and make it impossible for the person in charge to use them again, if only for a few hours. He knew they would be trying for a while, only to realize they would need the Ultimate Programmer’s skills to regain control over the system. If they woke him up in the middle of the night, Izuru would have roughly four hours until they’d come and get him; if they didn’t, he had until the next morning. In both cases, he had enough time to see Nanami and not get caught. And even if he caught got, he could always run away. If there was anything Munakata-sensei and his team always forgot, it was that he had surrendered to them so he wouldn’t have to spend his boring existence around regular people. He had wanted to say at Hope’s Peak. They were no threat to him.

Izuru shut the laptop and kept it under his arm. They would be rushing to his room sooner or later, and leaving his laptop, with the program he had used to get rid of all security, would only make the staff’s task less of a struggle than he wanted it to be. Even if he knew he would end up safe from them in all scenarios, he didn’t want to make it easier for them. Pushing all unwanted thoughts aside – such as the voice in his head that kept telling him he wanted as much time as he could get with Nanami –, he slipped out of his room, and into the dark corridors of the staff’s building of Hope’s Peak academy. It was quite likely that people were already looking for him, but he didn’t care. He was not sure stealth was a talent, but if it was, they would have given him ultimate stealth. Reaching Nanami would be nothing but another boring and simple task for him.

He moved swiftly through the corridors, paying close attention to the sound of muffled voices and steps. He couldn’t exactly see the people who were looking for him, but they weren’t doing a good job of being quiet. They couldn’t hide themselves from him, but he could very well hide himself from them.

A few minutes later, Izuru was outside. His sleek black hair and suit blended in the background perfectly. That didn’t mean he could let down his guard, though. He wasn’t sure how many people were aware of his existence, but he knew for a fact that every single staff member had heard of him. This meant that Munakata-sensei could gather quite a large number of people to look for him, although most of them would have been asleep at this time. His teacher may have been a good leader, but he couldn’t wake everyone up at the snap of his fingers. Despite that, Izuru took a few seconds to scan his surroundings and figure out just how many people were already here. Once that was done, he headed to Nanami’s dorm room, curious as to why the thoughts in his head seemed to be racing along with his heartbeat. If he hadn’t been so disappointed with how easy it was to bypass the academy’s security, Izuru would have said that that night, for the first time since he’d woken up in the experimentation room, he felt excited. However, he wasn’t sure what any of it really meant.

He eventually reached Nanami’s room. He wasn’t too sure why, but Izuru just stood there for a while, as if he were…  nervous? Wait, I’m nervous? He shook his head, taking one more step towards the door. That makes no sense. There is nothing to be nervous about. I’ve reached my goal, and no one can stop me now. It’s fine. I have no logical reason to feel this way. And yet, Izuru’s hand was shaking as he closed his fist to knock on the door. This time he was sure of it. He was excited. He didn’t know why, but he was.

Enoshima intrigued me, but not to this extent, he recalled, staring at the closed door in front of him. He could sense that Nanami was still awake. All he had to do was wait for her to open the door. There is no reason for me to feel this way about this now. Everything that happened with Enoshima was disappointing and boring. Logically, that should have been proof that nothing can go unpredicted by my talents. And yet, here I am, completely thrilled by what may or may not happen when she finally opens this door – what’s taking her so long anyway? Is she really so into the game she’s playing that she didn’t hear me knock? –, this almost feels stupid. I should probably walk back to my room and pretend like I was just trying to test my abilities when questioned about why I hacked into the security system and went on a little night walk. But all these irrational thoughts would keep bothering me if I didn’t see her. I really can’t comprehend why, but I know she holds the key to whatever it is I’ve been looking for since they created me. It will be okay. No matter what happens from now on, I’ll know how to deal with it. Nothing else will be able to disturb me. Once again, I have no idea why, but I am convinced of this.

Izuru had to knock on the door a second time and call her name before Nanami finally opened the door. At that moment, he knew something had changed.

[polysyndetonaddictsupportgroup]

megumi asking nanami to get tsumiki out of the room before he had a seizure made me cry

That was actually one of my favorite lines to write in the fic so far because he was asking for the exact opposite of what he really wanted in that moment.

The idea behind that moment is that a “sense of impending doom” is like, an actual symptom that arises ahead of some serious medical conditions, like heart attacks or, in Megumi’s case, a seizure. Apparently it’s more severe than just feeling bad—it’s supposed to come off as this absolute certainty that you are about to die. I don’t know how accurate that is, I’ve never felt it. But that’s what Megumi felt right before he seized.

The thing is that he actually really, desperately wanted Tsumiki to be with him in that moment. And I tried to imply that through his actions the rest of the chapter.

The entire time he’s conscious, Tsumiki’s the only one he wants near him. He summoned his divine dogs to go find her, protect her, and bring her back to the car, which is why Shiro kept trying to herd Tsumiki. When they got to the car, he tried to kick and punch basically everyone until she walked up and told him to stop. She was the only one he would listen to the entire time. Everyone else he’s trying to get to fuck off, but when he’s talking to her, he’s insisting that they have to leave together. It’s unclear how autonomous his shikigami are from him, but they are some extension of his will, and they were falling over themselves to stay close to her. His every interaction during the chapter suggests he’s terrified, delirious, desperately hurt, and really only wants or trusts his sister right now.

He’s a teenager who felt with a sudden, unshakable certainty that he was going to die right then and there. Of course he wanted comfort and to not be alone when it happened, and there was only one person in the entire fic he had wanted near him at all. But he also knew at a very base level that tsumiki would never be okay again if she watched him die, so he told Nanami to get her out of the room instead. He basically chose to die afraid and alone to spare tsumiki the memory of his death, even though the only thing he wanted was for his sister to be holding his hand while he went.