#this is why whenever someone say they want to be a Salaryman because of an Anime they watched I did inside

[mayday396]

I just found out about the whole "Japanese Weathercaster Saya Hiyama dating Professional Tennis Player Yoshihito Nishioka" thing really fucking Cute and they deserve to Live a long, Fruitful and Healthy life together.

There's this Bullshit thing in China, Japan and Korea, that I will never understand cause I grew up and live in Singapore, and it's the Idol/Acting industry looking down on Idols who are in a Relationship with someone.

It's most prominent in Japan and Korea hence the whole BTS fanfic Shenanigans of Self Inserts kind of unrealistic to happen because they are kind of illegal also because Idol Fans are something else.

I just find it really upsetting that these Two People just want to be there for each other and support each other, they are seriously getting into Relationship and then Millions of Single Japanese Men possibly working in Salaryman Jobs decided to bash and Hate you for loving someone.

Like WTF, let them love each other, not to mention just because they were in a relationship, the News Agency Hiyama was in had their Stocks went down, if you truly Simp for someone you wouldn't allow this to happen.

GO OUTSIDE, TOUCH SOME GRASS, TAKE A WALK, QUIT YOUR SALARYMAN JOB AND STOP WORKING TO DEATH, JAPAN.

STOP BASHING ON PEOPLE WHO ALSO HAVE THEIR OWN LIVES, I DON'T CARE IF ITS SOME CULTURAL DIFFERENCE EVERYONE DESERVES LOVE, JAPAN.

LET PEOPLE LOVE EACH OTHER, JAPAN.

[anonzentimes]

zen am i just projecting or am i cooking when i say komahina are both soooo incredibly anxiety disorder coded

like i’ll start with nagito bc to me that one’s more obvious. this guy has ocd. holy SHIT nagito has ocd. and it’s completely reasonable for him to have developed it! his luck means that things go wrong for very little reason all the time, he knows the luck has Rules to it, of course he’d develop little “rituals” (read: compulsions) to try to minimize bad luck. plus, frontotemporal dementia often causes symptoms of ocd as well (though i’d argue he very well could have developed the disorder before his diagnosis). nagito is always so convinced that Something Bad is going to happen Because Of Him even if he has nothing to do with the situation. “xyz thing happened earlier so something awful will happen now” that is obsessive-compulsive thinking!!! i just know he counts every step and Has to close doors 8 Times “just in case.” he probably has some form of moral ocd as well considering how convinced he is that he’s a terrible person who isn’t worth anything. oh and of course he doomspirals like no fucking other

as for hajime. i might really be projecting with this one but also i’m Right. generalized anxiety disorder. his primary fear response is fight. hajime is so stressed out about everything all the time and this is why he’s kind of bitchy. he’s Anxious. you see this a lot in the prologue where even before monokuma shows up hajime Is Not Trusting Of This Situation bc what the fuck!!! where is he!! what do you MEAN just enjoy it how did he get here!!! he’s surrounded by strange people on a strange island with a fucking stuffed rabbit and you expect him to NOT freak out??? hello??? he passed out for sure bc his adrenaline response got so intense that his blood pressure got weird and oh down he goes. but it also shows in subtler ways. his thought patterns and constant questioning of things— he overthinks a LOT, from monokuma’s plans to why his classmates are Like That to I Must Be So Normal to his mystery talent to What Is Nagito’s Deal Actually. in the prologue and chapter one, nagito gets hajime to calm down by distracting him— specifically, he teases hajime and riles him up. this gives him a healthy outlet to put that fight response energy into, and thus the anxiety recedes. hajime calls himself a “coward” in nagito’s 5th (? maybe 4th) fte— before i got my gad diagnosis, i thought of myself as being overly sensitive and nervous— hajime, who isn’t very good at deciphering emotions in general (likely due to not being able to talk about them at home but that’s a different story), would probably see his anxiety and identify it as cowardice. he also just… worries. constantly. about everything. whenever a classmate goes missing, whenever nagito goes missing (he proceeds to question WHY he’s worrying with nagito a lot which ties back to the overthinking), whenever anything new happens on the island, etc. mainly though i think hajime’s gad shows in his insecurities. he is deeply afraid of mediocrity, of his best not being enough. i think a lot of his fears stem from the idea of being forgettable or unremarkable— he wants to make an impact on the world, and the thought of dying before he can, whether it be in the killing game or just the rat race of life, horrifies him. but he doesn’t know who he is, he doesn’t know how to make that impact. he’s terrified that he, hajime hinata, is not enough. that he’s boring, unremarkable, destined to be just another salaryman, part of the mob. that’s why he worries about his talent so much, that’s why it hurts so much when nagito starts treating him worse in chapter 4 (someone who was once his biggest source of comfort is now affirming his worst fears), and that’s why he was such a good target for the kamukura project. hpa saw his insecurity and fear and preyed on it. most people wouldn’t sacrifice themselves for some experimental project. but when you’ve fought to get to a place that you pray will be able to make you special, and they tell you “we can make you special, but it will change who you are,” and you Don’t Like who you are because you feel deep down that who you are will never be enough, well. why wouldn’t you take the offer? you get to Be Something. you get to make an impact. who cares if you lose yourself? that guy was boring.

ANYWAYS that got away from me a little bit. i could keep going (like abt hajime’s fight response and nagito’s fawn response) but this ask is long enough lmao. point it they both have undiagnosed anxiety disorders i know it i Know It please tell me you see what i see

Hii!!! Sorry it’s taken me so long to get around to answering this! I was waiting for a good moment to type up a response since I think such a long ask, especially from an oomf, deserves a thought out reply. To be straightforward and simple: yes, absolutely yes! I think the interpretations that Hajime has anxiety disorder and Nagito has ocd is very fitting. I don’t know as much about ocd as I do about anxiety, so I don’t really talk about it in fear that I may be rude or inaccurate, but I definitely so heavily agree every time I see it. As for the anxiety disorder I’m not sure if I really have it but my anxiety is a pain and I am taking supplements and have started taking meds for it recently (fingers crossed those actually do anything helpful), but this is to say that I relate to Hajime a lot in those sort of moments and when you phrase it like that I realize it is probably because of the anxiety he experiences alongside his character beats. For Nagito I can say, “Yeah! Everybody makes such great points about him having Ocd! I really like that interpretation even if I don’t know about it as much,” and then with Hajime it’s like “Yes! This is canon to me I know about this and I say so and relate to him and it fits incredibly well!” :D

also lowkey I’ve been having that weird feeling where I miss them,,, and reading this has made me miss them less so thank you very much hehe I love Hajime and Nagito very much and agree with your points heavily, appreciate you sending this!

[ciellunee]

Seeing him tonight, it's a bad idea, right?

Pairing- nanami X reader

Chapter 1- Yes, I know that he's my ex, but can't two people reconnect?

Synopsis- kento Nanami is your ex-boyfriend. He's cold, stoic, and more importantly, the crush of your new friend. Being the good friend you always are, you should keep your hands off him....but can you?

You and Nanami kento were that golden couple at jujutsu High. You made the monotonous man smile. He found his peace within you, the way you understood his wants and needs, how your lips curled into a perfect smile everytime you wished him 'morning' saying the same words ever so lovingly in his ears, he was mesmerised.

High-school nanami was emo. He hated loud parties, never spoke much, and was always tired. You, however, were the exact opposite, loved wild parties, spoke a lot, and were never tired from all the adventure jujutsu sorcery provided. The only thing you both enjoyed equally was poetry. Gojo always teased Nanami how him and you were polar opposites and how one day you might dump him for someone more like you. However, what actually happened was quite contrasting to Gojo's prediction. Nanami was the one who dumped you. Why? Because he wasn't sure if he could handle another heartbreak.

After haibara's death, nanami made sure to never get attached to anything. Attachment only leads to heartbreak, and that scared Nanami to the core. You, you were someone he deeply cared about, but he'll choose loneliness over attachment after all he's supposed to be that way, lonely, tired, and awaiting his death.

Months passed, and you both graduated. It's now been 3 whole years since your breakup. You heard nanami started working as a Salaryman, but rejoined as jujutsu sorcerer. You worked in the medical department alongside shoko and your friend Midori.

Gojo wouldn't shut up about how happy he was that "NANAMI FINALLY UNDERSTANDS WHERE HE BELONGS". That helped you in no certain way. Even after so many years, you felt anxious and nervous, just the thought of Nanami working in the same place as you made your stomach bubble. You hated to admit it, but you never truly moved on. How could you? He was everything you ever wished for. Your mind was overwhelmed with thousands of questions. "Should I go greet him?" "What if he gets awkward?" ..... "Should I call him kento or Nanami-san"....."is he seeing someone?", "what if he was married ?" ...

Hearing a knock on your door, you finally give rest to your thoughts. Opening the door you're met with a very tired looking shoko and behind her is Utahime and Midori.

Utahime gives you a smile while midori gets in blabbing something you're not really focused on. "You weren't there to greet him" said shoko catching you by surprise. "I thought he might get awkward seeing me so I stayed here."

Shoko and Utahime know you better, they can see you diverting your eyes whenever his name is mentioned, a little pink blush settling on your cheeks. Smug smiles on both their faces.

'Y/N...... do you know the grade 1 sorcerer who rejoined jujutsu high today? Oh my god he's a dreamboat!!!!' Midori squealed. You felt your heart sink, her eyes gleaming with excitement as she spoke about the blonde man. ......

After about an hour or so, Utahime decided to drag shoko and midori to principal Yaga's office to discuss a few things. "Least you can do is text him a greeting." Shoko whispered to you as they left, leaving you contemplating if you should text your ex boyfriend and friend's possible crush or not.

Texting the stoic sorcerer sounded like a bad idea but you had nothing to lose......

FUCK IT, IT'S FINE!!!

[mari-writes]

☀️🏹🖤

Note: This is a drabble I wrote for a Haikyuu + Percy Jackson event on Twitter. Thought I’d share it on here, too. Of course I made it BokuAka, haha. Enjoy! ;)

//

Akaashi was anxious. 

This wasn’t too unusual—Akaashi was often in some state of worry. It was just part of his nature. 

His father, a salaryman from Tokyo, had passed down his tendency to overthink things, and even his mother’s godly gifts of wisdom and courage hadn’t been enough to cancel out those particular traits.

So yes, anxiety wasn’t uncommon for Akaashi, Son of Athena. 

But this was different.

Bokuto had disappeared from Camp Half-Blood earlier that afternoon. He had even missed dinner—and it had been barbecue, his favorite.

“Bokuto-san, where are you?” Akaashi cupped his hands around his mouth, amplifying his voice through the dense forest. His heart pounded hard in his chest, worry coursing through his veins.

Bokuto wouldn’t run off like this without telling him. They were best friends. Whenever Bokuto did anything, Akaashi was always at his side, at Bokuto’s request. That was just how it was.

Finally, as Akaashi approached the river on the edge of camp, he spotted him.

His friend was sitting on a large boulder half-submerged in the shallows. He was looking up at the sky, arms pulled close around his legs, which were pressed up to his chest. His feet were bare, shoes tossed aside on the shore, along with his signature orange camp shirt— 

Oh, he’s shirtless. Akaashi tried not to react to as he made his way over. But his eyes couldn’t help but soak in the boy’s rippling back muscles, sculpted from long hours of fight training.

Ordering himself to calm down, Akaashi tried to scramble up to join his friend. Bokuto offered his hand, which Akaashi gratefully took, allowing Bokuto to hoist him the rest of the way. 

He sat down, legs crossed, ignoring the thrill that shot through him as his knee touched Bokuto’s thigh. “What are you doing out here, Bokuto-san?” He asked, locking his gaze to the rushing water. “Are you okay?”

Out of the corner of his eye, Akaashi saw Bokuto shrug. “Not really. But it’s okay. I’m just… having one of my moods, you know.”

Yes, Akaashi did know. Bokuto’s erratic moods were known by everyone at camp. But he usually wouldn’t run off to be alone if he was feeling sad, or nervous, or grumpy. He’d let anyone in his immediate vicinity know, right away.

“Did something happen?” Akaashi kept his voice low and steady. “Please, talk to me.”

Taking a deep breath, Bokuto unfolded himself, stretching his legs over the boulder and leaning back on his palms. Akaashi’s eyes widened. The sun was dipping low in the sky, and through the trees its rays hit Bokuto’s skin, illuminating every dip and curve.

Akaashi gulped. It was unfair, how attractive his friend was. He seemed to shine—like a shooting star, or the sun itself.

Appropriate, Akaashi mused, for a Son of Apollo…  

“Do you think I deserve to be here, Akaashi?”

Akaashi blinked, tearing his gaze from Bokuto’s chiseled form. The boy’s brow was furrowed deep. “What do you mean?” Akaashi felt his face slip into a frown. “You’re a half-blood. Of course you belong here…”

Bokuto hummed, shoulders tensing. He shrugged again. “But… Do you think I’m good enough to be in that cabin?”

Akaashi was confused. “I’m not sure what you mean. You’re a son of Apollo. So you’re in the Apollo cabin.”

“Yeah, but…” Bokuto interrupted, voice raising in pitch. “Maybe I’m just a third-blood, or something? Maybe I don’t have as much of his lineage in me than I thought…”

Akaashi leaned in, trying to catch his friend’s eye. “You’re an incredible archer, Bokuto-san, and your sword fighting is unrivaled…”

“Those are just physical things.” Bokuto’s lip juts out into a pout. “Anyone could be good at those with practice.”

Akaashi pondered his words. “You’re a natural at healing…”

“But there are so many other things I’m just not good at!” He threw a hand up in frustration. “I can’t understand music theory at all! And I’m just not smart, in general. I hate reading and philosophy is so boring. I can’t concentrate, I get anxious all the time when we have to memorize things…”

Akaashi couldn’t stand to see his friend like this. What had brought this on? Had he failed a task? Had someone said—

“They said I’m too stupid to be Apollo’s.”  

The words sank into Akaashi slowly. When they finally solidified, he felt his fingers, which he’d been fiddling with absently, curl into fists.  

“What?! Who said that?!”

“A couple of my cabin mates. I heard them.” Bokuto continued. “They said I’m not well-rounded enough. That I’m a ‘meathead,’ whatever that means. One of them said I wasn’t worthy of my dad’s lineage…”

Fire burned inside Akaashi, anger welling up from his belly to his throat. Involuntary thoughts began circulating, detailed battle strategies of how he was going to annihilate Bokuto’s cabin mates in the next Capture the Flag.

No, the chariot races! They would team up and leave them all in the dust! He would show those assholes not to mess with his friend…

“Akaashi?” Bokuto was looking at him with one eyebrow lifted. “What’s wrong?” Akaashi realized his face was probably betraying his emotions; he didn’t usually allow that to happen.

But gods, Bokuto’s own cabin mates—his siblings, had said such awful things about him! Who gave them the right? How dare they?

Huffing, Akaashi shook his head. “I’m fine.” He turned to face his friend, reached out and grabbed Bokuto’s forearm. “Bokuto-san.” He swallowed. There was so much he wanted to say. So much he absolutely adored about Bokuto, loved about him… But he had to focus.

Now was not the time for romantic confessions. 

“Listen to me. Yes, you are a son of Apollo. You do have some of his traits, and those make you a strong, capable demigod.” 

Bokuto opened his mouth, ready to protest, but Akaashi continued. “But Apollo is not all of who you are.” 

Bokuto cocked his head. “Huh?”

Akaashi smiled. “Your mother. The person who raised you and your half-sisters. The one who you told me was the most important person in your life, and maybe the whole world. What about her?”

Bokuto bit his lip. A small, crooked grin creeped onto his face, and his eyes seemed to glow. “Oh. Yeah. My mom’s pretty great.”

Akaashi nodded. “She’s caring, and always knows what to say when someone is feeling down or scared. She uplifts everyone around her.” 

Bokuto chuckled. “She does.”

“And so do you.” Akaashi squeezed his arm softly. “You’re all of those things, and more. You make us all want to be better people. I’m a better person for meeting you, Bokuto-san.”

The smile grew. “Yeah?” He turned towards Akaashi so that they were face-to-face. The sunset cut a shadow over half of Bokuto’s features. His eyes were wide; he seemed eager to hear more.

Akaashi leaned in. “Yeah. Those traits, not your godly ones, are my favorite things about you. They’re… why I like you so much.”

He watched in delight as his friend’s face bloomed red. “Really?”

Again, Akaashi nodded.

Bokuto was silent for a moment. He just sat there, eyes scanning Akaashi’s face rapidly, like he was figuring out some challenging equation. There was energy flowing between them, something Akaashi had never felt before. It probably had nothing to do with the fact they were half-bloods.

If Bokuto wasn’t in such a fragile state, Akaashi might’ve thrown caution to the wind and kissed him, right then and there. He was just so beautiful, so precious, brave, and good…

“We should head back,” Akaashi said, desperately trying to reign himself in. “The others will probably wonder where we’ve gone.”

He didn’t think it was his imagination that Bokuto’s face fell as Akaashi pulled back. But the older boy nodded. “Yeah,” he said. “Let’s go.”

//

I had so much more planned for this fic, but I totally burned out this past month because of my jobs. I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless! If so, please comment and share! <3

[missramu]

Fishing lesson

Hello there! Enjoy another one of the kiss prompts!

Kiss number 22: in a rush of adrenaline

Matenro, the division from Shinjuku, had an entertaining tradition. Every once in a while, whenever their days off coincided with each other’s, they would go fishing. It was a hobby Jakurai had in common with Hifumi, and Doppo ended up tagging along with them. This weekend would be no different, and the doctor even made a reservation to have a guaranteed spot...

If it wasn’t for Doppo’s boss.

“I am truly sorry, sensei… I am just garbage, the worst kind you can find, and I ruined our day out…-“

The salaryman apologised, showing once again his low self-esteem, and sounding pitiful even during a phone call. Jakurai felt he wasn’t helping Doppo enough during their appointments.

“Do not worry, Doppo-kun. Don’t say such things, as it is not your fault after all. We will go fishing the next time, alright? There’s no need to be so hard on yourself…”

Jakurai cut him during his speech, not wanting Doppo to deprecate himself. He knew well his teammate was sorry, so everything the doctor needed to do for him was to reassure and calm him down. After all, Doppo didn’t ruin a single thing nor was his fault. If it was someone’s fault, it would be his boss for not respecting his leisure time. As he had predicted, Hifumi would make him company in order to finish Doppo’s tasks as soon as possible, so it would be just him at the fishing centre this time.

After –once again– reassuring the couple at the other line of the call that it was going to be all right, he hanged up the phone, making a half smile as he put it back on his pocket. He found lovely how Hifumi could be so devoted to his partner, sacrificing his own day off to help him and keep him company. With his teammates still on his mind, he started gathering his supplies: fishing rod, a replacement reel, lures and everything else he could need.

Just when he was going to leave his house, his phone buzzed again, this time receiving a call from someone completely different.

“Hey hey old coot! Whatcha doing on this loooovely Saturday morning?”

Ramuda’s voice announced him as cheerful as usual. Of course, who else would call him during his free day?

“Why, good morning to you too, Ramuda-kun. I was about to go fishing-“

He announced, holding his phone with his shoulder as he fetched his car keys, opening the vehicle’s trunk to start packing his gear.

“Ohh, one of your booring hobbies? Lemme guess, you’re going with your teammates, right?”

The fashion designer laughed at the other side, rummaging through his desk to pick a lollipop to unwrap and enjoy.

“That was our initial plan, yes”

Jakurai left out a heavy sigh, deciding that his gear could wait for a little, as he found himself incapable of holding the phone with his shoulder as Doppo could do.

“What do you mean with initial?”

Curious, the younger man popped the candy out of his mouth, paying real attention to Jakurai.

“I mean that they cannot come this time, so I am going alone”

“Boo-hoo, then Jakurai must be feeling soooo lonely!”

His curiosity changed to a tone that could be considered a mock or real concern. The doctor, knowing his partner, interpreted his words like what they were: something in between; real concern disguised with jokes, because that’s just how Ramuda was. Jakurai laughed softly, shaking his head a little.

“Why don’t you come with me, if you are so concerned about me being lonely?”

A small gasp was heard at the other end of the call, audible enough for Jakurai to notice the fashion designer’s surprise.

“Uh-mhhhh, fishing sounds a bit too boring for someone like me, but I guess I could go and make you some company! Don’t want my old man to be all gloomy!”

That was Ramuda’s way to announce that he was free and willing to go with him, if only he was honest enough to recognize he wanted to spend the day together with his lover.

“Alright then. I’ll be at your place in 30 minutes, so get ready. I guess you do not have a rod, do you?”

“Nuh-uh! As I told ya, I’ve never went fishing. You see, I don’t have grandpa’s hobbies!”

“Very funny, Ramuda. I’ll lend you one of mine, then”

“Wow, so cool! Thank you babe! See you real soon!”

Before Jakurai could reply, Ramuda ended the call, leaving the older man wondering whether he liked or not to be called “babe”. Letting that aside, he finally got everything in the car and, before heading to Shibuya, he came back home and fetched another rod for his new companion.

As scheduled, the doctor was in front of Ramuda’s shop just in time, only to see Ramuda was waiting for him. Jakurai chuckled, not expecting him to take fishing so seriously. He was dressed with a knee-length jean overall full of patches, a plain and short-sleeved blue crop top, matching sneakers and bucket hat.

“I didn’t imagine you would take this so seriously”

The doctor announced jokingly, rolling down the window and inviting the designer in.

“I must follow the aesthetic, you know!”

Replied the designer, opening the door and hopping in the passenger’s seat, grabbing the seatbelt and securing it. He then kissed his partner on the cheek as a greeting, giving him a paper bag.

“And I got you something too! You gotta be fashionable if I’m coming with you. I can’t let you ruin my reputation as a top designer”

Sceptically, Jakurai took the bag before starting up his van, checking what was inside. The contents surprised him, as he was expecting a present like the one he received last time –when Ramuda gifted him that one hat with the “women want me, fish fear me” phrase–. This time it was also a hat, but a decent one. One Jakurai could wear without having everyone’s eyes on him. The doctor smiled, putting it on and kissing his partner’s cheek.

“Thank you for gifting me this. I shall cherish it”

Ramuda giggled, opening a lollipop and lifting it cheerfully.

“You’re soo cheesy! I just wanna see you dressing fashionable for once, and not like a grandpa!”

Soon enough, the couple headed to the fishing centre, Jakurai driving back to Shinjuku. The ride was short and full of bickering from Ramuda to Jakurai and vice versa, since the doctor couldn’t help but fall right into the other man’s shenanigans.

After parking the car, they both got out of the car –Ramuda previously put on a pair of sunglasses–, got the fishing gear, and proceeded to go in. The staff welcomed the older man, as he was a regular there; and was asked about where did his teammates were as well as who his new companion was. It didn’t take them longer to realize he was the leader of Shibuya division, because Ramuda soon started to behave like, well, like him. The room was soon filled with cheers echoing how cute he was, as the designer was laughing and taking pictures with everyone that wanted one.

“I’m glad you’re already having fun, Amemura-kun. I can’t wait to see how will you react to fishing itself”

Jakurai waited for the crowd to calm down, heading right to his partner and gently reminding him what were they going to do. The smaller man put his phone back on his pocket, grabbing his boyfriend’s hand and going with him to the ponds.

“Since it’s your first time, I should tell you about this place”

The older man led the way, waltzing around fellow fishermen and families that went to enjoy their day.

“This is the Ichigaya Fish Center. People from both Shinjuku and other places frequent it, and, as you can see, it is family friendly. That’s because they don’t have a focus on professional fishing, having a small pond with goldfish that’s very popular among children”

Seeing his usual spot free, Jakurai went there, placing everything –starting by opening their chairs– down. Ramuda launched himself to the chair, enjoying the remains of his lollipop while the doctor continued his explanations.

“Since it’s your first time fishing, I’ll guess you don’t know how a rod works, am I right?”

“Yup! I mean, I know that you have to use a bait and things like that…”

Ramuda stopped mid-sentence, appearing paler and frowning.

“Wait wait waaaait a minute there. I’m totally NOT touching a worm, for your information!”

Jakurai laughed, sitting by Ramuda’s and starting to assemble both rods.

“Rest assured, it is not allowed to use live baits. They only permit mashed baits, so you will not be touching any worms”

The young man let out a relieved sigh, now intrigued by the doctor’s assembling task. He would ask him whenever he got a question, no matter how silly it could be; and Jakurai replied with pleasure, thanking Ramuda’s interest. It didn’t take them long to be completely ready, Jakurai handing Ramuda a rod and making sure he was holding it right.

“Always make sure to tie the knot tightly. A bad knot may make you lose a good catch. Understood?”

“Right and clear, mister!!”

And, like that, Jakurai taught his partner how to throw the rod, what led to a couple of failed attempts –where a fisherman’s hat was related, as well as an apology for “fishing” his hat– and a final success that made Ramuda enthusiastic enough to keep going.

“It’s important to know that fishing takes patience. Do you think yourself capable of such thing?”

Jakurai joked, receiving a pout as a reply from the pink haired man.

“I can be pretty patient if I want, humph!”

“Alright then. Keep an eye on your bobber, and if you see it shaking, then a fish is nibbling on the bait. If you see it going completely under the surface, quickly set the hook before losing the fish”

“Aand… How do I do that?”

His question was answered with actions: a fish happened to nibble on Jakurai’s bait, and he took that as an opportunity to teach Ramuda.

“It’s simple. You just have to do this–“

As soon as the bobber submerged completely, the doctor quickly rose the pole, pointing it straight in the air.

“By doing this, the fish will swing to you. Like that, you will have successfully catched a fish”

The designer looked at him in awe, amazed by the scene –and by how hot the doctor when he rose the pole–. He set down his rod and rushed to Jakurai, who was now holding his catch gently.

“Remember to hold it carefully. Pond fishes don’t usually have sharp teeth, but you may find fishes with spiny fins and, overall, they are very slippery. You have to hold them behind the head, without fear and gently”

Ramuda looked at the carp full of curiosity, admiring how his partner was holding it. He estimated that it was about 60 centimetres long, and laughed at the sight of its moustache.

“Before releasing it back, we remove the hook with these–”

Jakurai motioned to his other hand, showing a pair of needle-nose pliers. He took out the hook with ease, showing his skills and how accustomed he was to the activity, leaving Ramuda to wonder for how long he has been fishing.

The younger man took out his phone, making the doctor pose for a picture. Jakurai agreed happily, letting him take a picture.

“This is bringing back some memories! I used to be your teacher, but you’re the one teaching me now!”

They both smiled bitter-sweetly, remembering the old TDD days. The bitterness didn’t last long, because now everything was in the place it should be. No more misunderstandings that could make everything tangle up the way it was tangled before.

“Now it’s your turn, Ramuda-kun. Show me what you can do”

As soon as the picture was taken, Jakurai put the fish back on the pond, watching it swim away before sitting back and launching again his rod.

“Alright! Well then, here we go!”

Ramuda launched his pole, looking to Jakurai occasionally in order to check if he was doing it right. After he reassured him, he gazed again to the bobber, frowning as he focused on the task.

“UGH! This is taking forever! Why don’t they come faster?! Silly fishes!”

As the older man had anticipated, after 10 minutes motionless, his partner lost what little patience he had.

“What was the first thing I told you before starting, Ramuda-kun?”

“That it takes patience…”

He replied, somewhat irritated and frustrated.

“And what did you answer?”

Jakurai kept the conversation going, taking his chance to bicker the designer.

“Geez, I know, I know! I gotta wait! Now shut up, old coot!”

The lilac haired man laughed, launching his rod back in the water and providing Ramuda with small talk to help him overcome dullness. As someone who had lots of energy, he needed to be in constant movement; and activities such as fishing could be frustrating due to long waiting times and needing to be calm and quiet. For that, they kept talking about whatever topic they could find, keeping the designer entertained and focused –not losing his patience was the main goal–.

Their counting, after a while, was still negative for Ramuda. Jakurai managed to catch three medium sized carps and a big one, whereas the younger man only had a couple of failed attempts.

“I swear if I don’t get one the next time, I’m launching this stupid rod to the pond and never coming back!”

The doctor could notice how this was more frustrating than entertaining for his partner, and started to feel sorry for bringing him here. But the feeling didn’t last long, because soon enough Ramuda’s bobber went underwater again.

“Now, Ramuda-kun! Do it as I taught you, quickly!”

The designer reacted swiftly and, thanks to his efforts, he finally succeeded and raised the pole straight, catching his first fish. He grabbed it just like Jakurai told him to, and right after taking out the hook, he started to jump enthusiastically, laughing with pride and showing off his “prize”.

“Look!! I got it, I got it!!”

He couldn’t help but laugh, smiling widely for his picture. The doctor felt relieved, letting his recent thoughts go away, washed by his lover’s laugh.

“Yes, you did it very well. Congratulations on your first catch, my love”

Moved by the adrenaline, Ramuda jumped to kiss him after releasing the carp, clutching to the doctor’s neck and trusting him to hold him. The kiss was eagerly replied, Jakurai caressing his hair after putting him down again. The designer’s broad and sincere smile was something he would never get tired of watching.

“See? You just needed to be patient”

[nodusomnis]

title: gacha puller pairing(s): tsukioka tsumugi & reader characters: tsukioka tsumugi, reader, settsu banri, chigasaki itaru, rurikawa yuki, sakisaka muku, nanao taichi synopsis: if Itaru has his own gacha puller, then you have your own as well. word count: 6.1k

"Ugh! No SSR again!" You yell in despair as you throw your hands up in the air while holding your phone in frustration.

You had pulled three times already for the new event that the game currently released, and yet you still haven't gotten the limited SSR of your favorite character that you've been waiting for. You did your best from delimiting yourself to pull for the other events for an entire month, albeit your hands were yearning to tap the pull button to get the new SSRs. It was an immense effort to forbear yourself, to be honest, considering the previous events were a tremendous temptation for you to manage.

Heeding your online friends getting the SSRs within that month made you envious and anxious about the fact you wanted to pull for the new cards as well. However, you impede and incessantly reminded yourself that the new card for your favorite character will be released in no time, so you need to be patient as they said: "Patience is Virtue." Nevertheless, you cling onto that famous phrase for you to prevent yourself from tapping that awfully tempting button.

What a drag.

"Sucks for you." Your head spontaneously whips at Itaru, sitting indolently on the couch across from you with the other lazyass, Banri.

"Shut up. I don't want to hear it from you. Your luck is much worse than mine, you know?" You sneer as you roll your eyes before flicking your gaze back on the screen of your phone to see the fodder cards you had obtained.

Just by viewing it, it utterly makes your head throb and puts you in a pit of misery. Banri and Itaru are minding their own businesses as per usual, for they had their own mobile games to play to even give you a scarce of their notice, particularly the salaryman who will never reel when he’s in his gamer mode.

You're the only one who doesn't play the games they are currently obsessing over since you're more into otome. Moreover, their games are beyond for you to grasp. Notably, you're not the type of a gamer akin to Itaru who will forsake sleep just for his one and only games. The way he lives his life is outrageously unhealthy, and you don't want to be sleep-deprived as you have other concerns to do as well in reality. As a university student, you need to prioritize your studies before entertainment as it was, by all means, your responsibility.

Since it was your day off today, you fritter away the responsibilities for now as you already completed the assignments you carry for this week.

Speaking of Itaru’s unhealthy habits, despite all of it, you do admit that you admired his obstinacy and perseverance when it comes to his games.

His devotion from staying in the top rankings and able to balance his work and entertainment had you respect the salaryman without any cynicism since, for you, it takes an amount of effort to segregate your attention to both states. However, the only thing you highly opposed about his commitment is him consuming a lot of money and not eating a decent meal during weekends as he would lock himself in his room for the whole day to play.

You never dared to enter his room since you know full well how he'd turn into a demon when someone disturbed him during his gaming bout.

He'd literally cuss at you, no doubt.

Not to mention, their games are not free to play friendly, which is why you never played the games with the two despite wanting to be part of their so-called co-op. It made you envious every time you will witness them being enthralled with clearing the dungeons and discussing their next quest. You'll lie to yourself if you say that you didn’t feel out of place in their conversations sometimes. Due to that, you did not disrupt the two, for you were aware that it will only hinder the momentum of their enthusiasm.

On the contrary, whenever you watched the two having a friendly game and seeing their triumphant faces when they won against some other teams was indeed a calming sight to observe. You would even notice yourself smiling along to their childish expressions, which was at first; you were bemused as to why, but shortly shrugged it off as you acknowledge that it was refreshing and a splendid view to behold. Though, sometimes, their effrontery they'd manifest will directly upend the sentiments you harbor for them.

"At least I got the new SSR yesterday," Itaru retorts, granting you a smug smirk, which causes your aggravation to develop and puff your cheeks.

"Yeah, right. A big thanks to Sakuya for pulling for you."

Banri sniggers upon hearing your response and leans his back on the couch, resting his arms on the backrest. "(Name)'s right, Itaru-san. You don't have the right to be priggish when you relied on Sakuya in the first place."

"Well, if you're in the level of desperation to get the SSR that you want, then you need to take drastic measures," he suggests to which you and Banri look at him in confusion with a tinge of curiosity.

"And that is?" Banri asks, and you only wait for Itaru to say his answer.

"Call for Sakuya and let him pull in your stead." Itaru exhibits a lopsided grin as he looks at you with a glint of persuasion and mischief behind those fuchsia irises of his. Hearing his outlandish suggestion earned him a groan from you and stomped your feet in distress.

This guy is seriously no-good when giving you advice. His reason only provides you nothing but a headache, and the faint light of hope you’re clinging onto is gradually quenching. You thought it would be something serious and beneficial, though you remember that in front of you is Itaru's switch off mode in which his princely appearance is out today, and his crappy personality will be served instead.

For that reason, you flash him a menacing glare, having the urge to grab his neck and strangle him to death, if only you had the courage to do so. Also, the director might get mad at you for diminishing their limited actors, albeit she’s a kind-hearted woman.

"Hell, no! Sakuya is your gacha puller, and there's no way I'll rely on your lucky charm—though I like him as an individual more than you, not gonna lie, no hard feelings. But seriously, your misfortune might be passed on me, so no thanks."

Banri bursts out a laugh once you say your retort, and even slapping his thighs so hard. While Itaru only stares at you with an incredulous face and instantly shifts to a feigned dejected mien.

"You're still headstrong in spite of being in a dire situation," he says matter-of-factly as he dismissively gestures his hand.

"It's because I have pride in me."

"Then that pride of yours must be discarded right now. It's not needed in this kind of circumstance."

"Ah, you're the only one who has the ability to do that, Itaru-san."

Your reply prompts the side of his lips to curve upwards, presenting you a boyish smirk on his handsome profile. The kind of smirk that will make girls' hearts skip a beat and fall for his charm, submitting themselves like he was a king who needs to be revered and would comply with his orders with no abstinence.

A relief sigh escapes your lips, knowing that you have the immunization to his charismatic façade and his princely appearance. Therefore, you needn't worry about being caught in his trap and wrapped you around his fingers with ease.

"I can't deny that since it's an irrefutable truth."

"You seemed to be proud."

Itaru lowly chuckles. "Of course, there's no room for me to degrade myself right now, won’t I?"

"You're seriously impossible." You sway your head in defeat as you are aware that debating with him is insignificant, so you ignored him completely.

You return your eyesight to your phone and find out that you still have two pulls left for you to get the new SSR. The frustration that temporarily quenched—thanks to Itaru’s sudden disruption—has now enkindled once again. You don't know if you should try to buy crystals if you didn't get it, but if you did buy them, then you’ll have insufficient money to sustain your future necessities, considering you’re a university student.

More importantly, there are tons of projects that will be given by the teachers this month, considering the first semester is about to end. In spite of having a part-time job, it’s inadequate to provide your simple living. It will be impertinent if you’ll rely on the company. There’s no question that Sakyo will scold you for hours and give you a mindful lecture about how to save money and blah blah blah.

That’s the last thing you ever wanted to occur. You don’t want to confront the cheapskate yakuza.

The dreading thoughts that are consuming your mind cause you to bite the inside of your cheeks in frustration. Temptation and the desire are crashing in your entire being like tidal waves, furnishing you a hard time to choose what decision you need to take. Preventing yourself from detaching yourself with desires is not smooth, like how you’d roast Itaru through words. After all, you’re just a humble human being.

Your only option is to rely on your luck, but the gut feeling crawling in the pit of your stomach tells you nothing but anguish from the outcome.

Ugh. This is seriously frustrating the hell out of you! You feel like you wanted to pull your hair out of your head.

You inhale an amount of breath to appease yourself. There’s no time for you to freak out in this urgent matter. You just need to determine what the best course of action is. You lift your chin to glance at the two gamers, having a sweet time communicating to themselves as though they are devoid of any dilemmas.

Their ignorance of your current lamentation and have the tendency to be merry is insulting on your part. Well, they are not the ones to blame for your hopeless situation since it’s your game. Besides, comforting someone due to some minor matter isn’t something to give notice. There are lots of controversies happening to the world that must be given complete attention to instead.

This is just a game. If you’re going to borrow Sakyo’s philosophy, then it wouldn’t be hard for you to decide. But to your dismay, you aren’t Sakyo.

Your mind drifts to Itaru’s suggestion earlier, trying to deliberate whether you should really rely on Sakuya this time. Do you really have to break your pride on the pretext of getting the SSR that you really desire?

No. There must be some other method to be considered. There’s no need for you to tarnish the pride you have confidence in.

Dwelling over the matter for a minute, the chatter of the two falls deaf in your ears like you’re being drowned under the sea. You’re too occupied with contemplating your next options to even give your half attention to the two. Once you had finally searched a good idea in the depths of your brain as if you did your utmost best to squeeze, just for you to find one due to the desperation to free from the shackles of your own hopelessness.

“The once dead fish eyes are now sparkling with hope. I hate that look,” Itaru comments once he took a glimpse at your way, which Banri also confers his attention to you.

“You’re so immature, dude.” Banri sweat drops yet ignores the adult beside him to ask your sudden enlightened face. “Don’t tell me that you finally got the SSR that you wanted?”

“Nope!” You chirp, making the two bewildered at the use of your tone, albeit you haven’t yet completed your mission of acquiring your deepest desire.

“Then why do you look so happy?”

Your smile stretches upon Itaru’s query. “I’ve got a plan of how I’ll get my favorite character.”

The two gamers exchange looks for a brief second before turning to you.

“How?”

A sing-song hum flows through your throat, and subsequently, answers Banri’s question. “I will find my own gacha puller!”

Upon hearing your response, the two were taken aback and rendered them mute, trying to digest the words you spouted in their brain, especially Itaru, who suggested not too long ago about relying on his gacha puller.

“What? So, you’re going to mimic my strategy, too?” The salaryman scoffs, and you roll your eyes at him.

“For your information, you’re not the only person who has a gacha puller. Self-proclaiming won’t get you anywhere.”

“When did I say that?” You ignored his question.

“If I’m going to search for my gacha puller, it has to be like Sakuya. Innocent and not corrupted like someone here.”

“Oi, you’re pertaining to me, aren’t you?”

“I kinda’ know where you’re getting from,” Banri says.

“Are the two of you gonna ignore the lonely salaryman here?” Itaru feigns a crestfallen expression and voice bound with a melancholic tone.

You snap your head at the whining man. “Shut up, Itaru-san. You’re being a nuisance.”

“Ouch.” You continue to ignore him as Banri shows a sympathetic look before returning his gaze on you, whose two fingers pressed against your chin, thinking who will be the perfect candidate for your gacha puller.

“Well, if we’re talking about innocent people here, then it’s either Muku or Taichi,” Banri suggests, stopping you from your tracks and peer at him.

“I agree with Muku, but I’m having doubts for Taichi,” you say with uncertainty to which Banri creases his eyebrows.

“Why’d you have doubts about our member, huh? He’s actually innocent rather than Hyodo,” he spats Juza’s name with virulence while brandishing a sour look on his visage.

“Why are you involving Juza in our conversation? You seemed attached to him, don’t you?”

Itaru snickers at your counter, and Banri, in a flash, shoot him a scowl before facing you. “Huh?! Who you’re talking to?”

“Whatever. You’re still in the denial stage, so let’s throw this off-topic aside. ”Your voice is as cold as the snow, face woven with indifference as you’re not here to discuss Banri's rants about his teammate. Seeing them bickering on a daily basis had you tired from always hearing the two autumn troupe members. That is enough. You don’t want to add it further.

“I’m still talking!”

“Anyway, Muku can be one of my gacha pullers, but it feels there’s someone who we’re still forgetting. Do you know who they might be?” You question the two. Banri’s irritated face has yet to fade, bestowing you a huff before rolling his eyes.

What an attitude man.

“She totally ignored you,” Itaru taunts, causing the young gamer to release a scoff.

“Shut up, itaru-san,” Banri grumbles. “I don’t know who you’re talkin’ about. Why don’t ya use your pretty little head to find it out?”

“I suggest that you should find someone devoid of desires. But I’m afraid it’ll be hard for you to search for one since humans are inundated with unlimited desires. Ah, I’m fortunate to have met Sakuya. It must be fate.” Itaru’s grinning from ear-to-ear, looking at you tauntingly as if looking down at you for being an unfortunate soul.

You repress yourself from lurching at the man just to wipe that shit-eating grin of his. It’s pissing you off. His face is infuriating.

“I’ll slap you if you’re going to rile me up. And I’m not kidding,” you threaten with venom in your speech. Itaru can even witness how your face darkens as though he’s in a thriller game about to get killed by you. It was enough for the gamer to hold his hands up, and motions his hand as though he’s waving a white flag at you, an indication of surrender.

“Please, spare me.”

“Should I go for Muku?” Is your immediate question, leaving the two lazyasses to shrug their shoulders in sync.

“Go ahead. It’s not our game after all—urk!” Banri’s sentence was cut off when you suddenly charged at him and grabbed his collar, pulling his face closer to yours.

“Hey, I’m asking for a genuine reply here, you bastard. Don’t give me a half-assed answer if you don’t want me to shove a pipe in your asshole.” Banri feels the sweat on his forehead begins to form and breathe hitches upon the proximity of your faces. His ocean blue eyes stare into yours, looking at him so precariously as though you won’t have second thoughts of granting him an abominable experience. Additionally, the way how baritone your voice was, so low and threatening that didn’t miss to send shivers down his spine.

He isn’t informed that you can be this terrifying and manifest this kind of appearance.

Even Itaru was speechless to say anything at this moment. He only watches his player two getting dominated by you, hovering the poor high schooler while your faces were only inches apart. Banri hasn’t responded anything yet and remained still in his spot. Itaru chooses not to step in between you two since it will be a red flag for him if he does. He has no qualms that he’s gonna receive your lethal glower, and Banri’s position might be switched to him.

So nope. He’s just going to send F to Banri on LIME later.

“I’m home.”

Your treacherous character dissolves in a heartbeat once the familiar gentle, and silken voice of the winter troupe’s leader meddled in your ears. Without wasting a second, you hop off of Banri to face Tsumugi with a sweet smile and amiable appearance as though nothing vexatious had happened.

“Welcome home, Tsumugi-san!” You greet him with life and skips to the man to welcome him.

“It’s amazing how her behavior alters in just a spur second,” Itaru comments, only for Banri to hear.

“I can even see flowers surrounding her face when confronting Tsumugi-san.” The poor boy, who just recently received your murderous intent, was in disbelief to see your cheery face at the winter troupe’s leader. There’s no trace of deadly appearance on you like how you gave him only a little while ago. It seems that all of it was a mere illusion once you confront Tsumugi.

“Oh? Why are the three of you gathered here? It’s rare to see you in the lounge around this hour,” he says as soon as he enters.

“We’re talking about some game-related stuff. So, how’s tutoring your tutee, Tsumugi-san?” you ask him with your full attention. And the said guy gives you his immediate answer.

“He has issues with memorizing, but I know he’s going to be fine once we continued practicing his memorization skills. It will take time for him, but it's better if we worked on it now rather than sooner. He’s a great student, I dare say.”

You couldn’t help but smile at how he really gives his full effort on tutoring his student, added by how supportive he was. It’s already apparent at the way he’s helping the high schoolers in this company during his spare time. And even he returned home after tutoring one of his tutees, if there’s someone who is in need of his assistance, he won’t have second thoughts to help them out.

You certainly admire and respect this man in front of you. He’s an actual angel.

“You’re really nice, Tsumugi-san. I can’t help but admire you even more,” you say straightforwardly, which causes the apple of his cheeks to sprinkle with red hues.

“E-Eh, is that so? T-Thank you, I guess?” You chuckle at the way he stumbled on his words. It’s so typical of Tsumugi to do that. He’s not used to receiving such compliments, albeit he definitely deserves it.

Tsumugi regains his composure and begins to ask you. “Anyway, what about the game you’re talking about? I know I’m not good with games, but I can lend you an ear if you have any troubles.”

You feel your heart warm after he says those words. Words that are enough for the misery you felt to evaporate and give you the slightest hope in your darkest day. His concern toward you surely touched you. Not like those two lazyasses still sitting on the couch, can’t even have a mere sympathy for you. Sigh.

“Now that you mentioned it,” you trail off, recollecting the circumstance you’re in, a good idea suddenly emerges in your brain as you look at the tutor. If it’s Tsumugi, it’s worth the risk. Also, you won’t know until you try. “Can you pull in my stead, Tsumugi-san?”

Your query generates him to be baffled, tilting his head to the side as he casts his eyes upon the phone you are lending. He doesn’t know what you’re talking about but takes the gadget from your hand regardless.

The winter troupe leader peeks at your phone’s screen, only to find out different guy characters showing on the screen. He has no idea what kind of game you’re playing, but he is certain that this type of genre is exclusive for girls.

“Which button should I tap?” You peek at your phone.

“The one that said roll ten times.”

When Tsumugi heard you as clear as day, he leads his pointer to the button you wanted him to press. He takes a glimpse at your face, eyes filled with anticipation and plead, eyebrows knit together while your lips tremble lest for the upshot of his aid. His apprehension solely expands as he hasn’t had the slightest inkling of what is happening for you to present such expression.

Further, he hasn’t yet to inquire about the whole matter. However, relying on him for your game had his stomach twist unpleasantly. Beads of sweat start to dribble down his nape, knowing full well that it’s something important to you. Hence, entrusting him with it seems that he is carrying a huge responsibility on his shoulders, similar to his troupe’s debut show. And for some reason, it appears that your anxiety has transported to him as well.

Tsumugi was too immersed in his thoughts to even lay his attention on the phone he’s holding. His gaze fixated on yours had yet to avert for just a little second. As he stares at you, the expression you showed a second ago has altered to a shock one and immediately tilts your head upwards to face him with eyes gleaming with rapture.

“T-Tsumugi-san…” you mutter, voice tied with disbelief.

Your reaction confuses him. That’s why he attempts to glance at your phone. But before he can even land his sight on it, you abruptly release a squeal while leaping in joy. And this causes the two men sitting on the couch to flinch once they hear your energetic voice.

He doesn’t know what happened, but he deemed that he did a good job. Your phone is still in his hand, literally forgotten to hand it to you back as his awareness is concentrated on yours, cheering like a little kid who just received a gift from her parents. With you being like that, he’s inclined not to interrupt your happiness and let you celebrate as long as you want.

Tsumugi couldn’t refrain himself from smiling at the sight since your mood is indeed entertaining and contagious for him not to.

“Well, we already know what the conclusion is,” Banri suddenly speaks while taking a side glance at Itaru.

“If I only knew that Tsumugi has this luck with gachas, then retreating to have him pull for me before was absolutely a bad decision of mine.” Itaru huffs, slumping his back against the backrest, feeling dejected upon recalling the day he mentioned. He sure does regret it, not gonna lie.

“You did? Condolence for you, man,” Banri nonchalantly responds.

“I can’t feel any sympathy from you.”

After many seconds of celebrating, you swiftly spin your body to confront Tsumugi with a wide grin. “Tsumugi-san, thank you so much!”

Due to the overwhelming emotions swelling you to the brim, you throw your arms around him, embracing the man with delight without any warnings. Your abrupt action had the leader to be caught off guard, and a faint blush instantly crept up to his cheeks. His muscles all over his body freeze, seemingly like steel that couldn’t be bent due to how stiff he is right this instant.

This kind of skinship makes him uncomfortable and embarrassed as he had never done it outside of his family, especially to the opposite gender since he knew full well how it’d cross the boundary between the parties involved. It’s not like he doesn’t like to be hugged by you. It’s just; it was so sudden that his coherence had flown away from him.

Tsumugi’s heart races alike when he’s having a morning jog with Tasuku. He couldn’t move a single inch as he’s yet stunned at the current situation. Fortunately, he didn’t loosen his grasp on your phone despite his astonishment.

Tsumugi only has the chance to relax when you retract your body from him, but your hands are still holding his arms.

“You really made my day! I was about to lose hope because I already spent two-thousand crystals, and yet I still haven’t acquired my favorite character,” you gloomily say as you gaze down to show how afflicted you are for your misfortune. But eventually rearranges to a merry mien after looking back at him. “But because of you, my hope has recovered once again! You are the light in my darkest time, Tsumugi-san! I really owe you!”

Tsumugi’s heart has yet to recover from beating vigorously, and here you are only supplementing it more. Your choice of words sure does make him flustered as though his face is gonna explode at any given moment.

“Y-You’re exaggerating. I’m not similar to what you think of me… Also, I’m just lucky enough to get your favorite character,” he bashfully says while avoiding his gaze.

“Even if you say that my opinion of you will never change. Just so you know, your presence around always makes me calm and wash away my troubles in the meantime. Well, I don’t know why I feel that way, but one thing’s for sure, it’s because of your gentle trait and artlessness that makes my chaotic mind to pacify from creating a storm. It really helped me a lot during the time of my crisis due to school work and job. Your aura is a good influence here in the dorm, especially everything’s a mess here. So why don’t you take the credit for yourself this time? You need it sometimes, and you really deserve it.”

You flash him a toothy grin, a perfect time where he peers at you again. Beholding your bright smile that is free from any malice, like the sun rays illuminating the dark places, he couldn’t have the chance to give you a response as it’s keeping him arrested from uttering a word. On top of it all, your disclosure of the way you see him has rendered him speechless, and his ears are starting to burn up.

“Anyway, you have my sincerest and deepest gratitude. I owe you this time. Can I take my phone back?” you ask, which returns him to his senses.

“Oh, right. Here you go.”

Taking your phone, you take a glimpse at the cards that he pulled for you. Seeing the SSR you’ve been desperate to get already came home. You couldn’t restrict yourself from grinning broadly, and the wave of ecstasy crawls to your system.

Relying on Tsumugi was the best decision you ever made!

“Hey, you lazyasses! I finally got the SSR that I want!” You enthuse.

Banri was the first one to comment. “Yeah, yeah. Thanks to Tsumugi-san.”

“Good for you. Not only did you acquire the SSR, but you also found your own gacha puller.”

Upon hearing Itaru’s statement, an idea instantly pops in your mind, which causes you to whip your head at Tsumugi, who’s looking at you with a questioning gaze.

“Hey, Tsumugi-san,” you drawl his name, almost cooing. “Can you give me the honor of being my gacha puller?”

Hearing your question and the way you look at him with puppy eyes prompts him to blink his eyes in confusion, specifically to the word he hasn’t yet encountered.

Is that a slang word for games? Also, why are you looking at him like that?

“Why does it seem like (Name)’s proposing to him?” Banri utters while watching you with a weird look.

Itaru evokes a scoff. “Maybe she is.”

“You kiddin' me, right?” Itaru only shrugs his shoulders as his response to the autumn leader before returning his attention to you and Tsumugi.

The tutor doesn’t know what could be his answer to your offer just now. You’re still staring at him with hopeful eyes, seemingly glimmering under the lights of the lounge. Tsumugi feels a sweat dribbling down his temples as he’s getting self-conscious by the seconds you keep on staring at him with gravity.

Before he speaks, he gulps first to hydrate his almost dry throat to prevent him from stuttering.

“W-What do you mean by gacha puller?”

Well, so much for not stuttering. He sighs mentally.

“Oh, just like what you did earlier. You’re only going to pull for me to get the SSRs that I want. I don’t have luck like yours, but Itaru-san’s luck is much worse than I am, though.”

Itaru reflexively reacts upon the mention of his name. “Oi, why did I suddenly get involved in this? I’m not doing anything to you. That’s BM.”

Tsumugi sweat drops at Itaru’s retort and sheepishly laughs, knowing the two of you are glaring at each other that he can even see an invisible line of electricity through your gazes. In order for both of you to stop, he decides to meddle to change the atmosphere that is starting to surround the lounge, and before the situation gets worse.

“If that’s the only terms and conditions, then I wouldn’t mind.” In a spur second, you snap your head at him, and the antagonistic face you display for the gamer vanishes in a jiffy when you confront him.

“Really?!” You exclaim with a broad smile.

Tsumugi nods, smiling as well. “Yeah, I don’t mind. If it will make you happy, then I’ll offer you my assistance.”

The leader stumbles when you suddenly leaped in joy and hugged him with enthusiasm. This causes his face to flare again as he didn’t expect that he’ll be embraced by you two times in a row. But what makes his face to sharpen its red color is when the three words that slipped from your lips.

“I love you, Tsumugi-san! You’re the best!”

It seems that the cogs of his brain have stopped as though something had blocked its operation. His eyes grow wide like saucers as he hadn’t foreseen of you to blurt out such a thing. Tsumugi strives to second-guess. Perhaps, the meaning of your words is just a simple expression to imply how happy and grateful you are for him to accept your request. However, in the deepest corner of his brain tells him otherwise, and that alone only adds the saturation of his red face.

The two gamers who witnessed the scene solely stare at you both with shock evident in their profiles. They couldn’t follow if it’s just the same as to how Tsumugi sees it, or you accidentally confessed to him because of your overwhelming emotions that you couldn't contain. But they couldn’t even recall a time where there’s a sign of you liking the winter troupe leader. There is a high possibility that you’re hiding your feelings that you slipped it out, out of the blue. If it does, then you sure are damn good.

The lounge is crackling with awkwardness, and it didn’t go unnoticed by you of how the silence erupts inside. When you assimilate the situation and the words you had blurted just now, it was enough for you to release yourself from Tsumugi with so much haste that you even toppled on your feet.

You lift your chin up to face the leader, whose face is in a bright shade of red and had never seen him looking at you with such big eyes as though accusing you with something in which he is confident that you are the culprit.

Oh gosh, you said something you shouldn’t have. You can be an idiot sometimes.

Now, you don’t know how you’ll get away from this awkward tension. Your face is heating up as the seconds' tick, and the stares of the three seem like melting you slowly. The embarrassment you had induced to yourself makes you want to dig a hole and put your head inside like an ostrich, rejecting to face reality. Noticing Tsumugi’s flustered visage didn’t help you to soothe yourself even for just a brief moment. Instead, it gives you more a reason to faint at this current moment.

“I-I…” you stammer, trying to find an excuse to defend yourself. However, your brain isn’t cooperating with you in this predicament, for it’s in turmoil to even go back to its coherence. Your head is becoming fuzzy, thanks to the shame that’s eating you alive. Most importantly, it appears to be your body has been frozen, obstructing you from running away just as you want to.

“We’re home!” The new voice that emerges from the front door snaps you all back to your senses and turn your heads where the others are.

The shuffling sounds and footsteps are heading to your way. You assure that the voice you recently heard is Taichi’s, and you heard Muku and Yuki’s voice as well. Once the trio enters the lounge, they instantly greet you all.

“We’re back,” Yuki says nonchalantly, facing the two gamers before shifting to you and Tsumugi.

“What are you all gathered here for?” Taichi’s inquiry causes Itaru and Banri to cast their eyes upon you, and that action had Muku to be baffled and look at you as well.

Both of your faces are red, and it’s not that difficult for the three to notice the awkward atmosphere between you and the winter troupe leader.

“Eh, why are your faces red?” Taichi suddenly asks to which you flinch in your spot and frantically shakes your head.

“I-It is? It’s because the w-weather is hot for me to handle, so that’s why,” you awkwardly laugh while scratching the back of your head. “Oh, it’s already six. I need to go back to my room to do my homework! Well, see you all around! And by the way, welcome home, you three!” After you bid your goodbye, you dash away from the lounge, like a speed of light.

The students who just arrived simply display a confounded expression, and discerns the way you’re being frantic as though you’re in a hurry.

“So, why’s the acting nerd blushing?” Yuki blurts, intensely scrutinizing the said man.

Hearing Yuki’s question earns his attention and shakes his head violently, similar to what you did earlier. “E-Eh? I-It’s nothing serious…”

His answer hadn’t convinced the designer, but instead, it only ignites his suspicions toward the flustered tutor.

“Oi, elite swindler, and neo gangster, did something happen while we were away?”

“Perhaps, it’s time for me to tend the flowers. I-I’ll see you all later…” Tsumugi says with a trace of timidity in his voice, eluding the question that may pass onto him soon. And afterward, he struts away from the place before going to the courtyard to look at the flowerbeds.

The ones who are left in the lounge just watch him until his figure disappears in their sight.

“So, what happened?” Yuki interrogates. The two gamers sitting on the couch steal glances at each other before Banri shrugs his shoulders.

“Well, it’s not our place to tell you that.”

“Eh?! What, why?! Is it some scoop the reason why you aren’t sharing it with us?!” Taichi exclaimed, causing the pink-haired boy to blush upon imagining something intimate.

“W-What if they accidentally kissed, that’s why they are blushing like that?! It’s like a scene from a shoujo manga. T-Then, after that incident, it will make the two slowly fall in love with each other!”

“N-No way!”

“Calm down, you two,” Yuki elicits a sigh as the two starts to become engrossed in their own world.

Banri and Itaru laugh at Muku’s presumption. In spite of acquiring your own gacha puller, there’s still a consequence for you to get what you desire. And that is embarrassing yourself in front of the known angel of the winter troupe.

[argumentl]

The Freedom of Expression Ep 6 - 'Antrum', the most cursed movie in history.

K: Hi this is Dir en grey's Kaoru, and The Freedom of Expression..Joe san, Tasai san..

J: Yep

K: I think the viewers already realise this, but we're shooting four epidodes at once. (note:* the covid episodes were aired at short notice after ep 3*).

J: Yes, four.

T: Our clothes havn't changed.

K: Is our positioning ok like this? Wouldn't it be better with you in the middle, Kaoru?

K: Well, next time we could change seats if we want? But, I havn't seen you two in a long time, I thought it would be better to look at you from over here.

J: Ah, yes. If you are in the middle you have to keep looking from side to side..

K: Yeah, so..we could change seats next time...We might even change our filming location?

J: For sure

K: I don't know though...we can carry on without making too many set plans.

J: I see.

K: He's not coming out today, is he?

J: He's not. Let's leave him alone.

K: Well, shall we get started?... Oh, actually, when we finished recording the last epidode, my boss came here, and said 'that was a lie, thats wrong'.

J: Oh, what was it again? He took offense to something written in a magazine.

T:...and stormed over there.

K: He didn't actually angrily storm over there, he apparently went there, not to tell them to write nice stuff, but to get them to write what his band was really like, and he was fine with it then *1

J: Ahh, to stand out?

K: He was quite agitated. *T laughs*

J: No, but its a bit worrying isn't it? From the listeners point of view, you hear that type of story and interpret it as something amusing, the story gets communicated on in that way.

K: Well, theres no fire without smoke..

J: You mean, theres no smoke without fire.

K: Yeh.. Its because he's just a bit scary *the others laugh*, thats why that type of gossip appears.

J: Of course

K: Right?

T: I see

J: Well, we don't know what he was really like back then...

K: I don't either.

J: But he surely wasn't one of those cuddly, happy people?

K: People in bands were just kinda scary back then, right?

J: They were scary, yeah. But they were also really cool, weren't they?

K: *nods*

J: ..in reality....I think they were.

K: We're (Dir en grey) not scary though, are we?

J, T: Uhh... *K laughs*

J: You are not scary, but...

K: We're not THAT scary right? *laughing*

J: You have an incredible aura..

K: Well, lets leave it..

J: Fow now, lets just say your boss wasn't trying to make excuses..

K: Excuses? *laughs*

J: ..he was just trying to tell us that the stuff we said was not true. Right, well lets introduce today's topic.

' "You watch it, you die", Antrum - The most cursed movie in history.'

'Unbelievablely, its to be released in Japan, this incredible movie is to be screened. Filmed in California, America in 1970, the movie 'Antrum'. Rumored to be excessively scary, and to bring about misfortune to those who watch it, it was said that this movie should not be released, but buried and restricted. However, in 1988, it was screened for the first time in Budapest, Hungary, and during its screening, a fire broke out in the theatre and it burnt to the ground. 56 people died in this incident. Since then, whenever this movie is screened, the people involved have suffered mysterious deaths, one after the other. It became a work of art that no-one wanted to touch. Then, we arrive at the present day. After a long search, documentary movie makers Michael Licini and David Amito discovered the 35mm film reel of 'Antrum'. They have decided to screen it with the warning that viewers must take personal responsibility for anything that happens. The movie will be screened this year in venues across the country from Friday.'

K: Ahh, is it okay?...if this kind of incident occurs?

J: It says, if you watch it you die!

T: Its spooky.

K: Whether it lives up to expectations or not, theres trouble either way.

J,T: Thats right.

J: If people die, they're in trouble, and if people don't die, and they get sued for misrepresentation, they'll be like 'What? Arn't you glad you didn't die?!'

T: I wonder what will happen.

J: They say everyone has to take personal responsibility.

K: Well, I'm slightly interested.

J: Would you go and watch it?

K: Hmm, I want to see it, yeh.

J: You're attracted to it?

K: Um, Horror is...

Kami: Nononono! You must not go to see this, you must not go to see this!

J: Ahh, Kami says you musn't, he's worried suddenly....Its not okay, Kami?

Kami: No no, its not. I was quiet so far because I didn't want to have anything to do with this topic.

J: Oh, with this topic?

Kami: Yeh, its really scary.

J: Is this type of thing not good?

Kami: Its not good. I have to work nights..

J: Ah, night shifts? *the others laugh*

Kami: and I work alone.

J: Yeh.

K: Well, yeh, thats scary.

Kami: They say you'll die, I don't wanna die on my night shift.

J: Yeh, but gods can't die can they?

T: Right.

Kami: Well, outwardly.

J: What does that mean? Outwardly?? *laughing*

Kami: We don't die completely..

J: Oh, but from the human perspective you appear to die?

Kami: Yeah, I appear to die, but then am reborn.  *J, T laugh*

K: He doesn't need to be scared.

T: Pretty interesting.

Kami: No no, the bit where I appear to be dead..its kinda troublsome.

J: Its trouble? You're a bit nervous about that?

Kami: Yeh, im nervous. Its not good.

J: Its not good?

Kami: Yeah, going to see this movie is not good.

J: But, there is a certain attraction by people to these kind of supernatural, occult things isn't there?

K, T: Yeah, yeah.

J: You know, things that science can't prove.

Kami: Yeah, I know about all of it though.

J: You do?

Kami: Yes, I do. Because, god created everything on earth.

T: Well, yeah.

J: I see.

T: So, he shouldn't really be scared of this, should he?

K: Really, that makes this situation here part of the occult too, doesn't it?

J: This is the occult. *T laughs* Us talking to a god..*K laughing*  Talking to a god about movies even!

Kami: Well, there are many types of god aren't there?

J: Ahh, there are many types, yeh.

Kami: Yeh yeh, there are all knowing-all powerful gods...and gods like this one here. *the others laugh*

J: This god isn't very 'all knowing-all powerful'?

Kami: No, im probably in the lower orders.

J: *laughing* Yeh, we know that!

T: He sounds like a salaryman.

J: A hierarchy of gods..

Kami: Well, the middle-lower orders.

J: The middle-lower oders? *laughing*

T: Thats quite low, right? *J laughing*

J: It might just not be limited to recent times, but isn't there quite an occult boom going on now? How do you see it Kaoru?

Kami: An occult boom?

J: An occult boom.

Kami: Well, maybe its because a lot of things have already been solved. As science progresses, we know more...like the Higgs particle, you know it?

J: I've heard the name, but I don't know the details.

Kami: Its kinda like how the source of gravity was discovered. They spin it round really fast and crash it, right?

J: What a simple explanation!

Kami: Its in Switzerland!

T: In Switzerland...

J: They have the equipment to spin it and crash it powerfully, right?

Kami: Yes, yes. Atoms, they crash atoms into one another..and when they crash, the atoms break apart, and various particles have been discovered....and they saw a black hole forming and such. These kinds of mysterious things are really happening. *2.

T: Ehh, Kami, thats impressive.

Kami: So it could be just because of these solved mysteries, peoples' imaginations are swelling and giving them wild ideas?

J: I see.

K: Well, there must be people who like this stuff.

Kami: Wasn't my explanation easy to understand?

J: Yes, it was very well explained.

Kami: Spinning it around and bashing really hard, and then a kind of mysterious feeling...

*everyone laughs*

J: Thst is super easy to understand. Explained in simple terms.

T: Exactly

J: Only by a god..*3

T: Hey Joe, is that okay? *laughs*

J: Kami's awful aspects have transfered to me. *T laughs* The hopless parts. Those parts are showing in me.

Kami: Don't say hopeless!

K *laughs*

J: Oh did you hear that bit?

Kami: I heard it.

J: Of course, Kami hears everything (direct translation: hell ears)

K: This is awful!

Kami: Not hell, heaven.

T: Isn't this fourth time getting tiring?

*laughing*

J: Of course not

T: Actually, ive been to an event before where a spirit appeared.

J: Ehh?

T: When I say spirit, I mean Lincoln. There was a movie about the American president, Lincoln. So I went as a reporter to a weird movie event about it. And there was a medium there who could channel Lincoln so we could ask anything.

J: Wow...so, Lincoln spoke to you in person?

T: The medium started going 'Mmmghh mmmghh' and then 'Ready', so we all thought Lincoln had come to us, and we were told to ask anything, so someone asked 'Mr Lincoln, Mr Lincoln, what did you think of the movie? ..and after about three seconds the medium suddenly dropped down and said, 'Lincoln has left us'.

J: Ehh?! He didn't say anything?!

T: No, Lincoln didn't say anything.

J: Just 'Mmgh, mmgh'?

T: Yeah, and then he fell straight down..and was finished in three seconds. The whole venue had been waiting so eagarly...

J: What kind of article did Tokyo Sports write?

T: About how the venue was....*4

*laughing*

K: That fits well with this show!

J: This kind of chaos. So you were there, Tasai san?

T: Yes, I was reporting on it.

J: Oh really?

T: Yeh, that type of thing happened.

J: I wonder how the medium was after that, after Lincoln left.

T: She's getting paid for nothing.

K: Well, maybe some more accidents happened...

J: Oh yeah, she felt the danger. She didn't research enough before calling him.

T: She should have studied.

J: Maybe she didn't expect that many reporters?

K: Oh, maybe, she thought 'oh no..'

J: Maybe she was shocked to see so many people when she turned up. But the movie company paid her to promote the movie like this right?

T: Yes

J: Ahh, but people will probably go to see this movie right, Kami?

Kami: As for Lincoln coming down, he probably didn't say anything because he planned to speak in English.

J, T: Oh yeah.

K: Maybe

Kami: They forgot how to speak English?

J: I see..he hasn't been called in a long time, so even he forgot how to speak English?

Kami: No no, the medium.

J: Ah, the medium? Ah, I see.

Kami: Even I forget what to say sometimes, as soon as I think about it, and when im listening, you're like 'oh he's gone'

J: Isn't that dementia? Kami, can you speak to dead people like a medium can, can gods do it?

Kami: Gods? There are gods who can do that.

K: But you can't.

J: But you can't? 

Kami: No, I can't do anything *J laughs*

J: We can only pray to you?

Kami: Yes, only pray.

J: I reckon I could be a god then too.

K: Yeh, yeh.

J: Its pretty interesting, no matter what your capacity, you could be a god, right? *laughing*

Kami: No, being a god is not about your capacity...

J: Oh, its not, im wrong?

Kami: Are you making fun of me?

J: No, im not! Im just too naive.

Kami: Being a god is something you're born with.

T: Ahh, its deep.

Kami: Being a god is something you are born with.

K: He just said that.

J: Im kinda imagining him with a smug face right now. *K laughs*

J: I havn't met him so I don't know though.

Kami: Even though I can't do anything, Im different from you guys.

J: Ah, you are born different?

Kami: Yes, yes, yes.

J: You exist differently from regular humans?

Kami: Yes, yes, yes.

J: I see.

K: We're right back to the occult now, aren't we?

J: Yeh, this is almost like a Tokyo Sports kind of issue.

Kami: No, you mustn't doubt the existence of god!

J: Oh, you musn't?

Kami: You mustn't! If you do, and you watch this movie, you will die.

J: We'll die?

T: Scary!

K: I wonder if we'll really die?

Kami: So believe in god!

K: Oh, if you believe in god, you won't die if you watch this movie?

Kami: Yeh, you can increase your shrine donation or something..

J: It ends up with money again *K laughs* He always ends up talking about money.

T: Whats up with him? *K laughing*

J: He doesn't have anything nice to say. Its always down to money in the end. With Ghosn he was the same.

T: He was, yeh *laughing*

Kami: Thats right

J: This has nothing to do with the movie 'Antrum'...

K: So there is a subscribe option on youtube right?

J: Yes, if you subscribe for us...

K: I think I should say 'please subscribe', I havn't said it yet * T laughs*

J: Please subscribe, everyone.

T: Please.

K: If we get more subscribers, we can do more things.

J: Right

Kami: Yes, please subscribe.

J: Subscribers will probably...

*sound cuts out*

On screen message :The sound cut out for some reason. We'll let you know what they said. For now, this episode has ended .

*1 - Not 100% sure I understood this story right.

*2 Translating quantum physics isn't my strong point.

*3 Im fairly sure i've missed some nuance here.

*4 Couldn't catch this.

[fieryanmitsu]

Worthy | A3! Rare Pairs Week 2020 – Day 1 (Itaru/Izumi)

I AM SO LATE, but welcome to my first entry for the A3! Rare Pairs Week 2020!

This writing event is being hosted by @A3!_69min on Twitter and AO3 and focuses on writing romantic fics for unpopular A3! pairings. As it happens, every single Izumi pairing except Sakyo/Izumi is a rare pair per the event’s definition of rare pair.

SO, MY GOAL IS TO WRITE IZUMI SHIPS ALL WEEK!

Of course, I’m starting off with my OTP – I love ItaIzu so much, I’ll take any excuse to write them.

WORTHY

PROMPTS: Adoration / Jealousy

CHARACTERS: Itaru Chigasaki, Izumi Tachibana

PAIRINGS: Itaru/Izumi

My fanfic masterpost: Here

AO3: Link in my Blog Menu

Izumi was curious.

The question had been on her mind all day since her conversation with Muku over breakfast. The middle schooler had been excitedly telling her all about the shojo manga he was currently reading. Apparently, he hadn’t slept well the night before because he had gotten worked up over the latest chapter.

“You’re staring a hole into my head,” her boyfriend remarked suddenly, though his eyes never left the television screen in front of him, his thumbs flying across his controller.

Itaru was playing some kind of action-adventure game and was currently exploring an underground dungeon with his character. Ever since she had mentioned that she liked the background music, he played this particular game whenever he had to wait for her to finish reviewing her post-rehearsal notes.

“Oh, sorry – I was just… curious about something. But, it’s a bit, er, awkward to ask about…” Izumi responded, one hand fidgeting with the pages of her notebook and the other absentmindedly poking the back of her pen into the Poyo – some pink, round mascot character that Itaru liked – cushion on her lap.

“Oh? Why don’t you try me?”

“Well… I was talking to Muku this morning about the shojo manga he’s reading. There was a scene where the rival character was confessing to the heroine. It was apparently a very heartfelt and passionate declaration of love. Something about how even seeing her with the other guy made his heart feel like it was being torn apart by knives. And that he hated seeing her cry because of that other guy and that he’d give up everything to whisk her away and make her happy. It ended with him asking the heroine to pick him instead.”

“Ahhh, yeah, that’s a classic. Never fails to stir up the fans,” Itaru responded with a knowing nod.

“And then, Muku gave me a 20-minute seminar on classic shojo jealousy scenes and, uh, well… They were more, um, thrilling than I expected? Sooooo, it kinda just, you know… made me wonder,” Izumi stiltedly blurted out. She couldn’t believe she was going to ask him this – her face was already flushed with embarrassment. Maybe Muku’s starry-eyed wonder was contagious. “Do you, umm… ever get jealous of seeing me with other guys?”

“Uh… I’m not sure how to tell you this, but you have twenty other guys, twenty-one if you count Kamekichi, hanging off you – sometimes literally – every single day. If I got jealous every time one of them sat next to you, I’d be six-feet under already.”

“Okay, yeah, that was dumb question – let me rephrase it!” Izumi backpedaled frantically. “What would you do if someone else confessed their love to me – like they were trying to steal me away? Would you be jealous? Would you fly into a blind rage? Or pin me against a wall and forcefully kiss me?! Or barge in and passionately declare: ‘Choose me, not him’?!”

“Man, you really are starting to sound like Muku – all of those options sound awful, by the way. But, in all seriousness, I, uh… don’t think that would ever happen,” he responded with a nervous chuckle.

Izumi felt herself deflate a bit, unable to help feeling just a teensy bit disappointed that he had shot down her fantasies so quickly. At the same time, she wasn’t sure that she could even imagine him acting that way. She just felt like… it wouldn’t be Itaru anymore – and that thought also made her feel uncomfortable. Maybe this whole jealousy thing wasn’t as exciting as she had thought it would be a few minutes ago.

As her thoughts came full circle, she suddenly heard an odd sound from the television. She had been watching Itaru play this game for a few days now and recognized the sounds his character made when he was dying. Thinking that he was losing against a boss, Izumi glanced at the screen and saw that he was just fighting a bunch of normal enemies. She noted that the usual boss music wasn’t playing, either. Yet, his health bar was slowly, but surely, depleting.

Thinking it was strange for him to be playing so badly, Izumi shifted her attention from the television screen to look at Itaru. What she saw made the blood in her veins turn to ice. Unceremoniously throwing her notebook and poor Poyo to the floor, she practically hurled her body across the empty space between them.

Itaru had taught her the basics of how to use his GameStation when she had borrowed a Blu-ray movie from a friend, and she knew that, if she pressed the middle button on his controller, it would bring the user back to the home screen. Reaching over his arm, she pushed down on the middle button and a blue screen immediately popped up, effectively pausing the game. Gently prying the controller away from Itaru’s limp hands, she set it down on his coffee table before she turned off the television screen.

“Itaru, what’s wrong?” she asked worriedly, placing a hand on one of his arms and squeezing it gently.

The salaryman’s brow was furrowed, and he kept his face averted from hers, gaze trained on the floor. Even from his profile, she could see that his mouth was set in a firm and tight line. It had been a long time since she’d seen him make this expression.

“You’re not going to like what I’m about to say,” he responded after a long pause.

Izumi could feel her stomach drop. She had heard those words before – it had been right before her last breakup. She had thought things were going well between them, but maybe she was wrong…?

“Why don’t you try me?” she prompted, trying to keep her voice light as she imitated his words from earlier.

At the same time, she did her best to brace her heart, despite that it was starting to beat erratically. Whatever he said, she would graciously accept it – telling herself that she couldn’t afford to have things be awkward between them.

“Getting jealous over someone… it only happens when you don’t want them taken away from you, right?” Itaru said slowly, deliberately. “So… I don’t think I could ever be jealous… because… I… I don’t feel that way.”

Izumi couldn’t have possibly braced hard enough for that kind of impact. She could feel a hot feeling well up in her throat and tears were already prickling at the back of her eyes.

“Does… Does that mean you don’t want to be with me, anymore?” she asked, unable to help the waver in her voice.

Her question hung in the air unanswered as she watched him clench and unclench his hands on his lap, his eyes still stuck on the floor.

“Itaru, will you look at me? Please?” she begged. She was starting to feel light-headed and she just… She just needed to ground herself somehow.

After a long moment, he shifted his position to angle himself towards her on the couch, though his eyes remained downcast.

Izumi gently cupped his face in her hands and lifted his head to level with her own. She could feel his jaw clenched beneath her palms.

“Itaru, talk to me,” she coaxed gently, fighting to keep her voice steady. “What did you mean earlier?”

Though he didn’t move her hands away, he continued to avert his eyes.

“I… I can’t be jealous,” he began quietly. “Because… if someone else confessed to you, it’d be better that way. I’d be happy.”

“Why would you say that?” Izumi demanded, her tone coming out harsher than she had intended. She inhaled deeply to try and calm herself, though her brain was still rattled by his words. “Weren’t you the one who confessed to me first, Itaru? You asked me to give you a chance, so why would you think that way?”

A long moment passed between them in silence, but Izumi could see Itaru’s emotions warring on his face. She didn’t dare breathe until he finally opened his mouth again.

“Sometimes… I think it was a mistake that I asked you out,” he said quietly, his voice cracking as he continued on. “The more time I spend with you… the more I think about how… how you deserve someone better than me.”

Suddenly, she felt a wet sensation tickle against her fingers. As tears fell from his magenta-coloured eyes, Izumi was struck by several emotions.

The first was awe. For the first time, she understood what it meant when people said that there were beautiful criers. Though she knew that it was morbid, at that moment, she truly thought that Itaru was the most beautiful man she had ever seen, even as tears blotted his cheeks and turned his eyes red.

The second was sorrow. She felt unspeakable sadness that this person before her had struggled through so much in his life that he felt unworthy of being with someone he professed to love and thought that she would be better off without him.

Anger was the third. She was angry at herself for being unable to reassure him, to stop him from feeling this way despite the amount of time they had already spent together.

Last of all, she felt a surge of… something. She had only been in a couple of casual relationships before, and none of them as passionate as the one she had experienced with Itaru in the past half a year. Nor were any of them as comfortable as what she felt when she was with him. Spending time with Itaru both calmed her and brought butterflies to her stomach. Never in her life had she felt like she mattered as much as she did than when this man looked at her.

Was this love? She didn’t know, since she had no landmark to compare it against. But, what she was sure of was that she didn’t want to see Itaru look this way. She wanted to see him with his usual crooked smirk, just like the one he always gave when he teased her. She wanted to see his eyes crinkle like they did when he won a game. She wanted to see a smile on his face – like the one that bloomed across his face whenever the curtains fell after a successful Spring Troupe performance.

 She didn’t know when it had started, but she was crying as well.

 “Itaru,” she started, ignoring the salty taste in her mouth as her tears rolled past her lips, turning his face in an attempt to meet his gaze. “You… You don’t mean that, do you.”

 ��I do,” he said firmly, still refusing to look her in the eye. Instead, he took her hands in his and removed it from his face – but rather than letting them go, his fingers squeezed hers tightly.

“No, you don’t,” she replied just as forcefully, finding her footing again as her heart resolved itself. “Because if you did, then you wouldn’t look so torn right now. Your hands wouldn’t be shaking. If you would truly be happy to have someone take me away from you, then you wouldn’t have been dying against enemies that you can usually beat in your sleep.”

 Itaru closed his eyes, as if he were wincing in pain.

 “Itaru, please. Don’t push me away.”

 A fresh stream of tears rolled down his face as he let out a rasping breath, shoulders shaking.

 “Did you know, the look on your face just now was so similar to when you told me you wanted to quit the troupe? You couldn’t look at me when I asked you to admit that you weren’t interested in theatre – that you didn’t care about performing with the others,” she said softly, using her thumb to wipe away the tears streaking his face.

 As a quiet sob tore its way out of Itaru’s throat, he leaned forward and buried his head against her shoulder, quickly soaking the material of her shirt. Letting her own tears fall, she lightly ran her fingers through his hair.

 “I… I want… to be with you… I want to feel worthy of you,” he gasped out in between sobs.

 “Itaru, I’m not some deity on a pedestal. I’m just a regular person, like you. You don’t have to be worthy of anything to be with me,” she replied.

 She felt him shake his head against her shoulder, his hair tickling against her chin.

 “If you still think that way, then… then let me tell you what I told you once before. Give yourself a little more time,” Izumi said, wrapping her arms around him, and nuzzling her face into his hair. “You owe it to yourself to keep trying. And… it’s not all on you. I’ll keep trying, too. I want to be a person that’s worthy of your efforts.”

 Then, after a long moment cradled in her arms, Itaru slowly lifted his head and finally allowed his red-rimmed eyes to meet hers, a small, lop-sided smile sneaking its way onto his lips.

 “Well… then I hope you’re ready to accept responsibility for your actions again.”

 “Of course!”

I had hoped to put this out on the actual first day of this week, but I kept rewriting it because I wasn’t satisfied with it. Even now, I’m not completely pleased with the finished product, but, I honestly don’t know how long it would take me to finish writing if I kept mulling over it! So, I decided to finally just settle with this version and post it and not look back!!

 In the end, I still got my central point across: which is that I wanted to write about how and why someone doesn’t feel jealous in a romantic relationship. And, so, this happened, haha. But, I didn’t want a sad ending, so I ended up on a hopeful note.

 Anyway, I APPARENTLY ONLY WRITE ITAIZU ANGST. I’m so sorry, Itaru – I’ll do you right next time!! No, really, HAHA. My entry for Day 2 (which will hopefully get written out in the next couple of days) is another ItaIzu and it’s NOT sad, I promise. In fact, it’s just PWP, LOLOL.

 If you liked my first entry, please do stick around for my other pieces for “A3! Rare Pairs Week 2020”! After my ItaIzu for Day 2, I’ll be moving on to other Izumi pairings. It’s a secret for now which pairings will all be covered in the end, but I’m here to spread the Izumi love!!

 Thank you for reading and please do leave a comment letting me know what you think! Any reblogs are always greatly appreciated and would really help me out!

 I hope to see you again! Bye for now!

 -Anmitsu

[dolphin-enthusiast]

YEAAAAAAAAA REQUESTS ARE OPEN CAN I GET. The villains (minus doppio please, but including diavolo!) being s/os with a pillar man :'D you should know which anon this is by now shrbdjdkdkh

From now on you shall be known as the pillarman anon🤠

Dio:

- Honestly?? At first he feels challenged, even THREATENED by them. He really underestimated s/o when he first met them, thinking that they are just another weakling that’s merely pretending to be a much stronger being than they really are.

- And boi oh boi was he wrong because s/o absolutely kicked his ass after he had cockily challenged them to a fight. After the incident Dio was unable to sleep (even though he technically doesn’t require sleep either but the restlessness was real) and kept thinking about the literal god that managed to kick his ass so badly.

- Eventually this fixation develops into a lowkey crush and Dio can’t keep his tsundere act up anymore. This is exactly how it came to him asking them out (a blush present on his “pissed off” features) and much to his surprise s/o calmly accepted with a small smile. Soon enough Dio dropped his shitty attitude and actually started behaving properly around them, finally accepting that he himself could also lose sometimes.

Kars:

- He’s like a “chiller” version of Dio, as in he too underestimated s/o quite alot at first when they came to him and claimed that they are a fellow pillarman but did not try mocking them or anything. I mean sure they could very well be telling the truth, but are they really as strong as he is?

- Turns out that they are indeed a very good match for him and this actually intrigued Kars alot. He had never met someone remotely close to being as strong as he is and s/o was quite the surprise to say the least. He gets over his pride way faster than Dio and asks them out in no time.

- And if the man had doubts before they are all quickly erased once s/o accepts his confession, the two making their relationship official. They are the most iconic power couple and they could quite literally be able to take over the world together if they put their mind to it. Kars couldn’t be more proud to have such an amazing and powerful s/o who also happens to be the same species as him and s/o is only glad that they had met someone that can fully understand and vibe with them.

Kira:

- The one that’s the most confused out of everyone on this list. He is but an ordinary salaryman (or at least that’s what he likes showing to the rest of the world) and absolutely does not believe s/o when they tell him that they are a literal fucking god.

- He’s stubborn as all fuck so the only way to convince him is by showing him actual proof, and that’s exactly what s/o did. Now just imagine the mixture of shock and perplexion that took over his features once he witnessed s/o’s back sprout out a big ass pair of wings.

- From that day on he never questioned them again. Up until now he thought that he was hot stuff and that he could literally square up anyone that he wanted but no, turns out that an actual god that could snap him in half if they so desired actually exists. And they are his very own s/o that he loves dearly. And kinda fears too. Alot.

Diavolo:

- Almost as worse as Dio because he simply cannot get over his initial pride after he discovers that there’s someone out there that could absolutely destroy his ass. It just doesn’t sit well with him.

- Sure he feels threatened at first, but he soon starts developing a slight fascination with them. He really has no idea why that happened. It couldn’t be because they are FAR more powerful than him, right?

- Wrong. That’s exactly why. Diavolo eventually comes to terms with his crush (yet even then he’s STILL in denial because he’s a big ass clown) and tries asking them out in the most passive aggressive way. At this s/o lets out a chuckle while accepting with an amused smile, making the man scoff and look to the side with a slight blush on his scowling face. Don’t worry he will eventually drop the tsundere bs. Until then though he will keep flushing like a schoolgirl whenever s/o starts teasing him again.

[storm-of-aegis]

Art Club leads

Name: Naoko Hokusai Age: 15-16 Nationality: Japanese Year: Sophomore Ability: Light Manipulation Gender: Female Club: Art Bio: Naoko was born near the northern coastal town of Ishinomaki. She never knew her parents. Her father was completely unknown, allegedly a soldier from another country stationed in the country for a while who left the country when he was stationed elsewhere. Her mother abandoned her within the childcare system, stating that she wishes for the child to find a proper home. Naoko was always a quiet and shy child. Many of the other children would make fun of her largely due to her never wanting to fight back. She just wanted to be invisible, so the torment would stop. Because of the constant harassment, she generally kept to herself. That was until Yui came to her orphanage. Yui had been taken from her home at a young age and moved from around through several orphanages do to her having special and unique abilities. Upon arriving at the orphanage, Yui frightened the other kids, even Naoko. She was an older girl, and a bit brash. One day a boy tried to push her down to prove she was nothing to fear, only for her to grab his hand and flip him over her head onto a table. With her strength she broke the table, and his arm. If anyone wasn’t afraid of her before, they surely were now. Naoko was bound and determined to avoid her from here on out. Time past as it always does, and the abuse for Naoko began to get worse. That was, until one day when a group of kids decided they were going to get back at Naoko for something someone else did, but since they didn’t know who it was, it had to have been Naoko. Naoko began to cry as the other kids pulled her hair and called her names, only stopping when Yui picked the biggest kid up and threatened to use him to beat the others. That alone was creepy enough, but the smile she had didn’t help matters much. As Yui began to walk away, Naoko stood up and introduced herself. Yui stopped, turned to face her and said that she knew, and introduced herself as Yui. From then on the 2 became good friends, almost inseperable. They read comics, and played games and Yui was even introduced to art by Naoko. One day Yui got into a fight with the headmaster who was hitting another student because he had a candy bar. Yui threw a trashcan at him, knocking him over. Befuddled, the man stood up, looked around and then ran right past Naoko and Yui. He never even saw them. Unbeknownst to Naoko, she had grabbed onto Yui to try and pull her away, when in a startling awakening, her power had materialized. She warped the light around them, making them seemingly disappear. Naoko never let anyone else know about her ability, and often used it to go see and read manga with her friend as she was punished for various deeds she had and even ones she had not done. Naoko unfortunately had to say good bye to Yui one day, as she was pushed off to yet another orphanage, and soon after Naoko was adopted by a salaryman and his family in Tokyo. Naoko lost contact with Yui, but always hoped she’d be able to meet her “Big Sister” again.

Name: Eugenio Bianchi Age: 16 Nationality: Italian Year: Sophomore Ability: Ventus-Kinesis (Air) Gender: Male Club: Art Bio: The youngest of a long line of artisans, Eugenio carries on the tradition of bringing beauty into the world, except for one small problem, Eugenio’s less of a visual artist as he is a literary one. While talented with paint, and even with sculpture, his true calling is with the written word. He can begin a work on a canvas, and quickly lose his motivation to see it through. So many statues started, and left to nothing short of unfinished rubble. Such skill and artistry sealed behind a door, that only opens fully when he had his book and pen in hand. His mind opens and the creative flow can barely be contained. He envisions worlds of fantasy and whimsy, chivalrous knights, cunning heroines and powerful artifacts of unimaginable might. But he toils away, trying to find that which his siblings has, that his mother has, that his grandparents had all the way through the ages past. Perhaps a new setting will help his lethargy at play, or help him prove he knows what’s best for him.

Name: Ainsley Maclachlan Age: 17 Nationality: Scottish Year: Junior Ability: Vibration Manipulation Gender: Female Club: Art Bio: Ainsley grew up in the town of Skye. Her parents were often off on various forms of business, so she lived with her grandmother much of the time. She learned much from her, like working in the garden, building and repairing various items ranging from barbecues to walls, horseback riding and even how sing. Her grandmother was an opera singer in her youth, where she met the man who would eventually become Ainsley’s grandfather. After having 2 boys and a daughter, her husband passed away. While she knew what to teach her little girl, she had to learn how to raise her boys and what to teach them. All of those years of knowledge, now passed on to her Ainsley. But the one thing Ainsley loved most was riding her Clydesdale along with her Gran, and spending hours over looking various structures and castles and even the lakes drawing what she saw as her Gran would sing to her to pass the time. When Ainsley was 11, her Grandmother began to turn gravely ill, forcing her mother to return home. Ainsley was deeply worried, to which her Mother told her that everything would be fine. As they awaited word of how her Grandmother’s condition was, her mother asked if she would like to travel with either her or her father so she’s not so stranded her in Scotland, to which Ainsley surprisingly told her, “Why would I leave. Gran’s here. Would she be going with us?”.  While her Grandmother’s condition was still unknown Ainsley’s mother, fearing the worst, tried to convince Ainsley to travel with them as to put less stress on her mother. Ainsley refused saying that if her Gran was left alone, who knows what could happen. She wasn’t going to leave, no matter what. Ainsley’s mother asked, would she prefer that she move back instead then. Ainsley surprised said she would love to have her mother stay there. Then there’d be her, and Gran and mum. Only thing missing would be her Da, and her uncles and aunts and all her cousins. Ainsley’s mother began to explain how Gran may not necessarily be able to stay with us, to which she told her daughter that she wouldn’t be going anywhere but to her home. And that if her cousins were coming by, she’d need to do some shoppin’, them boys eat like locusts after a famine, and she’s not feedin’ them anymore drywall. Barely enough walls as is. Overcome with joy, Ainsley ran over and hugger her Gran tightly, to where she told Ainsley that she needs to be careful, she’s still a bit wobbly, but she’ll be headin home soon. Ainsley’s mother transferred to a nearby office so she wouldn’t have to move about so often. Ainsley’s Gran began to slow down a bit after her episode, but always made time to go off on an adventure with Ainsley whenever the wind had the sweet scent of mischief about it. Eventually, Ainsley grew up and was offered an opportunity to go to a prestigious school in a vastly different place. Sensing Ainsley was apprehensive to leave her Gran behind, her Grandmother told her that this wasn’t the Granddaughter she raised. That the Ainsley she knew would never turn down an adventure. That she’d walk down to that airport and tell the pilot to sit back, she’d get this bird to that island herself. Concerned, Ainsley stated that she didn’t want to leave her Gran behind, but didn’t want to miss out on what could be a grand adventure. Tearfully, she agreed to go, but swore she’d call every day. To which her Gran told her, that with her voice and singing, I’ll hear you clear as a whistle from here. With tears in both of their eyes, and one last hug goodbye, Ainsley took off to begin an adventure, all on her own.

Name: Rachel Matthews Age: 15-16 Nationality: American- Caucasion Year: Freshman Ability: Pyrokinesis Gender: Female Club: Art Bio: Rachel grew up in New York City, eldest daughter to a major film composer and a stay at home dad who translated books into other languages from home. Rachel loved sitting in the window of her fathers’ office reading her favorite books. During the more intense parts she would begin to read out loud, only to realize her volume was so high and to find her father sitting back and watching her smiling. Immediately after, he take her to the kitchen to get a snack. “You can’t fight the Jabberwocky on an empty stomach.”, he would always tell her as he made her a turkey sandwich. They’d then go back to the office and continue working. At school, Rachel never had much of a  problem making friends, but she preferred the company of her own thoughts. She loved books, and learning and dreaming about fantasy worlds. She was a dreamer, who never wanted to wake up. To her, the real world was less exciting than the books she had. But much like in the books she would read, there would be a dark twist to her story, when she developed her abilities.

She was barely 7 when, at school, her powers awakened. She was reading a rather intense section to her book in the library, when she began to speak out loud. The book was so impassioned her that she began to almost yell what she was reading. An enraged librarian walked over to her to get her to quiet down, startling the young girl by slamming his hand on the desk. Frightened she threw her book and from her hands erupted a massive ball of flame. The fireball set fire to the walls, demolished desks and lit so many of her beloved books aflame. The librarian had his arm burned, but was able to put it out quickly. Rachel’s attack was so powerful, using it knocked her out. When she woke up, she saw her mother and father running towards her. She didn’t know what happened, but she was wrapped in a silver blanket, and the fire dept was putting out a fire at the school. She saw kids huddling around, when suddenly one of the boys who was a friend of hers, pointed and yelled that she killed Mr. Bronson. Soon after all of the kids started pointing and chanting, “MONSTER! MONSTER! MONSTER!”. After her parents found out what happened, they pulled Rachel and her brothers from that school. Her brothers went to a new school, trying to hide their old school as much as they could. Rachel was home schooled from then on. They had a plethora of books, and could focus on a broader array of educational points for her. And her Father worked from home as is, so he would just cut back on his projects to work on her education, and then work on his job during “off” hours. Her family maintained, and no one blamed her for what happened, but now that she had what she wanted, she realized how much she really did enjoy being around others. But she was afraid that if she lost control again, what would happen. She got older, and after years of trying to figure out how to use her abilities, with little progress, heard of a school where she could attend classes with people like herself. She talked to her parents, and explained how she’d be able to go out and be normal again. How she wouldn’t have to be afraid of hurting anyone, or being judged. Although pricey, Rachel’s mother pulled some strings, and got her enrolled at the academy. Rachel kissed her parents goodbye, and she left for an adventure all her own.

[sambart93]

2018.07.31 Danshi wa Tsurakunai yo? / Being a Boy Isn’t Hard? [Review]

Official Website here Official Twitter here

CAST and CHARACTERS

Present Selves Harashima Motohisa Ishiwatari Masshu Akisawa Kentaro Jounin Tatsuki Matsumura Taiichiro

Past Selves Masaki Kaoru Higuchi Yuta Kimura Atsushi Takenaka Ryouhei Fukazawa Taiga

Classmates Takasaki Shungo Iwa Yoshito Tanaka Hiroki Oikawa Kou Horita Reo Sato Nobunaga Yamagata Takumi

Teachers Mende Tomoyuki Murakami Kouhei Nishioka Daisuke Kitadai Takashi Kanesaki Kentaro Totani Kimito

*

NON-SPOILER REVIEW Overall: This is a lot of fun. Many times the audience were dying in hysterics of laughter. It's a simple story but it's very funny, packed full with comedy and hilarious moments. The characters are interesting and it has some ridiculous moments. I can't really say anythnig else about it other than say it's entertaining and very funny! ALSO I am very thankful for the high-touch at the end of show! I got to high touch with so many actors that I like!! It appears this stage isn't selling out which makes me sad because it's got some really great names in it and it's a lot of fun! Rating: 8.5/10

*

SPOILER REVIEW

PRE-SHOW Well this place is fancy as fuck... << was the first thoughts that went through my mind xD also I quickly realised that ‘Oh, it's also where Wakasamagumi is going to be this time around!’ which got me excited although I probably won’t be going. I forgot how many damn actors that I love that are in this! And there was a high touch after this so I was super nervous because I like a LOT of actors who were in this!!

MAIN PLOT

So five friends decide to meet up for their 10th year High School anniversary, especially one of them (Masshu) is adamant on them getting their seishun/youth feeling back. So they go back to the place where they all met and were forced to spend one month as a summer extra curriculum activity. While at first, as students, they hated the idea of having to spend a month of their summer holiday doing classes and cleaning and spending time with people they don't know or like, especially our main character Naoki (Harashima Motohisa and Masaki Kaoru) who has no interest at all in making friends or even continuing being with them after the activity is done. But as the summer classes go on, they all genuinely begin to bond and enjoy their time and by the end, they don't want to depart and want to end their summer by making a festival, which will hopefully attract all the nearby schools which all happen to be ALL-GIRL schools (while they're stuck in an all-boys school).

THE SHOW ITSELF

Oh this was so funny! Unfortunately I spent the first 30 minutes of this play in a LOT of pain with my back from some reason so I couldn't fully immerse or get into the story even though I really wanted to laugh along with everyone else! *cries* but once the back-pain passed, I did not stop laughing and there were so many rounds of applause from the audience because so many parts were absolutely hilarious! I was dying of laughter as was everyone else and some of them on stage were dying too - I'm looking right at you Higuchi! He could not contain he laughter at some times xD this little shit.

I'll do my usual, go through actors and hopefully talk about their characters and what I thought and some scenes that stood out to me.

I was so surprised to see Harashima Motohisa (he plays future Naoki) in this! He's one actor who I love no matter what he does but I don't go out of my way to see him so it's always pleasantly surprising when I see him pop up in stuff that I'm watching. I really love how much his cringed at his past self and his past blogs that he used to write and upload. Also I love how at the beginning his suspiciously says 'my job? .... I'm a... I'm a salaryman.' but then towards the end he completely loses it and yells 'I LIED!!! I'm a salaryman!!! I don't want to be normal!!!! I tried being an actor.. I tried being a youtuber... I tried having part time jobs!' and he just blows and it's so funny! 

When I first saw Masaki Kaoru, I wasn't keen just purely from me being vain and basing people on their looks. I'd never seen him before so I should've been a bit more open. But I quickly opened up to him and I really enjoyed how ridiculous his character was. Every time he came on stage to narate the next day or the next part of the story, he would always introduce himself as someone else, like 'Good morning, I'm Bob Dylan! That's a lie. I'm Naoki!' and then would proceed along with the story. He ended up being really cute and his character was really nice. I'm glad his character development ended up being good and him learning to appreciate his friends, but also his reaction to his future self was hilarious (more on that later). He's an Amuse kid and he was in ODAC's HOME when I watched it last week (I still haven't released that review have I?! Jesus just how far behind am I... damn K-TV taking up all my time).  One scene in this I really liked was when Higuchi brought some snacks and games for them to bond over and they break the sweets pack out and over into the audience, so the first 6 rows or such had a chance of getting sweets from them! And once they were thrown Masaki was sweet enough to be like ‘there’s still a packet on the floor over there’ and such.

Masshu's character was so adorable. I was surprised that him and Higuchi were playing the same character but it makes sense. They're both super funny and entertaining. I love how ridiculous this character was! Especially with Masshu randomly throwing out random English like 'let's find our.... blue spring ('seishun' instead of 'youth')' and he would be like '...why?! ... why??' in English instead. It cracked me up a lot. But I did get worried because in this story past self, Higuchi, spends a lot in the hospital and can't join in on activities because of doctor's orders so I was super worried that we were going to get a 'I wanted us 5 to do this trip because I'm dying'' kind of plot line -- but thank god, turns out his future self is doing well.

As for Higuchi, lets be real, he was just playing himself. There was a scene where Taiga goes mental because he got his game system taken away from him so he goes on a mental pillow hitting streak on the members and Higuchi was just in the corner dying of laughter to himself along with the entirity of the audience. His character was annoying and in your face but in a good way; he just wanted to be friends with everyone! And because he was clearly a weak or sick child he wanted to make lots of friends and be normal and make meaningful memories - he reminded me very much of Kamen Rider Fourzes' Gen and his mission to make 100 friends!

Moving onto the Jounin/Takenaka pair. I personally, if you know me and remember, I don't particularly like Jounin as an actor; whenever I've seen him, I've always felt annoyed or underwhelmed by his character/acting. But in this one, I felt he did just fine. He was alright and did just a fine job. But he didn't exactly stand out either. Takenaka on the other hand; I focused on him more than I did Jounin; and I really liked his introduction where we're immediately told that he was once the main lead in Meitantei Jun and everyone around him wants handshakes and such and he's just like 'I'm used to it. You can ask, don't worry about it,' and we also see glimpses of teachers coming to him and saying, 'your mother called, won't you answer?' and he always replies 'tell her I'm busy' because (as he explains) she's only calling because she wants him to take more auditions because he just keeps failing them all. Jounin remembers his past self and gets annoyed because by now his mother has already past away (5 years ago) and when he finally go the courage to tell her that he didn't want to act anymore and to finally tell her he found a normal job etc. she was so happy to hear and congratulated him. But she soon passed after that. So when these two finally meet, of course Jounin is like 'you should answer your mother's calls. You should just tell her how you feel' etc. But more on that later.

4th in line is Matsumura and Taiga. They are the polar opposites; Taiga is obsessed with playing games and finds so much positivity and joy in life even from the smallest of things; while Matsumura, even though he got his dream of being the CEO of a gaming company, he finds it boring, nothing is interesting in his life. Seeing this polar opposite was very interesting. I really enjoyed Taiga's character and I love how mental he went when he didn't have a game to play in his hands xD I also love that he just enjoys whatever! I didn't realise, until the high touch event, who Matsumura was and then I saw him and I was like 'damn your Makoto from EnStage!'. He looks MUCH better in this stage than he does in EnStage.

Finally we have Kimura and Akisawa. These two were very similar in their present and past selves. It was very hilarious to see them two because they didn't change much. Both of them were scared of ghosts and both were loud and pretending they weren't scared of ghosts. They had... a lot of passion < is the best way to put it xD they created a lot of the comedy when it was just the five boys on stage together. This character is constantly moving and it's in a very yankee way and he's also always twisting and being super fast moving etc. it was very comedic and fun to watch! OH and another ridiculous thing about him; Akisawa has kids and they're called Donald, Minnie and Mickey, which is already ridiculous enough, but then it's later revealed that they're all boys!

Towards the end, the present selves manage to contact their past selves so they end up having one on one battles with each other which is just absolutely hilarious. So we had Harashima and Masaki going head to head against each other and Harashima is like 'you're my black past!!! Why didn't you enjoy it?! Why did you have to be so crazy?!' and Masaki is like 'you're a salaryman?!?! You're my black future!! Why did I become like this?!?!'

We had Masshu and Higuchi getting along very well and just talking about how's life and Masshu explains 'you get really sick for about 4 years, but don't worry, I'm all good now'.

Jounin keeps asking Takenaka about their mum and why he won't answer her calls while he's on this summer trip and tells her that he should be honest about his feelings of not wanting to be an actor anymore and that he should talk to his mother more. Also he asks him if ghosts are real and Takenaka is like 'they're not' and Jounin admits he believes in them.

Then we had Matsumura and Taiga; Taiga is so happy and fascinated that he became the CEO of a gaming company and asks Matsumura to play a game with him. But Taiga keeps losing but because Taiga is so happy about playing games and Matsumura can see the happy life his old self is leading that he says Taiga is the real winner and he now wants to find fun in his life again.

Finally we have Kimura and Akisawa who are just being absolutely ridiculous and going all headbutty and fighting on top of each other a lot and Kimura is annoyed that Akisawa is considering divorcing his wife and Kimura is like 'I thought I was cooler than this!!! I'm supposed to love my one and only girl for the rest of my life like a cool guy!!! If I find a woman I love then she surely deserves it all!' and finally Akisawa is like 'damn past me is so damn cool! What was I thinking divorcing her!'

Another scene I really loved with our main five boys is in a past scene; where they five boys and their teacher Tani-sensei and the Kendo sensei are all together and Higuchi randomly asks 'who here are virgins? Come on, admit it' and at first only Tani-sensei raises his hand, so naturally the audience start laughing, and then all the boys except Higuchi raise their hands and finally, he's turned away from the boys so they can't see but the Kendo sensei raises his hand a little too, and the entire audience EXPLODED in laughter. So naturally all the boys are like 'come on (Higuchi), raise your hand too! You're a virgin too!.... right? ... you're a virgin, right? ... wait what?! WHEN?! TELL US EVERYTHING!'

Now I'll get down to the more minor characters, starting with Iwa Yoshito! His character stood out because everytime he was on stage and with the rest of the class, for some reason they really wanted to just strip him off all his clothing and while they didn't show it the first few times, there's one part where the 5 MCs are in the foreground and you can see some of the students using their shirts to block the view and when they stop doing that, Iwa is just stood completely shirtless. And then towards the end of the show he just takes his shirt off himself and everyone's like 'why did you do that?' and he's like 'I give up!' and walks off xD

Takasaki Shungo’s character was very interesting. He was the ONE guy in their school year and in the summer school who was in touch with girls and the first scene with him, we see him on the phone to a bunch of girls and making dates to go to the summer festival with them. Naturally, all the other boys are super jealous! He is also the one who really gets into Kendo sensei’s ‘Special Class’ and he starts practising at night when everyone else is asleep and he wants to learn more so he starts trailing the sensei at night (which is hilarious). And then when they do the cultural event slash festival at the end, he’s the one who’s able to invite the all-girl schools to go and watch (we, the audience, as treated as those students at the end) them perform.

Hiroki's character was so funny! He was adorable too with these two cute pink pins in his hair. His part was smaller than I would've wanted but you can't win them all can you xD he had a main part of this story which was tormenting the PE(?) teacher and constantly making banana jokes around him. He asks the teacher where his banana is and the teacher is like '???' and Hiroki replies 'well you look like a monkey'. Then in a later scene, the teacher has a yellow towel around his neck and Hiroki goes 'why do you have a banana around your neck?' and every time this joke happens the teacher tries to attack him and yells 'It's not a banana!'. But in the very final scene for him, he's actually holding a banana and Hiroki approaches him and just says 'thank you for teaching me so much teacher!' and of course the teacher gets pissed because that's not what he was expecting and is like 'OI! I have a banana! Are you not going to say it?!' and Hiroki is like 'nah I gave up on that joke' and Hiroki runs because the teacher tries to attack him again xD it was really funny and really hilarious. Especially considering how many monkey jokes get thrown at Hiroki himself from his coworkers and friends xD

Now onto the teachers - who are BAT SHIT CRAZY!

Murakami Kouhei plays the headteacher (or at least is the more senior within this group) and he's perculiar in that he quotes many different and famous people through the entirity of the play and acts very stoic. But then when they do the festival at the end, he goes a little loopy because he gets to play one of the final bosses and has two swords to fight the boys with (as expected of a Kamen Rider actor!).

Nishioka Daisuke is just the most perverted teacher ever! He's Murakami's right hand man and of course obeys and respects everything about Murakami but he's also like 'oi, you should introduce me to the students at the All Girls tachibana school' and things like that. He's just a pervert xD

Mende Tomoyuki plays the 'robot' teacher. Everyone thinks he's a robot because his movements and his talking is so monotone and so rigid but of course he isn't. He's a very strict teacher and doesn't show much emotion.

I am pretty sure it's Kitadai Takashi who plays the aggressive and abusive PE teacher. Whenever he tries to attack and hurt the students, Murakami is always by the side and he looks over to him and stops attacking the students xD

Kanesaki Kentaro ends up playing the Kendo sensei who everyone in the audience absolutely fell in love with, He is absolutely hilarious! At first we see him teaching the 'Special Class' and we just think he's normal but then in a later scene we seen him on a scooter with a helmet and just skating across the stage all silently which was just bizarre. And then in a later scene he's off scootering and a student tries to talk to him but he continues skating like he never saw him xD and finally towards the end when he joins up with the MCs, he just gets ridiculously funny; the virgin scene and then him getting happy about girl schools coming to the festival and he's all trigger happy when he has a wooden sword in his hand. He totally became the audience's favourite by the end of the show! He was such a barrel of laughs. Seriously, my notes of him were just 'The kendo sensei being crazy as fuck'.

Totani Kimito plays the new homeroom teacher 'Tani' (which is a pun becaue in Japanese homeroom teacher means Tanin and he's like 'I"m the tanin, Tani. No that's not my name on purpose' xD I really liked him. He was very sweet and very easily lovable. But I was suspicious of him because he bumps into the boys in the future just after they talk about 'are ghosts real?' so for the majority of the play, I assumed present Tani was actually a ghost reciding in that place, but I was wrong. There was no catch. He was just there with another year of school summer activity students.

One thing I am thankful about is the fact that there was surprisingly nothing sad in this play, thank god! I was waiting for it. Especially when we had Higuchi being sent to hospital and we learn that Jounin's mother passed away. But there was no big sad moment and no tears so (thank god) it was a completely comedic and positive play which -- guys -- it's been a while.

Unfortunately none of the other boys particularly stood out but after googling them, I recognise a lot or can say I've seen and/or know about some of the stuff they've done. 

AFTER EVENT!

As in per usual style of mine, I had no idea there was an aftershow event until I was at the damn show! It was a high-touch/high-five event with all the main characters/actors! So I got to high-five:

Harashima Motohisa Ishiwatari Masshu Akisawa Kentaro Jounin Tatsuki Matsumura Taiichiro Masaki Kaoru Higuchi Yuta Kimura Atsushi Takenaka Ryouhei Fukazawa Taiga

And it went in order of Matsumura-Taiga-Akisawa-Kimura-Takenaka-Jounin-Masshu-Higuchi-Harashima-Masaki along the line. I am so super happy that I got to get high-touches with Taiga (I remember he had such a great smile on his face), Masshu (my friend is his fan so he's used to seeing white foreigners in front of his face now xD), Higuchi (I was super nervous high-touching him... I honestly think this is the FIRST stage I've ever seen him live in the flesh too! DAMN), Kimura (he was cute, obviously! I've always wanted to see him on stage but our schedules and stages just don't tend to match xD) and Harashima (I was super nervous high-touching him too!). Also the line slowed down about Higuchi/Masshu/Jounin around so that didn't help my nerves with Higuchi! Haha MAsaki always greeted me with this huge smile right at the end of the line which was adorable! But of course I was sad that Hiroki was NOT in the line xD

*

GOODS

I was so thankful that Hiroki only has one bromide set this time. BUT I did feel a little upset he didn't have at least two sets xD I think this is the cheapest he's ever cost me!

*

And we are done!

[nwkrp-blog]

                                  ⋆ — WELCOME HOME, TRAVELER.

THE SHORES HAVE GIFTED US A NEW RESIDENT. born on AUGUST 13TH, 1992, BYUN BAEKHYUN has been on the island for 8 MONTHS and is currently a BARTENDER, WEBCOMIC ARTIST AND WRITER. you can always find them at PARADISE SHARE HOUSE, 102.

                                          ONWARD !

                                           ⋆ EVERY STORY HAS A REASON

is it really a choice when you have nowhere else to go? he thinks, eyes on the road, nails all bitten to the point of bleeding. when the car stops baekhyun sighs. he isn’t able to open the door and fighting against the hot tears is getting harder and harder. so he just sits there, bites on his nails again, until soft hands stop him. he looks to his side, stares at his older brother’s eyes. shit, this is not helping with the crying.

“you’re going to get late for your flight.”

“i know. just a minute.”

his brother agrees. “mido seems like a great place, though. we’re surely going to visit. and this whole youth program,” he smiles, square-like, just like his own, “seems pretty cool. if i wasn’t already married and tied up to busan i’d-,” he stops when he looks up to baekhyun, expression unreadable. minsoo sighs. “i mean. it looks nice. all things considering.”

“i suppose you’re right,” baekhyun replies, tries to force a smile, but all that happens is the slight quiver of his lips. he looks back, the airport in front of him. his hands are shaking, the memory of their fight coming to him too vividly. if anyone told him one month ago that baekhyun would be leaving busan, settling for some stupid second-rate job in some island and the promise of a good life, he would’ve laughed. and yet here he is now, clothes packed. and only his older brother to tell him goodbye.

“don’t get so upset. it’s probably only going to be for a while, mom and dad will come around,” his brother continues. he’s trying so hard it makes baekhyun’s chest ache. “i mean. you’re their son, right? they can’t just- over something so stupid.”

“hyung, really. it’s ok. we don’t have to talk about it.”

“but you understand, right? why you can’t stay with me?” he asks, and baekhyun smiles. of course he does. baekhyun’s job barely paid for his bills, which was why he was still living with his parents at the age of 24. how could his older brother, a simple salaryman who just got married, about to have fucking twins also support him? he never held it against him, but minsoo seems to still be holding to that promise.

“i do. i prefer it like this, hyung, really. a new start, right? maybe i’ll get a suntan, who knows?” he goes and smiles again, what else is he supposed to do? he has nowhere to go, no one to trust - except this new opportunity, his only escape. he tries to think positively. maybe it’s his chance. a new start, a new place. maybe a place where he can exist, live freely. maybe.

                                          ⋆ EVERY STORY HAS ITS ROOTS

his life is quite simple.

the youngest son of two. his father is a pastor, his mother a housewife. he grows up happy, that ordinary kind of happiness that so many people call boredom, but for baekhyun it’s good, it’s fine. he doesn’t mind it, enjoys it. he grows up with friends at school, he is not the bullied kid, but also not the most popular. he does well enough to pass, but not well enough to be top of the class. when it’s summer he goes to the beach with his friends, all young and fresh, ice cream in hands. when it’s winter they stay home, his mother cooks dinner, his favorite dish because he is, in her words, “her little baby”.

it’s a simple life, normal. he goes on for sixteen years of his life like this, quiet and simple. that happiness that settles down in the bottom of your heart and stays. until this one day, this sunny day, an ordinary day like every other. he’s walking back home, backpack on his back, his best friend on his side. they’re walking and talking as usual, playing around. until they reach the corner they usually part ways, and his friend, his best friend smiles at him, touches his shoulder, tells him he’ll see him tomorrow. there’s nothing weird, nothing out of ordinary. but then baekhyun feels it:

it’s a shift. as if something moves inside of him, goes somewhere else. he feels this tug in his heart, painful, pleasant. he smiles at his best friend, nods. aches. hurts.

from then on things are not that simple anymore.

-

his heart is racing and that’s all he can feel and hear. he looks back, the boy in front of him seems to be feeling the same, all wide eyed and blushed. beautiful.

baekhyun wants to kiss him again.

“no one can know,” his best friend says, and baekhyun agrees. this is stupid, dangerous. if his brother decides to go in his room right now he’d catch them, ruin them. but it feels like he is bewitched, addicted, even when he only had one single dose. he is only sixteen, and stupid, so damn stupid.

so all he does is to lean in again, holds his hand. melts.

-

hiding is the worst part. it feels like he’s always having to be too aware, too conscious of what he is doing. private accounts in social medias, replying to messages only when he’s sure he is alone. having to pretend the boy coming to his house is a friend, just a friend. waiting until everyone is gone so they can hold hands. it feels like he had stopped being honest with his family, stopped being who he is, or at least part of it. baekhyun feels tired.

art is refuge, in a way. when he draws, writes his stories, posts them online under a fake name. he graduates, goes to college, then graduates again. he finds a job, goes on. pretends it is ok.

he is 21 when it happens.

baekhyun arrives home from work, he’s still living with his parents, his job barely enough to pay the bills. he opens the door to his room, finds her mother in tears, his father standing by the window. her mother is looking at his computer screen. he’ll find out later that she never meant to pry, never meant to intrude in his life like this. she only wanted to find a song on youtube, to show his father something, but kakao talk was online. she didn’t mean to, but she saw his boyfriend’s messages, pictures. but right now that doesn’t matter. she just looks at him, and then cries some more. baekhyun is in shatters. his father won’t even look at him.

he cries. what else is he supposed to do?

-

a month later he goes to the army, does his service. when he comes back he doesn’t have a boyfriend anymore, they broke up a long time ago. what happened ruined them. so baekhyun goes home. they try again, he guesses, to act like a family. it’s a farce, a make pretend, something that he can’t bear. lying feels worse now that they know, whenever he leaves the house to go to a party, whenever he links hand to someone, he feels ridiculous, pathetic. so this time he doesn’t hide. he tells his parents what he feels, who he is. his father tries to hit him, his brother stops him.

they’re broken beyond repair.

so when his brother shows him the flyer, the mido youth program, baekhyun doesn’t even think twice. he takes it, accepts it. when he says goodbye to his family they barely look at him. but at last he does say goodbye, he reaches out. he won’t die with that one regret.

-

eight months have passed, he thinks, standing, the wind blowing his hair. he walks towards the sea, allows it to wash his feet, closes his eyes. he is kind enough to himself to feel hopeful, happy. he’s made it this far, he can make it even further. baekhyun smiles.

a new beginning. he deserves one too.

[cookinguptales]

If your still doing the fic asks, uh... Karabita? Number 5? If that's ok?

“Wait a minute. Are you jealous?”

(I was torn bc I’ve already written fic of Karamatsu being jealous of Chibita and a girl a few times, but I also just wrote a fic about Chibita being wildly jealous. Decided to try something just a little bit different. Warning for some awkward conversations and internalized homo/biphobia, but there’s a happy ending. Also very slightly NSFW.)

Tokyo was a big place, Karamatsu knew, and Tokyo had all types. It wasn’t like he’d never seen them around, those men who liked other men. He’d seen them standing around with their friends, gossiping or fixing their makeup, though he’d been informed, tartly enough, that you couldn’t always tell just by looking at a guy. Not all of them wore rainbow wigs on the streets of Shinjuku.

Some of them, it seemed, looked just like normal salarymen. Or were just normal salarymen, he supposed. He felt like something like that should show, in your face or in your clothes or in your mannerisms. He certainly felt like everyone could see him laid bare and open whenever he caught himself staring too long at another man’s rear end. He’d page through his magazines when no one was around and allow himself to run one slow finger over the toned bodies inside, staring long and hard at lean muscles rather than the clothes that covered them. He’d blush then, a deep, private scarlet. You had to be able to see it, right? He felt like a goddamn open book.

It was so much easier to look at girls, to swoon over soft curves and pouty lips. It wasn’t as if he didn’t like them. He felt unconflicted looking at a girly mag because he was pretty sure all five of his brothers had the exact same one. The men, though. The men. He was pretty sure they weren’t supposed to make his blood go just as hot as the girls did. He was definitely sure he wasn’t supposed to be looking. So he didn’t. Not outside.

Maybe it was because he was so careful about not looking too hard where others might see, or maybe he really was as dumb as everyone said. Or maybe there really was no way to tell just by looking at someone. Either way, he didn’t catch onto the wild double life of the salaryman sitting next to him for far too long. And maybe, just maybe, the real reason was that the man wasn’t bothering to live a double life at all.

He certainly wasn’t hiding the way he looked at Chibita, anyway.

Karamatsu noticed it between bites of chikuwa and he damn well nearly choked on it. The man was neat and clean-cut, the kind of guy that probably never ran out on a bill. And he was watching Chibita with open appreciation.

Karamatsu forced himself to keep chewing, and he shifted his attention to Chibita. He was humming as he worked, one of those silly little oden songs that Karamatsu didn’t understand, not for one minute, but that managed to make his heart do little flip-flops all the same. Karamatsu could see the way that his muscular shoulders shifted beneath that baggy shirt of his, and the way his hips swayed to his own music. His cheeks were rosy in the heat of the steam and his lips had that pleased little quirk to them that only seemed to come out when oden was involved.

No wonder the man was staring. Karamatsu was hard-pressed to keep from doing it himself. Instead, he dropped his eyes back to his plate. Safer that way.

He was so intent on his plate and the nervous rhythm his shoe was scuffing out against the pavement that he almost missed it. The thing. The big thing. As it was, he glanced up just in time to see the man leave – and just in time for him to slip something else in there along with the cash he owed for his meal. It took a second for Karamatsu to make sense of the little slip of paper and the bold strokes that had been written upon it. It was a phone number. The man had slipped Chibita his goddamn phone number, and he’d done it with a wink.

And Chibita, fuck, Chibita had smiled at him. There was no annoyance, no disgust. None of that famous temper. Just a little bit of playfulness to his grin as he’d taken his money and wished his (paying) customer goodnight.

They’d been flirting, Karamatsu realized, and right under his damn nose.

He didn’t even realize how he’d been gaping until Chibita gave him a pointed look. “Shut your mouth, idjit. You’ll get flies.”

He shut it quick, with an almost audible snap. He swallowed and tried to right the world even as it tilted. “But he…”

Chibita shrugged as he put the money away, and Karamatsu was dizzyingly, bewilderingly relieved to see him drop the slip of paper into the trash. “It happens sometimes. I don’t think they really mean anything by it,” he said.

Karamatsu sputtered a little. Only Chibita would get actual phone numbers and think they’d been anything other than an explicit invitation. “But he was undressing you with his eyes!” he burst out, and abruptly felt his cheeks heat. Fuck.

Chibita looked a little thrown by that one, but he just shrugged again, a little less sure this time, and closed the money box. His cheeks, Karamatsu noticed, had gone an especially fetching shade of pink. “It’s just because I’m so small,” he said, and his lips twisted even as he ducked his head. “Get a few beers into them, and they keep talking about how cute I am.”

Well, Karamatsu reasoned, that was probably because he was. Chibita was incredibly cute, and anyone with eyes could see it. Sure, his terrifying devotion to street food took the edge off of all that sweetness, but most of his customers probably didn’t know about that – or his experience with kidnapping. They just saw his soft lines and knew, just as surely as Karamatsu did, that he would fit perfectly in their arms.

Karamatsu swallowed. “This – this happens a lot?” he asked, but he knew even as he did what the answer was. Why the hell wouldn’t it? Why the hell hadn’t he ever considered this before, that everyone else could see the same damn thing that Karamatsu had been trying so hard to ignore?

Chibita hummed noncommittally. “Sometimes,” he said, and poked a skewer into one of the vats.

Karamatsu hesitated a moment, wondering if he really wanted to continue down this line of questioning. But the curiosity inside him would not be sated, not even with all the trepidation in the world. “Have you ever… Y’know…”

Chibita squinted at him. Then his eyes widened in understanding. “Called them? Fuck no. Wouldn’t want to scare off any customers,” he said.

Karamatsu bit at the inside of his lip and tried to ignore the way his stomach curled in on itself. That made sense. Chibita wouldn’t want to weird anyone out.

Chibita kept talking, seemingly ignorant to the storm clouds Karamatsu could hardly keep off his face. “Like what would I do if it was a shitty date or something? They’d never come back and I’d be out a paying customer. The trick, Karaboy, is to keep them hungry,” he said.

And then he winked. 

Karamatsu nearly swallowed his damn tongue. When he’d retrieved it from its journey down his throat, he finally stammered out, “But– But you like girls. I saw you. With…” He trailed off again, and was barely able to tack a lame little “y’know.”

All at once, Chibita’s face shuttered. There was a reason why they never talked about her and why Karamatsu had always kept quiet about witnessing their brief tryst. He didn’t say anything for several long minutes. Instead, his busied himself with other things around the cart. Shuffling away some dirty dishes, wiping down the back counter.

Karamatsu felt even smaller. “Chibita–”

“I like both,” Chibita finally said, and there was something defiant in his voice, a strong backbone to cover up an old wound. “And that was a long time ago.”

Both…? Karamatsu felt like something that was hot and cold at the same time was trickling down his spine to pool in the pit of his stomach. “So you don’t mind when…?” he trailed off, not even sure how he wanted to finish that question.

Chibita’s eyebrow quirked. “Guys hit on me?” He gave Karamatsu a long, measuring look. Then, “Nope.”

The hot turned to fire. The cold turned to ice. Karamatsu trembled a little from the combination. His mind was full now, full. Of the way that man had looked at Chibita. Of the way Chibita had smiled back. Of the way his lips had curled around that little “nope”. Of what might happen, one day, if a man approached Chibita somewhere other than the cart.

There was a flash of something hot in his mind then, something steamy and sweet with far too much skin, and Karamatsu shook his head to dislodge those mental images from his head. Chibita might say yes one day, and his mind balked at that for reasons he couldn’t quite put his finger on.

It was just bizarre, he decided. And that was it. His fingers curled against the counter top, and he could feel his nails catch on the wooden grain. “But don’t you– Don’t you think that’s kind of obscene?” he asked.

Chibita’s eyebrows jumped and he settled back on his heels. “Not a question I ever thought I’d hear you ask,” he muttered. “What the hell do you mean, anyway?”

Karamatsu hesitated. That was a dangerous note in Chibita’s voice, and he knew it. He was going to have to tread softly here. “Just… Doing that out in the open like that? At work?” He paused, trying to force his tongue to be anything but tied. “I mean, all those men… They don’t come just because you flirt with them, do you?”

“Excuse me?” Both of Chibita’s hands landed flat against his workstation, and the sound was enough to make Karamatsu jump. “Are you trying to say my oden’s not reason enough?”

“No!” Karamatsu said, because he was confused but he wasn’t fucking suicidal. “But…” He thought about the way Chibita had smiled at that man, and the way the man’s answering grin had gone a little hot, a little dopey at the attention. Karamatsu knew he’d be no better off if Chibita looked at him that way. “Smiling at them like that can’t hurt. You must get a lot of guys who come back just for that.”

The rage was melting away from Chibita’s tiny body, leaving something like confusion in its wake. He looked at Karamatsu like he’d never seen him before, eyes roving up and down as if he were a puzzle that Chibita couldn’t quite sort out. “Karamatsu,” Chibita said slowly, “Are you jealous?”

Karamatsu froze, his stuttering foot going abruptly still. “No,” he said. No. Of course he wasn’t. Chibita was – was nice to look at, yeah. And Karamatsu knew that he wasn’t straight, not all the way. He couldn’t be. But that wasn’t the same thing as being jealous that other men maybe sort of had a chance with Chibita. He’d gotten through it okay when Chibita had dated that girl, hadn’t he? He’d had a brief, bewilderingly intense moment of I want that but then he’d tried to go out and get it, hadn’t he? And look where that had gotten him.

Karamatsu hadn’t felt jealous when Chibita was with the girl. He’d felt something else, something very different. He’d felt somewhere between pleased and resigned, probably. Happy that Chibita would no longer be alone, and sad that he was not in the same position. But not particularly surprised, either.

He didn’t feel like that now. He kind of felt like someone had been playing kickball with his stomach. And why the hell was this bothering him so much, anyway? Why did he care that Chibita was apparently gay catnip, or that his oden somehow, ineffably, brought all the boys to the yard? Why did he care that Chibita wasn’t straight? Why did he care that one day, Chibita might end up dating – fuck, he couldn’t even finish the thought without feeling vaguely sick. 

He hadn’t thought that he was particularly homophobic before now. It was weird, certainly, and nothing he wanted to be. It was embarrassing. It was one of the many, many parts of himself that he wished he could cut away. But other people, well. Love was love, right?

So why the fuck was he so upset when he thought about Chibita having sex with some guy? Or worse, loving him? He’d been okay, for the most part, when Chibita had loved a girl.

But then Karamatsu chanced a look upward at Chibita, who still looked perplexed more than anything, and he felt a staggering pang of loss that he’d never felt before. And it finally clicked. Before now, he didn’t know that men were even an option for Chibita. He couldn’t lose Chibita because he never could have had him. He’d felt resigned when Chibita had dated the fairy because he’d accepted right from the start that Chibita was going to want a pretty girl, not a man like him. But now, against all odds, Chibita was flirting with men. Men very clearly were an option. It was just Karamatsu that he didn’t want.

Fuck. Fuck. He was so fucking jealous. And he still had zero chance with the guy he wanted. Karamatsu gulped down the acid threatening to climb up his throat and tried to steady himself instead. He’d been quiet for too long, he abruptly realized. He had to say something to throw off the suspicions that were slowly coalescing on Chibita’s face. “No,” he finally said. “Why would I get jealous over you dating? You can do whatever you want,” he said, and then shrugged weakly. “It’s a free country. Have fun.”

He should say something about the beauty of love here, or desire, or – fuck, something – to make it sound genuine. He would’ve said something like that for anyone else. But he just couldn’t make his lips make the sounds. Instead, he just looked down into his lap.

“Karamatsu,” Chibita said, “I meant jealous of me. Not them.”

Fuck. That made so much more sense. Fuck. He absolutely could have passed this off as just being closeted. He was, wasn’t he? It would have been so easy to just make it seem like he was jealous of Chibita’s obvious way with men. It would have fucking sucked, and he probably would have gotten mocked for the rest of his life over it, but Chibita wouldn’t have known the truth. He wouldn’t have known that Chibita was the only man Karamatsu really cared about. Shit. Fuck.

He knew he was red now, and this wasn’t just shyness. He wasn’t just embarrassed. There was the sick roll of humiliation in his stomach, because shit, he’d really gone and done it now, hadn’t he? Chibita would definitely figure out Karamatsu’s stupid little crush. There was no way he wouldn’t.

So Karamatsu did what anyone else in his position would do. He fucking ran. “Thank you for the food,” he mumbled in one quick jumble of syllables, and he pushed himself to his feet. He’d had a beer before Mr. Hot Gay Salaryman had come to call, but he couldn’t blame the way his legs were wobbling now on just one beer.

“Karamatsu–”

He groped around in his pocket for some bills, then threw them on the counter. It was too much for the night’s meal, he knew, but maybe the extra cash would distract Chibita long enough that he could make his getaway. Besides, wasn’t as if he didn’t owe Chibita money anyway.

“Karamatsu, wait.”

“It’s late,” Karamatsu said. “I need to go–”

“I said wait, you goddamn idjit!”

Karamatsu stopped. Karamatsu waited. He still didn’t look at Chibita.

“You know why I flirt with those guys, Karamatsu?”

Karamatsu winced. Because they were attractive, confident, and successful? Because they didn’t hover back at the closet door? Because no one, definitely no one, called them ‘painful’?

“Because,” Chibita said meaningfully, “They tell me that they’re interested.”

What? What the goddamn hell? The statement was so bizarre, so pointed, so entirely absurd, that Karamatsu couldn’t help but look up at him. Chibita was looking at him flatly, but there was something expectant in his eyes. Like he actually expected Karamatsu to…

It didn’t make any sense. None whatsoever. But there was still a strange little bubble rising up inside him, and before he could think to stop himself, he said, “You mean…”

Chibita sighed, and there was that one look that Karamatsu loved more than almost any other, that fond sort of exasperation that he only seemed to direct at him. “I didn’t throw away your number, did I?” he asked.

And no. No, he hadn’t. He’d stolen Karamatsu’s phone away from him, in fact, two weeks after almost lighting him ablaze. Karamatsu had felt a fire that had nothing to do with torchlight back then, and he’d found himself wandering back to Chibita’s oden cart more often. It’d been the only place he didn’t feel his sorrows. And after that, after awkward visits and haphazard conversations, Chibita had snatched his phone away from him and typed in his own number – just in case he got kidnapped again. Chibita’d said he had a feeling there’d be more of that in Karamatsu’s future, and it wasn’t as if he could count on his family to help him. And Karamatsu had given Chibita his phone number, too. He’d watched Chibita program it into his phone himself.

Karamatsu stared at Chibita, and he could almost feel the gears creaking to life inside his head, unfettered by his own neuroses for the first time. Chibita, with that sweet smile and his fingers brushing against Karamatsu’s, had been flirting with him. Him! And he hadn’t even fucking noticed, too caught up in the simple joy of making a genuine connection.

He’d had a chance. He’d always had a chance. Had he missed it? He opened his mouth, but for once, he truly had no idea what to say. All the pretty words he’d thought to himself in rare moments of privacy, all the endearments and sweet nothings he’d imagined whispering to Chibita even as he’d taken himself in hand, all of them seemed to escape him then, leaving him silent and tongue-tied and wide-eyed in Chibita’s presence.

Chibita sighed and made a little tsk sound with his mouth, then he shook his head and pulled out his phone.

Karamatsu’s heart sank. “Chibita…” he started, begging his heart, pleading with it, to get its damn rear in gear and give him something meaningful to say.

Before he could summon anything up, though, he was interrupted by a soft chime from his pocket. He frowned, then pulled out his phone. He rarely got messages from anyone.

‘Call me. 💋🍢’

A shaky, almost disbelieving smile crooked at the corners of Karamatsu’s mouth, and with trembling fingers, he went to type his reply.

[teaberrii]

Kings & Queens

A Kuroko No Basuke & Prince Of Tennis Crossover MultiChapter Fanfiction. [Various Pairings]

Summary: Street sports had an uncanny way of bringing people together. 

Rating: M

Warnings: Adult Situations, Language, Mild Violence, OCs

Genre: Slice Of Life & Romance

Chapter One: When Worlds Collide 

Days after Kuroko’s birthday celebration, Seirin’s  intensive routines had been reduced to casual get-togethers on the court. But while they weren’t burdened with the stress that felt during the Winter Cup, they were now saddled with uncomfortable publicity, a questionable feat that burdened the team with mixed feelings. It was as if they had miraculously become celebrities overnight as each of the members saw a chilling change in the attitudes of their classmates. Kuroko became everyone’s favorite and was now frequently associated with the word ‘cute.’ On the other hand, Kagami had seen an increase in test scores from his popularity. Suddenly, everyone wanted to help him, the majority being surprisingly males. Kiyoshi had gotten confessed to but politely declined. Hyuuga’s endeavor was to simply persevere until the chaos died down.

Daily practice was happening in the gym like always but with the absence of Riko’s guidance. Instead, her eyes were trained on her phone, her thumb bobbing on the screen with the occasional pause. Hyuuga was the first to notice, and frankly, it was beginning to bother him. His attention on Riko had him miss the light footsteps of Kiyoshi coming behind him.

“Hyuuga, is something wrong?” Kiyoshi followed his friend’s gaze and laughed softly. “Why don’t you just go ask her what she’s looking at?”

“Nah,” said Hyuuga, with a slight attitude he hadn’t meant to let slip out. “She’s probably playing one of those lame puzzle games.”

Sera Azusa. Following yesterday’s events, Riko was more or less determined to get the name of the girl who rescued her last night through a single hit toward her harasser’s face with a tennis ball. The man’s steps swayed side to side, his face flushed as he wanted to reach for her. Riko had side stepped him and was about to quicken her pace until a strong hold on her left arm restrained her movements.

“Let me go,” Riko had said angrily.

“Do you–happen to know–where the nearest–station is, little girl?”

Besides reeking of alcohol, the hiccups were another obvious sign that the man was drunk beyond belief. Riko had wormed out of his grasp; she had managed to get a few steps in before the man had grabbed her again. He was surprisingly strong for a lanky salaryman.

“I’m just–asking where the–nearest station is, little girl. Why are you being–like this?”

The devilish look in his eyes had frightened her, but Riko firmly stood her ground and was about to get physical before a flying object had snuck between the narrow gap of the man’s legs and struck underneath his chin. The impact had been strong enough to lift the man centimeters off the ground before he fell hard on his back. Riko’s attention had been on a rolling tennis ball when a stern, feminine voice told her to run. As the man groaned in pain, Riko looked forward and caught the name Rikkaidai Fuzoku High on the girl’s tennis bag before making her escape.

The first-ever tennis nationals for females had been held in the same time span of the Winter Cup, Riko had been informed via the sports article that she was currently reading. Coming out victorious was Rikkaidai Fuzoku’s female tennis team with pictures and a brief profile of the members. While Riko wasn’t familiar with the school, she had heard rumors of their student population being a force to be reckoned with.

“Coach, practice is over.”

Riko’s body jerked slightly at the sudden interruption from a calm and monotonous voice. Then, she noticed Kuroko standing in front of her with his usual calm countenance.

“What were you looking at all this time?” asked Kagami as he approached his friends.

“It’s nothing,” replied Riko. Kuroko and Kagami gave each other a glance when she snapped her phone shut. “What are you guys looking at? C’mon, class is about to start!”

“Even if you say that,” uttered Hyuuga, annoyed.

“Will we be able to get through that crowd?” joked Kiyoshi, referring to the cheers of fans and fanatics crowding the outside entrance of the gym.

To prevent unnecessary disturbance, Riko had secured all doors to maintain the diligent atmosphere. Yet, they still received large and loud spectators loitering in front of doors. Perhaps, Riko thought, she should really implement her ludicrous business idea by charging a small fee to the gym during the team’s practice session. Maybe even handshakes, signatures, and merchandise. The possibilities were endless. It was exploitation at its finest.

“Okay, Kagami-kun, you’re on the offensive,” ordered Riko.

“Huh? W-what are you talking about?” asked the confused red-haired player.

“Riko… you aren’t seriously thinking–” began Hyuuga.

The doors swung open and Kagami was swiftly pushed into the crowd where he instantly attracted the attention of many females and males. It was in this chaos that the rest of the team had managed to sneak by without too much notice. The attention that they did receive, they were able to work with thanks to, ironically, sacrificing the second biggest magnet of the team, Kuroko Tetsuya.

~x~

Kagami got chills just from thinking about it: an entire summer that revolved around English. While his grades did improve, English, ironically, was the subject that could cost him his entire summer if he didn’t perform exceptionally well on the next test.

“Kagami-kun,” said Kuroko suddenly. “Would you like me to help you study?”

Kagami jumped a little despite knowing his friend had been walking right beside him since school ended. Perhaps it was because his mind had been focused elsewhere. The red haired basketball player sighed loudly and debated on the subject: it sure wouldn’t be a bad idea to invest in Kuroko’s help as he clearly understood far better than he. In fact, Kuroko seemed to have a knack for languages. But with Kuroko’s help came with the inability to take breaks whenever Kagami wanted which was arguably every fifteen minutes or less.

The sound of a basketball hitting against a rim rang loud and clear on a nearby court the boys had been passing, followed by a masculine voice that uttered a single vulgar profanity that resonated uncomfortably with the small crowd. While the boys would never bat an eye toward situations like these, they couldn’t withstand the allure of knowing basketball was somehow involved.

A tall male brunette stood at the center of the basketball court, his hands balled into fists and staring angrily at the basketball that continued rolling until it hit the small wall that separated the bleachers from the court.

“Wait a minute,” the boy snapped, then he turned to look at the girl standing ways away from him. “This is a basketball court. We had the right to ask you to leave.”

“Hey, excuse me,” said Kagami to a worried looking bystander who was just as tall as he was. “What’s going on here?”

“You should watch your language,” said the girl, as her dark blue eyes glared at the boy who was tossing a basketball into the air and catching it with the same hand.

“You’re on the wrong court, little girl.”

His derisive smirk bothered her immensely. The urge to send the tennis ball flying towards his face was strong, and it took every ounce of power left in her to restrain herself. And she would have left quietly if she didn’t catch the inappropriate and vulgar remark about women the boy had made as she picked up her tennis ball from underneath the basketball hoop.

“Hey, don’t say that–” his friend had urged cautiously.

A yellow blur suddenly flew their way. By how fast it was traveling had left an evident mark on the boy’s right cheek, blood seeping through the sharp wound.

“W-what the hell?”

“I don’t really know how it turned into this,” the male said to Kagami. “Suddenly they’re battling for  the court with who can get the most shots in.”

“Someone just couldn’t keep his damn mouth shut,” muttered another who Kagami assumed was the boy’s friend.

“Is that your way of saying you’re  giving up?” asked the girl.

“Kagami-kun,” said Kuroko sternly.

Before the violent boy could take a step forward, Kagami placed a cautious hand on the boy’s shoulder and said, “Hey, stop it.”

“Who the hell are you?”

“I said stop it,” muttered Kagami angrily.

The boy swung his fist toward Kagami’s face but the latter dodged it with ease. Holding his fist in one hand, Kagami had to use significant energy to keep himself from getting violent. However, the determined boy then raised his leg and aimed to kick Kagami in the stomach until the lad suddenly doubled over in pain. With his face contorted, he held onto his knee where the strong impact of a tennis ball had struck him.

His friends somewhat hesitantly went to his side and picked up the groaning and moaning mess of the once confident boy. “Hey, we’re really sorry about this,” said one, his gaze landing on first the girl then Kagami.

As the injured boy was ushered out of the vicinity, the girl turned to Kagami and said, “Thanks for that.”

“Yes, Kagami-kun, you were very cool.”

The corner of Kagami’s eye twitched, and he uttered quietly, “I don’t need to hear it from you, Kuroko.”

The girl picked up her tennis ball and dropped it into her pocket. Observing her, Kagami remarked, “That was a good shot you did.”

“Appreciate the comment,” said the girl, smiling, then added, “Kagami-kun.” The obvious shock on Kagami’s face and Kuroko’s swift look of surprise almost made the girl laugh. She then turned to Kuroko and said, “Kuroko-kun.”

“H-how do you know us?” asked a frightened Kagami.

The girl had begun putting away her equipment into her tennis bag. Once she zipped it up and swung it over her shoulder, she turned to the boys and said, “Kagami Taiga and Kuroko Tetsuya from Seirin High, the champion of this year’s Winter Cup. Your final match was very thrilling to watch.“

Kagami turned a hint of pink before saying, “W-we appreciate the comment.”

The girl smiled and said, “Maybe we’ll see each other again,” and exited the court.

It wasn’t until a moment later did Kagami blurt out,” Wait, we never got her name!”

“Tachibana An from Rikkaidai Fuzoku High,” Kuroko then he turned toward his friend and continued, “Honestly, Kagami-kun, this is probably why your grades are so low. You don’t notice things right in front of you.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean? When did you even see that?”

“It was on a small name tag attached to her tennis bag.”

Kagami was about to retort but was silenced by the bzzz that came from his phone. He fished his mobile out of his pocket and glanced at the new message. Kuroko couldn’t help but be slightly curious to what caused the small grin on his friend’s face.

“Is everything okay, Kagami-kun?”

Kagami’s marginally delayed reply of “Huh? Oh, yeah, everything’s fine,” was then followed by “C’mon, let’s get out of here. I still need to study for that exam.”

Kuroko was utterly speechless.