#top otogi!!!! listen to me!

[mediocredoots]

I say give him some time & he could tame that bratty egotistical ceo 🤭

[menheramar]

Otogi No Uta Masterlist

This series has like 3 fans so I figured I'd make it easier for people to get into it. The story is told through a series of "movements," CD dramas, and a manga. It also has cute comics, posted on the official Mute Twitter. This list will focus on collecting sources for English speaking fans.

If you don't know anything about the series, you should start by reading this twitter thread by nemuruoogarasu! Feel free to look through the unofficial wiki as well, you can learn a little more about each band and character there. The series is mostly based on the bands and the characters, so pick your favorites :)

After that, listen to some of the songs. I have a playlist compiling them from the official channel here, and I have listed them below as well. There is no specific order you have to listen to them in. Be aware that some of the songs are not uploaded in their entirety, as some have to be purchased through the official drama CDs. The full mp3 files can accessed through amazon.jp.

Story

The story is a bit confusing to follow, and as of writing, not everything has been translated. I will be updating this as often as possible.

Basically, Otogi no Uta is about several bands fighting with special music powers in "Live Battles" against each other. This is in order to obtain "The End," a thing which can grant any wish. Those who posess music powers are called "Utaibito," which could roughly translate to "Melody User," "Musician," or "Music Person" in english (though I left it as is in the manga).

Comics

As of now, most of the comics are untranslated. They don't follow the main plot, and mainly consist of cute and silly interactions with the characters in their mute forms.

Some mute comics have been translated on the wiki, and most of them can be found on the official Mute Twitter. (I ran out of hyperlinks in this post but they are both linked above.) A few have also been translated by me and are at the end of each manga chapter.

There is also a series of short comics from the official website explaining some of the concepts in Otogi no Uta. I've translated them here.

Manga

The manga serves as a backstory for each band and character. You should probably get to know the characters a little through the wiki first so you are not completely lost. Each two chapters go over the backstory of how one of the bands formed and what their goal is and set the group dynamics and personalities.

Also to note, each chapter title corresponds to a song by that band! All chapters have been translated by me.

Ch 0 - Prologue (tumblr) (mangadex) Ch 1 - Ensa no Roubitsu Part 1 (tumblr) (mangadex) Ch 2 - Ensa no Roubitsu Part 2 (tumblr) (mangadex) Ch 3 - HelLO wOnder WorLd♣ Part 1 (tumblr) (mangadex) Ch 4 - HelLO wOnder WorLd♣ Part 2 (tumblr) (mangadex) Ch 5 - Kazoe Uta Part 1 (tumblr) (mangadex) Ch 6 - Kazoe Uta Part 2 (tumblr) (mangadex) Ch 7 - Weltreise Part 1 (tumblr) (mangadex) Ch 8 - Weltreise Part 2 (tumblr) (mangadex) Ch 9 - Reine Seele Part 1 (tumblr) (mangadex) Ch 10 - Reine Seele Part 2 (tumblr) (mangadex) Ch 11 - Jyuroku Yaman Hana Part 1 (tumblr) (mangadex) Ch 12 - Jyuroku Yaman Hana Part 2 (tumblr) (mangadex) Ch 13 - Rinnegyo Kei Part 1 (tumblr) (mangadex) Ch 14 - Rinnegyo Kei Part 2 (tumblr) (mangadex) Ch 15 - LOUDBRAVE Part 1 (tumblr) (mangadex) Ch 16 - LOUDBRAVE Part 2 (tumblr) (mangadex) Ch 17 - Epilogue (tumblr) (mangadex)

Movements

There are 45 "movements" (and 2 overtures and 1 prelude), starting here. Make sure you don't miss the tabs on the top of the page to read all of them! I believe it goes over all the bands meeting up to participate in the live battles.

Songs + Drama Tracks

From my understanding, the drama tracks that aren't part of a "vs" CD go over mostly the same as the manga but more in depth.

Note: The wiki has auto translated lyrics for untranslated songs! A lot is still untranslated, but I'll do my best to gather everything here. If you find any links to translations, please send them my way, I'll be sure to add them!

Shuan no Gokumon - Setsudan Club (translated lyrics) Togabito no Shirabe - Setsudan Club (translated lyrics) Ensa no Roubitsu - Setsudan Club (translated lyrics) Setsudan Club DRAMA TRACK 01 Setsudan Club DRAMA TRACK 02

Hitoribōshi - Issun-Bōshi Komo Yūgi - Issun-Bōshi Kazoe Uta - Issun-Bōshi Issun-Bōshi DRAMA TRACK 01 Issun-Bōshi DRAMA TRACK 02

Blinzen Parade - Bremüsik Gutes Fest! - Bremüsik Weltreise - Bremüsik Bremüsik DRAMA TRACK 01 Bremüsik DRAMA TRACK 02

Rosen Melodie - BLASSKAIZ Ritus - BLASSKAIZ Reine Seele - BLASSKAIZ BLASSKAIZ DRAMA TRACK 01 BLASSKAIZ DRAMA TRACK 02

HaPpY uNBirThDAy♠ - AlicexToxic (translated lyrics) HaVE A NicE tRIP♧ - AlicexToxic HelLO wOnder WorLd♣ - AlicexToxic Alice×Toxic DRAMA TRACK 01 Alice×Toxic DRAMA TRACK 02

Liberty - Momotroop Imperfect - Momotroop LOUDBRAVE - Momotroop Momotroop DRAMA TRACK 01 Momotroop DRAMA TRACK 02

Note: I will be shortening "Mushoku no Sora to Warau Ito" to "MSWI" Ochiyuku Hasu No Hanabira Rinne Wo Mitsumete - MSWI Nehan Jakujo - MSWI Rinnegyo Kei - MSWI MSWI DRAMA TRACK 01 MSWI DRAMA TRACK 02

Jyuroku Yaman Hana - Kashin no Okina SPECIAL VOICE DRAMA

Fantasie Nacht - Bremüsik VS Setsudan Club Kaimei no Doukoku - Bremüsik VS Setsudan Club (translated lyrics) Bremüsik VS Setsudan Club DRAMA TRACK 01 (translation) Bremüsik VS Setsudan Club DRAMA TRACK 02

Hitorigoto - Issun-Bōshi vs Momotroop vs MSWI Keep on… - Issun-Bōshi vs Momotroop vs MSWI Rinne no Kubiki - Issun-Bōshi vs Momotroop vs MSWI Issun-Bōshi vs Momotroop vs MSWI DRAMA TRACK 01 Issun-Bōshi vs Momotroop vs MSWI DRAMA TRACK 02 Issun-Bōshi vs Momotroop vs MSWI DRAMA TRACK 03

Möbius - BLASSKAIZ VS Alice×Toxic ♢WoNdeR PaRTy♦ - BLASSKAIZ VS Alice×Toxic BLASSKAIZ VS Alice×Toxic DRAMA TRACK 01 BLASSKAIZ VS Alice×Toxic DRAMA TRACK 02

Oshimai wo Kono Te Ni - all (translated lyrics) Medorē (DJ Remix) feat. Issun-Bōshi - connected the songs of 7 units from the 1st series by Issun-Bōshi Otogi no Uta 〜CHRONICLE〜 ALL STARS - DRAMA TRACK 01 Otogi no Uta 〜CHRONICLE〜 ALL STARS -DRAMA TRACK 02 Otogi no Uta 〜CHRONICLE〜 ALL STARS -DRAMA TRACK 03

[ladyyatexel]

Here is the YuGiOh State of Things, I guess? If you want to know what I have consumed and what I like.

Duel Monsters: In my heart, this is the only one that's actually Yu-Gi-Oh, haha. The others are just like, shows named whatever their subtitle is. I saw some of the dubbed anime in highschool, but mostly read the manga. When I decided to come back to this franchise this year, the manga is where I went. I also watched a decent amount of the anime before deciding it wasn't worth it to keep going because they fucked over Ryou Bakura, haha. I watched enough to know I love Bakura's voice as Rica Matsumoto and the 'Passionate Duelist' music cue. Also love Bakura voice in "Season 0", which I have also not seen all of, but I read the maaaanga, so it's enough, pretty much. My feelings and things I like and how I see them in this are all based on subtitled Japanese episodes and reading the translated manga.

My favorites are Ryou Bakura and Malik Ishtar, can you fucking believe it? I know this must be a shock. I think this has... probably been elaborated on or demonstrated enough that I don't need to go into detail about this. I also really like Ryuji Otogi. Mai is also very good. Yugi is sweet and good, actually.

And then this collection of spinoff nonsense. I did not ever want to watch any of these. I decided to watch one a few months ago because it was just fun to talk to the group of people I was hanging out with and they were talking about good boys dealing with trauma, and uh, that's a thing I like, so I said, fine, I'll watch one (1) spinoff. I chose ...

Arc V: Baby's first spinoff. (This sentence has foreshadowing in it. See if you can guess what it was.) I fucking love the first theme song. I listen to that daily. A thing I also love is this protagonist. I love tomato clown boy Yuya Sakaki. I feel more fond of him as a character than I almost ever feel for protagonists of a show? I'm a 'not fully developed side character' kinda bitch usually. The ending to this one was a hot mess, and I had a lot of Concerns and Questions about the ultimate fate and okayness of the counterpart Yu kids and bracelet girls, but I loved Yuya's tour of significant dueling. I found the duels so much more entertaining in this than any other anime versions of duels I'd had to sit through because Yuya spends all of his running around and bouncing off walls rather than standing yelling at the guy across the way. Also liked his top hat bow tie wearing circus animal monsters.

But speaking of monsters, holy fuck I love Sora Shiunin. The cute stuff that turns out to be just nightmares? Toys and violence? Unhinged desperate motivations that turn into real character development?? Sincere friendship with main male and female characters?? Fucking hell, I love Sora. Sora Sora Sora SORA.

I purchased keychains of Sora and Yuya. Did not expect to care about spinoff media at all, let alone enough to make A Purchase. So that's something.

ALSO GIRLS! They were real characters! For a while, Yuzu was doing more protagonist plot duty than Yuya, and she has her own duels and motivations that aren't jokes. I really liked her, actually, and I was shocked to find myself able to enjoy multiple girls in a franchise that is Bad At Them.

ALSO DENNIS. I FUCKING LOVE DENNIS. I can't believe his name is fucking Dennis, but I LOVE HIM.

I really enjoyed watching this and found myself missing the characters when I was done watching - which I liveblogged on a Discord server. I was real funny, thanks.

Then I got asked when I was gonna liveblog another one, with people pitching the ones they wanted to see me watch and comment on. Some shit happened on the public server I did all this on and I didn't want to liveblog there again, so I moved it to a private one. Where I have been going through...

GX: I'm early in the final season. I suffer from this show suffering from straddling the line between 'these are fucking cards' and 'this is magic that can kill you.' It feels more absurd than the original because it's still trying to operate in both real and fantasy world and it's kinda mostly not working for me because of it. i admittedly had a friend steer me over the episodes that weren't plot and were just 6000 year long duels. Me yelling about how much it is struggling between 'real life cards' and 'incomprehensible magic' aside, I had a really good time with the third season. Felt sad they thought they needed to bring in an entire new cast, though. Even as I loved some of those characters.

I liked a lot of the Yubel stuff? But I felt like a lot of it was needlessly drawn out and then it concluded too quickly? I don't know how I feel about it all, but I loved the effect of the voice drifting between styles/genders.

Did you know there are two plot-important and extremely capable awesome black guys with great looking natural hair shapes in Yu-Gi-Oh? Yeah, I didn't either. (Can't imagine why...) But they are both fantastic, so fucking shout outs to Kenzan and O'Brien, I love them.

I think my favorite is Manjoume. Which only happened after they sent him to the north pole and rolled him in garbage. Once he became proper trash, I loved him. Wish they'd let him keep the entirely trash monster deck from that one episode. Fucking dragons are so boring, blaaaaah

Shocking how much more I liked Judai once Johan showed up. Seems like he really needed what Johan had to offer. I like them as a pair very much. I like Johan's monsters as much as I really don't like Judai's, haha.

Anyway, I haven't finished that. I was not having fun in Season 2 (my friends were assuring me it would be worth it), but I really enjoyed Season 3. Dunno how we're feeling about Season 4. But I'm not nearly so motivated to watch it? That might mean nothing.

While I was doing THIS, the other spinoff people had been begging me to liveblog was...

ZeXal: I kinda... don't like this one. We have watched most of the first half. I've been watching it with my friends on Discord, and so it's kinda fun to watch with running commentary, but the only characters I really like are not showing up often or being really developed. I'm bored, I don't like the protagonist or his monsters, I'm not finding characters I care about. Tron's family is the most interesting thing going on. I'm missing something that is making the rest of my group go nuts with love about this one. I don't think I'd still be watching if it wasn't the group watch project.

I like III and IV and Tron and like, most of Shark. Actively can't stand the female characters, who just yell in distress and/or hit people out of nowhere in an overblown display of jealousy. I'm so tired of that shit. Kinda why I stopped watching a lot of this sort of thing ages ago.

Anyway, much like GX, I'm told the second half of this show is just OMG SO MUCH BETTER, so perhaps my feelings will change.

I don't want to watch 5Ds. I hated the motorcycle parts of Arc V, I don't want to see any more of that.

Sevens is full of characters too young, designs and a style I don't like. So Vrains is the only left that is a possibility. It's actually the one I wanted to watch based on the first pitches from the Discord server after my Arc V liveblogging, and I really love Arc V, so I'm curious if the ones that sounded appealing to me alone will continue to be the ones I enjoy the most. WE WILL PROBABLY SEE. LE SIGH.

But there you go, that's what I have seen and what I have enjoyed.

[yusei-clownington]

2, 4, 5, 8, 18, 22, 23 and 27.

(Again. Sorry. Mobile. I had to open my notes app for this, ugh.)

2- Who would be the worst roommate?

Oh boy, a lot of characters come to mind, but I would have to go with Misawa. I love the guy, too much even, but uh…I don’t exactly want the walls covered in equations. They’ll confuse me to death.

4- Who has the best fashion sense/aesthetic?

Ooooo well… Otogi and Crow. I just LOVE their clothes and aesthetics.

Like LOOK AT ‘EM AND TELL ME THEY’RE NOT FASHION ICONS.

Not me ignoring jack…

5- Who has the cringiest taste in music?

I don’t think anyone canonically has ANY OPINIONS when it comes to music, but we all know cannon can be ignored.

I choose to believe Seto Kaiba listens to edgy teen music unironically when he’s like…stamping too many documents. Solely because…have you heard “You’re not me”?

But uh, I love this kind of music as well so… *cough*

Oh right and Fubuki, or I guess his dub counterpart Atticus would be more accurate.

8- Who would be my sworn rival/archenemy?

HARD ONE uh…if I had to pick a rival that I would sort of be frienemies with… MAYBE FUBUKI ? I ACTUALLY HAVE NO REASONING FOR THAT. I JUST THINK IT WOULD BE FUBUKI.

18- Who is most in need of a good ass-kicking?

Fricking DIVINE. “But he got one” I DON’T CARE. HE NEEDS AN EVEN BIGGER ASS-KICKING. I MEAN HAVE YOU MET THIS SORRY EXCUSE OF A PERSON?

He’s literally the only character that I would BASH TO DEATH (along with Amon but I still hate divine more). And I HATE bashing so like…that says a lot.

Though if someone likes him I wouldn't hold it against them I guess. To each their own...

22- Who I identify with the most?

….Fuck it’s Johan isn’t it. I mean our personalities are similar…

Shiiiiiit. He reminds me too much of myself...and that may be the reason he isn't in my top 5....

23- Who I just don't understand AT ALL

*deepsigh* Sho. I don’t understand sho at all. That isn’t to say I hate him, I JUST DON’T GET HIM OK. A LOT OF HIS ACTIONS AND MANNERISMS MAKE LITTLE TO NO SENSE TO ME... but his design is cute so he gets a bit of a pass I guess.

27- Who has the most interesting name:

MANJOUME BECAUSE OF THE PUN THING. And sherry Leblanc because god the name is beautiful.

(Reference to that one post about man meaning 10,000)

[enneadau]

An Example:

Of how things can change between original planning and production. For example after what Otogi pulled, this version of Marik would not have worked:

Yugi smiled as she entered her bedroom to find, for the seventh day in a row, a bunch of flowers led on her desk with a simple white card. Dropping her school bag and moving over to the desk her smile broadened as she saw the same awful handwriting on it as had been there for the last few weeks but the words on it made her pause.

 “To Yugi, here's some beautiful flowers for a beautiful girl. Please make me the happiest boy in Domino by going on a date with me. Love Namu.”

 She tried not to giggle at the eye roll she could sense from her twin sister at their new friend's cheesiness. Namu was cute, she had to admit and it was nice to get flowers from someone. She had never had a guy truly interested in dating her before but the intern was nice, friendly, fun to play games with and he clearly wanted a date.

 She did not know if she should though. She had Anesan to consider before she said yes to his question. It was not fair for her to date anyone who did not know about the Spirit of the Puzzle. Especially when her twin regularly took over to play games and hang out with their friends...still...

 'If you want to go out with him, Imoto, then I'm not going to say no.' Oneesan spoke up as Yugi sat on the bed and considered what to do. 'You're allowed to date...we can always tell him about me later.'

 'Yes but...' Yugi hesitated. She liked Namu. She really did. She just did not entirely feel comfortable with saying yes without telling him everything. It was only fair for her to do so before they tried a relationship.

 'If you like him then I trust your judgement, Imoto. Go. Talk to him.' She felt her Anesan settle down to wait, 'If he's okay with what you tell him...he might be worth keeping.'

 Yugi laughed at that. Namu had been working in the shop since she had been hospitalised because of the fire. He was only on a temporary contract over the summer and it was due to end in the next few weeks. She and grandpa had been discussing whether to extend his contract and had not yet come to a decision. 'Alright, alright. I'm going...'

 She stood and headed down the hallway to the kitchen, where she knew Namu was heating up his food for his break and paused just out of sight of the doorway when she heard his voice. She frowned slightly as she realised he was on the phone, which to be fair he was allowed to be since he was on break and tried not to eavesdrop, something that suddenly because much more difficult when she heard, “Yes, sister, I know. I know. No, I'm not...I'm aware that I'm supposed to be getting close to her. Why do you think I've been courting her vessel...”

 Yugi suddenly felt like she'd been stabbed in the heart, her face paling as she backed up.

 He knew.

 He not only knew but he had been using her to get to Anesan...

 She could not handle it.

 She could feel Anesan's anger rising, but her own emotional pain and swirling thoughts kept the spirit from seizing control and shaking Namu until he started telling them the truth.

 Yugi put down the flowers and fled back to her room, slamming her bedroom door behind her.

---

Anzu frowned as she reached the top of the stairs in time to hear a door slam.

 Doors slamming in the Mutou residence was a rare occurrence. Neither of the Mutous displayed their anger that openly and when they did snap it was because someone had pushed them to their limits, in fact she had never seen Yugi lose her temper properly with anyone before. Jou was prone to fits of rage, though he was getting better on that front, but even he did not slam doors around here, especially not during the day when there would be customers downstairs in the shop.

 What worried her the most was that it sounded like it came from the back of the flat, towards the bedrooms, rather than the store room that had been converted to a bedroom for Jou when he had first moved in. Ojiisan would be working the shop right now, which meant that somehow, between Anzu pausing outside to answer her mobile phone and now, Yugi had been provoked into an incredibly rare display of anger.

 Concern flowed through Anzu as she made her way through to Yugi's attic conversion bedroom, noting the flowers on the side by the kitchen and Namu eating his breaktime meal in the kitchen as she went, and reached Yugi's room to find that yes, for the first time in pretty much forever, Yugi's bedroom door was shut.

 “Yugi?” Anzu asked, trying the handle and becoming relieved when the door opened, having half expected Oneesan to have barricaded it with magic or something. The door opened almost silently, not that the occupant of the room noticed. Yugi was curled up on the bed, back facing the door, her body trembling. Anzu could hear the faint sounds of her crying into a pillow as she approached the bed quietly and bit her lower lip as she realised her friend was hurting. She had a horrible feeling she knew why as she put her hand on Yugi's shoulder.

 The girl jumped a mile, the pillow going flying and furious ruby overtaking bloodshot, puffy amethyst and though under normal circumstances she had no fear of the spirit of the Puzzle any more, Anzu put her hands up and backed off to show she was not a threat, “Easy, just me. What's happened?”

 “Namu can go fuck himself.” Oneesan hissed out, her tone so close to the old days, when whatever Namu had done would have resulted in a Shadow Game that Anzu winced.

 “What's he done?” She asked, worried now. “Is Yugi okay?”

 “No. You know all those flowers and chocolates and games he's been leaving Yugi? And all the flirting he's been doing?” Oneesan's tone did not improve as she stretched and stood up, her body language reminding Anzu of a big cat on the hunt. When Anzu nodded the Spirit of the Puzzle continued, “Imoto finally decided she was going to take a risk and agree to go out with him...”

 “And he's changed his mind?” Anzu asked, wincing when Oneesan snorted dismissively and shook her head.

 “He's never been interested in her.” Anger rose in Anzu at the Pharaoh's words. “It's not Imoto he's been after. It's me. Imoto heard him on the phone, talking to his sister. He's been 'courting' Imoto in order to get close to me.”

 Anzu's hands balled into fists. Suddenly Oneesan's pure fury made perfect sense. Yugi had not entirely been comfortable with guys, except for Jou and Honda, since she had been kidnapped by Hirutani's gang. She had actively avoided any guy who had tried to flirt with her and kept herself well away from any potential relationship. For her to finally decide she liked a guy enough to make that jump and say 'yes' to him and hear that...no wonder Yugi was devastated and the spirit was fuming. Anzu wanted to smack him herself.

 “What's your plan?” Anzu asked, watching the Pharaoh pace the room like a caged animal and staying out of her way.

 “I'm too angry to decide.” Oneesan admitted with a grimace. “I want to Challenge the little...sod, but I shouldn't do that in the shop. And I want to ask him questions because he clearly knows about me, except I'm so pissed off right now, that I can't trust myself to listen to what he's saying properly.”

 “And what does Yugi want to do?” Anzu nodded, thinking.

 “Curl up in a ball and cry for a bit.” Oneesan sighed, closing her eyes so she could focus properly on how her other heart was feeling, “Then get whatever information he has for me before staying in here until his contract is up and she doesn't have to see him again.”

 “Can't you ask Ojiisan to let him go now?” Anzu's confusion caused Yugi to come out and shake her head.

 “N-No. I-If we fire him now, i-it's for personal reasons, not business ones...he could sue.” Yugi's voice shook as she went and sat on her bed, wiping her eyes and trying not to start crying again in front of Anzu, no matter how much her heart hurt. “And we c-can't afford a l-lawsuit right now. Not after the f-fire...”

 Anzu hesitated for a moment, then sat next to her and pulled her into a hug. Within moments Anzu could feel Yugi shaking in her arms and she rubbed the girl's back as she felt tears sink into her top. “He's an ass, you're better off without him.”

 Yugi did not cry for long but when she pulled away her shoulders were drooping, her head hanging low and her eyes showed how unhappy she was was. Anzu pushed her own anger aside to sigh, “Hey,” Yugi looked up at her, “We're going out.”

 “B...but...” Yugi started but cut off when Anzu shook her head.

 “No buts, I'm paying. We're going out and getting pizza. From that place with the all you can eat dessert bar.” She knew she had Yugi's interest when she saw the girl lick her lips, “No boys. Boys smell.”

[the-cryptographer]

I got tagged by @mywaywardcupcake

Rules: Tag 9 people you want to get to know better.

Relationship Status: Single~

Lipstick or Chapstick: 
I like both, but rarely wear either. I like bright magenta for lipstick~

Last Movie You Watched: I was just over at a friend’s place watching Justice League: Gods and Monsters, which was some kind of grim alternate universe Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman cartoon thing. It was a lot of cool ideas that didn’t come together perfectly imo. Superman was raised by a migrant Hispanic couple, but we didn’t get to see more than 30 seconds of them :(  Wonder Woman had a cool new backstory, and was brimming with anger management issues that never got addressed. Batman was a vampire involved in some love triangle that looked like it was being dealt with in a progressive and adult way, until the movie threw that out the window~ Also Lois Lane and Lex Luthor were the most awesome characters, what? I had a good time tho :)

Last Song You Listened To: O My Heart by Mother Mother.

Top 3 Anime: FLCL, Michiko to Hatchin, and then, um, I’m not sure if I like Utena or Princess Tutu better for mahou shoujo.   Obviously ygo is my favourite anime fandom and anime with favourite characters rn tho.

Top 3 Shows: Frasier - pretentious sitcom. Game of Thrones - a song of gore and ass. And Orange is the New Black - brutal lesbianism. But I actually haven’t kept up with the newer seasons of the latter two shows so... oops~ I’m not good at keeping up with shows~

Top Three Favourite Characters: Jounouchi, Malik, and Mai from ygo. I was trying to pinpoint some favourites from other media and I ended up with a lot :x  Ryouga from Ranma 1/2. Sheba from Golden Sun. Luccia and Karsh from Chrono Cross. Flonne from Disgaea. Terra from FF6. Levin from Soul Nomad.

Top Three Ships: You already saw my ship list results but- Mai/Jounouchi/Seto. Honda/Otogi/Shizuka. and, um... let’s just make the third one a polyamorous ship too. why not? Tifa/Aeris/Cloud from FF7.

Other than MaiJouKai tho... I think Glenn/Karsh from Chrono Cross is the only ship I'm currently feeling the need to see through in a slowburn fic kind of way.

I don’t know who to tag, I am useless. But- @battymarionette have you done this one? Want to share some favourite shows and ships? @improfem or @rainstormcolors, if you’d like? And- hmm- I’d like to know more about @wheeluh but if they’re not comfortable answering ooc, there’s also the possibility they could answer in-character, if they so desired~ The possibilities there intrigue me ;)  Anyone is free to answer though~ Like, really, go ahead and fill out the meme and @me. I enjoy hearing from you all~

[evilkitten3]

Ad Nihilum, Chapter Five: Reunions

AN: This story is getting attention! Yay! I even got a fic rec! I'm pretty psyched about that, as you can imagine. I'm so happy that people are enjoying this story, and I hope you continue to enjoy what's to come! Please let me know what you think, and have fun reading! Kitty out.

Warnings: Flashbacks, nightmares, death, various dark shit, disassociation, poor life choices, more existential nonsense, more dialogue than I'm used to writing, and possibly also a hug (Kaiba-style, so it's less of a hug and more a grunt of acknowledgement)

That night, Yuugi – and Marik too, most likely, even if he can't remember it clearly – dreams of knives and fire and cruel laughter. He wakes up sobbing, Atem rubbing his shoulders, and has to feel his face to make sure it's still intact. He wants to apologize to the Thief, but the look on the other's face when he comes in clogs up the words in his throat like hot molasses and he spends fifteen minutes in the bathroom hunched over the toilet (nothing comes out, which doesn't help alleviate the queasiness).

A few minutes after Yuugi leaves for school, Atem finds a drawing of some kind of insect, half-eaten and still twitching. He wonders if it's some form of an attempt at communication or just the Thief's way of flipping them off. Maybe it's both, he thinks, smirking a little. It's a bit amazing how he can find anything about this situation amusing, but his sense of humor is different than it was in Yuugi's body (Anzu says there's probably a scientific explanation – something about chemicals, maybe – but he doesn't know anyone science-y enough to figure it out).

Atem spends a few minutes staring at the drawing and picks up the phone.

The orange of the setting sun and the reddish brown of the desert bleed together, colors mixing as Nut and Geb's fingertips brush against each other for mere moments until they are separated once more.

"It really isn't fair," Aren says, and Bakura �� three years old and too young to understand what it means to be in love – looks at him with the wide eyes of a child who doesn't know what you're saying but is curious enough to listen anyway. "It isn't fair," his elder brother says again. "To be separated like that. If you love someone, you should be allowed to be with that person."

Bakura continues to listen as his brother talks about the girl he saw when he went with their father to the market place in a bigger city – how she smiled at him and laughed at his jokes and showed him how to write his name in Hieroglyphics and how he thinks he might want to marry her.

"So marry her," he says, shrugging. "Like Ashiya and Elder Sister, right?"

But Aren just shakes his head and says that it's different, that there are too many reasons they can't be together. He doesn't elaborate. "I'll tell you when you're older," he assures him.

"How much older?"

"Hm… two years," Aren promises.

Two years later Aren is dead and Bakura is watching from behind the ruins of a cupboard as his brother's fingers twitch when a soldier yanks the stone axe out of the back of his head.

The pencil snaps in half and veers off the paper. The Thief stares down at it in disgust, half of the face he'd been drawing grinning at him. It felt like mockery – the squiggle left by the broken pencil, taunting him over– over–. He wasn't sure. He thinks he should feel bad about breaking the pencil, since he only has so many and he certainly isn't going to ask Anzu for more, but he can't muster up even the slightest bit of "oops".

Everything is broken here, he thinks to himself. Everything and everyone is broken here. He doesn't know where "here" is, so he snatches up the failed drawing and tears it in half, again and again and again, until the floor and bed are littered with tiny fragments of what was nothing more than just another failure.

He laughs, and it feels like dying.

Kaiba knows who it is before he picks up the phone.

"Yuugi," he says anyway.

"I have a name of my own, you know," the Pharaoh replies and Kaiba can see him smirking in his mind's eye.

"What do you want?" Cold, collected, professional. No room for emotions that could show weakness – no escape for the discomfort building within the both of them.

"I'm simply surprised you haven't asked me to Duel you," Atem says, and Kaiba scowls. Arrogant bastard, he thinks to himself. The irony doesn't escape him.

"Yuugi is the King of Games now," Kaiba reminds him. "Why would I aim for second best?" It's bullshit and they both know it.

"Yuugi says you haven't challenged him either."

"I've been busy."

"Not too busy to answer my call."

"What do you want, Atem?" The word feels strange on his tongue, almost like he's broken some sort of taboo. There's silence for a moment.

"So you do know my name," the Pharaoh is trying not to laugh, and Kaiba refuses to indulge him any further.

"I'm free at 2:30," he snaps.

"No, you're not," Atem tries to sound stern, but there's no point.

"I am now," Kaiba corrects him, and Isono wordlessly reschedules his 2:00 appointment.

"One would think that's bad for business," Atem notes, and Kaiba resists the urge to snort.

"2:30." He says again and hangs up. Four hours, twenty-seven minutes, and thirteen seconds, Kaiba thinks, looking at the clock.

And then he pushes the thoughts of Atem and Dueling out of his head and returns to work, because he is Seto Kaiba and 'Atem is back' isn't enough to keep him from getting some work done.

The Duel is private, because Kaiba really shouldn't be putting off work (or school) for this, but Isono's there with a camera recording everything anyway, just in case. Atem arrives exactly on time, and Kaiba can't help but be annoyed by his punctuality. Just had to time everything perfectly, didn't you, he thinks bitterly, like he's never done exactly that.

It goes about as expected, with both of them doing fairly well until Atem magically drew the exact card he needed to secure a victory. The only difference is that the Black Magician's smirk is much more meaningful now that he knows who Mahado is (or rather, was), and Kaiba has to resist the urge to flip him off when he does that annoying finger wag. All in all, it's a rather anti-climatic battle.

"I don't suppose you have an understanding of brain chemicals," Atem says, for lack of anything else to say. Kaiba rolls his eyes.

"I'm a computer scientist, not a neurochemist," he sneers. "That's not my area of expertise. Why are you even asking something like that?" Atem sighs and sits down and Kaiba wonders who the hell told him he could stay and chat.

"Just curiosity," he waves off the question. "But I do need your help with something." Of course he does. It stings, surprisingly enough, that Atem didn't just show up to Duel him.

"And that would be?"

"How do I communicate with an emotionally stunted asshole who's tried to kill me and my friends in the past but is now someone who doesn't seem to be able to function on his own?"

"I can 'function' just fine," Kaiba retorts, and Atem can't stop himself from laughing.

"For once, Kaiba, you aren't the emotionally stunted previously murderous asshole in question," he says, smirking. "Although I must admit, I find it amusing that you immediately assumed I was talking about you. Come to think of it, you do fit the description…"

"Listen, I–" Kaiba begins and then stops as curiosity overcomes the desire to make a witty comment. "Wait, how many 'emotionally stunted assholes that have tried to kill you and your friends in the past' do you know?" Atem thinks about it for a moment.

"Does Rishid count?" he asks.

"The guy who wasn't Marik?"

"The guy who–" Atem can't hide his grin. "Yes, Kaiba, the guy who wasn't Marik." He coughs, trying to push the conversation back to a more serious tone. "If you count him, then it's four. Otherwise, it's just you, Marik, and the Spirit of the Millennium Ring." Kaiba raises an eyebrow.

"He's back too?"

"You didn't know?"

"I… haven't exactly been at school much lately," Kaiba confesses. "I've had a lot of work to do."

"You've been avoiding Yuugi, you mean," Atem corrects, unimpressed. Kaiba doesn't bother to deny it.

"I assume you're talking about him, then?" He asks, and Atem nods. "What do you expect from me? I barely know the normal Bakura, much less his evil alter ego."

"I should've asked Mokuba," Atem says, shaking his head. Kaiba takes a minute to process that.

"Okay, well, screw you too," he mutters before he can stop himself. Atem rises.

"I should get going," he says. "And… Kaiba?"

"What?"

"Thank you."

During lunch, Yuugi tells his friends about the dream – less solid than the others, he says, which only made it scarier. Marik doesn't remember his dreams still, but apparently Rishid was worried about him (which might not mean anything, because when is Rishid not worried about Marik). Bakura hasn't come back to school yet, and Kaiba's still not there either, and the conversation eventually peters to silence.

"I dunno how much longer I can deal with this," Otogi says, sounding a bit hoarse. "I know that's– that's probably really selfish, but–"

"It's not," Anzu cuts him off sternly, frowning. "This isn't something any of us know how to deal with. We can't just play a game and solve the problem, and the fact is that that's what we've gotten used to. It's good to help your friends, Otogi, but you also need to take care of yourself – and, in your case, you have a job as well."

"I sorta thought you'd say 'friends have to stick together' or something," Jounouchi comments. Anzu gives him a funny look.

"Why would I say that?" she asks, brow furrowing. "Friends do have to stick together, sure, but part of that is understanding people's limits. On top of that, we still don't have a solid idea of what's going on. I can't expect Otogi to throw everything aside and devote his full attention to this situation. No one can do that, not even me. I learned that from you," she adds, looking at Yuugi, who nods.

"I wouldn't want you to do that anyway," he agrees. "Marik and I made a mistake; it's only fair that we're the ones who clean up the mess. We've dragged enough people into this as it is, really."

"That's what I keep telling Isis and Rishid," Marik wrinkles his nose, as though his sandwich had done something to personally offend him. "But you know how they are." He shrugs. "At least Isis stopped lecturing me for the moment."

"She'll use it against you," Honda warns. "Older sisters are like that. She will never let this go." Marik snorts.

"I have no doubt of that," he grumbles. "I once hid one of her earrings as a joke. It was nearly a year ago, but she's still mad."

"Little sisters are much better," Jounouchi laughs. "Shizuka wouldn't do that at all." He turns to glare at Otogi. "Speaking of Shizuka," he growls. "Why are you on a first-name basis with my sister?" Otogi shrugs innocently.

"I just wanted to make her feel more included," he winks, and Jounouchi lunges at him. Anzu yelps in surprise as the two boys begin to tussle, and prepares to break it up until she sees Yuugi laughing at the scene and decides to let it go for now.

"'Hiroto'," Honda mumbles dreamily. "Wonder if I could get her to use my name…" Jounouchi glares at him over his shoulder.

"You're next, Honda! Stay the hell away from my sister!"

Ryou Bakura's smile is a little too forced when Sugoroku lets him in.

"You should be in school," he reprimands quietly. Bakura nods in agreement.

"I need to talk to him," he says. "I'll go back soon, I promise, but–" Sugoroku puts a hand on his shoulder to stop him, and silently steps aside. "Thank you."

The Thief's room has little pieces of paper all over the floor, but the occupant is fully conscious.

"Why are you here?" he rasps, and Bakura crosses his arms.

"You better clean that up," he tells him. "I think you've made enough messes for one lifetime – or several," he adds, pointedly. The Thief scowls at him.

"What do you want?" he asks. Bakura leans down until their noses are almost touching. His eyes are narrow and the Thief takes that as a challenge, narrowing his own as well.

"Did he know how to read?" Bakura asks calmly. There's no question as to who "he" is, and the Thief shakes his head. "Who did?"

"A few people," the Thief says after a moment. "A couple of the elders, I think."

"The old woman?"

"She was blind."

"Her granddaughter, then?" Bakura knows he's hit the mark when the Thief breaks eye contact. "These aren't my memories," Bakura tries to keep his composure, but it's difficult to force down the anger.

"They aren't mine either," the Thief reminds him.

"Cut the connection," Bakura demands, and the Thief laughs.

"Even if I knew how, I wouldn't," he says. "It's not over until they're free. For either of us." Bakura's fist connects with the Thief's cheek, sending him flying off the bed. It's a bit concerning, since Bakura isn't really all that strong, but the Thief weighs almost nothing.

"This isn't my anger," Bakura repeat, trying to reassure himself. The Thief laughs again, blood running from his nose.

"It's your something," he grins, and Bakura storms from the room before he can hit him again, slamming the door shut behind him.

"It's not mine," he whispers as his fingernails dig into his palms. "Not mine," he says again hours later when he's eating dinner and rage comes from nowhere, bubbling up inside of him (it smells of tar, he thinks). "You're not mine either," he tells the enormous white creature hovering behind him.

Diabound doesn't reply.

AN: I feel like Otogi would be the least equipped to deal with all this nonsense, honestly. But anyway, there's a bit of humor in the middle of the story, just so it doesn't get too dark. Also because I feel like each chapter should at least reach ten pages so I don't end up slacking off or something. That said, it feels like the word count in each chapter just gets shorter and shorter… I should start wrapping things up, but I have a couple plot points that I need to have happen, and I've only mentioned three members of TKB's family (Ashiya, Bitya'a, and Aren), two of whom aren't even blood relatives. So… I'd like to know how many more people from the past the Thief should have flashbacks about, 'cause I'm definitely going to introduce his sister and parents, but that's probably gonna be it.

Speaking of the flashbacks, you might've noticed that this one was a little bit different from the last two. The reason for that is that I want each flashback to occur differently, because TKB would've had a different relationship with each of them, and trauma is really weird about the memory.

I do have to admit that the Diabound thing was a bit last minute – not the place that particular idea is going; that's been planned out from the beginning, but the bit about having Diabound being physically in the story didn't occur to me until fairly recently. That said, it'll all make sense fairly soon (well… as much sense as anything else in YGO makes). I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and please let me know what you thought! Kitty out.