#yes I know it probably wouldn’t play in a club in japan

[charlotte-family-apologist]

Idk how to explain it but Let It Whip by Dazz Band is such a Kenshi song to me. Like he just gives off groovy music vibes.

Maybe it’s because I headcanon his music taste isn’t what other characters expect.

[rhetorical-ink]

Haikyuu!! SPOILERS: Chapter 401, How We Connect the Dots.

**PENULTIMATE SPOILERS BELOW**

I just posted a video with my live reactions to the chapter, but here are my highlights, because FURUDATE YOU MADMAN GENIUS. This chapter connected so much together. So, let’s do:

My Top 10 Thoughts on Haikyuu!! Chapter 401:

10. Of course. In true Furudate fashion, he has Kageyama block the spike from Hinata, BUT, what Kageyama doesn’t realize is all the training on the beach Shoyo has done to prepare for such a moment. And that heel kick! *swoons* Also, someone reacting to Season 4, Episode 9 of the anime, where Hinata kicks the ball back to himself called this happening all those months ago...Furudate is next level at foreshadowing. Not that we didn’t already know that.

9. Hey, remember how in the VERY FIRST chapter of Haikyuu!! Shoyo did this crazy run across the court to score? Yeah, Furudate knows we remember. And he pulls this -- and Kageyama’s beautiful reaction, only for --

-- Only for it to all be a DECOY. Kageyama, you made this monster, you know. I love that Shoyo has come all this way from wanting to score all the points to accepting that the decoy DOES have a vital role to play, and in this instance, it’s allowing Bokuto to score the winning point for the MSBY Black Jackals. Just look at that smile! And of course, Tanaka and Asahi KNOW the power of Hinata as a Decoy...because they’ve been in Bokuto’s shoes before. 

8. UGH, the aftermath of that moment is glorious, which will detail down below -- but I love Shoyo and Kageyama’s interaction, though. How they’re still keeping track of each other’s wins and losses, exhausting Miya, hilariously, and showing that they’re on equal footing now, after all these years. This chapter is just cementing the last several chapters’ worth of character development. 

7. ARE YOU SHIPPERS READY FOR YOUR FOOD?!

Because these next few pages were healing my shipper heart. I mean, yes, the Kagehina fanbase is raving right now, but let’s talk about THESE ships below, starting with:

Tsukishima x Yamaguchi:

So, Tsukishima, of course, is not sappy about any of this and just points out how the season’s just getting started (ready the fanfics, y’all). 

And of course, Yamaguchi wants to watch Tsuki play! Yachi says she’ll come too! I LOVE how just like he was with Akiteru, he doesn’t want them to come watch (even though we all know he’ll love it when they’re there). Now, some people have commented that Yamaguchi could be with Yachi, but y’all...Yachi is in Tokyo. Yamaguchi and Tsuki both live in Miyagi. I can’t wait for all the Sendai Frog/TsukiYama fanfics!

If you’re looking for an extra Kagehina crumble, just look at the end of this adorable exchange between Romero, smol adorable Rubens, and Shoyo (who perfectly crouches down to talk to him MY HEART I CAN’T), to see Kageyama notice that Shoyo can speak multiple languages...oh, honey! If only you know about Hinata and Pedro’s marathons of DBZ in Portugese and English! ^^

Also, Furudate WE SEE YOU. We see you being meta and implying that now Haikyuu!! is over, he’s moving on...Akaashi’s line about going forward hit me hard...it’s like he’s telling us, the fandom, that going on to start something new isn’t so bad. SO YOU SAY. 

BOKUAKA NATION -- WE CANON NOW, RIGHT?!

I love that Akaashi gets to interview Bokuto (IS HE GOING TO BE THE STAR of the Volleyball manga Tenma Udai is writing?! He would be PERFECT for it!) and how happy Akaashi looks, even if he and Bokuto realize how differently they view the term “normal.” 

ALSO, it’s implied above that Akaashi, Bokuto, and Tenma were going out for drinks...which now....we know that it’s just Bokuto and Akaashi, since Tenma was going home. Uhm, FAN FIC WRITERS ASSEMBLE!

I also love that Udai joins the club, along with Fukurodani’s coach and manager, of people who realize that Bokuto and Akaashi are weirdos but they are weirdos together, so it’s fine. 

Keeping the “Ship Train” going, we get little bits of Shimizu x Yachi from the bathhouse before the Inarizaki Match, where Kiyoko finally acknowledges she is okay showing her legs...thanks to Yachi’s words. I also find Suga wanting to know “the tea” on the situation to be adorable. 

AND FINALLY, YES, Y’ALL:

I was spoiled with Kuroo’s return, but seriously, Furudate, you saved him for the end here so INTENTIONALLY. 

Because OF COURSE Kuroo would work for the JVA. As a promoter. CONNECTING people...with Volleyball...because that’s the Nekoma way.

And FURUDATE ARE YOU SUGGESTING TO US THAT KUROO AND KENMA ARE BUSINESS PARTNERS AND COLLABORATORS BECAUSE MY KUROKEN HEART IS SOARING -- 

-- and let it be known Atsumu Miya rightfully doesn’t trust Kuroo, and neither does Sakusa. A nice SakuAtsu crumb where we actually see Sakusa agree with Miya without sacrasm or question! Poor Shoyo is a salesman’s dream, though. I mean, Kuroo does look a little sketchy in some of those shots...BUT....

6. Kuroo’s speech about sports was SO fitting. Seriously, everything he says here is BASICALLY what makes Haikyuu!! such a great series. I DID laugh out loud at the line about “hardly anybody dies.” 

*Flashbacks to “Dead Daichi” meme*

5. It’s taken us the ENTIRE series, but Kageyama finally talks to Kindaichi and Kunimi. This was so heartwarming, seeing Kageyama wanting to play WITH THEM. AS A TEAM. This made my heart expand three sizes. The character development on Kageyama, and Kindaichi, is through the roof.

I also LOVE Kunimi the most in these panels. Kunimi is a MOOD. 

Y’ALL. I’VE WAITED 400 CHAPTERS FOR THIS PANEL OF THESE THREE HAPPY AND BECOMING FRIENDS AGAIN.

4. I love that Hoshiumi doesn’t see Hinata as a Rival, but as someone that is going to help him show the rest of the world the strength of someone who doesn’t have height. I also find it interesting that we see the Japanese Olympic Coach walking out just as Hoshiumi gives us that beautiful gaze. So...does Hoshiumi know he’s going to be on the Olympic team, with Hinata, maybe? Foreshadowing, perhaps?

3. Okay, okay, I held it together until this page. 

It wasn’t Ushijima’s panel with Washijo that got me.

It wasn’t Saeko and Akane reuniting, though that was sweet. 

It wasn’t the three “Pure Captains” reuniting, though it made my heart happy.

It honestly wasn’t the five first years together, either. They’re all so happy and having a laugh at Kageyama’s expense, and as beautiful as that panel is.

SUGAWARA IN LINE TO GET KAGEYAMA’S AUTOGRAPH.

That is what got me. 

Him in line, so meekly, to get the autograph of his kouhai, the man Suga joked would have to tell about how much he learned from HIM when he was giving out interviews and autographs...I just...Sugawara made me cry. That is all. 

2. Then there’s this last page. 2021. 

"We overcame difficulties and stand here.”

Furudate really said “screw you” to Covid messing up the timeline.

Yes, seeing Kageyama and Hinata in their original jersey numbers was amazing, but I think we all saw that coming if these two happened to get on the Olympic team. 

What I want to focus on are the two countries we see included in the bottom corner here. We see: 

Brazil -- and some fluffy haired man carrying the flag for the team.

And we see the United States -- there’s several American Flags and stars and stripes on the shirts of the crowd, there.

SO, HEADCANON TIME: 

* Oikawa was on the Argentinean League, so could he play for Brazil? It’s not likely, but not impossible....BUT, I don’t think that’s it.

I don’t think Oikawa is on Japan’s National Team for the Olympics.

If he is on the Olympic Team, I think he’ll be on America’s. 

Why? Because, and this could be because I’m the biggest IwaOi shipper, but Iwaizumi was still in the United States with Ushijima’s father at the end of Chapter 395. And if he’s still there, there is no reason why Iwaizumi couldn’t be a physical trainer alongside Ushijima’s father for the U.S. Olympic team. And why wouldn’t Oikawa trek over to the States to be on the same team as Iwa-Chan’s working with? I’m probably wrong, BUT -- 

We also still need to see Seijoh’s banner, and as others have theorized, how fitting would it be to see Hinata, Kageyama, and (probably) Ushijima on the team facing Oikawa? I just....I’m betting money that Oikawa shows up in 402. I hope we at least see him on the Olympic Stage. OIKAWA DESERVES IT. 

1. So, who are we missing that hasn’t been shown yet?

We still need to see the rest of Nekoma (Lev, Yaku, Yamamoto, Kai....could they be in the stands or on the Japan team? I guess we’ll find out!)

We haven’t seen Daishou and Mika -- I would love to see them watching or narrating in the audience during the Olympic game.

And finally, yes, we’ve seen Tendo in the Chapter 395 flashback, but we’ve never seen what he’s DOING. Furudate has shown us with every character what they’ve been doing since the timeskip....EXCEPT TENDO. I’m calling it that he’ll appear one more time next chapter, too.

So....guys....I’m staying off of Social Media from Wednesday to Sunday next week, to prep for the last chapter and not be spoiled. I’m going to do a live reaction for YouTube, and I’ll post it here. You can see the one I did for 401 now. 

Furudate, this series has been immaculate. Time for one more round.

Let’s all cry together next week.

[haikyuu-scenarios-drabbles]

Shower Friends (Miya Atsumu x F!reader)

The dorm you live in has co-ed bathrooms. Why that’s remotely a good idea is beyond you; and recently, your precious shower time is being interrupted by a certain blonde haired setter for the volleyball team. When he lies to his teammates that he has a girlfriend, somehow you get roped into his scheme. 

genre(s): college!au, fake dating, angst, fluff, mutual pining, enemies to lovers (kinda), eventual smut (maybe) words: 3.8k

a/n: i got so carried away with this and i don’t even know if Atsumu is in character or not so please be gentle. chapter 2 coming tomorrow 🤗

taglist: @apollochjld @kurosarium @vicassa

Chapter One

All you want to do is shower in peace. It’s the reason why you wait until the dead of night to avoid any unwanted visitors. You don’t let yourself admit that another reason you wait until the entire floor is asleep is that you live in the building that has a co-ed bathroom. Why anyone decided that was a good idea is beyond you. Throwing a bunch of horny, drunk college kids in the same bathroom seems like a disaster to you, but that’s not really your problem.

Thank goodness they had the sense to put two doors in front of each of the showers. One complete door with a lock leading to a small space to dress and hang your towels before a much flimsier shower curtain. If it had just been the curtain you might’ve resorted to taking showers in one of your friend’s buildings that is not co-ed.

Though about five minutes into your shower in the silent bathroom, you hear the curtain of the stall next to you slide open and the shower turn on. Without thinking, you blurt, “Do you have to choose the one directly next to me?”

Atsumu jolts at your voice, forgetting he can’t just assume the other person in the bathroom is a guy. Muffled by his shirt being pulled over his head he retorts, “This one gets the hottest.” Honestly, he wasn’t expecting anyone else to be in here at this hour.

You nearly drop your shampoo at his voice, hyper-fixating on the fact that you’re practically standing naked directly next to this guy, the only thing separating you being the shower wall and the lock on the outer door. It’s just a few weeks into the semester and up until now you haven’t had a problem with someone showering right next to you, most people deciding to leave a stall between you, both of you doing your best to ignore the other. And definitely not speaking to each other.

Though, you suppose you were the one to speak first here when you could’ve kept your mouth shut and pretended like it didn’t bother you.

“Can’t you go one night without burning your skin off?” You say, knowing full well the stall next to you is like water from hell.

Atsumu can’t help smirking despite that you can’t see him. “Nope, already naked.” Something clatters on the other side of the wall and he stifles his laugh that you must’ve dropped something.

Snatching your dropped body wash, you angrily scrub yourself clean and decidedly do not think about the person next to you.

Thankfully, neither of you speak a word to the other for the remainder of your shower.

Though your stomach drops when you both turn the water off at the exact same moment.

“Please tell me you didn’t do that on purpose,” you groan, hurriedly grabbing your towel to wrap your cold body.

“Okay,” he says with a shrug. “I didn’t.” He knows that doesn’t sound very believable, but he’s pretty sure no matter what he said you wouldn’t accept it.

Scrubbing at your hair you try to keep your voice level. “I’m not leaving until you do.”

“Now it sounds like yer tryin’ to get a look at me.”

You ball your fists, resisting the urge to just storm out of the bathroom. Like an idiot, you’d assumed nobody would shower at this hour and all you have with you is your towel. Normally you bring a change of clothes with you, but of course the one night you don’t, you have a shower buddy.

The brooding silence emanating from your stall is enough for him to let out a small laugh, then conceding, “Alright, alright—I’m gone.”

“Thank you,” you breathe, feeling your growing anxiety about this entire situation melt away. At that, you hear his door unlock and the soft padding of his feet walking away. On his way out, he takes one last glance at the final stall where you’re still waiting, then blows a wet strand of his hair out of his face and heads out.

You wait a few minutes after his footsteps have faded then peek your head out of the stall to a blissfully empty bathroom. Letting out a deep sigh, you hold your towel tightly to your chest and scurry back to your dorm room knowing you’re going to go to sleep tonight thinking about the strange boy you met in the shower.

Hopefully you never have to deal with that again.

~

Of course, you’re very wrong. Not even a week later, you enter the bathroom only to ram directly into someone exiting. And this person is shirtless, their lean muscular frame on display for anyone to ogle at, a towel slung around his hips in just the right way that makes your heart pound without permission.

He catches you so you and all your bathroom supplies don’t tumble to the floor and you reflexively steady yourself with your palms on his chest before you realize what you’re doing. He smirks down at you, eyes glinting mischievously and drawling, “Ya know, I think you might’a done that on purpose.”

Immediately, your heart stutters to a halt in your chest recognizing that lilting, teasing voice. Pushing yourself off his chest and slipping into the bathroom behind him you snap, “You wish.”

Atsumu’s eyes widen, connecting the dots. Though the expression is transient, quickly settling back into a smirk that you think is even more irritating than before. “Takin’ a shower at this hour again, you sure yer not looking for me?”

You frown. “I take showers this late to avoid people!” Then you turn on your heel, done with this conversation and step into your favorite stall (which Atsumu astutely notices is the same one as last time). You take a quick and admittedly angry shower, doing a poor job of trying to forget your newfound annoyance.

Something about him is familiar. And you can’t put your finger on it. Not until you get back to your dorm room and your roommate is practically bouncing off the walls. You stare at her confusedly and she exclaims, “Did you see Miya Atsumu on your way to the bathroom? Oh my god—please tell me you did. He was wearing a towel and that’s it!” She squeals and tips back into her bed hugging a pillow tightly.

You don’t know why, but your initial reaction to realizing your shower nuisance is Miya Atsumu, is to laugh out loud. Your roommate gives you a startled expression until you say, “Yeah—yeah I saw him.” While she blabbers about how “insanely hot” he is, you shake your head at yourself. Miya Atsumu, the setter for the university’s volleyball team that lives on your floor and that your roommate is an avid fan of. He also has quite the gaggle of girls that are in love with him. Thankfully, your roommate isn’t so infatuated with him that she’s a member of the fan club but judging from her demeanor right now she’s well on her way there. You huff, admitting that yes—by looks alone he’s a head turner but you can’t imagine that personality being a winner amongst the club. Or maybe that’s his charm, you don’t know.

Though, after attending a volleyball game a week later, you’re certain his fan club is based on his looks alone. You have to keep yourself from snorting when he’s about to serve and raises his fist to silence the crowd, everyone complying except a few fan girls who cheer for him as he serves. Afterwards, he shouts at them from the court, telling them to ‘keep yer traps shut!’. They listen for the rest of the game and surprisingly, are no less in love with him then they were before.

What you find even more impressive than his ability to silence an entire crowd, though it pains you to admit, is that he’s good at volleyball. Really good. And your roommate seems to be the Atsumu fact machine as she tells you that he’s on Japan’s radar to play professionally and is here on a sports scholarship. She tells you she wouldn’t be surprised if he has to stop playing for the university in order to start playing professionally.

“How come you know so much about him?” You ask offhandedly, chin resting in your hand as your eyes are trained on the court below. You forced her to sit with you near the back of the stands in hopes he won’t see you because if you ever run in to him again in the bathroom you’re sure he’ll never let you hear the end of it.

She flushes at that, toying with a strand of her hair and mumbling, “Um, I went to Inarizaki High where he went and uh—kinda had a huge crush on his brother. He has a twin.”

You lift your brows at that information. No wonder she’s squealing over Atsumu, who probably looks exactly like his brother. You decide to prod a bit further asking, “So was the fan club just for Atsumu back then too?”

Now she laughs. “Nope, it was the Miya twin fan club. Terrifying really. Imagine that,” she nods her head towards the group at the front of the stands, “But double.”

“Fun.”

You haven’t told her about your run-ins with Atsumu in the bathroom yet. And part of you wonders if now would be a good time. You’d been holding off in fear that she was secretly in love with him or something, but now that you know it’s very much the opposite, you really want to tell her. As you open your mouth, the whistle blows calling the game, and you’re overwhelmed by the need to leave before the team lines up to thank the spectators in fear the Atsumu will recognize you. It’ll have to wait until later you suppose.

~

The second you hear someone enter the stall beside you, without even seeing him, you know it’s Atsumu. And for a few blessed moments, you’re led to believe he’s going to keep his mouth shut for the duration of his shower.

When Atsumu entered the bathroom, upon seeing that the last stall on the left was occupied at this hour, he could be pretty certain it was you. And who was he if he didn’t take the chance to push your buttons a little bit? You make it so easy for him, it’s hard to resist. Your hopes are crushed when you hear him say, “Enjoy the game last week?”

This time, you fumble with your shampoo not because he startled you but because of all the things he could have said, that was the last thing you were expecting.

“My roommate wanted to go,” you say, glad he can’t see you and your flustered expression. It’s the truth, and you’re definitely not going to admit you were a little curious yourself.

“Oh, did she?” He asks, brows raised as he lathers his hair with soap.

Judging by his tone, he doesn’t believe you. So, some part of you decides to dig your hole even deeper without realizing it, trying to explain, “She went to your high school, so she wanted to see you play again.”

You foolishly thought that would take the suspicion off of you. However, it does the opposite. Now he’s even more interested. “And what did she tell you about me, hm?”

You freeze, scrambling for something that doesn’t make you sound like he’s been on your mind. Though you convince yourself he’s only on your mind because he’s annoying and you try to avoid him every time you take a shower nowadays. “She told me your school was really good and that you have a twin brother.”

He frowns momentarily, unsure how Osamu somehow weaseled his way into this conversation when you’ve never even met him. Instead of letting that piece of rivalry he’ll carry with him forever show, he prods a little further, hoping to get a ruse out of you before you inevitably storm out of the bathroom and he has to wait until your next unplanned meeting to talk to you more. “And what’d ya think? How good am I?”

You laugh, shutting him down immediately. “I don’t know a damn thing about volleyball.”

Though you don’t think you really have to know much about volleyball to see he’s good. That notion backed up by the information your roommate gave you that he’s here on a sports scholarship and is being scouted by professional teams. But you keep your mouth shut, unwilling to boost his ego any further.

Turning the shower off, you step out and start drying yourself off. Not entirely sure why, but you continue the conversation much to Atsumu’s surprise. “I liked watching though, it was fun,” you say quietly, pulling your pajama’s on, regretting saying anything at all instantly and wanting to get out of there as soon as possible.

A grin rises to his lips, but before he can get another word in, he hears the door of your stall unlocking and the telltale sound of your footsteps walking away. Scrubbing at his hair, he can’t help wondering what this strange little relationship growing between the two of you is.

~

At this point, you’re beginning to think he’s doing it on purpose. You can’t imagine anyone else wanting to shower this late unless it is solely to come bother you like he seems intent on doing.

“What are you just waiting around for me now?” You groan at the sound of the bathroom door opening, not even waiting for him to enter the stall beside you, already certain you know exactly who it is.

He scoffs, “No, practice went late and I’m tired and sweaty. Maybe I think yer the one waitin’ around for me.”

“Gross.”

“That’s what the shower’s for, sweetheart.”  

“Let’s agree not to talk, shall we?” You huff, intent on ignoring him this time.

“Watch it, I might start to think you like me or somethin’,” He teases, but he’s only met with silence. He lets it go, too tired to care much or carry on a conversation anyways. After washing his hair, he grabs his body wash and realizes to his dismay that it’s completely empty. He can barely get a lather out of it. He stands there for a few minutes debating if he should bother you again, eventually deciding to hell with it.

Out of the blue, he says, “I’m out of body wash.”

“What do you want me to do about it?”

He ponders that for a minute, truly not sure what he expects you to do about it. “Can I borrow some?”

“You’re going to smell like a girl,” you laugh, actively shoving down the small voice saying: ‘and he’ll smell like you’.

Without thinking, he replies, “Well, maybe someone will think I’m fucking one then.”

The silence that yawns between the two of you is deafening as you try and wrap your head around what he’s just said. He balls his fists, mentally yelling at himself for letting something like that slip.

“You’re not?”

“Is that hope I hear?” He teases, shifting the conversation back to more comfortable territory.

You groan. “Please.” Then step out of the shower and reach under your door to slide your body wash under his door.

“Smells nice.”

“Shut up.”

He puts forth a valiant effort to not think about you while the pleasant scent fills his shower, forcing his thoughts towards volleyball. Different drills. The new play he learned today at practice. How the ball feels in his palm when he spikes it. Anything but you and this damn body wash that smells like you that he’s lathering across his chest at the moment.

In the end, it’s a pretty futile effort.

And maybe he goes to bed thinking about how he smells like you and he…likes it.

~

Unable to get a hold of his emotions, he refuses to go back to his dorm where he’ll be subjected to the same treatment from his roommate. After all, his roommate is on the volleyball team too. So, the only place he can think of to go to cool off is the bathroom. He haphazardly shoves the door open, the thought that someone else might be in here at this hour—namely you—is drowned out by the rage clouding his vision.

Retrospectively, that was a mistake. Honestly, shouldn’t he know by now?

Regardless, he storms in, yelling “Fuck!” his hands curling into his hair in frustration. Lately, the team has been relentless in their jabs that he can never get a real girlfriend, even with a whole group of them clambering over each other for his attention. And he only made the jabs worse today by somehow pissing off his fucking fan club making the entire team adamant he can never have a serious girlfriend. Not with how much of an ‘asshole’ he is.

He groans, tugging at his blonde strands, regretting everything that came after that. He’d done a stupid thing. A really stupid thing. He’d told them he does have a girlfriend.

And he very much does not.

Atsumu scares the shit out of you, barreling into the bathroom, roaring at the top his lungs in frustration. You were at the tail end of your shower, pulling on your pajamas and at the sound of his voice you banged your head on the towel hook with how fast it whipped up.

Furious, you rip open the stall door shout, “What the fuck is wrong with you?!”

His head jerks up, landing on you standing there in your pajamas, caught off guard that someone else is in here and of course it’s you. Of all the people to see him like this, you are the absolute last he wants to see. You both stand there staring at each other for a moment before he composes himself, letting an easy smirk cross his features and shoving his anger far enough down that he’s able to reply, “Practice was shit today. Nothin’ to worry yer little heart about.”

His stomach twists into knots as your expression doesn’t change, clearly not believing him. You can’t explain it, but there’s something deeper swimming in his eyes that makes you think he’s lying. And it’s enough for you to press further, doing your best to ignore the fact that you might actually care.

Shoulders drooping, his smile fades and he grimaces, not wanting to admit to you his mistake. But you just stand there, arms crossed, expecting him to give you a real answer and eventually he cracks.

“I did something stupid.”

“Tell me why I’m not surprised,” you deadpan, but continue to stare at him expectantly.

“You could at least pretend to be surprised.”

You’re relentless. “Spit it out Atsumu.”

He blinks, unsure if you’ve ever actually addressed him by his name before. But the thought is fleeting as the embarrassment of what he’s about to admit to you overwhelms him. Knowing you, you’re just going to laugh in face. And what’s the point? He’ll just be solidifying what he’s sure you already think about him.

After a moment, he tells you anyways. “My teammates think I’m too much of an asshole to have a girlfriend.”

He watches your expression morph into confusion. “I don’t see the problem here.”

Gritting his teeth and gripping the edge of the sink, he can’t even bear to look at you. He feels so fucking ridiculous. Why do you even care? Your only interactions with him thus far have been laced with annoyance, why have you now suddenly decided to take interest in his life when you so clearly don’t like him?

“I told them I have one.”

He tries not to groan when you reply, “I’m still not following.”

Does he need to spell it out for you? “I don’t have one,” he manages to choke out, a lot quieter and more pathetic than he’d like.

If this had been the first time meeting him, you might’ve laughed. Hell—you still kind of want to laugh. But seeing him like this is so jarring, you aren’t quite sure what to do with yourself. It’s clear this is something that bothers him deeper than he’s admitting. And a couple weeks ago, you would’ve never thought you’d be standing in a deserted bathroom with Miya Atsumu discussing the failures of his dating life.

“Why don’t you just ask one of the girls dying for your attention?” You ask, feeling a little grimy about the suggestion.

He seems to feel the same. “I don’t…it doesn’t feel right. They’d think it’s real.”

You keep it to yourself that despite what his teammates have said, that is a very non-asshole-ish thing to do.

He keeps staring at you, gears turning his head. Asking someone in his fan club feels wrong to him…but asking someone to fake it seems like a better option. And who better than the person standing in front of him right now? But you can see exactly what he’s thinking, beating him to it and crossing your arms saying pointedly, “No.”

“Aww come on! Why not?”

“Don’t you think that isn’t fair to me?”

He ponders this a moment. “What—you got yer eyes set on someone else or somethin’?”

“N—no! I just,” you splutter.

He has to hook you, otherwise he’s thoroughly fucked. The thought of enduring the brunt of his teammates teasing for who knows how long if he shows up tomorrow empty handed is enough to make him offer, “I promise to stop taking showers at night!”

Your brows lift, turning the idea over in your head. The prospect of taking quiet, uninterrupted showers is too good to pass up. And it isn’t the end of the world to pretend to date him for a few weeks. What could possibly go wrong?

So, with that, the deal is sealed. You and Atsumu are officially fake dating and your story is not far from the truth. You met in the bathroom a couple times and hit it off, it’s believable enough. Your roommate might be a bit chuffed you kept it from her, but she’ll get over it. Probably the second you divulge her in any insider information about Atsumu she’ll forget you were hiding him from her.

He tells you to meet him at the gym tomorrow afternoon. “Wear somethin’ cute!” He shouts at you as you exit the bathroom.

Over your shoulder, you give him a look that unexpectedly makes his heart stutter in his chest as you cheekily say, “Shouldn’t my boyfriend think I look cute in anything?” Then you disappear around the corner and he has to shove the thought that you do look cute in your pajamas to the back of his head.

[miki-snake]

loading... The Other Brother

character selected: Osamu

played for: 2.8k words

A/N: So, this is my piece for the HQHQ SFW Collab, check out the work of all the other amazing writers and with that, I hope you enjoy it! 

It was planned to be a nice family dinner at Onigiri Miya. The restaurant was closed earlier that day so you and Osamu had enough time to prepare everything before the rest of the family would arrive. His parents, Atsumu, you, and Osamu, just a little get-together to catch up on everyone. It was a light mood at the dinner table, Atsumu was cracking jokes and his mother scolded him for his terrible table manners, while Osamu and his dad talked about the great development of his restaurant. 

His family, especially his father, were surely proud of Osamu to take the risk and reach for his dream. Since the beginning, they were all supportive of his decision to open up Onigiri Miya and you couldn’t be more happy and proud to be a part of this journey. 

You and Osamu were staying strong since the last year of high school when Osamu finally had the courage to come up to you with a homemade bento and the question if you’d like to be his girlfriend that he delivered with a light stutter and blushing cheeks. Of course, you said yes, you had a crush on the grey-haired Miya twin for over a year and everyone around you could feel the mutual, but oblivious pining the two of you had after each other. 

So when he asked you out you were ecstatic to finally call him yours. 

From then on, you two were an unmatched team. After high school, you followed your dreams while he continued down the road of being a chef in his own restaurant. 

 You were right at his side whenever he needed you, at his brightest moments but also when he was close to falling apart. 

As the night went on, the attention shifted over to Atsumu and his current life. He was part of Japan’s Olympic team and he just continued to gain prominence by other athletes and sports fans but especially by his female fans. Wherever he went it was like a hoard of ladies followed him and it was really scary to see how few boundaries these women knew. 

“You know Atsumu, if you’d stop going to the club every weekend, you might be able to use your free time to meet a proper woman out there.” That was what his mother would tell him almost every time they’d see each other. Somehow she was worried that Atsumu wouldn’t find the right person and well, you always had to laugh when the topic comes up. He’d get flustered and tries to change the topic but ultimately he’d fail. 

Miss Miya turned over to face you with a bright smile on her face.

“I’m really happy that Osamu got you by his side y/n.” 

Her eyes were shining with pride and you were sure that you had the same look on your face because you were proud to be Osamu’s girlfriend. You were proud of what he has achieved and how far you two have come. 

You loved him and there was never a day when you doubt your decision to be with him. 

“Yeah y/n, you’re a really good girlfriend for Osamu. If only I hadn’t pushed him to confess to you and asked you out myself.” Atsumu topped his words with a smirk and a wink but you knew that was all show to tease you. You and Atsumu had always been great friends, he was the goofball in the group and every time you’d have a good laugh with him. This situation was no different from the rest, so you just laughed about his comment, shaking your head no when he jokingly offered that it wasn’t too late to choose the “obviously better” twin. It was all taken with lighthearted laughter and you shoot back at him that you already were with the better twin. 

 And for you, it was simple as that, not that you could really compare the two twins like that but to you, it had always been only Osamu. 

It was a great night with the people that you adored, which is why you don’t know how only two days after the meeting, you ended up on the couch in your apartment, feeling like you’d fall right off the earth. 

“What did you just say?” You heard him perfectly fine but the words didn’t register in your brain. The shock was written all over your face, as your body reacted before your mind really knew what was going on.

“I said that I wanted us to break up.” Osamu’s face was wiped from any emotion, his voice strong and stern but you’ve been with him way too long to not hear the slight hesitance in his words. 

You frowned at him and wondered where this was coming from. 

You were already at home, the apartment that you and Osamu shared, waiting for him as you mindlessly scrolled through your phone. When you heard the familiar sound of keys jingling and the door opening with a creak, you got up to greet him. Right at the sight of him, you knew something was up, though you just assumed it was something at work. With a tug on his arm, you directed him to the couch where you sat down but he just stood there as if he was ready to turn around and leave again. 

I want us to break up. 

 He really said that but your mind couldn’t wrap around his words. It felt like your body was burning from the inside, you wanted to scream or to punch something. 

“Why?” In the end, it was all you could get out. Your voice sharp as a knife and if only you knew… if only you knew how it pierced through Osamu’s heart. Though what would it change if you knew, it wasn’t as if he didn’t just shatter yours. 

“Do I have to give you a reason? It’s not like I’d need you to accept that this is over.” His words were harsh, maybe even harsher than he intended. But in his mind it was the right thing to do, in his mind his hurt was much more than yours. That’s what you don’t know though, but what you knew was that you were enraged by his words. 

Your breathing picked up, nails digging holes into your palms as you stared at him with eyes full of disbelieve and anger. 

“Do you have to give me a reason? If you are really that slow then yes, yes you have to give me a reason Osamu. I have every right to know why you want to end things out of nowhere.” 

“I’m not asking you y/n, I am telling you that we’re done.” He seemed to get annoyed and his voice picked up in volume but you won’t back down. 

“Too bad Osamu, because it’s always two in a relationship and I am the second person in this one. So, I ask you again, why do you want to break up.”

“I don’t have to tell you.”

“Stop being childish!” You were beyond frustrated. He really thought he could get away with it by just telling you that you two were done? This wasn’t just a fling or a summer flirt, you two have been together for years and you won’t give up until he told you the truth. You knew him like no other and it was clear to you, in the way that he acted towards you that he was trying to hide something. 

And yes, Osamu just wanted to run away and not look back but he was rooted right in front of you just by the unforgiving look you gave him. 

“Oh, now I’m childish? What else am I huh? Tell me y/n, what else bothers you.”

 “What are you talking about? ‘Samu this has nothing to do with what bothers me because it is you that wants to break up with me!”

“Everything has to do with you y/n!” He yelled at you, his chest heaving as he struggled to control his breathing. He was prepared for you to yell back at him but all you did was look at him confused while you patiently waited for him to continue. 

You knew there was more to it and you wouldn’t let him rest until you got to the very bottom of it. 

“Tell me y/n, what would you have done if Atsumu would’ve been the one who confessed to you.” You really didn’t expect this conversation to turn that way. 

“Why are you asking that? I don’t know, it didn’t happen.” 

“But what if?”

“What do you mean what if? It didn’t happen, so why does it matter when the situation never occurred?”

“It matters because now you’re with me.” He sounded exasperated, but to you, it was just ridiculous. Osamu was never one to worry about the past, always looking forward to achieving his dreams, so seeing him like this was… it was challenging. 

“Yes, I am with you. I am with you and I wouldn’t-“

“You’re with the other brother y/n, okay? That’s all I am right? Atsumu the shining sun and then there’s the other brother.” 

His words shocked you. 

 Never in the entire time of your relationship did he talk about that. He looked so vulnerable, so desperate and it hurt you to see him like that. The two of you had a lot of up and downs, many fights and disagreements but in the end, you always talked it out. When something was bothering him, he never hesitated to talk to you about it, so hearing this for the first time makes you wonder how long he’s felt that way. 

You never wanted him to feel like he couldn’t come to you and you never thought you did. But no matter how worried you were, his next words hit you square in the face. 

“If Atsumu would’ve asked you back then, you probably wouldn’t be here.” 

When did you give him the impression that it was Atsumu that you loved? Sure, he played a big role in your life. He was one of your closest friends and the brother of the man you loved. He was the brother of the man you loved but not the man you loved. 

“When… when did you feel like I loved him and not you?” 

“I’m not blind, everyone can see the way you two smile at each other. You laugh at everything he says and your eyes are basically glued to him y/n.” 

“He makes me smile because we’re friends, but I’m not in love with the first person that I smile at.” You tried to reason with him but it didn’t seem like he’s listening to you. It was frustrating because what did he wanted to hear from you? You tell him every day how much you loved him, you’re always right by his side and you’ve always supported him so what is it that he wants?

“Don’t think I am dumb y/n. I am just a placeholder for you.”

Now that struck a nerve.

You know that his words were coming from a place of insecurities but that didn’t mean he could just say things without having to take the consequences. 

“A placeholder? Do you really think that lowly of me ‘Samu?” A bitter laugh escaped your lips, your eyes burning from the tears that started to well up. Never, from the day that you’ve met him, did you think he’d say something like that. Your heart was burning, lungs struggling to keep a steady breath. It was insane, everything must’ve turned upside down because this 

“So you think I am just a shallow person, using you so I could eventually get to Atsumu?” Your voice was getting louder with every word, your anger winning over the bone crushing hurt that you felt. 

“I tell you what Osamu, if I would’ve wanted to be with Atsumu I could’ve gotten there without playing around with you.” He flinched at your words and you know that you’ve hurt him, but you didn’t care. He started this so he has to be ready to take your words

“You don’t understand it y/n. You know what, I can’t even blame you because everyone loves Atsumu. He’s the golden boy, the rising athlete, the older brother that I’ve, even if we’re only a few minutes apart, looked up to. 

No matter where we went people always looked at him, smiled at him and wanted him.” You could see the tears in his eyes, the way his voice trembles and he bit on his lip to hold himself back. “They always chose him. I mean, I also chose him, I followed him around, did whatever he did but now our paths are changing and in the end, people still choose him first.” All this time he was avoiding your gaze, looked behind you at the wall but now his eyes were piercing right through your heart. The man in front of you, the one that you loved so dearly, he was broken into pieces. 

“But when will I be someone’s first choice? Tell me, when?” It was one thing that he was questioning your love for him but for him to feel like no one would choose him? It broke you just as much because he no matter what he’d said, you loved him. 

You stepped closer to him, until you were nearly chest to chest. The warmth of his body was seeping through your skin and you desperately wanted to take him into your arms, but you couldn’t. You placed your right hand on his chest and you could feel how fast his heart was beating and somehow, in a familiar way you feel as if it synced with yours. 

“I don’t think you can ever really understand how much I love you. Because no matter how many times I tell you that I love you or what it is that I love about you, I know that in the back of your mind you will always question it. 

And I’m not going to lie, it hurts. It hurts knowing that no matter what I do, you will never let loose of those insecurities.” Tears were now streaming freely down your cheeks. You couldn’t hold back anymore.

“But even then I will never stop to tell you how much I adore you. ‘Cause, what I feel for you is nothing but unconditional love. Do you know why it’s unconditional? Because I don’t expect anything in return. I don’t expect you to love me back or to do something to prove yourself. It’s unconditional because no matter what you’d give me and what not, I’d still love you. I would lie if I’d told you that I wouldn’t want to hear “I love you” from you. Though if you say it or not won’t change the way I feel for you. ”

His tears were trickling down his face and right onto you, both of you crying, not in each others arms but so close. 

“You got me hooked on you, the moment you walked through that door with that gorgeous and calm smile on your face. I knew there was no way back for me and no other respond than yes when you asked me out.“ And through the tears you still managed to smile, you smiled because of him. 

“But loving you unconditionally also means that I have to respect your decision to back out of this relationship. I’m not giving up on us without fighting, because 'Samu, I fought. I fought for us, bled and cried countless nights, hoping that this could work out whenever we had a fight.“

“I was- am ready to love you and help you to love yourself but I can’t help someone who doesn’t want me.  It hurts that I couldn’t give you what you wanted, what you so desperately needed. I hope that one day you’ll find that person who’ll give you that breathtaking feeling you gave me. Someone, who can make you feel loved because that’s what you deserve Osamu. You deserve to be someone’s first choice.”

Of course you weren’t giving up, but you were waiting. You would give him his chance to think and gather his thoughts but for now you needed to step back and that’s what you did.

With that, you stood up and gathered your belongings in your bag. You got ready to walk out of the door, walk out of his life. As always you wore your heart on your sleeve, you told him what you felt and not it was his time to decide. What was his first choice?

His pride and insecurities or you?

Paralyzed by his feelings and mind still pondering about your words, he just sat there staring into the blurry world. You chose him and he decided to end it. He knew that you’ be there waiting but not forever and so now it was his time to choose. 

[alicemitch09writes]

(un)loving miya atsumu

six

the boys in the club.

As soon as practice ended, you had just finished writing in the journal, signing off a few things, eyes glued to your written analysis and observations bent on heading home. Kaoru needed help with one of his homework and asked you earlier to help him.

Just then, a familiar voice called out to you.

“(Y/N)!”

Looking up, you meet the kind gaze of Aran. “We’re headin’ to that new boba shop by the station, wanna come with?” Behind him were Akagi, Oomimi, Kita, and a few other players, watching you with inviting smiles.

You paused, gripping on to your notebook.

Thing was, it had been a few days since the incident. As much as your seniors meant no harm, you didn’t want a reminder of your humiliation.

More importantly, this was Ojiro Aran – out of everyone in the team, he was the one who knew the twins best and the one of the few people they respected, he was their straightman as much as a big brother figure to them. And because you were associated with the twins, he had the same reception with you - if not, kinder and softer. Something akin to concern swam in those dark eyes of his, to which you had to ignore.

Atsumu – who was watching with a glare, brown eyes burning at you, threatening – would hate you even more for trying to take Aran from him.

And so, you shake your head. “I’m sorry, but I’ll have to pass. But please, enjoy for me.”

Without another word, you nodded at them all, ignoring the sad look in their eyes, and left.

"Torino?"

"Karasuno," you corrected, almost exasperatedly. Seriously, how old was Coach Kurosu again?

Realization dawns on him. "Ah, haven't heard that name in a while."

"Are they any good?"

"Dunno, they're an old powerhouse."

Humming, you look back at the pamphlet in your hands. "A rather glorious comeback, wouldn't you say?"

The older man pulls his head back, barking in laughter. "That's a rather poetic way of saying it!"

It would be something your captain would say, but currently, he's busy having a practice match with the rest of the team.

As always, with him on the court, everyone played to their best and didn't half-ass or slack. Heck, even Suna was doing some work!

But of course, there were his plays - graceful, smooth, and focused solely on the defense.

Definitely a clear cut choice of captain, the standard, in your opinion.

"Aran-san, nice serve!"

A blur of yellow and blue flies to his hand, dribbling it with his one hand as he walks to the end of the court and waits for the whistle. With him serving, it had everyone on high alert.

The ball flies up in the air, Ojiro runs up, hands raised to meet the falling ball, sending it flying to the other side of the court just barely touching the outer line. Still an in.

Definitely an ace alright, enough to be recognized in the country’s top 5 aces.

Whoever the next ace was – it’s going to be a tough call between Osamu and Ginjima - they have big shoes to fill.

Quickly, you write in your notebook.

'Ojiro serves: Ins - 5, Outs - 1'

After a week of exams, it was only natural that people reverted back to their normal state – you with managerial duties for the school’s illustrious volleyball club. Fresh out of the burn of their academics, everyone seemed to be in high spirits.

"What're you standing around the court for? Chase after it!" Coach Kurosu yells. "Geez, my dog chases balls better than these nitwits."

And there's his dog analogy, you thought to yourself, hilarious as always to hear.

On the other side of the court was a team composed of Suna, Osamu, Atsumu, and Ginjima - the trouble children, and two other second years. Opposing them were the third years - Kita, Akagi, Oomimi, Aran, one third year, and another second year.

Honestly, your captain would've done well as libero, with his amazing receiving skills and read of the ball's trajectory. He wasn't the team's defensive specialist for nothing. Nevertheless, as a wing spiker, he does well for his part. Regardless if his skills were average, just the way he presents himself in and out of the court was astounding.

"Suna, nice serve!" you called out, watching the tall boy walk back in line.

Just as the whistle blew, the ball was sent flying in the air leaving the opposing team scrambling.

For one rather lackadaisical, Suna's techniques were something. If only he gave his all in all of his games.

'Suna serves: Ins - 4, Outs - 0'

Seeing gray-dyed, you closely watched as Osamu toy with the current blockers, not once intimidated by Oomimi, the top blocker of the team.

As the ball appeared before him, instead of spiking it, he tossed it to his waiting twin, sending the ball to the other court. A flash of gold - a hungry look in his eyes as the ball goes the way he wanted it to go, enough to blind from your spot.

"The twins are on point today as usual," Coach Kurosu says with a nod. You nod with him, writing into your logbook.

'Miya Twins quicks: success - 6, fails - 1'

Yep, everyone was definitely in high spirits today.

Your thoughts and observations were echoed by the two coaches after practice, after congratulating them for all doing a great job during the previous week. Exams were no laughing matter, they were a test to see one’s mental and academic capability – as they were all students.

Now that you think about it, as Coach Oomi was telling off a few of the boys, you had to follow up on their performance once the results were out. Normally, they’d get their test results in a week’s time, probably.

After that, a short break for the holidays.

Must be nice…

"Ah, by the way," you call out, making your presence known and just before the coaches ended today’s practice.

All eyes were on you, attention on high. Turning to your coaches pointedly, expectantly, they only stared back, question in their eyes. Frowning, your head tilted slightly, they stared back. The frown on your face deepened, unamused.

Seriously?

Planting your hand on your hip, your expression sours. "You both forgot, didn't you?" they winced.

"A-Ah, you have to be specific, (L/N)." Coach Oomi defended, Coach Kurosu nodding beside him.

Your frown only deepened, eyes narrowing.

"We just talked about it before practice started," though your voice was even, there was enough bite to it. And though older than you, the two men felt small under your reprimanding gaze. More so when you sighed, as though you've said too much. “And you both told me to remind you about it before we end today’s practice.”

As the team watched, they felt just as though you were talking to the lot of them – your voice thick with disappointment. Kita watched, unaffected by it all almost amused by it all.

With a sigh, you turned to the team, eyes easily finding blond-dyed hair. "Miya Atsumu,"

The setter straightens at the sound of his name. "Y-Yes?"

Lifting your lips up, a gentle smile filled your face.  "Congratulations, you've been selected to join the All-Japan Youth Camp." You say with a smile – a true, genuine, and proud smile, despite knowing that you were the last person he’d like to hear it from.

Something in Atsumu starts at the sight of it.

It took a second for him to process your words, before he burst into joy. “Y-Yosha!”

Congratulations were tossed his way left and right from his teammates. Beside you, it seemed as though it finally came to the coaches as they sheepishly scratched the back of their heads, avoiding your gaze.

"W-Wait, how about 'Samu?" Atsumu asked, directing his question to you.

The smile on your face thinned. "Sadly, there's an invite for only one Miya."

Interestingly enough, Osamu’s only reaction was to blink, his gray-brown eyes becoming distant.

"B-But-"

"Should you have any concerns or queries, feel free to approach any of the coaches." There was a finality to your tone, causing the older men to jump.

“A-Ah, right. Thank you for that, (L/N).” says Coach Kurosu, smiling at you, apologetically and gratefully. He got a nod from you. “Again, congratulations Atsumu. Now for the rest of y’all, I don’t want the rest of you slacking behind just because of this, y’hear me?”

“No coach,” they replied.

“Alright, good. Dismissed.”

(A few days before his leave for Tokyo, Atsumu was at school with a rare free period shared with Osamu, Suna, and Ginjima. They all decided to head to the library, in lieu of studying but to loiter in actuality.

Atsumu was gushing to the brim, excitement in his bones to meet some interesting volleyball players from all across the nation. Heck, he might even see that one annoying player with the wicked spins on his serves.

“Ah, that’s Itachiyama’s Sakusa,” Ginjima says.

“Isn’t he one of the top high school aces in the country?” Osamu asked, voice thinly veiled with curiosity.

“Actually, he’s the top ace.” Suna said without looking up from his phone, fingers tapping and sliding every few seconds.

“Shit, for real?”

“He even beat Aran!”

A loud shush sounded off, the student librarian glaring at their table. The four boys quieted down, Osamu shoving at his twin, who retaliated with his own shove before Ginjima stepped in to break it off.

“Man, I’m gonna meet a buncha interesting people!” the setter gushes, he was practically radiating it off. In all their years playing volleyball, this was actually the first time that Atsumu was going alone. Although they talked it out with his twin, Atsumu sharing it with his brother and friends make it believable that he isn’t alone in this, it was enough to fill his spirits. (Nobody tell him he’s lonely about going alone, though)

“Just don’t go off starting a ruckus,” Osamu stands from his seat, because the student assistant was glaring holes into their table. He comes back a moment later with some books in his hands, a mix of cookbooks, sports, and literature books.

From his seat, the student assistant looked appeased by the sight of books before turning back to his duties. Their group exchanged snickers, returning to their idle state.

Just then, through the open doors, Ginjima caught sight of you passing by “Ah, it’s manager.”

Atsumu never turned so quickly on his life – which the Ginjima found rather comical – indeed finding you out the hallway uniform nice and tidy as always, not a hair out of place, with arms filled with textbooks.

With Kusakabe beside you.

It made his blood boil for some reason, seeing the two of you together – when there were a few other classmates as well. You’ve become close with Mr. Four-Eyes, it seems.

“Ah, she chose an extra class, right?”

“That’s right.” Osamu answered with a nod. “Chemistry, I believe.” To which everyone deflated at, it was a science with a bunch of math. Yet, unsurprisingly, it was rather fitting for you. It shouldn't also surprise them that you chose to add an extra class instead of having free time like them. College prep kids were built different, it seems.

Recovering, Ginjima watches the back of your head as he comments. “Ah, I keep forgetting manager’s in a college prep class.”

“Wasn’t her big sister in one, too?” asked Suna, looking up for once, chin resting on his folded arms.

When you were out of sight, Atsumu turned back to his group. “I think so? She was in Class 5?”

“Manager’s in Class 7, though.” Ginjima stated.

Suna scoffs. “There’s just a 2 difference.”

“Aren’t they just the same, though?” Atsumu frowned, now recalling how each of the (L/N) siblings were intellectuals. Mika, you, and Kaoru were all in honor’s classes, with you being in the classes for all of your middle school, junior high, and probably all of high school. Kaoru might even follow in your footsteps if he can balance soccer and his studies.

“Pretty much, I guess.”

“Nah, (Y/N)’s the smarter sibling.” Osamu answered again, rather smoothly almost defensively. “She’s been part of the top students since middle school.”

Ginjima and Suna hums, with the latter going back to browsing his phone.

“Osamu, you know a great deal about manager, huh?”

The corner of his lips twitch, briefly meeting his twin’s gaze before plucking a random book from their stack. “Yeah well, she’s my best friend.”

My best friend, Osamu says. Not ‘our’.

Ah, yeah, there was that. He couldn’t share the joy with you anymore.)

Walking down the busy hall, students flocking every corner, you carefully maneuvered even without looking up. What’s more, you were at the third year’s floor – which should intimidate lower year levels, but not you.

Glancing you, you found Class 5 and approached the door.

“Excuse me,” you asked the student closest to the door. “Is Aran-san around?”

“Ojiro?” turning to the room, the student called out. “Hmm, ah, there he is. Oi, Ojiro, someone’s here for you!”

As soon as he was called, a tall figure stands from his seat, eyes widening at the sight of you. He raises a hand as he approaches. “Yo, (Y/N), what’s up?”

“Ah, we’ve run low on some supplies,” you reported, hands folded behind you.

Almost immediately, he falls into vice-captain mode. “Yes, that! Well, don’t worry about inventory check because Shinsuke and I did them for you.”

“Really?" unconsciously, your shoulders relaxed. "That’s a relief.”

Aran's whole face softens down at you. “Hey, as captain and vice-captain, we’re both obliged to at least ease our manager’s burdens. We can help out, too, y'know?” You had to smile at that. “Just gimme a sec, I’ll get the list.”

You watch Aran walk back to his seat, leaving you alone to look around his classroom. It was no different than yours, except there was a certain feel to it. In fact, everyone in the room - although were, very much like you, students - had a feel that was different about them. Third years, huh?

“Here we go,” Aran returns with some papers in his hands.

“Thank you very much,”

“Now, don’t forget to ask the coaches-“

“Will do. By the way, how’s your little sister?” A little small talk couldn’t hurt, right?

The older teen sort of frowns, the same frown he uses on the twins. “I swear, the older she gets the more she’s getting on my nerves!”

“I’m so sorry to hear that,” you stifled a laugh, failingly. If you remember correctly, Aran’s little sister was just Kaoru’s age.

“Yeah, yeah, laugh about it all you want.” Sighing, he threw his hands in the air. “Why can’t she be more like you?”

“Cold, stoic, barely human?”

He sputtered, gesticulating rather dramatically. “Oi!”

“It’s the truth.”

Grumbling, he clears his throat, fixes himself into his big brother persona, arms folded over his chest for added effect. “I wish she was more collected and responsible, like you.”

“A ringing endorsement from one of the top high school aces, I’m flattered.”

Sharing laughter, he reached over to ruffle his hand over your head. “You at least deserve to be complimented every once in a while.”

You hum, warmed by his words. "You could at least just talk it out with her, that's how I deal with Kaoru."

"Yeah, but she doesn't take me seriously."

"Neither does Kaoru," Aran looks surprised by this, you can't blame him, your younger brother was a brat and a lot to deal with. "However, it does help to aptly remind him time and time again of his misdemeanor. You most certainly have to be strict with managing him but also respect their feelings. In addition, you must speak to them like a child and not a subject of some sort."

For some reason, he felt a chill run down his spine. "S-Sheesh, you sound like Shinsuke when you say that."

Unable to help yourself, the corner of your mouth lifts into a smirk-like smile. "Who do you think taught me all those?"

His expression flattens, eyes shut as it comes to him. "Ah. Man. Geez."

He then sighs in defeat, shoulders lifting and dropping. "Still wished she turned out like you, (Y/N)."

"Trust me, you don't want a boring little sister. Anyway, good luck with her though."

"Will do, thanks for the tips," he mutters a few things under his breath, something like a prayer.

Tucking the papers aside, you just about turned to leave when you nearly run into someone.

“Atsumu, watch where you’re going ya lug!” Aran says behind you. 

“S-Sorry-“ he looks down, eyes widening when he realizes he crashed into you, you blink back in concern. “S-Sorry-!”

“No, I’m sorry for not paying attention to my surroundings.” Taking a step back, you found Osamu, Suna, and Ginjima behind him - giving them all a bow before walking away.

Before he left for Tokyo though, both your families had a little get-together at the Miya residence.

To say it was awkward was an understatement, especially because of the rift between you and one particular twin, and because the family didn't exactly know about the situation - but you managed by helping around whilst the twins (plus Kaoru) played some games.

“Don’t you want to join them?” the Miya matriarch asked you kindly.

Over at the living room, the boys were loudly cheering, eyes glued to their game, Kaoru nestled between the twins.

You shook your head, focusing on chopping the vegetables. “I’m fine.” Cooking helped calmed you, busying your hands and sense of smell and taste helped calmed your nerves. Meticulously following through recipes in your head, focusing only on making delectable dishes for all.

As much as you can, you didn't want the family to notice something between you and Atsumu, didn't want to ruin the already bright atmosphere because of his success, didn't want to ruin his day, didn't want to ruin his reputation because of you.

Dinner was a quiet affair between the families, congratulating Atsumu over and over for qualifying for the All-Japan Youth Camp. Osamu heartily ate, sitting next to you, Atsumu to his other side. With his twin as the star of the feast, you saw him brimming with pride and a bit of shyness - especially in the presence of family. It made you smile, but only for a quick while.

So you ate quietly, keeping your head low.

It was already worth knowing how quiet you were unless asked a question. Nobody seemed to mind, used to your quiet presence.

"Kaoru, eat properly," you berate, reaching over, napkin in hand to wipe your brother's face.

It's also known that you were such a caring person - sister, most especially.

"You're almost an adolescent now and still you eat like a child." There was rice on his shirt on his table, how embarrassing. How is he 12?

"Nee-san, please!" At that, the adults laugh, seemingly used to it all. Even Atsumu laughed in. "I'm not a baby!"

"You'll always be a baby to us, brother boy." Atsumu teased your little brother, booping his nose with his finger.

Groaning, Kaoru angrily puts down his bowl and chopsticks, swatting you and Atsumu's hands away. The adults laugh again, especially at the combined forces of you and Atsumu.

The blond-dyed teen meets your eye, time freezing for a moment, you kept thinking of them as brown when they were actually honey brown. It was hard to look away from them, especially with how he took you in. Something kickstarted in your chest.

Clearing your throat, you quickly sit back, he does the same. Osamu fills his plate and yours too.

Feeling a vibration in your pocket, you take out your phone, eyes widening at a notification.

"Ah, Mi-" unsure how to address him, especially because the adults and Kaoru were there, you cleared your throat again, capturing everyone's attention, including Atsumu's. "Mika-nee sends her congratulations."

Like magic, his whole face lights up like a Christmas tree. Misery, it was it feels like, followed by a thousand arrows shot through your already fragile heart.

"She furthers that, 'she knew you could do it. Have fun in Tokyo,' it was a miracle how firm you kept your tone, in its usual monotonous tone. "And 'hello to everyone, I miss you all.'"

The adults then turn to tease Atsumu, Osamu reminding his twin that your sister was still with her boyfriend, resulting in them fighting. Bemused by their usual antics, the adults ask you questions about your sister's well-being, you answered as best you could before they began to talk amongst themselves about traveling, allowing you to wallow on the pain.

Yep, that was the Mika effect.

She could light up a room by just the mention of her name, amplifying the happiness of someone's achievement.

And who were you? Just a bystander. A ghost, even. Your words meant absolutely nothing, especially for Atsumu.

But - you peeked up, seeing him steal from Osamu's plate - at least it made him happy, right?

As much as it pained you, that smile on his face was everything.

"Nee-san, can you pass me some meat please?" Kaoru asks you politely, rice sticking to his cheeks.

Swallowing the pain, you robotically reach out and placed an ample amount into his waiting plate, grateful for the distraction.

Again, this was about Atsumu. Not about you.

Reaching over, you were just about to clean his face when he does it himself. "I can do it myself, nee-san." your little brother's grin was a mess, yet you couldn't find it in your heart to get mad, especially at the proud look on his still messy face.

With Atsumu gone for a whole week, and nationals coming up soon, practice as of late has been hectic and hard. Also, because the team was short of one Miya, it went quietly and peacefully – a strange and rather unnatural occurrence. That excuse any kind of indolence though, especially with nationals drawing near.

"Put your backs into it!" barked Coach Kurosu.

Somehow, because nationals were coming, practice went on slower than usual. And that was saying, you were still in the middle of winter.

The boys had to work themselves to the bone, beating the chilly winter breeze, pumping the blood in their veins. Each player gave their all, yelling out when both coaches couldn't hear them.

Blowing on your whistle, you called out. "Alright, take a 10-minute break." 

Never have you seen the whole gym deflate, thankfully.

Heck, it was only the first half of practice!

Water bottles were handed and consumed in record time, a few players even fell to the ground, legs raised against the wall.

"I'm gonna die!" 

"You're not going to die," you retort at the first year. "Just don't force yourself." The first year whines once more.

"There's a difference between forcing yourself and giving your all in a game," a cold voice added in, causing the first year to shoot up sitting. "That being said, you needn't need to slack off. Just play like you usually would."

"Y-Yes, Kita-san!"

Huffing you turned to your captain, who blinked back at you. 

"Good work today, captain."

"Practice is far from over, (L/N)." he mused, eyes bright.

Humming, you glance at the stopwatch - eight minutes had just passed. (E/c) eyes then drifted over the gym, over the heads of the club members, a sea of black and white practice uniform. This was a scene you were used to all of your two years as manager, for all of four seasons. 

Somehow, just looking out at it all, something felt missing.

No, not something - someone.

Someone with golden blond-dyed hair, bright honey brown eyes, a sly smirk, and astounding presence.

It was missing one Miya Atsumu.

Glancing back at the stopwatch, a minute had just passed you realized.

Lifting your head again, you were met with the same view. 

Sighing, you pocket the stopwatch and announce the remaining minutes of practice there was left. Frowning at nothing, you felt something tug at your ponytail. Looking over, you were met with a darker version of a person in your head - darker hair, darker eyes, same gentle eyes.

"Osamu, what's up?"

"Can you help me tape up?"

"...that's rare, you don't normally tape up your hands." you say, leading the two of you to where the first aid kid was.

"It's winter," was all he reasoned, almost in a grumble. Almost childishly.

It almost made you snort, that was usually his brother's complaint - as he was more particular with his hands and being a setter in general.

"(Y/N), please." he whined, causing you to roll your eyes.

"Yes, yes."

With one Miya short, it meant one was left behind - Osamu.

Even without his twin, he pretty much carried himself just fine. Between the two, he was much more independent. Atsumu was always the clingy twin.

And with his older twin away, that meant, more time with the lad. More time with your best friend.

But as the saying goes, two is better than one.

Two Miyas is better than one.

Still, you made the most out of it, since there was no way you coming in between the brothers.

“You said that chicken noodle soup is your ultimate comfort food, right?”

“Yeah. What about it?”

Osamu was silent for a moment, watching the steaming white rice in front of both of you. “Mine’s onigiri.”

For some reason, that surprised you. “Really? Not your mom’s-”

“Yeah.”

Hands washed, the two of you dug on to the bowl of rice, carefully shaping it in your hands. “That’s a surprise. You never told me that.”

Although, it did explain how after you moved in and met him, he was asking you to help him make onigiri. Much like now. Except with his chubby hands then, most of his end product ended up badly shaped, too soggy, bland, or lacking.

Years of practice saw to his improvement, with his onigiris being perfectly shaped, flavorful, and rich in texture enough to beat the rice balls at convenient stores. Not to mention that he’s grown a penchant for cooking, after being friends with you.

Rice was a rather versatile grain that has a lot of varieties, depending on how you choose to make use of it. Japanese dishes were mostly simple but made had a lot of intricacies that rivaled gourmet dishes. Onigiri had a lot of variants – white rice, wrapped, seasoned, mixed rice, fillings, to name a few.

But for Osamu, the humble white rice onigiri was his favorite.

It was worth noting that through the years you’ve watched him mold his rice – once, burning his hands because they were too hot or because he was too impatient – he seemed rather determined in the process. He shaped the onigiri as though he were holding something precious, taking careful means, making sure that he had the right amount of seaweed and mayonnaise.

Most of his onigiris were huge, like the size of his hand. Well, he was an athlete and a huge glutton – so those two combinations spoke plenty. However, when he finally finished his first perfect onigiri, something crossed his eyes – it sent a twinge in your heart, seeing so much emotion in those usually guarded eyes of his.

“Osamu?”

The boy just stared at his onigiri for a while, as though in disbelief. Upon closer inspection, he looked as though he were in a daze.

“…have I ever told you why it’s my comfort food?”

There seemed a weight to his words, shown in the way his eyes glazed over a simple homemade rice ball. People have different ways of expressing themselves, some through writing, some through sports, some even through cooking.

Osamu conveyed his feelings through cooking, it seems.

Turning to face him, you wore a gentle smile. “I would very much like to hear it.”

Meeting your gaze, slowly, his lips lift into a smile.

Over a plate of perfectly made onigiris, Osamu tells you a story of his first love.

There was a knock at your door, followed by the doorknob turning. “Nee-san,” came your little brother’s voice, accompanied by crinkling plastic. “here.”

Flipping on to the next page, busily writing into your notebook,  was all he got. You barely looked up from your notes!

Miffed, he tried calling you again, “Nee-san!” he dragged on the first syllable, doing the same with the last syllable with a baby voice. To no avail, much to Kaoru’s disappointment.

Though you were wearing earbuds, normally Kaoru would hear soft, gentle tunes playing off it, so you could still hear him. Only, you were really into your notes, as though your own brother wasn’t in the same room as you.

Puffing his cheeks, he paddled up towards you, poking you in the cheek. “Nee-san,” Much more disappointed and annoyed, he looks at the plastic in his bag, carefully lifts it up until the cold plastic touches your cheek, the touch shocking you instantly.

“Ah, Kaoru,” You gently pushed him away from you, pulling your earbuds off, rubbing at your cold cheek. “what are you doing here?”

“I knocked!” his cheeks were still puffed, the (adorable) frown on his face easing. “Here.” He raises the plastic earlier to you, at an eye level.

Bubble tea.

Blinking, you carefully take it from your brother’s hands. “Who’s it from?”

“Atsumu-nii and Osamu-nii.”

Your brows furrowed at that. “Both of them?”

“Yep! I have one, too!” he showed his own drink, heartily sipping from it, unaware of the questioning look in your face and tone.

You would understand if Osamu bought it, but Atsumu? And Kaoru, as much of a brat he can be at times, hardly lied – at least to your face. And he loved the Miya twins. He was also scared of lying to your face.

“We’re about to eat dinner, though.” You berate, especially at the amount of sugar in his drink. “When did they give it?”

“Just minutes ago! Atsumu-nii handed it over because Osamu-nii had to make dinner.” Ah, so that confirms it then.

Humming, you take the drink in your hand. “Thanks, Kaoru.”

The little boy toothily grins. “You’re welcome, nee-san!” rushing to the door, he turns to tell you, “I’ll come back when dinner’s ready!”

“Yeah, thanks.”

With a click, you were alone in your room once more. Music softly played from your earbuds, homework sitting idly.

Surprisingly, the drink was still cold. Just how long ago did they buy this?

Atsumu and Osamu bought this, you remind yourself, twisting the drink in your hand, fiddling with the straw with your other hand. Straightening your drink, you punctured your straw in.

Taking a sip, you let the flavors settle in your tongue before swallowing. “…not too sweet, just salty enough.” Just the way you like it.

Twirling the drink in your hand, it just occurred to you that today was Atsumu's return from Tokyo.

masterlist • seven

[praphit]

Bullet Train: K.I.S.S. and crank the Beyonce

Have y'all ever taken a ride on a bullet train? I've ridden The Superman ride before... (remember that?? Is that still around??) I don't know how fast that is, but when I rode it, I thought I was going to die. It was puke city for some as well. Think about vomit flying at your face at an excessive speed. Then, I went and rode it again :)

Bullet trains can get up to about 250 mph.  I'm not sure The Flash can run that fast.

Imagine yourself on any train, and all of a sudden, Brad Pitt boards, and then some of the peeps from the show "Atlanta", then Bad Bunny, then Joey King (which btw how is she only 23 years old? I feel like she's been around forever. She should be at least 35. Vamp? Yeah, I'm onto you, Joey.) and Hiroyuki Sanada (can't make a movie involving Japan and swords without him).

Pretty cool, right?? THEN, you learn that they're all assassins, hellbent on killing each other. Would you even get off of the train, if you could? I wouldn't. That list of characters, being stylish, about to unleash chaos... I'd want to see where this is all going. Now, THAT would make a good ride - If you added actors, playing killers, wreaking havoc, all while you're on some super-fast contraption, and avoiding airborne puke... and other bodily fluids.

YES!

Brad Pitt (who plays "Ladybug") was once a ruthless assassin, but lately has been on some spiritual enlightenment kick. Like he went to a party with Aaron Rodgers and Joe Rogan, took some pills, opened his third eye, and saw Jesus playing video games with Buddha. Now, Ladybug is... well, still an assassin, but all about personal growth, and therapy, and peace, and grace, and gluten-free, and sparkling water, and such. Right off the bat, Brad Pitt is making me chuckle. I loved him in this role. 

You might say, "How can you be chuckling when assassins are around, probably doing assassiny things?" There is a lot of murder, and torture, and children being put in danger, and psychopathic devices, yet... yeah, chuckles. There's a scene in which 17 kills are described in detail, and it was a delightful experience. David Leitch (who directed this movie - along with Deadpool 2, John Wick, Hobbs & Shaw, Atomic Blonde... yeah :) has sprinkled his magic all over this film.

I had fun with this movie, but from the looks of Rotten Tomatoes, some others did not:

54% critics 78% audience (last I checked)

What do they have to say, you ask?

"filled with chaotic, confusing, almost nonstop violence that becomes tediously boring." (I'm with ya, until the "tediously boring" part. That's like having sexy time with a partner who dresses up like a clown and makes sounds like a duck when they get excited, and you say that you were bored with them in bed. You may call that whatever you'd like, except "boring".)

"Bullet Train keeps getting slowed down by flashbacks to exceptional violence and cutesy phone banter... " (How's that bad? and "slowed down"?!)

"... this comedic thriller spins its wheels without any meaningful dramatic substance beneath the surface spectacle"? (that's what you were looking for? did you even watch the trailer?)

"Bullet Train is shooting nothing but blanks." (Proud of that one are you?)

Look, I'm not the guy who needs everyone think/feel how they think/feel about things (no one likes that guy), but I am genuinely curious how I'm seeing this so differently than these folks. I was expecting a fun, slick movie about assassins on a train, and that's what this is.

You wanted more of a plot? - I mean... while they're killing each other, they all want a certain briefcase - plot enough for me.

I say that simple works best:

"Lord of the Rings" - I liked it, but... it's just 9 hours of a group of hippies trying to destroy a ring. 

Simple.

Beyonce's "Renaissance" 

Simple.  Not knocking it, and I like it, but it's just a forty year old going clubbing and having sex (and lots of it... everywhere:) Again, I like it, but some act like it's Mozart or something.

I recently watched "Nope". People were irritated that I didn't show enough respect to Jordan Peele's "masterpiece"; mad that I didn't get it. No, I got it... is there more? No offense, but the "lesson" there was one that you'd hear on some stoner's podcast. Too much going on for a dull payoff (in my humble opinion). Gotta keep it simple.

Sometimes, you just go down the street for milk and a pack of smokes - that's not an interesting story to be told, BUT if you add assassins to that story, and something about Brad Pitt - please tell me more! I don't care about your core plot, just give me the good stuff. What am I missing?!

Plus, I'D say (humbly) that this film DOES have some depth. not a wow-factor "omg you just blew my mind" type of depth (that I was looking for in "Nope":), but this flick has a lot to do with fate and how our paths connect. When you leave the theatre and start peeling away some of that... it gets fun. But, maybe I was high or something when I went to see this movie, cuz no one else seems to think this :) But, I'M with you, Brad! You and me, buddy! If you make a sequel, I'm down - call me. I really hope this becomes the next "Fast & Furious". I want to see at least 8 more Bullet Trains! Bradchise here we come!

The only issue I had with this movie was its length. It could have been trimmed 30-40mins,  but I still enjoyed it.

Grade: a surprising A-

I will take one thing back - you CAN have a lot of action and still be bored. The recent movie "The Gray Man" proved this.

However, that movie took itself way too seriously. "Bullet Train" knows what it is. It's a party where it's loud; really loud (Beyonce is cranked!), and everyone is popping pills and getting sweaty and sexy on the dance floor (the under-sized living room). But, you've gotta be up for that. I get it.

Sometimes, you want a quiet evening at a hipsters crib, with fancy drinks and convo. A party with a couple of Karens around to call the police when they think the party next door needs to turn down the Bey, and be more mature like them. To each their own :)

[aussiearrow]

Last Name - E. Phantasmo

A/N: Okay wow, this has been in progress for months with so many changes, so many doubts, so many other things. But it's finally here. Thanks to @bitterendbrutalizer for forever listening to my ideas the last few months and encouraging this to see the light of day sooner rather than later.

If you want to be added to the taglist on this please let me know.

This is part of a series called ' Waking Up In Vegas ' , it started out as a 2 part but as things went along it became a 3 part. So hope you guys enjoy it!

Warnings: I curse a lot so there's a few thrown in, alcohol , elp ( yes he's a warning cause look at him)

Last Name - E.Phantasmo x OFC

" Last night I got served a little bit too much of that poison baby. Last night I did things I'm not proud of and I got a little crazy. Last night I met a guy on the dance floor and I let him call me baby. "

Kal walked through the doors of the airport ready to just get this vacation started already. She must have had the week from hell with dealing with terrible people who consistently told her how she should do her job that she's only done for the past 10 years now but since it wasn't what they wanted to hear it was all wrong.

She met up with her group as she gave them all quick hugs.

"The rest of the group should be here soon." Kasey said as she led Kal over to the seat next to her as the two sat down.

"Rest of the group?" Kal asked her with a confused look," I thought it was just going to be me, you, Jay, Toni, Bea, and Juice?"

"It was until Jay over here said it out loud and a certain headbanger overheard followed by an invitation from Juice which than somehow now Will is coming too and Taiji and who knows whatever other club member or Chaos member or former at this point." Kasey said as Jay cheekily looked over at them.

"I'm sorry I got excited." Jay said.

Kal just nodded while she didn't exactly know any of them, she knew of them when she watched New Japan Pro Wrestling every week to see her friends. And sometimes they would be on the show and they seemed like they were a pretty fun group to be around.

"Okay did they say when they should be here? I think I needed to be in Vegas like yesterday." Kal said as the three of them laughed.

It was soon broken up by a loud commotion at the other end of the airport as they all looked over to see the one who Kal knew as Kenta who she met a number of times and got along with greatly. Kenta laughing as he walked away from Taiji who was picking up his suitcase off the floor with a flushed cheeks as a guy who Kal only knew by his wrestling name El Phantasmo stood there watching him and laughing. Will on the other hand made his way over to the group more so Bea.

"And that would be them." Kasey said as she greeted Will and re introduced the two.

"You're the infamous Kal we hear a lot about yet never seen was starting to think they all made you up." Will said with a laugh.

"Hell of an imagination. I'm Riley. This is Taiji and Kenta." Riley said as Kal offered them all a small smile.

"We've met." Kenta said as he offered her a hug that she returned.

"And you held out on us?" Riley said.

"Do you blame him?" Jay said from behind as he stepped forward to greet them.

The whole plane ride was filled with jokes from the group some of which Kal was included in on. Most were ones that Kal never got due to leaving wrestling to pursue her other passion that was slowly making her unhappy now. All the jokes that seemingly came from a certain group of guys.

Kenta sat next to Kal as he always made her feel welcomed in the group of wrestlers as he was the first one she met aside from Jay and Kasey.

"How's work?" Kenta asked her.

"Starting to feel more like a job if you ask me."

"Oof that bad?" Kenta asked as Kal nodded," Well than that is the last mention of work you'll hear from me this weekend?"

"Mention of what?" Kal said as Kenta laughed.

"Exactly." Kenta said.

The rest of the plan ride went more like the first half. As they got off the plane and checked into a hotel almost all of them decided on dinner and bed so that way they can spend the whole day tomorrow doing what they want to do. And just with Kal's luck her room ended up being right next to Riley and Taiji's room.

" And I don't even know his last name. My momma would be so ashamed. It started off,' Hey cutie, where you from?' And than it turned into,' Oh no! What have I done?' And I don't even know his last name. "

They all decided that it was a pretty good idea to meet up for dinner after everyone got settled in. But to no one's surprise Kasey and Jay decided that they were going to do a bit of a date night. Kal had known Kasey for years having went to school together in Florida. And being there the night she met Jay cause she wasn't sure if it was truly him or not.

When they all met up at the restaurant everyone was talking about things they wanted to do things that didn't exactly excite Kal. Her main goal this trip was to hopefully not remember a single thing by the end of it all.

"What about you Kal?" Kenta asked.

"My goal is to forget about anything I did this trip."

"I mean you definitely came to the right place for that." Bea said with a laugh.

"I'm more than okay with doing that, will you be able to hold off until tomorrow?" Will said.

"I can get started alone."

"In Vegas? Absolutely not. Kenta?" Toni said.

"I'm out, for once. I'm actually tired." Kenta said.

Kal sighed as that meant Bea, Toni, Juice, Kenta were out. Kasey and Jay were off doing whatever.

"What about me and Taiji?" Riley said.

"I wouldn't make her go through that. And while I trust Taiji you'll probably end up just as wasted as her and we'll have a hard time finding both of you in the morning." Taiji said.

"Okay what if they both go with me?" Kal said kind of surprised she even entertained the idea even in the slightest.

"I'm down." Riley said as he shot Kal a smile and a wink.

If it wasn't for Taiji agreeing Kal would have taken it all back but she really did want too enjoy her first night here.

"Than it's settled. After this the 3 of us are going to hit the town. You into strip clubs Kal?"

"Absolutely not. At least not the first night." Kal said as they all finished their dinner.

"So what do you expect to do than?" Riley asked Kal as they said their goodbyes to their friends as Riley and Taiji got the run down of making sure that they all come see them for lunch tomorrow since they certainly won't be making breakfast.

"Drink. Don't care where as long as it's not a strip club. I was thinking of starting at that new place that opened up on the strip and I'm just going to let the night tell me where else I should go." Kal said as she turned to look at them.

"We can go there." Taiji said before Riley could even respond as Kal smiled.

"I like you already." Kal said.

"What about me?" Riley said with a slight pout.

"I think I might be still warming up to you. Ask me tomorrow." Kal said as Taiji laughed as the 3 of them headed down the strip.

"Okay please don't lose anyone, not in Vegas at least." Taiji said as they all sat down at a table.

"We won't Bone Daddy." Riley said in a mocking yet playful tone.

"Who calls someone Bone Daddy?" Kal said as she gave them both a confused look.

"Just a running joke about his gimmick." Riley said with a slight shrug.

"Is there a running joke about you?" Kal said as Taiji laughed causing her to look over at him.

"This guy get a nickname that he didn't give himself? Good joke." Taiji said as Kal laughed and Riley shook his head," At least nothing that anyone says to his face."

Riley threw the closest thing on the table at him as Taiji continued to laugh as they put their drink orders in," We can let Kal here come to a decision on whether or not I get a nickname."

"I think I'd much rather join everyone else and keep it behind your back, makes things that much more interesting." Kal said as she smiled slightly when he looked at her as she sipped her drink.

"How did you meet Kenta?" Taiji asked

'"Yeah how? We've been around him for the past 2 years now, heard of you but never saw you." Riley followed up.

"I met him when Jay brought him to be my date cause I was visiting Kasey when he dropped by unexpectedly."

"You don't wrestle?" Taiji asked as Kal shook her head no.

"Trained a little, but at the same time I was pulling for my other dream job. That opportunity came knocking first and spent the last 10 years doing that."

"You don't seem too thrilled about that." Riley said.

"Cause lately I'm not, it started feeling like a job when new people starting coming in pitching ideas that I tried to pitch for years and since they are younger I guess they decided they were going to listen to them all while treating everyone else like shit." Kal said with a sigh remembering the argument that ensued at the office the night before she left.

"So you mentioned a date with Kenta?" Riley said of course bringing it back to her love life.

"Yeah, we hit it off." Kal said blankly as Riley nodded his head the playful look in his eyes slowly going away," As friends."

Taiji raised his eyebrows as another round of drinks came and went as Riley grilled Kal on her life.

"Okay that's enough. I think I entertained you guys enough. We should go back to the hotel so we can get some rest for tomorrow." Taiji said as he stood up.

Kal booed at him but still stood up knowing that he was right, the way she saw it is if she went to bed now she could get an early start tomorrow. Riley on the other hand had completely different plans and if he could just get Kal to look in his direction he could have it play out.

As the group paid and left the bar, Taiji hailed for a cab. Once one pulled up, Riley made it seem like he 'dropped' something and couldn't find it once Taiji got inside. As Kal turned to help Riley out, he waited long enough to the point the cab pulled away.

As Riley pulled his phone out of his pocket," Oops, must have been here the entire time."

"You're a mess." Kal said as she turned back to see the cab now half way down the road.

"Oh no, looks like we missed the cab. I can get us another one." Riley said as Kal heard the totally did that on purpose tone in his voice.

"Or we can go to that other bar?" Kal said with a hopeful tone.

"Lead the way." Riley said das he held his arm out for her to go first as she smiled mischievously as she walked by him and he followed closely behind.

" We left the club, right around three o'clock in the morning. His pinto sitting there in the parking lot. Well it should have been a warning. I had no clue what I was getting into so I blame it on Cuervo. Oh, where did my manners go? "

It only took a couple of more drinks before Kal found herself hanging onto Riley as his hands wrapped tightly around her waist as they left the club at 3 in the morning.

"Do we have to go back to the hotel?" Kal said as she slurred her words a little bit as she pouted up at him.

"Well where else would we go?" Riley said as he looked down at her.

Kal shrugged," We're in Vegas don't people party until like Tuesday or something?"

Riley laughed," I don't think that's the saying but I'm sure we can come up with something." Kal sat there with a pout as she didn't let go of Riley's arm.

"I'm going to need my arm if you want me to find some place we can go." Riley said.

"No you don't, you're talented with just one hand aren't you? You're cocky about everything else so." Kal trailed off slightly as her eyes wondered the strip completely missing Riley's invitation to keep messing around like that and she can find out.

"Okay let's go there's a place down the street and apparently it's one where you have to keep a close eye on whoever you come in with think you can handle that?" Riley asked her as the two began walking.

Kal tucked herself into his side some more, I think I can handle you."

"Not what I asked but good to know." Riley said as he held the door open for her as they walked in.

Neither of them were completely sure when things started but Riley got protective when Kal who said she wouldn't leave that spot while he went to the bathroom ultimately left that spot and found her way to the bar. It took him well over a half hour to get to her and when he saw a hand on the small of her back daring to go a little lower he shoved the guy.

"What the hell man?" The guy said as Kal turned around to see Riley.

"Where did you go? I lost you." Kal said as he took the spot the guy was just in.

"Chris this is my husband, the one I told you about the wrestler that can kick your ass if you touched me again."

"Husband?" Riley said at first as he slowly caught on," Oh. Did you really tell him that?" Kal nodded her head.

"Looking at you now I'm certain that I made a good choice when I decided not to listen." The guy who was named Chris said.

"Well it's a damn shame you don't believe it. And even more of a shame that I'm not out here to try and prove anything to some random mark in Vegas." Riley said as Kal put her hand on his bicep to get his attention as he looked down at the girl who decided that instead of proving by argument decided to plant a kiss on his lips.

Riley was taken by surprise at first and while he may have felt a little buzzed before, he wasn't sure if it was the alcohol that was still fresh on Kal's lips or just her in general that he now was completely over the edge and absolutely drunk.

By the time they pulled away Chris was no longer around and if you asked the two of them they didn't notice much of anyone else either.

Neither of them wanted to say anything to the other about wanting to end the night and possibly go back to the hotel together. So they did the smart thing and continued to bar hop and make out.

It wasn't until Riley pulled away once as he looked down at Kal," So I'm your husband right?" He really meant it as a joke but in their drunken state it was more of a statement.

Kal looked at her left hand as she showed him it," I don't see a ring."

"We can change that I mean we are in Vegas."

" Today I woke up thinking about Elvis somewhere in Vegas, I'm not sure how I got here or how this ring on my left hand just appeared outta no where. I gotta go, take the chips and the pinto and hit the road. They say ' What happens here, stays here, all of this will disappear. There's just one little problem. "

Kal opened her eyes and immediately shut them with a groan as she slowly regained all thoughts from the night before, but sadly got no where when her head once again started to pound.

She looked at the time and sighed, not only did she probably miss breakfast with everyone but lunch too. As she slowly sat up and put her hand on the bridge of her nose.

She was about to get out of bed when she heard the shower turn off as her eyes went wide. Hoping that the walls were just very thin. But when the door opened to Riley walking through with nothing but a towel around his waist.

"What are you doing in my room?" Kal said as she looked at him.

"Good afternoon to you too. You definitely weren't saying that last night or well this morning. Nice chest by the way, happy I get to see it when I'm sort of sober to remember it." Riley said as he smirked.

Kal rolled her eyes as she looked down to see just exactly what he was talking about as she hurried up to cover herself," I've only been in Vegas a day and I'm already making horrible decisions."

"Well if you already made one, than what's the issue with doing it again? Maybe we both can remember it this time." Riley said.

"Well it seems like you also forgot that I said the whole point of this trip was to not remember anything about it, especially this."

"I'm only joking, I'll be over here getting dressed. You might want to call Kasey. Jay called me like 20 times since this morning and when I picked up he said Kasey has been freaking out cause you weren't answering."

"Well did you tell him that you were with me so she wouldn't freak out anymore?" Kal said as she looked up at him.

"Told him that I haven't seen you since you ditched me and Taiji and didn't get in the cab with us last night." Riley said.

"You did not." Kal said as all he did to answer was shrug.

"Guess you'll find out when you call her."

"I hate you so much." Kal said as she searched for her phone.

Once she finally found it she looked at the screen to see 25 missed calls from Kasey as well as a handful of text messages and a few voicemails. Than there was some from Jay and Bea. As she sighed and pushed Kasey's contact.

It took her all of a ring to pick up," Well, well, well look who finally decides to bring herself to answer the phone."

"Ugh please don't be so loud, my head can't take it." Kal said.

"Yeah, Riley told us that once you join the living you'll probably have a massive hangover after last night. Speaking of Riley, care to explain why he was in your room earlier?" Kasey said in a teasing tone.

"I'd rather not talk about it." Kal said as Kasey laughed.

"That's okay, Taiji filled us all in. So when you're doing rolling around in the sheets together and actually want to be with the rest of us we're meeting in the lobby in a half hour to get lunch somewhere."

"I'll be there." Kal said as they said their goodbyes and hung up. As she laid back down and sighed picking up her hand to run it over her face, she gave a weird look when she felt something cold hit her face.

As she pulled her hand away from her face and looked at it. It all seemed normal until she got to her ring finger, one that was just bare last night was now no longer bare.

"No, no, no Fuck. No." Kal began to say as she quickly put a oversized shirt on and went to the bathroom completely forgetting about the man that was still very much in her room.

"Everything alright?" Riley said as he watched Kal wash her face before looking at her hand again before once again repeating what she said before," Woah hey, care to tell me what's going on?"

Kal stopped her string of curse words as she walked over to Riley and took his left hand where a ring also sat on his ring finger. One that matched hers.

"This. This is what's going on." Kal said as she brought his hand up and just about shoved it in his face.

"Well shit." Riley said as she dropped his hand and sat down on the edge of the bed.

Kal felt so many emotions as she put her head in her hands.

"Kal? We got to talk." Riley said.

"No, not right now. Right now what we have to do is get ready and meet up with our friends."

"So you're going to act like this just never happened?" Riley asked, Kal could hear the hurt in his voice.

Choosing to ignore it, " Yeah I am until we can figure out how to make it disappear. But we aren't telling anyone got it?"

"Yeah got it." Riley said as Kal closed the bathroom door just as he sat down on the bed," Lovely wife I got myself." Riley said with a sarcastic tone that was meant to be under his breath but Kal heard it loud and clear as she got in the shower.

" I don't even know my last name. Oh my momma would be so ashamed. It started off,' Hey cutie, where you from?' And then it turned into, ' Oh no! What have I done?' And I don't even know my last name."

[kaaytea]

How would the boys of Nekoma, Seijoh and Inarizaki (or any team you like) react to a different sports team/club making fun of volleyball?

I hope this request is ok? If not you can just ignore it

Thank you ♡

WAIT THIS IS SUCH A FUNNY IDEA

Also I'm totally fine with these kinds of requests, they're honestly really fun to write and I hope this is what you wanted

Volleyball teams are feral

⤷Includes: Nekoma, Seijoh, Inarizaki

----------------------------------------------------------

Nekoma

IM TELLING YOU RIGHT NOW THAT YAKU AND KUROO ARE SO PETTY

It depends on how rude the other team was but they would SO go back and forth making witty remarks

Poor Kai tries to get them to chill out but literally nothing can stop these two when they get in the zone 😭

Tora would be menacingly standing behind Kuroo and Yaku jumping in and hyping them up. He'd probably say something about needing guts to play volleyball and then slandering their sport

My funky lil cat man Fukunaga would probably just observe on the side lines, occasionally making jokes to himself about how weird his team is (of course he'd also make jokes about the other teams sport)

Kenma would be agitated bc what the hell are these guys problem? They've never even played Volleyball so they have no right making fun of it! He's not the type to jump in and defend the sport like Yaku and Kuroo though, I think he'd chill with Fukunaga and watch Kuroo make a fool of himself as he attempts to be intimidating

Lev and Inouka would be be highly offended but have no idea how to make a good come back. The best they could do is blabber on about how the team is mean and that Volleyball is super fun >:'(

Sweet baby Shibayama would be in the same boat as Kai where he's kinda trying to get the instigators to calm down but the guys initiating the insults are his upperclassmen so he's kinda like awkwardly standing near the 3 fools and squeaking out pleas to calm down

Seijoh

That team has a death wish

Literally the last people you'd want to upset at Seijoh are the third years on the volleyball team

Oikawa is very calm for some reason?

But a scary calm

Oiks is talking in that sweet, boarder line sarcastic voice being all, "How kind of you to visit our little volleyball club 😃😄😃🔪"

Makki and Mattsuwaka are gonna commit straight up murder, like they're about to tag team these fools

Iwa is the most level headed third year in this situation, he doesn't say much but you can just tell that he's pissed off

Kyoutani wouldn't want to admit that he's mad they're making fun of the team/sport so he quietly fumes on the sidelines. If an opportunity to throw a few punches presented its self 👀 babes might jump in (though he'd play it off as them being annoying and totally not bc he was helping defend the team)

Kunimi is completely unbothered by the insults and is more annoyed at how loud everyone is being (yes that includes his own teammates)

Kindaichi is....upset but I don't know if he'd have the confidence to take a few digs at the other team like the 3rd years

Inarizaki

Good God someone hold Atsumu back

Man is about to absolutely obliterate the other team

Suna is recording Atsumu going on about how their sport is trash compared to volleyball and how they probably couldn't even pass a ball straight

Osamu is standing next to Suna losing his shit over how dumb his brother is being. He honestly didn't care if they made fun of volleyball, like what they said literally wasn't going to affect volleyballs reputation as a whole so why should he care?

(when they watched Suna's recording after, all you could hear was a mix of Atsumu yelling and Osamu laughing his ass off)

Ok but...I kinda feel like Aran would jump in and help Atsumu defend volleyballs honor but he wouldn't do as good of a job as 'Tsumu

Aran would struggle to articulate his thoughts in the moment so he'd stutter and fail at getting his point across 😭

Kita eventually grabs 'Tsumu by the collar and drags him over to Suna and Osamu before he takes Atsumu's place and goes on a long tangent about how the other team was being very disrespectful and close minded 😭

Like it's a full on lecture about how beneficial volleyball is for ones body from an athletic stand point and then he gracefully starts explaining how volleyball benefits Japan's economy

PLEASE I LOVE KITA HES SO PRECIOUS

[badb1tchbokuto]

Alone, Together

Miya Atsumu x F! Reader

“Lame.” Typical.

“Self-righteous prick,” Okay that one hurt a little, but fine.

“Your game is weak.” Atsumu would like to think it wasn’t. It was just that he’d never really had to try. Whereas he focused all his efforts and love on the game of volleyball, he never really put in much effort on the dating game. Casual flings, short term relationships, one night stands - he was no stranger to all of this. He was attractive, successful, and had a steady career that allowed him to afford VIP tables in pretentious places like this. Who in their right mind wouldn’t be into that?

You apparently.

...In which Atsumu experiences his first existential crisis after you reject him at a club.

wc: 6k

tw: alcohol consumption, swearing, mild smut, slight angst, lots of fluff

(crossposted on Ao3)

Thursday, 10:00pm JST

Tokyo is alight and alive. The autumn sun is steadily dimming against a sea of ultramodern buildings and bright billboards that are beginning to light the city in incandescent neons. Crowds are meandering through the busy capital, with tourists slowly walking and stopping at every turn to take photos and gaze at their seemingly surreal surroundings, friends chatting vividly as they make their way to dinner, and employees ambling towards the crowded subway stations to line up and finally make their way home or just find some respite.

You, somehow, are a combination of all three.

Twenty four hours ago, you landed in Haneda from Charles de Gaulle. Jet lagged and bleary eyed, you stuttered your way through customs in your broken but passable Japanese, lost a suitcase that had most of your professional attire needed for the next day’s back to back meetings with investors, then had to be comforted by your driver as you explained the situation in distress all the way to your hotel in the business district of Minato.

You couldn’t help but feel unsettled and overwhelmed as it was after all, your first trip to Japan for professional matters. All your other times in the country had been spent with family, past lovers or on study abroad trips with best friends, but this time it was just you.

Adult you, in your first big girl work trip, in your dream field of fashion, in your dream city of Tokyo.

-

It has almost been twenty fours since you landed in the capital, and you’ve miraculously survived your first day. Barely. Admittedly you slept in a little too late after downing the entire complimentary bottle of Daiginjo from the hotel by yourself the night before, and this morning you spent over thirty minutes trying to transform your jet lagged mug with a “no make up make up” look only to end up still being asked by the sweet door people if you were heading to a special party. The upside is that the sake made you sleep like a baby, and smartly you paired your unexpectedly dramatic make-up with a killer outfit, resulting in you being recharged and sharp throughout the day, impressing your boss and potential investors alike.

Friday, 8:30pm JST

You had just emerged from your hotel to freshen up after a long day of work, now heading to dinner in Shibuya to meet with friends you’ve studied abroad with who were now living in Tokyo. Clad in a slinky Jacquemus silk dress and your favorite stilettos, you stand outside the grand entrance of the Tokyu Plaza, sending your girls a quick text to note that you got there a little earlier than expected, informing them that you’d be waiting at the restaurant’s rooftop bar instead.

The restaurant your friends chose was on the 17th floor of the building, a French fusion restaurant that turns into a nightclub after midnight and promises to have the best rooftop views of the Tokyo skyline. It seemed especially busy tonight, as there was already a line of young men and women eager to wait just to get into the club despite the area not opening hours from now.

Overhearing hushed snippets of conversations around you, it sounded like some celebrities were going to be there tonight. You brush it off, looking forward to having a moment to yourself to sip on an espresso martini, maybe even a few truffle sliders while waiting on your friends to arrive.

Busy thinking about whether you have time to eat one or three of the sliders before dinner, you absentmindedly made your way to the host at the front of the already buzzing line.

Halfway there, you feel a gentle but firm tap on your shoulder.

You turn, only to face a very toned and very broad chest dripping in two thin yellow gold snake chains layered over a printed silk button down, a piece from Gucci’s latest season. “Impressive.. ” you think to yourself as you lift your gaze as slowly and as nonchalantly as you can to see the man’s face, even though your eyes are probably already dilating in anticipation, because if the chest was already impressive and you were already having sinful thoughts about dragging your tongue on his chiseled pecs then moving down, well then...

“Yes?” You reply softly as your eyes roam upwards, starting with his strong jawline, to his warm, sugary brown gaze, up to his soft tousled blonde hair, and back down to his full lips, his canines and pink tongue slightly peeking out, adorned in a confident smirk that both turned you on and pissed you off.

“Fuck. I’d definitely let you ruin my life..or my pussy.” You couldn’t help but immediately think to yourself.

Without introducing himself, he slowly licks his lips, then cooly offers. “You headin’ up to Ce La Vi? My friends and I have a VIP table up there so you won’t have to wait until midnight to be let in. You can skip the line with me.”

“No thanks.” You curtly decline, irritated and offended that he assumed you needed his help to skip the line, let alone afford to enter the establishment for dinner.

You swerve past him, thinking that he’s another sleazy club promoter. Very attractive yes, but you’d like to think you were past making those types of mistakes at this age. Sexy guy leveraging his social status so that he can two pump chump you then ghost you until he needs pretty girls to fill up his club table? Hard pass.

Atsumu on the other hand, is confused.

That simple line never fails; it’s not aggressive but is still quite direct, and it wasn’t creepy. At least he didn’t think so. If anything, he thought he sounded nonchalant and cool.. Almost like Suna...right? Although he’d never let Suna know that he tries to emulate him when trying to pick up girls. Or that he thinks Suna is “nonchalant and cool.” God forbid he gets roasted on the group chat for yet another reason. Also, isn’t it always a great opportunity to skip the line at some overhyped dining club and get wined and dined by a handsome athlete like him? He’s never really had a problem using that line before, in fact his body count was proof of its success rate, so why did it not work on you?

You definitely seemed like you would be impressed by status and flash, considering you literally made his head turn because of your confident strides, wafting a luxuriously sexy scent. A melange of rose, vanilla, maybe the homemade marshmallows Samu makes in the winter... And definitely a tinge of the special perfume he was gifted by the Tom Ford team that he only reserves for special occasions. Something with tobacco and oud. Plus, he also definitely remembers shelling out 300,000¥ to buy the same Dior purse you had on for his ex-girlfriend last Christmas.

You saunter ahead of him, completely ignoring the screams and flash that followed. “Ah..So the celebrity has arrived.” You think to yourself. “They’ll probably be escorted to some special entrance anyway.”  

The doorman checks your name on the tablet and leads you to wait in front of an elevator. As you scroll through your phone, waiting for the elevators to take you up to the restaurant, you see him awkwardly standing behind you, rapidly typing away on his phone, very obviously trying to avoid your gaze.

Unlucky for both of you, you two were the only ones cleared by the front desk to go on the elevator.

The ride up to the 17th floor felt like an eternity, a palpable awkward silence marred by elevator music eerily like the Wii theme song dragged the seconds on.

Atsumu couldn’t wait to get out of the cramped space. He wanted so desperately to rush out and find Bokuto, Hinata, or honestly, he’d even practice his abysmal English with Adriah at this point just to get the hell away from you.

It wasn’t that Atsumu found you repulsive, quite the contrary actually. He found you so goddamned sexy, poised with a distinct self-assured stance that he only knew his former high school volleyball captain to have. You were magnetic, like an invisible force just happened to transfix Atsumu’s attention to you when he saw you standing at the plaza, leading him to follow you to the restaurant, thanking his lucky stars that he was also heading the same way since he most definitely kind of looked creepy staring at a lone woman in the middle of the street like that. 

The fact that you were immediately repelled by his kind suggestion to skip the line with him boggled him. Feeling claustrophobic in a roomy elevator decorated in mirrors that showed your reflection from all angles, he tries even more desperately to avoid looking at you, so he resorts to giving a play by play to his brother over text, only to get obliterated by Osamu.

“Lame.” Typical.

“Self-righteous prick,” Okay that one hurt a little, but fine.

“Your game is weak.” He’d like to think it wasn’t. It was just that he’d never really had to try. Whereas Atsumu focused all his efforts and love on the game of volleyball, he never really put in much effort on the dating game. Casual flings, short term relationships, one night stands - he was no stranger to all of this. He was attractive, successful, and had a steady career that allowed him to afford VIP tables in pretentious places like this. Who in their right mind wouldn’t be into that?

You apparently.

“Oh well, your loss.” He tries to reason with himself.

As soon as the doors open, Atsumu lets you pass like the gentleman he was raised to be. Okay, maybe he checks you out one last time, because damn that ass... and maybe he also tries to catch a whiff of your intoxicating perfume…  but no one had to know that.

He walks away to find his teammates inside the VIP dining area, wanting to just forget about you and move on with his night. You on the other hand, leisurely make your way to the open rooftop bar.

Shortly after, your friends Yuki and Kaori arrive, apologizing for their tardiness and promising a good time as they insist on going out clubbing with some of their friends from high school.

You hadn’t seen the sexy arrogant promoter or his “VIP” group throughout dinner. You forget about him or at least try to, happy to finally munch away on the anticipated dinner, reminisce about your wild college days and catch up with old friends.

Friday, 11:30pm JST

A couple of hours later, inhibitions loose from the free flow of alcohol offered at the restaurant mixed in with a bottle of champagne to celebrate your reunion, the three of you egg each other on to take shots at the bar before checking out the now bustling dance floor, surrounded by the VIP booths inside. Not a minute more after walking indoors do you hear a loud energetic voice holler, “YUKIPPE?!”

“Bokuto-san!!!” Yuki excitedly calls out, dragging you and Kaori over to greet a boisterous, incredibly buff man with two toned spiky hair. Behind him sitting on the plush rounded couches is a small group of young men who are all just as attractive and well-dressed, with an orange haired male capturing most of their attention, spinning an animated tale that had the table howling in raucous laughter.

The only one whose attention was away from the tanned male you heard is called Hinata is the promoter from downstairs, looking directly at you in shock.

“Oh fuck.”

Three buttons on his shirt were now unbuttoned, giving you a more intimate view of his chest. The same, broad, muscled chest you fantasized over earlier. His gaze is unrelenting, and you realize you had also been staring back at him when Kaori waves her hands in front of your face, trying to get your attention.

“Giiiiiirl? Hello?”

You revert your attention back to your group, acting as if you definitely weren’t just thinking about jumping on the blonde’s lap then and there, pulling him into a kiss, grinding on him as you unbutton his shirt and pants in a desperate, heated haze and then...

Kaori interrupts your thoughts with, “This is our friend from high school, Bokuto-san! His boyfriend Akaashi-kun will be joining us later.” Bokuto is beaming down at you with a megawatt smile and pulls you in a bear hug as you move to shake his hand.

Yuki introduces you as their friend from university that just moved to help launch a Japanese edition of a niche French fashion magazine. She adds, “Bokuto is the star ace of his volleyball team, and these are some of his teammates from the MSBY Black Jackals.”

At this, Bokuto bellows a “ HEY HEY HEY!” that garners the attention of his teammates and onlookers alike.

His teammates warmly welcome you and the girls to their table, as if you’re all old friends simply catching up. Comfortable, you engage Hinata and Meian in a lively conversation about your common experiences while traveling in Brazil. From your shared love of pao de queijo, debating where the best feijoada can be found in Rio, all the way to sharing the wild scenes you’ve all seen in Ipanema's legendary posto 8, banter flowing easily.

You were having a great time, happy to make new friends.

Atsumu had been stealthily watching you throughout the introductions. You acted as if it was the first time you’ve met him, then gracefully jumped into a discussion with his captain and newest teammate as if you were all best friends, when in fact for the last two weeks since Shoyo had joined the team, he’d nervously run to the bathroom every time Meian tried to talk to him for longer than five minutes. Now here he is, laughing with you and the captain about your shared culture shock in realizing how comfortable Brazilians were with skinship.

Atsumu met you less than three hours ago, but every little detail he picks up about you fascinates him more and more. There wasn’t a single thing about you that he didn’t like so far, leaving him intrigued, pining to get to know more. Except for one little big thing.. you flat out rejected him, so now he’s actively avoiding you out of respect for the boundaries you set initially.

Still, he was riveted. He wanted to get to know you one way or another, even if it was trying to casually listen in on your conversations with his teammates.

“What a creep.” Sakusa interrupts his thoughts, rolling his eyes at Atsumu.

Bokuto leans in and attempts to whisper in a hushed tone, in an octave that was definitely too loud to be a whisper, “She’s super cute Tsumtsum! Go for it!”

“Just talk to her, you’ve been staring at her the entire time. It’s starting to get weird.” Sakusa adds.

For arguably the first time in his adult life, Atsumu is insecure.

How does he approach you for the second time? He doesn’t even know what to talk to you about. Here you were, casually conversing about your world travels when he’d never even left Japan except for international matches. You, decked out in designer items he’d gifted different ex-girlfriends as apologies or appeasements for every time he prioritized volleyball over them. You, who were already chummy with his teammates even though it took him months to warm up to them. For fuck’s sake, sometimes his jokes still fall flat, but here you are cracking jokes and making even Omi chuckle. Who the hell are you? And how can Atsumu get to know you? Does he want to be like you or be inside you? How does he even get your attention without seeming like a desperate jerk? Why the fuck does he care what some random girl thinks of him?

He never really cared about what others thought of him outside of volleyball, but when he can’t rely on his one true love to speak for him, who is he and what does he have to offer?

Having an existential crisis at an ostentatious club at midnight was definitely not something Atsumu wanted to do. Yet here he is, feeling as dejected as the day he wore the Jackasuke costume and slipped in public for the whole world to see.

Swirling the melting ball of ice on his crystal glass filled with Yamazaki 18, he didn't notice that you had moved closer to him.

“They say whiskey is a depressant. Is that why you look so sad?” You joke, then gesture to his drink with a small smile.

Atsumu lifts his head to look at you, then freezes upon realizing your close proximity. He counters, “Really? What should I have for a good time then?”

“Me.” You cheekily reply and wink at him.

He grins at you, confidence steadily regaining at realizing that he might have a chance with you after all.

Saturday, 12:00am JST

Pouring a newly opened bottle of Ace of Spades on two champagne flutes laid out on the table, you make amends.

“Sorry for being so rude earlier. I get really defensive when I’m randomly approached by men, especially because I thought you were a promoter looking to get girls to join your table… I didn’t know I had mutual friends with some hotshot athlete.” You smile awkwardly.

He laughs and jokes back, but there is definitely some weight to his sentiment.

“Ah, but since Imma hotshot athlete, s’all good now right?”

You replace the whiskey glass in his hands with a champagne flute and shoot back. “Nah, I really thought you were trying to pimp me out to your flashy friends who bought tables from you, or worse, that you were just trying to get a quick fuck.”

Atsumu chokes on his own spit at your frank reply, and you giggle before lowering your voice so only he could hear.

You counter, “For the record, I would have been down for the latter, except you didn’t even introduce yourself. You should also know that I don’t ever need your help to get places.”

You smile innocently at him as if you didn’t just confirm that you were down to fuck if only he had played his cards right. His mind fogs, instantly imagining dragging you to the nearest bathroom to fuck you silly. He thinks about what it would feel like to sloppily kiss your full lips, moving his hands from your hair down to your neck and shoulders, feeling the curves of your body graciously skimming the silk fabric of your dress, only to unwrap you like a prized gift and worship you with his tongue.

You clear your throat, well aware that Atsumu’s most likely imagining fucking you given his glazed over eyes and parted lips.

With a blush, he tries to cover his reddening cheeks and neck by downing his drink. He bounces back with a, “Well then. The name’s Atsumu, 23 years old, professional volleyball player - the best damned setter the MSBY Black Jackals and the Japanese National Team has ever seen.”

Atsumu realizes then that he never really had to introduce himself. Not seriously anyway. Most people around him already knew who he was; his teammates, coaches, players within the league, aspiring volleyball players, fans of the game, fans of his.. even people around him who didn’t have interest in volleyball just generally knew of his reputation as one of Japan’s most talented athletes and eligible bachelors.

How does he tell you about himself without pulling out his phone to show you his current stats or videos of his top sets as proof that he really is as good as he says? Without looking like an ass? Even worse, what does he tell you about himself without volleyball being the main subject?

You smile, intrigued at how he suddenly seemed so sure of himself while talking about volleyball, emitting pride and passion as he describes his profession.

So you continue to ask him about the sport. Atsumu visibly relaxes, his love for the game evident as he discusses their most recent friendly match, the reason why their Osaka based team is in the capital just before some of them start training for the Olympics. The other boys jump in and out of the conversation, with Yuki and Kaori clarifying certain terms to you when they see you furrow your brows in confusion.

As the alcohol keeps flowing and the conversation moves to the upcoming Olympics, you and Atsumu have veered off the multiple group conversations and are transfixed on each other.

He asks you what you’re doing in Tokyo and how you ended up there, so you tell him you graduated from university recently, originally intending to become a Doctor but decided to pause and move to Paris upon graduation, wherein between random side hustles you somehow landed a job in editorial fashion. Thus landing you in Tokyo on an extended work trip.

Atsumu is bewildered at how you could switch careers so easily and still succeed, that you have multiple passions and follow them according to your whims.

He couldn’t imagine living a life like yours, volleyball being the only thing he’s actively pursued since realizing he had to make a living somehow. He wonders whether he chose volleyball as a career because it was the only thing he was good at and the only thing he could think of when his high school teacher asked him about his options for the future.

Deep down he knows that he loves the sport more than anything else, the driving force and principle behind his very essence. Still he can’t help but wonder, what if he chose do something else? What if he found a different passion to pursue? Would he have made a good doctor? Lawyer? Entrepreneur and chef like Samu? He shudders, lost for answers. He settles his raging thoughts by simply asking, “How could you switch careers so easily?”

You pause to think for a while, then casually respond.

“People are multi-faceted. I think there’s different versions to us as we navigate life. We fall in and out of love with different people, hobbies, places, food, aesthetics... There are just so many variables, so many moving parts as we get older.. Who’s to decide that we have to be tied to the same job or pursue the same passion for the rest of our lives?”

This confuses him even more, and he decides that despite you having the same self-assured aura that Kita-san has, you’re the complete opposite of him, different from everyone around him actually. Him, his brother, his friends, his exes, all of whom either have a clear direction or some semblance of goals and dreams for the future.

You on the other hand, are all risk. You boldly trek into the unknown, unafraid and ready to face the variables and twist them so that they fall to your favor. Atsumu supposes that in this way, he relates to you.

He replies, “Huh. Weird but I guess I kinda get it. It’s like when I’m on court observing opponents. I have to sniff out and adapt to whatever bullshit they’re on, tweak our plays and my settin’ style to make sure we crush them. Sorta like a gamble.”

“Exactly.” You confirm.

“Eh..but nothing feels better than winnin’. How do you even know if you’re winning when you don’t have set objectives?” Atsumu counters.

You playfully roll your eyes at him.

“I do! My objectives are just adjusted to my current surroundings. I’d say pondering over the inherent philosophical value of career choices in a rooftop bar in Tokyo with a sexy volleyball setter is winning.”

“Touché.”

He grins, aiming to pour more champagne to your flutes before realizing that you two polished off the bottle of Ace on the table and that your friends were all in various states of inebriation.

Yuki dancing with her boyfriend, Kaori grinding on Adriah, Bokuto and Hinata on the dance floor twerking on the older MSBY members to Reggaeton, Sakusa and Akaashi watching all of this in amused horror.

“Wanna dance?” Atsumu asks.

After topping your glasses with overpriced bottle service liquor, you move towards the dance floor at the center of the club, joining your friends.

You’re shocked at how well Atsumu can dance, easily gripping your hips and moving with you as you gyrate against him to 90s hip hop jams. Hinata finds you both and proceeds to dance on you, laughing as you twirl him and sandwich him between you and Atsumu.

After a couple more songs, you, Bokuto, and the girls end up dancing on top of a random table screaming the lyrics to the newest Megan Thee Stallion song.

Yuki somehow proceeds to wrangle you all back to your table to take shot after shot, fueling the night to go on.

Saturday, 3:00am JST

Your group stumbles out of the rooftop bar, with the married MSBY members calling it a night. Bokuto on the other hand, is already ordering an Uber Lux to take you all from Shibuya to an even more upscale club in Minato, on the other end of Tokyo for a good nightcap.

Atsumu holds your hand as you enter the club, the most he’s gotten to touch you since dancing with you earlier.

Your group downs more bottles of champagne and vodka, all dancing on each other at your table.

Emboldened by the alcohol in your system, you pop your ass a little more against Atsumu’s crotch, swaying more seductively to a random top forty hit. Feeling him hardening against his fitted trousers, you turn to face him, skimming your fingers on his chains and chest as you continue to dance. In turn he runs his hands up and down your sides, moving more liberally to each drop of the beat, grazing up the underside of your breasts and back down to cup the curve of your ass. His hands feel warm on your body, steadily stoking a growing fire in you.

You gaze up at Atsumu, tilting your head to lightly graze your lips against his neck, trailing upwards towards his ear, effectively sending shivers down his spine. You whisper, “Would you consider this winning, hotshot?” licking the shell of his ear, resulting in Atsumu groaning lowly as you move your head to look back at him.

With hazy eyes, Atsumu looks at you, then whispers, “Winning would be when I’ve made you come with my mouth so many times you’re beggin’ me to fuck you.. but until then pretty girl, this is pretty close.”

You pussy throbs as his lips brush against your skin with every whisper, but before you can even respond, Atsumu kisses you.

His soft lips press on yours, capturing your lower lip in a soft bite that elicits pleasure that starts in your belly then moves down south. His hands continue to move up and down your sides, now more possessive in grabbing your ass to bring you closer to him.

You teasingly lick his parted lips, prompting Atsumu to dance his tongue against yours.

Lost in open mouthed kisses that have you both desperately groping each other’s clothed bodies on the dance floor, you feel Atsumu brush his knuckle over your breasts, motions languid and repeating as your nipples arouse and become visible through your silk dress.

Your entire body is overheating. You moan against his mouth.

He whispers, “Wanna take this somewhere more private?” You nod immediately, then rush to tell your friends you’d catch up with them over brunch tomorrow.

Atsumu is waiting by the exit, but as soon as he sees you, he is so turned on he can’t help but sear you into another heated kiss, leaving you both weak and wanting.

Saturday, 4:30am JST

Miraculously, the nearest Uber is 25 minutes away and the cabs are far and few. Atsumu starts to dial a private car service, but then notices you wandering down the street.

“Oi!! Where you goin’?” He calls out.

You pout. “I’m hungry.”

Atsumu offers to order you room service at his hotel but you decline, taking his calloused but surprisingly moisturized hand as you skip down a tiny alley way towards a conbini.

Inside, you fill your basket to the brim with an assortment of junk food. Chips, instant ramen, sandwiches, daifuku mochi, fried chicken poppers, and every other snack you find with cute packaging before finally leading you to the end of an aisle, choosing between which types of onigiri to purchase.

Atsumu goes along with you, advising you which brands to get, which to avoid, even putting his favorites in the basket. Although he knows his trainer will punish him with brutal training sessions if he sees the shit he’s about to put on his body, he thinks it’s all worth it. He knows he’ll feel guilty come morning, spending hours at the gym to burn it all off, but right now he couldn’t care less. Not after seeing you starry eyed at how many options of onigiri there are, and how absolutely adorable you look when asking him about which snacks he thinks could fit in your purse to save for later.

Trying to impress you, Atsumu comments. “Y’know, I make a mean tuna onigiri.”

No he doesn’t. His brother does, but you don’t know that. Not yet at least.

“Oh yeah? Want to make me some one of these days?” You respond.

Securing a date with you before the night even ends? Hell yeah.

Atsumu thanks his lucky stars, confidently confirming. “Sure, how does tomorrow evening sound?”

“Baby, our night hasn’t even ended and you’re booking me for tomorrow already. Are you trying to cuff me?”

“Yes. Then wife you.” But Atsumu holds his tongue for once.

Instead he winks at you, responding with a casual “Only if you want me to” with a wide, cheeky, canine bearing smile.

Laughing, you roll your eyes at him as he swoops in to carry your basket and insists on paying for your drunken munchies haul.

Saturday, 5:15am JST

Somehow you and Atsumu end up sitting on a park bench, sharing the food he bought from the conbini. Like two excitable school children on a field trip, you trade half bitten snacks with each other while talking about everything and nothing in between.

He tells you about his twin brother Osamu, who he insists is definitely uglier and the bummy version of him; how they did everything together up until Samu decided to open up his own restaurant and stay in their hometown of Hyogo instead of playing professional volleyball like him.

Atsumu tells you all about their childhood, from catching bugs to keep as pets and sneaking them to their room only to hear their ma screaming about it in the middle of the night, to how he always took from Samu’s secret snack stash, always denied doing so when confronted, but always paid him back with interest by secretly dropping a chunk of his monthly allowance on Samu’s piggy bank. The same one that Samu would later break open to help fund the opening of his restaurant. All the petty fights that turned into brawls, only to act like nothing happened despite being covered in scratches as soon as their tired mom walked through the door after a long day of work. He talks about his twin in such an easygoing manner, love overflowing in his voice and reminiscent of when he was speaking about volleyball, but this time there’s a twinge of wistfulness and melancholy to his tone.

“You miss him.” You softly conclude.

“That idiot? Nah.”

“It’s okay. I won’t hold it against you for blackmail.” You tease.

Atsumu concedes. “Okay maybe a little.”

Loose lipped from the alcohol still flowing in his veins, he continues.

“Samu and I have always been together. Startin’ at the womb for fuck’s sake, fightin’ each other over stupid shit, getting our asses kicked by our ma, sharin’ a room, spewing random thoughts to each other only the two of us would understand, goin’ to the same school, on the same volleyball teams, with the same friends, or rather him havin’ friends that ended up adoptin’ me to their group.”

He chuckles. “I think I took it all for granted, havin’ someone there always with me.. Even if he always got on my ass for the littlest things and it used to always piss me off. Deep down I knew he was always just lookin’ out for me, just didn’t know how ta’ show it. I mean, I didn’t either.”

He laughs because he knows he still doesn’t know how. “It’s almost been four years since I moved away from home and...”

He doesn’t finish the sentiment, but he doesn’t have to.

Atsumu is alone, and although he loves to brag to Osamu and their friends about the freedom having his own space brings, he knows he’s also so fucking lonely.

You finish his thought for him by empathizing. “I get it. I mean, kind of. I don’t have a twin so I can only imagine, but I’ve been living on my own for quite some time now, in between countries with parents who don’t support my career change and friends always in different places than where I am. It’s isolating. But hey, that’s why we put ourselves out there right? Why you acted like a sleazy promoter in front of the club and why I acted like a stone cold bitch earlier only to come at you? Our lame attempts at easing loneliness in hopes that one day, someone might finally understand... or just be there to try.”

You chuckle half-heartedly, nudging his shoulders to try and ease the somber tension.

He turns to look at you, smiling up at him, listening and just trying to understand. He can’t help himself. He pulls you into a sweet kiss that tastes of strawberry daifuku and expensive champagne.

Atsumu knows that you’ll never understand what it’s like to have a twin, to live a life away from them, to suddenly pursue a passion you thought was shared only to have to do it all on your own.. He thinks it’s amazing that you’re even listening to him rant about his nostalgia, even when he knows his thoughts seem incoherent, even when he currently doesn’t even know how to define himself.

In a dimly lit park in Azabu, you and Atsumu find solace in each other’s solitude.

He doesn’t know how he managed to basically word vomit to a stranger issues he finds too embarrassing to even mention to his brother, yet here he is. He doesn’t even know why barely two hours ago you were feeling each other up at a club, about to go back to his hotel room and drunkenly fuck, but now here you were at a park in the middle of a ritzy neighborhood in Tokyo, sharing snacks, stories and innocent kisses.

Talking to you, kissing you, hell even drunkenly shopping for food with you felt like second nature to him, as if you had been with him all along and this was just part of you two’s routine. Atsumu doesn’t know why though, since you couldn’t be more different from him.

You, who finds sparks of interest then bravely torches it aflame, letting it change your life as you go along. Then there’s him, lucky to have found his passion early on, pursuing it steadfastly since then, letting it consume and define him.

Perhaps it was the fact that you found each other incredibly attractive and you both were just looking for some sort of release, sexual or not.

Or honestly, maybe it’s the shared loneliness of being newly minted adults, trying to navigate life on your own without the familiar crutches only youth affords.

Whatever it is, Atsumu finds himself even more drawn to you.

“Being alone, if it’s together with you, isn’t so bad after all,” he thinks.

He watches you as you look up to observe the night sky rapidly fading to make room for the soft pastels of dawn, a soft smile painting your pretty lips. He doesn’t realize he mirrors your smile as soon as he sees it.

At 23, Atsumu doesn’t know the answers to a lot of things. He knows now that you don’t either, but he definitely knows then that he wants you to be there with him as you both figure it all out.

Saturday, 3:45pm JST

“I need a favor Samu. I need to make dinner to pair with onigiri. Oh wait, actually I also need to make onigiri. Tuna scallion.”

“You? Cookin? What?”

“It’s for this girl...”

“A girl agreed to let you cook for her? Is she sane? Conscious? Did you force her?”

“Fuck off!”

“Bet.”

Osamu hangs up.

Atsumu panics and calls him back immediately.

“Fuck I’m sorry!! I’m sorry! I… mighthavetoldherIcookwelltoimpressher.”

“Ah so you’re posin’ as me. I knew I was the superior twin.”

“You wish!! But please... I really like her. It’s the girl from yesterday.”

In all 23 years of being Atsumu’s brother, Osamu had never heard of Atsumu wanting to impress a girl by actually doing something for her. Buying them all the shit they could want, taking them out to eat wherever they want, sure. But actively taking time out of his day, time that could’ve been spent training, to do something for someone else, not even sure if the end result might pay off?

This was new.

Knowing Tsumu’s lack of patience and short attention span, the food will be barely edible. He knows Tsumu expects this to happen already; so he’s intrigued that his brother really insists on trying.

He’s always known Atsumu to be a gambler on court. Off court, he takes the safe routes. So for him to suddenly take a gamble like this, you must have been pretty damn special.

“Alright, scrub. I’ll send you the ingredients list. Facetime me when you’re back in the kitchen.”

- - -

- - -

Notes: The places noted in the story are based on real locations in Tokyo. See below if you’d like to imagine more vividly where you and Atsumu’s adventures took place. :)

Locations used:

1. Rooftop bar/restaurant - Ce la Vi, Shibuya

2. 3am club - 1Oak, Minato

3. Conbini - Lawson's (any one of them in Azabu)

4. Park - Mamiana Park, Azabu

[i-simp-for-gintoki]

Visiting Yuji in Tokyo

“yuji x reader where she was childhood friends with yuji and its basically the friends to lover sort of thing? and basically reader is visiting tokyo and meets up with yuji for the first time in months?? bonus if gojo and megumi are there :)”-anon

Damn its either super short or long no inbetween huh? Sorry if this isn’t exactly what you wanted! Some of the characters are little ooc (when are they not when i write them-).This turned out much much longer than it needed to be

You and Yuji have known each other since kindergarten

He’s such a sweet kid its always really fun to hang out with him

You guys play lots of video games together and are basically inseparable

Constantly reading manga or watching anime its great

Your parents disapproved of you hanging out with a dude all the time but you could care less

Why should you only be friends with your own gender? Thats so stupid

You always wondered about why yuji had such great strength and speed but he says he was just born that way

Hes just built different

Around middle school his grandpa’s health had dropped and was moved to the hospital

You did your best to make sure yuji stayed in good spirits and often visited the older itadori with him

He’s not the best at wording things but hes always there for emotional support

Maybe it was around 7th grade you noticed something was different around yuji

Like he himself hasn’t changed but whenever you look at him your heart just melts

Your thoughts or compliments seem more filled with love for him and thats when you realized you started to fall for him

Thinking the crush would go away you didn’t act much on it

Oh what a fool you were

Around 8th grade yuji had started acting kinda weird around you

He’d be much more easy to fluster and tenses up for a second if you ever make contact

You confronted him about it and cue the very awkward and middle school like confession

“I really like you!

You were so happy you confessed back and said that the only reason you didn’t before was because you feared to ruin your friendship

He says even if he somehow didn’t like you back that something like that wouldn’t effect anything

From then on you guys are such a wholesome couple

All the cuddles

No fancy dates just casual arcade or movie sort of things

His grandpa gave him a hard time but approved of your relationship

Throughout 8th grade summer and the beginning of highschool everything was going great

But a few months into highschool lots of things happened

Yuji’s grandpa had passed away, he and his friends in the exorcist(?) club had gotten hurt and after that night he had weird markings on his cheeks right below his eyes

And to top it all off now he was supposedly moving to tokyo??

“Yuji why are you moving away? My parents would gladly take you in you know”

He tells you he can’t explain why which breaks your heart

“Who are you staying with then??” he stops for a second and it pains him to lie to you. “A distant relative of mine, he works at a private school and thats where i will be going from now on.”

“But what about us?”

And so you guys decided to do a long distance relationship

Every night when you can you call and chat for hours

But thats not enough

You want to be held or hold him, you want to just cuddle or atleast be in the same room

It pains you to have a relationship through a screen and you grow respect for those who do

Trust isn’t an issue since you know yuji wouldnt even think to cheat at all

Probably doesnt even know what the word means

But after a few months you decide to go to tokyo for a few days

With the help of your parents you rent a room in a hotel and head there

Were just gonna pretend your parents are super super chill(and slightly uncaring like my parents would never let me) and lets you go to a whole city by yourself for several nights

You were super nervous and excited

Its your first time visiting a huge city like tokyo and its gonna be the first time you see yuji in months

Itadori was super excited that you were in tokyo

So excited that he got lost trying to head to the hotel you were staying at

After an extra hour you guys finally meet

He walks through the hotel lobby doors and gives a smile and a wave

In an instant you tackle him in a hug which he GLADLY hugs back in

After just holding each other for a while he decides to show you around

Hes still clearly learning the area himself but he’s very excited to show what he does know

“The place over here makes amazing sushi! Oh! And over here they sell little action figures! Oh oh and over here the steak is kinda bad but its cheap so its worth it! And-” you could only smile as he pointed in random directions with one hand, the other was busy holding yours

Buying food from a bunch of random vendors and wearing silly getups you guys take loads of pictures

Tons of hugs and cheek kisses

Yes its frowned upon to be touchy and stuff in public in japan but honestly you guys could care less

The sun was setting and you guys were currently sitting at a park munchkin on some crepes when you turn to him

“Yuji, do you think i could visit who your staying with? I’d hate to impose but i just wanna know if your in good hands”

His chewing pauses

Its not like he didn’t want you tell about jujutsu

But he doesn’t want you to be apart of that world, he wants you to stay as safe as possible with no harm ever headed your ways

With him being a vessel for sukuna gojo had told him that he and his friends could potentially be targeted

Theres a reason sorceres put up cloaks when engaging in battles and its so normal civilians can continue living in peace without the knowledge these monstrosities actually exist

“Mm its a bit sudden and he’s out on a mis-er meeting right now so maybe tomorrow?” he says

You frown, you can tell he’s lying but he wouldn’t do it without a reason

“Fine. But Yuji. Just know that if you ever feel unsafe or want to come back your more than welcome too. There will always be a spot for you at my home” you say hugging him

You both kinda forgot you were holding crepes and when you pulled away from each other laughed as the ice cream and sauce was smeared all over your shirts/jackets

He walks you back to the hotel and says goodnight with a kiss

The next two days went by in a flash

Just spending time with itadori, even if it was just sitting in silence has been the most fun youve had in months

He had showed you many places and has boughten many small trinkets for you to remember

Your phone has grown about 300 photos just from the past couple days with him

It was about midday of your final day in tokyo and so you both wanted to make the best of it

You both where sitting inside a cafe exchanging stories and just chatting when suddenly two people walked in the cafe

One was very tall and had spiked up white hair and was wearing a blindfold, and the other had spiky/messy black hair

You didn’t think much of it at first but did question the blindfold

‘A fashion choice?’

Turning your attention back to yuji you gave him a soft smile as you listened to his ramblings about a manga

“I love you” you said cutting him off

Immediately his face turned red and whatever he was just saying turned into stuttering nonsense

Before he could respond he let out a short yell when someone placed a hand on his shoulder

It was the two dudes who walked in from earlier

“So this is what you’ve been doing.” “Fushiguro! Gojo sensei!”

The shorter one who looks yuji’s age started talking about how it wasn’t good to turn his phone on mute and go out the whole day

The tall one gives you a wave

“Sorry to interrupt your date but we gotta take yuji away for a bit” he says grabbing yuji’s collar

“Wait who are you guys?” you ask and they pause to give short introductions

“Fushiguro Megumi.” “Gojo Satoru, nice to meet ya miss girlfriend” “How did you know??” Yuji says making gojo laugh

“Its pretty obvious, you didn’t do much of a job hiding it” he says pulling yuji a little bit more.

“O-Oh im L/n Y/n, nice to meet you” you say realizing you forgot to introduce yourself

As the three chatted along with each other, you sat in silence as you tried to remember where you heard gojo’s name from

‘Oh yeah, he’s the one who yuji described as his relative. Even if it was really fast since he tends to change subjects whenever i ask’

“Wait Gojo? White hair...blind fold..are you Yuji’s relative?” you ask making both of them pause

They both turn towards yuji who gave a sheepish smile

“Thats me, im his mothers little cousin” Gojo said, a very quick and random asspull

“So why does he call you Gojo-sensei instead of uncle…Satoru?” “Well if im his moms cousin that would make me his cousin once removed wouldn’t it? And he calls me sensei since im a teacher at a school he goes to”

“And what about you?” you ask the other boy

“A classmate.” he says in a very short and uninterested tone

“Welp lets go” Gojo says dragging yuji but he quickly resists

“Wait wait! Sensei can i please stay? Today is her last day here and i don’t know when i will be able to see her again”

The teacher and student stares at each other for a long time

You have literally no clue what the blindfolded man could but thinking its so hard to read him

Then again you just met him so

Gojo sighs and lets go of yuji

“Just this once, and only because im the greatest sensei you’ve ever had. Lets go megumi. See ya miss girlfriend” gojo says walking away with a wave

Megumi looks surprised but follows him “really?” “Yeah yeah its fine, its only a couple of grade 3’s anywa…” as their voices faded when they left the building you gave yuji a look

“Are you going to get in trouble?” “im probably going to die in training…” “huh?” “nothin”

The rest of the day you guys hang out and its mmm

Yuji would be such a good boyfriend hes so wholesome

When its time for you to part he give you a big hug, kiss and ‘i love you’

You do the same and tear up a bit

With one final photo you head back to your home town

You make it a mission to visit tokyo more often and yuji tries to visit you whenever he can from then on

[yume-fanfare]

Start line

this is the translation of one of the short stories posted to celebrate LIPxLIP’s birthday, you can read it in japanese here. it has been translated from this spanish translation by mieltrabajos

---

“Suzumi-san, why don't you come over to our school?”

It was in her last days of middle school that a Sakuragaoka teacher invited her, told her he was the advisor of the track and field club. At that moment, she was about to go back home, feeling down because she hadn't accomplished the goal she'd set three years earlier: be one of Japan's top 10 athletes.

During middle school, Mr. Yamazaki had taught her about track and field. He was a college professor, but she caught his eye during a race. However, Hiyori had heard that Sakuragaoka was in Tokyo. She didn't quite process it at the time, confused as she was. Studying in Tokyo had never crossed her mind. She thought she'd go to a highschool nearby, just like everyone else.

Hiyori lives in the countryside. There weren't many schools to choose from, and even if they did have entrance exams, most people got in because there simply weren't enough students. For that reason, local public schools didn't have track and field. In fact, most club activities weren't active. And, even if they were, they weren't competitive enough nor had proper teachers. So Hiyori had thought she'd have to give up on running after middle school, it sounded impossible.

Of course I want to keep running. It was what I focused most on my third year of middle school. I loved running more than anything else, it was all that I had. But, Tokyo is too far away. I was told to “think about it” for now, but I still don't know, it's so complicated.

During lunch break, Hiyori slumped over her desk, groaning. Shirakawa Satoe, her best friend and classmate, stared at Hiyori while eating a sandwich.

“What's the matter, Hiyori? Does your stomach hurt from eating too much?”

“Waaaah, Sato-chan, what should I do?”

She held her head in her hands. The week after finishing the club tournaments, Hiyori couldn't do anything but worry about track and field.

Because of this, I feel like my stomach has become very heavy.

Today's lunchbox had two big rice balls and fried shrimp, but she didn't feel like eating.

“Are you still worried about the Tokyo school?”

“I'm worried precisely because it's Tokyo… It's so far away, like on the other side of the world!”

“It'll be fine. You're Hiyori, you'll be able to keep running if you work hard!”

Hiyori shook her head. 

“No, it's impossible no matter what!” 

“But it's only a couple of hours away by plane, isn't it? And around ten by bus. Maybe it's closer than you think.”

“I don't think I have enough money to fly.”

“True, why is it so hard? If I had money, I'd go to a live in Tokyo or Osaka…”

Hiyori and Satoe sigh.

I wonder if I should give up after all…

She still hadn't talked to her parents about Sakuragaoka yet. Her mom seemed convinced she’d go to a local high school at the last parents-teacher conference.

If I wanted to go to a Tokyo school, Grandma and Grandpa probably wouldn't like it… And Dad will get really mad...

“It's hopeless…” Hiyori said, putting her head on the desk again. “What if I took the exam without permission? If I pass, there would be no going back!”

“... And how would you live in Tokyo?”

Hiyori lifted her head and saw Satoe had crossed her arms.

“That's the problem.”

Paying rent, living expenses and the tuition fees with just a part time job would be really hard. It's not impossible, but Hiyori doesn't think she'd be able to do something like that and track and field. Going to Tokyo would be pointless then.

“But you want to run, right?”

“I do. I've been working as hard as I can and… I haven't given up on being in Japan's top 10.”

“Do you want to be a professional runner in Japan's national team?” Satoe laughed and poked Hiyori's cheek with her chopstick.

“I'm not fit enough for that yet but… I don't want to stop running.”

‘You can run anywhere, you don't have to join a club’. I'm sure that's what my parents would answer. I know. But that depends on each one's determination.

I hadn't thought about going to Tokyo until that teacher appeared with the Sakuragaoka invitation. This wouldn't be happening if that hadn't occurred. That invitation is like Eden’s apple.

“Then, why don’t you take the plunge?”

“You say it like it’s easy!” Hiyori whined.

“Because you want to go, don’t you? It’s written all over your face. You’re easy to read, Hiyori.”

“I don’t think so. Tokyo is… scary. There are lots of people there. I’ll be alone, without any friends… I don’t know the streets or anything, I’ll get lost for sure!”

“But, you’ll be able to make as many friends as you like! You’re Hiyori.”

“But I’ll never be able to make a friend as good as you again, Sato-chan!”

Satoe laughed, shook her head and stood up. Her hair was messy.

“Hearing you say that makes me really happy, Hiyori,” she exclaimed with a booming voice.

“Okay, I've made up my mind! I'll go to the same school as Sato-chan. Never to a different one! It's decided, I'll reject the offer!”

Satoe laughed loudly, full of glee.

But then, her face turned serious.

“But… actually. I want you to go to Tokyo, Hiyori.”

“Eh…?”

“It'd be a waste to stay here in the countryside. I'm sure Tokyo is much more fun.”

“Sato-chan…”

“I want Hiyori to decide herself. Because it's you, Hiyori.”

But what about… us two?

She was confused, but Hiyori mumbled a “yes” as Satoe took out two small packets out of a bag.

“Which one do you choose?” She held up both packets for her and smiled.

They were pockys, a strawberry packet and a lemon one. Hiyori, worried about the hard choice, ends up taking one of each.

“Which is the best one~!” was her answer.

She laughed and bit both of them.

---

When classes finished for the day, she left the school building. The sky was getting more and more cloudy.

High school in Tokyo…

All her life, she'd thought she'd live in her hometown forever. She hadn't even imagined moving away.

But in the end… it's impossible, Sato-chan.

Hiyori looks down at the ground, walking.

Living alone in the city, going to highschool, it all sounded like a surreal future to her. She knew it would be really hard.

No matter how badly she wanted to go.

She heard a cheerful voice coming from the school’s courtyard and stopped walking. The members of the baseball and track and field clubs were practicing on their own. Hiyori and her friends had to retire, since their three years of middle school were over and they were about to graduate. Just a few days ago, though, they also had practice like that. As soon as classes were over, Hiyori remembered, she would change clothes as fast as she could to go to practice.

“It was fun…” The words left her mouth without noticing.

She was completely absorbed looking at the practice, imagining herself with the underclassmen.

Even if she had studied at a local middle school, those three years had been full of fun things. Laughing with her friends, the ones who would go to high school with her if she stayed in the countryside, without the anxiety of having to meet new people.

I know, but my heart yearns for somewhere else.

She was unable to forget her wish to study in Tokyo.

In Sakuragaoka there would be a track and field club and a teacher who would properly guide her. And she’d be able to keep running.

There’s also the want for a nice city environment. There will be a lot of things in Tokyo that I don’t have here. I’ll probably be able to do a lot of things I don’t have here.

Even if Hiyori thought it was impossible, thinking of a new world yet to explore made her excited.

I wonder if I can make it…

For that reason, she had lots of obstacles to overcome. Like convincing her parents.

“Oh, Suzumi-senpai!” A boy noticed her and waved his arms in the air exaggeratedly.

Hiyori walked towards the courtyard where the track and field club members were.

“Suzumi-senpai, are you going home already? Let’s practice together!”

“I’m retired now.” Hiyori laughed, a bit sad.

“Huhhhh,” the boy complained. “Then just watch our practice! Like one of the retired professionals! 

“Hum… I wonder if I can run one last lap...” Hiyori brought a hand to her chin, deep in thought.

It really would be her last race in middle school.

“Great! Okay, then I’ll time you!” a second year student exclaimed, holding a stopwatch. Some other club members offered to measure the distance.

Hiyori stood at the starting line and breathed in deeply while looking at the finish line. There, the boy was holding the stopwatch, while the other students observed the race from the side benches. 

Hiyori hadn’t brought her gym clothes or a T-shirt, so she still wore the school uniform. 

She kneeled on the ground and looked ahead. 

Her heart began to race. 

The whistle blew and Hiyori lunged forward.

Now, I’m still completely happy.

I have all my friends and classmates. My mom’s meals and lunchboxes are delicious. My grandpa secretly gave me an allowance and my grandma is really good at sewing; this year she made a new yukata for me. And my dad takes me fishing sometimes,

I’m sure I’ll have fun every day here.

If she went to the city, she was sure she’d be alone every day. Living alone would be much harder than she could imagine. She wouldn’t have friends or acquaintances. She knew she wouldn’t be able to get along with everyone at a high school in Tokyo. People might laugh at her and she’d be embarrassed.

But…

There surely was a much bigger world she didn’t know about.

After crossing the finish line, Hiyori breathed in deeply and looked up to the sky. The sun shone softly between the clouds.

Maybe I shouldn’t give up before trying…

---

During the holidays, Hiyori met with Satoe in the lakeside park where they used to play. The lake’s surface was dyed in the sunset’s colors, the wind making small ripples in the water.

They sat on a bench and Hiyori spoke up.

“Um, Sato-chan.”

“Yes, yes, I see.” Satoe crossed her arms and nodded, telling her to go on.

“I haven’t said anything yet!” Hiyori exclaimed, confused.

Satoe smiled at her.

“Yes, but I already know what you want to say, it’s written all over your face. You’ve decided to go to Tokyo, right?”

Hiyori felt her eyes begin to water and she quickly rubbed them.

Of course she knew, they were best friends. Or maybe Hiyori was just that easy to read?

“I’m sorry... Sato-chan, I do really want to go to the same high school as you!”

Hiyori felt like she was betraying someone and that made her heart ache. Hiyori wanted to go away, but Satoe grabbed her hand and pulled her back to the bench.

“I see… but, that’s no good! I won’t let you!”

“Satoe…”

“Because, Hiyori, if you go to that school, you’ll have lots of fun and forget about us!”

“I would never do that. You’re my best friend, Sato-chan, no one else. I’ll contact you every day!”

“... Or so you say, but what if you get a boyfriend?”

“Boyfriend?!” Hiyori exclaimed, waving her hands. “Impossible! That won’t happen!”

“You’ll go to the city, you don’t know. Maybe you’ll meet a handsome guy, what will happen if he takes over all your free time?!”

“Eh, uh, aaahhhh, what should I… I don’t know…?”

Hiyori felt trapped, but her voice was calmer than before. She pressed her index fingers together nervous.

“After all we've been through, Hiyori will choose love over our friendship! As if everything so far had been a game!” Satoe covered her face with her hands.

“That's not true! All my feelings are about Sato-chan! I'd never do something like that!” Hiyori said very seriously, with a hand on her chest.

Satoe peeked at her through her fingers. Then, she put her hands down and broke out laughing, she couldn't hold it in anymore. Hiyori started laughing too and so they both laughed together till their stomachs hurt. Hiyori even started tearing up a bit, but wiped the tears quickly.

In that same place, she used to sit with Satoe and talk until the sun set. During elementary school, whenever she felt down because she couldn't place high during the tournaments, she'd sit here and cry with Satoe. She had thought they’d be together the next year, and the following one.

She felt lost. She’d been so worried about making a decision.

Their laughs quieted down and Hiyori felt sad again. Her shoulders dropped.

“Sato-chan…”

“Do your best, Hiyori. Don’t lose yourself.”

“Yes…”

“Hiyori, it’s fine. You’re strong.”

“I don’t think so…”

“You can survive till the end in any dangerous environment.”

“Yes… I won’t lose! No matter what!

“And I won’t lose my position as your best friend to anyone!”

“Yes… I won’t have a different best friend ever!”

“If you ever get a boyfriend, send me the first picture you take! You have to!”

“I’m sure… I don’t think I can!”

Hiyori and Satoe met each other’s eyes before bursting into tears.

“Hiyori…”

“Sato-chan!”

“Well, if that happens, then let’s eat a lot of sweets today! Let’s hang out!”

As she talked, Satoe opened her backpack and turned it outside down. Some packets with sweets fell out of it onto her knees, the same ones they had eaten the other day, lemon and strawberry pockys.

“Wow, Sato-chan, why did you buy so many?!”

“You see… if I collect 10 tickets I might win a signed poster! From these two…” Satoe said with a very serious face, clenching her fist tightly.

Then, she held both of Hiyori’s hands.

“Help me eat them… I have to eat and eat. Like an infinite strawberry-lemon loop! I bought an entire box with my pocket money. I really want the poster!”

“Yes but...  for a signed poster?”

“Hiyori, which one do you want? You can choose as many as you like!”

“The chocolate-banana ones are better…”

“There weren’t tickets on those though…”

They both opened the packets and began eating. The sunset shone over the lake’s edge.

---

Next spring was graduation.

Hiyori went to the courtyard when the ceremony was finished. The place where she had trained for so long.

“Thank you so much…” she whispered.

In that moment, she heard Satoe call out to her. Other track and field club members were running there too, everyone came.

“I’m glad I made it on time!”

“Sato-chan… what are you guys doing here?”

“Hiyori, you’re leaving for Tokyo tomorrow… so this is our farewell!!”

Satoe gave her a white box with a ribbon. Hiyori, confused, untied it and opened the box. A brand new pair of shoes.

“Umm…” Hiyori’s eyes were wide open as she looked at everyone, amazed.

“Because you’re the star of the track and field club!”

“Please, don’t forget about us!”

“Call me some time!”

Surrounded by exclamations and shy laughter, Hiyori felt her eyes water and she pressed the back of her hand against them. Her chest was full of words she couldn’t pronounce.

“Oh, don’t cry!  We’re holding our tears in!”

“Sato-chan, guys… Thank you! I’m glad I was able to run with all of you and join the track and field club.”

“Hiyori…! Someday I’ll go to Tokyo with my pocket money! I’ll go meet Yuujirou and Aizou!” Satoe hugged her tightly as she cried.

“Who are those guys?! You won’t be with me?!”

“Of course, I’ll go meet Hiyori. I’ll pull an all-nighter and we’ll go watch a live!”

“Oh, I see. I’ll be waiting for you! But I don’t know what live are you talking about.”

Wiping their tears and changing them for a smile, everyone hugged Hiyori.

A place she didn’t know. People she didn’t know. But she was sure there would be new encounters. She would be brave and take off running.

Of course, I’ll do my best.

“Guys… I’m off!”

[rpf-bat]

Scream Out ‘What Will Save Us?’

Pairing: Frank Iero x Reader

Genre: Angst

Summary: Written for Gothtober 2020, Day 15. Prompt: “Catharsis.” 

Your band just broke up, and you’re trying to force yourself be okay with that. But, when you visit Frank, at his home in New Jersey, he advises you to be honest with your feelings. You find that he has some things to get off his chest, too. 

It had been six months now, since My Chemical Romance broke up. You hadn’t done much since then, except move back to your house in New Jersey, and….sit there. For the last eleven years of your life, you’d drummed for a living, and life had moved to a frenetic pace. There was always another city to travel to, another show to play. But, now? Life was suddenly at a standstill. 

You didn’t have to do anything for a living now, you supposed. The royalties alone, could probably sustain you, for years to come. Perhaps a millionaire like yourself, had no right to complain. Bullets You would, after all, kill to have Current You’s problems. 

But, having lived at both extremes, you found that being functionally homeless, in a dirty van with your four best friends, was more enjoyable, than being all alone, in this spotless mansion. You hadn’t joined My Chemical Romance to make money. There were other things that mattered more - the joy of spending time with friends, who slowly became more like family. The creative fulfillment, of writing a piece of music, and then having ten thousand fans sing along with the tune. These were the things, that made your life meaningful. 

These were the things, that you had now lost. 

The Way brothers - who, up until recently, had felt like your own brothers - were still residing in Los Angeles. Ray, too, had stayed on the West Coast. You hadn’t seen them since the decision was made, to disband. You weren’t sure that you even wanted to. 

But Frank - good, old, loyal Frank, who had known you longer than any of them - was merely a few miles down the road. Perhaps today was a good day to pay him a visit. 

You called him on your cell, and he answered the phone, almost immediately. Like you, he probably had nothing better to do. 

“Hey, Y/N,” Frank said in a tired voice. “How are you doing?”

“Alright,” you shrugged. “Just bored, I guess. How are you?” 

“Not so good,” Frank confessed. “I’ve been having, like, the worst stomachaches.” 

“Oh, no,” you said sympathetically. “Do you want me to bring you some medicine?” 

“The doc says I have a bacterial overgrowth of the small intestine,” Frank explained. 

“What does that mean?” you asked. 

“It means your drug-store Pepto ain’t gonna do shit for me,” Frank chuckled bitterly. “I got prescription pills for it, but it still hurts like a bitch. Some company might take my mind off the pain, though.”

“So...I can come over?” you asked hopefully. 

“Please do,” Frank agreed. “It’ll at least give me a reason, to get out of bed.” 

You chose not to mention that, at two o’clock in the afternoon, you had yet to find a reason to get out of bed yourself. 

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Frank’s house was nowhere near the main road. You had to drive through nearly half a mile of trees, just to reach his front door. He had selected this property partially because he loved nature - and partially because hated people. 

You supposed you couldn’t blame him, for trying to avoid having nosy fans show up on his doorstep. The only person who always seemed welcome on his doorstep, no matter the hour, was you. 

You found him sitting on his front steps, his acoustic guitar in his hands. The melody he was playing drifted over the air, as you got out of the car, and approached him. 

“Is that...Disenchanted?” you recognized instantly. 

“,,,..Yeah,” Frank sighed, his inked hands ceasing their strumming. “Hi, Y/N.” 

“Hi, Frankie,” you frowned. “What made you decide to play that one today?”

“I don’t know,” Frank said sadly. “Doesn’t it feel strange to you? Knowing that we’re never going to play that song onstage again?”

“Or any of them,” you noted. “If I had known that set at Bamboozle would be the last gig we ever played, I would have tried harder, to make it count.” 

“You and me both,” Frank said wistfully. “But, anyway….it’s a nice day. Do you want to take a walk with me?” 

“Sure,” you nodded, extending your hand to help him up. “As long as you’re feeling up to it.” 

“I’ll be fine,” Frank assured you, groaning as he stood. “C’mon.” 

You followed him, around the house, through his backyard, and from there, into the woods, that sat behind his home. The trees were beginning to lose their leaves, and the sky has turned overcast, and grey. Summer, you supposed, was just another thing that wouldn’t last. 

“Careful,” Frank warned, “there’s a brook up ahead.” 

You saw that was what he said was true. The small body of water separated the hill from the valley, in the same way that a garotte wire separated a head from a neck. 

“Take my hand,” Frank offered. “I don’t want you to fall.” 

You found yourself blushing, as his calloused fingers, intertwined with your own. He pulled you up onto a rock, in the center of the brook.  

“Are we going to have to jump?” you guessed. 

“Yeah, but don’t worry,” Frank said softly, “I got you.” 

He leapt from the rock, to the other side of the brook. Still holding hands, you leapt with him. Just as he’d promised, you made it to the other side safely. 

“It’s just a little further now,” Frank assured you. 

“What is?” you wondered. 

“You’ll see,” he replied cryptically. He could have let go of your hand, but instead, he kept it held tightly in his own. You didn’t mind. 

“....Whoa,” you gasped, as you realized, that you’d arrived at your destination. You were at the top of a cliff. From here, you could see the whole city, stretched out before you. 

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Frank admired. 

“Yes!” you gasped. “Thank you for bringing up here! The view was totally worth the hike.” 

“I’m lucky as hell, to have a hidden gem like this, on my property,” Frank confessed. “I like to come up here sometimes, when I need to think.” 

“....What have you been thinking about lately?” you asked, sitting down on a boulder. 

“What happened with the band, of course,” Frank admitted, sitting down beside you. “I just….I don’t know. Gerard’s decision felt so sudden. It was like having the wind knocked out of me.” 

“Yeah,” you recalled. “It was like….it wasn’t fun anymore to him, so he just….dropped it. Like it was nothing.” 

“I’m not gonna pretend, that being in My Chem, was sunshine and roses all the time,” Frank acknowledged. “Sometimes, touring sucked.” 

“It did,” you admitted. “I hated the early bus calls, and the jet lag, that never seemed to go away. But, I don’t know. It was worth it, to go through all that, if it meant I would end my day, on a stage with you.” 

“I guess it wasn’t worth it to him anymore,” Frank frowned. “But, what can you do? You can’t continue a band, without its frontman.” 

“I guess our time was just up,” you shrugged. “All we can do, is move on.” 

“I know it was messing up his mental health, trying to write the new record,” Frank said, pulling a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. “It’s not right for us to ask him to keep doing something that’s hurting him.” 

“You’re right,” you sighed. “It’s not fair, to risk causing him another relapse, or something, just because we thought the album could’ve gone somewhere.”

“But now, you and me?” Frank grumbled, lighting a cigarette, and taking a drag. “We’re not gonna go fucking anywhere.” 

“We’re right back where we started,” you realized. “Stuck in the same little town in New Jersey, where it all began.” 

You and Frank, had been in another local band, called Pencey Prep. That band had broken up, and then Gerard, had asked you two, to join My Chemical Romance. Even before you’d become a member, you’d known just from listening to the demos, that this band would be something special. They’d captivated every soul, in the shitty dive bar, where you’d gone to see them play. 

After you and Frank joined their ranks, things began to pick up speed so quickly. Local bars, turned into clubs on the other side of the state. And then you’d attracted the interest of a major label. And then, the next thing you knew, you were playing in fucking Japan. Clubs turned into arenas. Obscurity turned into infamy. You’d done things, you never thought, you would have an opportunity to do.  It was a wild ride. And it was….over now. 

“It makes me want to scream sometimes,” you said honestly. 

“So, do it,” Frank said, exhaling smoke. 

“....What?” you blinked, staring back at him. 

“Go on and scream,” he suggested. “I mean, we’re in the middle of nowhere. Nobody’s going to hear you, except for me.”

“You’re serious?” you gaped. 

“Yeah,” Frank nodded. “Honestly? I think it would be cathartic.” 

He had a point - you’d been trying to hold a lot of emotions inside you, since everything went down. Maybe what you really needed, was to let them out. 

You went and stood, on the edge of the cliff, and looked out, onto the horizon. You took a deep breath, and tilted your head back. 

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!”  you cried.

You turned back, and saw that Frank was laughing. 

“....Did that feel good?” he grinned. 

“....Honestly, yeah, it did!” you admitted. It felt even better, to see a smile on his face, for the first time today. 

“You should just...feel what you feel, Y/N,” Frank advised. “You say we’re supposed to move on, and maybe that’s the narrative the fans want to hear. Like, they’re sad that they’ll never hear their favorite band live again. And it makes them feel better, to think, well, the band members did this, because it’s what made them the happiest.” 

“But, we don’t feel happy,” you argued. “At least, not all of us do.”

“What do you feel?” Frank asked seriously. 

“I feel….lost,” you described. “Like, I don’t know what my next move is supposed to be. The whole world knew me as My Chemical Romance’s drummer, for pretty much all of my twenties. Now, I’m hitting my thirties and...I don’t know who I am. I don’t know where we go from here.” 

“Well, I know that I want to keep making music,” Frank decided. “Even if nobody else wants to hear it, I’ll play it for myself.” 

“I want to hear it,” you said seriously. “Did you write something recently?” 

“Yeah,” Frank said shyly, stubbing his cigarette out into the dirt. “I actually did start writing a song, the other day.” 

“Play it for me,” you pleaded. 

“I don’t know,” Frank blushed. “I wrote some lyrics, but….you know I don’t have the gift for singing, that Gerard does.” 

“You sang in Pencey,” you reminded him. 

“Yeah, that was twelve years ago!” Frank scoffed. “Who knows if I even remember how?” 

“I know you can do it,” you encouraged him. 

“The lyrics, they’re not all that nice,” Frank warned. “I didn’t write them to be radio friendly. I just wrote them, because I needed to get the thoughts out of my head.”

“You needed your catharsis,” you nodded understandingly. 

“Yeah,” Frank sighed. “But….if you really want to hear it, Y/N, I’ll play it for you.”

He took out his guitar, and set it on his lap. Hesitant fingers plucked the strings. You listened, with rapt attention, as he began to sing: 

Some things change but they don't get better

I'm so sick and so tired of trying to tell them that

I'll never do it, no I'll never make it alone

But pay no mind, it fades in time

Don't we all?

Someone I love threw me away 

Someone I love threw me away

Someone I love threw me away

But I don't mind, no I don't mind at all

“That’s bullshit, Frank,” you interrupted. “You do mind.” 

“.....Of course I fucking mind,” Frank snapped. He looked up from his guitar, and you realized, that he had tears in his eyes. 

You moved over to where he sat, and pulled him into a hug. 

“It’s okay,” you told him gently. 

“It’s not,” Frank shook his head. “I gave my blood, sweat, and tears….my heart and my soul, to that band. I thought you and I were going to be in My Chemical Romance for the rest of our lives.” 

“What, like Mick Jagger?” you tried to smile. “Rocking out, even in his sixties?” 

“I don’t know,” Frank said, burying his face in his hands. “Maybe I’m the stupid one, for thinking that something like that, could last forever.” 

“You’re not stupid,” you said softly. “The truth is….I wanted it to last forever, too. It was the best thing I’d ever done. And now, I don’t know what else I can do with the rest of my life, that could even come close.” 

“If I decided to play that song, in front of other people, someday,” Frank asked, “would you play the drums for me?” 

“Of course,” you promised. “Frank, I’d jump at the chance to get onstage with you again. You should know that.”

“I feel like I don’t know anything anymore!” Frank said vulnerably. “Everything I thought I could count on, is slipping through my fingers. I feel lost. Just like you said. And  I’m aching all the time, Y/N. What if you’re the next thing, that I lose?” 

“I’ll never leave you, Frank,” you vowed. “It’s been you and me, from the very beginning. I couldn’t imagine a life that didn’t have you in it….in one way, or another.”

“You met me when you joined Pencey. But now, for the first time in my entire life, you’re not my band mate anymore,” Frank choked. “So…what am I to you?” 

“You’re my best friend,” you whispered, pulling him close. “And you could be more than that, if you wanted to.”

“Wh-What are you saying?” Frank gasped. 

“Frank….,” you took a deep breath. “The truth is, that I always wanted you. I never told you how I felt, because I thought, if we got into a relationship, and broke up, it would destroy our ability to work together. But….you’re right. We’re not bandmates anymore. So, I have nothing left to lose. I...I love you.” 

“You….love me?” Frank repeated, eyes wide. 

“Yes.” You put it all out there. “Yes, Frank, you’re the one I love. And if you would have me, I swear to you, I would never throw you away.” 

Frank surged forward, grabbing you by the collar, and pulling you in for a passionate kiss. Your startled mouth was suddenly full of his tongue. It felt so good. 

“....Frankie!” you gasped, pulling away. “You...you actually want me back?” 

“Of course I do,” Frank breathed. “It drives me absolutely fucking crazy, that we’ve both been burying our feelings this whole time, to protect a career, that no longer exists.” 

“...Then at least I still have you,” you whispered, and pulled him in again. He tasted like smoke and desperation. 

His body pressed against yours as he kissed you harder, pushing you down, against the hard rocks. His hands found the buttons of your blouse. 

“....Frank,” you stopped him. “We should go back down, to your house, if we’re going to do this.” 

“You’re right,” he chuckled. “My bed is a lot softer.” 

“Take me there,” you begged, laying your lips on him again. 

“Oh,” Frank promised, “I’ll take you all night.” 

[natromanxoff]

Queen live at Pavillon de Paris in Paris, France - March 1, 1979

(x)

Brian May greets the audience in French after the second song, telling them it's the 63rd and last show of the tour, much to their delight. He then continues in English, "This is the last concert and we're gonna have some fun. Chantez!" This is the first time Freddie addresses the audience as "brothers and sisters" before the familar piano intro to Somebody To Love, as he would famously do at the Milton Keynes '82 show. There are many other great moments on this night, the last of the European tour. After the third song, Freddie says, "Yeah, I hope you got your bicycle bells tonight." He lets a few audience members ring away for a brief moment, and he responds, "Ah yeah, they sound great!" He continues, "We have a hell of a lot of music for you tonight. I don't know which order they're gonna come in. We'll see." He wasn't kidding, as this would turn out to be one of the longest Queen shows ever, clocking in at about 140 minutes. Although they play Fat Bottomed Girls next, they would also play If You Can't Beat Them later in the set (they usually played only one or the other). Freddie does some great adlibs at the end of Fat Bottomed Girls tonight. Freddie, before the medley: "This next song is about a really dirty old man, as you know. We seem to get a lot of those guys. Yes, we really do. This is called Death On Two Legs." They play the medley as usual, but for the last night's sake, the band stop for a moment after Bicycle Race to let audience members ring their bicycle bells. Some fans continue to ring their bicycle bells during other songs, but it becomes an annoyance for others. Near the end of Get Down Make Love, on the audience recording a fan is heard saying, "I wish they'd stop ringing those bloody bells!" Freddie throws in a quick reference to Chuck Berry's Johnny B. Goode, shouting "Go Johnny!" during the Now I'm Here instrumental. He would do this plenty of times over the next few years. The band's instrumental prowess shows in the end section of Spread Your Wings. During the intro jam to Dreamers Ball, Freddie says, "We're gonna take you to New Orleans right now. Quick fling from Paris [in a French accent]." It's unfortunate that If You Can't Beat Them wasn't included on Live Killers, as this version would have been an ideal candidate. Everyone sounds very strong, particularly Brian, who offers a great guitar solo at the end. For the first time in a month, Brian does a band intro after Love Of My Life: "Well you know, this is the last night of the tour, so you get a few silly things. I'd like to welcome back the rest of the Queen group. Especially, unusually not in tiger skin trousers but in stunning top, Mr. Roger Taylor. And in extremely modest black, on bass guitar Mr. John Deacon. And somewhere, on vocals and maracas, Mr. Freddie Mercury." It's Late is a fantastic version, with a perfect May solo. Freddie's vocals leading into it are wonderful. The hardcore fans in the front rows are eating out of the palm of the band's hand, as they know every note and word of the show. After It's Late, Freddie continues the festivities. "We'd like to feature John, Roger and Brian in this next song." The fans were shouting for Dead On Time off the Jazz album, but their shouts quickly change and Freddie responds to them: "Yeah, it might sound like Brighton Rock, but... how do you know for sure?" He then concedes defeat. "This is called Brighton Rock." It is a great version tonight, with many original ideas and a great May solo. Brian even plays part of the solo from Dead On Time, perhaps in response to the fans shouting for it. Roger's tympani solo is over two minutes long (very unusual for him, as he was never a fan of long drum solos), and the song as a whole is over 15 minutes in length, making it the longest version ever. Tonight is also probably the longest (and surely one of the loosest versions of) Keep Yourself Alive ever played, as the intro is over a minute and a half long, and the song clocks in at 5:30. Later, a great version of Jailhouse Rock is thrown in for the last night's sake, along with Big Spender. The latter wouldn't be performed again until 1986. Segments of Get Down Make Love and Brighton Rock from this show are featured on Live Killers. See the Live Killers analysis for more details. This entire show likely exists on film in Queen's vaults, and much of the footage has become available over the years. See this table for details. Some bits of footage from this show were used for the promo video of Love Of My Life (the bits with Freddie in red suspenders). The bulk of the footage comes from Japan. See Tokyo '79 for details. In November 2009, the band posted some concert videos from the 70s on their website in conjunction with the release of their "Absolute Greatest" compilation, including Dreamers Ball from this show. While it is still the single camera and mono audio, the picture and sound quality are exquisite. The audio from this track was released on a Japanese bootleg called "Rare Cuts Vol. 3" in late 2011. Pro footage of Big Spender was shown at the 2012 UK fan club convention. The second row of pictures were taken by Gillian Parry. The last few were taken by Georges DeKeerle.

Here are some more pro photos from the show:

[thepriceofbeingaroseisloneliness]

KAORU INTERVIEW ONGAKU TO HITO [PHY] VOL.16 2/2 TRANSLATION

“Wouldn’t it be possible for fans to gather and talk about several things as they spend time together by broadcasting a setlist created by each member?” “What I thought when they were together listening to it was….’Everyone loves Dir en grey’” (laughs) “Of course, there will be opinions like ‘if you are going to cancel, say it as soon as possible’, I’m sorry for that but it was something that had to be discussed and properly decided by each one of us.”

Original text by Higuchi Yasuyuki

Photos by Amita Mari You can read the first part of this interview here. You can buy the magazine at cdjapan or amazon.jp ( Out of Print--Limited Availability. )

Notes before reading: This is the second part of the interview from Ongaku to hito [PHY] vol.16 released the 6th of June.  The interview was done during May, so Japan was still under the state of emergency. Feel free to correct me if you spot any mistake or any confusing parts.

---------------------- “Wouldn’t it be possible for fans to gather and talk about several things as they spend time together by broadcasting a setlist created by each member?” -Then, in April the declaration of the state of emergency was announced, the tour that had been already postponed was cancelled but, at the same time as you released that statement, the broadcasting of a music playlist in YouTube as planned setlists by members was also announced. Kaoru: This is…. if I remember properly……the idea came from the fan club management side. It was like “how about trying to do a daily streaming during 5 days of songs chosen by the members?” -The image was more of a setlist, rather than a playlist. K: That’s true, as we broadcasted the planned setlists one by one. So, we already had experienced the reaction of the viewers at the time of the live (without audience). The talk concluded like, “isn’t it like …. the fans can gather together, talk about several things and spend some time together?”, so immediately we said OK. -Your setlist was on the first day, did you choose the songs considering that? K: Well, when we were at the stage of creating the setlists, it wasn’t decided whose setlist would be broadcasted in each day yet. Originally, we decided to do it 4 days before the broadcasting so, there was a feeling of timing like “please send the setlists by tomorrow”, I thought mine overnight and submitted it. The next day, I knew I was the first one. -I thought your setlist was very “Kaoru-like” but, what was your criteria for choosing the songs? K: Although it’s a setlist, there is no live footage so after all, isn’t it a playlist with tracks one after another? The theme was like, “how can I incorporate the feeling of a live concert into it?”. However, even if I included violent/fierce songs, I think I couldn’t get the feeling of a live performance. Also, I dared to try a sequence of songs that wouldn’t be possible at all in an actual live performance. -Things like tuning or equipment, a sequence of songs that can’t be done due to those aspects. K: Then, there is also Kyo��s throat problem.  If we try to do several things in the best condition possible, it’s an impossible sequence. Yet, isn’t it great that people are thinking it’s a real concert while it’s listening to it? -You can’t do that at a real concert, but I think it’s interesting to listen to it while imagining it all together. K: That’s right. -Every set list was unique because of the individuality of the members, and after all, as it happened during the live without audience, it was an amazing time as well. K: I thought that too. -While at the screen there was always the same picture, the songs were the only thing flowing. K: It might have been good that the screen didn't change. Everyone had no choice but to imagine in their heads. 

-Yes, yes. I did too. It brought back memories of a live I saw, they layered with that scene while I was listening to it. Rather than a pseudo- concert experience, it felt more like a reliving experience. K: I see. That’s why the response  we got was more than I expected.  Also, what I thought when they together were listening to it  was….” Everyone loves Dir en grey” (laughs) -Hahahahaha K:  It’s like, they were listening to the songs properly, that’s what I thought when I was seeing the messages at the chat. -It was a virtual space, but it felt like everyone was gathering there and sharing the music.

K: That’s true. I felt like I was connected with the member and with everyone. I think that was good. -Actually, in contrast with that, you are separated from the fans. How are feeling about that right now? K: Well, we can't do anything about that, right now we have no choice but to wait. -That's right K: It’s not just for the music scene. I think there are people having problems with other activities too. Until these things become clear, it’s too much for everyone. Especially for things that are hobbies, like music.  I know that there are people who support us not at a hobby level and I’m grateful for that but, after all, we have no choice but to wait for the time being. “It’s because of the situation we are currently in, I wish we can create a future in which that it’s possible” -Meanwhile, the release of a new song has being announced. Does it already have a shape or are you going to start working on it from now?

K: It’s almost finished! If we started from now on, it probably won’t be ready on time (laughs) -Hahahaha. Originally it was supposed to be announced on the last day of the tour. K: That’s true. We decided to release it during summer. -By the way, can you tell us what kind of song it is? K: Well…. ok….it took a lot of time. The creation itself has been done since last year. After starting to play it  and let the members listen to it, it hasn’t progressed easily. I've been worried about it for a long time. -So that means that it is going to be a masterpiece/great work following ‘The World of Mercy’? K: Well, I can’t say that at the current stage/phase (laughs). -Right? (laughs) By the way, is this song linked to the current situation going on? K: I haven't read the lyrics properly, so putting that part aside, it wasn’t a song made with this situation in mind. After all, it depends on what the person who listens to the song will think. I don’t really care about that. However, there is no doubt that it is song made in such a situation like the one we are currently in.

-Speaking of “what is going to think the person who listens to the song” thing, I think  from the listener’s side, inevitably it will become a song that faces this situation.

K: Yes, that’s right. -But, whether it's a concert with no audience or a broadcast on YouTube, it’s a work that it will be received after the band has tried things that you never did before. I wonder if that will create special way to hear it. K: Well yeah…. I can't say anything about that. The tour was cancelled, and I suddenly had spare time, so I made a song during that time. Maybe I shouldn’t say  it’s something unrelated to this situation. -Then, it’s what Kyo is going to sing…. K: Once the lyrics are added, I think you are going to be listening to the song and from there, with the words you can hear, you  will imagine “oh, it feels like this”. -That’s still a secret. K: Of course (laughs) -Also, you started a twitter account at these times. K: As expected, the motivation was the YouTube Broadcasting. I thought it would be nice if I could get the feeling I was listening together with the fans on twitter. Doing that, I thought it might be a different approach than until now. -That happened because of the current situation? K: If you say that twitter itself is something new, that’s not true at all, it’s rather an old tool, but it has immediate effects. I wondered if it would be interesting to change the way I show myself. That's why I don't tweet many times a day. -How was it when you tried it? The reactions and so to what you posted. K: Well, the first thing was the number of the people who were watching (what I posted) was different than what I thought it would be. -That’s right (laughs) K: There are a lot of people watching Twitter. Also, I had the feeling that there are many good things and many bad things in there. -From the beginning, because you are a band that has a certain sense of distance from the fans, I thought there might be some resistance to, suddenly, be directly connected on twitter with the person (member) and the fans. K: It’s a balance there.  I think it’s good if I could do something new or interesting while maintaining a good balance. Until now, Kyo is the only member to have a personal account on twitter. -I see. K: However, it's not like he is tweeting about private things, and there are a lot of tweets that are announcements or official information, sometimes he himself tweets. I want to try that myself. Moreover, I wonder if I can make it feel more like a personal account than when I tweeted from the Dir en grey official account. -In any case, the current state of the band is trying to catch a hold of several things positively. K: Right now, it’s that. But I don’t know how it will be in the future. Maybe I end up saying “I’m really bad at this” (laughs) -No way (laughs) I think you are dealing with everything calmly and positively. K: But…. the members and the staff discussed it more than usual about the live without audience and the YouTube broadcast, and we decided to make a calm decision. But there were times than the emotions came first until we came to that conclusion. -I see. K: Even if we postponed or cancelled the tour, we talked about it together to the point that separately/one by one discussed if this was the best thing to do. Of course, there will be opinions like “if you are going to cancel, say it as soon as possible”, I’m sorry for that but it was something that had to be discussed and decided properly by each one of us. -It’s always the same when you are making a Dir en grey’s song. K: Ah, I agree with that. -You are making things from the emotions and the strong ego/self of each of you but, it sounds like the process of finally reaching that conclusion was made as a band. After all, it’s something that has to be faced by no one but yourselves. K: Yes. For example, even if there are criticisms against the fact that we will force the tour without postponing it, it would be fine if we were the only ones to be targeted for that. We can’t let the fans get attacked for that reason. I don’t want people to think “that’s why they are fans of a band like that” because of our actions. - As expected, Dir en grey is a kind band. Kaoru: Is that so?

-That’s what I think. I’m sure the relationship between the band and the fans will change. Kaoru: I wonder how it will be…. but, because of the situation we are currently in, I wish we can create a future in which that it’s possible.

[medea10]

My Review of Love Live Nijigasaki School Idol Club

AAAAAAAAAAAAH!

I’M BACK IN IDOL HELL!

Another damn Love Live! Seriously? Another damn one!?

Actually, I knew this was going to happen from like almost two years ago. Back when I was an active player with the rhythm game app LLSIF, we’d get these special characters popping in every now and then, usually as SSR, SR, or N scouts. Then in 2019, they put out singles for each girl to play and I knew then and there that a new Love Live was already in the works and were going to feature these girls.

THIS STORY: First of all, the characters of this story are not becoming idols because the school is in danger of closing down. I know that was like a big thing in the original Love Live and in Sunshine, but that’s not the case this time. This school looks very well populated and well-established. So let’s just squash that trope.

Ayumu and Yuu got bit by the idol bug leaving school one day when they came across a solo performance out in the open. The girl performing is named Setsuna Yuki and she’s part of the Idol Club at Nijigasaki (the school Ayumu and Yuu attend). The next day, they learned from the student council that the club has been disbanded at the request of Setsuna. So what do Ayumu and Yuu do now? They’re going to try and revive it!

But what about the girl who started the idol club in the first place, Setsuna?! The reason for Setsuna disbanding the club was because she felt that she and the rest of the girls in the group were on a different wavelength. So she decided to disban the club, leaving the other girls, Emma, Kanata, Shizuku, and Kasumi to go their separate ways. But that wasn’t the only thing on Setsuna’s plate. Setsuna kinda lives a double life on campus. She’s Setsuna in the school idol club, but she’s also the student council president, Nana. So Ayumu, Yuu, and Setsuna end up reviving the idol club. Emma, Kasumi, Shizuku, and Kanata end up joining again. And eventually, we get other members Ai, Rina, and Karin to join in. And since there’s quite a long list of characters, let’s talk about them.

Ayumu is one of the first girls to revive the idol club. Unlike the main girls from the other series like Honoka and Chika, she’s not as crazy-energetic and idol-crazy. She’s more of the lover of cute things. She was sparked by idols when she saw Setsuna perform.

Speaking of cute things, Kasumi is the idol-loving crazy girl that loves all things cute and wants all of her performances to be cute.

Emma is the first Love Live character originally from a place that’s not Japan. This Swiss-miss came to Japan to become an idol.

Setsuna lives the double life. At school, she’s the disciplinarian student council president, Nana. But when she’s in idol form, she’s Setsuna Yuki ready to shine on stage.

Shizuku got interested in becoming an idol to help with her acting aspirations.

Rina got curious and ended up joining the idol club despite having problems showcasing her emotions. That’s why you see the computerized monitor on her face.

Ai joined alongside with Rina and with her Sporty Spice persona, she’ll get the club on their feet.

Karin is already well-established in the modeling world, but ended up getting into the idol world after hanging with Emma.

Kanata…likes to sleep. Oh, and she has a younger sister in an idol group at her school.

Then there’s Yuu! She isn’t the kind of idol member that sings and performs like the other girls, but works to support each girl in their goals.

Oh and all of these idols are SOLO ARTISTS!

BETWEEN THE SUB AND THE DUB: As usual with the Love Live franchise (and most other idol animes), these voice actors are brand-spankin’ new. These girls are usually only known for their work as actual idols and only a few of them really go on to do a full-length voice actor career. Then I get, SURPRISE! Akari Kitou is in this too! This girl was in EVERYTHING these past two years! Everything! Every-damn-thing! Now she’s a Love Live waifu! Actually, several of the seiyuus here I’ve seen in a few things here and there and that’s pretty rare since I’m not hip to all the idol groups in Japan.

Now for the dub, because we all know FUNimation! Yeah, they licensed this just like the previous Love Live series. However, they really kept this series all to themselves where not even Hulu could air it. At the moment, no dub has been announced or planned. I’m assuming it’ll happen one day. I only say this because of all the other Love Live series. Here’s what you might recognize these folks from.

*Ayumu is played by Aguri Oonishi

*Setsuna is played by Tomori Kusunoki (known for LLENN on SAO: Gun Gale Online)

*Kasumi is played by Mayu Sagara

*Ai is played by Natsumi Murakami

*Emma is played by Maria Sashide

*Rina is played by Chiemi Tanaka (known for Ririko on Sakura Quest)

*Kanata is played by Akari Kitou (known for Nezuko on Demon Slayer, Yashiro on Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun, Iwanaga on In/Spectre, Tsukasa on Tonikawa, Aru on Hitoribocchi, and Kaho on Blend-S)

*Shizuku is played by Kaori Maeda (known for Selka on SAO: Alicization)

*Karin is played by Miyu Kubota (known for Sister Lily on Black Clover)

*Yuu is played by Hinaki Yano

NEW BEST GIRL: As you may know, I have picked my favorite girls from the Love Live fandom. Nozomi is best girl in the original and when it comes to Sunshine, Ruby is tops!

When I saw the new girls back when the app LLSIF released all the single songs for the Nijigasaki club, I was curious about one particular girl. I had a feeling Rina was going to be a special kind of interesting. Why was she wearing a special mask on stage? Is she an introvert who hates to be seen up-close? I had to learn more about her! Turns out Rina had a lot of trouble expressing her feelings. When she’s excited, sad, irritated, or satisfied, it’s just the same expression. I love Rina. She’s my precious cinnamon roll and if anyone talks smack about her is gonna get a bop in the face.

ABOUT YUU: I know what you’re thinking, what the hell is going on with Love Live giving us 10 girls  instead of 9? And I would agree! LLSIF game gave us 9 solo albums and Yuu is not among any of them. But then I recently downloaded LLSIF All Stars and discovered the interactive portion with all of the girls and how your character is the unspoken 10th member of the group. Yeah, Yuu is pretty much that character.

SHIPPING: In the original series, I was a bit of a multi-shipper that was open to any hookups if I can see it. When Sunshine came along, I was still a multi-shipper, but heavily Kanan x Mari to a point where I’m imagining their wedding. This time around…yeah, once again I found myself shipping the fuck out of third-years.

This is Karin x Emma. I support the fuck out of this. Never forget that!

And while I’m at it, let’s add Ai x Rina. Ai was literally Rina’s first friend. She will go anywhere for this girl and do anything for her.

I should probably add Ayumu x Yuu too. But then again, this is Love Live. No matter what ship we all choose, it’s all for naught as no one really confesses their feelings for each other. Right?

Hahaha…Foreshadowing!

THE SAME, BUT…: Yeah, you know how this goes. Since this is an idol anime and the third one from the same franchise, I’m gonna squawk about the similarities this series has with the first two Love Lives. Yes, we’ve got the cutesy, annoying idol with Kasumi. Yes, we have the token class president with Setsuna. Yes, the animation for all the dance scenes is wonky CGI. And yes, we have a center second year with a red-ish hue to her hair with Ayumu. But there’s just so many glaring differences compared to the other two series.

*First of all, the school is not in any danger of closing down. The original Love Live had Honoka and her friends starting a school idol club to drum up attention for their school so it wouldn’t have to shut down. Love Live Sunshine also had that with sadder outcomes for the school. This school is huge, has many different clubs and activities. This school is safe! But if they pull some shit out in season two saying it has to close down, I call bullshit.

*Nijigasaki High School Idol Club mostly has solos. One of the reasons for the falling out at the beginning between Setsuna, Kasumi, Emma, Kanata, and Shizuku was differences. Every girl has their own thing and they respect that. Even in the app, there are a lot of solo songs and only a few where two or more of the girls are singing together.

*Add to that, this group doesn’t really have a “group name”. I mean Nijigasaki School Idol Club doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue like μ's or Aqours.

*The big, scary student council president is a second year. Unlike Eli and Dia from the previous series, Setsuna (a second year student) is really the scary one with power. But much like Dia, she does have a passion for idols. It’s just that Setsuna goes above and beyond to hide that along with her true self. I bring this up because when the second season comes (AND IT WILL), I have a feeling they’ll introduce this one character that’s in the game and that’s going to be quite the game changer.

FAVORITE SONG: Chase by Setsuna.

I think all of us were blown away by that song in episode one.

ENDING: After Diver Fes and Karin’s solo performance, the girls decide to hold a training camp at their school. During the camp, Yuu was still awe-struck by everyone’s dedication to the club and the performances in the previous episode. And by the end of the camp, Yuu says there should be a school idol festival to show everyone that school idols are awesome. Much to my dismay, I doubt that this anime will follow the game route and have μ's and Aqours perform. Actually, the groups seen throughout the series are characters I would run across in one of the other Love Live apps, including Kanata’s little sister. Moving on!

Everything was going along swimmingly with this School Idol Festival. The student council (or Setsuna as her alter ego Nana) agreed to it, the students of Nijigasaki are excited for what’s to come, and other schools including Kanata’s sister Haruka’s school are willing to participate. However, the big friction that sparked came from Ayumu. As we all know, she and Yuu are close as can be. Ever since the resurrection of the School Idol Club, Yuu has been there to realize the dreams of everyone. Ayumu got jealous, especially seeing Yuu with Setsuna. So she corners her and wants Yuu all to herself and…

Whoa. Confirmed lesbianism!

Let’s just say Ayumu’s jealousy came and went as she realized she can’t stop Yuu’s dreams and that Ayumu’s gonna have plenty of devoted fans besides Yuu. So thankfully that was resolved quicker than I thought and now we can focus on the School Idol Festival. The festival was actually going really well. There were separate stages for all of the solo idols and there were sample songs from all the Nijigasaki girls heard throughout the finale, and only a few hiccups during the day. But nothing Rina couldn’t fix. So much for the rainstorm!

Oh come on guys, plenty of idols from this franchise and other shows performed in the rain and they all turned out just fi…

Oh, I forgot about Honoka.

Oof. Zombieland Saga did her wrong. Never mind what I said!

Unfortunately, the rain didn’t clear up until 7:05 (five minutes after the time allowed for this festival). But all of these idol fans waited and they wanted a show. And so, that’s what they got. Nijigasaki and all the other participating schools performed together. So the festival was a big hit. People who watched it sent a request for another festival to happen. So there’s definitely going to be another School Idol Festival in their future. But what about a season two?

Pfft. COME ON! You know there’s going to be a season two. The girls haven’t experienced heartache of the upperclassmen graduating. Shioriko hasn’t been introduced yet. Tokimeki Runners hasn’t been sung yet. An actual Love Live hasn’t happened yet. That is the whole point of this franchise, right? To have idols participate in the famous Love Live School Idol Festival? So yeah, I know no one has greenlit the Nijigasaki series or announced anything, but I know it’s gonna happen. I can smell it. Love Live will never die. Why else is there going to be a Love Live Superstar series coming out in July?

I gotta say I enjoyed this series. It’s nice to see the struggle of creative differences with the club members. I mean in the past two series, the girls would all agree to something or eventually get to a happy conclusion and sing together in perfect harmony. Cute, but not realistic! And these girls are all very different so it’s good to see a lot more solo performances. Both μ's and Aqours have members with solo songs. It’s just that if you’re an anime only person, you probably wouldn’t know that. Otherwise you would know that Riko and Maki are superior in the singing department.

Prove me otherwise!

Recommendations are always tricky in this area. Idol shows are either loved or hated by the anime community. And I unfortunately can only recommend this to idol show watchers. I’ve already stuck my neck out to recommend Zombieland Saga to everyone.

If you would like to watch Love Live Nijigasaki High School Idol Club (fuck that’s a mouth-full), it is available for streaming only on FUNimation.

[atopearth]

Higurashi When They Cry Part 8 - Ch 8 Matsuribayashi-hen

So, the reason Takano is obsessed with the Hinamizawa disease is because she wants to prove her grandpa's theory that there are parasites in our brains affecting our emotions and thoughts, and the different parasites in different areas etc are what causes cultural differences and clashes in thoughts across the world? And it's these parasites that "control" humans. It's saddening to think about the idea of orphanages that operated as a way to claim money "for the children" rather than actually taking care of the children. Like, I can understand being overworked and unappreciated considering the amount of war orphans and others like that, but the thought that people could take advantage of these children to get money and just treat them like prisoners to be beaten or punished when they don't act the way they want them to is just terrible... I guess the fact that the Takano back then who ran away from the orphanage and even bit off the finger of her pursuer to escape shows how bad the place was and how desperate she was to leave. It probably was literally a do or die situation to her.

It's kinda interesting to think that the reason why Takano's grandfather's research was ignored wasn't because it was useless, but because it might have actually been credible in a sense. Due to a war that had erupted because of the mystery behind whether a soldier from Hinamizawa shot the other side or not, this caused a neutral pact to fall through and make the two parties go to war. In the end, since Japan insisted that they weren't at fault and China insisted the same, if Takano's grandfather's research were to come to light, then the fault could be insinuated to be from the Hinamizawa soldier and therefore Japan's fault, and that's why the research was unsupported. I guess it's nice for Takano that her research is getting sponsored properly, by the SDF even since they would probably want to use it as a weapon if the research comes to fruition properly. On the other hand, child Takano got caught huh? Even though Dr Takano saved her later, I'm sure her trauma is something difficult to come to terms with. Personal note, I have to admit, I don't really care for Takano though haha, but I understand why her story is necessary to unfold now. It's saddening to watch how excited Dr Takano was over presenting his research to potential sponsors and then having it all shattered with their cruel allegations that it's all his own delusion and that he was so consumed with the research that he's just making it seem as if it's credible because he wants it to be and not because there's enough evidence or whatever. It's terrible to hear people say something like that for something you sacrificed your whole life to research..and imagine taking those doubts to the grave, like maybe he was delusional blah blah, that's crappy... Psychosurgery is something I never really thought about though! The idea of severing certain connections between the frontal lobe and the rest of the brain sounds really interesting yet dangerous, I can see why it was ethically challenged later on and even caused Dr Irie to kinda be cast aside from the industry considering his persistence on it when they're trying to swerve away from it. At least he sticks to his beliefs I guess haha.

The connecting fragments thing is rather interesting, I like getting more information on what exactly happened behind the scenes with all the discussions they had and everything. It's quite sad and sweet to see how Rika's conviction towards saving Satoko allowed her to accept the idea of people researching her brain or whatever since she's the "parasite leader". It's also saddening to see Hanyuu heartbroken over everyone fighting because of the dam project. Seeing Tomitake smitten with Takano is rather saddening too. Anyway, for context, connecting the fragments is to make way to the ultimate "ending" where they can win against Takano (since Takano has accumulated a lot of support from organisations such as the SDF and has "won" in every world before this because of it + her indomitable will to spread her grandfather's research making way for it to be "fate" I guess). Although it should have been expected that Ooishi has a particular reason to be so adamant about finding out the mystery and murders in Hinamizawa, I don't know why but I actually found his reason to be rather contrived when it was revealed that the dismembered dam construction head guy was someone he sort of respected as a second father after he lost his real one. I guess it's kinda because at this point, I've forgotten how I felt about Ooishi haha, and also because it's just a short segment I guess so it's hard to feel much for it. 

As someone whose not a big fan of Satoko (blasphemy, I know right haha), I definitely relate to Satoshi's situation much more and I always wanted more insight into his feelings. It's actually really sad to think about his situation. He loves Satoko, but he's also super tired, he'll always try to protect her whether it be from his stepfathers or his aunt and uncle, but regardless of whose fault it is, anyone will get tired of having to do this all the time. It was heartbreaking to hear that he hated himself for wanting Satoko to stay at the clinic longer just so he could have some peace away from his aunt and Satoko arguing all the time. As someone who also hates the sounds of arguing, I can understand a little bit of that and just how stressful it can be. I...wonder how Satoshi would react if he knew Satoko pushed her parents off the cliff on that trip. Like yeah, she was affected by the Hinamizawa Syndrome and that caused her to kinda go crazy from paranoia, but Satoshi was sane, he knew his parents really wanted to make amends, even the stepfather took courses to try and fix their relationship and Satoshi saw that, so I feel like if Satoshi found that out, he would break. Anyway, I'm not sure how I feel like the story is painting the Hinamizawa Syndrome. On one hand, I understand that yes, if it's caused by a medical condition exacerbating emotions that they can't control, it can't be helped that so many worlds turned out the way it did, but at the same time, it feels like a lot of it tries to apportion all the blame to the Hinamizawa Syndrome as if it never existed, then everything would be fine? Maybe I'm interpreting it wrong, but it makes me feel like that which I don't agree with, since I feel that even if things wouldn't have turned out so drastic with the clawing of the necks etc, I still think that with the way a lot of characters were treated and how they felt, things were inevitable whether the syndrome was there or not.

It's sweet to know that Tomitake was sincere with Takano and really tried his best to be her ally, it's just that even though he knew her, he couldn't really help her, and I guess that's something a lot of us struggle with. No matter how well we can know the people close to us, it's not necessarily true that we can "heal" them. Of course we still try, but as it was with Satoko, if they don't help themselves, then outside help can never truly help them. On the other hand, it's interesting that Keiichi's father was able to see Hanyuu and Rika play together when he first visited Hinamizawa hoping to change his life and environment for Keiichi. He's right though, as we grow older, I feel like we do slowly lose our "innocence" as we know more things and "sin", so when we look at children, we always think back and look fondly to that and to them as representative of what we lost and what we hope we still had. I guess it's kinda amusing to say that Takano had a strong will when she nearly gave up and drank her sorrows away after Koizumi (main backer who was friends with her grandpa) died and she couldn't convince the new people to believe in her research until some people under Koizumi's faction came along to "help" her. In a sense, Takano is just trying her best to make sure to tell everyone and her grandfather that he didn't waste away his whole life on useless research, but at the same time it's unsettling to watch her be so consumed by it. Anyway, as I said, it's amusing that Takano is considered to have a strong will, when in a sense I feel like Rika being able to live through all those worlds again and again should be "stronger" but at the same time more weary I assume haha. Regardless, I guess what Rika lacked was concrete support, since even if Takano is being used, she still has support, whereas Rika was always by herself with Hanyuu who doesn't really encourage her since she doesn't believe that fate will change and I guess that didn't help Rika haha.

Akasaka becoming super capable after his wife's death is interesting, like will he be able to reach the same heights in martial prowess if his wife doesn't end up dying? On the other hand, Hanyuu can transfer in as a normal kid?! Cuteee. It was so cute how Hanyuu tried so hard to tell them that she wanted to join their club, and I loved how Rika refused to say it for her, and told Hanyuu that if she wanted it, she had to say it herself. Believing in something is like a gamble huh? When you think about it like that, I guess in a sense, it is. Our beliefs are beliefs because it's not a fact or the "truth" after all, it's basically what we have chosen to think "exists" after we thought about it. The sad thing though is that what we believe in isn't always the "right" thing, but I guess that's fine since we chose to believe in it? Not gonna lie, when they were talking about how they "sacrificed" Hanyuu and her mother(?) back in the day to like cleanse their sins, all I could think about was Jesus, so now I'm just thinking about Rika's ancestor being Jesus and now she's met her in the flesh lol.

Anyway, I love how Hanyuu and Rika pitched their whole situation to Keiichi and them like it's a manga. I think it was really cool to see the whole group bounce ideas off each other with Rika piping in trying to get them to figure out what she couldn't about the whole situation. I really liked it since I feel like the biggest reason Rika is unable to find a way out of this a lot of the time is because she's the one experiencing it, and she's experienced it many times, so it's difficult for her to think outside the box when she feels like she's done that. So I think it's great to see her give the group details to try and see from their perspective what the reason could be for Takano to destroy Hinamizawa, and well as expected, she's most likely being used by the higher ups as she gets revenge by killing Rika and the village. It also feels so great to see Ooishi, Akasaka, Tomitake and Irie get to talk everything out and try to solve things, everything just feels like dang, we've really come such a long way for the final world! Btw lmao at Hanyuu teasing Rika about not trusting her friends enough, it's time for Hanyuu's revenge on Rika!! Or not, lmao at Rika making spicy food (Hanyuu hates it lol) and dumping the cream puffs lolll. On the other hand, omg I love the group's strategic meeting, Hanyuu fits in so well hahaha. I love the 48 hour strategy though, I didn't get it (just like Rena and Rika) initially, but once they explained it, I was like whoa, that is actually a great idea to blow away the presumption that everyone in the village goes crazy in 48 hours! If Rika's corpse appears and is proven that she had been dead for more than 48 hours and yet no one had gone crazy in that time, then their hypothesis about the queen carrier causing them to go crazy would be wrong and everything could sail much smoother, it's nice!

I guess it's really interesting how in the end, many people in Hinamizawa actually do understand and think that the dam construction war is over now and that things should start facing forward and moving properly again; whether this be Oryou or Mion and Shion's mother Akane, they're all tired of being stuck in the past and want to move beyond that, so it's nice to see that Akane and Shion actually visited the dam construction leader guy's grave every year (just like Ooishi) as a way to remind themselves but also tell him that the past is the past and they hope he rests in peace. I quite like Akane and Ooishi, I found it hilarious when Ohtaka was trying to get info about whether Rika was really dead and pretended he knew Sonozaki Saburou (higher up representative) right when he and Akane came in to the police station lol. On the other hand, I want to feel sorry for Takano, but whenever I think about how she was willing to sacrifice Tomitake in every world for her revenge, I don't really pity her lol. Honestly, it was only a matter of time until Tomitake would get captured since everyone knows how important he is, but I was so worried for Irie. No one needs to worry about Akasaka because he's obviously too strong haha. I didn't expect Shion to pick Irie up when he was injured, I was so relieved! But I will be so sad if she and Kasai die. It's nice to know Shion's true feelings and that even though Mion feels bad that she took Shion's place as the older sister, Shion also felt bad for taking Mion's place as the younger sister. Despite everything, they both know how hard it is to be in either place because of the burdens they have. Honestly, I nearly cried when Akasaka came to save the day, he really is Rika's hero, the one who will finally save her after regretting leaving her to die in so many worlds, it was so heartwarming to see. He's ridiculously OP but I guess that's what happens when you train for so long haha.

Satoshi being alive and in the basement if the clinic undergoing treatment is nice for Irie, Satoko and Shion. I personally think it fits the story better if he's dead, but if we want a true happy ending, then he needs to be there so that Satoko can truly apologise to him, Shion can properly tell him how much she cares and Irie can feel less guilt over having to kill or use terminal patients. The mountain fight between the kids club and the Mountain Dogs was pretty fun but expected, I still think in terms of excitement it pales in comparison to their usual games haha, but Mion as commander is always such a highlight, I love seeing how confident she is. It was nice to have the group pitted against Takano as a last battle kinda thing, but I do admit that when Takano was the "main loser" out of all this, I was like, can this really be a happy ending if they characterised her so much but gave only her a bad ending? So yeah even though Tomitake is too good for her, I was happy that he came back to save her, since he's just that kind of person. Honestly, whether Takano has the Hinamizawa Syndrome is something to think about since scratching herself could be stress too imo, but I guess it doesn't matter anymore. Anyway, I honestly wanted Takano to be a much more formidable opponent for them, but I guess not lol. What I really enjoyed though was Rika calling Akasaka "papa" at the festival and his wife was about to kill him over it🤣 and I'm glad that Hanyuu got to stay and play with them since she's part of the group after all. The possibilities of forever where Ryukishi07 talks about how we as readers could create our own abundance of fragments and stories etc was interesting I guess haha, I do wonder though, how would Takano's life have been if she went with her parents to the mall and they didn't end up dying? Wouldn't that be nice? But I wonder what would have happened with the Hinamizawa Syndrome like that.

Overall, the last chapter was as I expected? Honestly, I took a long time to read it because I knew it wouldn’t be my favourite or as enjoyable as the others so it was difficult to “end” my journey with Higurashi but yeah I still liked it regardless I guess haha. Anyway, yeah, I knew it wouldn't be as fun and interesting to me as the other chapters, especially since Keiichi and the others aren't as prominent here due to the adults helping out to obtaining the good ending with all of them. But I did enjoy Akasaka and everyone working their hardest in their own way to save the people important to them. I kinda thought Ooishi would have a better role but I guess it's okay that he and Akane are pretty funny together lol. However, I do think that Okonogi of the Mountain Dogs was more lacklustre(?) than I thought? I think he could have been pretty cool, but I guess they spent more time humanising Takano haha. The battles weren't as exciting as Keiichi's club battles but I guess that's because Keiichi is a funny and cool guy haha. And I think I just didn't care for all the god stuff with Hanyuu and everything, so I think it would have been better for me if everything was solved by everyone uniting together without the need of supernatural stuff but that's just me. I'm just glad that we got to see the fruits of all their efforts and see everyone believe in the miracle that they could win. It was really satisfying to see everything come into place.

Overall review

Higurashi is a solid VN. Honestly, when I first read Onikakushi, I wasn't sure if I would like it or not even though I was intrigued, but it was crazy how much I loved Watanagashi and the others. The way they set out the mystery, how they had the staff room talks to discuss with you the possibilities and everything, it was just so much fun. I loved the endless possibilities of each different world and how it showed really well how living in your own bubble, not trusting your friends and not communicating with others could make things go so wrong. Of course a lot of it was attributed to the Hinamizawa Syndrome, but at the same time there were a lot of real problems that each character had to go through in order to grow, and I think I personally loved Rena's arc the most. I think her emotions were portrayed so well, and I loved how everyone in the group united with her in Meakashi. I loved how the theme of friendship felt so real, and I think going through the various chapters really helped to build that. Honestly, the slice of life parts used to be so long and annoying for me in the first two chapters, but it eventually became the highlight for me, and it was better than the mystery itself haha. Overall, I think I would give the whole story (all the chapters) an 8.5/10 and would definitely recommend it over the anime (the new one at least haha, I haven’t watched the old one), I think what makes Higurashi so good is how detailed it goes into a lot of the feelings and actions of our main characters and I feel like a lot of that is lost in the anime. Anyway people say the PS3 sprites and voice patches are needed to enjoy this, but I played it like the original sound novel it was and I still loved it. I think it's actually kinda crazy how music and character sprites can enhance the experience of reading a novel so much haha. So yeah, I don't doubt that maybe the patch could make it even better (I guess I can try it in the future haha, since I do think I would like to read it again) but I think it's fine either way. I also bought it in Japanese for the switch so maybe I'll read it in Japanese one day!😆