#watched a bit too much kakegurui oops

[soukokuwu]

what if chu's s/o escapes port mafia, leaving chuuya to think she left him like dazai did (but in reality, she was pregnant & didn't want the child to grow up in PM. though she has taken extra measures so her son will not be endangered, PM still managed to kidnap him and hold him hostage in exchange for her to come back to their ranks. it is when she comes to save their son that chu discovers that the child is his. you do your own take if you want, your writing, your choice! 💓💓

HIGH RISK, HIGH REWARDS.      genre. hmmm,, i guess it’s fluffy      synopsis. you reveal a secret you’ve kept to yourself for so long, it’s time you finally come clean.      word count. 2,680      author notes. hi, thank you this was an interesting request, i tried not to make it too long. & i usually don’t put so much dialogue (if at all XD) so i hope you can still enjoy this <33

PRESENT.

“Boss, the VIPs are here to see you, they’re being held down at the lobby. Do you want to send them up here?”

The chair swirls around, revealing the man behind the table, a picture of perfect composure. A curt nod is all it takes for the goon to leave the room, ready to escort the guests up.

Once the doors are closed again, he puts the cigarette out on his ashtray, exhaling that last puff of smoke. Gloved fingers intertwine together as he ponders long and hard about how he should greet them later.

The man eyes the drawer under his table, the bottom leftmost one — the special drawer. He opens it languidly to unveil a stash of letters, too many to count at one glance. That’s not surprising though. After all, it’s twelve years’ worth of letters. He grabs the top one, beady eyes glossing over its contents. He folds it back along the same lines.

They all look the same. Made out to him, but with no return address.

TWELVE YEARS AGO.

“They found someone at the house. We have him right now.”

The man on the other line seems to still have something to say, but the redhead doesn’t allow him. It’s a matter that can’t wait.

“Keep him there, make sure he doesn’t leave.”

Chuuya leaves the rest of the torturing to his colleagues as he exits the premises. He recalls what his subordinate reported earlier. ‘Him’? He scoffs. It’s been six years since you left the mafia and basically vanished into thin air. Which is a considerably long time, but Chuuya still can’t wrap the possibility around there being a new guy in your life.

Besides, the redhead didn’t do anything wrong. Why did you have to leave without a word? Why did you feel the need to leave at all, even? It couldn’t be stress. No way. You worked at the Port Mafia casino, yes. You were in charge of it all, and it did anything but stress you out. You loved working there. You loved the gamble. You absolutely revelled in the risk.

They put you in charge of the casino for more reasons than one. You were very calculative, very meticulous. You always had your moves planned out beforehand and you were always able to tell your opponents’ hand without even having to cheat. The gambling was definitely one of the reasons why you were so good at manipulating people. It was also one of the reasons why even Mori asked for your help in some cases.

But your best quality as a mafioso?

Your unpredictability. Or, as Mori dubbed it, your insanity. In both gambling and in general. You had helped the mafia win favours over more than just a few officials by winning against them — be it in poker or any other games. You weren’t even below playing russian roulette. Sure, Chuuya had been worried at first, but after a while it was pretty clear you’d always make it out of it safe — was it luck or was it pure calculation, or a mixture of both perhaps? Chuuya doesn’t really question it. And when it came to planning missions, your unconventional methods always helped, because no one would ever see it coming.

That blew up in his face though. You left him without any clues pertaining to your whereabouts or why you left in the first place. He thought you left along with his ex-partner, that maybe it had something to do with him. But it was apparent that wasn’t the case. Not when you didn’t surface at all even when Dazai did. He couldn’t help but keep thinking of potential things that happened to you. Did you leave because you met someone else? Doubtful. But given how long it’s been, it’s certainly not out of the question that you already did meet someone else by now.

You’re beautiful, smart, fun. You’re everything anyone could wish for. You’re so understanding that sometimes Chuuya questions where you get your patience from. You were just perfect, in every sense of the word.

Chuuya groans just thinking of everything. Even after being kicked to the curb, why is it that now he is still attracted to you? Lucky he was, though. Because that’s the only reason he agreed with Mori’s plan to put all efforts into seeking you out. You were incredibly elusive, and a pain in the ass because of that. And had it not been for a certain intense war against an enemy organisation, they would’ve let you go on with your life, wherever you ended up. You’ve been very quiet, not spreading anything about the mafia, or else Mori would’ve picked up on it. Very well-behaved, and a pardon would’ve been your reward.

But even the best needs help sometimes. And Mori specifically wants yours. He probably figured Chuuya was the biggest factor that would tilt things in their favour, and he agrees. Which is why he heads this mission in the first place. Not only is he the biggest shot at getting you back, but he wants to see you. Wants to know exactly why you left him the way you did.

Closure. He wants closure.

Life is funny though. Because he ends up with more questions than answers when he opens the door to his office.

Suddenly all the idle chatter he passes by in the hallway makes sense. The ones that just skip past his ears because he’s too deep in thought about you. He remembers the gist of them though. Things like “he’s so cute, like a model,” and “right? I think he looks handsome” (to which Chuuya was slightly annoyed by because he thought it was referring to your new beau).

But no, he wasn’t greeted with a man. He opened his doors to find a boy with eyes as blue as the ocean sitting on his desk, fiddling with his pens. Eyes that remind him of the exact shade he looks at in the mirror everyday. Chuuya hurriedly shuts the door, locks it, and steps hesitantly toward the boy.

This boy… looks roughly about six years old. And Chuuya feels his breath hitching in his throat. That’s around the time you went missing. He feels everything closing in around him, the fear of why you left him finally being made clear to him.

Weirdly enough, the boy isn’t the tiniest bit scared. His head is tilted, fingers still fiddling with Chuuya’s fountain pen, and waiting for Chuuya to reach him. He blinks his little eyes, before finally smiling up at him after a while. He opens his mouth, a simple word leaving his delicate lips.

“Daddy!”

Chuuya isn’t even allowed a further minute to process it before he hears knocking on the ceiling and someone falls through the vent onto the floor; one with an all-too-familiar figure. And who flashes an all-too-familiar grin.

✎﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏

Half an hour later Chuuya finds himself struggling to process all the information you’ve unloaded on him. He observes as his son draws on a random piece of paper he’s found lying around, in the other side of the room.

“You let them think they’ve captured our son, when in reality you were waiting for them to?”

You nod. Chuuya internally facepalms himself. How is it that you’re able to gamble with this, too? With your — and his — son’s life on the line? You basically left him there to be abducted, knowing that they won’t do anything without Chuuya’s permission (who’s to say he wouldn’t have allowed them to torture the kid? Well, he wouldn’t, but still…) and then sneak yourself past security and into his office, all in the hopes of letting him know he has a son?

Then again, you wouldn’t bet something like that if you didn’t believe that things would absolutely go your way. He’s been with you for so long before, he’s familiar with your moves and the way you think. Not completely, but good enough.

It was so brilliantly simple. (Also, you used to sneak into his office through the vents when your relationship was still under wraps, so it really wasn’t a surprise to him that you chose to sneak in through there now.)

“Why now, after all this time? Why tell me now?”

For a moment he catches a brief look of guilt wash over your face. You lie back on the couch on your spot next to him, and close your eyes, as though bracing for an outburst as his response.

“I didn’t want to tell you at all, at first…” you trail off, the guilt completely taking over you now. “I only came now because… I want you to get Mori off my back.”

Now Chuuya understands why.

So, you didn’t even intend to give him a chance to meet his son, let alone let him be involved in any part of your life. But you only appeared because you knew Mori would come after you, demand for your help. The only reason you showed yourself today… was to convince Chuuya to help you. Because if there’s anyone who could convince Mori to back off, Chuuya could. And you understood that all too well.

Chuuya can just laugh at himself right now. How foolish is he, to think that you came back because you still harboured feelings for him. How pathetic of him.

He can sense his expression growing grim. Not that he’ll make any attempts to conceal it. His cerulean eyes travel from his son to you. You seem a little less guilty now, though. You look… at peace, somehow.

“What makes you think I’ll do what you want?”

“Because you want to prove me wrong.”

Your answer catches him off guard, and his anger is replaced by utter confusion. You take his silence as your cue to explain.

“I didn’t want to tell you because I didn’t think you’d make a good father and do what’s right for our son. Prove me wrong. Keep our son away from this. Do what a good father would and give him a chance to grow up normal.”

Chuuya scoffs. So that’s why you didn’t tell him anything. Never told him you were pregnant. Never hinted at a goodbye. You’d rather be branded a traitor like Dazai instead of having to make Chuuya choose between you and the mafia. He knows; if you set your mind on something, it’s hard to change it. And in other situations it might’ve been negotiable, but not with your baby.

You know Chuuya would never betray the mafia. That’s why you think he’d never make a good father. Because he can’t put you or the baby first. And now… Now you come with good faith. You’re trying to believe that he can learn to be a good father.

Starting with this choice.

This impossible choice.

Except not really. He knows what he’ll end up choosing anyway. You were right. If he knew you were pregnant he’d have convinced you to stay with the mafia, convinced you that he’d make sure the baby is well-protected. But then he’d be missing the point of your whole argument. You grew up in the mafia, and technically, so did he. You knew how it didn’t allow a chance at normalcy, and you didn’t want to strip your baby of that choice. You wanted your child to at least have a taste of what being normal is like, before you ultimately let them choose what they want.

Now, even if he gives an unfavourable reply, he knows you’d do anything to keep his son away from the mafia. It’s only a question of whether or not you’d have to struggle against Chuuya for it.

Silently, he stretches a hand out to you as he gets up from the couch. He can see the subtle surprise on your face. You’re impressed, aren’t you? He has on the best poker face since you’ve met him. You can’t guess what he’s thinking, this being the first of such instance since you’ve met him. He doesn’t say a thing when you ask him what he’s up to, only continuing to offer his hand to you, keeping mum.

A gamble, a risk you’d have to take. You can either take his hand and see where he leads you, which could lead to you getting your way or it could just lead to total destruction. Or, you can refuse, and then you’d have to figure a way out on your own. Which Chuuya doesn’t doubt you’d already have ingrained in your head.

But he knows you’ll choose the former. Why? It’s the only one where an inherent risk is present. Because you’d be totally in his mercy.

And that’s why you find yourself flown out of the headquarters, onto some random building’s rooftop. A perfect view of the setting sun and an even more perfect view of your old lover, striking crimson locks imitating the beauty of the orange sunset.

Looks like it paid off.

“Will you let me know where you’re staying? A child needs his father,” Chuuya asks you, your fingers intertwined in his, and you forgot just how much you missed this; him.

“And the mafia needs you.”

A swift rejection, but he’s not going to give up so easily.

“I have a right to know. He’s my son too.”

You inch closer to him and he feels like his heart is going to leap out of his chest. It’s been six years since he’s been this close to you, and he can’t believe he has to let you go again. With your son in tow, too. Without so much as a clue as to where you’re going to move to. No way to find out. Given that they only managed to find you in the first place because you wanted to be found.

“Maybe if you’re the boss or something.”

PRESENT.

Now here he is, sitting in the office, new king of the Port Mafia. And his two very important guests are making their way up here. Chuuya hurriedly puts the letters back away. They were how you communicated with him, updated him on you and your son. Though you never put any return address, so Chuuya couldn’t send one back even if he wanted to. Also, you didn’t include any photos, so Chuuya is curious how his son has turned out.

Your timing is impeccable, to choose to visit him just as he’s taken over the office. He suspects maybe you have your ways, what with the vast amount of officials you have wrapped around your finger.

But as the doors open, every other thought he has is thrown out the window. You enter first, and his face lights up, seeing those familiar pair of eyes, so warm, so inviting now. And behind you, your son, now slightly taller than you (and probably Chuuya but he refuses to think of that), greeting him with a polite nod and a smirk on his face.

A wave of understanding washes across his child’s face when he spots something hanging on the wall behind his father.

“Hey! You kept the drawing I did when I first came here!”

He had drawn the three of you together, with himself in the middle, his parents on either side of him, holding his hands and walking in a park.

Chuuya chuckles. “Of course, it was the only thing your mom let me remember you by.” He shifts his gaze over to you as your son gets the hint, moving to admire another far corner of the room.

You let yourself fall into his arms, and Chuuya hugs you tight. Because it’s taken eighteen years. A long, torturous eighteen years apart, which honestly was a run in circles, though it was a necessary one. But now finally, he can be together with you, and his son. Chuuya looks down at you with the warmest gaze you’ve ever seen, wet eyes threatening to spill with tears any moment now.

“Welcome home, my love.”

tags. @yokelish @gogolparadise @fyowyn-writes @animatedarchives

[lia-nikiforov]

Summer 2017 Anime: Final Impressions

My excuse for this being so late is that I was waiting for The Reflection to end, but also school is kicking my ass and depriving me of my will to live lol. The summer was a mysterious season, with shows I was very hyped about turning out to be a disappointment, whereas shows I expected to be utter trash ended being quite entertaining, and even a sequel I thought was bullet proof self-destructed in the end. So let’s get down to business to defeat the huns (I just watched Mulan yesterday, I can’t help myself I love that movie too much, I swear I won’t do it again... too soon)

1. Boku no Hero Academia 2: Season one of HeroAca was an entertaining and very well executed example of why the Shonen Jump formula still works. Season two is absolutely fantastic in every possible way.  The pacing was good, the animation was excellent (praiseth be BONES) and this second part of the story did an outstanding job in fleshing out its extended ensemble cast, something many shonen manga fail to do. It also has the balls to question its own idealized hero society and even bring in some complex topics regarding radicalization. It’s just an overall really good show with an extremely lovable cast, and I can’t wait for season 3. Easily takes the gold for this season.

2. Fate/Apocrypha: I can’t believe I’m saying this, but Fate might be my favorite new show this season. It’s not without its deficiencies –Jeanne pretty much does nothing but run around and be Shocked and Confused, Palurdo-kun is a boring potato, we don’t really feel like we know any of the characters- but it’s definitely better written and less pretentious than UBW and although the characters are shallowly written, they’re pretty likable and share interesting dynamics. Heck, in the latest episode (I wrote this like two weeks ago oops) I even felt bad for Vlad Tepes of all people. Also Astolfo and Mordred are too excellent to exist.

3. Made in Abyss: This one was a lot of folks’ fave anime of the season, and it is indeed a very unique and marvelous production in many different senses. It has an original main idea, with imaginative creatures and landscapes, lovable characters with interesting dynamics and very well placed twists and turns to keep the audience engaged. It meanders quite a bit in the middle, and I couldn’t help wonder what purpose exactly Ozen’s training served when Reg and Riko were proved to be hugely unprepared to face the deeper layers of the Abyss, but the final few chapters were superb in every way. I do however have to take points off it because of how it casually throws around the idea of extreme physical punishment for children and the mangaka’s gross pedo omorashi fetish. I’ve heard it was severely toned down for the anime and it was still uncomfortable to watch, I distinctly remember at least three different scenes about Riko peeing herself. It was unfortunately recurring and notorious enough to damage my impression of the show permanently, but it’s still a highlight in an otherwise dry season.

4. Kakegurui: I didn’t have a lot of expectations for this show, but it turned out to be pretty neat trashy entertainment. The whole ahegao aesthetic wasn’t much my thing, but other than that it was a lot of fun, Yumeko was a unique and interesting protagonist, and her wildcard personality made the results of the bets not necessarily predictable. I’ll say the final episode, which was an anime original, was quite a disappointment because it basically achieved nothing in terms of plot or character development –except maybe for Suzui. You could tell they rushed through some plot elements and struggled with the pacing overall, and I’d say the episode with the girl with the gun fetish was kind of a waste, not because of the icky concept itself, but because the bet was pretty boring and kind of achieved nothing. Otherwise it was pretty fun and Sayokan’s opening was A+++

5. Katsugeki Touken Ranbu: Well I actually finished this one, as opposed to Hanamaru, so that’s already a small victory. It still wasn’t the show I wanted it to be and specially the faceless, aimless quality of the villains makes it pretty much impossible to get invested in the plot, but I really liked the direction they took in the last few episodes. Episodes 9 and 10 were specially brilliant. I think Horikawa’s defection could’ve been handled in a much more interesting way, but of course since all of the characters are meant to be sold as merchandise, there were things they weren’t ever gonna do, so I’ll take what I can get. Hopefully other Tourabu projects will follow along the same vein and explore the different swords in regards to their relationships with their former masters, hopefully adding more shades of gray to those dynamics. east three 

6. Shoukoku no Altair: It had a slow start, but the show really picked up steam with the conflict over the Sultanlus and Mahmut orchestrating a coup. I still think the show loses potential by making the German Empire so unequivocally evil; a more daring writer would’ve made out a more nuanced conflict in which Torqye’s obsession with controlling the four sultanlus could be as manipulative and imperialistic as the Empire’s own ambitions. Still, it was a unique portrayal of a political conflict that was resolved quite creatively and in a very exciting and satisfying manner in spite of there not being a lot of action. I was definitely hyped seeing the four new sultans gathered together at the end before departing to their respective lands.

7. Shingeki no Bahamut: Virgin Soul: I find myself quite conflicted about what to do with Virgin Soul. I loved most of the show. It had some hiccups here and there, but overall, it had been one of my favorite series of the season –and potentially the year- Until the last three episodes. Since Mugaro’s murder, the series took a nosedive and it just never recovered. Though it might be more accurate to say that the problems the writing had been dragging along became unavoidable and, predictably, they were incapable of resolving them properly. Especially regarding Charioce. There almost seems to be a disconnect between the first and second halves, because the second half completely sweeps under the rug most of Charioce’s evil deeds. His motivations were awfully predictable and were insufficient to explain all the tyrannical shit he did in the first half. In light of how everything ended, Jean and Nina’s trip to the land of the gods turned out to be completely inconsequential. Even Mugaro’s death was completely meaningless. I assume it was meant to be a catalyst to send the Gods and Demons to fight the Humans, but then that confrontation didn’t come to real fruition because of the last minute Bahamut plot. And what was the biggest slap to us all was the final reveal that “Bahamut isn’t dead after all”. So the status quo is completely restored and the entire show was pointless. It’s frustrating because I can almost touch the threads of a great story –Nina and Charioce’s final dance would’ve been beautiful if they had earned it-, but in the end it’s reduced to a disappointing pile of missed potential.

8. Isekai Shokudo: Definitely meandered for at least one third (maybe even half) of its run, overdoing it with the over glorification of the most boring foods imaginable (no matter how much glossy effects and sparkles you put on it, there is no way to make natto on rice look luxurious and appetizing), but it was still a fairly pleasant show to watch, and the final episode had a few reveals that neatly wrapped up a few “plot points”, particularly the reveal of the chef’s ancestry and how that connects to the otherworldly visitants. I think it could’ve been a lot better, but I’m also not horrified by what it ended up being, which I consider a victory this season (looks at my top 3 from the pre-season anticipation post and weeps)

9. The Reflection: What a weird show. I have very mixed but not very strong feelings about it. The first episode was really bad, but it developed a few interesting ideas along the way. I think the crux of it though, was that it had more potential than the writers could develop in 12 episodes. My biggest disappointment is that Stan Lee wasn’t the final villain and in fact, his character didn’t really do a lot. Though I guess that could be applied to most of the characters, specially the villains. The final confrontation reeked of X-Men ripoff. Incidentally, I-Guy’s story and how that came to a climax at the finale was probably the strongest part of the show. I think it’s worth a watch, if only for how weird it is, even if it is ultimately a shrug overall. The ending –as in, the literal final scene- was terrible though. They should know this is never getting a sequel unless Stan Lee funds it with his own pocket money, so that ending makes noooo sense.

10. Centaur no Nayami: What a weird show. Why do we have so many weird shows this season. I was unsure about whether to put this one above or underneath The Reflection, Although in overall enjoyment, I liked this one more I gave it minus points because of all the icky fetishy stuff (is it too late to make another Miyazaki joke?).  Also I needed more snake-girl centric episodes. Snake girl was too good, she was the best girl of the season and I will fight you about it. Idek what to say about this because it was so weird, which was good at times, and bad very bad at other times. Definitely not what I expected.

11. Re:Creators: I’ve already kind of talked passingly about this show’s multitude of problems so I won’t go too deep into it here. I think the show itself kind of plays itself with this final dialogue. Supposedly, director Ei Aoki said this was supposed to symbolize “how sometimes even if you try your hardest you still fail”, but that doesn’t excuse 20 episodes of floundering around with characters that got stunted development arcs, often resolved with the power of convenience, and that served no real purpose to the plot. Except for Magane who was a plot convenience walking, to the point she goes off scott free after literally murdering half a dozen people, but I guess it’s fine because she helped Sota to solve his manpain in the end. It really is a shame because the concept itself was fascinating, but the execution made it just a giant masturbatory “aren’t we anime makers the greatest” fest it just didn’t manage to be as cool as it believed itself to be.

12. Hitorijime my Hero: I guess it wasn’t worse than Super Lovers and that’s about the best kind of praise I can offer this show.  Even if you look past the extremely questionable aspect of both relationships (idek which is worse, the teacher that wants to fuck his student or the guy that blackmails the other guy to have sex with him. At least neither is worse than the guy that grooms his own little brother?????) the show just isn’t good. It treads familiar melodrama plot points, but they’re executed so mechanically they fail to make any impact. What little drama there is, it’s terribly forced, which in tail causes the resolutions to be flat and anticlimactic. The production values are also butt, most of the time the characters look like they have balloon heads. Will we ever get the adaptation of an actually good BL manga that we deserve? Will I die before there is a Honto Yajuu anime?

13.  Welcome to the Ballroom: Sigh, what is left to be said about Welcome to the Ballroom? I think calling it the biggest disappointment of the season would be an understatement. Although the introduction of Chinatsu has made the gender dynamics slightly more tolerable, it’s still too little to truly throw a wrench in a show that has systematically treated every woman in its cast like second-class citizens. I’ll keep watching the second half, and at least there seems to be an intent to occasionally use actual dance music –not that the sound editing does anything to favor that music, and the latest episode had more silence than music, but it’s a step-. I’d love it if Chinatsu and Tatara turned into a revolutionary, unique pair, with the woman playing the role of the leader. Now that would be the fix this show needs. Alas, I’m pretty sure that’s not going to happen, and that their relationship arc will be about Tatara learning to be a proper leader and Chinatsu a proper follower, so teasing us with Chinatsu’s leading proficiencies seems borderline cruel. We get it show, you hate women. Can you at least show me any actual animated dancing before the 24 episodes are over?

14. Vatican Miracle Examiner: This show is such a bizarre, surreal watch because it makes not a single ounce of sense whilst taking itself insanely seriously. It’s one of the many weird, confusing shows this season, but it’s probably the one that’s less self-aware. Although Ballroom is way more unpleasant and a way bigger disappointment, at least it has a coherent story (a terrible one, but coherent) and an attempt at good production values. Vatican Miracle Examiner doesn’t have any of those. But hey, it has a serial killer Santa Claus, rainbow cocaine Jesus and criogenized Adolf Hitler sperm, so who’s the real winner here?

I think I’ve checked out all the shows I intended to check out for the fall season but there are a few that I’m still undecided about, so I’ll give them a week or so beore I make my somewhat definitive watchlist