#this is still in my ‘Daisuke was raised by his mother’ world

[washmouthing]

Now that we know that Swansea can cook paella but his wife is sick of it, my dreams of him inviting over Daisuke and his mom to cook dinner for them is reignited….

[the-tulpars-quartermaster]

Meleana Lore Dump !!

Mostly for mod bc sometimes I'm really bad at keeping track of my oc's lore and details ꒰ᐢ◞ ◟ᐢ꒱,, But also just an excuse for me to talk about my daughter lol Everything under the cut !!

Master list,,

📋 ; Basic Info 📋 ; Backstory 📋 ; Relationships (Friends + Family) 📋 ; Fun / Assorted Facts

Basic Info,,

📋 Name : Meleana Katsaros, 📋 Job on the Ship : Quartermaster and documentary specialist 📋 Nicknames : Mel, Mely, Kat, Honey (because her name Meleana comes from the word honey in Greek) 📋 Sexuality / Gender : Demigirl, Bisexual (she/they) 📋 Age : 22 y/o, 📋 Height : 5'6" 📋 Ethnicity : Greek / Filipino, Born + raised in the Philippines 📋 Birthday : Oct 15

📋 Favorite Movie : The Secret World of Arrietty (Ghibli Film) 📋 Favorite Book : The Song of Achilles (Madeline Miller) 📋 Favorite Musicians : Phoebe Bridgers, Mitski, Laufey, Kiltro 📋 Favorite Hobbies : Crocheting, drawing / journaling

Backstory,,

Meleana had a pretty normal childhood, being brought up by loving parents and being the eldest of 4 kids. She always looked after her younger siblings, being the designated "parent" for them whenever their actual parents were out (which was often, as their mother was working abroad and their father worked late to provide for all 5 siblings)

She graduated college with a Master of Finance (MFin or MSF) and soon got hired at Pony Express as the quartermaster and documentary specialist, working there a few cargo travels before Daisuke was added in last minute for one cargo trip

Relationships,,

📋 Family :

↪ Liezel Myra R. Katsaros (Mother) ; Mostly positive, despite not seeing her much in person due to her being an OFW. They call often, at least when Meleana is on earth. She writes to her while on cargo trips, saving the letters to mail later

↪ Elias Katsaros (Father) ; Same with her mother, but they're a little closer due to him being there physically for her all throughout her childhood

↪ Mariam R. Katsaros (Younger sister) ; Very positive, they're the closest out of all the siblings. Mari (as Meleana calls her) helps take care of Adonis and Althea whenever Meleana is off to work, and in return Meleana takes care of the twins whenever Mari gets busy with her own work on earth

↪ Adonis + Althea R. Katsaros (Twin siblings, youngest) ; Neutral positive, they get along well enough for siblings but the large age gap between them creates a small disconnect. Still, Meleana tries to be there for them and be present in both their lives. She shows up to their grade school events, whenever she can.

📋 Co-workers (Friends?) :

↪ Captain Curly ; Professional respect, but not much of a friendship. They work well together, but aren't particularly close. Meleana admires him greatly, sees him as a model captain

↪ Jimmy ; No opinion on him, avoids him if possible because he intimidates her, but she tries not to make it too personal. She wants to remain friendly with him and tries her best to

↪ Anya ; Sees her almost like her own mother, but she'd never tell her that. They talk often, would consider each other friends. She often leaves little drawings for Anya whenever she would drop by to check on medicine stock

↪ Swansea ; Kind of the same with Jimmy, not much of an opinion but as much as possible she tries to avoid him because he scares her a little. Once again, tries not to take anything personally and remain friendly with him

↪ Daisuke ; She thinks he's a weird little guy /vpos. At first she thought she wouldn't get along much with him due to how immature he seemed at first, but she actually surprised herself by how fond of his attitude she became. Tries (and fails) to be normal around him

( Will update with her rls with other oc rp accounts as I continue to rp with them < ꒰ᐢ. .ᐢ꒱)

Fun / Assorted Facts,,

↪ Collects can tabs, has a whole jar of them that she keeps on a shelf in her room. She doesn't know why she collects them, she just does

↪ Has a My Melody plushie she had since she was 5, named her Little Mel (Got the idea from her father, who called the plush 'Little Mel' because she used to carry it everywhere as a kid)

↪ Understands + Speaks Tagalog semi-fluently (disuse has made her rusty) but is struggling hard with Greek

↪ Has anemia, denies this fact strongly and refuses to take iron supplements

↪ Kind of refuses to seek medical attention in general, hates making a fuss about herself unless she thinks she's in actual, genuine danger (or trying to find an excuse to talk to Anya / whoevers in medical at that moment)

( Will update as I please < ꒰ᐢ. .ᐢ꒱)

Thank you for reading all of this!! And if you somehow got to the bottom of all of this and actually read everything, dm me "꒰ᐢ. .ᐢ꒱" and It'll earn you a free drawing of an oc of your choosing :DD

Thank you again for reading, and good day / night !!

[beginningobserver]

[RE:CONNECT - blog v.] Link 7- The DigiEgg hatches

[AO3 version]

[CW: Murder mention; body horror mention]

Why were Rui and Ukkomon so nervous by casually meeting Ayame again after all of those years? Let’s go back in time.

At the beginning of the winter… Rui was minding his business, taking things slowly and calmly. Somehow that social anxiety he had was getting controlled. He decided to cut his hair, but left the bangs there. Somehow he liked it…?

He was starting to discover what he really liked and whatnot. He talked a bit more with the Ukkomon egg, talking about his day at work and the improvement in his life.

Things were going well, But he was still not sure how to deal with Nakajima and Koyama and how to properly apologize to them without sounding weird.

Sure, nobody would like to have tentacles stuck in your brain. He felt a bit uneasy just thinking about it. That image never left his head, and the idea of Ukkomon going around doing that with everyone who dared to make him sad just made him scared. Besides that! He was taking things nicely!?

Until…

… The day it happened.

“... I’m tired,” he yawned after going home, “Sometimes Daisuke-kun and the others make me want to stay up late talking with them…”

He looked at the egg, “I’m sorry I couldn’t take you with me this time. I was afraid of you getting hurt. But when you hatch, we will go everywhere you want to. I’m doing fine, don’t worry. Take your time.”

“... Still, I’m not sure how I can break the news to Nakajima-san and Koyama-kun about what happened to us.”

He sighed,

“I keep in touch with them via that chatroom Nakajima-san made, but… It makes me nervous. They want to see me again, but at the same time I feel ashamed.”

“Do you think we can apologize to them? Do you think they would accept us once again, after all the bad things we did?”

Yes, ‘we’ and not ‘you’ -- because deep down Rui took responsibility for what happened, even if some of them were purely Ukkomon’s fault only. But Rui being Ukkomon’s partner makes him responsible for raising him, right?

“At least people stopped talking about the Tokyo Tower incident. Oh, I cut my hair too! Daisuke-kun and the others introduced me to this person, Tachikawa-san, and she’s nice. She helped me to find a haircut I liked.”

"It’s nice to have people who like you for who you are and not something they wanted you to be."

He was obviously talking about his mother now. But he didn't care anymore, it's over. If he could have really talked to his mother... he would have just told her the same thing he'd told the version of her from the illusionary world Ukkomon had created with their memories.

“I wish you could hatch soon, I… I’d like to talk with you again.”

Wish…I wish…

The egg started to glow and levitated. The gleam of light filled the entire room with warm and gentle colors… Until it hatched into a tiny Ukkomon.

“!!”

“... Rui?” Ukkomon blinked his eyes slowly, a bit sleepy though, “Why are you crying?”

“Crying…?”

Yes, tears were running down his face. He really felt… Happy for that. Then, Ukkomon floated til Rui’s face. It was a very tiny digimon, the same size as that DigiEgg.

“You’re… small.”

“And you’re too big.”

They looked at each other for a moment until they burst out laughing. He was happy that day.

“I missed you,” Rui said, calmly, “But your hatching time was too long,” and teased Ukkomon.

“H-hey, you said ‘take your time, no rush’ though!” and the fairy-like digimon teased him back.

“I know, I know”

“... I heard everything you said before. You kept talking to me, but… I couldn’t reply back.”

Ukkomon frowned.

“You… were struggling with something again, right…?”

“...” Rui dropped his smile, and nodded in silence.

“I’m sorry,”

“No, it’s okay. You were in that place before too, or was I seeing things?”

“That place…?”

“The eerie place with a dark ocean, a place I went thanks to my sense of guilt.”

“Oh, that place… Yeah, I got there because you needed me and I couldn’t let you keep blaming yourself for the things I did.”

"It's my fault too, but if we start arguing about who should take the blame, we will never move forward."

“Oh that’s right!”

"I have to tell Nakajima-san and Koyama-kun what happened. We have to at least take this off our hearts."

“Yeah, I know.”

“... I’m still not sure if they can forgive us for that. I know you were… Doing that to everyone.”

“So you figured it out…”

“Yeah, a long time ago.”

“I shouldn’t have done those things to those people…”

“Did you kill someone else by doing that or…?”

“I’m not sure… But if Ayame and Hiroomi are alive… Maybe not?”

"Yeah... Makes sense. My dad was dying and my mom was a nervous wreck, so maybe manipulating them like that..."

“H-hey… I… I didn’t know this would happen…”

"It's okay, it already happened and we can't go back and change it. I'm just... I'm just saying that maybe they were more fragile than the others that you used that trick on.”

“Yeah…”

“You didn’t make them like me against their will, by any chance?”

“No, I… I only did it when they made you sad or couldn’t come to your birthday party.”

Rui sighed.

“But… What you said, about that spiky haired guy… Daisuke is it? I think he’s right and people legitimately liked you.”

"...It makes things harder for me, knowing I ditched them like that...thinking they were just being nice to me because you messed with their minds."

“But they want to talk to you again, so I guess they will forgive us?”

“I only hope so.”

“What is this…?”

Rui’s cousin exclaimed when she and her husband just saw Ukkomon for the first time in their lives.

“A digimon, right?” The man adjusted his glasses.

“Yeah, I'm a digimon” Ukkomon nodded, "I'm Ukkomon. It is nice to meet you, and thank you for taking care of Rui," he said with a polite bow.

"D-Don't talk like I'm a baby!" Rui babbled quickly, embarrassed.

“Oh… So you have a digimon…” the woman nodded sagely.

“This is my cousin Yuna and her husband, Kouda Makoto” Rui introduced the other two humans.

"I've never seen a Digimon like you before, Cuckoomon!" Makoto commented kindly.

“It’s Ukko,” the tiny digimon corrected, deadpanned.

"Or rather, why haven't we seen him before?" Yuna raised an eyebrow.

“It’s a long story…” Rui frowned and avoided looking into the woman’s eyes, "Something... that you wouldn't even believe happened to us."

“Hm?” Matoko then looked at Rui.

“... I hurt my eye during that incident and Ukkomon gave me his eye for a while.”

“That incident… You mean…” Yuna then was vaguely connecting the dots now.

“Y-yeah,” Rui nodded, “I thought I would be bullied for that, so I didn’t let anyone check and examine my right eye.”

“A monster eye…” Matoko's eyes widened in awe.

“But it’s okay now,” Rui tried to assure them, “We solved our problems and Ukkomon turned my eye back to normal. But… Not healed.”

“But why did he do that?” Yuna asked, “Giving his eye to you…”

“I got desperate…!!” Ukkomon tried to explain, “I didn’t think it would… make things worse.”

“I snapped at first, but now I just realized he was just trying to help me,” Rui added, “Even if… It was just doing something wrong like that.”

“Sometimes people don’t know how others will react,” Makoto mused, “Because we’re not mind readers or connected to a hive.”

“Yeah… We… learned that during that incident at the beginning of the year” both Rui and Ukkomon said together and sighed.

“The giant egg incident?” Yuna raised an eyebrow again, "The one egg that made you mad at everyone for not doing anything?"

“Y-yeah we…”

“Don’t tell me the person who trespassed the security and climbed the Tokyo Tower…”

Rui felt that Yuna was about to scold him for that stupid idea. She had always been worried about him since he moved to her parents’ house  in 2003.

But he had to tell them, so he gulped and waited for the worst.

“Yeah, I… I climbed the tower because the DigiEgg was related to me. It was Ukkomon’s DigiEgg.”

"Y-you could have died!" She didn't say it in an angry tone, but rather in a desperate one.

“I know… If it weren’t for Daisuke-kun and the others…”

“Now I get why you were uncomfortable with people asking you if you were that weirdo guy…” Makoto seemed regretful, “I’m sorry.”

"I... it's okay, I don't know why I did that... But I ended up meeting someone and his friends who helped me solve the problem... And I didn't die."

Ukkomon nodded in silence.

"Ukkomon and I are fine now, so we have a chance for a new start and to do better.”

“Yup!” the digimon added, nodding again.

"Just... don't do anything risky like that again, please," Yuna frowned, showing the motherly side of her, "but I am relieved that you seem more... alive since the giant egg incident."

“Do I?” Rui blinked.

“Yeah, you used to be more quiet and avoid contact with people… But I guess now we know why.”

"It might have been terrible for you to have a monster eye and to lose both of your parents in the same night..." Makoto commented, still with a furrowed brow, “I’m sorry, Rui-kun.”

“You don’t need to apologize though…” Rui chuckled nervously. No, he won't tell those two that Ukkomon murdered his parents and probably controlled many people's minds before to prevent them from upsetting him.

After that conversation, Ukkomon asked if they could let him help in the cafe shop and they all decided that it wouldn't be a bad idea. Besides, Ukkomon wanted to interact more with Rui and other people, including Yuna and Makoto.

“Hey, Rui… Have you thought about how we will talk with Ayame and Hiroomi about that ?”

Ukkomon asked him, once they were heading home after work. The apartment Rui (currently) lived in was not that far from the cafe shop, so he would just walk home everyday.

“... I don’t know yet.”

He had graduated from high school and unfortunately skipped college and university. But lately, he wondered if he could study at a vocational school again. He had thought about asking Daisuke and the others. But again, he didn't feel like... Relying on them all the time.

“Hmm… We could hang out and then talk calmly about it, right?”

“Yeah, I think…”

“Hm… What’s up?”

Rui stopped and looked at Ukkomon’s face too close to his, he blinked.

“Nothing at all, I just need to think about what I want to do from now on.”

“Oh?” Ukkomon tilted his head, “You… hadn’t been thinking what you want to do next?”

“At first I wanted to be left alone and not be a nuisance for everyone… But being alone didn’t sound like a good solution for the problem.”

“Hmm…”

"I want to find my own way like Daisuke-kun and the others did. Don't you think it's bad that I always rely on them? Or when I depend on you?"

“True true, you don’t seem to need my help anymore though…”

“I still need you, but not to keep doing everything for me,” he chuckled, “We’re partners, right? The digimon of those six… They’re in sync with their human partners.”

“Then! What’s your point??” Ukkomon asked out of curiosity.

“I can’t keep only relying on them, or on you. I have to make my own decisions too.”

Ukkomon scratched his head, “Like… what?”

“I think talking about that with Nakajima-san and Koyama-kun is something we have to do when we’re ready. We can't force ourselves to drop the news of something like... tentacles plugged in their brains like some sci-fi horror movie.”

“Oh…”

“But, I wasn’t thinking about that.”

“Oh? What was it then?!”

“I want to… Get some degree on something. Or do you think Yuna will let us stay working at the cafe shop until they get old?”

“Hah! I thought you liked working there…!”

“I do… But… I want to find something I want to do, the cafe shop was Yuna’s dream. Like how Daisuke-kun’s dream is to open a ramen shop.”

“So… what do you want to do then…? Who do you want to be?” Ukkomon said, excitedly.

“I don’t know yet, that’s why I have to look for it first.”

“Hmm!” the digimon nodded with a smile.

“But I don’t want you to keep pampering me or making others be nice to me like you did before,” he added with a serious tone, “At least let me show them my true self!”

“Aa-a… But I didn’t do it all the time, I swear, I swear!”

"So if I have one request, it is that you not use that ability again."

“Oh… Um… Right! But… What if something is threatening your life and I need to… do that to save you?”

“The digimon have to fight to protect their partners right…” Rui mused, with a frown. He was just assuming that Ukkomon’s mysterious ability to control the opponent’s mind might be for that purpose. He sighed, then nodded: “Ok, only if I’m really on the verge of dying.”

“Oh…! Like when you fell off the tower?”

“Yeah, like that.”

“Alright!”

“... Wait, If Daisuke-kun and the others didn’t come to save me… Would’ve you done something to prevent me from dying that day…?”

“Of course!” Ukkomon nodded, triumphantly “I’d protect you like I always did!”

“Always...? But I thought…”

“I kept protecting you, but… I thought you hated me so I didn’t come near you anymore,” and then the digimon frowned, his antenna and ears down, “I couldn’t let you get hurt, I’d hate myself if I had failed at it. I’m your digimon partner, I have to protect you.”

“Can’t the digimon just… not fight to the death in order to protect their partners?”

That vague question made Ukkomon gasp, it was probably what had been in Rui’s mind since that day.

“The digimon don’t need to serve their partners. Those six and their digimon are free to do whatever they want, they only do what they want and not because they were ordered to.”

“Ah…”

“I don’t want you to keep doing things like that because of your ‘duty’. I want you to be free to make choices too.”

“!!”

“You protected me because you wanted it, right? Not because some supernatural higher-up told you to.”

“... R-right!”

“If you want something, you can ask me too” and then Rui smiled, “I might not be able to control minds like you, but I can do other stuff instead.”

“Like baking and buying things?”

“Let’s stick with baking for a while, my economies are for food and rent. Humans have to pay to keep their homes,” he said with a sassier tone.

“Oh, right… it’s… it’s what you said about ‘doing taxes’ right?”

"You were really listening when you were inside the egg, huh?" He teased the mon once more.

"Of course I did! But I couldn't answer you yet!" Ukkomon babbled defensively.

They laughed and chatted as they walked home.

Rui wasn’t sure how to break the news to his new friends, Daisuke and the others, about Ukkomon finally hatching. Maybe dropping a message on the chat the six dropped him in instead of simply calling them or gathering them for a real introduction this time? Daisuke and the others don’t know Ukkomon that well, and they only heard Rui’s version of the story.

And after his 20th birthday, Rui felt regretful for trying to pin Ukkomon as the real villain and a menace to them all. Luckily, those six and their digimon had not bought that narrative, and had suspected that Ukkomon had done all of those things in order to help Rui.

Those six had been the reason that he had been able to see a light after so many years of being lost in the darkness.

Weirdly, Rui did not set up a pic for his profile there. It was still the default one. Maybe if…

“... Ukkomon,”

“Hm?” the tiny digi-fairy looked at him.

“Should I… do like them and… put a photo too?”

He showed the phone to Ukkomon -- the 02 kids weren’t all online at the moment though, but their recent talk was about…

Miyako: I saw a video of someone making a sweet ramen flavor these days!!

Miyako: I need our professional chef to take a look at it!!

Ken: Sweet… ramen…? 💧

Takeru: 🤔

Hikari: Do you think Daisuke-kun saw it already? 😯

Ken: I would have preferred it if he had not seen that.

Miyako: There’s already chocolate noodles, it can’t be that bad, right?!

Ken: 😐

Takeru: Look, if there’s savory pies, why can’t we have dessert ramen?

Hikari: Takeru-kun got a point.

Miyako: C’mon Ichijouji-kun~

Ken: Sorry, I’m out.

Takeru: Don’t you agree, Iori-kun? I see you typing~ 😉

Iori: I’m muting this chat because I’m busy at the moment, sorry.

Ken: I guess I’ll be doing the same.

… Food.

Yes. Most of the time what they are talking about in the chat is either food or sightseeing.

(Not that Rui could notice it at first, but Miyako, Takeru and Hikari were just teasing Daisuke).

“You mean a photo of what you’re eating?” Ukkomon looked to Rui, scratching his chin.

“No, I mean… They have… a profile picture. Some of them have their digimon or a… selfie?”

“What’s a selfie?”

“It’s a photo of yourself, taken by yourself.”

“Oh…! So! Do you want to take a ‘selfie’ with me, right?!”

“Yeah…”

“But why didn’t you put a photo in your profile before?”

“... I was a bit troubled,” Rui frowned, “Everything that happened in February this year went too fast. I needed time to think about it… Daisuke-kun and the others respected it, though they kept checking on me from time to time.”

“Ohh… I remember it…”

“That trip to what they all call ‘Dark Ocean’ made me a little nervous. Because I saw… them there. Saying the cold truth to me.”

“I see… You felt a bit uneasy around them…”

“Solving a long term issue I had within my heart was good, though it completely made me a little… Unsure why those four but Daisuke-kun and Ichijouji-kun appeared there.”

“... Maybe because you didn’t know them well enough before?”

“Yeah, I think it was… insecurity.”

“But! But now you feel better and close to them, right?”

“I do feel better, but they have known each other for a whole decade…” Rui sighed, “I feel like I’m just an outsider. No matter what is said, I don’t want to… ruin their friend circle.”

“Just because you just met them quite recently?” Ukkomon said with a concerned gaze at him.

“Yeah.”

“Hmmm…”

“That’s why I was trying to make friends by myself, again. Until then Daisuke-kun suggested trying to look for the people I knew before, when I had a happy life. At first I didn’t think it would be possible but…”

He then showed Ayame’s first message on his phone, the one she had sent to him with a photo.

“Nakajima-san found me. She’s the one trying to… connect with me again. She and Koyama-kun are trying to be part of my life again.”

“Hmm…?”

“I had friends before, and I believed they were fake. I misunderstood everyone, you as well. You did bad things, because you didn’t know what to do to help me. The eye and mind-controlling the others… They were bad things, but you meant no harm.”

“True, but… Ayame and Hiroomi liked you. Your Neighbors too. I didn’t make them like you.”

“Yeah, it was too late when I realized that. Maybe… I didn’t set up a profile picture like everyone else because of that insecurity I was feeling.”

“I see…!”

“But now…! I’m fine! You’re here again, and I’m feeling happy. It will take time to finally explain things for Nakajima-san and Koyama-kun, but I’m not going to run away.”

“Do you promise?”

“Yeah!” he grinned, “We will solve all of those issues, together.”

But... He and Ukkomon definitely felt unable to face Ayame the moment she entered the cafe shop while Yuna and Makoto were out for a few hours.

[yaniidme]

hello, hello! so with the thought of the new chapter of infinite i wanted to go through and refresh all my intros with better formatting etc. here is yanin since she just had some changes that needed to be done anyways. not much has changed just a more structured and cohesive set up and a pretty graphic. you can find her profile, kprofile, pinterest and connections pages linked and bellow a more detailed and ?? information on her and her life.

 —— welcome to infinite entertainment! it's YANIN 'YANI' KOTIYUVA, who is the MAIN RAPPER of FLORA.i’ve heard whispers that the 25 year old is pretty ENDEARING but lowkey CAUTIOUS. also, doesn’t/don’t she/they remind you of NICHA YONTARARAK?

pre-debut

she was born to high school sweethearts sunan kotiyuva and maxine li in the village of biei japan september 27th, 1998,  her father at the time began as an french professor at university of tokyo and her mother was working as a bank teller.

her mother died in a robbery gone wrong right around the time she started working again after yanin's  birth, and sunan, devastated by his wife’s passing decided after a long time of court proceedings, it was time to move forward raising his daughter, and far away from the village their trauma had begun in. 

her father had been loving and doting her whole life, he encouraged her to do everything she wanted ( within reason ), taught her to be tough as nails and not afraid to get down and dirty while still teaching her empathy and compassion.

teaming up with his love for the outdoors he packed one and a half year old yumi up and began his journey traveling the world and teaching a myriad of languages. his goal was to see every country at least once (even if it was the airport or through on the bus or some sort of transportation) before he died, a goal he’d originally set with her mother that they’d begin when yumi started uni.

they started furthest west, the us, in erie and blouder, coloardo. he got a short term job teaching korean at university of colorado boulder. this is where yumi began the first portions of her life, she started talking learning english, korean and japanese simultaneously.

then it was on to paraiso and daisuke began teaching english at santa maria la antigua catholic school.

next was são caetano do sul , brazil where he taught english and spanish at university of sao paulo

it was here in sao paulo where yumi took quite the tumble down the side of a hill while hiking with her father. she’d gotten up with what they thought were only wounded pride and cuts and bruises even though she knocked into a few rocks on the way down. but after awhile the ringing in her ears never stopped and daisuke was concerned at his daughter’s complaints of the dimming of sound in her left ear. after a trip to the hospital it was notated that her woozy stance, v*mitting and headaches weren’t just from being shaken up from the fall but the result of a nasty concussion.

ct scans revealed that the fall resulted in damage to her inner ear which led to/would lead to sensorineural hearing loss. and sure enough she lost about 80% of her hearing in that ear after suffering from a wide range of hearing related issues (i.e. soft sounds suddenly becoming to quiet or loud/normally moderate sounds too loud)

after brazil he made his way to le cannet, france where he taught korean at skema. it was here she was fitted for her first hearing aid.

he went on to ship them across the pond to helsingor, denmark and taught english at the university of coppenhagen, then to nuremberg, germany where he taught spanish at university of munik. he took a small break for a few months and they settled in mariehamn, aland islands, finnland for some daddy/daughter time and then off they were off to ipoh, malaysia for a stint at universati malaya.

it was in malaysia where yanin actually fell in love with kpop as a whole. it was a friend of hers that was a big fan of a second gen group that dragged her to a concert. she, like many fans, fell for the atmosphere and the fast paced life style that the career asks for. off and on she’d google around for auditions just to humor herself, but for awhile she didn’t see herself as a non-korean, and hardly ‘feminine’ at best being in a group at all. but, that same friend dragged her to an audition to which she was picked up at vibe productions (2011).

it was at vibe  that she got most of her training, (see canon’s for how it affected her as an idol), even after years of practicing dances at home to counter the minor issue with her balance she still fell behind the other trainees in the dance department. vibe often told her she made up for it with her visuals and her voice but, even then as they pumped out girl group after girl group and soloist after soloist they still hadn’t picked yumi, and she trained for 2.5 years with them only to not debut she was frustrated but determined to be an idol even with her disability as her dad taught her if she wanted something the only option was to go all the way.

but following too many missed promises to debut AND being pulled from a line up with a close trainee friend, yanin terminated her contract with vibe, set on joining her father back on his journey around the world. it was during this time was stopped by a new star entertainment scout while out at coffee with some friends in japan.

yanin assumed that she’d spend time in the basement all over again at new star, but within a month or so was granted a spot in the debut line up for flora, while apprehensive at first given the groups concept idea, she decided (after a…heart to heart with their now leader) to stick through it even with the short 8-month training period with the other two members.

at debut

she was asked to switch her name to something with a little more ‘star power’ thus the pseudonym ‘yani noi’ and the mononym ‘yani’ was born. it was as if kotiyuva yanin, a boyish scruff muffin from that little japanese village was no more, and the ‘cute maknae of flora’ yani noi was now in her place.

she suffered a good bit of damage from the greater public at debut. a double edged sword some felt she was much too young and cute for a group of older girls, others thought she hardly fit the bill as an idol. she lacked media training and seemed to have a hard time keeping up with the girls. an often gripe about her is that she raps because she can hardly sing and dance, and they believed another new star trainee was booted for her to take their spot simply because she was prettier.

backlash with the false rumor only came down with a harder judgment when the official positions came out and yanin, the only foreign member, held the visual spot.

during career 

as the public got to know her she was given the “nation’s girlfriend” title in 2017 as they had grown to love her boyish charms ( think ryujin of itzy ) , attached themselves to her whimsical hippie vibe and played the cute maknae role well. while she won them over with that, they still had an issue with her having the visual position, and that is often a sense of contention within the think pieces on their group.

it wasn’t until flora that yanin began to come into her femininity. like a sibling watching her sisters grow up, yanin’s aesthetic seemed to first change into a blend of her “boyish” style and the style of her older members, before she fell into a beat of her own. this change in her is often sighted amongst fans.

silver’s absence in 2018 was very hard on her,  but in a weird way pushed her to work harder, there was a stark difference in how she performed and carried herself during the fancy era, versus before ( think shuhua in nxde ). fans think it’s her fave bc of it, but in reality she hates it (think nayeon and i’m gonna be a star).  after feeling  that absence and loss during the era before, and being forced to do a concept to which they had to pretend to be a big happy family while promoting while a member was missing, she felt completely empty because of it. since then she hasn’t truly recovered but the power and improvement she put into her performances to make up for how empty she felt, showed through during performances and onward.

known for her incline in skill but decline in stage presence post-queendom era. she often is ridiculed for performing with a straight face unless she’s essentially feeling the performance or having a really good day. there are a lot of think pieces online about what happened to her during that time.

there was an ‘incident’ following silvers return where yumi suffered her first ever break down. this resulted in her crudely chopping her hair off in her dorm room sparking a new, though unhealthy, coping mechanism. the company was not happy but she went on to promote in a nice short cut or extensions.

infinite tour

during the infinite tour not much changed, at least that’s what yanin thought.

she released two ‘solo’ projects, one a collab with bravehearts jinnie and the other her own solo song.

she chopped all her hair off again on vacation in hawaii with her members, and has since dyed it a dark color for the first time since fancy era. now it’s about shoulder length and cut in a wolf cut shag with choppy layers.

she’s fallen…in love? kind of she’s not sure

overall she feels as though returning to korea has become a cleansing experience for her and is trying to move forward differently in this next chapter of her career and life.

canons/personality tidbits & quirks

dad pretty much raised her like a boy but in a loving ,genderless way 

seems like the cute maknae but is actually super wise and a bit on the serious side but she loves a good laugh

literally showed up to the flora dorm her first day like this shag cut and all.

during her time in flora she fell in love with a member's brother who ended up passing, their relationship never really got off the ground but everyone seemingly knew they were destined for each other. his loss, and the absence of her leader during that time changed her drastically and effected her in many ways not only in her career but her regular every day life.

because of this she developed a relationship with her hair to express her moods. if things changed or she began to feel emotions to strongly, she often cut, bleached or dyed it herself much to the company and stylists dismay. following fancy era she was often blonde or light colored, using the bright and pastel hair as a way to become someone else while “yanin” suffered in her hurt.

pretty quiet and introverted but not to the extent that she’s closed off

she’s a libra (sun), pisces (moon) and taurus (rising)

very whimsical and go with the flow

loves to get down and dirty

the type to go lay out in the rain or be found hiding in a corner outside reading a book

‘dad’ of the dorm she fixes things and does a lot of the heavy lifting and often teased the other members saying bc they’re too old in reality she just likes tinkering

she also will be the first to hop out to change a tire, change the oil , help a hurt animal on the side of the road etc.

her guilty pleasure is cozy games on switch

likes sculpting and clay work bc they’re messy

tries to at least hike, rock climb, kayak, or surf in every country they visit

globally acclaimed tomboy and is loved by most of not all sapphic fans of the industry (very moonbyul, ryujin, chaeyoung etc)

sweet and whimsical, very cottage core in mindset with a boho y2k grunge edge. she’d root for the under dog, is down for vigilante justice and is loyal as fuck. but doesn’t like a lot of friends. she’s quiet and loves literature, language and travel, pretty on the serious side but loves to laugh. her child really comes through sometimes and she tends to like “childish” things (plushies, pastels, cozy games, etc). everything has a place even if her room is messy. and she’s feminine with an outdoorsy tomboy underneath (bc raised by dad)

find her with a book curled in a corner if she doesn’t want to be bothered

has a slight temper will scrap for flora

calico cat energy. ( iykyk )

moving around like she did made it really hard for her to make connections so she didn’t bother. her first friend was the kpop friend in japan that she went to the global audition with. and even when she became a trainee she only had one friend even in her long couple of years. it because of the short period of time it took her a good bit to warm up to flora.

the girls of flora pretty much got yumi to where she is today in terms of her femininity and fashion. for awhile she tried to be hyper feminine, growing her dark hair out etc etc, but after cutting it for a comeback she found herself desperately looking for a medium. cue her early 2000s grunge hippie/hobo aesthetic now.

knows asl, ksl, and jsl and often teaches fans on live as well for the fun of it.

has a brown poodle named klaus and a  white rat named mortimer and and black one named wednesday

had kaiso custom paint her long board that she brought on tour with her

quiet girl, but an adrenaline junkie

true crime enthusiast

would love to climb a famous mountain with her dad

her dad sends her a magnet, sticker or post card from whatever country he’s in and she always collects one thing ( often antiques ) from the countries they visited on tour

can be v reckless when comfortable

she likes idle skin ship so like absent minded touching while doing something else

iq of 164

has an online masters degree from colombia university double majoring in history and literature and art & archeology, got her bachelors at su in linguistics

former serial blonde rip her scalp she’s finally gone back

extensive plushie collection but gomez was the only one who made the trip back on tour

her dad is still traveling and he ships her something from every country he visits

super green, clean energy hug the earth girly, the only reason she isnt vegetarian is kbbq

queen of blurry selfies/photos and her instagram is chaotically aesthetic

loves her a mint vape and a redbull/energy drink (she gets “caught” with said vape every month by fans)

has matching, hand made friendship bracletes with her best friend, braveheart’s jinnie

has an unstable crush on kakashi hatake from naruto

she’s known to be a blunt idol and as stated before seems to lack media training. she often doesn’t care about ugly faces, her back to the camera, or not talking back when feeling wronged or disrespected in setting even if there’s cameras. now that she’s older she’s reigned that in more for the sake of the group and tends to be more dark, quiet and poised about her responses.

conspiracy theory queen and even makes up her own about the company, currently been riding the horse that they styling is on purpose to force her to present cuter/‘more feminine’ it’s dumb she knows but still

some times still gets messed up with her korean, and often when speaking struggles through the different words in the languages she knows, mixing them around, well known phrase, “i’m not sure what it is in ‘said language’” and continues to list it in various other languages.

"official" socials:

instagram: @yani_chan98

bubble: nanikashi98

youtube: yanin9898

unofficial socials

tik tok: suk98

instagram: kakashi69

twitter (mostly to stalk dahlias): @suk298402

overall yanin is a hippie with an edgy flair to her. she’s all peace and love, do what you want, be who you want to be, but sometimes chaos is a little more fun. her intelligence is a pro and a con she uses it to rationalize life so she has no need for emotion. everything has a reason, a deeper meaning behind it so no need to feel it just …be. it is her strength yet it’s crippling and with the addition of her inability to make connections, she uses it instead of tapping into her emotions. her hair is her mood ring, and until she can completely become her own it’ll constantly change, just like everything else…and she thinks she likes it that way.

updates post tour

yanin has been entertaining alternate pronouns (she/they)

she actually hates the idea of the reality show and would prefer to go back private following a year long world tour.

she’s working to finish her phd, she’ll be graduating this december and boy is she glad to be done. she’s hoping to maybe do some free tutoring in languages online or regular tutoring to fill in the void of being finished with school.

connections/wanted plots

because of the type of muse yanin is i think she’d flourish with more brainstormed, unique connection ideas or filling a spot for someone else! so if you have any wanted connections or wanted to brain storm some ideas i’d love that! pls just give this a like because i’m in love with her.

muse overviews and analysis

ʚɞ. character study #1 - 'tester of fate' ʚɞ. character study #2 - 'the stage' ʚɞ. the muse as zodiac signs ʚɞ. favorite stage outfits: twice / viviz ʚɞ. general task #1 ʚɞ. character study #3 - 'the idol': photoset 1 / 2 / 3 / analysis & viral moments ʚɞ. through the eras - ʚɞ. muse tag

*i'll add the links to her profiles once they're updated with her new info/new graphics!

[uglybirdsnest]

Vapor Trails

- Chapter 01 -

Chapters list • My AO3

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Daisuke leads his old bicycle down the village road. Rice fields are exposed on the left and right. The evening sky, which was decorated with orange, pink, a little purple and blue, managed to keep him focused on that sight ever since he left the old building that he called a school. Then he stopped beside the bridge. Maybe because he was tired of having to guide his leaky bicycle. He took a moment to enjoy the sky.

Arriving home, he went into the kitchen and saw his mother's sewing machine. "Mom?" But his mother was nowhere to be found. He looked around and found a small piece of paper lying on the table. He took the paper and read the message inside.

Mom went to deliver clothes to several places. Don't forget to do your schoolwork. Mom loves you.

Daisuke furrowed his brow in confusion, but he stepped his both feet into his room. He threw his backpack on his bed and plopped his body on the bed. Didn't care to change clothes to the uniform he was wearing, he stared at the ceiling for a while and slowly fell into thought.

Daisuke doesn't have a father. His father had gone for long somewhere when he was little and now he and his mother live alone. His mother was just an ordinary tailor with a mediocre income. He didn't want to be a burden to his mother. Sometimes he feels hopeless. Should he quit school and find a job to ease his mother's burden? He's stressed by this. He's frustrated. Sometimes he cries, sometimes he's angry and annoyed with himself. But his mother insists him not to do work and focus on school. But Daisuke, who is stubborn, sometimes argues, even makes his mother cry. At a time like that, Daisuke felt his world had fallen. So here Daisuke is, flipping through the pages of the book he got from his school.

Daisuke's head hurts. Even though he had just read the first question out of 20 questions. He leafed through the book again, occasionally opening from another book. It took him 10 minutes to find the answer. He smiled to himself. He thought he would not find the answer. Now there are only 19 questions left and he can be free from hell. His eyes stayed open until the sun went down. Then he heard the sound of the door opening. He immediately knew that it was his mother. Then he left his bed and approached the woman who had raised him for 18 years.

He found his mother sitting in a wooden chair in the front room. She looks exhausted. Daisuke immediately took a glass of water from the kitchen. "Delivering more clothes? Why don't you just wait for me to come home?" Daisuke asked while sitting next to his mother.

Mrs. Andou took a sip of the water before answering her son's question. "They said they would pay more if the clothes were delivered. So mom-"

"You should have waited for me." Daisuke broke.

"You're at school. Listen, Daisuke, you don't need to help mom with work. Go to school right and well and make mom proud."

"Have you finished your schoolwork?" she continued.

"Science. I finished it."

"Good. Take a shower and come to the kitchen when mother finishes cooking."

Daisuke followed his mother's orders because he didn't want to be a bad kid. He left his mother in the living room, took a towel, then went to take a shower.

With his hair still wet, Daisuke came out of the bathroom. He just remembered that he had not closed the window of his room. When he returned to the room, a black animal was standing on the windowsill and, oh no, in its mouth was Daisuke's notebook with the answers from his schoolwork. "Damn cat! Stop right there!!" This isn't the first time the black cat with matted fur has stolen Daisuke's schoolwork. He quickly climbed onto the bed and opened his hands to catch the black cat. But of course the cat is faster than him. The cat jumped down and quickly ran under the moon.

"God damn it!!!"

「 … 」

Continue to read the rest of Chapter 01 on my AO3 (link)

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Hello. Thankyou for clicking this story. As I said before, on tumblr I will only post half of the chapter, so you need to go to my AO3 to read every chapter fully. Please like/kudo if you think this is interesting. Thankyou 🤍

Always remember that my stories are FREE, because this is a fanfiction, that should be released free and I purely wanted to share it with all DEG fans, moreover Die lovers 🤍

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Lots of love,

Bird 🕊

[nanaosaki3940]

Loving Him Was A Calming Blue

Original story : The Crimson Butterfly [My Hero Academia & Tokyo Ghoul]

Pairing: Dabi/Touya Todoroki X OC (main), Shoto Todoroki X OC.

Genre: Romance, Fluff, Angst.

Warning: Age-gap romance (no smut), long post, cursing, strong language, manga spoilers.

Fandom: My Hero Academia (main storyline), Tokyo Ghoul. 

Synopsis: It wasn’t until he met her for the first time where their encounter made him believe that the world is just as beautiful as her. She was brighter than the summer sun, prettier than the spring flowers, kinder than the winter moon & warmer than his own blue flames. She was his everything; his first and only love, his life, his biggest fan, his supporter, his playmate, his healer... Even after his supposed ‘death’.  

Art credit: https://mobile.twitter.com/__BWF/status/1371117136538656768 

~~~~~ 

If you ever had a serious crush on anyone or had fallen deeply in love with someone, then you would probably know that there are five different stages in the process of falling in love.

Stage 1: The Butterfly Stage: The first stage where an individual receives the first taste of attraction; attraction so strong it’s practically inevitable.

Stage 2: Ignorance: The second stage is where that individual denies their own growing feelings towards the person they are attracted to.

Stage 3: Jealousy: The third and the most annoying stage is where the individual faces several different problems one after the other. In short, this stage is simply just a pain in the neck.

Stage 4: Realization and Fear of Loss: The fourth stage where the individual feels their heartaches in every single second, in every single moment with the passage of time, pain that makes them feel like as if their heart is going to break into million pieces, pain which keeps them restless all the damn time.

Stage 5: Love: The final stage where the individual may not be able to enter into it in the first place because their infatuation might get crushed by the bulldozer called ‘Pain’ and then get buried under the dust, never wanting to dig it up ever again. But if that individual manages to overcome this pain and enters this fifth stage, then we can declare that they are undeniably in love.

And that’s what happened to Touya Todoroki when he passed through all the five stages of love.

Enji Todoroki or as everyone knew him as Endeavor was at that time one of the most powerful pro-heroes out there. He was the No.2 pro-hero, a prideful and ambitious man driven by his goal to surpass the No. 1 Hero, All Might.

Enji Todoroki desired to be the top hero and dedicated most of his life to it, and at age 20, he already climbed to the No.2 position. However, All Might was always the most popular hero and eventually, Enji realized the gap was way too big and began to hold a sense of fear and begrudging respect towards the latter.

Despite his efforts, he could not surpass All Might, so he decided to change strategy and conceive a child powerful enough to fulfill his goal in his place, for that reason, Enji married Rei Todoroki after negotiating with her family to a Quirk Marriage in order to get his hands on her Ice Quirk. Enji attempted to conceive and raise a child strong enough to usurp All Might.

Enji and Rei’s first son Touya Todoroki was born with a fire Quirk that was even more powerful than Enji's Hellflame Quirk. Despite didn't harbor his mother's ice Quirk to overcome the downside of overheating, Enji still planned on raising Touya to be a hero.

Besides that, the Todoroki patriarch also started to think of other plans for Touya and that was an arranged quirk marriage with his friends, Daisuke Osaki and Junko Saotome’s only daughter, Nana Osaki.

Nana Osaki was the same age as Enji’s youngest son, Shoto Todoroki, making her eight years younger than Touya. Touya vividly remembered the day he met Nana for the first time. It was at one of Osaki's family’s house parties. Nana was only four while Touya was twelve at that time. Fuyumi Todoroki, Touya's immediate younger sister was also there with him at that party.

"Hello! My name is Touya. And this is my sister, Fuyumi. What's your name?" Touya smiled at the little girl.

"My name is Nana, Nana Osaki..." Nana grinned at him. “Hey, can you show me your quirk, Touya-kun?”

“H-Huh?” Touya stuttered, taken back by her sudden question.

“I want to see what your quirk is! I heard it’s really cool!” Nana said with a smile.

He bit his bottom lip as he didn’t know what to do. But for some reason, the way Nana was looking at him made it impossible for him to say no to her. He rolled up his sleeves before igniting his palm, making Nana’s eyes widen in amazement.

“The color of your fire is bluish! It’s so pretty! I wish I had a pretty quirk like you…" she beamed, staring deeply into the captivating red-bluish flames the boy held in his hand.

That comment caught Touya completely off guard.

Pretty wasn’t the exact word to describe his quirk as this quirk of his was slowly destroying him, bit by bit.

"Uh, thanks, I guess." he said dumbly, slightly blushing.

“Is that a blush I see, Touya-Nii?” Fuyumi smirked at her older brother.

“Shut up, Fuyumi.” Touya grumbled, throwing a dirty glare at his sister.

"I bet you're gonna become a pro someday, Touya-kun." Nana beamed.

And with that, Touya became a blushing mess as if his whole body was on fire.

And that started the Butterfly Stage for him. 

When Touya and Nana met for the second time a few months later in their first interaction, it was summer, midsummer to be more specific. And Enji Todoroki was the one who pushed his son to spend more time with the little Osaki girl; something which Touya didn’t understand for why his father wanted him to do that in the first place.

“Oh look, Touya-kun!” Nana called out as she pointed a finger in a certain direction.

“What is it?” he asked before his gaze followed the direction where her fingers were pointing at. “A flower field, huh?”

“Yeah, look at those pretty flowers!” she beamed. “Let’s go closer. I wanna see them.”

Touya chuckled softly at her overloading cuteness as he ruffled her raven locks.

“Sure. Let’s go.” He said as he grabbed her hand before walking over to the direction of the flower field.

It was summer, so varieties of flowers had blossomed across the huge flower field. There were sunflowers, bellflowers, irises, roses, cosmos, chrysanthemum, lavender, and so many others. But the one that caught Nana’s attention was the red camellia.

As Touya and Nana walked through the flower field while they bathed under the rich gold honey ray of the sun, their bare feet touched the soft small green grasses, giving a tickling sensation to them. Nana jogged a bit forward while she gently ran her fingers across those pretty red camellia flowers as she softly inhaled their sweet scent from the air. Summer breeze whispered into her ears as it swayed her beautiful long raven locks gracefully in the air.

To Touya, she looked like a little butterfly dancing around the field. Right now at that moment, if she unleashed her crimson Ukaku Kagune from her back, she might have looked like a real butterfly; a beautiful crimson butterfly.

She was even wearing a cute crimson-colored dress at that moment. Crimson, red, scarlet, vermillion, ruby, cherry however you name it, this color always looked good on Nana in Touya's opinion and this color always had been one of her favorites besides blue, black, purple, and white.

If you may not know, red is the color of extremes; the color of passionate love, seduction, violence, danger, anger, and adventure. Our prehistoric ancestors saw red as the color of fire and blood – energy and primal life forces – and most of red's symbolism today arises from its powerful associations in the past. Red is also a prominent traditional color in Japan. The color red in Japanese culture denotes strength, passion, self-sacrifice, and blood. It is the color that ‘gets the blood flowing'.

“Nana-chan, what’s your favorite flower?” Touya asked.

She looked back at him with a smile.

“Well, I’ve lots of favorite flowers, but red camellia (Tsubaki) is at the top!” she grinned.

“Oh really?” Touya smiled, raising an eyebrow as he plucked a red camellia from its stem. “You know… You’re really pretty like the red camellia, Nana-chan.”

“N-No I-I’m not!” Nana pouted, her whole face went red. “Stop teasing me, Touya-kun!”

“Yes, you are!” Touya chuckled before holding the flower in front of the little girl. “So from now on, I’ll call you Tsubaki… That’s my nickname for you…”

Nana’s eyes went wide open as she gazed at the flower in his hand with such joy and happiness.

“Is this for me?” she asked, pointing at the flower.

“Yes...” Touya smiled, handing the flower to Nana.

Nana beamed in joy and gratefully accepted the flower from him before she slowly looked back at the boy in front of her and her big brownish amber eyes met with his turquoise ones. Touya felt as if the world had suddenly stopped moving and went completely still. When those innocent eyes of her locked with his ones, he felt the urge to protect her from this cruel world. To him, Nana was too pure and innocent, too young to understand or witness anything brutal.

For the first time in his life, Touya felt tons of butterflies fluttering in his stomach while his heart started to beat faster than usual. Was he sick? Was he dying? Was this his end? He didn’t know. He wasn’t sure exactly what was happening to him or why he suddenly started to feel this way.

Although he wasn’t concerned about this sudden foreign feeling he felt at that moment. He was more concerned about how close Nana was standing beside him. He felt as if she might be able to see his butterflies dancing in his wildflower meadows or might hear his heartbeat hammering against his chest.

Nana gently smiled at him and her innocent sweet smile made his poor cheeks burn up and turn into crimson red in color. He felt like his whole body was on fire again. Her smile always made him feel that way. Even though he himself was a flame quirk user but because he inherited his mother’s genes, he couldn’t tolerate his own flames. His own flames burned him and the sensation of burning his own skin and flesh was absolutely terrible.

But whenever Nana set him on fire like how she was doing it right now and burned his heart and soul, the sensation of this burn didn’t feel that bad. Rather it made him excited as if he was able to breathe again freely after so many years. To him, Nana’s flames that burned his heart were way better than his own flames.

She stepped even closer to him than before as she wrapped her small arms around his waist. Touya’s breathing hitched when her body came in contact with his. Her body, her smile, her personality was so warm and bright like the sun itself, while his everything was cold and dark as the moon. When their body came in contact Touya felt as if the sun and the moon themselves collided with one another. The feeling he felt at that moment was so damn perfect but then yet again so damn wrong all at the same time.

Was it okay for him to feel that way though? Throughout his whole life, he was burdened to impress his greedy father. He kept on chasing after his father over and over again, trying to get his acknowledgment, his love, his attention.

But alas, he failed each and every single time. As if his cry, his plead never reached Enji’s ears as if the man became completely deaf whenever Touya called out to reach him. But when it came to Nana, he didn’t have to put that much of an effort into anything.

“Touya-kun?” Nana muttered as she flashed out a sweet grin at him.

She slowly reached out and touched his cheeks. Her fingers were so light and soft he felt as if a butterfly just kissed him on his cheek. At that moment he felt free, unraveled. To him, she was like a dream, a beautiful sweet dream, his midsummer dream. Maybe it was okay for him to feel that way after all.

“Nana-chan…” Touya whispered back as he gently hugged her back, bringing her closer to him.

And with that, Touya Todoroki fell in love with the season of summer. 

A year had passed since their second encounter which means at that moment Nana Osaki was five years old while Touya Todoroki was thirteen years old. And with the passage of time, Nana and Touya grew even closer than before; so close that they were practically inseparable.

Nana and Touya usually spent most of their playtime either at the flower field or at the neighborhood park. Today before leaving his house, Touya being an observant child as always had noticed black clouds gathering around the sky. So he took his blue umbrella with him, just in case if it rained, then he and Nana could use that umbrella of his. Quite a precautious kid he was Touya. And just as he predicted, it started to rain after a few hours later that day.

Nana clicked her tongue in annoyance when a few drops of rain touched her skin. She quickly pulled the umbrella towards her to shelter herself while cursing the male beside her. Touya then imitated her action in the same manner as raindrops hit his skin.

“Stop pulling the umbrella, Nana-chan!” he hissed.

"I wouldn't have pulled it if you held it up properly so I wouldn't get wet either!" she hissed back.

“This is my umbrella! Give it back!”

“No! I’m getting soaked! Hold it properly!”

As they kept on pulling the umbrella away from each other, sneaky Nana let out a small annoyed grunt before pinching him in the stomach, causing him to yelp out in pain. Touya quickly removed his hand from the umbrella's hilt as he massaged his stomach to soothe the pain.

He was about to say something when he suddenly realized that there was no umbrella above his head to shelter him from the rain, meaning from head to toe he was completely soaked now. He looked forward and glared at the little girl in front of him as Nana stood just a few meters away from him with his umbrella in her hand while grinning at him cheekily.

"You know, in English, both Touya and stupid have the letter T and cannot be spelled without the letter U!" Nana giggled as she began to run away from him with his umbrella. "In other words, you're stupid, Touya-kun!"

Touya's eyebrows twitched in annoyance even though her giggle was music to his ears and her beautiful bright smile flattered his heart.

"Nana-chan, give me back my umbrella!" He yelled.

With that, he ran after her while the raindrops, wetting him even further. Despite Touya's annoyance at getting wet, a smile appeared on his face as he forgot about the rain and entirely focused his attention on Nana and the fun he was having when he chased her.

Maybe summer rain is fun and beautiful after all. 

"Done!" Nana said with a toothy grin, before removing her hands from his arms.

Touya, who was now sitting with the little girl at the porch of the Osaki household, looked down at his own arms to see how perfectly Nana wrapped the bandages on his newly fresh wounds and burns that he got from his secret training session today.

“Thank you, Nana-chan.” He mumbled in a soft tone.

“Don’t sweat it!” Nana grinned. “Oh and I’ve something for you, Touya-kun.”

“What is it?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

She quickly got up and ran inside the house before a few seconds later coming back to the porch with a flower crown of red roses in her hands as she gently rested it on top of his head.

“I made this for you.” She giggled.

Touya stared at her amusingly before smiling softly at her.

“Thank you, Nana-chan.” Touya chuckled as he reached out to touch the flower crown on his head. “It’s really beautiful.”

“Thank you!” Nana giggled in response.

As he touched the flower crown, his fingers gently brushed against the petals of the red roses. It felt as if butterflies were kissing his skin. Touya's smile then grew a bit wider than before which didn’t go unnoticed by Nana. She swore his smile seemed brighter than the sun itself.

"You should smile more, Touya-kun." Nana smiled at him.

"Why?" he asked.

"Cause you look like an angel.” She giggled.

Hearing those words, he swore that the entire universe had stopped every law of physics.

"You're the angel, Nana-chan..." He whispered softly. "Not me..."

“Of course, you are!” Nana said as she cupped his cheeks with her small hands. “To me, you’re an angel, Touya-kun, straight from the heavens!”

Hearing her words, Touya felt like he really was in heaven. His heart started to beat faster than usual as he heard the drumming of it into his chest. He was caught up in the euphoria as another smile appeared on his face. He felt like he was out of breath.

Nana’s fingers gently touched his cheeks and the feeling was indescribable. Nana always made him feel things he never felt before and these foreign feelings were absolutely incredible. Sometimes he wanted to touch those feelings to hold them close to his heart, to see if they had any physical shape but unfortunately those feelings were beyond his reach.

He knew something was there; like a spark of some kind. He wasn’t sure what it was. He always asked himself what that spark was about, but never got a clear answer. But whenever he came close to Nana that spark ignited a fiery flame much like his own quirk and burned everything inside him; his heart, his soul, his everything.

It was quite a strange feeling indeed but Touya always craved for that feeling. His craving slowly grew even more as time went by and he felt as if that was the only thing he needed to survive in this cruel world.

He needed Nana.

Ever since he was a little kid, Touya had only one goal in his life: be stronger than All Might and surpass the No. 1 hero. But as soon as his youngest brother Shoto came into the picture, Touya lost everything. All his hopes and dreams were taken away from him. He was in misery.

But ever since he met Nana, he felt like he was in heaven. She was the only one who kept encouraging him to move forward, that he had the potential to become a strong hero like All Might.

Nana always calmed his heart, making him cling to her with his dear life. After so many years, he found someone who acknowledged him, so he couldn’t just let her go that easily. He craved for her attention, her love, her care, her acknowledgment.

But then again, even after all of this, he sometimes tried his best to ignore those strange feelings whenever he craved for them. Sometimes he felt weird about those feelings. Was it okay to feel that way? Especially towards a girl who was the as same age as his youngest brother? A girl who was eight years younger than him?

Touya was now thirteen, meaning he just entered puberty. And during the years of adolescence, people feel such kind of strange feelings, right? So maybe it was okay for him to feel like that for her, or maybe not. He didn’t know. As he was unsure about his own true feelings, he kept denying everything he felt for Nana.

He was in the stage of Ignorance. 

Keigo Takami, a year or two younger than Touya, was saved by Endeavor recently. His father was a serial robber and a murderer and was eventually arrested by Endeavor himself.

At some point during his childhood, Keigo saved the lives of many people from a high-speed car accident. The public was shocked to discover the savior was a young child and the Hero Public Safety Commission decided to train him as a hero. Keigo was put on a special hero training program by Endeavor himself and through the Todoroki patriarch, Nana got to know Keigo.

The first time Nana met Keigo, he offered the little girl to carry her and soar up in the air with him. Nana, who was only a five-year-old little child back then, immediately said yes to his proposal.

Nana stood in front of Keigo with her hands at the side. Keigo gently lifted her arms to give her space. He brought his arms around her waist and embraced her from behind, placing his head to her side, leaving her to giggle with warmed cheeks.

"Hold on tight, Nana-chan.” He smirked as he began to flutter up, leaving Nana to watch her body hover above the grassy ground.

His embrace tightened as she held tighter onto his arms.

"K-Keigo-kun...W-We're flying!" Nana exclaimed.

“Yes, we are.” Keigo chuckled. “Are you enjoying it?”

“Yes!” Nana giggled with joy.

It was an amazing experience. Everything looked like tiny ants from above. Nana never flew up in the sky like this before. Yes besides her father’s Ghoul quirk, she also inherited the Gravity Manipulation quirk from her mother where she could alter her own gravity and flew up in the air, but she was still young to try that one out just yet.

Soon later Keigo landed on the grassy ground and put down Nana.

“That’s was so cool, Keigo-kun!” Nana beamed.

“I know right!” Keigo chuckled. “Hey, wanna see something else? You know, with these wings of mine-“

“Nana-chan!”

Both Nana and Keigo turned around to see the white-haired Todoroki boy was making his way towards them with a deep scowl on his face.

“Touya-kun?” Nana asked.

Touya walked towards her and gently grabbed her wrist.

“Stay away from her, you bastard.” Touya hissed at Keigo with a dark expression, before walking away while pulling Nana with him.

“Touya-kun, what’s gotten into you?” Nana asked as she was confused about Touya’s total change of attitude.

He never acted like this before, so then what happened? Even Touya himself didn’t have a clear answer to his sudden change of demeanor. Touya just knew that he didn’t like Keigo and his friendly attitude towards Nana. He hated it. He loathed it. It got under his nerves and that feeling wasn’t okay.

And slowly he entered the third stage: Jealousy. 

What was it about Nana that made Touya feel this way?

In one word, everything. Everything about Nana was perfect. One word, perfect. Now that his feelings were clear and precise, he knew what he wanted. Even though he was just a thirteen-year-old boy, he still could understand how to define this feeling called love.

To Touya, love was sweet, yet more as fresh fruit than candy or confectionery. It was colorful, yet more as summer blooms than the neon lights of frenetic city streets. It was steady and forgiving, yet more as the wise mother than the servant in chains. He realized that he fell in love with anything about Nana. He didn’t need a specific reason to love her, because Nana being Nana was everything for him.

Whatever Nana did was okay to him. He never had any complaint against her. How could he? She was so damn perfect. Humans make mistakes. They have flaws. And so did Nana. Even he had flaws.

Touya believed that there was no perfect lover, that everyone was flawed, but knowing those flaws and still loving with all the heart created a perfect love. Like how Touya fell in love with Nana’s tiniest of flaws and those flaws became her perfections.

Touya finally entered the fourth stage: Realization.

Like always, Nana and Touya were sitting together in their secret hideout in the neighborhood park as the ravenette girl wrapped bandages over his new burns and wounds on his arms, legs, and chest region.

“Does it hurt now?” she asked in a soft voice.

“Not anymore.” Touya muttered in response. “Thank you, Nana-chan.”

“You should stop this, Touya-kun.” Nana frowned, her bottom lip quivered. “You’re simply hurting yourself.”

“No, I can’t, Nana-chan.” Touya shook his head, determination in his face. “I’ve to show my old man that I’m capable of becoming a hero.”

“But you’re pushing yourself too hard, Touya-kun!” Nana exclaimed as tears started to roll down her cheeks. “Can’t you see?! It’ll kill you one day! I don’t get it! Why is Enji-san being like this?! It’s literally abuse! So much so, that your physical appearance has started to change!”

Touya’s eye widened at Nana’s sudden outburst and he quickly wrapped his arms around her small frame, holding her close.

“I’m scared, Touya-kun.” Nana sniffled, burying her face into his chest. “I’m scared that one day I’ll lose you, like how I lost my parents.”

That’s right. Even Touya felt that one day he was going to lose Nana forever.

Another one of the fourth stage: Fear of Loss.

Touya’s turquoise eyes softened as he looked at her. He gently buried his face into her raven locks as he tightened his grip around her.

“You wouldn’t lose me, Nana-chan.” He mumbled softly.

“Touya-kun…” Nana whispered as she rested her face into his chest, listening to his heartbeat.

Nana and Touya often had their moments where they would simply just hold each other closely in their arms and kiss their foreheads or their cheeks. Most kids around both of their ages believed that girls were annoying and boys were gross, but Touya and Nana never cared about those rumors. They were quite different from everyone else.

"How was the school for you, Touya-kun?" Nana asked.

She looked at him gently as her eyes softened while she felt more relaxed. Touya averted his eyes.

"It was fine I guess..." Touya replied, melancholy filling in his tone. "But coming back home wasn't any better..."

The tone of his voice was filled with melancholy and venom as he looked down at his arms and narrowed his eyes. As time went on, Touya’s life was becoming a living hell as he kept on trying to get his father’s attention, but failed miserably every single time.

Sometimes he felt like he would go completely insane whenever he was in his own home around with his own family members. To him, his home was hell. But those feelings immediately disappeared once he came to visit Nana. Nana was Touya's savior, his sanity. And even if she couldn't save him from his awful life, she was the light of his life, literally.

Nana nodded her head as she looked at him, not wanting to pressure him to talk about it anymore. His eyes softened as he looked at her with a gentle smile while throwing his negative emotions out of the window.

"But, I'm here with you now!” he grinned. “And my day is a million times better!”

Nana’s beamed up in joy as she smiled brightly at him while her eyes softened even more. And this look of Nana was absolutely breathtaking in Touya’s opinion.

"I'm glad that I can make you feel better, Touya-kun!" she giggled, hugging him once again. 

For Touya, the night was always dark, cold, and claustrophobic where demons howled in his head while begging for him; demons who didn’t want him to get a peaceful sleep. For that he often had nightmares.

To him, a nightmare was a horse that would carry him home after he had explored the dark. They were the demons of dreams, came to educate him if he was brave enough to look into these dark recesses of the brain. So there were countless times when he would spend such sleepless nights.

And on those nights he would always find himself running away from his home and his feet always took him to only one place and that one being the Osaki household where he would sit on the rooftop with Nana and watch the moon shower its platinum-gold beam onto the Musutafu City.

Unlike the hell, the place he called home, Touya felt like a free bird whenever he came over to the Osaki household especially to meet and spend time with Nana.

"Can’t sleep again, huh Touya-kun?" Nana asked as she took a seat beside him on the rooftop of her household.

“Yeah…” He responded softly.

"Well that makes the two of us, I guess." She giggled.

Touya smiled at her before looking back at the moon in the sky. In the monochrome musings, the moon was a deep silver ballerina, turning pirouettes with perfect form. The moon also looked like the mother of the sky who watched over every beating heart, steady and true.

At that moment Touya found the moon really beautiful and maybe it was because of Nana. Whenever Nana was around him, he found everything beautiful, everything positive.

The night didn’t feel like forever anymore now that Touya was with Nana. They talked and laughed as if there was no tomorrow. Time passed on and now the sun slowly started to rise from its slumber.

“Hey, Touya-kun, let’s go to the park right now.” Nana spoke up.

“Right now?” he raised an eyebrow.

Nana smiled and nodded her head before standing up and reaching out her hand to him. Touya without any hesitation grabbed her hand and Nana activated her Gravity Manipulation quirk to alter their gravities and they both flew up in the air before heading to their destination.

As they walked together in the park while holding hands, Touya realized that he had known Nana for almost more than a year now and whenever they were together Touya felt as if he was in a different world, a world full of sunshine, rainbows, and unicorns. He felt alive and happy.

But sometimes he felt that his happiness might not live long, that one day the world would crash and go against them.

"What's wrong?" Nana asked.

Touya looked down at her innocent cute face and gently smiled at her. Right now just seeing her face was enough for him. Nothing mattered to him as long as she was there beside him, alive and healthy.

“I was wondering if we can still share these exact same moments if we meet in another lifetime or dimension…” Touya responded softly.

Nana blinked at him in confusion before letting out a giggle.

“You’re so silly, Touya-kun!” Nana said as she pulled his arms. “Come on! Let’s race over there!”

As they ran while holding onto each other’s hands, Touya again felt as if his whole body was on fire. The power of Nana’s flames had to be really powerful and strong for making him feel this way every single time. Butterflies fluttered in his stomach and trickled through his veins when Nana’s soft giggles reached into his ears. Touya was hopelessly in love with Nana and this love was inevitable.

“Nana-chan.” Touya called out as the said girl looked up at him. “I’ve something to tell you.”

“What is it, Touya-kun?” she asked, tilting her head a bit.

Touya took a deep breath and looked deeply into her eyes.

“Nana-chan... I love you.” he confessed.

“Huh?” she mumbled as her eyes went wide in surprise.

After hearing his confession, Nana’s face went completely red; so red that it could put a tomato to shame.

“I’m in love with you, Nana Osaki.” Touya repeated. “You may not understand what it means to be in love with someone because you're still too young. But always remember… I love you and I always will love you, Nana-chan...”

Nana softened her gaze and smiled softly at the Todoroki boy as she slowly reached out and held his bigger hands in her smaller ones.

“I love you too, Touya-kun...”

And this is how slowly and steadily Touya Todoroki reached the final stage: Love. 

It was one of those days where a thirteen-year-old Touya would go back to the peak of the Sekoto hill to train himself and his flames without anyone noticing especially his parents Enji and Rei. Before leaving the house this morning, Natsuo and Fuyumi asked him to come and play soccer with them, but he rejected their request by saying that he had to go and meet up with Nana which left his younger siblings teasing him to no end.

Well, he wasn’t lying though when he said that because soon after his mini self-training session, he would always find himself going back to the Osaki household again and again where he would silently and patiently sit down on the porch and his beloved Nana would tend his freshly new wounds and burn marks for him. And nothing exceptional happened even today, as if his feet automatically walked their way towards the Osaki household ever so naturally.

“You need to be more careful, Touya-kun…”

After tending his wounds and wrapping up his slightly burned skin with bandages, a five-year-old Nana tenderly held one of his bandaged arms in her smaller hands where she gently began to run her fingers on him, caressing his skin while carefully inspecting his new wounds. Her touch was so soft and loving that it felt as if a butterfly was dancing on his arm, kissing his pain away.

“Look at these burn marks. They’re getting worse day by day.” She added in a low tone, her eyes softening in care and concern.

Her voice was so sweet like honey, it felt like melodious music to Touya’s ears. Upon hearing her words, he looked over at the younger girl, his shining turquoise eyes meeting her glittering amber ones. Butterflies never stopped fluttering within him whenever he was with Nana and they didn’t even at that very moment. Touya had known her for quite some time now, but even so, not a single moment went by where he was never left breathless yet full of life.

Whenever the two of them were left alone together, Nana would always take him to a whole different dimension, where his veins would pulsate thousands of galaxies and his blood cells would metamorphose into shooting stars. That's how he felt each passing moment, and it left him feeling complete every single time.

“Don’t worry about me, Nana-chan. I’ll be okay.” Touya reassured her with a convincing smile, but that smile never reached his eyes and Nana could see that.

Nana wasn’t stupid. Despite being a five-year-old little kid, she knew very well what was going on in Touya’s life and what was causing him to suffer so much in pain and agony. Touya wanted acknowledgment, he wanted attention, he wanted approval, and the only person who could give him those was his own father, Enji Todoroki aka Endeavor.

Touya was born as the golden child in his family to fulfill his father’s every dream and desire by surpassing All Might, but alas, after learning about the drawbacks of his flame quirk, Touya was tossed aside by Enji which made his youngest brother Shoto his replacement and the next candidate of becoming the greatest hero ever created by their father.

But Touya himself couldn’t accept the reality. He couldn’t accept the fact that he was being replaced by his own brother. So to prove his worth to his father, Touya kept on pushing himself to the limit days after days, months after months, years after years, in order to prove that just like Shoto, he also had the potentiality of becoming a great hero someday, even it meant by hurting and burning himself physically.

And just this mere thought brought tears in Nana’s eyes which didn’t go unnoticed by Touya. In response, he quickly pulled down his long sleeves to cover his bandaged arms before he pulled Nana’s little body gently into a warm embrace.

“Don’t cry, Nana-chan, please…” Touya mumbled out in a soft loving tone while Nana pressed her face into his chest, wrapping her arms around him as well.

“But you’re hurting, Touya-kun!” Nana cried, bawling her eyes out as she clutched his shirt tightly into her fists. “You’re hurting and it’s tough for me to see you like this!”

Nana knew how passionate Touya was of becoming a great hero, even greater than All Might and his own father and she knew the Todoroki boy had the potentiality of becoming one as well. It was always been very endearing for Nana to see Touya talk about his dream and passion to her every single day. His turquoise eyes would glow radiantly with excitement like the stars in the sky while he would move his hands animatedly in the air whenever he explained his future hero plans in full detail to the little Osaki girl. Nana was never this passionate about something, but Touya did, and if he cared about it enough to tell her about it every day, then she would too.

“Nana-chan, look at me.” Touya muttered out as he cupped her face with his hands, making her look up at him, his eyes glimmered with adoration.

He gently wiped her tears away with his thumbs, his fingers brushing her porcelain skin ever so softly as if she was a doll made out of a glass.

“You're going overboard, Nana-chan. Stop crying like a baby, you dummy.” He teased her with a smirk, causing her to scoff at him in response.

“I’m not a dummy! I’m worried about you!” she snapped at him with pouty lips and puffy red cheeks, swelling Touya’s heart at her overbearing cuteness.

“Sheesh, why are you such a crybaby?” he asked with a warm smile, wiping away her remaining tears.

Touya noticed that Nana’s eyelashes were surprisingly long, fluttering against her cheeks whenever she closed her eyes. Her skin was so soft, softer than his of course. As Touya held Nana even closer to his chest, he buried his face into her soft silky raven locks where he could inhale her sweet scent which helped him to calm down his nerves a bit more. To him, she smelled like vanilla or like something that reminded him of summer, of the sun, of the grass underneath his feet, of the wind that caressed his cheeks.

In his eyes, Nana was warm and beautiful, a goddess, a living, breathing physical form of Aphrodite. He worshipped the air she inhaled. He worshipped the ground she walked on. He worshipped her like a love-poetry.

“Sometimes… I wanna run away…” he mumbled into her hair.

“What?” she gasped out in shock.

“You’re misunderstanding me, Nana-chan.” He quickly spoke up, tightening his grip around her. “Sometimes, I just want to go out for a little. I want a reason to run away. I’m just so tired, you know. Seeing you crying like this made me realize that maybe bawling my eyes out might actually make me feel a bit better. To bawl my eyes out like a child. You lose the ability... The older you get the less you are able to do it.”

“Talking as if you’re an old man…” Nana huffed, pouting again. “You’re still a little kid like me, you know. And besides, where does that put me according to your analogy?”

“Right. You cried for me so loudly. Thank you, Nana-chan.” Touya smiled before pressing his lips against her forehead, giving her a soft kiss.

To Touya, Nana was like a drug that could easily kill him from overdose and yet he consumed its pleasures anyway. Addicting; Touya Todoroki was an addict to this Osaki girl.

And why won’t he be addicted to her?

She acknowledged him. She loved him unconditionally. She wanted him as much as he wanted her. She always gave her full attention to him whenever he was around. She believed him and his dreams. She supported his passion for becoming a great hero in the future. His passion of wanting to be a hero became her passion as well. She understood his pain and suffering and was always there for him whenever he needed her.

In short, in anyone's eyes, Nana was his super mega-fan, but that wasn't the only case. She wasn't just a mere fan of Touya, she was also his home; a home where he could always return to whenever he craved love and warmth.

As those two held each other into their arms, snuggling for warmth and comfort with Touya leaning back against the wooden pillar and Nana resting her head onto his chest, the little girl spoke up again in a soft tone.

“Touya-kun, do you love me?” she asked and Touya looked down at her with a questioning look.

“Where is this coming from?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I'm asking you a question. Do you love me, Touya-kun?” she asked, tilting her head to the side.

In response, Touya flashed out a warm smile at her before he stood up from the porch and walked towards the garden. He plucked a red camellia flower from the bushes before walking back to Nana who was still sitting on the porch.

“I care about you more than anyone.” He stated with a smile, holding the flower in front of her face. “That's an unwavering truth. Yes, Nana-chan, I love you.”

He reached out and gently grabbed her hand, placing it on the left side of his chest as he leaned even closer to her face. This closeness made Nana blush a bit.

“It's here. Eternity is here. I'm always thinking about you. I always miss you whenever you are not with me. I'm here forever. And I will be right here waiting for you till my last breath.” Touya added before placing a kiss on her forehead.

His answer brought a satisfactory smile to her lips which didn’t go unnoticed by Touya. She looked like a fairy and that left him speechless. As if the world didn’t matter to him as long as she was there, breathing and living beside him.

‘I love you so much… just as you are…’ Touya thought, wrapping his arms around Nana and pulling her into a warm hug again. ‘I love you… I don’t want to take anything else from you… I don’t want you to get trampled because of me… Yes, I do wanna get out and run away sometimes, but if I had to do it, I’ll do it with you, Nana-chan… Together, somewhere far off… I want to be with you until the last moment… until death do us part…’

Her smile, so sweet and pretty, it ignited flames within him and his butterflies were going out of control. It felt as if he was growing a fever at that moment the way she cast that smile towards him. A face, so lovely, that he could stare at her forever if time could stop. He was in love and it felt so out of place for a thirteen-year-old boy like him. As sunset haze bled beneath his cheeks and the heavens lit up in his turquoise eyes, Touya suddenly realized that he fell in love with Nana long before he knew, and there was no turning back, not when his butterflies were fluttering and trickling through his veins.

She was so golden in his eyes. 

(Years ago; when Nana was 5 and Touya was 13)

During summer break that year, the Osaki family went on a beach trip where they were staying over at the Osaki family vacation house up on a huge hill, near the ocean and upon little Nana’s request, Touya tagged along with them. Endeavor was a bit hesitant at first, but then later let his eldest son go with the Osaki family to this trip anyway as he thought that it was a great opportunity for Touya to befriend Nana even more and take his concentration away from the hero world.

“Hey, what's this, Nana-chan?” Touya asked in confusion, raising an eyebrow with his eyes locked at the object in front of him.

It was a bright sunny day where Nana and Touya were playing in the sand near the ocean while Nana’s parents went out for a walk somewhere not too far, leaving the children alone together to play and bond with each other.

“It’s a sandcastle!” Nana replied with a goofy bright grin on her face, causing Touya to deadpan at her in response.  

“It looks like a sand mountain to me.” he replied and Nana frowned at him with pouty lips.

Well, it did look like a sand mountain though because all she had made was a sandy hump.

“Do you know how to make one, Touya-kun?” she asked.

“No. I have never made one before so I don’t know.” He replied, shaking his head.  

“This is your first time building a sandcastle?” she asked in awe.  

“Huh? Well, yeah.” Touya responded, nodding his head while Nana’s eyes began to glimmer in some sort of pride and satisfaction.  

“That makes me your senpai then!” Nana giggled out in excitement and Touya let out a snort, finding her words quite humorous.

“Senpai, you suck at this.” he teased her, causing her to pout again.

This time around, both the kids joined together to build a perfect sandcastle and by the time they were done, they realized that their creation turned out to be more decent than the previous one. At least it wasn’t a sand mountain anymore.

“Nana-chan!” Touya called out, walking back to her where she was sitting beside their sandcastle.  

“Yes?” she asked, looking up at him with a smile.  

“For you.” he said, holding out some seashells.  

“Seashells! How cute! Just what we need!” she squealed out in excitement before they started to decorate their sandcastle with those pretty seashells.  

“It’s starting to look better.” Touya pointed out, inspecting their creation in front of him. “Still doesn’t look like a castle though.”

“No, to me, it looks pretty.” Nana grinned brightly at the Todoroki boy. “We made this together, right?”

Her smile was so bright, it reminded him of the sun itself and Touya found himself melting away like ice cream. As a small blush began to crawl upon his cheeks, making him go all warm and fuzzy inside, Touya quickly looked away from her and his eyes met the beautiful blue ocean.

“Don’t you want to swim in the ocean?” he asked, taking a seat beside her on the sand while Nana shook her head in response.

“No. it’s more fun when we are together doing something like this. Plus I want to make an even better sandcastle and surprise and amaze mom and dad!” she replied with a goofy smile still plastered on her face.

“That’s a very big goal you have.” Touya commented with a small smile on his face.

“What’s your goal for this summer break, Touya-kun?” she asked, tilting her head to the side.

“I wanted to convince Dad to train me again, you know.” Touya let out a heavy sigh as he looked down at his hands. “I want him to look at me, to acknowledge me, to feel proud of me… I want to live up to his dreams and be the best one… I may not be as cool as Shoto right now, but I’m trying to reach that level, so Dad can show some respect to me.”

Hearing his words ached Nana’s heart like hell as she quickly grabbed his larger hands in her smaller ones and Touya looked back at her with wide eyes in surprise. He noticed small tears starting to form at the corner of her eyes.

“Don’t say it like that, Touya-kun!” she pleaded, getting all defensive, her voice filled with sorrow and concern. “To me, you’re the best and the coolest!”

Nana’s words affected Touya to the point that his heart was now a mushy mess where his face softened at the sight of her teary eyes while his lips curled up into a warm smile. Just as he was about to say something to the little girl, a huge wave suddenly came up from behind them and splashed on top of their heads, washing away their sandcastle in the process, leaving them all wet from head to toe. It happened so quickly and so suddenly, that the kids didn’t even get the time to react to the situation.

“T-That scared me!” Nana cried out in shock. “I-I thought I would be swept away!”

Touya on the other hand was now really annoyed for what just happened as he stood up from the sand and glared over at the ocean with clenched fists.

“Damn ocean! I’ll burn you! Don’t mess with us, dammit!” he yelled out and in response, Nana started to giggle out at his silliness.  

“It’s impossible. You have no chance against the ocean, Touya-kun!” she laughed out loud, causing Touya’s face to go completely red in embarrassment.

Her laughter sounded so pleasant and light; like the summer wind chimes. He immediately kneeled down in front of her before reaching out and squeezing her cute chubby cheeks with his hands.

“Don’t laugh at me!” he scolded her, but she kept on laughing.

“O-Okay!” she continued to giggle.

Touya simply huffed in response and looked back at their ruined castle.

“Hey, where did the seashells go?” he asked and Nana gasped out in realization.

“Oh! They got swept away!” she cried out again before looking back at Touya with a goofy smile. “But it’s okay. We can go and collect them again, Touya-kun.”

Touya’s cheeks began to grow warm again at the sight of her smile which caused him to look away from her again.

“Touya-kun?” she called and his heart skipped a beat this time. “What’s wrong, Touya-kun?”

The way she said his name, the way her voice sounded, it was really injurious for his poor health.

“Since when… did my name have a special ring to it only when you say it?” Touya muttered out, looking down at his lap while Nana gave him a confused look. “And if it made you smile, I would do something over and over for you. When did I start thinking such idiotic things like that? Since when did I…”

He paused for a moment before looking back at her again, his eyes softening even more than before.

“Others don’t know. They weren’t there whenever I did my quirk training, but you were always there for me, Nana-chan. You always have that concerned look on your face. Your hands and voice always tremble whenever you see my burn marks. Your touch gets cold and your face becomes pale… you get worried so easily… Even so, you never lost your faith in me. You still believe that I can become a hero, unlike my own parents. You didn’t turn your back to me. You held my hands. You knew that if you let go of my hand, my spirit would break down and crumble to pieces. That I might never return back to my normal self again. You didn’t take up all of my pain. You didn’t fill in all the brokenness. But those weren’t important. The most important thing… was that you stayed with me. Finding joy in the smallest things… being happy and smiling so cheerfully… Why would you do such things? You should think of yourself more. Don’t you think you’re getting the short end of the stick?” he asked to which a soft warm smile appeared on Nana’s face in response.

“It’s because you’re so precious to me, Touya-kun.” She replied, reaching out and holding his hands into hers once again.

To this, Touya let out a heavy breath in content while giving Nana’s hands a light squeeze.

“I won’t hope too much from you, Nana-chan… At least be by my side as long as possible…” 

Art Credit: https://twitter.com/2Jhapita/status/1446800073728294912

~~~~~

Nana’s POV

Blue or Bluish-Turquoise; one of my favorite colors besides red, black, white, and purple.

To others, blue represents the healing nature of water and the power of stormy seas. It’s what separates bodies of land from one another, and it’s a marker of loyalty and fidelity. Like many colors, the response to the color blue is complex and sometimes even contradictory.

Blue represents introspective journeys and symbolizes wisdom and depth of understanding. While blue conjures images of sky and sea, it’s also the color of bravery and dedication. Blue represents introspective journeys and symbolizes wisdom and depth of understanding, but it is also a symbol of depression and the depths of the human psyche.

In the meaning of the colors, blue relates to verbal communication. Blue is a giver, not a taker. It represents strong relationships and feels deeply hurt if betrayed. Blue stands for serenity, protection, bravery, stability, wisdom, and loyalty, rather than passion, and it’s the color of all that’s constant and unchanging, also associating with peaceful rest, profound insight, spiritual realization, unfriendliness, depression, and sadness.

But to me, blue always meant love and warmth. It meant passion and desire. It meant undying romance. And that’s what I exactly felt whenever I gazed at Touya’s beautiful bluish-turquoise eyes or his mesmerizing blue flames.

Hey, Touya, do you remember the first time we met?

Because I believed it was fated for us to become good friends and eventually lovers.

I figured that it was part of our destinies...

So smile about it.

It was a long time ago when I met Touya for the first time. Both of us were little kids back then; pure and naïve. As if the filth of this gruesome world wasn’t able to touch our innocent souls yet completely. Within the darkness of this quirk-based world, Touya and I found each other where we created a little world of our own, laughing and playing together, dreaming together, finding love together.

I could still vividly remember that very day I first met Touya and Fuyumi; their father, then No.2 pro-hero, Endeavor brought them to our Osaki household for a party which was organized by my parents. Upon my Dad’s request, when I walked up to the guests to greet and introduce myself to them, I found myself locking my brownish amber eyes to a pair of bright bluish-turquoise ones of a 12-year-old little boy. As soon as our gazes locked, I suddenly forgot how to breathe. Something strange began to happen to my 4-year-old little heart. It was a very weird feeling, but nonetheless a good one.

When I stepped forward and stood in front of him, I observed his every physical feature with a careful gaze to which a single word popped into my mind after a minute of inspection; beautiful.

Touya Todoroki was beautiful.

His soft white hair reminded me of the first snow of winter, his shimmering bluish-turquoise eyes reminded me of the deep mysterious ocean and despite being a 12-year-old boy, he was somewhat a bit short in height, possessing light faired skin like his parents.

He was alluring.

But for some reason, his eyes seemed a bit dull to me, as if someone sucked the light out from them. From my parents, I heard about his fire quirk which he inherited from his own father, and out of pure curiosity, I asked him to show me his flames. At first, he was hesitant a bit, but then later gave in to my request. I was left completely speechless when he ignited his palms with his flames.

Pretty. Touya’s flames were pretty.

Bluish-red was the color of his flames. It was odd and rare yet absolutely captivating. Swear to God, I had never seen anything so beautiful in my entire life. So pretty, so warm. I even complimented his quirk and the color of his flames with a genuine smile and at that moment, a spark ignited in his eyes, causing them to overcome the previous dullness before glittering a bit like the twinkling stars in the night sky while his face went completely red like a tomato; his eyes finally got back the life and brightness.

Cute, that’s the word that came to my mind when I saw him blushing. Touya was really adorable in my eyes. And knowing that he was the son of Endeavor, I always had this feeling that one day he would become a great pro-hero, someone even bigger than All Might and his own father.

The color of your fire is bluish!

It’s so pretty! I wish I had a pretty quirk like you…

I bet you're gonna become a pro someday, Touya-kun.

And even to this day, I still believe those words of mine.

Do you remember the time we met?

The wind blew the snow about on the outside.

It was just me, you, and your sister at that party along with the adults.

There wasn't anything much for us kids to do.

But I wasn’t bored one bit.

I spend most of the time talking about myself.

I didn't really get to hear much about you though.

But I knew I would have loved to hear what you had to say about yourself back then, Touya.

As more time passed by, Touya and I slowly started to grow closer and closer. He then later discovered the double quirks I inherited from both of my parents which agitated me a bit. I inherited the Ghoul quirk from my Dad and the Gravity Manipulation quirk from my Mom and to me, back then, being born with a rare yet dangerous quirk like Ghoul wasn’t something I was really ecstatic about because of its cannibalistic and killer nature. Well, that’s what I thought at that time.

The first snow of the year, all the kids in the neighborhood ran out to greet it. I didn’t have many friends back then to go out with but I was still too fascinated to let it hold myself back. I ventured alone myself in the neighborhood park, while the kids down the street built snowmen alongside each other and screamed in delight. Eventually, I made an icy fort around myself and admired the frozen texture of the ground beneath me quietly with a small satisfied smile on my face, but it wasn't long before a bully spotted what an easy target I was and crashed my little fort; it was the same bully from my school who verbally harassed me because of my Ghoul quirk, calling me names like monster or demon.

It wasn’t like I hated my Ghoul quirk or anything. I loved it because I inherited it from my Dad. The Ghoul quirk gave me inhuman speed and strength alongside those awesome-looking kagunes that could be used as weapons on the battlefields. I knew my quirk was cool, others knew that too, but because of its cannibalistic traits, many people used to frown upon me, even though I had never caused anyone harm.

The bully then destroyed my fort with a single stomp before I even had the chance to stand my ground and fight that idiot. He even tried to cause harm to me physically by using his quirk and to protect myself from him, I immediately activated my Ghoul quirk to fight back. I activated my kakugan and released my Ukaku and Rinkaku kagune from my back in order to fight back my bully and just as I was about to strike him with one of the tails of my Rinkaku kagune, a huge wave of bluish-red flames was shot towards the bully out of nowhere, causing me to halt on my spot in surprise.

It was Touya, standing a few feet away from us with a heroic pose, sending a sharp glare at the bully. Touya was 8 years older than me while that bully was around my age, so it was obvious that Touya was the bigger one here in comparison to age, shape, and height which caused the bully to eventually run away from the spot in fear and terror, leaving us alone. When Touya finally looked over at me, I flinched a bit in anxiousness before cursing myself for being an idiot because now he finally got the full display of what my Ghoul quirk actually looked like. I tried to keep my face devoid of any emotions and quickly looked away from him, even though my heart was shattering at that very moment. Tears pooled in my eyes when I heard the shuffling of feet behind me. I then jerked in surprise when I felt fingertips gracing my Ukaku kagune. Tilting my head slightly, I was shocked to see Touya gently stroking my kagune with a soft expression on his pretty face. Thinking that he might also call me out names like demon or monster, he said something really unaccepted.

Your Ukaku Kagune is really beautiful, Nana-chan…

It looks like the wings of a beautiful butterfly…

My parents loved me dearly and never discarded me because of my Ghoul quirk. Heck, my Dad was even proud of me for awakening his quirk first before awakening my Mom’s. To me, they were the best parents in the entire world and I loved them to death. Other Ghoul quirk users like Kaneki, Ayato, Touka, Hinami, Yomo sensei, Uta senpai and Nishiki senpai loved and accepted me as their own. Few outsiders like Hide also accepted me and became my friend.

But there were still a large number of people out there who neglected me because of my quirk which slowly later turned into bullying me in the process. I always wanted to be accepted by someone from the outside, someone who wasn’t my family or a fellow Ghoul quirk user. I wanted someone to fully embrace me for who and what I was. I craved love and respect.

And Touya was the first outsider who gave me that respect.

Besides he used his flames to save me from that bully, his very own bluish-red flames. He became my hero. He became my protector. And never had I thought that I would find the color blue to be so warm and breath-taking. To this day I still believed blue is the warmest color out there.

Loving Touya was never a burning red, but rather it was a calming blue.

In school, Touya was quite popular among his friends because of his family and status. He was smart and intellectual causing him to ace in both academics and sports which was of course expected from him because after all, he was the eldest son of Endeavor. Girls loved him and boys wanted to be like him. To his peers, he was the golden child and the prodigy, born with a powerful quirk that he inherited from the then No.2 pro-hero. But even so, Touya never let anyone get too near to him because, in his eyes, those people loved and wanted him for his status and his father’s occupation. They never tried to understand the real him, they never saw through his fake tough façade and try to understand his pain and suffering. The pain he was suffering because of his own father.

Touya always acted like a stray cat; wild, free, and proud…

But inside his heart, he housed a wound…

Back then, I thought that this trait of his was a part of his charm…

But I never realized how much pain it brought him…

But very soon I realized it. I realized his pain, his agony. I began to learn and understand his feelings and emotions because I wanted to and it pained me like hell after knowing that the prime reason for his suffering was his own father, Endeavor. And for that, I wanted to be his supporter, I wanted to be his pillar. I wanted to be with him till the very end because I believed in him, I believed in his potentiality and I truly believed that he had the capability of fulfilling his dreams of becoming a pro-hero someday soon like his own father.

Touya and I spent days after days together, learning and discovering little details about each other, supporting each other’s passion and dreams, and teaching each other things that the other one didn’t know about. In this way, we created a little world of our own where it was just me and him in it and no one else.

Hearing him talk about his dreams always soothed my heart…

But hearing him complain about the situation with his father ached my heart as well…

Seeing him complain with such a pained look on his face…

I knew he was hurting… I was hurting too…

Ever since I met him, I was pretty sure I’d been a complete mess…

God damn it… It hurt…

There was this one time when a group of girls from Touya’s school discovered us playing soccer in the neighborhood park and upon seeing him there, they invited him to hang out with them while completely disregarding my presence as if I wasn’t even standing there. I figured out that those girls were Touya’s fans just by observing the way they looked at him or talked to him. Although Touya wasn’t showing any sort of interest in what those girls were telling him, I still felt a sharp pain in the chest when one of the girls brushed her hand on his arm in a flirty manner and my initial thought was-

What in the hell… was this weird feeling twisting up my stomach?

I know it wasn’t really fair of me…

But for reason, I couldn’t breathe a word at that moment…

But I soon realized what this weird feeling was; it was jealousy. I was jealous of those pretty girls who were older and more mature than me, the type Touya might probably like. Well, that’s what I thought back then because much of my own surprise, an annoyed Touya told those girls to go away as he was busy teaching me how to play soccer before their interruption. Hearing his words, those girls gave me a dirty glare before one of them shoved me away from Touya while calling me a ‘stupid little girl’. Touya didn’t waste any time barking back and threatening those girls to leave me alone and never try to hurt me again or else there would be consequences. Frightened by his threat, those girls dashed away from the scene without a protest before it was just me and him again in the park. When I asked him why he acted like that, he replied in a soft voice –

I don’t need anyone, as long as I’ve you, Nana-chan…

But why though…?

Because I like you the most…

My breathing stalled for a moment upon hearing his words. It wasn’t a love confession, I was aware of that. It was platonic, nothing romantic about it. The way he said it was so natural, I knew he didn’t mean it as something more, but that didn’t stop me from losing my mind over it, though.

And after saying those words, he reached out and gently grabbed my hands, his lips curled up into a bright smile. When our skin touched, I felt a start of a spark, a firework. His words felt as if he spilled flowers into my ears until my soul grew a summer morning as if he replaced the black hole in my heart with a universe filled with thousands of galaxies. It was as though he had my whole existence in his palms and even though I couldn’t admit it, deep inside, I knew that my heart fluttered each time my eyes met with his.

In that moment for some reason, I felt a bit like crying.

I don't know how to explain this but…

The unexpected warmth of his hands being held out to me touched my heart deeply.

I fell so deep, too deep that I couldn't escape from it, not when he got me falling head over heels so easily with his charming smile. Thousands of butterflies fluttered in my stomach and being with him always felt like the moonlight rippling through the sea. My heart fluttered until my soul was left with a tingle of flames erupting before a small blush crawled up my cheeks looking like sunset dew if anyone was to peer a little too close. It was strange because the way he looked at me like that was enough for spring flowers to grow during winter.

I wanted him… I loved him…

There were nights when Touya would always stop by my place because his own house suffocated him, causing him to suffer insomnia from time to time. In his words, he felt lonely, he felt rejected, so he always found his way back to me because I was the only one who ever accepted him and embraced his entire existence without asking anything in return. He believed I loved him selflessly which I actually did.

Home is anywhere with you, Nana-chan…

That’s what he always said.

It was one of the midnights where Touya sneaked out of his house to pay me a visit like he always did and I happily welcomed him with open arms before we made our way on the rooftop of my house to spend the whole night there together. The midnight stars bathed his body in silver, making him look like a Greek God fallen from the sky. The way his bluish-turquoise eyes glimmered so vulnerably at the sight of the night sky, it literally made me reach out to hold his hands in mine before I showered him with sweet reassuring words, and when he did finally smile at me, it was so bright that he could easily make the sun jealous of his beauty.

He looked like an angel.

I swore he was a celestial being fallen from the stars. When the pale moonlight bathed him in silver mercury and the shooting stars flickered to life in his beautiful eyes, I fell in love with him over and over again until I felt like my heart was about to claw out from my chest. For a moment, it was as if time had stopped. Yet, we were both little kids. Two naïve children star gazing beneath the starry night sky, pointing at different stars as we both laid on the rooftop like nothing even mattered. I felt so alive, so real, and for once, I felt like I existed in this fucked up world. I watched Touya turn around and smile at me and somehow I felt like I would rather star gaze into his eyes than the starry night sky.

Sing for me, Touya-kun…

Touya’s eyes went wide open for a moment in surprise. He hesitated, saying that he didn’t feel like singing now, but being the stubborn brat I always was, I managed to convince him to sing at least one song to me with the help of my pouty lips and teary puppy-dog eyes. Letting out a huff before standing up on the roof, he pulled out his cellphone from his pocket and lightly cleared his throat a bit. When he began to sing one of his favorite songs, I couldn’t help but gawk at him like a fool; he looked so dreamy.

His voice was enchanting, very captivating… 

Like a dream that I never wanted to wake up from...

Listening to him sing grew a universe inside my soul; it was brighter than the moon's ivory touch and the stars dancing in the midnight sky.

I could still vividly remember whatever happened that night even right now.

I wasn’t too familiar with that song or didn’t know who the actual singer was…

But you uttered a mixture of some Japanese and English words into it.

Then somehow to me, it seemed like it became a whole new piece on its own.

And I grew to love that voice greatly.

With that rooftop for a stage…

And a cell phone for a microphone…

The March moon as a spotlight…

Even now I believed the only one who could have cast such magic is you, Touya...

Hey, Touya, do you still remember us standing side by side on the rooftop of my house, gazing upon the twinkling stars in the dark sky of that very night? You sang a song from your lips then.

Please sing it to me once again... 

(Years later; at UA sports festival)

“Shinsou is out of bounds!” Midnight announced. “Izuku Midoriya advances to round two!!”

I let out a sigh of relief as Midoriya won the fight, but that the same time I also felt sorry for Shinsou. Then suddenly at that moment, my stomach started to ache again. I bit my bottom lip as I stood up from my seat.

“Where are you going, Nana-chan?” Uraraka asked.

“Bathroom.” I replied with a smile before walking away.

I quickly made my way down the stairs and headed towards the bathroom. I let out a groan as my stomach twisted again. I quickly walked into the bathroom and washed my face with cold water on the washbasin. I looked up and stared at my own reflection in the mirror. I noticed my eyes were changing from my normal eye color to Kakugan and then again going back to their original state.

I squeezed my eyes shut and let out a grunt as I again felt the pain in my stomach. I shook my head and opened my eyes again. Seeing my reflection one last time, I let out a heavy sigh and walked out of the bathroom as I thought of getting some fresh air.

As I walked down the hallway, at that moment with the help of my Ghoul quirk, I sensed someone familiar behind me. I quickly turned around to see Todoroki standing just a few inches away with his right arm reaching out towards me. Todoroki and I looked at each other for a moment as I blinked at him a few times in confusion.

"Umm... Todoroki?" I trailed off as I looked back and forth between his face and his arm. "What were you trying to do?"

Todoroki quickly pulled his arm back away from me with a heavy blush on his cheeks.

"I-I wasn't trying to do anything weird, I swear!" he stuttered out awkwardly.

"Okay... so umm... Did you need anything?" I asked in confusion.

Todoroki regained his usual composure and let out a sigh as his eyes trailed down at the ground.

"I came to apologize to you." he said in his usual quiet and solemn voice.

He refused to meet my eyes as his gaze still planted firmly into the ground.

“Huh? What do you mean?” I asked.

“I burned you in the cavalry battle.” he responded quietly, gritting his teeth and clenching his fists. “I swore that I would never use my left side again…"

"Oh, it's alright. I'm fine now." I smiled at him. "Thanks for your concern, Todoroki, but please don't worry about me. I was able to heal myself with the help of my own Ghoul quirk..."

"I'm sure you already know that Endeavor's my father.” He added.

“Yes, I know Enji-san.” I muttered, nodding my head. “He and some of the other pro-heroes were friends with my parents. I met him many times before as well.”

“The only reason he married my mother was to create a child that would surpass All Might.” he continued as his hand reached out and touched the scar on his face. “My mom went insane because of that. She couldn't even look at me cause the more she looked at me, the more I reminded her of my father. She said my left side was unsightly because of that, so she tried to burn it off when I was only five years old."

I furrowed my eyebrows when I heard those words. Todoroki maybe didn't know this but I already knew the whole story of his family because of a certain person.

“I refused to become my father's puppet.” he growled under his breath. “I vowed that I would win this competition and surpass All Might without using his fire quirk, but I got blinded by the thought of winning and lost control of myself. I hurt you because of it. I'm sorry."

My eyes softened at his words. My heart ached at the look on his face. That sad expression of his reminded me of someone very close to me. And coincidentally that certain someone was related to Todoroki and Endeavor.

I could see the tornado of emotions behind Todoroki's expressionless face, but they were mostly negative emotions like pain, sadness, and anger. To me, it looked like he was being himself for the first time, true and genuine, as he shared about his problems with me and I appreciated this side of him.

“Todoroki…” I smiled warmly at him as I reached out and gently grabbed his hands. “Enji-san doesn't become the victor if you use your own quirks. And it's up to you if you want to use your left side or not or if you want to forgive Enji-san or not. The way I was raised and the people who were my parents, I would never understand your pain and what it feels like to be trapped by your own blood, but having the same quirk as your own father doesn't make you 'him'. Enji-san isn't you and you're not Enji-san either. You are your own person, Todoroki; completely different and unique from everyone else.”

Todoroki stared at me with wide eyes before his expression softened a bit.

“I want to apologize for my behavior earlier.” He stated politely.

“What do you mean?” I asked, removing my hands from his.

“I was rude and I misjudged you. I apologize.” he responded.

I chuckled softly, shaking my head.

“It's no problem.” I smiled.

He smiled back as he looked deep into my eyes. My gaze trailed off to the left side of his face and his turquoise eye brought me back a few bittersweet memories.

The color of your fire is bluish! It’s so pretty! I wish I had a pretty quirk like you…

Your Ukaku Kagune is really beautiful, Nana-chan… It looks like the wings of a beautiful butterfly…

Nana-chan… I love you…

I love you too, Touya-kun…

I snapped out of my daze and quickly looked away from Todoroki’s gaze with a bitter smile on my face. I regained my posture and started to walk away from the bi-colored hair boy.

“It’s my turn now…” I said. “Wish me luck Todoroki…”

“Shoto.” He muttered.

“What?” I asked in surprise as I turned around to look at him.

“Call me Shoto.” He smiled coolly at me, his hands in his pockets.

“Shoto it is then...” I smiled back and nodded my head.

And with that, I turned around and quickly walked away from the scene. 

(Hero-Killer Arc)

After Manual, Gran Torino, and the Police Chief bade their farewells, it was now me and the boys in the hospital room. My eyes drifted down to Iida's arm, hand bandaged and bicep covered in a cast.

“Are your injuries healing up okay?” I asked as Shoto and I sat on chairs at one side of Iida’s bed while Midoriya sat on the other side.

“I'll be fine.” he said. “The doctor said there was a bit of permanent damage to my hand.”

“Permanent damage?” Midoriya gasped.

“There was damage to my brachial plexus.” Iida began to explain. “But it just means that I will have trouble moving my hand and fingers and experience some numbness. Apparently, there is a possibility that it can be healed with nerve transplant surgery.”

Iida went quiet for a moment before speaking up.

“When I found the Hero Killer I stopped being able to think. The first thing I should have done was tell Manual. But I forgot myself in my anger. Being taken in by the hatred before you and trying to fulfill your own desires... that is the furthest from what a hero should be... I hate him but he spoke the truth. That's why until I become a true hero I think I want to leave my left hand as it is…”

Iida then turned to look at me.

“And thank you, Nana, for saving for our lives.” He smiled.

“It was nothing really.” I chuckled awkwardly.

“Iida-kun, let’s become stronger together…” Midoriya said with determination.

“Yeah.” Iida nodded his head in response.

“I feel… kind of bad.” Shoto mumbled while Midoriya, Iida, and I looked at him with confused expressions.

“What do you mean?” I asked. “About what?”

“I feel if I get involved, other people mess up their hands...” Shoto replied, looking down at his own hands with all seriousness. “Is it… a curse?”

And then there was this silence for a moment before Midoriya, Iida, and I broke into a fit of laughter.

“PFFT… HAHAHAHA!!!”

“Todoroki-kun, I didn't know you could make jokes.” Midoriya laughed.

“It wasn't a joke.” Shoto responded. “I'm like ‘The Hand Crusher’ or something.”

“THE HAND CRUSHER?!?!”

We laughed again even more hysterically than before. After our laughter died down a bit, Midoriya again spoke up.

“Hey, Nana-chan…” Midoriya spoke up.

“Hmm?” I looked at him with a smile.

“Last night, I noticed you were talking to Endeavor with a sense of familiarity. Do you both know each other that long?” Midoriya asked.

“Yeah, I never got the chance to ask you that.” Shoto added. “How long have you known my father?”

“It’s a long story.” I sighed with a small smile. “Wanna hear it?”

“It’s okay if you don’t wanna share it.” Iida muttered.

“No, it’s okay.” I shook my head.

I took a deep breath and started to tell my story.

“Enji-san was one of my parents’ closest friends. Mom and Dad knew him during their high school days. I met Enji-san, All Might, Midnight, and Present Mic for the first time when I was only four years old at one of the Osaki family’s house parties. At that party, Enji-san brought two more guests with him. They were Shoto’s older siblings, Touya and Fuyumi-san.” I stated.

Shoto’s breath hitched as he looked at me with wide eyes.

“Touya and I instantly clicked and became very good friends. Enji-san then later proposed to my parents a quirk marriage between me and Touya but my parents instantly rejected his offer. My parents were against this whole quirk marriage thing. They hated it. Enji-san was very displeased at their decision and kept on asking my parents to think about the matter over and over again. My Dad then stated that ever in the future, when Touya and I would grow up and become adults, if we ever fall in love with each other and decide to be together, then and only then my parents would think about this marriage. From that day onward, many playdates were arranged for me and Touya by Enji-san in order to get us even closer. Slowly Touya and I became really close and then eventually we fell in love. I know we both were too young to fall in love back then but we just did.” I went on.

“Then what happened?” Midoriya asked as the boys listened to my story intently.

“Then a few years later my parents were killed in a villain attack at I-Island as you all know and a few months later after that incident, Touya passed away in a terrible accident.” I added.

There was a moment of silence before Shoto spoke up.

“Are you still in love with Touya Nii-san?” Shoto asked.

I chuckled and looked out at the sky through the window.

“Now that you asked… I think, right now, if Touya suddenly appears and stands in front of me, I’ll definitely jump into his arms like a typical shoujo manga heroine and tell him how much I missed him, how much I felt lonely without him. So yeah… Maybe I still love him…” I smiled softly.

Nana-chan… I love you…

I love you too, Touya-kun…

Later that evening, Shoto and I bade our farewells to Midoriya and Iida before we started to head back to the place where we were staying at. As we both quietly walked down the path, I noticed him in deep thought.

“Something on your mind, Shoto?” I asked.

He slowly nodded his head in response.

“What is it?” I asked.

“I’m thinking about Touya Nii-san.” Shoto responded quietly. “I was never allowed to play with my siblings. We were always kept separate from each other. We never really talked or ate together. When I was five years old, that horrible incident happened. I remember Natsuo-Nii saying at first that Touya Nii-san had gone missing. My sister Fuyumi-Nee was crying uncontrollably all day. My Mom was hospitalized at that time and her condition got even worse after learning about Touya Nii-san's situation. Natsuo-Nii then later said to me that Touya-Nii died in a forest fire accident. Natsuo-Nii never told me the full story, but what he did tell me was that my father had done something unforgivable. In his mind, Dad killed Touya Nii-san.”

“I'm sorry.” I mumbled.

“Don't be.” he said. “The only one to blame is my old man. And if you’re still feeling sorry then I should feel sorry as well because you lost Touya Nii-san too.”

After few moments of silence, Shoto again spoke up.

“Nana…” he muttered.

“Hmm?” I looked over at him.

His heterochromatic eyes met my brownish amber ones and I noticed him slightly blushing.

“I know that Touya Nii-san isn’t here with us anymore, but if you ever feel lonely again…” Shoto stated shyly. “Just so you know that I’m always here for you, Nana.”

My eyes widened at his words before I let out a warm smile at him.

“Okay… Thank you, Shoto.” 

(Intro of ‘Dabi’) 

(In a small shady bar at Camino Ward)

“Are you curious Shigaraki?” Kurogiri asked while wiping a wine glass at a bar counter. “About that boy, Izuku Midoriya?”

Shigaraki clicked his tongue as he sat at the counter with two photographs in his hands. One was of Izuku Midoriya and another one was of Nana Osaki. He immediately destroyed Midoriya’s photo with his decay quirk while slowly setting down Nana’s photo on the counter. At that moment, someone opened the door of the small bar. Shigaraki and Kurogiri turned to see who it was and it was revealed to be Giran, a C-Rank villain, a broker, and their associate.

“Shigaraki…”  Giran smirked while taking a puff from his cigar. “You all have been the talk of the town for the past few days. I hear you’re starting something big.”

“And what do you want?” Shigaraki asked.

Giran simply smirked and widely opened the door, letting two people walk into the bar.

One was a young high school girl with pale dirty ash-blonde hair styled into two messy buns and slightly inward-tilting eyes, irises that are bright yellow, and their pupils' thin slits.

And the other was a fairly tall pale young man of a slim somewhat lanky build who was in his early 20s. He had long spiky raven hair and a pair of turquoise eyes. His most striking features were undoubtedly the patches of gnarled, wrinkled, purple skin that cover much of his lower face and neck, all the way down past his collarbone, below his eyes, and on his arms. These appeared to be attached to the rest of his skin by multiple, crude surgical staples or hoop piercings.

“So, it’s you huh?” The raven-haired man spoke up. “I saw a picture of you, but you look gross in person.”

“Wow, the Hand-Man!” The blonde girl squealed in excitement. “You’re friends with the great Stain, right? Right? Let me join too! The League of Villains!”

“Kurogiri…” Shigaraki groaned in annoyance as he observed the newcomers. “Get rid of these guys. Everything I hate came together in one set; a brat and a rude guy.”

“Now, now…” Kurogiri responded in a calming tone. “They came all this way to visit, so let's at least hear them out. Besides, that big shot broker brought them. They’re bound to be valuable assets.”

“I don’t care what you do with them, but make sure I get some commission, Kurogiri.” Giran smirked, taking another puff from his cigar, before moving towards the ravenette man and the blonde girl. “At least let me introduce them. First this cute high school girl. Her name and face were kept tightly under wraps by the media but she’s on the run as the suspect in a series of deaths by blood loss.”

“I’m Toga! Himiko Toga!” the blonde girl grinned manically, introducing herself to everyone. “It’s hard to live! I want the world to become an easier place to live! I want to become like Mr. Stainy! I want to kill Mr. Stainy! So let me join the League of Villains!”

“I don’t get her. Is she crazy?” Shigaraki asked.

“She can hold a conversation for the most part. I’m sure she’ll be of use.” Giran responded before looking over at the ravenette man. “Next this guy over here... He hasn’t committed any flashy crimes, but he holds fast to the hero killer's ideology.”

“I’m uneasy about this.” The ravenette young man stated boredly. “Does this organization really have a just cause? Don’t tell me you’re going to let this crazy woman in?”

“Hey, you.” Shigaraki frowned at him. “You can't even do what that crazy high school girl was able to do. Give your name first. You're an adult, right?”

“I currently go by Dabi.” The ravenette man responded.

“That’s not what I want to know. What's your real name?” Shigaraki asked again.

“I’ll tell you when it’s time.” Dabi smirked a bit. “Anyway, I’ll carry out the will of the Hero Killer.”

“You don’t have to say what you haven’t been asked.” Shigaraki grunted as he stood up from his seat. “Jeez everyone it’s so hung up about Stain, Stain… I don't like it.”

“You mustn’t Shigaraki!” Kurogiri warned.

“I don’t feel good. You're all no good!” Shigaraki yelled before dashing towards Toga and Dabi in order to attack them.

Dabi and Toga were also about to attack Shigaraki back but Kurogiri stopped them with his Warp Gate quirk.

“Please calm down, Shigaraki.” Kurogiri requested the Decay quirk user. “If what you wish is to come to pass, then we must increase the organization’s number. Strangely enough, we are in the spotlight right now, so now is our chance. We shouldn't be rejecting them, we should be receiving them. You must use all of it… And all the ideology he left behind…”

“Shut up.” Shigaraki snapped before walking out of the bar.

“Where are you going?” Giran asked.

“Shut up!”

Giran let out a sigh and looked back at the others.

“I don’t want to complain about a client but he's young. Too young.” Giran stated.

“I thought he was going to kill us.” Toga grinned again.

“He makes me sick.” Dabi frowned before his turquoise eyes trailed over at the bar counter.

“Will it be alright to give you an answer at a later date?” Kurogiri asked politely. “I believe he knows what he should do. It's because he knows what he left without saying anything; All Might and Hero Killer… He's been humbled Twice already. I’m sure he’ll reach an answer that you both and he himself will be satisfied with.”

Dabi didn’t reply back as he stared at the photo of Nana Osaki.

The color of your fire is bluish! It’s so pretty!

I wish I had a pretty quirk like you…

He walked over to the bar counter and picked up the photo.

“Nana Osaki, huh?” Dabi mumbled as his eyes softened a bit.

“What? Do you know her?” Kurogiri asked with curiosity.

“Do I know her? Maybe...” Dabi smirked, before putting Nana’s photo into the pocket of his jacket. “I’m keeping this photo with me. And tell Shigaraki that I’ll be waiting for his answer.”

And with that Dabi walked out of the bar.

(Forest Training Camp Arc)

As we walked through the forest, we heard some shouting from nearby.

“It sounds like Ochaco and Tsuyu.” I frowned as the boys and I went over to the source of the sound.

When we reached there, we noticed that Uraraka and Tsu were fighting with a female villain with blonde hair who was carrying big syringes in her hands. But as soon as she saw us, she quickly ran away.

“Ochaco, Tsuyu!” I called out.

“Who was that woman?” Shoto asked.

“A villain, a crazy one.” Tsu replied before looking at me. “We heard Bakugo and you’re being their targets. Why?”

“I don't know.” I replied. “But the boys here are protecting us.”

“Us? But where’s Bakugo-kun?” Uraraka asked.

“What do you mean? Kacchan's right over th-”

Midoriya cut himself off as he turned around to find that Bakugo was gone.

“Tokoyami is gone too!” I gasped in shock.

“An attack from behind?!” Shoto asked.

“The boy you are talking about...” an unknown voice spoke up. “I took him with my magic...”

We looked up to see a masked figure in a yellow trench coat and a top hat perched atop one of the high branches.

“This talent isn't someone who should be on the hero side.” The man stated as he showed a blue marble in between his fingers. “We will take him to a stage where he can shine more.”

“Give him back!!” Midoriya scowled at him.

“Give him back?” the man chuckled. “That's a strange thing to say. Bakugo-kun doesn't belong to anyone. He is his own person, you egoist.”

“Give him back!” Midoriya yelled again.

“Move!” Shoto said before he shot his ice at that man.

But the man quickly dodged the attack. I then shot a ball of compressed gravity at him but he dodged my attack as well.

“We simply want to show him that the path he is on now with its fanatical values is not the only path he can take.” The man stated as he started to float high up in the sky. “Kids these days are made to choose their parts based on their values.”

“To go out of your way to talk to us... You are underestimating us!” I frowned at him.

“I was originally an entertainer you know. It's a bad habit of mine.” He laughed as he now showed us two blue marbles in between his fingers. “Taking Tokoyami-kun was an improvisation on my part. And also… You’re our target as well, Nana Osaki-kun. Come on, join us.”

“Never!” I growled.

Then all of a sudden my body was enveloped in bright blue light. I gasped in surprise as I felt my body was lifted off of the ground before I started to float towards him. I tried to move on my own but it wasn’t working. It felt as if I was trapped in a cage.

“What the fuck?!” I exclaimed.

“NANA!!”

Shoto and Uraraka reached out to grab me but failed as the masked man grabbed my wrist tightly before slinging me over his shoulder.

“You bastard!!” Midoriya screamed out. “Give them back!!”

Shoto quickly used his Heaven-Piercing Ice Wall at my abductor but he again skilfully dodged the attack.

“Sorry, tricks and running away are my only redeeming features!” the man laughed, tightening his grip around my waist. “There is no way I would fight students who are hero candidates. Vanguard action squad! Targets successfully collected!”

With that, he flew off with me, Bakugo and Tokoyami. I stayed calm as the man flew through the air while he fastened his grip on my waist. I still couldn't move my own body as the blue light was still radiating off of me.

“Who are you?” I asked him, narrowing my eyes. “And who are you working for?”

“You’ll find out that soon, Nana-kun.” The man smirked.

“How do you know my name?” I asked.

But before he could say anything, I heard my name being yelled out from a distance.

“NANA!!”

“NANA-CHAN!!”

The man and I looked over to see Midoriya, Shoto, and Shoji flying high up in the air and were heading towards our direction.

“Guys?!” I gasped in surprise.

“What the?!” the man frowned.

And right on cue, the boys crashed against us making us all fall out of the sky.  

“AAAHHH!!!”

I quickly shut my eyes tight as we hurdled towards the ground and I prepared myself for a painful landing. The boys tackled the man out of the air and we all ended up landing directly on an open space in the middle of the forest.

CRASH!!!

“AAHH!!”

I yelped out in pain as I landed directly on my back.

“Oi, oi, oi!!” an unknown voice called out. “I know those brats!! Who are they?!”

“Nana-chan!” Midoriya exclaimed in concern as he and Shoji stood up from the ground.

“Nana!!” Shoto called out frantically as he quickly jumped off from that man’s back and pulled me away from him. “Are you okay?!”

“Y-Yeah…” I mumbled, feeling the sharp pain in my back. “But my back hurts a bit…”

“Oh, look! It’s Nana-chan!!” a familiar voice giggled out.

Shoto set me down and he, Midoriya, and Shoji moved to block me from the villains as they shielded me with their bodies protectively. We turned around to see that the crazy blonde girl from earlier was standing far away from us with two male villains. One male villain was wearing a black and white bodysuit that covered his face. He was one who spoke up earlier just a few minutes ago. The man’s voice and body language seemed to change completely from sentence to sentence. He also kind of reminded me of Deadpool from Marvel Comics.

And the other male villain had spiky raven locks, a pair of turquoise eyes, and had patches of gnarled, wrinkled, purple skin that cover much of his lower face and neck, all the way down past his collarbone, below his eyes and on his arms. These appeared to be attached to the rest of his skin by multiple, crude surgical staples or hoop piercings.

I noticed that the ravenette villain was staring at me and when my brownish amber eyes met his turquoise ones, I couldn’t help but feel like I had seen him somewhere before. His face softened a bit when he saw me staring back at him.

“Nana-chan! You should run away right now!” Midoriya stated.

“Don't leave yet!~” the girl chirped, swinging her syringe at us.

The boys and I quickly leaped back out of the way before she could stick us with her syringe.

“Both your Kagune are so pretty! Stay with us, Nana-chan!~” she giggled.

“We cannot allow you to leave with one of our targets!” Deadpool 2.0 said as he aimed a high kick at Shoto.

Shoto barely dodged it and jumped back as Deadpool 2.0 threw a series of punches at him. The villain then attacked Shoto as Shoto attacked back with his ice quirk while the blonde girl tackled Midoriya to the ground. I quickly dashed forwards and swatted the girl away like a mosquito from Midoriya with my Rinkaku Kaugune before she could hurt him. I noticed the villain with yellow trench coat reverted to his normal form as he went over and stood beside the ravenette villain who was still staring at me.

“Shoji!” I called. “You still have Katsuki and Tokoyami, right?”

“I got them.” Shoji said as he opened his palm revealing the two blue marbles from before.

“Good job, Shoji.” Shoto said.

“Nana-chan, this is your chance.” Midoriya said. “You should run away.”

“I can’t leave you guys.” I frowned.

“You're one of their main targets, Nana. You need to get somewhere safe.” Shoji said.

“That’s why I’m staying.” I responded before going back to my fighting stance. “If I go back to camp, I'll lead them to the other students. I can’t let anyone else get hurt because of me.”

At that moment three dark purple masses appeared in the air which was actually Kurogiri’s portal. The crazy blonde girl and Deadpool 2.0 quickly said their farewells to us before diving into the portal and escaping away.

“We can’t leave without Bakugo and Nana Osaki.” The ravenette villain spoke up, frowning at his companion.

“That’s fine, we can go.” The yellow trench coat guy chuckled.

“Huh?”

The yellow trench coat guy laughed before looking over at us with a smirk as he took off his mask.

“Foolish children!” he smirked. “Haven't you ever seen a magic show? When the performer shows something off, it means they're hiding something they don't want you to see.”

As the mask completely came off he opened his mouth and revealed two blue marbles placed on top of his tongue. I could see Bakugo and Tokoyami trapped inside each one. The man then snapped his finger and the marbles in Shoji’s hands revealed it to be Shoto’s ice pieces.

“Katsuki! Tokoyami!” I exclaimed in shock.

“Kacchan!!” Midoriya yelled.

“Compress, Dabi, retreat immediately.” Kurogiri suddenly spoke up. “Leave Nana Osaki for now. Just get the angry blonde one back to Tomura Shigaraki.”

“What?! No!!” Midoriya exclaimed as we all desperately dashed forward to catch them.

“Sure.” The yellow trench coat villain name Compress chuckled as he and the ravenette villain named Dabi stepped into the portal. “That ice attack was the perfect chance to prepare a few decoys. I put them in my right pocket for later. Upon noticing objects in my right hand inter my right pocket you would naturally be excited enough to give chase. And this is where I leave you... ACK!!”

But then Compress was suddenly cut off when Aoyama attacked the villain with his laser beam quirk from behind the bushes far away and the marbles flew out of the villain’s mouth. Shoji quickly dashed forward and caught one marble. As I was about to reach out and catch the other one, suddenly the ravenette villain called Dabi grabbed my wrist tightly with his left hand while he grabbed the marble with his right one. I gasped out in surprise and looked up at him as his turquoise eyes bored into my brownish amber ones.

“NANA, NO!!” Shoto yelled, running towards me.

“Hello there.~” Dabi flashed out a sexy smirk. “It's been a while, hasn’t it Babydoll? I missed you so much.~”

“Huh? What?” I frowned deeply at him.

“What, you don't recognize me?” he asked, still smirking. "Ouch, now I'm hurt, Babydoll."

I looked deeply into his turquoise eyes and for some reason, I sensed some sort of familiar aura emitting from him.

Nana-chan… I love you…

I love you too, Touya-kun…

“Touya?” I whispered out in bewilderment, my eyes widened in fraction.

“Release them.” Dabi said to Compress as he threw the marble at him.

I then quickly snapped out of my daze and tried to break free from his grasp, but failed. I yelped in pain as he twisted my hand behind my back and slung his free arm around my waist while my back pressed against his broad muscular chest.

“I’m taking you with me, Nana Osaki.” Dabi whispered smugly into my ears, his hot breath sent a chill down my spine. “This time, I’m not letting you go away so easily… Like I did last time...”

What?

Last time?

What the hell is he blabbering about?!

Compress then snapped his fingers and it was revealed that the one Shoji caught was Tokoyami and the one Dabi caught was Bakugo. Compress quickly wrapped his hand around Bakugo's neck, making the angry blonde unable to move.

“Nana-chan!! Kacchan!!” Midoriya yelled out.

“Stay back… Deku…” Bakugo groaned out in pain.

“Dabi, Compress, let’s go.” Kurogiri called out again.

“NANA!!” Shoto called out as he used his ice to blast himself forward.

“SHOTO!!” I yelled back, trying to get away from Dabi.

But at that moment Kurogiri’s portal was already closing. It was already too late.

“How sad for you, Shoto Todoroki.” Dabi smirked at Shoto. “Can’t able to save your loved one… But don't worry though… I'll take good care of my Babydoll...”

And with that, Kurogiri's portal closed completely as darkness consumed me before I lost my consciousness. 

(Camino Hideout Raid arc)

“Rise and shine, Babydoll.” A familiar smug voice called out.

Dabi…

I groaned as I felt my body start to wake up as I slowly opened my brownish amber eyes, only to be met by the villain’s turquoise ones. I told myself not to panic as I felt the restraints around me. I was sitting down on a wooden chair, my hands were tied up in front of me with a huge metal lock-like thing on the palms of my hands with my feet tied up to the legs of the chair.

“You're such a kinky bastard, Dabi.” I mocked. "Tying me up all like this."

“Oh, you know me so well, Babydoll.” Dabi smirked.

“Tch, stop calling me that.” I frowned.

“I won’t.~” he teased as his smirk grew wider.

“Where’s Katsuki?” I asked, looking around.

“In the other room. He was throwing a fit, that’s why I brought you here, so you could sleep peacefully.” he said, crouching down to my eye level.

A villain like him was concerned about my sleep?

How absurd!

My gaze immediately flew to the ground as my eyes avoided meeting his.

“Look at me.” he said, grabbing my chin to face him.

My brownish amber eyes met his turquoise ones as he looked deeply into my eyes. I couldn’t pinpoint the exact emotions his eyes were holding, but they looked so soft, gentle, and loving. He gently ran his fingers on my jawline and my cheekbone while he carefully studied my face as if he had been waiting to see me this up close for a very long time.

At first, I flinched a bit when he started touching my face but later I relaxed when I felt how good and comforting his touch was which was a really weird thing to feel, given the fact that he was a villain and he kidnapped me. His turquoise eyes and his touches were so warm, so familiar, so gentle, so loving, that it just reminded me of a particular person over and over again.

My cheeks started to heat up and I felt butterflies swarming inside my stomach, making me all warm and fuzzy inside. My heart started to beat faster than usual, but why?

Why this villain?

Who was he?

And how did he know me?

Why did he feel so familiar?

Why did he feel so dear to me even though I never met him?

Or did I?

Nana-chan… I love you…

I love you too, Touya-kun…

“God, I missed you so much.” He whispered as he gently brushed his thumb on my lips.

“What?” I raised an eyebrow.

He missed me? What is he talking about?

“Nothing.” He quickly replied, clearing his throat.

“Who are you?” I asked softly. “Do I know you? Have we ever met before? Why did you ask if I recognized you? And why do you keep saying that you missed me?”

“The name is Dabi, Babydoll… Your glorified villain babysitter.” He smirked, standing up, his hands in the pockets of his trench coat.

I felt a bit disappointed when he moved away from me, already missing his touch and his warmth.

What the hell is wrong with me?!

Snap out of it, Nana! He’s a villain!!

“Is that actually your real name though?” I looked at him skeptically. “I don’t believe that. What’s your real name? What’s your true identity?”

“Why do you ask, Babydoll?” he asked.

“Cause you remind me of someone I knew and love.” I responded.

“Oh really? Who?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Touya Todoroki.” I mumbled softly.

I noticed Dabi’s eyes widened in fraction as he looked at me with a surprised expression. He was about to say something to me when at that moment Kurogiri walked into the room.

“So, you’re awake, Nana Osaki.” Kurogiri stated.

“Kurogiri… we meet again.” I frowned.

“Indeed we did.” He responded before he looked at Dabi. “We need to bring her to the other room. Shigaraki wants to see her.”

With that, Kurogiri used his Warp Gate quirk to bring me and Dabi to the other room. I looked around to see all the other villains were already present there. I noticed the place we were in was a small hidden shady bar. I also noticed Shigaraki sitting at the bar counter with a drink in his hand.

“Nana?!” A familiar voice called out in shock.

I looked around to see Bakugo tied up on a chair like me, sitting a bit far away.

“Oh, Katsuki! Thank god, you’re okay!” I sighed in relief.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” he asked.

“What the fuck does it look like?” I deadpanned.

“Tch.” He huffed and looked away.

“Welcome, Nana Osaki.” Shigaraki spoke up. “To the League of Villains.” 

(Shie Hassaikai arc)

And with that, both Midoriya and I stood on the ground with Eri, victorious, finally saving the day just as planned.

Ryukyu ordered the police to call ambulances for the injured and asked them to search for the League of Villains as well. All eleven members of the Shie Hassaikai were arrested. The injured Heroes and Eri were taken to the hospital following the end of the mission.

“His pulse is dropping!”

Midoriya and I looked around and saw a badly injured Nighteye on a stretcher as the rescue team moved him towards the ambulance.

“Nighteye!” we both called and rushed over to him.

Nighteye slowly opened his eyes and looked at us.

“Midoriya, Osaki… This is a different future what I saw…” Nighteye stated meekly. “You both twisted the future…”

“Just hang in here, Sir.” I responded softly, trying not to break down.

“Yeah, just hang in there!” Midoriya stated. “All Might couldn’t face you! You should see him again! So hang in there!”

Nighteye didn’t say anything back and was later carried off to the hospital.

I stood there with a heavy heart as I watched the retreating figure of the ambulance, praying for Nighteye to get well and nothing bad happens to him. Suddenly, I sensed two familiar presences around the area.

Twice and Toga…

I quickly track them down and sneakily listened to Toga’s conversation with Shigaraki on the phone. I discovered that Shigaraki and a few villains had already headed out to attack the police convoy that was carrying Chisaki.

Shit!

I clenched my fists and started to think.

What should I do?!

Should I catch these two first?!

But Shigaraki is also on his way to catch Chisaki!

I should catch Shigaraki first!

And with that, I quickly altered my own gravity, flew high up in the air, and dashed forward in high speed towards the direction where the police convoy had headed in order to catch Shigaraki.  I flew in the sky, across the city while looking around to spot my target. At last, I did spot my target in the middle of the highway bridge when I heard Chisaki’s scream in the air but then I realized I was too late. I flew down and landed on the ground noticing both the police car and the police convoy were all crashed. The police officers who were taking Chisaki to the hospital were either heavily injured or dead.

“Chisaki!” I called out as I rushed towards him who was still screaming.

As soon as I got close to him, I was shocked and horrified to see both of Chisaki’s hands were cut off, blood gushing out and spilling on the road.

“Oh my god!” I gasped. “Who did this to you?!”

“Hello there, Babydoll.~” a familiar sexy deep voice called out.

I snapped my head to my side, noticing Dabi standing a few feet away from me with a stupid sexy smirk dancing on his stupid attractive face, his hands in the pockets of his trench coat.

“Dabi!” I snarled at him.

“Woah there, tiger, easy! Don’t give me that look.” Dabi put up his hands in defense. “I didn’t do anything. Ask him, Babydoll.”

Dabi pointed his finger to his side and my gaze trailed off in that direction.

“Shigaraki.” I growled as I started to march towards them.

“Hello there, Nana Osaki.” Shigaraki smirked at me.

“Ah, Nana-kun, hello!” Compress greeted me as well.

I suddenly stopped walking towards them when I noticed Chisaki’s box of quirk killer bullets in Compress’s hand.

Those are Chisaki's perfected quirk killer bullets...

If I fight Shigaraki and his gang right now, I may be able to take them all down...

But then again, if there's the slightest chance of me losing to them, then they'll definitely kidnap me again...

Or even worst... They'll use those bullets on me as a defense...

I shouldn't fight them right now... That's the only best option now...

“So you were after those bullets, huh?” I asked. “Then why cut off his hands?!”

“You’re one to talk!” Shigaraki laughed at me mockingly. “Didn’t you cut off Chisaki’s sidekick's hands as well, Nana-kun?”

“How do you… Toga and Twice, huh?” I muttered, narrowing my eyes at him.

“Just remember Nana Osaki… We will be the next to rule!” Shigaraki stated.

I scoffed and scowled at them, clenching my fists tightly.

“Fuck you!!” I barked before turning around and starting to walk away from them.

“Yes please, Babydoll... Any time of the day~” Dabi responded in a smooth deep velvety tone, still smirking at me.

“In your dreams, Dabi!” I shouted, looking back and giving him a deadly stern look.

“That’ll be a great dream, Babydoll!~” he chuckled loudly, not an ounce of shame in his voice.

"Tch!" I clicked my tongue in annoyance.

I didn’t respond back to the blue flame quirk user as I went over to the weak bruised up Chisaki, carefully carried him in my arms, and quickly flew away from that spot. 

(Pro-Hero arc) 

After our big fight with the Nomu, Keigo and I quickly walked up to the injured Endeavor and helped him to move away from the battlefield.

“Thanks for winning!” Keigo chirped. “You guys did well!”

“I give it zero point.” Endeavor huffed with a scowl. “Still can’t believe that I took help from a sixteen years old kid.”

“You should be thanking me instead of complaining about how I helped you in the fight, you ungrateful old man!” I snapped at the pro-hero. “Jeez! If I didn’t make it on time, you would’ve died then and there. So stop complaining and praise me!”

“Thank you…” Endeavor mumbled softly.

“Huh?” I asked in confusion as we sat down with the old man on a pathway. “What did you say?”

“I said thank you, brat!” he exclaimed.

Well now, look at that? It wasn’t like we saw the prideful brooding Enji Todoroki aka the No.1 pro hero Endeavor every day showing his gratitude towards other people, now did we?

“Eh? Well, you’re welcome, old man.” I smirked at him cheekily.

“Anyway, we need to do something about your injuries and stop your bleeding.” Keigo said to Endeavor.

“I can’t move an inch.” Endeavor responded. “Call someone-“

Endeavor was then suddenly cut off when an unexpected familiar figure walked into the scene.

“Hold up for just a minute. A lot of things went beyond my expectations.”

The three of us quickly turned around to look at the figure.

“Dabi?” I gasped. “What the hell is he doing here?”

“But let’s do things in order.” Dabi smirked, standing a few feet away from us. “It’s nice to meet you I guess… Endeavor…”

Dabi then turned to look at me.

“And great to see you again, Babydoll.” He greeted me in a deep velvety voice with a sexy smirk, before sending me a seductive wink. “Looks like you’re doing fine as always.”

“Tch, this flirty horny bastard.” I grumbled before looking away momentarily with a blush on my cheeks.

Dabi took a few more steps as he moved towards us, chuckling a bit.

“I caught wind that you were here, you see…” Dabi stated.

“You’re the one who murdered Snatch, or so I hear…” Endeavor growled. “The League of Villains… Dabi!”

Then all of a sudden, Dabi started to ignite both the palms of his hands before putting up a large flame wall around us. I noticed that the color of his flames was blue, just like Touya. I heard from my old man Aizawa that Dabi also had the blue flame quirk like Touya but it was the first time I was witnessing it with my own eyes.

“Sna- who?” Dabi asked, still smirking. “Doesn’t ring a bell. More importantly, let’s have a little chat. Opportunities like this don’t come so often.”

Endeavor tried to stand up to fight but he was too weak to do that. Even Keigo wasn’t in his best shape to put up a fight against Dabi. I quickly moved forward and stood in front of the two pro heroes in a protective stance.

“Babydoll, I suggest you step aside.” Dabi said, giving me somewhat a concerned look. “I don’t want to burn that beautiful face of yours, you know.”

“What the hell is he talking about?” I mumbled in confusion, frowning at the villain.

“Nana-chan, please stay back.” Keigo stated firmly, putting a hand on my shoulder. “Let me handle this.”

I noticed that suddenly Dabi’s gaze sharpened which then increased a hundredfold when Keigo put his hand on my shoulder, sending the No. 2 pro hero a stern menacing look. I simply stared at the villain with amusement, trying to figure him out.

“Hey give me a break would you? I just came to take back that Nomu.” Dabi stated casually, before igniting his left palm with his blue flame and starting to charge towards Keigo and Endeavor. “I mean there's no way I could win... Against the top two heroes when they are both on death's doorstep!”

Wasting no time, I quickly put my hand up in front of me and activated my Gravity Manipulation quirk where a repulsive force emitted out from my body that knocked Dabi all the way back, making him crash hard onto the ground.

"I can sense Miriko coming towards our direction here. She'll arrive in any second now." I informed, looking up at the sky.

“Seriously, Babydoll.” Dabi groaned while standing up, rubbing the back of his head before letting out a sigh. “Man, just when things were getting good... A little help, Ujiko?”

Right on cue, a black liquid that acted like a warping portal appeared out of Dabi’s mouth; the same one that All For One used on me and Bakugo during the Camino Ward Hideout Raid.

“Catch you later, mister No. 1 hero!” Dabi mocked Endeavor with a wide grin. “I am sure we will have another chance to talk. But until then... Break a leg out there! But don't go kicking the bucket, Enji Todoroki!”

And with that, Dabi disappeared into the ooze with his blue flame wall extinguished automatically by itself in the process. I looked over to Endeavor with a confused expression who apparently had a serious look on his face.

Why did Dabi call Enji-san by his full name?

And why was he talking to him with such familiarity?

Does Dabi know Enji-san on a personal level?

Or could it be that Dabi is actually…

“Nana-chan!”

I snapped out of my thoughts when Keigo called me. I noticed that Endeavor was slowly losing his consciousness.

“We need to get him to the hospital right now.” Keigo stated.

I simply nodded my head before helping Keigo to carry the No. 1 pro hero.

I need to find out Dabi’s true identity…

I need to know who he actually is…

(Paranormal Liberation War Arc)

Shoto, Bakugo, Nejire senpai, Iida, and I all at once charged at Shigaraki before a huge battle broke out. But within a few seconds, it all stopped when the earth beneath us started to shake violently and the sound of buildings crashing down hit our ears from afar. We all turned around and noticed that the behemoth Gigantomachia had finally arrived at the battlefield while carrying the remaining members of the Paranormal Liberation Front on his back as we watched the walking calamity moving towards us in horror.

“There is no way we can handle fighting both that giant and Shigaraki!” Shoto yelled, before charging at Shigaraki again. “I would better take Shigaraki down since he is already on his last legs!!”

“Don’t go and play the hero all by yourself, you half and half bastard!” Bakugo growled, charging at Shigaraki as well.

And with that Shoto, Bakugo, and Nejire senpai attacked Shigaraki with their super moves all the same time and the villain finally fell on the ground, unconscious.

“Run!!” Endeavor shouted when Gigantomachi finally stepped into the battlefield and quickly picked unconscious Shigaraki up from the ground.

“Shigaraki, you're not looking so good!!” Spinner asked from the giant's back.

“You okay, Shoto?” Endeavor asked as Shoto landed beside his father.

“Oh there you are!” a familiar voice suddenly called out.

We all looked up to see Dabi on Gigantomachi’s back, grinning down at us.

“You all look like a bunch of ants from way up here!” Dabi chuckled, waving his hand. “Oh?! Do I spy Shoto too?! That’s perfect!! Long time no see!!”

“Huh?” Shoto asked in annoyance.

“Dabi!!” Endeavor snarled at the ravenette villain.

“Ouch! Is that any way to address me?” Dabi chuckled mockingly as he poured some liquid from a bottle over his head before his hair went from black to white. “Why must you call me by my villain moniker... when I have such a great name… Call me Touya…”

And then I felt like the whole world just stopped. My eyes widened in disbelief while my mouth gasped open as I stared at Dabi or should I say Touya in bewilderment. My heart started to beat faster than usual as if it was going to burst out of my chest and now I suddenly started to feel like the whole world was spinning really fast, making me feel all dizzy and sick.

Now that you asked… I think, right now, if Touya suddenly appears and stands in front of me, I’ll definitely jump into his arms like a typical shoujo manga heroine and tell him how much I missed him, how much I felt lonely without him. So yeah… Maybe I still love him…

“You are that dumbstruck?! Really?!” Touya laughed. “I know my face isn’t exactly what it was, but I was sure that my own family would have figured it out. Though there was this one person who speculated that I could be Touya and it was none other than my lovely ex-fiancé; Nana Osaki!!”

It's been a while, hasn’t it Babydoll? I missed you so much.~

“T-Touya…” I mumbled, still in shock as my eyes started to get blurry and watery.

“Who are you?” I asked softly. “Do I know you? Have we ever met before? Why did you ask if I recognized you? And why do you keep saying that you missed me?”

“The name is Dabi, Babydoll… Your glorified villain babysitter.” He smirked, standing up, his hands in the pockets of his trench coat.

“Is that actually your real name though?” I looked at him skeptically. “I don’t believe that. What’s your real name? What’s your true identity?”

“Why do you ask, Babydoll?” he asked.

“Cause you remind me of someone I knew and love.” I responded.

“Oh really? Who?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Touya Todoroki.” I mumbled softly.

Touya looked at me with an apologetic smile.

“Sorry Babydoll, for hiding this secret from you! Back at Camino Ward, when you asked me if I was Touya or not, at that moment I wanted to do nothing else but to pull you into a tight hug, shower you with love and kisses, and tell you that I was in fact your Touya, but if I did that, my plans would’ve gotten ruined!” Touya stated before he looked back at Shoto and Endeavor with a smirk. “Well, Endeavor, I never forgot a thing. And I had plenty of reason to keep watching you. I’m not saying that everyone has to be pure and selfless. Just you! And guess what? Right now, my prerecorded life story is broadcasting nationwide and on the internet!”

Touya grinned widely as he started to jump down from Gigantomachia’s back and began to dance and twirl around in the madness. Shoto and Endeavor simply stood on the ground with wide eyes and dropped jaws, staring at Touya in disbelief while trying to take in everything that was happening right now at that moment.

“Man, I’m having a blast!!” Touya laughed. “Sorry, where was I? Oh yeah! How could I make you hurt? How to best stomp all over your life? I have been pondering all this ever since that day! I couldn’t figure out why I even existed and every day I would crawl to Natsu-kun and Nana crying my eyes out… Not that you ever knew, right?! When you finally achieved success with your little puppet Shoto… I thought killing him might do the trick! But then who would have guessed you got bumped up to No. 1! Suddenly, I was rooting for your happiness. My blood ran cold when I thought you might bite the big one in Kyushu! Then I led Starservant and Ending straight to you one after the other and you still survived like the cockroach that you are! You were finally No. 1! It's all you ever wanted! But it must have weighed on you, right?! Or was all the praise and admiration like chicken soup for your soul?! When at long last you could steer your kids in the eye… Did you finally start to feel the warm and fuzzy bonds of the family?! You must have thought ‘as long as I face the future I can be better’! I can tell you are at a loss for words, so here is the answer! The past never dies! Get it yet?! You reap what you sow!! Let us fall together, you and me, Enji Todoroki!! Come dance with your son, here in hell!!”  

“Touya is dead. This is an unforgivable lie.” Endeavor mumbled in disbelief.

“I am alive and kicking! It's an unforgivable truth, Dad!!” Touya responded with a grin. “So sad that you never bothered to invite me to your fire quirk-infested agency! You can swab me or take some blood samples as a souvenir if you don't believe me. Go run a DNA test. Although my own test results are already being publicized as we speak. Endeavor, consider this a homecoming gift from me to you since I dug up something on that good for nothing spy Hawks as well. Even coming from a villain, the words that I speak will shake the public to their cores. They won't be able to trust any of you after this. The damage has already been done! After seeing something like that, who the hell won't be shaking in their boots?!”

With that, Touya jumped off from Gigantomachia's back and was about to attack Endeavor with Prominence Burn to finish off his father once and for all.

“Thanks for going strong up until now, Endeavor!!” Touya yelled.

“Touya!! Stop, please!! Don’t do this!!” I screamed out, tears rolling down my cheeks.

“Sorry, Nana!! But this is what I’ve been waiting for the past 11 years!!” Touya replied back.

“Father, he is coming!!” Shoto yelled at a still shocked Endeavor, preparing to attack Touya back. “Protect Nana and the others! I will handle this! Please move! Protect them! Hey, please get it together!!”

But then suddenly a plane flew up in the air at the battlefield and before Touya could unleash his attack, he got tied up with wires from that plane. We all looked up and noticed who it was.

“Apologize for being fashionably late!! Best Jeanist will now be returning to work starting today!!” the No. 3 pro hero announced.

“Even if you are alive, Jeanist… The Todoroki family’s past won't be brushed under the rug… Right, Shoto?!” Touya smirked.

Best Jeanist unleashed even more wire and wrapped them around Gigantomachia, Spinner, and Mr. Compress as he pinned down the giant on the ground.

“You’re kidding me! He managed to detain Machia?!” Mr. Compress yelled.

“Trying to break free is so painful!!” Spinner shouted. “Doesn’t Machia have immeasurable strength?! Shigaraki, wake up!! You are alive, aren’t you?! Machia needs your orders!! Shigaraki!!”

Nejire senpai meanwhile, tried to strike Shigaraki again, but unfortunately got blasted by Touya's flames, much to everyone’s horror.

“Senpai!” I shouted in horror as I ran up and caught her into my arms before looking back at Touya with rage. “What the fuck, Touya?!”

“What a mess, huh Endeavor!!” Touya called as he broke free from Jeanist’s restraints using his blue flames. “Look! Another starry-eyed kid with a bright future burned to ashes!! By your flames!!”

Then suddenly Shigaraki slowly started to regain consciousness and ordered Gigantomachia to break free from the restraints. And right one cue, the giant let out an earth-shaking roar and started to tear down the wires around him, but Jeanist again shot more wires around it.

“Quit it, Touya-Nii!!” Shoto yelled as he charged at Touya. “So you send that villain?! Natsu was nearly killed!! The brother you said you crawled and cried to! That Natsu!!”

“Then that would mean Endeavor would suffer!!” Touya grinned at Shoto.

“Have you lost your mind?!” Shoto asked.

“You got it, Shoto!!” Touya laughed. “Your big brother has completely lost any feeling for anything!!”

“Touya!!” Shoto yelled as Touya used his flames on his younger brother.

“Finally, I can kill you!!” Touya laughed.

“Shoto!!” I shouted in horror as I charged at the Todoroki brothers. “Touya, stop!!”

“Hey, Spinner!! Behind you!!” Mr. Compress called.

“Huh?” Spinner asked as he turned around to look. “Looks like luck is in our favor after all!!”

“Those fucking Nomus again!!” Bakugo snarled as he charged at those flying creatures.

I also turned around and gasped when I noticed Nomus flying towards us. I quickly changed my route and flew towards the Nomus unleashing my Rinkaku Kagune and taking out my scythe. One after another, Bakugo and I fought and killed the Nomus when suddenly I felt a similar presence around me.

“Don’t tell me!” I gasped.

“Po!”

At that moment, Mirio senpai arrived, using his quirk to take out the Nomu which was approaching Best Jeanist, leaving everyone shocked.

“Lemillion!!” Midoriya gasped.

“Mirio senpai!” I called with a smile.

“Despite this, it’s not like I have got the power to take out this Nomus in one shot!” Mirio senpai chuckled. “Nana-chan, Bakugo, back me up!!”

“It’s great to see you again, Bakugo.” Jeanist greeted.

“That was just a placeholder name…” Bakugo smirked as he killed a Nomu with his quirk. “I was saving the real deal for you! From now on call me… God of Explosive Destruction, Dynamight!!!”

“Huh?” I sweat-dropped.

“Another dud…” Jeanist groaned.

“Too long!” Iida yelled.  

“Chaotic!” Nejire senpai commented.

“Tacky!” Mr. Compress deadpanned.  

“Kinda cool!” Spinner muttered.

“Haha! That's a good hero name! It's pretty funny!” Mirio senpai laughed.

“It’s not meant to be funny!!” Bakugo snapped at Mirio.

“Without joy and laughter to balance the sorrow the world can never hope to have a bright future…” Mirio senpai stated. “My bad there! That's just my motto!! As long as the final boss is restricted in the blaze, it’s time to clean up the rest of the mess!!”

And right on cue, Mirio senpai, Nejire senpai, Bakugo, Jeanist, and I started to attack and kill all the flying Nomus.

“Aw, your friends are having a blast down there!!” Touya laughed as he and Shoto kept on fighting mid-air. “Poor Shoto... No fun for you, just pain!”

Touya then grabbed Shoto and wrapped his arms around his younger brother before covering his azure flames around themselves as he started to increase his heat.

“But you… your body will burn too!” Shoto stuttered out in pain. "You're burning up as well, Touya!"

“You have grown up to be so considerate, I’m happy for you little bro!” Touya chuckled as his eyes trailed off to Endeavor’s still shocked face. “I’m fine! In fact, I’m overjoyed right now! Look at that face! Even when his masterpiece, his greatest doll is about to get perished by his failure's flames, he still can't do anything!! Hey, take a look! He is totally broken!! Hahaha!! Shoto, if you burn up in my flames and turn to ashes, I wonder what kind of face dear old dad will be making then?!”

While I was fighting and killing the Nomus, I noticed what Touya was trying to do with Shoto. So without wasting any more time, I used my Kakugan and swapped places with Shoto. And right now, I was in Touya’s arms.

“Nana!!” Shoto gasped in shock.

“Oh, now look at that?” Touya smirked as he tightened his grip around me and pulled me even closer to his chest, immediately extinguishing his flames. “It’s been so long since I held you like this, Nana… I missed this.”

“Touya…” I mumbled lovingly as I reached out and touched his face. “Please, stop this… I beg you… Please…”

“I can’t, Nana…” Touya muttered, softening his gaze at me before reaching out and gently running his fingers on my cheek.

“Hey, let go of Nana-chan!” Midoriya yelled.

“You know it’s rude to interfere in other people’s family matter!” Touya said to the green-haired boy in annoyance.

“I’m interfering because Todoroki-kun is a precious friend and Endeavor is my mentor who made me stronger!!” Midoriya yelled. “The past doesn't disappear! That's why the present Endeavor is making an effort. That’s the Endeavor I’m watching. You’re not Endeavor!!”

“Ha, anybody could figure that out!” Touya responded mockingly. “But don’t you pity the likes of me at least a little?! The consequences of the scenes committed by a supposed apostle of justice… That’s what I am! Evil will no longer prosper! Justice will crumble! All I have done is showed all those susceptible people where to put the blame! Now the future that awaits is clear! All the lip service and ego-stroking will vanish and it will be chaos!!”

Then all of a sudden, Gigantomachia started to go all wild and tear up Jeanist’s restraints.

“Big trouble!” Mirio senpai yelled.

“He has restored!” Jeanist shouted.

At the moment, Endeavor used every bit of strength he had to fly up and knock the giant back before knocking himself out as a result.

“Enji-san?!” I gasped in shock.

“Macchia?!” Spinner yelled.

“My strength!!” Gigantomachia groaned in pain as he started to slow down a bit.

“There was a message from the mountain team! They said they didn’t notice any effect but… the anesthetic worked!!” Jeanist stated.

“Looks like we’ve to go now…” Touya muttered with a sigh. “But before I go, I want to do something that I’ve always wanted to do since forever…”

“What-“

But before I could say anything more, Touya quickly leaned forward and pressed his lips against mine, pulling me into a passionate searing kiss as the cold metal of his piercings sent pleasant shudders up my spine. My eyes widened in shock and I went completely rigid on my spot. I mean, after all, it was my first kiss and it got stolen by the man I had been in love with for so many years now. I didn't know how to respond to it at first. The kiss was like a beautiful sweet dream; a dream that I didn't want to wake up from.

I’m in love with you, Nana Osaki. You may not understand what it means to be in love with someone because you're still too young. But always remember… I love you and I always will love you, Nana-chan...

My brain stopped functioning and the next thing I knew, I slowly and unconsciously closed my eyes and started to kiss back Touya. In response, Touya smirked into the kiss before he pressed his tongue to the seam of my lips and at my grant of access, delved the tongue inside my mouth. As our tongues intertwined with one another, the kiss got rough, sloppy, and even more demanding. Euphoric warmth began to blossom within me and the whole feeling was completely blissful, making the kiss feel like fireworks, tingles, and desires. It felt as if nothing mattered at that moment, as if nothing existed in this universe; it was just only me and him. Touya then slowly pulled away from the kiss as soon as we were out of breath and chuckled softly at my tomato red confused face.

“DID HE JUST KISS HER?!?!” Bakugo roared in rage.

“Looks like I’m your first kiss, huh?” Touya muttered with a smirk, panting slightly from the kiss. “Lucky me!”

Touya quickly let go of me and started to climb back onto Gigantomachia while I kept on floating in the mid-air like an idiot, trying to process everything that just happened now.

“Touya!!” Shoto yelled, charging at his older brother to attack him with Flashfire Fist.

“Sorry, Shoto! The situation has changed!” Touya responded before attacking Shoto with his Flashfire Fist Jetburn.

“Shoto!” I gasped, rushing forward to save him.

But it was too late as Shoto had already taken the attack and was now knocked out cold. I quickly caught him into my arms and slowly landed on the ground. I looked over to see that Mr. Compress caught Touya into his marbles before safely handing it over to Spinner.

And after that, whatever happened on the battlefield was all blurry to me. I remembered Shoto slowly regained his consciousness and I quickly went back to fight Shigaraki and the Nomus. Mirio senpai was finally able to catch Mr. Compress and easily took him down. Bakugo, Nejire senpai, Iida, Jeanist, and I all desperately tried to fight and chase after Shigaraki with our fatigued injured bodies while also fighting against other Nomus as Shigaraki, Spinner, and Skeptic started to escape away by riding on the back of a flying Nomu. Shoto, Endeavor, and Midoriya were all barely able to stay conscious at that moment. Midoriya also tried to catch Shigaraki with his Blackwhip but failed in the process. In the end, Shigaraki successfully escaped away with his comrades, bringing the Paranormal Liberation war to a conclusion. 

(Touya Todoroki’s past arc)

Years ago, a young Enji Todoroki met with Rei's family, the Himura Family, for the very first time. Rei’s family members expressed great joy and honor in being reached out to by the man who was said to be the next No. 1 hero. The person explained that the Himura Family was also considered a prestigious family, so it was only fitting that a man of his accomplishments would take a Himura woman as a wife.

Enji thought that even though Rei knew this marriage was a quirk marriage, she still agreed to it for her family's sake. As the two were getting to know each other, Enji learned that Rei had a liking towards a certain blue flower. He described her as a woman much like ice herself, but she seemed so strong despite possibly melting away at the slightest touch.

Enji and Rei’s first son Touya Todoroki was born with a fire quirk that was even more powerful than Enji's Hellflame quirk. When Touya was five years old, Enji started to notice that a bit of Touya’s red hair was starting to turn white, but little Touya always laughed it off as nothing important while enthusiastically looking forward to learning his father’s ultimate move, which made Endeavor proud and happy.

Enji thought that while Touya didn't harbor his mother's ice quirk, his firepower was far stronger than his own. Despite not having the ability to overcome the downside of overheating, he still planned on raising Touya to be a hero. He still sought a child with Half-Cold Half-Hot and Rei wanted more children, believing they could encourage each other, which ultimately led to Fuyumi's birth. Sadly, she only inherited Rei's ice quirk and not his fire, but Enji was still happy either way because he felt that since Touya had more potential, he could place all his ambitions on him.

Even when his skin started to burn, Endeavor felt Touya could reach his eternal goal and that all of the darkness he bore inside his heart could have been destroyed by his son.

But then, unfortunately, it all started to change.

“I have been waiting for ages for you to have a day off so we could train together!!” a five-year-old Touya yelled stubbornly at his father. “You got a day off today, right? So you got to do quick training with me! Why are you saying you can't do it now?! Why would you change your mind all of a sudden, huh?!”

“I have told you several times already…” Enji sighed as he was getting ready to go to work. “I’m doing this for your own good…”

Touya simply glared at his father with displeasure while Enji looked away from his son, didn’t know what to say to him.

~~~~~

“Quite the peculiar case…” a doctor stated to Enji and Rei, looking at the reports in his hands. “In regards to his quirk, your son has inherited your fire however his body is dominated by his mother's gene. To be precise he has developed a body that has an aptitude for the cold rather than a tolerance to fire. Well, this method of designing children… it's a taboo in this generation of quirks… So, I can’t advise it… It's better you quit now, Todororki-san…”

Enji looked down at his lap with a frown as his own words started to ring into his ears.

‘Touya, if it’s you… you can surpass All Might…’

And it only deepened his frown, still feeling that Touya could surpass All Might, whom he desperately wanted to catch up to.

~~~~~

“Fuyumi-chan…” Touya stated as he and his sister who was a year younger than him watched the news about All Might on TV. “So what if I get burned a bit, I can handle it! I am the one who understands my body best…”

“But I don’t like when you get hurt either, Touya-Nii…” a four-year-old Fuyumi responded worriedly while munching her snacks.

This made Touya throw a dirty glare at his sister before hopping down from the couch and walking away.

“What do you know anyway?!” Touya yelled. “Girls just don't understand!!”

“But I’m worried!!” Fuyumi responded.

“I already got it in my head that I got to surpass All Might!!” Touya stated in a firm tone with determination. “Dad is the one who ignited that fire under me!!”

~~~~~

“But that’s too much!” Rei cried out. “It's just cruel! Especially now that Touya knows what you are hoping to achieve through the children!”

“No matter how much I tried telling him… he shows up with new burns every day.” Enji responded as he sat in front of the TV, watching the news about All Might saving 62 towns in a single day. “He has inherited my foolishness as well… If we want him to give it up, then we have no choice… Since he will never be the one to surpass… Touya can’t surpass All Might…”

Rei simply stood there in front of her husband with absolute shock and horror after hearing those despicable words which came from him while noticing a dark furious look on his face.

~~~~~

This ultimately led to Natsuo's conception, which made Touya start falling into more despair because he clearly understood that he was rejected, considered as a failure in his father’s eyes while Enji's desire and aggression to surpass All Might continued to grow even more day by day. Eventually, Shoto, Enji’s perfect masterpiece, was born three years later after Natsuo’s birth, but an eight-year-old Touya refused to accept that his youngest brother would be the one to surpass All Might, not him. So, he trained in a forest with his fire, telling himself that his father had to look at him because of how powerful his flames already are.

“No dad…” little Touya mumbled to himself, panting while training hard to improve his flames at the peak of Sekoto hill. “I can do it too! I can surpass All Might! See look how strong my flames are already… Look at me…!!”

But things got even worse when Touya reached home that evening.

“Stop it!” Enji scolded Touya, holding his shoulders. “Why don’t you understand?! You're getting this burnt and you still don't realize?! Touya, you need to look elsewhere! Look beyond all this! Play with your siblings! Make friends in school! There is a whole other world besides the hero stuff… I know you understand that! Eventually, you'll forget all about it and this will be a distant memory soon.”  

“B-But everyone at school says they are going to be heroes.” Touya responded, tears rolling down his cheeks while his whole body was trembling. “I can’t understand that... Because I have got you for a father…”

“We have to cool him down!” Rei cried out in worry.

“You lit this fire in me, Dad and it’s not going out!” Touya added as flames started to unleash from different parts of his body while he glared up at his father with hatred. “I just can't get it out of my head! I can’t just pretend it’s not there! Look at me, Endeavor! Look at me!!”

And with that, little Touya quickly turned around to launch an attack on his newborn baby brother, Shoto Todoroki who was being carried into his mother’s arms. A seven-year-old Fuyumi quickly pushed a three-year-old Natsuo out of the way, while Rei screamed out to Enji to stop Touya. And before any serious damage could occur, Enji quickly stepped in and held Touya back.

Later that night, when everything went back to somewhat normal, Enji went to his bedroom to talk to Rei.

“After the incident, Shoto's siblings are banned from interacting with him.” Enji ordered Rei who was sitting beside a sleeping Shoto. “I have to work, so I can’t keep looking after him, which is why I have hired someone else… Keep your eye on Touya…”

“Touya just wants you to look at him, to notice him…” Rei responded in a vacant tone, feeling completely dead inside after what happened a few hours ago. “He just wants your acknowledgment. That’s all.”

“I can’t show him anything but the world of a hero…” Enji commented with a sigh before he started to walk away.

“Hero?” Rei mocked as she looked up at her husband with a glare, her voice was filled with resentment and disappointment. “Some hero you are… running away…”

But Enji simply stood there with no words coming out of his mouth as he glared back at his wife.

~~~~~

Four years had passed since that incident. Now Touya was twelve, Fuyumi was eleven, Natsuo was seven and Shoto was four. That year, Enji’s high school friends, Daisuke Osaki and Junko Saotome sent invitations to him and some of their friends for a party which was held at the Osaki mansion. And that was the first time Enji got the opportunity to meet Daisuke and Junko’s only child and daughter, Nana Osaki. Nana was the as same age as Shoto, meaning she was eight years younger than Touya.

"Your daughter is so polite and well-mannered, Daisuke. I heard she has got your quirk." Enji stated as he looked over to the four years old Nana in front of him.

"Thanks, Enji. And yeah, she has got Ghoul quirk like me.” Daisuke chuckled, patting his daughter’s head.

"I see… Well, I also brought two of my kids with me. Let me introduce them to you all. Kids! Come here!" Endeavor called out, as Touya and Fuyumi walked in and stood by his side. "This is Touya, my eldest son. And this is Fuyumi, my second child and my only daughter.”

“Nana.” Daisuke smiled down at his daughter. “Go and play with Touya and Fuyumi, okay?”

“Okay!” Nana giggled before she skipped towards the older kids.

Enji and Daisuke went inside the house while the three kids stayed back in the garden of the Osaki household. Touya and Fuyumi also walked towards Nana with a smile.

"Hello! My name is Touya. And this is my sister, Fuyumi. What's your name?" Touya smiled at the little girl.

"My name is Nana, Nana Osaki..." Nana grinned at him. “Hey, can you show me your quirk, Touya-kun?”

“H-Huh?” Touya stuttered, taken back by her sudden question.

“I want to see what your quirk is! I heard it’s really cool!” Nana said with a smile.

He bit his bottom lip as he didn’t know what to do. But for some reason, the way Nana was looking at him made it impossible for him to say no to her. He rolled up his sleeves before igniting his palm, making Nana’s eyes widen in amazement.

“The color of your fire is bluish! It’s so pretty! I wish I had a pretty quirk like you…" she beamed, staring deeply into the captivating red-bluish flames the boy held in his hand.

That comment caught Touya completely off guard.

Pretty wasn’t the exact word to describe his quirk as this quirk of his was slowly destroying him, bit by bit.

"Uh, thanks, I guess." he said dumbly, slightly blushing.

“Is that a blush I see, Touya-Nii?” Fuyumi smirked at her older brother.

“Shut up, Fuyumi.” Touya grumbled, throwing a dirty glare at his sister.

"I bet you're gonna become a pro someday, Touya-kun." Nana beamed.

And with that, Touya became a blushing mess as if his whole body was on fire. When his own father rejected him, tossed him to the side, considered him as a failure, this four-year-old little girl who he just met told him those exact words he wanted to hear from his father for so long; that he had the potential of becoming a pro hero.

Touya Todoroki still had hope.

~~~~~

A year had passed since Nana and Touya first met. And as time went by Nana and Touya grew super close and also started spending more time with each other. Now Nana was only five while Touya was thirteen years old. And that was the time when Enji sent a quirk marriage proposal of the two kids to Daisuke and Junko.

“I can’t believe this, Enji.” Daisuke glared at the No. 2 hero. “Is this why you called me to meet you all the way to your agency?! Seriously?! A quirk marriage?!”

“Daisuke, calm down.” Enji sighed. “Please listen to me… I’m doing this for Touya.”

“For Touya?” Daisuke raised an eyebrow before realization hit him and he flashed a mocking smirk at his friend. “Oh, I get it now… Now I get it why you were so interested to know what my daughter’s quirk was when you first met her and looked really happy when I said that she got my quirk…”

“Daisuke-“

“You’re after my daughter’s Ghoul quirk, aren’t you?” Daisuke glared at Enji. “Ghoul quirk has an extremely powerful regenerative and healing ability. As Touya’s own quirk hurts him, so you want your son and Nana to have a child in the future in order to fulfill your dream.”

“Not my dream, Daisuke… It’s Touya’s dream.” Enji responded. “He always wanted to become a hero, but as his own quirk burns him, I’m just trying to figure out a way to fulfill his passion and dream.”

“By turning him into a monster and toxic human being like you?!” Daisuke yelled, shooting up from his seat.

“Daisuke, tune down your voice!” Enji yelled back. “Or else-“

“Or else what, huh?!” Daisuke mocked. “You’ve really turned into a shitty person, you know that Enji!! At first, in order to surpass Toshinori, you married Rei and had kids and then used those kids of yours as weapons! To you, only Shoto is important while Touya and the others are just a waste of space! You showed Touya the dreams of surpassing Toshinori and then stripped it away from the poor child! Now you’re trying to fill his head with those same disgusting toxic thoughts and goals of yours! Are you crazy, Enji?! And I’m not a petty person like you! Nana’s my only child and her happiness means everything to me! Besides, I’ve my own dignity and pride! Do you really think I, the Daisuke Osaki, will sell away my only loving daughter to you like how the Himuras sold off Rei to you years ago, huh?!”

“Daisuke!!” Enji roared out.

“What?! Did I hit the nerve?!” Daisuke smirked. “Good! Cause what I said just now is all true and you know it, Enji!!”

With that Todoroki male went silent and hung down his head in shame. Daisuke let out a sigh, running a hand through his raven locks.

“I personally don’t have anything against you and Touya, Enji.” Daisuke stated in a calming tone. “Moreover, I like your kid. Touya is a really good boy with limitless talent and potential. I won’t mind if Touya and Nana date each other in the future. Rather I would be really happy and glad if they do. Touya’s simply just unlucky to have someone like you as a father. People have kids cause they want to, whereas you had them to fulfill your stupid dream. You know Enji, you don’t know what is meant to be a father… how to be a father. If you did, you won’t have tried to handle Touya’s situation like this. You already have four kids, but you’ve no sense of responsibility of an ideal father. I mean who treats their kids like this. I pity your children, you know. It really sucks for them to have you as a parent... Mend your ways, Enji... before it's too late...”

Daisuke turned around and started to walk away.

“I’ll accept the proposal, Enji.” Daisuke continued, making Enji look up at him with surprise. “If and only if Touya and Nana ever want this… If they ever fall in love… if they ever want to start a family of their own purely based on their love… then and only then I’ll accept your proposal… Not to fulfill you and your son’s dreams, but for the sake of Nana and Touya’s happiness…”

Daisuke stopped in front of the door and turned to look back at Enji one last time with a harsh glare.

“Next time you bring up the proposal… I expect it to be a simple marriage proposal… not a quirk marriage proposal, Enji Todoroki…” Daisuke stated in a dark tone.

And with that Daisuke Osaki walked out of the room before slamming the door shut behind him.

But that next time never came because three months later, Daisuke Osaki and Junko Saotome were killed in a villain’s attack at I-Island where they went to attend an important conference held by scientists from all over the world that year.

~~~~~

“Hey Touya-Nii, let’s play!” a twelve-year-old Fuyumi called out with a ball in her hands.

“Yeah, let’s go, Touya-Nii!” an eight-year Natsuo called as well.

Touya looked up from his computer screen and gazed at his younger siblings.

“Oh, okay.” Touya replied.

While Touya, Natsuo, and Fuyumi played soccer in the backyard, a five-year-old Shoto simply watched his older siblings from the balcony with a sorrowful look, wishing to be able to play with them. Enji suddenly came in and pulled Shoto away from there.

“Don’t look at them, Shoto.” Enji stated. “You live in a different world from them.”

“Just once okay?” Shoto cried out. “I want to play with them just once! Please!”

“No. it's time to train your output capacity.” Enji responded coldly.

As Enji and Shoto passed by, Touya simply looked up from the yard with a glare, eyes filled with nothing but jealousy. Later that night, when Touya and Natsuo went to bed, the older Todoroki brother started to vent to his younger brother about Enji.

“I mean that one time was my fault! Little Shoto did not do anything wrong…” Touya stated. “But Dad is to blame too! He doesn't even look at us! We are failures to him. We are his failed creations. Is that’s what modern heroes are all about? Making all these kids they don't even need? Deciding their sons are useless and ditching them?”

A sleepy Natsuo turned to look at his older brother with a bit of annoyance.

“Why can’t you rant to Nee-chan about this stuff once in a while?” Natsuo mumbled drowsily. “Or rant to that girlfriend of yours? What’s her name again? Kana… or Hana something?”

Touya gasped, shocked to hear those words coming from his brother's mouth.

“Are you going to ignore me too, Natsu-kun?!” Touya cried, tears rolling down his cheeks, bruised by his brother’s words. “You’re telling me to buzz off too?! Even you, Natsu-kun?! Don't do this to me! I’m talking to you because only you can understand me besides Nana-chan!! You know that the girls in this household can't understand!!”

But Natsuo didn’t reply back as he fell fast asleep again.

~~~~~

“Wait, you’re trying on going to the hill again?!” Rei asked, trying to stop Touya from walking out of the house. “Why don't you play with your friends?!”

“I don’t need any friends!” Touya responded. “We are in different worlds!”

“Touya, do you even want to be a hero?” Rei asked softly. “As your mother, it looks to me like you are suffocating because of who your father is and you are suffering for it… So obsessed with the father… Touya, the world is such a large place and you can do anything. Look at everything else around you, not just your father! Find the person you really want to be in this world.”

“What the hell do you know, Mom?!” Touya glared at Rei. “Where did you get that tidbit? Some self-help book?! You think Dad is the only person that got me going?! Your family was poor so they sold you away. You had no choice and you had no say in the matter. Isn’t that why I was born in the first place?! You have a part in this too… you are guilty too, Mom!!”

Rei was taken aback by her son’s words.

“T-Touya-“

“And don’t think I don’t know what Dad wants from Nana-chan as well!” Touya added. “I know for what and why Dad used to pester Uncle Daisuke all the time. Just let you know… I’m not like Dad! I’ll never marry Nana-chan and have babies with her to fulfill my dreams like how Dad is doing! This is my dream and I’ll try to accomplish it with my own capability! I’ll never use Nana-chan and destroy her life how Dad is destroying ours! I love Nana-chan too much to do such sort of things to her!”

Touya then turned around and quickly walked out of the house. He made his way to the Sekoto hill where he began his secret training session. For the past few months, thirteen years old Touya’s small body started to noticeably grow and develop and that was when his fire changed color from red to blue.

“So that’s it!” Touya said happily, looking around at his own blue flames. “It's because of my body's composition! The fire is directly connected to my intense emotions! I’m pretty awesome if I do say so myself. If I can do this then dad will definitely be surprised too!”

Then he noticed, tears started to roll down his cheeks.

“But dang…” Touya chuckled. “When I get all excited… for some reason I end up crying…”

After his training was over, he quickly made his way to meet Nana at the neighborhood park.

“Does it hurt now?” she asked in a soft voice after she finished giving him medical attention.

“Not anymore.” Touya muttered in response. “Thank you, Nana-chan.”

“You should stop this, Touya-kun.” Nana frowned, her bottom lip quivered. “You’re simply hurting yourself.”

“No, I can’t, Nana-chan.” Touya shook his head, determination in his face. “I’ve to show my old man that I’m capable of becoming a hero.”

“But you’re pushing yourself too hard, Touya-kun!” Nana exclaimed as tears started to roll down her cheeks. “Can’t you see?! It’ll kill you one day! I don’t get it! Why is Enji-san being like this?! It’s literally abuse! So much so, that your physical appearance has started to change!”

Touya’s eye widened at Nana’s sudden outburst and he quickly wrapped his arms around her small frame, holding her close.

“I’m scared, Touya-kun.” Nana sniffled, burying her face into his chest. “I’m scared that one day I’ll lose you, like how I lost my parents.”

Touya’s turquoise eyes softened as he looked at her. He gently buried his face into her raven locks as he tightened his grip around her.

“You wouldn’t lose me, Nana-chan.” He mumbled softly.

“Touya-kun…” Nana whispered as she rested her face into his chest, listening to his heartbeat.

Nana and Touya often had their moments where they would simply just hold each other closely in their arms and kiss their foreheads or their cheeks. Most kids around both of their ages believed that girls were annoying and boys were gross, but Touya and Nana never cared about those rumors. They were quite different from everyone else.

"How was the school for you, Touya-kun?" Nana asked.

She looked at him gently as her eyes softened while she felt more relaxed. Touya averted his eyes.

"It was fine I guess..." Touya replied, melancholy filling in his tone. "But coming back home wasn't any better..."

The tone of his voice was filled with melancholy and venom as he looked down at his arms and narrowed his eyes. As time went on, Touya’s life was becoming a living hell as he kept on trying to get his father’s attention, but failed miserably every single time. Sometimes he felt like he would go completely insane whenever he was in his own home around with his own family members. To him, his home was hell. But those feelings immediately disappeared once he came to visit Nana. Nana was Touya's savior, his sanity. And even if she couldn't save him from his awful life, she was the light of his life, literally.

Nana nodded her head as she looked at him, not wanting to pressure him to talk about it anymore. His eyes softened as he looked at her with a gentle smile while throwing his negative emotions out of the window.

"But, I'm here with you now!” he grinned. “And my day is a million times better!”

Nana’s beamed up in joy as she smiled brightly at him while her eyes softened even more. And this look of Nana was absolutely breathtaking in Touya’s opinion.

"I'm glad that I can make you feel better, Touya-kun!" she giggled, hugging him once again.

Later that night, Touya happily went to his father with a bright grin on his face.

“Dad, during the holiday break coming up… come to the Sekoto hill!” Touya stated.

Enji narrowed his eyes at his son before he grabbed him and pulled up his shirt to find bandages wrapped around his new burnt chest.

“Damn it, again?!” Enji growled. “You're still!!”

“No, wait!” Touya quickly spoke up, interrupting his father. “What I can do now is really cool! You have to come and see! I think Shoto has got some serious competition! I might be as awesome as Shoto sooner or later! But I’m not sure if it’s enough against All Might yet though! Maybe I will eventually become better than All Might someday if I work harder! It’s something you have to see, Dad!”

Tears rolled down Touya’s cheeks uncontrollably as he started to pull his white hair.

“Then you will give me some respect, Dad!!” he cried. “You will be glad you created me! I just know it! You will realize I wasn’t a mistake!!”

Enji didn’t respond to his son as he stomped off to his room and when he went reached there, he started to show his aggression to his wife.

“Why didn’t you stop him Rei!!” Enji roared in fury. “You were supposed to watch over him!! Dammit!! That’s all I asked you to do!!”

“Don’t bully mommy!” five-year-old Shoto cried, trying to protect his mother. “Stop it! Don't be mean to her!!”

“Get out, Shoto!” Enji yelled, pushing his son away. “It's none of your business!!”

Rei looked up to her husband with dull tired eyes.

“I can’t stop him…” she responded back meekly.

~~~~~~

For Touya, the night was always dark, cold, and claustrophobic where demons howled in his head while begging for him; demons who didn’t want him to get a peaceful sleep.

For that he often had nightmares. To him, a nightmare was a horse that would carry him home after he had explored the dark. They were the demons of dreams, came to educate him if he was brave enough to look into these dark recesses of the brain. So there were countless times when he would spend such sleepless nights.

And on those nights he would always find himself running away from his home and his feet always took him to only one place and that one being the Osaki household where he would sit on the rooftop with Nana and watch the moon shower its platinum-gold beam onto the Musutafu City. Unlike the hell, the place he called home, Touya felt like a free bird whenever he came over to the Osaki household especially to meet and spend time with Nana.

"Can’t sleep again, huh Touya-kun?" Nana asked as she took a seat beside him on the rooftop of her household.

“Yeah…” He responded softly.

"Well that makes the two of us, I guess." She giggled.

"Dad is coming over to the Sekoto hill today." he stated.

"You're gonna show him your new blue flames right?" Nana beamed. "I bet he's gonna be so happy and proud!"

"I hope so." Touya chuckled in response.

Touya smiled at her before looking back at the moon in the sky. In the monochrome musings, the moon was a deep silver ballerina, turning pirouettes with perfect form. The moon also looked like the mother of the sky who watched over every beating heart, steady and true. At that moment Touya found the moon really beautiful and maybe it was because of Nana. Whenever Nana was around him, he found everything beautiful, everything positive.

The night didn’t feel like forever anymore now that Touya was with Nana. They talked and laughed as if there was no tomorrow. Time passed on and now the sun slowly started to rise from its slumber.

“Hey, Touya-kun, let’s go to the park right now.” Nana spoke up.

“Right now?” he raised an eyebrow.

Nana smiled and nodded her head before standing up and reaching out her hand to him. Touya without any hesitation grabbed her hand and Nana activated her Gravity Manipulation quirk to alter their gravities and they both flew up in the air before heading to their destination.

As they walked together in the park while holding hands, Touya realized that he had known Nana for almost more than a year now and whenever they were together Touya felt as if he was in a different world, a world full of sunshine, rainbows, and unicorns. He felt alive and happy. But sometimes he felt that his happiness might not live long, that one day the world would crash and go against them.

"What's wrong?" Nana asked.

Touya looked down at her innocent cute face and gently smiled at her. Right now just seeing her face was enough for him. Nothing mattered to him as long as she was there beside him, alive and healthy.

“I was wondering if we can still share these exact same moments if we meet in another lifetime or dimension…” Touya responded softly.

Nana blinked at him in confusion before letting out a giggle.

“You’re so silly, Touya-kun!” Nana said as she pulled his arms. “Come on! Let’s race over there!”

As they ran while holding onto each other’s hands, Touya again felt as if his whole body was on fire. The power of Nana’s flames had to be really powerful and strong for making him feel this way every single time. Butterflies fluttered in his stomach and trickled through his veins when Nana’s soft giggles reached into his ears. Touya was hopelessly in love with Nana and this love was inevitable.

“Nana-chan.” Touya called out as the said girl looked up at him. “I’ve something to tell you.”

“What is it, Touya-kun?” she asked, tilting her head a bit.

Touya took a deep breath and looked deeply into her eyes.

“Nana-chan... I love you.” he confessed.

“Huh?” she mumbled as her eyes went wide in surprise.

After hearing his confession, Nana’s face went completely red; so red that it could put a tomato to shame.

“I’m in love with you, Nana Osaki.” Touya repeated. “You may not understand what it means to be in love with someone because you're still too young. But always remember… I love you and I always will love you, Nana-chan...”

Nana softened her gaze and smiled softly at the Todoroki boy as she slowly reached out and held his bigger hands in her smaller ones.

“I love you too, Touya-kun...”

Later that day, Touya quickly went to the peak of the Sekoto hill and waited for his father’s arrival. He waited, waited, and waited, but his father never showed up. And this hurt Touya like hell; completely broke his heart into millions of pieces.

“He didn’t show up!” Touya wailed, bawling his eyes out uncontrollably while rubbing his eyes with the sleeves of his shirt. “Quit crying already! Stupid tears… Dammit… Dad…”

Then suddenly Touya realized that his body started to heat up and his own blue flames then unleashed from different parts of his body which suddenly went out of control.

“What?!” Touya cried out, panicking in shock and horror as he didn’t know what to do. “It's hot!! They won’t stop!! My flames!!!”

Touya started to scream out in pain and agony, desperately trying to search for help, but there was no one else with him at that moment. He was completely alone. Touya even tried to control his own flames but failed because the only thing that Enji ever taught him was how to turn up the heat. This then led to Touya’s slowly engulfing the entirety of himself and the mountains in flames and when Enji did finally reach there to save his son, he found nothing but ashes everywhere only. 

(After Villain Hunt Arc)

“So, you’re saying that America’s No. 1 hero Star and Stripe has already reached Japan to fight Tenko?” I asked my green-haired friend, raising an eyebrow.

Right now, I was in the kitchen, making a cup of tea for myself when suddenly Midoriya came over to me with a concerned look on his face, informing me about this new situation.

“Well, that’s what All Might told me.” Midoriya shrugged in response before looking down at the cell phone in his hands with furrowed eyebrows. “Also, he ran into Stain the other day where Stain gave him some info about the escapees of the Tartarus prison while many other details alongside it.”

“Stain gave info? You mean the ‘Stain’ I took down months ago?” I asked in disbelief and Midoriya nodded his head in response. “He’s an ally now?”

“Looks like it.” Midoriya responded, feeling a bit unsure himself as well.

“I see…” I trailed off with furrowed eyebrows, slightly nodding my head as I looked away from my friend and my gaze fell on the teacup at the counter.

I started to feel a bit worried about the upcoming encounter between Tenko and Star which didn’t go unnoticed by Midoriya.

“You’re getting worried about Shigaraki, aren’t you?” he asked in a soft tone and the frown on my face deepened even more.

“Even though Tenko’s a villain and a global threat, he’s still my family, Izuku…” I muttered out with a heavy sigh, running a hand through my raven locks in frustration. “He’s my cousin, my flesh and blood… And it’s not just Tenko, you know; Touya is still out there and God knows what he’s doing, how he’s doing… and the last thing I want is to lose Touya again, Izuku. I can’t lose him anymore. I don’t want to lose the man I love.”

“I understand your feelings, Nana-chan.” Midoriya stated in a reassuring tone, slightly nodding his head in response while I leaned back against the counter with my right hand resting on its marble stone surface.

“Is it weird…?” I asked in a weak voice causing Midoriya to glance back at me with a confusing look and continue to speak up. “My love and infatuation for Touya?”

“You mean your love and infatuation for the man who is a murderous villain, but once was an innocent child who wanted to surpass All Might and craved for his abusive father’s love and acknowledgment, but was tossed aside because he couldn’t fulfill his father’s requirements and now you wanting to save him and bring him back home…? No, I don’t think it’s weird… You’re just madly in love, Nana-chan, that’s all.” Midoriya stated with a warm smile before backing away from the counter and leaving the scene.

I simply stared at Midoriya’s retreating figure in surprise and amusement for a moment before my lips curled up into a small smile. I let out a small sigh and shook my head as I grabbed the cup from the counter to finish my tea.

“It’s cold.” I mumbled to myself, referring to the now cold tea in the cup.

I clicked my tongue and threw the cold tea into the sink before leaving the cup there like as it was. As I slowly began to make my way back to my bedroom, strolling through the hallway in a lazy manner, my brownish amber eyes flicked over to one of my neighbor’s bedroom doors – Todoroki.

“Shoto.” I called out softly as I lightly knocked on his door with my small fist. “It’s me, Nana.”

Hearing some shuffling noises coming from the other side of the door as I waited for the bi-color-haired boy, Shoto took almost a few seconds to come and answer his door.

“Nana, hey…” Shoto greeted me, leaning against the doorframe before his lips curled up into a smile.

“Hey. Sorry for bothering you like this. Hope you weren’t busy.” I stated with an apologetic smile.

“No, of course not. I wasn’t doing anything anyway.” Shoto stated, quickly shaking his head in response. “Besides, you’re never a bother, Nana.”

My heart immediately skipped a beat as my cheeks slowly began to warm up upon hearing his words. I brushed all of these off to the side and flashed out a gentle smile at him.

“I came here to ask you something…” I muttered out, crossing my arms over my chest while Shoto nodded his head in response. “Any news from Enji-san… about Touya?”

This caused Shoto to let out a heavy sigh before he brushed a hand through his soft hair and slowly shook his head in response.

“No, not yet…They’re still searching for him.” he mumbled out while I bit my bottom and furrowed my eyebrows at him.

“Apparently, America’s No.1 Hero, Star and Stripe with her whole team arrived here in Japan just a few hours ago. Izuku got this news from Toshi-chan.” I informed him, making Shoto nod his head in response.

“Star and Stripe, huh?” Shoto mumbled to himself.

“And she’s probably facing off Tenko by now as we speak…” I added in a worried tone and Shoto furrowed his eyebrows a bit.

“You’re worried.” He pointed out causing me to look up into his mismatched eyes. “About Shigaraki…”

“About everything.” I countered back with a melancholic tone before letting out a small shaky sigh, my eyes flicked to elsewhere. “I’m just getting even more restless with the passage of each time.”

I could feel Shoto’s gaze on me before he spoke up again.

“Do you… have anything in mind?” he asked and I raised an eyebrow at him in confusion. “You know, we could do anything to keep your mind off from all of these if you want.”

I gave him a ‘are you serious’ kind of a look, causing Shoto to smile at me, much of my own surprise and amusement.

“I know it’s not the best time and all, but we could spend some time together while I’ll help you to recover from this anxiety and restlessness.” He suggested and I narrowed my eyes at him.

“Know how to play shogi?” I asked and Shoto’s lips curled up into a knowing smile.

“Always up to some competition I see.” He chuckled out while I smirked at him in response.

And this was how both Shoto and I ended up in my bedroom, playing shogi on my bed. We sat on the opposite ends of a shogi board and the match went on without exchanging words between the two of us as our focus was solely on the board and the pieces.

“You’re one tough opponent, Nana.” Shoto pointed out with his eyes fixated on the board in concentration while his intertwined fingers were pressed against his lips, looking all serious.

This caused me to smirk in response and my gaze flicked up from the board and landed on his form.

“Giving up so soon?” I teased him with a smug look on my face. “You know, Shoto, no one has ever beaten me in a shogi match before, except for one person.”

“That’s impressive.” Shoto responded with amusement. “Who taught you to play this?”

I took a moment of silence before answering his question.

“Touya…” I muttered out with my eyes softening a bit while Shoto glanced over at me with a surprised look. “Touya loved playing shogi and I remember him getting really offended sometimes when people get the rules wrong. He was the one who taught me how to play this game and the only person to ever beat me in a shogi match. No one else could. Touya was really good at playing this game and I remember it would catch people off-guard sometimes because they never pegged him for a strategic thinker even though he was and still is.”

“I see…” Shoto trailed off, going completely silent for a moment before speaking up again. “What else did Touya-Nii love to do or the things he hated?”

“You seem curious.” I pointed out with a smirk.

“He’s my brother and sadly I know nothing about him.” he responded back with a shrug, causing me to nod my head in response as I began to recall everything I knew about Touya.

“Touya…” I trailed off for a moment before I started to list off things I knew about the said man. “He hated fish. He used to have perfect dental hygiene. Sometimes, he got motion sick, so he hated fast or reckless driving. Whenever I saw him training on his own, I noticed that he had extremely good reflexes and that he strongly favored his left arm during fights. Touya had no filter; he would call someone a freak to their face and then could proceed to insult somebody else just five whole seconds later after being introduced to them. Touya never bothered with social niceties and was painfully rude, although admittedly he never realized his own rudeness sometimes. Touya was and still is an extremely smart, intelligent, and insightful individual, also somewhat nerdy and I believe he’s the smartest among all of you Todoroki siblings. No offense.”

“None taken.” Shoto responded with a small chuckle and I smiled softly at him.

“One of Touya’s most noticeable personality traits is his independent and self-reliant nature. He’s more of a realist than an idealist sort of person in my opinion and I think his emotional intelligence is as wide as the surface of a teaspoon. Although, he does have a personal metric when it comes to judging morals and I remember him consistently applying it with every person he came across in his life. Touya has always been a goal-oriented individual and he liked to taunt people by calling them by their full name sometimes; in short, he’s an absolute asshole.”

Shoto let out a small chuckle when I called his brother an ‘asshole’ causing me to join him in the laughter as well before I began to speak up once again.

“I also noticed Touya having four staples down his chin and quadruple helix piercings on each ear, so I believe he likes symmetry. His handwriting was nice because he was trained in calligraphy. Touya liked traditional Japanese poetry and preferred tea to coffee and was partial to green tea, probably because of your Todoroki family’s traditional upbringing. To me, he’s an extremely patient person; I mean he waited almost eleven years to ruin Enji-san, so I believe this man can wait. I remember him being very meticulous with anything he deemed important, but he would also absolutely half-ass everything else. Like he’d be super strict about personal hygiene and keeping his house clean, but his clothes would be scattered everywhere in his room because he couldn’t be bothered to tidy up his shit.”

While speaking, I slowly stood up from my bed and began to walk towards my bookshelf.

“Because of the type of quirk he inherited from your parents, Touya’s pain tolerance is higher than an average person’s. I remember him being into edgy music and he loved reading books.”

I then pulled out a book from my shelf and stared down at it while Shoto stood up from my bed as well before making his way towards me.

“Touya once told me that his room was filled with books and this also shows in his vocabulary too which is way better than most other League members if you haven’t noticed that.” I stated before handing the book to Shoto. “Touya gave me this book. It was one of his most favorite ones.”

“The Black Lizard and Beast in the Shadows by Edogawa Ranpo.” Shoto read the name out loud and I continued to speak up again.

“Touya has always been a nervous fidgeter and a happy dancer. He used to gesticulate a lot and wore his heart on his sleeve, but now I’ve noticed that he keeps his emotions boxed up in a corner hoping that no one ever finds out about them. His love language is acts of service. Someone going out of their way to include him in stuff or make him feel seen will positively break him. I mean he grew up being ignored by Enji-san so despite craving love and attention he also shies away from affection with something akin to aversion and longing at the same time. It’s a tough balance, so he normally plays the lone wolf to avoid facing the problem. As you Todorokis are rich people, I remember Touya saying him growing up with all the video games his little heart desired, which also added the combo of him loving to show off and having Natsuo-san to beat into the dirt because according to him it meant he was fairly well-versed in at least some games.”  

“Looks like you know Touya-Nii quite well… Too well in my opinion.” Shoto pointed out in amusement as he handed back the book to me.

“It’s scary and weird, huh?” I asked with a small smirk, putting the book back on the shelf.

“No, not really though.” Shoto responded as he slightly shook his head at me. “You love him and plus you’re a very observant person, so it’s obvious that you should know a lot about him than anyone else.”

This caused my lips to curl up again into another smile as I looked away from him with my arms crossed over my chest and leaned against the bookshelf. Shoto shoved his hands into his pockets and stepped a bit closer to me, tilting his head to the side as his mismatched eyes bored into my brownish amber ones.

“Touya-Nii was so lucky to have you in his life, Nana.” Shoto muttered out in a deep yet smooth tone and my eyes softened a bit at his words. “Dad neglected him. Mom couldn’t help him when he needed her. My siblings and I were too young to do anything for him. So, you were his only option whenever he sought out love, care, attention, and acknowledgment.”

“I wish I could’ve been there for him more than I had.” I whispered out with a sigh.

“Do you remember when I first met you, Nana?” he asked, suddenly changing the ‘Touya’ topic and I nodded my head in response. “Back at USJ… After that, we participated in the Sports Festival together, did the internship together twice under my Dad’s supervision, went to the training camp, took the first provisional license exam… So many other things we did together, so many times we spend together… It’s been a year we’ve been together, right?”

“Yeah.” I chuckled in response and slowly nodded my head. “You’re right.”

“You helped me to grow up as a person.” Shoto went on and his voice started to get even deeper than it already was. “You told me that I’m not my Dad just because I inherited his quirk. My powers are my own thing and I’m different and unique from everyone else which includes my Dad as well. Because of your encouraging words, I was able to use my firepower against Midoriya during the Sports Festival. I’ve always been a cold and anti-social person and never had any true friends before, but all of my classmates especially you helped me to come out of my shell, helped me to become a better person. You taught me to become kind, warm, and sympathetic; something I wasn’t before I met you. I was much like my own father; only focusing on becoming the greatest and eventually surpassing All Might in the process. I didn’t know what I was missing in life and if I had never met you and stayed that way, I could’ve turned out to be like him or maybe even like Touya-Nii. Not only in Touya-Nii’s life but also you have a huge impact on my life; something probably you have never realized yourself.”

“You’re praising me more than I deserve, Shoto.” I chuckled out nervously while fiddling my fingers and looked away from him. “I don’t deserve such kind words from you.”

“Yes, you do. And I’m saying this because…” Shoto suddenly trailed off causing me to look back at him again and that’s when I noticed the look in his eyes.

The softness, the warmth and the affection his eyes were holding for me; it wasn’t something you held for a mere friend or even for your best friend. My eyebrows furrowed a bit on my forehead while my heart began to hammer hard against my chest like crazy. My cheeks slowly started to get warmer and warmer with the passage of every second. At first, I didn’t realize what it was, but slowly and steadily I started to understand everything. Everything was before my own eyes now, clear and spotless. Something I kept on denying for the longest time; denying that I didn’t see anything, denying that I misunderstood everything.

No, no, no, no, no… this can’t be happening…

Why didn’t I ever realize this before?!

Why have I never seen this before?!

Why am I so stupid?! Dammit!!

“For the longest time, I felt guilty…” he spoke up again and I bit my bottom lip in nervousness.

“Guilty for what?” I asked, almost in a whispered tone while my furrowed eyebrows deepened even more.

I knew I shouldn’t have asked this, but I just had to know his inner thoughts and emotions. The way his eyes deeply bored into mine, so lovingly, so passionately, it almost scared me. And this never happened when Touya looked into my eyes. When it was Touya, I felt loved, I felt free. But now that it was Shoto, it was scaring me. I noticed his eyes flickered between my eyes and my lips and I immediately understood what he was thinking about and what he was about to say to me.

Shoto began to step even closer to me, daring to shorten the gap between us while I quickly stepped away from him causing my back to hit the bookshelf, eventually getting myself trapped in between Shoto and the bookshelf. He was so close that I could literally smell his cologne coming from his body, literally paralyzing my nerves for how good he smelt.

“For wanting what I want.” He whispered out, making my breath get caught into my throat.

There, he said it!! He finally fucking said it!!

“Even when I knew about your feelings for Touya-Nii, even when you declared your love for him from time to time, I still dared to overstep the boundary. I always knew I shouldn’t have done this. To me, it was almost forbidden, almost taboo, but you know mankind is always attracted to the forbidden ones. I knew what I was getting myself into, I knew what I’ll get if I engaged myself in this… And, I still did it…” Shoto went on as he slowly and carefully leaned closer to my face.

He then reached out and gently tugged my raven locks behind my left ear before lightly brushing his fingers over my soft rosy cheek; ever so teasingly, ever so passionately, as if a butterfly had just kissed my skin. I didn’t know how, but I somehow managed to keep holding eye contact with him, carefully noticing how his facial expression changed every few seconds, how his eyes constantly flickered between my eyes and my lips.

“I still fell in love with you…” he confessed and my eyes widened in response.

I slowly began to shake my head at him, but no word was coming out of my mouth.

“S-Shoto… No…” I stuttered out in a whispered tone and he let out a heavy sigh in response, momentarily closing his eyes.

“Oh, I know.” He whispered back before looking back at me again with a small mocking smirk on his face. “Believe me, I get it. Brother’s girl and all.”

I literally swallowed my own saliva in tension and nervousness when Shoto’s mismatched eyes flickered back to my lips again. He then slowly backed away from me before he finally looked away from my form and began to walk towards the door. I let out a heavy breath which I was holding onto for the longest time when suddenly Shoto abruptly stopped walking and looked back at me over his shoulders with furrowed eyebrows and narrowed eyes.

“No, no. You know what?” he spoke up in a serious tone and shook his head before he quickly started to walk back towards me. “If I’m gonna feel guilty about something, I’m gonna feel guilty about this.”

And before I could register what was about to happen, I felt something soft and warm pressed against my lips, rough yet gentle; it was Shoto’s lips. He was kissing me.

Shoto gently grabbed my face in his hands and slowly moved his lips against my own ones. I could feel the love, passion, and desire he was pouring into the kiss. Believe me, I could feel it. With the help of my Ghoul quirk’s sensing ability, I could hear his heart drumming like crazy against his ribcage; he was feeling nervous yet excited for kissing his brother’s girl. The warmth of his breath caressed my facial skin, sending small prickles down my spine. He was so close that I could feel his silken hair grazing against my red hot cheeks and leaving a scent so fragrant, it was almost intoxicating yet lethal at the same time. I was shocked and petrified. I couldn't move, I didn't kiss him back. I just kept standing there like a statue made out of stone while Shoto continued to pour out his heart to me through this kiss.

The kiss was sweet and romantic, but Shoto wasn’t Touya. He could never be Touya. No one could ever be Touya.

Shoto was the first to break the kiss as he stared down at me quietly, observing my now red face while I let out a shaky breath, nervously staring into his eyes.

“Goodnight, Nana.” He whispered before quickly walking out of my room and I lingered a hand on my lips as I simply watched him leave. 

To read my original story, pls check it out on Quotev or Wattpad:

Quotev version: https://www.quotev.com/story/12426037/The-Crimson-Butterfly-My-Hero-Academia-Tokyo-Ghoul

Wattpad version: https://www.wattpad.com/story/278836218-the-crimson-butterfly-my-hero-academia-tokyo-ghoul

[digitalworldbound]

one step forward

Pairing: Ken x Miyako

Summary: “I can’t talk to cute people, okay? I don’t know how to flirt!” (#30 on the prompt list) Requested by @digichijouji02

Author’s Note: I’ve never written a “song-fic”, but I love Olivia Rodrigo’s album AND Kenyako, so this?? was the result. (this is unedited and kind of abrupt)

Called you on the phone today

Just to ask you how you were

All I did was speak normally

Somehow I still struck a nerve

Daisuke had given her Ken’s number as a preemptive measure. “Even if he isn’t apart of our team right now, I’m sure the others will come around soon.”

His oppressive optimism was almost worse than Takeru’s. Iori had made his stance clear on the situation, and Miyako could feel the guilt bubble up in her stomach as she punched the digits into her house phone. Nerves settled into her hands, her fingers desperately rearranging her hair in an effort to feel in control.

Three short rings later, the line picked up. His breath ghosted over the receiver. Miyako’s carefully planned greeting died on her lips. “Ah, is this Ken?” It was a stupid question – how else would she have his number if she didn’t know who he was? She pushed the phone closer to her ear, straining to discover any sound through the cloud of white static. Nothing.

Her heart pounded in her chest. In all of the reactions she prepared herself for, Miyako hadn’t expected silence. She wanted him to be angry; he had every right to be. She wanted him to yell at her or cry or scream. Screaming would be more bearable than the static he was giving her now.

“How have you been? You know, since…everything?” The sharp intake of breath short-circuited her brain. Ken had just watched his partner dissolve in front of his eyes, and she had the audacity to ask how he was holding up? A flush of shame crawled up her neck. She prayed for the ground to open up and swallow her.

The receiver clicked. Miyako hated the way the dial tone mocked her.

You got me messed up in the head, boy Never doubted myself so much Like, am I pretty? Am I fun, boy? I hate that I give you power over that kind of stuff

Winter air nipped at her exposed cheeks. It had taken her a while to find his apartment; her toes felt like ice in her boots. He hadn’t really spoken to her since the phone call, only acknowledging her when the situation called for it. Nevertheless, he had invited them all over for a Christmas party, and who was Miyako to say no?

His mother opened the door, the smell of freshly baked gingersnaps escaping into the night. “Come in, dear. You must be Miyako! My Ken has told me a lot about you.” The woman ushered Miyako towards a bedroom door before her shock could register. What is there to tell? The only time I’ve talked to him was to slap him in the face.

Ken’s mother knocked lightly on the door, announcing Miyako’s arrival. For some reason, she could feel her cheeks burn when Ken gestured her further into his bedroom. “You look nice, Miyako.” His voice was barely a whisper, the boisterous arguing of Takeru and Daisuke nearly drowning him out.

Self-consciously, she caught her reflection in the glass of a clock on the wall. It had been a harsh winter, the snow getting the best of any potential customers to her family’s convenience store. Her sister’s skirt was too short for Miyako’s long legs, so she layered her old ballet tights underneath. They did little to fend off the cold, but it preserved what little dignity she had around her friends. The attempts at curling her hair were futile. Snowflakes clung to the curls, the strands now hanging limply around her face. She grumbled a bit under her breath, racking her brain for the reasoning behind Ken’s blatant lie.

A card game was in full swing by the time Miyako wedged herself between Iori and Takeru. They both smiled at her before turning back to the issue at hand: Daisuke was cheating.

“Just because I have natural talent doesn’t mean that you can be jealous, Takeru.”

“I don’t think it takes natural talent to look at Hikari’s cards.” The blond deadpanned. Iori sighed and exchanged a look with Ken. They, unlike Takeru and Daisuke, seemed to have formed a companiable silence in the midst of the chaos.

Daisuke’s bickering rattled her brain. With Ken’s unsolicited compliment and the constant arguing, Miyako was already at her wit’s end. “Can you both just shut up and stop trying to mark your territory like untrained puppies?”

Her voice echoed off of Ken’s bare walls. Their Digimon temporarily stopped their feast to look at her curiously. Poromon bounced into her lap, snuggling into her chest. Five pairs of wide yes regarded her with surprise, and Miyako could feel herself grow uncomfortably warm. A giggle burst from Ken’s lips, his cheeks rosy. She had never heard him laugh before.

Soon, they were all laughing. Cards were strewn about as they rolled on the floor, laughing harder when they realized they couldn’t stop.

As the party wrapped up, Miyako was the last to leave. Poromon and Minomon snuggled together underneath a blanket while Ken talked. Her cheeks warmed under the attention, but Ken either didn’t notice or was too kind to mention it. The hands on the clock ticked forwards until his mother startled them with a knock. “Miyako, it’s getting late. I wouldn’t want your parents to worry.” Her eyes were soft and full of kindness; Ken had inherited her smile.

“Of course! I apologize for staying so late. Thank you for allowing me to come over.” She stood and bowed clumsily. Her family valued no such formalities, but if anyone deserved them, it was Ken’s mother.

Ken walked her to his threshold, a hand nervously resting on her back. Despite being underdressed, he stepped out into the chilly night air behind her. A smile played on his lips, causing a swarm of butterflies to erupt in Miyako’s stomach.

“I wasn’t joking, you know?” His eyes looked out onto the horizon. Miyako raised an eyebrow. “What are you talking about?” The cold had already wormed its way through her tights; she was ready to get home.

His dark blue eyes met hers. “You do look nice tonight.” For someone so shy, so quiet, Ken said it with a conviction that made Miyako’s cheeks color.

Her hands were sweaty, her heart was so loud. Maybe I’m getting sick.

Ken’s eyes were so earnest, so full, waiting her response. The ball was in her court, and she was fumbling. “Ah, um, Ken, I don’t know what to say.” His shoulders drooped, eyes tearing away from hers before fixating on some imaginary point in the distance.

“You don’t have to say anything. Goodnight, Miyako.”

He didn’t have a chance to turn the doorknob before the older girl began to panic. She grabbed his wrist, pulling his backwards.

“No! Ken, that’s not what I meant! I mean, at first I had no idea, and then Daisuke was being all, well, Daisuke. But then the cards were all a mess and this isn’t even my skirt, and I had no-“

Ken’s lips twitched upwards, his eyes empty. “Miyako, you don’t have to make me feel better.” He glances at his watch, “It’s getting late, you should be on your way home.”

“No.” Her hand tightened around his wrist. Ken looked so small and confused that Miyako’s heart gave a painful lurch. Ken couldn’t leave until she said her piece.

The air burned her throat; she was sure that he could feel her fingers tremble against his skin. “I’m trying to say thank you. It’s just that I can’t talk to cute people, okay? I’ve never been in this situation before, and I have no idea what I’m supposed to do.”

Silence, then “You think I’m cute?”

'Cause it's always one step forward and three steps back I'm the love of your life until I make you mad It's always one step forward and three steps back Do you love me, want me, hate me? Boy, I don't understand No, I don't understand

It must have been something in the eggnog, she thought. That’s the only explanation. It was the fourth of January. Her D-Terminal had remained silent since the defeat MaloMyotismon, Ken ignoring her messages with a practiced ease. It was hard to not take it personal. She knew that they all needed the space and time to grieve, but Ken hated to be alone. Miyako had been so sure that they were finally getting somewhere, finally becoming friends. Her inbox was empty.

The shrine was also uncharacteristically empty, her family making up the majority of the crowd. Her family had also remained silent. Ultimately, they were glad she was safe. Her siblings were miffed that their little sister had been trapezing between worlds while they focused on their math homework but were incredibly proud of the way she handled herself. Her parents hadn’t looked in her eyes since.

She had tried to message her friends about it, but not even Iori would respond. Lost in thought, her brother shoved her forward when it was her turn to pray. Muscle memory was the only reason she was capable of tossing in her coins and clapping.

Prayer seemed superficial in the face of the battle they had fought. Prayer hadn’t saved the children from their Dark Seeds or made the fight any easier to win. Still, her head bowed in thanks. At least her friends had been spared.

She prayed for strength, to face whatever came next. She prayed for the wellbeing of her family, and her partner. She prayed for her friends; she prayed for Ken.

Her D-Terminal beeped.

[dialovers-translations]

DIABOLIK LOVERS VANDEAD CARNIVAL Yoyaku Tokuten Drama CD: “Queen of the Carnival ☆ Make your decision with the King’s Game!”

Original title: カーニバルの女王様☆王様ゲームで決めちゃって！

Source: Diabolik Lovers Vandead Carnival Yoyaku Tokuten Drama CD [CD not owned by me]

Audio: Here

Seiyuu: Midorikawa Hikaru, Hirakawa Daisuke, Kaji Yuki, Toriumi Kousuke, Konishi Katsuyuki, Kondou Takashi,  Sakurai Takahiro,Kimura Ryouhei, Suzuki Tatsuhisa, Kishio Daisuke

Translator’s note: The Diabolik madness never ends! These longer drama CDs are a bunch of fun but they also drain me from my energy when I translate them so I might take a little break from the longer drama CDs after I’ve finished all of my requests. While this one was fun too, I didn’t find it quite as funny as the hot springs and the nickname CDs. A lot of the tasks they gotten would have translated better if it was actually animated, I feel. Of course, there’s still some glorious moments such Yuma holding the pocky stick between his teeth and then Ayato just punches him in the face. xD

The track starts with the both the Sakamaki and the Mukami families gathered around the dinner table, enjoying their meal.

Yuma: ...But you knowー *munch munch* Havin’ a meal with these guys...Not to mention in Karlheinz’ castle in the Demon World... No matter how you look at it, isn’t that kind of nuts? *munch*

ー Mmph!? Delicious! This taste is something else!

Reiji: Good grief...Would you please refrain from talking with your mouth full? It’s bad manners. 

Ayato: Oi, Reiji. Aren’t you gonna eat that piece of meat? ー If you won’t eat it, then give it to me! ...There!

Ayato leans forward to steal the meat off Reiji’s plate.

Reiji: ...!? Hold up, Ayato! 

Ayato: *munch munch* Mmh! This meat really is superb!

Kanato: ...Ayato! Don’t sit cross-legged on your chair! You’re in the way! Your knees keep bumping into me...! (1)

He pushes Ayato, who bumps into Laito sitting at the other side.

Laito: ...Wah!? *cough cough* A...Ayato-kun! Come on...Look at this mess! Because of you my shirt got dirty...

Ayato: Haah!? It’s because Kanato sent me flying!

Kanato: ...!? So you’re blaming me!? 

Subaru: Che...Aaarghh!! Shut up! You triplets over there, at least behave while we’re eatin’...!!

Subaru slams his fist against the table.

Azusa: ...Oh.

Kou: ...Ah! Hey! Subaru-kun, because you hit the table, both my fork and knife fell on the floor...! ー Huh? Waah...!? 

Subaru: What!? Don’t raise your voice like that...Is it really that big of a dea...Ah.

Azusa: That...hurt. Fufufu...

Kou: Wait...Azusa-kun!? Are you okay...? Your hand’s bleeding...Could it be you accidentally cut your hand earlier?

Azusa: Mmh. However...It’s okay. It hurts, but...Aah~ It feels...so good...Nfufufu~

Shuu: ...What is this farce? Did I wander into a rare animal restaurant (2) or something?

Ruki: Heh. I complete agree. To think they can’t even finish a single meal in style.

Reiji: ...That goes for your younger brothers as well, may I add.

Ruki: My bad. Our upbringing wasn’t the best. However, all of you should have held the status of nobility since birth. Despite that, this outcome...Heh. 

Reiji: I hope you are aware that those words are indirectly insulting Father’s upbringing? 

Ruki: From what I’ve heard, your respective mothers had been entrusted with the task of your education, am I wrong?

Reiji: That’s...

Kou: Stop, stop!! We’re having none of that today! ...Look, M-neko-chan is asking you to cut it out as well!

You nod your head.

Ayato: Haah!? Get along!? I’ve been holding back and trying to get along this whole time. You’re still going to complain!?

Laito: Exactly. Greed is no good, Bitch-chan! Keep that for when you’re alone in bed with me, okay~? Nfu~

Subaru: ...Haah. Annoyin’....

Shuu: ...Either way, stop making a fuss. Sit still and eat your food. After this, there’s supposed to be something happening regarding the King and Queen of the carnival. Haah...I’m tired.

Kanato: Something regarding the King and Queen of the carnival ー You say? Which means?

Shuu: No idea. I just repeated the message I received from the familiar sent by Father. 

Ruki: I haven’t heard anything either.

Yuma: Haah!? There’s still more!? I’m already exhausted from this banquet...

Kou: ...That being said, the Queen of the carnival has to be M-neko-chan, right?

Ayato: That sounds ‘bout right. Is something wrong with that?

Kou: Hm...I was just wondering...Who would be the King of the carnival in this case?

Ruki: Now that you mention it, you have a point. If she is Eve, then we have ten Adams - including myself - gathered here. 

Reiji: Shuu, did Father’s familiar tell you who the King of the carnival is?

Shuu: He didn’t. The King of the carnival...I wasn’t told anything about that.

Ayato: In that case, if we think logically, it has to be me.

Kanato: Haah? Why Ayato? That doesn’t seem reasonable at all.

Subaru: ...Oi. Haven’t you heard anything?

You shake your head.

Reiji: Good grief...You haven’t, huh? 

Laito: Nfu~ We’re in a bind! It can’t be helped so why can’t we just all be Bitch-chan’s boyfriends? 

Azusa: It isn’t...’boyfriend’...It’s...’the King of the carnival’...

Laito: But that basically means boyfriend, right? Nfu~

Ruki: Don’t call it something as ordinary as ‘boyfriend’...It has been decided that there can only be one Adam to pair up with Eve.

Shuu: ...Haah. Anyone will do, just make up your mind. ー Oi, you. That’s right, you’re the Queen, right? 

In that case, you’re the only one who can pick the King. Make it quick. You should know better than anyone else that the longer this situation drags on, the more of a hassle it will become.

You hesitate.

Ayato: Oi, Chichinashi! It obviously has to be me! No need to hesitate!

Kanato: Ayato...! Threatening her to choose you is dirty! Even though she actually wanted to pick me, now you’ve made it difficult on her.

You shake your head.

Ruki: That isn’t it? In that case, hurry up and narrow it down to one person. I’m sure you don’t want any unncesessary bloodshed either.

You look around trying to make up your mind.

Azusa: Eve...Are you having trouble...?

Subaru: ...It’s not really somethin’ to wrack your brain over, is it?

Kou: You think so? Isn’t it only natural for her to feel pressured when everyone is staring her down with those eyes screaming ‘pick me!’...?

Laito: Nfu~ Then why don’t we decide it fair and square through the King’s game? (3)

Yuma: Haah? The King’s Game?

Laito: Bitch-chan is the Queen, right? She’ll be giving us ten Vampires aiming to be the King unreasonable orders. If you can’t do it, you’re out.

Reiji: Then does it really need to be through the King’s Game?

Laito: Eeeeeh~? We’re deciding on the King, right? In that case, it has to be through the King’s game...

Besides, there just so happens to be some time before the dessert arrives, so why not include it as part of the recreation? Right, Bitch-chan?

Yuma: I sense nothing but bad vibes...

Kou: Yeah...Especially since Laito-kun is the one suggesting it...

Ruki: That being said, the one playing the ‘King’ is Kachiku. I’m sure her requests won’t be too unreasonable. It’s no big deal.

Shuu: Haah...Whatever. Just pick already.

Reiji: Well then, let’s start with assigning everyone a number. I’m 1.

Subaru: Then I’m 2.

Laito: Number 3 for me~

Yuma: I’m 4.

Azusa: I’ll settle on...5.

Ruki: 6, for me.

Ayato: Then I’ll take 7.

Kanato: I’m 8.

Kou: I’ll go for 9 then~

Shuu: I’m last, huh?

Laito: Well then, our dear Queen, please give your servants their orders. Nfu~ 

Ayato: What’s up, Laito? You’re totally enjoying this.

Subaru: ...By the way, what if he was aiming for this from the start?

Laito: Becaaause~ You have to enjoy this kind of stuff or you’re missing out. Nfu~

Subaru: ...Che!

Reiji: As for the lottery, I brought the one from the recreation room. Well then, go ahead and pull the numbers this way.

Ruki: I’ll do it.

...Number 3 and number 9.

Laito: Nfu~ Me and Kou, it seems.

Kou: Hm...Then what should we do?

Reiji: If we have to wait on her to decide each order, the Carnival will come to an end. So let’s use this lottery that was left behind in the entertainment room.

Well then, please choose a slip of paper to your liking.

Ruki: Somehow you seem used to this kind of stuff.

Reiji: Is that so? I’d like to believe I was simply being thoughtful.

You pull the first task.

Ruki: Kachiku, show it to me.

Number 3 and 9 will...do group gymnastics together.

Laito: ...Eeh!?

Kou: Group gymnastics...!?

Laito: Haah? Why group gymnastics between me and Kou!?

Shuu: Heh. Hurry up and do it.

Laito: Hey, Reiji! This isn’t fun at all...!

Reiji: That shouldn’t matter. If you won’t do it, the two of you lose. That’s all.

Kou: Nnnh...

Laito: Eeeh? But group gymnastics...Nothing comes to mind...Besides, doing it with a guy is a little...

Kou: Guess it can’t be helped...I’ll use the formation I learnt during the ‘Idols’ Sports Festival’ TV program...Laito-kun! Are you ready?

Laito: Huh?

Kou: I’ll come dashing your way so scoop me up with both hands and fling me into the air, okay? Here I come...!

Kou starts running towards Laito.

Laito: Eeh!? Wait...One sec...!!

*CRASH*

Kou & Laito: Waaaaah!? ...Ow.

Ruki: A failure, huh?

Reiji: Seems like it. Well then, let’s remove number 3 and 9.

Shuu: Oi, hold up.

Reiji: What’s the matter?

Shuu: Don’t tell me the other orders will be things like group gymnastics as well.

Reiji: How should I know?

Shuu: ...Tsk. I have a bad feeling about this.

Ruki: Come on, there’s still eight people left. Hurry up and choose the next one.

Subaru: Hm? 1 and 2 so...Me and Reiji?

Yuma: Then, that leaves just the task. Oi, Mesubuta, pick one.

You pull the second order.

Ruki: What do we have here?

“Draw a heart shape in the air with your butt”

Subaru: Haaaah!?

Reiji: There’s no way I’d be able to do something so vulgar.

Subaru: ...Ugh!

Subaru suddenly gets up from his chair.

Yuma: Huh? What’s the matter, you hikikomori? (4) Standin’ up like that all of a sudden...You’re actually gonna do it?

Subaru: Ugh...F...Fuuuuuuuck...! I can’t do it after all...!!!

*THUMP THUD CRASH*

Subaru: Huh...? Oi...Woaaaah!?

Reiji: Wha...!? Subaru!?

Ayato: Woah...He totally just self-destructed. (5)

Kanato: Haah...I’m sure he’s okay. He’s a Vampire after all.

Ayato: You’re right. By the way, Reiji, what about you? Gonna do it?

Reiji: Such a thing...Of course not. There is no way someone as prideful as myself would drop that low under any circumstances. 

Yuma: Aaand another one drops out.

Reiji: ...Ugh. It’s a shame.

Ayato: Well then, it’s about time for me to show up? Oi, Chichinashi. Pull the next numbers already.

Laito: Nfu~ Next up are...Here, give it to me, Bitch-chan.

Reiji: Laito, so you’ve revived it seems.

Laito: Kou made a bad landing and is still recovering.

...Oh! It’s 4 and 7. Yuma and Ayato.

Yuma: Come on, bring it on! Hurry up and pick the task.

Ayato: Hm? What is it? Number 4 and 7 will play the...’stick candy (6) game’, it says?

Kanato: What’s that? The stick candy game?

Ruki: It’s a game in which both players start at each end of a chocolate-covered, stick-shaped snack and eat towards the middle till there’s barely any left . Nothing else.

Ayato: Don’t fuck ‘round!! As if I’d be able to do that!

Yuma: ...Don’t make a fuss ‘bout every fuckin’ little thing...It’s not as if they’re asking us to kiss. Don’t make such a big deal over just eating a snack close to each other, it’s creepy.

Come on. Mmh.

Yuma holds the pocky sticky between his teeth and waits for Ayato to take the other side.

Ayato: ...Ugh. 

Reiji: Yuma is glaring daggers our way, so I suppose he means ‘what’s taking him so long?’

Ayato: ...F-Fuck...Even if you say it isn’t a kiss...You’re asking for too much!

Ayato punches Yuma in the face.

Yuma: Mwah!?

Ruki: Oi. Isn’t that a violation of the rules?

Ayato: Shut up! There was a disgusting face near mine so I punched it, that’s all.

Azusa: Yuma...If only I had...taken your place...Right?

Ruki: Oi, Yuma!

Azusa: No use...He won’t...wake up...

Reiji: Good grief...With this, both number 4 and 7 are out, it seems?

Ayato: Oi, wait! Why me too!?

Azusa: You punched him and...In the end...You didn’t do the game...Right?

Ayato: As if I care! He just collapsed and won’t wake up!

Shuu: ...Shut up. Let’s continue. Oi, Reiji.

Reiji: Please don’t order me around! ...Come on, please pull the next lot.

Ruki: Number 8 and 10, in other words, Sakamaki Kanato and Sakamaki Shuu?

Shuu: Me and Kanato?

Kanato: Fufu...Shuu, huh? However, I won’t lose.

Shuu: I feel like this isn’t about winning about losing but...Whatever. Decide on the order.

You pull the third order

Ayato: Chichinashi, I’ll read it for you. Let’s see...Number 8 and 10 expose each other’s dark pasts.

Kanato: Haah!?

Shuu: Exposing our pasts, huh? Well...We’re siblings after all. I know plenty of stuff.

Kanato: Shuu...If you talk about that, you’ll know what will happen, right?

Shuu: Haha...But if I don’t say it, I might lose, right? 

Kanato: I-In that case...I’ll talk to! About that happening.

Shuu: ...That happening?

Kanato: ...

Reiji: Kanato, go ahead and tell us. I’m sure everyone is just waiting to hear about that good-for-nothing’s dark history. Haha.

Shuu: Kanato, you may tell them but in return...You get me, right? 

Kanato: ...!

Shuu: I’ll tell everyone about that thing without problem. No matter how embarrassed you may get, I won’t have mercy.

Kanato: Ugh...That’s dirty!!

Ruki: Oi, how much longer? At this rate we won’t get anywhere.

Kanato: ...I’m passing.

Shuu: Hahaha...Then I’ll pass too.

Azusa: Are you...sure...?

Kanato: It can’t be helped...!!! If Shuu exposes me right here...I...I...

Shuu: Well, that’s just how it is. Both me and Kanato are dropping out.

Ayato: ...You know, lately I’ve been thinking that Shuu might be the biggest bastard amongst us all.

Laito: Agreed...

Shuu: Say whatever you want. I’m gonna nap. *yawns* 

Kanato: Ugh...For me to...Lose like this! ...Hey, Teddy? Let’s get revenge on him one day for sure, okay...?

Reiji: Just what kind of secret of yours does he know? ...Well then, is the next one finally the last?

Ruki: The ones left are...Me and Azusa, huh?

Laito: Nfu~ This duo gives me bad vibes.

Kou slowly begins to regain consciousness.

Kou: Aah...What...? What’s happening right now?

Ayato: ...Oh? You’re finally awake?

Azusa: The final challenge...Will be between me and...Ruki.

Ruki: Well then, let us start. This is a serious duel, Azusa.

Azusa: For the sake of...Eve...I won’t...lose.

Reiji: Dear god...You over there, please choose the final lot.

You pull the final order.

Kou: Okay, M-neko-chan~ Give it to me...I’ll check the contents...Hm...What’s this~? Ruki-kun and Azusa-kun’s challenge is...Hurl something extremely precious to you into the fire ー It says.

Laito: Something precious? Hm...Seems like the most straightforward task lasted till the end.

Ayato: Oi, Ruki, Azusa, what’s precious to you?

Ruki: My...most precious thing? 

Azusa: Hm...

Laito: Huuuh~? Both of you are staring at Bitch-chan with such passion-filled eyes...Could it be...Is she the one most precious to you~? Nfu~

Reiji: Both of you, how is it? Don’t remain silent and answer us.

Ruki: Throw away what’s...precious to me...? I can’t do that...!

Azusa: ...

Azusa starts walking.

Ayato: Huh? Azusa, where are you going? ...Oi!

Azusa: Hey...Eve. I think you...already know but...To me...You are more precious than anything...

He grabs hold of you.

Azusa: I was just told that...I should get rid of...What’s most precious to me...However, I just...can’t give up on you.

Laito: Hey, is this okay?

Reiji: I don’t know, don’t ask me.

Azusa: But...I...realized...Hey? You also like...being hurt and...feeling pain, right?

I love it too...That being said...The two of us are...two peas in a pod...In short, it means we’re the same...Right? 

In that case, if I...simply get rid of...myself...It’ll be as if I...got rid of you, right?

Azusa pulls out a knife.

Ruki: Oi!! Azusa!

Azusa: Fufufu...With this...I’ll be the Carnival’s King...Right?

Ruki: Cut it out!

He puts the knife against his chest.

Kou: W-Wait...! Azusa-kun! Stabbing yourself right in the heart is dangerous! Ayato-kun! Hurry up and hold him back!

Ayato: Haah? Why me?

Kou: ...Just do it!

Ayato: ...Fuck! What is this!?

Azusa: Fufufu...Hahaha...! Eve...Now I’m the...King, right?

Laito: Come on, Azusa-kun! Stop it alrea...Woah!?

Azusa struggles back.

Reiji: Good grief...Kanato! Take the knife from his hand!

Kanato: ...Why would I...Ah! Wah! Hey...! That’s dangerous!

Azusa thrashes about more.

Azusa: Haa...Haa...Why...Why is everyone...Trying to...get in my way...!?

Laito: Azusa-kun!! Calm down!

Azusa: Haa...Why...are you trying to...stop me? I was so...close...!

Ayato: Stop it...! Woah...!

The triplets continue to try and stop Azusa

Ruki: Dear god...In the end, all of us ended following Azusa in stride.

The voices of Azusa and the Sakamaki’s bickering and fighting can still be heard in the background.

Yuma: Aah...Fuck...My head is still spinning...

Ruki: Yuma? You’re awake?

Yuma: Yeah...Wait, what are they doing ganging up on Azusa like that?

Ruki: I wonder...If I had to put it into words, I’d say they’re trying to prevent Azusa from becoming the King of the Carnival.

Yuma: Haah? 

Ruki: Oi, Kachiku. All of this is your fault for not being able to decide on the Carnival’s King.

Yuma: God...Exactly.

Subaru: Ugh...I...agree completely...

Ruki: Sakamaki Subaru. So you’ve returned?

Subaru: Haah!? What are you lookin’ so calm for!? Isn’t that guy one of yours!? Stop him too!

Shuu: ...Shut up. It doesn’t matter. Just settle this already. Hey, you. Hurry up. If you still can’t narrow it down to one person...You know what will happen, right?

ーー THE END ーー

Translation notes

(1) Kanato simply says ‘you’re bumping into me!’, but considering Ayato’s position, I’d assume it would his knees hitting him.

(2) I looked up the term and Shuu mentions a 珍獣レストラン or ‘chinjuu restaurant’ which apparently is a restaurant that serves a lot of exotic/weird meats. I don’t really how that relates to the context, but he might just be referring to the triplets with ‘rare species’ :P

(3) The 王様ゲーム or ‘King’s game’ is a popular party game in Japan. Each round, everyone picks a stick with either has a number or a little crown symbol on it. The person with the latter is the King for that round and give two people a task/command. 

(4) Hikikomori is a common social phenomenon in Japanese where people can no longer take the pressure from society and become shut-ins. 

(5) I couldn’t really make out what Ayato said here so I just made up something that made sense. > < If anyone understands this sentence, feel free to let me know and I’ll edit the translation!

(6) Okay so we all know this is pocky game, but I assume they couldn’t put in the name ‘pocky’, so they describe instead. In Japanese they 棒菓子ゲーム or ‘bougashi game’ which literally translate as ‘stick candy game’. 

[dracothedeatheatingcupcake-ao3]

Hello :D Guessing game thing! For both TPWM & TPWP, "pretty", "mine" and "teeth"!

skimmed a book for these words, XD.

Oooh, nice words! I think I'll add more than a single sentence for these ones, since I think a little more context can help, ha. Also, gives y'all a nice taste for the things to come. ;-) Warning for spoilers! And Mondo cursing! And mild NSFW... ha.

(I’m going to my old ones of these and adding “read mores,” since they’re a bit long, ha)

TPWM:

Pretty: "Pretty. Fucking... /pretty/. Why the fuck had he said that? Dudes don’t call other dudes /pretty/, goddamn! /He/ doesn’t call other dudes pretty, not even as an insult. He stays far fucking away from words like that when referring to dudes. It- he... he fucking /can’t/ say shit like that. He just... fucking /can’t/." (Bonus points if you can figure out what scene this is in reference to in TPWP, ha.)

Mine: “'Ya know somethin’? Can’t believe I’m sayin’ this shit, but I fuckin’ missed ya, kid. Ain’t no one can pull off the prickly porcupine demeanor better than you, shit. Like traversin’ a mine field tryin’ ta have a conversation with ya,” Daisuke chuckles, shaking his head again. It makes Mondo’s hackles rise once more, not liking the way he said that shit. Daisuke moves on before he can say anything, though. “But I guess I’m just wonderin’ who this friend a’ yers is. Gotta be someone ya met at that prissy school, yeah? Looked inta yer year, an’ I gotta say, ya got a bunch a’ weird fuckin’ jackasses as classmates, that’s fer damn sure. Shit, yer friend ain’t that fat one, is it? Dude looked like a fuckin’ creep, not gonna lie...'” (I added the entire segments for this, since Daisuke is an OC who was never, and is never, introduced in TPWP, ha. All other instances of "mine" was in dialogue that is already in TPWP, though, which I thought was kinda lame, so I figured this would be better. Also, disclaimer, but I love Daisuke and cannot wait for y'all to meet him, ha.)

Teeth: "And... fuck. That’s what he should do to Ishimaru, ain’t it...? Teach him a fucking lesson. Pound his /fucking/ teeth in, make sure he knows to /never/ fuck with Mondo again. It... fuck. It’s what he always does, when faced with such absolute pieces of shit. It’s what he knows better than anything else. How to make people fucking /respect him/, especially those who think they’re better than him. It would be so easy to teach Ishimaru a lesson, he even said he wouldn’t fight back, Mondo knows this."

TPWP:

Pretty: "He’s pretty sure Mondo notices, can feel the biker holding him tighter, shushing him gently, but he... he doesn’t try and get him to stop, or tell him how ridiculous he’s being, like his father sometimes would after coming home and finding Taka crying on the couch. Mondo doesn’t get all awkward when he tries to hug him, pushing him away and telling him to ‘compose yourself, this is unbecoming.’ He doesn’t... he doesn’t try and make Taka feel like he’s stupid for his tears, his pain... he doesn’t try and make it seem like there something wrong with him... he doesn’t get angry that Taka is being unreasonable, irrational, doesn’t tell him that this is all in his head and that he should just... get over it or something. He just... he doesn’t. Taka doesn’t know why, but he /doesn’t/."

(This next one is a pretty significant spoiler, but I chose to post this one because... reasons, ha.)

Mine: “'But... such blind trust in the world can be a double edged sword. And I fear for you, my son, I truly do. I still remember your first friend, that boy... Takeru, I believe. How much he had hurt you with his betrayal. You trusted him completely, too. And yet he hurt you far more than you would ever say. And then, when your mother died soon after... I know that I did not handle things well, after that. That I had let my grief consume me. That I still do. But I had noticed. How far into yourself you retreated. How you changed yourself to become what others wanted you to be. It pained me so much to see it, another failure of mine, but I hadn’t known how to help you, when I could barely help myself. I... aha. But that is beside the point, isn’t it? I just... Kiyotaka. You are my son. My pride and joy. I will always be proud of the young man you have become. And I cannot bear the thought of you putting all of your trust into someone, only for them to destroy you so utterly. So please, my son... if you are to trust this boy, this... /biker/... then be absolutely sure that he is someone you can fully trust. Don’t let him destroy you. Please.'”

(This next one was hard. Not because there was a lack of sentences with "teeth" in them, but because, uh... I didn't want this to get too NSFW... ha. I have mentioned that this story increases in rating at some point, yes???? This is also a pretty significant spoiler, ha.)

Teeth: "Dear god... Taka raises a shaking hand and tentatively touches the bruised flesh. It feels a little tender and he hisses at the sensation, the dark and angry bruises stark against his deathly pale skin. His breath turns shallow and his pupils dilate as he remembers just /how/ he’d gotten these marks... the feeling of lips and teeth and tongue... the murmured words against his skin, so sweet and beautiful and /meaningless/... the feel of a pressing heat against his back... the feel of a too warm hand on his... h-his... w-well. It all rushes back to him as he looks at the marks and... and..."

Thanks for the fun words! :-D Like last time, these come from the first drafts of the chapters, so if you see errors, there is a good chance they will be gone in the officially posted versions, ha.

(Link to the original post so everyone knows what this is about, ha)

Fanfic Work-In-Progress Guessing Game

[dannyphannypack]

Crossover Fic Recs

Hey, saw your post for some fic recs! Unfortunately I can't continue the wonderful thread of reblogs because I wish to remain anonymous, but here have some cool crossovers that I didn't see get rec'd yet :D (you can either post this or add it to the reblogs, I don't mind either way)

Just Another Meteor Freak [500k words, complete] (and it's sequel, which is unfortunately incomplete) is a Smallville/DP crossover that's absolutely a fantastic read and I cannot recommend it enough, it's one of my faves! Brief synopsis: Danny goes to live with his aunt Martha Kent after his family dies (and for once Danny's family dying in a crossover fic doesn't have anything to do with TUE!), and misunderstandings of the good kind and mishaps ensue because of course Danny and Clark's hero complexes come into play. It's got hurt/comfort, fluff, angst, sibling-esque-bonding, and all sorts of cool stuff, including ghost king headcannons and new powers for Danny. It takes place mostly from a Smallville perspective, but Danny's woven in so seamlessly that you won't believe he wasn't in the original show to begin with. I read it for the first time after having not watched Smallville in years and I could still understand it though, so I think that if you haven't watched Smallville before you could still enjoy the fic a lot!

And like, honestly, I totally recommend other stuff by this author (jadedbluerose) too. She's got a Merlin/DP crossover that's pretty fantastic, but unfortunately she hasn't updated anything since 2014 :( still worth the read though!!

Spirited Away [70k, complete] is a Harry Potter/DP crossover, it's honestly THE MOST hilarious fic I've ever read. Synopsis: Danny is an unwilling student at Hogwarts, and the most chaotic Hufflepuff the world has ever seen. He claims he's been kidnapped but when no one listens to him, he raises all kinds of hell to try and get kicked out. And if that doesn't work, well, he can always sue them. 100% worth the read, it will definitely make you laugh.

Various Superphantom (Supernatural/DP) crossovers by sapphireswimming. Literally anything Superphantom found here? Totally the best. You can also check out Superphantom fics by surelysilly (whose fics are more on the darker end of the spectrum, and their prose style is kinda abstract rather than your traditional linear narrative) Vitaliciouscreations (they've got a oneshot collection that's pretty fun, as well as a oneshot that I wish they'd continue and a complete cute 13k-word penpal fic.)

How to befriend a ghost [80k, incomplete] is a HTTYD/DP crossover in which Danny gets stuck in the Viking era, and I originally started reading this for the Danny & Hiccup friendship because it's adorable and both of them see how similar they are to each other and find kinship in that. The dragon Danny gets (because this is a HTTYD crossover, this is inevitable!) really sneaks into your heart though, and I ABSOLUTELY adore Sparky as much as I adore Toothless. He's very lovable and complements Danny super well! Of course, it's not all friendship bonding and training dragons, the archipelago is Danny's home now (until he can find his way back to Amity Park/his own century) and he's going to protect it too when trouble arises, just like the dragons do. He even gets new powers along the way. This fic is pretty fun, there's a lot of switching perspectives and you really see the characters' voices come through in it, and you even get to see the dragons' POV, which is really interesting since you get to learn Sparky's backstory!

Den Mother [8k, ongoing] is a Young Justice/DP crossover that acknowledges the fact that Danny is by all rights a first-generation hero, and he's treated with the respect as such and gets to join the Justice League rather than the YJ team. Of course, he doesn't WANT to join the league at first, which is a different take than you'd expect, but he reluctantly agrees and is then given the same responsibilities as a Justice League member--that is, to teach the YJ something about teamwork or whatever. It's not very long right now, but the premise is so good! It has a lot of potential.

A Foreign Perspective [200k words, complete] is a DNAngel/DP crossover that I saw @scrollingdown call a fandom classic once and honestly agree, even though I don't think many people know/have read it. It's a cute friendship fic that focuses on Phantom (not Danny, but Phantom specifically) making his first friend, an older boy named Daisuke, who seems normal at first, but is slowly revealed to be a little more understanding of Danny's situation than he appears. Some comfort involved too since Danny deals with a little more with the idea of mourning/loss than in canon, seeing as Daisuke thinks he's a full ghost and therefore a teenager that died, and Danny learns to be a different kind of hero because of it. Really cool fic too since you don't need to know DNAngel at all to understand the fic, since it's told from DP's perspective, and you get to learn about Daisuke as Danny does. It's just super sweet and it's got some action here and there that makes it exciting, and it's really a fun read.

Other stuff by this author is worth the read too! They've got oneshots of a HP crossover and Ghost Whisperer crossover, and a sadly incomplete HTTYD crossover [100k words] that is still super super good and also deals with ideas about mourning and loss. Their non-crossover stuff is also pretty interesting (there's a Mute!Danny AU and Dash kinda-redemption oneshot I really liked).

Diversity [150k, ongoing] is another Ghost Whisperer/DP crossover, it's a found-family fic where Danny runs away from home after his family dies in the events post TUE. He ends up running into Melinda and she goes out of her way to help him. There's a couple underlying mysteries surrounding the ghosts that haunt this fic, and Melinda tries to understand Danny's past and ends up tangled in a conspiracy because Danny's hiding his ghostly alter-ego and also the GIW are involved at some point (and they are much more menacing here than in canon). It's totally a page-turner, and you can get as invested as Melinda in hoping Danny heals from his loss. Spellbound [150k, ongoing] is a HP/DP crossover by the same author! Danny accidentally gets trapped by Magical Britain and is bitter about it, but he's trying to make the best of it. The Wizards have no idea what to make of him, but he just wants to go home, and he makes a couple friends while he plots his escape. (It's actually been a while since I read that one, so I'm a bit fuzzy on the details, but I do remember feeling bad for Danny in this fic, poor boy's lonely and can't even interact with kids his own age because he's an unknown creature to the wizards. Good thing Danny's never been one to follow authority.)

A Visit to Paris [10k, complete] is a Miraculous Ladybug/DP crossover in which Danny is Akumatized... sort of. The results are hilarious: Danny's a troll, Hawkmoth is frustrated, the heroes aren't really sure what to make of it, and Danny and Adrien make a lot of puns. Oh, and Danny is the only one smart enough to fix Paris' villain problem (okay, so it might be slightly cracky). It reminds me very much of Spirited Away, which I mentioned earlier. It's got the same level of chaos that's for sure. All in all, it's a very, very fun read.

A Different Sort of House Call [50k, incomplete] is a House MD/DP crossover, it's been years since I read it but I've always considered it one of the fandom classics too? It was definitely one of the first things to pop to mind when I was trying to recall all the cool memorable crossovers to rec you, so this goes on the list too. It's Danny at the hospital with House, and the doctors are trying to diagnose him without knowing about his ghost half (and Danny's not exactly willing to tell them either). There's angst (especially since the author wrote this to follow Lab Rat by AnneriaWings), Vlad trying to be an ally (sorta?), and House being clever as usual. Sadly it's incomplete but it's still super good!!

Running Blind [20k, complete] is a CSI/DP crossover (it took me forever to find the link again since it wasn't listed as a crossover). It's super good, Danny runs away for reasons unknown (at the beginning of course) and gets caught up in a murder investigation and he suspects the culprit is supernatural so obviously he helps out. The CSI guys are both trying to protect him (thinking he was a target for the murderer) but also trying to uncover his past and the reasons he ran away. When you find out why he ran away, you might be awed like I was (especially when you realize how long it had been since he ran) or you might be unimpressed, but the aftermath and his family/friends finally catching up to him might make up for that. I kinda liked how Vlad was written here too.

Ghost Crimes and its sequels is a Criminal Minds/DP crossover. It's the first in a very long series (currently 500k+ words in total) that expands on the DP world and lore, and also involves a lot more murder, death, blood (and the other related gore-ish stuff), and overall realism. Like, Danny fights what is basically Jack the Ripper and its terrifying. It's kind of like a "dark and gritty" DP (but like, not unbearably or overwhelmingly dark and gritty), angst sprinkled here and there, along with darker themes and less light-hearted issues (mental health/trauma/depression/etc. and neglect/abuse and like, actual competent adults like social workers and stuff are a real thing in this fic). There's a lot going on but it's got its lighter nice moments too (Dani is there and gets to be a part of Danny's family, Val's in on the secret, among other things). Also some of the chapters are illustrated, it's great. Definitely check it out!

Okay that's a lot of fics so I'm gonna stop now. Have fun reading!!

[cheerystarlightwish]

Millionaire Detective Balance: Unlimited Episode 9 Thoughts

Hi guys! Episode 9 got me thinking and though I didn’t want to create theories or analyzations about Fugou Keiji because we are nearing the end already, I simply can’t help myself. To be honest, I wanted to create some earlier and chat with people but my schedule didn’t side with me for the past three months. Nevertheless, here I am better late than never and excited to read other peoples’ reactions, analyzations, and theories as well. Anyways, For those who haven’t watched the recent episodes yet, there are spoilers ahead as I share my thoughts so please be cautioned! Thank you, have a nice day, and stay safe!

(Disclaimer: Any similarities with other posts are purely coincidental. Moreover, if that does happen, I am glad that there are many who think so too because that increases the probability of the statement, thought, analyzation, or theory being somewhat true.)

______________________________________________________________

Oh.my.goodness.

If I were to summarize my reaction for Ep.9? it would be those. It was nothing short of thrilling and is a perfect stepping point before we get to the climax of the show. Be that as it may, I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that we only have a few episodes left before it ends. Oddly enough, it feels as though we just began due to the pacing of the revelations. Yes, it allowed us to answer some of our previous questions but at the same time, it created new ones as well. 

The first answer we were able to infer is with regards to Shigemaru Kambe. As we have gathered from the previous episodes, he was alive and supposedly went into hiding for the past 19 years after he killed his wife. Throughout that period, he was believed to be dead by both Daisuke and the world. This is with great exception of his mother who had known of this fact for a long time and even kept it secret to the point of trying to dissuade Daisuke from investigating further. Second, Daisuke's parents were both scientists who were researching an "element" called “adolium”. Such a thing was considered to be dangerous by Sayuri and despite her husband's claims that he will not use it, she completely did not trust him. This could only mean that "adolium" is something that people, powerful people, would want to have for their benefit. Unfortunately, this argument of theirs led to Sayuri leaving the house which prompted her husband to kill her because as he said, he has invested too much on the project to let it be for naught.  

Though we were able to answer the question regarding the culprit of Sayuri's murder, it raises the question of what is the true purpose of “adolium”? From the last episode, it was hinted that it had something to do with energy. When it was introduced head on, it was used in a way that caused several nearby electronics to malfunction. The weird aspect of that event is that the ship itself was unharmed, and it only specifically targeted those Shigemaru's group considered to be "enemies". This realization is alarming because it basically means that they have advanced in their research, against Sayuri's efforts to prevent them from doing so, and can now utilize the "element" in a destructive method. Now, what exactly will they use it for? I deduced that it would be applied in creating some kind of set of weapons. The reason I thought so is because of that episode with the president of a country from Central America. The one who visited to resign an agreement for further collaboration with the Kambe family. He was apparently affiliated with them when the latter provided resources for that president’s country’s “development”. A “development” that turned out to have caused or will cause harm to a community, as evidenced by an attempted assasination of their lives by someone who belonged to that group of people. One thing to note though is that there are similarities between the machines seen in episode 5 and 9 in that they both interfered with a specific set of electronics. Therefore, I think it is safe to assume that the machine in the earlier episode contained the aforementioned “element” as well. This theory raises new questions in how that person from that community got their hands on those technology, which seemingly belongs to Shigemaru’s group as backed by Daisuke’s discovery of it in Laboratory 3. It makes one wonder, is the family involved in some kind of civil war and profiting from it? No matter what though, we cannot deny the detail that the Kambe family provides resources, technology, and weapons to their “customers”. 

Moving on, another key aspect of the mystery is why the higher ups seem to be bent on not being involved nor further investigating the case of the Kambe family. I first thought that it is mainly because they are afraid for their own lives but looking back, that doesn’t seem to be all there is to it. With all the information we have been given, I have two, maybe three if I combine them both, thoughts or theories on this. The first one is that the superiors themselves have invested on this project and are benefiting from it as a whole. It is possible that they too may have a stake in it and will be used by them to acquire future advantages. The second one is that the ones on top contain Kambes or their puppets and alliances. I pondered on this because of the Kambe family picture and how Shigemaru has been described to be the eldest child.The latter seems a little far fetched because if that were the case, why would Daisuke not know about them? Unless, it is specifically being hidden from him as to continue the image that their corporation or conglomerate is “good”, a high probability. 

The last facet of this mystery so far is what they could want with Daisuke and the identity of the newly introduced characters as well as the location they are currently headed to. With regards to what they want with the former, I’m not quite sure. Daisuke obviously disapproves of whatever this “adolium” business is because of its contribution to his mother’s death and its evident dangerous nature. Shigemaru himself is aware of this, and yet why did he say that he has been waiting for Daisuke for a long time? Why did he instruct Frantz to keep him alive? With these set of questions, I could only gather three possibilities. The first one is that they could be trying to silence him about the matter at hand. They will probably try to kill him too or at least make it so that he would not want to further delve into the issue. Second, they will try to get him in on the business itself by reasoning with him as they might have supposedly did with the higher ups. The last one is that they will let Daisuke take the fall of whatever downhill event is bound to happen next, another high possibility. It cannot be denied that Daisuke is known by the world to be the head of the Kambe Conglomerate. Therefore, it would not be farfetched to think that they might be saving him for future use in taking the fall for the result of whatever they are planning to do. On the matter of the identity of the new characters, we have yet to know more. The only thing episode 9 told us is that Frantz is a multinational weapons merchant on top of being Thomas Matheson’s bodyguard. From that little introduction, it is no doubt difficult to hypothesize the extent of their role in the mystery. Nevertheless, I do have some ideas I would like to share. Frantz’s characteristic of being a weapons merchant aligns with the certainty we had that the Kambe family produces and sells weapons. It would then make sense for them to be related, but what intrigues me is his listed job as a bodyguard which could be some sort of coverup for his true job.  The question is, is he the boss or is he just a representative of his true boss? Additionally, is Thomas aware of Frantz’s involvement with the Kambes? Is he another leader of a country? or better yet, is he himself part of the masterminds or true bosses? We can only know for sure in the next episode. As far as I can conclude though, it would seem that Frantz is an underling, given his actions, of an even bigger persona and that the Kambes are profiting from discords and strife.

With everything they have given us, there are quite a lot of ways it can go. So in consideration of all these notions and ideas, we can only wait for future revelations, confirmations, and validations. To be completely honest, I cannot wait for this mystery to be further unfolded.

Predictions:

Based on a post (link) I saw earlier, it seems that Episode 10 will contain epic scenes. According to the source, the FKBU team apparently called in the director for Shingeki no Kyojin and Kabaneri Fortress to aid in this specific episode. As a result, they themselves are still in awe of how it turned out when they all worked on it together. Now given this information, it fuels my curiosity to the brim and I simply can’t wait for tomorrow. It seems to me that the scene wherein Daisuke and Haru fight side by side in the opening is about to come true. Imagine that sequence and the possibility of the background music being the OP Navigator, and we will get one hell of an iconic scene.  Moreover, I can’t wait to find out who are the other people involved in this scheme and what is “adolium” going to really be used for, because as far as we know, it has something to do with energy and interference. Additionally, we are already aware that the ship is headed for Panama, a famous country that is known for its transit through the Panama Canal. Is it their destination or is it simply a stop over? I guess we'll just see tomorrow! 

[lightchildofthespring]

The fantastic adventures of Takeru Takaishi

Chapter 2: Daughter of the revolution

On their way up the hill, Sora reminisced the times when her father took her to play hide-and-seek among the woods. She also remembered the day when she hid in a bush and overheard a group of men approaching Haruhiko. They accused him of having "subversive books" and spreading anti-government propaganda among the good people of Turtle Island. Sora was so scared that she couldn't move. She didn't do anything to stop her father from being taken away.

After her surroundings became quiet, Sora left her hiding spot and ran back to her house. It didn't take long for the little girl to notice smoke rising to the sky. Once she arrived there, she found her house burning.

Sora was about to scream in horror, but she felt a hand cover her mouth and another pull her back to the woods.

"I'm so glad you're safe! I'm so glad!"

Sora recognized her mother's voice. The arms that once restricted her were now hugging the child. The little girl was trembling and it didn't take her long to begin to cry. Toshiko turned her daughter around, so she could face her. The woman's eyes were red; a couple of tear trails were still visible.

"They took Dad! They took him away!" Sora said, among sobs.

"I know," Toshiko muttered.

"Where did they take him?" Sora asked.

New tears formed in the woman's eyes. She didn't say anything. It would take years for Sora to learn that her father was taken by Yamanaka's henchmen and dragged to the living room of her family's house as a way to lure Toshiko and the other revolutionaries to a trap. The henchmen were all armed and largely outnumbered the revolutionaries. It would be a suicide mission to try to rescue Hahuriko. Therefore, their leader decided they shouldn't do it.

Toshiko and the rest of the group survived.

Haruhiko didn't.

For the rest of her life, Sora wished to get justice for her father and revenge against Yamanaka. She cooperated with the revolutionaries but, despite knowing their reasons and understanding that her father wouldn't have wanted to be the cause of their demise, Sora could never forgive the leader of the group for that decision.

Takeru wasn't fond of the silence filling the air as they climbed the hill on the horses. Sora was leading the way, Koushiro and he were in the middle and Yamato was on the back, protecting them. From the way Yamato kept staring at Koushiro's back, Takeru assumed he still considered the stranger a threat.

Since Koushiro was the one closest to him, Takeru decided to start a conversation with that man.

"Tell me, Koushiro, where are you from?"

"I was born on Shrimp Island and lived there until I was 10 years old," Koushiro replied, not looking at Takeru.

"That's pretty close to Turtle Island!" Takeru exclaimed. "I'm not sure why, but you had given me the impression of being from somewhere far away."

"I've travelled all around the world," Koushiro told him. "But I always end up coming back to this place. I like to visit the spot where my parents' house used to be... well, not properly my parents'... the house of the couple who took care of me after..."

Koushiro stopped talking. A sad expression was visible on his face.

Suddenly, Sora stopped her horse and raised one hand, as if giving a signal. Two people carrying shotguns came from both sides of the trail: a woman with purple hair and glasses and a man with spiky dark pink hair. At least, that's what Takeru assumed his hair color to be. The woman had a red and long sleeved shirt over her brown paints; her hair was tied in a ponytail. The man had black pants and a loose blue shirt.

"Daisuke! Miyako! I need to talk to my mother immediately!" Sora told them.

"We're really sorry, Sora, but we can't let strangers into the camp. It's dangerous!" Daisuke said, pointing at Takeru and Koushiro.

"This is my little brother, his name is Takeru," Yamato introduced his brother. "The one with red hair is likely a demon from Hell. You should tie him up."

"A demon?!" Daisuke exclaimed, staring at Koushiro with amazement in his eyes. "Are you an actual demon from Hell? Can you summon Hellfire? Can you eat souls? Are you capable of seeing the future?"

"No, no, no... to tell you the truth, I'm capable of seeing fragments of the future," Koushiro answered, "but that ability is not as useful as it sounds."

"You're a clairvoyant?" Takeru asked, excitedly.

"That kind of thing doesn't exist! It's unscientific! Charlatanism!" Miyako affirmed.

"I'm not a charlatan!" Koushiro stated.

"Don't mind her, Mr. Demon," Daisuke told Koushiro, "she's the local mad scientist and can get a bit carried away sometimes about science."

"Stop shaming me for my love for science, Daisuke!" Miyako shouted. "It's the greatest thing in the world!"

"Enough with this discussion!" Sora raised her voice. "The camp is in great danger! Yamanaka's men are coming to attack us! I must talk to my mother immediately!"

Yamato looked at Sora's trembling body with concern. Despite wanting to comfort her, he knew that interrupting the woman would only make her upset. Meanwhile, Miyako and Daisuke stared at Sora in shock. They didn't remember ever seeing her lose her temper.

"That's not possible!" Miyako stated, after half a minute. "Yamanaka's men don't know where our camp is! They would never find our location, unless someone told them!"

"You can't mean that there's a traitor among us..." Daisuke said.

"I don't know how it's going to happen, but I saw armed men walking up this hill amidst darkness," Koushiro told them. "That's why I warned Miss Sora."

"Why exactly should we believe you, stranger?" Miyako asked. "As far as I can tell, you're nothing more than a charlatan trying to deceive people!"

Koushiro sighed, frustrated.

"Fine, don't believe me! I'm used to that," he said. "Just tie me up already and drag me to the tent where you keep the weird looking mechanical box. I can't wait to see you yelling at the boy with green eyes and short black hair to stop meddling with your invention."

"How do you know all that?" Miyako inquired. Then, a bigger concern took over her mind. "Hold on, Iori is doing what?!"

"I can't waste more time with this!" Sora snapped, making her horse run towards the top of the hill. Yamato followed her on his horse.

"How dramatic!" Takeru murmured to himself. He was about to follow them, but Daisuke pointed the shotgun at him.

"The two of you will have to get down from the horses and let us tie your hands and blindfold you," he said.

"What? But I'm Yamato's brother!" Takeru protested. "Doesn't that make me trustworthy?"

"Well... you're not dressed as someone we could trust," Daisuke told him.

"How dare you? I'm wearing the finest and most expensive clothes you've probably seen in your whole lives!" Takeru was getting exasperated.

"That's precisely the issue!" Miyako was getting angry as well. "Do you understand that we're revolutionaries and you look like someone wealthy?"

"So... does being a revolutionary make you hate people with good taste in clothes?" Takeru asked.

Miyako and Daisuke were left speechless after Takeru's remark, not quite understanding how someone could say something so stupid.

Koushiro got down from the horse and put his hands up. He glanced at Takeru and told him:

"Mr. Takeru, with the due respect, please stop saying things without thinking first."

"W-What are you trying to say?" Takeru asked.

"I think he just called you out for saying something dumb... in a very polite way," Daisuke told him.

Takeru's world was shaken by that affirmation. Dumb? Him? But he was such an educated person! But... what if he was dumb? Had he actually been dumb for his entire life? Did he live a lie for all those years? He felt as if his head was spinning and lost his balance, which made him fall from the horse. Luckily for Takeru, he fell on Koushiro.

Koushiro wasn't very lucky as he was knocked to the ground by Takeru's weight.

"Didn't see that coming, did you, Mr. Psychic Demon?" Miyako mocked.

After that, she and Daisuke proceeded to tie and blindfold the two strangers.

Once Sora arrived at the camp, she jumped from the horse and headed to her mother's tent with large steps. Some revolutionaries, who were sitting on logs and cleaning their weapons, seemed surprised at her sudden arrival, but didn't pay her too much attention.

Yamato arrived right after her. He quickly got down from his horse and ran in Sora's direction.

"Sora, please! What are you going to say to her?" Yamato inquired, putting himself in her front. "You can't expect Leader Toshiko to believe that a demon dug himself out of the dirt and told you about a vision he had! I mean... do we even have any actual reason to believe that guy, anyway?"

"I don't know if he's telling the truth or not, but we can't risk our people's safety!" Sora retorted. "I'm not going to let Yamanaka take anyone away again!"

"Sora, I understand-" Yamato began to say.

"No, you don't! Your whole family is alive, you can't understand!" Sora shouted, pushing him out of her way.

Astonished by her uncharacteristically rude behavior, Yamato was unable to move for a few seconds. Once he recovered, he made his way to the tent in the middle of the camp. Inside it, he found Sora staring down at her mother, who was tending to a flower arrangement on the ground, while kneeling on a pillow. There were several other flower arrangements in the tent, among maps, books and weapons. The woman was wearing dark pants and a white buttoned shirt that gave her an air of elegance.

"You haven't come to see me in a while, Sora. And now, without any warning, you interrupt me while I'm with the flowers..." Toshiko commented.

"There's something more important than your flowers that we must discuss!" Sora told her. "Old man Yamanaka's men are coming to the camp! We have to evacuate!"

Toshiko paled after hearing that. She stood up and approached her daughter. Sora felt uncomfortable under that intense gaze, but didn't look away.

"Who told you that?" Toshiko inquired.

"That's not important!" Sora said.

"The only way for those people to find our location is if there's a traitor among us, which is something I can't bring myself to believe," Toshiko told her. "You'd better give me the source of that information if you expect me to take it seriously."

Sora felt her eyes getting warm and her body trembling. She wasn't surprised that her mother didn't listen to her, but that still hurt.

"Then, you need a reliable source to act to protect the group?" Sora questioned. "If you really cared about anyone, the mere possibility of them being in danger should be enough!"

"Sora, don't disrespect me!" Toshiko scolded her. "I care very deeply about-"

"You didn't even care about Dad!" Sora accused, letting a couple of tears escape her eyes.

Toshiko was taken aback by that. Without uttering a word, she watched as Sora stormed out of the tent, being followed by Yamato. Only when she was alone, she allowed herself to cry, like she had always done ever since the day when she lost her husband.

Out of the tent, Sora stumbled on something and nearly fell. Yamato embraced her from behind just in time. He didn't tell her anything. Yamato knew when Sora needed his words and that wasn't one of those moments. She turned to him and wrapped the man in her arms, burying her face on his shoulder. Yamato kept a hand on her back and caressed her hair with another. He would let her cry as much as she needed.

While Sora and Yamato were with Toshiko, Takeru and Koushiro arrived at the camp, after being guided by Miyako while Daisuke led the horses. Once they arrived, the pieces of fabric covering their eyes were removed. Takeru wasn't impressed by the amount of twenty dirty tents or the small group of people wearing cheap clothes. But what did he know? He was an ignorant, after all! Maybe that was the highest fashion among the revolutionaries and he just wasn't intelligent enough to appreciate it!

"Iori Hida, you better come out at this second or may the Goddess help me!" Miyako called.

A teenager with greens eyes and black hair came out of one of the tents. He was carrying a large mechanical black box, which had several small gears moving on its sides.

"You really are meddling with my invention!" Miyako accused.

"It wasn't working properly," Iori said. "I thought I could fix it if I took a better look-"

"Iori, you shouldn't touch other people's inventions without permission!" Miyako scolded him.

"It's not just your invention! I helped too!" Iori said.

"You just assisted me in the manufacture! I was the one who designed it and named it!" Miyako retorted.

"If it doesn't work, you didn't do a very good job, Miyako," Daisuke remarked.

"Hey, you're the last person that can criticize the Smokenator, Daisuke! You've never invented anything in your life!" Miyako shouted. Then, she grabbed the box and tried to pull it from Iori's hands, but he didn't want to give it to her.

"Stop it! I haven't finished fixing the Night Bringer yet!" Iori said, refusing to let go of the box.

"Stop trying to rename the Smokenator!" Miyako said back, putting more force in her grip.

"I find both of those names silly..." Takeru murmured, "but I'm nothing more than an ignorant simpleton who knows nothing of the world!"

"Mr. Takeru, you don't have to say that about yourself. You're clever!" Koushiro tried to cheer him up.

"You were the one who called me dumb!" Takeru accused.

"I never said that!" Koushiro defended himself. "I simply advised you to think more before saying things. I can tell you by experience that offending the wrong person can lead to terrible consequences. I didn't want you to repeat my mistakes."

"Your mistakes?" Takeru asked. "Are you saying that the reason why you die so much is that you keep saying dumb things to people?"

"I'm not going to deny that many of my deaths are tied to people not appreciating what I had to say... even if I was trying to help them..." Koushiro said in a sad tone. "But before all that, I offended someone very dangerous... in consequence I was cursed with the clairvoyance..."

"Cursed? But that's such a fascinating ability!" Takeru contested.

For a moment, it was as if the light had completely vanished from Koushiro's eyes, as if he had gotten lost in painful thoughts.

"It's not fascinating to see tragedies before they happen..." Koushiro had a cold tone, "it's not fascinating to try everything to stop those tragedies... to save people... and then watching them die anyway... unable to change anything..."

Takeru wasn't sure of what to think after their conversation took such a dark turn. Thankfully for him (but not for anyone else), the sudden eruption of black smoke from the mechanical box Miyako and Iori had been fighting over distracted him from the awkward situation Koushiro had created. The black smoke rose to the sky quickly and began to spread in high speed. Despite being the middle of the day, the darkness befalling them made it seem like night had arrived.

"Iori, what did you do?!" Miyako questioned, letting go of the box.

"Don't act as if I was the only one in fault for this!" Iori stood up for himself.

"The entire island is going to see this smoke!" Daisuke said. "Everybody is going to know our location now!"

"What's going on here?!" Yamato inquired, running in their direction alongside Sora. He saw Iori still holding the box from which the smoke was coming. "Iori, what did you do?!"

"Hey, don't criticize Iori!" Miyako defended the teenager. "A farmer like you can't understand the passion of a scientist!"

Sora hurried to untie Takeru and Koushiro. Right after that, she grabbed the red-haired young man by the shoulders and inquired:

"Is this the 'darkness' you saw? Are Yamanaka's men coming?"

"I think so..." Koushiro murmured.

"You think so?!" Yamato snapped. "Are you a clairvoyant or not?! Give us a straight answer! Tells us what will happen next!"

"I can only see fragments of the future!" Koushiro explained. "I can't control this ability!"

"Brother, leave him alone!" Takeru pleaded. "Koushiro is just trying to help! He might not know everything and not understand the intricacies of certain social rules or why some people don't appreciate fine clothes!"

"Is he still talking about Mr. Demon?" Daisuke wondered.

"But the point is that he's trying his best to help!" Takeru continued. "He might make mistakes and say dumb things sometimes, but he's trying to improve himself and do better! Isn't that worthy something?"

"I think I'm not understanding the context here," Yamato said. "What on Earth happened after I went after Sora?"

"Sora, what happened here?" Toshiko questioned, running in her daughter's direction. "This smoke is giving away our location! The camp can be attacked! Yamanaka's henchmen outnumber us! They have better equipment and more munition! In our current state, we can't outfight them!"

For a moment, Sora wanted to say spiteful things to her mother. But the desperation on Toshiko's face made her hesitate. Her previous words of accusation towards Toshiko, fueled by the pain caused by the loss of her father, seemed cruel and stupid on retrospect. It couldn't be more evident that her mother had always worried about the safety of her people.

"We just need to make sure that everybody escape to the tunnels before they get here," Sora said, letting go of Koushiro and turning to her mother. "Let's reunite our best shooters! I can lead the offensive and buy you enough time-"

"Sora, no!" Toshiko interrupted. "You have to escape too! I will stay back and fight them off!"

"Are you out of your mind?!" Sora questioned. "You'll die if you do that! I have to stay and help you!"

"This is an order, Sora! You'll leave!" Toshiko insisted.

"I'm not going to run!" Sora stated. "I'm not going to turn my back on other people and leave them to die!"

For the first time in many years, Sora saw tears in Toshiko's eyes.

"Back then, the thing that I wanted the most was to save Haruhiko or die trying. But I couldn't do that... and it wasn't just for the sake of the group..." Toshiko told her daughter. "If I had tried to save Haruhiko, both your father and I would've died. And then, you'd be left alone to fend for yourself... those horrible men wouldn't show mercy to a little kid... you might hate me for that decision, Sora. It's alright, I hate myself for it as well. But I don't regret choosing to protect you. I'll keep choosing you above everything and everyone, for as long as I live. So, please, don't throw your life away!"

Sora could feel her eyes getting flooded with tears. She almost didn't recognize the warmth and lightness taking over her heart. They were reminiscent of happier times, when her family was together. Those feelings made her realize that, despite respecting her mother's love for her, she still couldn't abandon the woman. Sora wasn't willing to lose the rest of her family.

"OH MY GODDESS!" Takeru suddenly shouted, startling everybody who was enthralled by the touching moment Sora and Toshiko were sharing. "I JUST HAD THE MOST AMAZING IDEA THAT IS GOING TO SAVE EVERYBODY! IT'S SUCH AN INTELLIGENT PLAN! I'M SO INTELLIGENT! HOW COULD I EVER THINK I WAS DUMB?!"

"Wait, did you seriously just come up with an idea that is going to save everybody?" Miyako asked in a skeptical tone.

"Yes, I did, Miss Mad Scientist!" Takeru interjected, pointing his finger dramatically towards the dark sky. "But before I begin to explain my brilliant plan, tell me, do you have any other interesting invention?"

"Oh! Are you asking me if I have other interesting inventions?" Miyako grinned. "I do! I really do! Just you wait to see them!"

"Now, you're sounding like an evil scientist, Miyako!" Daisuke commented.

"Be quiet, Daisuke!" Miyako retorted.

"Hey, Daisuke!" a young woman with light pink hair approached him. Several other revolutionaries were surrounding the group. "Care to explain what's going on to the rest of us?"

"Honestly, Jun, weren't you paying attention?" Daisuke asked.

"We have been paying attention!" another young woman, with short curly blond hair and glasses, said. "But we still need an explanation! We don't even know who that class traitor claiming to have a brilliant plan is!"

"Who are you calling a class traitor?!" Takeru inquired.

Koushiro found the discussion funny. It felt strange to laugh after such a long time, even if he was trying to muffle it. That heartwarming feeling, however, didn't last long.

He suddenly saw himself in a large living room. In front of him, there was an old skinny man looking through a large window. Through ot, the black smoke covering the hill was visible at the horizon.

"Tell me, Monk..." the old man spoke in a husky voice, "is it really wise to send all my forces after the revolutionaries?"

"I can protect you by myself, you have nothing to worry about."

Koushiro knew that voice too well. In other times, nothing would make him happier than to listen to that person, especially when he was laughing. At that moment, however, all that voice did was to confirm his dreadful suspicions.

"What is a holy man like you doing on Turtle Island?" the old man inquired, turning to his right. There, the person in the monk clothes was leaning against a wall. He was smiling at the other, but that smile wasn't like the ones he used to show Koushiro. There was no shred of joy left on that face. The top of the monk's head was covered by a black hood, but Koushiro could still see some strings of that person's large brown hair coming out.

In those distant times, that person would never hide his hair.

"Well, you know..." the monk smirked, "nothing much... just waiting for an old friend."

His sight began to turn dark, indicating that the vision was ending. Koushiro was once again in the revolutionary camp. Takeru was still discussing something with the revolutionaries, but Koushiro wasn't paying attention anymore. His mind wandered through memories of their last meetings, which all ended with his best friend asking him the same thing:

"Please, stay dead this time."

[adventure-hearts]

Epilogue Celebration: “Couples”

The Epilogue is my favourite timeline for Sora x Yamato, so ofc I’m going to use this prompt as an excuse to talk about them. But how do you sum up a vision built on almost 20 years of headcanons and stories? Here is my modest attempt...

“State of The Art”

As of 2028, Sora and Yamato (40) have been together for around 10 years. The exact timeline of the relationship depends on which of them you ask; when they got back together at the end of the 2010s, they took a while to go from a no-strings-attached relationship to being an official couple. It took them even longer to decide to get married, since both were pretty wary of marriage. 

When, after a few years of dating, Yamato was assigned by JAXA to an astronaut training course in France, he asked Sora to come and live with him. Making things legal made immigration bureaucracy less complicated, so they just took the extra step and eloped. The only witnesses at their wedding were their Digimon partners (something Takeru cries over to this day)! They lived in France for a few years and had two kids, Hana (6) and Ren (3), who were born there. During this period, Yamato, who had a position at the European Space Agency, completed two space trips, while Sora worked at a big Parisian fashion house. 

In 2025, after Yamato’s international assignment ended, they relocated to Japan, and Sora decided to start her own fashion label, to great success. Since both make decent money, they now live in a lovely house with a garden and have a comfortable financial situation. This is where we find them at the time of the Epilogue.

Raising the Kids

Sora was initially scared of becoming a mother. Growing up with everyone treating her as a “mom friend” and feeling responsible for the well-being of others, in addition to the pressures of belonging to the Takenouchi family, she was hesitant to have a child unless she was sure she would not mess it up. Yamato, on the other hand, craved kids (being very fond of his nephew Théo) and secretly dreamed of having a child with Sora, but didn’t push the subject much until Sora decided for herself.

Sometime after Hana’s birth, after it was clear that they both were made for parenthood, they were happy to expand the family, but there were a few health issues during pregnancy and childbirth. Baby Ren was born premature from an emergency c-section, and they were told conceiving again was very unlikely. So, with some regret, the Takenouchi-Ishida family was complete.

Sora and Yamato are usually on the same page when it comes to raising Hana and Ren. They value their happiness and freedom above everything else, and living abroad influenced them and made them have a pretty modern approach to parenting. 

Yamato was raised with practically no rules or adult supervision, and Sora was the opposite, so they try to find a balance for their kids. It’s usually Sora who enforces rules, because Yamato is very easily manipulated by the kids who tend to get their way around him every time. By contrast, Yamato is the hands-on, overprotective dad who truly believes his children to be faultless and superior to all other kids, something Sora tries to balance a little to make sure the kids are polite and unspoiled.

It isn’t always easy to juggle work-family balance, but they have a lot of help and support from their parents, especially since they moved back to Japan. Hiroaki, in particular, is a keen baby sitter, but all four grandparents almost fight over who gets to watch the kids when Yamato and Sora are working!

Relationship Dynamics

Sora and Yamato are very passionate and devoted to each other (after all, they’ve been in love since they were teenagers, even though it took them a long while to get together), but they also have a somehow atypical relationship.  They aren’t openly demonstrative in public. They were the last of the group to start a family. They don’t share a last name (because Sora is an only child and heir to an important iemoto family, like her mom, she didn’t change her name after marriage; a recent law allows Yamato to keep his birth name, but the kids are Takenouchi). They eloped instead of having a big wedding. They have demanding careers that involve traveling abroad and off-planet. They happen to both be former Chosen Children (although Sora “retired” from Digimon business in 2010).

This means that they are pretty independent, and they are used to spending time away from each other. The saying “absence makes the heart grow fonder” is key here! Yamato and Sora make sure to treasure every second they do spend together and enjoy it to the max. Friends joke they are weird, but behind closed doors they are constantly on the honeymoon phase, because they don’t really have time to get bored with each other.

Supporting each other’s careers is an important aspect of the marriage. They are both passionate about their jobs. Sora made it clear, from the start, that she would not be willing to get married or have kids if that meant sacrificing her dream of becoming a fashion designer or that she wouldn’t accept anything other than an egalitarian partnership with her husband and co-parent. Luckily, Yamato is a good housekeeper and sharing chores hasn’t been much of a problem here (though she still struggles with some of the habits he acquired living with his Dad). Sora is also very understanding of Yamato’s dangerous job and can handle it better than most (though of course she worries!).

Although Sora moved across countries for the sake of Yamato’s job, and has to take care of the kids alone when he was off in space (which required her to postpone her career plans for some time), Yamato was also the main person who supported her decision start her own fashion house in Japan. Nowadays, he’s usually the one who misses work to stay home with the kids while Sora works weekends and late nights, running her growing fashion empire.

Yamato has only been on one space travel since the kids were born (he spent eight months away from home in 2026) and now has a very flexible schedule that lets him spent lots of time at home. This coincided with the period when Sora was building her brand and achieving success, and so was more busy than ever. They try to arrange their schedules so they don’t spend more than two weeks apart and Sora devotedly schedules “dates” so they have quality time together. But both know it’s inevitable that he will be called again, especially if a threat appears or if world governments decide to invest in a Mars mission, so this work-family balance may face some challenges in the near future.

For them, emotional distance can be more of a problem than physical distance. They tend to avoid discussing problems and fears when they aren’t together, and so sometimes they feel a little isolated with their feelings. Sora often feels very overwhelmed with her many responsibilities (running a successful label alongside with helping her aging mother with the Ikebana school), but is too proud to ask for anyone’s help, and can feel disgruntled when she feels Yamato isn’t paying enough attention to her. Meanwhile, when Yamato has an important work-assignment in his hands, he throws himself headfirst and can become distant. He often feels guilty for neglecting his wife and kids and worries about not being present enough, because his fear is that history will repeat itself. 

Rest assured, though, because marital problems are a rarity. Years have helped them communicate better and they know each other inside out; this a mutually satisfying, supportive, and harmonious marriage all around.

Random Couple Headcanons for the other Chosen

Miyako & Ken - Happily married eternal lovebirds; the kind that don’t shy away from embarrassing their kids in public.

Mimi - Surprisingly uninterested in serious romantic relationships, she decided to have a baby on her own.

Takeru - Went through the marriage, baby, and divorce phase while still in his mid-twenties. His ex-wife is a French Chosen Child who lives in Japan, and who has since remarried. They have a very friendly relationship for the sake of their son and share 50/50 custody. Since his divorce, Takeru enjoys the single life to the max, without any desire for a serious relationship with anyone except maybe one woman.

Taichi - Recently went through a litigious divorce and is having trouble with his ex-wife. He’s been trying to make sure his son isn’t affected by this, and has been relying a lot on his sister and his closest friends for moral support. 

Koushirou - Married a fellow researcher and is by all accounts very happy.

Jou - Happily married his high-school sweetheart, who is also a doctor.

Iori - His wife was one of Miyako’s former co-workers and her protegée, and she now stays home and manages the family. They married very young because they didn’t see a point in waiting to have a committed and stable family.

Hikari - Married an older man who died suddenly of cancer a few years back. She lives with her parents who help her raise her little boy. Has a lot of suitors.

Daisuke - Never married, but had a son with an ex-girlfriend when he was pretty young. He’s currently engaged to a handsome, wealthy American restaurateur named Dave.

[ahiddenpath]

Epilogue Celebration: Family

I keep running behind with these, there’s so much going on!  HOW ABOUT THAT STEVEN UNIVERSE FINALE, EH?

I keep intending to write a ficlet, but I can never seem to stay on top of it.  I hope you’ll accept some miscellaneous 2028 family headcanons below the cut.

-Taichi is one of the last Chosen to have his first child, age wise.  This is partially because he’s busy representing digimon in human government, and humans to digimon.  It’s a difficult and demanding job, both in terms of the work and the emotional toll as a subset of humans exploit digimon and a large swath of humans fear them.  It often feels like Taichi is standing alone in a huge chasm between the two parties, trying to bring them together with little interest from either side.

So, yeah, he’s not really thinking about kids and family...  Except that he is, and he’s eating his heart out with indecision over it.  I think it takes a ton of courage and time for him to decide to become a father.

Like many of the Chosen, Taichi can’t spend as much time with his child as he would like because of his career.  Still, his son adores him and thinks he’s the best Dad in the world, an attitude helped along by Agumon constantly saying so!

Taichi is a laid back and indulgent dad, except when his Worry kicks in.  His wife has put him in parenting time out when he gets into his head and starts hovering too much.

-Yamato and Sora also waited a while to have kids because of their family backgrounds.  They wanted to really be sure that they were ready first, committed to each other and to their new family.  (I wrote a drabble that gets into it here, if you’re interested).

Because Yamato is an astronaut and Sora is a clothing designer, they rely heavily on their parents and Takeru for help watching their children.  This is difficult for them, because they very much want to be with their kids...  But they also want to achieve their own aspirations.  Luckily, their parents and Takeru all dote on the kids, and sometimes squabble a bit over who gets them next.

Yamato tries to be chill about it, but it’s embarrassingly easy to get him gushing about his kiddos and the wife.  Like, he’s that guy who starts every sentence with, “My daughter/son/wife/brother/Gabumon/nephew...”  Missions are really hard on him for this reason.  He’s known to tear up when talking to his family from space.

Sora is Best Mom, having trained since age 11 by handling the Chosen.  Even when she’s away, the kids can’t get away with anything; her Mom Powers elicit confessions without much effort.  The trick is that the kiddos just can’t lie to their adoring mother who takes such great care of them.

Sora does have to monitor herself closely.  When her emotional state is poor, she sometimes snaps at the kids for normal kid stuff.  Meanwhile, Yamato has to watch out for his tendency to send mixed messages by retreating when his emotions act up.

-I talked about Koushiro as a Dad a lot both here and here.  His Dad strengths are supporting all of his daughter’s interests and engaging with her via activities and teaching opportunities, but he’s not skilled at understanding and meeting her emotional needs and giving social advice.  Happily, I headcanon him marrying a lady who is well-equipped to cover those areas.  He also sometimes just... gets scared of doing the wrong thing and retreats, but again, his parents and his wife quickly learn when to intervene.

-Mimi also has a parent post here.  She’s great at interacting with her kid and having fun with him, and as an adult, she’s learned how to set boundaries.  Still, she has a tendency to spoil her son, so luckily, there’s a wide network of beloved people helping to raise him to balance that out.

-Jyou!  Oh my god, Jyou would be the most amazing dad, fight me (there’s likely no need). 

The thing I most want to say here is that Jyou goes out of his way to expose his son to all kinds of careers and hobbies.  In fact, he asks his friends, including the Chosen, to allow his son to participate in their “take your kids to work” events.  He tells his boy that he can be whatever he wants, and that while he wants his son to find his passion and succeed in it...  If he ever needs a place to fall back on, Jyou will be there.  

He doesn’t want his son to experience the pressure he felt.  Still, he is sure to instill the virtues of hard work and service.

Honestly, I think his only major flaw as a parent is worrying too much about his kids, and also spending too much time at work (he’s a doctor, so that’s inevitable).  Luckily, Gomamon is around to keep things light-hearted, and to remind Jyou that is family needs him and he needs to go home now.

-Takeru is a great dad, and I think having his own family was really...  A dream?  Just a dream come true for him.  After his parents divorced, I think it’s clear that Takeru wanted his family back, the way it used to be.  These days, he has both parents (and they love babysitting), his brother, his sister-in-law, their kids...  And he has his own wife and child.  Things are no longer quiet at home or awkward with his parents.

Honestly, I think Dad Takeru is living his best life and organizing play dates and is just so happy.  He’s amazing with children, and they love him...  But his adult friends know to be wary when their kids and Takeru huddle up.  What the hell kind of mischief is he encouraging?  At least they never have to wait long to find out.

-Hikari is also an A+ Mama.  Her warm, sweet aura soothes kids and inspires good behavior, but don’t think she can be walked on!  A teacher takes no guff and knows how to convince kiddos to behave.

Hikari needs to learn to tend her mental health with love, care, and regularity.  Teaching saps her emotional strength, and she often feels depleted, but forces herself to keep smiling and giving her all.  There are times when everything just reaches critical failure levels, and she melts down.  

So, Hikari...  I’mma need you to love yourself the way you love everyone else.

-Oh my God, Daisuke.  Sometimes, he acts more like a brother or uncle than a father, so his kid gets away with things that he... probably shouldn’t.  I’m hoping he is with someone who disciplines instead of joining in on nonsense!

I can tell you that his son adores him, though.  They live a fun, loud, and noisy life!  Daisuke and his son both wish that Daisuke wasn’t so busy as an entrepreneur, but the good news is that Daisuke’s parents, sister, and Chosen friends (especially the 02 crew) are always willing to babysit.

-Miyako and Ken might have the most... stable????  Presence for their kiddos, since Miyako is a stay-at-home-mom.  I do think that, when her youngest goes into kindergarten, she starts working part time as a researcher for Koushiro’s company, but...  She’s always wanted a big, happy family, and she is always, always there for her kiddos.  I really admire that.

I think the kiddos might favor Ken, just because he’s not at home all the time, and...  Well, who doesn’t love Ken-chan?  I bet Miyako gets a little miffed when the kiddos rejoice when daddy comes home after she cared for them all day...  But she’s probably just as excited to see him!  

I kind of think Ken and Miyako are That Couple.  You know, the one that makes everyone think, blech, get a room, just from the way they look at each other.

Miyako is the kind of mom that can cheerfully yell at kids XD  Like, the standard speaking volume is pretty high in this household.  They’re the kind of sibling group that bickers one moment and cuddles and plays together the next.  She always sees to everyone’s needs, knows how to discipline, but also brings on the fun.  The only issue is that her emotions get carried away sometimes, and she needs to reel herself in before she riles up the kiddos to the point where they’re impossible to calm.

Ken, I think, is like an oasis for his kids.  Calm, soothing, understanding, patient, quiet...  He might not be as good as talking and taking charge as Miyako, but he’s an amazing listener, and he gives the world’s best hugs, certified.

He has his hands full with the bedtime routine, trying to wind everyone down after a loud, fun day with Miyako and each other.

-I believe that leaves Iori!  Ugh, I love him, and I love to think of him as this strong, capable man who dedicates himself to service.  He’s like a pillar to his daughter, who is likely the sweetest and kindest gen 2 baby.  Like so many of the Chosen, Iori’s career is demanding, but his wife, mother, and grandfather step in.  In fact, they might all live together?  And while his daughter loves all of them, Iori is her favorite.  In her eyes, he is just, kind, capable, dedicated, and strong, always helping the digimon and people who need help.

I think the only issue is that Iori doesn’t realize how big of a shadow he’s casting.  His daughter pushes herself to be everything that she sees in him, which is a lot for anyone, let alone a kid.  The good news is that her great-grandfather sees everything, and he is always telling her that she is more than enough.

I LOVE THEM ALL, THANKS FOR COMING TO MY TED TALK.

[mabeljonesrock]

Hero 108 season 3 AU idea!

My idea of season three:

Few Weeks After Twin masters’s defeat, everything in Hidden Kingdom got better and everyone had tried to rebuild their lives. High Roller and his lackeys suddenly disappeared and aren’t seen again. Animals and humans were now at peace again. Until an unknown Foe arrived in hidden kingdom. Like everyone in hidden kingdom, they are humans and animals. But unlike them, their technology, culture and weapons are much more advanced(think Cyberpunk-steampunk-dieselpunk) and wear futuristic, modern clothes/armor. They come from a different world called the Jin Ping Mei Empire. They attacked the hidden kingdom and many people tried to fight back including Big green. It was a dystopian war and the war last six months. After a intense battle, the tyrannical Jin Ping Mei Empire succeeded into taking over hidden Kingdom and many lives are lost. They captured the remaining humans and animals from hidden kingdom as their slaves. But all hope is not lost for The hidden kingdom. Big green survived but not before losing some of their members to the war and all of them went on a hiding until they find a way to stop The Jin Ping Mei Empire. The first squad and second squad decided to leave Big green and went on a quest to stop the Jin Ping Mei Empire. Three years later, the first squad and second squad return and were now bigger and stronger than ever. They had gain new allies of their own and had new weapons. They band together to stop Jin Ping Mei Empire and Save hidden kingdom once and for all. The Golden Lotus and their cult will be the main villains and were masterminds behind the Jin Ping Mei empire. The golden Lotus will manipulate Ximen Qing(who is the president and ruler of the Jin Píng Mei empire) and he end up becoming their puppet.

1. Jing Ping Mei empire’s culture is based off America, United Kingdom, Japan and China.

2. Ximen Qing is like the Chinese version of Donald trump.

3. Pan Jinlian will appeared in this story and was the love interest of Dog king. But after Dog King’s mysterious death in the Jing Ping Mei Empire, Pan Jinlian blame Big green for not finding his body and not saving him. She left. Three years later, She return for unknown reasons and Told Big green that she had move on her lover’s death and decided to join Big green in honor of her decreased Spouse. Wu song didn’t trust Pan Jinlian because she suspiciously changed His brother’s behavior and habits. Wu Song suspects there something Fishy about her. Pan jinlian’s personality will be sweet, kind, caring and supportive but had notorious motives and plans. She adored Dog king and sometimes treat him like pet puppy. She is very hardworking with her job as a nurse in big green. She is very calm and cool when it come to danger and would not let anger, stress or fear let her. Despite her friendly and innocent exterior, Pan jinlian may or may not had connections to the golden lotus and the children of twin masters

4. Mr Nohands is now a badass cyborg and gain new robotic arms after he forcibly chopped off his hands when his stockade is destroyed during the Jing Ping mei war. After losing his arms and getting new mechanical arms, He decided he done being lazy and now learn to become a more skilled and competent fighter. He is currently the general and second-in-command of ApeTrully.

5. ApeTrully’s secret is accidentally revealed during the Jing Ping mei war. He managed to saved Woo from being killed by Jing Píng Mei soldiers. He survived but it end with him being injured and his disguise is damaged. ApeTrully lose consciousness and is sent to the medic camp where everyone found out he is a monkey when the doctors remove his “clothes” to bandaged his wounds. ApeTrully is ashamed when he realized everyone now know he a monkey. He about to leave big green until Lin Chung and Woo stop him. Everyone in the big green told him they cannot be a rebellion without him being a leader and they didn’t care if he a monkey or not because he still their natural born leader.

6. Glitchout will be voiced by Michaela Dietz or Nina futterman. Missy Metalmice will be voiced by April Winchell. Sandā Will be voiced by Greg Cipes. Pan Jinlian will be voiced by Britt McKillip or Jayma Mays. Ximen Qing will be voiced by Erica Bauza. The golden lotus will remain silent until the end of season 3.

7. For my season 3 idea, Twin masters did get resurrected by the ritual later in series but end up becoming cleansed of his evil thanks to an accident that messed up the ritual. Instead of a malevolent eldritch abomination, standing there was a smol baby Yang Tu with no memories of his past life. The two things he retain from his past is his godly powers and heterochromia eyes(red and blue respectively). The first squad rescued the now amnesiac infant Yang Tu from the children of Twin masters. They decided to adopt and raised him to ensure that he grows up right. They named the baby Yang-ming. Lin Chung will have a soft father-son/brotherly relationship with Yang-Ming and it will be sweet. Everyone in big green decided NOT to reveal Yang Ming’s true identity and had to make sure Yang Ming will not turn evil and make mistakes like his past selves. Despite raising Yang Ming into a sweet and loving kid, Lin Chung start to have nightmares about what happen if Yang Ming regained his memories, become evil again and killed everyone including himself.

8. High Roller and his Lackeys will return in my season 3 au. Like the first and second squad, they come back bigger and stronger and they had become very dangerous crime lords themselves. They gain new allies. The new allies are the five Japanese mad max-inspired mercenaries with the leader being a Ninja-pirate-cowboy-biker named Daisuke who look, speak and fight like Bruce Lee. He be human while The bounty hunters will be Tanuki, Kitsune, Bakeneko and Kappa. They are called The Feral five.

9. The new allies will be a orphan girl, a Kamaitachi who is a ex-member of the feral five(formerly the savage six) and a Mouse who fights in a mecha. The orphan girl will be named Glitchout and serve as the hacker and brains of the trio. She a very spunky and energetic tomboy who enjoy videogames, reading comic books, eating candy and hanging out with her friends. Her abilities is building high tech Weapons/robots, highly skilled in hacking/coding and skilled in street parkour. She a nine year old girl with a bit chubby build and purple wide eyes, pale skin and had shoulder-length hair dyed in Pink, magenta, purple and blue and tied up in low pigtails, Magenta goggles over her head, magenta t-shirt, blue overall shorts, pink and magenta striped tights, a purple hoodie wrapped around her waist, pink fingerless gloves and blue converse boots. Mouse will be named Missy Metalmice and is the brawler of the trio. Despite being a adorable Tiny mouse, she is a fearless and ferocious fighter who is not a person to mess with and will crush her enemy if they poke fun at her height and cute appearance. She hated and cannot stand being treated like a timid, defenseless creature and can be very hotheaded about it. Despite her aloof, stoic and cold exterior, she is a wise, supportive and understanding friend who care for her loved ones and will beat her enemies if they tried to harm them. She serve as a protective but caring mother figure to Glitchout. She is a adorable pink mouse with blue eyes and wear skull earrings, red pink bow, eyeliner and black eyeshadow. Her mecha is seven foot tall, samurai themed and had black and red colour schemes. She had a secret crush on jumpy ghostface. The Kamaitachi will be named Sandā and the speedster of the trio. Despite looking like a fearsome and frightening beast, in reality Sandā is a very kindhearted and friendly pacifist who refused to killed a living being. He is hyperactive, zany and full of energy and enjoy comedy, noodle puns/jokes and games. He is great friends with children. He used to be a rookie member of the Savage six before he defect when he is forced to kill an innocent old lady and her grandchildren. He is a white, yellow and blue Kamaitachi and wear A leather jacket with sleeves ripped off, a golden earring, spiky collar and blue Mohawk.

[love-sapphirerose]

10 Anime Couples That Should Have Never Happened

https://www.cbr.com/anime-couples-that-should-have-never-happened/

Just because you can be together, doesn’t mean you should be together. The anime couples on this list are all in relationships that should have never happened. Whether they are blood related, dysfunctional, or a psychotic serial killer, these are not the one true pairing.

Many of the anime characters on the list have perfectly acceptable alternatives that they could have gone for in their respected series. The couples on the list aren’t limited to the romance genre. Be sure to check out the most toxic anime couples of all time too. 

10. Natsuo Fujii and Hina Tachibana - Domestic Girlfriend

Hina Tachibana is one love interest for Natsuo Fujii from Domestic Girlfriend. Hina is Natsuo’s teacher and becomes his stepsister when Natsuo’s father remarries Hina’s mother. Hina also has a younger sister named Rui that Natsuo meets and has a one-night stand prior to Rui becoming his stepsister. While Natsuo takes interest in both his stepsisters, its Hina that takes his heart more. Hina realizes that the things she does with Natsuo are wrong and eventually leaves only leaving a letter behind. This leaves Natsuo crushed, but at least he has his other stepsister. 

9. Daisuke Aoki and Rin Kokonoe – A Child’s Time

The second teacher student relationship on the list is Daisuke Aoki and Rin Kokonoe from A Child’s Time. Daisuke is a 23-year-old teacher to third grader Rin. Daisuke finds himself in precarious situations with Rin and begins to develop feelings for the 7-year-old. 

As the series goes on, Daisukes feelings get stronger and he lies to himself that he sees her like a daughter. When Rin turns 16 the two become a couple. 

8. Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno – Naruto

Sasuke Uchiha is a love interest for Sakura Haruno and a poor one at that. Despite giving off countless red flags, Sasuke and Sakura have a daughter that Sakura finds herself raising. Sasuke has almost gotten Sakura killed on multiple occasions and betrayed the trust of her and her friends, but still takes Sasuke back. At one point in the series Sakura ends up lying to Naruto about her feelings for Sasuke as she has completely fallen for him. 

7. Kyousuke and Kirino Kousaka – My Little Sister Can’t Be This Cute

Anime's token incest couple, Kyousuke and Kirino Kousaka, are blood related siblings. 

When Kyousuke finds out that his little sister is into little sister eroge his life begins to change. Going on a series of adventures for Kirino, Kyousuke starts to fall for Kirino. As a tsundere, Kirino can’t admit that she has feelings back, but feels the same way. The two date for part of the series but break up. Being apart they realize how much they really mean to each other. Kyousuke even gets kicked out of his house by his parents for the feels he has for his younger sister. At the end of the series, the two get married for the experience, but decide it’s best if they stay siblings. 

6. Mugi Awaya and Hanabi Yasuraoka – Scum’s Wish

Hanabi Yasuraoka is in love with her teacher and childhood friend Narumi, but knows she can’t be with him. Mugi Awaya is in love with his music teacher Akane but is played by her. Hanabi and Mugi date each other at the start of the series for convenience. They both want to be with other people. The two don’t really love each other landing them on the list. To make matters worse for them Narumi and Akane end up getting married. 

5. Nana Komatsu and Takumi Ichinose – Nana

Nana Komatsu, also known as Hachi, is in a relationship with Takumi Ichinose, the leader of the band Trapnest. Takumi is a player that has been known to go through woman very quickly. However, it’s different between him and Hachi. Takumi comes across as he is in love with Hachi, not wanting her to leave his side. Hachi can’t decide whether she wants to be with Takumi or Nobu a guitarist she became friends with prior. 

When Hachi realises she’s pregnant, she is unsure who the father is. Due to Takumi’s position in a famous band she decides he is better fit despite who’s really the father. Takumi doesn’t stray from his old antics cheating on Hachi multiple times. 

4. Yukiteru Amano and Yuno – Future Diary

Where do I start with these two? Yukiteru Amano, known as Yukki and Yuno Gasai are caught up in a battle royale death game. Yuno Gasai is a yandere, meaning she is infatuated with Yukki and has homicidal tendencies to anyone that takes interest in him. Yuno has a secret that she doesn’t want Yukki to know. She’s hiding the two corpses of her parents in her closet that she starved to death and a third corpse of herself in an altered world. Yuno doesn’t want Yukki to know about her secret in fear that Yukki will never love her. Thank you Yuno, for showing us that pink hair is a red flag in anime. 

3. Subaru Natsuki and Emilia – Re:Zero: Starting Life in Another World

“I love Emilia”, echoes through the mind of everyone who felt Suburu Natsuki should have accepted Rem’s confession. While nothing is inherently wrong with Emilia, the way Suburu rejected Rem’s feelings was heartbreaking and landed him on this list. With Re:Zero being confirmed for a second season Rem fans will look to see if she shoots her shot a second time. 

2. Louise Francoise Le Blanc de La Valliere and Saito Hiraga – The Familiar of Zero

A toxic relationship is never good and whether its ironic or not Louise Francoise Le Blanc de La Valliere and Saito Hiraga just aren’t working. Getting called names, whipped, beaten, and even starved, Saito is constantly abused throughout The Familiar of Zero. Saito endures Louise’s torment for no apparent reason. Her magic isn’t great and she is constantly abusing him even when he does the right thing. 

1. Makoto Itou and Kotonoha Katsura - School Days

Easily one of the worst couples in all of anime, Makoto Itou and Kotonoha Katsura are the ideal couple on how not to be in a relationship. Arguably, any pairing with Makoto in School Days can be considered awful but Kotonoha makes this list. Throwing a whole group of terrible people together and having them compete for love was not a good recipe. Jealousy, vengeance, manipulation, homicide, domestic violence, the list goes on and on.