#which is not what you want to hear while writing hiragana on the board

[necromancy-savant]

Tumblr is like a medieval manuscript the way people spell penis in such different and creative ways

[kirbyfan72-blog1]

Doodles (Haikyuu X reader soulmate AU)

Ok, so before I begin this, two things: One: I have never written anything for Haikyuu nevertheless anything for tumblr. Two: this is a Tsukishima x reader soulmate AU where whatever you write on your arm your soulmate can see, with some restrictions like giving exact locations, only hints. You live in the US for this and are left handed. And without further ado...... ------ It all started with a simple squiggle on your left arm when you were ten, you know you couldn't have put it there, after all, that was your dominant hand. A few moments later some random characters showed up there, in a language you weren't exactly aware of. Asking around to know what language it was, you finally found that it was hiragana for "hello" Later that day you finally decided to respond. Not with a hello, but with a doodle of the American flag, which was basically you saying "I'm sorry, I don't understand you." The day came to a close, and you went home to tell your parents about the occurrence. "Honey! That's amazing!" Your mother cheers, her eyes looking kind of glossy from maybe joyful tears? "What do you mean, why was there writing on my arm?" You ask, confused. "You've made contact with your Soulmate, oh I hope he is wonderful to you. You know, your dad and I were soulmates, oh was it funny when we met, I was working at the college bookstore...." you tuned her out and got lost in your thoughts. 'Soulmate? How come I never knew of this?' A tingling sensation was felt on your arm. A response! Your mother gasped, and her face fell when she saw it, it was a Japanese flag. "He's from Japan?" She asked and you nodded. "Well then, this will be interesting. Maybe when you are a little older, we'll send you abroad and maybe you'll find him or her." She smiled, bringing you into a hug. You hugged back and nodded. "That sounds like a plan mom." The years passed by and the two of you had an unspoken rule that you both would communicate through doodles. One day you drew a pair of swim goggles, a symbol that you were on the swim team, he responded with a Volleyball. You drew a dinosaur and an alien, he circled the dinosaur. He drew two stick figures, a short stick figure and a tall stick figure, you circled the space between, you were pretty average height wise. Glasses or no glasses, you circled glasses. Sun or moon- Night or day. You circled the moon. After all, not only was it cooler at night, it was beautiful. The years went on like this, making doodle exchanges of events that happened. One day on your first day of sophomore year you drew your school mascot on your arm, knowing he was from Japan and establishing he was finally in high school since middle school is three years and high school is three. He responded with a crow. A few minutes later you saw something on your arm, it was English. "Hello." Was all of said. "Hello, I'm _____" you wrote back. He finally knew your name. "I'm Kei." He wrote back, "I finally can use English well enough to speak to you." Let's just say you had to excuse yourself to the bathroom to text your mother a picture of your arm. "Alright, here it goes." You mumble to yourself, writing in katakana, "My Japanese writing isn't very good, I'm sorry." You receive a reply, "no, it's ok, how about we help each other?" "Absolutely." The two of you via arm made a schedule of the days you would use either language, Sundays, mondays, and Tuesdays would be English, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were Japanese and Saturday was him in English while you replied in Japanese. It was now your junior year and you were both pretty fluent in the other's language. The first day of school you saw a new face, a tall blonde with glasses and a glare on his face that could drill holes through whoever he saw. Having a friend who wore a very much alike expression, you decided to approach him. "Well you're a new face, the name is ____, and you are?" He looked down at you and glared. "None of your business." "You're lost aren't you? You're that exchange student that everyone is talking about. This isn't the Junior hall you know what right?" "Maybe...." "Let me see your schedule." He hands you a slip of paper, and you look at his name neatly centered on top "Kei Tsukishima. Period one: Anatomy Period two: Algebra 2 Period three: English 11 Honors Period four: Ceramics Period five: World History Period six: Physical Education Period seven: Drawing" "Hey, our schedules almost match up completely except for fifth and sixth. Follow me Kei." And then it hit you. You whipped out your pen and furiously drew on your arm the US flag with a question mark. "Hey, Kei can I see your right arm please?" "Why?" "Just let me see it." You pulled up the sleeve of his jacket and there it was, the US flag with question marks. "It's nice to meet you soulmate." You smiled. He looked at you aghast, "what?" You gestured to the conversations on your arms from the night before, now faded. The hall had gone silent by now, everyone's attention on the two of you. The meeting of a soulmate was important, and nobody interfered with it. "Kei, it's really nice to finally meet you." Your voice cracked a bit as you started to cry happily. "It's so good to meet you. Finally, after six years." You wipe tears from your eyes. The blonde watched as you cried, and he finally stepped forward, putting his arms around you, "you know when I asked if you were tall or short and you said in the middle you totally lied. You're tiny. And that's ok." He whispered and you laughed, returning the hug. "Well I wasn't exactly expecting you to be what? Six foot five? Your practically a tree, but that's fine." You whisper back and you feel his chest vibrate with laughter. You pull away and look around. The crowd around you claps. "Oh, now that I'm on the receiving end of this, it's actually quite embarrassing." Kei gives you a questioning look. "School tradition is that if soulmates meet during school hours, everyone in the surrounding area stops what they are doing to watch. The teachers aren't a fan of it because it holds up traffic, but they understand that it's important." You sigh, scratching the back of your head, "Anyway, uh, off to algebra?" "Yeah." He takes your hand in his. After school, he walked you home, "come in, I think my mom will want to meet you." "Mom!! Come here!" "Coming sweetie!" A door opens down the hall and footsteps. "Oh, ____ who is this?" "Mom, this is Kei Tsukishima. My soulmate." At soulmate your mom's jaw dropped. "_____, he's so handsome! Kei, I'm (M/n), ____'s mother. It's so nice to finally see you after hearing so much about you. Do you still like dinosaurs?" The boy with glasses sighed and nodded, "yes I still do." "Alright then, _____ why don't you take him to your room to study and I'll come by with snacks in a minute." "Alright." You grab his hand and lead him to your door, "I'm pretty sure you won't be surprised by what you see, after all I have been screaming to you about my anime obsession for a good while now." Opening the door, Kei looks around, the room was well lit and pained a pastel (F/c) with posters for anime stuck to the walls and a shelf with figures right next to the desk. A Volleyball sat in the corner along with a swim bag. A bookshelf full of various YA fiction and manga sat by your closet. "Oh, you can put your bag on my desk or on the bed, doesn't matter, and make yourself comfortable on the floor." You say, while digging through your school bag and pulling out the homework for that day, yes, your teachers gave you homework on the first day back. "I meant to ask, I know your ability in English is really high, but I'm suprised that you got into honors english. How'd you manage that?" "Before I was deemed eligible for an exchange, I had to take an English test, I got a perfect and my verbal test was the same. They asked me how I was so fluent, and I told them about you." You nod your head, "alright. Anything we need to cover about each other before we get to studying?" "Is there a boy's Volleyball team here?" "I wish." "That's pathetic." "I know. Maybe we can suggest it to the board?" "Will we find anyone who wants to join? Who will manage?" "I'm sure we'll find people and I can manage, I'm taking a break from swim this year anyway." "Sounds like a plan." "Alright, let's get to the homework!"

[mypoorfaves]

More Than Words Can Say

Summary: Yuuri gets sick with a cold in Hasetsu and loses his voice! How will he and Victor be able to communicate? How will Victor care for Yuuri? Takes place somewhere between episodes 5 and 6.

I’ve been harboring this idea of a sickie who entirely loses their voice for a long time (which I guess is why it ended up being so damn long. I tried to shorten it, I really did try!). This was supposed to be a bit crack-like but surprisingly ended up containing a lot more fluff. In fact, there's barely even any whump in here. Oh well! Without further ado, please enjoy!

3400~ words

Real quick in case you don't already know because the story will make more sense if you do:

Kanji: Japanese picture-word(s), essentially Hiragana: symbol(s) used to represent a single phonetic Katakana: like hiragana, but used for foreign words and names Cyrillic: Russian writing system Romaji: Japanese written using the English alphabet. (Will be italicized)

～～～

Victor wears a concerned frown while he rubs Yuuri's back as the latest coughing fit forces its way out of Yuuri's throat. They sound dry and unproductive, not to mention painful. He's been dealing with them the whole day ever since he woke up; it came with the cold that hit him like a ton of bricks, no warning whatsoever.

When Yuuri at last catches his breath, his inhales have become shallow so as not to start another fit and he has tears forming at the edges of his eyes. His hand which had been balled into a fist over his chest is now rubbing at his sore throat. “Hurts,” Yuuri rasps, then winces at the pain that the talking caused him.

“Try not to talk. You'll only make it worse,” Victor advises. He rubs Yuuri's back again, noting the heat his body is giving off even though the shirt. For such a sudden cold, it's not too bad; his fever is low, but the coughs are worrisome.

“I'm going to get you sick if you're not careful,” Yuuri warns. His voice is cracking and broken and he coughs again, but thankfully it doesn't turn into another fit.

“Nonsense! I have a good immune system! Plus I want to look after my sweet Yuuri!” Victor gushes. “I'm going to pamper you and provide the utmost level of TLC until you get better!”

Yuuri just gives a moan and dramatically flops onto his back and closes his eyes. “Tired,” he mumbles.

“It's getting late. You should get some more sleep. Although you shouldn't be laying flat with how much you're coughing.”

With much reluctance, Yuuri hauls himself up to a seated position. Victor takes the time to fluff the numerous pillows and place them between Yuuri and the headboard, then he tucks the blanket around Yuuri as he leans back. “Hopefully you'll feel better by tomorrow morning,” Victor says and places a gentle kiss on Yuuri's warm forehead.

Yuuri hardly even blushes, already grown used to Victor’s many displays of affection. The two have been getting much closer, both as student and coach and also as something more. Even without words, they both know they have a deeper bond developing. Just the thought makes Victor's heart swell.

As Yuuri's eyes begin to droop, Victor gets up from the bed and heads to the door to let him rest in peace. “Sleep well, my Yuuri,” he whispers and softly closes the door.

～

The next morning comes and Victor is marching through the hallways of the onsen with a tray in hand. He reaches Yuuri’s door and knocks three times in succession with his free hand. Upon hearing no response, he assumes Yuuri is sleeping. Just to be safe, he knocks again, gently calling Yuuri’s name as he slowly opens the door and peers inside where he finds his patient still propped up against the pillows, already awake.

“Good morning, Yuuri!” Victor greets and Yuuri meet Victor’s eyes and gives a small wave. “I brought you some stuff!” he says, placing the tray down on the table beside the bed. He dutifully takes Yuuri's temperature and gets him to swallow some pills, much to Yuuri's discomfort. Once done, a tangible silence fills the room.

“You're even more quiet than usual today, Yuuri,” Victor notes with mingling teasing and concern as he notices Yuuri fidgeting uncomfortably. “You haven't said a word all morning.” The fidgeting stops and he freezes. “Are you feeling okay?” Victor asks. Yuuri nods quickly and Victor only frowns. He’s obviously hiding something. “You know you can tell me anything. I'll get you whatever you need. It's really no problem. Your word is my command.”

Yuuri remains silent and Victor is patient. If Yuuri has something to say, there's no use in forcing him to talk right away. He'll tell Victor when he's ready. They've been together long enough to know that's what works best.

Sure enough, Yuuri finally meets Victor’s eyes. He opens his mouth and moves his lips but no sound comes out, then he points at his throat and makes an x-formation with his arms in front of his body.

He holds the position while Victor stares, trying to decode what Yuuri could possibly mean. Why doesn't he just come out and tell Victor what's wrong using words?

A moment passes and Victor understands.

“Yuuri, have you lost your voice?” Victor asks and Yuuri nods. “Oh, you poor thing!” Victor coos. “How adorable!” Yuuri gapes at him, blushes and scowls. “Just what are we going to do with you?” Victor muses joyfully, then his expression suddenly falls. How is he going to care for Yuuri if he doesn't know what he needs? This might end up being troublesome…

“Okay, Yuuri!” Victor declares and Yuuri focuses his attention on him. “Because you can't talk, we're going to have to figure something out so you can communicate what you need,” he says seriously. “Any ideas?”

Yuuri puts a hand on his chin in thought, face focused and determined, then he abruptly snaps his fingers and looks up with an accomplished smile on his face. He waves his finger in the air, likely trying to imitate an action of some kind or spell out a word, but Victor can't decipher it. Yuuri stops, but he doesn't give up. He changes the action, holding his left palm towards himself and uses his other hand like a pen.

“Writing! Of course!” Victor exclaims. “I’ll ask your parents if they have anything we can use!” Victor says before rushing out of the room.

By the time he's halfway to his destination, he realizes he could have easily checked Yuuri's room for pen and paper. But then again, he should let the Katsuki’s know their son is sick. The onsen was so busy yesterday that Victor had spent the entire day caring for Yuuri on his own, barely able to leave the bedroom as the young skater struggled to catch his breath through his fierce coughs. It's unlikely anyone else even knows he's caught a cold.

Victor spots Yuuri's mother and calls her over, but it's only once she starts approaching him that he realizes his problem with communicating doesn't stop at Yuuri's missing voice; Yuuri's parents know about as much English as Victor knows Japanese.

He and Yuuri talk in English for the most part as it's the language the two are most comfortable in. Yuuri teaches him small words and phrases of his language when he can, but Victor is nowhere near fluent yet. Plus, it's a lot harder to put his own thoughts into adequately formed sentences compared to simply listening.

“Vicchan!” Hiroko greets. “What's the matter?” she asks in lightly accented English.

Victor’s eyebrows crease in hard thought. Cold, cold… What's the Japanese word for cold? “Ah! Samui! Yuuri wa samui desu!” Victor exclaims triumphantly. He remembers Yuuri muttering the words sometimes while rubbing his crossed arms to keep them warm on the ice, so it has to be right! Okay, half down, half to go. Now he just needs to tell her Yuuri has lost his voice.

“Samui? Ah, kaze wo hiita no?” Hiroko asks.

Kaze means wind, Victor manages to recall, and he frowns as he curses the language barrier. Wind has nothing to do with this! Yuuri has a cold, not is cold. Although he might have chills from his fever, now that Victor thinks about it.

“Umm...sick? Yuuri wa sick desu!” Victor tries once more, accepting that's about as close as he's going to get. Just for good measure, he mimics the actions that Yuuri demonstrated to Victor to get his message across.

Thankfully, understanding seems to dawns on her and she heads in the direction of Yuuri's bedroom. Victor trails behind her as she reaches the door and opens it up to reveal Yuuri in the same position Victor had left him.

Hiroko embraces her son and asks him a number of questions in Japanese and Yuuri nods or shakes his head in response while Victor stands rather awkwardly to the side of the room, trying to listen to the conversation. He catches the words kaze and samui again as well as his name. Hiroko must have said something funny because Yuuri laughs, albeit soundlessly, then casts a glance over at him.

Yuuri turns back to his mother and acts out pen and paper and she rummages through some drawers in Yuuri's desk and emerges with a small whiteboard and a marker which she hands to him.

The first thing he writes is “hungry” in English plus what Victor can only assume is the Japanese translation written underneath it. At that, Hiroko says something to Yuuri who nods then she skips out of the room, leaving Yuuri and Victor alone.

“I really need to start learning more Japanese,” Victor muses mostly to himself. “That aside, how are you feeling, Yuuri?” he asks his patient, “On a scale from 1-10. 10 being ‘I can run a marathon right now’ and 1 is ‘take me to the hospital’.” Yuuri ponders for a moment, scribbles on his board and holds it up revealing a solid 6. Not too bad.

“How is your fever? Too hot? Too cold?” Yuuri just shakes his head and jots down “okay”. “Headache?” Victor asks, getting a so-so gesture of his hand in response. When asked if he has a sore throat, Yuuri nods immediately. “Can I get you anything?” Victor offers.

He looks down to his whiteboard again and writes, “Mom is bringing tea.”

Victor smiles. “That's good. Your mom is a great caretaker. And she was smart enough to understand what I was trying to say despite my obviously eloquent Japanese,” he jokes, eliciting another silent laugh from Yuuri. “I really do wish I knew more…” he sighs.

Yuuri scoots over on the bed and invitingly pats the spot next to him. Victor’s heart swells fondly and he accepts, sitting as close to Yuuri as the man will let him, which turns out to be hip to hip. Victor is grateful Yuuri has been more open and comfortable with him. They really have come a long way in the past number of months they've been living and training together. Yuuri flashes him a warm smile then turns his attention back to his lap where he writes, “Want me to teach you Japanese?”

“Yes! Of course! I would love that!” Victor exclaims. Despite having lived in Japan surrounded by the language, he hasn't put muchーif anyーeffort into learning it. He simply hasn't had the time or motivation. Having Yuuri as a teacher, though, is the best motivation Victor could possibly ask for. Having him teach Victor his native language, it's special, almost intimate.

At Victor’s enthusiasm, Yuuri wipes the board clean then writes out in diligent strokes: 勝生勇利. “I know that one! That's your name!” Victor says.

Yuuri nods and adds the pronunciation on top before writing, “Do you know what my name means?”

“No, I don't. Tell me,” he asks, voice equal parts soft and intrigued. He sees Yuuri write in English “win, life, courage.”

“Yuuri. Courage,” Victor tries, as if testing the name and its new meaning on his tongue. “I like it. It suits you,” he compliments. “Teach me more,” he requests, and Yuuri obliges.

The next hour or so consists of just that: Yuuri teaching Victor any kanji he thinks would be important or that he finds interesting, while Victor occasionally asks how he would write a particular word. At one point, Victor recalls his communication mishap with Yuuri's mother and asks for the Japanese word for cold. Yuuri thinks for a moment, then writes two different words: 寒い and 風邪, writing “samuiーfeeling” under the first set of characters and “kazeーillness” under the other two.

“Oh,” Victor laughs, finally understanding. “I told your mom you were cold, not had a cold. And then she mentioned something about the wind.”

At this, Yuuri circles the first of the two partnered characters in the second word and writes, “This on its own means wind. Both pronounced kaze.”

“Japanese is so confusing!” Victor bemoans while running a hand through his hair. He suddenly gets an idea. “Hey, I know! How about I teach you a bit of Russian?”

Yuuri nods excitedly and hands the whiteboard over. Victor ponders what to write for a moment, overjoyed at the feel of Yuuri's expectant gaze on him. He smiles and writes out “Виктор Никифоров.” Beside him, Yuuri gives another silent laugh before taking back the pen and writing “I already know your name.”

“Okay then, Mr. Number One Fanboy,” he teases while writing out some simple vocabulary, “try reading this one.”

Yuuri studies the symbols before he gives up and writes, “Can't read Cyrillic,” with an added frowny face.

“Here, I'll teach you,” Victor says. “Just like you taught me.��

They pass more time like that, Yuuri picking up on the writing system surprisingly quick while Victor teaches him some more words. Yuuri seems to be doing better in terms of his health. He hasn't complained about being too hot or cold, although his fever had been quite mild to begin with. He's no longer coughing and he doesn't seem uncomfortable. All in all, he appears well. The only real sign he's even sick is the barely-visible red tinting his cheeks and his inability to talk.

While Victor may miss Yuuri's voice and the music that is his laughter, he can't help but savour the peace found in the sound of both of their quiet breathing, interrupted only by the soft squeak of the marker on the whiteboard and Victor's voice, kept at a low volume.

“You skate like your body is creating music, and your hand has art flowing from your fingertips,” he muses aloud, utterly transfixed on Yuuri's elegant handwriting. “Everything about you is beautiful, Yuuri. Breathtakingly so.”

Yuuri blushes and ducks his head and Victor smiles, knowing that while Yuuri may not be totally used to accepting praise, he has already gained much more confidence and love for himself.

Yuuri hands off the marker and Victor hums in thought, debating over what to write next. He has an idea, but isn't sure how Yuuri will react to that. He knows they've been getting closer and developing a much deeper relationship, but what if it's too soon? What if Yuuri doesn't feel the same way? The tip of the marker hovers in midair about a centimetre off the board.

“Okay, how about this one?” Victor asks with more confidence than he feels. He carefully carves out the letters as if carving out his own heart and presenting it to Yuuri. He may as well be, given what he just wrote: я люблю тебя. To both his excitement and anxiety, Yuuri freezes as he reads the words. “Do you know what it means?” Victor asks. He's not sure how he managed to get the words out since his throat suddenly feels so tight and dry. His heart has yet to slow down, pounding rapidly in his chest.

Yuuri doesn't react to Victor’s question; he doesn't shake or nod his head. He takes the marker from Victor’s hand, their warm fingers brushing. Victor keeps his eyes glued on Yuuri's work, watching stroke by stroke as the image comes into being. It's a character Victor recognizes, the theme of Yuuri's Grand Prix series: 愛

Love.

Yuuri understands what Victor wrote. But does he understand what he feels?

To the bursting of his heart, Yuuri continues to write. There's some hiragana which Victor still struggles to read, but there's also some Cyrillic that Victor can definitely understandーhis own name. It makes the rest of the sentence click. “Виктор を愛してる.” As if Yuuri was unsure if Victor would understand, he writes Victor’s name in katakana next to the Cyrillic Victor himself had previously written.

Victor regards the masterpiece, a heartfelt mixture of Japanese and Russian and a dash of English, all spelling out love. Victor’s love for Yuuri and Yuuri’s love for Victor.

Yuuri puts the cap on the marker and looks up at Victor, locking eyes with him. There's a prominent blush on Yuuri's cheeks that Victor is certain has nothing to do with his fever, and his eyes hold a passionate spark that makes his heart jump.

Victor is sure he's blushing too. He feels uncharacteristically nervous, staring deep into Yuuri's beautiful eyes as Yuuri does the same to him. “Do you...do you really mean it?” Victor asks, more accurately breathes out. He has to be sure. He can't live without the knowledge that Yuuri for sure loves him, just like he said. Just like he wrote.

Yuuri nods affirmatively, and Victor’s heart blooms inside his chest as he embraces him, pulling him into a tight hug that Yuuri returns. When they pull away, Yuuri's lips are curved upwards in a smile. Victor stares, so utterly captivated by his beauty, until he can’t help but lean forward to capture Yuuri's lips with his own. It barely lasts a second and Victor is the first to pull away, desperately hoping he didn't cross a line with Yuuri. To his relief, Yuuri is smiling even brighter than before.

His beaming grin is suddenly lost as shock instead crosses his features. He tears the cap off the marker and scribbles in quick and messy English, “You're going to get sick now!”

Victor just laughs. “If I'm already going to get sick, then can I have another kiss?” Victor teases. To his joy, Yuuri complies, initiating the kiss himself this time. It's a bit longer than the first, but still too short. It's soft and gentle and oh so sweet, and Victor lips are still tingling with warmth long after Yuuri has pulled away.

～

“Victor?” Yuuri asks, rousing Victor from his sleep. He smiles at the sound of Yuuri’s voice. It's come back at last, but not in full. It still sounds rather weak.

Still half-asleep, Victor gives a happy sigh, relishing in the plush feel of the bed and the blanket, the comforting warmth of the body next to him and the gorgeous eyes staring into his own. “Good morning, Yuuri,” he tries to say, except no words come out, and he and Yuuri both realize at the same time and with a start that he has no voice.

“I told you I was going to get you sick,” Yuuri says as Victor once again tries and fails to talk. All that comes out is a humiliating squeak and Victor flushes a dark red at the sound.

“Here. Write down what you need,” Yuuri instructs while handing him the whiteboard and marker. “And open up,” he adds. Victor complies and holds the thermometer under his tongue with a pout as he writes on the board. By the time the device beeps, Victor has finished writing: “headache, feel hot, tired. Want Yuuri.”

Yuuri gives a sympathetic smile at Victor's work, then his expression shifts to slightly more serious upon reading the thermometer. “I’m going to get you a cold facecloth for your fever. I'll be back soon.”

Victor tugs on his sleeve to prevent him from leaving and quickly scrawls out: “Aren't you still sick?”

“I get sick quickly and get over it quickly. That's how it's always been for me,” Yuuri tells him simply. His tone then changes, sounding more sad. “I guess you did too much talking yesterday, huh? You used up your voice. All for my sake too…” Yuuri trails off and Victor can tell he's feeling guilty and thinking it's his fault.

Victor quickly and firmly shakes his head at the self-doubting words. Yuuri gives him a small smile, but just that isn't enough for Victor. He erases the board and writes in English, “I love you! More than words can say,” and proudly holds it up to Yuuri. The words are surrounded with many hearts and happy faces and also his and Yuuri's name in both their native languages.

“I love you, too,” Yuuri says, his face breaking into a dazzling grin. Victor mirrors it, almost crying with happiness upon hearing the words in Yuuri's beautiful (albeit still fairly weak) voice. “Get some rest,” Yuuri adds with a gentle kiss upon Victor’s heated forehead.

Content, Victor puts the whiteboard down and settles into the blankets again, closes his eyes and falls asleep to the sound of Yuuri's light footsteps leaving the room.

～～～

(End)

Translations:

“Samui! Yuuri wa samui desu!”: Cold! Yuuri is cold!

“Samui? Ah, kaze wo hiita no?”: Cold? Ah, he caught a cold?

“Yuuri wa sick desu!”: Yuuri is sick!

To reiterate, 風 kaze means wind, 風邪 kaze means cold as in the illness, and 寒い samui is used if you're feeling cold.

勝生勇利: Katsuki Yuuri

Виктор Никифоров: Victor Nikiforov

я люблю тебя: I love you

愛: love

Виктор を愛してる: I love (you) Victor

(я люблю тебя, ヴィクトル is what Yuuri would have written after: I love you, Victor)

I'm sorry if Victor’s Japanese sounds cringey and unnatural because that was literally exactly what I was going for (so don't go spamming my inbox and calling me a weeb just because I threw desu on the end of every sentence. It was intentional.)

I've been studying Japanese since highschool, so about 4ish years now, so the Japanese used here (is not google translated and) should be correct! As for Russian, I (sadly) don't know the language, but @feverflushed was thankfully able to help me out with that!

Anyways, thank you for reading!  :)

[starwriterulia]

Forgiveness, Thankfulness and Remembrance: Chapter 3 - Homeroom Thoughts

From my Quotev.

-❄❄❄ September 6, 2017. 9:01 AM  ❄❄❄-

        I look up from my phone as a cute, somewhat short male student with silky, light brown hair and beautiful brown eyes passes me. Oh, isn't he the second guy who passed us in the hallway? He gives me a brief, small smile as we make eye contact. He quickly reaches the fifth and final row to sit in the desk near the window. Ah, so this is our main protagonist.

        "Uh, good morning, Baekhyun." Mrs. Mok says, making a slight face as she turns on the SMARTboard behind her. Is this not his usual morning behavior? 

        He turns to her from looking outside for a moment. "Hi, Mrs. Mok."

        "Are you feeling OK today? You usually sit in the front, right beside where Eunju is sitting."

        Baekhyun catches my eyes that paced between him and Mrs. Mok. "Your name is Eunju?"

        "Yes, I transferred here from Canada for my last year. It's nice to meet you, Baekhyun."

        Baekhyun's chest slowly sinks as he exhales. "It's nice to meet you, too." He gives another little smile, but his expression reflects anguish. Should I... ask? 

        As I open my mouth, Mrs. Mok takes my place. "Baekhyun, are you feeling alright?"

        "Yes, I'm fine." His tone doesn't make it seem that way. Just as Baekhyun finishes his sentence, more students file in, filling the seats. I guess it's not my business to ask what's wrong, but I still can't help but wonder if his mood has something to do with the student he was walking with, this morning. The bell chimes again, then shuffling comes from the speaker on the ceiling's corner to the left of the door.

        "Good morning, SGHS." Oh, this is the secretary's morning announcement. "Welcome back from summer vacation, we hope you all had fun. Today's block rotation is 1-2-2-3-4 after homeroom. As a reminder, you only have to be in homeroom before the first block for the first week for attendance."

        "The first dance of the year is on the last Friday of this month, the 29th. The theme is Fall Fair, so dress in denim and plaid if you want to. As always, there is a small prize draw, and admission is ₩8200." That equals about $10 CAD. "You can preorder your copy of the yearbook starting October 1st by the office."

        "They are ₩45, 600 until December 1st, then they will then be ₩53, 900." That equals around $55 and $65 CAD. Ugh, my other high school had overpriced yearbooks, too. "That is all for today's announcements. This has been Seo Jeonghae, your secretary in the office. Have a wonderful day."

        There's a bit more shuffling as Jeonghae ends the announcement, then Mrs. Mok rises from her seat. "Alright, good morning class, I'm Mrs. Mok." She begins to write her name in Hangul on the SMARTboard with the black pen. "As Jeonghae said, welcome to the 2017 school year." Mrs. Mok adds her name in Hànzì underneath.

        "Mr. Jeup and I teach Korean, Japanese, English and Mandarin, so we collaborate our classes." She writes her name in Hiragana and English, then sets down the pen and puts her hands at her sides. "Our students often share one language and wish to learn another that a peer knows. It's a trade that has shown to be enjoyable and educational for everyone. Language has helped people communicate for generations, and it's my job to help you communicate wherever you go."

        "How many people here are looking to learn English?" A good half of the class raises their hands, and everyone looks around like curious puppies to see each other. I notice that Baekhyun is one of these people. "Ah, a big number, like always." Mrs. Mok smiles.

        "Good, very good. Who is here to learn Korean?" A small portion of the class raises their hands. "Mm, good. How about Japanese?" Another small portion raises their hands. "And, Mandarin?" I raise my left hand with a third small portion of the class.

        "Excellent, everyone here is looking to learn something different. Mr. Jeup and I enjoy posting videos of students talking to each other in their newly learned languages on our school's YouTube page. We have a collection of playlists that has been growing since 2012. We will teach you through various games, exercises, and activities. At the end of every week, you will be tested by talking with me using what you learned that week. If everyone does well, you all get ice cream. Does that sound good?"

        We cheer and applaud collectively, laughing at ourselves. "Now, may our new student come to the front and introduce herself, please?" I rise from my seat and walk to Mrs. Mok's left side. She gives me little nod and smile. "When you're ready."

        I huff, nodding firmly, then turn to the class. "Hello, my name is Young Eunju, I'm in this class to learn Mandarin. I am in twelfth grade. I am a transfer from Canada on two scholarships. I enjoy writing and can make friends easily because of my personality. I look forward to knowing you all; please treat me well." I bow to finish my speech, and the class gives me a warm applause, Baekhyun included, who looks a little interested and a little relieved of stress.

        "Thank you, Eunju. You may return to your seat, now." Mrs. Mok says, and I nod in response, doing so. "Now, let's go over the course assignments and begin the first assignment." Mrs. Mok picks up the keyboard on her desk and closes the application, Word 2017 beneath it.

        She puts down her keyboard and hands a stack of booklets to the leftmost student in the front row. "Please take one and pass it on." After everyone had taken one, Mrs. Mok proceeds to go over the assignments for the course. Our first assignment was to create a poster in our chosen language, with help from Mrs. Mok, of a small self-introduction. We would present them to the class on Thursday, then they would be posted to the bulletin board outside for a week.

        We began to work on our projects, making rough drafts on lined paper about what we wanted to put down. I met Hyejae, who's in twelfth grade, during the class's Q&A time featuring me. She was adorable and idol-image-material with big, dark eyes and short, black hair. We clicked right after I mentioned we were both lactose intolerant, knowing the struggles of not being able to find vegan ice cream so easily.  She turned out to be vegan as I am, and she cosplays as Kagamine Rin, so we got excited about Vocaloid, too. 

        I received many questions from students about my home country and town, which is Vanderhoof, located in the geographical heart of British Columbia, scholarships, dwarfism, and the way I walk. Of course, this lead to a brief explanation of my knees for the upteenth time. I discussed my other interests, starting with Pokemon and my preference of Water and Fairy types and favoritism of Mudkip and Sylveon, and Project Diva, and that I like music and can sing but wouldn't sing then and there. I talked about Minecraft and why I don't play online or Story Mode, cosplaying, and that I don't own a maid outfit and sew the costumes myself, and how I play Magic: The Gathering casually and attend Friday Night Magic.

        Everyone who asked me questions and listened seemed thrilled to meet someone as unique as me. It didn't surprise me because I knew my appearance alone would raise questions. I noticed that Baekhyun was among the intent listeners, quietly working and smiling a little when I talked about how I adore Miku and all of her possibilities, and why I'm not a great Magic player: unlucky decisions. After everyone had asked their burning questions, I thought about Baekhyun and the student I saw him with. Baekhyun's face was red, and the way the other person was holding his wrist was a clue that something was happening.

        Maybe someone did something to anger the other person, like try to... take... Baekhyun away. Oh my God, I think they might be a couple. Pretty fucking sure that guys don't hold each other like that unless they're gay. The latter being totally fine to me, I mean, hell, gay and lesbian etc. people can be just as wonderful as straight people. They probably went somewhere more private than a bathroom, they missed two of them by the time I stopped looking their way and missed if they turned the right corner or went down the stairs at the end of the hall.

        I think the former option is most likely because Haeun told me that the door to the fenced school rooftop is always unlocked. The door follows the Information Technology and Law classrooms, on the right, and the third set of stairs, on the left, at the end of the hallway after the turn. The History, Social Studies, and Planning classrooms are on the left wall as well. They might have went there and had a talk. Oh geezums, now I'm curious and worried, when it's none of my business.

        I quietly sigh, looking to Baekhyun from the protection of my hair over my desk. I hope everything's OK, he seems to . Also pretty sure that if I asked someone about the two, I'd get some raised eyebrows. Or, maybe I wouldn't. Hm, I'll observe people in the school a little more, see if I can spot Baekhyun with anyone. Or, maybe I'll meet someone who knows Baekhyun and what's going on, and they'll tell me. I... I fucking hate being an author, I overthink things way too easily. Eh, at least I've got a plan. 

        I feel like a fucking cool-ass teen detective too, like Nancy Drew, but with brown hair and green eyes. Even though I'm naturally a dark blonde, so there's that, too. After everyone was working for fifteen minutes, the bell rang. "Alright, I'll see you tomorrow for the double block." Mrs. Mok says, standing from a helping a student at their desk while everyone hastily packs up.

        I wait for everyone to file out so I don't get run-over, insisting to Hyejae and a few other students that I was sure of my choice. Yeah, I'd say this is going pretty well. Mom's gonna be glad to hear about this. I look over my left shoulder as I watch Baekhyun approach me. "Hi, Eunju."

        "Hi, Baekhyun. Did you need something?"

        "No, I was just wondering what your next class is."

         "Oh!" Not a question I expected from him. "After ASWM, I have Visual Arts."

        "Really?" Baekhyun gives a light huff. "I have those courses, too. Do you wanna go to math, together?"

        "Sure, I wouldn't mind." Baekhyun nods, then we take a right to the staircase that way.

        "So, ASWM, huh? You're not good with math, either?" I chuckle.

        "No, I'm not very bright in math or science." He lowers his shoulders. Oh, something's telling me his parents may have high expectations for him. 

        "Are you good at art?"

        "I'm not bad at scenery painting." Baekhyun answers as we descend the staircase. "I'm good with people and gardening, too. I might go into social work, or my parent's business at the greenhouse." I give an 'mm' in reply. "What are you going into, Eunju?"

        "Something with writing, if I'm lucky. I have a business certificate, and I've worked at a bank before, so I could work in an office, too. Something where I'm not up on my feet all day." Baekhyun nods a little in understanding. "By the way, what grade are you in, Baekhyun?"

        "I'm in twelfth grade, too." He answers, waiting for me at the bottom of the first set of stairs. "So, your knee incident actually happened?"

        "Yeah," I answer, starting the final set. "I'm wearing black pantihose to help hide my scar. I mean, I shave, but I had a habit of scratching at mosquito bites as a kid, so I have circular scars all over my arms and legs. That's why I chose to wear the long sleeved uniform." Baekhyun gives a low 'mm' in understanding.

        When I was a little more than halfway down the stairs, the student that Baekhyun was with this morning halts in front of the opening into the hallway from the right. I never realized how tall he was until now, and his face is kind of baby-like, his eyes are very dark, piercing brown. "There you are, Baek. Are you coming?" Whoa, that’s a deep voice, if I ever heard one.

        "Chanyeol, you still have to go to class, after homeroom." Baekhyun replies, reaching the bottom. "We have to wait until break to..." He pauses, then shakes his head a little as I finish descending. "...To talk on the roof."

        "Just for a minute, come on..." Chanyeol whines.

        "Nope, we're going to class." Baekhyun replies, taking Chanyeol's left hand and pulling him along as we go to the math classrooms down the hallway. Chanyeol's face holds this bewildered, judging and pleading expression, telling me that they're a couple, and that Chanyeol is the masculine figure who is currently confused at his partner's actions. He's also judging me because he may think I have something to do with it, and pleading to be released from Baekhyun's hand so he can recapture it and away with Baekhyun. Just... just fuck my analyzing brain; I'm thinking too much, and I have math, next.

-Forgiveness, Thankfulness and Remembrance-

WE: 2260 words, yes, very good. To clarify, if an idol is born before '95, they are in tenth grade. '95 liners are in eleventh grade, and '94-'90 liners are in twelfth grade. There are many exceptions for the sake of ship-relevancy for idols who are in twelfth grade. Yep, you heard that right. Ship-relevancy. Thanks for reading!

[poppun-chan]

The Year of Keroro Challenge Update 4 (Yes Sir)

Goodness, even though I mentioned looking forward to this one it took quite a while to write it (this has been a difficult week)in terms of watching I’m almost finished with the first season, actually, one strange thing I noticed was that the valentines episode actually lines up with valentines day. But before we get started Jlucy pointed out to me that the scene from episode 21 with the car is specifically a nod to “Castle of Caliostro” with the drivers being based on two of the main characters and the car being a nod to the Fiat from the movie. Actually I wonder if the writers for the dub had this in mind when they were writing; in the English version the driver mentions he was renting a car because he didn’t want to use his Fiat.

Either way I had planned to wait until there weren’t any text pieces to translate, but I have at least one more of these non-episode specific notes to do before we reach episode 65, so a bit on name origins (The ones for the Human characters will probably be less familiar, but still....)

Keroro-Kero, the noise a frog makes (I’ve always suspected this is actually a really common name)

Tamama-Otamajakushi, meaning tadpole (I really find myself wondering about his family background that his parents gave him a name that assumes he’s going to look like a child for a long time)

Giroro-Giro, the onomatopoeia for glaring at someone/something

Kururu-Kuru, it’s used as an onomatopoeia, a noun, and a verb, either way it refers to something twisting, spinning or turning (which is why his resonance creates a loop)

Dororo-It’s best known as a reference to the Osamu Tezuka manga Dororo, which takes place in the feudal era, it also works as a play on Doro-Doro which is the sound of something dripping

And the plan count:

Serious Plans: K66:16 D66:1 MMK:1 TMM:1

Funding Plans: K66:1

It’s a plan, I Swear!: K66:5 (I’m throwing the sports day mission in here too)

Oh look! Progress!: K66:3 

And the marker board from episode 27:

Episode 22: Now first of all I’ve always enjoyed this episode, the absurdity, the cute break down Tamama has at the end, the completely impractical but still fun plan (actually I think Tamama only comes up with three plans over the course of the entire show and they’re all more or less the same basic concept). Plus the little stealth pun when Natsumi gets angry about the shower; she shouts “Kora!” which is an interjection that can be used as a reprimand, but it’s pronounced similarly to Cola.

Actually, speaking of this part I have to admit I sort of agree with Tamama’s point that Fuyuki could just serve that cake in the fridge instead of making dinner....Actually even the bit about accounting for nutritional balance could sort of be refuted; Baked goods often contain grains and eggs, not always dairy but ice cream and cheese cake covers that, his plan allowed tuna as an exception so that’s meat covered, plus many desserts are made with fruit and there are some made with vegetables (carrot cake, anything with pumpkin in it, corn cake), sure most people would probably either stop eating before this point or simply die trying, but theoretically it IS possible to get normal nutrients that way....Yes I’ve seriously thought about this; there are quite a few characters that can be explained this way.

Finally no discussion of this episode would be complete without bringing up the infamous letter, so I’m going to try and cover this in more depth since I have the luxury of making this a separate note. First of all, it’s written really oddly; everything except the word “leader” is written in katakana which you normally wouldn’t do (hiragana only is a different matter, but in modern times it’s considered a bit childish). One big issue with not using kanji is that it’s much harder to tell what you’re trying to say, plus katakana itself is a bit sticky since some of them strongly resemble each other or other kanji (one relevant to this is katakana ni resembling the kanji for two which is often pronounced the same way). The revealed part admittedly seems phrased a bit simply, but it says “Taichou wa Tamama ni” or “Tamama’s Leader” while the full message is “Taichou wa Keroro ni Makasetamama ni” or “Keroro will be left as the leader” I suppose the closest thing in English would be if the letters were a bit more spaced apart instead of grouped together

And fun fact; Etsuko Kozakura, the woman who provides Tamama’s voice, also did the voice of Puppetmon/Pinocchimon from the original Digimon series. I just thought I’d mention this since I noticed a few....similarities between their management styles (Though Tamama just imprisoned people who crossed him instead of....deleting them)....actually watching the episode and knowing this made me look into Digimon again, did you know one of the newer series has a Puppetmon who is one of the friend Digimon that shows up every now and then? Really. They have his nose grow when he lies (including to himself) and give him some really charming moments....and he shares his English voice with Keroro, hm.

Episode 23: And it’s the clone episode! I have to confess, the bit about the clones not having a star always makes me wish there was a video of the original Keroro singing the song from the Sneetches, the one where the starred Sneetches are roasting marshmallows....I know it’s a strange association to make, but....Come to think of it, I don’t think this was a manga chapter, I’m not completely sure and I know most of the season one episodes were based on the manga, but I know a few stories were anime exclusive and I believe this was the first one, either way it’s hilarious to see Keroro being the responsible one and getting annoyed by the behaviour of his own clones (still, at least there was an easily visible way of telling them apart, which is better than what happened with Pinkie Pie, some people still theorise that they kept the wrong Pinkie).

Now for a bit of a sticky area, especially since I’ve been putting up with my grandfather’s preoccupation with this particular time for most of my life, but I noticed something a bit odd. Even now, a lot of people seem to be weirded out by the “clone salute”, but they actually switched two of the syllables in the Aliens’ name for Earth because the original term from the manga was associated with the Sino-Japanese wars (I’m not sure which, there’s two major ones and a bunch of smaller conflicts, but the second big one was during the world war) and was banned from television. I’d be curious to find out what it is that makes one war reference more acceptable than another (maybe because calling Earth “Pokopen” alludes to much longer standing conflict with a specific country? I have to admit I always wondered if the best way of handling “touchy terms” would be to find a positive, unrelated use for them so they take on a new meaning and the old one eventually falls out of use; you often hear about the power of words, but it’s actually their meanings that have effect rather than the words themselves)

Episode 24: Oh dear it’s 556, I have to admit I’ve never liked this guy (though I will admit, I like the instrumental version of his song on the Christmas album) I know for a lot of people felt the same way with Joriri eventually replacing him, but it didn’t work the same way for me.

Actually, one thing I love about this episode is how when Keroro wonders about the emotions he’s feeling watching 556 fighting “monsters” they immediately cut to Tamama; it’s almost as if the cinematography is saying “Let’s ask your resident expert, shall we?”

Actually I recently looked at the Japanese version of the full character page again, I think there’s one surprising one on there; I know 556 and Labbie are references to Space Sheriff Gaven and a character named Annie from Space Sheriff Shaider, but the character page lists their relationship as Gukyou-Kenmai or “Goofy Older Brother, Wise Younger Sister” which was the original title for a T.V. series called “Otoko wa Tsurai yo” or “It’s tough to be a man” which later became a huge film series of the same title (Often called “Tora-san” after the main character, Torajirou), spanning 48 installments and nearly three decades (only ending when the actor playing Torajiro died). The films followed a similar formula of Torajirou the traveling salesman going home to his sister’s family, walking out after getting into an argument and meeting a distressed young woman in the next town he goes to and offering to let her stay at the family’s sweet shop if she needs it. Eventually this happens and he falls in love with her, but in trying to win her over indavertantly ends up setting her up with another man and ending up disappointed, but putting on a brave face and wishing her the best before journeying to another town in hopes of getting over her and eventually becoming somebody his family can be proud of. 

The first movie was actually made to please fans of the original show who were upset that Torajirou died of a snakebite in the final episode, it also took quite a bit of convincing from the director to get the first movie made. Incidentally, the working title for the original show came from the final caption in another piece Torajiro’s actor played in

Episode 25: And here we have a Nishizawa family quarrel....which is appearently not considered complete unless enough money is spent that you could buy a small town and heavy weapons are nearly used (that’s the second time Keroro’s nearly let to Earth be destroyed only to be stopped at the last moment by the realisation that Earth is the official “Gunpla Planet”). Still there are some nice little moments (though I wonder if they ever did make that video, as long as they cut out the bits where they start to lose it could work)

Episode 26: Sports Day fun times ♪ Actually, has anyone ever noticed that whenever a show wants to slow down a sports day they usually target the scavenger hunt? Though now that I think about it, the cruel irony of all this is if they hadn’t tried to help, Aki probably would have made it in time to run in the race (or at least, the combined effect of accidentally speeding up the 100 meter dash and ruining some of the manuscripts). Though I do admit that I miss the parts from the manga where Momoka is running a race and the newspaper article at the end “Freak in tights crashes sports fest” I find it strangely hilarious the way they worded it. Also it’s amazing the things that become relevant later on, let’s see who remembers what I’m talking about.

Episode 27:  First of all, I love the way Keroro offhandedly compares renewing interest in the invasion to reviving the dead (He already knows it’s a lost cause), it’s especially interesting considering they come across the remnants of a failed invasion later on. Actually I sort of want to see a spin off about those past invaders; not necessarily a big, dramatic, action-y thing mind you, honestly I expect it would be more or less the same thing as with Keroro but in ancient times, perhaps with the human characters being the ancestors of the current ones.

Also they use the pun of kaeru meaning both “frog” and “to return” quite a lot in the series. Though I have to admit I can relate to Keroro’s feelings a bit here; all of the women in my family have been quite formidable, especially for their time, and my mother is crusading to change the child welfare system in Canada (even though she’s never been in it) and doing all of these things for political change and I sometimes feel I can’t really measure up to that, even though I don’t plan on going into a related field. Plus because of her work I’m a bit burnt out on people issues, I focus more on environmental ones.

Episode 28: This one was a bit tricky, though I always thought the effect of the cold weather on the Keronians sounded more like windburn than all out frostbite. As for the second part this officially marked the beginning of the odd sort of dynamic of Mois & Kururu, I don’t remember how much it was explored in the show apart from her sometimes being who they went with when they needed a girl to associate with Kururu, though I remember a few moments from the manga that built on it, such as the “Angol Stone” chapter.