#they are currently at volume 37

[bkdkdump]

Do you think the manga will still be up in December? Because if it ends before that and there's time for the editorial in my country to translate and print, maaaaaaybe I'll buy the whole collection at once as a gift for myself 👀

[luvwestwood]

❝ DON'T WORRY 'BOUT IT DARLING! ❞ - Toji Fushiguro

— (18+) YOUR CAR BREAKS DOWN DURING A SOLO TRIP, AND A KIND MR. FUSHIGURO OFFERS TO HELP.

₊˚༊*· warnings. nsfw (18+), slow burn, rough sex, hair pulling, p in v, rough sex, slight age gap (r is 22, t is 37), pet names, raw sex, backshots, pulling out/cumming on face/mouth, pussy eating, fingering, light faceslapping, toji lives in a cabin..

₊˚༊*· notes. I missed writing sm... also, this was one of those stories where i just got carried away writing.. also if your car breaks down in the middle of no where, please don't follow a random man back to his cabin. toji is not real.

7,035 words (25m read)

header art used - credits to @/yunonoai on twt!

A holiday. The perfect thing you needed to ease your mind— work had been fucking you up lately, so you specifically had requested a few days off.

Realising you never spend time with yourself, and yourself only, had brought you to the idea of going on a solo trip. Although with budget cut short, you could only opt for a solo-road-trip; still well away from the city, and everyone.

So far, you thought it was perfect. Just you and your trusty volks beetle, cruising off for a few days to be surrounded by the county’s evergreen trees, and going down a spiral of constantly smelling wet bark here and there.

Crashing at the nearest motel just a few miles south, and digging into a typical, pancake breakfast at the closest diner the next morning. Quite basic, but you thought that it was unironically the calmest idea for a 'holiday' yet.

Pressing on the playback button, the car radio immediately sounded out the currently inserted tape that was halfway played through, your eyes rolling at the song choice.

“..I wake up in the morning I got murder on my min-“

The sound of the tape bypassing the opening filled with the car, along with silence and the engine running. “Oh for fucks sake, Yuji definitely put that in there.”

Balancing between keeping your eyes on the road, and your surroundings, you toss the DVD away to the passengers side; rummaging around the glove compartment for another disk.

But you found the peace as of now quite calming, resulting in you rolling your windows down by the slightest— taking in the natural noise of the environment.

Your cheeks turned cold to the touch as the breeze wafted throughout your entire car, your back pressing against the fabric seats, eyes only closing for a millisecond to take everything in.

Dressed in a tank top and shorts, my, it seemed like you were ready for.. who knows what. Hopefully no one takes you, accidentally, for a side-street hooker.

Bit silent, you suppose— seeing that there was no other car on this specific road too. It was eerie, but enjoyable at the same time. I mean, the road was in the middle of the woods so I doubt people would be passing in and out of here often.

Hand reaching back into the glove compartment, you grab a hold of a random disk, analyzing it as soon as you withdrew your hand back into your lap.

..The Cranberries, not too bad. Something to lighten up the mood a bit. Biting down on your bottom lip, you divert your attention away from the road for a millisecond— pushing the disk into the radio player with a swift movement.

The familiar intro of Linger began to play. Your two hands clutched onto the wheel tighter, letting out a squeal as a result of hearing one of your favorite songs.

What seemed like forever, you wondered if the road was going to look different anytime soon. It felt as if you haven't seen some sort of sign telling you there would be a bed and breakfast ten minutes up, but you simply brushed it off.

"..And I'm in so deeep, you know I'm such a fool for youuu.." Taking advantage of the empty roads, you notched the volume a bit higher, belting out your shower-learnt vocals with all your heart.

Concerning LEDs flashing on your dashboard suddenly caught your eye, your singing stopping right in the middle of the chorus.

Frantically looking down at the light, and at the road in front of you, the sensible decision to pull over came across your mind— your car quickly swerving to the side of the road, Linger still, playing as everything started to go downhill.

"W-what the fuck is that supposed to mean?!" Your hands fall onto your lap, brows furrowed at one warning appearing after the other, a whimper slipping past your lips as worry grew.

Looking out the rear window, then to the front, you've realised you're all alone. No help nearby, not for another while. Groaning, you darted your eyes back to your dashboard, seeing about three more warnings show up.

"Fuck- not now, oh come on!" ...Can't even get peace on my day off, can I?

Pulling on the latch underneath, you popped the hood open. Killing the ignition, you grab your zip-up from the backseat, throwing it on before stepping out of the car; sizzling, and smoke coming from under the hood.

"I swear.. if this is a trap for a murder film, just take me already. My survival instincts are through the roof.."

Sighing, you lift the hood up, a big cloud of grey smoke slapping you in the face, like you could suffocate any moment now.

"The hell?!" Coughing, you fanned your face, taking a few, cautious steps back from the vehicle. As soon as the smoke had went away, you leaned back in; analysing each part of your engine.

A scoff escapes your mouth, silently laughing at yourself. "Literally what the fuck am I meant to be looking at." Knuckles resting atop your hips, you stood up straight, chipping away at your fingernails with your teeth.

"..Okay, maybe I'll try and start it... and if all goes wrong- call the insurance company."

Blowing out a relieving breath, you sit back into the driver's seat, twisting the key, trying to get your car to start.

Nothing but the sweet sound of failure. Two more tries, and still the same outcome.

"..Insurance company.. right."

Unable to locate your phone, you let out a confused noise- looking sideways and upside down your car for it. "..Where could it.. be..?"

Though.. something seemed, off. Your head slowly rose up from below the passengers seat, peeping just above the car door.

A man, walking- closer, and closer.. It seems. Your heart began to thump against your chest- begging to jump out. Breathing labored, your eyes widen, body freezing at the most inconvenient of times. Wait, is he holding an axe?

"M-my.. my phone?!" With haste in your movements, you rummage through everything like a mad man, making a total mess of your car- the same mysterious guy getting closer and closer, tauntingly walking out from the deep woods.

Sitting back against your seat, your mouth gapes open; eyes glued straight ahead. This is it, I manifested it. Now why on earth did I say that?! It's over for me, I'm cooked.

You let out a mewl, attempting to sob, solely squeezing your eyes shut. Too scared to look one last time to your side, you took a few deep breaths, chanting mini prayers to save the last bit of you.

A tap on the window came from your side, your one eye opening itself. Hesitant, you slowly turn your head; seeing a muscular torso at the window tapping the glass with the handle of his axe, before the man leans down to show his face.

Dressed in jeans and a flannel, with jagged, raven colored hair— and a face to perfectly compliment his jacked up body. I see. But now's not the time to play a dating game.

"..Ma'am?" His voice deep, and rusty, your face grew more concerned, mouth still gawking like a freak in fear.

"..God, p-please don't kill me.." A quiet peep comes from you, the man resting a hand on your roof, still bent down, and chuckling.

"Lady, I could see your car smokin' all the way from my cabin. I couldn't help but see what's the matter. You want me to check it out for you, or not?" His voice happened to be quite faint from behind the glass, though you could make out what he seemed to be saying.

"..Oh... I don't mind, I just have no clue what to do, I.." Words coming out in a blabber, you stumbled over what you wanted to say, confusion written all over the mans face.

"Slow down, will ya? Can't even comprehend half the words you're saying."

Shaking your head, you brushed it off. "You know what.. forget it.. just.. check what's happening under that hood, please?"

He nods, disappearing from your window to walk around to the front of the car. Deciding to step out too, you came to the conclusion that he seemed like an okay man to trust with your car. But you just had to make sure he wasn't gonna fit some sort of tracker underneath your engine..

Crossing your arms, you walked closer to the man, who seemed to know what he was doing. Observing from a few steps away, you watched him twist and turn at a few things, no fear in getting his hands dirty. He seemed bigger at this angle, a bit bigger than you, so if he were to murder you right now... it's over.

"..Do you always carry around that axe?" Referring to the same tool that was now on the ground, you noticed his lips curl into a smile, taking note of the fading scar on the side of his mouth also.

Letting out an amused chuckle, his eyes remained focused on the problem in front of him, but his voice was able to answer something else at the same time. "Living in the middle of the woods, I think you'd do the same."

You nod, accepting the answer with no further questions. Although a few more silly ones came out of you..

"Have you ever been chased by a bear.. while living out here?" Swaying back and forth on your tippy toes, your arms stay crossed, teeth chewing at your bottom lip as you anticipated a genuine answer.

He stops, torso still bent down but head looking up at you, facial expressions unimpressed. "Do pretty girls like you always ask all these stupid questions..?"

Blinking, you freeze, at the blunt compliment and sharp stab of his words. "..I was just curious. Also, I don't even know your name. You know, if you try to kidnap me, and I happen to escape, and-"

"Toji." Short and direct, he answers that question. "Now that you've told me your game plan, I could've easily lied about my name.

Your throat running dry, you clear it out with a grunt, Toji standing back up with an unhopeful look on his face. "..Yeah, your car is busted." He picks his axe back up, turning his body to you.

"..What? But- there's no reception here and.. I have no where to go..." Great. You've told him that you're helpless, and a young, vulnerable girl who's all alone on a solo trip.

"Wait- so you're telling me you're all alone, in the middle of these woods. Lady, do you not know that there's literally nothing here but dirt and trees?" His face scrunched up in disbelief, he genuinely wondered what a girl like you would be doing here.

"..I just wanted a holiday... on my own and.. I thought.. I could crash at some motel like in the movies and.. and.. pancakes.. oh the pancakes.." A sob chokes out of you, warm tears beginning to stain your cheeks at the thought of your vacation going downhill.

Toji, on the other hand looks more confused at this rate, his voice stammering, unsure of how to console you. A random girl, crying in front of him.. Great.

"Uh, don't cry- I didn't mean to.." Scratching at his nape, he waits until you stop crying your guts out, and successfully, you do. "Look, how about I'll fix your car for you, but first we get you a place to stay."

Sniffling, you look up at him, an ounce of hope springing back into you. "..R-really?"

Relieved, Toji was able to relax by the slightest after finally getting you to stop sobbing in front of him. Comforting wasn't his forte. "Yeah, don't worry 'bout it darling. But my cabin is the only thing I could offer right now. I told you, there's nothing in this place. No.. 'motel'..."

Looking back at your busted car, then returning to Toji, he shrugs his shoulders; mouthing, 'the choice is yours.' He wasn't pressuring you at all, but it was true that there was no other option. Outside the city wasn't all that, and you learnt the hard way.

"...Fine, just don't.. don't murder me.. I don't wanna die." Toying with the zip of your hoodie, you divert your gaze away from Toji, deciding to look at the ground instead.

He grunts, grabbing his head in frustration. "Would you quit with that murder bull-crap?! How many times do I have to say it. Should be me who's scared of a Michael Myers venturing 'round these woods." Toji shakes his head in disapproval. "Just grab your things and get movin' will you? Sun's about to set soon."

Unamused yourself, you shoot him a glare, walking over to the backseat door to grab your backpack full of everything. Slamming the door shut, you sensibly grab your keys, properly locking everything before Toji shuts the hood, resting his axe on his shoulder.

The man gestures you to follow him, hopefully not towards your death. Trailing behind his large figure, Toji occasionally glanced over his shoulder to make sure you were still there and didn't happen to run off; more than certain that you were shitting your pants right now.

Readjusting the heavy backpack on your shoulder, you struggled, mentally complaining, but too afraid to ask if you were there yet. Guess you'll take the blame for this one. Should've packed light I suppose..

"We're here, incase you were wondering." Toji stops in his tracks, turning his body back around to face you before making his way to the onto the porch.

Surprisingly, it was nice and big, and seemed homely. "Not gonna lie, I thought you lived in a run down shack in the middle of no where. With like, bugs and stuff?"

"Who do you take me for?" He scoffs, "Come in when you're ready. Also mind your step." Toji points out the mini stairs just below the porch, before disappearing off inside. He really made sure that you didn't feel pressured to do anything whatsoever. So he let you enter at your own will.

Taking note of your surroundings outside one last time, you let out a deep breath before stepping inside.

Warm air engulfed you, heat coming from a well built fire place. It actually was nice inside, and everything everywhere made sense. The architecture of the cabin really had Toji written all over it.

Nothing was run down. It felt like a home, just with a rustic style to it. The sofa actually had a throw draped over it, a flat screen tv mounted just above the fireplace. There was also a nice view of a body of water outside some large windows.

Toji paced around the sofas just after resting his axe safely in a corner, stretching his arms out; toned muscles flexing from the warm, yellowish light in the cabin.

"Make yourself at home, you take my room tonight. I'll crash on the sofa." He makes his way to the other side of the cabin, supposedly the entrance to his bedroom. Toji leaning against the door frame, he watched as you stood still in one spot, still observing your surroundings.

"Also has its own bathroom, so no need to worry about me walking in on you. There's locks too from the inside. And I don't care about you going through anything. I've got nothing to hide." Toji continues, he sure knows the questions you're about to ask. This man is always thinking ahead.

"..Thanks, Toji. That's really nice of you." Walking closer to the entrance of his room, you slide the backpack off your shoulder, holding onto the heavy load with two hands at this point. The backpack swings between your legs as you walk past him, Toji grunting before leaving you be.

He fucks off somewhere into the kitchen, meanwhile you lock the doors behind you immediately. You already smelled of bark and leaves, and not to mention, the stinky smoke from your car earlier.

Tossing your backpack onto an armchair nearby, eye glancing over a few frames with Toji in them. Some of him alone, with a fish in his hand, the other.. Possibly some old friends.

Curious, you looked around the dresser for some more things that could tell you a bit more about himself.

In the corner was a birthday card, which didn't evidently tell you his age, but you found out as soon as you opened it up to see what was written.

"Happy Birthday big guy, can't beleeve your old ass is 37! - Your pal, Gojo🖕"

Who the hell is Gojo? And, that's not old.. right? You scoffed more so at the fact that the word 'believe' was spelt wrong other than the badly drawn middle finger. Just a little habit of yours you can't control. Considering you were 22, Toji was kind of old enough to be your guardian, somehow.. but let's not get into that.

Attempting to place the card exactly where it had belonged, you were happy enough with your first try; still curious to find any hidden gems, but you were unsuccessful.

Letting out a hum, you took another look around your surroundings, nodding gently in approval at the view that he also had just outside of his bedroom. Seems like he knew how to build this place the way he wanted to.

Halfway pacing around his room, you realised that he probably thinks you've been silent for too long. Deciding to step into his bathroom, notice a shaver and some cream on the sink. Allowing the shower to run, you hoped the noise would calm his nerves to let him know you're still here, and alive.

Oh, being a curious cat you open his mirror cabinet just to take a tiny peek before your shower. Says he's got nothing to hide, so..

After-shave, lotion, pain-killers and a box.. An unopened box of extra large condoms.

You gulp before blinking rapidly, closing the mirror cabinet without a second to waste. You weren't sure if you should be mortified or impressed and relieved that they were unopened. Wait, as if it matters?

Locking the bathroom door just to be cautious, you quickly did so before stripping your clothes completely to the ground, kicking off your converse and socks before hopping into the warm shower.

The droplets trickled down your body, feeling more calm now that you've had a shower. Allowing the water to run over your hair, you scrubbed your scalp with your fingertips, completely soaking your body. You looked over to the shower caddy hanging on the wall before grabbing a familiar brand of shampoo.

Massaging that into your hair, you hurried on with your shower, making sure that you didn't hog all the hot water. You assumed that he had to start up a big ass generator minutes away just to get a drop of it, forgetting the fact that it was '24, and there was some such thing as a boiler.

The shower ended up being just fine, and Toji didn't bother you at all. He didn't force the door open, don't worry; and everything was just the way it was left in the room.

You didn't have anything else left to wear than the matching tank and shorts set you bought at TJ-Maxx solely for this solo trip. You didn't have to worry about your feet being cold, as the hardwood floors were surprisingly heated.

Quickly drying your hair with one of his towels, you figured that he didn't have a hairdryer, so you had no choice but to leave it to air dry.

Finally unlocking the bedroom door, you opened it to see Toji busy behind the kitchen island. Assuming he was cooking, you made your way closer, sitting on a bar stool nearby.

Toji had a tea towel draped over his shoulder, and the smell of cooked meat entered your nostrils.

"If you're a vegan, it's your unlucky day." He says, clearly knowing you were seated behind him.

You laugh, resting your elbows on the counter, watching him like a hawk . "I eat everything, don't worry."

"Good." He says before turning back towards you with a plate of steak, potatoes and asparagus. Unlike earlier, this time a pleasant cloud of steam hit you in the face, the smell making your tummy grumble.

Toji has a plate of his own, leaning against the counter behind him as he watches your every move, waiting for you to take a bite. He pokes at a potato, tossing it into his mouth before saying something.

"Wake up early tomorrow, I'll teach you what to do in case something like this happens again. I don't expect you to follow a man again back to his cabin in the middle of no where.." Prodding at a few more pieces of steak, he notices you were busy digging into your own plate.

You just let out a hum of approval, Toji slowly sliding a glass of water towards you before you could choke anytime soon.

Setting your cutlery down, you look up at Toji standing, busy eating his own dinner. Here comes the wave of questions.. "Hmm, do you ever get lonely out here?"

Unphased by the question, Toji continues eating, but answers your curiosity. "Nah, I like being alone. I'm used to it anyways. Friends do come visit, but not always." He shrugs, unable to make eye contact with you.

"..I see.." Nodding, your mind jumps back to the unopened box of condoms back in Toji's bathroom, your inner voice mentally cursing at yourself for being too curious.

Letting famish get the best of you, you devoured everything on the plate in record breaking time, politely pairing the cutlery together on the dish. "Uhm, Toji? I can clean up. It's the least I could do."

The man just finishing his own plate, he sets it on the counter beside him, looking at you, impressed. "Seriously? 'right then."

Hopping off the stool, you make your way past him, feeling Toji's gaze burn into the back of your head, before you reached around him for his plate, and your own on the island. Bringing the two to the sink, you began to wash them with the sponge, occasionally looking out the kitchen window.

It had gone dark quickly. Who knows if Toji never had come across you.

"You got a boyfriend or what?" A first time question from the man, and it was one you didn't expect. He remained leaning against the counter, watching your every move from behind you.

Suppressing a panicked turn of your head, you kept your vision down at the dishes, gliding your hand over the dishes and under the water, you gulped before answering.

"No, not anymore. I broke up with him cause I found out he was cheating on me with some girl on the majorette team in college." Your insides burned at the memory of you walking in on them at a party bathroom, but you didn't let it get to you, not now.

Toji didn't let out a hum of approval, and instead stayed quiet. All he did was place your empty glass beside the sink that you seemed to have forgotten all about. Taking that too, you scrubbed it with the sponge before rinsing it off and placing it on the drying rack.

"All done," you dried your hands on the fabric of your shorts behind you, turning back around to Toji who was in the same position, but this time, his hands held onto the counter's edge on either side of him.

Peering at the drying rack around you, he pouted in approval, "Done a fairly good job I suppose,"

You scoff, "It was just washing dishes. Nothing hard."

"I'll be right back. No tomfoolery, and don't open that door." Toji glances to the front door, before disappearing off into his bedroom, the door closing. You thought nothing of it, walking over to the L-shaped sofa to see what was on TV. Some stupid deer documentary was on, typical, but you changed it to something more entertaining like a soap.

You assumed that he had no Netflix on it, and you were right. You can't really imagine Toji watching an episode of The Office.

Propping the side of your head onto your knuckles, your eyes bored at the screen, barely paying attention to what was on the TV. Glancing over to the clock on the wall, you read the time to be almost 9 o'clock, which shocked you.

Letting out your fifth sigh of the day, you flickered back and forth through the channels before hearing a door open behind you, Toji stepping out of his room, and this time, dressed in grey sweats and a t-shirt. His hair was slightly damp, as you noticed him sitting just after your feet, ensuring a distance between you two.

"What's this crap you're watching?" Toji rests his elbows on his knees before relaxing back onto the sofa, legs spreading as he made himself comfortable.

Tossing the remote over to his side, you roll your eyes. "Knew you would say that."

The man attempted to focus on the shit show in front of him, brows furrowing, but eventually he seemed interested.

Sitting up, you cross your legs, groaning. "There's nothing good on TV. I'm going to bed."

Toji looked to his side, watching as you stood up and left, and he had to admit— he did get a look at your behind. But no one could beat that out of him. "Alright, suit yourself. Sweet dreams. Remember, up early tomorrow."

You glanced behind your shoulder before stepping into his room, not shutting the door fully but leaving a slight gap between the frame and the door itself.

After scavenging through the side pocket of your backpack, you returned back into Toji's bathroom with your toothbrush this time. Stealing a pea of his own toothpaste, you stared at yourself in his mirror as you brushed away.

You could still hear his TV coming from outside, and it sounded like the channel didn't change. He was probably fixated on the show by now. After spitting out, you rinsed off your toothbrush, before heading back out to place it back into your backpack.

Before hopping into bed, you neatly folded your things away, ensuring you cleaned up after yourself as you hated leaving a mess behind, especially if you weren't in a space of your own.

Letting out a sigh, you crawled into his bed, surprisingly filled with two fluffy pillows, and not just one flat ass cushion. Toji's bed strongly smelled like aftershave, supposedly the one in his bathroom mirror. It was comforting though, and wasn't an unpleasant scent.

Covering your upper half with the duvet, you laid flat on your back, eyes staring up at the ceiling before your lids slowly grew heavy and soon enough, closing shut.

You managed to sleep halfway through the night, until, it had began to thunder, and rain heavily. The drops pattered against the glass window, waking you from your slumber inconveniently.

Sitting up in bed, you look around, noticing everything was still the same. The door remained slightly open, and you could see that the TV has still been on until now, but sounded different.

Looking out the window, you couldn't see much from the heavy rain blinding the environment. It was lashing outside, and unfortunately, you were unable to fall back into sleep.

Pursing your lips together, you climbed out of bed, making your way to the door before opening it by a bit.

You treaded lightly, seeing Toji's head behind the sofa. Unable to tell if he was asleep or not, noticing that the TV was on, you approached him closer. Your head peeked over the sofa slightly, voice calling out his name.

"..Toji? ....Toji." You let out a loud whisper, the man grunting and turning his head around. It seems that he was fast asleep, but... sitting up. How scary.

"I can't sleep.. the weather, it's really awful outside." Nipping at the fabric of your shorts, you sucked in a labored breath of air through your nostrils before initiating a question. "..Can you- sleep beside me?"

Toji seemed less asleep, and now, he was wide awake. He looked over to the clock before reaching for the remote to switch off the TV. It was halfway through one in the morning. "What are you, nine?" He laughs before getting up from the sofa, trailing behind the sofa to follow you back into the room.

He questioned no more, and agreed. He'd do anything to be back in his room anyways, in the comfort of his bed, but of course knowing Toji— he'd never admit that.

The two of you hurried back into the bedroom, Toji automatically walking over to his side, while you, crawl back into bed. Making yourself comfortable again, you drape the cover over yourself, feeling the weight of the bed shift beside you, Toji making himself comfortable also.

You turn to your side, back facing Toji, unable to have him stare at your face all night. The room grew silent, and only the sound of the rain tapping against the window could be heard. Though you could still feel his gaze burning into your back, which happened to go away soon enough.

"No stupid stuff." He suddenly blurts out, which you were unable to decipher. Was he talking about what you thought he meant?

You decided not to respond, and instead, shifted around. You could feel Toji's natural body warmth all over your back, and with one more shift, you realised that he was close to you, actually, way too close to you.

But it was too late to move back, as you were too scared of irritating him by shuffling around so much that he'd kick you out.

A large hand snakes onto the side of your waist, gently gripping at your stomach. "Quit movin' around so much, will you?" It was Toji's hand, and he firmly kept you in place. Preventing any further movement. The continuous friction of your shorts against him had aroused him of some sort, and it was uncontrollable.

Another hard bump rested on the behind of your shorts, your eyes flying wide open, unable to shut now. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't know.. I'll stop."

"Sure, you didn't know what you were doing?" You couldn't see the expression on his face, and could only judge by the tone of his voice. Too bad you were facing away from him right now.

Giving in, your body aggressively shifts to face him, the natural moonlight peering through the windows leaving a bright enough glow on his face.

You gulp, Toji hesitantly using his finger to move away the fly-aways covering your face to get a better look at you. "..Don't know why that jerk cheated on you."

"..You don't know me, so.." You let out, Toji's brows furrowing as he studied your features harder.

Alternating between your eyes and lips, he let out a mixture of a grunt and a laugh. "Should go for a real man."

Your breath hitches at his remark, your mind trailing off to other translations of his sentence. He talking about the fucking, or dating aspect?

Silence grew between you, his thumb carefully swiping over your soft bottom lip. The air grew thicker and thicker, a sort of tension lingering throughout the room. You couldn't tell what initiated it, but the air felt suffocating, like it had its own hold of you.

Leaning in closer to his face, your warm breath fanned against his lips before he cupped your cheek with his hand, holding you close as your mouths latched onto each other. The tension between you two diminishing as your tongues intertwined.

Toji laid flat on his back as you straddled him under the sheets, the kiss turning sloppier, with a blend of spit coating your chins, the two of you moaning into each other.

You whimper, pulling away as you felt his teeth tug onto your bottom lip, a long, string of saliva creating a bridge between the two of you, both panting, chests heaving heavily.

Swiftly stripping your tank above your head, the sudden air had bit your skin, nipples growing hard to the touch, all perky and erect. Unable to see in the midst of the fabric covering your sights, you could feel both of Toji's large hands cupping your breasts, massaging them— thumbs toying teasingly at your nipples.

Palms pressing onto the flat of your back, Toji guides your hips with no rush in his movements, back and forth, groaning at the grinding sensation over his sweats, head heavily leaning against the pillow. Your top slides down onto the bedroom floor, breath irregular as you felt the thick tent in his pants dig into you.

You both swap positions, Toji flipping the two of you around with ease and no struggle in his demeanor, the man anchoring himself between your thighs.

Toji's lips latch onto your breasts, warm mouth wrapped around one, sucking away hungrily as he fondled with the other. A pop leaves his mouth as he lets go, using a finger to flicker your nipple gently, your warm, spit-covered nipples growing hard once again as soon as it meets the cold air.

You watch as Toji goes down on you, breath shaking as he peppered kisses down your stomach, disappearing underneath the sheets; leaving a few pecks dangerously close, and somewhere on your inner thigh.

Feeling his pointer and middle finger tug at the waistband of your shorts, you could tell that he was waiting; and so you raised your hips up slightly, allowing him to drag them down your legs.

His hands clasp around your two thighs, bringing you closer to his face, though you just couldn't see; Toji's tongue leaving behind a wet stripe against your clothed pussy, your body shuddering at the feeling.

Your mouth could only gape open, your eyes peering up at the same ceiling as you let out breathless moans here and there.

Toji's middle finger tugged your panties to the side, allowing your bare pussy to be on show to him completely, finally landing yet another stripe with his warm tongue. He eagerly sucks, sticking his same middle finger in, fucking your hole gently as he alternates between licking and fingering.

Letting out quiet moans, you fondle with your breasts, legs squirming as he inserted another digit, Toji using both hands to rip your underwear completely as he sucked on your clit

Your hand reaches for the pillow behind you, fingers clawing at the fabric.

Toji raised his own hips, practically on his knees to be able to palm at his own cock as played with you for your own pleasure, getting off to your moans as he continued to have you undone with his touch.

You could hear him grunt lowly, from time to time, but grunting in disapproval whenever you'd stamp your thighs on either side of his head, trapping him between your legs.

Your head leaning back, you gasped, eyes rolling as Toji curled his fingers up into you, eventually allowing his movements to come to a complete halt, your throat mewling in dissatisfaction.

"Not so fast, wanna feel you cum 'round something else," Toji appears in front of you, arising from under the sheets; stripping his own shirt off his body before tossing it somewhere across the room.

His body shifted around, and you assumed it was to get the condoms, where you already knew was located. Though you quickly took a hold of the strings on his waistband, pulling him back.

"No- I wanna feel you raw, Toji," Looking up at him as you said so, still laid on your back; the man could've sworn that his cock twitched at what you had just said.

Surprisingly, he nods, moving about to get his pants fully off him, struggling a bit, but managing in the end.

Toji uses a hand to jerk his thick length repeatedly, the other free playing with the flesh on your waist. "You sure about this?"

"I am." You replied, busy wondering how he was gonna fit inside of you. The condoms weren't lying.

Slightly and slowly pushing his tip into you, followed by the rest, the two of you groaned at the feeling, Toji grabbing onto both sides of your waist eventually; grip growing tighter as he stuffed you full. Your fingers clawed at his wrists, a moan escaping your mouth as you felt his girth stretching you out, Toji using his thumbs to caress your sides gently.

"All good?" He made sure, and you nod, letting him know that he could move, and you were perfectly fine.

Toji's hips began to rock back and forth, occasional groans coming from him, mentally thanking you for the fact that you let him do it raw.

"..F-faster," you let out, Toji now placing both of his hands on either side of your head, his hips bucking into you faster and deeper; the bed slightly creaking from his movements.

He continues to groan endlessly, head jerking back as he felt your gummy walls take him completely, cursing over and over again. Toji smashes his lips onto yours again, you moaning as a result, the man taking your head into his hands as he held you close; forehead leaning on yours as his cock bullied your insides relentlessly.

Pulling away, Toji grabs both of your legs, resting your ankle on each of his shoulders— allowing him to fuck into you deeper, and be impossibly closer, the man fucking you into a nasty mating press as the creaking intensifies; the headboard beginning to hit against the walls, the legs of the bed scratching all over the floorboards.

"S-shit, To-oji," Voice breaking up your words, you dig your fingertips deep into the muscle on his shoulder, Toji moaning closely against the shell of your ear.

He growls, resting his forehead on yours once again, maintaining eye contact with you, so intimately; "That's it doll, moan my name, come on," he coos, watching as your eyes squeeze shut; the man reaching his hand up to gently slap it against your cheek— telling you to keep your eyes on him.

You do so, and endlessly chant his name like a prayer; Toji grinning and leaving a peck on your lips before letting your legs go, allowing them to flop on either sides of his waist, effortlessly flipping you back around.

Pulling out rapidly, the flat of his palm presses against your spine. Hands kneading at your ass cheeks as he spreads them apart, leaving a long wet lick from your pussy past your asshole, he slides his cock back into your dripping hole— maintaining his previous pace as he holds onto the headboard, drilling into you with no mercy.

Beads of sweat glistened his body like that pane of glass, strands of his recently washed hair now sticking to his forehead.

"Atta girl," he moans, slapping your ass and leaving a red hand-print. "Fuck, take this cock," Your ass rippling against his pelvis, Toji grabs a handful of the soft of your cheeks, fucking you back onto his cock; a symphony of ass slapping, and balls hitting against your clit sounding throughout the room.

Your forehead falls heavy onto the pillow, voice muffled as you moaned helplessly into it; Toji fucking you in all the right spots, he meant it when he said you should find yourself a real man. He was showing you, what a real man was.

"C'mon baby, I wanna feel you cum all over me, p-please?" Toji pleads, his thrusts slowing in pace, but still rutting in deep as he fucks you passionately, guiding you by your waist back and forth on his cock to get those last few strokes.

Toji leans forward, pressing a tender kiss on your shoulder blade, feeling down your back as he left a few more, shivers going down your spine as he roamed his hands all over you,

A creamy ring forms at his shaft, thickening over time as he continued to fuck in and out of you; playfully pulling his thick cock out to heavily rest it against your ass, gliding it between your cheeks before sliding it back in. His tip red, and glossy, your eyes rolled as he slipped himself inside.

Toji picks up the pace once more, urging you to your orgasm; your fingers clawing behind you, trying to stop him from moving any more, your two legs shaking as they attempted to stay up, and support you in your arch.

He grabs a fistful of your hair, pulling you back towards him; fucking your mind as he finishes you off from behind. "I'm gonna c-cum, oh fuck," you squeal, eventually making a mess all over his cock, squirting— Toji still fucking into you as your orgasm had washed over your body.

A dark puddle forms on the bedsheets underneath you, and your slick soaks on the flat of his thighs, a squelching noise emitting from underneath as you lazily rubbed circles on your clit; eyes rolling from the several sensations hitting you all at once— Toji’s cock continuing to piston into you.

Toji grunts, feeling you clench and unclench round his cock; a firm slap stinging against your left cheek as he instantly pulls out. "Turn around," he commands, breathing heavily and you obey; a firm grip still in your hair— the man guiding his cock with his index and thumb towards your lips.

Slapping his heavy girth against your mouth, warm ropes of white decorate your face; Toji grunting as he watches your face be painted with white, smearing his artwork all over your face, pushing his tip gently into your mouth as you sucked, sticking your tongue out for visual confirmation of the white orb of cum resting on it.

"Fuck.." he whispers, "Swallow it baby," Toji smacks his tip against your cheek, soon enough letting go of your scalp as he jerked his cock with a last few strokes.

Upon letting go, he immediately cupped your face into his palms once again, rewarding you with a tender kiss on the lips, sneaking a quick fondle at your breast.

Toji glances out the window, returning his gaze back to you glowing under the moon's light. The loud storm had stopped long ago. "..Don't you think those backshots were louder than that thunder clapping out there?"

⊹ ࣪ ˖ ⤳ © luvwestwood ‘24. all works are owned by me, and originally come from my own head. please do not re-post on a third party platform without my permission!

⊹ ࣪ ˖ ⤳ as always, thank you for the love on each and every one of my posts! it means the world to me. ily all soo soo much!

[luvwestwood masterlist]

[l6sadi]

Something I really like about the original Lupin III manga (1967-1969), and which was unfortunately lost in the later releases like the aizouban volumes and the english translation localization of Tokyopop, is the way Monkey Punch decides to organize the chapters. Although the manga has arcs/stories of one or two parts, the manga is divided into "Series" in which, depending on these, each chapter shares a common topic.

The versions that can currently be read have the chapters out of order, but there is nothing to worry about, since these stand on their own episodically and in some cases, the chapters that were originally two parts were converted into a single chapter, so you can just jump to any chapter of any series that catches your attention here.

Some examples of these are:

(The following chapter names mentioned here are from the Tokyopop edition which can be fully read on Mangadex)

Rat Clan Series: Set of chapters in which Lupin and his gang face the Rat/Nezumi clan.

•Chapter 69 - “Straight Flush”

•Chapter 31 - “You Dirty Rats”

•Chapter 70 - “The Rat Clan and The Sea”

•Chapter 71 - “To Old Acquaintance Being Shot”

All Cast Series: Several chapters in which the whole gang (Goemon, Fujiko, Jigen and Lupin) works together.

•Chapter 56 - “Triple Play”

•Chapter 57 - “The World on a String”

•Chapter 58 - “Camera Tricks”

•Chapter 59 - “Medal of Dishonor”

•Chapter 60 - “High Art”

Young Man series: Series of chapters focused mostly on young adolescents or young adults getting involved in the world of crime. (My favorite).

•Chapter 36 - “Tough Love”

•Chapter 67 - “To Live and Die in Japan”

•Chapter 73 - “The Think System”

Psychodelic Series: Chapters focused on, as the title implies, stories with psychedelic elements such as hypnosis or alusinations.

•Chapter 48 - “The Dream Sequence”

•Chapter 51 - “What the Skull Wants”

•Chapter 61 - “Death and Duality”

•Chapter 62 - “Double your Guns”

•Chapter 52 - “The Mind is a Mansion”

And FINNALLY.

The Confession Series: Chapters totally focused on Lupin's past and his relationship with his fucked up family.

•Chapter 37 - “Lupin The Third Vs. Arsene Lupin”

•Chapter 38 - “Inheritance”

•Chapter 39 - “Prodigy”

•Chapter 40 - “A Chip Off the Gold Block”

If this description or the plot of any of these characters sounds familiar to you, it is It is because these chapters were the total inspiration for the “Lupin Zero” mini-series, also highly recommended.

please share this or i'll die. <\3

[sanzu-sanzu-sanzu]

Hungry Hearts 6

Itoshi Sae X F!Reader

You are Itoshi Sae’s Manager. Fielder of dumb reporter questions and keeper of his schedule. Among many others.

Timeskip. Sae is 24 and is officially a representative of Japan.

slowburn + idiots in love + romance + friendship/gen

MASTERLIST

<< prev

Chapter 6: Real Talk

Sae keeps his head settled back against the couch, lifting his phone screen, once again, to his eyes. 09:59 PM, it says, and zero new messages. Not that he’s been expecting anything of the sort, in fact, he’s the one who’s left you on read for about twenty minutes now.

He hovers a thumb over your message before clicking it open for the third time since.

> i know it’s late, and you’ll probably see this in the morning, but thank you again for the tickets. my friend says thank you too, though she watches tomorrow. (9:35 PM)

A message you’ve sent in quiet mode expecting he’d be asleep by now, because you know, of course, that he’ll have an early start in the morning. Not a white lie this time.

> it was a wonderful performance. (9:37 PM)

The sudden beeping noise of the tabletop clock awakens him anew, and when it does, he finally pushes himself off the chair, his awareness re-emerging with that same, steady sense of certainty, a clarity that resonates with the dull current he feels under his skin, the tingling at the tips of his fingers.

How unamusing this helpless sensation is, how discomforting the feel of all this empty space all of a sudden—

He wants to see you.

—how pleasant.

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About an hour ago, there was a different woman seated at the other end of this couch. A friend, an acquaintance who happened to be in town. A nice dinner, she’d said, for old time’s sake? And if Sae had said yes, it was out of the implicit agreement that it was not going to be anything more.

What they had, before then, were the occasional hook-ups. A couple of times; it’s not important, you wouldn’t have known because they were never in his calendar. Besides, it had been way before he’d met you. What mattered was that neither had felt the need to ask too many questions and there was no making a big deal out of who he was and what they had going on. It was convenient and it was fleeting, and the both of them got what they signed up for to get.

It had been over a year since they’d last seen each other like this. There’d been a dinner, too, much like tonight, but unlike tonight, there was no coming back to his place because he’d lied that he needed to be up early the next day or else his manager was gonna kill him. Tonight, she’d asked this time, will the manager be around to scold him if he got in any trouble? A question that was said with a twinkle in her eye he imagined saw more than she was letting on. A question he’d let hang, he had let stick in his mind even as the conversation had dulled into something more pleasant—the same stories that were safe to share, safe to explore, safe to navigate.

Even, and especially, when his mind kept telling him maybe he’d messed up somewhere because, at every turn, he’d find you—in the quiet lull of the classic Yoko Kanno blues that permeated the restaurant air; in the soft chimes of laughter from someone at the next table; in the passenger seat of the woman’s car, sleek and cramped and not made for him. There was, in every space that was occupied and every doorway he crossed, the ever-present reminder that you were somewhere else and not here.

It’s becoming pathetic.

It’s a Saturday, she’d pointed out, at one point, when the matter of the unusual volume of traffic was brought up. It’s a Saturday night and everyone’s out with there friends—or out at their friend’s—just like she and him.

Yeah, but there’s that Tokyo Ballet event, too. Right around Meguro, that’s why, Sae supplied from his kitchen as he poured them both a drink.

Oh, is there? Didn’t realize you’re into ballet now.

Not at all. But my manager is, he said before he caught himself. That’s where she’s at right now.

Her champagne was handed without meeting each other’s gazes, good enough segue towards a stretch of light conversation that no longer mentioned you.

“You good, Sae?” None of the few women he’d ever slept with had to bother with courtesy, and yet he still blinked, as if roused from a light stupor, upon the sound of his name. Too personal and too familiar; an intimacy that felt misplaced, despite the casualness of the hour, despite the lack of inhibition in bare feet folded up on the couch.

Sae looked up to her rose-lacquered smile, an all-seeing pair of eyes. Eyes that, despite how opaque, held understanding and friendship.

“Good.” He did something between a sigh and a grunt, stretching an arm over the back of the couch as his gaze landed on the clock on the side table. “Didn’t realize how late it’s gotten.”

She held his eyes for only a moment, fully understanding what that meant. What it entailed for the both of them. “Indeed,” she murmured, carefully placing her champagne glass on the center table, as carefully as she stretched the moment out in forming her words. “I do need to get home, too, though. Early trip tomorrow.”

But Sae didn’t mind. If this was the end of something, the both of them could take their time.

“Let me drive you.”

“There’s no need,” she smiled at the offer, getting up. “I’d like a long drive myself. And besides, I barely drank.”

It was at right by his doorstep wherein she finally turned to ask, and before she’d even opened her mouth, Sae somehow knew what it was going to be about.

“Can I take a guess who she is?”

“Guess who?”

“I hope you don’t actually play me for a fool, Itoshi Sae,” she leveled him with a coy stare. “You never had that look when we were ever together, you know that?”

Maybe it’s the bit of alcohol, maybe it’s the light prodding at the remotest idea of you, but something in him felt like protecting this part of him. “No idea what you’re trying to say.”

She barked out a laugh, folding her arms as she rested a shoulder against the doorframe, temporarily halting her exit. “You know, and I’ve told you this before, you may be a genius but you’re the dumbest in at least one of these two things: outright lying or handling your feelings.”

“Have you?”

“If not both.”

To that, Sae offered no real response; he simply closes his eyes, tilting his head away, seemingly conceding this one. Not as much as she might like, but conceding, nonetheless. “Don’t have much use for either on the field.”

One could only roll their eyes at Sae’s stubbornness. But, then again, if this were the end of something, should he be able to get away so easily? “So, may I? I think I might have a good idea on who she is.”

“I think you’ve had more than a bit of a drink. You sure you could get yourself home just fine?”

“Fine, fine, I’ll shut up. You don’t need me to tell you anyway.”

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“What look?” He did, however, stop her just before the door completely closed between them.

“I don’t know.” She had to laugh at the suspicious, attentive look his expression morphs into. But then maybe that’s also part of his charm: chronically indifferent to the world and everyone else, except for the things he truly, strongly cared for—football; his brother; a girl he suddenly didn’t know what to do with because if there was one thing Sae knew what to do best, it’s to win.

“I don’t know, Itoshi, but something tells me that you already know that this isn’t a game you get to play, that she isn’t a prize you get to win.”

Maybe this was the part of Sae she chose to speak to, in the end.

“Make of that what you will. You don’t get that look in your eyes for someone so often.”

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He stares back at his own gaze on the dark glass window, illuminated by the sparkle of city lights, alive and noiseless from this side of the glass. He wonders if you’d still reply back after how long.

> Great to know. (Sent)

He waits a minute, and then two, before his fingers are typing again.

> You ate yet? (Sent)

Your reply comes sooner than he might’ve expected.

> hahahaha

He blinks at his phone screen once because even though you’re not above jokes and offbeat banter in person, your written communication, however, has always been very dry. As dry and as utilitarian as his, which works just fine, but which could also very well be the reason for your near-insistence, whenever allowed, on voice and/or cam-on calls. A principle that was easy to grasp right from the start, but, he feels, is just now only being further unravelled in his mind, a truth that is being magnified as if for the first time—all from a single line of ‘hahahaha.’

How mundane, how illuminating, the way Sae can already picture you shaking your head at his constant pestering—has it gotten so constant now?—to never forget to eat, prompting him to roll his eyes.

It’s easy to forget that that’s another person at the other end of the line, he remembers overhearing your words to a sponsor rep once, that one time you had to make an emergency call while in Spain and you ended up having to do it in his Madrid living room. An issue that could’ve gotten bigger but was eventually smoothed out by you and your diplomatic in-person talking it out with the right people. That you’re a person, too.

He wishes he’s seeing you now.

> i will be eating, i promise. just trying to catch a cab at the moment.

He realizes that you must’ve been waiting for a ride for over twenty minutes already, a thought that makes him frown.

> Stranded? Where are you? (Sent)

When you reply, your words are back to sounding matter-of-fact and reassuring:

> kind of. long queue at cab booth, but it’ll pass. meguro persimmon hall, exit 2.

10:10, his phone says, but then he decides not to think it through.

> Let’s get something to eat. (Sent)

He stays standing in front of his glass window across his crossed-armed reflection, waiting for your reply. After a significant amount of time of no word from you (roughly five minutes), he realizes one important thing and flicks his phone open to send you another quick message.

If you like, of course. I know it’s late. It’s a Saturday, after all. He cannot be subjecting his manager to his whims on a Saturday night and on your day off, much less. Why did he not think this through?

But then,

i’d love to, goes your reply. it’s just cab is difficult right now. will you have time to wait for me?

Sae’s response comes easy, intuitive, almost unconscious. Except as he types his message out, he becomes very much conscious of the constraints and the limits of a medium devoid of a physical you, confines through which the words he intend to say but which no one can hear almost bleed out, like he’s saying them out loud in the moment. And taste them in his mouth. An honesty, a sense of earnestness in words that almost reach over your tiny screens.

Stay where you are. I’ll pick you up.

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In his car, he catches the very simple fact that you no longer adjust his passenger’s seat because he never really has to accommodate anyone else but you, a small thing you also notice because the cute bear patterned headrest pillow that you’d once dug out from the backseat—a random purchase of his—that looks very much out of place in his car’s slick black refinement, and yet, somehow, has always stayed there, is still attached at just the right height and position as you’ve left it last time. The last time, and the many other times he’s driven you in his car.

It had been a sort of predicament, the first time, his driver being unavailable so Sae had to be the one to drive the both of you around the city, and you hesitating to get in the backseat like he’s your own personal driver…as opposed to the more personal, reserved-for-the-more-important front passenger seat. Sae had seen through your quiet dilemma though, had watched you deliberate silently for a few seconds before himself speaking up with a quick nod to the seat beside him:

Up front with me. I’ll be your driver, either way.

This time, there’s no more hesitating as you fasten your seatbelt; “You don’t get a lot of passengers in here, huh.”

He confirms with a reply, more to himself, as he reverses the car with one hand, but with him twisting his body and placing his other arm over the back of your seat to look behind, his words come out a little quiet—a little strained—but very clear near your ear.

“No—just you.”

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You spend a good thirty minutes deciding on where to eat because, as it turns out, you’ve been hard-pressed on finding a place that caters to his current training diet. When Sae realizes this, you’re both standing at the receiving area of what looks to be an authentic Thai restaurant, you with your nose pressed on a hand-held board menu, forehead scrunched in focus at the rows of items of foreign cuisine.

He ignores the ogling—both blatant and not—of passersby and the handful of servers maintaining their best not to crowd at reception; the uninvited eyes are the least of his concern at the moment.

“Whole steamed fish sounds good…”

“Let’s eat where you’d like to eat,” he says as he carefully lowers the board out of your face with two fingers. “No diet; I’m on my day-off.”

“You sure?”

He shrugs. “And I’m the one who asked you out, so pick wherever you want.”

You do not question anymore the logic behind his reasoning, nor dwell too much on the sentiment behind the gesture; you only look up for a brief moment at the whole place, past the staring eyes and the extent of the interior you could manage from the outside. Place looks pleasant and airy enough, not too noisy, not too many people—just enough you know he’d be able to manage (like he’s always able to). He would like it here.

“How about here?”

Sae’s gaze follows yours, narrowing in thought, before he fully lifts the menu board out of your hand. He takes a second to scan through the items himself, eyes diligently noting the spiciness level of each dish and, not to mention, the ever-present Authentic Thai spices and seasoning! tagline. Great place, great food, but considering how this place obviously does not play around with their spices, he spares a moment to recall, very quickly, the few instances he’s ever seen you with spicy food, and the most striking instance that comes to mind was that one time after a joint training in Barcha a couple of months back, when someone had brought in a spicy dish for sharing, and there was Meguru Bachira holding his full plate that was good enough for two as far away from you as possible, a look of warning on his face and a very pointed, ‘This paella is Level 12 spicy, ma’am! So you better watch out.”

Bachira was eating what was supposed to be your share, was also the point, but which you supported no problem.

“You think you can handle their spicy level?”

Your eyes flicker a few times before lighting up with recognition, and then you’re breaking into a shy, contained smile, red freckling your cheeks, not expecting him to catch on to the fact that you have extremely low tolerance to spiciness. “You’re right. Not for me.”

Sae wills his eyes away, clearing his throat.

“Let’s go where you wanna go,” he says, stepping aside so you may lead the way.

“Actually, I know a good burger stall around—over there.”

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Right around the street food stalls is a park that he’s never been to before. He’s a little surprised by the amount of people and life still up this late keeping the place awake, a little grateful when you lead him to a row of benches on the quieter side of the area. You don’t know what time it closes, you tell him, but it doesn’t matter, it’s not like you need the place open ‘till 5 AM anyway.

Seated on the bench, you finally get to ask him.

“So, how was your day?”

He flicks his diet soda open before answering, his other hand inching the large fries he didn’t ask for closer to you. He was doubting earlier whether to get them or not, but then he remembered that you’re not as averse to potato fries as he is.

“Uneventful.”

You follow with a quiet nod before he realizes you must be quickly running his schedule over in your head, schedule you always have mentally penned no matter the day. “That’s fair. Today was rest day for you.”

“Yours, as well,” he reminds you. “Suppose this should count as overtime, shouldn’t it?”

Light laughter spills through your half-opened mouth, interrupting what is supposed to be your first bite. “Well, since it’s technically outside of both our work hours, then I guess I’m not required to play manager, am I? So then, there’s no need.”

He gives his double cheeseburger a very brief inspection—“Then I’m just your regular guy—“ satisfied upon seeing that nobody forgot to put in the spicy sauce and pickles.

“How does it feel to be ordinary, Itoshi Sae?” Finally, you both get your first bites at the same time.

“Lib’rating,” he says through a stuffed mouth, pausing before he takes his next one. “You shouldn’t be letting any random guy buy you food, though.”

“Except you’re not just any random guy,” you say, smiling. “You’re a friend, of course.”

A friend. It’s a Saturday night and everyone’s out with their friends. Before he can fully process your words, though—and the burger is good—he sees you turning to him with a slightly wary look on your face.

“We could move your early morning run, too, you know. Coach wouldn’t mind, since you’re out so late tonight…”

“It’s your call. Coach wouldn’t object to you.”

“Oh, so you’re making me work.”

“No.” He quietly groans at the sight of your goofy grin. “Well, what ever’s your friendly counsel?”

You shake your head as if you’ve already told him so. “My friendly advice would always be to clear off your Sunday schedule because Sundays should be for sleeping in.”

“Alright, don’t push it. My manager’s gonna kill you and then me if I skip on my workout altogether.”

“Hey—!”

“She’s way too crazy with this Spartan training.” In spite of the empty look he schools his face into, there’s humor that softens the corners of his eyes at the sound of your fruitless protest.

Across the park and in front of you, there’s a group of children running about, being kids, doing cartwheels in the grass. There’s at least five of them kicking a football around and Sae idly wonders if any of them are, by now, as big a dreamer as he had been at that age. Wonders whether that’s a good thing or not; wonders, too, if that should be relevant. Even at this hour, the park stays bright and alive, even though the spot you’ve picked seems to be pretty divorced from much of the loudness and attention.

He catches you smiling at one or two things from the scenery across, if not because of the burger you look to be happily devouring. As if the taste is somehow attached to a memory he’s unable to gleam out of your eyes. Maybe he should ask you; maybe he shouldn’t. Does this make you happy?

“Well,” he considers for just a moment, “as your friend, I suppose I could tell you that I was out with a girl tonight. Are you proud?”

“‘Fat’s good!” You slowly nod as you place a hand over your mouth, courtesy in the middle of your chewing. “I am pwoud!”

He snorts, waits for you to finish your food, noticing the way you pat the paper bags on your left and right, searching for something.

“So, how was it? And how was she?” Your face suddenly freezes, your hands pause over your mouth. “I hope you did not ditch anyone on account of me, Sae-kun.”

“Don’t think so highly of yourself,” he says, shaking his head as he places his clean stack of paper napkins beside your lap for you. “Silly woman.”

“I did not think so,” and, for a brief, scary moment, Sae entertains the idea that maybe it’s not a question of whether he would or would not ditch anything on account of you, but it’s what could he possibly not ditch on account of you. “Thank you.”

There’s a period of comfortable silence for some time and the both of you let it stretch on for a bit, the varied, lively view in front providing enough distraction along with the food you’re both happily, quietly devouring. He does, however, feel that looming sense of question in the air, the way he’s somehow always able to tell whenever you’re deep in thought. Like the precursor to a piece of music he’ll always recognize. Always, always, in his head.

Why did he even think of telling you this, again? He suddenly doesn’t know, and he hears you sigh before you speak.

“You don’t have to tell me if you choose not to, but I am curious about this girl, though.” He cannot help but be amused at your careful wording. “So, how was it, how was she like?”

Sae squints over his burger before he takes another bite. “There’s nothing much to say. It’s over.”

“No way…that can’t be real.”

He shrugs. “Real. It simply won’t work out. We might’ve already known for a while.”

You gasp softly at this and Sae realizes that he likes it. Taking you by surprise. “Elaborate…”

“So interested, aren’t you.” He finally places his food down, crosses his legs and sits a little more comfortably with one arm over the back of the bench. “I could tell you. We’ve known each other for a while now, have gone out together a few times, too. But I enjoyed the company more than anything else; more than what it could’ve been, or even just the prospect of it, if that makes sense.” He folds his arm, bringing his knuckle to his cheek, angling just right so he could see your reaction. “You could say it was over before it even began,” which is, in a way, not false.

“Oh,” you begin to say, cradling your drink with both hands as you look on straight ahead. “That’s too bad.” But even as you don’t say anything else for a few good seconds, Sae’s staring does not waver, stays waiting for when you do look back with your question. “You think she felt the same way?”

“You think she might’ve?”

“I don’t know.” Your smile is honest, more open now. “I don’t know enough about this girl, as you see.”

He hums in thought as he closes his eyes, the wind blowing softly on his face. “She works in a magazine, big fan of football since she was a kid. We’ve met at a media event in Madrid a couple of years ago. She’s got some interesting views about football in Japan; some I agree with, some I don’t. She moves around a lot because of work, Tokyo, Madrid, Paris…you’ve probably even seen her in one of our events, I don’t know. Or maybe not.”

Sae thinks he’s memorized your expressions by now, your gestures, but nothing of the unreadable eyes you point straight ahead help him anticipate the way you adjust your seating so now you’re propping your head against your hand, too, crossing your legs, close to mirroring his posture. “But those are just things. You could say that about anyone and still don’t know them.” Your other hand absently moves to the base of your throat, fingers lithe over the band of your swan necklace that peeks out of your neckline. Facing him, but also not. “The same way…you might tell someone that I’m your manager, and you’re a football player. Or just a regular guy.”

He gives it a moment of thought. “I guess I don’t remember. Not sure if I even knew her at all.” To which you let out another quiet gasp.

“No, you can’t not remember…That’s a little sad.”

He mentally files your unexpected response, before closing his eyes once again. “Then, I don’t remember anything important, anything of value. We were cool, but I bored her to death, she bored me to death.” He steals a glance through a cracked eye, however, searching for your expression. “I’m not such a good talker, as you know.”

This makes you laugh. “That’s not true.” Sae was right, you do not mind eating up his fries, as well. Something about this strikes him as endearing, you sharing his food, whether you’re aware of it or not, but he gets no time to ponder it over. “We’ve had plenty of fun and worthwhile conversations as far as I’m concerned. About football, or otherwise.”

“No, I get what you mean.” And he does. And he hopes he’s saying enough to help you see that he really does understand. “I don’t forget people so easily.”

There’s another stretch of silence, of zero words filling the air between you, and in this short moment, he decides whether to let you in on one more thing. One last bit of truth, because it’s late and inside him is a strange sense of lack of inhibition. A sense of wonder as to how much he could push this little space further.

Maybe it’s the lateness of the hour. Or maybe it’s you. And is it enough? The glances he gets to steal as he sits on the other end of this tiny bench, good enough for two? The vague sentiments he gets to put out there in the world?

“I suppose, I meant to say,” he tilts his head just slightly, just enough so he’s able to make out your face out of the corner of his line of sight, “that I was more preoccupied than interested. Because I might like someone else.”

You don’t answer back right away, not fast enough, leaving just the tiniest room for an invisible thought behind your eyes. When you open your mouth to speak, it’s with a smile, but this one without meeting his gaze.

“Well. Then, that’s great—“

He can’t help but wonder what he’d see if he sees your eyes this time.

“—that you like someone. And I am happy for you.”

And that, if you ask him, right now, who this person is—the way a friend might—would he tell you the truth?

Somewhere, he hears the distant chiming of a clock tower eleven, twelve times, he does not count, nor bothers to find out. In the playing field across, one of the children tries to make a serious attempt to goal but then he sends the ball flying way past the post and fails. He rolls to the ground in despair while the other kids run to him in easy laughter. It’s all good fun.

Despite the hour, there does not seem to be any plans on any of the people leaving.

Sae takes a beat before clearing his throat. “That’s enough about me,” he begins, absently picking from the fries—his fries—you left between the two of you. “How was your day?”

You catch him frowning at the taste of french fries and you almost laugh because Sae, as far as you’re concerned, has no business eating french fries.

“Apart from tonight’s ballet, nothing much happened.” He squints at you in disbelief. “Well, things did happen, but nothing as colorful as yours.”

“Like I said: it was pretty much uneventful.”

“You should’ve watched with me.”

Sae’s smirk comes unbidden. “And watch you sparkly-eyed over dancing I wouldn’t understand while I do my best not to sleep.”

You look aghast. “Oh, but it’s different when you do get to watch it. There’s a lot more similarities between ballet and football than you might think, you know?”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Yes. And you’d be amazed by how effortless it all looks, how easy they make them all look.”

“I don’t doubt that.”

“It might be hard to imagine the impressive power and strength behind their action because a ballet dancer jumps with a lot of grace. And beauty, of course.” Your gaze turns soft. “All that mental focus, the core and abdominal muscle strength, the footwork—“ you suddenly clasp your hands close, just now realizing the unwieldy gestures you start making with your hands, and you purse your lips into an awkward smile. “—You know all those things, too, of course.”

But Sae does not want you to stop, does not ever want you to curb the love you wish for him to see, as he realizes, with startling clarity, that he might and he would give anything a chance just because it has you. Just because it is you.

“Not in the same way that you do.” He shifts in his seat to face you more fully now, his undivided attention tinged with the amusement at your unusual excitement and wordy enthusiasm. “Well, so, mind sparing me some ballet wisdom that I could use out there on the field?”

And he listens, watches, as you slowly unravel this thing that you love with so much heart, his attention held captive, his eyes drawn by the delicate gestures you once again start to unthinkingly make with your hands, like you’re forming words you can hold along with the movement of your lips, the curl of the corners of your mouth, the clasping and unclasping of your fingers, in harmony with the flutter of your eyes, the softening of your gaze, the rise and fall of your voice. Romance, you’re explaining now—ballet, by the very nature of the dance, is very romantic.

And, like a stray eyelash on your cheek, he plucks out the delicate word with careful fingers—

“Romance—” holds it at the tip of his tongue. “You think that I…could benefit with a little romance—is your ballet expert’s advice on how to be No. 1 on the field.”

He catches the humor in your eyes. “Yes, I suppose you could be a little more romantic.”

“Elaborate on what this ‘romantic’ means.”

“It’s like…it’s like when you bring someone to the ocean to see the sunset, and the sunset stops being the point.”

He narrows his eyes at your analogy, but then amusement tugs at the corners of his lips. “That sounds like a random string of words, but…weirdly enough, I get what you mean.”

“Oh, I just thought…well, I know you enjoy the ocean a whole lot so I thought of explaining in terms you might appreciate more.” At his expression of wonder, you chuckle. “I’m the one who books your vacations so I know where you like to go, okay.”

He shakes his head at the triumphant expression your face melts into. “Romance, I get that. I hope as my manager you’re taking this down—“ a faux incredulity at your glee,“—but tell me: you think if I gave you a pass you could score a goal for me?”

This one, you take a serious moment to give some real thought, like you’re asked a critical question you’ve never asked yourself before. And then you’re smiling, pursing your lips.

“I doubt that,” in your brief laughter he’s able to catch that hesitant gleam in your eyes—“I don’t have that killer instinct—“ the sheepish, almost self-conscious contact of your hand to your face, a gesture he’s come to know means you’re embarrassed, and Sae no longer resists the laughter that rises out of him. He used to spend a good amount of time wondering what you could be thinking, in whatever situation the two of you are thrown into, in the rare times that he allows his thoughts to stray to where they rarely go—in the quiet of the car; in the chaos of the dugout in the middle of an important match and he catches your eye by sheer coincidence; in the silence with which you mask the unease behind your eyes in certain moments he’s yet to figure out the reason behind of. If he no longer loses as much sleep over the rationality that is you as he had had before, it is less out of disinterest but more because two years worth of constantly being in each other’s orbits have given your relationship—this Player/Manager partnership/friendship, or whatever you’d like to call it—a certain fundamental reliability; your self a level of predictability, for lack of a better term. Like how he’s learned to avoid saying or doing certain things out of a nagging itch, that is, knowing how they might make you feel. So much of you might require a little more stretching of the imagination still for him to understand, but it’s maybe that same fundamental knowing, as well, that has earned Sae this unwarranted and, admittedly, mind-boggling predisposition to keep learning. To keep learning more.

(Of you.)

Because a part of him knows, in the same vein as having learned to know you, that you’ll always be able to surpass his imagination. A realization he has no idea what to do with.

And now you’re smiling to yourself and he doesn’t even completely know why, and the pleasant stirrings of warmth he feels from his stomach to his chest and up his neck to his face tells him he’s fine with this puzzlement.

Because you’re not a prize or a ‘trophy’ to be won, and this isn’t a game he gets to play. There are games he gets to crush, outcomes he gets to control to the utmost perfection, and then there is you—

You give a little laugh when you catch his eyes.

—this is where his rationality stops, where his head empties of all the cold calculation and certainties he arms himself with against the world—

“What?”

“You aren’t such a bad talker as you say you are—see?”

—and be left with nothing more than the simple truth of who and what he wants, along with the clarity of your image:

You, sparkly-eyed, beside him in a park one night, telling him who you are.

MASTERLIST

taglist: @kunikame @ac-koryu-13 @dioscuridios @kiyohdasimp @ririgards @saeitoshithoughts @simpx123 @silly-ez @jwhwbwhwh @yoimyas @imhererighthererightnoe @luvjiro @wifeofgeto @nxxagent @xoyumiqls @oosden @shiinobu-x @francinethings23 @beabeemu @ashen-sky @arminseas @lostinbeidou @bluerskiees @sagejin @whotaooo @nanami230 @li28zi @gemoyo @ari-maccha @kiopanxp @exatse @tears-dnt-fall @saenora @stormeye111 @1isabelfox​

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR EVERYONE’S PATIENCE 🥲

[strawberry-metal]

The majority of these songs contain dark themes and subjects, they are not appropriate for children, or anyone sensitive to these themes. Viewer discretion is advised! I have also looked into every song to make sure every single one allows reprinting. Unless I did a major goof, everything on the list was allowed! Quick disclaimer: I have made no money off this video, and I don't make money off of any of my videos for that matter, so if youtube decides to show you an ad, that's not going to me.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!! Here's the Vocaloid playlist I promised! Content warnings in the description, along with timestamps, font credit, credits to the producers(which is also in the vid itself), and credit to every single Project Diva mod used! I'll also list everything here under a read more! I hope you all enjoy, you have an hour worth of 15 spoopy Vocaloid songs, with guest appearances from Zatsune Miku, Juon Kiku, Kasane Ted and Kasane Teto~

I have also changed the screenshot each time a new song starts, to show which vocal synth is currently singing!

Youtube description with content warnings and everything else copy and pasted below the read more!

Font I used is Friday 13th by Norfok.

Content warning:

Majority of these songs will have some form of violence or death in them. So assume murder in most.

Jealous Princess I turned the volume down on, because it'd blow out your ears otherwise due to needing the track to be implemented twice to have Kiku's "cursed" voice.

Trick and Treat - Drug references and kidnapping

Mrs. Pumpkin's Comical Dream - kidnapping

Musunde Hiraite Rasetsu to Mukuro - Hachi has stated the song is about childhood bullying, not prostitution, which is the common misconception of the song. The lyrics and theme is obviously still dark though!

Jealous Princess - Yandere, also loud volume warning.

Twilight Homicide Song - Yandere

Disease Princess - Sexual themes, self mutilation, suicide

Pandemic - Murder(like most the songs on here) and suicide

Wonder Girl and the Labyrinth Gate - Murder-Suicide and Cannibalism

Rotten Rotten ~Zombie~ - I suppose this is yandere?

Half Blood Maneater - I really don't think this needs a warning but I'll put one just in case. Possible cannibalism if you consider half human like a vampire or something to still be cannibalism.

Song credits and timestamps:

Black Cats of Halloween by Mayuko ft Kagamine Rin & Len 00:10 - 03:24

Trick and Treat by OSTER project, cover by Azuralunar ft Kasane Teto & Ted 03:25 - 07:03

Ashes to Ashes by Tennen and niboshi ft Kaito 07:04 - 11:01

Mrs. Pumpkin's Comical Dream by Hachi, Zatsune ""cover"" by me, ft Zatsune Miku 11:02 - 15:13

Close and Open, Demons and the Dead by Hachi ft Hatsune Miku 15:14 - 19:28

Jealous Princess by u-z, Kiku ""cover"" by me, ft Juon Kiku 19:29 - 23:40

Twilight Homicide Song by Kiraboshi Hikaru and Michirugahaku ft Meiko 23:41 - 27:29

Disease Princess by Masa ft Sachiko 27:30 - 31:44

In the Depth of Darkness by Shado ft Hatsune Miku & Meiko 31:45 - 35:30

Pandemic by YuugouP ft Megpoid Gumi 35:31 - 39:36

Wondergirl and the Labyrinth Gate by Joruzin ft Kagamine Rin & Len, & Hatsune Miku 39:37 - 43:06

Rotten Rotten ~Zombie~ by Nem and Otonagai-P ft Megpoid Gumi and CUL 43:07 - 46:23

I = Nightmare by Ho-ong-i ft SeeU 46:24 - 48:37

Half Blood Maneater by Kiesca/Yandere-p ft Megurine Luka 48:38 - 52:57

Happy Halloween by Junky ft Kagamine Rin 52:58 - 57:05

Project Diva mods credits:

Face tex edits, and self module: me

Eyelashes: emsterchu

Watermark Remover: M&M

Arv's lip sync, Juon Kiku, Acme Iku(outfit was used on Gumi), Teto, CUL: Arvo

Eye tex and Luka and Miku characters lashes: Disneyloid

Project Diva X song pack: CoolChar, Skyth, samyuu, korenkonder, Keikei14, Yukikami, jaykthx, Fresk/empa_nadas, jorj, jhonny

F2nd Song Pack: korenkonder, LimitedLime7, Keikei14, Jay, Fran, skyth, samyuu and Coolchar

Eden Module pack: Widuchan, MizMiz!, Silpher, JohnJan, Disneyloid, Stewie1.0, Sangabc, testsnake, lavverso, Palmtree_Freak, Anonymous Eden Fan

Eden Edit PV Pack: Hisokeee, Palmtree_Freak, Stewie1.0, sachbo, testsnake, Sangabc, The Zacc, Jay6_9, Cube, Fireyy, Deathblood, Bevellon, spaghetti2222, Bryntae, Blue Star, KageAruki, EgguTastesGood, Seb, Kyle, Fran, N1tr0t0m, Boku Boku, Razero6, Starbeat, Blizzin, JadefenMidori, Inky, Kominsach, TenTen, Utamote, Hatsune Elise, Volk, 晴希, ZoetjeTippie, Miyuto, Fable, himesaka, Tanjiro Taidana, FREDsooM, suzie, Ryusouta, Ciol, Adam Edmond, Meta X, ToriTeru, Lovrboy, Lucifer, Sykth, Samyuu, Flatz, Thatrandomlurker, nastys

XHD module pack: Azuki3, R.L., DavidMax, Nono_Minnyel, Stewie1.0, Silpher, Enomoto

Synchronize Skin Color: Azuki3 and R.L.

Zatsune Miku: V--R, Icy Wings, Platonic_Diva

Megpoid Gumi module pack: lavverso, Matymatiasmaty, ThisIsHH, FlyingSpirits, MusicRevU, Harryshibainu, Nanase7247, YoshiwaraMekaio, Kaykay, royer27, yendeena, doatz, nemmie, Wiggletums, Holiday, AWaffleBird, SourGummyes, kola*, GenoX, ElChicoEevee, Mimi-YA (Supurreme), NadaPD, ch6rlezAylen.h.m, CoolChar, korenkoder, samyuu, Skyth

Extra Sakine Meiko mods(outfit used on Gumi) : SourGummyes, Zero_V4x, Epic Games

SeeU and Sachiko: sho_thatsit

Mayu (outfit used on Zatsune) : earthwyrm

Kinzokunaga Neru(Used outfit on Cul) and Hagane Luka: Xamemey

Rin and Len cat MikuPa: Platonic_Diva

Kasane Ted: emsterchu, wolfloid, Eucalyptus, ch6rlez

sunz's Old Song Lighting Edits: sol_pregnantguy

Disable hand scaling: DeathChaos

Miku symphony module pack: Alamichu

Remove large hair spike: mxi9302

Anything else was edits done in gimp or game's stickers.

[aliteralchicken]

Part 1 of every female robin I could find, please feel free to add on:

Robins in multiple realities and timelines:

Carrie Kelley:

significant reading:

•batman the dark knight returns

Other appearances:

•ame-comi batgirl

•batman the dark knight returns 1 and 2 (movie)

• teen titans go episode 76 (mentioned in episode 278)

•all new batman the brave and the bold issue 13

• batman and robin issue 19 (as party costume)

• the new batman adventures (time as robin was fictional)

•tiny titans (issue 33 and 45)

• batman and Robin adventures issue 6

Stephanie Brown:

significant reading:

•“world without young justice”crossover

• main canon (multiple issues in ‘war drums’ and ‘war crimes’ arcs)

• solo issue 10

• DCeased: hope at worlds end (multiple issues)

other appearances:

• all new batman the brave and the bold issue 13

• robin 80th anniversary 100 page super spectacular

•dark knights of steel

•robins 2021 (a flashback and a single panel only)

• tiny titans issue 33 and 45

single panels/cover art only:

• 52 week issue 8

• detective comics volume 2 issues 42

•robin issue 147

Maps Mizoguchi

significant reading:

•Batman black and white

•main canon (Batman issue 119,120,121)

other appearances

•future state immortal Wonder woman (costume display only)

Harley Quinn:

significant appearances:

• Harley Quinn Valentine’s Day special (dream sequence)

• Harley Quinn cartoon, season 3 episode 8

Other appearances:

• Harley Quinn issue 58 (cover art only)

Helena Wayne:

Earth 2:

Significant reading:

• worlds finest 2012 issue 0

• worlds finest annual 1

• earth 2 issue 0

•earth 2 worlds end issue 1

Single panels:

• The New 52: FCBD Special Edition

•supergirl 2011 issue 19

• earth 2 issue 1

• Superman/batman issue 8

Last rights:

single appearance:

•Batman/catwoman special

robins on other earths:

Talia Kane:

earth 11

significant reading:

•DCs very merry multiverse

• multiversity: teen justice

other appearances:

• DC pride 2022

ravager/robin mashup:

earth 32

Single panel appearance:

•dial h for hero issue 10

Jubalation Lee:

amalgam universe known as sparrow, amalgam of Robin and marvels jubilee

significant reading:

• legends of darkclaw

• darkclaw adventures

Rochelle Wayne

Single appearance:

•Batman: reign of terror

Tris Plover:

‘legends of a dead earth’ timeline:

Single appearance:

•Robin annual 1996

Barbara Gordon:

Significant reading:

•thrillkiller 62 (earth 37)

other appearances:

• wore a robin costume during the batman and robin: robin rises storyline

Marya:

Single appearance:

•batman: i, joker

Gan:

white knight universe:

Significant appparances as robin:

• batman white knight: presents red hood

also appears in:

• batman beyond the white knight issue 1 (single panel)

• batman beyond the white knight issue 6 (cover art, may also appear in story but is currently unreleased)

Tina Sung:

Justice league 3000 timeline

significant appearances as robin:

• justice league 3001 issues 8-12 (also known as batgirl during this time, though always dressed as robin)

Robin

single panel appearance:

• DC love is a battlefield: “the beginning”

Robin

Berlin Batman universe

single appearance:

• batman chronicles issue 11

[aachria]

ive been on here like five times but I have THEORIES DAMMIT

let kings come to the domain of the stars. Or let the kings rule over the stars? It really depends on the context of dominion — whether it means have dominion or if it means dominion like a place. And if any of those marks were punctuation, it may mean something else entirely

surely some star binds me to you

oh my god we got a reference to the title, let me explain more (and my small theory)

ok so they both died (Ed and mystery man who we're gonna call Canadian gramps, or CG) and ended up in the world of one piece. Ed died in 2023 and cg died around 20 years ago which was 2004. surprise surprise, in 2004 in the real word volume 32, the one that ended skypiea and started long ring long land, volume 33 with the Davy back fight, volume 34 THE INTRO TO WATER SEVEN, and volume 35 still in water 7, were all released. let me say the again, the two volumes that were introducing water 7 were released in 2004, the year that CG supposedly died in. i think that CG and Ed knew each other in a past life, maybe they were related or maybe they weren't, but not in the real world, but this kingdom that has been mentioned. Ed and CG are connected to the stars, I think its trying to let us believe that either they are gods or do literally have actual control over them, they rule over them. surely some star binds me to you, a star that they perhaps both share or rule over. the fact that Ed ate devil fruit that can flip an entire island isn't a coincidence, they don't just turn the gravity of others but CONTROL THEM. i think we can even assume that CG may have had some sort of power after he died a second time and was sent to one piece. Ed is more powerful then we are let on, even Ed isn't aware of this. Ed was almost talking to their past self in the dream they had, when they're talking to their mouth I believe it was past Ed, before they were reincarnated. they boy that the others mentioned, it reminds me of Luffy but I don't believe so, I think its either CG or Joyboy. I think that Ed has some sort of connection to Joyboy and maybe even CG does too. when Ed says that they saw a halo above Luffy I don't think it was just delirium, I think its supposed to be Ed seeing Luffy as Joyboy. Ed, CG, and Joyboy were possibly kings or gods of the stars and they died. they died and only CG and Ed were taken to the "real world" but Joyboy stayed back, CG and Ed died again and came (back?) to one piece. this isn't going to turn into Ed finding out who CG is but finding out they were once apart of the stars. surely some star binds me to you, maybe it does, maybe they are bound by the stars. also I'm pretty sure he died 20 years ago right? I was kinda confused with the years and stuff in the new chapter so if you explain plssssss

Your brain is doing things. Your theory definitely hits quite a few interesting points, which I appreciate. As a reward for being such a sweetheart, I’ll give you a hint. Pseudo dad/uncle (or Canadian gramps, which is hilarious) did not die in 2004. Take that as you will, and happy theorying.

The year thing from last chapter was like this; Roger died and the Roger Pirates disbanded around 20 years ago in canon, which is when Ed assumed CG gave Crocus the spyglass. The Oro Jackson was built some time before the God Valley incident, which was 39 years before canon (post-timeskip time I believe, so more like 37 years current time) and Ed guessed that CG had the coin stamped in the spyglass made when they were on Water 7 to get the ship. That doesn’t give us any definitive knowledge about what age CG was, or when they could have arrived in the world of One Piece. Mayhaps the answer shall be revealed this saga, but who knows.

[my-favourite-zhent]

Node 35, Node 26, Node 37, Node 53, Node 2, Node 57, Node 42

Zarys: You're the one who recruited me, Rugan.

Zarys: You're the one who taught me rule number one, remember?

Rugan: Bwaah.

Zarys: No. Olly didn't remember either, did you Olly?

[TagCinematic]

Zarys: You're dead the moment you steal from the Zhentarim.

Zarys: Which you should've known. That is, if you'd done your research before impersonating one of us.

We walk in to find Zarys overseeing the torture of an agent that handed over special cargo to us. The agent is currently bound to a chair and badly beaten, and we're due to get the same treatment in her eyes - unless we can talk her out of it. Volume is likely louder than normal conversation but not shouting - she's standing on a raised platform perhaps ten feet above us and the tortured agent,

[alstroemeriadissonance]

Compartmentalize (NSFW)

A/N: Aaaa I've been gone for some time (was busy with doing my urban fantasy AU found here), and I haven't been active in my socials including Twitter...I hope I can muster the will to do housekeeping and updating links. RL stuff is just getting a bit too much these days...

NSFW. Dr. Vyn Richter navigates his emotions with the help of his trusty dictaphone. Or, Vyn gets his own bad end. Crossposted from AO3 here

[0:00 - 0:37]

Dr. Vyn Richter

Patient is neatly groomed. Mood and affect is moderately dysthymic. Speech is normal in rate, rhythm, and volume as sampled in this recording. He is moderately distracted, with thoughts that are slightly tangential. Insight and judgment is impaired, with a tendency for emotionally-driven decisions. He has persistent, intrusive thoughts of his limerent object for the past fourteen hours and twenty five minutes since waking up at nine this morning.

[0:37 - 0:50]

Dr. Vyn Richter

Thoughts of jealousy, stemming from mild obsessive behavior towards limerent object have been observed, leading to difficulty with focus and concentration causing two instances of critical lapse in decision making.

“You’re doing it again.” Marius snapped his fingers in front of Vyn’s face, only to have his hand slapped away.

“Stop that,” Vyn muttered, reaching for his cup of tea. “What was I doing again, pray tell?” He took a sip, then made a face once he found out it had long gone cold. Irritated, he slammed the cup back into its saucer, spilling amber liquid all over his documents piled on the glass conference table. “Fuck.”

“Zoning out. Focus, will you?” Marius groused as he closed the document folder in his hands. It was obvious to him that Vyn couldn’t crunch data off the top of his head in his current state of mind. “I don’t like staying here past seven either, but we’ve got a job to do.” He tossed the folder onto the table and reached out for his tablet. “How about you take a quick look at this instead—”

The door to the files room opened, but Marius did not take notice; he was busy flipping through the documents on his tablet to look for the one he needed feedback on. “Vyn—ah, damnit.” 

Vyn wasn’t zoning out yet again, but Marius thought what he did was way worse: the doctor’s hawkish gaze was trained at the recently opened door, or more specifically, the couple who had emerged from the files room: Luke and Rosa. 

Marius, with his gift for observation that was mostly used in his art endeavors, easily picked out how the doctor’s fingernails dug into his thighs. He was sure that Vyn would bleed it if it weren’t for the sturdy fabric of his khakis. “Vyn?” No response; the doctor was already burning holes onto the backs of his colleagues, both too preoccupied with their light-hearted bantering over their smartphones to notice Vyn’s all-too bitter glaring.

[0:50 - 0:59]

Dr. Vyn Richter

I am looking in the mirror, my rose. Beholding the just deserts of our stubbornness. It is a tragedy that we have to hide the truth about ourselves, what we feel for each other, this beautiful thing that we have nurtured together.

Oh boy. Marius gave up and grabbed his bag to stuff his things, resigned that he would have to wait till their next meeting to get something pertinent out of his usually fastidious tutor. Whatever.

Luke was mumbling something as he hunched over Rosa’s shoulder, pointing at whatever was displayed on her screen. They seemed a little too intimate for work colleagues; Luke pulled Rosa closer to him, his arm wrapped around her as he fiddled with her phone’s display. 

[1:05 - 1:13]

Dr. Vyn Richter

Try as we might to separate our personal lives from the professional, the world is trying to take advantage of the consideration that we allow them at the expense of our own needs and desires, Rosa, do you not see it? 

Marius wasn’t surprised to see Vyn finally flipping his lid when Luke whispered something to her ear, his lips dangerously close to her face as if he was kissing her cheek.

“Luke, Rosa,” the doctor began, his voice controlled yet loud enough to easily fill the entirety of the sizable conference room. “If you could please keep your voices down. Marius and I are trying to do work here.” 

No we aren’t, because someone here is stewing in his jelly juices, Marius thought to himself. He would have said it out loud, but he did not feel like getting in the crosshairs of his tutor’s ire at the moment. 

“I have no qualms about any of us pursuing personal relationships, but if you could please exercise enough restraint to keep your flirting outside of working hours?” Vyn, despite his flat, emotionless tone, wasn’t giving any quarter. “I did not sign up for this circus.”

Marius threw the doctor a look that said Are you fucking serious? and nervously shifted his sights towards Luke and Rosa. As he expected, Luke was positively incensed, and Rosa was nothing but downright mortified.

“If you’ve got more to say about me and her catching up, why don’t we take this outside?” Luke nudged Rosa to stand behind him, but she didn’t budge; she remained rooted on the spot, her face red with embarrassment. 

“That is not necessary,” Vyn said, his voice clipped. “I am done here. You two can carry on with your business. I care not.”

Marius merely watched as Vyn stiffly gathered his things to leave the conference room; held his breath in anticipation when the doctor had to pass Luke to get to the door—only to be grossly disappointed when they merely stared each other down.

“I bid you a good evening, Rosa,” Vyn said quietly, his eyes never leaving Luke as he addressed her. “Enjoy your time together.”

[1:14 - 1:21]

Dr. Vyn Richter

Do you not see how much it tears me apart?

Later that night.

He drove his head deeper into his pillows, relishing the warmth and wetness of her mouth wrapped around his cock. He let out a moan as she did her best to deepthroat him; he had told her that she didn’t need to, yet Rosa was adamant to try pleasuring him. 

Perhaps as a way to make up for what happened back in the headquarters.

The earnestness of her efforts alone was enough to send him almost weeping in his own bed, a mere few minutes until midnight, way past his routine bedtime. But he did not care; sticking to a healthy routine was important if he were to maintain his mental acuity, yet at that moment nothing mattered to the doctor than feeling his lover’s hot, wet tongue swirling around his tip, and how her small lips were stretched to accommodate his girth as much as she could. His head spun in pleasure; the thick thread of precum leaking into her sucking mouth betrayed just how much he had waited for relief.

The muscles of his inner thighs tightened; he was getting near. His fingers twitched and sought her auburn tresses, unsure where they needed to be in his sudden bout of kindness, only for his care and restraint to be undone as she started sucking in earnest; her hand wrapped around the rest of his shaft and jerking off what her mouth couldn’t fit. Shuddering breaths quickly turned to needy gasps as he grabbed fistfuls of her hair, and begged for her to let him come—

But she only stopped and drew back, his still rock-hard cock slipping out of her lips.

Vyn almost wept in abject frustration. “Rosa, I—” His strangled voice told a little too much of just how much of his control was lost, only for him to be thwarted at the last minute. “...Why?”

“You didn’t have to antagonize him,” Rosa muttered, wiping the mixture of spit and precum off her lips with the back of her hand. “He was just showing me the videos he took from his last assignment.” Her olive eyes were clouded with such a mixture of emotions that Vyn couldn’t discern, not when he was too vexed after being deprived of release all too suddenly. 

Was it anger? Resentment? Regret? 

In the end he decided that none of those mattered, and he roughly pulled Rosa closer to him for a lingering kiss that told of his simmering desire for her, long ignored and neglected during the daytime. “I do not like how he holds you as if you were his possession,” he murmured against her lips, his arms snaking possessively around her sweat-slickened body. “Only I have the right to do so, Rosa. My love.” 

[1:25 - 1:37]

Dr. Vyn Richter

Only I should see your smile. Only I should hear you speak, in that sweet voice only your lover should hear. Only I should feel you. Around me. In me. Your intoxicating scent as we make love, only I should know of it. 

“I keep on telling you, we were only—ah—” Her protests died in her throat as Vyn pushed her down onto the mattress. “This wouldn't even be a problem if we'd only admit to our rela—” 

“Sssh.” Once again Vyn interrupted her from voicing out her grievance, this time with his slender finger across her grumbling lips. “We have already talked about this, pet.” He spared her from his usual vague platitudes about keeping things professional. Now wasn’t the time. The indignation he had to go through a few moments ago was still swimming in his bloodstream, but the need to sate his hunger was paramount. 

He spread her thighs open, and a dark chuckle rose from his throat. Despite her misgivings aimed at him the lurid sight of her wet and swollen flesh between her thighs betrayed just how much she was indeed his. 

She throbbed for him, and not for whoever she was with during the daytime, certainly not her childhood friend, try as hard as Luke might to worm his way into her heart by taking advantage of their shared memories. 

Memories that will be easily edged out by the lifetime of midnights shared only between the doctor and his precious rose. 

He could feel his dick harden even more at the thought.

His blood sang in triumph. 

“I will now take what is rightfully mine,” he whispered, licking his lips as he pushed her thighs further apart.

[1:40 - 1:59]

Dr. Vyn Richter

I knew my obsession with you was far too dangerous to allow unimpeded, but still I happily indulged in it, devoting my time and energy to your altar. You made me realize how much of a hypocrite I am, that I am no better than any man, just another someone who would squander everything in pursuit of that one woman. 

His bedroom was filled with nothing but shared sighs and ragged moans as he sank deep into her, inch by delicious inch, into her hole. He threw his head back, closing his eyes as he relished the heat inside her cunt grasp his cock perfectly as if it was made for him. Yes. For him only, she was his alone, of that there was never any doubt. They fit perfectly, both of them pieces of a puzzle they did not know they needed to solve until their first touch. Vyn knew there was no one else made for him. He was going to make her his, in every sense of the word, but that was for later.

“Sing for me, Rosa,” he murmured, hands sliding down to her thighs and wrapping her legs around his waist. “I want to hear your voice. Tell me you are mine,” he demanded, his voice a touch too needy for his liking. It was difficult to grasp what little composure he had left with how good her hot cunt felt around him. 

With a snap of his hips he bottomed out inside her; her moans of pleasure music to his ears as he started moving. 

“Vyn, Vyn, I—nngh—” There was no hope for Rosa to come up with coherent words, not with how she helplessly clung to his shoulders, her legs greedily pulling his hips back to hers in time with his hard, deep thrusts. “Yours, I’m…ahh—” Tears pricked the edges of her eyes, to his utter, unhinged delight; a sinister laugh rose from his lips the moment he felt her fingernails drag across the skin of his back, no doubt drawing blood. That is fine, he thought as he hissed in the pain and licked his lips, his darkened gaze locking onto her unfocused olive stare that told of just how far gone she was in her head, focusing on the climax steadily building as he pounded into her, over and over. 

“I need to…come. Please,” she managed to whisper, her weakened voice almost inaudible as he kept on rutting into her mercilessly. “Please, Vyn,” she whimpered, one of her hands letting go of his shoulder to reach down between her bodies. 

He was going to let herself reach her precipice first, but the feel of her hand desperately rubbing her clit—her knuckle grazing his cock as he kept on fucking her the way God intended him to do her—pushed him past the point of no return. With a loud, guttural moan he burst his hot seed inside her. 

She is like a drug, he decided as he slumped over her body, fully spent; and as she came, her cunt milking him for all he was worth with each orgasmic spasm, he knew that his spiraling obsession for her would lead him to nowhere but the abyss, and there was no hope for him to turn back and save himself. 

[2:05 - 2:12]

Dr. Vyn Richter

It is unfortunate that you know this side of me, my love. And I cannot afford to let others know of how much of my control I lose over you.

At exactly one in the morning she was already fully dressed, her smartphone in her hand as she booked for a taxi to come pick her up from Vyn’s place.

“Rosa, being out alone at this hour is unwise,” Vyn said, still naked on his bed. “At the very least please give me a few minutes to dress myself and I will drive you home.” 

He wanted to tell her that he’d rather she stay the night, for her to sleep beside him, but many things have already been said between them; it was much too late for him to renege on what they have already agreed upon, in the interests of compartmentalizing their romantic entanglement away from their professional lives and, in Vyn’s case, duty of his birthright.

And so all he could do was slip on his robe and see her out his door.

[2:23 - 2:52]

Dr. Vyn Richter

I will now come out and say it: You own me, my beloved. Me, and everything it entails. You own my thoughts, and my feelings. I cannot help it, your ownership of me is etched into my very being. You must bear responsibility for this, my rose. I place my fate into your hands.

“I will miss you, Rosa of my heart,” Vyn solemnly said, reaching out to her with the intent of holding her hand. 

His fingers could only brush the back of her hand as she drew back and away from his grasp. 

“I know,” was all she said before she stepped out through the door.

[2:52 - 3:01]

Dr. Vyn Richter

But the world is not yet ready to know this. Not yet.

They passed by each other the following morning, when he took it upon himself to personally deliver subpoenaed documents for a high profile case Themis Law was currently working on. 

Vyn, on his way to Artem’s office, went past the pantry where he saw Rosa poring over documents spread out over the table with a mug of coffee in her hand.

He was about to approach her and say hello but Artem beat him to it, pulling a chair beside her. Vyn could only look on as the senior attorney huddled closer to his junior, going over the specifics of whatever the documents contained, sharing a laughter or two during their impromptu meeting in the pantry.

He could only watch as Celestine approached the two, loudly calling Rosa ‘Ms. Wing’ in jest, and tasked both attorneys to attend a business function together in her stead. An out of town business trip. Easily two or three days, out in the country together. 

I have intruded on her business enough. The doctor pivoted on his heel and strode over to Kiki’s cubicle instead. “Hello, Miss Kiki,” he said in his bright voice usually reserved for the most reticent of patients. “Wing seems to be preoccupied at the moment.” He handed her the folder, along with his favorite green striped pen for her to sign the receipt slip with. “Would you be a dear and receive these documents for me?” 

The bespectacled intern was quite surprised to see him, and her cheeks bloomed easily in his presence, ducking her head as she clumsily signed her name at the bottom of the receipt. It did not take her a minute before she handed him back his pen and the signed receipt. 

Vyn let their fingers brush against each other as he accepted the items. “Thank you.”

“Y-you’re welcome, Dr. Richter,” Kiki chirped, then surreptitiously hid her furious blush behind the documents folder. 

He briefly wondered how easily it would be to bed the pretty, yet painfully shy intern, to fill the gaps of his immensely lonely nights, but shoved it out of his mind just as quickly. 

Nobody deserves to be hurt by petty jealousies, and people who manipulate others with the promise of love are nothing but despicable. He knew this very well.

His heart hurt.

Left with no reason for him to linger, his business finally done, Vyn decided to retreat into the comfort and semblance of control that his research center afforded him.

Yet before he could step into the elevator to leave the premises, Rosa emerged from the pantry and brushed past him, Artem in tow. 

Their eyes briefly met, only for her to look away and place her hand on her boss’s arm, to Artem’s obvious surprise.

Vyn merely pursed his lips.

“Wing, I left the documents with Kiki,” was all the doctor said, after giving them a curt nod. “Have a good day. I shall take my leave now.”

[0:00 - 2:19]

Dr. Vyn Richter

The patient is appropriately dressed but disheveled. He would describe his mood as ‘within limits’. His thought process lacks flow. It has been sixteen hours and seventeen minutes since waking up at nine this morning, and thoughts of jealousy have consumed his sensorium. I am nothing without you, my rose, and I…

[The recording is cut off here. Faint sound of glass shattering could be heard in the background]

[meimi-haneoka]

Report of CLAMP’s Twitter Space ~ May 5th, 2023 (part concerning Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card)

On May 5th, CLAMP opened two Twitter Spaces, one as a late celebration of Ohkawa's birthday and one as an "afterparty", dedicating this second one both to the Holic stage play and Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card. Actually, the mentions of Sakura-related stuff started already in the first Space, so I'm going to write the report starting from that one!

The first mention of anything CCS related is past halfway the first Space, when a question from a fan prompted CLAMP to talk about their current favorite Sakura costumes! (It seems one of them - I think it was Mokona - was about to speak about a certain costume and Ohkawa interrupted her, laughing: "That's too soon!! That's a spoiler! 😂" what a tease!) For Satsuki, her favorite costume is the classic cat one with the apron, from Clow Card Arc (side note, it seems she still had a strained back and that's also the reason why they couldn't celebrate with a Space on the actual day of Ohkawa's birthday), while for Nekoi it's the costume with shorts and diamond shapes all over it from the Clow Card Arc (when she had to sneak into a museum). For Mokona it's the bat-themed coat she had designed for the manga chapter (Sakura Card Arc) when Sakura went out with a fever, and she wore over her pajama this coat Tomoyo made her to keep her warm. Lastly, for Ohkawa it's the costume from volume 3 / the Clear Card anime OP, even though she knows it's one of the most complex ones (but she loves that it mixes both cuteness and a more mature vibe)! If she had to choose a simpler one, then it would be the classic Clow Card anime OP! Mokona also mentioned the fan favorite frog costume from Clear Card Arc, which it seems got a very slight criticism by Ohkawa because it looked too "childish", but Mokona was glad that in the end they used it anyway. Ohkawa actually explained that what she meant was more how it looked too "simple" and more reminiscing of a raincoat than a proper costume. And this is when the first interesting info comes!

A fan indicated the costume of chapter 36/37 of Clear Card as one of their favorite, and Ohkawa confirmed that they got a lot of praises for that....and then...

Ohkawa: This will become slightly spoilerish, but there is actually a reason why Sakura didn't wear (officially) this costume yet! 😉 Please stay tuned!

A few minutes later, a fan asked Ohkawa about what is usually “the driving force” that pushes her forward when she’s writing her stories. Ohkawa replied: “The end. The end is what’s most important to me. Even in Clear Card Arc’s case, the only reason why I’m doing it is because of the finale, that I decided right away and came to me like a spark. When that doesn’t happen, I get bored halfway through. To be honest, with Clear Card Arc it’s not even exactly the finale. There’s a certain event I wanted to write for it at all costs. If it wasn’t for that, I would’ve never given the OK to restart ‘CCSakura’ once again.” Nekoi: “So for the sake of the end, the story spun on itself and started once again.”

Another fan asked right after if there was any highlight they are looking forward to for the sequel of the Clear Card anime, and here CLAMP confirmed that the cast of voice actors will of course be the same! So they said that’s certainly a highlight. They also mentioned how the peak of the story will come all in the part that’s going to be portrayed in the anime from now on, so all of that is another highlight in itself. Ohkawa looks forward to hear Sakura Tange as Sakura once again. Then, talking about the source material for a moment: Ohkawa: “It took a long time, and we’ve been told that the story is kinda boring, but please trust me. They tell me I take long time to reveal all the “tricks” beneath the story but there’s a reason for that. Just wait a little more~ 😊”

Mokona mentioned that she personally looks forward to see how the director (Asaka, I guess) will portray the world inside the book where the kids go to halfway though the play (She’s talking about Clockland, of course 😊). They also wondered how they will portray the Mirror Card and the important role she will have in the later part of the story, Ohkawa in particular said Mirror has always been a very special Card (it’s one of the only 3 who can speak).

This is the content for the first Space! Only a few minutes later, CLAMP opened one more Space to focus on the Holic stage play and to talk about Sakura. Skipping to the Sakura content, a fan asked if Meiling is going to appear in the sequel of the Clear Card anime, since they liked her relationship with Syaoran, particularly the scene where they fought together. Ohkawa: “She won’t probably join a battle, but of course she’s going to appear!” (everyone clapped their hands) Mokona: “The funny thing is, when we started working on the Clear Card manga, I was wondering why Meiling didn’t appear...and then I remembered she was an anime-only character!!😂I had my memories messed up!”

Following that, Ohkawa announced something we were all hoping for as if it were nothing of importance 😂 Ohkawa: “This is something no one cares about, and I know they haven’t announced it for the new anime adaptation yet, but the script writer will be me, Nanase Ohkawa” (everyone clapped) Ohkawa: “It’s really nothing important” Mokona: “It is, instead! Thank you very much!” Mokona: “You’ll be working again with that director…” Ohkawa: “Yep, it’s real. I said I would’ve never written any more anime scripts, all on my own…” Mokona: “But since we’re rooting for you…! 😂” Ohkawa: “I’m saying this just to laugh a bit, but when I write the anime scripts, I enter my ‘nursing care mode’, I just can’t do anything else, I’ll be causing lots of trouble to the other CLAMP members who will have to take care of me...I’ll have to do this job alone, it’s a solo trip! 😅�� Mokona: “The Costume design…” Ohkawa: “That’s going to be yours, who else? (to the audience) Mokona-san is going to be in charge of that.”

SO we got three important confirmations (+ the seiyuu cast one in the first Space) for the new anime sequel in the matter of a few minutes!! 😂And all of them are “spoilers”, meaning that none of this has been announced through official channels 😂But they were pretty expected...Ohkawa later in the Space said that she’s perfectly aware that Kodansha will probably get mad at her later for doing that! She said “They’re going to kick my as* right after Golden Week….but it’s okay!” 😆

After this, CLAMP were kind enough to read my message of deep appreciation for the story (Mokona said she wants to go to Italy! I wish conventions planners in Italy could take the hint…! 😂), and Ohkawa made me laugh as usual with her comments about Kaito:

Ohkawa: “This person...doesn’t think something like ‘come on, grow a pair and do the right thing!!’ towards Kaito?” Mokona: “Ah, I think it’s because she actually loves him a lot, at least that’s what it looks like! 😁” Ohkawa: “I see, I’m really grateful then 😁” Mokona: “Kaito-san should really stop messing around, though 😆”

Mokona then remembered that back when the old Sakura anime was airing, they had 2 manga serializations + the anime series to work on at the same time, and her blunt comment was “it was hell, back then”. Ohkawa: “I’m sure there are people out there who would’ve wanted somebody else as scriptwriter...sorry about that, but it’s going to be me! 😅 Actually, I haven’t even asked permission to anyone to announce these things, after all, isn’t it taken for granted at this point? Only me can do it” Mokona: “You’ve been doing this since the beginning, after all”

Ohkawa explained that there are several not-so-small differences between the anime and manga storylines, so the fact that she’s the only one writing the scripts makes everything simpler. She brought up a thing that many fans are interested in, the fact that Nadeshiko’s pendant watch from the manga is actually a key in the anime. If somebody else were to take over at this point, they wouldn’t know how to deal with that difference, because they wouldn’t know why the change was made in the first place. But since Ohkawa is taking care of it, it’s all right! Mokona said that she’s really curious to know what’s going on with Nadeshiko’s key in the anime, and what would be the developments from that. Ohkawa: “You have to trust Sakura-chan for that, not me!” Mokona: “But I believe in your storytelling skills! 😆”

Mokona then said that since the anime and manga storylines end up mixing up in her head, she’s refraining from watching the anime till everything is over. She brought up the example of Meiling of earlier on, and Ohkawa took the chance to express how wonderful the anime adaptation is and how much Meiling is loved by the fans, despite not being present in the manga.

Surprisingly enough, they also mentioned how fastly the season changed in the latest part of the story, jumping suddenly to winter. Satsuki pointed out that for most of the story the season didn’t change at all, and that the seasons actually reflect the situation of the story. When Satsuki said that, I realized it’s really true. And thanks to this comment, I think I might have understood even better why there’s a swallow coming to little wintery Kaito in the color page of chapter 62. Swallows announce the spring, after all… A fan asked a question about the handwritten text that appears in Cardcaptor Sakura, whether it’s Mokona’s real handwriting or it was created that way specifically for the manga (particularly, some kana have a little swirl that makes them cuter). Mokona confirmed that it was created specifically for the manga: in the old series she used to make it more round and cuter, but for Clear Card Arc she realized that a text like that impaired the readability, so she used more straight lines (though in the comedy parts she still tried to make it more rounded, but she admitted that there aren’t that many comedy parts in Clear Card 😅). Another fan sent a message saying they really love Lilie and would like to live with a person like her and Ohkawa was really curious to know what kind of person they thought she is, and what it is they like about her. Mokona: “Maybe she likes her assertiveness, which is very reminiscing of Akiho.”

That was for CLAMP an opportunity to talk about magicians in CLAMP world and how strong magic can distort their personality quite a bit! Mokona wondered if even Lilie is affected by this peculiarity in CLAMP world, since it is a thing (she remembered Momo talked about it in the manga), and in the end they decided to not reveal clearly whether her personality is distorted or not to not spoil the volume-only readers, because it became clear only in the chapter published last month, but invited them to guess the correct answer with a hint: “She became Nadeshiko’s friend, after all”. 😁 They also said that Lilie’s “pushy” nature is an interesting and nice trait of her. That lead CLAMP to make a list of their characters who are considered magicians:

Clow Reed – Yuuko – Fay – Syaoran (CCS) – Yuna D. Kaito – Sakura Kinomoto – Watanuki

and those who haven’t their personality “messed up” are Sakura, Syaoran, Watanuki (they say he’s on the edge, though 😆) and Ohkawa was surprised to find out that it’s almost half of them! Mokona also mentioned King Ashura from Celes country, but Ohkawa reminded her that his powers had severely messed up his personality. Then someone reminded them of Fei Wang, and of course he’s one whose personality was distorted greatly by magic, Mokona commented that the distortion went as far as it could go with him 😅

Ohkawa went further with the topic, telling a fun trivia about powerful magicians with distorted personality. She established that all people with very strong magic powers bear a burden on themselves. Supposed someone were to ask them to act properly in a situation without messing around, they’re people who don’t understand how to do that. They end up thinking 'what a bother, though'. Some of them, among that confusion, make up their own rules and become people like Clow Reed. Others just keep thinking 'it’s a bother, just a bother' and eventually end up thinking 'I don’t give a damn about it': those are the people like Fay or Yuna D. Kaito. 😆

Ohkawa: “Those two had a completely different life, though. Because Kaito had Akiho. So I guess for him it’s a bit different. But if someone were to tell him ‘You, sit down there’ he’d be like ‘Damn, I don’t want to sit down, I want to go back home’. Kaito wouldn’t just ‘sit down’. 😆Fay neither!” Mokona: “Those two are really similar” Ohkawa: “Yet they’ve lead a completely different life. My bad, but in my story Kaito became all ‘what a bore this, what a bore that’ 😅” Mokona: “I guess that can’t be helped for him, because he was severely abused and faced very rough life situations” Ohkawa: “Yeah, that’s right” Mokona: “Fay had Sakura-hime with him, so I wish those parts of him could be tamed for what it’s possible, much like it happened for Kaito with Akiho” Ohkawa: “That would be good, although I don’t know if those parts can ever settle down 😅” Mokona: “Yeah, after all, no one knows what goes through the minds of those magicians 😆”

A fan pointed out that Seishirou could be also included in the list of magicians, but Ohkawa explained he’s more of a shaman than an actual magician and those two shouldn’t be mixed up. It seems the kind of magic they summon is different.

The Space was supposed to end, but then Ohkawa had the sudden idea to ask her colleagues what’s the Card (from any arc) they would want to use the most! For Mokona it’s Fly or Flight (because she’d like to fly like a drone to somewhere, at least once 😆), for Ohkawa it’s Mirror from Clow Card Arc (because she always wanted to have a twin!! No one realized that, sensei), for Satsuki is Create and for Nekoi it’s Lucid (because she’d want to hide in uncomfortable moments 😆).

CLAMP also ended up mentioning, in their chat about the Cards, that it’s sad the Flight Card disappeared, due to its closeness to Sakura and the fact that it’s almost as if this Card had feelings of its own, even more than the old Fly Card.

Ohkawa, throughout the Space, reiterated her request to the fans to keep reading Clear Card’s story till the very end, even if right now they’re thinking ‘I would’ve wanted it to be more like this, instead’ or ‘This isn’t the kind of story I like’. She said in an earlier part of the Space that she’s aware there might be some parts difficult to understand, but that this is at the very core Sakura’s story. For her, as Cardcaptor Sakura’s writer, what makes Sakura the protagonist of this story is the fact that she’s the one deciding what to do within the story. That’s what a main character is for her, even when the “camera” of the storytelling is aiming at someone who’s not the protagonist. She talked to the volume-only readers, saying “If you keep reading and see what Sakura has decided in the next volume, I think you’ll realize just how much she’s grown up”. Mokona agreed, saying that Sakura has always chosen for herself, even in the past arcs.

Ohkawa: “In Cardcaptor Sakura’s story, Sakura always chooses how to take action, so I think it’s ok for me to variate a little bit what kind of main character she’s going to be. My partners Mokona, Nekoi and Sacchan are drawing this story with lots of care, so I’d like for you to keep reading it. Right now volume 14 is out, and when you’ll read it, I’m sure many of you will think ‘Kaito, you…!!! 💢’ 😂” Mokona: “They’re going to feel the same way Momo is feeling 😂”

And here sensei switched to another very important topic.

Ohkawa: “Apparently, the translation abroad is completely different” Mokona: “I guess it’s very difficult to convey the right meaning of some complex words” Ohkawa: “I’ve been told once ‘I just can’t translate it like this’ by the person who’s in charge of the translation. I think it’s great that they still want to try their best with a script like this one.” Ohkawa: “It’s just, you know...I can’t ask people who don’t understand Japanese to read it in our language. Therefore, I’m really grateful that they’re uploading those versions on Youtube, despite the translation being different. Especially with CCSakura right now, if the translation is different, it will end up conveying a different meaning (to the story) 😅(note: her tone right now suggests she’s uncomfortable about this) But still, I’m grateful they’re delivering the chapters to the whole world.” “I’m aware there’s someone (else) who’s writing blog posts about the translation because they feel uncomfortable about those differences, and if you can just look at those, I think it’s already enough. For example, something that really surprised me is how the word わからずや (wakarazuya) cannot be translated properly. (note: she’s referring to the ‘insult’ Momo yells after Kaito before he’s engulfed by the book at the end of chapter 70, and that Lilie mutters in chapter 72). It seems like there isn’t a word to express it. This is really a subtlety, though… There seem to be many words that aren’t perfectly translatable into English. Like 頑張れ！(ganbare!)” Satsuki: “よろしく (yoroshiku) too.” Ohkawa: “That’s right. Or 仕事 (shigoto).” Mokona: “Since the culture is different too, they have to look for a word that’s got the closest meaning to that one.” Ohkawa: “I think the people in charge are really doing their best, but when I’ve heard of (how they translated that word), I didn’t really feel good about it.” (Mokona: “yes, it’s true”). Mokona: “Even the official translation can be wrong! It’s totally understandable” Ohkawa: “I know. I guess translating わからずや is really difficult, but I think you’ll still able to understand it if you consider the feelings of that character in that moment.” Nekoi: “It's more like ‘blockhead’ ” Ohkawa: “When re-translating the word they chose back (in our language), I felt like it got translated into something closer to 馬鹿 (baka).” (note: the ENG used "dolt" which indeed got more of a "stupid" nuance) Mokona: “Ah, that’s not what she meant…” Ohkawa: “And to us, 馬鹿 means something completely different”. (Mokona agrees)

Ohkawa: “Even so, I think it’s still worth uploading the chapters officially on Youtube, so please keep checking them out. At the same time, I’m really grateful to those who point out where (the translation) got it wrong.” Mokona: “There’s really a language barrier!” Ohkawa continued saying that she’s often told by translators that it’s difficult to understand what’s the subject (of a sentence) in her writing. She brought as an example how, to this day, Yue still doesn’t have a personal pronoun he uses to refer to himself, so that makes difficult to establish the subject when he talks. Mokona wondered how the translations abroad are dealing with translating how non-human characters are referring to themselves, when in Japanese they don’t use pronouns such as “ore” or “watashi”. Ohkawa guessed that probably in foreign languages it doesn’t really matter. Despite being really grateful to all the people who are translating her work with care, she expressed lots of interest on this topic and would also like to talk to them freely about this matter, because it’s true that there are parts that are translated differently (note: or wrong, the word used can indicate both).

She extended her gratitude also to people who give their comments and impressions about every single chapter, reading them on Nakayoshi or Youtube, even when those comments are really harsh towards them and their work. Ohkawa: “I’m also very grateful to those who tackle the translation differences every month, saying things like ‘This is not right’ or ‘This is not what they’re actually saying!’” Mokona: “We could call it ‘collective knowledge’, or rather, we could really say this world is built by what everyone is saying, in a collective effort” Ohkawa: “It’s my fault, but since Momo’s wording is a bit difficult to translate, she might have been misunderstood (abroad).”

Changing topic slightly, but always staying in the CCSakura area, Ohkawa reiterated how this is Sakura’s story, and she would like us to read it till the end to witness how Sakura figured out what she can do for someone she’s just met (like Akiho), coming from a position of someone who’s always been protected and guarded by other people till now. She wants us to see how much she’s grown up going through that process. Ohkawa: “Mokona praised a lot the conversation between Sakura and Akiho in the script I’ve written for the latest chapter, which hasn’t been published into volume format yet, so I can’t say much about it…. All four of us are taking good care of portraying properly how both Sakura and Akiho will do what they can, each in their own way, so I really want you to see it.”

While repeating the fact that Ohkawa will be the one writing the scripts for the sequel of the anime, Mokona commented that she really doesn’t think anyone but her can do it. Ohkawa said “I know this myself, but if you’ll end up saying 'This is not ‘Sakura’!' because of the direction it’ll take in the future, well...sorry about that”. She saw some fans commenting in the hashtag that they were happy and relieved that she’s at the script writing again, and Mokona said the same. She was very grateful.

Ohkawa: “Sakura-chan will always be the same Sakura-chan (you’ve known till now). Cardcaptor Sakura is the story of the main character Sakura who will choose for herself what to do within the story.” Mokona: “Please watch carefully Sakura’s choice ❤️”. Ohkawa: “Really...Someone might end up telling Kaito 'Ugh, Kaito, sit down there!' (in reference to the magicians discussion earlier on) 😂” Mokona: “I really think that will happen! 😂 I think so too about him” Ohkawa: “And Syaoran...Syaoran will still have a little role! He really did his best, till now.” Mokona: “It’ll be good if he can get to have a say in this” Ohkawa: “I think he will. Really, everyone is doing their best, so...I really hope you’ll stick around to see it.” In response to a fan comment, saying how they like Sakura’s character because she is who she is, they said “We have no intention to betray that. That’s what makes her the main character and betraying the main character is not okay”. Satsuki mused that Sakura-chan was still an elementary schooler till the other day, she’s worked hard and she’s grown up so much now.

At this point they finally started wrapping the Space up with one last birthday wish for Ohkawa from each CLAMP member, while she jokingly (?) asked everyone to write again “Happy Birthday” in the hashtag. 😂 Mokona wished her the best with the imminent work on the anime scripts (judging by her words, she’ll start as soon as the scripts for the manga will be over), which she could already predict it’ll be a difficult job, even more so than the first time around. Satsuki also wished her to take care of her health since she’ll be very busy from now on, and that she hopes to be able to drink some delicious drinks with her soon. Nekoi expressed her love for her “boss” telling her that she still keeps a hat she got from Ohkawa when they weren’t professional mangaka yet ❤️ Ohkawa: “Do you love me?” Nekoi: “I do, a lot ❤️” Ohkawa: “Thank youuuu! 😂” The last message of course was from the boss herself. She mentioned the end of Clear Card which is imminent, and again invited everyone to watch the story unfolding till the end. She was talking with Nekoi earlier about how even Eriol and Syaoran were really hated while the old arcs were still ongoing: apparently back then, dozens of fans told Kumai-san (Syaoran’s VA) that they hated her because her character was being mean to Sakura! 😂Mokona sounded really apologetic towards Kumai-san and how hard it was on her back then, but she was grateful that she could endure and shake all of that off with a smile😅 Ohkawa said that the same thing happened to Eriol, both for the anime and manga versions, for how he caused trouble (to Sakura) 😆And it’s not over! Ohkawa continued saying that even Nakuru received her good share of hate because she was standing between Touya and Yukito 😂 Mokona yelled her “indignation”, because ‘Nakuru is such a good kid!!’ 😂 and expressed her wish to see more affectionate scenes between her and Yukito, since now they get along as good friends. All things considered, Ohkawa expressed her hope everyone can wait for the end to see things change. Of course, she’s well conscious there’s no 100% guarantee that people won’t hate Clear Card even after it’ll be over, and she’s ok with that. She defined herself a “selfish writer”. 😆 Mokona asked everyone to have a little bit more of patience (implying it’ll be worth it).

“Whether you laugh or cry, whether you want it or not, soon it’ll be over, so please read it till the end” ❤️

[megaboy335]

10 Years of My Hero Academia

I have been an avid reader of Weekly Shonen Jump manga since I was a child, and later started following the magazine closely since around 2009. In that time I've witnessed countless titles start and finish. My Hero Academia is the rare kind of series that connects us from the previous generation of the magazine to its current era. It started in Issue 32, 2014 and finished in Issue 36-37, 2024. That makes it the 2nd oldest series in the line-up at the time of ending. Below is my review of the series. I give my thoughts on several of the story moments and give my final impressions. There will be spoilers and it's a long discussion.

Let's first flashback to the summer of 2014. I was in college preparing to spend my Junior year abroad in Japan. My Tumblr was very active and about to reach new highs with my presence in the Nisekoi fandom. In the Weekly Shonen Jump world, a generational shift was about to occur with the new debut of a new battle manga from a previously 2 time canceled author, Kohei Horikoshi.

Looking back on the issue when My Hero Academia started, we can clearly see how it was a completely different era of Jump. Naruto was still running at chapter 683. That is near the end of the 4th Great Ninja War arc. Naruto would later finish that fall in Issue 50, 2014. Additionally, Kuroko was just a couple of issues away from wrapping up and cementing itself as one of the best sport manga Jump had seen in a decade. One Piece was in the middle of Dressrosa, where little did we know that chapter 752 would only put us halfway through the arc. Gintama was just about to make a major pivot into full time battle manga mode. This issue also saw the conclusion of iShoujo at 20 chapters. (It would later get rebooted on Jump+ as a launch title and run for 14 volumes). It's very clear how My Hero Academia started in a complete era than where are now. So, how was My Hero Academia in the early days? Well, quite honestly I thought it was a very middle of the road title. I was already familiar with Horikoshi through Barrage (the very first simlpub in the digital Jump era that Viz started from chapter 1). He always had a good sense of perspective and the way he draws mouths with depth is a distinctive feature. The series also wore its Naruto inspirations quite openly, while taking advantage of the popularity in superhero movies to add some visibility in the eyes of readers. I thought it was riding the coattails of current trends. The early chapters were standard fare in modern day shonen. Speeding through character introductions and establishing the setting. Shigaraki made an early appearance with the mob baddies called Nomus but it was hard to get invested in the central conflict so soon. However Shigaraki’s eerie design of being covered in hands certainly stood out at the time. I was curious but not necessarily invested right away. (of course in retrospective its clear how Horikoshi used the early events as building blocks for what was to come later)

But you know what sways me the most: Tournament Arcs! This Sports Festival tournament was where I finally started feeling invested in the series. In part because tournament arcs provide an easy to use template for establishing character relationships, create unexpected match ups, ground character arc trajectories, and provide payoffs if used later in the story. The big plot point introduced in this arc was the #2 Hero Endeavor and the relationship with his son, Todoroki. If All Might is the honest public face hero, then Endeavor is the power obsessed guy. He destroyed his family and took extreme measures to produce a child that can beat All Might. Todoroki's story begins with him outright rejecting his father. However, this changed during a fight with Deku. Deku and Todoroki are both foils and yet mirrors of each other at the same time. They were both blessed with powers that were not obtained naturally. Deku was given a quirk on the spur of the moment from All Might. Todoroki was given his abilities in service of someone else’s goals. One accepts their reality and the other does not. Deku showed that Todoroki accepting the power is not the same as acting in father's wishes. He should use the powers gifted to him in whatever ways he sees fit. This moment comes with the first end of chapter title drop and the moment when Horikoshi’s writing clicked into place for me. The scene when Todoroki uses his flames for the first time is powerful because I loved how they were depicted coming out so naturally. These flames are a part of himself and always have been. Todoroki has at last accepted that side of himself going forward.

After the tournament, it shifts into a short arc with the Killer Hero Stain. He brings up the idea that Heroes should be more than symbols for people to worship, and instead Heroes should practice what they preach. He sees All Might as the only authentic hero to follow. This is the first time we see a villain figure making a valid point that pins down one of the faults to hero society. Stains describes how everyone is doing it for fun, out of obligation, or for making money. All Might is someone whose confidence is so strong that his hero persona and outward personality are one in the same. Sadly this arc was too short to fully explore the idea, but it would come up again later. Jumping ahead, the series quickly reached its first major story climax: All Might vs. One For All. I went into this fight thinking All Might was going to die and was very surprised when he didn't. The master passing the torch to his student through a death scene is such a common trope (which yes, it made me even more surprised how All Might survived the entire story). I was on the edge of my seat when reading this weekly and consider it a high point of the series. This fight ended up marking the beginning of the end to the Hero Society. All Might's retirement shakes the very foundation of the Hero world. Who can possibly replace someone who inspires people from all walks of life? From this point on, Deku and Shigaraki are now  walking similar paths as the heirs to this conflict. The following arcs saw the league of villains poking at the cracks and expanding the seeds of distrust.

When manga serializations are constantly one-upping itself on story climaxes, it can be hard to return to any semblance of a daily life in the aftermath of major moments. This middle section of the manga from about volume 12 to 24 is a boring stretch of the series. First getting the provisional licenses felt unnecessary in the grand scheme since there's really nothing stopping them from fighting the bad guys other than technical loopholes in the writing. Then the Shie Hassaikai arc was almost like canon filler to me.  It amounted to very little at the time and came off like a side quest. (This arc also marks the beginning of frequent breaks). Afterwards the U.A. school festival was a refreshing turn back into school life but still, Gentle isn't the fodder we need to see. Lastly, the worst offender of this stretch by far was the class A vs. B matches. A tournament style arc just for show. No stakes. Nothing of consequence.  It basically paused the story for about 2 volumes. Thankfully Horikoshi would resume the plot right afterwards with a bang.

My Villain Academia is exactly what the story needed to get itself back together. The League of Villains seemed like they were supposed to be foils for class A-1 and yet any comparable character development just wasn’t happening. This was finally going to change. This arc focused exclusively on the villains and each member would get a quirk power up, while Shigaraki received the rampaging ally Gigantomachia. We also have the Tenko: Origin chapter to put his past into perspective. While I still have issues with the villain writing, it felt like the villains could finally stand on their own in the story.

The momentum continued into the Paranormal Liberation War. An all-out fight between the heroes and villains at their peak across multiple areas of Japan. The countdown to Mirko stopping Shigaraki from reaching his true form was thrilling. Then came the first real clash between Deku and Shigaraki. However, the star of the show for this arc was undoubtedly Dabi who effectively canceled Endeavor’s entire career. Dabi exposed the past of Endeavor by explaining his own story. He showed that Heroes put up a public positive face to hide their power hungry desires motivating them behind the scenes. This makes Heroes no different from villains in many regards. These words brought an end to Hero society as we knew it. The public was already feeling uneasy after the retirement of All Might, and signaling out Endeavors’s past showed how the system was built on an image, not human understanding. Japan was left in ruins, numerous convicted villains were released back into the wild, and the people have nobody they can trust.

I consider the spread page above to be my favorite from the entire series. Horikoshi’s art reached new highs throughout the Paranormal Liberation War arc. His ability to depict Shigaraki as a real force of nature against the Heroes was crazy good. You could really feel the impact behind every attack on each individual and the surrounding environment. Shigaraki ability is something that alters landscapes wherever he goes.

The final stretch of the story begins with Deku acting like a vigilante. Hero Society at-large has hit its lowest point where the institution of Heroes who maintain public safety is no more. The public is scared for their life. Heroes have largely abandoned their post. One for All and the strongest villains are on the loose, and Deku has been completely worn down by the burden of his role. His mind has entered the idea that only he alone can fix this. The Lady Nagant storyline was awesome. She is someone who had to adapt to survive in these precilous times. A hero and a villian is only matter of perspective after all. Sometimes people will do what they need to in order to survive. If even our main character can be swayed then where is the line hero and villain?

The Dark Deku arc is when Deku is stripped down to his core convictions: the desire to protect his friends and defeat One for All. However it's the very friends that he was trying to push away, who ultimately reached out the hand to save him. Deku has touched each of their lives in ways he can't even begin to imagine. Now it was time for them to return the favor. This brings the story to a touching scene where Uraraka yells to an audience of scared citizens to remind them how Heroes are people too and Deku is one of them. This section is my favorite part of the entire story. It felt like everything had changed. We didn't know where the story was going next nor where to begin tackling the awful state of the world. Everything was so raw. It was an exciting time to be reading weekly.

After reaching a new series high, we drop down to one of its lowest points in my opinion. Star & Stripe vs. Shigaraki was an absolute shame. There should have been a study abroad arc so Deku could meet and experience heroes around the world. So when the Number One American hero is introduced, with death flags, I was skeptical about why. I don't like when characters are introduced just to die immediately. The whole point was to artificially weaken Shigaraki so the heroes would stand a chance in the upcoming final battle. Similarly, I would have liked the traitor reveal if it had been more important throughout the story. Barely came up after the training camp arc in volume 9. It came off like Hoirkoshi just needed to check off that box to appease readers before entering the final battle. But, finally seeing Hagakure’s face was a very nice reward. Despite the stumbles to set up the final battle, I thought it was incredible. One of the best in recent memory from Jump. A fight with the future of Japan on the line across numerous locations. In shonen manga style, it pulled in every single character from throughout the series, used all the mobs to their fullest, and pitted villains vs. their foil villain character. Iit definitely checked off all the boxes of what you need for a grand finale to a long running battle shonen. I think Dabi and Todoroki got the thematic ending it needed. Spinner could have used a little more focus. Himeko and Uraraka reached an understanding at the very end that was probably the safe end for their storyline. I loved seeing the floating stage slowly descend to the surface as the climax approached, while the fighting began to center around Deku and Bakugo. Horikoshi once again reached new artistic highs I couldn’t even imagine throughout the final battle. I like to think the frequent breaks allowed him to pace it better than you typically find in Jump manga final arcs.

As the series comes to close, I am left very pleased with where character arcs ended up. Deku is someone who had to grow up almost overnight. From a quirkless boy to saving all of Japan in the span of a year. He has something that All Might lacked. The spirit to never give up on leading a hand to someone in need. If All Might presented himself with confident bravado, then Deku was the honest human type. Shigaraki is someone who was beyond saving, and yet even if for a moment, Deku wanted to give the respect he deserved as a person. Deku losing his powers cements the story as being about a moment in his life. That he never took the powers he was blessed with for granted, and used them to the fullest throughout the story. I appreciated that Horikoshi made no effort to justify the villain's actions (besides partly Himeko). They are a product of unfortunate circumstances and deliberate choices which brought them to this point. Their actions speak for themselves. This applies to the heroes as well. Endeavor is a complex man with a storyline that reads more mature than you'd expect at first glance. He is a man who drove his family to ruin for the sake of strength, and those choices came back to haunt him in the form of Dabi and Todoroki. He's effectively lost everything. I think Horikoshi stuck the landing by giving readers the final judgment if he should be redeemed or not. The family members were left mixed, and Endeavor is prepared to rebuild from nothing. Shigaraki’s death is best for the sake of tying a bow on the story. Deku indirectly caused it, but he doesn’t beat himself over it that much. The world is the same as it was before the conflict. Heroes will remain in people’s lives. The systemic issues of a Hero society that sells certain images of people and casts aside those who don’t fit will persist. Another person or organization like the league of villains could easily rise up again in the future. However, Horikoshi presents a simple solution. Leading a hand to each other is a good starting point towards making the world a better place. Happiness can spread from person to another, and lead to a better understanding of those we don't know. It takes collective action to make the world a better place for everyone and that can begin with a single person.

So overall, what do I think of My Hero Academia? Ending at 430 chapters is an incredible run for a weekly manga in this current era. Horikoshi covered a lot of characters and topics, many of which I still didn’t cover at this post. I think the series has some of the strongest battle manga highs we’ve seen in the past decade, and of course some parts could have been better. I take issue with pacing and writing choices at times. The villains collectively speaking were the weakest aspect, but the genuine passion for Heroes shines through in every aspect of this work. He used that as a lens to look at problems of the world. Naruto is very optimistic with how communication is the key to bridging differences. My Hero Academia in comparison says that is only a piece of the puzzle. Everyone needs to make a conscious choice to reach out to others. We all can be a hero to someone out there. My Hero Academia will be remembered as the generation-defining Jump series of the past 10 years, In the same way its beginning overlaps late Naruto, perhaps in the future, Kagurabachi fans will remember how it started at the end of My Hero Academia’s run. My Hero Academia will finish as the 9th longest series ever in the history of Weekly Shonen Jump. This is a position it will hold long into the future. I don’t expect anything in the current line-up to come close in length. I've considered Horikoshi to be the best artist in the magazine for the past several years. He always kept improving right up to the end with insanely detailed panels and spread pages. His presence in the magazine will be missed. Thank you Kohei Horikoshi. It's been a long ride. I'm glad you could finally cross the finish line. I look forward to whatever you might do next in the future!

[haikyuucollective]

Part 1/? - The "World" and His "Star"

As I mentioned having multiple parts to this discussion in the introduction post, I'd like to elaborate a bit. Within my mind palace, I've organized the five parts to this discussion as follows: the introduction, two entries for Akaashi, one for Bokuto, and then the final one concluding with how their relationship develops after the timeskip. I hope you'll all bear with me as I try to make sense of the hastily done notes scattered across my brain.

To start off for Akaashi, id like for us to time travel back to the year 2008, when it all began. Its currently the time in Japan where middle schoolers are now choosing the prospective high schools that they are interested in attending, and thirteen year old Akaashi Keiji is stuck; specifically, between two different schools: Suzumeoka and Fukurodani Academy.

Now that we've set the scene, it's time to unpack. We already know from the first page in volume 39 that Akaashi is a diligent student, stating from his own opinion that he worked as hard as he could and following directions as spoken to him. This, paired with the fact that he had gotten a scholarship to a renowned private school such as Fukurodani Academy, speaks small but significant volumes for his character. Aside from his academic behavior, Akaashi also mentions how he "played in a way that would upset the fewest of" his "teammates and coaches"(furudate 331), giving us a glimpse at how underneath his usually calm exterior, he valued the emotions and opinions of other s. It also showed us his passiveness towards volleyball before he met Bokuto. This is especially highlighted when he proceeds to say how he "didn't particularly like or dislike volleyball either"(furudate 331).

Being the writer that he is, it's clear that Furudate made these facts immediate within the first opening panels of the chapter in order to speak their importance; its commin knowledge how first impressions, from any angle, are extremely valuable. This may have not been the first time we've seen Akaashi, but its the first time we hear his inner monologue; its what we see in the starting sequence that's setting up for the rest of the chapter, it also being the final one of the volume. Because of this, I believe that we are supposed to take these facts about Akaashi into major accounts when we slowly start to learn more about his character.

Almost exactly after his opening sentences, Akaashi is invited by a suspected classmate to go check out a high school city tournament that was taking place nearby. It's at this tournament that Akaashi sees Bokuto for the first time and falls hook, line, and sinker.

Citations

Furudate, Haruichi. "Haikyu!!" Shounen Jump, April 4th 2019, vol. 37 Chapter 331

[gffa]

im gonna get dc infinite again soon and i have a strong need for batfam. what are your top recs rn?

Hi! I have a list of runs I've been enjoying here and @fantastic-nonsense has an incredible list of comic recs sorted by character here, but it can be a lot to sort through sometimes and so much really depends on what you're into, how familiar you are with everything, etc. BUT! My top recs right now are: - Current Nightwing series, 2016-current, (maybe skim issues 50-76 because the Ric Grayson arc isn't a good starting place, you can pick the series up after that as a good starting place), it's always a solid read for me (to be fair, I'll read just about anything for my fave tho) and a great mix of humor, adventure, and exploration of Dick's character and relationships - Batman: Urban Legends series, 2021-2023, which is a rec with a big asterisk in that I skimmed the stories I wasn't interested in, which sometimes could take up half the tpb, but the core Batfam character-centric ones were FANTASTIC, there's a time travel arc with Thomas and Martha Wayne that was all kinds of stellar, a great Jason story, a great Tim story, a couple of great Dick stories, etc. - Batman: Cold Days (volume 3, issues #51-57 of Batman) and Batman: Rules of Engagement (volume 5, issues #33-37 + Annual #2) are a bit controversial, a lot of people really hate Tom King's writing, but I had a blast with these two volumes, especially because they're heavy on Bruce's kids showing up to bother him and I'm always down for that, there was humor and heart and everything I come to comics for. - Batman: The Court of Owls + City of Owls is one I'm still reading but enjoying VERY much and it's a great read if you want an actually good STORY, instead of just good character interactions (not that there aren't good stories in the above, there very much are, I just feel like this story is overall a really stand-out one on that front), though, it has a lot of that, too. - Robin & Batman (2021, by Jeff Lemire & Dustin Nguyen) is a three-issue mini-series about the early days of Dick learning to become Robin and it's an utterly gorgeous read for the characters and the art, that this Bruce struggles with being emotionally available for this kid who desperately needs him, but also YOU CAN'T TELL DICK GRAYSON SHIT ABOUT WHAT TO DO EVEN WHEN HE'S LIKE NINE YEARS OLD and they manage to figure things out, just an emotional gut-punch in the best way.

[catt-nuevenor]

Plants

You all know how fond I am of spreadsheets, right?

Well I thought I'd share a snippet of one of the bigger ones I have currently on the go. This one lists plants that I may or may not be able to use in the story for reasons of its archaeophyte or native status to Northern Europe. For more details on what all that is about have a gander at this post.

The spreadsheet is getting rather ridiculous now, with 561 entries, most of which I still need to properly fill out and finalise, as you can see from the screenshot below. But, heck if it does make my little ex-academic heart warm none the less.

Anyway, may I draw your attention to entry 30, 37, and 40:

Y'all can make up your own jokes at this point.

Sources for most if not all of the entries (from a linguistic standpoint) are the Leechdom books, otherwise known as:

Leechdoms, wortcunning, and starcraft of early England : being a collection of documents, for the most part never before printed, illustrating the history of science in this country before the Norman conquest, Volumes 1-3

[evilkitten3]

so i'm at my mom's and i decide to round up all the naruto volumes we have in the house (currently i've found 37, 45, 50, 51, 53, 54, 56, 58, and 60) bc that's where my brain is these days and i flipped through 'em a bit and like.

ok so in volume 53 (the birth of naruto) there's a flashback to the kyuubi attack and a bunch of people dying. we see naruto's parents (mostly kushina) monologue to him pre-kicking it, we see iruka's parents giving their lives for him, and then there's kurenai's dad.

"you're a girl so make sure you live long enough to give me grandkids" bro i hope the kyuubi got you and i hope it hurt

[mallgothyamaguchi]

Hii! How are you today? Also do you have any of the Haikyuu manga books? I’ve always wanted to buy them! 🫶🏻

i’m good ty for asking!

i do have a small collection of haikyuu manga. i started collecting earlier this summer, so i’ve still got some ways to go before finishing my collection. currently, i have volumes 1-9 (which makes up the first full arc, ending with their first game against aoba johsai) and volumes 34-37 (excluding volume 35,,,, i STILL CANT FIND IT IN PERSON) for the full nekoma vs karasuno game.

my plan right now is to collect from the last 9 volumes to finish out the series and read what hasn’t been animated yet, then go back and collect 10-33. i would also really love to own the art book! collecting takes a long time, so i’m expecting this project to go into next year, esp since i’m about to finish my job for the summer.

there are plenty of sites and places you can buy! i’ve mostly purchased from barnes & noble and newbury comics (i feel very lucky to have a newbury near me), but i know that the crunchyroll online store sells the series for a slightly cheaper price than regular retail, and if you don’t mind secondhand, definitely check on thriftbooks, depop, facebook marketplace, etc. i personally have purchased all of mine brand new so far, but i’ve been thinking about the secondhand market. it takes a little digging, and a little perseverance! i hope this helped encouraged you to get started!