I think one of my favourite character journeys in BSD has to be Kunikida learning to be better with kids because you'd expect it to be a fun wholesome character arc. Only, it ends up being heart breaking as it's immediately turned against Kunikida.
Despite the 'Dad status' that the fandom has given Kunikida, he was actually terrible with kids towards the start of the manga.
Take how he treated Atsushi in the first chapter. (Yes, Atsushi is not a little kid, but he was a starving and vulnerable orphan when they met.) When Kunikida and Dazai mention the 'man-eating tiger' Atsushi immediately freaks out and tries to run away.
What does Kunikida do? He grabs Atsushi, slams him to the floor and then threatens to break his arm for information.
It's Dazai of all people who has to reign Kunikida in reminding him "The boss himself warned you that the gathering of intelligence needn't be an interrogation". Dazai was the sweet talker and Kunikida was threat, even to a terrified, starving orphan.
Later with Kyouka, he's not much better. He attempts to intimidate her into giving the agency information. Whilst Atsushi now fulfils the role of the gentle approach. She's a mafia assassin after all, even if he knows she had no choice in it, Kunikida treats her as a threat before he treats her as a child.
Even with Aya, the interaction that gave Kunikida his 'dad status', he started off badly. But, it is here we start to see Kunikida trying to be better, trying to take a softer approach, even if he's clumsy with it.
When he realizes Aya was just handed a bomb, he snatches it from her and gets rid of it. That can't be helped it was a literal ticking time bomb, he then phones the authorities to deal with it. He was planning to leave, it's only because he caught sight of Aya sitting alone did he approach her. It wasn't his first instinct.
If he hadn't seen her in that moment, he might not have gone looking for her at all.
He asks her if she's alright and then she shocks him by wanting to hunt down the culprit. He rightfully tries to dissuade her, but again, he's not good with kids, he's blunt and argumentative with her.
Obviously, that's not going to convince a kid with a hero complex to not chase the bad guy.
However, his turning point, in my opinion, is when he realizes he has to choose between Aya and the people on the train. Now, he had already set off the stun grenade and is putting all his faith in Yosano finding them. He trusts her so he knows they are most likely going to be okay.
But Aya doesn't know that and he can't explain it all in the time they have. He sees a child who thinks she's about to die and is trying to be brave about it. And Kunikida comforts her. He needs her to know that she's not alone, that she's not going to suffer, that he is with her and he hugs her.
There was no need for him to step into that explosion with Aya except to comfort her. He chose to do that. Above his own life, he chose her needs.
And that's where this journey starts to get heartbreaking, because Kunikida hadn't always been like this. He was obviously always going to try and protect children, his ideals state as much, but he also didn't believe himself to be a hero. He doesn't see himself as someone capable or even worthy of that role.
So he built up a barrier around himself that made him harsher and more callous. He called it a professional detachment. He had to, it was to protect himself, to keep his sanity in those moment when they couldn't save everyone. Now it's breaking down and he's showing more and more how much he cares.
And it's immediately used against him.
The very scenario that got him to open up is placed in front of him again. A child with a bomb around their throat. Only this time Yosano isn't there, and this time Fyodor is orchestrating it.
And Kunikida does everything right. He tells Atsushi to leave and carry on the mission so he can stay and help the child. He gets on the child's level, makes himself small and none threatening. He reassures the child in gentle voice that everything will be okay.
And then, it's the line "How about a magic trick?" that really gets me, because he's trying so hard to present himself as someone trustworthy. And a magic trick is exactly what he pulled off with Aya, but it's what goes wrong here.
Because Fyodor planned it this time. He didn't just target children to get at Kunikida, he made a twisted mockery of what happened to Aya. Except she doesn't live this time and Kunikida can't bring this child any comfort or safety because Kunikida is the threat. This child dies alone and afraid because Kunikida was there, just like Fyodor planned.
Fyodor saw Kunikida bare his heart once and immediately reached in his chest and crushed it.
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Prompt 273
You know what? We need more Good parents Fentons.
And you know what else? Technically, Jack helped Danny defeat Pariah via the use of the Ecto-Skeleton. And like, that’s his son, his baby boy. Sure Danny is and has always been a mommy’s boy, but it doesn’t change that fact. They’re both already feeling horrible about the fact they could have hurt him, they could have hurt their son- they have hurt their son, killed him with their inaction and never again.
So when these oversized jello-eyeballs try to insist that their baby, their precious baby boy, take a crown? Become a king when he’s not even out of highschool, when he doesn’t want it? No. Hell no! That is his Danny-o, his baby boy who was terrified of his own parents!
Which is how Jack, despite technically still being alive even if so-very ecto-contaminated, became the Ghost King.
And for some reason there’s several ghosts rather happy about this- oh, these are his Danny-O’s ghost-parents? Not-ghost parents seeing as some of them have never been anything but a realm denizen? That’s really fascinating- y’know what, want some fudge and we can exchange childcare- Maddie dear come over and meet our co-parents apparently!
Now it’s not all easy, but they’re trying their best, and that’s all that can be asked.
…
Which is perhaps why it’s so exasperating- or as Maddie would put it, downright infuriating- that it is now, almost an entire year and a half later that the Heroes finally arrive to investigate. Well, at least he has plenty of fudge since it’s almost time for the council meeting.
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Crystal Warnings
Threats to Earth are not news to the Justice League. Neither is the fact that a threat is "too powerful" for them, what is new is that the U.S. government wants to provide them with help, since when have they ever wanted that?
It is a novelty that does not sit very well with Bruce, because he feels that there is something wrong with the situation. They had faced thousands of dangers but it is only now that they are offering something? Definitely suspicious.
However Clark's curiosity was only outweighed by Barry's desperation to find a solution so he agreed to listen to what the "GIW" had to say.
Apparently their current threat was very much connected to them, which Bruce was not surprised by, what did surprise him was that the threat was less of a threat and more of a warning of sorts. As usual, people had played with things they shouldn't, causing catastrophic results.
The organization that contacted them had some sort of crystal, they flatly refused to say where it came from but explained that it was very important to beings from another dimension, and they were trying to contain the threat but found it impossible.
What Bruce got out of that conversation was that the organization had greatly disturbed a civilization full of unknown beings for the sheer joy of it. And that their current enemy was nothing more than a being desperate to retrieve whatever the crystal was.
Clark, of course, asked them for the crystal, to which they seemed very reluctant but in the end agreed. And Bruce set about contacting Diana, because he was sure they needed a diplomatic intervention rather than an actual battle.
It became clear that the crystal was extremely important when the giant eldritch menace transformed into a desperate teenage girl the moment the crystal appeared in her field of vision. That was even more evident when hundreds of portals began to form around the place, different creatures scowled at the humans.
Bruce vowed never to place his trust in organizations outside the League and its allies again. He swore doubly so when the crystal stopped being a crystal and transformed into a groggy, sleepy teenager mid-conversation.
There really was a hell of paperwork ahead. But at least the world was saved from human stupidity, again.
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