#not even cause of spoilers it was before season 3's release

[corrupted-nightshade]

List of things that point towards Gojo Satoru & Geto Suguru being kissers of boys with connections to eachother

(If they did kiss though is another story)

Note: the list will be divided into different sections with space in between. So don't go speed scrolling through if you don't want spoilers. :"3

Some of these are less serious, but are still included because all the more content for these two sillies.

--- Last updated: April 26th, 2024 Note: Make sure to check the original post if viewing a reblog version in case Tumblr does not update things under the "read more" like it used to be able to.

Various

572. This number is used frequently as a ship number for the two as "GoGe" the ship name can also be produced as "GoNatsu". Go means 5 and the rest sound similar to 72. These numbers ironically show up accross the series a few times and also in official merch. (Some examples being a clock in season 2 episode 1 stopped at 5 hours 7 minutes 20 seconds or a Gojo teddy bear priced at ¥57,200)

JJK official fanbook

"Q: Please tell us his first impression when he first met Geto. A: Bangs."

"Q: He seems to be aware that he is handsome, but doesn't he want a lover? A: I can't imagine Gojo being faithful to a particular woman."

"Q: Is there anything you are particular about Geto's character design? A: Bangs"

One of Gojo's songs & one of Geto's songs given to them. "Shame on you" by "Avicii" (a break up song) for Gojo and "Come back Home" by "Two door cinema club" for Geto. Stated in volume 3 chapter 24.

The sheer amount of times Geto shows up in MMVs for Gojo and how they display the impact Geto had on Gojo (For example, the latest MMV for volume 26's release)

Their birthday's solar terms tying in with parts. (Geto being "Risshun" beginning of spring & Gojo being "Taisetsu" heavy snow.)

Rings for them that were released on August 8th, which is "Pairing day" in Japan

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Jujutsu Kaisen 0

Geto's kesa is specifically a Gojo kesa

Gojo stating in 0 that

"I've always believed... ...Love manifests the most distorted curses." / "This is my personal theory, but there's no curse more twisted than love."

Even after 10 years, Gojo recognized Geto's smell. (The mall scene after Yuta & Toge fought the curse)

Geto renaming someone to "Sato" because

"That's what I've decided, so Sato is better."

This sunset scene

Gojo's veil is black & Geto's veil is white. Gojo's veil causes darkness, Geto's does not. [Peep who reminded me]

The song "This is pure love" not only plays over Yuta & Rika vs Geto, but also plays over Geto & Gojo's conversation

The way that Geto looks at Gojo & says his name, and how Gojo looks at Geto & says his name

Geto's blushing face at Gojo that we were robbed of in the anime

Some of the lines from the JJK 0 light novel lines

"Yet Gojo's bandage-covered eyes kept watching, kept following the shape of Geto's soul."

"But to Gojo Satoru, he was —— '————, ————' '...ha.' When he heard the words Gojo blurted out, Geto couldn't help but laugh. Such embarrassing [...] words. Even why they were students, those words had never been said before. 'You should've at least cursed me a little before the end.' December 24, 2017. The curse called Geto had been well and truly exorcised."

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Season 1

JJK Juju stroll

"Q: What kind of person is your type?" Gojo: "[...]The one who seemed nice. With the notable bangs."

yes, i know who he stated but the way he answered was so half arsed as he struggled to come up with an answer as an example of his type. 💀

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Season 2

Again, the way they look at each other and say each other's names (There's another picture with Gojo looking at Geto, but I'm missing it right now)

THE HECKIN GOJO & GETO VALENTINES CAKE??

They literally even have a themed honeymoon place???

Geto makes sure Gojo has his favorite soda. :3

Part 1 / volume 8 - 9

The intro for season 2 part 1

"Even after I got to know the smell of you, different from mine"

"In such a color as if it were a silent love"

"I've got a curse word for you stuck in the back of my throat"

The outro for season 2 part 1:

"Even trivial conversations are fine Show me your blushing face once more"

"It only exists here I want to touch you"

The fish in the outro

The flowers in the intro & outro. [Peep who reminded me]

The purple ones (Located on table in the part where older Gojo is sitting in a chair by a window) are possibly Primula/Primrose flowers. They can represent young love, beauty, desire, desperate, and can be a symbol of spring and renewal/new beginnings. etc.

The yellow ones (Located in the part where Gojo & Geto are sitting together with their hands & cans of soda surrounded by the flowers) are possibly osmanthus flowers. They can represent love, passion, happiness, beauty, etc.

[See here , here, here , here , here , here ]

Geto not answering Tsukumo Yuki's question of what kind of woman is his type more than once

When Geto is asked by Haibara if he would like a sweet or savory souvenir, Geto says

"Satoru will probably have some too, so maybe something sweet."

Part 2 / volume 11

This whole image (Geto in the glasses on the left, and Kenjaku's silhouette on Gojo's face on the right)

Season 2 part 2's "Specialz" intro hidden meaning

Despite the following about Geto's state, Geto's body still instinctively reacted to stop Kenjaku from hurting Gojo.

"Q: Fake Geto's arm was moving during the Shibuya Incident, but how much of Geto's consciousness remains in the body? A: Not much. He was moving like how a dragonfly whose neck was torn off can move."

Fun fact: Some owls pair/bond for life (Whether the owl is supposed to be Geto's because Kenjaku is using Geto at the time or it's not Geto's animal because that is Kenjaku is up to you)

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Volume 26

The Camilla flowers with snow. Not only do they represent Gojo well with their meaning, including one meaning being unchanging/strong love alongside modest love / beauty for pink, but flowers are given to different dates. The birth flower of February is this flower, said to bloom on the 3rd of this month. Aka Geto's birthday.

Chapter 236

Gojo actively chose to fight on December 24th (a day considered romantic for Japan) which is now the day both Geto and him have died on. Even Kenjaku acknowledges the days significance with

"Ha ha! How romantic. Isn't it gross to make plans with each other on Christmas eve?"

These lines

Both Gojo & Geto's volumes' numbers can have bad meanings in Japan. 4 can mean death & 9 can mean to suffer/agony. (I put this under volume 26's section because of the spoiler)

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There's likely more, but this is what we could think of right now. XD If you have anything you want to add on, feel free to send it my way because the more help the better & easier this is. (^w^ ) Same for any corrections to the list (as it's just me writing up this post and I may make slip ups)

[mlobsters]

supernatural s1e11 scarecrow (teleplay: john shiban, story: patrick sean smith)

(this is a rewatch so spoilers abound)

this episode was my first spn hey i know you - which was a piggyback on an xfiles hiky for an actor that was in the killing as well, triple threat. and ofc william b davis (who is the cigarette smoking man in xf) that's in this spn episode too, i may have screeched when i saw him in the credits

also have a feeling in this rewatch the brother angst is what's gonna cause me the most strife. i was so, so exhausted by that plot mechanic by the time i was solidly reaching the 2/3 point of the series. i do wonder if when it gets really heavy or repetitive, if i'll be able to power through. i won't be surprised if i can't. anyway, onwards to the first spat

the teaser music was very on theme xfiles-y, but then it shifts to eye rolling (for me) territory and you guessed it, jay gruska. there was a vibe, and then it was gone. so in this clip, i'm digging it (it has some of what i call an xfiles sound) and it's tense and present feeling. but then once the... urgent? music starts when they start to run with these really flat bland sounding strings.. it just feels so. cliche and boring and sitting in the background. to me, it's actively taking away tension instead of adding it. like maybe if the software they were using had better strings or it was mixed differently, it would be better. or, you know, had recorded actual strings (but i can also imagine the limitations with 22+ episode seasons on a relatively low budget b level network show so). anyway, #choices

you know what is also #choices, me wasting 30+ minutes trying to find actual details on the budget for the show and getting nowhere, other than people saying it was low 🥴 this has some general speculation of $2mil per episode but also details that they don't release cost and revenue numbers. i imagine s1's budget was different from s5

could the beds BE any closer? i know i commented on that the first time through too. and also figure it's so they could get this shot of them both sleeping and then pan around to sam sitting up in bed but it's funny regardless of silly production reasons! gotta be in literal arm's length from your brother who you have very normal and chill feelings about

also like, sam shoulda been smacking the shit out of dean to wake him up after he realized john was on the phone. HELLO what's the point of being in arm's reach if you don't use the arm to reach out and slap them when needed haha

as ever just thinking how potentially uncomfortable it would be to sleep with the amulet on, but also the commitment of wearing it, even sleeping, from 12 years old to 31. damn. now i'm sad again lol. so like, totally understand why jensen was glad to get rid of it - it was big and he mentioned he forgot to swap out to the stunt one and chipped his teeth with it smacking him in the mouth. maybe if had been less giant and heavy, they could have reincorporated/had a real fix-it for it. womp womp

SAM We’ve been looking for you everywhere. We didn’t know where you were, if you were okay. JOHN Sammy, I’m all right. What about you and Dean? (At the motel, DEAN is waking up.) SAM We’re fine. Dad, where are you? (DEAN sits up in bed.) JOHN Sorry, kiddo, I can’t tell you that. SAM What? Why not? DEAN Is that Dad? JOHN Look, I know this is hard for you to understand. You’re just gonna have to trust me on this.

taking a moment to address how deeply unsettling and weird it would be to have your dad who you have been living and working with forever to ghost you with no explanation for what.. 6 months now? pilot was set in end of october, this ep is april

SAM You’re after it, aren’t you? The thing that killed Mom. JOHN Yeah. It’s a demon, Sam. SAM A demon? You know for sure? DEAN A demon? What’s he saying?

so i had thought he knew about hunting before, but refreshed my memory that he didn't here last time it came up, but also just thinking about how mary never told him about the demon and the deal - at least when the time was approaching. she didn't know what the demon wanted, or that she was gonna end up dying in the process, but damn. give your man a heads up that a demon is coming inside your house. i can also see why she might not, but ugh. anyway, plot needs must

JOHN I do. Listen, Sammy, I, uh…I also know what happened to your girlfriend. I’m so sorry. I would’ve done anything to protect you from that. SAM You know where it is? JOHN Yeah, I think I’m finally closing in on it. SAM Let us help. JOHN You can’t. You can’t be any part of it. SAM Why not? DEAN Give me the phone. JOHN Listen, Sammy, that’s why I’m calling. You and your brother, you gotta stop looking for me. Alright, now, I need you to write down these names. SAM Names? What names, Dad—talk to me, tell me what’s going on. JOHN Look, we don’t have time for this. This is bigger than you think, they’re everywhere. Even us talking right now, it’s not safe. SAM No. Alright? No way. DEAN Give me the phone. JOHN I have given you an order. Now, you stop following me, and you do your job. You understand me? Now, take down these names. (DEAN grabs the phone from SAM.)

man oh man. it's a good thing john has dean so thoroughly trained to fall in line like an actual soldier because i'm right there with sam, it's a really tough pill to swallow without any explanation as to WHY they can't be involved. it sounds like writers who haven't decided exactly why, other than we just need them to stay apart for now :P so frustrating!

DEAN Dad, it’s me. Where are you? (…) Yes, sir. (…) Uh, yeah, I got a pen. What are their names?

dean's face when he goes from frustrated and concerned, where are you? to "yes, sir" 💔 yet again, i made gifs.

DEAN Dad doesn’t want our help. SAM I don’t care. DEAN He’s given us an order. SAM (firmly) I don’t care. We don’t always have to do what he says. DEAN Sam, Dad is asking us to work jobs, to save lives, it’s important. SAM Alright, I understand, believe me, I understand. But I’m talking one week here, man, to get answers. To get revenge. DEAN Alright, look, I know how you feel. SAM Do you? How old were you when Mom died? Four? Jess died six months ago. How the hell would you know how I feel?

that was a low blow, sammy. not cool. so dean deflects with something else that is also logical

DEAN Dad said it wasn’t safe. For any of us. I mean, he obviously knows something that we don’t, so if he says to stay away, we stay away. SAM I don’t understand the blind faith you have in the man. I mean, it’s like you don’t even question him. DEAN Yeah, it’s called being a good son!

i don't think sam's right in tearing off to track john down, i don't think it's right that john is keeping them still basically entirely in the dark, but i also don't think dean's right in the blind faith/following bit. everyone is wrong 🎉 but again, dean was raised like a literal soldier. that following orders is life or death. it's not being a good son, it's being a good soldier. which should be separate things! and i don't know the nuances of military command, but honestly, questioning the guy in charge seems like kind of a thing you need to do sometimes too, which maybe means the only choice is to bail

ANYWAY

DEAN You’re a selfish bastard, you know that? You just do whatever you want. Don’t care what anybody thinks. SAM That’s what you really think? DEAN Yes, it is. SAM Well, then this selfish bastard is going to California. DEAN Come on, you’re not serious. SAM I am serious. DEAN It’s the middle of the night! Hey, I’m taking off, I will leave your ass, you hear me? SAM That’s what I want you to do. DEAN Goodbye, Sam.

dysfunctional relationship written all over it, that couple that is always breaking up and making up. hard to watch. and this is just a tiny sliver of the iceberg o'brotherly angst to come. but also reminding myself that a) sam is only 22 and i think he had some flexibility to be childish in a way that dean never did. and i think it's pretty immature to just bail on the car and walk because you're disagreeing over doing what dad wants you to do. and we're establishing that sam (and dean) can be as stubborn as a mule. and b) i'm feeling the weight of the brother conflict from the entire series but trying to watch this with less baggage. so, chill out, friend

another little moment i could gif but won't waste my time again on, when sam says "that's what i want you to do" dean looks genuinely upset/taken aback briefly before he locks down his expression and says goodbye

i have got to finish this episode. it's like 45 minutes of thinking and rambling to watch a couple minutes then i'm like welp it's too late at night to finish it, guess tomorrow. x5

just call him!

they were testing my suspension of disbelief when i first watched this. that open, straight ass road, sam surely wasn't walking backwards long enough to not have reasonably been able to see her before getting right up on her, yet doesn't question how this girl just appeared at his feet. anyway, hi meg. (rip nicki aycox, passed away at 47 in 2022)

MEG You could be some kind of freak. I mean, you are hitchhiking.

there's that freak label again

that said, they had this all happen so flash bang boom and she's off with shady van guy and not trusting him but also being funny and cute, i can see how the logistics of her appearance maybe could have been distracted from

her big smile is kinda scary, i dunno if that was intentional lol. but padalecki did good in this, very natural. good stuff

s1e11 / the x-files s5e9 schizogeny

i'm doing it again. looking up for details on the xfiles episode that had a very similar looking orchard to see if they're the same 🤦focus! look at baby face dean's cute little scowl. and those apparently are hazelnut trees. shrubs. something. i had to confirm that apple trees really don't look like this so i don't know why they used it. kim manners was with xf at the time but didn't direct schizogeny (credited as producer). anyway! focus did not happen! it's been 15 minutes!

do it, babes!!! foiled by meg

DEAN You know, my brother could give you this puppy dog look, and you’d just buy right into it.

cracks me up that dean talking about sam's puppy face is canonical, to me it doesn't read as puppy much unless he's making it at dean like in home and faith - otherwise just kind of earnest and empathetic when he's dealing with other people. but also, dean, not gonna help your case not coming across as a creeper to these people by saying that lol

the sheriff literally driving him out of town

forgot how much he utilized the short over long sleeve look

MEG I love my parents. And they wanted what’s best for me. They just didn’t care if I wanted it. I was supposed to be smart. But not smart enough to scare away a husband. It’s just…because my family said so, I was supposed to sit there and do what I was told. So I just went on my own way instead. I’m sorry. The things you say to people you hardly know. SAM No, no, it’s okay. I know how you feel. Remember that brother I mentioned before, that I was road-tripping with? It’s, uh, it’s kind of the same deal. MEG And that’s why you’re not riding with him anymore? (SAM shakes his head. MEG raises her beer bottle.) Here’s to us. The food might be bad, and the beds might be hard. But at least we’re living our own lives. And nobody else’s.

it feels a little on the nose to have her story be so similar, but also can imagine in this situation it's like music to sam's ears to have someone who would understand so well where he's coming from

DEAN I’m actually on my way to a local community college. I’ve got an appointment with a professor. You know, since I don’t have my trusty sidekick geek boy to do all the research. SAM You know, if you’re hinting you need my help, just ask. DEAN I’m not hinting anything. Actually, uh—I want you to know….I mean, don’t think…. SAM Yeah. I’m sorry, too.

DEAN Sam. You were right. You gotta do your own thing. You gotta live your own life. SAM Are you serious? DEAN You’ve always known what you want. And you go after it. You stand up to Dad. And you always have. Hell, I wish I—anyway….I admire that about you. I’m proud of you, Sammy. SAM I don’t even know what to say. DEAN Say you’ll take care of yourself. SAM I will. DEAN Call me when you find Dad. SAM (sadly) OK. Bye, Dean.

ok i was not expecting to end up crying over this episode. dean acknowledging how he wished he could stand up to john like sam does, and was so sweet and forthcoming about being proud, and sam was ready to hear it, goddamn. but he wasn't ready for dean to let him go

MEG Who was that? SAM My brother. MEG What’d he say? SAM Goodbye.

sammy 😭 pushed so hard to forge off on his own do what he thinks is right but maybe he wants dean to rein him back in. and also want to acknowledge jared hit all the right emotions with that phone call with dean and this after. i think he can do the quiet moments well already

i love that they got william b davis for this little part. he brings all the creep factor especially for xfiles fans

dean's belly getting a surprising amount of screentime in s1

imagining kim manners, well if they won't let the boys have umbrellas, i'm getting a cool shot with these rando characters with umbrellas!

MEG But I don’t understand. You’re running back to your brother? The guy you ran away from? Why, because he won’t pick up his phone? Sam—come with me to California. SAM I can’t. I’m sorry. MEG Why not? SAM He’s my family.

❤️ i know that's right. also, "he's my family" not just "he's family" and with the softest expression. don't need to think or care about banging to ship this, they're just out there doing this stuff and being this way about each other and i eat it all up

DEAN How’d you get here? SAM I, uh—I stole a car. DEAN Haha! That’s my boy!

even more proud

DEAN So, can I drop you off somewhere? SAM No, I think you’re stuck with me. DEAN What made you change your mind? SAM I didn’t. I still wanna find Dad. And you’re still a pain in the ass. But, Jess and Mom—they’re both gone. Dad is God knows where. You and me. We’re all that’s left. So, if we’re gonna see this through, we’re gonna do it together.

my cup runneth over. of course, still have the hill to climb for sam to want to stay with dean for the long run, but. ❤️

DEAN Hold me, Sam. That was beautiful.

such an ass, he was just as mushy literally the day before LOL but the d in dean stands for deflect :p

good grief, man. this show! agh. i'm again reminded why it sucked me in. the overarching plot and monsters of the week are like, whatever, but the sam and dean of it all is so good. and what they established in these early days carried me through 15 seasons where i got increasingly frustrated with all of the non-sam and dean aspects, and overused sam and dean conflict, etc. truly a feat

and we find out meg is a baddie with her phone home to azazel via bowl o'blood

[ninja-knox-ur-sox-off]

Hey guys, Knox here *waves*

I’ve come to the conclusion that I am, in fact, majorly Burnt Out. I have been for a while I think, so I will be taking a break from Monkie Kid and fandom content in general until I’m back on my feet.

I’ll still be watching the episodes, but I won’t be doing any reaction posts or analysis 

My ask box will be closed 

I may still be creating some sort of content for myself but there’s no guarantee I’ll be posting it regularly 

I won’t be consuming other people’s content or art or reacting to them on tumblr much or in discord servers

I need to put some distance between me and fandom stuff and take some time away from creating and posting and consuming as well (even though I honestly haven’t been doing much of that in general at all lately anyways lol cause. y’know, burnout lgbsdl;kfmaew).

I won’t be completely gone. You might see me around a bit every one in a while. I’ll probably be answering the asks in my inbox that have been accumulating over the last while here and there, though some i might just straight up delete, (I apologize if you never see  yours answered.) I’ll be lurking more in servers than being active from now on to avoid burning myself out more with responding to every single message as I have the habit of attempting to do, but I’ll still be around. 

Feels kinda sudden, but it’s been a long time coming honestly lol. You can only go outside and lay on the concrete driveway for seven hours so many times before you realize you might not be all the way there bgkafmowe 

Wanted to thank y’all for your interaction, your asks, the tags and reblogs, and your support in general. It’s been lots and lots of fun and I hope you continue to have fun and have lots of good days. If anyone who knows me (i.e. mutuals, friends, buddies) needs me in servers feel free to @ me (my replies might be slow) or dm me personally <3 Responses to DM’s on tumblr will be slow. Please don’t DM me if we’ve never spoken before unless it’s important, thanks. 

Guess I’ll see you around o7 

Until… later. Yeah. Until later y’alls *waves* bye!! 

[bellisperennis0]

New Hope

Word Count: 2,505

Warning(s): Heartbreak, few swear words, did I mention heartbreak, Spoiler to Season 3 Episode 8, possible happy ending

Notes: Loved this request when I got, just sorry it took me a lifetime to finally get to. Based off this fic - Beautiful Storm. As always, thank you for reading and hope you enjoy! ❤️  GIF credit to angels-reyes

rkil98 asked: I love your imagines! Your so talented! I just wanted to make request for a imagine that goes with a “a beautiful storm”. It’s the night Angel showed up on her doorstep and she told him she was pregnant and maybe the morning after? I think it would be so dope seeing the ways he made it up to her and proved he was all in. You don’t have to if you don’t want to but if you do I’ll love you forever! ❤️

Blowing out the last candle on the dinner table, you take one last look around the tiny home you shared with Angel for the past few years.

This was the last straw for you; you were done fighting for someone who wouldn’t even fight for you. You were tired of the lonely nights of crying yourself to sleep. Tired of coming last in his world.

Making one last sweep of the bedroom to make sure you had everything you needed; you freeze when you hear the front door open and close, praying it was just EZ and not Angel.

When you hear Angel call your name, you knew from his tone he wasn’t all that pleased. “Fuck” you breathe out and make your way back out to the living room.

“The fuck is all this!” he yells as he points to your bags sitting by the front door.

Crossing your arms across your chest, you lean against the door frame. “Do you know how many times you have promised me you would be home for dinner?” you ask him “I promise you querida, I wouldn’t miss it for the world. Leaving the Clubhouse now. Be there in just a few minutes.” you tell him as you do your best to mimic his voice.

His eyes go from you towards the kitchen. His head dropping when he sees the candles and the plates of food, yet again, sitting on top of the table, long forgotten.

“Save the bullshit excuse, Angel. I’m honestly tired of you constantly breaking my heart.” you tell him as you sniffle.

His head shooting up when he realizes you were crying.

“Bab-“ he tries to say as he tries to take a step closer to you, but your hand going up stops him.

“We aren’t happy Angel. We haven’t been for months now. I think its best if we take a break from each other for a while.” you start. “We both have things we need to work on individually before we could work on this relationship.” you continued.

“So that’s it? You’re making this decision for the both of us? I have no say?” Angel says and you can tell he was trying to control his anger.

You furrow your brows. “Angel, you made that decision a long time ago when you repeatedly chose the club and the rebels over me, over us. I used to be your number one priority, now I don’t even know where I stand in your world.”

“We can work this out, querida.”

“What do you think I’ve been trying to do with all these dinners and movie nights I plan? If you would actually show up instead of being over the border with Adelita, you would know that.” you shout, your emotions and frustration growing.

Angel sighs in frustration and he pinches the bridge of his nose, “I’m not going to just stand here and let you walk out that door.”

“You don’t have a choice, Angel. It’s now or when you’re gone.”

“No, [y/n]!!” his gruff voice yells. You step back in surprise at his sudden outburst. Sure you and Angel had your fair share of arguments, but he has never raised his voice in such a manner before.

Throwing his hands up, “I’m sorry.” he whispers as he tries to step forward, but stops when you take another step back.

“I can’t do this anymore, Angel. I just need some time to think about everything going on. Some time away.”

“Time away. From me?” he asks and you could hear the hurt in his voice.

“Not just you. From the MC. This relationship. Having to act like I’m happy all the time. I need to find myself again.” you tell him, fighting the tears.

He just stands there nodding.

“I love you, Angel, more than anything in this world, but I can’t stand on the sidelines of your life anymore. Once you figure everything out with the MC, with Adelita and the cartel, and then maybe you can figure out what it is you really want.” You tell him.

“But I want you, querida. A life with you.”

“Your actions say otherwise. I need to step away for us, from you, and I need you to allow me to do this, for the both of us.”

“I can’t. I can’t just let you walk out that door, [y/n].” he whispers.

Walking up to him, you place a hand on his chest and a soft kiss to his lips, “I love you.” you whisper before walking to get your bags by the door.

“This isn’t goodbye, Angel. I’ll see you soon.” you tell him and wait for him to nod his understanding before making your way out the door.

----

Now you find yourself sitting in the middle of your bedroom floor, wiping away the tears that stream down your cheeks as you stare down at the piece of paper and the countless sticks sitting in front of you.

A routine doctor’s appointment earlier in the day came with a surprise that flipped your world upside down.

“You’re pregnant.” you could hear the doctor’s voice as the moment replayed in your head.

Even with a sonogram in your hand, you were convinced that it was all a fluke - a sick joke from the universe - and stopped and grab some pregnancy tests on your way home. Now all eight tests sit in front of you with two pink lines or ‘pregnant’ on its screen, alongside your sonogram.

You didn’t know how you were going to tell Angel. It had been three months since you left and contact with him had been non-existent the last couple months.

This was something you and Angel had extensively talked about in the past, all before the MC and the L.O took top priority. The one person you wanted to tell the most hasn’t been answering your calls or messages, and it wouldn’t be fair to him to tell Pop or EZ first. So looks like you’ll have to keep this your little secret till you could finally tell Angel.

----

After a long day at work and constantly feeling sick, you were lying in bed with a long forgotten program playing in the background as you aimlessly scroll through videos on your phone. You could make out a faint knock through the low noise coming from the TV.

You furrow your brows as you prop yourself up on your elbows, closely listening to see if there was another knock or if you were just hearing things.

Then you could hear another knock - louder this time. A brief pause later, you could make out the faint voice of Angel. Quickly tossing off the blankets, you make your way down the hall to the door.

Flinging open the door, you find Angel standing there. You could tell he was drunk, but the tears streaming down his face had you instantly worried.

“What happened? What’s wrong Angel?” you ask as you step closer to try to console him, but he pushes past you and barges right into your home.

“She lied to me,” you could hear him say as you close the door behind you. Turning to find Angel pacing your living room floor.

“She fucking used me.” he says, his tone turning into anger.

You automatically knew who he was talking about, but you didn’t know the contents of what he was referring to.

“What are you talking about, Angel?” you ask in confusion. A part of you wanted to know what had happened so you could help him through it, but the other part of you was too scared of what he might tell you.

He finally stops pacing the room and looks up at you. He takes a deep breath before taking a seat, his head in his hands.

“The night you left, I was so upset that I needed someone, anyone, to talk to that hadn’t walked out on me already. I went to see her.” he tells you as he finally lifts his head to look at you.

“I didn’t go to see her to intentionally hurt you, but one thing led to another. Come to find out a few weeks later she tells me she’s pregnant....” he stops when you quickly make your way to the kitchen, emptying what little contents of your stomach into the kitchen sink.

“Shit querida. You all right?” Angel was quick to be by your side. Pulling your hair back and rubbing your back soothingly as you continued to vomit into the kitchen sink. You didn’t know if you were sick because of your pregnancy or if it was the gut punch Angel just gave you with dropping such news on you out of nowhere.

After a couple minutes, you were feeling slightly better.

“Here.” Angel hands you a bottle of water as you wipe your mouth with the back of your hand.

“Thank you.” you whisper taking a swig of water and sloshing it in your mouth before spitting it in into the sink. “Sorry.”  you tell him finally looking up at him.

“You okay?” he asks and you could hear and see the concern

You just nod your head, making your way back out to the living room; Angel following right behind you. The both of you sit in silence for what felt like eternity, fidgeting with your hands in your lap, unsure of what to say.

“The baby isn’t even mine.” you hear Angel barely whisper, your head shooting up when you realize he was crying again.

“Angel, I’m...” you tried but Angel shaking his head stops you from continuing.

He aggressively wiped the tears from his face as he sniffled. “Don’t apologize, querida. This is my karma for all the shit I have done and all the pain I have caused.”

“Angel, no one deserves to lose a child.”

“Here I was the fucking idiot that I am, hopeful that something in this fucked up life of mine was actually going right. Getting a life I thought I lost the day you walked out that door. As fucking scared as I was at the thought of fucking everything up, this was something I wanted.” he was now up pacing the room once again, tears streaming down his face as he went on. You sat there watching him, as you did your best to hold your tears at bay, allowing him to release all that pent up emotion.

“Only for it all to be ripped away from me in a blink of an eye. All just to fuck over the MC and get intel on Galindo. Used me as one of her fucking puppets.” he huffed as he finally took a seat, head in his hands as he tried to compose himself.

You just sat there taking everything Angel had just told you in. That explains why he hadn’t been answering your calls the last couple months. Your heart ached for how hurt and shattered Angel was, but a part of you couldn’t help but be selfishly relieved that he wasn’t having a child with Adelita.

“The entire time I couldn’t help but wish that she was you, and you were the one carrying our child. Guess that’s all just a far fetch dream now.”

“Angel...” you tried.

“No, querida. The night you decided to walk out, I was furious at you, I really was. Then I realized that it was my entire fault. I was the one that pushed you away. I made a promise to you that no matter what, you would always come first and I put the MC, the Rebels, even the fuckin cartel before you. All this shit is on me. Everything. Before I could get control of all that was going on, everything just exploded in my face. I didn’t want this for us, and for that I am really sorry, querida.”

Without saying a word you got up and went and walked over to your bag you knew was sitting on the dining table, pulling out that piece of paper you have been carrying around for the past few weeks. Angel sat there, brows furrowed, as he watched you move around the small space.

“I’ve been practicing how I was going to tell you and this wasn’t how it played out in my head, but you need to know.” you tell him as the tears begin to stream down your face.

You look down at the piece of paper in your hands before placing it on top of the coffee table in front of Angel.

He looks at it and then back up to you, finally looking back at the paper, picking it up.

You turned your back to Angel as you tried to control your emotions, unsure how he was going to react to this news.

“Are you being serious [y/n]?” you hear Angel whisper behind you. You just chuckle as you wipe the tears from your face.

“[y/n], is this real?” Angel asks again.

You nod your head, sniffling, and turn to look up at Angel as he slowly approaches you.

“A baby?” he asks

“Yeah.” you whisper giving him a small smile.

“A baby?” Angel repeats again with a smile and a look of pure admiration.

“Our baby, Angel.” you tell him with a small chuckle

Angel sniffles as he cups your face in his hands, “Our baby” he whispers and you just smile up at him, hand softly cupping his face, thumb wiping the tears from his cheek.

Angel places a kiss to your forehead, his hand on the back of your head pulling you into him. He places another kiss to the side of your head as you wrap your arms around his middle, resting your head on his chest.

“Our baby.” you softly chuckle as you hear Angel repeating the words again.

Angel pulls away slightly, with his thumb and index finger he lifts your chin so you were looking up at him, “Imma do it right this time, I promise you querida. I know I have a lot of making up to do and I will go to the end of the earth for you. This is my all. You and our baby is all I need.” he tells you.

“We still have a lot to work on, but I know we can get through this together. As long as I have you by my side from here on out, that’s all that matters to me. I love you, Angel.” you pull him down to you and softly place a kiss to his lips.

“I love you, mi dulce.” he gives you a smile.

From that day forward, Angel was there every step of the way. Sure there were bumps along the way, but you and Angel always managed to work through them, making your relationship that much stronger.

And the day your little princess was born, changed yours and Angel’s life for the better. Bringing new beginnings and new hopes.

--xx

Taglist: (Let me know if you would like to be added/taken off)

@sesamepancakes​​​​

@yourwonkywriter​​​​

@mijop​​

@mayans-sauce​​​​

@encounterthepast​​​​

@queenbeered​​​​

@chibsytelford​​

@alienstardust​

[natsukitakama]

Being in relationship with Zeke Yeager would include

*looking respectfully* 

Author note : I know some people aren’t quite found of him and I can understand. But I know some of you simp for him (me too don’t worry). I hope you’ll enjoy this. 

i do not own that gif I found it on google so credit to the owner (if you know them please let me know)

Warning : mention of spoiler if you haven’t season 2, 3 et 4 / slight nsfw cause I’m going to hell / fluffy because we derserve it 

Masterlist 

Annoying. Not in a bad way but this man can’t shut up, he always has something to tell just because he loves seeing you getting flustered or angry because of him. 

That’s just how he is. He loves teases people and get the most of them. It’s even worse with his S/O 

Typically if you want to kiss him (private or in public won’t matter although he might prefers being private about his relationship) he would litteraly make you beg for it. « Couldn’t you wait until we’re home ? So needy Y/N » 

Since he was educated to be a leader he is pretty god at reading people’s body language and won’t hesitate to use it on you. 

Not a surprise here you barely got a fight : the man barely loses his temper and since he can read you like an open book he knows exactly what to do to avoid situation like this. 

Nonetheless it doesn’t mean he can’t provide every argument. So yeah times to times you two fight, most of the time because you know he is hiding something from you, and everytime you confront him about it he just brushes if off telling you, you’re being paranoid or something. 

Although he got a huge ego so yeah he might act as if he was smarter than you and would tell you so.

He is kinda mean and cold and even though he is trying his best to cherish you, sometimes he says things he shouldn’t tell. It ends up with you crying or trying not to (but he can tell) and just leave him. 

Man he hates it. Everytime he got to see his grandparents and everytime they scold him for being an assholes to you. 

And everytime he could come back to you with a gift either a book that you might be interest on, flowers or even jewellery if you are into that. 

He would apologize for being a dick to you

100% end up making sweet love just to be sure he is forgiven (also because he misses your touch but shhh he has a reputation) 

Don’t lie to him. He would know. As I said before he can read people and especially your body’s language. It took you a long time before owning his trust, don’t give him reason to not trust you : it you want to say something tell him.

He is pretty blunt himself so he won’t mind and actually would love it if you are confident and comfortable enough with him to talk about anything

Like I said earlier he might want to be cautious with your relationship, not because he is ashamed or anything but he knows that not everyone loves him and he is afraid that they might use you against him as a threat. He can’t tolerate that (also because he will betray his own army, he doesn’t want you to get hurt or worst because of him) 

Yeah because you’re not a part of his plan, he never talked about anything related to his plan. 

It might surprise you but I don’t think he is actually good at flirting. He is pretty blunt and not that subtle, he won’t go as far as to say « I think you’re hot » on your first meeting but still you will notice that he was more talkative with you. 

Maybe it’s a fantaisie of mine but I think he would love send you letters : he tends to be more sensual while writing. You always got a letter when you start your day at work and if he couldn’t manage to be with you that or even call you during work, he’ll send you another one with flower to apologize. 

But he can be smooth when he wants to, especially when he is teasing you : that’s his way of flirting with you. He can’t help but feel like he has to tease you just to see you with a pout on your face. (His heart melt everytime he saw you like this) 

He tends to be more rough with his teasing if he is dating a male than a women, his grandma raise him to treat women like queen so he will oblige. 

He daydreams a lot about you, sometimes it’s just about you laying on his chest sleeping like a baby, he could literally feel your soft hair on his hands as he stroke them. Sometimes it’s more sensual, as he could easily remember the touch of your skin against his hands, the whimper that left your lips each time he is kissing you, sucking you, bitting you, the way you gripped his shoulder as he was pouding into your core relentless. 

It didn’t help that everything seemed to remember him of you, when he is drinking is usual coffee at 10 AM he got a memory of you cooking his breakfast whistling softly as you were happy to cook some meal for your man. When is having his tea after his lunch time the flower scent coming from his tea makes him of your perfume. His book and paper on his desk, reminds him of you when you’re overworking, claiming that your mess make actually sense for you and that no you weren’t just too lazy to clean up. 

If he claims himself to be good when it came to emotion and to keep everything for himself, his grand-parent noticed something about his behavior. He seemed more clean and presentable (not that it wasn’t the case but he wasn’t the one to take extra attention of his looks), he was more polite always trying to not swear or at least not that much, they noticed him looking somewhere as if he was looking for someone. 

Sometimes he calls you just to annoy his superior (cause he knows they survey him), just to talk about anything but especially to talk trash about some embarrassing things. But since he never used a name or something they never know if he was talking to you or someone he just slept with. Occasionally he would talk about embarrassing story about this superior, he knows he won’t be punished otherwise it would be a proof that he was telling the truth earlier. 

He is possessive not like Porco or Eren where they would let their anger scare the poor people trying to talk to you, he is smart enough to know when someone is hitting on you or when someone is just speaking to you. But still, he doesn’t like when he sees somebody being too touchy on you. How dare they ? He is commander, smart, handsome, strong and that poor people think they could challenge him ? 

During time like this after, kicking that poor person out of your way, he would take you home. Don’t ever think you leave this house, he won’t stop loving you until you can’t walk and the only thing you could remember is his own name. 

Be careful, Zeke is patient very patient. 

If you think he won’t edge you until you’re crying mess for release you’re wrong. He tends to tease you and make you beg to cum, so when he feels like he has to remind you who you belong to, one word can describe your night with him : intense (yeah because not only will he edge you but he’ll also overstimulate you and if you’re crying because it’s too much he would just look at you as if he was surprised « oh ? Too much ? But I thought you wanted to cum ?". 

He doens’t want children for multiple reason and he won’t like if you keep ask him about it : he doesn’t want to be a father please respect his decision. (He would try to explain to you his opinion so it won’t appear as a selfish decision) 

Some nights, he feels guilty for not explaining to you his plan, what he wants for future but he knows it’s for your own sake. You couldn’t take it and he is aware that he is not mean to last forever and than one day you would wake up and he won’t be there for you, he is already acting like a an asshole because he is taking your love while he knows he would die eventually (quicker than you he hopes), he won’t put any pressure because of his plan. 

[gb-patch]

Ask Answers: March 30th, 2021- Part 1

We’ve been really focused on getting the Step 3 DLC done and keeping up with asks kind of got away from me, aha. Thank you for waiting for a reply! We’re still definitely behind, but here’s a good chunk of responses!

I love Our Life so much but if the release of the step 3 dlc is in April, please don't "release" it on April 1, my poor heart can't take that prank 😭

Don’t worry! I’m horrible at pranks, haha. When we do post something specifically for April Fool’s it’s always to pretend it’s a joke when in reality it’s something we’re actually planning to do. But we don’t have anything like that arranged for this year. Any posts on April 1st will just be like normal.

Omigod, can you end the game in love with Cove but not in a relationship? My character stayed calm at the restaurant and Cove slept over at her home and I think I may have missed it. I'm delirious if I did, may never stop laughing. The children are idiots 

Haha, yes, it is possible to be in love and still not get into an actual relationship. There’s no forced ending where the two are made to confess their feelings and accept, it’s all optional/avoidable.

How can you see the new main character cut-in images? I'm not trying to be rude, but, all of my playthroughs, but I haven't seen them yet. (I know you can go through an entire game without seeing them, but I have went through multiple games.) 

It’s a bit of a spoiler to say here, but you can check out the guide we posted on Steam HERE!

Is it possible to win first place in the library quiz with Lizzy (Step 1 DLC) 

Yep, it is! Someone made a guide for the answers HERE (it’s also on Steam). We probably shouldn’t have required a perfect score to win a children quiz, but oh well, haha.

Hello!

In the future (in step 4) can you marry Cove even if you are friends? I would love to have a platonic wedding with him!

I’m afraid not. As much as he cares for the MC when they’re besties, Cove would only really want an official marriage if it’s based on romance.

Hello! I bumped into Our Life randomly last month, and it is one of the best coincidences I have ever laid on. I love how the choices and little details in the story changes throughout the game, and I'm excited to keep supporting you! I'm absolutely in love with Cove and would like to ask what keeps him to be especially interested in the MC? Other than how you can choose what fondness level you have with him, what ultimately leads him to be in sync with us? Sorry if it's a little much & thank u! 

Cove likes the MC because, regardless of the different personality traits you can give the MC, they meet him on his level, listen to him, understand him (even if you’re indifferent and not really close the MC still gets where he’s coming from), and if you’re fond/crush/love than you’re there for him. He finds the MC someone he can respect, trust, and, if they’re close, feel safe with. I’m glad you enjoyed the game!

hi there! for xoxo droplets i see the that female pronouns are used in the description, in the actual game can you change the pronouns or are they stuck as female? i'm aware the game is free, but i have a bad habit of buying dlc's before playing the game so it would be helpful to know before i spend money on it. if anything i'll save that money for more our life dlcs when they come out :D

XOXO Droplets does have a set MC. It’s the story of a specific person rather than a game about making your own story. All of our games prior to Our Life were about exploring MCs that were fully fleshed out people in their own right, so you can’t get the OL experience from what we did before. But we do plan to do more custom-style MCs going forward from here!

For the our life nsfw dlc, will you have to be in the patron to have it or  will there be another way for people who really support the game but can't pay to get it? 

I’m afraid not. We might put it up for sale somewhere other than Patreon someday (though never on Steam or Itch) since we know not everyone can use that site, but it will still cost money on any other hosting page we use. It’s unfortunately not a piece of content we can give away for free.

Hello! I finally got to play Xoxo Blood Droplets and it mentioned about a DLC coming out soon. Is it already out or are you still planning it?

We are still planning to finish it when we can, we just had to put it on hold because 2020 was a tough year and we needed to put all our focus on Our Life. There’s some of the extra DLC stories available for beta testing on the Patreon.

Is there a link to the soundtrack for Xoxo Blood Droplets? I really like the music in this game! 

That’s not available yet, but we’ll probably put it up for sale once the rest of the stories are done.

Would there be any chance for XOXO Droplets OSTs to be released in the future? (Please take my money-) 

We might! There are some things we wanna do and fix before we really start advertising XOXO Droplets things again, but hopefully it all comes together.

Why does Cove dislike Shiloh so much despite all of Shiloh's efforts to get along? I can understand his dislike for Lizzie, but why Shiloh? 

They met under bad terms (with an arranged play date he had no choice in), Shiloh’s sort of pushy himself when it comes to trying to get along, and Cove thinks he’s just kind of unusual in how he interacts/reacts with people. They don’t click, basically.

Is there a way to have your character be a tsundere? And have Cove toughened up a bit due to that? Sorry if the is a stupid question! ^^;

Maybe? The options in the game aren’t based on those types of personality tropes and I don’t know them well enough to say if you can accurately find a way to make it work with the available options. But it’s not a stupid question, I’m sure plenty of other people have considered something similar c:

do voiced names work only with their exact spelling? cause my mc is called Sophia and one of the voiced names is Soffia so i was wondering but if only works like that it's fine (sorry if i made any mistakes, english isn't my first language) 

“Voice” and “text” are separate! You can pick the “voice” you want and then type in whatever “text” you prefer. And your English is really good.

Will OL:NF be based on a season/break like the first game? Or some other type of setting? 

Our Life: Now & Forever takes place over the full course of Autumn. So, the start of school and then into the fall holiday season type of time period.

Will we ever see a jealous cove😭😭 please im begging u- 

Only in small ways, really. Sadly, I’m just not someone who enjoys jealousy in stories and therefore I don’t know how to implement it in a way that feels enjoyable. Maybe I’ll figure out a angle I can work with in future projects.

Do you have any plans with Our Life once step 4 has been released along with step 3's DLCs? 

After the Step 3 DLCs and Step 4 we’ll be releasing the Cove wedding DLC, the Derek romance DLC, and then the Baxter romance DLC. The project will likely be considered fully complete at that point.

Hello, I just needed to first of all sat how amazed I was when I discovered this game. I thought I would be disappointed by the lack of love interests, but you worked so hard to make sure Cove is the Best Boy for so many different people!! It really has been my comfort game for a while now, and I think all the different choices you allow make it the best romance game I’ve played in my life. The only problem is now my expectations for love are Cove level, and no one can live up to that. You’ve put so much consideration to make this game super inclusive and I think it’s amazing. If I can ask, for the exclusive NSFW Patreon dlc, will it only be available for the month it comes out? Or could I become a patron months later and still be able to download it. I just don’t have a job right now otherwise I would LOVE to subscribe to your Patreon and definitely will once I have the money again!! Thank you so so much for making such a lovely game that’s brought me so much joy.

&

Hiya! I'm so sorry for sounding like a complete degenerate for asking, but will the nsfw moment on patreon still be available even if i'm not a patron of the month it comes out? (e.g. i didnt pay/join the necessary tier before the moment is released) Thank you for your hard work on OL, I really connected with Cove in a way I never anticipated.

Thank you very much for such kind words! The Patreon DLC will be up for download on the Patreon indefinitely once it’s done. Just like the normal DLCs, you can pay to get it whenever you like but it won’t be up for sale until it’s finished. So take all the time you need.

Sorry to bother you guys, but there was an earlier ask detailing the OL LI's love languages and I was just wondering- Would that be for them personally, as in what they do, or the love language they enjoy receiving the most? Because I know for some people it's different for both on giving and receiving and was a bit confused, haha. Sorry for the trouble, your games are really nice!

For Cove and Derek it’s what they like to receive and what they give. For Baxter, it’s what he likes to get. What he gives is tailored to his partner. He’s flexible that way~ And it’s no trouble.

asking (and also fanning... fanboying? fangirling? fanpersoning? screw it- from a distance) anonymously because my confidence is nonexistent.

will you be doing a kickstarter for our life: now and forever? i know it's probably been asked and mentioned before, but will you be doing a kickstarter akin to the one done for our life: beginnings and always? if so, will you be doing similar tier rewards? (if you guys do so, i will [politely] throw my money at you).

now, to the fan.. personing? FAN. uhm. to the part where this anonymous agender idiot will begin to act as the fan they are.

THE GAME IS SO. SO NICE. IT'S CUSTOMIZABLE. I'M REALLY HAPPY ABOUT THAT PART. AAAAA I ALSO ENJOY THAT YOU GAVE US THE OPTION TO JUST STAY BEST FRIENDS OR SOMETHING A8DBAIHEW- AND YOU INCLUDED AROS AND ACES IN THAT SEXUALITY CHOOSING PART- aaaAAA AND YOU MADE ELIZABETH FILIPINO- THANK YOU SO SO MUCH FOR CREATING SUCH AN INCLUSIVE GAME!!!

to summarize; will you be doing a kickstarter? and thank you for creating such a nice game. i, and likely the majority if not all of those who have played the game, am thankful.

Aw, thanks <3! I’m so happy it was such a nice experience for you. We are planning on having a Kickstarter for Our Life: Now & Forever. It’ll have similar rewards to the Our Life: O&A Kickstarter, but some changes will have to be made. Like, we’ll definitely need to increase the rate for getting a voiced name. Originally it was $3USD, which was super low for how much work it really took to add in a customized piece of voice acting, aha. Live and learn.

So sorry if you've already answered this, I looked but I couldn't find anything. Is the 18+ DLC coming out alongside the Step 3 DLC, or do they have different development timelines entirely? I'm so excited for all the DLC coming out in the future, and even though the release dates aren't out, I'm already counting down the days. :)

They have different development times and will come out separately. Despite taking place in the same Step period, they’re disconnected pieces of content and making progress on one doesn’t mean the other is closer to being finished. The normal Step 3 DLC is releasing first. It’s great to hear you’re looking forward to them!

Hey!! I'm absolutely LOVING Our Life! I have been pondering on one question though, what's Cove's ethnicity, if there is a set one? Or is it something we can Headcanon? 

&

hi hi! i wanted to say first of all that i absolutely adore our life. it's one of my favourite games of 2020, and i think it was just the perfect dose of positivity we all needed, even if you didn't intend to release it during such a hectic year lol! secondly, i wanted to say: if it's alright to ask, what ethnicity is cove? :-0 and what about his parents? i was just curious about it ^^)/ thank you!!

Cove’s mom, Kyra, is white. But his dad’s, Cliff’s, race doesn’t come up and players are able to headcanon it. So Cove is half white and half whatever you prefer Cliff to be! 

hello! there was a post on the patreon where you can run your fingers down cove's chest in errands - how do you get that scene? ♥ 

That was an old mistake on my part- you can only get that scene in the Ending rather Errands. You have to leave the big family dinner at the restaurant to go into the car, be dating Cove for a while, have Cove come see you there, and then mention using your hands when Cove makes a joke about hands.

in baxter’s dlc, is there any point where you can tell him about the previous renters of the condo? 

You can talk to him about that in the normal Step 3 DLC!

—– —– —– —–

Thank you for all the interest in our games everybody :D

We released a new FAQ! It answers common questions and we’ll keep adding more to it. Please check there before sending an ask. FAQ   Also, if you prefer to just see the main posts without all the asks/reblogs, feel free to follow our side account instead: GB Patch Updates Blog

[link4eva]

Kiro’s S2 Growing Troubles Company Project Translation [CN]

Hey! This is a continuation of Kiro’s Season 2 Campus Youth Company project which you can read here!

This translation was done through the power of Google Translate.

This translation contains spoilers for content that has not yet been released to the ENG. If you wish to not be spoiled then please don’t look below the cut.

Enjoy~

*Spoilers below for future content!*

[Stage 1]

Kiro: MC, did you see the notice that Teacher Huang posted in Moments? 

MC: What notice?

Kiro: Summer camp, the whole class together…. I really want to go. 

MC: I also want to go…. Sketching in the village at the foot of the mountain to escape the summer heat sounds very pleasant.

The director who came to participate in the pre-launch preparations of the film just stepped into the conference room and undoubtedly overheard our conversation.

Director: Do you mean the class that you re-lived high school with before?

MC: Well, Teacher Huang was the headteacher at the time, and we were just discussing their summer camp.

Director: Summer camp? It sounds too student-like.

Director: Anyway, there is still a while before that happens, so go if you want and take advantage of the time off to rest as soon as possible. And….

She thought about it for a moment and then gave us a smile.

Director: If this summer camp experience can be filmed, it will be good promotional material after the movie airs.

I met Kiro’s eyes and have already made a decision.

Kiro: Let me ask Teacher Huang first if we can participate. 

Kiro fiddled with his phone, typing and sending messages. I didn’t know how long he was going to be typing for so I leaned in to take a look….

It takes up more than a dozen lines of the text box.

After a while, Teacher Huang sent a voice message.

Teacher Huang: Of course, you’re very welcome to join us. Although you and MC spent only a short amount of time with us, you are still members of the class.

Teacher Huang: I will send you a registration form in a moment, you just have to fill it out and give it to me. The students would be very happy if they heard the news.

Kiro looked at me with a “yeah”, sent a thank-you reply, and when he raised his head again, he had a bright smile on his face.

On the day of departure, Kiro and I arrived at the designated place early to wait for the bus to arrive. *Changed some wording*

The departure time was set at 7 o’clock in the morning, but even still with it being midsummer, the sun was so fierce that people couldn’t open their eyes.

As I looked at the road, I put my hand on my forehead to block the sun. Kiro opened up his suitcase and put his fisherman’s hat on top of my head.

I turned my head and was about to talk to him when a blue and white bus had approached us and was slowing down.

Kiro greeted him as soon as he saw the bus number!

Kiro: 8516, it’s this one! 

When the bus stopped, he immediately took my suitcase and walked to the outside of the bus, put both suitcases into the storage, and stepped onto the bus.

Kiro: S-urprise! 

The students inside saw us getting on the bus, and at first, there was no reaction, and then burst into applause and cheers-- *Changed some wording*

Classmates: Kiro!

Classmates: Oh my God, are you coming?!

Kiro: Hey, long time no see~ Happy summer everyone~

Kiro: Teacher Huang said that this summer camp is a group activity that the whole class must participate in, and I can’t be absent of course.

Mr. Huang, who was sitting at the front, stood up and dragged Kiro and me onto the bus.

Teacher Huang: Kiro and MC, find a place to sit down and fasten your seatbelts.

Teacher Huang: Okay students,  now the whole class is here. I announce the official opening of the 3rd summer camp. *I think it was supposed to be “3rd” but I’m not entirely sure*

[Stage 2]

The itinerary of the summer camp is quite packed.

Occasionally, we would go up the mountain to sketch and take pictures with our classmates. We would also occasionally go to town to shoot some material for the film advertisements. 

By the third day, Kiro and I had collected a whole 5G’s worth of vlog material. Kiro was very satisfied with the results of this trip.

Kiro: After the fifteen-day summer camp is over, maybe I can go back to sort out the material and edit. *Changed some wording*

Kiro: By the way, are there any arrangements for the afternoon, or are we going up the mountain with them? 

Kiro and I were talking and walking to the door of the homestay. We ran into a few classmates, who we were closer to, sitting in the corner and whispering amongst each other. *Changed some wording*

Kiro glanced at me and leaned forward curiously.

Kiro: What cake? Are you talking about who has a birthday?

Classmate A: Hush! I’m staying in the same room with Shu Shu, and I happened to see her birthday when I checked it, which is today.

Classmate A: And it’s her eighteenth birthday this year, which is very important. We just want to give her a simple celebration.

Classmate B: We just took a look and there isn’t a store that delivers. So, we want to take a taxi into town and order the cake there.

MC: ….But if you leave now, you will definitely be late. Teacher Huang also arranged for the seniors in the village to tell you about folk tales.

Kiro took on this task, almost without thinking.

Kiro: It’s okay, the two of us can go buy cakes. 

Kiro: We visited the town a couple of days ago so we’re familiar with the route. Just leave it to us, you can go to class with peace of mind.

I also nodded and quickly agreed.

MC: We can also buy some decorative ribbons and balloons so that it will have a somewhat celebratory atmosphere.

Before they could say anything, we waved to them.

MC: Leave it to us~ Let’s keep in touch and call me if you need anything! 

(At the Cake Shop)

Shopkeeper: Our cake bases are all freshly made so you two will have to wait a while.

Shopkeeper: The cake you order is relatively big. In addition to writing “Happy Birthday” on it, you can also write 1-2 blessings.

As the shopkeeper said this, he took out a pen and paper and gave it to us.

Shopkeeper: Write the blessing on the paper and then I’ll take it to the pastry chef.

Kiro: Okay~ Let’s think about it first.

Kiro took the pen and paper and sat down with me in the corner of the cake shop by the window.

Kiro: What would be the best blessing to write to an eighteen-year-old birthday star….

MC: It’s a bit difficult, so let’s change our mindset. What did you want most when you were eighteen?

Kiro put the pen cap on his forehead and thought about it for a while.

Kiro: I didn’t think too much about what I wanted “most”. There were already a lot of things going on at the time, and there was no time to stop and think about it. 

Kiro: What about you, what did you want when you were eighteen?

MC: I didn’t really have anything specific either, it’s just that there is a feeling that it’s important to get through each day one by one.

MC: Hope that from this day on, life will change something. I hope that from this day on, nothing will change in my life. *Changed some wording*

Kiro: That’s it.

Kiro looked at the crowd coming and going outside the window. After a while, he took off the pen cap and seemed to have an idea. 

[Stage 3]

That night, when they came back from the mountain, Kiro and I had already decorated the living room with balloons and flowers.

The owner of the hotel kindly gave us several large boxes of Coke. The red cans filled the long table and made up the words “Happy Birthday”.

Shu Shu’s eyes were covered by someone from behind as she was led step by step.

When everyone arrived, the student who was covering her eyes, released his hand. She opened her eyes bit by bit and saw the lively surprise in front of her.

She was at a loss for a while as she covered her eyes in surprise and laughed twice, her eyes welled up as if she was holding back tears.

Shu Shu: Haha I knew it!

Shu Shu: Damn, you secretly planned a surprise birthday party…. Originally, I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to cause you trouble.

Kiro took out the cake from the refrigerator and put it on the table carefully.

Kiro: The eighteenth birthday is very important, so it should be celebrated! 

I drew two tissues from the tissue box on the table and wiped her tears.

MC: The birthday star can’t shed tears today, wipe them quickly and prepare to blow out the candles to make a wish.

When Shu Shu took the tissue, she smiled at me with tears in her eyes and took my hand. *Changed some wording*

Shu Shu: I’m overwhelmed with emotions right now. *Changed some wording*

Shu Shu: I actually didn’t plan to celebrate my eighteenth birthday. Growing up is a very important thing. Am I not ready yet?....

Shu Shu: Say it out, don’t laugh at me. *Changed some wording*

I couldn’t help touching her head and using the remaining tissue in my hand to wipe off the two teardrops on her face.

MC: You don’t have to think so seriously….

I winked at Kiro, and he quickly leaned over, putting on a brilliant smile to comfort Shu Shu.

Kiro: It doesn’t matter, it’s normal to have such thoughts.

Kiro: I have had similar thoughts before. I think it must be very hard to grow up. It is necessary to face all kinds of challenges in this world alone…. 

Kiro: No longer can I be carefree like a child.

Shu Shu was obviously touched by Kiro’s words. She nodded to Kiro with affirmation in her eyes, waiting for him to continue.

Kiro: But actually, did you know that growing up is more fun than being a child?

The dozen or so pairs of eyes in the living room were all looking at Kiro. It seemed that they were all confused, but they didn’t say the same as Shu Shu. 

They all seemed to want to hear the answer to the question from Kiro’s mouth.

Kiro: No matter how carefree life was when I was young, I always lived within the limits of freedom given by adults. 

Kiro: Only when we take that step into adulthood, the door to exploring the world is officially opened to us. The most intuitive is the freedom to control time and money. 

Kiro: You can book plane tickets at any time for an impromptu trip, and you can lie down on a comfortable bed for a whole day.

Kiro: You can earn money to buy things you like, and fill the refrigerator with your favourite drinks and snacks.

While talking, Kiro and I looked at each other.

Kiro: You can also confess openly to the person you like, and walk openly while holding hands on the street. 

I nodded my head, knowingly. Instead, he patted Shu Shu on the shoulder and continued to encourage her with a smile. 

Kiro: So don’t worry, if you blow out the eighteenth birthday candle, you won’t become a boring adult in an instant.

Kiro: Look at me, I have liked playing music and games since I was a child. Even now, I still play music and games in the same way.

Kiro: Believe me, you can freely choose your lifestyle and like it too.

[Stage 4]

Seeing the thoughtful expressions of my classmates, I couldn’t help but blend into the atmosphere.

MC: Do you have plans for what you want to do in adulthood?

MC: When I was a child, I always thought that I must go to an idol concert after work and buy tickets for the first row.

There was a burst of laughter from all around, and the students chimed in one by one.

Classmate A: I just want to have the freedom to drink milk tea. My mother said that milk tea is junk food and never allows me to drink it. I want to drink milk tea in my dreams. *This kid’s a big mood lol*

Classmate B: I want to own a cat. My parents don’t like pets, especially my mother, who dislikes cats that shed hair. I said I would clean up after them myself, but she still refuses.

Classmate B: Once I start working, I will move out and adopt a stray cat.

Classmate C: My parents are very supportive of me. They agree on whatever I want, so I want to be independent early on, find a better job, and earn money to be filial to them.

They talked enthusiastically, drawing up a blueprint to be fulfilled in the future.

In the middle of the conversations, the stars in the mountains are all bright, vying to flash the most dazzling light in the Milky Way.

I quietly approached Kiro and sighed softly.

MC: Eighteen is a very beautiful age.

MC: It’s great to have hopes and dreams in my heart.

Kiro smiled at me with his arms folded and his head tilted happily.

Kiro: What are you talking about, MC? Every age is like this, and the age with hopes and dreams is not only eighteen. 

I accepted his smile knowingly, opened the cake box with him, and put Shu Shu’s birthday candles on top.

Kiro: Come on, let’s get back to the task at hand. Turn off the lights--

As I lighted the candles, the classmates also stopped talking and sang a happy birthday song in unison.

Classmates: Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you….

MC: Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you~

Kiro: Come and make a wish.

Shu Shu was pushed to the front by everyone, there were tears in her eyes and an uncontrollable smile, her hands were folded to her chest.

Shu Shu: Shall we make a wish together?

This proposal was approved by everyone, Kiro and I were also pushed towards the cake.

The light of the candles flickered in the darkness, reflected in everyone’s eyes, and then slowly, they closed their eyes one after another.

I secretly looked at Kiro, and under the dim light, he opened his eyes and stared seriously at every face present.

Perhaps the subject of “youth” and “growth” has a new meaning in his mind.

After some exploration, it will become his superb performance in the movie.

Kiro: Shu Shu, can you blow the candles? 

Kiro asked softly, his eyes fell on a line of blessings on the cake-- Listen to the inner voice and move forward freely.

[Stage 5]

The night before we left the town, Kiro took me to take a walk outside as a final farewell to this summer camp.

Involuntarily, we talked about the confusion of the students about “growth”.

Kiro: In fact, growing up is not terrible, but the journey of facing the unknown is terrifying. 

Kiro: When I first made a movie, I was also very nervous. Everyone on the set seemed to be very experienced and skilled. Only I was a novice.

Kiro: I often couldn’t sleep in the middle of the night, and I kept thinking about what to do the next day in my head-- not deliberately, but uncontrollable.

Kiro: Every time that I feel I can’t do it, I just bite the bullet and move forward.

He raised his head, letting the evening breeze in the mountains ruffle his bangs, his eyes looking towards the night were clearer than the blue in the sky.

Kiro: Haha, if you tell the kids this kind of thing, they might feel more scared. 

Kiro: But the process is not scary at all.

Kiro: When I look back, I will only find it difficult, but it’s nothing.

He said, turning his head to see the road we have travelled.

Kiro: As it is now, I walked a long way without knowing it.

My heart was filled with the tranquillity of the night, I breathed in the fresh air and stretched out my arms.

MC: And-- There are always beautiful scenes along the road, which makes people forget the tediousness of going forward.

I lowered my eyes and looked at him with a chuckle.

MC: Maybe there will be a very interesting person who can walk with him.

I stopped and stretched out my hand to hold Kiro’s sleeve.

MC: I’ve been thinking these two days, there really isn’t a single moment when we will suddenly change from children to adults….

MC: Like me, I often forget that I am already an adult, and people around me often complain about me, just like a small child. 

MC: Maybe it’s because someone has been tolerating me….

MC: No matter what wild ideas I have, he will agree with me, understand me, and support me unconditionally.

MC: Surrounded by this kind of love, I may never be able to become an adult.

Kiro was taken aback and then curled the corners of his mouth, smiling gently at me in the quiet summer night.

Kiro: Who said so? *This line came out kinda wonky so I hope this is right*

Kiro: I have the people who support me the most, understand me the best, and tolerate me in every possible way, making me feel that I can do whatever I want. 

Kiro: Often more capricious than children, and often makes me feel lucky.

Kiro: --The world of an adult is wonderful, and the world of a child is very happy.

He stepped forward and I saw the stars, the moon, and the mountains reflected in his eyes as well as myself in between.

Kiro: And I can have two worlds at the same time. 

End

[cheri-translates]

[CN] Season 2 Summary (Volume 2: Ch 2 - 5)

🍒 Warning: Detailed spoilers from S2 🍒

Along with the update on 3 June 2021, the CN server released a “Plot Review” which contains bullet-point summaries of S2 :>

Volume 1 Summary: here

Your company is suspected of distributing prohibited “Small Syringes”. While being questioned by reporters, Gavin handcuffs you, and you cooperate

“I’ll escort her myself.”

In the STF interrogation room, you don’t flinch despite repeated questioning, because you’re very clear about what you have to do. When Gavin comes to the interrogation room, he is very straightforward and asks what you wish to talk to him about

[Extra tidbit from Cheri] The person who interrogates MC at first is Tang Chao, whose Evol enables him to detect lies. Afterwards, he gets scolded by Gavin because he wasn’t supposed to be there LOL

It turns out that he already guessed that you were the one who lodged the report. This way, you could talk to Gavin in an absolutely safe location, and also lure the actual middleman involved in the distribution of the drugs

He never doubted your innocence

Gavin plans to use this opportunity to purge the STF of traitors. Through the surveillance cameras of STF, you watch as Gavin organises all sorts of work in a systematic manner. In his spare time, he pays close attention to you

After investigating them one by one, Gavin finally lock onto one particular STF agent

While an STF agent is sending you out, you feel that the situation is odd. Just as you formulate your conclusion, you hear Gavin’s urgent voice

“Get away from that person!”

Gavin fires a shot, and the bullet whizzes towards you

“That person is F-45!”

F-45, the traitor, has an ability to swap objects. He has a companion. Not only did he swap positions with his companion, but he also swapped positions with a STF badge. He has been lying low, waiting for an opportunity to take action. Now, he swaps positions with you, leaving you to die

At imminent peril, Gavin expedites his Evol to stop that bullet, then uses this chance to strike down F-45, who attempts a sneak attack. The identity of the other traitor is also confirmed - he’s a member bearing the serial number U-2. His ability is using sound to create explosions

U-2 uses his Evol to create a series of explosions. You and Gavin are left deep in the scene of the fire

Knowing full well that fire has a significant meaning to Gavin, you can’t help but feel very worried. But Gavin is far stronger than you think. Because of himself, and because of you, Gavin doesn’t retreat in the large fire, and finally subdues U-2, handcuffing him. Unexpectedly, U-2 uses his own body to create an even greater explosion!

You and Gavin eventually obtain a narrow victory, while the two traitors die in the sea of fire

From F-45′s final memories, you discover that they chose to serve an anti-Evol criminal organisation called Gray Rhino. It seems that there are more complexities and darkness hidden behind this incident

Gavin is sent to the hospital, and your company is formally cleared of all suspicion regarding the distribution of prohibited drugs. More importantly, you and Gavin have reunited again

In your heart, you're certain that even though the both of you are in different camps, you have mutual trust in each other, walking shoulder to shoulder on an even more rugged path, heading towards a future which won’t be destroyed

Your subordinate from Black Swan tells you that the STF has found the production factory for the “Small Syringes”. They seize the opportunity to shift ten boxes away in secret, and you tell them to analyse it as soon as possible

At the same time, you decide to produce a show related to Evol after a series of discussions in the community spring up after what happened with the company before. This way, more people can pay close attention to and ponder over Evol

Lucien accepts an interview on the show

Just as you recall how he had once said similar words, you sense that there’s something strange about a mother berating her son along the roadside. Under the mother’s continuous provocation, the boy’s Evol is stimulated and goes completely out of control. The gravity in the surroundings changes

You notice that this child was once given a dose of the “Small Syringes” by his mother

Being rolled into the area where gravity is in chaos, Lucien protects you with a white protective screen. With your assistance, Lucien replicates the boy’s gravity Evol, averting a disaster

Worried about this mother-son duo, you inquire about what will happen to them in the future. Lucien doesn’t give you a direct answer. Instead, he asks you a question - would you choose to pursue this matter or stay far away?

“In that case, continue searching. I look forward to your answer.”

You can see a glint of admiration in Lucien’s eyes

Afterwards, in order to make it easier for you to rest, he takes you to a desolate train station. Perhaps you didn’t realise it, but the two of you have already entered a strange space

The two of you board the train. While conversing with Lucien, you verify the importance of CORE, and also make clear that whether or not there is Evol, the world will continue to advance, and will continue to progress

You fall asleep on the train. When you wake up, what meets your vision is a wheat field with heavy snowfall

You once again hear the conversation you shared with Lucien when you were a child, but you hear an overlapping echo. Lucien explains that the dreamworld seems to be a suppressed memory

The two of you open a door. You see that the world is divided and upside down

Lucien says that this world hasn’t been divided, but “folded” - things that appeared to be going backwards are perhaps undergoing another form of advancement

In the dreamworld, the way you’ve pushed yourself over the years and the negative emotions surge forth. Fortunately, Lucien creates a tiny safety zone for you

“You can walk slowly. Knowing that you’re always walking is enough.”

Even though it’s a dreamworld, Lucien also tells you that the future you want will definitely exist

As Lucien leaves the dreamworld, he once again confirms the sense of misalignment that he had sensed

He vaguely senses that he has tossed aside a very long past, and decides to begin research on this world

At this moment, he notices an invitation card in his drawer

“You’ve worked hard.”

Away from the shoal, in the depths of a boundless ocean, Lucien continually sinks, gradually closing his eyes

You send a report containing the components of “Small Syringes” to Victor. However, he doesn’t check his e-mail as quickly as he usually does

While you’re feeling puzzled, you receive shocking news -

The CEO of LFG has met with a car accident

You immediately rush to his ward. Fortunately, he isn’t in a serious condition

For his safety, you arrange for a bodyguard to protect him in the hospital, but Victor flatly rejects this

“Since you’re this worried, stay behind personally.”

As such, you stay in the ward next door, keeping watch on Victor

In the ward, you hand over the results of your investigation to Victor. The analysis shows that there are extremely small traces of CORE in the “Small Syringes”. Gray Rhino, which allowed the drugs to be distributed, has always been against Evol. Perhaps they intend to use the drugs to harm people who wish to obtain Evol. You can’t help but wonder how that person with inky ash eyes is related to everything

Late at night, you spot Victor along the corridor as he observes the city lights. He tells you that he’s looking for someone. Meeting his meaningful gaze, you recall the promise you once made to “find the him from the past”. During this conversation, he also tells you that joining BS was meant for a greater benefit, and to see how far one can go with an Evol ability

You receive news that the driver who caused the accident has regained consciousness, and you plunge into his memories. You discover that because he became bankrupt after a lawsuit with LFG, he participated in the Hunter Game

While attempting to escape the game, he witnessed his camaraderies getting killed in the process. Just as you wonder if he attacked Victor because he had no other choice, a shadow slips into his ward, and he doesn’t have good intentions

You give Victor an urgent signal while attempting to flee

At this dangerous moment, you receive a message from the “past” -

“Why are you in a daze? Run!”

You take action, following Victor’s commands in your mind as you dodge

The person is stalled in the lift, and you fall into Victor’s arms. He pulls you to hide in a nearby room, and you manage to escape

When you had sent the warning earlier, Victor also received a message from the “past”, which enabled him find you

After Victor is discharged, the two of you conjecture that the Hunter Game could have been designed to target Evolvers. The reason why people were silenced after trying to escape could perhaps be due to the mastermind wanting to hide something

After you leave, Victor receives a corgi plush that you sent. He senses that when it comes to things related to you, he will inexplicably become a little more amiable

There are many problems to resolve, and all these conflicts point towards one source: the Black Swan CORE. He decides to personally take part in the Hunter Game as an individual participating in matched betting

On a certain day, the helicopter lands on the roof of LFG. Like always, Victor clarifies information pertaining to work with his employees

“The remaining approvals for today are to be left with Goldman for now. I’ll make time to have a look.”

At a certian location, a sniper rifle takes aim at him. In the next second, the trigger is pulled

You receive an invitation to the Hunter Game. At this moment, Kiro gives you a call to ask if you’ve seen anything strange. You mention the Hunter Game

Kiro’s voice turns disjointed. A man with inky ash eyes suddenly appears. Your mind grows hazy. Just before you completely lose consciousness, you see the symbol of a stone tablet, which has thistles and thorns on it

When you reawaken, you discover that you’ve been roped into the Hunter Game

You do your best to defeat a player who is attacking you. Unfortunately, you meet another person who is better skilled than you. Just as you’re suppressed and losing all hope, you hear a familiar voice. The person in front of you is Kiro

After dealing with the player, he pastes a microchip on the metal necklace you’re wearing. This way, your movements won’t be tracked. He also guides you to a hole of a tree which is concealed very well

In this insane game, you can finally rest for a while

“In this game, the only way to accumulate points is to attack others.”

You look at him, telling him resolutely that the two of you must leave this place safely

Just as you wonder how Kiro managed to enter the arena, the metal necklace gives out a reminder: it’s time for tools to be circulated

The two of you witness as a player is killed while fighting for tools. From this, you discover that players can temporarily strengthen their own Evol by injecting themselves with drugs provided by the game

Through an analysis, the two of you conjecture that the mastermind is also searching for CORE

At this moment, the game announces a mission - you have turned into the target of every single player

Fortunately, due to the tacit understanding you share with Kiro, your coordination enables the both of you to shake off numerous players. Afterwards, the two of you accidentally discover a strange building. Closely compacted infrared rays surround the building, which might result in gunfire. Withstanding the stress, Kiro opens his mini laptop and resolves the crisis before him

“This is the magic of a superhero!”

After saying this, he pulls you into a run towards the forest. The sudden explosions leave you two falling next to a precipice

Kiro grips your wrist tightly. Noticing that he’s straining himself, you think of asking him to let go. Seeming to see through your intentions, he tells you not to give up, and that he has already made arrangements

You choose to believe him

Just as what Kiro says, someone pulls the two of you up the cliff just before Kiro completely exhausts his energy

Kiro finds a way to remove the metal necklace. He looks at you with a gentle gaze, but you feel that something’s wrong-

“Now, have a good sleep. When you wake up, don’t mention this game to anyone. Then... forgive me.”

His Evol puts you into a deep sleep

He removes your silver necklace, puts it on his own neck, then leaves by himself

When you wake up, you find yourself in an underground passage. Just as you think of finding the exit as quickly as possible, you hear Shaw’s voice from the other side of the wall

You attempt to call out to him, but receive no response. Thinking it was just a misperception, you accelerate your footsteps, continuing to search for the exit

On the other side, Shaw has been trying to call you. Because your phone is turned off, and his phone is out of battery, he’s unable to contact you

[Extra tidbit from Cheri] He also attempts to charge his phone with his Evol but fails LOL

He pinches a photograph of a stone tablet. A symbol “8″ is engraved on the stone tablet which is surrounded by thistles and thorns

At this point, you, who were innocently roped into the Hunter Game, arrive at the exit and meet Shaw

“I didn’t expect you to be the one here.”

Shaw sits on the railway tracks as he looks at you, an icy smile on his lips

You pause where you are, testing the waters and asking him what he’s doing here

His tone brims with disdain and alienation. Even though you don't understand what he’s saying, you can sense a certain danger, and there seems to be a misunderstanding between the two of you

In the next moment, accompanied by the roar of a train’s whistle, the sound of thunder completely fills the horizon

Volume 3 (Ch 6 - 9): here

More S2 content: here

A detailed translation of Gavin’s part is available here!

[hoperoiselover]

I wrote a short ninjago story about Zane and Jay talking about their trauma (sorry i can’t write descriptions well) I hope you guys like it and I have more on the way! :D Also my friend helped me edit this as well! --------- TW: implied death and spoilers for seasons 3 -15   I sat on my bed, scrolling through my phone when I stumbled upon a post that puzzled me. “I wonder how much trauma the Ninja’s have gotten…? You’d think they’d be scared of certain triggers, right?” someone had posted.   Trauma? What do they mean by that? I know the physical medical term for head trauma, yet it seems there might be another meaning to this word that is not in my database. I got up from my bed, put my phone into my pocket, and opened my bedroom door. I walked into the living room to see Jay playing on his Nintendo. He’s most likely playing Animal Crossing. I walked over to him and sat on the unoccupied side of the couch. He lowered his device when he noticed me and smiled before greeting me. “Hiya, Zane! Whatcha up to?” He said. “I have a dilemma that I hope you can help me solve.” I said to the Lightning Ninja. “Oh! Well, how can I help?” Jay enthusiastically said to me, pausing his game and putting it aside.    “I was scrolling on my phone when I found this comment that stated about us having trauma. Yet the only form of trauma that I know of is the medical term. Is there another definition for trauma that I am unaware of?” I explained to him. His smile faded into a frown, causing me to feel concerned. “Jay, are you alright? Did I say something wrong?” I was puzzled, but luckily, he started to talk once again.     “Well, trauma can also be mental and emotional.” “Mental and emotional?” Jay noticed my puzzled look. “You see… Some people have these… awful experiences that lead to PTSD, or life-long trauma. These… occurrences tend to be triggered by a person, an object… a sound… or even a memory.” Jay explained, slowing down towards the end. Maybe the post was right? What if some of us do have trauma? Do I have trauma…?     “Uhm… Jay… Do we have trauma?” I reluctantly asked him. The Lightning Ninja sighed and nodded his head. “Yup, heh… We do…. I get scared when thinking about pirates due to an… adventure we went through. Oh, right, you don’t have it in your memory.” He said, noticing my puzzled look. “And it was traumatic seeing you die multiple times, ehe…” Jay laughed nervously, fidgeting with his fingers and looking down.   “Oh… I… I am so sorry for traumatizing you, Jay…. I didn’t mean to…” I feel guilty for scaring Jay…. I didn’t mean to. Jay is a very nice boy who only wants to see his friends happy. “Hehe, it’s OK, Zane. I know you did it to protect Ninjago… I also do know that Kai is still traumatized by the water and watching… Nya… die...” Jay gulped. That’s when I noticed the problem. I embraced Jay and caressed the back of his head.    “S-sorry for that, hehe…” Jay said, still in my arms. I gave a slightly tighter squeeze, “I’m sorry for starting this conversation….” I said. ”Jay, have you seen me show any symptoms of trauma?”     … We stayed silent. I released him from my embrace; he leaned on my shoulder. He sighed again, “Zane… yes, you do show it. But let me ask: What scares you the most..? What makes you tense up…? What makes you vulnerable…?” … Jay stopped leaning on me and sat in a fetal position. “I-....” I paused. “... I am scared of many things… They make me feel… powerless…. Vex… the Overlord… The Mechanic... and… becoming less human…. But,” I looked at the wall to my left, “what I fear the most is losing you.” … I could feel my mechanical heart beating at a higher rate. Memories from the Never Realm and the day I experienced death for the first time crashed onto me like a huge tidal wave. I could feel my body tensing up… until I felt Jay’s warm hand rest on my shoulder. “I’m sorry, Zane…” Jay said quietly. “I didn’t know…”      I gave a reassuring smile, “It’s OK. I was simply answering your question.” Jay stared at me in a sympathetic way. “... Oh, come here, you tin-head!” And so he pulled me into a hug. I hugged him back and felt something lift in me. I felt happy… and understood and relieved. I could feel the raging storm inside me ease down quickly. I could even feel the sunshine…      After a while, Jay let go of me and said, “Well, I don’t know about you, but I feel drained! I’m going to take a nap, alright?” “OK. I feel quite exhausted, too.” Jay saved his game, exited to the main screen, and put the console back in place. “Alright, Zane. I’ll see you later!” Jay said, leaving the room to go into his own. I sat there, staring at the main screen. He forgot to turn off the TV. I chuckled as I grabbed the remote and pressed the “OFF” button. I sighed and stood up to go to my own room. A nice nap will get my thinking gears working again.     … Maybe we weren’t OK…? Maybe we need help? But we really just need each other. I remembered my last words before my first time dying as I walked into my room. I gave a forlorn-sort-of smile as I layed in my bed and stared at the wooden ceiling. … It will always be about family. And I love this family more than anything.   T h e  e n d :]

[rainstormfes]

Attack on Titan S4 Ep6

Ya know... i thought i wouldnt make another one of these but OH WELL EP6 OPENED UP MORE THINGS ABT THIS AMAZING STORY SO I’M MAKING ANOTHER POST TO RANTTTTT

So again SPOILER WARNING I’m gonna be talking about Attack on Titan: The Final Season Ep6

FIRST OF ALL can i just say the war hammer titan LOOKS SO FRICKIN COOLLLLLL like that is the coolest frickin ability BY FAR THAT WE HAVE EVER SEEN

Eren’s hot.

Ok but also i just wanna comment on the fact that he’s changed SO MUCH like PHEWWWW the character development is amazing. He went from such an energetic kid to this stoic, always analyzing, ‘i have no choice’ man and it gives me SO much whiplash.

Mikasa’s hot

Jean glowed up and is now hot

Floch’s hair isn’t that weird spiral thingy i’m proud 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

MY BBY GIRL SASHA IS HOT BUT ALSO BBY WHO HURT YOU YOU’RE SO MELLOW NOW :((

Whatta glo up connie Y E S 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

ok THE PARALLELSSSS this ss alone holds the same vibes as eren on the boat in 845 and he was swearing he’d kill every last titan. GOSH YES I LOVE THESE PARALLELS SO MUCH.

This part hurt my heart so much bc we know that THIS ONLY HAPPENED. BECAUSE THE MARLEYANS WANTED TO RETAKE PARADIS FOR DUMB RESOURCES so they were like ‘AIGHT LETS GO KILL EVERYONE ON PARADIS’ and then that just triggered the chain reaction of the walls being broken down and eren’s rage being sparked etc etc like i imagine none of this wouldve happened if they WEREN’T GREEDY. I mean sure grisha might’ve done smth if wall maria’s first breach didn’t happen but it wouldn’t have had as much of an influence as wall maria’s breach had

Oh yea ALSO i’d like to give ayaneru (gabi’s seiyuu) a special mention cause the scream gabi let out around the time when udo was getting trampled and it was just settling in that zofia and udo were dead was executed SO. WELL. The TERROR in her voice was *chef’s kiss*. (weird sentence but seriously her scream along with the screen showing eren just perfectly juxtaposed the situation. Eren’s gone through this shiz before. Oh he knows what every single child that’s being orphaned right now is going through. But GOSH DANG IT HE HAS NO CHOICE CAUSE ALL THE PARADIS PPL WANT IS FREEDOM AND THEY’RE NOT GONNA GET IT UNLESS THEY LITERALLY STOP EVERYONE TRYING TO GET IN THEIR WAY BUT THE PEOPLE GETTING IN THEIR WAY ALSO HAVE THEIR REASONS AS WELL)

I LIKE THIS FRAME A LOT. LOOK AT THEM. THEY’RE ALL GROWN UP. THEY LOOK SO HOT. WOW 😍

O H ?

THE MANS HAS ARRIVEDDDDDD

Gosh he looks so hot. I love how he’s called by name probably cause zeke, pieck, and reiner were like ‘YALL BEWARE OF THIS GUY AIGHT’

aND I KNOW everyone’s made connections to mikasa wearing eren’s scarf still and levi wearing the og survey corps cape to represent erwin and every single life they ever lost in the walls BUT GOSH DANG IMMA PUT IT HERE CAUSE IT DESERVES TO BE ACKNOWLEDGED. GOSH. AND NEXT EP LEVI IS GONNA FIGHT ZEKE AGAIN I AM SOOOOOO READY FOR LEVI VS BEAST TITAN PT2

Oh yea also, I just love the added detail of basically everyone using the interior police 3DMG equipment that was “specifically designed to kill humans” along w the thunder spears. BUT THEN LEVI USES THE OG 3DMG EQUIPPED W ONLY SWORDS CAUSE HE AND HANJI ARE THE LAST REMAINING OG SURVEY CORPS MEMBERS AND TO SEE HIM REPRESENT EVERYONE THAT HAD TO BE SACRIFICED TO MAKE IT TO THE MAINLAND IS JUST *CHEF’S KISS*

THIS. T H I S FRICKIN SCENE. Porco’s like ‘what?! these humans know i’m a titan right? they know that and yet they’re coming to kill me?!?!’ MY GOSH YES OFC THEY ARE.

All humans learn to adapt to their environments (i’d like to believe) faster than any other species on this earth AND GOSH DANG DUMPING HUMANS IN A PRISON FILLED WITH TITANS THEY’RE BOUND TO LEARN HOW TO DEFEND THEMSELVES EVENTUALLY. As eren once put it, the survey corps are made up of a bunch of weirdos. But that’s what their world needed. Weirdos brave enough and stupid enough and curious enough to want to figure out how to kill titans and figure out their certain quirks and behaviors.

Totally understandable how, if s4 was released first, we would see the paradis ppl as demons bc titan killing humans?! That’s never been SEEN in Liberio or all of the continental mainland for that matter. ITS JUST SO FUNNY TO SEE HIM FREAKING OUT like that’s what DECADES of living with titans has done for the humanity within the walls hehehe.

ALSO i bet the rest of the titan shifters are gonna be like ‘wtf’ seeing LEVI (who is one of the shortest among them) WIELDING BASICALLY TOOTHPICKS in their eyes. O H my gosh i really wanna see more reactions from the titan shifters cause it’ll be HILARIOUS. Their minds being absolutely blown after only believing that the only thing that can kill titans is other titans is just so funny. YALL’S HIGHER UPS WERE THE REASON THEY EVEN ADAPTED IN THE FIRST PLACE BC THEY WERE FORCED INTO THAT HELL AND NO WAY DID THEY JUST GIVE UP.

And ofc this beautiful frame. I personally absolutely frickin love the cgi that they implement. IT LOOKS SO COOL AND EVERYTHING from the TITANS to the 3DMG just looks AMAZING

Gosh this episode, again, reinforces the idea that both sides are fighting for their own justified beliefs. Like ofc i wanna root for the paradis ppl and honestly they kinda deserve the victory after so long of just losing countless and lives and hope. Liberio and marley in general hasn’t faced that kind of loss yet. Like all theyve ever fought is PEOPLE. Imagine fighting against an enemy that is SO much more powerful and unpredictable than you. BUT on the flip side on the mainland, everyone still has loved ones they dont want to lose. And eldians are still highly persecuted as well so they have also fought to win favor with the marleyans and not get killed for the shallow reason that their ancestors killed many people and that they should take responsibility for that. For example falco (and his brother) is trying to protect their family and the girl that he likes. And gabi herself is probably being held on high expectations cause she’s related to reiner. Everyone has their struggles. It’s just... whose side do you want to be on?

Anywaysssss cant wait for ep7 :3

[beneaththemasks]

Beast, Fifteen, Dead Apple and Fyodor´s ability put togheter

The first time I watched Bungou I didn't pay much attention to be honest and that lead me to committing a big mistake and that big mistake is what brings me here today.

This is a theory I´ve been working on for a long time now.

Before anything else I have to tell you that this is something I came up with entirely by myself, I don´t know if anyone has already written something similar to this, so any similitude is pure coincidence.

DISCLAIMER: this contains spoilers from the manga and light novels and is quite long, so read at your own risk.

Any hateful comment will be simply ignored, this is just something I'm sharing with you because it makes sense to me and I want to know what you think.

Please excuse my english if it gets bad at times since it isn't my first language.

Let´s begin:

I´ll start talking to you about some guy named “Randou” who was presented in the light novel ''Fifteen” as the responsible for the mafia´s predecessor return and the Arahabaki incident.

For those of you who don´t remember him, here´s a picture.

Ok so, you might wonder why I'm bringing him up.

If he was supposed to be a forgettable face from the beginning, another extra character in the story, then why didn´t I forget him? Why do I mention him before anything?

The answer is simple: I can forget a face I´ve seen once or twice but not one I´ve seen thrice.

“What do you mean? we only saw the man one time” 

You´re totally right, however that wasn´t the case for me.

Confusing his face was the big mistake I made and the one that lead me to building this net of theories and clues that I'm putting together right here right now:

Even though the first time we see Fyodor´s face is at the ending of the second season and then again in Dead Apple, I remind you that I wasn't paying attention at all (like literally guys I already told you about how I would call tachihara “bad tanizaki” just because they looked the same to me). Due to my lack of attention, after finishing the “cannibalism” arc. and becoming more familiar with Fyodor´s face it occurred to me that he was the same guy involved in the arahabaki incident.

Why? because I can so I did.

My brain automatically assumed these guys were the same person just because they were dressed as if they were going to sleep on the top of the Everest for a whole month and because their faces were equally sad...

Of course, when I finished the anime and started reading the manga I was totally confused when Dazai asked Fyodor what his ability was, since I thought him and Randou were the same person, therefore I thought they shared ability.

After that I had to rewatch the whole anime and then realized how high I was when I watched it the first time.

But even when I managed to get the whole story right I still couldn't stop thinking about Randou, he was still a mystery, but more than the man himself, his story and the order in which they were presented by Kafka were somehow strange.

So after reading “Beast'' I came up with a few theories about the book being canonically in that alternate universe, because for me, even if Beast was supposed to be just a spin off written to promote the release of Dead Apple, it couldn´t be that and only that.

I just can´t accept  that “Kafka wrote a 200-page novel to promote a movie that had nothing to do with it when he was asked to just write a 50-page short story” because he just felt like doing it. I knew from the deep bottom of my heart that he was not the kind to write just for fanservice.

So I came up with this idea: “What if the release of Beast and fifteen are more important than we think?”

Despite the first time we see fyodor´s face being at the end of the second season, the first time we see him meeting Dazai, is during dead apple. However, he seems to be just an extra character, someone who doesn't seem to add much to the story at first sight (except for when he turns Shibusawa into a big dragon).

But if we think about it, the same happens with the mentioning of the book in “Beast” and with Randou´s appearance in “Fifteen”.

In these three stories, the book, Randou and Fyodor are like an app running in the background of your cell phone, they are responsible for some kind of event and or incident that we cannot see now but that eventually will go out to light.

These are all very small hints, but that's why it is important, the smaller the better.

We can´t forget that Kafka has always been a mastermind of hiding evidence in plain sight.

He wrote and published 3 stories at the same time  that have nothing in common and then used them to promote each other. He decided not to wait any longer nor release them earlier because they´re relevant to each other even when they don't seem to be. They are like a building in the middle of the city, we see it but we never get the chance to observe it because of all that's happening around it.

But as far as we know Randou dies at the end of fifteen. How could he possibly be related to Fyodor if they never met?

The importance here is not his death or them meeting, maybe not even Randou himself but what happened before his entrance to the PM and after his death.

As far as we know, Randou used to be an european spy tasked to investigate a powerful entity of power in japan and sent to steal it. However, during that mission he was betrayed by his friend who tried to kill him but is Randou who ended up killing him instead.

Nevertheless, in the story we never get to know why his friend betrayed him nor what is that so called “source of energy” that the japanese government has been secretly guarding.

we 

never

know

until now (?)

Towards the end:

What if that “source'' is actually the book itself and his friend tried to kill him to keep it for himself and escape with it? 

Even more important:

What if Randou, after killing his friend, decides to steal the book but forgets about it and it´s power after losing his memory in the Arahabaki incident? 

These explanations can perfectly fill a void we never even noticed was there: Randou dies without remembering that he has a very important item with him, which is the reason for which he was once chased by the GSS (an agrupation that is connected to the Guild who we already know was searching for the book as well) and the same Dazai could have stolen after the Port Mafia kept his belongings when he died.

Please please pleaaaaaaseeee finish the idea.

After writing for 2 days, tying knots and untying them, reading and rereading, remembering details and searching for others i couldn't remember, this is my final conclusion:

 Fyodor´s ability could be nothing more and nothing less than the book itself.

The proof of that being:

-All we know is his ability “Crime and Punishment” is presented as a perfect complement to one another. When he explains why Sibusawa´s mist didn't affect him he says “it´s because crime and punishment are good friends” which can mean that for one to appear, the other has to do something, that is to say, he has to commit a crime to receive punishment.

-We can assume that as someone whose objective is to free everyone from the sense of morality (as Gogol explains) he's the one to decide whether he commits a crime that deserves punishment or better said, his ability “the book” that can only function following the rules of karma.

 -He probably doesn't need to communicate with the outside at all and is trying to deceive Dazai since the plot is going according to his plans and to how he planned to write the story on that single page.

-We know he has a page since the beginning and he also knows everything that´s written on it (for example that sigma´s existence was written on it 3 years before) but it's never mentioned how he got it.

-He literally joined the Guild to search for that book (´cause it belongs to him).

-Despite everything, Dazai is not worried about his plans either (he says all he has to do is observe him) because he's confident that everything is gonna turn out in his favour (you can see the little bitch didn't mind sending Akutagawa to his own death) since he stole the book from Randou long ago.

-What Dazai could've done with the book is nothing more and nothing less than creating the “Beast”  universe after leaving the PM just to give Oda a proper farewell and because since he discovered the real power of that book he decided the best was to hide it.

However none of them can reveal any of this for obvious reasons.

Well I´ve nothing more to say, this is all I have for the moment.

 I know some of these ideas sound very complicated and even excessive, however in the end everything fitted perfectly to me (and I swear I came up with 3 different theories before putting this one together).

If you managed to read this far, thank you very much :,)

If you feel like commenting something feel free to do so :)

[xkandy]

Psycho Pass - timeline and why you shouldn’t hate on S3 that much

I’ve been following Psycho Pass ever since the original run of Season 1 back in 2012. I’d like to make you and everyone who disliked S3 understand some things. Hope I structure this well, here goes.

Obviously there will be some spoilers.

First let’s take a look at the releases in the PP universe so far. We have:

Season 1

Season 2

Movie

Sinners of The System 1,2,3 (2 being a prequel)

Season 3

First Inspector

Before I write anything I’m going to stop you and say that nothing tops Season 1. So there,now that we have that out of the way let’s continue.

Season 1

Takes place in late 2112-2113

Central characters are Akane and Kogami and let’s face it, for many Kogami is the one who carried the show, even if some consider him to be a “generic edgy”  protagonist I think he’s pretty solid as a character at this point.

Akane has had MAJOR character development throughout the whole season and I’ll never forget how upset some people were that she was a noob. That was the whole point, she is a newbie and a model citizen who trusts the system, her character evolution revolves around coming to the realization that the system is flawed.

Makishima as a villain was phenomenal and not because quoting from books , but because his motives and reasoning were clearly established  and he made both protagonists question themselves and the system.

Season 1 is written by Gen Urobuchi , the following seasons (except the movie) are not written by him.

Season 2

Takes place in 2114.

A trainwreck, don’t even want to go here. The disappointment was huge.

I found Mika to be extremely annoying and unbearable with 0 character growth. The only highlights for this season for me were Gino and Akane.

Onwards.

The Movie

Takes place 3 years after the events of Season 1, in 2116.

Nothing of major impact happens but if you love the old cast , namely Gino, Akane, Kogami you’ll enjoy this and I have a feeling this is what they were betting on and wanted to see: the public reaction to the old cast.

The interaction between Akane and Kogami is the highlight (another one being Gino vs Kogami).

It’s clear as day that Akane evolved as a character and Kogami is questioning his past, so let’s say some minor character development.

Sinners of the System

If you enjoy the universe and aren’t too attached to the main cast you will like these, although case 3 is about Kogami so I’m sure it’s the one most people will like.

Case 1 has some minor Mika character development (she still sucks imho)

Case 2 is a prequel that sets up some details about the storyline that will be the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Case 3 is the one you’ll want to watch if you want to see S3/First Inspector as it revolves around Kogami and him coming to terms with his thoughts when he is asked by a young girl to train her as he sees in her a version of himself and where this will lead (girl seeks revenge) . 

His story arc regarding Sasayama’s death, revenge, Makishima is complete, it ends here as he decides to head back to Japan.

This triggers the potential for the future series/movies in the Psycho Pass universe to deal with the (possible) unresolved storyline of dealing with Akane once he gets back to Japan, because he will have to face her at one point.

So after Case 3 Kogami is already a complete character , there is no strong conflict or drive for him as the one which had driven the plot of season 1.

We already know everything about him.

Let me jump back to Gino for a brief moment, his first arc concluded when his father died and he became an enforcer, his current arc might be related to what I’ll get to in a second.

Season 3

Alright so here we are,a new season nobody was expecting and 2 new protagonists we expected even less.

Taking place in 2120 , 8 years after the events of Season 1 it follows Arata and Kei in their own CID adventures.

The tone of the series is vastly different from both S1 and S2, most notably :

it feels like those friendly buddy cop TV shows

the violence is greatly reduced, no more “shock value”

the side characters aren’t invested into, they’re just there for being there and plot devices (they’re alright, the new enforcers get some characterization but it’s not season 1 level)

Arata’s “skill” - if you think about it as high level empathy it’s gonna feel less dumb

Being new protagonists, the writers had to make sure we get to like them by offering us details about their past and what drives their motives, I’d say they did an ok job at that.

There’s no room for comparison to Akane and Kogami, those 2 are already established characters who have resolved story arcs and suffered changes.

Keep in mind Akane is 28 now and Kogami is 36, whereas the new protagonists are in their early 20s. They have time for character evolution, it’s easier to write new characters into the universe than deal with established ones such as Akane and Kogami.

Also, we see Kou visiting Akane while she’s in jail, her not being surprised means this may have happened before, which leads to further questions in the storylines that will definitely be explored in the new PP installments to follow:

Details on the incident which caused her to be in jail

What happened when Kogami returned to Japan and how the Sibyl system dealt with this

Kou reuniting with Ginoza, since both work for the hot blonde now

etc, you get the idea

First Inspector

It’s actually not that bad, I’m not going to spoil anything (well...not everything) but I suggest giving it a chance. If you don’t want to watch S3 just read about it and watch this, the most important things to take are from episode 3′s last scenes

Akane is released AS AN ENFORCER by Sibyl and will help Mika

Kogami is sent to get her, there will definitely be a recap between these two

Arata and Kei both have secrets regarding the case they worked on, not gonna spoil anything

Yayoi is alive, and will live with Shion. Just puttin this out there since they’re everyone’s favorite lesbians

Mika is still shit.

Gino is still based as fuck 

Also, there is a post credits scene with Akane saying something along the lines of “ let’s talk about the incident that got me jailed “ . This was only in the theatrical release so you can bet your ass we’re getting more PP in the future.

Thoughts

Lastly, what everyone needs to understand is that S1 made PsychoPass become a franchise. A franchise revolves around different characters in the same universe, sometimes the focus is on the OGs , but sometimes it isn’t.

I would like to note here that Gen Urobuchi is responsible for Season 1 (you know, the dude who wrote Madoka and other stuff like that...) and he did a great job writing a compelling story. Did he want PP to turn into a franchise? This I do not know and I have a feeling this might explain his absence from the later installments of the series. 

He wrote a complete story in 22 episodes which could have been left at that but seeing how well received the first season was it spawned a franchise.

What I want to say is please give Arata and Kei a chance (S3 protags) . They’re not that bad and they help the franchise stay alive as it seems they were pretty well received in Japan. Would you rather Mika be the main character again?! HELL NO

Now I love the main trio - Akane,Kou,Gino - as much as everyone but at this point they’re so high level it’d be hard to write a series just about them. Make one wrong move and the fanbase will hate you.

Also, this one is for all you Kogami x Akane shippers, I view their relationship as professional only but I’ll be damned if I didn’t scream at those 2 short scenes these 2 had in S3 and FI .Can’t wait to see the interactions between grown up Akane and seasoned peace-of-mind Kogami.

If you’re still here thanks for reading my rant, hope I made sense. 

edited to add some stuff

[gryffindorcls]

Why Are You Still Awake?

WARNING: SEASON 3 FINALE SPOILERS 

This was written for my good friend @flashflashitsash​ birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ASH!!!

I hope you enjoy!

---

Marinette sat on her balcony and sipped a steaming cup of tea. It was late, but sleep often alluded her nowadays. Ever since she had been given the Ladybug Miraculous, she often found her mind racing every time she crawled into bed. It got worse once she became the Guardian of the Miracle Box.

On particularly bad nights, Marinette would take her fluffiest blanket onto the terrace and soak in the quietness of the evening. The soft thrum of the cars below and the whistling of the wind often remedied her sleeplessness, but tonight, nothing seemed to be working. She grew increasingly restless as time passed, for only a few hours ago, her life had changed drastically...again.

Even though she knew it would be a good idea to sit down with Chat and reveal their identities when she became the new Guardian, it was something that Marinette couldn’t bring herself to do. She neglected to tell Chat Noir that the identity rule didn’t need to be followed anymore, and she failed to mention that it was now necessary to know his identity so she could easily contact him in the event of an emergency.

It’s not that she didn’t want to know who Chat was. If anything, it was the fact that revealing their identities would change the dynamic of their relationship. It was a step that she hadn’t been ready to take; however, fate had different plans when they’d gotten trapped inside of a closet during an Akuma attack earlier that day.

Seeing Chat Noir turn into Adrien Agreste made her heart stop. She saw a thousand expressions cross his features when her own transformation dropped a few seconds later. Before she had the chance to speak, cry, or scream, they were released from their confinement and forced to spring back into action.

After a bit of fumbling, they were able to defeat the Akuma; however, they were not granted the opportunity to talk before returning to class. When school ended, Adrien had been quickly whisked away to a photoshoot, leaving Marinette alone with her thoughts and feelings.

It had been approximately eight hours since she’d learned Chat’s identity, and she still didn’t know what to do. Ever since Marinette had decided to stop pursuing Adrien, she had done her best to be a better friend to him. Watching him find love with another girl had been difficult. All she wanted was for him to be happy, and if Kagami made him feel good, she knew she would have to be okay with that.

While she still loved him with every fiber of her being, she’d done her best to push her feelings aside when she was with Adrien. She’d even managed to have a few decent conversations with him over the past few months. (She only stuttered a few times!) However, knowing that he was Chat added a new level of awkwardness.

She sighed and closed her eyes. Marinette let the stillness of the night consume her. Also, knowing that she had a few more hours before she had to confront her newest problem helped settle the nervousness brewing in her gut.

She spent the next several minutes attempting to clear her mind. She sat like a statue and took deep, calming breaths. Suddenly, Marinette’s phone went off in her lap, startling her. Upon feeling the vibration, she jumped and nearly fell out of the lawn chair.

With tired eyes, she squinted at the device. An unknown number flashed across her screen. Curiosity filled her as she opened her phone to view the message.

Unknown: Why are you still awake?

Marinette felt a twinge of panic in her chest. While the message didn’t sound threatening, she didn’t like the idea of someone watching her.

Marinette: Who is this?

Unknown: Oh, right...sorry. I forgot that you don’t have this number on your civilian phone. I didn’t mean to startle you, Princess.

“Chat,” a soothing voice echoed in her mind.

Every muscle in her body relaxed. This was her partner. This was Adrien. She knew him. She could trust him.

Marinette: It’s okay...how did you know that I was still awake?

Unknown: I have night vision...lol

Marinette: Haha...right. Where are you?

Unknown: Look up.

Marinette obliged and turned her gaze towards the Parisian skyline. After taking a minute to scan the landscape, she spotted a bright light nestled in a dark corner on a roof across the street.

Marinette: Hiding in the shadows?

Unknown: What can I say? I belong to the night.

Her mind began to race. “You can’t hide from this conversation forever. Talk to him. It’s now or never.”

Marinette: Why don’t you come over here?

She bit her lip as she awaited his response.

Unknown: Are you sure?

Marinette: Get over here :)

She watched as the distant light flicked off. His shadowy figure vaulted across the rooftops, and within seconds, a sheepish looking Chat Noir landed on her balcony.

He sheathed his baton and looked at the ground. “I...um...hi, Marinette.”

She offered him a small smile. “Good evening, Chaton. What brings you out and about at two o’clock in the morning?”

“I’m sorry...I-I couldn’t sleep. You know...after all that happened today. I just...then...and my room felt extra stuffy, and I just needed to get out. I was running across the rooftops, and I ran past your place...I’m sorry I didn’t mean to...what I’m trying to say is...ugh...no...I looked over, and I saw you. I know it’s late, but I was worried. I promise I didn’t do it on purpose…I...”

She cut him off with a giggle. “Would you like to detransform and talk?”

He cocked his head to the side. “I...what? You’re not mad?”

“No. I was actually out here thinking about what I was going to say to you tomorrow, but...you’re here now. So, I’ll ask again...would you like to detransform and talk?”

“I’m...uhhh...only wearing pajamas under this.”

“So, I’m wearing pajamas under this blanket. It’s fine.”

“But it’s kind of cold outside.”

“Would you like to come inside?”

“Really?”

Marinette stood up from her chair and walked over to the leather-clad hero. “Yes, you silly cat. You are my partner, and if we want this to not be weird anymore, then we need to talk about what happened today.”

He stood silent and stunned on the terrace. She grabbed his hand and led him over to the hatch. Once they were both inside her room, Chat called off his transformation, and Marinette shielded her eyes as the bright green light engulfed her partner.

Her breath hitched upon seeing a worn and weary Adrien Agreste with a frown and tousled hair. She did her best to remind herself that this was just her Chaton; however, seeing him as Adrien made everything feel different.

She took a deep breath and attempted to speak. “S-so...I...uh...okay. Wow...I tet’s lalk…I MEAN...ugh...no. Not this again. Let’s talk.”

The sadness deepened on his face. “I’m making you uncomfortable. This wasn’t a good idea. I’ll just go.”

“NO! No...p-please. I just....need a moment. I’ve been working hard to get over this, but I’m just a little nervous now that you’re not transformed.”

“What can I do to make this better? Jeez...I’m so sorry Marinette. If I’d been a little faster today, we wouldn’t have gotten stuck. I really am a lousy partner sometimes.”

Hearing his self-deprecating words caused the nervousness inside her to melt away instantly. It was quickly replaced by hurt and frustration.

She buried her head in her hands and groaned. “I can’t believe this! We’re back to square one! We haven’t acted like this around each other in months. When I became the Guardian, you really stepped up. You’ve been driven and confident...it was us against the world. Chaton, I will kick you if you tell me that you’re not a good partner ever again. You’re not even a great partner, you’re the perfect partner. Do you understand?”

He audibly swallowed. “Uh...yes?”

“Good.”

“Okay...yeah.”

A silence fell between them. For the second time that night, the flash of confidence that Marinette felt moments ago began to fade as she let her mind wander.

“Why are you still getting nervous around him? Out of the suit, he’s still Chat Noir. Besides, Adrien is your friend. They’re the same person...and he’s your friend...just your friend. You’re just a friend...but you still love him.”

Marinette felt hot tears brimming in the corners of her eyes. She looked up to see Adrien looking down at his lap. He looked so small and sad, and all she wanted to do was hold him and tell him that it would be okay, but she’d given up her chance to be by his side. They were partners...and that was it.

Tears began to streak her face as her newest realization hit her. “He loved you as Ladybug...you gave him up twice. Now, he’ll never be yours. You have to keep this professional and friendly. Nothing more! Don’t mess this up. Don’t make him feel worse.”

Adrien’s eyes snapped up as a sob escaped her lips. Within seconds, he’d moved across the bed and situated himself next to her. He hesitated before placing a warm hand on her shoulder.

“Marinette, how...did I do something? I’m sorry. Tell me what I need to do or say. Please don’t cry. If it’s something I can fix, just tell me.” He looked at her with worry in his eyes.

She attempted to speak between sobs. “It’s m-me...I...I...I did this t-to myself. I can’t tell you...you’re going to hate me!”

“I don’t think I could hate you if you tried.”

“No...this time you will. I hurt you over and over again. It only makes sense that you moved on. I couldn’t even be honest with you in our civilian lives!”

“Moved onto what? Help me understand...I just want things to be okay between us.”

“My brain can’t even pick an emotion right now. When I think of you as Chat, I feel confident and strong, and then I see you as Adrien and I go back to how it was before...before...I-I...I can’t.”

“Before what?”

Marinette’s lip trembled. “Before I let you go!”

Adrien furrowed his brows. “Marinette...you’re still not making any sense.”

Her voice dropped to a whisper. “Please don’t hate me.”

“I promise I won’t. Like I said before, I don’t think I can.”

She grabbed a pillow and squeezed it against her body. “I love you.”

“Oh, my lady.” He gently removed the pillow from her grip and wrapped his arms around her. “Thank God.”

“I...it’s been so long since you’ve called me that? WAIT...aren’t you dating Kagami?”

“Ahhhhh...um...no. I’m not. She told me that she loved me, and I told her that I wasn’t ready. I tried taking her out on a date, but it just didn’t feel right. I was still in love with someone else...a certain someone else who I thought was in love with Luka.”

She pulled away from him. “Well, yeah...about that. Luka is...sweet. And I love him, but I’m not in love with him…if that makes sense.”

Adrien reached up and ran his fingertips along her cheek. “So, if Luka wasn’t the boy who Ladybug was in love with...then...who?”

“I think you already know the answer to that.”

“I do, but I would really like to hear you say it.”

She met his gaze and smiled. “Adrien Agreste, I, Marinette Dupain-Cheng have been hopelessly in love with you since you handed me your umbrella the day after we met. I spent a year trying to tell you, and I could barely function when you looked at me. Then, a few months ago, I saw you laughing and smiling with another girl, so I walked away...and I’ve been trying to forget about my feelings for you, but it didn’t work. And I have to be honest, I think that’s all the courage I can muster for the rest of the night.”

Adrien grinned and once again pulled her into a tight embrace. He lovingly ran his hand up and down her back.

“Then let me talk for a little bit,” he whispered.

Marinette felt herself melt in his arms as she leaned in and rested her cheek on his shoulder. He nuzzled the top of her head and released a happy hum.

“My lady,” he began, “a few months ago, a beautiful blue-eyed girl helped my friend and I escape a boring party. I’d been thinking about that girl for quite some time, but I always pushed her out of my mind because I didn’t need to fall in love with another emotionally unavailable person. Then I saw her with her hair down, and I was stunned. I knew she was beautiful, but I never imagined that she was that radiant. That day, I watched her get us out of sticky situations by coming up with creative solutions. Then again, she always did amazing stuff like that...she was my everyday Ladybug. She was always brave, kind, and selfless. I’m surprised I didn’t let myself completely fall for her sooner.”

“Wait,” she shook her head, “you actually noticed me?”

“How could I not? Honestly, I didn’t think I stood a chance with you or Ladybug, so when Kagami told me that she loved me, I went for it. Unfortunately, she and I didn’t mesh very well. We were...too similar. I need someone who compliments me...someone who’s my other half. You know...the yin to my yang. That’s when I realized that I would never be over Ladybug, and that wasn’t fair to Kagami.”

“I’m sorry...I just wanted you to be happy.”

“No,” he began, “you don’t understand. I finally found my happiness. Marinette, I love you, too...I always have. I now know that we really are destined to be together.”

Marinette bit her lip. “So, you’re okay with maybe...um...being in a relationship?”

Adrien tightened his hold on her. “Oh, God, yes! When I found out that you and Ladybug were the same person, I was overjoyed. Then, I remembered Luka, and I thought he was the reason why you kept pushing away Chat. The idea of not having a chance with either of you drove me crazy today. I was filled with so many questions, so I ran across the rooftops hoping to find some answers...and now the answer to everything is in my arms, and I never want to let go.”

“Then don’t...just hold me.”

“For as long as you want me to, my lady.”

For several minutes, they sat quietly in each other’s arms. Marinette could feel his love for her in every breath he took. For the first time in months, she felt safe and whole.

Adrien chucked when Marinette yawned loudly. “I think it’s time for someone to get to bed.”

She shook her head. “Nope. Not happening.”

“And why not?”

“A couple reasons. One...you promised to never let go. Two...because I’m afraid that I’ll go to sleep and wake up only to discover that this was all a dream.”

“Okay, unfortunately, I have to physically let you go, but my heart beats only for Marinette Dupain-Cheng. I will always be yours. Also, I hate to break it to you, Princess, but this is most definitely not a dream. I’m very real, and once I’m done with my lessons in the morning, I will be spending the rest of the day with you tomorrow...well, today. I guess it’s already tomorrow.”

“That sounds nice.” Marinette was finding it harder to resist against the heaviness of her eyelids.

He rested his forehead against hers. “If you go to sleep now, time will pass by much faster, and I’ll be back before you know it.”

“No...I just got you. I don’t want you to leave.”

“Will you go to bed if I stay here until you fall asleep?”

“Okay...I guess that’ll work,” she said with a playful shrug.

He softly kissed her forehead. “Anything for you, Princess.”

Adrien settled himself next to Marinette and placed his head onto her pillow. He once again pulled her close and allowed her to bury her head in his soft cotton t-shirt. The gentle rise and fall of his chest and his comforting warmth quickly became her new obsession.

With a smile on her face, Marinette gave into the overwhelming wave of exhaustion that washed over her. She slept soundly knowing that Adrien would always be by her side.

Now that the wall between them was finally gone, Marinette knew that together they would be an unstoppable force. Her duties and Ladybug and the Guardian no longer seemed daunting and insurmountable.

Marinette had Adrien, and Chat Noir had Ladybug.

They had each other.

They were finally complete.

AO3

FanFiction

[violethowler]

A Farewell to Agents of SHIELD

I originally wrote this after last year’s San Diego Comic Con to process my reaction to the announcement that Season 7 would be the end of the show. I ended up not doing anything with it, but now that we finally have a start date for the season I wanted to share it now:

On Thursday July 18th, Marvel TV head Jeff Loeb announced that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the first TV show ever released as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, would come to an end following the conclusion of its seventh season in 2020. Despite the unexpectedness of the announcement, the fandom wasn’t completely caught of guard. After the show had moved from the standard 22-episode season to a 13-episode summer season,we were expecting the show to only last a few more years. But that did not make the announcement any less emotional.

For me personally, I was stunned at first. I even let loose the waterworks for a few minutes. After the show was renewed for Season 7 before the sixth season had even aired, I suspected that we would only have one or two more years left with the characters I’ve grown to love. But I still felt overwhelmed by the finality that the show’s ending had been officially confirmed.

Once the shock of the announcement faded, though, I was able to calm myself. It was something that we had all known was in the cards since the Season 7 renewal back in November 2018. To be perfectly honest, I’m pretty sure most of us were surprised the show had even lasted as long as it did.

After the first few episodes when the show premiered back in 2013, critics and comic fans quickly turned from praising the show to harshly criticizing week after week. They all felt that the season’s overarching story arc felt like it was spinning its wheels, and despite the initial expectations of more direct tie ins with the movies and appearances by notable comic characters, the first season felt more like a case-of-the-week show focused on a group of original characters that die-hard comic fans had no inclination to care about. 

While those critics and fans bailed on the show over disappointed expectations, those of us who stuck around were rewarded for our patience in the second half of the season, when the release of Captain America: The Winter Soldier allowed the show to finally peel back the curtain on the season’s overall mystery and set up an exciting new conflict for the episodes to come.

The reveal that HYDRA had been hiding within S.H.I.E.L.D. for decades, and the spy agency’s subsequent dissolution at the end of the 2014 Captain America film, breathed new life into the show and the characters. The reveal that Grant Ward had been an undercover HYDRA agent all along would drive the conflict for not only the rest of the season, but for future seasons to come.

Despite the boost the HYDRA reveal gave it, by the end of Season 1, we were uncertain whether Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. would ever be renewed for a second season. Things had been mostly wrapped up as far as the season’s main arc was concerned, but the last episode had also set up new conflicts and new mysteries that needed to be answered. Fortunately for those dedicated fans, a few weeks later it was announced that the show would be back for at least one more year.

When Season 2 arrived that September, it came with a new direction and energy that kept the story moving along at a brisk pace and avoided unnecessarily prolonging arcs. Now that the writers were no longer hampered by having to avoid spoilers for a major Marvel movie, they had the freedom to spread things out and reveal plot points and mysteries in a more organic way.

After Season 2 ended on two cliffhangers, again we feared that the show would be cancelled. The announcement that the show had been renewed for Season 3 was a relief.

For the last several years, this pattern has persisted, with the fandom constantly fearing the ax of cancellation season after season, but the show still managing to retain a strong enough following to keep coming back. And each season, the show continued to improve itself into one of the best comic book shows on television. It was smart, funny, and self-aware enough to point out when things get ridiculous without ever coming across as insincere.

While Marvel’s live-action series on Netflix like Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and Luke Cage all debuted to critical acclaim, I could never get into them the way that everyone around me seemed to. I could see from an objective standpoint why these characters and their stories appealed to people, but there was a spark which these shows lacked that kept me from fully engaging with them.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. not only had that spark, it grew that spark into a roaring flame that it continued to keep burning all the way through to Season 6. In the early days I figured the show would either end with three seasons, or its series finale would tie in with what is now Avengers Endgame (back then it was just Infinity War Part 2). But now that it’s officially been cancelled, I’m glad that it lasted as long as it did.

With the announcement of Disney’s new streaming service Disney+, the Netflix shows began dropping like flies. First Luke Cage was cancelled. Then Iron Fist. Followed by Daredevil and the Punisher, with Jessica Jones the last to fall. It seemed as if any Marvel content that wasn’t going to be on Disney+ was having its plug pulled, leaving Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s small but active fanbase fearing once more for the future of our series.

The end of Season 5 had largely wrapped up all of the show’s loose ends with a few avenues left open for things to continue. Though Season 6 had already been announced at the time “The End” aired, the episode had been written and filmed under the assumption that it would serve as a series finale if the show didn’t get renewed. So we were all concerned that Season 6 could end on a cliffhanger and then be cancelled before the story could be resolved.

The news in November 2018 that the show would also be getting a seventh season was cause for celebration, not just at the fact that the story would continue, but that whatever was happening behind scenes with Marvel and the Netflix shows, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. would be spared from cancellation for the time being.

It is a source of triumphant irony that the show critics and audiences turned on and wrote off early on managed to outlast all of Marvel’s other shows. The Netflix shows have come and gone, but Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D is still here, chugging along like The Little TV Show That Could. Runaways ended with its third season in late 2019, and Cloak and Dagger was cancelled after its second. WandaVision, Loki, and Falcon & the Winter Soldier are premiering on Disney+ within the next year, but it will be a long time before any of them are able to top Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. in terms of both the number of years they’ve been “on the air” and in terms of the number of episodes released.

For one hundred twenty-three episodes, the amazingly talented cast and crew have been delivering one standout performance after another, continuing to keep audiences invested in their characters on an emotional level through all the drama and comedy and action and heartbreak. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. continues to be one of – if not the greatest comic book show on television, and I have full faith that the cast and crew will finish things off with style. It’s been one hell of a ride with this show, and I’m going to miss it when it ends.

[thequirkdetective]

Investigation 2 (15/05/2020): All for One – All for One

Spoilers: season 3

Note: Throughout this investigation, ‘All for One’ will refer to the person, and ‘AfO’ will refer to the quirk

 For the next investigation, I decided to look at a villain quirk. At first, I wanted to investigate Decay – Tomura Shigaraki’s quirk – but realised too late that the research would involve exposure to many, many manga plot points not yet covered by the anime. Since I have not yet read the manga, I will instead look into the next best big bad in the series so far – All for One – whilst trying desperately to forget all of the spoilers I saw. Since All for One is now dead (in both the anime[1] and manga as far as I know), spoilers should not be an issue. His quirk also allows me to talk about the causation and mechanic of (almost) every quirk in the series – genetics.

(Please note I am not a geneticist. My knowledge of genetics is very sparse, as you may have guessed from the fact that I am not using it not for the good of humanity but instead for a Tumblr post about My Hero Academia. If you are a geneticist, I am incredibly sorry for butchering your subject of study. If you are a supervillain trying to steal people’s genes, this is not how that really works. And also, that’s bad. Don’t do that.)

AfO allows the user to take the quirk of others from contact with them, as well as give any quirk that the user has onto someone else in the same manner[2]. Quirks are not fully explained in the anime, simply stated as “the next stage in human evolution”, and it is even explicitly stated “no-one knew what was causing these quirks”[3]. However, due to the link with evolution, it is highly probable that the quirks are caused by genetic mutation. There could be a number of causes for this mutation, such as a virus, high levels of pollution, increased UV levels, or any other mutagen. If this is the case and quirks are genetic mutations, then AfO allows the alteration of a person’s DNA. The reading and writing of DNA withing cells is still not fully understood, but it is known that DNA encodes amino acid sequences that are synthesised into proteins. This is the sole function of DNA, but the number and complexity of proteins it can encode, as well as additional features that allow it to carry out its function more effectively are what make it so essential for life.

DNA is much more complicated than this incredibly brief explanation shows, but essentially AfO can do two things: 1) Find out which gene(s) cause the quirk to be exhibited, 2) replicate those genes in every cell of his own body / the body of chosen recipient, and 3)  remove the genes from the victim’s body without causing any damage to the surrounding genetic material. Whether All for One is giving or receiving the quirk (it is, naturally, arbitrary), I will usually assume he is receiving it for the sake of consistency.

The first is relatively easy, since the quirk gene would have certain defining traits, including rarity (AfO could check the DNA against a database of other victims), and lack of inhibition. If a sample of skin were taken for a victim, the DNA could be accessed by AfO, examined, and the gene identified.

Now for figuring out how AfO takes the gene from the victim, and how the gene is given to the recipient. The latter is the easiest to theorize about, so we’ll tackle it first. It is possible that the quirk genes are not entirely removed from the victim, but are instead inhibited. Genes are inhibited all the time during the normal functioning of DNA, but this is usually by another gene. It is possible another gene is inserted into the person, but the feasibility inserting genes into others will be explored when tackling how All for One gains the quirk. Instead, it could be that a molecule is bonded to the gene. Genetic inhibition this way is categoric of some poisonous mushrooms, notably the Destroying Angel, Amanita bisporigera, which contains amatoxin. This inhibits cells’ ability to read DNA, but it works by binding to the protein that reads the DNA (RNA polymerase II), not the DNA that is being read. Instead, a protein that binds to the gene is needed, otherwise the victim will simply have the symptoms of amatoxin poison, and die. A possible contender is one that mimics the RNA copy of the gene that is created whenever the gene is ‘used’, which would bind permanently to the bases. Two are needed, each having the opposite bases of the other in order to bind to both strands of the double helix. However, this only works when the DNA is opened. For that to happen, the DNA must be being read. If three proteins are used, one to open the gene, and the other two to bind to the strands, then the gene could be rendered unusable.  However, advances in genetic engineering have given rise to CRISPR-cas9, a programmable protein that can selectively remove strands of DNA, and allows only 1 protein to be used. The molecule can remove DNA sections, and cause a cell’s repair proteins to mend the DNA, whilst also adding sections of DNA. The ability of CRISPR to add sections is useful for All for One gaining the quirk, whilst the victim can have the relevant section of DNA removed by a different CRISPR molecule.

CRISPR-cas9 is ‘programmed’ by changing its nucleotide bases, causing it to bind to different sections of DNA. Therefore. AfO needs to create a custom CRISPR molecule for every use of the quirk. This can be done if a section of the victim’s DNA is acquired, and it may be possible for CRISPR to be created in cells in a similar way to protein synthesis, where a complementary RNA copy of the gene is made, before being passed to a ribosome, where complementary codons are attracted to the RNA. If the RNA copy is passed to a CRISPR molecule, that molecule will then bind to any complementary gene, and since the RNA was created due to it being complementary to the quirk gene, the CRISPR molecule will bind to the victim’s quirk gene.

This also allows easy reproduction of the quirk gene since a copy of it has been acquired and reproduced already. AfO just needs to spread the gene throughout All for One’s cells and add it to the nucleic DNA. This is seen most commonly in bacteria, and they achieve it any one of three ways: transformation, where a bacterium picks up a loose section of DNA from its environment, transduction, where a virus randomly moves a plasmid from one bacteria to another, and conjugation is where two bacteria use pili to replicate and share DNA.

Conjugation seems promising. Once any one cell in All for One’s body contains the new gene, it could be spread quickly throughout the whole body. However, it does need to exist at least for a short while as an isolated strand, to be picked up and replicated by a cell’s pilus.

The next option is transformation, where specialised cells in All for One’s body pick up the gene and begin to replicate it, releasing copies into the bloodstream to be transformed into all other cells. This is relatively easy for each individual cell, and only needs All for One to have lymph node-like structures for gene replication.

However, all of these have the drawback of not allowing quirks to be passed from All for One to others. This can be solved by transduction. Suppose AfO creates two viruses, one that strips the quirk gene from the victim’s cells, and the other that adds the gene to All for One’s cells. The first can simply be a carrier of a specialised CRISPR molecule that can remove the quirk gene. The virus also needs to replicate itself, and that can be done by every infectious virus, so is not really an issue. Another virus is then needed that is a carrier of a different CRISPR molecule, and the quirk gene, so that the gene can be inserted into All for One’s DNA. This virus also needs to reproduce, in the same fashion as other viruses.

This method gives the added benefit of side effects. In the anime, the side effects of AfO, as seen in his victims, are drowsiness and nausea. These symptoms could be caused by two different causes (or both in tandem). The first is the immune response the viral infection that removes their quirk gene. The second the removal of the gene itself, since serendipitously, similar symptoms are shown in the first stages of amatoxin poisoning via Destroying Angel mushrooms. The later symptoms are caused by the removal of cells’ ability to divide, so they would not be caused by AfO.

However, the removal of genes in general has a few drawbacks, namely any quirk that causes a change in the body’s cells. In the same way that inhibiting the gene for hair colour won’t change someone’s hair colour immediately, people with altered bodies would only slowly feel the effects of AfO. The side-effects would hit as fast as anyone else’s, but their bodily changes would only set in over time, as their cells divided. This unfortunately has a high chance of bodily disfigurement, since at any one point some fraction of a person’s cells would be ‘normal’, and the other half quirk-exhibiting, which could lead to a change in bodly structure as the body regrows.

To conclude, AfO contains a few separate systems. All for One begins to use his quirk by in some way acquiring the DNA of the victim, probably via touch. The DNA in the sample is examined against a database of other victims’ genetic material, and the quirk-causing gene is found. A CRISPR molecule removes the gene, (we’ll call it CRISPR 1), and the victim is infected with viruses containing copies of CRISPR 1, which divide rapidly and strip the cells of the quirk gene. Next, a CRISPR molecule that can alter All for One’s DNA (CRISPR 2) is contained within another virus containing the gene. This spreads through his body, inserting the gene into his cell’s DNA. At this point, the victim begins to feel the effects of both the viral infection and the genetic tampering, and becomes faint and nauseous, whilst All for One gains mild symptoms from the viral infection. As the viruses spread through the two bodies, the victim’s quirk is stripped from their DNA to become waste protein, which is then disposed of by the body, whilst All for One’s cell’s gain the quirk as the nucleic DNA is cut, the new gene inserted, and the whole strand mended together.

[1] Season 3 episode 49: ‘One for All’

[2] Season 2 episode 33: ‘Listen Up!! A Tale from the Past’

[3] Season 1 episode 1: ‘Izuku Midoriya: Origin’

If you liked this investigation and want to have a say in the next one, then make sure to send a recommendation for which quirk should be investigated next!